Monday, February 24, 2025

02/24 Links Pt1: Detoxing Gaza: The Problem Beyond Hamas; Israel should judge all attacks by intent and respond accordingly; Where is the outrage for the Bibas family?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: ‘Palestine’ has proven again and again it is a death cult of lies
These similarities are no coincidence. From the early years of the 20th century, when Hitler’s ally the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini falsely accused the Jews of aiming to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque — a claim repeated even today by al Husseini’s explicit fanboy, the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas — the attempt to suppress and then destroy the Jewish homeland has been a feature of Islamic holy war.

The Jews are the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national home. Palestinian identity is a fabrication that was cooked up in the 1960s by the Egyptian-born “Palestinian” terrorist leader Yasser Arafat — who was radicalized by al Husseini — and the Soviet Union, in order to steal from the Jews their ancestral home and their own history in those lands.

Yet Palestinianism is the default cause of Western progressives, who believe the lie that the Palestinians are the indigenous people of the land who have been exiled and oppressed by the Israelis — and are mostly merely wretched and poor and have nothing to do with terrorism.

But behind the Hamas storm troopers who led the October 7 attack, Gaza civilians poured across the shattered border to rape, murder and kidnap Jews and others.

“Ordinary” Gaza civilians paraded and abused those who were dragged back into Gaza and desecrated the bodies of those who had already been murdered.

The Arabs of Gaza not only elected Hamas, but the vast majority have said repeatedly that they support the murder of Jews and want Israel destroyed.

Polling shows even greater majorities for this agenda among the Arabs of the “West Bank.” Officials of Fatah — the main party in the supposedly moderate Palestinian Authority — have openly celebrated the October 7 atrocities and declared their intention to repeat them.

For months, the Israelis have been struggling to keep the lid on dozens of terrorist plots emanating from the Arabs of the “West Bank,” against a backdrop of threats to perpetrate an October 7-style invasion of Israeli towns in central Israel.

A few days ago, an enormous plot to detonate bombs on rush-hour buses in central Israel was foiled only when a number of these devices exploded in empty buses the previous evening — because when priming the bombs, the terrorist had confused 9 a.m. with 9 p.m.

Support for the Palestinians has knocked the West off its moral compass altogether. It’s not just that it’s signed up to a cause that’s profoundly anti-Jew. It’s because the West has come to believe that an evil cause represents conscience itself.

Islamism is a death cult. So is its “Palestinian” offshoot. But the West is unable to acknowledge this because it’s in the grip of a death cult of its own.

As I write in my new book, “The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West — and Why Only They Can Save It,” the West has had a cultural death wish for decades. Undermining its core values, it no longer believes in objective truth. Everything is a matter of opinion. Feelings trump facts and evidence.

Inverting truth and lies, victim and aggressor, the West is unable to see the Palestinian cause for the evil that it is. And consumed by the belief that Western civilization is fundamentally bad, it refuses to acknowledge the Islamist threat not only to Israel but also to itself.

So as the West’s cultural elites undermine and hollow out their own civilization, the Islamist death cult is moving in for the kill — with the Palestinian Arabs creating the Trojan Horse of the Middle East.

It’s high time the West woke up to the bitter reality of the entire Palestinian cause, and to the way its own agenda of cultural self-loathing has softened it up for the triumph of its enemies.
Seth Mandel: Detoxing Gaza: The Problem Beyond Hamas
What is one to do with this information? The Bibases don’t just symbolize Hamas’s brutality, though Hamas was the reason the invasion happened and the party responsible for the demonic ceremony celebrating the dead children.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in addition to participating in that ceremony and perhaps holding the captive Bibas family, not only joined the Oct. 7 pogrom but has taken the lead in shepherding anti-Zionism on campus, training participants in the pro-Hamas tentifada, and organizing a high-profile conference at which a Democratic member of Congress spoke. The PFLP and its front groups should be treated no differently from Hamas as part of any permanent cease-fire.

Hamas’s feats of terror would not be possible without Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which Hamas used as a decoy organization in its prewar deception scheme and which is Hamas’s most prominent Gaza-based ally in this war. Surely any policy applied to Hamas would be applied to PIJ and its members.

The same, presumably, would go for the Mujahideen group that claimed credit for the Bibas kidnapping, as well as the other groups represented in the grotesque Hamas-led ceremony. Which is to say: Every so-called resistance organization in Gaza must be disbanded, with no exceptions.

