Tuesday, November 12, 2024

11/12 Links Pt1: Enthusiasm in Jerusalem as Trump national security team takes shape; Gaza's Forgotten Palestinian Victims: Dissidents Tortured by Hamas

From Ian:

Enthusiasm in Jerusalem as Trump national security team takes shape
Israeli officials were enthusiastic about President-elect Donald Trump’s expected incoming national security team, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as secretary of state and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Mike Waltz (R-FL) for ambassador to the U.N. and national security advisor, respectively.

A source close to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he is “expected to warmly welcome” his likely counterpart Rubio.

“We’re talking about someone who is not only a firm friend of Israel, but has a consistent track record on the major issues of the day,” such as Iran, the source said.

Officials in other Israeli government offices related to national security had positive things to say about the likely nominees, but did not want to be quoted until they are official. Trump has only announced he is tapping Stefanik for U.N. ambassador.

Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman was the one cabinet minister to comment publicly on Tuesday morning, posting on X that she is “happy and congratulates President Trump for his appointments. Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz are people with their heads on straight and moral clarity. This is good news for the free world and the State of Israel.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon posted his congratulations to Rubio and Stefanik, and said that he “look[s] forward to strengthening the enduring bond between Israel and the United States, working together for a safer, more prosperous future for all.”

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana praised the “brilliant pick” of Stefanik, posting photos from her visit to the Knesset last year and calling her “a strong voice of moral clarity and a fierce fighter for what is right,” as well as “a steadfast friend” of Israel and the Jewish people.

Former Israeli National Security Advisor and head of the Misgav Institute for National Security Meir Ben-Shabbat, who served under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Trump’s first term, said that while he does not know the nominees personally, he is familiar with their stances on matters important to Israel.

“There is potential for a dramatic change, to expand the Abraham Accords and continue the vision of the previous term, to bring stability, peace and prosperity, but it must be done through strength,” he said.
With majority, Senate Republicans pledge aggressive action against antisemitism
A spokesperson for Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), who will chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he “will continue to do all he can to support Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah, to include the reversal of Biden’s policies of Iranian accommodation and doubling down on efforts to isolate Iran and deny the regime resources to threaten Israel.”

Risch, the spokesperson said, “will continue to counter antisemitism that exists across the world and in places like the [International Criminal Court] and the U.N. If the current Congress continues to stop short of taking action to sanction ICC officials and permanently cease funding to UNRWA, those will be early priorities next year.”

The committee has been at a standstill since April, the result of Risch and Foreign Relations Committee Republicans refusing to move forward on any of President Joe Biden’s nominations or other votes until the panel takes up a House-passed ICC sanctions bill. It is not clear if a bipartisan agreement will be reached before the new Congress begins in January.

Republicans have consistently argued since the spring that their conference would take a more hands-on approach to both Israel and antisemitism. Members have criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for refusing to allow for a vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act despite facing calls from Jewish leaders and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to do so; Schumer said in late October that a vote on the AAA would take place after the election.

A spokesperson for Schumer pointed to Republican holds on the legislation, saying that “because of that fact pattern, the goal of passing antisemitism legislation has long been to use a viable, must-pass vehicle to accomplish passage.”

“We fully intend to get it done before the end of the year,” Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro said of passing AAA in the lame duck session.

GOP senators have also pointed to the lack of any productive hearings on domestic antisemitism as evidence of Democratic inaction, with several incoming committee chairs saying they’d like to convene hearings on the issue.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been pushing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s outgoing chairman, to hold a hearing on the matter since last November. Sanders has refused the requests, despite pressure from HELP Committee Democrats and members of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.
Sen. Marco Rubio: Israel's Enemies Are Also Our Enemies
Israel has been a steadfast U.S. ally, a wellspring of technological innovation, and a force for good in the world. Israel's enemies are also our enemies. The Iranian regime and its proxies - Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and a multitude of groups in Syria and Iraq - seek Israel's destruction as part of a multi-stage plan to dominate the Middle East and destabilize the West. The Jewish state is on the front lines of this conflict, fighting with many shared American-Israeli lives.

This makes it outrageous that international institutions are targeting Israel. The International Criminal Court is currently mulling arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials over supposed "war crimes." The court isn't going after Assad in Syria, who gassed his own people. It isn't going after Xi Jinping in China, who is conducting real-time genocide against the Uyghurs. Instead, it's attacking a country whose military has gone to great lengths to protect civilian lives. The hypocrisy is astounding.

In the end, no matter what the international community says, Israel has a right to defend itself, and the United States must support its effort to destroy Hamas as a terrorist threat. We also must support Israel against Iran-backed Hizbullah to Israel's north. (National Review-May 6, 2024)


Caroline Glick: Trump will reverse Biden’s Israel delusions and bring an era of Mideast peace
On Sunday, Israel reportedly killed Hezbollah terror boss Ali Musa Daqduq in Syria, bringing a measure of justice to the US military’s Iraq war veterans.

