Thursday, January 25, 2024
- Thursday, January 25, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
- Thursday, January 25, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
The IDF released three samples of memos written from Gaza's Al Qassam Brigades to Dr. Muhammad Hamdan, Head of the Directorate of Education and Teaching in Gaza, asking teachers to be excused from work because of military training ahead of October 7.
Date: September 10 2023
Subject: Lenient Work ScheduleWith regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to provide the brother Nur-Aldin Naim Mahmoud Siam, who works at the Aljanan high school (as a math teacher), with a flexible work schedule, as the nature of his position with us requires constant follow-ups.
Subject: Granting ReleaseWith regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to release the brother Moataz Abed-Alrazk Muhammad Alfara, who works at the education administration in west Khan Yunis, as we need him for military training on the date 28/09/2023. This date is not flexible.
Third:
Subject: Granting Release
With regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to release the brother Hani Saeed Saleem Salah, who works at the education administration in west Khan Yunis, as we need him for military training on the 28/09/2023. This date is not flexible.
So we know that Gaza teachers, journalists and even doctors are also Hamas members. But how many articles that blame Israel for targeting specific people mention this quite important fact?
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Seth Mandel: This War Is Different
Normally this set of conditions, in which only one side is subjected to any real pressure because the other side’s leaders cannot be made to value life, would whittle down governmental resistance until it reached its breaking point and agreed, like a game of musical chairs, to the best available deal on the table when the music stopped. Indeed, it is no longer just Netanyahu in the crosshairs of public opinion: The most recent polling shows a majority of Israelis are dissatisfied with the war council’s handling of the conflict. There is almost no conceivable development in which the cabinet’s numbers would improve.Shylock at the U.N.
In a normal conflict, then, this would be the moment the government would begin to collapse, and the war’s days would be numbered because the public’s will was nearly sapped.
But this isn’t a normal conflict. And what’s more, the families of the remaining hostages know it.
One exchange in a recent meeting between Netanyahu and the hostage families, included in the Times of Israel report, caught my attention: “Netanyahu was reportedly asked during the meeting why Israel could not simply agree to end the war in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages and then restart the fighting once the abductees have been returned.”
In other words, the hostage families—sleep-deprived, tortured by psychic pain—know the fighting must go on and Hamas must be defeated. They are desperate, as would be any human in their situation, for some way to bend reality enough to end their suffering. But they will not relinquish that sense of reality, even in this state. Just lie to the Americans.
Netanyahu then proceeded to explain to the Israelis gathered that, no, we cannot deceive the Americans. Israel would have to give its word and keep its word.
And that is part of what makes the weight on Israel’s shoulders so heavy. There is no pretending to end this war, because this war is different.
It seems obvious that neither diplomat would ever have thought of urging restraint upon Islamic nationalists, or an understanding of a broader context to Palestinians, who are implicitly granted a freedom of action that comes from being outside of a Judeo-Christian cultural imaginary (though often enrolled in a different one—I’m looking at you Caliban.). Indeed, one searches in vain for similar calls by European and U.N. leaders for anger management to Assad in Syria or Erdogan in Turkey. But, in the case of Israel, a Jewish demand for justice (or retribution) in the here and now is an inevitable, and perhaps even pleasurable, occasion for hardened diplomats to open up the possibility of an ultimate or final justice that will transcend justice, in the process of which the Jew will be inducted into the ways of mercy.NGO Monitor: Concerns about NGOs listed in UN OCHA-oPt’s “Flash Appeal” on “Hostilities in Gaza and Israel”
A similar dynamic can be seen at play in President Biden’s account of a recent conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu:
It was pointed out to me — I’m being very blunt with you all — it was pointed out to me , by Bibi, that ‘Well, you carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died,’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn’t happen again — it didn’t happen again. Don’t make the same mistakes we made at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to do some of the things we did.
