Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Donald Trump, during his previous administration, brought us
the Abraham Accords and established a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. This time
around, Israeli Americans voted for him in droves, there being a general feeling
among us that Biden was bad for Israel and Trump the opposite of that. We were
frightened for our hostages, needed weapons, and more importantly a strong voice
in support of our war on Hamas. Trump appeared to tick all the boxes. We had
high hopes.
It began so well. The president gave Israel carte blanche to
do
as it pleased in Gaza and helped us fight the Houthis. And though there was
a feeling that the president was being wildly misled by Qatari
puppet Witkoff, he was a good friend to Israel. We appreciated it and were
glad we voted for him.
Then rumors of a rift began to flow, a narrative built from
a sequence of events. The US would no longer help Israel fight
the Houthis. Israel was excluded from the itinerary of Donald Trump’s Middle
East tour. Trump accepted a very expensive private plane
from Qatar. There was a secret
US deal to free Edan Alexander that was in the works for months without Israel’s
knowledge. The murmurs that Trump has turned against Israel have been gathering steam. Nobody I know wants to talk about it much, but there is thick nervous tension
in the air.
That’s my sense, at least, though I keep looking for
articles that prove me wrong. I don’t want to believe there’s a rift. But I don’t
like the way Trump kept us out of negotiations for Edan Alexander and made us
look weak, made Bibi look ineffectual, not in Trump’s good graces. I do
understand that America and Americans come first, but in my view, the way this deal
was done was really not cool.
It didn’t help that Edan Alexander’s mother Yael, pointedly thanked everyone but Netanyahu for freeing her son from captivity. Her failure to acknowledge him spoke
volumes, especially since the deal was negotiated behind Israel’s back, making
Bibi look sidelined.
Witkoff, of course, couldn’t help but rub it in, telling the hostage families that if only Israelis weren’t so divided, we’d be strong, the war would end, and the
hostages come home. That was the sense of what he said anyway, if not his
actual words.
But not everyone is worried. Ruthie Blum, senior contributing
editor at JNS, for example, believes the buzz is baseless. In a recent op-ed, Is
Trump Really Turning His Back on Bibi and Israel?, Blum says the gossip
comes from two agenda-driven sources, isolationists and anti-Netanyahu Israelis.
She also notes “conflicting versions of what is essentially gossip in disguise.”
Blum’s does an able job dissecting all the scuttlebutt. She paints
a reassuring picture of how things stand between Israel and President Trump, and
points to a recent meeting between Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron
Dermer with several important members of the Trump team. "Another clue
that Washington hasn’t turned its back on Jerusalem is that U.S. Vice President
JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (doubling as interim national
security advisor) and special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff were present at the
powwow [with Dermer]."
The meeting does suggest that the relationship remains strong. At
the same time, JD Vance is a known isolationist, who in October said of the
US-Israel relationship, “Sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests,
and sometimes
we’re going to have distinct interests. And our interest very much is in
not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources. It
would be massively expensive to our country.”
I asked Blum if, as she contends, isolationists are responsible
for the rumors of a rift, how do we know that JD Vance isn’t leading the charge
and what does this portend for the future? Vance may very well be the next
president of the United States.
“Had those leaning in an isolationist direction reprimanded
Dermer, it would have been a bad sign. We know this didn't happen, however,
since it would have been front page ‘news,’ given all the media mudslinging
about Dermer's supposedly being "arrogant" and a source of irritation,”
“Nothing so far suggests that there's a rift between
Washington and Jerusalem,” said Blum. “And the fact that Trump didn't make
Israel part of his Mideast trip this week is actually a good thing. The last
thing he needs is for it to appear that America is doing Israel's bidding in
the region.”
Ruthie Blum, it seems, is betting on Trump playing a long
game, not cutting ties. That makes a lot of sense. That does seem to be the way
Trump operates.
But there are other voices. An Arab political analyst,
speaking on condition of anonymity, had a completely different take. “Trump is
being played by the Islamists. Sadly, he has chosen to align himself with the
bad guys. Many Arabs are convinced that he has thrown Israel under the bus and
that he could be easily bought with their charm, hospitality and money. This
does not bode well for the future of the region, especially because his actions
and rhetoric embolden the radical Muslims.”
I think it is true to a degree that Trump is being played by
the Islamists. For me, the proof of that is Witkoff’s admission in March
that he had been duped
by Hamas into thinking they had accepted his proposal to extend the
ceasefire when they had no intention of doing so. “I thought we had an
acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from Hamas. Maybe that’s
just me getting duped. I thought we were there, and evidently we weren’t."
Well, duh. Of course you were getting duped. Did you expect
fairness and honesty from Hamas?
Witkoff is Trump’s guy on this. Trump trusts Witkoff knows
what he’s doing. Ergo, when Witkoff is duped by Hamas, by default so is Donald
J. Trump.
Has Trump turned cold toward Israel and its prime minister? Ruthie
Blum says no. It’s only a mirage, stirred up by political vultures. Others say
Trump is falling for Qatar’s charm and risking a regional firestorm by
expressing a willingness to negotiate with Iran. It is unfortunate, but Donald
Trump’s weakness for flattery could very well make him ripe for Qatar’s
game. Let’s hope the president sees through all the ceremonial fawning and glitz, and
understands that it is Israel, and Israel alone, who stands as America’s always
faithful ally in the Middle East.
