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The So Called Experts promised Peace with Gaza-the Jews got Death
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God’s miracle-99% success rate on 14April2024 against Iran’s 331 Missile-drone AttackThe Karens, Criminals, Narcissistic Megalomaniac Nannycrats and Naughty Beasts want ‘Pandemic Amnesty’
Then you have the “EVIL Vaxers” and their Zombies
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God’s miracle-99% success rate on 14April2024 against Iran’s 331 Missile-drone Attack
This is a must read. “I wanted to share something that is much more than a feeling. Something that comes from a real calculation: What happened in Israel on last Motzaei Shabbat was not less than the scale of the splitting of the Red Sea. I am a Professor of physics and I worked for several years in the defense industry in Israel, in projects that are still the cutting edge technologies of the defence of the State of Israel. When I look at what happened on Motzai Shabbat, on a scientific level – it simply cannot happen!! Statistically. The likelihood that everything, but really *Everything* works out, does not exist in complex systems Like the defense systems that were used to defend Israel from the massive Iranian attack. These systems have never, *but never*, not only in the State of Israel, been tried in real time!! I took a pencil and dived into the calculations to check the statistic probability that such a result would materialize. The large number of events that had to be handled, when each missile or UAV is handled independently (that is, human error or some deviation of one operation, is not offset by other successful operations), compounds the chance of making a mistake. With all the high technologies, a breach was expected In the defense of the skies of the State of Israel. Even if we got 90% protection it would have been a miracle!! What happened is that everyone, but everyone – the pilots, the systems operators and the technology operators acted as one man, at one moment in total unity. If this is not an act of G-d, then I no longer know what a miracle is. It is Greater than the victory of the Six Day War or the War of Independence. Those wars can also be explained through natural events. BUT The rescue that took place for the people of Israel on Motzai Shabbat is simply impossible naturally. I believe that this miracle saved the lives of many people from Israel. If the defense system had failed to intercept a number of cruise missiles, the result would have dragged us into a very complex war. I wouldn’t bet that next time it will work like this without Divine supervision. And we all saw, with our own eyes 99.9% !!! Thank You Hashem!!” M. Abitbol
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If Only You Had Listened:A Prophet For His Time18 Marcheshvan 5784 02November2023 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-prophet-for-his-time.html
Today is the 33rd yahrzeit of Rabbi Meir David Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d. When HKB”H chose to take me as His daughter, He appointed for me the best teacher of Torah available to me, Rabbi Kahane, even though it was already seven years after his passing. I learned from his books as well as directly from his son, Rabbi Binyamin Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d, and his students, primarily Menachem Gottlieb, Lenny Goldberg, Rabbi Levi Chazan and Rabbi Yehudah Richter.
I thank HKB”H with all my heart for the men and women (Rebbetzin Libby Kahane and Rebbetzin Talya Kahane, ztz”l, Hy”d) who carried on his legacy so that I and so many others, my own children and grandchildren included, could benefit from his Torah wisdom, his commitment to the Truth, and his fearless defense of it in every realm of his life.
How ironic that a man who has come to symbolize to the world a voice and face of “hatred,” was, in fact, filled to his very depths with an overwhelming and completely unselfish love – for his G-D and for his people, to the point that he sacrificed his very life for both. As everyone today must admit (and many do) “Kahane was right!” He was a prophet for his time, a prophet for OUR time…
Rabbi Meir Kahane H”YD – Election Promotion Film 1988
==== I think this 2002 tribute that I wrote on the occasion of Rabbi Kahane’s 12th yahrzeit remains relevant, so I am reposting it here. The only thing I would add is that we should not view ourselves as eternally bereft because every generation has its own Mashiach ben Yosef and we are destined in our days to welcome the one who will complete the task.
12TH YAHRZEIT OF RABBI MEIR DAVID KAHANE ZT”L HY”D
On the occasion of HaRav Meir Kahane’s twelfth yahrtzeit, I humbly and respectfully offer the following essay in thanks and appreciation for the Torah that I learned from his writings. His memory is certainly a blessing for me and so should it be for all Am Israel.
On one of the videos of Rav Kahane which I had the privilege of viewing at the yeshiva which he established in Yerushalayim, he made the following statement: “You have a choice. You can have here Kahane or Arafat. If you don’t want Kahane, you will get Arafat.” And as the saying goes, “Today, everyone knows that Kahane was right.”</i
From our inception as a nation until now, we have had only one choice…blessing or curse. Once we accepted the Torah, it was a given that we would certainly fulfill it as we pledged to do, but by which course? Willingly, out of love and obedience? Or, G-d forbid, by force of punishment and through terrible suffering and fear?
This is the picture of Redemption-in-Haste or Redemption-in-its-Time, a subject which figured prominently in Rav Kahane’s writings. Many of the Rabbi’s students believe that he was Mashiach ben Yosef. But we know from our sources that it was not a given that Mashiach ben Yosef would have to die. We also know that Mashiach ben Yosef can be both a person and a process, but if so, it would be plausible to assume that their fates would be interwoven. Can a case be made for this idea? I offer the following for your consideration.
The State of Israel, from it’s beginnings as a yishuv, was not recognized by his brothers, the majority of world Jewry, because he appeared too much like an “Egyptian.” The mostly secular Zionists were not at all what religious Jews expected to see as the hand of G-d restoring Zion. However, in time, it became clear to most that the return to the Jewish homeland would uniquely provide for the physical survival of the Jewish people just as Yosef had done during the famine in Egypt. Just as Yosef’s going down into Egypt eventuated in the nurturing of the family of Ya’akov into a nation of millions, so has the State of Israel uniquely provided for the Jewish people to return to its homeland and renew itself as a nation. But it has provided for something else as well, something which might not appear to be so desirable at first glance, but which was altogether necessary. It has uniquely provided for the re-emergence and re-identification of the mixed multitude—the Erev Rav.
Only with the reappearance of Yosef, would we be able bring the Erev Rav out into the open. (And how the Erev Rav bark and bite and foam at the mouth whenever Kahane is in sight or hearing.) Mashiach ben Yosef is what makes it possible for Amiel Vardi to go out on the Sabbath and help Arabs harvest olives near Itamar. When threatened by Jewish residents of the area with warning shots, what was his response? Did he tell them that he was a fellow Jew? According to the newspaper report, Vardi said: “I am an Israeli. If you go on shooting, you will hit an Israeli.” The process of Mashiach ben Yosef is what makes it possible this week for a leading newspaper to refer to young residents of the Shomron as “skinheads in tzitziot” and for the politicians to “regret” the desecration of Shabbat for the dismantlement of Jewish homes and synagogues while warning about the threat halacha poses to the “rule of law.”
As Divrei Chayim says, “…they want to rule over the masses…” and as such they think they will kill Yosef and thereby destroy the Jews forever. Little do they know that this only hastens their own demise. They were only able to kill Rav Kahane because he was the last chance for Redemption-in-Haste. If he had been able to bring about the advent of Mashiach ben David through the democratic process of elections, Mashiach ben Yosef did not have to die—not Rav Kahane and not the State of Israel. But because of our many sins, we did not merit it and so Mashiach ben Yosef did die and so Mashiach ben Yosef will die, only to be resurrected by the hand of Mashiach ben David as the renewed Kingdom of Israel in the future.
It is no coincidence that the Persian Gulf War was launched only weeks after Rav Kahane’s cruel assassination. For the first time in the history of the modern State of Israel, the Jews failed to take the responsibility and initiative to defend themselves against an aggressor. The government in power was paralyzed by inaction as its people sat shaking in fear in sealed rooms with gas masks over their faces. Hints of things to come. Little did we know then that Rav Kahane’s removal paved the way for the Oslo death machine to roll into place. The rest, as they say, is history.
G-d, in His mercy, allowed us the comfort of Rav Binyamin Kahane’s words of truth and sanity to sustain us for a few more years, but our fate was already sealed. And since we did not listen and heed and act when it was time for such things, what have we arrived at today?
Today, we have the false messiah Effi Eitam heading the equally false religious-Zionist party Mafdal. When Effi Eitam rose so quickly to public prominence shortly after leaving the army on “principle,” it was legitimate to examine his words and actions and to determine what role he would play in our continuing drama. The favorable play given to his in-depth and detailed interview in Ha’aretz just as he took control of the NRP should have been a clue. Only after I heard him speak in English telling an audience of his supporters why the new security fence was a good and desirable thing was it clear to me that he had been planted by the evil regime as a decoy, a bone thrown to the religious public to make them think that they still had a voice in the government. What dupes we can be!
But Kahane was too extremist, so now we have Effi Eitam, a tranquilizer to calm us as we are herded like the faithless sheep we are straight to the spiritual slaughter…or so they think. As Redemption-in-its-Time progresses, the dawn is lightening on the horizon ever more and with the additional light, we are seeing more clearly than ever.
What happened at Pesach this last year? We are keenly aware that something happened. There was a shift of some sort in our reality. Suddenly, the army was back in Shechem and Hevron and even Aza! But, if these are the birthpangs of Mashiach that we are suffering through, where are we in the birth process? If we have taken the upper hand against our enemy, the Arabs, why do we not see more success?
We are facing a double enemy—a two-headed monster. The Erev Rav work hand-in-hand with the Arabs against us. People were getting too close to the light—too close to seeing the truth of our situation, so the battle shifted to a different realm. Tactics were changed, that’s all. Without stopping terror completely, the emphasis began to be placed in the political arena. I would suggest to you that the Arabs and Amalek have formed an alliance while Eisav has allied itself with the Erev Rav, so that all of our traditional enemies hover over the faithful of Hashem waiting for the opportunity to make the thrust that will finish us off for good.
Amalek is not only to be found among the indigenous peoples of the region, but as our history has proven time and again, it exists among the people of Europe. Is it any wonder that the EU is so very supportive of the so-called Palestinians?
And as for Eisav, he whom our sages told us was Edom/Rome and represents the Christian world, America stands as the prime representative and inheritor of that title. The so-called Christian Zionists are enamoured with the State of Israel and its leaders and politicians. They have regular love-fests, both here and abroad, where they all heap love and admiration on each other. The Erev Rav call for the West’s support because “we are a democracy just like you.” And the West responds, “We must support Israel because it is a democracy just like us. We share a Judeo-Christian heritage.”
When we will have become thoroughly and completely Americanized, G-d forbid!, we will have ceased to be the unique and treasured nation of G-d. Today, the only thing that has so far prevented this is the continuing war for physical survival. A ‘blessing’ in disguise. This is a battle on another front and we are fighting them all simultaneously—fighting for both physical and spiritual survival. While Amalek/Ishmael kill our bodies, Eisav/Erev Rav want to destroy our very souls. We should cease to be Jews and become democracy-worshiping Israelis instead.
An important lesson was taught this past Shabbat, but how many are willing to learn? We can only hope that Rav Kahane did not foresee the depths to which we would sink in our degradation at the hands of the Erev Rav. The lauded IDF stands today in disarray because soldiers were coerced by their commanders into violating the Shabbat through lies and subterfuge. As the Divrei Chayim says, “…they want to rule over the masses…”
One young soldier in a Nachal Chareidi unit, those established to enable fervently religious young men to serve in the army without compromising their religious principles, is not surprised. He tells of his chagrin at hearing the commander’s opening speech to the new recruits in which he informs them that the army is the means by which they will be mainstreamed into Israeli society. And this is no secret, that the army serves the regime as it’s change agent. Newspapers regularly report this aim at every opportunity they take to fault the chareidi public for not meekly acquiescing to self-annihilation.
The vaunted Jewish army which accepts goyim and attempts to turn them into faux-Jews through their own conversion courts and who allows 7,000 Christians to take their oath of allegiance on the Christian Bible; who, despite the pleas of hesder yeshiva rabbis, has begun mixing men and women in combat units and who brags to the world that their purity and morality rests on the fact that Jewish young men were sacrificed to save the lives of Arab women and children who by some accounts assisted and aided the terrorists in their midst. If we’d had our eyes wide open, we would not be so surprised.
The Arabs want to kill our bodies and we know this because we are bleeding and dying and burying our dead. We see the wounded and cover the graves and we know we have an enemy. Rav Kahane wanted us to understand that we have another enemy, no less lethal. He called it a modern-day Hellenism and the Erev Rav leads the way to spiritual destruction at their hands
How appropriate it is that we find ourselves at this occasion coming into the weeks just prior to Chanukah, that very holiday which commemorates our battle and victory over the Hellenists—the battle to remain loyal to our Holy Torah! And the purification of the Beit Hamikdash stands at the center of that story.
Denial of the Torah and our destruction as a unique nation are the goals which drive our enemies. Our identity and the realization of our destiny is bound up with one particular spot of earth which lies atop Har HaMoriah and this is not only our heart—our lifeblood—but the key to the end of everything.
From the beginning, the Zionists were not interested in keeping the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years, stories have been written in the papers about how the city could have been taken in 1948, but certain orders never came. And of course, everyone knows, to our shame, how the Defense Minister gave over the Mount to the Arabs in 1967. We can follow the whole sad, sorry story right up until today when Jews are not even allowed to set foot upon Har Habayit. Those with limited vision wonder how it is that the Israeli government is so afraid of Arab reaction that it would not enforce its own laws regarding freedom of access to religious holy sites there.
Mashiach ben Yosef is both dead and dying. If we had any doubts, the destruction and continuing desecration of Kever Yosef is testimony to the truth of it. What stands between us and our holiest place in this world? When one looks, he sees the WAKF guards and the Israeli police. They work together hand-in-glove and anyone who has ever ascended to Hashem’s holy place knows how chummy they are together. They have much more in common with each other than they do with the religious Jews who go up to present themselves before Hashem.
The evil regime which is in the hands of the Erev Rav has common cause with the Amalekim and Ishmaelim and together with Edom/Rome/Am-reika, they intend to see the establishment of a Palestinian State with the Old City of Jerusalem as its capital, an event, thank G-d!, which will never come about, but they don’t yet know that. The only thing they fear is that Jews will come into possession of Har Habayit and begin to build a Temple there. This is why they must see to it that the Arabs remain in control and possession of it at all costs. This is why they stood by while the Mount was plundered and raped. This is what ensures their own survival, or so they think.<
The fact is that their power is in some mystical way tied to their control of Har Habayit. Our Sages have taught us that the Ishmaelim would have control of it for 1300 years in the merit of brit milah. How this enables the Erev Rav, I do not understand, but one thing I highly suspect is that the bulging and crumbling of the supporting walls is a sign to us that their power is crumbling as well. The best experts on the subject have said that it is no longer a question of “if,” but only “when” the wall will fall. And newspapers have been quick to point out that the Israeli government will reap the blame if anything goes wrong there. How ironic can it be that in their attempt to wipe out every vestige of evidence of our right to the place, it would only bring it down on their own heads.
Recently, I wrote an essay describing the idea that history is not so much linear as it is circular. If we look at these three in a circular fashion, we see that the Temple precedes appointing a king. This shows us that before Mashiach ben David will come to power, the Arabs and the Erev Rav will lose control of Har Habayit. We begin with Akeidat Yitzchak atop Har HaMoriah and end with the Beit Hamikdash HaShlishit.
Har Habayit is the key as Chanuka reminds us. It is the key to remaining Jewish; to remaining true to Torah; to retaining possession of the land; and to bringing in the final redemption. What else can we understand from Chanuka? That our mitzva is to publicize the miracle of lights with Light.
In this time in which we are suffering the death of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David has not yet been revealed to us, what can we do? Each person must strengthen himself and those within his realm of influence. Look for the light of redemption that is breaking through in many places and reflect it out into every dark corner. Look for G-d’s hand in every event of our lives and make it known to as many as you can.
Devash ====
The events we are living today are preparing the way for an entire nation to heed the words of Mashiach ben Yosef and follow his lead. That is the silver lining (and the purpose) for all that we are enduring.
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Defy Divine commandments at your own peril; abide by the Divine guidance or risk courting your own downfall.
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Psalm 20:7 These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we call on the name of HASHEM our God. |
תהילים פרק כח: אֵ֣לֶּה בָ֭רֶכֶב וְאֵ֣לֶּה בַסּוּסִ֑ים וַֽאֲנַ֓חְנוּ בְּשֵׁם־יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣ינוּ נַזְכִּֽיר׃ |
Quoth the Raven
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The Sin of the Golden Calf is Still With Us
21 Adar Alef 5784 01 March 2024 https://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-sin-of-golden-calf-is-still-with-us.html
From the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary on Parashat Ki Tisa…
Can anyone else see that we are still repeating the sins of the past instead of rectifying them??? Hashem yerachem! ~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
This is exactly what a coup looks like
– דחיית הגשת תוכנית לכיבוש רפיח (נצחון) לקבינט ע”י הרמטכ”ל, – בגידתו של גלנט בקואליציה, – נסיעתו החתרנית של גנץ לוושינגטון, – חידוש מרד קפלן, – התדרוך של ברק שצריכים בחירות עד יוני כדי להקים מדינה פלשתינית, – הודעת ליברמן הבקר שצריכים בחירות עכשיו. ככה בדיוק נראית הפיכה. – Postponing the submission of a plan for the occupation of Rafah (Victory) to the Cabinet by the Chief of Staff,
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Why won’t Muslim countries accept Palestine Refugees ?
New York City-WOLPalestine with Hand Grenade
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Comment: T. Belman. At its core is the belief that peace is possible rather than the belief that there will never be peace. The left has long believed that what is necessary is to improve the living standards of the “Palestinians” in order to acheive peace. This a fantasy, not reality. There will never be peace. The Intelligence Failure of October 7 – Roots and Lessonsby Amnon Sofrin November 2023 https://jstribune.com/sofrim-the-intelligence-failure-of-october-7-roots-and-lessons/ Hamas’ sudden attack on the kibbutzim and the towns neighboring the Gaza Strip caught the IDF and the country by total surprise. During the first 24 hours, beginning at 6:30 in the morning of October 7, the Hamas Nukhba (name of the commando troops, means “elite”) and those who came in with them conquered and held an area of about 4-5 kilometers depth inside Israel, and in places penetrated well beyond that. The lack of any forewarning accounted also for the confused and disorganized, albeit often individually heroic, actions of the military and the police throughout the day.
What went wrong? How could Israel’s intelligence community have failed to “ring the bell”? To understand we have to analyze both the failure at the strategic level of analysis and the collapse at the tactical level of collection and detection. The strategic levelHamas’ leaders planned the attack over a long time and at an impressively high level of secrecy. We presume, based on what we know at this stage, that the planning for this operation began in 2021 and was carried out by Hamas leaders in Gaza Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar with a small group of people. The planning was very detailed; each unit was assigned a specific mission with files prepared for each targeted community and military base.
While the Hamas units had no prior idea as to what their mission would be before the morning of the attack, they were trained on generic models of an Israeli kibbutz as well as on models of Israeli tanks, bases and other targets. They were also studying the points of penetration above ground, once the attack tunnels system (of which there were more than 30 in 2014) were put out of use. And yet these activities went on without setting off alarms on the Israeli side.
At the strategic level of analysis in the Israeli intelligence community, as well as among the political decision makers and the highest military echelon, a widely-held groupthink took hold: namely, that Hamas was adapting to the duties of governance. Thus, Israel was willing to make sure that the economic situation in the Gaza strip would improve – by allowing the monthly delivery of money from Qatar (in suitcases – since the Palestinian Authority blocked the use of the banking system for these transactions); and by allowing more people from Gaza to work in Israel. The governing assumption, which seemed to be confirmed by events, was that Hamas’ leadership would have no incentive to launch a new confrontation with Israel since it would continue to focus on improving the lives of Gaza residents.
Moreover, the prevailing belief was that the Hamas leadership was deterred from new attacks after suffering what the IDF claimed, perhaps too conveniently, were serious losses inflicted by the Israeli Air Force during the fighting in May 2021. This groupthink seemed to be reaffirmed when Hamas chose twice, in August 2022 and again in May 2023, to stay out of the fighting when the IDF attacked leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, leading to short rounds of fighting. Hamas did not interfere, and Israel’s decision makers saw this as confirmation that Hamas was deterred and had no incentive to launch another major confrontation with Israel, at least for some years (given that seven years had passed between the fighting in 2014 and the Hamas rocket attacks in 2021).
Another aspect of the intelligence failure – which wove together the strategic level of analysis and the tactical level of collecting and assessing Hamas’ military capabilities – was the lack of knowledge and understanding of the remarkable improvement in Hamas’ ability to launch such an organized and coordinated attack, and the nature of the simple but effective devices it acquired – with help from Iran – in order to overcome Israel’s defenses. The tactical levelTo understand this failure it is necessary to revisit Israel’s growing tendency to rely on its well-established technological advantages. The surveillance system deployed along the border was based on a range of remote-controlled sensors – ground radars, cameras, and so-called “see and shoot” systems – which gathered the information and transmitted it backwards to a control room manned by young and skilled soldiers, often female. Each one of them was an expert on the territory on which she was focused.
Some of these soldiers sense that what was happening was unusual, watching Hamas activists training on Israeli models. They reported to their commanders: but the latter, until very late in the day, did not pay much attention to these reports, since the belief was “Hamas is deterred.” (On October 6, there was a sense at the high command and in the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, that something was up, but very limited actions were taken and there was no expectation of an early morning attack the next day).
Moreover, the sensors deployed along the border lines were well recognized by Hamas’ intelligence gathering, and since they were remote-controlled they were very vulnerable to attack by relatively simple means, such as explosive devices or hand grenades dropped from small drones. The IDF’s Gaza Division, deployed along the border, relied also on the complex obstacles built all around Gaza Strip border and considered it to be impassable. With three of the observation balloons down for a variety of reasons, the IDF was all the more easy to blind on the day of the attack. The AttackHamas gathered information over a long time. They knew exactly which sensors were observing which areas. They followed the IDF’s units’ reactions to specific provocations – how long it took to reinforce the area, on what roads reinforcements were moving, and other relevant patterns of deployment. They learned, through workers from Gaza who collected such information for them, about possible points of entry to military bases and civilian communities.
On October 7, early in the morning, the Nukhba of Hamas were called and briefed on their real missions. Each unit was equipped with a large amount of weapon systems and ammunition, food and water that were meant to enable them to stay inside Israel for a long time. At the opening phase they neutralized the communication systems connecting the sensors to the control center by using drones that attacked the surveillance posts with hand grenades and bombs. The control centers were blinded and could not tell where the breaks through the physical obstacle were taking place. In order to isolate the area and prevent reserve units from getting there, they landed activists using paragliders that set blockades on the main roads leading to the area.
The Hamas troops then broke into the Gaza Division Headquarters, close to the border, and cut off all communications from there. The Division commander, besieged within the base (with his family), could not communicate with other units, nor with his superiors (or with Air Force assets). Thus the higher echelons – the Southern Region Command HQ in Beersheva and the GHQ in Tel Aviv – were not at first fully aware of the extent of the attack and were relying on civilian calls for help to understand where the Hamas invaders were carrying out their bloody massacres. ConclusionsSince the groupthink about Hamas being deterred prevailed at the higher echelons, the operational and tactical levels were also under that impression. They relied too much on the technology – the huge and sophisticated barrier, which cost 3 billion shekels (about 850 million dollars) to build, the surveillance systems and remote-controlled fire centers. At worst, they assumed that a few Hamas activists, at most, would try to cross the border and abduct a soldier or a resident to negotiate the release of people imprisoned in Israel (as happened in 2006 in the case of the soldier Gilad Shalit). The assumption was that if that were to happen, they would receive ample early warning sufficient to thwart such an attack.
Nobody within the Israeli intelligence community had the imagination to believe Hamas would be able to carry out such a complicated and coordinated attack and to succeed in killing so many people and abducting 240 hostages, carrying them to Gaza. If at all, such plans and capabilities were ascribed to the Radwan Force – Hizbullah’s equivalent (and role model) of Hamas’ Nukhba. IDF training exercises did have such Hizbullah scenarios. But the notion that Hamas would be capable of carrying out a massive attack was not given serious consideration.
The intelligence failure of October 7, 2023 had a predecessor 50 years and one day earlier, on October 6, 1973, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack. Both failures can be traced to Israel’s penchant for groupthink.
Israel’s intelligence technologies and overall capabilities have improved enormously in the 50 years since Yom Kippur 1973. But the intellectual failure in both cases was similar. The results this time were in many ways more tragic than those of the Yom Kippur War.
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Israeli Parliament Members Break Down After Watching Videos of Hamas Atrocities on October 7“I can’t talk about the content, I can’t talk about the feelings. Just one sentence: never forget and never forgive.”Posted by Mary Chastain 1November2023 https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/11/israeli-parliament-members-break-down-after-watching-videos-of-hamas-atrocities-on-october-7/ https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/11/israeli-parliament-members-break-down-after-watching-videos-of-hamas-atrocities-on-october-7/
They likely saw videos shown to journalists:
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Do Not Weep. Lead2November2023 https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=839&lang=2 Israel’s triumphant blow over the enemy must be not only military, but also in the place most painful for it, the loss of the land that the enemy mistakenly imagined belonged to him. It is time for sovereignty.Yehudit Katsover and Nadia MatarLet us begin with four basic insights, axioms that we must instill in our consciousness:
Axiom 1: Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PLO) are one. Both organizations share the same aspirations, the same means, the same rhetoric, the same religion, and the same Koran. Axiom 2: The world is hypocritical and loves Jews only when they are wallowing in their own blood. The moment that Jews rise and fight for their lives, they lose international legitimacy. Axiom 3: Evolution in the Middle East dictates that the weak has not, does not, and will not survive. Axiom 4: The State of Israel was not established to ensure the survival of the Jewish people, but for a much more profound and substantive purpose, to bring divine justice to the world. We must act on the basis of these four fundamental insights.
There is no logic to decide to strike only in Gaza because the catastrophic disaster that took place on Simĥat Torah originated in Gaza. The Israeli strike should be painful and severe in the places that are the most painful for the enemy. Only then will they bow their heads and understand that the Jewish people are not to be trifled with.
The most powerful blow we can deliver to the enemy is the loss of territory. The application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley is not only a matter of historical and moral justice of the highest order, but also a decisive and triumphant blow against terrorism.
In order to implement this obvious step, there is no need for war, but a courageous decision by a courageous government and a courageous Knesset that understands the profound justice of the Jewish people living in its G-d given Biblical land.
Members of Knesset, government ministers, and Prime Minister, come to your senses! Do not go out to the media weeping and stunned after witnessing the horrors during the screening in the Knesset. Why were you surprised by these sights? Was it new for you? If so, you are divorced from reality.
Reality in its entirety cries out that if we don’t wake up, we are striding toward sights like these G-d forbid. So emerge from viewing these horrors with a clear and strong decision to respond to the enemy in a language that it understands.
The 217 trucks of humanitarian aid whose entry into Gaza you are enabling, are indications of weakness. These attest to the fact that the enemy’s lives are more precious to you than the lives of the hostages.
The reality in which the current government, which witnessed the horrors and vowed revenge, is still debating whether to commit the folly of transferring more money to the Palestinian Authority that funds terrorism, is a delusional reality.
Is there a reasonable person who believes this is the way that security can be achieved and that these are the Middle Eastern codes through which we can accomplish anything?
The time arrived long ago to change direction, to forsake the path of concessions, allowances, grants, and delusional hopes that our enemies will be on our side.
Now, when ever expanding circles have opened their eyes and seen the evil and the horror, we must instill fear and terror in our enemies with every means at our disposal. The first and most painful of these means is restoring the land back to Jewish hands and applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Gaza as well.
Leaders of Israel, do not wait for another black Shabbat to internalize this necessity. Apply sovereignty, settle the land, instill in the people a pioneering spirit, and learn from our wonderful people what determination, national pride, mutual responsibility, and striving for victory means.
With courage and unpredictability, we will also gain the appreciation of the United States and European countries. This is your great hour to prove leadership: apply sovereignty! |
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Sabrina Maddeaux: I watched Hamas hack innocents to death. The worst part was their gleeScreened footage showed literal streams of blood, hacked off arms and legs, and an infant missing part of its skull, brain leaking outPublished Nov 06November2023 • Last updated 06November2023 • https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sabrina-maddeaux-i-watched-hamas-hack-innocents-to-death-the-worst-part-was-their-glee
Over the span of 43 minutes, I watched 138 humans be murdered or witnessed their corpses, many brutalized beyond recognition and others clearly tortured, in the direct aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
That’s 3.2 bodies per minute— and less than 10 per cent of the more than 1,400 people killed that day.
The Consulate of Israel in Toronto screened the footage, taken from a mix of body cameras, dashboard cams, CCTV tapes, and victims’ cell phones, some used by Hamas to record and livestream their sadism, for a small group of media on Monday. Not everyone made it through the full 43 minutes, with others moved to tears and outbursts of emotion.
There were babies. Toddlers. So many children of all ages. Young men and women dressed for a music festival, not the wanton slaughter that saw their bloodied bodies piled atop one another in scenes reminiscent of some of the Holocaust’s worst images.
Parents. The elderly. A dad who, attempting to hide from Hamas attackers with his sons, all three of them still in their underwear, was blown up by a grenade in front of his children. The two young boys, covered in blood, crying, throwing themselves on the ground in grief, as a Hamas gunman raids the family’s fridge and takes a swig of soda. One of the sons’ panicked voice as he realizes he can no longer see out of one eye.
The man’s wife as kibbutz security bring her to identify her husband’s remains. The moment she literally collapses and has to be dragged away from the scene, thrashing wildly, her legs folding under her like every bone had simply vanished from her body.
A family attempting to decipher whether the burned remains in front of them, skirt hiked up above bare genitals, is the loved one they’re looking for.
The literal streams of blood, the hacked off arms and legs, the infant missing part of its skull, brain leaking out. The dog shot over and over again as its limbs splay in every direction until they don’t anymore. Mickey mouse pyjamas on a young corpse, skull fragments on floors, victims shot point blank. So much blood.
But none of what I’ve detailed so far was the worst part of those 43 minutes. The worst part was the glee.
The pure jubilation of Hamas terrorists as they filmed themselves killing and torturing; their excited voices bragging about their atrocities. The videos of them playing with victims’ heads with their feet, and excitedly shooting out the tires of a kibbutz’s ambulance before massacring its residents.
I’ll never forget the gore, but it’s the look of euphoria and pride in the terrorists’ eyes, cheering for the cameras as if they were the ones partying at a music festival that day, that will haunt me.
In the videos, Hamas attackers did not behave as soldiers or freedom fighters. They hunted their victims in their homes like serial killers in a horror film, peering through blinds, slashing through screen doors with knives, following families wherever they tried to run or hide. If they couldn’t find them, they’d use lighters to make sure fire did. They toyed with their victims’ lifeless bodies. They kept trophies, both physical and digital.
It’s unimaginable that anyone could watch this and still equate what happened on Oct. 7 to resistance or war. I’ve seen war footage; this was not that. These were terrorist attacks targeted at civilians and mass shootings of innocents. Hamas was indiscriminate in their cruelty, killing not for cause, but for pleasure.
I don’t know if the full footage will ever be made public, but if it ever is, every single Canadian should watch it to understand how far beyond any conceivable rules of engagement Hamas went, why this time was different, and why it must never, ever happen again.
National Post |
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Riding the charidee trainby Rivka Levy 28December2023 https://thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/riding-the-charidee-train/#top A couple of days ago, I got this email – even though I barely sign up for anything and I have no idea how they got my details.==== Hmm. No website…. no registered charity number…But I click the link and it takes me to the donation platform Rayze.it, and this strange message: ==== I’m not an expert on what brigades and battalions there are in the IDF.
Please, feel free to write to me and tell me exactly what this ‘910th Battalion’ is, because on the Wiki page listing the IDF’s brigades it’s not mentioned at all. Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s not.Point is: I have no idea. ==== So then, I start scooting around to see who exactly is running this slick marketing campaign for the 910th Battalion.Scrolling down that same page on the Rayze-it platform, I get to this: ==== They apparently already raised more than $16k….But who are they?
And what is the connection to ‘EZRAT ACHIM’?
Apparently, EZRAT ACHIM is this organisation, being run out of Bet Shemesh.
Again, I don’t know if this is real, legit, or not – take a look at their ‘War support‘ tab and see just how much expensive military gear seems to be cropping up in those pictures…
The point is – the POINT IS – so many organisations have just jumped on to ‘the war’ to tap into all that fundraising ‘good vibe’ that is currently washing all over the place.
And probably, at least some of them are very good and ‘legit’.
But I would caution you to be extremely careful about where your money is really going. ==== While we’re on the subject….
How much of the extra $1 billion + that was raised by the beginning of December by places like the ‘Jewish Joint’ and the ‘Jewish Federations of North America’ – how much of that do you think actually got to soldiers who need equipment, and evacuees who are stuck in hotels while their livelihood went down the pan?
If you check out the JDC’s page on their war effort for Israel…. it doesn’t really answer that question.
At all. ==== If you go to the Wayback Machine HERE and click through the ‘evolution’ of that fundraising page since October 7th – it still doesn’t really answer the question of where did all that extra money actually go?!?
This is a screenshot from November 20, 2023, where the JDC talks about what they were going to do with all that extra cash being so generously donated by the Jews of North America:
==== Maybe, all this happened and I just have totally, absolutely no idea about it.Set me straight, tell me all about your first-hand experiences of how this money got to those who really need it.
Because in my small dalet amot, I am seeing none of this happening around me.
What I AM seeing is amazing local volunteer efforts, with so many people giving their time, effort and money directly to the people who need it.
But nothing to do – at all – with the JDC. ==== Here’s their ‘Israel Emergency fundraising page’ from today:==== Does this sound like a ‘billion dollars’ worth to you?Does it sound like most of this stuff even went specifically to the people directly involved in the atrocity of October 7th?
Where was the government funding in all this – or are we meant to believe that those 8,300 ‘traumatised children and parents’ were only getting therapy funded by the JDC and nobody else?
Compare and contrast with the screenshot from November – you can see for yourself, they raised funds for one thing, and then basically spent most of those funds on stuff they were already doing.
(If, at all.) ==== OK, we’ll stop there. If our precious soldiers don’t have the equipment they need – let them come home already!And let this most corrupt of corrupt, failed States find a different way to ‘solve’ the Hamas problem it created itself – with yet more of our taxpayers’ money.
And is continuing to support, by sending more humanitarian aid to Gaza, (including things like steel girders….) which Hamas just steals anyway.
So the Hamas has the strength and ‘energy’ they need to continue fighting against our poor soldiers. ==== Personally, I have a way, way better place to be putting my charity money.It’s going to poor families who are learning Torah mamash lishma.
It’s going to keep the lights on at the shul down on Ido HaNavi.
It’s going to buy clothes for girls who can’t afford new skirts.
And it’s going, most of all, to try to ‘sweeten the judgments’ on our poor, battered nation, so that our soldiers can come home, the evil will fall – and no other precious Jew has to be killed or injured, on the path to geula.
BH, I will tell you more about that soon.==== While I was typing this up, my newly-married daughter called me from the supermarket.
She was totally shocked at how much money she just spend – even in Osher Ad – to buy basic groceries for a week.
I don’t know what’s happening by you, but here in Israel, a lot of the food prices are starting to shoot up in a very alarming way.
I really am starting to fear for large families who don’t have a lot of cash, about how they can continue to buy even basic staples for their kids.
In this failed State that spends 60-100 billion a year on a useless army, that apparently can’t predict or stop massive ‘terrorist attacks’, can’t provide soldiers with even basic stuff like helmets and waterproof tents, and apparently also can’t give the families of reservists even basic financial help so they don’t implode while the husband and father is away fighting its wars for them….
I am feeling more and more like there needs to be a huge, massive re-organisation of priorities, even if Moshiach takes another few decades to show up, God forbid.==== Make sure the kids have enough food – every single kid in the country.
Make sure the ‘holocaust survivors’ – many of whom are also used as fundraising fodder, in such a disgusting way – are cared for with dignity.
Stop spending all the money on hitech ‘start-ups’ that are just excuses to funnel taxpayers’ money from the poor to the super-rich-and-still-grasping-for-more people who run the show here – and everywhere else in the world.
All this ‘yuck’ just continues, until the small people stop buying into this warped paradigm, and start really, really calling out to Hashem to save us from the evil.
That’s our main job right now – it’s our only real option.
And boy, do we need to get on with doing that.
==== PS: This is a list of all the ‘official’ dead and wounded from the Gaza operation so far.
It’s already at well over a thousand…. 160+ dead, and well over 800 wounded.
We really need our soldiers back home, and out of the death trap that’s been carefully prepared for them by the same people who ‘let’ October 7 happen (at best….)
And someone else just sent me THIS interesting story, about Pfizer using wounded soldiers in Gaza for more medical experiments with zero informed-consent.
Sigh. Tatty, come and rescue us all already. Please. Reader’s Comments: Hi Rivka, I don’t give to any American Jewish Fundraisers nor do i respond (usually) to the rash of emails that come after an emergency situation. They are playing on people’ emotions. I go directly to the source.
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Update from the Ravby Rivka Levy 2November2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/update-from-the-rav-2/ Just cutting and pasting this from ravberland.com.It’s very powerful, from October 31, 2023, before the 16 soldiers were killed yesterday.
The Rav is the only source of ‘news’ I trust, at this point. From HERE. ==== Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland Shlit”a’s pained cry to say Tehilim for the protection of the Jewish people, especially now as our soldiers enter Gaza on the ground:Now I read the Rambam [Hilchot Ta’aniot 1:1-3]: It is a positive Torah commandment, that all those who say Tehilim are fulfilling a positive Torah commandment, because now it is “a time of stress for Jacob, but he will be saved from it” (Yirmiyahu 30:7).
50,000 soldiers enter Gaza now. Every day, they progress only 100 meters. More than 100 meters isn’t possible. ==== Already there are two seriously injured. In the merit that girls took onto [themselves to dress] modestly, and to lengthen their dresses, in the meantime not a single soldier has been killed.This is something that is above the natural order, itself these are miracles, but this will take a half-year if we progress only 100 meters. This will take a half-year, and people don’t have a home — 130,000 people without homes, without parents. The parents were taken — turned into ashes, like in Auschwitz, that they were turned into ashes.
It is impossible to even find the DNA, because the ashes became mixed with bricks and boards, and in cars people were burned. ==== Everyone fled to cars; then they poured gasoline on them.They prepared gasoline and ignited all the cars. Everyone turned into ashes, 300-1000 people turned into ashes. 300 turned into ashes, 300 were murdered at the party, and 300 are captives.
The Radbaz writes in Siman 40 that being captive is worse than death, because it’s impossible to know who they are torturing — the soldiers are certainly being tortured terribly. ==== So now we are found in a positive commandment. Every letter of Tehilim that we say now is a positive Torah commandment.Because now is “a time of distress for Jacob, but he will be saved from it.” To scream and to blast Chatzotzrot (a type of trumpet prescribed by the Torah). We need Chatzotzrot with Shofars, that trouble will not come onto the congregation, as it says, “Against an enemy who oppresses you , you shall blast Chatzotzrot” (Bamidbar 10:9). ==== That for three days it was impossible to retake the kibbutzim.The government abandoned everything.
People called for help, the soldiers progressed, but it was impossible to enter, because in every kibbutz there were 500 terrorists, endless terrorists. It took three days to retake the kibbutzim — instead of protecting them to begin with. ==== They called, said that 5,000 men were crossing the fence.There’s no fence, the most sophisticated fence in the world which cost 50 billion dollars. If they would have given 100,000 shekels to some yeshiva, then the whole world is horrified — “those leeches, those blood-suckers,” Lapid goes out of his mind.
And here they spent 50 billion on a fence of paper. If they had made a fence of paper, of cardboard, that would have been a lot better. There’s no remnant of the fence.==== Now it is “a time of distress for Jacob” — there’s no government.People waited forty hours for the army to come, and they didn’t come.
In the meantime, they burned everyone alive.
There’s no houses, nothing. It’s possible to build a house in a day.
Five people are sleeping in a room of a square meter. They don’t give them food, don’t give them anything — such a government has never arisen since the creation of the world, that in this way are abusing people who went through a holocaust. ==== The children are orphans, either there’s no father or no mother, or both are lacking, have already been turned to ashes.This is obligatory for each person to know, that now is “a time of distress for Jacob,” and we are obligated from the Torah — like the Rambam says, that this is from the Torah — to say every moment another chapter of Tehilim, and another chapter of Tehilim. ==== Because now they are afraid that they’ll launch a million missiles.They have maybe 100,000 missiles. Egypt doesn’t care, it’s happy. And the entire strip is full of missiles, they are shooting missiles without end. Outside of Jerusalem, where missiles are not reaching here, because we are exactly in the middle of Israel, the furthest from Gaza, the furthest from Lebanon.
The entire north is under missile fire, the entire south is under missile fire; Kissufim is under missile fire. ==== And this is one of the ways of repentance, that at “a time of distress for Jacob,” you need to feel the pain of the Jewish people. — 130,000 people without houses, without apartments, with clothes — they fled in nightgowns.We see the Jewish people in distress, then everyone needs to say Tehilim. And girls who can say three books of Tehilim, this is above everything. ==== Bachurim [young men] should smash their Xiaomi, because the Xiaomi is bringing on all the calamities.They see pictures of nudity, then immediately 1,000 soldiers are killed at that moment. We are every moment in the danger that 1,000 soldiers will be killed.
Because Hamas said that they are 40,000; really, they are 100,000, all of them armed with the most up-to-date weaponry, because Iran gave them the most up-to-date weaponry. ==== And even though we here in Jerusalem are the most protected — Jerusalem protects us, but we need to pray for all the Jewish people.This is from the Torah, to feel the pain, that we are like in a holocaust. ==== This is all because they beat up [worshippers in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur].Baruch Hashem, they saw prayer in public in Dizengoff Square, it’s possible to pray. A thousand girls came to pray. Then [Tel Aviv mayor] Ron Huldai went out of his mind: A thing such as this, all Tel Aviv is praying all of a sudden — they gave them a murderous beating.
Right after this, they paid. After ten days, they paid — unfortunately — a price that was too high. And those who ascended to the Garden of Eden, these were Tinikot Shenishbu [like children taken captive and raised by gentiles and who don’t know not to sin].== They beat them up on Yom Kippur, and there are those did not fast at all.In Be’eri, maybe five people fasted. Now they admit everything; they said that everything is because they didn’t fast on Yom Kippur.
A person full of transgressions at least should fast once a year. ==== Across the road, it’s all Hamas.Today all the Arabs are Hamas, all of them are with weapons, missiles, cannons. We’re without anything, we have nothing, like it was in Egypt, that when when they left, [the Egyptians] came with tanks, 600 chariots — we are obligated to say Tehilim at least. ==== If people don’t scream and shout, and [instead] say that this happened by chance — this is cruelty.If people see that everyone is in mortal danger, and don’t say Tehilim, the Rambam says that this is the cruelest person that can be. This is cruelty not to say Tehilim — this is cruelty. One needs to finish three book of Tehilim every day. This person who doesn’t pray — this is mamash cruelty, because he caused soldiers to die.==== And there will be another calamity, and another calamity, because it’s impossible to know, because in Germany, they said, “This is the last calamity.” Every moment, they are ready to add another calamity to the calamities, to vanquish us.The Germans want to conquer all the Land of Israel anew — this is all so that we will repent.
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More hints from the Ravby Rivka Levy 30 Shavua Tov!‘Weird world’ is continuing in Israel at the moment, with most of the population walking around in a semi-depressed state (at best….) because of what’s going on in Gaza.
The Rav didn’t come out for prayers over Shabbat, because he didn’t feel well. BH, he will have a speedy recovery – please pray for Rav Eliezer ben Ettia to have a total refuah shleimah.It’s not the first time – at all – that when the nation approaches some sort of serious crisis point, somehow it all gets ‘sweetened’ – as the Rav’s health takes a serious nose-dive.
BH, it won’t get to that again.
Bezrat Hashem. ==== In the meantime, lots of interesting stuff from last week’s bunch of shiurim, brought down in Shivivei Or 1043.I translated the bits that most took my eye….
Have a read, think for yourself what is really going on here. It seems to me that more and more people are calling out the lies all over the place….We are not yet at the place where that’s translating into things changing tachlis on the ground. But geula comes riding slowly on a donkey, where one person, then another person, than another person, wakes up, and stops participating in ‘the world of lies’.
Until one day, we wake up and it’s simply imploded all by itself. Hopefully, with no more of our young men getting their limbs blown off, or losing their lives.(We already covered the idea that all the psychos ‘cheerleading’ for war, war, and yet more war, are literally insane…. we don’t need to belabor that point.) ====
[Watch the first couple of minutes of this interesting video of our dear PM addressing congress back in 2011…. and how chummy he obviously is with the then VP….Joe Biden… who obviously ‘crosses’ himself as he’s being addressed. We are so used to ‘weird’ from Joe Biden, this probably no longer registers on the ‘weird’ scale. But it’s still weird.] Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Speech at the Joint Session of Congress – May 24, 2011====
==== FOOTNOTES:[1] Of Likutey Halachot, Orach Chaim, Part 3 – written by Rabbi Natan Sternhartz. [2] See Pele Yoetz, letter zayin, ‘Zugot’ (couples). [3] In a footnote to this comment in the Shivivei Or Newsletter, the editor explains that in a seperate shiur, the Rav spoke about how shlichim from Chabad went around to army bases in the South during Sukkot with arbeh minot to have soldiers shake the lulav, etc, and they found that there were hardly any soldiers on the bases. ==== PS: I just found THIS article on ‘Freemasonry Watch’…. very, very interesting.
The whole site is very interesting, but the article linked to above explains a lot of the stuff I’m also tripping over, from different angles, about who is really running our little patch of the world.
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‘The goal was a massacre of Tel Aviv’: Hamas’s full plan for October 7 revealedAs the horrors of October 7 unfolded, Hamas sought to initiate a second stage to their attack, which would have seen attacks on Tel Aviv and Dimona.By MAARIV ONLINE
In an interview with KAN to promote his new book, Ilan Kfir claimed that Hamas had an operative plan to reach the heart of Tel Aviv on October 7, but was ultimately thwarted. The veteran journalist published “Gaza Division Conquered,” in March, the first book published in Hebrew about the October 7 massacre.
“Today the picture is much clearer than it was on October 7. Hamas was not satisfied with the phase one plan – but the test was if the phase one plan was successful, they would go on to phase two – and it was prepared with large forces ready on standby and prepared to set off at noon. At the heart of the plan was a breach in two areas, in the north as well as in the south and east, towards Dimona, which was singled out by the group as a very central target. The goal of the operation would have been a raid on Tel Aviv. They marked several focal points in the city that were expected to be crowded in the afternoon and evening in order to carry out a mass massacre in the city,” the author stated.
“Whoever from Hamas was planning to arrive in Tel Aviv and the north would have been forces with the mental willingness to commit suicide, because they knew they had no chance of returning from there. It was a plan that was formulated and in very advanced stages,” Kfir said.
Hamas sought to initiate second phase on October 7“Towards noon on October 7, when Sinwar and his central command realized that they had achieved success above and beyond what was expected, an order was given to the forces of phase two to set off. Here, they encountered a big surprise because unlike in the morning – when the fence was broken and there was minimal IDF presence in the area – there was already an assessment and a huge influx of forces into the Nevatim area where a large blockade was carried out. There is no doubt that if Hamas had carried out its second phase, the trauma and disaster on October 7 would have been doubled.”
Kfir hypothesized that had “Sinwar believed that if an attack on Tel Aviv and Dimona were reported in the news, Hezbollah in the north and the other terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria would also attack. This is a diabolical plan, and if it had succeeded, the reality would have been many times worse.”
He also said that “maps found with terrorists indicated that they intended to reach Kiryat Gat. After that, a plan was discovered by a certain force to attack Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and release terrorists. Another plan was to attack the Hatzerim air base. All this testified to Sinwar’s pretensions of carrying out something that had never before been done.”
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They left each kibbutz with just one gunby Rivka Levy 19November2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/they-left-each-kibbutz-with-just-one-gun/ Shavua Tov!I am continuing to post up excerpts of the Rav’s recent shiurim from the last 3 weeks here. They are giving way more info than you’ll find anywhere else, about what really happened here on October 7. Here’s the latest excerpt. ==== Excerpt of shiur Thursday night, 27 Tishrey, to the ‘Mifal HaTorah’ – second shiur
==== More and more of the first-hand stories are also coming out about what happened that day, from eyewitnesses.Of course, not in our state-run propaganda news. But if you go HERE, [https://www.october7.org/] you’ll find a site in English called Eyewitness and first-hand stories from the massacre in Israel, October 7.It’s not snuff movies, God forbid, but it’s full of people (survivors) just telling their stories, including some videos and pictures they took of what was going on at the Super Nova party when they were hiding in bushes, or in the kibbutzim in their safe rooms. For anyone who is interested in piecing together the truth, it’s a very valuable resource.And for anyone dealing with anti-Semites trying to claim that the slaughter of innocent Jews is all ‘fake news’ – it’s also a very valuable resource. ==== There are hints coming out here that the hostage situation is about to be resolved, but not in the way most of us were praying for.Remember, even when things are very painful, they are all being orchestrated from Above, for the greater good. And this time, nobody is about to forgive and forget what has gone here.Very soon, all the truth will come out – and those responsible will be unmasked. May it happen very soon, before any more good Jews lose their lives, God forbid. Amen. |
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IDF had concrete intel of imminent invasion and did nothing26February2024 | Ticker, Virtual Jerusalem, https://virtualjerusalem.com/idf-had-concrete-intel-of-imminent-invasion-and-did-nothing/
Army intel was notified that hundreds if not thousands of Hamas terrorists switched to Israeli SIM cards at midnight on October 7 Multiple media resources report what has been kept under strict censorship till now. IDF army intelligence was notified that the Gazan cellular SIM cards had been suddenly replaced with Israeli SIM cards, a clear indication along with all the other reports, that a surprise invasion was planned. And yet, according to reports, nothing was done and the political leadership was not notified.
This latest evidence contributes to the existence of anti-democratic forces in the IDF, intelligence, and security services that intentionally did nothing despite clear evidence of abnormal terrorist activity. In no case, it appears, the political echelon was notified. All of this darkly suggests that there was a conspiracy within the IDF and other agencies to allow a lapse that would ruin forever Benjamin Netanyahu’s reputation as Mr. Security.
In recent days, an extremely well-funded ad campaign sought to blame all on Bibi, because he was the head. But it seems to be backfiring as Netanyahu oversees the military and diplomatic campaigns with inimitable clarity and courage. Unraveling October 7: Accountability Beyond Political BlameThe aftermath of the October 7 catastrophe has unfurled a narrative steeped in blame and political finger-pointing, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at its center. However, a closer examination reveals a more complex and disconcerting reality. It has become increasingly evident that the true failure lies not with Netanyahu personally but with a breakdown in communication and perhaps intentional obfuscation by elements within the military intelligence, the internal security agency, and possibly the Air Force. This disturbing scenario suggests a deliberate attempt to undermine the political echelon, using a horrific national tragedy as leverage in the broader context of protest against judicial reform and replacement of a democratically elected government not to the liking of the insurrectionists.
The notion that sections of the military and security apparatus may have withheld critical information from the government, and Netanyahu specifically, points to a deep-seated and deep disturbing issue within Israel’s security and governance structures. Such actions, if proven true, represent not just a failure of protocol but a direct challenge to the democratic oversight of the military by the elected government. This is a grave concern that transcends political affiliations and calls into question the integrity of the institutions tasked with national defense. It must be investigated to the end, and violators punished accordingly. The Urgent Need for Investigation and Reform
The events surrounding October 7 and their aftermath have underscored a critical vulnerability in Israel’s security and political framework. Addressing this issue requires a commitment to transparency, accountability, and reform. It is not about absolving Netanyahu of personal blame. It’s about safeguarding the democratic principles that underpin Israel’s governance.
As Israel navigates these challenges, the need for unity and commitment to the nation’s democratic integrity has never been greater. Blaming Netanyahu is just a cover for those who have no shame and limits to advance their subversive political agenda.
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Why Benny Gantz is very afraid of an ‘effective’ commission of inquiry
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מדוע בני גנץ חושש מאוד מוועדת חקירה *אפקטיבית* מפני שוועדת חקירה כזו, עשויה לשאול אותו שאלות מביכות בכמה וכמה נושאים. הנה חלקם, על קצה המזלג: 1. כשר ביטחון אסף נשקים מכיתות הכוננות בעוטף עזה ובצפון. אלוף פיקוד הדרום באותה עת היה אלמוני בשם הרצי הלוי, אגב. 2. כשר ביטחון אישר הכנסת עשרות אלפי פועלים עזתים לישראל. בסבירות גבוהה חלקם לפחות העביר מידע חשוב לחמאס לקראת הטבח ב7 באוקטובר. 3. כשר ביטחון אישר לארה”ב העברת מאות אלפי פגזים מהרזרבות בישראל (שישראל ‘בונה’ עליהם בעת חירום) לאוקראינה, ללא הצטיידות מיידית בהתאם 4. כרמטכ”ל קיצץ מכוח הצבא 600 טנקים (האלוף בריק, ראו ציוצים קודמים) 5. עשויה להיבחן גם תזת ה”סיכנתי חיי חיילים בגולני מטעמים ‘מוסרים'” והשלכותיה על רוח הלחימה בצה”ל ועל יכולת ההרתעה. 6. מה הוא ידע על בלוני ולווייני התצפית של צה”ל המכוונים לעזה, שלא תוחזקו וממילא לא פעלו ביום הטבח. 7. בזמן כהונתו כרמטכ”ל הועברה טייסת מסוקי הקוברה של צה”ל לירדנים חינם אין כסף, בהוראת אובאמה. בדיוק מה שהיה חסר בשבת השחורה. 8. כמי שהעלים מהקבינט ב’צוק איתן’ את מצב המנהרות מעזה לישראל, מה עוד הוא ידע או לא ידע, על המנהרות שחמאס חופר בעזה? 9. מאחר ומרבית ההכנות לטבח נעשו בתקופתו כשר ביטחון, מה הוא ידע או לא – על הכנות אלו? 10. יתכן גם שהוועדה תרצה לברר כיצד ומדוע מינה כמה מגורמי המפתח שאחראים ישירות לטבח. כמו: * אהרון חליוה, שגנץ אישר את מינויו לראש אמ”ן. חליוה גם סגר את יחידת ‘חצב’ שאוספת מודיעין ממקורות גלויים. * הרצי הלוי, אין צורך להכביר במילים. גנץ עשוי להזדקק להסביר מה היה כה דחוף למנותו בממשלת מעבר. * יתירה מכך, הוא גם יצטרך להסביר את פשר המסמך שאישר את “דחיפות” המינוי, מסמך שלא הוכן ע”י אמ”ן אלא ע”י פקיד שלו… * גם אלופי פיקוד הדרום, אלעזר טולדנו וירון פינקלשטיין, שתחת פיקודם הכין חמאס את הטבח, מונו על ידו. שורה תחתונה: הרבה הרבה חמאה על ראשו של גנץ. לא ייפלא, אם כן, שגנץ עשה מעשה שלא ייעשה, כשבמקום לגנות את הרמטכ”ל שמינה בעצמו את הוועדה שתחקור אותו – הוא מגבה אותו, ותוקף את המגנים. מקורות: |
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Because such an investigative committee may ask him embarrassing questions on several topics. Here are some of them, at the tip of the fork:1. As the Minister of Defense collected weapons from the standby units in the Gaza Envelope and in the north. The commander of the Southern Command at that time was an unknown named Hertzi Halevi, by the way.2. As the Minister of Defense approved the bringing of tens of thousands of Gazan laborers to Israel. It is highly probable that at least some of them passed important information to Hamas in preparation for the massacre on October 7.3. As the Minister of Defense, the US has approved the transfer of hundreds of thousands of shells from the reserves in Israel (which Israel ‘builds‘ on during an emergency) to Ukraine, without immediate equipping accordingly.4. As Chief of Staff, he cut 600 tanks from the army (General Brik, see previous tweets)5. The thesis “I risked the lives of soldiers in the Golani for ‘moral’ reasons” and its implications for the fighting spirit in the IDF and the ability to deter may also be examined.6. What did he know about the IDF’s observation balloons and satellites aimed at Gaza, which were not maintained and in any case did not operate on the day of the massacre.7. During his tenure as Chief of Staff, the Cobra helicopter squadron of the IDF was transferred to the Jordanians for free, no money, on Obama’s orders. Exactly what was missing on Black Saturday.8. As someone who revealed to the cabinet in ‘Tzuk Eitan’ the condition of the tunnels from Gaza to Israel, what else did he know or not know about the tunnels that Hamas is digging in Gaza?9. Since most of the preparations for the massacre were made during his time as Minister of Defense, what did he know or not – about these preparations?10. It is also possible that the committee would like to find out how and why it appointed some of the key factors that are directly responsible for the massacre. same as:* Aharon Haliva, whom Gantz approved as head of the AMN. Haliva also closed the ‘Hatsev’ unit that collects intelligence from open sources.* Harzi Halevi, there is no need to say much. Gantz may need to explain what was so urgent about appointing him to a transitional government.* Moreover, he will also have to explain the meaning of the document that confirmed the “urgency” of the appointment, a document that was not prepared by Amman but by his official…* The commanders of the Southern Command, Elazar Toledano and Yaron Finkelstein, under whose command Hamas prepared the massacre, were also appointed by him.Bottom line: lots and lots of butter on Gantz’s head. It would not be surprising, then, that Gantz did something that should not be done, when instead of condemning the Chief of Staff who himself appointed the committee to investigate him – he backs him up, and attacks the defenders.Sources: https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/2020_q3/Article-6e4c19c1a684471026.htm https://www.makorrishon.co.il/news/527513/ https://mida.org.il/2023/11/30/ https://twitter.com/HmyMzh/status/1743740794576470087 https://www.telecomnews.co.il/ https://www.idf.il/ https://twitter.com/IsraelGaley/status/1693984298318323833
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Victory for Israel- Update # 11November2023 https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=838&lang=2 The chain of news reports in these days of war, require a few quick responses to some events, statements and headlines.Yehudit Katsover and Nadia MatarJewish laborIn recent weeks, since the black Shabbat, we have learned that we must go back to Jewish labor. It will fortify us, keep us safe in the villages and cities and reduce our terrible dependence on hostile, foreign hands.
It has been proven beyond any doubt that the Arabs who worked in the Gaza envelope acquired and transferred such precise military and civilian information that the despicable murderers came with accurate lists of the members of every family and after breaking into their homes, if they knew that there was another child, they demanded to know where he was.
It is inconceivable for us to put ourselves into such a situation again. We must protect our people and our Land and keep this danger far from us. We should begin by training our sons and daughters for work in the fields, in construction, driving, medicine, pharmacy, cleaning, gardening, etc. For this, we must even now establish vocational colleges to train the youth for this work.
But primarily, we must instill in the young generation the great honor that has fallen to them to be those who build this Land with their own hands, we must make clear to them the value and importance of Jewish labor as it was since the early days of Zionism.
And now, in wartime, we must act to mobilize all yeshiva students and students in colleges and pre-military academies that are not already mobilized for military service, for the holy work of strengthening the Land and the state.
Zionism always championed Jewish labor, for paving roads and work in the orchards. It was and still is pure patriotism. Now, it is also the order of the hour! DaninoAriel Danino is held in administrative detention. Why? What is his sin? It is difficult to know. As we know, there is no legal process for administrative detention, there is no need to present evidence or witnesses. The reasonable person is most likely convinced that of course, it is done to a person who was a danger to the state, and his sin is more severe because it was done during wartime, but it is we should all know the truth:
Ariel Danino works for news site Hakol HaYehudi -“The Jewish Voice”; he collects information on dangerous activities of Arabs, conducts investigations to help the system take care of failures. Ariel warns of the enemy’s activity in sabotage, which is sometimes carried out disguised as civil activity. He makes his voice heard every way he can and his cry is the painful cry of the entire people. Now, it is our turn to cry out for him. Release Ariel immediately! Those who arrested him are confused! Shaul MofazFormer Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz “is proud of the expulsion from Gush Katif”, so he says, and even adds an explanation. Mofaz is convinced that if the expulsion had not been carried out, the residents of Gush Katif would have been slaughtered like those in the Gaza Envelope. And because he indeed cares for them so much, he mobilized himself for the task of expelling them from their homes. So very touching.
Let’s take another small logical step. According to the Mofaz school of thought, all of the kibbutzim and farming communities of the Gaza Envelope should also be expelled, since if only they had not been there, they would not have been slaughtered in the Hamas terror attack on Simhat Torah. But this is not enough. Why stop with the communities of the Envelope? If we expel all the Jews from Jerusalem, there would not be any terror attacks in Jerusalem and maybe we should adopt the slogan, “No Jews, no terror attacks” according to this logic, where would Mr. Shaul Mofaz go?
Mr. Mofaz, as a security person who worked many years alongside the pioneers in Judea and Samaria, you should know exactly why Jews settled precisely in Gush Katif. Out of a pioneering spirit and willingness to serve as a security belt for the entire country, just as the residents of the Gaza Envelope do, who defend Jewish villages with their presence.
Even the ordinary citizen without a high military rank understands quite well that without holding onto the land, our security is abandoned, and the deeper and stronger this hold is, the stronger and more stable is our security. Since the Six Day War, Israel has been pursued a policy of withdrawals and uprooting again and again and the longer Israel behaves this way, the more she loses the safety and security of her citizens.
Here is inevitable conclusion: Abandoning parts of the Land of Israel to foreigners brings disasters upon us. The correction is to restore Israel’s control over Gaza first. And afterward, over all of Judea and Samaria. Thanks to the Security ForcesWe must give many thanks to the soldiers and all members of the security forces for endangering their lives for the survival of the People and the Land in all of its parts, in the North, the South and the Center.
In Judea and Samaria as well, they are doing wonderful and vigorous work that is so effective that until now, more than a thousand terrorists have been caught and arrested and about a hundred have been eliminated. Good job! To our fighters, our soldiers and commanders. May G-d bless you and bring you success. Haim RamonHaim Ramon spoke out vigorously in an interview that he gave to Maariv, which was published last Sabbath eve: “A Covenant with Satan. On the altar of the dream to annex Judea and Samaria Netanyahu and the Right sold their souls to Hamas when they stopped all attempts to topple the terror regime in the Gaza Strip”.
Let’s clarify things: The Right, which desires sovereignty, does not want the same terror authority in power that the Left brought from Tunisia to rule over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The wise and alert Right knows well that there is no fundamental difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They both desire to destroy Israel. One does it with clear language and hate-filled, murderous eyes and the other does it with a suit and tie and polished English, which deceives the entire world and even some of us, and because of this he is even more dangerous.
The fact that until now, the government of Israel has not found within itself the strength to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is what brought about the endless disasters culminating in the events of Simhat Torah.
Let’s, just for a moment, imagine where road of terror ultimately leads. Let’s imagine giving up, G-d forbid, Judea and Samaria and going back to the 67 lines (Auschwitz borders, as the late Abba Evan called them). Is there any reasonable person who thinks that our security situation would have been better? Will the Palestinian covenant, which calls for the destruction of Israel and establishing a Palestinian state from the River to the Sea, ever change? Would they give up Jaffa, Acre, Ramla and Lod?
Enough of this delusion! If we do not open our eyes now, we will very quickly find that the next murderous pogroms are already on the way G-d forbid. Concluding WordsThank G-d, most of the people in Israel are mentally and emotionally healthy, our soldiers are healthy in mind and spirit. They understand well the overt tendency of the Arabs, they see what they are capable of inflicting upon us. We have already learned that in the Middle East, it is dangerous to speak “European”. We must speak the language of the Bible. “To you I will give this Land!”
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Buried facts about the Gaza warConnect the dots: It’s America and Iran against Israel.https://www.jns.org/buried-facts-about-the-gaza-war/
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for The Times of London, her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, The Legacy, in 2018. To access her work, go to: melaniephillips.substack.com.
(May 16, 2024 / JNS) The extent to which the political class and the media are burying facts that undermine their poisonous narrative in order to defame and undermine Israel’s war of survival has become simply jaw-dropping.
The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to appease the genocidal and terrorist Iranian regime. It has funneled billions into Tehran’s coffers through sanctions relief. It has refused to effectively respond to repeated Iran-backed attacks on U.S. interests. And it is doing everything it can to prevent Israel from taking action that would damage America’s relationship with the Iranian regime, such as the destruction of Hamas, a vital force in Tehran’s proxy army against Israel and the West.
The American appeasement of Iran has left many people mystified. They should have been paying more attention. Twelve days before the Oct. 7 pogrom, Jay Solomon reported on the Semafor site that Ariane Tabatabai, chief of staff to the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, was part of an “Iran Experts Initiative” created by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials to bolster Tehran’s position on global security issues, particularly its nuclear program.
In other words, Tabatabai was an agent of influence for Iran at the heart of the U.S. government and with the highest level of security clearance.
Semafor and the Iranian opposition group Iran International obtained a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails. These revealed that, in 2021, Robert Malley—who was the point man on Iran under both the Obama and Biden administrations until he was removed in June 2023 following a still unexplained “mishandling of classified materials”—had infiltrated Tabatabai into the U.S. State Department to assist him in his negotiations with Iran.
The day Solomon’s article appeared, 31 U.S. Senators wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to express their concern. They wrote: “We find it unconscionable that a senior department official would continue to hold a sensitive position despite her alleged participation in an Iranian government information operation.”
They noted that, in March 2021, shortly after Tabatabai was appointed senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Iranian dissidents reported her long history of echoing the Iranian regime’s talking points.
That month, Adam Kredo reported in The Washington Free Beacon on these dissidents’ shock at Tabatabai’s appointment. They claimed she parroted the Iranian regime’s position at multiple public appearances and that her father was part of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s inner circle.
In April 2021, several members of the House of Representatives requested a review of Tabatabai’s security clearance. In response, the Biden administration dismissed these claims as “smears and slander.”
Even more astonishingly, Tabatabai runs the office overseeing hostage negotiations. Three weeks after the Oct. 7 pogrom, a reporter asked White House Spokesman John Kirby whether it was appropriate for Tabatabei to be in such a position given the claims made against her. Kirby stalled. Tabatabai is still there.
Online, several commentators (including myself) wrote about this. The mainstream media studiously ignored it. Over the past few days, they’ve ignored another vital revelation.
From the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has been accused of disproportionately killing Palestinian civilians. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry put out daily figures of civilians who had been killed that rose to more than 35,000, of whom the vast majority were said to be women and children.
These figures, promoted by the United Nations and used by both the Biden administration and the U.K. government to berate and threaten Israel, have fueled mass demonstrations and attacks on Jewish people worldwide.
On May 8, however, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs halved its figures for the number of women and children killed in Gaza from the number it gave the day before.
Preposterously, U.N. Spokesman Farhan Haq tried to maintain that the claim of 35,000 dead remained “unchanged” and the only new development was that more than 10,000 bodies still had to be fully identified.
This, however, was merely an attempt to cover up the fact that the U.N. had been putting out Hamas figures that were always demonstrably ludicrous since they did not differentiate between terrorists and civilians.
In early April, after statisticians authoritatively demolished these figures as “statistically impossible,” the Gaza Health Ministry quietly admitted that it had “incomplete data” for more than 10,000 of the individuals on its lists and revealed that it had even obtained some of its numbers from the media. Now the U.N. has felt forced to adjust its own figures while fudging the reason.
Given that Israel says it has killed some 14,000 combatants, the ratio of civilians to combatants killed stands now at around 1:1—a far lower proportion of civilians killed than any other country has ever achieved in war.
In other words, this is a total refutation of the incendiary lie of “disproportionate” killing of civilians with which the U.S. and British governments and Western media have been beating up Israel and fueling incitement against Jews around the world. Yet not one word has been heard about this from either the government or the media.
Now comes an admission by Fatah—the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority whose leader is P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas—that it took part in the Oct. 7 pogrom alongside Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups.
Abu Muhammad, the official spokesman for Fatah’s military arm—the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades—said in a video message last week that the Brigades participated in the invasion “and together with our brothers in the Palestinian struggle organizations captured many Zionists; some of them were transferred to us and some are still in our hands.”
The Brigades, he said, were participating in the fighting against the IDF in Gaza and had carried out more than 470 “military missions” since Oct. 7.
According to a report by Arutz Sheva, the Brigades revealed on Telegram that, over the past few days, their forces had fired an anti-tank missile at a tank in the Jabalya camp, set off an explosive device aimed at a tank south of the Zeytun neighborhood and launched rockets at IDF forces at the Netzarim junction.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades are yet another Iranian proxy army through which Iran can attack Israel under the cover of “plausible deniability.” As Phillip Smyth wrote last December in an article for West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, elements in the Brigades have thanked Iran and Hezbollah for weapons and equipment and openly asked Iran for money. In 2023, an unnamed P.A. security source told The Jerusalem Post that the group was being paid by Iran via the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Just think about this: The military arm of Fatah, the P.A.’s ruling party, is holding Israeli hostages. Fatah’s military arm is fighting Israel in Gaza and the disputed territories. Fatah’s military arm is being funded by Iran. The Biden administration is funding the P.A. and appeasing Iran. The Biden administration is trying to force Israel to accept a P.A.-run administration in Gaza after the war. And Ariane Tabatabai is still in her post at the Defense Department.
The mainstream media says nothing about any of this because nothing can be allowed to destroy the left’s driving narrative of Israeli oppression and Palestinian victimization.
Biden’s betrayal of Israel is widely attributed to his need to buy off the hard left of the Democratic Party. But his administration was rotten from the start, widely seeded with Obama-retread officials who are viscerally hostile to Israel. Some of them have histories of supporting Palestinian terrorist groups.
Now Iran is said to be nearing the ability to make nuclear weapons. When it announces it has succeeded, the United States and the United Kingdom will doubtless say they did everything they could to stop it. And if Israel tries to defend itself against this nightmare scenario, the West will accuse it of aggression.
The dots have been obvious for years. Connect them.
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Israel Declares Independence from BidenThe 76th Independence Day will be a true test of Israel’s independence.13May2024 by Daniel Greenfield
This week, Israel will mark its 76th Independence Day. Usually a day filled with parades and fireworks, the Israeli people will instead buckle down to the grim business of being at war.
Too much of the population is either deployed in the field or may soon be, displaced from their homes near the Gaza border or aware that at any moment rocket alerts could sound for incoming missiles from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen or Iran. This year, Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day annually observed for the fallen, will overshadow Yom Ha’atzmaut or Independence Day.
Much like America’s Greatest Generation, the men and women who scrappily fought for Israel’s independence using crude weapons and WWII surplus gear are passing out of history. Few now remember a time when Israel did not exist and some have come to take it for granted. While Israeli Air Force jets won’t be doing flyovers for the 76th, the leftist protesters, some backed by foreign interests, will still continue their rallies and riots that only serve to aid Hamas.
And yet Israel did declare a new kind of independence before its latest Yom Ha’atzmaut. After nearly half a year of pressure campaigns to end the war, the Biden administration followed through by announcing an embargo on offensive weapons to Israel. It’s not the first time. In 1947, the Truman administration had imposed an arms embargo on Israel. Truman, like the current Democrat in the White House, had played a familiar double game, offering diplomatic recognition to Israel and enthusiastic speeches to Jewish voters, even while privately promising Muslims the opposite and making sure that Israel would not have the weapons to defend itself.
When the Republican Party platform declared that it took “pride in the fact that the Republican Party was the first to call for the establishment of a free and independent Jewish Commonwealth” and condemned the “vacillation of the Democrat Administration”, Truman shot back angrily claiming that he supported the Democratic platform and its call for “the revision of the arms embargo to accord to the State of Israel the right of self-defense.” This was a lie.
Truman had supported the arms embargo from the beginning. Three months before the Democrat platform had been adopted, the administration had backed a UN resolution that included an arms embargo. Truman was saying one thing and doing another. Like Biden, Truman had been following political considerations. That was why diplomats had been warned to stay away from making any anti-Israel moves at the United Nations before Election Day.
Even under the arms embargo, Israel survived an invasion by five Muslim nations. “You just don’t understand. Forty million Arabs are going to push four hundred thousand Jews into the sea. And that’s all there is to it,” Secretary of Defense James Forrestal had predicted.
Three generations later, Israel is still here. Israel’s 76th Independence Day has come around again. Once again the Jewish State is fighting for its survival against Islamic genocidal violence and a corrupt political class in Washington D.C. It’s relearning the old lesson that presidents say one thing for public consumption and do another. And that independence is not just aspirational, it’s a simple matter of survival.
Biden’s betrayal of Israel was inevitable. The blindness of Israeli leaders to that eventuality, their conviction that if they followed every single guideline from the White House, they would have the support they needed to finish off Hamas in Gaza was a delusional fantasy. Israel’s best bet lay in quickly doing what it needed to do. Everything the Biden administration wanted only slowed down the war effort and doomed the very support that Israel had been counting on.
A day after delivering a speech at the Holocaust Museum about his support for Israel, Biden told CNN that the support was gone. But Truman had pulled a similar trick with a rally at Madison Square Garden when he told New York’s Jewish voters that he was responsible for setting up Israel “as a free and independent political state” even while it was fighting for its survival.
The Truman administration continued backing worthless UN truces (the predecessors of today’s equally duplicitous ceasefires) which allowed the Islamic terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of Hamas) to continue attacking Jewish towns and massacring Jews.
While Truman was telling one thing to Jewish voters in New York City ahead of Election Day, Israel was evacuating children as part of ‘Operation Baby’ from front line communities under siege by terrorists during the latest ‘truce’. In Kibbutz Manara, the children had to be evacuated from the mountaintop in vegetable crates in a scene later recreated in the movie ‘Exodus’.
Manara had to be evacuated again after the Hamas attacks of Oct 7 and it’s estimated that half the homes in the community have been destroyed after Hezbollah Islamic terrorists have shot a rocket every day at the village. The people living there can’t go home. But unlike the Hamas supporters crying in Gaza, you won’t see their faces on the evening news.
After the 1948 election, not only weren’t there any arms sales, but the White House was upset that Israel had begun winning. The Egyptians had not only failed to push the Jews into the sea, but the Jews were now pushing them back into the Sinai.
A month after the election, in which 75% of Jews had voted for him, Truman demanded that Israel immediately withdraw or his administration would “re-examine” its mostly non-existent relations. Truman, who would later claim credit for creating Israel, had done little more than provide de facto (not de jure) recognition to Israel, while still maintaining the arms embargo.
Truman’s move allowed Egypt to control Gaza and turn it over to the Muslim Brotherhood for regular terror raids on Israel. And that led directly to the rise of Hamas and the current war.
It’s also why Truman ought to get more credit for creating Hamas than for creating Israel. Truman did not actually begin selling weapons to Israel until 1950, well after it had survived the war, and only in order to also be able to sell weapons to its Arab Muslim enemies as part of an agreement with the UK to “maintain a rough balance of power between Israel and the Arab states.“
American Jews have long lived with the comforting “Eddie Jacobson” myth that Truman had intervened on behalf of Israel because of a plea from his longtime friend and business partner. The truth is that the Truman administration had opposed statehood, until Israel had gone ahead and declared it, had opposed any Israeli presence in Jerusalem, and blocked the pathway to victory, until Israel had gone ahead and won not because of Truman, but despite him.
Since then history has repeated itself again and again. And too many Israelis, who used to know better, bought into the silly myth that their country existed because Truman “liked” them. Millions of Jews were murdered in Europe despite all the politicians who claimed to like them, but then did nothing for them. Hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel held off armies and built a state, not because politicians liked them, but because they fought for their independence.
The Oslo accords, made so that Israel would be liked, brought it to the brink of destruction. If Israel is going to undo that and the entire ‘palestinian’ colonial project, it has a limited time in which to act. Even after Oct 7, it was too consumed with being liked to do what had to be done.
Like America, Israel wants to be liked after Islamic terror attacks, when what it needs is to win. On the 76th anniversary of its independence, Israel has once again been forced to declare its independence from a White House Democrat who publicly promised support while privately stabbing it in the back. Going into Rafah and finishing off Hamas will be a more meaningful celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut or Independence Day than any flag-waving parades.
Independence is not in the fireworks you shoot off, it’s in taking independent action. Contrary to popular myth, foreign aid to Israel isn’t proof that Jerusalem controls D.C. but that D.C. controls Jerusalem. What’s often misleadingly described as aid isn’t a big check, it’s an entanglement with the U.S. defense industry that prevents Israel from fighting an extended war without permission. Since the War of Independence and the 1956 Suez Canal War, the priority has been to make sure that Israel won’t be able to unilaterally pursue a military campaign. Once denied weapons, Israel has been given them in exchange for being put on a leash out of D.C.
Oct 7 has become the ultimate test of Israel’s independence. And this Memorial Day and Independence Day will determine whether a nation of nearly 10 million is truly free to do more than mourn its dead, but once again take independent action to protect its living future.
Daniel GreenfieldDaniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. |
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JerusalemCats Comments: Israel like Russia needs to “Sanction Proof” it’s economy from the G7 and work with the BRICS Countries like IndiaIsraeli MKs discuss overcoming US ‘settler’ sanctions“We’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi told JNS.https://www.jns.org/israeli-mks-discuss-overcoming-us-settler-sanctions/
(February 15, 2024 / JNS) Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi (Likud) summoned an urgent meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday to explore ways Jerusalem can come to the aid of citizens who face international sanctions.
On Feb 1., U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order sanctioning “persons undermining peace, security and stability” in Judea and Samaria, citing “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”<
The White House named four Israelis as the targets of sanctions: Yinon Levi of Meitarim Farm; David Chai Chasdai of Givat Ronen; Einan Tanjil of Kiryat Ekron; and Shalom Zicherman of Mitzpe Yair.
Biden’s “unacceptable” decision to levy sanctions was “not only unfriendly, but also unfair,” Halevi told JNS, noting that Israel takes “very strong—maybe more than needed” action against lawbreakers, “especially against the settlers in Judea and Samaria, unfortunately.”
Of the four, only Chasdai has ever run afoul of Israeli authorities. In 2023, he was sentenced to four months of administrative detention following his alleged participation in a riot in the Samaria town of Huwara.
However, fearing being cut off from the U.S. financial system, several Israeli banks have moved to proactively freeze the accounts of some of the sanctioned individuals, as well as their spouses.
“At the end of the day, it is a diplomatic [matter],” Tali Keisar, deputy supervisor of banks at the Bank of Israel, told lawmakers on Wednesday. “The Israeli banking system cannot be perceived as circumventing sanctions. This would harm the market and the economy.”
The committee meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the state, banks and the families harmed by the sanctions, focused on finding a solution.
“If the issue cannot be solved through political channels and if the regulator, the Bank of Israel, does not put out clear instructions, we suggest a new law. In these cases—when there are sanctions of foreign state of Israeli citizens— we must back those citizens,” said Halevi.
“Even according to the Biden presidential instruction, it’s not [required] that the Levi family, for example, should die of starvation,” he continued.
Sapir Levi told the committee that the family has been unable to purchase groceries and diapers for their children since Bank Leumi blocked a joint account with her husband earlier this month.
“We’re not talking about sanctions against businessmen that have billions, like [Roman] Abramovich, because he did business with Russia; we’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” said Halevi.
One of the options suggested by coalition lawmakers entails the government providing affected families with an open-ended loan for the duration of the sanctions against them.
Halevi noted that Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have, since the start of the war with Hamas, often urged Israel to take into account the rights of “uninvolved” civilians in Gaza.
“Let’s leave the question of whether Gazans are really not involved; this is another issue. But what about this principle?” charged Halevi.
During Wednesday’s summit, Committee chairman David Bitan and Moshe Passal, both of the ruling Likud Party, warned that “tomorrow,” Biden could decide to impose sanctions on all 500,000-plus Jews in Judea and Samaria, or on all Israeli soldiers who enter Rafah in Gaza.
On Tuesday, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman blasted the Biden administration’s sanctions of Jews in Judea and Samaria as a “disgrace” that could potentially apply to anyone who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
“So anyone who the State Department feels is hostile to creating a Palestinian terror state could wake up one morning and find his funds frozen at his local bank!” Friedman tweeted.
“Not only is this an unlawful interference in another nation’s internal politics (and a key ally to boot!) but it illegally punishes Israelis for exercising their free speech,” the ambassador claimed, calling the move a “remarkable betrayal” of the Jewish state.
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Honenu to defend Israelis sanctioned by US administrationHonenu announced that its attorneys had sent a “warning letter” to the Bank of Israel demanding that the Israelis’ bank accounts be unfrozen.https://www.jns.org/honenu-to-defend-israelis-sanctioned-by-us-administration/
(February 15, 2024 / JNS) The Honenu lawyer’s collective, which represents Israelis sanctioned by the Biden administration for “undermining peace” in Judea and Samaria, on Tuesday filed a complaint with local regulatory authorities as the first step in a legal battle aimed at having the sanctions removed.
Honenu retained Dr. J. Weinroth & Co. Law Office, which has also defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past, to represent “the heroic farmers who are suddenly forced to think about how to transfer 100 shekels to the babysitter or how to get gas,” the group said.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order targeting “persons undermining peace, security and stability” in Judea and Samaria, citing “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”
The White House named four Israeli Jews as the targets of sanctions: Yinon Levi of Meitarim Farm; David Chai Chasdai of Givat Ronen; Einan Tanjil of Kiryat Ekron; and Shalom Zicherman of Mitzpe Yair.
Faced with the prospect of being cut off from the U.S. monetary system, Bank Leumi—Israel’s largest bank—subsequently informed Levi that his accounts would be suspended. Chasdai had his account at the state-owned Postal Bank frozen, while reports indicated that Tanjil’s and Zicherman’s accounts at Bank Hapoalim would follow shortly.
On Wednesday, Honenu announced that its attorneys had sent a “warning letter” to the Bank of Israel on behalf of the four families, demanding that the supervisor order the three financial institutions to “immediately remove all restrictions that were imposed on the bank accounts of the farmers.”
In the letter, Honenu stressed that Israeli banks have discretionary powers in individual cases and must examine the “unique and particular circumstances” of their customers before acting upon sanctions imposed by foreign countries.
Honenu vowed to “stand alongside these heroes who were hurt by the visceral hatred for the settlement” of Judea and Samaria.
“Our appeal to the supervisor is the first action within the framework of the legal procedures that we intend to take, as long as the cardinal damage is not rectified,” the organization said.
On Tuesday, attorney Marc Zell announced he would be filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
The suit will challenge the legality of Biden’s executive order, which was issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The suit is currently being drafted, and is expected to be filed within a couple of weeks. Zell is currently speaking to any potential plaintiffs.
Also this week, Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi summoned a meeting of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday to explore ways Jerusalem can come to the aid of citizens who face sanctions.
“If the issue cannot be solved through political channels and if the regulator, the Bank of Israel, does not put out clear instructions, we suggest a new law. In these cases—when there are sanctions of foreign states of Israeli citizens—we must back those citizens,” Halevi told JNS.
One of the options suggested by coalition lawmakers during the committee meeting on Wednesday entails the Israeli government providing an open-ended loan to affected families.
“We’re not talking about sanctions against businessmen that have billions, like [Roman] Abramovich, because he did business with Russia; we’re talking about simple families that work in agriculture. We must defend their right to live,” said Halevi.
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Biden sanctioning Itamar Ben Gvir
בממשל האמריקני בוחנים להטיל סבב סנקציות נוסף על ישראלים המעורבים, לטענתם, באלימות כלפי פלסטינים – כולל השר בן גביר או גורמים בעוצמה יהודית | @AmichaiStein1 עם הפרטים #חדשותהערב The American administration is considering imposing another round of sanctions on Israelis who, according to them, are involved in violence against Palestinians – including minister Ben Gabir or elements of Otzma Yehudit | @AmichaiStein1 with the details
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Biden sanctions Israeli Iron Dome Company
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The congressional reaction to Biden’s sanctions of IsraelFebruary 29, 2024https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-to-biden-rescind-directives-punishing-undermining-israelis Cotton, Colleagues to Biden: Rescind Directives Punishing, Undermining IsraelisFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353 Cotton, Colleagues to Biden: Rescind Directives Punishing, Undermining IsraelisWashington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), and Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), today sent a letter to President Biden urging him to rescind his February 1 executive order and February 8 memo that are intended to undermine Israel. In part, the senators wrote: “Your February 1 EO grants the State Department broad authority to arbitrarily punish Israelis in Judea and Samaria, with no defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted. Under the guise of ‘peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,’ it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants. Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes ‘pay to slay’ payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families.” Full text of the letter may be found here and below. February 29, 2024 President Joseph R. Biden The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20502 President Biden, We write regarding your February 1, 2024 Executive Order 14115 and February 8, 2024 National Security Memorandum 20 undermining Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza. Both documents undercut our most valuable alliance in the Middle East. We call on you to rescind both documents and to sanction terrorists and their supporters instead of their victims. Your February 1 EO grants the State Department broad authority to arbitrarily punish Israelis in Judea and Samaria, with no defined standards for determining when sanctions are warranted. Under the guise of “peace, security, or stability of the West Bank,” it appears the State Department can punish arbitrarily any Israeli it wants. Yet, the State Department hasn’t acted against the Palestinian Authority, which makes “pay to slay” payments to terrorists for murdering innocent Israeli families. Nor has the State Department taken significant action to counter the surge in Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, which increased by 350 percent in 2023, including 300 shooting attacks. Your February 8 memorandum similarly—and falsely—implies that Israel is committing mass war crimes in its campaign against Hamas and threatens to cut off aid unless Israel meets arbitrary deadlines for providing “assurances” regarding international humanitarian law. Yet, we already have rules requiring aid recipients to comply with applicable law and in line with American interests. Moreover, Israel has provided ample evidence of the steps it takes to avoid civilian casualties, which Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, John Kirby, acknowledged publicly. You should immediately rescind both your February 1 order and February 8 memorandum. Further, please provide Congress no later than March 15 with a full explanation of what evidentiary basis and processes are intended to be employed when choosing to sanction Israelis while ignoring the serious crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority. We appreciate your attention to this important matter. Sincerely,
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Biden is throwing the Jewish state under the bus
Israeli officials say the US has stalled aid, which U.S. officials deny, as evidence the relationship between the two allies is growing increasingly strained.
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The US and the UK cannot be trusted.
By Ted Belman 5November2023 https://www.israpundit.org/the-us-and-the-uk-cannot-be-trusted/ Israel owes its existence, not to Britain nor the US, but to Stalin. Alex Markovsky wrote in For Israel, Failures Never Learned and Lessons for Today
This support was short-lived but enough to get Israel through the War for Independence. Neither the British Foreign Office nor the US State Department expected Israel to be victorious. Britain for its part, prevented Jewish immigration after WWII and did its utmost to confiscate all guns in the possession of the Irgun and other resistance groups and turned over all such weapons and her police stations to the Arabs when she departed. The US did its part by placing an arms embargo on Israel which was instituted before the war and lasted til the ‘67 War. Both expected Israel to lose and saw their interests as aligning with the Arabs and their oil.
In The 100 Year Betrayal of Israel by the West, I listed most of the betrayals, by Britain and the US, of which there were many, but did not go into their motivations.
The primary reason Britain published the Balfour Declaration was to influence American Jews to get the US to enter the war and Soviet Jews to keep Russia in the war.
After the end of WWI, Britain recalibrated her interests and came down decidedly on the sides of the Arabs as the above article attests.
Britain created the Mandate system in order to maintain her influence in the Middle East without being considered as a colonizer which was going out of style. In her role as Trustee under the Mandate she violated her duty to the Jews, the beneficiary, in every way possible. It is for this reason that Jewish resistance did its utmost after WWII to end the Mandate.
In The West should make amends to the Jewish people for this historical injustice. I highlighted how Britain put pre-state Israel at a disadvantage by actively preventing Jewish immigration.
This article highlights the fact that after WWII, Britain embraced ethnic homogenization in redrawing Europe’s borders and partitioning India as the path to peace. Der Spiegel reported;
But she did the opposite in Palestine.
Even the UNGA Res 181, passed in 1947, called the Partition Plan, was in violation of the Mandate which designated all the land for the Jewish homeland. Though Britain ended the Mandate by leaving, she was hoping to return. Geoffrey Clarfield, explained, in a CIJR webinar, about the British Plan to Conquer the Jewish State in the 1950’s.
In The Failed British Double-Cross of Israel, Edward N. Luttwak expanded on this.
This document is dated Aug 2, 1955. The full documents are available on TABLET.
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Biden, Democrats Turning from Israel’s Allies to AdversariesBy David Israel – 6 Kislev 5784 – November 19, 2023 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/biden-democrats-turning-from-israels-allies-to-adversaries/2023/11/19/
Politico reported on Saturday that “Democrats’ unequivocal support for Israel’s military has been eroding in recent weeks,” beyond the familiar anti-Israeli position of the progressives in the House. Citing one Democratic Senator and one Congress Member, Politico revealed that “Democrats in the House and Senate are discussing how to create conditions for future military aid to Israel.”
Politico reported in a separate story (Biden orders top aides to prepare reprimands for violent Israeli settlers in West Bank) that “President Joe Biden directed top officials to prepare visa bans and sanctions for extremist Israeli settlers attacking and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank.”
The Cabinet memo circulated on Friday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday, ordered them “to develop policy options for expeditious action against those responsible for the conduct of violence in the West Bank.”
Shortly after the Hamas attack, the Israeli government imposed a closure on the Palestinian Authority and barred entry for its residents, which included more than 100,000 Arab day workers. The decision also affected tens of thousands of PA Arabs with US citizenship. There’s no telling how many of them are Hamas sympathizers, nor does anyone in Israel have the time and resources to find out. It’s war, and you don’t take chances.
For that, Biden wants Israel to be punished. According to Politico (Democrats in Senate, House discuss conditioning military aid to Israel), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a lunch on Wednesday for Senate Democrats where Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland, shared with them his take on the war in Gaza. Tom Friedman and Dennis Ross were in the meeting as well. BERNIE ON THE WARPATH On Sunday morning, Sanders tweeted: “The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the US unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions.”
Sanders released a memo titled, “Sanders Calls for Conditioning Aid to Israel Amidst the Growing Crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.” He acknowledged that “Hamas has made clear, before and after October 7, that its goal is to destroy Israel. Under those circumstances, Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself.” And then launched into the following tirade: “While Israel has the right to go after Hamas, Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government does not have the right to wage almost total warfare against the Palestinian people. That is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law. Displacing 1.6 million people from their homes, cutting off food, water, medical supplies, and fuel, and killing some 12,000 Palestinians – nearly half of whom are children – is in violation of every code of human decency. It must stop.”
The good Senator did not offer a solution to how exactly should Israel go after Hamas while not harming civilians in Gaza when Hamas surrounds itself with civilian human shields. He doesn’t offer a solution because he couldn’t care less.
In the past, we tended to belittle the influence Senator Sanders had on the more grownup Democrats who stood firmly in Israel’s corner, except, of course, when it came to the Iranian atomic program and the 2-state solution. But these days, the Sanders virus is spreading. $14.3 HERE, $14.3 THERE ADDS UP TO SERIOUS MONEY The Republican Jewish Coalition last week released this statement: “Democrat Senators – including Jacky Rosen (NV), Bob Casey (PA), Jon Tester (MT), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Sherrod Brown (OH) – denied Israel the support it desperately needs at this perilous time. The Jewish community and pro-Israel supporters across the country expect moral clarity and righteous leadership from their elected officials – today, Senate Democrats failed.”
Clarification: the Democrats in the Senate blocked a rather haphazard move of House Speaker Mike Johnson to take $14.3 out of the IRS budget and award it to Israel. The calculated cost of this move was around $28 billion in uncollected IRS debt. It wasn’t a good bill, it was mostly for show, and it was dead on arrival. But the swift readiness of the Democrats to kill it, instead of negotiating an alternative extra-budgetary support to Israel, is telling. HELPING HAMAS REEMERGE FROM HELL The Sanders memo continued: “The US provides $3.8 billion a year in aid to Israel and the Biden administration wants $14.3 billion more (it doesn’t – DI). The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the US unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions.”
Sanders repeats at every opportunity his wish that the Netanyahu government be toppled. One can only hope that the Biden government comes down first.
In any event, here are Sanders’s conditions, and, remember, this time around these anti-Israel ideas are shared by a growing number of Democrats in both houses:
I don’t envy Bibi Netanyahu this week (or any other week). He is facing a well-financed, well-organized “free the hostages at any cost” movement at home aimed at jeopardizing the war on evil; and another unyielding coalition of Democrats, starting with President Biden and going who knows how deep into the ranks of Democrats on the Hill, also aimed at jeopardizing the war on evil. Please, God, don’t let evil win.
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Biden Regime Refuses Israeli Request for Vital Apache Attack HelicoptersBy Pamela Geller – on 26December2023 https://gellerreport.com/2023/12/biden-regime-refuses-israeli-request-for-vital-apache-attack-helicopters.html/
Israel is on the front lines of the global jihad. She is the thin blue line that keeps jihadi terror at bay against the West. Look at how Islamic terror proxies are turning major cities in the West (USA and Europe) into war zones. Denying Israel cripples the West’s war in defense of freedom and Western civilization. This will come back to bite us – in spades.
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The results-Fatah
חשיפה: המפה החדשה של רגבים מפחידה אפילו למי שיודע ומכיר את תופעת הבתים הבלתי חוקיים שבונים הפלסטינים ביו”ש. ראיתם איך המחבלים חצו את הגדר בעוטף עזה ויצאו לטבוח בנו? כך התוכנית המסוכנת שביצעה הרשות הפלסטינית על השולחן ובגאווה, תוך התעלמות בוטה של ממשלות ישראל, מסכנת את מדינת ישראל. הבוקר בישראל היום Disclosure: Regavim’s new map is scary even for those who know and are familiar with the phenomenon of the illegal houses that the Palestinians are building in the West Bank. Did you see how the terrorists crossed the fence in the Gaza Strip and went out to slaughter us? Thus the dangerous plan carried out by the Palestinian Authority on the table and with pride, while blatantly ignoring the governments of Israel, endangers the State of Israel. This morning in Israel today
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The result-Hamas controls Judea and Samaria!
They hung their bodies on an electric pole and a Palestinian mob abused the bodies, filmed themselves and then uploaded the footage to social media. Barbaric.
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Terror Tunnels in Jerusalem
שוב נרדמים במשמרת? תחת הכותרת: “מנהרות בירושלים לאן הן מובילות” עיתונאי ממזרח ירושלים תיעד את עצמו נכנס למנהרות הנראות חפורות בתוך בית במזרח ירושלים. פניתי למשטרה לקבל תגובה לבנתיים לא הגיבו. Falling asleep on shift again?
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Hamas is the UN
American taxpayers fund this
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Hamas Rejects Major Ceasefire Offer Until Israel Withdraws From Gazaby Tyler Durden, 23January2024 – https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hamas-rejects-major-ceasefire-offer-until-israel-withdraws-gaza
There are widespread reports emerging Tuesday that Hamas has rejected the major Israeli offer of a 2-month pause in fighting, which is being widely called the most significant and far-reaching ceasefire plan since the Gaza war began. The jihadist militant group is reportedly demanding that all Israeli forces first withdraw from Gaza for the plan to be possible.
However, Israeli media has also said that talks may still be underway despite the early reporting that Hamas has rebuffed the plan. The Jerusalem Post cautions, “Senior Israeli officials on Tuesday told Israeli media that the Qatari and Egyptian mediators have not notified them of Hamas’s rejection of the two-month cease-fire deal proposed by the Israeli government.”
The proposed deal includes multiple phases at the end of which all remaining hostages held in Gaza would be released. There’s believed to still be over 130 captives.
We previously detailed some aspects of the plan, but it has since emerged through Egyptian negotiators speaking to the Associated Press that along with returning Palestinian prisoners in exchange, Hamas leaders in the Strip would be given safe passage to relocate to other countries.
According to Tuesday reports, “But Hamas rejected the proposal, insisting that no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws its forces from Gaza entirely,” an unnamed official said.
Neither side has publicly commented as of Tuesday morning, but fighting has continued raging particularly in and around the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
John Kirby last week: “We don’t believe a ceasefire is gonna benefit anybody but Hamas”… [EDD:…]
The Israelis have yet to promise that will halt all military actions, but targeting would likely become more focused and smaller in scale. In the November deal, which included a successful ceasefire that held for a week, hundreds of Palestinians were freed from Israeli prisons.
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We are winning, despite the media failing us once againIt is the tiny disconnected far left elites in the media, universities, and Jewish-progressive foundations who have tremendous influence on IDF senior officials and career government staff, many of them retired failures, and want us to repeat their terrible mistakes. Op-ed.Avi Abelow / 16January2024 / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/383661
Senior leadership of IDF and Shabak are now “advising” the government to allow Arab Muslim workers from Judea and Samaria to work in Jewish communities throughout Israel again as well as advising the government to strengthen the Palestinian Authority.
Many Israelis are in shock, because that was the exact “expert” advice they gave about allowing Gaza workers to work in Israel and giving Hamas money, to help them out economically and prevent terror. In the end, the massacre on Oct. 7th proved that theory tragically wrong. In the end, Gazan workers acted as spies, took part in the massacre, and celebrated with the whole Gazan population as the massacre was taking place. Israelis are in shock that the defense establishment is still stuck with the flawed strategic thinking of Oct. 6th!
If you ask me, every single one of the persons holding senior IDF and intelligence positions should have been fired on Oct. 8th for dereliction of duty. Yet, they are still in their positions pushing the same failed strategy as before the Oct. 7th massacre.
Now, I want to dig a little deeper, so please follow this timeline of events…
First the defense and media establishment claimed that withholding money from Hamas would lead to terror.
After Oct 7th the media establishment then blamed Netanyahu’s giving money to Hamas for what led to the horrific massacre.
Today the defense and media establishment claim that withholding money from the Palestinian Authority will lead to terror. (By the way, the only one standing and blocking this like a wall, stopping all payments to the Palestinian Authority, is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich).
Do you think the defense and media establishment have learned their lesson? Wait, that’s not all… Here is another example… The defense and media establishment pushed for Netanyahu to release 1,000+ terrorists so that Hamas would release Gilad Shalit, because Netanyahu was against it. He then agreed to it, after the tremendous media campaign, marches and protests, with the support of defense “experts” in the security establishment. Sinwar was one of those releassed.
After the Oct. 7th massacre, led by many of those terrorists released in the Shalit deal, the media establishment shamed Netanyahu for releasing the terrorists in the Shalit deal.
