Middle East and Terrorism

Thursday, June 6, 2024

The Myth That Biden Had Nothing to Do with the Prosecutions of Trump - Victor Davis Hanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

It is past time for the media and Democrats to drop the ruse of Biden’s “neutrality and admit that they are terrified of the will of the people in November and so are conniving to silence them.

The five criminal and civil prosecutions of Donald Trump all prompt heated denials from Democrats that President Biden and Democrat operatives had a role in any of them.

But Joe Biden has long let it be known that he was frustrated with his own Department of Justice’s federal prosecutors for their tardiness in indicting Donald Trump.

Biden was upset because any delay might mean that his rival Trump would not be in federal court during the 2024 election cycle. And that would mean he could not be tagged as a “convicted felon” by the November election while being kept off the campaign trail.

Politico has long prided itself on its supposed insider knowledge of the workings of the Biden administration. Note that it was reported earlier this February that a frustrated Joe Biden “has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded…”

If there was any doubt about the Biden administration’s effort to force Trump into court before November, Politico further dispelled it—even as it blamed Trump for Biden’s anger at Garland: “That trial still could take place before the election and much of the delay is owed not to Garland but to deliberate resistance put up by the former president and his team.”

Note in passing how a presidential candidate’s legal right to oppose a politicized indictment months before an election by his opponent’s federal attorneys is smeared by Politico as “deliberate resistance.”

Given Politico was publicly reporting six months ago about Biden’s anger at the pace of his DOJ’s prosecution of Trump, does anyone believe his special counsel, Jack Smith, was not aware of such presidential displeasure and pressure?

Note Smith had petitioned and was denied an unusual request to the court to speed up the course of his Trump indictment.

And why would Biden’s own Attorney General, Merrick Garland, select such an obvious partisan as Smith? Remember, in his last tenure as special counsel, Smith had previously gone after popular Republican and conservative Virginia governor Bob MacDonald.

Yet Smith’s politized persecution of the innocent McDonnell was reversed by a unanimous verdict of the U.S. Supreme Court. That rare court unanimity normally should have raised a red flag to the Biden DOJ about both Smith’s partiality and his incompetence.

But then again, Smith’s wife had donated to the 2020 Biden campaign fund. And she was previously known for producing a hagiographic 2020 documentary (“Becoming”) about Michelle Obama.

Selecting a special counsel with a successful record of prior nonpartisan convictions was clearly not why the DOJ appointed Smith.

The White House’s involvement is not limited to the Smith federal indictments.

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis’s paramour and erstwhile lead prosecutor in her indictment of Trump, Nathan Wade, met twice with the White House counsel’s office. On one occasion, Wade met inside the Biden White House.

Subpoenaed records reveal that the brazen Wade actually billed the federal government for his time spent with the White House counsel’s staff—although so far no one has disclosed under oath the nature of such meetings.

Of the tens of thousands of local prosecutions each year, in how many instances does a county prosecutor consult with the White House counsel’s office—and then bill it for his knowledge?

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s just-completed felony convictions of Donald Trump were spearheaded by former prominent federal prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. He is not just a well-known Democratic partisan who served as a political consultant to the Democratic National Committee.

Colangelo had also just left his prior position in the Biden Justice Department—reputedly as Attorney General Merrick Garland’s third-ranking prosecutor—to join the local Bragg team.

Again, among all the multitudes of annual municipal indictments nationwide, how many local prosecutors manage to enlist one of the nation’s three top federal attorneys to head their case?

So, apparently, it was not enough for the shameless Bragg to campaign flagrantly on promises to go after Trump. In addition, Bragg brashly drafted a top Democratic operative and political appointee from inside Joe Biden’s DOJ to head his prosecution.

Not surprisingly, it took only a few hours after the Colangelo-Bragg conviction of Trump for Biden on spec to start blasting his rival Donald Trump as a “convicted felon.” Biden is delighted that his own former prosecutor, a left-wing judge, and a Manhattan jury may well keep Trump off the campaign trail.

So, it is past time for the media and Democrats to drop this ridiculous ruse of Biden’s White House “neutrality.” Instead, they should admit that they are terrified of the will of the people in November and so are conniving to silence them.

Victor Davis Hanson

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/06/the-myth-that-biden-had-nothing-to-do-with-the-prosecutions-of-trump/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Time To Expel Terrorist-Supporting Rashida Tlaib From Congress - Hugh Fitzgerald

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Disqualifying behavior.

[Order David Horowitz’s new book, America Betrayed, HERE.]

Rashida Tlaib (D-Khan Younis) was one of only 10 House members who refused to join the rest in condemning the atrocities carried out by Hamas on October 7. Instead, apparently unmoved by those reports of child killings, mass rape, torture, mutilation, and murder, Tlaib has continued to associate with Hamas-linked supporters, including six of her main fundraisers who have close ties to Hamas. Tlaib is also part of a hidden Facebook group — the Palestinian-American Congress — that has praised the jihadists who kidnapped and killed hundreds of civilians, including at least 33 Americans, on October 7. The founder of the group is Maher Abdel-Qader, who has referred to Israelis as “not real Jews” and questioned whether the Holocaust really happened.

The Facebook group, which Tlaib joined six years ago, has proudly posted several images of Hamas fighters following the terror group’s assault on October 7 that left at least 1,200 dead across southern Israel.

