Wednesday, June 05, 2024

06/05 Links Pt1: Biden Tries To Take Victory Off the Table; The Policies That Are Killing Israeli Soldiers; Melanie Phillips: Wake up, Americans!

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Biden Tries To Take Victory Off the Table
President Biden made clear in a speech today that he wants the war in Gaza to end without Hamas’s eradication. Unveiling the outline of a ceasefire agreement, Biden said that “the people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security because they have devastated Hamas forces over the past eight months. At this point Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7.”

Thus have the goals shifted, although that process began in December with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments that the U.S. “will continue to support Israel’s efforts to do everything possible to ensure that Hamas cannot repeat the horrors of October 7. And that means, among other things, that Hamas cannot remain responsible for governance in Gaza and it cannot retain the capacity to repeat those attacks.”

This was the Biden administration’s way of telling the public what it had told Israeli leaders earlier that day in December: The U.S. would no longer support the original goal of Hamas’s eradication.

Today, President Biden made that point himself. “Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will only bog down Israel in Gaza,” the president admonished, “draining the economic, military, and human resources and furthering Israel’s isolation in the world.”

According to Biden, Israel’s long-professed characterization of victory isn’t possible. Continuing its operations in Gaza “will not bring an enduring defeat of Hamas.” He described a path that instead would see Israel out of Gaza and becoming part of “a regional security network” that ideally would include Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile Gaza will be rebuilt with the help of the international community “in a manner that does not allow Hamas to rearm.” So, again, the president envisions Hamas continuing to exist. Of course, “Israel will always have the right to defend itself against threats to security and to bring those responsible for October 7 to justice.” Translation: If at some point in the future Yahya Sinwar turns up at the Super-Pharm in Tel Aviv to pick up some Advil, go ahead and arrest him.
Jonathan Schanzer: The Policies That Are Killing Israeli Soldiers
Biden Administration policies have put Israeli soldiers in greater danger. On the eve of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, in March, the White House warned Israel to halt its military advance on Rafah as the IDF was on the cusp of destroying Hamas, defying the predictions of most Middle East experts. When Ramadan was over, the White House moved the goal posts.

The U.S. began to warn of a potential humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The State Department went so far as to suggest that Israel could be guilty of war crimes in Rafah. The White House even threatened to halt the provision of ammunition to Israel. Never mind that Israel had kept the civilian to militant casualty count lower than any of America's previous engagements in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Then, in mid-May, a major lawfare campaign against Israel kicked into high gear. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) charges of siege warfare leveled at Israel would likely have never been aired had the State Department not first suggested it was occurring in the first place.

The cumulative effect of all of this over the last three months has prompted the IDF to halt its advance in Rafah, and to move much slower than it originally anticipated. These three months of relative quiet afforded Hamas the time to prepare the lethal booby traps and IEDs that are now killing Israeli soldiers.
Melanie Phillips: Wake up, Americans!
This sustained Hezbollah onslaught shows that the war against Israel is not being waged merely by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. It’s a war of extermination against Israel by Iran and its proxies on no fewer than seven fronts. The attacks by Hezbollah and the threat of far worse from those forces are intolerable.

But if you’re reading this in Britain or America, the chances are you’ll have read virtually nothing about any of this. I can’t see any coverage of these terrible fires in any mainstream media outlets other than a solitary mention today by CNN.

The escalation means that Israel will have to deal with this once and for all. Israelis are bracing for an imminent major war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Until now, Israel’s defence forces have been responding to these attacks in limited fashion in order to avoid a major escalation, which could see thousands of Israeli civilians killed. But no country can live like this, and Israel has done so for eight months.

Yet if it now takes the gloves off in Lebanon, stand by for hysterical condemnation by the western media which has paid virtually no attention to the months of Hezbollah attacks — and consequently will viciously defame Israel once again as the aggressive warmonger, in yet another big lie designed to demonise, delegitimise and destroy it. While Israel fights for its life, the western media carries out the strategy designed to annihilate it by the enemies of humanity.

The carnage in northern Israel must also be laid at the door of the Biden administration. Shortly after the October 7 pogrom in southern Israel, following which Hezbollah started attacking the north, Israel was about to launch a pre-emptive strike on the Iranian backed “Party of God” to neutralise the fearsome threat from Lebanon — but the Biden administration forced it to abort that mission.

Since then, the US has persistently undermined Israel’s attempt to neutralise Hamas in Gaza. The perfidy of the Biden administration in its attempt to ensure that Hamas survives and Israel is left unable to defend itself against genocidal attack has now reached yet another crescendo.


Seth Mandel: Biden’s Maginot Line
We see something similar in the Middle East. Biden deserves credit, no doubt, for dropping his earlier disastrous plan to undermine our alliance with Saudi Arabia (and thus the entire Sunni coalition in the region). The same is true for the successful U.S.-led intervention against Iran’s unprecedented missile-and-drone attack against Israel in April, an anti-Iran coalition that involved the mobilization of Arab defenses.

But there’s another way to think about it: A truly successful deterrent alliance would not have been tested by an attack consisting of 300 Iranian ballistic missiles and drone strikes, especially one that was announced in advance.

We’re told Biden’s response to Hamas’s atrocities on Oct. 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, “was to provide rock-solid support to Israel.” But that was then. Now when he’s asked by Time if Israel committed war crimes, Biden says, “It’s uncertain.” And though the war has dragged on for many reasons, at or near the top of that list would have to be Biden’s own choices, his concessions to anti-Israel protesters, and his attempts to appease his party’s progressives. Nevertheless, when asked if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has delayed the war repeatedly at Biden’s request—is prolonging the war for political reasons, Biden responds: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

America’s alliances are tested abroad, because our enemies live at a distance. But our friends live at that same distance. And those enemies are their next-door neighbors. Ukraine and Israel have foes right on their border who will forever be trying to kill them. America can “pivot to Asia” or “reset” or adopt some similar concept that can only be fulfilled in isolation. The purpose of “the strongest alliance in the history of the world” is to keep those borders quiet.

Right now Biden’s prized alliance looks like a global Maginot Line—tough on paper but unintimidating in practice. It has failed as a deterrent in the two major tests it has faced. The third test will likely be from China. Without a different approach, don’t expect a different result.
Joe Biden is appeasing Hamas
America’s goals in the Middle East are now often at odds with Israel’s. As I have previously argued on spiked, the US’s broad regional objective is to appease Iran. That is because, in the view of the Biden administration, this will allow America to ‘pivot’ to East Asia and to focus on containing what it sees as its main threat – namely, China. No doubt Biden’s chastisements of Israel also find some favour among the anti-Israel left, which makes up a large contingent in Biden’s Democratic Party.

From the start of the current round of conflict, the Biden administration has carefully refrained from linking Hamas and Iran, even though it is abundantly clear that Iran backed the 7 October attack. America was also intent on stopping Israel hitting the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, even though it was also threatening to destroy Israel.

There are numerous other such examples of America trying to limit Israel’s actions over the past eight months. These include its abstention in March on a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, its public statement last month that Israel should not enter Rafah and last month’s announcement on pausing the shipment of certain weapons to Israel.

These developments tend to be presented as evidence of Biden’s concern for Gaza’s civilian population. However, they are better seen as evidence that the White House does not want Hamas to be completely destroyed, as this would be inimical to its broader goal of keeping up relations with Iran.

When it comes to Rafah, it is clear that Hamas cannot be defeated without Israel taking the fight to the city. It is currently home to the largest remaining concentration of Hamas forces. Its strategic position on the Egyptian border makes it an ideal place for smuggling in weapons and people. As a result, Rafah could easily provide the base for Hamas to regain control over the Gaza Strip. Biden is surely aware of all this, yet he still insists there can be no major invasion of Rafah.

