Wednesday, February 05, 2025

02/05 Links Pt1: The End of ‘Palestine’; Donald J. Nietzsche Solves the Gaza Crisis; Israel exits UNHRC; Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager

From Ian:

Lee Smith: The End of ‘Palestine’
The Arabs and Democrats are only the most vocal of the many opposed to Trump’s initiative. Left-wing governments from Europe to Australia are lining up to pledge their allegiance to the fantasy of a Palestinian state, in the hopes of propitiating Muslim and Arab constituencies at home—whose understanding of “peace” means eliminating Israel. But even leaving the patent bad faith of those professing “peace” aside, moving Gazans out of Gaza is the only sane option 14 months after they initiated a campaign of rape, murder, and hostage-taking that brought their own house down on their heads.

After all, what’s more fanciful, moving 1.7 million people out of Gaza, a large portion of whom would simply be required to board air-conditioned buses or walk across the nearby Egypt border, or compelling them to live in a giant rubble field booby-trapped by an Iran-backed terrorist group? Estimates vary as to how long it would take to clear Gaza of explosives—half a decade or more? 15 years? 20? Are the Gazans supposed to live quietly in tents for the next decade or two while their homes are rebuilt next door? Where? In “temporary cities” made of Dwell Magazine-like rehabbed shipping containers built by graduates of Birmingham University? In Hamas’ tunnels?

Regardless, should the Palestinians remain in Gaza, they would invariably return to war no matter how much munificence the Gulf Arab states, the European Union, and perhaps even the U.S. might shower on the toxic sand-castle built over the past two decades with billions of Western aid money. Proof the Palestinians can’t and won’t keep the peace is that even after they won a reprieve when Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff forced the Biden administration’s ceasefire on Jerusalem, Hamas and its NGO-supported human shields celebrated in the streets as if the Hamas space program had successfully landed Palestinians on Mars. Even as Israel released jailed murderers, the Gazans paraded Israeli hostages through the ruins of Gaza like trophies of war.

The Saudis, Qataris, Emiratis and others who now rend their clothes while lamenting the likely fate of their ant-farm death cult might well have counseled: Quiet brothers, you have been spared. Don’t bring attention to yourselves. For the winds of Gaza shift on a whim and who knows if you are not next to be swept away by fate—or the American President.

Here is the stark reality: Gazans, not just the enlisted members of the Hamas brigades, waged an exterminationist campaign against Israel, and they lost. At virtually any other time in history, save the last 75 years, they would be lucky to lose only territory and not have their legend and language permanently deleted from the book of the living.

Trump’s generous offer to the Gazans therefore signals a return to history, but with a twist. Trump has not only spared them, but vowed to provide them with new lives, better lives, work, new homes, a chance to raise their families in peace, an existence not premised on total and permanent war with a more powerful adversary destined to rout them entirely, and would have already done so if not for the objections of other powerful global players.

Trump, in his innovative mercy, has offered to save the Palestinian people from their own history, and give them a new idea to live by. They should thank their maker for the chance to start anew—and give thanks as well to the American President, who realistically promises them a better future, backed by U.S. global power. Given the repeated failure of the multi-decade-long dream of eliminating and replacing the Jews of Israel, it seems unlikely that the Palestinians will receive a better offer.
Seth Mandel: Mr. Netanyahu’s Opus
Let’s rewind briefly to set the stage. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, had finally been defeated a dozen years into his second stint as premier, in 2021. Eighteen months later, Bibi found his way back into power, but in order to do so he had to assemble a coalition that was guaranteed to make trouble for him from Day One. His government proposed a radical democratizing of the Israeli judiciary that alienated half the country for a year, and failed anyway.

Then came Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s 9/11. Netanyahu, who had long (with good reason) branded himself as Mr. Security, had presided over the worst domestic security failure in 50 years. He was made to prosecute the ensuing war effort with Joe Biden tying one hand behind Israel’s back. The International Criminal Court put out a warrant for his arrest.

And then came a series of cinematic operations: the simultaneous detonation of thousands of pagers that Israel had tricked Hezbollah operatives into carrying, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a safe house in Tehran, the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah deep underground, and the zapping of Iran’s air defenses, among others.

The rollercoaster ride continued: The electoral victory of Donald Trump—no doubt the Israeli government’s preferred candidate—was followed by a painful cease-fire deal that, by all accounts, Netanyahu had been strongarmed into by the new administration while Bibi was still recovering from prostate-removal surgery.

Which brings us to this week. Netanyahu’s stay at the Blair House in Washington, a guest house of sorts for foreign dignitaries, was his 14th—more than anyone else in the history of the house. He is the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since the new president took office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had floated his Gaza-relocation idea, warned the Iranians to watch their step, and pulled U.S. funding from some of the United Nations’ atrocious anti-Israel committees. Trump then led Netanyahu into a packed room for the press briefing. “Congratulations,” the president said to the prime minister. “You bring them out, you really bring them out.”

And suddenly, Netanyahu once again appeared to have made the right bet. His willingness to sign the cease-fire deal and give Trump a big policy win to start his presidency seems to have won him barrels of goodwill. Trump acted as though the four-year Biden presidency was a rude interruption of a U.S.-Israel victory tour:
John Podhoretz: Donald J. Nietzsche Solves the Gaza Crisis
In his Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche proposes what he calls a “rule as a riddle.” It goes like this: “If the bond shan’t burst, bite upon it first.” If you can’t fix a problem with conventional means, go unconventional. If something is insoluble, do something radical. It’s the same idea as the Gordian Knot—no one could untie it, so Alexander the Great simply sliced it open. What you don’t get, in the end, is a single piece of rope that remains intact. But the knot no longer exists.

So it is with what Donald Trump did at the most dramatic presidential press conference of my adult lifetime by announcing his plan for Gaza. As my sister Ruthie Blum put it on X, “To all those who’ve been screaming for 16 months about the ‘day after’: TAKE THAT!” You want a way forward for the area that has been decimated as a result of the terrorist war launched against an unsuspecting Israel on October 7, 2023—a war Israel neither sought nor planned for nor expected to have to fight? You want to cry bitter tears over the uninhabitability of Gaza as a result of the consquences of the war that is entirely the moral, logistical, and geopolitical responsibility of the terrorist organization Hamas and its sponsor in Iran? Dry your tears, says Donald Trump. Here’s the plan.

