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."
Warnings of "catastrophic" food crisis in the Strip draws sharp response from Israeli authorities
Trucks with humanitarian aid arrive at the Palestinian side of the Rafah
border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 2,
2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.
The Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC), the global benchmark for hunger monitoring, has
signaled the emergence of “catastrophic” conditions in northern Gaza,
warning that famine either exists or is imminent without immediate
action. The critical alert, issued Saturday, comes as the United States
explicitly warns it might reconsider weapons deliveries if Israel fails
to improve humanitarian conditions.
The report describes northern Gaza’s
situation as an “emergency,” with more than 130,000 people facing
“catastrophic conditions regarding food access,” noting that access to
food and health services has plummeted since Israel resumed military
operations in the area and ordered civilian evacuation, with aid
supplies reportedly stranded in the Jabaliya combat zone. The assessment
also documents Israel Defense Forces operations’ impact on medical and
civilian infrastructure.
While the report references Coordination
of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) data indicating
October saw the lowest aid delivery since the war began, COGAT officials
contest these findings.
“Every
IPC forecast to date has proven inaccurate and inconsistent with
conditions on the ground, with reports repeatedly predicting decline
only to later document improvement,” COGAT maintains. “The researchers
unfortunately rely on skewed, incomplete data and sources on the ground
with narrow interests. These reports have systematically drawn from
organizations with vested interests and partial, imprecise information,
severely undermining their reliability. Israel has issued detailed
documentation of factual and methodological flaws in previous reports,
which remain unaddressed.”
COGAT asserts that there are no aid
quantity restrictions and emphasizes the IDF’s extensive efforts to
facilitate aid delivery to combat zones.
“IPC reports through October actually
showed steady improvement in Gaza’s food security,” COGAT says. “The
latest report indicated that conditions as of early October, including
in the north, were at their best since the war’s onset. The IDF, via
COGAT, regularly evaluates Gaza’s humanitarian situation, including in
the north, drawing on multiple sources, including humanitarian
organizations active in northern Gaza. We adjust and expand humanitarian
response accordingly.
“Aid reaches northern Gaza directly
through the east and west Erez crossings, established in May
specifically to support northern Gaza. The Erez crossings alone can
process over 600 trucks weekly, with capacity for additional
coordination, and no aid quantity limits exist. Since early October,
northern Gaza has received more than 600 aid trucks, even as the IDF
conducts intensive operations against terror organizations embedded
within civilian areas.
“To minimize combat impact on remaining
civilians, we issued advance evacuation notices southward, coordinated
humanitarian team movements, evacuated hundreds of patients and medical
staff from northern Gaza hospitals, and delivered hundreds of food,
water, and medical supply packages. Over 50,000 liters of fuel and
medical supplies reached northern Gaza medical facilities to sustain
critical services. Last week, despite intensive operations in Jabaliya
and Beit Hanoun, Israel facilitated aid convoy coordination for
civilians remaining in combat zones.”
UNRWA Secretary-General Philippe Lazzarini issued a sharp rebuke to Israel following the alert.
“This comes as no surprise. Famine is
likely present in northern Gaza—a man-made famine. Israel is wielding
starvation as a weapon,” Lazzarini stated on social media.
The alert’s timing coincides with explicit
U.S. warnings that failing to improve northern Gaza’s humanitarian
conditions could affect weapons supplies to Israel. Reports last week
indicated that Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed
dissatisfaction with current measures during discussions with
then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel's progressives would also have called on the international community to pressure Iran and Qatar, rather than hector their own prime minister. Sadly, these Israelis, some of them in desperation to see their loved ones again, are playing into the hands of Hamas.
Fortunately for Israel,
former US President Donald J. Trump was just re-elected to serve a
second term. Within hours, Hamas indicated that now might be a good time
to talk about peace. Qatar, perhaps concerned that its days of
double-dealing might be coming to an end, announced it would be
"stalling" its role as a mediator between the US and Hamas. The
landslide victory of Trump in the US election this week appears finally
to be restoring deterrence.
Israel's society is politically and ideologically split. On one
side are Israelis who understandably want their relatives back, and have
been hoping for a ceasefire. Sadly, they are probably unaware that
Iran, Qatar and Hamas, are loath to relinquish the only bargaining chip
they have, and will undoubtedly drag out releasing even one hostage as
long as they can.
[A]fter 13 months of futile ceasefire negotiations, many Israelis
appear to have trouble realizing that if Hamas and its backers, Iran
and Qatar, so wished, the hostages would be home by now.
If the priority of Israeli progressives were to rescue the
hostages, they would demand that Hamas release them. "The slogan for
freeing the hostages," wrote British journalist Douglas Murray, "...
should never have been 'Being them home.' It should be 'Give them back.'
Now."
Murray has also noted that for years, the Biden administration
has put all its efforts into trying to oust Netanyahu when it would
probably have been better off putting all its efforts into ousting the
Iranian regime.
Israel's progressives would also have called on the international
community to pressure Iran and Qatar, rather than hector their own
prime minister. Sadly, these Israelis, some of them in desperation to
see their loved ones again, are playing into the hands of Hamas. Its
leaders must be delighted to see a divided Israel turn against itself.
Painfully, Israeli activists are doing damage to both their country and
the hostages.
Among Israel's most vocal protestors are prominent Israeli
politicians, backed -- and some funded -- by the Biden administration.
The US appears to desire someone more malleable in Israel's number-one
spot: a person, one assumes, willing to do whatever the US dictates.
The Biden administration's goal appears to be establishment of a
terrorist Palestinian state on Israel's border. In addition, Iran will
soon be able to produce nuclear weapons with which to bomb Israel to
oblivion. This monumentally destabilizing objective was proposed by the
Obama administration in its illegitimate 2015 "Iran nuclear deal,"
officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (JCPOA)...
