Wednesday, January 22, 2025

01/22 Links Pt1: How Hamas became invisible; Freed Hostages Say Hamas Held Them in UN Facilities; Trump sanctions could destroy the ICC

From Ian:

Clifford D May: Hamas celebrates
Hamas’s supporters on American campuses will continue to insist that Gazans are victims of Israeli oppression and cheer Hamas.

For the deal to move into a second phase—which would include extension of the ceasefire, release of the remaining 61 hostages, and Israel freeing almost 2,000 convicted terrorists in total—will require that negotiations not break down. It’s not difficult to imagine why they might.

Hamas’s goal is to resume power in Gaza, get the “international donor community” to write big checks for reconstruction while U.N. agencies provide Gazans with social services including education accredited by the Muslim Brotherhood. That would leave Hamas free to begin planning new atrocities.

Israel’s goal is to bring home as many hostages as possible and ensure that never again does a terrorist army rule Gaza.

Ask yourself: Is there any way to satisfy both Hamas and Israel’s goals?

And is it not both immoral and demoralizing for American diplomats to prod the citizens of a free and democratic ally to compromise with openly genocidal Islamic supremacist terrorists?

I’ll end today’s column with three pertinent facts—not opinions—that most of the media consistently neglect.

One: On Oct. 6, 2023, Gaza was not occupied. No Israelis lived there. No Israeli soldiers patrolled there.

Two: Gaza was not then an “open-air prison” as Hamas manipulated the media into reporting. Gaza had hospitals, schools, libraries, malls, supermarkets, restaurants, a zoo and sandy beaches. Members of Gaza’s elite lived in villas with swimming pools and could come and go via neighboring Egypt.

Three: Hamas leaders could have brought a halt to this war at any time over the past 15 months by simply releasing its hostages and laying down their weapons.

Ask yourself: Who is responsible for the death and destruction on both sides—in the past and, in all probability, in the future?

If you know the answer, you also know that it won’t be through ceasefires and deals that this long war is brought to a conclusion.
How Hamas became invisible
Think back to the coverage of the fighting in and around al-Shifa Hospital over the past 15 months. The IDF first clashed with Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters there in November 2023, after intelligence showed hostages were being held captive inside. After a protracted shootout, the IDF gained access to the area around the hospital only to discover the hostages had been killed. Fighting re-erupted in the vicinity of the hospital last March, after Hamas had started using it again. On each occasion, the gun battles were intense and went on for days. Yet the coverage virtually removed Hamas from the scene. ‘Israeli soldiers raid al-Shifa hospital in escalation of Gaza offensive’, reported the Guardian in November 2023. ‘Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital in ruins after two-week Israeli raid’, declared the BBC in April last year. It gave the impression that the IDF were attacking the hospital for the sheer hell of it.

Or recall the coverage of Israel’s hostage-rescue operation in Nuseirat last June. Hamas attacked IDF troops with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds. As the battle became more entrenched, Israeli airstrikes were called in, causing many more deaths. Yet in the subsequent reporting, Hamas’s role simply disappeared. ‘An Israeli operation rescues four hostages and kills scores of Palestinians’, announced CNN. ‘Gaza health ministry says Israeli hostage rescue killed 274 Palestinians’, reported the BBC.

Politicians soon drew the predictable anti-Israel conclusions. Then EU diplomat Josep Borrell called it ‘another massacre of civilians’. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, went even further, claiming that the IDF’s hostage-rescue operation revealed Israel’s ‘genocidal intent’.

This has happened time and again since the Israel-Hamas war began. As Brendan O’Neill has argued on spiked, Hamas is constantly being ‘invisibilised’. It is an absent combatant, dark matter in a war in which only Israeli forces are seemingly observable. Even the unspeakable act that started this awful conflict on 7 October has been reduced to a mere moment in a much longer tale of supposed Israeli aggression and occupation.

As French poet Charles Baudelaire put it, ‘The greatest trick the devil pulled is to convince the world he didn’t exist’. Hamas hasn’t had to do much convincing. Too many among the Western political and media class have been only too happy to pretend it doesn’t exist – and to present Israel’s war of self-defence as a war of aggression.

Yet now, as Hamas parades on the streets of Gaza, this propagandistic fiction has become unsustainable. In a statement it put out on Monday, Hamas has vowed that Gaza ‘will rise again to rebuild what the occupation has destroyed and continue on the path of steadfastness until the occupation is defeated’. That is not a statement of peace. That is a statement of aggressive intent.

Hamas has certainly been diminished by the past 15 months of conflict, but there can be no doubt that it is still there – and is still the ultimate cause of the Gazan tragedy.
America Must Let Israel Finish Off Hamas after the Cease-Fire Ends
While President Trump has begun his term with a flurry of executive orders, their implementation is another matter. David Wurmser surveys the bureaucratic hurdles facing new presidents, and sets forth what he thinks should be the most important concerns for the White House regarding the Middle East:

The cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas may be necessary in order to retrieve whatever live hostages Israel is able to repatriate. Retrieving those hostages has been an Israeli war aim from day one.

