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."
A report by the Middle East Forum documents $122 million in taxpayer funds reaching extremist groups.
USAID has been engaged
in recent years in financing Islamic terrorist organizations. A report
by the Middle East Forum documents $122 million in taxpayer funds
reaching extremist groups. This report has been reviewed and heard by
the House DOGE subcommittee and is now under investigation for potential
criminal referrals. The findings challenge long held assumptions about
oversight and accountability in U.S. foreign aid. How did this happen?
Was it negligence, incompetence, or something more? As investigations
unfold, serious questions remain. Who is responsible? Will there be
consequences? And what does this mean for the future of American aid
policy?
Sam
Westrop has been the head of Islamist Watch at Middle East Forum since
March 2017. Prior to this he was research director at Americans for
Peace and Tolerance (APT), and ran Stand for Peace, a London-based
counter-extremism organization monitoring Islamist activity in the UK.
His writings have appeared at National Review, National Post, and The Hill, and he has appeared on many television and radio stations, including BBC, Al Jazeera, and Newsmax.
Hamas is not going to "disarm." A 10-15 year truce is a period of time during which Hamas rearms and prepares for another October 7 attack, as they have told us over and over again they will do.
President Donald Trump is saying all the right things, on the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things.
After Trump's common sense approach, Steve Witkoff, the "envoy"
responsible for foisting the disastrous Biden ceasefire on us, would
water them down and dismiss the president's proposals. Now White House
Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler... said... "Hamas
suggested that they would release all hostages, lay down their weapons,
and no longer be part of the politics of Gaza and that the US and its
allies would ensure there was no military infrastructure remaining in
Gaza. In exchange, there would be a five to ten-year truce, and the US
and other countries would help rebuild Gaza."
Hamas is not going to "disarm." A 10-15 year truce is a period of
time during which Hamas rearms and prepares for another October 7
attack, as they have told us over and over again they will do. And
Hamas, not Israel or the U.S., will decide when the truce actually
lapses. Much like Hamas announced the previous two-year ceasefire was
over by attacking on Oct 7.
This proposed deal leaves Hamas in Gaza, and has the U.S. rebuild Gaza for 10-15 years.
In short, it's the worst deal imaginable for America and for Israel.
President Donald Trump is saying all the right things. On
the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things.
Adam Boehler, the White House Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, is
pushing the same nonsense that got us to October 7, 2023. His proposed
deal leaves Hamas in Gaza, and has the U.S. rebuild Gaza for 10-15
years.
In short, it's the worst deal imaginable for America and for Israel.
Pictured: Boehler speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, on
March 6, 2025. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration's Gaza policy is completely divided.
On the one hand, President Donald Trump is saying all the right
things. On the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong
things.
After Trump's common sense approach, Steve Witkoff, the "envoy"
responsible for foisting the disastrous Biden ceasefire on us, would
water them down and dismiss the president's proposals. Now White House
Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler, who appeared to be a
credible figure, decided to directly meet up with Hamas and came out with exactly the sort of thing John Kerry or Jimmy Carter would have come away with.
Boehler said that Hamas is not interested in returning to war:
"Israel has done a masterful job of eliminating Hamas and
Hezbollah. Hamas did orient toward a long-term truce where they would
be disarmed, they would not be part of the political policy, and where
we would ensure that they are in a place where they can't hurt Israel.
Part of that was rebuilding Gaza."
In an interview with Kan, he added:
"Hamas suggested that they would release all hostages,
lay down their weapons, and no longer be part of the politics of Gaza,
and that the US and its allies would ensure there was no military
infrastructure remaining in Gaza. In exchange, there would be a five to
ten-year truce, and the US and other countries would help rebuild Gaza."
He addressed the Israeli concerns over the US opening a direct channel with Hamas:
"The Israelis were kept informed. It's totally fair for
Israel to have concerns, but we are not an agent of Israel – we are the
United States, and we have specific interests at play."
Boehler outlined a possible framework for a deal: that Hamas lay down
its arms in exchange for prisoner releases, leading to a long-term
truce.
"I think there's an answer here, and I think the answer is that Hamas lays down their arms," he said.
"We exchange prisoners, and they go into a long-term
truce, where they don't fight, they're not part of any political party,
and that gives us lots of cooling-off time.
