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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

03/27 Links Pt1: What Would Victory Mean in Gaza?; Glick: US Gaslights Israel At The UN; Gaza Fatality Data Has Become Completely Unreliable

From Ian:

What Would Victory Mean in Gaza?
Decision/victory is the only optimal outcome of a military campaign. In the last three decades, deterrence has become the desired outcome of an IDF military campaign, while decision/victory has essentially disappeared as the primary goal. This pushing aside of victory and centralization of deterrence was largely due to the limitations the State of Israel and the IDF placed on themselves regarding the use of force.

The goals of these limitations were to reduce casualties among IDF soldiers; reduce civilian losses from rockets hitting the home front; reduce enemy collateral damage; reduce international criticism of Israel over its military conduct; and avoid the need to provide a civil response to the needs of a local enemy population.

Israel's belief that it can rely on intermittent deterrence operations was painfully shattered on Oct. 7. It took a severe blow to national security to force a review of the security doctrine and a rediscovery of the concept of victory/decision. It was quickly understood that victory/decision is required in the current campaign and probably also in future campaigns.

Tactical victory is not about killing all opposing military soldiers or terrorist operatives, but about breaking their ability to fight as a combatant framework. In the current war, operational victory does not mean the threat of guerrilla warfare and terrorism has been removed from Gaza, but that Hamas' ability to cause damage, especially to the Israeli civilian home front, is declining dramatically.

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy's ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. It is achieved by continuing military operations in order to weaken the enemy's guerrilla warfare and terrorism capabilities until they either stop completely or are reduced to the scale of individual events. Grand victory in Gaza would mean a years' long process until the creation of fundamental change. A civilian authority would be established with an effective police force and the capacity for civil, economic and law enforcement governance. The population would implement a basic approach of coexistence with Israel. Yet such a process does not yet appear practical or feasible.

This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. But the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel.
WSJ: U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It
In two days of meetings between the Israeli defense chief and senior officials in the White House and Pentagon, discussions on Israel’s planned military operation in southern Gaza focused not on how to stop it, but on how to protect civilians during its rollout.

The businesslike tone of the talks was a departure from previous weeks, when top U.S. officials bluntly warned Israel against an all-out offensive on Rafah—where more than a million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge—while Israel’s prime minister defiantly vowed to press ahead.

Rafah has been at the center of a growing rift between Israeli and U.S. political leaders. Those tensions boiled over on Monday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by top aides to discuss U.S. concerns over the planned offensive on Rafah, where Hamas fighters are making a final stand. The tit-for-tat move was in response to the U.S. abstaining from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire while also demanding the release of hostages.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, however, proceeded with his meetings at the White House and Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday, which had been previously scheduled. Gallant is part of Israel’s three-member war cabinet that includes Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the prime minister’s chief political rival.

While President Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu has frayed, the channel between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gallant remains strong. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the two defense chiefs have met several times and talked by phone about 40 times.

In Gallant’s closed-door meetings in Washington, a more pragmatic conversation began to emerge in which the discussions were on conducting a phased operation to reduce the potential harm to civilians while still ensuring that Israel dismantles Hamas’s four battalions in Rafah.

“I think there is an understanding we have to dismantle Hamas,” Gallant said, following his White House meetings.

At a Tuesday meeting at the Pentagon, Austin pressed his Israeli counterpart to ensure that effective arrangements were in place to protect civilians before an Israeli military operation is mounted to attack the Hamas fighters there.

“There is a sequence,” a U.S. defense official said. “The military aspect of the operation should not proceed until the humanitarian aspects have been fully addressed.”

Both sides also agreed that the Hamas battalions in Rafah must be dislodged so that the militants cannot attempt a comeback or continue to smuggle weapons into the enclave, which are prerequisites for ending the war and paving the way for a new political authority in Gaza. And that means trying to find ways to work with Israel on its Rafah strategy, for lack of better options.
Washington Denies a Bedrock of Warfighting
The Biden administration recently pressed Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries. Ukrainian strikes on refineries and tankers in the Black Sea have contributed to a rise in the global oil price, and specifically of oil products, especially diesel. Almost the last thing the Biden administration wants in an election year is higher fuel prices and associated inflation in other goods and services. But in acting to halt rising oil prices, Washington is undermining the Ukrainian war effort. Denying energy supplies to the adversary in war has long been a bedrock of military strategy. Washington’s policy toward adversary fuel supplies is likely to lengthen the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as the Gaza war.

With oil and fuel product prices rising, Washington has now slammed the brakes on Ukraine’s effective strategies, effectively constraining Ukraine at a time that the war with Russia is likely to escalate soon. This is not the first time the administration has blocked an ally’s effort to choke off its enemy’s energy supplies. In the war in Gaza, the U.S. has demanded that Israel not only desist from disrupting such supplies but actually provide energy to Hamas. As a result, Hamas has been able to sustain tunnel warfare, which depends on liquid fuels. The provision of fuel to Hamas fighters enabled them to continue waging war from underground, prolonging the conflict and thereby endangering the lives of even more civilians in both Gaza and Israel.

In both cases Washington has imposed conditions on its allies that fly in the face of one of the cardinal principles of military strategy: disrupt an enemy’s energy supplies to cripple its forces. Allowing adversaries access to fuel extends a conflict and leads to more deaths as well as delays the conclusion of hostilities. Washington needs to let Ukraine and Israel finish the job, or indeed stop the wars. But hamstringing American partners is the worse option, since it extends the wars.
Bernard-Henri Levy: What If the U.S. Helps Hamas Win?
Let's imagine that Israel yields to the pressure, refrains from entering Rafah to finish off Hamas' four surviving battalions, and agrees to the general cease-fire of indeterminate duration that the U.S. administration seems to push. If that came to pass, Hamas would declare victory - on the verge of defeat, then the next minute revived. These criminals against humanity would emerge from their tunnels triumphant.

The Arab street would view Hamas terrorists as resistance fighters. In the West Bank, Hamas would quickly eclipse the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, whose image would pale next to the aura of martyrdom and endurance in which Hamas would cloak itself.

After that, none of the experts' extravagant plans for an international stabilization force, an interim Arab authority, or a technocratic government presiding over the reconstruction of Gaza would stand long against the return of this group of criminals adorned with the most heroic of virtues. Hamas would set the ideological and political agenda, and hope for peace harbored by moderates on both sides will be dead.


Critics charge Biden with abandoning Israel, hostages amid growing tensions with Jewish state
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Fox News Digital, "I think by falsely criticizing Israel and agreeing to a U.N. resolution that does not condemn Hamas nor condition a cease-fire on the hostages being released, Biden has given Hamas a huge diplomatic victory."

Friedman, one of the key architects in the Trump administration of the diplomatic normalization agreements (Abraham Accords) between Israel and Sunni Gulf countries, added, "This is why [senior Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh is in Tehran today celebrating. All of this emboldens Hamas and makes a deal for the hostages far more difficult."