But it is a vital American interest . . . to allow Israel to restart the war in Gaza and complete the destruction of Hamas, and also to allow Israel to enforce unilaterally UN Security Council Resolutions 1701 and 1559, which are embedded in the Lebanon cease-fire. If Hamas emerges with a story of victory in any form, not only will Israel face another October 7 soon, and not only will anti-Semitism explode exponentially globally, but cities and towns all over the West will suffer from a newly energized and encouraged global jihadist effort.

After the last hostage Israel can hope to still retrieve has been liberated, Israel will have to finish the war in a way that results in an unambiguous, incontrovertible, complete victory.


Freed Hostages Say Hamas Held Them in United Nations Facilities
Each of the three Israeli hostages who were freed from Gaza on Sunday say they were held by Hamas terrorists in a United Nations facility at some point during their captivity, including the tent cities in the humanitarian zones that were set up by the UN, Israel’s Channel 13 News reports. Fox News reports that hostages were also held at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were freed this past weekend in exchange for the release of 90 Palestinian Authority terrorists incarcerated at Israel’s Ofer Prison.

The three women are undergoing rehabilitation to help them recover from 471 days of inhumane captivity. Much of their time was spent underground with no sunlight. One of the hostages underwent a medical procedure without anesthesia.

Captured Records Show Hamas Controlled UNRWA Schools in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency operated eight so-called “refugee camps” in Gaza. UNRWA is the only agency in the world body dedicated exclusively to refugees from Israel’s War of Independence and their descendants, which have now stretched beyond four generations, into millions of residents.

The so-called ”refugee camps” have long since grown beyond that appellation, despite UNRWA’s desperate attempt to legitimize refugee status by maintaining the designation. The “camps” are (or were) today real cities – some with populations of 100,000 or more — complete with commercial shopping centers, mansions and other private villas, coffee shops, banks and medical clinics.

An Israeli ban on the UN agency is set to take effect in two weeks; the Knesset passed the legislation almost unanimously late last year.

UNRWA has long maintained close and cordial relations with Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization.

UNRWA ‘Knowingly’ Let Hamas Infiltrate, per UN Watch Report.

Israel has documented UNRWA’s employment of hundreds of active Hamas terrorists in its schools and hospitals. More than 10 percent of senior educators in UNRWA schools are members of Hamas and its ally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.


Was the UN Just Caught Red-Handed in Gaza?! | Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum
Released Israeli hostages have revealed that Hamas terrorists were hiding them in a "humanitarian zone" designated for displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Were United Nations workers aware of—and maybe even complicit in—war crimes against Israeli civilians?

Thankfully, President Donald Trump has already ordered the cessation of American financial support to UNWRA.

How should the Jewish state respond and what does this mean for the future of the region? Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom—both former advisers at the Prime Minister's Office—for this explosive conversation!




Israeli blood Is not a bargaining chip: A call for the death penalty for terrorists
This past weekend, I awoke to an unbearable reality. The Hamas terrorist who brutally murdered my father is being released as part of a hostage exchange deal. This is not justice. It is a capitulation that exposes our helplessness in the face of terror.

Nine years ago, my father, Richard Lakin z”l, was brutally murdered by a Hamas terrorist on his way home aboard bus 78 in Jerusalem. Gunshots and stab wounds ended his life and traumatized our family. But my personal grief is just one thread in the national fabric of anguish.

As an Israeli, I believe in the sanctity of life. If releasing the terrorist who murdered my father could save even one hostage from the horrors of Gaza’s dungeons, I would support it. I am confident my father would feel the same.

Yet the price is far too high. This price is too high for any nation to bear. History is our witness: Released terrorists return to kill.

Over the years, Israel has released thousands of terrorists in various deals. The statistics are clear: More than half of them return to terrorism, and many are responsible for the murder of thousands of additional Israelis. Among those previously released are the masterminds behind the horrific massacre of October 7.

Ending the cycle
Hamas terrorists do not limit their atrocities to Jews. They target anyone who stands in their way – Jews, Arabs, and international civilians alike. Many of the terrorists being freed will likely rejoin the ranks of terror and claim more Israeli lives. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Israelis could be murdered by those being released today. How many more lives must we sacrifice before we send a clear message to our enemies?

It is time to put an end to this cycle. We cannot continue a policy of capitulation. Instead of freeing murderers, we must send a different message: Israeli blood is not expendable. I call on the government and the Knesset to immediately pass legislation for the death penalty for terrorists.

This law must be unequivocal and binding – with no alternatives or discretionary options – for any terrorist convicted of murdering an Israeli in civilian or military courts. Once the appeal process is completed, the sentence must be carried out. Only in this way can we ensure justice, deterrence, and a clear message to our enemies: Israeli blood is not cheap, and murderers will pay the ultimate moral price.

The moral imperative is clear: those who take the lives of others in cold blood forfeit their own right to live. As the Torah commands: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6), and “You shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 17:7).
This Saturday: Episode 2 of Hamas's Sadistic Reality Show
The terrorist army Hamas has said that four female Israeli hostages will be released on Saturday. We do not know their names or their condition.

Why don't we know their names or their condition because Hamas insists on torturing the families of the hostages until the last possible moment when it reveals their names and then later hands over the hostages to the Red Cross. It's a sadistic reality show where every week the hostage families have wait to find out who the lucky families are who get to be reunited with their loved ones. This isn't a game. It's a nightmare. It’s been 474 days since the Hamas terrorist army in Gaza invaded Israel, massacred 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages.

