Gaza’s ghosts - Caroline Glick

 

by Caroline Glick

Hat tip: Dr. Caroline Tal 

We must not repeat the disastrous mistakes of the past.

In a jaw-dropping display of irony, on Wednesday the Neve Dekalim Girl’s High School was forced to cancel a scheduled celebration to mark its 40th birthday.

Since 2005, the school has been located in Nitzan, around 30 kilometers outside Gaza. For its first 22 years, it was located in Neve Dekalim, the capital of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza. The school moved to Nitzan when the Sharon government ordered the IDF to expel all Jews from Gaza, destroy their communities and withdraw IDF forces to the 1949 armistice lines. (Officially called the "Disengagement from Gaza," the 8000 Jews whose homes were destroyed by their own government and the Israeli Right call it the "Expulsion," ed.)

Destruction of Neve Dekalim yeshivaChannel 10

On Wednesday, Nitzan, like all the other communities in the western Negev, came under missile assault from the ruins of Neve Dekalim and the ruins of the other destroyed communities of Gaza. After Israel withdrew 18 years ago, Hamas and its fellow terror groups transformed what had been flourishing communities into terror bases and rocket launching sites.

Islamic Jihad, which is currently attacking Israel with rockets, missiles and mortars, is supposedly Hamas’ junior partner. But even as a junior terror master, the organization formed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1988 has become a formidable problem. With rockets and missiles capable of attacking Tel Aviv, Beersheva and their environs, the supposed little guy in Gaza managed to shoot off close to 600 missiles, mortars and rockets in two days and force more than two million Israelis to run to bomb shelters for cover. The wizened experts sitting in the TV studios all explain that Israel is right to try to keep Hamas out of things, because if we think Islamic Jihad is a problem, their capabilities are but a faint echo of Hamas’ amassed power.

It is considered impolite to discuss the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza these days. It’s old news. Time to move on, irritated anchors and editors insist. And anyway, no one wants to sound like a broken record. That’s why the story of Neve Dekalim Girl’s High School barely registered on Wednesday.

But from time to time, it’s imperative to bring up the 2005 operation. It stands as a glaring lesson that we ignore at our peril.

For all the misery that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah terror forces in Gaza rain down on Israel—particularly on the western Negev communities—the fact is that Gaza is a sideshow. Lebanon, Judea, Samaria and even Syria are also sideshows. The main event remains Iran, its nuclear weapons program and its rising power in the region. Israel’s main effort has to be focused on Iran—not on its puppets. Without Iran, none of them would be anywhere near as dangerous as they are today.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest in Gaza would be reduced to dependence on Turkey and Qatar alone. And while their support is significant, Iran is the real engine for their military expansion and power. Iran is the reason that Islamic Jihad is running its third campaign against Israel in two years, and it began the current round with a full arsenal of missiles.

It is because of the withdrawal that the sideshow in Gaza is much bigger and far more dangerous than the sideshow in Judea and Samaria. Although Palestinian Arab terrorists in Gaza and Palestinian Arab terrorists in Judea and Samaria are equally committed to murdering Jews, only the ones in Gaza have missiles, rockets and mortars to shoot off at will at Israeli civilians.

IDF forces in Judea and Samaria work day and night to round up terrorists and seize their weapons and ammunition stores. Whereas Gaza has nearly unlimited access to weapons through its border with Egypt, Israel controls the international border with Jordan.

In 2022 alone, Israel intercepted smuggled weapons intended for Palestinian Arab terror groups at the border with Jordan 570 times. True, the number of shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria skyrocketed last year from 12 in 2021 to 41, and the number of rock-throwing attacks also increased dramatically. But Israeli forces prevented far more attacks last year than it failed to prevent.

In Gaza, Israel has no such capabilities. Since Israel withdrew, it lost all capacity to block weapons transfers to Gaza from Egypt. As for operations inside Gaza, five years ago, Lt. Col. Mahmoud Hir a-Din, a commander in Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, was killed in a botched operation in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. That failed mission, by the IDF’s most elite unit, demonstrated just how difficult it is for ground forces to operate in Gaza. In contrast, units carry out operations every day throughout Judea and Samaria.

Fables

In the months leading up to Israel’s withdrawal, Ariel Sharon, his allies and the media sold the public a number of fables. They insisted that Israel would be more secure without Gaza because its defensive lines would be more defensible. They said that the international community would side with Israel against the Palestinian Arabs if they dared to attack after Israel withdrew. They said Gaza would turn into Singapore, as the Palestinian Arabs would embrace their independence and build a flourishing state. The state-of-the-art greenhouses Israel left behind for them would place them on the road to economic prosperity. When Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria saw the Gaza success story, they would be inspired by the model and set down their rifles too.

None of these promises came true. The U.N. continuously accuses Israel of war crimes for defending itself against Gazan aggression. The media continue to attack Israel as evil. Europe, the U.N., the international media and the U.S. Democratic Party all insist that Israel “still occupies” Gaza and is responsible for the welfare of its residents who went to the ballot box and freely chose to be ruled by Hamas terrorists in 2006.

The Palestinian Arabs burned the flourishing greenhouses. Gaza’s financial model is to attack Israel, absorb airstrikes, plead poverty and wait for the U.N., the E.U., Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and untold other anti-Israel entities to rush in to save their economy. Even the U.S. has been brought into the game.

The campaign to deny Israel’s right to exist has massively expanded since Israel withdrew from Gaza.

Truth

On the other hand, every single warning that withdrawal opponents sounded has been borne out. Every single one. Opponents of the withdrawal warned that Hamas would take over from the Palestinian Authority. They warned that Iran would come in. They warned that Israel would have to face missiles on Tel Aviv. They said that Hamas would turn Gaza into Afghanistan.

They said that no one in the global media would give Israel a break after the withdrawal. The U.N., the E.U., their assorted agencies, the progressive global NGO network and all the other usual demonizers would simply step up their game. And they did.

In 2005, it was considered extreme to deny Israel’s right to exist. Now it’s the default position in universities throughout the U.S. and Europe. A growing Congressional caucus agrees.