Today, the same retired elites of the defense establishment and media establishment are pushing for Netanyahu to stop the war and release as many terrorists as necessary for Hamas to free the captives.
You think our defense “experts” and media establishment have learnt anything?
Why stop there!!! In 1993, the defense and media establishment supported recognizing the biggest Jew-hating arch-terrorist, Yassar Arafat, as a “peace” partner, pushing us to give away our land and give his army of terrorists guns!
Half the country, the right-wing of course, protested in the streets screaming that it would bring terror upon Israel, which it did. The defense and media establishment called us “enemies of peace” and delegitimized our communities and voices.
In 2005, this same defense and media establishment then supported the disastrous Gaza “disengagement”, which meant destroying 21 thriving Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and expelling close to 10,000 Jews from their homes.
Half the country, the right-wing of course, protested in the streets screaming that it would bring even more terror upon Israel, including rockets on Ashkelon and massacred in Israeli communities, which it did. The defense and media establishment once again called us “enemies of peace” and delegitimized our communities and voices.
Today, the retired defense “experts” and media establishment are now blaming Netanyahu and the right-wing for the Oct. 7th massacre, calling to end the war and to bring down this government in the middle of the war in order to have new elections.
You think our defense “experts” and media establishment have learnt anything? The answer is a resounding No. They are the most untrustworthy voices in the Jewish state of Israel for decades, demoralizing the nation and 100% responsible for creating the public pressure that led to the disastrous diplomatic and defense catastrophic decisions that paved the way for Hamas to commit the Oct. 7th massacre and take our people captive!
Ultimately, the IDF military and intelligence leaders are supposed to provide the advice, and leadership, to win wars and protect civilians from any harm, and they have consistently failed at this due to a misreading of reality, thinking that their duty is to “manage a conflict”, and manage an enemy population, instead of defeating a murderous enemy. But, do not despair, there is an undercurrent of optimism in our reality today.
More than ever before in modern history, the Jewish people, especially in Israel, are very much united. It is only the tiny disconnected elites of the far left, who run the media, the universities, the major Jewish-progressive foundations that have tremendous influence on IDF senior and has-been (and more often than not, failed) retired officials, and career government staff, who have been leading the Jewish people to destruction for the past few decades.
And those days are coming to an end. Thankfully, the Jewish people in Israel are more united than ever, more Jewishly identified as a collective than ever before, and, as a whole, seeing the truth about our reality more than ever before, despite the demoralizing establishment media who have begun saying that we have lost the war and should give up, with all signs pointing to the contrary.
And the good news is, that this time, we will win! We will beat our external enemies and we will beat the tiny minority of our leftist elites as well. It might seem impossible and daunting, but it is happening. That is why they are so scared and calling for new elections in the middle of a war, despite the fact that a majority of the Israeli public supports ending this war with a clear victory that allows Israel to remain in full control of the Gaza strip. This is making the defense and media establishment go crazy. A good sign that we are winning!
All one has to do is see the spiritual revolution going on around us today in Israel, on so many levels. It is that spiritual revolution that is our true salvation, and it is unbelievable! It is all up to us together with the one above. Do not forget it – we are winning!!! Am Yisrael Chai!!!
Avi Abelow is the host of the Pulse of Israel daily video/podcast (PulseofIsrael.com) and the CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation. After working as a change management consultant for Accenture in NYC and opening up their Israel office in Tel Aviv, Avi then produced the acclaimed movie “Home Game” about Gush Katif. Due to the success of “Home Game” worldwide, Avi made a career change to dedicate his time to using media, videos and social media to promote the politically incorrect truth about Israel, the Jewish people and the freedom-loving world. Today, Avi also is the Director of 12Tribe Films which manages IsraelUnwired.com.
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We can’t become addicted to America – opinionEvery American aircraft carrier that approaches our region exacerbates that concern, as, despite all the talk of shared values, not all of our interests align with those of our friend across the sea.By YEHUDIT KATSOVER, NADIA MATAR 14NOVEMBER2023 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-773092
Our great friend, the United States, is worrisome, and to the extent that these days, the manifestations of its friendship in the military realm are deepening, that worry is gradually intensifying.
Every American aircraft carrier that approaches our region exacerbates that concern, as, despite all the talk of shared values, not all of our interests align with those of our great friend across the sea.
In that reality, the more the military power from the United States in our region increases, the more Israel’s ability to stand on its principles and safeguard its security and diplomatic interests, decreases.
A blatant example of this is the pressure currently being exerted on the Israeli government, even before the battle in the South has ended, to position the Palestinian Authority, in one form or another, as the alternative government to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The ostensible legitimacy for an American demand of that kind in the Gaza Strip is liable to get stronger when a similar demand is made regarding Judea and Samaria. We will, once again, find ourselves under immense American pressure to establish a Palestinian state in the heartland of the country and the South. We will be pressured to relinquish territories of our homeland, and once again, it will be ingrained in the consciousness of the Arab world that, ultimately, Israel was defeated. Strategic depth is our most crucial interestThe dangerous idea of partitioning the land and establishing a terrorist state in its heart was a concept that appeared to have been removed from the negotiating table. Sadly, however, it is being reincarnated, and the search has already been renewed for the latest “moderate” Palestinian, with or without a tie, and with or without a prison uniform. As a result, names from the blood-soaked terrorist past, among them, Mohammed Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti, are resurfacing as partners suitable for leadership in the post-Sinwar era.
Is it reasonable that, for the sake of this absurd idea, our sons and daughters are fighting and sacrificing their lives in heroic battles in the Gaza Strip?
The most crucial interest that Israel must maintain for the security of its citizens is strategic depth. This is the only way to create a realizable and sustainable defense. Without it, Judea and Samaria will be like Gaza but even worse, threatening Kfar Saba, Herzliya, Netanya, and Azrieli with the same atrocities we experienced in Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.
Alongside the appreciation for the support that it provides us, we must remember that wherever the United States sought to impose its political will, it failed. This was the case in Egypt, Libya, Iran, and Afghanistan. We do not have an extra state in which to conduct another experiment of that kind. Israel will not be the next.
The true American interest is a strong Israel. A strong Israel constitutes a secure democratic axis, and its weakening will not help the Americans in their struggle against the Sunni and Russian efforts to supplant them from the Middle East.
Weakening Israel would be immediately translated by our neighbors, who are also allies of the United States, as American betrayal in times of trouble, resulting in their turning to other allies.
During the first 10 months of the current Netanyahu government, the American administration did everything it could to weaken Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was boycotted: Talks were held with the heads of the Israeli opposition and Israeli President Isaac Herzog was turned into a bypass axis to Netanyahu, among other things. This, in turn, weakened Israel and its regional standing, essentially leading to the October 7 massacre.
It is undeniable that Israel needs the United States in the diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and security arenas, but all of these are not enough to cause it to capitulate to every demand that comes from Washington. The United States would prefer to see a strong and resolute ally, one that stands up for its interests, even against the White House.
Just as in the past, the leaders of Israel knew how to stand up to American presidents on critical issues, like sovereignty in the Golan Heights and east Jerusalem, the bombing of the Iraqi reactor, and even the establishment of the State of Israel, so too, the leaders of Israel need to stand up to the Biden administration. They must make it clear that Gaza will be under exclusive Israeli control, there will be Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and the entire territory until the Litani River will be clear of Hezbollah terrorists. Only steadfastness of that kind will safeguard our security and preserve our regional standing.
The writers are co-chairs of the Sovereignty Movement.
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“The Whole World Regrets that Hitler Didn’t Finish Off the Jews” – R’ Eliezer Berland Shlit”aBy David Simcha 21November2023 https://ravberland.com/the-whole-world-regrets-that-hitler-didnt-finish-off-the-jews-r-eliezer-berland-shlita/ Why was Shimshon turned over to the Philistines?Why did Shimshon kill every day a thousand Philistines in Gaza?How did the Philistines attack Israel and in their audacity call Shimshon a savage (Pere Adam) when he fought back?What miracle occurred for Shimshon?The holy of words of Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland shlit”a:Shimshon HaGibor was the greatest hero. He would go to Gaza every day; he would kill a thousand of their soldiers, a thousand Hamas-niks. It was impossible to harm him, so they decided to have him handed over. They brought 3,000 soldiers [of Israel] to hand him over. They said to Shimshon, “You know that we are under the Philistines. Today Hamas rules here! Who rules here? Hamas!” Today the Philistines rule over us; the Philistines today are Hamas!They asked Shimshon: Why do you do this, every day killing a thousand of their men? Shimshon answered: They took my wife – what can I do?Freedom of expression – today in England they are holding protests in support of Hamas [saying]: Hamas are right, killing Jews is totally legitimate. Since Hitler, the law still has not been repealed [that killing Jews is legitimate]. Hitler said that to kill a Jew is the greatest mitzvah. Mainly this is in England, where they remain with the laws of the past. They are conservative; they don’t change laws. So we see that they are siding with Hamas, screaming, “Death to the Jews,” and the British government supports it; they are in favor of it.
They ask them why, what’s the meaning of this? [The English answer:] This is the law from seventy years ago. The same thing with Shimshon. They asked him: Why do kill them? This is against international law. What are you doing to them? They are poor people, oppressed. What do you want from them?Okay, so three thousand came to capture Shimshon. Shimshon said to them: Don’t do anything to me. Just don’t touch me. I’ll hand myself over alone. Swear to me. I want you to swear to me an oath, lest you harm me.
And they said to him: No, we have come to arrest you. “[They said to him, ‘No, rather we will only arrest you and give you over into their hand; but we will surely not put you to death.’ So they bound him with two new ropes] and brought him up from the rock” [Shoftim 15:13). They put him on the top of the rock, three hundred meters high.
The Philistines are blowing shofars, trumpets, “We won, we won. We have caught the savior of Israel, the greatest strongman. What bandits these Jews are. All of them are bandits, a people of murderers.” Hitler said: I’m not willing to live together with them. It’s impossible. They just murder day and night. We Germans are refined, [saying politely] “Bitte schon, Danke schon (you’re welcome, thank you very much)” all day. They [the Germans] don’t come close to a person, never touch a person, only caress everyone.
They said, “Those Jews, those murderers, this will be their end.” In the end, Germany fell; the poor thing, it fell. Then they said, “Who made us fall? The Jews!”
Those Jews who remained [are guilty]? – how many Jews remained already? 10,000 Jews? Yes, they brought the Americans, brought the Russians, brought the English, brought the French. We lost because of the Jews, because we left a few Jews alive.
Hitler said if a single Jew remains, a single baby, we’re lost. There are no stubborn and murderous [people] like the Jews. The whole world believes in this until this day. Now there were attacks on Jews in the airport at Dagestan. Some thousand Muslims attacked an airplane.[1]
So Shimshon found a fresh jawbone of a donkey – [“He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and stretched out his hand and took it.] He struck down [a thousand people] with it” (ibid. 15). “Wow, Master of the Universe, what a savage! Wow, how did we come across such a savage!”
“Shimshon then said, ‘With the jawbone of a donkey, heap upon heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!’” – every blow, a thousand men. “When he finished speaking” – suddenly he faints from thirst. He hasn’t drunk already for three days. “And he cast the jawbone from his hand and he called that place Ramat-Lechi.” There is a Ramat-Lechi in Beit Shemesh. There is Ramat-Lechi; all of this is in the same area.
“He was very thirsty and called to Hashem, saying, ‘You have given into the hand of Your servant this great salvation, and now would I die from thirst?’” Will this be my end after I struck down a thousand men?
Then the tooth [in the jawbone] split open and a spring came out of there, from the hole that was in the tooth, from the “hollow,” which is the hole. “And God split open the hollow that was in the jawbone, and water came forth from it” — some flowing water, “and he drank” – cold water, cold like ice, “and his spirit was returned to him and he was revived.” “Therefore, that place is called En-Hakkorei [Spring of the Caller],” and there Shimshon called to Hashem, and Hashem created for him a new spring, the spring of the jawbone.“And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years” – twenty and another twenty is forty. For another twenty years, they had fear of Shimshon.==== [1] In late October this year, a horde of Muslims stormed a hotel and airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan, a Muslim area in Russian, in search of Jews, upon hearing that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city. |
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“THEY MUST GO”6 Kislev 5784 19November2023 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2023/11/they-must-go.html The news of note today is this very open and accelerating mini-war the United States is intent on waging against private Israeli citizens. Since the beginning of Oslo (1993), well, not the beginning of the plan, but the beginning of its implementation, the United States has been monitoring and micromanaging what I call a “mini-war” against “Jewish” terrorism in Eretz Yisrael. Since no such thing exists, the CIA and the Shin Bet had to manufacture it.
The first Jewish “terrorist” to be taken out (1990) was the head of that most dangerous of terror organizations called Kach, Rabbi Meir Kahane’s political party in Israel. I’ll concede they might have had a point here. Rabbi Kahane, a courageous and faith-filled scholar-warrior like King David who was having great success inculcating true Jewish values into a new generation, not only inspired terror in the hearts of the murderous Arab enemy, but the enemy ensconced in Washington, D.C., too.
A few years later, intent on shoving the Oslo debacle down the throat of our nation, a set-up of Dr. Baruch Goldstein (1994), who was lured into and then locked inside a room with murderous Arabs armed with axes, was used to create the myth of Jewish “terrorism.” In an impossible effort to save his own life, he managed to kill over a score of Arabs who, only days before had been chanting “Death to the Jews.” A doctor who was known for his humanitarianism as a physician was literally demonized, much the same as Rabbi Kahane before him and like Yigal Amir after him.
The assassination of Yitzchak Rabin (1995) was perhaps the most daring attempt to silence any opposition to capitulation to the American overlord. It was another set-up to smear the religious-settler public. Then seeing that the son, Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane, was following in his father’s footsteps (Kahane Chai), they took him out along with his wife, and then followed Yehuda Ben Yosef (2003).
How many others since then, I’ve lost track, but I know 15-year-old “Hilltop Youth” Ahuvia Sandak was one of the more recent ones. The entire group of them are at mortal risk. Basically, anyone the US State Department and/or the CIA with the cooperation of the evil Erev Rav regime deems a threat to the full implementation of their wicked plans against Israel (which is nothing less than a war on God), will be eliminated. Sometimes it’s an “accident” or “friendly fire,” but mostly they use Arabs or set it up like it’s an attack by Arabs. They call it the “Cycle of Violence.”
Thanks to the retention of the British Mandate practice of Administrative Detention, Jewish citizens of the Democratic State Repressive Regime of Israel, can be arrested without charge, without the advice or representation of an attorney, without trial and for an unspecified period of time. This has proved to be a very useful weapon in their arsenal against “the Settlers, the Hilltop Youth, the Jewish extremists, the Jewish terrorists” – well, let’s just call it like it is – ALL 500,000 of the Jewish residents of Yehudah v’Shomron!!!
And now, thanks to Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and the Rabbis of the Shomron who have done nothing to bring him to justice for his crime of establishing a base of avodah zarah inside the Jewish settlement enterprise there, that Christian Base of Operations (HAYOVEL) has now been publicly outed as a nest of spies visited regularly by high Washington officials and “connected” directly to the United States State Department.
This revelation comes at the very moment that Washington’s War on the Settlers has come out forcefully into the open.
Well, you get the idea. Just google “settler violence” and you get pages and pages like this. The campaign is really ramping up now.
So, yeah, here we are again, right back to the same issue. Any Jew whom they perceive as standing between them and their “Peace” (read Piece) goals is an enemy to be annihilated. When will we ever learn to view them the same way? Because this is the truth: every Torah-loving, Torah-abiding Jew is a threat to them, as they are to us! They are ultimately at war with God! If we want to live in real peace in our land, THE AMERICANS (along with the murderous Arabs),…
“THEY MUST GO!!!”Rabbi Meir Kahane – They must go
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Pop quiz!
What do the following years have in common? 1937, 1947, 1967, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2020. A: The years Israel accepted a peace treaty with its neighbors and offered concessions, painful concessions for peace. B: The years the Arabs rejected a peace treaty with Israel because they don’t want peace with Israel. They want no Israel. C: All of the above. “But… but… They want peace! They want a state. They want freedom. They want independence.” No problem, just don’t let the objective historical facts confuse you.
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The Monaco Solution-Hamas and the PA have no place in Post-War GazaThe Monaco solution is a practical model for those interested in genuine peace that is sustainable. It provides for self-government, independence and sovereignty, as well as, security for all parties concerned.Leonard Grunstein
The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the ‘West Bank’ and the Gaza Strip, signed in Washington, D.C., on September 28, 1995 (known as Oslo II), formally ended even the pretense of the so-called ‘occupation’.
Lest there be any misunderstanding, the Palestinian Authority (PA) admitted this inconvenient fact in UN documents such as the recent 2023 UNESCO World Heritage Site designation relating to Jericho and in connection with UN aid regarding its property tax system in 2010. They describe the period from 1967-1994 (!) as the so-called “occupation period”. Indeed, the property tax documents expressly notes “After the occupied Palestinian territory was transferred to the sovereignty of the National Authority [PA], direct taxes and local taxes fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.”
Oslo II provides for self-government in the areas assigned to the PA and critical and essential security arrangements. This included Gaza, which was subsequently taken over by Hamas. Oslo II also includes extensive demilitarization requirements. Thus, while Oslo II provides for the PA to have a police force, other armed forces were not permitted.
Article XIV expressly provides:
“…no organization, group or individual in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shall manufacture, sell, acquire, possess, import or otherwise introduce into the West Bank or the Gaza Strip any firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, gunpowder or any related equipment.”
Article XV requires the parties to:
“take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other’s authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders.”
Had the PA and Hamas honored this milestone Agreement in good faith and kept the peace as intended, then what is commonly referred to as a two-state solution would have been implemented long ago.
Consider, for example, a similar model peace and security agreement involving France and Monaco, which has worked in practice for more than a century. Under the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1918, which was formally noted in the Treaty of Versailles, Monaco was recognized as a sovereign and independent state. However, it was France that was responsible for the defense of Monaco. France patrols the sea adjacent to and airspace above Monaco. The only security forces within Monaco are the police force and the Prince’s Guard; Monaco otherwise has no armed forces.
The foreign relations of Monaco are the responsibility of a Minister of State, who is a French citizen appointed by the Prince from among several senior French civil servants proposed by the French government. The cordial relations between the two states were further deepened in 2017 with the signing of a general security agreement.
The Monaco solution is a practical model for those interested in genuine peace that is sustainable. It provides for self-government, independence and sovereignty, as well as, security for all parties concerned, especially against foreign threats.
Just imagine if Hamas landed on Monaco’s beaches, took over Monaco and committed an October 7th invasion of France, brutally murdering French citizens, carrying out horrible atrocities and kidnapping French women and children and abusing them. It would be absurd to believe France would hesitate to use overwhelming force to eradicate Hamas and attempt to save the hostages. Is there any doubt that France would be morally justified in doing so, as well as, duty bound under its Treaty with Monaco to come to its defense?
In essence, Oslo II established a similar structure for Gaza as the Monaco solution. However, unlike Monaco, Gaza under the PA and then Hamas was not genuinely interested in living side by side in peace with Israel.
The PA was in charge at the beginning and entered into the 2005 Disengagement Agreement noted below. Hamas took over in 2007 and it might fairly be viewed as a foreign oppressive regime. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and effectively an agent of the terrorist Iranian Regime. Even its leadership resides in Qatar, a foreign country. Other than wielding locals as pawns in a war against Israel, it has no interest in developing Gaza for the benefit of those living there.
Hamas’ raison d’être is seeking the elimination of Israel and the extermination of Jews, as a part of a grand scheme to conquer the west and eliminate Christians and other non-Muslims. As outlined below, its leaders view Gaza merely as a secure base of operations against Israel.
The PA is not much better. As Arafat stated, in his infamous speech in a Johannesburg Mosque, when he attended the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, on May 10, 1994, the Jihad (Islamic Holy War) would continue and Jerusalem was not for the Palestinian Arab people, it was for the entire Muslim nation the Ummah). He also declared that the original Oslo Agreement of 1993 was nothing more than a temporary truce and his goal was to take all of Israel, starting with Jerusalem. He even said he was in need of the Moslems in the mosque audience to join as warriors of Jihad.
Abbas, Arafat’s deputy and then successor, has a long history of paying lip service to peace in discussions with US interlocutors and then laughing it off when addressing another audience. Thus, for example, Abbas said in an interview with the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi that he would not give in to the American and Israeli demand to stop payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs, calling them “fighters” and underlining his obligation to them. At the July 23, 2018 Ramallah ceremony, which was to honor prisoners, Abbas conferred medals on the families of the “martyred prisoners” and on the released prisoners, and said:
“We will neither reduce nor prevent [payment] of allowances to the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners, as some seek, and if we had only a single penny left, we would pay it to families of the martyrs and prisoners.”
He went on to stress:
“From our standpoint, the martyrs and prisoners are stars in the firmament of the Palestinian people’s struggle, and take priority in every matter. In 1965, a few days after the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution, the first mission undertaken by the martyr late president Yasser Arafat was to establish an institution to care for the families of the martyrs and the mujahideen of Palestine – for they are the pioneers and must be cared for, and we will care for them.”
He also expressed his deep appreciation for the activity on the prisoners’ behalf, and noted that it “paves the way for the liberation of Palestine.”
Is it any wonder that even the State Department reportedly determined that the PA had “not taken proactive steps to counter incitement to violence against Israel” and the “incitement to violence and glorification of terrorism occur in public statements and social media posts by PA officials and politicians, in official media broadcasts and social media outlets, and in school textbooks”.
Abbas’ deputy chairman at the PLO brazenly admitted that the PA security forces fight alongside terrorists against Israel and that they are all one.
It is also important to note that the PA reportedly does not have complete control over the areas it governs. Armed groups form rival factions, including Hamas, PIJ and others rein free. They are responsible for terrorist attacks on Israel and lawlessness, including in Jenin and Nablus. How can Abbas be trusted to govern Gaza or prevent it from reverting back into a terrorist state again? Moreover, as noted above, Abbas glorifies terrorists and rewards them financially under the PA Pay to Slay program. He also continues to block general elections for the PA, arrests and intimidates his political opponents, refuses to share power with others and muzzles freedom of expression.
We must also not forget the glaring failures of the past, which resulted from delusional fantasies that ignored facts like those summarized above. Remember that despite the fact that the PA utterly failed to honor Oslo II and even unleashed a new wave of terrorism directly contrary to the terms of the agreement, at the urging of the US, in a fool-hardy attempt to promote the ultimate goals of Oslo II notwithstanding PA willful defaults, a grand experiment was instituted. Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. For all intents and purposes peace should have been achieved then.
As the wise Charles Krauthammer, Z”L wrote, “…Israel evacuated Gaza completely. It declared the border between Israel and Gaza an international frontier. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory in history. Yet Gazans continued the war…Why? Because occupation was a mere excuse to persuade gullible and historically ignorant Westerners to support the Arab cause against Israel. The issue is, and has always been, Israel’s existence. That is what is at stake.”
However, predictably, the Gaza experiment turned out to be a catastrophic failure, as most recently evidenced by the October 7th Hamas invasion of Israel and the murderous massacre, unspeakable atrocities and horrible kidnappings it committed. Evil Hamas is an antisemitic, racist, misogynistic, ant-LGBTQ, tyrannical and oppressive regime. Ever since 2007, when it took over governing Gaza, it has been in a perpetual state of war with Israel. Hamas and its terrorist cohorts, backed by the Iranian Regime, have also succeeded in infiltrating areas controlled by the PA in Judea and Samaria.
Moreover, the PA also continues to flout its obligations under Oslo II. Indeed, instead of curtailing terrorist activity against Israel, it actually encourages and rewards it, under its notorious ‘Pay to Slay’ program. Neither Hamas nor the PA has reformed and each continues to maintain school systems that are virtual factories of Jew hatred. All this in spite of pledges to reform and funding conditioned on that reform.
Yet, regardless all these undeniable failures, there are still some in the Biden Administration who express a fanciful vision for a post-war Gaza that is nothing more than a re-heated version, with some possible window dressing, of Gaza pre-October 7th.
It’s well past time to wake up and recognize that no matter how well intentioned, the Gaza post-2005 experiment was a fiasco.
It is perilous to ignore this fact. Not only did it not lead to a lasting peace, but by the US and EU ignoring, excusing or condoning malign actions by Hamas and the PA and even continuing to reward the terrorist regimes, directly or indirectly, with funding despite their malevolent deeds, it can fairly be said that they too bear some responsibility for October 7th.
Undeterred by all of the foregoing, Secretary of State Blinken reportedly nevertheless took up the matter of post-war governance in Gaza with PA president Abbas, who expressed his desire to take over Gaza. The absurdity of this initiative is risible. After all, Gazans had rejected PA rule in 2007 and polls showing Hamas candidates would likely also beat Abbas and his Fatah party, if an election were held on Abbas’ home turf in the PA controlled areas. It would appear that Blinken previously did pay lip service to the issue when he noted, an
“effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” was needed to govern Gaza. Parenthetically, he just as well could have added for the PA controlled areas too.
However, did Blinken take up what was required in detail with Abbas?
-Indeed, did he tell Abbas that he must not make the Pay to Slay payments he promised to Hamas terrorists or their families or anyone else for that matter?
-Did he tell Abbas that he had to clean house and eliminate Hamas and PIJ operatives in the areas the PA controlled?
-Did he discuss what was required to reform the PA/UNWRA school system, including firing those teaching Jew hatred, eliminating antisemitic materials and revising the curriculum to acknowledge the existence and legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel and teach respect for Jews, Christians and those of other non-Muslim faiths?
-Did he demand that Abbas finally amend the PLO Charter to recognize Israel and do so under PA law?
-Did he demand the repeal of the Pay to Slay law, as well as, the law prohibiting land sales to Jews?
-Did he call out Abbas for his Temple denial and Holocaust denial?
-Did he insist that Abbas talk about all of this in a speech broadcast not only in English but also in Arabic to his people and lay out the vital need for these reforms and the steps that would be taken to implement them?
=Beyond talk alone, what are the tangible consequences for the PA’s misfeasance and malfeasance?
-When will aid payments to the PA be cut off until these essential reforms are achieved?
None of the reports of the meeting speak about any of this. It appears that there is no genuine belief that any of these necessary reforms can ever be achieved. Yet the virtue signaling and pious pronouncements continue without any appreciation that they not only serve no useful purpose; but, even embolden wrongdoers, because of the lack of any true accountability and tangible consequences for malign activities. Delusions are what enabled the Gazan terrorist state to be created in the first place and after its catastrophic failure why risk repeating the same fatal mistake.
In reality there is no substantive difference between Hamas and the PA led by Abbas.
Neither has accepted the existence of Israel and the PA hasn’t tangibly demonstrated its abhorrence of Hamas’ atrocities. Indeed, Abbas has actually committed to paying the Hamas terrorists, who perpetrated the atrocities, ‘Pay to Slay’ rewards of millions of dollars.
It’s also reported that Abbas’ party Fatah bragged about its own participation in the atrocities. Murderous terrorists who attacked Israel on October 7th had PA pay-slips in their pockets.
The streets of PA controlled areas witnessed rallies in support of Hamas, glorifying their despicable misdeeds. The muted condemnation by Abbas of Hamas’ outrages on October 7th are reportedly only spoken in private and not publically and are qualified by falsely referring to targeting of civilians by both sides, as opposed to just by Hamas.
Beyond that it is reported that one of the leaders of the PA, in talks with the US on a plan to run Gaza after the Hamas war has been insisting that the goal of fully defeating Hamas is unrealistic and that instead Hamas should join the PA under a new governing structure. PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reportedly revealed his preferred outcome of the Hamas war would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the broader PLO.
In Gaza, Hamas terrorists felt comfortable publicly parading their hostages and showing videos of their atrocities. The sadistic murderers were treated as heroes. Celebrations over the massacre also broke out in the PA controlled areas. The PA has not reined in terrorists operating from the PA controlled areas against Israel. In addition, Fatah calls for everyone with a weapon to join in committing terrorist attacks.
In a recent interview, Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, outright rejected the two-state solution.
He caustically noted how they keep pulling out the old merchandise of the two-state solution. He went on to say that there is a consensus among Palestinian Arabs that they were entitled to all of the existing land of Israel. He defined it as from the Jordan River to Mediterranean Sea and in the north from Rosh Hanikra to the south, Eilat and the Gulf of Aqaba.
He was very clear, no recognition of Israel, rather the elimination of Israel. He noted that this concept, embodied in the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’, is chanted in western capital cities by the Americans, western public and students.
Mashal said that October 7 has renewed this dream and hope and shown that it is a realistic idea, not merely a dream. He went on to discuss how Hamas coming to power was a necessity, in order to serve the people and to protect what he referred to as ‘the resistance’, meaning the goal of conquering all of Israel. It provided a political and administrative cover in all the Palestinian Arab institutions and gave the resistance a free hand to operate.
He noted that Hamas used its rule of Gaza to build up the resistance, including weapons, weapons production, planning, training and the tunnels, while its backs were safe. In this regard, he even took a swipe at the PA, noting Hamas operated without any security coordination with Israel as required under Oslo II and there was no PA in Gaza to persecute Hamas.
Both Israel and Egypt have made clear that neither wants to run Gaza. Indeed, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said Israel would not retain governance of Gaza after Hamas was eliminated. He offered, “The third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip…”
The only way to have an alternative to the repugnant Hamas and PA terror regimes is to organize one.
Responsible parties must be identified and supported to create a way out of this moral morass. They cannot resemble in any way the tyrannical, kleptocratic, antisemitic, anti-Christian and anti-American Hamas regime, which on October 7th, not only murdered and committed atrocities against Israelis, Americans and others, but also murders and oppresses its own people.
It begins with the Biden Administration stopping to circumvent the Taylor Force Act. By failing to cut off any support for Pay to Slay, the Administration is, in effect, financially rewarding the murder of over 30 Americans and kidnapping of others held hostage. We also must not forget that as recently as November 6, 2023, an Israeli-American policewoman in Jerusalem was murdered by a terrorist, as well as the other thousands of Israelis, Americans (like Taylor Force ob”m and Malki Roth z”l) and others who have been murdered or injured by terrorists originating from the PA controlled areas, over the years.
There is a reason why the Taylor Force Act was adopted and the lack of a serious enforcement effort under the Act is inexplicable. In a time when an unequivocal demonstration of moral clarity is critical, the failure to enforce the relevant and most cogent provisions of the Taylor Force Act is inexcusable.
The Biden Administration must also desist from interfering with Israel’s sacred mission of eradicating the evil that is Hamas and its cohorts, in Gaza and elsewhere. Israel is conducting a just war and doing so in compliance with the laws of war.
October 7th demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the status quo, delusions about a peace process and two-state solution and the Biden Administration’s appeasement policies are an abject failure.
There’s a reality that’s inescapable. Israel, America’s loyal and invaluable ally and friend, exists in a hostile environment made all the more dangerous by the current Administration’s pandering to the terrorist regime in Iran and its proxies, as well as the PA. Virtue signaling for domestic consumption and mixed messaging only serves to embolden the terrorists. It’s time to be clear and unequivocal not only in general support of Israel and its mission to eradicate evil Hamas, but also in detail so as to avoid any ambiguity or misunderstanding.
Hamas’ goal was not just to massacre 1,200 Israelis, Americans and others, but also to destroy Israel and massacre Jews. As noted above, the elimination of Israel is also the goal of Abbas’ PLO and by extension the PA. It’s also the stated goal of the axis of evil, led by terrorist Iranian regime, backing Hamas, as well as its other proxies, as demonstrated by the Houthis firing ballistic missiles against Israel and the rockets fired by Hezbollah. They also threaten America, which they derogatorily refer to as the ‘Big Satan’ (Israel’s referred to as the ‘Little Satan’), Christians and other non-Muslims.
Peace is possible with a former enemy that wants peace; it’s not possible with a current enemy that doesn’t desire it. So long as the PA doesn’t truly recognize Israel in word and deed, insists on retaining Hamas and actually supports Israel’s destruction, it cannot be a true peace partner.
The Biden Administration must recognize that there’s no chance for peace with the current PA regime or Hamas. A hybrid formulation or less than totally changed PA, under new leadership genuinely committed to pursuing and promoting peace with Israel is just a transparent artifice, a proverbial distinction without difference or merit. The US must accept that the PA is not the answer and move on and seek other real alternatives.
The major goal of this defensive war by Israel is to ensure that evil Hamas is totally defeated, free the hostages, assure there is no longer any threat of missiles or rockets being fired into Israel and enable the hundreds of thousands of Israelis evacuated from southern and northern Israel to be able to return safely to their homes. Gaza must be totally demilitarized and security protocols must be but in place that prevent rearming, rebuilding tunnels or the pursuit of any war or terrorism against Gaza’s neighbors, Egypt and Israel.
Until then there must not be any equivocation or ambiguity about the US’s support for Israel and its moral imperative to prosecute its defensive war against evil Hamas to conclusion and to achieve the legitimate war aims outlined above. May Israel succeed in its sacred mission and may the valiant solders of the IDF and the hostages be returned home safely.
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Bank Leumi blocks UNRWA bank account
4February2024 6 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-bank-leumi-blocks-unrwa-bank-account-1001469418#utm_source=RSS
The Israeli bank has written to the UN Palestinian refugee agency saying it was seriously concerned that money from the account was reaching terrorist groups.
Bank Leumi (TASE:LUMI) has informed the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees that it has blocked its bank account, after it was revealed that 12 of its employees took part in the massacres by Hamas on October 7. Following the revelations the US, Germany, EU, UK and other countries halting their funding for UNRWA.
Bank Leumi said that it had identified unusual activity that has generated alerts in the compliance mechanisms of the bank’s risk management systems. Bank Leumi wrote to UNRWA explaining that recently, many money transfers have been identified in the account, in a way that does not allow the bank to trace their source and final destination. Leumi said it had demanded explanations from UNRWA representatives, but they had been unable to provide satisfactory explanations. Since such explanations have not been received, the Israeli bank said it had become seriously concerned that the money from UNRWA’s account was reaching terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA’s annual budget currently stands at $1.2 billion, which comes mainly from donations. As of this moment, regardless of Leumi’s decision, about 75% of UNRWA’s budgets have been suspended, following the decisions of donor countries that have already announced the halting of funding.
Bank Leumi declined to comment further. Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 4, 2024. © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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IRS urged to suspend nonprofit status of UNRWA American charitable arm“It is no longer debatable; UNRWA is Hamas,” wrote the International Legal Forum and the National Jewish Advocacy Center.David Swindle https://www.jns.org/irs-urged-to-suspend-nonprofit-status-of-unrwa-american-charitable-arm/
(February 1, 2024 / JNS) Daniel Werfel, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, received a joint letter calling for the suspension of the charity certification for a top funder of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA.
UNRWA USA is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides support for humanitarian work associated with the U.N. agency.
“It is no longer debatable; UNRWA is Hamas. Nor is it merely a ‘few rotten apples’ as some politicians and pundits have tried to suggest,” wrote the International Legal Forum and the National Jewish Advocacy Center. “The entire organization is a systematic incubator of hate, incitement and terror.”
Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, told JNS that the groups were “requesting in light of the recent evidence connecting UNRWA staff to the Oct 7 Hamas attacks and suspension of funds by a growing number of countries, including the U.S., that the exempt tax status of UNRWA USA be immediately suspended, pending an investigation, and then revoked.”
Ostrovsky told JNS, “At $3.8 million, UNRWA USA is the largest private donor to UNRWA in the United States.”
The letter stated that “providing support for an organization that incites and commits murderous violence while harboring members of U.S. designated terrorist groups that specialize in killing Jews and that call for Jewish genocide is obviously against both the law and public policy. UNRWA does all of those things, and UNRWA USA supports them.”
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Iran’s NightmaresThe Iranian attack on Israel seems a historic blunder. It opened up a new chapter in which its own soil, thanks to its attack on Israel, is no longer off limits to any Western power.By Victor Davis Hanson 25April2024 https://amgreatness.com/2024/04/25/irans-nightmares/
Details of the recent limited Israeli retaliatory strike against Iranian anti-aircraft missile batteries at Isfahan are still sketchy. But nonetheless, we can draw some conclusions.
Israel’s small volley of missiles hit their intended targets, to the point of zeroing in on the very launchers designed to stop such incoming ordnance.
The target was near the Natanz enrichment facility. That proximity was by design. Israel showed Iran it could take out the very anti-missile battery designed to thwart an attack on its nearby nuclear facility.
The larger message sent to the world was that Israel could send a retaliatory barrage at Iranian nuclear sites with reasonable assurances that the incoming attacks could not be stopped. By comparison, Iran’s earlier attack on Israel was much greater and more indiscriminate. It was also a huge flop, with an estimated 99 percent of the more than 320 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles failing to hit their planned targets.
Moreover, it was reported that more than 50 percent of Iran’s roughly 115-120 ballistic missiles failed at launch or malfunctioned in flight.
Collate these facts, and it presents a disturbing corrective to Iran’s non-stop boasts of soon possessing a nuclear arsenal that will obliterate the Jewish state.
Consider further the following nightmarish scenarios: Were Iranian nuclear-tipped missiles ever launched at Israel, they could pass over, in addition to Syria and Iraq, either Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, or all four. In the cases of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, such trajectories would constitute an act of war, especially considering that some of Iran’s recent aerial barrages were intercepted and destroyed over Arab territory well before they reached Israel.
Iran’s strike prompted Arab nations, the US, the UK, and France to work in concert to destroy almost all of Iran’s drones. For Iran, that is a premonition of the sort of sophisticated aerial opposition it might face if it ever decided to stage a nuclear version.
Even if half of Iran’s ballistic missiles did launch successfully, only a handful apparently neared their intended targets—in sharp contrast to Israel’s successful attack on Iranian missile batteries. Is it thus conceivable that any Iranian-nuclear-tipped missile launched toward Israel might pose as great a threat to Iran itself or its neighbors as to Israel?
And even if such missiles made it into the air and even if they successfully traversed Arab airspace, there is still an overwhelming chance they would be neutralized before detonating above Israel.
Any such launch would warrant an immediate Israeli response. And the incoming bombs and missiles would likely have a 100 percent certainty of evading Iran’s countermeasures and hitting their targets.
Now that the soil of both Iran and Israel is no longer sacred and immune from attack, the mystique of the Iranian nuclear threat has dissipated.
It should be harder for the theocracy to shake down Western governments for hostage bribes, sanctions relief, and Iran-deal giveaways on the implied threat of Iran successfully nuking the Jewish state.
The new reality is that Iran has goaded an Israel that has numerous nuclear weapons and dozens of nuclear-tipped missiles in hardened silos and on submarines. Tehran has zero ability to stop any of these missiles or sophisticated fifth-generation Israeli aircraft armed with nuclear bombs and missiles.
Iran must now fear that if it launched 2-3 nuclear missiles, there would be overwhelming odds that they would either fail at launch, go awry in the air, implode inside Iran, be taken down over Arab territory by Israel’s allies, or be knocked down by the tripartite Israel anti-missile defense system.
Add it all up, and the Iranian attack on Israel seems a historic blunder. It showed the world the impotence of an Iranian aerial assault at the very time it threatens to go nuclear. It revealed that an incompetent Iran may be as much a threat to itself as to its enemies. It opened up a new chapter in which its own soil, thanks to its attack on Israel, is no longer off limits to any Western power.
Its failure to stop a much smaller Israel response, coupled with the overwhelming success of Israel and its allies in stopping a much larger Iranian attack, reminds the Iranian autocracy that its shrill rhetoric is designed to mask its impotence and to hide its own vulnerabilities from its enemies.
And the long-suffering Iranian people?
The truth will come out that its own theocracy hit the Israeli homeland with negligible results and earned a successful, though merely demonstrative, Israeli response in return.
So Iranians will learn their homeland is now vulnerable and, for the future, no longer off limits.
And they will conclude that Israel has more effective allies than Iran and that their own ballistic missiles may be more suicidal than homicidal.
As a result, they may conclude that the real enemies of the Iranian nation are not the Jewish people of Israel after all, but their own unhinged Islamist theocrats.
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The Karens, Criminals, Narcissistic Megalomaniac Nannycrats and Naughty Beasts want ‘Pandemic Amnesty’No, There Will Not Be Any “Pandemic Amnesty”BY TYLER DURDEN 03November2022 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-there-will-not-be-any-pandemic-amnesty Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com, Nothing is Forgotten, Nothing Will Be Forgiven.On the very first day of this year I wrote that the pandemic was over and that only the most brainwashed true believers would cling to the absurd narratives that enabled it. Since then, all of it has been exposed to be falsehoods, cluelessness and lies:
…and the final straws for the credibility of all involved:
Innumerable careers, reputations and lives have been destroyed in order to enforce a completely debunked narrative as truth. The mainstream media, Big Tech, governments at all levels, neo-liberal glee clubs like the WEF, all coordinated to gaslight the entire population of the world that we were facing existential annihilation, and would have to henceforth trade in our civil rights to these authorities to escape it.
The economic damage is only now beginning to be felt in runaway inflation with central banks powerless to contain it, at risk of destroying what’s left of the economy.
We don’t need to enumerate the litany of injustice, ridicule and persecution anybody who tried to counter these absurd narratives had to endure. Lost friends, family, jobs, position, businesses, cancelations, deplatformings – all of it.
So it is unsurprising, now that the edifice is crumbling, that those who piled on to the persecutions, those who feathered their nest being “on the right side of history”, seeing that it’s all turning to dust in realtime, are starting – one and all – to back away from their role.
Now the name of the game is to distance oneself from the most intense and virulent outbreaks of mass formation psychosis in recorded history:
There are many who were up to their eyeballs in this who will now try to frame themselves as “the voice of reason” who was trying to introduce some rationality into the conversation.
Don’t believe them. “Sooner or Later Everyone Sits Down to a Banquet of Consequences”If the globally botched pandemic response accomplished one thing, it was to open many people’s eyes to how obsolete and ill equipped our current institutions are for handling a global crisis in this new, decentralized, multi-polar world.
While these insular elites believed they had Divine Right to “re-imagine” every aspect of our lives for some grandiose Great Reset, it’s these sclerotic, self-serving institutions they inhabit who are going to get their asses re-imagined. With a vengeance.
Here’s what you can do to reclaim your life, and take your power back from those who abused it and used their positions against you:
There will be no pandemic amnesty. More likely, by the time this is all over, there will be pandemic tribunals. * * * Mark E. Jeftovic is the CEO of easyDNS, co-founder of Bombthrower Media, author and investor. Sign up for The Bombthrower mailing list to get updates straight into your inbox and get a free copy of The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto while you’re at it. Follow me on Gettr, Telegram or Twitter. JerusalemCats Comments: Take a page out of History. Hang the Basters! These are people that want to be forgiven for a Nazi and Stalinist Holocaust of the World that listened to these Mad Men. Of stead of the industrial holocaust of the Nazi German Holocaust of the Death Camps of Europe the Mad Men just sent an untested “Vaccine” that they knew would kill. They lied and used Israelis as Lab Rats and the Israel “Ministry of Health” did their best to kill as many Religious Jews as possible as they did in the 1950 and 1960s with the X-Ray “treatments” of Sephardi Jewish Children.. |
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Watch: COVID Authoritarians Want Forgiveness – Here’s Why They Don’t Deserve Itby Tyler Durden, 31October2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/watch-covid-authoritarians-want-forgiveness-heres-why-they-dont-deserve-it< Do authoritarians deserve a chance to be treated with grace and forgiveness? The question is circulating regularly these days in the wake of the complete failure of covid pandemic response and the victory of the anti-mandate movement. The answer relies on a series of counter-questions based on logic and predictable outcomes. It’s the kind of discussion that covid cultists don’t want to have; they just want everyone to forget because they now have something to lose politically Scott Galloway, Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and member of the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders Of Tomorrow” list, is one of the cultists that now wants to be given a free pass as he debates the issue on Real Time with Bill Maher.
The question that we need to ask Galloway is: How forgiving was he when confronted with people who opposed his authoritarianism? Galloway was rabidly pro-mandate. He consistently called for harsher punishments for people refusing to comply and he demanded that the unvaccinated be treated as second tier citizens banned from places of business. As he argued in his blog titled ‘Half Of America Has Its Head Up Its Ass. It’s Time For A Vaccine Mandate’: “Enough already. Federal law should require any citizen who wants to cash a government check, use public transport, or enter a place of business to show proof of vaccination…” Galloway cited the ever present inflated CDC data on covid deaths in America as the justification for his authoritarian position. Of course, data was available not long after the spread of covid indicating that the Infection Fatality Rate of the virus was a tiny 0.23% and that 99.8% of the population (including the unvaccinated) had nothing to fear. Not only that, but the CDC has recently and quietly published information showing that around 95% of people who died with covid also had one or more comorbidities and 75% had at least four – Meaning, if you did not have multiple comorbidities your chances of dying from covid were incredibly small. Do Galloway and those like him deserve a clean slate? No, they don’t, and here’s why… No Apologies We hear many covid authoritarians talk about forgiveness but very few of them actually apologize for their behavior. Galloway calls for “grace”, perhaps trying to appeal to the Christian notion of “turning the other cheek.” He admits he was wrong on the mandates (because the data forces him to), but he doesn’t actually apologize for his behavior. In fact, he excuses his behavior and the behavior of leftist politicians as them doing the best they could do given the imperfect information they had at the time. This is a common tactic of misdirection.
As noted above, within months of covid becoming active in the US, the data was already available showing that the virus was not a legitimate threat. So the claim that their information was “the best they had at the time” does not hold water. There was more than enough evidence to warrant opposition to unconstitutional policies (frankly, even if covid had been more deadly it doesn’t justify violations of the Bill of Rights). Millions of Americans tried to explain the truth to those panicking over covid, and they chose not to listen, calling us “selfish conspiracy theorists.” But the greatest trespasses were among those analysts and “influencers” who used covid as an opportunity for political gain, knowing that there was information that debunked government and media spin. The worst people are those that have no intention of making amends because they plan to try again. People who do wrong and refuse to give a legitimate apology are the kinds of people that are likely to commit similar offenses in the future. Mad With Power The covidians were primarily from the left side of the political spectrum and wherever leftists were most concentrated is where the most egregious violations of liberty took place. The political left went absolutely mad with power, with a large number of Democrats supporting Orwellian controls to punish people refusing to submit to the mandates. There were calls to fine the unvaccinated, imprison people who question the vaccine, put the vaccinated on home lockdown and even take away their children. In some states, like New York, there was active legislation put forward to create detention facilities for people that did not comply (covid camps). That is some serious Stalinist behavior and we are still waiting for it to be addressed and for certain political leaders to be punished. As the old saying goes: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” We have now seen the character of the political left. We have seen the character of people like Galloway, and they have been found untrustworthy. It Can And Will Happen Again The covid event was really a litmus test for authoritarian tendencies in the US. At least half the public failed that test miserably. We may not see another pandemic agenda in our lifetimes, but that doesn’t really matter. There will be many other opportunities in the future for ignorant people and sociopathic people to act out on their darker impulses. It is important to make a note of how the individuals around us behave when they think it’s safe to be evil, and we must remember who they are. These are not people that should be given “grace” or trust down the road when the next crisis strikes; they have shown themselves to be unworthy of that. |
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No Amnesty for LockdownersJeffrey A. Tucker 01November2022 Updated: 02November2022 https://www.theepochtimes.com/no-amnesty-for-lockdowners_4834331.html Now that we can talk to our friends and neighbors about it, the reality is sinking in. What our public health experts and politicians did to this country was egregious. Inspired by the totalitarian lockdowns in Wuhan, China, and urged to replicate that policy by the World Health Organization in a report that Dr. Anthony Fauci and the National Institutes of Health approved, all constitutional rights were thrown out by the government.
The churches were shut. The schools were closed, in some places for as long as two years, thus sacrificing the education of a whole generation. We faced restrictions on house parties. We couldn’t visit the elderly in homes, not even their sons and daughters who were paying the rent. There were even restrictions on travel between states: Quarantine rules made it impractical.
Health authorities specifically demanded the need to close all venues where people congregate. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Once people were allowed to crawl out from their domestic holes, they were forced to mask up (even though we had zero evidence that this would achieve anything!) and eventually get vaccine shots that everyone said would end the pandemic but obviously didn’t.
It’s been nearly three years of imposed hell. We now live with the after-effects, including terrible inflation, learning loss, drug addiction, rising crime, cultural nihilism, and wholly justified public fury, which are driving the Democrats to doom on Nov. 8 because it was the Democrats who leaned in and perpetuated all these policies long after they obviously failed.
So sure, people are upset. The right answer would be for our health authorities and politicians to apologize and beg for forgiveness. But nothing like that has happened. They just keep on pretending that all of this was fine. There has been no repeal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s claimed power to quarantine you next time, and the Biden administration’s own pandemic planning scheme is to prohibit states from opting out the next time around.
So let’s discuss Emily Oster’s piece in The Atlantic in which she claims that everyone needs to immediately comply with some kind of amnesty that she has declared. We’re supposed to forget it all and move on. And why is this? Because, she says, there was so much uncertainty. They just didn’t know about the virus. It was the fog of war, after all, and everyone did their best.
“We didn’t know,” she wrote, and then kept invoking the supposed “uncertainty” of the times, a word she deployed five times. Why, if she (or they) were so uncertain, did they so quickly decide to wreck all liberty in the United States? The so-called precautionary principle would suggest that government should undertake no such policy because of the obvious harms it would impose. They did it anyway.