In 2007, Daqduq and his underlings infiltrated a US base in Karbala, Iraq, killing one soldier and kidnapping — and later brutally executing — four more. CENTCOM sources on Monday expressed confidence that Daqduq had in fact been slain.

Israeli forces have killed hundreds of terrorists with American blood on their hands since Iran launched its seven-front war against the Jewish state last year.

Yet their achievements have made President Biden and his advisers uncomfortable — because they expose the truth that the Biden team has refused to countenance.

Israel’s enemies are America’s enemies. And when Israel defeats its enemies, America wins.

Biden and his team are not alone in their discomfort. For over 30 years, the US foreign policy establishment produced one failed policy after another, because its members collectively refused to reconcile themselves to the fact that Israel is America’s greatest ally in the Middle East.

Instead, they all insisted that Israel is the source of regional instability and that the only way to forge peace was for Israel to appease its enemies — all of whom seek its annihilation.

Since that is a self-evidently impossible goal, all of those efforts failed.

Cycles of US-induced appeasement, instability, terror and war led to further US-induced appeasement, and the pattern circled on and on and on.

Donald Trump is the only US president in the past 30 years who insisted that reality be his guide.

His willingness to recognize Israel as America’s greatest regional ally enabled him to see that the more powerful Israel is, the less America has to do. Conversely, the weaker Israel is, the more America has to do.

For his part, Benjamin Netanyahu is the only Israeli leader in the past generation who has refused to play along with the delusions of America’s elite.

Only Netanyahu has refused to accept blame for the pathologies of Israel’s enemies. He alone has refused to empower them for fear of unpleasant confrontations with Washington.

Eight years ago, Trump and Netanyahu’s complementary worldviews set their nations on a course to previously unimagined achievements.
Caroline Glick: Establishment HACKS miss the REAL path to peace
Israel is at a crossroads, and the decisions it makes over the next two months—before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated—are critical to the future of the region.

Will Jerusalem continue down the failed path of appeasement or will it make the moves necessary for survival? JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick breaks it down and gives a full analysis on the latest episode of In-Focus!


Israeli president meets Biden at White House
Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden at the Oval Office in the White House on Tuesday morning.

The White House stated that the meeting, which was open to a “spray,” in which the pool reporter could ask questions, started at 11:15 a.m.

Biden spoke briefly, stressing that his administration’s “commitment to Israel is ironclad, and we share a deep friendship.”

According to the pool report, Herzog thanked Biden for his support of the Jewish state and said, “It’s always a great honor to be here in the Oval Office and to be with a friend such as you, Mr. President.”

Herzog noted that just hours earlier on Tuesday, “two Israelis were murdered by rocket attacks from Lebanon in the northern town of Nahariya, a beautiful seashore town in the northern part of Israel.”

“This is what we’re going through from Lebanon, Mr. President, and you know it all too well,” said Herzog. “We’re fighting hard, we’re protecting our people….and I know that you’re working very hard to make sure that this war will end and that will there will be, first and foremost security for the people of Israel, as well as for the people in Lebanon.”

Turning to Iran’s malign influence in the region, he stated, “It all starts in the empire of evil, where, in Tehran, with its proxies, they are doing whatever they can to derail stability and security and peace, calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel and seeking nuclear weapons.

The Israeli head of state said there are still 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. “I know, Mr. President, that you know you are day in and out, actively seeking their safe return home, as they’re going through hell.”

“First and foremost, we have to get the hostages back home,” continued Herzog. Biden responded then to say, “I agree.”

Herzog presented Biden with a gift—an archeological artifact with the inscription, “Joseph,” from the foot of the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem— for what he described as the president’s great legacy.


State Department: Israel not in violation of US law on humanitarian aid to Gaza
The State Department on Tuesday said that Israel is not in violation of U.S. law related to the delivery and access of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, despite pushback from aid groups and the United Nations.

The U.N. and aid groups have sounded the alarm over dire conditions for Palestinians’ access to food, medical care and shelter.

The U.S. assessment came at the end of a 30-day timeline where Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a warning to the Israeli government that concrete steps needed to be taken to increase humanitarian assistance deliveries into the Gaza Strip or risk triggering a block on U.S. weapons deliveries under federal law.

“We, at this time, have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of U.S. law,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

“Israel has taken a number of steps to address the measures laid out in the letter that secretaries Blinken and Austin sent earlier in October. We continue to be in discussion with our partners in Israel about these steps that they’ve taken, which they took as a result of U.S. intervention, as well as additional steps that we feel that still need to be taken.”


Commentary Podcast: Neocon Trump?
The selections of Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and Elise Stefanik to senior foreign-policy posts in the incoming administration offer significant signals that Trump 2 is not going to follow the neo-isolationist hopes and dreams of the Tucker Carlson crowd. What will this mean for Ukraine, and what does it say about the Jewish vote?


Trump expected to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to be his secretary of state, according to multiple reports. Rubio is a hawkish supporter of Israel and a harsh critic of Iran and China.

