Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 06, 2025

The Deliberate Murder of Israeli Children by Palestinian Terrorists Has A History (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Hamas supporters around the world, who march, harass, and vandalize in support of these terrorists, are outspoken about how their heroes are merely "resisting" Israeli oppression when they massacre over a thousand Israelis and kidnap hundreds more as hostages.

But do they justify Hamas when they murder infants and toddlers?

They may push the Hamas narrative that these innocents were killed by Israel itself because the IDF tried to rescue the hostages.

Another way is denial, just as "protesters" have attempted to deny the Hamas raping of women on October. The UN already debunked their denial in March 2024:

“It was a catalogue of the most extreme and inhumane forms of killing, torture and other horrors,” including sexual violence, [Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten] stated. The team also found convincing information that sexual violence was committed against hostages, and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those in captivity.

That is not stopping those in denial over Hamas murdering the Bibas children.

Meet Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura:

She describes herself as a genocide researcher, an educator, and a genocide survivor of the Bosnian Serb army.

But to claim that the hostages were physically OK and untouched? Being a survivor of genocide does not automatically confer on her special understanding of genocide or those who commit it.

Buljušmić-Kustura not only seems to ignore the victims of the Hamas massacre itself, but seems to forget how malnourished the released hostages have been and the accounts they have given, as well as the account from the UN in 2024 as quoted above.

Factcheck.org already pointed out in November, 2023, that at least 29 children were murdered by Hamas according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as well as 30 children taken hostage according to the AP.

Even then, Factcheck.org notes people on social media attempting to deny children were killed, so Buljušmić-Kustura has good company.

Has she forgotten that when Gazans flooded into Israel and slaughtered Israeli civilians, they wiped out entire families such as the Kapshetar family and the Siman Tov family?

But Palestinian terrorists murdering children is not new.

Before the re-establishment of the state of Israel, Arabs murdered children along with the adults:

1929 Hebron Massacre – Arab mobs slaughtered 67 Jews, including women and 3 children. Survivors reported brutal killings of entire families.
1938 Tiberias Massacre – Arab assailants murdered 19 Jews, including 11 children, when they attacked a Jewish neighborhood and set houses on fire.

Here are some of the post-1948 massacres of Israeli children 10 years old and younger over the years.

Name of Massacre	Names and Ages of Child Victims	Perpetrators	Sources
Avivim School Bus Massacre May 22, 1970; near Moshav Avivim, Israel	- Rachel Eliyahu, 9 - Sarah Eliyahu, 7 - Miriam Eliyahu, 7 - Avraham Abuhatzira, 8 - Kochava Abuhatzira, 7 - Dina Cohen, 8 - Miriam Dadon, 9 - Rina David, 8 - Zemira Shmuel, 7	Terrorist Group: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) Individual Terrorists: Not specified	Wikipedia: Avivim School Bus Massacre
Nahariya Attack April 22, 1979; Nahariya, Israel	- Einat Haran, 4 - Yael Haran, 2	Terrorist Group: Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) Individual Terrorist: Samir Kuntar	Wikipedia: Nahariya Attack
Shalhevet Pass Murder March 26, 2001; Hebron, West Bank	- Shalhevet Pass, 10 months	Terrorist Group: Fatah Individual Terrorist: Mahmoud Amru	Wikipedia: Shalhevet Pass
Sbarro Pizzeria Bombing August 9, 2001; Jerusalem, Israel	- Yocheved Shoshan, 10 - Avraham Schijveschuurder, 4 - Tzira Schijveschuurder, 2	Terrorist Group: Hamas Individual Terrorists: - Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri (suicide bomber) - Ahlam Tamimi (mastermind)	Wikipedia: Sbarro Pizzeria Bombing
Itamar Attack (Shabo Family) June 20, 2002; Itamar, West Bank	- Avishai Shabo, 5	Terrorist Group: PFLP Individual Terrorist: not specified	Wikipedia: Itamar Attack
Kibbutz Metzer Massacre November 10, 2002; Kibbutz Metzer, Israel	- Matan Ohayon, 5 - Noam Ohayon, 4	Terrorist Group: Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades Individual Terrorist: not specified	CNN
Fogel Family Massacre March 11, 2011; Itamar, West Bank	- Elad Fogel, 4 - Hadas Fogel, 3 months	Terrorist Group: Not specified Individual Terrorists: - Amjad Awad - Hakim Awad	Wikipedia: Itamar Attack

There is an online slide presentation that lists 123 Israeli children murdered by Palestinian terrorists between 2000 and 2005. According to the presentation, the deliberate Palestinian murder of children started in October 2000:

Here are the children deliberately murdered by Palestinian terrorists, from 17 years to one day old:

The memories of these precious neshamas should be a blessing, and a further reminder of why Hamas terrorists cannot be allowed to remain in Gaza so close to Israel.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The 106 page Arab plan for Gaza is dead on arrival.