As American journalist Daniel Greenfield points out: "The
appeasement lobby only has one big idea when it comes to Islamic
terrorists and any other enemies: 1. Give them land..."
Evidence shows that, unfortunately, this strategy does not work.
The failure of the Oslo Accords only emphasizes that fact. The "ceiling"
of each offer becomes the "floor" of the next one, as each concession
is pocketed in the expectation of more.
Meanwhile, in the USA, President-elect Donald J. Trump is already
creating seismic global changes within days, long before his
inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump
was just re-elected to serve a second term. Trump is already creating
seismic global changes within days, long before his inauguration on
January 20, 2025. Pictured from left to right: Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, then US President Donald Trump, Bahraini Foreign
Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and UAE Foreign Minister
Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan at the signing ceremony of the
Abraham Accords at the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington,
DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Israel, under the heroic but much criticized statesman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a leader praised
by historian Andrew Roberts as "The Churchill of the Middle East" –
appears to have brought threats from Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in
Lebanon, under control and can now focus Israel's attention and military
forces on other fronts.
Incomprehensibly, at this crucial period in Israel's existence, the chaotic domestic political
situation has been cooking up unnecessary problems for the nation's
security. Internal turmoil in Israel just serves to stimulate the hope
for victory in its enemies, and less hope for the quick release of
Israeli and other hostages Hamas is holding. "Hamas," wrote JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, "views the unrest inside the Jewish state as an asset."
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump was just
re-elected to serve a second term. Within hours, Hamas indicated that
now might be a good time to talk about peace. Qatar, perhaps concerned
that its days of double-dealing might be coming to an end, announced it would be "stalling"
its role as a mediator between the US and Hamas. The landslide victory
of Trump in the US election this week appears finally to be restoring
deterrence.
Israel's society is politically and ideologically split. On one side
are Israelis who understandably want their relatives back, and have been
hoping for a ceasefire. Sadly, they are probably unaware that Iran,
Qatar and Hamas, are loath to relinquish the only bargaining chip they
have, and will undoubtedly drag out releasing even one hostage as long
as they can. Delaying the release of the hostages would also expand the
time Hamas has to rearm, regroup and attack Israel again "until it is
annihilated", as Hamas senior official Ghazi Hamad announced.
The hope seems to be that if they keep making the lives of Israel's
Jews miserable enough, they will all finally pack up and leave. They
apparently do not know the Jews.
Nevertheless, after 13 months of futile ceasefire negotiations, many
Israelis appear to have trouble realizing that if Hamas and its backers,
Iran and Qatar, so wished, the hostages would be home by now.
"[A]s long as the hostages are useful to their cause," notes
Tobin, "Hamas will hold onto many of them, despite the belief among
some Israelis that it is Netanyahu's stubbornness or political ambition
that is the obstacle to their freedom."
The real aim of agitators on the Israeli left appears to be the collapse of Netanyahu's elected government, and ousting the prime minister, whom they apparently regard as a destructive, self-serving war-monger. Netanyahu is unfairly
deemed responsible for failure to rescue all Gaza hostages by now,
despite a total lack of leverage over the situation other than a
ceasefire/surrender.
Hamas continues to demand two key concessions: a complete Israeli withdrawal
from all of Gaza, and an end to the "blockade." Agreement by Israel
would enable Hamas to import weapons again and to maintain its hold on
power. Keeping hostages is presumably an ideal way to ensure that Israel
will not re-enter Gaza, and jeopardize their safety. Meanwhile, radical
jihadists from Hamas's puppet-master, Iran, continue trying to wipe
Israel off the map (here and here).
Netanyahu and his government seem determined to protect Israel from
repeating the horrors of October 7, 2023. Sadly, this agenda is wrongly
seen by many as a lack of concern for rescuing the hostages before they
are all murdered or die.
Even before October 7, 2023, agitators were protesting Netanyahu's
undisputed electoral victory in what actually appeared an effort to oust him. That seemed the real objective in opposing Israel's badly needed "judicial reform."
If the priority of Israeli progressives were to rescue the hostages, they would demand that Hamas release them. "The slogan for freeing the hostages," wrote British journalist Douglas Murray, "... should never have been 'Being them home.' It should be 'Give them back.' Now."
Murray has also noted
that for years, the Biden administration has put all its efforts into
trying to oust Netanyahu when it would probably have been better off
putting all its efforts into ousting the Iranian regime.
Israel's progressives would also have called on the international
community to pressure Iran and Qatar, rather than hector their own prime
minister. Sadly, these Israelis, some of them in desperation to see
their loved ones again, are playing into the hands of Hamas. Its leaders
must be delighted to see a divided Israel turn against itself.
Painfully, Israeli activists are doing damage to both their country and
the hostages.
Among Israel's most vocal protestors are prominent Israeli politicians, backed -- and some funded
-- by the Biden administration. The US appears to desire someone more
malleable in Israel's number-one spot: a person, one assumes, willing to
do whatever the US dictates. This is probably not the best way to treat
an ally. The Biden administration's goal appears to be establishment of
a terrorist Palestinian state on Israel's border. In addition, Iran
will soon be able to produce nuclear weapons with which to bomb Israel
to oblivion. This monumentally destabilizing objective was proposed by
the Obama administration in its illegitimate 2015 "Iran nuclear deal," officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" (JCPOA), the sunset clauses of which guarantee Iran's regime, in just a few years, as many weapons as they can build.
According to Iran's former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, all it would take for Iran to obliterate Israel, a country smaller than the state of New Jersey, was one bomb.
Anti-Netanyahu-government agitators, apart from those in the Biden
administration, include much of Israel's media. So-called "progressive"
political leaders in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe are apparently more worried about trade than a world upended by an expansionist regime with nuclear weapons.