The Biden administration may well succeed in imposing a ceasefire. But this will not lead to a ‘permanent end to hostilities’ in Gaza. After all, there can be no genuine peace until Hamas, with its declared aim of destroying Israel and slaughtering its citizens, is eliminated. By abandoning Israel, America is now standing in the way of any durable peace.
Matti Friedman: North Israel Is on Fire
With Israeli and international focus on the fighting in Gaza, and without sending in a single soldier, Hezbollah has successfully moved Israel’s northern border a few miles south. Israel’s military has been picking off Hezbollah fighters and commanders with air strikes, but this hasn’t calmed things down, and no one knows when Israelis who live in the north will be able to return home.

The drone that rattled my parents on Sunday was the first to hit their town since the war began, suggesting that Hezbollah could be expanding its range. If it’s a harbinger of strikes to come, and if Nahariya has to be evacuated, it will mean another 70,000 people displaced, doubling the number of Israelis already evacuated from the north.

News reports on Tuesday night said the war cabinet was meeting to discuss Hezbollah and the north. Since October 7, when Hezbollah began striking across the border in support of Hamas, it has been clear that a major war in Lebanon is likely. As I’ve reported here, experts think this war could have ten times the intensity of what we’ve seen so far in Gaza. Hezbollah has far more rockets than Hamas and is better trained. While never saying so explicitly, Israel can’t conduct significant campaigns on the two fronts simultaneously, so the situation along the border has been allowed to continue inconclusively. But this can’t go on indefinitely, and an Israeli move now seems closer than ever. When this happens, Gaza moves to the back burner and Lebanon comes to the front.
The Problem with Washington's Offer to End the Conflict
Washington is working overtime to sanitize a series of failed concepts and press them on Israel, such as a "revitalized Palestinian Authority," "international security guarantees," "accommodation with Iran," and "regional integration." The first is a fantasy, the second ridiculous, the third ruinous, the fourth premature.

Relying on Mahmoud Abbas's terror-glorifying Palestinian Authority as a ruling alternative to Hamas would be insane. The PA is both incapable and unwilling to be the moderating force in Palestinian politics that everybody is yearning for.

The main problem with these concepts is that they sideline the most important strategic goal of the moment, which is Israeli victory - the necessity of a crushing Israeli victory over Hamas. Without that, Israel's deterrent power is forever shot to hell, and no stable peace can come.

Who will rule Gaza once Hamas is annihilated? What is the endgame? I don't know. This is going to be a long war, as Israel peels away and destroys layer after layer of Hamas's military capabilities. Israel is rightfully fixated on its victory strategy, not on exit strategies and Palestinian rehabilitation. Demands that Israel answer these questions now are meant to prevent Israel from doing what needs to be done in Gaza.

The world seems hell-bent on emasculating Israel. Insisting that Israel's "primary goal" must be the provision of humanitarian aid to an enemy population in wartime is an absurdity never broached before in history. It continues further with American attempts to micromanage IDF operations.

At issue is the regional and international perception of Israel as a country capable of resoundingly winning an existential war of self-defense against a state that has genocidal plans for Israel long into the future - unless eliminated. At issue is the perception of Israel as a nation that cannot be steamrolled into diplomatic or military defeat; that is able to act on its essential security imperatives and free all of Israel of terrorist violence and rocket attacks.
If the Fighting Stops with Hamas in Power, the "Day After" Will Never Begin
The deal laid out by President Joe Biden in his May 31 address on the war in Gaza reflects the failed paradigms, illusions, and wishful thinking that led to Oct. 7. The plan he described, if implemented, would create an existential threat to the State of Israel. His speech included no concrete steps or road maps for removing Hamas from power. The proposed outline would ensure that Hamas remained in power and was able to rebuild its military strength.

President Biden assured that "Palestinian civilians would return to their homes...in all areas of Gaza, including the North." He seemed to be claiming that it would only be civilians that would return to northern Gaza. But there would be no way to ensure that Hamas fighters did not return there as well. Their fighters don't wear uniforms and their guns are hidden in the hundreds of tunnels that still exist in northern Gaza. With this plan, Hamas would quickly reassert its control.

Biden said: "The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security because they've already devastated Hamas forces over the past eight months." The reality is that Hamas still has many intact fighters and senior leadership. Once reconstruction began in Gaza, the Islamist terror group would quickly rebuild its capabilities. The idea that leaving Hamas in power does not constitute a severe risk to Israel's security is ludicrous.

The fact that there are those who recognize that leaving Hamas in power will destroy Israel's deterrence and encourage countless murderous attacks and kidnappings of Israelis does not mean that they care any less about the hostages. They simply believe that the efforts to free the hostages must take place on the basis of a pragmatic understanding of the psychopathic but intelligent enemy that Israel faces.

If the fighting stops with Hamas in power, the "day after" will never begin. We will simply return to Oct. 6 - only this time, with an emboldened ring of terror along all of Israel's borders, and large swaths of Israel's territory in the western Negev and the north abandoned due to the ongoing terror threats.


Caroline Glick: Bidens Ceasefire Speech the Most Hostile Ever Made
President Biden proposes a ceasefire framework that ensures Israel's defeat in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah.

All the details on Caroline Glick's In-Focus!
Chapters:
00:00 President Biden's Speech on the Middle East Conflict
03:29 The Ceasefire Deal with Hamas and Israel's Security Goals
13:29 United States' Alignment with Hamas and Israel's Right to Self-Defense
36:41 Impact on Palestinian People and Regional Dynamics


Call Me Back PodCast: The last Israeli to negotiate with the Palestinians – with Tzipi Livni
Hosted by Dan Senor
Tzipi Livni has served as a minister of eight different cabinet ministries under three prime ministers: Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Her positions have included Justice Minister, Foreign Minister and Vice-Prime Minister. She has also been the official leader of the opposition.

As foreign minister, Tzipi Livni led negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, she was a key government figure during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and during Hamas’s subsequent takeover of Gaza. She was foreign minister during Israel’s Second Lebanon War and during Israel’s operation to take out Syria’s nuclear reactor.

She began her service as a member of the Likud Party, and then the Kadima Party, and later the Hatnua Party and Zionist Union.

Earlier in her career, Tzipi served in the Mossad (including in the elite unit famous for being responsible for the assassinations following the Munich massacre).

No major Israeli political figure has had more recent experience trying to negotiate a two-state solution than Tzipi Livni.
Call Me Back: A proposal to end the war? — with Haviv Rettig Gur
Hosted by Dan Senor
Today during one of our regular check-ins with Haviv Rettig Gur, we had some big questions:
I) How is the war actually going? What do we know?
II) Following President Biden’s announcement last Friday, was the proposal he revealed the official proposal that Israel is offering Hamas? And if it is, why did the war cabinet approve it?
III) As for Egypt, do we now have a clearer picture of why Egypt was so hysterically opposed to an IDF operation in Rafah?
IV) And, finally, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been invited to address the U.S. Congress? What’s likely to happen when he comes to the nation’s capital?


Full text of Biden’s speech laying out hostage and ceasefire deal for Israel-Hamas war

JPost Editorial: While the possible ceasefire plan is flawed, we should say 'yes' to the deal
As murky as the positions and maneuvering are, what is becoming crystal clear is that the country cannot continue careening on the hazardous path it’s currently on, seemingly without a driver. Hostages are dying, the North is ablaze, and the country’s citizens are returning to their pre-war, judicial reform era of blame and animosity.

Netanyahu is stuck between a rock and a hard place. In an effort to keep his coalition intact and remain in power, he apparently is telling the US one thing, his right-wing coalition partners something totally different, and the Israeli people pretty much nothing.

One way out is to let Ben-Gvir and Smotrich quit and to take opposition leader Yair Lapid’s offer to serve as a safety net for the government to implement the Biden plan.