While it discusses economic issues in depth, it all but ignores the root cause of the problem: Hamas. Hamas is not even mentioned once, but here is how it breezily dismisses the issue:

The issue of multiple armed Palestinian factions remains challenging. However, it is one that can be addressed, and even resolved permanently, only if its root causes are tackled by providing a clear political prospect and a credible process that works to establish the Palestinian State and restores the legitimate rights of the Palestinian People to their rightful owners.

The aforementioned efforts must ultimately lead to a single and clear outcome, which is the implementation of the two-state solution; there is no alternative to the establishment of a Palestinian State.

A Palestinian state would not weaken Hamas - it would empower it.

It is richly ironic that nations that work so hard to defeat their own Islamists - usually, without mercy - are telling Israel that they just have to give them a state and they will disappear.

People don't remember that there were plenty of massive terrorist attacks during Oslo, at the exact same time that there was "a clear political prospect and a credible process to establish the Palestinian State." Saying that such a process will stop terror this time is insane.

I can't believe this is mere naivete. These guys hate Muslim Brotherhood style jihadists. This is an attempt to gaslight the West into thinking that a Palestinian state is the solution (really, the Trojan horse to eventually defeat Israel.)

Let's be clear: A Palestinian state would be taken over by Hamas or a similar group. It would be a terror state. It would be Gaza, just larger. Everyone knows this - including those who drafted this plan.

The plan is a kneejerk reaction to the Trump proposal to empty Gaza and take over. It adds nothing to the discussion. It is simply a rehash of the mainstream Arab position: no to allowing Gazans to emigrate to Arab countries, using "refugees" as pawns to pressure Israel, eventually creating a Palestinian state. The entire point of this plan is to avoid taking responsibility for their Palestinian brethren that they pretend to support.

The idea of Egypt and Jordan training Gaza police for law and order is the same as the 2005 "Dayton plan" of the US training PA forces to suppress Hamas - it didn't work then and it wouldn't now. The US-trained PA security forces cannot even enter Jenin and other Islamist strongholds in the West Bank, let alone control them. Plenty of PA security forces are also terrorists. Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades were never disbanded.

If the plan is not serious about eliminating Hamas, it is not serious at all.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Text of Barnard protesters' pamphlet celebrating the murder of Jews (plus Hamas pamphlet)

Open Source Intel tweeted some of the radical materials handed out by the protesters who took over the library at Barnard College on Wednesday, including “Death to America, ” “Global Intifada” and "The Red Army’s 'Urban Guerilla Concept.'"

Another was "The Black Liberation Army and Hamas" by Dhoruba bin-Wahad (formerly Richard Earl Moore) of the Black Panthers of the 1960s.

It is a transcript of a rambling video he made last year where he proves doesn't know the first thing about Hamas.

It is insane - but more importantly, it is incitement to kill.

Here's part of the pamphlet so you can see how these privileged, rich mostly white protesters celebrate the murder of Jews.

If we understand that Hamas, just like the BLA, is an expression of the people's relationship to power and the status quo, it's just that we took a position—and the community knows that—that whenever the status quo does something bad to our community we will retaliate in kind. Black folks appreciated that. Yeah, if you stick a mic in their face from CBS and said, "Two cops was just killed yesterday by these Black extremists and these radical revolutionaries, what do you think about them?" They might say, "Well, that’s a shame. I don't think police should be killed." What else they going to say? "Yeah, they should have killed that motherfucker?" You understand what I'm saying? But if you took a survey of the people there… "Yeah, them cops always coming in here beating up on people. Good somebody got their ass, especially that white one that’s always bullying people. It’s good they kill his ass." They might not say that on CBS, but that’s what they feel.

It’s just like the Palestinians when Hamas went across that border and defeated all of that surveillance and snatched them Israelis, they were cheering. They was dancing on the tanks with their cell phones. You see? They couldn't cheer when they were occupied and Israeli soldiers standing at the checkpoint. They had to humble themselves. They had to let these people push them around. But, yeah, our boys got ‘em. Our boys got ‘em. Yeah. When they see the rockets coming over from Iran and from Hezbollah dropping on them Israelis, they be talking about, "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" People identify with resistance, you see? Who are the ones in Lebanon talking about Hezbollah in a negative way? It’s the Christians talking about, "Hezbollah is endangering Lebanon." Like Lebanon is safe with Israel on your doorstep? If it wasn't for Hezbollah, Lebanon would be cool? American imperialism would have no [influence]? Y'all be good?

...
What I’m trying to point out is that we used to have an axiom that repression breeds resistance. All this murder and killing, you see them young kids that’s watching their whole family get murdered in their sleep, them babies that are starving and watching their mama cry and watching their daddy and their siblings die. If you think that that’s not the next generation of Hamas, you a goddamn fool. And they going to be far more ruthless than the ones that you got now. You better negotiate with these motherfuckers you got now, because when that baby grow up... That’s why the Egyptians like, "I ain’t letting them motherfuckers in here. You know what I’m going to have on my hand in 10 years with a population that’s experienced this and they in the desert in Gaza suffering and we the ones just keeping them there suffering?" Whoa.

