Iran and Nuclear Weapons

Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.   

The issue of whether we will allow Iran to have nuclear weapons is at the point of no return. For years, America has taken the position that Iran, the primary sponsor of terrorist activities in the world, should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. The time has come to put up or shut up.

Iran, an Islamist state ruled by a religious leader since their overthrow of the Shah in January 1979 (during the weak Carter administration), has vowed the destruction of Israel and death to America. Are they just saying these things or do they really mean it? Hitler, in his book “Mein Kampf,” written before he assumed power in Germany, stated his intention to eliminate the Jews. His actions while in power showed that he meant it. We should take the Iranian regime leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, at his word when he advocates the death of Israel and America. We would be fools not to. This is especially true because the Ayatollah has the backing of his religious beliefs. A few years ago, I had a conversation with a neighbor who did not believe that the Koran (the Muslim equivalent of the Bible) advocated the killing of infidels (anyone who does not believe in the Muslim religion) if they did not convert. With a brief review, I was able to identify ten quotations from the Koran than not only justify, but in some cases advocate, the killing of non-Muslims. I am sure that all of you have heard of the reward in their heaven of 30 virgins for killing non-Muslims. Clearly, Islam is not a religion of peace; it is quite the opposite.

So here we are at a decision point. Iran is determined to acquire a nuclear weapon capability and has already produced missiles that can strike Europe and soon our country. Why would any peace-loving country pursue this objective? Also, we know without a doubt that Iran has been providing weapons to their terrorist affiliates like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, who have been shutting down the shipping lanes to Europe from the far East. Iran has also violated all previous and current agreements to restrict their uranium production that would allow them to produce nuclear warheads. Instead of pursuing a policy to stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons, Presidents Obama and Biden have facilitated their uranium enrichment by sending billions of dollars to their government without restrictions. So much, for a clear and definitive policy.

Looking back in history, we can clearly see that evil leaders do evil things, including starting wars that result in the killing of millions of innocent people. Sadly, technology has made war started by these evil people more and more destructive and deadly. Nuclear weapons in the hands of evil extremists threaten the existence of civilization as we have known it.  The risk of nuclear destruction is a direct function of the number of countries that have nuclear capability. The more countries with nuclear weapons, the more likely some evil person in one of those countries will find a reason to use them. Then all hell will break loose and the destruction of civilization will occur.   We have to have the courage not to let this happen.

As we have seen in many wars, including Putin fighting with Ukraine, the leaders who start these wars do not care how many of their own people are killed; to say the least their enemies. Hitler, Stalin, or Mao Zedong could have cared less about military and civilian deaths. The only possible hope is to limit the war-making ability of countries who have demonstrated evil intentions. It is time for America to stand up to the reality that Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be stopped. The fact that President Trump has increased our military presence near Iran with aircraft carriers and B 52 bombers shows a serious intention to stop Iran, one way or the other. Let’s hope that their nuclear program can be stopped without military action. Personally, I doubt it. If not, a joint attach by Israeli and U.S. forces should be initiated to remove the nuclear threat from Iran.

The Definition Of Insanity

Although we don’t actually know who said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” there is a lot of truth to that saying. We are seeing that truth in action in Syria right now.

With few exceptions, one of them being the American revolution, revolutions seem to bring to power people worse than the ones who were ousted. America is not guiltless in playing a part in some revolutions in the past century. In 1953, America installed the Shah of Iran. We saw how that worked out (actually it did for a while). In 2011, the Arab Spring was supposed to bring freedom to the oppressed Arabs in the Middle East. In 2011, we helped overthrow Muammar al-Qaddafi in Libya. That didn’t work well. Also in 2011, we helped remove Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, resulting in a temporary take-over of the country by the Muslim Brotherhood, followed by a military coup. Now we are dealing with the consequences of a Syrian revolution. The carnage that is the result of that revolution is unimaginable, but was not unpredictable.

In December 2024, Fox News reported the following:

The Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In exchange, al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, agreed to a U.S. demand not to allow terrorism groups in Syria to threaten the U.S. or Syria’s neighbors. 

“We had a good, thoroughgoing discussion on a range of regional issues,” Barbara Leaf, the U.S.’s top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters of her Friday meeting with al-Sharaa. 

In January 2025, former al Qaeda member Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, was named as Syria’s president for a transitional period.

There was a reason for the bounty. Al-Sharaa is a Sunni Muslim who was formerly a member of Al Qaeda under Abu Musab al-Zarqari.

According to a Reuters article of March 10th:

Sharaa, in a speech on Sunday, said remnants of the Assad government, supported by external parties, were seeking to create strife and drag Syria back into civil war with the aim of dividing it.

He promised to form a fact-finding committee and said its findings would be made public, vowing to bring to account anyone involved “in the bloodshed of civilians” or mistreating them.

He has also announced the formation of a committee aimed at preserving civil peace, which would be tasked with communicating with the people of the coast and providing them with the support they needed to guarantee their protection.

In a Reuters interview, Sharaa said mass killings of Alawites were a threat to his mission to unite the country, and promised to punish those responsible, including his own allies if necessary.

In evaluating the above statement, you need to consider the Islamic concept of taqiyya. This is a concept in Islamic law that translates as “deceit or dissimulation,” particularly toward infidels. It is generally described as lying for the sake of Islam.

The mainstream media has been rather quiet about the genocide going on in Syria. That genocide should not be a surprise to anyone familiar with    the history of Al-Sharaa.