Here’s the problem. This is complete rot. We knew from February 2020 of the risk stratification of the disease’s serious outcomes. It was in all the papers. We had the data. We knew from the Diamond Princess experience in February 2020 that there were no deaths of those younger than the age of 70 on the ship. That comported with every bit of information we had at the time. Based on what we knew at the time, there was absolutely no case for locking down at all and every reason to not do this.
For that matter, Oster could have merely read the news. MSNBC on Jan. 30, 2020, reported that Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, formerly Barack Obama’s health adviser, said: “Everyone in America should take a very big breath, slow down, and stop panicking and being hysterical. We are having a little too much histrionics on this.”
On March 4, 2020, Slate reported: “There are many compelling reasons to conclude that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is not nearly as deadly as is currently feared. But COVID-19 panic has set in nonetheless. … Allow me to be the bearer of good news. These frightening numbers are unlikely to hold. The true case fatality rate, known as CFR, of this virus is likely to be far lower than current reports suggest.”
On the same day, Psychology Today reported: “Yes, this virus is different and worse than other coronaviruses, but it still looks very familiar. We know more about it than we don’t know. … It’s scary to think that an invisible enemy is out there to make you sick. But your doctor is not panicking, and you don’t need to, either.”
We can even turn to Fauci himself, who wrote as follows on Feb. 28, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine: “The overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1 percent) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10 percent and 36 percent, respectively.”
On March 17, 2020, legendary epidemiologist John Ioannidis broke it all down: “The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco. … One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric. At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.”
Wow, talk about prophetic! All of that happened. He knew this not because he was clairvoyant, but because he has a working brain. You can’t just shut down society without egregious consequences that affect health, economics, social relations, and so much more. In other words, authorities acted with extreme measures that were in no way justified by the data and did so with measures they knew for sure would massively damage the social fabric.
For that matter, we’ve known about the damage of lockdowns since they were first pushed in 2005–06. Famed epidemiologist Donald Henderson warned that such measures would turn a manageable pandemic into a catastrophe!
So here we are, living amid catastrophe. There are no apologies. There’s only coverup. Now, you might ask the following: Why, if the mainstream media from late-January through mid-February 2020 were counseling calm and urging against lockdown frenzy, and even Fauci was saying that we didn’t need a vaccine to get out of this pandemic, was there a sudden shift? What new evidence came in that caused Fauci, along with his minions and inner circle, to surround Trump in early March 2020 and demand that he greenlight the lockdowns?
Why did this happen? I have my own theories, but they’re only that. My suspicions are that 1) Fauci and his gang believed that they were culpable for the pandemic due to the National Institutes of Health’s funding of the Wuhan lab and so pushed the lockdowns in the hope of stopping the spread or just causing a chaotic diversion of attention, and 2) getting Trump to wreck the economy would be the surest path to unseating him in the November 2020 election. On the second point, it so happened that the manufactured disease panic allowed changes in absentee voting rules that ultimately led to Trump’s defeat.
Now, you could call this a conspiracy theory. I sincerely hope it isn’t true because it would be a scandal for the ages. And perhaps I’m wrong here, and there’s some other reason for the egregious actions that wrecked millions of businesses and lives. I would like to know what it is. But as for Oster’s excuse that we just didn’t know—that we believed that the virus was worse than it was, that masks would stop the spread, and so on—that claim is utterly baseless. So, too, does her demand for “amnesty” for the lockdowners fall flat.
We knew. We knew for sure, based on existing data what the nature of the threat was, and we knew for sure, based on historical experience and common sense, the deep damage that would be caused by the lockdowns. The plea of ignorance here simply doesn’t hold up to any evidentiary standard.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. |
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Moms for Liberty says NO AMNESTY for covid tyrants who committed “crimes against children”04November2022 by: Ethan Huff https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-11-04-moms-for-liberty-no-amnesty-covid-tyrants.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) In response to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten’s endorsement of The Atlantic for demanding “amnesty” for covid criminals, Moms for Liberty co-founders Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice are saying no way.
In a statement to the independent media, Descovich and Justice explained that Weingarten endorsed the Atlantic piece because she knows that she herself is one of the criminals who deserves to be punished for her crimes against children.
“No amnesty for the people that committed crimes against children,” Justice is quoted as saying to Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily. (Related: Remember when Weingarten decided to remove her face muzzle during a speech in violation of local mandates because supposedly nobody could hear her?)
“Of course Randi Weingarten [president of American Federation of Teachers] wants to forgive and forget everything that happened during COVID, because she was a key player,” Descovich added to the conversation.
“She kept schools closed. What unions did to children for over a year, in some places, and continuing in some places, between forced masking, quarantining for weeks and months on end, to these children – it is not easily going to be forgotten.” Weingarten’s abuse of children “destroyed their lives,” Moms for Liberty saysFor two years, America’s school children were forced to wear covid veils (face masks), stay away from their peers, and live under the heavy boot of medical tyranny – all because of tyrants like Weingarten who thought they would get away with it.
“It destroyed children’s lives,” Descovich says.
“The trajectory for children that lost two years of education, when you look at the NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] scores, you know, chances are a lot of these kids are not going to be able to graduate and their future is dismal because of women like her. So of course she wants to put it behind us and forget everything that has happened, but parents are not going to be able to do that very easily.”
What Descovich is referring to, here, is something called the Nation’s Report Card, which shows that scamdemic-related school closures led to children’s reading and math scores plummeting to the lowest levels in American history.
“The truth of the matter is – you know, Tina said they won’t be able to graduate,” Justice interjected. “The truth is they probably will, because the metrics are being changed, and they’re making it easier and easier to graduate.”
“We have, you know, declining student engagement, declining attendance, declining achievement scores, and yet graduation rates have never been higher. And so that just shows you this is a system that’s very intent on protecting itself. The union is very invested in protecting the system, and they want you to focus on what I like to call the alphabet soup: The CRT / SEL / DEI, ‘If only children felt safe and valued, if only this, if only that, then they could learn.’”
In other words, children in America are no longer learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, and are instead getting a steady diet of LGBT indoctrination, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” reprogramming, and various other anti-white, anti-American propaganda.
Together with the National Education Association (NEA), the AFT has reportedly pulled in some half a billion dollars in dues, nearly all of which ends up going towards far-left political causes.
“They are promoting radical progressive ideology in this country – they are so far away from their core issue of public education,” Descovich added about these two groups.
The latest news about the push for justice against the covid criminals can be found at Plague.info. Sources for this article include: |
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Doc AnarchyYou want amnesty? We want reparations.There will be no forgiveness without repentance15February2023 https://docanarchy.substack.com/p/you-want-amnesty-we-want-reparations
Do you remember those videos of people dying in the streets of China in the early days of covid? Something smelled wrong. As a medical professional, I have seen people in rough shape. Heart attacks, strokes, overdoses, and so on.
With the exception of a massive pulmonary embolism, I have never seen anything drop a healthy-appearing, well-dressed man like the person below. Furthermore, when people die, they don’t fall flat on their backs in a perfect anatomic position like they’re playing the planking game. Sudden death is ugly. You twitch. You roll. Your froth at the mouth. This was simply not believable.
Still, it was hard not to get swept up in the hysteria. It was everywhere. Mainstream doctors and journalists were repeating fake talking points, inflated infection fatality data, and bad science.
The people who were supposed to be in charge of the public response (Fauci and company) were giving us mixed messages. “Don’t buy masks!” one week and, “e all need masks!” the next. This was taking place in the face of historic shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). I remember being taught how to sanitize an N-95 mask for reuse with some bleach water and a paper bag.
Treatments for covid-19 were rudimentary. We didn’t understand the full effects on the body well enough yet so mistakes were made. Ventilators were abused early and often. In some cases, satanic physicians threw patients on the ventilator to prevent them from aerosolizing covid.
Early treatment was disorganized. Azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, and zinc became the go-to for those who were informed. Slowly over time, we got better.
But it was always one step forward and two steps back. While heroes like Dr. Zelenko created early treatment protocols, villains like Dr. Fauci said they would kill you. Doctors McCullough and Malone railed against the way we were treating patients. They were censored on social media and had their licenses challenged for their trouble.
In the end, mainstream medicine landed on the following foolproof strategy for treating covid: Stay at home and take Tylenol while you test yourself with a cheap home oximeter and come into the hospital when your oxygen drops below 92% one time. Then you’ll be admitted where you’ll sit in a dirty hospital bed eating seed oil chicken and watching CNN all day with another covid patient seemingly dying on the other side of the curtain. When you can’t tolerate nasal oxygen anymore we might try Bipap, but those are in short supply so here comes the ventilator. Oh, and when you die, your family can’t come to see you and you also can’t have a funeral.
This is not an exaggeration. I saw this exact series of events occur over, and over, and over. Those who disagreed with the risk posed by covid, the idiocy of the proposed treatments, or the ridiculous social precautions were called science deniers. They were accused of trying to kill grandma.
In October, one covid hysteric had the audacity to request a pandemic amnesty. Emily Oster, the author, correctly points out that they were so wrong on so many different things. Turns out, actions do have consequences.
When they shut down “nonessential” businesses the ramifications were felt worldwide. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics knew this was the case. The French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote about this phenomenon over 150 years ago in “What is Seen and What is Not Seen.”
The government mandated that certain people stayed home. They were not allowed to spend money on certain products. Businesses either closed entirely or had their revenue slashed due to a massive drop in demand (or supply in some cases). That is what is seen.
What is not seen, are the second and third-order effects of these decisions. You don’t see the young man who was saving for a can and can no longer buy it. You don’t see the used car dealer who was going to sell him that car and use the commission to buy his fiance an engagement ring. You don’t see the jeweler who was going to use that money to grow his 401K.
This basic principle was completely ignored and swept aside in favor of “free” money printed by the Federal Reserve. Mask mandates and social distancing were next. Once lockdowns were lifted, mask mandates and social distancing fell into place.
There are countless videos of Karens and Kens screeching at passersby who casually strolled too close to their 6-foot safety bubble while walking down the street in the bright sunshine and breeze.
The 6-foot social distance stickers every store had to install still remain in place, to this day in many places. A relic of a bygone era. Restaurantors were forced to buy and install flimsy pieces of plastic between customers as if the aerosolized virus doesn’t equilibrate in the room as we all learned in Physics 101.
Those who chose not to comply were given fine after fine. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. They had their livelihood taken away because they refused to comply with the asinine dictates of the tyrants in the local and federal governments.
If you were unfortunate enough to have a family member or loved one die during covid, you know the cruelty these people were willing to force on you. Funerals were banned to maintain social distancing. Family members weren’t allowed in the hospital as their loved ones took their final breath before being ventilated for the rest of their lives.
Grandmothers were locked up in nursing homes and told not to leave their rooms. For months these people were not allowed to see their children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends. Their entire lives were disrupted. They didn’t ask for that. You will never get that lost time back.
Despite no good science supporting their use, masks became the great hope. If you simply wore this poorly fitted piece of fabric made in China that you shoved in your pocket, we could beat this virus.
Never mind the fact that medical professionals are taught how to properly don and doff PPE so as not to contaminate themselves or those around them. Surely, your pocket is plenty clean enough.
Do you think it’s possible that untrained people could get some covid particles on their mask, put that mask in their pocket and contaminate the entire mask, and then put it back on their face later, thereby infecting themselves with covid?
I’m not even going to get into double masking. That was nothing more than a final gasp to stay relevant from a sad, sorry man losing his grip on power. I won’t hold my breath on Fauci being punished for his myriad lies to the American public.
In September 2021, President Biden began the federal vaccine mandates. This elevated covid tyranny to a whole new level. It gave businesses and individuals the ability to legally discriminate against others on the basis of unproven medical therapies.
History is not on the side of those who pushed the vaccine mandates. Turns out, Big Pharma isn’t as truthful as we wished. Their vaccines aren’t as effective as they claim. Turns out, they aren’t even safe.
Despite the mountains of evidence against the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines, these were used as the basis for countless layoffs. People had their lives ruined because they didn’t want an experimental therapy to prevent a cold.
Broadly, you can break the country into two groups: covid hysterics and covid skeptics. Certainly, there are crazies on both sides. We can safely ignore those people.
Covid hysterics bought into mask mandates, vaccines, and lockdowns. They were willing to go along with, or actively enforced, these dictates.
Covid skeptics may have bought into some part of these but didn’t buy the entire narrative they were being fed. Ironically, if you agreed with the covid hysterics on 2/3 of their policy decisions, that remaining 1/3 made you a heretic.
After 3 years of covid, we are not in a good place. It is becoming more and more clear that the covid skeptics were more correct more often, especially on the important things. That leaves us with the question: what do we do now? One side (average citizens) was systematically oppressed by a more powerful group of people with a monopoly on the use of force (government). I would go as far as to call it abuse.
One critical part of our justice system is punishment or justice. Another critical part is reform. The last part is reparations. In order for there to be any covid amnesty, these three factors must be met. Here is my proposal:
We can never go back in time and change the past. If you banned your own children from attending Thanksgiving because they didn’t get a vaccine, you will have to live with it.
We can fix it going forward. This list is a good place to start. If you want Amnesty, start with repentance. A nation cannot function when it’s this fractured. Battle lines have been drawn. We have seen what people are willing to say or do to their fellow citizens in order to have a little piece of mind. If I find myself in a foxhole, I pray the person in there with me doesn’t have a mask on. JerusalemCats Comments:Perhaps the mainstream media is suddenly realizing that they may have to face some payback for their covid zealotry? “We didn’t know! We were just following orders!” It all sounds rather familiar. Doctors, have you recommended that people take the Covid-19 Vaccine? You need to DO THE RIGHT THING!This is what “We were just following orders!” will get you:Option 1: Nuremberg trial and executionOption 2: Hunt them Down and Kill them.Option 3: Hunt them Down and Eat them.Canaan Doghttp://www.thepetowners.com/breed/Canaan-Dog.html IntroductionThe Canaan Dog is Israel’s national dog and although not everyone is familiar with the breed it is hardly surprising because they are among the rarest dogs on the planet. They are medium in size and boast having a distinctive wedge-shaped head. These lovely dogs only recently arrived here in the UK where they were an immediate hit, but with this said anyone hoping to share their home with a Canaan Dog might have trouble finding a puppy because fewer than 3000 dogs are known to exist in the entire world. HistoryThe Canaan Dog boasts being one of the most ancient breeds to have been developed in the Middle East where they were bred to guard and herd flocks of sheep. Over time and as the Israelites left their lands, they took their dogs with them, but only the fittest and strongest of these dogs survived the often harsh conditions they worked in. The dogs earned themselves a good reputation and were soon used by many Bedouin tribes of the desert to guard their herds and camps, a job the Canaan Dog did supremely well. In the thirties guard dogs were needed to protect the many isolated settlements that were set up in Israel and the Canaan Dog was the perfect candidate for the job. At the time, these dogs were semi-feral which meant they could tolerate the harsh conditions of the region and today, many of them can still be seen guarding Bedouin flocks in the desert. The breed has only just very recently been exhibited at shows here in the UK and as such, the Canaan Dog remains very much an unknown. They are still considered to be one of the rarest breeds on the planet although more interest in these dogs will ensure that with careful and selective breeding, the Canaan Dog may well become a popular choice as companion and family pet both here in the UK and elsewhere in the world. |
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If You Want Forgiveness, Emily, Here’s Your ProgramBy Karen Kwiatkowski 03November2022 https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/11/karen-kwiatkowski/if-you-want-forgiveness-emily-heres-your-program/ Being lectured to, condemned, ridiculed and hated by elitist bullies is bad enough on a single day or for one issue.
This behavior went on for over two and a half years, for nearly a thousand days, in a thousand ways. The economic, social, interpersonal, and educational costs associated with the idiotic mandates and unscientific policies will last a lifetime for many, and certainly shortened the lifetimes of many more.
The suggestion printed by the WEF-loving, pro-war lefties at The Atlantic is that they and their global team of unscientific lemming-like nanny-state bullies – just possibly – were a bit misinformed (not their fault) in 2020/21 regarding masking, untested genetic injections, and actual death rates, etc (not their fault). This bully squad accepted without question the lies their government told them (not their fault). They not only eagerly, but radically and angrily defended and promoted those lies (partly their fault).
They hope we understand that it wasn’t entirely their fault, and that they are still smart and educated. They really just wanted to live and survive a flu-like disease with a death rate comparable to any other bad flu – and their nagging and incoherent jammering and name-calling was just so we also wouldn’t die – unless we refused the experimental free required shot and continued to live our lives and try and keep our businesses open, then if we died it was kind of funny to them.
Their excuse was fear, but in reality it was not fear at all, and nor was it hate although it looked like it. It was contempt from Day One. Leftover contempt from the Trump era, pumped up and recirculated via a government over-response to a disease that now we understand to have been created via gain of function in a government lab by American scientists, including several who had close personal and professional relationships with Fauci. It was individual contempt, political contempt, and institutional contempt for the masses as demonstrated by the Gates Foundation and its compadres, the Democratic Party, and numerous government aligned institutions and industries.
Emily Oster wants us to forgive each other, but it isn’t hate they dished out to us. If it had been, that hate might be forgiven. If they hated us because they didn’t know any better – and now they don’t hate us anymore because they know better – well, that can be forgiven.
However, contempt is not something that can be “forgiven” by the formerly contemptible. Their contempt for us has nothing to do with us, and it isn’t our problem. Their contempt for us should be eliminated – not by our “forgiveness” which is irrelevant – but by their own internal change, their own decisions, individually, that we are at least their equals, and quite possibly, in the case of the COVID policy fiasco, examples they could and should have followed, rather than condemned.
There are some steps that, if taken, would make me believe that they are serious. Oster has tossed out a veiled and somewhat worried request for a kind of “forgiveness” and tellingly she also used the word “amnesty.” She knows what we all know: crimes were committed, and citizen trust in governing institutions and their university/media/industry cohorts has been broken and will not be easily restored.
Clearly, most people harmed by the myriad of bad policies and bad attitudes by the virulent anti-critical thinking crowd are no where near ready to forgive. There could be a time for that after court cases are adjudicated, government bureaucrats fired, politicians kicked out of office, and the books and the science comes out from behind the shadows. When the ghoulish merger of government and big Pharma and the medical institutions is destroyed, and we gain back the freedom we should have always had with regards to our health care decisions and actions, then there could be time for forgiveness.
I’d like to see a 12 step movement embraced and acted upon by people like Emily. Addicts, like the The bullying anti-science left wing are addicts – they gave over personal responsibility to think and act soberly and fairly, to the thing they are addicted to – government centralized power and their own comfortable sense of superiority over people who disagree with them politically. To this end, I recommend that Emily Oster and all of her peers and allies:
I’d be happy if they simply looked into half of these 12 – choose any six steps and go for it. But I imagine that none of these steps is what Emily and her ilk had in mind.
Maybe when their icons are sitting in jail, having lied publicly one too many times, and having participated in mass murder, they will recognize their addiction, and seek to make a personal change. With Covid, this group of almost a hundred million Americans demonstrated a thousand days of collapses in critical thinking, a thousand days of lockstep unwillingness to question authority, and a thousand days of animalistic rage and aggression toward those who displayed a healthy distrust of large, nontransparent and unaccountable organizations and institutions.
So far, none of this is being addressed. No doubt we will suffer these kinds of freedom-destroying government-driven movements again, be the crisis a man-made disaster, a false flag, or an act of God. Next time, however, the other hundred million of contemptibles among us might not take it lying down. Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D. [send her mail], a retired USAF lieutenant colonel, farmer and aspiring anarcho-capitalist. She ran for Congress in Virginia’s 6th district in 2012. Copyright © Karen Kwiatkowski JerusalemCats Comments: Sorry Evil is NOT a 12 Step Program! Even Adult Children of Alcoholics don’t do that kind of Evil. They may kill themselves 50% of the time but they won’t do that kind of Evil, Especially to children. |
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Hospitals See Most First Quarter Defaults Since 2011by Tyler Durden, 04April2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/hospitals-see-most-first-quarter-defaults-2011 By Andrew Cass of Beckers Hospital Review Bonds of eight hospitals lapsed in “impairment” – meaning they experienced covenant issues amounting to a technical or monetary default – in the first quarter of 2023, the highest number of hospitals disclosing default since 2011, Bloomberg reported March 31.
Only one hospital disclosed default in the first quarter of 2022, according to the report. The data comes from Municipal Market Analytics. Lisa Washburn, the organization’s managing director, told Bloomberg that an unusual aspect of the impairments is some are coming from large, highly-rated systems.
“Some of the unusual parts about the impairments that we’re seeing is that they are coming from sometimes large, highly-rated systems,” she said in an interview. “That’s actually something that struck us at the beginning of the year when it started to happen because you wouldn’t expect normally to see covenant breaches happening for an A-rated system.”
Ms. Washburn said that is due to a combination of negative investment returns in 2022, federal COVID-19 relief funds drying up and rising costs, particularly labor, according to the report. She added that a backlog of patients who need to move to nursing homes but cannot due to staffing shortages also have affected finances.
“And now add to it that debt costs are higher,” she told Bloomberg.
Another source of pressure is competition for patients, Chris George, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, told the publication.
“You’re seeing a very slow evolution of care moving to an ambulatory setting,” he said.
“A lot of local hospitals, their biggest challenge is access to capital,” George told Bloomberg in an interview. “It’s going to be a tough year this year.” |
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Democrats BEG for covid forgiveness after DESTROYING the lives of millions02November2022 by: Mike Adams https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-11-02-democrats-beg-for-covid-forgiveness-after-destroying-the-lives-of-millions.html This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) In anticipation of the coming Nuremberg 2.0 criminal trials that will seek the indictment of covid co-conspirators who mass murdered millions of people across the globe, Democrats are now begging for “amnesty,” hoping we will all forgive and forget what they did to the victims. The raw tyranny and authoritarian spite demonstrated by Democrats in their mad push for mandatory vaccines, cruel lockdowns of children and the economic destruction of small businesses is simply supposed to be waved away and forgotten, according to Emily Oster, writing for The Atlantic, a left-wing globalist propaganda mouthpiece.
Oster — who pushed for vaccines, social distancing and masks — claims that the people pushing all the covid tyranny simply didn’t know what they were doing.
In other words, they were all just following orders and should therefore be forgiven. This is the same excuse offered by Nazis in East Berlin, who begged for mercy after slaughtering innocent civilians who were merely trying to escape tyranny.
According to rigorous estimates published by Steve Kirsh, Ed Dowd and others, covid vaccines have already likely killed more than one million people in America alone. Globally, at least 20 million people have been killed by these vaccines, with billions facing disability due to vaccine injuries. An epic backlash against the tyrantsThe backlash against Oster’s article has been truly epic. Across the ‘net, pundits and truthers unleashed a backlash of fury against Oster and The Atlantic for daring to suggest that all their crimes against humanity should simply be forgotten and forgiven without even an apology from those who mercilessly pushed covid tyranny (and destroyed millions of lives in the process). John Nolte from Breitbart.com probably said it best in a recent article, stating:
There will be no forgiveness before there’s a reckoning for the mercenary liars who abused our elderly and children. There will be no moving on before there’s justice for those who were bankrupted, fined, jailed, mourned alone, forced into lonely despair, and stripped of youth’s magic and irreplaceable moments.
Most of all, there will be no reprieve because you are not sorry; because given the opportunity, you will do it all over again; because you are vicious, heartless, mercenary, politically-driven bullies only asking for amnesty so you can catch us off guard the next time.
Nolte is correct. The left-wing covid tyrants — sometimes called covidians — have no remorse. They offer no apology. They are begging for mercy simply because they got caught abusing others, and they hope to never face the consequences for their own actions. If you want forgiveness, here’s what needs to happenWe call for a legal and lawful process of investigating and indicting all those who pushed covid crimes upon the world, followed by prosecutions and due process court hearings. Nuremberg 2.0 needs to get under way so that the truth is told and those responsible are exposed for their crimes.
In addition, we suggest all the following actions:
1) A nationwide apology by all the media outlets who pushed covid lies, vaccine propaganda, mask nonsense and social distancing disinformation. Front page. Large font. Full admission of guilt. 2) The reinstatement of all the people fired for refusing masks, vaccines, etc., with full back pay. 3) The construction of a “COVID Wall of SHAME” monument specifically naming the criminals who are found guilty in taking part in this global covid conspiracy that targeted humanity. At the same time, we must also erect a “COVID Wall of HEROES” to publicly acknowledge those who told the truth, who stood up to tyranny and who saved lives by resisting the covid insanity. (Let’s start with Z for Zelenko…) 4) We need some guarantee that left-wing tyrants won’t try this again, because they are constantly seeking new ways to control people, destroy lives and achieve global depopulation. How can we be assured they aren’t already cooking up another nefarious toxin or pathogen to unleash upon the world? I cover all this and more in today’s podcast via Brighteon.com: – Democrats are begging for covid AMNESTY because they got caught Brighteon: Brighteon.com/de3a9e26-dd44-40b3-b594-8be16369a12e Bitchute: Bitchute.com/video/6HtWeu3EUSoz/ Rumble: Rumble.com/v1r2t9w-situation-update-11222-democrats-beg-for-covid-forgiveness….html Banned.Video: Banned.video/watch?id=636266333f5060081608dcc1 Hear the full episode here: Situation Update, Nov 2, 2022 – Democrats BEG for covid forgiveness after DESTROYING the lives of millions |
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Grunt Proof 09February2023 Hard facts for stubborn people:
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The Age Of Amnesiaby Tyler Durden, Dec 16December2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/age-amnesia Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, The main defense of Anthony Fauci in his legal deposition this month was pretty simple: he forgot. He said that he couldn’t recall nearly 200 times and versions of that many more. He said that he was so busy running his huge agency plus shepherding vaccines that he couldn’t possibly remember this or that email implicating him in a censorship scheme. He gets thousands of emails a day and there is no reason to think any in particular would grab his attention.
It’s all a bit implausible because we saw him on TV several times a day for the better part of three years. He was the hard-working actor out there. I do TV and interviews several times per week but I try my best to throttle them back and turn many down simply because they truly drain away energy and focus from other work. In short, they are all-consuming. The notion that he neglected issues of message in favor of serious science is an incredibly obvious strain on credulity.
So what was the point of this line of answer? Yes, he wants to save his skin. No question about that. But it occurs to me that there is another point too. He wants to model for the nation and the world how to think about the whole of the last three years. His view is that everyone should forget about it.
You have surely noticed this happening ever since the opening following lockdowns and the rest. We are all just supposed to forget. We are supposed to move on. I’ve heard already a thousand times that we never had a lockdown. There seems to be little in the way of official memory of two years of school closures or the shutting of churches on holidays.
We are being told to forget about the medical mandates that displaced millions from their jobs. We had relatives die and we couldn’t attend their funerals but we are supposed to forget about all that. I see claims daily that the censorship never really took place or wasn’t that bad really, so we should shut up already.
What about all the politicians who violated stay-at-home orders, went on vacations or got hairstyles, or were photographed partying without a mask even as they imposed them on everyone else? Hey, mistakes were surely made but let’s not make too big a deal of it.
Indeed, it was amazing to me how the most egregious and global attacks on human liberty in the name of public health were very quickly memory-holed by the major media, which we now know was the answer to public health agencies themselves the entire time. We all stood by in shock and wondered if we were the crazy ones.
That, after all, is the whole point of Orwell’s Memory Hole, the invention of an alternative history of the recent past that contradicts our own memories and invites us to believe that we are crazy or obsessed or otherwise thinking about things that truly do not matter. This is why the Memory Hole was so important in Orwell’s book. It becomes a means by which the population is controlled in its thinking and therefore in its psychological capacity to resist the next round of impositions.
This is why cultivating a solid memory is so crucial to the preservation of the good and civilized life. The barbarians all around us are constantly inviting us to forget so that we do not learn lessons and do not apply the lessons we learn. Instead we become blank slates for the ruling class to write on daily and then we are more likely to believe them. Better to never learn lessons at all. If we must learn something, it should be along the lines that we need more control and more acquiescence in the future.
Movements that truly seek to prevent horrors of the past must also seek to preserve memory. This is why there are Holocaust Museums, for example, to help us understand experiences that were not ours but from which we can still learn. Indeed, this is the whole point of learning in general, to extract wisdom from people and events that have come before in order that we can be better prepared to build a future.
People who invite us to forget are more than likely up to no good. It’s not just that they want to replace a real narrative with a false one. They want history to start over at any given moment so that we are more easy to manipulate in the future.
Perhaps this is why basic memory skills have been so de-emphasized in early childhood education for so long. It’s a true tragedy because young people do have a remarkable capacity for memorization. They might lack the ability to think abstractly or process difficult strings of logic but they do have the mental power to hear and repeat, which is why a classical education puts so much emphasis on this and probably why modern education regards memorization as a waste of time.
The urge to forget plays out in strange ways in our time. When accounts are banned on YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook, so too are the archives of those accounts blown away so that we can longer access information about the recent past. That is intentional, otherwise the banning would be a mere blocking of new content. No, the whole point is to wipe out what we know or think we know.
This is one of the tragedies of the Trump ban on Twitter, for example. We lost a narrative record over years of important data points, making even writing the history of our times more difficult. So when the account came back, so too did our memories and then we could scroll through and verify a version of events that is closer to reality rather than the fake history we were being told to accept from on high.
We’ve been through almost three years in which powerful elites have done their best to wipe out history. I recall the chills I got down my spine when major media organs began putting trigger warnings on links older than a few months. The clear message was: this is no longer valid or reliable because things have surely changed. This is also why Fauci kept saying that the science has changed. It was a call for us to forget all the statements that contradict his latest statements.
In this way, we have entered into an age of amnesia with a ruling class that wants everyone to forget the wisdom of the past and even the events of recent history, to forgive but mostly to forget and move on like good little pawns in their game. Just do what we are told and forget everything else.
We can all resist this little game. We can access Archive.org and, more importantly, we can consult the wisdom of the ages through books and poetry and religious teachings. If civilization is to survive the onslaught, it will be because we choose to remember and act on those memories in defiance of every demand that we forget.
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Professor Lockdown Denies Ever Calling For Lockdownby Tyler Durden, 06November2023 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/professor-lockdown-denies-ever-calling-lockdown Authored by Will Jones via The Brownstone Institute,
In one of the more bizarre moments at the Covid Inquiry so far, Professor Neil Ferguson, the architect of Britain’s lockdown, today denied ever calling for the first national stay-at-home order – in the latest instance of lockdown backpedalling.
The Mail has more.
Worth reading in full.
Ross Clark in the Spectator says that perhaps the most remarkable revelation from Professor Ferguson’s inquiry evidence is that “he spoke to and emailed Ben Warner at No. 10 on March 13th, three days before the Imperial paper [Report 9] was published.”
Warner was a data scientist brought into Downing Street by Dominic Cummings and whom Cummings later credited for inducing pandemic alarm in No. 10, so Ferguson contacting him directly beforehand is significant.
However, Clark notes that in his email to Warner,
Republished from DailySceptic
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Vaccines Could Impact Mortality and Risks of Other Diseases: StudyA recent review found non-live vaccines tend to increase a person’s risks of all-cause mortality, as well.By Marina Zhang
Apart from potentially preventing a particular disease, vaccines may cause persistent nonspecific effects that can affect a person’s lifetime survival.
In a review published on Dec. 26 in Vaccine, researchers found that non-live vaccines like influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis B, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP) tend to cause adverse nonspecific effects (NSE), increasing a person’s risks of all-cause mortality and the potential risk of infections from diseases they are meant to protect against.
A live vaccine contains a weakened form of the pathogen, which is less virulent but capable of replicating in the body, thus mimicking the actual disease progression. Non-live vaccines use inactivated viruses, fragments, or genes of the pathogen to trigger an immune response without pathogen replication.
Live vaccines elicit a much stronger immune defense, typically requiring only one shot, while non-live vaccines result in a weaker response, often necessitating multiple shots.
So far, research has identified several non-live vaccines that cause adverse nonspecific effects, namely DTaP and Tdap, influenza H1N1, malaria, hepatitis B, inactivated polio, and COVID mRNA vaccines.
The Vaccine study singled out DTaP, influenza, malaria, hepatitis B, and COVID mRNA vaccines.
On the other hand, live vaccines such as the oral live polio vaccine (OPV), the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis, and the smallpox vaccines all have beneficial nonspecific effects, according to the study.
“Live vaccines … elicit epigenetic alterations that train the innate immune system and increase immunity to unrelated infections. In opposition, non‐live vaccines may promote ‘tolerance’ that increases susceptibility to unrelated illnesses,” the authors suggested.
The study was primarily based on decades of work from Danish researchers Dr. Christine Stabell Benn and professor Peter Aaby.
“Our work is a tribute to their great scientific work that has not been recognized,” biologist Alberto Rubio-Casillas, one of the study’s authors, told The Epoch Times. Non-Live Vaccines Are Like an ‘Ill-Prepared’ Army“Historically, we’ve thought about the innate immune system as the first line of defense,” Dr. Benn told The Epoch Times. It was thought that innate immunity could not store memory. To use war as an analogy, the immune system’s “army” could not learn from previous battles with pathogens. Adaptive immunity, on the other hand, could learn and be trained, forming antibodies to fight against the infection.
Therefore, for a long time, vaccines were evaluated based on their effects on the adaptive immune system, and antibodies were measured following vaccination.
But researchers in the Netherlands have since shown that the innate immune system can be trained. After vaccinating people with the BCG vaccines and harvesting some of the patients’ innate immune cells, researchers found that after vaccination, the innate cells exhibited a more robust immune response and demonstrated improved clearance of tuberculosis, as well as other bacteria and fungi when compared to patients’ prevaccination status.
However, the opposite was shown for non-live vaccines.
Thus, the innate immune system actually does learn something from its previous battles. This is called trained innate immunity.
Live vaccines, which mimic an actual disease, enhance the effectiveness of the innate immune system in defending against infections. Non-live vaccines, on the other hand, weaken the immune system’s ability to fend off infections.
In a TED talk, Dr. Benn compared infections to a competitive tennis match and live vaccines to a tennis coach. The tennis coach may change tactics and strategies, training the body to have “a wide variety of tricks” against the pathogen. Non-live vaccines, however, are like tennis ball machines that shoot out balls at a specific speed and spot. If a person only trains with a tennis ball machine, he or she will be less prepared for an actual match.
“So you may be ill-prepared and even worse off when a real opponent enters the court, and the balls start coming and hitting elsewhere than what you trained for,” Dr. Benn said. Nonspecific EffectsSome vaccines result in positive nonspecific effects, but others may result in overall adverse nonspecific effects. The order in which vaccines are administered also factors in.
While non-live vaccines cause negative NSEs, administering a live vaccine after a non-live one neutralizes negative NSEs, Dr. Benn said. This has been shown in studies evaluating the safety of measles vaccines, which are often given around the same time as DTP, a non-live vaccine. Studies have found that if the measles vaccine are given after the DTP vaccine, there is an overall positive effect, whereas if this order is reversed, then there is a negative effect.
“It seems that effects are strongest as long as the vaccine is the most recent vaccine,” said Dr. Benn.
Dr. Benn added that the BCG vaccine has long-term beneficial nonspecific effects “in spite of other vaccines being given afterwards.”
The DTaP vaccine has arguably the most evidence of adverse nonspecific effects. Girls who took the DTaP vaccine had a 50 percent higher risk of dying than boys who got it. Compared to girls who were DTaP-unvaccinated, vaccinated girls’ risk of dying was over 2.5 times higher.
Dr. Benn’s studies have generally shown that girls are at a greater risk of developing adverse nonspecific effects after being administered non-live vaccines.
Live Vaccines Replaced With Non-Live VaccinesNon-live vaccines are increasingly replacing live vaccines. For example, live oral polio vaccines are no longer available on the U.S. market, and a non-live version is administered instead.
This substitution of live vaccines with non-live can pose potential health risks to the general immunity of the population, as the immune systems become less trained and potentially “lazy,” said Dr. Benn.
However, the main reason non-live vaccines are preferred over live vaccines is that they are believed to be safer for people with depleted immune systems.
Since a live vaccine causes mild disease in the body, people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome can develop a disease from the injection and may die since their bodies are unable to clear infections. Conversely, non-live vaccines comprise only disease components, so they cannot induce disease.
In this aspect, Dr. Benn said that the “risk of getting the real disease with the live vaccines has been seen as a bigger threat than I think it deserves.”
Research suggests that people with weaker immune constitutions due to age or chronic disease may sometimes benefit from having their immune systems trained using live vaccines.
In one study involving hospitalized older patients randomized to get the BCG vaccine or a placebo, the incidence of disease among those who took the BCG vaccine was about half the incidence of disease in the placebo group. Health Authorities Still SkepticalDespite the evidence suggesting the potential superiority of live vaccines, Dr. Benn’s research has been largely unacknowledged by the mainstays of academia.
“In my interpretation, whereas most researchers now acknowledge nonspecific effects, the major health organizations are reluctant to accept our findings because [the findings] imply the possibility that some vaccines may sometimes be harmful. So it is easier just to dismiss the whole thing,” she said.
“The vaccine skeptics, on the other side, may find that our observations on non-live vaccines confirm their worst fears—vaccines can be harmful—but they may be more reluctant to accept the beneficial effects. And their focus on the negative effects may make the vaccine supporters take an even more rigid stance.”
Immunologists now largely agree that some vaccines cause nonspecific effects, but how these effects should be quantified remains controversial.
This is because the nonspecific effects of vaccines are dependent on context, whereas a vaccine’s specific effects are generally considered context-independent. For example, females may make more antibodies than males and younger people more than older, but most people still get some form of immunity.
“In contrast, because the nonspecific effects act on the broader innate and general immune system, they are dependent on other factors going on in the immune system … like other health interventions that can alter and modify the nonspecific effects,” Dr. Benn explained. Not everybody will have the same benefit, she added.
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies may be more reluctant to produce live vaccines because they are harder to culture and manufacture.
“If you have ever tried to bake with sourdough, it’s a little bit like live vaccines; they are very dependent on the temperature of the room, the water used to culture it, and so on,” said Dr. Benn.
“But basically, all the live vaccines I’m talking about—they have no patents anymore, they’re super cheap to produce, and it’s some of the cheapest vaccines we have to make.”
Vaccine Safety: NSEs Versus Adverse EventsThough live vaccines tend to cause positive NSEs, that is not to say they cannot potentially cause adverse events. NSEs are considered a separate entity from adverse events, Dr. Benn explained. According to her, in rare cases, live vaccines may induce the actual disease in some recipients, such as people born with gross defects in their immune systems or who have severe immunodeficiencies, like fulminant AIDS.
In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, live vaccines were likely not considered due to concerns about the formation of recombinant viruses when a vaccinated person comes into contact with the circulating viral strain.
However, despite their potential beneficial NSEs, the COVID vaccines may still be associated with adverse events due to the presence of highly toxic spike proteins, which studies now link to long COVID and vaccine injuries.
In the medical textbook “The Immune Response,” the authors wrote that, in isolated cases, live viral strains administered to individuals can regain virulence, causing disease in recipients. Additionally, there is a risk of contamination with other viral strains during manufacturing.
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Florida Grand Jury’s COVID Policy Report: Interventions “Not Administered Based on the Best Available Scientific Data”The Grand Jury followed the science behind COVID policies…and found little trace of it to follow.Posted by Leslie Eastman 5February2024 at 07:00am
Back in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate possible crimes and wrongdoings the pharmaceutical industry may have committed against the state’s residents related to the COVID-19 vaccine. The plan was to have the Grand Jury impaneled between 12 and 18 months to investigate allegations and evidence.
The Florida Grand Jury has issued its first report. It is a disturbing review of the willingness of public health professionals to cooperate and the lack of scientific rigor used in developing pandemic response plans.
The entire 33-page report offers a master class in the type of analysis thoughtful review regular citizens can engage in when considering important issues of the day: “In a way, this Grand Jury has allowed us to do something that most Americans simply do not have the time, access, or wherewithal to do: Follow the science.”
While the entire document is worth reading for anyone concerned about the impact of COVID-19 policy on the nation, I will hit a few highlights.
To begin with, the Grand Jury received little cooperation from those in the administration associated with public health matters. The panel cannot compel cooperation, but its absence during this process, especially from those associated with The Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is extremely disturbing.
In addition to the vaccine, the Grand Jury also weighed science related to the benefit of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)…and found it wanting, especially in the area of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs).
The Grand Jury’s experience aligns with the congressional hearing in which master COVID-policy maker Dr. Anthony Fauci could not recall exactly what science the 6-foot rule was derived from.
The report also contained important facts which are familiar to Legal Insurrection readers but which were apparently ignored over the course of three years of pandemic mania.
The best part of the report summed up the quality of the “science” used in establishing pandemic policy [highlights mine].
In conclusion, the Grand Jury found little science to follow. Its next report will likely make for further fascinating and disturbing reading.
Here is an X-thread that offers a point-by-point analysis of this report.
Note: they state they aren’t finished yet. I will offer perspective and thoughts once I’ve read this.
Click to Download the report SC2022-1710 First Interim Report
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Pfizer and Moderna COVID Vaccines’ Efficacy Exaggerated, Effectiveness ‘Well Below’ 50 Percent, Researchers SayA key problem with the clinical trial is that the definition of vaccinated and unvaccinated is unclear, the paper says.
By Marina Zhang
Researchers allege that biases and manipulation of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical data have exaggerated vaccine efficacy and underestimated vaccine adverse events.
While most clinical trials would evaluate the effects of a drug from the day it is administered, these COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are not being evaluated from the first day the vaccines are given. A later date is chosen, which inflates the vaccine’s perceived efficacy and safety, researchers say.
It could make an ineffective vaccine — a COVID vaccine with zero efficacy — have a perceived vaccine effectiveness of up to 48 percent, said researcher Raphael Lataster on Feb. 26, citing a paper authored by professor Peter Doshi from the University of Maryland and others.
Unclear Definitions of Vaccinated vs. UnvaccinatedMr. Lataster, associate lecturer at the University of Sydney, spoke at Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) Feb. 26 roundtable discussion on COVID-19 vaccines and public health messaging. He summarized findings from a collection of four commentaries published in a peer-reviewed journal, of which two were authored by him.
“We have found in the studies varying definitions of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated. Generally what we find is that they are ignoring COVID infections in the partially vaccinated,” Mr. Lataster said.
“In randomized trials, it is customary to define ‘time zero’ as the point in time, for each trial participant, when eligibility criteria are met, treatment is assigned, and follow‐up begins,” Mr. Doshi and another author wrote in one of the papers.
Instead, COVID cases in vaccinated individuals are only counted weeks after a person is vaccinated. In Pfizer’s clinical trials, a person is considered vaccinated and their COVID cases are counted a week after they received the second dose, whereas in Moderna’s clinical trials, a person is considered vaccinated two weeks after their second dose.
By substituting some of Pfizer’s phase 3 clinical data and defining a person as vaccinated or unvaccinated according to Pfizer’s criteria in the clinical trials, Mr. Doshi and his authors found that Pfizer clinical trial could inflate a vaccine with zero efficacy to 48 percent. Their finding was published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.
Additionally, they found that this hypothetical number could further inflate to 67 percent due to other real-life factors during vaccine rollouts.
As older people were more likely to get vaccinated early on due to being more at risk of infections, this may reduce the perceived vaccine efficacy.
However, people were getting vaccinated at the time when COVID cases were peaking and people were generating natural immunity to the virus. The subsequent decline in COVID cases coincided with increased vaccination rates, which would then inflate perceived vaccine efficacy, according to the paper.
Millions of Lives Saved Based on ModelingThe COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been promoted to have saved millions of lives. However, Mr. Lataster said that those statements may not reflect what happened in real life.
Mr. Lataster has been invited to partake in a study reviewing whether the mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives.
“There are many problems we found, over twelve issues with how the data is utilized and estimated. For one thing, it’s [based on] a model and the map is not the territory,” Mr. Lataster said. The study is currently unpublished.
He said that they have also been looking at verifying claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduced severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths.
One of the problems that has been identified is that most of these studies do not define or have different definitions of what counted as a vaccinated person.
Significant Number of Unconfirmed COVID CasesAccording to an FDA briefing document, Pfizer acknowledged “3410 total cases of suspected but unconfirmed COVID‐19 in the overall study population.”
These suspected cases were split almost evenly between the treatment and placebo groups.
The Pfizer vaccines were estimated to have over 90 percent vaccine efficacy because while 850 out of around 22,000 people in the placebo group contracted COVID, only 80 out of 22,000 vaccinated participants contracted COVID. This difference in proportion of COVID cases is how the researchers calculated the vaccine efficacy
However, if all of the suspected cases were indeed COVID-19 cases, having a similar proportion of COVID-19 cases between the treatment and placebo group “would have drastically brought down treatment efficacy estimates,” Mr. Lataster wrote in his commentary.
“In any case, you can argue that figure is well below the 50 percent required for approval,” Mr. Lataster said. Underrepresented Adverse EventsWhile Pfizer and Moderna phase 3 clinical trials followed adverse events from the day of vaccine administration, they defined an individual as vaccinated only if several weeks had passed following vaccination.
Therefore, some of the adverse events that may have occurred soon after vaccination and would therefore be more strongly linked to vaccination would not be attributed to the vaccine, leading to underestimated adverse event rates.
Also, the recording of the adverse events is mostly reliant on unsolicited reporting by vaccine participants, especially for serious adverse events, according to Pfizer’s fact sheet for health providers. If the participant dies following the COVID-19 vaccine, the trial researchers may be unable to track this since they need reporting from the participants, according to Mr. Lataster.
COVID vaccination adverse event reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reports System show that more than 12 percent of deaths occurred on the day or the day after vaccination.
Furthermore, the placebo group was later given the COVID-19 vaccines, effectively “unblinding” them. This meant that researchers would be unable to compare the placebo and the vaccine group for potential long-term safety signals.
The Epoch Times reached out to Pfizer and Moderna for comments.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Protection Among Children Plummets Within Months: CDC StudyAgency says results show why it recommends kids get an updated shot.By Zachary Stieber, Reporter
Children who received an original COVID-19 vaccine have little protection against hospitalization just months after vaccination, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Children initially have 52 percent protection against hospitalization but that estimated effectiveness plummeted to 19 percent after four months, according to the paper.
Protection against so-called critical illness also dropped sharply, from 57 percent to 25 percent, researchers found.
The study covered children who received two or more doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines from Dec. 19, 2021, through Oct. 29, 2023.
The study involved children aged 5 to 18 who were hospitalized with acute COVID-19 and tested positive for the illness and compared them to a control group of children hospitalized with COVID-19-like symptoms but who tested negative for COVID-19.
Researchers drew data from the Overcoming COVID-19 Network, which includes health care sites in most of the United States, and ended up with 1,551 case patients and 1,797 in the control group.
The study found that “receipt of ≥2 original monovalent COVID-19 vaccine doses was associated with fewer COVID-19–related hospitalizations in children and adolescents aged 5–18 years; however, protection from original vaccines was not sustained over time,” Laura Zambrano, a CDC epidemiologist, and her co-authors wrote.
It also recorded a similar drop in protection against critical illness, defined as being placed on mechanical ventilation, vasoactive infusions, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or dying.
The researchers asserted that the results highlighted the current CDC guidance that all people aged 6 months and older receive one of the newest COVID-19 vaccines, which were introduced in the fall of 2023 with clinical data from just 50 humans and no efficacy estimates. The CDC only publishes papers in its weekly digest, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, after they’re shaped to “comport with CDC policy.” The papers are not peer-reviewed.
Ms. Zambrano did not respond when asked for data suggesting that the currently available shots provide longer-lasting protection than the original vaccines.
The CDC’s website says, in promoting vaccination, that COVID-19 vaccines are “effective at protecting people from getting seriously ill, being hospitalized, and dying” but the hyperlink that ostensibly supports the statement goes to a page that is not live.
U.S. authorities have been moving COVID-19 vaccines to a once-a-year model, similar to influenza vaccines. The model features updating the formulation of the vaccines on an annual basis, in an acknowledgment that any protection the vaccines give quickly wanes. The formulation is typically updated in the fall.
Just 14 percent of children, and 23 percent of adults, have received one of the newest vaccines as of April 6, according to CDC estimates. The available vaccines are messenger RNA (mRNA) shots from Pfizer and Moderna and an alternative from Novavax.
Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, noted that, according to the new paper, the maximum effectiveness estimates against hospitalization were 61 percent, regardless of how the data were sliced, that more deaths were recorded among the case patients, and the median hospitalization duration was four days for both groups.
“I do not see how a clinician whose concern is treating patients and whose job does not depend on pushing mRNA vaccines would find this a basis for recommending shots—quite the contrary,” Dr. Orient, who was not involved in the research, told The Epoch Times in an email. “It reeks of conflict of interest.”
Stated limitations of the paper include not assessing post-infection immunity and a lack of sequencing data.
The conflict of interest section runs 688 words and includes some of the authors reporting funding from Pfizer and Moderna or ownership of Pfizer stock.
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WAR: Hamas missiles on Jerusalem on Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret 5784
Hamas Nazi Swastika Battle Flag
Remember who you are dealing with!