Friedman continued, "I think the last time America betrayed Israel like this was at the end of the Obama administration with UNSCR 2334." Obama’s then-Ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, abstained in a vote that enabled the UNSC to censure Israel for its construction of residences in the disputed territory of Judea and Samaria. The region is also known as the West Bank. Power is now the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday, "We get to decide what our policy is. It seems like the Prime Minister’s office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that."

Israel’s government and the public are determined to root out Hamas terrorists and its infrastructure in Rafah and secure the release of the over 100 hostages held by the Jihadi organization. Netanyahu has the backing of Israel’s population, who desperately want to prevent a reprise of Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel. The bloodbath included sustained rapes of women and the seizure of more than 200 hostages. Israeli officials say that an invasion of Rafah is not contingent on a green light from the Biden administration.

The clash between Biden and Netanyahu is increasing at a fast pace. Domestic elections are fueling the Biden administration’s anxiety about an Israeli operation to defeat Hamas. According to critics, Biden seeks to woo Arab American votes in Michigan — a key swing state in this year’s presidential election — by pushing Israel to accept deep concessions.

Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, told Fox News Digital that "Biden is becoming the worst president for Israel ever." He added that the "refusal to veto the resolution is intended to defend Hamas and strengthen Hamas. This is sinister. They are protecting the evil regime of Hamas and the evil regime of Iran." Klein claimed Biden is determined to "harm Israel."

Glick, a former adviser to Netanyahu, noted, "The administration’s actions at the U.N. Security Council were a betrayal of Israel and of the hostages. By allowing resolution 2728 to pass, the U.S. blocked all paths to a diplomatic deal to secure the release of any hostages. By decoupling what Hamas wants — a cease-fire that will allow it to rebuild its terror army and its control over Gaza and so win the war — from the release of the hostages, Resolution 2728 seals the hostages’ fate."

America’s top U.N. diplomat issued caveats at the Security Council meeting on Tuesday. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the council that "we did not agree with everything" in the resolution.

The dire plight of the hostages has become a kind of political football, and the grueling conditions in Rafah, where Israeli intelligence officials believe the hostages are being held, will only get progressively worse as time unfolds.

"The only way to free them now is by rescuing them through direct military action. Hamas made this clear when they changed their position from accepting a swap of 40 hostages for 700 terrorists, (including 100 murderers) to demanding a full cessation of the war and a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza," said Glick.
Caroline Glick: US Gaslights Israel At The UN
The US fails to veto a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, then denies that anything has changed, and Donald Trump gives a less than comforting warning to the Jewish State.




Gallup: Most Americans oppose Israeli actions against Hamas
The majority of Americans now disapprove of the Israel Defense Forces’ actions against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, according to a survey Gallup published on Wednesday.

The proportion of respondents who disapprove of IDF actions increased from 45% in November to 55% this month, while the share of Americans who explicitly back the military operation dropped from 50% to 36%.

About 9% of respondents in the most recent Gallup poll have no opinion on the IDF’s actions, up from 4% in November.

All three major U.S. political groupings have become less supportive of the war against Hamas, Gallup said on Wednesday, pointing to drops of 18 percentage points in approval among both Democrats and independents and a seven-point decline among Republican voters.

Gallup polled a representative sample of 1,016 American adults between March 1 and March 20. (The margin of error is ± 4 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%, according to the organization.)

Meanwhile, another survey of 2,111 Americans published by Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) and Harris Insights and Analytics this week found that a strong majority of U.S. voters support Israel in the conflict with Palestinian terrorist groups.

Asked whether they favor Israel or Hamas, 79% expressed support for the Jewish state, according to Harvard/Harris. In addition, two-thirds said they believe the IDF is trying to avoid harming civilians.

The poll also discovered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys greater popularity among American voters than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.


Hamas’s ‘impossible’ casualty figures imply zero male civilians have been killed in Gaza, say data scientists
The report suggests these unregistered deaths could be manipulated to contain a far higher proportion of women and children to make up the shortfall and reach the 70 per cent stat.

Between October 7 and 31 December, 21,978 Gazans died, of which 15,349 were registered at hospitals and 6,629 came from unregistered “media sources”.

The report says: “The hospital women and children death ratio was 60 per cent. Using the Health Ministry’s ‘rule’ that 70 per cent of total dead are women and children, we can calculate the implied ratio of women and children deaths in the unregistered ‘media sources’ category, which turns out to be 92 per cent. This 92 per cent figure is statistically absurd. It would mean the IDF targeted women and children with impossible efficacy while going out of its way to avoid killing men.”

The report also points out that if 70 per cent of the dead are women and children, while Hamas admits to losing 6,000 of its male combatants, that would mean that almost no male civilians have been killed.
Gaza Fatality Data Has Become Completely Unreliable
Caveats and Recommendations
This analysis is solely intended to compare various Hamas fatality claims against each other and raise questions about the resultant discrepancies. It makes no claims about the true death toll in Gaza or the civilian-combatant ratio, nor is it meant to distract from the very real and widespread loss of life in Gaza and the severe humanitarian crisis that its population continues to suffer.

Regarding the overrepresentation of men in the fatality statistics, this point is not intended to imply that all Gazan men are militants. Rather, adult men are the most likely to be militants across any group (though Hamas is known to use children in combat and support roles). Their overrepresentation has also been used to help estimate militant deaths in the past.

Caveats aside, the above findings should prompt analysts, media outlets, and government officials to bear the following points in mind when assessing Gaza fatality statistics:
- The discrepancies between the methodologies for counting fatalities warrant much more intense scrutiny and should be paired with appropriate caveats if cited. Whether through passive omission, active manipulation, or both, the Gaza Health Ministry’s media reports methodology significantly understates the number of men killed and may overstate the number of children killed.
- The repeated claim that 72% of the dead are women and children is very likely incorrect. Data from the central collection system indicates that 58% of those killed since the start of the war are women and children; this figure drops to 48% for those killed since November 3. For the 72% claim to be accurate, women and children would have to make up about 90% of deaths recorded from media reports. This proportion is implausible—men comprise a quarter of the population, and these fatalities have largely occurred in areas with fewer civilians and more combatants, most of whom are adult men.
- Data from both methodologies suggests that the war has decreased in intensity. Fatalities have declined from an average of 348 per day in the first weeks of the war to around 85 per day in March.
- The existing data is too limited to allow for definitive conclusions about the true death toll or the civilian-combatant ratio. A high proportion of reported deaths come from an unknown methodology that may be misrepresenting the data, while enormous uncertainty persists regarding how many combatant fatalities go uncounted in tunnels and other battlespaces. The exact proportions of men, women, and children killed are even more unclear. The available data does not allow for reliable estimates about the ratio of civilians to combatants killed either, whether independently or by comparison with Israeli estimates.
Statistically Impossible: A Critical Analysis of Hamas’s Women and Children Casualty Figures
Rate of death in Gaza halved in 2024 as compared to 2023
Even by the MoH’s own dubious figures, the rate of death in Gaza appears to have slowed markedly in recent months. This correlates with a decline in the reported ratio of women and children killed. The aforementioned 21,978 total dead figure for 2023 implies that, on average, 259 Gazans died every day between 7 October and 31 December. As of 3 March, the comparable 2024 figure declined to 136. So even by Hamas’s own statistics, there has been a decline of almost 50 per cent in the rate of death.[5]

The proportion of women and children casualties recorded in hospitals has also declined by about a third, from 60 per cent in 2023 down to 42 per cent of the deaths recorded in 2024 – a far cry from the BBC’s proclaimed 70 per cent. As mentioned, when considering this 42 per cent figure one should bear in mind that women and children make up 75 per cent of Gaza’s population. And while the hospital registered deaths figures still ultimately come from Hamas, they are at least less obviously absurd than the ‘media sources’ and total death counts.

