Friday, May 16, 2025

05/16 Links Pt1: Trump's Middle East doctrine on display; The DoJ’s long-awaited reckoning for UNRWA has arrived; The ‘nakba’ is not our problem; ICC Prosecutor on Leave Amid SA Charges

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Politics of the personal: Trump's Middle East doctrine on display
Trump compassion
Part of the Trump doctrine is compassion for hostages and a desire to bring them home. Individuals are a priority for the American president, just as freeing Pastor Andrew Brunson was a priority in his first term. Trump blends the personal with the strength of a leader with a regional purpose.

There is a lot on Trump’s plate. He wants to open up opportunities, such as economic and defense cooperation in Saudi Arabia. “Our doors and hearts are open to you,” affirmed Prince Turki al-Faisal in Saudi Arabia.

Salman al-Ansari, a geopolitical analyst, also wrote in Arab News: “Trump now has a chance to deliver one of the most historic achievements of the 21st century: finally ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – not by endless negotiations that lead nowhere but by pushing both sides toward a lasting peace. Such a breakthrough would not only strengthen US interests and regional stability, but it would also deal a devastating blow to the extremists and radicals who have always thrived on chaos and hatred.”

In Saudi Arabia, Princess Reema bint Bandar “highlighted the enduring relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US as the president arrives in the Kingdom on Tuesday, his first state visit during his second stint in the White House,” Arab News noted.

“It is a moment pivotal for global peace, security, and prosperity,” Princess Reema wrote in the Washington Times on May 12. “Today, as the world navigates new challenges and conflicts, that partnership is more critical than ever.”

Trump’s visit is expected to hit all the high points of US policy in the Gulf.

Bulwark against extremism
Saudi Arabia has been an anchor of US policy since the 1920s. There were challenges and hurdles, such as during the 1990s and early 2000s when Riyadh was critiqued for ties to extremists. Things changed in the kingdom. The country has become a bulwark against extremism and has also done outreach to China and other countries. It is seen as a broker that can speak to Washington and Moscow.

The Saudis have also reconciled with Iran in a deal backed by China. And it reconciled with Qatar after years of crisis from 2017 to 2020.

Over the years, there has been a lot of talk of normalization with Israel. However, Riyadh wants to see Israel make changes and also move in a direction that leads to regional stability.

Wars in Gaza, West Bank fighting, and the bombing of Syria are not stabilizing elements. It wants Jerusalem to integrate into the region rather than be seen as a problematic player, surrounded by chaos.

The era of chaos in the Middle East is ending, and Israel should move toward security and stability. That is the view from Riyadh.

There are opportunities. The new president of Syria is offering to transform his country and become an ally of the West; a friend of the US. He is a young man and has shown his resolve. He may shed his past and could become a major player in the region. This requires some risk-taking in Washington.

Trump’s doctrine enables risk-taking, just as it pioneered the Abraham Accords.

Politics of the personal
Trump believes in the politics of the personal. He makes exaggerated statements sometimes, such as plans for Gaza. He also wants to empower local leaders.

If Israel won’t get things done in Gaza, then team Trump is always ready to make the next moves. He has shown this in Gaza and regarding a humanitarian initiative.

He also illustrated how he can quickly change course when needed regarding the Houthis.

Trump is flexible and not tethered to sacred cows or mantras.

The Middle East is where things are possible because, unlike dealing with some parts of the world, this area has personal leaders ready to take chances. All that is required is the will to take them.
Douglas Murray: Qatar’s ‘gestures’ to Trump raise suspicions on both ends of the political spectrum
The government of Qatar had a surprise for President Trump on his recent visit to the Middle East.

That was the release of the last American-born hostage being held in Gaza.

Edan Alexander, 21, was freed by the Qatari-funded group Hamas as a gesture to Trump.

Two questions obviously arise from that “gesture.”

The first: If Hamas can just release hostages like this why won’t they release all of them, whether they were born in America or not?

The answer to that is clear: It is because the Qataris and Hamas don’t want to release all the hostages.

They want to keep hold of them for as long as possible to exert as much leverage as possible.

The second question is less easy to answer.

If Qatar is so close with Hamas, how on earth can they be regarded as an ally of the United States?

It is that second question that has hovered over the president’s trip this week.
FDD: The Department of Justice’s long-awaited reckoning for UNRWA has arrived
In an April 24 filing connected to a lawsuit brought against UNRWA by terror victims, the Justice Department asserted that UNRWA does not qualify for the immunities afforded to the United Nations under international agreements and federal statutes. The lawsuit is currently before a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.

According to the DOJ filing in the case, UNRWA is “a mere ‘affiliate or instrumentality’ of the UN,” not an organ of the UN itself, and has never been granted immunity by any American president under the International Organizations Immunities Act.

This is a reversal from the Biden administration’s 2024 position that UNRWA was immune to prosecutions and lawsuits in the United States. The Biden administration took this position even as incontrovertible evidence mounted that UNRWA employees were directly involved in the kidnapping of Israelis, that UNRWA employees themselves held Israelis captive in Gaza, and that UNRWA facilities were used for storing weapons, harboring hostages, and other military purposes.

