Sunday, February 23, 2025

02/23 Links: The child murderers of Gaza; The BBC is turning into a megaphone for Hamas; Andrew Roberts: History’s Case for Trump’s Gaza Plan

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: Babies in bandanas
Before the caskets were transferred to the Red Cross, masked Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah operatives proudly basked in the cheering crowds of Palestinian “civilians.”

These male and female jihad-lovers came out in droves, with children of all ages in tow, decorated in bandanas. Not ones with bat wings, of course. No, those with terrorist insignias. After all, their superheroes are “martyrs” for Allah. That’s whom they are taught to glorify and emulate.

Following the horrifying display of joy over the dead Jews, the crowd dispersed and the coffins were transported back to Israel, a short car-ride—yet light years—away. Once past the border that separates hell from heaven, they were delivered to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for autopsy.

Lifshitz was identified relatively quickly. It took several more hours before members of the extended Bibas family were informed of the even worse news than already expected.

The remains of the woman being examined did not belong to Shiri. Furthermore, Ariel and Kfir had been murdered in cold blood in November 2023, about three weeks after they were snatched.

“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys; they killed them with their bare hands,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari revealed on Friday. “Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”

Gasps could be heard around the country and beyond. Memories came flooding back of the footage of a terrified Shiri, clutching her babies for dear life, being ushered by Palestinian “civilians” into a residence in Khan Yunis, never to be seen or heard from again. Until Friday night, that is, when Hamas deigned to return her actual body.

No mother in Gaza empathized with her fate. On the contrary, the women of the Strip continue to view her as a perfectly legitimate target for sadistic abuse.

It’s in keeping with how they educate their children in the art—and skill—of savagery. It’s why so many Gazan youngsters continue to be taken to observe the nauseating hostage-return ceremonies aimed at a last hurrah of humiliation for the State of Israel.

Those children wear the headbands of one terrorist faction or another. You know, for the cuteness of it all.

Batman symbolizes the fight for justice. He stands for righteousness in the face of evil. His mission is to protect the innocent. To fight for the weak. To ensure that villains do not triumph over good.

This is what Israeli children grow up to admire. Heroes who defend, not attack. Warriors who sacrifice for the sake of others, not themselves. The IDF soldier who protects civilians at all costs. The paramedic who rushes to the scene of terror attacks, unarmed, to save lives. The firefighter who runs into flames while others flee.

Contrast this with the children of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, who are raised on a steady diet of hatred. Their heroes are bombers, not Batman. Mass murderers, not saviors.

This is the reality of a society governed by blood lust. It’s the result of rulers who use their people as human shields and ideological pawns, indoctrinating generations into believing that the path to paradise is paved with mutilated Jews.

It’s high time for the Tribe, in Israel and abroad, to internalize this reality and realize that coexistence with heathen monsters is impossible. Anyone who has a temporary lapse in judgment on this score should remember what befell the Bibas family.
Daniel Greenfield: The child murderers of Gaza
“O God, do not be silent; hold not Thy peace, and be not still,” IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Krim prayed the words of Psalm 83 over the bodies of two murdered children, their mother and an old man, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Hamas and PLO terrorists had mockingly paraded their coffins to the cheers and jeers of Muslim men, women and children occupying Gaza while upbeat music played, they had mixed up the bodies, locked the boxes and then attached keys that did not work. After inspecting the coffins for explosives, Israel had covered them with its blue and white flag and prayed over them.

Islam is an honor-shame culture; to humiliate the bodies of the children of your enemies is to show the strength of Allah, and jeering the bodies of murdered children shows the glory of Islam.

The celebration and mocking of the bodies of murdered children was not the work of some fringe group. Hamas took care to have every Islamic terrorist organization taking part in claiming victory, including the PLO’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades representing the Palestinian Authority and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Martyr Omar Al-Qassem Forces), popular on college campuses, as well as the Al-Ansar Brigades, which has links to Al-Qaeda.

There is no “Palestinian” group that was not there to take its share of credit for the dead children.

The message being sent by the representatives of seven Islamic terrorist groups in Israel, carrying the coffins of their victims, is of a united front committed to the destruction of Israel, and the killing of all non-Muslims to be followed by the creation of an Islamic theocracy.

Nor was the ghoulish scene some local “Palestinian” phenomenon as people like to think.
Hen Mazzig: Indifference is worse than hate
The silence of the world in response is not neutrality—it is complicity. When atrocities against Jews elicit only passive indifference, they encourage more brutality. When protests erupt worldwide over justified military actions, yet remain silent about slaughtered children, it creates an unmistakable double standard, one that implicitly declares Jewish lives less worthy of global empathy.

“Never Again”—a solemn vow forged from the ashes of the Holocaust—once seemed immutable. Yet, as atrocities against Jews grow more grotesque and are met only with deafening silence, one wonders if “Never Again” was ever more than mere words, comforting yet hollow, easily forgotten when the victims become inconvenient.

We cannot allow humanity’s moral compass to be reset in the face of such brutality.

Silence is complicity; indifference is enabling. As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel famously said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”

We owe it to Avera Mengistu, to Shiri Bibas, to Ariel and Kfir, to Evitar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal—to every victim of this unimaginable cruelty—to speak loudly, clearly, and urgently.

Because if Jewish dignity is negotiable, if atrocities reminiscent of our darkest past provoke no global outrage, then “Never Again” isn’t just a broken promise—it’s a devastating lie.