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Imagine a Jewish sage, Rabbi
Meir of Rothenberg, locked in a 13th-century dungeon. The Holy Roman
Emperor demands a ransom—a fortune the Jewish community is desperate to pay to
redeem their captive sage. Rabbi Meir, meanwhile, will not permit his flock to
pay his ransom.
Why? Because the Maharam of Rothenberg knew that this would
set a precedent. Pay the ransom and Jewish leaders would always be targets for
kidnapping.
Rabbi Meir endures seven years in captivity, then dies in prison. And still he
is not free, not even in death. The corpse of the Maharam is held captive for a
further 14 years; the final, lengthy indignity done to a true holy man. As
distinct from his evil “Holy Roman” captor.
Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg’s refusal to be ransomed is the story of a
selfless, godly man who sacrificed one person, himself, to protect his people
long-term. In their desire to redeem their sage, the Jewish community was
heedless of the wider implications for the Jewish nation, as a whole. What Rabbi
Meir did was beautiful and selfless. He stepped up for his people.
Now it is 2025, and Hamas is playing the same cruel stunt
pulled so long ago by King Rudolf I, holding as bargaining chips an estimated 20-24
live hostages and 35 hostage corpses. The hostage families whatever the
status of their loved ones, yearn for closure. Some of the hostage families already
know their loved ones are dead in Gaza. They ache to bury them. Others pray
their loved ones still cling to life. The not knowing is a torment. Rabbi Meir of
Rothenberg would tell us not to blink—giving in only emboldens the enemy. But
we blinked.
We blinked when we inked the Shalit deal. Then we set a precedent for now when
we swapped over 1,000 murderers for Gilad Shalit, including Yahya Sinwar, the
devious, truly evil mastermind of October 7.
It must be said: many of us were against the Shalit deal, despite
the biased polls trumpeted by the biased MSM. We were way more than the measly
14% they cited. In fact, I knew very few people in favor of the Shalit deal.
Why would anyone be in favor of releasing from prison a satanic monster like Ahlam
al-Tamimi—someone who is gleeful to know that Jewish children died as a result
of her evil machinations. Won’t she just want to do it some more? Now imagine her
times one thousand.
Before we released Yahya Sinwar from prison, in that same
Shalit deal, we saved his life on Israel’s dime. Fine Israeli surgeons removed
his brain tumor in a world class hospital, and gave him another shot at destroying
the Jewish people in a way the world would never forget. This should be a stark
lesson for the Jews. Every terrorist we don’t shoot on sight, will try to do it
again.
Happily, Sinwar can no longer be said to be living proof of
this, because he is no longer among the living. The Jews finally did the right
thing and ended him for good.
Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg did not die only because of a principle. He died
to stop a vicious loop. Which is where we are right now. Hamas thrives on
our concessions—just think! The Shalit deal gave them Sinwar. The Witkoff deal
has already given them many Sinwars.
It must be faced. Israel has shown it will release
terrorists, many of them, for a single hostage. Then it all becomes a game of
how many terrorists they can get for 50 Jews, most of them dead. It’s true they
prefer the live ones, but a live Jew will pay a lot for a dead Jew, too. And in
fact, Israel has now released many, many terrorists from Israeli prisons—terrorists
with a recidivism
rate of 82%.
The Israeli dilemma, of course, is brutal: negotiate and
maybe save some hostages and retrieve the bodies of the others, or fight to
crush Hamas, and risk an endless round of October 7s.
If only we had someone with the Maharam’s wisdom today.
Someone who could advise us what to do now that we’ve effed messed up and
set the precedent. One that can only lead to great bloodshed. There can be no
other outcome.
Each negotiation leads to a jackpot of thousands of terrorists.
So why should Hamas let go the last of their bargaining chips, dead Jews and maybe
two dozen live Jews. They are surely worth thousands of terrorists, many
Sinwars let loose.
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
The night before the first three women hostages were
released, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the nation. Attempting to placate
a nation appalled at the prospect of another terrorist release, the prime
minister made a promise [emphasis added]. “We have established that terrorists
who have killedwill not be released to Judea and Samaria; they will
be expelled to the Gaza Strip or abroad, and we also decided in the cabinet on
a very significant reinforcement of our forces in Judea and Samaria to protect
our citizens,” said Bibi.
Because we have been lied to before, we didn’t really
believe this declaration. But it didn’t much matter. The only difference
between a terrorist who has killed and one who hasn’t, is that in the first
instance, the victims died, and in the second, they lived. That is why the
distinction isn’t much comfort to the 5,700 or so Jewish residents of Beit El. Of
the first 200 terrorists released in this deal, 114 of them were sent
to Ramallah, adjacent to Beit El.
One woman in my town of Efrat heard that a further 22 terrorists
“who have not killed” were released to Hebron, quite close to us. I asked how
she knows this, since everything about the mass terrorist release has been
cloaked in mystery. It turns out her son’s friend is serving there. He said he
would have been safer in Gaza.
In truth, there is a general air of despondency here. Many assume
that what we hear about the terrorist release is not true, or at least not the whole truth, because so
little information filters down to the common man that it makes us suspicious. Others are more pragmatic. “I'm
not sure it's a ‘lie’ as much as politics and hands tied and deals behind the
scenes,” says Chani Ugowitz of Efrat.
