Tag Archives: Gaza

Actions Have Consequences

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On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at Townhall about Gaza. The title of the article is, “What Might Have Saved Gaza?” It’s an interesting question.

The article notes:

Could the destruction of Gaza after October 7 have been avoided? The answer is yes — had Hamas so wished.

First, if the Hamas leadership had simply complied with Israeli demands to (a) return the 251 hostages and (b) surrender the architects and perpetrators of the massacre of some 1,200 Israelis, the Israelis would not have had to fight Hamas in the streets and tunnels of Gaza.

When you take Israeli hostages, Israel tends to try and rescue them.

The article reminds us:

Note how critics of Israel consistently fail to offer any viable alternative to the Israeli ground effort to destroy the Hamas mass murderers.

Nor do Israel’s enemies ever bother to explain why Hamas did not return its hostages and give up the perpetrators of October 7. Why did nobody expect the International Criminal Court or the U.N. to have the slightest effect when they ineffectually interceded to demand the return of the hostages and issued arrest warrants for the “war criminals” of Hamas?

The answer, of course, is that there was no more likelihood of them getting Hamas to cooperate than there was of the defunct League of Nations convincing Hitler to stop the killing of Jews or the U.N. persuading Pol Pot to stop murdering Cambodians. And it is likely that many anti-Israeli U.N. members silently approved of the murders.

Moreover, there is no evidence that most Gazans objected to the terrorism. Indeed, large numbers joined in when possible. More than 2,000 civilians tagged along in hopes of killing, raping, torturing, and looting with impunity. And when corpses and hostages appeared in the trucks of the returning Hamas murderers, the killers had to protect their prizes from their own even more bloodthirsty people back home, who sought to beat and spit on already dead and wounded Jews. Imagine: the killers had to protect their hostages from an even more bloodthirsty “civilian” mob.

Second, Hamas didn’t just refuse to stand down and hand over the hostages and culpable terrorists to the Israelis. Far from seeking peace, Hamas and Hezbollah spent the 20 days between the slaughter of October 7 and the Israeli ground forces’ entry into Gaza launching thousands of missiles, rockets, and drones at civilians in Israel (barrages that would exceed, within a year, 25,000 launches).

Third, the death toll in Gaza would have been far lower had the killers of October 7 helped their own civilians keep clear of combat zones. Far fewer Gazans would have died had Hamas not deliberately situated its tunnel exits and entrances beneath private homes, hospitals, mosques, and schools.

The IDF warned civilians to leave the areas they were planning to attack. Hamas prevented the civilians from leaving.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. Sometimes we forget or are unaware of the background history that precedes wars.

Adding Perspective To October 7th

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On Wednesday, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article about the impact of October 7th on the idea of the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

In the article, he quotes an article posted by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib writes at The Free Press:

As the grim third anniversary of October 7 befalls a decimated Gaza Strip, the state of the discourse among many in the so-called “pro-Palestine” movement remains as embarrassing, dismal, and disastrous as it was when Hamas initiated the attack in 2023. Over the past three years, I have seen countless posts by self-described Zionists criticizing the conduct of Israel’s government, the behavior of Israeli officials, and the excesses of the Israeli reaction to October 7. And yet, I have struggled to see even a dozen posts by “pro-Palestine” activists, advocates, or organizations explicitly condemning Hamas for triggering the most catastrophic chapter in contemporary Palestinian history.

…But I will also forever be furious at the fact that Gaza would still be standing had Hamas simply kept its terrorists at home on October 7. I will forever be rageful at the fact that Hamas not only weaponized every aspect of Gaza’s infrastructure but also held Israeli hostages in a manner that was inevitably going to invite more devastation and suffering for Palestinian civilians. I will forever be resentful of the useful idiots who ignored Hamas’s sadistic tactics, hiding behind vacuous appeals to “international law” despite there being no legal framework to justify a terrorist group entrenching itself in medical facilities, educational spaces, markets, and areas meant to shelter the displaced.

The article concludes:

The only genocide at hand in Gaza is the one Hamas plotted for Israel and the Jews, and which it launched on October 7, 2023. Gazans may or may not support Hamas now, but they celebrated it as a national victory three years ago, and not a single Gazan did anything to free or assist the 250-plus hostages Hamas hid among them. This war is their war, and just because that war went badly for them does not absolve them of responsibility for it.

This is the Nakba that Palestinians suffered because they created it – and that’s been true of every Nakba since 1948.

One of the major casualties of October 7th was the idea that there could be a two-state solution and that a Palestinian state would live peacefully beside Israel.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It contains a lot of insight.

Three Years Ago ‘Never Again’ Happened

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From 1948 to 1967, Egypt controlled Gaza. At that time, the people living there were not clamoring for their own country–they were content to be under Egyptian control. In 1967, during the 6-day war, Israel gained control of Gaza. The majority of the population in Gaza at that time was Arabs from various countries. There was no cry for a Palestinian state during the time Egypt, Jordan, and other nations controlled the land that Israel won back in the 6-day war. Why was it, Bethlehem resident Walid Shoebat once stated, “that on June 4th,1967, I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?” In June 2004, the Israeli government approved Ariel Sharon’s plan for disengagement from Gaza. In 2005, that plan was carried out. Israelis were forcibly removed from their homes. The greenhouses that the Israelis had built that fed much of the country were left behind. The Israeli government believed that moving Israel out of Gaza would reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as free up vast sums of money (then being spent on the small settler population) to advance other issues on the national security agenda. Unfortunately, that was not the way it worked out. The residents of Gaza dismantled the greenhouses, the source of economic stability in the area, and used the pipes in the greenhouses to make rockets. In 2005, Palestinians began rocket attacks on Israel. Those rocket attacks have continued. The last rocket fired from Gaza to Israel was October 7, 2025.

On October 7th, 2023, the unimaginable happened.

Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, massacring thousands of Israelis and foreign nationals and taking hundreds more hostage, launching Israel into an unprecedented year of threats, attacks, assassinations, protests, and war.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 massacre. Over 250 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. As of October 7, 2024, 101 of them were still being detained in captivity.
The first sirens began at 6:29 the morning of October 7.According to The Jerusalem Post:

…IDF field observers at the Nahal Oz outpost identify two gunmen running towards the fence. They also see terrorists detonating parts of the border fence. At 6:45 a.m., system disruptions at the outposts lead to some 70 terrorists raiding the base, with more joining the murderous raid later in the morning.

In Kfar Aza, Ynet photographer Roi Idan takes the first footage of Hamas paragliders entering Israel. Minutes later, his wife, Smadar, is killed before he himself is murdered while holding his three-year-old daughter, Abigail.

