Wednesday, August 06, 2025

08/06 Links Pt1: Between Illusion and Imitation: The IDF and the West’s War Dilemma; Israel has every right to finish the job in Gaza — by obliterating Hamas

From Ian:

General Yoav Gallant and John Spencer: Between Illusion and Imitation: The IDF and the West’s War Dilemma
No military is more publicly condemned today than the Israel Defense Forces. Yet behind closed doors, few are more studied. Western generals and defense officials routinely seek Israeli briefings, request access to doctrine and tactics, and pursue cooperation on training and technology. These efforts continue even as their political counterparts issue statements of moral outrage and condemnation. The contradiction reflects more than a double standard. It reveals a deeper divide between political perception and military reality, between external messaging and internal understanding, between illusion and experience.

Since the war in Gaza began, Israel has hosted dozens of foreign delegations. Military officers and defense officials observe Israeli operations firsthand. They ask technical questions about targeting processes, coordination between air and ground forces, real-time intelligence integration, and how combat units distinguish between civilians and combatants under fire. Some return weeks later to formalize cooperation on areas ranging from tunnel warfare to hostage recovery to civilian harm mitigation. Meanwhile, many of their political counterparts deliver rehearsed remarks emphasizing restraint, proportionality, and civilian protection, often with little connection to the operational context or ground realities they were just briefed on.

This is not just political inconsistency. It is strategic dissonance. War is never clean. Urban warfare against a hybrid enemy embedded in civilian areas is among the most complex challenges modern democracies will face. Yet the public discussion is often dominated by expectations of precision and perfection that no military force can guarantee. In many capitals, political performance overrides professional understanding.

In Gaza, Hamas constructed more than 300 miles of fortified tunnels beneath civilian infrastructure. It operates from hospitals, schools, and mosques by design, not necessity. Early in the war, the IDF learned a simple rule: if you want to find a tunnel, look beneath a school. If you are searching for an enemy headquarters, start under a mosque. If you suspect an arms depot, check the basement of a hospital. This is not coincidence; it is a consistent, deliberate tactic. Hamas has blocked evacuations, placed command centers inside humanitarian zones, and taken hundreds of hostages. These are not side effects of war. They are deliberate features of a strategy built to paralyze democracies, provoke condemnation, and weaponize civilian suffering. The targeting of civilians is not incidental. It is essential to Hamas’s operational concept.

Many political leaders respond by invoking past conflicts. They reference battles in Mosul, Aleppo, Fallujah, or Raqqa, assuming these comparisons provide meaningful precedent. But most of these conflicts did not involve an adversary intentionally preventing civilians from leaving combat zones. Most did not involve hundreds of hostages dispersed across a dense urban battlefield. Most involved insurgencies, not foreign-backed terror armies. Many involved military forces that did not follow the same standards of precision and accountability expected of Israel. These differences matter. Failing to account for them leads to flawed analysis and unrealistic policy prescriptions.

These dynamics are not limited to Gaza. Across the region, similar tactics are emerging. In southern Syria, the Julani regime has carried out atrocities against the Druze population while embedded within civilian areas. These acts of cruelty follow the same playbook used by Hamas. Yet few international voices draw consistent lines between them. This silence reflects another gap: the unwillingness to apply standards evenly when the political costs differ. Condemnation is directed at those who can hear it. Those who operate beyond the reach of democratic norms often face no scrutiny at all.

While calls for humanitarian concern grow louder, few political leaders press for solutions that would actually reduce civilian harm. Egypt continues to keep its border with Gaza closed, despite being the sole neighboring country uninvolved in the conflict and capable of providing immediate relief to civilians seeking safety. Evacuation routes remain blocked. Temporary refuge for civilians is politically possible but diplomatically ignored. Not a single major European government or United Nations body has mounted sustained pressure on Cairo to open the Rafah crossing or to establish a displaced persons or humanitarian zone a few kilometers into the Sinai. Instead, criticism centers on Israel, the only actor currently conducting both combat and humanitarian operations in the same battlespace. The imbalance distorts both perception and policy.
NYPost Editorial: Israel has every right to finish the job in Gaza — by obliterating Hamas
After Hamas’ repeated rejections of cease-fire deals and recently released videos of emaciated Israeli hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees only one choice: a full military occupation of Gaza.