Now Tlaib has just addressed an anti-Israel conference put on by people connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group which, like Hamas, has been designated by the American government as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO). She was the surprise guest speaker, and star attraction, at the “People’s Conference for Palestine” held in Detroit on May 25. The organizers of that conference, and many of her fellow speakers, have been linked to the PFLP. Tlaib apparently had no qualms about appearing with them.

Others, however, think that her appearance at that recent PFLP-linked event was the last straw, and that Tlaib ought to be expelled from Congress for her close and unrepentant association with operatives linked to both-Hamas and PFLP. More on her possible expulsion, now being pushed by Congressman Mike Lawler (R.-NY), can be found here: “Lawler: Remove Rashida Tlaib from Congress for Speech at Conference Linked to Terror Group,” by Elizabeth Weibel, Breitbart, May 27, 2024:

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to be “removed from Congress” over a speech she gave at an anti-Israel conference that was linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

Tlaib had given a speech at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday. The event that Tlaib spoke at featured speakers who were linked to the PFLP.

Lawler wrote in a post on X that Tlaib “should be removed from Congress immediately.”

“Associating with and speaking before groups that are funded by US designated terrorist organizations is disqualifying,” Lawler added.

Sana’ Daqqah, who was married to PFLP terrorist Walid Daqqah, was the keynote speaker at the conference. Another speaker was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the PFLP, according to the National Review…

A November 2023 report from the Canary Mission found that Tlaib was connected to six activists linked to Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror organization behind the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which left 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken hostage.

Canary Mission can confirm that at least 6 Hamas-linked activists fundraised for Tlaib during her 2018 Congressional campaign: Mwafaq Jbara, Sheikh Muhammad Qatanani, Huwaida Arraf, Salah Sarsour, Rafeeq Jaber and Abdelbaset Hamayel….

In her first Congressional campaign, in 2018, Tlaib relied heavily for fundraising on those six “Hamas-linked activists” named by the pro-Israel group Canary Mission. She has not severed her ties to those fundraisers even after the Hamas atrocities of October 7. 2023.

Since the October 7 atrocities by Hamas, Rashida Tlaib has doubled down on her support for the terrorist group. She was one of only ten members of the House of Representatives who refused to condemn Hamas for those acts. She still refuses to express even mild displeasure with the group. Nor has she tried to distance herself from the PFLP, like Hamas a “US-designated foreign terrorist organization,” instead making a surprise appearance at their recent Detroit conference, as their star speaker, at her pugnacious ease among so many members and supporters of the PFLP.

If a resolution for her removal from Congress is voted on, every Republican representative, and a great many Democrats too, should be willing to approve it, for Tlaib has gone far beyond even her Squad colleague Ilhan Omar in her brazen connections to people with deep links to both terror groups, Hamas and the PFLP. There will be no downside to voting against this tremendously unpleasant and wildly disliked Congresswoman. Even fellow “Progressives” try to distance themselves from her over-the-top remarks, including her frequent denunciations of her own government.. Go to it, Congressman Lawler. Overwhelmingly, the electorate will support you.

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/time-to-expel-terrorist-supporting-rashida-tlaib-from-congress/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Biden's border order contains many exceptions to allow illegal immigrants into US at Mayorkas' will - Madeleine Hubbard

by Madeleine Hubbard

Loaded with Loopholes: There are notable exceptions as to what is considered an "encounter" for the purposes of shutting down the border.

President Joe Biden says his latest executive order will secure the U.S. southern border and make the influx more manageable by capping the number of illegal immigrants allowed into the United States, but the order contains numerous exceptions to still allow migrants to enter the U.S., including at the discretion of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Executive Order issued Tuesday states that the border will close down the day after the Homeland Security secretary determined that illegal immigrant encounters at the border hit 2,500 or more for seven consecutive calendar days. The border would re-open two weeks after the secretary determines that there has been an average of less than 1,500 encounters for seven days in a row. It is unclear how this average would be determined if the border is already shut down.

There are notable exceptions as to what is considered a U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounter that would count toward the 2,500 maximum.

Malleable definition of "encounter"

An "encounter" only refers to a person who is "physically apprehended by CBP immigration officers within 100 miles" of the southwest border within 14 days of entering the U.S. "between points of entry," according to the order. An "encounter" also refers to a person who "is determined to be inadmissible at a southwest land border," the order states.

This means that an illegal immigrant in a city outside of the 100-mile zone, such as San Antonio, would not be considered an "encounter" for the purposes of the 2,500-person total, nor would an illegal immigrant found within the 100-mile boundary more than two weeks after they entered the U.S. A person who approaches the southern border and is determined to be admissible may not be considered as an encounter.

It is unclear, however, how an illegal immigrant, especially one who evades Border Patrol when crossing the border, would prove that they entered the U.S. more than 14 days ago.

Exceptions for broad categories of people

A wide range of migrants will be allowed into the United States, even after the border is closed, and still not count toward the 2,500 average required to shut down the border. This includes unaccompanied minors, victims of a "severe form of trafficking," such as those subject to sex trafficking or slavery. The Executive Order does not detail how such determinations would be made.

People who make an appointment to enter the U.S., which can be done through the CBP One app, are also able to enter the United States at their pre-scheduled time.

