Wednesday, September 04, 2024

09/04 Links Pt1: A Letter to My Israeli Neighbors; Israel Complied with UN Resolutions; Peace Never Came; Lammy's lamentable libels

From Ian:

A Letter to My Israeli Neighbors
To my neighbors, to my supposed enemies,

These have been the darkest of days for you. They have been dark for me, too. All I want to do is give you a hug. But I cannot do that.

For one, I am a Palestinian who lives in a small village in the West Bank. The crossings have been closed ever since October 7, so I cannot physically reach you, despite being just a few miles away.

But beyond the practical barriers that exist between us, people like me aren’t supposed to embrace people like you. Where I come from, we are called traitors for doing just that.

I had always been proud to be Palestinian. That changed on October 7. Seeing those images of women, children, and elderly taken as hostages or killed by Hamas, I felt deeply ashamed that such hate could have any home among my people. And I said so. I spoke out publicly on social media—saying that the massacre was unequivocally wrong—and expressing my love for my friends in Israel.

Now, I’m trying to flee the neighborhood I called home for my entire life because the people around me don’t understand how I could hold such a belief. Because being called a traitor means something where I live. It means groups like Hamas will try to kill you.

If I’m a traitor for saying that murdering and kidnapping innocent women, babies, and the elderly is wrong then yes, I am a traitor. If I’m a traitor for weeping alone in my bedroom over the murder of six more innocent souls by terrorists who are on the side of endless death and destruction, then yes, call me a traitor.
Ian Haworth: Joe Biden Blames the Jews for the Crime of Fighting to Live
Netanyahu's duty, as prime minister of Israel, is to return the hostages and ensure peace and security for his own citizens. Biden's duty, as president of the United States, is to do the same for his own citizens, one of whom was just murdered by Hamas. And yet Joe Biden is pushing Hamas propaganda, blaming the Jews for the actions of those who wish to destroy them.

First, let's say that a ceasefire is the most important goal (which, it must be said, it is not). Israel has accepted multiple deals. Meanwhile, Hamas — the terrorists who are busy murdering Israeli hostages — has not.

If one side accepts a deal and the other does not, in what world is the side that accepted the deal to blame for the other's rejection?

But second, and far more importantly, do not miss the deeply antisemitic trick being played by Biden and those who are propping him up.

Hamas set this timeline in motion. Hamas engaged in the deadliest day of violence against Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7. Hamas slaughtered 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians. Hamas raped, tortured, mutilated. Hamas took hostages. Hamas murdered hostages.

But when Jews have the audacity to defend themselves against an ongoing threat — Hamas, after all, has promised to continue their attempted genocide no matter the cost — Jews are to blame, and Hamas is blameless.

Jews are to blame when they are attacked by Hamas, and Hamas is blameless. Jews are to blame when they fight back against Hamas, and Hamas is blameless. Jews are to blame when they agree to ceasefire or hostage agreements that Hamas rejects, and Hamas is blameless.

In a sane world, Hamas would be condemned as the evil barbarians they are, and Israel celebrated for their entirely justified actions in defense of their own sovereignty.

But we do not live in a sane world. For Hamas, who needs friends when you have enemies like Joe Biden, the same sort of naive, clueless and bigoted morons who would have blamed Jews for the spread of disease hundreds of years ago, who today blame Jews for committing the ultimate crime: fighting to live.
Israel Complied with UN Resolutions; Peace Never Came
In 2000, Israel did not foresee Nasrallah transforming his militia from defensive to offensive. Perhaps that was why, in 2005, Israel replicated its unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon by conceding Palestinian territories, even without prior agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) under Mahmud Abbas.

Israel dismantled settlements, pulled out 10,000 Israelis, and withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip entirely and the northern part of the West Bank, around Jenin and Tulkarem.

Withdrawal was expected to boost the popularity of the PA, but its corruption and incompetence cost it the legislative election that Hamas won in 2006. By June 2007, Hamas had violently ejected the PA from Gaza. Palestinians now had two governments.

In the West Bank, under PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the economy grew and security improved. Fayyad’s competence, however, deprived Abbas and his cronies of their public money spoils.

In 2013, Abbas ejected Fayyad, causing a backslide in the economy and security. Hamas started recruiting in Jenin, from where the terrorist group organized attacks — such as shootings, ramming cars, and knifings — against Israelis. The Israeli military was forced to operate in the West Bank, thus compounding Palestinian misery. When Abbas visited Jenin in July 2023, Palestinians chased him away.

Since October 2023, Israel has had to go into most of Gaza and intensified its incursions into the West Bank. Israel has also had to fight against Hezbollah to restore normalcy to its north.

Thirty-one years after Israel started experimenting with coordinated withdrawals with Palestinian leaders, 24 years after Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon, 19 years after it left Gaza and Jenin, and only one year after Jerusalem signed on to a US-sponsored maritime border demarcation deal with Beirut, none of the deals or unilateral withdrawals brought Israel peace.

For its concessions, Israel got a Hamas massacre of 1,200 of its citizens on October 7, the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Then, on October 8, Israel found itself facing Hezbollah attacks that have depopulated its north.

