Thursday, June 27, 2024

06/27 Links Pt1: A Terrorist Group Is Not a Legitimate Government; Fetterman: Recognizing Palestinian state rewards Hamas; Biden’s Phony Saudi-Israeli Peace Deal

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: A Terrorist Group Is Not a Legitimate Government
In a sign of the times, what has made news about the ceasefire talks is not that Hamas rejected the latest offer but the fact that yesterday the State Department finally said so.

“They gave us a written response that rejected the proposal put forward by Israel, that President Biden had outlined, that the United Nations Security Council and countries all around the world had endorsed,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. Miller’s use of the word “rejected” made headlines. “The comment marked the first time that a US official had publicly gone so far,” reported the Times of Israel. “To date, only Jerusalem has branded the Hamas response as a rejection. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken two weeks ago criticized Hamas’s counter-proposal as including changes that are ‘not workable,’ but insisted the gaps were still bridgeable.”

On the one hand, this is progress. The Biden administration has in recent months mostly avoided displaying its impatience with Hamas. In the world of diplomacy, this type of definitive language is meant to exert pressure on the holdouts.

But on the other hand, so what? Hamas isn’t a normal government, bound by nation-state norms and treaties and diplomatic niceties the very practice of which confers a certain amount of legitimacy on those who play along. All of this theater keeps Hamas in a can’t-lose situation: the West’s obsession with a negotiated settlement to this war means Hamas is indispensable, and if Hamas is indispensable, it cannot be destroyed.

Up north, Hezbollah has found itself in similarly beneficial circumstances. According to Politico, “U.S. officials trying to prevent a bigger Middle East war are issuing an unusual warning to Hezbollah: Don’t assume that Washington can stop Israel from attacking you.”

To which I imagine Hezbollah responded: Don’t threaten me with a good time.

As if the implication wasn’t clear enough, the reporters spell it out: “The American message is designed to get the Lebanese-based Shiite militia to back down and de-escalate the brewing crisis along the Israeli-Lebanese border, a person familiar with the discussions said.”

In most of the world, the prospect of all-out war with a stronger state would be a sufficient deterrent. But Hezbollah isn’t a state. It simply controls one from within. It isn’t put off by bringing death and destruction to the Lebanese population; that is its mission. Same with Hamas: these are terrorist entities who survive by waging asymmetric warfare. They do not, themselves, want to be totally destroyed. But everything around them can burn.
Recognizing Palestinian state rewards Hamas, Fetterman says in Israel, ‘what’s wrong with you?’
A two-state solution is something for which Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) hopes in theory, “but certainly not at this—not right now,” he told reporters in an intimate gathering in Jerusalem on Thursday.

“I was appalled when our allies, whether it’s Ireland or Spain or others, were calling for recognizing that—that’s outrageous,” he said of some countries opting to recognize an independent Palestinian state. “Why would you give Hamas that kind of a reward when you have Israeli citizens still held hostage, and you’re in the middle of a war?”

“How is that, what’s wrong with you?” the pro-Israel senator said. “It’s crazy. I can’t explain it.”

Fetterman responded to four questions from Alex Traiman, JNS CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief, during the press conference on Thursday.

Asked what he thought of reports that the White House has been slow-tracking weapons shipments to the Jewish state, Fetterman said that he disagrees on the matter with U.S. President Joe Biden.

“I’ve been very clear there’s no conditions, and that hasn’t changed with me,” he told JNS. “Before Oct. 7, I was clear I always fully support Israel without any conditions, and after Oct. 7, it’s even more of a period to deliver whatever Israel needs.”

“I didn’t support withholding any of those large bombs because they have to fight an enemy that hides in tunnels,” he said of Israel Defense Forces efforts against the Hamas terror group. “I trust Israel’s judgment. They are not looking to maximize all civilian deaths or anything like that.”

Fetterman told JNS that he is always much more eager “to trust Israel than pretend that there’s anything that you could trust with Hamas or even some of the other nations in our region.”
Fetterman: A reckoning's needed on the political left with antisemitism
Those on the political Left who have tolerated or accepted antisemitism should be held to account, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) told reporters in Jerusalem during his first visit to Israel.

“It’s crazy now that [Zionism] becomes a slur in certain circles,” Fetterman said, adding that “it’s been turned into like, ‘you Zionist,’ or whatever. It’s crazy.”

He sat in a side room at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel wearing his iconic white-hooded sweatshirt and shorts.

The tall bald-headed politician with a small gray goatee is an unabashed supporter of Israel, and October 7 has only made him more so.

“There is a reckoning necessary in the political left with antisemitism and [how] certain factions have responded after October 7, whether it’s somebody in a pop tent on a campus or blocking worshippers in Los Angeles from getting into their synagogue. It’s vital, and I don’t hear a lot of people in on that side really being asked about that,” he said.

He also dismissed as absurd the charges of genocide leveled against Israel for its war in Gaza, noting that if this were the case, the IDF would not have allowed over a million people to flee Rafah ahead of its military campaign there.

“What kind of a nation that is committed to genocide would allow” its supposed victims to leave the battlefield scene so they would not be hurt.

“There are people… calling that this is a genocide. That’s appalling,” he said.

Unapologetic in supporting Israel
Fetterman noted that US President Joe Biden has been clear in describing himself as a Zionist and a supporter of Israel.

“I absolutely believe that Joe Biden is a strong, strong, unapologetic ally of Israel, even when I happen to disagree with him,” and those disagreements “don’t in any way diminish my support for him.”

Fetterman said he also supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the democratically elected leader of the State of Israel. He backed Netanyahu’s plans to address a joint session of Congress on July 24, noting that it was important for American politicians and the US public to hear from him.

