Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 21, 2024

03/21 Links Pt2: US to bring Security Council motion for ceasefire and hostage deal to a vote Friday; The Hamas Broadcasting Corporation; The Growing List of Al Jazeera Terrorists

Like the rest of Israeli society, Alumim’s members were shocked and traumatized by the events of Oct. 7, especially as the full extent of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas became known. It was the most fatal day in Israeli history, with 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed, and 253 kidnapped. Not since the Holocaust had Jews been subject to mass murder, torture and rape, and Jewish collective memory across the world was deeply stirred.

That said, for all the horror of the day, Alumim had escaped the worst of it, albeit barely: Four members of the KK had been wounded, as had two residents (in addition to Muller, Doveleh Bergstein, the father of the KK’s Yaakov Bergstein, had been hit by a mortar fragment early in the day). Neighboring Kibbutz Sa’ad was not penetrated at all. Like Alumim, it is religiously observant, a fact that entered into portions of the public discourse. Inevitably, word quickly spread about the “miraculous” events at Alumim and Sa’ad, as compared to the horrific destruction at many of the other neighboring secular, mostly left-of-center kibbutzim. The fact that 19 foreign workers and an Israeli civilian had been killed within the kibbutz’s confines, not to mention the soldiers who had been killed beating off the attackers, was ignored. Fake social media posts attributed to the kibbutz’s rabbi, Amit Kula, declared that the kibbutz had been spared because it observed the Sabbath. This included locking the gates, so as to prevent motorized transportation on that day (an absurd notion in and of itself: All the kibbutzim in the area locked their gates). Rabbi Kula responded angrily, calling the idea that God distinguishes between observant and nonobservant Jews an abomination, pointing to the fact that many observant Jews had been killed that day, both soldiers and civilians in neighboring towns. Moreover, the kibbutz itself had failed to protect its foreign workers, hence there was no cause whatsoever for celebration.

As the full story became known, the “miracle” seemed less and less miraculous. In addition to the massacres of the foreign workers and the Nova festivalgoers on Road 232 outside the kibbutz, two members of the security forces had died at Alumim that day, as had the two Slotki brothers and Ofek Atun. Two other members of kibbutz families had been killed as well: Shachaf Bergstein, the brother of KK member Yaakov Bergstein, had been at the synagogue celebrations the night before, and was killed in his home in neighboring Kfar Aza; Lt. Nitai Amar, the son of a kibbutz family, was killed in battle down the road at Re’im; and the sister of a kibbutz member was killed while doing her morning training run with her running club from Sderot. The son of another kibbutz family would be killed in battle a few weeks later.

Alumim’s residents themselves viewed the events of the day through a number of different lenses. Some people did ascribe their survival to overt Divine protection. Most others, though, viewed things similarly as Rabbi Kula, namely that one utters the traditional prayer of thanksgiving in such situations, without any pretense of being able to answer the question: “Why me? Why did I survive?” Alumim’s defenders were acutely aware of how easily the results of the battle could have been radically different, and most of them gave short shrift to the idea that they had benefited from Divine intervention. However, there was no question in their minds that a crucial factor accounting for their success was that they were literally fighting to save their homes and families.

The massacre of the foreign workers remained a sore point for some, and particularly for Hunwald. Could more have been done to save them, for example, by immediately moving them en masse into the kibbutz’s residences, after the first wave of killings? The question gnawed at him, even while he acknowledged that no one had had a clue that the initial penetration of the kibbutz by the 10 terrorists was only the beginning of the ordeal. Some KK members emphasized that the subsequent large-scale massacre and kidnapping of the foreign workers had essentially bought the kibbutz defenders valuable time and even somewhat thinned out Hamas’ ranks, lending a special poignancy to what had happened, and reinforcing their sense of responsibility and indebtedness. As the first shock of the events gradually faded, and the kibbutz members began coping with their new status as displaced persons, the enormity of the Oct. 7 events gradually sank in. Some kibbutz members made sure to publicly and repeatedly emphasize that the Thai and Nepali workers were part of the Alumim community. Assistance was extended to the wounded, and ceremonies made sure to include reference to their sacrifices. By the beginning of February, six of the 10 Thai workers who had survived the ordeal and gone home, as well as one who had left before Oct. 7, had returned and were welcomed with open arms.

What does the future hold? Prior to Oct. 7, a common mantra among the kibbutzniks in the Gaza envelope was that their lives there were “95% paradise and 5% hell.” Nearly all of Alumim’s residents hoped to return home, but on one condition: There could be no restoration of the status quo ante that had included the “5% hell” and ultimately left them vulnerable to marauding terrorists. But after Oct. 7, could the authorities be trusted to achieve this, and if so, how? Kibbutz spokesman Dani Yagil was succinct: “They destroy, we’ll build,” in line with the pioneering ethos that had led to the establishment of Jewish settlements in the area in 1946, two years before the State of Israel was founded, and the founding of Alumim in 1966 by dedicated idealists.

Others, especially those with young children, weren’t so sure. After all, as Eitan Okun related, half of the children in the kibbutz were already in therapy before Oct. 7, owing to the constant stress engendered by Color Red warning sirens. How could they, as parents, have subjected their children to this? And could the destruction of Hamas’ military capabilities and ability to rule, the declared goal of Israel’s war against it, really be achieved? And what about the profound fissures that had opened up in Israeli society in the preceding year, and that were now reappearing again, five months into the war? Overall, there seemed to be a longing for more pragmatic voices that could lead Israel away from the abyss into which it was staring.

The fight for home on Oct. 7 had been won. The fight to keep and renew that home, both the kibbutz itself and the nation as a whole, was far from over.

Hebrew U legal expert to receive Israel Prize for work with October 7 vctims

The prestigious Israel Prize, awarded annually, was granted to Hebrew University of Jerusalem legal expert Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy for her advocacy for the victims of the October 7 attacks.

Elkayam-Levy was awarded in the "Solidarity" (Arvut Hadadit) category.

Following Hamas's massacre of southern Israel on October 7, she established the "Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children," which was brought about to highlight and uplift victims of the attacks. Namely, the Commission shed light on the crimes committed against women, children, men, and entire families that were severely impacted in the wake of October 7.

The work of the Civil Commission aims to promote human rights and gender equality, and she has taken her work to both the national and international stages.

In a statement, Elkayam-Levy, a legal expert at the Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, expressed her gratitude and ardent belief in giving voice to the voiceless and combatting rising antisemitism.

