Wednesday, April 02, 2025

04/02 Links Pt1: Bernie Sanders’ War On Innocent Palestinians; Exploiting Hamas’s Weakness; Fired for fairness, promoted for prejudice – UN’s moral rot exposed once more

From Ian:

Bret Stephens: Here Is the Real Route to Freeing Palestinians
The real route to freeing Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, must begin with the elimination of Hamas as a military force, something that, for now, only Israel has the power and the will to accomplish. Among other necessaries will be Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor separating Gaza from Egypt, to ensure that Hamas can’t resupply itself with weapons. Longer term, an Arab Mandate for Gaza, complete with a security force from moderate Arab states, may be the best solution for preventing the resurgence of Hamas and avoiding the need for a long-term Israeli reoccupation of most of the territory.

But even that won’t work if a broad majority of Palestinians isn’t willing to unshackle themselves from Hamas’s political and ideological grip. In that sense, it isn’t enough for Gazans to revolt against the group for being the prime instigator and perpetuator of the last 18 months of war and misery, a fact the Gazan protesters seem to understand far better than their mindless champions abroad.

What matters even more than overthrowing Hamas is overcoming the mentality of the so-called Resistance on which movements such as Hamas (but not only Hamas) were built. If the core Palestinian demand is not the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but rather of one in place of Israel, then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is bound to continue.

For Palestinians, that will mean not only abandoning terrorism or guerrilla warfare but also the more insidious forms of seeking Israel’s destruction, such as the spurious call for a “right of return” for the descendants of Palestinian refugees — a right whose main purpose is to swamp Israel demographically so that it will no longer be able to maintain a Jewish majority.

As for Israelis, last week’s protests represent both a hope as well as a challenge. Hope: Ultimately, the protests suggest the possibility that, eventually, an overwhelming majority of Palestinians will never again allow themselves to be ruled by revanchist tyrants of any shade. Challenge: If and when that happens, there will be no plausible argument against a Palestinian state.

The sooner Hamas is defeated, the sooner the day might come.
Seth Mandel: Bernie Sanders’ War On Innocent Palestinians
Hamas is playing a familiar game here. The terror group will inflate casualty figures and go so far as to “name” and “identify” each one on the list, which will be reported immediately. Following the reports, Israel will be criticized for using excessive force and for endangering civilians. After that round of reporting has faded from the headlines, Hamas will edit the list, revising the total figure down and deleting thousands of fake entries so the permanent record appears more in line with the facts. The monthly numbers that media had been using become, at that point, irrelevant—but only in retrospect. No changes will be made to stories, no corrections appended, no apologies made.

Crucially, even after the adjustments, the March numbers aren’t accurate either. For one, Aizenberg notes, they include over 8,000 natural deaths, which is around 15 percent or so of the total—a huge chunk of the list.

Further, Hamas doesn’t distinguish between combatants and noncombatants. The deaths from war, Aizenberg wrote, are about 41,000 once the natural deaths are removed. Israel has reportedly killed about 20,000 Hamas fighters, which means nearly half of the war casualties have been Hamas combatants. Last, 72 percent of fatalities aged 13-55—the traditional age range of soldiers used by Hamas—were men.

Hamas’s list is thus inaccurate in the extreme but still quite useful, if you are willing to actually read the material. Sanders & Co. are trying to ban the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel just at the moment when Hamas has proved the unprecedented accuracy of Israel’s urban warfare.

Sanders can complain about the Israeli government all he wants—Israel has been acquitted of Sanders’s charges by the Palestinian government itself.

But let’s not stop there. To speak in progressive Democrats’ own language, the vibe has shifted. Gazans are out in the streets to oppose what Sanders would most like to do: enable Hamas to survive the war and keep charge of the enclave. Moreover, Gazan clans are striking back—very publicly—at Hamas in retaliation for its violent repression and mafia-like control tactics. Bernie speaks not for innocent Palestinians but for their tormentors.