Even worse, they were handing out direct Hamas literature celebrating October 7.

Tuition and fees plus housing is about $88,000 a year at Barnard.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

03/05 Links Pt2: No Other Land isn’t what it seems; Oscar-winning filmmakers caught on video provoking IDF troops; Yale Law School investigates employee with PFLP ties

From Ian:

Gil Troy: Fearless Zionism: American Jews need to reshape their view of Israel

As American Jews mourn the younger generation’s supposed alienation from Israel, many blame Bibi rather than their decisions to raise their kids on tikkun olam/social justice diets that Poisoned Ivy League Progressives distorted and turned against Israel.

“What do you expect?” many ask. “Jews born after 2000 have only known an Israel defined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wing, religious fanatics.”

This formulation foolishly defines Israel, our forever-homeland, by its often-unstable governments. Living in a polarized nation that’s zig-zagged from Barack Obama’s and Joe Biden’s America to Donald Trump’s America, they don’t always judge their country by its leaders.

Defining Israel in partisan terms ignores what over 900,000 young Jews have discovered on Birthright and other Israel experiences: that the Jewish connection to Israel is eternal and existential.

Even many who haven’t visited Israel – yet! – have been shaped by their Birthright buddies’ identity revelations. Seeing Israel, feeling it, tasting it – and meeting Israelis – reframes the conversation. I understand why Palestinians try to make every conversation about “the conflict” into their agenda. But why do so many Jews fall into that same trap?

Framing Jews’ relationship with Israel in identity terms as existential transcends Left and Right. It’s not a pro-Netanyahu or pro-Trump move: It’s simply the Zionist way.

Zionism is broad-based enough to welcome a kaleidoscope of opinions. Zionism goes far beyond today’s headlines, emphasizing that Jews are a people as well as a religion; that we are tied to one particular homeland; and that we have the right to establish and now develop a state on that homeland.

In less partisan times, with less angry leaders and a less hostile world, many would recognize Zionism’s spacious, welcoming tent for all kinds of Diaspora Jews. Similarly, Israel includes a stunning array of Jews, from ultra-Orthodox to hyper-modern, from conservative capitalists to Peace Now socialists.

Gerald M. Steinberg: Review: Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments by Kenneth Roth

Roth’s cursory discussion of antisemitism, in which his defensiveness is very pronounced, highlights the fact that this issue is largely ignored by HRW and most institutions claiming to promote human rights. “The charge of antisemitism is often bandied about to silence critics of Israeli repression, including me—I was also accused of being a ‘Jew hater’” (p. 200). As in previous statements and social media posts, he blames the victim, proclaiming that Israel’s actions are the cause of any resurgence of hostility to Jews, particularly following the October 7 slaughter. “In the minds of some partisans, the idea that a state designed as a haven for Jews could stimulate harm against Jews is inadmissible” (p. 205). Roth’s response to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s denunciation of this position replaces the evidence with a blanket rejection of the conclusion that HRW’s relentless criticism, including accusations of “apartheid,” feed the violent Jew-hatred sweeping across university campuses. Roth also attacks the consensus definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, composed after the infamous hate-filled NGO Forum of the UN’s 2001 Durban World Conference Against Racism, in which HRW played a central part and which constitutes another example in Roth’s distorted history.

Notably, but consistent with the rest of the book, Roth makes no mention of the “eyewitness testimony” of Danielle Haas, a senior editor at HRW from 2010 until October 2023, who became a whistleblower. Not easily dismissed as a “troll,” Haas exposed the “years of politicization … shattered professionalism, abandoned principles of accuracy and fairness,” and the ways in which HRW “surrendered its duty to stand for the human rights of all.” Countering claims of careful fact-checking, she wrote about the violation of “basic editorial standards related to rigor, balance, and collegiality,” and summarized “the constellation of my experiences over years … as feeling a lot like antisemitism … ”Footnote7 Anonymous HRW staff members, both Jewish and non-Jewish, told her that “for years, they had raised concerns with managers and in wider discussion forums about antisemitism and methodological problems related to Israel work, only to face hostility at worst, inaction and indifference at best.”Footnote8 Haas also condemned HRW’s response to the Hamas massacre, which invoked “the ‘context’ of ‘apartheid’ and ‘occupation’ before blood was even dry on bedroom walls,” and, based on Roth’s practice, “could easily be construed as blaming the victim.” Regarding the 2021 “apartheid” campaign, Haas observes that HRW staff (i.e., Roth and others) knew the 217-page pseudo-research report filled with legal-sounding jargon and propaganda “would rarely be read in full,” and was designed to give ammunition to anti-Israel campaigners “including Hamas supporters … who now bandy about the term with appalling ease.” This is as much of an indictment of the journalists and other consumers who turned HRW’s press release into major headlines as it is of the organization’s manipulative practices.

