Time to End UNRWA's Jihad against Israel - Bassam Tawil

 

by Bassam Tawil

"Now is the time for reform. Reform for rehabilitation - so that the minds of Palestinian children can no longer be poisoned. So that there can be a shared vision of peace in this land." — Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner, X (Twitter), January 27, 2024.

 

• "Hamas is involved in everything. Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers. Hamas manages UNRWA. They are those in charge in the agency. From the day Hamas came to power, they took control of everything. The UNRWA employees are from Hamas. The heads of the departments and the senior staff are Hamas members." —Palestinian from the Gaza Strip to an Israeli officer in a recorded call, X (Twitter) December 27, 2023.

• It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas.

• In a moment of rare honesty, in 2021 the UN acknowledged that UNRWA's school curriculum referred to Israel as "the enemy," taught children mathematics by counting "martyred terrorists," and included the phrase "Jihad is one of the doors to paradise" in Arabic grammar lessons.

• "Before UNRWA, this terrorist accomplice [Abdallah Mehjez] worked for the BBC..." — Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

• "Now is the time for reform. Reform for rehabilitation - so that the minds of Palestinian children can no longer be poisoned. So that there can be a shared vision of peace in this land." — Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner, X (Twitter), January 27, 2024.

• Western taxpayers should not be funding terror groups disguised as humanitarian organizations.

• UNRWA was established to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, not to support the development of terrorism.

• It is time to dismantle UNRWA and end the farce of Palestinian "refugees." There are no real refugees. There are millions of Palestinians living -- often in unspeakable conditions (so that Israel can be blamed) -- under the control of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

• It is the UN that enables and perpetuates this human rights abuse. These Palestinians live under Palestinian and Arab regimes that should long ago have absorbed them instead of keeping them in "refugee camps" with the cheery "humanitarian" promise that they will one day flood Israel, turn the Jews into a persecuted minority in their own country, then bring about its demise.

It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas. Pictured: UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini speaks at the Global Refugee Forum, in Geneva, Switzerland on December 13, 2023. (Photo by Jean-Guy Python/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has announced that he decided to fire several employees of his agency after Israeli authorities provided information about their "alleged" involvement in Hamas's massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023.

"To protect the Agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay," Lazzarini said. "Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified" by the Israeli accusations.

Guterres asked the UNRWA chief to investigate the involvement of the employees in the Hamas atrocities and "ensure that any UNRWA employee shown to have participated in what transpired on October 7 or any other criminal activity be terminated immediately and referred for potential criminal prosecution," said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. "An urgent comprehensive review of UNRWA will be conducted."

The UN, which has long ignored or denied the involvement of its employees in anti-Israeli terrorism and incitement, is now feigning shock and horror by the participation of some of its employees in the Hamas atrocities, during which 1,200 Israelis were killed, thousands more wounded and more than 240 kidnapped to the Gaza Strip for use as hostages. During the October 7 carnage, Israelis and others (here and here) were brutally murdered, beheaded, mutilated and burned alive.

The UN does not need to launch an investigation "to establish the truth" about the involvement of its employees in terrorism and incitement against Israel.

There is no reason why the UN and its heads should be "horrified." For years, there has been ample evidence regarding the close connection between UNRWA and Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas.

Former UNRWA head Peter Hansen openly conceded that Hamas members were likely employed by the agency. "Oh, I'm sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime," Hansen told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in October 2004. He added:

"Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another."

In recent years, there have been several instances of Palestinian terrorists employed by UNRWA or using its facilities, equipment and vehicles to carry our terror attacks.

Between 2003 and 2004, 13 Palestinians employed by UNRWA were arrested for alleged involvement in terror attacks on behalf of a variety of terrorist groups, including Hamas. In one example, Nahed Rashid Ahmed Attalah, director of food supplies for UNRWA refugees, used UN vehicles and his UN free travel permit to aid the terrorist activities of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group consisting of several terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. Attalah admitted to using his UN vehicle on multiple occasions to transport arms, explosives, and terrorists to carry our terror attacks against Israel.

Since the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war, Israeli troops have located dozens of explosive devices in UNRWA bags, as well as assault rifles and 15 explosive belts. Hamas terrorists have also been shooting from UNRWA schools at Israeli soldiers.

In a recorded call, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip told an Israeli officer in December 2023:

"Hamas is involved in everything. Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers. Hamas manages UNRWA. They are those in charge in the agency. From the day Hamas came to power, they took control of everything. The UNRWA employees are from Hamas. The heads of the departments and the senior staff are Hamas members."

In a moment of rare honesty, in 2021 the UN acknowledged that UNRWA's school curriculum referred to Israel as "the enemy," taught children mathematics by counting "martyred terrorists," and included the phrase "Jihad is one of the doors to paradise" in Arabic grammar lessons.

Despite the acknowledgment, the UN did not take substantial measures to end the anti-Israel incitement, and despite the revelations, Hamas terrorists disguised as teachers have continued to work for UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip.

Recently, the Israel Defense Forces discovered copies of letters from Hamas's armed wing to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Education, requesting that teachers be excused to participate in "military training" exercises. The result: many Palestinian teachers were employed by UNRWA.

One letter read:

"Subject:
Lenient Work Schedule

With regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to provide the brother Nur-Aldin Naim Mahmoud Siam, who works at the Aljanan high school (as a math teacher), with a flexible work schedule, as the nature of his position with us requires constant follow-ups."

Another letter by the Hamas armed wing to the Ministry of Education read:

"Subject:
Granting Release

With regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to release the brother Moataz Abed-Alrazk Muhammad Alfara, who works at the education administration in west Khan Yunis, as we need him for military training on the date 28/09/2023. This date is not flexible."

UN Watch, a non-governmental organization whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the UN and its agencies, revealed on January 10 that UNRWA-employed teachers in the Gaza Strip celebrated the Hamas massacre and praised the murderers as "heroes." The teachers also glorified the "education" the terrorists had received, gleefully sharing photos of dead or kidnapped Israelis and urging the execution of the hostages.

According to UN Watch, a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in the Gaza Strip included thousands of hateful posts. These 3,000 are in addition to 133 UNRWA educators and staff who were exposed for promoting hate and violence in UN Watch's last report on March 2023.

In the Telegram group, UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula, who regularly posts information on salaries, shared a photo of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives, with the caption: "Wait, sons of Judaism." He also glorified Hamas terrorist Akram Abu Hasanen as a "friend" and "brother" and prayed to God to "admit him to paradise without judgement."

UNRWA teacher Shatha Husam Al-Nawajha said of the Hamas terrorists: "They breastfed Jihad (holy war) with their mother's milk. May Allah grant them victory."

UNRWA teacher Abdallah Mehjez: "He does Hamas' work urging Gaza civilians NOT to heed warnings to move out of harm's way, and instead to serve as human shields. Before UNRWA, this terrorist accomplice worked for the BBC..."

"This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers' incitement to Jihadi terrorism," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

The Telegram chat group, meant to support UNRWA teachers, contains dozens of files with staff names, ID numbers, schedules and curriculum materials. Yet, the UNRWA teachers regularly share videos, photos and messages inciting to Jihadi terrorism, and openly celebrating the Hamas massacre and rape of civilians.

When UN Watch exposed the social media group, UN officials denied that the teachers work for UNRWA.

