Monday, April 15, 2024

04/15 Links Pt1: Strangling Israel slowly; Iran Pre-Coordinated Its Attack Against Israel With The U.S.; How Did the War Begin? With Iran’s Appeasers in Washington

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Strangling Israel slowly
What country other than Israel would be told by the so-called civilised world that it must not respond to an onslaught of more than 300 cruise and ballistic missiles and armed drones fired at the entire country?

If a minute fraction of such an attack were to be mounted against America or Britain, they would declare themselves at war and destroy the enemy before it could attack them again. It’s only Israel that is not to be allowed to defend itself in the same way.

After Sunday night’s attack, in which Iran stopped hiding behind its proxies and revealed itself openly for the first time as the actual enemy of Israel and the free world, Israel reportedly intended to attack Iran but was stopped by US President Joe Biden in a phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden’s public comments through his spokesman were grotesque. Israel, he said, should “take the win”and not “escalate tensions” with Iran since the attack had caused minimal damage and casualties as a result of Israel’s “military superiority”.

So because Israel fended off that attack it must now do nothing against Tehran and wait for Iran to attack it again? Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles pointing at the whole of Israel. They are fast and accurate, and the fear is that Hezbollah will unleash so many they will overwhelm even Israel’s effective defences.

Does the Biden administration need to see a few thousand Israelis killed in skyscrapers if missiles get through to Haifa or Tel Aviv before it comes to its defence again?

Deterrence does not mean being able to defend yourself against attack. Deterrence means deterring an attack in the first place. Biden’s prohibition would destroy the very concept of Israeli deterrence and allow Iran to continue to tighten its ring of proxy fire around Israel in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen — and Gaza (where Biden wants Israel to submit to a Palestinian terrorist administration after the war).
Michael Oren: How Did the War Begin? With Iran’s Appeasers in Washington
Historians will survey this inexplicable record and wonder how the United States not only allowed Iran to repeatedly assault its citizens, soldiers, and allies but consistently rewarded it for doing so. They may well conclude that in a desperate effort to avoid getting dragged into a regional Middle Eastern war, the U.S. might well have precipitated one.

While America’s friends in the Middle East, especially Israel, have every reason to feel grateful for the vital assistance they received in intercepting Iran’s missile and drone onslaught, they might also ask what the U.S. can now do differently to deter Iran from further aggression. Press reports about President Biden’s refusal to support an Israeli counterattack against Iran indicate, sadly, that nothing substantial in the U.S. position has changed. He has reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see the coordinated response to the attack as a “win.”

The Iranians, though, will not see things that way. Tehran will see this weekend’s direct attack on Israel as a victory—their own—for their ability to continue threatening Israel and destabilizing the Middle East with impunity. If Israel follows Biden’s advice it will send one message to the ayatollahs: “You can launch another 350 missiles and drones at Israel or try to kill Israelis by other means. Either way, the United States won’t stop you.”

Israel, of course, must respond differently. Our target cannot simply be the Iranian proxies that surround our country and that have waged war on us since October 7, but, as the Saudis call it, “the head of the snake.”

The story of America can end only one of two ways: either it stands up boldly against Iran and joins Israel in deterring it, or Iran emerges from this conflict once again unpunished, undiminished, and ready to inflict yet more devastating damage.
Seth Mandel: Why Weren’t Iran Sanctions Immediately Triggered by the Attacks?
On Sunday morning, barely twelve hours after the conclusion of Iran’s unprecedented missile barrage on Israel, White House spokesman John Kirby was asked on Fox News Sunday about the Biden administration’s recent decision to waive some sanctions on Iran.

“You know the conversations about unfreezing assets, about waivers on sanctions,” Shannon Bream began. “Could this administration have been tougher on Iran? Did it sense an opening?”

Kirby responded: “It’s hard to look at what President Biden has done with respect to Iran and say that he hasn’t been tough on Iran, or that we haven’t put pressure on them.”

Is it? Because it seems to me that if the administration was prepared militarily for the Iranian attacks Saturday night, and if the president doesn’t want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retaliate, then a punishment of some kind could have been ready to be instituted immediately, and certainly two days later. At the very least, it would have been easy for the president to cancel the recent sanctions waiver.

It is certainly not the case that sanctions are somehow off the table, at least conceptually. “Biden on Sunday convened leaders from the Group of Seven nations, who said they would consider new sanctions on Iran,” reports the Wall Street Journal. The Journal article, like most of the reporting since the attacks, stressed that the president wants a diplomatic response. It is also clear from the statements that Biden considers sanctions a plausible contribution to such a diplomatic response.

So, where are the sanctions?

The Germans don’t seem to be an obstacle here. “I am strongly in favor of extending [sanctions] to Iran, because we can see how dangerous its actions are at the moment,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

Would the British consider more Iran sanctions? “Yes, absolutely,” says Foreign Minister David Cameron. “We already have 400 sanctions on Iran. We put in place a whole new sanctions regime at the end of last year, which is proving very effective. We’ve sanctioned the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in its entirety, and we’ll continue to look at what further steps we can do.”

Great. So once again, where are they?

Were the allies waiting to see how much damage was done by the Iranian missiles and drones? If so, that’s an indication that no, there will not be sanctions immediately forthcoming. And there is evidence for this idea that the seriousness of the attack would only be judged by the seriousness of the damage it caused. It’s an absurd scale on which to weigh a response because, like spritzing a misbehaving cat with water, it loses its effectiveness if not done right away. The West had the ability to ensure that this case would be more like touching a hot stove: Iran would immediately feel the burn, triggering a response that was basically automatic.

Having the debate over sanctions now—or any retaliative measure, to be honest—only makes it seem as though you can escape punishment by attempting and failing to murder lots of people.