That’s logical — with the possible serious weakness being . . . politics, both abroad and in Israel.

The Israeli security cabinet meets Thursday, reportedly to greenlight either a full occupation or at least plans for the IDF to move into or surround new territory, such as in Deir al-Balah and Gaza City.

The IDF already occupies 75% of Gaza, but has avoided areas where it believes action might endanger the lives of hostages.

But video evidence now shows Hamas abusing the hostages to death anyway. To have any hope of saving them, Israel must either 1) accept the only deal the terrorists will consider — essentially, surrender and let them keep power — or 2) move in to finish the terrorists off.

Israel would be nuts to surrender: Hamas still vows to repeat its massive Oct. 7 killing spree and continue massacring Jews until Israel is destroyed.

Finishing the job on the ground will be a huge task, but the IDF has pulled off difficult feats before.

What can seriously threaten the mission is anti-Israel political meddling by the outside world and internal pressure from hostages’ families and Netanyahu’s foes.

In Israel, some fear stepped up operations are a death warrant for the hostages.

Elsewhere, lefty ruling parties in France, the United Kingdom and Canada have already turned up the heat on Israel, with plans to reward the terrorists’ slaughter of Jews by recognizing a Palestinian state.

A top UN official calls plans to fully occupy Gaza “deeply alarming.”

Happily, the critics don’t include President Donald Trump, who says Israel’s plans are “up to Israel” to decide. Hear, hear.

Trump is concerned about hunger in Gaza and plans to expand US operations there to distribute food and supplies — a noble sentiment, but we can’t help but recall how similar relief work in Somalia in 1992 quickly led to the Black Hawk Down incident that saw 18 Americans killed.

The war in Gaza is every bit as risky.

But it could end tomorrow if Hamas stepped down, freed the hostages and left the strip.

Israel has every right to do what it must to eliminate Hamas once and for all — and anyone with any moral sense should back it to the hilt.
Prof. Kobi Michael and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser: The Occupation of the Gaza Strip—Why?
Israel has been at war in Gaza for nearly two years. Despite inflicting significant damage on Hamas's capabilities, Hamas continues to function, both civically and militarily, as the ruling power in substantial parts of Gaza. Hamas controls the Gaza City area, western Khan Yunis, the central refugee camps, and the al-Mawasi area, where about half of the population resides.

Hamas's leadership considers sumud (steadfastness) a supreme value with religious significance that transcends national meaning. It believes that merely surviving as the dominant armed force in Gaza, even in a weakened and damaged state, constitutes a form of victory over Israel. In Hamas's view, the Oct. 7 attack was a justified action that significantly advanced its goal of Israel's destruction.

The only way to prevent Hamas's resurgence is through its complete dismantling as the effective ruling entity in Gaza. Dismantling Hamas means eliminating its capacity to function as an organized military and governmental authority. Unless Hamas is dismantled, no viable civilian alternative can emerge, and no real reconstruction process can begin. A secure reality in and around Gaza cannot be established, nor can the threats of raids into Israel and rocket fire be eliminated.

If Hamas can be dismantled through a negotiated agreement, that would be the most desirable outcome. Yet, Hamas continues in its refusal to accept a deal. An agreement based on accepting Hamas's terms for the release of all the hostages is overly optimistic. The hostages are Hamas's most valuable asset and Hamas may not be quick to release them all. It is possible that not all the hostages are in Hamas's possession. Moreover, Hamas would portray the new reality as a victory and justification for the Oct. 7 attack, further motivating its military resurgence and desire for another such attack.

The full takeover of Gaza and the establishment of a temporary military administration constitute the act of ending the war and transitioning to the phase of establishing an alternative governance model to Hamas and creating the conditions for Gaza's reconstruction to begin. The dual purpose of a military administration is to prevent Hamas's resurgence and sever its ties to the civilian population. The aim is to convince Gaza's public that Hamas will not return, thereby opening the door for new actors to assume responsibility for civilian governance.


Netanyahu has ‘no interest in long-term Gaza occupation,’ Gottheimer says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want Israel to govern Gaza permanently, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) told JNS, amid reports that Netanyahu is considering a wider military operation in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.

Gottheimer, who was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Jewish state that met with Netanyahu on Wednesday, said that Israel is focused on defeating the terrorist group.

