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Letitia James Challenges Trump’s Bond Deal With Subprime Car Loan Billionaire, as Defense Slams Her ‘Vindictive Political Crusade’ |
By Marie Pohl |
https://pjmedia.com/raymond-
Where U.S. Pressure Is Needed in the Middle East
Not on Israel.
Philip Greenland Skokie, Ill.
Regarding Bernard-Henri Lévy’s op-ed “What if the U.S. Helps Hamas Win?” (March 27): U.S. policy and actions to end civilian suffering in Gaza suffer from the streetlight effect—looking for something not where it is necessary but where it is convenient to look. U.S. pressure on Israel for a humanitarian cease-fire serves to guarantee Hamas’s survival by depriving Israel of its military momentum and opportunity to decisively defeat Hamas. There is no guarantee a revitalized Hamas wouldn’t again perpetrate the horrors it inflicted on Israel on Oct. 7, setting in motion another rendition of the current situation.
The pathway to end civilian suffering in Gaza and satisfy legitimate Israeli war objectives is via the negotiated surrender of Hamas. U.S. pressure should be focused on the pertinent Arab states to expedite this surrender and the benefits to all that would result.
Col. Richard Kurtz, USA (Ret.) Alexandria, Va.
I was struck by a roadside billboard from the U.S. Marines: “Marines Fight to Win.” If the U.S. Marines have that intention when they go to battle to fight on foreign soil, why should the U.S. expect Israel to do anything other than “fight to win” on its own borders? The U.S. is endangering the lives of millions of Israelis and fostering extremism around the world by its waffling on the true dangers posed by Iran and its proxy, Hamas.
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Tobin agrees with me and in this instance I am convinced we are both right.
Cowardly, hypocrite political commentary drives the "buckboard."
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Outrage over aid-worker deaths is about saving Hamas, not civilians
All armies at war make tragic mistakes. But President Biden and Israel’s critics are cynically exploiting the incident as an excuse to shatter the alliance with the Jewish state.
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
The growing chorus of voices on the political left that have been loudly demanding that Israel’s war on Hamas be stopped have been waiting for this. After months of seeking to leverage false stories such as one about a missile attack on a hospital, downplaying or denying the way Hamas embeds its terrorist forces in hospitals, schools and civilian homes, and flogging statistics about Palestinian civilian casualties that are clearly bogus, the anti-Israel lobby thinks that it finally has a way to force the Jewish state to stand down in Gaza.
A mistaken strike that caused the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers who were bringing food and other supplies into the Strip is being treated as not merely a tragic accident all too common in wars, but as an act of transcendent symbolism that proves that Israel’s tactics are too brutal to be allowed to continue.
That was not merely the substance of a torrent of unhinged comments from World Central Kitchen founder Chef José Andrés who, without a shred of proof, accused Israel of deliberately murdering the aid workers. It was also the substance of the threats directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by President Joe Biden in a tense 30-minute call. Reportedly, Biden said that future military aid to Israel—vital for the resupply of Israeli forces in order for the war on Hamas to continue—would be linked to whether it satisfies his demands about ensuring that both civilians and aid workers are not harmed.
Backing away from Israel
Biden has been slowly but surely backing away from his initial support for the war and the goal of eradicating Hamas since the Palestinian terrorist group started it with unspeakable atrocities on Oct. 7. The administration has toyed at times with the idea of linking aid to halting the offensive, but never previously acted on the idea, despite the constant urgings of left-wing Democrats to do so. The aid worker incident thus is a turning point as this is the first time that Biden has directly said that he would impose conditions on military assistance.
This takes the dispute between the two governments to a very different and far more dangerous level.
It’s important to be clear about what is happening. While the deaths of the aid workers were the result of a terrible blunder by the Israel Defense Forces, the firestorm of criticism aimed at Israel in the days since the incident occurred isn’t really about their tragic fate, sad though it is.
Nor is it really rooted in a substantive argument claiming that the IDF is failing to take precautions to avoid civilian deaths or to anything to hinder the flow of aid into Gaza, including the area that is still controlled by Hamas. The world’s leading experts on warfare, including John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at West Point, and historian Andrew Roberts, have already declared that not only is Israel upholding the laws of war in its Gaza campaign but has done so in a manner that has caused fewer civilian casualties in such a battle than any in modern history. The claim that Israel has engaged in an “indiscriminate” bombing campaign or is “over the top,” as Biden has claimed, simply isn’t true.
Biden’s hypocrisy
It is also breathtakingly hypocritical.
Mistakes in war always happen as U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—and famously before that, in Korea and Vietnam—proved.