Speaking in the Knesset plenum, Lapid said there was an overwhelming majority of 82 members of the Knesset willing to sign off on the deal, and he urged Netanyahu to move forward with it. (Shas announced on Tuesday that it supports the deal).

Granted, the ceasefire agreement is full of flaws: it does not provide an alternative to Hamas, and it wrongly assumes that Hamas is no longer capable of inflicting damage on Israel.

But it does create a mechanism to free some hostages and provide some relief to the North, assuming that Hezbollah will refrain from attacking Israel during the implementation of the ceasefire plan.

Of course, ultimately, in an ironic twist of fate, the decision about where we go next isn’t even in our hands. It’s up to Hamas, which hasn’t yet officially responded to Biden’s ceasefire statement.

We can’t control that, but we can say, with our hearts and with our voices, a resounding ‘yes’ to the plan that will create a glimmer of hope for the hostages to return home.
Sullivan: Israel accepted Biden proposal, ‘ball is in Hamas’s court’
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Israel has accepted the ceasefire proposal President Joe Biden revealed on Friday, and that “the ball is in Hamas’s court.”

“We are waiting for a response from Hamas,” said Sullivan. He acknowledged that the terror group in Gaza might well choose to continue the conflict instead.

“That wouldn’t be terribly out of character for a vicious and brutal terror group, but what we hope they do in the end is see that the best pathway to an end to this war, the return of all the hostages, a surge of humanitarian assistance, is to accept this proposal,” he added.

The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas led a mass invasion of Israel’s northwestern Negev, murdering, wounding and kidnapping thousands of people, while committing widespread atrocities.

“The onus is on Hamas and will remain on Hamas until we get a formal response from them,” said Sullivan.

The Biden envoy also clarified that Israel had accepted the deal when a reporter suggested otherwise.

“I take issue with the end of your question when you said Israel rejected the proposal,” said Sullivan. “The prime minister’s own adviser went out publicly and said they accepted the proposal. They have reaffirmed that they have accepted the proposal…[it] is a proposal Israel accepted before and continues to accept today. The ball is in Hamas’s court,” he added.

Sullivan also said that CIA Director William Burns is making another trip to the region, arriving in Doha to talk with Qatari mediators on the ceasefire proposal, which would see Israeli hostages released in exchange for Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. U.S. Middle East adviser Brett McGurk also departed on Tuesday for the Arab Gulf state. An Egyptian security delegation will also reportedly join the American and Qatari talks in Doha on Wednesday.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had handed Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal to Hamas and that the document is much closer to the positions of both sides.


House passes bill that sanctions those who help ICC pursue Israeli officials
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 247 to 155 on Tuesday to pass H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act. Two Republicans voted “present” and 42 Democrats voted with Republicans for the bill.

AIPAC stated that the bill responds to the “morally bankrupt and legally baseless attack against Israel” leveled by Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, a United Nations agency located in The Hague.

Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders.

“The ICC’s attack on Israel is a dangerous precedent that could be used in future efforts against America,” AIPAC said, lauding the bill’s passage in the House. “Since the court’s establishment, Democratic and Republican presidents have chosen not to join the ICC as they feared politically motivated trials that could impact our citizens and soldiers. This case affirms that decision.”

AIPAC “urges the Senate to adopt this important legislation,” it added.

The bill, which Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced, calls the ICC’s actions against the Jewish state “illegitimate and baseless,” requires the U.S. president to sanction those who assist the ICC in its investigation, arrest, detention or prosecution of “a protected person” and sanctions and imposes visa bans on such people and their families, according to AIPAC.

The U.S. president could waive such sanctions “on a case-by-case basis” when such exceptions are “determined to be vital to the national security interests of the United States,” AIPAC added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the ICC’s actions “outrageous” and “unconscionable” in a press conference on Tuesday morning prior to the vote.


UNRWA is not an aid agency, it is more like an illegal drug dealer: It must be replaced
UNRWA was established with the goal to destroy the new born State of Israel and eliminate its Jewish population that survived the Holocaust and the 1948 War of Independence.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was chartered by a UN charter as a UN instrument. Its mission is to propagate the return of Arabs who left their homes back to the land of Israel, with the aim of replacing the Jewish population living there and dismantling the Jewish state.

Try to find an official map on UNRWA premises or documents from the last 75 years – including the 19 years before the 1967 Six Day War – where the State of Israel, a member of the UN, is drawn or mentioned. Attempt to find UNRWA books and teaching materials that mention Jews as legal citizens, and not as pigs, slaves, etc.

UNRWA has been educating generations of Arab students to pursue an ideology that calls for the annihilation of a legitimate member state and its citizens. It teaches them to become savage and brutal murderers, rapists, beheaders, bakers of babies, looters, arsonists, and spreaders of libels. Such crimes were committed by alumni of UNRWA schools, their teachers, their social workers, and its other employees, including Western employees working for UNRWA.

All this stands in complete contrast to Israel, its government and people, who throughout the years of fighting the monstrous offspring's of UNRWA have been making a tremendous effort to comply with the Ten Commandments given us, which later became part of Western civilization – values that the Jews have been adhering to for centuries before Muhammad was born and since.

AS A PROFESSIONAL aid worker, our goal is to prevent and dissolve a deadly problem, natural or man-made, from exploding into a catastrophe. Namely, to reduce death, injury, and suffering of people affected, to provide relief through life-lines, and minimize the exposure of people to perils.
UN’s Francesca Albanese Accused of Financial Misconduct by Human Rights Watchdog
A Geneva-based watchdog organization today lodged a legal complaint with the United Nations alleging serious financial misconduct and ethical abuses by Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur charged with investigating “Israel’s violations of the bases and principles of international law.”

The complaint, addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, calls for an immediate investigation and demands Albanese’s removal from her position.

UN Watch’s complaint alleges that Albanese violated the UN code of conduct by illegally requesting payments for work done in her official capacity. The watchdog group argues that Albanese circumvented the prohibition on accepting remuneration by directing honorariums to be paid to her research assistant.

Correspondence cited in the complaint shows Albanese’s assistant, Sara Troian, requesting payment for a lecture on behalf of Albanese.

“Francesca Albanese’s unethical financial practices are a gross violation of UN rules. The United Nations should take immediate action to investigate these allegations and hold her accountable,” said Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch.

Conflicting Accounts on Funding of Albanese’s Australia Trip

UN Watch further requested an investigation into Albanese’s financial practices related to a November 2023 trip to Australia and New Zealand. The complaint estimates that the trip, including multiple flights and accommodations, cost approximately $22,500.

It cites Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) and other lobby groups which initially said that they “sponsored” and “supported” Albanese’s visit, in violation of the UN’s rules against accepting favors or remuneration from non-governmental sources.

UN Watch contends that this sponsorship constitutes a breach of the requirement for independence and impartiality under the code of conduct for UN human rights experts.

Contradicting the lobby group’s statement, however, Albanese denied that AFOPA sponsored her trip, claiming instead that it was funded by the UN. However, the complaint argues that UN lacks any legal basis to fund trips by UN experts beyond the region that they are mandated to investigate.

UN Watch Calls for UN Disclosure of Albanese’s Expenses and Honoraria

UN Watch is calling for the disclosure of all expenses related to the trip and questioning the legality of such UN funding for a visit unrelated to her specific mandate.

In its complaint, UN Watch demands an immediate and independent investigation into Albanese’s alleged violations, full disclosure of all honoraria or payments received by Albanese since her tenure began, an explanation of how UN human rights officials can legally accept funds from non-UN sources, and detailed documentation of expenses incurred during Albanese’s trip to Australia and New Zealand.