Then there is Iron Dome. To protect itself from the tens of thousands of rockets, mortars and missiles that the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza have attacked it with, while avoiding admission of the fact that the withdrawal was a disaster on every level, Israel developed the Iron Dome system. Iron Dome does a decent job of intercepting the missiles, rockets and mortars. But it is also expensive and Israel doesn’t have enough batteries. Every Iron Dome missile costs $100,000. Since Israel agreed to have the production lines in the U.S., rather than Israel, with the anti-Israel caucus ascendant in the Democratic Party, Israel can no longer trust that its missile stores will be replenished in an automatic and timely manner. On the other hand, there are no Iranian versions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and J Street in Tehran holding up the resupply of Hamas and Islamic Jihad missile stores.

The left doesn’t want to talk about the withdrawal from Gaza. They have worked for 18 years to shove it down the memory hole, because they want to repeat the experience in Judea and Samaria. Commanders for Israel’s Security is a massively funded remake of Commanders for Peace and Security, a group of far-left retired IDF brass that campaigned for the withdrawal from Gaza. Like their predecessor, CIS insists that to survive, Israel must withdraw as well from Judea and Samaria. CIS is joined in its efforts by groups like the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which passes itself off as Israel’s premier national security think tank. University professors, strategic consultants, 90% of the Israeli media and their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe all parrot the same lines. They all make the same promises and threats. They insist that Gaza is irrelevant. We have nothing to learn.

But reality doesn’t care how much money you have in your bank account, how many prizes you win from your friends or what your rank was when you retired from the IDF. The withdrawal from Gaza stands as a warning.

The opponents of withdrawal got it completely right. The advocates of withdrawal got it completely wrong. And it is imperative that we learn the lesson.

In 2005, Gaza was a nuisance. Today it is a tactical mess with no good solutions. Today Judea and Samaria are manageable, albeit challenging tactical threats. If Israel is ever foolish enough to listen to the “experts” and walk away, it won’t be a tactical mess. With easy access to Israel’s population centers and strategic nerve centers, an independent Palestinian Arab entity in Judea and Samaria that looks like Gaza (and it will look like Gaza) will be a hundred times more dangerous than Gaza is today.

Probably Neve Dekalim Girl’s High School will reschedule their festivities for after another ceasefire is reached. Graduates and families from the past 40 years will come together and celebrate. They will go on, as all of us have for 18 years since the withdrawal and expulsion. But even as we move forward, we have to look back and recognize the truth. The withdrawal from Gaza was an epic, predictable and predicted failure. It brought catastrophe on the country.

It must be recognized for what it is and we must never, ever repeat the mistake.

 

Caroline B. Glick is the senior contributing editor of Jewish News Syndicate and the host of the Caroline Glick Show on JNS. Glick is also the diplomatic commentator for Israel’s Channel 14 as well as a columnist at Newsweek. Glick is the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington and a lecturer at Israel’s College of Statesmanship.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/371323

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IDF Chief of Staff: 'Continued rocket fire enables us to continue ahievements' - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

'We have made significant accomplishments which have only been increasing, both in number and scale,' LTG Herzi Halevi says.

 

Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi                                              IDF Spokesman

IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, held an operational situational assessment at Camp Rabin (the Kiryah), with the participation of members of the General Staff and representatives from the Israel Security Agency (Shabak).

As part of the situational assessment, the Chief of the General Staff approved additional proactive and offensive plans for the continuation.

"We have made significant accomplishments throughout this campaign," Halevi said, "Since the opening strike, these accomplishments have only been increasing, both in number and scale. The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization’s continued fire enables us to continue to make further achievements. We are prepared to continue the targeted strikes and striking in a precise and increasing manner, as we have done over the last few days."

"These achievements are possible due to the resilience of the residents of the south in particular and the residents of the State of Israel in general, as well as the adherence to the precautionary guidelines currently in place," the Chief of Staff added.

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/371372

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The explosive new evidence of Biden family's breathtaking corruption - Gregg Jarrett

 

by Gregg Jarrett

The alleged actions of Joe Biden may rise to the level of an impeachable offense

 

The sheer magnitude of Biden family corruption uncovered by the House Oversight Committee can only be described as breathtaking. It is also deeply alarming. If the fruits of Chairman James Comer’s investigation are exactly what they appear to be, Joe Biden may have jeopardized our nation’s security by selling out America for cold hard cash.

Documents show that over $10 million in foreign money flowed like a river into more than 20 shell companies and LLCs created for the Bidens’ financial benefit, said Comer. Much of it was then surreptitiously shuffled around various accounts before it landed in the hands of nine members of the president’s family. Those companies have no apparent business purpose other than to serve as a receptacle for hiding cash derived from suspected influence peddling schemes overseas.    

The incriminating evidence comes from thousands of subpoenaed banking records, wire transfers, and electronic transactions contained in more than 170 suspicious activity reports (SARs) that were flagged by banks and sent to the criminal division at the Treasury Department. The Biden administration refused to cough up those records until the Committee recently forced its hand. There are still more documents to be examined, suggesting that the Biden profiteering could far exceed the millions of dollars already tracked.

In Washington, where corruption and graft are endemic, the Bidens appear to have taken it to dizzying heights. While greed was the likely motive, concealment was the key to success. In just one deal alone more than a million dollars involved 16 different wire transfers ran through five different bank accounts before the funds eventually landed in Biden family hands. This and other transactions were well hidden "in a web of deception and corruption," noted committee member Rep. Byron Daniels. Cycling through this many companies serves no other purpose but to disguise illicit, if not illegal, payments, he concluded.  

HOUSE OVERSIGHT: BIDEN FAMILY RECEIVED MILLIONS FROM FOREIGN NATIONALS, TRIED TO CONCEAL SOURCE OF FUNDS

Video

It has always been a misconception that these shady deals never occurred while Joe Biden was in office. The committee discovered that a stunning number of wire transfers happened when Biden served as vice president. It is no coincidence that the money sources came from the very countries over which the VP exerted control over foreign policy decisions. What was being bought? More to the point, what were the Bidens' selling? Access, as well as promises of future influence that would benefit America’s adversaries?  

A partial answer may reside in a specific document Comer is seeking from the FBI. A "credible" whistleblower informed the committee that the unclassified record depicts a "criminal scheme" involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national in "the exchange of money for policy decisions."  

President Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden’s repeated claims of innocence and his efforts at misdirection are belied by the known facts. He maintains that he knew nothing about his son’s nefarious activities. Yet, visitor logs prove that Hunter’s partners and clients visited his father at the White House more than 80 times when he was vice president.  