Finally, how does a sweeping policy toward institutions deal with civilians? The answer is, it isn’t just armed groups responsible for what happened on Oct. 7. Gaza’s government and armed forces led an invasion that opened the way for civilians to take part in the murder and looting spree.

How is it that the removal of parts of a fence can inspire civilians to cross into another territory and randomly murder, torture, plunder, and kidnap? The answer is that generations of Palestinians in Gaza have been brainwashed from birth to believe that that is a reasonable course of action toward Jews. And who brainwashed them? We can start with the UNRWA schools responsible for “educating” Palestinian children.

These schools quite famously teach the most demented Jew-hate one can imagine. The textbooks have been opened, the schoolchildren have told the world what they have learned. We don’t wonder what happens in an UNRWA school; we wonder how any country could possibly fund it, support it, defend its existence.

UNRWA is now being ordered to cease its operations in Israel and the territories. Gaza’s de-Nazification should encompass both its ideological institutions—of which UNRWA is one—and its institutions of violent governance. Dismantling Hamas is necessary, yes. But it would be far from sufficient if we want to give future generations of Gazans a chance at a life outside of a death cult.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas's October 7 Massacre Is Part of Its Jihad to Destroy Israel
Some people in Israel are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down and agree to Hamas's demand to end the war in the Gaza Strip.... These Israelis fail to understand that the October 7 massacre is just another phase of the Islamists' Jihad (holy war) against Israel.

Since its violent, brutal takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has done nothing to help the local residents. Instead of building hospitals, schools and economic projects, Hamas, with the help of Iran and Qatar, has devoted huge resources to manufacturing weapons, such as rockets and missiles, and building a massive network of tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, in a document published shortly after the October 7 attack, openly admits that it is opposed to the presence of Jews in Israel. The document frankly admits that the conflict did not start as a result of the Holocaust, or when Israel declared independence in 1948, or on October 7, 2023, but 105 years ago, "including 30 years of British colonialism and 75 years of Zionist occupation." The document goes on to explain that Hamas "is a Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project."

Hamas's 1988 charter emphasizes the importance of Jihad as the main means for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals...

Significantly, the charter quotes Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, as saying: "Israel will arise and continue to exist until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished what went before." Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

US President Donald J. Trump would do well to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, the font of all the Islamic jihadist organizations, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Such an act would make it difficult for those countries that promote and finance jihadi terrorists to keep on doing so.

What happened on October 7 should be seen in the context of Qatar's, Iran's and Hamas's continuing Jihad. The massacre on October 7 was just another phase in the Islamist groups' efforts to eliminate Israel. After the October 7, massacres, the Qatari government media consistently praised the massacres, and weeks ago vowed more of them.

Anyone who believes that Hamas would abandon Jihad as a result of a ceasefire agreement is engaging in extreme self-deception. Hamas has not yet accomplished its mission of destroying Israel. Hamas's main goal, especially now, is to remain in power after the war.... Any deal that keeps Hamas in power would pave the way for the Islamist murderers, rapists and baby-killers to carry out still more massacres against Israelis.

Regrettably, there is no alternative to eradicating Hamas.


Justifying Kidnapping Babies & Nurses’ Murder Fantasies: The Growing Global Moral Rot
We hear the rationalizations. The “context” of “occupation” is invoked to excuse an Islamist Supremacist terrorist army’s mass-murder, mass-rape, and mass-kidnapping—including of babies. This, despite Gaza not being “occupied” since 2005, and Islamist Supremacists, like Hamas, having massacred Jews for centuries, including in both Ottoman and British controlled Palestine.

Anywhere else, kidnapping babies and massacring families would be universally condemned—except when the victims are Jewish Israelis. Then, excuses and rationalizations abound.

This same double standard emerged in Australia after a viral video featured two Muslim nurses telling an Israeli they wouldn’t treat Israelis, that they would kill Israelis if they came to their hospital, and had already “sent to Jahannam” (Hell) Israeli patients. One would expect universal outrage over healthcare workers threatening to murder patients based on nationality. If nurses in the West refused to treat Chinese nationals over the Chinese government’s actions, would anyone defend them?

Of course not. But when Israeli Jews are the targets, justifications and excuses follow. Within a week, 50 prominent Muslim groups in Australia defended the nurses, portraying them as victims.

