Wednesday, April 17, 2024

04/17 Links Pt1: The World Is Paying A Deadly Price For Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Legacy; The attempt to whitewash UNRWA must be exposed

From Ian:

The World Is Paying A Deadly Price For Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Legacy
Just because you shoot at someone and miss doesn’t mean you’re not trying to kill them. Yes, the Iranians were embarrassed. But they almost surely view this as a win. And they also crossed a red line by firing on Israel from their own territory. Yet Israel is apparently the only nation on Earth that is permitted to fully defend itself only if its enemies succeed.

Then again, virtually every conflict against Israel unfurls the same way: Its enemies threaten or attack the country. Israel responds and heads for a victory. Only then does the world demand “restraint.” Finally, the antagonists demand Israel rewind history to a more convenient spot. (Modern Democrats demand that Israel show restraint before it even has a chance to respond. That’s a new twist.)

Those, for instance, who contend that Israel started the conflict when it hit a “diplomatic mission” in Syria last week are engaged in restarting the historical clock when it suits them. There are no Iranian diplomatic missions in Syria. There are buildings where IRGC terror leaders coordinate attacks on civilians — against Arabs as well as Jews. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the “general” Israel killed last week, helped plan the barbarism of Oct 7.

Recall that the United States atomized Qasem Soleimani at a neutral nation’s airport. Though, of course, Obamaites protested that killing as well.

Now, it is something of a cliché to contend that Israel must be right 100 percent of the time while its enemies only need to be right once. It also happens to be true. The lo-fi Hamas attack last year was a devastating failure for the Jewish state and its leadership. Israel, a country the size of New Jersey with a dense population area, relies on deterrence and preemption.

Democrats blamed their strawman, Benjamin Netanyahu, not Hamas or Iran, for trying to “drag” the world into war. The New York Times’ Tom Friedman, perhaps the wrongest person ever to tread on this planet, theorized that the prime minister wanted “a war to shore up his own crumbling political base.”

Meanwhile, Axois reports that Netanyahu was reluctant to strike back while his cabinet wanted to move immediately. Anyone who’s paid five minutes of attention to Israeli politics knows that Netanyahu is frustratingly cautious. The “war hawk” perception of him is a myth, created by the left because of the prime minister’s open opposition to Obama’s mullah bootlicking.

We have no idea what Israel will do. Maybe caution is the best policy. The notion that the Jewish state simply lashes out in revenge and doesn’t rationally consider all its options is preposterous. Whatever happens, it should be Israel’s terms, not Iran’s.

Despite what Obama’s retreads demand.
Richard Goldberg: The path that led to Iran’s attack on Israel was one of US appeasement
Amazingly, America became even less hawkish than the Europeans on Iran in some respects. What Iran learnt from all of this is that it can get away with anything. The regime can keep moving towards that nuclear threshold and still get offers of economic relief.

It was only the murder of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s “morality police” and the protests this sparked across the country that briefly halted the appeasement.

Last year, the US offered to open up spigots of money while allowing the regime to trade oil freely with China. In exchange, they asked Iran to stay below the 90 per cent weapons-grade uranium threshold, to not send short range ballistic missiles to Russia and to stop attacking Americans in the Middle East.

Iran came into a major windfall as oil exports rose above two million barrels per day for the first time since the JCPOA period, and $6 billion was released to them as part of a ransom payment to free five American hostages.

Then October 7 hit. What was the response of the US, the UK, and everyone else? Nothing. We downplayed Iran’s connection to Hamas and insisted the Islamic regime was not behind this attack.

A UN Security Council embargo on missile sales to Iran was due to expire ten days after October 7. All the UK, France and Germany, with US support, had to do was send a letter to the Security Council to trigger a snapback sanctions resolution that would have stopped that embargo from expiring. But they didn’t.

Perhaps they fear escalation. But again, what is Iran learning? A $10 billion sanctions waiver allowing the Iraqi government to buy energy from the regime got renewed in November a month after October 7 and it got renewed again last month.

Meanwhile, three Americans have been killed in Jordan by Iran-backed militias, missiles are now raining down on the Red Sea from the Houthis, and Israel is being attacked from Lebanon.

International pressure is applied to Israel while we see ever greater escalation from Iran. Over the past three years, we have allowed an arc of accommodation that has emboldened the Islamic Republic and increased the chances of regional war. It must end now.
WSJ Editorial: Hamas Rejects Biden’s Hostage Deal—Again
After months of negotiations over the release of 40 hostages among the women, older men and the sick, Hamas now says it can produce only 20, and it wants far more Palestinian terrorists in return. It demands 30 for each civilian hostage and 50 for each captive female Israeli soldier, including 30 terrorists who are serving life sentences.

As usual, the needs of Palestinian civilians mean nothing to Hamas, but how about the needs of the U.S. President? Mr. Biden staked his Gaza strategy on coercing Israel to make the concessions to get a deal and cease-fire. But the holdup wasn’t on the Israeli side.

The more desperate the President appeared for a cease-fire, the more distant it became. When he blamed Israel for all civilian suffering and demanded new Israeli concessions, Hamas raised its demands.

“Thank you to the Americans,” as the Israeli commentator Amit Segal put it on Tuesday, “for your deep understanding of the principles of the Middle Eastern bazaar.” He didn’t mean that as a compliment.

Hamas scorns a deal because the President has given it reason to expect to get the cease-fire it wants without releasing any hostages. Mr. Biden had been slowly delinking the two while creating a public breach with Israel. Doubtless he thought about the signal these steps would send to Dearborn, Mich. Did he think about the signal he is sending Hamas about the five American hostages who may still be alive?

Hamas is unlikely to cut a deal until it feels the knife on its neck, as it did when Israel stormed Gaza City. That yielded the release of 105 hostages. But since Mr. Biden declared himself Protector of Rafah, Hamas’s final stronghold, and Israel withdrew most of its troops, the odds of a deal have declined.

The best hope on the horizon is from Iran’s miscalculation in striking Israel directly. This gives Mr. Biden an opportunity to reset his policy and exert real pressure. When Rafah is on the table, and the terrorists in fancy suits are threatened with expulsion from Qatar, there will again be a reason to talk.


Herzog: World must work ‘decisively and defiantly’ against Iran
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday urged the international community to confront Iran, as Jerusalem prepares a response to the Islamic Republic’s massive drone and missile attack over the weekend.

“The whole world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which is seeking to undermine the stability of the entire region,” Herzog said after meeting the foreign ministers of Britain and Germany in Jerusalem.

Herzog reiterated the Jewish state’s “unequivocal” commitment to defending its people, including by working for “the immediate return home of all the hostages held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, amid Western efforts to prevent an Israeli retaliation against Iran.

“It’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” Cameron said in remarks to reporters, adding: “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.”

A British official told local media on Tuesday night that London’s top diplomat was expected to sit down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and possibly also with minister-without-portfolio and War Cabinet member Benny Gantz.

Though the one-day visit is to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Cameron will also bring up Tehran’s attack and tensions with Iran-backed terror groups in Lebanon.

