Saturday, September 14, 2024

09/14 Links: What real White House pressure on Hamas would look like; Life Under Iran’s Tyrannical Proxies; As usual, J Street is missing in action

From Ian:

Natan Sharansky: Jews may feel abandoned but good people will step up — as they did for me in the gulag
Having spent nine years in the gulag, I know something about loneliness.

Back then, locked up in a Soviet prison, I was for years denied the company of other human beings.

It was absolutely forbidden for us to communicate with prisoners in other cells, a prohibition we skirted by inventing risky and creative methods to speak to each other, from tapping Morse code on the walls to shouting into our toilets and hoping our voices carried through the pipes.

But despite these draconian measures, I was never really alone: Out there, I knew, were my people and my country, Israel.

I knew there was a great big country, America, where free people lived, and a president, Ronald Reagan, who wasn’t afraid to look at the Soviet Union and call it precisely what it was — an evil empire.

And as long as there were principled people in the world willing to fight for what they believed, I knew that there was no reason for despair.

I am, thank God, a free man now, living happily in the Jewish state of which I dreamed for so long.

And yet, these days, witnessing the very same Western world I once regarded with such admiration cheer for the murderous marauders of Hamas, I — like Israel — feel more lonely than I have felt in a very long time.

My friend, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, captured this feeling eloquently in his new book, which he sadly and wisely called “Israel Alone.”

Like me, Lévy asked himself how it could be that American universities, say, once bastions of the free and unfettered exchange of ideas, are now awash with young men and women who wave the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah and readily repeat antisemitic lies without sense or compassion.

Or how it could be that the United Nations, formed to help curb violence and aggression and promote justice and well-being to all, now watches its employees take part in deadly pogroms against Jews.

Or how it could be that world leaders, themselves facing the challenge of grappling with homicidal Islamism, fail to support Israel as it stands up to the very same benighted forces.

Contemplating these questions and so many more, it’s tempting to feel, well, alone.

It’s tempting to abandon hope and argue that there’s little hope of Western civilization surviving this onslaught.
Seth Mandel: Life Under Iran’s Tyrannical Proxies
Everything in Gaza is touched by Hamas. If aid convoys want their humanitarian aid to get to anyone, they first “must coordinate their efforts with local Hamas leaders.” Hamas has been known to shoot “looters,” but that can apply to any non-Hamas-affiliated Palestinian disbursing aid.

Beyond that, the story notes plainly Hamas’s strategy of firing at Israeli troops from civilian homes, hiding hostages among civilian neighborhoods, freely using “humanitarian” zones in a bid to draw Israeli fire, and pockmarking residential blocks with entrances to terror tunnels inside private homes.

Yes, we already knew that, but the scale of the tunnel system is a reminder that during peacetime, when Hamasniks aren’t using your house as a rocket launching pad, they might commandeer it to drill a tunnel through your kid’s bedroom floor.

“There’s no such thing as being outside residential areas in Gaza,” senior Hamas official Husam Badran told the Times. “These pretexts, primarily made by the Israeli occupation army, are meaningless.”

While there doesn’t seem to be anything in the region quite as miserable as life under Hamas, Lebanese civilians aren’t having much of a picnic these days thanks to Hezbollah. In South Lebanon, during wartime, civilians face many similar challenges from Hezbollah that Gazans do from Hamas: namely, the terror groups’ raison d’etre is to kill and be killed. So they fire in order to draw fire.

But even during lulls in the conflict, parts of the country, including Beirut, appear to be somewhat frozen in place. That is largely because Iran has promised retaliation on Israel for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader in Tehran this summer. Everyone knows Hezbollah is Iran’s chosen tool to deliver that retaliation, so airlines have been canceling service to and from Beirut, according to reporting from last month in the Times. Five weeks later, we’re still waiting for the retaliation.

Hezbollah has so fully conquered South Lebanon that the Lebanese army apparently won’t allow journalists into the area without approval from “the group.” Many residents have fled from “Hezbollah and their war,” as one civilian put it—a mirror reflection of northern Israel, which has seen the prolonged displacement of entire towns because of Hezbollah and its war.

This is life under the thumb of the “revolutionary liberation” movements that are essentially Iranian colonies living under tyranny not merely supported by Tehran but enabled by the West, sometimes with money and sometimes with the kind of diplomatic cowardice we are witnessing from Washington and from the capitals of Europe, who don’t consider defeating their enemies a particularly high priority at this time.
Democratic terrorism: Jamal Khashoggi's vision of political Islam
Upon his election, Biden proceeded to make Khashoggi a human rights cause célèbre, releasing a CIA report that placed the blame for his murder firmly upon the Saudi monarchy. He repeatedly recalled the affair, including in a 2022 one-on-one meeting in Riyadh with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), as a glaring example of the dismal Saudi record on human rights and political freedom.

Throughout the prolonged saga, one issue went almost entirely unaddressed in the international media: What ideals did Khashoggi believe in? Was this dissident in a self-imposed exile in the United States for his profound commitment to democracy and civil liberties? Was he a Saudi Alexei Navalny assassinated by ruthless autocrats merely for his love of freedom?

In short: Yes, Khashoggi advocated for democracy in the Middle East, but of a very specific kind.

IN THE months leading up to his death, he was in the process of launching an organization later known as DAWN – Democracy for the Arab World Now, working in close collaboration with Palestinian-American Nihad Awad, executive director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and currently a board member of DAWN.

CAIR is a powerful US Muslim advocacy group long known for its sympathies – and the denial of them – for Global Muslim Brotherhood (GMB) organizations in the West and in Muslim countries, including murky links to terrorists and terror funding that garnered public attention during the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trials and the conviction of CAIR affiliate Ghassan Elashi.

Awad was among the participants in the 1993 Philadelphia Meeting: A Roadmap for Future Muslim Brotherhood Actions in the US – a three-day summit in which ways to sabotage the Oslo Accords and enhance fundraising for Hamas in the US were discussed.

Post-Oct. 7, at a speaking event in Chicago, Awad applauded the Hamas massacre as a paragon of Islamic justice and faith, stating that “The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege – the walls of the concentration camp – on October 7... Yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege... And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense... Gaza transformed many minds around the world, including people who are not Muslim. What kind of faith do these people have? They are thankful, they are not afraid.”

These remarks drew fierce condemnation from the Biden administration and led to Awad’s disinvitation from all his government-related functions, severing ties that had grown dramatically under the Obama administration.

HAMAS IS the Palestinian chapter of the GMB.


What real White House pressure on Hamas would look like
Full accountability from Hamas might have included the following actions:
• Unflinchingly supplying Israel with more and better arms to crush Hamas, instead of agonizing over the deaths of Hamas supporters and pontificating about armament restrictions. This might also include leverage on British and Canadian leaders to back down from their arms embargoes against Israel.
• Rethinking of the “humanitarian train” for Gaza, including enormous quantities of fuel and food, which everybody knows has been hijacked by Hamas to preserve its governing capabilities. How about cutting back a few fuel and flour trucks for Hamas every time that Hamas even threatens to torture or execute an Israeli hostage?

According to a report this week by the authoritative expert Ehud Yaari of Israeli TV Channel 12, Hamas has earned over half a billion dollars by seizing and then selling to Gazans almost every supply truck sent into Gaza over the past year.

This allows Hamas to recruit, renew, and pay for its terror troop force, prolonging the war in every way: prolonging the suffering of Gazans, whom Hamas continues to exploit as human shields, prolonging the agony of destroyed and displaced Israeli communities in Israel’s South, prolonging the painful price paid by IDF soldiers on the battlefield, and prolonging the hostage torment.

But the Biden administration continues to insist on literally giving Hamas oxygen to persevere underground with most of the hostages and to toughen its stance on releasing them, instead of being forced to the surface and to accede defeat.

And then the administration outrageously slaps sanctions on Israeli civil protest organizations that call for a change in this insane “humanitarian supply” policy, a policy to aid an enemy that is without precedent in the annals of warfare.

So much for “full accountability” from Hamas.

Penalization policy
• ADOPTION OF a penalization policy against Hamas, something that actually hits its most sensitive spot: the loss of territory.
International legal expert Prof. Eugene Kontorovich suggested to the Biden administration a formula to get the hostages back and end the war very quickly: “For every day Hamas does not give up the hostages, America will recognize 100 square dunams (roughly 25 acres) of Gaza as a permanent Israeli buffer zone. For every murdered hostage, 1,000 square dunams (250 acres). The war would be over in days.”

• Recalibration of the American obsession with straightaway establishing a Palestinian state, nay the doubling down on sworn fealty to the so-called “two-state solution.” (See Kamala Harris’s pledge to do so during the presidential debate this week). This, despite the indisputable fact that blabbering at this moment about a Palestinian state is the very picture of victory for Hamas terrorism and constitutes encouragement for more acts of massacre.

How do Biden-Harris not understand that merely discussing Palestinian statehood now gives Hamas more sway in Palestinian politics than it ever had, especially in Judea and Samaria? Is Hamas a suitable partner for ruling Gaza or establishing a “unified” Palestinian state? Or the current Palestinian Authority – which received Gaza under its control and failed, and is unable to contend with Hamas alone in Jenin and Tulkarm, and which encourages terror through payments and glorification of terrorists?

And don’t confuse Washington with facts, like the support of three-quarters of Palestinians in the West Bank for the October 7 Hamas-led massacre, or the support of governors in the PA for terrorism and the active participation of Fatah in the surging wave of terror attacks currently threatening to engulf central Israel.

Instead of pushback against the increasingly genocidal Palestinian national movement overall, we get more perilous pablum about the “urgency” of Palestinian statehood. Instead of action to retaliate and truly deter Hamas from ever raising a hand against a hostage again, we get diplomatic rewards for Palestinian intransigence and violence.

So much for “full accountability” from Hamas.

• US PRESSURE on direct backers of Hamas to end their sponsorship of the terrorist organization. The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington has outlined a dozen things that the Biden-Harris administration should do immediately to hold Hamas and its allies “fully accountable.”

This includes pressure on Qatar, Turkey, and Lebanon to extradite Hamas leaders for prosecution. Khaled Mashal, for example, lives a life of royal luxury in Qatar, sitting on an estimated $4 billion personal fortune. Why? He is a US “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”! Where is the American “outrage” at this “totally unacceptable” situation?

How about threats to remove Qatar’s status as a major non-NATO ally; to move Al Udeid air base assets; to impose sanctions on Qatari officials, instrumentalities, and assets; to impose sanctions on Qatar’s virulently genocidal (against Israel and the entire West) Al Jazeera media network?

Qatar should be compelled to close all Hamas offices and operations, freeze and turn over to the US all Hamas-connected assets, and turn over to the US or Israel all Hamas officials who remain in the country. And in the process, this might also set the stage for Qatar to jettison leaders of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State.

How about sanctions against Hamas networks in foreign countries, including South Africa, which aside from harboring the terrorist group, is otherwise busy indicting Israel for war crimes in The Hague?

How about the imposition of sanctions on Turkish and Lebanese officials who provide material support to Hamas, which means almost all senior government ministers in these countries? How about the freezing and turning over to the US of all Hamas-connected assets in these countries, including the late Ismail Haniyeh’s assets reported to be in Turkish banks?

