Thursday, April 04, 2024

04/04 Links Pt1: The global onslaught against Israel; Al-Shifa Hospital and the crisis of the West; Israel Takes Responsibility. Who Else Does?

From Ian:

Biden is dreaming it’s like 1918, but Israel is fighting like it’s 1945
Washington is dreaming like it’s 1918, but Jerusalem is fighting like it’s 1945.

President Biden is approaching the conflict in Gaza with the mindset that ended World War I, while the Israelis are fighting with the spirit that transformed Germany 27 years later.

In 1918, the United States and its allies sought a German surrender that would neutralize its war-making capabilities without having to transform its state and society.

Leaving Germany unoccupied and its latent capacity for war intact, the armistice failed to establish a stable European order.

A true solution to what contemporaries called the “German question” came only after World War II, when America and its allies demanded unconditional surrender from Hitler, occupied Germany and de-Nazified its institutions.

The Israelis believe, correctly, that only Hamas’ unconditional surrender, the dismantling of its military capabilities and the de-Hamasification of Gazan institutions will deliver a stable order.

But Biden has been significantly distancing America from these aims.

Hamas, Biden said in his State of the Union, could end the war “by releasing the hostages, laying down arms and surrendering those responsible for October 7th.”

The president was effectively calling for a World War I-style armistice, one that would allow armed Hamas cadres not just to survive in Gaza but to shape its political future.

The president’s decision last week to abstain from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire — not predicated on the release of Israeli hostages — is the armistice plan in action.

Biden’s intentions became clear just two days after the State of the Union, when he warned that an Israeli campaign to take Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza, would cross an American “red line,” possibly prompting the United States to withhold military assistance.

Netanyahu responded directly and bluntly.

“I have a red line,” he said. “You know what [my] red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again.”
Melanie Phillips: The global onslaught against Israel
The U.S. and the U.K. have already abandoned Israel at the U.N. Security Council over its resolution last month calling for an immediate ceasefire, which would entail surrender to Hamas.

Britain and America behave in this malevolent way towards no other country on earth.

Israel is on the front line of the battle against Iran and radical Islam, which have declared war on the West. Israel is doing the West’s dirty work for it—and suffering grievous losses as a result—because America, Britain and the rest of the West aren’t prepared to fight to defend their civilization.

America and Britain refuse to face up to the Islamic war against the free world of which the Palestinian Arabs are the shock troops and whose cause is a key strategy to render the West powerless in the face of the Islamic jihad.

Instead, America and Britain have largely bought into the Palestinian cause. As a result, they are turning on Israel and making it their scapegoat. In so doing, they are tapping into profound prejudices about supposedly diabolical Jewish power and Jewish bloodlust, thus pouring petrol onto the flames of the Jew-hatred now consuming the West.

It seems as if the world has now turned against the Jewish nation and wants it gone. Yet there are many decent people who very clearly see what is happening and are horrified. And the Gulf states and countless other Muslims who recognize Islamist Nazism for what it is and what it means for them are silently cheering Israel on.

The Jewish people has been through persecution, enslavement, pogroms, inquisitions and genocide at different times and at the hands of disparate groups and states. It has suffered from varying mutations of antisemitism—the desire to wipe out the Jews as a religion, a race and a nation. It has, however, never been subjected to a concerted global onslaught like this.
Brendan O’Neill: Al-Shifa Hospital and the crisis of the West
Those still denying that Hamas uses al-Shifa as a terror base, those depicting the events of the past fortnight as just a genocidal siege by Israel, are, to be blunt, lying. This is not scepticism of ‘Israeli propaganda’. Scepticism is a noble philosophical pursuit where one awaits further evidence before deciding what the truth is. The swirling Israelophobia of Western influencers openly discounts and denies evidence on the basis that we don’t need anything as trifling as facts because the truth has already been revealed to us: Israel is evil. It is cult-like delirium dressed up as anti-war activism.

Even worse than the misinformation is the moral cover these activists provide to Hamas. Their post-truth depiction of the Battle of al-Shifa as a demented Israeli onslaught absolves Hamas of responsibility for these calamitous events. It allows Hamas to pose as the aggrieved party when in truth it was Hamas’s homicidal use of a hospital for the purposes of terror that gave rise to the battle in the first place. Hamas is now calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s ‘crimes’ at al-Shifa. I’m struggling to think of anything more repellent than a terror group that commits the war crime of using a hospital as a military base accusing others of war crimes. It is thanks to the wide-eyed, craven apologism of so many in the West that Hamas can get away with such antics.

The Battle of al-Shifa confirms an uncomfortable truth about many Western observers and agitators – they’re in the pockets of Hamas. Wittingly or otherwise, they’re doing the bidding of violent bigots. For if it is widely known that Hamas and the IDF are fighting in al-Shifa, and if you only demand the expulsion of the IDF, then what you’re saying is: give Hamas free rein. This isn’t opposition to Israeli ‘war crimes’ – it is support for Hamas war crimes. It isn’t a principled objection to the use of hospitals for war-like violence – it is an implicit acceptance of Hamas’s right, and Hamas’s right alone, to use hospitals for this purpose. The Israelophobia of Western influencers directly benefits the pogromists of Hamas. It adds a veneer of anti-war radicalism to their anti-Semitic hysteria.

The Battle of al-Shifa is a clarifying moment. Not only for Israel in its war with Hamas, but also for us in the West. For it confirms that many of our young in particular are siding with the forces of darkness, with the violent anti-humanism of a group like Hamas. There’s a backstory to their sympathy for Hamas, their harebrained acceptance of the idea that Israel is solely responsible for the al-Shifa disaster. Namely, their inculcation with anti-Western views. Their exposure to the regressive ideology that says everything ‘white’ and Western is bad, while everything non-white and non-Western is deserving of compassion.

The end result is that even in a clash between a virulently racist movement that uses a hospital to plot war and murder and the army of a democratic state that is hunting down the terrorists that committed a pogrom against its people, they side with the former. It isn’t only al-Shifa that lies in ruins – so do the West’s own future prospects if we fail to have a serious reckoning with the Hamas apologism infecting our youth, our activists and our institutions. That so many of our fellow citizens have sided with barbarism over civilisation demands our urgent and undivided attention.


