Thursday, April 25, 2024

04/25 Links Pt1: Biden, 17 world leaders issue joint statement demanding release of hostages; Analysts debunk Hamas claims that Israel dug mass graves at hospital

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: Hamas loses war in Gaza but wins it in US, West
Hamas' ideology is the elimination of Jews.

Hamas is part of the global jihad that declares its goal as taking over the world to establish a dark Islamist imperialist vision.

Those leading the student protests on campuses support genocide.

They started burning Israeli and American flags and waving Hamas and Hizbullah flags, while supporting the Houthis and Iran.

The axis of evil led by Iran and jihad has wide support.

The protesters seem to think they want to stop the war. They're only fueling it.

Hamas arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar looks at these students and enjoys every moment.

Hamas may be beaten in Gaza, but it's winning in the U.S. and the West.

Never in history have so many turned themselves into useful idiots for an axis of evil and terrorism.

They think they're enlightened. They're not. They're causing more and more casualties.
PMW: Why does the US criticize its ally while supporting those who demonize it?
Why are Hamas’ allies, who are terrorizing and threatening supporters of Jews and Israel on campuses around the US, also in the same breath screaming “death to Israel” and “death to America”?

The answer is that while the US is the driving force pressuring Israel to accept PA rule in Gaza and while the PA welcomes US aid and quietly thanks it for life-saving support, the PA simultaneously demonizes the US incessantly. The PA goes so far as to claim that Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza is actually an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic US war in which Israel is merely the American tool. And now, PA-driven anti-US hate has reached the US in full force.

We are witnessing a recurring pattern. For years, Palestinian Media Watch has been warning about the PA’s Islamist Antisemitism, but the West has been ignoring the issue and on the contrary, it continued funding the PA’s Nazi-like demonization of Jews. That Islamist Antisemitism has now established itself among the mainstream of Palestinian supporters in the US and is echoed by Palestinian supporters worldwide.

One of the PA’s prominent mouthpieces, the PA’s official daily columnist Muwaffaq Matar, regularly accuses America of colonialism and of making Israel its pawn in the Middle East.

“We always emphasize that our main problem is with the US and the colonialist states that planned and actively contributed to establishing Israel, and they established it on the Palestinian people’s homeland (Palestine) [parentheses in source] with the rank of their main worker in the region! As long as this is the situation, [Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar] Ben Gvir will continue as he does to knead [US President Joe] Biden’s flour with the blood of the Palestinian people in general, and of the hundreds of thousands of hungry in the Gaza Strip in particular.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 3, 2024]

Matar was particularly triggered of late by the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling to provide the PA with full UN membership. In response, he lashed out at the US, labeling it “the mind behind the conspiracy against the Palestinian people”:
UN fails to black list Hamas for rape, Israel condemns decision while US is silent
The United Nations omitted Hamas from its blacklist of state and non-state parties guilty of sexual violence in 2023, due to a lack of what it deemed to be credible evidence.

The blacklist was part of a larger annual report on sexual violence authored by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which was completed this month and debated Tuesday at the UN Security Council.

Guterres’s April report described sexual violence in 18 conflict settings or situations of concern, including the Hamas-led October invasion of Israel and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But it found that credible evidence that met UN criteria was strong enough in only 11 of those situations such that it could blacklist the responsible parties. Neither Hamas nor Russia were among those parties that met that criteria and were not included on the list.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was “disgusted” by the report in a statement released to the media, while the UNSC debate took place on what would have been the first day of Passover in the US.

'Secretary-General sides with Hamas'
Katz called it a “failure in a long series of failures” by the UN and its institutions, which had not once condemned Hamas for the October 7 attack in which over 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages were seized.

“Guterres has turned the UN into an extremely antisemitic and anti-Israel institution during his tenure which will be remembered as the darkest in the organization’s history,” Katz said.

He added that he was convinced that if the UN had existed during the Holocaust and in the lead-up to it, and “if the crimes of the Nazis had come up for debate, he [Guterres] would have refused to denounce them if it suited his political interests.”

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield welcomed the report and mentioned its inclusion of the Hamas-led October 7 attack when she addressed the UNSC on Tuesday.

“From Nigeria to Israel, Myanmar to Sudan, Haiti to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we have seen terrorist groups, criminal gangs, and non-state armed groups abducting and sexually exploiting women and girls. We’ve seen rape being used as a tool of war.

“And I’ll note that the report calls for the release of the nearly 3,000 Yazidis who are still missing, as well as hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other terrorist groups from Israel on October 7. We know from UN reporting that many of these hostages have experienced sexual violence while in captivity,” she said.

But Thomas-Greenfield did not mention Hamas’s omission from the blacklist of perpetrators attached to the report.


Biden, world leaders issue joint statement demanding release of hostages
U.S. President Joe Biden and 17 other world leaders issued a joint statement on Thursday calling on Hamas to immediately free all of the hostages the terrorist organization is still holding in the Gaza Strip and to accept a ceasefire.

“We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home,” the leaders stated. “We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.”

Signatories to the statement include the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Thailand and Colombia, all of whom have citizens known to be held in Gaza or who have been missing since Oct. 7. Israel was not one of the 18 signatories.

A senior Biden administration official speaking to reporters on background on Thursday before issuing the joint statement said the White House had previously tried and failed to get these leaders to sign on to an official call to release the hostages.

“An effort was tried earlier in the crisis, and actually, we were not able to get it done given some of the disagreements, but we were able to get a unanimous sign-on to this statement today, largely because of the current situation with the hostages,” the senior official said. “We have now discussed with all of these capitals the elements of the deal on the table, and there is a deal on the table that would bring a ceasefire immediately to Gaza simply with the release of women, wounded, elderly and sick hostages.”

“That is ready to go, and we have worked it out in meticulous detail, and Hamas has rejected that,” the official added.

The Biden administration has previously issued statements suggesting that Israel was at least partly responsible for the failure to achieve a breakthrough ceasefire-for-hostages deal in the months-long negotiations in Cairo and Doha. On April 4, the White House released a readout of a phone call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “urged the prime minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay.”


IDF Spokesperson Hagari: 'Until Hamas releases our hostages, no stone will be left unturned'
IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari released a statement on Wednesday, following the release of Hamas' propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

In the statement, Hagari said "Hamas published a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23 years old, an Israel-American man who was celebrating with his friends at Nova Music Festival, where he was brutally attacked and cruelly kidnapped by Hamas on October 7."

Hagari continues to talk about Goldberg-Polin's situation, saying that he is "held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. 133 hostages are ... in inhumane conditions." the IDF spokesperson then states "Until Hamas releases our hostages, the IDF will continue to pursue Hamas everywhere in Gaza. No stone will be left unturned in our efforts to find our hostages."

Hagari responding to Hamas' video
"This psychological terror video is not only a reminder of what Hamas done on October 7, but also a reminder to how horrific this terror organization is - inflicting terror on hostages, and their families," said Hagari.

He then addressed the Goldberg-Polin family, saying that he shares in their pain, and that the IDF will continue to work for the safe return of their son, "To Hersh's parents, we share in your pain. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring your son Hersh and all our hostages home."

