Tuesday, June 25, 2024

06/25 Links Pt1: There’s A Charlottesville Every Week, And Most Democrats Are Fine With It; Glick: Hostage Family to Trump, Biden is Preventing Israeli Victory

From Ian:

The Truth about U.S. Weapons Shipments to Israel
In the ongoing dispute over weapons shipments between the United States and Israel, two possibilities emerge: either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is lying, or the Americans are being dishonest. After careful examination, the latter seems more likely – the Americans are obscuring the truth.

Multiple shipments of various types of ammunition to Israel have been delayed since February – that is four months. This far exceeds the single weapons shipment President Joe Biden mentioned regarding operations in Rafah.

The delayed shipments include artillery, tank and air combat ammunition – weapons Israel has already paid for – as well as thousands of JDAM kits that convert unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions. Netanyahu, not always known for strict adherence to facts, accurately describes the situation.

His unprecedented move – releasing a video directly criticizing Washington. – became necessary after months of quiet diplomacy failed to resolve the issue, effectively freezing weapons deliveries.

The actual delays stem from State Department officials who are not processing the required export permits for these shipments to Israel.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's trip to the US will address this issue, which highlights Israel's significant military and diplomatic dependence on America, as revealed during the ongoing war.

The benefits of US support for Israel are clear: $4 billion in annual military aid, continuous ammunition supply during war, and international backing against hostile entities like Iran, Russia and the United Nations. However, the drawbacks are less discussed: Israel's limited freedom to act according to its own judgment, both operationally during the war and diplomatically in its aftermath.

The logical goal is a dramatic increase in domestic production – both in volume and variety – and liberation from contractual restrictions that prevent Israel from independently developing additional weapon types.

While dependence on the US won't disappear overnight, efforts to reduce it should have begun yesterday. Israel has already taken some steps to increase its future autonomy.
Netanyahu's complaint: A decade-old US arms delivery deception
Team Obama, still playing strong in Washington, pulled out several plays when Israel was confronted with another Gaza war. At first, they embraced Israel, and then they dragged out the game and called penalties as the Jewish state took the offensive. “Don’t throw the heavy bomb! Stay in bounds!”

It’s a shame the Israeli team hadn’t viewed the 2014 game films.

In early May 2024, President Biden told CNN in an interview that he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel - which he claimed had been used to kill civilians in Gaza - if Netanyahu ordered a major invasion of the city of Rafah. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah - they haven’t gone in Rafah yet - if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem,” he said. Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launches a major invasion of Rafah.

A coordinated media campaign against the supply of “heavy bombs” to Israel was launched in December 2023 by The New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN. It was as if a political echo chamber was activated. Targeted explicitly by the publications were 2,000-pound bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits that provided “dumb bombs” with precision guidance, ostensibly something critics should approve of.

The latest scheduled shipment was supposed to consist of JDAM kits, eighteen hundred 2,000-lb bombs, and seventeen hundred 500-lb bombs.

Svengali Rhodes
One name was missing from the 2024 “Obama Team” still at work in the White House: Ben Rhodes, who served as Obama’s deputy national security advisor and anti-Israel play-caller during the tempestuous Iran Deal and Gaza weapons episodes. Rhodes was a political Svengali, the creator and director of the infamous Washington “Echo Chamber.”

Last week, “Svengali” stepped out from behind the curtains with a pre-election essay in Foreign Affairs titled “A Foreign Policy for the World as It Is: Biden and the Search for a New American Strategy.” According to Rhodes, Israel was a core problem.

He griped that the US administration “criticizes Russia for the same indiscriminate tactics that Israel has used in Gaza” and that “Washington has supplied the Israeli government with weapons used to bombard Palestinian civilians with impunity.”

What caused the current conflagration, according to the former White House speech writer? What lit “a fuse that detonated” the war? Rhodes lists the pro-Israel actions of the previous Trump administration as catalysts:

“Moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing the annexation of the Golan Heights, and pursuing the Abraham Accords.” Rhodes continued, “The Palestinians were cut out of Arab-Israeli normalization, [and] Israel’s far-right [were] emboldened, lighting a fuse that detonated in the current war.”
Elliott Abrams: U.S. Should Never Stop Transferring Arms to America's Closest Ally
Elliott Abrams, who served as a senior official in previous Republican administrations whose last role was enforcing sanctions on the Iranian regime during the Trump administration, opposes delays in US arms shipments to Israel.

"I don't know what and how much has been held up, but it shouldn't have happened. The level of delay should be zero," Abrams tells Israel Hayom in an exclusive interview in the wake of the recent clash between the Biden administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"At the end of Trump's term, Iran was facing bankruptcy. The Biden administration's abandonment of the sanctions policy led to a significant strengthening of the Islamic Republic." He added, "If Trump had received four more years, the regime would have faced a choice between economic collapse and mass uprising, or halting the nuclear program. But then the Biden administration came and essentially stopped enforcing the sanctions, to the point that today Iran's currency reserves stand at about $50 billion. Therefore, what needs to be done is to return to the sanctions policy and enforce it."

He emphasized that "America's closest friend in the Middle East suffered a terrible attack, so we should never stop transferring weapons to her." Abrams currently serves as chairman of the Tikvah Fund and will participate in the 21st Herzliya Conference at Reichman University.

According to Abrams, "At the end of Trump's term, Iran was facing bankruptcy. The Biden administration's abandonment of the sanctions policy led to a significant strengthening of the Islamic Republic." He added, "If Trump had received four more years, the regime would have faced a choice between economic collapse and mass uprising, or halting the nuclear program. But then the Biden administration came and essentially stopped enforcing the sanctions, to the point that today Iran's currency reserves stand at about $50 billion. Therefore, what needs to be done is to return to the sanctions policy and enforce it."

Q: In your opinion, will sanctions be enough? After all, this has been tried for many years, and it has never stopped Iran.

A: "I think we need to start with enforcing sanctions. Also, Britain and France need to activate the snapback mechanism [eturning the UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the nuclear deal], but this needs to be backed by a credible threat of force. All recent US administrations, including Joe Biden's and Barack Obama's, said they would not accept a nuclear Iran and threatened to use force if necessary."

