Tag Archives: Middle East

A Chance For Peace In The Middle East

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On Wednesday, Robert Spencer posted an article at PJ Media about President Trump’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The article reports:

On Wednesday morning, during his trip to Saudi Arabia, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who from 2017 until January of this year, was known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Al-Sharaa was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the “Syrian Liberation Group,” a Sunni jihad group that had been linked to al-Qaeda and was working to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In January 2025, HTS finally attained its goal. Assad fled to Russia. Al-Julani took control in Damascus and announced that he was establishing a regime that would respect the rights of all Syrians. He insisted that he had broken with al-Qaeda years before, and to signify that he was a new man, he shed his nom de guerre and reverted to his birth name. He trimmed his beard, took off his fatigues, and donned a suit.

…In many ways, Trump’s meeting with al-Sharaa is as momentous, and could be more momentous, than his first-term overtures to Kim Jong Un. The two meetings come from the same wellsprings: Trump is attempting to break longstanding logjams and end the status quo that the foreign policy establishment, both inside the U.S. and elsewhere, had come to take for granted.

…So Trump wants to make peace with old foes based on mutual economic interests. He is giving al-Sharaa a chance to demonstrate that he really is no longer a jihadi and wants to build a stable and prosperous Syria. It could happen. The global jihad, although it is ignored everywhere, continues nevertheless. It never goes away. Individuals and states, however, can and do put it aside for considerable periods in order to pursue other interests.

The article concludes:

Nevertheless, Trump’s attempt to create peace based on common interests and move beyond the present logjam is as welcome as it is audacious. Once again, Trump appears to be way ahead of everyone else, as he was when he established the Abraham Accords even as John Kerry was confidently telling the world that such a thing was impossible.

The establishment will howl at Trump’s meeting; that’s only to be expected. The president, meanwhile, is moving ahead with astonishing vision, immense confidence, and considerable imagination. The peace and stability of the Middle East, and of the entire world, are riding upon his success.

President Trump is essentially saying to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, “Put up, or shut up.” I have no doubt that continuing on the path of murdering Syrians that oppose the regime or aligning with terrorist forces in the Middle East will have dire consequences for Syria. This is their chance to become a successful and prosperous country.

If you are unfamiliar with Robert Spencer, here is his background:

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 30 books, including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad, The History of Jihad, The Critical Qur’an, and Muhammad: A Critical Biography. His latest book is Antisemitism: History and Myth, and coming in Nov. 2025 is Holy Hell: Islam’s Abuse of Women and the Infidels Who Enable It. Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He is a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy.

The Consequences Of The Biden Administration’s Middle East Policy

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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.

The Numbers Tell The Story

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The media tells us that Israel is unmercifully killing civilian Palestinians, but is that really the truth? First of all, Israel invites the civilians to leave an area before it attacks. It recommends safe zones for them to go. Secondly, there are very few Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who do not support Hamas.

On Monday, Pamela Geller reported the following on the Geller Report:

Don’t say “Hamas’ massacre.” Say “the Palestinian massacre.” That’s the way Palestinians see Oct. 7.

Every poll of Palestinians since October 7, 2023, by both AWRAD – Arab World for Research and Development, and PSR – Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians supported and continue to support the rapes, torture, beheadings, and murder of more than 1,100 people in southern Israel led by Hamas, and their kidnapping of 250 hostages.

Significantly, the polls found that the support in the West Bank was higher than the that the Gaza Strip. Asked if they supported the attack on Oct 7, the first poll in November 2023 found West Bank support at 83%. Half a year later, in June 2024, after the destruction in Gaza, 73% still said that the decision to attack Israel was correct. In the Gaza Strip, two months into the war support had already dropped to 63% and continued to fall to only 31% in March 2024, saying it was correct to attack. Astonishingly, the joy over the rape, torture, beheadings, and murder of Israelis was so great that even after much of Gaza was in rubble following Israel’s counter attack, for West Bank Arabs that one day of horror inflicted on Israelis, made the destruction of Gaza an acceptable price to pay.