Hamas is still holding 94 hostages in its Terror Dungeons.

The people of Israel want to bring their mothers, daughters, sisters, fathers, brothers, and babies HOME. We will not leave anyone behind!

The people of Israel feel like they have a gun to their heads. Imagine if jihadists abducted your daughter and said in order to get your daughter back, you need to release the terrorist who killed your mother and may take your grandmother hostage next month.

We are being blackmailed. We are paying a ransom. It is a very high price to pay. Israel is releasing convicted terrorists in exchange for Israeli civilians who were taken from their homes and held without a single visit from the Red Cross for more than 15 months.

We will be happier when the hostages come home. We will also be less safe once terrorists are back on the streets.

President Trump is right: Hamas cannot be the government of Gaza. We cannot go back to the reality that existed before the October 7 Massacre. Hamas can never be allowed to threaten the people of Israel again.
France claims hostages in Gaza received medical supplies sent last year
Medical supplies sent for hostages held in Gaza in early 2024 were received, a French diplomatic source stated on Wednesday.

Last January, in a joint effort by France and Qatar, medical supplies were sent for hostages, although their delivery could not initially be confirmed.

“Reports suggest that recently released hostages from Hamas captivity acknowledged receiving some medical treatments during their imprisonment,” the source explained.

“While tracing the exact origin of the supplies remains challenging, this indicates that the operation, spearheaded by France and Qatar in close coordination with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, was not in vain.”

Last year, an operation involving France, Qatar, and the hostages' families was disclosed. Israel’s government was not told about the initiative and had no involvement.

A supportive mission
Family members such as Rotem Cooper and Efrat Machikawa, whose relatives were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, collaborated with Dr. Meir Zusman and Dan Sobovich.

They enlisted support from both local and global figures, including David Meidan, who served as the coordinator for hostages and missing persons at the time of Gilad Schalit's release in 2011

Additionally, international organizations and the Hostage and Missing Families Forum played a role in ensuring the medical shipment reached the Gaza Strip.

The supplies traveled through various European countries before passing into Egypt, then the Red Crescent, and finally into Gaza.
Emily Damari thanks ‘amazing’ Spurs fans for unwavering support
Emily Damari, who was held hostage by Hamas for 471 days, has expressed her deep gratitude towards Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and its supporters for the immense support they showed throughout her captivity.

The 28-year-old Spurs fan, who was released alongside two other women on Sunday, was pictured holding a team scarf at home, thanking fans for their consistent campaigning on her behalf.

She was particularly moved by the regular sight of yellow balloons released during Spurs matches and the yellow ribbons tied around the stadium, according to her family.

And in a touching moment during the North London derby earlier this week, Tottenham fans joined forces with rival Arsenal supporters to advocate for Ms Damari and other hostages' releases.

A statement revealed: “The 28-year-old Spurs fan, who can't wait to come back to London to see her favourite team play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, was so touched to hear about all the amazing people who regularly released yellow balloons during matches and tied yellow ribbons around the stadium and is so proud to be known as 'One Of Our Own'.”

Emily’s release, along with fellow female hostages Romi Gonen, 24, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, is part of the opening phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal which began on Sunday morning.

"Her wish now is for the remaining 94 hostages, including the eight British linked [captives], to come home as soon as possible,” the statement added.

In a statement on Monday, her mother Mandy, 63, a nursery teacher who grew up in Beckenham, south-east London, said Emily was doing ‘much better than any of us could ever have anticipated’.

Later, she added: ‘Emily is in high spirits, on the road to recovery. She is an amazingly strong and resilient young woman.’


Freed hostage Romi Gonen: ‘There is life after death’
Romi Gonen, who was released from Hamas captivity on Sunday, thanked the people of Israel for their support and prayers overnight Tuesday in her first social media post in over 471 days.

“There is life after death,” she wrote on Instagram.

Sharing a picture of the reunion with her mother, Gonen expressed her gratitude to “the people of Israel, to family, to friends.”

“The prayers and strength you sent accompanied us the entire way and helped us believe that this nightmare would eventually end,” she wrote.

“We must remember that there are 94 more hostages who are simply dying for us to save them,” Gonen noted. She concluded her message with, “Am Yisrael Chai [‘the people of Israel live’], and with God’s help, we will continue to receive good news in the coming weeks.”

Gonen, 24, and the other two released hostages, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were handed over by Hamas to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night as part of an Israeli ceasefire agreement with the terror group.

Following an initial medical examination at the Israel Defense Forces reception point near the Gaza border and their subsequent transfer to a hospital via helicopter, Tel Hashomer General Hospital Director Dr. Yael Frenkel Nir told local media that the women’s physical condition was good enough to allow them to focus on reuniting with family members.


Joe Biden’s Presidency Ends: A Legacy of Weakness, Missed Opportunities, and Decline
As Joe Biden’s presidency finally comes to a painful end, the damage to America’s relationship with Israel, the rise in unchecked antisemitism, and his own declining mental sharpness paint a grim picture. For four years, Biden’s weak policies, lack of clarity, and inability to lead left Israel vulnerable, Jewish Americans unsupported, and America’s reputation on shaky ground.

