Friday, September 05, 2025

09/05 Links Pt1: The Choice: Trump or Obama; Hamas releases video of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel; Hold Jordan accountable: Extradite Sbarro terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

From Ian:

Lee Smith: The Choice: Trump or Obama
It seems important that Trump and Netanyahu’s campaign of purposeful misdirection preceding the Iran strikes was designed to fool not only the Iranians and their U.S. allies throughout media, academia, and the think-tank world, but also MAGA influencers who opposed military action to end Iran’s nuclear program. So long as they thought they’d boxed Trump in, outing a plot to stop Iran and its proxies that was contrived by a “neocon” cabal inside the administration that was destined to fail, these influencers favored the president they deemed vulnerable to their threats as well as their blandishments. After all, what was Trump without them?

Thus, Bannon must have been confident he’d be able to talk sense into Trump and dissuade him from striking Iran when the president invited him to the White House for lunch as doomsday for Iran’s nuclear program approached. Because Bannon’s echo chamber celebrated him as a savior, and because the anti-Trump schemers inside MAGA can’t fathom the thought that they’re utterly irrelevant without Trump, he was unprepared to find that Trump had used him as a decoy. Thus, after the president joined Israel’s efforts against Iran, Bannon, Carlson, and the rest were in open rebellion against Trump. The only other place on the board they could move to was Obama.

The MAGA cohort voicing its contempt for Israel and pro-Israel activists—and loathing for the Israeli leader with whom Trump has made a historic alliance—characterizes its stance by drawing on historical Republican models such as Buchanan. They’re not left-wingers, no; rather, according to them, they’re Buchananites.

The problem is that Pat Buchanan, who expressed his disdain for Israel supporters among the representatives of the U.S. public by labeling them Israel’s “amen corner” in Congress, was a presidential speechwriter and later a third-party presidential candidate. He never implemented policy because he wasn’t the president and never got close to being president. The president who implemented a policy to replace Israel and the Jews with the negation of Israel and the Jews is Obama. On the other side is Trump. In that framework, it’s clear that the aim of the nominally pro-Trump figures attacking the U.S.-Israel alliance is to complete Obama’s project and sever the United States from Israel and cut us off from our history.

Bannon is zeroing in on the strategic aspect of the U.S.-Israel relationship by claiming that Netanyahu is corrupt and Israel is weak and worthless as an ally. Israel is a protectorate, says Bannon. The Jews needed Trump to finish the job in Iran, and now they’re trying to drag America into a regime-change war. To help sell his case, Bannon draws on Obama partners such as Iran lobbyist Trita Parsi, a chief spokesman for the Iran nuclear deal.

Carlson, on the other hand, is focused on the American majority. Obama went after the Jews, but for Carlson, it’s Christians, in particular evangelicals, the bedrock of pro-Israel America. It seems that his slate of shows on religious or spiritual topics is purposed to build an evangelical audience—a potentially self-defeating endeavor, since selling despair, sowing confusion, and peddling lies about the Jews while comforting their hunters may give evidence to believers that a man who claims to have been attacked by demons lost that skirmish.

The more practical problem is that evangelicals understand not only scripture but also American history better than Carlson and his guests do. Americans’ love of Israel didn’t start at the dawn of the 20th century, thanks to a best-selling Bible commentary; rather, it’s contemporaneous with our founding. That is, the small upstate New York town founded in 1714, for instance, was named Goshen not because of the 1902 Scofield Bible, but because our forefathers believed that the American project is rooted in the history, faith, and trials of the Jews.

Replacing Israel and the Jews with the negation of Israel and the Jews means not only undermining our historical and cultural foundations but also exposing our constitutional republic to extinction-level danger. A Palestinian Youth Movement conference last week in Dearborn, Michigan, gave evidence of what happens when the enemies of the Jews are raised to pride of place: threats of assassinating pro-Israel officials and disrupting American supply lines and commerce, all in the name of anti-Zionist resistance.

Even before Biden collapsed our borders, we lost thousands of miles from our eastern-most frontier, Europe; the continent is on the verge of collapse under the weight of foreign populations whose values and ideas are incommensurate with the civilization the West built on the foundations laid long ago in Jerusalem. Our flank is increasingly exposed because we have no other ally who can or wants to fight to preserve our past and ensure our future. It’s the United States and Israel alone. Thus, the choice for us is stark: America or the hellfire, Trump or Obama.
Hold Jordan accountable: Extradite Sbarro terrorist Ahlam Tamimi
There have been some indications of American pressure on Jordan of late. On Oct. 1, 2020, for instance, Tamimi’s husband, Nizar Tamimi, was forced to leave the country after Jordan refused to renew his residency permit. He currently resides in Qatar.