DOJ’s April 24 filing challenges UNRWA’s assertion that it is immune from the lawsuit. That complaint was filed by over 100 victims of the October 7 attacks, alleging that UNRWA bears legal responsibility for those attacks. And while that complaint was a civil suit, the DOJ filing indicates that UNRWA could be held to account in other ways — including U.S. sanctions.

Ample evidence exists to substantiate UNRWA’s longstanding partnership with Hamas. A strong case could be built rather quickly by the Treasury Department to impose terrorism sanctions on UNRWA.

Treasury sanctions could be a death knell for UNRWA. No country that wishes to do business with the United States would be willing to financially support the agency. No bank would be willing to processes a transaction on UNRWA’s behalf for fear of being subject to U.S. sanctions.

An end to UNRWA would by no means cutting aid to over a million Gazans. For many months now, amidst Israel’s war against Hamas, UNRWA has only supplied a fraction of the aid that goes into Gaza. Jerusalem has worked with a multitude of foreign governments and other aid agencies to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Whereas UNRWA once ran a monopoly on a host of services provided in Gaza, dozens of UN organizations and NGOs now provide those services.

When the war is over and the massive task of rebuilding Gaza gets underway, some of these organizations — those that do not partner with Hamas in any way — should remain in Gaza to continue providing support for needy Gazans.

The United Nations should have shut down UNRWA’s mandate long ago. However, that would only happen through a General Assembly vote, which is highly unlikely due to the UN’s anti-Israeli, anti-Western, and anti-democratic bias. But the DOJ may have just forged an alternative path.


Severe but stable: Improvement in baby's condition of woman murdered in terror attack
A newborn baby delivered by emergency cesarean section is currently in serious but stable condition at Schneider Children’s Medical Center as of Friday morning, after his mother was fatally shot on the way to the hospital.

Hospital officials reported a slight improvement in the baby’s condition overnight. “Our medical teams are prepared and continue to provide dedicated and comprehensive care,” the center said.

Doctors have been battling to save the infant’s life following the tragic killing of 30-year-old Tzeela Gez, a mother of three from the settlement of Bruchin, who a terrorist near the settlements of Peduel and Bruchin in the West Bank shot.

According to security forces, Gez was traveling with her husband to the delivery room when a terrorist opened fire with an automatic weapon. Gez was critically wounded and taken unconscious to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where doctors performed emergency surgery in an attempt to save her unborn child. The baby was successfully delivered in the trauma room and immediately given resuscitation efforts.

Despite doctors’ efforts, Gez succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her husband was lightly injured and treated before being released.

Shortly before the attack, Gez’s husband had informed his workplace that he would not be able to come in the following day, as they were en route to the hospital. Moments later, the shooting occurred, forever altering the family’s fate.
Report: Syria may transfer remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen
The new regime in Damascus, under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, does not rule out the possibility of transferring to Israel the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, Lebanon's Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday morning, quoting Arab diplomats.

Cohen was hanged in Syria in 1965.

In an article written by the paper’s editor, Ibrahim al-Amin, it was claimed that intensive security talks have recently been taking place between Israel and Syria.

The author noted that Damascus has expressed a willingness to reveal the burial sites of Israeli soldiers who went missing in Syria during the First Lebanon War in 1982.

According to the report, recent meetings were held in Abu Dhabi between representatives of the al-Sharaa regime and senior American and Israeli officials, with the central topic being an informal agreement that Syria would take steps aimed at easing tensions along the Israel-Syria border.

It was also reported that the Americans presented the Syrian regime with several aid proposals in exchange for creating a quiet border with Israel.
The ‘nakba’ is not our problem
When it was originally introduced in the late 1940s, the word nakba had nothing to do with the plight of the Palestinian refugees or their dubious claim to be the uninterrupted, indigenous inhabitants of a land seized by dispossessing foreign colonists. Popularized by the late Syrian writer Constantine Zureik in a 1948 book titled The Meaning of Disaster, the nakba described therein was, as the Israeli scholar Shany Mor has crisply pointed out, simply “the failure of the Arabs to defeat the Jews.”

Zureik was agonized by this defeat, calling it “one of the harshest of the trials and tribulations with which the Arabs have been inflicted throughout their long history.” His story is fundamentally a story of national humiliation and wounded pride. Yet there is absolutely no reason why Jews should be remotely troubled by the neurosis it projects. Their defeat was our victory and our liberation, and we should unreservedly rejoice in that fact.

The only aspect of the nakba that we should worry about is the impact it has on us as a community, as well as on the status of Israel as a sovereign member of the international society of states. As Mizrahi Jews know well (my own family among them), the nakba assembled in Zureik’s imagination really was a “catastrophe”— for us. Resoundingly defeated on the battlefield by the superior courage and tactical nous of the nascent Israeli Defense Forces, the Arabs compensated by turning on the defenseless Jews in their midst. From Libya to Iraq, ancient and established Jewish communities were the victims of a cowardly, spiteful policy of expropriation, mob violence and expulsion.

The inheritors of that policy are the various groups that compose the Palestinian solidarity movement today. Apoplectic at the realization that they have been unable to dislodge the “Zionists”—and knowing now that the main consequence of the Oct. 7, 2023 pogrom in Israel has been the destruction of Gaza—they, too, have turned on the Jews in their midst.

They have done so with one major advantage that the original neo-Nazis never had: sympathy and endorsement from academics, celebrities, politicians and even the United Nations. Indeed, the world body hosted a two-day seminar on “Ending the Nakba” at its New York headquarters at the same time that pro-Hamas fanatics were causing havoc just a few blocks downtown. Even so, we should take heart at the knowledge that nakba is not so much a symbol of resistance as it is defeat. Just as the rejectionists and eliminationists have lost previous wars through a combination of political stupidity, diplomatic ineptitude and military flimsiness, so, too, can they lose this one.


The ICJ’s accusations against Israel are a modern version of medieval persecution of Jews
Earlier this month the International Court of Justice (ICJ) spent a full week hearing oral arguments by 39 UN member states, the United Nations and three international organizations. Forty three states and international organizations in total addrressed the court on a request to the ICJ by the UN General Assembly for an “advisory opinion” concerning Israel’s obligations to ensure humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.

This is part of a matrix of legal cases that have been waged against the State of Israel in the international courts in The Hague since Hamas and other Islamist jihad groups invaded Israel on 7 October 2023.

Over the past months, the Islamic, Arab and African groups of UN member states, with the support of some European and Latin American states – together comprising a majority of UN member states - have used the global legal system to seek court rulings that effectively deny the Jewish State of Israel the same rights as other states, including the inherent rights of states to territorial integrity, self-defence and security.

This bloc of mainly anti-Western states has mobilised the International Criminal Court (ICC) to accuse Israel’s leaders of war crimes, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to accuse the State of Israel of committing genocide, breaching fundamental human rights laws and the laws of war, and implementing an apartheid regime.

The states, groups of states and other entities who chose to appear before the court last week were: Palestine; Egypt; Malaysia; South Africa; Algeria; Saudi Arabia; Belgium; Colombia; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Spain; the United States of America; the Russian Federation; France; Hungary; Indonesia; Türkiye; Iran; Jordan; Kuwait; Luxembourg; Maldives; Mexico; Namibia; Norway; Pakistan; Panama; Poland; Qatar; the United Kingdom; China; Senegal; Slovenia; Sudan; Switzerland; Comoros; Tunisia; Vanuatu; the League of Arab States; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; and the African Union.

In almost all cases, their participation and arguments were driven by political, ideological and religious interests. “Palestine” (which is not a state, and thus, arguably, should not even be entitled to appear before the court) is controlled by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which by definition denies Israel’s fundamental rights. Most of the 37 states that appeared in Court are hostile towards Israel and the Jewish people. Twenty that condemned Israel are Islamic or Muslim majority countries.

It is therefore no surprise that the vast majority condemned Israel. Only a very few defended the difficult position that Israel faces in its asymmetric underground war with terrorist organizations embedded in the local population. Israel has been warning throughout the war that Hamas cynically exploits international humanitarian aid to support its war aims to destroy Israel.

The proceedings were provoked by Israel’s decisions to terminate its cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – UNRWA – and to restrict humanitarian aid into the strip. There is no UN agency specifically for any individual group of people other than Arab Palestinians. There is a plethora of pro-Palestinian institutions embedded within the United Nations. One of these is UNRWA, which was established and is authorised under General Assembly resolutions, adopted each year by majority votes leveraged by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, which has the largest membership of any organisation in the world other than the UN itself.
ICC Prosecutor Who Sought To Arrest Netanyahu Takes Leave Amid Sexual Assault Charges
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who sought an arrest warrant against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's war against the terrorist group Hamas, announced Friday that he is temporarily stepping down as the United Nations investigates sexual assault allegations against him.

Khan wrote in an email to staff that he will "take leave until the completion of the investigation" into a female aide's accusations that he coerced her into sexual intercourse on several occasions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The aide, a Malaysian lawyer in her 30s, says that Khan in 2023 invited her to his hotel room, where he "took her hand and eventually pulled her to the bed," the Journal reported. "Then he pulled off her pants and forced sexual intercourse, according to the testimony."

Khan learned of the aide's accusations last spring. Two weeks later, in May 2024, he announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Israel-Hamas war.

A Washington Free Beacon editorial at the time said that Khan's move "puts genocidal murderers and their would-be victims on a level moral playing field," illustrating "the ICC's moral obscenity and its ignorance of the way democracies have historically responded to existential threats."

The aide has said that "Khan invoked the court's investigation of Israel's war conduct to get her to disavow her allegations," according to the Journal. Khan has denied the charges.
Trump ends Mideast tour with synagogue visit in Abu Dhabi
U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East tour on Friday with a visit to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, an interfaith complex housing a mosque, church and synagogue.

During his visit to the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, guided by Emirati representatives, Trump described the experience as “amazing.”

“The Abrahamic Family House stands as a sacred and powerful testament to the vision of the Middle East shared by the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates,” he wrote in the guest book. “I see in this house the promise for our future if humanity chooses cooperation over conflict, friendship over enmity, prosperity over poverty, and hope over despair.”

While in Abu Dhabi, Trump stated, “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. … There’s a lot of bad things going on.”

Earlier, during a business summit in Qatar on Thursday, he proposed a plan regarding Gaza, saying, “Gaza’s been a territory of death and destruction for many years. And, you know, I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone.”

Trump continued, “They’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone, let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe. And Hamas is going to have to be dealt with.”

Trump indicated progress in nuclear negotiations, saying, “We’re in very serious negotiations” with Iran for long-term peace.


Thirty Senate Democrats condemn Israel’s Gaza aid blockade
Warning that “the entire population of the Gaza Strip … is facing acute levels of hunger,” a group of 30 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid moving into Gaza and calling on the Trump administration to work to end it.

The resolution states that the senators are “gravely concerned” with the “humanitarian crisis and acute suffering of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and “the suffering of the hostages and hostage families.”

It implores the U.S. government to “urgently use all available diplomatic tools to bring about the release of the hostages, an immediate cessation of the blockade on food and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians and a durable end to the conflict in Gaza.”

The resolution asserts that “the entire population of the Gaza Strip … is facing acute levels of hunger.”

The resolution was co-sponsored by a broad cross-section of lawmakers: ​​Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Sen. Murphy to force votes on halting weapons sales to Qatar and UAE
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on Thursday that he’ll attempt to force a vote on his resolutions halting several sets of arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in response to the Qataris offering President Donald Trump a $400 million Boeing jet to add to the Air Force One fleet and the Emiratis investing $2 billion in his family’s cryptocurrency coin.

The Connecticut senator’s joint resolutions of disapproval target $1.9 billion in arms sales to Qatar and $1.6 billion in weapons sales to the UAE, all five of which were co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

The $1.9 billion sale to Qatar includes eight MQ-9B armed drones and related equipment, including 200 JDAM tail kits, 300 500-pound bombs and 110 Hellfire II missiles. The three Emirati sales include six CH-47F Block II Chinook helicopters and relevant equipment, valued at $1.32 billion; F-16 aircraft components, accessories and defense services, a $130 million value; and spare or repair parts for the UAE’s AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook aircraft, a $150 million value.

“This isn’t a gift out of the goodness of their hearts — it’s an illegal bribe that the president of the United States is champing at the bit to accept. That’s unconstitutional and not how we conduct foreign policy. Unless Qatar rescinds their offer of a ‘palace in the sky’ or Trump turns it down, I will move to block this arms sale,” Murphy said in a statement on the Qatari resolution.
Witkoff said to give Iranians written US proposal for nuclear deal; Tehran denies it
The US gave Iran a written proposal for a nuclear deal during the fourth round of talks between the two countries earlier this week, a US media outlet reported Thursday. Tehran denied receiving such a document.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, presented the proposal to the Iranians in Oman on Sunday, a US official and two other sources with direct knowledge of the matter told the Axios news site.

The outlet said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took the offer back to Tehran for consultations with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The report added that in the first round of talks, Araghchi offered Witkoff a document with written proposals, but the US envoy said it was too early in the process and that relations needed to be built first.

Witkoff accepted a document at the third round of talks, Axios said.

After a team of American experts examined that proposal and responded with questions, the Iranians replied and asked questions of their own.

At the same time, the US team readied its own proposal of the limits for an Iranian civilian nuclear program and monitoring requirements, the sources told Axios.

That proposal was then handed over in Oman to the Iranians, the report said.

US State Department officials declined to comment to Axios.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that they had not received a fresh proposal from Washington, adding that Tehran would only ship its highly enriched uranium abroad if US sanctions were lifted “verifiably and effectively.”


Reasons for Hope about Syria
Yesterday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israeli representatives have been involved in secret talks, brokered by the United Arab Emirates, with their Syrian counterparts about the potential establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries. Even more surprisingly, on Wednesday an Israeli reporter spoke with a senior official from Syria’s information ministry, Ali al-Rifai. The prospect of a member of the Syrian government, or even a private citizen, giving an on-the-record interview to an Israeli journalist was simply unthinkable under the old regime. What’s more, his message was that Damascus seeks peace with other countries in the region, Israel included.

These developments alone should make Israelis sanguine about Donald Trump’s overtures to Syria’s new rulers. Yet the interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s jihadist resumé, his connections with Turkey and Qatar, and brutal attacks on minorities by forces aligned with, or part of, his regime remain reasons for skepticism. While recognizing these concerns, Noah Rothman nonetheless makes the case for optimism:
The old Syrian regime was an incubator and exporter of terrorism, as well as an Iranian vassal state. The Assad regime trained, funded, and introduced terrorists into Iraq intent on killing American soldiers. It hosted Iranian terrorist proxies as well as the Russian military and its mercenary cutouts. It was contemptuous of U.S.-backed proscriptions on the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield, necessitating American military intervention—an unavoidable outcome, clearly, given Barack Obama’s desperate efforts to avoid it. It incubated Islamic State as a counterweight against the Western-oriented rebel groups vying to tear that regime down, going so far as to purchase its own oil from the nascent Islamist group.

The Assad regime was an enemy of the United States. The Sharaa regime could yet be a friend to America. . . . Insofar as geopolitics is a zero-sum game, taking Syria off the board for Russia and Iran and adding it to the collection of Western assets would be a triumph. At the very least, it’s worth a shot. Trump deserves credit for taking it.
UN conference on two-state solution to Israel-Palestinian conflict set for June
An international conference meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict will take place from June 17 to 20 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a UN spokeswoman said Friday.

The conference stems from a resolution approved in December by the UN General Assembly, and it will be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. A diplomat in Paris close to preparations for the conference said it should pave the way for more countries to recognize a full-blown Palestinian state.

Nearly 150 countries recognize the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority as the State of Palestine, which has observer status at the United Nations but is not a full member as the UN Security Council has not voted to admit it.

In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took the step of recognizing a Palestinian state, infuriating Israel. Other European governments, including France, have not.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in April that Paris could recognize a Palestinian state in the coming months, possibly at the June conference. The French president’s statement drew a furious response from Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a “huge prize for terror.”

Macron said at the time that he wished to organize the New York conference to encourage not just recognition of a Palestinian state, “but also a recognition of Israel from states that currently do not.”


IDF strikes 150 terror targets in Gaza in a day
The military attacked more than 150 terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours as part of operations against Hamas and other factions, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.

Airstrikes targeted anti-tank positions, terrorist cells, and structures used to launch attacks on Israeli troops, the IDF said. Ground forces from the 252nd, 143rd and 36th Divisions operated in northern and southern Gaza, destroying tunnel shafts and “military” infrastructure, and killing terrorists engaged in active combat and plotting attacks.

The operations are being conducted under the direction of the Military Intelligence Directorate, the IDF Southern Command and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).


IDF strikes two Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen
The IDF struck the Hodeidah and Al-Salif ports in Yemen on Friday, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.

The military said that these ports are used for transferring weapons and are "another example of the cynical use and exploitation of civilian infrastructure by the Houthi terrorist regime to advance terrorism."

The strikes were carried out by 15 Israeli air force fighter jets, and over 35 munitions were dropped on the ports.

The strikes will likely put these ports out of operational use for a month, according to IDF estimates. The targets that were hit were more international and more central for the Houthis than what the US hit when it was striking Houthi targets in Yemen.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the military "severely damaged" the ports it attacked in Yemen on X/Twitter shortly after the strikes.

"As we said: If the Houthis continue to fire missiles toward the State of Israel, they will suffer painful blows — and we will also target terror leaders as we have done with Deif and the Sinwars in Gaza, Nasrallah in Beirut, and Haniyeh in Tehran. We will hunt down and eliminate Abd al-Malik al-Houthi in Yemen as well."

"We will defend ourselves by our own strength against any enemy," Katz concluded.
US developing plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya, NBC News reports
The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as much as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, NBC News reported on Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.

Citing two people with direct knowledge and a former US official, NBC reported that the plan is under serious enough consideration that the US has discussed it with Libya's leadership.

In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago, according to the same three sources.

Palestinians, according to one source, may be incentivised to leave with the promise of a stipend and housing.

Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, claimed the terror group was unaware of plans to relocate Palestinians to Libya but condemned the rumored relocation plans nonetheless.

“Palestinians are very rooted in their homeland, very strongly committed to the homeland, and they are ready to fight up to the end and to sacrifice anything to defend their land, their homeland, their families, and the future of their children,” Naim said in response to questions from NBC News.

“[Palestinians] are exclusively the only party who have the right to decide for the Palestinians, including Gaza and Gazans, what to do and what not to do.”

The alleged plans come amid significant civil tensions in Libya, where protesters have demanded that members of the government resign.
The Gaza Grift: Meet Dr. Hamza Al Sharif
We’ve all heard the stories: Gazans launching emotional crowdfunding campaigns, only for the money to disappear—or worse, end up in terrorist hands.

The most infamous case? Saleh al-Jafarawi, aka “Mr. Fafo,” a Hamas member who allegedly embezzled $10 million he claimed was for rebuilding a Gaza hospital. In reality, it likely went straight to Hamas.

But he’s not the only one.

Gaza-based fundraising has become a murky ecosystem of unverifiable appeals—many of them run by people with clear terror affiliations or sympathies. And Western platforms like GoFundMe are ill-equipped to stop it.

Take Dr. Hamza al-Sharif, an anesthesiologist at Gaza’s European Hospital—the very one under which Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar was likely killed earlier this week in an IDF strike on a terror tunnel.

Dr. al-Sharif has an active PayPal fundraiser and a GoFundMe campaign that claims the money will go “to him and his family members.” As of this writing, the GoFundMe has raised over $13,000. He posts the link to the GoFundMe dozens of time per day on his X account.