Hamas Nazis: Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini and Adolf Hitler
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini and Adolf Hitler December 1941
Haj Amin al-Husseini who was, in many ways, as big a Nazi villain as Hitler himself. To understand his influence on the Middle East is to understand the ongoing genocidal program against the Jews of Israel. Al-Husseini was a bridge figure in terms of transporting the Nazi genocide in Europe into the post-war Middle East. As the leader of Arab Palestine during the British Mandate period, al-Husseini introduced violence against moderate Arabs as well as against Jews. Al-Husseini met with Adolf Eichmann in Palestine in 1937 and subsequently went on the Nazi payroll as a Nazi agent. Al-Husseini played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in instigating a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in 1941 as he urged Nazis and pro-Nazi governments in Europe to transport Jews to death camps, trained pro-Nazi Bosnian brigades, and funneled Nazi loot into pro-war Arab countries.
On 20 November1941, al-Husseini met the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and was officially received by Adolf Hitler on 28 November.
Al-Husseini’s own account, as recorded in his diary, states that Hitler expounded his view that the Jews were responsible for World War I, Marxism and its revolutions, and this was why the task of Germans was to persevere in a battle without mercy against the Jews,
According to the official report of the meeting, on November 28, 1941, Adolf Hitler told Husseini that the Afrika Korps would “liberate” Arabs in the Middle East and that “Germany’s only objective there would be the destruction of the Jews.”
“SS leaders and Husseini both claimed that Nazism and Islam had common values as well as common enemies – above all, the Jews,” the report states.
In fall 1943, it says, Husseini went to the Croatia, a German ally, to recruit Muslims for the Waffen-SS.
Der Grossmufti von Palästina vom Führer empfangen.
Der Führer empfing in Gegenwart des Reichsministers des Auswärtigen von Ribbentrop den Grossmufti von Palästina, Sayid Amin al Husseini, zu einer herzlichen und für die Zukunft der arabischen Länder bedeutungsvollen Unterredung.
9.12.41 Presse Hoffmann
From the Passover Haggadah:
According to the instructions of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the wine cup is now raised and the Matzot are covered.
This is what has stood by our fathers and us! For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!
This is what it means to be ‘Pushed into the Sea’
Israel teddy bear display highlights Hamas’ child hostages
Updates
Israel left Gaza on Tisha B’Av 5765! What did the Jews of Israel get with the “Disengagement”? Gush Katif and Hurricane Katrina
IDF dragging Jews from Gush Katif
Chanah Angelica Kamen-tweet-15October2023-It’s past time that we stop playing with our people like it’s a chess board
Tu B’Shevat 2024
VIDEO SERIES: HaShabbat HaSh’chora – Documenting A Massacre
EDITORS NOTE: The following series called “Shabbat HaSh’chora” or “Black Saturday” depicts the events of October 7, 2023 when Palestinian militants from Hamas, along with other groups and civilians, invaded Israel and proceeded to systematically kill civilians, including women, children, the elderly and babies. They literally raped, pillaged and plundered their way through several Israeli communities close to the Gaza border.
When it was all said and done, more than 1400 people were killed. More than 245 hostages were taken, some dead, some alive.
The Judean decided to run this series with a heavy heart. There is so much misinformation out there about what happened, including that it never did happen or that Israeli forces were responsible. Social media channels have systematically been removing all videos depicting that day, whether they are redacted, blurred or edited to minimize the gore.
This series is not for the faint of heart however it is a must see for all those who doubt the barbaric nature of the Palestinians in Gaza, some who support Hamas and some who, from the video, just seem happy it all happened. The Judean invites anyone who wants to use these videos to dispell the lies and misinformation about that dark day, one that saw more Jews die in the most horrible ways since the Holocaust.
[EDD: This will be on JerusalemCats hidden from plain view for backup]
Chanah Angelica Kamen-tweet-13November2023-Footage of Hamas and Gaza civilians who lined up to rape women
It took a good few hours to stop feeling physically ill from only reading the article about the footage compiled.
Footage of Hamas and Gaza civilians who lined up to rape women. So many atrocities.
Hamas and Palestinian Civilians did it. Do you understand?
I beg you, do not under any circumstances watch the videos, but we just have to be understand what we’re dealing with and stop deluding ourselves that this society is against terrorism.
If we don’t take back Gaza after this, it will be a disaster.
May G-d rescue our hostages, and BH” may we be blessed with such a miracle and BH” with the utmost safety of our soldiers to #MakeGazaGushKatifAgain.
https://thejudean.com/index.php/news/42-shabbat-shachor/2086-video-series-hashabbat-hashchora-documenting-a-massacre-part-4
Chanah Angelica Kamen-tweet-13November2023-Footage of Hamas and Gaza civilians who lined up to rape women
BACKGROUND
https://trailer.web-view.net/Show/0XE9C86924E33B1CCD1E3B3C76B992DBCD33C5165B197F8AA7CADC7763737E7364CE621924E3B8FD11.htm
In the midst of Simchat Torah, thousands of terrorists entered from Gaza and massacred hundreds of people, women and children.
More than 700 were killed (and the number keeps rising…).
More than 2243 were wounded (including some 300 in very serious and/or critical condition).
Hundreds of civilians, including infants, children, women and the elderly, were kidnapped and are now being held captive and are victims of physical and mental abuse by Hamas.
More than 3,000 missiles were launched over Israel against the civilian population.
We need your help in these difficult times.
What can you do?
Pray!
Recite a Psalm or the Tikkun Haklali for the salvation of the people of Israel, the healing of the wounded, the release of prisoners and the protection of our soldiers.
Share the message!
Help Israel spread the truth- most people are unaware of the incredible suffering the people of Israel are going through!
Please support us!
On social media, in your spirit, spreading the news, support Israeli businesses (click here to shop) and most of all, praying for Israel!
“Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.”
Breslev English | Shivtei Israel 56, Jerusalem, Israel | 972-2-532-3339 ext. 3
idf-Who is Protecting the children Israel or Hamas?
Next Time think of Dresden, Germany before letting the fascists run things.
UNRWA-tweet-17February2024-Gaza-Feb2024
There are no words.
UNRWA-tweet-17February2024-Gaza-February2024
Gaza-February2024
Silent Majority-tweet-13October2023-Golda Meir quote
Here is the proof of Iran supporting and giving aid to the Nazi Hamas.
Ambassador Gilad Erdan-tweet-8October2023-Hamas terrorists thanking IRAN for the weapons money and rockets
The drones used by Hamas in Southern Israel are American-made and supplied by the US to Ukraine
Mudar Adnan Zahran-tweet-11October2023-Hamas drones-American-made and supplied by the US to Ukraine
Mudar Adnan Zahran-tweet-11October2023-Our intelligence sources confirm: The drones used by Hamas in Southern Israel are American-made and supplied by the US to Ukraine, where Jordanian intelligence bought them from the Ukrainians and delivered them to Hamas upon orders from Rania Antoinette (the Kinglet’s wife) with funding from an Arab Gulf state (not Qatar). The shipment arrived in Jordan and was then transported by Jordan’s intelligence to Egypt, where it was received by Egyptian military intelligence, which smuggled it through the tunnels to Hamas with Sisi’s approval… The ongoing slaughter is the nasty work of Arab regimes on the verge of collapse, whose mere existence has become a threat to regional stability and world peace.
Comments:
https://www.israpundit.org/the-drones-used-by-hamas-in-southern-israel-are-american-made-and-supplied-by-the-us-to-ukraine/
peloni1986
October 12, 2023 at 12:02 am
We know that the arms being shipped to Ukraine are being repurposed in some number, and the refusal of any oversight being attached to these weapons would further suggest that this is the very purpose of this lack of oversight. So the potential that the drones were American in origin should not be dismissed too quickly.
In addition to this, the recent exposure of the Jordanian arms smuggling program to support the Islamist terror attacks murdering Israeli’s would certainly indicate that Jordan would certainly not be opposed to facilitating a similar such arms transfer to Hamas.
Also, the weapons did come to Gaza, either by boat or thru the Egyptian land crossing, and it is clear that Sissi’s govt was aware of what was coming in full or partial detail, which would clearly indicate a reasonable conclusion that the arms were transferred to Hamas thru Egypt.
When considering whether Sissi would involve himself in such a transfer as Mudar suggests he conducted, the recent warming which has been taking place between Iran and Sissi should also be seen as a potentially relevant factor. Furthermore, the lack of any response taking place when Jordan was caught in the act of transferring such war contraband might possibly persuade Sissi that even if he were caught doing so, he might expect a similar lack of consequence which Jordan faces for their recent treachery.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-12October2023-THIS is what the world needs to know about the civilians in Gaza
Some Posts on X/Twitter are to graphic to Post. These are Nazis we are dealing with. See: Sanctions
[EDD: This image was blurred]
Israel-tweet-12October2023-Those who deny these events are supporting the barbaric animals
David Lange-tweet-8October2023-What they mean by a Free Palestine
[EDD: ⚠ TRIGER WARNING]
Chaskel Bennett-tweet-29October-2023-WARNING: The WhatsApp group chat of the Nir Oz Community Group has been published.
it is horrific, as one can imagine. I only share it because at this point
we are fighting a pr battle we can not win without authenticated information. This is painful to read, and I couldn’t finish it. I warn you in advance that the crimes committed here are beyond human comprehension. The kind of savagery and barbarism we’ve only heard about from our Holocaust survivors. H’YD
https://yediot.webflow.io/7days/nir-oz-community-chat
Chaskel Bennett-tweet-29October-2023-The WhatsApp group chat of the Nir Oz Community Group has been published
JerusalemCats-tweet-8October2023-Hamas missiles were landing in Armon HaNetziv Jerusalem every 15 minutes
Measures Israel takes to minimize harm to Israeli civilians:
– Clear instructions on emergency updates via television, radio, internet, and red alert apps.
– Air raid sirens installed within hearing distance of every populated area in the country.
– Minimizing gatherings of over certain amount of people in areas in danger.
– Closing public areas and beaches in times of danger.
– Ensuring people going to work have access to a fortified area.
– Mandatory fortified rooms built in every home by law.
– Schools operating on Zoom so the children are at home.
– Public bomb shelters available in the streets with easy access.
– Training of local governments to respond to threats.
– Closing communities with gates, guarded by armed guards.
– Monitoring of communities by Israel Police and IDF.
Measures Israel takes to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians:
– Coordinating evacuation routes away from target areas
– Dropping leaflets warning of an imminent attack
– Placing phone calls directly to civilians informing them to vacate the area.
– Dropping a “roof knock” warning of imminent strike on the exact building being targeted.
Measures Hamas takes to maximize harm to Israeli civilians:
– Strategically choosing a date for their attack on a Jewish holiday and a day of rest, when a large music festival is taking place.
– Indiscriminate gunfire into large crowds
– Specifically choosing communities with a lot of unarmed civilians, senior citizens and children who cannot defend themselves.
– Firing unguided Iranian rockets into populated cities across Israel including Tel Aviv.
– Suicide bombers who add nails coated in rat poison in their bombs and bombs themselves in crowded markets, buses, and restaurants.
– Specifically targeting families, women and children.
Measures Hamas takes to maximize harm to Palestinian civilians:
– Urging civilians in Gaza to ignore all IDF warnings
– Blocking escape routes to safe zones
– Sabotaging humanitarian corridors with car bombs
– Raiding UNRWA warehouses
– Punishing civilians who try to protect themselves.
– Urging people not to leave buildings slated for removal, but to stand on the roofs.
The-Mossad-Satirical,-Yet-Awesome-tweet-October 17, 2023-Measures Israel takes to minimize harm to Israeli civilians
Hussain Abdul-Hussain-tweet-9October2023-Israel withdrawal from Gaza Strip in 2005 was Land for Peace;
Michael Benezra-tweet-8October2023-Appeared on the battlefield
StopAntisemitism-tweet-8October2023-Times Square-a swastika was spotted on the phone of a pro Palestinian supporter
Israel Defense Forces – Live briefing from Tel Aviv
The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome-tweet-8October2023-Hamas beheading captured soldiers
Mike-tweet-7October2023-Hamas terrorists subject women and little girls to public humiliation on the streets of Gaza
BACKGROUND
Elder of Ziyon-tweet-13October2023-Hey all you critics of Israel
Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) October 13, 2023
Hey, all you “critics of Israel:”
For years you’ve been saying that Hamas has moderated. That it changed its charter. That it accepted a two state solution. That it wanted peace. That if Israel would improve life in Gaza it would reciprocate with goodwill.
For years we “right-wing, extremist” Zionists have been telling you that you were wrong. Over and over again.
You disparaged us as warmongers. You had “experts” to back you up, from the finest universities. You had former ambassadors. Human rights leaders. The best of the best. You all agreed, Hamas was moderating, and not the same Hamas as the 1988 Charter and the Sbarro massacre.
You considered us to be the obstacles to peace while you met with and welcomed Hamas leaders and invited them to write op-eds in the @NYTimes
.
Hamas fooled you. They knew that you projected onto them your own desire for peace, for a two state solution, for them to repeal their charter that calls for the genocide of all Jews. So they played you. And you fell for it, totally.
You were fatally wrong.
And your coddling Hamas for so long – barely condemning their rocket attacks, ignoring their many other war crimes, all while publishing thousands of pages of articles condemning Israel – showed the Palestinian terror groups and their Iranian sponsors that you were their useful idiot allies.
Yes, you have been de facto allies of the group that just murdered the most Jews in one day since Auschwitz.
You treated us as the enemy and you treated the disgusting, immoral, murderous Islamist extremists as partners.
You spent 95% of your time condemning the only state in the region that actually cares about human rights for all and only a token amount of time on the true evil that Hamas and the other Palestinian groups have made no secret of sponsoring and supporting. And, amazingly, you pretended that this was helping bring “peace.”
You were dead wrong.
Do you have the slightest feelings of shame? Embarrassment? Or even maybe, responsibility?
Do you think for maybe a moment that since you were so spectacularly wrong about Hamas, maybe we “extremist Zionist fanatics” know more than you do on other issues?
Maybe you are even wrong with your obsessive demonizing of Israel as well. Maybe Israel really does follow real international law as understood by military experts, not wannabe experts from anti-Israel NGOs. Maybe Israel has done more to help Palestinians live in dignity than you are reading about in The Nation.
Are you honest enough to admit when you are wrong?
Or will you continue to be wrong and keep pretending that you know what you are talking about?
Nervana Mahmoud-tweet-11October2023-remembering the long history of bad choices
Nervana Mahmoud-tweet-11October2023:
I am accused of “justifying occupation”, which is a big fat lie.
My guilt is remembering the long history of bad choices & wasted opportunities.
Remember when hijacking airplanes, killing athletes were the Palestinian answer to Israeli occupation?
Remember when suicide attacks were marketed as the answer to the occupation?
Remember when firing rockets was the innovation of the resistance?
None of the above liberated Palestine.
Why, and how bloody pogrom and kidnapping women and children will?
the Jewish Virtual Library. logo https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
First Intifada
(1987 – 1993)
By Mitchell Bard
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/first-intifada
False charges of Israeli atrocities and instigation from the mosques played an important role in starting the intifada. On December 6, 1987, an Israeli was stabbed to death while shopping in Gaza. One day later, four residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza were killed in a traffic accident. Rumors that the four had been killed by Israelis as a deliberate act of revenge began to spread among the Palestinians. Mass rioting broke out in Jabalya on the morning of December 9, in which a 17-year-old youth was killed by an Israeli soldier after throwing a Molotov cocktail at an army patrol. This soon sparked a wave of unrest that engulfed the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.
Over the next week, rock-throwing, blocked roads and tire burnings were reported throughout the territories. By December 12, six Palestinians had died and 30 had been injured in the violence. The following day, rioters threw a gasoline bomb at the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem. No one was hurt in the bombing.
In Gaza, rumors circulated that Palestinian youths wounded by Israeli soldiers were being taken to an army hospital near Tel Aviv and “finished off.” Another rumor, claimed Israeli troops poisoned a water reservoir in Khan Yunis. A UN official said these stories were untrue. Only the most seriously injured Palestinians were taken out of the Gaza Strip for treatment, and, in some cases, this probably saved their lives. The water was also tested and found to be uncontaminated.
This uprising or intifada was violent from the start. During the first four years of the uprising, more than 3,600 Molotov cocktail attacks, 100 hand grenade attacks and 600 assaults with guns or explosives were reported by the Israel Defense Forces. The violence was directed at soldiers and civilians alike. During this period, 16 Israeli civilians and 11 soldiers were killed by Palestinians in the territories; more than 1,400 Israeli civilians and 1,700 Israeli soldiers were injured. Approximately 1,100 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
Throughout the intifada, the PLO played a lead role in orchestrating the insurrection. The PLO-dominated Unified Leadership of the Intifada (UNLI), for example, frequently issued leaflets dictating which days violence was to be escalated, and who was to be its target. The PLO’s leadership of the uprising was challenged by the fundamentalist Islamic organization Hamas, a violently anti-Semitic group that rejects any peace negotiations with Israel.
Jews were not the only victims of the violence. In fact, as the intifada waned around the time of the Gulf War in 1991, the number of Arabs killed for political and other reasons by Palestinian death squads in what amount to an “intrafada” exceeded the number killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat defended the killing of Arabs deemed to be “collaborating with Israel.” He delegated the authority to carry out executions to the intifada leadership. After the murders, the local PLO death squad sent the file on the case to the PLO. “We have studied the files of those who were executed, and found that only two of the 118 who were executed were innocent,” Arafat said. The innocent victims were declared “martyrs of the Palestinian revolution” by the PLO (Al-Mussawar, January 19, 1990).
Palestinians were stabbed, hacked with axes, shot, clubbed and burned with acid. The justifications offered for the killings varied. In some instances, being employed by Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank and Gaza was reason enough; in others, contact with Jews warranted a death sentence. Accusations of “collaboration” with Israel were sometimes used as a pretext for acts of personal vengeance. Women deemed to have behaved “immorally” were also among the victims.
Eventually, the reign of terror became so serious that some Palestinians expressed public concern about the disorder. The PLO began to call for an end to the violence, but murders by its members and rivals continued. From 1989-1992, this intrafada claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 Palestinians.
Terrorism Against Israel: Palestinian Suicide Attacks
(2000 – 2020)
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-suicide-attacks-against-israel-2000-2007
Number of Suicide Attacks and Deaths
Number of Suicide Attacks and Deaths
The last suicide attack was in 2008.
Number of Suicide Attacks Thwarted By Israeli Forces
Number of Suicide Attacks Thwarted By Israeli Forces
Sources:Israeli Foreign Ministry;
Washington Post, (April 2, 2004);
Prime Minister’s Office;
McClatchey Washington Bureau, (January 11, 2006).
Israeli Missions Around The World
The Situation on the eve of the Second Intifada (2000)
https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Maps/Pages/Situation-on-the-eve-of-the-Second-Intifada.aspx
The Second Intifada – a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence – began in September 2000, with official Palestinian Authority media exhorting the Palestinians to violence. It erupted just as the most serious negotiations for a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians were being pursued. In the absence of any significant land barrier, Palestinian terrorists were able to cross easily from the West Bank into Israeli towns and communities where they staged murderous suicide bombings against civilians.
During this period, lasting until September 2005, Palestinian suicide bombers used increasingly powerful bombs to kill larger numbers of Israelis in their terror attacks. Over 1,000 Israelis were killed and thousands severely injured. Over 2,000 Palestinians were also killed during this period. The disproportionate number of Palestinian casualties was primarily a result of the number of Palestinians involved in violence. The unfortunate deaths of noncombatants was largely due to the practice of Palestinian terrorists using civilians as shields.
At the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of February 2005, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to stop all acts of violence and reaffirmed their commitment to the Roadmap for Peace.
Pre-2nd-Intifada Map
This map is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered authoritative.
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https://www.oref.org.il/en
Israel Home Front Command (Pikud HaOref)
https://www.oref.org.il/en
Rocket and Missile Attacks
https://www.oref.org.il/12410-en/Pakar.aspx?tab=12487&parentCategory=12486
Supplies for Emergencies
https://www.oref.org.il/12490-15903-en/pakar.aspx
In light of the development of fighting in the various sectors, you must prepare equipment that will allow you and your family to stay in the protected area for up to 72 hours:
Water supply of 3 liters per person per day, for 72 hours
Stock of dry and canned food
Battery operated lighting or flashlight
Means for receiving alerts and updates – a radio that runs on batteries and portable batteries for mobile phones
Medicines
First aid kit
Personal documents, certificates and cash
Equipment for babies or animals, depending on the needs of the family members.
Israel Home Front Command (Pikud HaOref) is the official address for Israeli citizens during these times Pikud HaOref / Phone: 104
Help Line for Holocaust Survivors
The Government has also opened a help line for Holocaust survivors to help with ANY NEED. For example, medical, social , psychological etc.. The number to call is *5105 or 03 5682651
Click to Download Home Front Command-Life-Saving Guidelines
Home Front Command: Life Saving Guidelines-1
Home Front Command: Life Saving Guidelines-2
click to Enlarge
Choosing a Protected Space
https://www.oref.org.il/12487-15895-en/Pakar.aspx
The order of priority for choosing a protected space:
1. The residential protected room (MAMAD) or communal protected space (MAMAK) are the preferred option.
2. Shelters:
An apartment building shelter – provided it can be reached within the time to reach shelter and in addition, if it can be reached by an internal stairway.
A public shelter (miklat) – provided that it can be reached within the time available to reach shelter.
3. An internal stairwell – with no windows, openings and external wall:
In a building with more than three floors, which has no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces or a public shelter – stay in a stairwell with at least two floors above it. Do not stay in the ground floor. In buildings with more than three floors, the stairwells of each floor, other than the top two floors and the ground floor, are protected.
In a three-story building with no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces or a public shelter – stay in a stairwell of the middle floor. In such a building, the most protected floor is the middle (second) floor.
4. An inner room – if there are no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces, a public shelter or an internal stairwell, choose an inner room with as few external walls, windows and openings as possible. Do not choose kitchens, bathrooms or toilets and keep away from ceramics, porcelain and glass that might shatter. When recieving an alert, sit in an inner corner, below the window line and not facing the door.
The following cannot be used as protected spaces
Kitchens, toilets and bathrooms cannot be used as protected spaces; stay away from ceramics, porcelains and glass that may shatter.
Important Highlights
• If there is no access to a protected room, an internal stairwell or an inner room, lie on the ground and protect your head with your hands.
• If an alert is received while you are inside a prefabricated structure, leave the building and go into the protected space in the time available to reach shelter. If entering a protected space within the time available to reach shelter is not possible, leave the building, lie on the ground and protect your head with the hands. Read here why it is important to lie on the ground.
• Stay away from the building entrance area because of the danger of rocket fragments and blast waves due to impact near buildings.
• Building doors should be kept open, for those who are outdoors when the alert sounds.
• For a large portion of the population, the stairwell is the most protected space available. If possible, place chairs for elderly persons.
Remember: Choosing a protected space according to these guidelines significantly reduces the risk of injury from rockets and fragments, and can save lives.
Maintaining the integrity of the protected space
For the protected space to fill its role in an emergency, it must be regularly maintained and the routes leading to it must be clear, in accordance with the following highlights:
• Plan your route to the protected space in advance, make sure it is cleared of obstacles and obstructing items to prevent possible falls and injuries. Ensure that all passageways and stairwells are not blocked.
• In our protected space is the residental protected room – you must maintain its integrity and refrain from making changes that are not authorized. Read about the permitted and prohibited uses of the protected room (MAMAD), including which changes may not be made to it, and how to maintain it regularly.
• If our protected space is the common shelter – you must maintain its integrity and refrain from making changes that are not authorized. Read about how to maintain the integrity of the common shelter.
• It is advised to prepare emergency supplies and a list of contact information for emergency services, family members and neighbors, and keep it in the protected space.
• In an emergency situation – the outer steel window and the inner glass window must be closed and locked at the beginning of the emergency situation until it ends. If a double-wing glass window is installed, it must be removed and placed outside the residential protected room.
Secure space for everybody
The do’s and dont’s of the mamad
2024 ביולי 27 https://derorit.co.il/the-dos-and-donts-of-the-mamad/
What is the MAMAD?
MAMAD is an acronym for merkhav mugan dirati, or apartment-protected space.
There are also buildings in which you have a MAMAK which is a merkhav mugan komati meaning a protected space belonging to a floor in the building. These will come in buildings where there are no mamads in the individual apartments.
Any apartment built in Israel after the gulf war (1993) must have a mamad. The idea is that the mamad is conveniently located inside your home so you could reach it quickly and can also be considered as normal living space.
The mamad is a reinforced security room meant to offer protection against high impact projectiles and chemical weapons. Its walls are built out of reinforced concrete and it has airtight steel doors and windows. The room has 2 openings, usually one window and one door, never on the same wall. The minimal net area of the room is 9 square meters (In places where this is not possible a 5 square meter room may be approved).
The door to the mamad is a heavy iron door which will always open outwards. There must be a concrete wall protecting the door when opened.
The window consists of two parts; an outer iron cover, and an airtight sealed interior window. The iron cover slides into the wall or opens outwards, so it is not noticeable when not in use. The window will always open inwards into the room. The size of the window is no more than 1.21 square meters, where the width is between 60 to 100 centimeters. Usually, the window will be 100-110 centimeters wide.
There must be at least 3 electric sockets, one phone socket and one tv/radio socket in the room (this is especially important to realize when planning ultra orthodox homes where tv outlets are not installed in other rooms).
Another important component is the ventilation system (added to the regulations in 2010). This is a pretty big, clumsy looking piece.
MAMAD ventilation system
In the past years they have designed some sleeker ones, looking more like an AC unit on the wall.
mazganit MAMAD ventilation system
Ask your builder what model he is supplying. Take this element in account when planning the room and the closets as it does not show clearly on the floor plans.
How do I make use of this room?
Since Israelis typically don’t have an entire room in their homes to leave empty in anticipation of a possible rocket attack, the mamad often has other uses as well: as an unofficial machsan (storeroom), or a playroom, study or bedroom.
Here are some useful guidelines and tips:
Viking_tilt_turn_windows
I will admit that in certain areas of the country we treated these rules and regulations with a certain level of disrespect. In most cases the mamad was planned as to maximize its use in days of peace- which are plenty- without adequately considering days of war. I hope this post will serve as a Tikun (correction) and a reminder to its important role in securing our homes and families.
Shalom Al Yisrael!
Why is it Important to Wait 10 Minutes in the Protected Space?
https://www.oref.org.il/12487-16151-en/Pakar.aspx
Why we Wait in the Protected Space for 10 Minutes?
Lying down on the ground can save lives
https://www.oref.org.il/12487-15965-en/Pakar.aspx
Rockets and Missile Attack – Why is it important to lie on the ground
During an alert – move away from the car
https://www.oref.org.il/12487-16149-en/Pakar.aspx
Why should I get away from my vehicle during a siren.
Unexploded and Unidentified Objects
https://www.oref.org.il/12487-17793-en/Pakar.aspx
Watch Out! Staying near fallen projectiles endangers lives
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Links: Foreign Embassy Alerts
U.S. Embassy in Israel
Emergency Preparedness
https://il.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/emergency-preparedness/
Security incidents can occur at any time and at any place. As security incidents, including rocket fire, often take place without warning, U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.
In the event of mortar and/or rocket fire in Israel, a Red Alert siren may be activated. Treat all such alerts as real; follow the instructions from local authorities and seek shelter immediately. Know the location of your closest shelter or protected space.
For additional information on appropriate action to take upon hearing a siren or explosion in Israel, see the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command website (available on devices within Israel) or view the Preparedness Information PDF. U.S. citizens may also wish to download the free Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command application on Android or Apple devices to receive real-time security and safety alerts; follow the link for Download Instructions in English. Free commercial applications, such as Red Alert: Israel, are also available.
The situation in Israel continues to be unpredictable. Individuals should follow local government advice to increase their security awareness and remain safe. Mortar and rocket fire may take place without warning.
U.S. citizens in Israel who need assistance should contact the closest U.S. embassy or consulate using this crisis intake form. Family members can also submit information on behalf of a U.S. citizen family member.
U.S. citizens who wish to leave and can do so safely are advised to check the status of the border crossings or verify flights have not been cancelled before heading to the Ben Gurion Airport.
U.S. citizens can find additional information regarding steps to take in case of mortar and rocket fire in the Country Information for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/IsraeltheWestBankandGaza.html):
Assistance:
U.S. Embassy Jerusalem
14 David Flusser St.
Jerusalem
Telephone: +972-3-519-7575
E-mail: JerusalemACS@state.gov
Website: https://il.usembassy.gov/
U.S. Embassy Branch Office Tel Aviv
71 HaYarkon St.
Tel Aviv
Telephone: +972-3-519-7575
E-mail: TelAvivACS@state.gov
Website: https://il.usembassy.gov/
Consular Affairs
1-833-890-9595 (toll free) and 606-641-0131 (local)
Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Country Information
Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Travel Advisory
Enroll in Safe Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates
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Emergency Resources & Preparedness
* Last updated on October 8, 2023 * https://www.nbn.org.il/life-in-israel/emergency-resources-life-in-israel-2/emergency-resources/
Important Numbers
Navigating Medical Emergencies
In case of a medical emergency, it’s important to know where to turn. When visiting your Kupat Cholim, ask them how to seek help during and after office hours. Contacting your Kupat Cholim first can provide the necessary information and Ishurim (approval) for an effective resolution to the medical emergency and help you avoid unnecessary financial charges.
Kupot Cholim:
Leumit *507 -> 2 for English
Maccabi *3555 -> 4 for English
Meuhedet *3833 -> 3 for English
Urgent care centers:
Terem is a network of urgent care centers found in several cities throughout Israel (see: www.terem.com). You will need to present your Kupat Cholim membership card and there will be a fee. This will not be reimbursed by your Kupat Cholim (unless you have been sent with a Hafnaya – referral letter). There are some Kupot Cholim that have urgent care hours in their clinics. This is sometimes referred to as a Moked. Speak to your Kupat Cholim for more information. Services at an urgent care center can often save someone a trip to a busy ER. If the urgent care center cannot resolve the situation, they will send you to the ER with a Hafnaya. The referral is important as it will provide the hospital with background medical information dictating the need to go to the ER and generally cover the treatment.
Ambulance Service:
If you are not admitted to the hospital, you will be charged for the service of taking an ambulance. 24-hr observation in an ER is typically not considered admittance. You will be billed to the address listed in your Teudat Zehut. If you are admitted, make sure to present the ambulance bill to your Kupat Cholim together with your discharge papers to ensure reimbursement for services.
Do not hesitate to contact the NBN Answers and Advocacy Team at answers@nbn.org.il or by calling *3680 for guidance and support.
Going to the Emergency room:
If you need to make an emergency visit to the ER without a previous visit to a doctor or urgent care center, you will only need to present your Teudat Zehut (or at least know the number) to open a file. You will not need to present your Kupat Cholim card although you will need to provide the receptionist with the name of your Kupat Cholim and family doctor (if you have one). As in any country, be prepared to wait.
When going to the ER, if you are not consequently admitted to the hospital, or if you don’t have a doctor’s referral or a referral from your Kupat Cholim call line, you may be charged a fee for the emergency room visit.
An exemption from charges in the emergency ward is granted automatically for a number of specific health crises, including work injury, road accident, school accident, fracture, foreign object in the eye, joint dislocation, and stitches. For full details: www.health.gov.il
National Emergencies
It is important to be prepared for all eventualities, to have a plan in place, and to know how to protect yourself and your family in the event of a national emergency. Pikud Ha’Oref (The Home Front Command) is responsible for direction and guidance in times of national emergency such as rocket/missile attacks and earthquakes. The Pikud Ha’Oref website www.oref.org.il provides up-to-date information and important guidelines to be followed in times of national emergencies. Resources in English for emergency preparedness can be found here: www.oref.org.il.
App for the Home Front command:
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/…/israel-home…/id999308676…
During times of national emergency, Nefesh B’Nefesh will post important directives and general information as needed. As always, never hesitate to be in touch with your Aliyah Advisor directly. The NBN Answers and Advocacy Team is available at answers@nbn.org.il or by calling *3680.
Where to Turn:
News
Nefesh B’Nefesh-FIDF Lone Soldiers Program Resources:
NBN-FIDF Lone Soldiers Program
24/7 Hotline for soldiers and those in Israel: *6563
Email: LSP@nbn.org.il
IDF Merkaz Bodedim (Lone Soldiers Department)
Phone number in Israel: 03-5691000
WhatsApp: +972 52-943-7725
Email: me.bodedim@mail.idf.il
Eran (ער”ן) – Emotional First Aid
Hotline for those in Israel: 1201
WhatsApp: +972 52-845-1201
Email: eran1201@eran.org.il
Natal (נט”ל) – Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center
Helpline: 1-800-363-363
One Soul (נפש אחת) – Support for IDF Soldiers and Veterans
Helpline for those in Israel: *8944
Additional Resources
Nefesh B’Nefesh Services:
Have questions? NBN Answers is available to answer your questions and provide guidance by phone at *3680 or answers@nbn.org.il, Sunday – Thursday. We offer one-on-one meetings, and translation services for bills and paperwork received.
Municipal Coordinators:
A municipal coordinator offers assistance, information on local resources, and guidance through the local municipality. For a listing of Municipal Coordinators throughout the country, see: https://www.nbn.org.il/community-guide/municipal-klita-coordinators/
Yad Sarah:
Best known for its medical lending services and offers a wide range of other services in 100 locations throughout the country. See: www.yad-sarah.net
ERAN Emotional Crisis Hotline (for all ages) – 1201 extension #10 for English
EMOTIONAL ASSISTANCE DURING TIMES OF NATIONAL CRISIS:
Crossroads 24/7 Crisis Hotline for English-Speaking Teens and Young Adults 050-468-5463
SHIL (Sheirut Ye’utz L’ezrach):
A citizen’s advice bureau found in most cities throughout Israel offers a wide range of free services. See: www.molsa.gov.il
Revacha (Social Services):
Found in every municipal region, all Revacha offices have reception hours. No appointment is necessary.
National hotlines for men and women in cases of rape or sexual harassment:
Women – 1202 from any phone Men – 1203 from any phone
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The Key to National Security
Other nations – even our allies – have been threatening us that we are in danger of political and international isolation. Should we really fear isolation?
Rabbi Lazer Brody
Posted on 27September2023 https://breslev.com/385792/
The Key to National Security
Other nations – even our allies – have been threatening us that we are in danger of political and international isolation. According to Moses, isolation is not something to be afraid of. Indeed, for the Nation of Israel, it’s even desirable. Moses declares in his final blessing of his people shortly before his departure from the physical world:
And Israel shall dwell securely, alone (Devarim 33:28).
Every year, we read the above passage on Simchat Torah, the day following the termination of the Sukkot holiday, when we complete the annual reading of the Torah and begin anew.
Let’s ask ourselves two basic questions: First, what’s the connection between the above-mentioned passage and Sukkot? Second, what’s the eternal teaching of the above passage?
Sukkot is concrete proof that the Nation of Israel is the nation of emuna and therefore above nature. The holy Zohar calls the sukkah, “The shadow of emuna”; in other words, who one dwells in the sukkah is literally
sukkah
enveloped in the Divine Presence, tzila d’mehemnuta, the shadow of emuna. Spiritually, there is no safer place on earth.
How seemingly odd…
Jewish law requires that the sukkah be a temporary dwelling. The roof of a sukkah must be natural material that grows from the ground, such as river canes, tree branches, palm leaves and the like. The average sukkah roof can’t support the weight of a cat. A strong rain is enough to chase a family out of the sukkah. A good strong wind can send one’s sukkah roof into orbit around the neighborhood.
That’s security?
It sure is.
The sukkah is a place to learn and acquire emuna. We leave our permanent dwellings at a time when the weather starts getting cold. We learn that the only real security we have over our heads is not the roof of our permanent dwelling, but Hashem. For seven days a year, Hashem wants us to teach us how to completely entrust ourselves to His care, as King David says (Psalm 31:6), “I place my spirit in Your hands.”
The intrinsic message of the sukkah is that with a Jew, the illogical is logical and the supernatural is natural. Hashem’s relationship to His chosen people is on a completely different level than His “way of the world” relationship with the nations.
Normally, one feels secure under a concrete roof. But with bunker busters and non-conventional weapons, reinforced concrete no longer gives a person a feeling of security. That’s the point of the sukkah: under the palm-leaves or the river-reed roof – knowing that we are enveloped in the Divine Presence – we feel true security, for beneath a thatched roof in the Divine Presence is ever so much safer than under a concrete and steel roof in an environment devoid of holiness and therefore without the protection of the Divine Presence.
Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? Eyes devoid of emuna see the sukkah as some type of Jewish play house. But, with eyes of emuna, we know that the sukkah is the real deal; that’s why the pious almost never leave their sukkah for an entire week. Who wants to leave the Divine Presence even for a moment?
During Sukkot, the nations of the world look at us like we’re crazy, but that doesn’t deter the believer from happily erecting and dwelling in his sukkah. That’s the answer to our first question, namely, what’s the connection between “And Israel shall dwell securely, alone” and Sukkot? We, the nation of Israel, know that our national security doesn’t depend on armaments and fortifications. On the contrary – the only safe place in the world for a Jew is in a place where the Divine Presence hovers, and that’s the sukkah! Symbolically, we alone dwell in the sukkah; no other nation does. By dwelling alone, we live lives of emuna while protecting ourselves from both ideological and physical assimilation. The natural law that pertains to the nations of the world has nothing to do with the Nation of Emuna.
This brings us to our second question: what’s the eternal teaching of “And Israel shall dwell securely, alone”?
The subject of national security is one that never leaves the headlines of Israeli media. Especially in recent times, when no border can be termed “calm” and even countries who have no border with us such as Iran and Turkey threaten us, politicians are knocking themselves over to find solutions to national security. They haven’t been succeeding very well, as current affairs bear witness.
The moment our leaders recognize that for Israel, national security depends on two conditions: one, that we dwell alone – both physically and ideologically – within the Divine Presence and without outside influence. That means that our homes and our land must be places of holiness, and like the sukkah, worthy of the Divine Presence. So with all due respect to democracy, the Land of Israel cannot stand public displays of debauchery in any shape or form, for this is national suicide.
Second, our national security depends on emuna. We must realize that as the chosen people, Hashem requires us to live our lives according to the spiritual rule of emuna, which supersedes any natural concept of security such as military advantage. So by learning emuna, we strengthen ourselves and our country. That’s the key to our national security. Chag Sameach!
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The Children
This little eight year old girl can only fall asleep by hiding in a storage unit for linen. That’s how she and her younger brother survived for hours during the Hamas massacre when terrorists went door to door in Kibbutz Alumim murdering entire israeli families. Since then she no longer sleeps in her bed.
Israel-tweet-23October2023-This little eight year old girl can only fall asleep by hiding in a storage unit for linen
Generations
“In every generation they rise up to destroy us” was, and is, a warning to be taken seriously.
DRY BONES-Generations Credit: Yaakov (DryBones) Kirschen.
DRY BONES
Brooklyn-born (in 1938) cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen made Aliyah to Israel in 1971 and began drawing his Dry Bones cartoons in January of 1973. He is a member of both America’s National Cartoonists Society and the Israeli Cartoonists Society. Dry Bones was internationally syndicated and ran in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years, being reprinted by the New York Times, Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and other major media publications. The Dry Bones story has been covered by CBS, CNN, Forbes and many others.
https://www.jns.org/generations/
(October 24, 2023 / JNS) Hamas’s Oct. 7 pogrom has changed us.
It has smashed our youngsters with an explosive and frightening reality.
How will they deal with this trauma? What will they be like as adults? What will their Israel be like?
“Never again” is a great slogan.
But “In every generation they rise up to destroy us” was, and is, a warning to be taken seriously.
Bari Weiss-tweet-25October2023-
You hear stories from the Holocaust of people with little children in hiding, and I always thought, “How do you keep a child that small, that young, quiet in this situation?” But the energy was so heavy and we were so quiet.
I told my daughter, “You need to be as quiet as a mouse. We’re not talking now.” And she whispered through the whole day. Even when she fell over, she didn’t cry.
“‘I Understood My Life Is Going to End’: A Mother Describes 20 Hours in a Safe Room”
‘I Understood My Life Is Going to End’: A Mother Describes 20 Hours in a Safe Room
https://www.thefp.com/p/my-life-is-going-to-end
Bari Weiss-tweet-25October2023-Mother Describes 20 Hours in a Safe Room
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Family photos left on a refrigerator after Hamas terrorists set it on fire on Saturday’s attack on the kibbutz on October 14, 2023 in Be’eri, Israel. (Amir Levy via Getty Images)
FOR FREE PEOPLE
‘I Understood My Life Is Going to End’: A Mother Describes 20 Hours in a Safe Room
Sofie Berzon MacKie on what went through her mind while terrorists attacked her kibbutz, and the first thought she had after she was rescued.
By Max Raskin
25October2023 https://www.thefp.com/p/my-life-is-going-to-end
Sofie Berzon MacKie is a British Israeli artist, a mother, and the director of Be’eri art gallery. She is a survivor of the Hamas massacre of Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. Below, the writer Max Raskin asks Sofie about the 20 hours she spent under attack. This interview originally appeared on his Substack.
====
Max Raskin: How do you feel right now?
Sofie Berzon MacKie: Relatively okay.
I lost track of time, in a way. I know it’s been 13 days since the 7th of October, and I think, “Wow, it’s already two weeks?” But at the same time… “Only two weeks?”
So it’s a really strange feeling of being disoriented in time. Time stretches and is compacted at the same time. I’m not so shaken anymore. I kind of have a vision of what needs to be done in the near future and that’s all I can hope for at this point in my life, where we lost everything. Besides we have our lives, that’s about it.
MR: If any of these questions are too personal or intrusive, or make you uncomfortable, please just let me know.
SBM: No, no, feel free. Really, ask whatever.
MR: Are you in therapy right now? How is your family dealing with it?
SBM: Well, of course I’m in therapy. I have a psychologist and also a psychiatrist. I need to take a pill every night or I have really bad anxiety attacks. And if I don’t take something to calm down, then I have the worst possible nightmares and I can’t sleep. So, I take a pill every evening. I go to sleep. I have this really deep sleep and I wake up with a very heavy feeling of, “Wow, another day in this surreal life that I now lead.”
But then the day goes by, and I get very busy trying to rebuild whatever I can with whatever I have right now. And the children are also, I think, okay. I have really strong children and they’re very smart and very resourceful. So, I hope—and I dare say, I know—that it might take some time, but the horrific ordeal we went through will be a very bad memory, but it will be just a memory. I don’t think we’re going to be post-traumatic in the long term.
MR: Let’s say someone woke up from a coma today and you were the first person they talked to, and they said to you, “Hey, great to meet you. What’s going on?” What would you say to them?
SBM: In a sentence, I would say that the most brutal, sadistic, inhuman, murderous attack was made on a peaceful civilian population—mostly left-wing, by the way—where 1,400 people were murdered in their homes. . . babies, the elderly, mothers. Another 200 are kidnapped, also children among them, without their parents. And now, in many ways, what we went through is very similar to the Holocaust, but much worse because it happened in our land, in our homes. So, if I had to summarize it, that’s it.
MR: I don’t know how to even broach it, but I think it’s important for people to hear the story of that day. Can you tell my readers what that day was for you?
SBM: So the day before was Sukkot. We were having a nice family dinner and we went to play tennis together, and it was a lot of fun. And we went to bed and woke up at half past six in the morning with ear-deafening explosions that didn’t sound anything like what I know. It didn’t sound like rockets, and there wasn’t the siren that goes off every time it’s a rocket. It was just something else.
So we jumped out of bed, me and my partner, and I woke my daughter up. She’s twelve and a half. And I told her to run. . . just run to the safe room. And I took my daughter, my little one, my toddler—she’s three years old—out of her bed, grabbed her, and ran and shut the window. We have a really thick metal window. And I slammed the door shut and just sat on the bed. My son sleeps there. And a few minutes later, the red color sirens went off and like 100 missiles went over our heads. I can hear them exploding right outside my house.
And then I opened my phone, which I took with me, and there’s this internal group that serves the kibbutz for important messages, and there was a message there that there is an indication of terrorists in Israel, but not in the kibbutz yet
And then the kids asked me, “Mommy, can they reach our kibbutz?”<
And I said, “No, we’re quite far from the border.”
We’re almost five kilometers from the border, and it seemed to me unimaginable that anyone can cross that distance inside Israel’s territory without the army responding and neutralizing them.
So that’s what I said, but five minutes later, another message, “There are terrorists in the kibbutz. Lock the doors. Close the windows, and shut yourself in the safe room and don’t leave.” So I thought it’s not the first time I received that message. It might be like two or three terrorists and they will be taken care of fairly quickly.
The mothers of the kibbutz, we have a WhatsApp group. We use it if anyone needs some sort of medicine or is looking for clothing and just mother stuff. It just exploded with messages, hundreds of them, of terrorists in people’s homes. And because I know the people writing those messages, I drew this map in my head, and I understood that there are hundreds of them all over the kibbutz. That was a very, very terrifying moment.
MR: You were getting messages from the mothers?
SBM: Yeah.
“We have terrorists in our house.”
“They’re shooting at my window.”
“They’re inside my house burning tires, and my house is on fire.”
And these pleas for someone to come and save us. And everyone was like, “Where’s the army? Where’s the army?”
And things escalated for hours on end. Mothers were sending their last words—pleading for someone to save them when you can hear the terrorists in the background—and then they were murdered. The most really horrifying things. I just sat there for hours listening to that group, my friends, and so many of them.
MR: And you knew these people?
SBM: Of course, of course. The kibbutz has 550 families, so of course you know everyone. We share our lives together. It’s a fairly tight-knit community, although people, of course, have their careers and not everyone works on the kibbutz. But we celebrate the holidays together and our children—the kindergartens are on the kibbutz grounds. Everybody’s everybody’s friend, on some level, of course.
So that went on for many, many hours. My children were terrified, absolutely terrified. I told them to stay away from the door, because we realized quite soon that the door is not bulletproof, because they started shooting through the door and injuring people inside the safe room and throwing hand grenades.
MR: Did they see your phone? Did you let them see your phone?
SBM: No. No, of course not. No. No.
MR: How did you talk to your kids?
SBM: We weren’t talking much. I told them, “There are terrorists in the kibbutz. Now you have to be very quiet and cannot talk.”
I was scared that my toddler wouldn’t manage the situation. You hear stories from the Holocaust of people with little children in hiding, and I always thought, “How do you keep a child that small, that young, quiet in this situation?” But the energy was so heavy and we were so quiet.
I told my daughter, “You need to be as quiet as a mouse. We’re not talking now.” And she whispered through the whole day. Even when she fell over, she didn’t cry.
And the kids at some point got so exhausted from the adrenaline and all the stress. And terrorists were shooting for hours at our house, and we could hear them outside our window of the safe room, shouting in Arabic.
MR: How long were you in that safe room?
SBM: Almost 14 hours, and then another 6 with the neighbors in theirs, until the army rescued us. We were in ours from half past six in the morning until after midnight.
We didn’t have any water, any food. . . nothing. So at one point, when it got relatively quiet and I couldn’t hear people shooting at our house anymore, we crept out of the room, because I was scared that if my daughter gets hungry, she’s going to start screaming and we’re doomed. So we took a calculated risk and left the safe room. And we brought a bottle of water and some cereal and dates, just grabbed it and ran back to the safe room.
Later on, I understood that they didn’t manage to break into the safe room, because it is relatively hard. . . if you hold down the handle, it’s kind of hard to open the door. . . but they just burned the houses. That really scared me. But when I understood that they didn’t break into our safe room, I ran to our bathroom. I grabbed all the towels and just opened the tap of the bathtub. I didn’t care how much noise it made. So, I soaked them in water and put them in a basket and ran back to the safe room, and I put them beneath the door and the window in case they tried to set our house on fire.
My kids got very tired at some point, so I told them, “Listen, just try to sleep.” And they fell asleep for, I think, five hours, and they woke up and it was, “Is it over, Mommy,” and I’m like, “Not yet, just please try to sleep.” So they slept most of the day
MR: How long were the terrorists in the kibbutz?
SBM: They were in the kibbutz even after we were rescued. They were there for days, until the army found the last one of them. Even after all of us were evacuated, the army was still there for days, I think for even a week.
MR: I’m not asking this in a spiritual or philosophical sense, but I guess I’m asking this question—how did you survive?
SBM: A series of the smallest coincidences, really. The most insignificant events decided our fate that day. And it’s really hard to comprehend, because the reality of being dead or alive, it’s this eternal situation. You’re dead, you’re dead. And if you’re alive, you’re here. And, on the other hand, the really meaningless occurrences that decided whoever’s fate.
I would say luck, but it’s not really luck. It’s just the way the dice was rolled that day.
MR: Did they shoot at your house and you just happened to survive?
SBM: Yes. They shot a lot. . . a lot at my house. They came into my house at one point. Some houses, they really didn’t leave for hours, until whoever the family was in the safe room was killed. Some houses, for five hours, they went and came back and went and came back.
MR: Did they try breaking into your safe room?
SBM: Yes. At one point, we heard voices. They didn’t really try. They were just there and they left. I was standing next to the door with a knife, because that’s what I had. But why they left, I don’t know
MR: Did your safe room lock?
SBM: No. You can’t lock it from the inside, but you can hold the handle down and then it’s almost impossible to open it from the outside. But, of course, they can shoot you through the door. They used hand grenades. And if they were really determined in getting in, nothing could stop them. There were houses that they took apart the hinges of the door.