HOW ABOUT intense pressure on Egypt to permanently cut off Hamas supply routes above and below the Egypt-Gaza border, and to open its border for Palestinian refugee relief? The pressure should include threats to withhold a significant amount of US foreign assistance and impose sanctions on Egyptian officials and instrumentalities responsible for the Hamas smuggling operation; the same type of sanctions that Washington is so slap-happy and super-quick to impose on supposed Israeli vigilantes.

How about targeting China with economic and political pressure for subsidizing Hamas through oil imports and from Iran? (US oil sanctions on Iran are already on the books – they just are not being enforced by Biden-Harris.) The administration should move forward with identifying Chinese ports that accept Iranian oil, as mandated by the newly enacted SHIP Act, and impose secondary sanctions on those ports.

How about fighting back against Hamas allies within international organizations such as the UN and International Criminal Court? The White House should end its opposition to threats of sanctions against the ICC, and its chief prosecutor and instead lead an aggressive diplomatic campaign to get the court’s top donors such as Japan and Germany to end the illegitimate and baseless investigation of Israeli leaders (which also puts Americans at risk). The administration could also leverage US funding of the UN regular budget and other agencies to fight back against pro-Hamas, anti-Israel activity…

In short, instead of giving freebies to Hamas while pressuring Israel, instead of expressing “pain” when Hamas perpetrates outrages while expressing “outrage” when Israel acts uncompromisingly to crush its enemies – it is time for well-placed “full accountability” demands from the US that can help Israel win the war.
As usual, J Street is missing in action
In just a few weeks, we will mark one year since the October 7th massacre, one of the darkest days in the history of the Jewish people.

The months since have been a wake-up call for our community – shining a bright light on who our friends are, and who are not. In the face of unprecedented anti-Israel protests in our city’s streets and on our college campuses, the Jewish community mobilized together to stand with Israel. We urged our elected officials to pass the largest security aid package in Israel’s history. And we made our voices heard politically – helping friends of Israel win elections and preventing numerous anti-Israel members and candidates from reaching Capitol Hill.

But J Street, an organization that claims to be “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy,” has pushed itself outside the mainstream pro-Israel tent and failed to uphold its own mission.

This summer was a telling showcase of the group’s demise. In the New York and Missouri Democratic primaries, much of the pro-Israel community was helping pro-Israel, pro-peace, and pro-democracy candidates George Latimer and Wesley Bell defeat anti-Israel Squad members Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman – a previous J Street endorsee. These two incumbents lead the effort in Congress to demonize and villainize Israel.

But J Street just sat and watched on the sidelines. It didn’t fundraise, it didn’t activate its grassroots, and it didn’t endorse Bell or Latimer. It was uninvolved, and as evidenced by Latimer and Bell’s decisive wins, it was unneeded. Perhaps in these races, we see the clearest reflections of the organization itself.

How can a political group that claims “pro-Israel” as the first goal of its mandate sit out these most consequential primary races where there are viable pro-Israel candidates who could win and replace anti-Israel voices in Congress?

Shockingly, the day after the Bowman defeat, J Street’s President and Executive Director Jeremy Ben Ami took to Twitter to claim his loss wasn’t a victory for the pro-Israel community.
'Antisemitic Israel-hater': Israeli foreign minister slams EU's Borrell over Palestinian state push
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz launched a scathing attack on European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Saturday night, accusing him of leading an “antisemitic campaign” against Israel. Katz’s remarks followed Borrell’s involvement in discussions concerning the establishment of a Palestinian state, which Katz believes aligns Borrell with Israel’s adversaries.

In his statement, Katz called Borrell “an antisemitic Israel-hater who leads a campaign against Israel like the greatest antisemites in history.” Katz added: “Instead of acting against the Iranian axis of evil, he joins forces with them.”

Katz further accused Borrell of harboring long-standing bias against Israel, regularly pushing for resolutions and sanctions within the European Union. However, according to Katz, these efforts have been blocked by most EU member states.

“There’s a difference between legitimate criticism and policy disagreements between friends, and the hateful, antisemitic campaign Borrell is leading against Israel—akin to the greatest antisemites in history,” Katz said. He argued that, instead of addressing the Iranian threat to European security, Borrell has “sided with them in promoting anti-Israel initiatives.”

Katz’s tweet accuses Borrell of focusing on Israel instead of Iran
Katz’s strong remarks followed a tweet he posted on Friday, where he condemned Borrell for prioritizing anti-Israel efforts instead of focusing on Iran. Katz wrote: “In the same week that the US, Germany, France, and the UK imposed sanctions on Iran’s aviation ties due to the supply of missiles threatening Europe, the outgoing EU Foreign Minister Borrell is busy with hate campaigns against the State of Israel. Instead of advocating for the European Union to join the sanctions against Iran, Borrell supports the establishment of a Palestinian terror state, which would be controlled by Iran and the axis of evil against Israel, moderate Arab states, and Europe. This is the legacy Borrell is leaving behind—antisemitism and hatred towards Israel.”

Katz’s comments came after the EU's failure to impose its own sanctions on Iran, in contrast to the actions taken by major Western powers. Borrell has faced criticism in Israel before for what is perceived as his lenient stance on Iran, a nation considered by Israel to be a significant threat in the region.


Caroline Glick: Egypt is snubbing the US — so why has Biden come to its rescue?
Far from rewarding Egypt for its actions since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the US should have sanctioned it.

Without Egypt, Hamas would never have been able to build up the massive arsenal of missiles and weapons that it used to invade Israel on Oct. 7, and to wage war against Israel until today.

