China Lasers Hawaii, Prepares for War - Gordon G. Chang

 

by Gordon G. Chang

Deterrence is being eroded as China's Communist Party is fast mobilizing all society for war.

• This [spy balloon's eight-day flight] path certainly suggests China is gathering intelligence for either a first or second strike on America's nukes.

• Combined with the green lasers collecting atmospheric data useful for a strike by a hypersonic glide vehicle on Hawaii, American defense planners should be alarmed.

• The real story is that the Pentagon was caught off-guard by the recent intrusions. Only after the Chinese spy balloon penetrated U.S. airspace did the Pentagon go back over previously collected radar data and realize that there had been intrusions in previous years.

• Deterrence is being eroded as China's Communist Party is fast mobilizing all society for war.

• [T]he laser shower is another warning that war is on the way.

Why was China lasering a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii? The Chinese Communist Party is fast mobilizing for war. This preparation means, among other things, that it is dangerous to assume that China's January 28 laser shower was for civilian purposes only. Pictured: The sky at night over the island of Maui, Hawaii. (Image source: iStock)

On January 28, the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera, which livestreams images from the Subaru Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, caught images of a shower of green laser beams lasting just seconds.

The beams were not, as originally thought, from a NASA satellite. They could have come from only one source: China's Daqi-1/AEMS satellite.

Why was China lasering a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii?

"It's a Chinese satellite that is measuring pollutants, among other things," said Roy Gal of the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy to The Hill.

"I'm not sure, and this is my opinion, why the Chinese—who are probably some of the most prolific polluters on the planet—would be collecting data on pollutants on this side of the Pacific," Ray L'Heureux, a former chief of staff of Marine Forces Pacific told the same publication.

Richard Fisher of the Virginia-based International Assessment and Strategy Center can think of a few reasons why Chinese scientists want to know about the atmosphere over Hawaii.

"China's Daqi-1 satellite, a perfect example of the dual-use nature of China's space program, utilizes a green laser for environmental or greenhouse gas research, but that data, which provides information about atmospheric density and heavy weather, could also be used to target China's new hypersonic glide vehicle," he told Gatestone. "HGVs, as these weapons platforms are called, require precise weather measurements to deliver warheads precisely on target."

There are other military uses for environmental data. "The satellite over Hawaii was likely tracking U.S. submarine movements from their point of origin into the Indo-Pacific, where China's increasingly sophisticated anti-submarine capabilities could be honed to threaten those U.S. subs in-theater," Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, told this site. "Advanced lasers from orbit can comb the depths of the ocean to locate and track U.S. submarines that are trying to run 'silent and deep.' "

Fisher notes that green lasers can be used to measure seabeds. "It is likely that China," he says, "has been seeking to develop compact but more powerful green lasers that can conduct underwater surveillance, perhaps anti-submarine and anti-mine missions, from space."

January 28, perhaps coincidentally, is the day that China's now-infamous spy balloon entered Alaskan airspace, in the Aleutians. In its eight-day flight across the U.S. and Canada, the craft got a good look at two legs of America's "Nuclear Triad," its nuclear deterrent force.

The balloon, carrying what appeared to be surveillance equipment, crossed into the lower 48 states on January 31. Before a U.S. Air Force F-22 shot it down on February 4 off Myrtle Beach, the maneuverable balloon surveilled, among other facilities, Malmstrom, F. E. Warren, and Minot Air Force Bases, which house all of America's Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The balloon also passed close to Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the nuclear-capable B-2 bomber fleet, the second leg of the Triad.

Most ominously, the craft flew close by Offutt Air Force Base, the headquarters of Strategic Command, which controls all U.S. nuclear weapons.

This path certainly suggests China is gathering intelligence for either a first or second strike on America's nukes.

Combined with the green lasers collecting atmospheric data useful for a strike by a hypersonic glide vehicle on Hawaii, American defense planners should be alarmed.

After the spy balloon intrusion, three other "objects" crossed into North American airspace. The origins of these intruders, now also taken down, remain a mystery.

"China is displaying new technology in unconventional ways," Weichert stated. "This is the start of a much more invasive program of monitoring the U.S. military in order to glean updated capabilities and intentions."

The real story is that the Pentagon was caught off-guard by the recent intrusions. Only after the Chinese spy balloon penetrated U.S. airspace did the Pentagon go back over previously collected radar data and realize that there had been intrusions in previous years.

"The Americans, meanwhile, are completely left behind," Weichert stated. "Our lack of decisive, coordinated response to these threats—or our willingness to readily cover the events up—further diminished deterrence, as China now believes it can get away with such behavior."

Deterrence is being eroded as China's Communist Party is fast mobilizing all society for war. This preparation means, among other things, that it is dangerous to assume that China's January 28 laser shower was for civilian purposes only.

"No, it's not a risk to Hawaii or anyplace else, too," said the University of Hawaii's Roy Gal.

Yes, nobody on the ground was burned by the green Chinese beams of light on January 28, but the laser shower is another warning that war is on the way.

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Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19405/china-lasers-hawaii

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Is Biden A 'Manchurian President,' Facilitating Nuclear Cooperation between Iran's Mullahs and Russia? - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

It is stunning that the Biden Administration is offering Iran's mullahs sanction waivers for their nuclear program while the Iranian regime is openly getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons.

• The US Congress urgently needs to pass legislation introduced by the Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that will "prohibit the Biden administration from waiving Congressional sanctions that prohibit cooperation on Iran's nuclear program."

• It is stunning that the Biden Administration is offering Iran's mullahs sanction waivers for their nuclear program while the Iranian regime is openly getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons.

• "There is absolutely no reason to continue issuing these waivers, which allow Iran and Russia to cooperate on building up Iran's nuclear program. These waivers were nevertheless renewed in August, because the Biden administration remains obsessed with reentering a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime. Now the administration says it is committed to countering cooperation between Iran and Russia. They should embrace this legislation." — Senator Ted Cruz, February 3, 2023.

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden Administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on the $10 billion contract, as well as Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation.

• Biden has already been called "the Manchurian President." After seeing the Biden Administration's capitulations to America's enemies over the past two years, it is important to ask: Has the Biden family effectively been paid to hand over America to Russia, China and Iran?

