Tag Archives: Israel

Things Not Being Said Publicly

Posted on by

On Saturday, Townhall posted an article about the continuing war in Gaza. Although the Biden administration and some other countries are putting pressure on Israel not to end Hamas, some countries in the Middle East are not in agreement with allowing Hamas to survive.

The article reports:

In the days after the brutal October 7 attacks executed by Hamas, Egypt knew what was going to happen. They deployed tanks to the border while their prime minister vowed that his country would sacrifice millions to keep their borders safe. He was not referring to Israel. So, what’s the latest? Well, Haaretz is reporting that Israel’s Arab neighbors are telling Jerusalem privately that they shouldn’t stop military operations until Hamas has been annihilated. They view them as a domestic threat:

The article includes a quote from an article in France 24:

The outcome of a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in the Saudi capital highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the war even as fears mount that it could draw in other countries. 

…The final declaration on Saturday rejected Israeli claims that it is acting in “self-defence” and demanded that the United Nations Security Council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression”. 

It also called for an end to weapons sales to Israel and dismissed any future political resolution to the conflict that would keep Gaza separate from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who before the war was considering establishing formal diplomatic ties with Israel, told the summit he “holds the occupation (Israeli) authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people”. 

…Some countries, including Algeria and Lebanon, proposed responding to the devastation in Gaza by threatening to disrupt oil supplies to Israel and its allies as well as severing the economic and diplomatic ties that some Arab League nations have with Israel, the diplomats said. 

However, at least three countries — including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020 — rejected the proposal, according to the diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

In a televised address Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Arab leaders “have to stand up against Hamas”, which he described as “an integral part of the terror axis led by Iran”. 

Why is there so much talk about crimes committed against the Palestinian people and so little talk about crimes committed against Israelis on October 7th and before and after? Where is the concern for the rockets fired consistently on civilian populations in Israel since March 2006? How would America handle things if Mexico had been firing rockets into Texas since 2006?

I Know This Is Just An Incredible Coincidence…

Posted on by

On Monday, Townhall posted an article about the family of the first American hostage released by Hamas. Oddly enough, in the past that family had purchased one of Hunter Biden’s pictures.

The article quotes CBS News:

Abigail Mor Edan, the youngest U.S. citizen held by Hamas, was among the group of hostages released back to Israel on Sunday, both President Biden and the Israeli military confirmed. 

Abigail, whose parents were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, turned 4 years old last week while in captivity in Gaza. She was kidnapped and taken to the Palestinian enclave during the deadly rampage along with an estimated 240 others, according to Israeli officials. 

…President Biden spoke about Abigail’s release in televised remarks Sunday. 

“She’s free and she’s in Israel now,” Mr. Biden said, adding that Abigail has “been through a terrible trauma.” The child’s mother was killed in front of her by Hamas militants before her father was also gunned down while using his body to shield Abigail from the attack. Abigail then ran to neighbors for help, Mr. Biden said. 

“What she endured is unthinkable,” he said. 

Abigail’s great-aunt, Liz Hirsh Naftali, and her cousin, Noa Naftali, said in a statement Sunday, “We hoped and prayed today would come. There are no words to express our relief and gratitude that Abigail is safe and coming home.”

The article includes the following:

 

I guess it matters who you know, even when you are four years old.

 

Things Are Heating Up (Unfortunately)

Posted on by

On Monday, The Blaze reported that The USS Mason, a U.S. destroyer, was fired on from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen after responding to a distress call from a commercial vessel.

The article reports:

The USS Mason – which is an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer that is part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group – responded to a distress call from a commercial vessel. The tanker – M/V Central Park – was 35 miles south of Yemen’s coast in the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

The M/V Central Park sails under the Liberian flag and is managed by Zodiac Maritime, according to the Associated Press.

Zodiac Maritime said the tanker was carrying phosphoric acid. The crew of 22 sailors hail from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The M/V Central Park was under attack by unknown armed forces. Gunmen successfully boarded the commercial ship.

Once the USS Mason arrived, five gunmen debarked the ship and attempted to escape on a small boat. However, the USS Mason was able to track down the armed pirates and detain them. The crew of the commercial vessel were unharmed.

On Sunday, “two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the general location of the USS Mason and M/V Central Park,” the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.

CENTCOM said the ballistic missiles landed in the Gulf of Aden approximately ten nautical miles from the USS Mason and M/V Central Park.

The article notes:

“The Yemeni government has renewed its denunciation of the acts of maritime piracy carried out by the terrorist Houthi militias with the support of the Iranian regime, the most recent of which was the hijacking of the Central Park,” the statement read.

“Maritime domain security is essential to regional stability,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla – United States CENTCOM commander. “We will continue to work with allies and partners to ensure the safety and security of international shipping lanes.”

Zodiac Maritime said, “We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law.”

According to Aljazeera in 2019,  around one-sixth of the world’s oil moves through the strait – 17.2 million barrels per day.  Pirate activity anywhere in that area could create a major problem for industrial nations.

The Prisoners Exchanged

Posted on by

The news is doing a lot of reporting about the children kidnapped by Hamas and held captive since October 7th. Israel is rejoicing at the return of the hostages. Gaza is also rejoicing, but I suspect it’s for different reasons–they will now have more terrorists to deploy.

