Friday, May 31, 2024

05/31 Links Pt1: Glick: Does Biden reject Israel’s right to self-defense?; Murray: ICC runs wild, threatening anyone who criticizes it; Gaza famine report cited by UN, ICJ has systematic flaws

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Does Biden reject Israel’s right to self-defense?
The most basic function of all governments is to provide for the collective defense of the governed. The most basic foundation of sovereignty is a state’s right to defend its country from aggression. Take away a state’s right to self-defense, and you’ve effectively transformed it into a non-sovereign state.

Six Biden administration actions and policies subvert Israel’s right to self-defense. Whether analysed separately or all together, they make it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the administration’s ultimate end is to undermine to the point of ending Israel’s right to self-defense, and so end Israel’s sovereignty, for all intents and purposes.

The six policies the administration is undertaking relate to the battle in Rafah, Gaza’s border town with Egypt; its posture vis-à-vis the International Criminal Court amidst the ICC’s stated intention of issuing arrest warrants against Israel’s leaders on false war crimes charges; the administration’s effort to coerce Israel into accepting Palestinian Authority control over post-war Gaza as a stepping stone towards the swift establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem; the administration’s policies in relation to Saudi-Israeli normalization; and finally, the administration’s determination to block Israel from taking any effective action to prevent Iran from building a nuclear arsenal.

Rafah
Sunday, the IDF carried out an airstrike targeting two senior Hamas terrorists in Rafah. Some 45 people Hamas asserts were civilians were also killed in the bombing. Immediately after the incident, the administration harshly criticized Israel for the operation. Vice President Kamala Harris said “the word tragic doesn’t even begin to describe” the loss of human life in the incident. Other senior officials voiced similar revulsion at Israel’s alleged killing of innocent civilians as a result of its killing of two senior terrorists. The U.S. State Department announced it would investigate the incident, which it referred to as “heartbreaking.”

Within moments of the airstrike, IDF forces on the ground were reporting that the fire that caused the deaths of the additional Palestinians was sparked by a secondary explosion. Early assessments were that the explosion was caused by Hamas rockets hidden adjacent to the encampment.

It was also clear, immediately after the bombing, that the operation was not carried out in a humanitarian safe zone, as Hamas alleged. At Israel’s urging, in recent weeks nearly a million residents of Rafah fled to the zones, which the IDF set up to protect them from the crossfire of battle. The bombing was carried out in the war zone, where civilians had already left.

It was also known immediately after the incident that the Air Force used the smallest ordnance permitted to limit to the greatest degree the possibility of the attack causing additional deaths beyond the two terror commanders Israel targeted.

In the two days after the incident, the IDF released intercepted phone conversations between people on the ground who stated outright that the fire in the tents that caused the additional deaths was the result of a secondary explosion of Hamas munitions. Israel played no role in the carnage. Hamas was entirely responsible for everything that had happened.

Given the fact that Israel’s careful prosecution of the war has led to the smallest ratio of civilians to militants killed in the history of modern war, its ally, the United States, could have been expected to give it the benefit of the doubt and not rush to pile on international condemnations of the Jewish state based entirely on Hamas footage and propaganda.

But the fact is that for months, Washington did everything possible to block Israel from carrying out its vital operation in Rafah, knowing all along that Israel cannot defeat Hamas if it leaves the international border under Hamas’s control. The administration’s latest effort to delegitimize Israel’s operation in Rafah by embracing Hamas’s quickly discredited rendition of events follows the administration’s now-established pattern of undermining the operation.
Douglas Murray: International Criminal Court runs wild, threatening Israel and anyone who criticizes it
The ICC is not just threatening US senators. It is saying they are already criminals in the eyes of the ICC prosecutor. Making the ICC effectively impossible to criticize.

An almost divine institution.

Criticize the ICC and you become a war criminal-in-waiting too, apparently.

Well, the puffed-up prosecutor might note several things.

Not least that the USA is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

And so, threatening US senators with a statute that the US does not recognize is as scary as threatening someone with your imaginary black belt in karate.

But all this should be a reminder of a serious truth.

In recent decades, there have been repeated pushes to make America join the court.

There has been much international criticism of this country for not coming under the court’s jurisdiction.

But America was completely right not to do so.

And the response of the prosecutor to the senators is a fine example of why.

The ICC’s current case is being backed up by such luminaries as Amal Clooney, who has a career-long dislike of the state of Israel, and whose involvement in the case against Israel reveals that hatred.

If Americans don´t think that senators, soldiers or anyone else should be threatened by Amal Clooney and a couple of rogue foreign judges, they are right.

But our allies shouldn’t be subjected to this either.

I hope Americans continue to tell these pompous political judges where to sling it.
A Progressive Pogrom – Of Shani Louk, Jean Améry, and the anti-Zionist left
I cannot join the protesters on the barricades for the elemental reason that too many of them have explicitly sanctioned the murder of my friends. Pretty basic stuff really. If faced with Columbia student protest leader Khymani James, in fact, it would be as much self-interest as fraternal solidarity which caused me to run. For James would murder me, too. ‘Zionists don’t deserve to live,’ you see. James assures us that ‘I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser, I fight to kill,’ but I am not much mollified by the thought that my end would be quick. The Columbia disciplinary panel to which James spoke these words was apparently rather less concerned than I, since they acted only when the clip went viral.