As American journalist Daniel Greenfield points out:
"The appeasement lobby only has one big idea when it comes to Islamic terrorists and any other enemies: 1. Give them land..."
Evidence shows that, unfortunately, this strategy does not work. The
failure of the Oslo Accords only emphasizes that fact. The "ceiling" of
each offer becomes the "floor" of the next one, as each concession is
pocketed in the expectation of more.
On the pro-Netanyahu end of the spectrum is a sizable group of
Israelis and other supporters, acting to preserve the nation against
future assaults while fending off attempts to replace the prime minister
with one who would surrender to Hamas. The opposition, no doubt, hold
to an illusory hope of welcoming the hostages back home. Sadly, only
about half the remaining hostages are thought still to be alive.
The hostages seem to have become Hamas's "insurance policy": Israel
will not presumably be able to attack Hamas in the future for fear of
killing them. It is believed Hamas's late leader, Yahya Sinwar, for his
personal safety, surrounded himself with hostages. Sinwar, far from
wanting to be a "martyr", prioritized his personal safety as a
pre-condition for a ceasefire. Found on his body when the Israelis
finally dispatched him was the passport of an UNRWA teacher.
Israel's few international supporters have, in the main, offered
erratic or limited assistance while imposing unconscionable conditions.
Western leaders, including the US, attempted to micro-manage and constrain
Israel's handling of the war, to the extent that without their
interference, the Gaza campaign could possibly have been brought to an
end months ago. "Do what you have to do," Trump recently told Netanyahu, but, according to one report, he asked Netanyahu to please finish the war by inauguration day, January 20, 2025.
The failure for agreeing to a ceasefire appears to lie with Hamas's
intransigence, coupled with mixed signals from the Biden
administration. By threatening Israel and withholding weapons, the US
administration has, ironically, protracted the war and given Qatar,
Iran, and its proxies -- Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and
the Houthis – the idea that all they have to do is wait, and the US, by
forcing Israel to heel, will hand them a victory.
The Gaza Ministry of Health -- run by Hamas - bewails the large number of alleged civilian casualties in Gaza; a number hugely and falsely inflated. Hamas fails to reveal exactly how many of the casualties were terrorists. Hamas deliberately causes casualties by concealing
weapons depots and command centers in the middle of crowded schools,
hospitals, and mosques so that Israel will be blamed. This practice,
known as "Hamas's CNN strategy,"
consists of showing dead babies to television crews so the media and
international community will force Israel to stop defending itself,
supposedly for "humanitarian" reasons.
Israelis demonstrating for Netanyahu's ouster claim that they hold him primarily responsible
for intelligence and security shortcomings which enabled the October
7th disaster. Prime ministers, however, are reliant for information on
the state's military and intelligence services, which may have failed
to provide him with real-time warnings of Hamas's impending attack. The
combination of internal forces, aided by Western politicians in their
aim to overthrow Israel's democratically elected government, creates
discord that plays straight into the hands of Hamas, Hezbollah, Qatar,
Iran, and Israel's other enemies. Israel's internal turbulence most
likely suits the Biden administration, which has still not acted
strongly against the lynchpin of all this devastation, Iran. On the
contrary, the Biden administration rewarded Iran with "closer to $60 billion" -- a windfall that Iran's regime must at least partially draw on to finance their wars in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
In a disrespectful comment
implicating Netanyahu and the entire Israeli Knesset (Parliament), the
US reportedly described Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant -- who they
appeared to consider a compliant potential replacement for Netanyahu --
as the "only adult in the room." That remark came after they had
seemingly given up on replacing Netanyahu with former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and, had considered former (briefly) Prime Minister Yair Lipid.
Netanyahu seems determined to protect Israel to the end from future
attacks by adversaries, both within and without. Gallant was dismissed from the government earlier this month. "[T]rust between me and the minister of defense has cracked," Netanyahu said.
Lapid, Gantz, Gallant, Biden, Blinken and others in the circle all
appear to be like-minded, acting questionably in the interests of
Israel's elected government, and arguably against the security of the
state itself.
Perhaps Israel's progressives need to be reminded why Israel exists,
and why Jews have every right, and every obligation, to defend their
community, their nation, and the integrity of their country's borders.
Even before the US election on November 5, Netanyahu had clearly
decided to go it alone. He apparently did not inform the US
administration about "Operation Grim Beeper,"
which caused pagers carried by Hezbollah's terrorists to explode; or of
the aerial bombardments in Lebanon that that followed it. Netanyahu's
actions indicate his distrust
of the Biden administration (well-earned). Biden has withheld or
slow-walked weapons shipments, and has warned Israel not to "escalate"
the situation. Every day since October 8, 2023, however, Hezbollah has
bombarded Israel - a country roughly the size of Wales -- with rockets,
missiles and attack drones. Netanyahu announced that "No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can't accept it either."
Meanwhile, in the USA, President-elect Donald J. Trump is already creating seismic global changes within days (here, here and here), long before his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
"After the terrible massacre on October 7", said
a Likud party spokesperson, "we cannot reward terrorism and enable a
Palestinian state. Prime Minister Netanyahu has proven over the past 20
years that he is the only barrier to the creation of a terror state
between the [Mediterranean] Sea and Jordan."
US President Lyndon Baines Johnson's words on America in his 1965 inaugural speech apply equally to Israel:
"They came here - the exile and the stranger... They made
a covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty,
bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all
mankind; and it binds us still. If we keep its terms, we shall
flourish."
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession,
he is member of the International Bar Association, the National
Association of Scholars, a faculty member at Intercollegiate Studies
Institute, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Retired from law, his
particular field of interest is political theory interconnected with
current events. He holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology. Dr. Haug is
author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest
for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning
in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The
American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute,
National Association of Scholars, Israel Hayom, Jewish News Syndicate,
Anglican Mainstream, Document Danmark, James Wilson Institute, Jewish
Journal, and others.