Israel did not start this war. They did not wantonly murder innocent women and children. From what I have read, the October 7th invasion by Hamas was supposed to happen at a later date simultaneously with an invasion in the north of Israel by Hezbollah. Thank God that Hamas got impatient and started without Hezbollah. The only path to peace in the Middle East is through the elimination of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the leaders of their sponsor nation, Iran. A regime change in Iran will begin to bring peace to the region.

Another Terrorist Who Worked For UNRWA

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The United Nations is going to have a hard time recruiting workers in the Middle East if Israel keeps killing the ones who work as terrorists in their spare time. On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about the latest terrorist to be killed by Israel.

The article reports:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA) announced Monday that they had killed Fateh Sherif, who led Hamas in Lebanon. He was also a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employee.

In a joint statement, the IDF and ISA said:

Overnight, during a joint IDF and ISA intelligence-based activity, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorist Fateh Sherif, Head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organization.

Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas’ terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives. He was also responsible for Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons.

He led the Hamas terrorist organization’s force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas’ interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily.

The IDF and the ISA will to continue to operate against anyone who poses a threat to the civilians of the State of Israel.

UNRWA acknowledged that Fateh Sherif had been the principal of one of its schools, the Times of Israel reported:

Sherif was killed today in an airstrike on the al-Bass refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, along with his wife and children. Reports indicate he had been the principal of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin Secondary School in al-Bass.

“Fateh Al Sharif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities,” UNRWA says in response to a Times of Israel query.

The article concludes:

In a statement, the IDF and ISA said they had killed Nidal Abdel-Aal, head of the PFLP’s Lebanon branch, as well as Imad Odeh, the head of the PFLP’s military office in Lebanon. They added that Abdel-Aal had directed terror attacks on Israelis in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), including a bus bombing and a shooting attack, both in 2023.

Israel is make the entire world a safer place while minimizing the number of innocent civilians killed. We should all be celebrating.

Wisdom From Someone Who Executed Successful Middle East Policy

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On Sunday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the recent events in the Middle East.

The article reports:

Former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, had some wise words yesterday about Israel.

Israel has to finish the job. Now. She cannot stop.

People have responded, “I don’t agree with you politically at all, but this is true!”

Kushner wrote:

September 27th is the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough.

I have spent countless hours studying Hezbollah and there is not an expert on earth who thought that what Israel has done to decapitate and degrade them was possible.

This is significant because Iran is now fully exposed. The reason why their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed, despite weak air defense systems, is because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel. Iran spent the last forty years building this capability as its deterrent.

President Trump would often say, “Iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation.” The Islamic Republic’s regime is much tougher when risking Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian and Houthi lives than when risking their own. Their foolish efforts to assassinate President Trump and hack his campaign reek of desperation and are hardening a large coalition against them.

Iranian leadership is stuck in the old Middle East, while their neighbors in the GCC are sprinting toward the future by investing in their populations and infrastructure. They are becoming dynamic magnets for talent and investment while Iran falls further behind. As the Iranian proxies and threats dissipate, regional security and prosperity will rise for Christians, Muslims and Jews alike

The article concludes with more of Jared Kushner’s statement:

The philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote on X, “I keep reading everywhere that Lebanon is ‘on the brink of collapse.’ No. It is on the brink of relief and deliverance.”
Moments like this come once in a generation, if they even come at all.

The Middle East is too often a solid where little changes. Today, it is a liquid and the ability to reshape is unlimited. Do not squander this moment.

Let’s all pray for success, for peace and for the good judgement of our leaders.

Lebanon used to be the garden spot of the Middle East. I pray that someday it will again be the beautiful, free land it once was.

 

Finishing The Job

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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.

Isn’t This Racist?

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

The article reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The article at the Jewish News Syndicate concludes:

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

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

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

Stealth Jihad vs. Kinetic Jihad

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There are two basic types of jihad–stealth (can also be called cultural) and kinetic. Kinetic is the one that involves acts of terrorism. Stealth jihad is done through lawfare, propaganda, and cultural changes. Generally stealth jihad continues until the jihadists have enough of a majority to overthrow a society or government; at that point, you generally see kinetic jihad–acts of terrorism.