In Biden’s gaff- prone way, he admits that these institutions of international law set up after World War II and intended to prevent massive civilian casualties were ignored again and again by the United States, most recently during the Afghanistan war, thereby contradicting his statement that “It didn’t happen again.” He’s also implicitly urging Netanyahu to set a better example than the United States has. The quality of mercy is not strained and becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.
In the way that, according to James Shapiro, The Merchant is not about Jews but rather a projection onto Jews of another people’s anxieties, so is the ongoing drama of Israel-Palestine. Biden turns a dialogue about Israeli national security and how that country should respond to terrorism – not being a global terrorism expert, I personally don’t know! - into a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy full of belated and uneasy American guilt and doubt about its own response to terrorism and insurgency, in parts of the world that are certainly much farther away from U.S. borders than Gaza is from Israel’s.
The Biden-Netanyahu conversation also shows the first tendency of Shylockism running headlong into the second. That is, Jews claiming the right to be as bad as gentiles, because they can imagine no other recourse. We don’t know if Bibi said exactly what Biden said he did: Biden may have been hearing Israel’s leader through the same distorting field that is audible in the rest of his account. Yet much of the historical rhetoric of Zionism as well as the State of Israel’s own messaging amounts to a kind of “honesty in vice” that attempts to justify actions seen as excessive through appeals to a tarnished self-image of “Western Civilization” from which Jews were historically excluded and “Western nations” no longer want to defend.
What remains exceptional about Jews and the Jewish state is a wish to exit a state in which Jews must be exceptional, either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. But this desire to be like others is also an old wish that runs through the heart of modern Jewish experience, going at least as far back to the time of Shylock and Rodrigo Lopes, and is inextricable from the searing prejudices that provoked it, at times becoming their obverse.
In a remarkable interpretation of The Merchant of Venice that turns on the question of what it meant to be a human being and a man in 16th century Europe, the critic Marc Shell suggests that much of Shylock’s behavior is “out of character for a Jew.” Specifically, Shell notes Shylock’s contract with Antonio as being inherently goyish. As he writes, “The apparent commensurability between persons and purses which this enactment reveals turns out to be more typical of Christian law, which allows human beings to be purchased for money, than Jewish “justice” and practice, which disallow it.”
Shylock is not afraid to say or do in broad daylight—transact with human flesh—what the Venetian nobles are themselves ashamed of. Shylock’s mention of slavery is the first time slaves appear in the play, although one might wonder what cargo Antonio is indeed trading to and from Mexico and the Indies. The play’s response to this is to invoke something beyond the law: Portia’s merciless mercy dressed up in judicial robes. It is through the invocation of mercy that Shylock inherently lacks that the crimes of the nobles of Venice are made to disappear from view. Without Jewish guilt, there can be no Christian innocence. I don’t like it.
On October 12, 2023, UN OCHA-oPt launched the “OPT Flash Appeal,” seeking $294 million “to address the most urgent needs of 1,260,000 people in the Gaza Strip (Gaza) and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for three months.” On November 3, the target amount was raised to $1.2 billion.UN Agency Floats Funding For Orgs That ‘Diverted’ Aid To Hamas And Worked With ‘Terror Groups,’ Report Says
The money will go to “13 UN Agencies, 29 International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and 38 National NGOs (NNGOs).” UNRWA was the only one of the 80 to be named in the October 12 document as an intended recipient. However, NGO Monitor researchers note that in January 2023, OCHA-oPt published a list of 78 partners that were projected to work within its “Humanitarian Response Plan” (HRP) in 2023. By cross-referencing grants listed in OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service database, NGO Monitor was able to identify, with a high level of confidence, the other two partners. (See Appendix 1.)
As of January 24, 2023, $697 million had been received as part of the Flash Appeal – by 9 UN Agencies, 22 international NGOs, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (See Appendix 4), and an additional $250 million had been pledged.
