Friday, March 29, 2024

03/29 Links Pt1: Is Biden normalizing Hamas?; Biden Admin Coordinates With UNRWA After Congress Banned Taxpayer Dollars; Anti-Israel activists protest Biden NYC fundraiser

From Ian:

Biden Has No Israel Policy
To believe that a ceasefire would lead to a nonviolent Palestinian state and Israeli-Saudi normalization is to succumb to delusion. A ceasefire would leave Hamas's remaining brigades intact, emboldening its leadership and its followers in the West Bank, Lebanon, and elsewhere. A ceasefire would tempt Hezbollah to escalate its simmering conflict with Israel. A ceasefire would strengthen Iran and its proxies, including the Houthis. There is one way to restore security, reduce tensions, and promote regional integration: Allow Israel to prove its strength by ending Hamas as a coherent military force.

That answer might not satisfy the columnists who visit Biden in the Oval Office, flattering him with tall tales of historic achievements if only he bullies Israel into letting Hamas escape. It is no doubt easier to believe, as Biden and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan do, that there are no tradeoffs and that the dangers of radical Islamist movements can be wished away by reciting the mantra of a "foreign policy for the middle class."

And yet, by privileging domestic politics over serious policy, Biden has found himself, Commander-like, chasing his own tail. Biden says he supports Israel, while desperately trying to appease the anti-Israel vote in Michigan. He promises severe consequences for Iran, its militias, and the Houthis, while granting Iran a $10 billion sanctions waiver and looking elsewhere as soon as proxy violence tapers off. He voices his frustration with Netanyahu, while saying nothing as Hamas leaders visit with the Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran.

"In balancing U.S. interests and priorities," writes my AEI colleague Danielle Pletka, "the White House and its allies in Europe will face two options: engage in a region ever more dominated by Iran and its proxies, or cede Iranian dominance, replete with a lethal nuclear weapons program. The choice should be obvious." If only it were obvious to Biden and the anti-Bibi Democrats, whose dislike of Israel's elected leader is blinding them to geopolitical reality. Absent a directed, sustained, and articulated policy of no daylight between the United States and Israel, the rift between America and her ally will widen and the world will grow more dangerous. Such is life with President Biden, amid a darkening international scene that, alas, has not changed one bit.
Pompeo rips US decision at UN, says it ‘thrilled’ Hamas
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday criticized the Biden administration’s decision to abstain from a vote on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying it “thrilled” Hamas.

“Hamas, when they saw the abstention, were thrilled,” Pompeo said on Fox News’s “The Story” with anchor Martha MacCallum.

“The Chinese Communist Party? Happier than heck. The Russians? Happier than heck. The Iranians? Absolutely beyond themselves, thrilled that the United States of America refused to stand up for its ally.”

“I think that’s so telling,” Pompeo continued. “That’s very risky, for every American, when you see the United States walk away from its long-term strategic ally and friend in the Middle East.”

The U.N. Security Council on Monday passed its first resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, but the U.S. abstained. It called for an immediate cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and for the immediate release of all hostages being held by Hamas.

The U.S. abstention appeared to have angered Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceling a government delegation’s visit to Washington shortly after the vote. In a statement, the prime minister’s office said the abstention was “a clear departure from the consistent position of the United States at the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”

“The United States has abandoned its policy in the UN today,” the statement reads. “In light of the change in the US position, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided that the delegation will remain in Israel.”
Is Biden normalizing Hamas?
The crisis between the White House and Israel continues to escalate. The State Department reacted angrily to Israeli statements that the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire had undermined negotiations to release Israeli hostages held by Hamas, calling the Israeli statement “inaccurate in almost every respect.” President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken took umbrage at Israel’s response after the U.S. abstention allowed the resolution’s passage without explicitly linking a ceasefire to the release of hostages.

Israel is right, however, but should not be surprised. Biden approached the 2020 elections by arguing the adults would be back in charge, but his team’s true legacy is normalizing Hamas in a way once unthinkable.

