Tuesday, January 07, 2025

01/07 Links Pt1: How Amnesty International Became Its Own Repressive Regime; The Doxxing of the IDF; UNRWA ‘knowingly’ let Hamas infiltrate, per UN Watch report

From Ian:

Thank Israel for no nuclear fears in post-Assad Syria
Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime, protracted uncertainty or outright chaos should be expected in Syria. Among other things, assorted remnants of al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups will configure or reconfigure in the area, and Sunni Islamic states such as Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia could present Israel with a unique and unpredictable foe. Though Iran will suffer a temporary strategic loss from the defeat of its surrogate in Damascus, Jerusalem will not have to face any consequent nuclear threats. The core reason for this relatively good news lies in the Jewish state’s Operation Orchard, executed in September 2007.

Until then, Israel’s most visible effort to prevent an enemy nuclear state had been its widely remembered June 7, 1981, Osiraq raid against Iraq. Nonetheless, a later preemption was undertaken in Syria. Code-named Operation Orchard, it expressed Israel’s country-specific Begin Doctrine and also the general international law principle of anticipatory self-defense.

Meticulously planned, as was Operation Opera in 1981, Orchard represented a prudent defensive action against then-originating Syrian nuclear infrastructures. In essence, if the already-genocidal Damascus regime had not been the object of this 2007 Israeli preemption, nuclear weapons could eventually have fallen into the hands of Sunni jihadi terrorist organizations now beginning to contend for power in post-Assad Syria.

Israel’s first use of anticipatory self-defense against a potentially nuclear adversary in 1981 was directed at Saddam Hussein’s developing reactor near Baghdad. It was the broader international community’s failure to act in a similarly decisive fashion against North Korea that created still-expanding security woes with Kim Jung Un. Ironically, North Korea – which secretly built the Al Kibar plutonium-producing heavy water reactor destroyed by Orchard in 2007 – had been sending assembled nonnuclear arms to Syria. At that point, North Korean arms transfers supported Shi’ite Iran’s destructive influence in the region.

There are noteworthy regional intersections. Whatever the United States might assume about Pyongyang, it will be necessary to prevent Kim Jung Un from undertaking any North Korean aggressions against Japanese or South Korean nuclear power plants. In any such eventuality, especially in extremis atomicum, a further danger would surface: Unlike the Israeli preemptions against Osiraq and Al Kibar, which had been directed against pre-operational nuclear reactors, these prospective North Korean targets could suffer nuclear core meltdowns. Such events could produce calamities far worse than what was caused by the catastrophic accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima.

During the attack on Osiraq, Israeli fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor before it was ready to go “online.” Nonetheless, following the attack, the immediate global community reaction was generally hostile. In Resolution 487 of June 19, 1981, the UN Security Council indicated that it “strongly condemns” the attack and declared “Iraq is entitled to appropriate redress for the destruction it has suffered.” Largely forgotten is that then-US president Ronald Reagan took multiple steps to ensure the United States would vote in favor of this resolution of condemnation.
Seth Mandel: How Amnesty International Became Its Own Repressive Regime
Amnesty International is free to operate in Israel, but Amnesty Israel isn’t free to operate within Amnesty International.

That is the important takeaway from the news that the anti-Zionist NGO is suspending its Israel branch for the crime of disagreeing with management.

Even when groups like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch begin operating in good faith, they inevitably fall into a trap they have set for themselves: Dictatorial and authoritarian regimes don’t let them operate in their countries, but democracies do. So “human rights” organizations end up focusing their reporting on places with far fewer human-rights violations, skewing the entire concept of humanitarian law and ultimately serving as little more than dictatorships’ organs of Sovietesque whataboutism.

Democracies end up looking bad because they’re free. And the leaders of these supposed humanitarian organizations end up serving as the willing shields of repression.

So it is, ironically enough, with Amnesty itself. It has officially become the thing it was founded to expose.

The background to this current kerfuffle is recent and deceptively simple.

In early December, Amnesty International produced a report accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The report was an unmitigated disaster for Amnesty: It was leaked because employees were embarrassed by its lack of scholarship. The report admitted that Amnesty was changing the definition of genocide in order to apply it to Israel, and Amnesty’s Israel branch—the organization’s researchers on the ground—publicly disputed its conclusions and revealed that they had not even been consulted on the report that was all about Israel.

Amnesty International has responded by suspending Amnesty Israel.

Which is to say, the supposed “human rights” organization now operates on authoritarian principles.

I would say this is a case of Amnesty becoming what it hates, but it’s not clear to me that Amnesty ever actually hated authoritarianism or repression.

In explaining its decision to suppress dissent, Amnesty unintentionally admitted its critics were right, though the communications team clearly thought it was making a different point when it released this statement:
“AI Israel has sought to publicly discredit Amnesty’s human rights research and positions. Its efforts to publicly undermine the findings and recommendations of Amnesty’s 2022 report on Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians and, more recently, Amnesty’s 2024 report on Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, have been deeply prejudicial to Amnesty’s human rights mission, threatening our credibility, integrity and operational coherence.”