Show me a protest which hates the war and Hamas in equal measure; which seeks desperately a free Palestine alongside a secure Israel; which is possessed of a moral clarity and a belief in the sanctity of all innocent life: I will be there, placard in hand, in a heartbeat. There has been no such protest because there is no anti-war left presently capable of it. A note to them: if you want to see how it is done, follow the extraordinary exiled Gazan writer Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib. Alkhatib has so far lost 31 members of his extended family to the war and manages to hate and protest it while also inveighing against the evils of Hamas, consequently making many enemies amongst other supposed proponents of the Palestinian cause who would justify 7 October. His is a truly moral position.

A LEFT THAT CAN ACCOUNT FOR SHANI
The road to this squalid reaction to 7 October has been a long one, with many a disastrous turn leading the far left into ever more dangerous and bankrupt territory. It is what happens when dogma becomes more fashionable than critical thought; when radicalism trumps reason; when the antidote to Orientalism is taken to be Occidentalism; when the counter to cultural imperialism is moral relativism; when it is ‘better to be wrong with Sartre than right with Aron’; when Foucault decides, for us all, that Iranian women and Iranian democrats can go to hell – the Ayatollah is, after all, just too damned exciting.

Yes, the present swamp was fed by myriad fetid tributaries. So too does it inevitably become more and more contaminated. Generations raised on blather masquerading as profundity and on nihilism masquerading as radical chic. This next generation has far exceeded Butler in both irrationality and the explicitness of its contempt for Israeli life. Butler at least offered a condemnation of 7 October, of sorts (though it was still ‘armed resistance’, not ‘terrorism’) only to find that the beast they have played a not inconsiderable part in creating now considered them rather a copout. And your sons and your daughters are beyond your command…

Yes, the left of the 21st century needed the children of Victor Serge and Sophie Scholl, of Dr King and Nye Bevan. In too many places has it received instead the children of Nechayev and Che, of Mao and Ulrike Meinhof. For many this treason has led to a self-imposed exile, an auto-excommunication from the left. For me, as for Améry before me, this is impossible. Whether we are capable of a consequential renaissance remains to be seen. It is a Sisyphean task and one which 7 October has shown us cannot be left to the gatekeepers. No, as Améry noted, ‘the answer must come not so much from those who hold positions of responsibility but primarily from those possessed of an actual sense of responsibility.’ Go with Orwell, if you prefer, and that the answer lies with the proles.

The wait may be a long one. In the meantime, I would encourage the emerging leftist who senses something wrong in all this but is not quite sure where to start, to begin by adapting the famous proposition of Rabbi Greenberg. After the holocaust, said the Rabbi, ‘No statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of the burning children.’ Well, henceforth, brook no statement from the left on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would not be credible if uttered on that truck with Shani. It is the best – perhaps it is all – you can do for her now.


Biden: Israel's hostage deal proposal 'a historic opportunity, Hamas should take it'
Israel has proposed a new three-phase ceasefire deal and plan for the day after the war, President Joe Biden said on Friday afternoon during a special address from the White House.

Biden laid out the terms for the agreement which would begin with six weeks of ceased hostilities in which women, children, elderly and injured hostages would be released.

In the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from densely populated areas in Gaza.

Some American hostages would be released in the first stage. At this time Palestinians would also return to their homes in all areas of Gaza, including the north. Humanitarian aid would surge to 600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza per day.

With a ceasefire that aid could be safely and effectively distributed, Biden said. Thousands of temporary shelters including housing units will be delivered by the international community.

"All that and more would begin immediately," Biden said.

During the six weeks Israel and Hamas would negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, which is a permanent ceasefire.

Biden acknowledged there are "a number of details" that need to be negotiated to move from phase one to phase two as Israel will want to make sure its interests are protected.

The proposal says the ceasefire will continue as long as negotiations take should it take longer than six weeks with the US, Egypt and Qatar working to make sure negotiations keep going.

Phase two would include the release of all remaining hostages, including male soldiers.

During phase two Israel would withdraw all its forces from Gaza as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, according to Biden.

"A temporary ceasefire will become the cessation of hostilities permanently," Biden said, quoting directly from the agreement.

The final and third phase would include the reconstruction plan for Gaza and the release of any final remains of hostages.

"That's the offer that's now on the table," Biden said.
Hamas Says No Hostage Negotiations Until Israel Stops Fighting
Hamas said on Thursday it had told mediators it would not take part in more negotiations during ongoing aggression but was ready for a "complete agreement" including an exchange of hostages and prisoners if Israel stopped the war.

Talks, mediated by among others Egypt and Qatar, to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist movement in the Gaza war have repeatedly stalled with both sides blaming the other for the lack of progress.

The latest Hamas statement came as Israel pressed on with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite an order by the International Court of Justice, the top U.N. court, to halt the attacks.

"Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not accept to be part of this policy by continuing [ceasefire] negotiations in light of the aggression, siege, starvation, and genocide of our people," the Hamas statement read.

"Today, we informed the mediators of our clear position that if the occupation stops its war and aggression against our people in Gaza, our readiness [is] to reach a complete agreement that includes a comprehensive exchange deal," it added.

Israel has rejected past Hamas offers as insufficient and said it is determined to wipe out a group bent on its destruction. It says its Rafah offensive is focused on rescuing hostages and rooting out Hamas fighters.
Hamas has only ‘dozens’ of long-range rockets left
Hamas has only tens of rockets left with sufficient range to reach Tel Aviv and central Israel, according to estimates by the Israel Defense Forces.

In addition, the terror group’s overall rocket arsenal has been reduced from the thousands at the start of the war to hundreds after nearly eight months of fighting.

In addition to destroying numerous rocket launchers in Gaza, the IDF has also eliminated many weapons production facilities in the Strip, making it harder for Hamas to replenish its supply of rockets.