Overnight Saturday, the Islamic Republic launched more than 300 missiles and UAVs at the Jewish state. The IDF announced that Israel and its allies, including the U.K. Royal Air Force, intercepted 99% of the projectiles; none of the 170 drones sent by Iran entered Israel’s airspace.

Ahead of Cameron’s arrival, Netanyahu on Tuesday spoke by phone with his U.K. counterpart Rishi Sunak for the first time since the attack.

According to Downing Street’s readout, Sunak “stressed that significant escalation was in no one’s interest and would only deepen insecurity in the Middle East. This was a moment for calm heads to prevail.”
The US must deter Iran, for the sake of its own interest
Understanding Iran's policy through the lense of a terror organization's strategy
BY VIEWING the recent Iranian-Israeli clash through this lens, one can understand Iran’s policy much better. The Iranians are no amateurs. With Israel’s excellent aerial defense systems, and US and British forces in the region at the ready, one can assume that Tehran knew most of its projectiles would not reach their targets. This mattered little, however.

Tehran had already scored a significant win by Saturday night. Even before a single drone was launched, Israeli media and many Israeli citizens had gone into hysterics, analyzing and reanalyzing Iran’s possible avenues of revenge, mentally preparing for war and expecting the worst. In this they had allowed Tehran to achieve its desired effect: Israeli civilians’ sense of security was rattled.

This is not an isolated effort but part of a long-term campaign, which has seen Iran build machines of terror on Israel’s borders, attack its ships in international waterways and, reportedly, employ social media campaigns to undermine social cohesion, replacing it with hate, division and a sense of instability. Acting from a perceived position of weakness, Iran has chosen to employ the tactics of terror in a long-term effort to gradually gnaw at Israel’s well-being, hoping ultimately to undermine its foundations and topple it.

This campaign has been especially successful in the last six months. Since October, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been removed from their homes because of its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. And of course, Hamas’s attack on October 7 shattered Israelis’ sense of security as no attack has done perhaps since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Globally, Israel is increasingly attacked and isolated, even by its allies.

THIS UNDERSTANDING of Iranian policy helps us better comprehend their reasons for launching such a seemingly ineffective attack, as well as past actions. Importantly, it can also help us fashion a policy best equipped to cope with this new creation: the terrorist state.

Viewed in this light, Iran’s policy this past week has enjoyed great success. Israel’s citizenry was frightened, and the country has bled ounces of security, stability and economic well-being in a short time. Most importantly, Tehran appears to have achieved all this while avoiding a direct confrontation with Washington. The sense of security of US allies throughout the region has suffered another setback. Emiratis, Saudis and Israelis now see that Iran can bomb their countries and disrupt civilian life, and the US will rush to assure the Iranians that no retaliation is on the agenda.

In order to send a clear deterring message to Tehran, Jerusalem must act, and do so forcefully. That, however, is not enough. To send a clear message that states cannot employ the tactics of criminal terror organizations with impunity, the US must act decisively as well. It should do so for the sake of its own interests in the region and worldwide, no less than for the sake of its long-term allies. Americans can choose to continue to pursue their Chamberlain-esque policy for a while longer, but what lies at the end of that path is known to us all.
Ruthie Blum: Iran’s attack was a casus belli, not a ‘retaliation’
Western logic rarely applies in the Middle East, however. Late Saturday night, the Islamic Republic defied precedence by propelling hundreds of drones and precision missiles at Israel. By Sunday morning, after 99% of the projectiles had been intercepted, Iran announced that the attack was over.

The immediate reaction of the United States and other countries that participated in the downing of the deadly aerial weapons was to urge Israel to leave it at that. U.S. President Joe Biden advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win” and move on.

Behind the ludicrous admonition is the idea that Israel successfully thwarted Iran’s “retaliatory” action and should now adopt Washington’s policy of de-escalation. In the delusional universe of the Biden administration, Israel must not let its tit-for-tat with Iran disrupt “regional stability.”

This outrageous attitude is not surprising, given the way in which the White House and State Department have been keeping Israel from winning what they see as a local battle in Gaza, rather than what it actually is: an arena in the mullahs’ war against Israel and America.

But it takes a mixture of gall and weakness to obfuscate the fact that Iran’s belligerence constituted a casus belli and allow the lies about “retaliation” for a “breach of all international conventions” to dominate the narrative. It is imperative that Jerusalem stand up to undue pressure from D.C. with as much resolve as will be required when it faces off with Iran.

The latter will be undertaken “at the time and place of our choosing,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday at Israel Hayom’s “Tomorrow’s Conference” in Ashkelon.

Let’s hope this means that a serious blow is imminent. The sovereignty and survival of the Jewish state depend on it.
The West, and Russia, press Israel to hold back on Iran
Jeremy Issacharoff, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Germany from 2017 to 2021, told JNS the message is probably not simply one of don’t attack but probably a more nuanced, “Just think of the challenges you’re facing in Gaza, the situation with Hezbollah and also the fact that the attack by Iran against Israel, while the scope of it was way out of line and unacceptable and intolerable, the regional defense mechanism that essentially foiled it was very effective and we need to build on this defense mechanism and this new regional spirit of mutual security.”

Sources with knowledge of the conversation between senior Israeli officials and Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who also visited the Jewish state on Wednesday, told JNS there was a request from the Europeans “to think from the head and not the gut.”

Israel’s Kan News reported that a decision has already been made regarding the nature of Israel’s response to the Iranian attack. Still, officials who spoke to JNS said that there is a chance that the international pressure might bring changes.

The White House announced on Wednesday that it will increase the sanctions on Iran’s drone and ballistic missile industry and try to convince the other G7 countries to do the same.

Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s War Cabinet, and other officials told Cameron and Baerbock that Jerusalem “expects the world to add more military and economic sanctions on Iran.”

Issacharoff told JNS, “I think it could spur the Western powers to take much more serious steps against Iran at this point regarding the nuclear program.

“Nothing has been done in the international community against Iran’s nuclear program, which is at the most advanced stage it has ever been with higher levels of [uranium] enrichment and making them a threshold state.

“There is a combination of interests here that could serve Israel’s interest and could very much serve the Western interest as well in terms of modifying or preventing escalation with Iran and also beginning to find a reasonable solution to the nuclear program,” Issacharoff said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, “We thank our allies for all their advice, but the final decision will be made by us.”
Matthew Continetti: NATO: Now More Than Ever
On April 9, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) marked its 75th anniversary. The Western Alliance, formed in the aftermath of World War II, began with 12 nations joined to deter the Soviet Union, stabilize Europe, and promote regional integration. The effort was an incredible success. The Soviet Union is no more. There has been no Great Power war in Europe since NATO’s foundation. And the transatlantic alliance is more interconnected than at any point in its history.

NATO has achieved more than the goals of its founders. It has peacefully and consensually expanded its ranks to include 32 member states and some 40 international partners. It has kept the peace in the Balkans and Kosovo. It participated in the American-led Global War on Terror. It toppled the government of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. Since 2022, NATO has helped Ukraine resist invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This 75-year-old is far from obsolete. On the contrary: NATO is more essential than ever.