Speculation spiked after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaced Gallant with Katz that the attempts to draft Haredim would be halted, given Netanyahu and the haredi coalition parties' opposition.
Incoming defense minister Israel Katz attends a
discussion and vote on the inclusion of MK Gideon Saar as a Minister in
the government at the plenum hall of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament
in Jerusalem on September 30, 2024.(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz is not blocking the IDF from issuing 7,000 draft orders to haredim, the IDF said on Tuesday.
In fact, despite all kinds of speculative reports that the 7,000 draft orders
will be delayed by Katz replacing outgoing minister Yoav Gallant
earlier this week or are being fought about between the IDF and the
Attorney-General's Office, the IDF said they will be issued this coming
Sunday.
Likewise, the IDF rejected any reports that its division dealing with drafting Haredim is being closed due to low turnout.
Speculation spiked after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
replaced Gallant with Katz that the attempts to draft Haredim would be
halted, given Netanyahu and the haredi coalition parties' opposition.
In
April, the High Court of Justice froze government funding to Haredi
institutions where the students are refusing to be drafted.
DESPITE THE IDF’s calculation that it needs 7,000 new troops, Monday’s
vote to revive an older haredi draft bill was approved by the majority
of the Knesset members. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
On
August 6, only dozens out of 1,000 haredim who were sent prior draft
notices in a series of 3,000 notices actually showed up to IDF
recruitment offices, marking the historic first batch of haredi call-ups
as a near-failure.
IDF delays presenting official numbers
The
IDF delayed presenting official numbers, probably embarrassed by the
result, but eventually admitted that out of the 3,000 summoned draftees,
only around 100 showed up.
Some
defense officials have claimed that many more haredim had originally
planned to show up for their draft date, maybe as high as 50%, but that
the intimidation both in general online and public spheres, as well as
physical intimidation by haredi protesters, need the recruitment offices
scared most of them away.
Issuing
the additional 7,000 orders is an attempt to boost the numbers, while
in the meantime, Netanyahu continues to wrestle with his Haredi
coalition partners about whether he can pass a new law that will exempt
all or most of them without losing votes from others in the coalition,
including within the Likud.
Experts beleive Trump's new team will focus on making America affordable again by defeating inflation, making the country secure again by fixing the border and restoring common sense to public policies from energy to transgenderism.
Donald Trump sent an unmistakable
message with his first few personnel choices for his second term,
dispatching to the halls of power players like Elise Stefanik, Tom
Homan, Lee Zeldin and Stephen Miller who take a no-nonsense approach to
their jobs and will focus on everyday Americans’ wants and needs rather
than those of global elitists and Washington special interests.
And if the president-elect’s new team can stay focused on making
America affordable again by defeating inflation, making the country
secure again by fixing the border and rounding up criminals and
restoring common sense to public policies from energy to transgenderism,
one of the nation’s top pollsters believes he can cement a lofty place
in history.
“Donald Trump now has the opportunity to become the most influential
president since Ronald Reagan,” pollster Scott Rasmussen wrote Monday in
a private report to clients of his Napolitan Institute.
“If over the next four years he and the Republican Congress can
achieve the three main priorities established by the American people, he
will have presided over a fundamental political realignment and paved
the way for ongoing GOP success.”
Rasmussen cautioned, however, that Trump’s legacy of impact will be
determined by how well he can align a Congress that often finds excuses
not to act behind executing his agenda.
“Trump’s lasting influence and the potential realignment are far from
assured,” Rasmussen wrote. “They depend entirely upon whether or not
the incoming administration can do what voters are hoping for: making
the economy work, securing the border, and returning to common sense
about gender identity. If they fail, voters will move on, and the Trump
era will be just a blip in the nation's history.”
The need for a GOP Congress to act in convincing ways in 2025 led one
of Trump’s former advisers to urge the president-elect to intervene in
Wednesday’s battle for Senate majority leader, which pits establishment
Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn against Florida’s Rick Scott, who has
increasingly become a MAGA favorite.
“I would like to see President Trump full throatedly say who he wants,” former White House aide Seb Gorka told the Just the News, No Noise television
show Monday night. “And I would like that to be Scott because otherwise
the swamp has that magnetic, huge, sucking vacuum power, and they'll do
what they normally do. So a public, you know, pro Scott action from the
president is what we've got to see. That's my humble request, Mr.
President.”
No matter how the Senate leader race ends, Trump has already filled
early positions on his team with get-it-done leaders who are more
interested in execution than limelight.
That begins with his new White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, the
first women ever to assume the job and who as campaign manager helped
engineer Trump’s historic political comeback.
Wiles sent a powerful message to her future staff early last
Wednesday when she declined to take the podium or take any credit when
Trump asked her to speak at his victory speech.
Interpreted: Actions speak louder than words in the Trump 2.0 universe.
Those who have been invited onto Trump’s team so far share similar
traits. They are tough. They have taken on Herculean battles and
succeeded. And they focus more on executing plans than engineering
television victory laps.
At just 40, Stefanik rose quickly inside the ranks of the House GOP
to the No. 4 position of Conference chairwoman, winning accolades for
recruiting more winning female candidates to the Republican ticket.
Her prosecutorial-like questioning and firm actions led to the
resignation of two of the university presidents and widespread reforms.
She will likely flash more of that tenacity at the United Nations, an
organization with similar antisemitism and anti-American sentiments that
has had to admit some of its workers had allegiances to the terror group Hamas and may have aided in the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities against Israel.
During his time in Congress, Zeldin was part of a small team of House
Republicans that banded together to take on the FBI and intelligence
community and its false narrative of Russia collusion. He then nearly
pulled off the most improbable election win of 2022, falling just a few
points short of winning the governorship in dark blue New York.
