Thursday, December 12, 2024

12/12 Links Pt1: The Age-Old Curse of ‘Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself’ Ireland Says the Quiet Part Out Loud; Putting Israel on Trial, Kafka Style

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Age-Old Curse of ‘Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself’
This debate came up again as Israel began taking out loose chemical weapons and conventional arms caches in Syria after the fall of the house of Assad earlier this week. The complaint: This isn’t self-defense! The implication being that Israel has a right to self-defense only.

According to this logic, Israel must wait until it is attacked with chemical weapons. Only then may it hit back.

The same, then, I suppose goes for Iranian nukes. Once Israel is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust, it may bomb Iran.

The senselessness of this position is obvious, so why do people still hold it? One answer is that, as many have said throughout the past 76 years, Israel is the Jew of the world. That is, for 2,000 years rights and privileges that were otherwise available to everyone could be withheld at random from Jews. Now that there’s a state of Israel, those exceptions are applied to international laws and norms as well.

Indeed, Jews should bristle at the condescending declarations that we have a right to defend ourselves, just as we do every year on the holiday that marks the introduction of that wretched phrase into our story.

Purim celebrates that the Jews of Persia were saved from destruction. The evil royal adviser Haman convinced the king to seal a decree that on a certain day, Jews should be killed and their property taken. When Queen Esther turns the tables on Haman, the king issues a new decree: The Jews can and should defend themselves against any and all who come to kill them.

The obvious question is asked: Why didn’t the king simply revoke the earlier decree? The answer: Royal decrees could not be revoked, but they could be countered by new decrees. Therefore, rather than prevent the masses from trying to kill the Jews, the king simply responded by saying that the people of Israel have a right to defend themselves.

This is what the Jewish people have been living with ever since. When our fate is left up to the nations of the world who continue to see us as their subjects and not their equals, the best we get is that we may defend ourselves.

Of course Israel has a right to defend itself. It also has a right to defeat its enemies and safeguard the lives of its people. If it were up to others, Hamas would be alive and well, as would Hezbollah. The world is a better place when Jews assert their basic rights and obligations.
Seth Mandel: Ireland Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
Amazing. The Irish government is saying that Israel can’t justly be convicted on a genocide charge as the law stands, so the law should be changed in the middle of the trial in order to achieve a predetermined outcome.

This is surely among the more corrupt statements ever made regarding due process by a high-ranking elected official in a democracy. Vyshinsky worked for Stalin; Martin works for the prime minister of Ireland. Somehow they ended up in the same place. What a proud day for Western Europe.

In fairness to Martin, his terrible idea wasn’t his own. He is simply copying off the recent Amnesty International report on the war, which blew up in the organization’s face. Martin is a guy who sees someone step on a rake and thinks, that looks like fun.

As a refresher, the Amnesty report acknowledged that Israel isn’t guilty of genocide by the traditional understanding of international law, so the organization simply changed the definition of genocide. Problem solved!

Well, not really. Because in the process, Amnesty had torched whatever credibility it had left: Organization insiders leaked the report ahead of time to try to blunt its impact, its Israel chapter disavowed the report, and the whole thing immediately fell to earth with a thud.

But Amnesty isn’t a state; it’s just a pressure group. Its opinion carries influence but not legal weight. Ireland, on the other hand, is a member state of the international “court” currently trying this case. Its intervention is shameless and, if followed, would sink the concept of international law to the bottom of the ocean.

Is it worth all that, just to get the Jews?

There’s a larger question here, of course. And that is the question of what some states of the free world have allowed themselves to become, either out of their own anti-Zionism or their fear of the anti-Zionist masses, or a combination of the two.

Obsessions with Israel are self-defeating, whether or not one cares about the fact that they are also morally deficient. Oct. 7, 2023, seems to have ignited in people throughout the world the belief that Israel really was on the ropes and that this was their chance to contribute to its defeat. Sometimes that contribution was military: Iran activated every one of its proxies and fired at Israel from every front. Sometimes that contribution was diplomatic: Russia notched a win or two at the United Nations by taking Hamas’s side in the war. Sometimes that contribution was mostly symbolic: Britain’s Labour Party, once back in power, announced it was suspending dozens of arms export licenses to Israel.

But now all that seems to be slipping away. Iran had its clock thoroughly cleaned, Russia is floundering, and Western diplomatic antagonism toward Israel is looking downright silly. Rational thinking would suggest Ireland’s leadership accept the fact that Israel is going to survive this particular round. But in the throes of obsession, Dublin is going for broke at the ICJ by throwing its lot in with a discredited Amnesty International.