“I think the Prime Minister has the right to have that opportunity,” he said.

“We just voted billions” in military aid for Israel, so “let hear” from the country’s leader, Fetterman said, adding that Congress had a responsibility to do so.

Fetterman questioned why some members of the House and Senate plan to boycott the event.

“I don’t understand how that does anything but to cheer Hamas on,” he said. Sometimes you’ll hear things you don’t agree with. I really don’t think you need to be that fragile or offended.”


Lee Smith: Biden’s Phony Saudi-Israeli Peace Deal
For more than a year the Joe Biden administration has been parading what it calls a “historic agreement” in front of longtime U.S. regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. If it seems odd that a president who called Saudi a “pariah” state, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “asshole” now sees Jerusalem and Riyadh as the ingredients for a major foreign policy win in an election year, that’s because the agreement on offer is not a Middle East peace deal. Rather, it’s an instrument to consolidate the Democratic Party’s control of U.S. foreign policy while formally subordinating its two longtime Middle Eastern allies to Iran.

The Biden administration’s regional policy is charged with completing the project initiated by Barack Obama. The endgame is to fold traditional U.S. partners into a new Middle East hierarchy dominated by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terror proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. The new American-backed, Iranian-led regional order requires breaking Israeli sovereignty and getting Saudi to accept revisions to its 80-year-old relationship with Washington. While Netanyahu is resisting the yoke, the Saudis seem to be willing to submit in the hope that it won’t be too late to revise their status again when, or if, Trump returns.

“The deal buys time,” says a Riyadh-based senior Gulf affairs analyst who asked not to be named. “A year or two gives the Crown Prince time to work on his agenda for Saudi Arabia.” And in the meantime, says the analyst, “if you can reach a deal with the Democrats, you take it. The Republicans are already Saudi allies. But to make a deal with them means the Democrats will give you a hard time. The thinking here is that if you want to do a deal with the U.S., you have to do it with the Democrats.”

To realize Obama’s dream of regional realignment, the Biden team first zeroed in on the Trump-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four majority Muslim states (Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan) known as the Abraham Accords. The Trump team had reversed Obama’s pro-Iran policies and isolated the terror regime, while freezing out its Palestinian proxies. Plus, Trump eliminated Iranian terror masters like Qassem Soleimani who had targeted U.S. troops, diplomats, and allied nations in a decadeslong campaign of bombings and assassinations.

Trump’s approach brought an unprecedented degree of peace and cooperation to the modern Middle East after the upheavals of the Arab Spring, the Syrian war, the civil war in Yemen, Hamas attacks on Israel, sectarian warfare in Iraq, and other bloody events fueled by Obama’s revisionist policies. Yet a regional order based on isolating Iran was anathema to the Biden team, many of them former Obama aides who returned to the White House eager to restore the Iranians and Palestinians to center stage, and push the Saudis and Israelis to the wings.

That’s where the idea of the Saudi-Israel deal came in. Contrary to what Biden media validators claim, it was never meant to expand the Abraham Accords, but rather to collapse them, for the purpose of making Iran first.

The prospective Saudi-Israeli deal that Biden is purporting to broker is usually portrayed as something like a three-way trade, with everyone walking away with something they want: If Israel agrees to a Palestinian state, it gets a normalization agreement with the Saudis, who win a defense and security compact with the White House, whose occupant enjoys a big election-year foreign policy win. And best of all, say Biden officials, the deal checks Iran.

But that’s not true. A closer look shows that the point of the deal is to advance Iranian and Palestinian interests, while collapsing Netanyahu’s governing coalition and convincing the Saudis that the only power that can protect them from Iran is the very same U.S. political faction that legalized Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Obama’s faction.


Johnson has ‘grave concern’ Biden policy making hostage release harder
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) accused President Joe Biden of failing to take adequate action to help free the remaining American hostages being held in Gaza in a new letter to the president sent Wednesday morning.

“I write today to express grave concern that your administration is not taking sufficient steps to ensure the release of American hostages who are detained by Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” Johnson wrote.

He accused Biden of failing to “resolutely support Israel in its military objectives to eliminate Hamas,” which Johnson said has “made it harder to facilitate the release of those being detained.”

The letter alludes to reports that the administration has ceased to use emergency powers to accelerate the delivery of weapons to Israel and is otherwise delaying arms shipments. In the letter, Johnson urged Biden to “restore the use of emergency authorities to ensure Israel has everything it needs immediately to defeat these threats and restore security.”

The House speaker, invoking the families of the hostages, further called on Biden to “leverage all American options and influence to support Israel in bringing these hostages home,” as well as “put maximum pressure on Hamas and its enablers.”

The administration has been pushing for Hamas to accept a cease-fire laid out by Biden and approved by Israel. But Hamas has rejected that agreement, officials say, highlighting that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, has not been responsive to international pressure.

Johnson alleged that “American families feel betrayed by a President who is allowing their loved ones and other hostages to languish.” The families of American hostages have largely spoken positively of Biden and his work to free their loved ones.

The speaker accused Biden of being more focused on “attempting to micromanage Israel” than on the hostages’ release, and alleged that administration decisions have “undercut” release efforts, “weakened the U.S.-Israel relationship, eroded America’s ability to deter our enemies” and undermined Israel.

Johnson called the administration’s actions “unconscionable [and] unacceptable.”
Report: Egypt, UAE signal readiness to participate in post-Hamas security force
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are willing to participate in a post-war Gaza security force alongside “local Palestinian officers,” on the condition that Israel agrees to a pathway to a Palestinian state, three officials familiar with the talks told The Times of Israel on Thursday.