“Such financial improprieties, if confirmed, warrant Albanese’s removal from her position as Special Rapporteur. UN Watch calls on the UN to uphold its commitment to transparency and public trust by responding to these serious allegations,” said Neuer.
"Can the UN get much worse?" Hillel Neuer and Casey Babb / Inside Policy Talks
On this episode of Inside Policy Talks, special guest Hillel Neuer (executive director, UN Watch) joins MLI senior fellow Casey Babb to discuss the desperate and unbalanced state of the U.N. after the October 7 attacks, anti-Israel prejudice in major institutions, and the global rise of antisemitism.




Hamza: Imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza
Hamza Howidy is peace activist living in exile. He was born and raised in Gaza. He lived under the control of Hamas and was imprisoned by them when he participated in the "We want to Live" protests. Join us to hear the truth about what it was like to live in Gaza, how dangerous it is to oppose Hamas publicly, and what he has to say to university students in the west praising the terrorist group that imprisoned and tortured him.




Israel looks to ban new de-facto Palestinian embassies in Jerusalem
A bill that would prevent de facto Palestinian embassies from opening in east Jerusalem received preliminary approval from the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.

The private member’s bill authorized by MK Dan Illouz (Likud) and MK Ze’ev Elkin (National) was designed to prevent a new campaign to open consulates in east Jerusalem that service Palestinians. It shores up already existing prohibitions on such a move.

“The bill is intended to hermetically block this possibility,” Elkin said, as he addressed the plenum.

Illouz said, ”We will not allow anyone, including our greatest allies, to establish a representation [office] that will serve an imaginary Palestinian state – and especially not in Jerusalem!

“The purpose of the bill is to protect Jerusalem, prevent its division, and preserve our sovereignty. It is our duty to keep Jerusalem united,” he added.
Spain’s Ramallah embassy plan stalls as diplomats unwilling to relocate
The Spanish government’s plan to open an embassy in Ramallah has hit a snag as Spanish diplomats based in Israel are refusing to move to the city, according to Spanish media.

The diplomats, currently located in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, cited safety and quality of life concerns, according to Spanish news site OKDiario.

Two weeks ago, the Spanish government recognized “Palestine” as a state, along with Ireland and Norway. In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz sent a letter last week to the Spanish authorities forbidding Madrid’s consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to residents of the Palestinian Authority.

OKDiario quoted sources in the Spanish Foreign Ministry as saying, “It is absurd to recognize Palestine and not open an embassy that certifies it.”

However, with the diplomats already in Israel unwilling to make the move to Ramallah, Madrid will need to send diplomats from Spain or pull them from other embassies, which according to the article would be too costly for the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

With no embassy in Ramallah and consular services no longer available in Jerusalem, P.A. citizens will now have no choice but to travel to Tel Aviv or Amman, Jordan to receive service from a Spanish consulate.


Spain: Stop Using ‘Genocide’ for Gaza; It Gives Palestinians Asylum Claim
The Spanish government has asked officials to stop using the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza, because it gives two million Palestinians living there an instant asylum claim, entitling them to refuge in Spain.

The Spanish website OK Diario reported (via Google Translate):
Foreign Affairs has asked the ministers, internally, to stop using that term “genocide”: it opens the door for Palestinians residing in Gaza, and there are around two million in the entire Strip, to appear at an embassy or Spanish consulate to request asylum. And a ruling from the Supreme Court obliges Foreign Affairs, in those cases, to put the applicant for protection on a plane to Spain.

If Spain officially considers that the systematic elimination or extermination of a human group for reasons of race, religion or nationality is taking place in Gaza, then, by definition, any person who lives in Gaza or has managed to leave there can appear in the Spanish embassy or consulate in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or any other country and request asylum urgently. And it must be attended to.

Spain joined Ireland and Norway last week in declaring that it recognizes a Palestinian state — despite the fact that such a state lacks borders and a capital, and that it subsidizes terrorism.

Israel has placed diplomatic restrictions on the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and has said that it will close the Spanish consulate if the restrictions are violated.
South African Court Rules ‘Kill the Boer’ Not Hate Speech; Lawyer Argued Israel ‘Genocide’ at ICJ
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), the highest appellate court in the country other than the Constitutional Court, dismissed an appeal this week against a decision that “Kill the Boer” was not hate speech.

The phrase “Kill the Boer” is part of a song frequently used by radical racial nationalist Julius Malema, the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party. “Boer” is the Afrikaans word for “farmer” and can refer to Afrikaners more generally — i.e. to white South Africans of Dutch descent.

The phrase is considered sensitive due to the high number of farm murders in South Africa, which many white South Africans believe are racially motivated.

In a statement, AfriForum, an organization that advocates for the civil rights of Afrikaners, said it would consider appealing the ruling to the Constitutional Court:

The SCA ruling came just before South Africans went to the polls in national elections on Wednesday. Early results suggest a possible strong showing for the EFF.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, the lawyer representing Malema, appeared for South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague earlier this year to argue that Israel is committing “genocide” against Palestinians. His most important argument was based on a misquote of a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Ironically, Ngcukaitobi is now on record arguing that “destroy Hamas” is genocidal, while “kill the Boer” is not.


JINSA report defends Israel’s conduct in Gaza but critiques its larger strategy
A new report issued by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, authored by former U.S. military officials, largely praises Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza as justified, legal and reasonable. But it also criticizes Israel’s reluctance to allow significant humanitarian aid, administer cleared areas of Gaza and prepare for a clear post-Hamas Gaza plan, as well as its difficulties communicating effectively in the international media.

While the report’s praise of Israel’s tactics and conduct in Gaza is unsurprising, the numerous areas where the report critiques Israel’s operations are notable, especially coming from the reliably pro-Israel think tank.

The report was authored by the members of JINSA’s Gaza Assessment Task force — a group of retired senior military officials, including Gen. David Rodriguez, Adm. Michael Rogers, Gen. Charles Wald, Lt. Gen. David Beydler, Lt. Gen. Tom Trask, Col. Mark Warren and Lt. Col. Geoff Corn.

“The IDF has carried out its mission to eliminate the Hamas threat with operational and tactical excellence and in overall compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict,” the report’s authors wrote. “This occurred despite encountering a complex urban and subterranean battlefield in which almost the entirety of Gaza… had been prepared and repurposed by Hamas as fortified fighting positions. The U.S. military would benefit from studying how the IDF fought effectively in this highly complex, multi-domain environment.”

The report slams Hamas for “intentionally and systematically violat[ing] those laws,” intentionally endangering civilians “in an attempt to compel the IDF to inflict civilian casualties so as to trigger opposition to Israel by the United States, European countries, the United Nations, and international courts as well as in public opinion.”

It also argues that much-cited aggregate casualty numbers are a “misleading” metric by which to judge the “legality of IDF operations.”

At the same time, the report offers criticisms of some aspects of Israel’s approach.

“The IDF’s operational effectiveness has been jeopardized by the lack of a clear, announced strategy for a post-Hamas future for Gaza,” the authors said. “Our military experience has taught us that tactical success is often undermined when military operations are not consistently directed toward a well-defined and understood strategic end-state.”

The report states that failing to define a day-after plan for Gaza may necessitate indefinite operations in Gaza to stamp out reemerging elements of Hamas, even in areas already cleared by Israel.


Israel Advocacy Movement: The real death toll in Gaza
We expose the truth about the Ministry of Health's Gaza death toll.


The Israel Guys: Uncovering Biden’s SINISTER Plot for Israel to Capitulate and Surrender to Hamas
Just after Israel entered into the Sabbath last week, President Joe Biden made an astounding speech where he claimed that Israel put forward a new ceasefire/hostage negotiation proposal. Then he proceeded to make no sense whatsoever by detailing the proposal, then urging Israel to accept it, all while knowing that it would be 24+ hours before Israel had a chance to respond.

