Nikki Haley to 'Post': UN antisemitism led to October 7 massacre - Nikki Haley

 

by Nikki Haley

All it takes is 24 hours at the UN to realize that anti-Zionism is just a modern name for the ancient evil of antisemitism.

 

NIKKI HALEY, then-US ambassador to the UN, listens during a UN Security Council emergency meeting

(photo credit: DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES)

I’ve seen antisemitism. I confronted it every day at the United Nations. And I know that the Jew-haters try to hide it by saying they only hate Israel.

All it takes is 24 hours at the UN to realize that anti-Zionism is just a modern name for the ancient evil of antisemitism.

The worst-kept secret at the UN is that antisemitism is operating just beneath the surface. I saw it in my first few days on the job as US ambassador to the UN, after I met with Israel’s ambassador. I broke with precedent, putting Israel ahead of many countries that US ambassadors typically meet with first. For me, it was more important to show my support for Israel, one of America’s closest allies and dearest friends.

The UN's anti-Israel bias, antisemitism, and what it leads to

The broader UN views Israel differently. How could I possibly call Israel a friend? They think Israel is a pariah, different somehow from every other country. But what, exactly, makes the world’s only Jewish state different? When you put the question like that, it answers itself.

No other country is treated like Israel. The UN Security Council had a monthly meeting on “the situation in the Middle East,” which was clearly designed to attack Israel. I refused to go along, using the meeting to discuss the actual situation in the Middle East – Iran’s ambitions, Syria’s brutality, and the evil of ISIS. Yet while I covered real threats and crises, other countries singled out Israel for things it doesn’t do. It’s accused of oppressing Palestinians, despite being the only democracy in the Middle East – one that respects the rights of Arabs, Jews, and anyone else who lives within its borders.

Republican presidential candidate and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign town hall in Atkinson, New Hampshire, US, December 14, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER)

For that matter, Israel is singled out for things that every country does. Only Israel is denounced for choosing its capital. Only Israel is censured for defending itself from rocket attacks and suicide bombers. Apparently, it would be better if Jews let themselves be killed. The double standard clearly indicates something deeper at work – something far more hateful.

THIS VEILED antisemitism continues to this day. Last year, the UN General Assembly passed 15 resolutions condemning democratic Israel. It passed 13 resolutions condemning all other countries combined, in a world that includes murderous tyrannies like North Korea, Communist China, and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Then there’s the so-called UN Human Rights Council. It has a standing agenda item devoted solely to Israel. No other country gets that kind of treatment. We withdrew the US from the Council because it tolerates and even celebrates antisemitism and blatant human rights abusers. We also pulled out of UNESCO, which denies Jewish heritage, even as it claims to protect diverse cultures. And then there’s UNRWA, which we stopped funding with American taxpayer money. UNRWA teaches Palestinian children to despise the Jews.

Now we know exactly where that leads. October 7, 2023.

Before Hamas’s initial assault was over, anti-Zionists were already trying to justify the killing spree. It was the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Only an antisemite could defend or apologize for such obvious evil.

And it’s now clear that antisemitism, masquerading as anti-Zionism, is far more widespread than most people realized. It’s on college campuses. It’s in major cities across the West. It’s even in parts of the US Congress.

When students, doctors, and elected officials praise Hamas for fighting the “oppressors” and “colonialists,” they’re tacitly saying it’s fine to kill Jews. When they say, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” they’re essentially advocating another Holocaust.

I hope that most people who say these things don’t realize that. But I fear that many know exactly what they’re saying. Israel exists to protect the Jews. That’s why its enemies call for Israel’s destruction.

Now is the time to confront this evil worldview with moral clarity and unapologetic action. We need university presidents who denounce the anti-Zionist charade. We need business executives who refuse to hire people who condone violence against Jews. And yes, we need elected leaders who stand with Israel.

That starts with the president of the United States. We don’t need a leader who promises to fight antisemitism while failing to condemn anti-Zionism, like the current president. We shouldn’t have rejoined the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO or restarted funding for UNRWA, which happened in the past three years. And under no circumstances should we be silent or timid in the face of antisemites in elected office, like Joe Biden has been with his fellow Democrats. Evil is evil, and it must be called out or else it will spread.

The Jewish people – and the Jewish state – are at greater risk today than at any point in the past 75 years. They need America to lead the fight against antisemitism, in all its forms. It’s time to make clear in federal law that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, pull the tax status of universities and nonprofits that engage in Jew-hatred, and permanently end all taxpayer support for international bodies that stoke this evil.

There should be no doubt that America stands with Israel. We should give Israel everything it needs to defeat those who would destroy it, starting with Hamas.

The stakes are clear. The Jewish state needs to exist because the Jewish people have a right to survive. Two years ago, in the wake of Israel’s last war with Hamas, I traveled to Israel’s border with Gaza. I went to Sderot. I walked through Ashkelon. As I stood outside a home that had been destroyed by terrorist rockets, a woman walked out of the rubble. She started yelling. Then she started running toward me. She threw her arms around me, hugged me, and invited me into the ruins of her home.

She showed me where she was when the rockets hit. She was holding her baby grandson when she was thrown against the wall. I could see the outline of where they hit it. Her hair was embedded in the plaster. It’s a miracle she survived.

Two years later, that woman is still in mortal danger. Her life is threatened by those who hate the Jewish people and the Jewish state. We owe it to her, and so many others, to ensure that evil never wins – no matter what name it goes by.

Nikki Haley is running for president of the United States. She was the US ambassador to the United Nations from 2017-2018 and is a former governor of South Carolina.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-779118

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Economic impact of Britain’s net-zero climate policies serves as a warning for America - Kevin Killough

 

by Kevin Killough

In 2022, according to the study, British businesses were paying more than double what U.S. businesses pay for electricity. Legislators rushing to pass virtuous energy laws often overlook the very quantifiable negative economic impact such policies may have on citizens' lives.

 

A new report released by the RealClear Foundation and titled The Folly of Climate Leadership analyzes Britain’s climate and energy policies and concludes that increasingly stringent policies that were adopted based on false claims of falling renewable electricity costs drove up the country’s energy costs.

Andy Puzder, senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy and the America First Policy Institute, explains in the study’s forward that the analysis serves as a warning to America.

The report, which was written by Rupert Darwall, senior fellow with RealClear Foundation, “shows what would happen if Democrats and Progressives get their way and inflict net zero climate policies on the country,” Pudzer wrote.

According to the study, British businesses were paying more than double in 2022 what U.S. businesses pay for electricity. " British politicians’ boasts of climate leadership by cutting greenhouse gas emissions faster than any other major economy ignore the unfortunate fact that the British economy has been stagnating since 2008. This luxury net zero policy, which only the rich can afford, has been devastating for ordinary Britons just trying to heat their homes and get to work," Pudzer said.