According to videos on Telegram, tens of thousands of Palestinians are demonstrating against Hamas today in Beit Lahia. Another recent video out of Gaza shows injured Gazans, several of whom are children, exiting an ambulance and shouting that Hamas were hiding among them, causing them to be in the line of fire.

Bernie Sanders and his merry band of Hamas propagandists are behind the times. Hamas is so yesterday. Bernie isn’t speaking for Palestinians, he’s speaking over them—and further endangering their lives for his own political crusade.
Nicole Lampert: Gazans against Hamas are ignored by the West and betrayed by their leaders
Just a few days ago, back when it appeared that the demonstrations in Gaza might be our first proper signs of a rebellion against Hamas rule, I spoke to two men who had been marching.

They said they wanted what we all want; an end to the war. Peace. The chance to get on with their lives. Before October 7, one had been a student, the other a legal adviser. Now they were both displaced people sick of being moved from area to area to avoid the bombs, their lives on hold.

Speaking via Zoom on a call facilitated by the Centre for Peace Communications for members of the Israel-based Jerusalem Press Club, and using the pseudonyms “Kareem” and “Saeed”, these men had plenty to say about Hamas. About how Hamas had stolen all the aid meant for the people of Gaza. “I used to see the trucks coming in and so I have seen how much food, clothes and even furniture came into Gaza but I received nothing from day one,” said one. “It was all for sale even though it was labelled ‘not for sale’.”

They talked of their fury that the Qatar-funded television channel Al Jazeera was parroting Hamas talking points and giving its huge worldwide audience the impression that their demonstrations were either aimed at Israel or being orchestrated by it.

Their demands were that Hamas disarm and leave the Gaza Strip, recognising this is the only way this war will end. But they weren’t able to offer names of anyone they thought could lead Gaza in its place. They were equally scathing about Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority. For them Fatah are almost as bad as Hamas – the men cited how Hamas’s rivals still encourage hatred rather than peace towards Israel.

Mostly they described their desire to get out – leave – go to a place where there wasn’t an endless cycle of death and destruction because they had no faith that a different Palestinian leadership would change things. They wanted to come to Europe.


Seth Mandel: Exploiting Hamas’s Weakness
There is a video making the rounds today that shows members of a Gaza clan executing a member of Hamas they accuse of shooting and killing one of their relatives. That this video exists is further confirmation that Hamas has been significantly weakened.

Yet taking full advantage of this weakness requires more than acknowledging the fact of Hamas’s totalitarian brutality. It requires confronting how Hamas has built the machinery of persecution so we in the West can avoid contributing to it any further.

Take the courageous op-ed in the Washington Post by Gaza City lawyer Moumen Al-Natour.

Natour knows the risks and has “the scars to prove it, having been arrested and tortured multiple times” in the wake of the 2019 anti-Hamas protests. Unfortunately, Hamas survived that civil challenge to its rule. Which is why Western leaders must pay more attention to how it was able to hold on.

Natour writes, for example: “Hamas has, throughout this war, systematically stolen and resold humanitarian aid, profiting from our hunger. Networks run by people like me have had to find ways around Hamas, distributing supplies to those most in need of them.”

During the course of the war, Israel facilitated the delivery into Gaza of enough aid to provide 3,000 calories a day per Gazan. During the two-month cease-fire from January to March, 4,200 aid trucks entered Gaza. Less than two weeks ago, even the BBC admitted that “there is no immediate danger to the civilian population.”

Yet once Hamas declined Israel’s offers to extend the cease-fire and renewed the war, Hamas itself became that immediate threat. Hamas’s wartime policy has always, without exception, been one of hoarding supplies and pricing many Gazans out of certain foodstuffs while also openly killing non-Hamas members who try to collect or distribute food aid. The process is simple: Israel lets in humanitarian aid and Hamas locks it down. The cease-fire periods are hibernation periods in reverse: Instead of stocking up for the lull, Hamas uses the lull to stock up.