Since then, the US has spent their time trying to sway Israel’s left-leaning politicians to their side, AND by putting forward a resolution in the UN Security Council for Israel to accept this deal.

This new proposal is not only wrong for Israel and really good for Hamas. It has also revealed a very sinister, underlying plot by the Biden Administration to force Israel to surrender to all of the bad guys who want to kill them, and capitulate to world pressure.

In today's episode, we’re going to reveal all the sneaky details of this very unorthodox and bad for everyone (except Hamas) proposal.




The Israel Guys: Israel Makes SHOCKING Discovery in Rafah - AMERICA’S SECRETS REVEALED
For weeks, the Biden administration has been throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Israel to force them to not go into Rafah in southern Gaza to finish Hamas. Many have been wondering, why is this so important to America, it’s almost like they're trying to hide something, something they desperately don’t want to be discovered there.

Well the secrets out of the bag, Israel’s now in Rafah, and what they’ve discovered there is frankly quite shocking. Stick around guys this one’s going to be a little bit crazy.


URBAN WARFARE - John Spencer
In the wake of the emotional and highly charged conversations surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict, information pollution has only added to the confusion.

This week, we bring in an urban warfare expert to offer a sober and clear-eyed discussion on Israel’s war against Hamas, the objectives and challenges involved, and the true meaning behind some of the most contentious terms being used.

Segments to look forward to:
(02:06) John’s background in urban warfare
(06:20) The violence of October 7th
(20:37) How Hamas’s human shield strategy exploits our different expectations for them and Israel
(30:36) The context of bomb usage in the Israel-Hamas war
(34:06) Misconceptions about urban warfare
(41:30) Precision guided munitions
(42:20) Examining the war crimes accusations
(52:20) The manipulation of casualty numbers
(1:04:10) Understanding what genocide means
(1:18:40) The IDF’s standards of conduct in war
(1:29:15) The importance of following a moral and ethical code during war
(1:34:18) Israel’s efforts to protect civilians
(1:38:40) What success looks like for Israel


How Hamas Turned Gazan Homes into Weapons Depots
In its war against Hamas, the IDF is operating in an environment where a significant percentage of buildings and homes in Gaza are filled with weapons.

The mass installing of weapons in civilian homes is part of Hamas's entrenchment program that turned Gaza into a terror fortress that lacks any parallel in the world.

A large number of civilian households have been repurposed into storage centers for AK-47s, anti-tank missile launchers, RPGs, bombs, mortars, IEDs and sniper rifles.

This is so terrorists can walk the streets in civilian clothes, arrive at a weapons pick-up center, and begin attacking.

To dismantle this hidden infrastructure, the IDF must clear each area house by house.

While some civilians may be coerced into storing weapons, others are willingly involved, making it difficult to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants.


Israel Foils Hamas Suicide Bombing Plot Directed from Turkey
Israel says it foiled a recent attempt by Hamas to carry out a suicide bombing attack in Israel, directed by members of the terror group in Turkey.

According to the Shin Bet security agency, on March 15, Anas Shurman, a Palestinian man originally from the West Bank city of Tulkarem but who resides in Jordan, was detained in Nablus over his suspected involvement in the bombing plot.

The agency says his interrogation revealed that in December 2023, he was recruited by Imad Abid, a Hamas operative living in Turkey, though also originally from the West Bank.

Shurman agreed to carry out a suicide bombing on behalf of Hamas, with the target set to be in Israel proper, the Shin Bet says.

The Shin Bet says that as part of the plans ahead of the attack, the would-be suicide bomber filmed a last will, took motorcycle lessons that he would have used in the attack, and received funds and instructions to carry out the bombing, including where to collect the explosive device from a hidden location in the West Bank.

The large fragmentation bomb, weighing some 12 kilograms, was seized by the Shin Bet from a spring in the West Bank, the agency says. Next to the bomb, the Shin Bet says, it found written instructions on how to carry out the attack.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq increases its drone attacks on Israel
Over the past month, there has been a surge in attacks from Iraq against Israel attributed to the Islamic Resistance. This group consists of several militias backed by Iran, active in both Syria and Iraq, including existing U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations such as Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, the group has claimed responsibility for over one hundred attacks on Israeli soil. Moreover, the group has made egregious claims, such as targeting the Ministry of Defense HQ in Tel Aviv, the port of Haifa, and Ashkelon’s oil terminal. However, the validity of many of these claims is doubtful, as they have either not been confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or have not triggered Israel’s Tzeva Adom (Red Color) alert system. In addition, open-source data, including Israeli news outlets and social media, have not corroborated many of these claims. This method of taking responsibility for attacks against Israel with minimal evidence to support the claim has become typical of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, but this is slowly changing.

The IDF announced on May 27, “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the Eilat area, an IAF fighter jet, in coordination with the IDF Aerial Defense Array, successfully intercepted two hostile aircraft approaching from the east.” Meanwhile, on the same day, the Islamic Resistance claimed on Telegram to have launched three drones and attacked military targets in Eilat, referred to as “Umm Al Rashrash.” However, they only released footage of the drones being launched.

This attack indicates a significant escalation over the past month. According to a tally recorded by FDD, which includes data from IDF statements, Tzeva Adom alerts, and claims by the Islamic Resistance, there have been nine actual attacks targeting Israel in May.

The escalation in attacks by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq likely stems from multiple factors. Israel’s ongoing military operation in Rafah, coupled with increased U.S. pressure culminating in a weapons freeze, appears to have influenced the timing and intensity of these hostilities. The Islamic Resistance began to intensify their attacks on May 7 with two confirmed attacks, one day after Israel announced the evacuation of the eastern outskirts of Rafah and the commencement of operations in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip. These events may have influenced the Islamic Resistance’s calculus to ramp up its kinetic activity against Israel. Additionally, the uptick in attacks could also be a response to an alleged Israeli airstrike targeting a cultural center and training facilities for Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba—a prominent organization within the Islamic Resistance in the Sayyida Zaynab suburb of Damascus.
IDF Downs Ballistic Missile Headed toward Eilat
The IDF said it used the Arrow ballistic interceptor on Monday to shoot down a surface-to-surface missile launched in the Red Sea area, after sounding sirens in the port city of Eilat to send residents to shelters.

There was no word of any damage or casualties. The military statement did not say who might have launched the missile. Eilat has come under repeated long-range attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels in solidarity with the Hamas war in Gaza.
Iran, proxies will stage all-out attack in two years, Liberman says
“The State of Israel must understand that Iran is planning an all-out attack within two years, of the entire axis of evil against the State of Israel,” Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu Party, warned on Monday.

The “coordinated and synchronized attack” would emanate from Iran and its proxies: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Shi’ite militias operating in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen, the former defense minister told 103FM radio hosts Ben Caspit and Aryeh Eldad.

“I don’t get the impression that the decision-makers at both the political and military levels understand this, have internalized it, and are preparing for it,” Liberman said.

“Everything we see right now from Hezbollah is a promo. They are trying to learn our defense system, the reactions of our anti-aircraft, the nature and speed of the reaction, this is a learning process,” he said.

Liberman based his prediction on the time it would take Iran to complete the military aspects of its nuclear program.

“They have already passed from the stage of enriching the uranium to the deployment of the military part. The military part will take them two years,” he said.

Iran wants to have an umbrella of nuclear weapons, not just the possession of enriched uranium, he explained.

“The erosion of Israeli deterrence brought them to the conclusion that they can sprint [towards nuclear weapons],” Liberman said, referring to Israel’s failures on Oct. 7 and its muted counter-attack to the Iranian aerial assault on the Jewish state in April.

Liberman sharply criticized Israel’s policy of containment where it attempts to manage aggression rather than decisively defeating it.
Netanyahu: Israel ready for ‘intense action in the north’
Israel is “prepared for very intense action in the north” to restore security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, speaking during a visit to Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border.