Failing Israel in Critical Moments
During key moments, Biden showed he wasn’t up to the task of standing by America’s closest ally. In the conflict with Hamas, his administration couldn’t deliver a clear, strong message of support. Instead, Biden’s lukewarm comments about Israel’s “right to defend itself” were undercut by calls for “restraint,” leaving Israel to fend for itself while its enemies grew emboldened.

Even worse, Biden reinstated funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), notorious for spreading anti-Israel sentiment. Actions like these didn’t just abandon Israel—they actively undermined its security and sent the wrong message to those who wish it harm.

Ignoring Antisemitism at Home
Antisemitism surged on Biden’s watch, yet his response was largely symbolic. His administration adopted a watered-down definition of antisemitism, allowing anti-Israel hostility to flourish under the guise of “legitimate criticism.” Jewish students on college campuses were left to endure harassment while Biden’s leadership offered little more than hollow speeches.

At a time when Jewish Americans needed decisive action, Biden’s presidency delivered vague platitudes and little else.
Court insiders claim Trump sanctions could destroy the ICC
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing for a wave of US sanctions that could severely disrupt its operations and even pose an existential threat to the institution, according its officials.

ICC sources told The Guardian that the measures expected to be implemented by the Trump administration could "shut the court down entirely”.

“The concern is the sanctions will be used to shut the court down, to destroy it rather than just tie its hands,” one official warned.

The sanctions could target senior figures, including chief prosecutor Karim Khan, and disrupt key aspects of the court’s operations. Trump’s administration is anticipated to act quickly upon taking office, issuing an executive order that could set the legal groundwork for a series of sanctions.

The threat of US sanctions against the ICC intensified following the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza in November last year.

In retaliation, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution earlier this month, moving toward a vote on legislation to impose sanctions against the court.

However, multiple ICC sources have expressed concern that Trump may not wait for the legislative process to unfold.

They fear he could immediately act through an executive order to launch full-scale financial and travel restrictions against the court and its leadership.

According to interviews with officials and diplomats familiar with the ICC’s preparations, the court is planning for a "worst-case scenario" in which the US imposes punitive sanctions against the entire institution, rather than specific individuals.

Such a move, they say, could bring the court to a standstill, severely hindering its access to the services it depends on to function.
Trump SILENCES Critics by Going Fully Pro-Israel on Day 1

Dermer: Israel did not promise the Saudis a Palestinian state
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said on Wednesday that Israel has not committed to allowing the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for normalization with Saudi Arabia.

Israel and Saudi Arabia made significant advances towards normalization in 2023, which were mostly put on hold after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Still, Israeli and American officials have made optimistic statements about the prospects of peace between Jerusalem and Riyadh in recent months. Saudi leadership has consistently said Israel must take significant steps toward Palestinian statehood before an agreement can be reached, and more recently, has signaled that the establishment of a Palestinian state is a condition for Israel-Saudi ties.

Dermer, who has a very close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made the remarks in the Knesset in response to a question from MK Oded Forrer of Israel Beitenu, who asked: “You act as…the messenger of the prime minister to the Americans and the Saudis. Are there any commitments that you have given verbally or otherwise from the prime minister or you, as his messenger, agreeing to a Palestinian state in negotiations?”

Dermer responded: “About a Palestinian state – there is no such promise at all.”

The former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. also warned that leaks regarding sensitive, high-level conversations could scuttle Israeli diplomatic efforts.

“With the Abraham Accords, there were three or four people in the country who knew 24 hours before it was announced that we had an agreement with the [United Arab] Emirates,” Dermer said. “It has happened in the past that good things collapsed because of leaks.”

Dermer added, “I think that it is better to talk less and do more. I’m working on it.”


Trump’s appointee for Pentagon Middle East adviser has called for ‘pressure’ on Israel
The man whom the Trump administration appointed on Monday as chief Middle East policy advisor at the Pentagon had urged the Biden administration to “pressure” Israel to deliver more aid to Gaza. Michael DiMino also believes that the United States has “no vital or existential” interests in the region and supports a policy of “offshore balancing” to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and Syria.

DiMino, a former CIA analyst, was sworn in on Monday as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.

In his tenure as a fellow at the Washington think tank Defense Priorities, which bills itself as a “hub of realism and restraint” and was founded with money from the libertarian Koch brothers, DiMino expressed skepticism about U.S. commitments in the Middle East, including its relationship with partners like Israel.

“There are no vital or existential U.S. interests in the region,” DiMino said in a February webinar.

Washington’s two interests in the region are natural resources and countering terrorism, the threat of which DiMino stated was “exaggerated,” he said in February.

“We’re really there to counter Iran, and that’s really at the behest of the Israelis and the Saudis,” he said, of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq and Syria.

DiMino said he favored “offshore balancing,” a controversial policy that proponents argue is a realistic response to a multipolar region. Critics allege that it amounts to appeasement of Iran at the expense of U.S. allies like Israel and partners like Saudi Arabia.

“I’m absolutely in favor of getting closer to a point of offshore balancing, reducing U.S. security commitments in the region,” DiMino said. “Removing troops is a way to do that.”