Consider former Secretary of State John Kerry, who technically joined the White House as an unconfirmed environment czar but really acted as a foreign policy adviser on par with Blinken. Kerry has a soft spot for Hamas. Just weeks into President Barack Obama’s administration, for example, Kerry became the first U.S. lawmaker to visit Gaza since Hamas took control in a bloody coup against its Palestinian coalition partners. Kerry not only met with officials but also brought back messages and proposals, essentially becoming Hamas’s mailman. He legitimized a pariah group.

The Biden team also hired Rob Malley, Blinken’s chum and confidant, despite Malley’s long-standing ties to Hamas. Such ties were extensive enough that they were too much, at least initially, when Obama was assembling his team. Malley, whose father worked for the PLO and whose mother worked for Algerian militants, is now under investigation for alleged leaks of classified material to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Top White House officials also appear tolerant of, if not sympathetic to, Hamas. Yale Law School has been a feeder for both the Obama and Biden administrations. It is a chummy place, dedicated more to building networks among future leaders than the practical study of law.


Biden agency faces lawsuit for ‘hiding’ records asking Israel to stand down after Hamas attack
The Biden administration is being accused in court of withholding internal records pertaining to a top Palestinian agency’s widely mocked social media post last year that urged Israel not to retaliate against Hamas, according to a complaint.

The State Department-housed Office of Palestinian Affairs came under widespread scrutiny for asking “all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks” in an X post as Hamas terrorists raped, murdered, and kidnapped Israelis in the Jewish state on Oct. 7. Now, a nonpartisan watchdog is suing the State Department to unearth the OPA’s communications surrounding this post, as well as more information about its organizational structure that the outside group says is shielded from its website, the Washington Examiner has learned.

“I’m sure the OPA would like to forget tweeting that while the Israelis were still sorting through the carnage, and the Israel Defense Forces was still fighting pockets of terrorists in Southern Israel,” said James Fitzpatrick, director of the Center to Advance Security in America, which filed the complaint on Monday. “But the law doesn’t allow OPA that choice, and ignoring lawful Freedom of Information Act requests just leaves people to wonder if the State Department is hiding something far worse than an ignorant tweet.”

The lawsuit comes as the Biden administration has landed itself in a tough spot on Israel. It has attempted to thread the needle between supporting a key ally and not alienating Jewish Americans, while also catering to the left-wing base in the Democratic Party accusing the Israelis of genocide in Gaza and protesting in support of a ceasefire. The Jerusalem-based OPA was previously called the Palestinian Affairs Unit and was launched in 2022 after President Joe Biden restarted Palestinian aid. The Trump administration cut off the aid over concerns about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s history of antisemitism and ties to terrorism.

OPA Chief George Noll, a longtime State Department diplomat, said upon the office’s 2022 launch that it “operates under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and reports on substantive matters directly to the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau in the State Department.” The office is “focused on engagement with and outreach to the Palestinians,” another State Department official said at the time. The scope of what the OPA actually works on is not entirely clear, but it has posted images on social media of Noll meeting with leaders in Palestinian territories and also shares images of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visits with foreign officials.

To the Center to Advance Security in America, the State Department-housed agency seems to have disclosed very little about its operations and employees. The watchdog group sent a records request on Oct. 30, 2023, requesting “a detailed organizational staff chart” for the OPA and seniority levels for its federal employees.
US refused to give Israel some weapons for Gaza war, general says
The United States' top general said on Thursday that Israel had not received every weapon that it had asked for, in part because US President Joe Biden's administration was not willing to provide at least some of them.

Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally. The United States has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration's steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.

"Although we've been supporting them with capability, they've not received everything they've asked for," said General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Israel asked for stuff 'we are not willing to provide'
"Some of that is because they've asked for stuff that we either don't have the capacity to provide or are not willing to provide, not right now," Brown added while speaking at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group.

The Israeli offensive prompted opposition from within Biden's Democratic Party, leading thousands to vote "uncommitted" for him in recent party presidential primaries.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington earlier this week, and the Pentagon said that security assistance for Israel had been discussed.
Israel challenges world, but not Biden, for using Hamas casualty figures
As Israel defends itself against an existential threat, U.N. entities have focused only on civilian casualties in Gaza, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the global body, said last Friday shortly after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that Washington drafted.

“Numbers supplied by the terrorists are thrown around and quoted as if they are the word of God,” Erdan said. “Yet in essence, these numbers are merely the lies of Hamas that the U.N. is so quick to parrot. The time has come to put an end to this myth.”

