Israel Releases Footage of Aid Left Waiting by UN, NGOs - JNS

 

by JNS

Mike Huckabee: [T]here is "enough food to feed all of Gaza but it sits rotting! UN is a tool of Hamas!"

 

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee shared photos on X of the aid waiting to be distributed, saying that there is "enough food to feed all of Gaza but it sits rotting! UN is a tool of Hamas! US based GHF is actually delivering food FOR FREE and SAFELY. UN food is either looted by Hamas or rots in the sun!"

• According to U.S.-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, the U.N. aid mechanism has allowed Hamas to hijack and hoard the aid for many months during the war, with the terrorist organization making hundreds of millions of dollars selling the supplies on the secondary market while ordinary Gazans go hungry.

• The introduction of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), however, managed to bypass this mechanism, depriving Hamas of its funds, Enia Krivine, the senior director of FDD's Israel Program and National Security Network, said on the FDD website on Thursday.

• "Hamas understands that if it doesn't regain control of the aid economy in Gaza, its days of ruling the enclave will be over. By refusing to work with GHF, the United Nations is shamefully throwing a lifeline to Hamas," Krivine added.

• "So now we're down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn't want to make a deal" – US President Donald J. Trump, July 25, 2025.

Pictured: Supplies on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing that have not been collected for distribution by international aid organizations, July 2025. (Photo by IDF)

A cornucopia of aid supplies, mostly food, has accumulated in recent months on the Gazan side of the crossings to the Gaza Strip and is still waiting to be collected by international aid organizations, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) — a unit within Israel's defense ministry — said on July 25, 2025, in the wake of claims that Jerusalem is preventing food from entering the Strip.

COGAT released extensive footage showing the hundreds of trucks on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing, with rows of boxes of supplies stacked on pallets.

"Israel does not limit the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip, and it is the collection issue that is preventing the continuous delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza," said COGAT's head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, Col. Abdullah Halabi, speaking from the Gazan side of the crossing with bundled-up boxes of supplies in the background.

"Despite the clear facts you can see behind me, Hamas is running a deliberate and false propaganda campaign that presents a distorted picture of the humanitarian situation," he said.

Halabi stressed that Hamas is engaged in propaganda, not "out of concern for Gazan residents but as a pressure tactic in the framework of negotiations" with Israel over the release of the remaining hostages held in the Strip.

"We operate every day to bring in aid; Hamas operates every day to create a perception of crisis," the officer said. "The international community needs to know the truth. We are working in close coordination with the U.N. and aid organizations, urging them to continue arriving to collect the aid and bring it to the Gaza Strip."

Nevertheless, some of the aid is making its way to the Gaza Strip. COGAT tweeted that on Friday, around 90 food trucks were unloaded at aid crossings, and more than 100 were collected by the U.N. and international organizations from the Gazan side and distributed in Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee shared photos on X of the aid waiting to be distributed, saying that there is "enough food to feed all of Gaza but it sits rotting! UN is a tool of Hamas! US based GHF is actually delivering food FOR FREE and SAFELY. UN food is either looted by Hamas or rots in the sun!"

The U.N. claims that IDF restrictions on its movements and criminal looting hinder its ability to deliver aid.

"These factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities," said Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, Associated Press reported.

OCHA said on its website that the breakdown of law and order, partly due to the collapse of Gaza's Hamas-run police force, leads to greater risks for the truck convoys moving within the Gaza Strip in the face of criminal gangs.

According to U.S.-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), the U.N. aid mechanism has allowed Hamas to hijack and hoard the aid for many months during the war, with the terrorist organization making hundreds of millions of dollars selling the supplies on the secondary market while ordinary Gazans go hungry.

The introduction of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), however, managed to bypass this mechanism, depriving Hamas of its funds, Enia Krivine, the senior director of FDD's Israel Program and National Security Network, said on the FDD website on Thursday.

"Hamas understands that if it doesn't regain control of the aid economy in Gaza, its days of ruling the enclave will be over. By refusing to work with GHF, the United Nations is shamefully throwing a lifeline to Hamas," Krivine added.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Friday expressed frustration over the deadlock in U.S.-mediated negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire-for-hostages agreement between Israel and Hamas, placing the blame squarely on the Palestinian terrorist group.

"It was too bad—Hamas didn't really want to make a deal," Trump said. "I think they want to die. And it's very, very bad. It got to a point where you're going to have to finish the job."

"Don't forget, we got a lot of hostages out," he continued. "So now we're down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn't want to make a deal. I saw that." 