Some 3,500 revelers attended the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im the night before. When the first interceptions and blasts were heard, they were told to lie on the ground and protect their heads with their hands despite no sirens being triggered in the area. At 6:32 a.m., party organizers announced the event had ended and called on everyone to leave. Most left towards the car park.

The Jerusalem Post reports that at 6:50:

Hundreds of terrorist invaders begin entering Israeli towns, from terrorists on jeeps seen driving through Sderot to infiltrations of Be’eri, Kissufim, Ofakim, and Nahal Oz. By 7:20 a.m., an emergency standby squad of the kibbutz near the Erez crossing identifies some 20 terrorists making their way towards the kibbutz.

A traffic jam ensues at the exit from the Re’im festival area as only one route, Route 232, leads out of the car park. Terrorists who infiltrated the Gaza Strip and saw the movements of cars in the area opened fire at the vehicles shortly before seven, barring the exit. Hostages were taken on the scene.

The attack continues:

9:00: Ronen Engel is killed by terrorists while attempting to defend his family. His body is taken to the Gaza Strip. At 9:26 a.m., Ronen’s wife, Karina, is taken captive, while their two daughters, Mika and Yuval, are taken captive.

9:06: An Israeli woman is killed by rocket debris in Tel Aviv, marking the first death on October 7 that did not occur in the South.

9:30: Terrorists begin a mass massacre and mass murder of whoever is on site of the Nova festival. 364 civilians, Israelis, and foreign nationals were horrifically murdered as videos of fleeing party-goers flooded social media. During this time, terrorists who had infiltrated Kfar Aza began massacring and kidnapping residents….

12:15: Terrorists take control of areas and homes in kibbutz Be’eri and begin to de-facto occupy much of Israel’s south and Gaza border area. In these hours, Nira Sharabi saved seven other kibbutz residents that terrorists were attempting to take captive. Nira’s husband, Yossi Sharabi, and her brother-in-law Eli are kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

1:00: Israeli troops arrive at Kissufim, after hours of Hamas occupation.

2:00: Israel’s security cabinet convenes for the first time in the day, seven-and-a-half hours after the invasion begins. In Be’eri, some 40 terrorists embedded themselves in homes, transferring the 15 hostages they had taken in the kibbutz to houses under their control.

2:17: The first group of IDF soldiers reach the site of the Nova party. 

2:30: Officers from the Border Police’s YAMAM counter-terrorism unit rescue police officers who were in a police station that was surrounded and subsequently torched by Hamas terrorists.

Evidently the plan of the terrorists was to have allied terrorist groups attack Israel from the north and east. The plan was to overrun the country and achieve the Islamist goal of ‘driving Israel into the sea.’ That was the beginning of the war that began in Gaza and now has migrated to Iran, the major financial resource for all of these terrorist groups. Can you imagine what Iran would be like with a nuclear weapon? Is it a stretch to believe that Iran would share nuclear weapons with terrorist groups?

Never again happened on October 7th. We need to remember those who fought bravely to end the attack and those who were taken captive in the attack. Support for Israel is not optional–it is support for the only true democracy in the Middle East where people of all races and religions have the freedom to practice their religion and to participate in the government.

Another Reason To Leave The United Nations

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I have reported on parts of this story before, but the hindering of the investigation is a new twist.

Om Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon reported the following:

Multiple U.N. relief agencies continue to stonewall a U.S. probe into their ties to Hamas, withholding key documents and other information that could reveal their employees as affiliates of the terror group, according to U.S. officials and diplomats briefed on the matter.

The ongoing standoff between federal investigators and the United Nations is causing tensions at a time when the international organization is facing intense U.S. pressure to shutter the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the largest relief organization in Gaza, which critics say is fully infiltrated and controlled by Hamas.

…The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) inspector general’s office, a statutorily independent law enforcement entity separate from the largely defunct USAID, in December 2025 sent letters to six separate U.N. agencies that purport to do humanitarian work in Gaza. The letters asked these groups to name all their employees “who worked on U.S.-government funded awards” and provide their contact information and “date and place of birth.” The office also asked the agencies to detail their “interactions with Hamas,” among other requests that went largely unanswered, the Free Beacon first reported in April.

More than three months later, none of the six organizations have furnished the full list of documents requested by the USAID inspector general, a source briefed on the USAID inspector general’s investigation confirmed to the Free Beacon.

“This administration will not allow the U.N. to evade accountability in its handling of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” a senior State Department official told the Free Beacon. “The UN’s failure to cooperate with the USAID IG investigation into Hamas diversion and interference of aid to Gaza is totally unacceptable.”

Reports from the hostages taken into Gaza during the October 7th attack on Israel have stated that their captors ate food supplied by UNRWA while denying food to the hostages. October 7th should have shown us that there cannot ever be a two-state solution in the Middle East. Before October 7th, there essentially was a two-state solution. As long as the HAMAS Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and as long as the schools in the Gaza strip teach and encourage their children to become martyrs while killing Israelis, there will be no peace.

Know The Facts Before You Support A Cause

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Our college campuses are full of people stating and protesting for a Palestinian state. Somehow they miss the subtlety of the fact that Gaza was turned over to the Arabs in 2005, removing all Jewish settlers from the area. Gaza, in fact, became a Palestinian state in 2005. Their actions before and during October 7th indicate that they are not yet ready to become a peaceful state.

AI provides some highlights in the history of Gaza:

To understand when Gaza began firing rockets at Israel, consider the following key events:

First Major Incidents (2001): Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel began in the early 2000s, notably escalating in 2001.

Second Intifada (2000-2005): The Second Intifada saw increased violence, including rocket attacks as a form of resistance.

Hamas Takeover (2007): After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, rocket attacks intensified significantly.

Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009): A major military conflict that highlighted the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Frequent Escalations (2010s): Throughout the 2010s, there were numerous escalations with periodic rocket fire, especially during conflicts in 2012 and 2014.

Recent Conflicts (2021): The May 2021 conflict saw a significant increase in rocket fire from Gaza, marking one of the most intense escalations in recent years.

These are the actions of the people who want their own country. Would America tolerate a country like that on its own border?

On Thursday, Legal Insurrection reported the following:

The 19-year-old Israeli hostage, Noa Marciano, was murdered by a doctor in Gaza’s Shifa hospital, her father Avi Marciano disclosed in a social media post.

Noa, who Palestinian terrorists abducted from a kibbutz on October 7, 2023, was taken to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital after sustaining minor ‘non-life-threatening’ injuries. Weeks after her abduction, and with Israeli troops advancing in the area, a Palestinian doctor “injected air into her vein,” Noa’s father said.