The IDF Spokesperson ends the statment saying that their strength continues to be a source of insparation for them as they are working towards the completion of "this important mission."


Hamas Releases Video of American-Israeli Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin; UPDATE: Parents Respond
Hamas released a propaganda video on Wednesday showing American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, proving that he is alive — with the hope of pressuring the Israeli government to give up the war as part of a hostage deal.

The video is the latest in a series of videos that Hamas has released in which it shows emaciated, suffering hostages, reading scripted accusations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing him of neglect.

The Israeli media refuses to share the videos, since they are Hamas propaganda videos in which the hostages appear under duress, but they spread on social media regardless. Breitbart News has seen the video but will not post it.

Goldberg-Polin was maimed in the October 7 terror attack, losing his left hand to a Hamas grenade as he hid among other victims in a bomb shelter near the site of the Supernova music festival in southern Israel.

He has become one of the iconic faces of the hostages, 133 of whom remain in Gaza. “Free Hirsh” graffiti appears all over Jerusalem.

The Biden administration does not appear to be taking any action to free or rescue the hostages, among whom are several Americans.

A display of hostage photos has gone up opposite anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

Update: Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, released a statement Wednesday reacting to the Hamas video:
Seeing the video of Hersh today is overwhelming. We are relieved to see him alive but we are also concerned about his health and wellbeing as well as that of all the other hostages and all of those suffering in this region. We are here today with a plea to all of the leaders of the parties who have been negotiating to date. This includes Qatar, Egypt, the United States, Hamas and Israel: be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region. Hersh, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days and if you can hear us, we are telling you, we love you, stay strong, survive.


Bassam Tawil: Qatar, 'Leading Sponsor of Terrorism in the World, More than Iran,' Is Not an Impartial Mediator
The idea that Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas is nothing short of laughable. Qatar has actually long been staunchly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

The Muslim Brotherhood -- according to a hearing at the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security on July 11, 2018 -- is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US.

""Qatar has huge influence over the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian affiliate, Hamas.... For too long, Doha has danced between its Islamist allies and its Western and Arab partners." — Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, The Atlantic, October 20, 2023

Qatar has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its radical terrorist offshoots.... Qatar has also provided political and financial support to Hamas. In 2008, Doha reportedly pledged $250 million to Hamas, one year after the terror group violently seized control of the Gaza Strip. In 2012, Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani became the first head of state to visit Gaza, pledging $400 million to Hamas. Since then, the Qatari government has continued to send money to Hamas.

Qatar's goal is to keep Hamas in power. Qatar has no reason to care if thousands of Palestinians die in the Gaza Strip, so long as Hamas is permitted to continue ruling the coastal enclave.
Qatari official: Jews are murderers of prophets; October 7 is only a ‘prelude’
Essa Al-Nassr, a member of the Qatari legislative Shura council, spoke on Monday at an Arab League session, expressing antisemitic remarks and inciting to violence and terrorism.

"There will be no peace nor negotiations with the Zionist entity for one reason: because their mentality does not recognize negotiations, but rather only… breaking promises and lying… They only recognize one thing, which is killings; since they are killers of prophets.”

The accusation of Jews as ‘killers of prophets’ is a well-known antisemitic trope made in several Islamic texts, which is understood by many, including Al-Nassr himself, as a charge against the entire Jewish people valid for eternity.

This allegation is reminiscent and perhaps reflective of the charge of deicide by which Jews were accused in classical Christian texts.

In addition to the inherent antisemitic rhetoric featured in such allegations, the projection of real or unreal wrongdoings by Jews of ancient times onto the modern State of Israel is viewed as another type of antisemitism practiced nowadays in many religious and nationalistic circles.

Al-Nassr was not satisfied with these comments alone, as he went on in his speech to commend the “Flood of Al-Aqsa operation” (Hamas’s name for the October 7th massacre), claiming that this was only a “prelude to the annihilation of the corruption of the ‘second Zionist entity’ upon earth.”

He then referred to a presumably Godly promise for the ingathering of Jews in the land of Palestine as preparation for the ‘battle of the next generation,’ which according to Al-Nassr, would bring an end to the Jewish state.


Amb. Alan Baker: Will the U.S. State Department Impose Sanctions on an IDF Battalion?
The declared intention of the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions on the IDF's Netzah Yehuda battalion based on allegations of human rights breaches is a very rash and dangerous move against the military forces of a friendly state.

The battalion is an integral component of the Israel Defense Forces, under the full authority and jurisdiction of Israel's military justice system. As such, it is subject to military law and is responsible for fully complying with the norms and principles of international law.

Israel's independent judicial system, including its military justice system, thoroughly investigates and institutes prosecution proceedings regarding any allegation of a violation or deviation from IDF orders and code of conduct.

Any action by the U.S. to unilaterally impose sanctions on an IDF unit and its soldiers implies that Israel's military and civil legal, investigative, and prosecution authorities are incapable of or are not dealing with alleged violations.

This is not the case, and advancing such a proposition to impose sanctions on the army of a critical democratic ally like Israel sets a very dangerous precedent concerning the implications such action could have in the various international judicial fora before which Israel is presently called to defend its actions.

If the State Department has any solidly-based suspicions regarding violations by any IDF unit or its soldiers, it is incumbent on the State Department to raise this issue directly with the responsible military and justice authorities in Israel to ascertain whether and what action is being taken to investigate and prosecute such allegations.

It is no less incumbent upon the U.S. State Department to rely only on reliable and authoritative information on this matter and not on partisan, one-sided, political allegations, such as anti-Israel NGOs active on behalf of the Palestinians.
Report: ICC mulling Israeli arrest warrants with US consent
The International Criminal Court in The Hague would not be considering issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials without the approval of the United States, according to a Channel 12 report on Tuesday, citing senior sources associated with the ICC.

“The sources at The Hague said that it is impossible that the chief prosecutor would have decided on such a dramatic step, in a war that is still ongoing, with very little evidence, if he had not at least had a ‘green light’ from the Americans. If this is true, this is another and unprecedented low in relations between Israel and the U.S., at a very sensitive time, on the eve of the ground entry to Rafah,” wrote Israeli journalist Amit Segal.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan has served in his position since Feb. 12, 2021, when he was elected with American support. The Channel 12 article notes that since then, he has closed two cases that “greatly troubled the Americans”—on undeclared detention related to Afghanistan in Europe and to war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan.

Channel 12 reported last week about Israeli concerns that high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, could be subject to arrest warrants over the prosecution of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

According to the report, an emergency meeting was held at Netanyahu’s office on April 16 in the presence of Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

The four decided to take “urgent action with international authorities” to prevent the arrest of Israelis abroad, according to the report.


Caroline Glick joins Newsmax on April 20, 2024



Pelosi Demands Netanyahu Resign, Calls Israeli Leader ‘Obstacle’ to Peace
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) this week demanded Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign for his "terrible" response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, calling the Israeli leader an "obstacle" to peace.

"We recognize Israel's right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu—terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response [to the Oct. 7 attack]?" the former House speaker told Irish broadcaster RTÉ in an interview published Monday.