JNS

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21793/gaza-aid-left-waiting-by-un-ngos

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'Hamas has obligation': Hostage forum skeptical on Hamas promise to allow aid to reach hostages - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Hamas is ready to deliver Red Cross aid to the hostages it is holding in Gaza if Israel opens humanitarian corridors permanently.

 

Demonstrators protest, calling for the release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, July 26, 2025

(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

The  Hostages and Missing Families Forum responded skeptically to Hamas’s Sunday evening claim that the terror group would allow the Red Cross to deliver aid to the hostages.

“Hamas's announcement about their willingness to cooperate with the Red Cross to deliver food to hostages cannot hide the fact that we are dealing with an evil terrorist organization that has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days,” the forum said.

“We demand the immediate release of all 50 hostages. Until their release, Hamas has the obligation to provide them with everything they need. Hamas kidnapped them, and they must care for them. Every hostage who dies will be on Hamas's hands.”

Hamas's  Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades is ready to deliver Red Cross aid to the hostages it is holding in Gaza if Israel opens humanitarian corridors permanently and halts "all forms of air traffic" during the delivery of packages to the hostages, the terror group's spokesperson said earlier.

Hamas made the statement after the terror group, along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, published videos showing emaciated hostages. The terror group was widely condemned after the video of Evyatar David captured the arm of a terrorist, which did not appear emaciated in contrast to the captive.

A screengrab from a Hamas propaganda video with Israeli hostage Evyatar David. (credit: SCREENSHOT/X, SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)

Demands for immediate hostage release

As referenced by the forum, calls for the Red Cross to visit the hostages have gone unanswered throughout the war. Efforts to ensure hostages were given their medication through the Red Cross were thwarted by Hamas.

“They may not survive the next few days without immediate help,” the forum asserted. “These heartbreaking images reveal hostages who are starving while their captors remain well-fed.”

The forum also stressed that while the transfer of resources through the Red Cross was a “welcome” possibility, “only the immediate release of all hostages can truly save their lives.” 

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-863139

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Terror victims sue UNRWA in US for alleged Hamas complicity - JNS Staff

 

by JNS Staff

The lawsuit against the U.N. agency is the second of its kind currently being heard by American courts.

 

Israelis protest against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) outside one of its offices in Jerusalem, March 20, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Victims of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist attacks, and their relatives, on Thursday sued the United Nations agency dedicated to Palestinians, allegedly for aiding the armed groups and fueling terrorism.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages, both compensatory and punitive, from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Lawyers for the U.N. agency have argued it is exempt from such suits because it has diplomatic immunity. The Biden administration supported that position, but in April, lawyers in U.S. President Donald Trump’s Justice Department reversed the government’s stance, paving the way for the latest lawsuit.

A similar case has been playing out since last year in federal court in Manhattan.

Hundreds of UNRWA workers are believed to have engaged in terrorism in recent years. On Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA social worker Faisal Ali Mussalem al Naami and a colleague were caught on film loading into a truck the lifeless body of an Israeli man, Yonatan Samerano, providing evidence that’s helped focus attention on UNRWA and its well-documented, years-long record of complicity in terrorism and incitement.

Last year, Israel’s foreign ministry published a list of names and ID numbers of 108 UNRWA employees that Israel said were also Hamas terrorists. It was a “small fraction,” a Foreign Ministry official wrote, of a much larger list including hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who also worked for UNRWA. The wider list could not be released due to security considerations.

Israel’s Knesset in October made it illegal for the UNRWA to operate in Israeli territory, and for state officials to cooperate with the agency. UNRWA has fired or suspended several staffers accused of terrorism  has denied any systemic complicity in terrorism by its staff in Gaza and beyond. 

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/terror-victims-sue-unrwa-in-us-for-alleged-hamas-complicity/

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Hamas: Palestinian state recognition ‘fruits of Oct. 7’ - JNS Staff

 

by JNS Staff

Israeli FM Gideon Sa'ar to France, the U.K. and Canada: "If this is who applauds you, what does it say about you?"

 

A Palestinian masked child holds a rifle as he stands between two Hamas militants at the site where the bodies of four Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on Feb. 20, 2025. Photo by Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar over the weekend sharply criticized France, the United Kingdom and Canada for their recent decisions to recognize a Palestinian state, citing a Hamas terrorist who praised the moves as “the fruits of October 7.”

In an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera, Ghazi Hamad said, “The initiative by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7. We proved that victory over Israel is not impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian dignity.”