“Operational coherence” means Amnesty intends for its leader’s voice to be its only voice, and that the company line must be toed at all times. “Threatening our credibility” means Amnesty Israel has exposed the fact that Amnesty International has bypassed its country-specific researchers so that their expertise won’t interfere with the predetermined conclusion handed down from on high.
Amnesty International suspends Israel branch for rejecting NGO's reports
Former Amnesty Israel director Yonatan Gher supported the article in a December 17 social media post, asserting that the Israeli branch served as “the guardian of the Israeli government against the human rights movement.”

Amnesty Israel criticized the 2022 report for painting the country in broad strokes, ignoring the differences between different groups and exaggerating some of the framings, The Times of Israel reported.

Anonymous sources within Amnesty International disagreed with claims that the Israel branch’s characterization was “hostile” to criticism of the country, contending that the local group had been critical both of the Israeli government as well as Palestinian bodies, addressing human rights issues regardless of where they arose.

One source shared with The Jerusalem Post that AI didn’t allow local branches to review the 2023 genocide allegation report, limiting access to the executive summary. This was reportedly a unique practice.

AI also said that it was suspending the Israeli branch because of “endemic anti-Palestinian racism.”

“AI Israel has failed to respond effectively to findings of endemic anti-Palestinian racism – a situation which led to complaints from Palestinian board members to the international board in 2022, and successive resignations in 2022, 2023, and 2024,” said Fa’afiu.

'Palestinian voices low on the agenda' - then-Amnesty Israel chair
The international board shared a notice from then-Amnesty Israel chair Daniil Brodsky announcing his resignation on November 29, as well as the resignation of his vice chair and another board member ahead of the genocide allegation report.

“During the last members’ assembly, it quickly became apparent that Palestinian voices were not just something low on the agenda, but that they were actively silenced,” said Brodsky.

“One of the Palestinian board members was humiliated in a racist and disgusting way at the assembly. We could not respect the decisions made by the assembly, and certainly not represent them.

“We could not condone a space hostile to Palestinians, and a human rights space for Israeli Jews only is one that I can scarcely justify.”

Brodsky claimed in the letter and a December 10 The Forward article that he had attempted to introduce more Palestinian representation in managerial roles, but to no avail.

According to him, not only did Amnesty Israel not have the legal experts to criticize the genocide report, but it didn’t have Palestinian input in its analysis. This was part of an alleged systemic problem in the group in which Palestinians were ignored.

“Amnesty Israel finds itself in the awkward position of being neither a source of legal expertise nor providing a diverse human rights perspective of Israelis and Palestinians,” wrote Brodsky.

“It is just another place for Israeli Jews to express themselves.”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL insiders told the Post that they didn’t believe reports about anti-Palestinian racism in the Israel branch, noting its commitment to Palestinian human rights issues.

The sources were also suspicious about the proliferation of the allegation and material like Brodsky’s article, with one source going so far as to assert that the AI leadership had laid the groundwork for the racism allegation to justify the suspension.


'We're making a lot of progress': Trump envoy Witkoff hopeful about hostage negotiations
President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Tuesday that he thinks the hostage talks are significantly progressing at a Trump press conference in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Well, I think we're making a lot of progress, and I don't want to say too much because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha," Witkoff said at a Trump press conference in Palm Beach, Florida.

He added that he hopes to have good things to report about the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza by the time Trump is sworn in as president on January 20.

"I think that we've had some really great progress, and I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural, we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president," he said.

Witkoff said that he if did not travel back to Doha on Tuesday night, he would head there on Wednesday night.

"Biden's envoy Brett McGurk and Witkoff talk regularly and the discussions are constructive," a US official told The Jerusalem Post. "These conversations are appropriate given the stakes and are what the American people should expect to be happening. We share the common aim to get the hostages out."

Doha has been hosting negotiations on a hostage deal. Doha is the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, which, along with Egypt and the US, has been mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

"If the hostages are not back by the time I'm in office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone," Trump previously said of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the terror group's October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel.


Seth Mandel: The Doxxing of the IDF
Here we must look to a critical report published today by Lahav Harkov at Jewish Insider. The organization behind the attempted detainment in Brazil is the Hind Rajab Foundation, led by Dyab Abu Jahjah. Who is Jahjah? Well, as Harkov details, he was a member of Hezbollah who received military training from the Iranian terror proxy before misleading Belgian officials into giving him asylum. In Belgium, he founded the Arab European League, which was behind anti-Semitic riots in Antwerp. His fellow Hind Rajab leader Karim Hassoun, writes Harkov, once “brought a coffin representing a dead Hezbollah terrorist to the Holocaust memorial at the site of the Nazi transit camp Mechelen.”

Hind Rajab’s employees basically scan social-media accounts of Israeli soldiers to find videos of their deployment in Gaza. When those soldiers travel, Jahjah’s minions file legal complaints accusing the soldier of war crimes.

This tactic, however, has already expanded beyond IDF soldiers to their families back home. Late last month, an Arizona man was indicted for a campaign of threats against the parents of an IDF lone soldier. “Donovan Hall allegedly unleashed a campaign of terror against several Jewish New Yorkers, allegedly sending scores of hateful, violent and antisemitic death threats,” U.S. Attorney Edward Kim had said.