Over the last year, Zeldin played an unheralded but essential role in
helping forge a coalition to will reluctant Republicans into the
absentee and early voting game they had eschewed for years at their own
peril. Backed by the late Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, Zeldin
paired with America First Works to assemble a vote-chasing machine that got several million low-propensity voters to the polls early in a huge win for the Trump campaign and down ticket races.
Former Rep. Doug Collins told Just the News on Monday night
that Zeldin is perfectly suited to be a transformational figure as the
leader of the Environmental Protection Agency, taking over an agency
that is a golden calf for liberal climate change activists and a pariah
for conservatives and business advocates who argue its regulation is
stifling the economy and freedom.
Zeldin will likely “start off by doing as best he can to slim down
this organization and get it right sized,” Collins predicted. "You know,
again, that's going to be difficult. There's a lot of government unions
and other things to think about. But let's, let's say you don't have to
fund, you don't have to fill positions. There are things that you can
do to get this agency back into a right size.”
Miller was the architect of many of Trump’s first-term illegal
immigration crackdowns and border initiatives, and during the four years
Trump was out of office he turned America First Legal into a powerhouse
that waged counter-lawfare against Democrats.
Homan is a no-nonsense lawman who served as Trump’s first term acting
director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he oversaw
the deportation of large numbers of illegal aliens let into the country
under former President Barack Obama.
Over the last two years, Homan has worked to help families who lost
loved ones to the fentanyl crisis while crafting blueprints to re-secure
the southern border and deport the estimated 14 million illegal aliens
believed to have entered the country under Biden and Harris.
In naming Homan border czar, Trump declared, “there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.
"Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal
Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have
no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job."
In congressional hearings, Homan showed the steely grit that Trump
likes in his inner circle, smacking down the likes of Democratic Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for suggesting illegal aliens weren’t
criminals. And in a contentious interview with the CBS News show 60 Minutes
last month, Homan gave a matter-of-fact answer when asked a gotcha
question about whether there was a way to conduct mass deportations
without separating families.
"Of course there is. Families can be deported together," he answered.
Rasmussen, the pollster, said the key to success for a Trump second
term is as simple as the three basic promises he made on the campaign
trail: secure the border, defeat inflation and reverse the insanity of
far left policies like allowing men in women's sports.
"If over the next four years he and the Republican Congress can
achieve the three main priorities established by the American people, he
will have presided over a fundamental political realignment and paved
the way for ongoing GOP success," he said.
Next year will be "the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," declared the Israeli finance minister.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu during a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, June 18, 2023.
Photo by Amit Shabi/POOL.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich,
who also manages the Defense Ministry’s civilian administration in
Judea and Samaria, declared on Monday that he had instructed his staff
to start developing the “necessary infrastructure” to extend Israeli
sovereignty to the disputed territories.
President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in
last week’s election “brings an important opportunity for the State of
Israel,” Smotrich declared at a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party
at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
The minister told lawmakers he intends to
table a government decision stating that Israel will “work with the new
administration of President Trump and the international community to
apply sovereignty and achieve American and international recognition.”
Next year will be “the year of sovereignty
in Judea and Samaria,” stated Smotrich, adding that Trump, “who showed
courage and determination during his first term, will support the State
of Israel in this move.”
“Today, there is a broad consensus in the
coalition and in the opposition from all parts of the Knesset against
the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the
existence of the State of Israel,” he continued. Calling Palestinian
terrorists the “new Nazis,” he said that they will “have to pay the
price in territory to be taken from them forever—both in Gaza
and in Judea and Samaria.”
He added: “We will cut off their hope of
destroying us and declare to the entire world that we are here to stay
and are not going anywhere.”
Smotrich said he was looking forward to
strengthening cooperation with the United States “for the benefit of
strengthening the economic and commercial relations,” accusing the Biden
administration of having boycotted his office for the past four years
while “intervening in Israeli democracy.”
According to a report on Tuesday on Israel’s public Kan Reshet Bet
radio station, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately
stated that the issue of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria should be put
back on the agenda as soon as Trump enters the White House again on Jan.
20.
As part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords signed
in late 2020 that normalized Israel’s diplomatic relations with the
United Arab Emirates, Netanyahu agreed to suspend plans to extend
Israeli sovereignty.
Trump assured Abu Dhabi at the time that
the U.S. would not recognize Jerusalem’s sovereignty in Judea and
Samaria until 2024 at the earliest.
Before the sovereignty plans were shelved,
American and Israeli officials established a joint working group to
coordinate the potential move.
A senior Israeli government official told Srugim,
a news site catering to the religious Zionist community, that “already
in 2020, [Israeli Justice Minister Yariv] Levin carried out
comprehensive staff work with the Americans and prepared orders, maps
and regulations. There is even already a government decision. Everything
is ready.”
However, an unnamed official in the incoming U.S. administration told Israel’s Channel 12 News on Tuesday that “there are currently no talks on the issue and it is not on the agenda at all.”
The American source indicated that the
president-elect would prioritize a normalization agreement between
Israel and Saudi Arabia, an issue he claimed was also “more important”
to the government in Jerusalem.
s “higher” on President-elect Trump’s
agenda is, for example, the agreement with Saudi Arabia, an issue he
emphasizes is also “more important to the Israeli government.”
Leaders and activists across Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have been nearly unanimous in their response to Trump’s victory.
“Time for sovereignty!” Binyamin Regional
Council head Israel Ganz, who also leads the Yesha Council umbrella
group of Jewish towns, tweeted on Nov. 6, adding: “One strong Trump, one
Jewish state.”
Beit El Council head Shai Alon told Israel’s Maariv newspaper on Thursday: “It is time to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”
Trump will usher in a “golden age,” he
said. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to act more strongly in the
Judea and Samaria areas, to put an end to murderous terrorism
here and to continue broad and extensive Israeli construction throughout
the entire territory.”