“We talked about it as the ultimate goal of ensuring that we crush Hamas, and we can’t have leadership and governance,” Gottheimer told JNS. “He was very clear to say that there was no interest in a long-term occupation and that you have to have some sort of multinational governance structure ultimately.”

Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu is considering ordering the Israel Defense Forces to occupy the entire Gazan territory, up from the roughly three-quarters it currently controls.

International aid organizations have accused the Jewish state of failing to deliver sufficient food and medical aid to the Gazan civilian population. Netanyahu has disputed those claims, saying that starvation “doesn’t exist” in Gaza and that media images of children, some known to have pre-existing muscular and developmental conditions, are Hamas propaganda.

Gottheimer, who visited the Kerem Shalom crossing point between Gaza and Israel and a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation coordination site, told JNS that he wanted to see how aid distribution was being carried out firsthand.

“I could see the aid moving in from Israel, massive amounts of aid moving from Israel,” the congressman said. “Watching that move quickly from the Israeli side to the Gazan side, and I saw massive amounts of trucks sitting on the Gazan side.”

Some 88% of U.N. trucks are being raided and looted by Hamas and others before reaching their destination.
Trump reportedly considering US takeover of aid delivery in Gaza
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon discuss ongoing efforts to distribute aid in Gaza as President Donald Trump considers U.S. involvement and the push to secure hostages' release.


Anne Bayefsky: The "New York Declaration" and Its Two-State Lie
At the UN last week, a three-day confab sought to promote a plan to create a permanent existential threat to the state of Israel and terminate the paradigm of a negotiated settlement. The U.S. and Israel refused to join the antisemitic mob mentality or to sign on to the "New York Declaration," which sets out to impose on Israel what Palestinians want instead of facilitating negotiations between the parties, contrary to legally-binding prior agreements.

Led by France and Saudi Arabia, the assembled gang met to conjure up support for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. The declaration decides all the elements that were supposed to be subject to negotiations as listed in the Oslo agreements, including borders, settlements and Jerusalem. Negotiations are mentioned at the tail end vaguely because there is nothing left to negotiate.

It demands Israel hand over fistfuls of money to the Palestinians - in the full knowledge that those dollars bankroll the pay-to-slay outrage. A Palestinian state is to come before "mutual recognition" of the Jewish state. It obscenely equates innocent Israeli hostages with Palestinian convicts having blood on their hands. It supports the Hamas practice of denying Palestinians a host of human rights: the right to flee, the right to leave any country including one's own, and the right to seek asylum.

It supports the deployment of international troops allegedly to protect Palestinian civilians, without Israeli approval. It preposterously praises the Palestinian Authority, which it claims should "continue implementing its credible reform agenda" - despite the fact that the PA has failed to implement any credible reforms for thirty years. It talks about protection of "legal and historical...Islamic and Christian" claims in Jerusalem and says nothing about Jewish claims, Jewish history, or Judaism's holiest sites.
JPost Editorial: Republican recognition grants Israel historic chance to cement West Bank sovereignty
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s decision to stand in the Samaria city of Ariel on Monday and declare that “Judea and Samaria… must remain an integral part” of Israel was far more than a private photo op. It marked the clearest sign yet that today’s Republican leadership is steadily erasing the Green Line from United States policy toward the Jewish state.

Johnson’s visit capped a string of high-level steps taken since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. On his first afternoon back in the Oval Office, Trump revoked Executive Order 14115 and lifted financial sanctions that the previous administration had imposed on a handful of what they called “extremist settlers” accused of West Bank violence.

Less than two weeks later, Sen. Tom Cotton introduced the RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act, a bill that would bar federal agencies from using the term “West Bank” in official documents, replacing it with the biblical term favored by Israel’s settler movement.

In February, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) adopted a resolution urging Washington to “recognize Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”

On the same day, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast circulated an internal memo instructing Republican staffers to follow suit in all committee correspondence.

Diplomats followed politicians. In a June interview with Bloomberg, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee abandoned the long-standing American goal of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting instead that any eventual Palestinian entity be established “elsewhere in the Arab world.”

The State Department then pivoted its pressure campaign away from settlement violence and toward Ramallah, imposing visa bans on senior Palestinian Authority officials it accused of “internationalizing” the conflict at the International Criminal Court.

Three forces underpin this conservative cartography:

Values politics. Evangelical voters who view the biblical heartland as non-negotiable.

Second, reaction politics. Progressive Democrats’ increasing emphasis on Palestinian rights has prompted GOP leaders to plant ideological flags beyond 1967 lines.

Third, policy entrepreneurship. Officials such as former ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo paved the way by rewriting labeling rules and funding guidelines. Today’s conservatives are simply finishing the job.
travelingisrael.com: International law - the WEST BANK belongs to Israel
According to international law, who does the West Bank belong to? To Israel. Surprised? Watch the video and you’ll see it actually makes sense.


BBC: The secret system Hamas uses to pay government salaries
After nearly two years of war, Hamas's military capability is severely weakened and its political leadership under intense pressure.

Yet, throughout the war Hamas has managed to continue to use a secret cash-based payment system to pay 30,000 civil servants' salaries totalling $7m (£5.3m).

The BBC has spoken to three civil servants who have confirmed they have received nearly $300 each within the last week.

It's believed they are among tens of thousands of employees who have continued to receive a maximum of just over 20% of their pre-war salary every 10 weeks.

Amid soaring inflation, the token salary - a fraction of the full amount - is causing rising resentment among the party faithful.

Severe food shortages – which aid agencies blame on Israeli restrictions - and rising cases of acute malnutrition continue in Gaza, where a kilogramme of flour in recent weeks has cost as much as $80 - an all-time high.

With no functioning banking system in Gaza, even receiving the salary is complex and at times, dangerous. Israel regularly identifies and targets Hamas salary distributors, seeking to disrupt the group's ability to govern.

Employees, from police officers to tax officials, often receive an encrypted message on their own phones or their spouses' instructing them to go to a specific location at a specific time to "meet a friend for tea".

At the meeting point, the employee is approached by a man - or occasionally a woman - who discreetly hands over a sealed envelope containing the money before vanishing without further interaction.


Netanyahu slated to speak at UN on Sept. 26
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to speak at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level debate on Sept. 26, according to a provisional schedule JNS viewed.

Netanyahu plans to fly into New York City the day before—a Thursday—due to Rosh Hashanah, which is celebrated in the United States from the evening of that Monday through until sundown on Wednesday, JNS was told. The high-level debate begins on Sept. 23.

An international summit on Palestinian statehood, which France and Saudi Arabia are slated to sponsor, is scheduled for Sept. 22 in conjunction with the General Assembly. The organizers hope to draw heads of state and government.

The summit’s precursor—a conference held last week at the United Nations—coincided with several countries declaring their intentions to recognize a Palestinian state at the September summit.

Israel is not expected to participate in the September summit after avoiding last week’s conference.


Ami’s House: Arab-on-Arab Violence: Where's the Global Outrage? Israeli-Druze Mansor Ahskar on Gaza, 1948 & Syria
Israeli-Druze, and former IDF Special Forces, Mansor Ashkar reveals the shocking truth about what's happening to his people in Syria right now - and why the world is staying silent.

In 1948, two Arab communities made opposite choices that changed everything. One chose the "Blood Covenant" with Israel. The other chose eternal war. Today, one community thrives.

🔥 WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER:
→ The secret origins of the word "assassin" (you'll never guess)
→ Why Druze soldiers see things in Gaza that contradict everything in the media
→ How "human shields" actually work (from someone who's seen it firsthand)
→ The theological reason some Arab communities can coexist with Jews while others can't
→ Why Assad's fall created a massacre nobody's covering

00:00 - 01:41 | The Secret People: Who Are the Druze?
01:42 - 07:05 | How 1948 split Arab communities into two different destinies
07:06 - 13:24 | Jethro's Children: Ancient Roots, Modern Loyalty
13:25 - 18:43 | Druze survival strategy
18:44 - 25:06 | How the Syrian regime collapse unleashed hell on Druze communities
25:07 - 28:46 | Responding to claims that Israel caused the current Syrian chaos
28:47 - 34:12 | Power Vacuum: When Dictators Fall, Jihadis Rise
34:13 - 38:02 | What Israel learned from Syria about power vacuums
38:03 - 41:55 | Why some genocides get headlines while others get silence
41:56 - 46:55 | Shocking Personal Story in Zurich
46:56 - 54:59 | An IDF soldier's firsthand account of how Hamas uses civilians
55:00 - 58:22 | What really happens at humanitarian aid sites
58:23 - 01:02:12 | Why Israel's cautious approach in Gaza prolonged suffering
01:02:13 - 01:07:08 | Palestinian State Delusion: Why Two States Won't Work
01:07:09 - 01:09:20 | Latest updates on Syrian massacres and international silence




IDF orders evacuation of Gaza City area cleared twice before
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday urged Palestinians in the Gaza City district of Zeitoun to evacuate to the southern Strip, as the army continues to deepen its ground operations against Hamas westward.

IDF forces first entered Zeitoun, once considered a major Hamas terrorist stronghold, in November 2023. In March 2024, the military carried out a two-week clearance operation in Zeitoun after Hamas’s presence resurged in the Gaza City neighborhood.

“As previously warned, the IDF is continuing to expand its operations westward. For your safety, evacuate immediately southward to the Al-Mawasi area,” Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, tweeted on Wednesday morning.

Al-Mawasi, a humanitarian zone near Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, was established by the IDF in 2023 and later expanded.

Later on Wednesday, the IDF issued a second evacuation order for residents of a small part of Khan Yunis in the southern part of Gaza.

“The IDF is continuing its ground maneuver and is using heavy force in your area to expand the scope of the fighting,” Adraee said in an X post.

Counter-terrorism operations across the coastal enclave are ongoing as part of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” an IDF campaign with the stated goal of dismantling Hamas’s remaining military capabilities, taking control of key areas and securing the release of the 50 captives.


Misgav Institute: Ep. 7: What’s next in Gaza?
In this episode, Lahav and Asher speak with Brigadier General (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former Head of Research in IDF Intelligence, and former Director-General of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, about Israel’s options in Gaza, lessons from the 2005 Disengagement, and what Israel can do to counter international delegitimization. Kuperwasser explains the logic behind plans for taking over all of Gaza, shares insights from his conversations with Ariel Sharon regarding leaving the Philadelphi Corridor, and responds to the former senior military and security officials who are calling to end the war and leave Hamas in power.

Kuperwasser, who served as a Senior Fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and today directs the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, also shares his insights into the future of the Palestinian arena in the post –Abbas era.

In the first segment of this episode, Lahav and Asher analyze the upcoming decisions regarding the Gaza operation, the true implications of the demands being made of Israel to ensure the provision of sufficient food to every Gazan, despite efforts by Hamas and criminal gangs to divert aid, and the recent votes in the U.S. Senate regarding military sales to Israel.


"What's Coming in Gaza is WAY Bigger Than Anyone Realizes..."
In this episode, we dive into the growing rumors that Israel may move to annex Gaza after Hamas is dismantled—and what that could mean for the region. With Hamas rejecting yet another hostage deal, it’s becoming increasingly clear that they’re not interested in peace, only prolonging the conflict. Meanwhile, inside Israel, the conversation is shifting from short-term war tactics to long-term strategy. Is Gaza about to be reshaped forever? We unpack the latest developments, the political implications, and the silence in the media surrounding what could be a historic turning point.


We Went To The Gaza Aid Site, Watch What We DISCOVERED!



Gerald M. Steinberg: Gaza Starvation and the Jenin Massacre Hoax
For those who remember the April 2002 Jenin "massacre" hoax, the whirlwind of accusations of genocide, starvation and mass killings in Gaza are familiar. Then, as now, there is very little verifiable information, but, relying on Palestinian "sources," with their UN and NGO industry allies, Israel is again pronounced guilty. The Jenin massacre hoax serves as an object lesson for how a concerted campaign can turn propaganda and lies - parroted in a closed echo chamber - into unquestioned fact.

Israeli forces were accused of a large-scale massacre in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The dense urban area was the center of a Palestinian terror network that had carried out mass bombings, including a Passover night attack in Netanya that killed 30 Israeli civilians (a real massacre). Israeli casualties numbered hundreds of dead, and thousands with major injuries.

Immediately after IDF forces entered Jenin, Palestinian officials and NGO "experts" rushed to the BBC and CNN, where they authoritatively declared that Israeli forces killed 500 or even 1,300 civilians. They described IDF tanks allegedly bulldozing homes and executing civilians. The UN Human Rights Commission held an emergency session to demand that Israel open the area to "international observers." NGOs lobbied intensively for the creation of an "independent investigation commission" to examine the evidence of Israeli war crimes. (The hundreds of Israeli victims of the Palestinian mass bombing campaign were of no interest to these human rights stalwarts.)

But it was all a lie. Only 50 confirmed names of dead Palestinians were published (most affiliated with terror groups). 23 Israeli soldiers were killed In the fighting. But there were no consequences for the journalists, UN or NGO officials who spread the lies and added to anti-Israel hate propaganda.

The storm regarding the food distribution process in Gaza features the same combination of unverified claims and the central role of NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in spreading the myths. As in Jenin, it could take months to discern and separate the facts in Gaza from the lies. It is important to maintain a healthy skepticism regarding unverified rumors.
Gaza photographer exposed as Hamas propagandist, German investigation found
As photos of hungry Palestinian children holding empty pots sparked mass protests condemning Israel for Gaza starvation and influenced international politics worldwide, a German investigation by Süddeutsche Zeitung reveals these powerful images may be systematically staged as part of Hamas terrorist propaganda operations, BILD reported.

One widely circulated photograph recently showed desperate people gathered before a food distribution truck. Photographer Anas Zayed Fteiha, allegedly a freelance journalist commissioned by Turkish news agency Anadolu, stood facing the crowd. According to BILD, the sequence shows people waving their containers before receiving food distribution; however, Fteiha did not provide these follow-up images and failed to respond to BILD's inquiry about which photographs he captured there.

The investigation found that while other photographers documented adult men successfully receiving food distribution at this scene, Fteiha appears to selectively document only initial desperation while omitting evidence of successful food distribution, relating it to his personal views on the Gaza War. Fteiha's Instagram account features "Free Palestine" artwork depicting him in combat gear labeled "Press," created by an artist who openly expresses hatred toward Jews, and the investigation also found a video headlined "F**k Israel" on his social media. Beyond his social media posts, the photographer works with europe.palestine.network, which describes itself as a "pro-Palestinian collective" conducting "global actions in Europe" that documents Palestinian hardship in Gaza while promoting "resistance" against Israel internationally.

Turkish state agency connection
Fteiha works as a photographer and video correspondent for a news organization directly controlled by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has promoted, financed, and harbored Hamas terrorists over multiple years, according to BILD.

The German publication contacted photo agencies about using photographs from Fteiha. Deutsche Presse-Agentur and Agence France-Presse confirmed they avoid working with Fteiha and examine photographers' backgrounds before publication. Reuters stated their photos "satisfy standards for accuracy, independence, and impartiality." The German Journalists' Association told BILD that warring parties strategically deploy images to influence public opinion, noting that Israel's prohibition on independent reporters entering Gaza has created conditions where nearly exclusively Palestinian photographers operate within the territory.

Hamas controls Gaza imagery
The investigation found that many of the Palestinian photographers who operate within the Gaza Strip have Hamas connections. Historian and photography expert Gerhard Paul told Süddeutsche Zeitung that "In southern Gaza, Hamas controls 100 percent of image production," to generate Western sympathy while inflaming anger toward Israel, according to Paul, a method that was used by Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations before.


Israel kills Hezbollah terrorist linked to Golan rocket plots
Israel on Tuesday night eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in Southern Lebanon responsible for directing rocket-launching squads in Syria, according to the Israeli military.

Hassam Qassem Ghrab, who was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, was commanding terrorist cells in Syria that were planning to launch rockets toward the Golan Heights, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Uri Kellner, head of the Golan Regional Council, was quoted by Channel 12 News as saying that the operation “once again illustrates the instability and ongoing threat across the border, and the need for a determined IDF response that removes threats in real time and maintains the security of the state and its residents.”

The strike was the second on a Hezbollah terrorist Southern Lebanon in as many days.

On the night of July 31, the IDF carried out a wave of attacks on Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon, including a major missile production site.

These counter-terror activities come as Beirut begins discussions on removing weapons from non-state actors, including Hezbollah. This process was prompted by U.S. demands for the Lebanese government to begin disarming the Iranian-backed terror proxy.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced on Tuesday that the government had directed the army to draft a plan aimed at ensuring the state’s exclusive control over weapons and disarming groups operating outside official authority, including Hezbollah. The Lebanese Army will present the plan to the Cabinet before the end of August, and it is expected to be implemented by the end of this year, according to Salam’s statement.

The announcement followed a highly anticipated Cabinet meeting to debate the disarmament of Hezbollah. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun gathered ministers at the Baabda presidential palace southeast of Beirut, with discussions stretching into the evening amid uncertainty over the outcome. It was also decided to continue deliberations on the U.S. disarmament proposal this Thursday.


Douglas Murray: On Democracies and Death Cults (and Elizabethan England) - The One Way Ticket Show
On this episode of The One Way Ticket Show, we begin the conversation with Mr. Murray sharing his one way ticket back in time to Elizabethan England which he describes as the greatest period of the flowering of the English language. There, he would meet Shakespeare, attend performances at the Globe Theatre, and marvel at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I.

We then delve into his latest book, On Democracies and Death Cults:
Israel and the Future of Civilization and cover topics and thoughts, including:
Vasily Grossman’s quote from his book, Life and Fate: “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of” How many in the West don’t understand that for Hamas and people like Sinwar, their war against Israel is a religiously motivated jihad It’s a myth that all people – everywhere – want the same thing The extent to which and the consequences of populations being misled in closed societies Divorcing a performer’s politics from their performance (and how it would be wonderful if actors just “shut up” about politics in the first place!)
| The strange landscape that is the (news) media today His break mechanism of: “Never forget how much damage can be done by willful optimism” Why he never talks about his next book project And much more . . .


Eli Lake: Restless Nation | The Red-Green Alliance: The Making of Modern Iran (Part 2)
In our last episode, we traced the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and the forces building toward Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

This week, we turn to the man who brought that monarchy to an end: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

From exile in a quiet French chateau, Khomeini launched a revolution that shattered 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. But he didn’t do it alone.

Liberals and leftists, both inside Iran and across the West, played a crucial role in legitimizing his cause, a dynamic that feels familiar today.

This is the story of the first Red-Green Alliance, a tactical partnership between Islamists and the progressive left, and the cost of that alliance once power changed hands.
‘Absolutely heartbreaking’: World leaders remain silent on hostages held by Hamas
Former senator Hollie Hughes calls out world leaders for remaining silent on Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

“To see the disgusting protests on Sunday and the complete lack of recognition and comprehension from our own leadership and so many international leaders of what is truly going on,” Ms Hughes told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“This is absolutely heartbreaking.”


‘It is because of Hamas’: Anti-Israel sentiment reaches new highs
Sky News host Sharri Markson discusses the “absolutely wrong” prevailing view among the public as anti-Israel and anti-Netanyahu sentiment reaches new highs.

“There has been a noticeable shift in public sentiment and people are starting to turn on Israel, they are blaming Netanyahu for the war raging on and for the suffering in Gaza,” Ms Markson said.

“Now I say to you this, the prevailing view is not always right, it is manipulated by biased media outlets and distortions on social media, and it also influenced by repeated messages from the federal government that Israel is deliberately starving Palestinian children and that Israel is to blame.”


‘Performative politics’: Greg Sheridan on Labor’s ‘futile’ move towards Palestinian recognition
The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan says the Albanese government’s apparent shift towards recognising a Palestinian state is “performative politics”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has held a discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“To recognise a Palestinian state as a direct result of the barbaric, unbelievable, epoch-marking, savage terrorism of October 7 is just futile and counterproductive,” Mr Sheridan said.


Jewish community ‘alone’ and ‘scared’ amid surge in anti-Israel demonstrations
Jewish advocate Marnie Perlstein reacts to the outpouring in support for the Jewish community amid the antisemitism crisis in Australia.

NSW Police have launched a series of investigations into the Sydney Harbour Bridge protesters over death chants, waving terrorist flags, and displaying Hamas and Nazi symbols.

“I’m not going to lie that our community has felt so alone and really scared,” Ms Perlstein told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“To hear messages like that and to know that they came in their hundreds is really incredible and gives me some faith that Australians really do understand that this is not just an issue about the Jewish community but it’s really an issue about Australian values and the erosion of Australian values.”


Western governments ‘too scared’ to stand up to pro-Palestine movement
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage says the pro-Palestine movement is “scoring victories” across the Western world.

Mr Farage told Sky News host Paul Murray that governments and authorities are “too scared” to stand up to them.

“This is two-tier and it runs all the way through.”




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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