Hamas’s grip on power has weakened, so aid agencies were able to get more food to the people who actually needed it. But the renewal of active conflict, which Hamas has initiated as easily as flipping a light switch, gives the terror masters their advantage back. Negotiating cease-fires in which Israeli troops move out of the Netzarim Corridor, which divided the enclave during the war and enabled parts of Gaza to return to some semblance of normal life, allows Hamas to hit the reset button.
Hamas will not respond to Israel's counter Gaza ceasefire proposal, official says
Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead.

Israel said on March 29 it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the US, after Hamas agreed to a proposal it received from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

A copy obtained by Reuters on Wednesday showed the mediators' proposal was part of the January 17 ceasefire agreement and would extend the ceasefire for 50 more days.

The negotiations for a second ceasefire phase should be over before the 50-day period ends, as per the copy.

The proposal included the release of New Jersey native Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army, on the first day after the ceasefire is announced.

What was the ceasefire proposal?
Hamas would also release four Israeli hostages, with one hostage released every 10 days in exchange for releasing 250 Palestinians held in Israeli jails and releasing 2,000 from those who were detained after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

The proposal also entailed the cessation of Israeli military operations, opening the crossings to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and re-opening the Netzarim Corridor to allow the entry of cars from the south to the north and vice versa.

The Israeli military said on March 19 that its forces re-extended their control to the center of the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects the Gaza Strip.
Starmer says UK pressing Israel to ‘accelerate’ probe into killing of British aid workers
Keir Starmer has said the UK is pressing the Israeli government to “accelerate an investigation” into the “appalling” deaths of three British aid workers tragically killed in Gaza after their marked vehicles were fired on in a drone strike.

Britons John Chapman, 57, and James “Jim” Henderson, 33, James Kirby, 47, were among seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers fatally injured in the Israeli drone attack on April 1st last year.

An initial Israeli inquiry led to the dismissal of two officers, but Israel’s military advocate general has now been urged by the UK to conclude a full investigation into the deaths, with a view to possible criminal action.

During Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday, the Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth, Jayne Kirkham, asked: “One year ago yesterday my constituent James Henderson was killed with other aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) taking humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“Jim’s family have told me Jim would want confirmation from our Government that we’re taking all conceivable steps to make sure that aid, power and supplies are safely returned to Gaza.

“Can the PM confirm he’s doing all he can to ensure this? And could the Prime Minister also confirm he will continue to push for a full investigation to be completed into the deaths of Jim and the other British WCK workers, and for appropriate action to be taken?”

Starmer replied: “I thank her for raising this appalling incident, and our thoughts remain with the families of Jim, of John Chapman and James Kirby.

“The attacks on aid workers are never justified. The families do deserve justice. We’re pressing the Israeli government to accelerate their investigation, including where the criminal proceedings should be initiated.”

As the Prime Minister went on to say “Israel must stop blocking aid into Gaza”, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn could be heard shouting, “or what?”.


Spain cracks down on Barcelona Hezbollah cell
Spanish security forces on Tuesday launched an operation targeting a Hezbollah cell in Barcelona, local media reported.

The investigation is focused on Lebanese nationals and involves the country’s intelligence services, according to the Spanish outlets El Confidencial and Europa Press, citing sources familiar with the probe. Additional arrests are expected.

The investigation is being overseen by the state prosecutor’s office, and the arrests and searches are being carried out under court order.

Last year, in a joint operation with German authorities, Spanish security forces dismantled a cell in Catalonia that was handling logistical tasks for Hezbollah.

That investigation centered on suspicions the group was involved in the construction of over 1,000 explosive drones. Three suspects were arrested in Barcelona and Badalona, and another was detained in Germany.

The operation followed the discovery by Spanish authorities of large quantities of materials suitable for building such drones.

On Tuesday, Israel’s National Security Council warned of a significant rise in terrorist threats against Israelis and Jews worldwide ahead of the spring holidays and summer travel season of 2025.