Islamic terrorism is not dead, and America needs to be very aware of its intentions both here and internationally.

When The Punishment Doesn’t Fit The Crime

On Saturday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about Asif Rahman, a former CIA officer, who has been arrested and has pleaded guilty to sharing classified documents about Israel’s plans to launch a missile strike on Iran.

The article reports:

A former CIA analyst arrested in November and charged with leaking highly classified records showing Israeli plans to launch a retaliatory strike on Iran pleaded guilty Friday in a federal court in Virginia.

Asif Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of transmission of national defense information, according to court records.

Rahman faces up to 10 years in prison for the first count and up to three years for the second count. His sentencing was set for May 15.

Rahman admitted to accessing and printing out two documents regarding Israel’s retaliatory strike plans on Oct. 17 and transporting them to his residence, where he later uploaded images of them and provided them to “multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them,” according to the plea agreement.

He later took various steps to try and conceal his involvement in the leak, even as authorities were able to track him down remarkably quickly given he was the only individual found to have printed out the documents, according to logs reviewed by investigators.

On Friday, Ynet news noted:

Rahman, a Yale University graduate, faces up to 20 years in prison under the Espionage Act. However, a plea deal under negotiation could limit his sentence to six and a half years. Federal prosecutors reportedly agreed to the reduced penalty after Rahman took responsibility for his actions and expressed a desire to resolve the case.

Rahman’s sentencing is scheduled for May 15. Prosecutors indicated they might recommend further leniency if Rahman continues cooperating with authorities.

I don’t care if he took responsibility for his actions, there needs to be a much longer prison sentence.

As Iranian Military Might In The Middle East Shrinks, China’s Grows

On January 6th, The National Interest reported the following:

Amid Iranian defeats across the Middle East, the Houthi rebels in Yemen are increasingly turning to China for missile components to use against the West.

The Yemen-based Houthi rebels have found a new backer: the People’s Republic of China. In a recent report published by i24 News, U.S. intelligence sources detail the undercover collaboration between Beijing and the Iranian-backed terror group which has perpetuated the ongoing instability in the Red Sea. While the Houthis have indiscriminately carried out attacks targeting warships and shipping vessels alike in these waters for years, the rebel group’s maritime strikes have escalated following the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. According to the Israel-based news outlet, the Houthis are now using Chinese-designed weapons in their attacks. In exchange, the terror group will cease attacks on ships flying the Chinese flag. With a shared mutual contempt for the West, Beijing and Tehran’s collaboration in the region makes sense.

 Iran has suffered significant blows over the last year. From the decimation of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Tehran’s clout in the Middle East is rapidly deteriorating. Lacking the resources and weapons needed to continue its asymmetric objectives in the region, the regime has relied on China and Russia for support. The rogue allies are largely isolated from the international community and therefore lean on each other for arms, funds and even training at times.

The article concludes:

The Chinese-Iranian collaboration on this front coincides with the allies’ determination to establish a new international order based on their own rules. Beijing, Tehran, Moscow and even Pyongyang are increasingly working together to undermine the U.S. and Western power. The People’s Republic of China has also allegedly interfered in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine by providing drones to Moscow. Now that U.S. intelligence services have uncovered China’s material support for a group perpetuating attacks against Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations, the depth of this collaboration is even more alarming.

Diplomacy in the Middle East is going to be very complicated in the coming years. China is not fighting the west directly–it is just supplying weapons to countries that will not be able to stop its rise to world domination in the future. The idea is that these countries will use the weapons against countries that might actually be able to compete with China. If China can significantly weaken the major western countries without being directly involved, there will be no barriers to China become the sole superpower of the world.

Why Are We Giving Money To People Who Want To Destroy Us?

On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that three days after the election of President Trump, the Biden administration waived sanctions on upward of $10 billion in once-frozen funds for Iran.

The article reports:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined on November 8 that “it is in the national security interest of the United States” to waive mandatory economic sanctions that bar Iraq from transferring upward of $10 billion to Iran in electricity import payments.

The Biden-Harris administration has renewed the waiver repeatedly over the objections of congressional Republicans, who warned that the cash helped fuel terrorism and Iran’s war against Israel. In one case, the administration signed off on the sanctions relief one month after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

The most recent iteration of the waiver lifts sanctions for 120 days, at which time the incoming Trump administration will have to decide whether Tehran will continue receiving the relief.

Though the first Trump administration did green-light the same waiver—causing tension with some congressional Republicans—it narrowly tailored the waiver to restrict Iranian access to the cash. The Biden State Department tweaked the waiver last year to allow Tehran to convert the funds from Iraqi dinars to euros, then hold those euros in bank accounts based in Oman. Access to a widely traded currency like the euro enables Iran to more easily spend the cash in international markets. Under the first Trump administration, Iran had to keep the cash in an escrow account in Baghdad, making it more difficult to access.

The State Department confirmed last week that it issued the waiver.

The article concludes:

President-elect Donald Trump, who nearly bankrupted Iran during his first term in office, has pledged to restart his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran. Richard Goldberg, a former White House National Security Council member who worked the Iran portfolio, welcomed that pledge.

“Joe Biden and his team are taking credit for bringing down Assad just a few weeks after renewing a sanctions waiver to give Iran access to billions of dollars,” Goldberg said. “Give me a break. This policy of appeasement needs to end on January 20, and locking down these accounts so Iran can’t get access should be priority one.”