NGO Monitor raises the following concerns regarding this appeal:
Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels. Some of the recipients actively lobbied the US and European governments to significantly relax vetting standards meant to prevent this theft of aid. It would be irresponsible to continue funding these groups in the absence of significant changes in oversight and prevention.
At least two of the NGO partners have been sanctioned after working with terror groups:
In 2016, Mohammad El-Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in Gaza, was arrested by Israeli authorities, accused of diverting approximately $50 million (60% of the World Vision’s Gaza budget) to Hamas for tunnels and to fund other terrorist activity. In June 2022, the Be’er Sheva District Court convicted El-Halabi of taking “an active and significant part in the activities of Hamas and assisted Hamas over the years in a variety of ways, including transferring monies and equipment that he knew would be used to fund terrorism and assisting terrorists…marking exit points for tunnel openings on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing…”
In January 2023, the Jerusalem District Court approved a request from the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits to disband the World Vision’s Israel branch, due to concerns of terror financing and financial mismanagement.
According to the US Department of Justice, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) provided “material support” to Iran, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
During the current fighting, as with the past 16 years of Hamas control, the terror group has exploited humanitarian arrangements. There is no evidence to support a conclusion that the UN agencies and NGOs have will and security capabilities to prevent further large-scale abuse by Hamas and other brutal terror actors in Gaza.
A number of recipients are listed as “International NGOs (Confidential)” and “National NGOs (Confidential)” (emphasis added). The lack of transparency and the possibility that the grantees are problematic actors are concerning.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (UN OCHA-oPt) coordinates humanitarian action within Gaza and the West Bank, and is currently requesting a $1.2 billion total appeal for roughly 80 partners, which includes non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and sister agencies at the UN, to deliver aid to the region. In some cases, aid handled by UN OCHA-oPt’s partner NGOs has ended up being “diverted” to Hamas for “terror purposes,” according to a report from NGO Monitor obtained by the DCNF.
“Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels,” according to the NGO Monitor report. Some of these partners lobbied the U.S. and Europe to loosen regulations and standards surrounding the delivery of aid, thereby making it directly easier for it to be stolen.
“There is no evidence to support a conclusion that the UN agencies and NGOs have will and security capabilities to prevent further large-scale abuse by Hamas and other brutal terror actors in Gaza,” the NGO Monitor report reads. “The lack of transparency and the possibility that the grantees are problematic actors are concerning.”
“At least two of the NGO partners” were previously sanctioned for ties to terrorism; World Vision’s location in Israel was approved for disbandment by an Israeli court in 2023 over terrorism financing, one year after the organization’s Gaza manager, Mohammad El-Halabi, was convicted for his “active and significant part in the activities of Hamas,” according to the report. The second, Norwegian People’s Aid, reached a settlement in 2018 after being civilly accused of providing “material support” to Iran, Hamas and other Islamic terror organizations, according to the Department of Justice.
- Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Varda Meyers Epstein (Judean Rose)
- Anne Frank, antisemitism, Facebook, Judean Rose, Opinion, Quora, social media, Varda
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Antisemitism is personal. Like snowflakes—no wokeness
intended—no two Jews experience antisemitism the same way. Even the same Jew
will experience antisemitism differently when there are multiple incidents or when
exposure to antisemitism is ongoing.
Social media antisemitism is probably the safest kind of
antisemitism, because the antisemite hides behind a keyboard. An ugly comment,
it must be acknowledged, is not the same as being beaten by gangs. Still, there
is always the possibility that the online antisemite will doxx you, or
use what you write to identify you to people who could do you real harm IRL (in
real life).
The comments themselves range from brainless to so ugly that
you gasp out loud from the shock of it. One particular antisemitic barb will
make you giggle for its stupidity, while another will make you tremble, and
your eyes well up with tears. Sometimes you feel a wry sense of the familiar.
This is what it is. This is our lived experience, to be hated for false reasons
or for no reasons at all.
Sometimes the hurt is compounded by the attitude of the people
at the top. People like Mark Zuckerberg who has made his community standards
such that horrific antisemitic comments and memes are left up, while our
innocent pro-Israel memes and comments are removed when reported by Arabs and
their supporters.