Brendan O’Neill: The truth about Israel’s ‘friendly fire’
David Cameron has got some front. The Foreign Secretary is haranguing Israel over its tragic unintentional killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, and yet he oversaw a war in which such ‘friendly fire’ horrors were commonplace. In fact, more than seven people were slain in accidental bombings under Cameron’s watch.

It was the Libya intervention of 2011. In that Nato-led excursion, in which Cameron, then prime minister, was an enthusiastic partner, numerous Libyans died as a result of misaimed bombs. Things got so bad that the West’s allies took to painting the roofs of their vehicles bright pink in an effort to avoid Nato’s missiles.

In one awful incident, 13 people were slaughtered by our ‘friendly fire’. Their number included not only anti-Gaddafi rebels but also ambulance workers. It was in the wake of this calamity that the rebels got out the pink paint. ‘How to avoid friendly fire? Libya rebels try pink’, said a headline at NBC News.

Yet now Cameron is on his high horse over Israel’s bombing of trucks carrying volunteers from the World Central Kitchen. He is demanding a ‘full, transparent explanation of what happened’. Fine. Three of the dead were British nationals, so it makes perfect sense Britain wants answers. But you would think a former PM who was involved in wars in which other accidents happened would understand that ‘friendly fire’, sadly, is all but inevitable in bloody conflict.

This is not to downplay the horror of what happened in Gaza on Monday. That civilians were killed while trying to help people, while trying to deliver food, is horrendous. It is fitting that the Israeli president Isaac Herzog has apologised for the bombings, and that the Israeli government has promised to get to the bottom of what happened.

And yet there is something off, even something nauseating, in all the Western finger-wagging. It isn’t only Cameron. US president Joe Biden has also weighed in, saying he is ‘outraged’ by the killing of the aid workers. You can’t help but wonder whether he directed similar outrage at his own nation’s military when 37 Afghanis at a wedding party, mostly women and children, were killed by mistake in a US airstrike.
The new blood libel
The word ‘genocide’ may be overused these days, but it is an accurate way to describe the threat facing Israel. The political movements and countries which support Islamism – a totalitarian movement operating in the name of Islam – have openly pledged to destroy Israel and butcher its citizens. Israel is fighting an existential battle against an implacable enemy.

But the West does not have the stomach to support the fight against Islamism. Weeks before the killing of the aid workers, it had already become apparent that the Western powers, including America, did not want Israel to finish off Hamas. They have increasingly pushed for a ‘pause’ in the fighting, even though doing so would only allow Hamas to regroup and rebuild. Meanwhile, there are countless other examples of the appeasement of Islamism within the West itself.

The reaction to the tragic killing of those aid workers has revealed just how much Israel is up against. Western elites appear convinced that it is in Israel’s nature to want to kill innocent civilians. The success of this anti-Semitic propaganda, this rebranded blood libel, shows that Israel’s position has become even more vulnerable. Not only does it face implacable hostility from the Islamist movement, but it also enjoys increasingly meagre support from the West.

Too few in the West seem to understand the threat that Islamism poses. It is a contemporary form of totalitarianism. Israel may be on the front line, but Islamism is a menace to democracy and freedom everywhere – not to mention the real force for genocide in the Middle East.

Perhaps it’s no wonder our leaders cannot see this. Indeed, in their shared hostility to modernity, deep scepticism about the nation state, attachment to identity politics and aversion to liberal freedoms, the woke elites and the Islamists have a lot in common.

The task of understanding anti-Semitism – and the unhinged, anti-Israel form it now takes – is more urgent than ever. The fate of the Jews, and the fate of free societies everywhere, depends on it.
Aid convoy strike was a tragedy but we must stand by Israel says Braverman
The unintended deaths of three British aid workers killed this week in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike were a terrible tragedy but should not weaken the UK’s support for the Jewish state, the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has told the JC.

Speaking in an exclusive interview shortly before leaving Israel after a three-day visit, Braverman said she sent her “deepest condolences” to the families and friends of the seven victims, which included three Britons.

“They were brave men who were putting themselves in harm’s way,” Braverman said, “and it is right that Israel is carrying out an urgent investigation. But it did not intend to kill or injure these people, and this is not a reason for Britain to soften its support for Israel, which is fighting an existential battle against a murderous death cult.

“This has been a terrible mistake on Israel’s part. But they have been transparent in their approach to investigating it, and will do all they can to prevent such a tragedy from happening again – in contrast to Hamas, which celebrates, rather than regrets, the killing of civilians.”

Braverman said she had been deeply moved by her trip, which included visits to the Nova dance music festival site and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where Hamas terrorists tortured, raped and killed dozens of victims during the October 7 massacre.

The kibbutz, she told the JC, made an impact on her akin to a modern-day Auschwitz, and at one of its burnt-out houses she met the father of a man who was decapitated by the terrorists – who had then taken his head to Gaza as a grisly trophy. He was, she said, desperate to have it returned so he could bury his child with dignity.

She also met families of hostages and the parents of IDF troops slain during the massacre or during the fighting in Gaza: “Something that’s not talked about is the number of IDF personnel who’ve lost their lives, either because they were kidnapped on October 7 and then murdered, or killed in battle.”
After Biden’s Afghanistan fiasco, why should Israel take his advice?
The administration’s military and strategic judgment in Afghanistan resulted in 13 American troops killed at Abbey Gate, thousands of Americans and Afghan partners abandoned and a Taliban takeover.

With Ukraine, Biden now demands that Congress fast-track billions in assistance, in December 2021, with the Russian invasion looming, but it was Congress demanding that vital weapons be shipped to Kyiv and Biden holding up their delivery.

Research by our organization, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, shows that in the Middle East Biden watched passively as Iranian proxies repeatedly attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. There were almost 100 such attacks in his first two years in office, with Biden only ordering retaliatory strikes five times. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, there were 165 Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. forces, and only another 10 U.S. responses, until an Iranian drone in Jordan killed three American troops.

But while Biden’s foreign policy has proven disastrous, Israel’s war against Hamas has been anything but. Nor have Israeli operations given any indication that Gazan civilians have been put at undue risk by the IDF.