Gazans will have to go elsewhere for a while. Gaza will be cleared. It’s a “demolition site.” Unexploded ordinance will have to be dealt with. Many existing structures will have to be torn down. It’s an area the size of Chicago, so it’s quite the job. Following the demo will come the rebuilding. All of this, Trump says, will be paid for by the very wealthy countries in the region, which will also be responsible for housing the displaced Gazans in one, two, four, seven, maybe even twelve comfortable sites. Gaza will be turned into the Riviera of the Middle East. At that point, the people once resident in Gaza can return…if they want to. Otherwise it will become an international city for world people.

Bam! A plan! The bond couldn’t be burst, so Trump bit upon it first. No solution, eh? OK, here’s the solution.

Oh, but President Trump, they won’t pay for it! And they won’t take in the Gazans. Oh, I think they will, Trump says airily.

What’s going on here? Simply the shifting of tectonic plates, not naturally, but through the force of will—the will to power, as Nietzsche might have put it. Yesterday, Trump asserted the will of the United States as the world’s most powerful, richest, most influential, and most dominant nation in saying something must be done about Gaza, here’s what needs to be done, here’s who’s going to pay for it, and here’s who’s going to manage it after. What must be done is it needs to be cleared and rebuilt. Who’s going to pay for it are the fellow Arabs who have been “supporting” the Palestinians in order to keep the Palestinians far away from them. Who’s going to manage it after is the United States, really more as a real-estate management company than a political entity.

Is this all a fantasy? Maybe. But are any of the other ludicrous and cockamamie ideas being floated for the future of the area any less fantastical?


Trump’s call to resettle Gazans could end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all
U.S. President Donald Trump, sitting alongside Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a geopolitical earthquake on Tuesday, doubling down on calls to resettle “1.7 or 1.8 million” Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip.

The calls go beyond any concept of “total victory” that Netanyahu has verbalized and possibly even considered at any point during the current war with Hamas in Gaza. A little more than a week ago, the questions on the table were whether Israel could ever return all of its hostages and who would rule Palestinians living in Gaza on the “day after” the war.

Trump—in the way only he could do—has stated what should have been patently obvious to a normal observer but unspeakable for any world leader: Gaza is completely uninhabitable, and its residents will need to be resettled elsewhere.

If Trump’s suggestions come to pass, it will not only represent a “total victory” beyond even Netanyahu’s wildest imagination but represent the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Migrating nearly 2 million people out of the Gaza Strip will permanently alter the demographic reality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, removing any parity of numbers between Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

If successful, calls for Israel to permanently cede land for the creation of a Palestinian state within the Jewish biblical homeland will end, and Israel will finally win the conflict. Jews would then be the overwhelming majority and Palestinians a smaller ethnic minority, removing once and for all the phony claims that Israel is an apartheid state.

Trump even hinted that America may support full Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (commonly known in the international community as the “West Bank”). “We’re discussing that … and people do like the idea. We haven’t taken a position on it yet, but we’ll be making one probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.”

If America recognizes Israeli sovereignty in the provinces of Judea and Samaria, then it will permanently slam the door on the failed Oslo Accords and the two-state paradigm that the Palestinians never wanted in the first place.

The president, who worked extremely well with Israel’s prime minister during the 45th administration, has previously succeeded in breaking paradigms in the region with the brokering of the historic Abraham Accords agreements in the fall of 2020.

In his remarks in the Oval Office, Trump stated tersely that he will “never win a Nobel Prize” for his groundbreaking role in brokering the unthinkable agreements.

He is now bringing his unconventional thinking back to the region just days into a new term and looking for an end to the conflict that began when Hamas penetrated Israel’s border on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 men, women and children in the south, and kidnapping to Gaza more than 250 others in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Trump acknowledged that many “want to deny that Oct. 7 took place, just as many want to deny the Holocaust took place.”
Seth Mandel: Decoding the Middle East: A Primer
The article continues: “Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, said Israel’s operation in Jenin was part of a wider effort to undermine it. He said Israel’s military had interrupted the Palestinian security forces’ operation in Jenin and accused Israel of not coordinating its maneuver with them.”

It’s true, Rajab did say those things. And he absolutely intended for reporters to write down and publish such statements, attributed to him. But it is not because Rajab believed what he said, and you shouldn’t either. If you believe that the IDF would launch an operation in the middle of a PA operation in the exact same place without coordinating, you are not thinking clearly. If you believe Israel would deter the Palestinian Authority from subduing Iranian proxies in the West Bank, and that it would do so in such a way as to risk open war with the PA, you have flunked Middle East 101.

So why is Rajab saying this? Because he has to convince West Bank Palestinians that the PA’s operation in Jenin is proper but Israel’s isn’t, even though they are both ostensibly aimed at the same goal. General Rajab is walking a tightrope.

Israel must occasionally play its own version of this game. Yesterday, New York Times correspondent Patrick Kingsley asked the following question: Who will govern postwar Gaza? According to Kingsley, four options have presented themselves: Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, or an international force.

Israel has not, however, presented itself as a long-term solution to govern Gaza, and neither has “an international force.” The article really only shows two choices: Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. And Kingsley, to his credit, realizes that this means the Israelis would only support the PA regardless of the reservations they express at this point in the process.

Indeed, he writes, the Palestinian Authority already “quietly began working in another part of Gaza.” That is only possible with Israeli coordination. Kingsley adds: “Publicly, the Israeli government downplayed the authority’s involvement at the checkpoint, partly to avoid angering members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition.”

When we zoom out, then, what we see is a whole lot of coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, both in the West Bank and in Gaza. That coordination necessarily includes the Americans and the Egyptians and the Qataris, all of whom have some role in Gaza during the ceasefire.