On his first day in office in January 2009, President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes in Waziristan, Pakistan, which led to the deaths of as many as 20 civilians. That would be only the first of 540 strikes on diverse targets in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq in which more than 300 civilians would be killed during his two terms in office, though that number might be underestimated since the strikes were conducted in areas where reporting casualties was not as organized as it is in Gaza. Though Obama would later joke that he had discovered in the White House that “it turns out that I’m really good at killing people,” no one in the corporate press assumed that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was deliberately slaughtering civilians by the dozens as part of a “targeted killings” of terror suspects.
Biden has direct responsibility for killing civilians in error as well.
On Aug. 29, 2021, during the disastrous and humiliating U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, American forces conducted a strike on what they thought was a member of the ISIS-K terror group transporting bombs. They were operating under orders from Washington; however, it turned out to be a tragic mistake, and the missiles launched from MQ-9 Reaper drones killed 10 innocent civilians, including seven children.
While Biden issued a lengthy and passionate statement denouncing the deaths of the seven aid workers, he did no such thing when his own orders led to the accidental deaths of innocents. Instead, he let military officials make the statement about the error and take the fallout while he went to the beach for the weekend.
Of course, Obama and Biden didn’t intend to kill civilians while Americans were trying to take out terrorists. But it happened quite often for the same reasons that this week’s tragedy occurred. Even with the most sophisticated weaponry and satellite imaging of target areas, amid the fog of war, there are no guarantees that even missions fully vetted with great care and intended to take out only combatants will go according to plan.
Indeed, in December, the IDF conceded that about 20% of soldiers that had been killed during the current war were victims of “friendly fire” in which they were mistaken for foes by their own side. Many Americans have died under similar circumstances in wars fought by the United States.
Even when armies take special care to avoid accidents, anyone who enters a combat zone where bullets and bombs are flying is at risk of being killed or wounded. That is always going to be true whether or not those put at risk are combatants or non-combatants.
In the case of the World Central Kitchen victims, the problem, which remains ongoing, is accentuated by the fact that Hamas terrorists lurk near aid convoys since they steal most of what has been brought into Gaza for civilian use. Indeed, it is fairly obvious that if Hamas terrorists weren’t taking the food, fuel and other supplies that have flowed into Gaza with Israeli permission these past six months, there would be no talk about people starving there.
That doesn’t lessen the grief of the families of those who die as a result of errors. But it should put the situation in perspective. Their deaths—like those of everyone else who has been killed since Hamas attacked southern Israel in an orgy of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and wanton destruction on Oct. 7—are the responsibility of the terrorists and their many supporters.
Letting Hamas win
Though Israeli military and political leaders have had numerous discussions with their American counterparts in which the counter-offensive into Gaza has been criticized, the latter has had no realistic suggestions about how Hamas terrorist forces might be eliminated other than by the methods the Jewish state has been employing. The notion that Hamas can be eliminated without Israeli troops taking physical possession of their last enclave in Rafah in the south and striking at the four remaining intact Hamas battalions there is risible. Therefore, Biden’s demand for “tangible steps” by Israel can only mean one thing: stop the war or conduct it in a manner that ensures that the goal of the complete defeat of Hamas and the end of its control of any part of Gaza cannot be achieved.
That means that if Israel is to continue receiving military aid, it must agree to a situation in which the war against Hamas simply cannot be won. Should Netanyahu decide that those conditions must be accepted, it virtually guarantees that the Islamist group will emerge from the conflict it began not only alive and well but as its victor, with undoubted primacy in Palestinian politics for the foreseeable future.
These conditions are the inevitable result not of the specific incident involving the aid workers but of an incessant campaign of incitement and smears directed at Israel even before ground troops entered Gaza after the Simchat Torah pogroms in 22 Israeli communities and at the Nova music festival.
Biden’s threats are the culmination of the opprobrium that has been directed at Israel from left-wing editorial pages and the genocidal chants from mobs supporting Hamas that have been heard on the streets of American cities and on college campuses. Indeed, so successful has been the effort to demonize the Israeli war effort that Biden said his own wife Jill had demanded that he do something to “stop it, stop it now.”
Political motives
His willingness to heed these calls to halt the Israeli effort to defeat Hamas goes beyond a desire for domestic peace in the White House. The entire left wing of the Democratic Party, including many so-called “progressives” in Congress, has been clamoring that he use the threat of aid cutoffs to end the war prior to the release of the more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas, including five Americans. Isolated in the White House, Biden and his advisers truly believe that the reason he’s currently trailing former President Donald Trump in his battle for re-election is because he’s considered insufficiently hostile to Israel by the intersectional activist wing of his party that is ever more hostile to Zionism and the Jewish state.
When measured against the yawns and shrugged shoulders from the White House under Obama and Biden when civilians died as a result of their orders, it’s easy to see that the outrage about the aid workers has little to do with humanitarian concerns. Instead, it is about hatred for Israel that has taken root in left-wingers who have come to believe that Israel must not be allowed to defeat Hamas and that any civilian casualties that occur as a result of the terrorists’ actions are too many.