The only real value here is in Ireland’s transparency. What was left unsaid has now been said: The purpose of the public campaign against Israel is not to defend international law but to contravene it.
Israel does world a service by hitting Assad’s chemical weapons caches
In the wake of the Assad regime’s collapse, Israel did the world a major service.

Over the past few days, the Israeli Air Force struck dozens of alleged Syrian chemical weapons sites to prevent these capabilities from falling into the hands of potential terrorists.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced on Monday, “We attacked strategic weapons, the residual chemical weapons capabilities, long-range missiles and rockets, so they won’t fall into the hands of radicals.”

The United States, apparently content to let Jerusalem handle this critical military task while it struck Islamic State targets in Syria, must now help finish the job.

With a bit of luck, diplomacy will be sufficient, but the effectiveness of talking likely depends on speaking softly while carrying a big stick.

The priority for Washington is to pressure Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — the power behind Syria’s new governing authority — to let international inspectors in and certify Damascus’ chemical weapons are verifiably eliminated.

HTS is a US- and UN-designated terrorist organization that is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, so more than a little caution is in order.

A US official told Axios on Sunday that Washington believes it has “good fidelity” on Syria’s chemical weapons inventory, and that these capabilities are not currently at risk for acquisition by non-state groups.

Thanks, on the latter, no doubt, goes to Jerusalem.

To the end, the Assad regime possessed a robust stockpile of chemical weapons, along with chemical agents, precursors, and associated research capabilities, munitions, storage, and testing sites.

The US State Department assessed as recently as May 2024 that Syria had an undeclared chemical weapons program, which it used to attack its own people on at least 50 verified occasions between 2012 and 2019. The actual figure is likely far higher.

In 2013, Damascus used the debilitating nerve agent, sarin, to murder 1,400 people in Ghouta.


Will Tehran Be Next? Iran's Myth of Power Has Been Shattered
Damascus has fallen - something that has as much to do with Iran as with Syria. Tehran had long kept the Assad dictatorship in power, with its Hizbullah militia in Lebanon, the largest non-state army on Earth. But starting in late September, Israel demolished Hassan Nasrallah's organization. Iran's response was to launch ballistic missiles against Israel, which its own Arrow missiles efficiently intercepted.

When Israel's air force counterattacked on 26 October, destroying targets in more than 20 locations across Iran, not one of its aircraft was even challenged. Exposed as vulnerable in its own capital, the Ayatollah regime is weaker than ever. And now, perhaps, the revolutionary wind that engulfed the Assad dictatorship could blow all the way to Tehran, as Iranians throw off their fundamentalist masters.

The myth of Iranian power was ironically propagated by the U.S. itself. Right at the start of his first term, in January 2009, Barack Obama was terrified that he would be maneuvered into fighting a war against Iran. Conscious of what had happened to George W. Bush, his predecessor, when he ordered the invasion of Iraq, Obama set a new rule, one that lasted all the way to October 2024: Iran may attack anyone, but none may attack Iran.

On 27 September, after Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, alongside his entire high command, Iran's response was massive: over 190 ballistic missiles, each the size of a fuel tanker truck, which might have killed thousands were it not for Israel's unique Arrow interception system.

Now Iran's population is discovering that it has spent decades in poverty to pay for the massive build-up of the Revolutionary Guards and all their militias. And for what? They have elaborate bases and showy headquarters, but their expensive ballistic missiles can only be used against defenseless Arabs, not Israel with its Arrow interceptors. And clearly Hizbullah cannot even defend themselves, let alone Iran's remaining allies in the region.
With Assad Gone - What's Next?
The ring of fire that Iran had planned to establish around Israel has been dismantled with the loss of the single most important link in the chain, Syria. Hizbullah is now locked in an isolated enclave. Hamas is transformed into a scattered armed underground. The multitude of Iranian-sponsored Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units proved to be ineffective in spite of their bombastic rhetoric. Iran's Revolutionary Guards opted to avoid getting into direct continuous exchanges of blows with Israel, after having a taste of Israel's attack capabilities during a year of Israeli strikes on Iranian targets, military industries and air defense systems in Syria.

Having defeated its enemies, Israel will be looked upon differently by friends and foes alike. For many years to come, its rivals will not dare to test its power. One of the most important commentators in Tehran, Suheil Karimi, warned on Iranian television that "without Assad, ultimately there will be no Hizbullah." Weakened and decapitated, Hizbullah is bound to lose much of its political clout inside Lebanon.