I am looking forward to “a new sheriff in town.”

Planting A Land Mine As You Walk Out The Door

Despite the talk of a smooth transition of power, the Biden administration has already planted a few land mines in the path of the incoming Trump administration. The agreement with the dock workers will expire three days after President Trump is inaugurated–hardly enough time to negotiate a settlement–putting a possible strike front and center in the first few days of the new administration. The Biden administration has about two months to plant a few more land mines, and one of the ones they have recently planted is going to be a serious challenge.

On Monday, The Epoch Times reported:

Anonymous U.S. officials have said that President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the United States to strike targets in the Russian region of Kursk, which is currently occupied by Ukraine in the ongoing war.

Ukrainian forces launched a significant cross-border operation into Russia’s region of Kursk earlier this year. Intense fighting is ongoing as Russian forces attempt to reclaim lost territory. Ukraine seized several settlements and is still holding strategic positions. In response, Russia has allowed 11,000 North Korean soldiers to amass in Kursk to aid its fight.

Last year, after North Korea supplied Russia with long-range ballistic missiles, the Biden administration responded by greenlighting Ukraine’s use of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System—with a range of about 190 miles—for targets within its territories, including in Russian-occupied Crimea.

There is a solution to this escalation of the war in Ukraine that is possible before the situation totally melts down (no pun intended). Through back-channels, President-elect Trump could make it clear to President Zelensky that any attacks into Russia would result in the total cutoff of aid to Ukraine as soon as President Trump takes office. In the past, President Trump has shown that he has the ability to use economic leverage to avoid using military force. In this case, it would have a good chance of working.

There are a few things to look at as consequences of a Trump presidency in Ukraine and in the Middle East. If ‘drill, baby, drill’ begins on day one, the price of oil will drop relatively quickly. OPEC will probably cut back their production in an effort to keep prices high, but in the long run that will not work. If America can flood the market with oil and natural gas, the income to Russia and Iran will drop drastically as oil prices drop. At lower oil prices, Russia cannot afford the war with Ukraine and Iran can not afford to fund terrorism to the extent it has been. Drill, baby, drill in America is part of a recipe for a more peaceful world.

The Fallout Begins

Not all fallout is negative!

On November 7, The Gateway Pundit reported:

Iranian government spokesperson, Fatemeh Mohajerani, told reporters on Wednesday that for the Islamic Republic, it does not matter who the President of the United States is.

Then following President Trump’s election victory the Iranian rial fell to an all-time low of 703,000 rials to one dollar on Wednesday.

…The rial traded at 703,000 to the dollar, traders in Tehran said. The rate could still change throughout the day. Iran’s Central Bank could flood the market with more hard currencies as an attempt to improve the rate, as it has done in the past.

The slide comes as the rial already faces considerable woes over its sharp slide in value — and as the mood among some on the streets of Tehran darkened.

The article concludes:

“One hundred percent he will intensify the sanctions,” said Amir Aghaeian, a 22-year-old student. “Things that are not in our favor will be worse. Our economy and social situation will surely get worse.”

He added: “I feel the country is going to blow up.”

The American money flowing into Iran will end when President Trump is sworn in. The impact of that will be unrest in Iran. Since the younger generation does not support the theocracy, that could easily result in an Iranian revolution. An Iranian revolution could easily result in peace in the Middle East and a weak Iran. That is why Iran wants to kill President Trump.

The Only Path To Peace In The Middle East

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.

When Your Advice And Actions Backfire

On Friday, PJ Media posted an article explaining how the Obama-Biden-Harris foreign policy of enriching Iran may have actually helped Israel. Because of the large amounts of money freed up for Iran and the loosening of sanctions of Iran, Iran was able to increase its terrorist funding and terrorist activity in the Middle East. That increase was noticed by its Sunni Arab neighbors. That increase probably paved the way for the Abraham Accords. The article reminds us that President Biden was giving advice to Prime Minister Netanyahu during the period after October 7, 2023, and Prime Minister Netanyahu was wisely ignoring that advice. The article notes that President Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy issue since he has been in public life. The war in Israel is no exception.

The article reports:

Kamala Harris might’ve said that Iran is America’s greatest enemy, but the trio of Obama-Biden-Harris did more to strengthen Iran than any U.S. presidents since the overthrow of the Shah. From secretly sending planes with hundreds of millions of dollars to Tehran to sending over a BILLION+ more (in untraceable cash, no less), they were the financial pipeline that kept the mullahs in power. Most remarkably, this Unholy Trinity actually spearheaded a plan to legalize the Iranian nuclear weapon program!

In fact, under the original deal, the sanctions restricting Iran’s centrifuge usage would have expired in 2026, and by 2031, so would the limits on the amount of uranium Iran is allowed to develop and use. (But Iran pinky-swears they’ll be good.)

Basically, Obama-Biden-Harris planned to allow Iran to get their nukes… but to make sure it happened when someone else was in office.

The trio’s utter ineptitude is absolutely astounding.

But here’s where things go full circle: This trio is so amazingly inept, sometimes their backfires backfire — and you get the best possible result. It’s sort of the reverse version of Murphy’s Law.

With this in mind, I’d like to THANK Obama-Biden-Harris for helping Israel make peace with the Arabs.