Since Israel seized control over the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border in May, its forces have discovered more than 50 subterranean tunnels that cross into Egypt.

One such tunnel was 10 feet tall and wide enough for a truck to drive through.

The Egyptian side of the border is controlled by a consortium called the al-Organi Group. Egyptian President Sisi’s son, General Mahmoud Sisi, is a silent partner in Organi’s operations.

These include getting paid tens of millions of dollars for all goods and people traversing the border with Gaza.

Hamas is the official Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi rose to power in 2013 by ousting the Muslim Brotherhood regime from power and they remain mortal enemies.

Given this, the Egyptian president could have been expected to stand with Israel against Hamas. But the opposite has been the case.

Since the outset of the war, Sisi and his senior officials have repeatedly threatened to abrogate Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel if Israel fails to relent in its war effort.

America’s relationship with Egypt is rooted in that peace treaty. Washington brokered it. The Biden-Harris team could have been expected to react with fury to Sisi’s threats.

But just as was the case with the F-16 snub, so here, the opposite happened.

The administration responded to Sisi’s open animosity and constant threats to Israel by rewarding and praising him as its key partner.

Sisi moved from siding with Hamas against Israel to standing with China against the US.

And the administration responded by giving him $1.3 billion in unconditional military assistance (while maintaining its unofficial embargo of offensive ordnance against Israel).

The message he got and acted on is obvious: Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, standing with America is for suckers.
Turkish intelligence chief meets Hamas chiefs in Ankara to pressure them to accept deal
Turkey's spy chief met a delegation from Hamas in Ankara on Friday to discuss negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to state broadcaster TRT.

Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey's National Intelligence Agency, met the Hamas political bureau leadership delegation, TRT Haber said, citing Turkish security sources, without saying who the delegation members were.

Turkey's intelligence agency has been in contact with all actors, including Hamas, Israel, Qatar, and the United States, and is conducting intensive diplomacy for a ceasefire in Gaza, TRT said.

Kalin is expected to be putting pressure on Hamas to accept a deal after the United States asked the Turkish government to intervene in the negotiations, according to Walla.

The US-requested intervention by Turkey is not part of the existing official mediation agreements.

Senior US officials told Walla that the negotiations were being stymied by Hamas's new demands for an increase in the number of prisoners released.

High-level meetings
This meeting comes only days after high-ranking Hamas members met with the Qatari Prime Minister and head of Egyptian intelligence in Doha in an attempt to break the deadlock.

A Turkish security source told Walla that senior Hamas officials at the meeting said they were demonstrating positive and constructive attitudes during the negotiations, and that it was Israel that had presented new conditions - complicating the negotiations.

This came on the back of a week of unfriendly incidents between Israel and Turkey, in which Turkey called for an "Islamic alliance" against Israel.

Turkey under Erdogan has generally sided with Islamist groups against Israel, having hosted the Mavi Marmara Flotilla in 2009 and even offered to host Hamas in the months after October 7.
UAE's FM says country will not support day-after Gaza plan without creating Palestinian state
The international stage is once again witnessing heightened diplomatic tensions as the aftermath of the Gaza war ignites fresh debates over the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A central issue in these discussions is the United Arab Emirates’ refusal to support any post-war reconstruction efforts in Gaza without a clear plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state. This position, echoed by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday, reflects a growing regional consensus on the need for a two-state solution to resolve the conflict.

Abdullah made his stance clear in a statement posted on X/Twitter emphasizing that the UAE’s participation in Gaza’s recovery would be contingent upon progress toward Palestinian statehood. “The United Arab Emirates is not ready to support the day after the war in Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he declared.

The UAE’s position aligns with the sentiments expressed during a Joint Ministerial Contact Group meeting in Madrid last week, where representatives from several Muslim and European countries convened to discuss ways to end the Gaza war.


The Right Weaponizes the Anti-Semitism of the Left. We’re for It.
A little-known super PAC called Future Coalition PAC is airing ads highlighting Kamala Harris’s support for Israel, such as it is. "Vice President Harris has chosen a side—the right side," a narrator says. "Harris has made herself clear, she stands with Israel and the Jewish people." Another notes that Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, would be "the first Jewish presidential spouse ever"—that Harris and Emhoff are "making history, standing up for what’s right, supporting Israel."

In every way, they echo what Harris and Emhoff have said they stand for. But the New York Times doesn’t like these ads. Neither do they link to them and allow viewers to decide for themselves, but it tells readers they are "antisemitic," "intended to stoke more division," and that they "signal a new level of ugliness in the race."

Oh, we forgot to mention: The ads are airing in the Detroit area. Dearborn, Mich., is an inner-ring suburb of Detroit home to the country’s largest Muslim population, and what the Times report from Katie Glueck doesn’t say is that the 40,000 or so odd Arabs there don’t like Jews.

It’s not that the ads are anti-Semitic, it’s that the voters are. The ads are a bit of political chicanery aimed at turning that bigotry against the Democratic ticket. It’s cynicism, not anti-Semitism.

Speaking of bigotry, the Times profiled Arab-American voters in Dearborn over the summer for a splashy piece about "How Joe Biden Loses Michigan." A video essay asked, "Does President Biden realize how angry some voters in Michigan are—specifically, Arab Americans?"

What the piece didn’t tell readers was what several of the Arab voters profiled in the piece said off camera. Activist Amer Zahr urged Arabs and Muslims to "stop condemning anti-Semitism." The imam of the Islamic Center of Central Detroit said of Israel last year, "may Allah eradicate them from existence." Wissam Charafeddine, an employee of the Dearborn public school system, said on social media that "Israel deserves elimination more than Hamas." And on and on.