In a reminder that Hamas is still capable of targeting the Jewish state’s major population centers, the terrorist group on Sunday fired an eight-rocket barrage at Tel Aviv and the central region for the first time in four months, rattling millions of residents.

The rocket fire reached as far north as the Sharon region, sending residents in the city of Kfar Saba running for shelter for the first time since the war started on Oct. 7.
Israeli Security a Top Priority in House Budget Bill
House lawmakers are preparing a far reaching defense budget that will vastly expand U.S. military support for Israel and allocate millions more in funding than was originally requested by the White House.

The fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual defense bill that is being shaped by Congress, will provide Israel with millions of dollars in security aid in the coming year and ensure the Biden administration provides the Jewish state with the resources needed to beat back threats from Iran-backed terror groups operating on its border.

The defense bill comes at a tense point in U.S.-Israel relations, as the Biden administration threatens to halt the delivery of American arms to the Jewish state in order to stop it from conducting a full-scale military incursion into the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Already, the Biden administration has paused some munitions shipments, drawing widespread GOP outrage, and ongoing discussions surrounding this year’s NDAA indicate Israel’s security is a top-line item.

The draft budget, which passed the House Armed Services Committee last week with bipartisan support, focuses on bolstering Israeli missile defense systems, such as the Iron Dome, at a time when it is fending off Hamas rockets, missile strikes from Hezbollah from Lebanon, and an increasingly belligerent Iran. The House budget bill would reverse an effort by the Biden administration to halt the production of missiles that have "recently played a key role defending Israel from Iranian ballistic missile attacks," according to Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), the House Armed Services Committee’s chair.

In defiance of the Biden administration’s policy, the House NDAA will ensure America continues to produce a ship-based surface-to-air missile that was used earlier this year to fend off an unprecedented attack by Iran on Israeli territory.
The ICJ is helping modern-day Nazis
The obvious historical parallel returns to 1945, because The Hague is now assisting Hamas – the Nazis of our time who have repeatedly vowed to destroy Israel and murder its people – to maintain their stamina. They refuse to surrender and insist on holding captives. The Hague is now helping one of the world's most heinous terrorist organizations maintain its power and its evil and continue perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Morally and pragmatically, Israel must refuse to comply with the ICJ ruling. Our obligation to the captives still held in Gaza is to continue militarily pressuring Hamas with full force, patience, perseverance, and wisdom. Or, borrowing Harris' words, let Hamas reap what they sowed. .

Israel has conducted itself in Gaza like Mother Teresa. No other army in the world behaves like the IDF in Gaza. The Hague judges seeking to stop us in Rafah (and this is only the beginning) know this, but their arrogant, hypocritical ruling is not legal - it's political, biased, anti-Semitic, and fueled by basic hostility towards Israel. It also suffers from a glaring double standard, ignoring contemporary wars and armies that have killed thousands of non-combatants while singling out Israel aggressively – Israel, which feeds, hydrates, and fuels its enemies, even providing protective shelters for the "uninvolved" who chose Hamas as their leadership.

In the annals of history, The Hague's ruling from this past Friday will be recorded as a nadir. Historians will analyze how this judicial body deteriorated to such depths, while Israel's expected refusal to obey the ruling will appear, in hindsight, as a glimmer of light in profound darkness.
Key Gaza famine report cited by UN, ICJ has systematic flaws, Israeli review finds
A crucial study by a key international organization that found in March that a famine had begun in northern Gaza relied on small sample sizes and undisclosed data sources, rendering its conclusions and projections unreliable, an Israeli review has found.

The Health Ministry review of the study — which has been cited by the UN, human rights organizations and even by the International Court of Justice in its genocide case against Israel — also found that there appeared to have been “a consistent effort to ignore… a significant decline in the war’s intensity and a significant increase in the humanitarian effort and the flow of aid” when making its famine projections.

On March 18, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) organization issued a “Special Brief” on the food insecurity situation in the Gaza Strip, finding that hundreds of thousands of people were already experiencing famine and that that figure would rise to over a million by July if there was no immediate cessation of hostilities.

The IPC — which is connected to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN — is seen as a neutral and highly credible organization for evaluating where famines might be occurring around the globe.

Its assessment in March that famine had already taken hold in parts of Gaza and was likely to spread was explicitly cited and accepted by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its March 28 ruling and was used as the basis for its specific order for Israel to increase the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza. That order was recalled in the ICJ’s ruling last week when it issued new orders against Israel.

And International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has filed crimes against humanity charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant based on the allegation that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war against the Gazan population, a claim which is also likely connected to the IPC finding.

However, the Health Ministry review, authored by public health officials in the ministry and published by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, found significant flaws in the methodology of the IPC Special Brief and notably found that it had deviated from IPC’s standards and principles as laid out by the organization itself.


Caroline Glick: The ICC Ruling Against Israel is a Moral Atrocity
The ICC immorally and illegally decided that Hamas and Israel are the same, leftist Israelis once again misread the Israeli public and a reservist soldier is arrested for wanting victory.


Israel at War: ICC Decision
Shahar Azani speaks with Arsen Ostrovsky, human rights attorney and the CEO of the International Legal Forum, about the ICC's decision to seek the arrest of Israel’s leaders alongside the leaders of terror group Hamas.


Richard Goldberg: US Needs a Complete Reset with the "Hypocritical" & "Immoral" UN
The attempt by the ICJ to stop Israel from entering Rafah and the decision by the ICC to apply for an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu while honoring the "Butcher of Tehran" Iranian President Raisi has highlighted the immorality and hypocrisy of the UN and its bodies.