"I spoke with Ron, and I'm sympathetic. He has someone that he
doesn't know well, making direct contact with Hamas. Maybe I would see
them and say, 'Look, they don't have horns growing out of their head.
They're actually guys like us. They're pretty nice guys.'"
Boehler since walked back the "nice guys" comment, but it seems symptomatic of a regular pattern which is:
Our guys go to Qatar and leave brainwashed.
The obsession with making a deal overshadows common sense about dealing with terrorists.
I'm not going to quibble about his word choices like calling Israeli
hostages "prisoners" or calling Hamas terrorists "hostages," because the
bigger issue is he's pushing the same nonsense that got us to October
7, 2023.
Hamas is not going to "disarm." A 10-15 year truce is a period of
time during which Hamas rearms and prepares for another October 7
attack, as they have told us over and over again they will do. And
Hamas, not Israel or the U.S., will decide when the truce actually
lapses. Much like Hamas announced the previous two-year ceasefire was
over by attacking on Oct 7.
This proposed deal leaves Hamas in Gaza, and has the U.S. rebuild Gaza for 10-15 years.
In short, it's the worst deal imaginable for America and for Israel.
And this is the problem when we start dealing with terrorists instead of letting our allies defeat them.
Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at
the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Reprinted by kind permission of the
Center's Front Page Magazine.
Most of the packages were transported to As-Suwayda, while others were delivered to Druze communities near the border with Israel.
View of trucks transferring humanitarian aid to the Druze in Syria. March 13, 2025.(photo credit: SIVAN SHACHOR/GPO)
Israel has transferred some 10,000 packages of humanitarian aid to Syrian Druze in recent weeks, the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
The
ministry noted that the transfer was carried out in conjunction with
Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel.
Most
of the packages were transported to As-Suwayda, while others were
delivered to Druze communities near the border with Israel.
The packages include basic food supplies, such as salt, oil, flour, and rice.
"We have a bold alliance with our Druze brothers. It is a privilege to help them," Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar noted.
View of the humanitarian aid transferred to the Syrian Druze. March 13, 2025. (credit: SIVAN SHACHOR/GPO)
In
a region in which we will always be a minority, it is both necessary
and the right thing to do to assist other minorities," he added.
The
move comes as Israel has been in contact with Syrian Druze leaders,
promising to protect them from harm following the toppling of former
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the
subsequent ascension to power of Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Katz addresses Syrian Druze
On March 1, Defense Minister Israel Katz
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying, "We
will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm
the Druze."
"If
the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us. We are committed
to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to
their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all necessary steps to
maintain their security."
Last week, Katz confirmed Israel intends to allow Syrian Druze and Circassians to work on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
A strategic shift reflects Jerusalem's desire to bolster President Joseph Aoun's position against armed groups in coordination with the U.S.
Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun reviews an honor guard upon
his arrival at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on
Jan. 9, 2025. Photo by Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images.
Israel is taking steps toward possible normalization with Lebanon, as diplomatic representatives will replace military officials in upcoming negotiation talks.
A diplomatic source confirmed to Israel Hayom on
Wednesday that these discussions aim to transition to a
political-diplomatic track. Our sources have learned that the next
meeting will feature an Israeli diplomatic representative instead of an
IDF official, marking an immediate elevation in the talks’ significance.
The strategic shift reflects Israel’s
desire to bolster the Lebanese president’s position against armed groups
in coordination with the U.S., perhaps paving the way for future
normalization of relations between the countries. Israeli officials
point to significant changes in Lebanon’s internal political landscape,
noting that Hezbollah‘s political influence has weakened considerably.
But on Wednesday, Lebanon responded to
statements made by an Israeli political source who expressed interest in
advancing normalization between the countries. Officials in Beirut
categorically denied that the indirect dialogue with Jerusalem would
lead to normalization.
Sources in the Lebanese presidential office told Al-Mayadeen channel
that assertions about dialogue committees between Israel and Lebanon
serving as a prelude to normalization are unfounded. According to these
sources, the three committees established to resolve existing issues
with Israel represent a continuation of implementing U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1701. The sources emphasized that these committees
will not involve direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.
“The committees will address longstanding
issues—specifically border disputes and points that have remained
contentious since 2006,” the officials said.
