Tag Archives: October 7

The Prisoners Exchanged

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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

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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.

A World Turned Upside Down

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On Friday, The Geller Report reported:

The West Bank city of Bethlehem, famous for being the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, has declared that they will be removing all decorations celebrating the annual holiday of Christmas.

“Bethlehem Municipality crews announced the dismantling of Christmas decorations installed several years ago in the city’s neighborhoods and removing all festive appearances in honor of the martyrs and in solidarity with our people in Gaza,” the municipality wrote on Facebook.
Why are the festivities being canceled?

A spokesperson for the city also told the Telegraph “The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset; our people in Gaza are being massacred and killed in cold blood.”

“Therefore, it is not appropriate at all to have such festivities while there is a massacre happening in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank.

The massacre happened on October 7th. That was an attack on civilians. What is happening in Gaza right now is an attack on military targets. I am sorry that the people in Bethlehem are upset, were they this upset after October 7th?

After The Damage Has Been Done…

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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.

Why Has It Taken A Month For This To Be Reported??

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On Sunday, Todd Starnes posted an article noting that one of the prisoners kidnapped on October 7th was a 3-year-old American.

The article reports:

The admission came in the second paragraph of a press briefing released Sunday by the White House.

“He (Biden) expressed his appreciation to Qatar and Sheikh Tamim personally for his earlier efforts to secure the release of hostages from Hamas, including two American citizens, and the urgent ongoing efforts to secure additional releases. He condemned unequivocally the holding of hostages by Hamas, including many young children, one of whom is a 3-year old American citizen toddler, whose parents were killed by Hamas on October 7th. The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay.”

White House

There are thirteen Americans who are still being held captive by Hamas.

The article concludes:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the kidnapping of babies, but it was unclear whether he was referring specifically to the American child.

“Imaging a baby is held hostage. Who takes a baby hostage,” he said on CNN. “What is this, taking children hostage? Threatening to kill them? This is savagery of the highest order. We’re doing everything in our power to achieve two things: one, destroy Hamas, because without it, none of us have a future.”

“It’s not only our war. It’s your war too, its the battle of civilization against barbarism. If we don’t win here, this scourge will pass to other places. The Middle East will fall, Europe is next, you’ll be next. The first goal is to destroy Hamas and the second goal is to bring back our hostages. We’re trying to do both,” he added.

For what it’s worth, Biden should tell Hamas they have 24 hours to release all of our people or else Gaza City will become the world’s largest glass parking lot. But I’m not sure the president has the courage or the mental capacity to deliver on such a threat.

It is time for America to demand the release of all the hostages. We need to remember what happened to the Iranian hostages as soon as Ronald Reagan was elected President.

Don’t Know Or Don’t Care?

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On Thursday, The New York Post posted an article about how some of the pro-Hamas protestors in England view recent and current events in the Middle East.

The article includes the following:

Two girls interviewed at one pro-Hamas protest in London were asked what their reaction was when they first learned that Hamas had attacked Israel on October 7.

“I don’t believe they did, did they,” said one.

“Honestly, I think I need to be a bit more clued up on everything that’s going on, so I feel I’m not really qualified to answer that too well,” said the other.

Well, she appeared to feel “qualified” enough to turn up at an anti-Israel demo.

Her friend, holding a banner, actually said, “I mean, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything that shows that that’s actually happened.”

That is frightening.

The article continues:

These two ignoramuses should have come to Israel with me this week.

Specifically, they should have come to the site of the music festival massacre, and seen the remains of that “peace rave” where people their age, and very similar to them, were gunned down and raped just as the party was “coming up.”

Or perhaps they should have come with me to the small community of Nir Oz on the border of Gaza.

I have been to kibbutzim like this many times in the past. The citizens of these small towns and communities are often very left-wing. Often “peaceniks.” They have been accustomed to rockets for years.

Douglas Murray, the author of the article, walked through some of the areas that were attacked on October 7th. The article includes pictures of the destruction. We should not be concerned about the Israeli attack on the military strongholds in Gaza, we need to be concerned about the monsters that attacked innocent civilians and butchered them while celebrating their actions. The people who purposely killed women, young children and babies on October 7th need to be killed themselves. There is no chance of rehabilitation.

Does Anyone Else Have A Problem With This?

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On Thursday, The U.K Daily Mail reported that a CNN journalist was embedded with Hamas on October 7th and had prior knowledge of the attack. CNN has since fired the journalist.

The article reports:

CNN has ‘suspended all ties’ with a freelance photojournalist who appears to have been embedded with Hamas on October 7 at the time of the terror group’s barbaric assault on Israel. 

Hassan Eslaiah has been filing photographs of the conflict to CNN and The Associated Press since the Hamas attack on October 7. They include images of a burning Israeli tank from which soldiers were kidnapped.

Now, photos have emerged of him posing with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. He also posted a now-deleted video to Twitter in which he described how Hamas fighters kidnapped Israeli soldiers from the burning tank. 

The article concludes:

Honest Reporting notes that photographers Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih ‘happened to be at the border just in time for Hamas’ infiltration.’