MR: I don’t even know what to ask. I don’t even know what to ask. I mean, what goes through your head at that time? Do you pray? Do you think about how to solve the situation? Are you thinking about escape? What is actually going through your head?
SBM: First, disbelief that this is happening and thinking that the army will surely arrive. And then the hours went on, and they didn’t. And then at one point, when they were really on my house shooting at the window, trying to. . . I don’t know what they were trying to do to the outside wall. . . I could hear them hammering at it, at the wall, trying to break it. And then I was sure I was going to die, so I actually posted my goodbyes on Facebook, and I sent messages to my friends, family that, “Know I love you, but I’m not going to survive this. This is the day I’m going to die.” And I was very sad, not much because my life is going to end today, but thinking about the brutal way that I’m actually going to be murdered made me really, really sad. And I was so scared.
(courtesy of Sofie Berzon MacKie)
MR: As a woman, were you afraid?
SBM: I wasn’t thinking like they’re going to rape me or anything. I was just, as a mother, I think. . . seeing the terror on my children’s faces once they’re in the safe room—that was a thought that absolutely broke my heart. So when they were really on our house trying to get in, I just sat. I held them and covered their eyes, because I just didn’t want to see the look on their faces when they see the people that are going to murder them. I prayed. I don’t believe in God. Not that I don’t believe that the world is a spiritual place, but I don’t believe in Him in the way any religion explains this force that moves through the universe that creates all things. But I was, in my heart, just begging for some force to let me out of that room. We sat there for so many hours, my heart was pounding in my chest the whole time. At some point, I started really shaking uncontrollably because of the adrenaline rush. Complete terror.
MR: Physically—other than your heart beating—what does that physically feel like to be in that kind of situation?
SBM: I can’t even describe it.
MR: Do you want to throw up? Do you want to go to the bathroom?
SBM: You want to throw up. You want to run away. You have this urge, crazy urge, that you have to oppress, to open the door and run, just run. And you have to really stop yourself from leaving your home because you just want to run. To have to sit there and wait, all your muscles become stiff. Your body becomes stiff. Your heart is beating. I got extremely thirsty at some point. My mouth was so, so dry. My daughter had terrible cramps in her stomach. She had an awful tummy ache, and her head was throbbing. Your body is screaming that this situation is unbearable. But here we are.
MR: I don’t know if this is a silly question, but are there any moments of levity in that whole thing?
SBM: No. At one point, when I understood that I am going to die, I couldn’t stand the fear that took hold of me. It was beyond anything I ever felt in my whole life, the most extreme feeling of panic, and terror, utter terror. So, I kind of took a look at my life, and I became very grateful for what I have, what I had—for my life’s trajectory and the people I met and the people I loved and who loved me back. And that was a really deep moment for me. It was, I don’t know, spiritual in a way, that I understood my life is going to end. It’s a fact.
MR: People say your life flashes before your eyes. Is that what that was like?
SBM: Yes. You think about your childhood, your parents, your friends, things you did right.
MR: And did that make you feel good?
SBM: It made me feel at peace, and I felt all the fear just leaving my body, and I felt really at peace with my fate. I was still very deeply sad about dying this way. I felt like it’s unfair.
MR: How does that make you feel now when you think about it? Can you access that same peace? Most people get cut off in traffic and they’re pissed off, and it ruins their day.
SBM: Something really changed in me. It’s like I met the worst possible situation life could hand out to someone, really the worst. And I found. . . I’ll try to explain.
It’s like something inside me connected with the universe, with the fact that everything has a beginning and everything has an end, and this is my end. And I suddenly felt so peaceful, and I had this warm feeling, and I felt all the fear draining out of my body into this really deep acceptance that I’m going to meet whatever eternity is, after I go.
MR: Had you thought about eternity before? Do you believe in an afterlife?
SBM: I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I am very spiritual. And these ideas, I’m occupied with them and by them for a long time.
MR: Before this happened?
SBM: Yes, that everything is connected in the world. The infinitely large. The stars, when you gaze up, is connected to my body. It is inside me and I am inside everything. So I walk through life with that feeling. But it really was intensified, and the truth of that feeling overcame me and all fear just left me.
MR: What moment was that when that was actually happening?
SBM: That moment was really the peak of it. I just thought, “I can’t stand. . . ”
It’s like you’re mentally fighting for your life. Emotionally, you’re fighting for your life, although, in many ways, you’re just sitting in a room not doing anything. And then I kind of let go. . . “That’s it. It’s out of my hands. Whatever is going to happen, let it happen. You can’t stop it. There’s no need to be afraid. There’s just no need to be afraid. You can’t control the situation. Just let it go.”
MR: And then when did you come back and realize, “I might make it through this?”
SBM: I think it’s around half past four, I heard Hebrew outside my window. I heard only Arabic until that point. . . and gunshots. I heard Hebrew and understood that the army is outside my house. And then I had this thought, quite fleeting, actually, not even like an understanding, but just a glimmer of hope that I might make it through this day alive with my children. I think it was a quarter past six and my neighbor from upstairs called me and said, “Sofie, the army is here. They’re evacuating us. Get ready.” And I could hear them talking to the soldiers and telling them, “There is a family downstairs. You have to go and get them also.” So then, I was like, “Okay, I’m going to get through this. They’re here.”
MR: You hear stories of the terrorists using young kids to falsely coax people out of their houses to kill them. Were you at any point worried that they were playing a game on you and trying to lure you out?
SBM: Of course. All day long, they were banging on doors. They were knocking on the windows. They were dressed as the IDF. But when you hear a group of people speaking, you can recognize the language, and especially the language used by the army—nobody can fake that. But during the day we understood that they were pretending to be the army, but we also knew that the army hadn’t arrived yet, because we were in contact with the official statements.
But at quarter past six, they were banging on our door, “Open up. Open up. It’s the IDF.” And I just ran and collapsed into their arms.
I had 10 soldiers, two of them were officers, standing in my living room. I thought they were the most beautiful people I ever saw in my life. And I told them, “Take my children. Please, just take my children.” I handed my daughter to them. And they said to us, “You have two minutes. Pack the necessities that you will need, and we’re out of here.”
Then they helped us climb over the wall, and we were standing with our neighbors, two families, with 30 soldiers, in the most horrific scene. The sky was. . . it was green and orange and full of smoke. There were so many houses on fire, dead bodies scattered everywhere, puddles of blood, rockets exploding, and bullets started whizzing in front of us, so they understood that we can’t be evacuated yet. And they told us, “Please go upstairs to the safe room of your neighbors, and we will be back very soon.” And eventually, they came back at midnight. So we had another six hours, with no electricity at that point.
MR: Did you feel safe at that point?
SBM: Safer, yes.
MR: Like the military was in charge?
SBM: Yes. I knew that they were fighting them. I knew that families were evacuated at that point, not many, but they’re succeeding in evacuating them. I knew that they knew we were there, and I trusted that they would be back.
Luckily enough, we were at our neighbor’s house, because I think two hours after that I could hear terrorists inside my house—shooting from inside my house at the soldiers who were outside. My life was saved more than once that day.
And at around midnight they came back, and we didn’t answer the door when they came. We were too scared at that point. We didn’t answer the door. So they broke in. They tried to break in through the window. They started pulling the window apart, but then we ran and opened the door, and we were evacuated under fire.
MR: How were you evacuated? In an armored personnel carrier?
SBM: No, by foot. We had to walk. My daughter, my eldest daughter, was terrified. She said, “I’m not walking. They’re going to kill me. I’m staying here.” So one of the soldiers took her by her hand and said, “I am here with you. We’re going to make it.”
So we were three families. Thirty soldiers surrounded us in a ring, with weapons drawn. And we started walking. They told the kids to close their eyes and not open them until they tell them it’s safe, because the horrors—as I just said, there were dead bodies everywhere, butchered dead bodies, fire, blood everywhere, just insane. . .
MR: I feel like everyone is watching whatever videos they can get their hands on, even the most horrific things. . . people feel like a need to see. Do you watch any of it?
SBM: No. Not only do I not watch it, I’m actively blocking it out. After meeting with my psychologist, he rightfully said that “there is absolutely no use at this point even thinking about what happened. It’s only going to make the trauma linger on. So you just really need to work hard on your mental and psychological defense and block it out for now, until, I don’t know, in a year’s time, two years’ time”—these are his words. “When you’re safe and you have a home and you’re far enough from what’s happened to safely deal with it. But now, you just really have to block the memory out. Because otherwise, it’s going to turn into post-trauma, and it’s going to haunt you your whole life.” So I do as he said, and it’s really helpful advice.
MR: What does it do when someone wants to get your testimony?
SBM: When I say what happened, I remember it. But at this point, it doesn’t feel like I’m there. Something did change with my psychological capabilities, and some time has passed. For a week and a half after everything happened, I felt like what happened is still happening in the world somewhere. My life kind of split into two timelines and in one timeline, me and my family and my children, we were saved, but in another timeline, in another universe, it is still happening, and the end is still unknown, and it can still play out completely differently. And that’s how I felt.
So it was very scary to think about it because I had this feeling that if I don’t pay attention—don’t ask me to what, because I don’t know. It’s like I felt like I have to be on guard, because if I’m not, the end will be different and I will be killed with my children.
And that, when I come to think about it now, I don’t feel like that anymore. I feel like it was a horrible, horrible experience, but it is over. I am more grounded in reality. I don’t feel like I have these flashbacks where I’m still there physically. It’s like sharing a very painful memory, but a memory.
MR: And do you listen to the memories of others? As a photographer, you probably think about this a lot but there’s a kind of prurient interest or pornographic spectacle that people are curious about the rapes and the torture.
SBM: The people that are here, we survived, so none of us have these stories and we don’t know the specifics of what happened to our loved ones. Nobody gave us that information. I saw maybe one or two testimonies of people who were working in the kibbutz and what they saw, but no one was given any details and I’m glad.
MR: But these stories are starting to come out now. Are you avoiding them?
SBM: Yes, of course. I really can’t deal with that. It’s not like before. I used to watch these images. I can understand how things can be horrifying. I don’t have to see them. I remember when ISIS started releasing the beheading videos and they were found on YouTube. I think I watched one, and I was like, “Okay, no, I really can’t handle this. It’s just too much.” I’m definitely avoiding. . . how can I watch my community[’s] children being butchered and tortured? I don’t want to see.
MR: How does this make you think about the Holocaust?
SBM: I think in many ways, what we went through was very similar to the Holocaust. I can understand, maybe, a bit more, a bit better, what it really felt like, although Israel is very good at preserving the memory of the Holocaust. So through my whole life I’ve been reading testimonies, meeting Holocaust survivors, and I had a very good sense. I went to Poland also, to concentration camps when I was in high school, and it felt in many ways very similar.
I daresay it’s even a bit worse. It might actually be a bit worse.
Because it’s in our land, in our country, in our homes. We weren’t like guests in someone else’s country. This is our country. We have a very strong and capable army, and it happened in my home, in my land.
MR: Is your worldview changing minute to minute?
SBM: I think I hold very liberal, humanitarian ideas of the world. I think I was naive about Hamas and the people of Gaza, who, in many ways, I relate to and am an advocate for, in their justifiable call for freedom.
But I couldn’t imagine that any human being, as hateful as they are, could do the things that they did. It’s a really shocking revelation for me to understand that some people, and not some—a lot—because of the two to three thousand terrorists that entered Israel that morning, they were not all Hamas. A lot of them were also just citizens of Gaza who hate us.
The thought that people can be so hateful that they will shoot a baby in its head while she’s in her mother’s arms. . . and these are things I witnessed and heard happening in my kibbutz. Or kidnapping children. I feel so naive.
You see the world through the lens of who you are.
I saw the world through the lens of who I am, and I always believed that every person, as bad as they may be, there’s a sense of humanity that you can appeal to, that you can talk to. I think I was wrong. I think there is this force that some strain of humans possess, that to call them human is a disgrace. It is a disgrace for humankind to have people who can do those things walk amongst us and share our world. And that is something that has really changed in me—although I still want to believe that in Gaza, there are women like me, mothers like me, children like my children, who wish for peace. And I can’t believe that two million people are like that.
But maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know.
The remains of the Be’eri Gallery. (Courtesy of Sofie Berzon MacKie)
MR: What kind of impact does this have on how you think about what your life is going to be? How do you think about your next gallery opening? Before this happened, what projects were you working on?
SBM: Many. I’m co-director of a gallery—Be’eri Gallery—which is now burnt to the ground and nonexistent. We had nine artists in line for 2024. We were already working on their exhibitions with them. Personally, I was working on various projects.
MR: What was one of your personal projects?
SBM: I’m a photographer. I now call myself more of a visual artist, because I don’t only use photography, but I was photographing in my living room for the past three years—a series that was my way of thinking about and discussing my motherhood, my identity, my relationship with my home, with my dreams. That’s one thing. I have, still hanging, an exhibition at the Man and the Living World Museum in Ramat Gan, which is very much about what we just discussed—about the eternity and interconnection of all things. I made a series called Event Horizon where I used photography, manipulated photography with AI, in just a black room, a dark room, and very large pictures of shell-like organisms that are just half-alive, half-dead. . . thoughts about eternity and—I wouldn’t use the word afterlife—but the event horizon of the black hole.
MR: Are you interested in space at all?
SBM: Yeah, I’m very interested in that. I think a lot about time and beginnings.
MR: Are you a sci-fi person?
SBM: Yes.
MR: What sci-fi do you like?
SBM: Dune, by Frank Herbert. I read it when I was 14, and I—at that point I knew that I read the best book I’m going to read in my lifetime. And I just finished the Silo trilogy, and The Hobbit, of course
I actually thought about Silo, because it’s about the apocalypse of humanity and how the human race has to stay low in these silos buried in the ground until the world is ready for them to start their new life. That’s really what I’m doing right now.
MR: After everything that’s happened, has this changed your view about the cosmos and the interconnectivity of it or your view about the afterlife?
SBM: No. I think in many ways it’s actually reinforced my thoughts about the nature of things. I really had to face the idea that every life comes to an end and that my life will come to an end right now, and that that’s just how the world, how creation works. Things are destroyed and created from the beginning of time, and now it’s my time to be part of that. And it was really a moment of enlightenment. It’s kind of hard to describe what happens to someone who faces their death and accepts it, really, with your whole being. I feel like nothing scares me anymore. And I think for 10 days I was floating, not connected to time or to this place or to reality, in many ways.
But then I went for a bike ride here near the Dead Sea, and it was at dusk. I looked at the sea. And suddenly, this normal thought, my thoughts, my normal thoughts, just popped into my head—that the sea has been here for millions of years. I held on to that thought that I recognized myself in it, and suddenly, I saw the beauty of this world, and I could again feel how I am connected, how this beauty is part of me, and how I am part of everything.
Also, I understand that powers of destruction have always been part of our universe and it’s just part of everything. I hope that answered your question.
MR: This is the most powerful interview I’ve done.
SBM: Thank you. I’ve been interviewed a lot in the past two weeks, and this was really healing, in a way.
MR: Really?
SBM: Yes.
MR: Most of my guests describe my interviews as just really weird and uncomfortable.
SBM: No. I don’t feel like you’re weird or uncomfortable. I think we would have a similar interview even if I wasn’t going through this.
MR: What’s your plan right now?
SBM: Now we are going to stay here at the hotel, although it’s not so comfortable for me. Personally, I need a more quiet environment, more breathing space, and less grieving collectively, because every other person I see here has lost at least one person. So there’s a lot of pain and grieving going on, but my children desperately need their friends.
MR: Are their friends there?
SBM: Most of them are here. Some of my daughter’s friends were murdered. Two of her friends are missing. One of her friends is for sure abducted. And she’s twelve and a half, so her social life at this point is more important to her than her immediate family. There’s a psychologist who is working with her group and also with my son’s group, and so I’m here for them now.
MR: Listen, we come to Israel a lot. We’re going to be there soon. My wife’s actually about to give birth in the next few weeks. But when we’re there, I’d love to meet you in person.
SBM: Wow, that’s great. That makes me happy.
MR: It’ll be our first!
SBM: Wow, that even makes me happier. That’s amazing.
I actually thought that maybe we should have another child, although I decided that three is enough, and I have the most horrible pregnancies. But after we escaped from that thing, I was like, “Wow, I think we should just have another child.”
Regarding your question about the Holocaust, I can understand why people had the need to have large families. It’s really a statement of being alive in this world.
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Max Raskin is an adjunct professor of law at New York University and a fellow at the school’s Institute for Judicial Administration. You can follow him on X @maxraskin.
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Hostage Israeli nurse taken by Gazan civilians and sold to Hamas
Who are the ‘civilians’ and who are the ‘terrorists’ in Gaza?
Arsen Ostrovsky-tweet-5January2024-who are the ‘civilians’ and who are the ‘terrorists’ in Gaza?
“She was taken by Gazan civilians who took her to a Hamas tunnel in Gaza and sold her to Hamas.”
Tell me again though, who are the ‘civilians’ and who are the ‘terrorists’ in Gaza?
Elad Simchayoff-tweet-4January2024-Hostage Israeli nurse taken by Gazan civilians and sold to Hamas
Unbelievable testimony by Nili Margalit, an Israeli nurse who was abducted from her house in Nir Oz.
She was taken by Gazan civilians who took her to a Hamas tunnel in Gaza and sold her to Hamas.
She took on the unofficial role of medically treating dozens of Israeli hostages, all injured, some elderly. She made detailed lists and demanded that medication be brought even at the cost of arguing with her captors. When she kept insisting on medication the captors sometimes denied the hostages fans. Staying 40 meters underground without ventilation caused them breathing difficulties.
She had to improvise treatments, she treated infected wounds with honey as there were no antibiotics.
It’s a story of (another) amazingly brave and resourceful woman
Elad Simchayoff-tweet-4January2024-Hostage Israeli nurse taken by Gazan civilians and sold to Hamas
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Daniel Aloni’s heartbreaking interview
Yaari Cohen-tweet-6January2024-Daniel Aloni’s heartbreaking interview
“After i covered my daughter with a blanket, i hugged her tight and i told her.. im sorry but we’re going to die”.
Part of Daniel Aloni’s heartbreaking interview to @N12News,
i ask you, please watch it, share it and understand this is what so many Hostages went through.
Yaari Cohen-tweet-6January2024-Daniel Aloni’s heartbreaking interview
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The “Golden News” that reached the Shin Bet about the Hamas attack on October 7 | Exposing “Ovda”
A few months before Simchat Torah, a concrete warning came from a human source in the Gaza Strip about a “major move” planned by Hamas – a week after Yom Kippur • The information came from a man known as “Mbu’a” – a person who heard from another source about the plan • Despite this warning, the Shin Bet marked the information as “insignificant” – and the attack did occur at the expected time • all the details
Ilana Dayan
Ilana Dayan | Protective sleeve | The main edition | Posted 27December2023 http://www.mako.co.il/tv-ilana_dayan/Article-0a034bff26cac81026.htm?sCh=ec1c747d0c7e9110&pId=1053994317
Palestinians celebrate around an IDF tank that was attacked on October 7 (Photo: Reuters)
Hamas attack on October 7 | Photo : Reuters
The information that could have prevented a disaster: Months before the Hamas surprise attack, the Shin Bet received concrete information about Hamas’s intention to carry it out, including the planned date – this is what Ilana Dayan and Sharit Magen revealed this evening (Wednesday) in the “Main Edition”. The information came from a human source that the Shin Bet operated in the Gaza Strip – according to which “Hamas is planning a major move in the week after Yom Kippur.”
The signs before the attack – coverage N12
Compared to the same “signs” that were lit the night before October 7, this time it is not about signals or transmissions that were received, but about information originating from “Youmint”, that is, human intelligence. This concrete information came from the mouth of a source known as “Mbo’a” – a professional term for someone who brings information from another means. That is, he did not hear the information directly, but from someone who knew how to tell him that he had heard about the program.
Ronan Bar, the incoming head of the Shin Bet (Photo: Flash/90)
The information received was not forwarded to the head of the Shin Bet in real time. Ronan Bar, archive | Photo: Flash/90
However, the question arises, what happened to this golden information from the moment it reached the Shin Bet? The operator of that human source, passed the raw information to those who are supposed to handle this information. However, the warning was not marked as significant information. The assumption was that if it really came close to being implemented, additional intelligence would arrive As a result, the information does not pass to the higher levels, and did not reach the head of the Shin Bet Ronan Bar in real time.
Burnt cars at the Nova Barai party (Photo: Haim Goldberg, AP)
The golden information that reached the Shin Bet months before the attack – which was not marked as significant information. Pictured: Hamas attack on October 7 | Photo: Haim Goldberg, AP
Since October 7, the Shin Bet has been trying to understand how they failed in the incident of receiving the information. As part of this attempt to understand the failure, they come up with the same information, which arrived as mentioned months before Simchat Torah, and was buried under piles of other information.
Shin Bet sources explain that the reported source “was relatively new, not an old source, and its reliability was also unclear.” In retrospect, they know to say that this is a source whose level of reliability is “very high.” The same Shin Bet sources emphasize: “There is no intention to overthrow the The responsibility for low ranks, in the Shin Bet, will not be “Shg. The question of what should have been done with this information – will still be examined. In the bottom line – there is no debate that we failed, and we did not warn of war.”
The Shin Bet responded: “At this time, the Shin Bet is focused on fighting. The Shin Bet is prepared to conduct in-depth and thorough investigations for the benefit of learning and learning lessons, and in this framework all the information that was available will be examined. In any case, the focus on one specific piece of information does not reflect the intelligence picture at the time.”
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Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
SEE: From 9January2014 Sales Of Hitler’s Mein Kampf Are Surging
Eli Kowaz-tweet-4January2024-Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
While visiting different Palestinian cities in the West Bank, I was shocked to see Mein Kampf sold at many stores (even those that are not bookshops).
When you hear how many Palestinians talk about Hitler, you quickly understand why.
Listen to Yussuf from Bethlehem.
Eli Kowaz-tweet-4January2024-Mein Kampf sold at many Palestinian stores
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BREAKING: Israel at War | The Caroline Glick Show IN – FOCUS
8October2023
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When at War
Posted 8October2023 by Akiva https://www.mpaths.com/2023/10/when-at-war.html
When at War
by Reb Gutman Locks
When at War
War comes to us for a reason. When we fight amongst ourselves Hashem sends enemies to attack us. These attacks bring us together. Hashem wants the Jewish people to stay together, to love one another as true brothers and sisters should.
There has been terrible fighting among ourselves lately. The political protests have brought Israel to talk of civil war! Jews fighting Jews, hating one another!
Now that we have brought this evil war upon ourselves we must apply the remedy at once! Each of us must extend ourselves to love our fellow Jew, to love one another for no other reason than we are Jews. The sooner and stronger we come together, the sooner and stronger our enemies will be destroyed.
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The spiritual fight back begins
8October2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/the-spiritual-fight-back-begins/
This morning, before I wrote that last post, I was feeling pretty down.
***Excerpts from the Rav’s shiurim updated below – scroll down.***
After I wrote it, I started to feel a bit happier, but still not great.
Then, one of my Breslov friends sent me this:
====
And that’s when the penny dropped, that what the yetzer is really after is all the sadness and depression yesterday’s horrible stuff is causing.
So then, I called ‘Southern Command’ – my friend S. who lives on a moshav in the South and who got really taken out by the events of Simchat Torah.
And I told her:
====
God is still with us!
God didn’t go anywhere!
Yes, some very bad stuff happened yesterday, but right now, our job as the real ‘home front command’ is to stand back up, connect to God, connect to our prayers and our emuna – and to encourage ourselves and the people around us that:
AIN YEOUSH BE OLAM KLAL!!!
And that all this can and will turn around in a miraculous way.
As long as we don’t get depressed, and as long as we don’t stop praying and believing and doing our best to live our emuna.
====
====
Our soldiers need us!
The Jewish people need us, to keep dancing and praying and believing.
So yalla!
Start dancing.
Keep saying your tikkun haklalis.
Encourage others to join you and to stand strong.
That’s is the best and fastest ‘response’ to this – and turn off the lying news, too.
It’s working for the same people who arranged what happened yesterday.
And it’s trying to bring us all down, and to pull us away from God, and into fear and yeoush.
That is the real war being fought here.
====
UPDATE:
These snippets are from Shiurim from the Shivivei Or Newsletter, 326, given September 1st and 5th, 2023.
Bear in mind that at least some of the sections of the Gaza Fence were bulldozed down by the terrorists.
====
Second shiur, emphasising the importance of the women dancing again:
====
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Devarim 29:22
[2] Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiyahu, Chapter 9: “The Cuthites who were there, what did they do? They sewed here, and it burned. They sewed there, and it burned.” Then, there is an example given of a Cuthite who was ploughing a field in the valley, and it burst into flames.
[3] Shemot, 15:20.
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Hamas-The practice of child sacrifice
Jeremy Gimpel-tweet-13February2024-Hamas-The practice of child sacrifice
“They’re not just using them as human shields, they’re using them as human sacrifices”
– @COLRICHARDKEMP
There is ancient Middle Eastern spiritual practice of child sacrifice. It’s hard for the modern mind to comprehend that inner desire of Gazans to sacrifice their children. The war against that evil was always at the heart of Judaism. Nothing has changed.
The War in Israel today is the war of Good against Evil.
Jeremy Gimpel-tweet-13February2024-Hamas-The practice of child sacrifice
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Security cabinet approves declaration of war
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
8October2023 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-765222
The security cabinet approved a declaration of war on Saturday night in accordance with article 40 of the Basic Law: The Government, the cabinet said Sunday.
Article 40 allows the government to order “significant military action that may lead, with a level of probability close to certain, to war.” The prime minister will be able to make certain decisions with only the approval of the security cabinet as well.
The cabinet also requested that the Knesset approve the activation of emergency regulations which would allow detainees to be held for extended periods without the detainee being brought before a court.
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Israel is at War!
By Mordechai Ben-Menachem 8 October 2023 https://www.israpundit.org/israel-is-at-war-3/
Fifty years to the day of the Yom Kippur War; and once again a surprise attack of unprecedented viciousness.
The war began at 06:30 with the intentional targeting of children and families. They intentionally murdered children and mothers in their beds.
Expect a conflict that will last several weeks. As the poet said: “The vengeance of children’s blood is on the hands of Satan.” First, some 5,000 rockets were fired at civilians in the first half hour, then an additional 2,000 later. It then continued with attacks by land, sea and air. The sea attacks was intercepted and failed. Some of the attackers were apparently people from Judea and Samaria who infiltrated via work permits. Some 60 hang gliders were used to fly over the fence. Near Kerem Shalom, the southernmost border crossing, Gazan ‘civilians’ used tractors to bulldoze the fence so that Hamas operatives could enter using bikes and jeeps, while also entering the Erez crossing a little farther north. The initial objective of the infiltrating pigs was to butcher entire families in their homes, particularly children. E.g., they entered Kibbutz Be’eri, went house-to-house, to slaughter women and children. The world has not seen this kind of action since WWII. The incursions occurred in 9 towns: Netiv Haasara, Sderot, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Be’eri, Ofaqim, Kibbutz Sufa, and Kerem Shalom. For context, I lived and grew up there.
At the end of Shabbat & High Holiday, when I turned my devices on, the first report that I saw was from the BBC. True to form, true to their history at least since the Holocaust, the BBC report was that 198 Gazan were killed by Israel because they had fired “a few dozen rockets”. The BBC has never been famous for the intelligence of a scarecrow, so let me make this clear so that even they can comprehend; 7,000 is nearly 590 dozen, and even for unintelligent cowards and antisemites like the BBC, 590 is not a few. This is not new to them.
There is NO DOUBT that the US’ $6B ransom payment funds this action DIRECTLY, despite Blinken’s nonsensical statements. Iran stated clearly that they fully intend to use these funds for whatever they chose. There is no doubt the Biden-Blinken funding of Hamas has funded this since the beginning of the current admin.
There is NO DOUBT that Biden’s open subservience to Iran, while openly ‘distancing’ from Israel, emboldens Iran. Iran has ‘called-all-US shots’ since the beginning of Biden’s residency.
There is NO DOUBT that German and EU funding if Hamas is directly culpable.
250-300 dead, 1,600 wounded, and the ridiculous Australian FM demands ‘restraint’ from Israel. “Australia urges the exercise of restraint and protection of civilian lives.” The statement is repulsive and all Australians that consider themselves human should be completely ashamed. The real question is does the Australian FM believe that civilization exists and should be valued. What excuse does this creep have for her statement?
Turkey: “We call on all sides to act with restraint and stay away from impulsive moves that will heighten the tension.”
This is NOT a war against Israel. This is a war against civilization. In Iran’s Parliament the members of Parliament are chanting Death to America, in unity. $6B is not enough, nothing is ever enough. It should be noted that apparently, some 40 Israelis were taken as hostages, apparently, some of them have already been eaten while still alive — cannibalism! There is precedent. We also saw Hamas video of a bound woman beaten to death. Hamas has placed these horrific videos as their top priority. Mosques in Jerusalem are actively inciting war against the State of Israel over their loudspeakers. These religious bodies receive funding from the State, their Imams, receive stipends and salaries. In Istanbul, residents demonstrated in favour of war. Hezbollah is threatening to join the war from Lebanon.
Trump, like him or despise him, brought stability and peace, peace that spread. Biden, since he began, has brought war and destruction everywhere. Within months of Biden stepping in, Hamas attacked Israel and the US response was sick. Biden’s fomenting of conflicts in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, West Africa, East Africa, Serbia, Taiwan and Korea, distract and dilute US resources. The planning and logistics, as well as the success in hiding this from Israeli intelligence, cannot be sourced in Gaza, they do not have the capability. There is no doubt that the Government has some explaining to do. Netanyahu’s message to Gaza residents: Get out now, what is coming has never been seen before. I sincerely hope this turns out to be correct. A lot depends upon the reactions of the world.
There is no time or place for equivocation.
There is no time or place for equivocation you are either in favour of civilization or cannibalism. It is that basic.
It is important to recognize that the MAJORITY of Arab countries are stating very strongly, that Hamas must be annihilated to its core, despite the blather of idiots like the FM of Australia US Congress must show that it remains a body monogamously married to morality. When does acting ‘morally’ towards the enemy become an immoral act? Do the people of Gaza deserve to be cared for? Does the civilized world have responsibility towards those citizens? The Obama people claimed ‘responsibility’ towards the citizens of Libya, and that was why Libya was reduced by NATO to hell.
Is that responsibility only relevant when it is convenient?
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West Point Urban Warfare Expert: IDF ‘Implemented More Measures to Prevent Civilian Casualties Than Any Other Military in History’
by Jack Elbaum 1February2024 https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/02/01/west-point-urban-warfare-expert-idf-implemented-more-measures-to-prevent-civilian-casualties-than-any-other-military-in-history/
The chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern Warfare Institute released an op-ed on Wednesday arguing that, during Israel’s war on Hamas, the country “has implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties than any other military in history.”
John Spencer, who served in the U.S. Army for 25 years and did two tours in Iraq, took to the pages of Newsweek to push back on allegations that Israel is indiscriminately targeting civilians and even committing genocide.
“As someone who has served two tours in Iraq and studied urban warfare for over a decade,” Spencer explained, “Israel has taken precautionary measures even the United States did not do during its recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
He wrote: “One of the best ways to prevent civilian casualties in urban warfare is to provide warning and evacuate urban areas before the full combined air and ground attack commences. This tactic is unpopular for obvious reasons: It alerts the enemy defender and provides them the military advantage to prepare for the attack. The United States did not do this ahead of its initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, which involved major urban battles to include in Baghdad. It did not do this before its April 2004 Battle of Fallujah (though it did send civilian warnings before the Second Battle of Fallujah six months later).”
“By contrast,” Spencer continues, “Israel provided days and then weeks of warnings, as well as time for civilians to evacuate multiple cities in northern Gaza before starting the main air-ground attack of urban areas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) employed their practice of calling and texting ahead of an air strike as well as roof-knocking, where they drop small munitions on the roof of a building notifying everyone to evacuate the building before a strike.”
Israel’s use of hundreds of thousands of leaflets, almost 20,000 cell phone calls, 65,000 texts, and 6,000,000 voicemails to civilians, along with alerting civilians where its ground operations would be on a day-to-day basis, is also unprecedented, says Spencer. Not to mention pausing fighting for four hours “over multiple consecutive days” to allow civilians to leave war zones.
Israel may have needed to take such unprecedented measures because the conditions in which they are fighting are also unprecedented, according to analysts. Gaza is a small piece of land — only 25 miles long and, at its widest point, 7.5 miles wide — and extremely densely populated. To make matters more difficult, there are between 350 and 450 miles of tunnels under the strip, which is only 141 square miles, meaning almost the entire territory has Hamas infrastructure under it.
On this point, Spencer writes, “No military in modern history has faced over 30,000 urban defenders in more than seven cities using human shields and hiding in hundreds of miles of underground networks purposely built under civilian sites, while holding hundreds of hostages.”
Protecting civilians in such an environment is particularly challenging, which is likely one of the reasons Israel took the measures they have.
At the same time, the destruction in Gaza is widespread. More than half of the buildings are likely no longer habitable and the war has created a humanitarian crisis where people are unable to gain access to food and necessary medical care.
Additionally, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says almost 27,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, although it does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. Based on Israeli and U.S. estimates, the civilian-to-combattant casualty ratio is somewhere between 1.5-to-1 and 3-to-1, which is significantly better than the international average, which is 9-to-1 according to the United Nations, but still means thousands of uninvolved civilians have been killed.
“To be clear, I am outraged by the civilian casualties in Gaza,” Spencer makes sure to emphasize, “But it’s crucial to direct that outrage at the right target. And that target is Hamas.”
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Hamas cowards are sitting in their cold Rafah tunnels
Hillel Fuld-tweet-11February2024-Hamas cowards are sitting in their cold Rafah tunnels
Hamas cowards are sitting in their cold Rafah tunnels with limited oxygen praying that Israel doesn’t initiate its plan to enter Rafah and liquidate it from Hamas terrorists.
They know this is the end for them. They know their leaders will be found and eliminated. They know the hostages, which was their only bargaining chip are in Rafah and are about to be found.
These little snakes are trying to do whatever they can to prevent this operation.
Of course, as always, the world obliges and pressures Israel to not enter Rafah.
There is no possible explanation of why the world is trying to prevent this operation other than the desire to keep Hamas alive.
There will be no “Humanitarian crisis” unless Hamas creates one.
Israel has already begun to notify civilians that they should evacuate, and has provided many places, all of which Israel already cleansed of Hamas, for them to go.
This is the final stronghold for Hamas. They know it, Israel knows it, and the international community knows it.
Biden himself has shown his true colors and is calling on Israel not to enter Rafah. Of course he knows full well that Israel has no intention of listening to a senile man who sees people where there are none and confuses Egypt with Mexico.
All the heavy guns are being taken out to prevent Israel from achieving victory. First the threat of freezing aid if Israel goes in. Then, when Biden realizes no one cares what he has to say, he pulls the Ramadan card.
The audacity to tell Israel not to attack Hamas on a Muslim holiday when this all started on a Jewish holiday on which Jews were murdered and raped is repulsive. Shame on you, Biden.
But here is the thing. The Jewish people are done listening to foreign governments who think they have any moral standing to tell Israel not to defend itself.
Israel will do what is good for Israel and if anyone doesn’t like it, well, too bad for them.
Hamas, here we come. Nowhere else to run. Nowhere else to hide. We are coming for you and you will die like the cowards you are, at the hand of the IDF, preferably a female soldier because, well, after what you did to Jewish women, I think we can agree that it’s only fair you are eliminated by Jewish women. Karma is coming for you.
It’s too late to surrender. You had your chance. The party is now over and Hamas is about to become a thing of the past.
Hamas will join the club with many nations and empires that tried to annihilate the Jews and failed. You guys can all sit in the depths of hell crying how unfair it is that the Jews are still thriving and flourishing as a nation while you and your people have been eliminated from the world.
Am Yisrael Chai but Hamas will soon be buh bye!
Hillel Fuld-tweet-11February2024-Hamas cowards are sitting in their cold Rafah tunnels
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36 years of terrorism, rejection of peace and incitement of violence by Hamas.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-6December2023-36 years of terrorism by Hamas
36 years of terrorism, rejection of peace and incitement of violence by Hamas.
Hamas proved once and for all that if we do not stop them now, next time would be worse.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-6December2023-36 years of terrorism by Hamas
Here is why all of Gaza is being destroyed. Blame Hamas for building these terror tunnels underneath the entire Gaza strip and for placing their rocket launchers in all the red dots locations. Hamas has had more then 8 year to expand number of Rocket Launchers it has.
From the 2014 Gaza War
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map-of-rockets-launches-from-gaza-from-2014-07-08-to-2014-07-31.jpg
Map of rocket launches from 2014-07-08 to 2014-07-31
Map of rocket launches from 2014-07-08 to 2014-07-31
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Gaza. everyone there is complicit and it’s like one big Hamas family
Marina Medvin-tweet-28December2023-one big Hamas family
Israeli hostage after being rescued from Gaza: “It is important for me to represent the real situation of the people living in Gaza, who they really are—everyone there is complicit and it’s like one big Hamas family.”
She was held by Palestinian civilians.
Bulagan-tweet-28December2023-
Whenever you see one of these music festival survivor videos, keep in mind these are peaceniks that went to the music festival because they wanted peace with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These are not right-wingers, these are people that are center-left or left-wing.
What they’re saying is hard for them to admit, their entire worldview has been smashed. Their souls have been completely stripped bare
Marina Medvin-tweet-28December2023-Gaza. everyone there is complicit and it’s like one big Hamas family
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Gaza civilians are neither innocent nor uninvolved
The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome-tweet-4November2023-Gaza civilians participated in the October 7 massacre too
Remember: “ordinary” Gaza civilians participated in the October 7 massacre too.
The Mossad Satirical, Yet Awesome-tweet-4November2023-Gaza civilians participated in the October 7 massacre too
Yes, they are ‘civilians’, but they are neither innocent nor uninvolved
When encountering Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, surveys show an 80%+ likelihood that they are terrorists, supporters, or sympathizers.Op-ed.
Dr. Avi Perry / 3January2024 / https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382988
The international community, encompassing the global media, social media, political figures, and even supporters of Israel, tends to criticize the Jewish state’s defensive war for causing harm and casualties among “innocent” civilians in Gaza, rather than holding Hamas accountable. There is often a disregard for the reality that eliminating Hamas involves unavoidable collateral damage, given their use of civilians, hospitals, schools, private homes, mosques, and other civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
However, there is more. Contrary to the narrative portraying these civilians as innocent victims, a survey by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) among Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the ‘West Bank’ reveals widespread support for terrorism, rejection of peace, and ingratitude towards supporting countries. “…the results indicate that an overwhelming percentage of Palestinian Arabs support the October 7 massacre (75%), reject coexistence with Israel (85.9%), are committed to the restoration of ‘historical Palestine’ as a final resolution (71.1%), and support the creation of a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ (74.7%) as the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…”
This challenges the notion of the majority of these civilians being truly innocent. Consequently, when encountering Palestinian Arabs in these regions, there is a significant likelihood—over 80%—that they are either terrorists, active supporters, or sympathizers, contributing to negative perceptions and suspicions.
Regrettably, this majority, exceeding 80%, tarnished the reputation of the remainder. When faced with individuals from these areas, there is a natural inclination to harbor fear, suspicion, and generalizations, as there is a high probability—more than 80%—that these sentiments are accurate. While some may label it as Islamophobia, it differs from antisemitism, which stems from bigotry. Islamophobia is grounded in fear and suspicion, and equating the two is nothing but a display of profound ignorance.
Unfortunately, these characterizations extend to women and children as well. Alarmingly, children are indoctrinated from an early age to dehumanize and harbor hatred and hostility toward Jewish individuals, making them likely to grow into terrorists, terrorist supporters, or sympathizers. They cannot be deemed innocent in this context.
In fact, children were filmed beating with sticks a young hostage who was crying for his mother. Hordes of violent, looting civilians invaded Israel in the wake of the Hamas breach of the border on October 7 and others cheered, spit at and cursed hostages who were paraded through the streets, even violatng dead bodies..Civilians, including a doctor and UNRWA teacher, harbored hostages under inhumane conditions and when hostages were freed under the temporary pause in fighting, lined the streets to jeer at them.
Additionally, Hamas strategically employs the Gazan population as human shields, anticipating that if civilians are harmed, Israel will be blamed by the international community. This tactic, coupled with Israel’s commitment to trying to avoid civilian casualties, creates a challenging situation in dealing with Hamas effectively while attempting to avoid civilian casualties.
But notwithstanding the unintentional killing of Gazan civilians forced on the IDF by the Hamas’ human shield strategy, we can still draw glaring parallels to historical conflicts, such as World War II, where American forces intentionally targeted and killed many thousands of German civilians, as seen in the destruction of cities like Dresden. This strategy aimed to demoralize the enemy and expedite the path to victory. The use of atomic bombs on Japan also targeted civilians and ultimately led to the transformation of both Germany and Japan into allies of the United States.
Despite these actions causing intentional and significant civilian casualties, Presidents Roosevelt and Truman were not viewed as war criminals; instead, they were considered great leaders. The Nazis, along with many Germans and Japanese civilians, were perceived as being brainwashed by propaganda during WWII. Once the U.S. achieved their unconditional surrender, the subsequent baby boom generation enjoyed a period of prosperity.
Eradicating evil comes at a high cost, requiring a choice between bad and worse. In the current context, Israel faces a similar dilemma, and opting for a worse choice that leaves Hamas in power will result in more significant consequences for present and future generations.
Dr. Avi Perry, talk show host at Paltalk News Network (PNN), is the author of “Fundamentals of Voice Quality Engineering in Wireless Networks,”and “72 Virgins,” a thriller about the covert war on Islamic terror. He was a VP at NMS Communications, a Bell Laboratories – distinguished staff member and manager, as well as a delegate of the US and Lucent Technologies to the ITU—the UN International Standards body in Geneva, a professor at Northwestern University and Intelligence expert for the Israeli Government. He may be reached through his web site www.aviperry.org
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Palestinian civilian in Gaza city: Hamas: Don’t give up!
Dr. Eli David-tweet-25February2024-gaza-civilians-hamas-do-not-give-up
“Innocent Palestinian civilian” in Gaza city:
“We are eating animal food, but we have a message to Hamas: Don’t give up! And we have a message for Jews: We already did October 7, and there will be October 8, 9, and 10.”
Zero sympathy for these “civilians”. You deserve it all!
Dr. Eli David-tweet-25February2024-Gaza Civilians-Hamas: Don’t give up!
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Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health data is fake
Max Meyer-tweet-10March2024-Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health data is fake
Wharton statistician looks at Hamas’ casualty data and concludes they are likely falsifying to maintain a rolling mean & linear growth — and they don’t know how to avoid making anomalies obvious to Western analysts
Women:Children R2=0.017
Men:Women is *negative* with R2 = 0.835
SEE: How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers
Max Meyer-tweet-10March2024-Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health data is fake
Max Meyer-tweet-10March2024-Classic sign of fake numbers
The utter lack of correlation between the deaths of women and children is especially strange.
Essentially, the split between women and children is different every day but the total always the same.
Classic sign of fake numbers!
Max Meyer-tweet-10March2024-Classic sign of fake numbers
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Hamas continues to exploit civilian infrastructure as a terrorist hub.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-5December2023-Hamas exploits civilian infrastructure as terrorist hub
Hamas continues to exploit civilian infrastructure as a terrorist hub.
Al-Shati is one of many areas where schools and civilian buildings are used to launch rockets, store weapons and carry out attacks against the IDF.
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-5December2023-Hamas exploits civilian infrastructure as terrorist hub
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Tunnel entrance shaft is booby-trapped inside a Gaza civilian building
Marc Zell-tweet-28February2024-tunnel entrance shaft is booby-trapped inside a Gaza civilian building
Some bad news from Gaza that got lost in the municipal elections coverage yesterday and today:
“Once again a tunnel entrance shaft is booby-trapped inside a civilian building. Result: another disaster for IDF warriors. During an operation conducted by the 162nd division in the Zeitun neighborhood, soldiers of elite unit from the Givati brigade entered a booby-trapped house. There was an explosion in which two officers were killed and ten injured, including 7 seriously. The victims were all part of a group of Hesder Yeshiva students whose unit suffered casualties which at the beginning of the ground campaign.”(Hillel Biton Rosen)
We must never forget the courage and sacrifice being made by these men and women to protect our freedom, our democracy and way of life. May the memories of the fallen be a blessing for us forever and may Hashem send the wounded a full and speedy recovery.
Marc Zell-tweet-28February2024-tunnel entrance shaft is booby-trapped inside a Gaza civilian building
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Abu Yehuda
A blog about the struggle to keep the Jewish state
Good morning, International Community
Posted on October 13, 2023 by Victor Rosenthal https://abuyehuda.com/2023/10/good-morning-international-community/
Good morning, International Community.
I understand that the Secretary-General of your “United Nations” is distressed about a possible humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip. “I urge all sides and the relevant parties to allow United Nations access to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians trapped and helpless in the Gaza Strip,” said Antonio Guterres yesterday.
No, you will not be allowed access. You are advised to prepare to receive a flow of refugees at the Egyptian border, where you will need to provide food and shelter for them, as well as transportation to any country that will receive them. They will not be returning to Gaza.
You will be responsible for them, because you are directly responsible for the creation of the cultural pathology that gave rise to the outburst of pure evil that occurred last week. You are the reason that the displacement of a relatively small number of Arabs from Eretz Yisrael in 1948 was turned into a permanent and exponentially growing population dependent on the international dole and a festering sore of the most vicious hatred and terrorism.
While the millions of refugees created by WWII and the Holocaust, the breakup of the European empires, and the almost total expulsion of Jews from the Arab world were all absorbed in one fashion or another, this particular group of Arabs was encouraged by “humanitarian” policies to grow larger. Host countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon) applied true apartheid policies to them in order to prevent assimilation and to keep the pot of hatred boiling. No other “refugee” population exists for whom refugee status is hereditary. You paid for their food and healthcare, while accepting the idea that millions must “return” to a place from which a few hundred thousand fled 75 years ago. You paid for their “education,” while allowing it to become indoctrination in irredentism.
What did you expect to happen, International Community?
What did you expect would be the result of pouring billions every year into support for what is essentially a population created and nurtured to be a human wave to overwhelm the Jewish state?
Last week, the pustule burst and the infection flowed into our beautiful country, at enormous human cost. But we are not asking for aid to rebuild what your wards destroyed. We simply wish to be left alone to cauterize the wound. Over the past 75 years, you have demonstrated that you are part of the problem. We will not let you interfere with its solution.
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Abu Yehuda
A blog about the struggle to keep the Jewish state
When We Said “Never Again,” We Meant It
Posted on 21October2023 by Victor Rosenthal
My heart is breaking. What I surmised yesterday, but was afraid to write has turned out to be true. I have never wanted to be wrong more than I do this morning. But I can’t pretend that “it will be OK,” as Israelis like to say.
The IDF has been ready for some time to begin the operation to eliminate Hamas from Gaza. The plans were made long ago, and updated regularly. Hundreds of thousands of reservists have left their jobs and families, at great expense to the government. The tanks are poised near the border. Why aren’t they moving?
The reason is that they have been ordered not to by the Americans. Whether or not they planned it, Hamas struck gold when some twelve Americans and ten British subjects were included among the roughly 200 hostages that were carried back to Gaza by the terrorists. Now negotiations are taking place, brokered by the despicable Qatari regime, to obtain their release. The demonic Hamas have released two American women (for what in return?) to prove that a deal is possible.
I’m not surprised and I’m not criticizing the US president and British PM for trying to protect their people. That is the top job of a government – a job, incidentally, that ours has been failing to do for some time. But that’s another story.
Now our government has a different job. This is our last chance, after the disasters of Oslo, the withdrawal from Gaza, the Second Lebanon War, the Shalit trade, the ongoing loss of Area C, and countless other losses and humiliations, to end our slide to destruction. If Hamas is not ripped out of Gaza by its roots, the immediate result will be the loss of the northern and southern parts of our country (who would live there?) and the evaporation of any honor and deterrence that the State of Israel still has. And then there will be no peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, no hope of preventing a nuclear Iran, and no possibility of obtaining sovereignty in the strategic hill country and the Jordan Valley. We are suffering the death by a thousand cuts, and today the knife is poised over a vital artery. We are at the point of no return.
Israel today has no choice but to invade Gaza and wipe out every trace of the poison that poured out of it two weeks ago today. Otherwise, we are finished here. And if we are finished, the Jewish people are finished too, perhaps for another 2000 years or perhaps forever.
The situation of the hostages, American, British, and Israeli, is horrific. You may ask: would I say the same thing if my children were among them? Of course not, because I am only human. But that doesn’t make me wrong.
Maybe there is some magic by which the IDF can effect an Entebbe-like rescue. Who knows? I’m sure the IDF is trying mightily right now to locate them. If we invade now we may lose some or all of them, and if there is hope of rescue, then perhaps we can delay a few days longer. Of course, we have already lost 1400. And every day the international pressure not to invade, thanks to the media’s embrace of Hamas lies about its suffering civilians, is growing, along with the vicious antisemitism that our humiliation feeds.
