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Thursday, May 30, 2024

05/30 Links Pt1: Why we fight; The Rafah blood libel; Shapiro: “Israel’s War is a Just War”; Iran promoting terror in Europe ahead of Olympics; Khamenei Celebrates University Protesters

From Ian:

Why we fight
It would appear that Hamas’s amen chorus is worried about having to face the truth of their evil deeds and intentions. The recently released horrifying video of the confessions of a Hamas father and son, who on Oct. 7, together with a cousin, gang-raped a woman and murdered her is nearly impossible to watch. So is the video depicting a group of handcuffed young women kidnapped on Oct. 7 being referred to as sex slaves by their disgusting Hamas captors. But these videos ignited the moral conscience of many.

To the hideous Oct. 7 deniers and others suffering from the Goebbels Syndrome: Watch these videos and end your moral malaise.

Efforts to propagate false narratives are failing because the truth is coming out and it will triumph. The overwhelming majority of the American people are not buying into the propaganda generated by Hamas and American supporters.

The good people of America are waking up and rejecting the evil that is Hamas and its repugnant sponsor the terrorist Iranian regime. Some 79% of Americans polled in the latest Harvard-Harris poll rightly support Israel in the war started by Hamas. 69% correctly believe Israel is seeking to minimize civilian casualties. 78% agree that Hamas must be eliminated. 74% favor Israel proceeding with its Rafah operation and finishing off Hamas. The poll also showed a nuanced understanding of what a ceasefire means to the American people. 66% oppose a ceasefire unless the hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power.

Interestingly, even the International Court of Justice didn’t wholly buy Hamas’s propaganda. It didn’t outright order a halt in military operations in Rafah. Its order stated that Israel should “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Thus, the order was qualified and may be interpreted to apply only to those military operations in Rafah that may inflict such “conditions of life” on the Palestinians. In essence, Israel can continue with military operations so long as Israel complies with international law, which Israel is doing anyway. It is reported that a number of the ICJ judges support this interpretation.

It’s time for Israel to enlist a prominent Hollywood director like Steven Spielberg to make a documentary that uses documentary footage of the horrible events of Oct. 7 to explain why Israel is fighting the evil that is Hamas.

Israel is winning its just and legal defensive ground war against Hamas. It can win the PR war, too.
Melanie Phillips: The Rafah blood libel
Israeli jets had used two small bombs to minimise civilian casualties. The IDF said it had taken steps ahead of the attack to ensure that no women or children were in the Hamas compound. The strike took place more than 100 metres away from the shelters that caught fire.

So what actually happened?

Earlier, Israeli officials told the Biden administration that shrapnel from the strike may have ignited a nearby fuel tank. Further information that has come to light, however, suggests that the tents were actually ignited by Hamas munitions.

This video footage, reportedly filmed by a Gaza resident in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli strike and obtained by the website Abu Ali Express, features an onlooker saying that what was hit was a Hamas Jeep “filled with ammo and weapons,” and he expressed a worry that “any moment a [Hamas] rocket can fly at us…”

The IDF says it now suspects that ammunition, weapons, or some other inflammatory material was stored in the area of the strike, causing a secondary blast and the fire that spread to the civilian tents.

The IDF has released an intercepted conversation between two Gazans suggesting that an ammunition store in the area had ignited. The first speaker says:
… and they say that they (the Hamas terrorists that were bombed) sat in a meeting and that there is a facility and in addition they had ammunition because all of the ammunition that started exploding. Bags of money were flying in the air, Abu Rafiq.

Second speaker:
These (the ammunition that exploded) were really ours?’

First speaker:
Yes, this is an ammunition warehouse. I tell you it exploded….I mean the Jewish bombing wasn’t strong, it was a small missile because it didn’t create a large hole.

Second speaker:
And afterwards a lot of secondary explosions.

The IDF has also released a satellite photo of the area indicating that there was at least one Hamas rocket launcher near the compound that was bombed.

So since this was not the designated humanitarian area, why were any civilian tents in this danger zone? Possibly these Gazans had been forced to remain there by Hamas; we don’t know. And we don’t yet know all the details of what actually happened, which await an Israeli military inquiry.

What’s now clear, however, is that Hamas was once again using Gazan civilians as canon fodder and human shields by situating amongst them terrorist leaders, rocket launchers and ammunition — incorporating civilians into what international law regards as legitimate military targets.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the fire as “a tragic mishap”. Not, note, a “mistake”, as some media outlets have wrongly reported him as saying — which would have meant Israel erroneously bombed civilians. This was an event that was as unforeseeable as it was terrible. It was not Israel’s fault.

But of course, it has been turned into yet another weapon with which to demonise Israel by those wishing for its destruction, including the western media which promotes murderous blood libels about Israel as facts.
Seth Mandel: Israel Is Doing What Biden Asked of It
On Wednesday, however, one more piece of evidence came to light, like shrapnel flying into the debate. According to the New York Times: “Munition debris filmed at the strike location the next day was remnants from a GBU-39, a bomb designed and manufactured in the United States, The Times found. U.S. officials have been pushing Israel to use more of this type of bomb, which they say can reduce civilian casualties.”

So the strike was carried out by American weapons the Israelis were specifically directed to use because they are best able to avoid civilian casualties. Seen in this light, the administration’s lukewarm but disapproving tone—that Israel must do more to limit civilian casualties—isn’t quite as generous as it first appeared to be.

It turns out it’s very difficult to micromanage a war. Biden told Israel to come up with a mass-evacuation plan for Rafah. Israel did so. He demanded the Israelis expand humanitarian aid. They did so. He demanded the IDF use every piece of technology available to prosecute the Rafah incursion with precision instead of power. The IDF has done so.

The only question left is whether members of the administration, as well as our allies in Europe, really do support Israel’s mission to defeat Hamas. This is no longer an argument over means and methods to reach a shared goal. There are no more nits to pick. Israel has done everything we have asked of it. The president should say so.


Maniac screams ‘I’m gonna kill all the Jews’ as he tries to run down students outside NYC Jewish school
A maniac tried to mow down Orthodox students and a rabbi outside a Brooklyn Jewish school Wednesday while allegedly yelling “I’m gonna kill all the Jews” in a shocking antisemitic attack, sources told The Post.

Video footage supplied by the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol shows the crazed driver revving his engine and mounting the curb as he swerved toward Orthodox Jews milling around a yeshiva in Canarsie at about 11:25 a.m.

Police and sources identified the alleged attacker as 58-year-old Asghar Ali, a Pakistani immigrant livery cab driver with a history of mental illness.

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the case, and detectives were interviewing the driver Wednesday night.

The Brooklyn man faces more than a dozen charges including attempted murder, attempted assault and hate crimes charges.

Cops do not believe the attack is terror-related and on Wednesday night did not have evidence he was tied to radical groups online, according to sources.

The man was driving a 2011 white Crown Victoria and making a turn onto East 55th Street in front of the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School when he suddenly veered toward students dressed in Orthodox garb, according to the NYPD and video footage.

He then drove around the block and back toward the school — this time targeting two more students standing outside and a rabbi.

“I’m gonna kill all the Jews,” the driver allegedly seethed, according to police.

The victims managed to find safety in the building, which also has as dorms, the clip shows

No one was hurt in the attack, cops said. Authorities listed five victims in the case: a trio of 18-year-olds, a 41-year-old man and a 44-year-old man.
Crazed cabbie who tried to mow down NYC Jewish students has a troubling history
The deranged cab driver who tried to mow down Orthodox students outside a Brooklyn Jewish school while screaming “kill all the Jews” has a disturbing history of deranged behavior, police sources and neighbors told The Post.

Asghar Ali, 58, a Pakistani immigrant busted in the shocking antisemitic attack Wednesday, has been shipped off to hospital psych wards at least three times as an emotionally disturbed person in the past – and has freaked out neighbors with his bizarre behavior.

“He never speaks to anyone,” one neighbor said. “He doesn’t acknowledge you. If you are at the [front] gate he won’t even open it for you. He just stands there.

“I see him go to work every morning about seven or eight,” the neighbor said. “I don’t know what kind of work he does. I believe he rents a room in one of these apartments.”

Another neighbor said Ali was “like an invisible face” in the building.

“He never said hello, not even once,” the 62-year-old local said. “That’s strange. I thought he didn’t want to talk to nobody but now it makes sense. He looked a little bit off, a little bit whacked. He never looked at me. He looked straight and went about his business.”

Asked about the Wednesday morning incident, the man added that Ali “should not live in this building if he’s like that.

“He is a danger to all of us. He could have punched me or my wife in the face, hurt us. He would have hurt people in this building.”

Ali, who migrated to the US from Pakistan more than 20 years, has a history of disturbing behavior dating to 2007, law enforcement sources told The Post.

On June 7, 2007, he was taken to the hospital for evaluation after an incident on Coney Island Avenue.

No details were immediately available in that incident, but on Aug. 30, 2011, the sources said Ali was taken into custody by cops for acting irrationally and threatening to harm himself.


Shooting attack on Montreal Jewish school sparks outrage
Law enforcement officials in Montreal are investigating a shooting at a Jewish school in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, according to a police spokesperson.

Officers responded late Wednesday afternoon to reports of a potential shooting outside a school on Hillsdale Road near Van Horne Avenue, according to police.

Upon arriving at the scene around 6 p.m., officers established a perimeter and determined that at least one bullet had struck the school building. The spokesperson noted that the investigation remains in its early stages.

The incident drew swift condemnation from political figures and Jewish advocacy organizations.

In a joint statement, Yair Szlak, president and CEO of Federation CJA, and Eta Yudin, vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Quebec, decried the attack, stating, “We have had enough. Another Jewish school shooting in Canada.”

On May 25, two suspects fired several shots at the Bais Chaya Mushka School for Girls in Toronto at around 4:50 a.m., causing damage to the building but no injuries as the building was empty at the time.

Police were called to the scene at around 9 a.m. after staff called investigators with a report of “evidence of a firearm discharge,” according to Inspector Paul Krawczyk of the Toronto Police’s Guns and Gangs Task Force.

Police released video footage of the suspects on Monday.


Iran promoting terror in Europe ahead of Olympics, Israel's Mossad says
Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.

It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups — FOXTROT and RUMBA — alleging that they were “directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe” and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.

Israel’s spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israel’s Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17.

A similar third attempt to the attempted attack in Belgium was made to attack Israel’s Embassy in Sweden this past January using grenades, with the grenade not exploding in that case.

In Sweden's case, the criminal organization FOXTROT was exposed as the culprit acting on Tehran’s behalf. Who is behind Iran-backed FOXTROT?

FOXTROT, known for its murders and large-scale drug trafficking, is the largest criminal organization in Sweden and operates in other European countries, Mossad said.

It alleged that FOXTROT head Rua Majid, a Swedish citizen of Kurdish origin nicknamed the “Kurdish Fox,” had been arrested in Iran for criminal activity and then recruited for terror activity and released to carry out terror for Iran.

FOXTROT’s rival gang RUMBA, headed by Ismail Abdo, was behind the May 17 gunshots near Israel’s embassy in Sweden, the Mossad said.

Iran frequently uses criminal organizations to carry out attacks on its behalf to try to hide its hand in the attacks.