Hall apparently called in 971 threats against the family and sent them photographs of weapons along with messages. “This knife is for child molesters such as your son,” said one.

The threats and cyberstalking, according to the case file and comments from one of the victims, Randy Settenbrino, began when a Palestinian Twitter account with a reputation for posting misleading videos of IDF soldiers and then doxxing them posted about Settenbrino’s son. The account, and several others like it, has taken to posting the personal information of IDF soldiers and their families to its followers, often with wild and imaginative claims about the soldiers’ supposed crimes. (One of the Hamas propagandists who targeted Settenbrino’s son once accused Israel of blowing up Palestinians in Gaza with Iron Dome, Israel’s missile-interceptor system.)

The point of this doxxing campaign is exactly what happened to Settenbrino and others: To put them and their families in danger wherever they might be. It is, to borrow a phrase from the Amsterdam pogromists, a global Jew hunt. Dozens of Israelis have been told to avoid travel or return home from abroad after war-crimes claims were filed against them.

Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee, told the Jerusalem Post he’s working on developing a strategy to protect Israelis abroad from lawfare and other legal harassment. “I am embarrassed for Brazil and its government for capitulating to pro-Palestinian legal terrorism,” Edelstein said. “I expect to hear from IDF and Foreign Ministry representatives about their action plan to defend our soldiers from these malicious sanctions and persecutions.”


Brazilian police not seeking to question IDF soldier, new legal action filed in Argentina
An IDF reservist targeted by anti-Israel groups is not being sought by police for questioning, the Diaspora Ministry and media said on Tuesday, but legal activist group Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed new cases against him and another soldier in Argentina.

Metrópoles reported on Monday that the Brazilian Federal Police filed a request to the Federal Court to reconsider a Sunday arrest warrant for a visiting IDF reservist for alleged war crimes.

The police chose to open a crime report instead of a formal investigation while awaiting the judicial process. They argued that the case required more detailed analysis before a formal investigation, and the issue generated internal debate about the legitimacy of an investigation and the relevance of Brazilian criminal law.

The reservist had been visiting Brazil when the HRF revealed information and legal filings, resulting in his flight to Argentina at the behest of Israel.

The HRF filed a new case against the reservist in Argentina on Tuesday, sharing a video of a civilian infrastructure demolition in Gaza that the activist group claimed served no military purpose.

“This move reinforces our commitment to ending impunity and holding perpetrators accountable,” the HRF said on social media. “Justice will prevail, no matter where they hide.”

Another case was filed by the HRF on Thursday against an officer who is visiting Argentina, saying he used human shields, engaged in forced displacement, and other war crimes.


Venezuela says it arrested Israeli amid detentions of foreigners
Venezuela announced on Monday that it arrested at least one Israeli “mercenary,” amid reports of dozens of arrests of foreigners in the South American country in recent weeks.

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello said that Venezuela arrested “125 mercenaries,” listing 16 nationalities of those detained, including Israel.

“We are going to guarantee peace,” Cabello said, defending the arrests in a press conference aired on regime television station Telesur. “We will be relentless on this issue … No one will stop us from defending the homeland.”

“Those who want violence are going to meet not only the popular military-police, they will find themselves in opposition to the whole people,” he added.

Foreign nationals arrested by Caracas came from the U.S., Peru, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Ukraine, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Lebanon, Albania, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Argentina, Guyana and Yemen.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009.

Venezuela has detained as many as 50 foreigners, including several Americans in recent months, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The motivation is to use them as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Trump administration for the release of Venezuelans from American prisons, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Canada’s Future Prime Minister Needs to Come Clean About Her Nazi Collaborationist Grandfather
On Jan. 26, 2022, in the midst of Russia’s preparations to invade Ukraine, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a statement outlining why Canada—home to the largest Ukrainian diaspora outside Russia—would support Ukraine unconditionally, outlining a Manichean view of a “struggle between democracy and authoritarianism.” “Canadians—our own parents and grandparents—fought and died,” she continued, “to establish a rules-based international order during and after the Second World War.”

Freeland’s Ukrainian grandfather on her mother’s side, Michael Chomiak, did nothing of the sort. During the War, he edited Krakivski Visti, a Nazi propaganda rag in occupied Krakow that was printed on a press confiscated from a Jewish newspaper. Freeland, of course, is not her grandfather, nor is she responsible for his actions. But she is responsible for bringing him up at every opportunity to portray him as a liberal democrat who profoundly influenced her politics.

“My maternal grandparents fled western Ukraine after Hitler and Stalin signed their non-aggression pact in 1939. They never dared to go back, but they stayed in close touch with their brothers and sisters and their families, who remained behind,” she wrote in a 2015 essay for the Brookings Institution titled “My Ukraine.” “For the rest of my grandparents’ lives, they saw themselves as political exiles with a responsibility to keep alive the idea of an independent Ukraine, which had last existed, briefly, during and after the chaos of the 1917 Russian Revolution. That dream persisted into the next generation, and in some cases the generation after that.”