In summary, a more accurate title for Roth’s magnum opus would be “Wronging Rights,” and while he may have hoped to have the last word in establishing his legacy and silencing the “trolls” and “extreme partisans,” the criticism will continue. Beyond the specific treatment of Israel, Roth demonstrates that the human rights advocacy based on morality and political neutrality that he claims to have championed for thirty years is a myth.

Kassy Akiva: DA Backs Away From Deal To Keep Scott Hayes From Going To Trial For Shooting Anti-Israel Attacker

Scott Hayes, 48, says he will likely have to go to trial for shooting an anti-Israel man who tackled him after a district attorney backed away from finalizing a disposition to resolve the case outside the courtroom.

Hayes was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and released on a $5,000 bail on September 13 after he shot Caleb Gannon, who charged through traffic and tackled Hayes in Newton, Massachusetts. Hayes pleaded not guilty and said shooting Gannon in the stomach was an act of self-defense.

“I am demanding a trial because the district attorney’s office continues to miss deadlines, go back on agreements, and play with my life,” Hayes said. “If they think they have a strong case — which they don’t — I’ll see you in court.”

Hayes, who lost his job over the incident, spent the last few months working out terms with the office of Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan. According to Hayes, Ryan’s office and Hayes’ legal team worked out terms for a “pretrial probation” (PTB) with no admission of liability, which would suspend Hayes’ license to carry during the period and require him to complete a de-escalation course and stay away from Gannon.

The point of contention is whether Hayes should stay out of Newton, the town where Gannon resides. Hayes believes that the condition is unnecessary, and that he should not have to stay out of the major Boston suburb, where he has many friends. The two sides were supposed to argue to a judge on Tuesday, until Hayes’ lawyer was informed that the DA’s office cancelled the hearing.

Ryan’s office ignored requests about the reason for the cancellation of the meeting on Tuesday and instead said the case hearing is scheduled for March 20.

Immediately after his release on bail, Hayes was required to wear a GPS ankle monitor, which flagged him several times for violating the stay-out-of-Newton order each time he traveled on the Mass Pike (I-90) for doctor appointments, as the highway runs through Newton. In October, a judge removed the ankle monitor requirement and his restrictions from being in Newton.

“It’s absurd that they want to now restrict me from Newton while I have been free to travel there for five months without any incidents,” Hayes told The Daily Wire.

03/05 Links Pt1: 'This is your last warning!': Trump gives ultimatum to Hamas; Egypt Tells Trump to Pound Sand; 17-year-old Israeli dies of injuries from Feb. 27 terror car-ramming

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Egypt Tells Trump to Pound Sand

Despite presumably having watched the way Donald Trump has responded recently to world leaders who question or challenge him, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has decided to poke the U.S. president in the eye and see what happens.

The much-ballyhooed Arab Plan for postwar Gaza has been released, and it is unimpressive even by the standards of past pan-Arab peace proposals. Perhaps even deliberately so.

Trump’s plan for Gaza—the Riviera on the Med—called for the evacuation of civilians from the enclave so it could be properly cleared and rebuilt. Trump doesn’t seem to care much whether the Palestinians come back after it’s done, though Israeli officials are careful to endorse only voluntary emigration.

Egypt is a solution to this riddle, but it would rather be a problem.

For starters, Egypt could have provided Gazan civilians with a place to go during the war, when Israel was forced to hunt Hamas monsters hiding among those civilians in designated humanitarian zones within Gaza. Sisi chose not to, because his country only wants the few Gazans who can afford to pay through the nose for their freedom.

We can go back further and point out that the war itself didn’t have to happen and that Egypt could very well have prevented it. Cairo had stopped policing the smuggling routes between Egypt and Gaza in the area of Rafah, a town that is split between the two jurisdictions. Those smuggling routes enabled Hamas to resupply and reinforce its army, as well as secure a near-monopoly on certain goods on the Gaza market. Money and manpower, in other words, care of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

We could keep going back even further—Egypt allows no path to citizenship for the original Palestinian refugees or their descendants, and has washed its hands of any stewardship over Gaza, which was once part of its territory—but the record is fairly consistent: Cairo has been, and continues to be, an impediment to a solution to the Palestinian element of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Unless Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is able to negotiate, with the help of Israeli pressure, a continuation of the ceasefire plan, there will be another round of war in Gaza—probably more intense than anything over the previous 16 months. In that case, Egypt will once again have the chance to play a constructive role by allowing temporary Palestinian resettlement so that Israel can end Hamas once and for all. Egypt will again refuse, and then it will again complain about Israel and the lack of a two-state solution.

When Egypt Favored Resettling Gazans in Its Borders

In Cairo yesterday, a summit of Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian proposal for the future of Gaza, which includes a six-month period during which a “non-factional” Palestinian government will administer the Strip, after which the Palestinian Authority will take over. It does not, however, suggest how Hamas will be forced out of power. Hussain Abdul-Hussain calls the plan “dissociated from reality.” Worse still, he writes, it “defers disarming Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other militias until after the creation of a Palestinian state.”