Alex Hern: Hamas terrorists' vile acts don't shock us Jews - but one deadly injustice does
There was a worldwide effort to erase the Bibas family from memory by tearing down “missing” posters with their pictures on, with police in the UK, Germany and Amnesty workers in Italy joining in. Swastikas were drawn on these babies' faces and they were labelled “Nazis” and “colonisers” because it was the worst thing people could imagine to demonise them as the epitome of evil.

Even as the October 7 massacre was occurring and the Bibas family were being kidnapped, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) were busy applying for a “solidarity” march in London, which took place two days later, and was celebratory in tone.

The engine of hate was revving up.

After murdering them, Hamas felt emboldened to keep the Bibas’s bodies for barter so that more of their murderers could be released, as the architect of the October 7 massacre Yahya Sinwar had been.

Amnesty International said in a dewy-eyed social media statement that the return of their bodies was a “heartbreaking reminder of the urgent need to immediately release all civilian hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained”.

Meanwhile, a senior lecturer in Political Economy at Birkbeck Business School posted a video of Hamas parading the bodies of the Bibas family, claiming they had been “treated with respect”.

A deadly ideology has become mainstream because individuals, organisations and institutions have all helped to normalise it as a righteous cause. UNRWA reportedly provided material support for Hamas and many employees participated in the massacre.

Today it is a sad indictment of how far the Overton window has shifted that many Jews are celebrating a prime-time BBC documentary shown to include blatant Hamas propaganda being removed from BBC iPlayer.

Kfir and Ariel Bibas didn’t get to grow up. They were murdered because they were Jewish. It wasn’t because of where they lived, but because they were living.

What is the meaning of the Bibas family? They don’t just symbolise the brutality of Hamas. They also symbolise the apathy at best and complicity at worst of western liberal culture.

We are no longer surprised by the barbaric violence of Hamas. What has shocked and hurt us the most is the abandonment by those we thought were our political or ideological allies who have remained silent. Those people who regularly raise their voices against global injustice and inequality.

Jews have once again been “othered” and banished from “the community of the good”. The cries of our babies were ignored and we will never forgive or forget.
Jake Wallis Simons: After what we have seen, how can anyone still sympathise with Hamas?
How hard is it to condemn a group that strangles a baby and a toddler, mutilates their corpses with rocks to make it look like they were killed in an airstrike, then returns them amid cheering crowds in locked coffins - no keys provided - with propaganda material stuffed around the bodies?

Britain's Prime Minister bravely said he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths but avoided naming the perpetrators, let alone condemning their crimes. The Red Cross, which participated in the grotesque showboating as the bodies were released, issued a gentle plea for "dignity and privacy."

I would wager that most people reading this column will be able to cite personal examples of friends, colleagues or acquaintances who have been blaringly vocal about Palestinian suffering but find themselves in a monkish reserve when it comes to the ghoulish butchery of Jewish children and the gleeful desecration of their bodies.

If Oct. 7 taught us anything, it is that you can't solve a problem by pretending it doesn't exist. One day, the enemy will find a way to break through the fence and come for your children. We must embrace and empower those who uphold our values while at the same time demanding an end to the soft affection for Hamas.
Bethany Mandel: To Be a Jewish Mom During These Times
Since the earliest days of the war, they were the first family who stayed with me. The mother of four redheads, I couldn’t get their images out of my mind. My youngest son is just two weeks older than Kfir. Every night for months after the war started, as I rocked him to sleep and put him in his crib, I would wonder where Kfir was sleeping.

It didn’t occur to me for months that he might already be dead. How could they kill a baby? How could I be so naive to question that, given everything I already knew?

My fifth is not much younger than Ariel was when they were taken. They look strikingly similar. Every image across my social media of him sends me reeling. My mind can’t get out of the dark place, wondering what they did to those boys and their mother the month that they had them, if they had diapers and formula, how scared they must have been.

The only way I’ve stayed sane during these last sixteen months is trying as hard as I can to dissociate. I'm pretty good at that trauma response, and I know that this loop is one you absolutely cannot fall into. And yet, I look at my sweet son, and I see Ariel. I look at Ariel’s photos, and I see my sweet son.

In my fifth, I see who Ariel was when he was taken. In my sixth, I see who Kfir could have been.

I keep getting asked how I’m talking to my kids about all of this. I don’t have answers. My oldest daughter is the only one truly emotionally invested; she’s eleven. And she knows too much. They’ve all heard too much. In the beginning of the war, I was changing a diaper and put my phone down and a WhatsApp voice memo from a medical examiner started playing. My 4-year-old heard too much of it before I was able to turn it off. I’m not the expert to ask, "How do you talk to your kids about what’s going on in Israel?”

Eventually, I won’t see photos of Kfir and Ariel every time I open my phone. The world will move on, and I won’t be triggered every time I log on. My fifth will grow up; he won’t look like Ariel forever. Ariel will forever be four-years-old, my son, G-d willing, will not.

The last sixteen months has changed me in a deep way. We’ve seen the true face of evil, and I can never unsee it.
Spiked: The depravity of Hamas Jacob Reynolds, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss Hamas’s grotesque handover of the Bibas family.



‘Repeated’ Hamas violations: Israel delaying release of prisoners
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated early on Sunday morning that the Jewish state is pausing the release of Palestinian prisoners slated to be freed as part of the ceasefire with Hamas.

“In light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” said Netanyahu, according to an English translation provided by his office.

Israel was set to release 602 Palestinian terrorists on Saturday, including 50 serving life sentences, 60 serving long terms and 47 who were re-arrested after the 2011 swap for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Hamas is slated to return four additional bodies to Israel next Thursday, in what would be the final exchange of Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Jan. 19 and is due to end on March 1.