In response, Sa’ar asked: “If this is who applauds you, what does it say about you?” 

In his voice, Senior Hamas terrorist Razi Hamed thanks France, UK and Canada for recognising a Palestinian state:

"The initiative by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7. We proved that victory over Israel is not impossible, and…

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) August 2, 2025

On Saturday, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli slammed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who had condemned images showing Israeli hostages in dire conditions.

Chikli called Barrot “a failed joke,” including a picture of Hamad in the post.

Earlier, Barrot had denounced what he called the “despicable, unbearable” images of Israeli hostages held for 667 days by Hamas in Gaza.

Tu es une blague, Monsieur Noël une blague ratée.@jnbarrot https://t.co/uzDSRMjzuN pic.twitter.com/J1F3iVpyG6

— עמיחי שיקלי - Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) August 2, 2025

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/hamas-palestinian-state-recognition-fruits-of-oct-7/

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Don’t Overlook Hillary Clinton - Kenin M. Spivak

 

by Kenin M. Spivak

Despite decades of scandals, cover-ups, and contradictions, Hillary Clinton still personifies the double standard shielding America’s political elite.

 

 

Before Barack Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan and 50 other intelligence analysts deceived Americans in the run-up to the 2020 election by warning that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the earmarks of a classic Russian information operation” – and before Obama, Brennan, Obama’s FBI Director James Comey, and National Intelligence Director James Clapper falsified an Intelligence Community Assessment in December 2016 to destabilize Donald Trump’s first term – there was Hillary Clinton.

The media’s focus these days is on President Trump’s possible cameo in the so-called “Epstein files” and Obama’s role in advancing the Russia collusion hoax. These stories crossed when DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe released compelling evidence that six weeks before his term concluded, Obama pressed the intelligence community to ignore its previous assessments and instead rely on the sham Steele dossier and an ambiguous and unverifiable sentence fragment to smear Trump and undermine his presidency before it began.

But let’s not forget the Clinton campaign’s role in this kabuki dance.

Clinton, not Obama, was Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election. As we learned last week from the declassification of reports issued by Gabbard and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, the weight of the heretofore concealed evidence is that if Putin had a preference, it was most likely Clinton – not the wildcard first-time officeholder who surprised the world by winning.

According to the now-declassified September 2020 majority staff report of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Putin’s principal goal was to undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process, not help any particular candidate. Thus, he chose not to leak the most compromising allegations about Clinton, presumably so that he could later use them to weaken her expected presidency. If Russia really wanted to help Trump, the purported information – whether true or not – would have been released during the campaign.

The intelligence community and media, which did have a clear favorite in 2016, carefully hid the compromising accusations, including secret meetings in which State Department representatives are alleged to have unlawfully offered assistance to religious groups in exchange for their support in the 2016 election, along with emails from Democratic National Committee officials describing Clinton’s “psycho-emotional problems,” including “uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness.” Clinton was said by these sources to be on a daily regimen of “heavy tranquilizers.”

Recently declassified intelligence files show that Clinton authorized the bogus Steele dossier during the 2016 campaign to deflect attention from her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, and to discredit Trump. Obama, his senior intelligence team and Democratic leadership used the dossier to push the dishonest Russia narrative, Trump’s first impeachment, and a largely successful effort to block his first-term agenda.

Just a year earlier, a bombshell New York Times report disclosed that Clinton breached core security protocols by exclusively using a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. She may have done so to shield emails about improper Clinton Foundation fundraising efforts, her hiring of private consultants, and other political conflicts. In a highly inappropriate press conference before the 2016 election, Jim Comey took it upon himself to excuse Clinton’s security lapses, curiously asserting that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a criminal case. An investigation led by Chairman Grassley found that Comey intended to exonerate Clinton even before the FBI interviewed her.

On July 21, 2025, Grassley released a long-buried June 2018 FBI Inspector General report that concluded the FBI never fully investigated Clinton’s use of the private server. Further, contrary to sound investigative protocols, witnesses were permitted to attend each other’s depositions, and no action was taken when Clinton’s lawyers accessed confidential information, or when her aides used hammers to destroy BlackBerry phones and BleachBit software to erase the emails. According to Grassley, then-DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz confirmed that Obama scuttled the investigation to protect Clinton’s candidacy.

When Clinton served as Obama’s secretary of state, foreign governments and corporations donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation and paid Bill Clinton premium prices for speeches, including governments that obtained substantial State Department assistance. Clinton personally attended meetings with foundation donors and sought favors for them, a practice begun when she was New York’s junior senator.