The order also includes exceptions for U.S. visa-holders and noncitizens coming from one of the 41 countries where visas are not required to enter the U.S. for less than 90 days. This includes most of Europe, as well as several other countries such as Chile, Australia, South Korea and Japan.

Every fiscal year since 2021, CBP has reported more than 135,000 encounters with unaccompanied minors. So far this fiscal year, the agency has recorded nearly 75,000 encounters with said minors.

Additionally, in April, the most recent month for which data is available, CBP processed 41,400 people through the CBP One app. Since January 2023, when the app was available for scheduling, more than 591,000 people have made appointments to enter the United States. Immigrants told the CBS affiliate in San Diego that the app is often inoperable.

How Mayorkas' power comes into play

In addition to allowing broad categories of people to come into the U.S., the order gives the Homeland Security secretary, in this case, Mayorkas, the comprehensive authority to make decisions about who comes in.

For example, the order states that illegal immigrants may be allowed into the U.S. if they arrive at a port of entry along the border "pursuant to a process the Secretary of Homeland Security determines is appropriate." It is unclear what process the secretary would deem acceptable under these terms.

The order includes additional exceptions allowing illegal immigrants to enter if a CBP officer, acting on behalf of the DHS secretary, permits them to enter "based on the totality of the circumstances." It is also unclear what this means or when this exception would go into effect.

Only southern border impacted

The order also only applies to the southern border, not the northern, which has also been seeing a record number of illegal immigrant encounters under the Biden administration.

While most illegal immigrants come over the southern border, so far this fiscal year, there have been more than 108,000 encounters on the northern border, according to the most recently available CBP data. This is a more than 775% increase in encounters during the same time period in fiscal year 2021, Biden's first year in office.

How the order will really impact migration

Biden's new plan would still allow more than 900,000 illegal immigrants into the United States every year, so long as the border isn't shut down and 2,500 people are allowed to cross every day.

The 900,000 people who could be allowed in under the current executive order does not include the categorical exceptions; those who use the CBP One app to schedule an appointment; those who cross the northern border; or those classified as "gotaways" who evaded Border Patrol agents upon entering the U.S. This would allow thousands of more people to still enter the United States even with the purported restrictions in place.

Mark Morgan, former acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner under the Trump administration, said Wednesday on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show that the executive order is "simply going to legalize and actually normalize the chaos and lawlessness that we've been seeing for the past 40 months."

Morgan estimates that the executive order will allow as many as 2 million illegal immigrants into the U.S. annually.

Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., told the "John Solomon Reports" podcast on Wednesday about his thoughts on the timing of Biden's order.

"If he [Biden] really wanted to try to shut down the border, he would have done it three years ago. That's not what's going on here. He has an election he's trying to win," Brecheen said.

Biden reversed many of Trump's border policies on his very first day of office, and facing a tight election, has been pressured to reconsider the policies upon which he won in 2020.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.

Madeleine Hubbard

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/bidens-border-order-contains-exceptions-allow-illegal-migrants-us-mayorkas-will

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Hamas said to have rejected ceasefire proposal - Joshua Marks, Amelie Botbol, Akiva Van Koningsveld

by Joshua Marks, Amelie Botbol, Akiva Van Koningsveld

The terror group claims the proposal is not the same as that outlined by President Biden, and does not require an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli forces.

A Hamas terrorist releases Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 28, 2023. Credit: Flash90.

Hamas has rejected the Israeli hostage-ceasefire deal, claiming that it is fundamentally different than the one presented by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 31, the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday.

The Gaza-based terror group sent a clarification memorandum to the Palestinian terror factions on Wednesday, the text of which was seen by the news outlet. It claims that the current proposal “does not promise a permanent ceasefire, the occupation’s forces will remain in Gaza, and when they receive the hostages, they will renew the destruction against our nation.”

Hamas is demanding an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip, two conditions Jerusalem rejects. The Israeli War Cabinet’s goals remain the same: returning the hostages, defeating Hamas as a military and political force in Gaza and ensuring that Gaza can never again threaten Israel. Hamas has pledged multiple repeats of its Oct. 7 atrocities.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha confirmed to the Qatari news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the terrorist group’s demands for a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had handed Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal to Hamas, and that the document is “much closer” to the positions of both sides.

An Israeli official told Kan News on Thursday that Jerusalem has not received a formal reply from Hamas regarding the proposal.

The War Cabinet decided on Wednesday not to send a delegation to Qatar until Hamas provides a formal answer. The Cabinet was again scheduled to meet on Thursday night, but that meeting was canceled, along with a broader Security Cabinet meeting.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Thursday that discussions have started in Cairo between senior Egyptian officials and Palestinian terror factions on the day after the war in Gaza. At the same time, a delegation of Egyptian intelligence officials arrived in Ramallah to meet with senior Palestinian Authority officials about a potential role they could play in post-war Gaza.

A U.S. official in Cairo told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the American administration has finally settled on the need for the next day’s talks to stop the war to go in parallel with the ceasefire negotiations,” stressing that CIA Director William Burns and U.S. Middle East adviser Brett McGurk are visiting the region this week for that purpose.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday “the ball is in Hamas’s court.”

“We are waiting for a response from Hamas,” said Sullivan. He acknowledged that the terror group in Gaza might well choose to continue the conflict instead.

“That wouldn’t be terribly out of character for a vicious and brutal terror group, but what we hope they do in the end is see that the best pathway to an end to this war, the return of all the hostages, a surge of humanitarian assistance, is to accept this proposal,” he added.