On Friday, Netanyahu eulogized the slain hostages returned the previous day—octogenarian Oded Lifshitz and children Kfir and Ariel Bibas—and vowed to bring home the remains of the boys’ mother, Shiri Bibas, from Gaza, after Hamas failed to return her body as scheduled.

“In an unspeakably cynical manner, [Hamas] did not return Shiri to her little children, the little angels, and they put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin,” said Netanyahu in a video message to the nation.

“We will work resolutely to bring Shiri home together with all our abductees—both living and dead—and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement. The sacred memory of Oded Lipshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. God will avenge their blood,” he continued.


Rubio: Palestinian terrorists must free all hostages or be destroyed
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded on Saturday that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip immediately free all remaining hostages, or else be eradicated.

“Hamas’s treatment of hostages, including its brutal murder of the Bibas family, further illustrates their savagery and is yet another reason why we are saying these terrorists must release all of the hostages immediately or be destroyed,” tweeted Rubio.

The Islamist terrorist group sparked outrage after handing over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas on Thursday. The bodies of her two sons, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, along with that of Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed to be theirs.

Following the outrage, on Friday night Hamas returned a second body to the Red Cross, which in turn delivered it to Israel for identification.

On Saturday, the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv positively identified the remains as being those of Shiri.

“We share in the deep sorrow of the Bibas family and embrace them warmly. We will never forget and never forgive,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night.

“So far, we have brought back 192 hostages—of them 147 alive and 45 deceased,” he said. “Hamas still holds 63 hostages. The Israeli government remains committed to acting decisively to bring all our hostages home—the living back to their families and the fallen to a proper burial in their homeland.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus on Friday described Gaza as a “depraved society.”

“You have … a society that has to not only be demilitarized, but has to be deradicalized,” Ortagus said in an interview with Fox News. She noted that Gazan civilians participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, including the taking of hostages.

“President [Donald] Trump sent a very clear and strong signal about the deradicalization that has to happen to this population. … If you didn’t believe President Trump a few weeks ago, look at the image of the crowd clapping and cheering as babies go back in their coffins into Israel without their mother,” she said.


Trump Must Abandon the Disastrous Ceasefire Deal with Hamas
Ever since Hamas launched its murderous assault on Israel in October 2023, Hamas leaders, together with their supporters in Qatar and Iran, have calculated that any outcome from the Gaza conflict that enables Hamas to remain in control of the enclave counts as a victory.

This agenda for its long-term-client, Hamas, explains why Qatar, which claimed to be a neutral player during the ceasefire negotiations in Doha, has been so keen to oversee a deal that favours Hamas at the expense of Israel's long-term security. This is the same country, after all, that helped to facilitate the deal with the first Trump administration that resulted in the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan.

If Trump and Netanyahu are really serious about achieving lasting peace in Gaza, they must abandon the disastrous ceasefire deal -- and especially the well-intended but painfully out-of-his-depth U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who has mindlessly promoted it.

Regrettably, Witkoff is on his way to wrecking Trump's election triumph by equally disastrous negotiations in Ukraine, where the US is punishing the victim, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and rewarding the aggressor, Russian President Vladimir Putin. If Trump succeeds in torpedoing his month-old presidency, the blame goes to Witkoff.


Israel won't allow HTS forces in southern Syria, Netanyahu says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday demanded that southern Syria be demilitarized, saying Israel will not accept the presence of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in southern Syria, nor of any other forces affiliated with the country's new regime.

HTS took control of Damascus over December 7-8 ending around fifty years of rule by the Assad family, leading Netanyahu to order the IDF to enter and create a buffer zone in southern Syria.

The prime minister stated that Israel would maintain the buffer zone as long as necessary, while in the past he has said until the end of 2025, and other defense sources have said Israel could remain there for years.

Demand of full demilitarization of southern Syria
"We will not allow forces of the HTS or the new Syrian army to enter the territory south of Damascus. We demand full demilitarization of southern Syria, in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida," Netanyahu said at the same officers’ ceremony with Katz.

“And we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze sect in southern Syria," he added.

Syria’s new ruler, Ahmer al-Sharaa, has committed multiple times to the 1974 Israel-Syria armistice while also demanding the IDF withdraw from Syria.

To date, there are signs that the EU may also pressure Israel to withdraw, but the Trump administration so far has given complete backing to Israel’s presence there.


Ohana: Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria ‘only way’ to peace
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Sunday backed calls for Jerusalem to extend its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, saying full control over the territory was the “one and only way” to achieve peace in the region.

“These biblical, original parts of our land, which in the Bible tells the story of our people, are intended for us, for the people of Israel, need to be in the territory of the State of Israel, under the ownership of Israel, under full Israeli sovereignty,” said Ohana, a lawmaker for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, during a visit to northern Samaria. “Today, this thing is clearer than ever,” he added.

“On the 7th of October, not only Israeli citizens were murdered but also the idea that was mistakenly called ‘the two-state solution,'” he stated, referring to Hamas’s 2023 invasion.

Ohana spoke alongside Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan at an observation point in Barkan, just outside the city of Ariel, from where it is possible to see central Israel and Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Jewish communities in the area are “not only not an obstacle to peace” but rather “our one and only way, for the people of Israel, of the State of Israel, to arrive at peace,” said Ohana.

The Knesset speaker thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him “the best friend the State of Israel has had in the White House” and expressing his desire to welcome him to the Jewish state.