It is stunning that the Biden Administration is offering Iran's mullahs sanction waivers for their nuclear program while the Iranian regime is openly getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons. (Image source: iStock)

Not only is the Biden Administration disregarding the escalating Iranian-Russian military and nuclear cooperation, the Administration actually seems to be facilitating these two tyrannies' becoming more empowered and emboldened.

Recently, the Biden Administration renewed a series of waivers of sanctions that will allow Iranian and Russian leaders to cooperate more closely with each other to advance the Iran's nuclear program at various enrichment sites. According to the Washington Free Beacon:

"Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorized the waivers on Jan. 31, but Congress was not notified of the decision until late on Feb. 3, after the Free Beacon began making inquiries about the exemptions. Senior congressional sources said the Biden administration is trying to sweep the sanctions waivers under the rug amid renewed concerns about Iran and Russia's military alliance."

The US Congress urgently needs to pass legislation introduced by the Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that will "prohibit the Biden administration from waiving Congressional sanctions that prohibit cooperation on Iran's nuclear program."

"These waivers were originally issued pursuant to the catastrophic Obama-Biden nuclear deal with Iran, formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Biden administration issued these waivers in February and renewed them in August."

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn), Mike Braun (R-Ind), Bill Cassidy (R-La), Tom Cotton (R-Ark), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-Mont), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn), John Hoeven (R-ND), Marco Rubio (R-Fla) and Rick Scott (R-Fla).

It is stunning that the Biden Administration is offering Iran's mullahs sanction waivers for their nuclear program while the Iranian regime is openly getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons. As Cruz pointed out:

"There is absolutely no reason to continue issuing these waivers, which allow Iran and Russia to cooperate on building up Iran's nuclear program. These waivers were nevertheless renewed in August, because the Biden administration remains obsessed with reentering a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime. Now the administration says it is committed to countering cooperation between Iran and Russia. They should embrace this legislation."

Additionally, the Biden Administration has continued to send a message to Russia and the Islamist mullahs of Iran that the US is still in favor of reviving the nuclear deal in which Russia, Iran's staunch ally, plays the dominant role. Biden's nuclear deal will reportedly allow Moscow to cash in on a $10 billion contract to expand Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Blinken previously made it clear to US lawmakers that the Biden Administration will not stand in the way of Russia cashing in on the $10 billion contract, as well as Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation. State Department spokesman Ned Price had previously reiterated the Biden administration's stance, saying:

"We, of course, would not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA".

Worse, the Biden administration's nuclear deal has been trusting Russia to conduct the negotiations on behalf of the US; to be the sole country to oversee compliance with the nuclear deal, and to keep Iran's highly enriched uranium -- able to return it to Iran at the mullahs' request.

As Gabriel Noronha, who served as Special Advisor for Iran in the U.S. State Department from 2019-2020 pointed out, the Biden administration "cannot honestly claim to be supporting Ukraine if they are going to keep giving a green light to support the Russian-Iranian alliance at the very same time."

"Renewing these waivers would provide Rosatom, Russia's state-owned nuclear company, a get-out-of-sanctions pass to build two new nuclear reactors in Iran—a contract worth $10 billion—while they have been helping take over Ukraine's two largest nuclear power plants. If Biden is serious about moving on from the failed [nuclear deal] and actually pushing back against Iran's terror plots and nuclear extortion, the administration needs to act like it and put real pressure on Iran for once. The same goes for punishing Russia."

Biden has already been called "the Manchurian President" (here, here, and here). After seeing the Biden Administration's capitulations to America's enemies over the past two years (for instance here, here , here and here), it is important to ask: Has the Biden family effectively been paid (here, here and here) to hand over America to Russia, China and Iran?

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

 
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19411/biden-russia-iran-nuclear

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U.S. Promotes International Framework For ‘Responsible’ Military Use Of AI Technology - Leif le Mahieu

 

by Leif le Mahieu

“The aim of the Declaration is to build international consensus around how militaries can responsibly incorporate AI and autonomy into their operations, and to help guide states’ development, deployment, and use of this technology for defense purposes” the office of the State Department spokesperson said.

 

The U.S. government this week unveiled a new framework for the military use of artificial intelligence it hopes will be adopted by other countries as AI technology becomes more advanced. 

The State Department put out its “Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy,” at a conference in the Netherlands that took place on Wednesday and Thursday. 

“The aim of the Declaration is to build international consensus around how militaries can responsibly incorporate AI and autonomy into their operations, and to help guide states’ development, deployment, and use of this technology for defense purposes to ensure it promotes respect for international law, security, and stability,” the office of the State Department spokesperson said. 

The guidelines are not legally binding, but the U.S. said it hopes that other nations will adopt similar practices. The declaration put out by the U.S. laid a number of recommendations including keeping human control over decisions regarding nuclear weapons, having senior officials overseas weapons systems that use AI, ensuring that military AI tech has clear documentation, that AI tech has a clear purpose, and putting safeguards on AI tech to avoid major disaster if the technology fails.

The guidelines also ask that measures are put in place to avoid “unintended bias in military AI capabilities,” though it is unclear what kind of bias is being referenced. 

The State Department hopes that all nations, not just key U.S. allies, will voice support for the guidelines. 

“We would like to expand that to go out to a much broader set of countries and begin getting international buy-in, not just a NATO buy-in, but in Asia, buy-in from countries in Latin America,” a State Department official told Defense One. “We’re looking for countries around the world to start discussing this … so they understand the implications of the development and military use of AI … Many of them will think ‘Oh this is just a great power competition issue,’ when really there are implications for the entire international community.”

The guidelines come as U.S. officials have expressed concern about the use and development of AI by China and Russia. Russia was excluded from the conference while the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands was present. 

“We think that we have an opportunity to get ahead in a way and establish strong norms of responsible behavior now,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. “Neither China nor Russia have stated publicly what procedures they’re implementing to ensure that their military AI systems operate safely responsibly and as intended.”

According to the Netherlands, about 2,000 people from 100 countries were at the conference, with many governmental representatives present.

Leif le Mahieu

Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-promotes-international-framework-for-responsible-military-use-of-ai-technology

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House Oversight gives details on how it will investigate Biden admin's 'Afghanistan catastrophe' - Nick Givas

 

by Nick Givas

Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in an August 2021 terror attack at a Kabul-area airport on the final days of the U.S . withdrawal.

 

The House Oversight Committee on Friday outlined its plans to investigate the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 in which 13 service members were killed by in a terror attack and billion of dollars worth of equipment was left behind for the Taliban.