He’ll join Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Mike Waltz (R-FL) in Trump’s emerging national security team. The picks are likely to please the GOP’s pro-Israel wing and have all generally been seen as part of the GOP’s more traditionally hawkish wing — but all three also voted against supplemental U.S. aid to Ukraine earlier this year. (In Rubio’s case, that meant opposing supplemental funding for Israel and Taiwan as well.)

The contest to be Trump’s secretary of state had narrowed down to a handful of candidates by Monday evening, with Rubio, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and former Trump administration official Ric Grenell emerging as the final contenders. All three men had expressed interest in the role and were lobbying Trump and his advisors for the job.

Rubio had been mentioned as a top Cabinet pick since the summer, when he was one of the final names on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist. The Florida senator’s allies in the Sunshine State and D.C. began floating him to Trump’s transition team as a secretary of state pick after Trump chose Vice President-elect JD Vance as his running mate.

Rubio, who has strong relationships with Florida’s sizable Jewish community, has been highly active on Israel and Iran issues throughout his time in office. He’s currently the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Rubio has been a staunch defender of Israel’s military operations against Hamas and Hezbollah and a critic of the Biden administration’s response to Oct. 7. After his trip to the Jewish state in May, Rubio wrote in an op-ed that, “President Biden must face the fact that his foreign-policy weakness is responsible for our adversaries’ aggression. To deter further aggression against American lives and interests, he must establish a credible threat of military force.”


Trump taps pro-Israel stalwart Elise Stefanik for U.N. ambassador
President-elect Donald Trump announced his first foreign policy nomination for his second administration this weekend, selecting the pro-Israel stalwart Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as his ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik, a close Trump ally once seen as a possible vice presidential pick, has become a star in the Jewish community over the past year for her aggressive questioning of university presidents about campus antisemitism. Given her past criticisms of the U.N., she’s likely to bring a strong focus on supporting Israel and attacking the U.N. system for anti-Israel bias to her new role.

Stefanik, currently the No. 4 Republican in the House, said in a statement that she’s “truly honored” and “deeply humbled” by the nomination. She highlighted antisemitism as one of the key issues that she’s aiming to tackle in her new role.

“The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Stefanik said. “I stand ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.”

In a statement announcing her selection, Trump highlighted Stefanik’s service on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, and her work on campus antisemitism.

In a hint to how she’ll approach her new role, Stefanik has repeatedly blasted the U.N. as systemically antisemitic. She said that the U.S. would need to reconsider all funding it provides to the U.N. if the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to expel Israel from the General Assembly succeed.


Mike Huckabee named as US ambassador to Israel for Trump administration
President-elect Donald Trump has named former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as the United States ambassador to Israel.

Trump released a statement announcing his choice on Tuesday, praising the politician and Baptist minister as “highly respected” in both countries.

“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in the announcement.

“Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East,” the president-elect added.

Huckabee was a close Trump ally during the 2024 election cycle, speaking highly of the former president on his Trinity Broadcasting Network talk show, Huckabee.

He also appeared alongside Trump on the campaign trail at multiple points, such as at a community roundtable in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, in October hosted by “Building America’s Future.”

Huckabee has visited Israel more than 100 times throughout his life, spurred by both his political diplomacy and his evangelical Christian belief that the country holds a sacred status.


Trump picks Iran critic, hawkish Israel supporter Mike Waltz as national security advisor
President-elect Donald Trump named Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) as his next national security adviser, adding another Israel and Iran hawk, who generally takes traditional conservative views on foreign policy to his national security team.

Waltz has been deeply involved with foreign policy and national security issues on the Hill and before his time in elected office: he’s a Green Beret, former policy official at the Pentagon, ex-CEO of a defense contracting company, subcommittee chair on the House Armed Services Committee and member of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees. And he’s been a stalwart supporter of Israel.

Last month, when Israel retaliated against Iran for its ballistic missile attack, Waltz suggested that Israel should have struck Kharg Island, a key locus for Iran’s oil exports, and its nuclear facilities at Natanz and questioned whether the Biden administration had pressured Israel “once again to do less than it should.”

He told Jewish Insider in September that the U.S. should be putting pressure on Hamas and its Iranian backers, and accused the Biden administration of applying “one-sided pressure on Israel to make a [cease-fire] deal” with Hamas in Gaza. Waltz also expressed skepticism of the U.S.-proposed cease-fire plan between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Even before the war in Gaza, Waltz told JI in May 2023 that the U.S. should make clear it wouldn’t stop Israel from striking Iran’s nuclear program and that the U.S. should show Iran “through a variety of means that our military capabilities are such that we could indeed severely damage their program.”


Donald Trump Jr. faces scrutiny for embracing anti-Israel podcaster’s views
Donald Trump Jr. is facing scrutiny for amplifying an outspoken anti-Israel comedian on social media over the weekend, particularly as he takes a leading role in shaping the incoming Trump administration.