David Friedman, who served as Washington’s ambassador to Jerusalem under Trump and is reportedly being considered for reappointment,
earlier this year published a book that presents a view for peace that
doesn’t depend on the long-argued-for “two-state solution” and would
allow for full Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
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Trump won the largest Jewish county in the country, the only entirely
Jewish town and village, and some of the densest, fastest growing and
most Jewish neighborhoods in America.
Borough Park, Brooklyn is the densest Jewish neighborhood in the
country. Its two square miles contain nearly 100,000 Jewish people in
23,000 households. 83% are married and only 2% are divorced. 96% are
members of synagogues. This was where large crowds protested pandemic
lockdowns, tearing down playground fences and burning masks.
Trump won over 90% of the vote in most Borough Park districts. On
14th Avenue and Rabbi Weissmandl Way, Trump won 96% of the vote in one
very Jewish district.
In Chicago’s West Rogers Park, a Muslim terrorist shot a Jewish man
who was walking to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and then did battle
with police while shouting, “Allahu Akbar”.
Trump won the more Orthodox areas of West Rogers Park, which Chicago Magazine described as, “a world of synagogues, kosher bakeries, and Hebrew bookstores” by over 70%.
A pro-terrorist mob descended on the Pico-Robertson community in Los Angeles, and assaulted Jewish community members outside the Adas Torah synagogue while the police did nothing.
Trump won the Pico Robertson community. He also won the adjoining communities
of Beverly Hills and the Orthodox Jewish community in the Fairfax area
near the Holocaust museum, and which had suffered a BLM pogrom that
vandalized synagogues and businesses in 2020. Down in the valley, he
also won Valley Village as well as some Jewish areas in Encino and Tarzana.
In Surfside, the most ‘Jewish community’ of the Miami area, where Jews make up a third of the population, Trump won
61% of the vote. In Aventura, Miami, a melting pot of Jews from Latin
America, the former USSR and the Middle East, where the majority of the
population is Jewish, Trump won 59% of the vote.
These snapshots of some of the densest Jewish communities in the
country, in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Florida, show how Jews
actually voted on Election Day.
Despite the push polls from liberal Jewish organizations and dubious
exit polls, actual precinct data from the largest Jewish neighborhoods
in the country shows Jews voted for Trump.
Precinct data, unlike polls, don’t represent some statistical
cross-section of the population and can’t be biased, they show how
actual Jewish communities voted in a truly objective way.
Closer breakdowns in New York and New Jersey show in depth the impact
of the Trump vote in the most Jewish neighborhoods and areas in cities
and states.
In Brooklyn, in Crown Heights, the home of the Lubavitch chassidic
movement which Trump visited before the election, the area shines bright
red amid a seat of blue from the surrounding hipster and black
communities. Trump won 74% of the vote in Crown Heights South.
A red beach on the map of Brooklyn represents the chassidic
communities of South Williamsburg where Trump won an average of 90% of
the vote. Midwood, home to tens of thousands of more Orthodox (but not
Chassidic) Jews is another bright stretch of red with Trump winning 90%
or more of the votes in many precincts.
In the Syrian Jewish enclaves of Gravesend, Trump won between 85% to 91% of the vote.
But it’s not just religious Jews.
Trump won over 70% of the vote in the Brighton Beach enclave founded
by Russian Jews. Queens, home to a large population of older working
class Jewish retirees and Russian immigrants (along with working class
Irish and Italians of another era) is almost all red.
Trump won some Kew Garden Hills, Queens precincts by over 80%. The New York Times wrote that Kew Garden Hills “supports one of the biggest Orthodox Jewish communities in New York City.”
Moving outside the city and further upstate, in the chassidic town of Palm Tree, NY, Trump won 98% of the vote, by 7489-122 and in the village of New Square, which is also all chassidic, Trump won 3,456 votes to 12 votes for Kamala.
In the larger Rockland County, NY, which has the largest Jewish
population of any county in the country at 31%, Trump won a majority of
the vote.
While Bruce Springsteen came out of Monmouth County, NJ and
campaigned for Kamala, the area is home to the third largest
concentration of Jews in the state, it’s also one of the most populated
and fastest growing Jewish communities, and Trump won it.
Trump won Ocean County and Passaic County, NJ even more decisively
67% to 31%. In Ocean County’s Lakewood township, where Jews make up 2
out of 3 residents, Trump won 99% of the vote. In Bergen County’s
somewhat more liberal Teaneck Modern Orthodox Jewish precincts, Trump
won 71% of the vote.
While Democrats and the media will go on peddling their own push poll
and surveys which will claim that the vast majority of Jews are
Democrats (and some will go on believing them), the hard data from
election precincts shows very clearly how Jewish neighborhoods voted.
Trump won Jewish neighborhoods across America. These communities are
diverse, representing Middle Eastern, Latin American, Russian and
Orthodox Jews. Many of these communities do not show up in polls and
surveys which capture only a very conventional liberal demographic of
third generation Eastern European and German descended Reform Jews.
Democrats, liberal Jewish groups and the media ignore some of the
largest and fastest growing Jewish communities in America because they
don’t fit the liberal suburban ‘Temple’ template.
The Trump campaign did not make that same mistake and won them.
Pro-Trump Jewish communities can be ignored in polls and surveys, but
they can’t be ignored on Election Day. And the most Jewish
neighborhoods in America voted for Trump.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is
an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and
Islamic terrorism.
Terror against Israel is "legal" – "no one can evade this fact"
"The armed option" must be decided on as "a national decision" and "be made in the framework of the PLO"
The PA is trying to have its cake and eat it too!