It is likely that reductions in casualty counts reflect the IDF’s increasing reliance on ground force attacks, rather than airstrikes, as well as reticence on the part of its forces to engage Hamas terrorists that have fled into hospitals and other areas of concentrated civilian populations. These Hamas tactics – embedding among the civilian population to achieve a ‘human shield’ strategy – have resulted in the very real and very tragic deaths of an unknown number of women and children. The same Hamas war criminals who have engineered these tragic deaths are also behind the absurd and fabricated propaganda statistics so widely cited by the western media.
Seth Mandel: What Does David Cameron Want From Israel?
Cameron is in a unique position, and that puts the government in one as well. Sunak inherited a ruling party in a state of disarray—one that began, arguably, with Cameron’s premiership. That ended in 2016 when Britain voted for Brexit over Cameron’s wishes. Sunak is the UK’s fourth prime minister in the eight years since. His decision to fire Suella Braverman and hire Cameron was intended to bring some stability to the Tories’ governance.

But Cameron isn’t an elected politician. In order to bring him into the cabinet, he was made a life peer in the House of Lords. He is not, then, a traditional threat to Sunak. But he is a threat.

“Few, if any, other government departments in Whitehall feel newly energized these days as the Tories’ 14 years in power splutter towards their probable unedifying end,” reports the Guardian. “The Foreign Office, for now at least, seems to be the exception. Cameron’s officials, and diplomats in the field, believe that the contrasts in his approach from those who went before him stem partly from the fact that his first and only other job in government was that of prime minister.”

The pace suits him. Cameron has become known as “the prime minister for external affairs.” When the Conservatives’ time in the majority is up, so is Cameron’s. He’s trying to wash away the stain of his Brexit faceplant, when he presided over a public referendum that served as a repudiation of his own leadership. One Cameron ally described his ambitions to the Guardian this way: “He needs to make this work, then get another job afterwards; a big international job—maybe helping work on a permanent settlement for the Middle East.”

A professional peace processor on a resume-building mission, in other words—sure to be seen as a red flag to his counterparts in the region, though he retains a solid working relationship with the U.S. and Israel.

The last thing Israel needs is to play Kremlinology with another ally, so perhaps the best way to determine what Cameron wants is to pay attention to how he aims to be seen. And right now, his public criticism of Israel is “becoming more strident by the day,” even writing to a House of Commons committee of his “enormous frustration” with Israel over aid to Gaza.

When he complained about Levy’s tweets, Cameron is reported to have asked the Israeli government if that is the way allies speak to each other. Israel’s response might well be: You tell me.
Stopping arms sales to Israel would harm the UK
How is it possible to say Israel has the right to defend itself after the October 7 atrocities, but threaten to ban arms sales on which that might depend? This week more than 130 MPs and peers called for arms sales to Israel to be suspended, and it has been widely reported that Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has twice threatened to suspend arms sales.

He is reported to have that said arms sales would be halted if Israel did not allow the Red Cross to visit Hamas prisoners. This is a requirement of the Geneva Convention, but the Red Cross not only refused to visit Israeli hostages in Gaza, but even to take urgently needed medicine to people kidnapped on October 7. On one occasion, they refused to take medicine for an 84-year-old when her daughter took it to their office.

Before that, Lord Cameron is reported to have threatened to ban the export of British defence equipment if Israel goes into Rafah to root out thousands of Hamas fighters hiding there.

And last week, MPs queued up to demand the government halt arms sales.

Given the size of Israel, the October 7 atrocities would equate to the slaughter of around 10,000 British citizens. What would people in Britain expect if 2,500 British kids were murdered at Glastonbury or if 1,800 people were kidnapped by Islamist terrorists who had declared war on the UK?

The death of any innocent civilian is a tragedy, but responsibility for the situation in Gaza lies with Hamas who deliberately provoked this war, hide weapons and fighters in densely-packed civilian areas and promise to repeat the October 7 atrocities again and again. Imposing a ceasefire now would allow the terrorists the opportunity to do just that.


Gazan writer to 'Post': Israel entering Rafah only way to destroy Hamas
M. is a writer from Gaza. He spoke to The Jerusalem Post from his current location in the southern Gaza Strip, alongside hundreds of thousands of other displaced Gazans.

What is the current situation in Rafah?
“The current situation in Rafah is relatively calm, but people are also anticipating the start of the battle in Rafah, with civilians fearing yet another displacement mechanism from the Israeli army,” M. said. “The displaced suffer daily, mainly psychologically, due to the length of the war, but secondly, due to financial weakness, the lack of sources of income and the lack of purchasing power due to the exorbitant rise in prices.”

M. holds that the high prices are not due to a lack of goods. “The Rafah crossing is operating well, and aid enters in a very large amount, and there is never a shortage. However, the distribution of aid is in the hands of Hamas, which means it does not reach all the displaced people."

“There is certainly a general dissatisfaction on the part of the displaced people, and they are calling against Hamas and Sinwar in particular,” he added, referring to videos of sporadic demonstrations in Rafah featuring calls against Hamas leaders. “We are all eagerly awaiting relief soon with our return to the northern Gaza Strip,” M. concluded.

How do you see the prospects that brought us to this situation, and what would be a possible solution in your view?
“The people of Gaza were surprised by Hamas’s move on October 7, which was preceded by general economic and political paralysis due to the narrow political horizons in Gaza,” explained M.

“There is no immediate solution due to Hamas's intransigence in handing over the [Israeli] hostages, except under impossible conditions which they believe will help them to remain in power. There is no solution except by entering Rafah and pressing the fighting until there is great pressure on Hamas.

“Many Gazans hope that Israel will end the war and eliminate Hamas quickly. They reject the 'resistance' and will not accept Hamas again in power,” he added.
'March toward Palestine': Hamas releases Mohammed Deif speech from October 7
Hamas has released a recording of a speech made by Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, arab media reported on Wednesday.

"Our people in Jordan and Lebanon, in Egypt, Algeria, the Maghreb, in Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and in all parts of the Arab and Islamic world," Deif called to the Arab world.

“Begin marching today, now and not tomorrow, towards Palestine, and do not let borders, regulations, or restrictions deprive you of the honor of jihad and participation in the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque," Deif continued.