Bill Clinton’s White House run was rocked by allegations over investments Bill and Hillary made in the Whitewater Development Corporation. Despite the disappearance of key documents from the White House private quarters, evidence of Hillary’s questionable activities, and the conviction of one of their business partners, neither Clinton faced prosecution.

In 1978 and 1979, while first lady of Arkansas, Clinton invested $1,000 in cattle futures, generating almost $100,000 in profit in less than a year. Despite suspicions suggesting that the profits were disguised pay-offs from Tyson Foods and the improbability of such returns, there was no official investigation.

While Hillary Clinton’s time on the national stage may be sunsetting, she remains the epitome of the disparate standards to which Republicans and Democrats are held by American elites.

***

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

  

Kenin M. Spivak

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/03/dont-overlook-hillary-clinton/

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Netanyahu slams ‘cruel’ videos of starving hostages - JNS Staff

 

by JNS Staff

"While the State of Israel allows the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages and document them in a cynical and malicious manner," said the Israeli premier.

 

Israeli hostage Evyatar David, left, pictured before his capture by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and during his captivity in Gaza in a still image taken from a video released on Aug. 1, 2025. Source: @RitchieTorres/X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday responded with deep shock to propaganda videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad showing the dire condition of Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.

After speaking at length with the families of the hostages, Netanyahu pledged ongoing and relentless efforts to secure their release. He denounced Hamas for its “boundless cruelty,” stating:

“While the State of Israel allows the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages and document them in a cynical and malicious manner. Hamas terrorists also deliberately starve the residents of the Strip and prevent them from receiving aid, while echoing a false propaganda campaign against Israel. The countries of the world must stand up and clearly call out the criminal, Nazi-like abuse by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

The premier’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, expressed her heartbreak over the “unbearably difficult videos,” sending the families a message of support and compassion. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening at length with the families of the hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David.

The Prime Minister expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 2, 2025

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the terrorist group, saying, “The faces of hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, say it all. Forced to dig their own graves. Tormented with execution. Starved, tortured, wasting away in Hamas’ terror tunnels. But Hamas doesn’t just starve the hostages. It starves the people of Gaza, by looting aid and blocking humanitarian deliveries which Israel has worked with its international partners to increase.”

Herzog urged world leaders to demand the immediate release of the hostages and to ensure aid reaches civilians in Gaza, not the terrorists, stressing: “This is a test of humanity. Silence is not an option.”

The faces of hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, say it all.

Forced to dig their own graves. Tormented with execution. Starved, tortured, wasting away in Hamas’ terror tunnels.

But Hamas doesn’t just starve the hostages. It starves the people of Gaza, by looting aid and… pic.twitter.com/IObOhnXVf5

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) August 2, 2025

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued an urgent international appeal, calling on foreign counterparts to publicly demand the release of Israeli hostages in light of “the difficult images of the hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Breslavski.” Sa’ar emphasized the moral obligation of the international community:

“The world cannot remain silent in the face of the difficult images that are the result of deliberate sadistic abuse of the hostages, which also includes starvation by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

Sa’ar is also moving to convene a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council regarding the hostages’ plight and is urging world leaders to take immediate and effective action.

This is the real famine in Gaza - captured in one image.

While Evyatar David, kidnapped by Hamas, looks like a walking skeleton, terrorists from Palestinian Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad feast just meters away.

The hostages are STARVING. TORTURED. ABUSED.

Where is the… pic.twitter.com/i4kUxkdSri

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 2, 2025

European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas called the hostage images “appalling” in an X post on Sunday, asserting that they “expose the barbarity of Hamas” and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. She also urged the terrorist group to “disarm and end its rule in Gaza,” while at the same time calling for large-scale humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Strip.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad each released propaganda videos last week showing David and Braslavski in extremely emaciated states, held in Gaza tunnels.

The videos show David, 24, digging what he says will be his own grave and detailing severe starvation, while Braslavski also appears on the verge of death.

HAMAS FORCED EVYATAR DAVID TO DIG HIS OWN GRAVE pic.twitter.com/Ob98U6Cu0e

— נועה מגיד | Noa magid (@NoaMagid) August 2, 2025

Their families accused the terror groups of starving the hostages purely for propaganda purposes, and called on Israel and the international community to act urgently to save them. The footage has provoked widespread shock in Israel, protests in Tel Aviv, and calls from Israeli leaders for immediate action to free the hostages and address abuse in captivity

The latest Israeli estimates indicate that 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with approximately 20 believed to be alive and the rest presumed dead.