A Toronto Star puff piece from 2015 described Freeland’s grandfather as a “lawyer and journalist” who fled western Ukraine after the Soviets invaded, while conveniently ignoring the nature of his journalism. “All my grandparents loved Canada but my Ukrainian grandfather was the most passionate,” Freeland said. In 2016, she used the occasion of Black Ribbon Day, which perpetuates a false equivalence between Nazism and communism, to tweet a loving tribute to her maternal grandparents. “They were forever grateful to Canada for giving them refuge and they worked hard to bring freedom and democracy to Ukraine,” Freeland tweeted.

The deputy prime minister and finance minister’s revisionist family history is part of a broader project of myth-making in parts of the Ukrainian diaspora, in which certain anti-Soviet Nazi collaborators are often rebranded as nationalist war heroes. In Edmonton, where Freeland was raised, there are two monuments commemorating Ukrainian Nazi collaborators. A bust of Roman Shukhevych, who massacred thousands of Jews and Poles, has stood outside the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex since the 1970s, in addition to a monument to the 14th Waffen SS Division—which was celebrated in the pages of Krakivski Visti—at a local cemetery.

Many Ukrainian diaspora community leaders in Canada maintain that these Ukrainians were in fact anti-Nazi, in addition to being vehemently anti-communist, and that claims to the contrary are Russian propaganda. When reports of Michael Chomiak’s wartime activities first began to circulate in the Russian and Polish press in 2017, Freeland, who was then minister of foreign affairs, claimed the story was a piece of Russian disinformation designed to undermine Canadian democracy.


UNRWA ‘knowingly’ let Hamas infiltrate, per UN Watch report
Officials of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency meet “routinely” with Lebanese and Gazan terror groups, “mutually praise each other for ‘cooperation’ and describe each other as ‘partners.'”

That’s according to the December 2024 report “The Unholy Alliance: UNRWA, Hamas and Islamic Jihad” from UN Watch, a watchdog based in Geneva.

Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, “and his colleagues knowingly allow Hamas and other terrorist groups to infiltrate UNRWA’s employee base, indoctrinate impressionable Palestinian children to pursue a path of terrorism against Israelis and Jews and install military infrastructure underneath or next to UNRWA facilities,” per the report.

The report noted that more than 10% of UNRWA’s senior educators in Gaza are members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israel has that said hundreds of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gazan staff members, including teachers, are active Hamas terrorists.

The cooperation between UNRWA and terror groups involves the U.N. agency complying with the demands of the terror organizations, according to the report.

Hamas foiled the U.N. agency’s attempts to introduce biometric identification to ensure an accurate refugee count for financial aid, formulate an ethics code to protect gay rights and suspend employees for violating its neutrality, per the report.

“This secret relationship allows the terrorist organizations to significantly influence the policies and practices of a U.N. agency with 30,000 employees, and a $1.5 billion annual budget that is funded primarily by Western states,” the report states.

One of many examples that the report cites is a deal that Lazzarini made with Islamic terror groups in May 2024 at a meeting in Beirut. “UNRWA allowed Hamas leader Fathi al-Sharif to remain as principal of a major UNRWA school, and as the head of the UNRWA Teachers Union,” per the report. “For years, al-Sharif had openly glorified Hamas terrorist attacks, including on his Facebook page, and published photos of his fraternization with heads of terrorist organizations.”

“Contrary to its claims of robust neutrality mechanisms, UNRWA for years allowed al-Sharif to occupy a senior position overseeing thousands of UNRWA teachers and students,” it adds. “Only when a formal complaint was made to UNRWA by a government, in early 2024, did the agency give al-Sharif a slap on the wrist by suspending him.”


UN Watch: New Investigation Exposes UN Agency’s Shocking Ties to Terror Groups
A bombshell new investigation from international human rights group UN Watch exposes the disturbing links between the UNRWA and Palestinian terror organizations. According to the report, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have not only infiltrated the $1.5 billion UN-funded agency but are actively influencing its operations and fueling violence against Israelis.

The explosive findings reveal that UNRWA has employed Hamas militants, allowing the terror group to interfere with key agency policies and operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

UN Watch is calling for the immediate dismantling of UNRWA, saying the organization has become a conduit for terrorism and a facilitator of violence in the Middle East.

“UNRWA isn’t just a bystander in the Arab-Israeli conflict – it’s a primary enabler,” observes Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “By allowing terrorists to infiltrate its ranks and incite violence, UNRWA isn’t promoting peace, they’re perpetuating hatred and war.”

The report includes images of terror leaders with UNRWA officials, and details years of instances where leadership of the UN agency closely cooperated with terror groups in secret. The report implicates many members of UNRWA leadership, including current-UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

“People need to understand that UNRWA isn’t the firefighter, it’s the arsonist. The U.S. and other Western nations who have given billions to UNRWA need to wake up. Your money is being used to employ terrorists, indoctrinate children, and build the infrastructure of hate and violence. The U.S. alone has given more than $1 billion to UNRWA over the past four years. This is a betrayal of your taxpayers and your values.”