"Go forth, light and heavy, and strive with your money and your lives in the path of God," the Hamas leader added.

According to the report, the speech is dated to the beginning of the October 7 attack. However, The Jerusalem Post could not independently confirm the date of the recording.
Surprise! Hamas has thousands more fighters than Israel initially thought
30,000 was always an estimate for how many fighters Hamas had. We now know that the number was too low. Following numbers provided by Israeli defense sources, Israel has killed around 13,000 members of Hamas.

Already back in early February, the IDF had wounded another 10,000 to such a degree that it was assessed that they would not be able to return to battle and had arrested another 2,300.

The IDF has not provided updated wounded and arrest numbers since then, but simply adding together a series of public announcements regarding arrests, such as the more than 500 Hamas terrorists arrested at Shifa Hospital, at least around 3,500 would have been arrested to date.

This means that at least around 26,000 Hamas members have been put out of action by Israel to date when adding together killed, wounded, and arrested totals.

Until Tuesday, Israeli defense sources had said that there were four Hamas battalions in Rafah and two left in central Gaza, leaving around 6,000 Hamas forces.

Adding 26,000 and 6,000 would have broken the 30,000 total but could be considered close enough to be generally accurate. However, on Tuesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said that Hamas has 8,000 of its forces in Rafah. Adding an additional 4,000 to 32,000 brings us up to 36,000.

But that is not the end of it. Recently, IDF sources gave a briefing indicating that around 70% of Hamas forces in Khan Yunis, out of an original 4,500, had been removed from the battlefield. That would leave at least 1,300 additional forces in Khan Yunis.
Sens. Ernst, Budd put increased pressure on Qatar to boot Hamas from Doha
In a sign of simmering frustration with Qatar on Capitol Hill, Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ted Budd (R-NC) declared, following Hamas’ rejection of the latest hostage deal offer, that “enough is enough” and that the administration should demand that Qatar expel Hamas leaders from the country immediately.

“Until Doha acts against the Hamas leaders it is currently sheltering, we will work with our colleagues to hold Qatar accountable for its support of this vile terrorist group,” they said.

Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of senators, including Ernst and Budd, issued a joint statement, led by the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jim Risch (R-ID), urging Qatar to expel Hamas if hostage negotiations failed.

“If Hamas refuses reasonable negotiations, there is no reason for Qatar to continue hosting Hamas’ political office or any of its members in Doha,” the statement read. “It is incumbent upon like-minded nations to work together to deny terrorist organizations, like Hamas, the financial support or safe havens that allow them to metastasize or seek legitimacy.”
Mashaal: God willing, Hamas will defeat Israel in the hostage negotiations
Hamas will not release any of the 134 hostages it holds until Israel ends the war, withdraws its troops, allows all Gazans to return to their homes and lifts the blockade on the coastal enclave, the terrorist group’s leader Khaled Mashaal said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a women’s event in Jordan, Mashaal declared that the organization’s leadership is “waging a negotiating battle no less fierce” than the military conflict with the Israel Defense Forces, according to a readout of his remarks posted to Telegram by Hamas.

“Inshallah [‘God willing’], we will defeat them in the field and in the negotiating battle,” said Mashaal, adding that the group is also fighting “intense battles” in the media and on the political battlefields.

The terrorist leader reiterated that “in the negotiations, we insist on stopping the aggression, withdrawing from Gaza, returning the displaced to their places, especially in northern Gaza, providing all necessary relief, shelter and reconstruction, and ending the siege.

“We will not release their prisoners [the hostages] until we achieve these goals,” Mashaal vowed.


‘No longer presumption I’ll vote for Biden,’ Dershowitz tells JNS
Harris said on Sunday that a prospective Israeli military operation in Gaza’s Rafah city would be a “huge mistake”—an assessment that senior Biden administration officials have been making for more than a month. In an interview on Sunday, Harris did not rule out the possibility that there could be consequences for Israel if it launched a major ground operation in Rafah without accounting for Palestinian civilians.

Dershowitz was more explicit about his views about the U.N. resolution during an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on Wednesday.

“It encourages Hamas to not accept any kind of a reasonable offer of a deal for hostages and ceasefire,” he said. “It gives Hamas everything it wants without demanding realistically anything in return. It will lengthen the war. It will make it more difficult for Israel.”

“It is a terrible decision for America,” Dershowitz added. “It’s a terrible decision for Israel.”

The 85-year-old Democrat, who said he has never voted for a Republican president, was asked if he would cast a ballot for former president Donald Trump in November.

Dershowitz was noncommittal, leaving the door open for other candidates, despite having voted for Democrats since 1960.

“There is no longer a presumption that I will vote for Biden. I have an open mind. I want to see what the various candidates say about Israel, about the ongoing situation and I will make up my mind at the last minute,” he told JNS by phone during a visit to the Jewish state.

Earlier in the week, Dershowitz toured areas of the northwestern Negev devastated by Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack.

“I have an open mind on the election. My vote can not be taken for granted,” Dershowitz told JNS. He added that he is “deeply concerned” about the direction the Democratic party is taking “toward woke and away from Israel.”

He told JNS that the Jewish vote in the United States “is no longer an automatic vote.”

“The Democrats can’t just count on Jewish support anymore in my view,” he said. “They have to earn our votes and I’m open to that. I’m not giving it to them for free.”


State Department Denies Report It Accused Israel of 'Systematic' Sexual Abuse
The State Department is denying a recent report that claimed a top U.S. official accused the Jewish state of "systematically" sexually abusing Palestinian women, but told the Washington Free Beacon that it has raised concerns with Israel over "credible allegations" of abuse committed by its forces.

The State Department in comments to the Free Beacon described as "inaccurate" a recent Israeli report claiming a top U.S. diplomat working on the "Israeli-Palestinian portfolio" accused the country of committing sexual assaults on Palestinian detainees.

"It was a meeting that shook me," Israel Defense Forces Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi recounted after the meeting. "We sat there, talked about the situation, and suddenly she accused Israel of systematically sexually abusing Palestinian women."

The State Department said the report on the meeting was inaccurate, but U.S. diplomats have nonetheless raised the issue more broadly in their meetings with Israel.

"What has been said throughout our meetings with Israeli leadership is consistent with what we've been saying publicly: Israel must thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations," a State Department spokesman said.

"We take seriously all reports of sexual violence, including reports of sexual violence against Palestinians in detention—as we said after the recent release of U.N. Special Envoy Representative [Pramila] Patten's report on this subject," the spokesman added, citing a recent United Nations investigation into claims of abuse in the wake of Oct. 7.

The State Department’s comments come just days after Al Jazeera deleted a story falsely claiming that Israeli soldiers raped Palestinian women during a recent assault on the Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, which has been converted into a Hamas command center.
UNRWA says it has enough funding to operate through spring
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency has enough money to continue its operations in the Levant until the end of May after several donor countries resumed financial support, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini announced in remarks to the Swiss press on Tuesday.