In addition, Mossad said that Iran is trying to take advantage of the wave of global antisemitism relating to the war to recruit a variety of new kinds of proxies to carry out its terror attacks globally.


Republicans probe if Iran envoy Robert Malley shared classified documents with allies
Republican lawmakers investigating last year’s suspension of the Biden administration’s special Iran envoy, Robert Malley, uncovered evidence he downloaded sensitive and classified documents and may have shared them with individuals outside the US government to advance his diplomatic efforts, people briefed on the probe told Semafor.

Malley was leading the Biden administration’s diplomatic outreach to Tehran when his security clearance was abruptly pulled by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security in April last year. He was placed on unpaid leave two months later, and the FBI initiated an investigation into whether Malley mishandled classified information — a probe that’s ongoing.

The people briefed on the congressional probe told Semafor the lawmakers learned Malley transferred around a dozen documents to his personal devices with classifications ranging from sensitive but unclassified (SBU) to classified. Among these, they believe, are detailed notes of the diplomat’s encounters with Iranian officials in the months leading up to his suspension. There also may have been documents related to the US government’s response to the wide scale political protests that erupted in Iran – and globally – during the fall of 2022 following the death of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. She allegedly violated an Iranian law that requires women to wear Islamic headscarves.

The top two Republicans in the Senate and House foreign affairs committees, James Risch and Chairman Michael McCaul, wrote earlier this month to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, raising those issues and signaling other findings from their inquiry. “Did Malley send or attempt to send these documents to anyone who lacked the proper security clearance?” McCaul and Risch pressed Blinken in their joint May 6 letter. “Were any of these individuals affiliated with the Iranian government or the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI)?”

An investigation by Semafor last year detailed how Tehran used the IEI — a network of US and European experts on the Middle East — to advance Iran’s positions on its nuclear program and other national security issues beginning in 2014. A number of people associated with the IEI worked or collaborated with Malley on Iran issues both before and after he became the special envoy in 2021, the article revealed.

Neither the State Department nor the FBI has shared any substantive details on their Malley investigations with Congress or the press; the Republicans’ letter to Blinken this month — first reported by The Washington Post — has offered the first clear insights into what Malley may have done.


Triggernometry: Ben Shapiro: “Israel’s War is a Just War”
Ben Shapiro is an American political commentator, columnist, author, attorney and businessman. He is editor emeritus for The Daily Wire, a media company he co-founded, and the host of The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show. He is the author of 16 books.

00:00 Introduction
01:15 “Israel’s War is Just”
04:27 What about Israeli Oppression of Gaza?
05:50 Norman Finkelstein’s comments after October 7th
06:04 Hamas is the obstacle to a free Palestine
08:13 They shift blame from terrorists onto Israel
09:20 Impact of social media on perception of war
13:21 How does this get solved?
16:02 Israel’s security failure
16:55 Queers for Palestine
18:33 Left-wing antisemitism
20:08 Sponsor: Monetary Metals
21:40 Why Gaza is a s**t show
22:40 Wokeness spawns antisemitism
24:25 Right-wing antisemitism
26:39 The new isolationism of self-hatred
30:10 Tucker Carlson’s isolationism
32:54 “The Israeli Wire”
35:57 The West’s lack of moral clarity
37:09 Passionately ignorant protestors
38:28 The Victimhood Horseshoe
39:30 Backlash: Exploding the Overton Window
44:16 Sponsor: Munk Debates
45:06 Andrew Tate and radical transgressivism
47:25 The stupidity of “just asking questions”
48:30 Andrew Tate’s phoney masculinity
50:02 How to actually be a man
52:14 “Go touch some f**king grass”
53:38 You need a religious community
56:15 Dangers of AI
57:26 Get off your phone
58:30 Ben’s sweet ride
58:50 What’s the one thing we’re not talking about?


Dissident Dialogues: FIERY Israel Debate - Konstantin Kisin, Briahna Joy Gray, Michael Moynihan, Eli Lake and Jake Klein
Tensions run high in the heated debate on Israel's War in Gaza at Dissident Dialogues 2024.

Recorded May 3rd 2024, Brooklyn, NYC.

Konstantin Kisin moderates as Briahna Joy Gray (The Hill) and Jake Klein (The Black Sheep) argue against Israel's actions, whilst Eli Lake (The Free Press) and Michael Moynihan (The Firth Column) defend them.


Resurfaced Video of 28 Year-Old Benjamin Netanyahu’s Eerie Prediction
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” a resurfaced clip of a 28-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu with some chilling observations on the Israel-Palestine conflict.


Nearly two-thirds of Israelis think Jewish state will achieve war aims, new Pew study suggests
Most Israelis believe that the Israel Defense Forces military response in Gaza has been appropriate and that the Jewish state will achieve its military aims, although Jewish and Arab Israelis are disagree on how the war is going, a new Pew Research Center poll suggests.

Nearly three-quarters of Israelis say that the Jewish state’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza have been appropriate, with 39% saying they have been “about right” and 34% saying that the IDF has not gone far enough. About one-fifth (19%) say that Israel has gone too far.

Some two-thirds of Israelis polled believe that the Jewish state will either “probably” (27%) or “definitely” (40%) succeed in its military goals against the Hamas terror organization. Some 13% think that Israel will “probably fail” and 6% said it would “definitely fail.”

Pew polled 1,001 Israeli adults—both Jewish and Arab—in person between March 3 and April 4. It did so in Hebrew and Arabic. It did not interview residents of Gaza or Judea and Samaria.

The survey was conducted “before U.S. President Joe Biden took a tougher stance toward Israel in the wake of an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers,” Pew notes. “And it predates Biden’s declaration that the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons to Israel in the event of a Rafah invasion as well as the subsequent Israeli strikes in Rafah.”

Israelis had mixed reactions to Biden’s approach to the war and the role that the United States ought to play.

While most Israelis said that Washington should play either a major (72%) or minor (16%) diplomatic role in ending the war, just 46% of Israeli Jews and 12% of Israeli Arabs approve of Biden’s approach to the conflict. More than 9 in 10 Jews (91%) have a favorable opinion of the United States, compared to 29% of Israeli Arabs.

Israeli Jews and Arabs also differed on the Jewish state’s handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza, with 74% of Israeli Arabs saying that Israel has gone too far, compared to 4% of Israeli Jews, and 76% of Israeli Jews saying that the Jewish state will achieve its military aims, compared to 38% of Israeli Arabs.
Poll: 64 Percent of Israelis Oppose Establishment of Palestinian State in Return for Saudi Deal
64% of the Israeli public stands against establishing a Palestinian state as part of the normalization process with Saudi Arabia, according to a survey by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in collaboration with the Panels Politics research institute.

The Biden administration's stance that a Palestinian state is the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict faces unprecedented opposition from the Knesset and Israeli leadership.

Dr. Dan Diker, president of the JCPA, said, "The Israeli government and Knesset have rejected the idea of a Palestinian state as a solution, especially as a reward for Palestinian terror or as a post-Hamas solution."

"Public opinion polls now reflect the Israeli public's understanding of the issue's significance after October 7."

The survey revealed that the Oct. 7 massacre caused a third of respondents who previously believed a Palestinian state could be established under certain conditions, to change their mind - now opposing it entirely.
Israel, Hamas and the Law of War
As it defends itself against Hamas in Gaza, Israel has come under sustained political, media and legal attack for supposedly violating international law. These criticisms are based on a distorted view of the law of war and threaten the ability of all law-abiding nations to defend themselves. The law of war is in no way intended to level the playing field in favor of the weaker party.

A critical aspect of the laws of war is that each party to a conflict is primarily responsible for protecting its own civilian population by moving them away from military targets and taking other measures to shield them. Hamas not only fails to meet these obligations, it uses civilians as human shields and invites casualties for propaganda purposes.

Based on currently available credible evidence, there is no reasonable case that Israel has violated the laws of war. Hamas, by contrast, indisputably commits war crimes by deliberately attacking civilians, brutalizing Israeli women and children, taking hostages, systematically locating military facilities in or near civilian installations, and using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
US must sanction ICC over Israel, or we’re next, Lindsey Graham warns
The United States must sanction the International Criminal Court should it issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, or American officials and soldiers will similarly find themselves on the dock at The Hague, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned during an emotional press conference in Tel Aviv.

“The same model they're using to come after Israel and the IDF, they will use against us,” Graham said on Wednesday. “So this is a defining moment for the Congress to stand up and push back against out-of-control organizations.”

He spoke on what is his fifth trip to Israel since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 252 seized as hostage. Calls to sanction ICC

He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Benny Gantz, among others, in the aftermath of an announcement by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan that he planned to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their actions in the Gaza war.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure the ICC is sanctioned by the Congress,” Graham pledged.

“I am going to tell every member of the Senate and the House. If you don't send up to the ICC now and push back hard, we’re next,” he predicted.

“They will come after our soldiers… just a sure as I'm standing here. The model used against Israel will eventually be used against American forces to come after our troops in Afghanistan,” he said.
Justice Barak criticizes ICJ order on IDF operation
The International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) issued new temporary orders against Israel last week. Regarding the military operation in Rafah, the court’s main order, given by a majority of 13 justices against a minority of two (from Israel and Uganda), stated that Israel should “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

This decision is substantially different from what South Africa requested of the court, as it does not order Israel to cease all military activity in the Gaza Strip and to withdraw unconditionally from all parts of it. Rather, it is a limited order to halt the operation in Rafah if it is likely to lead to a violation by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

The wording of the order is ambiguous, perhaps purposefully so. A narrow and precise interpretation of the order can be found in the minority opinion given by the ad-hoc judge representing the State of Israel, Aharon Barak. Incidentally, Barak is one of the world’s greatest experts in legal interpretation.

As with the first temporary orders issued by the ICJ in March 2024, Justice Barak was once again in the minority.Barak writes that the order merely reaffirms Israel’s existing obligations under the convention. Even without an order issued by the court, a military offensive that may result in a violation of a state’s obligations under the Genocide Convention would have to stop. Israel has never disputed this. In effect, South Africa’s tactics and requests, which were based on accusations of genocide, failed.

He once again did not accept the accusation against Israel of genocide under the terms of the Genocide Convention. In this regard, he returns to his written opinion on the temporary orders in March 2024, in which he opposed in the strongest terms the use of this convention: “The Court’s approach opens the door for States to misuse the Genocide Convention in order to curtail the right of self-defense, in particular in the context of attacks committed by terrorist groups.”
FDD: European Union Foreign Ministers Threaten Israel With Prospect of Sanctions
Latest Development
The European Union’s (EU’s) Foreign Affairs Council warned that Israel could face sanctions imposed by the 27-member bloc over its ongoing military operation against Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin claimed following the council’s May 27 meeting that the EU had engaged in an unprecedented discussion of punitive measures against the Jewish state. “For the first time at an EU meeting, in a real way, I’ve seen significant discussion on sanctions and ‘what if,’” Martin told reporters.

The discussion at the council was triggered by the decision by the International Court of Justice to demand that Israel end operations in Rafah “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that may bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part.” An official read-out of the meeting stated that the EU “reiterates its demand on Israel to implement the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice concerning the halting of military operations in Rafah and allowing the access of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Expert Analysis
“Almost nine months after the October 7 Hamas atrocities, the EU is twisting a knife in Israel’s back, threatening sanctions against a country with whom it conducts nearly $50 billion worth of trade annually. Israel’s security is being jeopardized by the grandstanding in Brussels, as are the livelihoods of thousands of European workers to whom the EU has a basic responsibility.” — Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager

“If Europe wants to do its best impression of the 1930s, the U.S. government has a range of political and economic levers to pull in response.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

EU Urges Support for PA, UNRWA
In addition, the Foreign Affairs Council called on Israel to “stop blocking the funding” of the Palestinian Authority and declared its opposition to the designation of UNRWA — the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees and their descendants — as a “terrorist organization,” as doing so would prevent it from “working in Gaza and the Palestinian territories.” The council also agreed that a meeting of its Association Council with Israel should be convened to examine whether the Jewish state is abiding by the clause in the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement stating that commercial and other exchanges “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.” The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly 30 percent of its foreign exports.
Ireland, Spain and Norway Choose Death Over Dancing
The situation does not call for complex moral analysis. If the so-called Palestinians lay down their arms, they would live in peace and prosperity forever; if the Jews lay down their arms, they will be dead or driven out of Israel in a week.

That's reality. These are the two sides to this story.

Yet Western protestors and politicians indulge in fantasies rooted in antisemitism, imagining a progressive Palestine composed of people just like them who live in an open-air prison, denied their civil rights, put-upon by inhumane, power-hungry Jews.

Indeed, Ireland, Spain, and Norway just announced that they are recognizing the magical progressive state of Palestine; isn’t it grand when one’s dreams become a reality?

But there is no such state.

There are two autonomously governed areas in which people who call themselves “Palestinian” live. One is Gaza – that’s governed by what’s left of Hamas – and the other is a territory on the West Bank of the Jordan river – that’s governed by the Palestinian Authority.

Both are dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews.

There are only two realistic alternatives in this beautiful corner of the world: Be with the Jews or be with “death to the Jews.”

Being with Jews means being for life, peace, and prosperity for all under the rule of law in a state in which Jews, Muslims, and Christians have the equal right to practice their faith and to vote and participate in political coalitions that, as a practical matter for the foreseeable future, will be led by Jews …

Or …

Being with “death to Jews,” which means the destruction of Israel and any vestiges of its existence, another holocaust, and yet another Jewish diaspora.

Sure, anyone living far away can imagine a third, fourth, or fifth alternative. But rockets have a way of focusing one’s attention on gritty, hardscrabble realities.

Ireland, Spain, and Norway chose fantasy over hard realities. They chose “death to the Jews” and destruction over creation, privation over prosperity, hate over love, perpetual war over durable peace – they chose death over dancing.
Ireland Recognizes Palestine. Who'll Be Its Dublin Envoy - Yahya Sinwar?
Just eight months after terrorists brutally attacked Israel, committing horrific acts of execution, torture, beheading, rape, and burning children and adults alive, Norway, Ireland, and Spain have outrageously decided to officially recognize Palestine as a state.

This shabby, shameful, shameless decision is simply an endorsement of medieval terrorism, made in the middle of a brutal war where Israel is fighting for its very survival on seven different fronts. It displays cold contempt for the families of the 125 hostages who have been living a nightmare since Oct. 7, as well as for the survivors of the massacre. Innocent children, women, the ill, and the elderly are still languishing in Gaza's dungeons.

How on earth can these countries recognize a state while Hamas is still active and more popular than ever? This reckless and disgraceful move spits in the face of all those suffering from Hamas's reign of untold terror. This recognition is a grotesque reward for the most evil people on earth, who dream of committing atrocities like those of Oct. 7 over and over again. It is an indefensible insult to the memory of the 1,200 people who were massacred in the most barbaric ways imaginable.
Brazil reportedly recalls its ambassador to Israel
Brazil reportedly recalled its ambassador to Israel, Federico Meyer, on Wednesday. He will purportedly be transferred to another position in Geneva. No plans for a replacement have been announced.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that it had received no official message on the matter. It summoned Brazil’s deputy ambassador for a meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation.

Meyer has been out of Israel since February, when he was called home for consultations.

Relations between the two countries started to deteriorate that month, when Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters during a trip to Ethiopia that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and likened the Jewish state to Hitler and the Nazis.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Lula persona non grata the next day, Feb. 19, during a hastily pulled-together tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem with Meyer.
Slovenian gov’t moves to recognize ‘Palestine’
The Slovenian Cabinet endorsed a decision to recognize a Palestinian state on Thursday, paving the way for parliament to approve the move in the coming days, the government in Ljubljana announced.

“Today, the government has decided to recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state,” Prime Minister Robert Golob told reporters at a news conference in the country’s capital.

If parliament votes to approve the decision, the central European nation will follow in the footsteps of Ireland, Spain and Norway, which all formalized their recognition of “Palestine” over the past week.

To mark the move, the Slovenian government on Thursday raised the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization alongside national and European Union flags in front of a government compound in Ljubljana.

Golob also called for an immediate end to the war against Hamas in Gaza and the release of all hostages taken by the terrorist group on Oct. 7.

“This is the message of peace,” the premier said of his decision to recognize a Palestinian state, seven months after Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Ljubljana of rewarding Hamas for “murder, rape, mutilation of bodies, beheading of babies” and of emboldening “the Iranian axis of evil while damaging the close friendship between the Slovenian and Israeli people.