“The time has finally come to dismantle UNRWA, an agency that glorifies terrorism,” said Neuer. Read Full Report: The Unholy Alliance: UNRWA, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad (pdf)
An investigation into the secret ties between terrorist organizations and the UN’s largest aid agency

Executive Summary
This report reveals how UNRWA, despite its claims to be a humanitarian agency, has forged an unholy alliance with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations. This secret relationship allows the terrorist organizations to significantly influence the policies and practices of a UN agency with 30,000 employees, and a $1.5 billion annual budget that is funded primarily by Western states.

The report shows how UNRWA’s international officials, and its senior local managers, routinely meet with terrorist groups in Lebanon and Gaza, mutually praise each other for “cooperation,” and describe each other as “partners.”

The terrorist groups frequently make demands of UNRWA and influence its decisions. Moreover, when the terrorists oppose specific actions by UNRWA— such as the introduction of biometric IDs for beneficiaries of UNRWA financial assistance, an ethics code affirming LGBT rights, or suspension of employees for promoting terrorism—the terrorist groups are often able to foil implementation, including by issuing threats.


The Hill: ICC sanctions bill could see Congressional vote this week
The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which would impose visa and property sanctions against certain members of the International Criminal Court for investigating protected US officials or allies, could come to a vote in the US Congress as early as Thursday, according to a report from The Hill.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced the bill on Monday after it failed to pass the Senate in a companion bill introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Republicans included the bill in the 119th House rules package.

Mast said the bill sends a “clear message” to the ICC.

“We may not recognize you, but you sure as hell will recognize what happens when you target America or its allies,” Mast said. “The ICC’s attempt to obstruct Israel’s right to defend itself has only prolonged the war and prevented the release of American hostages by boosting Hamas’s morale.”

Questioning ICC's legitimacy
Roy described the ICC as an “illegitimate body” that is engaged in a “shameful lawfare campaign” against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Roy said he has full confidence that US President-elect Donald Trump will stand for Israel, as the legislation ensures no future administration will be able to “give the ICC a free pass to attack our allies like this.”

The Jerusalem Post has asked Mast’s office for further information on when the vote will occur.

Later on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared that the bill would be proposed over the course of the week.


MEMRI: Indications That Hizbullah Is Preparing The Ground For Continued Military Action In South Lebanon Under The Guise Of 'Popular Resistance'
On Dec. 26, 2024, Hizbullah supporters on social media circulated messages by two previously unknown groups calling themselves the "Youth of the Villages of the Strip Bordering Occupied Palestine" and the "Youth of Beirut's Southern Dahiyeh."

The groups announced their intention to wage armed resistance against the Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

It is possible that the groups are branches of Hizbullah that were created to continue militant activity in South Lebanon under the guise of "popular resistance."

The use of fictitious groups and the waging of military action disguised as "popular resistance by locals" are well-known tactics used by Hizbullah and by the Iran-backed resistance axis.

Over the recent years, Hizbullah operatives disguised as local residents have initiated several confrontations with UNIFIL forces.
For the Truce in Lebanon to Hold, Beirut Must Enforce It
The cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon gives the IDF until January 26 to evacuate all its forces from the latter country. On Sunday, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, declared that the complete withdrawal of troops might not be possible since Hizballah continues to violate the deal by holding onto positions south of the Litani River. The Lebanese military, for its part, is required to disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group, but so far, writes Hussain Abdul-Hussain it is “yet to show a single bullet it has confiscated from Hizballah.” He explains the problem:

Instead of boasting about its capabilities in warring with Israel, [as it once did], the Iran-backed militia has instructed the caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati to pretend that Lebanon has lived up to its part of the deal, and that it is now incumbent on the Jewish state to stop its “violations” and accelerate its withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

What Mikati called violations were in fact Israel enforcing 1701 by striking Hizballah’s rearmament shipments, an arrangement that Lebanon had signed on to. The deal also stipulated that the Israeli military would control up to five miles of Lebanese territory so long as Hizballah maintains its ability to reconstitute.

Five weeks after Lebanon promised to enforce the 1701 mechanism, the Lebanese Armed Forces have yet to bust a single Hizballah arms depot. Even a busload of explosive drones that Lebanese civilians had wrestled from Hizballah’s fighters during the war and handed over to Lebanese authorities was released back to the Iran-backed militia by order from a pro-Hizballah judge.

Reasons behind Lebanon’s unwillingness or inability to disarm Hizballah are many. First are the political ambitions of presidential hopefuls like [the commander of the armed forces, Joseph] Aoun. Election requires two thirds of lawmakers, and that is impossible without the Hizballah-led parliamentary bloc. Second is Hizballah’s bullying of Lebanese politicians and the general population.


Two officers, one soldier fall in battle in northern Gaza, IDF confirms
Two IDF officers and one other soldier were killed fighting in the Gaza Strip, the military announced in three separate Tuesday announcements. The soldiers were named as Sergeant Ido Samiach, Captain Eitan Shiknazi, and Major Dvir Zion Revah.

Sgt. Ido Samiach was killed in battle while fighting in northern Gaza. Capt. Eitan Shiknazi and Maj. Dvir Zion Revah were killed in another incident in Gaza's north,

Capt. Shiknazi, 24, from Eli, and Maj. Revah, 28, from Jerusalem, served in the 932nd Battalion in the Nahal Brigade.