"[Netanyahu] should resign. He's ultimately responsible," Pelosi said, adding, "I don't know whether he’s afraid of peace, incapable of peace, or just doesn’t want peace. But he has been an obstacle to the two-state solution."

Netanyahu declared Israel was at war with Hamas immediately after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, vowing to make the terrorists pay an "unprecedented price." Israel has since eliminated thousands of Hamas militants and established control over significant portions of the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces are set to enter Rafah, one of the few remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza, to "[achieve] a complete victory over Hamas," Netanyahu said earlier this month.

Pelosi’s criticism of Netanyahu came a month after Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called for the prime minister's ouster and a new Israeli government, arguing the Israeli leader "has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel."

"I think what [Schumer] said is totally inappropriate," Netanyahu said in response. "It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something the Israeli public does on its own."


Analysts debunk Hamas claims that Israel dug mass graves at Nasser hospital
Analyses by Sky News and independent analysts of satellite imagery and footage published online found that claims spread by Hamas and Arabic media that the IDF had dug mass graves at the Nasser hospital in Gaza were false as the graves were made before the IDF entered the complex.

Hamas, Al-Jazeera, and several news agencies claimed in recent days that the IDF had dug mass graves in order to "hide" the bodies of Palestinians after entering the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday that he was "horrified" by the reports and called for "independent, effective and transparent investigations." Türk added that "The intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are hors de combat [not participating in hostilities] is a war crime."

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk, claimed that some of the bodies had their hands tied and were "stripped of their clothes."

Due to the analyses finding that the bodies were buried before Israeli forces entered the hospital, it is unclear who bound and stripped the buried individuals or why they did so, as only Palestinians and medical professionals were present at the scene at that point.

On Monday, the GeoConfirmed geolocation account published a thread listing extensive examples of footage and satellite imagery showing that the graves were dug, filled, and covered before the IDF ever stepped foot in the hospital.

The account geolocated and dated several videos posted online to figure out when the graves were actually dug.

According to the account, the footage showed Palestinians digging the graves in question between January 25-February 3. The IDF entered the hospital on February 15.


IDF: Mass grave in Khan Yunis dug by Gazans
Israel said on Wednesday that it was not responsible for a mass grave unearthed at the Nasser Hospital complex in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, providing video evidence that Gazans dug the burial site.

“Misinformation is circulating regarding a mass grave that was discovered at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. The grave in question was dug—by Gazans—a few months ago. This fact is corroborated by social media documentation uploaded by Gazans at the time of the burial, as seen in the video below,” IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. (S.) Nadav Shoshani tweeted.

“Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel,” he added.

The White House weighed in on Wednesday, saying that it seeks answers to the mass graves.

“We want answers. We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.


White House demands ‘answers’ from Israel after Gaza hospital mass grave claims
The White House said Wednesday it wanted “answers” from Israeli authorities, after Hamas officials in Gaza claimed to discover a mass grave at a hospital that was the target of a recent IDF raid.

On Tuesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defense agency said that health workers uncovered nearly 340 bodies of people allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. But evidence has suggested this is false, with the bodies having previously been buried at that same location by Palestinians amid the fighting between Israeli forces and terror operatives in the area.

“We want answers,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters. “We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated.”

A spokesperson for the US State Department also said Washington was continuing to press Israel for more information.

The claimed discovery by Hamas officials prompted the United Nations to demand an independent probe into the situation, backed by the European Union.

“Misinformation is circulating regarding a mass grave that was discovered at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. The grave in question was dug — by Gazans — a few months ago,” Israeli army spokesman Major Nadav Shoshani wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This fact is corroborated by social media documentation uploaded by Gazans at the time of the burial, as seen in the video below.”

“Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel,” Shoshani added.


AOC Spreads Hamas ‘Mass Grave’ Hoax to Demonize Israel
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is spreading a hoax about a “mass grave” supposedly discovered at a Gaza hospital where Israeli soldiers had recently been fighting terrorists.

AOC cited a post on Twitter / X by Nick Kristof, a radical left-wing columnist for the New York Times, who has spread doubts about Hamas’s documented use of hospitals, but treats Hamas claims about Israeli atrocities as proven facts.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has noted for days that Hamas has tried to spread misinformation about the hospital.

In fact, it said, IDF soldiers examined a grave that had been used by Palestinians to bury dead people, hoping to find the remains of Israeli hostages who may have been killed, and then returned the bodies that the IDF had exhumed.


Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry: Review of UNRWA’s neutrality offers ‘cosmetic solutions’
António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said on Monday that he accepts recommendations made by a group reviewing the neutrality of the beleaguered U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Critics predicted months ago that the review would whitewash the U.N. agency’s ties to Gazan terror groups, and Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the released report.

“Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins,” Marmorstein stated. “The problem with UNRWA-Gaza isn’t that of a few bad apples. It is a rotten and poisonous tree whose roots are Hamas.”

Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister, led the group that released the report on Monday. The report says that the Jewish state failed to provide evidence for its claims that UNRWA staff participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and, broadly, about terror activity in the Gaza Strip.

The review found UNRWA “irreplaceable and indispensable” to Palestinians it serves in Gaza and elsewhere and said that the U.N. agency already has a detailed screening process in place to “ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles.”

It noted that stronger safeguarding mechanisms could be implemented with respect to neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The secretary-general accepts the recommendations contained in Ms. Colonna’s report,” stated Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres.

“He has agreed with Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini that UNRWA, with the secretary-general’s support, will establish an action plan to implement the recommendations contained in the final report,” Dujarric added of the U.N. secretary-general.


Hamas official who sought endless war after Oct. 7 says it could put down arms for 2-state deal
A senior member of Hamas’s Qatar-based politburo said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the terrorist group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.

However, in separate comments published by the London-based Arabic paper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the same official, Khalil al-Hayya, indicated this would only be a temporary stance and that the Palestinians retain their “historic right to all Palestinian lands.”

Al-Hayya also specified in the AP interview that the envisaged Palestinian state would necessitate “the return of Palestinian refugees” to today’s Israel. The Palestinian demand for a so-called “right of return” provides for up to six million descendants of refugees entering Israel — a demand dismissed by Israel as seeking to destroy it as a Jewish majority state.

Al-Hayya’s comments came amid a stalemate in months of talks for a truce and a hostage release. The suggestion that Hamas could disarm appeared to mark a potential departure by the terror group, which is officially committed to Israel’s destruction.

It was also starkly at odds with an October interview by al-Hayya in which he said the goal of the October 7 massacres in southern Israel was to plunge the entire region into conflict and have a permanent state of war on Israel’s borders.

It’s also unlikely Israel would consider such a scenario. It has vowed to crush Hamas after thousands of terrorists led by the organization stormed southern Israel on October 7 to kill nearly 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and take 253 hostages.

Moreover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are overwhelmingly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured during the Six Day War in June 1967.


FDD: Israel Calls UN Investigation into UNRWA ‘Insufficient’
Latest Developments
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on April 22 released the final report by investigators charged with reviewing the agency’s “neutrality” in light of Israel’s allegations that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s October 7 massacre. The report dismissed the allegations. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the report “insufficient” because it “ignores the severity of the problem” and only “offers cosmetic fixes.”

While the United Nations asserted that UNRWA has “extensive tools in place to ensure it remains unbiased in its work,” this appears at odds with at least some of the report’s findings. For instance, the report determined that UNRWA’s employee verification process is insufficient and that the organization does not have the necessary information to ensure comprehensive and efficient vetting. The report also observed numerous persistent “neutrality” problems within UNRWA. For example, its staff have publicly expressed political views, and the organization uses educational material that includes anti-Israel content.

Former French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna, who led the group working on the report since February, offered 50 recommendations, mostly highlighting bureaucratic reforms such as creating a neutrality working group or improving staff training. On April 22, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accepted the report’s recommendations and called for donors to support UNRWA.

Expert Analysis
“The UN’s corruption and terror finance problems are on full display — and they go straight to the top. Democracies that care about the integrity of international organizations must not allow the UN to play this dangerous game. Now is the time to expedite plans to leave UNRWA in the dustbin of history and move forward with a new terror-free paradigm.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“The report issued today is part of a concerted effort by the UN system to downplay and dismiss UNRWA’s egregious complicity in the October 7 massacre. The report recommends largely cosmetic changes to the agency while overlooking UNRWA’s deeper structural and bureaucratic rot. Thankfully, Congress sees past this whitewash. Its ban on U.S. funding for UNRWA extends through March 2025. An independent investigation, free from the UN’s influence, is urgently needed to uncover the full scope of UNRWA’s transgressions.” — Nick Stewart, Senior Director of Government Relations at FDD Action

UNRWA Has Turned a Blind Eye to Systemic Terrorist Activities
Israel has said that more than 2,135 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and 20 percent of UNRWA school principals are “Hamas activists.” Israeli intelligence, recently given to the Canadian government, reveals that “Hamas is deeply and systematically embedded in UNRWA.” For example, Hafez Mousa Mousa, a UNRWA school principal whom Israel believes is a member of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, allegedly closed his UNRWA school on October 7 as he rallied fellow Hamas operatives to prepare for the attack. UNRWA does not recognize U.S.-designated terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad, as terrorist entities.
Israel Tried To Warn Biden Admin About UNRWA. A Top US Official Declined the Meeting, Emails Show.
When Israel's ambassador was denied a meeting with the Biden administration in May 2021, he was looking to raise concerns about American funding to the United Nations' Palestinian aid agency, whose employees went on to participate in Hamas's Oct. 7 terror strike last year, internal government emails show.

Samantha Power, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), declined to take a meeting with Gilad Erdan, then the Israeli ambassador to the United States, when the Jewish state was locked in its 2021 conflict with Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon reported in February, citing internal USAID emails.

A new tranche of scheduling memos from that time shows that Power personally declined to meet with Erdan until the war with Hamas was over. The memos also show Power's staff warned her that the Israeli ambassador would likely raise concerns about the Biden administration's decision to restart funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The agency has been engulfed in controversy since reports showed that several of its employees helped Hamas kill more than 1,200 Jews.

The memos indicate that Israel was attempting to warn the Biden administration about UNRWA's links to Hamas and signal concern with the aid group's employment of individuals affiliated with the terror group. The United States restarted millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for UNRWA just weeks before Erdan requested the meeting with Power and the 2021 conflict with Hamas broke out.

In the previously unreported scheduling memo, Power says she wants to defer the meeting until Israel inks a ceasefire with Hamas, a move that increased pressure on the Jewish state to scale back its military operations in the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has employed similar tactics in recent months as it again attempts to pressure Israel into ending its war on Hamas and begin pumping millions of aid dollars into the war torn Gaza Strip.


JPost Editorial: US leaking sensitive intel. on Israel can jeopardize regional stability
Leaks from American security and diplomatic sources are a growing concern, especially when they relate to Israel and Iran's sensitive geopolitical landscape. Rather than protecting Israel's security and fostering diplomatic stability, these leaks are causing anxiety, pressure, and chaos.

This breach of discretion has significant implications, undermining diplomatic efforts and potentially escalating an already volatile situation.

Israeli officials have taken a strategic approach to addressing their security needs, retaliating where they were attacked while avoiding public acknowledgment to maintain stability.

This careful balancing act is crucial in a region prone to escalation. Israeli security and governmental sources, speaking to The Jerusalem Post, noted that Israel responded proportionally: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Despite this, they refrained from officially accepting responsibility for an attack, knowing that public acknowledgment could escalate tensions.

However, the Pentagon's disclosure of Israeli involvement in attacks contradicts this strategic restraint. Israeli sources expressed confusion and disappointment over why the Pentagon decided to inform the American media instead of maintaining silence.
Ep. 6 Inside Gaza: John Spencer's Eyewitness Account of Israel-Hamas Conflict
Today we bring you an interview with John Spencer, an expert in urban warfare who serves as the chair of urban warfare studies at the Military Institute at West Point and has visited Gaza twice since October 7th.

John Spencer is a US military veteran himself. He served for 25 years in the Army including two combat deployments to Iraq as both an infantry platoon leader and company commander.

We first came across John from his op-eds in the Wall Street Journal about the war in Gaza.

John brings a unique perspective to the Israel-Hamas War. As a military expert, he’s seen Gaza in the company of the IDF, so we will follow this episode with a Thursday one on a doctor who's seen Gaza through the eyes of the Palestinians.




Israel prepares to evacuate one million Palestinians from Rafah ahead of invasion
Israel is preparing to evacuate one million Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of an imminent ground invasion against Hamas, Israeli news sources reported on Tuesday evening.

The evacuation will reportedly involve moving civilians to the nearby city of Khan Younis, under two miles from Rafah, where Israel will establish shelters with food and medical facilities in coordination with international aid organisations.

According to Israeli government sources, the Israeli Defense Ministry has procured 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10-12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from Rafah.

The evacuation, expected to take roughly a month, marks the first stage of the proposed Rafah offensive, according to a report by Reuters on Wednesday. The IDF is then expected to gradually move troops into Rafah and target areas where it believes Hamas leaders and operatives are hiding.

According to Israeli intelligence sources, Rafah is home to four intact Hamas combat battalions and believed to be the final bastion of the terrorist organisation in Gaza.

Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen, commander of the 162nd Division operating in Gaza, told Kan public TV on Tuesday: “Hamas was hit hard in the northern sector. It was also hit hard in the centre of the Strip. And soon it will be hit hard in Rafah, too.

“Hamas should know that when the IDF goes into Rafah, it would do best to raise its hands in surrender. Rafah will not be the Rafah of today... There won’t be munitions there. And there won't be hostages there.”

The IDF announced on Wednesday that two reservist brigades have been mobilised for missions in Gaza.
Why nearly intact Iranian missiles are being found in the Negev
Travelers who were walking in the Arad area of the Judean desert, enjoying the starry night, were surprised to find themselves standing next to a ballistic missile, a remnant of the major attack that Tehran launched against Israel, which included more than 300 suicide drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

This is not the first missile discovered in the south since the attack. Similar missiles were discovered nearby in the Dead Sea area immediately after.