“The onus is on Hamas and will remain on Hamas until we get a formal response from them,” said Sullivan.

The Biden envoy also clarified that Israel had accepted the deal when a reporter suggested otherwise.

“I take issue with the end of your question when you said Israel rejected the proposal,” said Sullivan. “The prime minister’s own adviser went out publicly and said they accepted the proposal. They have reaffirmed that they have accepted the proposal…[it] is a proposal Israel accepted before and continues to accept today. The ball is in Hamas’s court,” he added.

In an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday, Biden said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under “enormous pressure” to forge a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“The last offer Israel made was very generous in terms of who [Palestinian prisoners] they’d be willing to release, what they’d give in return, et cetera. Bibi [Netanyahu] is under enormous pressure on the hostages…and so he’s prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back,” said Biden.

Freeing the hostages is the main reason the White House is pushing for a ceasefire, Biden said.

Hostage families call for pressure on Hamas

On Thursday, The Hostages Families Forum released a statement calling for additional pressure to be applied on Hamas to agree to the deal.

“After eight months, the Israeli government has proposed a deal, with support from the international community. A deal that aims to bring all the hostages home—the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for burial,” the statement reads.

“The recent tragic news of the murder of four hostages—Chaim, Yoram, Amiram and Nadav—who were kidnapped alive, highlights the urgent need for an immediate resolution. Their deaths serve as a reminder that each day in captivity puts the lives of the remaining hostages at grave risk.

“The negotiating parties have a moral and ethical obligation, supported by the mediators and the international community, to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal. Negotiating teams must convene immediately to bridge any gaps and finalize the agreement without delay.”

Eyal Kalderon, whose cousin Ofer Kalderon was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and is still being held in Gaza, told JNS on Thursday that he hopes the reports regarding Hamas’s rejection of the ceasefire are wrong.

“I am hoping that this will not be Hamas’s official response because Israel gave a lot in this proposal, we are even willing to end the war at the end of the process, and we are very much hoping that Hamas will understand how good a deal this is,” he said.

“We demand from all sides, including the mediators, that they do everything to seal this deal. We will not accept failure because of minor details,” he added.

“If reports that Hamas rejected the deal are true, we would need to understand the cause for their rejection. If they were to ask for a clear declaration regarding the end of the war, we would demand our government make one,” he said.

However, he continued, “If Hamas demands the full withdrawal of IDF forces without returning the hostages in the first phase of the deal, we will not accept it.”

Yael Adar, whose son Tamir, 38, was declared dead in captivity in January, told JNS, “Unfortunately, nothing changes. I understand that we must wait, but all this waiting for Hamas’s answer to the Israeli proposal is unbearable.”

She expressed hope for a deal to “bring an end to the tragedy that the families are experiencing” and give them “hope for a different reality.”

Zvika Mor, whose 23-year-old son Eitan is being held by Hamas in Gaza, told JNS on Thursday, “I think that I knew before seeing reports that Hamas would not take this deal, because the terrorists want to maintain their sovereignty over Gaza and Israel cannot allow it to happen. As such…it was a bad deal for Hamas.”

Mor is the co-founder of the Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages, an alternative to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

In April, Mor organized a rally outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem advocating for increased military pressure on Hamas by launching an operation in Rafah to destroy the terror group’s last bastion.

“Israel must keep pressing Hamas through military operations and we must keep fighting until we’ve achieved all the objectives of this war,” Mor told JNS. “That is, to destroy this terror organization and to release our hostages. Israel cannot allow Hamas to remain in Gaza,” he added.

World leaders back Biden proposal

Also on Thursday, leaders of 16 countries, including many whose citizens were taken hostage on Oct. 7, issued a statement backing Biden’s ceasefire proposal, calling on Hamas to “close this agreement.”

“There is no time to lose,” read the statement, which was signed by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The United States, too, signed the statement.

“As leaders of countries deeply concerned for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including many of our own citizens, we fully support the movement towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal now on the table and as outlined by President Biden on May 31, 2024,” the text stated.

Noting that Jerusalem is “ready to move forward” with the terms proposed by Biden on Friday, the world leaders stressed that the deal would lead to an “immediate ceasefire and rehabilitation of Gaza together with security assurances for Israelis, and Palestinians, and opportunities for a more enduring long-term peace and a two-state solution.”

Joshua Marks, Amelie Botbol, Akiva Van Koningsveld

Source: https://www.jns.org/hamas-said-to-have-rejected-ceasefire-proposal/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

In major discovery, IDF locate one of Hamas's last weapons factories in Rafah - Yonah Jeremy Bob

by Yonah Jeremy Bob

The discovery of this latest factory could be the last such revelation or at least one of the few remaining such facilities which Hamas still had in operation until now.

Photos of the weapons production workshop located by the Tzabar Battalion:

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

The IDF on Thursday announced it had discovered a weapons factory in Rafah.

The Tzabar Battalion made the discovery while conducting targeted operations in the Rafah area.

Besides the factory serving Hamas as a way to continue to build and develop new weapons, from rockets to anti-tank missiles, to lighter weapons, the facility had dozens of weapons which were already ready for use.

In addition, nearby the IDF used a drone to find a boobytrapped house which contained dozens of mortars which likely have been part of the source of regular mortars fired on the IDF by Hamas from Rafah and other areas.