The report attributes the nation’s increased energy costs and stagnating economy to cap-and-trade policies and carbon taxes. Cap-and-trade policies, which have been proposed in the United States, are regulations that set limits on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that companies are allowed. When these limits are exceeded, the companies are taxed. Companies that come in under the limits can sell the unused credits to other companies, which can then lower their taxes.

The carbon costs the British government imposed upon businesses, according to the report, amounted to an average $128 per megawatt hour for electricity generated from coal and $51 per megawatt hour for electricity generated from natural gas. Those extra charges are in addition to the costs of the fuels, which averaged $150 per megawatt hour for coal and $160 per megawatt hour for natural gas.

In the U.S. in 2022, fuel costs for electricity generated from coal was $27 per megawatt hour and $61 per megawatt hour for natural gas. “It is no wonder that the energy crisis is causing such hardship to ordinary British people,” Pudzer added.

Additionally, the report explains, Britons paid for subsidies to support wind and solar buildouts. The subsidies resulted in large profits for the country’s utility companies and encouraged overinvestment in renewables and underinvestment in generation sources that aren’t dependent on weather conditions to produce power, such as natural gas and coal.

The report also details how demand has fallen, which averted blackouts as the electricity supply decreased. Between 2010 and 2019, according to the report, electricity consumption in Britain fell nearly 11%. Even with that drop, Britain maintained grid reliability with imports from its European neighbors.

“These options, it should be emphasized, are not an option for the US. We cannot import the equivalent of two-fifths of Canada’s electricity output,” Pudzer explained.

Britain’s Climate Change Act, which set many of the country’s energy policies, passed in 2008 with an 88-minute debate in the House of Commons, without any cost estimates or a vote, according to the report.

Pudzer notes that the United States Constitution provides checks and balances that wouldn’t allow Congress to pass legislation like Britain’s Climate Change Act. But, he wrote, net zero is a stated policy of the Biden administration, setting the goal of decarbonizing U.S. electricity generation by 2035. "President Biden has set an ambitious U.S. goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050", says a White House press release. 

Likewise, proposed EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions for power generators would have similar economic impacts on the U.S. economy, as the study says happened with the British economy.

“Renewables are not cheap, nor can they provide the reliability that modern societies expect and on which they depend. This report convincingly demonstrates how Britain was conned into net zero by deceptive and illusory promises of cheap wind power,” Pudzer wrote.

Environmentalists and others point to the UK policy as a model. For example, in an editorial published in Canada's Policy Options newsletter, the head of a think tank specializing in building a "regenerative economy" and an Australian Assistant Professor of Climate Change studies wrote that "The U.K. experience offers important lessons for Canada, where continued fragmentation of climate governance has been a significant barrier to change. More work must be done here to identify how innovative policies, public procurement and demand-side measures can shape new markets and create green jobs, while also supporting communities in transition."

The editorial chides Canada for not matching Britain's net zero goals but never assesses in depth the impact a policy based on unreliable wind and solar power, and necessarily higher energy prices would have on on Canadian business or families. 

Kevin Killough

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/report-economic-impacts-britains-net-zero-climate-policies-serve-warning

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IDF veteran turned NY GOP pick to replace George Santos vows to take on 'Squad,' slams Suozzi as fake moderate - Danielle Wallace

 

by Danielle Wallace

Mazi Melesa Pilip details platform on combating antisemitism, immigration, abortion, wars in Israel and Ukraine and more in a Fox News Digital interview

 

Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Israeli Defense Forces veteran and Republican candidate vying to keep the embattled Rep. George Santos' vacated district red, spoke at length with Fox News Digital about her message to New York voters, pitching herself as the best candidate to combat the far-left "Squad" of the Democratic Party in Congress. 

Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew, immigrant to Israel and the United States, married mother of seven children and a recent political newcomer, detailed her background and platform while campaigning for New York's 3rd Congressional District ahead of a February 13 special election against former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. 

Winning her first political campaign in 2021, flipping a county legislative seat from blue to red while pregnant with identical twins, Pilip is up against Suozzi, whose lengthy Long Island political career affords him name recognition and fundraising advantages after previously representing the same district for six years. 

"You know what, Suozzi? Suozzi, a great politician. He's absolutely a talker," Pilip told Fox News Digital. "He is playing a game of ‘I am a moderate.’ He's not."

NY REPUBLICANS TAP IDF VETERAN TO REPLACE SANTOS IN SPECIAL ELECTION

Mazi Melesa Pilip holds a weapon during her service in the Israeli Defense Forces. (Fox News)

Rejecting Suozzi's claim to be a moderate Democrat who vows to take on the far left of his party, Pilip argued Suozzi's voting record proves he almost always aligns with President Biden and the "Squad."

By contrast, Pilip said she is best suited to take on antisemitic rhetoric from the likes of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, because she and her Ukrainian-born husband know firsthand what it was like living in Israel during the second intifada of the early 2000s. 

"I know the fear. My family is living this life," she said, noting how her relatives were in bomb shelters in Israel for several days after Hamas' October 7 attack. "I know how bad and what the Israeli civilians right now are going through. And the only one who can speak really against the Squad, who are causing so much problems for us as a nation here, and especially about Israel. 

"The lie, the lie they are spreading left and right. It's wrong, and the only one who can present things the way it is, is me, is me. And in all my community here, the Jewish community wants somebody who also can fight antisemitism. Since the war started, the Jewish community are living with fear." 

Video

 

 

Pilip condemned the testimony of the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn, who failed to clearly state before a congressional hearing earlier this month whether calls for intifada or the genocide of Jews on campus violated their institutions' codes of conduct. 

"They couldn't even condemn the intifada in calling for genocide of the Jewish people. And it was nothing for them. They didn't see the red flag on that. Now, I want to ask you if that was happening against African Americans, against any minority class or against LGBTQ?" Pilip said. 

"But here we go when this is happening to the Jewish students, all of the sudden, that's OK. And I'm here to say that's not OK. And I'm here to say it as a Black person, OK, as an immigrant, as a woman, as a Jew. I'm here to draw the line. That's unacceptable.

"We don't have to hate each other. We have to respect each other," she added. "We have to work together. We may not . . . agree with policies, which is normal. But let's not forget, we are one nation here. We have America here. We are Americans. And we have to continue with that respect to each other, which this country, unfortunately, lost it. And I hope we're going to be able to build a better future for our kids." 