And despite all of this, UN Secretary-General Guterres believes the end of Palestinian and Lebanese violence against Israel will only result from more Israeli withdrawals, as if three decades of Israeli concessions have not proven the futility of compromising — and that Jews, Israelis, and foreign citizens will die as a result.


Caroline Glick: JNS poll: Majority of Israelis back Netanyahu on Philadelphi, oppose protests
An overwhelming majority of Israelis support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiation positions regarding a hostage deal with Hamas and oppose anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv demanding an immediate deal at any price, according to a new, in-depth JNS poll.

Netanyahu’s positions are supported not only by coalition-party voters, but also by approximately one third of voters for opposition parties, the survey found.

Direct Polls conducted the survey on Monday evening both before and after the prime minister’s press conference, finding a significant disparity in Netanyahu’s favor in the latter sampling.

At the press conference, Netanyahu set out the rationale for his refusal to remove Israel Defense Forces troops from the border zone between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, its code name on IDF maps.

JNS asked respondents: “Do you believe Israel should support or oppose a deal that conditions the receipt of between 18-30 hostages on an IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor for six weeks, during which Hamas will be able to rearm and smuggle hostages out of Gaza?”

Thirty-five percent of respondents overall said that Israel should agree to such a deal, while 62% opposed it. Three percent had no opinion.

Among coalition party voters, 7% supported withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border, compared to 62% of opposition voters. Ninety-two percent of coalition voters opposed the withdrawal and 33% of opposition voters opposed withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor.

Notably, 65% of opposition voters polled before the press conference supported withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor, and only 57% of opposition voters polled afterwards supported that position. Support for the withdrawal among coalition voters decreased from 8% to 5%.

The disparity between the way opposition party voters polled before and after Netanyahu’s press conference viewed mass anti-government protests on behalf of a hostage deal was even more apparent. Fifty-two percent of opposition party voters surveyed before Netanyahu’s press conference thought that the demonstrations advanced the goal of getting the hostages home. Thirty-two percent said that the demonstrations had no impact on whether or not a deal would be achieved that would get the hostages home. Sixteen percent said that the demonstrations decreased the chance of getting a hostage deal with Hamas.
US announces federal terror charges against Hamas chiefs for Oct. 7
The U.S. Department of Justice announced terrorism charges against senior leaders of Hamas for carrying out the Oct. 7 massacre.

Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, announced the charges on Tuesday evening in a recorded message. He said that Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders oversaw “a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States.”

“On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians,” Garland said. “This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered an additional six people they had kidnapped and held captive for nearly a year, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli American.”

Garland said the federal government is investigating Goldberg-Polin’s murder, and that “each and every one of Hamas’s brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism.”

“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations,” Garland said. “These actions will not be our last.”

The newly unsealed complaint charges Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka with seven counts each related to the Oct. 7 attacks. Those include conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.

Haniyeh, Deif and Issa are reportedly dead. Meshaal and Baraka are based in Qatar and Lebanon, respectively, while Sinwar is believed to be in the Gaza Strip.

“The Justice Department has a long memory,” Garland said in the recorded message. “We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans, and those who illegally provide them with material support, for the rest of their lives.”

Dated Feb. 1, the complaint notes that on Oct. 7, more than 2,000 Hamas fighters massacred more than 1,000 people and kidnapped more than 200 others. It adds that the terrorists “weaponized sexual violence against Israeli women, including rape and genital mutilation.”

“As of the date of this complaint, at least 43 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least 10 American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for,” per the complaint.
Eugene Kontorovich: Israel Daily News – War Day 334 | September 4, 2024
In today's episode of ILTV Daily News: The United States has filed criminal charges against key Hamas leaders; the US and Israel clash over new version of the hostage deal; Israel's finance minster presents the 2025 budget and the cost of war; and so much more.




Melanie Phillips: Lammy's lamentable libels
On Monday, as Israelis were busy burying their dead, the British foreign secretary David Lammy announced that his country is suspending 30 of 350 licenses for the export of arms to Israel, in order to prevent possible violations of international humanitarian law. It’s worth noting that, according to the UK’s own offficial assessments, the IDF hasn’t broken any such laws. Melanie Phillips comments:

The defense secretary, John Healey, said the UK remained “a staunch ally of Israel” but that the British government had a “duty to the rule of law.” But Israel isn’t breaking any law. Nor does the British government say it is. It says merely there’s a “serious risk” that it might.

But there’s no evidence to back that either. It’s an entirely tendentious assertion by the Foreign Office, which has drawn overwhelmingly on malicious falsehoods produced by the Hamas-linked UN and NGOs that lie reflexively about Israel as part of a global strategy to bring about its destruction.

The impact on Israel’s military capabilities will indeed be minimal. Israel buys relatively few weapons from Britain, which buys far more weapons from Israel. Given the incalculable benefits Britain also derives from Israeli intelligence and military expertise—the very expertise the British government has now besmirched by recycling Hamas-derived lies and distortions—Britain has far more to lose than Israel from a cooling of this relationship.

The arms embargo is but the latest in a series of deeply hostile moves against Israel by the new Labor government.