Biden also insists that his family never took money from China. But the committee’s newly revealed records show that roughly $6 million was banked by the Bidens from just one of the copious deals with Beijing operatives who had close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its intelligence apparatus. Citing the president’s soft China policies, Comer has drawn a nexus to Biden’s questionable handling of COVID, TikTok, the spy balloon, theft of intellectual property and China’s manipulation of U.S. currency. Perhaps this explains his utter indifference and no meaningful action to protect vital American interests.

Video

The explosive new evidence seems to confirm what has long been suspected — Joe Biden and his family aggressively exploited his public office to confer benefits and favors on foreign entities or governments in exchange for money.  If this was done to the detriment of our own interests as a nation — as it surely seems so — these schemes could well constitute a variety of crimes that include bribery, fraud and felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The use of multiple accounts to conceal cash activities would qualify as money laundering.  

Despite his lucrative overseas enterprises, Hunter Biden deliberately ignored the legal requirement that he register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). His own emails show that he intended to evade compliance. As former federal prosecutor and Fox News contributor Andrew C. McCarthy explained, such a failure would make his transactions illegal under the law.  

Beyond the crimes identified under federal statutes, the actions of Joe Biden may rise to the level of an impeachable offense. The U.S. Constitution specifically states that a president can be removed for treason and bribery. Both would apply if the accusations against him are true and supported by credible evidence.

This is exactly what our Founding Fathers feared the most. They worried that a future president might violate his sacred oath of office by secretly conspiring with malign foreign actors to betray our nation for self-enrichment.

The money trail uncovered so far is a damning indictment of corruption at the highest level of government — the current occupant of the White House.

 

Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News legal analyst and commentator, and formerly worked as a defense attorney and adjunct law professor. His upcoming book, "The Trial of the Century," about the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" will be released on May 30, 2023.  It is available now for pre-order online at the Simon & Schuster website.  Gregg is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book "The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump." His follow-up book was also a New York Times bestseller, "Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History." Jarrett’s book, "The Constitution of the United States and Other Patriotic Documents," will be published by Broadside Books, a division of HarperCollins on September 19, 2023.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/explosive-new-evidence-biden-family-breathtaking-corruption

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Comer says fresh evidence warrants investigation of Joe Biden 'for public corruption’ - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

Leader of congressional probe says banks suspected money laundering, key now is to determine if Biden helped family profit with U.S. policy

 

The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee says his probe of Biden family business dealings has evolved from examining lucrative overseas business payments to determining whether Joe Biden corruptly took policy actions to enrich his family.

"This is an investigation of the president of the United States for public corruption," he told Just the News.

In a wide-ranging interview Thursday on the state of his investigation, Comer, R-Ky., said his review of scores of suspicious activity reports flagging transactions involving Biden family businesses and partners indicated that major banks had serious concerns about money laundering dating back many years.

"What about money laundering?," he asked on the "Just the News No Noise" TV show. "Multiple banks in those violations implied that there was money laundering going on. What about racketeering? Racketeering is when you create shell companies and fake companies that serve no purpose other than to launder money."

Comer’s comments came a day after he released a 36-page interim report on what the bank reports show, providing clear evidence that Biden family members got at least $10 million from foreign interests – many in countries where Joe Biden had U.S. policy responsibility – when he was Barack Obama’s vice president, including payments directly from China.

You can read that report here.

Bank Memorandum 5.10.23.pdf

Joe Biden long has insisted he knew nothing about his son's dealings, never engaged with his business partners, and that his family never received money from China. Comer's first two reports provide specific evidence that conflicts with those claims, including bank account receipts and contemporary emails, text messages and photos.

Though several of his past business partners have been indicted and convicted of crimes, the president's son Hunter Biden has not faced any charges. The first son has acknowledged he is under criminal investigation for tax matters and has said he expects to be exonerated. However, his legal team reportedly now is expecting Biden could face criminal charges soon from a four-year-long FBI and IRS probe led by the U.S. attorney in Delaware.

The Biden White House has repeatedly scoffed at Comer’s investigation, calling it this week "fact free" and saying it unleashed "absurd claims that President Biden has made governing decisions not in the interest of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party."

Comer said those accusations fall flat and that there is now enough evidence for Congress to investigate the president directly, not just his son and other relatives.

"The damage that Joe Biden has done to the reputation of the United States is almost irreparable," he said. "Joe Biden not only has through his leadership, diminished our standing on the international stage with things like his the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, but because of his personal behavior, and the behavior of his entire family. The bank records that we provided yesterday: he's made the United States look like some of these third world countries that presidents have in the past criticized for corruption.

"This is an investigation of the President of the United States for public corruption," he added. "We presented a pattern of payments from adversaries and foreign nationals all over the planet. ... We want to know what they did to get the money, you know, what service was provided. Or what did Joe Biden do to provide a return on the investment for the millions of dollars that his family received from foreign nationals all over the globe."

The House chairman is so concerned about the money laundering aspects of the probe that he is considering new legislation to empower banks to take more aggressive action against the type of transactions flagged in the suspicious activity reports his team reviewed.

"The committee is evaluating the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws to determine whether financial institutions have the available tools and support from federal agencies to thwart illegal money laundering and foreign corruption activity," he said on Wednesday at a press conference.

Comer also said he was troubled that agencies such as the FBI and Justice Department are not fully cooperating, including providing a subpoenaed document that lawmakers say shows an informant gave the FBI allegations that Joe Biden was involved in a bribery plot to trade U.S. policy for money to his family.

"Right now the biggest obstacle for me getting the facts is our own government, is the Department of Justice, is the FBI. And that's unacceptable," he said.

"I think the average working taxpaying American realizes that (Attorney General) Merrick Garland and (FBI Director) Christopher Wray are doing everything in their ability to object and intimidate and obstruct and everything they can do to hide the facts from the American people," he also said.

Comer also lashed out at legacy media that has ignored his investigative findings, saying the coverage blackout would only encourage more politicians to indulge in corrupt or unethical behavior.

"The media is part of the problem. The Biden family wouldn't do things like this if they thought they would be held accountable in the media,” he said. "So the media is an adversary, you know, the media is helping in this way. The media has helped compromise our national security by not writing about this, by not demanding answers as to why the Biden family received that money."

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/comer-says-fresh-evidence-warrants-investigation-joe-biden-public

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DeSantis urges support for Marine vet Daniel Penny, accused of killing homeless man on NYC subway - Just the News Staff

 

by Just the News Staff

"We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left's pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens," DeSantis tweeted.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is promoting a website raising funds for the defense of Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old Marine veteran who was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway.