Earlier this summer, the Trump administration was asked about Tamimi during a State Department Press Briefing as a reporter questioned what was “preventing” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio from pushing the Jordanians to enforce Tamimi’s extradition. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce promised to get more information.

The issue was raised two days later at another State Department press briefing. This time, the question was tied to President Trump’s Day One executive order declaring that America and its citizens come first.

Noting that Jordan receives more than a billion dollars in aid each here, the reporter asked a State Department spokesperson. “How is it conceivable that Tamimi is still there, and any of that falls under these dictates of what American foreign policy is supposed to be, with three dead Americans at Tamimi’s hands? … the U.S. failure to turn the screws on Jordan is a violation of Trump’s promise that ‘the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first.’”

This time, it was deputy spokesperson Thomas Pigott who proved a tepid response, saying the United States “has continually emphasized” to Jordan that Tamimi has to be held accountable, and that the United States “continues to impress” upon them that she should be brought to justice. This response, however, likely fell far short of the kind of pressure the reporter was asking about.

But it does seem that some more concrete steps to extradite Tamimi are being taken.

On July 17, the Roths met with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who plays a key role in extraditions. They also had a private meeting in May with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and presented him with a petition with more than 30,000 signatures urging more pressure on Jordan. However, the Roths have yet to meet with Rubio.

For years, Tamimi’s continued freedom has been a blatant symbol of impunity and a painful affront to the victims’ families. Yet lately, we are seeing signs of pressure being applied to the Trump administration. The recent involvement of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, continued high-level meetings and public pressure signal a possible shift and re-energizing of the push to finally hold Jordan accountable for its obligations.

It’s time to force Jordan to choose: Tamimi or $1.5 billion.
Trump signs order that punishes those who detain Americans illegally
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that creates a designation for state sponsors of wrongful detention of Americans.

A senior U.S. official told reporters that the public can appreciate the measure’s consequential nature by watching videos of Israeli-American Eden Alexander’s White House-brokered release from Hamas captivity earlier this year and Ksenia Karelina’s arrival on American soil after Washington intervened to secure her release from Russia.

“Listen to the voices of the American citizens, who were liberated as hostages and wrongfully detained, and that will give you the significance of the action the president is taking this afternoon,” the official said.

Senior Trump administration officials told reporters that designating states that support detaining Americans wrongfully is based on sanctions of state terror sponsors but has a different scope and purpose. The new designation aims to turn such detentions from a potential asset to a liability, they said.

Under the new order, Washington could bar officials and nationals from the offending country from entering the United States.

The U.S. government interprets the designation “wrongful detention” based on the degree to which the country’s judicial system is impartial, evidence presented against the alleged offender and whether the detention appears to be used as leverage to extract concessions from Washington, the senior officials said.

If offending countries don’t release wrongfully detained Americans prior to penalties being imposed, the new order could also limit U.S. passport holders from traveling to those states.

“We are drawing a very clear delineation today—a line in the sand,” a Trump administration official told reporters. “You will not use Americans as bargaining chips, and there will be severe consequences for anyone who thinks that that which was done under the Biden regime can continue under the second Trump administration.”

The order applies to entities that control significant territory, even if they aren’t recognized governments.


Netanyahu repeats Israel's conditions for ending war after Hamas propaganda video
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated the conditions Israel has set for ending the war following a lengthy conversation with the parents of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel, in light of the Hamas propaganda video of them released earlier on Friday, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

The prime minister iterated that the war can end immediately under the conditions Israel has set, including the release of all 48 hostages remaining in Gaza; the disarmament of Hamas; the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israel being able to maintain security control over the Strip; and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that does not pose a threat to Israel.

Netanyahu's office stressed that no propaganda video will weaken its resolve or divert the government from achieving these goals.

Many hostage families have repeatedly criticized the prime minister and his government for abandoning the hostages to be able to continue waging war against Hamas for political goals.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in response to the PMO's statement that anyone who "genuinely wants the hostages home should advance the agreement that is waiting for the Israeli government’s discussion and response, and leverage it toward a comprehensive deal for the return of all the hostages."

"Do not pave the way for the murder of more hostages," the forum warned. "You will no longer be able to say you didn’t know they were there. The chief of staff has already warned that the same objectives can be achieved with less risk to the hostages."
Trump: ‘We’re in very deep negotiations with Hamas,’ some hostages may have ‘recently died’
US President Donald Trump is asked by a reporter in the Oval Office about the status of the mediated hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

“We’re in very deep negotiations with Hamas. We said, ‘let ’em all out, right now, let ’em all out, and much better things will happen'” Trump says, adding that if Hamas doesn’t return the captives from Gaza “it’s going to be a tough situation, it’s going to be nasty… Israel’s choice, but that’s my opinion.”