A pattern has developed wherein I report the offensive,
antisemitic post and Facebook says no, it doesn’t violate its community
standards. I then appeal where they allow it, and they say no again, and the vile
antisemitic post stays up.
Here are some antisemitic comments and memes that I have
reported over the past several weeks. Facebook has refused to take action:
In my personal experience of social media however, the worst offender
in allowing antisemitic comments and online calls for genocide, is Quora. It’s all
anti-Israel, antisemitic lies and propaganda posed as questions. Sure, you can
report antisemitic questions and comments and they’ll be collapsed or deleted, but
repeat offenders are never banned. I think about leaving or even muting Quora all
the time, but I stay, mostly to encourage those still interested in learning
the truth about the Jewish people and Israel.
Here’s a selection of 26 antisemitic Quora questions that
have accumulated over the past 12 days and are awaiting my attention—for me to either
reply or pass:
1.
With the utmost respect
intended, how is it possible for so many average Israelis on sites as this to
defend their state's ongoing assault on Gaza, when even such mainstream "
Western " sources like Oxfam attest to its singular level of brutality?
2.
Why did Hamas commit
terrorism against Israel which can annihilate itself entirely?
3.
Does Satan support Israel
victory over the people of Palestine?
4.
Has Trump asked Netanyahu
to cause maximum embarrassment for Biden, with Israel's assault on Gaza, by
completely ignoring Biden's pleas for restraint?
5.
Would there have been more
outcry against Israel's actions if any major Fortune 100 companies had been
headquartered in Gaza?
6.
Would people who oppose
Yemen's blockade of Israel-linked ships also have opposed the partisans who
blew up Nazi train lines?
7.
Why is Palestine more
pro-American and trustworthy than Israel?
8.
Are Israelis going to give
the stolen land back to the Palestinians and stop their thieving ways?
9.
Why doesn't Israel just
give back the land it won and pretend the war never happened and we get a 2
state solution?
10.
Why are Israelis basically
flat out admitting to genocidal intent by calling approximately 1.15 million
minors (including children) terrorists and "the enemy" when asked why
Israel was withholding water, food and medicine from them if not genocide?
11.
It’s only a matter of time
until our generation is elected to office, and the rogue terrorist state of
Israel will cease to exist, but what can we do in the meantime to stop Israel's
bloodbath?
12.
What is the reasoning
behind Israel refusing to embed journalists to show the world Hamas is still
aggressive and leaving the world to only see civilian suffering? [untrue]
13.
It was just last year that
Israel was funding Hamas millions of dollars in cash and weapons. What happened
that made Hamas attack the people that support them?
14.
Do you think Israel will
rebuild Gaza for the Palestinians, or do you think they will just steal the
land?
15.
Why does Africa love Hamas
so much, should Israel start a war with them?
16.
Why do the Zionists in the
social media persistently seek to dehumanize the Palestinians, despite having
themselves been subjected to similar dehumanization tactics by Hitler that led
to genocide against them?
17.
Why does America seem
unable to influence or control Israel, while other countries supporting
Palestine exert more control over the situation?
18.
Is Israel’s attack on Gaza
legitimate?
19.
Why am I seeing so many
Israeli propaganda posts in my feed?
20.
Polls show Israel has
completely lost younger Americans with 74% or more disapproving of how it has
handled the Hamas-Israel war. Has Netanyahu and his right wing government
permanently damaged the US - Israel relationship or can it come back? [false]
21.
Why was the USA disturbed
by the disruption of navigation in the Red Sea and not disturbed by genocidal
crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, but rather supported it in that?
22.
Is the only way of stopping
Israel's slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza for ten [sic] USA to
withdraw all support from Israel? If so, isn't it morally incumbent on them to
do so?
23.
Why is Western media
calling the Palestinian genocide a war, and censoring people in support of
Palestine?