Sgt. Samiach, 20, from Ganei Tikva, served in the Reconnaissance Battalion of the Nahal Brigade, and was also killed in northern Gaza in a separate incident.

During an operation in Beit Hanoun, terrorists opened fire, and Samiach was killed. The IDF is still investigating the full circumstances of the incident.

"Ido, the beloved son of Ofra and Uri, the devoted brother to Itai, Adi, and Omer, was the pride of his family and our community," the Ganei Tikva municipality said in a statement posted to Facebook. "He fought bravely for the security of the State of Israel, and in his death, he left a void in the hearts of all who knew him."

His funeral will take place on Wednesday at noon at the Savyon Cemetery, according to the Sayeret Nahal Association.

Before the funeral, a flag march will take place in the city, accompanying the family "on their final journey," the municipality stated.

"A great mourning has fallen over Ganei Tikva," the statement said.

The details of the march will be shared Tuesday evening. It is set to begin at Samiach's family home and end at the cemetery.


'We thought it was safe': Hamas terrorist confesses to embedding in Gaza hospital
The IDF released new footage on Tuesday that shows the interrogation of a Hamas terrorist who was arrested at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Anas Muhammad Faiz al-Sharif was captured during an operation by the 401st Brigade and Unit 504 near the hospital and transferred to Israel for questioning.

During his interrogation, Sharif outlined his role within Hamas and revealed how it uses the hospital as a base for operations.

He disclosed that hospital grounds were used to transport equipment and weapons for launching attacks against Israeli forces. Sharif, 21, who joined Hamas in 2021, is one of 240 terrorists who were apprehended in the area surrounding the hospital.

“Weapons were moved in and out of the hospital for ambushes and tunnels,” he said. The IDF emphasized that intelligence from these arrests has proven critical for ongoing operations.

Sharif also said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives believed the IDF would avoid targeting the hospital because of the presence of patients and civilians.

“They believe the army can’t bomb the location, like with an F-16 missile, or destroy the building,” he explained.


Call me Back Podcast: The IDF's top secret commando operation in Syria - with Nadav Eyal
A few days ago, we all learned of new details and viewed footage from one of Israel's most high-risk and complex commando operations. The operation was a covert mission conducted by the IDF on September 8, 2024, targeting an underground missile production facility near Masyaf, Syria. The facility, associated with Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center, was reportedly on the verge of producing precision-guided missiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers, intended to be supplied to Hezbollah for use against Israel.

To unpack what exactly happened in this operation to neutralize this Iranian/Syrian facility — and the implications for Israel’s broader war with Iran — we are joined by Nadav Eyal.

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
3:21 – Setting the stage for this operation
8:35 – When was this facility built?
9:54 – Why did Israel decide to attack at that point, and what were the risks?
16:48 – Overview of all parties involved on the ground
21:35 – How did Israel manage to evade Syria’s air defense system?
27:00 – What did the ground team that entered the facility do, and how long did it take?
34:12 – What did they do to neutralize the manufacturing facilities?
38:04 – Did the U.S. know about this operation?
39:17 – In what condition did they leave the facility?
40:00 – How did Iran respond?
43:06 – How is this operation being interpreted in the region and in the U.S.?


Israel moves toward ‘armament independence’ after tensions with U.S. in last year
Israel is beginning to reduce its dependence on the U.S. for weapons after a year marked by repeated tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over the delivery of armaments for Israel to use in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The Israeli Defense Ministry moved to bolster domestic arms manufacturing this week, the day after a committee tasked with creating an overarching defense plan for Israel in the coming decade recommended that Israel attain “armament independence.”

In a step towards greater independence, the Defense Ministry signed two deals amounting to $275 million with Elbit Systems, an Israeli manufacturer, on Tuesday to provide the IDF with heavy bombs and to build a new facility for the production of raw materials.

Heavy bombs are among the weaponry the U.S. delayed shipping to Israel amid the Biden administration’s pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. A growing faction of Democrats have recently voted to block or restrict transfers of weapons to Israel.

The raw materials plant is meant to “reduce reliance on imported raw materials,” according to the Defense Ministry.

Defense Ministry Director-General Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir said that Israel is working towards “full independence in both areas.”

“This is a central lesson from the war that will enable the IDF to continue operating powerfully in all theaters,” Zamir added.


The Quad: Radical Islam Makes Resurgence in 2025
The year 2025 has just begun and the United States has already been rocked by two ISIS-inspired terror attacks, the United Kingdom has been scandalized by an alleged "groping gang" cover-up affair and protests throughout America and Europe continue to call for "globalizing the intifada" against Israel.

What and who is fueling this resurgence of radical Islam and extremism? The Quad—Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Emily Schrader, Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll and Barbara Heller—connect the dots and break down the issue.


Australia’s Jewish community feeling ‘increasingly vulnerable’
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-Chief Executive Alex Ryvchin the recent spate of car vandalism in Sydney’s east.

“The community feels increasingly vulnerable as a result of this – knowing that there are multiple people engaging in this sort of behaviour,” Mr Ryvchin told Sky News Australia.