The Growing List of Al Jazeera Terrorists

These incidents, along with other intelligence, ultimately prompted the Israeli government to propose a law to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel. And yet, the Israeli government continues to engage with the government of Qatar in the ongoing hostage negotiations. Perhaps it goes without saying, but if the Israelis are convinced that journalists on the Qatari payroll are actively working with terrorist groups in Gaza, engaging the Qatari government to achieve a ceasefire with Hamas sounds insane.

It sounds even more insane given that Qatar has hosted a Hamas headquarters in Doha, and it has been paying Hamas $30 million per month since 2018. These funds undeniably helped Hamas prepare for the assault of October 7.

The Israelis are likely to continue dealing with the Qataris until a hostage deal is reached. But this does not explain why the United States continues to treat the terror-supporting Gulf nation as an ally. The support that Qatar has provided to terrorist groups like Hamas, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and even the Islamic State is beyond dispute. And the string of incidents in Gaza indicating a collaboration between Al Jazeera and Hamas are consistent with what American forces dealt with during the Iraq War, when Bush administration officials complained that Al Jazeera journalists somehow knew exactly where to be and had their cameras rolling during attacks that targeted American servicemembers. Al Jazeera’s fever-pitch incitement against the United States was another challenge that Washington never quite ironed out with Doha.

A reckoning is urgently needed in the United States on the connection between Qatar, Al Jazeera, and terrorism. Intelligence needs to be declassified. High-level hearings need to be convened. It’s time to pull the plug on Qatar’s media asset that provides cover for violent actors in Gaza and beyond. More important, it’s time to end the charade that Qatar is an ally, once and for all.

World trying its hardest to allow Hamas to survive - human rights be damned

The UN and others are accusing Israel of "using starvation as a weapon of war."

It is ridiculous. Israel has an entire section of the IDF. COGAT, dedicated to providing food and aid to Palestinians. Saying that Israel is deliberately trying to starve Gazans - which serves no military purpose, and in fact is counterproductive - is simply another blood libel.

The real problem is the world tying Israel's hands behind its back to destroy Hamas.

According to international law, a siege - a full blockade of all food that might reach Hamas - would be a legal form of warfare. Since Hamas steals the food, that would unfortunately mean stopping all food until Hamas surrenders.

As the US Law of War manual says:

Allowing passage of these items [food, medicine] 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.

But what about innocent Gazans? It might be legal to starve those who are near Hamas, but is it moral?

There was (and still is) a solution. They should have gone to Egypt or Jordan - with guarantees that they would return to Gaza when Hamas is gone. The international community would have happily funded camps and food in Egypt, with no war getting in the way to take care of the Gazans.

Egypt and Jordan didn't want them? So pressure them. Their economies depend on world support, and they could have made out quite well with billions coming in. Aren't human lives more important than two countries that have accepted millions of refugees from everywhere else changing their rules for Palestinians only?

Apparently not, when deaths can be blamed on Israel.

And that's the issue. If the world cared about Palestinians, the war could have been over by now, and the rebuilding could have started, as long as there are security guarantees for Israel. Is that so unreasonable?

But the world cares more about putting Israel into impossible positions and then blaming Israel when it cannot do everything perfectly with demands that no other nation at war ever had to follow.

Israel doesn't want to a single innocent person to die. The international community could have done things to save hundreds or thousands of lives, but they prefer virtue signaling and antisemitism.

Watching the war with any amount of objectivity and seeing how people are interpreting it is like being Alice in Wonderland. It is not human rights to allow Hamas to survive, yet the world is signaling clearly that this is the outcome they want.

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Good Faith Of Evangelical Support For Israel Questioned By People Allied With Actual Antisemites (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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New York, March 21 - Anti-Zionist activists challenged Zionists again today over the latter's acceptance of funding and political assistance from groups that might have ulterior motives for their funding and advocacy on behalf of the Jewish State, also insisting that the anti-Zionists' own coalition with groups that traffic in classic anti-Jewish rhetoric means nothing.

On social media and in interviews, anti-Zionists decried Evangelical support for Israel as insincere. They argued that for many such Christians, support for Israel hinges on views of a reconstituted Israel as instrumental in bringing about an apocalyptic final battle, and does not stem from any great love for Jews as such. The same anti-Zionists, meanwhile, ally with acolytes of Louis Farrakhan, while insisting they have Jews' best interests at heart.

"It's all about sparking Armageddon," insisted Rafael Shimunov, a New York activist. "Those Evangelicals don't actually like Jews or want to protect them. I don't know why Zionists think the support they get from Evangelicals is offered in good faith. Those Christians have an agenda, and it isn't a Jewish one. It's not like our allies in the pro-Palestine movement, who are sincerely concerned for human rights for everyone. Their love for Jews is genuine. The fact that Jews somehow never end up deserving the same rights as anyone else is all the Zionists' fault, really."

A minority of Evangelical Christian Zionists in the US do cite eschatological motives for their support of Israel. The statistics fall short, however, of demonstrating that Armageddon animates the Zionism of anywhere near a majority of the demographic. The dominant rhetoric in Evangelical circles regarding Israel invokes the brotherhood that they feel for Jews, the values they see upheld by the Jewish nation-state, and, in many cases, sympathy for many generations of Jewish suffering under Christian rule.

Palestine activism, on the other hand, offers its constituents the moral purity and consistency of deeming the civil rights and safety of Jews contingent on not conflicting with anyone else's desires. No hidden agenda lurks behind the activism; Palestinian leaders and their allies in the West make little effort to disguise their genocidal ambitions, even if they make the occasional rhetorical nod toward universal human rights, for which Jews somehow never qualify.

At press time, Mr. Shimunov had yet to respond to an inquiry as to whether he believed Armageddon will happen, which could explain any rational hesitation about accepting Evangelical support, or did not believe, in which case he was invited to explain why it matters at all.

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03/21 Links Pt1: Biden Offers Israel a ‘Deal’ That Sounds Like a Threat; The Palestine Propaganda Complex; 71% Palestinians Support Oct. 7 Attack on Israel

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Biden Offers Israel a ‘Deal’ That Sounds Like a Threat

The first question that comes to mind when reading this is: Why hasn’t the U.S. effort to force Egypt to close the tunnels been ongoing since the moment American officials found out about them? The specificity of U.S. knowledge suggests that this revelation occurred to them prior to Oct. 7. What were they waiting for?

Even if they didn’t know until recently, of course, it makes absolutely no sense that this hasn’t been made a priority. What kind of maniac uses this as a bargaining chip?

We will stop Egypt from flooding Gaza with arms and ammunition if you promise to go easy on Hamas is the kind of thing a mafia goon would say if you put him in the foreign service. What the Under Secretary of State for Gabagool is saying here is that if Israel helps the president calm the muppet babies in his party by summer, the Israelis get to choose the cause of the next war: Do they want it to be because Western leaders saved Hamas from oblivion, or would they rather the next war come because Egypt kept up its supply of cannonballs to the Jolly Roger?

