| by Bruce Thornton via FrontPage Mag Last week during a pause in hostilities Israel started exchanging Palestinian Arab prisoners for Hamas’s Israeli hostages. Obviously, the “international community” has been pressuring Israel to make this concession, one that most Israelis know is dangerous, given the moral hazard of rewarding Hamas’ war-crimes, the certainty that any stop in the fighting will allow Hamas to regroup and rearm, and the Palestinian Arabs’ sorry track-record of serially violating every “agreement” it’s made with Israel, as well as transnational covenants like the Geneva Conventions ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Does Biden surround himself with Jews he appoints to critical positions but who lack a true Jewish heart? +++ Netanyahu meets with Blinken in Jerusalem The Israeli prime minister thanked the top U.S. diplomat for his support "in the war of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of our hostages." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at his office in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. It is the fourth time the top U.S. diplomat has visited the Jewish state since the war against Hamas began on Oct. 7. In a video published following the sit-down, Netanyahu noted that the meeting with Biden took place “shortly after Hamas murderers murdered Israelis here in Jerusalem. “This is the same Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre on Oct. 7, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere. I told him: We swore, and I swore, to eliminate Hamas. Nothing will stop us,” said Netanyahu. “We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals—to release all our abductees, to eliminate Hamas completely and to ensure that Gaza will never again face such a threat,” the prime minister added. Blinken joined Netanyahu and the other War Cabinet members for a meeting. “I want to express our appreciation for your support from the beginning: the president, you personally, the delegation, in the war of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of our hostages. You’ve been very helpful. We appreciate it deeply,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. “And of course, I’d like to talk to you about the next phase.” On the American agenda was discussion about a further extension of the ceasefire and ways to free more hostages from the Gaza Strip. The current 24-hour extension expires on Friday morning. In addition to the War Cabinet members Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, the meeting also included Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Minister-without-Portfolio Gadi Eizenkot, MK Aryeh Deri, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the prime minister’s military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, National Security Council Deputy Director Gil Reich and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs. Representing the American side were Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, State Department Counselor Derek Chollet and Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield. The secretary of state also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Thursday. At the start of their meeting, Herzog commented on the terrorist attack in Jerusalem earlier in the day, saying “it is another example of the situation we’re in, the endless war that we are fighting against terror organizations, especially Hamas, in these very complicated and challenging times.” Blinken began his remarks by talking about the Jerusalem attack. “And, as you said, we’re reminded yet again by the events in Jerusalem today of the threat from terrorism that Israel and Israelis face every single day. Like you, my heart goes out to the victims of this attack.” Blinken noted the “positive developments” in freeing Israeli hostages from Gaza and how the ceasefire has allowed more humanitarian aid into the Strip. “I look forward to detailed conversations with the Government of Israel about the way ahead in Gaza. The United States firmly supports Israel and its right to defend itself and to try to ensure that October 7 never happens again,” he said. Both leaders acknowledged the death of former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger at the age of 100. Blinken is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and then attend the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai. He arrived in the region after attending meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, North Macedonia, where NATO foreign ministers and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) discussed the situation in Ukraine. While in Brussels, Blinken dodged a question from a New York Times reporter about the possibility of Israel’s offensive against Hamas not resuming at all. “We’d like to see the pause extended because what it has enabled first and foremost is hostages being released, coming home, being reunited with their families. It’s also enabled us to surge humanitarian assistance into the people of Gaza, who so desperately need it,” said Blinken. “So its continuation, by definition, means that more hostages would be coming home, more assistance would be getting in.” The American diplomat then turned to the idea of a two-state solution, which he noted the Biden administration has characterized from the start as “the only path to enduring peace; to enduring security; to the preservation of Israel as a strong, secure, democratic and Jewish state; and Palestinians having their legitimate aspirations for a state and self-determination met. “The events of Oct. 7 only further confirm that commitment,” he said. Also on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that Israel would resume attacking Hamas terrorists in Gaza. “There is no way we are not going back to fight to the end,” the prime minister said. “This is my policy, the entire Cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it—this is exactly what we will do.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This from a dear friend and fellow memo reader: The threat to Israel is truly existential, and every day more articles are being written against the country. Why the Israelis are even trying to negotiate is beyond me, particularly since Hamas killed three more Israelis this morning at a bus stop. But one of the main questions being raised is what to do after Israel takes over Gaza. The WSJ had a story about it this morning, that touches on some important points:
Dan Henninger also wrote a piece about how Hamas has seized the advantage, which is incredibly disturbing, but shows how Hamas makes life miserable:
We all hate that this war happened, but it is a war. People are dying and a lot more are going to die. The best piece I read this morning was by Douglas Murray, who has been on the ground there almost since the beginning. In it he says, "The jihadists say they will win because they love death more than we love life. I think they are wrong. Israel will win precisely because they—we—love life."