Be that as it may, the lack of information has created an
air of distrust. Victim families directly affected by the release have yet to
be contacted by the government. Those of us who live in close proximity to
locations where terrorists will now roam free, have not been briefed.
“This is a crazy
complicated situation. I am so against this "deal"/ blackmail but
know so many people that are going with it because they feel we had no choice.
We tried the other way and it didn't work. I don't know. Makes me mad, scared,
and sad,” says Ugowitz.
“It’s incredibly painful,” said another Efrat friend, Rachel
Schwartz, “Statistically, half of those will do another terror attack. 170 out
of 200 hundred that were released had life sentences. Varda, it is so
incredibly painful. I can’t stand it.”
I had heard the same figure regarding terrorist recidivism.
But it seems this figure has been updated. Lt. Col. (res.) Attorney Morris
Hirsch formerly of the Military Prosecutor’s Office, writes that [emphasis
added], “[As] part of the cabinet discussion
going into approving the deal, the head of the Shin Bet noted that 82% of
those released in the Shalit deal returned to terrorism.”
In the frightening
Hebrew-language article, Without
you knowing: This is how Israeli terrorists will be released back to the
country,Hirsch shares a further, little known but profoundly disturbing
fact, “The list of terrorists who will be released as part of the deal includes
no less than 73 terrorists who hold Israeli citizenship or residency. This
means they will be released back to the country.”
“Of that list, 21
terrorists are serving life sentences – that is, murderers. Of these, eight
terrorists are to be released to Israel (within the 1949 armistice lines),
while the rest are to be deported, although at this stage it is not clear
where,” writes Hirsch. “Five of the eight are affiliated with Hamas and the
rest with Fatah. All eight were arrested between 2001 and 2003, during the
terror attacks initiated by the PA, starting in September 2000.”
All in all, of the 73
Israeli terrorists to be released from prison, 45 will be released into Israel,
writes Hirsch, “while the remaining 28 terrorists will be deported abroad,
either temporarily (3 terrorists) or permanently (25 terrorists).”
We may not know nearly enough about the terms of this deal but
one thing seems certain, exactly none of the terrorists slated for release will be deported to
America. President Trump wants Americans to feel safe. He doesn’t want any more
innocents killed, people like Jocelyn Nungary and Riley Laken. So Mr. Trump is having
these criminal elements deported. He doesn’t want them in his country.
“And there they are deporting murderers and
criminals,” said Chani Ugowitz of the new administration, “while forcing us to
take them to our streets with our children.
“I've gotten very harsh in my views since the war and I don't like it but I don't like how the other side has pushed me to think in an "us or them" mentality. There is no partner on the other side of the negotiation table so it becomes blackmail on their end and force on ours.”
Then too, what does it say about
Israel that we’re freeing murderers into the wind? Whatever it was that was
held over Bibi’s head to agree to this deal, it’s hard to hear that it was
worth letting these murderers roam loose. Why would anyone even ask us to do
so?
“How depressing that monsters like these are the price of getting innocent
Israelis freed from the Hamas underworld,” remarked Arnold Roth, father of 15-year-old terror
victim Malki Roth, murdered in a pizzeria. “and that there's no one so monstrous that Israel
would keep him or her in prison if the blackmail demands were perceived as
warranting an even more painful surrender.”
Meantime, outside of Israel, Jews are giving Trump's Middle
East Envoy Steve Witkoff multiple ovations (!) for forcing Israel into accepting
Biden’s May horrific deal. Yet he managed to get not a single American hostage
released.
What then, was the point?
I wonder if President Trump is aware that among the terrorists
released or slated for release in this deal, are many who were convicted of
murdering Americans. JD Vance begged us Israeli Americans to vote for Trump, and
we did. Now we wonder at the betrayal of American Israeli victims of terror
whose murderers we were leaned on to release.
Why was Israel pressed into this
deal now, when we were ahead of the game, when we were winning, when we were no
longer between a rock and a hard place because it was no longer Joe Biden
threatening us, slow-walking arms, and supplying the enemy with cash dollars? Trump
had won and could now push Hamas into releasing the captives with just a few
threatening words. Why then force Israel to release murderers from Israeli
jails into the wild?
Will we ever know why we were compelled by Trump to sign a bad deal months after it had been rejected? Or why not one American hostage has yet been released since this ceasefire was
implemented. As of this writing, Keith Siegel is not to be released in this
latest batch of hostages, and we know he is fast fading. Emily Damari was so worried about Siegel that she offered to switch places and let him go first. Hamas refused.
Keith Siegel, an dual American citizen held captive in Gaza
So we watch as no Americans are released, but the murderers
of Americans like Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava, who were blown up
in the Hillel Café on the night before what would have been Nava’s wedding are
going free in this “deal.”
Dr. David Applebaum, Nava Applebaum, murdered at the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem
Member of the cell that killed them, released or about to be.
The same is true of the murderer of American citizen Asher Palmer and his baby son Yonatan, who were on their way to spend Shabbat with their family when their murderer stoned their car with boulders.