Here’s what an Israeli counteroffer might look like: The IDF goes into Rafah, roots out Hamas, and seals the smuggling tunnels. Western governments’ role in this is limited to saying “thank you.”

Egypt, by the way, has a steady earmark of about $1.3 billion in U.S. aid per year. All the complaints about how the U.S. can just order Israel around because of military aid never seem to be applied to Egypt in the same way.

The U.S. is sending Americans to build a pier off Gaza because Egypt won’t open the Rafah crossing, so this isn’t just about Israel. Normally, you would say that this isn’t Egypt’s war or responsibility. But if everyone is conceding the fact that Egypt armed Hamas to the teeth, then that doesn’t hold water.

The smuggling tunnels should be closed and Hamas should be defeated. Israelis aren’t terribly interested in continuing to pick their own poison and being condescended to while they do so.

Einat Wilf: The Palestine Propaganda Complex

In 2013, Alberto Brandolini, an Italian programmer observing discourse on the internet, coined the adage that became known as Brandolini’s Law, also known as the “bullshit asymmetry principle.” “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit,” he posited, “is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.”

Palestine is only one example. Adi and I had to spend years of research and write an entire book to refute the three-word, poster-sized slogan “Palestine for Palestinians.” To do this, we had to dissect the manner in which the words “refugee” and “return” have been completely abused in the context of the Arab refugees from the War of 1948 (known since the 1960s as “Palestinians”). The words were inverted to keep the war alive, deprive the Jewish state of legitimacy, and maintain a constant question mark over the Jewish state’s very existence. The process of twisting these words has been so effective that, even though almost none of the millions who are still called “Palestinian refugees” are, in fact, refugees by normal international standards, they continue to enjoy the name, status, financial support, and international sympathy of people who have just escaped war and need protection.

Much the same could be written about the manner in which the term “anti-colonial” was inverted to turn the movement for self-determination of the Jewish people in their homeland — a movement that had to resist and outlive at least four empires in order to achieve its goals for Jewish independence — into the epitome of Western colonialism. Or the way in which terms such as “occupation,” “apartheid,” and “genocide,” which were clearly understood in a certain way for decades, were made to fit the purpose of painting the Jewish state as uniquely evil. Or how “antisemitism” was decontextualized and used to pretend that it was an ideology against “Semites,” then to argue that Arabs are Semites, and that, by definition, they could never be antisemitic.

Or I could simply expose the mechanism by which each of these words has been conscripted to serve in a much larger process, the purpose of which is to create a global mindset, a “general agreement” that the Jewish state, and only the Jewish state, is made to carry the imprint of all of the world’s evils.

This is what I call the “placard strategy.” It is ingenious in that it employs a simple and constantly repeated equation, worthy of a kindergarten. On one side is the word “Israel” or “Zionism,” or even merely an image of the Star of David. On the other side, after an = sign, there is a litany of words that have become signifiers of evil. Thus:
Zionism = Racism
Zionism = Apartheid
Zionism = Genocide

These are endlessly recycled on placards, in media and on social media and, most consequentially, in academia and at the United Nations.

Academia is key to conferring a sense of authority on the process of equating Zionism with all of the world’s evils. As the Wilson Center scholar Izabella Tabarovsky has shown, this process works through the writing of papers that are then cross-referenced to create a tightly woven structure that becomes nearly impenetrable. (This is why what happens at Harvard actually matters.) Laundering the placard strategy through the United Nations, as with the 1975 “Zionism = Racism” resolution of the General Assembly, also lends authority to these equations; but most valuably, it creates the arena in which the message that the collective Jew equals evil enjoys a “general agreement.” South Africa’s bringing the charges of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice is of a piece with this playbook.

The placard strategy—with its nursery-rhyme repetition of a simple message in numerous forums, combined with academic authority and the imprimatur of U.N. bodies—leads to only one logical outcome. It is the one seen in recent demonstrations, in which a Star of David is placed in a trash bin labeled “Keep the World Clean.” If Israel, Zionism, and the Star of David are evil, then evil must be eradicated. Moreover, it must be put in the trash and eradicated because on the other side of this process awaits a world of justice, rights, equality, and freedom.

It is no coincidence that while all the evil words are made to be associated with the collective Jew, all the good words are made to be associated with those fighting the collective Jew. And more than any other placard, “Keep the World Clean” from the Star of David is the one that should lead Jews to see the ultimate purpose of the entire project: a world without the collective Jew. Indeed, the idea that the collective Jew is what stands between this world and utopia is an ancient one with deadly consequences.

Joe Lieberman: Crossing a Red Line Over Israel

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last Thursday crossed a political red line that had never before been breached by a leader of his stature and never should be again. In a speech to the Senate, he told the people of Israel - one of our closest allies, a true democracy that is at war with an enemy that hates America as well as the Jews - that they should vote their prime minister out of office.

In Israel, Netanyahu's policy of fighting in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed has the support of an overwhelming majority. Israelis don't want the atrocities of Oct. 7 ever to be repeated. While Schumer's statement undoubtedly pleased American critics of Israel, for the Israelis it was meaningless, gratuitous and offensive.

Schumer ended his argument by lecturing our Israeli friends that if Netanyahu and his coalition remain in power, "then the U.S. will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israel's policy by using our leverage to change the present course." This is a shocking statement that treats Israel differently from other American allies by threatening to intervene in their domestic democratic politics and making American support for Israel conditional.

Schumer's statement will have every other democratic ally of the U.S. worrying that America may try to bully our way into its domestic politics. That will diminish our allies' loyalty to us. Without dependable allies, we will have a much harder time protecting America's security, prosperity and freedom.

Schumer has a record of supporting Israel. That makes his equivocation a particularly troubling and disappointing sign that his party is catering to members and voters who are hostile to the Jewish state.

I enjoyed working with Schumer during our years in the Senate together. He is an excellent legislative leader and became a personal friend. But in this case, I believe he has made a grievous mistake. I hope he can find a way to say so and then lead his fellow Democrats to support Israel - and the shared values and interests of our two great democracies.

Don't worry, British Jews! Only 5% of Britons want to see you dead!

YouGov-UK did a survey of British people asking whether they were sympathetic to Hamas, and found that only 11% of those who are sympathetic to Palestinians are also sympathetic to Hamas.

This was to disprove the straw man argument that if you are sympathetic to Palestinians you are automatically a Hamas supporter.

But even though the number of people who agree with Hamas philosophy are relatively small compared to the entire population, their numbers are non-trivial:

5% of all British people say the October 7 attacks were justified. 5% support ethnically cleansing Jews from the Middle East.