Col Kemp: Israel needs the unequivocal backing of its allies after Iran's despicable attack
On Saturday night I witnessed the most intensive aerial assault I have seen against Israel. To the soundtrack of thunderous explosions, the sky over Jerusalem was lit up with Star Wars-like air defence projectiles colliding with Iranian missiles. But Iran’s historically unprecedented attack was a total failure, with the overwhelming majority of killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles knocked out of the sky before even entering Israeli territory. As well as 300 air weapons fired from Iran, projectiles were launched by Tehran’s proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, again without success. The total effect of this massive bombardment was the severe wounding of a child and only minor damage to an IDF air base. Nevertheless it is important to recognise this was not a symbolic attack designed to fail. That would have been done with far fewer missiles and drones. The response to this strike should be commensurate with Iran’s clear intent: to hit hundreds of targets and kill hundreds of people.

Yet President Biden has told Prime Minister Netanyahu that he should consider this “a win”. In other words: take it on the chin. Did Biden pressure Ukraine not to respond to Russian missile strikes on it territory? No he did not and such a call to Israel now is preposterous. It is exactly this approach from the start of Biden’s presidency that has led us to where we are today — consistently appeasing Iran and responding with abject feebleness to repeated attacks against US forces.

Of course the ayatollahs ignored Biden’s hollow warnings in recent days not to attack Israel and of course they have now directly threatened the US not to get involved in any Israeli retaliation. Lining up with Biden’s timorous message Iran’s military mission to the UN has said that, with its strike on Israel, “the matter can be deemed concluded”. But it is far from concluded. Iran has repeatedly confirmed its intent to annihilate the Jewish state and has constructed a “ring of fire” of proxies surrounding Israel to achieve that. Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on 7th October was part of this monstrous design. As are the daily rocket attacks against Israel since then by its proxy Lebanese Hizballah. Israel’s strike against Iranian generals in Damascus on 1st April eliminated the top level controllers and facilitators of those attacks, who will of course be replaced.
Bonnie Glick: America’s Moral Authority Is at Stake in Gaza
We also cut funding to UN agencies that operate at odds with U.S. national and moral interests including UNRWA, the standalone refugee agency whose sole job is to fund Palestinian so-called refugees. To be clear, the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) does not help Palestinian “refugees” lead safe lives in third countries as the much larger UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) does for refugees from every other country in the world. Rather, UNRWA’s mission is to keep Palestinians in a permanent state of dependency on the UN until the day they can overthrow the state of Israel and replace it with a one-state solution of Palestine.

Fast forward to 2021. USAID under the leadership of Obama’s former UN Ambassador, Samantha Power, reopened our closed USAID offices and found clever workarounds to allow funding to flow to Palestinians in violation of the spirit of the Taylor Force Act if not necessarily the letter of it. Power and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also turned the spigots back on for UNRWA and other UN agencies that had been defunded by Trump.

What makes USAID’s funding of Gaza relief efforts most disheartening is that it runs counter to American values.

How so?

On Oct. 7, Hamas gleefully perpetrated the most gruesome massacre on Jews since the Holocaust. The ensuing war launched by Israel to rout Hamas and free 253 hostages is what we are seeing play out on TV and computer screens. What we’re not seeing are the thousands of so-called “innocent” Gazan civilians who joined in the gang rapes of Israeli women and girls and who also massively plundered Jewish homes, stole cars, and kidnapped Israelis to hold for ransom or to sell to Hamas. I’ll repeat that. “Civilians in Gaza” sold Israeli hostages they kidnapped to Hamas.

The story of slave-trading is never told because it doesn’t fit the age-old narrative of Palestinian victimhood. It allows U.S. government officials like Samantha Power and Antony Blinken to forget who started the war in the first place as well as to ignore the 133 people, including 5 of our fellow Americans, who remain hostages in unimaginable circumstances in Gaza’s vast underground tunnel system (built by donor funds that were diverted from UNRWA to Hamas).

While playing victim, “innocent” Gazans have delayed Israel’s ability to win the war and free the hostages. This is part of Hamas’ strategy. They have also gained incredible traction in the public relations campaign against Israel. What Hamas cannot win on the battlefield they hope to win in the court of public opinion.

Hamas and its enablers in Qatar are keenly aware that in the minds of social media-addled youth and politicians, the loudest voice wins. We see that now as President Biden is perceived as capitulating to Hamas demands in order to secure votes in Dearborn. But a Pyrrhic victory in Michigan should not be the price America pays for a moral loss in Gaza.

USAID’s substantial reputation and budget are crown jewels in America’s national security toolbox. The gems have been tarnished by this administration’s misuse of them.

Israel may be alone on the battlefield, but poll after poll shows “the American people” stand with Israel. America’s assistance to the rest of the world, “From the American People” should reflect that and it should not be delivered to those seeking to destroy Israel.

Japan and Germany would not have changed their murderous path post-WWII if they hadn’t been utterly destroyed by the allies. The same is no doubt true of the Islamofascists of Hamas and their enablers in Iran and Qatar. The terrorists must be utterly destroyed, not enabled with assistance from America and the free world.
White House ripped over sanctions waiver that critics say put billions of dollars in Iran’s hands
The Biden administration is being blasted for allowing billions of dollars to allegedly flow into Iran under a controversial sanctions waiver — even after Iranian-backed rebels launched deadly air strikes against American forces and the Muslim country just directly attacked staunch US ally Israel.

Last month, the White House extended the waiver, a move that unlocked up to $10 billion more in frozen funds by enabling Iraq to pay the Iranian government for electricity services, according to critics and the Washington Free Beacon.

The Biden administration had already renewed the waiver program, which was established in 2018, in November.

The extended waiver was then set to expire again in March, but the administration reapproved it once more — just six weeks after three US service members were killed and dozens more injured in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan in late January.

This past weekend, Iran launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for an airstrike in Damascus earlier this month.

The State Department has long insisted such waivers are “necessary” while Iraq “weans itself off Iranian energy imports” and develops its domestic oil and gas production. The White House claims the unfrozen funds can only be used for humanitarian purposes.

“None of Iran’s money held in restricted accounts overseas has gone to Iran, and we have not freed up any cash to Iran. Any notion to the contrary is false and misleading.” the State Department told The Post in a statement Sunday.

“That money is held in restricted accounts overseas with strict oversight and in close coordination between the Departments of Treasury and State.”

Asked if plans are in the works to increase pressure on Iran through additional sanctions after Saturday’s missile strike, the State Department said, “We are in ongoing engagement with allies and partners, including at the G7, on ways to increase pressure on Iran, but we cannot preview or detail measures under consideration.”