“We said, at the start of the war that we would restore security in both the south and the north, and this is what we are doing,” the premier said at a lookout point in the city after earlier being briefed by commanders at the IDF’s Gibor base.

“Today, I am on the northern border with our heroic fighters and commanders, and with our firefighters. Yesterday, the ground burned here and I am pleased that you have extinguished it, but ground also burned in Lebanon,” Netanyahu continued, referring to fires that broke out in recent days in the north as a result of Hezbollah attacks.

“Whoever thinks he can hurt us and we will respond by sitting on our hands is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north,” he said.

The prime minister was accompanied by his chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman and his military secretary, Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the northern frontier on Tuesday for a situational assessment with commanders.

“Minister Gallant and the commanders discussed IDF operational and intelligence efforts in the face of Hezbollah’s aggression, ongoing efforts to thwart Hezbollah terrorists and the forces’ readiness for operations against Hezbollah,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that Gallant was also briefed on firefighting efforts in the area.
Seth Frantzman: With northern Israel aflame, IDF warns of ‘decision’ against Hezbollah
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi traveled to northern Israel on June 4 to conduct a situational assessment as Hezbollah continued its escalatory attack with rocket and missile fire against Israel. Halevi came to northern Israel one day after fires swept across parts of northern Israel near the city of Kiryat Shmona and required the few civilians remaining in the city since October 7 to be evacuated.

The fires in northern Israel have led to a wake-up call throughout the country. Despite a sum of Hezbollah attacks in the thousands and because they are made up of approximately one dozen attacks each day, this appears to be a smaller conflict than the war in Gaza. Hezbollah often launches several drone and missile attacks per day and fires a salvo of rockets. Although this adds up over time, the attacks appear to be less serious because they happen over a large area. When sirens sound in these mostly-evacuated areas, an impression of relative calm is still able to be maintained to anyone passing through the area. Hezbollah has achieved a new “equation” in the north, meaning that it now ties this rocket fire to the war in Gaza. Although Israel has preferred not to fight a two-front war, Hezbollah attacks increased in May as the group doubled its drone and missile attacks.

Along the border there is the buzzing of drones and artillery fire from the IDF responding to threats. The fires that were ignited on June 2 and June 3 are due to the heatwave sweeping Israel. Halevi met with the Israel Fire and Rescue Services Commissioner, Fire Commissioner Eyal Caspi at the Gibor Camp on the northern border, the IDF said on June 4. The Gibor camp was targeted by Hezbollah on June 1 and several of its buildings damaged. The camp is the headquarters of the 769th brigade, which protects Kiryat Shmona and areas in the eastern Galilee.

At the base, Halevi met with the commander of the IDF’s 91st division which is responsible for the northern border with Lebanon. “Following this, they met the forces that operated last night (Monday) to put out the fires in the north, and noted the determination and professionalism with which they operated,” the IDF said. Halevi also met with officers of the IDF’s Golani brigade. The brigade is part of the IDF’s 36th division, which was moved north in January after fighting in Gaza. The 36th is usually based in the north. It has an armored brigade, the 188th, which is now also in the north. However, its 7th armored brigade is in Gaza. This means the 36th division is not as large as it usually is but it has been training often to prepare for escalation with Hezbollah.
At least 11 people wounded by Hezbollah attack near Hurfeish,
At least 11 people were wounded by a direct hit near the Druze town of Hurfeish in the Upper Galilee on Wednesday.

Initial reports said the attack was carried out by Hezbollah drones, which have posed Israeli air defenses far more trouble than rockets.

Reports said the impact was in a soccer field and at least one person was critically wounded.

Shortly after the initial reports, the IDF said, “A number of launches that were identified from Lebanon fell in the area of Hurfeish in northern Israel. No sirens were sounded. The incident is under review.”

A spokesperson for the Ziv Medical Center later provided the following statement: “At around 6:45 p.m., two lightly wounded people were brought to the Ziv Medical Center as a result of the barrage on Hurfeish. The two wounded (reserve soldiers) arrived with injuries in the lower limbs but were conscious and in stable condition. The families have been updated. In addition, another soldier was brought to the medical center in the last hour, who was slightly injured while running to the protected area.”


Aid trucks entering Gaza ‘at fairly good clip,’ says World Central Kitchen
The World Central Kitchen (WCK) organization said on Tuesday that it is bringing trucks of food aid into Gaza “at a fairly good clip” and is able to distribute them to its community kitchens in different areas of the territory through close coordination with the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) agency of the Defense Ministry.

World Central Kitchen’s Middle East Activation Manager John Torpey said some 100 trucks were brought in by the organization to Gaza last week. He said that different routes are used by WCK to get the aid from the Kerem Shalom goods crossing at the southern end of Gaza to Khan Younis and Deir Balah in southern and central Gaza.

Torpey, who was speaking in an online press conference, said that WCK was in “constant communication” with COGAT to coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid within Gaza, something that has become a critical concern in ensuring that the Palestinian population in the territory is able to access the food that is brought through the crossings.

United Nations agencies, including UNRWA and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have alleged that although Israel is facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, actually distributing it to the local population from the Gazan side of the border crossings is very difficult due to the ongoing hostilities, a state of affairs that they say is contributing to ongoing food insecurity in the territory.


The dilligent intelligence, engineering operation to bring bodies of hostages home
The IDF operation to locate and extract the bodies of three Israelis murdered in the Hamas massacre on October 7, and taken to Gaza, was the result of meticulous and diligent work by intelligence and ground forces, the IDF said on Tuesday, a week after troops returned slain Orion Hernandez, Michel Nisenbaum and Hanan Yablonka, home for burial. The military began its search after confiscating a camera in a Hamas lookout position in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza after killing the terrorist lookout deployed there.

The images recorded on the camera showed terrorists arriving in a truck into a cul-de-sac in the camp used by the Hamas Nukhba force, removing three bodies and carrying them into a building.

Intelligence analysts then began searching other footage and information and found images taken on or soon after October 7, where terrorists were seen in Jabaliya, removing three bodies from a vehicle and taking them into a building in the camp. A few minutes later the terrorists emerged with three wrapped bodies and placed them on their vehicle before driving away.

The building where the bodies were taken collapsed in an IDF strike, covering an entrance to a tunnel shaft, beneath the rubble. But the IDF believed it was where bodies of captives could be found.

A massive effort then began to determine where and how to locate an entrance to the tunnel. Using heavy equipment the forces dug a 25-meter (82-foot)deep crater leading into the tunnel but soon realized they had to go even deeper and dug a further 15-meters ( 50 feet) to reach an entrance.

They summoned a force from the elite Yahalom unit of the Engineering Corps to investigate the tunnel and clear it from explosives.

After a few hours of work, the troops reported back that three bodies were found but it was still necessary to ensure that they were not booby trapped. Finally they were retrieved from the tunnel and taken back to Israel, where they were identified and returned to their families.


FDD: One-Third of Hostages in Gaza Believed Dead
More than one-third of the Israeli hostages still in captivity in Gaza are believed to have died, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on June 4. According to an official Israeli tally, 43 of the 120 hostages who remain in Hamas captivity after they were abducted on October 7 are no longer alive. The latest figure was released as the IDF confirmed the deaths of four additional hostages in a June 3 briefing.

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari cited new intelligence that Chaim Peri, 80, Yoram Metzger, 80, Amiram Cooper, 84, and Nadav Popplewell, 51 were killed “several months ago while being held by Hamas terrorists” in the vicinity of Khan Younis. Hagari did not specify how the captives died, but in March, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that Peri, Metzger, and Cooper had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Popplewell, a dual British-Israeli citizen, was most recently seen last month when he appeared in a Hamas propaganda video from an unknown location. Cooper, Metzger, and Peri all appeared in a separate Hamas propaganda video released on December 18 in which they spoke about “suffering greatly in very harsh conditions.”