Of course, among the people motivated to join anti-Israel rallies every week, the percentages are much higher. After all, anyone who calls for a "flood" or "resistance" or "by any mean necessary" is agreeing with Hamas.

But imagine how British Jews feel when they know that in any given crowd, on the streets or on public transportation, there are likely to be several people who want to see them dead and who would celebrate their deaths if done in the name of "Palestine."

The 5% number is interesting for another reason. That is roughly the percentage of British adults who are Muslim.

Iran has been recruiting British Muslims as spies against the British Jewish community.

No wonder interest in making aliyah to Israel is now at record levels among British Jews.

(h/t Yoel)

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The IDF has said that it has killed, so far, over 140 terrorists in the vicinity of the Shifa medical complex. These include prominent Hamas members like Faiq Mabhouh inside the hospital, whom Hamas admits was killed. Israel also arrested known terrorist Mahmoud Kawasme, who was a planner of the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenage boys.

Beyond that, the IDF has uncovered caches of weapons and cash earmarked for terrorism.

In Israel's initial raid of Shifa Hospital in November, the media expressed doubts as to whether it was really a Hamas command center. Evidence after the initial raid proved that it was but the media had lost interest by that time.

This time, no one is really arguing that Hamas isn't at the hospital and engaging in fierce firefights from within and around it. The evidence is overwhelming that Hamas really was using the hospital as a military center. No one really denies it. Hamas even publishes videos of its shooting RPGs at IDF troops near the hospital.

That is a violation of international law. it endangers patients and hospital staff. It may amount to perfidy.

But even though everyone knows it, human rights groups remain silent. Hamas militants took over space in the hospital making it a valid military target? So what? Easier to condemn Israel for following international law than to condemn Hamas for violating it.

So much of the bias by the media and NGOs is from what is not said.

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Palestinian survey shows how idiotic it is to recognize a Palestinian state

I reported yesterday that the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research report released Wednesday showed how popular Hamas is among Palestinians.

That is only half the story - because it also showed how unpopular Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are.

When asked who should control Gaza after the war, only 13% selected the PA without Mahmoud Abbas as leader, and 11% selected the PA with Abbas as leader - compared to 59% for Hamas.

Abbas and Fatah's ratings are far, far below that of Hamas for how they've acted during the war.

If presidential elections would be held today, only 5% of those in the West Bank would vote for Abbas.

Yet who is the US speaking to about a potential Palestinian state? Mahmoud Abbas, of course.

The religion of twostatism is fundamentally irrational. It is based on two provably wrong assumptions:that the Fatah-dominated PA is "moderate" and that most Palestinians would accept it as their legitimate government.

A PA-controlled unification of the West Bank and Gaza would fold in quick order and be replaced by more overt terrorists. Which is exactly what happened in Gaza itself.

Many consider the ideal scenario to be for Marwan Barghouti to replace Abbas. Barghouti is a terrorist serving five life terms in Israeli prison and the only person associated with Fatah who has more than single digit popularity. And it is his terrorist bona fides that gives him his popularity, not any interests in peacemaking or nation building.

If the US wants to talk about the day after, fine - but come up with something better than what exists today. Every possible scenario of a Palestinian state would lead to disaster. At best, it would be as dysfunctional as Lebanon, at worst it would be as aligned with Iran and terror as the Houthis.

And the same poll showed the Palestinians wildly approve of the Houthis.

No one is willing to say out loud what the poll shows - and what other polls have shown for years. Hamas is not a terror group that doesn't represent Palestinians: it is the most popular party among Palestinians today. Palestinian support for terrorism is not an anomaly, it is mainstream. It is one of the few things that most Palestinians agree with.

A Palestinian state would be Hamas, or a terror successor to Hamas.

Palestinians have had autonomy for 30 years now. This is longer than the amount of time that the Jewish Agency took on a quasi-governmental role in Palestine before the founding of Israel. Unlike the Jewish Agency, which was ready to create a functioning government on Day 1, the Palestinians have not done a bit of statebuilding, of building institutions, of acting like a responsible member of the world community despite having been given billions in aid and tens of thousands of free expert advice from the EU on governance and responsibility. The only result has been two corrupt leaderships that both treat their own people like dirt. Every bit of responsibility we see - anti-corruption initiatives, for example - are driven by the EU, not by Palestinians.

If there would be a referendum between Haniyeh, Barghouti, Abbas and "forget the election and butcher 2,000 more Jews," the butchering would win in a landslide. Between 70% and 90% of all Palestinians consistently support specific attacks that kill Jewish civilians, for the 20 years that such polls asked those questions. That's far more than have ever supported any political party.

Rewarding terror supporters with a state is the height of immorality, no matter how many millennia Palestinians pretend to have lived on the land.

The two-staters look at everything - even a horrific massacre - as an opportunity for creating a Palestinian state even though it would be a worldwide terrorism hotbed. If there is any chance at all to make things better, we must use this war as an opportunity to change the paradigm altogether of what is possible given 30 years of experience with Palestinians having autonomy over their own lives and throwing everything away.

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03/20 Links Pt2: The world should be on trial in Jerusalem, or should it be Nuremberg?; The lies of Josep Borrell; Anti-UNRWA Protest ‘Hamas Branch in Jerusalem Must Be Closed!’

From Ian:

Phyllis Chesler: The world should be on trial in Jerusalem, or should it be Nuremberg?

The only place a fair and trustworthy trial of Hamas could take place is Jerusalem.

According to one prominent international lawyer:
“There’s no existing framework for trials against Hamas terrorists or the Hamas terrorist organization in Nuremberg (the closest would be trials with German prosecutors and under German law, which will never happen). There’s no way I can see any agreement for a new tribunal and, in any event, I wouldn’t have great confidence in any such tribunal judging Palestinian terrorists or even being willing to put them on trial. I would like to see fair trials of Hamas terrorists; the only chance of that is in Israel, and even in Israel, there’s a danger it would be too forgiving to the terrorists (depends on the court).”

But we face an even greater problem:
Hamas terrorists, starting with their leader Yahya Sinwar, are not the only ones who should be on trial in Jerusalem and before history.

With a few blessed exceptions, almost the entire world must be judged for supporting Iran and Qatar’s proxy armies: Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, etc.

-The United Nations belongs on trial. The only thing it has ever done is legalize Jew-hatred. They passed a resolution falsely claiming that Zionism is racism rather than a resolution that accurately stated that anti-Zionism is racism.