Daniel Greenfield: Before and After, Iran Communicated Attack to Biden Admin
How many ways could Iran have announced its attack? We were being told beforehand in the media that Iran would attack in the next 36 hours. That’s the opposite of a conventional surprise attack.

And Iran passed on word to Turkey, whose terror regime is one of the backchannels being used by the Biden admin.
Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the Middle East was not in anyone’s interest.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the US) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said.

And then the ‘Swiss channel’ was used to convey information after the attack.
The United States learned that the Iranian strike on Israel was completed through Swiss channels, a senior administration official said Sunday.

A senior administration official told reporters in a briefing Sunday that the U.S. had a “series of direct communications through the Swiss channel” with Iran leading up to the attack. The official said Iran communicated through the Swiss channel that its strike on Israel was complete as the attacks were ongoing.

“We received a message from the Iranians as this was ongoing, through the Swiss. This was basically suggesting that they were finished after this, but it was still an ongoing attack,” the official told reporters.

Why bother doing all this? It’s coordination. It also means, as I’ve said before, that this is not the real attack. It’s a feint. A light show for publicity purposes. A test of U.S. and Israeli defenses. And a way to assure the Biden administration that its addiction to diplomacy still works.
MEMRI: Ayn Al-Asad Number Two – Iran Pre-Coordinated Its Attack Against Israel With The U.S. So That No One Will Be Hurt And War With Israel Will Be Avoided
To understand what happened last night during Iran's direct attack on Israel, one has to go back four years to the killing by the United States of Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Iran needed to react symbolically in retaliation to save face and asked to do so. The United States allowed it to attack its own Ayn Al-Asad airbase so that no one there would be hurt. Fifteen missiles were fired at the base, with the result being minor damage and not one drop of blood. Iran may deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for being able to fire 15 missiles without killing anyone.

Lt. Col. Staci Coleman, who was the commander of the 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron, and members of her squadron testified[1] that they had been briefed about an impending Iranian ballistic missile attack almost six hours before it happened. Captain Wesley Florez, the executive officer of the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, said that he had received information about the attack early the previous afternoon.[2]

Trump told Fox News in February 2024: "Do you know, we hit them [Iran] very hard for something that they did, and they had to hit back, they feel they have to do that and I understand that. Do you know, they called me to tell me 'We're going to hit a certain location but we're not gonna hit it, it's gonna be outside of the perimeter'... They let us know. And we had 16 missiles that went off... And we knew they weren't going to hit. And now I reveal it... So they aimed those missiles and they said, 'Please don't attack us, we're not going to hit you.' That was respect, we had respect."[3]

Iran's then-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Iranian regime had informed Iraq of its plans to launch missiles at the U.S. bases. This move guaranteed that Iraq would then inform the U.S., so that precautions would be taken to prevent the loss of life.

Now, let's come back to Iran's bombing of Israel last night. Iran wanted to retrieve its deterrence after the killing in Damascus of Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who, by Iran's own testimony, was the mastermind of the October 7 attack.[4] The U.S. then did to Israel what it had done to itself: It coordinated with the Iranians so that civilians would not be struck. Arab media are already reporting this coordination.[5] Iran made it easy for the U.S., Israel, Britain, and Jordan to know what it would and would not do, and where it would do it. Israel was not part of this coordination.


MEMRI: Arab Commentators On Social Media: Iran's Drone Attack On Israel Was Planned And Agreed-Upon By Iran, Israel, And The U.S.
Iran's April 14, 2024 direct attack on Israel, which included the launch of hundreds of drones and dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, sparked many responses on social media in the Arab world. Journalists and commentators, especially in the Gulf, claimed that the attack had been agreed-upon in advance by Iran, Israel, and the U.S., citing as evidence the minimal damage and casualties caused despite the scope of the attack. The writers mocked Iran and called its attack a "show" and a "farce" designed to save face.

The following is a sampling of these posts:
Saudi Writers: This Was A "Farce," A "Deception" And "A Storm In A Teacup"

Saudi researcher and security consultant Mohamad Al-Hadla, who is also a columnist for the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, posted on his X account: "The show ended when Iran said that its response was over, after [the launching of] these silly drones and missiles that never reached Israel and were nothing but a farce agreed-upon in advance, aimed at preserving Persian honor, which Israel tramples every day. [Iran] is unable to confront [Israel] directly because it is much too cowardly to operate against Israel without a [prior] agreement between them. Its might exists only to be showcased to the Arabs..."[1]

Saudi journalist Saleh Al-Fahid posted: "Iran's 'planned and agreed-upon' response has concluded. Israel has begun to reap the benefits of this attack: the U.S. is rallying around Israel, with military and political support for it and a deep commitment to its security. This comes after the U.S. administration and the European capitals took a hard line with the Israeli government and threatened to stop supplying it with offensive weapons."[2]

Khalid Aal Saud, a Saudi academic, wrote: "The curtain has closed on the farcical war between Iran and Israel. It is a very amusing show that should become a children's play."

Saudi journalist Fahd Deepaji mocked the Iranian response in a series of posts. One post read: "Iran announced that the attack was over before it began," and another added: "[This was] a storm in a teacup. That is: some pestering and shouting [by Iran], that resulted in no casualties or damage." Deepaji also posted an image captioned "The Reality," showing men in turbans sitting with men in kippahs, surrounded by various demonic figures, against the backdrop of a combined Iranian-Israeli flag, hinting at cooperation between Israel and Iran.[3]

Saudi writer Dr. Muhammad Al-Quaiz wrote: "Iran's hilarious response against Israel is nothing more than fireworks, and its [only] victims were in Jordan. The mountain has given birth to a mouse. This should have been worrying, but Netanyahu was not worried at all..."

In another post, he wrote: "Iran's revenge, which included drones and missiles... as agreed upon between Iran, America, and Israel, ended in the injury of an Israeli girl and the death of three Jordanians. This betrayal has several names [signed off] on it, primarily those of the resistance axis and its arms in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen."[4]


War Cabinet mulls time and place for ‘painful’ response to Iran attack
Israel might carry out a retaliatory attack on Iran as early as Monday night, three U.S. and Western officials told The Wall Street Journal, as Jerusalem’s War Cabinet wrapped up discussions on “painful” responses to the Islamic Republic’s drone and missile assault.

The War Cabinet discussed several possible military responses, with each of them designed to inflict pain on the Iranian regime while avoiding the expansion of a regional war.

The ministers also decided to explore options that the Biden administration would not block.

President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Saturday that Washington would not support an Israeli retaliatory attack. “You got a win. Take the win,” Biden said, according to reports that cited senior White House officials.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of the War Cabinet, told his American counterpart on Sunday night that the Jewish state had no choice but to respond to Saturday night’s unprecedented aerial attacks.

The Walla news site, citing a senior American official and a source privy to the conversation, reported that Gallant stressed to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Jerusalem could not accept a reality in which ballistic missiles are fired at Israeli territory without repercussions.
Israel’s allies urge it not to directly attack Iran, as war cabinet meets
Israel’s allies called on the IDF not to directly respond to Iran’s first-ever direct missile and drone attack against the Jewish state early Sunday morning, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the war cabinet to debate the proper response.

Israel has “every right to respond,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told LBC Radio on Monday morning, adding that Iran’s use of “ballistic missiles” on Sunday, “in a state on-state attack is a very significant move by Iran.

Despite this, he said, “We’re asking [Israel] as their friends to think with their head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough, to recognize Iran has failed and the best way to deescalate the situation is not to attack back.

“The best way to de-escalate the situation is not to attack back,” but rather to pivot back to Gaza to find a way to return the hostages, and conclude the Israel-Hamas war, he said.

Cameron said that he has spoken twice to his Iranian counterpart in the last seven days, about the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.

The UK was also part of a coalition of forces, including the US, French, Jordanian, and Israeli armies, that prevented 99% of the Iranian-launched missiles and drones from landing in Israel.

Iran has suffered a failure with Sunday’s attack, Cameron said.

“I think the best way to keep people in Israel safe is actually to recognize that an escalation.. is not in anybody's interest not in the interests of people in Israel,” he stated.


White House praises coordinated response to Israel’s successful defense against Iran
Hours after the United States helped defend Israel against an unprecedented Iranian missile attack on Saturday night, top Biden administration officials lauded Israel’s proven “military superiority” but urged Israel’s leaders to think “carefully and strategically” before taking any further military action against Iran.

In a Saturday night phone call from the White House Situation Room, President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon after the onslaught that Israel “really came out far ahead in this exchange,” a top White House official said Sunday — not just on Saturday, but also when Israel killed several top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Damascus, Syria, near an Iranian diplomatic complex earlier this month.

Biden “reaffirm[ed] America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” the president said in a Saturday statement after talking to Netanyahu. “I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.”

“Take the win,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to a report in Axios.

The senior White House official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to share sensitive details of the military operation, stopped short of directly telling Israel not to strike back at Iran.

“I’m just not gonna say that so definitively. I think it’s a calculation the Israelis have to make,” said the official, noting that the U.S. would not take part in any retaliatory attack on Iran. “I think the Israelis came out clearly very much on top and demonstrated their ability to defend their country, in coordination with us and others, [which] speaks for itself. And I think a big question is not only whether but what Israel might choose to do.”
America’s response to massive Iranian attack is vital
To prevent a repeat of Saturday night’s attack, to prevent a cycle of violence in which Iran and Israel and the entire Middle East are drawn into a war, the Biden Administration must change course immediately. It must impose crippling sanctions that make any military venture far too costly for Iran to contemplate and force it to choose between continuing to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, or functioning as a government in its own country.

The long-term policy of not just the US, but the entire free world, must be regime change in Iran. As long as the Ayatollah’s regime continues to exist, Iran will continue to be a threat to world security, not only the security of Israel. Until Iran is freed from the control of the Mullahs, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq will continue to be destroyed by Iran’s proxies. Hopefully, this can be accomplished without war, by supporting the people of Iran whenever they rise up against their autocratic rulers, as they have multiple times over the last 15 years, and as Obama refused to do when they turned to him.

A war against Iran may be inevitable no matter what the US or anyone does. Iran crossed a Rubicon by launching 300 missiles and drones at Israel. If the US continues on the path of the last three years and does nothing but restrain Israel, a war is definitely inevitable. Such a war would see Iran and its proxies at the height of their powers, resulting in the worst destruction. The only variable would be if this war occurred before or after Iran built nuclear weapons. The few missiles that got through the defenses Saturday night and struck southern Israel were ballistic missiles. If any of those missiles had carried a nuclear warhead, what would have happened is too horrible to even contemplate.

A weaker Iran, crippled by sanctions, would be far less likely to repeat Saturday night’s attack and far less likely to be willing to start a war. But if it does, this war would be less deadly and destructive than a war with an empowered Iran would be.

To do nothing, to let Iran get away with its attack and to continue to build its war machine, while building nuclear weapons, is the worst possible option. Because if next time, Iran launches missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, even an interception rate of 99% is nowhere near good enough.


Seth Frantzman: Israel warn that Iran confrontation is 'not over yet' | LBC analysis
Iain Dale speaks to Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at the Economist, and Seth J. Frantzman, a journalist with The Jerusalem Post, to discuss how Israel might react to Iran's missile attacks.

The attack is a retaliation for a strike that killed an Iranian military commander in Damascus - something Iran believes Israel carried out.

Following the overnight barrage of missiles and drones, the Israeli military claims to have intercepted 99% of the incoming projectiles, preventing them from hitting their intended targets.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, has said there was minimal damage but emphasised the need for continued vigilance and that the campaign is 'not over yet.

Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, has lauded his country's forces and stated that 'good will overcome the forces of evil.'




MEMRI: Telegram Channels Supporting Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Celebrate Iran's Attack As 'End Of Israel,' Compare It To Battle Of Khaybar
On the night of April 14, 2024, Iran launched a barrage of 170 attack drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles toward Israel, with 99% of them eventually intercepted by air defenses. According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, no drones or cruise missiles managed to enter Israeli airspace, while a few ballistic missiles penetrated Israel's defenses and struck the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, causing "slight damage."[1]

The attack came after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke on April 10, reiterating a promise to retaliate against Israel for its April 1 attack on the consular building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus. The attack killed senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi and 11 others.[2]

Khamenei's Promise Will Come True In "Historic Slap" To Israel
On April 14, the "Mido" Telegram channel, which supports Iran-backed militias in Iraq, released a poster depicting Khamenei flanked by drones and missiles marked with the Iranian flag. The poster's text reads: "His promise is true," along with the Arabic and English text: "The enemy will regret it and consider it a historic slap."[3]

Iranian Attack Will Be "The End Of Israel"
Another outlet supporting the Iran-backed Iraqi militias, "S-media," released a one-minute 43-second song titled "The True Promise." The video clip depicts missiles and drones being launched, smoke rising from Israeli military installations and infrastructure, and a burning Israeli tank, as well as Abu Alaa Al-Walae, commander of Iraq's Iran-backed Sayyid Al-Shuhada' Brigades, shown in front of a Shi'ite shrine and amid scenes of destruction and displacement caused by Israel in Gaza. The song's lyrics declare: "O those remaining from 'Ali or the steadfastness of Abu Dharr / O missiles of the men [seeking] death, revive them … Abu Alaa has said his word, which is enough … From your decision, spread out / On the enemy rain down / Fire your weapon, do not tire / The enemy's fire will dwindle / America's project has failed … Aim, repeat, you are the helper, purify your land from the occupier …"[4]

S-media's Telegram channel also posted an image of missiles being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome over an Israeli city, along with a quote from Quran 105:3-5: "He sent against them flocks of birds, that pelted them with stones of baked clay, leaving them like chewed up straw." In English, the poster reads: "The end of Israel. These are resistance missiles."[5]

Attack Compared To Battle Of Khaybar
Shortly before the missiles reached Israel, the "Sabereen News" Telegram channel posted an image of a man on horseback, his sword drawn and a lion running next to him, representing 'Ali bin Abu Taleb. The post stated in English: "Dear Zionist Jews, no sleep tonight by the order of Ali Ebn Abe Taleb['s] men."

Shortly afterward, the channel posted an image depicting slain Israeli soldiers on a battlefield with drones swooping down, as a Muslim army on horseback rides onto the battlefield and a man raises a heavy door with one hand. The poster reads: "Khaybar, Khaybar, o Zion,"[6] in a reference to the Battle of Khaybar, in which the Prophet Muhammad's army defeated Jewish tribes. According to Shi'ite tradition, 'Ali lifted the heavy doors of the Khaybar fortress from their hinges and made them into a bridge for the attackers to enter.
Saudi Arabia acknowledges helping defend Israel against Iran
Saudi Arabia acknowledged that it had helped the newly forged regional military coalition — Israel, the United States, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and France — repel an Iranian attack against the Jewish state early Sunday morning, according to a story on KAN News.

The story spoke of the Saudi involvement in the military defensive operation in which 99% of the Iranian drones and missiles were destroyed before hitting their targets.

Many of the drones and missiles had to travel over Jordanian and Saudi airspace to reach Israel.

A source connected to the Saudi Royal family told KAN that the country had a system to automatically intercept any suspicious entity in its airspace.

That source also charged that Iran had instigated the Gaza war, through its proxy group Hamas, to thwart US efforts for a Saudi normalization deal.
Saudi official says Iran engineered war in Gaza to ruin normalization with Israel
An unnamed official from the Saudi royal family tells the Kan public broadcaster that “any suspicious object” that enters Saudi Arabian airspace is intercepted, an apparent nod toward the kingdom’s alleged role in shooting down Iranian attack drones headed for Israel last night.

The Saudi official also criticized Iran for having “engineered a war in Gaza” in order to destroy the progress it was making in normalizing relations with Israel, Kan reports.

“Iran is a country that sponsors terrorism, and it should have been stopped a long time ago,” Kan quotes the official as saying.


FDD Morning Brief | feat. Amit Segal (Apr. 15)
Senior Director of FDD's Israel Program Enia Krivine delivers timely situational updates and analysis on Israel and the Middle East, followed by a conversation with Amit Segal, chief political correspondent and commentator for Channel 12 News, Israel's most popular and influential news outlet, and for Yediot Achronot, the country’s best selling newspaper. He joins from outside the Knesset to discuss the political landscape in Israel six months into the war against Hamas and Iran.




Ben-Dror Yemini: 'Don't mess with Israel': Middle East needs a paradigm shift
Instead of merely delaying the threat, perhaps we should leverage it to deal a significant blow to the Iranian regime. The global message that Israel is not to be trifled with has faded over time. Maybe it's time to reinforce that message. And not because Israel is seeking conflict, quite the contrary. But it might be more prudent to face a manageable crisis now than to risk an uncontrollable catastrophe in five or ten years.

Various groups such as Yemen's Houthis, pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Hamas from the Palestinian territories, don't pose an existential threat to Israel individually or even collectively. However, when Iran catalyzes these entities, the threat level escalates.

So, what's the course of action? To remain passive? To retaliate with weekly airstrikes in Syria? As long as these measures seemed to curb the threat, it made sense to evade a larger conflict. But that's no longer the case. Dodging confrontation may offer short-term peace but could result in a steep price in the long run.

In a different era, absent the extensive conflict we're currently witnessing, the notion of launching an offensive against Iran might have been deemed unthinkable. However, the present circumstances require a different perspective.

The United States has expressed its disapproval of Israel initiating an attack. Yet, in the current scenario, it's Iran that's openly threatening to attack Israel. This presents a ripe opportunity to establish a strategic alliance with the United States, as attempting to strike Iran without such coordination appears uncertain.

Is it possible to annihilate Iran? To put it mildly, based on several discussions with high-ranking officials who are likely in the know, the consensus leans toward affirmation. Israel still has some aces up its sleeve.

As long as Iran persists in intimidating Israel and instigating various terrorist factions, the crisis remains unresolved. With the incessant and intensifying threats, Israel's existence becomes increasingly untenable. This is a menace whose eradication is long overdue.


Iran Strikes Israel: JNS Play-by-Play Emergency War Briefing
What happened? Has the war entered phase 2? What will be Israel's next steps? What options does Israel have to respond? Will the U.S. permit an Israeli reprisal or attack Iran itself?

JNS CEO/Jerusalem Bureau Chief Alex Traiman and Military Affairs Correspondent Yaakov Lappin will give a play-by-play review and assessment of Iran's massive missile and drone attack on Israel, and the coordinated international effort to provide missile defense. They will analyze the context in which the attack occurred, its relationship to the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza and the escalating conflict with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.


European nations summon Iranian envoys over attack on Israel
Several European countries, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, summoned the Iranian ambassadors to their respective countries on Monday to convey their condemnation of Tehran’s unprecedented assault on the Jewish state.

The Iranian envoy “has been summoned to the foreign ministry this morning,” a spokesman for German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters. “alks are currently taking place.”

Berlin also said that Tehran’s unprecedented escalation “brought the Middle East to the brink of the abyss,” urging a diplomatic solution to “secure Israel’s defensive victory.”

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné told France 2 on Sunday night that he invited Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Aminnejad for a diplomatic dressing-down.

The latter was “reminded in the strongest terms” of Paris’s disapproval of the “irresponsible” attack, which it said “runs the risk of a conflagration,” per a statement that Paris issued after the meeting.

“These grave and unprecedented actions, which threaten the security of Israel and our partners and regional stability, must cease immediately,” Paris added. “France is working with its partners towards a de-escalation and calls for restraint from everyone.”

The top Netherlands diplomat, Hanke Bruins Slot, wrote on Sunday that she summoned the Iranian ambassador “to convey our condemnation regarding the dangerous Iranian attack on Israel.”


PMW: The blessing that was and the condemnation that wasn’t Unsurprisingly, Hamas welcomes Iranian attack while Fatah makes no condemnation of Jewish boy’s murder
The Palestinians presented their view of terror through the response by Hamas and the PA to two events this past weekend. One was the Iranian terror attack on Israel with hundreds of drones and ballistic/cruise missiles. The second was the Palestinian terror murder of a 14-year-old Jewish shepherd north of Jerusalem.

Hamas chose to welcome the Iranian terror attack as self-defense while the Palestinian Authority refused to condemn the Palestinian terror attack.
Hamas response to Iranian terror: “We at the Islamic Resistance Movement—Hamas—consider the military action taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Zionist occupying entity to be a natural right and an appropriate response to the crime perpetrated against the Iranian Consulate in Damascus and the murder of the IRGC commanders there.

We underscore the natural right of the countries and people of the region to defend themselves against the Zionist attacks. We call upon our Arabic and Islamic nation, the free nations of the world, and the forces of resistance in the region to continue supporting the Al-Aqsa Flood and the right of our Palestinian nation to freedom and independence as well as the establishment of our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

[Hamas Movement (Official), Telegram channel, April 14, 2024]

The Palestinian Authority, for its part, wrote an entire article condemning Israeli anger and violence in response to the murder of a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd boy, but never mentioned that the anger was in response to the murder, and certainly did not condemn it. It merely added at the end of the article:
“…Israeli sources announced yesterday that the body of a murdered settler was found between the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Duma.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 14, 2024]

It is also significant that Hamas’ justification of the Iranian attack on Israel was a copy of the Palestinian Authority’s justification of the Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Hamas said Iran’s attack was a “natural right” to defend itself.


Iran Attacks Israel: CNN’s Amanpour Minimizes Barrage & Fake News Goes Viral
Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel overnight on Saturday, launching at least 300 drones and missiles towards the Jewish state.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) coordinated with other militaries, including the USA and UK, to intercept most of the projectiles, which were also supplemented by further rockets fired from Iranian terror proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah also joined the assault and announced it had fired two barrages of rockets at an Israeli military base in the Golan Heights.

Fake News Goes Viral Overnight
As the skies above and surrounding Israel were lit up with rockets overnight, social media was also alight with fake news, videos and photos purporting to be of the extraordinary attack.

While the majority of outright false information came from users on the platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Qatari mouthpiece Al Jazeera was also caught publishing a video that it falsely claimed showed rockets hitting Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, infamous pro-Hamas influencer Jackson Hinkle was among the X platform users to share fake footage that he said showed “Israelis panicking” as the Iranian barrages hit Israel. BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh confirmed the video was actually of crowds in Argentina waiting to meet a musician.

Hinkle, who was recently banned from Instagram, posted numerous messages of support for Iran throughout the attack, including several posts praising Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and AI-generated images of planes dropping bombs.

Jackson Hinkle praise for Iran on X
Unsurprisingly, Iran’s state TV was behind the spread of many videos that purported to show catastrophic damage in Israel, including one that was actually of a fire in Chile that was filmed in February.


Slain Iranian general planned, executed Hamas’s massacre
The Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces –an organization with close links to Iran’s Supreme Leader— on Wednesday praised the late Iranian general Mohammad Reza Zahedi for his crucial role in the mass murder of 1,200 people in southern Israel.

Iran International reported that Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces (also known by its Persian acronym SHANA) honored Zahedi’s “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing the Al-Aqsa Storm."

Hamas called its mass rapes of Israelis and slaughter of 1,200 people "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm."

According to the Iranian dissident news organization, the statement by SHANA ”is the clearest admission of Iran’s involvement in the atrocities which saw 1,200 mostly civilians murdered and over 250 taken hostage, since terror group Hamas invaded Israel on October 7.”

Israel, according to foreign media reports, killed Zahedi and six other Iranian regime officials on April 1 with an airstrike against Iran’s consulate in Damascus.

The US-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) echoed the Iran International analysis, stating “This is essentially an official admission by a senior Iranian regime figure that Iran did indeed have a hand in the planning and execution of the October 7 attack.”

MEMRI noted "The Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces is headed by Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, who is advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as well as father-in-law to Khamenei's son Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei.




Bassam Tawil: Hamas Destroys Gaza, Now Trying to Claim That a 'Victory'
The prospect of Hamas declaring or celebrating "victory" worries not only Israel, but many Arabs -- including Palestinians -- who want to see the terrorist group completely destroyed and removed from power, but are often afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation.

"The continuity of Hamas's rule in Gaza is an ultra mega major disaster for the Palestinian people's aspirations, cause, hope for the reconstruction of the battered coastal enclave, and prospects for a new path forward to bring about progress, reconciliation, coexistence & peace." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, "Proud American from Gaza City; pro-Palestine, pro-peace, anti-Hamas", X, April 8, 2024.

Hamas, clearly buoyed by having the US on their side, has unsurprisingly hardened its position. It is now and is saying it wants Israel to make even more concessions.

Where is any US pressure on Hamas, Iran or Qatar?

"Yes, Hamas thanked the United States. When a terrorist group is thanking you, you're probably doing something wrong." — Joe Truzman, senior research analyst, X, April 9, 2024.

The Hamas terrorists have only been emboldened by the Biden administration's growing hostility towards Israel and its demand that Israel end the war, a move that would effectively be a surrender to Hamas.

"What victory are you talking about? Are you in your right mind? [Hamas has brought] complete devastation; thousands killed and displaced.... This is what the terrorist Hamas group, Iran's puppet, brought upon the people of Gaza. The leaders of Hamas defeated the people of Gaza and exterminated them without mercy." — Omar Shaybalras, X, April 9, 2024.

"Gaza has been destroyed, starved, slaughtered.... The people of Gaza are cursing Hamas, [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, and Iran.... The members of Hamas's armed wing use children as human shields." — Osama al-Ali ,member of the Palestinian National Council, the PLO's parliament-in-exile, television interview, X, December 7, 2023.

"As long as [Hamas leaders Ismail] Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar and [Khaled] Mashaal are alive, it is a victory for them, As for the destruction and the blood of the women and children of Gaza, it is a profitable enterprise as far as Hamas is concerned." — Abdallah Abou Aymen, April 9, 2024.
Hamas admits one-third of data on Gazan deaths is ‘incomplete’
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says it has “incomplete data” for one-third of the Palestinian fatalities it claims to have documented from its current war against Israel.

The acknowledgment in a report on the social networking app Telegram last week raises anew questions about the veracity of its casualty count from the war.

The April 6 report said that Hamas had “incomplete data” for 11,371 of the 33,091 recorded Palestinian deaths it claims, and is missing one or more key data points including identity number, full name, date of birth, or date of death.

In a report three days earlier, the ministry admitted the “incompleteness” of 12,263 records. It was not immediately clear why, after three more days, that figure dropped to 11,371.

Before its admissions of incomplete data, the ministry asserted that the information in more than 15,000 fatality records had stemmed from “reliable media sources.” However, the ministry never identified the sources in question and Gaza has no independent media.

David Adesnik, director of research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said, “The sudden shifts in the ministry’s reporting methods suggest it is scrambling to prevent exposure of its shoddy work.

“For months, U.S. media have taken for granted that the ministry’s top-line figure for casualties was reliable enough to include in daily updates on the war. Now we’re seeing that a third or more of the ministry’s data may be incomplete at best—and fictional at worst,” he added.
Hamas said to demand end of war at start of deal, would only free hostages in 2nd phase
Having rejected the terms of last week’s Cairo proposal for a hostage-truce deal, the Hamas terror group on Sunday reportedly presented mediators with a proposal of its own that requires Israel to end the war in the first, six-week phase of a three-phase process. No hostages would be freed in those first six weeks. Rather, all the hostages would be freed over the second and third phases, each of them also lasting six weeks, in exchange for large numbers of Palestinian security prisoners.

The proposal, whose terms are far more demanding of Israel than those put forward by US-coordinated mediators last week, further specifies that, during the initial, six-week phase, displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return unimpeded to northern Gaza, and the IDF would withdraw from all urban centers in the Strip.

According to the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, Hamas has submitted the proposal to the mediators. As of this writing, Israel has not publicly commented on it.

As reported by Al Jazeera and Israel’s Haaretz news daily, Hamas claims that it would utilize the initial six-week phase to locate all the hostages and ascertain their condition. Previous proposals since a weeklong truce in late November, during which 105 hostages were freed, have called for the release of some 40 “humanitarian” hostages — children, women, the elderly and the sick — during an initial six-week truce.

Hamas has rejected all such proposals and conditioned any further hostage releases on Israel ending the war, withdrawing all IDF forces and allowing displaced northern Gazans to return to their homes — demands Israel has rejected as delusional.

Hamas and other terror groups are believed to still be holding 129 of the 253 hostages abducted during its October 7 massacre in southern Israel, not all of whom are alive.

Under its new reported proposal, Hamas would release elderly and sick hostages, civilian women and female soldiers in the course of the second 42-day phase. The reports do not specify how many hostages this would amount to, but the designation would appear to potentially cover some 45 hostages.


Mavi Marmara 2: New aid flotilla to sail from Turkey to 'break siege' of Gaza - report
Turkey is set to send a flotilla to Gaza on Monday, bringing 5,500 tons of aid to "break the siege" on the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The flotilla itself is organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a group of 12 NGOs from countries such as the US, Turkey, and South Africa.

The organization is backed by Fehmi Bulent Yildirim, a Turkish humanitarian activist and president of the Turkish NGO IHH. In a press conference, Yildirim said the flotilla will include ships from Turkey, Lebanon, and Libya and will sail to Rafah after first docking at El-Arish in Egypt, Ynet reported.

According to a Globes report, the flotilla will also include Zwelivelile "Mandla" Mandela, the grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela, and Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

Ynet claimed that Turkish authorities would approve the flotilla, and the country's intelligence chief was involved in arranging it.

14 years after the Mavi Marmara flotilla
This would be the latest of many aid flotillas launched by Turkish groups to Gaza. The most notable of these in the past was the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010. At the time, Israeli commandos raided the ship and ended up killing several Turkish civilians who were part of the flotilla. The Mavi Marmara incident was a landmark moment in Israeli-Turkish relations, which became severely strained at the time and have yet to fully recover 14 years later.

That flotilla was also organized by IHH, with Yildirim himself having been on board. He was arrested by the IDF and deported.


Hezbollah claims attack that wounded 4 IDF soldiers
Four Israeli soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, in an explosion during operational activity in the area of the Lebanon border on Sunday night.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility, saying it placed several explosive devices along the border inside Lebanese territory, close to Kibbutz Adamit.

Two of the troops were moderately wounded and another was lightly wounded.

The soldiers were evacuated to an unnamed hospital and their families were notified.

They are from the Golani Infantry Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion and the Combat Engineering Corps’ Yahalom special forces unit and were in the vicinity of the border fence in the western sector.

Overnight Sunday, Israeli fighter jets attacked Hezbollah targets, including a launch site, terrorist infrastructure and military buildings, in the areas of Siddikine, Al Matmura, Lavona and Ayta ash Shab in Southern Lebanon.


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: The Iran Attack
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
A full house of COMMENTARY podcasters today as we try to reckon with the many possibilities relating to Iran’s repelled attack on Israel—and the fact that America now seems fixated yet again on holding Israel back rather than making Iran pay for its aggression. Give a listen.The Commentary Magazine Podcast




The Quad: Amb. Michael Oren: Biden Is Involved In A Blood Libel Against Israel
Following the mistaken bombing of the World Central Kitchen aid convoy, a dramatic shift in US policy towards Israel has taken place with Biden calling for an immediate ceasefire, a pullout of Israeli troops in Northern Gaza and more open criticism/pressure on Israel to end the war.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren talks to the Quad about the moral failure of the Biden administration as it vilifies an ally fighting for Western civilization, how Israel can successfully defend itself in the battle of public opinion and his optimism that this current Israeli generation can change the Jewish State for the better.

The Quad (Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Emily Schrader, Vivian Bercovici and Ashira Solomon) further unpack recent events of the killing of top Iranian general, the continued US/Israeli arguments about Rafah and Hamas saying they don’t have 40 living hostages. Is there hope for the hostages? Are we seeing the moral and political failure of US policy? Is the reaction to the World Central Kitchen fair?




Fetterman: Biden Shouldn’t ‘Capitulate to the Fringe’ of His Party on Israel
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Joe Biden should not “capitulate to the fringe” of his party on Israel.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “A senior administration official tells CNN that the President Biden, told Prime Minister Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran. Do you think that’s the right call or should direct U.S. military action, as some of your colleagues in the Senate are suggesting, should that be on the table?”

Fetterman said, “I don’t agree with that, I just think we should follow and have Israel’s back in the situation. I don’t agree with the president. That doesn’t change anything that he’s a fantastic president. I’m proud to stand with him and campaign for him and vote for him.”

Tapper asked, “Marco Rubio was just on the show and he said the White House leaking the fact that Biden told Netanyahu not to directly respond to take the ‘win,’ was offensive to him because it seemed to suggest that it’s Biden trying to appease the far left in his party. What’s your response?”

Fetterman said, “The president is entitled to his own views and whatever he decides to do. But I would never capitulate to the fringe. I’ll never pander to that as well. In fact, that empowers Hamas and Hamas, they’re actually convinced they’re winning the PR war. And they’re never going to negotiate at this point. They think that they’re going to hold onto the very end.”

He added, “And I know why they’re not willing to provide any kind of proof of life. And I don’t know why there’s not more of that conversation in the media, like what about the hostages? What’s happened to them? Where are they now? And let’s just bring them home. And then all of the harsh words should be directed at Hamas, which started this. And now continues to hold all of over 100 Israeli hostages.”


The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Israel Successfully Defeats Iranian Attack (350 drones & ballistic missiles)
In a massive, unprecedented attack, Iran fired more than 350 ballistic and cruise missiles, drones and UAVs toward Israel on Saturday night.




Australia must show ‘explicit’ support for Israel
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham says Australia must show “explicit” support for Israel.

Mr Birmingham’s remarks come as the world reacts to Iran’s aerial bombardment of Israel.

“We should be clear in standing with Israel,” he told Sky News Australia.

“We have seen that clearly from President Biden, from other G7 leaders.

“It hasn’t been as clear from the Albanese government.”


Lord Cameron resists calls to proscribe the IRGC in wake of Iran attack
Foreign Secretary David Cameron has pushed back against growing calls to proscribe Iran’s powerful Guards Corps after the Islamic Republic launched its first direct attack against Israel.

A raft of prominent figures, including the Israeli government and the Board of Deputies, have said that the IRGC should be outlawed in Britain as a terror group.

Lior Haiat, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said proscription would be an “initial price” for Iran’s “large-scale and unprecedented” aggression in which hundreds of projectiles were fired at Israel in the late hours of Saturday.

Writing to Lord Cameron, Board President Marie van der Zyl praised the RAF for their work shooting down the Iranian drones.

"Our community is encouraged by the fact that our nation's air force was part of this response,” she wrote.

Van der Zyl continued: “I am also writing, on behalf of the British Jewish community, to reiterate our request that the Iranian regime's IRGC… be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in its entirety.

"The IRGC's role in funding, arming and training a host of terror proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, is clear. Their direct threat, both to Iranian dissidents in this country - one of whom was stabbed outside his own home last month - and to the Jewish community, is also apparent.

"We sincerely hope that given this latest escalation by the Iranian regime, our Government will see fit to take this important and highly meaningful step.”


Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested for blocking Melbourne street, tampering with traffic lights
More than a dozen protesters have been arrested in Melbourne as part of global pro-Palestine protests.

The co-ordinated were designed by A15 Action to target areas in cities that would cause the most economic disruption.

The group’s website says protests will take place in 51 cities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, South Africa and Australia.

“There is a need to shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy,” the group says.

Victoria Police arrested 14 people on Monday; 12 for blocking the road on Lorimer St in Port Melbourne about 8.30am, two more people for tampering with traffic lights at the intersection of Victoria and Nicholson streets in Carlton about 8am.

A woman also received two penalty notices for using an unsafe motor vehicle, the police said.

About 200 protesters marched through the city, a police spokeswoman said.

A15 cites Western support for Israel and the humanitarian issues in Gaza as the catalyst for the protests.
Traffic lights targeted as protesters take to the streets



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