“We want to see justice – we want to see the law imposed strictly and forcefully to deter this sort of conduct.”


Calls for more ‘stringent’ laws to combat antisemitism in Australia
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Chief Executive Officer Michele Goldman discusses the need for more “stringent” laws to tackle antisemitism in Australia.

“What we are concerned about is that the laws don’t seem to be withstanding or doing their jobs,” Ms Goldman told Sky News Australia.

“We need more stringent regulations so that perpetrators can be prosecuted so that they can be convicted so there will be an effective deterrent.

“We need such people to be fearful of the consequences and we’re concerned that too many people are getting away unpunished.”


‘Tokenism and condescension’: TV host blasts Albanese government’s Israel stance
Sky News host James Morrow has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying he believes Australians have the "memory of a goldfish”.

“After more than a year of increasingly hostile relations between Australia and its putative friend Israel … the Albanese government has realised, hey, we have a problem here," Mr Morrow said.

“The Jewish community and plenty of other Australians are mightily upset at the way Labor’s Middle East policy has been driven by a cynical mix of leftist student politics.

“This is the same government that has voted time and again against Israel in the United Nations.”


Albanese government ‘desperately playing catchup’ regarding Israel
Sky News host Danica De Giorgio says the Albanese government is “desperately playing catch up” when it comes to Israel.

“It's now resorted to hollow political gestures before the election,” Ms De Giorgio told Sky News Australia.

“This is a government which has dragged its heels for 15 months on Israel and antisemitism.”


‘She insulted them’: Dave Sharma blasts Penny Wong over Israel response
Foreign Minister Penny Wong took four months and “had to be dragged kicking and screaming” to go and visit Israel following the October 7 terrorist attacks, claims Liberal Senator Dave Sharma.

“And then she insulted them by refusing to go to the site of the massacres in the south,” Mr Sharma told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.

Mr Sharma blasted the Albanese Labor government over their weak response to the war in the Middle East.




Australia continues to be plagued by antisemitic attacks
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-Chief Executive Alex Ryvchin discusses the distressing antisemitic attacks plaguing Australia.

“Everyday … new incidents, new horrors, new atrocities,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“We’ve seen things in the country in the past 15,16 months that we thought could not possibly happen in Australia.”




Gal Gadot criticized in Israel for failure to wear the hostage pin at Golden Globes
Many had high hopes that Israeli superstar Gal Gadot, who presented an award at the Golden Globes on Sunday night in Los Angeles, would wear a yellow pin that is a symbol for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

But while Gadot was glamorous and charming in a slinky black gown as she presented the for Best Actor in a drama award, accompanied by Emilia Perez star Edgar Ramirez, to Adrien Brody who starred in The Brutalist, she did not wear the hostage pin.

Ynet and N12 reported that Gadot was forbidden to wear the pin, which is considered a political statement by the awards organizers, even though it does not express support for any political party or for the war itself but is only a reminder that approximately 100 hostages are still held.

However, the public relations firm, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis, which represents the Golden Globes, reached out to the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday with a statement that denied that the Golden Globes forbade presenters from wearing pins or other symbols concerning political or social issues: "The Golden Globes does not have a policy against wearing pins or other signifiers that support, or are perceived to support, political or social causes. Further, no message of any kind was communicated to Gal Gadot or any other presenter/attendee by or on behalf of the Golden Globes, that they could not wear a ribbon to the Golden Globes or to any event associated with the Golden Globes. Any suggestion to the contrary is categorically false."

The day before, however, Gadot chose to post about the proof-of-life propaganda video of hostage Liri Albag just released by Hamas on her Instagram account, which has 108 million followers.

She also posted video of herself on Instagram wearing a yellow diamond with her Golden Globes outfit.


Israeli tennis player defiantly wears yellow ribbon at Australian Open
Israeli tennis player Lina Glushko wore a yellow ribbon in her hair to an international match in Australia after organizers forbade her from wearing a pin, which organizers considered a political statement, during the competition, Israel’s Channel 14 reported on Tuesday.

Glushko’s move during a qualifying match for the Australian Open followed protests against her at a previous tournament in New Zealand. Protesters opposed the presence of Glushko, a former IDF soldier, at the 2025 ASB Classic in Auckland and briefly interrupted the matches.

In New Zealand, Glushko, ranked 207th in the world, lost a match to four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, ending her participation in the tournament.


Candace Owens goes off on the 'Babylonian Talmudic Bee'
Controversial internet personality Candace Owens aimed the satirical outlet The Babylon Bee on her podcast Monday - labeling the site as “The Zionist Bee” and the “Babylonian Talmudic Bee.”

Owens, after announcing her pregnancy, claimed that the Bee made jokes favorable to Elon Musk but complained the site made a satirical article referencing her and the repeated accusations of antisemitism made against her in an article headlined ‘Candace Owens Horrified To Learn Christmas Was Started By Birth Of A Jew.’

“It’s just very obvious they are worshipping Israel,” Owens said of the site. “That they base their jokes on people who don’t worship Israel and Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”

Owens was named the 2024 ‘Antisemite of the Year’ by the non-profit StopAntisemitism.