What the Times can’t say to its readers is that a key, perhaps the key, Democratic voting bloc is composed of anti-Semitic nuts. The result is misleading coverage that hides the ball and deflects the blame.

This is the weaponization of anti-Semitism, but for once it is not the left that is doing the weaponizing, and it is not the Jews who are the target. We salute the Future Coalition PAC and acquit them of all charges.
Congressional Black Caucus Speaker Defends Hamas: 'Not My Job to Tell People How to Liberate Themselves'
CUNY professor Marc Lamont Hill defended Hamas during a Congressional Black Caucus panel discussion with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) on Thursday, calling the terrorist group a "democratically elected organization that has been systematically undermined."

"As a non-Palestinian, it is not my job to tell people how to liberate themselves. It is not my job to tell people how to be free," Hill said.

"When we have the conversation of Hamas, don’t just talk about them like they’re some irrational, crazy people," he said. "[View Hamas] against the backdrop of Israeli settler states that sexually abuse people, that steal land, that kill people, that never hold on to a treaty."

Hill added that there is "room in a political discourse to have a critique of Hamas, but they are a democratically elected organization that has been systematically undermined."

Hill—who was fired as a CNN contributor in 2018 after calling for a global boycott of Israel and using the anti-Israel elimination chant "from the river to the sea"—is now a professor at CUNY and hosts the show UpFront on Al Jazeera.

Hill was speaking at the panel discussion on "The Struggle for Black and Palestinian Liberation," which featured Tlaib, outgoing Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.), Palestinian Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.

Bush nodded during Hill’s comments while Tlaib sat silently. Hasan was the only panelist to lightly challenge Hill, saying that Hamas shouldn’t be described as "democratically elected" since Gaza hasn’t held an election in nearly two decades.
Man Charged With Assault Of Pro-Israel Veteran Called For Destruction Of The United States
A man charged with assault for allegedly tackling a pro-Israel demonstrator has called for the destruction of the United States and refused to condemn Hamas, a review of his social media history reveals.

Caleb Gannon, 31, was charged with assault after The Daily Wire released an exclusive video that shows him charging across a street and tackling Scott Hayes, pro-Israel demonstrator, in Newton, Massachusetts. Gannon knocked Hayes to the ground and attacked him before Hayes, whose lawyers say that he acted in self-defense, shot him in the stomach. Hayes immediately tended to Gannon until emergency workers arrived.

At first, it was unclear why Gannon chose to charge the small, peaceful stand-in. But a review of Gannon’s social media activity reveals that he has called for the complete destruction of the United States and has refused to condemn Hamas, the Islamic terrorist organization behind the October 7th terror attack on Israel.

“The United States government is a rogue terrorist organization that does not represent its population. It must end,” Gannon, who has been charged with assault and battery, wrote in one of his extreme posts on X. Gannon’s X profile also features a Palestinian flag and the hashtag “#ActuallyAutistic.”

“All police precincts, military bases, and government offices must be liquidated immediately, and all resources from them redirected back into their communities,” he went on to say in the post pinned to the top of his profile.

Gannon, who says that he uses the pronouns “he/they/any,” also expressed support for Hamas and refused to condemn them.

“No, I don’t condemn Hamas,” he wrote, instead saying, “I condemn my family,” because they have been unwilling to “recognize the blatant genocide that’s been occurring for months in Palestine.”


UNRWA chief admits he has no way to know whether Hamas infiltrated UNRWA
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), attempted to defend his organization's conduct during an interview with Stephen Sackur on BBC's HARDtalk on Friday.

The interview comes only a few days after Israel struck a UNRWA school, killing at least 18, according to Hamas, of which six were UNRWA workers.

The IDF defended the strike, saying that nine of the people killed were members of Hamas, including three UNRWA workers.

Lazzarini told Sackur that not only were UNRWA staff being targeted in these attacks, but that UN premises were also being targeted, saying that two-thirds of their installations had been damaged and at least 500 people killed.

Targeting UNRWA
Sackur questioned him over the idea that staff were being targeted, citing the IDF claims that numerous UNRWA workers were Hamas members, asking him if he was aware that Hamas had turned the school into a "command and control center"?

"I have absolutely no information. This is an allegation coming from the Israeli [side]. I have no means to verify this information," Lazzarini told Sackur.

Sackur pushed him further, questioning him about Israeli allegations that Hamas consistently used UNRWA facilities as cover for their activities.

Lazzarini said he was concerned about the use of UNRWA property by armed Palestinian groups, but also the IDF.

Sackur asked how he was informed that a group had used their property.

"Always through the media," Lazzarini answered, "We have never received information ahead of a military strike on these installations."

"Does that mean your staff aren't telling you about Hamas's presence inside their facilities? That seems to be a fundamental problem," Sackur asked.

Lazzarini defended this, claiming that if staff knew about the existence of a military base inside their facilities, they would be unlikely to stay there or expose themselves to that danger.


IDF: UNRWA staffer killed in West Bank raid was hurling explosives at troops
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday that one of its employees was killed this week during an Israeli raid in the West Bank.

UNRWA identified the slain employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who “worked as a sanitation laborer” in the northern West Bank’s Fara’a camp and “is survived by his wife and five children.”

According to UNRWA, he was “shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper” and that it was “the first time an UNRWA staff member has been killed in the West Bank in more than 10 years.”

The Israel Defense Forces later said Jawwad was throwing explosives at troops in the camp and was a known terror operative, issuing an English language statement accusing the agency of “not telling the full story.”

IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said that during an operation in Fara’a, a suspect was identified hurling explosive devices that posed a threat to the forces operating in the area. IDF troops opened fire toward him to remove said threat, and he was killed.