Because if they hadn’t worked so hard to strengthen Iran, the Abraham Accords never would’ve happened under Trump. Israel never would’ve made peace with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Nor would they be partnering logistically and militarily with Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Oman. Nor would they be on the verge of peace with most of the Sunni world.

The Obama-Biden-Harris Triumvirate strengthened Iran so dramatically that it actually scared the Sunni world into siding with the Zionists!

Perhaps this wasn’t ineptitude. Perhaps it was all deliberate and was the greatest example of 4-D chess in geopolitical history. But c’mon, folks: The is Obama-Biden-Harris we’re talking about. It was definitely, 100% ineptitude.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn occasionally!

The Consequences Of The Biden Administration’s Middle East Policy

The Biden administration’s Middle East policy is simply a continuation of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy–strengthen Iran and weaken Israel. President Obama may or may not have been an anti-Semite–I am not going there right now. The idea was that a strong Iran would add stability to the Middle East. It was a really dumb idea because Iran wants to control the Middle East, not make peace. The policy of both administrations has been a disaster and has resulted in increased terrorism and loss of life in both Israel and its enemies.

On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at American Greatness about the situation in the Middle East.

The article notes:

Both the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and now lame-duck President Joe Biden keep insisting that they are Israel’s best friend.

A snarly Biden recently bragged at a contentious press conference, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think [Netanyahu] should remember that.”

Yet the thin-skinned and triggered Biden’s prickliness poorly hid—or perhaps revealed—the truth: this current administration knows that it is responsible for the current explosion of the Middle East and the particular dilemmas of Israel.

Biden further revealed his blame-gaming of the Israeli government when asked another loaded question about purported Netanyahu election interference, saying, “Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know.”

Election interference?

Biden apparently forgot who just flew Ukrainian President Zelensky into swing state Pennsylvania, just as early and mail-in voting there began, to lobby for more aid even as he trashed candidates Trump and Vance to a left-wing magazine.

Recently, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say whether the Netanyahu administration is even an ally of the United States.

The Biden administration (and candidate Kamala Harris) are trying to have it both ways–they want to seem to support Israel, but they don’t want to alienate the Muslim voting bloc.

The article concludes:

After it all, Biden-Harris lifted sanctions on a hostile Iran, giving it $100 billion in oil windfalls. It begged Iran to reenter the disastrous Iran deal. It abandoned the Abraham Accords. It lifted the terrorist designation from the terrorist Houthis. It restored fungible aid to the Hamas tunnel builders. It gave new aid to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

Israel’s enemies got the Biden message: attack the Jewish state and perhaps Americans for the first time in a half-century may not really mind that much.

And so they did in unison.

Rather than admitting their own role in igniting the Middle East, Biden and Harris now blame the victims of their own incendiary foreign policy.

The final irony?

Israel has concluded that Biden-Harris foolhardiness can be toxic—and endanger its very survival—and so will not agree to its own suicide.

Instead, Israel seeks to finish a multifaceted war it did not seek. And one of whose beneficiaries from Israeli blood and treasure will be the U.S. itself, given Israel is now systematically weakening America’s own existential enemies.

Israel is right to remove the terrorist threat that will not always be aimed only at Israel—it will eventually come our way.

You Can Tell When Israel Is Winning–The United Nations Asks For A Cease Fire

On Monday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about the continuing war between Israel and the terrorists that surround it. It is unfortunate that the rest of the world does not understand that in defending Israel they are fighting worldwide terrorism.

The article quotes The Wall Street Journal:

Israeli special forces have been carrying out small, targeted raids into southern Lebanon, gathering intelligence and probing ahead of an expected broader ground incursion, people familiar with the matter said.
***
The Biden administration expects an imminent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, U.S. officials said.
***
An Israeli official said that, if there were to be a broader ground operation, it would feature “localized, limited raids against Hezbollah targets along the border with the objective of destroying the capabilities of the Radwan Forces,” the militant group’s special-operations unit. Israeli forces assess that the group is making preparations for an attack, as Hamas did before Oct. 7, including positioning clothes, weapons and other materials along the border.

The difference is that October 7th was unprovoked and aimed at civilians. Israel’s attack has been provoked by the constant rocket fire on civilians in Northern Israel, and Israel’s attack is aimed at Hezbollah–a terrorist group.

The article at Power Line Blog concludes:

So, what is the Biden administration’s role in these events? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have remained true to their policy of being utterly irrelevant, when they are not actually destructive, on all foreign policy issues. Biden’s greatest fear, apparently, is that Israel might actually achieve victory in its battle to the death with Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies:

President Biden starkly instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to abandon reported plans for an imminent invasion of southern Lebanon to clear out Hezbollah-held areas days after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.

“Israel may now be launching a limited operation into Lebanon. Are you aware of that? Are you comfortable with their plan?” a journalist asked Biden at the White House.

“I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” the president replied.

“We should have a cease-fire now,” he added.

There is a pattern here: whenever the Jews are winning, liberal Democrats want a cease fire to give the terrorists time to regroup and live to fight again another day. Happily, no one cares what they think.

If Mexico were firing rockets into Texas every day, would America want a cease-fire?

Finishing The Job

Peace in the Middle East has been a seemingly unachievable dream for a long time. The money the Biden administration is foolishly sending to Iran is being used to fund terrorism and destabilize the region. Israel has finally had enough. It would have been nice if the Biden administration had supported them in their fight against the terrorism that threatens the entire world, but the Biden administration is either very short-sighted or on the wrong side of history. Take your pick.