While seeking to strengthen moderate
elements within Lebanon, Israel remains aware of Hezbollah’s continued
presence in the region. As a security precaution, despite ongoing
negotiations, Israel maintains five strategic positions inside Lebanese
territory. The discussions surrounding key positions do not
automatically mean Israel will relinquish these areas—Israeli
negotiators are expected to present their own security demands to
protect border communities.
"Assad and Al-Sharaa are both enemy regimes," says Sheikh Abdallah Al-Tamimi, a Syrian scholar and peace activist who has lived in exile for the past thirty years.
Professor Abdallah Khalil Al-Tamimi, a Syrian religious
scholar and peace activist who has spent more than three decades in
exile.(photo credit: Courtesy)
Professor Abdallah Khalil Al-Tamimi, a Syrian religious scholar and peace activist who has spent more than three decades in exile studying Islamic jurisprudence and foundational principles, spoke to The Jerusalem Post
from his temporary residence in Australia, sharing his perspective on
Syria's tumultuous past, its fractured present, and his vision for a
peaceful future.
Nowadays,
Al-Tamimi works enthusiastically to build bridges between religions and
sects, which also made him a subject of stark opposition due to his
speaking to Israeli outlets. Originally from Homs, Syria,
he had worked with the Syrian opposition since 1993 and had been living
in exile for over 30 years. Though he had made several brief returns to
Syria and Lebanon, these visits became increasingly impossible as the
conflict intensified.
"When the uprising began, I worked with the Free Syrian Army,"
he recalled, "but I eventually stepped back because things were going
terribly wrong for our people. We found ourselves unable to cooperate
with any faction."
In
2006, Al-Tamimi joined the Democratic Coalition of Syria and traveled
to Washington, where he spoke before Congress. The mission was clear: to
fight against the Assad regime. However, what emerged in the power
vacuum was far from the democratic vision they had championed.
Illustrative of an Israel flag and Syria flag, with soldiers and weapons. (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
‘Al-Sharaa views Sunnis as infidels’
Al-Tamimi
regarded the new Syrian leader, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, as “a leader who
appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 2012. Al-Sharaa’ is not even his
real name; it's fabricated. No one knows his actual identity," Al-Tamimi
explained with frustration.
"He
and his followers blocked the progress of the Syrian revolution,
eliminated Sunni leadership, and reduced all Syrian achievements to a
small colony for his extremist group in Idlib."
According
to Al-Tamimi, Al-Sharaa killed far more Sunni revolutionaries than
members of Assad regime, and essentially eliminated most of Syria's
Sunni leadership, which raises the question of the jihadi leader’s real
allegiance. “French and Turkish efforts are responsible for Al-Sharaa’s
ascent,” he claimed.
Al-Tamimi
argued that, for Al-Sharaa, mainstream Sunnis are also deemed infidels.
“They believe they have permission to kill all 'non-believers,'
including Sunnis, whom they view as pagans and 'tomb worshippers,” the
cleric added.
"They
reject our schools of thoughts, considering all our imams to be pagans.
They believe only the Islam of Abd al-Wahhab is the correct form, and
everyone else is an infidel,” Al-Tamimi said, referring to the
fundamentalist school of thought that originated in Arabia.
Al-Tamimi
painted a grim picture of ‘justice’ under the new regime. "Their newly
appointed Justice Minister, Shadi Al-Waisi, previously oversaw local
courts that executed women after accusing them of adultery. How can
someone like that be Minister of Justice? Justice requires standards of
fairness. Under their rule, if you say something they dislike or that
doesn't conform to their invented religion, they execute you. They're
like ISIS, just with more ‘modern’ weapons, using bullets instead of
swords."
According to Al-Tamimi, in just the past months since rising to
power, Al-Sharaa’s loyalists executed thousands of people “merely
because someone accused them of working with the previous regime. Three
times more Sunnis have been killed than Alawites. Syria is in complete
chaos."
On the
issue of the ensuing clashes between Al-Sharaa’s loyalists and the
Alawite minority in Syria, from which the ousted leader Bashar Al-Assad
stemmed, Al-Tamimi found it challenging to express much solidarity,
pointing to the sectarian nature of the conflict. “This is simply not my
war. The Alawite regime killed two million Sunnis based on sectarian
grounds. They regarded us to be infidels, just like Al-Sharaa does now.
And now they're killing each other because both believe that the other
is an infidel that must be dealt with.”