According to Abrams, Iran has indeed halted the advancement of its nuclear program on rare occasions. "This happened when Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, and when Trump eliminated Qassem Soleimani in 2020. The US needs to be ready to use force in Iran, but credibility is critical here. Only if they are convinced that the US is willing to act will they stop."

Q: What is the significance of the Hamas attack and everything that happened afterward from an American and global perspective?

A: "For many in the US, particularly on the Republican side, this is a wake-up call that Biden's policy has failed, and he's trying to push off the problem and quiet it until the elections."

Abrams claims that the US president tried for two and a half years to revive the nuclear deal with Iran until he realized they weren't interested. "Iran has benefited from this situation, and everyone outside the administration sees it as a failure. Moreover, for the last hundred years, the US has viewed keeping the Red Sea shipping lanes open and safe as one of its most important missions, and the Houthis have pretty much managed to end that. The Suez Canal is almost completely closed, as is the Red Sea. The US is currently in a defensive posture. We're intercepting the Houthis' missiles, but we've come to terms with them doing what they're doing. In my opinion, the US needs to punish the Houthis and Iran for this."


There’s A Charlottesville Every Week, And Most Democrats Are Fine With It
The truth is Biden, who has repeated fake “genocide” casualty numbers to Muslim audiences, is scared to offend the pro-Hamas faction in his party. And it’s not just words. While Biden’s DOJ is raiding the homes of pro-life protestors who pray in front of abortion mills or trying to throw elderly anti-abortion activists into prison, it does nothing about the systemic, highly funded, violent antisemitic movement that have erupted on campuses.

While Merrick Garland likens the actions of parents who are opposed Covid restrictions and racist curriculums to “domestic terrorism” — there still hasn’t been a single incident to substantiate his action — the AG doesn’t have the same designation for pro-Hamas rioters who target synagogues and Jewish businesses.

While the Biden administration helps states deal with scary MAGA terrorists who embrace “anti-government or anti-authority violent extremism,” they do nothing about the DAs and AGs who let antisemites funded by Qatar do whatever they like.

Last week, the Manhattan district attorney let dozens of rioters (not protestors), who occupied and trashed Hamilton Hall off without any charges. This week a Jewish couple was allegedly beaten at a Brooklyn elementary school graduation by an Arabic-speaking family — who taunted them with shouts of “Free Palestine!” “Gaza is Ours!” and “Death to Israel!” I’m sure the perpetrators have nothing to worry about in NYC. They are perched high on the left’s victim class hierarchy.

It would be nice if there was even a fraction of the anger or coverage of these new Charlottesvilles. But most Democrats aren’t offended by all antisemites. If you insult George Soros, sure, you may be condemned in the pages of the New York Times. If a pro-Hamas mob beats down a Jewish woman, we’re lucky if the paper even reports on the incident.

And every time there is a new Charlottesville, it not only affirms why Israel needs to exist — or that “anti-Zionism” and antisemitism are now indistinguishable — it tells us that Jews can’t rely on the contemporary left to be on their side. Not while the president needs to placate the left’s extremist anti-Israel faction and he trolls for antisemitic votes in Michigan.
Cotton calls for ‘immediate action’ by Biden, Garland after LA synagogue attack
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland urging a federal response to the violence that occurred on Sunday at the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles.

“I write urging immediate action against a pro-Hamas mob’s recent assault on a Jewish community,” Cotton wrote on Tuesday. “The mob attacked Jews with bear spray, beat a man until his face and shirt were covered in blood, and chanted ‘intifada revolution.’”

Noting that the anti-Israel activists had announced their plans in advance and that members of the synagogue had requested police protection, the senator wrote that “city officials allowed the mob to grow out of control.” Cotton cited reports noting that “elected officials even told the Los Angeles Police Department to stand down initially, with police sent to intervene only after violence broke out.”

Pointing to the spring demonstrations on college campuses throughout the United States, Cotton challenged the Biden administration, saying its inaction had “emboldened these extremists to escalate their attacks.”

He called on the U.S. Department of Justice and federal law enforcement to “take immediate action to protect the Jewish community and prosecute these mobs.”

The Arkansas senator concluded with a demand for information by July 1, wanting to know if the DOJ had received advanced warning of the protests; if the case had been referred to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division; and whether the DOJ would investigate “whether outside groups are funding and organizing these violent outbursts.”
The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Where Are the Arrests and Prosecutions?
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Clear acts of violence were on display in Los Angeles on Sunday and yet we see no action by the city, the state, or the federal government to hold the violent responsible for their actions—and federal law could not be clearer on this matter. What’s going on here? And why, on the cusp of his primary battle, did Rep. Jamaal Bowman effectively threaten to unleash the “South Bronx” when his district doesn’t include the South Bronx?


Amb. Michael Oren: Israel Will Act to Restore Security in the North
With the start of Hamas's invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, Iranian-backed Hizbullah in Lebanon launched an utterly unprovoked assault on the Galilee. Rockets have rained on Israeli towns and villages, tens of thousands have been displaced, dozens killed, and vast swaths of territory set ablaze. Eight months later, entire cities stand abandoned and countless acres of farmland uncultivated or burnt. If left unchecked, Hizbullah soon could render half the country uninhabitable.

Israeli counterstrikes have killed hundreds of Hizbullah terrorists and destroyed many of their emplacements, but such actions will have little effect on an organization that unflinchingly lost thousands fighting in the Syrian civil war.

A full-scale war in the north will differ profoundly from Gaza. Among Hizbullah's 150,000 rockets and missiles are those that can hit any target - airfields, military bases, oil refineries, the Dimona nuclear reactor, even Israel's southernmost port of Eilat. Hizbullah has all of Lebanon in which to maneuver, and logistical lines stretching across Syria.

Moreover, any war with Hizbullah is likely to involve rocket fire on Israel from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen, as well as missile onslaughts similar to that launched against Israel on April 13 from Iran. Israel can't be expected to respond passively, firing at the incoming rockets until its Iron Dome interceptors run out.