Terrorist groups directed by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas and other global jihadist groups, are increasing efforts to target Israeli interests abroad, particularly in light of the ongoing fighting in Gaza.

According to the council’s report, Iran remains the chief instigator of global terrorism targeting Israeli and Jewish individuals, both directly and through its proxies. It continues to use terrorism as a central tool of policy and as retaliation for the assassinations of senior Iranian, Hezbollah, and Hamas operatives amid the Iron Swords war.
Senate committee advances Huckabee nomination on party-line vote
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Gov. Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel on a party-line vote on Wednesday, committee chair Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) said.

The vote, which took place about a week after Huckabee’s confirmation hearing, suggests that Huckabee is likely to see minimal Democratic support when he comes to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, although Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has said he’s likely to support Huckabee.

“With the passage of these three qualified nominees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has now approved the nomination of 10 of President Trump’s national security nominees,” Risch said in a statement. “We will do all we can to keep up this quick pace to ensure President Trump and Secretary Rubio have the support they need. I urge my colleagues to confirm these qualified nominees when they come to the Senate floor.”

Huckabee’s past comments opposing a two-state solution, supporting Israeli annexation of the West Bank and denying the existence of Palestinians, among others, have made him controversial even among some of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate.

“We need an ambassador to Israel that strengthens the relationship between our two nations while making sure our support for our democratic ally remains bipartisan,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the committee said in a statement.

“While I appreciate Governor Huckabee’s deep commitment to Israel’s security, I have grave concerns about his support for fully annexing the West Bank, and I have serious doubts about his ability to ensure that support for Israel remains bipartisan and doesn’t become a political football,” Rosen continued. “For these reasons, I opposed his nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. However, if he is confirmed, I am committed to developing a relationship with Governor Huckabee and working with him to maintain a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

The nomination has also divided Jewish community groups.

Huckabee’s confirmation vote may be on track to echo the confirmation of the former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, President Donald Trump’s pick in his first term, who received just two Democratic votes in support in 2017 amid similar concerns from most Democrats.
Inside Sen. Roger Marshall’s curious 180 on Qatar
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) shocked his Republican colleagues on Thursday with his aggressive defense of Qatar during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on campus antisemitism — comments that stand in stark contrast to his characterization in 2019 of Qatar as a supporter of terrorism whose relationship with the United States should be reviewed.

At Thursday’s hearing, questioning witness Charles Asher Small, the director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Marshall lauded Qatar as a strong ally for helping to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas and for helping to evacuate U.S. allies from Afghanistan in 2021.

He accused Small, who drew connections between Qatari funding and anti-Israel and antisemitic activity on college campuses, of “prejudice” for noting Qatar’s relationships with Hamas, the Taliban and the Iranian regime. Marshall also called Qatar “a great ally to America.”

Marshall denied that there had been “large antisemitic riots or protests” at Virginia Commonwealth University or Carnegie Mellon University, which have received Qatari funding.

At VCU, there had in fact been clashes between police and demonstrators that prompted multiple arrests and the police dismantling an anti-Israel encampment.

At Carnegie Mellon, there were multiple protests that local Jewish media described as antisemitic, which prompted changes to the college’s protest rules.

The senator also suggested that there had not been issues at Texas A&M University, which has a campus in Qatar, not addressing a report by ISGAP that that partnership may have endangered sensitive nuclear energy and weapons research. Texas A&M abruptly announced plans in February 2024 to shutter its campus in Qatar months after the ISGAP report, though it has denied the two are linked. Texas A&M also saw multiple anti-Israel protests on campus.

Faculty at the Qatar campus had faced professional sanctions for their pro-Israel stances.
Hungary expected to announce embassy move to Jerusalem, withdraw from international court
Hungary is expected to announce during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official state visit on Thursday that it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court in The Hague and that it is moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, JNS has learned.

The diplomatic moves would serve to strengthen the alliance between Hungary, Israel and the United States at a time of fractious divisions over foreign policy within the European Union.