"Five days ago, we exposed a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza replete with praise of the Hamas massacre of October 7th. UNRWA cast doubt that they work for them. The UN spokesman disparaged us," wrote Neuer.

"[T]he group admins and members are indeed part of UNRWA..

"Group admins include Safaa Mohammad Al Najjar from Rafah (UNRWA ID#30026166). She often shares administrative information about UNRWA to the group, including UNRWA employee lists...

Now recall that UNRWA's position, in the words of [its spokesman] @Adnan_Hasna, is that 'We don't know who's in this Telegram group.'"

"Over the course of my military career I worked extensively with UNRWA in both the West Bank and Gaza," commented Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner.

"My role as a senior humanitarian liaison officer was to facilitate the humanitarian operations. I was an advocate in the defense establishment and over the years on social media for the importance to support the organizations activity... Now is the time for reform. Reform for rehabilitation - so that the minds of Palestinian children can no longer be poisoned. So that there can be a shared vision of peace in this land. So the Palestinian leadership, step up to their responsibilities (and don't defer them to the UN). So the term refugee will not be exploited to erase the connection to this land by one or the other."

The US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland are countries have so far paused funding for UNRWA in response to the revelations of involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorism against Israel. Western taxpayers should not be funding terror groups disguised as humanitarian organizations. These organizations have long served as flunkies of antisemitic regimes and Islamic extremists seeking to destroy the world's only Jewish state. It now remains to be seen if these countries will refuse to submit to pressure from the Palestinians to renew funding to UNRWA.

The notion that members of UNRWA staff were involved with, celebrated, advocated, and assisted with imprisoning Hamas's hostages is revealing. One of the hostages released in November 2023 was held for 50 days in the attic of an UNRWA teacher. The teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected his medical needs.

The dismissed employees are just the start.

UNRWA was established to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, not to support the development of terrorism. It is shameful that it took the world so long to take a stand when what was going on was plain for all to see.

The UNRWA teachers who celebrated the massacre of Israelis were simply acting on what they have been teaching their students for years. The teachers are complicit in promoting and teaching Hamas's ideology. They demonstrated how UNRWA has become an arm for terrorism and Jihad against Israel.

One can only hope that the Biden administration now realizes the grave mistake it made in 2021 when it announced the resumption of US assistance to UNRWA. The Trump administration had halted funding to UNRWA after accusing it of being "riddled with waste, fraud and concerns of support to terrorism."

It is time to dismantle UNRWA and end the farce of Palestinian "refugees." There are no real refugees. There are millions of Palestinians living -- often in unspeakable conditions (so that Israel can be blamed) -- under the control of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

It is the UN that enables and perpetuates this human rights abuse. These Palestinians live under Palestinian and Arab regimes that should long ago have absorbed them instead of keeping them in "refugee camps" with the cheery "humanitarian" promise that they will one day flood Israel, turn the Jews into a persecuted minority in their own country, then bring about its demise.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20356/unrwa-jihad-against-israel

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Iranian advisers killed in Israeli strike on IRGC HQ in Syria - state media - Joanie Margulies

 

by Joanie Margulies

The attacks on an IRGC operational headquarters destroyed the building, local media reported.

 

An Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli air force pilots

(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)

Two people were killed and several wounded on Monday in what Iranian and Syrian media said was an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, with Iran's ambassador to Damascus denying reports the location was an Iranian military post.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the explosions.

Iranian state media reported the two deaths but did not identify the victims. Tasnim news agency said Israel "attacked an Iranian military advisory center" in Syria, but Iran's envoy to Syria, Hossein Akbari, denied the details on the target and said the casualties were not Iranian.

Syrian state media, citing a military source, said Israel had launched an air assault on several locations south of Damascus. It said the attack left both dead and wounded but did not specify any numbers.

Explosions were detected near the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine complex on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.

Arab media reported that farming areas south of Damascus were targeted due to the proximity of an IRGC stronghold.

The strikes allegedly attacked an operational headquarters for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a source in Iran's regional alliance told Reuters.

The airstrikes completely destroyed the Quds Force branch of the IRGC's Shiite stronghold, Arab media reported.

An IRGC Ground Forces commando. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members who served as military advisers in Syria were killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media reported in November, in the first reported Iranian casualties during the ongoing war in Gaza.

Britain calls for de-escalation in Middle East

Following strikes in Syria and Sunday's attacks in Jordan that killed three US soldiers, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on Iran to diffuse tension, Israeli media reported.

Sunak said he was disturbed by what was happening in the Middle East, and called on the Iran to "continue to reduce" tensions in the region.

The United States has also engaged Iranian forces in Syria since the beginning of the war, with November airstrikes targeting IRGC sites, including a training facility and a safe house near the cities of al-Bukamal and al-Mayadeen. 

The United States also killed five Iran-backed fighters in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on a pre-emptive airstrike last week, after several attacks against US forces. 

Tal Spungin, Jerusalem Post Staff, and Reuters contributed to this report. This is a developing story.

Joanie Margulies

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-784150

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House GOP’s impeachment articles against Mayorkas zero in on parole programs he created - Bethany Blankley

 

by Bethany Blankley

Lawmakers identified more than a dozen parole programs they argue Mayorkas illegally created to circumvent laws established by Congress.

 

(The Center Square) -

As part of making their case to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Homeland Security Committee Republicans identified more than a dozen parole programs they argue Mayorkas illegally created to circumvent laws established by Congress.

Texas, Florida and other states have sued over many of the programs that have allowed illegal border crossers to remain in the U.S., agreeing with the committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who is leading the charge for impeachment.

Mayorkas argues he is justified to create new parole programs based on laws Congress established. In Federal Register entries describing the parole programs, DHS argues the Immigration and Nationality Act gives him “discretionary authority to parole noncitizens into the United States temporarily” under “reasonable conditions … on a case-by-case basis … for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.’’ He also argues federal law authorizes him to establish and administer rules, including those governing parole.

“Parole is not an admission of the individual to the United States, and a parolee remains an ‘applicant for admission’ during the period of parole in the United States,” DHS contends, adding, it “may set the duration of the parole based on the purpose for granting the parole request, and may impose reasonable conditions on parole.”

DHS also says it “may terminate parole in its discretion at any time” and those “who are paroled into the United States generally may apply for employment authorization.”

The committee shared the parole programs it argues are illegal with The Center Square:

The Central American Minors Parole Program, which DHS implemented April 11, 2022. CAM provides certain minors from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who illegally entered the U.S. to secure “protected status,” preventing them from being deported and allowing them to petition the government to bring in extended family members, including adult caregivers. In response, Florida led a multistate coalition suing to stop it, arguing, “There is no authority in federal law for this sort of program.”

In April of last year, DHS announced enhancements to the CAM program, which the committee and the states that are suing also argue is illegal.

The Uniting for Ukraine Parole Process, which DHS implemented April 25, 2022, created a process for Ukrainian citizens to apply for advance authorization to travel to the U.S. for the purpose of seeking a discretionary grant of parole to be decided “at the port of entry, on a case-by-case basis.”

Mayorkas also created four nearly identical new parole programs through a Dec. 22, 2022, memo for Venezuelans (implemented Oct. 18, 2022), Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans (implemented Jan. 6, 2023). He did so “to address the challenges posed by irregular migration,” he argued. Under current law established by Congress, few citizens from these countries are allowed to legally enter the U.S. on parole, the committee contends.