Weapons factories discovered in Gaza

Few weapons factories have been found since most of them were already discovered by early February in northern Gaza, central Gaza and Khan Yunis of southern Gaza.

The discovery of this latest factory could be the last such revelation or at least one of the few remaining such facilities which Hamas still had in operation until now.

The Givati Brigade under IDF Division 162 uncovered the various weapons areas.

The troops also located dozens of various weapons found in the area, including rifles, grenades, munitions, and more.

In addition, troops of the Givati Reconnaissance Battalion identified a house rigged with explosives in the area using a drone, and located a weapons cache of dozens of mortar shells.

Yonah Jeremy Bob

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-805272

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Georgia appeals court pauses Fani Willis prosecution of Trump - Ben Whedon

by Ben Whedon

Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants last year under the state's RICO Act, though the case been derailed over allegations that she maintained an inappropriate relationship with a prosecutor she hired to pursue the case.

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a decision pausing Fulton County Fani Willis's prosecution of former President Donald Trump while he appeals a decision on her disqualification from the case

"The proceedings below in the Superior Court of Fulton County are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals," the court order reads.

Georgia Court Fani Willis pause order

Willis indicted Trump and 18 codefendants last year under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Act. Trump has pleaded not guilty and contended the case is part of a broader political witch hunt designed to derail his campaign for the White House.

The case was thrown in disarray over allegations that Willis maintained an inappropriate relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to pursue the case. The pair have admitted to the relationship but insisted it began after Willis hired Wade.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March ruled that either Wade or Willis must leave the case, resulting in Wade's stepping down. Trump, for his part, has appealed the decision allowing Willis to remain. Oral arguments on the matter have been set for Oct. 4.

The Wednesday decision signals that the case likely will not be resolved prior to the November general election.

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

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/georgia-appeals-court-pauses-fani-willis-prosecution-trump

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Doctors ask Fauci collaborators to preserve evidence crucial to social media censorship case - Greg Piper

by Greg Piper

Document preservation letters sent to Fauci, Collins, scientists tied to gain-of-function research in light of advisor's comments on helping Fauci evade FOIA. Free speech lawyer "optimistic" about social media case based on NRA's recent victory.

A Supreme Court ruling against government pressure to avoid business with disfavored groups and a 15-month-long congressional inquiry into surreptitious federal influence on COVID-19 origin narratives could together shape one of the most awaited SCOTUS decisions of the term.

The 9-0 ruling last week reinstating the National Rifle Association's First Amendment lawsuit against New York's former financial services superintendent, for "encourag[ing]" regulated entities to stop providing NRA-endorsed insurance programs, adds more wrinkles to oral arguments in the social media censorship case by GOP states and squelched doctors against the feds.

The doctors' lawyers at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which is seeking reinstatement of an injunction against federal pressure to censor purported misinformation, sent document preservation letters Monday based on emails that NCLA says suggest that federal officials "intentionally schemed" to evade Freedom of Information Act requests – evidence that could be pivotal to their case.

NCLA cites its November 2022 deposition by former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci in light of recent revelations that his senior scientific adviser David Morens told outside scientists, in a discussion of "CoV research in China," that "Tony" was "too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble" if revealed by FOIA and that Morens can give him documents in person or Fauci's "private gmail."

The letters went to Fauci, Morens, former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak and scientists in communication with them on COVID origins. EcoHealth passed through NIAID funding for gain-of-function research, as NIH once publicly defined it, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a suspected COVID source.

Just before hearing NRA v. Vullo, some Republican-nominated justices expressed skepticism that White House pressure on social media platforms to censor, without a more tangible threat of adverse action, violated the First Amendment in NCLA's case Murthy v. Missouri.

But the Vullo ruling "strongly reaffirms" the 1963 precedent Bantam Books, which blocked a "system of informal censorship" by a Rhode Island commission to intimidate distributors and retailers against carrying "objectionable" books, NCLA said.

It emphasized Justice Sonia Sotomayor's opinion that said government officials can "forcefully" share their views and "criticize particular beliefs" but not "use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression."

The court should also remember in Murthy, scheduled for a ruling this month, that "the First Amendment prohibits government from abridging freedom of speech – through coercion, collusion, or any other means," NCLA litigation counsel Jenin Younes said.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, whose friend-of-the-court brief in Vullo argued it was relevant to pro-life pregnancy centers fighting blue-state intimidation, had a similarly cautious response.

"There’s no way to know for sure, but the Murthy case also deals with attempts by the government to coerce private companies to censor," senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco told Just the News. "Hopefully, the Court takes a similar approach" with "tech and social media platforms.”

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere, whose group filed briefs in both cases, told Just the News he was "optimistic" about the implications for Murthy, "in the sense that the court got the right legal standard" – Bantam – and now must decide how it applies in the context of "cooperation," not just coercion.

While SCOTUS ruled unanimously that "informal pressure" violates the First Amendment, Vullo has a "pretty unambiguous record," where a regulator explicitly offered favorable treatment in exchange for eschewing the NRA, Corn-Revere said. University of Wyoming law dean Julie Hill told Bloomberg Law "the takeaway ... is you cannot be this blatant."

