Palestinian Terrorists, Hospitals, and Plans for Palestinian State - Bassam Tawil

 

by BassamTawil

The incident in Jenin is further proof – more is hardly needed – that the PA cannot be trusted to enforce law and order or rein in terrorists in the Gaza Strip, were there to be a state.

 

• In light of the aversion of the Palestinian Authority (PA), its ministry of health, and its security forces to expelling the three terrorists from the Jenin hospital, the US administration's plan for bringing the PA back to the Gaza Strip to replace Hamas and create a Palestinian state seems more than foolhardy.

• In addition, a Palestinian state without Israel's consent would be a massive violation of the Oslo Accords. The nonstop actions, or rather inactions, of the PA serve as further evidence that, contrary to what the US administration believes, the PA cannot be "revitalized."

• The PA indisputably has no intention of changing its policy of glorifying and financially rewarding terrorists. PA leaders continue to praise terrorists as "heroes" and refuse to halt their policy of paying monthly stipends to Palestinians who murder Jews.

• The incident in Jenin is further proof – more is hardly needed – that the PA cannot be trusted to enforce law and order or rein in terrorists in the Gaza Strip, were there to be a state. The PA, in its current location in the West Bank, does nothing to stop Hamas and other terrorists from pursuing their activities to murder Jews and obliterate Israel. There is no evidence to assume that it would behave any differently in Gaza. There is much evidence to assume that it would.

On January 30, Israeli security forces found and killed three Palestinian terrorists who were hiding inside Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital in Jenin. The terrorists were planning an attack against Israelis inspired by Hamas's massacre on October 7, 2023. Pictured: Armed terrorists march in Jenin at the funeral of their three dead comrades, on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Zain Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images

The Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital is one of several medical facilities in the West Bank city of Jenin, which is under the exclusive control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). As such, the hospital operates in accordance with a license from the PA's Ministry of Health.

On January 30, Israeli security forces found and killed three Palestinian terrorists who were hiding inside the hospital. A statement issued by the Iran-backed Hamas group identified the three terrorists as Mohammed Walid Jalamneh and brothers Mohammed and Basel al-Ghazawi. Al-Jalamneh was described as a commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Izaddin al-Qassam Brigades, while the two brothers were labeled by Palestinians as mujahideen (holy warriors) belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist proxy group.

The three terrorists did not come to the hospital to receive medical treatment or visit patients. In reality, they had been hiding inside the hospital for several weeks because they knew that Israeli security forces were searching for them. The Israelis were not searching for them because they had failed to pay their electricity or water bills.

According to Israeli authorities, the terrorists were planning an attack against Israelis inspired by Hamas's massacre on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were murdered, beheaded, raped, mutilated and burned alive. Jalamneh, the slain leader of the terror cell, was previously wounded while preparing a car bomb attack. He had been in contact with Hamas officials abroad, presumably in Qatar, Lebanon and Turkey, and provided weapons to other terrorists for shooting attacks against Israelis. Jalamneh had also served as a spokesman for the Izaddin al-Qassam Brigades in the Jenin area, and had often appeared in military uniform and a mask to read out statements by his group.

The presence of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen inside the hospital did not surprise those who have been following and documenting the Palestinian terrorist groups' use of hospitals as safe shelters and bases for their activities. Since the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war, it has been confirmed that hospitals are Hamas's preferred central sites for terrorist activities. The terror infrastructure in the hospitals is meant to ensure optimal protection for the terrorists during times of war, by taking advantage of Israel's commitment to the laws of armed conflict and avoidance of carrying out significant strikes on hospitals and other locations such as schools and mosques, which are protected under the Geneva Conventions (unless they are used for military purposes; then, they are no longer protected).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have documented a consistent and systematic method of operation by the terrorist groups:

Above ground, on the floors of the hospitals themselves, alongside the normal wards that exist in every hospital, the terrorist organizations store weapons and military equipment. Among the weapons found in the hospitals were hand grenades, explosive devices, and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). Senior Hamas terrorists stay in hospitals during times of war, even using Intensive Care Unit wards where they are disguised as "patients" or medical staff.

In the basements of the hospitals, on the underground floors, next to offices, are exits connecting to underground operational infrastructure and Hamas command and control centers, communication infrastructure and technological equipment.

Beneath hospital complexes in Gaza is an underground network of terrorist tunnels leading from hospitals to nearby terrorist bases.

On the premises of hospitals, the IDF has discovered vehicles loaded with weapons, including at Gaza's Shifa Hospital, as well as operational tunnels under the hospitals designed to ambush IDF soldiers. In addition, Hamas has deliberately embedded terrorist infrastructure near the hospitals with the understanding that Israel would try to avoid targeting these locations as that could be portrayed as a strike on the hospitals themselves.

Ahmad Kahalot, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, has admitted that Hamas has turned hospitals into military facilities under its control. During an Israel Security Agency interrogation, Kahalot revealed how Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, including storing weapons, hiding its operatives, and moving members of Hamas.

Hamas, he said, even brought a captured soldier to the hospital. Kahalot, who was arrested on December 12, 2023, said he has been part of Hamas since 2010.

"I was recruited to Hamas in 2010 with the rank of Brigadier General," he revealed. "There are employees in the hospital who are military operatives of the Izaddin al-Qassam Brigades -- doctors, nurses, paramedics, clerks, and staff members."

According to Kahalot, Hamas members hide in hospitals, which they realize are "protected." "They hide in hospitals because for them a hospital is a safe place. They won't be targeted when they are inside a hospital," he said. "I know 16 employees in the hospital – doctors, nurses, paramedics, or clerks... who also have different positions in al-Qassam."

What is surprising and disappointing is that many in the international community and media, including the World Health Organization (WHO), continue to ignore -- or even deny or cover for -- the actions of the terrorists in the hospitals.

During a recent session with WHO's executive board, Israeli ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar said that Hamas "embeds itself in hospitals."

In "every single hospital that the IDF searched in Gaza, it found evidence of Hamas's military use," she remarked. "These are undeniable facts that WHO chooses to ignore time and time again. This is not incompetence; it is collusion."

In Jenin, the terrorists found shelter inside a hospital under the administration of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health. It is safe to assume that many of the staff, including the administration at Jenin's Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital, were aware of the presence of the gunmen in one of the patient rooms. What did hospital administrators and doctors do to remove the terrorists from the hospital? Nothing. What did the PA Ministry of Health do to make sure that the terrorists were expelled from the hospital? Nothing.