DHS said in Federal Register entries that the programs are part of a “long-term strategy – a shared endeavor with partner nations – focuses on addressing the root causes of migration, which are currently fueling unprecedented levels of irregular migration, and creating safe, orderly, and humane processes for migrants seeking protection throughout the region. This includes domestic efforts to expand immigration processing capacity and multinational collaboration to prosecute migrant smuggling and human-trafficking criminal organizations, as well as their facilitators, and money-laundering networks.”

In response to this program, Texas, leading a 20-state coalition, sued, arguing Mayorkas created “an illegal visa system.”

Last February, DHS proposed a "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways" rule change to alter the U.S. asylum law process. DHS argues the U.S. attorney general and DHS secretary “have long exercised discretion, now expressly authorized by Congress, to create new rules governing the granting of asylum” through the Refugee Act of 1980. The rule proposes new “pathways” for foreign nationals to enter the U.S. claiming asylum; under current law they would not likely qualify to receive asylum and be processed for removal.

Last May, DHS announced it established a new CBP-One App as part of its now final rule, "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways," despite widespread opposition and another lawsuit filed by Texas. Texas sued to stop it, arguing, “The Biden Administration deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive.” Managing a phone app “does not meet even the lowest expectation of competency and runs afoul of the laws Congress passed to regulate immigration.”

On July 10, 2023, Mayorkas announced another new "Family Reunification Parole Process" for Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Columbians even after a federal judge in Florida ruled more than once that the parole programs were illegal.

This program included opening regional processing centers for the first time in U.S. history outside of the United States, The Center Square first reported. The first processing centers, in Colombia and Guatemala, enable citizens there to make an appointment to meet with an immigration specialist to help them be processed before they ever arrive to the U.S. with the goal of applying to become a lawful permanent resident.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has called on Congress more than once to impeach Mayorkas for “dereliction of duty,” arguing that despite court rulings in lawsuits she’s filed ordering the parole programs to be halted, Mayorkas expanded them.

Moody told congressional leaders earlier this month, “With every court battle we have won, and every fact we have revealed, to say he has been derelict in his duties is an understatement.” She and other AGs argue, “The United States House of Representatives has a duty and responsibility to the American people. Secretary Mayorkas must be impeached.”

 
Bethany Blankley

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/parole-programs-cited-impeachment-articles-be-filed-against-mayorkas

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Biden's proposal to outsource green regulations raises conflicts of interest and security concerns - Steven Richards

 

by Steven Richards

The Biden White House proposed a rule requiring federal contractors to pay foreign environmental groups to collect emissions data and certify submissions. The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has concerns.

 

A proposed rule from the Biden administration would require federal contractors to delegate "quasi-regulatory" authority to two environmental activist groups, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) collecting annual climate disclosures and target data for reduction in greenhouse gases from federal contractors. If the rule is implemented, federal contractors would be required to pay fees to these groups to comply with the regulation.

According to House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, “The rulemaking process was clearly subverted in order to favor certain environmentalist groups. And there were significant conflicts of interest where White House staff were advocating for regulations that would benefit their friends and former employers."

The report, released this week by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, comes after an investigation into the proposed rule. The committee raised concerns about “the legality of the delegation of quasi-regulatory authorities to private entities” in its interim report and vowed to continue its investigation.

The committee held two hearings to probe why these specific entities were selected by the administration to provide climate related data from federal contractors.

The committee found that the White House Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ)—a division of the Executive Office of the President—may have exerted “inappropriate” influence on the committee responsible for writing the regulation to “unfairly” benefit these activist groups. The CDP and SBTi have ties to current CEQ staff and Democratic donor groups, respectively, which raises conflict of interest concerns.

The committee also warned the foreign ownership and activities of these groups, including operations in China, indicate that the White House may have overlooked significant national security considerations of delegating any of its authority to these groups.

You can read the report below:

2023_01_22 - Preliminary Findings - SBTi Investigation.pdf

“Our committee has already exposed many concerns that arise from making U.S. contractors disclose their emissions to a private foreign entity. The findings in this report make those concerns all the more urgent,” he said. “We will continue to investigate this matter and bring transparency to this process,” Lucas said.

In November of 2022, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) council proposed a rule to “implement a requirement to ensure certain Federal contractors disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk,” according to the Federal Register. FAR handles regulation for procurement and acquisition in the federal government and has representatives from the General Services Administration, the Defense Department, and NASA on its council.

The rule specifically names the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Science Based Tracking initiative (SBTi) as vendors that federal contractors would be required to use to report their emissions and “validate” science-based targets for reducing them.

Specifically, it would require federal contractors—which can vary from defense to construction companies—to use a CDP questionnaire and a SBTi evaluation to become certified as comply with the administration’s climate goals, and each of those groups charges fees for data collection and compliance review.

The inclusion of requirements to use CDP and SBTi did not emerge in a vacuum, but were spearheaded by a former employee of CDP that worked at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in the administration in what appears like a classic conflict of interest.

Betty Cremmins, the Director for Sustainable Supply Chains at the CEQ, “led efforts” to include requirements for federal contractors to use CDP and SBTi to disclose emissions and set targets, according to the report. Yet, Cremmins previously worked for CDP for 10 years, from 2010 to 2020, according to the report. Cremmins’ LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) profiles have been deleted.

Emails contained in the report show that Cremmins was in constant contact with her former colleagues at CDP while her council was advising FAR on drafting the proposed rule. This was contrary to what CEQ told the committee, the report said, providing evidence from CEQ testimony.

“Ms. Cremmins was in almost constant communication with CDP and SBTi for many months after the December 2021 memo, while simultaneously advising the FAR Council on the proposed rule,” the committee report reads. “In some cases, Ms. Cremmins went as far as coordinating with CDP to ensure their messages to the FAR Council aligned,” the report reads.

In one telling email, a former coworker at CDP emailed Cremmins to congratulate her on advancing green regulations from her office, specifically a federal "Buy Clean" initiative.

“When I first met you, you said your goal was to make CDP the law—and you did!” she said.

“[There’s] a whole lot more ahead to bring our massive $650B in spend [sic] to net zero emissions by 2050. It's almost like we need some GHG disclosure and target-setting or something…” Cremmins said in her response. The greenhouse gas disclosures and target-setting are precisely what the proposed rule would mandate through CDP and SBTi.

Neither CDP nor SBTi responded to inquiries from Just the News about the potential conflicts of interest laid out by the committee. Neither the Council on Environmental Quality, nor Cremmins’ office could be reached for comment. The White House press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

In addition to the potential conflicts of interest, CDP and SBTi are not American climate groups but are both registered outside the country, raising national security concerns, the committee said in its report.

CDP Worldwide is the parent organization which has locations across the world. It is registered in England as a charity, according to the group’s website. One of its affiliated groups is CDP North America which is registered in New York, City as a 501(c)3.

CDP operates in Latin America, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and elsewhere through subsidiaries, local partners, and legally separate organizations—like the North American branch. Its operations in one of America’s key competitors, China, raises specific concerns.

CDP Worldwide has board members with a business or government history in China, specifically working with state-owned enterprises, which are under the control of the Chinese communist government, and the special government of Hong Kong—a legal autonomous province of China.

The Science Based Tracking initiative (SBTi) has close ties to CDP. The group describes itself as a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments,” according to its website.