The IDF isn’t busting into Jenin in the middle of a PA operation there, and PA forces aren’t sneaking into Gaza checkpoints under Israel’s nose. The Middle East can seem indecipherable if you don’t learn to filter out the noise.
Seth Frantzman: Trump is 'beating the grass' in the Middle East to startle the snakes in Gaza
In retrospect, it’s obvious that Hamas should never have been allowed to rule Gaza, but many countries didn’t care enough to stop it. The European Union walked away from a monitoring mission on the Egyptian border. Israel looked on and let it happen. The US didn’t mind. Egypt was fine with it.

Hamas took control and for almost 20 years has waged endless wars that have destroyed Gaza. In retrospect, the whole region should have stopped this hell from materializing.

Hamas brought hell to Gaza. It also received support from abroad – from Iran, Turkey, Qatar, and other countries. Hamas also infiltrated the West and was even able to get the US to accept that its leaders could reside in Qatar.

In addition, Hamas secured partnerships with UN organizations, media organizations, medical NGOs, and other entities in its takeover of Gaza. Hamas infiltrated every aspect of life in Gaza to exploit it for war.

Trump is beating the grass by proposing that all this will end now. If Gazans leave, then Hamas can’t use them as human shields. If Gazans leave, then Hamas can’t exploit, steal, and sell humanitarian aid.

This will put many UN jobs at risk, because the UN counts on suffering in Gaza to profit. It appears that some Hamas members moonlight as UN workers as well. This is all part of the system of corruption and graft that underpins how Gaza was misruled by Hamas.

The concept of “beating the grass” will now stir up the Hamas snakes and all the countries and NGOs and organizations that profit off the ruin of Gaza. They will come forward now, perhaps, to fix the problem.

It might be that Trump can secure a win here – not by getting everyone to leave Gaza, as under the “stirring” proposal, but by shocking everyone into finally stepping forward with a solution.

The October 7 massacre happened because everyone ignored Gaza and let Hamas get too strong. Israel underestimated Hamas. Regional countries didn’t appear to devote any human intelligence resources to preventing another Hamas war.

Hamas grew too big and dangerous, killing more Jews in one day than at any time since the Holocaust. This requires a radical change in Gaza.

Israel has only said it wants to reduce Hamas’s “capabilities” and “governance” and prevent “threats” in Gaza. This is more tinkering.

What’s required is a major change. Trump’s goal by floating his ideas may be to get countries to agree to be stakeholders in peace in Gaza – rather than just rebuild it again and let Hamas run it and destroy it again.
Kassy Akiva: ‘Better For Them, Better For Us’: Top Israel Experts See Benefit To Trump’s Gaza Plan
Another well-known expert, Eugene Kontorovich, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and professor at GMU Scalia Law School, said Trump’s proposal marks an end to the two-state solution.

“What is truly shocking is that while the victims of Oct. 7th were still not buried, the Biden administration was talking about rewarding Hamas with a Palestinian state, setting the stage for even worse massacres of Jews,” Kontorovich said. “Now President Trump is saying that the attempted genocide by Gaza doesn’t get a reward.”

He added that Trump’s proposal is similar to China’s strategy of growing its global footprint around the world.

“He also spoke of ‘ownership,’ which refers just to property not sovereignty,” Kontorovich said. “From Panama to Greenland, Trump understands the importance of projecting U.S. power and locking out the Chinese. Trump’s proposal would cut China’s belt.”

Hamas, the terrorist organization that raped, murdered, and kidnapped more than a thousand people in Israel on October 7, called Trump’s plan a “crime against humanity.”

Netanyahu said Trump’s idea is worth deliberating.

“I think it’s something that could change history and I think it is worth pursuing this avenue,” Netanyahu said.


Trump’s Gaza plan threatens Israel
Arab governments, backing Jordan and Egypt, immediately rejected the proposal. They insist that this is because of their fealty to the Palestinian cause, but what concerns them most is their knowledge that wherever Palestinians settle, they cause trouble for the regimes. Does anyone remember when Kuwait expelled 300,000 for supporting Saddam Hussein?)

Cairo convinced Biden to agree in the first weeks of the war to keep the Palestinians in the coastal enclave because Egypt President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi knows that Gazans (contrary to all the claims of their innocence) support Hamas, which is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization that has sought to impose an Iranian-style theocracy in Egypt for more than a century. Besides their ideology, these Palestinian civilians would be a problem because they would arrive as destitute refugees Egypt could not afford to support. Peace with Egypt was the game-changer for Israeli security, as it took the largest and most powerful Arab country out of the conflict. The last thing Israel wants is the introduction of a potential threat to the regime.

Some Israelis on the right are more excited about the idea of transferring Palestinians to Jordan because it is consistent with their long-standing argument that “Jordan is Palestine,” as well as obviates the need for negotiations over Judea and Samaria. Rather than a solution, however, it is far more dangerous to Israel than granting West Bank Palestinians independence.

First, introducing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees would pose an even greater threat to the stability of Jordan than to Egypt, where even several hundred thousand Palestinians would be a tiny percentage of the total population of 113 million. Palestinians already constitute a majority—some estimate as high as 70%—of Jordan’s population of 11 million. Historically, Jordan was part of the Palestinian territory under British control; however, King Abdullah is determined to ensure that it remains a Hashemite kingdom under his family’s dynastic rule. He was 8 years old when the PLO attempted to overthrow his father during Black September in 1970 and has no desire to tempt fate. Interestingly, Palestinians don’t recognize their potential in Jordan or fear failure, so they also object to Trump’s plan.

Having a peace treaty with Jordan is vital to Israel’s security. One reason I’ve always been baffled by the enthusiasm for making Jordan the Palestinian state is the failure to recognize how much more threatening that would be than a tiny state in the West Bank. Should a state be established in the West Bank, it would be surrounded by Israel, which would allow the IDF freedom of action and the ability to control what moves in and out of the entity.

By contrast, Palestinians controlling Jordan would have immediate and unrestricted access to a highly trained, U.S.-armed military. It could forge alliances with Israel’s enemies. Even without the influx of Palestinians, Jordan has a problem with Muslim extremists. Importing Hamas supporters could facilitate their takeover. Jordan might ally with the new Syrian regime, and Iran and Hamas would have a strategic position to launch attacks against Israel from a much larger and more powerful base. Moving Gazans also does nothing to relieve pressure on Israel to “end the occupation” unless Israel allows Jordan to annex parts of the West Bank so that it truly becomes the Palestinian state. This would create a new and more dangerous situation for Israel.

Instead of pressuring Egypt and Jordan to take in refugees—risking their stability and Israel’s security—Trump should prioritize strengthening Israel’s alliances with its peace partners. He must allow Israel to destroy Hamas and ensure that it is replaced with a regime that will offer Gazans the freedoms they have been denied and Israel the security it requires.
‘We were all surprised to hear the president’s vision,’ Danny Danon tells JNS
JNS also asked the Israeli ambassador about the hostage deal, and about whether he thinks it is fair to the Jewish state.

“The Hamas leadership should realize that they have no future in Gaza. Period. We are very determined about that, and I think the United States is also very determined about that,” Danon said.

The terror leaders could negotiate their way out of the Strip, as the Palestine Liberation Organization did in Lebanon in the early 1980s. “Options like that can be negotiated, but if they decide to stay in Gaza, we will have no choice but to resume the military activities,” Danon said.

Danon told JNS that the agreement “was a very hard decision for the prime minister and for the government.”

“We know that it is a dangerous deal. We are aware of the risks. We are releasing innocent people who were kidnapped. They are releasing convicted murderers. That’s their profession. That’s their destiny in life,” he said. “We know that many of them will go back to terrorism. It’s a calculated risk. It’s a hard decision. I think it was all debated in the government.”

Releasing so many terrorists also “emboldens” Hamas, “and it’s a threat to give them a mental boost,” he said. “But if you eliminate them, then I think it’s manageable—the decision to release so many convicted murderers.”

Asked what Trump welcoming Netanyahu in Washington meant for the Israeli prime minister’s domestic support in Israel, Danon, a longtime member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, spoke to JNS as an ambassador who represents the whole country.

“I was proud to see, as an Israeli, the prime minister being received the way he was received yesterday at the White House. The fact that he was the first prime minister speaks volumes, especially at the United Nations. We look at those things. You have leaders lining up now,” he said. “As Netanyahu is moving out of the Blair House, the Japanese leader will step in; after that will be the Indian leader, Jordanian, Egyptian.”

“The fact that Israel was the first country to come it’s very important,” Danons said, “and I’m very happy about that because it shows that we are together.”

Working with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s nominee for U.S. envoy to the United Nations, is also important to Danon. “When you show that you are together, it gives you a lot of power,” he said.

JNS asked Danon about his plans at the global body in the coming weeks.

“We want to start to play offense. We’ve played defense for too long since Oct. 7 and all the resolutions and the bias. I think now it will be easier to play offense,” he said. “Still, it will be challenging, you have to admit. The United Nations will still be a hostile place. But with the moral clarity of Israel and the power of the United States, we can start to shift the narrative.”

Asked what “offense” means at the United Nations, Danon told JNS that “offense is to initiate the discussion, the resolutions. If today the discussion is completely against Israel, you’re still going to have hostile voices, but once you create other opportunities and platforms, you balance it.”
Knesset bill offers cash to Gazans to relocate
Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s push in favor of relocating Gaza residents, Israel’s Otzma Yehudit Party on Tuesday said it had introduced a bill that would financially compensate those choosing to leave the enclave.

According to a statement by the party, those choosing to leave the Strip would receive a “financial assistance package” determined by the Finance Ministry under the proposed legislation, which is scheduled for a review next week by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

Anyone who accepts the package and later attempts to return to Gaza would, under the bill, be required to repay it plus a 100% penalty adjusted for inflation and interest. Failure to pay will result in a ban from entering Gaza or any other Israeli-controlled area.

Convicted terrorists are excluded by the bill, according to the statement.

“Israel continues to allow Hamas to grow and raise more terrorists. This law is meant to provide a practical solution—encouraging the voluntary departure of Gaza residents to countries willing to accept them. We expect security to be the top priority, and we call on lawmakers to support this initiative,” said Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir of the bill.

Soon after taking office last month, Trump began discussing a mass relocation of Gaza’s population, which he said was necessary for humanitarian reasons.


Jake Wallis Simons: Trump’s plan to Make Gaza Great Again could really work
“Habibi, make Gaza great again :) Gaza is uninhabitable, so this is a great idea.” Such was the WhatsApp message to which I awoke this morning. But it wasn’t from some Maga fanatic on a ranch in Alabama. It was from my long-time friend in Gaza, whom I met during my time as a foreign correspondent.

I made a coffee and we spoke on the phone, me in Winchester, he in Gaza City (he was displaced to the south but has now returned north). “We survived the war but we will die from the rubble,” he said. “This is the best solution for the people. Would you want to wait two-to-five years just for the rubble to be removed so your house can be rebuilt?”

In truth, my friend had already made up his mind. He managed to send his wife and children to Cairo through the Rafah crossing by paying huge sums a few months back and is on the list to follow them soon.

“Everybody I know, the people around me, feel the same as me,” he said. “At least half-a-million will accept to leave, be happy to leave. We suffered for one-year-and-a-half. Also another ten years? Hamas has no support any more. Not like before. They destroyed us for nothing.”

These are the voices that don’t make it into the Guardian. I visited its website for comparison: “Trump declares US will ‘take over’ Gaza Strip, sparking widespread criticism” was the headline. The story showcased a statement from Hamas, which rejected the move as “expulsion from their land”. I suggested to my friend that some view the proposal as ethnic cleansing. “Ethnic cleansing? Where is the problem?” he replied, genuinely confused. “I can’t see it’s a bad idea. It’s a good idea.” He paused for a moment. “Better to make it voluntary.”

What does Gaza need? The answer depends very much on who you ask. Those of the Biden-Obama-Clinton school would reply predictably: de-escalation, dismantle the Israeli towns on the West Bank, and somehow conjure a two-state solution out of a corrupt, inept, undemocratic and fanatical Palestinian leadership. The fact that this magical thinking has failed dismally for decades, culminating in October 7 and the war, doesn’t deter them a jot. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that they are less interested with results in the real world – which will be suffered not by them but by people like my friend and his children – and more interested in projecting their liberal principles to the world. It didn’t work? Never mind. We’re the good guys.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, is anything but predictable, and anything but concerned with appeasing the bien pensant. In his meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening, not only did the President declare that the Gazans should be relocated out of the Strip, he suggested that the US would take it over, “level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings”.


