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October 2024

ELECTIONS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The KISS Of Death: The Case Against Kamala In Six Simple Numbers Bob Maistros

By on October 14th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/10/14/the-kiss-of-death-the-case-against-kamala-in-six-simple-numbers/

KISS. The age-old, sage advice to Keep It Simple, Stupid.

With voting already underway, the Trump-Vance campaign has at its disposal a historically simple case to drop the KISS of death on Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

Six numbers utterly disqualify the most inadequate, incompetent, ineffectual, insubstantial candidate ever put forward by a major party for the office of president of the United States of America.

These numbers must be repeated, daily, by the two members of the Republican ticket and every imaginable surrogate between now and the final closing of the final polling place November 5.

Here we go:

$17,080

Kacklin’ Kamala laments “so many Americans trying to make it all work every day … sitting around their own kitchen tables and facing their own financial pressures.”

You bet. And she knows exactly why. According to the House Budget Committee, that $17,080 was, as of this summer, the annual Harris-Biden “inflation tax” on the average American household. A number that has only grown since, despite a supposed “cooling” that did not preclude continued leaps in food, shelter, medical, and apparel costs in the latest Consumer Price Index report.

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NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE Comments turned off

US national security mandates regime-change in Iran Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger,

By on October 13th, 2024

http://bit.ly/3zYf5Nw

The US State Department has rejected the regime-change option (which would gratify most Iranians) since 1978/79, when Iran’s Ayatollahs seized power, assisted by the State Department, which had stabbed the back of the Shah, who had been America’s Policeman in the Gulf.

Instead, the State Department has embraced the diplomatic option, which has generated hundreds of billions of dollars to the Ayatollahs – notwithstanding their systematically anti-US policies – facilitating their surge from a non-leadership regional stature in 1979 to global prominence, militarily and diplomatically in 2024. Furthermore, the diplomatic option has substantially upgraded the Ayatollahs’ support of terror entities such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

*In 2024, independent of potential nuclear capabilities, the conventional military capabilities of Iran’s Ayatollahs constitute the most critical epicenter of anti-US global terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and the proliferation of advanced missiles and predator unmanned aerial vehicles. 

The Ayatollahs’ conventional capabilities are a clear and present danger to the US homeland (e.g. proliferation of sleeper cells on US soil and the tight collaboration with Mexico’s drug cartels) and national security. Since the early 1980s, the Ayatollahs have severely eroded the US’ strategic posture in Latin America. In addition, the Ayatollahs pose an imminent lethal threat to every pro-US Arab regime, especially the oil-producing regimes (e.g., Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain), aiming to seize control of 48% of the global oil reserves.

*In 1978/79, the State Department deluded itself that Ayatollah Khomeini would be controlled by moderate advisors, distancing himself from Moscow, focusing on introducing liberty to the Iranian people, refraining from the exportation of the Islamic Revolution, evolving into an Iranian edition of Ghandi.

In 1978/79, the State Department policy doomed the pro-US Iran, transforming it into a venomous anti-US octopus with its tentacles stretched from the Persian Gulf, through the Middle East and Africa to Latin America and the US homeland.

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ELECTIONS, MEDIA Comments turned off

The Hill Liz Peek: Desperate Democrats cry “misinformation” to silence criticism of Kamala Harris

By on October 13th, 2024

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4928306-desperate-democrats-cry-misinformation-to-squash-criticism-of-kamala-harris

For days now, the liberal media and its Democratic allies have seemed much more concerned about Republicans spreading “misinformation” than about the real-life suffering of North Carolinians.   

For proof, look no further than this blizzard of headlines — all from Politico:  

“The worst I have ever seen’: Disinformation chaos hammers FEMA”
“After the deluge, the lies: Misinformation and hoaxes about Helene cloud the recovery” 
“Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts” 
“FEMA director on misinformation: ‘Truly dangerous narrative’” 

Politico is certainly not alone, ABC ran with this story on Tuesday: “Ahead of election, experts warn Hurricane Helene misinformation is ‘just the beginning.’” 

CBS contributed this one on Monday: “Misinformation has surged following Hurricane Helene.” 

 That’s the same CBS that reportedly doctored video of Kamala Harris’s “60 Minutes” interview to make the Democratic candidate appear more intelligent. So their concern about misinformation is apparently episodic.

It’s almost as though a memo went out to Democrat-friendly media allies, prompting a concerted pushback against criticism of the Biden-Harris White House’s response to Hurricane Helene. It’s not surprising. 