The PA, undoubtedly aware of the presence of the terrorists inside the hospital, has multiple security and intelligence agencies in Jenin; they are known for their tight grip on the city. Did the PA government order its security officers to remove the terrorists from the hospital out of concern for the safety of the medical staff and the patients? No.

Instead of condemning Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for turning the hospital into a safe haven for terrorists and using it as a base to plan another massacre of Israelis, the PA was quick to condemn Israel for eliminating the gunmen who, by the way, belong to two groups opposed to the Palestinian Authority. PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, on a tall-tale-binge, accused Israeli security forces of "storming hospitals and carrying out field executions of patients, while intimidating other patients and the doctors."

Instead of thanking the Israeli security forces for getting rid of the terrorists who were holed up inside the hospital, Tawfik al-Shoubaki, director of Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital, also denounced the security raid as a "dangerous precedent."

Wissam Subeihat, director of healthcare services in Jenin for the PA Ministry of Health, condemned the killing of the terrorists as a "crime" and called on international organizations to "hold Israel accountable." Subeihat also claimed, falsely, that the Israeli soldiers assaulted medical staff during the raid.

In light of the aversion of the PA, its ministry of health, and its security forces to expelling the three terrorists from the Jenin hospital, the US administration's plan for bringing the PA back to the Gaza Strip to replace Hamas and create a Palestinian state seems more than foolhardy.

In addition, a Palestinian state without Israel's consent would be a massive violation of the Oslo Accords. The nonstop actions, or rather inactions, of the PA serve as further evidence that, contrary to what the US administration believes, the PA cannot be "revitalized." The PA has never acted as a peace partner to Israel. Instead, it has constantly incited its people against Israel and Jews by denying Jewish religious links to Israel, to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, all the while accusing Jews of "defiling" Islamic holy sites and waging a diplomatic and legal warfare to delegitimize and isolate Israel in the international community.

The PA indisputably has no intention of changing its policy of glorifying and financially rewarding terrorists. PA leaders continue to praise terrorists as "heroes" and refuse to halt their policy of paying monthly stipends to Palestinians who murder Jews.

The incident in Jenin is further proof – more is hardly needed – that the PA cannot be trusted to enforce law and order or rein in terrorists in the Gaza Strip, were there to be a state. The PA, in its current location in the West Bank, does nothing to stop Hamas and other terrorists from pursuing their activities to murder Jews and obliterate Israel. There is no evidence to assume that it would behave any differently in Gaza. There is much evidence to assume that it would.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20360/palestinian-hospitals

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Donor Nations Suspend Aid After a Dozen UNRWA Employees Found to Have Joined October 7 Attacks - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

by Hugh Fitzgerald

The proof provided by Israel was even enough for UNRWA.

 

The government of Israel has incontrovertible proof, including evidence the IDF gathered inside Gaza, that twelve employees of UNRWA joined Hamas operatives in committing atrocities — raping, torturing, mutilating, murdering Israelis — on October 7. Apparently the proof provided by Israel was convincing enough for UNRWA — despite its history of deep animus toward the Jewish state — to fire those dozen employees. Now UNRWA itself is being pressured to conduct a thorough investigation of its 13,000 employees in Gaza, to find out how many others are members of, or collaborators with, Hamas.

Meanwhile, countries that have been major contributors to UNRWA have “put on hold” their aid to UNRWA, until that investigation has been completed, and appropriate action taken. More on the donors withholding aid to UNRWA can be found here: “Britain, Italy and Finland Pause Funding for UNRWA,” Algemeiner, January 27, 2024:

Britain, Italy and Finland on Saturday [Jan. 27] became the latest countries to pause funding for the United Nations’ refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), following allegations its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Set up to help refugees of the 1948 war at Israel’s founding, UNRWA provides education, health, and aid services to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It helps about two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and has played a pivotal aid role during the current war.

The United States, Australia and Canada had already paused funding to the aid agency after Israel said 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the cross-border attack. The agency has opened an investigation into several employees and severed ties with them.

The Palestinian foreign ministry criticized what it described as an Israeli campaign against UNRWA, and the Hamas militant group condemned the termination of employee contracts “based on information derived from the Zionist enemy.”

The UK Foreign Office said it was temporarily pausing funding for UNRWA while the accusations were reviewed and noted London had condemned the Oct. 7 attacks as “heinous” terrorism.

The Italian government has suspended financing of the UNRWA after the atrocious attack on Israel on October 7,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on social media platform X.

Finland also said it suspended funding.

Both Italy and Finland  suspended their financial aid to UNRWA on Jan. 26. The Netherlands suspended its aid a day later. Then Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland announced that they, too, were suspending aid. A total of nine major donor nations have announced by Jan. 28 that they have suspended their aid to UNRWA because of its dozen employees joining Hamas on its October 7  rampage: the U.S., the U.K. (including Scotland, which issued a separate announcement), Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Given these suspensions of aid, UNRWA will have to shrink its bloated bureaucracy in Gaza and at the same time, slash the salaries of those who remain. The agency may attempt to persuade rich Arab states to give more to their Palestinian brothers, but these countries have never given much to UNRWA in the past and there is no reason to think they will do so now. Saudi Arabia’s contribution to UNRWA in 2022 was $27 million. Most recently, the Kingdom provided UNRWA with a check  for the derisory sum of $2 million. Qatar gave $18 million, and the UAE $20 million, in 2022. Compare those amounts to the American contribution in the same year of $344 million.

Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Palestinians’ umbrella political body, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said cutting support brought major political and relief risks.

“We call on countries that announced the cessation of their support for UNRWA to immediately reverse their decision,” he said on X.

Call on those countries all you want, Hussein al-Sheikh. They are in no mood to listen. They want UNRWA to explain how it was that a dozen of its employees collaborated with Hamas in its pogrom on October 7. They want UNRWA to assure them that it has thoroughly investigated other employees to make sure that none of them has behaved similarly. And finally, they want UNRWA, at long last, to finally do what it has promised to do for the last half-dozen years — that is, to remove all antisemitic content from its schoolbooks — but it has always failed to follow through. Only after those demands have been met will those infuriated former donors agree to turn on again the tap of aid to UNRWA, likely with a diminished flow. Tighten your belt, UNRWA. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/donor-nations-suspend-aid-after-a-dozen-unrwa-employees-found-to-have-joined-october-7-attacks/

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10 myths about UNRWA you may have mistakenly believed - Adi Schwartz and David M. Weinberg

 

by Adi Schwartz and David M. Weinberg

UNRWA is rotten to its core. It validates and perpetuates the Palestinian war against Israel instead of helping to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is an obstacle to peace.