Hamas’s “false statistics” come from “the Gaza Ministry of Health that it controls,” and those numbers “are then parroted around the globe, promoting the lies of terrorists,” he said.

“By merely looking, only looking, at the Hamas numbers, it is crystal clear that they cannot represent reality,” he added. “A statistics professor from Wharton Business School recently released an analysis of the Hamas—sorry, ‘Gaza Ministry of Health’—numbers proving that not only are they distorted, but they are also inflated. They have no possible basis in reality.”

The Israeli envoy noted that what he called mythic numbers spread across the globe. He did not mention that senior U.S. officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, have used the same numbers as Hamas for weeks.

“This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed,” Biden said on March 7 during his State of the Union address, which 32.2 million people reportedly watched.

As Biden said “have been killed,” New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg called out “Says who?” He was escorted out of the event, but not arrested. Biden continued, “most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands of innocents—women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned.”

“And according to the Palestinian health ministry and the Gaza health ministry, which are not credible news sources, 30,000 people are dead,” Rosenberg later told JNS. “Once he went there and actually quoted the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as if that’s a credible news source, that’s when I got furious.”

JNS asked a spokesman for Erdan whether the Israeli envoy meant to direct his critique of the United Nations and its Security Council to extend also to Washington. The spokesman declined to comment.

“It is absurd for anyone, let alone Israel’s allies, to blindly rely on casualty numbers provided by Hamas, a group that committed the most heinous crimes on Oct. 7,” Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum and a human rights attorney, told JNS.

“Hamas can scream these numbers all they want, but it makes them no truer than if they were to repeatedly scream the earth was flat,” he added.


Biden Admin Coordinates With UNRWA After Congress Banned Taxpayer Dollars, State Department Says
The Biden administration continues to diplomatically support the United Nations’ chief Palestinian aid organization and is working behind the scenes with several nations to support its work in the Gaza Strip, even after Congress barred the American government from awarding taxpayer dollars to the group, the State Department told the Washington Free Beacon.

A State Department spokesman praised the "critical role" the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) "plays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza," and said the United States is coordinating with countries that have not paused funding for the group following revelations that its employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

"We continue to coordinate with other donors, both those that have suspended funding and those continuing to fund UNRWA, as we continue to work to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," the State Department spokesman said. "While we will continue to provide funding to organizations like the World Food Programme, we will be looking to other donors to continue to provide critical funding to UNRWA as long as our funding remains paused."

The Biden administration paused millions in taxpayer funding to UNRWA in January, after it became clear that at least a dozen of the aid group’s employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror strike on Israel. Israel estimates that at least 10 percent of UNRWA’s workforce is affiliated with the terror group. Congress extended the funding pause earlier this month, barring the United States from restarting aid for at least a year.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), a critic of UNRWA, said the Biden administration is trying to circumvent Congress’s ban on UNRWA funding.

"It’s troubling the Biden administration is trying to flout Congress’s ban on UNRWA funding by urging other countries to continue supporting an organization that employed known terrorists," Cotton told the Free Beacon. "We should be supporting Israel in its fight to eliminate Hamas for good, not resupplying terrorists."


United States implored Canada behind the scenes to keep supporting UNRWA: Hussen
The United States ambassador to the United Nations implored Canada last month to keep funding the UN relief agency for Palestinians, International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says.

In January, Canada was one of 16 countries to put a freeze on funding for the organization following allegations from Israel that a dozen of its workers participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli soil.

But earlier this month, Hussen announced Ottawa would proceed with a scheduled payment to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East after Canada accessed an interim report on the allegations.

The decision came about two weeks after Hussen met with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the American envoy to the UN. She urged Ottawa "to not disengage from UNRWA," as the organization is known, Hussen said.

"She implored us to continue to engage UNRWA and to provide UNRWA with the support that it needs, in recognition of the lifeline that UNRWA provides to Palestinians," the minister said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

The U.S. has been UNRWA's largest financial backer for years, sending US$343 million in 2022.

It pulled its funding on Jan. 26 following the allegations.

Hussen said Canada made the decision to go ahead with a $25-million payment to the agency that's due in April because of reforms and increased accountability within the agency.
Lawmakers Press Biden To Pull Support for Incoming Red Cross Leader
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is pressing the Biden administration to pull support for Pierre Krähenbühl's appointment as the next leader of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), citing his "troubled tenure" at the helm of the U.N. Palestinian aid group now known to employ scores of Hamas militants.

Krähenbühl is slated to take the ICRC's reigns on April 1 after spending five years leading the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Gaza Strip-based humanitarian group that employed more than a dozen individuals who participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. At least 10 percent of UNRWA's workforce, or around 1,200 employees, are believed to be affiliated with Hamas, with some using the aid group's facilities to plan attacks and store weapons.

"Mr. Krahenbuhl's tenure at UNRWA disqualifies him for this role, especially at a time when ICRC's impartiality is under question for its posture toward the Israel-Hamas war," the lawmakers, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), wrote in a letter sent earlier this week to the State Department and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "Under Mr. Krahenbuhl's leadership, however, UNRWA employees displayed a clear bias against the State of Israel as he tolerated a climate of antisemitism and incitement."

"We've begun the necessary work to hold UNRWA accountable for its alliance with terrorism and the myriad ways it systematically betrayed its mission," Issa told the Free Beacon. "That means senior personnel who failed to correct course have no business being handed the reins of the ICRC."

The letter comes amid mounting concerns from lawmakers in Congress and outside advocacy groups about Krähenbühl's neutrality and history of scandal while serving as UNRWA’s leader. A 2019 U.N. investigation into "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination, and other abuses of authority for personal gain" at UNRWA under Krähenbühl's leadership found evidence he had "serious managerial issues." This finding led the United Nations to place him on administrative leave before he ultimately resigned from the post.


Troops kill senior Hamas commander in ongoing operation at Shifa Hospital
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says senior Hamas commander Raad Thabet was eliminated by troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital earlier today.

Thabet was head of human resources and supply for the terror group and is considered among the top 10 most senior Hamas military commanders, according to Hagari.

He says Thabet was killed by the Navy commandos and other troops while attempting to flee with two other operatives into the hospital area, in what appeared to be part of an attack against the forces.

In another area of Shifa Hospital, at the maternity ward, Hagari says troops of the Nahal Brigade’s recon unit encountered and killed three gunmen in a firefight.

He says the identities of the gunmen will be released to the public once the military verifies them.

Troops have detained more than 900 terror suspects at Shifa Hospital amid the ongoing raid. Hagari says that so far, 513 of them are confirmed to be members of terror groups, and the military believes that many of the others are terror operatives as well.

Another 350 people were identified as patients and medical staff, he says.


IDF destroys 2.5-km section of large Hamas tunnel that connects north and south Gaza
The IDF says it has destroyed a large section of a Hamas tunnel, 2.5 kilometers long, that was part of an underground network that connected between northern and southern Gaza.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference says more than 30 tons of explosives were used in the overnight demolition.

The military releases footage of it blowing up the tunnel.


IDF eliminates Hezbollah’s deputy commander of rocket, missile unit
The Israeli Air Force struck and killed Hezbollah’s Deputy commander of its Rocket and Missile Unit on Friday in an airstrike in Southern Lebanon, the Israeli military announced.

The strike targeted Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, in the area of Bazouriye in Lebanon, which is in the Tyre District.

“Ali was considered to be a significant source of knowledge in the terrorist organization and leader in the field of rockets. He was also one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The strike represents one of the highest-ranking and most important Hezbollah commanders killed since the Iranian-backed terrorist organization began lobbing northern Israel with rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and anti-tank missiles on Oct. 8—a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 mass murder attack on southern Israel.

In addition, five Hezbollah members were reportedly killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a target in Aleppo, in northwest Syria, which according to Reuters, killed tens of people, mainly Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah said later on Friday that the casualties it sustained in Syria were killed “on the road to Jerusalem.”
FDD: Israel Kills Deputy Hezbollah Rocketry Chief
Israel killed Hezbollah’s deputy rocketry chief in Lebanon on March 29 and was accused by Syria of carrying out a separate airstrike against the Iranian-backed terrorist group near Aleppo.

Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of the Hezbollah Rocket and Missile Unit, was targeted in a car in the Bazouriye district of Lebanon. Publishing an aerial video of the operation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he had specialized in heavy-warhead ordnance and had been responsible for planning and carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians.

Hours earlier, Syrian sources said an Israeli airstrike killed five Hezbollah members south of Aleppo as well as a number of military personnel and civilians. The IDF declined to comment.

With Hezbollah refusing international calls to cease attacks on Israel and back away from the Lebanon-Israel border, there has been increased speculation that IDF counterattacks in Lebanon could spiral into a full-blown war. Israel has also been watching Syria, where Iran and Hezbollah have spent years trying to set up a second front against the Jewish state.

Expert Analysis
“On an almost daily basis, the Israelis have been warning Lebanon, and anyone else listening, that Hezbollah is playing with fire. For now, Israel has been ‘dousing the flames’ at the edges, with high-quality attacks on key figures in the terrorist group. By Hezbollah’s own account, it has now lost upward of 250 fighters to Israeli retaliation strikes. If one assumes that threefold that have been wounded, that would represent a loss of as many as 1,000 front-line personnel — or perhaps more than a third of the elite Radwan Force.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“Israeli intelligence has been conducting successful operations targeting Hezbollah’s command structures in Lebanon since the beginning of the war. The strike on Ali Naim not only dealt a blow to the group but also sent a clear message that Israel will retaliate decisively against those who threaten its security.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal


Israeli strikes on Aleppo kill dozens of Syrian troops, Hezbollah members
Israeli airstrikes targeting Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo early on Friday killed more than three dozen people, mainly Syrian soldiers and at least five members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, according to Reuters.

The attack targeted Hezbollah weapons depots in Aleppo’s southern suburb of Jibreen, close to the city’s international airport.

Israel has reportedly struck the Aleppo and Damascus airports multiple times, in a bid to prevent Iran from smuggling weapons via Syria to its terror proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The strikes came just hours after Israeli missiles reportedly killed several terrorists in a building in the Sayyidah Zaynab area, about six miles south of Damascus.

At least 12 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including a top commander, were killed in an airstrike on Syria overnight on Monday.

Israel has struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent further Iranian military entrenchment in the country. Jerusalem rarely acknowledges such attacks.

On Feb. 4, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed that the IAF has targeted more than 50 sites belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.


ICJ orders Israel to take ‘immediate’ steps to increase aid to Gaza
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday granted additional measures against Israel at the request of South Africa, ordering Jerusalem to take “immediate and effective” steps to increase the provision of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The ruling orders Israel to take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza.”

The fresh ICJ order calls on the Jewish state to ensure that Palestinian civilians in the Strip get access to additional “food, water, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, alongside medical assistance, including medical supplies and support.” It also demands “increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary” and orders Israel to report on its compliance within a month.

The top U.N. court said it had come to Thursday’s 14-page decision in light of Israel’s “obligations under the Genocide Convention, and in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation.”

Over the last five months, Israel has allowed nearly 14,000 aid trucks into Gaza—an average of about 2,800 a month, 665 a week. Some 126 food trucks currently enter Gaza daily.

COGAT, the body responsible for implementing the Israeli government’s civilian policy in the enclave, has stated that “there is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza.”

Israel and the United States hold Hamas responsible for the situation. According to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the terror group diverts at least 60% of the goods entering Gaza for its own purposes.


‘I have to dissociate’: Freed hostage hints at sexual abuse during Gaza captivity
Moran Stela Yanai, a former hostage in Gaza who was freed in late November, hinted at having been subject to sexual abuse during her time in captivity in Gaza in a new interview, saying that she is not yet ready to talk about it.

“There are a lot of things that you [block] out. There’s no time to cope with them. The goal was to survive,” she told Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative program, which aired Thursday evening, adding that she will be ready to address them more fully at some point in the future.

“There was this constant fear of being raped at any moment. And then a day passes, and another one passes. So you prepare yourself — you neglect yourself,” she said. “I’m not especially beautiful, I don’t smell very good at all. You know, so you repel them. I’m old, I’m 40, I’m ‘hatiar,'” she said, using an Arab slang term that means old person.