According to the report, Cairo also demanded a full withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from the coastal enclave, while Abu Dhabi has requested “U.S. involvement” in the security of Gaza after the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told his Arab counterparts during a regional tour earlier this month that Washington would help establish and train the new Palestinian security force, which would have a temporary mandate so that it could eventually be replaced by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, one of the sources stated.

It was not immediately clear from where these “local Palestinian officers” would be recruited. Blinken said Washington would not send troops to participate in the operation on the ground, the official said.

The Biden administration’s plans for the “day after” Hamas include plans for security, governance and reconstruction, the officials said, adding that Washington hopes Saudi Arabia will lead the latter effort.

The officials said that as for governance, Blinken told his counterparts that the goal would be to establish a transitional Palestinian government that would work closely with Arab countries.
It’s Time to Put at an End to Qatar’s Double-Dealing
Offering a physical safe haven for Hamas’s leaders is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Qatar’s bad behavior. Danielle Pletka explains:

Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh and his cronies live a plush life in Doha. He is reputedly worth billions. Is all that dough under his mattress? Or in a bank in Qatar? I don’t know, but presumably the Treasury Department does.

Qatar has funneled billions to Hamas, an organization that currently holds 120—and five live American—hostages in Gaza. When the U.S. was playing the good guy in Afghanistan (before Biden’s disgraceful withdrawal), where were the exiled al Qaeda-loving emirs of the Taliban swanning about? Qatar.

Then there’s Qatar’s super-cozy relationship with Iran. Qatar’s cronies in the Washington lobbying world, at the Department of State, and—perhaps most importantly—at the White House, insist that the Qataris are only acting at America’s behest. Hamas? They wouldn’t be there if the U.S. hadn’t asked. Iranian money flowing through Qatari banks? Ditto.

Finally, . . . there’s Qatar’s nefarious influence on U.S. universities. Between the numerous “Qatar campuses” and the largely unreported cash gushing to U.S. institutions of higher ed, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Jew-hatred flourishing. And yes, there’s a direct correlation between that cash and anti-Semitism.

It’s way past time for the United States to get serious about this regime. And if the White House won’t, let’s hope that Congress will.
UK challenges ICC jurisdiction over Israel, delaying arrest warrant decision
The International Court of Justice has allowed the United Kingdom to file an amicus brief challenging the court’s jurisdiction over Israeli nationals in the investigation by the Hague tribunal into alleged Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The court’s Pre Trial Chamber I decided on Thursday to give the UK until July 12 to submit its brief, meaning that the decision-making process on whether or not to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will be suspended until a decision can be made on the UK’s challenge.

According to court documents published on Thursday, the UK made its request on June 10, where it cited a decision by the same chamber from 2021 when it ruled that, despite the State of Palestine not being a sovereign state the ICC did have jurisdiction over any alleged violations of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s foundational charter, in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

The UK’s brief noted that the court at the time ruled that it would need to make a final decision on Israel’s claim that the Palestinian Authority’s request to join the ICC violates the Oslo Accords if and when an ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrants against Israeli nationals.

The UK’s argument is that the Palestinian authorities cannot have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the terms of the Oslo Accords, and so it cannot transfer that jurisdiction over to the ICC to prosecute Israelis.

“The United Kingdom submits that the Chamber, pursuant to Article 19(1) of the Rome Statute, ‘is required to make an initial determination of jurisdiction in resolving the application for arrest warrants’ of which ‘[t]he Oslo Accords issue necessarily forms part,’” the court noted.

The court said that other member states of the ICC could file similar briefs if they so wished by the July 12 deadline.

Dr. Tal Mimran, a lecturer in law and technology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a program director at the Tachlith Institute, said he did not expect the decision to delay the ICC’s decision-making process on the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for very long.


These Sinister "Pro-Palestinian" Protests Are a Warning to Us All
The latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza has not been accepted by Yahya Sinwar and his partners in terror.

For the leadership of Hamas, Palestinian casualties of war are a price worth paying for their genocidal aims.

But what of all the people in Western countries who have expressed such anger about the war in Gaza and who have placed huge pressure on Israel to end it?

If people cared so much about innocent Palestinians caught up in the fighting, why are there not tens of thousands on the streets of London every Saturday demanding that Hamas accept the ceasefire, or university campus protests demanding that the terrorists agree to end the war?

On social media, I have not seen any popular hashtags calling for Hamas to agree to the ceasefire. I have not seen the masses on TikTok mobilized against Sinwar and his backers in Iran.

It is a terrible shame they do not realize that the best way to protect the civilians of Gaza is to pressure Hamas to stop the war.

The world feels upside down. Why is it that a democratic state that was the victim of the worst massacre in its history faces all the protests, but the terrorist organization which started it faces none?

There is something so perverse about this that it should act as a warning to us all.
Dershowitz: Showing Weakness Is a Cause of Antisemitism
Prof. Alan Dershowitz told Ynet in an interview Wednesday: "Never before have the Jewish people and the nation-state of the Jewish people been subject to so much antisemitism and it grows not out of the strength of Israel but out of its weakness."

"The antisemitism began on Oct. 7 when Israel showed weakness....Showing weakness is a cause of antisemitism....The only way the Jewish people will ever get peace is through strength."

Q: We see Iran getting close to a nuclear bomb.

Dershowitz: "Israel has to act on its own. Israel has to understand that it can never again count on the unequivocal support of the United States. It can count on some support from the United States, but Israel has to make its own decisions."