Rebel leader al-Jolani did not plan to topple the regime at this time. He had obtained a green light from Turkey's President Erdogan to expand the territory he was controlling in the northwestern province of Idlib. However, when the rebels realized that battalion after battalion of the Syrian army defending Aleppo were taking off their uniforms and fleeing, a decision was taken to gallop to Damascus.
The Fall of Assad Is a Blow to Russia’s Imperial Ambitions
While the implications of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s victory for the West remain to be seen, they are unambiguously bad for Russia. The Kremlin has invested considerable resources in propping up Bashar al-Assad, and Syria’s Latakia port and various airbases were its most important overseas military assets. Zineb Riboua explains the far-reaching consequences:

Putin . . . failed to anticipate the repercussions of Israel’s operations against Iranian targets. Given Russia’s reliance on Iran to sustain its activities in Syria after over a decade of collaboration and coordination to sustain the Assad regime, this oversight has significantly undercut Moscow’s strategic posture in the region.

Though Tehran serves as a pragmatic partner in countering U.S. influence, destabilizing U.S. allies, and pressuring states not to normalize relations with Israel, it is an inherently weak regime. Indeed, Israel has demonstrated exceptional resolve, capability, and consistency in targeting Iran’s proxies, particularly Hizballah. Russia has depended heavily on Iran’s proxies, such as Hizballah, to continue its operations. By systematically assaulting these proxies, Israel indirectly exposed the fragility of Putin’s dependence on Tehran.

Russia’s years-long effort to position itself as an alternative security guarantor has unraveled in just a matter of days. Viral videos showing anti-Assad rebels swiftly capturing cities, villages, and military bases have shattered Moscow’s carefully cultivated image. Putin can no longer tout his role in “saving” Assad from the Syrian Civil War—a narrative he has often used to bolster Russia’s influence abroad. Once a key asset in Russia’s efforts to woo military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, Russia’s image as a protector of global authoritarians has lost much of its credibility.
Removing HTS from terrorist list would be a mistake
In the past few days, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the al-Qaeda offshoot that led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, has consolidated its rule in the core parts of Syria. Its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has made a series of public statements, sat for a CNN interview, and discarded his nomme de guerre for his birth name, Ahmad al-Shara—trying to present an image of moderation. But to what extent is this simply a ruse? And what sort of relationship does he envision with Israel?

In an interview with John Haltiwanger, Aaron Zelin gives an overview of Shara’s career, explains why HTS and Islamic State are deeply hostile to each other, and tries to answer these questions:

As we know, Hamas has had a base in Damascus going back years. The question is: would HTS provide an office for Hamas there, especially as it’s now been beaten up in Gaza and been discredited in many ways, with rumors about its office leaving Doha? That’s one of the bigger questions, especially since, pre-October 7, 2023, HTS would support any Hamas rocket attacks across the border. And then HTS cheered on the October 7 attacks and eulogized [the Hamas leaders] Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar when they were killed. They’re very pro-Palestinian.

Nonetheless, Zelin believes HTS’s split with al-Qaeda is substantive, even if “we need to be cognizant that they also aren’t these liberal democrats.”

If so, how should Western powers consider their relations with the new Syrian government? Kyle Orton, who likewise thinks the changes to HTS are “not solely a public-relations gambit,” considers whether the UK should take HTS off its list of terrorist groups:

The better approach for now is probably to keep HTS on the proscribed list and engage the group covertly through the intelligence services. That way, the UK can reach a clearer picture of what is being dealt with and test how amenable the group is to following through on promises relating to security and human rights. Israel is known to be following this course, and so, it seems, is the U.S. In this scenario, HTS would receive the political benefit of overt contact as the endpoint of engagement, not the start.
Israel's Precision Strikes Highlight Its Strategy: Defeat, Not Containment
Israel's swift and decisive actions, reaching deep into Syria, signal a historic turning point. The IDF's offensive strategy adopted in recent months against Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran mirrors the American "shock and awe" doctrine, blending relentless bombardment, destabilization and eventual destruction. In the Middle East, enemies are not contained or understood - they are defeated.

Responding to a grave existential threat, Israel now stands on the brink of a modern-day Hanukkah miracle. As Hanukkah approaches, the nation celebrates its success in dismantling the chokehold that sought to destroy it.

Europe watches in awe. Many Gulf states - alongside India and the Central Asian nations encircling Iran - also recognize the transformative power of Israel's actions. These nations observe Israel's resilience with admiration, awaiting their opportunity to align with its growing influence. Even in Yemen and Iran, where others have hesitated, Israel acts decisively.