WRI, one of the groups behind SBTi, has its own Chinese connections.  According to its 2022 annual report, its China operations are advised by Zhou Dadi, a former director of a research institute at a Chinese government body, He Jiankun, a former Vice President of Chinese state-backed university Tsinghua, and Qin Baoxing, a former Vice Minister and member of the Chinese State Council. One of the witnesses who testified before the committee raised specific concerns about the rule relating to national security, specifically highlighting the apparent Chinese connections.

“Delegating oversight functions to an entity supported by foreign governments, including China, raises serious concerns about the impact the Rule would have on procurement for national security,” Eric Fanning, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association told the committee. Fanning also told the committee that a requirement for SBTi to “validate” emissions tracking plans would give that foreign entity power to shape which groups the government contracts with.

“It is unthinkable that this proposal would outsource governance to an international body, allowing foreign influence over who is qualified to build military equipment to protect our country,” he said.

Despite the presence of board member connections to Chinese state-owned companies and government bodies, the committee concluded that the FAR council did review these potential issues before moving forward with the rule.

“When asked if national security concerns were raised regarding government contractors disclosing potentially sensitive information to private third parties, including SBTi, which is a foreign based company, the FAR Council suggested that those issues had not been discussed,” the report reads.

The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment asking if these national security concerns were addressed during the drafting process.

In addition to foreign connections, SBTi also received support from a known Democratic dark money group, New Venture Fund, raising further conflict of interest questions.

One of SBTi’s backers, the We Mean Business Coalition, is backed by the New Venture Fund, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon. New Venture fund was described as a Democratic dark money group by the New York Times and according to Influence Watch, "is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the network of five nonprofits created and managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy consulting company that caters to major foundations and organizations on the political Left." 

Ultimately, the committee vowed to move forward with its investigation and concluded “that the evidence shows that the decision to include CDP and SBTi in the proposed rule was based on a desire to steer power, influence, and regulatory authority to favored special interest environmental activist groups.”

Steven Richards

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/regulation/biden-wh-proposal-outsource-green-regulations-raises-conflicts-interest

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Joe Biden's legal win against Texas has one problem: The Border Patrol doesn't seem to want to cooperate - Monica Showalter

 

by Monica Showalter

They say they are staying put on that matter of taking down the Texas National Guard's razor wire.

 

Joe Biden has been in a courthouse free-for-all against the State of Texas, which seeks to protect its border from foreign invaders against Biden's wishes, creating a legal battlefield to shut the state's effort down. Thus far, the Supreme Court -- John Roberts and the gals on the bench -- has ruled for Joe.

According to Newsweek:

The Biden administration secured a significant win over Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday after the Supreme Court voted to allow the removal of razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Court voted 5-4 in approval of the White House's request to vacate an injunction from the Fifth Circuit in October, which blocked President Joe Biden's administration from instructing federal agents to cut down wire installed in Texas to deter illegal migration.

So with that supposed high court victory in hand, I've been waiting for Biden to send in the Border Patrol to start cutting down all the razor wire the Texas National Guard has put up at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's orders and ... nothing seems to be happening.

I'm probably not the only one. Here is what is going around on Twitter:

 

Climate action offers an opportunity for the nation to come together and do some really big things. pic.twitter.com/HxJlA6ABEK

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 28, 2024

That may be explained by this story that ran in the Daily Mail:

U.S. Border Patrol say there are 'no plans' to dismantle the razor wire installed by the state of Texas along the southern border despite an ongoing legal battle between the Lone Star State and the Biden administration.

Texas is currently entangled in a multifaceted legal clash with the federal government concerning the security of the Texas-Mexico border. 

The legal challenges include the federal government's objection to Texas' recent seizure of Shelby Park near Eagle Pass, ongoing lawsuits regarding the removal of razor wire erected by Texas, and the placement of buoys in the Rio Grande that deliberately block migrants swimming across. 

Texas contends that it is acting in 'self-defense' against what it characterizes as a migrant 'invasion.'

Really? I thought Joe Biden wanted to assert his federal authority by stepping in to show Texas who was boss by cutting the razor wire, and then either federalizing the Texas National Guard or else start arresting them. We could go full third-world on this, with one domestic army fighting another. And photos of the Border Patrol cutting the razor wire to let another million or so illegals in would make such great campaign photos (for President Trump). What was holding Joe back?

According to the Daily Wire, it might just be the Border Patrol itself, which has declared its support for Texas, joining 25 states which have also declared support for Texas's assertion of its right to protect its border from foreigners breaking in.

The official union of U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a statement on Thursday backing the Texas National Guard’s attempts to secure the southern border and slamming the Biden administration for its “catastrophic” border policies.

The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), which has more than 18,000 members, said that the “rank-and-file” Border Patrol agents “appreciate and respect” the measures Texas has taken to repel the record flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. under Biden.

“TX NG and rank-and-file BP agents work together and respect each other’s jobs. Period,” the NBPC said. “If TX NG members have LAWFUL orders, then they have to carry out those orders.”

Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott doubled down on using razor wire to repel migrants from illegally crossing the border after the Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents have the authority to cut through the wire to allow illegal immigrants into the country. On Friday, The Daily Wire found that Texas authorities have not only maintained existing razor wire fortifications but have added razor wire to border barriers, all while continuing to bar Border Patrol from establishing a presence at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.

 So Texas is moving forward, carrying on what it has been carrying on before Joe took them to court, and amassing allies, such as the 25 states who have pledged support for Texas's efforts.

Biden meanwhile, is acting as he has his hands tied, not wanting to make a move so long as the Fox News cameras are there to record it, and the migrants are ready to surge on in.

He wants power, but he has no power over Texas because his own Border Patrol is openly denouncing him and Texas is going about its business, Court or no Court.

Where he does have power, such as in shutting the border entirely, a full presidential power he can enact at his discretion, he certainly isn't going to use, being in favor of open borders and the special interests that benefit from open borders.

That makes him look weak. Let's see him get in there and send troops to take down the razor wires before the cameras.

We know he won't do it, because his poll numbers are tanking on migrant issues and sure enough, it's the top issue for voters, according to polls.

So there he stands, with his hands tied, frozen, unable to move, wanting to move but not moving. It's like he didn't plan on actually winning in Court, or expected Texas to run away.

No wonder our enemies watch this fool in action and make their decisions accordingly. They'll be sending more "asylum seekers" over -- to one of the non-Texas borders soon.

Image: Meme, Twitter screen shot

 

Monica Showalter

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/joe_bidens_legal_win_against_texas_has_one_problem_the_border_patrol_doesnt_seem_to_want_to_cooperate.html

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Egypt becomes Arab world's 'bad guy' over Gaza's Rafah crossing - Ohad Merlin

 

by Ohad Merlin

Videos have been circulating online of Gazans imploring Egyptian soldiers to let them pass, and reports of bribing Egyptian soldiers into letting Gazans out of the strip have begun to appear.

 

People sit in front of the gates as Palestinians with dual citizenship wait outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. October 14, 2023.

(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

Spectators strolling these days through Cevdet Paşa boulevard in Istanbul will encounter unusual displays and loud demonstrations in front of the Egyptian consulate in the city. Some days it’s a faceless statue of bird in a cage; in others it’s a closed gate separating between medical equipment and food on one side – and corpses-shaped shrouds and artificially ventilated children on the other.