The anguish of northern Galilee is simply unsustainable and must be ended, even at an exorbitant price. In the previous conflict with Hizbullah in 2006, Israel distinguished between Hizbullah and Lebanon. Today, though, Israel regards Hizbullah and Lebanon as one and war will be on both.
Gen. David Petraeus: Israel’s War of Regime Change Is Repeating America’s Mistakes But Israel Can Still Learn From America’s Successes
In drawing parallels between Washington’s post-9/11 wars and Israel’s war in Gaza, some caveats are in order. Gaza is not Iraq. Israel is not the United States. As terrible as the 9/11 attacks were for Americans, in per capita terms, October 7 was many orders of magnitude worse for Israelis. Al Qaeda’s base in Afghanistan was far from American shores; Hamas’s base in Gaza, in contrast, is right on Israel’s doorstep. The enmity between Israelis and Palestinians runs deep, whereas many Iraqis had mixed, or in some cases positive, feelings toward the U.S.-led coalition when it intervened in March 2003.

But although the details differ, the situations bear strong structural similarities. This observation applies not only to conditions in the conflict zones in the two periods but also to the domestic political contexts in the United States after 9/11 and in Israel in recent months. The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq initially enjoyed broad support; as failures accumulated, however, they became polarizing. Today in Israel, divisions in the emergency war cabinet have erupted in public as international pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian casualties and identify an endgame in Gaza.

In the American case, whatever success Washington experienced in its post-9/11 wars resulted from a unity of purpose: the integrated efforts of the White House, Congress, military officials and diplomats, intelligence officers, aid workers, and economic planners. Sustaining the level of political support required to carry out strategies such as the surge forced policymakers to lay out a clear desired end-state for their operations. Similarly, unity in Israel will depend on the government’s ability to articulate a realistic vision for Gaza’s future, one in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in the peace and security they deserve. U.S. President Joe Biden is pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do precisely that as part of a cease-fire proposal embraced by the UN Security Council. That proposal would not, however, prevent Hamas from reconstituting itself over the long run—which is the key to sustainable security, stability, and peace.

There are other possibilities. Israel could alter its strategic objective and decide to live alongside a Hamas-run Gaza Strip after all, perhaps concluding, as Biden has, that the group no longer has the ability (at least in the near term) to carry out another attack in the style of October 7. In another scenario, Hamas leaders could choose voluntary exile, abandon Gaza, and cede the territory to an alternative authority. But those possibilities appear less likely today than a continued Israeli effort to destroy Hamas in Gaza and replace it with something new. That, in turn, will require the kind of difficult, resource-intensive strategy that saw success during the U.S. surge in Iraq.

On that front, the international community can play a vital role. In the early days of the war in Iraq, Washington thought it could accomplish regime change without the support or even acquiescence of regional actors. The George W. Bush administration was reluctant to give the UN any meaningful role in Iraq. Those proved grave miscalculations; other countries pursued their interests in Iraq anyway, almost always to the country’s detriment, and the UN later emerged as an important diplomatic partner. As Israel thinks about the future, it may feel indifferent to the opinion of regional or global actors who do not understand the depth of the trauma the country experienced on October 7. But success will not be determined by Israeli action alone, and although outsiders can sometimes impede progress, they can also help.

Americans should be modest about identifying lessons for others in the post-9/11 wars. Washington’s record of regime change in the Middle East is hardly one of unmitigated success. After many years of counterinsurgency efforts, the United States ultimately failed to prevent the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan. And in Iraq, Washington struggled to sustain hard-won gains after its last combat troops departed and Maliki pursued divisive, sectarian initiatives.

But Israel is relying on American support to defeat Hamas and to find a way forward in Gaza. And although Israel may not want to emulate the American approach in places such as Iraq (even the elements that worked), it should not ignore the valuable lessons it can find in the experiences of its closest ally.
‘Our friends, enemies ... understand our power,’ Gallant tells Austin
The United States and Israel must, above all, discuss their “extraordinary ties,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters before he met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Tuesday, per an Israeli readout.

“Projecting power, together; discussing areas of disagreement as friends do; and standing strong together in the face of attacks—from missile attacks to diplomatic attacks on the global stage,” Gallant said, according to his office. “Our friends and our enemies see this room and understand our power.”

The Israeli minister told the U.S. secretary that the Jewish state will never forget that he was the first to fly to Israel after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. “You stood with us then, and you stand with us today,” he said.

“Today, we are at a crossroads, that will impact the entire Middle East,” Gallant added. “I am here to discuss the ways to achieve our common goals—ensuring the security of the State of Israel and projecting the powerful ties between our countries.”

‘Time is running out’

The Israeli minister also described Iran as the gravest threat to the future of the world.

“Time is running out,” he said. “Now is the time to materialize the commitment of American administrations over the years—the promise to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons.”

Austin reminded Gallant that “this is your second visit to the Pentagon since the horrifying Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,” per a Pentagon transcript.

“I’ve traveled to Israel four times as secretary of defense, including two visits since Oct. 7, and you and I have spoken by phone more times than I can count,” the U.S. secretary added. “My staff tells me it’s more than 50 times.”

Austin also detailed what he called “major security achievements” of the Biden administration to help protect Israel.


Hanegbi: Israel to introduce Hamas alternative in Gaza ‘soon’
The Israeli government’s war goals in Gaza can only be fully achieved by fostering an alternative to Hamas rule in the enclave, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi stated on Tuesday.

“You cannot completely get Hamas to disappear because it’s an idea, a concept,” Hanegbi said during a panel discussion at Reichman University’s annual Herzliya Conference.

According to Hanegbi, once Hamas’s military and civil rule collapse, there will be an opportunity “for countries that want to see a governing alternative to Hamas in Gaza, with local leadership in Gaza, to join this process.”

The Cabinet has authorized the Israel Defense Forces to lead the process of finding an alternative to the terror group, he stated, adding that the project will be implemented first in northern Gaza and is set to be launched “soon.”

“You need a competing alternative concept, and that would be a local leadership willing to live side by side with Israel and not devote its life to killing Israelis,” stated the national security adviser.

Hanegbi said, “We’ve been talking about this notion of ‘the day after’ for many months, and the main thing that we’ve tried to emphasize throughout is that it’s mainly the day after Hamas in the sense that we don’t need to wait for it to disappear, because that process could take a long time.

“The idea is, and this is what the Americans agree on, including in the conversations this week and also in the conversation that the minister of defense [Yoav Gallant] is conducting right now [in Washington], is that there will be a so-called top-down leadership, and not only bottom-up,” he continued.

The proposed new leadership will include moderate Arab countries that are part of the Abraham Accords, along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union, said Hanegbi. The IDF would remain responsible for “cleansing the area” of Hamas elements.


NYTs: Israelis Blame Hamas for Gazans' Suffering
Michael Zigdon, who operates a small food shack in Netivot, 10 miles from the Gaza border, and had employed two men from Gaza until the Oct. 7 attack, said, "Who wants this war and who doesn't? It wasn't us who attacked them on Oct. 7." Like many Israelis, he blamed Hamas for embedding itself in residential areas, endangering Gaza's civilians. Armed groups from Gaza have fired barrages of rockets toward the city over the years. One struck Netivot on Oct. 7 and killed a 12-year-old boy, his father and grandfather.

Rachel Riemer, 72, a longtime resident of Kibbutz Urim, 10 miles from the Gaza border, recalled that, during a previous round of fighting, she had donated money for blankets for Gazan children. "This time, I don't have a place in my heart to pity them," she said of Gaza's civilians. "Emotionally, I can't."

Many Israelis see Gaza's civilians as complicit, at least ideologically, in the atrocities of Oct. 7, saying that they brought Hamas to power in the first place, in Palestinian elections in 2006, and that they had not expressed much remorse.

Avi Shilon, an Israeli historian based in Tel Aviv, explained that the Oct. 7 assault - when attackers killed people in their homes, at a music rave, in roadside bomb shelters and at army bases - was broadly seen by the Israeli public as being "just about killing Jews," turning the ensuing war into a visceral battle: "Either us or them."

The Hebrew news media is still filled with stories of loss and courage from Oct. 7. Israelis have watched gruesome video clips of the Oct. 7 atrocities filmed by Hamas gunmen as well as hostage videos released by the armed groups holding them. A few survivors said they recognized Gazans they had previously employed among the infiltrators. Many Israelis say they were also galled by images of Gazans flocking to the beach while the Israeli hostages remained in the dark.
FDD: IDF Strikes Gaza’s Islamic University After Hamas Uses It to Launch Missiles
Latest Developments
Hamas terrorists gathered in a building at Gaza City’s Islamic University to launch anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on June 25. “An Israeli Air Force aircraft struck Hamas terrorists who were operating inside the Islamic University in the Sabra area of the Gaza Strip,” The Jerusalem Post reported. The strike took place after the IDF took steps to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including aerial surveillance checks,” the IDF said. The use of a university is “another example of the systematic exploitation by Hamas of civilian infrastructure and the population as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” the IDF added.

Hamas has exploited the same university in the past. After the October 7 atrocities, the IDF said Hamas used the site to develop weapons, raise funds, and run a training camp for intelligence operatives. Hamas has utilized other universities for terrorist purposes as well. Israeli forces found a tunnel under Israa University in February 2024. They discovered weapons and a tunnel at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University in December 2023.

Expert Analysis
“Hamas has systematically embedded itself in civilian institutions in Gaza, including universities, shelters, schools, and hospitals. In many cases, Hamas has also returned to areas such as the Islamic University or Shifa Hospital in order to reconstitute itself as a terror group, hiding among civilians. This systematic use of civilian areas by the terrorist group is the clearest evidence of why Hamas must not be allowed to continue its destructive misrule over Gaza.” — Seth J. Frantzman, FDD Adjunct Fellow

“The Islamic University in Gaza, among other institutions, has historical ties to Hamas. In 1993, Hamas member Muin Shabib publicly acknowledged these affiliations, describing the Islamic University as one of ‘our institutions.’ Given this background, it should not be surprising that Hamas operatives would utilize the Islamic University and other educational institutions to wage war against Israel.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

Israel Targets Perpetrators of October 7 Massacre
Israeli warplanes targeted Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 atrocities against Israel in overnight airstrikes in Gaza between June 24 and June 25. The IDF struck two buildings in Shati Camp and the Daraj neighborhood, noting that the Hamas operatives were using schools to hide. “The terrorists were involved in planning many terror attacks against Israel, and some of them were involved in holding hostages and participating in the massacre on October 7,” the IDF said. Hamas claimed that Israel killed the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the airstrike in Shati.


Sister of Hamas chief Haniyeh, 9 others said killed in IDF strike in Gaza
The sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with nine other members of their extended family were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Tuesday, the terror group and media outlets in the Strip said.

The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the attack on the Haniyeh family home in Gaza City’s Shati camp when contacted by The Times of Israel.

Hamas said that 10 people were killed in the strike in Shati, including the sister of the Hamas leader. Hamas-linked media outlets in Gaza said all 10 were members of the Haniyeh family.

Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, largely lives in exile in Doha, Qatar. Three of his sons, who the IDF alleged were terror operatives, and four of his grandchildren were killed in an Israeli strike in April. Another granddaughter was killed in a strike during November, in the early weeks of the war.

Earlier this year, another of Haniyeh’s sisters, who lives in Israel, was arrested in April on suspicion of contact with operatives from the terror group and supporting acts of terror.

Meanwhile, the IDF said Hamas terrorists who had participated in the October 7 onslaught and were involved in holding hostages were targeted in separate overnight airstrikes in Gaza City.


'Local rebellion': Gazans attempt to stop Hamas from firing at Israel, IDF source says
Some 262 days into the 'Iron Swords' war, a source in the Southern Command revealed the military situation of Hamas.

Hamas is experiencing an inability to produce weapons and lacks command and control, and the Gazan population is trying to prevent them from firing towards Israel.

"Since October 7th, we have carried out 30,000 airstrikes on targets in Gaza. This is in addition to thousands of attacks conducted by combat helicopters and UAVs of the Air Force. We managed to damage production sites," said an official in the command.

"We have caused significant damage to Hamas's production and armament capabilities at both the battalion and brigade levels. On the rare occasions when they do fire, we quickly close the loop and strike them."

He also said, "We are also working to locate the remaining launchers and terrorist squads before they are able to fire. At the same time, we found that individuals in Gaza have started trying to intervene in Hamas's firing attempts. This marks a local rebellion by the population against Hamas. It is in our interest that similar interventions happen again in the future," said the source.


