The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
Presidents, prime ministers, and other key diplomatic leaders from across the globe have extended congratulatory remarks to Trump.
Republican presidential nominee and former US President
Donald Trump speaks at a town hall as he campaigns in Fayetteville,
North Carolina, US. October 4, 2024.(photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake)
World leaders have begun to respond to the projected results of
Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 United States presidential
election, turning to social media and personal notes to the former
president and now presumptive President-elect.
UK
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the UK-US relationship will
"continue to prosper" in a statement congratulating President-elect
Donald Trump. "I look forward to working with Trump in the years ahead,"
he stated.
Congratulations President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your historic election victory.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has openly endorsed
Trump's presidential bid, said early on Wednesday on his Facebook page
about the US election: "on the way to a beautiful victory."
French
President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the presumed winner on
Wednesday after the Republican claimed victory in the US presidential
election.
European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Donald Trump on
Wednesday after he claimed victory in the US presidential election,
adding that the European Union and the United States are "more than just
allies."
"I
warmly congratulate Donald J. Trump. The EU and the US are more than
just allies. We are bound by a true partnership between our people,
uniting 800 million citizens. So let's work together on a strong
transatlantic agenda that keeps delivering for them," she said in a post
on X.
"Congratulations,
President Donald Trump," wrote Macron on social media platform X. He
also noted that he is "ready to work together" as they had in his last
term.
Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called Donald Trump the
winner in the US presidential election, Russian state-run agency RIA
said on Wednesday.
Secretary-General of NATO, Mark Rutte, wrote on X: "I just
congratulated Donald Trump on his election as President of the United
States. His leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong.
I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through
strength through NATO."
Austrian
Chancellor Karl Nehammer congratulated Donald Trump on Wednesday after
Fox News projected the Republican candidate's victory over Democrat
Kamala Harris in the 2024 US presidential election.
"The
United States is an important strategic partner for Austria. We look
forward to further expanding and strengthening our transatlantic
relations to successfully address global challenges together," wrote
Nehammer on social media platform X.
Deputy
Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, wrote on the same platform
that Trump's win was a "victory for common sense, passion, and the
future." He added a hashtag, #GODonaldGO
World leaders comment on outcome of election through personal-interest lens
Former
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that a Donald Trump
win in the US election would probably be bad news for Ukraine but said
it was unclear how far Trump would be able to cut US financing for the
war.
"Trump
has one useful quality for us: as a businessman to the core, he mortally
dislikes spending money on various hangers-on and stupid hanger-on
allies, on bad charity projects and on voracious international
organizations," Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official, posted on
his official Telegram account.
He
stated that the Ukrainian authorities fell into the category of people
Trump was likely not to want to spend too much money on. He suggested
the Ukrainian leadership would be doing what it could to console itself
if it was confirmed he had won.
"The question is how much Trump will be forced to give to the war. He's stubborn, but the system is stronger," said Medvedev.
This
comment did not keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from
congratulating Donald Trump on Wednesday on his "impressive" victory.
"I
appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the 'peace through strength'
approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can
practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer," Zelenskiy said on X.
El
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shared a photograph of himself
meeting with Trump on X extending congratulatory remarks to the
President-elect. "Congratulations to the President-elect of the United
States of America, Donald Trump," he wrote.
Congratulations to the President-Elect of the United States of America, @realDonaldTrump 🇺🇸
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova instead turned
to X to post a video of Harris reciting a psalm on the campaign trail,
saying, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
Zakharova accompanied the video with a comment, "Hallelujah, I'll add on
my own."
Dutch
Prime Minister Dick Schoof congratulated Trump on his presidential win
in a post on X. "I look forward to our close cooperation on the shared
interests between the USA and the Netherlands."
In Texas, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz hung onto his seat, fending off a strong challenge from Democratic Rep. Collin Allred
Republicans on Tuesday took control of the Senate by winning seats from Democrats in Ohio and West Virginia.
The GOP's first win came early in the night when Jim Justice, West
Virginia's GOP governor, handily won the state's open Senate seat. The
73-year-old Justice won over Democrat Glenn Elliott, 68.8-to-27.7%, according to the Associated Press. The seat was held by Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who earlier this year became an independent.
Republicans sealed the majority when Bernie Moreno ousted incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Democrats control the 100-member chamber, 49 to 51, a number that
includes four independents voting with them. They are Bernie Sanders, of
Vermont; Angus King, of Maine; Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona; and Manchin
– all of whom essentially vote with Democrats.
The Justice and Moreno wins will give Republicans in January a 51-50 majority.
That lead was secured when two incumbent Republican senators – Ted
Cruz, in Texas, and Deb Fisher, in Nebraska – fended off tough
Democratic challengers to retain their seats for the GOP majority.