So how is it that civilians are still finding missiles on the ground ten days after the attack, especially after the IDF spokesman stated that Israel's air defense system successfully intercepted 99% of them?

Iranian missiles: how do they work?
The IDF made the decision to disclose this information since some missiles successfully struck the Nevatim base, and this was reported abroad. Despite not responding directly to reports of a transport plane being hit in the attack, the IDF did provide an explanation for the nearly intact missiles discovered in the Negev.

The missile found this week is the Iranian Imad, one of the two types of ballistic missiles used in the attack, along with the Haybar Shekan. The Imad is an advanced version of the old Shehab 3 missile, which itself is based on the North Korean Rodong.

Iran launched 110 ballistic missiles at Israel. Each missile contains rocket engines that provide it with the necessary speed to exit the atmosphere, large fuel tanks designed to allow the engines to travel long distances, a control system box, and a warhead, which contains the explosive material.

The Imad's warhead is relatively sophisticated: It contains 750 kg of explosives, capable of causing damage even to protected structures. The missile's fins allow it to hit the target accurately and maneuver in an attempt to mislead the defense systems. The missile's range reaches about 1,700 kilometers, and it is designed to hit the target accurately to 10 meters.

"The warhead is the payload that the missile carries, the whole purpose of which is to put it into orbit on the way to the target," explains Tal Inbar, an expert on the Iranian missile program. "The engine accelerates the missile, and it flies to Israel on a ballistic trajectory, at a maximum height of 110-140 km above the ground. Somewhere over western Iran or over Iraq, the warhead separates from the heavy and clumsy missile casing that carries it so that it can easily maneuver to the target. The warhead is the dangerous part that needs to be intercepted. The rest of the missile reaches Israel without fuel, and as long as it falls into uninhabited territory, it will not cause damage.

"The cost of these missiles is high: an Arrow-2 costs about 3 million dollars. The goal is to destroy the target with as few interceptors as possible. That's why a lot of effort has been put into developing the ability of Israeli air defense systems to distinguish between the warhead and the missile itself. This enables us to launch an interceptor at the right target and not waste an interceptor on the missile itself, as long as it is not about to land in a populated area."
US could begin construction of floating pier off Gaza ‘very soon’
Ryder indicated at the Pentagon on April 23 that the US estimates that keeping this plan on track will mean starting work in early May on the pier. “As I understand it, all the necessary vessels are within the Mediterranean region and standing by, as I mentioned, to begin construction when given the order to do that. Again, you know, there is a process and procedure that will have to be followed,” he said. He also discussed the complex other aspects of the project, such as working to make sure the area is secure and also working with local partners which “include NGOs, working with USAID, there’s a very specific process and timeline that needs to be implemented. And so again, as I understand it, we’re on track at this point to implement that,” he said.

There is still some lack of clarity on how this will all work. It should mean a maritime corridor from Cyprus can be maintained. Ruder said the pier would be “several miles off-shore” and that it can receive military and civilian vessels and then items can be loaded onto the floating dock and then moved to the shore. Vessels will then take the aid to a temporary causeway on shore and the aid will be put on trucks driven by local NGOs.

This leaves questions about which NGOs. An airstrike on a World Central Kitchen convoy caused that group, which was working from Cyprus with UAE backing and using a Spanish ship, to pause its work in early April.

It was clear from the questions at the Pentagon that much remains to be worked out, or that not everyone is privy to the plans afoot for this complex operation. The US military, and the US army in particular, likely wants to see if this capability to build a floating pier in a real-life crisis will work as planned. In the past, these units have trained for this, but this is a unique scenario. Moving these transport ships, which sit low in the water and move along at a slow pace of around 10 knots, all the way across the Atlantic, is one of those interesting missions that pops up, enabling a military to try carry out something it has practiced over the years.
How’s That Gaza Pier Coming, Mr. President?
Seven Weeks Later, ‘No Physical Construction of the Temporary Pier or the Causeway’ Hey, remember in President Biden’s State of the Union Address — delivered March 7 — when he pledged, “I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters. No U.S. boots will be on the ground”?

Remember how a whole bunch of us asked a lot of questions about how all of this was going to work, logistically, and how Biden could keep that promise?

How, exactly, will U.S. military forces build a temporary pier on the Gaza coast without putting any “boots on the ground”? Is the plan to build the pier offshore and then float it over toward the Palestinians? Is this some spin that if the boots are on the beach, they still count as “offshore”?

How close are our forces going to be to the Gaza coast? No one in the administration is worried about members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or any other extremist or terrorist group taking shots at American forces? Am I the only one getting vibes of Beirut in 1983 or Mogadishu in 1993? . . .

And if we’re going to do the Palestinians some favors, doesn’t that seem like the sort of thing that should involve the freeing of some hostages?

The aim was to begin “delivery operations in approximately 60 days.”

Well, 49 days, or seven weeks, have passed, and yesterday, the Pentagon press secretary, Air Force Major General Pat Ryder, conceded that nothing has been built yet:

As of right now, there has been no physical construction of the temporary pier or the causeway. As we’ve discussed, you know, there is a — for lack of a better term, sort of a checklist that one is going to follow in order to implement this capability.

And as Central Command and U.S. Army Central goes through that checklist, we are positioned to begin construction very soon, in the very near future, but you want to do those steps in order so that by the time you are erecting this causeway and temporary pier, that all of the pieces are in place and that you can begin operating.

So we’re still, based on all indications, on track to see an operating capability by the end of this month or early May, and we’ll keep you updated on that.

This contradicts media reports that “the dock has been built off U.S. naval vessels.” Part of the delay is that “one of the ships deployed to support the mission of building a pier to deliver aid to starving residents in Gaza was forced to turn back last week after it suffered a fire in its engine room.” Apparently, they found a substitute or can function with one less ship, as Ryder said yesterday that “all the necessary vessels are within the Mediterranean region and standing by, as I mentioned, to begin construction when given the order to do that.”

As for the security concerns:
While the Pentagon maintains that no U.S. troops will deploy into Gaza, it has disclosed little about how long the operation could last and how it intends to ensure the safety of those involved, alarming some in Congress and other critics of the president’s plan. Military officials declined to answer questions from The Washington Post about where the pier will be located and what security measures will be taken, citing a desire not to telegraph its plans.

And as for whether this benevolent gift from the U.S. government has spurred Hamas to release some hostages, not only have we not seen any hostages released since then, Hamas won’t even give updated numbers on how many hostages are alive or dead.
Terrorists Attack US Humanitarian Pier Construction Site Off Gaza: Report
Gazan terrorists on Wednesday launched mortar shells at a site off the coast of Gaza where the United States is planning to construct a floating pier to deliver humanitarian aid, according to a report from Israeli outlet i24NEWS.

The mortar attack damaged American engineering equipment and left one person injured, i24NEWS reported on Thursday. The United States could start building the humanitarian pier as early as this weekend, with the Israel Defense Forces reportedly in charge of providing security during the construction.