…Noa’s murder by Shifa’s medical staff was recorded on camera, showing a doctor injecting air into her veins while she pleaded for mercy. Avi Marciano “learned of his daughter’s death in Hamas captivity through a video of her last moments shared with him on Telegram,” the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. The “footage of a medical professional lethally injecting air into her veins after she was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza,” the newspaper added.

Noa, a resident of the central Israeli city of Modi’in, held the rank of Corporal and served as an observation soldier in Israel’s Border Defense Force’s 414 Unit.

Days after Noa’s murder, the Israeli military managed to recover her body in a raid on the Hamas-controlled hospital. Her father’s revelations are consistent with the Israeli military’s assessment made last summer. In early July 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the Shifa hospital “was used by Hamas for murder(ing)” her.

The people who murdered her need to be arrested and tried for murder. No culture where this behavior is acceptable should be allowed to become a country!

I Don’t Think Everyone Is On The Same Page

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On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the quest for peace in Gaza.

The article reports:

Hamas leader Khaled Mashal declared that “the resistance and its weapons are our honor and glory” and that “the battle is not over,” boasting that rights are won “at the recruitment office, not the U.N. Security Council” — a declaration that directly contradicts President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and celebrates the October 7 “Al-Aqsa Flood” massacre as a turning point to push Israel off “our homeland” and the international stage.

I don’t believe you can make peace with people who celebrate the events of October 7.

The article notes:

Speaking Saturday by video to the “Pledge to Jerusalem” conference in Istanbul, the head of Hamas abroad used a keynote address carried on Al Jazeera to lay out an uncompromising roadmap that flatly rejects the core elements of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan — disarmament, an international stabilization force, and Hamas’s removal from power — even as the terror group moves toward Phase Two of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire it ostensibly accepted two months ago.

Notice that he was in Istanbul–not in Gaza. That seems to be the pattern of Hamas leadership–they stay away from the war zone.

The article also reports:

He urged the wider Islamic “ummah” to commit to “the liberation of Jerusalem as the banner and symbol of freeing Palestine,” including the “cleansing” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the “reclaiming” of Islamic and Christian holy sites, framing Gaza as the vanguard that launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” massacre in 2023 and “turned into the pride of the nation and the conscience of nations.”

In remarks highlighted by multiple Israeli outlets, Mashal explicitly rejected any “guardianship, mandate and re-occupation” over Gaza, the West Bank, or “all of Palestine,” insisting that Palestinians “need protection, not guardians” and that “the Palestinian is the one who governs himself and decides for himself.”

Unfortunately, I believe the only path to peace in Gaza has to include the end of Hamas and its leadership.

Once A Tyranny, Always A Tyranny

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In 2005, Israel totally withdrew from Gaza. The Palestinian Authority was elected by the people in Gaza to govern. In 2006, Hamas took over the government. There was an election involved, but the circumstances are a bit sketchy. That was the last election. One of the first things that people in Gaza did in 2005 was dismantle the greenhouses the Israelis had built that fed Gaza and Israel and provided employment and income for the residents of Gaza. The people of Gaza used the plumbing tubes from the greenhouses as rocket tubes. The rocket attacks against Israel that had been going on since 2001 continued. Gaza has been a brutal terrorist state from the beginning.

Things haven’t changed. On Tuesday, Hot Air reported:

As the Israelis withdrew from the Gaza war zone, Hamas terrorists needed somebody to shoot, so they decided to turn their fire on their fellow Palestinians.

The article quotes The U.K. Telegraph:

Much of the intra-Palestinian violence in recent days has taken place around the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, where, according to Hamas-affiliated social media, the group carried out a widespread “security campaign” against rivals, believed to be the powerful Dormush clan.

Hamas is also said to have moved against the Abu Samra family in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and called for the death of Khan Younis militia leader Housam al-Astal, who was interviewed by the Telegraph last week, and Yasser Abu Shabab in Rafah. Both men are believed to have collaborated tactically with Israel and accepted material support.

‘Dragged to the execution site’

The execution video showed Hamas fighters moving a large crowd out of the way so as not to be hit by bullets before the killings took place. Some of the prisoners were shirtless and some were dragged to the execution site while being beaten.

Separate footage, bearing the insignia of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, showed armed militants riding in the back of an SUV with dead bodies at their feet.

I am not posting the videos.

The following was posted on X by Ahmed Al-Khalidi:

As a Palestinian who openly opposes Hamas and rejects the glorified myths our society keeps repeating, I can’t stay silent about the sheer hypocrisy I see from many Western liberals.

How can you defend a movement that executes its own people, by shooting them in the street, without trial, for merely disagreeing or being labeled “collaborators”? How can you call that “resistance” while those very scenes mirror the barbarism you’d condemn anywhere else in the world?

You claim to stand for liberal values, for human rights, for justice. But your empathy collapses when the victims are Palestinians murdered by other Palestinians, when it doesn’t fit the neat narrative of oppressor and oppressed.

What does that say about your values, really?

If you can overlook public executions and rule by terror just because the perpetrators shout “liberation,” then maybe your solidarity isn’t rooted in morality but in ideology.

A X post included in the article asks the question:

Has a single member of the “ceasefire now” brigade in Congress condemned Hamas carrying out public executions over the last few days?

The article concludes:

The whole “peace” movement has always been a farce. It was never about saving lives; it was always about backing anti-Israel terrorists.

This Is Beyond Ridiculous

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On Sunday, Red State posted an article about the peace process in the Middle East and the return of the hostages. The return of the hostages (even though only 20 of them are alive) is an amazing accomplishment. That may be one of the reasons that former Secretary of State Antony Blinken is giving former President Biden credit for that accomplishment. What?

The article includes screenshots of some X posts:

First of all, Secretary Blinken might want to remember that over 70 percent of ‘Palestinians’ supported the actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023 (source here). The actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, were clearly in violation of the rules of war that are generally agreed on internationally by civilized countries. Right now, there is a gang war going on in Gaza with Hamas killing anyone they think might have collaborated with Israel and rival gangs killing each other. Civilized behavior has not been a strong suit of the ‘Palestinians.’

The article at Red State continues:

Comparing the terrible ceasefire Blinken and Biden brokered to this one is so disingenuous. That ceasefire was never viable because it left hostages in the hands of Hamas, and it provided no path to disarm and fully defeat the terrorist group, instead demanding Israel essentially surrender. It was the typical warmed-over slop we’ve come to expect from the Obama/Biden axis of foreign policy expertise. 