Committee Chairman James Comer said the investigation will be spread across multiple subcommittee, whose leaders in preparation are "requesting all documents, communications, and information related to the Biden Administration’s disastrous military and diplomatic withdrawal."

Comer also said in a statement on the matter that Republican on the Oversight committee, of which the GOP is now in control, have since August 2021 sought information into the "Afghanistan catastrophe."

The Kentucky Republican also said the administration "continues to obstruct congressional oversight as well as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction."

The Trump administration initiated the U.S. military getting all of its troop out of Afghanistan – after having gone there to wage a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed on U.S. soil.

The Biden administration in its attempt to complete the withdrawal struggled with a chaotic final days in which those trying to flee Taliban control overwhelmed the Kabul-area airport, with some clinging to airplane landing gear in a desperate effort to escape. On August 26, two suicide bombers and a gunman at the airport killed the 13 service members. 

“The Biden Administration was tragically unprepared for the Afghanistan withdrawal and their decisions in the region directly resulted in a national security and humanitarian catastrophe," Comer also said in the statement. "U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, Americans were abandoned, taxpayer dollars are unaccounted for, the Taliban gained access to military equipment, progress for Afghan women was derailed, and the entire area is now under hostile Taliban control." 

Among those receiving letter requests for documents and other withdrawal-related materials were Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and White House Nation Security Advisor Jake Sullivan

You can follow Nick on Twitter @NGivasDC

Nick Givas

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-oversight-committee-demands-documents-bidens-botched-afghanistan

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Is rising terror in Israel a sign of a new Palestinian intifada? - Seth J. Frantzman

 

by Seth J. Frantzman

This does not appear to be an era when terror groups feel they are on the rise, such as in the 1990s to 2014, when ISIS took over Mosul. Nevertheless, the violence continues.

 

AT THE funeral of Alter Shlomo Lederman, 20, a newlywed yeshiva student murdered in the car ramming near Jerusalem’s Ramot junction, Feb. 11.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The recent increase in terror attacks in Jerusalem – which included two stabbings this week, one by a 14-year-old; last week’s car ramming; the Friday night shooting of congregants leaving a Neveh Ya’acov synagogue late last month; a shooting by a 13-year-old at the City of David that same day; and coordinated bombings at two bus stops in November – have catapulted the capital into the spotlight.

After every major act of terrorism, as the body count and number of wounded grow, some top media and international voices have referred to the attacks as part of a “cycle” – giving rise to concerns that a new intifada may be bubbling to the surface.

At the same time, the support for the attacks among Palestinians is concerning, although it is not a new phenomenon.

After last Friday’s car ramming at a Ramot bus stop, which killed three Israelis, including two young brothers, a reporter for Israel’s Channel 11 did some interviews near Damascus Gate, just outside the Old City. Unsurprisingly, some of those he interviewed said the Neveh Ya’acov attack should be praised and wished more Israelis would be killed.

On the one hand, we are supposed to be concerned by these comments; but on the other hand, decades of Palestinian incitement have led to a situation in which it is considered normal to openly praise attacks on civilians. One of the built-in problems with the Oslo Accords, as well as the peace with Jordan in the 1990s, was that Israel wanted an agreement and never demanded that as part of the peace deal, there would be coexistence. 

HAREDI MEN converse with a Border Policeman against the background of the security barrier protecting Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood from Beit Jala gunfire, during the Second Intifada in 2000. Graffiti on the barrier reads: ‘You promised peace at home.’ (credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)

In those days, it was seen as more important to have paperwork completed and some kind of a deal; an ideology similar to the Iran logic, which posited that a “deal” would somehow prevent war, even though the Islamic Republic kept waging war on the region and on the West.

Since we can’t go back in time, it’s only worth acknowledging that the kind of “peace” built into the “peace process,” Oslo and various “road maps” was one that guaranteed a return to violence, since it never required that educational institutions reduce incitement. 

On the opposite side, it created an autonomous Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza that raised generations to celebrate when Israeli civilians are killed. Alongside them was a chorus of extremist supporters, some of them in the West, who created various excuses for this behavior, such as arguing that this is an armed struggle against apartheid and that Israeli civilians are actually combatants.

The most violent year in the West Bank since 2005

The last year has been described as the most violent in the West Bank since the UN began recording data on Israel-Palestinian clashes in 2005. It’s important to note here that this data point is well crafted to provide a headline because actually, the conflict is not more violent today than in conflicts such as the 2009 war in Gaza. 

However, by looking solely at the West Bank, it is indeed violent. This has come about primarily due to the rise of Islamic Jihad in Jenin, gangs and militias in Nablus, as well as armed groups in Jericho. These seem to be men who are well armed thanks to arms trafficking in the West Bank. 

The men all have M-16s, and while some may be relatives of members of Fatah or may have allegiance to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the overall trend is that armed gangs and militias, mafias and militants are taking over one Palestinian city after another.

THE ARMS flow in the West Bank has gone on for decades, but recent years have apparently seen a surge in the flow of M-16s, the same type of rifle used by Israel and the US. Where do the weapons all come from? It’s not entirely clear, but the fact is that almost every Palestinian gunman killed in recent clashes with Israeli forces has been pictured with an M-16, usually in “martyr” photos published posthumously by supporters.

Attacks continue even with efforts to take the wind out of their sails

The M-16 generation of terrorist militias/gangs/mafias rising in the West Bank is a generation that was born after the Second Intifada began. That means they have no real memory of the brutal fighting that marked that era. They don’t remember the siege of the Muqata of the church in Bethlehem, the shooting from Beit Jala or the battle of Jenin. 

They have only stories, and unlike the previous generations, they grew up entirely sealed off from Israel. This is because the security barrier was built when they were very young. Unlike their parents, they never met Israelis in a normal setting and didn’t likely work in Israel. They are the fruits of Oslo and the bizarre “peace” of the 1990s.

The fighters Israel is confronting and those involved in attacks today are also children of another phenomenon. They are not well trained because Israel dismantled the terror infrastructure of the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

They also live under a Palestinian Authority whose security forces have been trained by US-backed programs. This is the US Security Coordinator program once called “Dayton’s Army.” 