WSJ Editorial: Hizbullah Isn't Getting the Message
While Americans see the war in the Middle East winding down, Israelis worry it is only beginning. Hizbullah has been escalating its strikes on Israel, and the Iranian proxy militia could provoke a larger war unless the U.S. gives it a good reason not to. Washington is too fixated on restraining Israel to notice.

The latest misfire is Sunday's comments by Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the U.S. won't likely be able to help Israel defend itself against a broader Hizbullah war as well as it helped Israel fight off an Iranian barrage of missiles and drones in April. He warned Israel that the Iranians could join the fray directly and give greater support to their proxy, "particularly if they felt that Hizbullah was being significantly threatened."

That's a calculated red light to Israel - don't count on U.S. help. But what message is the general sending to Hizbullah? To its leader Hassan Nasrallah, it probably sounds like: "Go ahead. You can get away with more."

The other half of this administration policy is the withholding of armaments, slowing their flow to Israel over the past four months with bureaucratic delays. This gives the President plausible deniability, even though the delays and extended reviews were absent when the Administration wanted them to be.

The White House goal is to discourage a larger war, but a policy of weakening Israel has the opposite effect. It emboldens Hizbullah to keep shooting and extend its range. Unprovoked, Hizbullah has already fired nearly 5,000 rockets, missiles and mortars at northern Israel since Oct. 7, depopulating the region. Hizbullah has no reason to quiet its rocket fire and remove its fighters from the buffer zone in southern Lebanon if it thinks it can keep firing away and be protected from the consequences.
Benny Gantz: Israel can destroy Hezbollah’s military in days
The IDF can destroy Hezbollah’s military capabilities in a matter of days, National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the 21st Herzliya Conference at Reichman University, Gantz said a major challenge for Israel is to “return the southern and northern residents back to their homes, even at the price of escalation.”

He said he heard the reports about the Hezbollah threat to bring down Israel’s electrical grid, and responded, “We can bring Lebanon completely into the dark, and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days.”

The former defense minister and IDF chief of staff said the price to “Israel will be heavy. We need to back up our institutions. We need to be ready for major incidents of harm [to the public]. We should try to avoid it, but if we need to do it, we cannot be deterred from it.

“We cannot let Hezbollah keep threats close to the northern border,” he added, “we need to get the [northern] residents back by September 1.” Forming a team

Another challenge for Israel that Gantz discussed was building a regional and global alliance against Iran.

“We still have the opportunity of normalization with the Saudis and other states, to build what we started to build, the Middle East air defense, to form a stranglehold on the Iranian axis,” he said.

He emphasized that Israel must work hard with the US “to build up Israel’s defenses and to be ready for ‘the Judgment Day’ of stopping Iranian nuclear weapons.”
US sent message to Hezbollah that it won’t be able to rein in Israel — report
US President Joe Biden’s Mideast envoy Amos Hochstein warned Lebanese officials last week that Washington would not be able to stop Israel from invading should Hezbollah continue its attacks, according to several reports.

“Israel’s gotta do what they gotta do,” a US Defense Department official told Politico, which reported that Washington had telegraphed to Hezbollah that it can’t rein in Israel if the situation escalates.

The Biden administration is seeking to prevent a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah, which began launching near-daily attacks on the north following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on southern Israel.

Among US concerns is that a major Israeli offensive would pull in Hezbollah’s backer Iran, complicating efforts to defend the Jewish state.

Hochstein was in Lebanon last week to call for the “urgent” de-escalation of cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel. He also visited Israel and held talks in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as opposition leaders.

During his meeting with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, Hochstein reportedly asked for a message to be sent to the terror group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, that the US does not control Israel.

He advised Hezbollah to indirectly negotiate with Israel, rather than scale up border tensions, Axios said in a report that cited a US official, an Israeli official and a Western diplomat close to the matter.

According to a Western diplomat cited in the report, Hezbollah sent messages back to the US after the envoy’s visit, touting the terror group’s capabilities to deliver serious blows to Israel, while also stating that it doesn’t want war.
Guterres, UN should redirect their warnings to Hezbollah
If you happened to catch the recent Netflix mini-documentary Hitler and the Nazis, the one clear message was that the allies were determined to do whatever it took to rid the world of the metastasizing cancer which was quickly taking hold of the entire European continent.

No one tried to stop the indiscriminate bombing of entire cities, such as Dresden, despite knowing that the lives of ordinary civilians were being risked, and resulting in massive casualties. Their goal was simply to eradicate the evil before them.

While this is true of most nations fighting a bitter enemy, it never seems to be the case when it comes to Israel because, although UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres knows that we share a border with those whose aim is to annihilate the Jewish nation, he has, nonetheless, felt the need to give his own “Don’t” directive stating, “The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Of course, this directive is being given well before any significant action has been taken to stop the daily constant bombardment of suicide drones and rockets being launched into Israel’s northern cities. So, what exactly is he saying? That we cannot defend ourselves against these non-stop attacks?

And who are these “people of the world” to whom he refers as not being able to afford a military operation directed toward Lebanon? While it’s one thing for Guterres to be concerned about the region’s population, he doesn’t explain how a justified response to Hezbollah’s destructive attacks would impact those living in Ohio, Wales, or Honolulu?

What is clear is that someone has instructed the United Nations head to make sure Israel is forbidden to engage in anything perceived to be an escalation of the conflict. But then where does that leave us? Paralyzed and vulnerable as we continue to absorb the flames burning thousands of acres of our land as well as the decimation of homes and property. It’s a great deal for Hezbollah, but not so much for Israel.

As Guterres explains, “a widening of the conflict must be avoided,” why is that warning only directed at the ones who weren’t responsible for initiating the attacks to begin with? He speaks of an impending catastrophe which could ignite the area, but what is Israel’s alternative to conducting a full-out military campaign in order to end the constant rocket barrages? Does he think doing nothing will lead to a Hezbollah ceasefire?
Gaza’s Vexing Tunnel Network Pales Beside Hezbollah’s Land Of Tunnels
Hezbollah has a network of tunnels beneath southern Lebanon that amounts to “hundreds of kilometers” according to an Israeli thinktank.