My hope remains for the complete elimination of Hamas, and that's not only going to take a while, it will require Israel to stand firm in the face of tremendous adversity. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Incoherent Biden in Colorado If Trump had made that comment about being able to launch nuclear weapons, the media would have lost their minds. +++ Bernie speaks. +++ High Stakes and a Simple Choice COMMENTARY By Bernie Marcus I am 94 years old and like many of you, I am exhausted by politics and saddened by what I see happening to America. I had hoped it was time for me to move to the sidelines and let younger generations continue the fight to preserve America’s founding freedoms and values. But, like so many of us, I realized that I could not let myself walk away; the stakes are just too high. We cannot let the America we see today be what we leave to our children and grandchildren. Many of our once-great cities have devolved into lawlessness with random violent attacks on innocent people, rampant looting, and large-scale homeless encampments. There are rarely consequences for the wrongdoers because George Soros-elected prosecutors across America refuse to prosecute them. Moreover, our southern border is unprotected, and millions of people we know nothing about pour into our nation to receive care and benefits that we cannot afford to provide to our struggling military veterans. Worse, many of the border crossers may be gang members who commit violent crimes here. Schoolchildren across America cannot read, write, or do basic math, while our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children. Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children. These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy. This should not be a partisan issue. This should be an issue for all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – that I hope to reach with this op-ed. You enjoy the freedoms and values on which the nation was founded. Sadly, I see these freedoms and values being eroded today as government gets bigger and weaponized against its political opponents. I wrote this op-ed because of my love for America, not for any financial gain or advantage. I have been retired for 30 years and spend my time engaged in philanthropic causes, with which I have committed to share 90% of my net worth. I was born here and can give testimony about The American Dream. I lost my job and was broke when I was 48 years old. A dear friend of mine suggested that my misfortune presented a great opportunity to build a small business based upon an idea I had shared with him. Only in America, the land of opportunity, could being without a job and broke be a great opportunity. In 1978, my partners and I built four hardware stores, and this small business grew and is known as The Home Depot. We could only have done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have. Part of our legacy must be passing on to future generations of Americans our founding freedoms and values, including The American Dream. We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years. We must also reject calls from some politicians to replace our free market system with big government socialism. Most of them seem to have never had a job outside of government. All they know is making government bigger and more intrusive in the lives of its citizens. I wrote above that I wanted to sit on the sidelines of politics, but the stakes were too high for me just to walk away. The stakes are America’s path forward. Do we want to continue the perilous trajectory we are now on? I do not because it would be disastrous for all Americans except the political elite. For Democrats, the choice is simple. If you feel that you are better off now than you were three years ago, you should vote for Joe Biden or whoever is the Democrat candidate. For Republicans, the choice is also simple. Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election. I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says. I, too, have been frustrated at times, but we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office. Now is the time for unity to save The American Dream for future generations. For these reasons, I endorse Donald J. Trump as the nominee of the Republican Party and as our next President. I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America. The new war in the Middle East will present great challenges for the free world for some time, especially in keeping other terrorist groups or nations out of the conflict. This will require a president with the judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage that Donald Trump displayed in his first term when he ordered the strike that killed the Iranian terrorist Gen. Qasem Soleimani and dissuaded Russia from invading Ukraine. Many, including myself, believe that Hamas would not have unleashed its barbarism and cruelty on Israel if Donald Trump was our president today. The reason is America’s enemies respect and, more importantly, fear Donald Trump’s judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage. It is critical that America’s next leader have these attributes in the face of Hamas murdering innocent babies, old people, including Holocaust survivors, entire families; burning alive innocent people; raping women and young girls; and other unspeakable acts. I urge my fellow Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to put their love for America above all else. I urge the Republican National Committee to end the Republican debates that only benefit ad makers and political consultants. They are unproductive and embarrassing. Bernie Marcus is the co-founder of Job Creators Network, a philanthropist, and the retired co-founder of The Home Depot. And: +++++++++++++++++++++++ Hamas son has falling out with father who is Hamas founder. +++ Hamas founder's son calls for Israel to kill his father if hostages not released. "I made a mistake, 10 or 15 years ago when I saved his life many times," stressed the son of the Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, called for Israel to set a time limit for the terrorist group to release the remaining hostages it is holding and to kill its leaders – including his own father – if they fail to do so, in a video posted on X Tuesday. After the successful release of the most vulnerable group of hostages, Israel must give Hamas a timeframe to release the remaining hostages. If they, fail Israel must execute Hamas mass murderers in Israeli prisons. No exception, Sheik Hassan Yousef is included. — Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF) November 28, 2023 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Israel’s 55th Day of War – The 7th Day of the “Pause” By Sherwin Pomerantz Now 55 days into the war and the pause has been extended for another day with 10 more hostages expected to be released tonight. To date 120 hostages have been released, 97 Israelis (96 women and children and 1 adult male) as well as 23 foreign workers. There remain 143 hostages in Hamas captivity as this is being written. 