The other law-and-order aspect of the PA is provided by the EU-backed EUPOL COPPS. The clashes in Jenin, Nablus and Jericho over the last months reveal there is a critical issue emerging in the West Bank. Almost two decades of training Palestinian security forces and police, and building up institutions, has apparently not resulted in peace and security. Instead, the PA has retreated, and Israel is forced to go into the cities, either with quiet understanding with the PA and others, or not.

This means that any talk of an intifada must take into account how we got here. Israel has blockaded Gaza and neutralized Hamas threats over the years. Iran is not able to flood Gaza with the arms it was previously able to smuggle into the area. Iran is busy sending drones to Russia now, so it is more difficult to arm Gaza. 

The Abraham Accords and other changes in the region also ostensibly should take the wind out of the sails of extremist groups. This does not appear to be an era when terror groups feel they are on the rise, such as in the 1990s to 2014, when ISIS took over Mosul. Nevertheless, the violence continues. 

Even as groups like Al-Shabab are rolled back, and Egypt makes progress in the Sinai, and Israel hosts important forums with Arab countries, like the Negev Forum, there doesn’t seem to be peace here.

Support for a two-state solution is on the decline: Is there a way out?

AT THE same time, a recent poll shows declining support for a two-state solution among Israelis and Palestinians. However, this continues to lead to questions about the fact that neither seems to prefer any other way out of the impasse, either. 

The Palestinian-Israeli Pulse joint poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah, and the International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University, with funding from the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah and the Representative Office of Japan to Palestine through UNDP/PAPP. 

RETREATING FORCES: Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas speaks at PA headquarters in Ramallah, 2020. (credit: FLASH90)

The joint poll was conducted in December, according to organizers, who announced the survey’s results on January 24. The findings indicate that “support for a two-state solution among Palestinians and Israelis declines to just one-third on each side, along with growing opposition to the detailed items of a permanent peace agreement for implementing a two-state solution.” 

The poll shows that slightly more Israeli Jews support one unequal state under Israeli rule than the two-state solution, the report of the results said, “but both publics still prefer two states to any other democratic framework for resolving the conflict.” 

There are other key findings, such as declining trust and the fact that “a majority of Palestinians reject four proposed confidence-building measures, while a majority of Israelis accept half of them.” The sample for the poll included Palestinians from the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as Israeli Jews and Arabs.

The survey shows that a large number of Palestinians, around 94%, “negate the idea that the land belongs to the other side.” For Israeli Jews, the number is 68%. It’s hard to understand how peace can be made under these circumstances. A majority of both sides also don’t think there is a peace partner on the other side.

But neither side has a viable idea of how to get out of this situation. “One non-democratic state ruled by Israel without equality for Palestinians is supported by 37% of Israeli Jews; one Palestinian state without equality for Jews is supported by 30% of Palestinians,” the survey notes.

“One non-democratic state ruled by Israel without equality for Palestinians is supported by 37% of Israeli Jews; one Palestinian state without equality for Jews is supported by 30% of Palestinians.”

Survey

THE OVERALL perception? There isn’t much that can build confidence on both sides. 

This means the status quo will continue. 

In terms of a new intifada, it would seem difficult for the Palestinians, who are divided and not well organized, to challenge Israel. However, that does not mean that attacks will not continue.

AT THE scene of a stabbing in which a Border Police officer was critically wounded at a Shuafat checkpoint, east Jerusalem, Feb. 13. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Since 2006 when Israel left Gaza and the last Palestinian elections brought Hamas to power in Gaza, there have been rounds of tensions and conflict generally centered on Jerusalem. This included the 2015-2016 “stabbing intifada” and the 2017 tensions over metal detectors, as well as disquiet in 2021 that led to a brief conflict. 

It’s likely that a new type of low-level conflict could emerge. It is also very concerning that armed groups are influencing various cities which appear to be slipping away from PA control.

It would behoove international organizations to keep an eye on the weapons trafficking and gun violence, and examine how the weapons trade is eroding the PA’s control.

Seth J. Frantzman

Source: https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-731785

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Israel Dismisses Condemnation From its ‘Allies’ Over ‘Settlement’ Expansions - Christine Williams

 

by Christine Williams

The Jewish State confronts the warped international propaganda campaign.

 

Israel is ignoring “the condemnations of its allies and moved” to “advance plans for new West Bank settler homes, for what is expected to be a total package of 10,000 new units.” An article from the Jerusalem Post states:

The rising international anger over settlements, with condemnations from the European Union as well as neighboring Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, has not determined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the pursuit of settlement activity, which he and his government view as a response to the rising terror attacks.

In stark contrast to the Trump administration once again, the latest pressure on Israel to acquiesce to Palestinian demands is coming from the Biden administration:

US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday said that the Biden administration was working together with Israel’s allies to jointly express their collective displeasure over settlement activity.

Israel is a sovereign nation that has been under threat of obliteration from the day of its birth and has courageously demonstrated its unwillingness to surrender to foreign interference, including that of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is often used as a legal source with which Israel can be beaten down. However, as a free country with an independent judiciary, “Israeli courts have confirmed the legality of certain settlement activities.”

Despite the global gang-up against Israel, which only encourages jihad terror against Israeli citizens, not all international scholars agree with the ICJ’s opinion that the settlements violate international law. An American jurist, international judge, counsel and arbitrator, Stephen Schwebel, asserts that “Israel had a more legitimate claim on Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip than its adversaries.” Schwebel is also a former president of the International Court of Justice. Northwestern University Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich, a renowned expert in constitutional law and international law, also makes a sound legal case for Israel’s position on settlements. He notes that Israel is not “an unlawful occupying power—certainly not according to any binding international laws.” He also takes into consideration “the historical complexities of the issue and the legal circumstances,” while noting the hypocrisy of the international community:

Kontorovich noted the double standards that have politicized international law, and undermined its integrity. Only Israel’s actions in the West Bank are deemed unlawful and worthy of boycott, even as plenty of other countries—including America—have occupied territories and enabled their citizens to live in them. Kontorovich points to over a dozen other cases (e.g., Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara; Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus) along with a few that are less well known, like the U.S. occupation of West Berlin which ended in 1990.

The ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have firmly defended Palestinian interests. The ICJ is a civil tribunal that hears disputes between countries, while the ICC is a criminal tribunal that prosecutes individuals. The Palestinians secured their influence in both, underhandedly, long ago. For instance, on December 31, 2014, the Palestinians announced that they were joining the ICC with the specific intention to pursue war crimes investigations and charges against Israel. Their announcement came a day after the UN Security Council voted down a resolution setting a three-year deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state on lands that the UN regards as “occupied” by Israel. In response to the disappointment, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated: “We want to complain. There’s aggression against us, against our land. The Security Council disappointed us.” Then came the ploy to join the ICC, and only three months later, it was a done deal. The Palestinians “formally joined” the ICC, an act that the BBC described as “a key step towards being able to pursue Israelis for alleged war crimes.”

The Trump Administration firmly stood by Israel. On November 18, 2019, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stated in reference to so-called illegal settlements, with regard to the ICJ:

The idea that settlements are illegal derives primarily from UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is an arm of the UN. The UN does not make legal determinations, only political ones. The ICJ “does not have jurisdiction over all disputes between UN member-states,” according to the Congressional Research Service. In fact, “with the exception of ‘advisory opinions,’ which are non-binding, the ICJ may only resolve legal disputes between nations that voluntarily agreed to its jurisdiction.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, is now calling “on the international community to condemn the latest terror attacks against Israeli civilians in the strongest and unequivocal terms. Those abhorrent crimes are being encouraged and applauded by the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and PFLP among others.”

Yet the condemnation of Israel that is coming from America, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom encourages jihad aggression. It empowers the jihadi cause and the false belief that Israel has no right to build on its own ancient land. Whenever jihadists strike Israel with rocket fire and murder its citizens, the message is sent that the jihadists were provoked by Israeli enormities. Israel’s critics, however, will prove to be on the wrong side of history. Every major political organization that is governing the Palestinians plainly states its intention of obliterating Israel. This is consistent with an Islamic vision of full conquest of the Middle East. At the United Nations in 2018, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers adopted a statement demanding respect for Islam. The Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, is now not unexpectedly stirring up even further international animosity against Israel, and demanding action against Israel from the UN Security Council. The UN long ago established firm ties with the OIC. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has declared that ties linking the UN and the OIC are based on a “shared belief in cooperation, dialogue, solidarity.” Those ties have strengthened in the past few years, reflected in vigorous antagonism against Israel.

In 2021, the OIC went to the UN and called upon it to “take serious measures to hold Israel accountable.” Then in March 2022, the UN designated March 15 the “International Day to Combat Islamophobia.” As Iranian Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza A’arafi, who is currently a member of the Guardian Council and also a member of the Assembly of Experts, put it: “Palestine has turned into a symbol of Islamic unity and resistance.” 

Israel has no other choice but to defend its interests in the face of enemies which have effectively waged an international propaganda campaign against it.

Christine Williams

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/israel-dismisses-condemnation-from-its-allies-over-settlement-expansions/

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Passing the buck: 5 times Biden tried to shift blame for his problems to Trump - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

"Do I take any blame for inflation? No. It was already here when I got here, man," Biden said.

 

The awesome responsibilities of the presidency can be a heavy weight to shoulder, a lonely burden of ultimate decision-making authority enduringly encapsulated in the words of the iconic sign President Harry Truman kept on his desk in the Oval Office: "The buck stops here."

President Joe Biden, however, has time and again sought to sidestep the weighty burden of history through the simple expedient of passing the buck for presidential choices gone awry to his predecessor.

With Biden's job approval rating remaining well underwater, his administration is redoubling efforts to blame its perceived failures on former President Trump — a practice dating back to its botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 and stretching right up to the present, with its much-panned responses to the Chinese spy balloon and the Ohio toxic train derailment.

In the five examples that follow, administration officials have made at least some effort to blame their problems on the decisions of their Trump administration predecessors. These efforts have varied in their level of directness, but at the core of each is an insinuation that the last administration dealt the current one a bad hand.

Here are five leading examples of Biden administration blame-shifting:

1. "We're constrained"

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg this week appeared to blame Trump's policies for the East Palestine, Ohio, train disaster. The episode saw a number of train cars containing toxic chemicals derail, leading officials to evacuate the town and order a controlled burn of the toxins to prevent an explosion.

The environmental fallout and possible harm to residents has focused critical scrutiny on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The incident is merely the latest in a string of infrastructure and travel fiascos that have dimmed the former presidential candidate's once bright political star.

Buttigieg attempted to explain his agency's efforts to improve rail safety via a Twitter thread this week, when he appeared to cast blame for the Ohio incident on the prior administration.

"We are making historic investments on rail safety through funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, work that accelerates this year and continue [sic] in the years to come," Buttigieg wrote. "In June we announced $120 million in grants to help improve railway safety."

The secretary went on to list DOT efforts, both funded and planned, to improve rail safety and respond to hazmat incidents — but he did not directly identify a cause of the recent derailment.

Instead, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor conceded that "[w]e’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe."

Buttigieg did not directly blame the Trump administration's 2018 rule change for the derailment, and an ongoing investigation has not yet made any such determination. However, Buttigieg's inclusion of the rule change in an explanation offered "[i]n the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents" led major news outlets such as Fox News to infer that the Transportation Secretary had attempted to shift the blame to Trump.

The 2015 law prompting the Trump-era rule change was signed by former President Barack Obama.

2. "Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times"

Earlier this month, Biden allowed a suspected Chinese spy balloon to traverse the continental United States for several days, allowing the military to shoot it down only once it had drifted out over the Atlantic Ocean. The lag drew jeers from Republicans, including Trump, who demanded the government shoot it down.

Amid public backlash over Biden's handling of the balloon, a Biden Defense Department official cloaked in anonymity was quick to let slip that "Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times" under the previous administration.

After Trump himself and senior members of his administration vehemently denied any such incidents, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) chief Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck later confirmed that the military had failed to detect the previous balloons in real time and that the Trump administration was, accordingly, not aware of the issue.

"We had gaps on prior balloons," VanHerck said. "I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that's a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out."

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby this week more pointedly attempted to contrast an alleged failure of the Trump administration with the purported success of Biden's on the matter, saying the Chinese surveillance operation "was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it," The Independent reported. "We detected it."

3. "It was already here when I got here"

Biden falsely claimed earlier this month that inflation was on the rise during the Trump administration, a preexisting trend that spilled over into his own presidency through no fault of his own.

"Do I take any blame for inflation? No. It was already here when I got here, man," he said, per the Washington Examiner. "Remember what the economy was like when I got here? Jobs were hemorrhaging. Inflation was rising. We weren't manufacturing a damn thing here. We were in real economic difficulty. That's why I don't, thank you."