Tal Beeri, director of research, at the Alma Research and Education Center (a northern Israel-based organization which focuses on the security challenges along Israel’s Lebanon border) told The Times of Israel earlier this week that Alma has determined that Hezbollah has a veritable “Land of Tunnels” under southern Lebanon which is larger and more sophisticated that its Gaza counterpart.

Beeri and his colleagues used open-source intelligence research to quantify the scope and character of the subterranean network. In a 2021 paper Beeri revealed that he found a “map of polygons” overlaid on southern Lebanon online, apparently posted by someone connected with the tunnel network.

“The map is marked, by an unknown party,” Beeri wrote, “with polygons [circles] indicating 36 geographic regions, towns and villages.”

He told The Times that Alma researchers suspect the polygons mark Hezbollah’s staging centers as part of a defense plan against an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

“Each local staging center [‘defense’] possesses a network of local underground tunnels. Between all these centers, an infrastructure of regional tunnels was built, interconnected [with] them.”

The web of staging centers and connectors is hundreds of kilometers long, well exceeding the scope of the Hamas tunnels in Gaza Beeri estimates. His 2021 paper posited a 45-kilometer “attack tunnel” in south Lebanon and featured a map depicting its route.

This too, was found on the internet. Someone had marked the route Beeri explained and his team reverse-engineered the likely course of the tunnel.

“We found additional materials, including footage of pickup trucks inside a tunnel with various connecting branches,” he said in The Times article.

“That particular video we decided not to publish initially, because we didn’t have definitive proof that it was filmed in a tunnel in Lebanon. We thought it was possible that somebody was deliberately trying to mislead us. Nonetheless, in the wake of several checks that we did, including looking at the vegetation, the kinds of vehicles and the route, we think it’s extremely likely that this is inside Lebanon.”
Seth Frantzman: A peace to be broken: The Golan amid the escalation with Hezbollah
A recent report at Ynet noted that “16,710 students have been evacuated from northern communities across the country – about 9,000 of them were relocated to communities within the northern district and the rest to other districts. For example, 684 students are enrolled in eight relocated schools, 3,168 are learning in 60 community centers, 4,044 are placed in existing schools, 1,016 in six temporary schools, and 950 children in kindergartens or daycare centers that have been placed in existing institutions or community centers.”

The Golan’s Jewish and Druze communities do not have this problem. I spent a day driving around the Golan, speaking with residents and checking out the area, and unlike Kiryat Shmona down in the valley, the Golan is still full of life. However, it is a truncated life because the usual summer flocks of tourists have not arrived. One Druze man put up a post on social media telling people to come pick his cherry trees for free because there are too many cherries. In normal times people would come pay to pick the cherries.

The Golan is an area of contrasts. In the Druze towns, the economy consists of applies, cherries, and other agriculture, as well as tourism. There are signs for local cuisine and also some hotels. There don’t seem to be many visitors. The same sense of a lack of visitors is clear outside the Druze towns, such as in the national parks and hiking trails.

The Golan is under threat from Hezbollah and the threats have increased. In the last month, Hezbollah has increased its use of drone attacks. There is no warning for the drones or other projectiles if one is hiking on a trail and outside an area where sirens will alert you. In addition, people are familiar with the video of kids stuck on a bus during a rocket attack in February. No one wants their child to be put in that situation.

The Golan was relatively unscathed in the beginning of the conflict, however Hezbollah has now increased its focus on the area. It has increased attacks near the town of Katzrin, for instance. This causes residents to be concerned. In addition, the attacks have set off fires, now that summer heat is baking the fields on the heights.

Like other areas of Israel, the communities on the Golan have their own local security teams that keep watch over the gates of the communities and train for possible scenarios. This has taken on increased importance since the war began, much like it has in communities in the Galilee.

The Golan has a historic role in Israel’s defenses. The landscape is marked with the stories of battles of old. One can drive across the old Tapline road that played a role in the 1973 war, or see signs for the Valley of Tears and other sites. There are also the old Bar Lev Line bunkers. The Golan was also on the front line during the Syrian civil war. It has thus felt more exposed in recent years. Israel’s enemies such as Hezbollah are active in Syria as well. This means that any future conflict will involve this area, as much as the rest of Israel. Everyone understands that.

The area has also been a site of recent investment in wind turbines, which now dot a whole swath of the heights between the Druze villages and the southern Golan. The turbines, when I was there, reached into the fog, such that their giant turning blades were slashing through the fog and then rotating downward into the visible area, as if they were cutting into some invisible entity above. They provided an otherworldly frame to an area that is otherwise peaceful and full of orchards, cows, and open fields. If war comes, this peace will be broken, as it was in 1973, and the heights will once again form a bulwark for Israel against enemies near and far.
Seth Frantzman: Reporters Notebook: Protecting the home front in northern Israel - exclusive
In the once-green forests around the northern city of Safed, some of the soil is now covered with black ash from recent fires. The trees are in varying degrees of distress from being burned in the last several weeks. The fires started due to Hezbollah rocket fire and also the heat that swept Israel in June, which came close to the city.

Safed is home to the Northern Command. This important base is on one of the hills that make up the sprawling neighborhoods of the city. From there, one can look out in a panorama, with a view toward Lebanon on one side, and a short drive away, a view toward Mount Meron and other parts of the Galilee. This is the canvas of the landscape that Hezbollah seeks to target. It has fired some 5,000 rockets, drones, and missiles at Israel in eight months of attacks.

Today Lt.-Col Eran Salmon, commander in the Home Front Command at the IDF’s Northern Command is one of the key high-ranking officers working to protect civilians in northern Israel and provide the maximum support they need during this difficult time.

As we sit at a bench near his office in Northern Command, he describes the challenges. Around 80,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes when Hezbollah began its attacks in October. Although an estimated 20%-30% have returned home, most will not return until there is quiet in the North. Recent weeks have brought expectations of war.

Salmon deals with many of the issues the locals face. The agricultural workers, for instance, are still going back to their orchards, or to deal with cows and chickens near the border.