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-denounces-cruel-videos-of-starving/

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The Most Favored Descendants of Abraham? - Nils A. Haug

 

by Nils A. Haug

Islamist claims of legitimacy -- and their determination to rid Israel of Jews -- are a core element in explaining the perpetual conflict between Islamists and Israel. Consequently, any peace agreement may well be fragile and temporary.

 

• At the Islamic Centre of Rhode Island, on May 30, an imam delivered a sermon that, according to Andrew Bostom, "invoked Islam's supersessionism, its notion of being the true primordial monotheism of Jewish patriarch Abraham."

• Of course, the main problem in discussing religion is that it is often impossible to prove anything, so that all controversies continue indefinitely.

• It is a contest of legitimacy with Muslims asserting Ishmael to be the rightful, favored heir to Abraham, rather than his only legitimate son and heir, Isaac.

• Islamist claims of legitimacy -- and their determination to rid Israel of Jews -- are a core element in explaining the perpetual conflict between Islamists and Israel. Consequently, any peace agreement may well be fragile and temporary.

Islamist claims of legitimacy -- and their determination to rid Israel of Jews -- are a core element in explaining the perpetual conflict between Islamists and Israel. Consequently, any peace agreement may well be fragile and temporary. Pictured: Supporters of the Houthis carry signs showing the group's motto of "God is Great, death to America, death to Israel, curse upon the Jews, victory to Islam", during a rally commemorating the Shiite holiday of Ashura in Sanaa, Yemen on September 10, 2019. (Photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)

It has been claimed that the recent Iran-Israel war was simply a "violent prelude to a far grander and more terrifying prophetic chapter" in the effort to eliminate Israel and Jews from the face of the earth.

This objective comprises diverse but interconnected strategies, such as pro-Islamic and anti-Zionist propaganda; military attacks on Israel by Iran and its jihadist proxies; and, not least, theological contortions designed to negate legitimate Jewish claims to their ancient divine blessings, including the promised homeland of Israel -- Eretz Yisrael -- itself.

At the Islamic Centre of Rhode Island, on May 30, an imam delivered a sermon that, according to Andrew Bostom, "invoked Islam's supersessionism, its notion of being the true primordial monotheism of Jewish patriarch Abraham." In short, the imam was saying that Islam, not Judaism, is the sole authentic religion emanating from Abraham's line of descent.

Of course, the main problem in discussing religion is that it is often impossible to prove anything, so that all controversies continue indefinitely.

In support, the imam quoted certain verses of the Quran, particularly 3:67:

"Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists."
(Sahih International)

and 3:68:

"Indeed, the most worthy of Abraham among the people are those who followed him [in submission to Allah ] and this prophet, and those who believe [in his message]. And Allah is the ally of the believers."
(Sahih International)

The Quran is claiming that Muslims are "the most worthy" of the status as the heirs of Abraham -- the true believers -- not the Christians or the Jews.

The imam scorned Jewish and Christian claims to Abraham as their spiritual ancestor:

"[T]he Christians, can't articulate what they really believe, what their tawhid [monotheism] means. And the other group [the Jews] has reduced their religion to an ethnic identity that they use to justify a slaughter of innocent people."

Therefore, not only minor sectarian elements of the Christian Church desire to appropriate blessings due to Jews, but Islam is similarly promoting a doctrinal version of the "Great Replacement," in which Islam supposedly supersedes both Christianity and Judaism. According to this dogma, Muslims, not the Jews, are rightful inheritors of the divine dedications assigned to Abraham.

Unlike the Christian version of supersessionism, whereby the church is purportedly the "New Israel," Islamic doctrines do not claim to replace the Jews. According to Sarah Gon, of the Institute of Race Relations, Islamic theology instead "recasts the Jewish prophets as Muslims by creating a direct link with Ishmael, the son of Abraham -- the 'first Muslim,' according to the Qur'an." It is a contest of legitimacy with Muslims asserting Ishmael to be the rightful, favored heir to Abraham, rather than his only legitimate son and heir, Isaac.

The narrative of Abraham and Isaac is important in understanding the ongoing Middle East conflict. According to Genesis 16:15-16 and 21:1-7, both Isaac (born to his wife, Sarah) and Ishmael (born to Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar) were born in Canaan – in greater Israel. The Quran, verse 14:37, reads:

"Our Lord, I have settled some of my descendants in an uncultivated valley near Your sacred House, our Lord, that they may establish prayer. So make hearts among the people incline toward them and provide for them from the fruits that they might be grateful."
(Sahih International)

This means, according to Roy Hirsch, that "God instructed Abraham to leave Hagar and Ishmael in the barren valley of Mecca, while Isaac stayed in Canaan." The latter construal appears, if the Bible is viewed as the benchmark, to be a fiction that is meant to justify Ishmael's claim to religious legitimacy.