On Sunday, Trump Jr. voiced his agreement with Dave Smith, a libertarian podcaster and comedian, who in a post on X called for “maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump administration.”

The post came shortly after President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday night that he would not ask Mike Pompeo, his former secretary of state, and Nikki Haley, who served as his ambassador to the United Nations, to join his next administration.

“The ‘stop Pompeo’ movement is great but it’s not enough,” Smith said in his post responding to the decision. “They have had their time at the table and brought nothing but disaster to the world and this country,” he added. “America First: screw the war machine!”

Trump Jr., for his part, endorsed that view on X, where he has nearly 13 million followers. “Agreed 100% 100% 100%!!!” he wrote the following day. “I’m on it.”

By boosting Smith, Trump Jr. was aligning with a fierce critic of Israel and its ongoing war in Gaza — which he has called “every bit as evil as the worst of” Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, “and on a much larger scale.” The comedian has also claimed that “the way Israel was founded was illegitimate and immoral,” while suggesting that, during World War II, “the Zionist agenda at the time very much lined up with Hitler’s agenda,” among other incendiary remarks.

In recent months, Smith, who is Jewish, has indulged Holocaust revisionism in conversations with Candace Owens, a far-right provocateur who frequently traffics in antisemitic tropes, and Darryl Cooper, a Hitler apologist who has argued Winston Churchill was the “chief villain” of World War II.

Smith has defended Owens and Cooper, even as Republicans have sought to distance themselves from the two controversy-stoking commentators.


Kamala Harris snubbing Josh Shapiro in favor of Tim Walz for VP backfired with Jewish voters – and may have cost her Pennsylvania: exit poll
Vice President Kamala Harris’ first major campaign decision — selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate — backfired big-time with Jewish voters, an exit poll exclusively obtained by The Post reveals.

The Harris-Walz ticket won Pennsylvania Jewish voters by seven percentage points, 48%-41%, over the GOP ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance, according to the survey conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Teach Coalition, an affiliate of the Jewish Orthodox Union.

However, 53% of Jewish voters said they would have pulled the lever for the veep if Shapiro was her No. 2, while support for Trump-Vance would have dropped to 38%.

The results suggest that Harris may have come closer or even won in Pennsylvania — which she lost to Trump by 2.1% — or other swing states had she picked the popular Shapiro, who Jewish community leaders claimed at the time was subject to an “ugly, antisemitic campaign” that led to him being passed over for the VP slot.

As it was, defeated Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey ran ahead of Harris-Walz among Jewish voters, according to the survey, with 50% saying they backed the three-term incumbent and 40% supporting Republican Sen.-elect David McCormick.

Harris also failed to break 50% among Jewish voters across New York’s 1st and 4th Congressional Districts on Long Island, as well as the 17th, 18th, 19th and 22nd Districts in the Hudson Valley and upstate — a stunning reversal among what was considered a reliable Democratic constituency.
Kamala Harris Campaign Gave $500k to Al Sharpton’s Nonprofit Weeks Before Glowing Interview With Anti-Semitic MSNBC Host
Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign donated $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s nonprofit organization just weeks before the anti-Semitic MSNBC host—who once said that "diamond merchant" Jews have the "blood of innocent babies" on their hands—conducted a friendly interview with Harris.

The campaign’s remittance to Sharpton’s National Action Network was part of a flurry of donations—$5.4 million in all—to black and Latino advocacy groups that seem aimed at winning Harris support from those constituencies. Harris’s campaign gave two payments of $250,000 to National Action Network on Sept. 5 and Oct. 1, according to campaign finance records.

On Oct. 3, Sharpton aired a video of Harris wishing him happy birthday on his MSNBC weekend show, PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton. "Happy birthday, Rev," Harris said, using Sharpton’s nickname. "You have been over all of your years such an extraordinary leader. You have been a voice of truth, a voice of conscience."

Sharpton, 70, conducted a glowing interview with Harris on Oct. 20 in which he touted her "extraordinary historic campaign" while referring to Trump as "hostile and erratic." His questions lined up closely with messages that Harris sought to highlight on the campaign trail. Sharpton addressed concerns among black voters—especially black men—about Harris’s record as a prosecutor in California, where she was given the nickname "Kamala the Cop." Sharpton brought up Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, and one of Harris’s personal heroes, to put Harris’s candidacy in historical perspective. Sharpton asked Harris whether men who opposed her were "misogynistic."

Sharpton did not disclose payments from the Harris campaign during either segment with the candidate. National Action Network did not respond to requests for comment. MSNBC also did not respond to comment requests.


Seth Mandel: The Hamas Torture Videos
One Gazan (it’s not clear if he’s in any of the videos) told the paper that he was kidnapped and tortured by Hamas thugs every few years since they found out he was gay.

Next to gay Palestinians, Hamas’s favorite torture targets appear to be those deemed suspected “collaborators.” One Israeli intelligence officer spoke of people who were “electrocuted on electricity pylons or dragged on a chain from a vehicle until they die.” Some victims had plastic melted onto their body.