“The terrorist was subsequently identified and it was discovered he is also an UNRWA employee named Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad. It should be noted that after receiving his details, it was found that the terrorist was known to Israeli security forces and he had been complicit in additional terrorist activities,” Shoshani said.

“This is yet another example of an UNRWA employee taking active part in terrorist activities against Israel, as has been proven in several other cases in the past, including employees who participated in the October 7 massacre,” he said.


Maj.-Gen. Dan Goldfus: The IDF's hero of Khan Yunis and destroyer of Hamas's tunnels
There is a reason that incoming Northern Corps and Multi-Domain Joint Maneuver Array Maj.-Gen. Dan Goldfus is considered one of the rising stars of the IDF.

Israel Defense Forces Brig.-Gen. Itzik Cohen of Division 162, along with Brig.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa of Division 36 (also becoming a major general but in a less upwardly mobile position), Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram of Division 99, and Brig.-Gen. Moran Omer of Division 252 have all played important roles in the invasion of northern Gaza. So what is so special about Goldfus?

One of the reasons that South African-Israeli Goldfus – promoted from brigadier general to major general in May – is joining the high command (others to hold his next post have gone on to become IDF chief, IDF deputy chief, and IDF intelligence chief) is that he is both the hero of Hamas’s defeat in Khan Yunis and the general who broke up the terrorist group’s network of tunnels.

How did Dan Goldfus overcome Hamas's tunnel networks and defeat them in Khan Yunis?
The Magazine has learned that Goldfus considers that his breakthrough in overcoming Hamas’s tunnel warfare is not about a single moment in which he had an epiphany but the result of hard, exhaustive, and continuous work.

If, at first, the soldiers in his Division 98 – considered almost a special forces unit – had to slowly and clumsily feel their way around in the dark of the Hamas tunnels, they eventually became, in his view, the first army in modern history to carry out large-scale, full-unit invasions, maneuvering throughout the Hamas tunnel network.

The Magazine learned that in the initial stages of the war, Goldfus’s forces were required to focus on basics, such as recording the size of the tunnels, their volume, and their depth. Likewise, they just needed to get used to the aspect of the tunnels and to dig into them, gather photos, and study them. Over time, this systematic approach began to help build more confidence.

Goldfus and his troops would slowly explore various tunnel depths and examine the types of equipment Hamas used in differing tunnels but with very targeted and circumscribed goals and missions.

WHEN HE and his forces went in, Goldfus, being a soldier’s soldier, insisted on entering a huge number of tunnels himself to see them up close despite the extra risk to his person, as they usually did not yet know what to expect.

The Magazine understands that they would have a specific goal for each area in question, usually starting with tunnels about which Goldfus had received more extensive pre-operation intelligence from Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and IDF intelligence sources – particularly if Hamas was putting up a bigger fight to fend off IDF advances from a particular tunnel shaft.

At the outset, neither Goldfus nor any of the other generals allowed full units to maneuver down into the tunnels. So, even in early January, three months into the war and a full month after the then-brigadier general had invaded Khan Yunis, IDF soldiers very rarely ventured into the tunnels.


IDF targets last Hamas strongholds in Tel al-Sultan, uncovers weapons and tunnels
Over the last few days, over 100 terrorists have been killed, and critical terrorist infrastructure, including weapons caches and rocket launchers, have been located and destroyed, the IDF reported Saturday.

IDF troops have been conducting targeted, intelligence-based operations in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah, engaging with heavily armed terrorists from the Tel al-Sultan Battalion.

While sweeping the area, the troops discovered a large weapons stockpile containing sniper rifles, grenades, anti-tank missiles, and ammunition.

Over the last two weeks, IDF forces have also identified several tunnel shafts and mapped out extensive underground networks.

Defeat of Hamas in Rafah
The IDF claimed that Hamas's Rafah Brigade has been defeated in the first week of September. The Tel al-Sultan battalion was a major part of its fighting force.
Hezbollah's war with Israel has become existential, 'military source' says
Hezbollah's war against Israel, which the terror organization began on October 8 of last year, has evolved from supporting Hamas in Gaza to becoming an existential fight, a "military source" told the pro-Syrian Lebanese news outlet Ad-Diyar on Friday.

The shift reportedly comes as Hezbollah understands that Israel is pivoting its military weight from Gaza to the northern front.

Earlier this week, speaking to the IDF’s 9th Brigade after it concluded exercises in northern Israel in preparation for ground maneuvers in Lebanon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “The center of gravity is shifting to the north. While we are wrapping up our missions in the South, an important task remains in the North: to restore security and allow residents to return to their homes." Israel expresses readiness for Lebanon action

Gallant went on to emphasize that the rhetoric about the IDF entering Lebanon was more than just talk, saying that, as Israeli forces entered Gaza weeks after the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, “the same with happen [in the North].”

Further, Maariv on Saturday published an interview with Col. Itzik Alfasi, the commander of the 179th Armored Brigade, who stated that the brigade had, after honing its abilities in Gaza, had trained for and was ready for “the big event” in Lebanon.

Avi Ashkenazi, Maariv’s military correspondent, noted that this referred to combat in Lebanon.

The source that spoke to Ad-Diyar stated that Israel’s objective in any war against Hezbollah would be to eliminate the Lebanese terror group completely.

The source, however, expressed skepticism of the IDF being able to achieve that goal, citing Hezbollah’s military experience.

The military source went on to justify Hezbollah’s decision to launch a war against Israel last October, claiming to the Lebanese news source that the choice to attack was not a random, hasty decision.

Rather, it was reportedly decided upon after the group’s leadership assessed that the current Israeli government “came to power on the basis of a final displacement program that would target the Lebanese as much as it would target the Palestinians.”