Israel Is Winning the Battle with Hamas, but It’s Far from Over
The war Israel is fighting in Gaza is in many ways without precedent in the history of warfare, involving simultaneous combat both on the ground and below ground, against an enemy that has deeply embedded itself into the civilian infrastructure. In all of Israel, Yaakov Amidror observes in a highly revealing briefing, there is insufficient dynamite to destroy all of Hamas’s tunnels. That, he explains, accounts for the apparent slowness of Israel’s progress into Hamas’s strongholds. Among much else, Amidror outlines why the IDF’s repeated clashes with Hamas in the northern parts of the Strip (e.g., the recent fighting in Jabaliya) are signs of its success rather than its failures; what Israeli officials mean when they speak about “dismantling” Hamas; and how he knows that Palestinian civilians trust the IDF not to attack designated safe zones. He also addresses the problems entailed in confronting Hizballah in the north. (Video, 69 minutes.)




Israel Gains Control of Gaza Border with Egypt as Rafah Offensive Advances
Israeli officials say the IDF has secured control of Gaza's 9-mile border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. This will allow Israel to prevent Hamas from rearming by smuggling weapons through tunnels that reach into Egypt. Israel had relinquished control of the area in 2005. An Israeli military official said Israel had so far found 20 cross-border tunnels and had informed Egypt about them. Israel has said it hoped to work with Egypt to prevent future smuggling.

Israeli forces in Rafah have largely been focused on taking control of the border area, which isn't as densely populated as other parts of Rafah. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Israel's "movements along the corridor did not come as a surprise to us and was in keeping with what we understood their plan to be, to go after Hamas in a targeted, limited way, not in a concentrated way. When they briefed us on their plans for Rafah, it did include moving along that corridor."

Israeli officials and analysts said Israel has avoided crossing Washington's red lines in Rafah by gradually deploying limited numbers of troops, forcing a rapid evacuation of the city, and refraining from a full-scale ground assault. They note that Washington's concern that it would take months for the over one million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah to evacuate hasn't come to pass. The result has been a Rafah that has far fewer civilians. Israeli officials insist their operations in Rafah aren't tailored to suit Washington's needs, but are carried out according to their own operational and ethical guidelines.
IDF in control of Philadelphi Corridor, 20 tunnels found
Israeli troops have taken “operational control” of the Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile-long border area between Gaza and Egypt, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday evening.

Israeli forces have so far uncovered 20 tunnels underneath it, he added.

“We are investigating these tunnels and neutralizing them,” said Hagari.

During the operation, led by the IDF’s 162nd Division, forces also found dozens of ready-to-fire rocket launchers and launch pits from which Hamas fired rockets and mortars shells into Israel.

“Hamas exploited the Philadelphi Corridor, using it to build this infrastructure just dozens of meters from the border with Egypt so that we would not strike them,” said Hagari.

“This infrastructure was located between 10 and 40 meters from the border, specifically so that Israel would not strike near the fence with Egypt. I remind you that in recent weeks, Hamas has fired about 70 rockets and mortars from the Rafah area.”


Biden’s pier is subsidising Hamas and impeding Israel
Also on Memorial Day weekend, the pier that the Biden administration has built off Gaza came loose in a storm. Parts of it came ashore near Ashkelon. At least one part seems to have sunk. The pier cost $320 million.

A tugboat washed up on the beach at Gaza. American soldiers stood around on the sand. The Biden administration promised the American public that there would be no “boots on the ground”. Yet there they were, within range of more than half a dozen types of Hamas rocket.

Hamas shelled the pier in April before it opened. As soon as the first deliveries left the Israeli-controlled landing stage, the Gazans looted the trucks. If the pier was ever needed to supply food, there are now sufficient supplies coming overland via Israel, and now Egypt too, to make it unnecessary.

No doubt the pier will be rebuilt at further expense. This is what economists call the “sunk cost fallacy”: you’ve spent too much and failed to get a result, so you spend more, hoping that repeating the experiment will get a different result.

The pier’s effect is that the Biden administration is subsidising Hamas and impeding Israel’s attempt to defend itself. Is that the intent too?

The administration built the pier as a sop to false claims from the media and the Democrats’ Tlaib tendency that the Gazans were starving — more perverted humanitarianism. The pier also serves as a wedge, inserting the Biden administration into Gaza just as it has inserted itself into every stage of Israel’s war, and even into Israeli cabinet meetings.

Pier into the future and you can see where this is going. The road to hell is paved with bad intentions.


IDF downs cruise missile over Golan Heights
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday afternoon confirmed that earlier in the day “a cruise missile coming from the east” had been shot down over the Golan Heights.

Earlier reports indicated that the missile had been launched from Iraq. There were no initial claims of responsibility, although the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for dozens of other attacks since Oct. 7, most recently two suicide drones intercepted on their way to Eilat late Monday night.

Additionally, the IDF said that the Iron Dome aerial defense system had intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, triggering sirens in the Margaliot area.

No casualties or damage were reported in either incident, the army said.


Israeli forces foil stabbing north of Jerusalem
Israeli security personnel thwarted a stabbing attack at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah in Samaria on Thursday.

According to initial reports, the terrorist advanced towards Israeli troops guarding the Ofer checkpoint while holding a knife.

The assailant was “neutralized,” reports said. His condition was not immediately clear.

No casualties to Israeli forces were reported in the incident.
Two IDF soldiers die of wounds from Samaria terror attack
Two Israeli soldiers have died after being seriously wounded in a terrorist vehicular assault near the city of Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria on Wednesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday morning,

They were identified as Staff Sgt. Eliya Hilel, 20, from Tel Zion, and Staff Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj, 20, from Tel Aviv.

Both belonged to the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion.

Separately, the IDF announced the death of Staff Sgt. Yedidya Azugi, 21, from Revava in Samaria, who was killed in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. Azugi was a soldier in the Paratrooper Brigade’s 101st Battalion.

