Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Nils A. Haug • November 12, 2024 at 7:00 am
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump was just re-elected to serve a second term. Within hours, Hamas indicated that now might be a good time to talk about peace. Qatar, perhaps concerned that its days of double-dealing might be coming to an end, announced it would be "stalling" its role as a mediator between the US and Hamas. The landslide victory of Trump in the US election this week appears finally to be restoring deterrence.
Israel's society is politically and ideologically split. On one side are Israelis who understandably want their relatives back, and have been hoping for a ceasefire. Sadly, they are probably unaware that Iran, Qatar and Hamas, are loath to relinquish the only bargaining chip they have, and will undoubtedly drag out releasing even one hostage as long as they can.
[A]fter 13 months of futile ceasefire negotiations, many Israelis appear to have trouble realizing that if Hamas and its backers, Iran and Qatar, so wished, the hostages would be home by now.
If the priority of Israeli progressives were to rescue the hostages, they would demand that Hamas release them. "The slogan for freeing the hostages," wrote British journalist Douglas Murray, "... should never have been 'Being them home.' It should be 'Give them back.' Now."
Murray has also noted that for years, the Biden administration has put all its efforts into trying to oust Netanyahu when it would probably have been better off putting all its efforts into ousting the Iranian regime.
Israel's progressives would also have called on the international community to pressure Iran and Qatar, rather than hector their own prime minister. Sadly, these Israelis, some of them in desperation to see their loved ones again, are playing into the hands of Hamas. Its leaders must be delighted to see a divided Israel turn against itself. Painfully, Israeli activists are doing damage to both their country and the hostages.
Among Israel's most vocal protestors are prominent Israeli politicians, backed -- and some funded -- by the Biden administration. The US appears to desire someone more malleable in Israel's number-one spot: a person, one assumes, willing to do whatever the US dictates.
The Biden administration's goal appears to be establishment of a terrorist Palestinian state on Israel's border. In addition, Iran will soon be able to produce nuclear weapons with which to bomb Israel to oblivion. This monumentally destabilizing objective was proposed by the Obama administration in its illegitimate 2015 "Iran nuclear deal," officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (JCPOA)...
As American journalist Daniel Greenfield points out: "The appeasement lobby only has one big idea when it comes to Islamic terrorists and any other enemies: 1. Give them land..."
Evidence shows that, unfortunately, this strategy does not work. The failure of the Oslo Accords only emphasizes that fact. The "ceiling" of each offer becomes the "floor" of the next one, as each concession is pocketed in the expectation of more.
Meanwhile, in the USA, President-elect Donald J. Trump is already creating seismic global changes within days, long before his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump was just re-elected to serve a second term. Trump is already creating seismic global changes within days, long before his inauguration on January 20, 2025. Pictured from left to right: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then US President Donald Trump, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan at the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords at the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Israel, under the heroic but much criticized statesman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a leader praised by historian Andrew Roberts as "The Churchill of the Middle East" – appears to have brought threats from Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, under control and can now focus Israel's attention and military forces on other fronts. Incomprehensibly, at this crucial period in Israel's existence, the chaotic domestic political situation has been cooking up unnecessary problems for the nation's security. Internal turmoil in Israel just serves to stimulate the hope for victory in its enemies, and less hope for the quick release of Israeli and other hostages Hamas is holding. "Hamas," wrote JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, "views the unrest inside the Jewish state as an asset."
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by Lawrence Kadish • November 11, 2024 at 2:00 pm
(Image source: iStock)
As the world discovered when the United States deployed the power of atomic energy to end World War II, the nation that has the means to harness this incredible force in any of its many forms has the means of dictating terms to the rest of the globe. So it should come as no surprise that China is devoting financial, technological, and educational resources to harness what is commonly called, "controlled fusion." Or, to be specific, to place the enormous energy that powers the Sun inside a reactor that, in turn, could replace virtually every fossil fuel facility on the planet, running on a virtually inexhaustible supply of "clean" fuel. From subduing the political power of those enemy nations seeking to use their oil and gas reserves to bully America, to addressing climate change concerns, controlled fusion could be as powerful an advance as fire and the wheel. The Chinese fully recognize the implications of owning this kind of strategic achievement.
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by Daniel Greenfield • November 11, 2024 at 5:00 am
Americans had the opportunity to elect Kamala Harris. And we had failed to live up to her.
[A]s Michelle Obama told us, we were not good enough for her.