The Israeli leader travels to Budapest late Wednesday night to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday as part of an official four-day visit.

Netanyahu’s rare wartime trip to Hungary is his first visit to Europe since the ICC issued an arrest warrant for him and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, last year for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. His wife, Sara Netanyahu, will accompany him on the visit.

Orban had invited Netanyahu to visit Budapest the day after the ICC decision last year, and said he would not enforce the arrest warrant.

‘More than a symbolic move’

The long-planned embassy decision, which had been delayed by the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the 17-month-long war in Gaza, would make Hungary the first country in the European Union to open an embassy in Israel’s capital in the wake of the landmark move promulgated by the United States in 2017 under the first Trump administration.

Hungarian officials reached in Budapest declined to comment on Wednesday ahead of the summit meeting, citing diplomatic protocol.

Hungary’s Honorary Consul in Israel said bilateral ties were stronger than ever before, and Hungary under Orbán was “by far” the strongest ally Israel has in the European Union.

“The relations between Hungary and Israel are excellent, and develop every day to an additional level,” Honorary Consul David Wiernik told JNS on Wednesday. “The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the move to Jerusalem, is very important to the State of Israel and is much more than a symbolic move.”


UN Watch: Hillel Neuer calls out UN for singling out Israel while ignoring mass anti-Hamas protests in Gaza
At the very moment in Gaza when Palestinians risked their lives to protest against Hamas oppression, at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva one country after another completely ignored Hamas and instead attacked Israel. Then Hillel Neuer takes the floor.




Fired for fairness, promoted for prejudice – UN’s moral rot exposed once more
Ms Albanese has been accused of being an antisemite. And during her recent inexplicable appearance on The Rest is Politics podcast, she made sure to rubbish those accusations.

“Antisemitism is hatred or discrimination against Jewish people because they are Jewish,” she said. “Now, the allegations of antisemitism against me have nothing to do with [that]… I’m accused of being an antisemite because I criticise Israel.”

But those who allege that Ms Albanese is an antisemite need not necessarily be referring to the fact that she is a vociferous critic of Israel (though she is) or that she has repeatedly attempted to justify Hamas’s violence against Israel (though she has), or that she engages in Holocaust inversion (though she does). They can point to the following statement, which she made on Facebook in 2014, but which only came to light in 2022, not long after her appointment to the role which she currently disgraces:

“America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines and continue to condemn the oppressed — the Palestinians — who defend themselves with the only means they have, instead of making Israel face its international law responsibilities.”

At the time, this was condemned by Deborah Lipstadt, the US special envoy to combat antisemitism, as “blatantly antisemitic”.

I would like to believe that in most workplaces, such a statement would be grounds for dismissal. In a position, for the United Nations, with a direct involvement in one of the most sensitive conflicts on the planet, involving the Jewish state, to have allowed her to remain in such a position is madness, an insanity outmatched only by the possibility of her being reappointed to another term. But of course, we are talking about the UN, an organisation which quite literally had a Nazi war criminal as its secretary general for almost a decade. After that, what surprises can possibly be left?


What the Anti-Hamas Protests in Gaza Mean for Israel
The eruption of anti-Hamas protests across the Gaza Strip last week was a win for Israel, which has called for a popular revolt against the Palestinian terrorist group.

Israel’s renewed military campaign in Gaza appears to have triggered the protests by weakening Hamas’s control of the strip and its credibility with the population, according to Israeli national security analysts. But the analysts said it was too soon to say if the protests would contribute to Israel’s war aims: the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza and Hamas’s removal from power.

"The fact that dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, are going into the streets and demonstrating against Hamas with their faces uncovered indicates a crack in the barrier of fear vis a vis Hamas," Kobi Michael, a former senior Israeli government official and retired military intelligence officer, told the Washington Free Beacon. "If the demonstrations expand to the point where we see tens of thousands of people in the streets, this will be a tipping point. Then, the demonstrators will go for a lynching, they will slaughter Hamas."