Noting that Hamas is still holding the bodies of the four victims, Hagari added that Israel is “thoroughly examining the circumstances of their deaths and checking all possibilities.” All four were abducted from kibbutzim close to Israel’s border with Gaza on October 7.

Separately, Hagari also announced the death of Dolev Yehud, a 35-year-old paramedic who was killed during the terrorist onslaught on October 7. Yehud was originally thought to have been abducted by Hamas until Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine identified his remains among those slaughtered at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Expert Analysis
“The Israeli government is well aware that every day that passes could be the last for a hostage held by Hamas, and that is why we’ve seen Israel put forward what would otherwise be widely considered a terrible ceasefire deal. That Hamas continues to reject sweetheart deals in favor of killing off hostages reminds us why this evil must be destroyed.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“The tragic experience of the hostages languishing in captivity in Gaza proves beyond doubt that Hamas views them as bargaining chips for as long as they are useful — murdering them outright when this is no longer deemed to be the case. These war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the sexual abuse of female hostages, cannot go unpunished.” — Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager


Nikki Haley Says Palestinians Must Separate From Hamas For Any Chance Of Peace
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for Gazan Palestinians to “separate themselves” from the terror organization that governs them in an interview with The Daily Wire after touring several sites where Hamas massacred civilians on October 7.

“It’s not that we don’t want good for the Palestinians, but the Palestinians have to separate themselves from Hamas because they’ve been indoctrinated themselves,” Haley said. “What we’ve seen is an entire generation that thinks their job is to murder the Jewish people and we can’t let that happen.”

“It wasn’t just Hamas that did this,” Haley said while standing at the site of the former Sderot police station, which was destroyed after being taken over by terrorists. “Thousands of Palestinian citizens came in and participated in the robbing and murdering of these people.”

There have been reports that Palestinian civilians, children, and U.N. employees took part in the attack after Hamas breached the Israel-Gaza fence. Haley’s comments came just after she finished touring Kibbutz Nir Oz where 25% of the 380 residents were either taken hostage or murdered, the site of the Nova massacre, a military base near the Gaza border where female soldiers were taken hostage and killed. Her former counterpart in the U.N. who is now a member of Knesset, Danny Danon, accompanied her on her tour.

Haley also called for American universities to stop accepting “Arab money.”

“We should not be taking Arab money into any of our universities, we should not be taking any foreign money into our universities,” Haley said, while standing at the site of the former Sderot police station, which was destroyed after being taken over by Hamas terrorists.

Haley criticized colleges and called for revocation of tax-exempt status at academic institutions where antisemitic threats against Jewish students are not successfully being addressed.

“You can look at what’s happening on American campuses: those kids are not safe,” Haley said. “That is not a situation I want my kids in. I wouldn’t want anybody’s kids in and those colleges owe it to the kids there and to the future students.

“One thing is free speech, but threats and intimidation, that’s very different,” she added.


Chicago truck driver raises awareness for childhood friend held hostage in Gaza
The box truck was parked beside a quiet sidewalk in Chicago's West Loop. A few people stopped, glancing curiously at the image flashing on its rear door: a young man, his expression resolute but tinged with sadness. Below his figure was a message in bold letters: “Chicagoan kidnapped by Hamas.”

“He’s always up there,” said the truck’s driver, Jeremiah Smith, 27, as he stared at the image. “I always know that.”

Twelve hours a day, six days a week, Smith drives the truck through the Chicago area, raising awareness for the scores of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. But the man on the screen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, is more than a distant figure.

To Smith, he’s like a brother. When Smith was 6 years old, he met Hersh’s grandmother, a tutor at his elementary school, and was taken under her wing. It’s a story of familial love, a bridge of backgrounds — stronger than ever as a war wages on.

“I wouldn’t want nobody else to drive the truck,” Smith said, clutching the Star of David around his neck. “I just want that guy to come home.”

‘I was always with Marcy’
Smith grew up in Cabrini-Green Homes, a public housing complex on Chicago’s Near North Side. His mother didn’t have a high school diploma, and his childhood was marked with violence. He saw his first dead body when he was 6.

“You have to grow up a little bit faster than what you want when you’re living in that situation,” Smith said. “I saw people getting in fights, people getting shot, people selling drugs.”

Smith wonders if he would have been swept up in the tumult of his childhood. But then Marcy Goldberg, Hersh’s grandmother, stepped into his life. She volunteered as a tutor in Smith’s first grade classroom at George Manierre Elementary.


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.
The Fox News Rundown: From Washington: What Happens After The Israel-Hamas War Ends?
On Friday, the Biden Administration announced that Israel had offered a new three-phase proposal to Hamas -- offering a six-week ceasefire that would include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Rafah and Hamas’ release of female hostages. During those six weeks, Israel and Hamas would negotiate terms for a permanent ceasefire. After months of stalled ceasefire talks, could this be the beginning of the end of the conflict? Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman discusses how the Israel-Hamas War has likely irreversibly impacted many of Israel's relationships with other nations, and what the region will look like after the conflict eventually ends.

While Many Americans are hyper-focused on the presidential election, majority control of the House and Senate is on the line this November. Republicans hope a favorable map will help them take back the Senate, and Democrats are optimistic about gaining control of the House. FOX News Radio's political analyst Josh Kraushaar discusses the likelihood of power flips in both the House and Senate and how the presidential race could be a drag on some down ballot races.


Image surfaces of Anthony Albanese meeting with late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat
Sky News host Sharri Markson has revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with the former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat two years before he protested against Israel during the Second Intifada.

“Sources who knew Albanese at the time told me he was starry-eyed and fawning at the prospect of meeting Yasser Arafat,” she said.

“As I mentioned, the group did not meet with the then Israeli Prime Minister or Israeli President – at the time, Albanese was an activist for the Palestinian cause.”

Ms Markson said two years later, while Mr Arafat was president, the Second Intifada rocked Israel and, during it, according to Crikey, Albanese joined pro-Palestinian protests where the US and Israeli flags were burned.

“We have a pro-Palestinian activist himself as prime minister, someone so radical that he protested on the side of Palestinians during the Second Intifada and is now leading our country down a dangerous path where social cohesion is eroding fast,” she said.


‘Unbelievable’: Public servants sign open letter to cease military exports to Israel
Public servants have come under fire after signing an open letter calling for the federal government to cease military exports to Israel.

Liberal Senator Dave Sharma expressed outrage over the situation claiming public servants are supposed to be apolitical.

Several hundred public servants from across Australia signed the open letter calling for the federal government to 'immediately cease all military exports to Israel'.

“This is not what a public servant is meant to do, public servants are meant to serve the elected government of the day,” Mr Sharma said.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s outrageous.”




Peter Dutton accuses Greens leader of running an ‘antisemitic party’
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has accused Greens leader Adam Bandt of running an “antisemitic party” during a sit-down interview with Sky News Australia host Sharri Markson.

The Liberal Party leader criticised activist journalists at the ABC and said university chancellors should be named and shamed for failing to stamp out antisemitism.

Mr Dutton also said he suspects police officers have been instructed not to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters for hate speech.


‘Extremism’: Anthony Albanese doesn’t understand the reality of Gaza war
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been a “long-standing” supporter of the pro-Palestinian movement, says Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Colin Rubenstein.

“The Prime Minister’s history is no secret,” he told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“I don’t know that he has understood the realities of the situation over the last two decades that the reason we don’t get the two-state outcome is the continuing extremism.




Federal response to pro-Palestinian protests has been ‘extremely lacking’
Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus says federal leadership on pro-Palestinian protesters has been “extremely lacking”.