At no point did the Biden administration apply any pressure on the Arab nations to turn against Hamas and end the war. More importantly, they never applied pressure on Iran, which was fueling the conflict in Gaza and propping up Hezbollah in the north as a threat. In short, the entire region was on fire, and it was handed over to Trump in far worse condition than Biden and company found it.

For Blinken to pretend the former administration laid the groundwork and showed the path forward is laughable. But he hadn’t reached peak shamelessness yet. That came later in his thread when he demanded the establishment of a Palestinian state. 

…This absolute clown. If you’ve been following this issue for any amount of time, you will understand how infuriating that is. The foreign policy establishment has insisted for decades that you could never get Arab buy-in, defeat Hamas, neuter Hezbollah, and limit Iran without giving the terrorists in Gaza a state. That issue was treated as the key to everything, basically becoming a tenet of faith and a bludgeon to beat Israel with. Trump walked in and proved them all wrong, securing the Abraham Accords and ending the war in Gaza by marginalizing the issue, and yet they are still claiming that a Palestinian state must be established. 

The article concludes:

Americans should be so thankful that no one is listening to these over-credentialed imbeciles anymore. The arsonists don’t get to wag their fingers and lecture the firefighters who put out their fires. They certainly don’t get to take credit for it. The foreign policy establishment is a joke, and it should be treated as such. 

Until the ‘Palestinians’ learn to act like civilized people, there is no reason to give them a state.

Why Now?

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Why is Hamas finally willing to make peace? Are they really willing to make peace? Keep in mind that Hamas has only agreed to Part 1 of the Peace Plan. Also remember that Hamas has never been an orphan before.

Let’s look at the past two years. Under the Biden administration, Israel was pretty much prevented from taking serious action against its enemies. When President Trump took office in January, he made it very clear that he supported Israel fully in dealing with its terrorist enemies. Since January, Israel has had America’s support to deal with the constant rocket attacks and terrorist attacks within its borders.

The Abraham accords under the first Trump administration were the beginning. They represented a peaceful initiative to isolate Hamas. The attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Yemen further cut off much of Hamas’ support, both diplomatically and logistically. The attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar made it clear that there would be no safe haven for Hamas. It also put the Middle East on alert as to the dangers of sheltering the leadership of Hamas.

By the time Israel invaded Gaza, Hamas was an orphan with no place to hide. That is the reason Hamas is finally negotiating peace.

This is not a perfect agreement. If it is carried out, the price of getting twenty or so live hostages freed from Hamas is the release of more than 1,000 known Hamas terrorists. It will be interesting to see if the terrorists are allowed back into Gaza. That will be a clue as to what happens next.

It will be very interesting to see if the peace process continues after the hostages are released and the requirements of Phase 1 are implemented. Part of Phase 1 calls for the Israeli Defense Forces to withdraw from much of Gaza. Will that be a clue for Hamas to resume fighting?

If you sense a lack of trust of Hamas on my part, you are correct. There are two principles of Islam that we need to keep in mind when dealing with Hamas–hudna and taqiyya. Hudna is the act of calling a truce so that you can rearm and then breaking the truce when you feel that you are strong enough to win the war. Taqiyya is generally described as lying for the sake of Islam. Hamas is Islamic and is well aware of both of these principles.

Some Common Sense On The Peace Deal

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Pamela Geller posted an article at The Geller Report with her analysis of the peace deal that has been reached with Hamas. I am not really sure a peace deal has been reached, but that is what most of the media is reporting. There is a concept in Islam called “Hudna.” Translated loosely, it means calling a truce so that you can re-arm.

The article reports:

Hamas’s response was delivered hours after Trump threatened Hamas in a post on Truth Social. They have dictated their terms for a hudna (temporary truce Islam  in order to rearm.)

Here is Hamas’s response. It appears to be written by a cabal of far-left international lawyers.

Hamas has agreed to release the hostages (if you believe what they say) but they insist on being part of the decisions for the future and governance of Gaza. They’re starting to take apart the plan, like they always do.

The article describes the reason for skepticism:

As of October 4, 2025, Hamas has issued a formal response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire proposal, which was unveiled earlier this week following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan outlines a phased end to the nearly two-year war, including the immediate release of all remaining Israeli hostages (around 100, per Israeli estimates), a temporary international administration for Gaza led by U.S. and Arab states, Hamas’s disarmament, and no future governance role for the group in the territory. Trump set a “three or four days” deadline for Hamas’s reply, warning of severe consequences for rejection.Key Elements of Hamas’s ResponseHamas conveyed its position through mediators in Qatar and Egypt late on October 3, framing it as a “responsible national stance” after consultations with other Palestinian factions. The response is cautiously positive but insists on negotiations for key revisions:

  • Acceptance of Core Elements: Hamas agrees to release all Israeli hostages as part of an immediate ceasefire, aligning with the plan’s first phase. This has been hailed by Trump as a major breakthrough, with him stating on Truth Social that “Hamas is ready for lasting peace” and calling for Israel to halt bombardment.
  • Demands for Changes:
    • Rejects full disarmament and the imposition of a foreign-led administration, viewing it as a “new form of occupation.” Instead, Hamas proposes Gaza’s future governance as an “internal Palestinian issue,” potentially under a unified Palestinian authority (excluding direct Hamas control but preserving resistance structures).
    • Calls for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, and reconstruction guarantees before any power transition.
    • Omits explicit commitment to dismantling its military wing (Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades), a red line for Israel.

Actually, I think Hamas simply wants the invasion of Gaza to stop. They will discuss further details while they re-arm.

Learning The Lessons Of History?

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October 7, 2023, was the announcement to the world that the “two-state solution” would not work. Some of the world chose not to hear that announcement. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza. They let Gaza elect its own leadership and govern itself. Before October 7, 2023, Gaza was essentially a Palestinian state. Jews were not allowed to buy or own property there. A resident of Gaza who sold property to a Jew would be killed. Gaza was at first governed by the Palestinian Authority and later Hamas was elected. Hamas ended elections. Just for the record, the rocket attacks on Israel began under the Palestinian authority and continued under Hamas. Children in Gaza were trained and encouraged to be martyrs from a young age.

This is a picture of a Palestinian kindergarten class:

Tunnels storing weapons and providing escape routes for terrorists were hidden under children’s bedrooms in Gaza. Hospitals were used as military headquarters with tunnel complexes underneath. Families were paid support by the government of Gaza if a family member killed Jews and was imprisoned or killed. Gaza was not a Palestinian territory–it was a terrorist enclave.