Referring to parents of the slain hostages, who Trump describes as “young beautiful dead people,” he says they “want them every bit as much — almost more — than as if their son or daughter were alive. But you have many dead people that are coming out as part of the deal.”

He says that of the at least 20 hostages believed to be alive, “there could be some that recently died, is what I’m hearing. I hope that’s wrong.”

Trump reiterates the point he made in a Truth Social post Thursday, in which he called on Hamas to release the remaining living hostages immediately, indicating that the US could accept the terror group’s survival if it does so.


The Officer Tatum: I CHALLENGED Prime Minister Netanyahu with HARD QUESTIONS About the Israel Gaza War
I sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an exclusive conversation about Israel, faith, and the ongoing war. We talked about the accusations of war crimes, the safety of Christians in the Middle East, and how Israel responds to critics around the world. This is the unfiltered interview the mainstream media won’t show you. Watch until the end and drop your thoughts in the comments below.

⏱️Chapters
00:00 – Opening & introduction
02:00 – Are Christians safe in Israel?
04:15 – Christians in Gaza & church b*mb incident
06:40 – War-crimes accusations and IDF response
09:20 – ICC prosecutor controversy & corruption claims
12:10 – Gaza hospitals, journalists, and “human shields”
15:00 – Food distribution, Hamas theft, and civilian casualties
18:10 – Starvation narratives & hostages
20:40 – Genocide accusations & Israel’s PR battle
23:15 – Social media bots, propaganda, and the info war
26:00 – Spiritual ties between Israel & America
29:10 – Five conditions Netanyahu says will end the war
32:00 – Closing message to the world & final blessings


Hamas releases video of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel after 700 days of war
As the remaining hostages in Gaza marked their 700th day in captivity on Friday, the Hamas terrorist organization published a propaganda video showing hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, and Alon Ohel, 22, driving in Gaza City.

The publication of the video was apparently aimed at influencing Israeli public opinion as the IDF steps up its operation in Gaza City.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said initially on Friday that the family of the second hostage asked that he not be identified, adding that the families had also not given their consent for the video to be released to the public.

Ohel’s family soon confirmed that he was the second captive shown in the video, but asked that the footage not be published.

Shortly thereafter, Gilboa-Dalal’s family released a 28-second clip from the video in which Ohel did not appear. In it, Gilboa-Dalal says that the date is Aug. 28.

“All we want is for this to end. We want to return to our families. Please, bring us back,” he says in the clip. Alon Ohel. Credit: Courtesy.

‘Deeply concerned to our very core’

In the video, Gilboa-Dalal is seen being driven in a car and meeting Ohel near the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City, saying he can’t believe that he is still alive after 22 months of captivity and telling Ohel, “I can’t believe I’m seeing you.”

Gilboa-Dalal, from Alfei Menashe in western Samaria, was last seen in a video published by Hamas during a ceasefire in February, when the terrorist group forced him and another captive, Evyatar David, to watch the release of other hostages.


‘I’m sure I’m going to rebuild my life’
When Eli Sharabi was dragged from his home on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, he turned around to make one last promise to his daughters, Noiya and Yahel.

“I’ll come back,” he told them.

In an interview with acclaimed Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal at the sold out JNF NSW annual event on Tuesday, Sharabi detailed his harrowing 491 days in Hamas captivity and the moment he found out his wife Lianne, along with Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, had been murdered.

Sharabi described the moment he arrived in Gaza with another hostage, Thai farmworker Kon.

“The first stop was a mosque,” he said.

“The minute they took me out from the car a mob of civilians took me away from them. They started to lynch me – men and children with bare hands and shoes. The two Hamas terrorists succeeded to take me away from them inside the mosque and interrogated us, all in Arabic.”

From there, they were taken to a Palestinian family’s house, where they were held for 52 days until the first ceasefire. They were tied by rope that “tore our flesh” and after that with “iron chains and locks”.

Sharabi was kept in a tunnel for the reminder of his captivity, the majority spent with Or Levy, Eliyah Cohen and Alon Ohel – all kidnapped from the Nova festival. Ohel still remains captive, while the body of Sharabi’s brother Yossi is also still in Gaza.

Sharabi spoke about the extreme starvation, torture and humiliation they suffered.

At one point, a terrorist told Sharabi his wife and daughters were at a rally for him and so he believed they were alive. He was thankful he was never told otherwise, because he said his promise to return kept him alive.

When he was released – before being forced to rehearse for Hamas’s sick handover ceremony for three hours – Sharabi was told by a social worker that his mother and sister were waiting for him.