Asher and Yonatan Palmer, murdered when their car was stoned while driving to family for Shabbat
On the list of terrorists demanded by Hamas
Ditto the murderer of Tuvia Yanai Weissman, an American killed by a child terrorist in 2016 while shopping at a supermarket.
Out or about to be out and free as birds.
It was that last name that grabbed at my throat, as I
finished scanning a new list of the terrorists to be released, this time in
English, from Palestinian Media Watch
(PMW). It was just before Shabbat, and I had to shut down my computer, but I
remembered that one. I never could get Tuvia Yanai Weissman out of my mind,
because of the photo that circulated of him with his young wife and infant son.
He had such a beautiful baby face, and his wife’s face was so full of joy and light. How awful to
lose her young husband with whom she was clearly smitten. I mentioned Tuvia at
the Shabbat table, and my youngest son told me that Weissman’s wife is his
friend’s sister.
Tuvia Yanai Weissman, a dual American citizen, murdered in a supermarket.
Every Israeli has multiple connections to multiple terror
victims. Connections upon connections upon connections. That’s the way it is.
Ari Fuld, dual American citizen, murdered while talking to his wife on the phone
I wonder: does President Trump feel a connection to the American
victims whose murderers are now being set free in this deal we were compelled by
his man Witkoff, to sign?
Why don’t we hear President Trump threatening Hamas
if they don’t release Keith Siegel, now?
Why don’t we hear Witkoff saying to
Hamas, “No. You can’t have the terrorists who killed American citizens. You can’t
have the murderers of Americans Marla Bennett and Ben Blustein, exchange
students killed in the Hebrew University Cafeteria,” or “No. You can’t have the
terrorist who killed American citizen Ari Fuld while he was standing outside a
supermarket talking on the phone with his wife,” or “No. You can’t have the
murderers of David and Nava Applebaum, or the murderers of Asher and Yonatan
Palmer. You can’t have the murderers of Tuvia Yanai Weissman.”
Ben Blustein, American exchange student
Marla Bennett, American exchange student, who along with Ben was murdered in the Frank Sinatra cafeteria on the Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus
Instead, we hear none of this. We hear people say things
like, “What if it were your family members being held in Gaza?” as if those of
us who feel as I do, that this “deal” is a horrible, unjust, and dangerous
thing, are heartless.
But two things can be true at once. We are joyous at the release of each
hostage, and sick at the release of murderers of loved ones we tracked down, caught,
and jailed. Where is the justice for the victims?
How do you think their families feel?
And how would you feel if you lived in Beit El, and 114
murderers had just been released next door to your home?
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Tim Walz just can’t seem to get enough of the imam Asad
Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS Minnesota). We should
examine why Walz is a fan of the cleric of an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. Does
the man who may become vice president of America share the philosophy and goals
of the Muslim Brotherhood? Or is the association of Walz with the imam—an avowed,
Hitler-loving, Hamas-loving antisemite who wants to eradicate the Jews—completely
innocent?
To give the devil his due, Walz may be using his relationship
with Asad Zaman only to curry favor with his Muslim constituency. But it’s awfully
difficult to overlook the implications of the more than $100,000 Walz has contributed to
MAS Minnesota. Walz must want something for that cash payout, unless of course,
he deeply admires Zaman’s worldview.
It was Gabe Kaminsky, investigative reporter at the Washington
Examiner who brought the affiliation between Tim Walz and Asad Zaman, to
light:
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, on at least
five occasions as governor of Minnesota, hosted a Muslim cleric who
celebrated Hamas‘s Oct. 7 attack last year on Israel and
promoted a film popular among Neo-Nazis that glorifies Adolf Hitler, the Washington
Examiner found.
The imam, Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of
Minnesota, joined other Muslim leaders in May 2023 for a meeting
about mosque security with Walz’s gubernatorial office in Minnesota. Zaman
also spoke at a May 2020 event to call for peaceful protests with the
governor during the riots in Minnesota sparked after George Floyd’s death. In
April 2019, the cleric delivered an invocation before Walz’s state address — just months
after Zaman called for an end to a government shutdown at a press
conference with Walz in January 2019.
Zaman, moreover, attended a May 2019 event that Walz hosted
for Ramadan, social media posts show.
For the first time ever, we will have chaplains of 3 different faiths deliver the invocation at #MNSOTS tomorrow. I am humbled to welcome Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman, Imam Asad Zaman, and Bishop Patricia Lull – three faith leaders who truly understand the meaning of #OneMinnesota.
More from the Washington Examiner about the worldview of
Walz’s friend, the cleric Zaman (emphasis added):
Zaman, who is from Bangladesh, said on
Oct. 7 of last year that he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians
against Israeli attacks.” That day, which saw 1,200 Israelis murdered by
Hamas terrorists, he also shared an image of a Palestinian flag on
Facebook in response to a post by Yusuf Abdi Abdulle, director of the
Islamic Association of North America,declaring that “Palestine has the
right to defend itself.” The Biden-Harris administration, Abdulle wrote in
the post, was “on the wrong side of history” in “supporting the extremist
Zionist regime and its illegal settlements.”
Asad Zaman’s loyalty to “Palestinians” should be translated
as “loyalty to Hamas,” since he once shared a Hamas press release. The
occasion? The 2016 hanging of Motiur
Rahman Nizami, a Bangladeshi Islamic leader, after he was convicted of genocide,
rape and torture.