He has been here since October 7, along with many reservists who were called up when the war began. The Home Front Command has helped communities and areas that require bunkers and shelters against attacks. Northern Israel was often on the front line in previous wars going back to the 1940s. However, in recent years it has become clear that they do not have adequate defenses. Some of the shelters are old, or as communities expanded, the older shelters became less relevant as people do not have the time to run to them. Rocket and artillery barrages were different in the 1970s than today. Today, Hezbollah has precision rockets, drones, and anti-tank missiles.

“We have defenses against the rockets and threats. Our responsibility is to provide shelter to all the places they work,” the lieutenant-colonel says about those who must enter areas near the border that are under threat. Supporting this kind of infrastructure is a key to the Home Front’s work. This also includes other types of infrastructure that provide basic services.

“The people are brave and we have to send technicians to fix things under the threat of Hezbollah.”


FDD: Iran-affiliated cell reportedly found storing explosives in Jordan’s capital
The Jordanian Public Security Directorate announced on June 22 that security forces are handling an investigative case in the South Marka area of the capital, Amman, according to the official Jordanian News Agency. Authorities stated that initial investigations indicated several individuals had been storing significant quantities of explosive materials inside a house.

Jordanian authorities have not yet disclosed the background and details of this incident or whether arrests have been made. Government officials stated that more information will be provided once the investigation is complete. It is important to note that South Marka, where the explosives were stored, is a dense residential area known to be a stronghold for the Muslim Brotherhood.

A report from Independent Arabia claims that the discovery of the explosive materials in the apartment is linked to new Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons and explosives into Jordan. The report further suggests these explosives were intended for Hamas. If these reports are accurate, this would mark the second such attempt to provide this support. A similar incident uncovered in May involved Jordanians of Palestinian descent who were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.

It would also not be the first instance of Iran-sponsored terrorist activities in Jordan. The Kingdom has dealt with these threats for some time, particularly since October 7. Over the past eight months, Jordanian authorities have thwarted 12 attempts to smuggle Captagon, a stimulant often used by jihadists, orchestrated by Iran-backed factions in Syria, including the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Armed Forces. These attempts have evolved into weapons-smuggling efforts aimed at fueling unrest in the West Bank through Jordan’s border.

In November, Iraqi militias backed by Iran attempted to block oil supplies to Jordan as part of a broader strategy to exert pressure on the Kingdom. These militias threatened to disrupt the vital flow of oil, a move with serious economic repercussions for Jordan. Additionally, they issued threats to arm 12,000 Jordanians, aiming to incite them to take up arms against Israel.

Following Iran’s attack on Israel, Jordan faced explicit threats from Iran after intercepting projectiles destined for Israel. These threats were intended to intimidate the Kingdom and dissuade it from interfering in future operations. The same period saw an increase in attacks by Iraqi militias targeting Israel, with drones passing through Jordanian airspace, putting the Kingdom in a difficult position.

Hamas has also been actively inciting Jordanian protesters, urging them to escalate their actions. The group’s officials in Qatar have called on Jordanians to take to the streets, and Hamas spokesman Abu Ubayda has specifically urged them to intensify their protests. Hamas understands the strategic importance of the Jordanian arena, as the group has a strong support base there. Since October 7, this base has mobilized in support of the organization. Chants praising Mohammad Deif and Yahya Sinwar have echoed in Jordan for the past eight months, posing a significant security risk for authorities. This situation highlights the shared ambitions of Iran and Hamas to infiltrate Jordanian society and create instability.


Key food security org finds no famine in Gaza, says previous assumptions wrong
There is currently no famine in Gaza, a new report by the key Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) organization has found, despite the IPC having predicted in March that a full-blown famine would break out in the territory between March and July 2024.

The study released on Tuesday stated that assumptions the previous projection had made about the amount of food that would enter the territory turned out to be wrong, and that the supply of food to Gaza has increased instead of decreased during recent months.

“In this context, the available evidence does not indicate that Famine is currently occurring,” the report said.

In particular, the study found no evidence that deaths from starvation reached famine levels, but did not provide any data about how many such deaths there may have been.

The report also dramatically reduced the percentage of the population it had previously said was in Level 5 (Catastrophe) and Level 4 (Emergency) status for food insecurity.

It cut those assessed at the catastrophe level by half, from 30% to 15%, and reduced by a quarter the population percentage estimated to be at the emergency level, from 39% to 29%.

This, nevertheless, still amounts to some 343,000 Gazans at the catastrophe level, and the IPC reported that “a high and sustained risk of Famine across the whole Gaza Strip” remained and that “extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip.”

The report is highly significant as accusations of famine in Gaza have formed an integral part of the allegations against Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the International Criminal Court.

A spokesperson for the ICC declined to comment as to whether the new IPC report would impact the decision by its prosecutor Karim Khan to seek arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for using starvation as a method of warfare and for the “extermination” of the Palestinian population.


Caroline Glick: Hostage Family to Trump, Biden is Preventing Israeli Victory
Journalist and author Caroline Glick interviews cousin and advocate of the Bibas family Yosi Shnaider. Shnaider wrote a letter to President Trump in the hopes that the former President can influence and help in some way to free the hostages. Shnaider further expresses that the international community and the Biden administration have abandoned Israel and more specifically the hostages. The Bibas family including 9-month-old Kfir were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7th from Kibbutz Nir Oz.




His mother murdered by terrorists and father a hostage in Gaza, Almog Levy turns 3
Almog Levy, whose mother was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and whose father was taken as a hostage to Gaza the same day, on Tuesday marked his third birthday.

Relatives told the media that the toddler misses his parents, father Or Levy and mother Eynav Levy, and keeps asking when he will see them.

Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster, his paternal grandmother Geula said Almog is being taken care of by his immediate family, grandparents, uncles and aunts.

“That is really not the same thing. There is nothing like his father. The chance that Or will come back is the only chance for him to have a family.”

She said that Almog had a party at his kindergarten and his maternal grandparents celebrated with him on Sunday.

“You can’t stop things if he is to grow up as a regular kid,” Geula said. “His parents disappeared, he is still waiting for them. He says ‘I miss Mom and Dad, I want Mom and Dad.'”

Geula said that Almog was given a book that on one page shows a ginger-haired doll that reminded the toddler of his mother.

“He didn’t want to turn the page,” she said. When her son, Almog’s uncle, asked him if he should buy him a doll like the one in the book, the child replied “Will she also pick me up?”