In his comments, many of which were first reported by Jewish Insider, DiMino at times suggested that the Jewish state has been the more aggressive party in the region, while Iran has been “fairly moderate.”
Pro-Israel Republicans alarmed over Trump’s Defense Department appointee
The Trump administration’s pick for deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East brings a record on Iran, the Houthis and the region that is alarming pro-Israel conservatives, having described Iran’s missile attack on Israel as “fairly moderate” and urged the U.S. against bombing the Houthis, instead calling for American pressure on Israel.

Michael DiMino, who was a military analyst at the CIA and an official at the Defense Department during the first Trump administration, has been a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Koch-funded isolationist think tank founded by allies of libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). He has called for a reduced U.S. presence in the Middle East and argued that the U.S. does not have any critical interests in the region.

In a webinar in February 2024 with Defense Priorities, DiMino, who was sworn in on Monday, declared that the Middle East does “not really” matter for U.S. interests, arguing that “vital or existential threats” in the Middle East are “best characterized as minimal to nonexistent,” and that the U.S.’ role in the region has not provided any benefits.

He said the U.S. can prevent terrorist threats emanating from the region without a major military presence, instead using diplomacy, leaning on local actors, intelligence monitoring and long-range strikes. He said the U.S. should significantly reduce its troop presence in the region, remove military outposts in Iraq, Syria and the Levant, and ultimately reassess its presence in the Gulf.

“The people that try to tell you that Iran is somehow going to take over the Middle East, I think it’s fearmongering and I think it’s pablum and it’s not supported by the facts,” DiMino said in a February 2024 radio interview.

“Iran’s military has limited conventional force projection capabilities,” he said in a co-written November 2023 policy paper.

DiMino, after Iran’s second ballistic missile attack on Israel last year, dismissed the attack as a “fairly moderate” response to Israeli operations against Tehran and its terrorist proxy groups and suggested that Iran was holding back.

“I think similarly, the Iranians are going to try to hold back,” DiMino told Newsweek, “maybe in the hopes that the Harris administration is more willing to [move] back to something that looks like the JCPOA or something similar.”


Trump Readies Executive Order Redesignating Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organization
The Trump administration is readying an executive order that will redesignate the Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), according to a senior U.S. official briefed on the matter.

President Donald Trump is slated to sign the order later on Wednesday, the official said. The order fully restores tough American sanctions on the Yemen-based terror group that the Biden administration lifted in 2021. Trump added the Houthis to America’s FTO list in the waning days of his first administration, but the Biden White House reversed the move amid efforts to ease diplomatic tensions with Iran.

The Biden administration did redesignate the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist outfit last January, when the Houthis launched a wave of attacks on global shipping vessels. While that designation does provide for sanctions, it is less severe than an FTO designation, which carries criminal penalties for anyone caught providing material support to the terror outfit in question.

Trump’s rush to redesignate the Houthis signals an early desire to confront Iran’s top proxies and further help Israel crush Tehran’s regional terrorism enterprise.

Trump’s order, an advance copy of which was reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, calls out Iran for sponsoring the Houthi’s ongoing Middle East terror spree, which kicked into high gear after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The Houthis have conducted more than 300 direct attacks on Israel since October 2023 and are responsible for interrupting global maritime traffic in the Red Sea.

Trump’s order declares that it is now U.S. policy to eliminate the Houthi capabilities and operations, depriving it of the resources needed to continue attacking American interests in the region.
Houthis release crew of ship seized in 2023
Houthi rebels said on Wednesday that they released the crew of the ship Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier, seized in November 2023.

The Bahaman-flagged ship is registered by a British company partially owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar.

The Yemen-based terror group said that it hijacked the ship because of its Israeli connection, the Associated Press reported.

The group seized the vessel at the start of its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor in identification with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Houthis have since targeted more than 100 commercial ships.

While the terror group claimed that it only targeted vessels linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom, many of the ships attacked had “little or no connection, including some bound for Iran,” the news outlet said.

The rebels said they released the sailors after mediation by the Gulf state Oman. A separate request by Hamas urged the release of the 25-person crew, which included sailors from the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico, AP reported.

“This step comes in support of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” the Houthis said in a statement.

On Jan. 19, the terror group signaled that it will limit its maritime attacks in the Red Sea to only Israel-linked vessels until the last phase of the ceasefire agreement is carried out, AP reported on Sunday.

In addition to its attacks on maritime shipping—estimated to have cost shipping companies hundreds of millions of dollars each month—the Houthis also launched multiple missile and drone strikes on Israel.


IDF seizes weapons in Southern Lebanon ahead of withdrawal
Israeli soldiers operating in Southern Lebanon continue to seize large amounts of weapons, the Israeli Defense Forces announced on Wednesday, four days before the army is supposed to complete its gradual withdrawal from the region.

Troops of the 810th “Mountain” Brigade deployed on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov have collected “numerous weapons, anti-tank guided missiles, rocket launchers, machine guns, sights and missiles,” the IDF said.

The military “continues to deepen its achievements, to remove any threat to the State of Israel and the residents of the north, as well as to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to re-establish itself and strengthen its positions in the Mount Dov area, all in accordance with the truce understandings [with Beirut],” the statement concluded.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned earlier this month that the Nov. 26 ceasefire with Beirut would be void if Hezbollah refuses to withdraw from Southern Lebanon. Under the terms of the accord, Israel is to gradually redeploy from Lebanon before Jan. 26 as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon take responsibility for ensuring that Hezbollah remains disarmed south of the Litani River.