In five months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel killed some 13,000 “terrorists” and perhaps wounded an equal amount, on a battlefield so complex that a West Point expert has called it “simply without precedent.” If Hamas figures of around 30,000 casualties are to be believed that is a terrorist-to-civilian casualty ratio of 1 to 1.3.

Meanwhile, it took the U.S.-led coalition roughly twice as long (nine months) to clear Mosul of the Islamic State, killing one-sixth the number of terrorists (some 2,000) but resulting in only slightly fewer civilian deaths (roughly 10,000) for a casualty ratio of 1 to 5. IDF casualties, at over 250, while high per capita, are lower than expected.

If Israel is to be criticized at all over its military conduct in Gaza, it is for not moving faster and taking Rafah earlier. But unexpected stuff happens in war, and we’re in no position to second-guess Israel’s war direction.

President Biden should take the same humble tack, and support Israel to the hilt. But if instead he continues to pressure Israel into abandoning its plan to eliminate Hamas in Rafah, the United States will be almost as big a loser as Israel.


Sadiq Khan calls for arms embargo on Israel
Sadiq Khan has called for an immediate halt on British arms exports to Israel.

The Labour Mayor of London said, “The government should be pausing all sales of arms to Israel.”

Speaking to left-wing social media outlet PoliticsJOE, Khan said he saw “no reason” for there not to be an immediate halt to all weapons exports to Israel from the UK.

Khan’s comments make him the first senior figure in the Labour Party who has called for the UK to stop its arms exports to Israel.

In the interview, Khan took aim at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “Rishi Sunak claims to be chums, best friends, [have a] special relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu . Where is the evidence we're using that influence to put pressure on the Israeli government?”

“I worry every hour this war goes on, forget every day, more innocent people are dying.”

The mayor pointed to the killing of seven aid workers in the World Central Kitchen convoy on Monday, “Foreign aid workers are now being killed by the IDF, it’s got to stop.”

Khan also referred to the legal advice that the government is said to have received on whether UK arms to Israel are being used to violate international humanitarian law.
Natasha Hausdorff interviewed by Sky's Jayne Secker
Natasha Hausdorff responds to the 3 April letter calling for an arms embargo on Israel and answers questions regarding international law and Israel's war against Hamas.


The Israeli-Palestinian 'Two State Solution'
Curiously, like President Joe Biden and his top national security officials, the ambassador [Martin Indyk] ignores a crucial element: radical Islam does not tolerate the existence of a sovereign non-Islamic entity (such as Israel) on land that once was conquered by Muslims (dar al-Islam, "abode of Islam"). As most Palestinians have been creditably straightforward about, there is no place for an Israeli state.

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." — Zuheir Mohsen, PLO official, Trouw, March 31, 1977.

Tangible land for intangible peace and billions of dollars will not change them -- just buy them bigger weapons. Only re-education can hope to do that, if it would work...

"What is a 'technocratic government'? It's a front for the terrorists and composed of nonprofit executives, academics, economists and others... and extracting foreign aid from them. Hamas will not officially be part of the puppet regime, but will control the puppets.... [B]ut while Qatar is helping assemble a new 'technocratic' front for the terrorists, the Moscow summit made it clear that the real agenda of the new government would be terror against Israel and the U.S." — Daniel Greenfield, Gatestone Institute, March 13, 2024.

"The 'technocratic government' will provide the Biden administration and other governments with the plausible deniability needed to go on funding terrorists. The Moscow summit revealed that a technocratic government will not end terrorism; it will disguise it, and it will not end the conflict, it will escalate it." — Daniel Greenfield, Gatestone Institute, March 13, 2024.

How can Israeli Jews believe that the recognition of a Palestinian state by the United States and other countries... will bring peace? These countries have no means of enforcing any commitments undertaken by "Palestine" in a potential peace treaty, and even less will to do so.

Recognition of "Palestine" as a state, even if it were supposedly "demilitarized," would enable it to enter into military alliances and "defense agreements" with whomever they chose -- China, Russia, Iran, all of them? Why would such a state not be used as a base, as in the PLO's 1974 "Ten Point Plan" of phases, from which to try to take "the rest"?

Equally alarmingly, the US has reportedly asked Qatar, Hamas's main patron since 2007, to operate a supposedly temporary pier in Gaza, currently being planned, to deliver supposedly "humanitarian aid"... one has to ask: What else will come in with the humanitarian aid? With Qatar in charge, "demilitarization" will likely last less than a week.

Those who want to recognize or impose a Palestinian state, knowingly or unconsciously, aim at Israel's destruction.

Peace will come when the Jews, the Americans and the Europeans support those fighting to preserve civilization, not to preserve terrorism.
What is David Friedman's plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
As Israel’s war against Hamas raged on and the Democratic administration of US President Joe Biden stepped up pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, David Friedman, who served as ambassador to Israel under the former Republican administration of Donald Trump, presented a new peace plan at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 22.

“Give up all the fantasies,” Friedman declared, adding that after Hamas’s October 7 attack, “there can’t be a two-state solution.” According to Friedman, “A Palestinian state is an existential threat to the State of Israel. A two-state solution is a dead letter; Israel has no margin of error, and the Palestinian leadership has proven unreliable as a peace partner.”

The plan, titled The Future of Judea & Samaria, was drafted by the Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength, a nonprofit established by Friedman dedicated to “expanding the Abraham Accords and actualizing the vision of Isaiah that nation shall not lift up sword against nation nor study war anymore.” The plan’s implementation would be spearheaded by the US, Israel, and Abraham Accord states. Under the proposal, Israel would retain sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley and maintain overriding security control, while Palestinians would have “maximum civil autonomy” in areas built up and largely funded by Gulf states.

Biden Must End Qatar's Malign Role in Gaza Ceasefire Talks and Pier
In one of the more high profile cases involving Qatar's financing of terrorism, the family of murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff claimed in a federal lawsuit in 2022 that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State "judge" who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.

The US moved its forces to Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base from Saudi Arabia in 2003, after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001. There seems no reason why it could not be moved once again to a country in the region that does not support terror groups.

Of even greater concern [than Qatar contributing $5.1 billion to US campuses since 1986], though, is the Biden administration's willingness to allow Qatar to play a prominent role in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and manage humanitarian aid delivered to a new pier being built in Gaza, even though Doha's negotiating status and that of a potential caretaker have been thoroughly compromised through its involvement in creating Hamas's terrorist infrastructure.