In the New Testament's Epistle to the Galatians, Saul of Tarsus writes in a letter to the church at Galatia:

"But what does Scripture say? 'Get rid of the slave woman and her son [Ishmael], for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son [Isaac].'"

Christian doctrine convincingly upholds the Torah on this controversy; and according to this, the descendants of Ishmael (Muslims) have no part of the divine promises made to Abraham and Isaac.

In addition to Islamic claims to divine promises, these assertions are further extended to the Holy City of Jerusalem itself – the centerpiece of Judaism and the intended great prize of Islam. The Qur'an (Al-Isra 17:1) states:

"Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing."
(Sahih International)

The verse alleges, according to Roy Hirsch, that Muhammad made a "brief, one-time stop at the farthest Temple Mount during his nocturnal journey to Heaven in 620 CE." The irony is that all Muslims pray while facing Mecca – their holiest city -- not facing Jerusalem.

Whatever the mode of replacement designed to deprive Jews of their status as the "chosen people" and a "people after God's own heart," the intended effect is the same -- the denial of legitimacy. This is an old heresy, like the subversive question from the serpent in the Garden of Eden: "Did G-d really say..."

Another essential concept that differentiates Islamic attempts at replacing the Jews from Christian attempts is, according to Sarah Gon:

"Vilifying or killing Jews has become a recurring motif in Muslim supersessionism. The Qur'an repeatedly accuses the Jews of falsehood, distortion, and of being 'corrupters of the scriptures'. It argues that the Jews did not deserve to be the Chosen People, and because of their sins are condemned to 'degradation in this world.'"

Muslims seemingly aim to be considered the primary chosen people descending from Abraham. The Christian version of replacement theology, shown to be a heresy with no scriptural warrant, has fallen from favor.

A related replacement ideology was adopted by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi propagandists through a theory of their "master race," Aryans supposedly being superior to the Jews. Hitler was influenced by Martin Luther, the important, vehemently anti-Semitic German church reformer from the 16^th century. Nazi replacement ideology and it's virulent Jew-hatred resulted in the horrors of the holocaust.

Islamist claims of legitimacy -- and their determination to rid Israel of Jews -- are a core element in explaining the perpetual conflict between Islamists and Israel. Consequently, any peace agreement may well be fragile and temporary.

"Muslim greatness under Allah depends on the subjugation and annihilation of the Jews," suggests Sarah Gon.

That is something that will never happen.

Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, Zwiedzaj Polske, and many others.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21771/descendants-of-abraham

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Hundreds visit Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av - Hanan Greenwood

 

by Hanan Greenwood

Israeli government ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the site as police implemented new procedures allowing previously prohibited religious expression during the solemn fast day.

 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir seen after a visit at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, during Tisha B’Av, Aug. 3, 2025. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

Hundreds of Jewish Israelis, including government ministers, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday, the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av.

In a departure from previous years, police authorized singing within the Temple Mount compound. 

Jewish worshippers atop the Temple Mount this morning sing: “He will build the temple!”

Today is Tisha B’Av, when Israel mourns the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies to befall the Jewish people.#Israel #TempleMount #TishaBAv pic.twitter.com/Z7D0LMET5L

— RYAN4ZION (@ryan4zion) August 3, 2025

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Isaac Wasserlauf were among those who visited the site.

Ben-Gvir, speaking from the Temple Mount, addressed the release of disturbing videos by Gazan terrorist groups of emaciated Israeli hostages. He described the footage as part of Hamas’s ongoing efforts “to create pressure on the State of Israel.” He emphasized that the Temple Mount itself served as evidence that “sovereignty and governance are possible.”

סרטוני הזוועה של החמאס באים על רקע דבר אחד – הניסיון שלהם ליצור לחץ על מדינת ישראל. ואני אומר דווקא מכאן, מהר הבית, במקום שבו הוכחנו שאפשר לעשות ריבונות ומשילות – דווקא מכאן צריך להעביר מסר: ולדאוג שכובשים את כל רצועת עזה, מכריזים ריבונות בכל רצועת עזה, מורידים כל חמאסניק,… pic.twitter.com/A9jSKOaTRm

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 3, 2025

“Precisely from here, a message must be sent,” Ben-Gvir asserted, outlining his prescription for responding to Hamas. He called for Israel to “conquer all of Gaza, declare sovereignty over the entire Strip, take down every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary migration.”

According to Ben-Gvir, only by taking these steps could Israel hope to secure the release of hostages and achieve victory in the current conflict.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led morning services today, the fast of Tisha B'Av, on the Temple Mount. https://t.co/UShZpsLat9

— Israel National News - Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) August 3, 2025

Thousands had already gathered at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem on Saturday evening to mark the start of Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av)—a day when Jews mourn the destruction of both ancient Temples that once stood on the Temple Mount in Israel’s capital, considered the holiest site in Judaism. It is a day of fasting and lamentation. 

The lower entrance to the Temple Mount as of a half hour ago pic.twitter.com/kh6RWnBEMB

— Yisrael Medad (@ymedad) August 3, 2025

Under the current government, the Temple Mount has seen a surge in Jewish visits and open worship, especially on important holidays such as Tisha B’Av.

The Prime Minister’s Office, however, asserted on Sunday: “Israel’s policy to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.”

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

 

Hanan Greenwood

Source: https://www.jns.org/thousands-visit-temple-mount-on-tisha-bav/

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The Race Against China for Fusion Power: Whoever Controls It, Controls the Century - Lawrence Kadish

 

by Lawrence Kadish

AI requires power -- enormous amounts of it -- that only fusion energy can provide

 

If there were a formula for who will dominate the 21^st century, it would be: Fusion Energy + AI = World Supremacy. (Image source: OpenAI)

Fusion energy is not only cheap, clean and limitless, it is also the "engine" that will drive the enormous increases in artificial intelligence (AI) that will be the ultimate super-weapon of this century. AI requires power -- enormous amounts of it -- that only fusion energy can provide.

If there were a formula for who will dominate the 21^st century, it would be: Fusion Energy + AI = World Supremacy.

Our nation, however, is now faced with a new and dangerous 21^st century threat.

China has been steamrolling ahead developing cheap, clean and limitless fusion energy to fuel the great new frontier of AI. Meanwhile, America appears stuck in the technology of soon-to-be-outdated fission energy.

AI, as President Donald J. Trump has stated, is what will determine which nation is the superpower of the 21^st century. The Trump administration cannot allow China to leave America in the dust for want of energy to power America's AI.

In this century, there will be two types of nations: the ones that conquered fusion energy and those that wish they had.

As China's proficiency in fusion energy grows -- the Chinese have already exported a fusion device to Thailand -- the United States dangerously still appears to prefer the soon-to-be- outdated fission energy, associated with the catastrophes of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and the fission reactors in Ukraine, if a Russian missile should hit one.

Fission energy, as for an atom bomb, is created when a uranium atom is split:

"During nuclear fission, a neutron collides with a uranium atom and splits it, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of heat and radiation."

Fusion energy is made by forcing two electrons -- usually from deuterium and tritium -- to collide and fuse together, for example, at extremely high temperatures in containers called tokamaks. The collision releases massive amounts of energy, with no waste. The International Atomic Energy Agency notes:

"In theory, with just a few grams of these reactants, it is possible to produce a terajoule of energy, which is approximately the energy one person in a developed country needs over sixty years...

"Fusion fuel is plentiful and easily accessible: deuterium can be extracted inexpensively from seawater, and tritium can potentially be produced from the reaction of fusion generated neutrons with naturally abundant lithium. These fuel supplies would last for millions of years.

"Future fusion reactors are also intrinsically safe and are not expected to produce high activity or long-lived nuclear waste.... there is no risk of a runaway reaction and meltdown... . "

Fortunately, America is surrounded by two large oceans of seawater, and has supplies of lithium "all over the country." A lithium mine already operates in Nevada.

The problem in the US, so far, is that members of the current administration seems to prefer only fission energy. They know it, feel comfortable with it, and it is readily available. They also, understandably but shortsightedly, like projects that show an immediate return on investment. It is most urgent, however, if the US is to compete successfully with China, to think long-term.

China has been investing at least $1.5 billion each year in developing fusion energy for commercial use -- its current funding of fusion energy is, along with much else there, apparently a state secret.

Trump urgently needs to assemble a "Manhattan Project for Fusion Energy," similar to the Manhattan Project that President Franklin D. Roosevelt established during WWII for the US to have an atomic bomb. The new Manhattan Project could be funded by the next Reconciliation Bill and by some of the investments for energy development that Trump has so brilliantly brought in from abroad.

Our nation once spent billions to ensure our survival during and after World War II. We can do no less against a well-armed, well financed, implacable enemy of America that is now spending the necessary funds to be the one nation that will own fusion energy. China.

To lose the AI race to China by allowing it dominance in fusion energy would be a failure the US cannot afford.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21794/race-against-china-ai-fusion-power

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Bad News Is Good News? The Left’s Premature Celebration Over Jobs Data - Roger Kimball

 

by Roger Kimball

The left cheered a weak jobs report—until Trump fired the stats chief, touted native-born job gains, and doubled down on his America First economic overhaul.

 

Many people described the jobs report that dropped from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 1 as “disappointing.”

But it wasn’t disappointing for the left and other anti-Trump redoubts. On the contrary, it was cause for celebration. Experts had expected the economy to add 110,000 jobs in July. It added only 73,000. Cue images of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. Moreover, the robust reports from May and June were revised downwards by 285,000. Of course, bad news for Trump was good news for the denizens of the anti-Trump fever swamps.

But the joy was short-lived. Trump himself quickly weighed in to describe the numbers as “rigged.” He also noted that Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, drastically overstated job growth in March 2024 and then again in August and September, just before the 2024 presidential election. Those numbers were subsequently revised downwards by 828,000 and 112,000, respectively.

Trump concluded that McEntarfer had “faked the jobs numbers” and promptly fired her. Whether or not that was politic—or, more to the point, whether it was good politics—is perhaps a question worth considering. It was music to the ears of the anti-Trump squadrons, however, since it gave them something else to complain about. Professional anti-Trumper Anne Applebaum, for example, reposted a critical comment by Pete Buttigieg (remember him?), charging that Trump’s behavior was “very Soviet, except that Stalin then arrested and executed the statisticians.” Portraying Trump as Stalin is a change from the usual Trump as Hitler comparison, though it’s not exactly an upgrade.

I think there are essentially two things to be said about this jobs report.

First, notwithstanding the tocsins of anti-Trump fury, the report wasn’t really that bad. The left seized on it as one shred of possibly lukewarm economic news in the midst of an ocean of upbeat news—the deals with countries across the globe, the taming of inflation, unemployment hovering just above 4%, and the billions of dollars already realized through Trump’s tariffs: it presents a very robust picture overall.

I think Senator John Kennedy got it right when he noted that “This jobs report isn’t perfect, but I wouldn’t trade America’s economy today for that of any other country, thanks to President Trump.” Indeed. “To put things in perspective,” Kennedy said, “we had 9% inflation under President Biden only a few years ago.” Today? Inflation is about 2.5%.

Moreover, something that the jobs report fails to register is that most of the jobs lost are either foreign-born or government workers. Native-born workers, as this chart shows, “continue to make exceptional gains and real wage growth under Trump.”

As one forthright commentator noted, “The idiots on the left and the fake news media are calling the July Jobs Report a ‘disaster,’” but when you drill down, a different story emerges. The number of jobs for native-born American workers went up by 383,000, while the number of foreign-born workers went down by 1,500,000 since April. Remember, too, that we have just seen the fourth straight month of an “illegal labor purge.”

All of this, I would say, is encouraging. But it—and this is the second thing to be said about the August 1 jobs report—it is important to place it in the context of the large shift in the U.S. economy that Trump is endeavoring to bring about. The tariffs, the “America First” rhetoric and policies, and the twin initiatives to seal the border and deport the people who are here illegally: all this is part of an effort to reorient the U.S. economy away from the sugar high of globalist debt and spending, and back to the ethic of “Made in America.”

The policies designed to encourage the return of manufacturing to the U.S. will help whittle at the gargantuan federal debt (now approaching $37 trillion) and also put upward pressure on the wages of U.S. workers. Consumer prices will rise, but so will middle- and working-class wages.

This is part of what Trump promised to bring about during his campaign for president: to make sure that the forgotten and maligned American worker would be forgotten no more. It’s what millions of people voted for. It won’t happen without some disruption, but so far, the transition is being managed with consummate skill by Trump and his economic lieutenants, Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce. It is nice to see the promises that were made on the campaign trail being kept. 

Roger Kimball is editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine's Press), The Rape of the Masters (Encounter), Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee), and Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee). Most recently, he edited and contributed to Where Next? Western Civilization at the Crossroads (Encounter) and contributed to Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order (Bombardier).

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/03/bad-news-is-good-news-the-lefts-premature-celebration-over-jobs-data/

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