Israel seems to be willing to do the job that western countries who say they care about peace should have done.

On Sunday, The Times of Israel reported:

The IDF confirms launching airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen a short while ago.

…The strikes targeted sites used by the Houthi regime for military purposes at Hodeidah and the nearby Ras Isa port in western Yemen, the IDF says.

“The IDF attacked power plants and a port, which are used to import oil. Through the targeted infrastructure and ports, the Houthi regime transfers Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military purposes, including oil,” the military says.

The IDF says the strikes were carried out in response to the Houthis recent ballistic missile attacks on Israel, including three this month.

The western nations have not been successful in securing the shipping lanes in the area of Yemen. Hopefully the efforts by Israel will be helpful.

Israel is doing the job of fighting terrorism in the Middle East that the civilized countries of the world should have done years ago. Hopefully western countries will join them in this effort–better late than never.

Caught!

On September 18th, Hot Air posted an article about the Hezbollah pagers that exploded yesterday. There were some very interesting people who had those pagers.

The article quotes The New York Times:

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amini, lost one eye and severely injured his other eye when a pager he was carrying exploded in a simultaneous wave of blasts targeting wireless electronic devices, according to two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps briefed on the attack.

The Guards members, who had knowledge of the attacks and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Amini’s injuries were more serious than Iran initially reported and that he would be medevacked to Tehran for treatment.

Hossein Soleimani, the editor in chief of Mashregh, the main Revolutionary Guards news website, confirmed the extent of Mr. Amini’s injuries in a post on X. “Unfortunately the injuries sustained by Iran’s ambassador were extremely severe and in his eyes,” Mr. Soleimani wrote.

Why was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon carrying a Hezbollah pager?

John Hinderaker at Power Line reported on the news that on Thursday handheld radios were exploding.

The article at Power Line notes:

Apparently fires have broken out in seemingly random buildings, and loudspeakers are telling people to take the batteries out of their phones. I haven’t seen any reports, however, of exploding cell phones.

The usual suspects are up in arms over yesterday’s pager attack:

The United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss Israel’s wave of attacks in Lebanon, according to Slovenia, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency this month.

How many emergency meetings have they held over Hezbollah’s rocket bombardment of Israel, which has gone on for months?

The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, has criticized the pager attack as a violation of international law and called for those behind it to be held to account.

So, does sending thousands of rockets into Israel violate international law? What does the U.N. propose to do about it?

Nothing, of course. Hence the need for Israel to defend itself.

That is the current state of the United Nations.

 

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

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.

It Really Isn’t Your Father’s Democrat Party

On Saturday, The Daily Caller reported that Alan Dershowitz has announced that he is leaving the Democrat party.

The article reports:

Prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz announced he is leaving the Democratic Party during an interview on “Talkline” with Zev Brenner Aug. 23, attributing his decision to the presence of what he describes as “anti-Jewish” lawmakers within the party and his dissatisfaction with the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Dershowitz pointed to the DNC‘s decision to provide a platform for anti-Israel speakers and cited anti-Israel protesters present outside the event. “It was the most anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist convention I’ve experienced,” Dershowitz said, during the interview. “I was disgusted at the Democratic National Convention. Absolutely disgusted.”

The article concludes:

Dershowitz went on to name several Democratic figures he believes are anti-Israel, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Rev. Al Sharpton. He also cited anti-Israel protesters at the DNC who called for the destruction of Israel, stating, “That’s not my party.”

Alan Dershowitz is not becoming a Republican–he is registering as an independent and has stated that he has not yet decided who he will vote for in November. He stated that he wanted to see how the candidates will deal with Iran. I think that’s pretty clear already, but I suppose he has to think about it for a while.

Sometimes The Truth Isn’t Pretty

On Monday, Hot Air posted an article about the internal conflict taking place in Israel about the conduct of the war against Hamas. Obviously, Israelis want the hostages home safely and the war over, but in their quest for peace, many are overlooking the basic character of Hamas. Meanwhile, President Biden is sitting on a beach in Delaware playing armchair quarterback to the Netanyahu government. President Biden has never been a friend of Netanyahu and part of the problem in the war against Hamas–not part of the solution.

The article reports:

Benjamin Netanyahu stuck to his guns in his effort to remove the incentives for hostaging by Hamas. But it got a lot more difficult after the terrorists murdered six of them over the last few days. And even though Netanyahu won this round in his own Cabinet, that victory may not last. Especially not if Joe Biden gets his way. 

The fight in the Cabinet came from Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant, an ally-of-sorts for Netanyahu most times, who objects to Netanyahu’s plan to keep control of the Gaza-Egypt border. Netanyahu has made clear that he does not want Hamas to get resupplied or to escape out to the Sinai, especially with the hostages. Gallant considers the policy both unnecessary and provocative, and accused Netanyahu of prioritizing the land over the hostages:

He again turned to the premier and asked: “If Sinwar presents you with the dilemma: Either you leave Philadelphi or you return the hostages, what do you do?”

Netanyahu responded that the imperative to keep the IDF at the corridor was of crucial importance to the state.

Gallant said that was all well and good if it was a decision taking in isolation. But, he asked, “What about when 30 lives are at stake? What do you do?”

The prime minister said: “I stay on the Philadelphi. Only resolute negotiations will force [Sinwar] to fold.”