Just like with Hamas’s kidnappings, these groups claimed “context” justified nurses bragging about murdering and wanting to murder Israelis. These groups dismissed concerns from Australian politicians as “hyperbolic.”

The moral rot behind those justifying baby kidnappings and nurses’ murder fantasies all come from the same source, the world’s oldest bigotry—antisemitism.

It’s the antisemitism that singularly demonizes the Jewish state while ignoring murderous tyrannies all over the world that are responsible for millions of deaths. It’s the antisemitism that dehumanizes Jewish Israelis and paints those who murder or fantasize about murdering them as the victims.

In the 1930s, this moral rot led to catastrophe for the nations that embraced it.

This moral rot also led to incredible disaster for the entire world in the last century. In this century, we better learn from our past quick, and have zero tolerance for the antisemitism that leads to people justifying kidnapping babies or Israeli murder-fantasies by healthcare workers … lest our past become our future.
Where is the outrage for the Bibas family?
What did world leaders have to say about this despicable desecration of the dead? UK prime minister Keir Starmer could only muster ‘condolences’, but no condemnation. No shock or horror at Thursday’s grotesque spectacle.

On X, United Nations chief António Guterres condemned ‘the parading of bodies and displaying of the coffins of the deceased Israeli hostages by Hamas’, in a mild offering of outrage. This is sadly all we can expect from an organisation whose women’s agency took nearly two months to condemn Hamas for its brutal attack and systematic use of rape on 7 October. Not to mention its silence over the plight of the Bibas family prior to the handover.

It is this silence that is most crushing. It took 503 days for the bodies of little Ariel and Kfir to be returned home. Israel and the Jewish community thought about Shiri and those boys every single one of those days. But we should not have been the only ones.

In 2014, when Islamist militia group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria, there was a worldwide campaign to bring them home. It was a movement championed by the likes of then US first lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. And rightly so. But there was no such campaign for the Bibas children.

Instead, hostage posters picturing Ariel and Kfir were ripped down in cities across the Western world. In a park in Toronto, posters of the boys were discovered with swastikas drawn on their faces. Meanwhile, at ‘pro-Palestine’ marches in London, we have witnessed people openly displaying their support for Hamas and waving placards featuring anti-Semitic imagery. On elite university campuses in the UK and the US, keffiyeh-clad students have chanted, ‘globalise the intifada’ – the same intifada that resulted in the murder of the Bibas boys.

In a photo from before Hamas’s pogrom, all four members of the Bibas family can be seen smiling in matching Batman pyjamas. In a video clip, Ariel runs down a path, a Batman cape billowing behind him. ‘He loved superheroes’, said Shiri’s cousin. In another, we see Ariel meet his baby brother for the first time. Two, pure, innocent beams of light, extinguished forever by the darkest evil.

Like millions of other Jewish mothers in the aftermath of 7 October, I couldn’t help but look at my own young children and wonder ‘What if…?’. For Yarden Bibas and the rest of that family, this nightmare is a reality they will have to live with forever. We must not forget what happened to those little boys and their mother – or the monsters who did it.

The entire Western world needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. Kfir, Ariel and Shiri will be staring back.
Luck is not strategy: Israel should judge all attacks by intent and respond accordingly
On Friday morning, Hamas had intended to carry out multiple simultaneous bombings in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, which were prevented by luck and the vigilance of two citizens. The Israeli government believes the attack was organized and carried out by Hamas cells in the West Bank, with support from Iran. In response, the IDF is preparing for an operation in the West Bank that may be wider in scope than anything it has done in the area since the early 2000s. Herb Keinon comments:

If Israel, going back to the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, had responded to each rocket attack that intended to kill and maim as one that indeed did kill and maim, then it would have taken much more forceful action against Hamas much earlier, perhaps preventing the brutal terrorist group from metastasizing to the monstrous proportions that allowed it to carry out the October 7 attack.

The country needs to learn this lesson. How it reacts to Thursday night’s explosion of three buses in the Tel Aviv area—and the discovery and detonation of bombs on two other buses nearby—will test whether it has.

What does that mean? It means that intensive fighting against the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria needs to continue unabated, and even be stepped up. It also means that if this attack is traced back to Iran, which has actively been trying to turn Judea and Samaria into its latest base from which to attack the Jewish state, Iran needs to be held responsible and pay a price.
Probing the night before: IDF investigations to shed light on October 7 massacre
The IDF is set to release a series of probes into its role surrounding the October 7 massacre.

One of the probes will examine the intelligence and decisions specific to the evening before the invasion, as well as regarding the orders given in light of the evolving threat situation. IDF's intel unit flagged unusual activity hours before attacks began

At some point overnight between October 6 and October 7, the Shin Bet and IDF Unit 8200 flagged a large number of Israeli cell phone SIM cards being activated in Gaza.

Since such cards could only be used if those Gazans with them entered Israel, this immediately raised suspicions.

Around 3 a.m., two separate virtual meetings were held.

One involved IDF Southern Command Chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkleman and his senior operations and intelligence staff, including IDF Intelligence Gaza division commander Lt. Col. A, the Gaza Division chief, an IDF colonel as an Air Force representative in the South, and several Shin Bet officials as representatives in the South.

At the same time, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar was holding an internal agency meeting with top relevant high command officials, including the Southern commander.

Both meetings came to similar conclusions: that there was an increased threat level from Hamas which might suggest a small targeted infiltration toward one Israeli town to try to kidnap hostages, while it was equally likely that all of what they were seeing was a military drill.

In fact, almost exactly one year earlier, on October 5, 2022, similar SIM card indications had occurred – and no action from Hamas had followed. There were also later warnings of a possible Hamas infiltration in April 2023, which did not pan out.

Finkleman and other IDF officials were extremely concerned that Hamas would be aware of the IDF’s eyes on its SIM card systems if Israel acted too suddenly and drastically in response to the phone card activation.

Accordingly, all officials issued instructions to keep physical changes on defense to a minimum, so as not to alert Hamas.

The main difference between the meetings of the Shin Bet and IDF was that Ronen Bar ordered a small team of around a dozen reinforcements to the southern border to be better prepared for a potential infiltration attack, whereas IDF Operations Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Oded Basiuk ordered only to check certain aerial defense and maritime defense (specifically regarding the natural gas rigs) readiness issues, but issued no reinforcement instructions.
Senior Hamas official admits he wouldn't have backed October 7 if he knew the outcome
A senior Hamas official admitted in an interview with The New York Times on Monday that if he had known the destruction that would be brought on to Gaza because of the October 7 attacks, he would have never agreed to it.

The Qatar-based head of Hamas's foreign relations office, Mousa Abu Marzouk, told NYT that he was not informed about the specific details that were being planned.

"If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn't have been October 7," he said.

Hamas infiltrated southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and killed over 1,000 people and kidnapped over 250 people to Gaza. Since then, Israel and Hamas had been at war.

'Kind of a victory' that Hamas survived in the war
Abu Marzouk told the NYT that "Hamas's survival in the war against Israel was itself a kind of victory."

He also noted that it would be "unacceptable" to say that Hamas had won, "especially considering the scale of what Israel inflicted on Gaza."

"We're talking about a party that lost control of itself and took revenge against everything," he said when referring to Israel. "That is not a victory under any circumstances."

He also said that Hamas leadership is willing to negotiate about the group's future weapons in Gaza. "We are ready to speak about every issue," he said. "Any issue that is put on the table, we need to speak about it."


Qanta Ahmed The Muslim world speaks: Hamas must meet its end
Though I am not Israeli, and I am not Jewish, the anguish of the Bibas family is mine. I am devastated by the return of the bodies, the babies’ remains separated from those of their mother, which Hamas withheld for a further day. These are the most agonizing events since that October 7th day.

This unforgivable crime, perpetrated on infant Jews and their mother, clarifies to the world the depravity of Hamas and the Palestinian civilians who abducted them. That this act was only one amid thousands of acts perpetrated with zeal, ecstasy and abandon on October 7 remains incomprehensible.

Walking through devastated home after home in October 2023, I followed the footsteps of the dead. I moved slowly, methodically, examining the scenes of murder, torture, sexual violation and abduction. Later, I spent hours with Dr. Chen Kugel and Dr. Nurit Bulbit at Abu Kabir (Israel’s National Forensic Center in Jaffa) where I witnessed autopsies of the murdered, and, as a physician, examined the anatomy of lethal, genocidal Islamism.

Islamism does indeed have an anatomy writ large.