Is it time to rethink the relationship that the United States and Israel has with the UN and the international community? What can be done to restore order and deterrence to the world order?

To discuss all this, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is joined by Senior Advisor to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Richard Goldberg who proposes a complete reset in the way we deal with the UN.

Chapters
00:00 The Normalization of Rogue Regimes and the Need for a Reset
19:16 The Impact of Iran's President's Death and Implications for the Region
25:29 Threats to the Jewish State and the Lawfare Campaign
30:06 Hamas Survival and Iran's Plans for the Region
30:31 Preventing Iran from Obtaining a Nuclear Weapon
32:25 Iran's Nuclear Program and Sanctions
37:48 The Role of Sanctions in Addressing Iran's Nuclear Program
43:38 The Threat of Hezbollah and ICC Indictments on Israel
53:02 The Surge in Anti-Semitism and Its Impact on U.S. Policy


No justice, no peace: How anti-Zionists conquered international law
Days before the special prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced he would seek an arrest warrant for the prime minister and defense minister of Israel, and before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held its second hearing on Rafah, I spoke with a friend who is a law professor at a major university. One thing that stood out from our conversation was how corrupted the professor felt the field of international law has become.

This professor, an Israeli who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, lived and worked for more than half a decade at a major US university currently roiled by anti-Zionist protests. “There were two cycles of escalation between Israel and Gaza. Each time there was an escalation the situation became a little bit more intense, but nothing like what we see today.”

It was then that the professor saw a trend among the topics Israeli and Jewish colleagues were pushed to pursue. Those who continued their academic work in international law either wrote about Palestinians as victims or Israel’s violations of humanitarian international law. “Israelis would either write about IP law or business law, or about how Israel is being awful, violating human rights and all of that.”

This stood out because the professor noticed their colleagues from Latin America and China weren’t expected to work on topics that criticize their home countries as a condition for receiving faculty support. Yet when it came to Israelis, it was “clear to us this is what we need to deliver on.”
France bans Israeli defense firms from prestigious arms show amid Gaza ceasefire call
French authorities have banned Israeli defense firms from exhibiting at a trade show next month near Paris, organizers said on Friday.

“By decision of the government authorities, there will be no stand for the Israeli defense industry at the Eurosatory 2024 fair,” organizers Coges Events said.

Coges did not offer an explanation, but France’s defense ministry released a statement saying that “the conditions are no longer right to host Israeli companies at the Paris show, given that the French president is calling for the cessation of IDF operation in Rafah.”

The announcement came days after an Israeli strike targeting two top Hamas terrorists in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah sparked a fire in a complex housing displaced Palestinians, killing dozens of civilians and triggering international outrage and protests in France.

An Israel Defense Forces probe into the strike found that a hidden store of weapons may have been the actual cause of the deadly blaze, and that the airstrike that targeted an adjacent area had used small munitions that would not ignite such a fire on their own.


MEMRI: The Political Roots of the Spanish Turn against Israel
Last week, Spain’s second deputy prime minister, celebrating her country’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, declared that “we can’t stop here. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.” Supporters of Israel have reacted to Spain’s decisions with invocations of Inquisition. Others have suggested that Jerusalem respond to Madrid’s recent move by recognizing the independence of Catalonia, a region with a powerful and sometime violent separatist movement. Alberto M. Fernandez believes that such reactions misunderstand the motivations of Spain’s current government:

The ruling leftist/far-left/Catalan- and Basque-separatist coalition in Spain is in favor of Catalan independence, is soft on Islamic rule in Spain, and is reliably anti-Catholic. It is the left in Spain that wants to allow Islamic prayers in the Cathedral-Mosque in Cordoba. It is the left in Spain that encourages illegal immigration from Muslim countries into Spain, a kind of counter-Reconquista. . . . The separatist rulers in Catalonia have welcomed Islamic migration, and even the spread of Salafism in their region, as long as the new arrivals don’t commit the cardinal sin of speaking Spanish, [as opposed to Catalan].

Spain has the most left-wing government in Europe, the only one with actual hardcore Communists in it. . . . Spain is important in this equation because the left is already in power and it is perhaps a model for progressive foreign policy that we may see more often in the West as demographics change and as the left is pressured by both its own far-left wing and by a rising populist right.

As important as all this is to understanding the present direction of Spain and Europe, and shaping the appropriate Israeli response, I still don’t think it’s possible to disconnect this anti-Israel passion from the country’s long history of anti-Semitism, even if it comes from the anti-clerical left rather than supporters of the church and the crown. Such deep-seated ways of thinking about Jews don’t fade easily, and can certainly prime people, regardless of their political leanings, to think about the Jewish state in demonic terms.


ICC has displayed a 'lack of integrity' in issuing warrants against Israeli leaders
The Australian Editor-at-Large Paul Kelly says the ICC has displayed a “lack of integrity” after they issued warrants against Israeli leaders.

This comes amid the International Criminal Court issuing warrants for Hamas leaders as well as the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister.

“There's been a lack of integrity, a lack of credibility and a sense of bias against Israel long displayed by this court,” Mr Kelly told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“I think Australia should consider very carefully whether it wants to remain a member of this court."


Western governments 'lacking 'moral clarity' as UN policies an 'advantage' to Hamas
Australia and other Western governments are giving Hamas a “free pass” by doing things at the UN which “advantage” their position, says Liberal MP Julian Leeser.