While UNRWA’s financial situation “is less dramatic” than a month ago and it will be able to pay salaries in March and April, Lazzarini told reporters the agency still operates “from one month to the next.”

He claimed that the freeze in U.S. funding, which will continue until at least March 2025, poses an “existential” threat to UNRWA, adding that the organization is trying to “mobilize even more countries” to compensate for the $300 million-$400 million annual loss.

The U.S. aid suspension came after Israel said that at least a dozen UNRWA staffers participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and amid the revelation of the agency’s ties to terrorist groups, including its employment of 450 terrorists belonging to Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Seventeen other countries also paused funding to the agency after Oct. 7, pending the results of investigations. The United Nations launched an internal probe into the matter and former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is leading an independent review.


WaPo: Hamas "Dismantled" but Not Destroyed, IDF Says
Israeli military briefers show journalists a map of Gaza illustrating the case that the IDF is steadily winning its battles - if not yet the war - against Hamas. The IDF says it has "dismantled" 20 of the original 24 Hamas battalions. Dismantled does not mean destroyed; its remnants are still capable of waging a lethal insurgency.

The IDF could soon turn its focus to the four "completely operational" Hamas battalions in Rafah. The city is above a network of Hamas tunnels that the IDF suspects hold not only thousands of fighters, but also its "most wanted" commanders - alongside more than 100 Israeli hostages.

The battlefield looks very different than it did a month or two ago. "It is now warfare. It is not a full-scale war. It is very different," said Amos Harel, defense analyst for Ha'aretz, describing the change in intensity and reduction of IDF forces active in Gaza. "The IDF tactical advantage is clear." There is less bombardment, less artillery and tank fire by Israel, and less ambushes, RPG assaults and sniping by Hamas. Far fewer Israeli soldiers are dying. Almost all of the Israeli reservists have gone home.

After nearly six months of fighting, the Israeli military might not have complete control of the strip, but they have freedom of movement. Kobi Michael, a former head of the Palestinian desk at Israel's Ministry for Strategic Affairs and now a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, said the IDF is now carrying out more precise raids - aimed at targets where its intelligence officers say Hamas is regrouping, such as Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

In the early months of the war, Hamas launched more than 13,000 projectiles toward Israel. In the last two months, rocket fire from Gaza has become rare. Yet Hamas and its allies retain some capacity.

Netanel Flamer, a senior lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and an expert on Hamas and asymmetric warfare, said that precision raids by IDF special forces on areas where militants are regrouping will be "the model" for future fighting. This will go on "for as long as it takes."
Israeli Minister_ Biden Admin. Also Said We Shouldn't Have Ground Campaign at All at Start of War
On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer stated that the disagreement between the U.S. and Israel over a ground incursion into Rafah “is not the first time we’ve had a disagreement with the United States over our military operations.” And that “Even at the beginning of the war, there was a disagreement” between Israel and the Biden administration about “whether we should go in with a ground campaign.”

Dermer said, [relevant remarks begin around 6:50] “Well, the United States, the president had asked the Prime Minister to send a delegation so that the United States could present its ideas for some alternative to a major military operation in Gaza. Now, this is not the first time we’ve had a disagreement with the United States over our military operations. Even at the beginning of the war, there was a disagreement [about] whether we should go in with a ground campaign. Now, that ground campaign proved very, very effective. And without it, there’s simply no way to dismantle Hamas’ military organization. And that’s the key goal of the war, that has to be accomplished to ensure that October 7 can never happen again, and we’re well on our way to accomplish it.”


‘Up to 1,000 terrorists holed up in Shifa Hospital’
The Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate on Tuesday released footage of captured Palestinian terrorists admitting to interrogators that 600 to 1,000 Hamas operatives have been hiding out in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.

The detainees, identified as Nabeel Rajab Abed Shteivi and Bakr Ahmed Bakr Qanita, were captured during an IDF operation at Shifa launched last week in an attempt to root out a resurgent Hamas presence in the compound, which Israeli forces first captured in mid-November.

“Shifa, or schools and places like that, are our shelters,” says Shteivi, who worked on producing missiles for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He notes that Hamas controls all of Shifa’s buildings, and has a vast presence in the specialist departments.

“You might see someone who doesn’t look like a nurse but is dressed in a nurse’s uniform,” the PIJ terrorist explains.

Qanita, a senior Hamas leader who commanded 143 other terrorists in the Gaza Strip and spent almost a month at Shifa before being captured, tells interrogators from the IDF’s Unit 504 that between 600 and 1,000 operatives were holed up at the hospital at various times.

Hamas uses the hospital’s specialist division as one of its main hubs, he says, confirming Shteivi’s claim, and also uses the management offices.
Israel: Zero Civilian Casualties at Shifa Hospital; Hundreds of Terrorists Killed, Arrested
Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said Wednesday that there had been “zero” civilian casualties in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack on Hamas terrorists at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, despite many terrorist casualties.

As Breitbart News has reported, the IDF discovered earlier this month that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists had returned to Shifa Hospital, which Israel had cleared out late last year, discovering terrorist weapons and tunnels.

When the IDF returned to the hospital, it came under fire from terrorists inside the facility, and began a careful and methodical attack that has seen, at last count, 170 terrorists killed and nearly 500 members of terror groups arrested.

The IDF has tried to ensure that normal hospital services have continued throughout the attack, and said Wednesday that there had been “zero” civilian casualties among the hospital staff and patients, despite a heave toll on terrorists.

Anti-Israel activists around the world have claimed that the IDF attack on Hamas in Shifa Hospital had led to many civilian deaths. Pro-Palestinian students at Harvard University even held a vigil for the “victims” of the IDF attack.

According to Israel, all of those “victims” were, in fact, terrorists. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari had said Tuesday: “Hamas spreads lies on social media and the Al Jazeera network about harm to civilians in the hospital. Not a single civilian, patient, doctor, or medical staff member was harmed in this operation – only terrorists. The IDF has transferred patients to a building, provided them with treatment, aid and medical equipment, contrary to Hamas’s course of action.”

The IDF also confirmed that it was carrying out similar operations against terrorists who had hidden at other hospitals. The use of hospitals for military purposes is a violation of international humanitarian law.


IDF confirms: Top Hamas commander Marwan Issa killed in airstrike earlier this month
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference officially confirms that Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an Israeli airstrike carried out in the central Gaza Strip earlier this month.

Alongside Issa, senior Hamas commander Ghazi Abu Tama’a was killed in the March 10 strike in Nuseirat, according to Hagari.

The US previously announced that Issa was killed in the strike, although at the time, Israel said it was still evaluating the results of the bombing.


Israeli killed in Hezbollah rocket barrage on Kiryat Shmona
A 25-year-old Israeli man was killed in the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday by a Hezbollah rocket barrage from Lebanon.

According to Magen David Adom, the man, a laborer later identified as Zahar Bashara, was pronounced dead after being pulled from a damaged building in the city’s industrial zone. Zahara was a resident of the Druze village of Ein Qiniyye in the Golan Heights.