The pile-up of delayed, tone-deaf and embarrassing responses to the devastating storm from the administration and Kamala Harris has been damaging; her team is desperate to contain the damage. 

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P.C.-CULTURE, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Canada’s woke Stasi An elderly school trustee who questioned trans ideology has been subjected to a legal witch-hunt.

By on October 13th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/13/canadas-woke-stasi/

Under other circumstances, former school trustee Barry Neufeld may have retired as one of your curmudgeonly, albeit amusing, elderly neighbours, equipped with a brash sense of humour, a glass of wine and a cigarette. Had he not introduced himself at a recent panel event I spoke on in Victoria, British Columbia (BC) about the harms of gender-identity ideology, I would never have pegged him as a supposed hate-monger. He seemed rather jovial, in fact. Yet the Canadian media and some of Canada’s most powerful unions see things differently. They have made Neufeld their nemesis.

Neufeld is now in his seventies. His troubles began in 2017. This was when he discovered a new gender-identity curriculum for kids coming down the pike in his school district of Chilliwack, BC. This was the year that the SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) 123 programme was implemented in public schools across the province, with the aim of making classrooms more ‘inclusive’ for LGBT-identified kids. That same year, Bill C-16 was passed by the national parliament, adding ‘gender identity’ to the list of protected characteristics under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Both pieces of legislation were introduced with little public debate and most Canadians were completely unaware of what was even happening.

But Neufeld noticed and spoke out on Facebook, criticising SOGI 123 for instructing ‘children that gender is not biologically determined, but is a social construct’. ‘At the risk of being labelled a bigoted homophobe’, he wrote, ‘I have to say that I support traditional family values and I agree with the [American College of Pediatricians] that allowing little children to choose to change gender is nothing short of child abuse’.

After facing backlash, he apologised a couple of days later ‘to those who felt hurt’ by his opinion. He explained that ‘I am critical of an educational resource, not individuals. Those who have worked with me for over 24 years know that I do believe in inclusion and a safe learning environment for all of our students.’ Yet he didn’t relent, adding: ‘SOGI 123 resources need to be reviewed by engaging parents and teachers in conversation… before full implementation.’

This didn’t happen, of course. This is never how the trans issue has been handled by the Canadian government and its state-funded institutions. Rather, gender-identity policy and legislation have been slipped in under the radar. By the time most of the Canadian public noticed, it was far too late.

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ELECTIONS, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Biden and Harris, own up: your foolish Iran overtures ignited its war against Israel By  Victor Davis Hanson

By on October 13th, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/10/13/opinion/biden-and-harris-own-up-iran-policies-ignited-israels-war/

Both the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and now lame-duck President Joe Biden keep insisting that they are Israel’s best friend.

A snarly Biden recently bragged at a contentious press conference, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think [Netanyahu] should remember that.”

Yet the thin-skinned and triggered Biden’s prickliness poorly hid — or perhaps revealed — the truth: This current administration knows that it is responsible for the current explosion of the Middle East and the particular dilemmas of Israel.

Biden further revealed his blame-gaming of the Israeli government when asked another loaded question about purported Netanyahu election interference, saying, “Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know.”

Who’s to blame for Israel’s war?

Election interference?

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Biden apparently forgot who just flew Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into swing-state Pennsylvania, just as early and mail-in voting there began, to lobby for more aid even as he trashed Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance to a left-wing magazine.

Recently, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say whether the Netanyahu administration is even an ally of the United States.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on October 13th, 2024

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Here are a few highlights from Israel brought to us from Michael Ordman. Neither war, nor pandemic stops Israel in research and development of science, medicine, defense, and environmental technology in agriculture and water preservation that benefits the world. And, best of all, a people determined to survive, with a citizen army of patriots and heroes, fill cafes, restaurants, theaters and concerts in spite of daily warning sirens. rsk

 

While fighting Hamas, the IDF rescued a Yazidi girl from slavery in Gaza.

Israelis can diagnose Alzheimer’s 20 years in advance of the first symptoms.
Israel spends more on education per capita than almost every other nation.

An Israeli laser beam can knock hostile drones out of the sky.

One day soon, Israeli technology will be inside every car.

An Israeli 17-year-old girl is Europe’s Youth chess champion.

A Torah scroll memorializing Oct 7 victims was dedicated at the Western Wall.