“I think that is a terrible thing,” he told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“I think it lacks the moral clarity that we are desperately needing at this time.”


Seth Frantzman: IDF tech innovation redefines the war in Gaza
OTHER TYPES of technology have also been in the spotlight during the war. The IDF used its new Sa’ar 6 corvettes in combat for the first time. The new ships, of which there are four, use a new type of radar and an improved 76 mm. gun. They also used the new precision mortar system, known as the Iron Sting, for the first time. The precision mortar is a 120-mm. mortar that can be mounted on a Humvee, an M113, or other platforms. The mortar is slightly longer than a traditional mortar, and it has fins that enable it to precisely strike a target. It weighs 17 kilograms and has a range of around six miles. The precision mortar is made by Israel’s Elbit Systems.

This war has also revolutionized Israel’s air defenses. The Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, which defend against ballistic missiles, had their first interceptions. These have been key to protecting Eilat from Houthi missile threats, as well as defending the country against the Iranian ballistic missile threat on April 13–14. The Arrow, made by Israel Aerospace Industries, was developed jointly by Israel and the US over the last decades.

The naval version of Iron Dome, known as C-Dome, was also used for the first time in this war – in the Red Sea, off the coast of Eilat – to take out a drone threat. The David’s Sling system, used frequently, received an Israel Defense Prize for its success.

Another system that came into use during the war was the new shoulder-launched missiles, acquired from the US. Dubbed the Holit and Yated, after two Israeli communities near the Gaza border, they are larger than other shoulder-launched missiles that the IDF has used over the years. The IDF also introduced an improved version of the Negev machine gun, new night vision goggles, and the SmartShooter sight for rifles to help take down drones.

All this new technology is designed to make fighting more precise and to provide operators with more information. It also expands the realms in which the IDF operates, including a new space directorate and improving the evacuation time of the wounded by helicopter. This is only the beginning of the innovations from the current war in Gaza. Almost eight months of war have brought a myriad of new technologies to the front, and more systems, from rocket launchers to artillery, will continue to be rolled out.


The Israel Guys: Did Israel Just Murder 40 Civilians in Rafah? This is What Really Happened
On Sunday night, the IDF did a very precise strike in Gaza’s southern city, Rafah, taking out two Hamas commanders. In this strike, somehow a munitions wear-house or other exploded causing a large fire that spread to a displaced persons camp killing multiple people. Of course, the mainstream media immediately jumped on the story, blaming Israel for this catastrophe and many world leaders calling out Israel with very harsh words. We’re getting into what actually happened here on today’s show along with a propaganda video of one of the hostages being released by the PIJ and Senator John Fetterman taking a courageous stand.


How Hamas built smuggling tunnels under the nose of the Egyptian army
The IDF confirmed that at the end of three weeks of ground maneuvers by the 162nd Division, some 20 tunnels were discovered adjacent to the Philadelphi corridor that separates the Egyptian side from the Palestinian.

Military officials have estimated that most of the tunnels cross into Egyptian territory and were used to smuggle ammunition and materials for the production of weapons.

About 82 shafts were located near them, and it is estimated that they were connected to smuggling tunnels that could be controlled from afar. Forces of the 162nd Division reported last week on huge Hamas weapons stockpiles in the Rafah area.

The IDF also confirmed that information about the handling of the cross-border tunnels was passed on to Egypt, thus provoking criticism within the security establishment.

In practice, for years, security officials have been warning that Hamas operated cross-border tunnels to smuggle weapons, which were allegedly smuggled under the noses of the Egyptian army and police in Sinai directly from weapons warehouses in Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon to the weapons warehouses of Hamas in Gaza.

A few years ago, the Egyptians, under US pressure, launched an extensive engineering operation in which they removed all the residents of Egyptian Rafah from the area of ​​the Philadelphi corridor to a distance of several kilometers, destroyed all the buildings adjacent to the border, dug dozens of meters, and located tunnels.

The IDF praised the engineering activity with the assistance of the Egyptian army. Still, now it is clear that under the nose of the IDF and perhaps with the backing, knowledge, or turning a blind eye, Hamas built a web of smuggling tunnels and continued to strengthen its capabilities despite Egypt's commitment to fight terrorism in the Sinai area.
Behind enemy lines: How IDF destroyed Gaza tunnels that held hostage bodies
The IDF announced on Thursday that troops from the 98th Division had dismantled and destroyed terror tunnels in Jabalya, which held the bodies of hostages killed on October 7.

Over the past few weeks, the IDF recovered multiple bodies from Hamas terror tunnels, which are present throughout the Strip.

Seven hostages were rescued in joint operations by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) from the now-destroyed tunnel, including Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin, Yitzchak Gelernter, Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, and Orion Hernandez.

The IDF confirmed that all of them had been killed on October 7, and their bodies had been abducted by Hamas.

IDF intelligence and operational units worked to confirm that there were no more hostages in the tunnel before giving the order to destroy it.
IDF releases footage of Gaza-Egypt border tunnels Hamas was using to smuggle weapons
The IDF releases footage showing Hamas smuggling tunnels and rocket launchers discovered by troops along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, adjacent to the southern city of Rafah, the IDF has located so far some 20 tunnels that cross into Egypt. Another 82 tunnel shafts leading into the tunnels have been located in the corridor area.

Hamas has been known to use such tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza, despite attempts by Egypt to thwart them in the past decade. A “high-level” source speaking to Egyptian state media this week denied such tunnels still exist.

The IDF says it has so far demolished dozens of tunnel shafts and several “significant” underground routes in the corridor area, while others are still being investigated.