Al-Tamimi
was particularly adamant about correcting what he saw as a dangerous
misrepresentation. "Al-Sharaa is not Sunni! He arrived specifically to
blame Sunnis for terrorism, barbarism, and savagery. I am Sunni, and
there are thousands of Sunni scholars like me in Syria who disagree with
him on everything—theology, the Prophet's messages, Sharia, Quranic
interpretations. They practice ‘takfir,’ claiming all others are not
Sunni! They view other Sunnis as infidels, insisting only Salafists are
true Sunnis."
The
sheikh explained that millions of Syrians remain outside the country,
with many finding it very challenging to return. "We know we haven't
achieved freedom yet. Both regimes are enemy regimes," he said,
referring to both Assad's government and the new leadership.
When
asked about recent reports on agreements between minorities in Syria
and the new Al-Sharaa led regime, Al-Tamimi replied. "Look to history
and see if you can find an agreement honored between two militias which
signed an agreement. They're all militias! This deal contains only broad
principles with no details. When you look at Israel's peace agreements
with Egypt and Jordan, you see they were filled with details to the
brim. This one just has big words in an attempt to silence criticism."
Despite
this, the scholar spoke warmly about the Druze community in Syria. "The
Druze, however, are far from being simply a militia. They've been
organized for 1,000 years. They've always wanted to be part of Syria but
only asked for a representative, a functioning government that cares
for ordinary citizens, which they never obtained."
A way forward
When
prompted to talk about his view regarding possible solutions, Al-Tamimi
became animated. "The world should push for external administration
under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, just like what happened in Kosovo and
Bosnia. We have no politicians left—they've all been assassinated. We
need international help against the Salafists." He laughed bitterly.
"They called me a traitor and an Israeli agent who only wants Israel to
conquer Syria. Everyone knows Israel won’t conquer Syria! It's a tiny
nation of 10 million people."
His
vision for Syria's future centered on a Swiss-style confederation.
"Small provinces with internal self-governance—not for the entire
country but for services, security, local affairs. This would satisfy
everyone. Alawites would be happy in their areas, governing themselves,
having their own police, judges, and tax collectors – and so will
everyone else. Infrastructure in large cities would be handled by the
central government, managing relations between provinces."
The
sheikh's eyes brightened as he elaborated on this model. "Each province
would choose its representatives however it wants. Bedouins could be
led by their sheikhs, the Druze by their Sheikh Al-Aql. This is the most
successful model throughout the world."
Finally,
Al-Tamimi offered a surprising perspective about Israel. "Sunnis are
the majority in Syria. Once they take power in a federal government,
Syria will be Israel's best friend and a friend to all countries in the
region. It will be a modern state. Many Syrians educated in the West
know exactly how a civilized country works. They have no problems with
Israel as a friendly state."
Al-Tamimi
stressed, "We don't see Israel as an enemy. Hostility toward Israel has
been used to lead millions of people for generations to fight and die
in wars without reason. Assad accused Sunnis of being Israeli agents who
would dare to make peace, and now we’re seeing the same accusations
everywhere."
Sheikh
Al-Tamimi's final words reflected both hope and pragmatism. "I've
spoken with rabbis, journalists, Israeli activists—I've explained that
ideologically, we have no aggressive ideology against Jews or anyone who
isn't Muslim. We have laws of war and peace that we must follow, and
none include the destruction of Israel. Crossing the boundaries between
countries and religions—we can build a better Middle East to the world."
On Tuesday, Ukrainian diplomats reached an agreement with American officials to restore military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv in exchange for agreeing to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire deal that they would present to the Russians. The ball is in Putin's court but Kremlin says "no rush."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov on Wednesday indicated that Moscow was in no rush to reply to
the American-Ukrainian plan for a 30-day ceasefire, an announcement that
came as Russian armies drove battered Ukrainian troops out of a salient
in its own Kursk Oblast and appear poised to advance along the front.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian diplomats reached an agreement with American officials to restore military aid and intelligence sharing
to Kyiv in exchange for agreeing to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire deal
that they would present to the Russians. That exchange followed a
public squabble at the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky and President Donald Trump in which Zelensky was removed from
the White House. Zelensky had been in Washington to sign a mineral
resources deal that was not executed. Ukraine recommitted to the deal as
part of the Wednesday deal.
"Look, you are getting a little ahead of yourself, we don't want to do that,” Peskov told reporters
about the ceasefire, according to Russian outlet RIA Novosti.
“Yesterday, when talking to the press, both [Secretary of State Marco]
Rubio and [National Security Advisor Mike] Waltz said that they would
pass on to us detailed information about the essence of the
conversations that took place in Jeddah through various diplomatic
channels. First, we need to get that information.”
A ceasefire proposal appears to be unpopular with some
members of the Russian government, with high-profile politicians
condemning the idea. State Duma Deputy Viktor Sobolev,
a member of the Duma’s defense committee and notably, an opponent of
the pro-Putin coalition, called a temporary ceasefire “absolutely
unacceptable,” saying it would allow Ukraine to “regroup and rearm” and
“play into the hands of” Kyiv.
Russia is gaining ground in the military campaign
Russian troops are currently advancing along the front and
posting substantial gains against the Ukrainian military at the moment
and a ceasefire would potentially bring that momentum to a halt.
Ukrainian forces last year invaded Russia directly, carving out a large
swath of territory in the border "oblast," or region, of Kursk, centered
on the city of Sudzha.
That location became a cauldron for the Ukrainians as
Russia stiffened its defense, and the region became decidedly unstable
in recent weeks after the recapture by Russian forces of Sverdlikovo,
exposing the Ukrainian flank. A daring operation by Russian special
forces, moreover, saw personnel travel through a drained pipeline to attack the Ukrainian rear, which triggered a rout and led to the Russian recapture of Sudzha on Tuesday. Geolocation-based territorial maps show varying degrees of Russian control in the city.
Both nations have a bad history with ceasefires
Complicating matters for both sides is their history of
dubious and short-lived ceasefires since the outbreak of the Donbas War
in 2014. The Minsk I and II Accords
both followed a decisive Ukrainian defeat on the battlefields of
Ilovaisk and Debaltsevo, respectively. In those battles, Ukraine fought
Russian-backed separatists and not the official Russian military. Both
sides blame the other for violating both agreements.
Explicitly pro-Ukrainian analyst Julian Ropcke, senior editor for security policy at Bild-Zeitung, a German-owned tabloid, highlighted that history and implied a ceasefire deal would lead to a repeat of those incidents.
“Amazed to see people thinking a ceasefire deal would stop Russia’s war in Ukraine,” he wrote
on X. “After signing Minsk 1 in September 2014, Russia pumped in more
troops and kept advancing, capturing Donetsk airport and 20 more towns
and villages. After signing Minsk 2 in February 2015, Russia further
advanced and captured Debalsteve and five more villages.”
The Russians themselves previously ruled out a ceasefire,
with Russian President Vladimir Putin stating last year that he would
not accept a temporary agreement and would only allow a ceasefire after a
lasting accord had been reached. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, downplayed the seriousness
of a ceasefire proposal ahead of the Ukrainian meeting with the
Americans on Tuesday.
“Zelensky is saying publicly that he doesn't want any
ceasefire until Americans give him any guarantees that they will destroy
Russia with nuclear weapons. It's not serious,” Lavrov told reporters on a Russia Today webcast.
In an interview with bloggers Mario Nawfal, Larry C. Johnson, and Andrew Napolitano published Wednesday,
moreover, Lavrov insisted that Trump had no desire to provide Ukraine
with security guarantees while Zelensky remained in power.
"He has his own view of the situation, which he bluntly
presents every now and then that this war should have never started.
That the pulling Ukraine into NATO, is a violation of its constitution, a
violation of the declaration of independence of 1991,” Lavrov said.
“On the basis of which we recognized Ukraine as a sovereign state for
several reasons, including that this declaration was saying no NATO."
The terms of the deal itself remain unclear and the joint
statement from the State Department and Ukrainian government did not
offer much detail other than a proposal for an immediate 30-day
ceasefire, during which they hope to hold negotiations with Moscow.
At present, Russia maintains a swath of Ukrainian territory
from the Khariv to Kherson Oblasts, providing a land bridge to Crimea,
which it annexed in 2014. Russia formally annexed four more regions amid
the war but does not fully control any of them. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio suggested that the Ukrainians would likely have to give up
some territory in a peace deal.
Russia's recent military successes may be incentive to delay accord
“The most important thing that we have to leave here with
is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like
the Russians are going to have to do difficult things to end this
conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday. “I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.”