Netanyahu then demanded an immediate vote on his policy. Only Gallant voted to oppose it, although he grumbled afterward that the Cabinet would eventually come around to his position. 

President Biden has stated that he believes Prime Minister Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of the hostages. Somehow I doubt Netanyahu is the problem.

The article concludes:

Ahem. Which side has executed hostages? In fact, which side takes hostages as a war strategy in the first place? And which side started the war on October 7 — while breaking a US-negotiated cease fire? 

There was a time when the world knew that harming an American abroad meant dire consequences for the perps. Now Hamas has demonstrated that killing Americans will put them closer to a strategic victory in separating the US from Israel, with no consequences at all from this administration. What kind of incentives do we think this sets for Hezbollah, Iran, and every other terrorist state and non-state terror networks?

It’s one thing for the Israelis to debate cooperation in hostage strategy. It’s another thing entirely for the US to hand Hamas a strategic victory with our own pusillanimity.  

The Biden administration is encouraging terrorism.

 

 

Wisdom From Someone Who Knows

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.

This Isn’t Really Surprising

Israel is taking a long time to defeat Hamas. Part of that is due to their extreme concern to avoid civilian casualties–to the point of telling Hamas ahead of time where they will attack. Another part of the problem is America slow-walking our promised military equipment and the fact that the corruption in the Middle East is such that supporting terrorism can be lucrative. There is also the fact that Hamas knows that the longer the war goes on, the better their chances of winning the public relations war. And there are also numerous tunnel complexes that make fighting very difficult.

On Sunday, Breitbart reported:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that soldiers had uncovered a massive smuggling tunnel underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt in the area of Rafah — where the U.S. had cautioned Israel not to go.

How many countries are quietly undermining the Israeli war effort? We know that the Biden administration shares the goal of the Obama administration to increase the role of Iran in the Middle East and lessen the role of Israel.

The article concludes:

Prior to May, the Biden administration had warned Israel not to enter Rafah, even withholding weapons to pressure Israel to stay out of the area. Israel decided to enter Rafah anyway due to its strategic importance to the war against Hamas.

IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which is a road along the border, has been at stake in recent negotiations with Hamas over a hostage-ceasefire deal. Hamas and the U.S. want Israel to cede control of the corridor, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been reluctant to give it up.

Control of the corridor allows the IDF to choke Hamas’s weapons supply; Israel does not trust Egyptian or U.S. guarantees to monitor the border effectively.

Israel is smart not to trust Egypt or the U.S.

 

Taking Out The Leadership

Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, was killed early Wednesday morning in Tehran according to The New York Post. He was in Tehran Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president. Ismail Haniyeh moved to Qatar in 2019, having lived in the Gaza Strip previously. Qatar has generally been the safe haven for many of the Hamas leaders, so why are they playing a role in the peace negotiations with Israel?

The article reports:

Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most senior Hamas officials, was was killed in Iran by an alleged airstrike carried out by Israel at his Tehran residence on July 31, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president.

Born in the then Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip in 1963, Haniyeh had been a prominent member of Hamas since the 1980s and, in 1989, spent three years imprisoned by Israel during the first Palestinian uprising.

Upon his return to Gaza in 1997 after spending years in exile with other Hamas leaders, Haniyeh was appointed leader and President of the Political Bureau of Hamas, solidifying his influence and power within the organization.

In 2006, President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Haniyeh as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas won the most seats in national elections. He was then elected head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017 and was widely considered Hamas’s overall leader until his death.

Before the killing, Israel vowed to eliminate Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders following the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state where 1,200 people were killed.

An Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren, who were traveling in a car through Gaza’s Shati refugee camp to visit family on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr in April 2024.

A controlled strike taking out senior leadership is probably a good way to deal with Hamas. False claims of genocide against Israel make actually eliminating the problem difficult.

 

Mistreating An Ally

On Sunday, The Gatestone Institute posted an article about the slow-walking of the weapons Congress promised to Israel. It seems that the Biden administration is working very hard to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and that withholding the weapons he needs to defeat Hamas is part of that problem.

The article reports:

    • It is with good reason that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complains that the US is withholding, or “slow-walking,” military supplies. In Ukraine, for instance, badly needed arms are always “being delivered” but somehow never manage to arrive until long after they might actually have helped.
    • Although Israel’s leaders are well aware of the immense danger presented by Iran, the US and other Western allies evidently cannot be relied upon to prevent Iran from completing its nuclear weapons program. The US appears to like talking, and talking about talking, diplomacy backed up by talking, verbal “understandings” so long as they have no teeth, then paying what looks like bribe money for adversaries not to “make waves,” presumably at least not before the America’s upcoming November election.
    • The Biden administration, it seems, would rather deal with threatening situations via… worthless promises from Iran, Russia, China, the Taliban, the Palestinians or whoever else will offer appeasements.
    • The critical point is that Israel is fighting to safeguard not just its own nation, but the West and the Free World as well. The battle at the moment seems between preserving freedom or having it extinguished by the forces of barbarism, autocracies and theocrats, but most of all by the passivity of the West…. Silky, stealth aggressors include Qatar — the consigliere of all Islamic terror groups — which uses money and its media network Al-Jazeera, not military aggression, as its means of persuasion.
    • Sadly, the Biden administration appears to view Israel not as a sovereign nation but a US satrapy. It is hardly a secret that the US has been trying to oust Israel’s elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and replace him presumably with a subordinate. That US puppet would supposedly be delighted to have a terrorist Palestinian state next door administered by the terrorist godfather, Qatar, and be delighted to see Iran have as many nuclear weapons as it likes.
    • If Obama ostensibly conceived of this arrangement [the 2015 “nuclear deal”] to “balance the influence” of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, the plan has failed colossally. Saudi Arabia, for all its faults, has not tried to enlarge its territory….