In all cases, two words will adorn the metaphorical “obstacles for freedom”: “Refah Kapısı”, Rafah gate. These displays and demonstrations are broadcast daily by Qatari Al-Jazeera and Turkish TRT, in an attempt to throw slime at Egypt and accuse the largest Arab country of surrendering to Israeli demands and not making sure that the Rafah border crossing is open to bring in aid and bring out the wounded from Gaza.

Noticeably, the Rafah border crossing plays an additional trump card for forces opposed to Egypt on the regional level, as Turkey, Qatar and Hamas are all allied as part of the Muslim Brotherhood axis, while Egypt outlawed the Brotherhood roughly one decade ago following the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, and in line with most of the eight decades of the history of the modern Arab Republic of Egypt, in which a secular, military leadership traditionally showed inherent disdain for the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideologies, its members and its political structure.

The situation at the Rafah border crossing

The Rafah border crossing is the only official point of access between Egypt and the Gaza strip. Located in the southern-central part of the roughly 14-kilometer-long border, it serves as a gateway between the namesake towns of Rafah on both sides of the border.

Photos from the past few days have shown tents of evacuees from the northern part of the Gaza strip essentially touching the fence in the new tent neighborhood of Gazan Rafah; while the Egyptian side also took measures to make sure no Gazans would make it past the border, building a series of mounds, fences and other fortifications between the two sides to keep away unwanted refugees.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023 (credit: BANDAR ALGALOUD/COURTESY OF SAUDI ROYAL COURT/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

The Gazan side of the crossing changed hands officially several times, from Israel to the Palestinian Authority to Hamas; sometimes also under European supervision and other times completely shut due to security issues; and always subject to changes as quadrilateral relations between Egypt, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Israel see ups and downs.

Although Egyptian president Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi claimed several days ago that 600 trucks of aid pass through the crossing daily, the crossing is nevertheless under constant scrutinization by Egypt’s adversaries, located at the epicenter of a global campaign to pressure Egypt, not Israel, into bringing in more aid and getting more Gazans out.

As of lately, videos have been circulating online of Gazans imploring Egyptian soldiers to let them pass, and reports of methods to bribe Egyptian soldiers into letting Gazans out of the strip began to appear.

And, indeed, an article published by Le Monde three days ago exposed a network of brokers and agencies who sell permits for exorbitant prices of thousands of dollars per person in order to exit the Gaza strip.

Some reports by critics of the Al-Sisi regime have made allegations that the Rafah crossing, as well as these other agencies, are run by Ibraheem Al- Argani, a prominent businessman and tribal leader in the Sinai peninsula, who also happens to be a close friend of Al-Sisi and presumably a member of the Egyptian intelligence services.

This indirectly implicates El-Sisi’s close circle of profiting from the plight of Gazans. Some relatives of Gazans even started GoFundMe campaigns to help their families leave the Gaza strip and make it to safety.

Some Gazans, however, seem to be lucky enough to exit the Strip through special invitations or contacts. The most prominent of those was Wael Al-Dahdouh, director of Al-Jazeera’s office in Gaza, who was flown to Doha a couple of weeks ago following years of reporting from Gaza for the Qatari mouthpiece and especially harsh hardships during the past war, including losing family members such as his son – also revealed by the IDF spokesman to be a militant from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement aligned with Iran.

Another influencer who made it past the gates all the way to Doha was Motaz Azaiza, a Gazan influencer and journalist who broadcasted from within Gaza during the war and gained a large following, showing the close relations of media personnel in Gaza with the same government who provides asylum and a safe haven for the leaders of the terror group Hamas in Doha.

Online campaign to pressure Egypt

The hardships at the crossing also brought with them a viral online campaign under the hashtag “Open the Rafah Crossing” in Arabic is currently underway. 

This campaign apparently gained track when Osama Gaweesh, a UK-based journalist originally from Egypt and a hardline critic of the Al-Sisi regime, simply tweeted the hashtag earlier this month, later adding in another tweet: “as an Egyptian citizen, I apologize to all our people in Gaza.

Shortly after that, in mid-January, a rather spontaneous rally convened at the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate headquarters in Cairo, where protesters chanted “there’s a crossing between us and our families, the Zionist is controlling us”, “as long as Arab blood is cheap – let any president fall!” and “we want the crossing open!”

The campaign then spread virally with thousands of appearances over the past few weeks and a potential reach of millions of users across the Arab speaking sphere. A recent participant who joined this already trending campaign, and who may be deemed surprising, is no less than the BDS movement, more specifically their Arabic speaking outlets. While usually directed at Israel, the past days have seen an uptick in the movement’s attempts to apply pressure on the Egyptian government as well.

In one post, the movement accused that, while “The Israeli enemy places the responsibility for preventing the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip on Egypt… response from the Egyptian authorities is insufficient to deny the accusation of (Egyptian) participation in genocide,” wondering: “Does the ambiguity of the current situation between Egypt and Israel regarding the Rafah border crossing reflect their joint coordination, and therefore shared responsibility (for genocide)?”

Al-Sisi’s response and Gazans unconvinced

In an attempt to reduce pressure, Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi said in a speech he delivered last week that “If I were the reason for not bringing in a loaf of bread to Gaza – where would I run from my creator? The Rafah border crossing is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week… however, measures taken by the other side, by Israel, to allow us to bring in (aid) without anyone opposing it – that is the reason for this (problem)," he said.

"It’s a form of pressure (from Israel) on the Strip and its residents because of the conflict between them regarding the subject of the release of hostages," he continued, "Meaning, they use this as a means of pressure on the population."

This remark may refer to Israel’s addressing Egypt as the sole bearer of responsibility for the Rafah crossing during its response for South Africa’s complaint at the International Court of Justice, as Israel’s representative Christopher Staker replied to a measure calling Israel not to impede access to Gaza by fact finding missions and international bodies by stressing that “access to Gaza from Egypt is under the control of Egypt.”

However, not many Gazans were convinced by Al-Sisi’s statement, and continued insinuating that Egypt is an accomplice of Israel. One commenter wrote “Sisi claims that the Rafah crossing is open and was never closed during the war… may Allah curse you in this world and the next one. Filthy Zionist who loves lies and deception;” while another user responded: “this is a party who’s working for the benefit of the Mossad.”

Another user published a caricature by Yemeni caricaturist Kamal Sharaf showing a saddened Gazan child chained in his throat and two hands by shackles adorned with Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian flags which impede him from reaching water and bread, as if to say that these three countries are complicit in starving Gazan children.

The user added “the Rafah crossing ill remain a curse which would hunt Al-Sisi… the Rafah crossing exposed Egypt and its role in the sieging of Gaza.”

Ohad Merlin

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-784112

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Trump Has Reason to Rage—But Needs to Stay Calm and Get Even Rather than Mad - Victor Davis Hanson

 

by Victor Davis Hanson

Trump must concentrate on the disaster of the Biden administration and reiterate nonstop the agendas of 2025 that will save us from tottering on the brink.

 

 

Donald Trump gave one of his best and most conciliatory speeches of his political career after his win in the recent Iowa primaries—that might explain why the media would not cover it. Later, to answer an ad hoc ambush reporter’s question whether he would hold grudges, he emphatically said he did not.

Yet after his win in New Hampshire, Trump went ballistic at Nikki Haley’s earlier charges that he, rather than Joe Biden, was cognitively challenged, past his prime, and a perennial loser of popular votes.