“For the first time, we are hearing ideas outside the box from the White House,” said Ohana. “We are waiting and looking forward to his coming to the country,” he added.

On Feb. 4, Trump told reporters in Washington that his administration would likely make an announcement on the possibility of Jerusalem annexing Judea and Samaria at some point in the coming weeks.
Call me Back Podcast - with Dan Senor: History’s Case for Trump’s Gaza Plan - with Andrew Roberts
Following a gut-wrenching 48 hours for the Bibas family and for all of us, six living hostages were released from Gaza today, including two who had been held there not for a year, but a decade. Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Tal Shoham were abducted on October 7, 2023. Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, and Hisham al-Sayed, an Israeli Arab, had crossed into Gaza in 2014 and 2015, and were then taken hostage by Hamas.

Hamas’s decision to release more living hostages than originally planned today is believed – according to our Israeli sources – to be a response to a sustained American pressure campaign. Part of that pressure includes President Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and relocate its entire population.

Two weeks since its unveiling, Trump’s Gaza proposal has continued to drive headlines and debate around the world. Though that proposal is already impacting the policy decisions of various stakeholders in Gaza, it is still largely perceived as a shocking, unprecedented idea. For this episode of Call Me Back, we sat down with a historian who argues that Trump’s plan is in fact aligned with the outcome of many modern wars.

Andrew Roberts is a British historian, member of the House of Lords, and the author of 24 books, including the New York Times bestseller, Churchill: Walking with Destiny. In a recent article for the Washington Free Beacon, Roberts writes, “peoples who unleash unprovoked aggressive wars against their neighbors and are then defeated…lose either their government or their sovereignty, or both.”

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
7:10 - The historical precedents for Trump’s proposal
12:03 - Yugoslavia in the 1990s
14:08 - Post-WWII: ‘Ethnic Germans’ in Czechoslovakia
19:23 - The Vichy government in France
21:12 - The Japanese decision with Pearl Harbor
23:15 - The Korean War
27:00 - The Partition of India
29:25 - The Argentine military dictatorship and the Falkland Islands
31:20 - Is the Gaza war different from all these historical instances?
34:12 - Ethnic cleansing in historical context & in the context of the Gaza war
40:13 - How Trump’s plan may take place


‘Unequivocal support for Israel,’ Stefanik says at CPAC
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, tore into Hamas on Saturday, pledging that the terrorist group would be “eradicated,” while calling its celebration of the murder of two boys and their mother “an affront to all humanity.”

A lawmaker from Upstate New York who awaits Senate confirmation for the U.N. post, Stefanik told the Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual gathering near Washington, D.C., that the Trump administration would “always defend our precious American ally, Israel.”

“It has never been more important to show the world’s unequivocal support for Israel,” she said at CPAC. “We will not rest until every hostage is brought home and Hamas is eradicated.’’

During her speech, Stefanik reserved her harshest words for Hamas, which attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“This past week, we continue to see with crystal clarity that our fight to support Israel and eradicate Hamas is a fight between good and evil, light darkness, life and death,” she said. “The world must never forget that Hamas terrorists savagely murdered over 1,200 innocent civilians—including women, children, the elderly and babies—and took hundreds hostage, committing unspeakable atrocities against humanity.”

Stefanik described the U.N. Relief and Workers Agency for Palestine Refugees as the “pro-Hamas terrorist group that committed atrocities on Oct. 7,” noting that Trump has ended U.S. financial support for the agency and said the president would go further.

“Make no mistake. Hear it now,” she said. “We will not only defund UNRWA, we will dismantle it.”


Nicole Lampert: The BBC is turning into a megaphone for Hamas
The BBC has had a shocking war since 7 October. Whenever things flare up between the Israelis and Palestinians, there are competing claims from both sides. Yet the BBC’s catalogue of failings can’t just be put down to the fog of war. It seems its journalists trust what they are told by Hamas more than they trust the Israeli government. Danny Cohen has helmed two lengthy and ever growing reports into the BBC’s errors on the Gaza war, pointing to serious institutional failures and groupthink.

For me, the clearest example of this also emerged this week following Hamas’s handover of four coffins containing dead hostages. Two of these contained the remains of tiny children who were stolen from their home (one was meant to contain the body of their mother, Shiri Bibas, but in Hamas’s sickest stunt yet, it contained a different body). During this grim ceremony, behind the coffins was a grotesque cartoon of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicting him as Dracula. To the side were various slogans about ‘Nazi Zionists’, how Hamas wants the war to continue, and some of its own facts and figures about the war’s impact. Yet this is how the BBC’s diplomatic editor Paul Adams described it in his report for the BBC: ‘Once again, there was a stage, flanked by huge posters highlighting the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the Palestinian determination to stay put.’

Why did he miss the Netanyahu cartoon with all its Nazi-esque anti-Semitism? The clue, perhaps, might be found in a post on X he wrote the day after Hamas’s 7 October massacre, which gives the lie to the idea that the BBC’s reporters have any degree of neutrality on this war: ‘7 October was the day Gazans broke out of their dismal prison and exacted terrible revenge. When Israelis, soldiers and civilians alike found themselves on the receiving end of a red mist of pent-up rage.’ Those poor Hamas terrorists. Who could blame them for what they did?

From top to bottom, in both its news and documentary departments, the BBC has a problem. Perhaps a head will roll for this documentary debacle, but the problem is much bigger. The entire organisation needs a root and branch cleansing of this tendency to whitewash a murderous, rapist, Islamist terrorist group. Because I don’t want to pay my licence fee for it any more.