September 11, 2001, was the announcement to the world that Islam, as defined in the Qur’an, is NOT a religion of peace. Again, some of the world chose not to hear that message. The September 11th message has become clearer as European countries who allowed massive immigration from Muslim countries are realizing that some cultural divides cannot be bridged. In Western culture, it is not acceptable to sexually harass a women because she is not wearing a hijab or a burka. It is not acceptable to rape a woman because she is out alone. Some of the countries that have allowed massive amounts of Muslim immigrants into their countries are now offering to pay those immigrants to leave.

All civilizations are not equal. All civilizations do not provide adequate protection for women and children. I learned this years ago in talking to a Muslim man in Massachusetts. He explained to me that his loyalty was not to America and if he were called to fight against America for the cause of Allah, he would do that. He also explained how proud he would be if his children became martyrs for Allah. He is living in America as an American citizen.

Again, all civilizations are not equal.

A Really Bad Decision

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“Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.” There is some question as to who said this so I won’t credit it to anyone, but the quote is extremely valid.

On Friday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

UN General Assembly Passes Resolution to Establish Palestinian State* (If Hamas Leaves)

Been there; done that.

In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, essentially setting up a Palestinian state. Israel did not govern Gaza in any way. In January 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Parliamentary Election. Following that election, the International Quartet (United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union) declared that in order for the then Hamas-run Palestinian government to continue to receive foreign aid, it must recognize the State of Israel, end terrorist activities, and adhere to all previous agreements. Hamas rejected these terms, and international aid was halted. The destruction of Israel is still part of the Hamas charter. How long do you think it will be if a Palestinian state is established before Hamas takes it over? How long will it be before there is another October 7th attack on Israel?

Breitbart reports:

As Breitbart News reported earlier:

The so-called “New York Declaration” would recognize a Palestinian state, even though Palestinians have made no commitment to democracy, have refused to negotiate key issues with Israel, and still hold hostages in flagrant violation of international law.

The text of the declaration reads like a wish list: a democratic state, elections within a year, and the release of hostages — as if Hamas would agree to these terms.

The Times of Israel reported:

One hundred and forty-two countries vote in favor of the non-binding resolution enshrining the New York Declaration, which also calls on Hamas to release all hostages and condemns the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.

Joining Israel and the United States in opposing the resolution were Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga. Twelve countries abstained.

I wonder if they would be voting this way if they were the ones who were attacked on October 7th and had hostages taken.

The article concludes:

The resolution is separate from a separate meeting to declare a Palestinian state — which happens to be scheduled for September 22, coinciding with the Jewish New Year.

The U.S. has denied the Palestinian leadership permission to travel to the U.S. for the occasion, because of existing peace agreements that say clearly that a Palestinian state can only be declared as the outcome of direct negotiations with Israel.

Does anyone believe the fact that this is happening on the Jewish New Year is a coincidence? This is just mean.

Lied To Again

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On Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about Abdul Rahim “Abood” Muhammad Hamden, eight-year-old boy who was reportedly killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site.

The article reports:

A Gazan boy alleged to have been killed by the Israeli military is alive and has been safely evacuated from Gaza with his mother, according to video footage and new reports—contradicting the allegations promoted by commentator Tucker Carlson and Senators Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.).

The eight-year-old boy, who was misidentified as “Amir” but whose real name is Abdul Rahim “Abood” Muhammad Hamden, appeared alongside his mother in a video interview with a translator asking questions provided by Fox News. The boy smiled as he talked about looking forward to his and his mother’s then-upcoming extraction from Gaza, saying, “Outside the Gaza Strip is nice,” according to a translation verified by the outlet. The boy and his mother are now in a secure, undisclosed location outside Gaza, according to Fox News.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) also confirmed in a Thursday announcement that the boy is “alive and safe” and condemned the false allegations. “We are overjoyed and deeply relieved that Abood is safe, and that this story ends in hope,” GHF executive chairman Johnnie Moore said. “Too many people, including in the press and civil society, were quick to spread unverified claims without asking the most basic questions.”

Tony Aguilar, an ex-contractor for the GHF, made national headlines this summer when he claimed in several media appearances that the Israel Defense Forces had shot and killed Hamden in May, as the boy sought aid at a GHF site.

The article concludes:

Tucker Carlson, a conservative-host-turned-vocal-critic-of-Israel, had Aguilar on his show in an interview released July 31. Carlson was “nodding solemnly” as Aguilar claimed Israel had killed the boy, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) wrote in an X post Thursday.

Sanders and Van Hollen also pushed Aguilar’s story, even after the IDF and GHF denied the claims. In late July, Van Hollen met with Aguilar and released a recording of their conversation, while Sanders featured Aguilar’s testimony in a video titled “Former U.S. Special Ops: What I Saw in Gaza.”

Be careful who you listen to for Middle East news.

What Is Journalistic Responsibility?

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Just for the record, I don’t consider myself a journalist. I am a blogger. My goal is to point out stories that the mainstream media might not have carried and to shine light on shenanigans in the press and elsewhere.

Recently,  The New York Times posted a very misleading article about children starving in Gaza. Anyone who has investigated this claim understands that Hamas holds food hostage (as well as people). The humanitarian aid that comes into Gaza is sold at exorbitant prices to raise money to buy weapons. That is documented in various places. That is why Israel has taken to doing food drops–in an effort to get food directly to the people. There was a picture included in The New York Times article of a child who was obviously suffering from malnutrition. It turns out that the child shown has a genetic health problem that is causing the malnutrition.

On Monday, Hot Air reported:

The New York Times ran a photo on its front page that was a visual lie. 

The point of that lie was to back the claims made in their article that Israel was intentionally starving Gazan children, but apparently, there were no photos available that would back the claims made in their story. 

No doubt they believed the story that their reporters were feeding them, not that any reporter who was not a Hamas toady would dare set foot in Gaza–but in the circular logic of the Times they assumed that nothing printed in their paper could be false.

We know that they knew the photo was false because there are internal Times emails that show they did. In fact, the editors had rejected a different photo because they knew that printing a photo of a child suffering from a genetic disease did not back their story, and demanded it be replaced.

…Uh, maybe they would use a photo like that because there IS a dearth of photos of otherwise healthy children dying of starvation. Did they consider that?

Of course not.

We already know that The New York Times employs a reporter who openly expresses his admiration for Hitler and defends him against accusations of bias. Nazis can be fair, too, you know. His work is published in the Times, so it must be true.

As I said, I am not a journalist, but it seems to me that even if they had only put a note on the picture that said ‘file footage’ at least that would have been partially honest. When are they going to post the video of the hostage being forced to dig his own grave?

Never Again Is Now

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Hamas recently released a video of Israeli hostage Evyatar David being forced to dig his own grave in a tunnel underneath Gaza. He looks like the people the allied forces rescued from the concentration camps in the 1940’s. Yet somehow there is no outrage–only cries for a Palestinian state. That makes no sense. Where were those cries when the land in question was owned by Egypt and Jordan?