Hamas operatives were killed by IDF troops inside some of the tunnels, the military says.

The IDF also says it located five primed rocket launching sites along the Gaza-Egypt border. The launchers were all demolished.

On Wednesday, the IDF announced that it had established “operational control” over the entire Philadelphi Corridor. Troops are physically located in most of the corridor. There is a small section near the coast where ground forces are not present, but the IDF says it is controlling the area with surveillance and firepower.


IDF announces the names of two fallen soldiers
The IDF announced on Friday the names of two soldiers who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip.

Sergeant-Major (res.) Adar Gavriel, 24, from Caesarea, was a combat soldier in the 6828 battalion in the Bislach Brigade. Gavriel fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.

Sergeant Yehonatan Elias, 20, from Jerusalem, was a combat soldier in the Givati Brigade's reconnaissance unit. Elias fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. Combat deaths since start of fighting in Gaza

According to the IDF, to date, 293 IDF troops have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in October of last year.

An additional 3,657 have been wounded on or since October 7. Of this number, 1,843 were wounded fighting in Gaza.


Israel's unwillingness to mirror Palestinian propaganda is losing it the PR war
"We must publish the video of the atrocities and show the world what they did to us - right now, they only see Gaza," stated Minister Nir Barkat, accusing PM Netanyahu of preventing its distribution.

However, history proves that publishing harsh documentation has far-reaching implications, not only on global public opinion but also on international policy.

During the Darfur genocide in Sudan in 2003, the lack of documentation, resulting from the government's prevention of foreign media access, led to the conflict being relatively marginal in the global media. On the other hand, in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, activists chose to publish extremely harsh videos, and the international response resulted in a global embargo on Russia and an impressive mobilization effort in support of Ukraine.

The debate on whether to expose documentation of the atrocities from wars or to hide them from the public eye and spare viewers the difficult, traumatic sights has existed since the world wars. Many photojournalists have argued throughout history that war photos reflecting human suffering can evoke compassion among their audience and motivate them towards anti-war action or protests.

On the other hand, there is concern that these harsh images cause trauma and even lead to distancing viewers from the situation on the ground, requiring a high news value to publish such documentation. Some researchers also claim that high doses of images of atrocities create emotional numbness and apathy among the public. Respect for the deceased is an ethical consideration that also receives legal attention in many cases worldwide.

Israel's side in the social media war
The choice not to publish graphic and harsh images has broader implications, and in some cases, it can even lead to denial of events. A prominent example of this is the choice of international women's rights organizations to fail to condemn the acts of sexual violence, rape, and sodomy committed against the victims of the October 7 massacre. This stance only changed after a focused and extensive campaign. This denial still resonates in social networks among pro-Palestinian activists.

The publication of the video of the late Shani Louk and the desecration of her body in the streets of Gaza is one of the most shocking videos that was circulated on social networks by Hamas, and it is an example of documentation that created a significant impact on public opinion.

This documentation led to international awareness of her abduction. Some 139 million people watched or used the hashtag of her name on TikTok, a Wikipedia page was opened recounting the story of her kidnapping and murder in captivity, and numerous articles were published in media channels around the world.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin: ‘An embarrassment to human race’ that we haven’t freed hostages
Rachel Goldberg-Polin has a piece of tape attached to her shirt, bearing the hand-written number of days her son Hersh has been held hostage in Gaza. This was day 236.

It is “an emblem of my pain,” said Goldberg-Polin, 54, speaking to AFP at her office in Jerusalem, where an Israeli flag waves next to a banner featuring her 23-year-old son’s portrait and calling to “Bring Hersh home.”

Holding back tears, the US-born mother decried “an embarrassment to the human race that we haven’t been able to save” hostages held by terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

She was referring to the 121 hostages who remain there since October 7, including several foreigners or dual citizens like the Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and 37 captives the Israel Defense Forces says are dead, as well as four others, including two dead soldiers, believed to be held in Gaza for years.

Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Ever since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, the soft-spoken mother, a former mental health professional who “used to work out six days a week,” said she hasn’t exercised, listened to music or eaten sugar.

“It’s a different life,” she told AFP.

For nearly eight months, she has suffered anguish, uncertainty and “indescribable” pain as the family awaits Hersh’s return.
Call Me Back - with Dan Senor: What we know about captivity in Gaza - with Glenn Cohen
Since October 7, there has been a debate inside Israel about what cost Israelis should pay as a society to get their fellow citizens home, or, what the cost would be to Israeli society if their fellow citizens do not return home.

One perspective we have not heard is that of a professional who led the debriefing of every single living hostage upon return, including children, women and the elderly; those who were held in underground tunnels and those who were held in apartments above ground by Gazan families; those who were held captive alone and those who were held captive with other Israelis; those who were medically treated, and those who were tortured.

Glenn Cohen is that person. He made aliyah to Israel from the United States as a young man and joined the IDF. He had an impressive and improbable career in the military (which we chronicle in Chapter 12 of THE GENIUS OF ISRAEL - https://tinyurl.com/4hpxsx2x).

Glenn was an air force pilot, a Mossad officer, a hostage negotiator, and a special forces psychologist. He served in the Mossad for 25 years, retiring as the Chief of Psychology with the equivalent rank of Colonel. During the current Israel-Hamas war, Glenn served for over 100 days in reserve duty as the head psychologist of a team that debriefed the hostages upon their return.
Hamas releases hostage video voiced by Noa Argamani - report
Hamas published a video featuring what is believed to be the voice of Gaza hostage Noa Argamani in captivity, Israeli media reported on Friday.