Its signature is carved deep in flesh wounds; charred black in furnaces of bones and teeth; imprinted in swollen wrists restrained, even in death, with electrical cables and zip ties; perforated in the peppercorn spray of gunshot wounds, tiny at entry, cavernous at exit; ripped asunder in the blasts of grenades and cascades of their shrapnel; handwritten in the bloodied calligraphy of frenzied stab wounds; chiseled deep in the murderous handiwork of the hatchet’s swing. Sometimes Islamism’s signature was legible only with radiology, the annihilation so absolute. But the seal is eternally the same: the silenced anatomy screamed of Islamism’s elimination of the Jew.

No one spared. Mercy to no being. Neither woman, child, nor infant, not even countless animals, saved from Islamism’s barbarism. All, eradicated.


Gottheimer visits Qatar to discuss Edan Alexander, phase two of hostage deal
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, visited Qatar last week to discuss negotiations to free Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and finalize the second phase of the Gaza hostage-release and cease-fire deal.

Gottheimer met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other Qatari negotiators, as well as U.S. negotiators, with a focus on Alexander, the last living American hostage, who is from Gottheimer’s district.

“In Qatar, I spent constructive and productive time with the lead negotiators focused on one core objective — to bring home the last living American hostage, my constituent, 21-year-old American Edan Alexander. We must get every hostage home,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “The United States should never leave any man or woman behind. We must also focus on the second phase of the American-backed deal that will see the release of the remaining hostages. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I will not rest until every single hostage, including the five remaining Americans, are brought home.”

He told Jewish Insider in an interview while en route back to the United States that his conversations centered around what the parties involved need to do to ensure that Alexander is freed, saying that all involved are “incredibly focused on doing everything we can to get it done.”

He said that the discussions were “constructive and productive.”

“It’s just continuing to redouble that effort and make it very clear that [Alexander] is the last living American [hostage], we can’t stop until he comes home,” Gottheimer said. “That’s why I went to Qatar, to reiterate that and to discuss all and every avenue to get him home.”
US backs Israel’s hold on prisoners, citing Hamas’ ‘barbaric’ actions
The White House on Sunday announced its support for Israel’s decision to delay the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, citing the terrorist group’s “barbaric treatment” of Israeli hostages.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes described the delay as an “appropriate response” to the terrorist group’s actions, according to Reuters.

He also stated that U.S. President Donald Trump was ready to back Jerusalem in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated early on Sunday morning that the Jewish state was pausing the release of Palestinian prisoners slated to be freed as part of the ceasefire.

“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 being released as part of 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.
Report: Hamas refuses to move up release of hostages’ bodies
Hamas has rebuffed an Israeli offer to free the 602 Palestinian terrorist prisoners whose release has been delayed since Saturday in exchange for immediately returning to Israel the remains of four hostages, Hebrew media reported on Monday.

Israel reportedly also demanded that Hamas refrain from holding a propaganda ceremony when it returned the remains, as it did when it returned the remains of four captives on Thursday.

A Hamas source was cited by Israeli outlet Ynet as saying that it would not hand over the bodies, scheduled to be released on Thursday according to the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire until the terrorists are released.

However, on Monday night, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that the remains of two slain hostages would be transferred to Egyptian territory “within 24 hours” in exchange for the release of 302 Arab terrorists.

According to the report, Hamas agreed to release the bodies of two more deceased captives later in exchange for the 301 remaining terrorists.
Time to cut off terror-linked international aid
Anybody following the news from Washington in recent weeks knows that President Donald Trump and his government efficiency czar Elon Musk have been drying up the swamp of wasteful spending. According to some reports, the Department of Government Efficiency has already saved US taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

But of course, DOGE is not just about dollars but also about the axing of programs that wield a radical ideological agenda and even anti-American policies.

It is now time to similarly cancel radical anti-Western, anti-Israel, and even antisemitic funding boondoggles on the international level.

Washington has made a good start on this by acting to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which for years has funneled millions of dollars to anti-Israel advocacy groups and entities linked to terrorism.

Some of the terror-tied funding initiatives are publicly known. In November 2022, for instance, USAID awarded $100,000 to a Palestinian activist group whose leaders hailed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror group. Just six days before Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, the aid agency handed $900,000 to a terror charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

A February report from the Middle East Forum found that USAID had awarded millions of federal dollars directly to organizations in Gaza controlled by Hamas. In one Biden-era case, it funded an “educational and community center in Gaza” controlled by a local group called the Unlimited Friends Association. The association openly collaborated with Hamas, inviting the terror group’s officials to its office and boasting of US-funded projects in Hamas-controlled newspapers. In 2021, its director called for Jerusalem to be cleansed “from the impurity of the Jews.”

A report released in January by NGO Monitor outlined millions in USAID funding for two nonprofits – Mercy Corps and American Near East Refugee Aid – that have closely coordinated with a Gaza-based ministry, run by a senior Hamas official identified by the US Treasury as previously responsible for part of Hamas’s smuggling operation. USAID humanitarian packages have been found in Hezbollah caches of weapons in Lebanon.


Sanders introduces new set of resolutions to block Israel arms sales
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filed a new set of four resolutions on Thursday to block U.S. arms sales and transfers to Israel, setting up a potential repeat of last year’s high-profile floor votes that split Senate Democrats.

The exact text of the resolutions, which would detail which specific transfers Sanders is seeking to block, was not immediately available. Sanders’ office did not comment on whether he plans to force a vote on any or all of the resolutions, as he did last year.

On at least one other occasion, in 2021, he introduced a similar resolution without seeking a vote.

Despite current Republican control of the Senate, the resolutions are privileged, meaning that Sanders can force a vote on them at will.

Nineteen Senate Democrats voted for at least one of the three resolutions on which Sanders called a vote last year. It’s not clear whether some Democrats might vote differently on the resolutions now, given that they’re in the minority and also that the war in Gaza is currently halted by a cease-fire agreement.
EU Parliament member Rima Hassan denied entry to Israel
At the direction of Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, Israel denied entry to European Parliament member Rima Hassan upon her arrival from Brussels on Monday.

The decision followed a recommendation from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

“The State of Israel is not obligated to allow the entry of any official from a foreign country, including members of parliament, if they work to boycott and undermine its legitimacy,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said.

“Rima Hassan leads hostile campaigns against Israel, calls for boycotts and encourages economic sanctions,” he added. “We will use all the tools at our disposal to prevent the exploitation of our democracy for anti-Israeli purposes.”

Hassan has actively promoted boycotts against Israel and made numerous public statements criticizing the country on social media and in media interviews. She was slated to be sent back to Brussels immediately after landing, the Interior Ministry said.


Incoming German Chancellor Says Netanyahu Can Visit Germany, Defying ICC Warrant
German chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz said Thursday that he will make sure Benjamin Netanyahu can visit Germany without being arrested, taking a stand against the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

"In the event that [Netanyahu] plans to visit Germany, I have also promised myself that we will find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin, a day after his conservative Christian Democratic Union party won national elections.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Israel-Hamas war. More than 100 nations are legally obligated to arrest Netanyahu if he enters their territory, though countries including France and Italy have indicated they will not comply.

A spokesman for outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the left-wing Social Democratic Party, had declined to say whether Scholz's government would execute the warrants.

Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC.


Israel follows US as it votes with Russia for first time at UN amid war with Ukraine
Israel found itself aligned with an unfamiliar company in a vote on a U.N. General Assembly resolution marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The General Assembly adopted a European Union-backed resolution, which calls for de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution. The vote was 93-18 with 65 abstentions.

The United States opposed the measure, instead pushing its own simpler text, which did not fault Russia for initiating the conflict. It did so in line with recent comments from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israel supported the U.S. position on the E.U. resolution, as did Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Hungary, Mali, Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea, Palau, Russia and Sudan.

A Russian amendment referencing the conflict’s “root causes” was rejected.

The vote marked the first occasion that Washington has sided with Moscow since the onset of the war. The United States and several small, island nations traditionally align with Israel at the United Nations, but North Korea, Belarus and Eritrea—three global pariahs—rarely vote with Jerusalem. (The Israeli mission to the United Nations in New York declined to comment.)


ICJ grants African Union permission to join case against Israel
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday granted the African Union permission to participate in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.

“The International Court of Justice has authorized the African Union, at its request, to participate in the advisory proceedings on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations, and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” according to an ICJ statement released on Feb. 20.

South Africa filed its case against the Jewish state on Dec. 29, 2023.

The African Union is likely to be able to provide information on the question put to the court’s general assembly, the ICJ statement continued. The AU will present a written statement on that question by Feb. 28.

In February 2024, Israel thwarted attempts by South Africa and Algeria end its observer status at the AU.