The impetus for the summit wasn’t so much the actual situation in Gaza as the need to provide an alternative to Donald Trump’s plan to remove the population prior to reconstruction. While Arab states have objected to plans to move large numbers of Palestinians outside the Strip, and Egypt most vociferously, this was not always the case. Abdul-Hussain explains:

In 1953, Egypt and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) signed onto a plan to resettle 120,000 Arab refugees from Gaza. . . . At the cost of $200 million ($2.4 billion in 2025 dollars), the Egyptian town of Qantara, east of Suez and 130 miles southwest of Gaza, would become the refugees’ new home. Egypt would divert water from the Nile to allow agriculture and a self-sustaining economy.

Palestinians in Gaza (then ruled by Egypt) protested and rioted to voice their opposition to the plan, staging what is now called the “March intifada.” Egypt, then ruled by Gamal Abdel Nasser,

promised to “end the Sinai relocation project,” but quickly broke its promise. The Nasser regime instead undertook mass arrests and threw its Communist and Muslim Brotherhood leaders into prison, where they remained until July 1957.

Nasser eventually pulled out of the relocation plan for two reasons. First, he was frustrated with the Eisenhower administration for withdrawing its funding of the Aswan Dam. Second, he feared communists on the left and Islamists on the right might use the issue to outflank him. As a result of such domestic machinations, 120,000 Arabs remained stuck in a resourceless strip instead of relocating to an economically viable spot, less than 150 miles to the south.

17-year-old Israeli dies of injuries from Feb. 27 terror car-ramming

An Israeli teenager has died of injuries sustained during a Feb. 27 terrorist car-ramming attack at a bus stop east of Caesarea, local authorities said on Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, the Pardes Hanna-Karkur Municipality named the slain victim as Yahli Gur, 17, a resident of the town located north of Netanya.

Gur studied at a high school in the city of Harish, east of Pardes Hanna-Karkur.

“On behalf of Harish’s residents, I embrace and send condolences to her family at this difficult time. All of Harish grieves with you,” the city’s mayor, Yitzhak Keshet, said in a statement.

Twelve other people were wounded, including two seriously, in Thursday’s vehicular assault at the Karkur Junction, according to medical officials.

Israel Police spokesperson Aryeh Doron told Channel 12 that “after carrying out the car ramming at the bus stop, the terrorist drove another few hundred meters, hitting an officer and his car.” He was shot and killed at the scene, Doron added.

The terrorist was identified by authorities as a 53-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin area in nearby northern Samaria who was illegally residing in the Jewish state while married to an Arab citizen.

The Hamas terrorist organization hailed the attack, saying in an official statement that the vehicular assault was a “natural, heroic response to the brutal aggression and ongoing crimes” committed by Jerusalem.

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

I watched, open-mouthed as Zelenskyy became argumentative, even hostile to the vice president and president in front of the press. It was so shocking I didn’t even have words for what I was seeing. “Oh my God,” I said over and over again like a mantra. “What an idiot! Why???”

I put the knife down, afraid I’d nick myself. I’d been checking two kilograms of dried apricots for bugs so I could make hamantaschen filling. My phone blared Zelenskyy, its tiny screen propped against a vase of Shabbos flowers in front of which I sat with my cutting board and a mound of wrinkly, plump and fragrant fruit. And a knife.

But the apricots could wait. This needed my full attention.

There was so much going on that I didn’t know where to look. Trump’s face got so red I thought he would plotz. I sincerely hope he wouldn’t croak. But if two assassination attempts didn’t take him down, neither would some weaselly little guy with a Napoleon complex in fake fatigues.

Zelenskyy had really stepped in it this time—it was one for the history books. If you ever meet someone who doesn’t understand the term “own goal,” just tell them about the time Zelenskyy, who should have been humbly begging Trump to save his country, self-eviscerated in the Oval Office in front of the press—and everyone else. In the world.

But this wasn’t the first time an ungrateful Zelenskyy decided to FAFO what an American president would do when treated with disdainful impertinence. He did it to Biden, too:

It’s become routine since Russia invaded Ukraine: President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak by phone whenever the U.S. announces a new package of military assistance for Kyiv.

But a phone call between the two leaders in June played out differently from previous ones, according to four people familiar with the call. Biden had barely finished telling Zelenskyy he’d just greenlighted another $1 billion in U.S. military assistance for Ukraine when Zelenskyy started listing all the additional help he needed and wasn’t getting. Biden lost his temper, the people familiar with the call said. The American people were being quite generous, and his administration and the U.S. military were working hard to help Ukraine, he said, raising his voice, and Zelenskyy could show a little more gratitude.

These were not isolated incidents. This is what Zelenskyy does. He did it to Trump and JD Vance. He did it to Biden. And he did it to Israel, too.