DeSantis linked in a tweet to a "GiveSendGo" page set up as a legal defense fund for the college student and decorated Marine vet, reported The Daily Wire.  

"We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left's pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens," DeSantis tweeted. "We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let's show this Marine …  America's got his back."

Neely was a homeless man with a history of mental illness, who had been arrested more than 40 times, including for punching a 67-year-old woman in the face and knocking her to the ground as she was leaving a subway station, and for attempting to kidnap a 7-year-old girl who he was seen dragging down a street, according to the New York Daily News.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office headed by Alvin Bragg decided to indict and arrest Penny following protests over Neely's death. No grand jury was involved. Penny could face up to 15 years in prison.

The NYC medical examiner ruled the death of Neely a "homicide," saying that he died from a "chokehold." The issues of intent and culpability will be decided by the criminal justice process.

"This morning, Daniel Penny surrendered at the 5th Precinct at the request of the New York County District Attorney's office. He did so voluntarily and with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation," said Thomas Kenniff, a lawyer for Penny.

A statement from his lawyers said that he, along with others, had acted in self-defense to protect other passengers on the subway.

"When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death," the statement said.

The GiveSendGo page described the situation this way: "Daniel Penny is, a twenty-four-year-old college student and decorated Marine veteran, facing a criminal investigation stemming from him protecting individuals on a NYC subway train from an assailant who later died. Funds are being raised to pay Mr. Penny's legal fees incurred from any criminal charges filed and any future civil lawsuits that may arise, as well as expenses related to his defense. All contributions are greatly appreciated. Any proceeds collected which exceed those necessary to cover Mr. Penny's legal defense will be donated to a mental health advocacy program in New York City." 

 
Just the News Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/desantis-urges-support-marine-vet-daniel-penny-accused-killing-homeless-man

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Biden DOJ seeks emergency court order allowing it to continue releasing illegal migrants into U.S. - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

The administration informed the court it intends to appeal a federal judge’s ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

The Biden Justice Department sought an emergency order Saturday allowing it to continue releasing illegal aliens into the United States, a policy a federal judge blocked as the crisis at the southern border escalated with thousands of new migrants taking advantage of the lifting of the Title 42 policy.

DOJ attorneys asked the U.S. District Court in in Florida to stay Judge T. Kent Wetherell II's two-week restraining order on the Biden administration policy

The administration informed the court that it intends to appeal Wetherell’s ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Biden administration’s policy was described in a Border Patrol memo this week, saying that migrants can be allowed into the country on parole if CBP is facing overcrowding. The parole process is typically reserved for "urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

The administration argues that the restraining order on its parole policy will "irreparably harm the United States and the public by frustrating measures that are necessary to secure the border and protect the health and welfare of both migrants and Border Patrol Agents," the filing states.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody argued in the state’s lawsuit that the "parole with conditions" policy was materially identical to a policy blocked by Wetherell in March, and he agreed with that assessment in his order.

Wetherell was not persuaded by the government's arguments that blocking migrant releases will cause harm. 

"Putting aside the fact that even President Biden recently acknowledged that the border has been in chaos for 'a number of years,' Defendants' doomsday rhetoric rings hollow because, as explained in detail in Florida, this problem is largely one of Defendants' own making through the adoption an implementation of policies that have encouraged the so-called 'irregular migration' that has become fairly regular over the past 2 years," he wrote.

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/biden-doj-seeks-emergency-court-order-allow-it-continue-releasing-illegal

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Weekly protest against judicial reform cancelled due to security tensions - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Organizers of weekly left-wing protest cancel Saturday night's planned demonstration in Tel Aviv.

 

Protest against judicial reform in Tel Aviv                                           Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90

Weekly protest against judicial reform cancelled due to security tensions

Organizers of weekly left-wing protest cancel Saturday night's planned demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Israel National News

  May 13, 2023, 12:33 AM (GMT+3)

---

Tel Avivprotestsjudicial reformOperation Shield and Arrow

Protest against judicial reform in Tel AvivTomer Neuberg/Flash 90

Organizers of the weekly left-wing protest against the government’s planned judicial reforms announced on Friday that the protest scheduled for Saturday night in Tel Aviv has been cancelled due to the security situation.

"In recent days, we have been in close contact with the Israel Police and the security forces, with the consideration being maintaining the safety of the demonstrators. Out of responsibility for the safety of our people, we have decided to postpone the demonstration for a week,” the organizers said.

“We continue to have our finger on the pulse, and if we see that the government is promoting changes related to the coup d'état, we will take to the streets of Israel with all our might. The Israeli government must not mistake our intentions - we are watching over democracy and will make sure that Israel remains democratic," they added.

Earlier on Friday, as part of a joint situation assessment by the Home Front Command and the Rishon LeZion Municipality, it was decided to cancel the Backstreet Boys concert that was planned to take place in the city on Saturday night.

There is no change in the Home Front Command safety instructions for Rishon LeZion.

In contrast, a concert by singer Aviv Geffen was permitted to take place in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Thursday, despite the precarious security situation. About 40,000 people attended.

The production of the concert decided to hold it as planned despite Operation Shield and Arrow, with the approval of the Home Front Command. Instructions which appeared on the screens in the park before the start of the event said, "Dear audience, if an alert is received during the show, you must sit on the ground for 10 minutes. It is important to stay in your seats to avoid injury."

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/371366

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The Biden Administration's Green Light to Iran's Terrorists and Nuclear Program - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

The Biden Administration's appeasement policies towards Iran is contributing to the regime's increased revenue, the major beneficiaries of which are the IRGC, terrorist and militia groups -- and of course the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program.

• "It is unacceptable that a U.S. government program, which makes the United States and its allies safer, provides funds to remediate the victims of terrorism, and generates income for the United States in a cost-effective manner has been allowed to languish. United States sanctions should be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. As Iranian oil sales continue to rise, and the IRGC continues to target U.S. citizens and servicemembers, including inside the U.S., it is imperative that we use all available government assets to limit the activities of the Iranian regime." — Senator Joe Manchin and 11 other Senators, in a letter to President Joe Biden, April 27, 2023.

• Under the Biden Administration, however, which suspended new oil and gas leases on US public lands and waters, Iran is now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China...

• Iran reportedly is exporting more than 1.5 million bpd -- approximately 80% of the oil they used to export before the sanctions.