ICRC, despite criticism, still taking part in Hamas hostage ceremonies
Although the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) previously issued a plaintive call for hostage releases to be carried out in a “dignified manner” following criticism from U.S. Senate leaders over its participation in Hamas’s handover ceremonies, the ICRC still took part in Thursday’s exhibition involving the transfer of four dead bodies.

While Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the ICRC had refused to cooperate in the ceremony, almost leading to a “blowup,” Arsen Ostrovsky, a human rights attorney and CEO of the Israel-based International Legal Forum, said that report wasn’t accurate.

“Apart from some timid request by the ICRC for a ‘private, dignified handover of hostages’, today’s release again descended into an obscene and macabre propaganda display, in which a Red Cross representative even joined a masked Hamas terrorist on stage, alongside the coffins of the four murdered hostages,” he told JNS.

Ostrovsky noted: “Under the Geneva Conventions, for which the ICRC serves as guardian, ‘humiliating and degrading treatment,’ such as what Hamas is doing in parading the hostages on stage, including the murdered captives, is considered a gross violation of international law and a war crime.”

The ICRC, in a statement on Wednesday, urged “those with the responsibility and the authority over these releases, and those with influence on them, to ensure that they are conducted with privacy, respect, and care.”

Hamas prisoner ceremonies, in which hostages are presented to braying Gazan crowds and forced to thank their tormentors, have been denounced by Israeli and U.S. leaders.
Who is Stefanie Eller, the Red Cross official seen alongside Hamas?
When I see Stephanie Eller signing documents alongside terrorists—and the organization functioning as a wartime taxi service, transferring captives from Hamas “victory” ceremonies to the IDF—I wonder: what does “neutrality” even mean?

The saying, “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis,” is often attributed to Dante Alighieri. However, Dante wrote something even harsher. He didn’t consign the neutrals to hell at all; he left them in a corridor, incessantly stung by wasps, forever chasing a waving flag. They weren’t even deemed worthy of entering hell, lest the sinners there take solace in knowing there were those far worse.

Stephanie Eller is arguably one of the most enigmatic figures in the world. On the one hand, she has entered millions of homes through television and smartphones; on the other, she leaves no trace on social networks or search engines. Even her official communications to Red Cross institutions have raised more questions than answers.

A review of Red Cross reports reveals that in 2014, she was in the bloodstained battlefields of Anbar Province, Iraq, wrapped in a modest headscarf. She assisted in urgent relief operations while ISIS forces attempted to seize the area. Some would call her a hero.

That same year, a Swiss documentary titled Between the Front Lines exposed the work of Red Cross representatives, featuring Eller as a sharp young delegate investigating the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. But ten years later, as she signs release documents in Gaza alongside masked terrorists, one must ask: where did her neutrality go?

Just when I was about to give up, an advertisement popped up on a social network inviting me to apply for the role of a Red Cross delegate.

I didn’t apply. Not because I oppose humanitarian aid—I support providing humanitarian aid for the children in Gaza. Civilians on both sides should not suffer in war. But I cannot remain neutral in the face of such atrocities.

The day the Red Cross participated in a ceremony where bodies of children were displayed while cheerful music played was a disgrace that will haunt the organization for decades. If that is neutrality, I would rather choose a side—a side against the open murder of children.

For its part, the Red Cross defends its actions. In a rare statement, the organization claimed that misinformation about its work is spreading. It emphasized that its operations depended on the goodwill of warring parties and that proactive intervention might have jeopardized both staff and captives.

Returning to my conversation with the editor, I realized that “annoying” wasn’t quite the right word. Stephanie Eller joined a human rights organization for honorable reasons—but she became the face of an institution that has lost its way.

If Jean Henri Dunant were alive today, standing on the shores of Lake Geneva, perhaps he would understand that the Red Cross on a white background has become something else entirely—a white flag of surrender, raised in the name of neutrality.


Hisham's father takes aim at Arab world for failing to act, Avera's brother calls for full release
Shaaban al-Sayed took aim at the Arab world's failure to protect his mentally ill son, Hisham, in a joint press conference with the family of Avira Mengistu on Sunday, the day after the two were released from Hamas captivity.

Shaaban began by thanking Ichilov Hospital for welcoming him and starting the rehabilitation journey for his son.

"We hope that the rehabilitation will not be prolonged," he said. He thanked the negotiating team and the prime minister, "who was always effective and trying to bring everyone back."

"President Trump gave us new life, and we want to thank him and his administration. We will not forget the hostages who put up a 'fight' for us that is difficult to explain."

"Hisham returned to us yesterday. It turns out that Hamas is not a liberation movement - we saw that they span and politicized [him], taking advantage of a mentally ill person. According to Islam, this is a person who isn't held accountable for sins."

"Now we are in a very difficult situation. From the beginning of the [2014] kidnapping, when there were four of them, I was sure that they would protect the hostages out of an interest in protecting them, but since October 7, when I saw them murder Bedouin and Arab people who were returned as bodies, [and] the Arab world never responded."

"I demand that representatives of the Arab public respond to what happened on October 7, and also what happened to Hisham - a mentally ill person was kidnapped."
Arab-Israeli group Atidna condemns Hamas for Bibas family murders
The Atidna movement, representing Arab citizens of Israel, strongly condemned Hamas on Sunday for the brutal murders of Shiri Bibas and her two children, calling the crime "an act of barbarism that has no justification."

"This crime once again reveals the true face of this terrorist movement, which violates any human or moral values," the movement said in a statement.