 

 

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
IDF rescues enslaved Yazidi girl from Gaza. (TY UWI) Fawzia Amin Sido, a Yazidi girl abducted by ISIS in Iraq at age 11 and later sold to a Gazan and held captive by Hamas, has been freed by Israeli forces. And after a complex, months-long operation involving the US and others, she was reunited with her family in Iraq.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-rescues-yazidi-woman-from-gaza-after-kidnapping-by-isis-at-age-11/
 
Mia leaves hospital. (TY WIN) Former hostage Mia (Maya) Regev was discharged from hospital after a long rehabilitation process following her release from Gaza in November. Hamas terrorists shot her at the Nova festival. A “doctor” in Gaza reattached her foot sideways, and Israeli surgeons had to operate to correct it.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/former-hostage-mia-regev-released-from-hospital-after-months-of-rehabilitation/   https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/artc-former-hostage-mia-regev-released-from-hospital-after-long-recovery 
 
Oct 7 survivor’s heroism in Jaffa. Lev Kreitman, who survived the Oct 7 Nova Music Festival massacre, eliminated one of the terrorists responsible for the deadly attack at the Jaffa light rail station. Having served five months in Gaza, he had successfully applied for a pistol, with which he saved many innocent lives.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/nova-survivor-who-eliminated-terrorists-in-jaffa-rail-attack-thanked-by-people-he-saved/
 
We can fly. More than a dozen patients from the Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran took to the southern Israel skies with pilots from the partner organization “Ananim: Flights for the Community”. It gave a moment of joy, respite, and motivation to continue their complex battle with disability.
https://www.jns.org/wire/war-wounded-soldiers-and-civilians-touch-the-southern-israel-skies/
 
Wedding on the front lines. Victoria and Asher were all set to marry in a beautiful ceremony, but then Asher was called up. Rather than postpone the celebration, Asher’s friends from the Carmeli (Golani) Brigade, along with a rabbi, took it upon themselves to create a memorable wedding on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-idf-soldiers-wedding-goes-forward-on-the-front-lines/
 
IDF’s “autistic” unit is winning the war. IDF’s Unit 9900 employs Israelis whose neurodivergence makes them particularly talented in monitoring and analyzing satellite images. They are playing a key role in dismantling Hezbollah’s leadership. These “gifted” soldiers greatly help protect Israel’s population.
https://www.nysun.com/article/how-israels-unit-for-soldiers-with-autism-helped-the-idf-demolish-hezbollahs-leadership  (register for two free articles)
 
Rebuilding the Gaza envelope. Israeli NGO Kolot has launched the “Restart” program, a transformative initiative dedicated to revitalizing communities in Israel’s Gaza envelope region. Initiatives include business development, educational outreach, tourism, welfare, community building and the arts.
https://www.jns.org/wire/kolot-launches-restart-program-to-rebuild-gaza-envelope/
 
Back to school. (TY Yanky) Kibbutz Be’eri’s children may be displaced, but that didn’t prevent them starting the new school year with Be’eri’s flag ceremony held since 1952. Flag standards were rescued from a wrecked storeroom. Volunteers, including a Bedouin woman, cleaned and repaired the flags for the children to parade.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/flag-rescue-project-lets-evacuated-kibbutz-beeri-open-school-year-in-customary-style/
 
Thank you to our UK friends. Great to see and share the support for Israel from friends in the UK. Here is a video of supporters from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, who conduct a weekly vigil to publicize the plight of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. In this video they unfurled a giant yellow ribbon as a symbol of hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8USIUdMjo
 
Some of the many global vigils to mark the anniversary of Oct 7.
https://marchoflife.org/thousands-of-people-in-more-than-130-cities-commemorate-october-7/
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-823442 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f26a388bIqI  (UK)
https://unitedwithisrael.org/families-honor-lost-loved-ones-at-nova-massacre-site-on-oct-7-anniversary/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80iVsWF2xUQ  (Eylon Levy, Citizen Spokesman’s Office)
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Markers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. A team of researchers led by Hebrew University has mapped millions of brain cells in 437 patients, discovering molecular markers that indicate future onset of Alzheimer’s disease some 20 years in advance of symptoms. The discovery will help development of early treatments.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-game-changer-israeli-researchers-find-alzheimers-markers-20-years-before-onset/  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07871-6
 
No more missed diagnoses. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Professor Miri Sklair-Levy and Dr. Debbie Anaby, from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center explain how AI tools are revolutionizing the fight against breast cancer and early diagnosis. The digital revolution is no longer a futuristic dream – it is happening now.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjuatjgyyg
 