However, concerns have been growing in Jerusalem about whether the LAF can fulfill its obligation to clamp down on Hezbollah’s presence in the south. The IDF remains engaged in frequent operations in the border area.

A Monday meeting of the U.S.-led truce enforcement and monitoring mechanism, which is chaired by U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, did not give any indication that the IDF intends to withdraw as planned on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar daily.

The newspaper cited Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati as saying during a televised interview that Jeffers had informed the government in Beirut that the IDF redeployment could be delayed by “several days.”

A source told Al Akhbar that the Israeli military has complained to the ceasefire committee that LAF forces have “refused to seize resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] assets from depots and homes, or to confiscate arms.” However, the Lebanese daily reported, residents of Southern Lebanon intend to return to the area next week in accordance with the truce.


PMO denies report PA to be given control of Gaza-Egypt crossing
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday issued a partial denial after a Saudi-owned outlet claimed that Israel had agreed to hand control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt over to the Palestinian Authority.

Contrary to the Saudi report, Mossad Director David Barnea and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar had not told the head of Egyptian General Intelligence, Maj. Gen Hassan Rashad, that Israel would allow the P.A. to take full control of the crossing, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The border crossing is currently being managed by “Gazans not affiliated with Hamas, with [Israel Security Agency] security [oversight],” the statement continues. These are the same Gazans “who have been managing civilian services in the Strip, such as electricity, water and sewage, since the start of the war,” it adds.

They are being supervised by representatives of the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah, according to the PMO.

As of now, Israeli forces are still “positioned around the crossing, and there is no passage without the supervision, oversight and advance approval of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency”

The P.A.’s only “practical involvement” at this time is its “stamp on the passports, which, according to the existing international arrangement, is the only way Gazans may leave the Strip in order to enter, or be received in, other countries,” according to the statement.

It goes on to note that while this procedure is “correct” for the first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the framework will be evaluated in the future.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported that the Israeli negotiating team, which includes Barnea and Bar, met with Egyptian officials to discuss issues expected to come up during negotiations regarding the second and third stages of the ceasefire.

The parties reportedly discussed Israel’s commitment under the deal to reduce its military presence in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as the Israel Defense Forces’ withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor that divides the southern and northern Strip, and the deportation of Palestinian terrorist prisoners set to be released on Saturday.


More than 2,400 aid trucks enter Gaza under ceasefire with no major looting, UN says
Nearly 900 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the third day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terrorists Hamas, as a senior UN official said so far there had been no apparent law-and-order issues.

The latest arrivals bring the three-day total to more than 2,400 trucks entering the enclave.

Throughout the 15-month war, the UN has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic — saying it was facing problems with Israel’s military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and looting by armed gangs.

The Israeli military has said that attacking and stealing aid is an ongoing problem, especially in southern Gaza. COGAT, the Defense Ministry body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, has said convoys are attacked by Hamas terrorists and known crime families.

Israel has also said that it had been working to address the humanitarian situation since the start of the war, adding that the main problem with aid deliveries was UN distribution challenges.

Muhannad Hadi, the top UN aid official for Gaza and the West Bank, said there had been minor incidents of looting in the past three days, but “not like before.” Palestinians chase humanitarian aid trucks that arrived through the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, January 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

“It’s not organized crime. Kids jumped on some trucks trying to take food baskets. There were some other people (who) tried to take some bottled water,” he told reporters after visiting the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday.

“Hopefully within few days this will all disappear once the people of Gaza realize that we will have aid enough for everybody.”


Hamas not defeated, ‘think it’s a victory,’ Michael Oren tells PragerU
The Hamas terror organization isn’t defeated, and in fact, “they think it’s a victory,” Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said in a video interview that PragerU, a conservative nonprofit, aired on Tuesday.

The former diplomat and military historian predicted that there will be “greater terrorism in the future” from the security prisoners that Israel freed in the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israeli society can accept the deal because “by redeeming our hostages, we’ll be much better and stronger and able to meet that challenge,” Oren told Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU. “If we fail to redeem the hostages, we’ll be weaker even though we may face a much weaker Hamas.”

The Jewish state was left with “no good choice,” and it had to opt for “the lesser of two massively nightmarish scenarios,” he added.

Oren also said that he is disappointed with the Biden administration’s war aims, citing a recent speech that then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave at the Atlantic Council. Oren questioned whether the Biden administration really wanted to win and said that the Israeli military gave Washington a “strategic advantage that is beyond the wildest imagination of many American policymakers.”

But instead of letting the Israel Defense Forces do what it needed to do, the Biden administration chose to “hamstring it,” Oren said.
Jerusalem, Trump, & the Fight for Israel’s Survival | Inside Look with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum
In this compelling episode, former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and Israel's Special Envoy for Trade and Innovation. They delve into the future of Jerusalem under evolving geopolitical dynamics, including the implications of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency and how it might impact Israel's diplomatic standing and international strategy.

From the Abraham Accords to Israel’s fight to maintain its economic and political edge, Fleur shares her expert insights on innovation, bridging societal gaps in Jerusalem, and the critical role of public diplomacy in shaping global perceptions.

Topics include:
The significance of Jerusalem in Israel’s domestic and foreign policy
The economic and cultural ripple effects of the Abraham Accords
How Trump’s return could reshape Israel’s relationship with the world
Strategies to combat misinformation and strengthen Israel's global image

🎥 Don’t forget to subscribe for more discussions on Israel, innovation, and Middle East geopolitics.

0:00 - Coming up
0:30 - Monologue
2:57 - Welcome
3:15 - Tel Aviv vs. Jerusalem
8:12 - Rehabilitating Israel's reputation
18:11 - The PR war
33:47 - Oct. 7 war and Jerusalem
44:17 - Consequences of independent Palestinian State
48:35 - UNRWA ban
58:35 - Jerusalem and President Donald Trump
1:05:54 - United Kingdom embassy in Israel
1:11:58 - Conclusion




Daughter of Hamas victim speaks on her father’s released killer as part of ceasefire deal
Meytal Ofer, whose father was killed by a Hamas terrorist 11 years ago, speaks to Sky News host Sharri Markson about the murderer now being freed as part of the ceasefire deal.

“I was quite shocked, but not very surprised,” Ms Ofer said.

“We are paying a very, very high price with this deal.”


Israel faces ‘horrific decision’ over hostage agreement and continued conflict
Newsweek Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon examines the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas following US President Donald Trump’s scepticism about the agreement’s durability.

“At this point, ironic as this is to say, Hamas wants this deal more than Israel does,” Ms Ungar-Sargon said.

“Israel wants its hostages back, but it also desperately wants to go back in and finish the job that it started, whereas Hamas I think realises that they’re on their deathbed.

“It really is Israel’s decision right now, do they want to try and get every last hostage out or do they want to finish the war?

“It is a horrific, horrific decision … and I really don’t envy Netanyahu for having had to make that decision every single day since October 7.”


Is the writing on the wall for Australia’s Jewish community?
Contingency plans
It started as a trickle, but I’m hearing from increasing numbers of people who are making contingency plans.

Some are buying property in Israel, others are brushing up on Hebrew or taking up foreign citizenship through descent.

One friend explained his plans to emigrate to Israel, using the “boiling frog” analogy: graffiti can be ignored, but firebombing synagogues and preschools cannot. He decided not to wait until someone was killed.

Another friend recounted that his Hungarian grandfather wouldn’t have believed that his grandson was acquiring citizenship of the once antisemitic country he had left, just in case it became necessary.

Jews came to Australia on the First Fleet and have contributed extraordinarily, ever since. The Jewish community has produced multiple governors-general, military leaders like Sir John Monash, a federal treasurer, chief justices, accomplished businessmen, scientists, and thinkers.

Despite comprising fewer than half a per cent, Jews have won the Nobel Prize, Olympic gold and countless other honours for Australia.

Businesses founded by Australian Jews abound, like Westfield, Myer, Meriton and Chemist Warehouse.

Arts and culture in Australia would be unrecognisable without the contributions from Jewish philanthropists.

Australia’s Jewish community is under siege. No other Australian children require armed guards at preschool. The Albanese Government has abandoned us. Every plea is rejected or very belatedly accepted while ministers inflame tensions by obsessively targeting Israel.

Antisemitism ground zero
Universities are ground zero for antisemitism. A judicial inquiry is needed. Federal funding should be withheld until universities implement the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism or take meaningful action. Labor has rebuffed all these requests.

Jews often serve as society’s canary in the coal mine. When they flee, a broader decline often follows. From the Soviet Union to once-great cities like Baghdad and Damascus, the departure of Jews preceded societal collapse. In Western European countries, Islamist threats, first aimed at Jews, have become a problem for ordinary Europeans.

Is the writing on the wall for my community?

I am by nature an optimistic person but something dramatic must change because I know enough Jewish history to see that the trajectory we are on, doesn’t end well.

It’s sometimes an overused catchcry, but the next election will really be the most consequential one in the history of Australia’s Jews. Our future depends on it. My community can’t endure another three years of this hatred.
Newtown synagogue: Alleged anti-Semitic attacker, Adam Moule, faces court after NSW police manhunt
A day after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns stood in the charred remains of a Sydney childcare centre, a man has faced court charged with setting a synagogue on fire and spraying anti-Semitic slogans on it’s walls.

NSW police swooped on a residence in Camperdown on Tuesday night and arrested 33-year-old Adam Moule, who has since been refused bail before appearing at the Downing Centre Local Court to face multiple charges.

Police alleged that Mr Moule tried to set fire to the Newtown synagogue in Georgina Street earlier this month, and also covered the building with anti-Semitic slogans.

Detectives attached to Strike Force Pearl arrested Mr Moule after heavily armed riot squad officers raided two addresses on Pyrmont Bridge Road, Camperdown on Tuesday evening.

The arrest is a signal of the NSW Government’s intent to stamp out the rapidly rising level of incidents against the Sydney Jewish community, as Premier Chris Minns vowed to go after the “bastards” committing these offences.

Mr Minns rejected suggestions his Government had lost control of the anti-Semitism crisis on Tuesday, and kept the door open to reforming the State’s hate crime legislation as NSW Police announced they would expand their resourcing and add more detectives to chase down the “violent criminals” who have unleashed hate on Sydney.

“It is completely disgusting, and these bastards will be rounded up by NSW Police,” Mr Minns said.