On September 12th, The Times of Israel posted an article about the recent elections in Jordan.

The article reports:

Jordan’s leading Islamist opposition party has won 31 out of 138 seats in the kingdom’s parliament, tripling its representation in legislative elections dominated by frustration over Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), a political offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, came ahead of other parties and factions in the legislature after Tuesday’s vote, but was far from clinching a majority, according to official election results released on Wednesday.

The result is a historic win for the Islamists and their largest representation since the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989 gained 22 out of the 80 seats that existed then.

The article concludes:

Jordan in 1994 signed a peace treaty with Israel, becoming only the second Arab state to do so after Egypt, but regular protests have called for the treaty’s dissolution since the war erupted on October 7 when Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas in Gaza and free 251 hostages who were abducted by terrorists in the Hamas attack.

Oraib Rantawi, head of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies, described the Islamists’ gains in the election as “astonishing in their magnitude.”

The Islamists won “nearly half a million votes,” a figure he said was unprecedented in their history in Jordan.

“Gaza played a major role in this,” he added, as well as a feeling among voters that other competing parties “were created in haste… to reduce the chances of success of the Islamic Action Front.”

The people of Jordan are not part of the terrorist movement. In the 1970’s the Palestinian Liberation Organization was kicked out of Jordan after they tried to overthrow the government. In recent years Jordan has supported Israel. Unfortunately, if the Islamist presence in Jordan’s parliament increases, it will pose a threat to possible peace in the Middle East.

Confirming What We Already Knew

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On Saturday, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article about some recent Hamas documents captured by Israel in the war against Hamas.

The article reports.

German magazine Bild reports on a Hamas strategy document captured in Gaza that comes from the poisoned pen and mind of Yahya Sinwar himself. The document, if authentic, lays out the full hostaging strategy Hamas planned to employ in this war. It will come as no surprise to anyone at this point — outside the White House, anyway — that Sinwar has no interest in cease-fires or a two-state solution.

His real interests? Psychological torture and the annihilation of Israel, with his own survival somewhere in between. This comes from a Google translation of the original German:

Now a previously unknown document from Hamas’ military intelligence service shows how the terrorists are manipulating the international community, torturing the hostage families and seeking to rearm. And also that they are just as indifferent to a quick end to the war as they are to the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

▶︎ The document in which Hamas sets out its negotiating strategy was found on a computer that is said to belong to the terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar (61). He is said to have personally approved the content. The letter dates from spring 2024 and is available exclusively to BILD. … 

What is particularly perfidious is that Hamas is abusing the kidnapped hostages to improve its negotiating position. The document states frankly:

“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire, ed.) , so that public pressure on the enemy government increases.”

The recent protests in Israel illustrate the possible success of Sinwar’s plan. Unless the country unites behind Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is quite possible that the war will drag on unnecessarily and significantly weaken Israel. Obviously that is what Sinwar wants. Unfortunately,  America, knowingly or unknowingly, has helped Sinwar in this effort.

A change in personnel in Washington is the solution to the unrest in the Middle East. America needs to elect a President and a Congress that will support Israel in its battle against the forces of terrorism. The Biden administration’s desire to make a deal with Iran has destabilized the Middle East and undone the work of the Abraham Accords. If Americans want peace in the Middle East, they need to consider the move toward war in the Biden administration versus the move toward peace in the Trump administration.

Good News From Israel

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On August 27th, Townhall reported that Israeli forces have rescued a hostage taken on October 7th. The rescue took place near Rafah–a place where the Biden administration asked them not to go.

The article reports:

“Today, the IDF and ISA rescued the hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, aged 52, from Rahat, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization into Gaza on October 7,” IDF posted on X. “He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them.Israeli security forces will continue to operate with all means to bring home the hostages.”

The article also notes that there are still eight Americans being held as hostages. It is believed that five of them are still alive.

The Israeli Defense Forces posted the following on Twitter:

Today, the IDF and ISA rescued the hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, aged 52, from Rahat, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization into Gaza on October 7. He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them. Israeli security forces will continue to operate with all means to bring home the hostages.

Peace in the Middle East will not come as long as Iran is able to fund Hamas and Hezbollah. A peace treaty with Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah would not be worth the paper it was written on.