Their deaths bring the IDF’s death toll on all fronts since the start of the war on Oct. 7 to 642; Azugi’s death raises the death toll in Gaza since the start of the Gaza ground invasion on Oct. 27 to 291.


USAID head slams Israel, mentions Hamas once in call with donor states
Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, slammed Israel repeatedly in a virtual call with donor governments on Wednesday, during which she mentioned Hamas only once, per a USAID transcript.

“I just want to start by saying that our hearts, of course, go out with those mourning their loved ones this week after Israel’s strike in Rafah on Sunday killed at least 45 people, many of whom were in tent camps seeking refuge from the violence,” Power said. “Further strikes, it looks like, in Rafah have since killed at least 21 more.”

She added that she, U.S. President Joe Biden and other administration officials “have made clear to Israel that a major ground military operation in Rafah would put civilians at immense risk and imperil the humanitarian response.”

“Despite currently more limited military operations around Rafah and the Egypt-Gaza border, the catastrophic consequences that we have long warned about are becoming a reality,” Power said.

Due to “catastrophic conditions” in Rafah, Washington is in “daily conversation still with the government of Israel and our humanitarian partners about the urgency of protecting both those remaining in Rafah and those who are again being displaced,” she said.

“We need to stress to Israel and Egypt the vital importance of opening all crossings, keeping them functioning at maximum capacity, prioritizing the passage of humanitarian aid and allowing the U.N. to collect and distribute goods from the Gaza side of crossings,” the U.S. official added.

“We also need to increase assistance going through the port of Ashdod and on to these land crossings—fully utilizing Israel’s commitment to what it calls an ‘open Ashdod’—this, of course, is not yet happening,” she said.


Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum: Should Israel Apologize for Rafah? | Israel Undiplomatic
An explosion that occurred shortly after an Israeli strike in Rafah killed dozens of Palestinians who were seeking refuge from the fighting. Was it Israel's fault? Should Israel apologize?

Watch Ruthie and Mark talk about drafting haredim, anti-Israel claims about the Rafah explosions and Saudi Arabia accusing its potential peace partner of genocide.

Chapters
0:00 Navigating Diplomatic Relations with Saudi Arabia
1:14 Atmosphere on Campus
3:59 Should the Ultra-orthodox be forced to join the army?
13:22 Rafah - Should Israel Apologize?
20:24 The ICC and ICJ Decisions - How will this affect Israel?
26:45 The Possibilities of What Happened in Rafah?
27:45 Saudi Arabia accuses Israel of Genocide


Pence to 'Post': The US must give Israel full support until Hamas is destroyed
Former vice president Mike Pence told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the US is obligated to allow Israel to defeat Hamas. Pence spoke to the Post ahead of its annual conference in New York City on Monday.

Pence told the Post on Wednesday that “the only message to our most cherished ally in this dire hour should be, ‘America stands with Israel.’"

“On October 7, the Jewish people endured the deadliest attack since the Holocaust. The United States must give them our full support until Hamas has been destroyed once and for all,” he stated.

Pence has maintained a strong relationship with Israel both before and after his tenure as Republican vice president. He continuously conveys a deep commitment to the US-Israel alliance via actions and statements.


Sen. Peters slams terror-linked conference Rep. Tlaib addressed: ‘There is no place for violent rhetoric’
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) distanced himself from Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) appearance at the People’s Conference for Palestine, where pro-terror messages were celebrated and an activist with ties to a group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization was welcomed.

Peters’ office told Jewish Insider in a statement on Wednesday that Michigan’s soon-to-be senior senator “understands how personal the issues around the war between Israel and Hamas are for Michiganders and believes that individuals have the right to gather and advocate for their personal beliefs. However, he believes that there is no place for violent rhetoric or advocacy of violence in these discussions.”

“As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Peters is also concerned that foreign adversaries, like the Chinese and Russian governments, have and will continue to try to exploit divisions within U.S. domestic politics to sow chaos, something our nation’s intelligence officials have warned about. He urges Michiganders to be attentive to such potential interventions by foreign actors and organizations,” the statement concluded.

The conference was organized by The People’s Forum, a far-left advocacy group funded largely by Neville Roy Singham, a businessman with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and a long history of donating to Marxist and socialist causes.

Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is designated in the U.S. as a terrorist organization, was a guest at the event. Sana’ Daqqah, the widow of Walid Daqqah, the PFLP terrorist who was lionized in the Palestinian community for dying in an Israeli prison, was the keynote speaker.

Attendees took part in chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,”, and “We want justice, you say how? End the siege on Gaza now,” in between speeches and discussions on “Confronting Zionism in Higher Education” and “Zionism and U.S. Imperialism.”
American Pro-Palestine Conference Opening Will Give You Chills
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” shares a DM clip of the chilling opening ceremony of the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit Michigan that Rashida Tlaib spoke at.


Activist’s Shocking Admission of the Real Goal of College Protests
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” shares a DM clip of Roua Daas speaking openly about how pro-Palestine college protests are being used to train students for violent revolution at the People’s Conference for Palestine.




McCaskill: Biden’s ‘Most Important Goal’ Is to Get Netanyahu Resignation
MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill said Tuesday on “Morning Joe” that President Joe Biden’s “most important goal” was to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.

McCaskill said, “What Hamas wanted more than anything is to isolate Israel. They also wanted to recruit more extreme terrorists to their cause. When you have something happen like happened over the weekend with these women and children being burned to death in a camp, innocent, that creates more radical terrorists for the Hamas cause.”

Co-host Willie Geist asked, “What is the president to do if this continues? He talks about a red line, and there are some who have said in the last 24 hours, if this isn’t a red line, watching what these women and children went through in this camp, many of them killed, what is? How does the president handle Prime Minister Netanyahu right now?”