The state of the Russian economy has also appeared as a contributing factor. Trump previously threatened the Russians with additional sanctions if they refused to come to the table, though the scope of those sanctions and their potential impact remains unclear.
"Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’
Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large
scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease
Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED," Trump wrote on
Truth Social last week.
Conversely, some analysts believe Putin may use the
ceasefire offer to drag out negotiations and demand greater concessions
for a pause. Bloomberg News, citing an unnamed person “close to the Kremlin,” reported that he may demand an end to arms shipments to Ukraine.
“Putin won’t give a hard ‘yes’ or a hard ‘no,’” Carnegie
Russia Eurasia Center Senior Fellow Tatiana Stanovaya told the outlet.
“Even in a fantastic situation where Putin makes some gestures toward a
truce, it would still be a temporary one and with very harsh
conditions.”
Among the regulations Zeldin said the EPA would reconsider are the “illegal” Clean Power Plan 2.0., the endangerment finding, the electric vehicle mandate, and rules regarding particulate matter.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced
Wednesday that the agency will take 31 “historic actions” to roll back
the Biden administration’s climate agenda in line with President Donald
Trump’s executive order to “Unleash American Energy.”
“By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding,
the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger
through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s
Golden Age,” Zeldin stated in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
“Today marks the death of the Green New Scam. The EPA
recognizes that environmental protection and economic prosperity aren’t
mutually exclusive goals,” Zeldin wrote in the Journal.
He also said the EPA would remain committed to a mission of
protecting the environment, but not by shutting down power plants.
Rather, he said, the EPA would protect the environment by making energy
production cleaner and more efficient.
By reducing the regulatory impediments to industry, Zeldin said in an announcement posted on X, jobs would be created, especially in the auto industry.
“From the campaign trail to day one and beyond, President
Trump has delivered on his promise to unleash energy dominance and lower
the cost of living. We at EPA will do our part to power the great
American comeback,” Zeldin said.
Israel has rejected the accusations, calling them unfounded, biased, and lacking credibility.
Israeli soldiers make their way towards Israel's border
with Gaza, amid the ongoing ground invasion against Hamas, in southern
Israel, November 8, 2023(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
Israel carried out "genocidal acts" against Palestinians by
systematically destroying women's healthcare facilities during the
conflict in Gaza, and used sexual violence as a war strategy, United Nations experts said in a new report on Thursday.
Israel's
permanent mission to the UN in Geneva described allegations in the
report as unfounded, biased, and lacking credibility.
"Israeli
authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the
Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended
to prevent births, one of the categories of genocidal acts in the Rome
Statute and the Genocide Convention," said the UN Independent
International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, including east Jerusalem, and Israel.
Those
actions, in addition to a surge in maternity deaths due to restricted
access to medical supplies, amounted to the crime against humanity of
extermination, the commission said.
The
report accused Israel's security forces of using forced public
stripping and sexual assault as part of their standard operating
procedures to punish Palestinians following the Hamas-led attacks on
southern Israel in October 2023.
IDF leads humanitarian efforts in the northern Gaza Strip. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE)
Israel rejected the accusations
"The
IDF has concrete directives ... and policies which unequivocally
prohibit such misconduct," the permanent mission to the UN in Geneva
responded in a statement, adding that its review processes are in line
with international standards.
A
previous report published by the Commission in June 2024 accused Hamas
and other Palestinian armed groups of serious rights violations in its
October 7, 2023 attack, including torture and degrading treatment.
Israel
is party to the Genocide Convention and was ordered in January 2024 by
the International Court of Justice to take action to prevent acts of
genocide during the war against Hamas.
It
is not party to the Rome Statute, which gives the International
Criminal Court jurisdiction to rule on individual criminal cases
involving genocide and crimes against humanity.
South Africa has brought a genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.
Hamas carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7,
2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages and triggering a war
in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians,
according to the hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
While former President Joe Biden wasn’t the first president to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political reasons, he drained it more than any president before him. The frequent draws and refills may be threatening the structural integrity of the reserve, experts say.
During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump stated
that he would “fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top.”
It was one of the few policy goals that Trump promised but didn’t put
into any of his many executive orders
he signed since taking office. Instead, Trump's Energy Secretary Chris
Wright plans to seek up to $20 billion from Congress to replenish the
nation’s energy stockpile known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(SPR).