Beyond the Blood Brain Barrier. Charles River Laboratories International has partnered with Israel’s Insightec (see here previously) to develop brain disease remedies. Insightec’s novel low-frequency ultrasound platform non-invasively disrupts the blood brain barrier, enabling drugs to be delivered to targeted brain areas.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/charles-river-and-insightec-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-advance-therapeutic-development-utilizing-focused-ultrasound-in-neuroscience
 
Seeing deep inside the body.  Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have devised a radical new way to obtain clear direct images of cells deep inside the body using non-invasive wavefront shaping. They obtained images of neurons (nerve cells) using the fluorescent protein EGFP and correction software to remove “noise”.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2024/08/an-in-depth-view/ 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49697-w
 
Closed eye imaging. (TY WIN) Researchers from Tel Aviv University can monitor changes in pupil size and gaze direction behind closed eyes using touchless infrared imaging. It can help track the depth of sedation, and recognize pain or responsiveness in unconscious patients that may occur after trauma and in intensive care,
https://english.tau.ac.il/research/see-through-closed-eyes
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/closed-eye-imaging-can-track-pain-in-unresponsive-patients/
 
DNA sequencing in Romania. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Sequentify (see here previously) has partnered with Romanian distributor Dexter bring Sequentify’s InfiniSeq™ library preparation solutions to Romania. InfiniSeq reduces time from DNA extraction to sequencing to 3.5 hours to enable fast diagnosis of genetic diseases.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/sequentify-and-dexter-collaborate-to-introduce-genomic-sequencing-solutions-to-the-romanian-market
 
Automatic medical coding. Medical coding is at the heart of the American medical record system. It usually requires a trained coder to analyze and convert patient records into US-recognized codes. Israel’s Nym Health does this automatically, saving time and costs, while improving accuracy, and achieving compliance.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bk36lbtrc  https://vimeo.com/779623519  https://nym.health/
https://www.coursera.org/articles/medical-coder
 
London’s first MedEx. 100 doctors attended London’s first MedEx event to support UK medical professionals considering or intending to make Aliyah. They met representatives of the Health Ministry, hospitals, and the Health Management Organizations, to discuss licensing requirements, employment options and benefits.
https://www.jns.org/wire/doctors-attend-inaugural-london-medex-to-strengthen-israels-healthcare-system/

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The Government is Coming for Your Thermostat Daniel Greenfield

By on October 13th, 2024

It’s the middle of a summer heat wave and temperatures are rising. Suddenly your air conditioning turns off. It’s not a blackout or a brownout: it’s the new government plan.

Mass government subsidies for inefficient and expensive ‘green energy’ wind turbines and solar panels combined with bans on efficient and cheap oil, coal and gas, have made energy grids unreliable and costly. States that have aimed for widespread use of green energy like California and Texas are suffering blackouts and brownouts at growing rates.

Instead of building reliable energy resources, federal and state governments, along with monopolistic energy companies, are making up for green energy with energy rationing.

Or ‘smart rationing’.

Virtual power plants were a green energy buzzword that promised to harness local battery capacity to distribute energy to the grid, but the diminishing promise of solar panels and the power hunger of electric cars has poured cold water on the idea that the ‘green’ battery devices and useless solar panels will ever reliably give more to the grid than they take from it.

Virtual power plants, like all things virtual, have come to mean power that isn’t really there. Instead virtual power plants have become another euphemism for rationing power.

Unable to get meaningful savings from so-called battery ‘distributed energy resources’, virtual power plants now mean using smart thermostats to seize control over homeowner power usage with bureaucrats or AI software deciding how much power people should be using and turning off their heat or air conditioning. Government agencies and monopolistic utilities insist on calling this ‘efficiency’ rather than what it actually is which is rationing customer power usage.

State utilities have taken to bribing consumers with discounts on skyrocket energy rates and ‘free’ smart thermostats like Google Nest in order to induce them to turn over control of their thermostats. Once they give up control, they may be allowed only limited manual overrides a month to be able to turn on the heat or air in even the most miserable weather.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Biden-Harris Officials Leak Every Piece of Info They Have About Israeli Attack on Iran Why would they do that? by Daniel Greenfield

By on October 13th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/biden-harris-officials-leak-every-piece-of-info-they-have-about-israeli-attack-on-iran/

The Israelis informed the Biden-Harris admin about the Pagergeddon attack and the attack on Hezbollah’s leader once both were underway.

Why did they do that?

Here’s the latest in a series of anonymous leaked stories about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran.

U.S. officials believe Israel has narrowed down what they will target in their response to Iran’s attack, which these officials describe as Iranian military and energy infrastructure.

There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, but U.S. officials stressed that the Israelis have not made a final decision about how and when to act.

The U.S. does not know when Israel’s response could come but officials said the Israeli military is poised and ready to go at any time once the order is given.

Israel has shared more information with the U.S. about the retaliation, the officials said, but they withheld many details out of operational security concerns.

What could those ‘concerns’ possibly be? Can’t imagine.

The same folks hounding Trump over classified documents leak constantly and they do so deliberately. The goal is to sabotage any Israeli operation much the way Obama’s people sabotaged a planned Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program by leaking the information.

Israeli operational security for taking out terrorists now involves hiding information from the White House.

We’ve become the weak link because the administration is stuffed with terrorist sympathizers.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Resistance or Terror: The Importance of Dosage by Amir Taheri

By on October 13th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21011/resistance-or-terror-the-importance-of-dosage

However, it is hard to see how the October 7 attack could be categorized as an act of resistance by freedom-fighters… For Hamas, October 7 was a war of choice, not a war of necessity, and its goal wasn’t just to terrorize a real or imaginary foe but to murder as many non-combatants as possible.

Terror is used to persuade or force an adversary into doing something you want or stop doing something you don’t want and sadly, in many instances it works. However, if an act of terror transcends certain boundaries, it could produce the opposite of what the terrorist hoped for. In other words, it is all a matter of dosage.

Without the “Al-Aqsa Storm” raid, no Israeli prime minister, let alone Benjamin Netanyahu, who happened to have hit the nadir of unpopularity, would have dared to launch a total war aimed at flushing Hamas out of Gaza and Hezbollah out of Lebanon.

Sinwar isn’t the first victim of unintended consequences and won’t be the last either.

In hindsight, it seems that the late leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, understood the importance of dosage in terror and/or resistance.

This is why initially, to the surprise of some, Nasrallah refused to enter the danse-macabre opened by Sinwar.

We may never know what persuaded or forced Nasrallah to abandon his usual caution and join an adventure beyond his control. My guess is that he didn’t jump, but was pushed. Your guess as to who pushed him.

These days, my two favorite bookshops in Paris and London are devoting a full shelf to books on or inspired by Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Storm” October 7 invasion of Israel.

Some of these books offer various accounts of what happened on that day and could be classed as extended reportages of the kind news magazines offered in the good old days of print journalism. The most interesting of these, Trey Yingst’s Black Saturday, which broadens its scope to offer a portrayal of the subsequent war in Gaza. Because the author is a television reporter, his fast-paced reportage often resembles a newsreel. That, however, does not prevent him from offering often deep insights into the mind-sets of the two adversaries.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

United Nations’ Material Support for Terrorism: Allegedly Gave $1.3 Billion to Hamas in Cash, Presumably for Weapons Corruption and Bias Have Reduced the UN to Irrelevance by Con Coughlin

By on October 13th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21013/united-nations-terrorism

Gavriel Mairone, the attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, argues that these shocking allegations demonstrate that, for more than a decade, UNRWA’s aid distribution network was involved in widespread fraud and corruption. The lawsuit claims this scheme not only enriched Hamas but also funded terrorism, playing a pivotal role in the October 7 attacks.

The first damning evidence of the UN’s complicity in the worst terrorist atrocity committed in Israel’s history emerged after Israel’s military reported that 450 workers employed by UNRWA were “military operatives from Hamas and other armed groups” and has shared this intelligence with the United Nations.

The dossier of “a UN crime against humanity” and its demonization of Israel is too long to list, but one can get a glimpse of it…

A better idea, given the body’s recent woeful record on its handling of the Middle East, would be to demolish the entire infrastructure of this corrupt and institutionally biased body.

Accusations that the United Nations funded Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure by transferring $1.3 billion to the organisation, some of which was used to finance the purchase of weapons used in last year’s October 7 attacks, will only add to the view that the UN is no longer fit to fulfil the role for which it was originally intended.

A lawsuit filed in US Federal Court by victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks makes damning accusations against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that it was involved in orchestrating a large-scale money laundering operation from which the terrorist organisation benefitted.

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