"The Gazan people share the ideology of Hamas," added Michael, a researcher at Israel’s Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy and Institute for National Security Strategy. "I am speaking collectively, there are many individuals who are not like this, but the collective psychological infrastructure is exactly Hamas’s psychological infrastructure, which means that they are very brutal and very violent, and they will do to Hamas what Hamas did to the Jews on Oct. 7."

The protests were the largest display of opposition to Hamas since its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and mass abduction in southern Israel, which was widely celebrated by Palestinians. Following the expiration of a ceasefire last month, Israel resumed its war to destroy Hamas with a new decisiveness, cutting humanitarian aid and electricity to Gaza and moving to seize control of the strip.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz last week urged Gazans to rise up against Hamas or else "lose your homes and more and more territory that will be integrated into Israel’s defense formation."

"Learn from the residents of Beit Lahiya," Katz said, referring to a city in northern Gaza where the largest anti-Hamas protests took place. "Just as they did, demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages—this is the only way to stop the war."

Over the next two to three weeks, Israel plans to occupy a quarter of the strip, a senior Israeli official told reporters in a briefing on Monday.


Hamas threatens protesters, as new mass rallies against terror group held in Gaza
A Gaza family’s open admission this week that they killed an officer from the Hamas-run police force after they said a relative had been shot dead added to signs of popular dissent against the Palestinian terror group after 18 months of war with Israel.

It drew a warning from the Hamas-run interior ministry that actions that undermined public order would not be tolerated.

But following protests against Hamas by hundreds of demonstrators in northern Gaza last month, the incident underscored the increasing willingness of some Gaza civilians to voice criticism or act against Hamas, which has run the Palestinian enclave since overthrowing the rival Fatah faction in 2007.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians also rallied in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, chanting “Hamas out” and “Enough death,” in renewed protests against the terror group.

Residents were angered by new Israeli military evacuation orders, which the military said followed rocket salvos by terror groups from the area.

They may have been emboldened to take to the streets by a sharply reduced presence of Hamas police and security forces in the past weeks since Israel’s large-scale attacks resumed.


The Free Press: EXCLUSIVE: Family of Murdered Gaza Protester Speaks Out
On March 29, in a neighborhood called Tel al-Hawa in southern Gaza City, Hamas brutally murdered 22-year-old Uday Nasser Saadi al-Rabbay, his family said. After Uday had been tortured and mutilated, his body was thrown off a tall building.

His crime? He had spoken out—loudly and publicly—against the terrorists who rule Gaza with an iron grip.

For three straight days last week, thousands of courageous Palestinians took to the streets all across the Gaza Strip in the largest anti-Hamas demonstrations since October 7, 2023. Uday was part of those protests. But on Saturday, he took a step beyond. He stood up inside a coffee shop in Gaza City, and in a loud voice, denounced Hamas.

According to his family, a few hours later, around 30 armed men from the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, stormed his home and dragged him away. His family says they tortured him for hours, until he was dead. When they were done—after they had broken his fingers, stabbed him repeatedly, and smashed his head with a rifle butt—they dropped his body off a rooftop. A note was pinned to his clothes: “This is the price for all who criticize Hamas.”

His mother, along with his siblings, found the body.

Until now, the family has been afraid to talk to reporters, worried that their words would be twisted—as many local journalists in Gaza serve as de facto Hamas mouthpieces—or that the remaining al-Rabbay sons would be targeted next.

But through our partnership with The Center for Peace Communications, The Free Press was able to obtain exclusive interviews with Uday’s mother and father and one of his cousins. This is the first time they’ve spoken publicly about what happened.




Eye-opening analysis of Gaza combat, Israel’s war (UK Col. Richard Kemp) | TALX
Get a thorough, eye-witness account of Israel’s war in the tunnels and alleys of Gaza with Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan.