Back in 2022, I noted that in his address to the Knesset, Zelenskyy rubbed Israelis the wrong way when he claimed that Ukrainians saved Jews during WWII:

Zelenskyy has left us Israelis with a bad taste in our mouths. He’s a hero the world over, and we want to like him, too. But it’s difficult for Israelis to like him after the things he said in his address to the Israeli Knesset on Sunday. President Zelenskyy hit all the wrong notes, pointing an accusatory finger at Israel with one criticism after another.

Zelenskyy criticized Israel for not doing enough to help Ukraine, for not supplying the right kind of aid, for not applying pressure to Russian businesses. The Ukrainian president asserted that Ukrainians saved Jews during the Holocaust, while Jews have turned their backs on the Ukrainian people.

“One can keep asking why we can't get weapons from you. Or why Israel has not imposed strong sanctions against Russia. Why it doesn’t put pressure on Russian business. But it is up to you, dear brothers and sisters, to choose the answer. And you will have to live with this answer, people of Israel.

“Ukrainians have made their choice. Eighty years ago. They rescued Jews. That is why the Righteous Among the Nations are among us. People of Israel, now you have such a choice.”

Now I was listening to the same record on repeat. Whatever America gave him, it was not enough for Zelenskyy. Trump gave him javelins? Zelensky said not enough. Biden gave him money. Zelensky said not enough. Israel took in more Ukrainian refugees than any other country and Zelenskyy said it was not enough.

Instead we got a lecture. Just as Trump and JD Vance got a lecture. Also from 2022:

President Zelenskyy accused Israel of indifference, of refusing to choose sides, and of immorality, too, questioning whether Israel’s imagined inaction was premeditated, for which, he suggested, we’d one day be held to account in the final battle between good and evil.
“Can you explain why we still turn to the whole world, to many countries for help? We ask you for your help? What is it? Indifference? Premeditation? Or mediation without choosing a party? I will leave you a choice of answer to this question. And I will note only one thing — indifference kills. Premeditation is often erroneous. Mediation between states is possible, but not between good and evil.”

Zelenskyy hates to say thank you, but he sure does like to point a finger at others, accusing them of both apathy and conversely, at the same time, premeditated evil. Going back to the Oval Office disaster, remember when Zelenskyy tried to tell JD Vance and Trump what they’d “feel?”

Zelenskyy: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. You have nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.

Trump: You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.

Zelenskyy: I am not telling you, I am answering …

Vance: That’s exactly what you’re doing …

Trump, raising his voice: You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good and very strong.

You could feel the disdain coming off Zelenskyy in the combative way he spoke to the president and vice president and you could see it in his demeanor. I would even call it hatred. For the west? I don’t know. Maybe he hates everyone outside of Ukraine, which begs the question: why is he begging everyone outside of Ukraine to give him help as if it’s an honor to help him, just a sour-faced little autocrat.

Zelenskyy has a God complex. He’s smug. In his mind, he’s the only one who’s awake to what plays out on the world stage. He’s the only one who’s smart. Everyone else is oblivious. Ignorant, beneath him, and bad.

I was appalled back in 2022, when during his address to the Israeli Knesset, Zelenskyy drew a comparison between Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to Hitler’s Final Solution:

“When the Nazi party raided Europe and wanted to destroy everything. Destroy everyone and leave nothing from us, nothing from you. They called it ‘the final solution to the Jewish issue.'

“You remember that. And I’m sure you will never forget! Listen to what is sounding now in Moscow. Hear how these words are said again: ‘Final solution.’ But already in relation, so to speak, to us, to the ‘Ukrainian issue.'”

Did the Ukrainian president think that because he was born a Jew, he could say this dreadful thing—that he could blatantly compare a land grab to the attempted annihilation of a people?

Zelenskyy seems unable or unwilling to shove aside his considerable ego long enough to consider the off-putting effects of his words on others. He doesn’t seem to realize that his contempt is obvious to those of whom he is contemptuous, which appears to be everyone but Ukrainians. And that contempt has trickled down to Zelenskyy administration officials, or as I called it in 2022, a rot that spreads from the head down:

It is now an unavoidable conclusion that criticism of Israel from Ukrainian officials over the past several weeks has come from the top down. From the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel finding fault with Israeli aid and Israel’s handling of Ukrainian refugees, to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accusing El Al of evading sanctions by accepting payments “soaked in Ukrainian blood,” it’s all a part of the antisemitic party line. The Ukrainian fish, like every other fish, rots from the head down.

Israel might have hoped that President Zelenskyy, being a Jew himself, might refrain from fomenting another Chmielnicki-style Uprising. Instead, the hate begins with Zelenskyy, trickling down to the others to a man. Zelenskyy may not be motivated by antisemitism, but unfortunately, he inspires it in others.

What Zelenskyy wanted from Israel was patently ridiculous. He wanted Israel to do things that would anger Russia and Iran, two countries already not very kindly disposed toward Israel, to say the least. Zelenskyy actually expected Israel to give him arms and chastised the Jewish State from the halls of the Knesset for not doing so.

