.jpg)
.jpg)
When asked why Biden is imposing pressure on Israel, Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, "There are lines being pushed that it's all about Dearborn, or that it's all about securing Saudi-Israel peace, but the polling out of Michigan and the strategic priorities in Riyadh don't back up these arguments. It looks more like left-wing ideologues using the pretext of political necessity and the potential of a Saudi-Israel normalization deal to jam through all the bad ideas that never made it into policy for years."
Former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon, founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, said: "The Rafah crossing was the major area through which the worst smuggling operation went on for years when it was in the hands of the Egyptian government. If this is not stopped, there will be no end to the war, particularly heavy missiles on Tel Aviv and its surroundings. The seizure of Rafah will limit the war significantly."
"If the U.S. administration has a miraculous way to convince Egypt to fulfill its commitment, then there would be no need for an operation. Unfortunately, the United States does not pressure Egypt even though it has all the capabilities to do that. But what remains is to pressure Israel, but this will not work because what is at stake is missiles on Tel Aviv, and Netanyahu cannot afford to end the war with [a] continued flow of missiles on Tel Aviv."
And:
The Red Cross Has Abandoned Israeli Hostages and Its Pretense of Neutrality
by Gregg Roman
The Algemeiner
The Red Cross has once again failed the Jewish people by choosing to appease its enemies rather than help those in need.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in its mission statement, claims to be "an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance."
The actions of the Red Cross since October 7, however, show that it does not consider the lives and dignity of all victims to be equal. Instead, the Red Cross has fallen in line with those who refuse to condemn Hamas and ignore the atrocities perpetrated against Israelis. This isn't the first time that the Red Cross has ignored the suffering of Jewish people to avoid offending those who seek to eliminate the Jewish people. The Red Cross has received three Nobel Peace Prizes, including one in 1944 for its services in World War II, but decades later, we know the whole truth. Documents released after the war revealed that the Red Cross was well aware of the Nazis' genocide of the Jews and chose to remain silent. The Red Cross defended itself by claiming that if it had disclosed what it knew, "it would have lost its ability to inspect prisoner-of-war camps on both sides of the front." Although the Red Cross has apologized for its inaction in confronting the Holocaust, the bias the ICRC has shown against Israel makes that apology ring hollow. Magen David Adom, Israel's official emergency service, was founded in 1930 and ratified as a National Red Cross Society by the Knesset in 1950. However, the Red Cross refused to allow Magen David Adom entry to the international organization because the latter wanted to use the Star of David as its symbol in place of a red cross. Even though Muslim Red Cross organizations use a red crescent as their symbol, Israel is singled out for refusal. Only after 76 years of life-saving work was Magen David Adom finally accepted by the ICRC in 2006.
The Red Cross has conducted itself similarly since Hamas took Israeli hostages. The Red Cross gained much acclaim for bringing Israeli hostages home after they were released. However, the Red Cross played no part in the negotiations that led to the release, and made no effort to visit the hostages while they were imprisoned.
This is in stark contrast to past hostage crises. During the Iranian hostage crisis, the Red Cross visited the occupied US embassy in Tehran. When 72 Japanese hostages were kidnapped by guerrilla forces in Peru in 1996, the Red Cross provided food and medical assistance. When New York Times reporter David Rohde was held by the Taliban in 2008, the Red Cross delivered him a letter from his wife. When more than 240 hostages were taken from Israel, however, the Red Cross did nothing.
The Red Cross responded to a recent lawsuit filed by Israeli hostages, which claims that the Red Cross neglected its duty to visit prisoners of war, by saying: "The more public pressure we seemingly would do, the more they [Hamas] would shut the door."
The evidence shows that the Red Cross did not try very hard. UN Watch compiled a report showing that the ICRC's social media posts were heavily biased in favor of Hamas, and refused to acknowledge Hamas' atrocities and the plight of the Israeli hostages.
When families of the hostages asked the Red Cross to deliver life-saving medications to their family members in captivity, they were scolded and told to "think about the Palestinian side." by the ICRC.
Since the beginning of the current war, the Red Cross has pumped millions of dollars into Gaza, along with supplies, infrastructure, and medical teams. Hamas, of course, has a long history of shamelessly stealing money and supplies that were intended for civilians, a fact that the ICRC knows, and, unsurprisingly, Hamas has continued to do so during this current war. The Red Cross has both the leverage and the stature to gain access to the Israeli hostages and even to push for their release. They were even able to leverage the Taliban into granting access to hostages in the past. People listen to the Red Cross. But they also hear the Red Cross' silence. When the Red Cross speaks about the Israel-Hamas conflict without mentioning Hamas' attacks, and its president meets with Hamas' leader but does not advocate for Israeli hostages, the message is clear. The Red Cross' historical and current actions seem to suggest that it does not value Israeli lives as much as other people's. It is time for the international community to ask the Red Cross why it looks out for all of those in need, except for Jews.
Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Richard Kemp on the Middle East's Widening War
by Marilyn Stern
Richard Kemp, retired British Army colonel and military analyst, spoke to a January 22 Middle East Forum Podcast (video). The following summarizes his comments:
Following Hamas's invasion into southern Israel's border communities, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been effective in their operational objectives of destroying Hamas's military infrastructure in Gaza and killing its terrorists. In its terror spree, Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis, injured 4,000, and kidnapped over 200 hostages to Gaza. While the IDF continues to pursue its objectives, the rescue of the hostages still held by Hamas has not yet been achieved. The complexities of engaging the terrorists in urban warfare while civilian casualties mount is part of Hamas's strategy of using the Gazan civilian population as human shields. By flooding global media with photos of civilian casualties, the terror group is furthering its goals of garnering sympathy for the Gazan people and turning much of the world against Israel.
The added challenge of ferreting out Hamas's command and control centers buried in over 300 miles of subterranean tunnel city under Gaza without endangering the lives of the Israeli hostages is daunting. Although international pressure is mounting on the IDF to transition to targeted strikes and limit collateral damage, intensive combat operations remain a key tool in their strategy.
The false accusations of genocide lodged against Israel as it degrades Hamas fuels public outrage over images of civilian deaths. Israel must counter this media battle that has been waged against the IDF since the 1960s. In the information war, many media outlets are committed to the narrative that Israel can do no right. What's more, their biased agenda is a cudgel against Israel that whips pro-Hamas/anti-Israel demonstrations into a frenzy. Accusations against Israel's right to defend itself against terror are echoed by the UN, human rights groups, national governments, and universities – all of whom engage in anti-Israel propaganda.
Setting aside the highly charged reactions to this war, an instructive way to understand the death toll in any war is to examine the "civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio." By goading the IDF into killing as many civilians as possible, Hamas enrages the public against the IDF and pressures Israel into a ceasefire, thereby furthering Hamas's objective – "to remain intact."
Hamas's unverified casualty figure of 23,000 does not separate terrorists killed from (1) civilian deaths, (2) Gazan civilians murdered by errant Hamas rockets launched against Israel that fall short, and (3) deaths by natural causes. However, even using the 23,000 number, which is repeated by the media and the UN, and comparing it to the 9,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists the IDF claims to have killed, the resulting ratio yields "1.5 civilians killed for every one terrorist killed."
A UN report issued prior to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza examined the "average ratio of civilians killed in conflict around the world." It concluded that urban area conflicts produce a nine to one casualty rate, i.e., nine civilians to every one combatant. In Gaza, the 1.5 to one ratio is significantly lower than the UN average of collateral damage incurred in global conflicts.
Post-war Gaza, with the particulars of management and reconstruction unknown, will require the uncompromising need for "long-term Israeli responsibility for [the] security of Gaza." Given the current situation, "this is exactly the wrong time to be talking about a two-state solution." It is unfeasible for two reasons: (1) the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, much like Hamas, seeks "the elimination of the state of Israel"; and (2) prior to October 7, each Israeli withdrawal – from Gaza, and southern Lebanon – was met with violence against Israel. This accounts for why Israel cannot militarily leave Judea and Samaria, a.k.a. the West Bank, without endangering the entire country. Maintaining the "current status quo with some enhancements in terms of a degree of sovereignty" remains the best prospect.
Success in Gaza for Israel means eliminating Hamas as a future threat to the Jewish state and rescuing the hostages. Whether both can be achieved remains to be seen, but eradicating Hamas within Gaza and elsewhere will not eliminate the threat to Israel's existence. Israel's need to establish security and maintain intelligence capabilities in Gaza are only one part of the equation. Deradicalizing the population by eradicating the poisonous Jew-hatred that has infected its education system since Israel vacated Gaza in 2005 is a task that the international community, possibly led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, should take on as part of the reconstruction of Gaza.
In northern Israel, the IDF faces another potential front on its border with Lebanon. Hezbollah, the Iranian regime's Lebanese proxy, has fired some 2,000 missiles into Israel. The U.S., France, and other countries are making "diplomatic efforts" to pressure Hezbollah to abide by its obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and move north of the Litani River. Should Hezbollah be compelled to move, it would likely be short-lived before they would return, as none of these countries could effectively force Hezbollah to adhere to the resolution.