In response to the reporters, a Reuters spokesperson said that the agency acquired pictures on October 7 from photographers that it did not previously have a relationship with. 

‘The photographs published by Reuters were taken two hours after Hamas fired rockets across southern Israel and more than 45 minutes after Israel said gunmen had crossed the border. Reuters staff journalists were not on the ground at the locations referred to in the HonestReporting article,’ the statement also reads.  

‘Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and The New York Times, notify these outlets? Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically,’ the HonestReporting feature read. 

In his video front of attack, Eslaiah appears to be wearing his own clothes and is not identifiable as a member of the media. 

In 2021, it was widely reported that the Associated Press used the same office space as Hamas in Gaza. 

Eslaiah was previously pictured in a loving embrace with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an undated photo. 

Honest Reporting was founded by veteran Israeli journalist Gil Hoffman. Its motto is the ‘audience deserves to know.’ 

‘When international news agencies decide to pay for material that has been captured under such problematic circumstances, their standards may be questioned and their audience deserves to know about it,’ one section of their report on Eslaiah reads.

‘And if their people on the ground actively or passively collaborated with Hamas to get the shots, they should be called out to redefine the border between journalism and barbarism.’ 

There should be a more severe penalty for withholding information about a surprise attack on innocent civilians.

Standing Strong

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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

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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.

Why Are We Just Learning This?

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On Tuesday, The Gateway Pundit reported that Hamas is currently blocking about 500 Americans stranded in Gaza from leaving.

The article reports:

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) spoke the plain truth about the nearly 500 Americans in Gaza not being allowed to leave by Hamas: They are being held hostage by the Islamist Palestinian terrorist group. The nearly 500 are in addition to the “less than ten” Americans known to have been taken hostage in the October 7 terror attack by Hamas on Israel. The Biden administration has said Hamas has been making demands for their release that the U.S. is not prepared to meet.

Only two American have been allowed to leave Hamas-controlled Gaza since the October 7 attack that saw 1,400 Israelis and 33 Americans killed. Over 200 Israelis and “less than ten” Americans were taken hostage in the attack and are being held by Hamas. Four hostages have been released: the two Americans referenced above and two Israelis. One Israeli was rescued this week by the IDF and Shin Bet.

…Blackburn followed with a statement calling on National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to resign, “Hamas is preventing 500 American citizens from being able to leave Gaza. These Americans are considered hostages under federal law. @JakeSullivan46 needs to resign immediately.”

The article also notes:

Blackburn signed on to a letter by a group of Republican senators denouncing Joe Biden’s proposal for $9 billion in “humanitarian assistance” for Gaza that said in part, “there is no way for the U.S. to have proper oversight over the billions of dollars that the administration intends to funnel to Gaza when Gaza is being ruled by a terrorist organization.”

I know that we have Americans working in Gaza–running schools and helping the poor, but 500? It’s time to destroy the people running Gaza. There will be civilian casualties, but the status quo is unacceptable.

Hudna?

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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 Truth Is Too Gruesome To Watch

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On Monday, William A. Jacobson posted an article at Legal Insurrection about the atrocities of October 7.

The article states:

“I just saw indescribable, raw footage of Hamas’ massacre along with 100 other international journalists”

We reported yesterday that Israel was planning on providing a viewing of raw footage from Hamas and other terrorist bodycams, Israeli dashcams, and security cameras, in light of the denialism being spread about Hamas butchery.

That showing took place today:
These are some of the things shown:

The footage was collected from call recordings, security cameras, Hamas terrorists’ body cameras, victim dashboard cameras, Hamas and victims’ social media accounts, and cellphone videos taken by terrorists, victims and first responders. Over 1,000 civilians were slaughtered by the terrorists, and at least 224 people were abducted.

In one pair of videos that were screened, Hamas terrorists are seen dressed in IDF uniforms, flagging down passing cars and then shooting their occupants.

In another video, first responders are seen pouring bottled water over still-smoldering bodies, hoping to snuff out the remaining embers.

In another, a man writhes on the ground, bleeding from his stomach, as a terrorist tries repeatedly to decapitate him with farming equipment. The man appears to be southeast Asian, possibly one of Israel’s foreign agricultural workers.

In another clip, from after the assault, an Israeli woman is seen trying to work out if a partially burned woman’s corpse, with a mutilated head, is that of a family member. The dead woman’s dress is pulled up to her waist and her underpants have been removed.

Major Gen. Mickey Edelstein, who briefed reporters after the viewing, said that “we have evidence” of rape but “we cannot share it,” declining to elaborate further….

In the second segment, captured through a call recording application on a victim’s phone, a different son reaches out to a different father. “Dad, I killed 10 with my bare hands,” the terrorist excitedly tells his father in Gaza. “Their blood is on my hands, let me speak to Mom.”

“Please be proud of me, Dad,” he adds.

There is no way anyone can justify this. The article continues, but it is very difficult to read. Follow the link at your own risk.

The Cost Of Unarmed Citizens

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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.