On Sunday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported:

A Palestinian woman who disfigured herself in a suspected bomb attack in Jerusalem has been reunited with her family after being released from an Israeli prison.

Israa Jaabis, 38, had been imprisoned since 2015 after being convicted of detonating a gas cylinder that wounded an Israeli police officer. The attack left her with severe burns on her face and hands.

She was released on Saturday as part of the agreement with Hamas that will see Israeli hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Jaabis was given a flower crown and seen embracing her family upon her release. She told the Al Jazeera tv network that she was ‘shy’ to hug her son whom she hadn’t seen in eight years.

Israel freed 39 Palestinians – six women and 33 teenagers – from two prisons on Saturday during the second round of the exchange after an hours-long unexpected delay set nerves on edge. 

Hamas had accused Israel of breaking the terms of the agreement. Israel denied the allegation.

…The deal risked being derailed when Hamas’ armed wing said on Saturday it was delaying releases until Israel met all truce conditions, including committing to let aid trucks into northern Gaza.

Saving the deal took a day of diplomacy mediated by Qatar and Egypt, which President Biden also joined.

Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades also said Israel had failed to respect terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners that factored in their time in detention.

COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, accused Hamas itself of delaying trucks trying to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Gaza at a checkpoint.

‘To Hamas, residents of Gaza are their last priority,’ it said on Sunday.

As much as I rejoice in the return of some of the hostages, this is a sad time for Israel. Because of international pressure, Israel was forced into a deal with Hamas which Hamas will use to manipulate public opinion. We can also expect more hostage-taking in the future since this has unfortunately worked very well for Hamas. Understand the people doing the negotiating are not on Israel’s side–Qatar is the home of the head of Hamas and funds Hamas generously. Even though I rejoice in the release of the hostages, I hope Israel will quickly go back into Gaza and eliminate Hamas.

One Lesson Learned From October 7

Posted on by

On Friday, The Jerusalem Post posted an opinion piece about one of the conditions that led to the death of so many Israelis on October 7. On November, I reported that in Israel only 2 percent of the population is armed (article here). That may be rapidly changing.

The article at The Jerusalem Post reports:

Over the past month, more than 200,000 Israelis have filed applications for gun licenses – permits to own and carry a firearm. Given the spike in Palestinian terrorism over the past 18 months and the Hamas massacres of October 7, this is not surprising and is even welcome. I think that every Israeli grandmother should now pack a pistol.

In saying so, I am shocking myself, because I grew up in a Western liberal society where gun-toting was rare and frowned upon. If anything, it was the passion of far-right rednecks who were viewed from afar as irresponsible. The Americas are plagued by too much gun violence, with regular shotgun and machine gun shootings by deranged people in malls, schools, campuses, playgrounds, and even occasionally churches and synagogues.

Furthermore, in this country to which I immigrated many decades ago, guns were considered the province of the military, into which we send our sons and daughters to serve. Soldiers coming home for the weekend with their sophisticated and scary-looking rifles are a regular sight, and troops in the streets to secure major holiday pedestrian traffic and tourist sites are commonplace (and necessary), especially in Jerusalem.

In other words, this country is seemingly well protected by its large citizen-based army, police force, para-military forces, and penetrating intelligence forces. It is not necessary for the average citizen in Israel – men and women – to be armed. Or so it seemed.

The time when every Israeli working in agricultural fields or walking to work in Tel Aviv needed to have a loaded gun is over, or so we thought. The time when every Israeli needed to display instant readiness to repel attack had passed, or so we thought.

I believe that a well-armed civilian population of Israelites living on the Israeli borders would be a deterrent to another October 7-style attack.

Common Sense

Posted on by

On Saturday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

Netanyahu Opposes Biden: No Way Palestinian Authority Runs Gaza Again

No kidding.

In August 2005, Israel evacuated (some forcibly) it’s citizens from the Gaza Strip and turned the territory over to the Palestinian Authority. Since that time many thousands of rockets and mortar shells have been fired from the Gaza Strip onto southern Israeli towns and villages, terrorizing and destabilizing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. It became very obvious very quickly that the Gaza Strip was not going to be a peaceful partner to a two-state solution. I can’t imagine any country in the world putting up with a neighbor who is constantly raining rockets down on its population. If Mexico were lobbing rockets into Texas on a regular basis, would America tolerate that? Then why do we expect Israel to tolerate it? Israel has been more than patient with its terrorist neighbor, and that patience probably would have continued were it not for the events of October 7.

The article at Breitbart notes:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his opposition Saturday night to a proposal by U.S. President Joe Biden to restore control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority (PA) once Hamas is removed from power and destroyed.

On Saturday, Biden published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he supported Israel, though once again joining the Israeli cause to the Ukrainian one, putting Hamas and Russia in the same category as enemies of the United States.

Biden also reiterated his support for a “two-state solution” as the only answer to the conflict, and added: “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”

However, Netanyahu emphatically rejected that idea.

The article concludes:

Despite the loss of U.S. aid under the Taylor Force Act, which President Donald Trump signed in 2018 to prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding the PA as long as it continues “pay-to-slay,” the PA has not changed its policy.

The PA also continues naming public parks and monuments after terrorists, and Palestinian educational materials are frequently filled with anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda.

The PA ran Gaza from 1994 to 2007, when it was ousted by Hamas in a violent coup. Rocket attacks against Israeli civilians began years before it was ousted, and especially from 2001 onwards, despite a unilateral withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and civilians in 2005.

The Palestinian Authority may look better on the surface than Hamas, but they are cut of the same cloth. As long as the schools in the Gaza Strip continue to educate children to grow up and kill Jews, the Gaza Strip cannot be trusted as a peaceful part of a two-state solution.

 

After The Damage Has Been Done…

Posted on by

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported the following:

The UK state broadcaster issued an apology on Wednesday after incorrectly reporting Israeli soldiers were targeting “medical teams as well as Arab speakers” while clearing Hamas terrorists out of a Gaza hospital.

The BBC said its report on the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) taking on Hamas terrorists inside a hospital “fell below our usual editorial standards” after the newsreader stated attacks were targeting medics and Arabic speakers.

According to the Guardian:

Hiram Johnson (1866-1945) – a Progressive Republican senator in California. His actual quote, ‘The first casualty, when war comes, is truth’, was said during World War 1. He died on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The Breitbart article continues:

The Board of Deputies said they were “absolutely appalled” that the BBC had misreported that the IDF was taking medical teams and Arabic speakers into the hospital to help patients there so catastrophically. “At best”, they said, the misreading of the situation showed a “staggering lack of care” which made a mockery of the BBC’s “oft-stated dedication to professionalism and impartiality”, behind which the Corporation has hidden in the past month to justify not calling the Hamas attack on Israel a terrorist act. The BBC was also criticised for the error by the Israeli Embassy in London.

…The broadcaster issued an apology on Wednesday, and said on air:

And now, an apology from the BBC. BBC News as it covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that medical teams and Arab speakers were being targeted. This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report. We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. So we apologise for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards. The correct version of events was broadcast minutes later.

How many of the people who heard the initial report will hear the apology? This is the sort of sloppy (or biased) reporting that helps terrorists justify their actions (yes, I know there is no justification for terrorism, but in their own minds, the terrorists regard what they are doing as their ticket to paradise).

In general, the media has forgotten the horrors of October 7th and replaced them with criticism of Israel defending its people.

What The Israeli Defense Forces Are Discovering

Posted on by

On Monday, The Times of Israel posted an article showing what the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have found at the Hamas headquarters under Gaza City’s Rantisi Hospital, which treats children. The headquarters was purposely placed there so that if the IDF were to attack the hospital, they would be accused of war crimes. Never mind the war crime of placing your command center under a children’s hospital.

The article reports:

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the Navy’s elite Shayetet 13 commando unit and the 401st Armored Brigade have raided Gaza City’s Rantisi Hospital, which treats children, and that Hamas operatives were holed up there. He says he has just returned from the hospital, having filmed there, and that the IDF has evidence indicating that hostages were held there.

“Underneath the hospital, in the basement, we found a Hamas command and control center, suicide-bomb vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosive devices, RPGs, and other weapons, computers, money, etc,” Hagari says, in an English-language press conference.

“We also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here,” he says, adding that “this is currently under our investigation,” but that the IDF has intelligence to verify it.

“Additionally, we found evidence that Hamas terrorists came back from the massacre [in southern Israel] on October 7 to this hospital, among others, after butchering Israelis in their homes,” he says.

The Spokesman also noted the IDF’s efforts to protect the civilians in Gaza:

Hagari says the IDF has been working to enable the safe evacuation of patients from Rantisi over the last week, as well as from other hospitals in northern Gaza.

“Israel helped the hospital managers evacuate the Gaza patients to a safer hospital,” he says, adding that the IDF has been informed that “the last 18 patients in the Rantisi Hospital had safely evacuated to a safer hospital.

“This is because our war is against Hamas, not against the people in Gaza. Especially not the sick, the women, or the children,” he says.

“Our war is against Hamas who uses them as human shields,” Hagari adds.

Unfortunately many residents of Gaza support what Hamas is doing.

A Short History Lesson

Posted on by

On Thursday, The Federalist posted the following headline:

If Palestinians Wanted Peace And Prosperity, They’d Already Have It

The article notes:

In 2005, Palestinian Arabs were given autonomy over the Gaza Strip for the first time in their history. To make it happen, the Israeli government forcibly removed thousands of Israelis from the area. Without military protection, Jews would be murdered by Palestinians, who prefer their land Judenfrei.

As Jews were being evicted from their homes, some began to dismantle the farms and hothouses they’d built, reluctant to hand over years of hard work. In the name of peace, however, American Jewish donors purchased the 3,000 remaining greenhouses that stood over 1,000 acres for $14 million and gave it to the Palestinian Authority, gratis. A large portion of the donations were earmarked for “crucial equipment like computerized irrigation systems” and other modern farming systems for Palestinians.

As soon as the Jews were gone, mobs of Palestinians showed up and broke windows, stole irrigation hoses, water pumps, and everything else they could get their hands on, destroying everything they could, as “police” stood by and watched. This happened before Hamas came to power. Before any blockades.

At that point the mobs destroyed the hope of continuing the prosperity that had just been handed to them.

The article also reports:

By 2007, the unity government between the PLO and Hamas had fallen apart after the latter won a landslide election in 2006 and began defenestrating its political opponents. It was a warning. There has not been a real election in the West Bank since. And it’s a good thing because Islamists would surely grab power there as they had in Gaza. Joe Biden likes to say that Hamas doesn’t speak for Palestinians, but the ugly truth is that Hamas is a far better ambassador of the Palestinian people than the “moderate” Fatah party, which we prop up with billions of dollars.