For the nations once under direct Iranian threat, Israel's rise offers hope for stability and prosperity. On the global stage, this momentum will usher in diplomatic and economic opportunities far beyond imagination. Too bold? Consider where we were just a year ago.


Return of Trump gives families of Gaza hostages new hope
It has been nearly 14 months since my brother-in-law, Omri Miran, was taken hostage by Hamas during the devastating attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. These have been months of anguish and uncertainty for my family and for the families of the 100 individuals still held captive after Hamas kidnapped 251 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip. We have advocated tirelessly with the Israeli government, the U.S. administration, and the international community, but our loved ones remain in captivity.

The recent U.S. elections, which delivered a Republican trifecta and Donald Trump’s return to the White House, have sparked intense debates about what this shift means for America and the world. While other issues are as important for us, the families of hostages, there is only one thing on our minds: How can this new political reality provide the best opportunity yet to break the deadlock and bring the hostages home?

The situation is complex, but at its heart, the release of the hostages hinges on one thing: leverage. For a deal to happen, Israel must feel secure enough to make compromises, Hamas and its backers must feel compelled to negotiate, and the United States must be the guarantor of a credible path forward. Republican-controlled executive and legislative branches may have the tools, relationships, and political capital to make this happen, and there are already signs of a (cautious) change emerging from the talks in Cairo between Egypt and Hamas.

For Israel, the issue of security guarantees is paramount. The Israeli government has consistently emphasized that any ceasefire or hostage release deal must be tied to a broader framework ensuring that Hamas will no longer control Gaza. A post-war Gaza without Hamas is a non-negotiable Israeli demand, yet it requires a robust international framework to ensure implementation. Trump, with his historically close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has the credibility to push Israel toward the compromises necessary to secure the hostages’ release while reassuring its leadership that America will stand firm on ensuring Hamas’ disarmament and exclusion from Gaza’s future governance, and Israel’s right to re-engage if Hamas and their accomplices violate the ceasefire at any point. Such guarantees should not be limited to the next four years; they should be incorporated into a long-term defense agreement between the U.S. and Israel.

On the other side, Hamas operates under the patronage of powerful sponsors—namely Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. These countries provide Hamas with financial, logistical, and diplomatic support, thus holding considerable sway over its decisions. Under the Biden administration, these relationships were diplomatically acknowledged but never effectively leveraged. While the Biden team showed incredible empathy and determination in advocating for the hostages, internal divisions within the Democratic Party and the fact it had to manage such conflict during an election year undermined its ability to exert consistent and unified pressure on all the players involved.

In contrast, the Trump administration’s track record of a transactional approach to diplomacy, paired with a hardline stance on Iran and an unapologetic alliance with Israel, creates a different dynamic. Iran, Qatar, and Turkey would likely interpret Trump’s demands as less flexible and more consequential than Biden’s. These nations—especially Qatar, which has acted as a mediator—must be compelled to press Hamas into concessions. With Trump in office and a Republican Congress backing him, the U.S. can create a cohesive and credible threat that changes the calculus for Hamas and its sponsors.


Putting Israel on Trial, Kafka Style
The more one learns about the actual nature of Israel’s current war, and the more one learns about the real horrors, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes of the Assad regime, the more absurd the accusations against the Jewish state seem. Cole Aronson, trying to make sense of these perverse libels, turns to one of the 20th century’s great Jewish writers:

Someone must have been telling lies. When he’s arrested at the beginning of Franz Kafka’s The Trial, Joseph K. thinks first of his innocence. To be innocent is to be innocent of some crime, but the court that’s ordered K.’s arrest never says what crime K. has committed. K. seems to be guilty simply—there are no reports or accusations for him to expose as lies. Because the court “is attracted to guilt,” it will wait for K. wherever he goes. And K.’s guilt for doing nothing cannot be remedied by his doing anything now. . . . K.’s guilt is reason-blind and indelible, an inscrutable scrutiny.

For instance, in Amnesty International’s recent bill of particulars regarding Israel, Israel is considered guilty of “genocide” for evacuating Palestinian civilians from areas where it plans to engage in intense fighting:

To move Palestinians was an act of genocide. But not to move the Palestinians would’ve resulted in more Palestinian deaths. . . . Since October 7, 2023, Amnesty International and its progressive allies in the West have been damning Israel for one thing and for its opposite. For evacuating Palestinians and for not evacuating Palestinians. For protecting itself and for not protecting itself. For not supplying aid to Gaza, and for prolonging the war in Gaza (itself the partial result of Hamas looting the aid Israel has facilitated). For the predicament of the hostages, and for the security measures—a fence, a partial blockade—that limited the number of hostages to a few hundred as opposed to a few thousand.