Well, Zelenskyy may be suicidal, witness that Oval Office fiasco, but demanding that Israel commit suicide with him? That was a bit much. As I wrote in 2022, “For most Israelis, there’s no contest. We choose to protect our own people from terror and worse over the things Zelenskyy wants us to do for a people with a long and well known history of antisemitic cruelty.”

Zelenskyy wanted Israel to ignore the harm that supplying him with weapons would inevitably do to the Jewish State. But Israel needs to look out for Israel before looking out for Ukraine or anyone else. Zelenskyy tried to make it a moral choice: if Israel doesn’t help him we’re aligned with Putin. And he tried to do the same thing to President Trump.

But just as Israel wasn’t having any of it, neither was President Trump, who told a reporter during that disastrous Oval Office meeting, “I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America, and for the good of the world, I'm aligned with the world, and I want to get this thing over with.”

Zelenskyy thinks the world—and its leaders—owe him a living. He’s not grateful for a thing, believing he is more than entitled to whatever and however much you might give him. Well, ingratitude may be Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s middle name. But it’s not mine.

I’m actually a little grateful to Zelenskyy, right now. After seeing that exchange with Trump and Vance, I know that for once, Israel’s not special! Zelenskyy treats everyone badly, even the president of the United States!

Can it be that Israel has finally joined the family of man?

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Edan Alexander

The Washington Post has an article about the remaining hostages in Gaza. It appears to have been written some three months ago and is continuously updated.

It lists all the hostage names, and adds "One American hostage is still believed to be alive in Gaza, and the bodies of four others are still being held there. Washington is seeking an accounting of their deaths, according to the State Department. "

But it doesn't even identify him by name, Edan Alexander.

There is only one living American hostage - where are all the news articles profiling him and his family? I only see one such article, from Fox News two weeks ago.

In many ways, Alexander grew up like many American kids. He went to Tenafly High School, was a swimmer and loved the New York Knicks. All that separated him from most American teenagers was his frequent trips to Israel to visit family and the fact that he spoke Hebrew at home.

After graduating from high school, Alexander decided he would enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rather than enroll in college.

Edan Alexander was forced to make a Hamas propaganda video in November. There were a couple of interviews with his family at the time, as well as a guest essay by his parents in the New York Times September 1, probably approved because they spend most of the essay trashing Netanyahu, making this the kind of angle the NYT loves to promote.

But now he is the last American. He should be the focus of all articles in US media about the hostages. Every one of them, when mentioning that Hamas still holds 24 living hostages, should be adding the phrase "including one American, Edan Alexander."

In normal circumstances, an American hostage being held by an Islamist group would be major news. Maybe not front page but one would expect profiles of Edan in mainstream media in the same way that Fox did.

But when the hostage is a Jew with Israeli citizenship, it seems the rules change.

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

From the New York Times:

Arab countries countered President Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza and transform it into a beachfront destination with their own vision on Tuesday, endorsing a plan to keep the population there, rebuild the territory and turn it into part of a future Palestinian state, without Hamas in government.

The Egyptian framework envisions putting a committee of technocrats and other figures unaffiliated with Hamas in charge of Gaza for an initial period.

Where have we seen technocratic governments before? Oh, yes, the Palestinian Authority.

Salam Fayyad's government from 2007–2013 and Rami Hamdallah's from 2013–2019 were also based on supposed experts, not politicians.

In a limited way, like for economic policies and reducing corruption, they were far better than the Fatah-dominated PA governments. The problem is that this is only a subset of what a proper government should do. Hamas' reaction highlights the issue:

Hamas officials have said they would be willing to hand over control of civilian affairs to a governing committee of which the group was not a part, as long as Gaza’s postwar future was determined by Palestinian “national consensus,” according to a Tuesday statement.

That's the problem - Hamas wants to wash its hands of "civilian affairs" and concentrate on terror. It doesn't want to hand over its military or police functions to this government, and of course it doesn't want anyone to disarm it which is what any sane government should do.

Though a number of Arab countries would like to see its armed wing disband, Tuesday’s declaration does not outright call for Hamas to lay down its arms. The language was left somewhat murky, proposing that security and weaponry should be managed by “legitimate Palestinian institutions” based on the principles of a single armed force and a single legitimate authority.

Hamas has rejected demilitarization, with an official Hamas media outlet reporting on Tuesday that “the resistance’s weapons are a red line.” But Israel and the Trump administration have demanded exactly that — a seemingly irreconcilable difference.

Any plan that doesn't disarm Hamas is no plan at all. The technocratic government is busywork to make it look like they made a plan but none of the hard decisions were made.

The real goal of this plan is to find a way for Gazans to not take refuge in the very Arab states that formulated it. This is not a plan for peace nor for creating a future for Gazans. It is selfishness dressed up as humanitarianism.

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The UN has published more information about sexual abuse by aid workers in Gaza. Like the earlier reports that tangentially mention the issue, the media has not taken notice.