President Joe Biden first announced the pier’s construction during his State of the Union address on March 7. U.S. military personnel will assemble the floating pier, an 1,800-foot-long causeway attached to the coast of northern Gaza, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the day after Biden’s speech.

"As the president has said, not enough aid is getting in [to Gaza]," Ryder said, noting the pier is expected to help deliver "up to 2,000,000 meals in a day."

"At no time will we require U.S. forces to actually go on the ground," Ryder added. "Our role will be essentially to provide the service of getting [the aid] to the causeway, at which point it will then be distributed."

Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that the humanitarian pier would endanger U.S. troops deployed to manage it, with over a dozen members of the Senate Armed Services Committee last month warning Biden that the plan "appears to ignore force protection issues entirely, against an enemy that tries to kill Americans every day."


IAF strikes Gaza launch pads after rockets fired at Israel on Passover
Israeli Air Force fighter jets destroyed two Hamas rocket launchers embedded in a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, the army said Wednesday, as the war started by the terrorist group entered its 200th day.

The Israel Defense Forces said the launch pads were loaded with rockets and were struck before they could be used to attack the Jewish state.

The strike in the heart of a humanitarian zone was carried out following efforts to prevent harm to civilians, the military added.

On Tuesday morning, as Israelis celebrated the Passover holiday, air-raid siren sounded in the southern border communities of Ashkelon, Sderot and Zikim, sending close to 190,000 people running for shelter.

Four rockets were intercepted. In Sderot, a storage shed burned down after it was hit by shrapnel. There were no people in the structure, which had been under renovation since it was hit by two Hamas rockets on Oct. 7, and no injuries were reported.


The Israel Guys: Another Rocket Barrage Was Just Fired From Gaza | HOW??
As Israelis were celebrating Passover in Israel, sirens sounded in southern Israel, sending 190,000 people running to bomb shelters. How long will the world stand by and allow this to happen? Isn’t it about time for Israel to be able to celebrate a holiday in peace?

After multiple barrages of rockets were fired from Gaza and Lebanon, the IAF responded accordingly and struck major terror targets of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the IDF is preparing to go into the last remaining terrorist stronghold in Gaza, Rafah, with meetings happening in Egypt.

And Nancy Pelosi said something dumb.




Seth Frantzman: Under Hezbollah fire on the bay of Haifa
I was at the beach along with hundreds of people. Some were kite-surfing. Others were fishing. Mostly people were just wading in the water. There is a lifeguard station at the far northern part of the beach of Kiryat Yam.

It is called the ‘Virgin’ beach for some reason, and there is a small shop and new sandwich place called the “Betula” or “virgin” sandwich. Acre is visible in the distance, several miles up the bay.

The morning was full of signs of possible escalation. There were the sound of warplanes in the air. Hezbollah said overnight that Mohammad Khalil Atiyeh, a member of its Radwan force, was killed.

The IDF said that in the morning “IAF aircraft struck and eliminated Hussein Ali Azkul, a significant terrorist operative in Hezbollah's Aerial Defense Unit in southern Lebanon. Azkul was heavily involved in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks against Israel and was involved in the Hezbollah's Aerial unit's routine activities.

His elimination significantly harms the capabilities of Hezbollah's Aerial Unit.”

I thought that this would likely mean there might be escalation.

I heard the sound of booms around 13:08 and the IDF said that “Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel regarding a hostile aircraft infiltration, a short while ago, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target off the coast of Nahariyya.”

Around thirty minutes, an air defense interceptor became visible in the distance, over the water, with the city of Acre framing the scene. Within a few seconds the sirens sounded and people began grabbing their kids from the water and quickly walking inland.

There were no shelters so some people opened a lifeguard station and tried to cram into the bottom room, where the station keeps its longboard to do rescues. It was clear this was not a protected room: it was made of wood.

I stood there now with the dilemma, whether to put my son, who was with me, into the shelter with a bunch of adults who were cramming themselves in, or to just walk to the southern side of the stand and take shelter.

Years of covering the war in Sderot taught me that it's better, in the absence of shelter, to put something between you and where the rockets or interceptions are, and to have something over your head.

So I gave up with trying to cram myself or my young kid between mountains of people, and instead wandered around to the south of the shack and waited. The sirens were over. Whatever had happened, had happened. There weren’t interceptions overhead, so there was no shrapnel coming down. If it was our “time,” it would have happened a minute before we tried to cram into the non-shelter.

Now that the sirens were over I went back to the beach, grasping my hastily gathered glasses case, phone and keys. You need keys to flee a rocket attack. You need glasses and a phone. Back at the beach around ninety percent of the people had now left and the parking lot, that had been bursting with cars, was emptying.


Hamas chief Sinwar exited tunnels, met with terrorists aboveground
Hamas's chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, exited the terrorist movement's tunnels and met with the movement's forces aboveground recently, a senior source in Hamas told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Wednesday.

Sinwar "recently inspected areas that witnessed clashes between the resistance and the occupation army, and met some of the movement's fighters on the ground and not in the tunnels," said the source.

The source claimed that Sinwar is "not isolated from reality" where he's hiding, adding that "talk that Sinwar is isolated in the tunnels is nothing but a claim on the part of Netanyahu and his agencies to cover up his failure to achieve the goals declared to the Israeli street and to his allies."

The Hamas source also denied reports that Hamas had changed its demands to only being willing to release 20 hostages instead of the 40 originally discussed in the first phase of any agreement. The source stated that while it's not possible to "accurately determine the number of living hostages," it is "certain" that the number is higher than the number being cited in some media reports.

The source claimed that Hamas has about 30 IDF and Shin Bet officers and that these hostages are being kept in "highly secured places, far from the hands of the occupation, and it is impossible to reach them under any circumstances."


UN official lauds Israel for Gaza aid but calls for ‘paradigm shift’
Israel has taken measures to improve the delivery of provisions in the Gaza Strip; however, there needs to be a “paradigm shift” to continue to meet the “immense needs” of the enclave’s civilian population “in a safe and secure manner,” the U.N. point person on humanitarian aid in the Strip said on Wednesday.

Sigrid Kaag, a former deputy prime minister of the Netherlands and currently senior U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told the U.N. Security Council that her team has had “very constructive cooperation” with Israel over the last few weeks.

The U.N. official lauded the Jewish state for increasing the amount of aid crossing into Gaza, opening the Erez Crossing at the northern end of the Strip and using the Port of Ashdod for delivering humanitarian items. Kaag also noted the repair of a critical water pipeline in the northern part of the enclave and the resumption of bakery operations in northern and central Gaza.

But she said other measures must be taken immediately, including “effective and credible deconfliction” to keep humanitarian workers safe in places where the Israel Defense Forces operate.

Also on the agenda are improved checkpoint procedures, road repairs and timely clearances to keep convoy movements on schedule.

Kaag said a “U.N. mechanism” to accelerate the provision of aid to Gaza, which the Security Council called for in a December resolution, will start operating “in the coming days,” initially by land from Jordan and by sea from Cyprus.