They are the real-life court of Kafka’s Trial—with law degrees from Harvard, subscriptions to the New Yorker, and opinions from Tehran.


‘Moral failure,’ Israeli mission in New York says of votes in United Nations
The U.N. General Assembly voted almost unanimously on Wednesday to support two non-binding resolutions, one that demands that Israel end its war against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip and the other allowing the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to continue to operate in the Jewish state.

UNRWA “has failed the people of Gaza and has been infiltrated by Hamas terrorists,” Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesman for Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York, told JNS. “The ceasefire vote was another moral failure. The resolution failed to make an immediate and permanent ceasefire contingent on the release of all 100 hostages.”

Arsen Ostrovsky, a human-rights lawyer and CEO of the International Legal Forum, told JNS that “countries which voted in favor of this resolution, or cowardly abstained, only abandoned the hostages and rewarded the murderers, rapists and abductors of Hamas.”

The truce resolution failed to mention Hamas, “the terrorist entity that perpetrated the Oct. 7 massacre and is the party responsible for the humanitarian situation that Gaza finds itself in today,” Ostrovsky said. It also didn’t condition the ceasefire demand on releasing the 96 hostages, whom Hamas has continued to hold in Gaza for 433 days since Oct. 7, according to Ostrovsky.

“Simply put, the United Nations has become the diplomatic arm of Hamas, where with each resolution, it is voting itself into utter irrelevance,” he told JNS.

The resolution, which calls for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties” and “reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” drew 158 “aye” votes of the General Assembly’s 193 members.

Jerusalem, the United States, Argentina, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Nauru were the nine who opposed, per an official U.N. tally, and Ukraine and Lithuania were among the 13 abstentions.


Starmer accused of giving taxpayers’ money ‘to Hamas’ over £13m boost for Unwra
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for committing to increase funding to UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa.

After a meeting with met Unrwa Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini yesterday, Starmer committed to provide an additional £13 million “to support vital services for Palestinian refugees in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories) and the region”.

At the meeting Starmer expressed “his deep condolences for the many Unrwa staff who have been killed in conflict and they both agreed that more must be done to protect aid workers in Gaza.”

Responding to the announcement, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: “Securing the release of hostages in Gaza, getting more aid in to alleviate the humanitarian crisis faced, and establishing a sustainable peace must be a priority for the Government. The Prime Minister needs to explain how these priorities were advanced in his discussions with Philippe Lazzarini.”

The senior Conservative added: “Unrwa had to fire nine staff after investigations into their involvement in the appalling attack on Israel on October 7 last year. All links to the Hamas terrorist group must be severed. It is critical that UN bodies ensure adequate vetting of personnel and activities and Catherine Colonna’s reforms need to be fully implemented.”

She also called on the government to “prove” that British taxpayers’ money going to Unrwa was getting to those who truly need it.

Other Conservatives went further than Patel in their criticism of Starmer.

Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk, asked whether Starmer challenged Lazzarini “about Unrwa complicity in the October 7 attacks and the role its employees played in hiding the hostages? Or did you, but didn't want to say so?” in a post on social media.


Syria: A Choice Between Evil and Evil | Caroline Glick In-Focus
A new front has opened up on Israel's borders as Islamic jihadists have taken over Syria and vow to "march to Jerusalem." What does this mean for the Jewish state and what should be its next steps?

Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his trial. Can he run the war against Israel’s enemies effectively during this time, and what is really behind the charges being brought?


Jonathan Spyer: Why Is Israel Bombing Syria Following Assad’s Fall? | FP LIVE



Netanyahu affirms Israel's commitment to Druze in meeting with leader
Sheikh Mufak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss the impact of the situation in Syria on the Druze community, Ynet reported.

Netanyahu reportedly stressed Israel's commitment to its Druze population.



Spanish Far-Left Leader Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide’ — in Syria
The leader of an influential far-left Spanish political party who recently served as a government minister appears to have accused Israel of “genocide” in Syria following the collapse of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime this past weekend.

“Israel is taking advantage of the instability in Syria to advance its colonial and genocidal plan, bombing several areas, including Damascus,” Ione Belarra posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday. “Virtually no Western media outlets are reporting on it. International inaction in the face of genocide endangers humanity as a whole.”

Belarra, who served as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s social rights minister between 2021 and 2023 but is no longer in the governing coalition, is now secretary general of the Spanish hard-left party Podemos (“We Can”).

The politician appeared to be referencing Israeli military operations this week to eliminate much of Syria’s strategic weapons arsenal and secure the buffer zone along Israel’s northeastern border amid uncertainty about the future of Syria.

Assad fled Damascus on Sunday as a coalition of rebel groups stormed the capital, ending his family’s five-decade rule. The deposed leader, who has been accused of war crimes during his crackdown on rebel forces since 2011, was a partner of Russia and allied with Iran, which for years has used Syrian territory to send weapons to its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

However, many Western observers have expressed concern about the leading Syrian rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group formerly allied with Al Qaeda and which is designated a terrorist organization by the US, European Union, Turkey, and the UN.

This week, Israel conducted more than 350 aerial strikes targeting a wide range of military assets in Syria, with the aim of preventing them from falling into the hands of Islamic terrorists.


The Nazi who helped build Assad's torture regime: SS monster died in Damascus after decades of freedom despite killing more than 100,000 Jews for Hitler
It was a fitting end for a monster who condemned more than 100,000 Jews to their deaths.

Alois Brunner, once the world's most wanted Nazi, spent his final years in a cell in Damascus, where he was given the choice of an egg or a tomato to eat each day.

But in the decades he spent as a guest of the Assad regime in Syria after fleeing post-war Germany, Brunner proved his value before being condemned to prison.

As deputy to Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, Brunner had overseen the deportations of Jews from countries including France and Austria and had conducted interrogations which reputedly left blood stains and bullet holes on the walls of his office.

The war criminal, who may have survived until 2010, advised the Syrian dictatorship on torture methods he had learned in roles that included commandant of the Drancy internment camp outside Paris.

In return, he was protected from extradition by Hafez al-Assad, the father of ousted Syrian president Bashar, who has fled to Russia after the collapse of his regime.

But it was under Hafez - who ruled until his death in 2000 - that Brunner's fortunes turned after he defied orders not to give interviews and so, by the 1990s, had been locked up.

By then, he had survived two letter bombs sent by Israeli intelligence that saw him lose an eye and all of the fingers on his left hand.

Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff said in 2014 that he was '99 per cent sure' that Brunner lived until 2010 before being buried in a now-unknown location in Damascus.

The war criminal was once described by Eichmann - who was executed in Israel in 1962 after being captured by Mossad in Argentina - as one of his best men.

Eichmann would send him to oversee deportations whenever he felt they were proceeding to slowly.

Much of his time was spent hunting down Jews who had fled to the relative safety of the Italian-occupied zone on the French Riviera.

He is thought to have sent 47,000 Jews in Austria, 44,000 in Greece, 23,500 in France and 14,000 in Slovakia to camps. Most were murdered.

Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal wrote in his memoirs in 1989: 'Among Third Reich criminals still alive, Alois Brunner is undoubtedly the worst. In my eyes, he was the worst ever.


IAF strikes Hamas terrorists planning to hijack aid trucks
The Israeli Air Force attacked two groups of Hamas gunmen in southern Gaza overnight Wednesday. The terrorists were planning to hijack trucks carrying humanitarian aid, the military said.

The intelligence-based precision strikes were conducted at two meeting points where the Hamas members were operating along the humanitarian corridor. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strikes were intended to ensure the safe delivery of aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.

“All of the terrorists who were eliminated were members of Hamas and planned to violently hijack humanitarian aid trucks and transfer them to Hamas in support of continuing terrorist activity, preventing them from reaching Gazan civilians, as was done in previous cases,” the IDF said.

The IDF emphasized that it does not target aid trucks and that the humanitarian corridor remains open and active. The army also stressed that measures are taken to prevent harm to civilians and that, alongside the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit, it will continue to act in accordance with international law to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) NGO dismissed 62 of its local staff members in the Gaza Strip—more than 10% of its workforce—after Israel said they had links to terrorist groups.

The dismissals came a week after the Israeli Air Force killed terrorist Ahed Azmi Qadi, who participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Qadi was employed by WCK, but he was driving an unmarked vehicle at the time of the strike and was not on a designated aid route.

Immediately following the airstrike, WCK denied knowing that any of the vehicle’s occupants were linked to the Oct. 7 attacks and announced a pause in its Gaza operations as a result of the incident.

“We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details,” the Washington-based NGO wrote on X.

“Our hearts are with our colleagues and their families in this unimaginable moment,” the organization tweeted.


Call Me Back: Iran’s Next Move – with Raz Zimmt
Hosted by Dan Senor Over the past few months, and especially in recent days, we have seen Iran’s decades-old proxy system and strategy collapsing.