24.
Is Israel using artificial
intelligence to deny humanity and wage war?
25.
Is someone who supports
both Israel in Gaza and Russia in Ukraine a pawn of the Likud?
26. Is it true that the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th was relatively hilarious?
That last query was actually older, from early December 2023.
I leave it in my inbox as a future reminder of a time when the world was once again overrun
by masses of people rejoicing at Jewish suffering while too many watched on,
indifferent. Atrocities are never hilarious. Good people know this. Yet Quora,
as powerful as it is, with its 400
million active monthly users, leaves this question up on its website where
it has sat now for seven weeks. Is Quora’s indifference to antisemitism evidence
of malfeasance? Is Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to ban evil antisemitic memes and
comments, evidence of his malfeasance?
Which leads to another question: Are antisemitic evil, hate,
and depravity still real if they exist only in the virtual halls of Quora and Facebook?
The answer depends on your personal experience of antisemitism. One Jew will laugh
off an antisemitic comment, or block it from their consciousness, while others
may feel hurt or anger. But no matter how a Jew experiences antisemitism, some
damage is done, even if the “damage” consists of absorbing the bitter lesson that not all, or even most people are good.
It’s a lesson that Jews have been forced to learn and relearn over millennia, a lesson that perhaps even Anne Frank was forced to learn in the end. We’ll never know, because Anne Frank was murdered before she could tell us, because she was a Jew.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
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- Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
1. Israeli army is right now about 6-7 kilometers away from the Al Mawasi humanitarian safe zone (see the recent map from January 21 below), the ground forces of IDF are not in Al Mawasi or anywhere near. There is no existing sniper rifle that can cover that long range (mostly they are good for along shot between 1000-1500 meters, rarely slightly farther)
2. We can hear automatic gun fire in the video, not a single shot fire that sniper rifle produces, which implies we hear a machine gun fire (like M-16 or Kalashnikov) and effective range for those are between 500 to 550 meters for M-16 and 350 meters for Kalashnikov.3. The clip is edited between the time we hear gunshots and we see the body - it misses several seconds of the footage and these are important seconds, because during these seconds the person was hit with a bullet4. We do not see on the video any armed person, we do not have a clear visual on the body either, the angle does not allow us to see where he was hit and from which direction, what we see is that he is covered with a white piece of cloth and dragged to a nearby area behind the fence
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
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Israel is still winning the political war
On the other side, in UN venues highly suited for empty words, Russia and China both ceremonially declared their support for the Palestinians. Yet Moscow has continued to co-operate smoothly with Israel’s air force as it operates over Syria to attack Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, while not one Chinese partner has withdrawn from any joint venture in Israel. Nor did the rising calls to reduce the bombardment of Gaza, led by Belgium of all countries and eventually backed by the White House, have any actual consequence — Israel’s bombing was reduced in any case by the diminishing supply of worthwhile targets.Bonnie Glick and Richard Goldberg: Cut funding to organizations that are empowering Hamas
Likewise, not one of the Arab countries with whom Israel has diplomatic relations has interrupted them in any way, while relations with Egypt have blossomed into a veritable security partnership over Gaza and Sinai. Even more important are the statements of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, who has made it clear that normalising ties with Israel will not long be delayed once the fighting ends. Even though intelligence exchanges and multiple technology joint-venture negotiations have been underway for some years without any need for official relations, such assurances cannot be overestimated: they are, after all, definitive evidence that Hamas’s assault on October 7 has failed.
The purpose of that deliberately horrific attack was precisely to stop any alliance between the Saudis and Israelis. That was certainly the goal of Iran, which has every reason to dread the fusion of Israel’s technology with Saudi Arabia’s financial resources: Tehran rightly fears this would entail some form of military co-operation, which in turn might bring Israeli air power within a short distance of its Iranian targets.
For now, though, Saudi Arabia’s declared goals are more prosaic. Just like the world’s venture capitalists, the Saudis believe that joint investments in Israeli tech will be profitable. But far more important is Israel’s proximity, which can greatly facilitate the training of Saudi engineers, technicians and skilled workers — thus achieving progress towards the central aim of putting Saudis to work and ending its reliance on expatriate labour. For Israel, it scarcely matters that the Saudis want a quiet Gaza ruled by reliably corruptible Palestinians, just as in the West Bank, before they start investing their billions; after all, the Israelis themselves obviously need some sort of political arrangement to retreat from Gaza without more rockets being launched the day after.
Israel’s diplomatic success is not just due to its changed economics however: its high-tech military equipment has arguably been more influential. It is the reason, for instance, why India has emerged as a steadfast ally, as it relies on Israeli tactical missiles for both its air and naval forces, along with much else. It is also the reason why the Pentagon does not begrudge military aid to Israel — it benefits from a constant backflow of valuable technology, including famous helmet-mounted display at the core of the F-35 fighters that now equip the Air Force, Navy and Marines.
As Congress mulls its next moves on big federal spending bills, members of both political parties are refusing to confront an elephant in the room: Billions of taxpayer dollars are being sent to international organizations enabling Hamas terrorism.Which countries are actually helping Gaza and not just bolstering extremists?
With 34 Americans already murdered by Hamas and six more still held hostage in Gaza, it’s time for Washington to withhold contributions to agencies that actively subsidize, enable or defend the evil the world witnessed on Oct. 7.
The U.S. sends billions of dollars to the United Nations every year and hundreds of millions more to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Are we getting our money’s worth? Hamas certainly is.
Take the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for starters. This organization runs schools in the West Bank and Gaza that explicitly teach kids to hate Jews and of course Israel. Many of its staff members are members of terrorist groups such as Hamas. Its facilities are used by Hamas to launch attacks and build terror tunnels. Employees stand accused of celebrating Oct. 7 and even holding some of Hamas’s Israeli hostages in their homes.
UNRWA does not submit the names of its staff, contractors or beneficiaries to the U.S. for counterterrorism vetting. And so, despite funding UNRWA with over $1 billion under the Biden administration, there is no accountability in terms of who has access to that money.
These aren’t shocking revelations — they go back many years. This is what led the Trump administration to cut off all funding to UNRWA in 2018. The Biden administration, however, subsequently reopened the spigot. And with roughly 40 percent of UNRWA’s budget focused on Gaza, that’s $400 million of U.S. funding to an organization that employs Hamas members and whose employees are credibly believed to have participated in its crimes against humanity.
Absent an outright prohibition in an appropriations law, Congress may greenlight hundreds of millions more this year, both in the regular budget and the president’s requested emergency supplemental.
The same goes for the International Committee of the Red Cross, to which the U.S. will send another $600-700 million this year as if on autopilot. This, while the Red Cross refuses to pressure Hamas to allow medical visits to the hostages it kidnapped, and after an apparent cover-up of Hamas’s use of hospitals as both terror base camps and holding centers for hostages.
Israeli news has repeatedly covered stories of aid entering Gaza only to be stolen by Hamas or looted by desperate Palestinian civilians. While these incidents are likely rampant, one of the better-known reports of this was from mid-December when Kan released footage of alleged armed individuals stealing UAE-donated aid on the streets of Gaza. In reality, the men seen atop the truck in that footage are not Hamas or criminal gangs but local Palestinians hired by the United Arab Emirates to ensure that their aid is delivered safely to those who need it most.
Numerous countries are playing a role in Gaza, but not all may be as well coordinated or as altruistic.
Qatar, for example, recently brokered a deal to deliver medicine to Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. While playing a central role in the delivery of aid, as well as in negotiating for the release of Israeli captives seems praiseworthy, the reality is that the Qatari government has long been known as the terror group’s most important patron and the gracious host of Hamas’ most senior leaders.
Playing all sides in the conflict
Qatar is playing all sides, gaining points for negotiating on behalf of Israel with the very murderous group they lavishly domicile, while the civilians in Gaza suffer from the results of Hamas’s actions.
The UAE, on the other hand, is working daily to improve the humanitarian situation in close coordination with the Israeli and other regional governments.
Along with countries such as Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt, the UAE maintains strong open ties with Israel, but Bahrain is its only ally in so singularly and consistently denouncing extremism.
The UAE is providing unconditional humanitarian aid to Gaza, without any of the political brinkmanship of some other actors. Since the start of the war, it has sent over 140 airlifts to Gaza; set up six desalination stations; and delivered over 200 trucks of aid along with quietly opening a 150-bed field hospital which has so far treated around 1,700 patients. It has also transferred hundreds more patients to Abu Dhabi for further care.
- Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Sharing this resource.On February 3rd from 10AM-12PM Educators for Palestine will be hosting a virtual "curriculum share" geared to K-12 classroom teachers. In the first part of this session, teachers will have the opportunity to hear from a panel of organizers and legal experts on how to combat censorship as we strive to create classrooms that foster justice, understanding, and healing.In the second part of this session, teachers will have the opportunity to present and share original lessons and materials they have developed on topics such as Palestinian history, the history of Israeli occupation, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza—every teacher who attends the curriculum share will leave with a collection of lessons they can use with their students.Our hope is that by creating space to share resources and build meaningful connections, that we can empower each other to serve as changemakers within our individual schools. We especially want to highlight the incredible work educators are doing right now to combat hate, misinformation, and misunderstanding during this critical time. If you are an educator who has developed a lesson around Palestinian history, the history of Israeli occupation, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, or a related topic, and you'd like to present it to other teachers on February 3rd, please fill in ! Generous humans who donate lessons will be contacted by event organizers to answer questions and provide further details.Anyone interested in attending should please RSVP HERE. We hope to see you on February 3rd, NYC Educators for Palestine, Working Group on Education & Curriculum DevelopmentWith Appreciation,Your Partner in Education and Proud Principal,Terri Grey
- Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
All this economic influence that the Jews enjoy around the world makes their power extend, openly and secretly, to the centers of the global economy, through their planned arm represented by the Zionist group, which attracts all those who sympathize with Israel, whether influential Jews or Christians, or from other religions. It is more like Masonic or Templar organizations [than a religious group.]
CSR Gulf is a Kuwaiti based think tank whose president is unapologetically pro-Iran. He gave a speech in Tehran last month supporting Hamas and the entire Iranian "axis of resistance" against world Zionists.
- Wednesday, January 24, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
5.19.1 Siege and Encirclement Permissible. It is lawful to besiege enemy forces, i.e., to encircle them with a view towards inducing their surrender by cutting them off from reinforcements, supplies, and communications with the outside world. In particular, it is permissible to seek to starve enemy forces into submission.5.19.3 Passage of Relief Consignments. Commanders should make arrangements to permit the free passage of certain consignments:• all consignments of medical and hospital stores and objects necessary for religious worship intended only for civilians; and• all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing, and tonics (i.e., medicine) intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers, and maternity cases.However, allowing passage of these items is not required by the party controlling the area unless that party is satisfied that there are no serious reasons for fearing that:• the consignments may be diverted from their destination;• the control may not be effective; or• a definite advantage may accrue to the military efforts or economy of the enemy.
Since we know from previous wars, as well as this one, that Hamas controls all access to food - at gunpoint - allowing any food into Gaza is giving Hamas a definite advantage, and it is impossible to starve Hamas without also blocking food from the civilian population.
The prohibition of starvation as a method of warfare does not prohibit siege warfare as long as the purpose is to achieve a military objective and not to starve a civilian population. This is stated in the military manuals of France and New Zealand. Israel’s Manual on the Laws of War explains that the prohibition of starvation “clearly implies that the city’s inhabitants must be allowed to leave the city during a siege”.