One of Asad Zaman’s favorite things, of course, is Hitler.
Zaman even shared a link to the website of the pro-Hitler film, The Greatest Story Never Told.
Here is a text from the website of this 6-hour documentary
on Hitler:
Since the mid-20th century, the world has only ever heard
one side of an incredible story. The story of a boy from an ordinary family
whose ambition it was to become an artist, but who instead became a drifter.
His destiny however was not to drift into the awaiting
oblivion, but to rise to the greatest heights of power, eventually to become
one of the most influential men who ever lived.
Now for the first time, here is a documented account of a
story many believe to be…
The Greatest Story NEVER Told!
Learn the untold story about the most reviled man in
history. Adolf Hitler, The Greatest Story Never Told is a 6-hour Documentary by
TruthWillOut Films.
This ground-breaking documentary chronicles the rise of
Germany from defeat in World War I, to communist attempts to take over Germany;
hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic, widespread unemployment and misery,
and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
It also reveals a personal side of Adolf Hitler: who he was,
his family background, his artwork and struggles in Vienna and what motivated
him to come to power.
There’s so much hidden history to recount; FDR Pearl Harbor
conspiracy, Soviet brutality, betrayal and treachery on all sides. Do we really
know the true cost of war? Do we really possess all the facts?
Watch this series and uncover the real root causes of World
War II. Do your own research and decide what you choose to believe. Think
differently.
The Washington Examiner explains that the 2013 movie is
popular among antisemites, citing an Anti-Defamation League spokesperson. “Imam
Zaman has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and
justifying violence against Israel.
“He also has justified violence against Israel, including
from terror groups. Given his hurtful remarks post-Oct. 7, and absent any
recognition of the pain he has caused the Jewish community, we urge all public
officials and leaders to avoid meeting with him in the future. Those who have
met with Imam Zaman should clarify that they don’t agree with his toxic views
about Jews and the Jewish state.”
After a terror attack, it is always meaningful to see who
rushes to support the Jewish State; and all the more so after the slaughter of
October 7. On that black day, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) was quick to offer
sympathy and support to Israel and the Israeli people. At the other end of the
scale was Asad Zaman, who asked Porter if she were willing to “reaffirm the
right of Palestinians to defend themselves.”
@RepKatiePorter. Do you also condemn Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians and children? Do you also stand with the Palestinian people? Do you also reaffirm the right of Palestinians to defend themselves?
Beyond Porter, there is Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Party Chairman Ken Martin, who wrote on social media that he was “beyond
heartbroken” to hear about Israeli acquaintances “brutally killed or kidnapped”
on Oct. 7. Of course, Zaman was there to respond with the threat that his group
would be shunned by the Muslim community, that it “cannot be joined at the hip
to apartheid Israel and still hope to court the Muslim vote.”
Ken. Did you visit Gaza? Did you visit any Palestinians living under apartheid in the West Bank?
The DFL cannot be joined at the hip to apartheid Israel and still hope to court the Muslim vote.
When can we see a similar expression of grief over Palestinian children suffering?
The Zaman way is to twist the truth, equating Hamas terror to
Israel defending itself. Because this is how they roll at the Muslim
Brotherhood offshoot known as the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. On October
7, MAS Minnesota issued a statement that it “reaffirms its unwavering support
for the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli occupation.” We
don’t wonder that MAS Minnesota expresses its support for Hamas, a fellow branch of
the Muslim Brotherhood; but why has the Walz administration forked over more
than $100,000 in funding to MAS Minnesota?
Sam Westrop, a terrorism researcher and
analyst at the Middle East Forum think tank, told the Washington Examiner that
Walz’s ties with Zaman suggests that the Harris-Walz cabinet will be filled
with anti-Israel extremists.
“It is astounding that with all the available public reporting
and information about the iniquities of Imam Asad Zaman and MAS Minnesota that
Gov. Walz has repeatedly given public platforms and taxpayer money to this
extremist,” said Westrop.
“Across the country, Islamists hungry for government support
will surely welcome Walz as vice president.”
Note that the Muslim American Society has been described by federal prosecutors as being “founded as
the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.” In the United Arab Emirates, the Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist group in 2014. There
was a brouhaha in 2019 when a video surfaced online of children at an event
held by MAS Philadelphia calling to murder Jews.
“We will chop off their
heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque,” recite two
young girls, reading from a prepared text.
How does Tim Walz describe his pal, the pro-Hitler movie fan
Asad Zaman? Walz calls Zaman a “master teacher” who offers Walz lessons whenever
they spend time together.
“I would like to first of all say thank you to imam,” Walz
said at the MAS Minnesota 2018 event, standing next to now Lieutenant Governor
of the Gopher State, Peggy Flanagan:
“I am a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it.
Over the time we’ve spent together, one of the things I’ve had the privilege of
is seeing the things in life through the eye of a master teacher, to try and
get the understanding. It was imam talking [saying that] ‘in those times is
where we find who we are, in those times is where we really see.’
“That brings me to the second lesson that imam taught me,” said
Walz, going on to accuse Congress of feeding on “fear more than hope” and
“division.”