Colonel Kemp has visited Gaza multiple times since October 7, witnessing the IDF's ground operations firsthand. He reveals shocking truths about Hamas's use of human shields, the real reason behind international vilification of Israel and how the IDF is setting a new global standard in minimizing civilian casualties during war. From underground tunnel warfare to the geopolitics of the Middle East, this episode offers unmatched insight from a veteran who has seen it all.

Colonel Richard Kemp is a globally recognized authority defending Israel and the West in the media and on the battlefield.

Topics covered include:
Israel’s military tactics inside Gaza
U.S. policy, the Biden administration and arms delays
Netanyahu’s wartime leadership and international pressure
The future of Gaza and the possibility of total victory
Why Israel’s fight is the front line of Western defense

Watch now to hear how Israel’s battlefield challenges are reshaping global warfare and what it means for the future of the West.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Colonel Richard Kemp and His Support for Israel
02:50 The Narrative Against Israel: Vilification and Double Standards
05:51 Firsthand Insights: The Reality of Warfare in Gaza
08:47 Hamas's Strategy: Human Shields and Civilian Complications
11:59 The Engineering Marvel of Hamas Tunnels
14:52 IDF Tactics: Adapting to Complex Urban Warfare
17:57 Civilian Complicity and the Challenge of Identification
20:49 Assessing Israel's Progress and Future Operations
24:12 The IDF's Learning Curve and Tactical Flexibility
24:52 Military Strategies and Casualty Expectations
27:36 Hamas' Strategy and International Pressure
29:13 Hostage Negotiations and Military Operations
30:40 Netanyahu's Leadership Amidst Challenges
33:31 Total Victory: The Path Forward for Israel
35:56 The Role of Egypt and International Community
37:40 Governance of Gaza Post-Conflict
39:14 Consequences of Non-Victory for Israel
41:19 The State of College Students and Anti-Israel Sentiment
46:46 Optimism for Israel's Future


Haviv Rettig Gur on PM Netanyahu's interview, the Israeli judicial reform law, and Supreme Court
PM Netanyahu gives an extended interview. Haviv Rettig Gur gives a reaction to Hugh and then on to the Israeli judicial reform law and whether Israel’s Supreme Court dare strike it down.


Israel gave me an award for telling the truth —so here’s a home truth for Israel!
In this heartfelt video, Australian journalist Erin Molan expresses her gratitude to fans and viewers for their overwhelming support following her receipt of the 'Beacon of Truth' award from Israel’s Minister of Diaspora, Amichai Chikli, at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem. Fresh off the honor, Erin delivers an emotional and powerful message to the people of Israel, reflecting on a poignant question her late father once asked: 'What are we fighting for?' With passion and unwavering conviction, she offers a stirring, truth-filled response, underscoring the stakes of Israel’s fight and her unwavering commitment to standing with them. A moving tribute to courage, resilience, and the pursuit of justice.


'It's a massacare!": Mark Levin REACTS to Erin Molan's Mainstream Media TAKEDOWN!
Mark Levin brings his signature fire on ‪@LevinTV‬ this time reacting to our own Erin Molan’s fearless monologue calling out the mainstream media for swallowing and spreading Hamas propaganda. Erin herself in a social-media post calls this video a ‘pinch-me moment,’ thanking her favorite host: ‘Thank you for featuring me on your show Mark Levin. This was a real pinch me moment He’s my favourite television host for so many reasons - so this really means a lot!




NYC Socialist Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Admitted 'Nepotism' Landed Him Plum Disney Job—While Using a Fake South African Accent
He's a nepo baby and he knows it.

New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani suggested that he only received a plush job on the 2016 Disney film Queen of Katwe because his mother was the director. Mamdani, 33, made the admission with a smile during an interview with the South African radio station Kaya FM 95.9 in October of that year. The aspiring mayor served on the flick as a music supervisor and "third assistant director," according to IMDb. He was also given a cameo screen role.