The alliance is important because it remains the sturdiest international organization of the postwar era. After victory over the Axis powers in 1945, America and her allies were determined to prevent a third world war. They meant to secure the peace through forward deployment of U.S. military forces in Western Europe and Japan, through the foreign-aid program known as the Marshall Plan, and through a dizzying array of global institutions such as the United Nations, the Bretton Woods financial accord, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). NATO was part of the mix.

As a defensive alliance, NATO bound its members together with the collective security provision contained in its charter. The backstop of “Article Five” of the Atlantic Treaty was America’s nuclear arsenal. This hard-power guarantee did not simply coincide with the economic and political revival of Western Europe. It was a cause of that revival.

The same cannot be said of NATO’s brethren. Within decades of its creation, the UN became a plaything of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and the postcolonial “nonaligned” states of the Third World. They turned the United Nations against the Western powers, Western ideas, and above all the democratic and Jewish state of Israel.

The UN is little more than a stage for a grotesque farce. Russia chairs the vaunted Security Council while Russian missiles kill Ukrainian civilians. Morocco’s ambassador leads the so-called Human Rights Council to accuse Israel of crimes against humanity. When the UN is not irrelevant, it is insane.
Has Biden Considered Having an Iran Strategy?
When I asked the U.S. official what President Joe Biden’s Iran strategy is, I was immediately met with laughter. Then, the official said, “You know, a lot of people inside the administration ask that same question. Sometimes they ask it on the first day. Sometimes they ask it six months later. ”

I have an answer for them: There is no Biden strategy for Iran.

If he wants to end the growing chaos in the Middle East, he might want to come up with one.

The Islamist regime in Tehran is, by many measures, at the root of much of the destabilization across the Middle East and more of a threat to U.S. interests than ever before. Iran is on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb. Its proxy militias are spreading mayhem outside its borders. It has stomped out internal revolts, and — as shown by its recent attack on Israel — the regime’s ballistic missile program is going strong.

But for most of Biden’s time as president, his aides’ No. 1 goal hasn’t been to solve this puzzle, but to keep it off the president’s desk.

“The strategy is to keep it on low boil on all fronts — nuclear, regional, whatever. That’s been the approach for some time now,” said a second U.S. official, who, like several other people I spoke to for this column, is familiar with U.S. Middle East policy and was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

People in Washington have good-faith disagreements on how to define “strategy,” and many use the term generically. I’ve heard plenty of policymakers grumble about how documents labeled as strategies aren’t truly strategies. But those are abstract debates that often fail to address urgent and concrete foreign policy challenges.

I’ve come to believe that if the end goal of your effort isn’t to solve a problem, then you don’t have a strategy.

So when policy wonks use words like “containment,” “de-escalation,” “deterrence” and “risk management” to describe Biden’s approach to Iran, I hear only tactics, not strategies.

He believes Iran is a problem, but doesn’t appear to have a coherent plan for how to solve it.
Suella Braverman: Grow a backbone and ban the IRGC
The IRGC are also masters in sowing division in the UK. It sponsors groups linked to Islamist extremism, promotes hate on our streets, and radicalises people against our country and values. We know who many of these people are, and we know who these groups are: in several mosques, charities and schools.

I have repeatedly – and for a very long time – called for proscription, the effective banning, of the IRGC. It’s high time we cut the head off the snake here in the UK and rendered it much more difficult for these terrorist sponsors to operate on our streets, and in our communities.

We now have 70 MPs and peers from across the political spectrum calling for proscription. Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats support proscription. The US has banned the IRGC.

I’ve heard the argument that the UK would lose access to Tehran by banning the IRGC, but this is weak. What good did this so-called “access” do to stop or mitigate October 7? What good did it do to deter the drones and missiles fired on Israel this weekend? Or the attacks on people in the UK?

Rather, this is Foreign Office-speak for: “We support the status quo and don’t see the need to change things, thank you very much”. Equally delusional is the claim that our sanctions regime is sufficient to deter the IRGC. This is naive when we know the IRGC circumvent sanctions by ensuring that they are not reliant on the British Pound or US Dollar by trading with Russia or China, or transferring assets to trusted proxies in the region, such as in Oman.

This Conservative Government risks being left on the wrong side of history if it continues to stall on this important step. If we have proscribed similar organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas, why are we turning a blind eye to one of the root causes of radicalisation and terrorism in the UK? It’s time we grew a backbone.

This isn’t just about our foreign policy, but our own national security and the safety of British citizens.


Here’s how Israel can respond to Iran’s attack and keep its defensive alliance together
Israel has many options to choose from in terms of targets and modes of attack. It has a formidable capability not only kinetically but also in cyberspace. It could combine both in its response, alongside covert action. Israeli leaders may eye the missile and drone bases in Iran from which it attacked the Jewish state. There is history here. In March 2022 public reporting suggested that an aerial operation by Israel destroyed hundreds of drones at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base near Kermanshah in Mahidasht.

Israel also has a record of campaigns against Iran’s defence industrial base. Facilities connected to the manufacturing and deployment of the Shahed drones will likely be of interest given their use against Israel on 13 April. The Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) is under US and European sanctions, with the US Treasury Department finding it “has been involved in the production of the Shahed-136 UAV model that Iran has used to attack oil tankers and has exported to Russia.”

Undertaking a mission to destroy or set back this drone manufacturing capacity would be a win for Israel as these targets would find sympathy with US and European partners given their use in Russia’s war against Ukraine. European threat perceptions have been significantly altered by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of an EU candidate country. This way, Israel can send a deterrent message while keeping its closest allies on board. Israel has a history of operating in the heart of Iran’s defence industrial base, for example in Esfahan.

Other opportunities for Israel include targeting nuclear facilities, which would be more daring and dependent on US support given the need for sophisticated armaments. Some Israeli decision shapers will likely be advocating for such moves as Iran has expressed interest in Russia’s S-400 air defence systems to protect sensitive sites, including nuclear. Coupled with the hardening of Iran’s nuclear program, some in the defence establishment in Israel may view this as an opportunity as the window closes given these advancements. Israel could also choose to decapitate the IRGC and military leadership and target offshore oil platforms in Iran. Salami himself, his deputy Ali Fadavi, the commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters Gholam Ali Rashid, and the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri all managed the events of 13 April and are likely persons of interest to Israeli leaders.

Israel does not only have to operate via formal military airstrikes. It can engage in deniable acts of retaliation, launching drones from inside Iran proper at sensitive facilities, by capitalising on the Mossad’s international brigade. This would be a way to reduce the pressure on the system in Iran from having to retaliate. In the end, the Jewish state has many options to preserve its security without triggering a wider war. Targeting the weapons facilities which are most threatening to Western governments could buy goodwill behind closed doors and provide space for the formation of a global alliance isolating the Islamic Republic.
‘I shot down drones over Israel and was back in my office sending emails by 4pm’
An Israeli reservist fighter pilot said it was like “Top Gun meets Star Wars” as he described how he shot down Iranian missiles and was back at work in his office before the end of the day.

The pilot, identified as “Major G”, said that taking to the skies to defend Israel from more than 350 missiles and drones was “the most complex mission of my life”.