The article notes that the only way to create a successful society in the Gaza Strip would be for Israel to take it over and set up civic institutions. However, that does take into consideration the children who have been trained almost from birth to hate Jews and to fight them.  In the end, “liberating” the Gaza Strip from Hamas would probably be about as successful as liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban was.

Both Sides Are Not Playing By The Same Rules

Posted on by

I wonder if the people who are supporting Hamas understand that Hamas views their country’s civilians as shields in time of war and the enemy country’s civilians as legitimate targets. That has been illustrated by the attack on Israeli civilians on October 7th and Hamas’ use of their citizens as shields and for propaganda purposes.

On November 4th, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

Hamas has been holding up efforts to get Americans and other foreign nationals out of Gaza and into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing by putting its own wounded fighters on departure lists meant for Americans, dual citizenship holders, Palestinian civilians, and other foreign nationals, according to a senior Biden administration official.

Since Oct. 7, when Hamas first invaded Israel, people holding dual, American, or some other foreign citizenship have been trying to leave through Gaza’s southern border and into Egypt, but their efforts have been blocked by Hamas, who officials have said were making unreasonable demands in order to let them cross into Egypt.

The senior administration official provided insight into these demands during a background call with reporters on Friday. The official explained that Hamas provided the United States, Israel, and Egypt with multiple departure lists that included injured Palestinians who were wounded during the war and should be allowed to leave with Americans and other foreign nationals, which is not objectionable, the official said, but after vetting the individuals on the list, it showed many of them were injured Hamas fighters.

The review found that nearly a third of the wounded Palestinians on the first list were actually Hamas fighters and that it would be unacceptable to allow them to exit Gaza, the official said. While the administration would be happy to let injured Palestinian civilians out of Gaza, they just couldn’t let Hamas fighters leave on the departure list.

A deal was eventually worked out to let civilians (not fighters) exit the Gaza Strip, but this is an example of how Hamas is fighting this war. Israel is doing its best to limit civilian casualties, but when civilians are used to shield rocket launchers, there will be casualties.

A Tweet That Says It All

Posted on by

On November 5th, Hot Air shared the following Tweet:

Has the Department of State not heard the chants of “from the river to the sea”? Do they not understand what those chants are saying? Are they not aware that Hamas wants a one-state solution–a world without Israel?

The article at Hot Air includes the following quote:

[I do believe Hamas has made it very clear they’re on the “one state” team, and that state is NOT Israel. I have never seen such consistently malevolent, ignorant buffoons in such high places before. ~ Beege]

A two-state solution will not work. We also need to remember that before October 7th, there was a truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip. We have seen how well that worked out.

Unfortunately, we are faced with an evil we have not seen since Nazi Germany, and out only option is to destroy it.

Standing Strong

Posted on by

On November 3rd, Hot Air posted an article about a recent statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The article reports:

Benjamin Netanyahu has learned to take Hamas at its word. The United States, and specifically Antony Blinken and Joe Biden, still have not. As Blinken met with the unity government in Jerusalem to push Israel to ‘pause’ operations for aid to flow into northern Gaza, Netanyahu delivered a rather humiliating public rebuke.

The article quotes The Times of Israel:

In a brief televised statement before the start of Shabbat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he rejects any temporary halt to the fight against Hamas that does not include “the release of our hostages. He also says Israel “will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza.”

Netanyahu begins by promising that victory will be “sharp and clear” and will “resonate for generations.”

He says Israel’s enemies aim to destroy the country and will fail. “We won’t stop until victory,” he says, specifying that this means “to destroy Hamas, [and attain the] return of the hostages and the restoration of security for our citizens and children.”

The article concludes:

No kidding. So why are Biden and Blinken insisting on pauses and negotiations with the monsters of October 7 rather than supporting their effort to eradicate them? Why are we publicly playing into Hamas’ hostaging strategy when our own citizens are at risk rather than ending the incentives of such strategies forcefully and decisively? Incoherent hardly covers it; moral idiocy comes a lot closer to explaining the Biden administration’s pressure.

We need to remember that Israel was at peace when Hamas attacked. Hamas did not attack military targets. They attacked innocent civilians in the most brutal ways possible. If there are no serious consequences for their actions, what is going to stop them from repeating those actions?

Avoiding Proof That The Second Amendment Works

Posted on by

On Monday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

Report: Biden Admin Threatens to Quit Supplying Rifles After Israel’s Ben Gvir Purportedly Arms Civilians

After what Israel went through on October 7th, why wouldn’t it arm its civilians?

The article reports:

The Biden Administration became upset and threatened to quit supplying rifles to Israel after photos emerged of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir passing them out to “community security squads,” according to Haaretz.

Photos of the rifles being passed out were posted on Ben Gvir’s social media and “led to a diplomatic incident that threatened to stop the arms shipments from the United States to Israel.”

The Biden Administration reportedly does not want guns passed out to civilians nor distributed during “political events.”

Haaretz noted, “The [Biden Administration] also threatened to halt an order of some 20,000 rifles purchased by the National Security Ministry from American suppliers.”

The Telegraph reported that photos purportedly showed Ben Gvir “distributing the arms at political events in Bnei Brak and El’ad, two towns near Tel Aviv.”