On Saturday, Breitbart reported:

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas filmed Israeli hostage Evyatar David being forced to dig his own grave in a tunnel underneath Gaza, in a propaganda video meant to pressure the Israeli government to end the war.

The war will end when Hamas surrenders and releases the hostages.

The article concludes:

Images of starving Palestinian children, many of them fake or misleading, have flooded the international media, though the only people confirmed to be starving are the remaining 20 or so living Israeli hostages.

It is telling that none of the countries in the region or Israel are interested in taking in the Palestinian refugees.

The article contains a video released by Hamas.

Food As A Weapon

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On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about an apology issued by MSNBC. Fake news can result in serious consequences, and the story originally put out by MSNBC was misleading and dangerous.

The article reports:

MSNBC issued an on-air correction on Morning Joe Friday after Middle East correspondent Matt Bradley falsely reported Palestinians had been killed in Gaza while waiting for aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

On Thursday, Bradley had been introducing a video package about “controversial aid sites” run by GHF in Gaza. It was the latest in a series of mainstream media efforts to discredit the organization, which is currently the main provider of food aid in Gaza, distributing 2 to 3 million meals a day.

The United Nations and Hamas both oppose GHF because it undermines their role and power in Gaza.

Bradley’s report repeated familiar, and false, accusations that GHF is dangerous for Palestinians, and went even further than others had gone, targeting GHF executive chairman Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore because of his “evangelical Christian ideology” and his alleged “somewhat messianic perspective on Israel.”

In introducing the report, Bradley said: “We’re still seeing massive numbers of casualties every single day. And actually, a lot of those folks are killed, and have been killed, waiting in line for much-needed food being distributed by a U.S.-backed organization that has attracted a lot of criticism and a lot of scrutiny. This effort just had its bloodiest day two days ago, when around 60 people were shot dead while waiting in line.”

As Breitbart News has noted, such reports have been false: no deaths or injuries have ever taken place at GHF aid distribution sides. Hamas and others opposed to GHF have spread fake news in an effort to discredit the organization; mainstream media outlets have often repeated these claims, only to retract them later.

Misreporting like this only makes the situation in Gaza worse. Hamas and the United Nations have used the scarcity of food to control the population. The GHF food is a threat to that control.

Aeschylus is credited with saying, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” That is especially true in Middle East reporting.

Forgetting The Lesson Of October 7th

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Any plan that puts the Palestinian Authority or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) back in control of the Gaza Strip is simply a path to war and to the genocide of the Jews in Israel. In 2005, Israel moved the Jewish settlements out of Gaza and gave the area over to be governed by the Palestinians. In January 2006, Hamas was elected by the Palestinians in Gaza as their government. In 2006, rockets were being fired into Israel from Gaza. That continued until Gaza was pretty much decimated by the Israeli Defense Forces.  The greenhouses that had formed the basis of the successful Gaza economy were destroyed by the new residents and the metal water pipes used to make rockets. It was evident from the beginning that Gaza had no intention of being a peaceful neighbor to Israel. Their children were taught the glories of martyrdom from an early age. Things continued to get worse until October 7, 2023, when Gaza launched a brutal attack on Israel. The lessons of history illustrate the fact that if peace is a goal, the Jews need to rule Gaza. Unfortunately, Europe has not yet learned that lesson.

On March 8, Fox News reported the following:

A $53 billion Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza has garnered support from France, Germany, Italy and the U.K., after receiving pushback from the U.S. and Israel. 

“The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises – if implemented – swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza,” the foreign ministers wrote in a joint statement. 

The foreign ministers called for a post-war plan based on “a solid political and security framework,” but reiterated the need for Hamas to not be able to govern Gaza. Additionally, the European leaders said that they are supportive of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) “central role” in a post-war Gaza and “the implementation of its reform agenda.”

The $53 billion Egyptian plan was meant as a counter to President Donald Trump’s U.S. takeover idea and comes after Cairo rejected the idea of accepting displaced Gazans for “national security” reasons. While Trump’s plan would resettle Palestinians outside the Strip, Egypt’s proposal focuses on Palestinian-led reconstruction efforts. 

Both the U.S. and Israel have rejected the Arab-backed plan for Gaza reconstruction. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said in a statement that the plan “fails to address the realities of the situation following October 7th, 2023, remaining rooted in outdated perspectives.”

The Arab countries know the history of the Palestinians and Hamas. They do not want to import terrorists into their country. That is the root of this alternative plan. The Palestinian Authority has the same goals as Hamas. This is not a path to peace, it is a road to another war. Unless you break up the Palestinian Authority and Hamas and get them to focus on living happily in various Arab countries, you will not achieve peace.

This Makes My Blood Boil

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On Thursday, Hot Air posted an article about Hamas’ release of the bodies of four hostages. The fact that Israel is backed into a corner and is releasing live terrorists for dead hostages is bad enough, but Hamas used to occasion as propaganda. It was disgusting.

The article quotes The U.K. Daily Mail:

Hamas has been condemned for parading the coffins of hostages in Gaza, with the United Nations rights chief saying the ‘abhorrent’ treatment of the October 7 attack victims ‘flies in the face of international law.’

Israelis are mourning the youngest hostages – baby Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel – as well as their mother Shiri and elderly captive Oded Lifshitz, whose bodies are believed to have been inside the caskets.

The four coffins were displayed to crowds in front of disturbing propaganda posters before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by armed Hamas fighters. 

I admire Israel’s restraint. If it were up to me, Gaza would be a radioactive parking lot by now.

The article at Hot Air includes multiple pictures of the transfer of the bodies of the hostages.

The article at Hot Air includes the following screenshot from X:

I agree.

UPDATE:

The woman’s body that was returned is not the mother of the two murdered children.

 

An Obvious Move That Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago

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On Tuesday, The Jewish News Syndicate reported that the Israeli Knesset banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in Israel. There were several UNRWA workers involved in the October 7th attack, and an UNRWA teacher was found guarding Yahya Sinwar. UNRWA is not an instrument of peace or of any help to the ‘refugees’ or the Israelis.

The article reports:

Israel’s Knesset on Monday made it illegal for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to operate in Israeli territory, and for state officials to cooperate with the agency.

The two laws were passed by a large majority following the exposure of UNRWA staff complicity in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, and despite pressure from the United States and other countries against the move.

The Biden Administration was “deeply concerned” about the legislation, according to an unnamed U.S. State Department official cited by Axios. This echoes language used by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prior to the vote.

Josep Borrell, the E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tweeted that the new laws “would de facto render UNRWA’s vital operations in Gaza impossible, and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank.” The laws stand “in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity,” he added.

Has it occurred to these people that UNRWA was acting in contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity? In the past, I have posted pictures of kindergarten classes in Gaza (here). The children in these classes are in camouflage dress and being taught to be martyrs in the fight against Israel. Many of their teachers are UNRWA workers.

The article concludes:

“The more complicated thing is the prohibition on dealing with UNRWA in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. It is not clear what will happen next, it’s not entirely clear. There will be a few months for the law to go into effect and there will be a lot of pressure on Israel to somehow freeze the law. I don’t think Israel should surrender,” he said.

“The important thing to remember is that Palestinians are prisoners of assistance that keeps them in permanent dependency. UNRWA dooms Palestinians to a cycle of dependency. It calls itself an aid agency but it is a Palestinian war agency. The whole point of UNRWA is to tell Palestinians that their future is to dismantle Israel,” he concluded.

UNRWA has long passed its useful life span (if it was ever useful).

The Only Path To Peace In The Middle East

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While the Biden administration and the political left are pushing for a two-state solution to end the war in the Middle East, people who actually understand the situation understand that this is not realistic. The status quo before October 7, 2023, was essentially a two-state solution–Gaza was not controlled by Israel–Jews were not allowed in Gaza. Many of the residents of Gaza worked in Israel because of the poor economic situation in Gaza (caused by using the relief money for weapons and tunnels). Sadly, many of the murderers on October 7th brutally attacked the people who provided them with work and income. The two-state solution is not acceptable as a permanent solution for the residents of Gaza and the West Bank–they want a one-state solution with Israel driven into the sea and all of the Jews killed. That was evident on October 7th.

On Monday, Breitbart reported the following:

Israel reiterated a new offer Monday made last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week: Hamas terrorists who release their Israeli hostages will be allowed to live; those who do not will be hunted down and killed.

There are 101 remaining Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, about a third of whom are presumed dead.

However, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops last Wednesday has renewed hope for a hostage deal — even if it is not clear with whom Israel would be negotiating. In the vacuum, private actors have begun to step forward: Daniel Birnbaum, has made a public offer to pay $100,000 per living Israeli hostage freed by October 23.

…As Breitbart News reported last Thursday, Netanyahu gave an address in Hebrew in which he said: “I am calling on everyone who is holding our hostages: whoever lays down his arms and returns our hostages, we will allow him to escape and to live. And by the same measure, I say: whoever harms our hostages, his blood will be on his own head.

It is long past time for Hamas to release the hostages. It is also long past time for the American government to put pressure on Iran to have the hostages released. The real solution to peace in the Middle East is regime change in Iran.

Why Is The Biden Administration More Concerned About Conditions In Gaza Than It Is About The American Hostages Taken By Hamas?

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On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about the Biden administration’s concern for the conditions in Gaza.

The article states:

The Biden-Harris administration is giving Israel 30 days to improve humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza or else the US could halt military assistance, according to a letter sent this week to the Israeli military.

The Oct. 13 missive, signed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, threatens to pause the delivery of US weapons and aid to Israel unless the Jewish state provides assurance that humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza unhindered, according to the US State Department.

The warning comes as President Biden has spent months voicing his growing frustration with the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has become a major issue among Democratic voters — especially young Democrats — as Election Day looms.

The American officials found that since April, there has been a significant deterioration in the amount of aid entering Gaza despite Israel’s vow to keep food and supplies coming in March.

Why not refuse ALL aid to Gaza until ALL of the Hamas hostages are released?

The article concludes:

Along with the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, US officials are also concerned with the flow of aid arriving at other crossing stations, according to the letter.

Israel has repeatedly denied hindering deliveries, noting that 30 trucks carrying flour and food from the UN had entered Gaza on Sunday.

Following reports of America’s frustration over the lack of aid, the IDF’s X account wrote a post claiming that more than 9,000 tons of humanitarian aid, “including food, water, gas, shelter equipment and medical supplies,” have been delivered since Oct. 1.

UN officials have said that the current amount of aid entering Gaza is not enough to help feed the more than 1 million refugees displaced by the fighting.

James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said the situation has only gotten worse since Israel began restricting aid when the war began.

“We see now what is probably the worst restrictions we’ve seen on humanitarian aid, ever,” Elder said in a statement.

Israel is also facing renewed scrutiny over its military operations in Gaza after an airstrike near a hospital in northern Gaza sparked a fire at a refugee camp that killed four people.

The war has so far claimed the lives of more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.

The IDF estimates that in a year since the war began, about 17,000 terrorists have been killed in Gaza.

The people in Gaza are holding the hostages. Until they give up the hostages, they should not receive aid. Would you send coffee and donuts to a bank robber holding hostages?

Isn’t This Racist?

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On Wednesday, The Jewish News Syndicate reported that the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line. That’s interesting. Israel is one of the few countries in the Middle East where Jews, Christians, and Muslims have the same rights and are allowed to participate in the government of the nation. Why is the United Nations picking on the a non-racist country in the area rather than the countries where Jews are not allowed? Why–because there are now enough Muslim countries in the United Nations to begin to take over the organization and to align with the non-Muslim tyrants to attempt to make Sharia Law and Muslim dominance a feature of the United Nations.

The article reports:

More than 40 countries sponsored the resolution, which was the first that Palestinians filed after being granted unprecedented privileges, for a non-U.N. member, earlier this year.

The resolution calls on the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw completely from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within 12 months, which means evacuating all Jewish communities beyond the armistice line, including Jerusalem’s Old City.

It also bans arms sales to the IDF of any equipment that would be expected reasonably to be used in the territory over the 1949 lines and calls for a boycott of all products produced by Jews in those areas.

The resolution text lacks any mention of Israeli security concerns, historic ties to the lands or Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

Just for the record, this is the land given to Israel by the Balfour Declaration”

These are the borders for the Jewish state set up by the League of Nations:

The Arabs do not have a legitimate claim to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, or the Gaza Strip. Historically, all of these lands are Jewish and play a major role in both Jewish and Christian history.

The article at the Jewish News Syndicate concludes:

Arsen Ostrovsky and Nadav Steinman, CEO and board chair, respectively, of the International Legal Forum, stated that “today, simply put, the United Nations has become the diplomatic arm of Hamas” and that the resolution “is just the latest in a litany of obscenely one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N. since Oct. 7.” 