But here’s the thing:
A prior GoFundMe campaign for Hamza raised over $31,000.

A third campaign has vanished—its page now returns a blank screen.

That means he’s raised at least $44,000, possibly more—and that’s not even counting the donations he’s recieved on PayPal, which aren’t public as far as I’m aware. And we’re told this is all for his family.

So—who exactly is his family? Hamza’s Facebook page gives us some insight.

On his Facebook page, Hamza proudly honors two relatives (relation unclear): Mahmoud and Mohammed al-Sharif, both members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, killed in 2014. He calls them “lion cubs of the Merciful” and celebrates their “martyrdom” in multiple posts.

This is a man openly glorifying Hamas terrorists—now collecting tens of thousands of dollars via Western crowdfunding platforms with no accountability.


Assailant wounds police officer in terror attack
A 25-year-old police officer was wounded in a terror attack in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, police and Magen David Adom reported.

The incident occurred at one of the entrance gates to the Temple Mount.

The suspect reportedly arrived at the scene with a knife, and a police officer approached him. Then, the attacker charged at the officer and stabbed him in the back. Israel Police conduct an investigation after an officer was stabbed in a terror attack by the Chain Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 16, 2025. (Credit: Israel Police Spokesperson)

The suspect was shot and killed at the scene by a border guard and a second police officer, according to Maariv. The wounded officer evacuated by MDA personnel for medical treatment at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center in moderate condition.

The suspect was a 17-year-old resident of Beit Hanina, the police statement said.

Terror attack in the West Bank
A recent terror attack took the life of Tzeela Gez, a 30-year-old mother of three, on Wednesday night in a shooting on Route 446 in the West Bank's Binyamin region while en route to the hospital to give birth to her fourth child.

Doctors at Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva declared her dead the following morning after attempting to save her life.

After conducting an emergency Caesarean section to save her unborn child, hospital officials reported a slight improvement in the baby’s condition as of Friday morning. However, they stated that the baby's condition is still serious but stable.

Last week, at least three IDF soldiers were wounded in two separate incidents that occurred minutes apart in the West Bank. The wounded were evacuated via helicopter to the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.
Andrew Fox: CONFIRMED! The People of Gaza are Victims! 🪂 🤸‍♀️ (aka Human Sacrifices)
Since 10/7, the UN has issued 367 reports that are filed under the subject of the “Gaza Strip.” A search of these reports reveals that the UN has never acknowledged the use by Hamas of “human shields,” only mentioning the concept four times, in each case in only a single sentence, as either an “allegation,” an Israeli “claim” or an unverified “report” that this practice occurred.

The UN has never dedicated a single paragraph, let alone an entire report, analyzing how Hamas has fought the war in Gaza. In contrast, the UN has issued at least ten reports critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, from accusations of “indiscriminate attacks” to illegal “attacks on hospitals.”

A November 2024 investigative report by the UN accused Israel of committing genocide, but the document makes no mention, let alone an analysis, of Hamas’ fighting tactics in Gaza. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch each released reports in December 2024 accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Over hundreds of pages of text, the reader would struggle to realize that Hamas even exists in Gaza. Neither report by the NGOs provides any discussion or analysis of Hamas’ human shield strategy.

In this video, Andrew Fox discusses the findings of his report (co-written with Salo Aizenberg) for the Henry Jackson Society. It is the “missing chapter” from all the UN and NGO reports. This document provides a comprehensive analysis of Hamas’ systematic use of human shield tactics during the 10/7 Israel-Hamas war and the broader Gaza conflict. Drawing on extensive evidence from international media, military assessments, legal frameworks, and firsthand accounts, the report outlines how Hamas embedded its military operations within civilian infrastructure, weaponizing Gaza’s population and urban landscape to achieve both tactical and strategic objectives.


Tikvah PodCast: J.J. Kimche on Paul Johnson’s Legacy of Philo-Semitism
Born in 1928 in Manchester, Paul Johnson was a British Catholic who while at the helm of the New Statesman liked to boast that he had met every British prime minister from Churchill to Blair and every American president from Eisenhower to George W. Bush—the latter of whom awarded Paul Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.

After publishing a fascinating, spanning history of Christianity, Paul Johnson grew ever more curious about Judaism, Christianity’s elder brother in faith. That fascination led, in 1987, to the publication of his A History of the Jews, which until now is perhaps the best paced, best written single-volume history of the Jewish idea in English. It was sometimes quipped that it was given as a gift to half the bar mitzvahs in America. Paul Johnson died at the age of ninety-four in January 2023.

Shortly after Johnson’s death, the Jewish historian J.J. Kimche published an analysisA History of the Jews. Kimche provokes some very fascinating questions, including why this lifelong Catholic took such a sympathetic view and lively interest—theological, historical, social, cultural—in the Jews. What does such a non-Jew see in Jewish history, and what can we, as Jews, learn from his external perspective on our own past? Kimche joins Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver to discuss these questions.
Jonny Gould: 184: Dumisani Washington: BLM is trying to capture black identity and spread Jew-hate. It's a self-destructive ideology
From gospel stages to the Western Wall, Dumisani Washington’s journey is anything but ordinary.