The problem is Israel's, and if Hezbollah "is not forced north," there are few options other than engulfing southern Lebanon in a "major conflagration." Hezbollah's rockets, especially its precision-guided missiles capable of reaching the "length and breadth" of Israel, could cause significant damage. For Lebanon, however, war with Israel would be "devastating." The U.S. as well as Israel's allies should pressure Hezbollah by messaging that they will have Israel's back – a pronouncement that could "tip the balance.
Global concerns over the spread of the conflict across the entire region are expressed against the backdrop of low-level attacks by Iranian proxies in Syria on Israel. Iranian proxies are also in Judea and Samaria, as is Hamas. For now, the IDF is containing the situation in the West Bank, but further south in Yemen, the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, have launched ballistic missiles against Israel that it intercepted. Undeterred, the Houthis have attacked global shipping, initially targeting ships linked to Israel but expanding attacks on other ships traversing the Red Sea. These attacks are being countered with American and British ret
As other Arab countries have no desire to join the conflict, all the aggression against Israel and the U.S. is driven by Iran and its proxies. While the Islamic regime fears U.S. expansion of its anti-Houthi operations, it is feeling pressure from suicide attacks waged from within and from the continuous unrest of its people unhappy with the ayatollahs. The regime, in a desperate show of strength to the U.S. and within Iran itself, ordered its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to attack targets in Iraq, Syria, and nuclear-armed Pakistan, considered a U.S. partner.
Hitting Iran harder with sanctions to prevent illicit oil shipments and weapons smuggling might contain the regime, but direct strikes against the IRGC would be a more muscular deterrent to rein in the ayatollahs. After former president Trump eliminated the IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, Iran backed down. The Middle East's dictum is "weakness provokes and strength deters," but the weakness of the current U.S. administration's response to the Iranian mullahs' proxies has advanced the regime's hegemonic ambitions and unleashed havoc in the region.
Marilyn Stern is communications coordinator at the Middle East Forum.
Related Topics: Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Israel & Zionism, Israel-Hamas War, United Nations, US policy, US politics.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HOOVER DAILY:
The Taiwan Catastrophe
by Matt Pottinger, Andrew S. Erickson, Gabriel B. Collins via Foreign Affairs
Washington and its allies face many potential geopolitical catastrophes over the next decade, but
nearly all pale in comparison to what would ensue if China annexed or invaded Taiwan. Such an
outcome, one U.S. official put it, “would be a disaster of utmost importance to the United States, and
I am convinced that time is of the essence.”
++++
HARVARD’S CRISIS STEMS FROM DEBASED CURRICULUM
BY PETER BERKOWITZ VIA REAL CLEAR POLITICS
LAST MONTH, HARRY LEWIS PUBLISHED A HARVARD CRIMSON COLUMN THAT
SQUARELY LAID THE BLAME ON HARVARD FOR THE CRISIS THAT HAS ENGULFED
THE GREAT UNIVERSITY.
++++
Dear Dick,
10,000 Hamas terrorists are embedded among civilians in Rafah – the last Hamas
stronghold in Gaza – despicably using Palestinians as human shields. Today, White
House spokesperson John Kirby reaffirmed America’s support for Israel as it fights to
destroy the terrorists in the southern city along the Egyptian border.
"We understand that their Hamas leadership, in fact full Hamas units are now operating
in Rafah, mixing among the civilians, trying to find refuge there. That's classic Hamas
conduct and that's inexcusable and Israel has a right to go after them," Kirby said.
Israel believes the IDF has killed 12,000 of Hamas’ estimated 30,000 fighters, with
thousands more seriously wounded and unable to fight.
"We still have a long way to go," IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said today as the
military continues its fight to eliminate the threat from Hamas and free the hostages.
He added that Israel is fighting "a long and just war...We act like human beings and,
unlike our enemy, maintain our humanity. We must be careful not to use force where
it is not required, to distinguish between a terrorist and those who are not."
Sincerely,
Alisha Tischler, AIPAC
++++++++++++++++++++++++
I Believe
I believe progressives and radical Democrats are a peculiar lot and a mixture of many personality types simultaneously. They are aggressive, mean spirited, have little regard for ethical restraint, are didactic, insecure yet, comfortable in their cocoon of always being right,. If they say it, it becomes so.
I believe they awake each morning disgruntled that the world is imperfect and only they have the answer how to change it into a better one. They profess to mean well and to have their fellow "man" always in mind.
Take President Johnson who had the "chutzpah" to believe he could end poverty. After spending literally trillions of dollars poverty remained and those he sought to help were actually worse off because expectations were raised and ended dashed. Meanwhile, after he left office, there was an entire "cadre" of do "gooder" progressives and radical Democrats ready to correct his mistakes claiming they only needed more time and, as always, more money.