Yanai, 40, was abducted from the Supernova music festival on October 7, the site of a bloody massacre of some 360 people and widespread abductions by Hamas terrorists. She returned to Israel with 105 others over the course of a weeklong truce in late November, after some 50 days as a hostage in Gaza.

Yanai said she was held in the Strip with Noa Argamani, 26, who was also kidnapped from the festival on October 7. Argamani was seen in one of the first Hamas videos released during the massacre at the desert rave, seated on the back of a motorcycle behind her Hamas captor, screaming, “Don’t kill me!”

Argamani, who was not among the 105 women and children released in November, is still held in Hamas captivity. Her mother is suffering from terminal cancer and has appealed to the terrorist organization to return her daughter so she can see her before she dies.


Call Me Back PodCast: Biden’s two-pronged Israel strategy — with Bret Stephens
Hosted by Dan Senor
Since October 7, the United States has vetoed three resolutions put before the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire. But suddenly, this past Monday, in a jarring change of course, the U.S. abstained, which — for all practical purposes — means the Biden administration chose to allow the 15-member Security Council to pass a similar resolution by a 14-0 vote.


IS THE US STABBING ISRAEL IN THE BACK?
The crisis in relations between Washington and Jerusalem intensified this week, when the Biden Administration refrained from vetoing the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Although mainstream Israeli columnists, habitual critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu, reflexively blame him for the crisis, it is increasingly clear that the Biden administration opposes the military strategy in Gaza that most Israelis support. Gadi and Mike discuss the contradictory implications of the American policy. On the one hand, the crisis with Washington unites the country behind Netanyahu, but, on the other, it exacerbates domestic political controversies, such as the disagreements over a proposed law to draft ultra-orthodox men into the military. As Netanyahu navigates these treacherous crosscurrents, he faces what is perhaps the most perilous moment in his long career.
Caroline Glick: Joe Lieberman and the Democratic Party's Abandonment of the Jews & Israel
Staunch Israel supporter Senator Joe Lieberman has passed away at age 82. Caroline Glick traces her career and how he along with Israel and the Jewish community were abandoned by the Democrats.


Sara Carter Podcast: Biden’s Betrayal: Why Is America Abandoning Israel?
Why is President Biden abandoning our most faithful ally in the Middle East?
It’s been less than six months since Hamas invaded Israel, killed approximately 1,200 people, injured many others, and committed unspeakable sexual crimes against women and girls. Hundreds of hostages were taken, and far too many of them remain in the clutches of evil. Immediately after the atrocities, President Biden said the right things. He condemned Hamas and vowed to stand side by side with Israel in its response. We wondered whether he actually meant that. Now we know he did not.

For months now, Biden has made absurd demands for ceasefires and other Israeli restraint. That agitation rose to a new level on Monday, when the U.S. refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Sara digs into the significance this with Caroline Glick, senior contributing editor at the Jewish News Syndicate. Glick is also a Newsweek columnist and a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Sara and Glick also react to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s demand for new elections in Israel, how Biden refuses to hold Iran accountable for all the Middle East mayhem it’s involved with, and how the Iran-backed Houthis are terrorizing international commerce and the southern end of the Red Sea.
The Israel Guys: Anti-Israel Activists SHOT In Terrorist Attack | Shocking Details
An Arab terrorist on the side of the road ambushed a school bus full of children and several Israeli cars in the Jordan valley when he opened fire on them. Three Israelis were injured before the terrorist fled the scene. Two of the Israelis who were injured in this attack might just surprise you.

In some good news, it looks like Israel is finally gearing up for a full scale invasion of the last remaining Hamas terrorist stronghold in Gaza, the city of Rafah, despite the massive pressure they are facing from the Biden administration and the UN.
Israel ‘very upset’ with UN’s ceasefire resolution
Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council’s Joel Burnie says Israel is “very upset” with the UN’s ceasefire resolution as there was no condemnation of Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

Mr Burnie joined Sky News host Danica De Giorgio to discuss the UN’s demands for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“It also calls for an immediate ceasefire but doesn’t really suggest that there could be a potential temporary truce that was already on the table,” he said.

“Now if Hamas is praising you publicly or praising a government for doing something, it might be an indication that you might have got this wrong.