Inflation was low and declining during the Trump administration. The inflation rate for 2019 was 1.8% and fell to 1.2% in 2020, Trump's final year, before rising to 4.7% in 2021 and 8.0% in 2022. In December 2020, the rate stood at 1.36% and remained a low 1.4% in January 2021. Following Biden's inauguration, the rate rose consistently throughout 2021, except for a period of relative stabilization in the summer. By December 2021, however, that figure was 7.0% and would go on to peak at 9.06% in June of 2022.

Republicans, by contrast, have pointed to the Biden administration's gargantuan spending packages, such as the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the ironically named Inflation Reduction Act, as driving the increase in consumer prices.

4. "...Because of what the last administration did"

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last month claimed that Biden's attempt to overhaul the U.S. immigration system was a response to chaos left in the wake of Trump administration immigration policies.

"The president inherited a mess because of what the last administration did," she said in January, per Fox News. "We inherited a mess. And, you know, Republicans in Congress made it worse by blocking comprehensive immigration reform. And so what you're seeing from this president is he's acting. He's acting to protect, to continue to protect the border, secure the border, and also deal with irregular migration."

Fiscal year 2020 was the last full fiscal year of the Trump administration. In that time U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 458,088 encounters with undocumented aliens at the nation's land border with Mexico. Fiscal year 2021 was largely dominated by the beginning of Biden's tenure in office and saw that figure soar to a record 1,734,686.

Even that record was smashed by the fiscal year 2022 number of 2,378,944. With the numbers for FY 2023 thus far at 874,449, more than 4 million migrants have entered the U.S. illegally via Mexico since Biden took office.

Biden's Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has moved to eliminate both the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (the "Remain in Mexico" policy) as well as the Title 42 immigration enforcement order, both of which have allowed border authorities to swiftly expel migrants from the American interior. Many Trump administration officials and Republicans had contended that the policies further acted as deterrents to would-be illegal migrants.

In 2022, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn warned that the lifting of Title 42 would unleash a human "tsunami" of illegal migration across the southern border, a prediction which appears to have materialized.

5. "We Inherited a Deadline, we did not inherit a plan"

In September 2021, one month after the Taliban's complete takeover of Afghanistan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the disastrous withdrawal of the U.S. from the country was the product of former President Trump committing to a withdrawal deadline without devising a plan to meet it.

"We inherited a deadline, we did not inherit a plan," he said at the time. Former Trump administration officials, however, have contradicted Blinken's narrative.

Kash Patel, former chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, told the John Solomon Reports podcast shortly after Blinken's remarks that the nation's top diplomat was wrong.

"We actually did not leave them a deadline," he said. "It was a negotiation between the U.S. government, the Taliban, and the Afghans. And if that date was not to work for this incoming administration, they could have moved it."

That specific plan involved extracting American civilians out before withdrawing military forces from the country and abandoning critical military installations such as Bagram Air Base. The Biden administration executed the withdrawal in reverse order, resulting in a lengthy siege of the Kabul airport and a hastily organized airlift to extract lingering U.S. citizens and Afghan contractors following the collapse of the U.S.-allied government.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/its-trumps-fault-fast-becoming-favorite-line-biden-admin-amid-myriad-scandals

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North Dakota House passes bill banning transgender treatment for minors - The Center Square Staff

 

by The Center Square Staff

Medical professionals who perform gender reassignment surgeries could be found guilty of a Class B felony.

 

The North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that bans medical professionals from gender reassignment for minors.

Medical professionals who perform gender reassignment surgeries could be found guilty of a Class B felony, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Prescribing puberty blockers or hormones would constitute a Class A misdemeanor, according to the bill.

Physicians from across the state filed written testimony opposing the bill.

"If these house bills pass, this state becomes a very dangerous place for transgender and gender diverse people," said Dr. Rachel Peterson, a Bismarck obstetrician and gynecologist. "Multiple studies have shown that gender-affirming care is lifesaving. People who receive this care report lifelong improvements in their mental health and a significantly reduced risk of suicide. This is especially noted in patients under the age of 18."

The bill passed by a vote of 66-25 and moves to the Senate for approval.

The House rejected a bill that would have allowed parents to sue providers for up to 30 years after the treatment. If the child died because of the treatment, parents could sue up to 10 years after the minor's death.

"Thirty years is an extremely long time to be looking at a statute of limitations," said Rep. Lawrence Klemin, R-Bismarck, during the debate. "Memories fade. Things change. Witness die. Witnesses move away. Everything changes in that length of time."

Rep. Brandon Prichard, R-Bismarck, the bill's sponsor, said some civil actions do not have a statute of limitations.

"And this is an issue that is so new, and so experimental, that we have to have a significantly longer statute of limitations because we don't know how the child is going to fare 30 years down the line," Prichard said. "Moreover, you can have a surgery on a child at eight years old or medications given to an eight-year-old. Do you think within six years of time he or she is going to know what to do, how to bring a civil suit if the medications impacted them?"

The bill failed by a vote of 62-29.

The Center Square Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/nd-house-passes-bill-banning-transgender-treatment-minors

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Palestinians Celebrate Murder of Israelis - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Welcome to the Religion of Peace.

 

Yet again, the Palestinians have just held, in both Gaza and the West Bank, ghoulish celebrations of the murder of Israeli civilians, including a six-year-old child. More on these celebrations can be found here: “Palestinians Celebrate Murder of Israelis in Terrorist Attack, Media Headlines Call Victims ‘Settlers,’” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, February 10, 2023:

Images on social media circulated Friday of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza celebrating a terrorist attack in Jerusalem that left two Israelis dead on Friday morning, just hours before the beginning of Shabbat.

In a video posted to Twitter, a man instructs children in Gaza to hand out pastries to passerby in honor of 31-year-old Hussein Qaraqe, who rammed his car into a bus stop in the East Jerusalem in an attack that killed six-year-old Yaakov Pelli and twenty-year-old newly-wed Alter Shlomo Lederman while injuring five others. Images also purported to show members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Khan Yunis, Gaza, distributing sweets.

These sweets — pastries and candies — are always distributed by Palestinians after an especially satisfying terror attack on Israelis. Sometimes it’s more than just sweets, when a large number of Israelis have been murdered. When seven Israeli civilians, coming out of a synagogue, were murdered in Neve Yaakov in early February, Palestinians handed out pastries, honked car horns in frenetic glee, set off firecrackers, and engaged in a great deal of Allahu-akbaring. Much mafficking. And a good time was had by all.