 

A GIRL sits in an UNRWA school in the Silwan neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem this week.

(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)

This week’s revelation about the complicity of personnel working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel is not surprising. Not to anybody who has tracked the nefariousness of this organization over recent decades.

Nor is it a surprise that over the past three months IDF troops have found Hamas weaponry in, and terror attack tunnels beneath, nearly every UNRWA institution in Gaza – schools, clinics, hospitals, and more.

No, there is no surprise here. UNRWA is rotten to its core. It validates and perpetuates the Palestinian war against Israel instead of helping to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is an obstacle to peace.

Despite this, Western leaders almost certainly will restore and even increase their funding of UNRWA soon enough – because they mistakenly view the organization as an irreplaceable, indispensable humanitarian tool.

Alas, nothing could be farther from the truth. Here are ten myths about UNRWA that must be busted.

A UNRWA funded school in eastern Jerusalem. January 29, 2024 (credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)

Myth 1: UNRWA is a UN organization.

Well, technically it is, but in fact, UNRWA is a Palestinian outfit with Palestinian employees and Palestinian objectives. Of its 13,000 employees in Gaza, 99% are Palestinian, alongside a tiny number of international employees who cover for Palestinian corruption and Islamic radicalism. It is a Palestinian boondoggle.

Since most Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas, it stands to reason that many if not the majority of UNRWA employees are Hamas supporters too. According to Israeli intelligence, a full 10% of UNRWA Gaza staff are identifiable Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad activists; hundreds of others openly celebrated the October 7 rapes and murders; and 190 UNRWA employees are “hardened militants” – fighters and killers with unmistakable terrorist records.

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This is far more than “a few bad apples in the basket,” as some champions for UNRWA said this week.

Myth 2: UNRWA is a relief organization for Palestinians.

This has not been true for many years. UNRWA provides little food or humanitarian aid. The vast majority of its budget is devoted to Palestinian schools and hospitals, which is an anomaly without precedent anywhere else in the world.

There is no other UN organization that covers health and education costs for almost an entire population – in place of its local government. UNRWA runs the relevant institutions and pays the bills throughout Gaza, instead of Hamas having to provide health, education, and welfare for its own constituents. Hamas relies on UNRWA and its Western donors to operate core provinces of Gazan government, leaving Hamas scot-free to build terror attack tunnels and camp out in underground military bunkers for war against Israel.

Myth 3: UNRWA is a neutral organization.

No, it is not. UNRWA is a political outfit that shapes the story of Palestinian victimhood, preserves and prolongs Palestinian refugeehood, and educates towards perpetual war with Israel including Palestinian dreams of destroying Israel through refugee “return.” UNRWA is the most deleterious driver of a narrative of Israeli criminality, for 75 years now and running.

In particular, UNRWA keeps conflict with Israel alive by granting fictitious refugee status to an ever-inflating number of Palestinians – 20 times beyond the scope of real refugee levels – while refusing to permanently resettle even one single refugee.

Myth 4: UNRWA is a moderating and calming force.

Even though international wags (and even parts of the Israeli defense establishment) have made this claim for years, it simply holds no water. UNRWA is deeply impregnated and dominated by Hamas, and it certainly was of no taming or tempering effect before, after, or on October 7. Everybody can do without the make-believe soothing brainwaves of UNRWA.

Watchdog organizations tirelessly have documented the hate taught in UNRWA classrooms. Palestinian children learn that Jews are liars and fraudsters and that Jews spread corruption which will lead to their annihilation. Terrorists are glorified as role models. Lessons that incite violence are taught across all grades and subjects, including in math and science classes. Inevitably, the systematic teaching of hatred and violence within the UNRWA school system is Palestinian terror against Israel.

Myth 5: Palestinians in Gaza truly need global funding for their most basic needs.

From what the IDF has discovered in Gaza over the past three months it does not seem that Gazans are exceptionally needy or helpless.

The Hamas government in Gaza appears to be perfectly capable of undertaking big, sophisticated, and expensive projects ranging from underground tunnel and bunker networks that rival London’s underground system, to industrial weapons factories built to the best engineering standards, to well-organized commando units with top-notch intelligence capabilities and crafty attack planning skills.

Palestinians in Gaza do not suffer from underfunding, sub-par education, or deprivation of skilled labor, but from self-inflicted wounds that stem from a distortion of priorities. For decades they have prioritized warfare against Israel over building their own society in a healthy way. They need Western guidance (pressure) in reordering their priorities, not necessarily more cash or other aid.

Myth 6: Palestinians in Gaza need UNRWA to keep them alive.

This is not true according to Palestinians themselves. Even as some Western funders of UNRWA have suspended donations to UNRWA in recent days, the main concern expressed by Palestinians relates to a possible denouement in global recognition of their cause. They are much more distressed about the political blow to their status as privileged victims than they are about the money.

There are hundreds of social media posts and other testimonies indicating this; that Gazans see UNRWA far less as a critical provider of social services and emergency aid and much more as the vital validator of Palestinian identity in their never-ending war with Israel.

Myth 7: Without an immediate restoration of full UNRWA funding, Palestinians in Gaza will starve.

There is no “dire crisis” in access to food and water in Gaza. Nobody there is on the “verge of starvation.” Hundreds of trucks with goods and fuels enter Gaza every day despite the war, based on donations from Arab and (still) Western countries. Hamas demonstrably confiscates millions of dollars worth of such supplies for its army and favored elites, about which UNRWA has done nothing. But a steady flow of goods into Gaza continues, even if UNRWA’s pockets are a bit less padded.

Myth 8: UNRWA is the most efficient way to deliver assistance to Palestinians.

No, it certainly is not, and not just because UNRWA lets Hamas run off with lots of goods. There are far more efficient, less corrupt, and less grossly political aid agencies, some of which already are present in Gaza (and the West Bank), that can be mobilized to replace UNRWA. This includes USAID, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme. They could all do the work without succumbing to Palestinian legerdemain.

Myth 9: UNRWA can be fixed.

UNRWA needs more than an “urgent audit,” as the EU reluctantly mumbled this week, and much more than “enhanced due diligence and other oversight mechanisms,” as one unfriendly-to-Israel congressman grudgingly called for.

UNRWA needs to be abolished so that Gaza’s transition away from aid and toward economic development, and away from genocidal fantasies and toward peace building can begin quickly. It is certainly true that the current division of labor – UNRWA services above ground, Hamas terror operations below ground and from within UNRWA facilities – cannot continue.

