And:
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Israel’s 143rd Day of War
By Sherwin Pomerantz
On the 143rd day of the war the Israeli cabinet today approved both a military operation into Rafah to destroy the final vestiges of Hamas and an evacuation plan for the over 1.3 million Palestinians crowded into that small area near Egypt’s southern border. On CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Netanyahu said “I've asked the army to submit a double plan, the first to enable the evacuation of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and, obviously, the second, to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions. That gets us a real, real distance towards the completion of our victory, and we're not going to give it up,”
“Once we begin the Rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion,” Netanyahu said, as he indicated that the Israel-Hamas war could be wrapped up this spring. “We’ve already destroyed 18 of the 24 Hamas terrorist battalions. So, we have four of them concentrated in Rafah. We can't leave the last Hamas stronghold without taking care of it, obviously, we have to do it,” Netanyahu said as he defended the pending operation which has drawn worldwide condemnation even before it has begun.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel has expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of a deal for the release of the remaining 134 hostages out of the 253 Hamas seized during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza war.
Regarding the hostages in Gaza, the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Israel have come to an understanding of the "basic contours" of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday. The deal is still under negotiation, said Sullivan, who added there would have to be indirect discussions with Hamas by both Qatar and Egypt. Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday said it was not clear yet whether a hostage deal would materialize from ongoing talks, declining to discuss specifics but saying the Islamist terrorist group Hamas needed to "come down to a reasonable situation." If the deal goes through it is expected that an additional 40 hostages would be released, primarily women, children, old people and female members of the IDF.
Meanwhile, he Hostage and Missing Families Forum announced that the families of the hostages are inviting the public to a "giant march" that will last four days from the Gaza border to Jerusalem. This march will occur amid ongoing hostage negotiations. The march will begin on Wednesday from the Re'im parking lot, and pass through Sderot, Kiryat Gat, Beit Guvrin, and Beit Shemesh. The march will end on Saturday in Jerusalem. The forum said that "the return of the hostages is the national duty of the entire people of Israel."
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant indicated today that he expects the activity on the northern border with Lebanon to continue even if there is a temporary pause in the war agreed to with Hamas in Gaza. As such the Israeli Government today authorized the extension of the evacuation order for the 60,000 residents of Northern Israel to at least July with some arguing that it should remain in place through August.
Earlier today the IDF struck Hezbollah terror targets deep inside Lebanon. At least two simultaneous strikes hit near Lebanon's city of Baalbek, two security sources told Reuters, in the first bombardment of eastern Lebanon since regional hostilities erupted following the start of the war in Gaza. Two Hezbollah operatives were killed in that attack, security sources told Reuters.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli media reported Monday morning. Shtayyeh, a member of ruling party Fatah's Central Committee, has been Palestinian prime minister since 2019. This may signal the intent of the Palestinian Authority to replace the current leadership with technocrats which they believe will make rapprochement with Hamas easier.
Future Leadership
Today I highlight a master teacher, Dr. Zohar Raviv. He is an internationally recognized educator of Judaism who serves as the International VP of Education for Taglit-Birthright Israel. Prior to assuming his current position, Raviv served as Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at Oberlin College (Ohio) and as the Hebrew University Florence Melton Scholar to North America.
An advocate for civil rights and social education he is passionate about the unity of the Jewish people but not uniformity. He believes that Jews should recognize that we are not uniform in our beliefs, our color or our ideas but all need to be committed to national unity.
Raviv is a graduate of Bar-Ilan University (B.A, Land of Israel Studies), Brandeis University (joint M.A, Judaic Studies and Jewish Education), and received an additional M.A. as well as his PhD in Jewish Thought from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).
To get some sense of how this Class A educator thinks feel free to see this short 14 minute EL-TALK of his from 2015:
or his short 8 minute talk at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles last shabbat which you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Our education ministry would be well served by someone with insights such as these and how they should morph into practical pedagogy.
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I recently listened to a professor, who is an avowed expert regarding N Korean weaponry, discuss how N Korea has become very involved in supplying armament to Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, The Houthi's as well as Iran. In addition to raising needed funds to support their economy, N Korea's Kim family are also willing to train the purchaser's of these weapons in their use and have even helped Hezbollah dig tunnels to protect their troops. These tunnels have been effective and a significant problem for the IAF to destroy.
Frankly, I was surprised to learn several specific things:
a) N Korea has become not only a spreading rogue weapon seller, but also b) An increasing threat to Israel.
c) The most discouraging matter is our government remains mute when it comes to revealing their failures regarding China's constant spying and surveillance activities, Chinese purchases of land near sensitive security facilities, and persistent theft of documents and highly classified material etc. None of this is revealed because our own government is secretive when it comes to exposing their own incompetence. so no punishment or corrections occur.