A social media user posted the tweet below, which translates: “National Security Minister of Israel Itamar Ben Gvir distributing arms to civilians. Here [in Brazil] the order is to disarm the civilian and arm the criminal.”

On October 23rd, I posted an article illustrating the value of armed citizens. How many lives would have been saved on October 7th if Israeli citizens had been armed? All Israelis serve in the military, so a large proportion of Israeli citizens know how to use guns. Let them defend themselves!

The article concludes:

On October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas terror attack against Israel was launched, Breitbart News pointed out that private gun ownership among Israelis is low. Unlike the United States, Israel does not have a Second Amendment or its equivalent.

The BBC reported that “Israeli gun ownership is low at about 2% of the population.” In contrast, the findings of a recent study by Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center estimated upwards of six in ten Americans — 60 percent —  own guns.

Following the terror attacks Israel expedited the gun license process so Israelis could get firearms to defend themselves and Israel.

Better late than never.

The Third Term Of Barack Obama

Posted on by

President Obama was not a friend of Israel. He was not a friend of peace in the Middle East. The Arab Spring, which he supported as a move to democracy in the Middle East, was simply an attempt to expand Muslim tyranny in the area. When Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House during the Obama administration, he was treated very badly–even forced to leave through the back door. The Biden administration has been slightly more polite, and they say what they think they need to say, but their bottom line is the same.

On October 25th, The Federalist reported the following:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken contends that Hamas would gain no “greater” victory “than allowing its brutality to send us down a path of terrorism and nihilism. We must not let it.”

You can hear echoes of Barack Obama’s insufferable moral equivalencies imbued in that statement.

The contention is a not-so-subtle warning to Israel, who will almost surely enter Gaza and try to dismantle the Hamas terror state — which has been indirectly and directly funded not only by Iran, the European Union, and the United Nations but also by the Obama and Biden administrations.

The insinuation, of course, is that Israel needs to temper its inclination to engage in “terrorism and nihilism.” It is a blood libel.

It is not “terrorism” to seek justice for the pregnant woman who had her baby cut from her body or the elderly couple who was burned alive. And eliminating those who committed Nazi-like atrocities against your citizens is no more nihilistic than tracking down Eichmann or demanding Emperor Hirohito unconditionally surrender.

The article concludes:

The Biden administration is teeming with Obama-era Iran and Muslim Brotherhood fans. Not only did someone like Rob Malley — rehired by Biden after leading Obama’s giveaway — surround himself with real-life Iranian assets, but he’d met at least twice with Hamas, once with Obama’s blessing.

“This administration is different from the previous administration,” Hamas’s deputy foreign minister and New York Times columnist, Ahmed Yussuf, said at the time. “We believe Hamas’s message is reaching its destination.”

…Like Obama, Biden offers just enough lip service about Israel’s right to defend itself to placate Jewish donors and voters. Every action of the president – even his supposed morale-lifting trip to the country–is meant to inhibit Israel from winning. Democrats are open to helping Israel defend itself but unopened to the prospect of destroying those who seek its end.

Let me amend that. There are plenty of Democrats who want Israel destroyed and more every day.

When Obama finally deigned to wade in on the killing of Jews and Americans, he offered his usual perfunctory throat-clearing about Israel’s right to exist before hitting the “but.” The “but” can be summed up as so: the more Jews die, the more Jews have a responsibility to placate the Islamic world and give their enemies a state.

And apparently, in many ways, the Biden administration concurs. 

At some point the Democrats will realize that terrorism is never contained. Terrorism against Israel will eventually morph into terrorism against America (again).

Hudna?

Posted on by

In a recent article, I explained the concept of “hudna.” Basically, the principle is “please stop attacking me so that I can re-arm.” Another tenet of Islam is “taqiyya” which says that it’s okay to lie to infidels for the sake of the advancement of Islam. We are seeing both of these concepts at work after the horrific attack on Israel on October 7th.

On Thursday, The American Thinker reported:

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report, identifying an arms-trafficking scheme in which “Iran and its allies” have been smuggling heavy weapons and small arms to the jihadi terrorists occupying certain areas of Israel; see the lede below:

Long before Hamas militants burst out of their Gaza stronghold to massacre scores of civilians with handguns and assault rifles, Iran and its allies had accelerated efforts to smuggle weapons into a different part of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank.

What was most explosive though, given current circumstances, is that the arms flowing from the terrorist regimes to the smaller terrorist groups, often comes disguised as aid packages. The authors of the Journal item recount that after the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Iran “began hauling large quantities of weapons to Syria” in shipments disguised as aid; as we see, a “humanitarian crisis” or an “emergency” is a great cover for arming terrorists.

On a separate and totally unrelated note… From a Politico report last week:

The U.S. will send $100 million in aid for humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.

‘This money will support more than 1 million displaced in conflict affected Palestinians, including emergency needs in Gaza,’ Biden said Wednesday during a speech in Tel Aviv.

We are arming the enemies of Israel while we claim to be supporting them.

 

The Cost Of Unarmed Citizens

Posted on by

On Saturday, The American Thinker posted an article about some of the events in Israel on October 7.

The article notes:

On October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, a 25-year-old security coordinator at the Kibbutz Nir Am settlement located near the Gaza Strip, saved lives because she had a gun.  After the kibbutz came under attack, Inbal hurriedly opened the armory and distributed guns to the twelve-member security team.