Mazi Melesa Pilip with fellow IDF service members (Fox News )

Citing the atrocities of Hamas burning and beheading babies, raping young women and taking hostages, Pilip advocated for continued U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine. 

"Tell me who else will do something like this? Evil," she said. "The war that Israel right now is doing is not just for the future of Israel, the future of the Middle East, the future of the entire world. OK? And therefore, we need to make sure United States continues to support Israel and also Ukraine, because this is our interest, is American, is our national interest. We have to say no for injustice and Israel … And every day there is a price for that for both sides. Unfortunately, civilians are dying. But the only one we can blame is Hamas." 

Pilip detailed how, at age 12, she was among the more than 14,000 Jews airlifted to Israel from famine-ravaged Ethiopia in 1991 as rebel forces were advancing toward the capital. 

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"It was a very emotional day for us to come to Israel, to a beautiful country, a country full of lights, a country, you know, that has so many opportunities," Pilip said, recalling having to learn a new language and become acclimated to a new culture. "Right after I finished the school, I really wanted to join the Israeli Defense Force because I wanted to give back to the country that really gave me the opportunity.

"I remember when I came to my dad and I said, ‘I want to serve.’ And he said, 'No, you're too skinny, too little. What are you going to do in the Israeli army?'" she recalled, "But very quickly he realized that was the things I would like to do, and he was very supportive. Later on, he was very proud. I learned a lot during the service. It was beautiful to see people from different countries who came to Israel to live joining the IDF and for one mission really to defend the country." 

Mazi Melesa Pilip announces her congressional run. (Fox News)

Describing herself as someone who hates promises, Pilip says she’s used the past two years as Nassau County’s legislator for the 10th District, encompassing Great Neck, Lehigh Park and Manhasset, to freeze property taxes, fully fund law enforcement and increase the police presence to combat crime and concerns from the Jewish community amid the Israel-Hamas war.

"When this opportunity also came to run for Congress, I decided to take it because it's really about the future of our country. We have a beautiful country, a country full of opportunities. A country really, that's — I'm living the American dream, my husband is dreaming American dreams. But I'm not sure if my kids' are going to live the American dream because there is a lot of extreme policies out there," Pilip told Fox News Digital. "The only one really who benefits from it? The politician. The one that's pretending they care about the people." 

Vowing to support the eventual Republican nominee for president, Pilip argued that it was too soon to say whether she would support Donald Trump, noting that other GOP candidates still were in the running. As for Santos, who's under federal indictment for allegedly defrauding campaign donors and lying to Congress, Pilip said voters care more now about the issues the district is facing. 

One such issue is the migrant crisis. Pilip alleges Suozzi fully supports the Biden administration's immigration policies, which she blames for bringing millions of people into the country without a plan, raising national security concerns over potential terrorists entering the country unchecked and ultimately disenfranchising American voters.

"The politician is doing such a great job dividing us," said Pilip, who immigrated to the United States with her cardiologist husband, with whom she shares seven children.

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"They're bringing them in because they are the future voters," she said. "That's the right thing to do, really? For your American citizen, the one who voted for you? The one who trusted you? OK. And this is what you're doing for migrants? Who are coming here without any plan, putting them on the street? That's irresponsible. Again, this is all about power. How are we going to secure the future right now? How are we going to re-elect another two- and another four- and another six-year? That's a game. That's a politician's game. That's the real story.

"And I want people to wake up to see the reality. Yes, we support immigration. Absolutely. Yes," she said. "And I want people to have the American dream opportunity the way I and my husband, so many immigrants here in the 3rd Congressional District. But it has to be correct. That's what I'm standing for. Really." 

Mazi Melesa Pilip is running to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District.  (Fox News)

Pilip said when she immigrated to the U.S., she registered as a Democrat, but she later ran for elected office as a Republican. 

"They knew I was registered as a Democrat. It wasn't a secret," Pilip said of the Nassau County GOP, adding she soon realized Republicans were committed to supporting law enforcement, reducing crime and lowering taxes.

On abortion, projected to be another major issue for 2024, Pilip said she is "pro-life" but would not force her views on other women.

"Abortion is a very personal decision, and I am a religious person. Therefore, I am pro-life. Me. Mazi Melesa Pilip," Pilip said. "But I will not going to push my own beliefs on any woman. I'm not going to risk women's rights. That's all. Therefore, I'm not going to support a national abortion ban. I'm a woman. I understand what a woman needs. I understand. So it's OK for me to have seven children. That's not going to play well maybe for other women. So, why I'm going to push her to have the same beliefs, the same way of life?" 

She concluded the interview with a message to fellow women and mothers to stand against "extremist policies" pushed by the government that will impact children.

"From the day we are pregnant until we give birth — the emotion, the physical that we have to go through, how hard it is. I know, because every woman goes through the same things. And then we have to raise our children to be good children, to have great education, to find a good job. Yeah. So, where is President Biden and Tom Suozzi to protect that right for us as a mother?" she said. "We the mothers we went [through] a lot, so we don't have a right to protect our children?

"We don't have the right to say no to policies that are extremist policies that's putting our children at risk? And I'm talking to mothers. Really, I want you to open your eyes, mothers," she said. "I know you are fighters. I know you care about the future of your children. Nobody will tell you what's best for your children. Wake up. See what's happening around us. See all these extreme policies that are putting out there. They're risking our children. We have to wake up. We have to say no to this." 

Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/idf-veteran-turned-ny-gop-pick-replace-george-santos-vows-take-on-squad-slams-suozzi-fake-moderate

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Khamenei calls for an economic boycott, senior Iranian general threatens Israel with blockade - Maariv

 

by Maariv

Khamenei attacked the Arab countries that took part in the international force against the Houthis, "this is treason", a senior Iranian general threatened a naval blockade in the Mediterranean.

 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with the new chief commander of the Iranian police force, Ahmad-Reza Radan in Tehran, Iran, in this picture obtained on January 7, 2023.

(photo credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/Handout via Reuters)

After the report of the Israeli-affiliated ship that was attacked west of India, Iran's leader Ali Khamenei called on the countries that take part in the international force established to deal with the threats of the Houthis, not to take part in it.

"It is the duty of the Islamic countries to prevent the sending of oil, fuel, and goods to Israel," he noted.

He even attacked the Arab countries that take part in the force "Providing support to the resistance is a duty, and standing by Israel is a crime and treason."

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi spoke with his Iranian counterpart, in an attempt to remove the threat in the Red Sea.

Additionally, a senior Iranian general sent a threat, according to which the country will act to impose a naval blockade in the Mediterranean Sea as well. In his words, he referred to the Strait of Gibraltar which is near Spain.