EXCLUSIVE: Tim Walz—in footage unearthed by @dcexaminer—called Hitler-promoting imam Asad Zaman a “master teacher” who offered Walz lessons over the time they “spent together"
The footage further contradicts the Harris campaign’s claim Walz has no personal relationship w/ Zaman pic.twitter.com/F1lKcJyzI1
Ben Shapiro spoke with Gabe Kaminsky after his exposé of
Walz’s friendship with Zaman. During the interview, Kaminsky said that MAS
Minnesota had been deemed a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot as far back as 2008, in
a terrorism financing case.
“But this individual, Asad Zaman, has a controversial
history on social media, on his Facebook page. He has, in one case, promoted a
pro-Hitler movie, a movie that glorifies Adolf Hitler. On Oct. 7, when 1,200
Israelis were slaughtered in the Jewish state, his immediate response was to
say that Palestinians had a right to resist, a right to defend themselves. And
this individual has promoted other conspiracy theories on his social media
history.”
Fox
News also asked for clarification from the Harris campaign regarding Walz’s
links to the imam. The Harris-Walz campaign responded to Chicago-based
correspondent Mike Tobin by lying, telling him that "Gov. Walz does not have
a relationship with [Zaman],” though Walz has hosted Asad Zaman on numerous
occasions.
For the first time ever, we will have chaplains of 3 different faiths deliver the invocation at #MNSOTS tomorrow. I am humbled to welcome Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman, Imam Asad Zaman, and Bishop Patricia Lull – three faith leaders who truly understand the meaning of #OneMinnesota.
The campaign also said that Walz "strongly condemns
Hamas terrorism.”
Fox's Tobin expressed his concerns:
We start to see more appearances with Zaman and Gov. Walz in
2019, January, April and May. At one point, Zaman delivers an invocation to the
state of the state address.
He appeared with Gov. Walz in May of 2020, calling for calm
in the George Floyd riots, and again in 2023 following a string of vandalism at
mosques.
Sam Westrop of The Middle East Forum says Gov. Walz has been
willfully ignorant of Zaman’s radicalism because he relies on the Arab or
Muslim voting bloc and cannot do anything that would make him appear Islamophobic.
Westrop said, “This is a serious problem. Under a
Walz-Harris ticket, given Walz's ability to embrace really just the worst kind
of radicals within the Muslim community, one can only imagine this will be
replicated at the White House level. Walz clearly doesn't want to know about
the extremists he embraces.”
Even the Dem-friendly CNN
wants to know what’s up with Walz and the imam. They got the same response from
the Harris campaign’s Lauren Hitt, who told CNN that Walz and Zaman do not have
a “personal relationship.”
“The Governor and he do not have a personal relationship.”
Is Hitt getting around what is now known by all, by qualifying
the nature of the Walz Zaman relationship? It’s not “personal.” Does Hitt mean
they’re not gay, they’re only friends?
Hitt, still sticking to the script, blah-blah-blahed the
same thing she’d said to everyone else who’d inquired. “Governor Walz strongly
condemns Hamas terrorism,” said Hitt to CNN.
Zaman separately told CNN that he does not have a “personal
relationship” with Walz. Pressed by CNN about his antisemitic social media
posts, he said that sometimes he shares links “without fully looking at them.”
“People, myself included, will sometimes pass along social
media items without fully looking at them. I support organizations, leaders and
efforts to bring greater justice, equality and wellbeing to all people whether
Muslim or Jewish, Christian or Hindu, believer or atheist. Desiring harm to
people is against my faith and my personal convictions,” said the imam to CNN.
Asad Zaman isn’t the only terrorist with whom Tim Walz has
fraternized. There’s also Hatem Bazian, an antisemitic academic. Bazian has
been an ever-abundant and dependable source of antisemitic propaganda in the
wake of October 7. Naturally, this is someone Walz wants to cultivate. In
fact, Walz cozied up to Bazian the Jew-hater for a photo
opp in 2019, at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event. The views
of CAIR and Bazain were transparent even then.
CAIR, much like MAS, was labeled by federal prosecutors an
unindicted co-conspirator of Hamas in a terror finance case from 2008. In 2017,
Bazian was compelled to apologize for posting an antisemitic meme depicting a Jewish man with the caption,
"Mom look! I is chosen! I can now kill, rape, smuggle organs & steal
the land of Palestinians Yay #Ashke-Nazi."
Walz posed for photos with this man, Hatem Bazian. What does
this say about Walz? By now we know. He likes hanging out with known antisemites.
And giving them money.
Meanwhile, you won’t get any kind of admission from the Harris campaign about the vice presidential candidate and his close associations with terrorists. When questioned, all they do is lie. Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition was blunt not only about Walz’s relationship with Asad Zaman, but how the Harris campaign responds when confronted with the evidence:
It is an outrage to the American Jewish community that Tim
Walz would champion Hitler-promoting cleric Asad Zaman of the Muslim American
Society of Minnesota. On Oct. 7, 2023, as Israel was suffering the worst
massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Mr. Zaman disgustingly asserted that he
‘stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks.’ Appallingly,
under Tim Walz, Minnesota has awarded over $100,000 in funding to Zaman’s
Israel-hating organization.”