Another man, in his 30s, was rescued unharmed from the same building.

Two Israelis were also lightly wounded by shrapnel.

At least 30 rockets were fired across the border from Lebanon on Wednesday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces, several of which impacted in the northern city, including at industrial sites, setting buildings aflame.

Around 10 missiles struck in Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding area, while 20 more were intercepted.

At least seven buildings suffered direct hits. Video circulating on social media showed a public bus and several other vehicles passing by seconds before a rocket impact.


Bassam Tawil: Biden Administration's Terrorist Pier in Gaza: The Trojan Horse For Terrorists to Take Over the Region
Placing Qatar -- rather than, say, the United Arab Emirates -- in charge of the Gaza pier entrenches a terrorist-sponsoring Trojan Horse at Hamas's beck and call. Qatar will use the pier to supply Hamas with more money and more powerful weapons. The port will also undoubtedly be used to smuggle Islamist jihadis from all around the world into the Gaza Strip to launch more massacres against Israelis.

Qatar has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist offshoots, but also Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah and the Al Nusra Front.

If Qatar really wants an end to the Israel-Hamas war, all it has to do is order its Hamas puppets immediately and unconditionally to release all the Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists October 7 and held hostage in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal, who are based in Doha, would not be able to refuse. Qatar is their lifeline.

The Qataris, however, are evidently in no rush to pressure Hamas: Qatar is clearly facing no pressure from the Biden administration. On the contrary, the Biden administration just agreed to extended Qatar's ability to host America's Al-Udeid Air Base, the headquarters of CENTCOM, for another ten years – for nothing in return.

"Congress must weigh in and cancel the 10-year extension of the military base in Qatar... The U.S. should seize assets tied to individuals and entities in Qatar for supporting terrorist groups, especially those tied to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.... It's time to put Doha on notice that they are jeopardizing their relationship with the U.S. by providing material support to designated terrorist groups. Qatar is clearly acting like a state sponsor of terror and should not be allowed to use the U.S. banking system to bypass existing, though not enforced, sanctions on funding Iran and its terrorist proxies." — Former US intelligence officer Michael Pregent, The Hill, January 22, 2024.

The US should definitely start withdrawing from Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Thanks to the Biden administration -- which is also pressuring Israel not to eliminate the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah -- Qatar and its Hamas pawns are having the last laugh. In light of the Biden administration's decision to turn itself into an ally of terrorists and their supporters, such as Hamas and Qatar – instead of strengthening US relations with Israel and its allies in the Gulf who are fighting terrorism -- it is a very long last laugh, indeed.
Israel has agreed to provide ‘security bubble’ for Gaza pier project
Israel has agreed to provide security for the temporary pier the U.S. military is planning to build in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, according to two U.S. officials. The IDF will protect the U.S. personnel building the pier as well as the individuals involved in offloading and distributing the aid. The IDF would also be responsible for physically securing the pier to the beach.

U.S. military personnel will construct a floating pier 3 to 5 miles off shore and a 1,800-foot floating causeway that will be anchored to the beach. Vessels will offload aid onto the pier, where small U.S. boats will then bring it to the causeway, where it will be taken to trucks and then distributed into Gaza.


Spain air-drops 26 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza
Spanish military planes air-dropped 26 tons of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, and Madrid called on Israel to open land border crossings to prevent a famine, the Foreign Ministry said.

The operation, carried out in coordination with Jordan and co-financed by the European Union, dropped more than 11,000 food rations to alleviate the "catastrophic levels of food insecurity" faced by up to 1.1 million people in Gaza, the ministry said in a statement.

"Spain insists on the opening of the land crossings as an indispensable measure to avoid a famine situation," it added.

Other Western countries, including the United States, France and Germany, have also resorted to airdrops to deliver aid to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza after nearly six months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Aid agencies say deliveries into Gaza, much of which has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardments, have been held up by bureaucratic obstacles and insecurity since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.


Play about October 7 terror attack featuring unfiltered firsthand testimonies from Israel's 'darkest hours' after Hamas rampage is set to debut on New York City stage
A theater production featuring the firsthand testimonies of witnesses of Israel's darkest hours on October 7 is set to make its debut in New York City.

The play, titled 'OCTOBER 7,' will present an unfiltered depiction of the tragic accounts of survivors of the massacre - in their own words.

The production - researched and curated by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney of Ireland, who travelled to Israel right after the attacks to interview those directly affected by the events - will run from May 2 to June 16 at the Actors Temple Theatre.

The play captures a diverse array of perspectives - from the young to the elderly, from secular to religious - Israelis from all walks of life will share their reflections on how October 7 irrevocably changed their lives and their nation.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, McAleer discussed the inspiration behind the project, emphasizing a quick shift in focus away from October 7 right after the tragic events unfolded.

The play serves a reminder to not forget the stories of survivors and significance of the day.

'What really got us going was when we were in Ireland on Oct. 7. Right away, on the morning of Oct. 8, the media and people we met were immediately talking about how awful it was that they were turning off the electricity in Gaza,' he said.

'We just noticed that everyone wanted to move quickly away from Oct. 7 and start talking about Gaza and ceasefires,' he continued. 'And we know there would be no Oct. 8 if there was no Oct.7. So we wanted people to remember and not forget what happened on Oct. 7.'

The play presents thirteen detailed accounts drawn from these interviews, each narrated verbatim by the individuals themselves.


After Nova survivors abused UK MP asks: Are Jews, Israelis still welcome?
The alleged detainment and verbal abuse of two October 7 massacre survivors at Manchester airport on Sunday was the subject of debate in the UK House of Commons on Tuesday, with Northampton MP Sir Michael Ellis demanding to know if “Jews and Israelis are still welcome to enter this country?”

“The terrorist attack on the 7th of October on Israel has provoked widespread antisemitism in this country and around the world,” Ellis said to fellow Conservative Party member and Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell. “The latest manifestation of this was at Manchester Airport yesterday [sic] where a Border Force did not want Israeli Jews to enter this country.”

Ellis demanded accountability for the detainment of Neria and Daniel Sharabi, who had not only survived the Supernova festival massacre but had reportedly saved dozens of lives by administering medical aid and using weapons from a disabled tank to fend off Hamas terrorists. Ellis read an alleged quote from the Border Force officers who interrogated the brothers for two hours, in which they explained that they questioned them “to make sure that you are not going to do what you are doing in Gaza over there.”

“Blaming all Jews for the action of their country is antisemitic. These are people in uniform acting for this country as border force officers,” said Ellis. “It is a disgrace beyond all proportion; their detention was unlawful for several hours, and they’re being offered free legal representation – which I would urge them to take up.”

Mitchell agreed that the alleged incident was “outrageous, shocking, and disgraceful.” He said that it “is now being investigated, and the home secretary has personally assured that he will be investigating it.” Home Secretary James Cleverly told the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region on Monday night that “We do not tolerate antisemitism or any form of discrimination. This incident will be handled in line with our disciplinary procedures.”