It wasn’t only gays and those with Jewish contacts who were abducted and tormented by Hamas; so were suspected adulterers. Perhaps one of the American activists in a Handmaid’s Tale costume could spare a tear for the victims of the actual dystopian government from hell. But that would be the same torture force for which many of them and their comrades are also advocating, unfortunately.

That’s the story here; that’s the why. We’re not hearing much about the videos of Hamasniks carrying out what one Gaza-born activist described as “a fundamental component of Hamas’ governance strategy” because it is a fundamental component of Hamas’s governance strategy. To acknowledge this is to acknowledge that nobody cares less about Palestinians than legions of so-called “pro-Palestinian activists” in the West. It is to acknowledge that many Americans are attracted not to the justness of a cause but to its display of homicidal indifference to life.

Similarly, these are not skeletons in Sinwar’s closet. They are the very foundation of his life and career. They are the reason for his every promotion, for his selection, ultimately, to be the representation of Hamas to the world as well as to Palestinians in Gaza. To discuss these videos is to confront the fact that we in the West have a serious problem on our hands and no strategy to reclaim the principles of liberal democracy before Generation Sinwar buries those principles alive.
WSJ Editorial: Gaza's Forgotten Palestinian Victims: Dissidents Tortured by Hamas
You won't see any protests over it. Video evidence of the torture of Palestinians in Gaza elicits little reaction because the torture was carried out by Hamas. No one gets worked up when Israel can't be blamed.

On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces released a 47-minute montage of Hamas interrogations from CCTV footage that its troops discovered in Gaza. It shows "Hamas's brutal methods for interrogating civilians, violating human rights and systematically oppressing residents suspected of opposing the organization's rule."

Prisoners are seen in the video with sacks over their heads, chained to floors and ceilings in unnatural positions while they are beaten with canes on the soles of their feet. They writhe in agony. This is how Hamas acts in peacetime against its own people. Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, got his nickname as "butcher of Khan Yunis" for killing Palestinians accused of collaboration. When Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, it threw rivals off roofs.


Israel's Strategic Alternatives after a Year of War
After the attacks by Hamas and Hizbullah, Israel faced an existential challenge and had to take all necessary measures to reverse the situation. There was no way to eliminate Hamas's massive deployment - deeply entrenched in the urban landscape from which thousands of missiles were fired at the civilian population in Israel - without causing enormous destruction.

Anyone who claims that such destruction is unacceptable should provide other practical and convincing methods that would break Hamas's power in Gaza. Otherwise, they are effectively arguing that Hamas should have immunity from attack. Some people in the West seem to be effectively in favor of granting Hamas such immunity.

The path to a ceasefire in the north that keeps Hizbullah away from the border and allows the evacuated Israelis to return home is far from clear. It is difficult to envision Hizbullah willingly accepting the humiliation of conceding to Israel's terms after suffering substantial losses. It is very doubtful that the diplomatic efforts now taking place to strengthen the Lebanese army and UNIFIL, and harden the stipulations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, will bear significant results.

While the war is not over, the dreams of Israel's destruction, through the coordinated popular mobilization efforts of all the fanatical elements of the Iranian-sponsored "ring of fire," have largely been buried under the ruins of Gaza and Lebanon. The moderate Arab regimes are pleased with the downfall of Hizbullah and Iran's difficulties. Having regained its image of superior military capability, Israel is once again becoming a critical ally of the moderate Arab regimes against the Iranian threat.
Hizbullah Must Face Reality
In Lebanon, dozens of villages have been wiped off the map. All predominantly Shiite areas associated with Hizbullah have been emptied of their populations and partially destroyed. Hizbullah has lost its secretary-general, its entire top military command and much of its arsenal. Israel can continue the war for months. We do not have that luxury.

Hizbullah's new secretary-general Naim Qassem genuinely seems to believe that Hizbullah is winning, that Israel is on the verge of collapse, and that time is on his side. Hizbullah consistently overestimates its strength relative to its adversary and remains stuck in the mindset of 2006. This approach has led to the disaster we are all experiencing, especially the party's popular base, even more so than the rest of the Lebanese population.

Hizbullah must accept its defeat. It must withdraw from south of the Litani River, begin a process of disarmament, distance itself from Iran, and reconsider its relationship with Lebanon and the Lebanese people. Accepting this reality is essential if we are ever to escape this grim escalation, which leads only to suffering for both those who endure it and those who support it.


Seth Frantzman: Israel’s challenge: Explaining how Hamas’ war led to destruction of Gaza
HOW CAN Israel confront the narrative that is forming about the level of destruction in Gaza and the inevitable reconstruction that will follow?

“As ever in this conflict, the effect will be mistaken for intent. The IDF’s targeting processes match those of Western armies. The IDF has taken unprecedented measures to protect civilian life; we can see this in the fact that so few civilians have died for the enormous amount of ordinance dropped,” said Andrew Fox, a former British army officer and research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.