On Monday, Or’s brother, Michael Levy, spoke to Channel 13 telling the station that Almog’s situation is “heartbreaking.”

“He keeps asking about [Or] and Eynav and wants to meet them, and we don’t have anything to say to him.

“There is no way to tell something like that to such a young child. He just wants mom and dad to celebrate the birthday with him, but regretfully, that won’t happen,” he said.


Lawsuit alleges that UNRWA served as Hamas money laundering operation
A new lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court on Monday by survivors of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and family members of Israelis killed in the attacks alleges that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency played a central role in enabling the attacks by serving as a de facto money laundering operation for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The civil suit, filed by MM-Law, a firm specializing in representing victims of terrorist attacks, crimes against humanity and other atrocities, alleges that UNRWA helped funnel millions of dollars each month to Hamas. The suit targets both UNRWA as an organization and several current and former UNRWA officials.

Plaintiffs to the suit include individuals whose family members were killed in the Oct. 7 attack, as well as at least one freed hostage who was held in Gaza in the home of an UNRWA teacher.

The lawsuit hones in on UNRWA’s insistence on paying employee salaries and other expenses in Gaza in U.S. dollars, rather than in local currency, as it does in other areas, including the West Bank. It alleges that this system required recipients to pay currency exchanges — which are largely controlled by or affiliated with Hamas — significant fees to exchange dollars for shekels they could use in Gaza.

The suit claims that this system funneled millions per month to Hamas and gave the terror group a reliable supply of U.S. currency to pay weapons smugglers who would not deal in Israeli currency.

“UNRWA strengthened Hamas and transferred funds and financed the murders, acting as a full partner in the growth of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA and its directors are fully complicit in the murder of my children and family,” Gadi and Reuma Kadem, whose children and grandchildren were killed on Oct. 7, said in a statement.

UNRWA did not respond to a request for comment.

Gavriel Maron, the lead attorney on the case, told Jewish Insider that his firm began researching Hamas and its financing following Oct. 7, a money trail that took it to UNRWA and its operations in Gaza.

“The bottom line of all that was that UNRWA was forcing all of its employees and all of its suppliers to actually pay a kickback to Hamas,” Maron said.


Honestly with Bari Weiss PodCast: Can Israel Actually Win This War?
When Hamas attacked Israel eight months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s war goals were threefold: one, destroy Hamas; two, free all of the hostages; and three, ensure that Gaza can never threaten Israel again.

More than 250 days later, some 120 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, both dead and alive. Two Hamas battalions remain, consisting of somewhere between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters. More than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and thousands wounded, 135,000 Israeli civilians are still displaced, and the war seems to have no end in sight.

Why? Israel is supposed to be the greatest military force in the Middle East. So why haven’t they achieved their war goals? Are their war goals even viable? And, can Israel win this war?

Here to help answer these questions today are Seth Frantzman and John Spencer.

Seth Frantzman is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post. He has reported on the war against ISIS, several Gaza wars, and the conflict in Ukraine. And, he is an Adjunct Fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He thinks Israel can and should win this war, but he thinks the past eight months have been dismal and that Israel is at risk of losing and losing disastrously.

John Spencer is a military expert who has served in the army for 25 years, including two combat tours in Iraq. He is now chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He was recently asked if the war was winnable for the IDF, and he said: one hundred percent. But he thinks it is contingent on a total defeat of Hamas.

Today, we discuss what has actually been accomplished by the IDF in the last eight months, why they haven’t achieved “total victory” yet and if that’s even possible, the fate of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, how the U.S. has restrained Israel and if that restraint has been good or bad for Israel, what hope there is for the remaining hostages, whether the idea of Hamas can be defeated, what a “day after” plan could look like, the war with Hezbollah heating up in the north, and, most importantly: why October 7 did not wake up the West.
Federalist Radio Hour: Why The West Needs Israel
Hosted by Emily Jashinsky
On this episode of “The Federalist Radio Hour,” Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to discuss the consequences of Hamas’ ongoing attack on Israel and analyze the implications the war holds for the rest of the world.

If you care about combatting the corrupt media that continue to inflict devastating damage, please give a gift to help The Federalist do the real journalism America needs
.

The Israel Guys: What The Biden Administration Just Did To Israel Is INSANE | Arms Deal Update
With the exception of none, the global opinion on Israel is shifting. We’ve all heard about the recent US shipment of arms that has been frozen for months now! All this begs the question, if Israel really has to fight this alone, does Israel have the capability to defend itself?

This wouldn't be Israel's first round of being milened and alone on the world stage… we’ll take an historical look into Israel’s military build up as well as look into what's going on now and how Israel may fare in the midst of this crisis!




Exclusive — John Ondrasik: I’ve Been Targeted by Antisemites Since Supporting Israel
Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik, also known as Five for Fighting, told Breitbart News on Sunday that he has been targeted by antisemites since he came out in support of Israel after October 7 — though he himself is not even Jewish.

Ondrasik spoke to this reporter on Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM Patriot 125 on Sunday evening, recalling his experiences as one of the few Hollywood performers to support Israel and oppose Hamas unabashedly.

Ondrasik is widely recognized as one of the greatest pop songwriters of his generation. His 2003 song “100 Years” continues to be a favorite, and his song “Superman” pays tribute to the American heroes of the September 11, 2001, terror attack.

In January, Ondrasik released a song, “OK (We Are Not OK),” in tribute to the victims of October 7, and in opposition to those who support the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the deadly attack.

“To me, the song really is about the culture, America, the world in general — that’s something broken. We are not OK. Something’s really wrong when it’s hard for many people to condemn the atrocities of October 7th,” he said.

“A lot of people … think this is a pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian song. It’s not. It’s a pro-civilization song, versus those who want to tear it down,” Ondrasik continued noting that one of the people who features in the video for the song is a Palestinian woman calling out Hamas.

Once the song came out, and was widely shared online, including by the Israeli government, Ondrasik found that he was targeted by antisemites.

“I became very quickly familiar with what it’s like to be Jewish. I’m not Jewish, Joel, but I have a sense now of the vitriol [and] hatred that Jewish people face. And it’s unacceptable,” he said.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

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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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