She claimed that Bee’s stance on her changed once she left the Daily Wire - listing previous headlines like the ‘Daily Wire Quietly Cancels Their Upcoming Little Mermaid Remake Starring Candace Owens’ as examples in the shift in coverage. Conservative political commentator Candace Owens speaks during an event held by national conservative political movement 'Turning Point', in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., June, 14, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/REBECCA COOK)


How posters of Hamas hostages became targets in the war for public opinion in NY
As war broke out between Israel and Hamas after the terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, another conflict began to rage in the streets of New York and other cities around the world.

It was a war whose primary weapon was “KIDNAPPED” posters highlighting the plight of the 251 people taken hostage from Israel to Gaza by Hamas and other terror groups, as another 1,200 were brutally murdered. No sooner did pro-Israel and Jewish individuals and groups hang the posters in public spaces than anti-Israel demonstrators would either deface them or rip them down.

This battle, lasting several months after October 7, is chronicled and analyzed in a new film, “TORN: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets” by Nim Shapira. The film has been shown on Israeli television and at film festivals and special screenings. More US and international screenings are lined up for 2025.

In early October 2023, Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based creative director and filmmaker Shapira was in Tel Aviv. After Hamas attacked southern Israel, he stayed another month and a half to volunteer, using his communications skills and professional connections to get the truth out to global audiences about the Hamas atrocities.

“I saw on my social media feeds that colleagues, friends, and fellow artists in the US and other countries were justifying October 7. These people said that what I was posting was false. Some even said the hostages were not real, that they were actors,” Shapira told The Times of Israel.

Before heading back home to Brooklyn, Shapira, 42, saw videos posted on social media of people in New York ripping down the KIDNAPPED posters featuring the photos, names, ages, and nationalities of the hostages.

“It was in my old neighborhood of Williamsburg. I was like, what is happening here? These are the streets I walk in. This is my backyard. This was very upsetting to see,” Shapira said.
Pro Palestine Takeover In London 🇬🇧
In this video, we go inside a pro Palestinian rally to see on the ground what people are saying about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. We speak to both sides to see their perspective on the war. As for the protest itself, Is there two-tier policing that people speak about?


Hamas supporter behind bars because of CST research
CST research has resulted in a UK-based Hamas supporter being sentenced to one year in prison.

On 19 December 2024, Mohammed Nafees Ahmed pled guilty to eight offences of supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation, namely Hamas.

It was CST’s Open-Source Intelligence team who identified Ahmed’s extremist online postings and reported him to counter-terrorism police in December 2023. Ahmed is believed to be the first person in the UK to be imprisoned for supporting Hamas since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023, with several others having faced non-custodial sentences and others awaiting trial.

CST became aware of Ahmed due to his extremist activity on X (formerly Twitter) where he posted a series of violent threats, including content that indicated a desire to engage in violent acts himself. CST’s online research work is primarily focused on identifying individuals who may pose a violent threat to the British Jewish community, and Ahmed fell squarely into that category.

Ahmed repeatedly suggested that he was willing or preparing to carry out an act of extremist violence in the UK. This included language such as:

“F*k u and zionist Jews. If I see you on the streets of London you best know [knife emoji]”

“I’d take his head off first thing try that in the UK”
Harvard Faculty Doctors Demand Release of Suspected Hamas Terrorist
Some faculty members at Harvard Medical School are demanding an immediate embargo on arms to Israel and the release of a Gaza doctor, Hussam Abu Safiya, that the Israel Defense Forces says it is holding “for suspected involvement in terrorist activities.”

The doctors from Harvard and other Boston health care institutions made their demands at an outdoor event in Boston at noon today. Gathered on a public sidewalk outside the old Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, a crowd of 30 activists gathered for what was promoted as a “call out sick for Gaza” event. Wearing white lab coats, checkered keffiyehs, and scrubs, they unleashed a stream of inaccurate accusations demonizing Israel.
‘Abolish Israel’: Pro-Hamas demo outside NYC hospital
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside Tisch Hospital in New York City on Monday, accusing Israel of abducting over 450 medical personnel amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

A smaller group of pro-Israel supporters also assembled, resulting in clashes that required police intervention to maintain order.

The demonstrators chanted slogans like “We don’t want no Zionists here” and “Palestine, you make us proud,” while holding signs with messages such as “Gaza forever,” “Abolish Israel” and “Right of Return.”

The protest, organized by the Within Our Lifetime group, also called for the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Gaza hospital director detained by the Israel Defense Forces due to alleged ties to the Hamas terrorist organization.

This demonstration followed a New Year’s Day protest in Times Square that supported Palestinian terror. The protest came hours after a deadly attack in New Orleans, where a man drove a pickup truck adorned with an Islamic State flag into a crowd, killing 15 and injuring 35.

The New York Post reported that anti-Israel protesters, many waving Palestinian flags, chanted “there is only one solution: intifada revolution” during their march. Such rhetoric has long been condemned by Jewish organizations and scholars as incitement to violence against Jews.

The protesters also shouted “we will honor all our martyrs,” according to the Post.




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

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