The Hostages & Missing Families Forum provided the following statement shortly afterwards:

"Recently, Hamas released a video with the voice of Noa Argamani, who's been in Hamas captivity for 238 days. The Argamani Family has requested not to broadcast the video."

Later, the forum provided the following statement, allowing the publication of the video: "After assessing the situation and receiving additional information, the Argamani family has approved the use of a video in which Noa Argamani was heard while being held hostage by Hamas. Alongside Noa's voice, drawings are shown, which the family believes to be scribbles that Noa has drawn.."

The forum statement continued, saying, "125 men and women have been held hostage by Hamas for 238 days. The Israeli government must hear the call and act decisively, without the need for any propaganda video from Hamas, to swiftly reach a deal to bring the hostages home!."


Building Jerusalem PodCast: Richard Kemp
Richard Kemp is a colonel of the British Army (retired). He now works as a security consultant and political commentator.


Israel: State of a Nation with Eylon Levy: The Gen Z Divide | Montana Tucker on Being a Proud Jew in the Face of Ignorance and Conformism
There is little doubt that Israel is losing the global battle for the hearts and minds of Gen Z. From US campuses to the streets of London and Amsterdam, the young people of the West are increasingly siding with the death squads of Hamas. And if it’s not some passing radical phase, cosplaying revolutionaries.

With increasing numbers chanting for the destruction of Israel, the need for advocates to tell the real story is critical. To show the journey of strength and resilience in a country facing an enemy that seeks only death and destruction. To highlight the amazing work and battles being fought by our own young people, the Gen Zionists are waking up and fighting back.

Montana Tucker, influencer singer, songwriter, actress and dancer, using her incredible reach to 14 million followers to speak up for her people. The Granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and a fierce advocate for Israel, especially since October 7. Having visited Israel to bear witness in the wake of the massacre, Montana returned to Israel in a show of solidarity with the country she loves.


Jonny Gould's Jewish State: 150: Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus: "no regional peace until Israel confronts Iran"
“All eyes on Rafah”: The AI generated graphic shared by 50m people on Instagram, spread by slebs like Dua Lipa, Lewis Hamilton and Gigi and Bella Hadid.

How has the world been reduced to this?”

It’s a total disconnect between media coverage and reality.

The Ayatollah is prolifically tweeting including antisemitic tropes about Jews running the media. But does Iran have Israel where it wants them, in a cycle of “forever war”.

How must Israel change to get out of a perpetual state of war? Does it start with pushing Hezbollah back north of the Litani river?

Iran has enough material for 13 nuclear bombs. They haven’t got the bomb yet. But if not now when?

And as Norway, Spain and Ireland declare for Palestine, is this down the weakness in support for Israel by the Biden administration?

These are questions for Jonathan Conricus, now retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the IDF, nowadays with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, he focuses on the Middle East.

Jonathan enjoyed a distinguished career serving as a combat commander in Lebanon and Gaza, a military diplomat, a foreign relations expert, and an international spokesperson for the IDF.

Born in Jerusalem in 1979, Jonathan spent his early years in Malmo before his family moved back to Israel when he was 13. He joined the IDF at 18 and served for 24 years, retiring in 2021.

This episode is presented with the cooperation and support of ELNET UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation working to advance UK-Israel relations based on shared democratic values and strategic interests.


Elizabeth Warren withdraws from Palestinian conference over organizers’ Oct. 7 praise
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is backing out of appearing at a conference next week for an organization whose leaders have expressed support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and have ties to U.S.-designated terrorist groups.

The Palestine Digital Activist Forum is a two-day online event that aims to “empower and enrich Palestinian digital activity,” with sessions this year that include “The Palestinian Telecommunications Sector: Between War, Destruction, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence” and “AI in Wartime: Gaza, Automated Warfare, Surveillance and the Battle of Narratives.”

Warren’s two-minute videotaped speech, which her team tells Jewish Insider has since been canceled, was titled “How do we protect the public and develop ethical artificial intelligence?”

“Senator Warren will not participate in the digital forum,” a spokesperson in Warren’s office said. “Her office has received a large volume of claims about individuals associated with the event, and, although we do not assume any of the claims are true, we have not had capacity to sift through it all and have decided to focus our time and energy opposing [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s unfolding catastrophe in Gaza in other ways.”

Warren has been one of the Senate’s most vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, and has called for restricting military aid to Israel. She voted in favor of the national security supplemental (which provided aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan) in April, but said that same month that she believed international officials would find that the war in Gaza legally constitutes a genocide.

The forum is hosted by 7amleh (pronounced “hamleh”), an organization that “advocates for Palestinians’ digital rights.” A large part of its advocacy efforts push back against Jews’ and Israelis’ efforts to fight antisemitism on social media. The organization has campaigned against Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) policies against incitement to violence, as well as the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, calling them an attack on free speech.


Anti-Israel UN official allegedly accepted sponsorships from pro-Palestinian lobbies
Allegations of “gross violations of U.N. rules and professional ethics” were filed on Thursday in a complaint against a senior United Nations figure.

The UN Watch NGO submitted the complaint and a request for access to information to the world body’s Secretary-General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, alleging that Francesca Albanese, the Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, has accepted honorariums and payment for her travel from activist and advocacy groups, contrary to the U.N. code of conduct.

Albanese has long been a target of ire for a documented history of antisemitic comments and justifying terrorism against Israel. More recently, her denial that Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre was based on the terrorist group’s hatred of Jews was rebuked by the French government, which called the remarks “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government said Albanese comments were “appalling.”