Atidna, founded in 2018, is a coalition of Arab citizens of Israel and Jews from the National-Zionist camp, committed to fostering Arab-Jewish partnership, mutual respect, and civil equality within Israel. The organization promotes leadership among youth and students, empowerment programs, and initiatives aimed at integrating Arab citizens into Israeli society, including participation in the high-tech industry and higher education.

The movement further criticized Hamas for staging what it described as "shameful hostage release ceremonies," accusing the group of sensationalizing the suffering of innocent civilians taken captive.

"These abhorrent crimes not only harm their direct victims but will also have severe consequences for the residents of Gaza themselves," the movement warned. "Hamas' continued barbaric policies will only deepen the suffering of Gaza’s population, worsen their international standing, increase their isolation, and further complicate any possibility of achieving a better future."

Atidna called upon Arab Israeli political leaders to unequivocally denounce Hamas' terrorist actions and emphasized that silence was unacceptable.

"At such a crucial moment, silence is not an option—our duty as leaders and as a society is to speak out clearly and firmly against murder and terror," the statement read.
Father says Omer Shem Tov was alone for most of captivity; was ordered to wave, kiss Hamas gunman at today’s ceremony
Malki Shem Tov, father of Omer, says his son was held for most of his captivity alone in a tunnel.

“He said that he was in tunnels alone for the whole time — [almost] 500 days… For the first 50 days he was with Itay [Regev] and all the rest, on his own,” Malki tells Kan TV.

He says Omer “didn’t see daylight at all.”

His returned son is still “our Omer… Omer the funny, Omer the optimist, just 16-17 kilos less.”

Regarding this morning’s handover ceremony, “he told us that they compelled him to wave and to kiss [on the top of the head] that [masked] guard who was standing next to him. He said they told him what to do. You can see in the footage that someone came up to him and told him what to do.”

Channel 12, meanwhile, says Shem Tov was initially held in apartments and later in tunnels, and that he was required to dress as a Muslim woman when moved around by his captors. It says he was once lowered into a tunnel in a small bucket. Initially, his hands were bound. He was cursed and spat at.

He saw Al Jazeera, and the reports [of the struggle being waged for the hostages] strengthened him, Channel 12 says. But he once saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on television talking about the need to destroy Hamas without mentioning the hostages, and this made him very concerned, the report says.


Media Fall for Hamas Propaganda in Coverage of Israeli Hostage’s “Kiss” to Captor
Hamas’ despicable hostage release show this weekend was widely covered. But foreign media chose to highlight one particularly nauseating propaganda moment.

It was the moment when Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov kissed a Hamas terrorist on stage after being ordered to do so.

For Gaza photojournalist Ashraf Amra, who infiltrated into Israel on October 7 and was honored by Hamas leadership, it was literally the money shot — which was later sold to Getty Images and platformed by media outlets, including The Times of London and Daily Express. For Sky News, it was a moment of “warmth.”

Getty Images, The Times, and Daily Express all failed to check the source of the photo. Amra is a Hamas propagandist: He was fired from Reuters and AP after HonestReporting exposed that he was honored by former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and that he hosted an Instagram Live calling on Gazans to invade Israel during Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023.

And these media outlets know that Hamas are producing propaganda moments from their despicable staged hostage release ceremonies.

While they are bound to cover these events, why should they also be helping to line the pockets of a friend of Hamas?


Former hostage Karina Ariev threatened Hamas captor into halting sexual harassment
Released hostage Karina Ariev shared she experienced sexual harassment while in Hamas captivity, which stopped after she threatened to report one of her captors to their commander, who prohibited such actions, according to Channel 12 on Sunday.

On October 7, Ariev, who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base along with fellow IDF observers Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, and Liri Albag, was able to repel a grenade that the terrorists had hurled at her.

During the terrorists’ massacre, she pretended she was dead. However, a terrorist began pulling at her hand to ascertain whether she was alive.

After understanding she was alive, the terrorist began handcuffing her.

In addition, they stole the necklace she wore from childhood around her neck, which bore a “hamsa” pendant. They also tore off parts of her hair and incurred burns on her body.

After one month in captivity, Ariev learned Arabic and could hear the humiliating remarks her captors made.

According to the report, during her time in Hamas captivity, she heard the IDF airstrikes and was able to see her parents at Hostage Square on TV.

Ariev noted that she believed she had survived to perpetuate the memory of the soldiers at the Nahal Oz base.

On Sunday, Iris Haim, whose son Yotam Haim was taken hostage by Hamas and killed by friendly fire from IDF troops, shared a letter that Ariev sent her recounting her meeting Yotam in captivity.
Agam Berger reveals she was mostly held in homes with Palestinian families
Released hostage Agam Berger shared how she was moved from hiding places once a month when in Gaza captivity, in conversation with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, Ynet revealed on Sunday.

Berger, who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on October 7 by Hamas, said she was often held in houses, some of which belonged to Palestinian families.

She noted how when she was held together with fellow IDF observer Liri Albag, they would listen to the radio and sing along, after which they would be silenced.

"They tell you to be quiet because Hebrew can be heard from outside," she explained, that Hamas did not want people to know they were there and that the neighbors were not aware of their presence there.

With regard to the airstrikes, she noted, according to Ynet, "They were so scary, especially in the beginning, because you're not used to it. You feel the house moving. "

But little by little, the fear subsided a bit," she further noted.

Berger, who was released in late January, a week after fellow IDF observers Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, and Liri Albag, said she knew she would be released only two days prior to her actual release.