It's a different situation "when you have many more kinds of diffuse contacts" between public officials and counterparts at social media platforms within the same day and across several months, Corn-Revere said. "It's almost as if there's too much information" to judge whether the pressure is constitutional on the whole.

NCLA's document preservation letters start with Fauci's conflicting answers in his deposition 19 months ago on whether he ever used private email for work-related matters and what role he played in FOIA responses.

Fauci said he "very rarely" carbon-copied his personal address on work emails, then "I don't recall" but "I doubt" doing that. When FOIA requests come in, it's not as if "I look through my e-mails and give the e-mails that they ask for," Fauci said.

Morens' emails, released concurrently with his May 22 hearing on evading FOIA, indicate that Fauci likely "perjured himself during the deposition" and violated the law to avoid FOIA and "discovery requests in our clients' lawsuit," NCLA told the recipients. The adviser told Daszak and others he connected Fauci to a journalist through "our 'secret' back channel."

After that hearing, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued a press release declaring that at the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's hearing, Morens likely "lied to Congress on multiple occasions, deleting federal COVID-19 records, and using his personal email account to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)."

According to that press release, Dr. Morens chalked up his purported federal records violations to “dark humor” and “jokes.” The committee also said that "Dr. Morens admitted to intentionally avoiding FOIA by using his personal email accounts to discuss official government business. He went so far as to say 'I shouldn’t have done that. That’s wrong.'"

Other divulged Morens emails include an April 26, 2020, message to Daszak asking to "send all replies here to gmail" and that "I have let Tony know" and "Tony is aware … there are ongoing efforts within NIH to steer through this with minimal damage to you" and the agency itself, apparently referring to NIH involvement in alleged EcoHealth-facilitated gain-of-function research and a lab leak.

Fauci's adviser also referred to himself and others intentionally deleting emails in several messages to redacted recipients, giving NCLA "more than a colorable reason to believe" more records relevant to its suit have been and are being deleted from private accounts. NCLA said it will ask the court for permission to issue subpoenas as soon as possible.

Besides Fauci, Collins, Morens and Daszak, the recipients of NCLA's letters were Justice Department lawyer Adam Kirschner, Boston University Medical Campus Associate Provost for Global Health Gerald Keusch, New England Biolabs Chief Science Officer Richard Roberts, Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado, and Christopher Hammond of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the General Counsel, who recently left NIH's own OGC and is wrongly listed as still there in the letter.

None answered Just the News queries for their response to the letters.

The letters were sent before Fauci's Monday testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, in which he repeatedly distanced himself from Morens and his adviser's behavior.

"I don't have any idea what he's talking about," Fauci told Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., when asked about the "back channel" remark by Morens, saying NIAID doesn't have such a system. He "might" have private emails with Morens because the adviser writes "medical scientific chapters with me," Fauci said.

He's baffled how anyone can "conclude that I was trying to cover up the possibility of a lab leak" from China based on emails in which Fauci urges U.S. and U.K. scientists who saw signs of manipulation in SARS-CoV-2 to share their findings with the FBI and MI5 after looking more closely.

The viruses studied under WIV's sub-award from EcoHealth, funded by NIAID, are "phylogenetically so far removed" from COVID-19 that it is "molecularly impossible" they evolved or were "made into SARS-CoV-2," Fauci said.

House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Morgan Griffith, R-Va., asked how Fauci can "state with certainty" they aren't related when WIV refuses to turn over its lab notebooks and it "worked on adding a furin cleavage site to MERS," the same feature that makes SARS-CoV-2 so infectious.

He cited an off-the-record briefing with Fauci in 2022 in which Griffith asked how likely it was that nature could produce that feature, which requires a "12-nucleotide change." Fauci said he can't account "for other things that might be going on in China" and dismissed the likelihood that China would have relied on NIAID's $120,000 a year to kickstart COVID.

"You want me to prove a negative," Fauci said when Griffith asked whether China could have done potentially dangerous research without "humanized mice" from the U.S.

Greg Piper

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/faucis-cabal-likely-destroy-evidence-crucial-social-media-censorship

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Israel Is Helping Palestinians More Than Those Who Condemn Israel - Alan M. Dershowitz and Andrew Stein

by Alan M. Dershowitz and Andrew Stein

Many [Arab and Muslim states]... might feel obligated officially to support the Palestinians and a "two-state solution," but behind closed doors will admit that a Palestinian state is the last thing they want....

Consider the fact that no Arab or Muslim nation has been willing to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza. Perhaps these nations recall that anyone who has tried to help the Palestinians has lived to regret it.
Perhaps Ireland, Norway and Spain might extend invitations to the Palestinians to become residents there?
On April 13, more than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Hamburg, Germany and demanded that the country become a Caliphate, with Shariah law.
The only reason that Ireland, Norway and Spain can safely recognize a Palestinian state is that they do not have to live with the consequences.
Many [Arab and Muslim states]... might feel obligated officially to support the Palestinians and a "two-state solution," but behind closed doors will admit that a Palestinian state is the last thing they want....
The truth is that few outside of Israel really care about the plight of the Palestinian people. The demonstrations on college campuses which purport to be "pro-Palestine" are far more about condemning Israel than about helping the Palestinians.
Those who claim to support the Palestinians... ought to be urging Arab and Muslim nations to help the Palestinians in material ways.
Until that is done, all the Palestinian people will get are hollow demonstrations on university campuses, empty recognitions from anti-Israel governments, irrelevant United Nations resolutions and bigoted demonization of Israel. None of this helps the Palestinian people. It only encourages more hatred, more terrorism and more war.