-The world professoriate, students, human rights activists and media also belong on trial for having incited the immediate and continuing jackal chorus for a “ceasefire,” which is the equivalent of a call to ethnically cleanse the Holy Land of Jews. Some of them have been on the Iranian and Arab oil payroll for more than 60 years.

-Iran’s leaders must also appear in the dock. The mullahs have indoctrinated, funded and strategized with not only Hamas but also the zombie armies who march for jihad in the West.

-Let’s not forget every single Muslim country that has refused to offer safe passage or temporary shelter to Gaza civilians. They also belong on trial. None of them want the Arab Palestinians. They do not want the enormous trouble they will inevitably bring with them.

Please note: Such countries, by refusing entry to civilians, make no distinction between the “innocent” civilians of Gaza and the terrorists whose ideology and torture control them.

The lies of Josep Borrell

Borrell, however, surely knows that he’s lying. At the moment, 80% more trucks loaded with food are entering Gaza than before the war. Pre-Oct. 7, there were 70 trucks per day; there are now 126 on average and the number is growing. Israel places no limits on aid and has opened new routes to deliver it.

Unfortunately, Hamas and other malign actors are doing everything in their power to stop the aid from getting to the people Borrell supposedly cares about. Last week, for example, six trucks entering via a new route were forcibly seized, likely by Hamas and local criminal gangs.

So, the problem is not the lack of food, of which Hamas has already accumulated great quantities. The problem is Hamas. As long as the terror group reigns, it will steal the food and use it to feed its terrorists or sell it on the black market.

Of course, all this could end if Hamas releases the remaining hostages and then simply surrenders. Indeed, it would end if Hamas accepts the offered six-week ceasefire, for which it would receive a thousand murderers of innocent civilians in exchange for a few dozen hostages. But that, we know, will never happen.

If Borrell is not a liar, then he lacks any moral clarity whatsoever. It seems that he does not even know what starvation-induced extermination actually looks like. Despite being ostensibly tasked with foreign affairs, he appears not to have seen the heartbreaking images from Sudan, where Islamist militias are demanding slaves in exchange for food. Some 250,000 Sudanese children are dying of hunger at the whim of the barbarians. Their parents must kneel before these monsters and hand over their children to an unthinkable slavery. But not a word is heard about them.

Double standards and lying are two of the best-known symptoms of antisemitism. Here, they go together.

I've Won an Argument about Israel I Wish I Hadn't

Over my 20+ years of blogging at Volokh, commenters have often questioned why I focused my attention on what I saw as unfair attacks on Israel, rather than on Israeli policies I disagreed with that might be obstacles to a future peace deal. My response was consistent: debates over specific Israeli policies were a sideshow. Israel's harshest critics simply wanted Israel to cease to exist, and given that this goal could likely be achieved only via genocide, I chose to focus my attention on that. My commenters were also pretty consistent, arguing that I was being paranoid, that the vast majority of critics, even the harshest ones, wanted a two-state solution, not to eliminate Israel.

We have had something of a test of this debate since 10/7. Hamas is a terrorist theocracy with explicitly genocidal goals. It carried out a taste of those goals on 10/7, and its leaders promised to repeat those atrocities again and again until the "Zionists" were driven from Israel.

So whatever one thinks of Israeli policy, or Israel's eventual response to 10/7, one would think, based on my interlocutors' position, that critics of Israeli policy would nevertheless agree on one thing: Hamas must be deposed, one way or another. There is no plausible two-state solution with Hamas in power; the harsh critics are almost all self-styled progressives, and there is nothing progressive about Hamas's policies toward freedom of religion, LGBTQ rights, women, militarism, antisemitism, and so on, nor its constant theft of humanitarian aid. Hamas's rule in Gaza is essentially every Progressive's worst nightmare.

Yet, ever since at least 10/10, when it became clear that Israel's reaction to Hamas's atrocities was not going to be to capitulate, the harsh critics have been all but unanimous in calling for Israel to essentially surrender ("immediate ceasefire") with Hamas still in power, and have almost to a person not called on Hamas to surrender and abdicate. (And self-styled human rights organizations have felt free to make up human rights law, including contradicting their own past public positions in other conflicts.)

I have to admit that I underestimated the mendacity of these people. As much as I knew that they hated Israel much more than they were concerned with the well-being of Palestinians, I didn't imagine that they would be willing to run interference for, if not outright support, Hamas, certainly not after Hamas put its brutality and genocidal intentions on display for all the world to see. I would have expected something more like "immediate ceasefire, but the world has to work on replacing Hamas with something else."

Netanyahu Made a Huge Mistake in Suspending Eylon Levy

In a terrible PR decision, Eylon Levy — the brilliant spokesperson for the Israeli government — has been suspended by the Prime Minister’s Office after Levy’s response to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron regarding humanitarian aid provoked anger.

Whether the UK or anyone else in the world likes it, Levy is a very effective spokesman for Israel, and suspending him is a bad decision. There were also reports that Netanyahu’s wife had pushed for the ouster because of Levy’s past criticism of Netanyahu.

As the owner of one of the world’s leading independent PR firms, I know that Eylon is a native English speaker, quick-thinking, intelligent, quotable, and is doing simply a brilliant job. Eylon should be given many more opportunities to defend Israel — not taken off the case.

The Zionist prophet Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the ideological forefather of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said about the importance of Public Relations: “The work of the publicist is a legacy from the Prophets of Israel … Our passion is to speak, to proclaim … One thing that the audience forgets is that speech is also an action — perhaps the most authentic of all other actions. Cities have been destroyed, and more will fall, but what was shouted in the wilderness thousands of years ago is alive and still relevant. The world was created by the word. The world will be mended by the article.”

Eylon Levy has been doing just that. From his raised eyebrows to battling absurd media questions, he fights day and night against a biased media as he brilliantly articulates Israel’s point of view on the world stage.

Hybrid Warfare: From The Gaza-Israel Barrier To The Streets And Bridges Of The US (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

From March 2018 to December 2019, the media reported on The Great March of Return.

Each Friday, the Palestinian Arabs of Gaza approached the barrier separating Gaza from Israel in "spontaneous," "peaceful" protests, demanding the right to return to their homes in "Palestine." It didn't take long for Hamas to co-opt the protests. Soon, amidst the smoke of burning tires and under cover of night, Gazans attempted to break through the fence into Israel.

These were not peaceful protests; they were destructive riots. But how does international law apply to civilian rioting in support of military objectives? Which paradigm is applicable: Conduct of Hostilities or Law Enforcement -- or a combination of the two?

Yet the media insisted on portraying the March as a series of "peaceful protests."

The March was useful for Hamas. It put pressure on Israel to deal with masses of Gazans at the barrier, many of whom tried to break through and infiltrate into Israel. The Gazans who were killed or injured became frontpage news generating worldwide condemnations of Israel

By the end of 2019, Hamas "postponed" the weekly riots.