Religious Leaders Back Trump’s Gaza Plan as Netanyahu Visits Washington
A coalition of prominent Jewish and Christian leaders has thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gaza’s civilian population to Egypt and Jordan, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington for discussions on the plan.

The letter, organized through the Keep God’s Land movement, brings together eight influential religious and political figures. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Michele Bachmann, Dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University, and Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Israel365, lead the group of signatories. They are joined by Pastor Mario Bramnick of the Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel, Rabbi Yaakov Menken of the Coalition for Jewish Values, Luke Moon of the Philos Project, and Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, Executive Director of Israel365 Action.

The religious leaders praised Trump’s proposal as “bold and just,” despite recent rejections from both Arab nations’ leaders. The letter comes amid diplomatic tensions, following explicit rejections of the plan by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II on January 29. Trump, however, remained adamant during a recent Oval Office appearance, stating, “They will do it. They will do it. They’re gonna do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it.”

The letter specifically addresses international legal obligations, citing Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention. “By refusing to accept refugees from Gaza since the beginning of the current war, both Egypt and Jordan are in direct violation of this international law,” the letter asserts.

Rabbi Wolicki has been particularly vocal about the historical context. In a recent opinion piece, he highlighted how Egypt and Jordan’s current positions contradict their historical responsibilities, noting that both countries were primary actors in the 1948 war that created the initial refugee crisis.

The timing of the letter coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, where the Gaza relocation plan is expected to be a key topic of discussion. This comes as Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reports that rebuilding Gaza could take 10 to 15 years, describing the territory as having “almost nothing left.”

The letter concludes with a biblical reference from Proverbs 21:15, anticipating criticism while affirming their moral support: “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”
Report: Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager; US president: ‘That was a great operation’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gifted US President Donald Trump with a golden pager and a regular one, a reference to the clandestine operation that decimated the Hezbollah terror group.

“That was a great operation,” Trump responded, according to Channel 12 news.

In return, Trump gave Netanyahu a photo of the two of them from the visit, with the dedication “To Bibi, a great leader.”

In September, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon suddenly exploded, killing and injuring dozens. A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, killing and injuring scores more.

The attacks, swiftly attributed to Israel, came as Israel stepped up a counteroffensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which began striking Israel almost immediately after the allied Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Kushner proposed relocating Gaza population a year ago
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior advisor Jared Kushner suggested relocating Gaza’s population and remarked on the real estate potential of its beachfront property nearly a year before the president called on Tuesday for the U.S. to “take over the Gaza Strip” and “create an economic development area.”

Kushner gave an interview to Harvard’s Middle East Initiative in March 2024, a time in which the IDF was operating in southern Gaza to reach the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt.

The former senior advisor recommended that Israel clear out an area of the Negev and allow Gazan refugees to stay there so the IDF “can go in and finish the job.”

However, Kushner made clear that his suggestion was not his first choice and it was only because Egypt would not take in Palestinians.

”You want to get as many civilians out of Rafah as possible,” he said, referring to the city in the southern Gaza Strip. “You want to get them out, maybe with diplomacy, get them into Egypt. I know that’s been refused, but with the right diplomacy I think that would be possible.”

Kushner noted the double standard applied to refugees from Gaza as opposed to other conflicts, pointing out that Turkey and Europe took in refugees from the Syrian civil war.

“With Israel, it’s a different thing,” he said. “For whatever reason, there are Gazan refugees from fighting an offensive attack staged from Gaza. Israel is going in to do a long-term deterrence mission. It’s unfortunate that no one is taking the refugees.”

Kushner said the Biden administration “should have done a better job to find a solution to that. As a broker, I think there would have been a way.”


IN FULL: Donald Trump meets with Benjamin Netanyahu
US President Donald Trump has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.


IN FULL: Trump and Netanyahu convene at White House for joint press conference
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a joint press conference at the White House on Tuesday evening (local time).

The media address followed an hour-long meeting between the two leaders.

Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu addressed the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.




Trump not ‘yet’ committed to US boots on the ground in Gaza, White House says
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, stated several times during the press briefing on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump has not committed to deploying American soldiers to Gaza.

Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States would “take over,” “own” and “be responsible for” the reconstruction of Gaza. During the explosive press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the United States would redevelop Gaza’s waterfront as “the riviera of the Middle East.” He also said that U.S. troops would deploy to Gaza “if it’s necessary.”

Leavitt clarified some of the president’s “outside of the box” thinking about rebuilding the Hamas-controlled enclave in the briefing on Wednesday.

“The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza,” she said. “The president has not committed to that just yet.”

“He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza,” she added. “His administration is going to work with our partners in the region to reconstruct this region.”

In an earlier meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Trump said that during the reconstruction of the Strip, Palestinians would be “permanently” resettled outside Gaza. Leavitt said on Wednesday that the plan for the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza would be temporary.

“The president has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding of this effort,” she said. “It’s a demolition site right now. It’s not a livable place for any human being. I think it’s actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”


Commentary PodCast: Eyeful in Gaza
Donald Trump says America will take "an ownership position" in a Gaza that is emptied, cleared, and rebuilt. This epochal proposal, with no precedent and no antecedent, makes this a new Day One in the Middle East.
Call me Back Podcast: NADAV EYAL: "There is only one person who can make this happen - Donald J. Trump."

'There is some logic' to Trump’s Gaza statements: Former IDF spokesperson
Former IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus says President Trump’s idea to move Palestinians out of Gaza "is a tall order." Conricus joins “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” to discuss why he believes, however, that Trump may be “cutting the chain” of war in the Middle East.