"Israel is alone in the world in many aspects and it has to act unilaterally in many instances. It cannot allow Iran to develop a nuclear arsenal and [must] do whatever it takes."
Israel moves to redefine UNRWA: Controversial bill passes preliminary reading
On May 29, 2024, a Bill to Abolish the Immunity and Privileges of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), designating the UN organization as a terrorist organization, passed a preliminary reading with a 42-6 majority in the Israeli parliament.

The same bill will abolish immunities and privileges for UNRWA employees. In the current composition of the Knesset, the bill is likely to pass the final reading, and the Anti-Terrorism Law will also apply. Consequently, Israel will cease its ties with UNRWA.

ENDING REFUGEE status and enabling people to rebuild their lives in dignity is the ultimate goal. In this respect, UNRWA has failed miserably. It has not, nor does it, seek durable solutions. Because the UN resolved that the Palestinian refugees were entitled to the “right of return,” UNRWA operations incentivize Palestinian refugees to avoid rehabilitation which would mean they would lose their right of return to their pre-1947 homes in Palestine, now Israel.

Consequently, UNRWA supports the Palestinians while they, their children, and their grandchildren, hold the “keys” to their “homes in Palestine” and await the destruction of Israel to be able to use them.

Moving forward, the UN may ponder two options. First, UNRWA should consider developing its policy and practice with respect to resettlement and seeking durable solutions. Because UNRWA’s mandate does not include resettlement, Palestinian refugees remain stuck in the refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. Palestinian refugees do not have a country or nationality. Their former homes within the State of Israel do not exist.

Some third countries may be willing to accept these refugees. Much is dependent on the United States to make this happen.

Additionally, according to Article 1D of the Refugee Convention, if Palestinian refugees do not receive help from UNRWA they are entitled to receive assistance from other UN organs. UNHCR would become responsible for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (not in all the 58 recognized refugee camps) if the assistance and protection offered by UNRWA should cease for any reason.

The UN should ensure that the institutions and programs through which it would discharge its mandate do not become Hamas or Hamas-like. It would be futile to replace one allegedly faulty organization with another.


Report: Israeli data points to some 16% of Gaza buildings destroyed in war
Israeli data on destruction caused to Gaza’s infrastructure by the ongoing war points to 16%, or some 36,000 of Gaza’s permanent structures, being damaged beyond repair in the war, Ynet reports.

A report last month by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) based on an analysis of satellite imagery also pointed to some 36,000 buildings destroyed, with another 100,000 damaged.

UN refugee agency UNRWA claimed earlier this month that over 50% of buildings had been completely destroyed, but cited UNOSAT, apparently wrongly, as the UNOSAT report makes no such claim. Rather, it says a total of 55% of buildings were either destroyed or damaged.

The Israeli data is based on extensive aerial surveillance by drones and other aircraft as well as 3D imaging on the ground level, all of which are being conducted on an ongoing basis, the Ynet report says.
IDF to ‘Post’ in Rafah: In first, Hamas may have pre-evacuated its own people
In a first since the start of the Gaza war, Hamas may have pre-evacuated many of the Palestinian civilians in Rafah before the IDF fully invaded, IDF Col. and Nahal Brigade Commander Yair Zuckerman told The Jerusalem Post during a visit to Rafah on Wednesday.

Zuckerman said that he believed Hamas itself pressed for an earlier and quicker evacuation to gain more time to set more booby traps for the IDF once it entered the area.

Zuckerman’s analytical point, if true, would mark a stunning turn of events.

In all prior battles with Hamas – whether in northern Gaza, central Gaza, or Khan Yunis – the Gazan terror group pushed to prevent Palestinian civilians from following evacuation orders.

There were even numerous documented cases in which civilians who were able to speak to the IDF or terrorists who were later captured admitted that large groups of civilians had been held as human shields.

In fact, a cornerstone of Hamas’s strategy was to keep as many civilians as possible nearby to deter Israel from attacking or to increase the likelihood of their own people dying in the crossfire in order to later blame Israel on the world stage.

Against all logic
As such, the idea that Hamas would “assist” the IDF by helping evacuate the 1.4 million civilians who were in Rafah goes against everything that has been known about Hamas’s strategy from October 2023 until last month.

It would seem even stranger in Rafah because the US managed to delay the IDF’s invasion of the city for four months, in no small part based on the idea that an invasion would lead to the largest killing of civilians since the start of the war due to the high volume of people there.

Zuckerman defended his analysis, noting that Hamas’s booby-trapping of Rafah was far more extensive than anywhere else in the Gaza Strip. He said he thought it was unlikely that Hamas would have been able to integrate the number of booby traps into civilians’ homes that the IDF encountered once it invaded if the civilians were still living there.

Supporting Zuckerman’s argument, the international community was surprised at the speed with which the vast majority of the civilians evacuated Rafah, as was the IDF.
Hamas Abducts and Kills Israeli Military Dog, Uses It to Film Propaganda Video
The Israel military on Thursday refuted accusations that one of its canines mauled an elderly Palestinian woman in her home in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya, revealing that the dog was actually abducted and killed by the terrorist group Hamas.

Earlier this week, the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera reported on footage of a dog from the Oketz canine unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appearing to attack the woman. The brutal scene sparked outcry against the IDF online and throughout the Arab world.

According to the IDF, however, the German Shepherd in the video was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, who subsequently used it to film the attack before killing the animal and booby-trapping its body with explosives in the event that Israeli soldiers tried to retrieve their canine comrade.

“The dog shown in the video is an Oketz unit dog that was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization along with the combat equipment on its back. The incident occurred after contact with the dog was lost. The dog was never ordered to harm civilians,” an IDF spokesperson said, according to Israeli media reports. “The dog was killed and booby-trapped to harm our forces, as part of Hamas’ cynical exploitation.”