Big Brother certainly watches/tracks us but not itself.
Many of my liberal friends tell me Trump is corrupt and should be in jail but offer no evidence. I remind them the evidence they allege is not factual but hearsay. I also tell them similar evidence of corruption on the president's part and his entire family has been documented by evidence and the current Justice department, FBI and other intelligence agencies are doing their best to hide such evidence, make it difficult fr investigator's to find such evidence and thus, established a two system of Justice. I am posting a link to a video showing Sen.Cruz and I are in agreement:
Subject: Ted Cruz DESTROYS Merrick Garland Over Trump And...
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Are American Jews Prepared for the Return of
History?
By Seth Mandel
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The attached sends a clear message and reminds me of a bad joke:
A teacher asks her kids to write an essay about about "Hop-along" Cassidy and tell what they learned. Everyone wrote about how "Hoppy" was a good guy, he did virtuous things and was very courteous.
The only Jewish kid in the class wrote an essay and said he learned "Don't f--- with "Hoppy."
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WOW:
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A handful of Israeli's warned something strange and unusual was going on in Gaza but no one listened and acted right away. The ball was dropped and thousands paid the price..
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Inside Unit 8200: Moving forward after the
October 7 intelligence failure
The IDF's main intelligence unit was shocked on Oct. 7. Two commanders recall events on Oct. 8.
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More creepy skullduggery on the part of radical Democrats. There is not end to how far these political animals will go to retain power.
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Exclusive: Biden Admin Planted Operative Jeff DiSantis in Fani Willis’ Office to Target Trump, Sources Say
By WENDELL HUSEBØ
The Biden administration planted a Democrat operative inside a Fulton County office to target former President Donald Trump, multiple sources familiar with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office exclusively told Breitbart News.
If the Biden administration planted the operative, as the sources say, it would present a strong argument that the administration interfered in the 2024 presidential election.
Breitbart News granted the sources anonymity to discuss the attorney’s office for fear of retribution. The sources have direct knowledge of the environment at the District Attorney’s Office, which they characterized as “corrupt.”
One significant figure is overlooked in the Fulton County scandal concerning Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis and her alleged lover and fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade, the sources said: Meet Jeff DiSantis — the county’s Deputy District Attorney with professional experience far greater than the average county employee. DiSantis worked on Willis’s 2020 campaign, sources told Breitbart News, and was the former Executive Director of the Democrat Party of Georgia with extensive knowledge of campaign finance law. He was also the Deputy Director of Compliance for the DNC, according to his official bio:
Jeff has also worked for candidates in 30 states running for a variety of offices, including President of the United States, United States Senator, Governor, United States Representative, Attorney General, District Attorney, and Mayor, as well as for a national political party committee. He has served as a campaign manager, media consultant, pollster, press spokesman, research director, and policy advisor.
Sources credit DiSantis with colluding with the White House to target Trump. “DiSantis did this,” one source told Breitbart News about the Trump case. “He’s the one. He is the one pulling all the strings. He was the one that walled her [Willis] off. He was in every important meeting. He is the brainchild behind this. That is the connection to the White House.”
Citing his deep history and connections to the Democrat Georgia machine, sources told Breitbart News they were “one hundred percent” certain that DiSantis was the inside man planted in the Fulton County office by the Biden administration. “DiSantis is the one pulling the strings on this whole thing,” a second source said. “Everybody heard Fani testify. It’s no secret that she’s not smart. That is how she sounds and acts every day of the week.”
“Anyone that has common sense knows that the White House has been involved in this prosecution,” a source told Breitbart News. “This shouldn’t just miraculously happen. Of course, she’s [Willis] not going to prosecute the former president United States without the current administration’s approval.”
Sources speculated that DiSantis was instrumental in selecting grand jurors for the Trump case based on voter registration data. “Part of why you’re raising money as a candidate is to get money to buy the data about who are your voters. DiSantis, as the former head of the state Democratic Party, he’s going to know you know [the data] in Georgia,” one source said. “There’s not one conservative person on that grand jury.”
Sources also revealed that DiSantis was a member of Willis’s transition team after she won the election in November 2020. DiSantis helped Wade select employees for the new office. “DiSantis was there in the capacity to be a political strategist, hiding in the DA’s office,” a source told Breitbart News.
As Breitbart News exclusively reported Sunday, “Wade is a prosecutor on the Trump case and he selected the office employees,” a source told Breitbart News. Wade “made the decisions to hire or fire” employees in the District Attorney’s Office following Willis’s election victory in November 2020, according to multiple sources familiar with the Wade and Willis relationship.
The revelation of Wade’s previously unreported position as the former personnel decision-maker for the District Attorney’s Office raises ethical and conflict of interest concerns. It also raises questions about whether Wade and Willis have been forthright about the timeline of their reported affair.
