Proposed appointment of Daniel Davis generated significant pushback from the right due to his ongoing criticism of Israel’s Gaza policy

Posted on March 10, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Trump daily intel brief role almost handed over to ‘extremely dangerous’ anti-Israel scholar
Erez Linn
March 13, 2025

Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, has decided against appointing Daniel Davis to a key intelligence position following criticism from some members of President Donald Trump’s orbit over Davis’ views on Israel’s military operations in Gaza, The New York Times reported based on information from officials familiar with the situation…The canceled appointment highlights an emerging foreign policy divide within the new administration. President Trump has appointed both traditional hawks – like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz – alongside officials more skeptical of American military intervention abroad, including Gabbard. READ MORE

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“Beinart goes through the motions of condemning what happened on October 7 but spends far longer attacking those who have stood up for Israel since then”

Posted on March 10, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
‘For Peter Beinart, focusing on the right of Jews to be secure from terrorists is immoral’
Stephen Pollard
February 20, 2025

…Beinart has become that shul parody, hawking his self-proclaimed moral superiority around as if the rest of us should be grateful to have such a man in our midst, rather than feeling ashamed of him. That has been given full rein in his latest book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. This is a book that not only need never have been written but that does not need to be read. Its most obvious pointlessness is that it is simply boring, a predictable regurgitation of every slander against Israel. We get ethnic cleansing, apartheid, massacres and all the usual stuff. Why bother with Beinart when this is the everyday diet of the media? READ MORE

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“More than half of Democrats are anti-Israel, according to a shocking new poll”

Posted on March 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Shocking Gallup survey finds 60% of Dems are anti-Israel — first time ever for major US political party
Carl Campanile
February 27, 2025

…Only 33% of Dems surveyed by Gallup said they had a favorable view of Israel, while a whopping 60% said they viewed the Jewish State unfavorably and 4% had no opinion. It’s the first time ever that a Gallup survey showed a majority of members of a main US political party had a negative opinion of the Jewish state, with the question being asked since 1989. By comparison, 83% of Republicans said they had a favorable view of Israel, and just 13% unfavorable, with 4% not offering an opinion, the poll found. READ MORE

DAILY CALLER Dem Senator Wants To Restore Funding To UN Agency That Employed Literal Terrorists Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch reintroduced a bill Friday to restore congressional funding to the United Nations’ agency UNRWA that employed terrorists who participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

ALGEMEINER ‘Little Gaza’: US Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Legislation to Combat Campus Radicalism US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has proposed two new bills which would impose legal sanctions on purveyors of seditious, pro-terror ideologies on university campuses and the higher education institutions that harbor them, advancing the Republican Party’s offensive against the pro-Hamas student movement.

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“Three IDF officials are uniquely responsible for the last-minute decisions they made once there was evidence of a potential imminent attack”

Posted on March 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
How a massacre happened: How three top IDF officials failed to prevent Hamas’s attack
Yonah Jeremy Bob
March 7, 2025

…There are many pieces of evidence regarding what Hamas might have done the night before October 7, which The Jerusalem Post has been exposed to but is barred from publication for now. Of the evidence that is allowed to be published for now, the most crucial components are: (1) The Walls of Jericho Plan; (2) the SIM cellphone cards, which Hamas turned on in Gaza; (3) the Air Force noticing some movements relating to Hamas’s rocket crews; and (4) a variety of intelligence readings on Hamas movements (the specifics of which are still classified). One fascinating aspect of the IDF probes as presented to the Post is that although one would assume that such top-level officials would have access to everything, each of these three major characters knew different pieces of information. READ MORE

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“Witkoff’s treatment of Netanyahu was effective but it was also cartoonishly performative”

Posted on March 7, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY MAG
What Trump’s Tough-Guy Diplomacy Means for Israel
Seth Mandel
March 13, 2025

Israelis may be relieved that U.S. envoy Adam Boehler has been sidelined from Hamas talks after his disastrous foray into hostage diplomacy, but they should remember that it is ultimately President Trump who sets the agenda. A new profile of the president’s main negotiator, Steve Witkoff, contains some insight into what Trump likes about Witkoff, what he expects of him, and what that means for anyone sitting across the table from him. The Telegraph reports that Witkoff’s initial success in getting a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas raised his stature enough to earn a shot at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. He has replaced Keith Kellogg, the retired general and national security adviser, as the administration’s top mediator for that conflict as well. READ MORE

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“US hostage envoy Adam Boehler reportedly engaged in the first direct talks between the US and Hamas in decades over the remaining American hostages and chances for a deal to end the war”

Posted on March 6, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
Trump Admin. holding secret direct talks with Hamas over hostages
March 5, 2025

The Trump Administration has been engaged in direct talks with the Hamas terrorist organization in an effort to release the American citizens who are still held hostage in Gaza, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported Wednesday. Two anonymous sources told Ravid that the talks held between Hamas and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler constitute the first direct talks between the US government and Hamas in nearly three decades. The focus of the talks is reportedly the release of five Americans who were abducted during the October 7 massacre. Of these US citizens, only one, Edan Alexander, is believed to still be alive. The talks are also meant to examine the possibility of a deal to release all of the 59 remaining hostages, both the living and the dead, and a deal that would end the war permanently. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Trump defends direct US-Hamas talks as Israel seethes, attempts to sabotage them US president says effort aimed at releasing Israeli hostages, but Witkoff admits US captives are priority and that Trump issued ultimatum after Hamas didn’t play ball in meeting

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Trump: “Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose”

Posted on March 5, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
US, Israel could take joint military action against Hamas if negotiations fail, Witkoff says
Andrew Bernard
March 6, 2025

Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, told reporters on Thursday that the United States and Israel could take joint military action against Hamas if negotiations with the terrorist group fail. Speaking with journalists outside the White House, Witkoff was asked if there was a deadline to advance a deal to release more hostages before Israel resumes combat operations in the Gaza Strip. “There definitely is such a date, but I’m not at liberty to discuss what that is,” Witkoff said. “It’s unclear exactly what’s going to happen. I think there’s going to be some action taken. It could be jointly with the Israelis.” READ MORE

JPOST ‘This is your last warning!’: Trump gives ultimatum to Hamas Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” US President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social and X/Twitter on Wednesday evening, addressing Hamas…“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” indicating Trump’s desire to back Israel in further military operations if Hamas does not release all hostages. 

JNS Rubio: Trump has ‘lost his patience’ with Hamas over hostages “He’s tired of watching videos of emaciated hostages being released,” the secretary of state said of the ultimatum for the terrorists to free the captives.

ARUTZ SHEVA Freed hostages thank Trump: You were our hope Speaking after the meeting with Trump, Keith Siegel said, “We are here today in Washington, D.C., a group of released hostages who came to the White House to express our great appreciation and gratitude for President Trump and to his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. They made the deal possible, they got us all home and we urge them to continue their enormous efforts.”

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“Those protesting the loudest about Trump’s alleged ‘ethnic ceansing’ plan are more interested in exploiting Gazans for the purpose of destroying Israel than helping them”

Posted on March 5, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
International Law Is No Bar to Trump’s Gaza Proposal
Eugene Kontorovich
March 3, 2025

…The president is successfully trolling European and United Nations officials, who have insisted the plan would violate international law. They’re wrong. The legal basis for the proposal is straightforward. Gaza is one of the very few pieces of land not under the sovereignty of any nation, a status known as terra nullius in international law. Such situations are rare because in the postwar era local populations can win recognition for a new sovereign state with relative ease. Once established, sovereignty is hard to extinguish. But because of a confluence of circumstances, Gaza has a sovereignty vacuum. A distinct Gaza Strip came into being as a result of Egypt’s invasion of Israel in 1948. Cairo failed in its attempt to destroy the newly independent Jewish state, but it did occupy a finger of coastal territory between Sinai and Tel Aviv, which came to be known as the Gaza Strip. READ MORE

MIDDLE EAST FORUM A.J. Caschetta: What Country Would Accept Relocated Gazans When Donald Trump proposed to relocate over a million people from Gaza while it is rebuilt, many derided it as a combination of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia. Others thought it just too ridiculous to take seriously. But more people are coming around to his way of thinking. Liel Leibovitz now argues that, “we must embrace this proposal, because at its heart is the one true and inescapable sentiment: Israelis can no longer be expected to live in proximity to those who desire nothing more than their death.”

GATESTONE Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Arabs Don’t Want To Receive Palestinian Ex-Prisoners The Jordanians and Lebanese, for their part, have not forgotten how Palestinians sparked civil wars in their countries in the 70s and 80s.

TABLET MAG A History of Mass Relocation What does the 20th century show us about President Trump’s proposal to permanently move the population of Gaza?

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Iran nuclear facilities on high alert for surprise ‘Israel-US strike’

Posted on March 4, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Time running out: What we know about how Israel could strike Iran
Ariel Kahana
March 6, 2025

…Very little time remains to address Iran’s nuclear program. The Islamic Republic is placing its underground nuclear infrastructure so deep that even the American bunker-busting bomb will eventually be unable to penetrate it. “It will be so deep that conventional weapons won’t be able to do the job,” in the diplomat’s words. Meanwhile, the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency determined that, “if Iran decides to produce weapons-grade uranium (90% enrichment) instead of 60% (currently), it could do so quickly…Therefore, according to this source, the Americans need two days to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. Either way, even if eight hours is sufficient for the Americans, the Israeli Air Force, lacking the bombs they possess, would need much more time. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Iran nuclear facilities on high alert for surprise ‘Israel-US strike’ “They [Iranian authorities] are just waiting for the attack and are anticipating it every night and everything has been on high alert – even in sites that no one knows about,” one source revealed to The Telegraph. “

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“Investigation finds guns of most members of security team were locked in armory, inaccessible due to power outage; 3 cases of ‘friendly fire’ as troops entered kibbutz to clear it of terrorists”

Posted on March 4, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Civilians, police stopped 1st wave of terrorists at Nahal Oz; IDF arrived 7 hours later
Emanuel Fabian
March 4, 2025

…On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces presented its probe into the battle at the kibbutz — among its detailed investigations of some 40 battles that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when some 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, massacred some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages to Gaza. It highlighted the heroism of Nahal Oz’s local security team and other Israeli forces that participated in the fighting, as well as the army’s colossal failures that allowed throngs of terrorists to overrun the kibbutz. The probe concluded that the IDF “failed in its mission to protect” the residents of Nahal Oz, largely because the military had never prepared for such an event — an Israeli community being captured by terrorists, as well as a widescale attack on numerous towns and army bases simultaneously by thousands of terrorists. READ MORE

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