“But in saying that, I wouldn’t want to overestimate the impact that this has had on the Israel-United States relationship.”


‘It’s rubbish!’: Tom Elliott clashes with pro-Palestinian activist over apartheid claims
Tom Elliott has clashed with the president of Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, over his claims Iran allows Israeli people to live freely.

The Mornings host claims the activist undermined his argument Palestinians are being subjected to an apartheid under Israel rule.

“It’s rubbish and you know it!” he said.


‘Out of control’: Vic turning into a ‘lawless state’ with pro-Palestine protests
Victorian Deputy Opposition Leader David Southwick says Victoria has become a “lawless state” and has called out pro-Palestine protests which are “out of control”.

A pro-Palestine demonstration in Melbourne this week stopped traffic on major roads.

“Out of control – Victoria has become a lawless state,” Mr Southwick told Sky News Australia.

“The Chief Commissioner called us the protest capital of the world.

“I’m all for protesting, but when they shut down cities like we’re seeing just overnight, we’ve got to do more than that.”




Anti-Israel protesters heckle Biden during lavish, $500K-a-ticket NYC fundraiser with Obama, Clinton: ‘War pig’
Several waves of protesters disrupted President Biden’s grandiose fundraiser Thursday at Radio City Music Hall, where he kicked it with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to raise cash and enthusiasm for his 2024 re-election bid.

One demonstrator, a woman blowing a whistle, holding a “War pig” sign and warning of “nuclear war with Russia,” was removed from the lavish New York City event, dubbed a “grassroots fundraiser” by the 81-year-old president.

The first interruption was quickly followed by booing and whistling and two other waves of protests related to Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas.

“Shame on you, Joe Biden,” one of the anti-Israel demonstrators shouted.

Multiple people yelled, “Blood on your hands.”

The president asked that the demonstrators being ushered out by security be “let go.”

It did not appear as if they were allowed to stay.

“No, listen. You can’t talk all the time. Sometimes you have to listen,” Obama said at one point, addressing the interlopers.

The armchair discussion among the three Democratic commanders-in-chief was moderated by CBS “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert.

There were six interruptions in total during the Colbert panel.

Outside the iconic venue, hundreds of anti-Israel protesters gathered ahead of the star-studded campaign fundraiser as part of a “Flood Manhattan for Gaza” demonstration.

“Free, free Palestine!” the group chanted.

Others yelled “F–k Joe Biden” and “Genocide Joe has got to go!” and many waved Palestinian flags and held signs denouncing the president and the Democratic Party as “war criminals.”


'Down with the USA:' Anti-Israel activists protest Biden NYC fundraiser
Anti-Israel protesters chanted against US President Joe Biden, the United States of America, and Israel at the Democrat's star-studded fundraiser featuring former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the New York City Radio City Music Hall on Thursday.

"Down with the USA," chanted protesters in a video taken by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager. "[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu you will pay."

In the same video protesters chanted, "Al-Qassam are on their way," referring to Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

In another video posted by Gutenschwager, the massive crowed repeated that “Without US support, without Biden’s support, we would’ve stopped Israel a long time ago.” Protesters attacked US support for Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, in which they claimed that a genocide against Palestinians was unfolding. In videos posted by activists groups, they sang that "Israel bombs, USA pays."

Demonstrators repeatedly referred to the incumbent presidential candidate as "genocide Joe," and called on other not to vote for him in the upcoming US elections that he was fundraising for that night.

"Democrats you can't hide," protesters sang in a Within Our Lifetime video. "We charge you with genocide!" Many of the chants against Biden and the Democratic Party were led by the group's leader Nerdeen Kiswani.

People's Forum founder Manolo de los Santos said in a video that his group published on Thursday that they needed to call the former presidents that joined Biden for his Evening with the Presidents event "Genocide Obama," and "Genocide Clinton." He said that they were architects of the same supposed atrocities as Biden.


Campus Activists Whine About Needing To Remove Tampon While at Sit-In, with The Fifth Column Hosts
Megyn Kelly is joined by Kmele Foster, Matt Welch, Michael Moynihan, hosts of The Fifth Column podcast, to discuss the anti-Israel protesters at Vanderbilt, the claim that a protester was being denied the right to change her tampon, language-policing taking over our college campuses, and more.






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