McCaskill said, “I think he’s been trying to do all of this back channel. But the most important goal, I believe, for this presidency right now is to get Netanyahu to resign. Netanyahu is holding onto power by his fingernails because of the far-right, who sees the destruction of Gaza in all areas, of any Palestinians in Israel, as their goal. Their goal is very extreme. That’s how he is in power. So if he backs up on them, he cannot be in power anymore because he doesn’t have the coalition he needs. So I think that Biden has to continue to try to press other people in the Israeli government to move as quickly and as strongly as they can to get Netanyahu out of that position.”


Vanity Fair France issues apology after the publication photoshopped a Palestinian flag pin from Guy Pearce portrait at Cannes Film Festival: 'We have rectified our mistake'
Vanity Fair France has issued an apology after the publication edited a portrait of Guy Pearce to remove a Palestinian flag pin he wore to Cannes Film Festival.

The Neighbours star, 56, arrived at the star-studded event in France wearing a black tuxedo with a pin of the Palestinian flag prominently displayed on his lapel.

However after posing for a picture with Vanity Fair France, the publication released a modified image in which they photoshopped the pin out of the picture, reported CNN on Wednesday.

Eagle-eyed social media users spotted the edit after images were released from the Cannes red carpet showing Guy proudly wearing the pin in support of Gaza.

While Vanity Fair France edited out Guy's pin, they did not edit out his bracelet which bore the red, black, white and green colours of the Palestinian flag.

Guy has yet to publicly speak out on the edited photograph or apology, but he took to X following the controversy to double down on his support for Palestine.

'Palestinians are being murdered as we speak. Displaced, traumatised, ruined,' he began his heartfelt message.

'The lives and futures of Palestinian children are being eradicated by a vengeful tyrant. He must be stopped. This must stop. Shame on you Netanyahu.


Police investigate sexual assault on woman during pro-Palestinian march in London
The police are appealing for witnesses over an alleged sexual assault during a pro-Palestinian march in central London, on May 18.

A woman was reported to have been attacked outside a currency exchange shop on Coventry Street in Westminster. The Scotland Yard has now launched an investigation.

It was said to have happened at around 2.50pm on May 18 after thousands of protesters gathered in central London.

A 69-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault but has since been bailed. Following the man’s release detectives are seeking witnesses to the alleged attack.

The suspect has been described by police as bald and clean-shaven, wearing thick-rimmed black glasses. He was also believed to be wearing a light blue shirt with a navy zip jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or post on X @MetCC quoting 01/358371/24.

The incident came as thousands of pro-Palestinian activists rallied in London to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

On this specific march, protesters moved from Mortimer Street down Regent Street via Piccadilly Circus to Whitehall where speeches took place.

Police said they made seven arrests relating to the protests organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign including the one in connection to the alleged sexual assault.
Hay Festival breaches Arts Council conditions and Charity Commission guidelines by suspending sponsor Baillie Gifford
The Hay Literary Festival has been accused of breaching Arts Council grant conditions and undermining its charitable objects after suspending a major sponsor in part because it invests in companies operating in or trading with Israel.

The Hay Festival Foundation Ltd is a registered charity which organises the annual Hay Literary Festival and receives Arts Council funding via Arts Council England and Arts Council Wales.

Activist group, Fossil Free Books, campaigned to pressure speakers and artists to withdraw from the Hay Festival while the investment management company, Baillie Gifford, was a sponsor, objecting to its investments in fossil fuel firms and “companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide”.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have written to the Arts Council, pointing out that the Hay Festival must comply with all relevant laws and government requirements, including the Arts Council’s standard terms. However, the Hay Festival’s decision to suspend the sponsorship by Baillie Gifford, in part over investment in companies operating in or trading with Israel, discriminates because of the protected characteristic of nationality. This contravenes section 29 of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination because of a protected characteristic in the provision of a service, in this case providing publicity to a sponsor.

The Hay Festival’s conduct also contributes to exacerbating a hostile environment for Jews and Israelis, particularly at a time when anti-Semitism has seen a massive increase in the United Kingdon following the 7 October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas.

By publicly suspending its sponsorship with Baillie Gifford under pressure from the BDS movement, the Hay Festival has endorsed and promoted BDS targeting Israel. This is likely to contravene the Charity Commission’s guidelines on political activity by charities.

Supporting the BDS movement also undermines the Hay Festival’s charitable object of promoting freedom of artistic expression. The BDS movement aims to stifle, suppress and delegitimise Jewish and Israeli voices with which it does not agree. Such a boycott does the opposite of furthering education and learning in the art and science of literature, which is another of the Hay Festival’s charitable objects.


Iran’s Khamenei Celebrates University Protesters as ‘Branch of Resistance Front’
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday celebrated the anti-Israel protests that have swept across U.S. college campuses in recent weeks, hailing the protesters as "a branch of the Resistance Front."

"Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history," Khamenei wrote in an X post on Wednesday.

"You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government's ruthless pressure—which openly supports Zionists," the Iranian leader added in a reply to the original post.

Khamenei’s remarks followed weeks of chaotic and often violent anti-Israel protests on U.S. college campuses, which resulted in thousands of arrests and suspensions, as well as the cancellation of in-person classes and graduation ceremonies.

Iranian officials had also expressed support for Hamas shortly after its Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. An adviser to the 85-year-old supreme leader publicly congratulated Hamas terrorists for the attack, while Iranian state television showed members of the Iranian parliament chanting "death to Israel" and "Palestine is victorious."

Khamenei, meanwhile, referred to the Israeli government as a "usurper Zionist regime" and a "cancer" just days before the attack. "This cancer will definitely be eradicated, God willing, at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region," the Iranian ruler said.




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