Given Qatar's well-documented support for Hamas, it is clear that no meaningful resolution of the Gaza conflict is possible so long as Doha is continuing with its efforts to negotiate a settlement that is favourable to Hamas, one that would enable the terrorist movement to remain in control of Gaza, or that Qatar should operate, or indeed have anything to do with, the delivery of "humanitarian aid" to what seems planned as Hamas's new beachhead.

Rather than allowing Qatar to continue playing its double game, where Doha pretends to be a close ally of the West while at the same time sponsoring terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Taliban, the Biden administration needs to wake up to the real threat Qatar poses to the security of the Middle East, and concentrate its efforts on negotiating a ceasefire deal and finding a custodian for Gaza and its new pier that do not require Qatar's malign involvement.


Aussie taking on UNRWA
An Australian oleh is at the centre of the first UNRWA-related lawsuit to be filed over the Palestinian refugee agency’s role in the October 7 Hamas massacre.

Arsen Ostrovsky (pictured), CEO of the International Legal Forum, is working with the National Jewish Advocacy Centre (NJAC) in the United States, which has filed a federal complaint on behalf of a group of survivors of the terrorist attack against UNRWA USA.

It is the first lawsuit seeking to provide accountability for UNRWA’s involvement in the massacre.

The lawsuit describes how UNRWA USA, the largest private donor to UNRWA, materially supported terrorism by “knowingly, actively, and systematically” operating a terrorist-financing scheme in violation of US federal law.

Evidence includes the UNRWA staff who participated in the onslaught, UNRWA allowing its facilities to be used for Hamas control and command centres, and for shielding Hamas’s tunnels.

“UNRWA has become an inseparable arm of Hamas and a systematic incubator of hate, incitement and terror,” Sydney-raised Ostrovsky, who made aliyah in 2012, said.

“We are not talking about ‘a few rotten apples’. The entire organisation is rotten to the core and infested with terror. As their primary non-governmental fundraising platform in the United States, UNRWA USA must be held accountable for helping underwrite the mass slaughter, rape and abductions by Hamas on October 7.”


IDF chief: Only military pressure will bring the hostages home
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday that a hostage release deal with Hamas will only come as a result of military pressure.

Addressing IDF commanders in the former Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, Halevi said, “We are pressing to deepen the achievement” of the military operation in Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, “and we are pressing to try to initiate movement in the negotiations, to bring about an agreement for the release of the hostages.”

This, he continued, was “a top priority, very important.”

The hostages’ release will only be attained “through stronger pressure,” he said, adding, “and we will press harder, as much as necessary.”

“Another [Hamas] battalion dismantled, another commander killed, another infrastructure destroyed, this is the way to eventually pressure for the release of the hostages,” he said.

Israeli forces continue to fight across the Gaza Strip nearly six months into the war. They are preparing to enter Rafah city along the Egyptian border, the last Hamas bastion. According to Israeli estimates, the final four Hamas battalions, comprising some 3,000 terrorists, are concentrated there.

For its part, Hamas said on Wednesday that the terrorist group will not budge on its demands for a ceasefire agreement, including a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Doha under the protection of the Qatari government, commented in a televised speech ahead of “Quds Day” on Friday that the terrorist group would not change its conditions for a deal, which Jerusalem has described as “delusional” and a nonstarter.
White House: Israel Is Living Next to a Genocidal Threat from Hamas
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said Wednesday: "While we take issue with aspects of how [IDF] operations [in Gaza] are being conducted...we also continue to believe and continue to act on the belief that Israel has a right to defend itself against a still-viable threat by Hamas. They still have every right and responsibility to their people to eliminate that threat after the 7th of October. And so, that support for Israel continues. No country should have to live next door to a threat that is truly genocidal, as Hamas has been....Israel is going to continue to have American support for the fight that they're in to eliminate the threat from Hamas."

"Israel has a right to defend itself. Maybe not everybody believes that, but they do. And maybe not everybody believes that they're living next to a genocidal threat, but they are. And so, we're going to continue to support them. No country should have to live like that. No country should have to be attacked, like they were on the 7th of October, with 1,200 people slaughtered."
U.S.: The IDF Did Not Attack a Hospital, They Attacked Hamas Fighters Hiding Inside a Hospital
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday: "I don't know why I don't hear more people calling on Hamas to stop going into hospitals. You shouldn't have to clear Hamas from a hospital once, let alone twice....Israel has said what they tried to do is protect patients and not operate in places when there are patients, to evacuate people from the hospital, and only operate in a way that would impact the Hamas fighters that were there. Obviously, it's an incredibly difficult situation. There shouldn't be terrorists in a hospital at all....I would think everyone could conclude that Hamas should not be inside a hospital." "Do not believe that this attack was on the hospital. The attack was on the Hamas fighters that are hiding inside a hospital....some place that they should never be....I don't think there's anyone who has cause to dispute that yes, there were Hamas fighters hiding in al-Shifa Hospital - again, not for the first time."
White House: "Hamas Should Not Be Operating Out of Hospitals"
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday: "Hamas should not be operating out of hospitals - we have said that over and over again - and putting civilians at risk. That's what we're seeing....This just points to how challenging Israel's military operation is because Hamas has intentionally embedded themselves into civilian infrastructure, into these hospitals....We also have to call out Hamas here. They are operating out of hospitals. That's what they're doing."


GPS jamming wreaks havoc for Israelis using location apps
Numerous drivers in central Israel report that navigation apps like Waze, Google Maps and the taxi pickup app Gett are suddenly showing their locations in places they are definitely not—including as far away as Beirut, Lebanon.

Other GPS-reliant services such as the Wolt delivery platform are sometimes exhibiting the same bizarre location errors, falsely placing couriers in areas like Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Israel Hayom reported.

The disruptions appear to be an extension of the IDF’s ongoing GPS jamming operations in the north amid heightened conflict with Hezbollah in that region.

However, the Israeli military has yet to comment on the situation.

“I was trying to navigate to a meeting in Petach Tikvah, but Waze had me supposedly driving around downtown Beirut,” Tel Aviv resident Yuval Barak said. “I restarted the app several times but it kept showing me in Lebanon.”