“It really was a different thing with hundreds of those UAVs and missiles in the air getting intercepted around you, like Top Gun meets Star Wars, endless explosions and interceptions going on around you,” he told The Telegraph.

“It was the most complicated mission I’ve done in 20 years in the air force, knowing that if there is a missed target, maybe it blows up in Israel,” he said.

“We flew in an amazing coalition with the US, UK and other forces and on the one hand it was a very aggressive attack co-ordinated by Iran, one which maybe we haven’t seen in modern warfare, but you’re seeing absolute defence in action.”

The US, UK, France and Jordan all helped Israel thwart the onslaught, with RAF Typhoons shooting down several targets and helping allied pilots track others as they sped towards Israel.

Iran claims the barrage was a response to a suspected Israeli air strike earlier this month on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and several other officers. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack amidst a years-long shadow war between the two countries.

With more than 3,000 hours of flying time, Major G was well-prepared for night missions. But hunting low-flying cruise missiles puts pilots in serious danger.

“It’s always harder to find and take down these targets in the night. They’re flying really low and so you fly low too but you’re unable to see the ground,” he said.

“You rely on sensors, but at some points it’s really close. You’re seeing street lights or other things on the ground very close to you and it’s a very uncomfortable feeling. But we’re well trained for that and we’ve proven this time that we know how to get the job done.”
History has been made as Arabs fought alongside Israel
Iran’s Islamist ruler Ali Khamenei made history with his unprecedented direct attack on Israel on Saturday night, but not, perhaps, in the way he intended.

By dispatching a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones into Israeli territory, the Islamic Republic of Iran removed any doubts about its ambition to wipe Israel from the map, even if its execution fell woefully short. However, the supreme leader quickly discovered that many of his Arab neighbors do not share his genocidal goal – one key reason why the attack has left Iran, not Israel, appearing vulnerable and isolated politically and militarily.

The operation to thwart Khamenei’s assault was led by the Israelis with support from the US, the United Kingdom and other countries. Yet what was historic was the role played by Sunni Arab nations, who “quietly passed along intelligence about Tehran’s attack plans, opened their airspace to warplanes, shared radar tracking information or, in some cases, supplied their own forces to help.”

The list included Arab countries who maintain a cold peace with Israel, like Jordan, and those who may one day have a warm peace but don’t yet recognise the Jewish state, like Saudi Arabia. Tehran informed the Arab countries of their plan of attack in advance, information that was immediately telegraphed to the US. Once the attack began, the Iranian weapons were tracked by radar in the Gulf countries and relayed to US Central Command in Qatar, which then transmitted the intelligence to fighter jets and warships in the region, including those of the Jordanian Air Force, decisively repelling the Iranian barrage.

This first instance of live military cooperation between Israel and Arab countries in the face of a common enemy went way beyond the mere intelligence sharing under the table which had been the norm. The Arabs had a choice; they could have acceded to the Islamic Republic’s aggression, and stayed out of the fight which would have been unsurprising given their fear of Tehran and their skepticism of American resolve.

But they elected to combat the threat. They did so because it is the Islamic Republic, not the Jewish state, that is regarded in most Arab capitals as the far greater threat, and because, contrary to conventional belief, it is Khamenei’s regional ambitions and not the unresolved Palestinian question that keeps Arab leaders awake in the small hours.
FDD: What We Can Learn From Iran’s Attack on Israel
While details are still emerging, three initial observations are possible.

First, the nature and scale of Iran’s attack demonstrate that Israel and America’s ability to deter Iran from directly attacking Israel has eroded. When asked Friday about his message to Iran regarding a potential attack on Israel, Biden responded with a one-word warning: “Don’t.” Clearly unimpressed with warnings from Washington, Iran proceeded to launch an unprecedented, complex, and direct attack against Israel.

Second, the shadow war between Iran and Israel is now fully in the spotlight, and the future of the conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the State of Israel will likely never be the same. Iran will continue to use its proxies to attack Israel. But the Rubicon has been crossed. Iran has now attacked Israel directly from Iranian territory. That means Iran is more likely to do so again in the future, depending on how Israel and the United States respond. Future attacks could be much worse for Israel, and Israelis should avoid overconfidence. For its part, Israel will continue to conduct covert operations against Iran and its proxies. But Israel will likely feel even more license to conduct attacks inside Iran.

Some will welcome more attacks against Iran as a necessary correction to a strategy that focused too much on the terror puppets and not enough on the puppet master in Tehran orchestrating proxy attacks while moving toward a nuclear weapon capability.

Finally, the early details emerging underscore that efforts in recent years to move toward a combined American-Arab-Israeli regional security architecture may have paid dividends this weekend. Intelligence reportedly provided by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates almost certainly helped the United States and Israel prepare and respond more effectively. And despite tensions over Gaza, Jordan reportedly worked with Israel to facilitate the destruction of inbound Iranian drones.

Such cooperation offers a preview of what an increasingly capable combined regional security architecture could accomplish when it comes to deterring, detecting, and defeating Iranian aggression. The growing threat from Iran and the developments this weekend underscore the value in prioritizing work on the construction of a combined American-Arab-Israeli regional security architecture in the coming months, even if Arab governments prefer to work quietly, at least in the short term.

In the meantime, the United States and Israel must strengthen their clearly tattered deterrence against Iran, or things could get much worse in the future.
The Ukrainian Solution Against the Iranian Shahed 136
This drones carries a warhead weighing approximately 50 kilograms, travels at a speed of about 180 kilometers per hour, and can operate at ranges of up to 2500 kilometers. It should be noted that the Shahed 136 is very similar to a similar model developed by the Israel Aerospace Industry, known as the Harpy, which was sold to China in the 1990s. China developed its own model, the ASN-301, through reverse engineering, and it is reasonable to assume that the Iranian version, the Shehad 136, is a product of collaboration between China and Iran.

The early versions of the ATGM were in a fire-and-forget configuration. Before launch, its route was programmed to the target, and its automatic guidance system, using GPS and GLONASS receivers, directed the drone to its target.

In a different configuration, the drone is equipped with a semi-active laser seeker head, which locks onto laser emissions and guides the drone toward its target. This configuration, for example, allowed the Iranians to target sailing merchant ships.

In the fragments of more advanced versions located in Ukraine in 2022, it was found that these weapons were equipped with GPS jamming systems. These systems incorporated antennas with seven receivers controlled by a programmable component (FPGA), which detected GPS jamming and interference, enabling the drone to counteract them.

In a 2023 British report to the UN, it was presented that the drones were integrated with SIM cards, allowing communication with satellite satellites and 4G cellular networks.

These communication components allow Iranians and Russians to drive the drones to their targets. The Ukrainians, who studied the capabilities of the Iranian drones, realized that disrupting them required an electronic warfare system with high-power output in a wide frequency range, which would enable the jamming of various satellite navigation systems as well as communication channels.