In response, Trump shed his short-lived Iowa temperance. He went whole-hog after Haley’s dress and her affectations and trashed her character. He tweeted that she was a “birdbrain,” and on and on.

For six years, observers have noted the disconnect between Trump’s stellar record of governance, his occasional sense of humor and even self-criticism—and his ad hominem venom that often turns off the 3-7 percent of the electorate in the suburbs who otherwise might vote for him.

Reasonable calls to tone it down by pundits, aides, and friends do not work with Trump, and perhaps for several understandable reasons.

One, Trump is reactive in his “they started it, I finish it” mode. His theory of deterrence is to be disproportionate in retort to eliminate future preemptive attacks. Almost all of Trump’s crudeness was in disproportionate response, sometimes even to minor offenses.

In such a world of Trump deterrence, if you do not relish a crude Trump, then don’t first talk about cutting off his head, blowing him up, stabbing him, shooting him, or lighting him on fire, or don’t spread lies like “Russian collusion,” “laptop disinformation,” or that the influence-selling Biden consortium was innocent of shaking down foreign interests for millions of dollars that were routed into the clan’s coffers.

To put it another way, remember how Barack Obama went ballistic over the yarns, often fueled by Trump himself, that he was born in Kenya (a mythos he himself fueled by allowing his book to be plugged as the work of a Kenyan-born, exotic-named author, e.g., “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”).

But what would a prickly Obama have done had right-wing prosecutors, mirror images of a Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, or Jack Smith, indicted him over his garnering and intentionally not reporting the names of major contributors in 2008 (rather than the federal election commission taking five years to fine Obama $375,000 for what was essentially campaign fraud).

What would Obama have said or done had a federal prosecutor indicted him for bribery, extortion, or tax fraud over the illegal Tony Rezko lot deal? What would have been his reaction to his “wingman.” Eric Holder’s, being jailed for his refusal to obey a congressional subpoena (such a transgression may well earn both Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro jail sentences).

Trump was pilloried for the Russian collusion farce. But the reality was that the 2015-17 Russian collusion conspiracy farce was discussed and greenlighted in the West Wing by a lame-duck but knowledgeable Obama, who unleashed his FBI, CIA, and DOJ to do whatever, legal or not, it took to stop Donald Trump.

Currently, Donald Trump was just fined $83.3 by a left-wing New York jury presided over by a left-wing judge in a suit filed by a left-wing writer who was funded by a left-wing Silicon Valley billionaire—all possible because a left-wing state legislator had recently lifted the statute of limitations on allegations of sexual assault to allow three-decade-old charges like E. Jean Carroll’s to be refiled.

So Trump blew up and charged out of the courtroom, lost his cool in the courtroom, and hurt any slight chance he had to escape such an outrageous and politicized fine.
But again, note the surreal nature of the suit. Carrol cannot remember even the year in which she and Trump, she claims, ended up in a department store dressing room.
She was mistaken about the dress she wore on the day of the assault.
Long after the alleged assault, she praised Trump’s Apprentice as her favorite TV show.
She created an app game called Damn Love, described as: “You’re shown two people who are madly in love. Your object is to break them up. Shown a pair of options, you choose the ones more likely to stir up shit, given each person’s personality and proclivities, and the quicker you can make them split, the more you increase your evilness and rise through the ranks.
Carroll’s narrative about being sexually assaulted in a department store dressing room is eerily almost the identical narrative of a 2012 “Law & Order: SVU” episode that focused on an alleged sexual assault in the lingerie dressing room of the very same Bergdorf Goodman department store. Coincidence or inspiration?
And thus, to refute all the above, Trump was criminalized as a defamer and fined $83 million.
Under such rules of evidence and damages, what would Joe Biden have had to pay when his former senatorial aide, Tara Reade, accused him of a sexual assault, only to be widely defamed by legions of Biden’s left-wing flacks?
So much of Trump’s rage is an understandable reaction to the sustained, unhinged venom of the media and left.

Two, Trump’s base, unlike his other supporters, does not differentiate between Trump’s solid governance and his volatile character. They see what he does and says not as antithetical but complementary. Trump, in the base’s view, gets things done precisely because he displays open, unfiltered contempt for the swamp, the bipartisan political class, the globalists, and the media.

His 24/7 bellicosity, MAGA diehards feel, ensures he will always be hated by the media and establishment—and thus not compromised even if he wished to be. In other words, for MAGA, whom a president is despised by is more important than by whom he is liked. For the base, the role of a mercurial and disruptive Clinton Eastwood gunslinger is preferable to that of a jolly Roy Rodgers crooner.

Three, Trump is seen as the MAGA rabid pit bull, who, from time to time, is to be unleashed and pointed in the proper direction. For those who were smeared collectively and nonstop by Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or a late John McCain variously as clingers, deplorables, irredeemables, racists, sexists, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, chumps, dregs, semi-fascists, hobbits, bizarros, and crazies—and as smelly and toothless by the media—Trump is their payback.

Has a Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid, or Adam Schiff ever apologized to the nation for daily lying to the American people that the Biden family was never compromised by or profited from Hunter Biden’s skullduggery, that Christopher Steele’s dossier was authentic, that Hunter’s laptop was cooked up in Moscow, or that COVID sprung from a bat or pangolin?

So for the Trump voter, those nightly, serial lies had more deleterious consequences for the nation than a leaked Trump private conversation in which he supposedly said Haiti was a “sh-thole” country.

All of the above may explain, though not defend, what appears to the bicoastal elite and even many Trump supporters as irrational, if not self-destructive, behavior.

However, why Trump does what he does still does not address the central question of 2024—what is now in Trump’s own self-interest—and the country’s?

Before answering that question, most would object that it does not matter. Trump cannot help himself even if he tried, as if Heraclitus was right that a man’s nature is his fate (ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων, often loosely translated as “character is destiny”).

Yet there are reasons to suggest that Trump, in fact, could scale back the ad hominem invective.

One, in the past, he has been magnanimous and certainly did not go after enemies or subvert the levers of government in the manner of the Obama administration that weaponized the DOJ and had West Wing meetings, where the Steele dossier and Hillary Clinton’s subterfuge were openly condoned, if not abetted.

Two, the 2024 election is different from both 2016 and 2020. There is no longer a COVID ruse to change voting laws or conduct a surrogate campaign.

Instead, the left is open now about its intentions to put Biden on ice in his basement, outsource the campaign to handlers and the media, count on billions from big tech and finance to ensure 70 percent of swing state balloting is not on Election Day, and blast Trump as a January 6 insurrectionary and murderer of women in need of abortions.

They will seek to keep him off the ballot in dozens of states and coordinate four prosecutions to jail him during the campaign season. The near billion dollars infused into the election to alter voting laws in 2020 will be seen as child’s play in 2024.

More importantly, the country is imploding in 2024 in a way it was not in 2020, when there was still a border, deterrence abroad, coherent energy policies, deterrent police, and a semblance of the rule of law.

Now there is simply no margin of error.

To be elected, Trump will have to win the popular vote by at least 4-5 percent. What’s more, the error/rejection rate on mail-in/early balloting in most states will be a fraction of what it had been pre-COVID. 2020 taught us that the more purple states are flooded with massive non-election ballots under 2020 altered ballot rules, the more the normal rejection percent of unsubstantiated or illegal ballots declines.