"I actually created a playlist for Mira, who also happens to be my mother—you know, nepotism and hard work goes a long way," Mamdani told Kaya FM interviewer Kgomotso Meso. Throughout the 11-minute interview, he speaks with an affected South African accent, at times adjusting his grammar to reflect the local patois. "Come watch this film, you get the sound proper," he says at one point.

Though Mamdani lived in South Africa between 1996 and 1999—between the ages of five and seven years old—he has spent the majority of his life in the United States. He went to the Bronx High School of Science before graduating from Bowdoin College in Maine in 2014. Just months before Queen of Katwe hit theaters, Mamdani sat for an interview in which he reminisced about his Bronx Science days. He had no South African accent—but offered a revealing nugget of self-assessment.

"I know what someone wants to hear, right? I know what someone wants to hear to laugh. I know what someone wants to hear to feel whatever it might be," Mamdani said. "In such an eagerness to make friends and be popular and whatever it might be, I would play to whatever X person needed from me as opposed to being who I actually wanted to be. It's like being a great mirror, right, you know? You just give, you give people exactly what they want."

Mamdani, an avowed Democratic Socialist, was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020. He represents the 36th district, an immigrant-heavy slice of Queens. The accent has not featured in his political career—and it surprised one prominent Big Apple progressive who has known Mamdani for years.

"I've known Zohran since he jumped into the New York City progressive movement in 2018 and I've never heard that accent," the Mamdani ally told the Washington Free Beacon. "You get a lot of attention being a progressive firebrand in the New York media market, hopefully Zohran isn't just playing to the cameras as a personality."

Mamdani is now running for New York City mayor and has rocketed to second place in the Democratic primary, behind only disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo. He's promised an unashamed Marxist platform of rent freezes, free public transportation, free child care, public grocery stores, a $30 minimum wage, and more.

Those progressive values, however, weren't always present in the making of Queen of Katwe, which is based on the true story of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi and her struggles growing up in the Ugandan slum of Katwe, outside the capital city of Kampala.

Mamdani's mother, Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, directed the flick, which was a commercial flop, grossing just $10.3 million of its $15 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. While there appeared to be money in that budget for Nair and her son, there was none for Mutesi, who did not receive a dime from the film, WBUR reported in 2019.


Citing post-Holocaust law, Germany seeks to deport four pro-Palestinian protesters
Germany is moving to deport four foreign residents of Berlin over their alleged activity at pro-Palestinian protests, in a move that appears likely to test a foundational law enacted after the Holocaust.

Three of the residents are citizens of the European Union, which normally allows free movement between member states. Kasia Wlaszczyk is a citizen of Poland, and Shane O’Brien and Roberta Murray are citizens of Ireland.

The fourth, Cooper Longbottom, is a 27-year-old U.S. citizen from Seattle who faces a ban from all 29 European countries in the Schengen Zone for two years after leaving Germany.

German immigration authorities ordered this group’s expulsion based on separate allegations tied to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including a sit-in at the Berlin central train station, a road blockade and the occupation of a building at the Free University, according to information obtained by the left-wing news organisation The Intercept.

The deportation orders say that two of the protesters called a police officer “fascist” — insulting an officer is illegal in Germany — and three demonstrated with groups that chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan the country outlawed last year as antisemitic. All of them are also accused of “indirectly” supporting Hamas and pro-Hamas organisations in Europe.

They have been given a deadline of 21 April to leave Germany or be forcibly deported.

None of them has been convicted of a crime. A conviction is not required for deportation under German law, but authorities are still expected to provide justifications proportional to the punishment.

As part of this reasoning, three of the deportation orders reference Germany’s “Staatsräson,” or “reason of state.” According to this doctrine, which weighs heavily on German politics, the history of the Holocaust makes it imperative for Germany to defend Israel as a justification for its own existence.

But Staatsräson is not typically used in legal settings. Lawyer Thomas Oberhäuser, who is not involved in the cases, told The Intercept that invoking the principle for deportation proceedings was “impermissible under constitutional law.”




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