“The heroic action in Jerusalem is a natural response to all the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people, the last of which is the massacre in the Aqabat Jaber camp,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Kassem said on Friday, citing an IDF operation to neutralize roughly half a dozen terrorists who conspired to commit an attack on an Israeli restaurant in January.

The “heroic action” consisted of Palestinian Hussein Qaraqe crashing his car into a group of Israelis, mostly mothers and children, standing at a bus stop. Among them were a six-year-old boy and his eight-year-old brother. The six-year-old died, and the eight-year-old is now fighting for his life. A 20-year-old young man returning home for Shabbat was also killed. Several others were seriously wounded. A “heroic action” indeed.

In another celebratory statement, the Islamic Jihad Movement (PIJ) said, “We affirm that this blessed operation, which healed the hearts of our people, came as a natural and legitimate response to the crimes of the occupation.”

Of course. Nothing heals the hearts of the Palestinians like seeing dead Israelis. Murder is a “natural and legitimate response” to the crimes of the Zionists, who stubbornly refuse to give the Palestinians what they want, and deserve – a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”

After the attack, which occurred amid escalating Palestinian violence against Israelis, Qaraqe’s uncle told Palestine Post Network that Qaraqe “loved Palestine all his life, and he was suffering from a severe injury in his back.”

I don’t know why his aching back is significant. Perhaps it is meant to suggest that even though Qaraqe had an aching back, he was still determined to go through with his heroic deed. A determined martyr for Palestine.

Qaraqe, who lived in a rented house in Issawiya — a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem — was a “mentally disturbed” person only several days removed from being an in-patient at a psychiatric hospital, according to Gili Cohen, a correspondent for Israeli public broadcaster KAN. He also, Hebrew outlet N12 reported, had a history of lauding terrorists on social media, posting “Glory to the pure souls” in reference to those who committed previous atrocities.”

Where is the evidence that Qaraqe’s murders were the product of a “mentally disturbed” individual, rather than the natural expression of the jihad ideology that has inspired so many of millions of Muslims? He lauded terrorists on social media, but in this he was no different from hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, all of whom wished “glory to the pure souls” of their “martyrs,” that is, those who died while murdering Israelis. The outward evidence suggests not mental disorder, but an understandable desire to make his own mark as a “martyr” and, what’s more, to ensure that his family would, as a result of his “heroic action,” receive generous lifetime support from the Palestinian Authority, as part of its “Pay-for-Slay” program.

Meanwhile, various Arab-language media outlets described the Israeli victims as “settlers.”

Roya News, a Jordanian outlet, ran an article about the incident with a headline saying, “Two settlers killed in car-ramming operation in occupied in Jerusalem,” while a Palestinian outlet said, “Martyrdom of the executor. Two settlers were killed and others injured in a run-over operation in Jerusalem.” The Palestinian Chronicle, an outfit based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, reported that Qaraqe “rammed his vehicle into a group of illegal Jewish settlers” after saying that Israel “claimed” that he had done it.

“Settlers.” “Illegal settlers.” Is a six-year-old child a “settler”? That’s what various Arabic-language media called him. They never revealed his age. Was someone still little enough to have a teddy bear a “settler” who deserved to be killed? And his eight-year-old brother, now in critical condition, was also described as a “settler.” Remember: this was a “heroic action.” No need to provide the ages of those “settlers.” Not everyone would be impressed.

In the United States, a headline by CNN said “Two dead including child as car rams people at Jerusalem bus stop,” prompting criticism from the Israel Foreign Ministry.

“This wasn’t a self driving car @CNN,” the Ministry said on Twitter. “The driver a Palestinian terrorist *intentionally* rammed into a bus stop packed with children and families traveling before Shabbat.”

What explains – for nothing excuses — CNN’s headline that endows the car with agency and denies that of the driver bent on murder? “Two dead…as car rams people”? That will never do. Here’s what will do: “Palestinian rams car into Israelis, killing two, including a six-year-old.”

Think, CNN. Just think before you headline.

And while we have you on the line, how about doing a story on how the Palestinians pull out all the stops when they celebrate the murders of Israelis? For many in your audience, that will prove most instructive.

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/palestinians-celebrate-murder-of-israelis/

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Who Killed Philip Haney? The Mystery Continues - Lloyd Billingsley

 

by Lloyd Billingsley

Slain DHS whistleblower now under investigation for “contraband” and “possible violations of U.S. Codes.”

 

February 21 will mark three years since Philip Haney, 66, was “found deceased” in Amador County, California, killed by a gunshot to the chest. The victim was not the typical Sierra foothills resident.

Philip Haney was the author of  See Something Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad, first published in 2016. The DHS whistleblower also authored Frontpage articles, “Deobond Attacks in San Bernardino, Sri Lanka,” “The Terrorist Ties that Bind,” and “The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America’s Ominous Post-Election Statement.” The expert on Islamic jihad had been punished for doing his job at a high level. This is the man found deceased in Amador County.

In Haney’s RV, the sheriff found numerous thumb drives, a laptop computer, and other materials. Sheriff Martin Ryan turned these over to the FBI, which did not reveal what the devices contained, and the bureau remained silent on the case through 2021. Last year, the Amador County sheriff’s office told Frontpage there was “no new news” about Haney and that the case was closed. A month later, in March, 2022, more than two years after Haney was found deceased, the case was proclaimed a suicide.

Claims that Haney killed himself had appeared from the start, but were steadfastly denied by Haney’s friends, family and members of Congress. In March of 2020, Rep. Steve King said, “I don’t believe that Phil Haney committed suicide.” Rep. Louis Gohmert told reporters “I’d been concerned about his safety, with all the information he knew and people who could’ve gotten in trouble.”  If the case had been pursued as a homicide, potential suspects would have been easy to find.

Philip Haney worked as a field agricultural entomologist in the Middle East, where he began studying Arabic and the Quran. With that background, the UC Riverside alum seemed a good fit for the Department of Homeland Security, but it didn’t turn out that way.

In “DHS ordered me to scrub records of Muslims with terror ties,” published in The Hill on May 5, 2016, Haney said DHS had ordered him “to delete or modify several hundred records of individuals tied to designated Islamist terror groups like Hamas from the important federal database, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).”