“The rise in anti-Semitic attacks in New South Wales is a major concern for the State — the primary concern for New South Wales. I want to make sure that the public are aware that the full resources will be deployed.”


Albanese ‘weak and out of his depth’ in tackling antisemitism
Sky News host Peta Credlin says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s lack of action over antisemitism shows he is “weak and out of his depth”.

“All of this is just yet more evidence we have got a prime minister who is weak and out of his depth,” Ms Credlin said.

Ms Credlin slammed the Albanese Labor government for their inability to take proper action against antisemitism in Australia.


Anthony Albanese ‘absented himself’ from antisemitism debate: Peter Dutton
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called on the government to “deal with antisemitism”.

Mr Dutton said every person should know there is “zero tolerance” for antisemitism in Australian society.

“The Prime Minister absented himself from this debate early on for political motivations and outcomes.”


‘We are not going to let them win’: Australians must ‘come together’ to fight antisemitism
Deakin University Global Islamic Politics Chair Professor says the antisemitism crisis in Australia needs to be treated with the “utmost seriousness”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has faced mounting pressure to provide further details regarding claims that foreign agents may be involved in sponsoring antisemitic violence.

Mr Albanese was forced to hold a National Cabinet on Tuesday to tackle the rising levels of hate crimes following an attack on a childcare centre in Sydney.

“If it’s the case that we’ve got outside actors just trying to disrupt, then it’s all the more reason to come together and say, ‘we are not going to let them win’,” Mr Barton told Sky News Australia.


Albanese ‘jumps’ at chance to shift blame for antisemitism crisis
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under “so much pressure” he jumped at the chance to shift the blame for Australia’s antisemitism crisis.

“Anthony Albanese, he is under so much pressure over this anti-Jewish terrorism let loose under his watch,” Mr Bolt said.

“No wonder he today jumped at what looks like an excuse.”


‘Hopeless and incompetent’: Albanese government’s response to antisemitism slammed
Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson has hit out at Anthony Albanese's response to antisemitism, accusing the Prime Minister of being “missing in action” after leading a delayed national cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“This is a national crisis that requires national leadership, and we have seen the Prime Minister missing in action,” Ms Henderson told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“It has taken him months and months to call a national cabinet meeting, just to bring the relevant ministers from the states and territories around the table, and that's appalling.

“What needs to happen before we can see the appropriate amount of action from this hopeless and incompetent government? So at the very least, the Prime Minister needs to match the package of reforms that we have announced, led by Peter Dutton, including, of course, mandatory minimum sentences for terrorism of six years.

“And it is about time this Prime Minister started treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves.”


PM confirms Penny Wong will lead delegation for Auschwitz commemoration
The Prime Minister has confirmed two senior ministers will represent Australia at an event marking the liberation of Auschwitz.

No one has been able to explain why a Labor senator, who had been critical of Israel, was initially slated for the role.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will lead the delegation, and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will attend alongside her.

A leaked email obtained by Sky News Australia sent to part of the delegation late last year notes Senate President Sue Lines was to lead the delegation.

The organisers of the event claim Australia is yet to confirm its delegation.




Some ‘pro’ Palestine marchers simply enjoy frightening Jews
I think some of the protestors wanted to go to Portland Place because they enjoy frightening Jews, and hearing “From the River to the Sea” shouted while you are at prayer is frightening if you are human, and I don’t think everyone on the march believes that Jews are human. We have become quasi-mythical beings again, because history is not linear, it’s a wheel.

These marches are not peaceful. I have stood with counter protesters and as the “pro” Palestine march passes, they cannot stay away from an opportunity to demonstrate personal goodness and expiate unspecified failure and rage. They make Hamas triangles with their fingers to designate us targets; they scream abuse; they make it clear that, were if not for the double line of police officers, they would attack us. Not all, of course, but some, and some is enough.

I suspect this is news to the bourgeois Socialists who lead this movement. They are as hierarchical as anyone, comrade (it’s pronounced “com-raid,” which is funny). A sanction was placed on this march: you cannot gather near a synagogue on Saturday. You might think, as anti-racists, they would welcome this news and act on it. Are they not for peace? I’m laughing now. They have done nothing for Gaza except help secure its murderous leadership. These are bourgeois Socialists and they equal any mogul in their entitlement. They use weirder language though: attack them and attack Utopia.

I treasure Howard Jacobson’s line, “I’ve never met a Socialist who didn’t hate his father”, and this, I think, is what is playing out. They cannot tolerate opposition yet they crave it. That’s one for the psychiatrist but it makes them, among other things, bad social democrats, as responsible for the fracture of our polity as anyone. Before the ceasefire vote last year, Ben Jamal told a crowd: “We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of Parliament itself.” No one should want that.

But you don’t go to a “pro” Palestine march to find self-knowledge. The response to this small sanction was the kind of hysteria women are usually accused of. They must be allowed to protest outside the BBC; the synagogue “is not even on the route”; 0.03 per cent of British Jews signed a letter saying it should go ahead (I paraphrase); this is the hand of Israel (again, I paraphrase).

It was, they said, a violation of their democratic rights, to which I say, have we been in the same city this last year? They are oblivious to one immutable truth: the anti-democratic is not us, but them.


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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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