But on October 7, 2023, Hamas penetrated the barrier -- murdering, raping, and kidnapping Israeli civilians.

Now, riots against Israel are again in the news, but this time they are around the world. These are pro-Palestinian riots, and they are not peaceful -- but that does not stop the media from calling them "protests" even while describing the destruction they cause. After all, no one wants to admit the government is losing control:

o NBC: Buildings vandalized during pro-Palestinian rally in West Hartford: police
o  LA Daily News: Lawmakers call for DOJ investigation of pro-Palestinian vandalism at LA veterans cemetery
o  ABC News: Pro-Palestinian protesters deface front of the New York City Public Library
o  Axios: Multiple congressional offices hit with pro-Palestinian vandalism
o  Washington Times: Pro-Palestinian marchers push against White House fence, vandalize national monuments during protest

Beyond the destruction, another goal of the riots is disruption:

o  Reuters: Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after blocking NYC bridges, tunnel
o  Haaretz: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Block Access to New York Times Newsroom, Accuse Staff of 'Complicity in Genocide'
o  NBC: Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters block downtown LA streets to call for ceasefire
o  AP: Pro-Palestinian protesters block airport access roads in New York and Los Angeles
o  ABC: Pro-Palestinian protests block New York City bridges, Holland Tunnel; over 300 arrested

Some have questioned the methods of the rioters. After all, how can they hope to change people's minds when they resort to violence and inconveniencing people? This misses the point. The rioters and those organizing them are not interested in reason and dialogue. They are pushing an agenda.

And they are using public disruptions as leverage.

This is not a new form of protest. It is an application and even a refinement of hybrid warfare. The NATO Review explains the concept:

Conflicts are fought in new, innovative, and radically different ways. With the advent of modern hybrid warfare, they are less and less about lethal or kinetic force.

It is important to note here that the concept of hybrid warfare might not be entirely new. Many practitioners contend that it is as old as war itself. Nevertheless, it has gained significant currency and relevance in recent years as states employ non-state actors and information technology to subdue their adversaries during or—more importantly—in the absence of a direct armed conflict. [emphasis added]

Back in 2018, during The March, The Begin-Sadat Center For Strategic Studies made the connection between the Hamas-inspired riots and how other countries were also weaponizing unarmed civilians. For example, during the Russian campaign in Georgia:

Those campaigns made deliberate and effective use of the combination of military force and civilian activity. In the fighting in Georgia, for example, armored forces were able to enter the north of the country thanks to the efforts of Russian-oriented Georgian-Abkhaz civilians, who, in a preparatory move, seized the tunnels and bridges of the expressway that leads to the capital, Tbilisi.

This is not limited to Russia, nor does there have to be a military component: "Similarly, Beijing is making use of thousands of civilian fishing boats in its efforts to extend its sovereignty over the South China Sea."

According to The NATO Review, hybrid warfare does not require a context of all-out war:

What takes the centre stage here is the role of civilians: how they think and act in relation to the state. Contemporary digital and social media platforms allow hybrid actors to influence this to the detriment of the adversary state with considerable ease. The Russian online disinformation campaigns, some of which are very subtle yet grave, against some Western states constitute a good case in point. [emphasis added]

The riots we are seeing are not spontaneous. They are a means to push an agenda, demanding that Biden and the Democratic Party support a ceasefire in Gaza. The alternative is the disruption of Biden's presidential campaign.

These riots are not like the anti-Israel protests we are used to. The Toronto Sun points out that instead of the smaller, less organized anti-Israel protests we are used to, now:

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, participate. They’ve got professionally-rendered signs and banners. They’ve got transportation, and food and drink. And they’ve got organizers who wear uniforms and control the crowds.

There is more to this than just better organization; there is also better funding. But the money is for more than just staffing and supplies. People are being paid to riot:

pro-Palestine — and, increasingly, pro-Hamas — protestors are being paid to protest. To block highways and roads. To intimidate and threaten Jews and non-Jews. To cause chaos.

From the Palestinian Authority's pay-to-slay program, we have now arrived at the pay-to-riot program. The people who hold the money call the shots. Since the organizers are still paying out despite the riots, vandalism, and chaos -- it appears that the rioting, vandalism, and chaos are what the organizers want.

According to Francesca Block, writing for The Free Press, one of those funding this chaos on the streets of the US is the American-born tech entrepreneur, Neville Roy Singham. He is the founder and one of the lead supporters of The People’s Forum. The group helped to organize at least four protests after October 7 as of November 14. One of them was on October 8, before Israel had taken any action in Gaza:

The New York Times found ties between Singham and "a lavishly funded influence campaign that defends China and pushes its propaganda":

What is less known, and is hidden amid a tangle of nonprofit groups and shell companies, is that Mr. Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide.

The article describes him as "a socialist benefactor of far-left causes." Singham denies any connection with the Chinese Communist Party or China itself. However, according to the article:

He and his allies are on the front line of what Communist Party officials call a “smokeless war.” Under the rule of Xi Jinping, China has expanded state media operations, teamed up with overseas outlets and cultivated foreign influencers. The goal is to disguise propaganda as independent content.

"Smokeless war" is a good description of hybrid warfare.

The August 2023 Times article makes no mention of Israel, Palestinian Arabs, or Gaza, but as a supporter of far-left causes Singham's People's Forum supporting violent protests is not surprising. For China, the riots are not necessarily a question of supporting Gaza, but rather using pro-Palestinian protests and the chaos they create to undermine the US.

These Chinese media interests are helping sow discord in the U.S., Rep. Mike Gallagher, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, told The Free Press.

“The Chinese Communist Party uses tools like Confucius Institutes on college campuses, TikTok’s addictive algorithm, and organizations like those that Mr. Singham funds to divide and weaken America,” Gallagher said.

If Gallagher is right, the chaos created by these "protests" is not a bug.
They are a feature.

Which means that Israel is not the only target.

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!

New poll: Huge majority of Palestinians still love Hamas. (And they are delusional about October 7.)

Hamas remains enormously popular among all Palestinians., both West Bank and Gaza, according to a new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research released today mostly mirrors the results from the last survey in January.

71% of Palestinians, in both the West Bank and Gaza, supports Hamas' decision to attack Israel on October 7. This represents a significant drop in the West Bank and a significant increase in Gaza.

64% believe Hamas will win the war.

59% want to see Hamas control the Gaza Strip after the war, far more than Fatah. In the West Bank, 64% want to see Hamas control Gaza.