 

Wisdom From Someone Who Knows

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

The article reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Isn’t Really Surprising

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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.

 

Exactly What Is The Republican Platform?

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The Republican Platform has been approved by the Republican Party. The Democrat Platform is 80 pages long, the Republican Platform is considerably shorter.

On article posted at Townhall on June 16th lists the 20 principles of the Republican platform:

1. Seal The Border, And Stop The Migrant Invasion

2. Carry Out The Largest Deportation Operation In American History

3. End Inflation, And Make America Affordable Again

4. Make America The Dominant Energy Producer In The World, By Far!

5. Stop Outsourcing, And Turn The United States Into A Manufacturing Superpower

6. Large Tax Cuts For Workers, And No Tax On Tips!

7. Defend Our Constitution, Our Bill Of Rights, And Our Fundamental Freedoms, Including Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Religion, And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

8. Prevent World War Three, Restore Peace In Europe And In The Middle East, And Build A Great Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield Over Our Entire Country — All Made In America

9. End The Weaponization Of Government Against The American People

10. Stop The Migrant Crime Epidemic, Demolish The Foreign Drug Cartels, Crush Gang Violence, And Lock Up Violent Offenders

11. Rebuild Our Cities, Including Washington DC, Making Them Safe, Clean, And Beautiful Again.

12. Strengthen And Modernize Our Military, Making It, Without Question, The Strongest And Most Powerful In The World

13. Keep The U.S. Dollar As The World’s Reserve Currency

14. Fight For And Protect Social Security And Medicare With No Cuts, Including No Changes To The Retirement Age

15. Cancel The Electric Vehicle Mandate And Cut Costly And Burdensome Regulations

16. Cut Federal Funding For Any School Pushing Critical Race Theory, Radical Gender Ideology, And Other Inappropriate Racial, Sexual, Or Political Content On Our Children

17. Keep Men Out Of Women’s Sports

18. Deport Pro-Hamas Radicals And Make Our College Campuses Safe And Patriotic Again

19.  Secure Our Elections, Including Same Day Voting, Voter Identification, Paper Ballots, And Proof Of Citizenship

20. Unite Our Country By Bringing It To New and Record Levels of Success.”

That’s a pretty tall order, but remember, President Trump did a lot of those things during his first term–he sealed much of the border (despite foot dragging from Congress), he kept inflation down, he made America energy independent which deprived Russia and Iran of the money to make war and fund terrorism, and he supported law enforcement. I suspect he will be able to keep most of the promises in that platform.

Mistreating An Ally

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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.

Biting The Hand That Feeds You

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On June 18th, The Gatestone Institute posted an article that illustrates the difference between the Israeli and Palestinian cultures. First of all, the Palestinians are simply another Arab tribe. They have never had a country, and if they want one, it would behoove the Arabs to give them one–they have no claim to Israel. The cultural differences between the Palestinians and the Israelis are significant.

The article reports:

    • Prior to the October 7 massacre, more than 170,000 Palestinians were working in Israel, constituting an important source of income for the Palestinian economy…. The Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were permitted to work in Israel received many of the same rights as Israeli workers, including health insurance and pension plans.
    • “I will be able to earn about $120 dollars a day [in Israel], while I cannot even earn $250 dollars a month in Gaza. Due to the difficult political and economic conditions, the people of the Gaza Strip suffer greatly from poverty and are unable to build a future for their children like their parents.” — Mohammed Kamal, a 38-year-old father of four from the Gaza Strip, newarab.com, March 24, 2022.
    • It appears that the murderers and rapists from the Gaza Strip saw Israel’s goodwill gestures as an indication of Israel’s weakness. In addition, they apparently saw the controversy in Israel surrounding the Israeli government’s judicial reform plan as a sign that Israel had become extremely weak, especially when anti-government protesters threatened to boycott military reserve service.
    • The October 7 atrocities serve as a reminder that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not about improving the living conditions of the Palestinians or strengthening their economy. Instead, the conflict is about the desire of the majority of Palestinians to slaughter Jews and destroy Israel.
    • Pre-and post-October 7 public opinion polls have consistently demonstrated that the majority of Palestinians back Hamas and believe that the atrocities committed on that day were “correct.”
    • Now, Palestinians can blame Hamas not only for dragging them into a disastrous war with Israel, but also for having left tens of thousands of families jobless in the wake of their loss of permits to work in Israel.
    • Instead of brainwashing and indoctrinating their people against Israel and Jews, Palestinian leaders need to be required to focus on creating job opportunities and boosting the Palestinian economy, which the flow of international handouts have relieved them from doing.
    • The Palestinians would also greatly benefit if they would realize that there are actually dire repercussions when they “bite the hand that feeds them.”