Perhaps one day we will be. And Harris, along with Hillary Clinton, can wait in the wings, sipping chardonnay and listening to selections from Oprah Winfrey's book club until we show that we are ready for them to finally come and save us from ourselves. Decades may pass. Even centuries. But surely one day Americans will finally be ready for a completely inept president.
Herds of angry liberals wander the aisles of organic supermarkets and wonder how millions of people could have ever put their selfish economic interests ahead of a presidential DEI hire.
America's selfish founders put their desire for cheaper tea ahead of the glory of being ruled by a mad king who talked to trees, and their unworthy descendants want cheaper eggs and beef more than they want to listen to a woman of the right race who speaks in word salads.
It cannot be that Harris failed. DEI hires can never fail, only be failed. Nothing is ever their fault, only that of the systemic racism of the electoral college, the legacy of oppression in Berkeley and the unfair double standard of being expected to state coherent policy positions.
Or to put it more succinctly, Harris and [Nikole Hannah Jones of the revisionist "1619 Project"] are awesome and America sucks.
It would have been kinder for Democrats, Republicans and squishes of no particular political denomination not to reward Harris or ten thousand other DEI hires who fill academia, politics and corporations with positions they are unqualified for to avoid appearing bigoted. Bigotry is not only refusing to hire people because of their race, but also hiring people because of their race.
Biden made no secret of choosing Harris because he had promised to pick a black woman. Americans refused to hire Harris to run the country just because she was a black woman.
Whites, blacks and Latinos of all ages and sexes did the right non-bigoted thing by Harris. But nothing in Harris's life had led her to expect to be judged on merit rather than on her identity.
Americans had the opportunity to elect Kamala Harris. And we had failed to live up to her. As Michelle Obama told us, we were not good enough for her. Pictured: Harris gives her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
"Is America ready for that? Are they ready for a woman of color to be President of the United States?" Kamala Harris asked a month before dropping out of the 2020 primaries. Five years later, the consensus is not that Harris wasn't ready, but America still wasn't. "Kamala Harris didn't lose, America did. As a nation, we collectively failed her," John Pavlovitz, a liberal Christian blogger, damned. "This election was not an indictment of Kamala Harris. It was an indictment of America," Cosmopolitan columnist Jill Filipovic argued. Americans had the opportunity to elect Harris. And we had failed to live up to her. "By every measure, she has demonstrated that she's ready," Michelle Obama had warned at a Harris election rally. "The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?" We were not ready.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • November 10, 2024 at 5:00 am
Hamas should not be permitted to play any role in the Gaza Strip after the war. This would allow the terror group to rearm and regroup and prepare for another October 7-style attack on Israel.
By negotiating with Hamas about the future of the Gaza Strip, Abbas is legitimizing the Iran-backed terror group and sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that he sees no problem with dealing with murderers and terrorists who committed the most horrific crimes... As we have seen most recently in the Chinese Communist Party, Iran and Afghanistan, negotiating with terrorists and their equivalents simply does not work.
Ever since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in wars they initiated with Israel. With the help of Europe, Qatar and Iran, Hamas transformed the Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians, into one of the largest bases for Islamist terrorism in the Middle East.
The assumption that Hamas would voluntarily give up its control of the Gaza Strip because of any unity agreement with Abbas is just laughable.
The Biden administration chose to turn a blind eye to Abbas's efforts to legitimize Hamas. The US offered it a lifeline. A terror group committed to the elimination of Israel should have no role in any Palestinian government -- not in the West Bank and certainly not in the Gaza Strip. Such a group should be completely destroyed militarily and politically, and not invited to join any Palestinian government.
As long as Iran's regime remains in place, torturing both its own people and others... there regrettably will be no peace. That is the only way to secure a truly peaceful future, not only for Israelis but for Palestinians and the Free World.
By negotiating with Hamas about the future of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is legitimizing the Iran-backed terror group and sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that he sees no problem with dealing with murderers and terrorists who committed the most horrific crimes. Pictured: Abbas hugs Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
More than a year after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to view the Iran-backed Islamist movement as a legitimate partner. Last week, representatives of the PA's ruling Fatah faction (headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas held talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss establishing a joint administration to rule the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian source confirmed that the Fatah-Hamas discussions aim at to create a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip, in addition to pursuing efforts to reach a ceasefire there. Another Egyptian security source was quoted as saying that the talks "aim to unify the Palestinian ranks and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people." According to the source, the Fatah and Hamas negotiators "showed more flexibility and positivity towards establishing a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip."
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by Amir Taheri • November 10, 2024 at 4:00 am
[T]he esteemed writers did at least four things that one does not expect from people of letters.
The first was casting anathema on publishers, book clubs, cultural associations, art festivals and, inevitably, hundreds or perhaps thousands of writers, poets, composers, cineastes, dramatists, painters and other artists associated with them, simply because they happen to be Israelis.
Annie Ernaux the French winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, also a signatory, explained her move as opposition to "institutions that have never recognized the undoubted rights of the Palestinian people" without saying what those rights were and why are they undoubted, or whether they include raids like the one on October 7, 2023.
The second move not expected from the literati... is to preach blanket censorship based on guilt by association.
This is all the more surprising because most signatories are from the "Western world," where refusing guilt by association is a fundamental principle of the law.
Thirdly, a writer always provides even the character he most dislikes the chance to make his case before he is stamped with a final judgment of banishment.
[W]all-building, now done by the United States, Turkey, Iran, Hungary, Poland and Estonia, doesn't amount to Apartheid. In any case, as Israelis built walls to keep Hamas away, Hamas built tunnels to go and pay them a visit.
The Palestinian cause may be a noble one. So, as a writer, show us what it is and why it is noble. A writer isn't a labelling machine or a virtue-signaling device.
However, neither Walker nor Corbyn wondered why so many Palestinians in Gaza were still in refugee camps, although Hamas had ruled Gaza for more than a decade after the Israeli withdrawal.
Virtue-signalers do no service to Palestinians by using and abusing their undoubted sufferings to vent historic, cultural and pseudo-religious hatred against Jews.
If they are sincere in supporting the Palestinians they should call for transforming a "cause", that in Hamas's version means the annihilation of Israel -- a cause that has produced nothing but grief for eight decades -- into a "project" to shape a better future for Palestinians beyond eternal refugee camps.
Pictured: Pro-Hamas demonstrators in front of United Nations headquarters in New York on October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas invasion of Israel. (Photo by Adam Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
"Think twice! No, think thrice before you put a word on paper!" This was the advice that the great Persian poet Muhammad Iqbal, a son of India, advised his disciples in the last century. "In using words let caution be your guide." That thought found an echo in the writings of Sayyed Kazem Assar, an Iranian theological scholar. He wrote: "I have sat down to put pen on paper and words are jostling one another to assume existence. But do I know which one I should let in and what each will do? " He called that the Abraham moment when, knife in hand, the prophet was prepared to sacrifice his son but yet was not sure whether he was doing the right thing. Won't an unexpected event prevent him from doing what cannot be undone? Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard had a similar feeling, which he named anxiety, about thoughts and words that once given life could go anywhere and do anything, at times replacing thought.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • November 9, 2024 at 5:00 am
Over the decades, Iran's regime has embedded itself deeply within the region's crises, stoking unrest and sponsoring terrorism. If the Middle East is to see any genuine peace and stability, a transformation of Iran's regime is essential.
Without addressing the regime at the core, these threats will only intensify, especially when Iran acquires nuclear weapons... weeks away.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution orchestrated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Israel has been regarded as a cancerous tumor to be wiped off the map.
[O]nly Israel has demonstrated the courage and determination to confront the Iranian regime head-on, recognizing it as the "tumor" that fuels much of the region's instability.
It is crucial to recognize that the core ideological mission of the Iranian regime — using religion as a pretext to seize power by force — is deeply ingrained and is not going to change. For years, Iran's regime has not only been attacking its own citizens, especially women, and it has even been executing children. In the first six months of 2024 alone, "Iranian authorities executed 249 people" and an additional 166 people just in October.
A regime that treats its own people this way is not likely to treat anyone else any better.
The system in Iran was founded on principles aimed at "exporting the revolution" and imposing an Islamist governance structure across other nations. This ideological commitment is even enshrined in Iran's constitution...
Notably, during significant waves of protests in recent years, the Obama and Biden-Harris administrations remained silent, offering no substantial support to the people risking their lives for freedom.
Often, Western countries have chosen to overlook Iran's human rights abuses and advances in military power: they might interfere with profitable trade.
If these Western nations lack the will to fight the Iranian regime directly, then they should, at the very least, provide Israel with the necessary support — economically, militarily and politically. This is not an act of charity: supporting Israel in its mission serves their own interests.
Can the West set aside its hypocrisy long enough to stand with Israel in confronting Iran — this source of terror to them as well? If they cannot summon the nerve to act directly, then the least they can do is back those who do.
Over the decades, Iran's regime has embedded itself deeply within the region's crises, stoking unrest and sponsoring terrorism. If the Middle East is to see any genuine peace and stability, a transformation of Iran's regime is essential. Pictured: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Force Amir Ali Hajizadeh look on as a Jihad missile is displayed at a parade in Tehran on September 21, 2024. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
To embark on the path toward sustainable peace in the Middle East, it is essential to confront a fundamental truth: without addressing a crucial first step, peace across the region will remain nothing more than an illusion. This first step lies in directly confronting and ultimately changing the root cause of much of the ongoing conflict, violence, and terrorism — namely, the Islamist regime in Iran. Over the decades, Iran's regime has embedded itself deeply within the region's crises, stoking unrest and sponsoring terrorism. If the Middle East is to see any genuine peace and stability, a transformation of Iran's regime is essential.
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by Nils A. Haug • November 8, 2024 at 5:00 am
Sharia tenets – which have views of human rights, justice, mercy and compassion that differ from those of the West -- can appear alien to Judeo-Christian precepts. Sharia, in usage, often appears to contravene the basic humanistic values of the West.
The outcome is that, in application, the moral laws of each tradition -- that of the Torah as opposed to that of Sharia -- which prescribes harsh punishments, such as amputation for theft; death for leaving Islam (apostasy) or blasphemy, or being stoned to death for adultery, which can include having been raped -- are consequences inimical to Western ideas of justice, mercy and human rights.
By practicing a different faith, those who do not subscribe to Sharia are "disbelievers" (infidels), deemed to be in breach of "The Path" and consequently subject to a penalty of conversion, subjugation or death.
This is particularly true for Jews and Christians, who were offered opportunities to accept the gift of Islam but ungratefully declined.
"Slay the infidels wherever you find them..." — Qur'an, Sura 9:5.
The concept of universal human rights might seem quite strange to Islamists.
The intent of jihadi state actors .... in their own words, appears to be the imposition of Sharia law and Islamic dominance over the world.
That is why textual originalism in the interpretation of US Constitutional law is of particular concern to jurists. Emphasis on the original intent of the writers of the US Constitution rather than the fluctuating views of a succession of lawyers is of prime importance.
Reinterpreting the US Constitution can easily become like the children's game of "telephone": after a few migrations, the original intent of the founders could well become unrecognizable.
Western leaders find it difficult to regard religiously powered radicalism with the weight it deserves. "[I]t's precisely because it's religiously grounded that such radicalism is exceptionally dangerous." — George Weigel, First Things, January 31, 2024.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, during World War II, said in the House of Commons on June 18, 1940: "If we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age."
Although Churchill's statement also applies to Western nations at this time, Israel has been largely alone in the fight to preserve the West's Judeo-Christian ideals. It would be to the West's advantage for other nations to join Israel in this noble task.
The Torah's ethical and moral laws, which became known to the world as Moses' Ten Commandments, founded the West's moral-ethical precepts on which its laws and judicial concepts such as justice and mercy are based. This development is reflected in the United States' founding documents, as well as England's Magna Carta of 1215, among others. The concept of universal human rights might seem quite strange to Islamists. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The Torah's ethical and moral laws, which became known to the world as Moses' Ten Commandments, founded the West's moral-ethical precepts on which its laws and judicial concepts such as justice and mercy are based. This development is reflected in the United States' founding documents, as well as England's Magna Carta of 1215, among others. The opening paragraph of America's 1776 Declaration of Independence, for instance, refers to "the laws of nature" and "nature's God." From this assertion, the imperative of a sound ethical, moral and religious foundation for America's values was established. According to America's founding fathers, therefore, the laws of Moses – those moral codes collectively referred to as the natural law – underpin the value-based Western order.
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by Uzay Bulut • November 7, 2024 at 5:00 am
According to reports, since 2009, Muslims, inspired by Boko Haram, have murdered more than 150,000 Christians in Nigeria.
Chad, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger all struggle with jihadist insurgencies.
"The persistent and growing strength of violent extremist organizations in the Sahel threatens to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and spread instability across Africa, posing significant security and financial risks to the United States and Europe. The continuing collapse of international counterterrorism support, as well as weakening leadership in regional efforts, has created a vacuum in which violent extremism can expand." — Council on Foreign Relations, October 23, 2024.
The ongoing civil war in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, for example, poses a serious threat to Chad's stability. As Sudan's civil war escalates, it fuels further turmoil in the region.
"The conflict, which has spread to 14 of the 18 states in Sudan, has killed and wounded tens of thousands of civilians, displaced nearly 8 million people and forced two million more to flee to neighboring countries." — UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, September 6, 2024.
The civil war in Sudan has driven around 700,000 refugees into Chad, creating a humanitarian crisis and impeding trade between the two countries.
"Unless there is a coordinated effort to implement comprehensive political, economic, and social reforms alongside military campaigns against Boko Haram, the extremist group's ideology is likely to continue to gain ground." — Open Doors, March 2024.
As a result of jihadi violence by terror groups in sub-Saharan Africa, 16.2 million Christians have been forcibly displaced. An Open Doors report quotes Pastor Barnabas, who lives in a displaced persons camp in Nigeria: "Millions of Christians are displaced, here in Nigeria. Millions of Christians are displaced in Africa. The news doesn't care about it, politicians don't talk about it, governments don't talk about it, global politics don't talk about it. Nobody talks about it."
"Who is funding these groups? Who is arming and enabling them to the extent that they are more powerful than the forces of sovereign states? What powerful and monied entities are supporting the advance of jihad in Africa?" — Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, October 27, 2024.
Chad, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger all struggle with jihadist insurgencies. The civil war in Sudan has driven around 700,000 refugees into Chad, creating a humanitarian crisis and impeding trade between the two countries. Pictured: The Ourang refugee camp in Adre, Chad, inhabited by refugees who fled the civil war in Sudan, photographed on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Denis Sassou Gueipeur/AFP via Getty Images)
While much of the world media and human rights groups are fixated on the war being waged on Israel by Iran and its Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthi proxies, Islamic jihadist terrorists continue to ravage Africa. At least 40 Chadian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack on October 26-27 on a military base in Chad's Lake Region, according to a government statement that blamed the attack on the jihadist Boko Haram group. Reuters added: "Chad is an important ally for French and U.S. forces aiming to fight jihadists in the Sahel, which has become the epicentre of global terrorism under attack by factions loyal to al Qaeda and Islamic State."
The area around Lake Chad, which lies along the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger, is targeted by Islamist insurgencies -- by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram -- which began a terror campaign in northeast Nigeria in 2009 and spread to Chad.
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by Nils A. Haug • November 6, 2024 at 5:00 am
"Jewish people brought morality to the world thousands of years ago, and some people are still mad about it." — Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, ynetnews.com, January 27, 2024.
Pope Francis, spiritual head of Roman Catholics globally, and Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, for instance, have seemingly denied the "connection of Jewish people to their Holy Land" by apparently endorsing "replacement theology." Many in the Church believe that they are the true inheritors of certain biblical promises made to the Jews.
"Archbishop Welby should know that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel before anyone heard of Britain." — Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, jns.org, August 27, 2024.
The dirty little non-secret is that anti-Zionism actually is an expression of anti-Semitism. To deny that Jews have no right to a state -- especially in light of four countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mauritania and Iran, highlighting "Islamic Republic" in their names -- would appear on the face of it fundamentally biased. This list does not even include the other 53 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), that declare themselves Islamic, even if their names do not herald it.
Pope Francis, spiritual head of Roman Catholics globally, and Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, for instance, have seemingly denied the "connection of Jewish people to their Holy Land" by apparently endorsing "replacement theology." Many in the Church believe that they are the true inheritors of certain biblical promises made to the Jews. Pictured: Welby (L) and Francis attend a meeting in Juba, South Sudan, on February 3, 2023. (Photo by Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images)
Genuine Bible-based faith has long been under threat of marginalization or, in some instances, elimination. The main problem might be identified as the gradual secularization of society –the view that G-d is no longer required in the public square. Blame might also be directed at the creeping influence of other faiths, some religious, others not. In Western culture, suggests David Bonagura Jr., a professor at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York, various ideologies such as "Marxism, progressivism, multiculturalism and now wokeism" have emerged to compete with the traditional Judeo-Christian moral ethos of society. Once principles of morality have been removed from the public arena, then associated precepts of truth, justice, freedom, democracy -- and the equality and dignity of all persons --become compromised and sidelined in favor of whatever is the fashionable wisdom-of-the-month.
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by Bassam Tawil • November 5, 2024 at 5:00 am
"Hezbollah's model is the same as the North Korean model: tunnels in which hundreds of combatants, fully equipped, can pass stealthily and rapidly underground. In our opinion, Hezbollah's 'Land of the Tunnels' project is much larger than the Hamas 'metro' project in the Gaza Strip." — Alma Research and Education Center, July 2021.
These tunnels facilitate the movement of heavy equipment, missiles and fighters, and even allow missiles to be launched from within.
Built beneath the border between Lebanon and Syria, these tunnels allow Hezbollah's smuggling unit and the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force to transport ammunition, supplies and fighters under the border.
Many of these tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated areas, using civilians as human shields for their activities.
Some of the houses in Lebanon were destroyed by Hezbollah's own rockets and explosives after they were targeted by the IDF. "The explosions are caused by Hezbollah's own weapons. In other words, Hezbollah's tunnels are being used to blow up Lebanon. Hezbollah is displacing, starving and robbing the Lebanese." — Mohammed Al-Obaid, Arab social media user, X, October 31, 2024.
Hezbollah and Hamas bear full responsibility for the death of thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis since the October 7, 2023 massacres in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. The two terrorist groups started the war, at the behest of their patrons in Iran, with the intention of killing a large number of Israelis and eliminating Israel. The vast network of tunnels they built in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are an indication of the terrorist groups' determination to pursue their Jihad (holy war) against Israel, notwithstanding the risks to the Lebanese and Palestinian people living under their rule.
Even if Hezbollah says it will withdraw to north of the Litani River, the tunnels enable it easily to violate that pledge, with no one above ground the wiser. Hezbollah, moreover, never abided by UNSC Resolution 1701 to stop building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in south Lebanon.
The current war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip must not end without the destruction of all the tunnels and the total defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas. Those who are pushing for an immediate ceasefire are only empowering Iran and its terror proxies, paving the way for another October 7-style massacre. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas will benefit not only the Israelis, but the Lebanese and Palestinians, as well.
Hezbollah's tunnels in Lebanon facilitate the movement of heavy equipment, missiles and fighters, and some even allow missiles to be launched from within. Many of the tunnels are located beneath civilian infrastructure and populated areas, using civilians as human shields for Hezbollah activities. Pictured: Israeli soldiers at a shaft leading into a Hezbollah tunnel near Naqoura, Lebanon, on October 13, 2024. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
The Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, as part of its preparations for war with Israel, spent the past 15 years building a vast network of tunnels in Lebanon. Some of the tunnels were supposed to be used for invading Israel to carry out atrocities against Israelis like the ones committed by Hamas, another Iran terror proxy, on October 7, 2023. At a time when Lebanon faced a severe financial situation, Hezbollah invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of the tunnels. Reuters reported in 2022: "Lebanon is grappling with a deep economic crisis after successive governments piled up debt following the 1975-1990 civil war with little to show for their spending binge.
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by Robert Williams • November 4, 2024 at 5:00 am
On September 22, unnoticed by most Americans, the Biden-Harris administration adopted the United Nations Pact for the Future to transform global governance, which introduces the foundations of a world government. There was no debate, no media coverage, no press releases, and no interviews about the Biden-Harris administration's surrender of United States sovereignty to the UN.
Americans were apparently not supposed to find out.
These agreements usher in a dystopian future, where the UN -- an active supporter of terrorism and arguably the world's most corrupt international entity... in partnership with the unelected and unaccountable World Economic Forum, led by Klaus Schwab... is given unprecedented power over the peoples of sovereign countries, who have had no say whatsoever on the contents of this pact, because it has been kept hidden from them.
Buried near the end of the Digital Global Compact, in paragraph 30, is the only thing you need to know about it: "We must urgently counter and address... all forms of hate speech and discrimination, misinformation and disinformation...."
The UN, its member states and the Biden-Harris administration evidently want to establish world-wide censorship that will make any future criticism of their power grab impossible.
In 2021-22, the UN entered into a partnership with Google to ensure that the search engine only display information reflecting UN perspectives. Dissenting views would have to be erased. The UN did not even hide their totalitarian move, and issued a press release about it.