The Rock of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar is seen from the Spanish side of the border near La Linea de la Concepcion (credit: JON NAZCA/ REUTERS)

British attacked west of India

A British ship was attacked by a drone west of India, according to several reports published on Saturday morning.

According to the reports, as a result of the impact, there was an explosion, as well as a fire that broke out.

The ship was flying the flag of the country of Liberia, and according to several reports has an Israeli connection. The event ended without casualties. A short time ago, it was reported that the drone was launched from Iranian territory.

"The safety of crew and ship has been ascertained. The Navy has also dispatched a warship to arrive in the area and provide assistance as required," an Indian Navy official told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorized to discuss the incident.

Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, identified the tanker as MV Chem Pluto carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia. Citing Indian defense sources, ANI said the tanker had around 20 Indians on board.

A Reuters tracker showed the ship was headed towards the Port of Mangaluru in India's south.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Maariv

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-779281

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Jaysh al-Ummah Statement on Gaza: Overview and Analysis - Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi

 

by Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi

Hamas' ties to Iran are particularly unacceptable to the Islamic State (which declares Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood from which it derives, to be 'apostates'), and Hamas' general approach to existing governments in the Muslim world is to be contrasted with jihadists around the world who wage insurgent campaigns against Muslim governments 

Documents and Arabic texts referenced in this article are available in the original Substack version.

The flag of Jaysh al-Ummah, here using the name: "Jaysh al-Ummah al-Salafi fi Bayt al-Maqdis" ('The Salafi Army of the Ummah in Bayt al-Maqdis')

Since the 7 October massacre in which Hamas and other militants killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, it has become common to see Hamas described as a 'jihadist' group. While this label ostensibly makes sense in that Hamas sees its fight against Israel as a form of jihad and 'Islamic resistance,' and some of the group's officials have spoken about a future in which the Muslim world is united under a caliphate, applying the label to Hamas can obscure differences between Hamas and groups that are more conventionally labelled as jihadist: in particular, the 'Salafi-jihadist' groups, of which the most familiar are the Islamic State and al-Qa'ida . For example, Hamas' use of the Palestinian national flag is something that would be rejected by jihadists, who believe that national flags represent identities that deviate from the necessity of unifying Muslims as one political and religious community (that unity being embodied in a future Caliphate).

Moreover, Hamas maintains ties with Iran and refrains from declaring existing governments of Muslim-majority countries to be 'apostate' systems that must be violently overthrown. Hamas' ties to Iran are particularly unacceptable to the Islamic State (which declares Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood from which it derives, to be 'apostates'), and Hamas' general approach to existing governments in the Muslim world is to be contrasted with jihadists around the world who wage insurgent campaigns against Muslim governments in places such as the Sahel and Somalia on the basis of establishing 'proper' Islamic governments in those lands through violent revolution, and then ultimately uniting the Muslim world through those newly established governments.

Hamas' use of the Palestinian national flag is something that would be rejected by jihadists, who believe that national flags represent identities that deviate from the necessity of unifying Muslims as one political and religious community.

In Gaza, there are groups that can be labelled as jihadist in the more conventional way. Two of the most notable ones now are Jaysh al-Ummah (the subject of this post) and Jaysh al-Islam. I conducted interviews with both of these groups in 2019: Jaysh al-Ummah being supportive of al-Qa'ida, while Jaysh al-Islam supports the Islamic State. Both of these groups have also experienced tensions with Hamas (though Jaysh al-Islam is more at odds with Hamas than Jaysh al-Ummah is), and have been relatively quiet since 7 October. Compared to Hamas, these forces are marginal, and they are likely to remain marginal even if Israel manages to dismantle Hamas' administrative control of Gaza.

Jaysh al-Ummah has now released a statement about the 'al-Aqsa Flood' operation launched by Hamas and Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza. The statement illustrates that the group participated as a minor faction in the original 7 October massacre and is fighting against the Israeli forces in Gaza (confirming what the group once told me in 2019 about it being permissible to wage jihad alongside Hamas despite its criticisms of the group's governance of Gaza, since Hamas is not considered 'apostate' by Jaysh al-Ummah). Similarly like Hamas, the group endorses attacks by Palestinians against Israel, whether acting in groups or alone.

But the statement also shows jihadist divergences with Hamas. Most notably, the group specifically calls on Muslims around the world to do whatever they can to target the interests of Western countries for supporting Israel and fiercely denounces governments of Muslim countries such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates ('the statelet of the Hebrew conspiracies') and Saudi Arabia (whose royal family are called 'The Salul Family,' a typical jihadist designation for them because of their ties with the West). The statement indeed follows typical jihadist rhetoric in portraying the current Muslim governments as illegitimate entities to be overthrown.

Below is the statement fully translated, plus a clarification from the group's al-Raya Media about its silence over the past two months. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.

Jaysh al-Ummah in Bayt al-Maqdis
Friday: 23 Jumada Awal 1445 AH corresponding to 8 December 2023 CE

General Command
Statement number: 45

The al-Aqsa Flood Battle: the one who has abandoned them does not harm them.

"And what is the matter with you that you do not fight in the path of God and the oppressed men, women and children who say: 'Our Lord, get us out of this city whose people are oppressive, and grant us a trustee from You, and grant us a helper from You.'"

More than two months have passed since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Flood Battle, in which the mujahidin of Jaysh al-Ummah in Bayt al-Maqdis have written the greatest lines of heroism in the pages of might and glory, in which they have expended the most precious ting they have in order to support the Shari'a and the oppressed, despite their small numbers and equipment. For God ennobled the mujahidin to assault the borders and fences and kill the Jews in the early morning of 7 October. Thus they inflicted a great massacre upon God's enemies, and in that epic battle fell the brave knight Abu Mujahid al-Ghazawi, one of the knights of the Shari'a: (may God accept him), so that he should water the tree of Tawhid [monotheism] with his blood.

Then the artillery units struck the damned settlements of the Jews and what they have usurped, and likewise the military positions with dozens of missiles and heavy calibre mortar rounds. Once the Jews' forces began the land incursion into the north of the Gaza strip and Gaza City, the mujahidin of Jaysh al-Ummah received them with their IEDs, anti-tank fire and machine guns, killing and wounding them. As a result of these clashes, the mujahid brother Ahmad Salih Shadi (may God accept him), who is the nephew of the mujahid shaykh Abu Hafs al-Maqdisi, was killed. For he directly clashed with a force on foot in the Shaykh Radhwan neighbourhood in Gaza City. By the grace of God alone, the lions of Tawhid from the sons of Jaysh al-Ummah and the purely devoted of their mujahidin brothers continue to defend the abodes of the Ummah and write pages of might and defiance in fighting the enemy.