Wright told Bloomberg News
last week during a tour of a natural-gas export plant in Louisiana that
the effort would take years, but it would result in the SPR going back
to “just close to the top.”
While former President Joe Biden wasn’t the only president
to use the petroleum reserve for political reasons, he drained it more
than any president before him. The frequent draws and refills — the
latest of which will be the largest refilling effort in its history —
may be threatening the structural integrity of the reserve, experts
say.
Ups and downs
The SPR was created in response to the 1973 OPEC oil embargo against the United States, which triggered an energy crisis and caused a historic recession. President Gerald Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975,
which created the SPR to provide a stockpile of energy supplies should
the nation need it in the event of supply disruptions. These crude oil
reserves are stored in 62 salt caverns that are 200 feet wide and over
2,500 deep in the ground.
The reserves have been tapped for a variety of reasons over the years,
and some of the oil was released for exchange agreements, which
function like a loan. The loan is given in barrels of oil, and those
barrels are repaid at a specific date with interest.
While the main purpose of the SPR was to provide a
stockpile to minimize the impacts of supply disruptions, presidents have
often used it to mitigate high oil prices, especially during an
election season. Former President Joe Biden tapped the reserve more than
any other president as a means of price control.
In June 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
the average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. was nearly $4.30 per
gallon. With the midterms approaching, the high cost of gas threatened
to push more voters toward Republican candidates. In an effort to bring
those prices down, Biden began draining the SPR.
Ambitious claims
When Biden took office in January 2021, the SPR contained over 638 million barrels
of oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In June 2023, it was down to nearly 347 million barrels. It currently stands at 395 million barrels.
In March of last year, former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the SPR would be refilled
by the end of last year. It seemed at the time a rather ambitious
claim, but a series of Department of Energy announcements on oil buys in
the following months showed what she really meant by the statement.
After a series of these buys over several months, the Department of Energy was proclaiming
in November that it had added 20 million more barrels than the 180
million barrels sold under Biden’s 2022 emergency declaration following
the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yet the DOE had only purchased 59
million barrels.
Granholm’s DOE added to this amount another 140 million
barrels that were set to be released. But the DOE had worked with
Congress to cancel those sales. So it appears that when Granholm claimed
the SPR would be refilled by the end of 2024, she meant that combined
with canceled sales, the buys would equal more than the 180 million
barrels Biden sold under his emergency declaration.
Physical storage areas experience shrinkage
David Blackmon, an energy analyst who publishes his work on his “Energy Absurdities” Substack, told Just the News
that these draws and fills of the SPR threaten the structural integrity
of the salt caverns where the oil is stored. Should presidents continue
to use the SPR for political goals, Blackmon said, that could become a
big problem.
“This is a habit they’re going to have to break. Either
that, or they’re going to have to find some additional storage for all
the oil that is supposed to be used for national security purposes,”
Blackmon said.
Salt domes are an ideal storage formation because they don’t react with the oil and they’re self-healing.
The storage sites were intended to be used for 25 years, and at one
time sonic measurements estimated a total capacity of 727 million
barrels.
Trump’s DOE will also have to strike an economic balance in
the course of bringing the SPR back to the level it was before Biden
drained it. Robert Rapier, a chemical engineer and editor-in-chief of Shale Magazine, told Just the News that passing the legislation for the purchases shouldn’t be a problem.
“The challenge will be trying to keep oil prices stable
while doing so. The refill will pull barrels off the market and put
upward pressure on prices. So it will have to be done slowly,” Rapier
said.
As the former CEO of the oil and gas company Liberty
Energy, Secretary Wright is likely aware of that economic impact. And
it’s likely why he said the effort would take years to refill. Once it’s
topped off, time will tell if future administrations leave it untouched
except for national emergencies.
Tariff Tussles: Headlines predicted bear markets, loss of savings, and encouraged talk of a recession on Tuesday after the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States. It appears Trump is succeeding at using tariffs as both a carrot and stick, and they are not contributing to inflation, some experts say.
Key stock market indices rebounded on Wednesday following news that inflation fell in February to an annual rate of 2.8%,
bolstering President Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs would not cause
inflation as the stock markets rallied over — or despite — his trade
spats with Canada and the European Union.