“State police have cracked down on protesters during the lockdowns … they were more than happy,” she said.

“The fact they haven’t taken a strong position on these pro-Palestinian protesters, well, that’s on state leadership but I have to say the federal leadership on this issue has been extremely lacking.”


‘Appalling’: Pauline Hanson blasts the Greens for pro-Palestinian ‘stunts’
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson says the Greens party has “gone too far” with their stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt slammed the PM in parliament today, claiming Anthony Albanese wants to make the Gaza war “about himself”.

“The Greens’ stunts that they pulled in the Senate, walking out of the Senate ... it really is a stunt,” Ms Hanson told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“Even some of the Greens that have stood beside some of these protestors with their signs that they’ve put up there is appalling.

“What their policies are, are not in keeping what is Australian, what is patriotic, what is keeping us from being divisive.”


‘Progressive’ Melbourne councillor called out over Jew-hating posts
A Melbourne councillor who claims his stance is against Zionism and not Jewish people, has come under scrutiny for his social media activity after he sent an 'insulting' letter to a local resident who voiced concerns about antisemitism.

A local Jewish mother raised concerns about safety amid growing antisemitism in her community, only to be met with accusations of lying and misunderstanding from James Conlan.

The Merri-bek councillor dismissed her fears, suggesting she reconsider what made her feel unsafe, and claimed that anti-Israel protests do not threaten anyone’s safety.

Conlan's X account regularly retweets Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis, a notorious antisemite based in Copenhagen. Loupis, who boasts over 880,000 followers on X, has been investigated by the Danish Medical Association’s Ethics Board for her online conduct that perpetuates Jew-hatred.

The mother, who remains anonymous due to safety fears, described the email as aggressive and dismissive.

“Each time I leave home I am on high alert. Sydney Rd has been filled with posters supporting various Pro-Palestinian rallies," she said. "I’ve had to take down our mezuzah and enhance home security.”

Council Watch president Dean Hurlston criticised Conlan, stating councillors are not entitled to disregard others' feelings. He called for Conlan to apologise or resign. Conlan defended his email, asserting he supports liberation for all and dismissed allegations that anti-Israel rallies call for Jewish extermination as 'lies' despite genocidal chants like 'From the River to the Sea' being commonplace at these events.

Members of the Jewish community recently met with Merri-bek mayor Adam Pulford and chief executive Cathy Henderson to express concerns but were told the council’s position on Gaza was firm.


Steve Price slams local councillor for ‘pathetic’ response to Jewish resident’s safety concerns
Sky News host Steve Price has slammed Melbourne councillor James Conlan for his “pathetic” response to a young Jewish mother who shared her safety concerns about pro-Palestine rallies.

The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she had taken down a Hebrew parchment from her front door and was desperately upgrading her security systems.

“I’m losing patience in trying to understand how opposing a genocide is so complicated for some parts of the community,” the Merri-Bek councillor said in response to her concerns.




Seth Mandel: 50 Shades of Briahna Joy Gray
Hamas is known for many things, but ambiguity isn’t one of them. So why is anyone still trying to argue over the terror group’s intentions? Certainly Hamas isn’t muddying the waters.

At a debate over the Israel-Hamas war in early May, former Bernie Sanders press secretary and current star Hamas surrogate Briahna Joy Gray made the following assertion: “When Hamas is talking about eliminating Israel, it’s not talking about killing all of the Jews, it’s talking about eliminating… an ethnonationalist state and having a state more like what we have in America.”

To this, COMMENTARY contributing editor Eli Lake, who was also on the debate stage, gave the only truly appropriate response: he laughed his face off.

Stung by the relentless criticism on social media that followed, which heated up over the past weekend, Gray made a curious choice: she called in the Hamas Covenant, the group’s charter, to her defense. In 2017, Hamas “revised” its charter to sound slightly less Nazi-ish. Declaring Lake ignorant and mean, Gray triumphantly posted an excerpt from a Wikipedia summary of the revised Hamas charter. The new document replaces “Jews” with “Zionists” throughout. So there.

Here Gray makes a mistake that is easily avoidable if you bothered to read more than a Wikipedia summary of the Hamas charter. And the reason has as much to do with Hamas’s laziness as its barbarism.

In one episode of The Office, Michael Scott writes a spy novel and uses his deputy Dwight as the stand-in for a very dumb, annoying character, then has the Word document replace all instances of “Dwight” with “Samuel,” just in case Dwight ever sees the script. Dwight figures out the insulting truth when he sees that Michael misspelled his name once as Dwigt, and it therefore wasn’t caught by the search-and-replace function.

Hamas’s revised Covenant follows a similar sort of blockheaded blunder. The original version freely used “Jews” as the enemy. The document itself could therefore not be defended, and the same was true of the terrorist group. But Hamas wanted the support of the “antiracist” social justice brigades on campus, so it clarified its founding document to say that the group’s problem wasn’t with Jews but with Zionists.


ALERT: Pro-Hamas Activist Is Also Secret Neocon (satire)
Briahna Joy Gray is a left-wing political commentator and former corporate attorney who served as national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in 2016. She has come under fire in recent weeks for attacking Israel and promoting Hamas propaganda. Gray, for example, has argued that Hamas, the anti-Semitic terrorist group whose fighters called their mommies to brag about how many Jews they killed on Oct. 7, is not interested in killing Jews; they just want to "eliminate Israel."

Social media users have highlighted some of Gray's most controversial remarks from a panel discussion in Brooklyn last month about the war in Gaza. She responded by accusing the panel moderator, podcaster Konstantin Kisin, of being "anti-Black." Subsequent reporting on the "Dissident Dialogues" summit where the panel discussion took place has revealed at least one interesting detail about the pro-Hamas activist: She might be a secret neocon?

After denouncing the summit audience as "racist" and "disgusting," Gray told Kisin she hoped "someone [would] drop a bomb on this entire building," according to the New Republic. The Israel hater's private enthusiasm for airstrikes on her political opponents is (potentially) at odds with her public opposition to dropping bombs on terrorists. Nevertheless, the Washington Free Beacon was pleased to learn that Gray's impulse after losing a debate was to unleash overwhelming military force on her enemies.

The first step on the road to recovery is admitting you love war.


Syrian dissident attempts arson attack on Israeli Embassy in Bucharest
Officials in the Romanian capital are on high alert after a Syrian man tried to torch the building housing the Israeli embassy by throwing a Molotov cocktail, which caused a small fire but no casualties.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: "Earlier today, a man, apparently of Syrian origin, arrived near the Israeli Embassy building in Romania. During the inspection, he took out a Molotov cocktail, lit it, and threw it towards the entrance door to the lobby of the building. The local security forces immediately took control of him and arrested him. There were no injuries in the incident and no damage was caused. The suspect was handed over to the local authorities for investigation."


Juiced-up HATER responds to Avi Yemini and it’s hilarious!
In a recent encounter, I shared an entertaining interaction with Roman, a vocal anti-Israel activist. It was quite the spectacle as he tried to intimidate me with his shirtless ranting.

Well, a follower sent me Roman's response video, which, I must admit, was even funnier than I could imagine.

Roman, this time at least clothed, offered a heavily reworked version of events to explain what happened on the day from his perspective.

During our exchange, Roman hid behind a woman and avoided direct questions. Despite his initial bravado, shirtless on a freezing day to intimidate the local Jewish community, he ended up being all bark and no bite.

Roman's notoriety preceded him. A university rabbi had previously reported that Roman had sought me out, confirming his aggressive demeanour.

Yet, in person, Roman's tough guy persona crumbled as he incoherently ranted about his beliefs. When asked if he condemned antisemitism, he sidestepped, claiming he wasn't antisemitic towards Jews who shared his anti-Israel stance.






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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 20 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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