Earlier in the week on Tuesday, a video released by Al Jazeera showed an elderly, bedridden Palestinian woman, later identified as Dawlat Al Tanani, being mauled after she “refused to be forced out her house.” In an interview with the Qatari network, Al Tanani claimed to suffer “critical injuries” as a result of the attack. An Al Jazeera journalist also claimed to possess unpublished “exclusive footage of the injuries.” Al Tanini did not appear to have any injuries in Al-Jazeera’s interview.

Al Jazzera has been widely accused of broadcasting pro-Hamas propaganda during the war in Gaza. The network is partially funded by Qatar, which for years has hosted the Palestinian terrorist group’s top political leaders.

The footage of the dog attack sparked outrage and condemnation online. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, posted on X/Twitter, “Shocking footage of an Israeli army dog attacking and viciously biting a 66-year-old Palestinian woman in her house in Jabaliya city, north of Gaza. Cowards!” Others online accused the IDF of “terrorism” and “war crimes.”

Hamas terrorists used the kidnapped dog to film the 12-second propaganda video before killing it and booby-trapping its body, according to the IDF.


IDF Captain Killed, 16 Soldiers Wounded in IED Attacks in Jenin
Latest Developments
An Israeli soldier was killed and 16 wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the West Bank city of Jenin in the early hours of June 27. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) named the fallen soldier as Capt. Alon Sagciu, 22, a sniper team commander in the Kfir Brigade’s Haruv reconnaissance unit. A spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack occurred during an overnight IDF raid in Jenin aimed at flushing out or killing Hamas terrorists in the city. According to the IDF’s initial assessment, a Panther armored personnel carrier (APC) was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the road, causing minor injuries to the service personnel traveling inside. Sagciu and the other soldiers who arrived to provide assistance were standing outside the APC when a second IED exploded.

A prior sweep of the road failed to discover the IEDs, which were buried about five feet below the ground — much deeper than is normally the case. According to The Times of Israel, the IDF is “probing how the bombs were activated, either by wire or wirelessly. Findings at the scene indicated that both methods could have been used.”

Expert Analysis
“As they fight to destroy Hamas in Gaza, the Israelis are also working to prevent parts of the West Bank from becoming terrorism zones. The sophistication of this attack suggests not only the brazenness of the local Palestinian terrorists but also the possibility that they have been receiving outside instruction and materiel.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“There are over two dozen active branches belonging to terrorist groups in the West Bank, each operating with impunity against Israeli forces. At the helm of this intricate network is Iran’s proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with its Jenin branch playing a pivotal role. Moreover, the current Israeli military strategy seems to be insufficient to stem the tide of terrorism. The IDF must adapt and intensify its efforts to counter the menace that has taken hold in the West Bank.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

IDF Stepping Up Counter-Terror Operations in Jenin
The rare attack took place as Israeli forces mounted another of their by-now regular sweeps in Jenin, which has become a terrorism incubator following years of fecklessness and neglect by the Palestinian Authority. According to Palestinian officials, the IDF took 28 terrorism suspects into custody during the Jenin operation. Since Hamas terrorists carried out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel, the IDF has arrested some 4,150 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,750 affiliated with Hamas.


Israel seeking to create 5 km. 'dead zone' in southern Lebanon
An investigation by the Financial Times has claimed that the IDF's operations in southern Lebanon are part of a plan to create a 5 km. "dead zone" on the border.

The FT combined data from satellites along with research from US universities using “synthetic aperture radar” satellites to detect changes in buildings without being affected by cloud cover.

Following the beginning of the war in October, Hezbollah began firing on Israel, with Israel responding in kind.

The report also stated that that over 95,000 Lebanese have been displaced, as well as 60,000 Israelis.

The FT also reported that Israel has killed more Hezbollah commanders in this flare-up than died in the 2006 war.

Hezbollah fighters quoted in the report balked at the idea that they would withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Lebanese officials seemed to hope that a wider war could be stemmed by the creation of a buffer zone and a diplomatic solution.


Two killed in alleged Israeli airstrike near Damascus
An Israeli air strike in the Damascus area on Wednesday night killed at least two people and wounded a Syrian soldier, Syrian state media reported on Thursday.

“Around 11:40 p.m., the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of points in the southern region,” a military source told the regime’s SANA outlet.

The attacks also caused “some material losses,” the report added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor aligned with the Syrian opposition, reported that the strike targeted the Hezbollah-run Jihad al-Bina development foundation, which the U.S. State Department has designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.

Israel rarely admits to attacks on Syrian territory, although in February Jerusalem revealed that it had attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terror groups in Syria since Oct. 7.


White House admits Israel not to blame for aid failing to reach Gazans
After demanding for months that Jerusalem let more supplies enter the Gaza Strip, with Israel insisting that the bottlenecks are on the Gaza side, the U.S. appeared to come around to Israel’s position on Wednesday.

“Though Kerem Shalom is open and trucks are queued up outside, not a lot of them are getting in, and it’s not because of the Israelis,” White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said at a press briefing.

Kirby blamed the problem on looting by Gazan “criminal gangs and thugs.” He insisted the criminals were not connected to Hamas, although the U.S. has blamed Hamas in the past for stealing supplies, with the administration notably condemning the terrorist group for hijacking a large aid convoy from Jordan in May.

In pointing to gangs as the culprits, the White House also ignored Israeli reports of widespread theft by Hamas, which it says has been stealing up to 60% of the aid entering the Gaza Strip.

A Channel 12 report in May revealed that Hamas had made at least $500 million in profit off such aid since the start of the war, turning around and selling it to the civilian population.