Both of these groups have also experienced tensions with Hamas (though Jaysh al-Islam is more at odds with Hamas than Jaysh al-Ummah is), and have been relatively quiet since 7 October.

We are facing the Jewish killing machine, genocide, the Jews' feasting on the blood of the Muslims (including the children, women and elderly among them), and a systematic series of displacements of this defiant Muslim people. We send to our Palestinian people in Gaza the sincerest expressions of thanks and appreciation for their patience and steadfastness, and what they have recorded from the most magnificent scenes of effort, sacrifice, giving, and surrender to and contentment with God's decree of fate. Scenes from which the blind and the one with sight can see the brotherhood of the mujahirin [migrants] and the ansar [supporters/locals], and the division of housing, goods and morsel of bread. So may God decree your reward.

On the other hand, it has become clear to the sons of our Ummah who have been deceived by the culture of the disbelieving West and their false democracy and their so-called human rights, women's rights and children's rights, how the Jews have trampled these things with their feet, the tracks of their tanks and the embers of their aircraft. For children, women and elderly have been killed, and the taboo of the bodies of the martyrs and premature babies has been violated, and mosques, hospitals and homes for the disabled have been destroyed, and not even the Christians' churches have been safe from the Jews' oppression. Neighbourhoods have been wiped off the map, families have been erased from the civilian record, and all this is just a round from the series of Jewish killing and infliction of damage that have been ongoing for dozens of years, and there is no power or force except in God.

Oh our Palestinian Muslim people, wherever you are in the West Bank, the occupied interior and the diaspora. Hurry to a profitable sale, hurry to do business with God, business in which the one who renounces, clearly loses. Attack God's enemies- the Jews- as much as you can, set traps for them wherever you can with IEDs and snipers. Make your Ummah see the way to deal with this, and that you are sons of war who have been born for war. For God's sake, think of the martyrdom operations [suicide bombings], for by God they have greater impact than a million rockets and mortars. For God's sake, think of the love wolves, the likes of Khayri 'Alqam, Ra'ad Khazim, Dheya' Hamarasha and others besides them. For they made the entity state stand on one foot and paralysed its security apparatuses with their heroic operations. Through the likes of these blessed operations, you will turn the table on the Jews, and through them, by the permission of God, there will be deliverance for your brothers in mighty Gaza.

Oh our Islamic Ummah from east to west. The time has for come for you to shake off the clothing of humiliation and submissiveness, and get rid of the rulers who exercise authority over our necks, and rise up as one man to support the religion of God and the oppressed. For in the authentic hadith on the authority of Ibn 'Umar (may God be pleased with him): he said: I heard the Messenger of God (SAWS) saying: "If you engage in usury by selling goods, and you take the tails of cows, and you are content with farming, and you abandon jihad, God will impose humiliation on you. He will not remove this humiliation until you return to your religion." So where are the proud youth of the Ummah from the fields of might? For the interests of disbelief are spread about in the abode of Islam, and by God, their interests, states, and security are weaker than the spider's web for the one who sincerely wants to mobilise. For you is an example in what the Kouachi brothers (may God accept them) did to the Charlie Hebdo newspaper artists, and how these brothers put the dog of France on his leash, tied up their newspapers and silenced their tongues, in support of the Messenger of God (SAWS).

"For you is an example in what the Kouachi brothers did to the Charlie Hebdo newspaper artists, and how these brothers put the dog of France on his leash, tied up their newspapers and silenced their tongues, in support of the Messenger of God."

So here are the states of worldwide disbelief, led by America, Britain and France, declaring without embarrassment or equivocation and with all arrogance their support for the Jews in military, logistical and intelligence terms. Indeed they have even dispatched their mercenaries to Gaza to stand with the usurping Jews. In this is loud and scandalous evidence that reconfirms what the mashaykh [shaykhs] of jihad have said about the head of the snake and the head of global evil being America.

For America itself is the one that has degraded the nobility of the Jordanian Muslim people, and announced that the first shipment of military aid to the occupation statelet would come from an American military base in Jordan by the agreement of Jordan's collaborative agent, and in front of the sight and hearing of this defiant people. So this was what happened!

And the dogs of the Arabs in the statelet of the Hebrew conspiracies and the children of Zayed [the first head of the United Arab Emirates] insisted on hurrying to participate with their Jewish masters in the war on Islam and its people, using their wealth, aviators, and rotten policies to do so. And it only took days for the statelet of the Salul Family to join them, but in a different colour, and by launching the so-called Riyadh Season, in order to distract from what is happening in Gaza and to turn the eyes of the youth and peoples away from the massacres and catastrophes befalling the Muslims. For they gathered the vile men and women and deviant-minded in the Peninsula of the Messenger of God (SAWS), and there is no power or force except in God.

So oh lucky lions of our Ummah and its brave lions. Here are the interests of disbelief spread about in your lands, so let God see good from you. Target their bases, embassies, airports, companies and supporters. Terrify them by every means. Distract them with themselves and away from or Ummah, and scatter them about, in a way that does not preserve and does not leave behind. And teach them that the tax on the Muslims' blood is high and precious, and that today is the day of reckoning and payment.

Oh God, mover of the clouds, defeater of the partiers, oh God, defeat them and make them tremble. Oh God, accept our martyrs and heal our wounded, and free our prisoners, oh Lord of the oppressed.

General Command
Jaysh al-Ummah

---

Clarification on media silence

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

al-Raya Media Foundation
The voice of jihad and the mujahidin in Bayt al-Maqdis

24 Jumada al-Awal 1445 AH corresponding to 8 December 2023 CE

Important clarification

Our precious Ummah, we would like to inform you that the delay in publishing news of the mujahidin of Jaysh al-Ummah in Bayt al-Maqdis during the al-Aqsa Flood battle is due to a number of reasons, among them:

• Technical reasons: caused by the the cutting of connection and internet networks in most areas of the Gaza Strip.
• Logistical reasons: because of loss of much of the material and media tools because of the targetings.
• Security and field reasons: concerning the mujahidin, their movements and documenting their operations, owing to field circumstances, which, to say the least, are very diffficult and complicated.

And God is the Guarantor of Success and Guider to the Path of Integrity.

Your brothers in the al-Raya Media Foundation Administration.

Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi is an Arabic translator and editor at Castlereagh Associates, a Middle East-focused consultancy, and a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum. He runs an independent newsletter at aymennaltamimi.substack.com.

Source: https://www.meforum.org/65372/jaysh-al-ummah-statement-on-gaza-overview

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Israel’s positive sociological changes since Oct. 7 - Zvika Klein

 

by Zvika Klein

The unity in Israel, as well as among Jewish communities across the world, has been overwhelmingly positive.