Trump’s plan for Gaza – with Eylon Levy
When Netanyahu visited the White House, Donald Trump said in a press conference that the US could take over the Gaza Strip and suggested the permanent resettlement of its 1.8 million residents to neighbouring Arab countries. It has sparked global condemnation raising questions about where the Gazan citizens could be resettled to, and how this could impact the hostage negotiations. To discuss this and the conflict more widely, Freddy Gray is joined by former Israel spokesperson Eylon Levy.


The history of Gaza amid Trump's plan to rebuild enclave
In an audacious move that stunned the world, President Donald Trump unveiled a proposal to relocate 1.8 million Palestinians from Gaza, seeking to rebuild their lives in new places. Addressing the media alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump outlined his ambitious vision for the Gaza Strip.

"I strongly believe that the Gaza Strip, which has been a symbol of death and destruction … for so many decades—devastating for the people living there and for those anywhere near it—should not go through another cycle of rebuilding and occupation by the same people who have fought, lived, died, and suffered in that place."

The president emphasized the importance of learning from history. "History, you know, just can’t keep repeating itself," Trump remarked, urging a departure from the failed approaches of the past.

"Dating back nearly 4,000 years, since the time of the Patriarchs Abraham & Isaac, to the time of the mighty Biblical Judge Samson and the Philistines; from the rule of Solomon and the kings of the Davidic Dynasty, and for millenia onward; the territory of modern-day Gaza has been a place of both conflict and hope, trading hands from one ruler to another, with the potential for prosperity just over the horizon, but aside from brief periods, peace for her inhabitants and neighbors remained elusive," Ze'ev Orenstein, the director of international affairs for the City of David Foundation in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital

Biblical Roots: A Battleground for Civilizations
Gaza’s history dates back nearly 4,000 years, frequently appearing in biblical narratives. It was one of the five key cities of the Philistines, who arrived from the Aegean, known for their clashes with the Israelites. The story of Samson, who tore down a Philistine temple, is one of the earliest recorded tales of destruction and rebuilding in Gaza. Over centuries, it was conquered by the Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians, each bringing new rulers and forcing population shifts. Even then, Gaza was a land where people came and went, often not by choice.

Ottoman Rule: A Strategic Military Outpost
Under the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917), Gaza was a military stronghold. The Ottomans used it as a buffer zone, and while some periods saw growth, it was frequently abandoned during wars. In 1799, Napoleon’s forces briefly occupied it before retreating. Once again, Gaza was left in ruins, and its population had to start over.

The British Mandate and the First Exodus
When the British took control in 1917, Gaza became part of the British Mandate for Palestine. Tensions between Jews and Arabs escalated, leading to violent clashes. By 1948, when Israel declared independence, thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to Gaza, turning it into an overcrowded enclave under Egyptian rule.


Hamas condemns Trump’s Gaza resettlement plan as ‘ridiculous’
Hamas on Wednesday rejected as “absurd” U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans from the war-torn coastal enclave.

Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, Trump proposed that the U.S. take control of Gaza, resettle its Palestinian population elsewhere and transform the enclave, which he described as a “demolition site right now,” into a developed hub.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that “Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region.”

The terrorist group initiated a war when it led a mass invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to Gaza, where 79 are still being held, including 76 from the Oct. 7 attack. The hostages are being released in stages in return for terrorists held by Israel, as part of a tenuous truce that came into effect on Jan. 19, the day before Trump was sworn into office for a second term.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad also denounced Trump’s remarks, calling them “racist” and rejecting any attempts to have Gazans leave the Strip.

In a statement, the terrorist group asserted that Israel’s bombing campaign had failed to drive Palestinians out and that Trump’s comments would not succeed in forcing their transfer.

PIJ reaffirmed its commitment to fighting any such plans, claiming that Palestinians have upheld the “resistance option” for more than a century.


Dem senator ‘fully’ supports Trump’s plan to send US troops to take over Gaza
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has backed President Trump’s idea to send US troops to Gaza to spearhead rebuilding efforts in the shattered Palestinian enclave.

“The Palestinians have refused, or they’ve been unwilling, to deliver a government that provided security and economic development for themselves,” Fetterman, one of the most pro-Israel voices in the Democratic Party, told Jewish Insider after Trump stunned the world with his proposal during a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu Tuesday night.

“They allowed 10/7 to occur, and now Gaza has to be rebuilt. Where are the people going to live? Where are they going to go? So it’s part of a conversation with where they’re at right now,” Fetterman went on.

“I don’t know what the role is, but they’re obviously a part of it, and I fully support.”

Trump told the world’s press that he would like to see the US “take over the Gaza Strip” and relocate “all” of the roughly 2 million Palestinians currently living there to neighboring Arab nations.
Donald Trump’s Gaza announcement offers optimistic ‘vision’ for region’s citizens
The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan claims US President Donald Trump’s announcement to take control of Gaza offers an optimistic “vision” of the future for its citizens.

“Of course, the idea that America will own Gaza is completely bonkers but we’ve just got to try to imagine the Trump method and also look at what he’s done in the past and look at the whole message,” Mr Sheridan said.

“Look at what he said about Gaza in another way he’s offering the Gazans a vision of what could be.

“If Gaza had a leadership that was concerned about the welfare of its own people, it would be trying to do this itself in cooperation with Israel.”


‘Historical shake-up': Sharri Markson lauds Trump’s ‘bold vision’ to take over Gaza Strip
Sky News host Sharri Markson says Donald Trump’s plan to take over and rebuild the Gaza Strip is a “world-changing and historical shake-up" which could shape the future of the Middle East.

The President has declared the United States will take ownership of the Gaza Strip to establish a safe and peaceful region for displaced Palestinians to return to.

“An American takeover – if that's what eventuates – might be far from the perfect solution ... but even if America does take the lead, it's better than the status quo,” Ms Markson said.

“The Palestinians also deserve to live in peace and safety and of course the Israelis do too ... under Trump’s bold vision, at least the status quo of the endless cycle of terrorism will change.”


Labor's backflip on mandatory sentencing for antisemitic attacks a 'total capitulation'
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson argues Labor introducing mandatory minimum sentencing for those who have committed antisemitic attacks or terror offences is a “total capitulation”.

“Capitulation is the only way to describe it, a total and utter capitulation,” Mr Paterson said.

