US veto of UN Security Council ceasefire resolution prevented the world body from dictating a Hamas victory. Still, the administration’s alternative is almost as dangerous.

Posted on February 22, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Biden’s ‘help’ at the UN will put Israeli lives at risk
Jonathan S Tobin
February 22, 2024

Once again, President Joe Biden came to the rescue of Israel at the U.N. Security Council. The administration’s decision to veto a resolution sponsored by Algeria calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas was condemned by most members of the world body, as well as many in the president’s own Democratic Party. But it was lauded by both the State of Israel and its supporters. It was the third time since the start of the current conflict that Washington had cast the sole “no” vote on a resolution that would have halted the fighting. Any resolution that forces Israel to stop its counter-offensive into Gaza before the complete defeat of the terrorists who began the current conflict with the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust will enable Hamas not merely to survive but essentially to win the war it started. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA Netanyahu presents: The plan for ‘the day after Hamas’ Prime Minister Netanyahu brings before the Cabinet his proposal for the “day after” Hamas, which includes the shutting down of UNRWA…There will be a complete demilitarization in the Gaza Strip of any military capacity, beyond what is required for the needs of maintaining public order. The responsibility for realizing this goal and overseeing its existence in the foreseeable future is given to Israel. On the civil level – as much as possible, the civil administration and responsibility for public order in the Gaza Strip will be based on local officials with administrative experience. These local entities will not be identified with countries or entities that support terrorism and will not receive payment from them.

FDD BRIEF Evacuated Israelis May Return to Homes Near Gaza The Israeli government authorized residents of evacuated Israeli communities on the Gaza Strip to return to their homes on February 22. The advisory reflects the success of the Gaza offensive in degrading the rocket and armed incursion capabilities of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups. The Israeli military said that communities located at least two miles away from the Gaza border no longer face a security threat that warrants residents staying away. The military issued a similar advisory for 18 communities within two miles of the border while noting the continuing risk of short-range mortar attacks.

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Hamas forced some families in kibbutzim to witness the rape or sexual assault of their own family members, in their own homes”

Posted on February 19, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NATIONAL REVIEW
Hamas’s ‘Sadistic’ Sexual Assault Detailed by Israel’s Rape Crisis Centers
Haley Strack
February 21, 2024

Hamas sexually assaulted Israeli women “in all arenas” where the October 7 massacre took place, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel revealed in a recent report. The ARCCI is an “umbrella organization for the nine regional Rape Crisis Centers (RCCs)” in Israel, its website says, and the organization provides support for victims of sexual abuse. The report details Hamas’s onslaught at the Nova music festival at which terrorists gang-raped, mutilated, and beat women. When bodies arrived at morgues from the festival, some were reportedly partially clothed or unclothed and were still bleeding from their pelvic areas.  Kibbutzim in the south, where Hamas broke into homes and murdered whole families, were the site of horrific sexual assaults. Hamas slaughtered around 10 percent of the population in Kibbutz Be’eri and raped women and girls in their bedrooms, while some were “partially dressed in their pajamas,” the ARCCI reported based on several testimonies. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Former Canadian PM Harper: “It is foolish to think a two-state solution will emerge while so many Palestinians still reject the existence of a Jewish state”

Posted on February 19, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NATIONAL POST
Israel’s war is just, Hamas must surrender or be eliminated
Stephen J. Harper
February 18, 2024

…This was not random murder. It was more than some settling of inter-communal scores. It was beyond even brutal military action. These were acts of extermination — the killing of no mere enemy, but of those who, in the killers’ eyes, were less than human, whose very existence was to be viewed as a scourge. It was, in short, the urge to commit genocide at its most evil. This may not have been a Holocaust in scale, but it was in kind. And, for the Israeli nation, born as it was in the shadow of the Holocaust, it can be interpreted no other way. Nor can this be regarded as some isolated episode of anti-Israeli violence. It was the consequence of decades of institutionalized antisemitic indoctrination of a population — indoctrination to the point where such murderous acts become regarded as not merely expedient or tolerable, but as necessary and praiseworthy. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“AP willfully chose to turn a blind eye to these facts, and instead profited from its terrorist photographer’s participation in the massacre”

Posted on February 18, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Oct. 7 survivors sue AP for hiring freelance photographers ‘embedded with Hamas terrorists’
Susan Edelman and Allie Griffin
February 21, 2024

Several survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel have accused the Associated Press in a new lawsuit of aiding and abetting the terrorist organization by using freelance photojournalists believed to be embedded with the violent militants. The plaintiffs — Israeli-Americans and Americans who attended the Nova music festival raided by Hamas as well as loved ones of victims — are suing the news outlet for damages under the Antiterrorism Act, according to the federal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida Wednesday night. They are being represented by lawyers working with the nonprofit National Jewish Advocacy Center who accuse the major media company of “materially supporting terrorism” by paying alleged Hamas-associated photojournalists for images captured during and immediately after the Oct. 7 invasion. READ MORE

JPOST NYT journalist accused of infiltrating into Israel on Oct. 7 wins award The organization said they won for “chronicling Israel’s bombardment and invasion of their homeland, Gaza. The two photographed the conflict from its opening hours on Oct. 7.”

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Melanie Phillips joined the CAMERA group to view scenes of the October 7 atrocities, one of them Kfar Aza.