“The operationalization of the mechanism will allow for pipeline prioritization, predictability, visibility and tracking of supplies to Gaza,” Kaag told Security Council ambassadors.


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Limousine Liberals for Hamas
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Today we discuss the state of play between universities and the pro-Hamas encampment movement, and we consider Mike Johnson’s seeming declaration of a counter movement. Speaking of encampments, why are tents proliferating in urban areas and what does it say about society? We also talk about the terrible new GDP numbers, why no one took a victory lap after Joe Biden signed the foreign aid bill, and much more.
Petition calling for Met Commissioner’s resignation over officer’s ‘openly Jewish’ remark gains 10,000 signatures
Nearly 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for the resignation of Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley after a Jewish campaigner was told by an officer that his “openly Jewish” presence at a pro-Palestine march was causing a “breach of the peace.”

The petition was sponsored by the Campaign Against Antisemitism after a Metropolitan Police officer prevented the organisation’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, from crossing a road during a Palestine march in central London on 13 April due to his “openly Jewish” appearance.

Rishi Sunak has since said that Scotland Yard must regain the confidence of the public by policing protests properly, telling the Met Police: “Don’t just manage marches, police them.”

Sunak's comments intensify pressure on Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley who is facing calls to resign over the incident, footage of which has been widely viewed on social media.

Sunak said: “I was shocked to see that footage over the weekend, as I'm sure many people were. That's why when I was asked yesterday I was very clear that the police have got to not just manage these protests, they’ve got to police them.

“People are seeing scenes like that that they don't understand, they don't think are acceptable and that they think undermine the values that are important to us as a country and society,” Sunak said.

“My expectation is that the Met Commissioner regains the trust and confidence of the Jewish community and the public more broadly when it comes to how these protests are being policed and not just managed.”

Falter has called on his supporters to join him for a “walk” this Saturday, which will coincide with another pro-Palestine march in central London. In a letter to Met Police Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain, a screenshot of which Falter posted to X, the CAA head wrote:

“I am not planning a protest on 27th April. I am going for a walk as a private individual. I have not yet decided where I will walk, however it is likely that whilst walking I will be quite openly Jewish. Others might decide to join me. They might not. That is a matter for them. They might also be quite openly Jewish. They might not. That is also a matter for them.”
UK police threaten to arrest man for being openly Jewish near Pro-Palestinian march
Author Douglas Murray says there are things which have been normalised today that would have been “front page news for weeks” just a few years ago.

This comes after UK police threatened to arrest Campaign Against Antisemitism CEO Gideon Falter for looking openly Jewish as he was passing by a Pro-Palestinian march.

“The fact that … we have priests being attacked at the alter, we have Jews afraid to walk the streets of western cities,” Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“All of the discussion around this … everything around it is always fearful because of a number of things.

“People are fearful about addressing this because sometimes they are afraid physically for their own safety and sometimes they’re afraid because they’re afraid of what they’re going to be called.”


Jon Lovitz: 'It's horrible' what's happening to Jewish students at Columbia University
Jewish actor and comedian Jon Lovitz slams the anti-Israel protesters who are demonstrating on college campuses across America on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'


‘Two-tiered policing’ shown in England between St George’s Day and pro-Palestine protests
GB News host Patrick Christys says there was “two-tiered policing” shown in England between St George’s Day and pro-Palestine protests.

Mr Christys joined Sky News Australia host Andrew Bolt to discuss the recent protests in England and the stark contrast in the way police treated each one.

“This was actually more of a celebration than a protest,” he said.

“It does raise questions as to whether or not it is illegal to be white, English, and patriotic in England.

“There’s definitely two-tiered policing here.”




Take ‘immediate action’ against Jew-hatred, 27 GOP senators demand of US ed secretary, attorney general
A group of 27 U.S. senators wrote to Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, and Miguel Cardona, the U.S. education secretary, on Tuesday demanding that the officials “take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses.”

“President Biden issued a statement on Sunday, purporting to condemn the outbreak of antisemitism. If that statement was serious, it must be accompanied by immediate action from your departments,” the senators wrote.

“We write regarding the outbreak of antisemitic, pro-terrorist mobs on college campuses. These pro-Hamas rioters have effectively shut down college campuses and have literally chased Jewish students away from our schools,” they wrote.

“The Department of Education and federal law enforcement must act immediately to restore order, prosecute the mobs who have perpetuated violence and threats against Jewish students, revoke the visas of all foreign nationals (such as exchange students) who have taken part in promoting terrorism and hold accountable school administrators who have stood by instead of protecting their students,” they added.

Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) led the letter.

The other signatories—all Republicans—were John Barrasso (Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), John Cornyn (Texas), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Texas), Steve Daines (Mont.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Josh Hawley (Mo.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), John Kennedy (La.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), James Risch (Idaho), Pete Ricketts (Neb.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), John Thune (S.D.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).
Watch Democrat Abandon Idiotic Talking Points on Protesters
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report”shares a DM clip of Democrat John Fetterman’s brutal insult to pro-Palestine protesters who took over a Starbucks with a bullhorn.




‘Me too unless you’re a Jew’: Ami Horowitz slams Susan Sarandon’s stance on Israel-Hamas war
Filmmaker Ami Horowitz says actress Susan Sarandon “dropped the veneer” of being anti-Israel and instead is openly an anti-Semite.

Mr Horowitz joined Sky News Australia host Rita Panahi to discuss the actress’ stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

“Susan Sarandon had dropped the veneer of simply being anti-Israel but being an open anti-Semite a while ago,” he said.

“You can believe the New York Times – I’m sure is Susan Sarandon’s Bible, that interviewed 150 rape victims, rape counsellors, medical emergency personnel, and actually had video the rapes that happened, you can do that, or you can believe Hamas, because that’s essentially what she’s doing.

“I mean, me too unless you’re a Jew.”




Andrew Hastie slams pro-Palestine demonstration ‘hijacking’ Anzac Day
Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie says Australians are “tired” of radicals hijacking all areas of life with politics.

Australians paused to honour our servicemen and women for Anzac Day at dawn services around the country.

Dozens of tents were pitched at the University of Melbourne today as pro-Palestine protesters kicked off their encampment demonstration following scrutiny around the ill-timed date.

“Anzac Day is a day of unity, not of division,” Mr Hastie told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“These people are trying to divide us and Australians are just tired of being divided.

“It was disrespectful and it was a poorly chosen time; indeed it was designed to hijack the very day where we come together.”


NSW Greens councillor slammed for wearing Palestinian keffiyeh to Anzac Day dawn service
NSW Greens councillor Rafaela Pandolfini has been slammed for wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh to an Anzac Day dawn service held in Sydney’s east.

The keffiyeh is a traditional scarf worn in the Middle East, but due to the pro-Palestine protests the garment has more recently been viewed as a symbol of support for Palestine.

“Today was Anzac Day, the most sacred day in our nations’ calendar, it’s the day where we put aside all our differences, and God knows we’ve got a few, and focus on honouring those men and women who died to ensure the freedoms that we currently enjoy,” says Sky News host James Macpherson.

“It’s not a day for partisan political points, and it’s certainly not a day for importing foreign conflicts.