Google is clearly doing the UN's bidding. If you try to google the words "climate change" today, every single dissenting view has been suppressed by the search engine. In the first twenty-plus pages of results that come up on Google, not a single of them deviates from the UN/WEF narrative, with most results only containing links to UN bodies or other institutions that partner with the UN, such as the EU, the World Bank, government websites and a few climate-alarmist articles from the Guardian, the New York Times, AP and Reuters.
This is what UN censorship looks like now. Can you imagine what it will be in a few years, if countries do not immediately move to stop it?
In September, unnoticed by most Americans, the Biden-Harris administration adopted the United Nations Pact for the Future to transform global governance, which introduces the foundations of a world government. These agreements usher in a dystopian future, where the UN -- in partnership with the unelected and unaccountable World Economic Forum (WEF), led by Klaus Schwab -- is given unprecedented power over the peoples of sovereign countries. Pictured: Then Vice President Joe Biden at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on January 18, 2017. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
On September 22, unnoticed by most Americans, the Biden-Harris administration adopted the United Nations Pact for the Future to transform global governance, which introduces the foundations of a world government. There was no debate, no media coverage, no press releases, and no interviews about the Biden-Harris administration's surrender of United States sovereignty to the UN. Americans were apparently not supposed to find out. The UN bragged that the pact is the "most comprehensive agreement in many years" describing it as "covering entirely new areas and addressing issues where no consensus has been reached for decades." This is concerning.
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by Guy Millière • November 3, 2024 at 5:00 am
US President Joe Biden said that Sinwar had been an "insurmountable obstacle" and that his death offered "the opportunity... for a political settlement" in Gaza. A short time later, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was now possible to "finally end the war in Gaza."
Had Israel complied with the Biden-Harris administration's request and not gone into Rafah, Sinwar would still be preparing the next massacres and making sure that Hamas keeps stealing the humanitarian aid intended for the people of Gaza. When the IDF killed him, just a mile from the Egyptian border, he was found carrying a large sum of money and the passport of a man described as an "UNRWA teacher."
Hamas continues to steal the humanitarian aid and then sells it on the black market at extortionate prices, from which Hamas has "profited by at least half a billion dollars." Approximately 200 trucks of aid enter Gaza every day, yet the media report that Gazans are "starving" and that the blame for the supposed "war crime" goes, of course, to -- Israel.
[B]y waiving sanctions that block Iran from selling its oil, the Biden-Harris administration has effectively been funding Iran's nuclear weapons program to the tune of roughly $100 billion.
"After Iran's Oct. 1 missile attack, Mr. Biden told Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Trump replied, 'Isn't that what you're supposed to hit? It's the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons.' He reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 'Do what you have to do'... [Trump] tells Israel to do what it needs to do to end the war quickly in victory. Ms. Harris piles on restrictions and insists a cease-fire lead to a two-state solution disconnected from reality."— Elliot Kaufman, Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2024.
"Now, as the ICC expands and abuses its powers to attack Israel, and Unrwa is exposed as compromised by Hamas, Mr. Biden blocks new sanctions against the ICC and tries to preserve Unrwa." — Elliot Kaufman, Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2024.
Which will Americans vote for this week? The policies of President Trump or the policies of Presidents Biden and Obama?
US President Joe Biden said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been an "insurmountable obstacle" and that his death offered "the opportunity... for a political settlement" in Gaza. US Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was now possible to "finally end the war in Gaza." Had Israel complied with the Biden-Harris administration's request and not gone into Rafah, Sinwar would still be preparing the next massacres. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
October 17. Israeli authorities announce that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, the man who planned and ordered the atrocities of October 7, 2023 and the hostage-taking that accompanied them, has been eliminated. In the hours that followed, US President Joe Biden said that Sinwar had been an "insurmountable obstacle" and that his death offered "the opportunity... for a political settlement" in Gaza. A short time later, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was now possible to "finally end the war in Gaza." This is not the first time the Biden-Harris administration has spoken of "political settlement" in Gaza and the possibility to "end the war in Gaza." It has, in fact, been putting pressure on Israel for months to end the conflict. Both Biden and Harris, earlier, also insisted that the Israeli military not enter Rafah, where weapons were being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt through at least 20 massive cross-border tunnels.
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by Amir Taheri • November 3, 2024 at 4:00 am
The kinder authors use the label "conservative" against those left behind as if that were an insult. But one conserves only what one regards as precious and worth preserving. Advocates of wokeism never bother to ask why so many Americans don't wish to board that bus and try to cling to their American way of life, as portrayed in Rip Smith's old family album in "Magic Town".
In theory, the US has a multiparty system. In practice, however, for the past few decades at least, it has appeared as 43 effectively one-party states with the remaining seven swinging between two parties.
The strength of the American system lies in the fact that the structures of the republic set limits to democratic waywardness caused by momentary changes of public mood and cultural-ideological fashions such as wokeism.
(Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
For decades, at least until the early days of the current century, a saying attributed to a 19th century vaudeville troupe was often used to assess the prevailing political mood in an imaginary "average America": Will it play in Peoria? I first heard the phrase in 1974 from Thomas Philip (Tip) O'Neil, the 47th Speaker of the US House of Representatives. In answer to questions about likely policies the federal government might pursue on various issues, he said: "We have to see how it plays in Peoria!" The subtext was that Peoria, a small town in Illinois, represents the mood in America. In reality, however, Peoria has almost always leaned Democrat, a blue dot in an ocean of Republican red.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • November 2, 2024 at 5:00 am
Iran is now just a technical step away from acquiring a nuclear bomb, and these advances have been taking place while the Biden-Harris administration has done not a single thing to stop or even slow them.
Why are the US and its allies not alarmed?
The dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran are clear, particularly given the regime's long-standing support for terror groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, as well as its history of muscular aggression into Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, Africa, Argentina, Panama, Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
[T]he Biden-Harris administration is paving the way for a future where Iran becomes a nuclear-armed state. This outcome would have catastrophic consequences for global security, not only the Middle East.
Iran is now just a technical step away from acquiring a nuclear bomb, and these advances have been taking place while the Biden-Harris administration has done not a single thing to stop or even slow them. It is time to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Pictured: A Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile is displayed during the annual military parade in Tehran, on September 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
One of the most alarming features of the Biden-Harris administration is its permissive stance towards Iran's nuclear program. When this administration came into power, they promised that they would effectively address and curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. Yet, nearly four years into Biden's term, US Secretary of Stare Antony Blinken announced that Iran is "probably 1-2 weeks" away from having nuclear weapons -- and that was in July. Iran is now just a technical step away from acquiring a nuclear bomb, and these advances have been taking place while the Biden-Harris administration has done not a single thing to stop or even slow them.
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by Drieu Godefridi • November 1, 2024 at 5:00 am
With Merkel gone, Germany finds itself on an accelerating trajectory of impoverishment.
One might have hoped that the German Right would learn a few lessons from the Merkel disaster. It has not.
The European People's Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament -- in which the CDU is a member party -- appointed Ursula von der Leyen as head of the European Commission. Under her leadership of the European Union, the economy is collapsing, industry is disappearing and Islamism is proliferating. Supposedly, all of that does not matter because Europeans have the Holy Grail: the "energy transition" to a "zero-carbon" Europe, and more regulations than all the other civilizations combined.
Unfortunately, that policy is an absolute myth. "Zero-carbon Europe", a physical impossibility, will never happen. Even if it did, it would make no difference to the global explosion in CO2 emissions. Europe accounts for just 8% of global CO2 emissions. Even if Europe ceased to exist, it would make little difference to global CO2 emissions. They would continue to grow on all five continents.
To get Germany and Europe out of this rut, would it not be more constructive for the CDU to consider governing with the AfD?
The European People's Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament -- in which the CDU is a member party -- appointed Ursula von der Leyen as head of the European Commission. Under her leadership of the European Union, the economy is collapsing, industry is disappearing and Islamism is proliferating. Supposedly, all of that does not matter because Europeans have the Holy Grail: the "energy transition" to a zero-carbon Europe, and more regulations than all the other civilizations combined. Pictured: Von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images)
Today, Germany embraces the ideologies of "green energy" and a zero-carbon society -- a society that no longer emits CO2. Germans seem serious about ideology; they seem serious about everything. Once they buy into an ideology, it might be hard to change their mind. This is how Chancellor Angela Merkel came to power (2005-2021). Many forget that she did not emerge from the extreme green left, although judging by her record, one might think so. She came, in fact, from the CDU/CSU, Germany's "center-right" party. Merkel's record is clear: 1) the demographic Islamization of Germany by opening its doors to a flood of migrants alien to German culture, and apparently with less than no interest in absorbing it; 2) the subordination of Germany's energy to Russia, 3) the destruction of Germany's nuclear heritage. If Merkel had have been an agent of the Russian regime -- which trained her -- she might have acted no differently.
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