• Iran is also shipping considerable amounts of oil to Venezuela without either country fearing repercussions from the Biden Administration.

• The Biden Administration's appeasement policies towards Iran is contributing to the regime's increased revenue, the major beneficiaries of which are the IRGC, terrorist and militia groups -- and of course the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program.

Under the Biden Administration, Iran's oil exports have expanded to more than 1.5 million bpd -- approximately 80% of the oil they used to export before the sanctions. Pictured: An oil facility on Iran's Khark Island. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the Biden Administration, sanctions against the ruling mullahs of Iran have simply become superficial and cosmetic. The Administration appears to be turning a blind eye when Iran's violates the sanctions, thereby allowing the regime vastly to increase its revenues. Most of these usually assist the regime's powerful militia and terror group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated as a terrorist organization by the US Department of State.

Recently, US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led a bipartisan group of 12 Senators in urging the Biden Administration to completely enable the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office to seize Iranian oil and gas shipments.

According to a press release on Manchin's Senate website:

Despite several additional sanctions issued against Iranian petrochemical and petroleum sales over the past year, the volume of Iranian oil exports from Iran from 2021 to 2022 increased by 35%, approximately 430 million barrels of oil, evading sanctions. When HSI seizes and processes Iranian oil, 75% of seizure revenues are allocated to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

"It is unacceptable that a U.S. government program, which makes the United States and its allies safer, provides funds to remediate the victims of terrorism, and generates income for the United States in a cost-effective manner has been allowed to languish," the Senators continued. "United States sanctions should be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. As Iranian oil sales continue to rise, and the IRGC continues to target U.S. citizens and servicemembers, including inside the U.S., it is imperative that we use all available government assets to limit the activities of the Iranian regime."

As the Senators' letter added:

"Specifically, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Quds Force, an arm of the Iranian regime and a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, continues to sponsor attacks on U.S. citizens and servicemembers, as well as our partners and allies. Enforcement of sanctions against Iranian petrochemical and petroleum sales will defund terrorists' intent on harming the United States and our partners."

The regime's major revenues come from selling oil. The Iranian regime reportedly possesses the second-largest natural gas reserves and the fourth-largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, and the sale of oil accounts for nearly 60% of the government's total revenues and more than 80% of its export revenues. Iranian leaders have spoken of Iran's major dependence on oil exports. "Although we have some other incomes, the only revenue that can keep the country going is the oil money," then President Hassan Rouhani said in 2019.

During the Trump administration, Iran's oil exports were significantly reduced to 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day. Iran is currently exporting more than 1 million barrels a day. "Oil sales have doubled," Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi previously boasted. "We are not worried about oil sales."

Under the Biden Administration, however, which suspended new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters, Iran is now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil. China has been steadily ramping up its oil imports from Iran, to currently nearly 1 million bpd, while global oil prices have increased. Iran reportedly is exporting more than 1.5 million bpd -- approximately 80% of the oil they used to export before the sanctions.

Iran is also shipping considerable amounts of oil to Venezuela without either country fearing repercussions from the Biden Administration. According to a June 13, 2022 report by Reuters:

"An Iran-flagged tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of crude from the Middle Eastern country arrived in Venezuelan waters over the weekend, according to a shipping document seen by Reuters on Monday.

"The cargo is the third of Iranian crude supplied by Iran's Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) to Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA following a supply contract providing the South American nation with lighter crude. Venezuela has been processing the Iranian oil in its refineries.

"Other two Iran-flagged tankers, the very large crude carriers (VLCCs) Dino I and Silvia I, had arrived last month at Venezuelan ports carrying the first cargoes of Iranian crude for Venezuela."

The Biden Administration's appeasement policies towards Iran is contributing to the regime's increased revenue, the major beneficiaries of which are the IRGC, terrorist and militia groups -- and of course the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program.

• 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/19643/green-light-to-iran

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The Soros Activist at the Heart of California’s $800 Billion Slave Reparations - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

George Soros succeeds in turning black people against each other.

 

In 2021, the Equal Justice Institute celebrated a settlement with the University of California in which the system agreed to stop using SAT and ACT test scores, objective merit-based metrics, in college admissions, until 2025. The racialist lawsuit claimed that test scores violate the California Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause as “indicators” of race.

The “SAT is a barrier to equal opportunity”, Lisa Holder, a counsel with the Equal Opportunity Institute, claimed.

Like a lot of destructive leftist activists, Lisa Holder received a Soros Justice Fellowship from the radical billionaire’s Open Society Foundation. The similarity in the names of the Equal Justice Society and Soros’ Open Society Foundation is more than strictly coincidental as Soros was one of the EJS’ founding donors.

Beyond drawing six figures in compensation from the Equal Justice Society, Lisa Holder has her own law practice that focuses on racial issues and occasionally draws a check for teaching at UCLA.

Holder is also a member of California’s Reparations Task Force which has proposed to bankrupt the state and its taxpayers with as much as $800 billion in racial reparations in a state that was never a slave state. Among the various aging machine politicians (along with Kamala’s minister) who staff the task force, she may be the most important and effective racial campaigner on it.

Lisa Holder had fought to end California’s ban on racial discrimination through affirmative action in a proposition backed by $1 million from George Soros’ Open Society Policy Center, along with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the wife of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and major corporations and nonprofits. Despite all the billionaires and companies in her corner, Californians turned down the proposition to legalize racial discrimination.

What voters wouldn’t go for, California’s extremist one-party legislature did. Holder claims credit for drafting two bills, AB 241 and 242, which mandated indoctrination in racist woke ideologies for doctors, lawyers and judges. Implicit bias training has been linked to all sorts of racist ideas and discriminatory practices associated with critical race theory including ‘white privilege’. It has also been shown to encourage medical professionals to dispense treatment and prioritize triage based on race rather than medical need potentially using racial discrimination to kill people.

AB 242 claimed that “all persons possess implicit biases”, but that “most people have an implicit bias that disfavors African Americans and favors Caucasian Americans” and “other socially stigmatized groups, such as Native Americans, immigrants, women, people with disabilities, Muslims, and members of the LGBTQ community”.

Conveniently, Lisa Holder is also “recognized racial justice scholar and equity consultant”.

The reparations proposal is a whole lot bigger than legalizing racial discrimination through affirmative action or forcing doctors and lawyers to hear about their white privilege.