Republicans could add to their majority in Montana where Democratic
Sen. Jon Tester is seeking a fourth term in the heavily Republican
state. He was trailing GOP challenger Tim Sheehy by about 6 percentage
points early on Election Day, according to the latest polling average from RealClearPolling.
In other races:
Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks is projected to win a Senate seat, keeping
it for Republicans, and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is
projected to keep his seat, the Associated Press has called.
Republican Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker was also projected to win
his reelection, along with Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, according to the
Associated Press.
The outlet also called races for Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha
Blackburn and Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy, in Connecticut; Elizabeth
Warren, in Massachusetts; and Sheldon Whitehouse, in Rhode Island.
Newcomers Democrat Andy Kim won a Senate seat in New Jersey, and
Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester won a Senate seat in Delaware. Kim in
winning became the first Korean-American to serve in the upper chamber.
Democrat Angela Alsobrooks defeated former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
in their battle for a Democrat-held Senate seat i, and Republican John
Curtis will replace GOP Sen. Mitt Romney in Utah
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
Trump was poised to become only the second American president to secure non-consecutive terms but he did so against far greater odds than Grover Cleveland a century earlier.
Donald Trump pulled off the most
improbable comeback in American political history Tuesday night,
securing a likely return trip to the White House by beating back a
relentless tide of media, Big Tech and Democrat opposition that
stretched from the courthouse to the social media sphere
Trump was poised to become only the second American president to
secure non-consecutive terms but he did so against far greater odds than
Grover Cleveland a century earlier after being impeached and acquitted
twice, indicted four times, facing two assassination attempts and
enduring an avalanche of lawfare unparalleled in the nation’s history.
But even more consequential than his personal journey to
President-Elect 47, Trump engineered a once-in-a-generation political
realignment, one more deep and pervasive than his 2016 shocker as he
peeled away long-rooted constituencies from the Democrat Party.
The electoral movement may soon be known as D-Exit, the American
equivalent of Great Britain’s Brexit departure from the European Union
as black males, Hispanic voters and young voters showed up more strongly
from Trump and less fervently for Harris compared to Joe Biden or
Barack Obama. Arabs and Muslims also underperformed for Harris.
The shifts were small but compelling, crumbling a coalition born in
the Kennedy-Johnson era and key to the Obama-Biden dynasty that
dominated 12 of the last 16 years.
The shifts toward Trump were jarring for Democrats. Trump cut the
Democrat margin of victory in half in one of America’s darkest blue
states, New York, and by two thirds in Democrat-stronghold Illinois. He
won Florida – scene of the 2020 hanging election – by 15 points, all but
erasing the Sunshine State as a battleground.
He won Georgia and North Carolina and was poised to take Arizona and
Nevada. Pennsylvania was called for Trump and Wisconsin and Michigan
were leaning strongly in his direction. He won a Senate majority and was
in decent position to keep the U.S. House, which would make Washington
an all red town in 2025.
Perhaps most painful of all to blue America, Trump was in a position
to win the popular vote, something Democrats have long used as a cudgel
to delegitimize earlier GOP victories, including Trump’s in 2016.
Mark Penn, the strategist behind the Clinton dynasty, succinctly described D-Exit early Wednesday morning.
“The Trump edge is turning into a Trump trifecta. It looks like
despite a good effort in a short period of time, Harris is falling short
especially with young people and turnout in core urban areas. Black and
especially Latino voters showed some shifts,” he noted on X.
“Trump has brought home with working class and created a new
coalition of governing but the country remains divided and whoever wins
must remember it’s time to genuinely reach out to the many moderate
voters looking for the right leadership,” he added.
Trump did it by talking directly to constituencies Republicans often
ignored in the past, and that Democrats long took for granted. He did it
by inviting recovering Democrats or stubborn independents to his big
stage: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, ex-Rep and presidential
candidate Tulsi Gabbard and podcaster extraordinaire Joe Rogan to name a
few.
He went to places like the Bronx and Manhattan’s Madison Square
Garden in New York to signal he wanted to be all Americans’ president.
And why Democrats talked about ethereal ideological terms like ESG, CRT,
and DEI, Trump talked about the kitchen table, the grocery cart and the
gas tank. He warned of energy poverty, recognizing some were having a
hard time to pay utility bills.
He made the EV revolution a debate about exporting jobs to China and
the liberal transgender movement a debate about the safety and dignity
of women’s sports and the sanctity of parents’ rights.
Democrats did a historic switcheroo atop the ticket, subbing a
younger female Harris for an aging Biden. But they didn’t change the
debate. Trump chose the issues of insecurity, inflation and insanity and
Democrats offered few specifics to counter.
In the end, Trump’s prior record of economic growth in his first term
seemed preferrable to Harris’ vagaries. Trump’s optimism that the
nation’s woes could be solved was more appealing than Harris’ dark
insistence that fascism, extremism and Hitler-like characters would
destroy democracy.
All the left’s efforts to make MAGA a dirty word may in fact have turned it into a preferrable vision.
By 2 a.m. Wednesday when Trump emerged to declare victory at his
Mar-a-Lago enclave, some networks declared him the winner. Others said
he was poised to win.
Harris remained silent on a concession. But Trump didn’t needle
Democrats, rather he offered a magnanimous call for unity in a
long-divided nation. He said he believed he had engineered a “historic
realignment for citizens of all backgrounds.”
“It’s time to put the division of the past four years behind us. It
is time to unite,” he declared. Later he added for emphasis: “Success
will bring us together.”
How long D-Exit lasts will depend on how Trump and GIOP governor with
the mandate voters gave them Tuesday. And that means the hard work
begins next week.
[Want even more content from FPM? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock
exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more—now for
just $3.99/month. Click here to sign up.]
When former
President Donald Trump rose to his feet on the campaign trail after an
assassin’s bullet clipped his ear, blood streaking his cheek, and then
thrust a fist into the air while exhorting his supporters to “Fight!”,
was there any doubt thereafter that he was destined to win this country
back?
As of this writing (2 a.m. EST), Trump has cleared the 270-electoral
vote hurdle with 277. The final count is not confirmed, but even the New York Times
– not exactly a Right-wing publication – gave Trump a 95% chance of
victory and a projected 306 electoral votes. The Most Consequential
Election of Our Lifetime™ has ended in a stunning victory for Trump and
American patriots everywhere over Vice President Kamala Harris to retake
the White House.
Stunning and yet unsurprising, considering that Trump and running
mate JD Vance ran a strong campaign in the face of a hostile media,
relentless lawfare, and assassination attempts. The epically incompetent
Harris and running mate Tim Walz, meanwhile, stumbled and fumbled their
way through a floundering campaign which had to rely solely on
demonizing Trump and fear-mongering about the end of democracy.
In an AP VoteCast exit poll
which surveyed more than 110,000 voters across the U.S., 80% stated
they wanted at least “substantial change,” with about 25% saying they
wanted a “complete and total upheaval.”
Well, those voters are apparently going to get that “substantial
change” and hopefully even a “complete and total upheaval.” In addition
to the White House, Republicans have taken the House and the Senate.
Trump and Vance now have an exciting opportunity – indeed, a clear
mandate – to “turn the page” and make America great again after four
catastrophic years under Barack Obama and Susan Rice – er, Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris.
To the consternation and apoplectic fury of Democrat talking heads such as the race-mongering hysteric Joy Reid, the candidate relentlessly demonized as Hitler 2.0 won over substantial numbers of Latino voters, black voters – especially black males (25% in Georgia – a 13-point defection from the Democrat plantation) – and even Arab and Muslim voters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Apparently causing crushing inflation and spiking energy costs;
facilitating the breakdown of law and order resulting in skyrocketing
crime (including from an influx of foreign gangs); facilitating the
chaos of unchecked illegal immigration; empowering our enemies and
alienating our allies; pushing gender ideology on our children; sapping
our military and corroding our institutions with DEI initiatives and
Critical Race Theory deconstruction; making LGBTQ evangelization a
central aim of our foreign policy; and smearing your political opponents
as Nazis, book burners, and garbage doesn’t resonate with most
Americans of any color, creed, or sex. Who could have known?
Yes, the Democrats will fight this loss with every tool at their
disposal: legal and otherwise, constitutional and otherwise, not to
mention “mostly peaceful” protests that will make the George Floyd
rioting seem law-abiding. It’s not over ‘til it’s over, and the
Democrats will never let it be over. They will sink their pitbull jaws
into this Trump victory and rage against the dying of the light until
their last breath. Brace yourself for four years of Democrats doing
exactly what they’ve accused Trump of for the last four years: election
denial, a refusal to allow the peaceful transfer of power, and
insurrection. Election day was only the beginning.
But for now, for tonight, all of America and the world witnessed not
only an amazing Donald Trump comeback against all odds, but a resounding
repudiation of the last four years of Democrat rule.
Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, focusing
on popular culture. He is also the host of an original podcast on
Frontpage, “The Right Take With Mark Tapson”. Follow him on Substack.
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7, 2023 massacres in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating Israel.
"Hezbollah's model is the
same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which hundreds of combatants,
fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly underground. In our
opinion, Hezbollah's 'Land of the Tunnels' project is much larger than
the Hamas 'metro' project in the Gaza Strip." — Alma Research and
Education Center, July 2021.
These tunnels facilitate the movement of heavy equipment,
missiles and fighters, and even allow missiles to be launched from
within.
Built beneath the border between Lebanon and Syria, these tunnels
allow Hezbollah's smuggling unit and the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard's Quds Force to transport ammunition, supplies and fighters under
the border.
Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure
and populated areas, using civilians as human shields for their
activities.
Some of the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah's own
rockets and explosives after they were targeted by the IDF. "The
explosions are caused by Hezbollah's own weapons. In other words,
Hezbollah's tunnels are being used to blow up Lebanon. Hezbollah is
displacing, starving and robbing the Lebanese." — Mohammed Al-Obaid,
Arab social media user, X, October 31, 2024.
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of
thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7,
2023 massacres in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist
groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with
the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating
Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in Lebanon and the Gaza
Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups' determination to pursue
their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding the risks to the
Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.
Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani
River, the tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one
above ground the wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC
Resolution 1701 to stop building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in
south Lebanon.
The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end
without the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of
Hezbollah and Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire
are only empowering Iran and its terror proxies, paving the way for
another October 7-style massacre. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will
benefit not only the Israelis, but the Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.
Hezbollah's tunnels in Lebanon facilitate the movement of
heavy equipment, missiles and fighters, and some even allow missiles to
be launched from within. Many of the tunnels are located beneath
civilian infrastructure and populated areas, using civilians as human
shields for Hezbollah activities. Pictured: Israeli soldiers at a shaft
leading into a Hezbollah tunnel near Naqoura, Lebanon, on October 13,
2024. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
The Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, as part of its preparations for war with Israel, spent the past 15 years building
a vast network of tunnels in Lebanon. Some of the tunnels were supposed
to be used for invading Israel to carry out atrocities against Israelis
like the ones committed by Hamas, another Iran terror proxy, on October
7, 2023.
At a time when Lebanon faced a severe financial situation, Hezbollah
invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of the
tunnels. Reuters reported in 2022:
"Lebanon is grappling with a deep economic crisis after
successive governments piled up debt following the 1975-1990 civil war
with little to show for their spending binge.
"Banks, central to the service-oriented economy, are paralysed.
Savers have been locked out of dollar accounts or told that funds they
can access are now worth a fraction of their original value. The
currency has crashed, driving a swathe of the population into poverty."
The funds used to build the tunnels could have alleviated Lebanon's
financial crisis, but Hezbollah chose instead to invest in preparing for
war and terror attacks against Israel.
According to some reports, Iran and North Korea helped Hezbollah set
up a project forming a network of "inter-regional" tunnels in Lebanon, a
network significantly larger than the Hamas tunnels. According to a 2021 report by the Alma Research and Education Center:
"Various reports indicate that in the late 1980s, and
even more so after the Second Lebanon War (2006), North Korea advisors
significantly assisted Hezbollah's tunnel project.... Hezbollah,
inspired and supported by the Iranians, saw North Korea as a
professional authority on the subject of tunneling, based on the
extensive experience that it had accumulated in building tunnels for
military use since the 1950s...
"Hezbollah's model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in
which hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and
rapidly underground....
"In our opinion, Hezbollah's 'Land of the Tunnels' project is much larger than the Hamas 'metro' project in the Gaza Strip."
In October, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) discovered a tunnel in
southern Lebanon that was intended by Hezbollah for use as a staging
ground, where hundreds of terror operatives would arrive when called,
pick up their equipment and weapons, and ready themselves to attack
Israeli towns.
"The underground site — dug into a mountain — was some 2
kilometers [1.2 miles] in length. It reached depths of around 40 meters
[130 feet] in some areas, and the hallways themselves were more than two
meters [6.5 feet] high. In fact, it was the largest tunnel found by the
[Israeli] army in southern Lebanon to date."
Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, commander of the IDF's 98th Division, was quoted as saying:
"This isn't a 'tunnel,' it's an underground combat site,
extremely significant, which the enemy constructed over years for the
purpose of an invasion of Israel — we estimate targeting the northern
[Israeli] towns."
The current IDF operation in southern Lebanon foiled Hezbollah's plan
to invade Israel. Many of the terrorist organization's tunnels have
been destroyed
by IDF troops. It is believed, however, that there are still many
tunnels in many parts of Lebanon that have not yet been discovered by
the IDF.
"Like the Hamas tunnels in Gaza that Israeli forces have
contended with during their military campaign there, the only way to
know for sure how many tunnels there are—and their scale, form, and
purposes—is discovering them on the ground.
"Still, there are some publicly known details about Hezbollah's
tunnel network. Some experts believe the group started digging tunnels
in southern Lebanon as early the mid-1980s, when Israel withdrew from
most of the Lebanese territory it had occupied since its 1982 invasion
to a limited strip along the southern border with Israel. When Israeli
forces later withdrew fully, in 2000, Hezbollah continued to dig. Its
fighters used tunnels extensively during the 2006 Second Lebanon War....
"In late 2018, Israel initiated Operation Northern Shield to find and
destroy Hezbollah cross-border tunnels. Israel found six such major
attack tunnels intended to allow thousands of Hezbollah fighters to flow
into Israel during some type of invasion."
The report added out that there are major differences between Hamas and Hezbollah tunnels:
"While some of the functions may be the same, the
geology, construction, location, scale, and primary purposes are
completely different.
"Southern Lebanon consists of hilly, rocky terrain, requiring
Hezbollah to dig with drills into solid rock over months and years to
create single tunnels. In Gaza, by contrast, sandy sediment allows for
digging with simple hand tools, making tunnels quicker to dig but also
requiring large amounts of concrete to reinforce them. Hezbollah's rocky
tunnel construction also makes them extremely sturdy, which affects
which bunker-busting munitions can reach the tunnels. In addition to
running under civilian areas and wooded ground, many of Hezbollah's
tunnels and bunkers are inside mountains. The geographic scale and the
variety of terrain pose a different challenge than the network of Hamas
tunnels under flat and very dense urban terrain.
"While Hezbollah uses human shields by building tunnels under
civilian homes, unlike Hamas tunnels, the Hezbollah tunnels are not
almost exclusively under civilian urban areas or used as the center of
gravity by attempting to cause the maximum civilian deaths on the
surface to achieve their political goal in wars."
Hezbollah's tunnel system is estimated
to span hundreds of kilometers, with some tunnels reaching depths of
40-80 meters beneath rocky terrain, serving as a complex military
infrastructure. Like Hamas's tunnel network in Gaza, Hezbollah's tunnel
network includes several types of tunnels:
Offensive Tunnels: These tunnels cross from Lebanon into Israel.
Approach Tunnels: Dug near the border with Israel, these tunnels
enable Hezbollah forces to secretly advance from villages in southern
Lebanon to within meters of the Israeli border, allowing them to launch
extensive attacks similar to Hamas's October 7 offensive. These tunnels
were prepared for a potential operation to capture the Galilee area in northern Israel.
Tactical Tunnels: Built in villages and various locations
in southern Lebanon, these tunnels serve for guerrilla warfare against
Israeli forces, storing ammunition, command centers, and underground
bases to prepare Hezbollah for an attack on Israel.
Explosive Tunnels: Short tunnels, filled with explosives,
located near Israeli military positions on the border or underneath
villages in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah intends to detonate them during
an assault on Israel or in guerrilla fighting against Israeli forces.
Strategic Tunnels: Massive tunnels, some extending tens of
kilometers, connecting Hezbollah's strongholds and command centers
across Lebanon. There is reportedly a large tunnel linking the Bekaa
Valley to Beirut, with similar tunnels under Beirut's Dahiya district,
where Hezbollah leaders like Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safi al-Din
were located. These tunnels facilitate the movement of heavy equipment,
missiles and fighters, and even allow missiles to be launched from
within.
Smuggling Tunnels: Built beneath the border between Lebanon
and Syria, these tunnels allow Hezbollah's smuggling unit and the Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force to transport ammunition,
supplies and fighters under the border.
Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated areas, using civilians as human shields for their activities.
Recent videos
of IDF operations in Lebanon show the danger of these tunnels, as their
destruction has caused damage to buildings above them in Lebanese
villages where the IDF has operated. Some tunnels were discovered near
bases used by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in
southern Lebanon. UNIFIL forces have failed to carry out their mission
of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires them
to prevent the presence of armed elements of Hezbollah south of the
Lebanon's Litani River. UNSC Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, calls for
the withdrawal of Hezbollah from south of the Litani River and the
disarming of Hezbollah and other armed groups. It also stresses that no
armed forces other than UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces will be
south of the Litani River.
Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River,
the tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one above
ground the wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC Resolution
1701 to stop building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in south Lebanon.
Now, some Lebanese and other Arabs are beginning to denounce
Hezbollah for building tunnels and storing weapons in villages in
Lebanon.
"The Hezbollah terrorist bastards built tunnels under the villages to
store weapons, and every day they are being blown up [by the IDF]," noted Arab social media user Al-Umda Obadi on X.
Another Arab social media user called Mohammed Al-Obaid pointed out
that some of the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah's own
rockets and explosives after they were targeted by the IDF.
"The explosions are caused by Hezbollah's own weapons. In
other words, Hezbollah's tunnels are being used to blow up Lebanon.
Hezbollah is displacing, starving and robbing the Lebanese."
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of
thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7,
2023 massacres in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist
groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with
the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating
Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in Lebanon and the Gaza
Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups' determination to pursue
their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding the risks to the
Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.
The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without
the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and
Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only
empowering Iran and its terror proxies, paving the way for another
October 7-style massacre. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit
not only the Israelis, but the Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle
East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a
couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most
grateful.
Recent statements show that the PA is consistent in its hate of Trump. Two days ago, Palestinian Media Watch exposed that the PA sees Trump as "one who will exceed Hitler," while Abbas' Fatah Movement in 2017 said there is "no difference" between Trump and Hitler
PA daily: Trump "will exceed Hitler" (2024)
Fatah "No difference" between Trump and Hitler (2017)
PA: Trump's ‘rubbish' isn't worth a Jerusalem child's urine (2017)
"Shove it up your [ass]" - Fatah to Trump about peace deal (2020)
Trump is a "rich adolescent" an "ignoramus" (2018)
Trump
"cloned from the genes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Balfour," Trump
"suffers from multiple personality disorder, megalomania, and a racial
superiority [complex]" – op-ed in official PA daily (2021)
Trump is a trash can (2017)
Trump - "America's crazy man" (2017)
"[Is] a man of this mentality capable of determining the fate of the world?"
Abbas to Trump: "May your house be destroyed" (2018)
Palestinians hang and burn Trump in effigy, brand him Nazi (2019)
Palestinians hang and burn effigy of Trump (2018)
PLO official: Trump is "stupid" and "crazy," threatens security and peace in the entire world (2019)
PA: Rejecting Trump's plan is a religious obligation; You "betray Allah" if you cooperate with the "deal of the century" (2020)
Palestinian girl to Trump: "Brother of a whore, [if] you want war - we will declare war" (2020)
If
there is one world leader the Palestinian Authority openly loathes and
mocks, it is Donald Trump. As the world awaits the official announcement
of Trump's election victory, here is PMW's review of some of the PA
demonization and mocking of Trump since his first election campaign
(2016) and presidential period 2017-2021.
Recent statements show that the PA is consistent in its hate of Trump. Two days ago, Palestinian Media Watch exposed that the PA sees Trump as "one who will exceed Hitler," while Abbas' Fatah Movement in 2017 said there is "no difference" between Trump and Hitler:
[Official Fatah Twitter account, Dec. 14, 2017]
The following are some of PMW's reports about the PA's view of Donald Trump in chronolgical order, starting 2017:
Trump - "America's crazy man" - is the new Balfour - Palestinians burn Trump effigy and US flags
Girl's
message to "cursed Trump": "To Trump and every hate-ridden Zionist
claiming a right to Palestine: Jerusalem is ours… We won't agree to our
Jerusalem being defiled" (2019)
On Day of Rage, Palestinians burn Trump, Pompeo, and Netanyahu, Fatah official participates (2019)
Trump depicted as strangling a Palestinian boy with aid cuts in Fatah cartoon (2019)
PLO official: Trump is "stupid" and "crazy," threatens security and peace in the entire world (2019)
PA: Rejecting Trump's plan is a religious obligation; You "betray Allah" if you cooperate with the "deal of the century" (2020)
Palestinian girl to Trump: "Brother of a whore, [if] you want war - we will declare war" (2020)
PA cartoon: Trump is Balfour the 2nd - "the one with no ownership" who gives Jerusalem to "the one with no right" (2020)
Fatah: "Trump... shove [the deal] up your [ass]" or "we'll declare a war only Allah can extinguish" (2020)
PA: Netanyahu is a "monster" dragging his "tail" Trump, while Abbas is "the Son of the Sun" - in PA TV music video (2020)
Fatah cartoon depicts Trump as trash can into which peace plan is thrown
Trump "cloned from the genes of Hitler,
Mussolini, and Balfour," Trump "suffers from multiple personality
disorder, megalomania, and a racial superiority [complex]" – op-ed in
official PA daily (2021)
The
above examples are primarily from the PA's hate Trump ideology during
his first term as president. PMW will continue updating how the PA will
demonize him during the coming 4 years.
An NBC News exit poll released Tuesday night indicated 21% of American Jews voted for Trump, with 79% of Jews voting for Vice President Harris.
Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala
Harris during a campaign rally at Michigan State University, Michigan,
US. November 3, 2024.(photo credit: REUTERS/CARLOS OSORIO)
The Republican Jewish Coalition
spent a record-breaking $15 million this election cycle in confidence
that the Democratic party's handling of Israel and antisemitism in the
US would deliver Donald Trump more than 30% of the Jewish vote nationwide.
An
NBC News exit poll released Tuesday night indicated 21% of American
Jews voted for Trump, with 79% of Jews voting for Vice President
Harris.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Trump earned 30% of the Jewish vote in 2020 and 24% of the Jewish vote in 2016.
During a speech at an antisemitism
campaign event in September, Trump scoffed at polling data that showed
Democrats winning the Jewish vote by 60%, which he attributed to the
Democratic party holding a curse on Jews.
Trump hurt by Jewish voters
"Forty
percent is not acceptable because we have an election to win," Trump
said. “Sadly, and I have to say this, and it hurts me to say it, you’re
going to still vote for Democrats, and it doesn’t make sense."
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump
attends his campaign rally at Macomb Community College in Warren,
Michigan, US, November 1, 2024. (credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)
Trump
then repeated his frequent campaign quip that any Jewish person who
voted for Harris or the Democrat party should have their head examined.
That night, Trump also lamented he hadn't been “treated properly by voters who happen to be Jewish."
“I
was there four years, gave them billions and billions of dollars. I was
the best friend Israel ever had, and still in 2020, now, I’ve done all
these things, so now, Jewish people have no excuse,” he said.
“Sadly,
and I have to say this, and it hurts me to say it, you’re going to
still vote for Democrats, and it doesn’t make sense,” he continued. “I
say all the time that any Jewish person that votes for her, especially
now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined.”
However,
a Fox News poll out of New York showed a more narrow margin between the
Jewish vote, with 56% of New York's Jews voting for Harris and 43% of
New York's Jews voting for Trump.
Data on the Jewish vote breakdown in the swing states is not yet available.
RJC Board Member Ari Fleischer predicted close to 50% of the battleground Jewish votes going to Trump.
The FTC under Chair Lina Khan is working overtime on policies that gravely damage U.S. competitiveness and the personal and national security of Americans.
As antitrust policy goes, so does the national election … says
absolutely no one. In a fair world, however, voters and the media would
be agog at the economic and national security implications of a report released
at the end of last week by the House Oversight and Accountability
Commission on Chair Lina Khan’s stewardship of the Federal Trade
Commission.
“During her tenure, Chair Khan abandoned agency norms, disregarded
ethical standards, subverted due process rights by colluding with
foreign regulatory regimes, and willingly became a political tool for
the Biden-Harris Administration to carry out its ideological goals,”
said Chairman James Comer (R-Ky). The story of an independent agency
subverted by ideology, as important as it is, is not likely to linger in
the minds of voters.
But one segment of the House report should resonate with voters. Khan
has worked hand-in-glove with protectionist European Union regulators
to throw a lead weight on the American economy, harming workers and
consumers while exposing Americans’ personal information to malicious
regimes.
Consider this administration’s reaction to the protectionist EU’s
Digital Markets Act (DMA), which hits internet firms with 10-20 percent
of their total worldwide annual turnover, potentially a death penalty
fine even for the largest companies. The European Commission has so far
targeted six companies as “gatekeepers” under the DMA. Five are
American.
In 2021, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated the DMA “will
disproportionately impact U.S.-based tech firms.” The United States
Trade Representative (USTR) labeled the DMA a digital trade barrier in
2023. However, the impact of heavy regulation of American industries by
Europe is not a concern shared by the FTC.
Emails and documents unearthed by the committee reveal “a very high
interest at the FTC in the DMA. There was sustained email traffic as
well as several meetings between the FTC and EU regarding the DMA in
2022 and 2023. The emails from the FTC also show the Commission,
including the Chair, followed the DMA as it progressed through the
European Parliament’s process and participated in high-level
conversations with their EU counterparts regarding its implementation.”
Maria Coppola, director of the FTC’s Office of International Affairs
(OIA), congratulated EU officials on the passage of the DMA and
expressed: “We are very enthusiastic here in Washington and
look forward to the final step with the Council.” There are ongoing
discussions between EU and FTC staff to discuss how Washington can
assist in the implementation of a law that is explicitly designed to
enforce anti-American protectionism.
The FTC also doubled down on anti-American protectionism by
interfering with trade policy, specifically the U.S. proposals before
the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). This
framework was conceived in 2022 as a response to China’s attempt to
dominate the Pacific Rim economies. It brought together Australia,
Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Vietnam, and
others to counter China’s growing influence and protect U.S. companies
from unfair treatment in foreign jurisdictions. After the digital trade
chapters had cleared the interagency process to form the U.S. position,
however, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was pressured by Khan
into abruptly tabling it.
That position had insisted that international rules allow for
cross-border data flows while prohibiting forced data localization and
sharing of software source code. The FTC does not sit on USTR’s Trade
Policy Staff Committee, the senior U.S. government interagency trade
advisory group that consists of 19 federal agencies and offices. Yet the
FTC, citing the need to protect its antitrust powers, successfully
persuaded Tai to support compelling U.S. companies to share their
internal source codes with foreign regimes. These keys to the kingdoms
will not only savage the competitiveness of U.S. companies. They will
balkanize the internet, a gift to authoritarian regimes everywhere. It
will also give the worst regimes in the world the means to access the
private data of American citizens and the cloud-held proprietary secrets
of America’s leading businesses. National security secrets held in the
cloud could also be at risk.
If this strikes you as conservative alarmism, consider the words of
liberal Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who summarized the decision as “a win for
the Chinese government’s efforts to have unlimited access to U.S. data,
a win for Chinese tech giants who want to bully smaller countries into
following the Chinese model of internet censorship, and a win for
China’s Great Firewall, which locks out American companies …”
In short, the FTC under Chair Lina Khan is working overtime on
policies that gravely damage U.S. competitiveness and the personal and
national security of Americans. Or, as Trade Representative Tai said,
“We are turning the colonial mindset on its head.” Perhaps on Election
Day, it will be the voters who will turn the anti-American,
anti-consumer mindset on its head.
***
Robert H. Bork, Jr. is the president of the Antitrust Education Project.
Great Barrington Declaration coauthor praises new leadership at Stanford for making his conference possible. Heterodox Academy planning second conference in December. Public universities in Florida, Emory, MIT get involved.
Four years ago, the
then-directors of the National Institutes of Health and its National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases privately plotted on how to marginalize and discredit epidemiologists
who wrote the Great Barrington Declaration against COVID-19 lockdowns,
school shutdowns and related policies as ineffective and harmful.
Observing the attempted purge of Atlas, the University of
California's National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement held a
meeting to discuss whether the Trump adviser even enjoyed academic
freedom in his views on COVID, according to Freedom of Information Act productions recently posted by Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi's Racket.
Meeting notes show UC San Diego philosopher Dana Nelkin and
UC San Francisco medical professor Suneil Koliwad suggesting that
universities have an "obligation to deal with faculty who say and do
things with significant chance to harm the public" when there are "basic
and clear elements of 'right' and 'wrong'" on public health, Racket's James Rushmore reported.
The center's executive director, Michelle Deutschman,
celebrated the "leadership" of Indiana University Bloomington Provost
Lauren Robel when the latter told colleagues elsewhere, including
then-University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel and UC Berkeley law
dean Erwin Chemerinsky, that student "mask resistors … relented" when
she threatened to "transfer" them.
Two and a half years after Bhattacharya, Atlas and GBD coauthor Martin Kulldorff – fired by Harvard for refusing vaccination on the basis of his natural immunity and "immune deficiency" – helped found Hillsdale College's Academy on Science and Freedom,
that trickle of open debate is swelling into a river of intellectual
diversity flowing from Silicon Valley to the Sunshine State.
Stanford hosted Bhattacharya's conference last month on past and future pandemic policy,
the zenith of a remarkable several months of academic institutions
featuring debates rather than doctrine on COVID's origin and nature and
the policy response to it and future pathogens.
It featured names targeted for suppression by the federal
government, social media platforms and academia, including Atlas, former
New York Times drug industry reporter Alex Berenson and Sweden's ex-state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who bucked the COVID catechism.
"There is now a clear signal from Stanford leadership in
support of academic freedom, which has been missing for years,"
Bhattacharya told Just the News. Institutional neutrality "would have been unimaginable under the previous administration."
Conference attendee Margaret Song, an internal medicine
specialist, called it "the first academic conference held at a major
university that attempted to give an honest critique" of the federal
COVID response, praising Levin for resisting "enormous pressure" to shut
it down.
Song shared her notes, including New York Times
public health reporter Gardiner Harris's contrast between the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention before COVID, when he could "wander
around, and talk to anybody" at its Atlanta headquarters, and today's
ban at the CDC and NIH on the press talking to anyone but "designated
mouthpieces."
The University of South Florida is hosting a conference
with Heterodox Academy in December on "the vitality of viewing the COVID
experience through less constricted lenses," Jay Wolfson, dean of
public health and senior associate vice president for USF Health, told Just the News.
"We expect that while there will be intentionally
'opposing' viewpoints on science and policy, it will be exceptionally
civil and transparent – with a strong focus on good science, good
medicine, good policy and what we have learned," he wrote in an email.
The conference doesn't have a website yet.
"The academy, in several instances, played what might be
viewed as a reactive role during the pandemic," while Florida is a good
example of entities that "sought to balance interest[s] a bit better
than did others (like California, for example)," Wolfson said.
UCSF's Prasad, who also spoke at Stanford's conference, has
emerged as perhaps the most visible debater, starting with his own
campus a year ago on COVID testing and boosting.
He blames "spineless administrators" who capitulate to the "tiny fraction of extreme COVID fanatics" for the paucity of debates through COVID's first three years.
Emory University featured Prasad in a "Masking Mistakes"
debate last month with its distinguished professor of medicine Carlos
Del Rio, though the recorded video disabled public comments "to mitigate
ongoing public health dis/misinformation."
The fact that two countries with "drastically different
pandemic approaches" – Sweden and New Zealand – had the lowest excess
mortality suggested that lockdowns were "not as important as access to
basic health care," Prasad said. "I will continue mulling over these
data."