And passengers on the Tel Aviv Light Rail said that they couldn’t pay for their trips using the popular Moovit app since it couldn’t correctly pinpoint locations, Channel 12 reported.

At the same time, reports have been received that mobile phones with smart locks opened and closed by themselves.

Disruptions to GPS were also reported in central Israel last Thursday.

“The disruptions are an effective tool to confuse a weapon that [uses] GPS [to navigate],” the former head of the national cyber system, Yigal Ona, told Ynet.

“Like any strong medicine, it has side effects, and in the meantime, I suggest going back to the maps once in a while. It can be managed. It’s not an attack—it’s a defense,” he said.


Israeli wounded in Gan Yavne terror attack dies
One of three Israelis wounded on Sunday night in a terror attack at a mall in the southern city of Gan Yavne has died, Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital announced Thursday.

Lidor Levi, a 34-year-old software engineer, is survived by his pregnant wife and a six-month-old daughter. He is also survived by his parents, a brother and a sister.



“Lidor was an amazing father, spouse, brother and son. He was a person full of love, nobility and self-sacrifice. He was an anchor for his family and a role model for those around him,” his family said in a statement.

“The goal of his life was to help people, quietly and with humility. Lidor leaves a gaping hole in our hearts. We will continue to live according to the values he instilled in us, for his remembrance,” the statement continued.
Arab plot to assassinate Itamar Ben-Gvir with an RPG thwarted
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) thwarted a plot to kill National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir using a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) or other means, the agency said on Thursday.

Seven Arab Israelis and four Arabs from Samaria were arrested over the conspiracy.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police were also involved in the investigation.

According to the Shin Bet, the cell also planned to attack Ben-Gurion Airport, the government complex (Kiryat HaMemshala) in Jerusalem’s Givat Ram neighborhood, Israel Defense Forces bases and other sensitive sites and the town of Kiryat Arba in Judea. In addition, the suspects planned to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

“Within this framework, there was even an intention to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, by obtaining an RPG missile in order to carry out the attack,” the Shin Bet said.

Ben-Gvir responded to the foiled plot, thanking the security services and saying it would not stop his work as security minister.

“My message to those terrorists: I am of course not deterred, just the opposite. I will continue to lead the Israel Police to a determined policy in the fight against terrorism, its aides and supporters, and the Prison Service to treat terrorists as they deserve,” Ben-Gvir said.
Bulgarian police uncover weapons cache linked to 4 Hamas suspects arrested in December
Bulgarian police have uncovered a stash of weapons linked to four suspected Hamas members arrested in Germany and the Netherlands in December, according to German media reports and AFP sources.

Three suspected members of the Palestinian terror group were arrested in Germany and one in the Netherlands on December 14 on suspicion of making preparations for an attack against Jewish targets in Europe.

German prosecutors said at the time that the four men had been gathering weapons to be “kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe.”

Der Spiegel magazine reported yesterday that police had found photos of pistols, ammunition and magazines on a mobile phone belonging to one of the men, which led investigators to a stash of weapons buried under a pine tree in southern Bulgaria.

German sources confirm to AFP that a stash of weapons has been found in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian prosecutors and the interior ministry decline to confirm the report.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in January that the suspects were part of a Hamas network of operatives in Europe commanded by terror leaders in Lebanon.


JPost Editorial: Unintentional killings of WCK workers is tragic, but Hamas is still to blame for war
There are two main problems with Biden’s statement.

The first, as pointed out in a social media post by Jason Greenblatt, a former adviser to then-president Donald Trump on the Middle East, is that “saying that Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers and other civilians is simply untrue and reckless. It gives fuel to those who spread lies about Israel.”

The second is that the president does not once, in his 314-word statement, acknowledge Hamas’ responsibility for the entire situation. It is Hamas who attacked Israel; it is Hamas who is prolonging this war by not releasing the hostages and surrendering. Hamas terrorists are the ones who have both hidden behind and disguised themselves in the past as journalists, ambulance drivers, and humanitarian workers, thereby placing those genuinely acting in those capacities at risk.

All civilian casualties in Gaza, even those mistakenly caused by Israel, need to be laid at Hamas’ doorstep. Had Hamas not attacked on October 7, or had it released the hostages shortly thereafter and surrendered, none of this would be happening.

Israel will investigate and learn the lessons of this tragedy because this is what it does and because this is what is right. It does not need any prodding to do so. What Israel does need, however, is for the international community to rein in its hypocrisy and stop treating battle zones as crime scenes, something it only inexplicably seemingly does when the Jewish state is involved.
Israel’s top general says ‘misidentification’ led to airstrike that killed Gaza aid workers
Israel‘s top general late Tuesday issued a formal apology for a deadly airstrike on a humanitarian convoy in Gaza that killed seven aid workers, calling it a “grave mistake” that will be investigated by an independent agency. But whether that will be enough to address growing international anger over the strike is another question.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said the strike was not carried out with the intent of harming workers from World Central Kitchen, founded by Washington-based celebrity chef Jose Andres.

“It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night, during the war, in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” Gen. Halevi said in a statement. “The IDF works closely with the World Central Kitchen and greatly appreciates the important work that they do.”

The IDF has completed a preliminary inquiry into the incident. However, an independent agency will conduct a thorough investigation that will be completed in the “coming days,” Gen. Halevi said.

The Israeli army has established a Humanitarian Command Center to improve the way it coordinates with aid groups operating in Gaza, such as the World Central Kitchen. The IDF will take “immediate action” to ensure that more is done to protect humanitarian aid workers, Gen. Halevi said.

“This incident was a grave mistake. Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza,” he said. “We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of the WCK. We share in the grief of the families and the entire World Central Kitchen organization from the bottom of our hearts.”
Biden ridiculed for 'obvious hypocrisy' as he condemns Israeli airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza
Biden's comments on the incident quickly drew the ire of some individuals who blasted the president's remarks as hypocritical, since the U.S. conducted a drone strike in August 2021 that killed 10 civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan. The strike happened just days after the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members when ISIS terrorists detonated a bomb at an entrance to the Kabul airport.

"There's obvious hypocrisy there and lack of self-reflection," Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "I think it reflects the president's posture right now to be hypercritical of Israel whenever possible, as part of a sustained political warfare campaign against the Israeli government if there's an opportunity to amplify that criticism in order to make his left wing happier."