This requires different international actors that can develop productive industry and jobs in Gaza, and that can lead the construction and operation of civilian services. International funding may still be necessary, but it should be administered by foreign governments directly and by different organizations that are subject to continuous oversight and rigorous accountability.

Myth 10: Wartime is not the right time to shutter UNRWA.

Now is the perfect time to do so. As Israel liberates Gaza from Hamas, the international community can unshackle Palestinians from UNRWA. At the same time Israel can unchain itself from destructive dependency on UNRWA and its problematic Israeli counterpart, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories – COGAT.

Then the rebuilding of Gaza can advance, free from rank corruption, destructive indoctrination, the coddling of terrorism, and overall moral rot that for too long has contaminated international aid politics for Palestinians.

Dr. Adi Schwartz and David M. Weinberg are senior fellows at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy (www.misgavins.org).

Adi Schwartz and David M. Weinberg

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-784774

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Under Biden, We Don’t Know Who’s Coming into the U.S. - Selene Rodriguez

 

by Selene Rodriguez

And the consequences are dire and real.

 

Pierre Lucard Emile, an illegal alien from Haiti, raped and beat a developmentally disabled person in Boston, according to prosecutors. Emile arrived at the port of entry in Brownsville, Texas “where he was deemed inadmissible and issued a notice to appear,” according to ICE.

In 2023, Peruvian national Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria was charged with murder after being arrested in connection with the killing of U.S. citizen in Eagle Pass, Texas. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), he crossed illegally at Eagle Pass in May 2023 and was released with a Notice to Appear for 2025.

A new January 2024 report from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee revealed that since January 20, 2021, the Biden administration has released more than 3.3 million illegal aliens into the U.S.

Who are they? What are their intentions? We simply don’t know. We do know there are at least 617,607 aliens on ICE’s non-detained docket who have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. That means more than half a million criminal aliens are in U.S. communities, posing a serious threat to Americans in every state.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, ICE released 68.1% of the aliens transferred to them by CBP for detention.

In Chicago, Jaime Ubaldo Obando-Andrade, an illegal alien from Ecuador, stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a Macy’s store. Upon investigation it was discovered that he had a fake Washington state driver’s license and had cut off an ICE electronic monitoring device. Among the more than 21,000 migrants the sanctuary city has taken in, the Chicago Police Department reported arresting 686 Venezuelans in 2023, which represents a 11,333% increase in arrests of Venezuelans since 2021. Further, between October 2023 and January 2024, police in Oak Brook, a Chicago suburb, arrested 47 migrants for retail theft and burglary.

New York, another sanctuary city overwhelmed by the migrants it invited in, has also seen an increase in crime. Data from the New York Police Department shows that robbery, felony assault and grand larceny auto increased in October 2023 compared to the same time one year prior.

These are just a few examples of the increase in crime being committed by aliens processed and released by federal agents.

The data is clear: President Joe Biden’s policies incentivize increased illegal immigration, allow for easier processing of illegal aliens, result in more illegal aliens into U.S. communities, and repatriate or deport fewer criminal aliens than any other administration. These are all problems that he could fix—if he cared to.

The fact is that a quick process, release, and a notice to disappear undermine any semblance of border security. What we have is a human smuggling superhighway into every state in our nation, and little awareness of who many of these people actually are—or  where they end up.

A citizen journalist interviewing migrants crossing the border in Arizona just showed the world what failed border policies import into America look like. When asking a migrant who they were, the man’s response was: “You are not smart enough to know who I am. But soon you’re gonna know who I am.”

There is no way to know how many security threats are strategically placed across the country today. But one thing is for sure, just as this one migrant said: Soon we will know who they are.

Selene Rodriguez is a Policy Director for the Secure and Sovereign Frontier campaign at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/under-biden-we-dont-know-whos-coming-into-the-us/

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Biden Must Abandon Plans to Withdraw US forces from Syria and Iraq - Con Coughlin

 

by Con Coughlin

The vacuum created by any withdrawal by US troops is sure to be filled by adversaries of America and the free world.

 

• [T]he priority now for the White House must be to strengthen its military presence in the region, not reduce it. Worse, the vacuum created by any withdrawal by US troops is sure to be filled by adversaries of America and the free world.

• Any US withdrawal is sure to be seen, especially after the US surrender in Afghanistan, as America running away -- again.

• [I]t would be folly of the highest order for the Biden administration even to contemplate a reduction of US forces in the region. With Iran clearly intent on pursuing its proxy war against the US and its allies, the US needs to demonstrate its determination to prevent Tehran from expanding its malign influence in the Middle East, rather than capitulating in the face of Iranian violence.

With Iran seemingly intent on intensifying its confrontation with the US, it is hard to imagine a worse time for the Biden administration even to consider withdrawing any of the US forces currently based in the Middle East. Pictured: US Army soldiers, part of the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, at the K1 Air Base northwest of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images)

With Iran seemingly intent on intensifying its confrontation with the US, it is hard to imagine a worse time for the Biden administration even to consider withdrawing any of the US forces currently based in the Middle East.

Prior to the latest Iranian-sponsored attack on US forces based in Jordan, in which three serving American service personnel were killed and another 34 were injured, the White House had already opened negotiations with the Iraqi government on the future of US and other allied troops based in the country.

A statement issued by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, after the first round of talks opened in Baghdad at the weekend, declared that the talks were aimed at ending the US-led coalition in Iraq.

There are currently an estimated 2,500 US troops based in Iraq. The US deployment in the country was originally part of the coalition formed in 2014 to fight Islamic State (IS). The force has continued to operate in Iraq despite the fact that the so-called IS caliphate established in the Syrian city of Raqqa has been destroyed.

Today its main function is to make sure there is no resurgence in IS's terrorist activities in the region, as well as keeping a watchful eye on the numerous terror groups Iran sponsors in the region.

There have also been suggestions that the Biden administration is even thinking of withdrawing the 900-strong US force based in Syria, where they are involved in monitoring Iran's terrorist activities in the country, as well as guarding thousands of battle-hardened IS fighters captured after the fall of Raqqa.

Sinam Sherkany Mohamad, a prominent opposition activist with the Syrian Democratic Council, commented on the proposed withdrawal of US troops:

"If the U.S. withdrew from Syria, our whole region would be at risk. We currently are guarding over 12,500 hardened ISIS fighters who would be released back to the battlefields in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond...

"[A] U.S. withdrawal would also mean that hundreds of thousands of persecuted minorities who were critical in ending the violent ambitions of ISIS would be subject to retaliation by the Assad regime, and by a Turkish government that is hostile to religious and ethnic minorities," said Mohamad. "This would mean the continued persecution of Christians and other religions, total loss of the current equality of women, and the ethnic cleansing of protected minorities."