The attack of October 7th illustrates the damage that propaganda can cause. The people in Gaza was so indoctrinated with hate for Israel that they did not fully consider the consequences of their actions. There was no consideration of how to support their families once they killed their employers and their families.

There was a post today on Twitter that suggested that all we need to do to bring peace to the Middle East is replace the government of Iran with a western-leaning republic. I think that makes sense.

Sometimes You Just Have To Use The Tools At Your Disposal

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On June 18th, Human Events reported the following:

A video emerged on social media Tuesday that allegedly showed Polish farmers dumping pig manure around the outskirts of their property to deter Muslim immigrants from entering from Belarus. In it, a Polish-speaking individual states that the manure would prevent the immigrants from entering because their Muslim faith has restrictions surrounding pork.

Eastern European media outlet NEXTA posted the video with the caption: “They decided to fill the border strip between #Poland and #Belarus with pig manure. Polish farmers learned the idea from the Greeks, who a few years ago tried to stop refugees from the Middle East in this way. Polish farmers also assume that most of the foreigners on the Polish-Belarusian border are Muslims who don’t eat pork. ‘We count on the fact that if we spread pig manure, illegal migrants will not pass through this strip because their faith will not allow them to do so,’ the farmers say.”

Europe is being overrun by single, military-age Muslim immigrants. Crime rates have soared. There have been numerous attacks on young women who are not clothed according to Islamic tradition. I applaud these farmers for finding a creative way to protect their property.

Clean Up Your Own Back Yard

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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

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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.

I’m Shocked! Shocked!

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On Tuesday, The Jewish News Syndicate reported the following:

Close to three-fourths of the humanitarian aid transported from a new $320 million floating pier built by the U.S. military off the Gaza coast was stolen on Saturday en route to a U.N. warehouse, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

…The United Nations said that 10 truckloads of food aid from the pier arrived at the warehouse on Friday, its first day of operation. It was transported by U.N. contractors.

 “We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” said the U.N. official.

According to Israeli estimates, Hamas has been stealing up to 60% of the aid entering the Gaza Strip, and a Channel 12 report last week revealed that the terrorist organization has made at least $500 million in profit off humanitarian aid since the start of the war on Oct. 7.

Considering the fact that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees is largely staffed by Hamas, I don’t find these thefts at all surprising. At some point the Biden administration needs to realize that they are not working with honest partners when they call for a cease-fire. However, considering that the Biden administration has shown more support for Iran than Israel, this actually might be going according to plan.

The article notes:

USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense are leading the effort, alongside Cyprus, the United Nations and international donors, including the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Romania and the European Union, CENTCOM said. The aid is transported via sea from Cyprus where it is screened, and the United Nations receives the aid in Gaza and coordinates its distribution

Israel is also helping to facilitate the entry of aid via the pier.

Reuters also reported that “food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed.”

Israel took operational control of the crossing weeks ago, but Cairo so far has refused to cooperate with Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of aid through Rafah. The Israeli government wants to allow aid into Gaza through the crossing but is unable to do so without Egyptian cooperation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz last week placed the responsibility for averting a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip squarely on the shoulders of Egypt.

Katz said he had spoken with his British and German counterparts “about the need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah Crossing to allow the continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

The Middle East is a mess of plots and sub-plots. It is a difficult place for diplomacy and positive action. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s actions have not furthered the cause of peace.

What Happens Next?

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On Sunday, The Middle East Forum posted an article stating what the death of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi would mean for Iran.The article was written before the death was confirmed (it is now confirmed) and has some interesting insight.