“It was only two days ago that senior Albanese government ministers were publicly dismissing the idea of the need for mandatory minimum sentences.

“This is another example of Peter Dutton leading, of seeing the problems in our country, of identifying the solutions and calling for them and of pressuring the Albanese government to very reluctantly acting to address them.”


Donald Trump’s announcement of plans in Gaza was ‘unbelievable’
Former Victorian Liberal Party President Michael Kroger says Donald Trump’s announcement of his plans with Gaza was “unbelievable”.

United States President Donald Trump declared he could see long-term ownership of the Gaza Strip in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Kroger told Sky News host Sharri Markson that the announcement left him “gobsmacked”.


Trump brings ‘outside of the box’ solutions for peace in the Middle East
Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharren Haskel claims Israel has to think “outside of the box” like US President Donald Trump to bring peace to the Middle East.

“We have to think outside of the box and I think Trump is bringing ideas that are outside of the box,” Ms Haskel told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“I think we should lay them all down and start to think what is possible and how we can actually achieve that.”

“We don’t want our neighbours to be our enemies – we want to live side by side.”


'Boldest and most dangerous idea yet': Trump wants the US to own Gaza
Sky News host Andrew Bolt discusses an announcement made by US President Donald Trump where he made known his desire for America to take over Gaza.

"All day, I've heard that Donald Trump really has gone mad, crazy, dangerous," Mr Bolt said.

"He wants to take over Gaza; he wants America to actually own Gaza.

"Today, the new US President met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks and emerged an hour later with his boldest and most dangerous idea yet."


Trump’s support for Israel will strengthen alliance and pressure Iran: Ami Horowitz
Filmmaker Ami Horowitz claims US President Donald Trump will bring Iran “to bear” after meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Talk about departure from the last administration. Let’s not forget in April, 300 drones and missiles were raining down across Israel by the Iran regime and what was Biden’s response to Israel? Don’t escalate or you’re on your own, how callous can someone be,” Mr Horowitz said.

“Trump is the opposite of that. Trump is saying you do what you got to do … and he’s there to help Israel when he can.

“He’s going to use massive amounts of economic sanctions, he’s going to bring them to bear as opposed to the Biden administration.

“Finally, Israel has an ally in the White House and they’re going to take care of business.”


Donald Trump praised for withdrawing from ‘morally bankrupt’ UN bodies
Filmmaker Ami Horowitz praises US President Donald Trump for signing executive orders to withdraw from the UN’s Human Rights Council and stop funding UNRWA.

“The Human Rights Commission and now the Human Rights Council is an absolute morally bankrupt joke. We have no business being a part of it,” Mr Horowitz said.

“UNRWA is worse, way worse.

“Thank god we are leaving these bodies, and we left these bodies during Trump one and then Biden unbelievably reinstated ourselves and funded UNRWA.”




Saudi Arabia rules out Israel normalisation under Trump Gaza plan
Saudi Arabia has confirmed that there will be no normalisation of its relations with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established in response to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan for Gaza.

During a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested that the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip and resettle a portion of its population in Egypt or Jordan while it is rebuilt.

The suggestion prompted outrage in the Arab world, including allegations that the plan amounts to ethnic cleansing.

But it also looks set to create a barrier to Israel’s long-term goal of establishing formal diplomatic ties with Riyadh, potentially laying the groundwork for greater cooperation with the Kingdom.

A spokesperson for the Saudi Foreign Ministry said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasises that this unwavering position is non-negotiable and not subject to compromises.

"Achieving lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights in accordance with international resolutions, as has been previously clarified to both the former and current US administration.”

Saudi foreign policy has been increasingly aligning with the US and Israel for years thanks to the trio’s shared enmity with Iran.

Riyadh sees the Khamenei regime as a key regional opponent and has long regarded Iranian proxies like Hamas with disdain. Indeed, it designated Hamas ally the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group in 2014.

Normalisation with Israel would go some way to ending the Israel-Palestine conflict and allow the Saudis to focus on combatting Iran’s influence, starting with the dismantling of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Likewise, an agreement would secure Israel’s place in the region and provide trading ties to one of the most influential states in the Middle East, which also happens to be the world’s largest oil exporter.
Hamas says Trump’s ‘absurd’ plan for Gaza resettlement could ‘ignite the region’
Hamas on Wednesday rejected as "absurd" President Donald Trump's plan to relocate Gazans out of the war-torn coastal enclave.

Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, Trump proposed that the US take control of Gaza, resettle its Palestinian population elsewhere and transform the enclave, which he described as a "demolition site right now," into a developed hub.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that "Trump's remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region."

The terrorist group initiated the current brutal war when it led a mass invasion of the northwestern Negev on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to Gaza, where 79 are still being held. The hostages are being released in stages as part of a ceasefire that came into effect on January 19, the day before Trump was sworn into office for a second term.

On Tuesday, Trump called on Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations to accept Gazans, asserting that Palestinians had no choice but to leave the coastal enclave, which has been devastated by nearly 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

While Amman and Cairo have rejected previous calls by Trump for them to accept Gazans, Trump said on Tuesday that "I think Jordan and Egypt will, I know they've spoken about it with you and they say they're not going to accept it. I say they will. But I think that other countries will accept also."

According to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Jordan's King Abdullah II held a phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Tuesday evening. The two leaders stressed "the need to maintain close coordination on regional developments, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause."

Also on Tuesday, in remarks following a meeting with Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi commented on Abdullah's upcoming meeting at the White House with Trump, scheduled for February 11.


Call me Back Podcast: The Road to Riyadh - with Nadav Eyal
As Israelis welcome home more hostages after 15 months in Hamas captivity, we sat down with Nadav Eyal to discuss what their stories reveal about their captivity, their role in Israel’s national healing process, and the broader implications for Israeli society. We also discuss the ongoing negotiations for the next phase of hostage releases, the political stakes surrounding Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, and how these developments could shape Israel and the region.