75% in the West Bank and 62% in the Gaza Strip express approval with how oHamas is performing during the war. The only people in the world with a higher approval rating among Palestinians is Yemen, with 83% approval.

Hamas was the political party supported by a plurality, 34% to 17% for Fatah.

Yet the presidential candidate that Palestinians are most interest in is terrorist Marwan Barghouti.

There is one response to the survey that proves that, to put it charitably, Palestinians are delusional.

As we found in the previous poll, almost all Palestinians (94% think Israel has committed war crimes during the current war. By contrast, only 5% (compared to 10% three months ago) think Hamas also committed such crimes; 4% think Israel has not committed such crimes and 91% think Hamas did not commit war crimes during the current war.

80% (compared to 85% in December 2023) say they did not see videos, shown by international news outlets, showing acts committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians, such as the killing of women and children in their homes; only 19% (11% in the West Bank and 30% in the Gaza Strip) saw these videos.

When asked if Hamas did commit these atrocities that are seen in these videos, the overwhelming majority (93%) said no, it did not, and only 5% said it did. The belief that Hamas fighters have committed atrocities against civilians is higher among those who did watch videos showing such atrocities (17%) compared to those who did not (2%).

In other words, 83% of Palestinians who saw video of Hamas murdering women and children in their homes do not think that they attackers committed any atrocities.

Talk about cognitive dissonance!

There could be several explanations. One is that they simply don't accept what their eyes are telling them. Or they might think that the atrocities were done by other non-Hamas Gazans.

Or, perhaps, they do not consider butchering Jews to be an atrocity, or a violation of international law, in the first place.

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!

03/20 Links Pt1: Lifting Hamas Off the Mat; US Congress deal bars funds to UNRWA until 2025; IDF arrests terrorist involved in 2014 kidnappings

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: Israel Better Get a Move On

My time of marveling is almost at an end. Today, Netanyahu informed his fellow Israelis that Biden had told him Israel should not enter Rafah, and that the Israeli PM told the American president there was no alternative. “We have a disagreement with the Americans about the need to enter Rafah,” Netanyahu reported to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. “I made it clear to the president in our conversation, in the clearest way, that we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah. There is no way to do it except by going in on the ground.”

Stuff is going to happen now, over the next week. Negotiations over hostages are going to heat up. American officials (Secretary of State Blinken primary among them) are traveling to talk ceasefire. An Israeli delegation headed by Bibi intimate Ron Dermer will go to DC to be briefed on some magical American plan to win with war without having to, you know, actually win the war.

This cannot hold. Israel has to go into Rafah. America is now saying flatly Israel should not go into Rafah. What this says to me is this:

Israel is going to go into Rafah, at which point Biden will cease being Balaam and he will go flat-out negative. He will say America had a plan and Israel refused to take it up. He will say Israel has chosen to endanger Palestinian lives. He will say he was more patient and more supportive than any American president has ever been (which is true), but that enough is enough and he’s had it and Israel is doing wrong.

I do not believe that I’m in any position to give military guidance to the Israelis, and they would be stupid to take it if I did. But if Israel has the means and the ability and the plan at hand to do what it needs to do in Rafah to win this war, it should do so as soon as it is possible to do it. This dynamic with the Biden administration cannot get better, and Israel would be better off establishing facts on the ground and showing progress in the destruction of the final pieces of Hamas’s terror infrastructure than it would be if its continuing inaction simply accelerates speculation that it can maybe be talked out of finishing what it was forced to start after October 7.

Seth Mandel: Lifting Hamas Off the Mat

The times I feel most sympathetic to the Palestinians are when their “allies” in the West try to help them. Whatever the crimes and mistakes of the Palestinians over the years, I can’t think of anything they’ve done to deserve, say, Canada or Tom Friedman.

Several days ago, something unsettling but important happened. Hamas executed the leader of the powerful Doghmush clan of Gaza. The clan’s offense appeared to be its alleged collaboration with the Israeli military to distribute humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Essentially Hamas’s argument is the same as Vizzini’s in the Princess Bride when he tells the man who has come to rescue the princess from him: “You’re trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen!”

Now I don’t know if things have gotten a bit wilder in Canada since I was last there a few years ago, but the NDP, a center-left minority party in parliament, saw in that bloody chaos the finished product of state formation. The NDP introduced a measure to recognize the State of Palestine. Eventually the resolution that passed was watered down to merely say Canada is working toward Palestinian statehood.

To declare or recognize an existing Palestinian state right at this moment would be, in a word, insane. It would save Hamas, enable Iranian proxies to take the West Bank too, and destroy the Palestinian national movement root and branch by permanently establishing formerly Palestinian-ruled territories as Iranian colonies.

And these are the Palestinians’ friends.

Considering Hamas that is maintaining its controversial policy of murdering anyone who eats, I have a hard time understanding the broad popularity of the Save Hamas movement in the West.

Yet what happened to the Doghmush clan is just a risk Tom Friedman of the New York Times is willing to take. Friedman, an absurd figure who nonetheless at times acts as a conduit between Democratic White Houses and Times readers, has a plan for peace. Days after Hamas executed the Doghmush clan leader for supposedly working with Israel to get around Hamas and deliver goods and services to the people of Gaza, Friedman proposed that more Palestinians work with Israel to get around Hamas and deliver goods and services to the people of Gaza.

A More Accurate Accounting of the War in Gaza

War is cruel; that is the definition of war. It is an unpleasant fact of combat, that civilians are always caught in the crossfire. But unlike Israel's enemies, the Israel Defense Forces, have a code of conduct that works to ensure the fewest civilian casualties possible.

However it may sound to civilian ears, the fact is that even if you take the Hamas numbers at face value, Israel is fighting this threat with far more care than is the norm. When looking at the Hamas numbers and the IDF numbers, the combatant to civilian death ratio in Gaza is less than 1:2. In other words, for every combatant killed, fewer than two civilians are killed. While every loss of civilian life is tragic, with this ratio, Israel is achieving something remarkable on the Gaza battlefield.

As a point of reference, according to the United Nations, civilians usually make up around 90 percent of casualties in war.

The IDF's actions in Gaza are unparalleled. Israeli soldiers are confronting an unprecedented form of urban warfare, where civilian infrastructure is weaponized, and tunnels snake beneath otherwise unremarkable neighborhoods. Despite these challenges, Israel maintains a remarkably low collateral damage rate.

These facts are met with deafening silence from the world's leaders. They condemn Israel, accuse it of genocide and clamor for a ceasefire—actions that bolster Hamas's grip on power and ensure that it will continue to rule the Gaza Strip. They are asking of Israel something that they would never ask of themselves.