Israel called to show how Hamas lead to Gaza's destruction
Fox pointed out recently how Israel should be confronting this narrative. When I noticed he posted about this issue on social media, I reached out to him. I had recently returned from Jabalya doing a report about the IDF fighting Hamas there, and I was struck by the level of destruction in the urban areas in the vicinity.

“Israel has fought a just war in a just manner, but for many, this will be irrelevant. Gaza lies in ruins, and it is a horrifying sight. It is vital that the IDF get ahead of the narrative on this. Show the world their workings: Show targeting packs, show the tunnel network, show the extent to which Hamas’s infrastructure demanded this scale of destruction,” Fox said.

“When this damage is fully shown to the world, Israel will be condemned for this. They need to own it and show the world first, and show the world why it happened. If I were a senior Israeli official, I would also show the world how it is going to be rebuilt. The innocents in Gaza have unquestionably gone through hell, and they deserve this answer,” he added.

Fox is correct in understanding the ramifications and what is coming. For some people who have an ingrained anti-Israel view, the information won’t matter. They dislike Israel anyway.

However, there are many people who are sympathetic to Israel or may not have a strong opinion. They will see images of destroyed cities, and they will want to know why this happened. They will be told Israel bombed and destroyed things.

Will they learn how Hamas festooned these areas with weapons and tunnels?
Katz: ‘There will be no ceasefire and no pause’ in Lebanon
“There will be no ceasefire and no pause” in the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

Following his first meeting on Monday with the IDF General Staff Forum, Katz tweeted, “The impressive and powerful actions carried out by the IDF and security forces against Hezbollah, including the elimination of Nasrallah, represent a victory image, and it is essential to continue offensive operations to further degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and fully capitalize on the gains of this victory.”

Katz replaced Yoav Gallant as defense minister on Nov. 7, having previously served as Israel’s foreign minister.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on Sept. 27.

“In Lebanon, there will be no ceasefire and no pause. We will continue to strike Hezbollah with full force until our war objectives are achieved,” Katz continued.

“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not secure its right to independently enforce and prevent terrorism, achieve its war objectives in Lebanon, disarm Hezbollah, push them back beyond the Litani River, and allow northern residents to safely return to their homes,” he wrote.

With regard to Hezbollah’s backer Tehran, he tweeted: “Iran is more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities. We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal—to thwart and eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel.”
Four IDF troops killed in Jabalia op in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday morning released the names of four soldiers killed in action in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

The troops, from the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion 92, were identified as Staff Sgt. Orr Katz, 20, from Ma’ale Adumim; Staff Sgt. Nave Yair Asulin, 21, from Carmit; Staff Sgt. Gary Lalhruaikima Zolat, 21, from Afula; and Staff Sgt. Ofir Eliyahu, 20, from Holon.

Their deaths raise the IDF’s death toll on all fronts since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, to 787, of which 373 have fallen since the start of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, 2023.

On Monday, the IDF released the name of a reservist killed in action in northern Gaza.

IDF Maj. (res.) Itamar Levin Fridman, 34, from Eilat, served as a commander in his home town’s Lotar counter-terrorism unit, a special forces team whose mission is to protect the safety of residents and tourists in southern Israel and which specializes in the rescue of hostages.

Fridman was killed by an anti-tank missile.


Palestinian terrorist attempts to stab IDF troops in Samaria
A Palestinian terrorist tried to stab Israel Defense Forces soldiers outside the Arab town of Deir Sharaf, near Nablus in Samaria, on Tuesday, the IDF announced. No injuries were reported in the terrorist incident.

The assailant was “neutralized” by IDF reservists at the army post, the statement said. The condition of the terrorist was not immediately clear.

Earlier on Tuesday, two Palestinian terrorists who fled the scene of Monday night’s car-ramming attack in Judea surrendered to Israeli security forces following a manhunt in the Bethlehem area.

Two IDF soldiers were lightly and moderately injured in the incident at a military checkpoint near the Palestinian city. They were transferred to a hospital to receive medical treatment and their families were notified.

On Nov. 6, two Israelis were lightly injured in a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack at a bus stop near the town of Shiloh in southern Samaria. The terrorist was killed on the scene by an armed civilian.

Three days prior, Hamas terrorists opened fire toward the Shahak Industrial Park near the community of Shaked in northern Samaria. No casualties were reported in the attack on the industrial zone, which is located some five miles west of Jenin, a hotbed of Palestinian terrorism.

In the first six months of 2024, Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Arab terrorist attacks each month on average, according to data made public by Hatzalah Judea and Samaria (Rescuers Without Borders).

During that period, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings.


RTE: The Irish UNIFIL Zone: IDF advance looms as Hezbollah tunnels exposed
Hezbollah tunnel complex exposed
IDF units have been also clashing with Hezbollah fighters in smaller towns and villages, south, west, and east of Bint Jbeil. It appears the wider strategic aim may be to gain control over the town.