After all, who is against elevating the underclass? How can one argue against such a worthwhile endeavor? All it takes, we are told, is more time, more tax dollars. Who, in their right mind, could be so heartless as to question both their motive and methods? All they ask is a free pass to solve the intractable.
Their discontent is assuaged by the fact they also have power beyond the voting booth.
The number of registered Democrats and Republicans is about the same. Democrats may have a modest numerical edge and certainly are more organized because power and control means everything. They do not believe government can function if it is small. In order to accomplish their goals, bigness and distance are the answer.
Where do progressives and radical Democrats obtain power beyond the voting booth and their organized spirit? I submit, they control the entire federal bureaucracy, the entire educational apparatus, large corporate boardrooms and C-suites. However, their power does not stop there because it extends to state and local governments of America's largest cities and their elected boards.. They control the entertainment and sports industry and the sports media, as well as the mainstream media, and due to Soros' munificence, the state and district attorney's of some our largest urban populations.
The ability to control education, alone, gives them generational power over America's future thought process. What about the FBI attacking parents for being domestic terrorists because parents want to raise their children and not abdicate their responsibility to some neo-Marxist school board dictator?
Political Correctness became the sperm that eventually birthed CRT. How can anyone be against lowering curbs so "the handicap" have greater mobility? When has anything government engaged in ever ended? It is as if "Topsy" controls everything to which "we the people" are subjected.
Obama Care was shoved down our throats. Obama knew it would exceed projected costs, would break the bonds between patients and their choice of doctors. He sought to transform America and lied to accomplish this and other nefarious goals.
Progressives and radical Democrats are also ruthless. They will do anything to gain control. Their attacks on Trump, regardless of what you think about the man, are outrageous and unconstitutional. They, evidently, will stop at nothing, even if it means breaking him, his family, his real estate empire and opportunity to run for office. If accomplishing this perverse goal means running roughshod over our judicial system so be it because the end justifies the means.
Perhaps the greatest threat progressives and Radical Democrats engage in is creating factions and thus, societal discord. The United States of America was established by brilliant men. The Constitution and Bill of Rights they crafted was unique, beautiful and has lasted beyond any past effort by others to create a continuing republic. Because "we the people" fell asleep and unresponsive, we allowed our society to be penetrated by "evildoers" who feel threatened by our freedoms and democratic ways and seek to destroy America..
Consequently, our ship of state is taking on water and is floundering in rough seas. I have no idea what the end story brings but I am not hopeful because the tooth paste is out of the tube. Yesterday, a poll revealed a large number of Americans cannot even name the three branches of our government. Basic civics and history are no longer taught. Why would one support and/or defend that of which they are ignorant?
Time will tell. It always does.
+++
Israel’s 138th Day of War
By Sherwin Pomerantz
On the 138th day of the war against Hamas, IDF troops continue mop up operations in the Khan Yunis area. They are scouring all of the facilities abandoned by the Hamas leadership when they left the area. This includes a large cache of weapons of different types, communication equipment and related military supplies. Some of this same activity is being replicated in the Rafah area as well.
US envoy Brett McGurk is due to arrive in Cairo later today to meet with Egyptian, Qatari and Hamas representatives. He will present a US sponsored temporary cease-fire plan thst would begin when Ramadan starts (about March 10) and continue through the end of the month-long religious observance. It would be a temporary halt in hostilities under which some (but clearly not all…bummer) of the hostages would be released, as would some Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails. No doubt the released hostages would include those with American citizenship. Additional humanitarian aid would also enter the strip. Such a lull in the fighting would also give what’s left of the Hama leadership time to regroup, something Israel is not so happy about. Israel did not sent representatives to Cairo for this meeting.
Washington stood alone on Tuesday in voting down an Algeria-drafted resolution that demands an immediate humanitarian halt to hostilities in Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, along with the return of hostages still being held captive in Gaza since Oct. 7 and the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, told the 15-member council that the Biden administration is engaged in ongoing negotiations to bring about a six-week pause in the fighting. If adopted, the resolution on the table on Tuesday would “negatively impact those negotiations,” she said.
“Demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace,” she said. “Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel, extend the hostages’ time in captivity—an experience described by former hostages as ‘hell’—and extend the dire humanitarian crisis Palestinians are facing in Gaza.” The United Kingdom abstained from the vote, which was 13-1. Nine votes were needed for passage, but the United States, as one of the body’s five permanent members, can veto any Security Council resolution. This marks the third time the United States wielded its veto of a ceasefire-centered resolution. Washington previously vetoed a Russian amendment to a resolution that would have demanded a ceasefire.
Barbara Woodward, the U.K. envoy to the global body, said she is “calling for an immediate suspension in fighting,” but it needed to be balanced with assurances that the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7 can never again occur. France supported the Algerian resolution, but its ambassador, Nicolas de Rivière, sided with Washington’s view that it is “incomprehensible” that the council has not directly condemned Hamas’s massacre. South Korea also expressed wishes for an explicit condemnation by the council of Hamas’s attacks.
However, the US has submitted its own ceasefire resolution to the UN Security Council.
UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that his resolution replaces Algeria’s demand for an immediate ceasefire with language that the UNSC “support[s] a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released, and calls for lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.” This would seemingly agree with Israeli wishes, as our government has repeatedly stated that all of the Israeli and other hostages, both alive and dead, must be returned before it would even think of ceasing its fight against Hamas. Israel has also made clear that at most, it would pause the war for an agreed-upon period, but not end it altogether.
The Israeli army is expanding a road across central Gaza to facilitate its military operations, part of its plans to maintain security control over the enclave for some time, according to defense officials. The gravel-paved road is one of a number of Israeli efforts to reshape the topography of the Gaza Strip—and give our military freedom of movement and a tighter grasp on the territory that was the launchpad for the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and sparked the current conflict. The corridor south of Gaza City, stretching roughly 5 miles from the Israeli border to the coast (note that this is the entire width of Gaza), divides Gaza in two, along an east-west strip of land occupied by Israeli troops since early in the war. This will allow Israel’s military to continue to move quickly across the enclave along a secure route, even after most troops pull out. The Israeli military already controls major north-south roads in Gaza.
The road forms part of an emerging picture of how the IDF is preparing for the next stage of war, when it plans to withdraw from populated areas and concentrate on targeted raids against Hamas. The building and expansion of the road comes as the IDF is also building a roughly 1km buffer zone just inside Gaza’s border with Israel, where Palestinians would be barred from entry. US officials have warned Israel repeatedly against altering Gaza’s borders or carving up its current territory. They have publicly voiced opposition to the creation of a buffer zone.
Meanwhile, of course, the cross border activity continues in the north with additions each day to our casualty count. May those brave men and women who have paid with their lives for the security of Israel be granted a special place in the next world.
Future Leadership
Today I make reference to the multi-talented Dov Frimer, rabbi, musician, law professor, Israeli lawyer, father and grandfather. A senior partner at the Jerusalem-based law firm of Frimer Gelman & Co., he is an expert in family and inheritance law as well as in Hebrew law.
Born in Chicago, he has lived in Israel for more than 40 years. He studied at Yeshivat Kerem B’yavneh, holds a Bachelor’s degree (honors) from Yeshiva University in the field of Jewish studies and psychology. He was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Yehuda Gershoni, head of the Eretz Yisrael Yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. He then went on to study law and graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law at Bar Ilan University followed by a doctorate earned at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He also served in the IDF as a captain (res.) in the office of the legal advisor for the Judea and Samaria region.
In his youth he was involved in music as part of the bands "The Y'did Singers" and "Shivat Zion." He composed a number of well-known songs, including the famous tune for the popular Chanukah melody “Al Hanisim" which was a winner at an earlier Chasidic Song Festival and has become a standard in Jewish communities worldwide (listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlILx9QQ7Sw) .
He has been an associate professor and director of the Institute of Hebrew Law at New York’s Touro College, an external lecturer in family and Hebrew law at both Tel Aviv University and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has also served as Deputy Chairman of the Rabbinical Courts Committee at the Israel Bar Association as well as Chairman of their Family Court and Rabbinical Court Committee.
Between 1997 and 1998 he was a member of the Prime Minister's Committee for the Formulation of Ideas and Recommendations on Conversion Matters and in 2010 was a member of the Justice Minister's “Dichovski Committee.”
Today he serves as director of the international board of directors of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and is acting chairman of the board of directors of the Schlesinger Institute for Torah Medicine Research. In 2009 he was proposed, as well, as a candidate for the position of judge on the Supreme Court of the State of Israel.
If the new government was looking for a highly qualified person to serve in the Ministry of Justice, they could not do much better than Dov Frimer. (Full disclosure here, Dov is also my brother-in-law.)
Clearly there is no dearth of talent to create a new and more mature version of government in Israel that will be able to resurrect the contract between the people and the state in a manner that will inspire confidence and bring comfort to all of us who have chosen to make Israel our home.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
.
No comments:
Post a Comment