For instance: as Phillips details, another government minister recently bragged about getting preferential treatment at an emergency room because a doctor recognized her and remembered her anti-Israel positions.
Labour’s Israel arms ban is a shameful betrayal of a heroic ally
The Foreign Secretary badly underestimated the repugnance which his disrespect to a sorrowing Israel would provoke. Foreign minister Israel Katz left him in no doubt. “This step sends a very problematic message to the Hamas terrorist organisation and its backers in Iran,” Katz said. “Israel is disappointed by the British Government’s recent series of decisions... Israel is a law-abiding state that operates in accordance with international law… we expect friendly countries, such as the UK, to recognise this… especially just days after Hamas terrorists executed six Israeli hostages, and in light of recent threats by the Iranian regime to attack the State of Israel.”

Lammy even managed to earn himself a stinging rebuke from the Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis who has shown heroic reserves of patience with Sir Keir Starmer and his insistence that anti-Semitism has been purged from the Labour Party. (Don’t think for a moment the Prime Minister didn’t approve the decision to suspend those arms exports. It has emotionally-constipated robot written all over it.)

“Israel faces down the threat of Iran and its proxies not just to its own people, but to all of us in the democratic West,” tweeted the Chief Rabbi. “Britain and Israel have so much to gain by standing together against our common enemies for the sake of a safer world.”

Millions of us would agree with that sentiment. We know we owe Israel a huge debt of gratitude for sacrificing her people to hold the line against the erasure of our civilisation which, despite its problems, we still prefer to any other. It shouldn’t be complicated. Either you stand against a regime which arrests and kills young women who refuse to cover their hair and hangs men from cranes for being gay, or you give comfort to the devil.

It has only become complicated in this country since we had MPs who parrot the propaganda of a proscribed terrorist organisation. Too many now regard our “common enemies” as friends. I feel sick knowing there are men in our Parliament who think the fiends who abducted sweet Hersh and the others have a point. Every week, we see further disturbing evidence that there is a parallel society within the UK which abides by different civilisational norms to our own – most recently a man convicted for beating up three young women at a petrol station who dared to wear make-up and not dress in “conservative” fashion. Dismayingly, the Labour Government has just shown a willingness to promote the interests of that parallel society over and above the one we know and trust. So we end up with a nonsensical, two-tier foreign policy.

What can be done? In a hugely impressive speech on Monday, launching her campaign to become Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch said: “When everyone was talking about the five new MPs from Reform, I was far, far more worried about the five new MPs elected on the back of sectarian Islamist politics – alien ideas that have no place here. That’s the sort of politics we need to defeat – and defeat quickly.” Identity politics, political laws, according to Badenoch, are “used by Left-wingers to protect certain groups above others”. Yes, and those groups don’t include Jews.

I am travelling to Israel very soon. I am steeling myself to meet the remarkable person whose job it was to prepare the bodies of the women murdered on October 7 for burial, who bore witness to the diabolical sexual violence the women and girls endured at the hands of Hamas and who restored to them some dignity, some final tenderness. I could cry thinking about it. The whole world should be crying.

I will apologise to every Israeli I meet for the tawdry betrayal by the British Government. I will explain that Israel is still our valued ally, an oasis of democracy in a desert of tyranny, our Foreign Secretary is a grandstanding halfwit and Labour is just trying to appease groups with whom most decent people disagree. I will say that and I will hope, actually I will pray, that it’s true.

Am Yisrael Chai.


Evening Edition: Hamas Kills Six Hostages Including An American
The Israel Defense Forces says the Hamas terror group killed six hostages just before they arrived during a rescue operation. One of the victims was twenty three year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen who was abducted at the Re'im music festival massacre on 'Oct. 7th.' Meanwhile, Britain's defense minister said announced the suspension of 30 of its 350 arms export licenses to Israel.

FOX’s Eben Brown speaks with Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and international human rights lawyer, who says even with these murders, Israel continues to receive undo criticism of how they have conducted the war.
JPost Editorial: UK betrays Israel: Arms freeze sends dangerous signal, risking security
The implications of this decision extend far beyond the immediate impact on Israel’s military capabilities. By freezing arms sales, the UK is signaling to the world that it is willing to abandon its allies when the going gets tough. This is not just a question of military hardware; it is a question of moral support. Israel has always been on the front lines of the fight against terrorism and extremism, acting as a bulwark against the spread of radical ideologies that threaten not only the Middle East but the entire world. By withdrawing its support, the UK is undermining not just Israel’s security but the security of the free world.

Moreover, this decision raises uncomfortable questions about the UK’s broader foreign policy priorities. Is the UK now more concerned with appeasing Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood than with supporting a democratic ally that shares its values? Iran, after all, is the principal backer of Hamas, providing financial, logistical, and military support to a group whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, has long sought to destabilize the region and spread its radical Islamist ideology. By freezing arms sales to Israel, the UK risks emboldening these forces at a time when they should be firmly opposed.

Israel is not just another country in the Middle East; it is the region’s only true democracy, with a robust legal system, free press, and a commitment to human rights that is unparalleled in the region. Israel’s struggle against Hamas is not only about defending its borders; it is about defending the values that underpin its society – values that are strikingly similar to those that the UK claims to hold dear. By turning its back on Israel, the UK is betraying an ally and betraying its own principles.

The UK’s decision to freeze arms sales to Israel is a grave mistake that must be reversed. It is a blow to the moral and strategic partnership between the two nations, and a gift to the enemies of democracy and freedom. Israel will continue its fight against Hamas with or without British arms, but the UK must decide whether it wants to stand with its ally or be swayed by the forces of appeasement and moral relativism. History will judge this decision, and the UK must ensure that it is on the right side of that judgment.


A Time to Mourn: What Will It Take to Free the Israeli Hostages?
Jon Polin said it well at the Democratic National Convention, declaring to thunderous applause that the freedom of Israeli hostages, including his son Hersh, among five Americans, is a humanitarian issue.

But Hersh would never taste freedom again. Hamas terrorists brutally murdered Hersh along with five other hostages just days after his parents spoke.

For Hamas, the hostages are less than human; they are objects, trade commodities, chips used to demand the best deal; and when they are no longer deemed useful, they are savagely executed.

In contrast, for Israel, each hostage is of unique and inestimable value, each has a human story. Who would not be moved by Hersh's story: a young man, a lover of song and dance, a seeker of peace, of life—arm blown off by Hamas terrorists as he was carted off. Who would not be moved by Hersh's mother, Rachel, crying out at Hersh's funeral "Okay sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it's as good as the trips you dreamt about, because finally, my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, you're free."

As negotiations for the release of the hostages plod on, these tragic, real-life stories emotionally set off the heart to break, to cry. The humanitarian concern overrides all diplomatic considerations.

While the heart breaks, demanding the hostages return, the head moves in another direction, as a lopsided exchange may lead to more terrorism, more Israeli deaths. Nadav Shragi, in a report to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, analyzed the aftermath of the exchange in 2004, of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held captive. According to Shragi, those freed in the deal murdered 35 Israelis by 2007. And of course, Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7 barbaric massacre was among the 1027 prisoners exchanged for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

And the head also wonders if some of the hostages are freed for many, many hundreds of Palestinian terrorists, and a temporary ceasefire is reached, what of those who remain? For how long will they be doomed? Weeks? Months? Years? Forever?

So, which is it? Will a deal made be a time of joy or sadness? A time to celebrate with the heart or mourn with the mind?
'I’m gutted,’ Doug Emhoff says about murdered hostages at Washington synagogue vigil
In a starkly personal speech, the Jewish husband of the Democratic presidential nominee told thousands of American Jews on Tuesday night how he felt about Hamas’ murder of six hostages on the verge of freedom.

“Standing on this bimah, I can only be direct: This is hard. I feel raw. I’m gutted,” Doug Emhoff said. “I know you are, too.”

Emhoff was speaking at a vigil held at one of Washington’s preeminent synagogues, Adas Israel Congregation, where he has become a congregant since moving to the city in 2021.

Emhoff emphasized that he was relaying American Jewish grief to his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“How you feel right now is how I feel,” Emhoff said. “And how we all feel is something Kamala hears directly from me.”

Just hours earlier, Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, announced criminal charges against Hamas and its leadership, spurred by the terrorists’ murder of six hostages over the weekend, including an Israeli American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. “Hamas’ leaders will pay for these crimes,” Emhoff said.

He related, as he frequently does, that he had not expected his status as the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president to become so central to his identity. He has spearheaded the task force to combat antisemitism that President Joe Biden launched in December of 2022.

He credited Adas Israel’s rabbis, Lauren Holtzblatt and Aaron Alexander, with helping bring him closer to his faith.

“While I’m here as the second gentleman of the United States — and the first-ever Jewish White House principal — in this moment, I’m here as a congregant, as a mourner, as a Jew who feels connected to all of you and grateful for the guidance of our wonderful rabbis, Aaron and Lauren,” he said. “They have become confidants and advisors. We’ve talked a lot about my own faith journey — something Kamala has encouraged in me. Among the many things they helped me find was my voice.”


A Mother’s Fight: Leah Goldin’s 10-Year Battle to Rescue Her Son from Hamas's Dungeons
For ten years, Leah Goldin's son Hadar has been held by the Hamas terror regime after being killed and abducted during a ceasefire in 2014. In this emotional and powerful episode of "State of a Nation," Leah shares her family's relentless struggle to bring Hadar's remains back to Israel for a proper burial. She discusses the challenges they've faced, including judicial, political and business interests that have hindered their efforts, and the broader implications of the Israeli government's policies toward Gaza. Leah also reflects on the impact of the October 7th massacre, which led to hundreds of new hostages, and how her family has worked tirelessly to support other affected families. Join us as Leah calls on the international community to take action and explains what each of us can do to help bring all the hostages home.

The story of Hadar Goldin serves as a cautionary tale for anyone sufficiently naive enough to think a terrorist army would respect a ceasefire.




Jake Wallis Simons: The UN is hijacked by autocrats. It needs to be reformed
It is this moral relativism that lies at the heart of the scandalous state of the UN. From Putin to Xi, Maduro to the Ayatollah, the world’s worst regimes are given equal seats at the table as the democracies. For all of them, hatred of Jews and Israel provides the ideal cover under which to advance their own agendas of corruption, oppression and subversion. The aura surrounding the UN is of a global moral authority. As the coverage of the Gaza war has demonstrated most vividly, append those two letters to any allegation and the public will swallow it whole. What better Trojan horse for the dictator’s goals than this?

The German Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, in his short 1795 book Perpetual Peace, proposed the notion of a “League of Nations”, in which various nation states would hand authority in resolving disputes to a central body, reducing the necessity for conflict. This became a reality after WWI and was transmuted into the UN after WWII. If Kant could see the state of the organisation today, he would be deeply shocked.

As Sir Roger Scruton wrote: “Kant was adamant that there can be no guarantee of peace unless the powers acceding to the treaty are republics. Republican government, as defined by Kant, both here and elsewhere in his political writings, means representative government under a rule of law, and his League was one that bound self-governing and sovereign nations, whose peoples enjoy the rights and duties of citizenship.”

It is time for the democracies to shape the globe according to our values. As the women of Iran will attest, democracy is simply better than autocracy. As the dictatorships of Russia, China and Iran form an ever-closer union, drawing in smaller allies like Venezuela and North Korea, the fight is coming our way. If we are to win, the UN must begin to unapologetically project democratic ideals. The struggle must start now.
UN Human Rights commissioner calls Jew-hate ‘an assault on our collective humanity’
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, delivered a statement on Wednesday before a workshop geared to counter antisemitism, sponsored by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in Geneva.

“Antisemitism is a scourge on our collective humanity,” he said. “It has left deep scars that are hard to heal. But we can—and must—learn from them.”

Türk said that “antisemitism still plagues our world—with damaging consequences for individuals and communities. From the Americas and the Asia-Pacific, from the Middle East to Europe and Africa, reports of attacks and hate speech have multiplied.”

The commissioner condemned the proliferation of bigoted statements and spoke of a need for thorough online content moderation.

“Inflammatory and toxic rhetoric has been used by irresponsible political leaders,” he said. “And the flood of hateful language, including on social media, is never-ending and abhorrent.”
‘UNRWA at war’: New film shows UN agency teaching kids to kill in Judea and Samaria
Although many have argued for doing away with UNRWA, according to Bedein that’s not a realistic solution. The organization is too embedded in the territories and in the United Nations, and the General Assembly would never accept it, he argued. However, he continued, it is possible to change UNRWA from within by pointing out the absurd situation and demanding change.

“The theme of UNRWA education is ‘peace starts here,’” he said. “How could it possibly be that a U.N. social work agency would be using their education system to prepare kids for war?”

Bedein has put together a five-point plan for changing UNRWA from within:
1. Cancellation of the new UNRWA curriculum based on jihad.
2. Disarmament of UNRWA schools and cessation of paramilitary training.
3. Dismissing UNRWA employees affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.
4. Resettling fourth- and fifth-generation refugees from the 1948 war rather than keeping them in perpetual refugee status.
5. Demanding an audit of donor funds.

He has met five times with Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, whom he said is open to his proposals.

While UNRWA was always corrupt, it wasn’t always the way it is now, he said.

Even the children going through the schools, while they spoke of “their homes in Jaffa,” didn’t talk about going back and killing everyone in Jaffa as they do now, he said.

“The change took place after 1992 when the PLO was put in charge by [then-Foreign Minister] Shimon Peres,” he said. “UNRWA was handed over to the PLO.”


Jonathan Tobin: Don’t confuse Washington’s Netanyahu-bashing with those of Israeli critics
After 11 months of second-guessing, sabotaging and undermining the Israeli effort to defeat Hamas, President Joe Biden doubled down on his administration’s policy that has been so beneficial to the terrorists. His declaration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal to release the remaining hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 was very much in line with the entire tenor of Washington’s approach to the conflict. Coming in the wake of the announcement that six of the remaining hostages had been murdered, including one American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in cold blood by Hamas, the implication pointed to Netanyahu’s supposedly tough stance in the negotiations as the cause of their deaths and not the diabolical intentions of their Hamas captors.

This is entirely outrageous. Blaming Netanyahu for the murders of the hostages, whether implicitly or directly, is giving Hamas a pass for its latest act of barbarism. Hamas is a genocidal criminal organization that has rejected every ceasefire proposal since the initial pause last fall. The idea that Netanyahu is somehow responsible for their crimes because he hasn’t abandoned the effort to ensure that Oct. 7 cannot be repeated—as it most certainly would be if conditions like an Israeli withdrawal from crucial points in the Gaza Strip like the Philadelphi corridor along the border with Egypt—is sheer madness.

Yet in understanding the pressure campaign being mounted on the Israeli leader by the administration, it’s important to grasp one key fact about this controversy. Though liberal corporate mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN conflate Washington’s anti-Bibi campaign with Israeli protests against the prime minister, that is a deliberate misreading of the situation.

The Israeli protests have gotten considerable publicity and are supported by the country’s left-wing establishment that still resents Netanyahu, and his nationalist/religious and Mizrachi supporters. They want a hostage deal apparently at any price, even if it wouldn’t mean freedom for all of the captives. And they also want Netanyahu out of office.
Seth Mandel: Israel’s Labor Pains
There is a pretty strong argument that yesterday’s anti-Netanyahu protests would have been more effective without the Histadrut—not because the union is politicized but because the strike was a costly mistake that made it easier to see that the larger protests didn’t have a clearly achievable goal. (That’s fine for a protest, not for a union strike.)

In the early afternoon, a labor court gave the union until 2:30 to wrap it up. And wrap it up, they did.