What are Iran’s options?

To help us understand how Iran is dealing with this crisis, our guest is Raz Zimmt, one of Israel’s top experts on Iran.

Raz Zimmt is a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and a research fellow at the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of the book “Iran From Within: State and Society in the Islamic Republic” published (in Hebrew) in 2022.
Green Beret on Men, War and Masculinity - Nick Freitas
Nick Freitas is a husband, a father, Green Beret combat veteran and represents James Madison's district in the VA House of Delegates. *Follow Nick on X: https://x.com/NickJFreitas | SPONSOR: Ground News. Go to https://ground.news/triggernometry to escape the echo chamber and stay fully informed. Use our link to save 50% on the Ground News unlimited access Vantage plan this month.

00:00 Introduction
00:47 Nick's Life Story
07:24 What Does It Mean To Be A Man?
15:21 Are We Victims Of Our Own Success?
19:08 Ground News Advert
20:33 Teaching Your Children To Be Responsible For Themselves
32:44 The Iraq War
42:25: ExpressVPN Advert
47:35 US Interventions
01:00:49 Substack Advert
01:04:51 There Is No Genocide In Gaza
01:13:18 Is America Doing Enough To Support Its Veterans?
01:21:47 What's The Thing We're Not Talking About That We Should Be?


GLOVES OFF! Israel Makes Boldest Moves Since 1967 | The Quad
The past 14 months have seen a total realignment of powers in the Middle East, and the past week has been no different. Following the upheaval in Syria over the weekend, Israel quickly moved to destroy former President Bashar Assad’s entire arsenal out of fear of it falling into the wrong hands.

JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum—a former adviser at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office—joins "The Quad" for a heated discussion on everything that’s been going on inside the Jewish state and on its borders.

Also, stay tuned for the Scumbags and Heroes of the Week! You don’t want to miss this episode!


Laughter vs. Hate | A Comedian’s Call to Action with Ami Kozak
Ami Kozak is a multifaceted artist known for his work as a comedian, musician, and impressionist. Since October 8th he has been using his platform to speak up against the rise of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Eylon sits down with Ami for a wide-ranging conversation about the need to fight hate with laughter and why the Jewish people and their allies around the world can’t stay silent on antisemitism. Plus get an ‘impression’ of what leaders and haters around the world would say if they came to sit in the chair with Eylon on this State of a Nation.


Vatican reversal on Nativity display is a setback for ‘Palestinian Jesus’
It was disturbing, but not that surprising, to learn the Vatican recently allowed a Nativity scene on its premises depicting a “Palestinian Jesus.” This falsified myth has been around for decades and always seems to show up in some symbolic form around the Christmas season when the world marks the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. What is surprising, however, is the Vatican’s subsequent decision to remove the controversial crèche, which is a serious setback for the Palestinian cause and may mark a turning point for its wider rejection as a devious Palestinian propaganda tool.

The provocative Nativity display was designed by Palestinian Arab Christians from Bethlehem and featured an infant Jesus resting on a black-and-white keffiyeh—an unmistakable symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Apparently, the handlers of Pope Francis deemed it important to show sympathy for Palestinian suffering after more than a year of war in the land, and thus he was photographed officially inaugurating the display. This is a moment the papacy now seems to regret, as it has reportedly been shelved following a backlash from offended Christians and Jews worldwide.

This crèche not only denigrated Jewish heritage, it also undermined core tenets of the Christian faith. It would have been theological malpractice for the Holy See to allow this display to remain, for if Jesus was a Palestinian Arab, then he would not have qualified to be the Christ, the promised Messiah. Both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are clear that he would be the “Son of David,” springing forth from the “root of Jesse,” the least clan of the tribe of Judah. The New Testament affirms he was born in the “City of David,” where the wise men came seeking him who was born “King of the Jews,” not the rais of Ramallah.

While this episode may be over for now, the manufactured lie of a “Palestinian Jesus” must be discarded completely, as it is a deceptive narrative on par with the Aryan Jesus in terms of its malicious intent towards the Jewish people.

While most Jews in Israel are reticent to claim Jesus as one of their own, the Palestinians are a different story. Most are proud that he was born in their “country,” and even Muslim crowds flock to Manger Square in December to celebrate Christmas. But the Jesus they identify with has been deliberately stripped of his Jewish heritage and his redemptive role. He is a “Palestinian Jesus” who rather serves an important political role in building support for their nationalist cause.