According to Kerry Picket in the Washington Examiner, the author was recently in contact with top officials about returning to work for the DHS. In June, 2016, Haney testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that several terrorist attacks against people in the United States could have been prevented if certain files had not been scrubbed. Those included the December 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California, when Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik murdered 14 people and wounded more than 20 others.

“The mosque that Syed Farook attended was part of that Tablighi Jamaat network,” Haney told Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy in a May 31, 2016 interview. “The administration deleted sixty-seven records out of the system that I had worked on as a component of the Tablighi case.” Had those records not been deleted, Haney said, it was plausible that Farook would not have been able to travel to Saudi Arabia, Tashfeen Malik would never been given a visa, “and then we would have stopped the attack.”

After Haney’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz asked Jeh Johnson, DHS Secretary from 2013-17, if Haney’s testimony was accurate. “I have no idea. I don’t know who Mr. Haney is,” Johnson replied. “I wouldn’t know him if he walked into the room.” To say the least, that is highly unlikely.

Haney said DHS investigated him nine times and revoked his security clearance. The Department of Justice charged that Haney “misused a government computer,” but Haney was exonerated. He retired from the DHS, and in See Something Say Nothing told the world what was going on.

On the night of February 21, 2020 Amador County deputies and detectives responded to the report of a male subject on the ground with a gunshot wound. Early news reports suggested it was already proclaimed it a suicide but the sheriff denied it. The case quickly caught the attention of establishment media.

“Haney’s controversial accusations that the Obama administration could have prevented terrorist attacks were polarizing among Americans,” Laura Hoy of CNN reported on February 23. As Hoy explained, “Haney’s death is likely to become political ammo for Republicans heading into the 2020 presidential elections.”

On July 22, the Amador sheriff announced “hopes to complete our review of the reports and compare the FBI’s analysis with what we have already collected and analyzed within a few weeks after receipt.” A week after the November election, the FBI “analysis” had not come to light, so Haney’s death did not become “political ammo for the Republicans.”

The July 22, 2020 press release disappeared from the Amador website and in February of 2021, the sheriff’s office told Frontpage there was no new press release and would say nothing about the case. In April of 2021, Martin Ryan retired, replaced by former undersheriff Gary Redman, “a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy,” in Quantico, Virginia. As Redman told the local Ledger Dispatch, “We are waiting for a few remaining pieces to be analyzed out of Virginia,” but there was “no estimated time of arrival.”

As the second anniversary approached, Amador authorities told Frontpage there was no news on Haney and that the case was closed. The next month, more than two years after Haney was found deceased, Redman proclaimed Haney’s death a suicide and declared the case officially closed. As he had to know, it wasn’t.

“Haney’s death was controversial enough for the Amador County Sheriff’s Office to bring in FBI crime scene investigators and other analysts to assist,” wrote Don Thompson of the Associated Press. Investigators claimed they found a suicide note in Haney’s handwriting, that the gun was traced to him and that he left behind “neatly arranged financial documents with instructions on how he wanted his assets distributed.”

An unidentified “neighbor” told investigators that Haney “appeared depressed lately” and had given the neighbor his potted plants the day before his death. Thompson did not track down the neighbor and his report does not cite Haney’s friends and relatives already on record that he was not suicidal.

The AP report fails to explore reasons the official suicide declaration was delayed for more than two years, and what could have happened in the meantime. On the other hand, Readers are told that Haney’s death, “spurred conspiracy speeches by Republican Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King and another GOP congressman on the House floor.” (emphasis added)

Readers are told that the federal Customs and Border Protection (CPB) had determined that Haney’s devices contained “contraband” and possible violations of “CBP policy and numerous United States Codes.” Thompson shows no curiosity about this wild post-mortem accusation. CBP “strategic media engagement branch chief” Jaime Ruiz would not comment because “it’s an open investigation.”

FBI spokeswoman Gina Swankie said the bureau “assisted the Sheriff’s Office with analysis, but it was not an FBI investigation,” and “declined to comment” any further. Despite the contradictions and escape hatches, the FBI left crucial clues.

A true investigative agency would first explore who had a motive to kill Philip Haney. For all but the willfully blind, that would be the Islamic jihadists he exposed, and quite possibly the DHS and DOJ bosses who shut down his work. Legitimate investigators always consider cui bono, those who stand to benefit from the victim’s death. Trouble is, the FBI is no longer a legitimate investigative agency.

The FBI is now the American KGB, a squad of deep-state partisans operating above the law. Show the FBI the man and they create the crime through stagecraft and entrapment, as with Gen. Michael Flynn. In the case of Philip Haney, they target a dead man for further investigation by the federal CPB. The expert on jihadism got the same treatment in death he did in life – false accusation by a federal agency, and quite possibly a lot more.

As Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov explain in Special Tasks, the Soviet KGB also conducted “wet” operations, code for assassination and murder. A favorite method was to fake a suicide. As the great Sidney Hook noted in Out of Step, Soviet defector Gen. Walter Krivitsky was “suicided” in a Washington hotel room by Stalin’s NKVD, forerunner to the KGB.

Danish diplomat Povl Bang-Jensen refused to reveal names of Hungarian patriots who testified to the UN about Soviet atrocities during the 1956 invasion. In 1959, after going missing for two days, Bang-Jensen was found dead in a New York park, shot through the right temple. The scene looked staged but the case was officially declared a suicide. See Betrayal at the UN, by DeWitt Copp and Marshal Peck.

DHS whistleblower Philip Haney is “found deceased” in Amador County, shot through the chest. Haney had many enemies but for more than two years the Federal Bureau of Investigation never considered the possibility that he was murdered. The FBI has all the evidence, but now claims it wasn’t their investigation.

The FBI is preparing to occupy new headquarters twice the size of the Pentagon and bigger than the Kremlin. Embattled Americans should expect more stagecraft, more entrapment, and more operations like the one involving Philip Haney.

The DHS man used his skills to expose radical Islamic terrorists, the people who hijack airliners and crash them into buildings, the terrorists who gun down workers at a holiday party, the terrorists who murder innocents while yelling “Allahu akbar.” These are the worst people in the world, with the possible exception of their enablers in the U.S. government.

Philip Haney bravely exposed them and paid the price. He’s gone but will not be forgotten. The struggle against terrorism is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

Lloyd Billingsley

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/who-killed-philip-haney-the-mystery-continues/

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