Israel mourns Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz at UN
Nearly 80 ambassadors, diplomats, and staff gathered Monday morning for a memorial ceremony at the United Nations where Park East Synagogue's Cantor Benny Rogosnitzky led Kaddish for the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz, whose pictures sat on display at the front of a conference room next to a small bowl of orange pins.

"As we stand here today, a hole has been torn in the heart of the Jewish people, a wound that will never heal, a hole that will never be forgotten," Danny Danon, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, said at the start of the ceremony.

At an earlier news briefing, Danon criticized the international body for its silence on the killing of the Bibas children.

"That silence was permission, and Hamas heard it," Danon said, adding Israel has started to "collect the debt Hamas owes us, and we will complete the mission."

Danon said Israel would eliminate every terrorist who had a hand in the Bibas' murder, kidnapping, and torture.

During the memorial ceremony, Danon said, "Every tunnel Hamas hides in will become their grave."

"Israel will not be silent. We will speak their names. We will demand justice, and we will not stop until every hostage is home and Hamas is eradicated," he said.


Trump shares video message from former hostage Keith Seigel
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday shared a video message to him from American-Israeli Keith Seigel, who was freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza on Feb. 1, urging further efforts to release the remaining hostages.

In the message, Siegel also expressed his gratitude for Trump’s ongoing support.



Speaking in front of a ruined home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, from where the 65-year-old was taken during the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, Siegel described the massive destruction caused during the attack.

“It’s hard to believe and comprehend what I’m seeing today,” he said. “Homes that were destroyed by Hamas, that were burned. People on the kibbutz were murdered, burned alive. Just horrific stories of what happened on Kfar Aza on that day.”

He stressed the urgency of returning the 63 remaining hostages, 27 of whom are believed to be alive.

“You’ve done so much so far, and we all urge you to continue your efforts and use your ability to allow more progress in the hostage exchange deal. Thank you,” he said.

Seigel’s wife, Aviva, was among the hostages returned as part of the November 2023 swap with Hamas.

Trump on Feb. 17 posted a video clip of released Israeli hostage Agam Berger thanking him for helping negotiate her freedom from Hamas captivity and asking him “to bring everyone home.”


Why the Israel-Hamas war is FAR from over | Jerusalem Minute
Did #Israel make a mistake by choosing to continue the ceasefire agreement with #Hamas even after U.S. President Donald #Trump's green light to continue the war? While it may seem as if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored the go-ahead from Trump, JNS CEO Alex Traiman believes that the Israel-Hamas war is far from over. In fact, he thinks, it is about to intensify in a big way. Traiman is joined by JNS Middle East correspondent Josh Hasten for an in-depth analysis of all the latest developments from Israel. They'll be discussing Hamas's horrific parade if dead hostages in Gaza; how Israel should mourn the Bibas family; entering phase 2 of the ceasefire agreement; Egypt's military buildup in the Sinai; and Hassan Nasrallah's funeral in Lebanon.


3 things Israel MUST do to change the face of the Middle East | interview w/Yossie Hollander | TALX
Along with being a lifelong entrepreneur and a pioneer of #Israel’s technological revolution, Yossie Hollander has become one of Israel’s greatest strategic thinkers. In this interview, he sits down with JNS CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief Alex Traiman to outline the three major moves Israel should make in order to forever change its position in the Middle East. Learn about the main challenges Israel faces and strategic goals it can reach to fully capitalize on the global realignment set in motion by the October 7th war and the new #Trump administration.


‘Clash of civilisations’: Israel’s war with Hamas cannot be solved by ‘some peace deal’
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says the world must realise the war between Hamas and Israel is a “clash of civilisations” which cannot be solved by “some peace deal”.

“We must realise we really do face a clash of values, of civilisations that can’t be negotiated away, that can’t be solved by some peace deal,” Mr Bolt said.

“Hamas and the crowd, crowing over the bodies … they played triumphant music, the crowds cheers the coffins of the babies as they were driven past.”


‘Unimaginably horrific’: Sharri Markson on the ‘traumatic news’ of Bibas children deaths
Sky News host Sharri Markson discusses some of the “darkest few days” since the aftermath of October 7.

The bodies of nine-month-old Kfir Babas and his four-year-old brother Ariel were returned back to loved ones this week as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

“Yes, Palestinian terrorists violently murdered a simply beautiful nine-month-old baby and a four-year-old boy,” Ms Markson said.

“This is the Palestinian resistance – murdering innocent children who had everything to live for.”


Hezbollah still has ‘tremendous’ support throughout Lebanon
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky discusses the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“It was indeed a shock on one hand, but I also don’t think surprising,” Mr Ostrovsky told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“Nasrallah and Hezbollah still have tremendous support throughout Lebanon.”


Incoming US United Nations Ambassador vows to ‘dismantle’ UNRWA
Newsweek Senior-Editor-At-Large Josh Hammer has lauded Incoming US United Nations Ambassador Elise Stefanik’s message to UNRWA.

Ms Stefanik vowed to not only defund UNRWA, but to also ‘dismantle’ it.

“That would be a monumental accomplishment if she was able to do that,” Mr Hammer told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“I wish Elise Stefanik the best of luck in getting rid of this garbage.”


Erin Molan’s EXPLOSIVE Debut Monologue on ’69 X Minutes’
In her explosive debut on the Elon Musk-inspired 69 X Minutes by Mario Nawfal, Erin Molan unleashes a powerful call to eradicate evil once and for all. Revisiting the heartbreaking tragedy of the Bibas family, she holds nothing back, demanding an end to Hamas terror with unrelenting resolve. This is Molan at her boldest—raw, unfiltered, and done with excuses—on a show that’s redefining how truth is delivered.

69 X Minutes is an amswer to Elon Musk's call to replace the traditional '60 Minutes' show with a citizan journalism people's version named 69 minutes. Elon posted this on X earlier this month: "Anyone want to create a hard-hitting show on X called 69 Minutes? I will actually fund it!”.




Judge Orders Anti-israel Protesters to Pay Rabbi $182,000 Over False Stalking Claim
A judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled against two anti-Israel activists who sought a restraining order against a rabbi, ordering them to pay $182,000 in legal fees after their claims were deemed baseless.

The dispute began when Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld regularly prayed outside the Israeli embassy, where activists Hazami Barmada and Atefeh Rokhvand had been leading protests. They accused Herzfeld of stalking, but the judge found no evidence supporting their claims. Instead, video footage reportedly showed Herzfeld engaged in peaceful prayer while Barmada used a megaphone to taunt him.

Judge John McCabe determined that the activists’ legal action lacked merit and that Herzfeld’s presence at the location was protected under free speech laws. His ruling cited the District of Columbia’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects individuals from lawsuits designed to suppress political expression.

Barmada and Rokhvand have been involved in high-profile demonstrations, including outside the residence of a U.S. government official. Court filings noted that their protests included disruptive tactics such as throwing red liquid at vehicles entering and leaving the premises.

The decision marks a significant legal setback for the activists, reinforcing protections for peaceful expression in public spaces. Herzfeld had also filed a separate civil lawsuit, alleging that protesters attempted to disrupt his prayers by using high-decibel sirens.
‘Beyond the pale’: Anti-Israel ‘vigil’ in NYC for Hezbollah leader Nasrallah
Some 150 anti-Israel protesters gathered at Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, adjacent to the New York University campus, on Sunday evening for a vigil memorializing Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed in a Sept. 7, 2024 air strike.

The gathering, in which many of the protesters covered their faces with masks and keffiyehs, came hours after a funeral for the terror leader was held in Beirut.

Those who stood on one side of the Washington Square arch shouted “long live the intifada,” “there is only one solution, intifada revolution” and “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” Antisemitic protesters waved a Hezbollah flag and held up images of Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks whom Israel killed on Oct. 16, 2024.

A pro-Nasrallah protester, who gave her name only as Julia, 62, of New York, told JNS that the late terror leader ought to be commemorated, because he resisted Israeli actions toward Palestinians and in Lebanon.

Julia, who wore a pin that said “Zionist” with a red line crossing it out, told JNS that she is a “very vehemently anti-Zionist Jew” and claimed that Nasrallah kicked Israel out after “occupying Lebanon for 20 years.”

She also said that many Jews are “brainwashed” and that because she doesn’t believe in ethnic cleansing, Jews who have lived in the “illegitimate” country can stay there, as long as it is no longer a “Jewish supremacist state.”

JNS asked about Nasrallah’s responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Americans. “I don’t think the United States should have bases in other countries,” Julia said. “I think they are occupation bases. I think resistance against foreign forces occupying your country is totally legitimate all over the world, not just in Lebanon.”


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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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