Analysts had expected a rate of 2.9% after January saw it modestly rise to 3.0%. Consequently, the NASDAQ closed up
by 1.44%, while the S&P gained 0.81%. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJIA) largely held steady, but closed down 0.20%. The rebounds
came after the indices tumbled over the past few weeks over uncertainty
about the effect of expected U.S. tariff increases.
The European Union this week announced a 25% tariff on $28 billion worth of steel and aluminum imports in retaliation for Trump’s own. Canada, moreover, is set to impose roughly $20 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods as Trump raises them against Ottawa.
Headlines were filled with fears of bear markets, loss of savings, and talk of a recession
on Tuesday after the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs on
the United States. The development marked the latest turn as Trump has
sought to use tariffs, particularly against Mexico and Canada, to
encourage policy changes in those nations. In the case of those two, he
has sought to secure more support from Ottawa and Mexico City for
stemming the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
Trump's allies are bullish
Some Republicans dismissed the stock volatility as
short-term and a product of the fickle nature of the trade itself. “Wall
Street fluctuates on a whim. I mean, the weather could be bad, and the
markets will fall,” former Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles
said Wednesday on the “John Solomon Reports”
podcast. The media panic and stock market backlash has Charles pointing
to what he dubbed “selective hysteria.” “People need to understand this
is not a trade war in the old sense… It's a selective application of a
limited tariff in order to get a policy outcome,” he added.
“Tariffs are not going to drive a wild inflation run,
okay?” he continued. “What causes inflation is when you overspend at the
federal level by billions … that is driven by overspending on the part
of the federal government. It is not driven by, you know, peripheral
tariffs on things that we can actually make ourselves.”
During an interview with CBS News
this week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated that the tariffs
were “worth it,” referencing the equities markets' instability. “The
only reason there could possibly be a recession is because of the Biden
nonsense that we had to live with,” he added.
Former Trump economic advisor Steve Moore said on the “John Solomon Reports”
podcast that “there were a lot of worries. I think that this report
alleviated some of them. I still think some of the hangover effects are
from all the government spending that Biden did.”
“All that government spending does put upward pressure on
prices, since it's all paid for by printing money,” he went on. “But I
was very happy with that inflation report. It was better than I
expected. I want to remind your listeners that in the first term for
Trump, you know, we had almost no inflation.”
Trade disputes are far from uncommon
Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs are far from the only
trade dispute between the United States and other nations. Bobby Charles
highlighted this point while pointing to an ongoing lumber conflict
with Canada.
“We probably have globally going on here between the United
States, our allies and others, ongoing trade conflicts that have to do
with tariffs, probably two or three dozen of them, and they've been
going on for decades,” he added. Charles then described President Joe
Biden’s imposition of a 15% tariff on Canadian lumber in response to
their subsidizing of the industry to deflate prices. Moore, for his
part, echoed that sentiment, pointing to the U.S.’s participation in
so-called “free trade” agreements with countries that maintain tariffs
on American goods.
“But one of the things Trump asked me to do is just look at
some of these countries and their tariffs. You know, we have a free
trade agreement with Canada, right?” he said. “And so if that's the
case, how is it that Canada is charging us over 100% on our dairy
products and on our agriculture products. That doesn't sound like free
trade to me. And so when I look at what Canada is doing, I think that
Trump has a point.”
All about priorities
At the end of the day, however, Moore suggested that the
tariffs would not rank at the top of Trump’s most important economic
tasks and indicated a preference for addressing trade after securing an
extension of the 2017 tax cuts. “The most important thing we have to do
this year, by far, is we have to make sure we get that tax cut done so
we don't have a $4 trillion tax increase on January 1. So that would
just implode the economy if we have that happen,” he said.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the standard deduction and cut the corporate income tax rate
from 35% to 21%. Trump has sought to make those changes permanent in
the next national budget, though disputes within Congress led the House
to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government until Sept. 30.
The timeline for legislation to extend or enshrine the tax cuts remains
unclear.
Charles, on the other hand, looked at the tariffs as key to
fulfilling Trump’s core promises of repatriating American
manufacturing, saying, “what Trump is doing is he's bringing business
back to the United States, because a foreign country that can use this
labor that is not competitive with us, if they have to pay more for it,
they actually will push their production over here to the United States.
It also causes people to buy things.”