Police: Five significant attacks foiled in Jerusalem since start of year
Israeli security forces have thwarted five major terrorist attacks in Jerusalem in the first seven weeks of 2025, the Israel Police said on Sunday, ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which kicks off on Friday.

The country is on heightened alert ahead of the holiday month, with some 3,000 police officers set to be deployed throughout the city.

Police have recommended that the political echelon allow some 10,000 Palestinian Muslims from Judea and Samaria to enter the city and pray at the Temple Mount during Ramadan, according to Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster.

Police have advised the government to issue entry permits to men aged 55 and up and women over 50, and also that children up to 12, accompanied by an adult, be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount.


Meet the Terrorist Overseeing Abbas’s ‘Reformed’ Payment System for Terrorists
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas fired his prisoners’ affairs commissioner this week, seemingly demonstrating new seriousness about reforming the system of payments for terrorists that the commissioner oversaw and vocally defended.

But Abbas simultaneously replaced the former commissioner, Qadura Fares, with another convicted terrorist and leading proponent of the payments, Raed Abu al-Humus. The incoming boss quickly confirmed his support for killing Israelis.

Just hours after his appointment, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs published a photograph of Abu al-Humus smiling alongside two arch-terrorists, Ahmed Barghouti and Mohammed Aradeh, whom Israel recently released to Cairo as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas. Barghouti, 48, was sentenced to 13 life sentences for orchestrating a series of terrorist attacks that killed 12 Israelis and wounded dozens, and Aradeh, 42, was given life in prison for attempted murder and other crimes.

The photo is among a number of early signs that Abbas will once again disappoint international donors who expect him to end "pay for slay," as critics call the Palestinian Authority’s longstanding payments to security prisoners and the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.

"The problem is the Palestinian Authority believes that terrorists are the most honored people, and they still believe they’re the most honored people," Itamar Marcus, the director of Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group that has closely tracked the terrorism payments for years, told the Washington Free Beacon. "They are not saying they’ve decided it’s wrong to reward terrorists. They are saying that this [reform] is something we were forced to do because we’re in a financial crisis. That’s why there’s no meaning to this, and that’s why there’s no reason for any optimism."
PA’s Abbas: Payments to terrorists will continue ‘even if we have one cent left’
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to continue paying terrorists and their families “even if we have only one cent left,” despite reports earlier this month that he had stopped the PA’s “martyr payments.”

Addressing a Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting on Thursday, Abbas said, “I have told you before and mark my words, even if we only have one cent left, it will be for the prisoners and martyrs.”

“I will never allow and you will never allow the reduction of any obligation, interest or cent that is given to them,” Abbas added. “They must receive everything as in the past.”

“They are more precious than all of us combined,” the Palestinian Authority president said of those who carry out terror attacks against Israelis, to applause from the audience.

The PA took down its video of the address, but Khaled Abu Toameh of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs shared the full speech, as well as the clip of the section about the “pay-for-slay” program.

The PA has paid monthly salaries to terrorists in prison or the families of terrorists killed by Israel for over 30 years, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually in recent years.


Tens of thousands shout ‘Death to Israel’ at Nasrallah funeral, as Israeli jets fly overhead
Tens of thousands of black-clad mourners vowed support for the Hezbollah terror group Sunday at the Beirut funeral of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, after the group was dealt major blows in its last round of hostilities with Israel.

Women wailed as a truck carrying the coffins of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine — Nasrallah’s chosen successor, killed in another Israeli airstrike before his new position was ever publicly announced — slowly moved through the crowd, topped with two black turbans and draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag.

After his death, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997. His official funeral was delayed to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under the terms of the US-backed ceasefire.

The September 27 killing of Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, in a massive Israeli strike, dealt a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group.

As the funeral began at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Lebanon’s biggest sports arena, Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude over Beirut.

The crowd then chanted: “Death to Israel, death to America, we respond to your call, Nasrallah.”
Seth Frantzman: IDF's Nasrallah funeral flyover shows things not what they were a year ago
Pro-Iranian groups from across the Middle East gathered in Beirut on Sunday for the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The gathering looked like something out of the scene in the Godfather where the heads of the “five families” gathered.

Not only did pro-Iranian militia leaders from Iraq show up, so did Iranian officials, and there were remotely recorded speeches by Hezbollah’s current leader and Iran’s supreme leader.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message for the funeral: “The great mujahid and leading commander of the Resistance in the region, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (may God elevate his status), is now at a position that is the height of honor. His pure body will be laid to rest in the land of jihad for the sake of God, but his spirit and his path will shine more gloriously each day, God willing, illuminating the way for those who follow him.”

An Iranian government delegation also came to the funeral and met with the Lebanese president.

“The delegation headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi sat down with [Lebanese President Joseph] Aoun on Sunday to exchange views on regional developments,” Iranian state media reported.

“Ebrahim Azizi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament; Abolfazl Amouei, the Parliament speaker’s special assistant for international affairs; and lawmaker Seyed Mahmoud Nabavian were among those who met with the Lebanese president.”

Many of these Iranian officials and pro-Iranian groups marched at the funeral.


Five months after Nasrallah killing, IDF publishes footage of Beirut airstrikes
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday released new footage of the Sept. 27 airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, as his funeral got underway in the city’s southern suburbs.

“On Sept. 27, 2024, at 6:21 p.m. and as part of ‘Operation New Order,’ the IDF eliminated Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terror group—as well as Ali Karaki, commander of the [terrorist group’s] Southern Front, and other senior commanders—in Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in Beirut, along with additional military infrastructure, during several simultaneous strikes,” the Israeli military said.