At a time of spiking antisemitism here at home and as Israel
faces an existential war for survival, it is essential for the American Jewish
community to have confidence in our leaders—and it is clear that we cannot trust
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Their priorities are not our priorities, and the
American people will reject their radicalism and extremism in November.
Beyond the stolen valor issue and more, the American public has
begun to notice Tampon Tim's affinity for terrorists. Florida Senator Rick
Scott spoke out about Walz hosting a Hamas-affiliated terrorist who celebrated
October 7 on some five occasions, saying that Harris/Walz is the “pro Hamas
ticket.”
As Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz — on at least 5 occasions — hosted a Muslim cleric who celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) meanwhile questioned the
response of the Harris team: “Why did Tim Walz lie about his obviously friendly
relationship with a Minnesota Muslim cleric who promoted Hamas and Hitler?
“Weird—and disqualifying.”
Why did Tim Walz lie about his obviously friendly relationship with a Minnesota Muslim cleric who promoted Hamas & Hitler?
Many are the accusers who call Donald Trump “Orange Hitler”
with no proof. There’s just a call that goes out to the echo chamber, and the media
and its audiences, fall in. Meantime, in Walz we have a potential VP who has
the very bad habit of legit hanging out with genuine Hitler fans. Donald Trump
told Elon Musk that any Jew who votes for Harris should have his head examined;
and in truth, an examination of the facts about Walz and his Muslim cronies can
lead to only one conclusion: Walz is a terrorist sympathizer.
If you vote for Harris, you’re voting for Walz.
And if you vote for Walz, you’re voting for Jews to die.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
Spain, Norway and Ireland said on Wednesday that they would recognize an independent Palestinian state.
It's literally beyond parody.
Every poll of Palestinians for the past seven months shows strong support not only for the massacre and orgy of violence, but also of Hamas altogether.
In the most recent poll, 71% of Palestinians support Hamas' decision to attack on October 7. 63% want to see Hamas restored to power in Gaza. Hamas is using the entire civilian population of Gaza as human shields, but 72% of Palestinians are satisfied with how Hamas is waging war. A plurality of 49% believe that Hamas is the most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people today, triple any other option. 55% support terrorism against Israelis. Most oppose a two state solution next to Israel - they want everything.
These polls do not get much publicity in Western media. But any democratically elected leadership of a Palestinian state would share Hamas goals of making the Middle East Judenfrei.
There is no way that the leaders of Ireland, Norway and Spain do not know this. Which means that they tacitly support the same goals.
In the name of "peace."
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Photos of Rafah refugees fleeing however they might—by car,
on foot, by bundle-laden donkey-driven carts—were everywhere yesterday, the
unseasonable rain adding a poignant touch of pathos to their plight. The
parents looked grim for the photos, while the children seemed cheerful enough,
with smiles on their faces. They were leaving Rafah. It was an adventure.
The much-anticipated IDF operation in Rafah had already
begun if you count the evacuation of some 100,000 Rafah civilians to a new humanitarian
zone created just for them. For the refugees, it would be no picnic, obviously,
but there would be “field hospitals, tents, and increased provisions of food,
water, medicine, and other supplies,” said the Jerusalem Post.
Some of the refugees attempted to cross into Egypt, to no
avail. They were turned away by the Egyptian military, who had beefed up their
presence and level of preparedness along the 12-kilometer border between Gaza
and Egypt.
You read that right: Egypt shares a border with Gaza. If you
look at a map, you will see it is true.
(Red line: border fence between Rafah and Israel. Brown line: border line between Rafah and Egypt.)
But Egypt will not provide a haven for the desperate-to-leave Gazan civilians. Not unless they pay a fee of
anywhere from $5,000-$12,000 a head.
The procedure of leaving Gaza went on for days. In the first
stage, Dr. Mukhaimer Abu Saada, who lived near the upscale Al Rimal
neighborhood, was forced to move with his wife Rosanne and his children to Khan
Younis where he found shelter at a relative’s apartment. Two weeks later, IDF
forces told the area’s residents to move to Rafah where the man, who until
recently was head of the department of political science at Al-Azhar
University, huddled with his family in a tent in appalling conditions.
Only then did they receive word and the family reported at
the border crossing. They waited in line. Someone had made sure to pay $8,000
per person. Only then were they granted a permit to cross into Egypt. “It was a
nightmare,” he says in an interview from his new home in Cairo. “We didn’t know
until the last minute whether we’d be able to get out of there.”
Despite the upheaval, Dr. Abu Saada is considered one of the
lucky ones. Since the start of the war, very few Gazans have managed to leave
the bombed and burning Strip. Some only passed via Egypt en route to Europe or
Arab countries that had agreed to take them in. Others have settled in Egypt.
The transition cost a great deal – amounts of money most Gazans could only
dream of . . .
. . . Since November,
when the Rafah crossing opened for around-the-clock activity, 600 Palestinians
holding dual nationality have managed to leave the Gaza Strip. Then came the
privileged, like Abu Saada, whose people paid for their departure. At the
moment, it’s the rich who can get out. At first, they paid $8,000 per person.
The price then dropped to $,5000 and it’s now risen to $10,000 (children paying
$2500). The permit arrives at night and is only stamped the following day. If
you miss that window of opportunity, you have to start the process all over –
with increments of thousands of dollars per person. Only a few dozen people
have so far managed to get out in this way. . .
. . . Like Abu Saada,
M., along with five family members, managed to make it to Cairo. “We were
lucky,” she says, “we only paid $5,000 per adult and $2,000 per child. The
price is now twice that.” She doesn’t want to disclose her complete name, and
definitely not to an Israeli newspaper. “Yes, I’m in Egypt in a safe place, but
I have first- and second-degree relatives in Gaza and I need to think of them.”
The Rafah civilians should be safe in the humanitarian zone
created for them by Israel—unless Hamas finds a way to use them as human
shields. But the homes they left may very well be reduced to dust. Hamas is
behind that—behind all of the death and destruction. The rapists have wormed their way
through Gaza every which way: from belowground in tunnels, and from aboveground, too, embedding
itself in apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals.
Hamas makes extensive use of human shields, putting civilians in harm's way to shield itself. It’s a very effective tactic from the terrorists’ perspective. Hamas hides behind the civilians, and the
IDF holds its fire. In this cruel manner, civilians provide the perfect protection for Israel's real nemesis: the Hamas rapist
cowards.
When, however, Gaza civilians do get caught in the crossfire and subsequently die, it's a win-win proposition for Hamas. There’s nothing quite like photos of dead Gazans to demonize Israel and further Hamas aims. The photos are framed in such a way as to take the onus off the true culprit, Hamas, for the Gazan death and destruction, while shifting the blame onto Israel.
The AP and Reuters, of course, just lap this
stuff up. It’s what their audiences crave most: Israel as murderer without
mercy, the Gazans as poor innocent lambs. That’s the media narrative and they're sticking to it. And it is this narrative that continues to empower and embolden Hamas, who holds not only Israelis hostage, but the people of Gaza, too.
One might have thought, if one were inclined to think, that
among the 22 Arab nations, there’d be one or two that might take pity on
the people of Gaza, and absorb and resettle at least some of them, and on their
own dime. They share a common language along with the same culture and religion
as the fleeing refugees. Yet, not one of these 22 Arab countries will let them in. That’s a lot
of places that might extend a charitable hand to the Gaza refugees, but fail to do so.
Of course, one cold-hearted country stands out from among the rest in regard to its lack of concern over the plight of its Gazan brethren, and that country
is Egypt. Egypt shares a border with Gaza. And
all Egypt has to do is open its gates and heart to its Arab brothers and
sisters—the ones who will die if it doesn’t.
But it won’t.
There are many reasons why Egypt won’t take in its kin—won’t
take in its own. But we won’t go into that here. Instead we will talk
about the shame of it. How shameful it is that Egypt won’t take in its own
people.
Confronted with this truth, those plugging the anti-Israel narrative have a rote response at the ready, "What does Egypt have to do
with any of this—this Hamas war with Israel?"
Actually, quite a lot. Beginning with the fact that many if not most Gazans are of Egyptian heritage.
"Masri” is slang for "Egyptian" and according
to “Palestinian Tribes, Clans, and Notable Families,” a prominent surname in
Gaza:
Notable Families
The third clan-like grouping in
Palestine in the urban elite notable family, a social formation typical throughout
the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire. Many of the most well known and prominent
Palestinian families come from this notabsle, or a’yan, social class: Husayni, Nashashibi,
Dajani, Abd al-Hadi, Tuqan, Nabulsi, Khoury, Tamimi, Khatib, Ja’bari, Masri,
Kan’an, Shaq’a, Barghouthi, Shawwa, Rayyes, and others. These are extended
families that dominated Palestinian politics until the 1980s, and are still
relatively prominent today.
The preponderance in Gaza of the surname “Masri” (also “al-Masri”
and other variations), betrays the Egyptian origins of a large number of Gazans.
They’re the same people of the same stock; they’re Egyptians. But Egypt shares more
than blood ties with Gaza. Egypt shares a border with Gaza, something
the stupid don’t know when they talk about Gaza being an “open-air prison”
There are TWO ways in and out of Gaza, two shared borders. One with Israel and one with, Egypt, from whence the people of Gaza come. The Egyptians are their family, their kin.
But kids these days. These ignorant protesting dummies on college campuses, so
drunk with genocide cool aid, that they haven’t even looked at a map. How could we expect them to do a bit of digging, apply some critical thought to the idea that they're fighting for—to look at the clues
contained in the surnames of the people they claim are subject to Israeli
genocide? It's their own family who won’t let them in!
Smart people know better than these campus idiots because they bother to look at a map, and investigate the facts. They see how shameful this is, how Egypt, only steps away from Rafah, should be ashamed of itself.
That’s what intelligent people know to think when they see photos in the media of the
sad and grim refugees set to wandering yet again.
It’s what we should all be
thinking and asking out loud: Why won’t Egypt give refuge to its brethren? Why
won’t it save its own people? Why has Egypt trapped the people of Gaza in an open-air
prison even now, when it counts most, when the homes and lives of the Gazan people of Rafah, lie in the
balance?
History will not be kind to Egypt for its despicable behavior toward the people of Rafah. All will be noted and recorded, a new black mark on the reputation of Egypt, the country that once oppressed the Jews and now oppresses its own.
It's a shameful thing, a shonda.
For shame, Egypt.
For shame.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
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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