“Unless of course, you’re a Greens politician.”




Hasan Piker, Crackhead Barney decry Israel on Piers Morgan
Wednesday’s Piers Morgan Uncensored show featured heated arguments between self-declared pro-Israel and pro-Palestine activists, alongside an appearance from Crackhead Barney, who had previously gone viral in a video where she asked actor Alec Baldwin to say ‘free Palestine.’

Piers Morgan was joined by pro-Palestine YouTuber Hasan Piker, AKA HasanAbi, pro-Israel journalist Emily Austin, and Piers Morgan Uncensored contributors Esther Krakue and James Barr.

Hasan, who is a Turkish-American Muslim and the nephew of Cenk Ughur, has gained a high profile from his vociferous advocacy for Palestinians during the current Israel-Hamas war.

Hasan: October 7 was inevitable
During the debate, Piker stated that he is “perfectly comfortable with people chanting about the intifada.” The previous intifadas led to hundreds of deaths of civilians in Israel by suicide bombing and other attacks.

Despite being repeatedly asked whether he condemned or condoned the October 7 attack, he refrained from directly answering the question.

“I think that violent means of maintaining an apartheid is inevitably going to yield violent retaliation,” Piker said.

Morgan probed Piker's arguments, drawing attention to how the latter showed support for violence that fit his agenda but condemned violence that fit the other side.

“Hasan, it does seem that you're very selective about the violence that you support," Morgan said. "When you support it, it's justified. When other people use things in a violent way that you don't support, it's unjustified. Seems like it's all skewed to what Hasan thinks.”

Emily Austin, an outspoken Israel advocate, defended Israel’s case and highlighted the plight of the hostages, who remain in captivity in Gaza. She also showed Hasan a still from the recent hostage video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

In response, Piker told Austin that she was using the hostages as “a political tool to make propaganda” and referred to her Bring Them Home necklace as an IDF dog tag.

He also called Austin a “f****** terrorist” and a “disgusting little monster.”

Piker referred to Israel’s alleged “genocidal intent” against Gazans, whom he claimed were called “human animals” by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The original clip shows Gallant using this phrase to specifically refer to Hamas.

“I'm going to cut off the debate - getting absolutely nowhere,” Morgan finally said.
‘Offensive nonsense’: Chris Kenny visits USYD pro-Palestine protest
Sky News host Chris Kenny has slammed the “offensive nonsense” at the US-inspired pro-Palestine protest at the University of Sydney’s historic Camperdown campus on Tuesday night.

The protest featured posters spray painted with the anti-Israel phrase “From the river to the sea” and called on the university to “cut ties (with) arms manufacturers”.

A big banner with ‘Gaza solidarity encampment’ was also unfolded in front of the university protest.

Mr Kenny visited the university on Thursday morning, speaking with some of the protesters and asking why there were no posters calling for the release of Israeli hostages.

“Why wouldn't university students campaign for the protection of all innocents?” Mr Kenny said.

“Why wouldn’t they condemn Hamas and demand the release of hostages as the way to deliver peace? And why would they promote views that amount to calling for the destruction and elimination of Israel?

“We have seen where this division and hatred has led on the campuses in the United States with Jewish students advised to stay away. Surely we can't go down the same path here.”


Pro-Palestinian protestors criticised for not having a ‘real argument’
Stepmates Studios Mark Nicholson says pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Sydney campus seem to just be “joining the group”.

Mr Nicholson said the protests seem like a “populous thing to be doing at the moment”.

“Uni used to be a place for people reading history now it’s just a bunch of kids wanting to sit back and watch it repeat itself over and over again,” he told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“There’s something about this that really fires me up.

“None of them have actually got a real argument for it, they just seem to be joining the group.”


‘Very triggering’: USYD teacher speaks out on university protests
USYD Biology Teacher Sarah Aamidor has spoken out about the pro-Palestinian protest occurring at the University of Sydney campus.

Ms Aamidor described it as “very triggering”.

“In the centre of the university there’s a camp with tents, there’s megaphones, there’s people standing and taking over that whole area … they have huge banners, they have flags, they pretty much took over the centre of the university,” Ms Aamidor told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“You walk over the bridge and there’s posters everywhere … posters that are calling for … at least the dismantlement of the state of Israel.

“Calling for boycott, calling for Intifada and it’s everywhere.”


‘Jewish students no longer feel safe’: Sharri Markson slams Sydney Uni over protest calamity
Sky News host Sharri Markson has criticised Sydney University after a pro-Palestine movement saw students set up camp on campus with posters displaying anti-Israel slurs.

“The University of Sydney is copying the worst of the American Ivy League colleges with its Palestinian sit-ins and horrific antisemitism,” Ms Markson said.

“This is a horrendous call for uprising today and last night, at a time when social unrest is at boiling point.

“Bringing this division, this hatred to Australia is only creating an unsafe environment for students.

“The truth is, at the University of Sydney, Jewish students no longer feel safe to go on campus.”


Greens Senator slammed over ‘irresponsible’ post after backing Sydney Uni pro-Palestine protest
Sky News host Sharri Markson has lashed out at Greens Senator David Shoebridge over a “highly irresponsible” post he shared on social media after he backed pro-Palestinian protests at Sydney University.

Students at Sydney University on Tuesday set up a pro-Palestine camp on campus grounds after a similar movement saw hundreds of students arrested in the United States.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge took to social media on Tuesday night supporting the action.

‘USyd students occupy quad lawns in solidarity with Gaza tonight,’ he said.

The Greens Senator later took to Instagram to share a video where the lyrics say: ‘It's about time that we globalise the Intifada’.

Ms Markson labelled the post from Mr Shoebridge “outrageous”.

“This is seriously outrageous … that is highly irresponsible for a federal greens politician to have posted that,” she said.

“Highly irresponsible, to say the least.”


Megyn Kelly torches universities ‘rolling over’ for ‘anti-Semitic protesters'
Sky News contributor Megyn Kelly says the “cowardice of the leadership” at universities across the board such as Columbia University is “absolutely disgusting”.

Anti-Israel protests that have engulfed the university are metastasising— spreading to other elite schools and to campuses around the country.

“I’m so disappointed in them – my expectations are appropriately set so it’s not like they’ve let me down big time,” Ms Kelly told Sky News host Paul Murray.

“If you look at Ron DeSantis who is the governor of Florida and has instituted rules for the state universities down there; he would never let this happen.

“What’s happening at places like Columbia and Yale and NYU is they are rolling over for these angry, anti-Semitic protesters.”


Jewish Passover events moved from college campuses ‘like it is 1938 Germany’
Sky News host James Morrow made a harrowing comparison to the treatment of Jews at some college campuses in America.

"We have seen scenes at places like Yale University where Jewish students were stopped physically – stopped, restrained from entering the campus," he said.

"Passover Shabbat dinners have had to be moved for fear of their safety like it is 1938 Germany.

"An awful lot of the demonstrations are really not just saying we want peace from Gaza, we want to support the Palestinian people.

"People have signs supporting Al Qassam Brigades and Hamas and calling on the elimination, the actual elimination of the state of Israel."






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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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