"The White House certainly knows that Israel is a democracy like the United States, that the Israeli military conducts itself in a moral and lawful manner and holds itself to the highest ethical standards, just like the United States military," he added. "And I think if we look back on what the U.S. response was to the mistaken strike in Kabul, I remember the face of the apology was not President Biden, but it was General [Kenneth] McKenzie."

Highlighting "confusing times" of war and pointing to the fact that McKenzie issued an apology for the deadly strike while taking ownership of what took place, Goldberg said: "When you are a democracy, your military will make mistakes."

"What separates democracies from our adversaries is the willingness to be transparent and own the mistake and apologize for the mistake, investigate how it happened, and try to find if there's a way to prevent it from happening again in the future," Goldberg said. "Our enemies like to see more deaths, they take advantage of events like these to amplify their narrative. Hamas is celebrating this strike while Israel is reeling from it. The contrast is striking and telling of who's our friend and who's not."
Israel Takes Responsibility. Who Else Does?
On Tuesday a news alert from the Journal said, "Israel has taken responsibility for a strike that has killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu said it was unintentional."

War is hell. Everyone knows that. Accidents are bound to happen, and when they do, political spinmeisters step forward to deny, deflect, delay and distract. Not here. Israel has taken responsibility. What a contrast with its adversary. The only thing Hamas takes responsibility for is doing what it loves: spreading terror and delivering death. It doesn't take responsibility for the human calamity it has unleashed on its people.

No. Hamas pushes all responsibility for the suffering of Gazans onto Israel, onto Jews and Americans. Hamas is always innocent, when, in fact, it killed 1,200 people in a single day. Israel is engaged now, as always, in a fight for survival. Often lied about, Israel nevertheless respects the rules of war. It fights with precision and restrains its soldiers to protect the innocent. It provides food and aid to its enemy. It owns up to its mistakes.
Derrick Van Orden blames Hamas for deaths of World Central Kitchen workers
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) is blaming Hamas for the deaths of humanitarian aid workers in Gaza, who died in an Israeli strike, instead of Israel.

On Monday, seven aid workers from Chef Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen were killed in an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces. Following the deaths, the World Central Kitchen paused operations in the area and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the situation a “tragic case.”

Van Orden, who spoke to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday from Israel, defended the Jewish state, arguing that war is not a “precise science” and that people who “you do not intend to get killed” will die.

“In no way, shape, or form did Israel target those relief workers,” Van Orden said. “But, everybody needs to remember that there was a ceasefire Oct. 6. It was broken on Oct. 7 by Hamas savages.

“So those aid workers are dead as a direct result of Hamas attacking Israel. Period. End of story. Full stop,” the congressman continued. “Those aid workers would be alive today if Hamas had not attacked Israel on Oct. 7th. That is an undeniable reality.”
Moskowitz: We’ve Mistakenly Hit Aid Workers Too, We Did in Afghanistan
On Wednesday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) stated that the killing of several World Central Kitchen workers by an Israeli strike is a terrible tragedy that Israel needs to work to avoid repeating, tragedies like this happen in war, and the United States has had similar incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Moskowitz said, “I agree with President Biden that it’s a tragedy. These families now are broken. I’ve met with José Andrés. I used World [Central] Kitchen during COVID, when I was the director of emergency management. What they do [is] amazing work around the world in extremely tough areas.”

He added that while Israel has to examine how to avoid an incident like this isn’t repeated, but it also wouldn’t have happened if Hamas would accept a ceasefire, “this is something that, unfortunately, we’ve seen happen in war. It happened to us in Iraq. It happened to us in Afghanistan. But these families are irrevocably broken, empty rooms in their house, empty chairs at the dinner table. There’s nothing you could say, for people who were doing humanitarian work, putting their lives on the line, there’s nothing you could say to explain this away.”


José Andrés’ Moment of Crisis and Grief
The fame has brought occasional scrutiny. Late last year, a withering Bloomberg News story reported that as World Central Kitchen moved from responding to natural disasters to entering war zones, Andrés’ aversion to bureaucracy — credited with helping the organization remain nimble in the face of daunting challenges — also exposed its people to danger.

The investigation didn’t do much to dent Andrés’ public image: A month later, Nancy Pelosi and two other House Democrats nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize.

And unlike many people embraced by the former speaker, he hasn’t become the subject of an especially large right-wing backlash. Even in a polarized country, it’s hard to find many people opposed to charities feeding victims of war and calamity.

That’s even more true in the up-market Beltway precincts where Andrés’ restaurant patons live.


Celebrity Chef José Andrés, Looking for Answers, Returns to Anti-Israel Clichés
The question that Andrés and the world never ask is why aid needs to be delivered into Gaza at all — why Palestinian civilians are not allowed to evacuate outside Gaza, on a temporary basis, where they can receive food and aid directly. The answer is that the Arab and Muslim world are hostile to Palestinians, and ideologically committed to the idea that no Arab can leave their land, lest Israel claim it for itself. The Arab and Muslim world prefers Palestinians to suffer.

The blame for the suffering of Palestinian civilians belongs first and foremost to Hamas, which began the war, and still holds Israeli hostages. It is beyond comprehension that Israel is required to care for civilians in enemy territory, many of whom still support the terrorist organization that started the war. The fact that Palestinians are thus spared from the political consequences of their destructive choices perpetuates the conflict from generation to generation.

The idea that a different Israeli government would somehow have fought differently — a fiction sustained by the current Israeli opposition, which echoes the rhetoric of the U.S. Democratic Party — is absurd. If anything, the Netanyahu government has been too restrained, waiting two months to finish Hamas in Rafah. Andrés and the world will be able to deliver food safely in Gaza when Hamas is defeated and gone. That is the only humanitarian solution.


Hostages’ families call for increased military pressure on Hamas
Relatives of Israelis being held captive by Hamas in Gaza on Wednesday called on the Israeli government to launch a military operation in Rafah to destroy Hamas and bring about the release of the hostages.

“We have to finish this war. We cannot let Hamas rise again in Gaza and because of that we must win,” Tzvika Mor told JNS after a press conference at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.

Tvika’s son Eitan, 23, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7.