Israel dismisses suspended spokesperson Eylon Levi amid Netanyahu row - report
Eylon Levy, the recently-suspended Israeli government spokesperson, has now been terminated from his position, according an N12 report on Wednesday night.

N12 reported that the government spokesperon's office has decided to dismiss Eylon Levy from his position in the coming days on Tuesday night.

The government's decision to oust him from his role as the "national spokesman" in foreign media was made due to a series of diplomatic incidents in which he was involved - including an unusual response to a tweet by the British Foreign Minister.

Levy is employed on a monthly renewed contract, and the office does not intend to extend his starting from next month. N12’s source in the government spokespeople office explained the decision saying that Levy "strayed from the messages conspicuously and took liberties that caused diplomatic incidents." The reasons for his dismissal

The government office clarified that “the latest incident in which he clashed with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was the straw that broke the camel's back," N12 reports.

The government office listed several additional incidents, including Levy’s audition on "Dancing with the Stars,” which was made without confirming this with his superiors beforehand. Additionally, he posted a video at the beginning of the war that turned out to be fake and mocked Nasrallah and his speechwriter instead of calming tensions.

N12’s report ends with a reminder that despite the decision to dismiss him, it is important to emphasize that Levy is a young, energetic, articulate, and excellent spokesperson. He is to a large extent the new face of Israel, despite his mistakes, N12 claims.
Politics of Intimidation | Douglas Murray on the Not-So-Subtle Threats Driving Policy and Media [P2]
With a sharp tongue, sharper wit, and encyclopedic knowledge of history, Douglas Murray seems to relish in dismantling the politically correct hypocrisies of our era. Bestselling author, journalist and public intellectual, Douglas Murray is the West's the most insightful critic, and its fiercest defender.

In Part 2, Douglas dives deeper into the sinister implicit and explicit threats employed to influence media, academia and political policy.


Former Israeli Ambassador to the USA: Dr Micheal Oren | Israel-Hamas War
Visegrad24 presents an in-depth series covering the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. This comprehensive series features on-the-ground interviews, bringing firsthand insights from a diverse range of voices, including politicians, professors, journalists, experts and influencers.

Our guest today: Dr Michael Oren

Dr Oren is an American-Israeli diplomat, essayist, historian and politician who served as Israel's Ambassador to the USA between 2009 and 2013.

He was also a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party.

Born in upstate New York in 1955, he moved to Israel in 1979 and joined the IDF. After seeing battle in Lebanon as a paratrooper in 1982, Dr Oren volunteered to work with the Zionist underground in the Soviet Union. Sent to make contact with Zionist groups in Ukraine, he was repeatedly arrested by the KGB.

During the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991, he served as the Israeli liaison officer to the U.S. Sixth Fleet.


The Quran on Jews and Christians: Dr. David Wood | Israel-Hamas War
Visegrad24 presents an in-depth series covering the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. This comprehensive series features on-the-ground interviews, bringing firsthand insights from a diverse range of voices, including politicians, professors, journalists, experts and influencers.

Our guest today: David Wood,

Dr Wood is an American evangelical apologist, social critic, philosopher and YouTube personality, who is the head of the Acts 17 Apologetics ministry, which he co-founded with Nabeel Qureshi.

He also runs Foundation for Advocating Christian Truth, which is the organization behind AnsweringMuslims.com.


Sky News host slams 'shocking demands' by ABC staff on Israel-Gaza coverage
Sky News host Sharri Markson has criticised ABC staff and journalists for complaining about language used in coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

ABC journalists have complained to management that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails deserve equal treatment to Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.

They also complained about using words like ‘massacre’ and ‘terrorism’ when describing the October 7 attacks but not being allowed to use similarly aggressive language when reporting on Israel's actions in response.

“These shocking demands are from ABC staff, including journalists, who are meant to be impartial,” Ms Markson said.

“We know they're not impartial and ... dismantles any notion that the ABC can claim to be objective when it's reporting on Israel's war against Hamas.”




Many anti-Israel initiatives anything but grassroots efforts
The anti-Israel, pro-Hamas propagandists would like you to believe that theirs is a spontaneous, organic, community-based effort, one that is entirely funded by regular folks, presumably through bake sales.

Oh, and this: they want to reassure you that their advocacy isn’t against Jews. It’s against “Zionists.” (Who Dr. Martin Luther King, no less, said are the same thing.)

Most of all, they want you to believe that it’s a grassroots effort. That is, just a bunch of well-meaning ordinary people concerned about “genocide” being committed by “Zionists” in Gaza.

Even though, you know, Gaza’s population growth has far exceeded Israel’s. Even though Israel provided Gazans with food, water, fuel, medical supplies and more, for years. Even though … well, you get the point. If the “Zionists” were committing “genocide,” they sure weren’t doing a very good job at it.

Which suggests that the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas folks aren’t telling the truth about that, and quite a few other things, as well. Such as how truly “grassroots-y” they are.

Because they aren’t.

They are, in fact, one of the best-organized, best-run, best-funded propaganda efforts that many political people have seen in a long, long time. Ask James Carville, the guru who got Bill Clinton and many others elected: “America’s far-left, for which I hold a very low opinion, is mobilized by the war. And they’ll undoubtedly seek to exploit the unrest it creates — foolishly believing the turmoil advances their cause.”


Fifteen Minutes of Flame
If Bushnell’s parents were core members, it is highly likely that he was subjected to these light sessions and other abuse. Whyte remembers that even the exalted Cay and Judy underwent the process, if only cosmetically. Light sessions were the community’s primary spiritual practice. The term comes from the German Lichtgemeinschaften, which, according to a former member of the community, Andersen and Sorensen learned from the Evangelical Sisters of Mary in Darmstadt, Germany (founded in 1947). Peter Andersen, the estranged son of founding member Cay Andersen, thinks there may be a link between the practice and Nazi interrogation techniques. In Whyte’s view, the German sisters were using the light sessions as a form of atonement for Nazism.

Whyte believes that light sessions account for the intense devotion and secrecy of core members. While he has managed to get private statements against the cult from senior members, even from Peter Andersen (whose statements in the case against Grenville support the claims in this story), many cult members remain loyal and tight-lipped when confronted about cult abuse. The obedient nature of the community breeds a sort of reflexive doublethink and fealty similar to the devotion inspired by other effectively authoritarian organizations.

According to Whyte, children of low-ranking members also receive harsher treatment than children of visitors or elite members, as a strict but silent system of class favoritism is in place, and the cult favored moneyed elites who joined. It was at his lowest ebb, a period of truly horrific treatment in his teens, that Whyte realized with creeping horror that he was being groomed to be a permanent lay brother.

That Aaron Bushnell was expected to become a “brother” of the community is a matter of record. He expressed his intention to do so before opting instead for the military. He would also work alongside his mother in the cult’s publishing house, Paraclete Press, for two years.