The latest I could find was from November 2024, "Gaza GBV Case Management Taskforce Report

1 Sep – 30 Sep 2024." (GBV is Gender Based Violence.)

It uses indirect language to describe what is going on.

Page 2:

In addition to the denial of access to resources, the Case Management Taskforce (CMTF) recorded a significant number of denials of services. The reports indicate that most of these service denials were perpetrated by traditional humanitarian providers—International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), National Non-Governmental Organizations (NNGOs), and United Nations agencies. This is likely another dimension of the worsening food crisis, where service providers are forced to prioritize and, at times, refuse to provide services, potentially abusing their power.

Since this is a report on gender based violence, it is talking about using aid to abuse women.

On page 3 it is a little clearer:

The second most reported type of incident is physical assault....More than half of the perpetrators were reported to be intimate partners (spouses), followed by reports of physical violence committed by family members, non-family members, and, finally, several cases involving non-traditional humanitarian actors (e.g., contracted vendors for cash and voucher assistance).

Page 4, on "Emotional and Psychological Abuse," mentions abuses not only by aid workers but by Hamas as well, and not only to women but also to underage girls:

Girls [12-17] reported this type of abuse the most, followed by the denial of access to services and resources, and physical assault. The sources of abuse include family members (such as a brother, father, mother, or other immediate family member), spouses, non-family members, and even humanitarian workers and armed groups. The latter is linked to conflict-related experiences in public spaces and at checkpoints.

Finally, page 5 has the most explicit mention of sexual abuse by aid workers:

Trend 4: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA)
A concerning trend of SEA by humanitarian workers has been noted, particularly involving staff at distribution points and vendors in cash and voucher programs. GBV AOR members are increasingly raising concerns about SEA involving non-traditional humanitarian personnel, as response options are limited due to the lack of effective law enforcement.

The report still downplays the extent of the abuse, as had been indicated in earlier reports. A UN document from last May that mentioned that humanitarian workers were forcing Gaza women into prostitution in exchange for food:

Insufficient and unreliable aid, distributed under conditions of insecurity that do not allow adequate targeting, expose vulnerable groups to violence, exploitation and abuse, trafficking and forced prostitution, including by aid workers. Specific risks observed in Gaza associated with aid include the presence of unofficial humanitarian workers without identification [in] mixed distribution lines for men and women. There are reports of individuals adopting harmful coping mechanisms, such as reducing food and liquid intake, to minimise such risks.

An April UN document warned of an "epidemic" of abuse by aid workers in Gaza, as I had reported:

While stories about sexual abuse by aid workers in other areas of the world have gained publicity over the past year, for example in Sudan, Haiti, Bangladesh and Chad, there have been practically no articles about sexual abuse in Gaza by aid workers. I can only find one.

The UN itself explains why in the April report: it says that "Media attention to safeguarding incidents ...can also have an uncontrolled political manipulation."

In other words, the UN is doing everything it can to downplay and obfuscate the reports of sexual abuse by aid workers - because of politics. The UN wants to focus on its themes of Israel as an unparalleled evil actor, and anything that dilutes from that focus must be underplayed.

Do Gazan lives matter at all when Israel cannot be blamed? Based on how the UN tries to minimize this story while having entire organizations dedicated to uncovering and reporting on this exact topic, apparently the answer is no.

There are two scandals here: the abuse by the supposedly angelic humanitarian actors in Gaza like UNRWA, and the cover-up of that abuse by the UN and media.

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

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From The Herald (Scotland):

Coca-Cola will no longer be served at the Glasgow Film Theatre after objections from staff.

Last week, workers at the cinema announced they would not be handling any goods connected to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.

Coca-Cola products are part of that list and the cinema will now take them out of use for the duration of the film festival.

The theatre knuckled under to the workers. Their statement about it showed how cowardly they are, by saying that they are considering letting the hate group tell them how to do their business.

But reading their statement you can see that they are really afraid of violence from the Israel haters:

A spokesperson for the Glasgow Film Theatre said: "On Monday 24th February Unite the Union staff alerted us they would refuse to sell Coca-Cola and Diet Coke from 28th February. At this stage our Board of Trustees had started but not completed a review of the Unite staff requests. The goal of the review is to ensure that any decisions made do not infringe our legal and charitable obligations and that all staff can have their voice heard.

"We decided to halt the sales before completion of our formal review as we identified the risk of potential confrontations that could impact the welfare and wellbeing of all staff and customers during the charity’s busiest time of year. Therefore, GFT has agreed the temporary removal of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke until the end of Glasgow Film Festival.

In plain English, they are saying that if they go through proper procedures to evaluate their vendors, they are afraid of violence during the film festival. What else might impact the wellbeing of customers?

This behavior by the union directly violates Glasgow Film's own policies against bullying:

The BDS-supporting union threatened to disrupt the film festival. They intimidated the theatre to accede to their demands. The literally refuse to complete the tasks that are part of their job, and they are undermining the authority of the Theatre. The actions of the union fit exactly under Theatre's definition of bullying.