Pictured: A truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip crosses the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza, on May 30, 2024. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel has long been the primary supporter of the Palestinian people, both on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Israelis have opened their borders to Palestinian workers, to whom they pay high wages. They have accepted Palestinian patients, including even terrorists, into their excellent hospitals. Some of the Israeli kibbutz residents who helped Gazans were murdered by them on October 7. Even during the current Gaza war, Israel has provided more food, medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinians than any country has ever done during wartime.

What have other countries done? Very little. Norway, Ireland and Spain, on May 28, "formally recognized a Palestinian state." How does that help the Palestinian people? It doesn't. Indeed, it hurts them by raising unrealistic expectations. The only way a Palestinian state will exist is through hard compromises and the difficult direct negotiations to which the Palestinians agreed in the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords.

Consider the fact that no Arab or Muslim nation has been willing to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza. Perhaps these nations recall that anyone who has tried to help the Palestinians has lived to regret it. When Jordan took them in, the Palestinians tried to overthrow the government of King Hussein in 1970. The attempted coup, known as Black September, ended with the Palestinians being expelled to Lebanon. Once there, a civil war erupted between the Muslims, backed by the PLO, and the Christians, resulting in the PLO being expelled once again, this time to Tunisia in 1982. After Kuwait offered roughly 400,000 Palestinians visas and jobs, and Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990,the PLO sided with Iraq. After the liberation of Kuwait, an estimated 200,000 were expelled and another 200,000 were not allowed back.

After Israel forced its own people out of Gaza in 2005 to allow a Palestinian "Singapore on the Mediterranean," instead, in 2006, the Palestinians elected Hamas, which built more than 350 miles of terror tunnels, a "city under a city."

No wonder their neighbors prefer not to take Gazans in.

Perhaps Ireland, Norway and Spain might extend invitations to the Palestinians to become residents there?

On April 13, more than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Hamburg, Germany and demanded that the country become a Caliphate, with Shariah law.

The only reason that Ireland, Norway and Spain can safely recognize a Palestinian state is that they do not have to live with the consequences.

Egypt, which has its own history of terrorism in the Sinai, has closed its borders to Palestinians. Lebanon has kept much of its Palestinian population in refugee camps for decades. Jordan killed Palestinians who were building a state within a state, during Black September. Saudi Arabia has shut its doors. Qatar has taken a few Gazans in need of medical care but has refused to accept large numbers of refugees.

The preening hypocrisy of the international community and the real thoughts of Arab and Muslim governments -- many of which might feel obligated officially to support the Palestinians and a "two-state solution," but behind closed doors will admit that a Palestinian state is the last thing they want (here and here) -- are apparent for all to see. It seems the world prefers to close its eyes.

The civilians who currently live in Rafah could easily be temporarily transported to the safety of Egypt while Israel achieves its legitimate military goal of destroying Hamas, but Egypt, understandably, has refused to cooperate.

The truth is that few outside of Israel really care about the plight of the Palestinian people. The demonstrations on college campuses which purport to be "pro-Palestine" are far more about condemning Israel than about helping the Palestinians. We never see signs calling for a two-state solution, probably because most of these demonstrators do not want Israel to exist. "From the river to the sea" means no Israel and no Jews. If a Palestinian state were to be substituted for Israel in that area, it would be a tyrannical regime. The conflict would be between those who want to see it more like Iran, a theocracy that murders dissidents, or more like China, a communist tyranny that also murders dissidents. As long as Hamas remains a viable military and political force, there is no prospect for a democratic Palestine or a two-state solution.

Those who really want to help Palestinians should be supporting Israel's efforts to have Hamas stop terrorizing is neighbor and return the hostages. That would end the bloodshed in Gaza and would start a process which might ultimately culminate in a disarmed Palestinian state that recognized Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

So let us stop all the virtue-signaling about Palestine and Palestinians and urge the international community, and especially the Arab and Muslim world, to do something to help Palestinian families. That help can come in the form of education, healthcare, employment opportunities, acceptance of refugees and other humanitarian actions.

It is not the responsibility of Israel to make life better for the Palestinians. Israel withdrew all its soldiers and expelled all its civilians from Gaza in 2005, and it was up to the Gazans to make life better for themselves. But instead they chose Hamas, which turned Gaza into a military base with an underground tunnel system and above-ground rocket launchers. In 2000, 2001 and again in 2007, Israel offered the Palestinians the West Bank and to move toward the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state, but the Palestinian leadership rejected these opportunities, without even a counter-offer. As an Israeli scholar once put it, "Palestinian leadership does not know how to take yes for an answer."

Those who claim to support the Palestinians ought to put up or shut up. Instead of constantly attacking Israel for its imperfections, they ought to be urging Arab and Muslim nations to help the Palestinians in material ways. These would include demanding the end of incitement to violence and the end of the Palestinians' murder-for-hire "pay-for-slay" program, which incentivizes terrorism by paying the terrorists' families for life if they murder Jews.

Those who really want to help the Palestinians need to place strict conditions on their funding, and demand accountability on how their money is spent -- actually enforced. Those who claim to support the Palestinians should insist on revising their textbooks, as Saudi Arabia is now doing, and should establish institutions of democracy, as laid out by Natan Sharansky in 2006 in The Case for Democracy.