Trump has an enormous responsibility in 2024 to stay calm, reach out, and get even rather than mad.

Why? For millions, he is now seen as the last and only obstacle to what more than half of America believes is the sustained, left-wing attempt to turn the nation into something unrecognizable—an imploding country of open borders, with two million illegal entries per year, racial separatism and tribal chauvinism, the end of deterrence abroad, soaring crime and homelessness, $35 trillion in debt with $2 trillion annual deficits, wars on natural gas and oil, and warping of the administrative state and the law to punish enemies and reward friends.

In sum, Trump should ignore Haley and his old vulture critics in the media and on the left as much as he can.

He must concentrate on the disaster of the Biden administration and reiterate nonstop the agendas of 2025 that will save us from tottering on the brink. That forbearance demands that he speak and campaign in the only way that can win the election: unite the Republican Party, the conservative movement, the MAGA base, independents, disaffected Democrats, minorities, and even Never Trumpers into an eleventh-hour coalition to stop the revolution in our midst before it consumes us all.

Victor Davis Hanson

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/01/29/trump-has-reason-to-rage-but-needs-to-stay-calm-and-get-even-rather-than-mad/

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Blinded by the Light: The Conversion of John Fetterman - Thom Nickels

 

by Thom Nickels

From leftist hero to enemy of the people.

 

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has seen the light, or at least a little bit of it.

The sweatpants-wearing icon of Bernie Sanders supporters came out swinging as if awakening from a coma: “Progressivism left me,” he announced. “Increasingly, progressivism moved and migrated into some positions that I don’t agree with and I really just feel much more comfortable in being just a Democrat. We have a crisis at our border and it can’t be controversial that we should have a secure border.”

This admission caused Fetterman’s supporters to push every alarm bell in sight.

Salon.com bellowed, “John Fetterman’s Shameful Betrayal of the Left.”

Other leftists began calling him Genocide John for his unequivocal support of Israel.

Newsweek stated: “John Fetterman Accused  of Throwing Wife Under the Bus with Border Remarks.”

The magazine referenced Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan, who in December 2023 reposted a June 2021 screenshot of a Fetterman post on what was then Twitter showing his wife, Gisele Barreto, holding her citizenship papers and an American flag along with Fetterman’s words, “Immigration makes America, America.”

Hasan headlined the X reposting:  “Senator Fetterman throws his wife under the bus.” (Gisele was a child of 7 when her family brought her to the U.S. illegally, meaning that she had no choice in that decision.)

Hasan, it should be noted, quit MSNBC earlier this month when the network demoted him from anchor to contributor. The journalist’s final show featured a Palestinian photographer who talked about the dangers of working in Gaza during Israeli military operations.

His demotion caused Muslim Rep. lhan Omar to declare, “It is deeply troubling that MSNBC is canceling his show amid the rise of anti-Muslim bigotry and suppression of Muslim voices.”

But Hasan’s criticism of Fetterman on X seemed driven by deeper issues, such as the senator’s support for Israel. Hasan knows Fetterman would not go public with criticism of leftist immigration policies without the support of his wife.

Another attack on Fetterman came from a Philadelphia-based Social Justice Warrior, Alexandra Hunt, who ran unsuccessfully for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District in 2022 and then failed to capture the office of city controller in May 2023.

The long-haired, two-time loser glam-feminist wrote on X: “Fetterman has never been progressive but endorsing talks for tougher immigration laws when he’s married to an incredible woman who was once an illegal immigrant and who kept his campaign alive while he was recovering from a stroke is actually sickening.”

But Fetterman, throwing his 6’8” frame into the action, is not backing down.

He asked how anybody could justify 270,000 people entering the US illegally, a number matching the population of Pittsburgh, “the second largest city in Pennsylvania.”

Reasonable souls would agree that allowing that many migrants into the country is the ultimate definition of a national suicide pill.

It also qualifies as a more accurate definition of the word “sickening.”

Progressives, of course, don’t want to have a conversation about illegal immigration. Conversations raise questions, and questions challenge progressive orthodox canons.

Fetterman’s dissociation from the left on the issues of immigration and Israel, while still claiming to be a Democrat, is a reflection of what’s happening to many Democrats in Philadelphia, a city with over 200,000 Jewish households, making it the third largest Jewish population center in America.

Yet many of the city’s traditionally progressive Jews and others seemed to have hit the “pause” button when it comes to celebrating leftist causes.

You might call this the Fetterman Effect: people who heretofore automatically ‘checked off’ everything the left advocates but who are now taking a second look at the fissures and cracks appearing in progressivism.

Whether this “pause” will evolve into the acceptance of more enlightened conservative views is unknown.

A similar thing can be said for Fetterman himself: will the senator go on to experience a kind of incremental conversion —via baby steps—and leave the Democrat Party down the line?

What is certain is that the progressive base is targeting Fetterman because of his views on Israel, even though his views on that topic have never changed.

During the 2022 Senate Primary Campaign in Pennsylvania, Fetterman laid out that support in very strong language, although this was well before the October 7, 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, and well before major cracks began to appear in the Democrat Party itself over Israel’s right to defend itself.

“Whenever I’m in a situation to be called on to take up the cause of strengthening and enhancing the security of Israel or deepening our relationship between the United States and Israel, I’m going to lean in,” Fetterman told Jewish Insider in 2022.

As for progressives who loathe or criticize Israel, Fetterman said, “I would also respectfully say that I’m not really a progressive in that sense.”

Prior to October 7, Democrats found it a little easier to turn their backs on the rhetoric coming from the left regarding the Israel-Palestine issue. But October 7 was a game-changer.

Reporting on Fetterman’s U-turn on “immigration” and support for Israel, The Nation magazine focused on Philadelphia: “Protesters from IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, two progressive Jewish organizations critical of the Israeli government, have already confronted Fetterman, shutting down the street in front of his Philadelphia office. Protesters interrupted a recent campaign event and former campaign staffers penned a letter to his office urging him to support a cease-fire.”

“I was very appalled and shocked by the language he used,” said Jules Berkman-Hill, a former Fetterman campaign volunteer. “As a Pennsylvania Jew who devoted significant time to getting him elected—and knowing he was the best choice to be our senator—I believe he is really letting us down.”

But as the Democrat Party increasingly becomes less centrist and more leftist, Fetterman may find himself increasingly on the outs despite his contention that he wants to be known, simply, as “just a Democrat.”

What does “just a Democrat” mean, anyway, when for so many it means a complete capitulation to leftist causes.

Metamorphosis, or that long or short journey to another way of thinking, can be a traumatic experience.

Men and women of goodwill can only hope that the senator makes it to the other side of the hill.

“What I have found out over the last couple years is that the right,and now the left, are hoping that I die,” Fetterman recently stated, referring to the near-fatal stroke he experienced during his campaign. “There are ones that are rooting for another blood clot. They have both now been wishing that I die.”

The “right” way to go about this, Mr. Fetterman, is not to die but to continue changing—and by doing that you will choose life.

Thom Nickels is a Philadelphia-based journalist and the 2005 recipient of the AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/blinded-by-the-light-the-conversion-of-john-fetterman/

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Civilian Deaths in Gaza: Relatively Low - Alan M. Dershowitz

 

by Alan M. Dershowitz

The time has come, indeed it is long overdue, for the world to stop imposing a double standard on the nation-state of the Jewish people.