IDF confirms striking Hezbollah weapons depots deep in Lebanon, other targets
The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes deep in Lebanon this evening, targeting what it says were Hezbollah weapons depots in the Beqaa Valley and Baalbek region.

Additional strikes targeted weapons depots and buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the IDF adds.

The military releases footage of the strikes.


UKLFI Charitable Trust: The Asserson Report on the BBC - Discussion on Revelation TV's "Behind the Headlines"
Revelation TV discusses the Asserson Report on the BBC, including interview of Jonathan Turner, UKLFI Chief Executive, starting at 24:50.


Here I Am With Shai Davidai: Film producer fights misinformation | EP 09 Amanda Markowitz
Welcome to the 9th episode of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," a podcast that delves into the rising tide of antisemitism through insightful discussions with top Jewish advocates.

In this episode of 'Here I Am With Shai Davidai,' Shai interviews activist Amanda Markowitz. The conversation starts with Shai praising Amanda's unique ability to remain positive while dealing with serious issues. Amanda shares her background, revealing that she is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She discusses the generational trauma and survival instincts that have been passed down through her family, emphasizing the importance of appreciating life and not dwelling in darkness.

Amanda recounts her initial anger following the events of October 7th but explains how she transformed that anger into activism. She focuses on Holocaust education, Israel advocacy, and fighting misinformation. Amanda highlights the significance of community and the support she has received and provided through social media and events. She mentions her involvement with the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and her efforts to increase visibility and education about the Holocaust.

The discussion also covers Amanda's recent trip to Israel, where she visited areas affected by conflict, spoke with hostage families, and met with wounded soldiers. She describes the resilience and appreciation for life she observed in Israel, despite the ongoing challenges. Amanda reflects on the importance of bearing witness and creating a supportive community, both online and offline.

Throughout the interview, Amanda and Shai discuss the parallels between current events and historical instances of anti-Semitism, particularly the 1930s. Amanda stresses the need for education and awareness to prevent history from repeating itself. She also talks about the importance of Jewish joy and resilience, even in the face of adversity.

The episode concludes with a lightning round of questions, where Amanda shares personal insights, such as her favorite Jewish holiday (Passover), her least favorite (Yom Kippur), and what gives her hope (her children). She also recommends donating to Sheba Hospital, highlighting its importance in providing medical care to people of all backgrounds in Israel.


Journalism in Gaza: Why some reporters are lauded and others oppressed by Hamas
Bisan Owda and Ihab Fasfos are Gazan journalists you have probably never heard of – or at least you hadn’t until recently.

Both have been reporting from inside Gaza. And both have been telling stories about what has been happening to ordinary Gazans since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

But their fate could not be more different.

Owda has been nominated for an Emmy Award. Fasfos has reportedly been kidnapped – and is presumed dead.

So why is Owda on cloud nine, while Fasfos may be buried in the ground?

How Hamas ruins all media objectivity in Gaza
Because Hamas controls Gazan media, suppressing freedom of the press and freedom of expression. And as long as Hamas remains in power in Gaza, objectivity will continue to be a crime, and telling the truth there will continue to make a journalist a target, not a hero.

Fasfos was reportedly kidnapped by Hamas for criticizing the terror organization on Facebook. He filmed an anti-Hamas demonstration and took pictures of Hamas terrorists’ violence against Gazans waiting in line at a bakery.

Hamas broke and confiscated his camera and cellphone. When he received death threats, he went into hiding. In a recent post on the social network, he begged Hamas to show him mercy if they would find him – by killing him without torture.

By contrast, Owda’s eight-minute report “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive” is nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Hard News Feature. It was produced by social media publisher AJ+, which, like Hamas, is funded by Qatar.

The report she made in Gaza City in October 2023 and published in early November tells what happened when she sheltered in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital complex and blames Israel, not Hamas, for everything.

Researcher and analyst Eitan Fischberger revealed in July that Owda was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and played a role in four ceremonies of the terrorist organization between 2014 and 2018, two of which honored slain terrorists.

THE CREATIVE Community for Peace called on the Emmys to rescind Owda’s nomination in a letter that drew more than 150 signatures from figures in the entertainment industry and was featured in top news outlets.

After National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) CEO Adam Sharp told activists who complained about her nomination that evidence of Bisan’s PFLP ties could not be corroborated, she openly admitted in a Facebook post that she hosted an annual meeting of the PFLP and still supports what she called “political activities against Israel’s occupation.”

The news and documentary Emmys will be awarded on September 25, and Owda may very well emerge victorious. That win, like the nomination, would be illegitimate because her report was sanctioned by terrorist organizations. How do we know? Because Fasfos showed us what happens when you try to report without Hamas’s approval.

But it would not be the first award won by journalists who have cooperated with terrorist groups, which have learned to manipulate the media successfully as part of their strategy of impacting global public opinion and shaping the international narrative about Gaza.


Man sets himself on fire across from Israeli consulate in Boston
A man intentionally set himself on fire outside the Four Seasons hotel, directly across from the Israeli consulate and a Chabad house, in Boston on Wednesday, according to local media citing surveillance footage and eyewitnesses.

The incident, which occurred on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York, occurred at approximately 8:15 p.m. local time, according to NBC Boston. A large number of police officers arrived at the scene shortly after.

Before the fire, surveillance footage reportedly revealed a man walking back and forth outside the hotel before catching on fire. Bystanders reportedly then attempted to put out the fire.

A French tourist told NBC10 that her partner heard the man screaming and had tried to use his backpack to extinguish the flames.

Witness Jeferson Zapata told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that the man poured gasoline over himself and that he tried to throw water on the man.