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:
00:00 Introduction
4:51 Returning hostages: experiences from captivity
7:27 Arbel Yehoud
10:10 Gadi Mozes
13:31 The story of John McCain and its resemblance to the story of Emily Damari
16:47 The story of Amit Soussana and Liri Elbag
19:03 The role of “spotters” in the IDF and the experience of female hostage soldiers
21:14 Ofer Calderon
23:19 Agam Berger
23:57 Disclaimer about the hostages’ stories
24:38 Second phase of the deal and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s arrival in DC
32:49 Resuming the war or the displacement of Palestinians as part of Saudi normalization?
36:50 Witkoff’s visit and meetings with more extreme Israeli MKs that the Biden administration would not have met
39:32 Bush-Sharon side letter during the disengagement
41:42 Taba Negotiations
45:14 Israel’s demands for the second phase
46:44 Is there a possibility that Netanyahu’s government will not survive phase two of the deal?
52:25 Saudi normalization - U.S. perspective


What exactly is Trump's BOMBSHELL plan for Gaza?! | Israel Undiplomatic w/Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum
President #Trump and Prime Minister #Netanyahu concluded a historic meeting yesterday with a bombshell press conference that has shocked the world. On today’s episode, Mark Regev and Ruthie Blum will unpack all the details and questions surrounding the meeting from JNS’s studio in Jerusalem. Join them for a discussion diving into Trump’s possible plan for Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East!

JNS will host its inaugural International Policy Summit on Monday, April 28, 2025. This daylong event will convene government officials, policymakers, diplomats, security experts, leaders of pro-Israel organizations, and influencers for vital discussions aimed at addressing Israel's critical challenges and opportunities in a post-October 7 world.


FM Sa'ar announces Israel withdraws from UNHRC
Israel withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced.

This move comes a day after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the UNHRC on Tuesday.

"The UNHRC has traditionally protected human rights abusers by allowing them to hide from scrutiny, and instead obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East - Israel," Sa'ar said in his statement. "This body has focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating antisemitism instead of promoting human rights.

"The discrimination against us is clear: In the UNHRC, Israel is the only country with an agenda item dedicated solely to it. Israel has been subjected to over 100 condemnatory resolutions, over 20% of all resolutions ever passed in the Council - more than against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela combined.

"Israel will not accept this discrimination any longer!" the announcement concluded.

US withdrawal from UNHRC, UNRWA
US President Donald Trump signed the executive order withdrawing the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on Tuesday.

Further, Trump stated that US funding to the UN as a whole is disproportionate.

The order noted that while the US aided in establishing the United Nations in order to avoid future global conflicts following World War II, "some of the UN's agencies and bodies have drifted from this mission and instead act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism."
UNRWA Explained | How a UN Agency Became a Hamas Front
On this episode of State of a Nation, we uncover the shocking truth about UNRWA and its deep connections to Hamas. With Israel officially banning the agency, we take a hard look at how UNRWA has been used as a tool to enable terrorism—while Western democracies continue to support it.

Join host Eylon Levy as he revisits eye-opening conversations with:
🔹 Hillel Neuer (Executive Director, UN Watch)
🔹 Melanie Phillips (Journalist & Commentator)
🔹 Jonathan Conricus (Former IDF International Spokesman)

In this must-watch episode, we break down:
✅ How UNRWA became a Hamas front organization
✅ Why the UN’s moral authority is a dangerous illusion
✅ Whether the UN is beyond reform—and what Israel must do next
If you want to understand how Israel isn’t just at war with Hamas, but with an entire international system running interference, this is the episode for you.

0:00 - Coming up
0:09 - Monologue
3:30 - Hillel Neuer pt.1
23:55 - Melanie Phillips
29:36 - Jonathan Conricus
37:02 - Hillel Neuer pt.2
44:51 - Outro




Hugh Hewitt Show: Bibi Netanyahu Returns to The White House
Hugh focuses much of the program on Israel as Prime Minister Netanyahu sits down with President Trump, with guests Haviv Rettig Gur, Noah Rothman, and Byron York, and also explores President Trump’s authority over the FBI with Andrew C. Mccarthy.


The Israel Guys: BREAKING: U.S. Is Planning to Take Over GAZA | CRAZY Meetings in Washington DC 🇺🇸💥
Trump & Netanyahu just dropped a bombshell in DC, suggesting a possible U.S. takeover of Gaza 😳🇺🇸🇮🇱. Trump even mentioned deploying troops if needed! Hamas? Furious. But now they’re suddenly open to talks 🤔. Plus, Trump hinted at relocating Gazans and making Gaza an international zone! What does this mean for Israel & the Middle East? We break it all down—so hit subscribe for updates! 📲🔔




USAID Has Been Funneling Money to Terrorists
Among Donald Trump’s recent shakeups of the federal government is the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was created in the 1960s to counter Soviet influence abroad through American assistance. Whether the agency will reopen, and in what capacity, is anyone’s guess, but there is little doubt that it is much in need of reform. Ben Cohen and Mark Dubowitz write:

In principle, the agency’s efforts to advance democracy and prevent wars are laudable. Developing countries benefit from agricultural technologies, inoculation against disease, and educational development. But, as is so often the case with social-development projects, fringe political ideologies were imposed on USAID’s work by government employees and consultants.

In 2024, as the region reeled from the aftermath of the bestial atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel the previous year, the United States significantly boosted its financial support for projects in Gaza and the West Bank, spending more than $200 million of American taxpayers’ money in territories already rife with terrorist incitement and activity. . . . These grants were made to what USAID called “miscellaneous foreign awardees.” You wouldn’t know from the opaque accounting process that beneficiaries included local partners who praised the October 7 onslaught.

Indeed, the rot had set in before 2023. Among the twenty Palestinian NGOs that received USAID funding in 2022 was the Community Development and Continuing Education Institute, whose chairman crowed over the escape of “six of our prisoner heroes” from an Israeli jail in 2021, all of whom were later recaptured.

None of this was remotely worrying for USAID’s governing bureaucracy. Instead of heeding the August 2024 warning from its own Office of Inspector General that due-diligence standards had fallen woefully short, the agency stoked false Palestinian claims that Israel was engineering a famine in Gaza.


Israel Advocacy Movemenet: WATCH: Islamist's chilling threat against Jewish man at Speakers Corner



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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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