The UN Watch complaint demands a U.N. investigation into “serious and substantiated” allegations that Albanese and her staff have been requesting payments for her U.N.-related work, contrary to the Code of Conduct.

Albanese’s role of special rapporteur is a volunteer position technically independent of the United Nations, with expenses to be paid for out of a designated budget. Acceptance of payment, including for travel and honorariums by “any governmental or non-governmental source” for “activities carried out in pursuit” of the special rapporteur’s mandate is prohibited.

The prohibition extends to staff in the office of the special rapporteur.

The UN Watch complaint includes communications between an Albanese volunteer assistant and the purported organizer of an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University in which the assistant, said to be speaking on behalf of Albanese, requested that an offered honorarium be directed to an unnamed research institute that supports the work of Albanese’s office.

A separate colleague later attempted to claim the request came from her, rather than Albanese, contrary to what was stated in the communication from the volunteer assistant.


Knifeman stabs multiple people at anti-Islam rally including police officer before being apprehended during YouTube livestream in Germany
A knifeman stabbed a well-known Islam critic, a police officer and several bystanders at an anti-Islam rally in Germany amid a frenzied attack that was livestreamed on YouTube this morning.

The shocking spree unfolded in Mannheim city centre where anti-Islam campaigner Michael Stuerzenberger was speaking at an event of the Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE) - a group that advocates against the 'Islamisation' of Europe.

Chaos broke out at the event when a man dressed in a dark hooded jacket, green shirt and tracksuit bottoms tackled Stuerzenberger to the ground and violently swung a large blade at him, prompting terrified screams from onlookers.

Other BPE members sprinted over and tried to drag the knifeman away, but the would-be killer wriggled free and dove on top of the bloodied victim to plunge the weapon in for a second time.

Police descended on the scene almost immediately - but not before the attacker had left two people lying on the floor, blood pooling on the cobblestones.

One officer then made a potentially fatal mistake.

Amid the confusion, he waded in and jumped on one of the victims, seemingly having mistaken him for the aggressor.

This misread of the situation gave the bloodthirsty attacker a chance to circle behind and ram his blade into the policeman's neck.


Several MPs offices targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in Melbourne
The US Consulate and several Victorian MPs have been vandalised in a targeted attack by pro-Palestinian activists who have vowed a national day of action.

Police are investigating the incident and allege that the incident occurred from 4am on Friday.

The offices were covered in red paint, with three confirmed offices hit belonging to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten and the American Consulate on St Kilda Road in Melbourne.

On the outside of Mr Shortern's office, the words 'Bill blood on your hands. 40,000 dead' have been written.

'You are complicit in genocide,' it states.

The offices targeted include St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Main Street in Mordialloc, Hall Street in Moonee Ponds and High Street Northcote.

'Join us as we take a stand against the weapons industrial complex in Naarm,' the protest flyer said.

'As Rafah burns, we shine a light on the complicity of the ALP government and the corporations that facilitate genocide.'

Disrupt Wars, a pro-Palestine organisation, said protesters will target 'gutless' Labor MP's 'peacefully'.

It's understood that police and the Victoria Department of Parliamentary Services issued a warning to electorate offices on Thursday.

The warning states the agencies 'have become aware of public advertising calling for a co-ordinated day of national protest action … directed specifically at Labor MPs at state and federal level'.


‘Not Canada we want to be,’ Trudeau says after arson attack at Vancouver shul
No one was injured and there was minimal damage to a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Vancouver whose doors were set on fire on Thursday night, Jewish communal leaders stated.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, called the bombing—the third against a Jewish institution in the country in the past week—“another disgusting act of antisemitism.”

“We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand,” Trudeau said. “This is not the Canada we want to be.”

“Antisemitic rhetoric has reached a feverish pitch in our city and region recently, and it has always been our concern that the next step would be violence,” stated the senior rabbi and president at Schara Tzedeck, and executives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

Someone poured gasoline by the doors of the Modern Orthodox synagogue and set it aflame around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to the leaders. “We extend our steadfast support to the families and staff of Congregation Schara Tzedeck,” they said.

“Enough is enough. This is the third Jewish community institution in Canada to be violently targeted—this week alone,” Nico Slobinsky, vice president of the Pacific region at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told JNS. (CIJA is an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada.)

“We have long warned that the antisemitic rhetoric that has been allowed to fester on our streets, on campus and online would evolve into real physical threats to our community,” Slobinsky said. “From words, we are now facing bullets and fire. These events have been allowed to happen in the absence of a plan to combat antisemitism by the provincial government.”

“They must clearly and publicly communicate how they will ensure the safety of the Jewish community,” he told JNS. “The time for words is over and the time for action is now.”
Canadian synagogue lightly damaged in suspected arson
An incendiary device causes minor damage to the entrance of Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver, Canada.

The fire Thursday night, in which no one was injured, was the result of arson and a “deliberate act of hate” and an “attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says in a statement.

Extra police patrols are being put in place at local Jewish institutions, the Federation says.

In a statement on social media, David Eby, the prime minister of British Columbia, whose largest city is Vancouver, calls the incident a “disgusting act of antisemitism,” adding it’s “reprehensible and has absolutely no place in B.C.”

The incident comes after bullet holes were found at two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days.

“I was horrified to receive a frantic call from a community member that there was a fire burning at the entrance to the building,” Aron Csaplaros, B’nai Brith Canada’s British Columbia Regional Manager, says in a statement about the fire. “This is a serious and dangerous escalation of antisemitic activity in Vancouver, and it is outrageous and repugnant.”




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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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