Police told the Boston Herald the man was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital.

BPD spokesman Officer Mark Marron told the Herald police that they were still investigating and that no update had been made on the health of the man involved.


Wikipedia has an antisemitism problem
The latest scandal involving Wikipedia should, by any reasonable measure, hammer a final nail into the coffin of its credibility as a reliable source of information about Israel and Jews.

According to Ynet, after months of debate, Wikipedia editors recently voted to change the heading of its page entitled “Allegations of genocide in the 2023 Israeli attack on Gaza” to “Gaza genocide.”

In other words, Wikipedia decided that the “allegation” of genocide in Gaza is now a “settled fact.”

Ynet said, “Supporters of the new title argue that there is a broad consensus in academia on the matter, citing academic articles by Holocaust historians, genocide scholars, human rights professors, and legal and political experts.”

Among the so-called experts cited for this “consensus” is Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, whose hate-filled social media posts employed such openly antisemitic rhetoric that the US has called for her removal from the position.

The Wikipedia entry’s footnotes cite many veteran anti-Israel NGOs affiliated with the long-standing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel and relies heavily on the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers that have been repeatedly challenged by experts as obviously distorted or manipulated.

The page accuses Israel of deliberately causing “starvation” in Gaza by preventing humanitarian supplies from entering and blocking or attacking humanitarian convoys, ignoring the overwhelming evidence that Israel facilitated the entry of enough aid to provide adequate calories for every man, woman and child in Gaza.

This latest scandal is not the first time Wikipedia has courted controversy with blatantly manipulated and politicized content targeting Jews or Israel.
US universities are trying a new strategy on Israel and Gaza: Say nothing
When American universities issued statements about Hamas’s October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza last year, many led to intense blowback, donor revolts and — in some cases — high-profile leaders resigning. No statement, it seemed, was good enough to avoid criticism.

So going forward, many of them won’t say anything at all.

“The practice of issuing statements supports some members of our community while disregarding others, intentionally or otherwise,” Maud Mandel, the president of Williams College and a Jewish Studies scholar, wrote in a letter to campus last week explaining her own decision to remain neutral after Oct. 7 — a decision she has now codified into college policy. “It makes some issues visible while leaving many more unseen.”

She wasn’t the only one to opt out. This week the University of Pennsylvania, Barnard College and the University of Alabama’s campuses were some of the latest schools to announce they would institute a broad policy of “institutional neutrality” on world events that do not directly affect the populations of their universities. Yale University, too, announced it would be exploring whether to adopt a similar policy, convening a committee of seven professors to conduct listening sessions and collect feedback on the question.

These schools join around two dozen others that already have codified some policy of political neutrality, according to the campus free-speech organization FIRE, which supports adopting such policies. Most of them have only been implemented within the past few months. And Jewish leaders, many of whom pushed for strongly-worded university statements in the wake of Oct. 7, are divided on the issue.

In a statement to JTA, Hillel International CEO Adam Lehman called institutional neutrality “a good step forward in returning campuses to their core missions of education, learning and research.”

But, he said, the policy “is not a panacea that solves the problems of harassment, intimidation and discrimination directed at Jewish students.”


Conclusion of Jewish Chronicle investigation into Elon Perry
The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims. We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.

The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.
Jewish Chronicle fires freelance journalist Elon Perry after false reporting on Gaza war
The Jewish Chronicle announced on Saturday that it has decided to fire freelance journalist Elon Perry following a thorough investigation after his report on Hamas's supposed plan to smuggle hostages to Iran was proven to be false.

The JC stated the investigation was commenced "after allegations were made about aspects of his (Perry's) record."

"While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims. We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry," the Jewish Chronicle said in an apologetic statement published on its website.

In a short internet investigation instigated by The Marker journalist Simi Spolter, serious doubts over Perry's journalistic credibility were highlighted, according to a report by Walla.

Perry not credible
Spolter’s investigation found that Perry has written fewer than ten articles for JC, all in the last two months.

Additionally, some of his articles raise questionable claims. For instance, his previous report suggested that Hamas is actually holding only 20 hostages, which is why negotiations have stalled — a claim he reiterated during an interview on CNN.

Spolter also discovered another of Perry's articles, which detailed the assassination of Mohammed Deif with descriptions that don’t quite resemble journalistic reporting, including: "Planes circled high in the sky for 7 hours waiting for the right moment," "Israeli soldiers disguised themselves as market vendors to confirm Deif’s arrival at the building, and then slipped back to the sea where the navy picked them up."

This reporting style is extremely unorthodox in journalism, especially from an external IDF source such as Perry, who would not have access to this unconfirmed information, the Walla report added.


UKLFI: DPD delivery man wears Jihadi-style headband, scaring Jewish customers
He was seen on his way to deliver a parcel in the Kentish Town area of London. The witness, who was Jewish, commented: “I know if I saw a man wearing this headband, on my doorstep I would be terrified.”

UKLFI has asked DPD if wearing the headband contravenes DPD’s uniform policy.

UKLFI has referred DPD to Section 29 (3) of the Equality Act 2010 which says: “A service-provider must not, in relation to the provision of the service, harass (a) a person requiring the service, or (b) a person to whom the service-provider provides the service.”

UKLFI argues that DPD was harassing Jewish, Israeli and Zionist recipients of its service, by creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive environment for them – as harassment is defined in the Equality Act.

UKLFI has asked DPD to clarify whether its dress code allows staff to display political symbols on their clothing or jewellery. If it is not allowed, UKLFI has asked DPD to ensure that all staff and managers are aware of this, and that the delivery man in question is appropriately reprimanded.




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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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