Racial reparations had also been a longtime Soros cause. In 2021, former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, since dispatched as Biden’s ambassador to India after an aide’s sexual misconduct scandal, revealed that the Soros network had offered funding for a racial reparations program in Los Angeles. The billionaire’s extremist network has also funded a variety of reparations activists including Nkechi Taifa, a senior policy analyst in the Soros network, described as a “principal player and catalyst in the reparations movement” and a “founding member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America”  (N’COBRA)

Taifa is also a commissioner with the National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC). Another NAARC commissioner, Cheryl Grills, is also a member of the California Reparations Task Force. Jeremiah Wright, the bigoted Obama mentor who cheered 9/11, is an honorary member of NAARC.

While it was a foregone conclusion that the panel would vote themselves millions of dollars, the real controversy within the reparations movement and the dozens of organizations that have sprung up to lobby for free money was whether it would be limited to the descendants of slaves or would be given out to all black people or perhaps all Africans: which might include Elon Musk.

The California task force brought in members from both camps. The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America has vocally argued that all black people should get reparations. NAARC claims support for this position from BLM and other racist hate groups. That is also N’COBRA’s position. However groups like the National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants and the American Descendants of Slavery have forcefully made the argument that only the descendants of slaves should be eligible for a check. This is at least legally tenable.

In January, the split commission voted to limit reparations to descendants of slavery by 5 to 4. That is the position of the more established black community and it was championed by chairwoman Kamilah Moore, but opposed by Lisa Holder and Nkechi Taifa. And the debate is still going on with pro-race activists claiming that tracing genealogy is unworkable and that black immigrants should be eligible for reparations because America is so fundamentally racist.

With a $22.5 billion deficit in the state, the difference between limiting reparations to those who can prove that they descended from slaves and everyone with the right skin tone could be massive. The $800 billion estimate widely discussed is based on the state’s over 2 million black residents. Limiting reparations to the descendants of slaves would produce a smaller, but likely still wildly unworkable number.

Cheryl Grills of NAARC condemned the “preoccupation with a dollar figure”, but the dollar figure remains the best argument for those advocating for limiting reparations to those whose ancestors were enslaved along with their contention that purely race-based reparations would be shut down by the courts. The Soros network’s activists however remain committed to universal reparations and $800 billion in payouts.

While the debate has largely played out within the black community, the intervention of the Soros network on the side of the most destructive and impossible position is typical.

The Soros networks, like all leftists, seek destruction, not healing, and making reparations as universal and as unworkable as possible would stimulate the most outrage and anger.

And that would further divide the races and tear apart not only California, but America.

George Soros has dedicated his life to dividing people of all nations and backgrounds. With California’s racial reparations, the activists he has supported have turned black people against each other.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-soros-activist-at-the-heart-of-californias-800-billion-slave-reparations/

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Former prosecutor in Trump probe pleads Fifth in refusing to answer questions from Congress - Danielle Hodes

 

by Danielle Hodes

GOP lawmakers signaled they are prepared to go to court to try to compel Pomerantz to testify.

 

Former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who assisted in New York’s criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump, refused to answer questions about the case at a House Judiciary Committee deposition on Friday, according to a Republican lawmaker. 

Pomerantz repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the interview, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican.  

“I think it’s very appropriate to say this is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions,” Issa told the Associated Press. 

Pomerantz left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after quarrels over the handling of the Trump investigation over hush- money sent to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He was subpoenaed by the Republican committee and its GOP Chairman Jim Jordan over Bragg’s handling of Trump’s indictment.

The ex-prosecutor issued a statement accusing lawmakers of using their “subpoena power to compel me to participate in an act of political theater.

“This deposition is for show. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight,’” he added.

The Manhattan prosecutor had sued Jordan to block interfering with Trump's case but agreed to Pomerantz’s testimony last month on the condition that lawyers from the prosecutor's office be present. 

Pomerantz argued that the subpoena put him in a tough position that would require him to violate his ethics. He has the right to refuse to answer questions that breach ethical obligations or legal privilege.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to suppress harmful information that would have hurt his election campaign in 2016.  Trump has pleaded innocent and GOP lawmakers have attacked Bragg’s investigation for being a “political persecution.”

GOP lawmakers signaled they are prepared to go to court to try to compel Pomerantz to testify.

It would be “for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions,” Issa told the Associated Press.

Danielle Hodes

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/mark-pomerants-pleaded-fifth-when-questioned-lawmakers-about-trumps

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Propaganda media doing their best to stonewall Comer’s evidence of massive Biden corruption in the pay of foreign countries - Thomas Lifson

 

by Thomas Lifson

Now that the former news media of this country have been repurposed as propaganda organs, suppressing the documentary evidence of Biden family corruption revealed Wednesday morning by the House Oversight Committee headed by James Comer was a major priority of the day.

As a friend emailed me yesterday, “In a reasonable world, this would be the biggest story about the biggest corruption episode at the highest level in our history.” Accordingly, now that the former news media of this country have been repurposed as propaganda organs, suppressing the documentary evidence of Biden family corruption revealed Wednesday morning by the House Oversight Committee headed by James Comer was a major priority of the day.

 The press conference was 49 minutes long but was not televised by ABCNBCCBSCNNMSNBC. You can watch it here:

The particulars are laid out in a 36-page memorandum. But if you haven’t got time to watch, Zerohedge summarizes the principal points:

• The Biden family received, and tried to hide, over $10 million in payments from foreign nationals
• A previously undisclosed $1 million in Romanian-linked payments
• Ties to Romanian 'influence peddling'
• A 'web' of 20 LLCs created while Joe Biden was Vice President with a 'complicated corporate structure'
• 'At least 15' of the LLCs were formed after Biden became VP in 2009 - several of which were owned or co-owned by Hunter
• These LLCs accepted payments ranging from $5,000 to $3 million
• The committee wants to know what legitimate business the Biden family was in

The last point is where the evidence becomes critical. Nobody has ever suggested that there were legitimate goods or services performed for the foreign entities from China and Romania that sent an 8-figure sum to Biden family members. The only reasonable conclusion (for a jury, for instance) would be that political influence was being purchased, provided by the only member of the family capable of providing it: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

Miranda Devine, who is the Woodward & Bernstein of this much-bigger-than-Watergate scandal correctly states: 

If the bombshells unleashed at Wednesday morning’s House Oversight Committee press conference had been about the corruption of a Republican president via millions of dollars in foreign bribes to his family, the clamor for impeachment would have been deafening. 