 

A MURAL IN the southern city of Ofakim illustrates how Israeli society has changed since the October 7 massacre.

(photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Up until three months ago, Israel was in the midst of the most toxic and divisive period it had known since its establishment. The protests against Israel’s judicial reforms caused a rift between the liberal and conservative camps.

On the eve of Tisha B’av, the day on which the Jewish people commemorate the destruction of the first and second holy temples, both sides of the political map, as well as almost every single subgroup, felt as if their country was about to explode.

Whether or not that situation contributed to Hamas’s ability to carry out the October 7 massacre, our country essentially experienced a devastating trauma. More than 1,200 people were murdered and approximately 240 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza; some of the hostages, but not all of them, have since been released.

"Given the striking parallels between Israel’s current internal rift and the infighting that destroyed the Second Temple 2,000 years ago, why would the Israeli government proceed with its judicial reform bill on the eve of Tisha B’Av? Very bad timing," David Friedman, former US Ambassador to Israel, tweeted in August.

Five months later, we may be suffering as a country and as a nation, but the unity in Israel as well as among Jewish communities across the world has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition, mainstream groups and sectors of Israeli society have seen a change in their views towards internal Israeli issues as well as towards Jewish tradition and unity.

What has changed?

The haredim (ultra-orthodox) have become more connected to their Israeli identity. Thousands have volunteered to join the IDF, even though not all of their rabbis support this dramatic move.

ORTHODOX SOLDIERS participate in an IDF swearing-in ceremony in Jerusalem. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The haredi community has seen immense internal changes since the massacre occurred. According to the Tatia think tank, in July 2023, 72% of haredim in Israel said it was very important to them to have Israeli citizenship, but in November 2023, a month after the October 7 massacre, that response grew to 85%. Conversely, in July, 17% of haredim said it was not important to them to have Israeli citizenship, compared to only 8% who answered the same way in November.

Furthermore, in July, only 77% of haredim said it was important for them that the State of Israel exists, while post-October 7, a staggering 91% recognized the importance of the Jewish state. The survey also noted changes in how that sector views the importance of speaking Hebrew, with an increase of 8% from 80-88%.

Also, since the war began, the number of people volunteering throughout the country, haredim and non-haredim, has skyrocketed.

MANY ASSUMED that Arab-Israeli communities in mixed cities would begin an uprising against Jewish Israelis, as happened in previous rounds of fighting, most notably during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021.

Generally speaking, however, the situation is far more calm and stable. In a November survey, the Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) found that 70% of Arab Israelis expressed a sense of belonging to the State of Israel and concern for its problems. This marked the highest level of identification with the Jewish state since the institute began tracking this question in 2003, and it was a significant increase compared to June 2023, when it was at 48%.

On the political front, at least 20% of Israelis have moved from the right and the left to support ideologically center-based parties and leaders. The Likud, which currently holds 32 Knesset seats, is predicted to receive only half of this support if elections were to take place today. Benny Gantz and his National Unity party have received more than 40 seats in recent polls, as many Israelis are looking for compromise.

The group that has probably been the most ideologically influenced by the war is the left-wing Israeli Jews, and for several reasons. The initial attack was on secular, socialist-driven kibbutzim near the border with Gaza. In addition, the Nova rave party was one of the main places where young Israelis were killed and kidnapped.

A large percentage of those who attended were the children of successful and wealthy secular Israelis. The Kibbutz movement consists of an ideologically driven group of individuals who have seen themselves as the backbone of Israeli society for decades. Many were hardcore peace activists who had volunteered to assist in taking families from Gaza to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

A friend of mine, a member of this idealistic movement for peace, recently shared that although he sees himself as a humanist, he no longer has empathy toward the Palestinian people, although he still believes that a diplomatic peace agreement is the only way to get out of this Middle Eastern mess. “We have to recess what it means to be a liberal in Israel after October 7, and that is something I don’t think we have yet been able to start processing,” he shared.

Though left-wing Israelis would usually be sympathetic toward the Palestinians, a “Ma'agar Mohot” survey in November showed that 86% of left-wing Israeli Jews do not want the IDF to stop its activity in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.

During a broadcast on national television several weeks ago, members of Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 130 people were killed on October 7, were singing Jewish songs such as Am Israel Chai (The Nation of Israel Lives) and Shir La’maalot (Song of Ascents) from the Psalms. Normally, these are not songs they would be singing spontaneously. Although I haven’t seen data to prove this assumption, many Israelis appear to have become somewhat more traditional than before.

CONCERNING DIASPORA Jewry, the October 7 massacre caused major shifts within local communities: In the US, many young Jews would now prefer to study at Yeshiva University rather than at Harvard or Penn.

In the UK, there has been a surge in the purchasing of jewelry and merchandise with a Star of David, while at the same time, antisemitic attacks have increased. Many Jewish communities have reported that for the first time, a significant number of Israeli expats have asked to participate in services or Jewish activities.

In the US, two very different Jewish groups have called on their constituents to participate in the pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, at the beginning of November. Both the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel of America and the left-wing Americans for Peace Now invited their supporters to join the rally. The mainstream American Jewish community has broadened and united around Israel, whereas the extremes, on both the right and the left, have become almost irrelevant.

THINGS ARE changing in Israel. I would even say that our beloved country has been changing for the better. However, I am worried about the day after the war. First, as seen after COVID, most of the positive social changes did not continue after the pandemic faded: Israeli weddings are still huge, and better hygiene has not necessarily become more rooted in day-to-day life.

We need to internalize this moment of pain but also see the positive developments and consider how we can continue this trend moving forward.

Second, I’m worried that the extremes in Israeli society will try to return the discourse to where it was just a few months ago. Conservative Israelis should not say, “I told you so,” to left-wingers about the disengagement from Gush Katif; seculars should not try to force haredim to join the IDF but, rather, let this phenomenon slowly continue. The mainstream Arab-Israeli sector should ignore radical Islamists within their communities and understand that co-existence is much better than living under a Hamas regime.

Let’s keep some of this warm, positive energy and unity for at least a few years ahead. We need it.

***A week ago, I stepped up as interim editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, which I see as the most significant and influential Jewish newspaper in the world. Our devoted staff of journalists, editors, graphic artists, and general employees have been working day and night for the past 76 days of war.

In an era with huge international media conglomerates influenced or even owned by Qatar, the Post has been a clear and reliable voice, telling the real story of what Israel has been experiencing since that deadly Black Shabbat. As a Jewish newspaper, we’ve also been reporting extensively about the surge of antisemitism worldwide, a situation that we are monitoring daily.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the tens of millions of our readers worldwide who have trusted us as their news source and will continue to do so.

As editor-in-chief, I hope to learn from the founding father of our newspaper. Israel Goldstein, an American-Israel rabbi, eulogized Gershon Agron, the founder of The Jerusalem Post and its first editor-in-chief. “Wherever he came, he not only reflected the light of Zion but radiated it to Jews and non-Jews. His warm, sparkling personality captured many hearts, and his brilliant, untrammeled approach captured many minds,” Goldstein said at a tribute to Agron in 1961.

“Gershon disarmed antagonists, converted neutrals into partisans, and partisans into enthusiasts,” Goldstein concluded.

These are the core values according to which The Jerusalem Post will continue to operate during this war and for years to come.

Zvika Klein

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-779109

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Do feds have FISA evidence on Bidens? Court memos suggest they might, and Congress wants it - Steven Richards and John Solomon

 

by Steven Richards and John Solomon

Key lawmaker ready to seek FISA surveillance of Patrick Ho, the now-convicted Chinese client of Hunter Biden.

 

Ever since Hunter Biden was captured in a recording calling his client, Patrick Ho, “the f—ing spy chief of China,” questions have swirled around the Chinese official who headed a U.S.-based think-tank that worked to advance the interests of CEFC China Energy and its now-vanished founder, Ye Jianming.

Court records from Ho’s case reviewed by Just the News show the FBI and Justice Department gathered evidence under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) from around the time when Hunter Biden and his uncle James were dealing with CEFC officials, including Ho.

Joe Biden also met twice with CEFC officials: once as vice president and once as a private citizen, according to statements made by a family friend to the FBI.

“The United States intends to offer into evidence, or otherwise use or disclose in any proceedings in the above-captioned matter, information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and physical search conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA),” federal prosecutors wrote in a February 2018 filing in the Ho case.

You can you read that memo here.

gov.uscourts.nysd_.485530.45.0.pdf

Now, investigators in President Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry in Congress want to review that FISA evidence to see if it has any communications between Biden family members and their Chinese business partners.

“This is certainly interesting information. We will pursue every piece of evidence that relates to Hunter Biden and his father. If there are FISA intercepts, it is something we should try to get,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a member of the House Judiciary Committee that is part of the impeachment process and the chairman of its surveillance subcommittee.

Evidence intercepted under FISA is sensitive intelligence, but Congress has succeeded in important investigations to obtain it, including in the post-Sept. 11 inquiry of security failures, and the Russia collusion case, where an intercept of Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn with a Russian ambassador was shown to lawmakers.

“If the government intercepted Patrick Ho’s communications during the time he was working with Hunter Biden and his associates, then those intercepts may contain information Congress needs to conduct its constitutional oversight and impeachment inquiry functions,” said Jason Foster, the now-retired Chief Investigative Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

”When I worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein sought on a bipartisan basis the intercepts of calls between General Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador because the content was needed for our oversight work,” he added. “So such a request from Congress would not be unprecedented.”

The Biden family’s relationship with Ho has not received as much scrutiny as some of the other more colorful foreign characters in their business orbit. But it has taken on increasing importance after congressional investigators received bank records showing the money flowing from CEFC figures in China was flagged by money, laundering experts as possible evidence of a scheme to influence the first family.

Hunter Biden’s own reaction to Ho in a recording on his abandoned laptop only adds to the intrigue.

“I have another New York Times reporter calling about my representation of the, literally, Dr. Patrick Ho — the f—king spy chief of China who started the company that my partner [Ye], who is worth $323 billion, founded and is now missing,” Hunter Biden reportedly said in May 2018, according to a recording obtained from his abandoned laptop.

Hunter Biden’s apparent frustrations came as his lucrative business dealings with CEFC China Energy were collapsing around him. Patrick Ho was arrested in November 2017 in New York on charges of bribery and money laundering and his boss, CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming, disappeared under unknown circumstances in China early in 2018, later suspected to be the result of corruption and financial crimes or simply running afoul of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime. Ho was sentenced to three years in federal prison after his conviction.

During Ho's trial, prosecutors unveiled a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for CEFC China Energy Company Limited,” according to the Department of Justice.

It was in that trial that Ho’s work for the China Energy Fund Committee, the non-governmental organization (NGO) affiliated with its parent energy company was revealed. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the think-tank held “Special Consultative Status” at the United Nations and was funded directly by Ye Jianming’s energy company. Ho used the NGO as a front to bribe African officials at the U.N. to obtain oil rights and future ventures for CEFC. Specifically mentioned in the trial were Chadian President Idriss Déby and two officials from Uganda, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa and President Yoweri Museveni, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Trial documents also show that the prosecutors presented evidence that Patrick Ho participated in efforts to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and facilitate illicit arms deals with Middle Eastern and North African countries, specifically Qatar and Libya, ostensibly through CEFC connections.

"The Iranian agent is looking for a Chinese company acting as a middle man in such [banking] transactions and will pay commission. (details to be presented orally) The Iranian connection has strong urge to establish trading relationship with us in oil and products…” an email cited in the court filings reads, presented by prosecutors as evidence of a scheme to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

This scheme took place a little more than a year before Hunter Biden was first introduced to Ye Jianming, Patrick Ho’s boss, through an acquaintance from his daughter’s school and a former U.N. official in the winter of 2015.

Another notable revelation from the court documents is that federal investigators used (FISA) to monitor Ho’s communications in the lead up to his 2017 arrest. According to an analysis of the court documents by the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, federal investigators seized multiple cell phones, an iPad, and six USB drives from Ho and produced over 30,000 documents of evidence in the trial from both FISA surveillance and seizure.

You can read one of the references to the use of FISA in the document below:

Case 1.17-cr-00779-KBF Document 45.pdf

In the months leading up to Patrick Ho’s arrest on November 18, 2017, Hunter Biden was in regular communication with close associates of Ye Jianming. Two examples provided below, show Hunter Biden communicating with Gongwen Dong—a close associate of Ye according to congressional investigators—about plans for the younger Biden’s joint venture with the Chinese and about a letter from Hunter to the CEFC chairman.

08_02_2017 - Email from Gongwen Dong to Hunter Biden.pdf

11_08_2017 - Email from Hunter Biden to Gongwen Dong, Letter to C.pdf

One month before Patrick Ho was arrested in the United States, Hunter Biden signed an engagement letter with Ho for Biden to provide legal services to the CEFC Energy Fund Committee’s Deputy Chairman. The agreement was recently released by the House Ways and Means Committee as part of the testimony of IRS Whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.

“The legal services to be provided by Attorney to Client are as follows: Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer,” the agreement reads.

For his legal services, Hunter Biden was paid $1 million against which Hunter Biden could deduct his attorney’s fees, according to the agreement.

You can read the agreement below:

Exhibit-608B-Patrick-Ho-Retainer-Attachment-10.10.2017_WMRedacted.pdf

Additionally, the first phone call that Patrick Ho placed after his arrest by U.S. authorities was to James Biden, according to a report by Yahoo News. Later James Biden told The New York Times that he got a "surprise phone call" from Patrick Ho, and believed that it was intended for his nephew, Hunter Biden. James Biden told the paper that he provided his nephew’s contact information to Ho.

Given the wide array of Hunter Biden’s communications with CEFC officials preceding and following Ho’s arrest and his direct representation of Ho himself, it is likely that electronic communications involving Hunter Biden were picked up as part of the FISA surveillance on the CEFC official. This week, House Republican member Eli Crane of Arizona told Just the News that the House would likely pursue any FISA communications from the Ho investigation to gather evidence for the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Hunter Biden’s relationship with Patrick Ho and CEFC is of particular interest to congressional investigators pursuing an impeachment inquiry because money transfers from CEFC to the younger Biden were flagged for potential money laundering and influence peddling by bank investigators. In September, Just the News reported that banking whistleblowers first began raising alarms about Hunter Biden’s business deals in the spring of 2015 at the earliest while his father was still serving as vice president, flagging what they feared were “suspicious” transactions and “fraudulent" schemes.

Morgan Stanley became so concerned with the suspicious transactions that it filed a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) flagging the CEFC transactions. The SEC never took action.

This especially concerning for House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer because his committee has traced payments from both Hunter and James Biden directly into Joe Biden’s bank accounts from funds sent to the Biden family from CEFC when Joe Biden was still the vice president.

 
Steven Richards and John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/do-feds-have-fisa-evidence-bidens-court-records-suggest-maybe

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A Glaring Sign of Rot Within the CIA - Fred Fleitz

 

by Fred Fleitz

If there's a new administration in January 2025, it will have its work cut out for it

 

In his powerful new book, Neutering the CIA: Why Us Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-term Consequences, former CIA analyst John Gentry discusses how the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) agenda has harmed national security by elevating the goals of left-wing identity politics as paramount in the selection and promotion of officers. For example, late last month, the Financial Times revealed that a CIA officer posted pro-Palestinian images on her Facebook page and a selfie photo with the caption “Free Palestine.”

The agency officer, later identified as Amy McFadden, reportedly posted at least one of these images to the Internet after the horrific October 7, Hamas attack on Israel in which more than 1,300 Jews were killed by Hamas terrorists, many of them raped and mutilated, and more than 250 taken hostage.

According to the New York Post, two weeks after the Hamas terrorist attack, the senior CIA official “changed her cover photo to an image of a man waving a Palestinian flag in a keffiyeh-patterned shirt — a design euphemistically referred to as a symbol of Palestinian ‘solidarity’ popularized by the late Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat.”

But McFadden is hardly the only example. A State Department employee publicly accused President Biden of being “complicit in genocide” by providing military assistance to our ally Israel. Sylvia Yacoub, a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Middle East Affairs, tweeted directly at the President with his handle “@POTUS,” and also tweeted directly at the Vice President, “Embarrassingly out of touch @VP,” after Vice President Kamala Harris met with the Prime Minister of the U.K., our closest ally.

It is important to note that these are not obscure bureaucrats. McFadden is one the Agency’s most senior officials, currently serving as Associate Deputy Director of the CIA Directorate of Analysis, a position overseeing thousands of analysts. Prior to this top CIA post, McFadden oversaw the production of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), arguably the most important U.S. intelligence community analysis product. Yacoub is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, one of America’s most prestigious graduate schools that feeds thousands of its graduates into U.S. national security jobs. She also spent three years working at the Obama Foundation and more than a year working on the Hillary Clinton campaign for President. It was on the strength of these credentials she was selected to serve, not as a political appointee, but as a State Department careerist.

The rot we are experiencing in government isn’t just in failing to screen for individuals who hold views antithetical to the United States, its interests, and its allies. It is also how the embedded ideology in the U.S. government promotes them not based on excellence in their work but on whether they share the DEI movement’s radical ideology.

People with experience working in the U.S. Intelligence Community, like myself, might be inclined to ask two questions. How did individuals entrusted with our nation’s most sensitive national security information demonstrate so little common sense that they would publicly attack our president and vice president and post pro-Hamas material on their social media? And how is it they were hired in the first place into nonpartisan career positions and, in the case of McFadden, could advance so quickly to two of the CIA’s most prestigious positions?

I ask these questions because I know that top CIA jobs like leadership of the Directorate of Analysis and the PDB staff historically have gone to analysts who have distinguished themselves over many years in high-profile and challenging assignments where they produced critical and incisive analyses.

Both McFadden and Yacoub appear to be partisan officials who advanced their careers by punching the right career tickets. This is how the far-left ideology of DEI is undermining our national security and foreign relations at the CIA, the State Department, and countless other national security agencies.

CIA Director John Brennan began the corruption of the CIA career service by imposing radical DEI personnel policies in 2013. The Trump Administration never repealed these controversial policies and they remain in place today. As a result, a former senior CIA official recently told me that “the Directorate of Analysis promotes faster than anywhere else and it’s been a problem for a long time.” This comment tracks with another observation by Gentry, who wrote that “excessively rapid promotion rates raised rank structures and entitlement expectations” for a huge number of employees hired by the CIA after 9/11.

McFadden’s inappropriate pro-Hamas Facebook posts have made her a symbol of this mismanagement of the CIA workforce. This incident has wider implications for U.S. national security and the U.S. taxpayer because it suggests the agency is giving critical high-paid jobs to mediocre and incompetent employees for political and social engineering reasons instead of promoting the most qualified personnel to help protect American national security in an increasingly dangerous world.

A former CIA officer told me after reading a draft of this article: “The Obama era policies have had a significant negative impact on [CIA] morale, mission, focus, and accomplishments. In fact, they have fueled mediocracy and politicization, fed the weaponization of HR against our best officers, and degraded the ranks of A-players.”

If there is a new administration in January 2025, it will have its work cut out for it to reverse the damage done to U.S. intelligence agencies by DEI and woke personnel policies begun by the Obama Administration which continue today.

In the meantime, the congressional intelligence oversight committees should immediately begin investigations to assess the extent these radical policies have undermined the capabilities and effectiveness of America’s intelligence agencies and propose reforms to reverse this damage.

Fred Fleitz is vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/22/a-glaring-sign-of-rot-within-the-cia/

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