Admitted Kirby, “I’m not trying to pull—take Hamas off the hook here, because Hamas has, in fact, allowed some of this activity to go on and don’t have the best interests of the people of Gaza forefront in their minds.”

If the administration is no longer holding Israel responsible for the aid jam up, it would represent a shift in thinking. Less than two weeks ago, the State Department sanctioned an Israeli protest group for “harassing and damaging convoys” (something the group denies).
US envoy to UN pans Israel for blaming aid groups for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticizes Israel for blaming humanitarian agencies for the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Israel has routinely castigated the UN and other agencies for failing to keep up with the pace of its delivery of aid to Gaza. The aid agencies have argued that lawlessness has made it unsafe to deliver aid and that Israeli military operations have also thwarted their efforts.

“Humanitarian workers have been killed or seriously hurt in the field at an unprecedented level,” Thomas-Greenfield says in an address to the InterAction Forum of NGOs in New York.

“The lack of effective deconfliction mechanism in Gaza nearly nine months into this conflict is, frankly, unacceptable. It is unconscionable,” the envoy continues.

“It is unacceptable to blame humanitarians for not delivering food when conditions are not safe,” she says.


In 1st since closing of Rafah crossing, Gaza children evacuated for medical treatment
Twenty-one critically ill children exited Gaza on Thursday in the first medical evacuation since the territory’s sole travel crossing was shut down in early May, Palestinian officials said.

The nearly nine-month Israel-Hamas war has devastated Gaza’s health sector and forced many of its hospitals to shut down. Health officials say thousands of people need medical treatment abroad, including hundreds of urgent cases.

Family members bid a tearful goodbye to the children as they and their escorts left the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis bound for the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with Israel. Family members said was not clear where they would receive treatment.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military body that coordinates civilian affairs in Gaza, later said the children, accompanied by 47 adults, were going to Egypt.

The effort was carried out in coordination with the US, Egypt, and the international community, said the Israel Defense Forces.

COGAT said the move was part of a policy “to enable and alleviate the operation of medical facilities on a sufficient scale in the Gaza Strip.”

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one available for people to travel in or out, shut down after the IDF captured it during their operation in the city early last month. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side is returned to Palestinian control.


Jerusalem’s new October 7 exhibition: ‘I had to sit down and weep’
There was a moment, when being shown around a new Jerusalem museum exhibit about October 7, that I had to just sit down and weep. All the pain, the murder, the brutality is there – and is impossible to avoid – and the sterile atmosphere of the museum, in the basement of a beautiful building, somehow makes it starker.

By collating stories of the Hamas attack and presenting them using the most cutting-edge technology – of course, this is still Israel – From Darkness to Light at the Museum of Tolerance brings home the huge scale of the horror. All around me, the European MPs and journalists on the Elnet tour I was on were wiping away tears.

There are some who, when contemplating visiting Israel, feel they must go to the kibbutzim on the Gaza border and “bear witness”. Although I wouldn’t stop you, it isn’t necessary for we aren’t the people who need convincing. Plus many of the people who live on the kibbutzim, while welcoming the support from people around the world, are tired of their homes being used as a living museum exhibit.

So if you are planning to go to Israel – and they want and need their tourists back – go to this museum and visit one of the most disturbing exhibitions you will ever see.

It opens with a huge clock set to 06.29. This was the time the invasion started, a time after which when neither Israel nor world Jewry would ever be quite the same again.
Sky News host's emotional tribute to victims of October 7 massacre
Sky News Digital Presenter Gabriella Power recently visited Israel as it continues its war against the terrorist group Hamas, and reveals the shocking stories she encountered in the Middle East.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say the seven days I spent there changed my life,” Ms Power said.

“It’s a country that is right now fighting for its existence.

“They’re in a war not just with Hamas in Gaza – or about to be with Hezbollah in the north – but they’re fighting against the ferocious hate coming from all over the world as people every day openly call for the destruction of Israel.”




35,000 attend Tel Aviv concert remembering Nova festival massacre
Tens of thousands of revelers attend the We Will Dance Again concert at Tel Aviv’s Park HaYarkon to remember the hundreds of people massacred at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Channel 13 reports that 35,000 people are in attendance, and several stars are performing, including rock singer Berry Sakharof, hard rock band HaYehudim, Mosh Ben Ari, Marina Maximillian, Girafot, as well as several techno DJs.

Nimrod Arnoni, the founder of the Tribe of Nova which organized the festival, tells the audience that despite his pain, he was excited to be there.

“The Nova is a magical place where time stands still. At that Shabbat at the beginning of October, our light was tested. A test that we never imagined in our greatest nightmares we would need to pass. The ultimate darkness challenged the great light of the Tribe of Nova,” he says, vowing: “We will dance again.”

“They can hurt us, but they can never beat us. We were stronger than them, and it will remain so,” he says.

Iris Ben Lulu, whose son Orel Abuhatzira was murdered at the festival on October 7, tells the crowd: “Since October 7, everything burst out and I feel there are no limits, no barriers and everything is free, and I am allowed to express myself and the pain. It’s very exciting that they gave us the right and the platform. I’m sure out children are proud.”


Call Me Back PodCast: Where was the IDF on Oct 7? – with Ronen Bergman
Hosted by Dan Senor
One of the questions we repeatedly get from you, our listeners, is – “Where was the IDF on October 7th?” It’s a topic that we have strenuously avoided. After the war, there will be a formal commission of inquiry that attempts to understand all that went wrong and why. There will be a time and a place for that.