Posted on February 18, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

MELANIE PHILLIPS SUBSTACK
Never again
February 15, 2025

I made a pilgrimage this week to the the area of the south-western Negev that was devastated by the Hamas pogrom on October 7…The eerie silence of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, whose once idyllic aspect is still visible through its shrubs and spacious landscaping despite the wrecked and deserted houses…Further into Kfar Aza, the scene is very different. This is not tranquil. This is a place of the utmost horror. These houses are laid out in neat rows with neighbours facing each other across the pathway. In two of these double rows, the inhabitants of every single house were murdered or kidnapped. Not one house was spared. Every house is wrecked. Outside each one are pictures of the murdered or the kidnapped who had lived there. Most are taped off. Every house has symbols painted on the outside by those who came to retrieve the remains of the slaughtered. A circle with a dot, we are told, means a body or body parts were inside. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pretending there is a deal to be done with the Palestinian leadership only opens the door to another October 7. Israelis won’t be fooled.

Posted on February 18, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Sorry, but there is no Two-State Solution
Gadi Taub
February 12, 2024

I don’t fault any Zionist or ally of Israel for having embraced the two-state solution, as I did for many years. No other peace plan could reconcile self-interest and lofty principles so seamlessly. No other plan could offer a better way to transcend the contradictions that reality imposed on Israelis, by making a Zionist argument, no less, for Palestinian statehood. Far more powerful than a mere solution to a problem, the idea of two states was, for many of us, an irresistible form of seduction—a promise that partition could make Israel whole…
But compelling as it is as a debating strategy, or a form of self-therapy, the two-state solution is, sadly, no solution at all. Rather, it is a big step down the road to another Lebanon. It would doom the Zionist project, not save it, while producing much greater misery and more bloodshed for Israelis and Palestinians alike. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Egypt bears massive responsibility for the ongoing crisis. To prevent another October 7, this will require Israel to maintain control of the Rafah crossing

Posted on February 18, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Egypt must reap what they sowed to prevent another October 7 from happening
Benjamin Anthony
February 18, 2024

Following Israel’s rescue mission of two hostages carried out in Rafah, the IDF is poised to launch a ground incursion into the same city. Rafah is Hamas’s last remaining stronghold; it must be purged from that area for Israel to realize its war aims. Preventing a repeat of the horrors of October 7 will require Israel to maintain control of the Rafah crossing in perpetuity. If ordered, the IDF will operate in an area where approximately 1.2 million Gazans are currently located. They are there as a result of Israel’s largely successful efforts to move Gazans out of harm’s way as the IDF battles a brutal enemy. READ MORE

JNS Gantz: IDF will enter Rafah unless hostages returned before Ramadan If the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are not freed before Ramadan, which starts in approximately three weeks, the Israel Defense Forces campaign against the terror group will continue, including in Rafah, War Cabinet member Benny Gantz pledged on Sunday. 

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

“If no registration is made, the fiancee or fiance will be able to prove an intention to marry by meeting two of the conditions specified in the law, including a marriage proposal or an engagement party”

Posted on February 17, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Knesset Advances Bill To Recognize Fiancés as Family Members of Fallen Soldiers
Troy O. Fritzhand
February 21, 2024

The Knesset, Israel’s parliamentary body, advanced a bill on Wednesday that would recognize the fiancés of IDF soldiers who were killed during the war as those who lost a spouse. The bill was introduced in the Labor and Welfare Committee by a bipartisan coalition of MKs Ofir Katz, Meirav Cohen, Israel Eichler, and others. According to current Israeli law, family members of soldiers who fall in battle are entitled to rights such as monetary compensation and emotional support. This law did not include men or women engaged to a fallen soldier. In a readout on the passing of its first reading, the Knesset spokesman wrote “According to the proposal, the engagements of couples who have already submitted an application for marriage registration will be automatically recognized. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East | Tagged | Leave a comment

Following the explosive allegations of UNRWA staffers’ involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks, the United States and other nations cut funding to the embattled agency

Posted on February 17, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Palestinian aide worker caught on video carrying Israeli solider’s body on Oct. 7
Matthew Sedacca
February 17, 2024

A relief worker with the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee aid agency was caught on video during the murderous terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 carrying the body of an Israeli soldier who had been gunned down in a southern Israel kibbutz into his car and driving away with it, according to a report. Faisal Ali Musalam Naami, a social worker at UNRWA, was one of 12 agency employees whom Israeli authorities alleged participated in the brutal Hamas rampage, which resulted in the outbreak of the ongoing war, the Washington Post reported. READ MORE

JPOST More than 30 of UNRWA’s employees actively participated in October 7 Israel has intelligence that more than 30 of the organization’s employees actively participated in the murder spree, assisting in the kidnapping of civilians and soldiers.

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Columbia University professor and his wife saw their lives upended by their decision to denounce terrorism in Israel and antisemitism in America

Posted on February 16, 2024 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
What Happens When You Teach at Columbia and Reject Hamas
Shai Davidai and Yardenne Greenspan

…At first, we assumed this was all a big misunderstanding. We thought that if we could only get our friends to see what our childhood under constant suicide bombings was like, they would realize the depravity of student protesters calling for another intifada. We thought that we could get our friends to realize that there is no meaningful difference between the families slaughtered on Israel’s southern border and our own families, who live just 55 miles away. We thought that if we could only give voice to our people’s pain and suffering, our friends would not so flippantly reject our lived experiences. We thought that our friends would let us grieve. We were naive and we were wrong. READ MORE

ATLANTIC MAGAZINE Dara Horn: Why the most educated people in America fall for antisemitic lies The through line of anti-Semitism for thousands of years has been the denial of truth and the promotion of lies. These lies range in scope from conspiracy theories to Holocaust denial to the blood libel to the currently popular claims that Zionism is racism, that Jews are settler colonialists, and that Jewish civilization isn’t indigenous to the land of Israel. These lies are all part of the foundational big lie: that anti-Semitism itself is a righteous act of resistance against evil, because Jews are collectively evil and have no right to exist. Today, the big lie is winning.

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment