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Save Our Republic - Speak Out Now.
Biden advised Israel to take the "win." These words are those of a politician who seeks re-election and does not want to offend those who hate America and who has continued to finance Iran's ability to pursue its nuclear program as well as fund its surrogates like Hamas , Hezbollah etc.
Meanwhile, if one wishes to view the "win" expression from a military perspective, you cannot avoid the fact Israel has been threatened by this same politician, who happens to be America's president, and has yet to "win."
Winning means destroying any remaining functional Hamas divisions and as many of their alive leadership as can be reached and killed.
Biden's pusillanimity has emboldened Hamas and has actually hardened them regarding the illusive "win" he urges Israel to take. What political deceitfulness.
Israel disregarded Biden's advice and attacked Iran but in a proportional type response. They chose to send a, not so subtle warning, I see you, I can reach you and we will, should you respond and widen the war, be willing to hit you hard.
One could justifiably conclude the ball is in Iran's court.
While all of this is happening, Biden should be making an address to the nation, about the anti-Semitic and "hate America" riots, but Biden lacks credibility. A growing number of Americans believe he is a lying Chameleon and is untrustworthy. In fact. one could also conclude. he has chosen the path of seeking re-election over doing what is best for America and its solid ally.
As for the president of Columbia, University where the current pro Hamas riots are taking place, she is blinded by the fact her main function is to raise money, was chosen by DEI standards and is utterly out of touch with what has been happening on her campus and when apprized made some limp efforts to rectify her failures.
This is where America finds itself in the year 2024.
Most Americans are disheartened, no longer recognize their beloved nation and fear America will never return to a united nation where patriotism rings.
While this is happening outside, inside various courtrooms,
orchestrated trials are taking place These trials, I submit, are wholly unconstitutional, are the consequence of twisting the law to suit events and radical Democrats are behind them in order to destroy the wealth of President Trump as well as his ability to campaign for re-election to a second term.
This has never occurred in our nation. Laws, currently being employed have never been cited and are being dusted off while the entire world looks in total disbelief.
What has taken place, in all aspects of American life, is not a matter of happenstance, It involves orchestrated neo Marxist efforts beginning with President Wilson, FDR, Obama and now Biden.
I urge you read Sean Bruner' : "Controligarchs." and Christopher Rufo's: "America's Cultural Revolution."
Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. There has never been, in recent times, such a critical need to speak out and save our republic.
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Hamas Rejects Biden’s Hostage Deal—Again
The more the U.S. presses Israel, the less the terror group needs a deal.
By The Editorial Board
A man sits next to posters with images of hostages kidnapped in the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Tel Aviv, April 16. PHOTO: HANNAH MCKAY/REUTERS
President Biden’s strategy of pressuring Israel and pleading with Hamas for a cease-fire and hostage deal has met one more dead end. Hamas rejected another offer over the weekend, countering with new demands designed to throw negotiations into disarray.
As State Department spokesman Matthew Miller explained, “Israel moved a significant way in submitting that proposal,” but Hamas rejected it. “It is Hamas right now that is the barrier and the obstacle to a cease-fire in Gaza.” The Times of Israel reports that Hamas rejected every clause of the proposal brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.
Hamas now demands a six-week truce in which it releases no hostages while Israel stops fighting, withdraws from Gaza’s cities, and commits to a permanent cease-fire, a withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all Palestinians (including Hamas) to northern Gaza. In other words, an Israeli surrender.
Only in the second phase, over another six weeks while Israel executes that surrender, would Hamas release some hostages in exchange for terrorist prisoners.
After months of negotiations over the release of 40 hostages among the women, older men and the sick, Hamas now says it can produce only 20, and it wants far more Palestinian terrorists in return. It demands 30 for each civilian hostage and 50 for each captive female Israeli soldier, including 30 terrorists who are serving life sentences.
As usual, the needs of Palestinian civilians mean nothing to Hamas, but how about the needs of the U.S. President? Mr. Biden staked his Gaza strategy on coercing Israel to make the concessions to get a deal and cease-fire. But the holdup wasn’t on the Israeli side.
The more desperate the President appeared for a cease-fire, the more distant it became. When he blamed Israel for all civilian suffering and demanded new Israeli concessions, Hamas raised its demands.
“Thank you to the Americans,” as the Israeli commentator Amit Segal put it on Tuesday, “for your deep understanding of the principles of the Middle Eastern bazaar.” He didn’t mean that as a compliment.
Hamas scorns a deal because the President has given it reason to expect to get the cease-fire it wants without releasing any hostages. Mr. Biden had been slowly delinking the two while creating a public breach with Israel. Doubtless he thought about the signal these steps would send to Dearborn, Mich. Did he think about the signal he is sending Hamas about the five American hostages who may still be alive?
Hamas is unlikely to cut a deal until it feels the knife on its neck, as it did when Israel stormed Gaza City. That yielded the release of 105 hostages. But since Mr. Biden declared himself Protector of Rafah, Hamas’s final stronghold, and Israel withdrew most of its troops, the odds of a deal have declined.
The best hope on the horizon is from Iran’s miscalculation in striking Israel directly. This gives Mr. Biden an opportunity to reset his policy and exert real pressure. When Rafah is on the table, and the terrorists in fancy suits are threatened with expulsion from Qatar, there will again be a reason to talk.
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Moment of Truth on Ukraine and Israel
Both countries urgently need U.S. aid to defend themselves against brazen adversaries that seek their annihilation.
By Joe Biden
Iran launched an unprecedented attack against Israel this weekend, with a barrage of missiles and drones. Around the same time, some 1,500 miles north, Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine, which has intensified dramatically in the last month.
Both Ukraine and Israel defended themselves against these attacks, holding the line and protecting their citizens. And both did it with critical help from the U.S.
Now is not the time to abandon our friends. The House must pass urgent national-security legislation for Ukraine and Israel, as well as desperately needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
In this third year of Russia’s war, Ukraine continues to defy the odds. Against a much larger military, the Ukrainians regained more than half the territory that Russia occupied after its 2022 invasion. They’ve struck the Russian navy time and again, winning important victories in the Black Sea. And they’ve developed innovative weapons, especially drones, to counter Russian forces. Theirs is a fighting force with the will and the skill to win.
Meanwhile, as we saw this weekend, Israel’s military has the technology and training to defend the country against even an attack of unprecedented scope and ferocity.
But while both countries can capably defend their own sovereignty, they depend on American assistance, including weaponry, to do it. And this is a pivotal moment.
Vladimir Putin is ramping up his onslaught with help from his friends. China is providing Russia with microelectronics and other equipment that is critical for defense production. Iran is sending hundreds of drones; North Korea is providing artillery and ballistic missiles. Ukraine, facing ammunition shortfalls, is losing hold of territory it had regained.
After years of backing Hezbollah, Hamas and other proxies in their attacks on Israel, including Hamas’s brutal attack on Oct. 7, Iran launched a direct attack of its own—hoping to penetrate Israel’s air defense, including David’s Sling and the Iron Dome, which saved countless lives this weekend.
Both Ukraine and Israel are under attack by brazen adversaries that seek their annihilation. Mr. Putin wants to subjugate the people of Ukraine and absorb their nation into a new Russian empire. The government of Iran wants to destroy Israel forever—wiping the world’s only Jewish state off the map.
America must never accept either outcome—not only because we stand up for our friends, but because our security is on the line, too.
If Russia triumphs, Mr. Putin’s forces will move closer than ever to our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. “An attack on one is an attack on all” means that if Mr. Putin invades a NATO ally, we will come to its aid—as our NATO allies did for us after the Sept. 11 attacks. We should surge support to Ukraine now, to stop Mr. Putin from encroaching on our NATO allies and ensure that he doesn’t draw U.S. troops into a future war in Europe.
Likewise, if Iran succeeds in significantly escalating its assault on Israel, the U.S. could be drawn in. Israel is our strongest partner in the Middle East; it’s unthinkable that we would stand by if its defenses were weakened and Iran was able to carry out the destruction it intended this weekend. We can make that outcome less likely by replenishing Israel’s air defenses and providing military aid now, so its defenses can remain fully stocked and ready.
If Congress passes military aid for Ukraine and Israel, we won’t write blank checks. We’d send military equipment from our own stockpiles, then use the money authorized by Congress to replenish those stockpiles—by buying from American suppliers. That includes Patriot missiles made in Arizona, Javelin missiles made in Alabama, and artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas. We’d be investing in America’s industrial base, buying American products made by American workers, supporting jobs in nearly 40 states, and strengthening our own national security. We’d help our friends while helping ourselves.
I’ve been clear about my concerns over the safety of civilians in Gaza amid the war with Hamas, but this aid package is focused on Israel’s long-term defensive needs to ensure it can maintain its military edge against Iran or any other adversary. Importantly, this bill has funding that will allow us to continue delivering urgent humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza as well as others who have felt the impact of conflicts around the world.
It’s a strong and sensible plan. It shouldn’t be held hostage any longer by a small group of extreme Republican House members.
Mr. Putin has tried relentlessly to break the will of the Ukrainian people. He has failed. Now he’s trying to break the will of the West. We cannot let him succeed.
There are moments in history that call for leadership and courage. This is one of them.
Mr. Biden is president of the United States.
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Ronald Reagan Just Saved Israel From Iran’s Attack
In 1986, Sen. Joe Biden mocked as ‘reckless’ the idea of defending against ballistic missiles
Daniel Henninger
By Daniel Henninger
Wonder Land: In 1986, Sen. Joe Biden mocked as ‘reckless’ Ronald Reagan's 'Strategic Defense Initiative,' a program to counter the ballistic missile threat. Israel ran with it, creating the 'Iron Dome' missile-defense system—the hero of Iran’s April 13 bombardment. Images: Bloomberg News/C-Span/Bettmann Archive Composite: Mark Kelly
Allow me to identify who saved the people of Israel last weekend from Iran’s missile barrage: Ronald Reagan.
In 1983, President Reagan in a televised speech proposed what he called the Strategic Defense Initiative. Its core idea was that the U.S. would build defense systems that could shoot down nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, then expected to be fired by the Soviet Union at the U.S. mainland.
Democrats and much of the defense establishment mocked the idea, with Sen. Ted Kennedy naming it “Star Wars.” Sen. Joe Biden summed up the opposition in a 1986 speech to the National Press Club:
“Star Wars represents a fundamental assault on the concepts, alliances and arms-control agreements that have buttressed American security for several decades, and the president’s continued adherence to it constitutes one of the most reckless and irresponsible acts in the history of modern statecraft.”
By universal acclamation, the hero of last weekend was Israel’s missile-defense systems. The world watched in real time Saturday night as Reagan’s commitment to shooting down missiles protected Israel’s population from the more than 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles fired by Iran and its proxies at cities across Israel.
No nation more quickly recognized the necessity of missile defenses than Israel, a small, population-packed country that couldn’t afford the conceit of some U.S. politicians, then and today, that the American landmass is somehow safe from missile attacks. Within two years of Reagan’s announcement, Israel signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. to develop missile defenses. The fruits of that four-decade partnership couldn’t be clearer.
Though the U.S. didn’t develop a space-based system, the technology has enabled an arsenal of ground-, air- and sea-based interceptors. Israel—with a capable scientific establishment dedicated to the country’s survival—developed a multilayered missile-defense system. Iron Dome protects from short-range missiles of the sort fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah, which reportedly possesses more than 100,000 missiles and rockets of Iranian, Russian and Chinese origin. David’s Sling protects from short- to medium-range missiles, while the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems hit missiles at high altitudes.
Reagan’s experience with the Strategic Defense Initiative has lessons for the U.S. today, with the unmissable irony that ardent SDI foe Joe Biden is pocketing its political benefit this week.
Among the arguments against Reagan’s missile-defense plan was that it would “provoke a response” from the Soviets. SDI’s development got bogged down in the politics of arms-control negotiations between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Reagan’s critics, including a virtual media consensus, said SDI would make our own nuclear-missile arsenal less vulnerable, increasing the Soviet Union’s incentive to launch a pre-emptive first strike. Reagan insisted he wasn’t trying to protect missiles but the U.S. population.
If we have learned anything the past three years, it is that Mr. Biden is saturated in the don’t-provoke-a-response school of foreign policy.
He says Israel should “take the win” because retaliation risks provoking a wider war. Shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Mr. Biden allowed the expiration of a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution prohibiting Iran from exporting missile and drone technology. However symbolic the resolution, the mullahs couldn’t have missed Mr. Biden’s stand-back approach.
From the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Biden has slow-walked sending military technology to Kyiv—long-range missiles, Patriot air-defense systems, tanks, fighter jets—for fear it would provoke Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Biden said he’d provide Ukraine with “whatever it takes, as long as it takes.” If he’d done that sooner than later, the technology-savvy Ukrainians could have avoided a frozen conflict and their support likely wouldn’t be stalled by Republican opposition in the House.
The Ukraine trench-war conflict, with Mr. Putin sacrificing Russian men on a massive scale, is likely an anomaly. More relevant to the future of war is the calculation by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that missiles will be the great equalizer, as Yemen’s ragtag Houthis have proved in the Red Sea.
By happenstance, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on U.S. missile defense Friday, hours before Iran launched its attack. The committee members, both Republicans and Democrats, had a prescient complaint, asking Pentagon officials about America’s underinvestment in its defense industrial base and why the Biden defense budget would cut some $400 million from the Missile Defense Agency. “I just don’t understand the rationale behind many of these cuts,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D., Mass.) said. It’s harder to understand this week.
Reagan’s missile-defense legacy does have an important advocate: Donald Trump. As president in 2019, Mr. Trump revived the U.S. missile-defense program, and he restated that commitment, citing Reagan, during this year’s New Hampshire primary.
Mr. Biden deserves credit for helping Israel repel Iran’s missiles and drones. It’s clear, though, that the world has entered a new era of state-sponsored missile attacks—first Russia into Ukraine and now Iran’s swarmed assault on Israel. To meet that threat, Mr. Biden would have to admit Reagan was right. That isn’t going to happen.
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https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/opinion/npr-chief-katherine-maher-funded-stacey-abrams-election-denial/
NPR chief Katherine Maher funded Stacey Abrams’ election denial — she has no business leading a news outlet
By David Mastio
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The Middle East Forum Observer
Iran's Failed Strategy and Israel's Window of Opportunity
by Gregg Roman
Israel's reported drone strike on an Iranian air base near Isfahan early Friday, following Iran's unprecedented missile attack on Israel last Sunday, marks a significant moment in the escalating shadow war between the two adversaries. The limited nature of Israel's retaliation and Iran's muted response suggests both sides may be looking to step back from the brink of all-out conflict. But this attack is also a clear sign that the strategic landscape of the Middle East is shifting rapidly, and Israel has a unique window of opportunity to press its advantage.
For years, Iran has sought to establish a "ring of fire" around Israel, arming Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen. The goal was to create a multi-front threat that would make Israel think twice about striking Iran's nuclear facilities. But despite Iran's massive investment in this proxy network, Israel's missile defenses, with the help of its Western and Arab partners, were able to intercept the overwhelming majority of the over 300 Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
This attack is a clear sign that the strategic landscape of the Middle East is shifting rapidly, and Israel has a unique window of opportunity to press its advantage.
This failed attack is just the latest sign that the regional balance of power is shifting in Israel's favor. The Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize relations with the UAE and Bahrain, have opened up new opportunities for security cooperation between Israel and the Sunni Arab states. Even Saudi Arabia, long a bastion of anti-Israel sentiment, is finding common cause with Jerusalem in the face of the Iranian threat.
Yet Israel has been slow to adapt its security doctrine to these new realities. Its military and intelligence establishment remains mired in a defensive, risk-averse posture that cedes the initiative to Iran. The recent assassination of an Iranian general in Syria, rather than a lower-level proxy commander, was a provocative move that invited Iranian retaliation without significantly degrading Iran's capabilities. It also exposed serious coordination gaps between Israel's intelligence agencies and with its U.S. ally.
To regain the strategic initiative, Israel needs to embrace a paradigm shift in its approach to Iran. Rather than simply trying to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Israel should adopt a more preemptive posture aimed at actively undermining the stability of the Islamic Republic.
This could include covert operations to exploit ethnic and political fissures within Iran and support domestic opposition to the regime. A new "Iran Freedom Project" focused on political subversion would be a good complement to Israel's existing military and intelligence efforts.
Israel should also update its deterrence concepts to rely more on neutralizing Iranian capabilities than threatening retaliation. This will require continued investment in multi-layered missile defenses and close coordination with Arab partners to cut off Iranian supply lines to its proxies.
If Iran continues to cross red lines, Israel should be prepared to strike Iranian nuclear and military assets directly. The Iranian leadership must understand that Israel will not wait until they have a nuclear weapon to act, and that any attack emanating from Iranian soil will be met with a firm response.
Israel should adopt a more preemptive posture aimed at actively undermining the stability of the Islamic Republic.
On the diplomatic front, Israel should capitalize on the growing alignment with Sunni Arab states to further isolate Iran and build a regional security architecture capable of deterring Iranian aggression. The Abraham Accords provide a foundation for what could become a "Middle East NATO" that enshrines the Israel-Sunni Arab partnership.
Implementing this strategic shift will require a new generation of Israeli leadership willing to challenge outdated assumptions and take calculated risks. The current government's hawkish stance is a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen if it can overcome institutional inertia and other domestic constraints.
The April 15 attack was a wake-up call for Israel. It exposed the limits of Iran's proxy strategy, but also the inadequacy of Israel's current deterrence posture. With Iran now on the offensive and its Arab neighbors receptive to expanded security ties, Israel has a unique window of opportunity to reshape the regional balance of power in its favor. But doing so will require bold leadership, creative strategy, and a willingness to break with the status quo. The stakes could not be higher, for Israel and for the wider Middle East.
Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum and a former official at the Israeli Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
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