In an indication that they now control Maroun El Ras, the Israeli military brought a small group of journalists and researchers into the town in recent weeks. Among them was a number of Greek and German journalists and Andrew Fox, a military researcher with the Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based think-tank.

The IDF to showed the group a tunnel complex they had uncovered.

Their reporting was embargoed until recent days, but video footage since published by Mr Fox and others shows a Hezbollah tunnel complex almost 1km-long was built into a hill on the north side of the town.

The complex is at the heart of Maroun El Ras, 1.7km from the Irish outpost, which is on the outskirts of the town closer to the border.

The tunnels appear to have been designed to accommodate people and storage, not for fighting or defence. The IDF posted images and footage from inside, showing ammunition and weapons it said were found, as well as sleeping and accommodation areas.

It is unclear when the tunnel complex was constructed, but it had electricity, water, air conditioning and a fire suppression system. One of the end-points centres on a large building, another on an Islamic place of worship and cemetery, another in an open area.

In an effort to verify the users and approximate a date for when the tunnel may have been worked on, Prime Time examined archive satellite imagery and identified electrical fittings from the underground footage.

Satellite images taken in October 2016 and again in May 2017 show a new area covered in chalky rock became visible at one of the end-points of the tunnel in the intervening months.

However, engineers who examined the tunnel footage said that it appeared stable, suggesting it may be old. They also said the sprayed concrete walls, electrical installations and related plastic fittings and casings, looked relatively modern. It is unclear when the construction took place, and is possible the tunnel is decades old, and may have been extended or refurbished in more recent years.

Prime Time identified two specific electrical fittings from footage posted by Andrew Fox.

A time delay electrical fitting and the wall lights used to illuminate the tunnels were both found to be manufactured in Iran, and currently only available from Iranian suppliers. Hezbollah is financially backed by Iran, and politically aligned with it.

The earliest published mention of either product online is December 2016.

On Sunday, the IDF said it has now filled the tunnel network with concrete, putting it out of use.

Other tunnel complexes have been destroyed in recent weeks in the Irish UNIFIL area using explosives rather than concrete.
UN force says Israeli work on Syrian frontier ‘severe violation’ of 1974 ceasefire deal
United Nations peacekeepers warned Tuesday that the Israeli military has committed “severe violations” of a ceasefire deal with Syria as its military continues a major construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Golan Heights from Syria.

The comments from the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which has patrolled the area since 1974, come after an Associated Press report Monday that published satellite imagery showing the extent of the works along the frontier.

The construction, which Israel has not acknowledged, appears to include laying asphalt for a road right along the frontier, and may be intended to create a “buffer zone” to prevent attacks. UNDOF says the work began in July, and earlier satellite photos indicate that it began in earnest in late September.

Syria, which has officially been at war with Israel since its founding in 1948 and relies on Iran for support, has also remained silent regarding the construction.

While major violence hasn’t broken out along the Alpha Line, UNDOF warned the work risked further inflaming tensions in the region.

“Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and are being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added.

High-resolution images taken on November 5 by Planet Labs PBC for The AP show over 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) of construction along the Alpha Line, starting some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) southeast of the Israeli town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, where a July rocket strike by Hezbollah killed 12 children playing soccer.

As Israel conducted the construction work, which UNDOF described as “extensive engineering groundwork activities,” it has protected earth-moving equipment with armored vehicles and main battle tanks, the peacekeepers said Tuesday.
Two men killed in Hezbollah rocket attack on Nahariya, IDF pounds southern Lebanon
Two people were killed when a rocket exploded in the building where they were working in the northern coastal city of Nahariya on Tuesday as the Hezbollah terror group fired dozens of rockets and drones at northern and central Israel.

The almost non-stop rocket fire from Lebanon came as fighting continued in southern Lebanon and Israel reported it has destroyed the majority of Hezbollah’s weapons facilities in Beirut.

The attack on Nahariya killed Ziv Belfer, 52, and Shimon Najm, 54, both residents of the city, the municipality said. The two were pronounced dead at the scene, next to the warehouse that suffered a direct hit.

“It surprised us, because there’s a shelter there 10 steps away, and Ziv always goes to the shelter. It hurts because if there had been time, he would have gone to the shelter. I’m shocked,” Belfer’s sister Avital told Hebrew media.

In Kibbutz Kabri, the Magen David Adom emergency service said another two men in their 30s were lightly hurt by shrapnel in another impact.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon in that attack, some of which were intercepted while others struck inside towns in the Western Galilee or open areas.
Drone crashes near kindergarten in Nesher, no sirens triggered in area
A drone crashed near a kindergarten in Nesher, where no alarms sounded, according to Israeli media.

Drone intrusion sirens sounded throughout the Nahariya, Acre, and Haifa areas, but none sounded in Nesher.

The police reported that "a strike was identified in the yard of a kindergarten in Nesher, causing minor damage to the building. There were no injuries."

The police additionally state that officers were "conducting operational sweeps in the area in response to reports received by the 100 hotline, to locate and secure any additional crash sites to eliminate further risk to the public."