Jesse Watters is among those clamoring, while the 90%+ of the media devoted to suppressing the scandal do their best to divert the public’s attention. 

We’ve now entered impeachment territory. This is the biggest political bribery scandal in American history and it has national security consequences. The Biden family’s been untouchable because they are the system. The FBI and the CIA are in on it- this is how the system works.… pic.twitter.com/vddPR2vCli

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) May 11, 2023

Does any reasonable person doubt that the arrest of George Santos at the same time as the Comer presser was a joint strategy of the Department of Justice and the propaganda media?

Shawn Fleetwood writes in The Federalist:

On Tuesday, the DOJ filed charges against Santos in the Eastern District of New York. While originally under seal, the 13-count indictment unveiled Wednesday morning shows the DOJ charging Santos with “seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.”

According to the unsealed indictment, Santos allegedly lied on his 2020 and 2022 House Disclosure forms by overstating his income and assets. Meanwhile, notable Democrats who appear to have lied under penalty of perjury, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have not faced such charges from Biden’s DOJ.

Santos was officially taken into custody Wednesday morning (snip) It’s amazing how the arrest of Santos came at the exact same moment Republicans on the House Oversight Committee held a press conference documenting the Biden family’s overseas business ventures. 

The FBI did its part to suppress the story by withholding key evidence. Steve Nelson writes in the New York Post:

The FBI has refused to give Congress an informant file alleging that President Biden took bribes while he was vice president, The Post has learned — setting up a possible showdown over access to the information.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a legally binding subpoena last week requiring the FBI to turn over the file by noon Wednesday, but the bureau instead replied with a six-page letter raising various objections.

“Information from confidential human sources is unverified and, by definition, incomplete,” wrote FBI acting assistant director for congressional affairs Christopher Dunham, who also argued that informant reports must also be kept private to protect sources. (snip)

Comer slammed the FBI’s stonewalling, but he did not immediately announce further steps to acquire the document. Congress has the power to apply financial pressure to agencies and can also use litigation to enforce its orders or attempt to shame officials through contempt votes.

“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the Committee,” Comer said.

The New York Tines, which acts “as a pilot fish signaling the rest of the propaganda media how to cover the news, picked up the ball and ran with it in an article dishonestly titled, “House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden.”

The “no evidence” claim regards the actual bank records as non-evidence because there is no “evidence of a specific corrupt action Mr. Biden took in office in connection with any of the business deals his son entered into.” The FBI blocking release of the evidence it has in its posession certainly helps that case.  Because people being bribed rarely commit to paper an agreement to enter into a specific corrupt act, it is usually a matter of asking juries (or impeachment trials) to infer the connection between the bribe and the action taken. Having no legitimate goods or services provided in return for $10 million allows one a pretty high degree of confidence in such an inference. But when it is a Democrat’s actions that are being considered, the Times has decided that “no evidence” exists.

Retired FBI special agent Mark Wauck summarizes:

…just a quick glance through the information assembled by the committee is enough to confirm that the setup of the money transfers was intended to “Hide Over $10 Million In Foreign Payments.” There’s simply no doubt of that. Naturally the Zhou [Biden] family can claim that these payments were for legitimate services, but any real investigation will expose that flimflam beyond a reasonable doubt—there’s no reason to try to hide the payments if it was all on the up and up.

Appearing on Hannity on Fox News, Chairman Comer made this point personally (video and transcript via Grabien)

HANNITY: “You’re talking about $10 million from foreign countries, even going to grandchildren. What services they performed, one could only guess, if any at all. You found 20 LLCs and you describe a scenario where they’re passing money from one LLC or shell company to the next, to the next. What would be the purpose of that?”

COMER: “Well, the purpose is to disguise who the sender is and to deceive the IRS so you don’t have to pay taxes on it. So when Joe Biden talks about tax cheats, he doesn’t need to look any further than his Christmas photo. I mean, the way that these shell companies were created, they fit the definition of racketeering. You have shell companies that were created for the sole purpose to funneling money to the Biden family. If the President’s son was providing a service to Romania or to China or to any of these other countries that we’re going to disclose at a later time, well, why didn’t the country just send the payment directly to Hunter Biden? Why did they have to funnel it through an associate’s LLC and then two or three Biden LLCs, and then send the payments sporadically down to Biden family members? Like, you mentioned the grandchildren. I hated to bring up the fact that three grandchildren received wires because I don’t believe those grandchildren did anything wrong. They just had the misfortune of having family members who were using them in their scheme to launder money to try to deceive the IRS in order not to pay taxes and to disguise who the sender was to avoid getting in trouble for dealing with foreign nationals. So, it’s really bad.”

 

Now that the deterioration of Joe Biden’s physical and mental health is so obvious, I think that Democrats want him off the ticket in 2024, along with his embarrassingly stupid and annoying vice president. But they desperately want to avoid the appearance of a gigantic scandal. I think that the game is to keep the public’s awareness low through media suppression, while privately threatening Biden to release devastating evidence unless he reverses his plan to run again. Biden is now clearly in deep trouble for re-election, as the public has seen enough evidence of his decrepitude to conclude that he cannot carry out his duties effectively.

For all we know, that could already be agreed-upon, with Biden planning to “change his mind about running” until early next year, to minimize his time as a lame duck. If "Dr. Jill" concurs, that is.

Photo credit: YouTube screengrab (cropped) 

 

Thomas Lifson

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/05/propaganda_media_doing_their_best_to_stonewall_comers_evidence_of_massive_biden_corruption_in_the_pay_of_foreign_countries.html

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The Real Meaning of 'From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free' - Bassam Tawil

 

by Bassam Tawil

The slogan reflects the wishes of Iran and its terror proxies -- to replace Israel with a 57th Islamic state – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

• It is impossible to imagine that the anti-Israel activists have no idea that the chant is a common call-to-arms for those who want to destroy Israel.

• The slogan reflects the wishes of Iran and its terror proxies -- especially Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah -- to replace Israel with a 57^th Islamic state – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

• Iranian leaders and officials have often repeated that their goal is to "wipe Israel off the map."

• By using this slogan, Iran and Hamas are saying, bluntly... that the land stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is all Muslim-owned land that cannot be given away to any non-Muslims.

• Article 11 of the Hamas Charter leaves no room for doubt; it is straightforwardly genocidal: "The Islamic Republic Movement [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered; it, or any part of it, should not be given up."