“We believe that the Israeli government is doing its best for us families of hostages. They want to release our loved ones. We trust them but we want to see the IDF defeat Hamas in Rafah,” added Mor, a co-founder of the Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages.

The group, an alternative to the larger Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has come out against the hostages’ families who joined forces over the weekend with anti-government protesters to push for the ouster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

In a statement issued Saturday evening, the Tikva Forum said that “a significant number of abductees’ families are shocked by the political activity.”

Instead, members of the Forum gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to share a message of unity.

“For three months, I have been hearing of a deal. The media make it sound like there really is a deal on the way, and the [Israel Security Agency] and everyone who is responsible for this chaos tell the prime minister that there is a deal on the way. I am telling you there is no deal,” said Yaron Or, whose son Avinatan was kidnapped from the Supernova festival along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani.

“Hamas has no plan to release anyone. We need to increase military pressure. I am calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to enter Rafah, go to the Philadelphi Corridor [a buffer area running along the Egypt-Gaza border] and exhaust them until they fall to their knees and release everyone,” he added.
‘It has been half a year’: Families of hostages mark six months of anguish
Sunday will mark six months since the October 7 massacre that saw at least 1,200 people murdered in Israel, thousands more wounded and some 240 snatched and held hostage in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. For the loved ones of the estimated 130 people who remain in captivity, it is impossible to comprehend why “every person in the world isn’t screaming, ‘Let them go’.”

The mother of a young Israeli man whose body was apparently seized and taken into Gaza on October 7 by a UNRWA worker has pleaded for his remains to be returned so she can say goodbye “for the last time”.

Jonathan Samerano, from Tel Aviv, was shot near the gates of Kibbutz Be'eri having fled from the terrorists at the Nova festival where the 21-year-old DJ had been partying.

CCTV footage from Be’eri released by Israeli officials appears to show a UNRWA social worker, Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, picking up Jonathan’s inert body, loading it into a vehicle and driving away.

In December, Jonathan’s mother, Ayelet Samerano, was told that the IDF believed her son was dead, though it was not clear if he had been killed on October 7 or had died in captivity in Gaza.

“I just want to say goodbye to my son for the last time,” said Ayelet recently, addressing the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv. “Whether he is dead or alive, he is still my son.

I want to say goodbye and kiss him for the last time.

“I don’t want to have to deal with Hamas. I want to deal with UNRWA because one of their workers kidnapped my son. And now the UN has to bring him back. They are meant to be a human rights organisation but they took my son. I hope one of them will hear me.”
The Red Cross did nothing for our son: Niva and Shai Wenkert | 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: Niva and Shai Wenkert,

Niva and Shai are the parents of 22-year-old Omer, who was abducted into Gaza by Hamas from the Nova Music Festival on October 7th.

00:00 - Introduction
01:32 - October 7th
04:13 - Kidnapping
05:41 - Looking for help
06:41 - The Red Cross
11:00 - Sign of life
13:15 - Relations with the government
14:24 - Hamas mentality
15:21 - Western reactions
16:22 - Family


Former Hamas hostage talks about viral video of being taken into captivity
The video of her kidnapping was among the most seen from October 7 — Amit Soussana, trying to fight off the gang of terrorists who dragged her into Gaza.

Now in a new documentary, Amit is breaking her silence about the violence and sexual abuse she endured in captivity.




The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Biden’s Incoherence Exposed
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Today we talk about the increasing failure of Joe Biden’s contradictory position on Israel. He’s now all but accused Israel of a war crime but will continue to supply it with weapons of war. Israel’s supporters are fed up with his rhetoric and Israel-haters are fed up with his policy. Moreover, his incoherence is inviting Iranian aggression. We also discuss the unique success of NATO as it turns 75 and what Mike Johnson may or not do to push Ukraine aid
.

Call Me Back PodCast: Is Gantz headed for the exit? with Anshel Pfeffer
Hosted by Dan Senor
On Wednesday, Benny Gantz announced he was calling for new elections to take place in September. What is the significance of this announcement? Is it a sharp turn for Israel’s Government? What are the implications for the war and the War Cabinet? What does it mean for the protest movement?

Anshel Pfeffer — who has covered Israeli politics, Israeli national security, and global affairs for over two decades — joins our conversation very late at night in Jerusalem. He is a senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and Israel correspondent for The Economist. Anshel is the author of the book: “ Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Dr. Phil, Mosab Yousef: Truth Behind Hamas; Unmasking Their Violent Intentions | Dr. Phil Primetime
In a groundbreaking episode of Dr. Phil Primetime, Dr. Phil McGraw sits down with Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a notorious Hamas leader, to reveal the hidden truths behind one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations. With exclusive access and unprecedented insight, this interview delves into the heart of Hamas' violent intentions and the personal journey of one man caught in its web.




The Israel Guys: Why is the US Administration Making Friends with Terrorists?
You may have heard that the Palestinian Authority’s government dissolved recently, even after not holding elections for nearly 20 years. Well, they finally formed a new government, even though I’m not sure it was legal, and the American administration can’t seem to help themselves in fawning all over them. Secretary of State Antony Blinken can’t stop talking about how excited the Biden Administration is to work with the new government. Unfortunately, he must have missed the fact that several of the new ministers in the government are terrorist supporters…..




Israel deserves ‘credit’ for disclosure of Gaza strikes on aid workers
Former US Army vice chief of staff General Jack Keane says Israel should get some “credit” for quickly disclosing their misdirected attack on aid workers in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong expects Israel to ensure there is a “full, transparent investigation” and “full accountability” after their attack in Gaza killed Australian Zomi Frankcom.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is demanding “full accountability” and has called on the Israeli Ambassador to Australia to explain.

“They admitted that was a mistake, they apologised for that mistake, and they are conducting an investigation,” Mr Keane told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“Nothing like that happens with Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the other proxies in the region who go out of their way to intensely kill civilians.”


Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong slammed for Israel rhetoric ‘embarrassment’
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have gone “much too far” in their rhetoric towards Israel.

The Foreign Minister expects Israel to ensure there is a “full, transparent investigation” and “full accountability” after their attack in Gaza killed Australian Zomi Frankcom.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is demanding “full accountability” and has called on the Israeli Ambassador to Australia to explain.