She caught the Hamas murderers unawares because they were not expecting to meet armed resistance.  Lieberman killed five terrorists while the others gunned down twenty-five before the Israeli Defense Force arrived.  Because of her actions, Nir-Am was the only settlement bordering the Gaza Strip that did not suffer Israeli casualties during Hama’s attack.

The number of Israelis killed in the terrorist attack is over 1,400.  How many of those deaths could have been averted had more Israelis owned guns? Israel has draconian gun-control laws, worse than those in New York City.  Only three percent (3%) of Israeli citizens own guns (compared to about thirty-two percent (32%) of U.S. citizens). 

The NY Daily News reports that less than one percent (about 0.5%) of New York City residents have legal handguns.  Jews comprise approximately nine percent (9%) of New York City’s population, the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. 

An attack on America similar to what happened in Israel should be unthinkable, but is it? We have no idea how many terrorists have come through our porous border and what their intentions are. It would be a good idea at this point to have all Americans trained in how to use weapons and having weapons in their homes. Obviously there are some restrictions on that–mentally ill, people convicted of violent offenses, etc., but we need to have an instant, well-trained militia that can be called into action in case of an armed terrorist attack.

The War For The Survival Of Israel

Posted on by

This is the link to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) website. It is a reliable source of what is going on in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. Notice that Lebanon has been added,

Today’s summary includes the following:

08:50
Over the past day the IDF struck over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip

 The terror targets were struck based on IDF and ISA intelligence, and included tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers (some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists) and more. The IDF struck targets that posed a threat to forces in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip who are preparing for ground operations, including dozens of mortar shell and anti-tank missile launch posts.

Overnight, an IDF tank thwarted a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell.

06:15
Overnight, the IDF struck the terrorist cell in Lebanese territory, along with an anti-tank missile launch post. The terrorist cell was planning to carry out an anti-tank missile launch towards the town of Shlomi.

02:07
A short while ago, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist targets, including a military compound and an observation post. Furthermore, an IDF aircraft struck a terrorist cell operating near the border along with the weapons in terrorists’ possession.

23:22
The IDF identified two Hezbollah terrorist cells in Lebanese territory. One cell was adjacent to the area of Mattat, and planned to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory. The other, located in Har Dov, planned to launch rockets. The IDF thwarted the attacks, striking the Hezbollah terrorist cells before they fired.

The article includes the following video:

At some point you have to ask yourself, “What kind of people would do this?”

Please follow the link to the IDF website. Updates are posted on a regular basis.

We Are Not Immune

Posted on by

The attacks in Israel were horrific, but even more horrific is the brutality involved. The hatred for Israel (the little satan) and unfortunately America (the great satan) is such that there is no value put on a life that is not Muslim. The goal of the extreme Islamist has always been the destruction of Israel followed by the destruction of America. Unfortunately America has been complicit in both. In Israel’s case, we have provided money and weapons to be used against her. In America’s case, we have opened out borders to let terrorists, drugs, and human traffickers flow freely into our country.

On Tuesday, Townhall reported:

The crisis unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border is nothing new at this point, but — as Katie reported earlier this week — the Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel from the Gaza Strip highlighted the national security ramifications of border security, specifically the lack of critical information the United States government has about the individuals illegally entering our country.

“Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, more than two million individuals have entered the country as ‘gotaways,'” Katie reminded. “The more than seven million illegal immigrants who have entered the country and been processed by Border Patrol have not been vetted. We know nearly 400 individuals on the terrorist watch list have been apprehended attempting to enter and the FBI is currently looking for potential members of an ISIS terrorist ring that was smuggled into the country,” her report emphasized. 

That’s not good news.

The article lists specifics:

According to Biden administration data on countries of origin confirmed by CBP, here’s how many SIAs (special interest aliens) were apprehended — and where they were from — between October 2021 and October 2023:

Syria: 538

Yemen: 139

Iran: 659

Iraq: 123

Afghanistan: 6,386

Lebanon: 164

Egypt: 3,153

Pakistan: 1,613

Mauritania: 15,594

Uzbekistan: 13,624

Turkey: 30,830

As Melugin (Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin) emphasized, his Border Patrol sources said they have “extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries.” If an apprehended SIA hasn’t previously committed a crime inside the U.S. and isn’t already flagged on a terror watch list, “there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the US.” That is, according to Melugin and his sources, “there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints.”

Where Did The Weapons Come From?

Posted on by

The attack on Israel this weekend was well-supplied and well-funded. Many of us believe that (unfortunately) America unintentionally supplied and funded part of that attack. I hope it was unintentional. I don’t even want to consider the possibility that it was intentional.

On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article talking about the source of some of the weapons and some of the money.

The article reports:

A claim in a news report that American weapons seized in Afghanistan have ended up in the hands of Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip has taken on renewed significance after Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, launched an attack on Israel on Saturday.

According to a Newsweek report published in June, an Israeli commander said some of the US. small arms seized in Afghanistan have already been observed in the hands of Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip.

The report began recirculating on social media, amid accusations that the Biden administration funded Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel by releasing $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran, the main backer of Hamas.

The Biden administration has pushed back on these charges, saying that the money is controlled by a Qatari bank, and only will be used for humanitarian purposes.