It was local Arab Christians who first began exploiting the fabricated symbolism of a Palestinian Jesus as one of their main contributions to Palestinian nationalism. The tenured Columbia University professor Edward Said, in particular, popularized its use during his time as a close adviser and speechwriter for Palestinian Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. By the time of his 1988 BBC documentary film “My Beautiful Old House,” the late Said had perfected this unsavory trope when describing the Palestinians as enduring “this endless Calvary … this constant crucifixion” at the hands of the Jews.
The Pope Pays Homage to Baby Jesus Swaddled in a Keffiyeh, and Then Changes Course
On Saturday, Pope Francis attended the inauguration of a nativity scene newly erected at the Vatican, titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024” and designed by two Palestinian artists from that city. The installation featured a baby Jesus lying on a keffiyeh blanket. Involved in its production was the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In other words, the pope appeared to endorse a work of art—sponsored by an organization dedicated to Israel’s eradication that churns out anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to terrorist violence—whose message is: the Jews shouldn’t be considered the people into which the Christian messiah was born, a status now transferred to the Palestinians. Moreover, the suffering of Palestinians, about which the pope frequently speaks, is akin to the sufferings of Jesus, by implication making the Jewish state his eternal crucifiers.

Such criticism likely led the Vatican to dismantle the installation yesterday, although it has given no official explanation. Raymond J. de Souza puts the episode in context:

In September, Pope Francis spoke about Israeli military operations as “disproportionate and immoral.” The Holy Father telephones the Catholic parish in Gaza every day as an indication of his solidarity but appears distant from Israeli Jews. Is the Vatican insensitive to how Israelis and Jews elsewhere might hear the pope’s words?

A breakthrough in Catholic-Jewish relations occurred in 1986 when St. John Paul II made a visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome, the first pope ever to do so. The indelible memory of that historic visit includes the Holy Father’s felicitous phrase that Catholics consider Jews their “elder brothers.” . . . Catholic-Jewish relations are a family affair, and in families, what is said is not as important as how it is said, and the context in which it is said. Sensitive speech pays attention to that and minimizes needless offense.

Although one might wish Father de Souza had phrased his critique in other language than that of “offense,” it is worth remembering that criticizing the pope is not really the place of a Catholic priest—a fact that makes this essay all the stronger.


Melbourne florist and activist Luna Ryder Sjorberg in court after allegedly 'doxxing' Jewish women and called them 'Zio Nazis'
A Melbourne florist has landed in court after calling a Jewish woman a Nazi and allegedly doxxing her following a confrontation over anti-Israel stickers outside her shop.

Luna Moss Flowers owner and activist Luna Ryder Sjorberg filmed Sharon – who asked Sky News not to publish her surname for security reasons –while she was removing anti-Israel stickers from a council pole and billboard at the rear of the business in St Kilda, in inner Melbourne, on October 25.

The stickers included four saying “F*k Isrl”, one reading “Zionism is Nazism” and two of the Israel flag being crossed out.

Ms Sjorberg later posted screenshots from the video onto her business’ Instagram page, which has more than 8000 followers, calling Sharon and the friend with her “Zio Nazi’s (sic)” , claiming she was damaging her shop and “wants to be featured on all pro Palestine media.”

The posts were picked up by other pro-Palestine accounts, which repeated the claims and asked followers to find out more information about the pair.

A week later, Ms Sjorberg posted more screenshots of Sharon and her husband, asking the “internet (to) do your thing”, accusing her of damaging her property and “stalk(ing) our shop and residential area” and being a “known aggressor of the peace at many of the Peace for Palestine rallies”.

She later posted Sharon and her husband’s full names on Instagram.

Sharon was granted an interim personal safety intervention order by the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, preventing Ms Sjorberg from stalking, harassing or posting online about her, or coming within 200 metres.

“The comments themselves were beyond insulting and quite threatening in nature, so yes, I am concerned for my personal safety,” Sharon told Sky News.

“The (interim order) is to stop a certain behaviour from occurring and this behaviour is the online doxxing and harassing of me, the making of false allegations against me that are obviously inciting her up to 18,000 followers when you take the three (pro-Palestinian) accounts (resharing the material) into the numbers.

“I do have an unusual surname, there aren’t very many of us in Melbourne and once she plastered my surname out there, I know it’s not going to be very hard for them to find my address.”

Sharon said she frequently removes anti-Israel stickers she sees in public, particularly those made by Free Palestine Printing, a company that has previously been reported to Victoria Police.

Luna Moss Flowers is one of a handful of Melbourne collection points for the company’s stickers, which also include anti-Israel slogans such as “Baby killer Isrl”, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and calls to boycott “supporting Israel”.




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