While the White House has denied it is planning to withdraw US forces from Syria, four sources within the Defense and State Departments have confirmed to the influential Foreign Policy magazine that the White House is no longer invested in sustaining a mission that it perceives as unnecessary, and that active internal discussions are taking place to determine how and when a withdrawal may take place.

The Biden administration's willingness even to think of withdrawing US forces from Iraq and Syria seems all the more remarkable given that forces in both countries have been actively involved in confronting Iranian-backed militias in the wake of the atrocities committed by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists against Israel on October 7.

US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq's security forces was wounded in a sophisticated attack on Iraq's Ain al-Asad Air Base in mid-January, carried out by an Iranian-backed militia using multiple ballistic missiles.

US forces in Syria also came under fire from Iranian-backed terrorists last year in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, with the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI) claiming responsibility for multiple drone strikes on US bases in eastern Syria.

The latest attack by the IRI, though, on a US base in Jordan, close to the Syrian border, which claimed the lives of three US military personnel, represents a major escalation in Iran's proxy war against the US: it is the first time an Iranian-sponsored attack has resulted in American deaths, a development that should force the Biden administration to seriously reconsider its withdrawal plans.

With President Joe Biden warning that Washington intends to respond to the attack "at a time and in a manner of our choosing", the priority now for the White House must be to strengthen its military presence in the region, not reduce it. Worse, the vacuum created by any withdrawal by US troops is sure to be filled by adversaries of America and the free world.

While Iran has been anxious to avoid a direct confrontation with the US over the Gaza conflict, the fact that it has subsequently emerged that an Iranian-made drone was used in the attack that killed US personnel will increase the pressure on the White House to confront Iran over its continuing support for terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Any US withdrawal is sure to be seen, especially after the US surrender in Afghanistan, as America running away -- again.

Moreover, the active threat Iran poses to security in the Middle East, with US nuclear expert David Albright warning that Tehran has enough uranium to make 12 nuclear bombs in five months, makes the prospect of a major confrontation between the US and Iran is a very real possibility.

Pentagon sources have certainly made it clear that retaliatory strikes against Iran are a distinct option.

In such circumstances, it would be folly of the highest order for the Biden administration even to contemplate a reduction of US forces in the region. With Iran clearly intent on pursuing its proxy war against the US and its allies, the US needs to demonstrate its determination to prevent Tehran from expanding its malign influence in the Middle East, rather than capitulating in the face of Iranian violence.

Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20361/us-withdrawal-syria-iraq

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Iranian Regime's Proxies: Target the Head of the Snake - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

One viable approach involves focusing on the economic lifelines that sustain the ruling ayatollahs. These lifelines include immediately restoring the "maximum pressure" sanctions the US had imposed earlier, targeting key components of Iran's infrastructure -- such as oil facilities

 

• By not directly targeting the source of support and funding, the Iranian regime, the administration may inadvertently be treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem, and, instead of decreasing Iranian aggression, escalating it.

• One viable approach involves focusing on the economic lifelines that sustain the ruling ayatollahs. These lifelines include immediately restoring the "maximum pressure" sanctions the US had imposed earlier, targeting key components of Iran's infrastructure -- such as oil facilities, which serve as vital resources and revenue streams – and banning anyone who trades with them from trading with the US. Disrupting these critical elements not only weakens the economic foundation of this terrorist regime but also undermines its ability to finance proxy activities.

• It is equally important to target the leaders and bases of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where proxies are trained and the attacks originate. By hitting Iran's economic and military infrastructure, the US can exert significant pressure, sending a clear message that the support for proxy warfare -- and Iranian attempts to finalize their nuclear bombs -- would come at an intolerably high cost.

The last few months unfolded with a marked escalation in the activities of Iran's proxies, militias and terror groups. Iran-sponsored Houthi rebels in Yemen have caused turmoil in the Red Sea, which is vital to maritime traffic. Their actions not only threaten regional stability but also sent shockwaves through global trade routes and raised concerns about the broader implications of their destabilizing activities. Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets a delegation of spokesman of Yemen's Houthi militia on August 13, 2019. (Image source: khamenei.ir)

The last few months unfolded with a marked escalation in the activities of Iran's proxies, militias and terror groups. Iran's proxy Hamas launched its attacks on Israel, unleashing a barrage of violence across the region. Simultaneously, Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq escalated their assaults on US bases and personnel. Another proxy of Iran, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, also caused turmoil in the Red Sea, which is vital to maritime traffic. Their actions not only threaten regional stability but also sent shockwaves through global trade routes and raised concerns about the broader implications of their destabilizing activities.

The Biden administration's approach to handling the escalating proxy conflicts has been marred by a series of strategic shortcomings, including, primarily, reacting weakly and belatedly to the increasing hostilities. This delayed reaction has allowed Iran's proxies to gain momentum, creating a challenging environment that necessitates a more proactive and preemptive stance. Moreover, the administration's reliance on limited and ineffective strikes against the proxies has proven insufficient in curbing their activities. The restrained nature of these actions may be interpreted as a hesitant and cautious approach, failing to convey a robust and decisive message to the perpetrators.

Consequently, the Iranian regime and its proxies view such responses as mere symbolic gestures, emboldening them to persist in their aggressive actions. A critical flaw in the overall strategy is the failure to address the ultimate enabler of these proxy groups—their paymaster, the Iranian regime.

By not directly targeting the source of support and funding, the Iranian regime, the administration may inadvertently be treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem, and, instead of decreasing Iranian aggression, escalating it.

The terrorist regime of Iran resorts to using proxies to attack other countries for several reasons. One primary motivation is to maintain a level of deniability and avoid direct attribution to their own actions. By employing proxy groups, the ruling clerics can distance themselves from the attacks, creating a layer of ambiguity that complicates the process of assigning responsibility. This allows them to pursue their geopolitical objectives without facing immediate reprisals or international condemnation.

In addition, the use of proxies provides the Ayatollahs with a cost-effective means of extending their influence and pursuing their agendas beyond their borders. Proxy groups can act as force multipliers, carrying out attacks or engaging in conflicts on behalf of the sponsoring government without the need for a direct military intervention.

This approach allows Iran to project power regionally or globally without committing significant resources or risking direct confrontation. Furthermore, proxy warfare becomes a tool for manipulating and exacerbating existing divisions within the target country, and creating a chaotic environment that aligns with the objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran to "export the Revolution." The Iranian regime already controls four Middle Eastern capitals in addition to its own -- in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq -- as well as the terrorist groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The regime has also worked for decades on expanding its influence in South America, especially "Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, all countries that share a worldview opposed to the U.S.-led international order."

The use of proxies by the Iranian regime appears to be a calculated strategy aimed at achieving geopolitical goals while minimizing direct exposure to international consequences. It offers a blend of operational flexibility, plausible deniability, and the ability to exploit existing fault lines in target nations, making it an attractive and frequently employed tactic in the pursuit of strategic objectives, such as hegemonic control first of the Middle East and then elsewhere.

To effectively curb Iran's ability to sponsor and utilize proxies, one must consider adopting a strategy that targets the source of support directly, confronting "the head of the snake." One viable approach involves focusing on the economic lifelines that sustain the ruling ayatollahs. These lifelines include immediately restoring the "maximum pressure" sanctions the US had imposed earlier, targeting key components of Iran's infrastructure -- such as oil facilities, which serve as vital resources and revenue streams – and banning anyone who trades with them from trading with the US. Disrupting these critical elements not only weakens the economic foundation of this terrorist regime but also undermines its ability to finance proxy activities.

It is equally important to target the leaders and bases of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where proxies are trained and the attacks originate. By hitting Iran's economic and military infrastructure, the US can exert significant pressure, sending a clear message that the support for proxy warfare -- and Iranian attempts to finalize their nuclear bombs -- would come at an intolerably high cost.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
  

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20363/iran-proxies-head-of-snake

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The IDF Has Every Reason to Protect Civilians - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

by Hugh Fitzgerald

While Hamas has every reason not to protect them.

 

In Gaza, a man named Ramzi Abu Sahloul had been standing in a group of four other Palestinian men, all civilians, with one of them waving a white flag, when suddenly, shots — not a single shot, and this is important — rang out, and he fell, mortally wounded. He was then carried away from the scene by the four other men who had been standing with him, who were immediately joined by other Palestinians, including one who appears to have been a young relative. The whole scene was captured by an ITV cameraman. When the shooting appeared on ITV, the news reader left the clear impression, without the slightest evidence, that an Israeli sniper had killed him. Immediately the same story about an Israeli sniper killing an innocent Palestinian civilian appeared on all the major news outlets — agencies including AP, UPI, and AFP, and broadcasting channels including the BBC, MSNBC, and CNN, all echoed one another: “Israeli sniper kills Palestinian Ramzi Abu Sahloul.”

More on this claim, plucked out of the ether, that an Israeli sniper had killed Abu Sahloul, can be found here: “Media assumes every Gaza civilian shot was killed by Israel – but they never have any evidence,” Elder of Ziyon, January 24, 2024:

ITV has a distressing video showing a man in Gaza, with a white flag, being shot and killed.

It was not the man holding the white flag who was shot, but another one in the group who had just been interviewed a minute before by an ITV cameramen.

Nowhere in the video do we see any IDF soldiers.

Yet everyone reporting on this story, somehow, “knows” that Ramzi Abu Sahloul was killed by an “IDF sniper.”

Not one news outlet asks a basic question: who gains more from a man being shot with a group holding a white flag? Israel or Hamas?

The voiceover to the ITV video ends with this: “Yet another Innocent Palestinian killed, though he posed no threat whatsoever.” No “threat” to whom? No threat to the Israelis who, we are supposed to think, “in their bloodlust they killed him nonetheless.” We are clearly meant to believe the ITV people had no doubt that it was an IDF sniper who had killed him. But there is overwhelming evidence that it was not an Israeli sniper, but a Hamas gunman, who shot and killed Ramzi Abu Sahloul.

What good could Israel possibly derive from murdering a Palestinian civilian in a small group waving their white flag? Israel gains nothing, and loses a great deal, from killing civilians, which would only be used to blacken the image of the Jewish state. As is well known, the IDF makes enormous efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, which is the most difficult of battlefields, a densely-populated urban environment, where the enemy, Hamas, has embedded itself within the civilian population, using those civilians as human shields to protect them from IDF attacks. Hamas hides its weapons, its command-and-control centers, its operatives, in civilian buildings such as schools, mosques, and apartment buildings and, of course, in the vast network of tunnels, about 300 miles in total length, that it has built underground, and which it uses to move men and weapons about, undetected.

In order to minimize civilian casualties, Israel has dropped 6 million leaflets, made 14 million prerecorded calls, and 72,000 personal calls, to warn civilians in Gaza to move away from sites about to be targeted. Why would an IDF sniper want to kill in cold blood Abu Sahloul as he stood with a group of five, waving the white flag? The IDF had nothing to gain, and much to lose, by killing Abu Sahloul. There is no proof that an Israeli sniper was responsible. In fact, there is clear evidence that the volley of shots — at least six — were not from a sniper’s rifle. If you listen carefully, you hear not one, but two shots in immediate succession, and then, about six seconds later, a volley of five shots. That is not what a sniper, using a sniper’s long-range rifle, does: he fires one deadly shot. There is no volley of shots from a sniper’s rifle, as there were here. Yet the ITV newsman did not realize that the shots must have come from an M-16 or a Kalashnikov. Nor did he inquire as to where the IDF soldiers were located, which turns out to have been much farther away than a long-range sniper’s rifle could have covered.

Those considerations did not stop the ITV newsman, and after him the rest of the media, from blaming this invisible— and almost certainly nonexistent — IDF sniper, for Abu Sahloul’s death. And without stopping to consider the evidence of the number of shots, and how far the IDF soldiers were from where the Palestinians had been standing, the international media promptly repeated the story of the “Israeli sniper” who killed Abu Sahloul.

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-idf-has-every-reason-to-protect-civilians/

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Senate Dems have reached border deal with Republicans but House GOP says it's 'dead on arrival' - Nicholas Ballasy

 

by Nicholas Ballasy

The full legislative language of the border agreement hasn't been released yet but details have been leaked, and House GOP members don't like it.

 

Senate Democrats have reached a border deal with Senate Republicans that is apparently tied to funding for the war in Ukraine in a supplemental foreign aid package but House GOP leaders have said it's "dead on arrival" in their chamber.

The full legislative language of the border agreement hasn't been released yet but details have been leaked.

"Republicans said the border is a priority and we should craft a bipartisan bill to help control the border. We did that," wrote Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Friday on the social media platform X. "We have a deal. This weekend we will release the bill and vote next week. It’s decision time."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday that he plans to "file cloture on the motion to proceed to the vehicle on Monday," which would be a procedural vote on the bill. He said the first vote on the national security supplemental would likely occur "no later than Wednesday."

Schumer said the legislation would also include funding for Israel, "millions of incident Gaza citizens" in need of aid, and Taiwan. "And our southern border is in urgent need—in urgent need—of fixing," he added. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, cast doubt on the Senate taking a vote on the bill next week.

"Nor should it be passed until we have had adequate time to read the bill, discuss it with constituents, debate it, offer amendments, and vote on those amendments," Lee wrote in an option piece for The Federalist. "There’s no universe in which those things will happen by next week."

Republicans — and now many Democrats — have been outspoken about the Biden Administration’s handling of the border, pointing to the record amount of encounters that have occurred since 2021 as evidence of mismanagement. In December 2023 alone, there were more than 300,000 encounters with migrants at the southern border, which set a new single month record.

According to leaked details of the agreement, up to 8,500 migrants could be allowed to enter the U.S. at the border in a 24-hour period or an average of 5,000 over the course of the week before a closure of the border would be triggered.

This was enough for House GOP leaders to declare the agreement is "dead on arrival" in the GOP-led House. Johnson and House conservatives have argued that Biden currently has enough authority to fix many of the problems at the border through executive order.

"I applaud my Republican colleagues led by Rep. Ashley Hinson for telling President Biden directly: you have the existing authority to end the border catastrophe. It was the Biden administration’s disastrous policies — including 64 executive actions — that opened the border," Johnson said in a statement posted on X. "House GOP is united in taking the fight to the President and make him secure the border."

Johnson said on Fox News on Friday that he personally told President Biden "directly that he has existing authority to help end the border catastrophe his policies created" and the "American people deserve nothing less."

Some House Republicans who recently visited the southern border to assess the situation on the ground have advocated for closing the border, describing the situation as a crisis that has overwhelmed U.S. authorities. “We want to get the border closed and secured first,” Johnson said after the visit.

Some Democrats have also acknowledged that there are executive actions Biden can take related to the border without congressional approval, given that he unilaterally eliminated many of Trump's border executive actions when he came into office in 2021.

Just the News asked Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., how he responds to those who argue that Biden could fix a lot of the border issues unilaterally.

"There's a lot of issues here, OK? There's some things he could do," he said. "I'm hoping that as soon as the Senate comes up with their deal, that we get at least a shot at looking at it, voting. I'm not sure if I'll support it. Give us a shot at voting on it."

 
Nicholas Ballasy

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/senate-democrats-have-reached-border-deal-republicans-house-gop-says-its-dead

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Biden’s new climate envoy had a close relationship with CCP/Chinese United Front influence group - Steven Richards

 

by Steven Richards

The Biden Administration continues to emphasize climate cooperation with China, even as the relationship grows more confrontational. The new climate envoy has a history of favorable negotiations with China and close relationships with a Chinese influence group with longstanding connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

 

The White House recently appointed John Podesta as Climate Envoy following the exit of John Kerry from the administration. Yet, Podesta’s previous work with a Chinese United Front-linked organization on climate change raises concerns about his ability to negotiate with China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Podesta has long been a household name in Democratic politics. He is known for his close association with the Clinton family and for being active in climate policy. Podesta first served as President Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff and then later as the campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for president in 2016.

In between his work for the Clintons, he served in the Obama Administration as a counselor to the president responsible for climate policy and before that as a co-chair of President Obama’s 2008 transition team.

Before entering the Obama Administration, Podesta founded and led the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress (CAP), which seeks to advance progressive policies on issues spanning from climate change to the economy.

It was during this period that Podesta worked closely with an entity connected to the Chinese influence apparatus on climate change and other issues.

In late 2009, Podesta led the first delegation from CAP to Beijing. During the trip, the CAP delegation—which included a U.S. Senator and an Ambassador—met with several Chinese officials. Discussions between the two delegations centered on “issues at the forefront U.S.-China relations,” which included climate change.

The Chinese delegation was led by the founder of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), an entity which played an integral part in organizing the dialogue, according to CAP’s report of the trip. CUSEF and CAP held several meetings from 2009 to 2016, both before and after Podesta began serving at the White House.

The China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) is a Hong Kong-based entity founded by business magnate Tung Chee-hwa, a billionaire who is linked to the Chinese Communist Party. After Hong Kong reverted to British control, Tung was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region under the communist Chinese government.

Tung also served as the Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference—“a patriotic united front organization of the Chinese people” that is integrated with the Chinese Communist Party government—from 2005 to 2023.

CUSEF is a registered foreign agent in the United States and would later hire none other than John Podesta’s brother, Tony Podesta, to lobby on behalf of the organization in Washington. In 2015, Podesta filed a lobbying disclosure form with the U.S. House of Representatives to advocate on behalf of CUSEF on “U.S.-China Relations.” According to Open Secrets, CUSEF paid Podesta’s firm nearly $900,000 for three years of lobbying work, from 2015 to 2017.

According to Influence Watch, since 2010, CUSEF has organized an annual dialogue between members of the Democratic Party, Republican Party, and leaders of the CCP. In a 2022 Congressional hearing, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns expressed concern about CUSEF’s covert influence activities in the U.S.

In 2013, John Podesta joined the White House as counselor to the president on climate policy. He, along with a CAP Senior Fellow Tod Stern, was one of the chief officials responsible for the negotiation of the Paris Accords—the climate pact which required signatories to reduce emissions in line with global warming prevention goals.

China’s lead climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, has participated in CAP-CUSEF summits in the past, attending in 2016, according to CUSEF’s website. Coincidentally, Xie Zhenhua, who stepped down as the Chinese climate envoy in December, is noted as having a close relationship with John Podesta’s predecessor, John Kerry. The personal diplomacy between the two men was instrumental in achieving the Paris Accords.

The Paris Accords were criticized as lopsided, favoring China over the United States because of its nebulous “developing nation” status, a destination Chinese negotiators believed warranted lesser commitments than “developed” Western countries. In part because of this, the Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the accords in 2017.

The Obama Administration had previously committed the United States to cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025 while China promised to peak its carbon emissions by 2030, only beginning cuts thereafter.

Peter Schweizer, author of "Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win", noted Podesta’s relationship with CUSEF and suggested that because of it he held countries to different standards on China when it came to climate change. “John Podesta has praised China for its commitment to reducing emissions while at the same time going after countries like Australia, claiming that country’s approach ‘is just not going to cut it’,” he wrote, citing an interview Podesta gave to the Rekindling Hope podcast.

Now, Podesta has been appointed by President Biden to serve as John Kerry’s replacement as the United States Climate Envoy, a position which includes responsibility for interacting with China on emissions reductions.

The Biden Administration has continued to pursue climate cooperation with China, even as the broader relationship between the world’s two largest economic and military powers deteriorates, a trend that began to accelerate during the Trump Administration. In November, President Biden and Chinese President Xi pledged to continue to work together to address the “climate crisis,” including by upholding the Paris Accords.

“[The] United States and China reaffirm their commitment to work jointly and together with other countries to address the climate crisis,” the State Department announced, after a summit in California.

Neither the White House nor the Center for American Progress returned requests for comment from Just the News about Podesta’s past work with CUSEF as it relates to his new position. Podesta could not be reached for comment. 

In a statement released by the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan praised Podesta’s past work on climate change issues, including assisting the Biden Administration with implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, which Sullivan described as “the single largest investment to tackle climate change in history.”

“John is a key architect of turning President Biden’s bold vision – that tackling the climate crisis also represents the single biggest economic opportunity of our time – into a reality here at home,” Sullivan said.

“As he assumes his new role, John will bring both a deep understanding – and a proven model – for how countries around the world can enhance their ambition while unlocking a new era of clean, inclusive, and resilient economic growth,” Sullivan continued.

Steven Richards

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/diplomacy/bidens-new-climate-envoy-had-close-relationship-chinese-united-front-influence

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Judge officially postpones Trump's March 4 DC election interference trial - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Earlier in the day, reports emerged that the case had disappeared form the court docket, prompting speculation that the trial would be postponed as Trump appeals his presidential immunity claims.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday officially suspended former President Donald Trump's March 4 trial in special counsel Jack Smith's election case, The Hill reported.

Earlier in the day, reports emerged that the case had disappeared form the court calendar, prompting speculation that the trial would be postponed as Trump appeals his presidential immunity claims.

Smith in August indicted Trump on charges of conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He has pleaded not guilty and argued he enjoys presidential immunity.

While Chutkan rejected those arguments, Trump appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Chutkan paused proceedings. Smith urged the Supreme Court to decide the matter, though they declined to do so. The appeals court heard arguments last month but has not issued a ruling.

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

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-officially-postpones-trumps-march-4-dc-trial

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How To Ensure a Big, Ugly War with Iran - Victor Davis Hanson

 

by Victor Davis Hanson

When serially attacked, loudly responding that we will only proportionally strike back and wish no wider war will only ensure a big, ugly one.

 

Iranian-backed militias have attacked American installations and forces in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan some 170 times.

Ostensibly, these terrorist groups claim they are hitting US forces to coerce America into dropping its support of Israel and demanding a cease-fire in the Gaza war.

In reality, these satellite terrorists are being directed in a larger effort by Iran to pry the US. out of the Middle East, in the manner of the 1983 Marine barracks bombing.

That way, Iran will be free to fulfill its old dream of becoming a nuclear shield for a new Shiite/Persian terrorist axis from Tehran to Damascus to Beirut to the West Bank and Gaza—surrounding Israel and intimidating the Gulf regimes and more moderate states like Jordan and Egypt into concessions.

These Iranian appendages have made a number of unfortunately correct assumptions about America in general and the Biden administration in particular.

One, after the recent serial humiliations of the flight from Afghanistan, the passivity of watching a Chinese spy balloon traverse with impunity the continental United States, the mixed American signals on the eve of the Ukraine war, the troubled Pentagon’s recruitment and leadership lapses, and the destruction of the US southern border, both Iran and its surrogates feel that the United States either cannot or will do much of anything in response to their aggression.

They see the U.S. military short thousands of recruits, its leadership politicized, its munition stocks depleted by arms shipments to Ukraine and Israel, and the massive abandonment of weapons in Kabul.

Two, they view Joe Biden’s serial appeasement as a force multiplier of these perceptions of American weakness. After entering office, the Biden administration begged for a renewed Iran deal from a preening theocracy. It sought to ensure calm by delisting the Houthis from global terrorist designations and sending hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas and radical Palestinians to buy good behavior.

Biden may have agreed that Iran was the spider in the center of the Middle East Islamic terrorist web, but only thereby to win over it with bribes such as lifting embargoes and sanctions to ensure an Iranian windfall of $90 or more billion in oil sales revenue.

Biden greenlighted a bribery payment of $6 billion to Iran to return American hostages, thereby ensuring more will be taken. It loudly distanced itself from the Netanyahu government. The gulf encouraged radicals to believe they could coerce Israel into accepting radical Islamic states on the West Bank and Gaza.

Three, after hitting American stations and bases 170 times and seeing little sustained, much less disproportionate, responses, Iran and its satellites now feel they are winning proxy wars with the US.

They have all but shut down the Red Sea as an international shipping route—damaging Europe, Egypt, and Israel, which all depend on Red Sea commerce for vital imports and exports.

Iran has forced Biden to publicly alienate the Netanyahu government and push a ceasefire down Israel’s throat. And it has helped to spark international pro-Hamas protests throughout Europe and the US that timid and compliant left-wing governments fear could lose them close elections.

But most damaging are administration spokesmen who mouth the same empty script after each serial attack: 1) The US will respond at the time and place of its own choosing. 2) The US finds no direct evidence of Iranian involvement, although it clearly has supplied the attackers; 3) The US does not wish a wider war and has no plans to attack Iran itself.

Translated to our enemies, it means an 80-year-old non-compos-mentis president is in no position to prevent, much less win, a theater-wide Middle East war that his own serial appeasement has now nearly birthed.

Biden and the Democratic Party know, as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pointed out just prior to the October 7 attacks on Israel, that the administration inherited a deterred and quiet Middle East. And then it blew up on their appeasing watch.

Now they are terrified of a theater-wide conflict breaking out during an election year—a fact known to all of America’s Middle East enemies.

Biden and company have forgotten the ancient wisdom that preparing loudly only for peace guarantees war. To prevent war, it should return to oil sanctions on Iran, embargo its banking transactions, slap a travel ban on Iran and its allies, cut off all aid to Hamas and the West Bank, and restore a true terrorist designation for the Houthis.

US officials must stop aimlessly babbling. If the administration must speak, Washington should do so by conveying disproportionality and unpredictability. And if, and when, America were to strike, it should do so in silent and devastating fashion.

When serially attacked, loudly responding that we will only proportionally strike back and wish no wider war will only ensure a big, ugly one.

 
Victor Davis Hanson

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/02/01/how-to-ensure-a-big-ugly-war-with-iran/

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