The Histadrut had joined the crowd, it did not lead the way. In fact, the union has been hesitant to join the mass protests and fling itself fully into the divisive culture wars that represented the last round of Israeli infighting. Last year, the country saw unprecedented protests against the governing coalition’s proposals to democratize the Supreme Court. The protests were ultimately successful in stopping the legislation, in part because of a rebellion by army reservists who refused to report for duty unless the court reform was dropped. The army’s role in this was deeply unsettling, but the moment a war was imminent, the soldiers made clear they would defend the state with their lives.

The Histadrut also, belatedly, joined the protest movement, calling a strike in late March 2023. But several outlets quickly reported that Arnon Bar-David, the head of the Histadrut, had done so at the urging of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Why? Because Netanyahu, prizing stability above all, had wanted to pressure his own coalition to ease up on its attempts to reform the judiciary.

Netanyahu and Bar-David denied the allegations, but it was indeed quite possible that the left had failed to pull the Histadrut into the protest movement and only Netanyahu succeeded in doing so—in order to torpedo his own hard-liners.

The Histadrut’s very minor roles in both protests were for the best. The protests didn’t need the unions to boost turnout, and the unions didn’t need the headache of alienating potential members over politics.

There is one last irony to note. When the protesters filled the streets yesterday in Israel, the global left cheered them on, especially when the Histadrut briefly got involved. But one reason the Histadrut was so important to Israel’s state-building was because it was able, in the first half of the 20th century, to garner a significant amount of support from the American labor unions.

Although it may sound obvious that unions would support each other, American unions at the time were highly suspicious of the Histadrut—even after it won backing from the American Federation of Labor—because it was no mere labor union; it was a nationalist enterprise. Socialist unions wanted nothing to do with nationalism, Jewish or otherwise. That changed with the support of Max Pine and other Jewish labor leaders in the mid-1920s. Ben-Gurion even said, according to State Department historian Adam Howard, that “the cooperation of the workers’ movement in America [was] actually more important than the diplomatic victory of the Balfour Declaration.”

That history is a far cry from the anti-Israel bent of much of the U.S. labor movement today. On Monday, teachers union boss Randi Weingarten blamed Netanyahu for the recent deaths of six hostages. But far from delivering a message of solidarity to Israelis, Weingarten’s outburst was an opportunistic stunt that reminds us just how far American labor leaders have fallen.
How the general strike backfired on Israel’s anti-government movement
Even before the court’s ruling, multiple municipalities and a major teacher’s union represented by the Histadrut said they would not strike.

“It was a failure, it was widely perceived as partisan and it undermined the Histadrut’s status as a true representative of the hundreds of thousands of employees it says that it represents,” Mordechai Tzivin, a prominent lawyer, told JNS.

But the truncated strike wasn’t necessarily a defeat for Bar-David, according to Glick of B’Tsalmo.

“Bar-David has been cautious in deploying the Histadrut in the service of the anti-government movement. It’s a risky move for him because it introduces unnecessary divisions into the Histadrut, potentially weakening it. By declaring a strike that the court is sure to end, Bar-David gets the anti-government pressure groups off his case,” Glick said.

Some supporters of the anti-government movement condemned the court’s ruling and lionized Bar-David for declaring the strike.

“The State of Israel is in a situation where there’s no longer any significance to the question of what lies within the mandate of any one official,” a senior financial analyst for the left-leaning TheMarker newspaper wrote. “When civilians are abandoned in captivity and hundreds of soldiers risk getting killed because of the government’s inability to end the war, anyone with leverage should use it, regardless of official position,” wrote analyst Hagai Amit.

Michael Kleiner, a former senior lawmaker in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, noted how Bar-David had already aligned the Histadrut with the anti-government movement in the past, when he declared a one-day strike in July 2023 against the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform legislation. That controversial strike also had partial participation, with only 2,000 out of 36,000 state employees participating.

Bar-David had been hard-pressed to explain why that strike was nonpartisan, Kleiner wrote in an op-ed in Ma’ariv. “He thought that he didn’t need to offer such explanations this time around because he had the support of the protest movement, relatives of hostages, and the friendly mainstream media,” Kleiner wrote.

However, Bar-David “did not take into account that the rules of the game have changed. Israelis have wised up and out of the [pre-Oct. 7] conception and the generals’ assurances that ceding land to the enemy is reversible,” Kleiner wrote. “Israelis will no longer obey the wacky whims of politically driven organizations that hitch a ride on the backs of the hostages’ relatives to attack the wartime economy.”

Monday’s partial strike did bring out many thousands to protest, Tzivin said. But following the strike, “that option, of shutting down the economy to strongarm the government, seems less likely to make a reappearance,” he added. “We may see some private corporations staging brief solidarity strikes, but major union shutdowns appear to be off the table.”
Netanyahu suggests Israel is open to possible withdrawal from Gaza-Egypt border
Jerusalem might consider a withdrawal of troops from the Gaza-Egypt border as part of a hostage deal with Hamas if a viable alternative can be found to prevent the terror group from rearming itself through tunnels, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

“We’re open to considering it. But I don’t see that happening right now. And until that happens, we’re there,” Netanyahu told reporters during a briefing held at the Government Press Office headquarters in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu did not deny reports that negotiators told mediators that Jerusalem still supports a withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile border area separating Gaza from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, in the second phase of a possible agreement.

“I agreed to reduce the number of troops along the Philadelphi Corridor,” the Israeli leader stated. “The other thing is what happens in phase two.” Israel’s demands for a permanent ceasefire with Hamas include a solution to stop the terror group from bringing in weapons through Sinai, he said.

“Somebody has to be there,” Netanyahu stressed, adding that he would support any actor “who will actually show us, not on paper, not in words, not in slides, but on the ground, day after day, week after week, month after month,” that it is able to thwart attempts by Hamas and its Iranian backers to once again turn the Gaza Strip into a terrorist enclave.

Following Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi Corridor, the border became “completely porous,” he said. “Once we left the Philadelphi Corridor, Iran could carry out its plan to turn Gaza into a terror base that would not only threaten the communities around it but also Tel Aviv,” according to the premier.
IDF kills over 200 terrorists in Rafah operation
Israeli forces have killed more than 200 terrorists in its operations in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah in southern Gaza, the military said on Wednesday.

Troops from the 401st Brigade are active in the area as part of the 162nd Division's operations in the former Hamas stronghold along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Dozens of weapons stored in civilian structures have been located so far, including a large cache inside a basement where Hamas terrorists were embedded.

"In one encounter, terrorists fired at the troops from inside a building in the area. The troops conducted a targeted raid on the building, searched it, and then eliminated the terrorists inside," the IDF said.

"In the basement of the building, the troops located large quantities of weapons that were used by the terrorists there," added the military.

Additionally, soldiers located 10 long-range rocket launchers intended to fire projectiles into Israeli territory.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces in Gaza killed the Hamas terrorist who led the October 7 assault on the northwest Negev moshav of Netiv Ha’asara.

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hamas compound near the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, killing eight terrorists from Hamas’s Daraj Tuffah Battalion.

Among them was Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia, a member of the terror group’s Nukhba force who led the invasion of Netiv Ha’asara, located directly adjacent to the Gaza fence.
The Israel Guys: We Went to GAZA: What We Saw Was Beyond SHOCKING | Actual Footage
We recently had the opportunity of a lifetime: to visit Gaza and see first-hand Israel's War they are fighting against Hamas. What we experienced was both SHOCKING and revealing.

We are currently sorting through our experiences, and plan to bring you several installments about our time in the Gaza Strip. Today however, Joshua gives a glimpse into what it was like to be on the Philadelphi Corridor, seeing Rafah up close, driving along the Egyptian border, and seeing the Mediterranean Sea from a Gaza beach.

Right now, the world is pressuring Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza. After what we saw, we can tell you firsthand: this would be disastrous for Israel.

The world is pressuring Israel to capitulate to Hamas, and make major concessions in an effort to secure a potential ceasefire deal, all in the hopes of saving the hostages still inside Gaza. We can tell you this: capitulating to Hamas will only harm and hinder Israel's efforts to secure the release of the hostages.

There is much more to tell and reveal about our time in Gaza. For now, please watch today's episode on The Israel Guys, and stay tuned.




'Remember Who the Real Enemy Is' | Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum
Israeli anger over Hamas's execution of six hostages has reached a boiling point. Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former ambassador to the United Kingdom, both former advisers at the Prime Minister's Office, as they debate this issue on the latest episode of "Israel Undiplomatic."

They also explore the motivations behind the anti-government protests in Tel Aviv; ongoing hostage talks with Hamas; the polarization surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and the Jewish state's history of internal divisions.

All this and more on “Israel Undiplomatic!”

00:00 Six hostages executed
5:00 Hostage protests
10:00 Ongoing negotiations
16:00 Polarization around Netanyahu
22:00 Internal divisions
29:00 Defense Minister Yoav Gallant


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: The Blame Game
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Tucker Carlson and a guest of his blame Winston Churchill for World War II. Thomas Friedman blames Bibi Netanyahu for the murder of the hostages. These are just some of the outrages we discuss on today’s podcast, along with a conversation around our own Christine Rosen’s new book, The Extinction of Experience.




Friedman: US pressure on Israel reduces chances of regional peace
Motivated by hatred with or without the Saudis
The former ambassador, who conceded that no one could have imagined that the war against Hamas would drag on for nearly a year, downplayed assessments that terrorists carried out the Oct. 7 massacre to thwart an emerging deal with Saudi Arabia.

“They did it because they could,” he said. “Their motivation was hatred, with or without the Saudi initiative, and they did it because Israel let its guard down.”

Friedman voiced pessimism regarding a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, despite recent remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden and top administration officials that a deal was close.

“I am not optimistic that they will ever make a deal,” he said.

A second term?
Friedman, who is based in the United States but travels to Israel several times a year for his “spiritual health,” said the Oct. 7 attacks have made him want his old job back, should Trump be re-elected in November.

“There is unfinished business, and course correction after four years of the Biden administration,” he said.

A proponent of Israeli sovereignty over the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria with local autonomy for Palestinians, Friedman said Israel needs to change the deeply entrenched international paradigm of a two-state solution, which he called “fitting a square peg in a round hole,” by first changing its own mindset.

There must be a serious national discussion and consensus on the issue in Israel, he said, noting that it has been relegated to the Israeli far right, who he said have no credibility on the issue and don’t speak for the mainstream public at large.

“There is a vacuum on this issue … and leadership is not in place to make this happen,” he said.
Ben Shapiro: Can We Resolve The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? | Former Amb. David Friedman
Former Ambassador David Friedman joins the show to talk about the latest in Israel, and his new book, "One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”


The Guy Benson: Eli Lake - Hamas Being Viewed as a "Legitimate Resistance" Is the "Real Danger That We Have"
Eli Lake, reporter at The Free Press, host of "The Re-Education" podcast, and contributing editor at Commentary, joined The Guy Benson Show to discuss the harrowing news of half a dozen hostages, including an American citizen, being murdered over the weekend by Hamas. Benson and Lake delved into the shocking celebrations by students and Americans following these atrocities and highlighted the deeper issue of antisemitism that is being fostered within elite institutions. The pair also covered Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's rebuttal of claims that Israel is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages, and you can listen to the full interview below!


Caroline Glick joins Scripps News on the Scene to discuss Israeli protests to demand hostage deal
Caroline Glick, former senior foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu and senior contributing editor at JNS, joined Scripps News on the Scene to discuss the recent protests in Israel following the killing of 6 hostages in Gaza. The interview occurred on September 3, 2024.




NYC straphanger spews antisemitic rant at Jewish student, disturbing video shows: ‘This is a genocider who loves to kill babies’
A man berated a Jewish student wearing a yarmulke on a New York City subway car, calling him a “rapist” and a “genocider” responsible for the deaths in Gaza, new video shows.

The harrowing encounter, uploaded by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) group on Tuesday, shows the bearded man wearing a black cap and orange long-sleeve shirt yelling across the subway car at the student during a trip on the 1 train near 96th Street.

“He likes to kill Palestinian semites. He probably likes to rape Palestinian semites as well,” the man, who has yet to be identified, shouts.

“This is a genocider who loves to kill babies.”

The man continues to call the student a “Zionist,” a “fake f–king Jew” and the “United States’ bully boy,” all while a crowd of uninterested commuters watch.

The man could also be heard trying to get the crowd on his side by claiming that the US and Israel want an upheaval in the Gaza Strip, but the commuters ignore him.

CAM said the man’s “unhinged” rant came completely provoked when he spotted the visibly Jewish student.

Liora Rez, the founder of the StopAntisemitism nonprofit group, said the encounter was only the latest in a series of new antisemitic incidents engulfing the city since the start of the war in Gaza.

“Oct. 7 ripped off the band-aid, unleashing a long-dormant, deep-rooted wave of antisemitism that had been simmering for decades,” Rez told The Post. “Now, emboldened by complacency, these offenders spew their tirades and even issue physical threats against innocent men, women, and children.

“What’s even more alarming is the silence of those who stand by and do nothing,” she said of the bystanders in the video.

Rez ultimately called on Mayor Eric Adams and New York City officials to crack down on the surge of antisemitism plaguing the Big Apple.


Three of four protesters avoid conviction for pro-Gaza protest on the roof of Parliament House
Pro-Palestinian protesters who broke onto the roof of Parliament House in Canberra have avoided serious criminal penalties for conduct the prime minister had previously declared would attract "the full force of the law".

Will Egan-Griffiths, Anthony Brinton, Thea Turnball and Barry Jessup fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday and admitted to trespassing on Commonwealth property.

The group spent an hour and a half on the glass roof of Parliament House on July 4, where they hung huge banners condemning the war in Gaza.

The protest locked down parts of federal parliament and blocked access to the public for several hours.

Jessup, 68, told the court he had felt "compelled by his own conscience" to act, after seeing news reports of destruction in Gaza.

"I came to the opinion that war crimes and genocide were being committed there," he said.

Court 'must remain impartial'

Magistrate Jane Campbell said she accepted the right to protest but stressed it must be conducted within legal boundaries.

"I hope I don't deter you from protesting because that is something you can do, but what I hope to do is deter you from protesting illegally," she said.

The court heard Jessup had several prior convictions for trespassing in South Australia, Victoria and the ACT dating back to 2011.

He was handed a 12-month good behaviour bond, while Egan-Griffiths, 28, Brinton, 30, and Turnball, 30, were handed non-conviction orders.

The trio appeared separately via audio-visual link and each told the court the protest was motivated by a deep sense of social justice.

"We wanted to do something that we hoped [the government] wouldn't be able to not see and not hear," Egan-Griffiths said.

Magistrate Campbell said the court had to remain impartial and could not be seen to condone or encourage particular causes.

Separately, the group has already been served two-year bans from attending Parliament House.
Danish police arrest Greta Thunberg during pro-Hamas protest
Danish police on Wednesday detained the anti-Israel Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration at the University of Copenhagen against the war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza, local media reported.

She was among six people apprehended after a group of 20 protesters blocked the entrance to a university building. Thunberg was later released from detention, according to Danish media reports, and the daily Ekstra Bladet showed video footage of her walking out of a police station.

The 21-year-old left-wing activist, who rose to international fame for calling attention to climate change, has previously accused Israel of genocide over the nearly 11-month-old war against Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

Last year, she called to “crush Zionism” at a pro-Hamas rally in Sweden.

The school drop-out has pursued a full-time career against what she warns is an impending climate-related crisis.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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