The Israeli Air Force reportedly dropped at least a dozen 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Nasrallah’s bunker. Two unnamed Israeli officials told The New York Times that more than 80 bombs were dropped over the span of minutes as part of the operation.

A week later, a strike on a bunker in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district killed Hashem Safieddine—a maternal cousin of Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and a leading candidate to replace him.


Exclusive: Jackson Hinkle Invited to speak at Terror-Tied "Media Conference" Coinciding with Hezbollah Leader's Funeral
Jackson Hinkle, a social media figure notorious for promoting extremist narratives and hobnob with terrorists, is once again at the center of controversy—this time for his direct engagement with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. Currently in Lebanon, Hinkle attended the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, an event that served not merely as a memorial but as a propaganda platform for one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups.

But Hinkle’s presence wasn’t limited to passive observation. A Jewish Onliner investigation revealed that he was an invited speaker at a Hezbollah-linked media conference titled “Global Awakening and Palestine,” a gathering designed to “explore ways to counter the enemy’s cognitive warfare, build an international media network, and design effective strategies to expand the narrative of the Axis of Resistance globally.” It appears squarely aligned with the Iranian axis, given the attendees and outlets—or outlet—that covered it.

Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah-affiliated outlet, was ostensibly the sole media entity to cover the conference, which, according to alleged leaked screenshots from a private Telegram channel posted on X by user Ben Hanan, aimed to “counter the enemy’s cognitive warfare, build an international media network, and design effective strategies to expand the narrative of the Axis of Resistance globally.”


Young British Christians increasingly antisemitic, says study
A new survey has revealed that young British Christians are more likely to hold anti-Jewish views than older generations.

The study, funded by a coalition of antisemitism watchdogs, looked at Christians’ perception of Jewish people and Israel, in light of the current Middle East conflict.

“Young Brits are significantly more likely to hold very negative opinions of Jews and Israel, than older British Christians,” said researcher Dr Motti Inbari, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of North Carolina, and co-author of the national study, ‘A Survey of British Christian Attitudes Towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict.’

Only half of young Christian respondents said they believed Jesus to be Jewish – with the rest either unsure, or of the belief that he was non-Jewish.

Across all ages, a third said they felt Jewish people speak “too much” about the Holocaust.

Dr Inbari told Premier that one reason behind the trend is a disapproval of the state of Israel’s actions in Gaza: “The image of Jews tends to be mixed with the image of the of the conflict.”

Overall, Brits showed an even split in their views on the Gaza conflict, with 23.6% supporting Israel and 22.5% saying they back Palestine. Most - 37.3% - were neutral, and 16.6 percent ‘didn’t know’.

“There’s this thing which we call the ‘Judeo-Christian civilisation’,” Dr Inbari said: “We are hoping that Christians will understand the context of Christianity.

“If you understand the roots of Christianity, maybe you will develop a better views of Jews eventually.”

Dr Inbari highlighted that churches could be a good place to have open discussions about inbuilt prejudice. “Let’s first have a conversation," he told Premier: "because most people say that they never hear their pastor talking about [antisemitism], or seldom hear other members of the church talking about [prejudice]. So let's start having a conversation, because typically it's not part of the conversation at all.”
Spate of attacks targets Jews in New York
Three consecutive attacks against Jews occurred in the New York area earlier in February, according to local reports.

On February 8, an 11-year-old girl who police described as wearing traditional Jewish attire had her hair pulled and was dragged to the ground in an assault, the NYPD Crime Stoppers X/Twitter account shared last week.

The account, a public/private partnership between the NYPD and the New York City Police Foundation, also posted a photo of the perpetrator.

Crown Heights Shmira shared on X/Twitter that on the same Saturday afternoon, an assailant approached a group of Jewish men, attempted to stab one, and shoved another to the ground. The victims were treated by Hatzalah, and the suspect was detained by Shmira until his arrest by the NYPD.

Regional Director at the ADL Scott Richman reacted to the incident, stating, “ADL NY/NJ is horrified by an assault that took place on Saturday, February 8th, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

"Two visibly Orthodox Jewish men were walking home from Sabbath prayers when they were attacked, unprovoked, by a passerby armed with a sharp object. Other community members - also visibly Orthodox - were threatened and verbally harassed by the perpetrator. The two victims both sustained minor injuries.”
Algerian suspect murders Portuguese man in terrorist attack in France
Police in France on Saturday arrested an illegal alien from Algeria who is suspected of murdering a man and wounding five others in the city of Mulhouse while shouting “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “Allah is the greatest.”

The previous day, police in Germany arrested a Syrian man after he stabbed a tourist from Spain at a Holocaust monument in Berlin, where he reportedly had been looking for Jews to kill.

The 37-year-old suspect in Mulhouse in eastern France was under a deportation order as he had been on a terrorism watch list, the Le Monde newspaper reported. The murdered man was a Portuguese citizen, aged 69, who tried to intervene when he saw the suspect stabbing a police officer in the neck.

The suspect also inflicted serious stab wounds on two police officers who responded to the situation and he lightly injured three other officers. Prosecutors launched a terrorist inquiry after reports of the incident.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated there was “no doubt it was an Islamist terrorist attack,” adding: “I want to reiterate the determination of the government, and mine, to continue the work to eradicate terrorism on our soil.”

The attack occurred in the afternoon near a busy market in Mulhouse, close to the borders with Germany and Switzerland. The police officers had been patrolling a demonstration in support of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Friday, German police apprehended a 19-year-old Syrian man suspected of stabbing a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries to his neck.




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

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