“What they’ve been saying is a disgrace, frankly, and it’s an embarrassment,” Mr Downer told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“They call on Israel to stop fighting, but they don’t call on Hamas, which is a terrorist organisation, to cease attacking Israelis.

“All the condemnation is directed at Israel and entirely for political reasons.”




Hamas has ‘added to the humanitarian toll’ by embedding itself amongst civilians
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham says Hamas started the conflict with Israel through its “tragic killing and slaughtering” of innocent Israeli civilians.

Mr Birmingham told Sky News Australia that Hamas has “added to the humanitarian toll” of the conflict.

“By the way in which it embeds itself in civilian infrastructure across Gaza.

“The way in which it uses innocent people as human shields.

“This conflict could come to a much quicker end if Hamas were to release the many hostages they still hold.”


‘Silence from the left is deafening’: Language used over the war in Gaza is ‘disturbing’
The silence from the left concerning the actions of Hamas in the war in Gaza is “deafening”, says Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.

“It is tragic what’s happened to this humanitarian aid worker,” she told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“I’m sure there has to be an investigation but we need to look at this from a broader context.

“The silence from the left is deafening – not just from the media but also from the government.

“The language has been, in my opinion, rather inflammatory and quite frankly disturbing.”


Brazil’s president falsely claims 12.3 million children have died in Gaza during war
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claimed on Wednesday that over 12 million children have died in Gaza and Israel due to the nearly six-month war.

Citing documents circulating online, the leftist leader said that "12.3 million children died in the Gaza Strip and in Israel because of the war," speaking at a government conference on the rights of children and adolescents in the capital Brasilia, Israel's Army Radio reported on Thursday.

The combined population of Israel and Gaza in 2023 was around 11 million. The figure cited by Lula is also about 375 times the number of deaths in Gaza put out by the Hamas-run health ministry during the war, which itself doesn't distinguish between combatants and noncombatants and whose accuracy has been questioned by experts.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Lula persona non grata in February over his comparison of Israel’s war against Hamas to the Holocaust.

Katz, the son of Holocaust survivors from Romania, told Brazil’s Ambassador Federico Mayer during a hastily arranged tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem that Israel “will not forget and we will not forgive” until the president expresses contrition for his words.

“I want to tell you here that the remarks made by President Lula when he compared the just war of the State of Israel against Hamas which murdered and massacred Jews and Hitler and the Nazis are an utter disgrace, and a severe antisemitic attack on the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” Katz told the ashen-faced ambassador at the Holocaust Memorial.

“In my name—and in the name of all Israeli citizens—tell President Lula that we will not forgive him and that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements and apologizes.”


Jason Greenblatt: The Hate of Anti-Israel Protesters
The anti-social nature of this hate-fest has its origins in the pro-Hamas demonstrations that have sprung up around the country.

These agents of chaos have long spread hate and instill fear on university campuses across the country, where they have not faced serious consequences for pulling the same stunts they do now.

Emboldened, they treat our neighborhoods like new campuses to conquer.

Now they are targeting towns with large Jewish populations.

Teaneck, which has one of our nation’s largest Jewish populations — which, like nearly all Jewish communities globally, is also overwhelmingly pro-Israel — has become a favorite target.

This is especially — and sadly — ironic to me as a former diplomat who has spent years traveling the Mideast.

When I travel through the Mideast, even now, I meet many people who disagree with me, often strongly, about Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians.

But no one there has tried to shout me down, call me horrible names, accuse me of crimes, or display Jew-hatred.

To me, that reveals something important about those who did exactly those things in Teaneck. Those who I see and interact with in the Mideast are builders.

They are trying to construct a future of hope, stability, safety and prosperity.

They are willing to engage respectfully.

The chaos agents who visited Teaneck are destroyers.

They think that to achieve their ends, they must tear the social fabric that holds Americans together, turn communities against themselves, and trash the values that have allowed Americans to flourish together for so long.

They act destructively because they seek destruction.
Charity bankrolling London Ramadan lights funded extremism-linked group
The charity that funded London’s Ramadan lights is bankrolling a media watchdog run by a group which is boycotted by the government over its alleged links to extremism, the JC can reveal.

The lights in Oxford Street and between Piccadilly and Leicester Square were switched on before Easter by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who described the presence of Jewish and other faith leaders as a sign of “hope” amid rising hate in the capital.

The event was attended by Board of Deputies vice-presidents Edwin Shuker and Amanda Bowman, as well as interfaith activist Laura Marks.

Yet the charity behind the lights, the Aziz Foundation, funds the Centre for Media Monitoring, run by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which has been boycotted by the Conservative government since 2015.

The current deputy chief of the MCB praised Hamas’s founder during a visit to Gaza as a “holy warrior” and has hosted a cleric who compared Jews to pigs and monkeys.

The MCB’s deputy general secretary, Mohammed Kozbar, visited the grave of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2015 when he travelled to Gaza and met leaders of the terror group.

At the time, Kozbar praised Yassin as “the master of the martyrs of resistance, the mujahid [holy warrior] sheikh, the teacher”.

In addition, the Aziz Foundation supports an “Islamophobia Response Unit” that was originally set up by Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend), a campaign group accused in the Commons of extremism.

The Response Unit is now an independent organisation. One of its current trustees has called Israel a “terrorist state” that should be shunned like North Korea.


Student ‘assaulted’ at protest outside Chabad
In a tense protest Tuesday night, pro-Palestinian protestors “assaulted” an Emory University School of Law student in front of Chabad at Emory’s house. The protest began around 6:30 p.m., with pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered around the front entrance with signs and Palestinian flags.

Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) helped organize the protest in response to Emory Chabad hosting an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Reservist Commander for dinner and a talk. The Consul General of Israel to the Southeastern United States, Anat Sultan-Dadon, was also in attendance.

The law student, who requested to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, brought his car adorned with American and Israeli flags to the Chabad house parking lot. The student said he was holding an Israeli flag at the Chabad fence when the assault occurred.

“Multiple guys came up to me from the bottom [of the fence], and they reached through the fence to grab the flag because I was on my side of the line,” the student said. “They punched me in the stomach, grabbed the flag and started a back and forth, and then one of them spit at me. And then I went to the cops, and apparently one of the guys that engaged in that had flashed his gun that he was carrying.”




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