Over the past two years, the Ukrainians have realized that GPS jamming alone is not sufficient to deter the drones. The Ukrainian innovation showcased at its peak in the war against Russia led to the development of a mobile device, carried by a soldier and activated with simplicity whenever a threat is detected. The device is activated manually for just a few minutes and enables a complete blockade of the Russian/Iranian drones.

According to their reports, the Ukrainians achieved significant success in countering the Iranian drones using this, which is relatively simple to manufacture and has a very low cost.


CAIR Calls Iran Missile Barrage on Israel ‘Self-Defense’
Nihad Awad, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), reportedly justified Iran’s massive drone and missile attack on Israel over the weekend as a legitimate act of “self-defense” – a talking point provided by the Iranian regime that instantly became ubiquitous among pro-Palestinian activists.

Politico on Tuesday quoted Awad as one of several Muslim activists who said Iran’s massive but ineffectual attack was justified as “responding in self-defense” to a suspected Israeli airstrike on April 1 in Damascus that killed several high-ranking officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

A group tied to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated one of the slain IRGC officers, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, as a “martyr” who played a “strategic role” in the “planning and execution of Al-Aqsa Flood” – the name given by Palestinian terrorists and their supporters to the inhuman rape and murder spree Hamas perpetrated against Israeli civilians on October 7.



Awad threatened that President Joe Biden would “lose support of American Muslim and Arab communities,” according to Politico, if he did not take stances more opposed to Israel. Awad claimed that Biden also risked the loss of “a growing movement of Jewish Americans and others, including young people” as supporters without a stronger anti-Israel approach.

CAIR has been fairly influential in U.S. politics over the past two decades, even though it was declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-funding operation.

The group’s public statements have turned increasingly extreme since the Hamas atrocities of October 7, which Awad also excused as an act of “self-defense.”

Awed went even further and applauded the October 7 atrocities as an oppressed people “breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles” so they could “walk free into their own land” – where they proceeded to rape and murder over 1,200 innocent men, women, and children.


A Third Lebanon War? | Miri Eisin on the Risk of War with Hezbollah and Iran
Somewhat overshadowed by the Gaza war, Hezbollah has been consistently firing rockets at Israeli towns since October 7, forcing the mass evacuation of more than 60,000 Israeli civilians, and a no-man’s-land security perimeter inside Israeli territory.

So far, Hezbollah’s aggression has not broken out into a larger war. But Israel now faces a strategic and moral problem. Will it be forced into a full-scale escalation in Lebanon before it can send its citizens home and its children to school? Or is there a chance of a diplomatic solution?

Miri Eisin, a retired IDF colonel, expert in military intelligence, and government spokesperson during the Second Lebanon War answers this question. She’s spent the last few years mapping out this scenario and its consequences.

In a difficult and frank conversation, Miri outlines the genuine dilemmas Israeli leadership faces in the days ahead, what ordinary Israelis should anticipate, and how they can prepare.


Australia Shows That Hamas’ Terrorism Pays
Terrorism pays. That is the message Australia’s government is sending by considering recognizing a Palestinian state in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack, something Foreign Minister Penny Wong recognized as, “The greatest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.”

The previous Australian government was exceptionally pro-Israel. That government recognized the western portion of Jerusalem, an area that would remain under Israeli control in any conceivable peace deal, as Israel’s capital, proscribed Hezbollah as a terrorist group in its entirety, and adopted the world’s leading definition of antisemitism, which includes examples of how anti-Israel activism bleeds into antisemitism.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — a founding member of Australia’s Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group — has charted a different path since taking office in 2022. He overturned his country’s decision to recognize western Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Albanese’s government also doubled funding to UNRWA, the Palestinian welfare agency that has since been implicated in aiding and allowing Hamas’ military preparations for the October 7 massacre.

Furthermore, in August 2023, Albanese’s administration upended nearly a decade of precedent by referring to the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and Gaza as “occupied Palestinian territories” rather than “disputed” lands. In 2014, Australia’s attorney general said his government would stop using the term “occupied” because it was unhelpful to “describe areas of negotiation in such judgmental language.”

Wong continued her government’s worrisome trajectory in an April 9 speech, promoting the recognition of a Palestinian state. Wong billed this as a way to advance Israeli security. She anticipated the criticism of this approach: “There are always those who claim recognition is rewarding an enemy. This is wrong.” But her approach clearly rewards Hamas.


UN Security Council panel doesn’t back Palestinian membership vote
The U.N. Security Council’s committee on new members reported on Tuesday that it could not reach a consensus on the revived application for full Palestinian U.N. membership.

Algeria, the Arab world’s de facto representative on the council, has drafted its own resolution and plans to put the application up for a decisive vote on Thursday afternoon. Washington has suggested that it would veto such an application.

The Committee on the Admission of New Members, which includes representatives of all the members of the Security Council, met twice last week to discuss the Palestinian application, which was first filed in 2011.

This month, as more than a dozen years ago, the committee did not reach a consensus. Per longstanding U.N. practice, the committee would not recommend a vote of the full Security Council without its own consensus on the matter.

The committee’s report did not reveal or detail the views or vote of specific countries, instead providing a broad outline of last week’s discussions.

One nation or several countries said during the meeting that full membership for Palestinians—who have had non-state observer status since the U.N. General Assembly granted it in 2012—“would be an important step toward a two-state solution” and put the Palestinians on a “sovereign equality basis with Israel,” per the report.

Some 140 U.N. member states have recognized Palestinian statehood.

Another view articulated during the meetings was that the Palestinians may not meet all of the requirements for membership “in light of the situation on the ground,” per the report.

This appeared to refer to the lack of control of the Palestinian Authority, which the United Nations recognizes as the legal governing Palestinian entity, over the Gaza Strip, which the Hamas terror group rules. Palestinians also haven’t defined borders for their proposed state.
The attempt to whitewash UNRWA must be exposed
Looking at the names of the three groups the UNSC handpicked, one would not recognize their inherent anti-Israel ideology. But I’m here to tell you about it.

On October 25th, 2023, 17 CMI employees signed a statement accusing Israel of “apartheid,” writing they “emphasize the importance of viewing this conflict in its historical and political context, acknowledging the historical inequalities, injustice and violence brought about by Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories and maintenance of an apartheid state.”

CMI has also written about UNRWA in the past and expressed deep concern about its “funding crisis.” Does this sound neutral and independent?

In addition, the Executive Director of Sweden’s RWI, Peter Lundberg, posted an article on his X account in 2016 titled: “The international community - Israel is building an oppressive system that is a combination of apartheid, Indian reservations, and the wall in Eastern Europe.” And since the October 7th massacre, Lundberg has “liked” numerous posts expressing support of UNRWA, again even after allegations were made that the agency is linked to Hamas.

One of RWI’s board members, Anne Ramberg, has accused Israel of genocide and apartheid in her social media posts. Most recently, on January 5th, 2024, she wrote, “There is an ongoing genocide in Gaza and what must be characterized as ethnic cleansing in the West Bank…”.

Finally, the last member of the “independent review” group, the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), has also expressed anti-Israel views and has questionable ties to Palestinian groups.