Yet at a certain point, Bushnell, according to a former member, wished to leave. The Air Force was ultimately his only means of escape. The odds of his thriving in the outside world, however, were sadly stacked against him.

In the successful class action suit against Grenville Christian College, it was demonstrated that survivors of the school suffer an unusually high degree of mental health issues, trauma, addiction, suicide, and general failure to thrive in the world at large. Left to their own devices, many have felt adrift and confused. Whyte believes it is a pernicious form of Stockholm syndrome: Cult children are continuously told they have been chosen to participate in the most ideal of Christian communities, and told that outside of the community’s structure, they are worthless sinners. Leaving the community often results in feelings of abject failure and extreme inner conflict.

It has also led, for many former child members, to traumatic, justified rage against the community and everything it stands for.

Bushnell escaped into the U.S. Air Force but was soon disillusioned by military life and became far more interested in social causes like combatting homelessness. Given its strong support for the Jewish state, the Community of Jesus was likely strongly identified in Bushnell’s mind with Israel. It is also possible that Bushnell viewed the Palestinian cause through the lens of his own oppressive upbringing, perhaps allowing him to express his own despair at his own continuous abuse, and to express solidarity with the children who are there to this day.

Yet Bushnell’s views of Israel would have also been warped by the community’s own cryptic antisemitism. Like many born-again communities, the Community of Jesus sees itself as a staunch supporter of Israel. This support, however, is based only on a literal reading of the Book of Revelation. For certain evangelicals, Israel is merely a means to an eschatological end, a pawn in the biblical endgame that ends with the establishment of Christ’s kingdom. In any case, for Bushnell, Israel would have represented yet another piece of the oppressive theology from his childhood.

Perhaps more important than the specifics of the cult’s teachings about Jews and Israel is its penchant for framing political and religious issues in black and white. In the community, which trains its members in unquestioning obedience more than the U.S. military ever could, horrific actions are cleaved to with stone-faced moral certainty. In Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation, one can read both a challenge to the community’s faith and a ratification of the religious tenets into which he was forcibly indoctrinated.

The fanaticism and ultimate messiness of Bushnell’s final gesture, however, points to something murkier. It presents a traumatized individual lost in a maze of belief. A cultish brand of Christian extremism devoured Bushnell’s childhood and youth. In attempting to escape its ideological straightjacket, he appears to have substituted new ideological convictions for the ones of his childhood. But these too were hopelessly tainted by his traumatic past. In his desperate search for a new cause to replace the one he was raised with, he is not so much an example of moral rectitude or refutation than of traumatic confusion.

What is the remedy for this spreading form of extremism, which the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy has identified as La puretรฉ dangereuse? What protects us from corroding and violent systems of fanatical belief?

Ewan Whyte, mistrustful of religion in general for obvious reasons, believes the answer lies in the humanities. “There is no way one can seriously study the classics, or history, and emerge with some ridiculous notion of one’s unquestionable, divinely appointed, manifest destiny,” he told me recently. “The folly of human endeavor is written too repeatedly in our history to miss.”
Meta Oversight Board Recommends Loosening Standards To Allow Users To Glorify Terrorists as Martyrs
Meta's oversight board is recommending the company loosen its standards regarding the glorification of terrorists. Under the board's recommendation, Facebook and Instagram users can refer to terrorists as "shaheed," an Arabic word for "martyr."

The board released its recommendation Tuesday, calling Meta's current policy "overbroad." As of now, Facebook and Instagram posts that refer to "designated dangerous individuals"—such as Hamas terrorists—as "shaheed" are removed under a Meta policy that bars users from glorifying terrorists. Those posts would be allowed under the board's recommended policy, so long as they do not include other "signals of violence," such as an image of a weapon.

"Acts of terrorist violence have severe consequences—destroying the lives of innocent people, impeding human rights and undermining the fabric of our societies," the board's recommendation says. "However, any limitation on freedom of expression to prevent such violence must be necessary and proportionate, given that undue removal of content may be ineffective and even counterproductive."

The move comes amid a spike in online anti-Semitism in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Anti-Semitic posts increased 28 percent in the week after the attack, according to Anti-Defamation League (ADL), while such posts increased 919 percent on X, formerly Twitter. The difference between the two platforms suggests Facebook "enforced their hate speech policy more robustly and/or their content moderation tools were more effective at removing violative content," the ADL found.

For the World Jewish Congress, the Meta oversight board's recommendation is misguided.

"There must be no confusion as to where Meta stands when it comes to praise of terrorists, terror groups and acts of violence [on] its platforms," the group's technology director, Yfat Barak-Cheney, said in a Tuesday statement. "[A]t such a precarious moment for Jewish communities and many others around the world, it would be irresponsible to reduce safety measures online."
'Free Palestine, f**k NATO:' Protesters disrupt admiral's Amsterdam talk
Anti-Israel and anti-NATO protesters disrupted a University of Amsterdam panel with NATO Military Committee chair Rob Bauer on Tuesday, the Admiral and organizers said.

Bauer had been invited to participate in the weekly university interview program Room for Discussion. Still, several minutes in, protesters interrupted the admiral's talk on the Ukraine War and the future demands of war on European society.

"Shame on you, you have blood on your hands," said the protesters. "Free Free Palestine, F**k NATO." From a balcony, the demonstrators hung a banner that said "Students against NATO" and "Imperialism equals terrorism." The panelist hosts asked the protesters to calm down and invited them to join the question and answer period.

"I don't think they're interested in a dialogue," Bauer remarked. Room for Discussion said that the interview became inaudible and considered holding the talk in a lecture hall, but due to security considerations, it could not. They instead opted to record the interview in a private room.
Toronto councillor calls for 'safety zones' around places of worship following rise in antisemitism
A Toronto city councilor has written to the Attorney General of Ontario asking for the creation of “safety zones” around places of worship and community social infrastructure.

In his letter to Doug Downey, Councillor Brad Bradford of Toronto’s Beaches-East York ward notes that Toronto police last week reported a 93 per cent increase in hate crimes in the city since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

“A shocking 56% of incidents have been anti-semitic and target Toronto’s Jewish community,” the letter states, “but there have also been increases in anti-LGBTQ hate, anti-Black hate, and anti-Arab, Muslim and Palestinian hate.”

In adds: “Devastatingly, protests and demonstrations continue to target places of worship and other religious or culturally affiliated spaces, thereby creating fear and distress for many Torontonians. No one should be made to feel unsafe in their community, unsafe openly practicing their faith or unsafe accessing other critical community social infrastructure.”

Speaking to the Post, Bradford said his goal was to make the city more safe and welcoming for people. ” I think folks form a variety of communities feel less safe right now,” he said.

He noted that six months have passed since the city’s councillors unanimously passed a motion called “Keeping Toronto Safe from Hate.” This motion included a request to the Toronto Police Services Board to create “community safety zones … inclusive of areas surrounding places of worship and cultural and religious daycares and schools recognized as a potential target for hate.”

But to date, no such zones have been created in Toronto.




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