The IDF later confirmed that a hostile UAV crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon. The IDF reported that the incident had concluded at 10:20 a.m.




Columbia U. pro-Palestinian students hold ‘anti-Veteran Day’,
While many Americans honor US military servicemen on Veteran’s Day, November 11, some students at Columbia University have declared they “reclaimed” it for “martyrs” killed by the “Israel-US war machine,” the group responsible and American media reported on Sunday.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an unsanctioned student group, hosted “Martyr’s Day’ in opposition to the day usually dedicated to servicemen, according to flyers for the event. The same group erected a “liberation sukkah for Palestine,” according to their Instagram.

“Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” a flyer for the group’s event read.

“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others,” the flyer added. “Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs Day in honor of those martyred by the Israel-US war machine. A day to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of those martyrs.”

The group added on Instagram, “We are reclaiming Veterans Day for our martyrs as we refuse to honor the US War Machine. Come read a martyr’s story and plant a poppy in their memory. When the Zionist entity is working to destroy a people, to remember is to resist.


House set to vote on bill targeting nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism
U.S. law prohibits nonprofits from providing support to terrorist organizations, but enforcing that prohibition requires the government to furnish proof of a violation, triggering a judicial process that can be lengthy and arduous.

In the more than two decades since the current law was enacted, following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the law has rarely led to penalties: nine charities have lost their tax-exempt status under its terms.

A bipartisan bill slated for a major vote on Capitol Hill Tuesday aims to create a new way to achieve that goal without the existing legal hurdles. The bill would give the treasury secretary new powers to independently classify any nonprofit as a terrorist-supporting organization and revoke its tax-exempt status almost immediately.

A version of the bill was introduced following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and passed the House in April, amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, which many pro-Israel groups labeled as “pro-Hamas.” The bill advanced with broad bipartisan support, 382-11, but stalled in the Senate.

Now, the new version of the bill is dividing Jewish groups. Centrist and conservative groups support the bill as an urgent measure to curb support for terrorism. Progressive organizations oppose it as a threat to political dissent — and worry that the powers it affords will be abused by the incoming Trump administration to go after groups that oppose its policies.

At a September hearing, Robert Harvey, an expert at Congress’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, explained that the government would not be required to disclose how it reached its determination or to provide any evidence of wrongdoing.

“As I understand it, all the Treasurer has to do to deny tax exemption is to mail a notice to the organization involved saying: ‘You’re a terrorist supporting organization, we have found you are providing material support, and you’re denied your exemption?’” Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett asked Harvey, according to The Intercept.

“That’s correct, Mr. Doggett,” Harvey replied.




travelingisrael.com: Dan Bilzerian & Israel



Protesters wave Nazi flag, shout slurs outside ‘Anne Frank’ play in Detroit
A group of about a dozen masked individuals protested outside a theater performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank” at American Legion Devereaux Post 141 in the Detroit metropolitan area, yelling vulgar insults and waving a swastika flag.

For approximately 30 minutes on the night of Nov. 9, men described as in their 20s chanted, among other things, that “Anne Frank was a whore,” according to The Detroit News.

Frank was a German-born Jewish teen living in Amsterdam who kept a diary of life in hiding there with her family until they were eventually rounded up by Nazis in August of 1944. She died in February 1945 in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp at the age of 15.

Sheriffs who arrived on the scene requested the demonstrators to leave, prompting the agitators to move across the street.

Bobby Brite, past commander of the post, filmed the event, retorting that “they are some of the most cowardly people I’ve ever met,” per the newspaper. Their actions were “absolutely disgusting.”

Chuck Firman, president of the Fowlerville Community Theatre that put on the play, said “it was a scary moment. But really, the show must go on.”


Pro-Hezbollah merchandise openly sold at family-friendly Lebanon fundraisers in Sydney
Pro-Hezbollah merchandise was openly sold at family-friendly Lebanon fundraising events in Sydney over the weekend, with young children seen wearing T-shirts paying homage to the terrorist group’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Two events on Sunday, the Lebanon Aid Food Festival at Riverine Park in Arncliffe and another at Al Zahra Mosque, featured a number of stalls selling Hezbollah-affiliated items, including photographs and paintings of Nasrallah, as well as T-shirts, journals and tote bags bearing his signature quote in Arabic, “In the name of God, we will undoubtedly be victorious.”

There were also prominent displays of Nasrallah’s infamous “T” hand gesture, often used by supporters of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with the image seen on children’s T-shirts and drawings.

One witness who attended the food festival, which drew thousands of people to Riverine Park on Sunday afternoon, said it was “alarming and shocking to see the merchandise being sold”.

“They had a petting zoo, they had rides for kids, face painting, lolly bars, BBQs, it was really designed for families,” he said.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said he was disturbed to see “kids wearing these shirts celebrating a known terrorist leader”.

“For the untrained eye it seems extremely normal, they’re all smiling and having fun, but the ideology at the root of that perspective is extremely violent and hateful,” he said.




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