My heart is breaking. But I say to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of Staff: do it. Give the order to start the tanks, to open fire with the artillery, to bomb every military target (even if it is called a “school” or a “hospital” or if it is the property of the UN). Do not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, force Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, and let the world community express its love for the Gazan civilians there, in the northern Sinai. Make the campaign as short as possible and as brutal as necessary.
Show the world: when we said “never again,” we meant it.
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Palestinian Authority replaced by Hamas
Jewish News Syndicate-tweet-25February2024-Palestinian Authority replaced by Hamas
🔴Palestinian Authority PM Mohammad Shtayyeh’s govt could resign “within days” as part of a unity deal with the Hamas terrorist org, reports @skynewsarabia
REPORT ▸ https://www.jns.org/pa-govt-could-make-place-for-hamas-backed-technocrats-within-days/
Jewish News Syndicate-tweet-25February2024-Palestinian Authority replaced by Hamas
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PA to immediately reward families of Oct. 7 terrorists with nearly $3 million
The “pay-for-slay” stipends will continue for the rest of their relatives’ lives.
UPDATE DESK https://www.jns.org/pa-to-immediately-reward-families-of-oct-7-terrorists-with-nearly-3m/
(October 17, 2023 / JNS) The Palestinian Authority will pay nearly $3 million to the families of slain Hamas terrorists who slaughtered civilians in Gaza border communities on Oct. 7, Palestinian Media Watch reports.
The corpses of 1,500 Hamas terrorists were found after the massacre in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 4,100 others were wounded. At least 199 captives were taken back to Gaza.
Pal Media Watch-tweet-15October2023-The Palestinian Authority will be rewarding the Hamas terrorists and their families with $2,807,000 – already this month. The PA has not only expressed support for the Hamas terror attacks, but under PA law it will be rewarding the terrorists.
Under P.A. law, every Palestinian terrorist who is killed attacking Israelis is classified as a “martyr” and the family is rewarded with a 6,000 shekel ($1,511) grant and a monthly stipend of 1,400 shekel ($353) for life.
The Israel-based NGO and media watchdog estimates that each family will receive 7,400 shekels for the first month—11.1 million shekels ($2,789,430) in total to the families of the Hamas terrorists killed in the attack that began on Oct. 7.
“The P.A. sends every month half of its [Martyrs Fund] budget to the Gaza Strip. We see it from the budget reports. They call it ‘South Palestine,’” PMW director Itamar Marcus told JNS.
“We are used to seeing the P.A. and Gaza as two different things, but they get the same money,” Marcus stressed.
“We know that in the past, when Israel carried out operations in Gaza, and Hamas terrorists were killed in the airstrikes, there was suddenly a huge number of ‘martyrs,’ but they didn’t get the payments, so there were a lot of complaints about it from Gaza,” Marcus said.
“So now, according to the law the P.A. passed, they will pay all those [terrorists’ families] retroactively, starting this month together with those who carried out the attack on Oct. 7. We don’t know when it will be done but according to the law they will receive it starting this month,” he explained to JNS.
In addition, the 50 Hamas terrorists captured by Israel who participated in the massacre will be paid at least 70,000 shekels ($17,590) in total this month. As part of the P.A.’s “pay-for-slay” program, terrorists in Israeli prisons receive monthly stipends starting at 1,400 shekels per month that eventually increase to 12,000 shekels per month.
Terrorist prisoners who are married with children receive even higher salaries from the P.A.
In total, the P.A. will pay at least 11.17 million shekels ($2,807,021) in payments to the families of dead Hamas terrorists and to imprisoned Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.
Palestinian Media Watch said that this was a conservative estimate, because as the war continues Israeli forces will kill and capture more Hamas terrorists.
“The Palestinian Authority should be sending a big thank-you to the E.U. countries and Norway, currently the largest funders of the P.A., because the P.A. could not possibly make these terror payments without them,” Palestinian Media Watch stated.
“These donor countries like to pretend that it’s not their money rewarding terrorists, but everyone knows that the P.A. could not reward terrorists without this generous foreign funding. When payments to teachers, police and street cleaners are taken care of by international donors, the P.A. has the hundreds of millions available it needs to pay for terror,” the NGO said.
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Hamas atrocities explode the two-state myth
The United States may finally be prepared to let Israel defeat the Islamist terror group. But that shouldn’t lead to a push for a Palestinian state after that is accomplished.
Jonathan S. Tobin https://www.jns.org/hamas-atrocities-explode-the-two-state-myth/
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him @jonathans_tobin.
(October 11, 2023 / JNS) At last. After 17 years of diplomatic pressure from the United States to limit its responses to Hamas terrorism, it appears that Washington may be finally prepared to let Israel strike a decisive blow against the Islamist group in Gaza. The scale—the death toll now exceeds 1,200 murdered—and the depravity of the atrocities committed during the Oct. 7 assault seem to have convinced the Biden administration as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a maintenance of the status quo with Hamas isn’t an adequate response.
But it hasn’t taken long for the people who have been influencing and steering America’s Middle East policies for the last generation and whose mistakes paved the way for this slaughter to be back preaching their familiar sermons about the need for Palestinian statehood. That such people are still being taken seriously—let alone touted as foreign-policy “wise men”—is mind-boggling, especially when few in Washington seem to recognize that the Hamas state in Gaza is proof that their formulations are wrong. It’s not just that the beliefs of these Islamists are incompatible with a two-state solution, something that even liberals now concede. Rather, it is that the two-state solution is incompatible with any vision of peace.
Giving Israel room to act
Biden’s remarks delivered at the White House on Oct. 10, in which he compared Hamas to ISIS and cited the horrific crimes committed by Hamas, were not merely passionate but seemed to be a green light for Israel to “respond.” Just how far the Americans will go along with a ground invasion of Gaza or at what point Biden will seek to halt Israel’s efforts to end the threat from the terrorists remains to be seen. But for the moment, Biden’s sentiments offer Netanyahu and his new unity government the room they need to act.
What exactly a ground assault on Gaza would mean is far from clear. Indeed, a press briefing by the prime minister’s office conducted on Oct. 11 merely promised that when Israel was done, Hamas would be left with “zero military capability and zero motivation to attack again.” That may fall short of the demands being voiced by many Israelis for a campaign that will end with Hamas finished, but Netanyahu is clearly keeping his options open.
For now, the focus of Israel’s supporters should be on making sure that Biden sticks to his promise to have Israel’s back. The rhetoric of support for Israel and recognition that Hamas cannot be granted a pass for its barbarism is loud, and for the most part, bipartisan. But the indications of the outlines of a post-war debate about what the next step for U.S. foreign policy ought to be are already being made clear. The desire on the part of the foreign-policy establishment for a return to an American strategy rooted in the patent nostrum of a two-state solution is already being heard.
While Biden has avoided mention of two states in the current context, others have not.
Keeping Hamas alive
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who has been a particular favorite of Biden as he acted as a cheerleader for the Israeli protest movement that was aimed at toppling Netanyahu, has lost no time in weighing in to urge that Washington oppose an operation against Hamas inside Gaza and to return to efforts to pressure Jerusalem to make concessions to the supposedly “more moderate” Palestinian Authority.
Just as pointed was a piece by Richard Haas, the quintessential establishment thinker, former Bush administration staffer and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as an MSNBC talking head.
Haas sounded the traditional voice of caution that has always argued against doing something about Hamas, claiming that it “can’t be eliminated because it represents an ideology as much as an organization.” Sounding a theme that has been frequently deployed to deprecate counter-terrorism efforts elsewhere, he argued that killing terrorists merely creates new ones. “Efforts to destroy it risk building support for it,” he said.
That is a spineless argument that will fall on deaf ears in Israel as well as with decent people everywhere, as the shocking details of cold-blooded murders of men, women and children; decapitations of babies; rapes and kidnappings have created a consensus that those who ordered and committed these crimes must not go unpunished. The “ideology” of which Haas speaks is one that is grounded in the glorification of this inhuman behavior and the murder of Jews. Just like that of the similar beliefs of the Nazis, it, too, can and must be eliminated.
Going further, he claimed that the aftermath of the fighting must provide Palestinians with exactly the sort of political benefit that Hamas was hoping for. While he acknowledged that Israel would need to use its military to some limited extent, the only real answer is for it to produce “a credible Israeli plan for bringing about a viable Palestinian state.”
The Palestinian state already exists
The first thing that needs to be said about that is to remind the world about an obvious fact that is generally ignored. It is that there is already an independent Palestinian state in Gaza.
Do we really need to point out that Israel withdrew every soldier, settler and settlement from Gaza in the summer of 2005? It did not, as the George W. Bush administration and many in Israel hoped, become an incubator for peace. Instead, it became an independent Palestinian state in all but name. Hamas has ruled Gaza since mid-2007 in a coup after winning an election the prior year. It then transformed it into a terror base from which it has launched rockets and missiles against Israeli villages, towns and cities, a war crime in which it seeks to indiscriminately target civilians as well as cross-border assaults.
The “wise men” like Friedman and Haas claim that while Hamas are bad guys, they are merely extremists who give Palestinian nationalism a bad name. But this is untrue. While the “moderates” of Fatah that run the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria—where it autonomously governs the Arabs who live there—are, in theory, committed to coexistence with Israel, in many ways they are as radical as their Hamas rivals.
It is true that there is close cooperation between the Israeli security forces and the P.A. But that is more for the sake of keeping Abbas alive and his kleptocracy in power than for maintaining peace. Without Israel’s help, the corrupt P.A. leader—87 years old and serving the 19th year of the four-year term to which he was elected in 2005—would have been knocked off by Hamas long ago.
Is the P.A. different?
Abbas, an inveterate Holocaust denier as well as someone who denies the facts about Jewish history in the land of Israel, regularly spews antisemitism with as much vitriol as the Islamists in Gaza or Hamas’s theocratic funders in Iran. That’s also true of the P.A.’s official media and schools, which have been fomenting antisemitism and hatred for Jews among Palestinian children since it took over the territories after the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Abbas and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, have funded terrorism with a “pay for slay” plan by which those who injure or murder Jews are rewarded with salaries and/or pensions for their families. Just as important, they have also repeatedly rejected Israeli offers of statehood and independence because it would have required them to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state and effectively end their futile century-old war on Zionism.
They have always said “no” to peace because Palestinian national identity—whether expressed through the ideology of Fatah or that of Hamas—remains inextricably linked with efforts to eradicate the Jewish state rather than a desire to build their own nation. When Palestinians speak of the “occupation,” they don’t refer to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria or Jerusalem, but to pre-1967 Israel. Hamas is merely more explicit about that goal than the P.A.
The reason why the P.A. has repeatedly refused to hold another election is rooted in their justified fears that Hamas would defeat them and take control of the West Bank as well as Gaza.
For 16 years, Hamas has shown the world what a Palestinian state where (unlike in Judea and Samaria), the Israel Defense Forces could no longer operate would look like. And since unlike Abbas, they don’t rely on the Israelis to maintain control over their people, they don’t have to sometimes pretend to be more reasonable than they actually are.
Much like the routine terrorism that is rewarded with their “pay for slay” system, the barbarism of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks is a pure expression of the “ideology” that Haas thinks can’t be eliminated. And far from condemning these unspeakable crimes, the P.A. has predictably endorsed them. That took the form of a statement by Abbas in which he defended the attacks by saying that “Palestinians had a right to defend themselves against the terrorism of the settlers and occupation forces.” On P.A. TV, his Fatah Party urged Palestinians to “land more blows on Israel,” and to join with Hamas to join the terror, and to “strike the sons of apes and pigs” and “slaughter everyone Israeli.”
Were Abbas’s kingdom to be granted full sovereignty and independence, it would not just soon fall to Hamas as Gaza did. It would also behave in much the same manner as Hamas’s terrorist state. Many Palestinians may, like their Israeli neighbors, long for peace. But those among them that preach endless war are very much in the mainstream while advocates for peace are in the minority.
They won’t admit defeat
Peace between Jews and Palestinian Arabs requires the latter to do something they have stubbornly refused to do: admit defeat in their long war to turn the clock back not just to 1967 or 1948, but to 1917 and the Balfour Declaration. Perhaps a complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza will move them closer to that recognition, but as long as the West’s policy is aimed at allowing them to ignore reality, that won’t happen. Until there is a sea change in the political culture of the Palestinians, Israel will have no choice but to continue with an anomalous policy in which it seeks to avoid interference in internal Arab affairs but continues to protect its security by maintaining control over Judea and Samaria. It’s little wonder that the Western suggestions about replicating former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza experiment in the West Bank has always struck most Israelis as not just ill-advised but insane.
Oct. 7 provided even more proof not just of the insanity of calls for Israeli territorial withdrawals, but why a two-state solution is a formula for enabling the shedding of Jewish blood rather than advancing the cause of peace. Anyone prepared to look at the truth soberly and without the false preconceptions that have guided the peace processors since 1993 can now see that calls for two states are incompatible with Israel’s existence or peace. It’s time to realize that … and to stop taking those who continue to peddle such terrible and dangerous ideas seriously.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin0
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International coalition against Houthi attacks on international maritime trade
Visegrád 24-twet-18December2023-international coalition against Houthi attacks
BREAKING:
USA announces creation of international coalition against Houthi attacks on international maritime trade
Operation Prosperity Guardian will involve the navies of:
🇧🇭 Bahrain
🇨🇦 Canada
🇫🇷 France
🇮🇹 Italy
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇴Norway
🇸🇨 Seychelles
🇪🇸 Spain
🇬🇧 UK
🇺🇸 USA
Visegrád 24-twet-18December2023-international coalition against Houthi attacks
Damien Symon-tweet-16December2023-incidents in Bab-el-Mandeb region
Amidst the maritime chaos unfolding in the Red Sea, here is a simple graphic detailing recent incidents in Bab-el-Mandeb region, this visual encapsulates current challenges faced by one of the globe’s busiest shipping routes
Damien Symon-tweet-16December2023-incidents in Bab-el-Mandeb region
Click to Download file Navigating troubled waters Impact to global trade of disruption of shipping routes in the Red Sea, Black Sea and Panama Canal
Visegrád 24-tweet-20December2023-coalition preparing military operation
BREAKING:
U.S. officials say the US coalition has started preparing the military operation (Prosperity Guardian) that is meant to completely destroy the military capabilities of the Houthis to attack ships in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait
Don’t mess with international maritime trade
Visegrád 24-tweet-20December2023-coalition preparing military operation
Tracy-tweet-31December2023-UK preparing for attacks on Houthi rebels with US
⚠️🚨”an unprecedented statement is expected to be released by the UK and the US in the coming hours” >>
UK preparing for attacks on Houthi rebels with US
Britain’s military is preparing to launch a wave of air strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthis creating chaos in the Red Sea, raising the prospect of a significant spiralling of tensions in the region.
Under the plans the UK would join with the US and possibly another European country to unleash a salvo of missiles against pre-planned targets, either in the sea or in Yemen itself, where the militants are based.
A Whitehall source said the co-ordinated strikes could involve RAF warplanes for the first time or HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer which successfully destroyed an attack drone with a Sea Viper missile in the Red Sea earlier this month.
It is understood an unprecedented statement is expected to be released by the UK and the US in the coming hours which will warn the Houthis to stop attacking commercial vessels or face the military might of the West.
Ahead of the statement, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said: “If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take the necessary and appropriate action.” https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/houthi-rebels-boats-yemen-red-sea-attacks-85mxc6gzt
Tracy-tweet-31December2023-UK preparing for attacks on Houthi rebels with US
Laddin-tweet-31December2023-Yemen is now declaring war on all American bases in the Middle East
Yemen is now declaring war on all American bases in the Middle East after America killed at least 10 Yemenis in the Red Sea today
Laddin-tweet-31December2023-Yemen is now declaring war on all American bases in the Middle East
Tomahawks from US Navy surface ships and strikes from FA-18s are hitting Houthi targets in Yemen 12January2024
Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)-tweet-12January2024-Tomahawks from US Navy surface ships and strikes from F/A-18s
Tomahawks from US Navy surface ships and strikes from F/A-18s off USS Dwight D Eisenhower are hitting Houthi targets in Yemen.
The questions are:
1️⃣ Why wait until after the largest attack against shipping on Jan 9?
2️⃣ Will this deter or embolden the attacks against shipping?
3️⃣ Will the insurance underwriters and commercial shipping firms think that the #RedSea is now safer?
While this may satisfy the military desire to hit the enemy, it may have made the area more dangerous.
Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)-tweet-12January2024-
U.S. and Britain launch strikes against targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen
https://nbcnews.com/news/world/us-britain-strikes-houthi-yemen-rcna133576 via @nbcnews
Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)-tweet-12January2024-Tomahawks from US Navy surface ships and strikes from FA-18s are hitting Houthi targets in Yemen
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The first ship sunk by the Houthi
Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)-tweet-7March2024-The first ship sunk by the Houthi
New photos show the sunken bulker #Rubymar sitting with her stern on the bottom and her bow above water in the #RedSea. The first ship sunk by the #Houthi.
@aljoumhouria
Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)-tweet-7March2024-The first ship sunk by the Houthi
Two killed and six injured in a Houthi missile strikes
Sal Mercogliano-tweet-6March2024-Houthi killed innocent mariners
It was only a matter of time until the #Houthi killed innocent mariners.
Lara Seligman-tweet-6March2024-Two killed and six injured in a Houthi missile strikes
BREAKING: Two killed and six injured in a Houthi missile strikes on the MV True Confidence, a Liberian-owned vessel, in the Red Sea today, per two U.S. officials.
These are the first fatalities of the Houthi campaign against international shipping since November.
Sal Mercogliano-tweet-6March2024-Houthi killed innocent mariners
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Hamas Steals Humanitarian Aid
Oli London-tweet-17December2023-Hamas Steals Humanitarian Aid
Hamas terrorists have hijacked yet another humanitarian aid convoy after it crossed over the Rafah border from Egypt.
Oli London-tweet-17December2023-Hamas Steals Humanitarian Aid
Hamas stealing UNRWA humanitarian aid
Adam Albilya-tweet-13December2023-Hamas stealing UNRWA humanitarian aid
Well, nothing new to see here—just Hamas’ freedom rapists violently stealing the humanitarian aid from their civilian all over again.
Breaching the understanding they signed off to when they still acted like they’re just worried, caring, and need it for nothing but their people.
Adam Albilya-tweet-13December2023-Hamas stealing UNRWA humanitarian aid
Hamas open fire on desperate Gaza civilians trying to get humanitarian aid
Oli London-tweet-15January2024-HHamas open fire on Gaza civilians trying to get humanitarian aid
Hamas open fire on desperate Palestinian civilians trying to get humanitarian aid after aid trucks crossed over from the Rafah border from Egypt.
Multiple AK-47 rounds can be heard being fired as the Gazans flee.
Hamas have been captured on video multiple times hijacking humanitarian aid and firing on civilians that beg for food.
Oli London-tweet-15January2024-HHamas open fire on Gaza civilians trying to get humanitarian aid
Innocent Palestinian civilians” killed the driver of an Egyptian humanitarian aid truck
Dr. Eli David-tweet-3March2024-Innocent Palestinian civilians killed the driver of an Egyptian humanitarian aid truck
🚨 Breaking: “Innocent Palestinian civilians” killed the driver of an Egyptian humanitarian aid truck, and looted the truck 👇
Barbarians…
Dr. Eli David-tweet-3March2024-Innocent Palestinian civilians killed the driver of an Egyptian humanitarian aid truck
Gaza Palestinians murdered Egyptian humanitarian aid truck driver to loot the Truck
Dr. Eli David-tweet-3March2024-Gaza Palestinians murdered Egyptian humanitarian aid truck driver to loot the Truck
Today Palestinians in Gaza murdered the Egyptian driver of a humanitarian aid truck to loot it.
If that’s what they do to a Muslim “brother” who brought them food, imagine what they do to their “infidel” enemies… That’s what they did on October 7.
Dr. Eli David-tweet-3March2024-Gaza Palestinians murdered Egyptian humanitarian aid truck driver to loot the Truck.png
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How did YOU help Israel and the Jews in it’s time on Need?
Teshuvah, Tefilla and Tzedakah (besides Aliyah)?
Hillel Fuld-tweet-10October2023-Let me tell you about the Jewish people
Khna Tsdq (Kahane Was Right) – Israeli Kahanist Song
Kahane Tzadach (Kahane Was Right) – Israeli Kahanist Song
noa tishby-tweet-14October2023-A ray of light in the darkness
ImTirtzu-tweet-10October2023- It’s time to mobilize for them
Im Tirtzu
Working hard to protect Zionism and the State of Israel
https://imti.org.il/en/
Donate: https://imti.org.il/project/63715/
Living Lchaim-tweet-10October2023-They are certified kosher and serving the IDF
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Israeli airlines add more flights to bring reservists home
By Joanna Plucinska and Steven Scheer
11October2023 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/el-al-israir-add-flights-bring-reservists-back-israel-2023-10-10/
LONDON/JERUSALEM, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia added more flights on Tuesday to bring home reservists, according to their websites and Israel’s airports authority, though the prospect of more conflict also stoked sector worries about staff shortages.
Israel said on Monday it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and warned residents of Palestinian enclave Gaza to evacuate in a sign it could be planning a ground assault in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ unprecedented weekend attack.<
Separately, U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the U.S. government was in conversation with various carriers to “encourage” them to consider resuming travel in and out of Israel to help a number of American citizens leave the country.
American Airlines (AAL.O) on Tuesday temporarily suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv through Dec. 4 after Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) said Monday it would cancel all flights to Israel through Oct. 31, while United Airlines has indefinitely halted flights.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing major U.S. carriers, said on Tuesday it remains in discussions with government agencies about the issue. “The situation in Israel is rapidly evolving, and our carriers continue to make individual assessments about operations based on security guidance and intelligence reports,” a spokesperson said.
While many major airlines have cancelled flights to and from Israel, domestic carriers have looked to ramp up capacity, at least in coming days. Many Israelis were travelling abroad the last week for a Jewish holiday.
On its website, Israir Airlines (ISRG.TA) said it was offering flights from Larnaca in Cyprus, Corfu in Greece and Batumi in Georgia to help bring Israelis back to the country.
Arkia was offering flights from Greek capital Athens to Eilat in southern Israel and from Marrakesh in Morocco to Tel Aviv, among others.
Flag carrier El Al (ELAL.TA) added a flight from Athens on Tuesday. El Al added that, while it wasn’t offering free flights for reservists, it was trying to keep prices affordable. Reservists were being charged $900 for flying from the United States, $650 from Bangkok, and $300 from Europe for flights under four hours, a spokesperson said.
Fears of staff shortages at airlines have grown, however, with the prospect of reduced flights looming.
Israir said its flight schedule could be reduced in coming days as its foreign crews were asked to leave the country while some Israeli staff were also recruited to fight.
Flights evacuating foreigners were also leaving Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
Iceland said on Monday night it had flown out 126 Icelanders, five Faroese, four Norwegians and 12 Germans who had been stranded in Israel from Amman, Jordan, on a government-sponsored plane.
The Israeli airports authority said 67,000 passengers were expected to travel through Ben Gurion on Tuesday, compared to an average of 80,000 under normal circumstances.
The authority added that it would restrict flights to Ben Gurion airport’s Terminal 3 due to security concerns.
“All our clients who planned to depart (to Israel) this week have cancelled their trip,” said Emilie Dumont, managing director of Digitrips, a French online travel company. The Union of Tour Operating companies (SETO), a French organization, recommended this weekend to cancel or postpone all departures to Israel until Oct. 13, she said.
Flights to Israel from Turkey were also being cancelled, including those of national carrier Turkish Airlines and budget carrier Pegasus, according to Flightradar24 – a flight tracking website. Turkish Airlines said on its website: “Our Tel Aviv (TLV) flights have been temporarily suspended until further notice.”
Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago, David Shepardson in Washington, Tim Hepher in Paris, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Nick Macfie, Mark Potter, Nick Zieminski and Sandra Maler
The Persian Jewess-tweet-19February2024-EL_AL_ISRAEL
This beautiful @EL_AL_ISRAEL commercial has me crying like a baby.
💙🇮🇱💙
#StandWithIsrael
David Oh-tweet-19February2024-My daughter is a flight attendant at El AL
My daughter is a flight attendant at El AL, She says that they let people seat in the toilet at takeoffs, the planes were full of Israelis coming back home to join the army. We have a wonderful people, great young generation.
The Persian Jewess-tweet-19February2024-EL_AL_ISRAEL
David Oh-tweet-19February2024-My daughter is a flight attendant at El AL
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More updates from the Rav
10October2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/more-updates-from-the-rav/
In case you haven’t realised already, “the news” is lying to you.
Sure, there is some truth mixed in to all this, because without the element of truth, no lie would last long.
And this particular ‘lie’ has lasted 75 years and counting….
(At least.)
So, I am going to stick to just passing on emet, the real information you really need to know from our true tzaddikim.
Before we move on, a question: what happened to take out all the army bases on the border – and all the people in them – BEFORE ‘Hamas’ even came close to breaching the fence?
When we know the answer to that, we will know a whole lot more.
====
Here is what the Rav is saying, from yesterday, the main points, paraphrased in some cases.
====
The Rav is putting a very strong emphasis on turning off the news, and to stop engaging with all the manipulated and manipulative ‘info’.
He’s asking people to say 3 books of tehillim a day now, instead of one – I am a third of the way through my first book today, and my advice is just to do something, whatever you can manage, but to for sure spend more time doing that something than surfing the net looking at more awful snuff videos from the attack, or reading media prostitutes who are being paid to tell you ‘Iran did this’.
Men should learn 10 pages of Gemara a day.
====
The Rav is not allowed to talk about money at all these days, in case they arrest him.
So, this is coming from me:
People should pay tzedaka to sweeten the judgement – money for blood.
And they should pay it to Shuvu, and have in mind that it’s for a ‘global redemption’ – a global pidyon – for the Jewish people to get out of this mess.
Even a tiny bit will do something awesome in shemayim.
Go HERE to do that online.
====
UPDATE:
The Ravberland.com link above is currently not working, so use this link instead, in the meantime – it comes from a trusted source, one of the Rav’s gabbais who I know personally:
https://donate.stripe.com/3cs3eo6KMcwncRq4gg
====
I am not getting into arguments about pidyonot here – go and read Likutei Moharan Lesson 180 about how they work generally.
And then, read this:
====
That ‘One in a Generation’ in our generation is Rav Berland.
The Rav also said to pray with niggunim, with melodies, otherwise the prayers don’t ascend.
Preferably, he said to come and pray with Shuvu Banim (usually starts around 8-8.30 pm, on Ido HaNavi Street – it’s a crush, and bring your own chair as they are in v limited supply.)
You can also watch the livestream of the prayers on the website HERE (right hand side of the screen).
====
If neither of those options work for you, then the Rav says to find a place where they daven with niggunim, because that is how the prayers ascend.
That’s why we spend half an hour before the prayers at the Rav just singing ‘Or zeruah’, and then another half an hour afterwards singing Uman songs.
And sometimes, when there is a lot of stuff to ‘sweeten’, the singing and the dancing go on way longer.
====
So, to recap:
Because there is no ‘State of Israel’ or ‘army’ waiting in the wings to rescue us from this situation.
As those poor people on Shabbat learned at an incalculable cost.
====
Take heart!
Prayers, teshuva and tzedaka can and will turn all this around!
God is with us.
He’s just waiting for more of the people who are so far away from Him to realise that, and come back home.
This is Gad Elbaz’s Mizmor Le David from Caesaria, I have it on repeat.
It’s Psalm 23:
Even if I walk through the gates of death, I won’t fear evil – because You are with me.
Gad Elbaz – Mizmor Ldavid – גד אלבז – מזמור לדוד
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Remembering the Mercaz Harav Massacre
Im Tirtzu-tweet-6March2024-Remembering the Mercaz Harav Massacre
Remembering the Mercaz Harav Massacre
On March 6, 2008, a Palestinian Arab terrorist entered the yeshiva in Jerusalem and opened fire on young students who were learning Torah.
8 students were barbarically murdered, and 11 more were injured.
May their memory be a blessing 💔
Im Tirtzu-tweet-6March2024-Remembering the Mercaz Harav Massacre
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Jews In Name Only supporting Hamas
Brad R. Torgersen-tweet-8October2023-Jews In Name Only supporting Hamas
Yoni Michanie-tweet-23October2023-
Boston University: Anna Epstein clearly believes that raping Jewish women on the corpses of murdered victims, that beheading Jewish infants in front of their parents, and torturing Holocaust survivors is an appropriate response to fighting an “occupation”
JerusalemCats-tweet-24October2023-
Is her Mother Jewish? Was she raised Jewish, Shabbat/Yom Tovim, Kosher, Modest Clothing, No TV, Jewish “Orthodox” Schools, Volunteer at Jewish NGOs? Did she live (Not just Visit) in Israel? What about Aliyah? Did her parents talk about living in Israel?
JerusalemCats-tweet-24October2023-Is her Mother Jewish? Was she raised Jewish, Shabbat/Yom Tovim, Kosher, Modest Clothing, No TV, Jewish “Orthodox” Schools, Volunteer at Jewish NGOs? Did she live (Not just Visit) in Israel? What about Aliyah? Did her parents talk about living in Israel?
Hamas has been ruled to be Amalek
Zachor
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/644313/jewish/Zachor.htm
Just as a Catholic Priest is not Jewish so is a “reform rabbi” not Jewish (Not discussing Laity), even if their mother is Jewish. The Reform in their 1885 Pittsburgh Platform formally rejected the Torah of Israel and Israel both as a State of Israel, The People of Israel and the Land of Israel:
Para.#4 “We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.”
Para.#5 “We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israel’s great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.”.
Pew-2016-03-08-Israel Reform Essay static identify
Relatively few Israeli Jews identify with either Conservative (2%) or Reform (3%) Judaism
http://www.pewforum.org/2016/03/08/comparisons-between-jews-in-israel-and-the-u-s/ .
Israeli’s know that reform is not Jewish but something else. The reform rabbis claim to be educated since they call themselves “rabbi” but they know nothing about Torah Judaism and are practicing “Tikkun Olam”.
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Hamas Kids Terrorist Training Camps
Posted 26October2023 Israel Defense Forces:
Straight from Hamas’ social media: see the training camps where Hamas terrorists brainwash young children and teenagers. From 2:12-2:32, you see kids shooting IDF soldiers in a video game. From 5:53 until the end, you can see a Hamas terrorist training camp recruitment video in full, which ends with text on screen reading: “It prepares a generation… for liberation.”
Have you ever wondered what happens to humanitarian aid in Gaza?
SEE From 28July2014: Israel Deserves an Apology
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-17October2023-what happens to humanitarian aid in Gaza
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Biden gives Hamas $100 Million in Military aid to Murder Jews
The reaction: Watch: Trump Slams Biden For Handing $100 Million To Palestinians
Tom Cotton-tweet-18October2023-Under present circumstances, “humanitarian assistance” = resupply for Hamas terrorists. President Biden continues to embolden Iran and its terror proxies.
Despite US admission Hamas ‘may seize’ aid to Gaza, Biden announces $100m in Palestinian aid
“We know Hamas is going to commandeer that money, and Hamas is going to use it to advance terrorism,” stated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a presidential candidate.
David Swindle, Menachem Wecker
https://www.jns.org/despite-us-admission-hamas-may-seize-aid-to-gaza-biden-announces-100m-in-palestinian-aid/
U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and their respective governmental teams, meet in Tel Aviv about the war with the Hamas terror organization that rules the Gaza Strip, Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO.
(October 18, 2023 / JNS) Later this week, U.S. President Joe Biden intends to ask Congress for “an unprecedented support package for Israel’s defense,” he said today at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv. “The world will know that Israel is stronger than ever, and my message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.”
Moments later, Biden announced “$100 million in new U.S. funding for humanitarian assistance in both Gaza and the West Bank.” The monies will “support more than 1 million displaced and conflict-affected Palestinians, including emergency needs in Gaza,” the president said.
The announcement came less than two days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged, in remarks he delivered in Tel Aviv, that there are concerns about aid packages reaching civilians who need it.
“We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it from reaching the people who need it,” Blinken said on Oct. 16.
“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it, and we will work to prevent it from happening again,” he said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, attacked the president’s announcement. “They say it’s humanitarian assistance. We know Hamas is going to commandeer that money, and Hamas is going to use it to advance terrorism,” DeSantis stated.
“I say no U.S. tax dollars to the Gaza Strip. We still have hostages being held by Hamas. There are American hostages being held by Hamas. How are you funding them when they’re holding Americans, as well as others, hostage?” DeSantis added.
Biden did not say how, if at all, Washington would ensure that the $100 million would get to those in need.
Per the White House, Washington is working “through trusted partners including U.N. agencies and international NGOs.” It, too, did not say how it would guarantee that the aid reaches its intended recipients.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel “will not prevent humanitarian assistance from Egypt, as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population located in the southern Gaza Strip or which is evacuating to there, and as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas.”
“Any supplies that reach Hamas will be prevented,” he said.
Jerusalem won’t allow any assistance to Gaza from Israel, “as our captives are not returned,” the prime minister added. “Israel demands Red Cross visits with our captives and is working to mobilize broad international support for this demand.”
UNRWA supplies stolen
Earlier in the week, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) posted—and then deleted—a series of messages on social media, where it noted that it “received reports” that “a group of people with trucks purporting to be from the Ministry of Health of the de facto authorities in Gaza removed fuel and medical equipment from the agency’s compound in Gaza City.”
Hamas currently controls the Gazan Ministry of Health, and an official Israeli Foreign Ministry social-media account stated that “even UNRWA is now saying that Hamas terrorists in Gaza are stealing emergency supplies and gas which are needed to help Gazan civilians.”
“Or in other words,” wrote Israel Katz, the Israeli energy and infrastructure minister, “Hamas is robbing the ‘humanitarian aid’ to the Palestinian people. There’s no reason to give them anything until we eliminate Nazi Hamas.”
Hold on $75 million in funds
On Oct. 3—four days before Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400, wounding 4,500 others and taking some 150 hostages, including American citizens—Blinken approved a $75 million aid package to UNRWA. Republicans had blocked the payment.
“Thank you, Secretary Blinken, for providing $75 million in food assistance to Palestine refugees in Gaza,” wrote an official UNRWA account. “This generous support from the American people will allow UNRWA to continue this critical aspect of its humanitarian and human development work through the end of Q1 2024!”
On Sept. 11, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked in a State Department press briefing about the UNRWA funding.
“It seems that $75 million are still being held up in food assistance to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza. I guess it’s awaiting maybe the end of the fiscal year and so on, and I wonder if you could comment on this because the situation, as you’ve probably been following up, with UNRWA and with the distribution of food and the assistance of food in Gaza, cannot wait till the end of the fiscal year or the beginning of the new one,” said Said Arikat, Washington bureau chief for Al-Quds.
“I would say that we agree that funding for UNRWA supports the provision of food, health care, education, relief and social services, which are more vital than ever with the worsening violence in the West Bank and Gaza,” Miller responded to the ostensible question. (Arikate frequently attacks Israel in his “questions” at State Department press briefings.)
“We are committed to working with the UN and our international partners to provide rapid humanitarian assistance and to marshal international support for recovery efforts in a manner that benefits the Palestinian people,” Miller added. “So we would agree that this funding is important and are trying to move it through.”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) had put a hold on the funds, citing UNRWA’s “long history of employing people connected to terrorist movements like Hamas, promoting antisemitic textbooks and using its schools to store Hamas weapons.”
In 2021, following the Biden administration’s resumption of aid to UNRWA, Risch led a group of 20 Republican senators in sending a letter to the president urging him to hold funds until verifying that the U.N. agency does not employ Hamas members nor continue to use antisemitic textbooks.
Biden’s visit
17October2023 https://www.thinkforyourselfpublishing.com/bidens-visit/
Just got back from the Rav.
He said Biden is only coming tomorrow to give Eretz Yisrael away to the Arabs.
I.e. the ‘2 state solution’….
Does anyone honestly still have any doubt about who was behind what happened on Simchat Torah?
And second, the Rav said that all the women’s tehillim are saving the soldiers….
So continue!
I don’t have a lot of time to write at the mo, as the tehillim are taking most of my day up.
But as important things come up, I will try and share them here.
Also, it seems the matzav ruach is starting to bounce back, at least a little.
And tons and tons of people are coming off the news, in all sorts of different ways, at the moment.
Which means their ability to manipulate and control us is also being radically limited.
Continue!
And may we just hear good news.
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JerusalemCats Comments: Least We forget who our Enemy is:
Israel approves emergency regulations that could pave way to closing Al Jazeera offices
By Jeremy Sharon 20October2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-approves-emergency-regulations-that-could-pave-way-to-closing-al-jazeera-offices/
The government has approved regulations that will allow it to temporarily shut down foreign news channels during states of emergency, such as the current war with terror group Hamas in Gaza, if it believes the outlet is damaging national security.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has led the charge to pass these regulations in order to shut down the Al Jazeera news channel, which he claims has damaged national security.
The regulations are retroactive, meaning broadcasts by the Qatari network since the war started can now be used as the basis for a decision to shut down the staunchly pro-Palestinian news outlet’s local branch.
“Israel is at war on land, in the air, at sea, and on the public diplomacy front. We will not allow in any way broadcasts that harm the security of the state… The broadcasts and reports of Al Jazeera constitute incitement against Israel, help Hamas-ISIS and the terror organizations with their propaganda, and encourage violence against Israel,” says Karhi.
According to the new regulations, the communications minister — with the agreement of the defense minister — will be able to order TV providers to stop broadcasting the news outlet in question; close its offices in Israel, seize its equipment, and shut down its website or restrict access to its website, depending on the location of its server.
The decision must be approved by the security cabinet, must be based on legal opinions by the security establishment that the outlet is indeed harming national security, and is subject to the review of a district court.
Such a decision will be valid for 30 days but can be extended for additional 30-day periods. The emergency regulations will be in place for three months, or until the specific state of emergency is formally ended by the government.
UPDATE:
Knesset approves bill to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel
New law approved in second and third reading stipulates Communications Minister could act against foreign media channels in Israel should they be found to harm the country; White House spokeswoman criticizes bill
Moran Azulay| 01April2024 | 20:02 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b17yvd00yr
The Knesset approved Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s bill ordering Qatari news network Al Jazeera to cease its operations in the country in a final reading on Monday. “Hamas mouthpieces won’t have any freedom of expression in Israel. Al Jazeera will be shut down in the coming days,” Karhi said in a statement.
The law promoted by Karhi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shut down foreign channels (including Al Jazeera, Al Mayadeen, and others), was approved by the Knesset Plenum in second and third readings.
The law stipulates the Communications Minister could act to shut down foreign media channels in the country should the prime minister find it is harming Israel after reviewing at least one security assessment on the issue and conditioned by the approval of the government or security cabinet.
Actions will be approved by orders signed by the Communications Minister, and will include: closing down the channel’s offices in the country, confiscating broadcasting equipment, preventing channel reporters from broadcasting, removing the channel from cable and satellite providers in the country, blocking its websites in the country, and more.
“We have approved a quick and efficient tool to act against those who use the freedom of the press to harm Israel’s security and IDF soldiers and incite terrorism during wartime,” Karhi said in a statement following the law’s approval.
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the law on social media, writing on his X account: “Al Jazeera has harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited violence against IDF soldiers. The time has come to remove Hamas’ mouthpiece from our country. The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activities.”
Despite Netanyahu’s praise, other members of his Likud party criticized the bill’s wordings. “The bill as presented by the Communications Minister is both ineffective and damaging,” Likud MK Amit Halevi told Ynet. “It’s absurd that our coalition will vote in favor of such a bill. It primarily reflects an extreme lack of judgment aimed at gaining popularity.”
According to Halevi, the approved law in its current form isn’t effective. “The overwhelming majority of Al Jazeera viewers in Israel’s Arab sector watch it via satellite dishes or the internet, not Israeli broadcasters. The agency’s internet servers and offices will reopen in Ramallah if shut down in Israel.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the law in a statement, saying, “We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critical. It is critically important, and the United States supports the critically important work of journalists around the world, and that includes those who are reporting in the conflict in Gaza.”
“So, we believe that work is important. The freedom of the press is important. And if those reports are true, it is concerning to us,” she added.
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Al Jazeera admits the ‘rapes’ at Shifa hospital were a complete LIE
StopAntisemitism-tweet-25March2024-Al Jazeera admits the ‘rapes’ at Shifa hospital were a complete LIE
Al Jazeera admits the “rapes” at Shifa hospital were a complete LIE.
#Gaza
StopAntisemitism-tweet-25March2024-Al Jazeera admits the ‘rapes’ at Shifa hospital were a complete LIE.png
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EXPOSED: Reuters Mideast Visuals Chief Openly Supported Terrorism as a Pro-Palestinian Activist
Reuters’ regional head of video and pictures in the Middle East has publicly supported terrorists while working for a pro-Palestinian organization, demonized Israel, and criticized the US for providing military aid to the Jewish state,…
HonestReporting Staff 23October2023 https://honestreporting.com/exposed-reuters-mideast-visuals-chief-openly-supported-terrorism-as-a-pro-palestinian-activist/
Reuters’ regional head of video and pictures in the Middle East has publicly supported terrorists while working for a pro-Palestinian organization, demonized Israel, and criticized the US for providing military aid to the Jewish state, HonestReporting exposed Monday in a revelation that calls into question his journalistic objectivity.
Labib Nasir, who is currently based in Dubai and editorially supervises Reuters visual content coming out of the region, openly praised terrorists at a media conference in Beirut in 2004 while he was working for the pro-Palestinian organization “Miftah.” According to the conference proceedings, in his public remarks, he said:
Nasir continued to falsely claim that Israeli communities in the West Bank were not “civilian,” thus suggesting they were legitimate targets:
While his words are appalling in their own right — because they refer to communities inhabited by families and children — they resonate ever more loudly in light of Hamas’ brutal massacre of innocent Israeli civilians on October 7. How can a person who holds such views have any editorial say about Middle East coverage at this sensitive time? How can a person with such views be trusted to provide objective, unbiased content on the region? It cannot and should not be tolerated.
Nasir’s full address to the conference (which was ironically held under the title “Media Ethics & Journalism in the Arab World”) is rife with more inaccuracies and anti-Israel vitriol. To quote just a few:
More examples of his activism include an opinion piece titled “Checkpoint Guide,” which refers to the everyday reality of passing through security checkpoints set up by Israel to protect its citizens against terrorists. In it, he called Israeli army soldiers “killer soldiers,” and demonized the Israeli “enemy” as an adversary of humanity:
A decade later, years after he’d already been hired by Reuters, Nasir took part in a demonstration against Israel’s 2014 Gaza operation that targeted Hamas terror tunnels and publicly criticized the US for providing billions of dollars in military aid to the Jewish state, as quoted in Boston’s WBUR news:
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time a biased Reuters journalist is exposed, as in the case of Henriette Chacar who has questioned the difference between Israeli civilians and combatants. But Nasir has risen to a much more senior position in the news agency.
Activist-Turned-Journalist
Nasir attended the 2004 conference as the media and information coordinator for “Miftah,” an organization with an anti-Israeli agenda that was headed by then-senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi. Several months later he joined Reuters as a reporter and a producer in Jerusalem, clearly without a sufficient background check. He has climbed the news agency’s ranks ever since.
Did he attempt to set aside his activist agenda? Quite the opposite, as apparent from an interview he conducted in 2010 for Reuters with none other than his former boss Hanan Ashrawi. Any decent journalist would have excused themselves from doing so, but Nasir let Ashrawi get all her talking points across.
The problem is that Nasir understood the power of media already in 2004 when he stated in his conference presentation that: “The visual media have become highly developed in recent years and are a powerful tool that has forced itself into every house.”
Now, this activist-turned-journalist gets to decide what images from the war-torn Middle East are seen in every house worldwide and what stories are told in video and pictures — the most effective ways to influence hearts and minds.
And hundreds of media outlets that subscribe to Reuters rely on this coverage.
As the region is still reeling from Hamas’ atrocities, a person who openly supports terrorism and believes that Israeli civilians’ blood is forfeit should not be allowed near any newsroom, let alone that of one of the world’s largest news agencies which claims to uphold the strictest standards of unbiased journalism.
HonestReporting has submitted an official complaint to Reuters, calling upon it to take the necessary action to maintain the values its audience deserves.
Found this article informative? Follow the HonestReporting page on Facebook to read more articles debunking news bias and smears, as well as others explaining Israel’s history, politics, and international affairs. Click here to learn more!
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CNN, the Modern Der Stürmer Propaganda
“Die Juden sind unser Unglück!” “The Jews are our misfortune!”
[Slogan printed on the bottom of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer]
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/dersturmer.htm
The-Mossad-Satirical,-Yet-Awesome-tweet-22October2023-CNN, News you can trust
Map of Israel according to CNN
For those that are graduates of Ivy League Schools, this is a Map of Israel.
GoogleMaps screenshot / Simcha Pasko – A map of Israel and the West Bank.
Map of Sderot, Israel
Map of Sderot, Israel. From Wikipedia
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‘Too many red lines crossed’: Israeli hospital bans BBC
The Galillee medical center “refuses to cooperate with media outlets that refuse to see Hamas as a terrorist organization.”
https://www.jns.org/too-many-red-lines-crossed-israeli-hospital-bans-bbc/
The Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. Photo by Noam Falakasa/TPS.
(October 22, 2023 / JNS) Citing BBC News’s “biased coverage” of the war against Hamas, staff at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya banned a film crew from entering the hospital on Saturday, a hospital spokesperson said.
“When there is no clarity, and this is sometimes the nature of this situation, it is good for such a popular media outlet to check, delve and investigate before publishing its reviews to hundreds of millions of people in the world,” hospital director Professor Masad Barhoum told Jewish News Syndicate.
“In everything related to the BBC network, too many red lines were crossed, so when they asked to film at our medical center and interview doctors, it was clear that they were looking for manipulations and distortions, so we informed them that we have closed our doors to them until further notice,” he added.
Hospital spokesperson Gal Zeid told JNS, “I issued the announcement to the media in the hope that other bodies and institutions in the health system, including in the country as a whole, will show solidarity, certainly during the war, and refuse, like us, to cooperate with media outlets and parties that cover the reality in a biased way and refuse to see Hamas as a terrorist organization, which harms all citizens of Israel indiscriminately.”
The publicly funded British news service is facing harsh criticism for its coverage of the Gaza war.
President Isaac Herzog and other officials have blasted the BBC for refusing to describe Hamas as “terrorists.”
“We are dealing with one of the worst terrorist organizations in the world,” Herzog told visiting British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday.
“I know that in modern democracies, like ours and yours, you can’t interfere per se, but since the BBC has a certain linkage and is known as British all over the world, there has to be an outcry for it to be corrected, and that Hamas will be defined as a terrorist organization there as well,” Herzog said. “What else do they need to see to understand that this is an atrocious terror organization?”
Meanwhile, the BBC was forced to apologize for its coverage of an explosion that devastated Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night. Correspondent Jon Donnison reported from the scene that the hospital had been hit by a missile or shell, adding, “But it’s hard to see what else this could be really given the size of the explosion other than an Israeli air strike or several air strikes.”
The Israel Defense Forces released intercepted Hamas communications and security footage confirming that the hospital was devastated by a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket.
Initial news reports and social media posts erroneously blaming Israel for the blast sparked Arab riots across the Middle East.
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The New York Times and Hamas
Ambassador Gilad Erdan-tweet-20October2023-The nytimes has just rehired a NAZI
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Defense minister announces ‘complete siege’ of Gaza: No power, food or fuel
By Emanuel Fabian 9>October2023 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says he has ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, as Israel fights the Hamas terror group.
“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant says following an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba.
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he adds.
Eugene Kontorovich-tweet-9October2023-A belligerent commander may lawfully lay siege to a place controlled by the enemy
Israel Defense Forces-tweet-14October2023-Hamas is forcefully preventing their civilians from relocating to southern Gaza for their own safety
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Another example of World War ll disproportionate force
Elder of Ziyon-tweet-21November2023-Allies Bomb Germany
Another example of disproportionate force
Elder of Ziyon-tweet-21November2023-Allies Bomb Germany
Allies Bomb Germany with 2,453,595 tons
The Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)
Hiroshima atomic bombingThe bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about an abrupt end to the war in Asia, with Japan surrendering unconditionally to the Allies on 14 August 1945.
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This is what it means to be “Pushed into the Sea”.
Ben & Jerry’s-Push the Jews into the Sea Salt and Caramel flavor Ice Cream
Cannons of eight Arab states: Sudan, Algeria, United Arab Republic (then Egypt), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Lebanese daily Al-Jarida, May 31, 1967.
Egyptian pamphlet literally titled ‘Throw the Jews into the sea’ before the 1967 war
Six Day War – Israeli victory – Documentary – War of Redemption
15 Seconds in Sderot, Israel
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Hostages treatment by Hamas
Maccabi Lev-Ari-tweet-Hostages treatment by Hamas
By the time nine-year-old Emily Hand was released, she thought she had been in Hamas captivity for a year.
She told her father that they weren’t allowed to speak out loud, and she learned how to say, “be quiet” in Arabic.
Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi said that when the kids cried, Hamas threatened them with weapons. So they learned to hold it all in.
The hostages were held deep in underground tunnels, sometimes alone, sometimes together. They were beaten with sticks, only given plastic chairs to sleep on, not allowed to shower, and had to wait hours to use the bathroom.
The hostages who came home were found to be suffering from severe malnutrition, and lost 5-10 kilo of weight on average. One lost 20 kilo, which is 44 lbs. They explained that they were only given one meal each day, consisting of just rice, sometimes bread, sometimes nothing. When they were held together, the men would give their portions to the elderly and children, to keep them alive.
Eitan, the sensitive little boy who was captured alone, told his parents that the terrorists forced him to watch an hour of horror footage from the October 7th massacre. The same footage that Israel showed in closed screenings to select journalists and politicians, many of whom ran out midway through, in tears.
When Eitan was brought into Gaza, on the back of a Hamas motorcycle, he said that civilians came out to see and they all happily beat him. Civilians. Of all ages.
The civilians of Gaza had the chance to save Ron Krivolli, but instead, they turned him in to Hamas. Ron was being held alone in an apartment building, and when it was bombed by the IDF, he took the chance to escape. He wandered around for four days trying to find his way to Israel. But ordinary Gaza people found him, and immediately brought him to Hamas.
Alma Avraham, the 84-year-old hostage who is fighting for her life in the ICU now, desperately needed medication. Her family begged the Red Crescent to bring it to her, but they refused. Yaffa Adar, the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who was amongst the first to be released said she had begged Hamas to release Alma and other elderly women before her, who are barely still alive. Hamas so far only released hostages who have family members still in their cruel hands.
To top it all off, right before they were released, the hostages were given their first shower and change of clothing in over 50 days. Then they were forced to smile and wave at the masked Hamas terrorists, for photos. A propaganda display that an international public that is happily eating up.
The Gaza civilians didn’t get the memo though. They chased after the Red Crescent vans that escorted the hostages out of Gaza, jumped on the vehicles, and banged on the windows to terrify the children in one last display of barbaric cruelty.
Is your blood boiling yet? Because mine is.
#Hamas #Israel
Maccabi Lev-Ari-tweet-Hostages treatment by Hamas
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GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ANIMAL ABUSE IN PALESTINE AUTHORITY
Oli London-tweet-24November2023-government sponsored animal abuse in palestinian authority
There are thousands of stray cats and dogs in Palestine.
The Palestinian Authority’s official policy is to SHOOT and POISON all stray dogs and cats.
Stray dogs and cats subjected to this die in absolute agony.
Those poisoned convulse in seizures.
Those shot are often wounded and left to die slowly from their injuries.
Palestinian civilians are also encouraged to kill dogs.
In 2022 the mayor of Hebron, in West Bank offered citizens $5 for every dog they killed.
These tactics are so normalized that Palestinian municipalities post notices warning citizens not to be alarmed by impending gunfire, and post pictures of bloodied dogs on their Facebook pages, claiming to have made streets safer for people.
Source: OIPA International Organization for Animal Protection.
GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ANIMAL ABUSE IN PALESTINE https://www.oipa.org/international/palestine-petition-killing-stray-animals/
Oli London-tweet-24November2023-government sponsored animal abuse in palestinian authority
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JerusalemCats Comments: It is time to bring out the Dragons! The Russians have an equivalent, TOS-1A Solntsepyok (“Scorching sunlight“) multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads
12-year-old Harry Potter fan championed by J.K. Rowling found murdered by Hamas
Shared by Israel’s X account, story of autistic girl and her grandmother helped world see massacres; pair originally thought captured by terror group in vicious Oct. 7 incursion
By ToI Staff 19October2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/12-year-old-harry-potter-fan-championed-by-j-k-rowling-found-murdered-by-hamas/
12-year-old Noya Dan, seen here in a Harry Potter-inspired costume, was murdered by Hamas alongside her grandmother Carmela on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Nir Oz. (via X)
The bodies of Noya Dan, a 12-year-old autistic Israeli girl, and her grandmother Carmela, 80 — who were initially believed to have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza — have been found, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Thursday.
On Monday, while Noya’s fate was still unknown, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling retweeted a post highlighting the child’s uncertain situation that was initially posted by the State of Israel’s official X account.
Rowling wrote, “For obvious reasons, this picture has hit home with me,” the author says, adding that kidnapping children is “despicable and wholly unjustifiable,” and expressing hope for the release of all captives in Gaza.
In the past 12 days, Noya’s voice was broadcast on Israeli media when her mother, Galit, shared her daughter’s final voice memos.
“Mom, there was a big boom at the door that scared me,” Noya said in Hebrew. “All the windows in Grandma’s house were broken at the entrance. Because there was another boom, there are many broken windows. Mommy… I’m scared,” she said.
Mother Galit told the Kan public broadcaster this week that “just because she is autistic doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand. She understands everything.”
The family, residents of Kibbutz Kissufim close to the Gaza border, had a large extended family dinner together the night before the devastating Hamas incursion. Knowing how close her daughter and mother were, Galit suggested Noya sleep over at her grandmother’s house in neighboring Kibbutz Nir Oz as a special treat.
Younger sister Tamar, 8, remained at home with her mother and father, Yinnon. Hours later, Kibbutz Kissufim was attacked by Hamas terrorists and the family hid in their saferoom while gunmen used their living room as a temporary headquarters, shooting out through the windows of the family home at their neighbors.
The two families texted and sent photos to each other from their saferooms throughout the morning, Galit told Kan. Grandmother Carmela optimistically said she’d send photos of her looted home once everything was over.
All communication was lost at noon with Noya’s final voice message.
[EDD: Updated tweet]
J.K. Rowling
@jk_rowling
Kidnapping children is despicable and wholly unjustifiable. For obvious reasons, this picture has hit home with me. May Noya and all hostages taken by Hamas be returned soon, safely, to their families.
Israel ישראל 🇮🇱
@Israel
We are devastated to announce that Noya and her grandmother’s bodies were found yesterday.
Thank you @jk_rowling
for sharing her story with the hope that she would come home.
Our hearts are broken.
May their memory be a blessing.
J.K. Rowling-tweet-16October2023-Kidnapping children is despicable and wholly unjustifiable
Author Rowling’s repost of a picture featuring Noya, smiling and wearing what appears to be a Hogwarts school uniform and holding a wand, touched many, especially fellow Harry Potter fans, according to The Daily Mail, and cemented the horror of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas that killed some 1,400 people in Israel.
Closing a circle, in a message on X, Israel announced Noya’s death on Thursday, writing, “We are devastated to announce that Noya and her grandmother Carmela’s bodies were discovered yesterday. Thank you to all of you who shared her story to help us bring her home. Our hearts are broken.”
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⚠ TRIGER WARNING
“Hundreds of dead people in Israel are still unidentifiable because of what Hamas terrorists did to their bodies.”
Video and images slowly being released by Israel show torture and abuse of Israeli living and dead during the initial Hamas attack, including a deceased victim having poles shoved deep into his eye sockets.
Posted by William A. Jacobson 15October2023 https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/10/hundreds-of-dead-people-in-israel-are-still-unidentifiable-because-of-what-hamas-terrorists-did-to-their-bodies/
Israeli Identifying the Dead-Hamas War Crimes 7October2023
Israeli is historically bad at public relations. It doesn’t parade the bodies of its dead and wounded in front of the cameras to show the depravity of its enemies.
Israel also has almost the entire international media against it, as well as Islamists around the world and western leftists, all of whom pump out propaganda to delegitimize Israel’s self-defense.
During this current Hamas attack, there are widespread claims denying that Hamas committed the brutality to which there have been numerous testimonies not only by Israelis, but also foreign journalists, diplomats, and U.S. military, who have seen the scenes firsthand or in images/video. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that from what he’s seen, it’s worse than ISIS.
Testimonies by Israeli first responders are horrific.
i24NEWS English-tweet-12October2023-Eye witness recounts horrific details of Hamas cruelty on pregnant women, children and innocent Israeli civilians
Israel very slowly, too slowly IMO, has started to release images and video. Even those images spawned an new industry of denial. An image of a dead and charred Israeli baby was subjected to unreliable and manipulated “AI” detectors by these ghouls, with the false result then used to deny Hamas’ crimes.
Alex Goldenberg
@AlexWGoldenberg
@AJArabic is amplifying a debunked claim that a photo of a burnt corpse of an Israeli baby is in fact an AI generated image of a dog. Their source? 4chan.
Experts have debunked the claim per @404mediaco.
Daily reminder: Al Jazeera is not a trusted source of information.
Alex Goldenberg-tweet-15October2023-@AJArabic is amplifying a debunked claim that a photo of a burnt corpse of an Israeli baby is in fact an AI generated image of a dog. Their source? 4chan.
Israel is struggling to identify its dead because of the abuse of the corpses by Hamas. The creator and producer of the hit show FAUDA writes:
avi issacharoff-tweet-15October2023-Hundreds of dead people in Israel are still unidentifiable because of what Hamas terrorists did to their bodies
Israel has released more information, as published in this Jerusalem Post article, Israeli forensic teams describe signs of torture, abuse:
Israel Forensic Team Say Victims Were Abused, Burnt | News9
Here is a video of some of the abuse. Some of the images and video we’ve seen before, some are new. I had trouble sleeping after watching it last night. I’m not squeemish at all, but I almost threw up after watching Palestinians abuse the living and the dead, including long poles being shoved deep into the eye sockets of a dead Israeli.
The Jerusalem Post
@Jerusalem_Post
(WARNING: Graphic content)
#Hamas murdered over 1,300 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped over 150 people during its attack on #Israel last week.
These are just some of the horrific scenes from the assault.
📹Watch and Share
https://t.co/Ftg85pOFDL
The Jerusalem Post-tweet-15October2023-(WARNING: Graphic content)
#Hamas murdered over 1,300 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped over 150 people during its attack on #Israel last week.
These are just some of the horrific scenes from the assault.
📹Watch and Share
(Video also here in case it disappears from social media.)
Private Israeli citizens are also beginning to document the crimes.
Imshin
@imshin
🚨 They say it didn’t happened. They say there is no evidence.
Here is the evidence!
A Google doc with links, video, photos. And it’s continuing to update.
Share it! Use it!
We must not allow them to erase and deny the horror!
Imshin-tweet-15October2023-They say it didn’t happened. They say there is no evidence.
Here is the evidence!
A Google doc with links, video, photos. And it’s continuing to update.
Share it! Use it!
We must not allow them to erase and deny the horror!
You can read the Google Doc here. (Here is a downloaded pdf. as of this writing in case it disappears)
Click to Download Photo_Video Archive_ Civilian casualties intentionally executed by Hamas.docx.pdf Retrieved on 21October2023 Please check for updates at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qpk2asgZzGitpLSq1B0h4LGpcRizGUER/edit?rtpof=true&sd=true
This is ISIS-type tactics. Despicable and morally corrupt “Human Rights” activist Ken Roth (former head of Human Rights Watch) objects to comparing Hamas to ISIS, because Hamas has a political cause, not just “crazed love of violence.”
Kenneth Roth-tweet-14October2023
Watch these videos and images and its clear that Hamas, like so many other Palestinian groups, has a “crazed love of violence” against Jews.
Whatever has been released is just the tip of the Hamas iceberg – everything I’m hearing is that the abuse is much, much worse. Prof. Eugene Kontorovich’s statement, which we previously quoted, makes even more sense as more video and images are released.
Posts regarding Hamas’ brutality
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VIDEO: Gaza “Civilians” Loot Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri During Hamas Massacre
The looting included motorcycles, farm equipment, and whatever else they could get their hands on and drive away.
Posted by William A. Jacobson 10October2023 https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/10/video-gaza-civilians-loot-israeli-kibbutz-beeri-during-hamas-massacre/
Gaza “Civilians” Loot Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri During Hamas Massacre
While Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terror groups clearly carried out the bulk of the massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023, Gaza “civilians” were active participants.
Hamas tried to blame those “civilians” for the carnage, which was a dishonest deflection but at least acknowleged that large numbers of Palestinians crossed the border during the attack.
Now there is footage from security cameras showing what happened in Kibbutz Be’eri (see our prior report here) during the attack – mass looting by Palestinian “civilians.”
The looting included motorcycles, farm equipment, and whatever else they could get their hands on and drive away.
Gaza “Civilians” Loot Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri During Hamas Massacre The looting included motorcycles, farm equipment, and whatever else they could get their hands on and drive away.
Here is the video.
manniefabian-tweet-16October2023-Hamas’s onslaught on Kibbutz Be’eri
(Video also here in case it disappears from social media).
Remember these “civilians” and the many thousands more who celebrated on the streets of Gaza when news of the attack broke. Remember also the large crowds hitting and spitting on the stripped body of a woman captive driven through the streets. This wasn’t just an attack by Hamas, it was an attack by Gaza.
You also should scroll through this thread, which has numerous videos not only of the looting, but also the execution and brutalization of Israelis during the attack.
Luís Da Cruz-tweet-15October2023-To emphasize the brutality of these terrorists
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Destroying Israeli agriculture was part of Hamas’s evil plan
It didn’t quite work: Israelis are resilient and, knowing how important the crops are for the country, they went back to tend the fields under fire
Danielle Abraham 31January2024 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/farming-on-the-frontlines/
Credit: ReGrow Israel – A burnt tractor at kibbutz Nahal Oz
After three months spent tirelessly scouring the news, I thought I understood what happened on October 7th. The loss was still too much to bear, but I thought I understood.
Then came the curveball.
During one of my many trips to the Otef (the Gaza Envelope) as part of my work with ReGrow Israel – an initiative dedicated to saving and strengthening the devastated farming communities in the western Negev – one sentence stood out. I was meeting with the head of agriculture in Nahal Oz and as the afternoon drew to a close, his words rang out clearly against the backdrop of distant artillery fire.
“Agriculture wasn’t collateral damage: it was a target, a deliberate target.” He went on to explain, with chilling detail, the precise, coordinated and systematic nature of Hamas’s agricultural terrorism.
They didn’t just destroy whatever they could find. They came with hammers and deliberately targeted key taps to flood orchards.
They didn’t just kill Jews and Israelis. They sought out, massacred and abducted foreign workers to undermine a vital source of labor for the agricultural sector.
They didn’t just wantonly steal whatever caught their eye. They went straight for the computer chips that regulate entire irrigation systems, starving whole fields and crops straight at the source.
Even as someone working in agriculture, the fact that agriculture had been a deliberate target of war had been lost on me. This narrative has been remarkably absent from our collective conversations about October 7th.
It shouldn’t: it holds two important lessons for us all.
The first is a powerful lesson in resilience. I have never seen such resolve.
Two days after the attack that cost the lives of over 90 of his family and friends, Motti returned to Kibbutz Be’eri and stepped into his new role – a battlefield promotion of sorts. As the kibbutz’s Head of Farming lay in hospital, Motti gathered the cows that had been roaming free and herded them back to safety, navigating blood-stained streets and weaving between tanks.
Some of the fields belonging to Nahal Oz are currently green with young wheat, despite being located only 700 meters (four-tenths of a mile) from Gaza. How? Because they sowed those crops under fire. Many other kibbutzim have done the same, sharing what little equipment they can find so they can keep going, even at great personal risk.
The second lesson is the vital and unquestionable importance of agriculture for Israel.
Of course, farming was targeted: It embodies the Jewish people’s attachment to the land of Israel and our sense of stewardship over this little patch we call home. For residents of kibbutzim and moshavim, farming is part of their DNA.
Of course, farming was targeted. It underpins Israel’s food security and the slightest shock sends ripples throughout the country.
Of course, farming was targeted. It drives the economy of the western Negev and takes years to rebuild.
Of course, farming was targeted. Our unrivaled agricultural prowess is one of Israel’s proudest achievements. It’s a shining example of our tiny state helping to better the entire world: ushering in smarter and more sustainable farming that will feed generations to come.
We should never lose sight of the national role shouldered tirelessly by our farmers. We need them. They need us.
Rebuilding these communities isn’t just about helping some of the bravest and most inspiring people you’ll ever meet; it is vitally important to Israel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Danielle is the Founder and Executive Director of Volcani International Partnerships (VIP), a leading Israeli agricultural NGO promoting agricultural innovation and tackling global hunger with Israeli agricultural expertise. Following the tragic events of October 7th VIP launched ReGrow Israel, an agricultural development fund bringing all stakeholders together to secure the future of the farming communities of the western Negev. A renowned advocate for Israeli agricultural innovation, Danielle is a sought-after speaker at prestigious global conferences including Harvard University, the World Food Prize, and the Milken Conference. Danielle started her career in Israel as a senior policy advisor in MASHAV – Israel’s agency for International Development Cooperation – representing Israel as a guest speaker at the UN, OECD and German Development Bank. Danielle holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Oxford and lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and two children.
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‘At least 40 babies killed’: Foreign reporters taken to massacre site in Kfar Aza
With terrorists’ bodies still lying in the grass, international press witnesses firsthand the shocking aftermath of Hamas’s slaughter of Israeli civilians
By Lazar Berman 10October2023, 4:16 pm Updated at 6:34 pm https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-takes-foreign-journalists-to-see-massacre-site-in-kfar-aza/
An IDF soldier prepares to remove the bodies of Israelis killed during an October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian terrorists, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
The IDF took dozens of foreign journalists on Tuesday to see for themselves the death and destruction wrought by Hamas terrorists this week.
With explosions and artillery fire in the background, the crews, wearing helmets and flak jackets, picked through the destroyed Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where the bodies of Palestinian terrorists still lay outside of fire-scarred homes.
The journalists were protected by at least a company of IDF soldiers, clad in full combat gear as they continued to clear homes.
Reporters spoke of the stench of death in the air.
Still, the pastoral simplicity of the kibbutz with its lawns and one-story homes was evident, further underscoring how jarring were the atrocities that took place only days before.
“It’s not a war,” General Itai Veruv, head of the IDF’s Depth Command, told reporters. “It’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists kill them. It’s not a war… it’s a massacre.”
IDF soldiers remove the body of an Israeli killed during an October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas terrorists, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2023 (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
“It’s something I never saw in my life. It’s something I used to imagine of my grandmother and my grandfather in Europe and other places,” he said.
A reporter from i24 News said that an IDF commander told her that they had found the bodies of some 40 babies, some of whom had been beheaded.
Israel has yet to organize a tour of the massacre sites for Israeli journalists, showing how strongly the country is prioritizing world opinion.
Israeli soldiers stand near the body of a Palestinian terrorist in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, south of Israel bordering Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2023. (Thomas COEX / AFP)
When Ukrainian forces liberated the Kyiv suburb of Bucha from [EDD: Ukrainian Nazi Azov Battalion not Russian] Russian forces in April 2022, Ukraine arranged similar tours for journalists to ensure widespread coverage of Russian war crimes against residents.
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF said it had finally regained control over the border with the Gaza Strip, some 72 hours after Hamas terrorists blew through sections of the barrier and launched an invasion, slaughtering over 900 Israelis and kidnapping more than 100 to Gaza.
The bullet-shattered window of a house at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Fighting continued in the kibbutz into Sunday.
As Israel continued to grapple with the emerging enormity of Saturday’s massacres and the military was formally notifying hostages’ families that their loved ones were being held in Gaza, air force planes bombarded wide swaths of the Strip.
Meanwhile, some 300,000 reservists girded for a possible ground invasion, sweeps to locate terrorists feared still hiding inside Israel continued, and tensions on the northern border threatened to snowball into a second front.
IDF soldiers on October 10, 2023, show members of the foreign press around Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the southern Israeli communities where Hamas terrorists massacred hundreds of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023 (Channel 12 screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The IDF estimates that there are a small number of terrorists still hiding in Israeli territory. Overnight, Israeli security forces killed at least one Palestinian terrorist near Kibbutz Sa’ad.
Troops also exchanged fire with terrorists in Kissufim and Monday night saw police kill another terror suspect near Mishmar Hanegev, some 24 kilometers (15 miles) inside Israel.
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The fruit of Kfar Aza
Overripe pomegranates highlight the loss of those who would have harvested them, but also point to the resilience of those who first planted the tree (Tu Bishvat)
Rachel Sharansky Danziger 24January2024, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fruit-of-kfar-aza/
Overripe pomegranates Image by Leopictures from Pixabay
On the 74th day of the war, I visited Kfar Aza.
I stopped to look at a pomegranate tree amidst the ruins.
The pomegranates on its boughs were overripe.
In and of itself, this fact was not particularly striking. It certainly couldn’t compete with the burned house across the pathway, where it took weeks and a team of archaeologists to find evidence of the owner’s death. It couldn’t even compete with the unburned house beside it, perfectly whole, yet marked with ominous red graffiti by ZAKA volunteers.
But my eyes kept coming back to the pomegranates all the same. Just as my thoughts kept returning to the overladen citrus trees we had passed earlier.
We all know what happened to the people who would have picked those fruits in a normal autumn.
The presence of the overripe fruit made those people’s absence real to me.
A ruined home in Kfar Aza’s young neighborhood. (Courtesy)
* * *
Now it’s the 110th day of the war, and tonight we will sit around our table to celebrate Tu Bishvat, New Year of the Trees. But it is hard to feel festive. Instead of focusing on the fruit we’ll eat tonight, my thoughts keep returning to the fruit of Kfar Aza.
Fruit is eloquent: its very existence tells the story of the process that created it. Each pomegranate tells us that a seed once turned into a shoot and broke the surface of the earth, a tree grew through different seasons, and flowers turned into fruit, and ripened, carrying summer’s warmth into the colder months.
The overripe pomegranates of Kfar Aza tell other stories, too.
Planting a tree is an investment in the future. Kfar Aza’s trees tell the stories of the people who chose to make this investment, people who loved their kibbutz enough to lay roots in it, who poured their efforts into building a future, a life, on this land. The trees are tall, telling the story of the years it took them to grow, years that the people of Kfar Aza used to build families, businesses, happiness. The canopies of those trees witnessed generations of residents growing and living and loving in their shade.
But the overripe fruit makes me think of another story, another process, another cause entirely — the one our enemies pursued while our people were nurturing life.
As the trees grew, and as our people built lives there, our enemies built tools to bring about our deaths. They tightened their control over Gaza, they dug tunnels, they accumulated weapons.
The overripe pomegranates of Kfar Aza bear witness to the fruition of their plans.
I look at the fruit we will soon cut open for our Tu Bishvat celebration, and my heart is heavy in my chest.
* * *
Tu Bishvat is meant to be celebrated when the boughs are bare of fruit, since it was originally a cutoff date between one year’s taxable fruit harvest and the next year’s yield. Yet as we prepare for this year’s Tu Bishvat, the boughs of the trees in Kfar Aza are still bowed down by last year’s fruit.
I too feel bowed down by the fruit of past processes, by the consequences of everything that brought us to this war.
I wish, more than anything, that we were done with these consequences, that we could look to the future free from their weight.
I wish that all of the captives taken by Hamas were already back home and that Hamas was already dismantled, that the war was won and that the horrible daily “released for publication” notices were a thing of the past.
It hurts to know that we have long way to go before any of these wishes can come true.
* * *
When I visited Kfar Aza, a kibbutz resident walked with us and spoke of the future. “The kibbutz voted to move to temporary homes in Kibbutz Ruchama,” he told us, and smiled. “That is, until we can go back home.”
I thought of this man, and of his smile, as I bought fruit for tonight’s celebration. I thought of him as I picked apples and pears grown right here in Israel, a plum from an Israeli orchard, and last but not least, one enormous pomegranate. How remarkable, I thought, that this man thinks of the future, despite everything he lived through, the hell he survived: 20 terrifying hours in a safe room with his wife and daughters, his neighbors’ deaths, the loss of his home — none of it killed his determination to move forward, plan a future, and even smile as he looks ahead.
The trees of Kfar Aza bear witness to the spirit and aspirations of the people who planted them. That spirit still lives in this man, in his smile. In so many like him, who are choosing life.
The pomegranate seeds will be red in my hands tonight, red like the blood — far too much blood — we have bled since Simchat Torah. One hundred and ten days worth of bleeding, of funerals, of grief.
But I will set my sadness aside tonight, and look to the future. I will ask myself what new fruit I wish to nurture into being, instead of focusing on our experiences of loss. I will hold the memory of the overripe pomegranates of Kfar Aza in my heart, but at the same time, commit myself to the spirit of the people who planted the pomegranate tree in the first place.
If they can go on putting down roots and building lives, how can the rest of us do any less?
* * *
God, when we open a pomegranate on Rosh Hashanah, we say, “May our merits be as numerous as the seeds in a pomegranate.” God, may we merit that we never again see overripe fruits in a devastated Jewish village. God, may our actions now, in this very moment, merit to be the seeds of a better tomorrow, of a safer, kinder, healing future in this land.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel is a Jerusalem-born writer and educator who’s in love with her city’s vibrant human scene. She writes about Judaism, history, and life in Israel for the Times of Israel and other online venues, and explores storytelling in the Hebrew bible as a teacher in Maayan, Torah in Motion, and Matan.
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Giving Gaza to Palestinian Authority is an insanely bad idea
Giving Gaza to Palestinian Authority is an Insanely Bad Idea-Caroline Glick-IN FOCUS
Caroline B. Glick https://www.jns.org/giving-gaza-to-palestinian-authority-is-an-insanely-bad-idea/
The Caroline Glick Show “IN FOCUS”
(October 31, 2023 / JNS) Caroline Glick on her show “IN FOCUS” tackles several topics, including how the atrocities of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas continue to come to light in all their horrific detail; how Biden continues to pressure Israel for a quick end to the war, meaning leaving Hamas in place; and how insanely bad the idea is of giving the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority after Israel completes its goals.
Giving Gaza to Palestinian Authority is an Insanely Bad Idea | The Caroline Glick Show IN Focus
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‘All the bodies were brutalized’: The truth about the Hamas attacks
The Horror Firsthand
Caroline Glick sits down with Avigail Gimpel
Caroline B. Glick https://www.jns.org/all-the-bodies-were-brutalized-the-truth-about-the-hamas-attacks/
“The Caroline Glick Show” with guest Avigail Gimpel, Ep. 76
(November 1, 2023 / JNS) Caroline Glick sits down with Avigail Gimpel—educator, author and chevra kadisha (burial society) member who handled the organization of corpses left in the wake of the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7. More than 1,400 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the terrorist infiltration into southern Israel.
With so many claiming that the atrocities are exaggerated or untrue, it is crucial to hear from someone who witnessed the brutality firsthand.
‘All the bodies were brutalized’: The truth about the Hamas attacks | The Caroline Glick Show
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Rape is NOT Resistance
The Persian Jewess-tweet-28February2024-Rape is NOT Resistance
🔥Rape is NOT Resistance🔥
@IsraelFriendsUS
#BelieveIsraeliWomen
#HamasRapists
The Persian Jewess-tweet-28February2024-Rape is NOT Resistance
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Amid war and urgent need to ID bodies, evidence of Hamas’s October 7 rapes slips away
Despite definitive witness testimony, global skepticism persists about the terrorists’ sexual crimes. ToI investigates how a mass-casualty event in a war zone made forensic determination impossible
Carrie Keller-Lynn
By Carrie Keller-Lynn
9 November 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-war-and-urgent-need-to-id-bodies-evidence-of-hamass-october-7-rapes-slips-away/
A soldier mans the makeshift mass casualty morgue at the Shura military base near Ramle, October 24, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Hebrew-language media reported on Wednesday that the Israel Police investigations unit, Lahav 443, has been collecting evidence from terrorist interrogations, witness testimony, and various footage sources about sexual crimes committed by Hamas terrorists during their October 7 onslaught.
These eyewitness testimonies from survivors of the Hamas massacre — in which some 1,400 people were murdered and 240 were taken hostage, the majority of them civilians — are horrific. The sexual abuse committed by Hamas includes acts of gang rape, genital mutilation and necrophilia.
But in the wake of the unprecedentedly large mass-casualty event, physical evidence of sexual assault was not collected from corpses by Israel’s overtaxed morgue facilities amid their ongoing scramble to identify the people killed, many of whose bodies were mutilated and burned. More than a month after Hamas rampaged through border communities near the Gaza Strip and a massive outdoor music festival, Israel is still identifying the dead through disaster victim identification protocols.
The decision — made under war footing and a pressing need to identify the dead — to not use time-consuming crime scene investigation protocols to document rape cases has, however, fueled international skepticism over Hamas’s sexual abuse of victims while it held control over parts of southern Israel on October 7.
The questions and outright skepticism come amid attempts to downplay the scale of Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, especially as international attention quickly moved on from the invaders’ brutality to the Israeli military response, whose aim is to dismantle the terror group.
There is significant evidence of systematic sexual abuse, but morgue officials have not designated individual cases as rape because of a lack of court-compliant physical proof. In addition to survivors’ testimony, a slew of Israeli officials, first responders, and morgue workers have stated that Hamas raped women as part of its assault. The Shin Bet has released clips from videotaped interrogations of captured Hamas perpetrators attesting to their orders to rape Jewish women.
A woman’s body, found on October 7, 2023, with a partially burned head and unclothed from the waist down; video was uploaded to social media and screened by the IDF as part of a raw footage compilation of Hamas atrocities (Screenshot)
Reflecting the government’s official position, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Hamas committed acts of “murder, rape, kidnapping,” in Hebrew-language remarks, repeated multiple times over the past month. However, the government has not released explicit footage or pressed rape survivors to share their stories. Nor have the forensic services released formal reports on whether their findings were consistent with sexual abuse.
This seemingly official decision not to provide clear evidence of rape to international media has fed persistent criticism, mostly from abroad, and many media outlets are now framing the October 7 rapes as a claim rather than a fully substantiated fact. Social media is now awash with memes parodying “not believing women” who are Israeli or Jewish.
This skepticism of rape claims has been noted at home: On November 5, an Arab Israeli lawmaker said that a compilation of raw attack footage — which the MK, Iman Khatib-Yassin, declined to view when it was screened for Knesset members — did not show evidence of women being raped. (Her party leader swiftly asked for her resignation, and right-wing lawmakers are petitioning to remove her from parliament.)
Over a month after what Israelis are calling “Black Shabbat,” The Times of Israel has examined what we do and do not know about Hamas’s use of rape among the 1,400 killed, and why Israel’s sexual assault forensic process is at a seeming standstill.
The Times of Israel investigation is centered on evidence collected from the bodies of those slaughtered on October 7. An editorial decision was made not to pursue leads to survivors of sexual abuse, and the Defense Ministry declined to discuss intelligence related to the treatment of Hamas-held hostages.
Burnt cars are left behind at the site of the attack three days earlier by Palestinian terrorists on the Supernova desert music near Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev desert in southern Israel, on October 10, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Challenges to making official designations
Physical evidence for rape or sexual abuse can be collected from the deceased in a manner that would be admissible in court by either a forensic pathologist or a police crime scene investigations (CSI) unit. Of the two, only a forensic pathologist, or another medical doctor with special certification in sexual assault, can make a formal recommendation of what the findings suggest.
Rape, or sexual assault, can only be legally determined by the court because the crime requires an element of intent alongside a physical act.
Now, a month after the massacre, the window for collecting physical evidence of rape that can stand up in court is closed, said a forensic official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Under good conditions, authorities would have had about a week to collect evidence from bodies if they were promptly found and professionally handled.
But these were not optimal conditions for evidence collection. In the wake of the massacre, resources were overwhelmingly directed toward identifying victims — not their cause of death — a process that is still ongoing. The circumstances of the mass casualty event and the ongoing war contaminated crime scenes, or did not allow for the collecting of relevant evidence. And in many cases, the bodies were in such states of mutilation or decay when found that it was impossible to obtain evidence.
Bodies collected in the field are bagged and delivered to an emergency morgue set up at the Israel Defense Forces’ Shura Base, near the town of Ramle. Michal Levin Elad, head of the National Forensic Investigative Division of the Israel Police, spoke with The Times of Israel on October 31 at Shura and said that the base’s “prime mission is to identify victims; we were not concerned with how they died or what happened.”
Of the 1,400 people presumed killed on October 7, about 310 soldiers and 840 civilians have been identified. It is unclear if among them are the 58 police officers killed, as well. This means that around 200 bodies remain unidentified.
“We have been working 24/7 on three shifts, more than 100 people a shift,” and still the unit is struggling to process remaining corpses, searching for biometric data, she said. Levin Elad expected further remains to surface, as the army is still scanning the Gaza border area and finding “bones, teeth, and human tissue,” which is then brought to Shura.
Forensic identification lead, police commander Michal Levin Elad, at the makeshift mass casualty morgue at Shura Base, October 31, 2023. (Carrie Keller-Lynn/Times of Israel)
Her unit is in charge of identifying civilians at Shura’s makeshift morgue, constructed out of refrigerated shipping containers. The military runs a parallel process for soldiers.
Given this strain, “we won’t be able to conduct a full CSI, with crime scene identification protocols,” said Superintendent Doron Avigdori on October 31. Avigdori heads the police forensics division in Israel’s central district, covering Shura.
Instead of going through CSI, which would make it possible to produce evidence of crimes, the bodies are being processed through the disaster victim identification (DVI) track, as is common for mass casualty events.
Bodies are scanned for postmortem biometric markers, and sometimes cross-referenced with antemortem information provided by families. Once an identification is made, a medical professional told The Times of Israel, “We try to bury the dead as soon as we can and we try not to make the process longer.”
It is not clear whether some bodies continue for further forensic processing after identification is made, or if rape kits were ever collected. A police spokesperson refused to answer a question about rape kits, saying instead, “This is not the point of this place [Shura].”
Refrigerated containers holding bodies at Israel’s makeshift mass casualty morgue at Shura Base, October 31, 2023. (Carrie Keller-Lynn/Times of Israel)
A second facility involved in identifying the dead is the civilian-run Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine. Abu Kabir is focused on a number of the most mutilated bodies, including charred remains that have little or no genetic material or biometric markers available for comparison, according to sources familiar with the issue.
While Abu Kabir does, unlike Shura’s morgue, routinely document the cause of death for bodies examined there, these bodies arrive in such a state that any tissue or fluid evidence related to sexual assault would have already been destroyed, a source within the facility confirmed.
Untrained personnel at the scene
According to Levin Elad, criminal forensic investigators were quickly summoned to the Shura base. Near the Gaza border, however, the majority of people who collected the human remains were not trained to gather evidence or preserve crime scenes. Instead, many were from body retrieval service ZAKA or medical organizations Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah, or from the army.
“All of the forensic investigators in the country came here,” to Shura, “and the people responsible for collecting the bodies [from the scene] were not forensics investigators,” Levin Elad said.
A ZAKA volunteer collects human remains in a house at Kibbutz Holit near the Gaza Strip on October 26, 2023. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP)
Additionally, many bodies were collected from active battle zones, as concealed terrorists were still being found in Israel for days after October 7. Furthermore, searching for survivors and maintaining security took precedence over preserving evidence, first responders said. Today, many of the hardest-hit communities are still within closed military territory.
Compounding this issue is that bodies continued to be found for days after a warm October 7, often already in significant stages of decay.
From direct encounters with bodies in the field and in morgues, several first responders and emergency workers gave on-record accounts of findings consistent with sexual abuse. The Times of Israel spoke with several people who had firsthand encounters with bodies they perceived to be abused.
Among them, first responder Simcha Greiniman, who leads one of the ZAKA Search and Rescue volunteer teams retrieving bodies across Israel’s south, said he saw direct evidence of sexual abuse, though he’s not qualified to determine it in line with Israeli criminal standards.
Speaking on October 26, Greiniman said he found the body of a woman at Kibbutz Be’eri, lying facedown on a bed, unclothed from the waist down. She had been shot in the back of her head.
ZAKA volunteer Simcha Greiniman in the ruins of Kibbutz Holit, October 26, 2023. (Carrie Keller-Lynn/Times of Israel)
His team, he said, only discovered her body three days after the massacre, and it was already in a state of decay.
“So you understand that we couldn’t see any [criminal forensic] evidence and that’s not our job. Our main goal is to bring the bodies to burial,” he said.
Asked if he had pictures from the scene, Greiniman said, “I don’t have one picture in my phone. It’s enough to suffer for the rest of my life from what I saw.”
Some emergency workers, he acknowledged, did photograph other scenes and sent pictures directly to official authorities, he said. The Times of Israel was not able to obtain images from various government sources, which cited both victim privacy and the need to protect intelligence sources.
What the victims’ bodies show
IDF Captain (Res) Maayan, part of the medical staff at the makeshift mass casualty morgue, at Shura Base, October 31, 2023. (Carrie Keller-Lynn/Times of Israel)
At Shura, IDF Captain (Res.) Maayan, who said she was unable to share her last name, is a dentist and part of the medical forensic team working to identify bodies.
Maayan said on October 31 that she has seen several bodies that had signs consistent with sexual abuse.
“I can tell that I saw a lot of signs of abuse in the [genital region],” Maayan said, using her hand to euphemistically demonstrate. “We saw broken legs, broken pelvises, bloody underwear,” and women who were not dressed below the waist, she said.
Ina Kubbe, a gender and conflict scholar with Tel Aviv University, confirmed that these are signs consistent with sexual violence, but that a forensic investigation is required for any formal determination of rape.
Shari, another IDF reservist working in the Shura morgue, offered similar testimony from firsthand observation of the deceased, in a recorded video verified by the IDF.
Visegrád 24-tweet-24October2023-Israeli woman responsible for identifying female victims
An Israeli woman responsible for identifying female victims of the Hamas massacre confirms that Hamas terrorists raped children and elderly women.
Visegrád 24-tweet-24October2023-An Israeli woman responsible for identifying female victims of the Hamas massacre confirms that Hamas terrorists raped children and elderly women.
“Yes, we have seen that women have been raped. Children through elderly women have been raped. Forcible entry, to the point that bones were broken,” said Shari, who asked not to share her last name. “We saw genitals cut off,” she added. Shari is part of a special women’s unit that prepares female soldiers’ bodies for burial after mass casualty events. She, too, is not legally qualified to determine rape.
The IDF has also screened, behind closed doors, a 47-minute compilation of raw footage from the Hamas assault, including a video of a mutilated woman whose undergarments had been removed. There are also pictures and videos uploaded to social media providing additional circumstantial evidence supporting rape claims.
In their own words: Hamas interrogations
Israeli intelligence services have released several clips from interrogations of Hamas terrorists captured after taking part in the October 7 attack.
In one video, a man said that terrorists were “having sex with dead bodies,” with the intention “to dirty them, to rape them.”
Gender violence scholar Kubbe said that “the concept of ‘dirtying’ is significant because it reflects the intention of the perpetrators to tarnish the honor and dignity of the targeted population.”
“By violating the physical and psychological integrity of individuals through sexual violence, the perpetrators aim to degrade and stigmatize the victims and their entire community. This can have long-lasting consequences, including social ostracism, trauma, and a breakdown of social structures,” Kubbe said.
Arsen Ostrovsky-tweet-11October2023-And why take the kids and babies
And why take the kids and babies? “To rape them”.
This is a Hamas terrorist, during interrogation.
I can’t. I just can’t. They’re worse than even ISIS. What monstrous evil!
Arsen Ostrovsky-tweet-11October2023-And why take the kids and babies? “To rape them”.
This is a Hamas terrorist, during interrogation.
I can’t. I just can’t. They’re worse than even ISIS. What monstrous evil!
Another videotaped testimony by a captured terrorist who identified himself as Muhammed Nahed Ahmed El-Arsha said bluntly that Hamas committed acts barred by Islam, including rape.
“According to religion, all of what happened is forbidden,” he said, specifying that he meant “the kidnapping, the raping, the whoring of children.”
Emily Schrader-tweet-13October2023-Interrogation of Hamas terrorist
LEAKED FOOTAGE: Interrogation of Hamas terrorist captured by IDF security in which he admits both beheadings and rape. Disturbing!
Emily Schrader-tweet-13October2023-LEAKED FOOTAGE: Interrogation of Hamas terrorist captured by IDF security in which he admits both beheadings and rape. Disturbing!
Another interrogated terrorist also said that Hamas had given them permission to rape the corpse of a girl.
He said that compatriots did “things a person doesn’t do – beheading people, having sex with dead bodies, meaning the body of a dead young woman,” adding that: “It’s not humans that do that.”
Amichai Stein-tweet-23October2023-A Hamas terrorist
A Hamas terrorist who participated in the attack in his interrogation in Israel: Hamas ordered us to kill, behead and even to “have sex their bodies”
Amichai Stein-tweet-23October2023-A Hamas terrorist
“Rape has been used as a tool of war and conflict throughout history, and it continues to be a disturbing and pervasive issue in contemporary conflicts as well,” Kubbe said.
She added that rape is “used as a tool to target specific ethnic or religious groups,” here Jews, and that sexual violence “can be a means of asserting dominance and control over the targeted group.”
All three of the videos linked above were screened on Israeli television channels, after being released by security services.
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14 kids under 10, 25 people over 80: Up-to-date breakdown of Oct 7 victims we know about
Age, gender data for most civilian victims of Hamas onslaught, based on media tally, provides a picture authorities aim to complete as they continue efforts to identify bodies
By ToI Staff 4 December 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/14-kids-under-10-25-people-over-80-up-to-date-breakdown-of-oct-7-victims-we-know-about/
A soldier mans the makeshift mass casualty morgue at the Shura military base near Ramle, October 24, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Almost two months after the unprecedented Hamas onslaught on southern Israel, which left some 1,200 people dead, the exact data on those killed in the biggest terror attack in Israeli history is still shrouded in uncertainty.
There have been efforts to compile the available data, particularly the number of babies, children, and elderly people murdered on October 7, even as several members of emergency organizations have been quoted giving imprecise information.
Authorities have identified a total of 274 soldiers and 859 non-soldiers killed during the brutal assault. The latter figure includes 57 Israel Police officers and 38 local security officers. It is unclear which of these individuals were on duty when killed. Removing those victims leaves a figure of 764 civilians.
Partial data by Hebrew media covering the civilians — killed by thousands of invading terrorists and by some of the thousands of rockets fired that day at Israeli cities — reveals that they include two infants, 12 other children under the age of 10, 36 civilians aged 10-19, and 25 elderly people over the age of 80, accounting for 75 of the 764 civilians.
Israel has also named another 15 civilians and members of security forces (not included in the 764 above) who were killed and whose remains are held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. There are 122 other Israelis and foreigners currently being held hostage in Gaza as a result of the October 7 assault — an unknown number of whom are dead — after a total of 109 hostages were freed by Hamas. Another hostage (a soldier) was rescued alive by IDF forces, and three bodies of slain hostages — two civilians and one soldier — were recovered by Israeli troops and returned to Israel (also to be added to the sum total of Israelis killed on October 7).
An additional seven Israelis are currently listed as missing, with their families having received no information from authorities about whether they were killed or abducted. An unknown number of foreigners are similarly unaccounted for.
An unknown number of bodies — in mid-November the number was around 100 — are still awaiting identification at the Shura pathological center near Tel Aviv, with difficulties in the process arising because of the state of the remains. Some of the remains are believed to belong to Hamas terrorists.
In summary, Israel has officially identified 1,151 people murdered in the Hamas onslaught, with an unknown number of others still awaiting confirmation, and some of the remaining Gaza hostages possibly dead as well.
An aerial picture shows the abandoned site of the weekend assault by Hamas terrorists on the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, October 10, 2023. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Authorities have yet to provide an official breakdown on the victims. But the Walla news site has published data by age and gender for 756 of the murdered civilians for which information is available.
One of them was a baby under the age of one year — 10-month-old Mila Cohen, killed with her father and grandmother.
According to data by Haaretz, a Bedouin woman at the tail end of her pregnancy was shot in the abdomen while heading to the hospital to give birth, where doctors delivered the baby, but failed to save it.
Additionally, 12 children aged 1 to 9 — 10 boys and two girls — were murdered in the Hamas massacres, according to Walla.
Between the ages of 10 and 19, 36 civilians were murdered, 25 of them male and 11 female.
The largest number of confirmed civilian victims, 421, were in the age group of 20-40. Among them were 259 men and 162 women.
There were 161 victims between the ages of 41 and 64 — 102 men and 59 women.
Walla reported that 100 victims were aged 65-80, including 69 women and 31 men.
And 25 victims were over the age of 80 — 18 men and seven women.
With Israel using advanced technological methods — including from the field of archaeology — to locate the missing and identify more severely mutilated or burnt bodies, authorities hope to soon bring clarity, both to the families of still-missing loved ones, and to the general public, regarding the worst attack on Israeli civilians in the country’s history.
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Hamas Using Chemical Warfare, Gassed IDF Soldiers to Death at Nahal Oz
Hana Levi Julian – 2 Tevet 5784 – December 14, 2023 – https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/hamas-using-chemical-warfare-gassed-idf-soldiers-to-death-at-nahal-oz/2023/12/14/
An investigation into the deaths of IDF surveillance soldiers at the Nahal Oz military base on October 7 has discovered that Hamas terrorists used chemical (gas) weapons to kill Israelis.
According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News, investigators examining the bodies of the surveillance soldiers at the base reportedly revealed they died from the effects of toxic gas.
The name of the gas, which caused suffocation and loss of consciousness within a few minutes of exposure, was not revealed.
The families of the IDF surveillance soldiers who were killed at the Nahal Oz outpost received the details of the investigation from an IDF reserve officer who shared the final moments experienced by their loved ones before their death inside the camp.
Fifteen female IDF observers and three female IDF officers died in the toxic Nahal Oz inferno. Six officers and one surveillance soldier managed to escape the toxic environment and survived to tell the tale to investigators. Of those remaining, six others were abducted by the terrorists who dragged them into Gaza.
The main finding, detailed by an engineering expert, indicated that an unspecified, toxic flammable substance was hurled into the entrance of a building housing the surveillance commander center at the base.
The chemical warfare was used to launch the October 7 attack by some 3,000 invading terrorists led by Hamas who decimated communities, tortured, raped, beheaded and burned people alive while thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli population centers across the Jewish State.
Some 22 communities and a number of Israeli military bases were overrun by the raging hordes; more than 1,200 people were slaughtered, the vast majority of whom were civilians. Another 240 people, including soldiers, were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
According to the report, a soldier at the entrance to the building tried but failed to extinguish the flames ignited by the substance.
“They set fire to materials that ignited and spread, which contained toxic gases that could cause suffocation in a few minutes or even less than that,” the officer told the news outlet.
Smoke from the toxic flames entered the command center where 22 people, including many surveillance soldiers, were hiding. The soldiers soaked paper towels with water and stuffed them under the door hoping to block the smoke, but the strategy didn’t work.
“The soldiers began to leave the room and search for an exit. They were coughing and some couldn’t breathe,” the IDF officer told Channel 12.
“Some told us that they felt they were stepping on some people, they tried to pick them up, and with the rest of their strength tried to call to them. They were simply surviving and trying to figure out how to get themselves out of there.”
Realizing the emergency exit door was in flames, the struggling soldiers searched further.
Reaching a nearby restroom, one of the officers climbed in and broke the window. He helped five more of his friends to get out.
“The same officer tried to break another window, and the last survivor managed to get out of the opening,” the IDF officer shared with the bereaved parents.
“One of the officers climbed back into the bathroom. He shouted but there was no voice in response … There were also soldiers here who did not manage to make this climb,” the officer added.
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The Press Tours Hamas Massacre at Kfar Aza, Israel
Kassy Dillon-tweet-20November2023-The Press Tours Hamas Massacre at Kfar Aza, Israel
This is what I saw at Kfar Aza, Israel.
Kassy Dillon-tweet-20November2023-The Press Tours Hamas Massacre at Kfar Aza, Israel
The Press Tours Hamas Massacre at Kfar Aza, Israel
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Interactive map – Hamas Terror
Mapping the Massacres https://oct7map.com/
Israel-tweet-31October2023-Interactive map – Hamas Terror
Israel-tweet-31October2023-Interactive map – Hamas Terror
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Hamas Massacre Videos
The-Mossad-Satirical,-Yet-Awesome-tweet-2November2023-Hamas Massacre Videos
Here is a new website that contains all videos and images of documented Hamas War Crimes from October 7th, including raw footage from the attacks.
The world must know the enemy we are fighting. The enemy whose clearly stated intentions are to rid Israel of its Jews and then the world.
Warning: the images are graphic and difficult to see.
https://hamas-massacre.net
The Mossad Satirical, Yet Awesome-tweet-2November2023-Hamas Massacre Videos
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Israel’s Rabbis order 200+ vehicles with remains buried
Nov 21November2023 2:17 pm | Ticker, Virtual Jerusalem
https://virtualjerusalem.com/israels-rabbis-order-200-vehicles-with-remains-buried/
7October2023 Hamas Massacre Burnt vehicles
In an unprecedented and grisly ruling, Israel’s chief Rabbinated has ruled that vehicles involved in the October 7 atrocities, believed to contain human remains, must receive a Jewish burial. The decision follows weeks of trying to scrape blood and flesh from the cars and trucks that were attacked on that day. Many of the vehicles were crushed and burned and the human remains within not always identifiable. Thus, with no certainty about the identities, the decision was made to bury all such vehicles.
ZAKA Tel-Aviv Update 23November2023
via E=mail https://zakatelaviv.org/
In a unique response to the tragic events of October 7, Zaka Tel Aviv has recommended an unprecedented measure for preserving the sanctity of those lost on that day. Due to the inability to recover all remains from vehicles where many victims perished, the decision has been made to bury these vehicles. This decision, made after consultation with rabbinic authorities, is a first in Israel’s history. It reflects our deep commitment to dignity in death, especially in situations where traditional methods are not feasible. This approach, while awaiting final approval, symbolizes our respect for the deceased and offers a form of closure to grieving families.
7October2023 Hamas Massacre Burnt vehicles-zakatelaviv
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