“All it does is reward the murderers, rapists and abductors of Hamas while pouring further fuel on worldwide antisemitism and eroding whatever remaining credibility of the already problematic and politicized International Court of Justice, upon which this resolution is meant to be based,” they added. “Ultimately, peace will only prevail when Hamas is defeated and the hostages are released, not through tiresome antics and pyrrhic Palestinian ‘victories’ at the U.N.”

Giving land to terrorists has never worked in the past. There is no reason to believe that it will work in the future.

Knowing History, Religious Practices, And Cultural Norms Can Save Your Life

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On Monday, Hot Air posted an article reporting that a group called the New Tolerance Campaign has offered $1,000,000 to any LGBTQ advocacy organization to hold a gay pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank! As of now, no one has accepted the offer.

In Iran, another Muslim-controlled area, people who belong to the LGBTQ community are thrown off of buildings with their hands tied behind their backs. In some Muslim countries they are stoned. Under Sharia Law, it is illegal to be gay.

The article notes (rather tongue-in-cheek) that no group has accepted their offer:

It’s a mystery because so many of these groups have expressed solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinian authority. You would think they would be chomping at the bit to show their undying (pun intended) support for their brothers and sisters in arms.

The article concludes:

Obviously, I don’t want anybody to actually go to “Palestine,” because I don’t want anyone killed just to make a point. But making the offer is a good way to remind these idiots that their “solidarity” with people who want to kill them is stupid.

Even if it were true–and the opposite is true–that both Palestinians and alphabet people were equally “oppressed”–it makes no sense for “Queers” to align themselves with the terrorists of Hamas. Their interests diverge in almost every way.

But they don’t see it that way because both hate America. It really is that simple. Hating America is the great unifying force of the radicals.

Kumbaya.

Maybe it’s time to remind some people how much freedom we have in America and to encourage them to be grateful for that.

Words Matter

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The news on Sunday morning reported that the bodies of six of the hostages taken by Hamas had been recovered by the Israeli Defense Forces. Much of the mainstream media reported that the hostages had died–not that they had been murdered by Hamas.

Breitbart posted an article on Sunday about the misleading reports.

Breitbart reported:

Mainstream media outlets, including CNN, NBC, and USA Today, are facing intense backlash for what have been called misleading and “vile” headlines about the brutal murder of six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

On Sunday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced the hostages had been cruelly murdered by Hamas as Israeli soldiers closed in on their location, possibly based on intelligence provided by a hostage rescued last week.

The six hostages, whose bodies were found Saturday in a tunnel underneath Gaza — including American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin — were discovered in Rafah, the same city that Vice President Kamala Harris had told Israel not to enter.

But mainstream media outlets, including CNN, NBC, and USA Today, covering the recovery of the bodies, sparked outrage by initially reporting that one of the victims had “died” rather than had been “murdered.” 

The cause of the hostages’ death was not clear for about 90 minutes after Hersh Goldberg-Polin was first revealed to be among the victims, which is why some outlets may have been reluctant to use the word “murder.” Mainstream media headlines currently reflect reports by Israeli authorities that the hostages were murdered. However, screen grabs of the initial headlines continued to spark outrage after reports emerged on Sunday that Hamas terrorists had shot each of the six hostages in the head before Israeli soldiers could rescue them.

The war that Israel is fighting against Hamas is as much of a public relations war as it is a kinetic war. Some Israelis who want the hostages released (assuming they are alive) are protesting to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu into a peace deal which would leave Hamas in power and pave the way for another October 7th attack. Those protests are totally playing into the hands of Hamas as are the calls for a cease-fire from some western countries. You don’t make peace with terrorists unless you want more terrorism. Israelis used to know that. I am disappointed in the Israeli leaders who are using the hostages to try to topple the Netanyahu government. You don’t do that when your country is fighting for its survival–you put personal ambitions aside temporarily at least.

Just for the record, the hostages were murdered to avoid Israel celebrating their release. That illustrates the nature of Hamas.

The article concludes:

Though some headlines have since been corrected, the damage had already been done. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both affirmed the hostages were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists.

 

Wisdom From Someone Who Knows

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On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about the possibility of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

The article reports:

One-time Israel double agent and son of a Hamas founder Mosab Hassan Yousef warned there is “no such thing” as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas until Iran’s supreme leader is removed from power.

“This is an open war, and I’m afraid that we haven’t seen the worst of it yet,” Yousef told Fox News Digital. “And let me tell you something: This whole thing is only for one purpose – to just bring the hostages back, and whenever there is an opportunity to just bring the hostages, I think this is where Israel is compromising.”

“But, eventually, this war is not going to stop until Islamists are removed from power, and I’m afraid now that we are coming to realize, without removing ayatollah from power, the Middle East would never experience peace and prosperity,” Yousef said. 

The son of a Hamas founder details in his new book, “From Hamas to America,” the deeply psychological impact of his harrowing life as a member of Hamas, his time as a double agent working for the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and his exit to America after a decade of service. 

Something to consider when dealing with Iran is that the majority of Iran’s population is under the age of forty. That majority does not necessarily support the Islamists. Iran is a totalitarian state and opposing the government is difficult, but another revolution is not out of the question.

The article concludes with a short sketch of Mosab Hassan Yousef”s biography:

Yousef grew up in the West Bank amid limited opportunities and resources, with many of his classmates either dropping out of school or working manual labor in Israel. He was taught to fear Jews and only met Israelis in “uniform” when he turned 27.

Yousef, in his book, discusses his life as a member of Hamas, including sexual abuse he suffered as a child and his time in Israeli prisons before agreeing to work with Shin Bet. He ultimately fled to the US, where he continues to live and work, speaking out about his experiences with Hamas.

During his time in prison, Yousef started studying the Bible, and he converted to Christianity in 1999. He then fled to the US in 2007, where he experienced some culture shock due to the “false ideologies” that have flooded Western nations, such as “new age theories” that he finds can be “as dangerous as extreme or terrorist ideologies.”

“I am not shocked anymore by human delusion,” Yousef said. “You can say whether if it’s in the West or in the East, it’s the human condition, and time will prove every theory to be actually based according to the universal design, evolution – even though evolution is a very sensitive term – or narratives with dead ends.”

“I appreciate the freedom of speech, even though I have been canceled many times by liberals and mainstream media, which is basically – I don’t want to say it’s shocking, but it’s fascinating to see people who swear by the name of liberty and democracy, but in practice, they are the opposite,” he added.

“For me, this is my journey, and it doesn’t matter what people perceive on the outside,” he stressed. “What matters to me is what I’m learning, what I am seeing as I evolve and integrate.”

Ultimately, Mosab Hassan Yousef”s story and stories from other terrorists like him who have become Christians are the real answer to terrorism. Only Jesus can change a heart that completely.