On
the one hand, the PA is still angry that Hamas launched its terror war
against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, without consulting it first, and has
been able to take all the credit for successfully massacring over 1,100
Israelis. As a result, Hamas has overwhelming support among
Palestinians.
Accordingly, despite the
animosity, the PA needs Hamas on board with the PLO, due to the vast
support among Palestinians for Hamas. Despite the destruction Hamas has
brought on the Gaza Strip, the terror movement is still 2.5-3 times more popular than its rival Fatah, the ruling party in the PA/PLO.
So,
in order to "have its cake" and "eat it too," PA Chairman Abbas'
advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash
made the following statement, sending two messages that stand somewhat
at odds with each other:
The PA/PLO endorses terror as "legal" and does not oppose "the armed option"
Hamas or other terror organizations are not
allowed to single-handedly decide and launch terror attacks. Such
decisions must be made "together" and only "in the framework of the
PA/PLO" – in other words: Hamas must subordinate to the PA/PLO
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "It is unacceptable to say that the resistance (i.e., Palestinian terror) is legal or illegal – it is legal.
No one can cancel this fact or evade this fact. But the resistance
needs to be a comprehensive national project. Not a project of one
movement (i.e., Hamas) that drags all the Palestinians after its
decision. No, if we want to choose the armed option, we must all go together in a national decision. The national decision needs to be made in the framework of the PLO, the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people. No faction that feels like carrying out armed resistance can take the Palestinian people together with it without taking into account the considerations, results, and consequences."
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 1, 2024]
Voters rejected anti-natural gas measures in Berkeley, home of the first ban on new natural gas hookups, as did the blue state of Washington. But in the last days of the Biden-Harris administration, their Energy Department rushes to secure the ban on LNG export permits.
The Biden-Harris
administration had been a champion of an extensive climate agenda. Not
only did Democratic candidate Kamala Harris lose the presidential
election to former President Donald Trump, a man who has called “climate hysteria” a “hoax,” voters in two Harris stronghold states rejected anti-fossil fuel measures.
In 2019, Berkeley, California, became the first city in the
U.S. to ban natural gas hookups in new construction. The Sierra Club,
which is managing $1 billion from billionaire Michael Bloomberg to fund a campaign to prevent consumers from accessing fossil fuels, hailed the move and kept a running tally
on other California cities that followed with similar legislation.
However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the ban, and
then rejected a request for a rehearing in February, effectively killing the law.
Undeterred, the City of Berkeley initiated a voter ballot
measure this election that would have taxed the owners of buildings over
15,000 square feet based on the amount of natural gas it used annually.
Voters rejected the measure 68% to 32%. Alameda County, where Berkeley is located, voted for Harris 72% to 25%, showing that even fervent Harris supporters aren’t given to anti-fossil fuel regulations.
In Washington state, where the vote for Harris currently stands at nearly 58%, voters passed ballot measure No. 2066,
which repeals part of a state law expediting the state’s transition
from natural gas to electricity. The ballot measure also prohibits
cities and counties from banning or penalizing the use of natural gas.
"A pompous turd"
“Thus, it’s clear that even the most-liberal voters in
America want to be able to use the fuels that they like, and that
includes seeing that familiar blue flame on their gas stovetop,” Energy
expert Robert Bryce wrote on his Substack.
However, during a post-election press briefing Wednesday,
Washington's Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee suggested he may seek court
action to block the will of the voters.
“I think there’s a very good chance the court will find it
was defective by violating the single-subject rule and, therefore, won’t
actually be going into effect,” Inslee said. Brian Heywood, founder of Let's Go Washington, the conservative political group that backed the measure, told KIRO radio that Islee is "arrogant" and a "pompous turd."
While Washington voters weren't hot on natural gas bans,
61.7% of them rejected a ballot initiative that would have repealed the
states Climate Commitment Act. The 2023 act, according to The Center Square,
provides for carbon auctions as part of a program designed to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. Under the CCA, emitters are
required to obtain emissions allowances equal to their covered
greenhouse gas emissions at quarterly auctions hosted by the state
Department of Ecology, or traded on a secondary market, like stocks and
bonds.
As much as liberals focus on climate change issues, polls show the issue isn’t a priority for voters. A Gallup poll released in October
found that the economy is the most pressing issue influencing who
they’ll vote for Tuesday, whereas climate change came in second last
before transgender issues. Other polls asking voters about the economy
and climate change have found similar results. A September New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters found that 66% strongly support or somewhat support increases in domestic fossil fuel production.
Asking for greater transparency
Despite there being little evidence that voters were
attracted to climate issues in the election, the Biden-Harris
administration is rushing to complete a study on the impacts of
liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg reports
that if the study finds that LNG has higher emissions than coal, it
could impede Trump’s plan to end the Biden-Harris administration’s pause
on LNG export permits.
President Joe Biden enacted a pause on export permits in
January, arguing it was a temporary move to further study the climate
impacts of LNG exports. The decision faced Congressional opposition, as well as lawsuits.
Supporters of the ban had cited a controversial study by a Cornell
professor with a history of anti-fossil fuel activism, and analysis by the Breakthrough Institute found it was riddled with errors. That analysis prompted a congressional investigation into how much the Department of Energy relied on the study for its decision to pause the export permits.
The saga leaves little doubt that the DOE study will find
LNG exports produce more greenhouse gas emissions than coal. The DOE is
rushing to complete the study this month, according to Bloomberg,
and the department won’t finalize the study until after a 60-day
comment period is complete. This will leave very little time before
Trump’s second administration begins on Jan. 20. If the findings are
negative, it could slow down the permitting of new LNG projects.
It’s also possible that the study is already complete. The
House Oversight and Accountability Committee received information that
the DOE had completed a draft study in 2023 but never disclosed that information. Last month, Reps. James Comer, R-Ky; Pat Fallon, R-Texas; and Clay Higgins, R-La., wrote a letter
to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm asking for greater transparency
on the process that led to the pause, including copies of the draft
study, if it exists.