The Conservative Treehouse posted an article on Sunday explaining exactly what has happened to the $6 billion.

The article reports:

You want to go deep weeds, let’s go deep weeds.  Almost all of the conversations about the $6 billion given back to Iran have focused on the fungible aspect of money.  While true, that focus misses the key and essential point, where the money was delivered.

The captured $6 billion was held in a South Korean bank, the result of sanctions violations.  What the Biden/Blinken crew did, was move the money from South Korea to a bank in Qatar.

Now, many people may not at first understand the nature of how that makes such a significant difference.  The lack of understanding is the result of people not fully grasping what Qatar does in the Middle East.   Qatar is the financial center for Islamic extremist operations.  Qatar is the banking center for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Brotherhood is the political umbrella for a host of Islamic extremist groups.

Qatar is well known to CTH readers and those who follow the deep weeds of geopolitics.  Qatar has historically been the financial center and funding mechanism of the Muslim Brotherhood.  In many ways Qatar is to the U.S. State Dept, CIA and political elements of the Intelligence Community in the Middle East, as Ukraine is to those same entities in Europe.

Please follow both links for further details. We have played a much bigger negative role in the war against Israel than is being reported. That is NOT a good thing.

Something We Need To Remember

Posted on by

Chapter 12 of Genesis in the Bible describes the calling of Abram:

…2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will blessthose who bless youand cursethose who curse you;and allthe familiesof the earthwill be blessedthrough you.”4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.…

A close look at world history enforces this Bible verse. The sun never set on the British Empire until they reneged on the 1917 Balfour Declaration. That began the unraveling of their Empire. Maybe that was an incredible coincidence, but then let’s look at Germany after World War II. Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass” occurred on November 9 and 10, 1938. This was a night of violence against Jews and Jewish businesses that took place throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Germany was a divided nation for 51 years. On August 18th, 2005, Jewish residents in the Gaza Strip were forcibly removed from their homes with the approval of the American government. On August 29,2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. How many coincidences do we need to recognize that there might be a pattern.

In the past few days we have seen Hamas, located in the Gaza Strip attack Israel with a brutality beyond the ‘normal’ brutality of war. Unfortunately, America has not responded well.

On Sunday, The Western Journal posted an article about America’s response to the attack. Unfortunately we got it wrong. Fortunately the Tweet was taken down.

The article notes:

In a now-deleted tweet from the account of the U.S. Office Of Palestinian Affairs, the State Department wrote, “We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has occurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing,” the tweet said.

This is a screenshot of the tweet:
War is a horrible thing, but you can’t live in peace next to people who want to drive you into the sea. Now is the time to destroy Hamas. It is probably true that Hezbollah will be drawn into the fight and will have to be destroyed also. Unfortunately that leads us back to Iran (hopefully they don’t yet have nuclear weapons) who is bankrolling both Hamas and Hezbollah. This is a dangerous time for the world. We all need to be praying, and we all need to understand that God’s covenant with Israel is forever. We need to act carefully and remember we are not the final answer.

Another Reason To Leave The United Nations

Posted on by

On Sunday, CBN News reported that on Friday, the United Nations voted 98-17, with 52 abstentions to have the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to advise the world body concerning Israel’s “occupation” of territories in the West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria, including Jerusalem), maintaining that it is a form of de facto annexation. Thankfully, the United States voted against the resolution. The measure will next go to the UN General plenary in December to be officially ratified.

The article reports:

Lapid  (outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid) cautioned that the vote could prompt more violence from Palestinians. “This step will not change the reality on the ground, nor will it help the Palestinian people in any way; it may even result in an escalation,” he warned. “Supporting this move is a prize for terrorist organizations and the campaign against Israel.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan tweeted, “there is no authority that can declare that the Jewish nation is an occupier in its homeland,” and added that the appeal to the ICJ in The Hague was “the last nail in the burial coffin” of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the resolution was “disconnected from reality.”

The resolution contains language stating that Israel’s continued control of territories it won in the 1967 Six-Day War can be considered a form of annexation, and therefore is not legal. Since 1967, Israel declared sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but military law still applies in other parts of the West Bank. 

The Biden administration had campaigned against the UN resolution and urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to introduce it. Part of Abbas’s strategy may be to cement his legacy, since the 87-year-old president has not held elections in 16 years and a succession struggle is in its early stages.

The resolution also calls for investigations into Israeli actions concerning its capital which are “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.” It also says Israel has adopted “discriminatory legislation and measures.”

Until the Palestinian Authority removes from its charter the goal of removing Israel as a nation, there is no possibility of a peaceful, two-state solution. The Palestinian people may want peace, but their leaders do not. We need to remember that when the Arabs controlled the Old City part of Jerusalem, the Jews were not allowed to worship there. Jews are still not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. Israel is a democracy. Arab states generally do not support democracy.

Ignoring The History

Posted on by

On Tuesday, NewsMax reported that Australia has changed its position on recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The article reports”

Australia has reversed a previous government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

The center-left Labor Party government Cabinet agreed to again recognize Tel Aviv as the capital and reaffirmed that Jerusalem’s status must be resolved in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

Australia remained committed to a two-party solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and “we will not support an approach that undermines this prospect,” Wong said.

A two-state solution is a wonderful idea, but there is a problem.