“I asked her to bring Noiya, Yahel and Lianne,” he said.

“She told me that my mother and my sister will tell me. Then of course you understand the worst thing that happened.”

Sharabi said there is nothing he can do to “fill the hole in my heart” but he does have “circles of love” around him.

“I remember Lianne, Noiya, Yahel every day until my last day, but it will be alongside my life, not instead of my life,” he said.

“And I’m sure I’m going to rebuild my life.”


Huckabee: ‘The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty’ to the West Bank
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee appeared to signal that Washington has not taken a stance against a potential Israeli decision to apply sovereignty in the West Bank, according to a Channel 14 reporter on Friday.

Tamir Morag, a reporter for Channel 14, posted a quote from Huckabee Friday saying that the US has not come out against applying sovereignty.

“The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty,” Huckabee said, according to the post on X. “I have repeatedly stated that the US respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary Rubio has said as recently as this week.”

Huckabee confirmed the quote, reposting it and writing, “I appreciate Channel 14 in Israel clarifying their story. Responsible journalism.”

The Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor has long been a prominent champion of Israel and the policies of its hardline government, defending continued settlement construction as a response to the decisions by Western countries to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state.

Huckabee told Al Arabiya in August that US President Donald Trump’s administration hasn’t taken a position on Israel’s controversial E1 settlement project, preventing Palestinian contiguity in the West Bank, but did reverse longstanding US policy in his first term by declaring that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not a violation of international law.

Discussions on extending sovereignty to parts of the territory, a step tantamount to annexation, have been on the Israeli government’s agenda on an increasingly open basis recently.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly convened top ministers to talk about applying sovereignty on Thursday, a day after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled a plan to annex 82% of the West Bank.

Huckabee’s statement came five years after Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and then-senior adviser, said that American officials “do not plan to give our consent for some time,” to Israeli annexation of West Bank territory, following the announcement of a normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Kushner said at the time, in August 2020, that “right now the focus has to be on getting this new peace agreement implemented.”
The endless list of Palestinian refugees must come to an end
Since Israel’s founding, the Islamic world has effectively become Judenrein, and its ancient Jewish communities have been destroyed. These Jews were never recognized by the United Nations or anyone else as refugees. My family shed the mantle of refugeehood, built full lives in Israel, raised six children and educated us to work hard to become productive citizens of the young state. Life was hard. Many people lived in tent camps under harsh conditions, but they kept their heads down, learned Hebrew, found work and raised their children on the right path.

By contrast, Palestinian refugees are “eternal” refugees with a special privilege, passing their status on by inheritance. There has been no resettlement and no giving up the refugee label. This is the only refugee population for which the United Nations created a special agency, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in 1949 as a “temporary” measure, which became permanent and a source of disincentive to resettle and shed their refugee status. Other refugees worldwide do not receive such privileges; they are handled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees under a very narrow definition of refugee status that is not hereditary.

Only among Palestinians is refugeehood passed down from generation to generation, with their numbers continuing to grow, even if they obtain citizenship elsewhere. This means that even an American citizen can be counted as a Palestinian refugee. A case in point: U.S. Muslim millionaire Mohamed Hadid, father of five, including two famous fashion models, is classified under UNRWA as a Palestinian refugee. Hadid was born in Nazareth in November 1948, months after Israel’s founding, during the War of Independence. His family moved to Lebanon, then to Syria, and finally settled in the United States. This is an example of the absurdity in the definition of Palestinian refugeehood.

If we truly want to change the status quo, we must start with the total dismantling of UNRWA, which has become a platform for the death industry in the service of Hamas, a murderous terrorist group in the Muslim Brotherhood tradition. In some cases, Hamas even infiltrated terrorists into UNRWA’s workforce. UNRWA’s schools have included antisemitic materials that poison young Palestinian minds, and its facilities are used for terrorism. President Donald Trump understood this during his first term. Unfortunately, the Israeli leadership was shortsighted, viewing UNRWA as a convenient arrangement that “took care of the Palestinians,” without realizing that this had freed Palestinian terrorist groups to invest vast resources in their diversified terror industry since the founding of the PLO.

By way of reminder, here is just a partial list of the “contributions” that Palestinian terrorism has made to the world: airline hijackings, suicide bombings, beheadings, raping, human trafficking and kidnappings, car-ramming attacks, stabbings and the slaughter of civilians with knives, among others. The United Nations as a whole has not only lost its relevancy but become an organization that serves the interests of terrorist groups, an issue that deserves its own separate discussion.

As Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism has pointed out numerous times, the United Nations has actually become an agent of terrorism. “The hideous role of UNRWA officials in carrying out rape, murder and kidnappings in the Hamas-organized attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 is unprecedented. But hopefully we might see a jury in the U.S. finally apportion long-awaited blame on UNWRA and its U.S.-based partner in crime, UNWRA USA. A new superseding lawsuit is about to be filed by Richard Heidemann and various co-counsel that spells out in horrific detail the atrocities carried out by UNWRA on Oct. 7—atrocities made possible by the blood money of the United Nations and various charitable entities such as UNWRA USA.”

Trump, who does not shy away from his responsibilities or leadership, has proven himself able to act for the benefit of America and the entire free world. He demonstrated this by joining Israel’s fight against Iran and leading U.S. strikes on the Shi’ite theocracy’s nuclear facilities, which threaten the whole world.

Therefore, to reduce the existential conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to manageable proportions, we must remove the “zero-sum equation” in which Palestinians say they want their own state but also demand “return,” meaning settling their people inside Israel, a country smaller than New Jersey. In other words, Palestinians do not want a state next to Israel, but aim to eliminate it—the world’s only Jewish, Hebrew-speaking state.

When Israel was founded, it absorbed Holocaust survivors, real refugees, from Europe and Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Now it is the turn of chaotic Arab states, which have bred death and terrorism within their borders, to naturalize their fellow Muslim, culturally similar Palestinians who live among them. This would be the first step toward some kind of solution to the Palestinian problem—not the synthetic, meaningless format promoted by weak European leaders intimidated by Islamist immigrants with voting rights who threaten Europe’s democratic character.

By perpetuating the “right of return,” the Palestinians shift from the murderous barbarity seen in the Oct. 7 genocide of Israelis to a posture of eternal victimhood, perpetuating misery and refugeehood. They must take their fate into their own hands. The terrorism they carry out is no different from that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram or Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

One day, the world will not be able to ignore it because terrorism is now found everywhere, led by Islamists associated with radical groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and from Shi’ite Iran. The Gulf States and Egypt have long understood this, outlawing the Brotherhood and banning Al Jazeera, the Qatari Islamist propaganda channel, from broadcasting on their soil.

The time has come for change, and Trump—with his confident leadership and grip on reality—is the person who can make it happen.
UN body ‘antithetical’ to US ideals, displays ‘anti-Israel bias,’ US nominee says
The United Nations Economic and Social Council, one of the global body’s principal organs, has “strayed into socially divisive programs, has promoted worldviews antithetical to America’s founding ideals and has drifted into an obsessive anti-Israel bias,” according to Dan Negrea, the U.S. nominee for representative to the council.

Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Negrea said that if confirmed, he would “bring common sense, purpose and belief in American exceptionalism” back to the U.N. body.

“The United Nations is at a critical juncture,” he told the Senate panel. “It must reform to become a more effective institution.” Under the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “UN reform is not only possible. It is an imperative,” he added.

Negrea is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center, which he founded in 2022. (He was the center’s first senior director.) He served as the U.S. State Department’s special representative for commercial and business affairs from 2019 to 2021.
Arab donations down 90% since last year, UNRWA head says
Arab country contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency are down 90% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Philippe Lazzairini, UNRWA commissioner-general.

“This year, financial contributions from the region amount to just 3% of all contributions received by the agency,” Lazzairini said at a League of Arab States Council meeting on Thursday in Cairo.

In 2018, Arab donors provided about 25% of the U.N. agency’s funding.

“I am convinced that this is not the message the region wants to convey” to those whom the global body considers refugees, Lazzarini said. “Words of solidarity must translate into matching funding to make a tangible difference.”

Lazzarini has said for years that there are funding shortfalls. UNRWA considers Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the Arab-initiated wars of 1948 and 1967 and their descendants to be refugees in perpetuity.

Earlier this year, António Guterres, U.N. secretary-general, requested a strategic assessment of UNRWA’s mandate.

An internal U.N. probe found that it was “likely or highly likely” that at least nine UNRWA staffers took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Israel says the numbers are higher and that ties between Hamas and UNRWA run much deeper.
Gil Hoffman: Abu Obeida: A Goebbels-esque propagandist who tricked the world
Before Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945, he wrote a will declaring Nazi information minister Joseph Goebbels his successor as chancellor of Germany.

Goebbels served only one day in that post before committing suicide himself. But Hitler’s message in empowering his propaganda chief was delivered to the world and lives on: Psychological warfare is a critical component to victory in war.

Fast forward 80 years to the IDF’s successful Gaza City strike on Sunday that eliminated Hamas information war commander Hudhafya Samir Al-Kahlout, known around the world as Abu Obeida.

With all due respect to the assassinations of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif, it may eventually be seen in retrospect that Abu Obeida’s elimination was even more critical in this war.

It is unlikely, but it could also potentially be the long-awaited turning point allowing Israel’s longest war to finally end successfully.

But only if the heads of top international media outlets realize that they have now been set free from the spell that this cunning man had put them under since October 7, 2023, and over the past two decades since his 2006 announcement of the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

Media downplays Abu Obeida's key role behind October 7
Foreign press coverage of Abu Obeida’s assassination downplayed him as a mere Hamas spokesman. They know he was so much more than that.

Abu Obeida was the icon of Hamas and the entire international effort to destroy the State of Israel. His speeches were treated like direct instructions to the Gazan masses. Brainwashed children throughout the Middle East idolized him. And the international media parroted his every word as if it were as gospel from Jesus.

“It is ironic that he was the face of Hamas, but his face was always covered,” said I24’s Ariel Oseran, the most impressive Arab affairs analyst in Israeli English-language media. “Israel took out the leader of Hamas in the propaganda arena. The impact may not be immediate, but it is key long term. Hamas knew they couldn’t destroy Israel immediately. They started a war to delegitimize Israel so that 10 to 15 years from now, they could attack again when Israel will be all alone.”

Army radio revealed on Tuesday that Abu Obeida employed 1,500 terrorist propagandists who served in every Hamas battalion and brigade, outfitting them with GoPro cameras, camera protection kits and batteries, and a team of video editors to cut propaganda videos. He crafted every hostage video and release ceremony to maximize their impact.

Two days after the war began, Abu Obeida chillingly declared: “We will execute an enemy civilian hostage for every attack… and broadcast the footage.”

That intense psychological warfare has rattled Israelis throughout this war and made every step the IDF has taken in Gaza more sensitive. Abu Obeida knew how to pull at the heartstrings of every Israeli, and his success with false international propaganda campaigns has been formidable.

“He was the head of the propaganda machine that originates in Arabic, and English comes from there,” Oseran said. “Israel hopes his death will disrupt. Removing a commander takes away important know-how. Strategic thinking is no longer there.”

Any hope that Abu Obeida’s departure would instantly impact the media battlefield was tempered the following day, when media outlets throughout the world carried out his legacy by participating in a coordinated propaganda campaign falsely accusing Israel of deliberately targeting Gazan journalists. They used the same messaging, timing, templates, and hashtags to demonize Israel.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer: We must ensure aid gets into the hands of innocent Palestinians, not Hamas
With a flood of conflicting reports — misrepresented images, disputed news stories, claims of intentional starvation — and no Western press on the ground in Gaza, I believed that the only way to get to the truth was to visit the region and see it with my own eyes.

That’s why last month I traveled to Israel with a bipartisan group from the House Intelligence Committee to meet with Israel’s leaders and those from the Palestinian Authority, engage with aid organizations, and see the situation on the ground for myself.

Our focus centered on two critical goals: making sure that lifesaving aid reaches innocent civilians in Gaza and defeating Hamas — the terrorist organization that launched this brutal war on Oct. 7, 2023.

I visited Kerem Shalom, a central crossing point for aid in Israel, where I saw countless trucks filled with food and supplies waiting to enter Gaza. I also visited a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution command center, where American contractors are working tirelessly to safely distribute aid.

The problem is not a lack of aid — it’s that too little of it ever reaches the people who need it most. I saw pallets of food, clothing and other items cross swiftly from Israel into Gaza — within minutes of arrival. On the Gaza side, aid trucks sat idle, unmoving.

Make no mistake, the need to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza is urgent. I made this clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Hamas owns the blame for the failed distribution to children and families.

Even the United Nations, which has been no fan of Israel, reports that nearly 90% of its aid is intercepted before reaching civilians. Why? The U.N. refuses to allow any protection of their trucks by the IDF, resulting in aid being looted before it ever gets to Palestinians. Without protection, it’s open season. Israel moving forward with Gaza takeover, warning Palestinians residents that ‘evacuation is inevitable’ Video

We’ve all seen the videos of desperate Palestinians throwing themselves onto moving trucks to grab food, often risking and losing their lives. We’ve seen Hamas attacking the trucks and drivers, stealing aid intended for civilians. They use it to resupply their fighters and to sell it for a massive profit on the black market. Last year alone, Hamas pocketed more than $500 million in stolen aid.

This is not just a humanitarian crisis — it’s a cruel strategy to profit from civilian suffering.
American leadership is feeding Gaza
For decades, I have worked to defend Israel’s security and uphold human dignity across the region. That work has taught me many lessons, but one stands above the rest: In the face of suffering, you must act.

Today in Gaza, civilians are in crisis. Thanks to bold American leadership, help is reaching them. That’s what leadership looks like, and that’s why this moment matters.

Thanks to President Trump, the civilian population in Gaza is receiving free food aid safely and reliably. His administration is helping to power the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has distributed more than 150 million free meals to Palestinian civilians since launching operations in late May. The reactions have been telling.

The United Nations and other aid groups, fearful of a newcomer showing how their work can be done better, has become needlessly aggressive in working to undermine the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and refused to work with it cooperatively. The hungry civilian population is considered collateral damage.

The media, beholden to a narrative that Gaza is starving or that famine is imminent, has become a stenographer for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. They publish reports without fact checking, context of the source for the reader, or any admission that there are no hungry members of Hamas. The world’s most recent example is the strong outstretched arm of a Hamas captor in a propaganda video showing 24-year-old emaciated hostage Evyatar David being made to dig his own grave in a tunnel.

Hamas, which depends upon the flow of UN aid to fund its terror operations, reportedly made the dismantling of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a key demand in recent ceasefire negotiations brokered by the U.S. Hamas would rather Palestinians go hungry. Its leaders prefer the option of leveraging Palestinian suffering to advance their goals.

The Palestinian people — grateful for the opportunity to feed themselves and their families for free — should be thanking the foundation and Trump. After all, if not for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the emergency situation in which Palestinians find themselves would be far worse.

According to the U.N. itself, nearly 88 percent of its aid trucks have been looted either by hungry civilians or, more often, “forcefully by armed actors” since May 19. Precisely zero Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid trucks have been looted.


Zamir said to tell hostage families he believes in Gaza City op, is mindful of captives
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has reportedly told hostage families that their loved ones were on his mind amid the offensive to take over Gaza City, which military officials have warned could imperil the captives.

Hebrew media also reported Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had in the first half of 2024 shot down a plan by Zamir’s predecessor, Herzi Halevi, to release all the hostages at once as part of a ceasefire deal.

Zamir, who has reportedly urged Netanyahu to forego the Gaza City operation and accept a ceasefire-hostage deal, said in a recent meeting with hostage families that “the operation will be conducted by me, with responsibility toward the troops and the hostages,” according to Channel 12 news.

“I believe in the operational plan. The people of Israel should know that I state, and will continue to state, my professional opinion. The hostages are on my mind. I am acting in the most responsible way possible,” Zamir reportedly said.

The outlet did not say when Zamir spoke with the families, or who was present.

Last month, Hamas said it had agreed to the partial ceasefire-hostage release deal that was almost identical to one Israel had previously approved. Jerusalem has not yet responded to the proposal, nor has Netanyahu brought it before the cabinet for deliberation, reportedly saying Sunday that the proposal is “not on the table.”
Gaza operation to expand with eight food distribution centers
Within six weeks, eight emergency distribution centers will operate in the Gaza Strip to provide food for the population expected to gather in the southern Strip as part of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II,” during which Israel intends to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians currently in Gaza City, Israel Hayom has learned.

Currently, three distribution points operate in the Gaza Strip (following the closure of one): in Gaza City’s Saudi neighborhood; near the IDF’s Netzarim Corridor that divides the Gaza Strip just south of Gaza City; and near the IDF’s Morag Corridor that divides the Gaza Strip between Khan Yunis and Rafah. The Gaza Strip with the four Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution centers as of the end of June 2025. Credit: Wickey via Wikimedia Commons.

In the coming days, the establishment of two additional distribution points in the Tel Sultan neighborhood, near Rafah, will be completed. According to sources involved in the details, three more distribution points will be established later, and in total, within approximately six weeks, eight distribution points will operate in the Strip, managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

On Wednesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation reported that more than 2.5 million weekly family packages have been distributed to date. Each package suffices for a family of five for five to seven days. Each emergency distribution center distributes between 10,000 and 15,000 weekly food packages daily.

In addition, Israel does not intend to stop food trucks from entering Gaza, especially after Hamas’s false “starvation campaign.”

Simultaneously, Israel ensured the connection of a power line to the water desalination facility in Deir al-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, in addition to an Emirati water line from Egypt, and the repair of two water lines from Israel, to Bani Suheila and Birkat Said in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel emphasizes that Gaza has sufficient water thanks to two desalination facilities and the Emirati water line, but nevertheless, there are also three water lines from Israel—one currently active—the Nahal Oz line—and two others under repair.

Meanwhile, out of approximately 800,000 Palestinians in Gaza City, only about 70,000 have moved south, but that number increases by several thousand people daily.


IDF blows up a Gaza City high-rise building, says it housed Hamas infrastructure
The IDF blew up a multi-story building used by Hamas in Gaza City as military infrastructure, the army said Friday, as it ramped up its ground offensive in the enclave.

According to the military, the building was being used by Hamas as operational infrastructure, including underground facilities that were utilized to plan attacks, stage ambushes against IDF forces and provide escape routes for terror operatives.

The announcement confirmed an earlier statement from Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said Israel had issued its first formal evacuation notice to residents of a multi-story building in the city ahead of an impending strike.

“The bolt is now being removed from the gates of Hell in Gaza,” Katz posted on X. “Once the door is opened, it will not be closed, and IDF operations will intensify — until Hamas’s murderers and rapists accept Israel’s conditions for ending the war, first and foremost the release of all hostages and disarmament — or be destroyed.”

Katz posted his statement as the IDF expanded its ground offensive into Gaza City, with politicians framing the campaign as a decisive maneuver aimed at breaking Hamas’s remaining strongholds.

Alongside the announcement, media outlets in Gaza reported that the IDF struck the Al-Mushtaha tower in Gaza City three times. Footage showed a heavy cloud of smoke at the site after residents were called to evacuate. It was unclear whether there were any casualties in the incident.


Matt Continetti joined Hugh to talk about the IDF’s acceleration of its offensive inside Gaza City



‘Rather unprofessional’: Laura Tingle given free rein to ‘talk rubbish’ about Israel
Sky News Australia's Media Watch Dog Columnist Gerard Henderson discusses how ABC Global Affairs Editor Laura Tingle has criticised Israel.

“That’s rather unprofessional,” Mr Henderson told Sky News host Caleb Bond.

“You go and give up your morning, you go and talk … and when you’re finished, he throws it to Laura Tingle who basically says you’re talking rubbish.”




US House committee probes far-left anti-Israel group for alleged China links
A US Congressional committee said Thursday that it was investigating a far-left socialist group that has led anti-Israel protests in New York City for alleged ties to the Chinese government.

The US House Committee on Ways and Means sent a letter to the People’s Forum, a prominent activist group, saying the organization may have overstepped free speech protections and abused its tax-exempt status by peddling foreign propaganda.

The People’s Forum decried the probe as a “desperate attempt to silence our work and crush dissent.”

The group is part of a network linked to Neville Roy Singham, an American tech mogul who is believed to live in China. Singham’s backing of the network was exposed in a New York Times report in August 2023 that said it had “tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Mr. Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.” Several reports since then have further mapped out Singham’s ties to the activist network.

US Representative Jason Smith, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter to Manolo De Los Santos, the head of the People’s Forum, demanding that the group provide documents clarifying its relationship with Singham. The committee has jurisdiction over taxation and other fields, including tax-exempt organizations such as the People’s Forum, a registered nonprofit.

The letter highlighted a protest led by the group in Times Square on October 8, 2023 — the day after the Hamas invasion of Israel — that celebrated the attack, and public statements from the group justifying the atrocities.

“The People’s Forum has been responsible for an endless amount of chaos and disruption around the country,” Smith said in the letter.

Smith said that, while it is legal for tax-exempt groups to receive large donations from a private citizen, the People’s Forum may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires foreign agents to register with the Department of Justice and disclose their affiliations.

Some of the People’s Forum rhetoric may have violated First Amendment protections, which do not cover “fighting words or true threats,” the letter said. The statement cited De Los Santos speaking to Columbia University activists about “Zionist” university administrators who “want to be more like their masters in Israel,” hours before protesters stormed a campus building last year.


NYC protesters disrupt launch of former ‘Post’ editor’s book on Hamas attack
Protests erupted on Wednesday outside the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan during the launch of While Israel Slept, a book examining how Hamas managed to surprise Israel’s military on October 7, 2023. The evening, which was meant to showcase a conversation about one of Israel’s darkest days, was repeatedly interrupted as demonstrators sought to drown out the discussion.

Co-authored by Yaakov Katz, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, and Amir Bohbot, a defense analyst at Walla, the book explores the years of intelligence lapses, flawed strategic assumptions, and a policy of containment that enabled Hamas to plan its unprecedented assault.

The event featured Katz being interviewed onstage by The New York Times’ columnist Bret Stephens, also a former Post editor.

While Israel Slept argues that complacency, misread intelligence, and failed policy choices paved the way for a strike Israel’s leaders never believed possible – one that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds taken hostage, and the Middle East permanently altered.

Actions by anti-Israel protesters at event
Outside on Fifth Avenue, dozens of demonstrators gathered, waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyehs, and chanting slogans such as, “You can’t hide from genocide.”

Some protesters succeeded in entering the Streicker Center auditorium. Every few minutes, hecklers shouted from different corners of the hall in an apparent attempt to coordinate their disruptions. Nearly a dozen people were ultimately removed by security.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

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