A DOE spokesperson told Just the News that it's
reviewing the letter, and confirmed that it's completing a study on the
impacts of LNG. "The DOE's process to update the analyses that informs
its review of applications to authorize exports of U.S. natural gas to
non-free trade agreement countries is well underway. When the updated
analyses are ready, we will publish them for the public to review and
provide comment," the spokesperson said.
While the Biden-Harris administration tries to salvage what
it can of its climate agenda, the American voters in the election
largely moved in another direction. How far Trump moves the country in
that direction will be seen next year.
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When I was a kid, America fretted about “the heartbreak of
psoriasis,” an advertising catch-phrase that raised awareness to an
almost hysterical degree about a skin condition that legitimately
afflicts millions of people. Today, a legitimate psychological condition
is bringing misery to untold millions, perhaps even tens of millions,
of Americans who need relief: Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS.
In the wake of the Right-wing rout of blue states in last week’s
election, Democrat talking heads have devolved into angry
finger-pointing and circular firing squads as they wrestle with
understanding how it is possible that America could have rejected their
agenda so resoundingly. Some Democrats have even begun to wonder if
perhaps a little self-examination is in order, but it seems that far
more progressives cannot quit externalizing the blame and directing
their fury at anyone in a MAGA hat – even among their own friends and
family members.
Unhinged examples of disappointed Kamala Harris supporters abound on
the internet, especially at the Libs of TikTok account on X (formerly
Twitter), which shares the emotional breakdowns of progressives who feel
compelled, inexplicably, to exhibit their mental instability on social
media for the wonder and entertainment of all.
Is it virtue-signaling? A catharsis of some kind? An existential cry
into the void? Who knows, but these performances include such
eyebrow-raising examples as the woman who shared a message for her family to “fuck off and choke on your turkey” at the holiday dinner she now won’t be attending. Another Kamala fan suggests to her fellow women that they should immediately divorce their Trump-supporting husbands, if not poison them.
These are actually pretty mild examples. There are of course many,
many instances in which Democrat women and beta males literally cry and
scream their election frustration into the camera, and those videos are
rather amusing in a schadenfreude kind of way. But there are some that reveal a disturbing and distinctly not amusing degree of bitterness and hate.
An X user named Derek, for example, tweeted,
“I have cut ties with my MAGA father and sister. I will never, ever
speak to them again. I’ll spit on their graves. If you still hang out
with your ‘friends’ or family that voted for fascism, you need a long
look in the mirror.”
It sounds like the person who needs to take a long look in the mirror is Derek. If you look forward to spitting on the graves of your father and sister simply because they voted differently from you, you need professional help.
Sadly, this is par for the course for progressives whose
consciousness is consumed with political activism, who subscribe to the
old slogan that the “personal is the political,” and who have been
whipped into a frenzy of hatred by the propagandist media and political
leaders who relentlessly demonize their opponents as dangerous fascists,
Nazis, deplorables, garbage, white supremacists, and so on.
As an extreme example of what this nonstop provocation can lead to: Libs of TikTok reported that a Minnesota man who had expressed his fear of a Trump-led government “inflicting their misguided beliefs” on his family, committed suicide after murdering his wife, his ex, and his two children
after the election. Obviously there was something else deeply wrong
with this man, but the panic-mongering to which he had been subjected by
his Party’s messaging clearly was the trigger that pushed him over the
edge.
The manipulative liars of the Left-wing media are the guiltiest of
feeding this mental illness, which is what it begs to be called. A prime
example is a recent episode of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, hosted by the race-mongering Joy Reid. She asked her guest, Yale University chief psychiatry resident Dr. Amanda Calhoun,
How do you interact with people you know voted for this?
If you’re an LGBTQ person and know someone in your family voted
essentially against your rights or you’re a woman, knowing this man was
calling people the B word. JD Vance was literally calling Kamala Harris
the trash. And said we’re going to take out the trash. I know a lot of
black women were incredibly triggered by that. If you meet somebody and
you know they voted for the people who called you trash, or if you’re
Puerto Rican and you know someone voted that way, do you recommend just
from a psychological standpoint being around them? We got the holidays
coming up.
First, Reid’s claims about LGBTQ “rights” and Vance’s statements are
complete distortions and even fabrications. Second, her question was
obviously designed to lead her guest to suggest that progressives should
refuse to make peace with Trump-supporting family members.
Dr. Calhoun did not disappoint. She replied to Reid, in part,
So if you are going through a situation where you have
family members, close friends who you know have voted in ways that are
against you, like what you said, against your livelihood, it is
completely fine to not be around those people and tell them why. To say I
have a problem with the way that you voted because it went against my
very livelihood and I’m not going to be around you this holiday. I need
to take some space for me… I think it may be essential for your mental
health.
Again, this woman is a chief psychiatry resident at Yale University.
Her professional advice is not that people set politics aside in order
to heal and protect the far more important bonds of family and
friendship, but that they confrontand reject those family members and friends because you view them as enabling fascism, if not being fascists themselves.
Conservative schadenfruede over “liberal” meltdowns aside,
the Left’s state of mind on this score is a deeply serious problem for
Americans. A country cannot sustain itself internally when so many of
its citizens are being driven to nurture a deep, unforgiving hatred and
anger for their political opponents. This is a sickness that ruins
friendships, that creates painful rifts in families, that divides us as
antagonists, that leads to bloody division. This is what civil war does
to a people.
That, of course, is the intention: to keep us at each other’s
throats, to enmesh political conflict so deeply into the fabric of our
personal relationships that we cannot extricate ourselves from it
without war. This evil agenda must not be allowed to corrode us as
Americans.