As the founder of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, Dumisani shares his extraordinary path - born and raised in the African American church and studying classical piano, to discovering his deep connection with Israel and founding a movement to bridge the gap between Black and Jewish communities.

In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Dumisani exposes the dangerous manipulation of Black identity by movements like BLM, reveals how Iran and anti-Zionist ideologies are infiltrating minority spaces, and explains the true historical bond between Africa and Israel — a bond rooted in Scripture, music, and justice.

He shares what happened after his first visit to Israel, how antisemitism in America is being repackaged for a new generation, and why Black-Jewish unity is more urgent than ever post October 7th.

This is what solidarity can really look like, a conversation which I hope will inspire you and cut through the more negative headlines we’re all exposed to.
Bring them home or win this war? The question on everyone's mind (Meira K w/Xaviaer DuRousseau)
In this episode of “The Meira K Show,” host Meira K sits down with PragerU powerhouse and cultural commentator Xaviaer DuRousseau to discuss the most pressing issues shaping Israel, America and the world today.

Recorded live at the JNS International Policy Summit, this conversation covers it all—from the psychological toll of the hostage crisis and Israel’s moral dilemma in negotiating with terrorists, to the global silence around Iran’s aggression and the failures of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Xaviaer shares candid thoughts on the deep state, the erosion of free speech and the global dangers of propaganda, while Meira opens up about the emotional weight Israelis carry in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023.

Also in this episode:
The future of social media and the rise of Gen Z truth-tellers
What Christian conservatives and Zionists can learn from each other
Why Xaviaer believes Hamas must be completely eradicated
Lessons America should take from Israeli unity and resilience
Why “woke” ideology is failing and what must replace it

Packed with bold opinions, surprising insights and even a little humor, this episode is a must-watch for anyone trying to make sense of the chaos—and find hope on the other side.


Israel Advocacy Movement: Christian Asks Jew Offensive Questions… Gets Shocked By Reply

NYC mayoral hopeful refuses to officially condemn Holocaust, support Israel — in city with largest concentration of Jews in the US
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani refused to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the Holocaust — with critics ripping the mayoral hopeful as having “no business representing the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.”

Mamdani, 33, a state Assembly member from Queens, skipped out on one resolution earlier this week that celebrated the Jewish state on its 77th anniversary — instead getting an endorsement in the mayoral race from anti-Israel former Rep. Jamaal Bowman in The Bronx.

On Jan. 27, Mamdani declined to sign onto another resolution that denounced the Holocaust. His campaign spokesperson told The Post Friday he backed it with a “voice vote” — but didn’t explain why he didn’t back it on paper.

Mamdani’s apparent snub of the resolutions sparked outrage as the Democratic Socialists of America candidate seeks to lead New York City, which counts the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

“Why would anybody be surprised? He is undoubtedly the most anti-Israel person in the Assembly,” Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) told The Post.

“I think there are unfortunately a few members of the legislature who don’t believe that Israel has a right to exist and I believe he’s one of them.”

Four other fellow socialist Dems joined Mamdani in not signing onto Wednesday’s pro-Israel resolution, including Assemblymembers Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), Claire Valdez (D-Queens), Marcela Mitaynes (D-Brooklyn) and Sarahana Shrestha (D-Ulster).

That resolution, No. 509, called for “congratulation the State of Israel on the 77th Anniversary of its establishment and reaffirming the bonds of friendship, cooperation, and shared values between the people of the State of New York and Israel.”

It also designated 2025 as the “77th Anniversary of the establishment of the modern State of Israel in the ancestral home of the Jewish people.”
Chicago mayor appoints local activist who tore down hostage posters to fiscal board
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing sharp criticism from the city’s only Jewish alderman over his decision to appoint a local activist who was caught on video tearing down posters of Israeli hostages to a prominent city commission.

Ishan Daya, the co-director of a think tank called the Institute for Public Good, was named to Johnson’s new Chicago Fiscal Sustainability Working Group, which will make recommendations to the mayor for a long-term financial plan for the city. The group’s other members include prominent Chicagoans working at institutions including Google, United Way, Microsoft and Chicago Urban League.

Daya lost his job as CEO of the food and beverage company Crafty in November 2023, just weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, when a video filmed in New York showed him ripping down posters of Israelis who had been kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group. “F*** you and burn in hell,” a woman accompanying him said to the people filming the act.

“I am appalled by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to appoint Ishan Daya to the city’s newly formed budget working group,” Alderman Debra Silverstein said in a statement on Friday. “Appointing him to a leadership position in Chicago is a deliberate slap in the face to the Jewish community and to all those praying for the release of the [58] hostages still held in Gaza.”

In a statement posted after the incident went viral, Daya acknowledged “the impact of my actions” but claimed the hostage poster had contained “disinformation” with “claims about Palestinians that were racist and vitriolic.” Daya later removed the statement from his personal website.


Anita Anand debuts at foreign affairs by doing publicity for Hamas
A day after being sworn in as foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand lashed out at Israel proving, yet again, that the Liberals are oddly concerned with keeping the support of those who sympathize with terrorists.

When asked by a reporter about Israel’s blockade of Gaza, Anand could have pointed out that Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that governs the enclave, had been stealing aid and reselling it for profit. She could have pointed out that it was Hamas that refused to continue a ceasefire with Israel that would have ended the war. She could have pointed out that Hamas continues to hold hostages, or that it routinely inflates casualty numbers and obscures the number of fighters killed to leave the impression of higher civilian deaths. Finally, Anand could have pointed out that Hamas started the war with Israel by committing the October 7 massacre.

She could have pointed out any number of those things, but instead, Anand chose to attack Israel. “We cannot allow the continued use of food as a political tool,” she started, conveniently ignoring Hamas’s routine theft of aid. The terrorist organization has profited at least US$500 million from stolen aid since October 7, funds it has used to bolster its ranks. For example, in October Hamas was caught on camera hijacking 47 aid trucks in a convoy of 100.

After Israel started its blockade in March, however, Hamas started to struggle to pay its terrorist fighters, as funds from stealing aid began to dry up.

Chastising Israel for using food as a “political tool” while overlooking the fact humanitarian aid has been used to fund Hamas’s own war effort, demonstrates an appalling level of bad faith on the part of the foreign affairs minister.

Anand then summed up the war as one entirely of Israel’s making, while simultaneously accepting Hamas’s dubious casualty count. “Over 50,000 people have died as a result of the aggression caused against the Palestinian and the Gazan people in Palestine,” she said.

Anand, apparently, gets her information and her talking points from Hamas, which, again, started this war when it slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel. Suggesting the war is “a result of the aggression caused against” the Palestinians shows she is either very poorly informed, or deliberately pushing an anti-Israel agenda that is absent of facts.


NYC mayor to propose full mask ban in the city to deter Jew-hatred
New York City Mayor Eric Adams plans to introduce new legislation to the City Council calling for a comprehensive, city-wide mask ban as a measure to combat Jew-hatred, he told i24News on Thursday.

“When you see some of the protests in the street, many people are covering their faces,” he told the Israeli channel. “You saw it on the college campuses. People are covering their faces. It clearly emboldens individuals when they want to do something improper when they’re able to conceal their identity.” (JNS sought comment from the mayor’s office.)

“I don’t believe they should be able to do that,” he said.

Adams criticized recent Albany legislation, which adds penalties if a masked person is charged with a Class A misdemeanor, for falling short of a full mask ban. (Before the COVID pandemic, the state had a full mask ban.)

“We were hoping that we would have a strong piece of legislation to come out of Albany to deal with this issue,” he told i24. “The legislation, I don’t believe, goes far enough.”

Instituting a mask ban would reduce Jew-hatred incidents in New York City, according to Adams.

“When you expose the faces of people, they’re less willing to do something that is disrespectful, antisemitic, and in some cases, criminal behavior,” he said.
‘We will be prepared,’ NYC mayor tells JNS of security ahead of Israel Day Parade
New York City is increasing security ahead of Sunday’s Israel Day Parade, with street closures, screening checkpoints and specialized police teams set to monitor activity along the parade route, according to a security briefing at police headquarters in Manhattan.

Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said at the Friday morning security briefing that, in preparation for Sunday’s parade, the section of Fifth Avenue from 52nd to 78th Streets will be closed starting at 7:30 a.m. Designated screening entry points will be located on the East Side at 61st, 63rd, 66th, 70th and 73rd Streets, accessible from Madison Avenue.

“Everyone has a right to express their views peacefully, but no one has a right to engage in criminal activity, and we will not tolerate any attempts to disrupt this event or endanger those who come to celebrate,” she said. “The NYPD has been preparing for this event for months.”

A comprehensive security plan includes specialized emergency units, counterterrorism teams, a bomb squad and NYPD helicopters and drones providing aerial coverage, according to Tisch.

“This year’s parade comes at a time of heightened tension around the world and here at home,” she said. “Since the Oct. 7 attacks, there has been a notable increase in demonstrations and deeply personal emotions on all sides of the conflict, and we’ve also seen an unacceptable uptick in antisemitic threats and rhetoric.”
Anti-Israel protesters busted as cops hunt creep who bashed officer with metal barricade: cops
Eight anti-Israel protesters were busted during a wild march late Thursday – and cops are still hunting a ski mask-wearing agitator who bashed an NYPD cop in the face with a metal barricade, police said.

The march – led by the notorious Within Our Lifetime group – began at Cadman Plaza, continued over the Brooklyn Bridge, and passed through City Hall Park, Union Square Park and finally Madison Square Park.

By around 8:15 p.m., as protesters converged on Union Square Park, an unidentified agitator tried to stop the 39-year-old officer from moving a metal barricade, cops said.

As the aggressor struggled to hold onto the barrier, he slammed it into the cop’s face, authorities said.

The suspect then ran off and had not been caught by Friday. Police released a photo of the man, last seen wearing all black, in hopes of tracking him down.

The injured officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, police said.




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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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