Recently, DIHR voiced support for South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, in which it accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. In 2021, DIHR’s Communications Director Jacob Sheikh posted on his X account that Israel has “illegally occupied” the Palestinians for 70 years, effectively delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist even in the pre-1967 borders.

DIHR also works with the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), which was founded by members of the US-designated terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). ICHR regularly shows support and hosts events with members of other terror groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Attempt to Whitewash UNRWA So Donations Will Flow Again
With the review group’s final report set to be published in late April, the public and UNRWA donor states need to understand the true nature of the review.

We shouldn’t hold our breath with this report; it’s just another transparent attempt to whitewash the corrupt, Hamas-infested UN agency with only one goal in mind – to resume the donations and ensure its survival.

Conrad Myrland is the CEO of Med Israel for fred (MIFF, With Israel for peace), a pro-Israel group in Norway. MIFF is also active in Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland.


Those who criticize Israel for using indiscriminate or excessive force in Gaza are wrong
The casualty numbers in Gaza are proportionate
These attack outcomes justify the inference that the attack decisions were consistent with the international humanitarian law prohibition against launching indiscriminate attacks. To be clear, every single civilian killed in this conflict – Palestinian and Israeli – has been one too many for the simple reason that none would have suffered this fate but for Hamas’ barbaric attack. But it defies common sense to label IDF operations as “massively indiscriminate” when the consequence is such a close civilian to enemy casualty ratio, especially in such a complex combined arms combat operation as indiscriminate.

Indeed, there has probably never been an urban battle of this scale that resulted in anything close to this ratio.

It is the decision – not the outcome – that must be assessed
Even more problematic is the reliance on aggregate casualty numbers as the basis of this condemnation. Such aggregation says almost nothing about whether actual attacks conducted by the IDF qualified as indiscriminate within the meaning of international humanitarian law. This is because the law is not result focused, but instead conduct focused: what is regulated is the decision to launch an individual attack, not the outcome of that attack – either individually or collectively.

To condemn IDF attacks as indiscriminate requires insight into to the wide range of variable factors that led to the attack decision. While attack effects are relevant to this assessment, they are rarely conclusive. This is especially true in complex urban operational environments when confronting an enemy that pervasively exploits the presence of civilians to shield vital assets or even worse compel attacks that will cause civilian casualties.

Many lament that what is happening in Gaza undermines the credibility and efficacy of international law. But perhaps it is the exaggerated claims of IDF illegality, the failure to consider military operational context before condemning attacks as indiscriminate, and the gravitation towards “effects based” condemnations that is responsible for this impact?

Or, as David Brooks noted so eloquently in his recent New York Times editorial, if what the IDF is doing in Gaza is inherently illegitimate, please explain how defeating Hamas and eliminating this ongoing threat to Israel should have been better achieved?
IDF achieves unprecedented medical evacuation times
In recent evacuations of soldiers from the Gaza Strip, it has taken an average of 27 minutes from the moment a soldier is wounded until he is in a helicopter on the way to hospital, said Lt.-Col. N., commander of a team within the IAF command cell responsible for evacuating wounded soldiers.

In these recent instances, it has taken about 40 minutes from the moment a soldier is wounded until he is in the operating room, he added.

Overall, under the direction of the command cell, it has taken an average of 47 minutes until a helicopter lifts off with the wounded soldier, which is unprecedented, he said.

“If you live in Tel Aviv, it takes longer to order a pizza than for a wounded person to get a helicopter in Gaza,” N. said.“Before the war, we would train to have a helicopter on the ground for one minute to load patients and take off,” he said. “There were helicopters in the [Gaza] war that managed to load a wounded person and take off in less than 15 seconds.”

Because time is so critical, the evacuation team is always pushing to be faster, N. said.

“If we do it in 40 minutes, we will examine how we can do it in 35,” he said. “When we get to 35, we will see how we can do it in 25. When we get to 20, we will ask, Why not 19? There is no optimum that would satisfy us.”
Defense ministry: 7,209 wounded, 2,111 with emotional harm
The Defense Ministry on Wednesday said 7,209 soldiers have been wounded during the current war, and 2,111 of them, or 29%, are suffering specific emotional harm.

For 1,227 of those with emotional harm, or 60%, their emotional problems are their primary problem.

Prior to the war, there were about 62,000 wounded soldiers from all prior wars and battles, including about 11,000, or 18%, who had emotional harm. About 8,000 of those 11,000, or 70%, experienced emotional symptoms as their primary problem.

While post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the main diagnosis for those with emotional problems, Defense Ministry officials said they recognize and assist a variety of emotional disorders.

The ministry said it projects that by the end of 2024, about 20,000 more soldiers will be wounded during the year, and some 8,000, or 40%, will experience emotional harm.

Ninety-five percent of the 7,209 wounded soldiers are male reservists under the age of 30, the Defense Ministry said.

Questioned about why the percentage of emotional harm and PTSD is so much higher from the current war compared with prior wars, ministry officials said the ministry’s approach is more liberal and engaging on such issues now than in the past.


18 Israelis wounded in Hezbollah attack from Lebanon
Eighteen people, most of them Israeli soldiers, were injured on Wednesday when a Hezbollah attack targeted a community center in Arab al-Aramshe in the Western Galilee.

Air-raid sirens were not activated in the Bedouin border village.

Fourteen Israel Defense Forces soldiers were among the wounded, the army confirmed on Wednesday evening.

Magen David Adom emergency medics treated the victims on the scene before evacuating them to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

One victim arrived in critical condition and required surgery, the hospital said. Two were listed as being in serious condition while the others had injuries ranging from moderate to minor.

Most of the wounded suffered shrapnel injuries, according to the medical center.

In a statement cited by Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese daily close to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack on the community center, claiming it launched a combined strike with guided missiles and drones on a military position in Arab al-Aramshe.

Hezbollah said it attacked in response to Israeli airstrikes that killed several of its members in Ain Baal and Chehabiyeh in Southern Lebanon earlier this week.


US Army ships heading to Gaza, arrive in Crete
US Army ships heading for the Gaza Strip to build a temporary pier or floating dock have arrived in Crete, according to vessel-tracking websites.

The ships left Fort Eustis on the James River on March 12 to make their way across the Atlantic Ocean to Gaza after a stampede in March near a convoy of food trucks led to some 100 deaths.

Today, Israel has opened a new northern crossing to Gaza, more trucks are crossing into the Hamas-run enclave, and the humanitarian situation has improved.

The armada of ships includes five US Army watercraft, including the USAV James A. Loux (LSV-6), USAV Montorrey (LCU-2030), USAV Matamoros (LCU-2026), USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr. (LSV-1) and USAV Wilson Wharf (LCU-2011).

They traveled down Chesapeake Bay and then headed south along the coast of the Carolinas into the open sea, passing Bermuda to arrive off the coast of Spain and Africa.

The ships are part of the US Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade of the 18th Airborne Corps. Back in March US Central Command said the ships “from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis en route to the Eastern Mediterranean to establish a roll-on, roll-off dock capability that allows the ship to shore humanitarian assistance to Gaza. SP4 James A. Loux, Monterrey, Matamoros, and Wilson Wharf are carrying equipment and supplies needed to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies.”

According to the Vessel Finder website the ships are now moored at the Crete naval base that in Souda Bay. These include the USAV Matamoros, USAV James A. Loux, USAV Montorrey and USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr. The USAV Wilson’s Wharf however appears to be in the Canary Islands at a port near Tenerife. It’s not clear why it is lagging behind or if it was dispatched for a different mission. A view shows the Chinese Navy frigate Linyi during the Maritime Security Belt 2024 international naval exercise of Russia, China and Iran in the Gulf of Oman, in this still image taken from video released March 12, 2024. (credit: Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS)


I watched my wife and son bleed to death on that kibbutz – but I’m going back
Six months after losing his wife, his 15-year-old son and one of his legs in the October 7 massacre, Avida Bachar is back on his land.

Walking with a cane and a prosthetic leg after nearly half a year in the hospital, the 50-year-old farmer stares out at the avocado plantation in Kibbutz Be'eri where he was born. It lies less than a mile from the border with Gaza.

On October 7, Bachar’s wife and son were killed in front of his eyes after terrorists overwhelmed them in their two-story home, which was utterly gutted. But despite the pain, he is determined to choose life.

“We underwent a tragedy. But you can’t change the past; only the future,” he told JNS on Tuesday. “This is not the closing of a circle. This is a continuation.”

On that nightmare morning, Bachar was at home with his wife, Dana, and their two teenage children, Carmel, 15, and Hadar, 14, when the sound of sirens and incoming rockets awakened them. Like all the residents of Gaza border communities, who have faced such attacks for over a decade and a half, they were expecting the military to show up and then announce an all-clear.

Instead, the sound of gunfire burst out and their community WhatsApp alerts warned of intruding terrorists. The family huddled in their safe room. Like most safe rooms, which are designed to protect against rockets and mortars, there was no lock on the door.

By late morning, terrorists burst into their home and tried to force their way into the safe room. Bachar and Carmel held the door shut from the inside, knowing that it was the only thing thing between them and certain death.

The terrorists riddled the door with bullets, hitting Carmel’s arms and piercing Bachar’s leg. The door handle was also hit, jamming the door shut. The terrorists then set the home on fire.

“They were very organised and very systematic,” Bachar recounts. “The first group was charged with breaking into the house, getting into the safe room and murder. A second group would set the homes on fire if people didn’t come out, while the third was charged with torture and looting.”
Qatari PM: Hostage-for-ceasefire talks at ‘sensitive stage’
The negotiations to forge a deal wherein Hamas would free hostages held in Gaza in return for a ceasefire and the release of terrorists held in Israeli prisons are at a delicate stage, Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday.

“We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this,” said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The Gulf nation is mediating the talks, along with Egypt and the U.S.

While Israel has shown flexibility in the hopes of arriving at a hostage deal, Hamas has impeded an agreement, Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said on Monday.

“Israel moved a significant way in submitting that proposal,” Miller said during the department’s press briefing. “There was a deal on the table that would achieve much of what Hamas claims it wants to achieve, and they have not taken that deal.”

Hamas has dropped the number of hostages it is willing to release in the first stage of any deal with Israel from 40 to 20.

The terrorist organization is also demanding the release of more hardened terrorists and a higher ratio of jailed Palestinian terrorists released per Israeli abductee freed.


Rachel Goldberg-Polin named one of TIME's 100 most influential people
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose 23-year-old son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was abducted during the Nova festival and has been held in Hamas captivity since October 7, has been named one of TIME's 100 most influential people in the world for 2024, the magazine announced on Wednesday.

TIME stated her inclusion in the list was "in recognition of the impact she and her husband Jon Polin, along with hundreds of other families of hostages taken by Hamas, and millions of people around the world, have had in raising global awareness of the hostage crisis and their unwavering efforts to continue to fight for the release of Hersh and every hostage."

'The world must advocate on behalf of the hostages until they're returned home'
Goldberg-Polin thanked TIME for the inclusion in their list in addition "to recognizing the significance and gravity of the hostage crisis and the need for the world to advocate on their behalf until each one is returned home."

“I pray this platform will help compel the world not to forsake these remaining 133 souls, who hail from 25 countries, 5 religions and range in age from 15 months to 86 years old, and who have now been held captive in Gaza for 194 days," Goldberg-Polin added. "We must not turn a blind eye to the suffering of these human beings, along with the suffering of all innocents in Gaza.”

Goldberg-Polin has been one of the most vocal family members of hostages to speak out internationally in a call to return the hostages home.


New footage published of Hamas kidnapping of Yarden Bibas
New footage showing the moments Yarden Bibas, the husband of Shiri Bibas and the father of Kfir and Ariel, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 was published by N12 on Wednesday evening.

Bibas can be seen in the footage with blood covering his face as his captors attempt to go through a rioting crowd surrounding the motorcycle he's being held on. His captors yelled at the people surrounding the vehicle and even waved a pistol in the air.

A person in a press vest could be seen alongside the motorcycle.

Another person could be seen holding Bibas in a headlock.

President Isaac Herzog shared the clip on Wednesday evening as well, posting on X: "The world must not remain silent in the face of such crimes. Bring them home now!"


Forty-four House members vote against resolution declaring ‘river to the sea’ slogan antisemitic
Forty-four House members — 43 Democrats and one Republican — voted against a resolution describing the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic. The final vote was 377-44-1.

The resolution by Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) says the slogan, used widely in anti-Israel protests as well as by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), is “outright antisemitic and must be condemned.”

The “no” votes came largely from progressive Democrats, as well as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a frequent opponent of measures supporting Israel and condemning antisemitism.

Those voting against the resolution were: Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT), Don Beyer (D-VA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Andre Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Danny Davis (D-IL), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Chuy Garcia (D-TX), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Al Green (D-TX), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Summer Lee (D-PA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Katie Porter (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rahsida Tlaib (D-MI), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) voted present.

The resolution further states that the slogan is a rejection of peace efforts and “perpetuates hatred against the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” and that “anyone who calls for the eradication of Israel and the Jewish people are antisemitic and must always be condemned.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was censured last year in part over her use of the slogan, with most Democrats standing behind Tlaib at the time.

The “No Paydays to Hostage Takers Act” by Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Moskowitz, which seeks to bar ransom payments to U.S. adversaries and block U.S. passport holders from visiting Iran, passed by a 391-34 vote, the no votes again coming from progressives and Massie.

The votes were part of a series of Israel-related measures that the House considered on Tuesday, the rest of which passed nearly unanimously.


Call Me Back PodCast: How Israel Lost The Story – with Scott Galloway
Hosted by Dan Senor
Just about every day we’re asked: how did Israel lose the story?We wanted to put this question to an expert in marketing and storytelling, but could come at Israel’s story with some distance. Someone who wasn’t inherently hostile to Israel but also wasn’t a cheerleader.

Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing. He’s the host of the Prof G Podcast and the Pivot podcast, which he co-hosts with Kara Swisher. He is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books ,including “The Four”, “The Algebra of Happiness”, and “Adrift: America in 100 Charts”.

He has a new book coming out, which you can pre-order, called “The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security.”

Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company and the Berkeley School of Business.

In this episode, Scott talks for the first time in an extended conversation about his observations from Israel. We also discuss the future of higher education, and we talk about his new book and comparisons between the experiences of young Israelis and young Americans during their formative years.


The Israel Guys: Hamas Just Admitted They’ve Been Lying About the Civilian Death Count in Gaza
In a bombshell report that just came out, Hamas admitted that one-third of its data on Gazan deaths is ‘incomplete’. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to strike back at Iran for their unprecedented attack on Saturday night saying that Israel will defend themselves in all sectors.

And surprise surprise, but proof just came out that Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is even more of a terror supporter than we thought.




Australian Jew falsely accused of being Bondi stabber to take legal action
An Australian Jewish man falsely accused of being the Bondi stabber by a local news channel and large social media accounts is taking legal action against the outlet, the Australian Jewish Association told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

AJA is helping Benjamin Cohen explore legal options for reports identifying him as the stabber who murdered six people, and on Wednesday a Concerns Notice for defamation was sent to Channel 7 News.

“Ben was falsely accused by antisemites and ‘Pro-Palestine’ activists of being the Bondi Junction attacker,” AJA said on X on Sunday.

Channel 7 News identified Cohen as the attacker on Sunday morning, but hours later the New South Wales Police named the killer as 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi.

“The error was the result of human error and has since been corrected,” Channel 7 news told the Post. “Seven extends sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused by the mistake.”

Cohen’s father Mark responded to the restriction on X, saying that “There is a massive difference between human error and absolute negligence.”
Dozens of cities see economic blockades by anti-Israel activists
The main coordination account for the blockades said on social media that entry into Chicago's O'Hare airport was disrupted. According to the US Palestinian Community Network, 11 Protesters from the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine were arrested for protesting in the city’s Federal Plaza.

Activists later rallied at the Chicago Police Department to demand the release of the detainees, chanting, “CPD, KKK, IOF [IDF], you’re all the same!”

The Seattle-Tacoma Airport was also blockaded for three hours, according to organizers, leading to around 40 arrests.

In Boston, activists threw fake bloody dollar bills inside Chase Bank branches across the city, according to BDS Boston, because “JP Morgan Chase is one of the top shareholders of Israel’s largest weapons contractor, Elbit Systems.”

In Virginia, Occupation Free DC and other groups blockaded the lobby of the Lockheed Martin office, forming a human chain across the doors. Activists erected a paper mache model of a Palestinian olive tree breaking what was supposed to be a Lockheed Martin jet plane.

In Portland, Oregon, the April 15 organizers said they blocked entrances to an Intel building.

In the UK, Palestine Action painted BNY Mellon’s Manchester office with fake blood and spray painted it with “child killers” and “drop Elbit.” The group also said that it blockaded entry into Kent’s Discovery Park by laying on roads, saying that they were targeting an Elbit factory there.

Another group of activists interrupted a Somerset City Council meeting to read the names of Palestinian children allegedly killed by the IDF during the war with Hamas.

Protesters blocked the entrance of the European Commission Building in Dublin because, according to organizers, “People living in Ireland are disgusted that the EU continues to be the biggest trade partner with Israel.”

In Genoa, Italy, activists reportedly protested at a Carrefour retail location, placing “free Palestine” stickers on products and linking shopping carts with bike locks.

According to Greek pro-Palestinian activist Jodie Jones, Spanish groups blocked ports in Barcelona, Tarragona, and Athens.

In Adelaide, Australia, on April 15, organizers said that protesters demonstrated at Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office by pouring blood over fake corpses while dressed as the politician. The Disrupt Wars group claimed on Instagram to have been part of 19 different events in Australia, which they said had resulted in thousands of dollars in fines.

According to Fight Together for Justice, protesters closed a Melbourne shopping mall and blocked British Petroleum officers.

A15 Action published footage on Instagram that it said was of a Nigerian pro-Palestinian protest led by the country’s Islamic Movement. They also claimed that a group blockaded the Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association in Taipei. They also published pictures of a sparse Seoul protest in which the activists read poetry in honor of Palestinians.

Amersfoort for Palestine said that they blockade roads in Utrecht, Amsterdam, because checkpoints were the daily reality for Palestinians.
Kassy Akiva: Google Employees Occupy Office Of Boss Until Contract With Israel Is Dropped
Google employees are actively occupying the California office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and refusing to leave until the company stops doing business with Israel, video live-streamed by the employees shows.

In a Twitch livestream titled “notech4apartheid,” Google employees can be seen donning keffiyehs and sitting on the floor in his office. On the 10th floor in the New York City Google office, where a simultaneous anti-Israel rally took place, employees carried anti-Israel signs, and shouted chants asking Kurian, “How many kids did you kill today?”

The protests were announced in internal emails to employees that shared a list of demands, including that Google drop its $1.2 billion contract with Israel for Project Nimbus, a cloud-computing project of the Israeli government, and the Israeli Defense Forces that contracts Google and Amazon for various services.

Demands also include that Google cease all “business with the Israeli apartheid government and military,” stop the “harassment, intimidation, bullying, and silencing,” of Palestinian and Muslim employees, and address the “health and safety crisis” among workers who are rattled over their labor being used to “enable a genocide.”

Letter sent to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, demanding the company drop its contract with Israel.

Organized by No Tech for Apartheid, the protesters claim they will remain in the office until Google drops Project Nimbus and heeds the other demands.

Anti-Semitism appears to be rampant throughout Google’s workforce. In February, The Daily Wire reported on internal anti-Semitic incidents taking place at Google, including the words “kill all Jews” found written on a bathroom wall inside its offices, and a Jewish employee being assaulted by anti-Israel protesters on one of their campuses. The Daily Wire also reported that a group of employees attempted to hijack an International Women’s Day event to bash Israel.


Kassy Akiva: Anti-Israel MIT Student Touts New Gig In Admissions Office As ‘Queer, Indigenous, Pro-Palestine Activist’
An anti-Israel student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology publicly celebrated her new gig in the school’s admissions office in a video on her Instagram.

“Accepted a job at MIT Admission — as a queer, indigenous, pro-Palestine activist,” Kathleen Julca wrote in the caption of a video in which she sported a red and white keffiyeh.

Julca’s social media accounts reveal her involvement in anti-Israel activism on campus, including a December post of her holding a sign stating, “Indigenous is a global term & Palestinians are indigenous. Zionism = Genocide.”

An MIT student who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from peers said there are concerns that Julca will dissuade future Jewish students from applying.

“The employment positions for students in the admissions office are meant for interacting with future students and showing what it’s like to be an MIT student day-to-day,” the student said. “By choosing this person out of many other possible student candidates, MIT has shown that it wants to showcase rule-breaking students and make it clear that anti-Israel students who praise Hamas martyrs represent a popular and normal viewpoint on MIT’s campus.”

In November, Julca shared a video of an anti-Israel protest that was counter-protested by pro-Israel students.

“No matter where the protests happen, hateful and aggressive pro-Israel protesters appear,” Julca’s video states. “MIT what will you do?”




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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