If Biden really wants to end the fighting in Gaza, then he should be directing all of his anger and threats against Hamas and its backers, not the Israelis. If Hamas surrendered and released the hostages—ranging from a baby to an 86-year-old man—the war would be over immediately. Instead, by threatening to trash the alliance with Israel and the mandate that it must live with Hamas terrorism, including the threat of more Oct. 7 massacres in the future, he has only strengthened the resolve of the Islamist murderers to stand their ground, secure in the belief that the United States will save them from the justice they so richly deserve for their crimes
As much as we may all mourn what happened to the aid workers, the willingness of Israel’s foes and false friends like Biden to use this incident to end the war against Hamas should not be considered a manifestation of humanitarian sentiment. If their tragic fate provides the leverage that Washington uses to end the war, then the blood of the Israelis—and those in other nations who will fall victim to a revitalized international terror movement funded by Iran—will be on the heads of those who cynically exploited their deaths.
AND:
Biden Threatens ‘Real Changes’ in Support of Israel’s War With Hamas, Even as Iran Readies Its Own Attack
As Israelis brace for attacks by the Iranians or their proxies, they are also under growing international pressure, as President Biden demands “real changes” in the Israel Defense Force’s war against Hamas and signals a major shift in America’s support of the Jewish state.
The IDF is on high alert as Iranian officials vow to avenge the Monday killing at Damascus of one of Tehran’s terrorist leaders. Israelis are anticipating attacks, perhaps as early as tomorrow, the last Friday of Ramadan. The Islamic Republic has long designated the date as “Jerusalem day,” hoping to raise regional ire over Israeli control of the holy mosques at that city.
At the same time, Mr. Biden said he was “irate” over the drone deaths of seven volunteers of the World Central Kitchen at Gaza. To express his anger, he called Prime Minister Netanyahu Thursday, demanding changes in Israel’s conduct, including an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
“If there are no real changes on the Israeli side, there will be real changes on ours,” the national security council spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters after the 30-minute call. He said the White House would assess if Israel indeed modifies its war conduct and decide accordingly on its next moves.
Mr. Biden called to “express frustration” over the killing of the aid volunteers, Mr. Kirby said. The WCK founder, Jose Andres, who is the president’s personal friend, accused Israel of “systematically” and intentionally targeting three of the organization’s cars as they were coordinating distribution of food in Gaza.
The IDF’s spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said on Thursday that an investigation into the incident has been completed. Led by a retired general, Yoav Har-Even, the probe’s results will be shared at first with foreign ambassadors and the WCK, and shortly after that will be made public.
Yet, Israel’s admission of an error is yet to reduce worldwide anger over the incident. “Stop it, stop it now,” the first lady, Jill Biden, reportedly beseeched her husband in reference to the Gaza war.
“If Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale,” a close confidante of Mr. Biden, Senator Coons, told CNN Thursday, “I would vote to condition aid to Israel.” He added he had never considered such a condition before.
While the White House and allies focus on humanitarian aid and Israeli plans to invade Rafah, Tehran officials — from Supreme Leader Khamenei on down — are threatening a major attack on the Jewish state.
As America’s election year gets in gear, Mr. Biden may want the war over, but the Islamic Republic, and its Israel-surrounding “ring of fire,” as the ever-growing group of Iranian proxy armies are known, may have other plans.
Tehran officials vow to avenge the Monday killing of General Mohammed Reza Zahedi — the highest Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ terrorist eliminated since the American drone strike on its top commander, Qassem Soleimani.
A conservative Tehran publication, the Iranian Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces, hails Zahedi’s “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing the Al-Aqsa Storm.” That article contradicted past Iranian contentions that it had no role in that October 7 assault.
“I’m not sure that the worst is behind us, and the days ahead are bound to be complex,” the commander of Aman, the intelligence directorate of the Israel Defense Force, Aharon Haliva, said Thursday. After his statement in a closed forum was made public, Israelis mobbed stores, seeking to stock up on anything from food to generators, and withdrawing cash from ATMs.
Taking seriously the Iranian threats, the IDF recalibrated its air defenses Thursday morning, for a time disrupting GPS services. Drivers relying on apps like Waze created traffic jams at Tel Aviv and other urban centers. Attempting to prevent panic, the IDF spokesman, Admiral Hagari, said that there is no reason to change life routines, and that if danger to the public arises, he would update.
Islamic Republic officials are highlighting what they call Israeli “hysteria” in anticipation of an Iranian retaliation, the growing Israeli isolation on the world’s stage, and what they claim is the Israeli failure in achieving its goals in Gaza, according to a Tel Aviv University Iran watcher, Raz Zimmt.