• Articles 13 of the Hamas Charter openly advocates the use of violence to kill Jews and eliminate Israel: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad [holy war]."

• Article 15 of the Hamas Charter states: "Jihad is the individual duty of every Muslim... It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters."

• The anti-Israel activists who chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" are -- whether they know it or not -- endorsing the ideology of Iran's mullahs, Hamas and other terror groups that have long worked to achieve their goal of destroying Israel.

• These activists, who often describe themselves as "pro-Palestinian," do not actually care about Palestinians or "freeing Palestine." If they did, they would instead be calling for better opportunities for Palestinians; Palestinian governance that was less corrupt; the equal application under Palestinian leadership of the rule of law; women's and children's rights, and freedom of speech, assembly and the press.

• The current protestors are nothing but Israel-haters -- really, anti-Semites -- who have aligned themselves with Muslim extremists and terrorists.

• By chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" on a university campus in the West... these activists are serving as a mouthpiece for Muslim terrorists who daily murder people in cold blood at schools, cafés and on the roads, such as a Jewish mother and her two daughters on their way to celebrate a Jewish holiday. Hamas has even boasted that its men were behind the murder of a British family, the Dees, in a drive-by shooting attack in the Jordan Valley in early April.

• The next time someone shouts the "from the river to the sea" slogan in the US, Canada or Europe, they should take note that they are voicing support for the regime of Iran -- reportedly poisoning its schoolgirls by the hundreds and hanging its own citizens for "crimes" such as "insulting religion" -- as well as for Iran's designated terrorist groups: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.

The anti-Israel activists who chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" are -- whether they know it or not -- endorsing the ideology of Iran's mullahs, Hamas and other terror groups that have long worked to achieve their goal of destroying Israel. (Image source: Andrew Ratto/Wikimedia Commons)

Anti-Israel students on many university campuses in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe often chant the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." This slogan, which basically means Israel has no right to exist on the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – in other words, all the land that currently makes up Israel -- has long been endorsed by Islamist groups that openly call for eliminating Israel.

The same call has been repeated at:

• A recent meeting of the University of Sydney Student Council, where Jewish students were obstructed from speaking or displaying Israeli flags on Israel's Independence Day by fellow council members.

• A rally on April 8, called "Hands Off Al-Aqsa [Mosque]," held by several pro-Palestinian organizations in New York City. At the rally, speakers praised the Palestinian "resistance" and its "martyrs," and repeated the same chant.

• An event hosted earlier this year by Jewish groups at University College London, where dozens of anti-Israel activists chanted, "Free Palestine from the river to the sea."

  "We should be calling upon the Arab and Muslim armies to liberate Palestine," one speaker at the anti-Israel gathering stated explicitly.

Late last year, the Jewish community at Northwestern University in Chicago was shocked to see that printed copies of an op-ed piece about Jewish pride were turned into a big sign painted with the words "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

It is impossible to imagine that anti-Israel activists have no idea that this slogan is a common call-to-arms for those who want to destroy Israel.

The slogan reflects the wishes of Iran and its terror proxies -- especially Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hezbollah -- to replace Israel with a 57^th Islamic state -- from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Iranian leaders and officials have often repeated that their goal is to "wipe Israel off the map." Recently, Iran's Foreign Ministry echoed the call by declaring that Jerusalem is "the eternal capital of Palestine, from the river to the sea."

On the eve of his recent visit to Syria, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi repeated his regime's wish to see Israel removed [from the face of the Earth].

Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror group controlling the Gaza Strip, has never missed an opportunity to declare its intention to deliver the same message. In December 2022, on the 35^th anniversary of its founding, Hamas unveiled its slogan: "Palestine from the river to the sea." A map accompanying the slogan depicted -- without Israel -- all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Earlier this year, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh again repeated his group's goal of destroying Israel, saying:

"All of Palestine, from the river to the sea, and from Ras al-Naquora [on the Israel-Lebanon border] to Umm al-Rashrash [Eilat, Israel's southernmost city], is one land that is indivisible and cannot be sold or bargained."

Hamas spokesperson Husam Badran also affirmed his group's endorsement of eliminating Israel: "The Palestine we know is from the river to the sea -- not missing an inch," he said.

By using this slogan, Iran and Hamas are saying, bluntly, that there is no room for a Jewish state in the Middle East.

They are also saying that the land stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is all Muslim-owned land that cannot be given away to any non-Muslims.

Article 11 of the Hamas Charter leaves no room for doubt; it is straightforwardly genocidal:

"The Islamic Republic Movement [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered; it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that."

Articles 13 of the Hamas Charter openly advocates the use of violence to kill Jews and eliminate Israel:

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad [holy war]."

Article 15 of the Hamas Charter states:

"Jihad is the individual duty of every Muslim... It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters."

Similarly, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Iranian-backed terror group based in the Gaza Strip, also insists that the entire land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea should fall under Islamic rule. Like Hamas, PIJ has been involved in countless terror attacks against Israel and rejects Israel's right to exist.

The anti-Israel activists who chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" are -- whether they know it or not -- endorsing the ideology of Iran's mullahs, Hamas and other terror groups that have long worked to achieve their goal of destroying Israel.

These activists, who often describe themselves as "pro-Palestinian," do not actually care about Palestinians or "freeing Palestine." If they did, they would instead be calling for better opportunities for Palestinians; Palestinian governance that was less corrupt; the equal application under Palestinian leadership of the rule of law; women's and children's rights, and freedom of speech, assembly and the press.

The current protestors are nothing but Israel-haters -- really, anti-Semites -- who have aligned themselves with Muslim extremists and terrorists.

By chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" on a university campus in the West or at a rally in New York, these activists are serving as a mouthpiece for Muslim terrorists who daily murder people in cold blood at schools, cafés and on the roads, such as a Jewish mother and her two daughters on their way to celebrate a Jewish holiday. Hamas has even boasted that its men were behind the murder of a British family, the Dees, in a drive-by shooting attack in the Jordan Valley in early April.

The next time someone shouts the "from the river to the sea" slogan in the US, Canada or Europe, they should take note that they are voicing support for the regime of Iran -- reportedly poisoning its schoolgirls by the hundreds and hanging its own citizens for "crimes" such as "insulting religion" -- as well as for Iran's designated terrorist groups: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19641/palestine-river-to-sea

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