 

• Critics of Israel almost never cite comparable data from other military encounters. This omission creates the false impression that the civilian death tolls in Gaza are among the highest in history, when they are in fact among the lowest.

• The New York Times' conclusion that the new data suggests that it is "wrong to accuse [Israel] of wanting to maximize civilian deaths" is highly relevant to the false charges of genocide that are being considered by the International Court of Justice.

• The decreasing civilian death rate among Gazans should also end the campaign to impose a ceasefire on Israel before the IDF completes its legitimate mission to destroy Hamas' military capacity. Successfully completing that mission will save civilian lives in the long run, by reducing Hamas' capacity to keep its promise of repeating the barbarism of October 7 and also by reducing its use of civilian shields.

• The time has come, indeed it is long overdue, for the world to stop imposing a double standard on the nation-state of the Jewish people. Double standards are a form of bigotry, and when bigotry is addressed to the only nation-state of the Jewish people, it becomes a form of international anti-Semitism against the Jew among nations. It must stop.

Israel's military actions have produced far fewer deaths and a far lower ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths than in any comparable urban warfare. This is especially significant considering the reality that Hamas deliberately increases civilian deaths by using women and children as human shields and by hiding its military personnel and equipment among civilians. Pictured: Gazans, protected by the Israeli military, walk along a safe corridor in the northern Gaza Strip, leaving the battle zone towards the southern Gaza Strip, on November 10, 2023. Hamas terrorists had ordered Gazans not to move to safety, and shot at them as they tried to flee. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)

You wouldn't know it from the hectoring decision just rendered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel, but the death toll among civilians in Gaza — even including children and women — is among the lowest in the history of comparable warfare. Over the past several months, it has become even lower.

According to The New York Times, "The daily death toll in Gaza has more than halved in the past month," and has fallen almost two-thirds since late October. Moreover, the percentage of civilian to combatant causalities has gone down considerably as well.

In a massive understatement, The New York Times also reported that these considerable reductions in civilian deaths have been "somewhat overlooked" by the media and critics. "Somewhat"! They have been totally buried and ignored. The New York Times also opined that Israel's "harshest critics are wrong to accuse it of wanting to maximize civilian deaths."

It is no accident that this reduced civilian death toll has been "somewhat overlooked" by the media and by Israel's critics, including previously by The New York Times itself. Israel is subject to a discernible double standard when it comes to covering its military actions.

Even before the recent dramatic reduction in civilian deaths, Israel's military actions produced far fewer deaths and a far lower ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths than in any comparable urban warfare. This is especially significant considering the reality that Hamas deliberately increases civilian deaths by using women and children as human shields and by hiding its military personnel and equipment among civilians. The current ratio of civilian-to-combatant is well below two-to-one, which compares extremely favorably with ratios achieved by other Western democracies in urban warfare.

Critics of Israel almost never cite comparable data from other military encounters. This omission creates the false impression that the civilian death tolls in Gaza are among the highest in history, when they are in fact among the lowest.

Every actual death of an innocent civilian — especially among babies and very young children — is a tragedy. It is these deaths that are always highlighted by Hamas to the media, but no one knows how many such deaths are actually among this most vulnerable segment of the population, and how many of those are the result of Hamas deliberately using young children as shields.

The Hamas figures for total deaths do not purport to distinguish combatants from what they consider civilian deaths. They never give the ages of the "children" they claim have been killed, although they regard anyone under the age of 19 as a child, even if they are active combatants. Hamas has recruited fighters as young as 13 to 19. The Hamas figures also do not count the Gazans who were killed by errant rockets launched by terrorists, or Gazans who were killed by Hamas for refusing its orders not to move to safer locations.

The New York Times' conclusion that the new data suggests that it is "wrong to accuse [Israel] of wanting to maximize civilian deaths" is highly relevant to the false charges of genocide that are being considered by the International Court of Justice.

Nations engaged in genocide do not go to such great lengths trying to reduce civilian casualties, including placing its own soldiers at heightened risk by employing focused ground forces instead of relying exclusively on air and sea bombardments. The ICJ should immediately reject the genocide charges against Israel and initiate war crime charges against Hamas and Iran, both of which willfully try to increase civilian deaths.

The decreasing civilian death rate among Gazans should also end the campaign to impose a ceasefire on Israel before the IDF completes its legitimate mission to destroy Hamas' military capacity. Successfully completing that mission will save civilian lives in the long run, by reducing Hamas' capacity to keep its promise of repeating the barbarism of October 7 and also by reducing its use of civilian shields.

Israel's conduct in its defensive war, started by Hamas, has been exemplary. It satisfies all international standards, and its effort to minimize civilian deaths while accomplishing its legitimate goals has generally been successful. There is always a tradeoff between reducing enemy civilian deaths and increasing risks to one's own soldiers and civilians. Israel has struck a better balance than most, following the unprecedented Hamas barbarisms.

The time has come, indeed it is long overdue, for the world to stop imposing a double standard on the nation-state of the Jewish people. Double standards are a form of bigotry, and when bigotry is addressed to the only nation-state of the Jewish people, it becomes a form of international anti-Semitism against the Jew among nations. It must stop.

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Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20343/gaza-civilian-deaths

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Who is Julia Sebutinde, the only ICJ judge to oppose all measures against Israel? - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

The Ugandan justice even voted against the charges that Israel's own justice, Aharon Barak, voted yes on.

 

Julia Sebutinde, the only judge on the International Court of Justice to vote against all the provisional measures levied at Israel over its war in Gaza and alleged violations of the Genocide Convention.

(photo credit: INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE)

Julia Sebutinde, Uganda’s representative to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has become a hero amongst Israel supporters, though her country distanced itself from her. She was among the 17 judges who deliberated on interim measures in the case concerning the Application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) on Friday. She uniquely voted against all proposed provisional measures, standing out as the sole permanent judge to do so, in contrast to Ad hoc Judge Aharon Barak, who opposed most but supported two.

In her dissenting view, she argued that the core of the dispute was fundamentally political, not legal, and asserted the absence of a credible indication of genocidal intent by Israel.

The judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands. (credit: THILO SCHMUELGEN/REUTERS)

Adonia Ayebare, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, criticized Sebutinde on X. “Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine. She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo]. Uganda’s support for the plight of the Palestinian people has been expressed through Uganda’s voting pattern at the United Nations,” the ambassador tweeted.

Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine. She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on DRC. Uganda’s support for the plight of the Palestinian people has been expressed…

— Adonia Ayebare (@adoniaayebare) January 26, 2024

Sebutinde is the first African woman to serve on the court

69-year-old Julia Sebutinde is a distinguished judge from Uganda, serving her second term on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since March 2012. She is the first African woman to hold this position. She has a rich background in law, having graduated from Makerere University, obtained a diploma from the Law Development Centre in Kampala, and a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh, after which she worked in various legal capacities in Uganda, the UK, and Namibia. Sebutinde's notable career includes serving as a judge in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, presiding over high-profile corruption inquiries in Uganda, and her election to the ICJ, reflecting her significant contributions to international justice.

“In my respectful dissenting opinion, the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one,” she wrote in her dissenting opinion. “Calling for a diplomatic or negotiated settlement, and for the implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions by all parties concerned, to find a permanent solution whereby the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can peacefully coexist,” she wrote.

 

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-784005

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