“For years, Iran has been working against us, and therefore Israel has been working against Iran,” Mr. Netanyahu said after his call with Mr. Biden. “We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us, we will hurt him.”
As Mr. Biden, British leaders, and European counterparts are leaning on Israel to end its war in Gaza, the Islamic Republic and other enemies sense an opportunity for what they hope would be a death blow attack against the Jewish state.
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“Doonesbury” vs. Hamaa
by Rafael Medoff
(Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America, a nonfiction graphic novel with artist Dean Motter, published by Dark Horse / Yoe Books.)
One of America’s most beloved newspaper comic strips has dared to poke fun at Hamas. Get ready for controversy!
In the latest Sunday installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doonesbury strip, a fictional anti-terrorist fighter—known as “the Red Rascal”—bursts into the bedroom of an actual Hamas leader, Ismail Haniye, who is living in Qatar.
The cartoon shows Haniyeh enjoying luxurious accommodations, and identifies him as “one of three Hamas leaders worth billions, who enriched themselves with donor money intended for impoverished Gazans!”
Garry Trudeau, the writer and artist of Doonesbury, has dared to acknowledge a fact about the Hamas leadership that most of the mainstream news media prefer to ignore.
For years, leaders of the terrorist group have been stealing funds the United States and other countries have generously donated for the needs of Gaza’s citizens. According to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Haniyeh is worth about $4-billion, making Hamas one of the richest terrorist groups in the world. He and other Hamas leaders “have been photographed flying in private jets, enjoying fine dining, and attending international sporting events,” the FDD noted
There also have been numerous reports of Hamas terrorists in Gaza stealing food, medicine and other supplies that the international community has been sending to the territory.
What makes this Doonesbury strip even more interesting is that Trudeau has been strongly critical of Israel in the past. His view of Hamas is not motivated by any kind of built-in pro-Israel bias.
Not only that, but Trudeau has been extra sensitive concerning Muslim reactions to controversial cartoons, such as the one about Mohammed that was published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. Islamist terrorists responded to that cartoon by massacring twelve members of the magazine’s staff.
Trudeau accused Charlie Hebdo of engaging in “hate speech.” He argued that the magazine's publication of the cartoon was unjustified because it constituted "attacking a powerless, disenfranchised minority."
But the Doonesbury creator can’t count on any of his past statements to protect him from a furious reaction to his criticism of Hamas. Pro-Hamas extremists in the United States are not known for their ability to calmly and rationally discuss differing points of view—especially when somebody reveals uncomfortable facts about their heroes.
Political cartoons like Doonesbury have a long and noble history of ruffling feathers and influencing public opinion.
A cartoon mocking 1884 Republican presidential candidate James Blaine played a major role in the election of Grover Cleveland. The cartoons of Thomas Nast helped bring down the notoriously corrupt “Boss” Tweed in 19th-century New York City.
During World War One, the U.S. government regarded cartoonists as so influential that it created a Bureau of Cartoons to mobilize them in support of the war effort. Politicians in several states who were stung by cartoonists' barbs tried, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to restrict what could be drawn. Pennsylvania Governor Samuel Pennypacker, furious over a series of cartoons in the Philadelphia North American portraying him as a parrot, initiated a bill in 1902 to outlaw the depiction of men as "birds or animals."
Nor is France the only country where violent extremists have tried to intimidate cartoonists. A political cartoon in the Baltimore Sun in 1931, challenging the lynching of a local African-American man, triggered riots by mobs of angry racists outside the Sun’s offices.
One hopes and prays that Garry Trudeau will not be targeted by Hamas supporters. But given the level of vitriol and violence exhibited by pro-Hamas mobs in many of our cities and college campuses in recent weeks, we have learned to brace for the worst.
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I EDITED THE SOLICITATION COMMENTARY OUT.
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Unrecognizable.
That’s all I can say about the state of our country. Over the past few years, it’s been truly disappointing to go to places like New York City, Los Angeles, or Washington D.C. and see the cities overrun with crime, homelessness, and blocks of vacant storefronts and office buildings.
This was Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, except he didn’t build anything back better. Instead, DC faced nearly fifty carjackings in the first four days of this year. Los Angeles has never seen higher homelessness numbers, with the numbers surging daily. Over 20 massive retailers across the country decided to shut down stores in 2023, amassing to over 2,800 storefronts. Known criminals walk free, confirmed spies serve the U.S. Senate, and pedophiles aren’t punished so long as they conform to the liberal agenda. Jewish families and children are being attacked in schools, in communities, near their homes. Nothing is built, nothing is back, and nothing is most certainly better.
STOP THE BIDEN AGENDA
A Concerned Patriot
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