It's a double standard uniquely reserved for Israel. Allowing Hamas to endure is tantamount to conceding victory to terror. Advocating for a ceasefire while falsely branding Israel as genocidal serves only to embolden Hamas. Refusing to acknowledge Israel's data while embracing the fabrications of a terrorist regime is nothing short of surrendering to Hamas' narrative.

We must ask ourselves why it is that so many around the world prefer the fabrications of Hamas to the facts to be found on the ground. There is no answer that is satisfactory.

A Gaza children's book that glorifies a murderer for killing a Jew

A video has been going around of a children's book found in Gaza with antisemitic images including this one showing a man shooting a stereotypical Orthodox Jew.

It also includes another evil Jew, probably threatening to destroy Al Aqsa.

The book is titled "Maher Al-Hashlamoun, the Living Martyr."

Al-Hashlamoun is in prison, not for shooting a chassidic Jew, but for a 2014 car ramming and stabbing attack, fatally wounding Dalya Lemkus, 26.

How brave!

This book is catalogued in Gaza's Ministry of Culture.

This is the pure evil that is mainstream in Gaza.

You can see the entire book in this video.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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!

Haaretz writes:

Those speaking for Israel to U.S. audiences tend not to understand the historical lens through which Americans view the world, or the racial viewpoint that they tend to apply to international conflicts. They do not understand that the visuals that communicate security and control to the Israeli public – like images of soldiers with Gazan detainees – show Americans subjugation and oppression. Even if they can speak English, what is their audience going to hear?

Some of the foreign-born Israeli spokespeople do get this, and have catered their messaging to America and the English-speaking Western world. At the forefront has been the former news presenter Eylon Levy, who, whether you agree with him or not, has managed to get the Israeli perspective across without descending into Netanyahu's farcical "total victory" messaging.

If there is someone still willing to stand up for Israel internationally who speaks perfect English, has a firm grasp on America's liberal values and can meet Netanyahu's stringent purity test – will they please stand up?

This was published right before the news that Levy had been suspended from his role, either for a tweet to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron that wa impolitic but accurate, or reportedly because Sara Netanyahu disliked his position against judicial reform.

Either way, it is a huge blow to Israel's efforts to get its message out to the Western world.

I have my own frustrations with Israel's messaging, as I have had for years. In this war, even though it is better, it still has not been effective.

Here are some of the points that Israel needs to get across, that so far have been failures.

Israel needs to emphasize the necessity of destroying (or at least fatally crippling) Hamas. This is a valid military goal under international law; without that Israel is keeping the door open to more October 7ths. Allowing Hamas to regroup is not an option and that point must be made.

Comparisons with Al Qaeda are useful. The group had to be effectively destroyed after 9/11. A recently declassified document gave a good definition of Al Qaeda's irrelevance nowadays, saying the terror group "has lost target access, leadership talent, group cohesion, rank-and-file commitment, and an accommodating local environment." That is a good list of what is necessary for Hamas to no longer be a threat, both short and long term.

Israel needs to educate the Western world as to the reality of how wars are fought. This narrative has been taken over not by military experts but by human rights leaders who do not understand war. We see people who have never seen a battlefield confidently declaring that Israel is not doing enough to minimize civilian deaths. The message that needs to be expounded is that urban warfare is extraordinarily difficult, and that fighting an enemy that hides in extensive tunnel networks is virtually unprecedented.

Beyond that, the world doesn't quite understand the depth of Hamas' evil. This is the first war that has been fought with the goal of maximizing the number of deaths on one's own side. It is the first war where an immoral actor uses morality as its major weapon - to pressure Israel into abandoning its primary goal because Israel does not want to kill innocent civilians. Hamas' depravity is given lip service in the context of October 7, but no one is emphasizing how shameless it is towards its own people. Hamas has billions of dollars and has stolen hundreds of millions more, all to attack Jews - and hardly any to protect or help its own people.

One of the points I made early in the war has barely been mentioned anywhere else: things were getting better for Gazans, consistently, before the pogrom. More jobs, more imports, more exports, more movement than at any time since before Hamas took over. The "siege" was effectively over. Hamas decided to throw all that away. But even worse, Hamas only kept things relatively calm in Gaza to fool Israel into thinking that it cared about the welfare of its own people. It doesn't. It looks at Palestinians as nothing more than potential recruits and at the very least, useful human shields who are worth more dead than alive, more valuable suffering than happy.

No one is talking about logistics, “Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics, ” said

General Robert H. Barrow, Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1980. Logistics for the military in an environment like Gaza is incredibly difficult, and the logistics involved in safely transporting aid to civilians while Hamas is trying to disrupt that very movement is an order of magnitude harder. When Israel turns back a convoy carrying aid to parts of Gaza, it is not a capricious decision just to make Gazan lives difficult - it is based on the environment, the safety of the convoy, and the potential for disruption by Hamas. So many things go into so many decisions, and none of them are "let's make Gazans suffer." The more people know about the reality of war and logistics, the more they can understand Israel's position and predicament.

The narrative that the IDF acts without thought, or with malice towards civilians, is insane - as well as antisemitic. Israel is spending countless hours trying to minimize civilian casualties, and every one is the result of Hamas decisions to use Gazans as one of their war weapons, as literal human shields. Isrel has layers of decision points, and layers of lawyers, to ensure that everything they do is by the book and legal under the laws of war. That message is not getting through.

When an incident occurs, like the stampede that allegedly killed over a hundred Gazans, the IDF has been better at responding as quickly as possible but it needs to do far more. It needs to be transparent about each investigation and it needs to be as honest as possible.

The IDF is a professional army. A lot of people are involved in every decision, and these people want to win the war with a minimum of collateral damage. Any story that says otherwise is an antisemitic conspiracy theory, where every layer of the IDF bureaucracy is implicated in war crimes and none of them speak up against them. The inner workings of targeting, of internal investigations, of the detailed amount of work involved is not being publicized.

Israel also needs to emphasize Hamas lies. The very people that are being trusted by the news media and NGOs for casualty statistics regularly issues absurd press releases that are provably false. Israel needs to go on the offense and issue fact sheets showing how Hamas lies and why anyone believing them is simply not paying attention.

And finally Israel needs to show that its statements in previous wars, that were equally discounted as "hasbara," nearly all ended up being proven true. The skepticism of reporters towards the IDF might be justified if there is no track record, but there is. There is no comparison between the historic veracity of Israeli and Hamas statements.

Israel hatred won't go away, and those who suffer from Israel Derangement Syndrome won't change. But there are plenty of people in the West who are only being swayed by reporters who do not understand the reality.

The facts are on Israel's side. But they must be presented in a way that understands how Western journalists and politicians think, or else they all drown in a sea of lies.

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!