210 Palestinian prisoners previously held in Israeli jails have been released as part of the agreement with Hamas. While the casualties from the war have been virtually eliminated during the seven days of the pause, the IDF advised this morning that 2,005 Israeli troops have been injured since October 7th and the start of hostilities. There continues to be some back-and-forth military activity between Israel and Hezbollah on the northern border with Lebanon as well. Three people were killed and six were wounded, two of them seriously, in a terror shooting attack at the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday morning. According to police, at around 7:40 AM local time, two Palestinian gunmen emerged from a vehicle on Weizman Street at the main entrance to the capital and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop. Police said two off-duty soldiers and an armed civilian in the area returned fire, killing the two terrorists. According to the Shin Bet security agency, the pair were Hamas members and had been previously jailed for terror activity. One was jailed between 2010 and 2020 for planning terror attacks under directions of terror elements in the Gaza Strip and the other was jailed in 2014 for undisclosed terror activity, the agency said. Footage showed that the terrorists were armed with an M-16 assault rifle and a handgun. Thursday’s attack came as a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip was holding for the sixth day. Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have been high since October 7th, when some 3,000 terrorists burst through the border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing some 240 hostages In an unrelated incident, two Israel Defense Forces reservists were lightly wounded on Thursday afternoon in a car-ramming attack near Moshav Beka’ot in the Jordan Valley. The troops were evacuated to the hospital and their families were notified, according to the military. Israeli forces killed the Palestinian terrorist. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at his office in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. It is the fourth time the top U.S. diplomat has visited the Jewish state since the war against Hamas began on Oct. 7. Blinken then joined Netanyahu and the other War Cabinet members for a meeting. On the American agenda was discussion about a further extension of the pause in hostilities, and ways to free more hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. The current 24-hour extension expires on Friday morning. The secretary of state also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv. Blinken is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and then attend the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai. In what can only be viewed as strange timing, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passed away last night at the age of 100. He will be remembered here for his urging former US President, during the 1973 war, not to supply Israel with its request for much needed military support. Then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir leaned on Kissinger to provide a critical resupply of ammunition for the IDF but could not move him to agree. Fortunately for us, Nixon saw assisting Israel as being in the US’ best interests and did not accept the recommendation of this Secretary of State. Instead, he ordered the US Army’s logistical command to provide the ammunition requested. If one speaks to people who were front line combat troops in that war, they will tell you that the crates of ammunition were flown to Israel and brought directly to the field with the US Army markings clearly visible on each container as there was no time to repack the supplies into Israeli labelled crates which had been the previous custom. As of this writing it is not clear what will happen after the current pause in fighting expires but discussions are ongoing between the parties. This is the longest period of fighting that Israel has been involved in since its founding in 1948. Let’s hope that as November passes in December, that the new Georgian month will signal some clear path to victory and the elimination of Hamas as a threat to our existence here in our homeland. Sherwin Pomerantz has lived in Israel for 40 years, is CEO of Atid EDI Ltd., a international business development consultancy. He is also the Founder and Chair of the American State Offices Association, former National President of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel and a past Chairperson of the Board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Review of Sen. Cruz's "Unwoke" from Chapter 51/2 to 8. The current White House is all caught up in "equity" and antiracism." The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has now been replaced by the promotion of equity or outcomes the government seeks. Equity and equality sound alike but the former means individuals have different circumstances whereas equality means all persons have the same resources or opportunities. Equity is inherently Marxist whereas equality is more capitalistic/democratic in nature. The Biden Administration's objective is to create victim groups because it supports the thesis America is an oppressive society. Specific to this concept Biden has created an entire medical sector catering to children confused, at some point, in their development, as well as a very profitable source of income for hospitals and pediatric surgeons. Anyone who offer reasonable objections is labelled a bigot or a transphobe. Guess. After posting the cartoon above, I am a certified transphobe. Chapter 6 focuses on how the "long march" has reached the Boardroom. Cruz also covers biased bank financing of small gun retailers etc. The question for Democrats, is will Marxism be worth abandoning the democratic process? The next topis Cruz discusses is ESG (environmental,social and governance), begun by Larry Fink , CEO of Black Rock. This activist thought investing should go beyond simple profit and loss. I personallly am oposed to this proressive nonsense for three primary reasons as follows: 1) Byeliminating sectors it causes underperformance. the elimiation of energy, one of the best performing,sectors in '23.caused ESG run portfolios to underperform. 2) We saw what happened to Disney, Anheuser when their boards allowed politics to drive advertising. Billions of market value was wiped out. 3) Nothing remains static and eventually everything moves away from the donor's intent. John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford would turnover in their graves if they saw how their foundations have been invested. Also,as a stockholder management and directors have a fiduciary responsibility to do their best for stockholders and not play politics with stockholder funds. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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