The article reports:

Raisi’s demise, if confirmed, would not be the first death of a sitting Iranian president, In 1981, the Mojahedin-e Khalq of Iran assassinated President Mohammad-Ali Rajai. The Islamic Republic’s constitution simply states that when a president dies, a new president “would be chosen.” In 1981, authorities called a new election but, in 1989, an amended constitution gave the Supreme Leader, currently Ali Khamenei, further power to decide. Under the current constitution, there is no mandate for a new election. If the president is dead or unable to perform his duties for longer than two months, the first vice president, the speaker of the parliament, and the chief justice, with the consent of the Supreme Leader, form a council to choose the succession mechanism.

In effect, this means Khamenei will decide. The Supreme Leader directly appoints the chief justice without parliamentary consent. Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, the current chief justice, is a loyal foot soldier of Khamenei. The same is true of Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general and former mayor of Tehran, who survived many rounds of Khamenei’s purges. The first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, has been a low-profile figure who will certainly consent to the Supreme Leader’s will.

There are two possible outcomes. Either a new election is called, or Khamenei will dictate that the council chooses a single person to avoid an election in time of crisis. Ghalibaf, who has long aspired to the presidency, could finally get his wish.

The article concludes:

Whatever happens next, however, Raisi’s “hard landing” will mark the first chapter in a game of musical chairs that will consume the Islamic Republic for months and will set the stage not only for the post-Raisi-era, but the post-Khamenei one as well.

The median age of the Iranian population in somewhere in the mid 30’s. The birth rate has been steadily dropping since about 1980 (source here). The Supreme Leader of Iran, currently Ali Khamenei, was born in 1939. The younger generation does not support him. This could be a very interesting time for Iran.

I Have No Doubt This Is The Result Of American Meddling

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Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz wants to be Prime Minister of Israel. The Biden administration is working with him to make that happen. Mr. Gantz has visited America numerous times recently to meet with top Biden administration officials. He has gotten so wrapped up in his own ambition that he has forgotten his loyalty to his own country. He is reported to support the idea of an eventual two-state solution. He has forgotten that the residents of the Gaza Strip were sending missiles into Israel before Hamas took over. Why does he think a new state in Gaza would be any different?

On Saturday, MSN reported:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz demanded on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commit to an agreed vision for the Gaza conflict that would include stipulating who might rule the territory after the war with Hamas.

Gantz told a press conference he wanted the war cabinet to form a six-point plan by June 8. If his expectations are not met, he said, he will withdraw his centrist party from the conservative premier’s broadened emergency coalition.

…Gantz said his proposed six-point plan would include bringing a temporary U.S.-European-Arab-Palestinian system of civil administration for Gaza while Israel retains security control.

It would also institute equitable national service for all Israelis, including ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are now exempted from the military draft and have two parties in Netanyahu’s coalition determined to preserve the waiver.

We have already seen the corruption and takeover of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Why would anyone be willing to allow anyone other than Israel to control Gaza? When Israel controlled Gaza before 2005, the greenhouses of Gaza fed Gaza and Israel and Gaza prospered. When the Israelis left Gaza, the residents destroyed the greenhouses and shortly thereafter began firing rockets into Israel. The residents destroyed their own infrastructure and used aid money from other countries to build tunnels and buy weapons. It is telling that Israel has air-raid shelters throughout the country for civilians, and Gaza has tunnels to protect its military and no air-raid shelters for civilians. That alone tells you how much the people in control of Gaza value human life. Israel is the only country in the world that truly cares about Israel’s security. If we want Israel to continue to exist, we need to let Israel control Gaza. Just as Arabs have more freedom in Israel than in any other country in the Middle East (there are Arabs in the Israeli government–there are no Jews in the governments of any Arab countries), the citizens of Gaza will have more freedom under Israel (and Israel will be more secure and the Middle East more stable) if Israel controls Gaza.

 

When Your Duplicity Is About The Be Discovered

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On Friday, Hot Air posted an article about the underground tunnels that run from Rafah to Egypt. The article speculates that the tunnels are the reason Egypt has been against the invasion of Rafah by Israel.