“PA presents the PLO Charter as currently calling for Israel’s destruction,” by Itamar Marcus and Maurice Hirsch, Palestinian Media Watch, March 16, 2021:

As part of a TV series entitled “Lexicon of the Revolution” official PA TV broadcast a filler about the 1964 Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

While presenting the historical overview of the Charter, the PA chose to cite the Charter’s declarations denying Israel’s right to exist and the PLO’s goal of destroying Israel, even claiming that it is supported by the UN. For example:

“The Palestinian Arab people is the one with the legitimate right to its homeland”

“The 16th clause [of the Charter] states that the liberation of Palestine, from an international perspective, is a defensive operation necessitated by self-defense, as determined by the UN Charter.”

[Official PA TV, Aug. 10, 2018; March 6 (twice) 2021]

This second message is stated both by the narrator and reinforced by a slide on the screen.

Text: “Clause 16 states that the liberation of Palestine, from an international perspective, is a defensive operation necessitated by self-defense, as determined by the UN Charter” alongside the old Fatah logo that includes crossed rifles and the map of “Palestine” that includes all of Israel, together with this text: “Al-Asifa – the Palestinian National Liberation Movement”

What was left out of the PA TV broadcast is just as significant as what was included. Most specifically, there is no reference to the fact that the PA obligated itself to cancel all the clauses of the PLO Charter calling for Israel’s destruction, under the terms of the Oslo Accords.

The narrator’s introductory explanation likewise denies Israel’s right to exist – saying Israel exists on Arab “stolen homeland” and therefore “returning it” is an act of “self-defense”:

It’s hard to form a two-state solution with people who want to annihilate you.

Eliminating The Terrorists One By One

Posted on by

On Monday, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog reported that IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari was killed yesterday.

The article reports:

IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari was assassinated yesterday Sunday in broad daylight outside his home by two men on a motorcycle who rode off into the sunset. Iran blamed the assassination on “elements linked to the global arrogance,” which the Times of Israel’s story translates as “the term for the United States and its allies including Israel.”

I think Iran is fingering Israel, but they don’t want to let the Great Satan off the hook either. The mullahs have their assassins working on Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, if not President Trump himself. The Jerusalem Post notes: “The IRGC also reported that Khodayari was involved in the security of the Shiite holy places in Damascus and that he had a close relationship with Qasem Soleimani, an IRGC commander who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020.”

The ToI story adds one more translation: “Reports identified [Khodayari] as a ‘defender of the sanctuary,’ a reference to Iranians who carry out Tehran’s operations in Syria and Iraq within the Guard’s elite Quds Force that oversees operations abroad.” The Jerusalem Post covers the techniques employed in the assassination here (also linked above).

The Jerusalem Post also notes: “According to Iranian sources, Khodayari was responsible for attempts to abduct and assassinate Israelis in Cyprus, Turkey and Colombia, N12 reported.” There’s a war underway. However, I’m quite sure the United States has quit fighting back President Trump left town. The Post’s analysis separately concludes “Assassination of IRGC official shows Israel has shifted gears.”

If America chooses to sit on the sidelines while Israel deals with terrorist attacks, Israel will successfully deal with those attacks on her own. It would be nice if America helped, but not necessary. The Israelis have a way of getting things done on their own.

The article notes:

Unsourced reports in the Israeli media state that Khodayari had planned kidnappings and other attempts to attack Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide. Israel Hayom has more here.

I guess those plans are at least temporarily on hold.

Incredible Coincidence Or Medical Fact?

Posted on by

On Friday The Epoch Times reported the following:

A new study found a correlation between an increase in emergency cardiovascular events among people under 40 years of age during the launch of Israel’s COVID-19 vaccine program.

Published in the Nature journal, researchers utilized data from the Israel National Emergency Medical Services between 2019 and 2021 that evaluated emergency, or EMS, calls among 16- to 39-year-olds across Israel “with potential factors including COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates.”

They found that there was a 25 percent increase in EMS calls between January 2021 to May 2021, as compared with the years 2019 and 2020. Israel, which primarily uses Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, launched its COVID-19 vaccine program in late December 2020.

“The weekly emergency call counts were significantly associated with the rates of 1st and 2nd vaccine doses administered to this age group but were not with COVID-19 infection rates,” they found. “While not establishing causal relationships, the findings raise concerns regarding vaccine-induced undetected severe cardiovascular side-effects and underscore the already established causal relationship between vaccines and myocarditis, a frequent cause of unexpected cardiac arrest in young individuals.”

They recommend that when evaluating possible vaccine side-effects and COVID-19 outcomes, officials should incorporate EMS data and relevant data to identify potential new health trends such as an increase in EMS calls, and “promptly investigate potential underlying causes.”

The article concludes with the expected pushback:

“As COVID-19 vaccine rollouts often take place with background community COVID-19 infections, it could be challenging to identify whether increased incidence of myocarditis and related cardiovascular conditions … is driven by COVID-19 infections or induced by COVID-19 vaccines,” it  (The Israeli research team) added.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most health agencies worldwide have said that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the potential risks. The CDC on its website says that most patients who develop myocarditis or pericarditis and got medical care have responded well to treatment.

Symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, and feelings of a fast-beating or fluttering heart.

Children and teenagers are not generally at serious risk from Covid. It is becoming evident that they may be at risk from the vaccine. Please proceed with caution.