And yet, as the war in Gaza winds down, and as Israel prepares for another possible war, this question re-emerges. What lessons can be learned? More and more journalists in Israel are exploring the topic. So, we are going to dedicate an episode from time to time in the weeks ahead to try to understand what these journalists are learning.

Our only caveat is that this is a difficult topic to explore – for all the obvious reasons. The information is uneven… there is still an element of fog of war.

When I was in Israel last week, I visited Ronen Bergman in his home in Ramat HaSharon, to have a long conversation about what he has pieced together.

Ronen is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and Senior Correspondent for Military and Intelligence Affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily. Ronen recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on this war and the pre-war intelligence failures.

He has published numerous books, including:
“Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations”
And also, “The Secret War with Iran”

Ronen is also a member of the Israeli bar (he clerked in the Attorney General’s Office), and has a master’s degree in international relations, as well as a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University.

Read Ronen’s piece in The New York Times here.
Ask a Jew PodCast: Urban Warfare Urban Legends with John Spencer
Why war isn't as simple as two armies fighting, the obsession with "2,000 pound bombs", Hamas's non-battlefield strategy (which the media helps it achieve) and so much more with John Spencer.

No one understands the intricacies of modern warfare like John Spencer. As a retired US Army Major and chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, not only has he studied war for years, he also put his boots on the ground as a soldier and researcher (including several visits to Gaza over the last year). So of course, we asked him the important questions - are we all going to die? Is he single? And why is he so obsessed with concrete?


The Israel Guys: HUGE Controversy Over Another Israeli Airstrike, Also Netanyahu Pulls Troops Out of Gaza
Israel neutralized an MSF worker in an airstrike this week and the world is outraged. Who was this man and is the media’s reporting on the story accurate?

Meanwhile, the IDF continues to strike precise areas and targets in the Gaza Strip as Netanyahu announces that the intense fighting inside Rafah is winding down.


U.S. -- Noa Tishby: We should all speak up! -- Ep. #146
On the recent launch of her NY Times bestseller UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH A JEW co-written with Emmanuel Acho -- Noa Tishby tells us all to stop being complacent and instead start to speak up.




‘Extremist Islamist groups’ influencing student protests at Sydney University
The University of Sydney has welcomed into its decision-making processes “voices that are influenced by extremist Islamist groups”, says Strategic Analysis Australia Director Michael Shoebridge.

“(Voices) that clearly celebrated and advocated violence, including celebrating the atrocities of October 7,” he told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“You can see by giving groups influenced by those voices a seat at the table in decisions about the university makes every Jewish person fearful, anxious and I would say more than disappointed in the University of Sydney.”




Civil rights leaders launch ‘UnMaskHateNY’ campaign as city grapples with ‘alarming’ rise in antisemitism
Likening it to the effort to bring down the Ku Klux Klan, national civil rights leaders are launching an “#UnmaskHateNY” campaign urging the passing of laws barring bigots from using face coverings to hide their identities while harassing or terrorizing Jews, blacks and other Americans.

“Those who carried out the violence at Charlottesville and on Jan. 6 may have felt there would be no repercussions. They were wrong, but only because we saw their faces,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, referring to the deadly white power rally in Virginia in 2017 and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Had they been masked, not only would they have gotten away with literal murder, but they would have been emboldened to continue and escalate the violence,” he added.

The #UnmaskHateNY coalition will finance a paid media ad campaign throughout the summer and fall to raise awareness about the drive to outlaw “masked intimidation with intent” to harass and terrorize others, a spokesman said.

Jewish leaders have told The Post that escalating antisemitism in New York has reached breaking point — with some comparing the city to the 1930s and the rise of Nazism.

Hateful vandals recently splattered red paint on the home of the Brooklyn Museum director and Jewish board members, and at least two homes were also daubed with a red triangle symbol that Hamas uses to denote targets marked for death.

Many of the crimes are committed by masked vandals or harassers traveling in groups spreading hate-filled terror, including in the subway.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said “antisemitic and harassing” conduct has erupted on New York streets and campuses of “our most elite institutions” in recent months.

“We have noticed a common, alarming trend. Many of those who are protesting are engaging in harassment and intimidation behind masks to conceal their identities and to terrorize their targets. We say enough is enough,” he said.

“UnMaskHateNY will hold those who engage in this harmful conduct accountable and make all of our communities safer.”
Anti-Israel protester who told ‘Zionists’ to ID themselves on subway now hides face from press after arrest following weeks-long manhunt
The anti-Israel protester who allegedly stormed a Big Apple subway car and demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands was arrested Wednesday following a weeks-long manhunt, cops said.

Anas Saleh, 24, of Staten Island, turned himself in with his attorney at around 9.30 a.m. after the NYPD released a wanted poster last week with his face splashed across it in the wake of the hate-filled incident at Manhattan’s Union Square station.

Saleh was spotted wearing a face mask as he left the NYPD’s Transit Bureau District 2 in Lower Manhattan — flanked by several people who attempted to shield him from press photographers using scarves and black umbrellas.

He was charged with attempted coercion and released with a desk appearance ticket, authorities said.

Saleh, who is believed to have worked as a research tech at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Rhee Lab, was quickly outed as the alleged perp on social media, with Jewish activist groups also circulating his image on social media in a bid to track him down.

The school’s dean, Robert Harrington, addressed the antisemitic subway saga in a letter fired off to Cornell employees – but stopped short of mentioning Saleh by name or his arrest.

“We condemn antisemitism in the strongest possible terms. Hate speech or actions of any kind, whether anti-Semitic or Islamophobic, are not tolerated by our community,” Harrington said in the statement Wednesday.

“We are fully cooperating with the NYPD investigation, as well as conducting our own internal review, in the incident. If any employee is confirmed to be involved in this incident, appropriate action will be taken.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Saleh was still employed there as of Wednesday, but his biography page on the lab’s website appears to have been deleted.


Jewish women mocked by Virgin Atlantic at JFK, denied permission to fly
Two Jewish women reported antisemitic treatment by Virgin Atlantic staff at JFK airport.

They have filed a complaint about the June 17 incident, when they were denied permission to fly for no stated reason.

The women had planned to travel from JFK airport to Tel Aviv with a layover in London.

After they had received their boarding passes and were waiting at the gate for their 11:59 flight, at 10:50 pm, when they presented their passports, a Virgin Atlantic staff member who they said had dark skin and was wearing a cross took them aside and explained that they were denied permission to fly, that they were taken off the passenger’s list, and that their luggage was removed from the plane.

The women reported that they felt their removal from the flight was motivated by antisemitism.

In addition, other Virgin Atlantic staff members at the gate began mocking them and making blatant antisemitic statements directed towards them.

El Al staff witnessed the incident, were shocked by what occurred, and agreed that the actions seemed discriminatory.

The two women were forced to pay an additional $800 for new tickets at the El Al counter and have filed a complaint with Virgin Atlantic.

The airline acknowledged the receipt of the complaint and said it is conducting its own investigation into the matter.

Since October 7th, there have been increasing reports of Jews being denied service by companies and subjected to antisemitic harassment.
Tabletop game awards won't occur at convention after no Zionists rule backlash
An awards event for tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG) will not be held at a game convention for the hobby following backlash over the award event’s rules excluding Zionists.

Creator Recognition in TTRPG (CRIT) Awards announced on June 14 that it had amended its code of conduct to include the rule that “individuals who identify as Zionists, promote Zionist material, or engage in activities that without a doubt support Zionism are not eligible for nomination.”

The clause on Zionism was included in a section of the code on inclusivity and respect, which banned sexism, “ableism,” homophobia, and “any form of racism, racial discrimination, or xenophobia.”

The change was made after open public nominations had closed on May 31 and as finalists were announced on June 14. Voting by the public was set to conclude on July 7.

The CRIT Awards received criticism on social media for prohibiting Zionists, with many commentators arguing that the move conflicted with the award show’s mission to “recognize creators in an inclusive and positive way.”

The event was set to be held at Gen Con, established in 1967 by Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax and the largest and longest-running gaming convention in North America.

On Tuesday, the Crit Awards announced on social media that their show at Gen Con would not take place “due to recent events and the attention that we have received,” as well as “due to safety concerns.”

The organizers said they would move forward with a virtual event and that those who had purchased tickets for Gen Con could have them refunded.


Anti-Israel, radical left vandals enjoy impunity in the UK
For both Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil, Woodcock concluded that the prosecution had failed to deter activists. Just Stop Oil claimed that since the group was launched in February 2022 until June 2023, its supporters had been arrested 2,200 times, resulting in 238 convictions. Many of these were repeat arrests.

“Prosecutions of Palestine Action activists appear to be having little impact on the group’s determination to shut down defense technology company Elbit UK, which the group targets for its links to Israel, Woodcock wrote, adding that the group claimed that as of July 2023, 100 activists were facing a custodial sentence.

In response to having their wrists slapped, activists have continued to attack monuments and businesses, causing millions of pounds in damages.

It is inconceivable that any other causes, especially if they were right-wing or centrist, would enjoy such a privilege. It is unlikely that white supremacists would find themselves in a British courtroom being told that their genuine belief in their cause was a mitigating circumstance.

Indeed, while Woodcock’s report on coercive radicals said there was greater threat of violence from the far right, he wrote: “I find a worrying gap in our understanding of the extreme left, whose activists do not routinely employ violent methods yet systematically seek to undermine faith in our parliamentary democracy and the rule of law.”

Woodcock declined to definitively call for the proscribing of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, although it seemed to meet the criteria. Low-level terrorist activity, and targeting civilian property with violence to force a political goal, is still terrorism. Instead, Woodcock called for a new system of sanctions to prevent Palestine Action from assembling and fundraising.

As the UK faces the likely prospect of a Labor government, it is unclear if it will sanction or condone such organizations. So far, they have had free reign to do as they please, and all evidence indicates that they know it.

Mercy on the guilty is cruelty to the innocent, Adam Smith said in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. By allowing these cruelties to British society to continue for so long, the government has tacitly supported them and the causes that inform them.
Vandalism campaign smashes, ransacks Israel-connected businesses in UK
The ransacking and vandalism of a Buckinghamshire defense company on Thursday is the latest in a post-October 7 Massacre campaign of property damage and defacement by an anti-Israel activist group that has been operating in the United Kingdom for years.

Palestine Action, an anti-Israel network with branches in the US and throughout Europe, has been engaged in "direct action" against Israeli defense firms and businesses accused of associating with them since 2020, but has escalated its operations during the Israel-Hamas war. Since inception its chief preoccupation has been the Israel defense contractor Elbit Systems.

So-called "actionists" claimed to have broken into Grid Defense Systems' Buckinghamshire building on Thursday. In a video in social media, activists defenestrated the contents of the office's rooms, casting it onto the grounds outside.

"From inside, arms components are dismantled and shipments destined for Elbit are completely shattered," said Palestine Action, claiming that they had discovered in a June 17 Kent raid on Elbit that suppliers for the company had been discovered. "Unless they cut ties with Elbit, we will shut down each one of them."

Palestine Action has been targeting financial institutions for alleged investments or ties to Elbit.

Activists smashed the windows and splashed paint on JP Morgan's Edinburgh offices on Wednesday.




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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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