The battle against Hamas is America’s as well as Israel’s. However, there has been a strong infiltration into American government in recent years (on both sides of the aisle) of people who do not support Western civilization. President Obama was one of those people and is one of those people probably holding the reins in the Biden administration. We need to remember that if Hamas (actually Iran) can defeat Israel, America is their next target. The Biden administration is playing with fire.

Dealing with China  

 Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D   harropcrew1@gmail.com

It should be obvious to any clear-thinking American that China is our biggest threat. During the 1930’s there were many American leaders who refused to recognize the threat posed by Nazi Germany. We cannot allow that to happen again. Just like Nazi Germany, China is rapidly building their military capability while we focus on DEI and woke ideology in our armed forces.

What makes the China threat even greater than Nazi Germany is the degree to which our country is increasingly dependent on Chinese products for our existence. A recent report showed that 75 % of items sold on Amazon are manufactured in China. Similarly, at Walmart the figure is 70-80%. What allowed us to defeat Nazi Germany in large part was the industrial manufacturing capacity of our country to not only arm ourselves, but our allies as well. We were rightfully called the Arsenal of Democracy. Now we are not only losing our manufacturing advantage over China, but we are paying for their military expansion by the profits they make on the products they sell to us. We are funding our own potential destruction.

The most glaring example of this absurdity is “Green Energy.” The Biden regime, uses government taxpayer subsidies and mandates to build solar panels and wind mills that we buy from China, and they turn around and take the profits and build coal fired plants that provide them with abundant cheap energy. Some of the morons in our military have proposed electric powered tanks to replace diesel power! Where do we get most lithium batteries? You guessed it: China.

China is expanding its influence around the world. They are funding ports and infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa, and South America. They are taking over the South China Sea by building island bases. They are threatening the Philippines and our other allies in the region. What is the Biden regime’s answer to all this? Silence.

What we should be doing is recognizing we are in a cold war with China and act accordingly. Restore our manufacturing capacity, impose tariffs as needed, and build our defense capability such as the so-called iron dome which would provide a protection against not only missiles from China, but other bad actors, like North Korea and Iran. Peace can only be secured through strength and resolve. No more allowing China to own land anywhere in the United States. Stop the admission of Chinese students and Chinese funding of our colleges and universities. The flood of single Chinese men over our southern border must be reversed, as also, the fentanyl crisis. We need an administration that recognizes the threat and has the courage to act accordingly. The upcoming election will determine whether we will get one.

 

Are We Getting Ready To Redo The “Summer of Love”?

On Monday, The New York Post posted an article about a recent riot in Manhattan.

The article reports:

A mob of anti-Israel protesters chanted “Long live the Intifada” during a depraved celebration Monday night outside a downtown Manhattan exhibit that memorializes the murder and rape victims of the Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival, where 364 people were killed by Hamas terrorists.

The deranged pro-terror crowd lit flares and waved a flag associated with the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in front of the Nova Music Festival Exhibition on Wall Street during what was billed by organizers as a “citywide day of rage for Gaza,” according to video from the scene.

The protesters also yelled “Israel go to hell” and clashed with police during the gathering that drew swift backlash from Israel supporters.

The demonstration, organized by pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, began in Union Square, where some protesters unfurled a “Long live October 7th” banner, according to social media footage.

The article notes:

One of the exhibit’s organizers, music mogul Scooter Braun, condemned the demonstration in front of the venue late Monday in a social media post.

“I don’t understand why protesting a memorial for innocent music lovers who were raped and butchered and kidnapped helps,” he said in an Instagram Story. “Go see the @novaexhibition and see the truth instead of standing outside listening to yourself.”

Others offered sharper words for the protesters.

“How utterly evil do you have to be to protest outside a site that memorializes the 1,200 victims of October 7?” former speechwriter for the Israeli government Aviva Klompas tweeted.

“Tonight’s vicious targeting of the exhibition is not pro-peace. It is repulsive and vile,” added Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine in a post on X. “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

I think it’s time to realize that demonstrators such as these are not pro-Palestinian–they are anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. We need to remember that some of the Palestinians who committed the atrocities on October 7th were people the Israelis had given jobs to and helped in other ways. The mentality of the Palestinians to think that raping and killing unarmed civilians at a music festival is acceptable is beyond my understanding. That kind of thinking is truly incompatible with a civilized society. I really think we should relocate everyone who thinks killing and raping innocent civilians is okay to a remote island somewhere and let them create their own society. Good luck.

The Road To War

One of the major differences between President Trump and President Biden is that President Trump knows how to wage economic war rather than physical war. All it would take to bring peace to Ukraine and cripple Iran would be to resume domestic drilling in America on a large scale. Since oil is an international commodity, that would drop the price of oil. A dropped price in oil would weaken the economies of both Russia and Iran. So why hasn’t the Biden administration done this? Ukraine is great for money laundering and if the Biden administration resumed drilling, they would lose the ‘green’ vote.

On Friday, The New York Post reported:

NATO is mapping out “land corridors” to enable US troops and other allied forces to reach the front lines quicker in the event of a broader European ground war with Russia.

The move follows warnings from NATO leaders earlier this year urging Western governments to prepare themselves for a full-blown war with Russia sometime in the next 20 years.

The newly established troop expressways would see American soldiers landing at one of five designated ports.

They would then be deployed along pre-established routes depending on how a potential attack by Moscow would play out, NATO officials told The Telegraph.

The new routes would expand on existing arrangements that have been in place since last year when the alliance agreed to have 300,000 troops in a state of high readiness during a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Under the current plans, US forces would land at ports in The Netherlands before being transported through Germany and on to Poland by train.

If you are over 60, you remember the beginnings of the Vietnam War. The American involvement in Vietnam began in the 1950’s under President Eisenhower. Our involvement began innocently enough–we sent advisors. The election in November will determine whether or not your sons and daughters are deployed to Ukraine. You have a choice–a President who will wage an economic war or a President who will wage a physical war.

Clean Up Your Own Back Yard

The Biden administration is doing some serious meddling in both the internal and external affairs of Israel. Internally they are trying to bring down the Netanyahu administration, externally they are trying to give Hamas a victory in Gaza. Both of these things will create more instability in the Middle East.

To understand the reason behind the Biden administration’s horrible foreign policy, we need to go back to the Obama administration. The Obama administration, for whatever reason, sought to stabilize the Middle East by strengthening Iran and weakening Israel. The foreign policy personnel of the Obama administration are the people dictating the foreign policy of the Biden administration.

On Monday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the  Biden administration’s latest Middle East peace proposal. The goal of the Biden administration is to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu into agreeing to this proposal. The proposal would be a death warrant for Israel.

The article reports:

I smelled a rat as soon as Biden announced it: “This has all the appearances of Team Biden trying to box Israel into something it did not propose and does not agree to – and dropping it just before the Sabbath so we can’t get a full Israeli response for 24 hrs as Biden continues to build pressure.”

We previously posted about Biden’s publicized statement on Friday, May 31, as Israel was entering a quiet period for the Sabbath, that purported to present a new Israeli ceasefire proposal, Biden Presented Supposed Israeli Ceasefire Proposal Leaving Hamas In Power, But It Was His Own.

The timing was suspicious, as was the substance. Per Biden, Israel had proposed what amounted to a permanent ceasefire not even subject to all hostages (alive and dead) being returned and subject to indefinite negotiations.

The article includes a screenshot of a tweet:

The article notes:

But Israel stopped short of saying Biden lied. In remarks over the weekend, Netanyahu came pretty close to using the “L” word, as Times of Israel reports:

Israeli officials pushed back on Monday on elements of the hostage deal proposal presented by US President Joe Biden over the weekend as an Israeli offer, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that there were gaps between that proposal and Israel’s stance.

“The claim that we agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met is incorrect,” the prime minister reportedly told lawmakers.

Netanyahu said in a Knesset meeting that Israel will not end the war in Gaza until it achieves its three war aims, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel: destroying Hamas’s military and civil governance capabilities, securing the release of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.

“The proposal that Biden presented is incomplete,” the premier told MKs at a closed-door meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to media reports.

He also reportedly said that there are “gaps” between the Israeli version and Biden’s recounting of it.

If we want peace in the Middle East, we are going to have to deal with Iran. That is the head of the snake. The other countries involved in funding terrorism might reconsider if bad things happen to Iran.

Some Protestors Might Want To Consider This Information

One of the groups currently protesting Israel’s attack on Hamas is “Queers for Palestine.” The fact that this group exists illustrates how little some younger Americans know about Hamas, Islam, and the Middle East.

On June 3rd, The Gatestone Institute posted an article explaining what it is like to be ‘queer’ in Palestine.

The article notes:

    • Palestinian members of the LGBTQ community have never felt safe either in areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or under the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
    • In 2016, when Hamas commander Mahmoud Ishitwi was accused of having sex with men, he was “suspended from a ceiling for hours on end, for days in a row… [h]e was whipped and guards coasted loud music into his cell, banishing sleep.” After enduring days of torture, he was shot to death.
    • “In many countries, including my parent’s former homes and theocratic Iran, homosexuality is still sometimes punished by public hangings…. The international community must not be silent. But it is.” — Hen Mazzig, self-described “queer Israeli Jew,” named among the top LGBTQ influencers, Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2022.
    • “It is alleged that ‘harassment of gays’ is ‘practically official policy’ in the PA. The victims are frequently called collaborators and accused as such. It is also reported that the PA police regularly inflicts appalling torture on homosexuals.” — Ilka Schröder, Member of European Parliament, 2003.
    • “When it comes to Queers for Palestine, what’s richly ironic is that many LGBTQ Palestinians seek asylum in Israel – the same country these stateside protesters are rallying against… At the heart of this contradiction is the tendency within social justice movements to pick a clear protagonist and antagonist, the oppressed and the oppressor, and to proceed from there in one-size-fits-all fashion. Some progressives decided long ago that Palestine is the former and Israel is the latter, which is the seed from which everything must grow. Palestine, then, stands not only for anti-colonialism but also LGBT rights and reproductive rights, despite that those rights, in any meaningful sense of the word, do not actually exist there. Queers for Palestine is about as convincing as minks for fur coats.” — Billy Binion, Reason, October 27, 2023.

When you don’t teach children history, they engage in ignorant protests.