The article reports:

Juuuussssttttt spitballin’ here, but it certainly seems like we have an answer for Egypt’s extraordinary pissiniss about Israel’s plans to clear out Rafah.

I have to admit, this was the favored line of thinking over the past few weeks as the Biden administration sabotaged every Israeli move, and the Egyptians blustered and threatened. Almost to a one, folks weren’t at all fooled. They were asking, “What is Egypt worried the Israelis are going to find?”

At least fifty tunnels – so far – scootin’ over – well, under – the border into Egypt.

What are the odds?

And what are the odds the Egyptians knew nothing?

Slim to none.

Why, though? Why would Egypt jeopardize a place at the table with Israel and the big dogs to grovel in the dirt with terrorists like Hamas?

The article includes the following Tweet:

The article notes:

…I think we can now fairly say the relationship is much more complicated than that. Egypt has propped up Hamas for years by allowing supply lines to go through it. 50 tunnels could not go through the border without Al-Sisi and his regime knowing about it.  .

Also keep in mind that Israeli intelligence believes that most arms for Hamas are brought in through the Rafah Crossing, which is under Egyptian supervision.  

In addition, their threats to torpedo the peace agreement if Israel goes into Rafah no longer seem to be just about refugees leaving Gaza. It also pertains to finding the tunnels and the extent of Egyptian cooperation with Hamas. In addition, it appears their resistance was part of an attempt to keep Hamas in power.  

I don’t have all the answers to why Egypt is supporting Hamas, but this is my guess: 

1) They have a modus vivendi with Hamas. They ask that Hamas not intervene in Egyptian politics and not undermine control in Sinai. In return, they turn a blind eye to the tunnels and arms going in. 2) They are getting kickbacks from Hamas and possibly Iran and Qatar in return. Egypt has serious economic and debt problems and could desperately use a source of income. 3) Egypt is rife with antisemitism, and they will lose no sleep over helping its enemies.

The political alliances in the Middle East are very complicated. Israel lives in a very rough neighborhood. It is only through showing strength (and the grace of God) that Israel has been able to survive . I hope the invasion of Rafah is quick and thorough. The people responsible for October 7th need to pay a price high enough so that events like that will never happen again.

Acknowledging A Bad Decision

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On Wednesday, The Jewish News Syndicate reported that the Biden administration has admitted to blocking arms shipments to Israel over concerns that the arms will be used against Hamas in Rafah. The administration cites humanitarian concerns, but that is not a valid claim considering the extraordinary measures Israel has enacted to attempt to protect the civilian population. The problem is that while Israel is attempting to protect the civilian population by providing sanctuary areas and humanitarian supplies, Hamas is attempting to use the civilian population as human shields. So why are we protecting Hamas?

The article reports:

A senior official told CBS News that the United States last week stopped a delivery of thousands of heavy bombs over fears that they could be used during Israel’s military operation in Rafah.

…According to the official, Israel has not “fully addressed” U.S. concerns about the humanitarian situation for the over one million Gazans sheltering in Rafah city, and the administration is particularly concerned that 2,000-pound bombs could be used in densely populated parts of the city.

It marks the first time since the Hamas-led assault on the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7 and ensuing war in Gaza that Washington has held up arms supplies to its Middle Eastern ally.

No final decision has been made on whether Israel will receive the bombs shipment at a later date, the official clarified.

The Biden administration has not supported Israel. The so-called cease-fire deal that the Biden administration negotiated involved the swapping of dead hostages held by Hamas for live terrorists held by Israel. It is unknown at this time how many of the hostages taken on October 7 are still alive, but the Biden administration is doing very little to bring them home. The behavior of this administration is a disgrace.

The Price Of Following The Crowd

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It’s a pretty safe bet that less than one percent of the students protesting in support of Palestine have any idea of the history of the Middle East. Most of them are simply doing the ‘cool’ thing with their classmates (not realizing that the people who are encouraging them are paid agitators).  So essentially, these students are followers–not leaders–who did not fully investigate the facts before they followed. This is not a trait employers generally look for when hiring people. Protesting is legal, destroying property and denying access to students are not. The students’ treatment of their fellow students who were Jewish was also despicable.

On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon posted the following headline:

13 Federal Judges Say They Will No Longer Hire Law Clerks From Columbia University, Citing ‘Virulent Spread of Antisemitism’ and ‘Explosion of Student Disruptions’

The article reports:

Thirteen federal judges said Monday that they would no longer hire law clerks from Columbia College or Columbia Law School after the university allowed an encampment on its lawn to spiral into a destructive occupation of a campus building. The judges cited the “explosion of student disruptions” and the “virulent spread of antisemitism” at Columbia, which has now canceled its main graduation ceremony because of the unrest.

Led by appellate judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, who spearheaded a clerkship boycott of Yale Law School in 2022 and Stanford Law School in 2023, as well as by Matthew Solomson on the U.S Court of Federal Claims, the judges wrote in a letter to Columbia president Minouche Shafik that they would no longer hire “anyone who joins the Columbia University community—whether as undergraduates or as law students—beginning with the entering class of 2024.”

“Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts or threats of violence or terrorism,” the judges wrote. “It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct.”

Actions have consequences. Tuition and housing at Columbia University costs approximately $85,000 a year. That’s a lot of money to pay for an education that, because of the actions of some students, disqualifies you from an entire group of jobs.

The Islamist Threat

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

Conservatism consists of a strong commitment to the values and principles embedded in U.S. Constitution, many of which have their basis in Judeo/Christian traditions. The idea of America as a “melting pot,” able to absorb people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, is not absolute. It requires that immigrants who come accept and practice American values and principles and unite with other Americans. This is why immigrants are not freely granted citizenship, but must earn it through the process of becoming “naturalized citizens.” It is unwise and unrealistic to assume that immigrants from all other cultures in the world will be willing to accept this requirement. Unless immigrants are willing to accept the traditions and values of America, we risk becoming a nation of tribes rather than being united.

For the purpose of this discussion, I am defining “Islamist” as someone who is committed to the idea that anyone who is not a Muslim is an infidel and must ultimately be made to conform to their beliefs and practices as enumerated in the Koran. I assume that not all Muslims believe this. Islamists are intolerant and committed to the use of violence to obtain their objectives. The people who attacked us on September 11, 2001, were Islamist terrorists. The group known as Hamas, who barbarically slaughtered over 1200 Jewish men, women and children on Oct 7, 2023, are Islamist terrorists. A committed Islamist has no interest in conforming to the principles and values of America. Period. Unfortunately, there are many on the Marxist Left in this country who refuse to acknowledge this reality; in large part, because they themselves do not value America.

The Biden regime, through its open borders policies without proper vetting, has allowed high numbers of Islamist extremists into this country. We are beginning to see the impact on college campuses and warnings from by FBI director Christopher Wray as a result. Now the Biden regime is considering admitting so- called “refugees” from Gaza directly to the United States. This despite the construction of a port to facilitate the shipping of up to 9 billion dollars of so-called humanitarian aid to Gaza. Why do we need to take in refugees if we are providing all this humanitarian aid? It should be noted that several Middle Eastern countries, like Egypt and Jordan, have refused to take Palestinian refugees from Gaza due to ongoing security concerns. In response to the Biden regime’s plan to start admitting Gazan refugees, 34 Republican senators have sent a letter to Biden expressing strong opposition to this plan.

The Biden regime continues to pressure Israel to declare a cease fire, allegedly, due to concern for civilian casualties. It should be remembered that the Palestinians in Gaza not only voted for Hamas, but a recent poll showed that a large majority supported the barbaric attack on Israel on Oct 7th. How would we have reacted in World War II, if our allies told us not to attack Japan after Pearl Harbor? Israel is faced with an existential threat from Hamas and other terrorist groups who will only be satisfied when Israel is destroyed and the Jews exterminated. Allowing people with this mind set into our country is the height of absurdity and typical of the Biden regime. We can see where this can lead on college campuses where many of the leaders or these so-called student protests are actually non-students funded by outside Hamas supporters.

Islamist terrorists not only want death to Jews, they also shout death to America. We should take them at their word.