Sources described one-on-one interviews behind closed doors with Willis and Wade, who was “too invested to be just a friend” of Willis to hold such a powerful position. It was “obvious” Willis and Wade had an affair in 2020, one year before Willis launched her probe into Trump — and DiSantis would know about it, sources revealed to Breitbart News.
The District Attorney’s Office did not reply to a request for comment from Breitbart News about DiSantis’s alleged involvement between the White House and Trump’s prosecution.
In January, Trump and codefendant Mike Roman accused Willis of maintaining an improper romantic relationship with Wade. Willis and Wade took the stand in February to testify about whether their relationship disqualified Willis from prosecuting Trump. If the presiding judge determines Willis engaged in an actual conflict of interest with her lover and fellow prosecutor, Willis could be removed from the case, handing former President Donald Trump a massive victory.
Wade’s story appears shaky. Former Fulton County District Attorney employee and friend of Willis since college, Robin Yeartie, testified that Willis was definitely in a relationship with Wade since 2019. In addition, cellphone data obtained from AT&T through subpoena contradicts Wade’s testimony.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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| by Niall Ferguson via Bloomberg Two nations are fighting for their existence against absolutist enemies, but one is the victim of a double standard. ++++
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Mr. Biden and Western nations have been reluctant to confiscate the $300 billion or so in Russian reserve funds parked in Western financial institutions. They were frozen when Russia invaded, but there they sit two years later collecting dust and interest. It’s almost as if Mr. Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz imagine that the money might be an inducement for Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace deal and rejoin the civilized world.
But there are no signs that Mr. Putin will settle for a peace short of Ukraine’s capitulation. His forces are on the offensive again, driving Ukrainians from the city of Avdiivka in the last week. With Ukrainians running low on artillery shells and other ammunition, Russia’s tactic is to saturate territory with days of artillery and aerial bombardment and then move in with infantry when nothing is left.
A broader Russian breakthrough can’t be ruled out. The more territory Mr. Putin takes, the harsher his terms are likely to be.
Kyiv urgently needs ammunition and the money to make or buy it. The European Union voted recently to supply 50 billion euros in aid, but Republicans in the House are blocking even a vote on new weapons. It’s a shameful position that will tar the Republican Party as the abandonment of South Vietnam did Democrats. But if the impasse continues, Mr. Biden and Western Europe need to find money elsewhere. Russian reserves are the best source.
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The Biden Administration has debated the asset seizure for two years, but the arguments against it get worse by the day. One concern is that the seizure would violate international law, especially the concept of “sovereign immunity.” But this assumes that Russia hasn’t itself violated every international legal norm with its brutal aggression.
Ukraine is pursuing its legal right to recompense through international forums, but this takes years. Meantime, various laws and treaties justify such countermeasures as asset seizures. Third parties not directly involved in the conflict can take such measures. A recent 199-page legal analysis by five authors, including Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, makes a detailed and compelling case for why the U.S. President and other nations can seize the assets. The best way to enforce international law and deter future aggression is to impose costs on the aggressor.
The Kremlin could retaliate by seizing Western assets in Russia, and it probably would. But most companies doing business in Russia have already taken sizable if not total losses on their investments since the invasion.
Another worry is that the precedent would open the gate for various bad actors, such as China, to seize sovereign assets. But does anyone think Xi Jinping would need the Russian precedent if he thought such an act was in China’s best interests? There would also be costs for any nation that tried it.
In any case asset-seizure precedents have already been set. President George H.W. Bush issued an executive order in 1992 that compelled every U.S. bank to hand Iraqi sovereign assets to the Federal Reserve. Some $50 billion in Iraqi funds were paid as recompense for Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. The U.S. also froze and then transferred for humanitarian purposes some $3.5 billion of assets belonging to the Afghanistan Central Bank in 2022.
Some U.S. financial officials fear that transferring the assets to Ukraine would make countries less likely to hold dollar assets. The concern is that this would undermine the dollar’s role as a global reserve currency, and thus make other financial sanctions harder to enforce. But there’s no real alternative now to the dollar’s reserve-currency role, despite efforts by China, Russia and others to create one. Western banks are far safer than any others.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 20-1 in January to support the asset seizure, and the sense of Congress is clear. An asset seizure isn’t a substitute for a weapons bill because Ukraine needs the ammunition right now. But the move would signal to Ukraine that the West isn’t abandoning its cause.
Western sanctions have failed to change Mr. Putin’s behavior, and seizing Russia’s sovereign assets won’t either. But it would increase the price that the Kremlin pays for its murderous attempt at national conquest. Mr. Putin probably thinks Mr. Biden and European leaders are too afraid to do it. All the more reason to open the Russian bank vault.
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