First, before a Palestinian state is "recognized," it is crucial to guide the Palestinians out of a society of fear and into a society of freedom, a government that would include freedom of speech and of the press, equal justice under law, property rights, human rights and, above all, preparing the Palestinians for peace.

Until that is done, all the Palestinian people will get are hollow demonstrations on university campuses, empty recognitions from anti-Israel governments, irrelevant United Nations resolutions and bigoted demonization of Israel. None of this helps the Palestinian people. It only encourages more hatred, more terrorism and more war.

Follow Alan M. Dershowitz on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook

Alan M. Dershowitz and Andrew Stein

Alan Dershowitz is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of "War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism." Andrew Stein, a Democrat, served as New York City Council president, 1986-1994.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20683/israel-helping-palestinians

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Sullivan: Israel accepted Biden proposal, ‘ball is in Hamas’s court’ - JNS

by JNS

“The onus is on Hamas and will remain on Hamas until we get a formal response from them."

Jake Sullivan, U.S. national security advisor, at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institute on April 27, 2023. Photo by Ralph Alswang/Brookings Institution.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Israel has accepted the ceasefire proposal President Joe Biden revealed on Friday, and that “the ball is in Hamas’s court.”

“We are waiting for a response from Hamas,” said Sullivan. He acknowledged that the terror group in Gaza might well choose to continue the conflict instead.

The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas led a mass invasion of Israel’s northwestern Negev, murdering, wounding and kidnapping thousands of people, while committing widespread atrocities.

“The onus is on Hamas and will remain on Hamas until we get a formal response from them,” said Sullivan.

The Biden envoy also clarified that Israel had accepted the deal when a reporter suggested otherwise.

Sullivan also said that CIA Director William Burns is making another trip to the region, arriving in Doha to talk with Qatari mediators on the ceasefire proposal, which would see Israeli hostages released in exchange for Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. U.S. Middle East adviser Brett McGurk also departed on Tuesday for the Arab Gulf state. An Egyptian security delegation will also reportedly join the American and Qatari talks in Doha on Wednesday.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had handed Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal to Hamas and that the document is much closer to the positions of both sides.

A spokesman for Hamas on Tuesday repeated the terror group’s demands for a “clear” Israeli commitment to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. That goes against the stated goals of Israel’s War Cabinet, which remain in place: to defeat Hamas, return the hostages and ensure the terror group can never again threaten Israel.

“We asked the mediators to get a clear Israeli position to commit to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told a press conference in Beirut.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, together with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, threatened on Saturday to exit the coalition if Netanyahu agrees to a deal under the terms made public by Biden on Friday.

Netanyahu reportedly met with Ben-Gvir on Monday to discuss the details of the proposal, which he has said differ from the outline presented publicly by the U.S. president.

Israel Hayom quoted sources in Netanyahu’s office as saying that the premier intended to show Ben-Gvir the full draft of the proposal, which contrary to Biden’s remarks contains no clause requiring Israel to end the war.

An Israeli official told Channel 12 on Tuesday night that the deal currently on the table is the best one Hamas will be offered, adding, “We went as far as possible.”

Biden, in an interview with Time published on Tuesday, said that Netanyahu was under “enormous pressure” to make a deal.

JNS

Source: https://www.jns.org/sullivan-israel-accepted-biden-proposal-ball-is-in-hamass-court/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Spain’s Ramallah embassy plan stalls as diplomats unwilling to relocate - JNS

by JNS

Spanish diplomats based in Israel have refused to relocate to the P.A. city, citing safety and convenience concerns, according to Spanish media.

A pro-Palestinian rally in Barcelona, Spain, on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Aniol via Wikimedia Commons.

The Spanish government’s plan to open an embassy in Ramallah has hit a snag as Spanish diplomats based in Israel are refusing to move to the city, according to Spanish media.

The diplomats, currently located in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, cited safety and quality of life concerns, according to Spanish news site OKDiario.

Two weeks ago, the Spanish government recognized “Palestine” as a state, along with Ireland and Norway. In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz sent a letter last week to the Spanish authorities forbidding Madrid’s consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to residents of the Palestinian Authority.

OKDiario quoted sources in the Spanish Foreign Ministry as saying, “It is absurd to recognize Palestine and not open an embassy that certifies it.”

However, with the diplomats already in Israel unwilling to make the move to Ramallah, Madrid will need to send diplomats from Spain or pull them from other embassies, which according to the article would be too costly for the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

With no embassy in Ramallah and consular services no longer available in Jerusalem, P.A. citizens will now have no choice but to travel to Tel Aviv or Amman, Jordan to receive service from a Spanish consulate.

According to La Moncloa, the official Spanish government website, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares rebuffed the threat by Katz and said that the Spanish government would issue a coordinated response together with Ireland and Norway, who were also receiving backlash from Israel.

Albares was quoted as saying, “We will give a coordinated, calm, and firm response.”

Albares said his ministry was studying the threat made by Katz, adding, “There are certain privileges and immunities that Spain scrupulously respects with all the countries of the world, with their embassies and consulates, and we demand the same respect on the basis of international law.”

JNS

Source: https://www.jns.org/spains-ramallah-embassy-plan-stalls-as-diplomats-unwilling-to-relocate/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter