FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Antony Blinken, Iranian Tool Is there a U.S. enemy that the Biden administration doesn’t take orders from? by Bruce Bawer

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/antony-blinken-iranian-tool/

Under George W. Bush, U.S. foreign policy was nothing to write home about. White House advisors who sought to use 9/11 as an excuse to remake the Middle East – but who had absolutely no understanding of Islam – got us into deadly, expensive wars that ended up accomplishing nothing. Bush himself kept insisting that we weren’t at war with Islam – which he called, either foolishly or dishonestly, a “religion of peace” – but with “terror,” a meaningless formulation that doomed us from the start.

But at least Bush and his people weren’t actively trying to subvert America. Under Obama and again under Obama’s puppet, Biden, things have been different. Obama’s grotesquely fawning praise of Islam in his 2009 speech at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University set the tone. So did his scandalous bow, in the same year, to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The previous year, quoting the Muslim call to prayer – including the Islamic profession of faith – Obama had called it “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

So Obama’s enthusiasm for such otherwise inexplicable initiatives as the Iran deal made sense. Ditto his palpable hostility toward Israel.

One of the Obama administration’s top foreign-policy figures was Antony Blinken, who during Obama’s first term served as Biden’s national security advisor and, during Obama’s second term, was deputy national security advisor and then deputy secretary of state. His pedigree was striking. In a 2021 article for Commentary, the estimable Ruth R. Wisse wrote about Antony’s paternal grandfather, M.H. Blinken, a proud Jew and ardent backer of Israel, and about M.H.’s two sons, Donald, who became ambassador to Hungary, and Alan, who became ambassador to Belgium. According to Wisse, Donald and Alan’s devotion to American and Jewish interests gave way over the years, alas, to a more internationalist disposition.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Israeli people demand victory Our leaders must not allow the natural desire to return hostages to derail the urgent need to destroy Hamas.Douglas Altabef

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.jns.org/the-israeli-people-demand-victory/

Israel is currently focused on the sequential release of groups of our hostages held by Hamas. According to reports, some 52 hostages will be released over a four-day period as part of a temporary truce deal between Israel and the terror group. Three-quarters of them have already been released.

The question is: What follows? This is where things get not only murky, but potentially frightening.

Hamas is clearly hoping that we will become addicted to a daily schedule of releases, which will require a prolonged ceasefire. This scenario makes Hamas the puppet-master. It will be in full control of events and their timing. Moreover, as ceasefires are extended, Israeli leverage, born of battlefield success, will diminish. And it will embolden those who want Israel to stand down and end its military operations.

American and European leaders will proclaim: You’ll get all your people back, you inflicted heavy damage on Hamas, you killed a lot of Gazans—that sounds like enough. There is also the enormous economic cost of keeping hundreds of thousands of IDF reservists in the field.

Taken together, this could mean that the drumbeat for winding things down will become increasingly, even irresistibly loud.

This is a formula for disaster.

Israel is not fighting a war to recover hostages. We are fighting for the ground we stand on. Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 7 massacre taught us that we can no longer tolerate its existence on our border. Not if we want to have a southern Israel.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Musk: Israel ‘Has No Choice’ but to End Hamas’ Terror; ‘I’d Like to Help’ Read more: Musk: Israel ‘Has No Choice’ but to End Hamas’ Terror; ‘I’d Like to Help’

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/elon-musk-israel-visit/2023/11/27/id/1143708/

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk lent support Monday to Israel’s campaign against Hamas, saying one challenge was stopping propaganda of a sort that led to the Hamas terrorists’ killing spree that triggered the Israel war on Gaza.

The owner of the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk was on an unusual visit to Israel, during a four-day pause to the fighting, and held a live online discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hearing Netanyahu describe the destruction of Hamas, which Israel has set as a war goal, as necessary for any prospective peace with the Palestinians, Musk sounded his general agreement for such objectives during an X Spaces discussion.

“There’s no choice,” said Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, adding: “I’d like to help as well.”

“Those that are intent on murder must be neutralized,” Musk said. “The propaganda must stop that is training people to be murderers in the future. And then, making Gaza prosperous. And if that happens, I think it will be a good future.”

Netanyahu replied: “I hope you will be involved. And the fact that you came here, I think, speaks volumes to your commitment to try to secure a better future.”

Musk has himself been accused of incitement after agreeing on Nov. 15 with a post that falsely claimed Jews were stoking hatred against white people.

Netanyahu showed Musk some footage of the Oct. 7 attack assembled from Hamas bodycams, CCTV and other sources.

When they last met, in California on Sept. 18, Netanyahu urged Musk to strike a balance between protecting free expression and fighting hate speech after weeks of controversy over antisemitism on X.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Another Climate Snow Job

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/28/another-climate-snow-job/

A federal bureaucrat is telling us that due to human activity, global snowfall is in decline. There’s no reason to be worried, though. We’ve seen the climate doomsday predictions before, and somehow they always turn out to be wrong.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago, we were assured by the British Independent that “​​Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past.” (Don’t bother to try to find the story in the Independent’s archives – that page doesn’t exist or has been moved, presumably because it’s an embarrassment to the newspaper.) In that article, reporter Charles Onians appealed to the correct authorities, citing David Viner, then a senior scientist at the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia, who declared that “within a few years winter snowfall will become ‘a very rare and exciting event.’”

He told Onians that “children just aren’t going to know what snow is.”

Onians also cited David Parker of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, who, in the reporter’s words, said that “ultimately, British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet, they might wonder at polar scenes – or eventually ‘feel’ virtual cold.”

The Independent’s story was published in March 2000. Northern Hemisphere snow cover that year was 7.14 million square miles. So far in 2023, snow is covering 7.23 million square miles of the Northern Hemisphere. In between, there was a low of 6.26 million square miles (2007) and a high of 8.97 million square miles (2002). As recently as 2019, the coverage was as wide as 8.59 million square miles.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Harvard’s Hamas Confusion An elite college degree is the fastest way to disabuse a student of the idea of truth: By William McGurn

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvards-hamas-confusion-israel-palestine-terrorism-anti-semitism-higher-education-2b9dda00?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

As Israel began exchanging Palestinian prisoners for Israeli moms and children, Harvard was dealing with its own ultimatum.

A week ago pro-Palestinian students gave university President Claudine Gay until Monday to respond to three demands. They were: that Harvard divest from any investments in “illegal settlements in Palestine”; that the university reinstate a proctor suspended for taking part in a mob that surrounded and harassed a Jewish student; and—of course—a promise from Harvard that “pro-Palestinian students and workers engaging in non-violent protest” would face no disciplinary action.

There you have it. The ethos of our modern best and brightest in a nutshell: We are taking a brave stand—but we demand that we pay no price for it.

In fairness, Harvard is no worse than most other universities here. Then again, that’s the scandal: It ought to be. Today the places that are supposed to be exemplars of how a civilized community behaves have become prone to loutish behavior as well as incoherent in their responses.

The ordinary citizen, by contrast, has little trouble recognizing that targeting innocent civilians instead of soldiers makes you a war criminal, not a soldier. Americans are consequently appalled by the pro-Hamas sentiment they see on so many campuses. The confusion has two parts.

The first is the way protest has morphed into a threat to speech. It isn’t only a matter of physical assaults or vandalism, though there’s been plenty of that. Harvard’s suspended proctor, graduate student Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, was captured in a video as part of the mob that blocked a Jewish student’s way while shouting “Shame!” at him. Mr. Tettey-Tamaklo was joined in this by Ibrahim Bharmal, an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

This isn’t speech. Students have the First Amendment right to espouse any idiocy they wish, such as the idea that Israel is entirely responsible for Hamas’s atrocities. But at a university ideas ought to be subject to civilized debate. Unfortunately, the purpose of the demonstrations these days is largely to make honest debate impossible by silencing, inconveniencing or intimidating those with opposing views.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

America Is Under Attack Noah Rothman

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/america-is-under-attack/

“The United States is under attack. The Biden administration’s unwillingness to acknowledge this unsustainable reality won’t make it disappear. Absent a development that changes Iran’s calculations, the Islamic Republic will test American resolve in increasingly reckless ways.”

The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87), one of the many American naval assets tasked with maintaining free navigation of maritime shipping routes, came under attack over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Mason received a distress call from a tanker with links to an Israeli-owned company. The Houthi Islamist militia group in control of much of Yemen had previously warned Israeli-linked vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden that they would come under attack, and the tanker’s distress signal suggested that this was no idle threat. The Mason found an ongoing attempt to hijack the ship, disrupted the attack, and captured the attackers as they made their way back to Yemeni shores. Within hours of this intervention, two ballistic missiles were fired from within Houthi-controlled Yemen “toward the general direction” of the Mason.

“U.S. officials would not say who was responsible for the attack and if the five-person group was acting under the orders of a state or group,” the New York Times reported. Nevertheless, “officials said that they are investigating whether Iran was involved.” We should expect a speedy conclusion to the administration’s investigation. Since the October 7 massacre, American assets and interests in the region have come under sustained attack by Iran-backed elements. The attempted attack on the Mason is almost certainly a part of that campaign.

ANTI-SEMITISM, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Antisemitic terror has deep, surprising roots in American soil. Andrew McCarthy

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/11/hamas-made-in-the-u-s-a/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=third

After the jihadist barbarities of October 7, Israel responded with aerial bombardments of Hamas havens in Gaza, in preparation for the now-ongoing ground invasion. As the bombs fell, Hamas heavyweight Mousa Abu Marzook was asked about the elaborate network of tunnels that the organization has built under the territory it has governed since being popularly elected in 2006. It is a virtual underground city stretching over 300 miles, constructed with untold billions of dollars in foreign-aid money diverted for the purpose (not to be confused with the aid money diverted to make billionaires out of Marzook and his fellow Hamas emirs).

Since Hamas has built tunnels instead of bomb shelters, the friendly Russia Today TV reporter wondered, why doesn’t it just let Gazans use the tunnels to shelter from Israeli attacks?

Marzook’s answer was chillingly matter-of-fact. The tunnels were not built for so-called civilians; they were built for the jihadists:

We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels.

Of course Marzook (sometimes spelled “Mazouk” or “Marzuq”) is not fighting from inside a tunnel. He was speaking from his posh offices in Qatar.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

What occupation? Victor Sharpe

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/sharpe/231127

Since October 7, 2023, everything has changed

The latest Hamas and Hezbollah aggression, unleashed against Israeli civilians by the mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, masks the growing and insidious myth that has metastasized in the West, namely the endlessly repeated lie by Arab propaganda that the Jewish state occupies a country called Palestine and that Israelis are colonists and occupiers. I first became aware of this baseless lie during the last two weeks of May 2003 when I spent time in England visiting family and friends.

My visit afforded me an opportunity to sense how the British media was treating Israel in its daily news coverage. I was already aware of the corrosive and institutionalized bias by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) towards Israel, but what I saw and heard exceeded my worst fears.

On one day alone, the BBC ran a program called “Correspondent” in which Israel’s construction of a security fence to protect Israeli citizens from Arab terror was roundly criticized. The BBC correspondent expressed no understanding of Israel’s basic needs of defense; instead, the program blamed Israel’s “occupation” for the Palestinian violence and denounced the fence as a “wall of apartheid.”

Of course, when Arabs use the word “occupation” they are not talking of Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank) or Gaza, they are talking about all of Israel. Thus, when they speak of peace once Israel withdraws from “occupied territory” what they really mean is that there will be peace once Israel no longer exists. That is also what they mean when they scream, “From the River to the Sea.”

The same day on British TV’s Channel 4, a bizarre opera called “The Death of Klinghoffer” was aired. This filmed opus, composed by a John Adams, dealt with the hijacking by Palestinian terrorists of the cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, in 1985 and the murder of the hapless wheelchair bound Jewish American, Leon Klinghoffer, who was subsequently tossed overboard by the Arab hijackers. The opera provided a misplaced dignity to the terrorists and attempted to excuse their actions in part because of the Israeli “occupation.”

Earlier in the week, BBC 1 was to have televised “Raid on Entebbe” and viewers tuned in only to be dismayed that the Beeb, as the BBC was once affectionately known, arbitrarily cancelled the program. The showing of the film, which cast Israeli commandos in a heroic light as they rescued hijacked Jewish passengers from a German/Palestinian gang in Idi Amin’s Uganda, was deemed by the BBC spokesperson as “insensitive at this time of terrorist alerts.”

EDUCATION Comments turned off

NYU Law Students Vote to Oust Bar Association President Who Blamed Israel for Hamas Attack, Tore Down Hostage Posters Zach Kessel

Posted By on November 28th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/nyu-law-students-vote-to-oust-bar-association-president-who-blamed-israel-for-hamas-attack-tore-down-hostage-posters/

The New York University School of Law student body has voted to remove Ryna Workman from her post as president of the university’s Student Bar Association (SBA), according to an email sent to the student body Monday and obtained by National Review.

The online vote, which was triggered by a “no confidence” petition signed by 25 percent of the student body, closed Wednesday after being held open for a week. Of the 1,176 students who voted, 707 said Workman should not remain in office, while 428 voted to retain Workman and 41 abstained.

Workman first made headlines with an October 10 message in an NYU Law newsletter blaming Israel for Hamas’s October 7 massacres.

“I want to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination,” she wrote. “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life. This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Why the Arabs ‘Betrayed’ the Palestinians by Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted By on November 27th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20178/arabs-betrayed-palestinians

The stance of the Arabs and Muslims is yet another indication of their disillusionment with the Palestinians in general and Iran’s proxies — Hamas, Hizballah and the Houthis — in particular.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan are as opposed to Hamas as they are to Israel. Hamas is another branch of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which has long posed a threat to their national security.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar after accusing it of providing support for Islamist terrorists, including Hamas and the Taliban, as well as Iran.

Now that their eyes have been once again forced open, the Palestinians should distance themselves from Hamas and other terrorist groups and join forces with those Arabs and Muslims who recognize that to create a better future for their people, it would benefit them immeasurably to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel.

The Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group and its supporters are once again disappointed that the Arab countries did not come to the rescue of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the current war which erupted after the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis. At least 1,200 Israelis were murdered and more than 4,500 wounded in the massacre. Another 240 Israelis, including toddlers, children, women and the elderly were kidnapped to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

This is not the first time that the Palestinians have voiced disappointment with their Arab brothers. In all previous rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinians have claimed that the Arab and Islamic states were not doing enough to help them. In fact, Palestinians have over the past few decades accused the Arabs of “betraying” them by signing normalization agreements with Israel and refusing to provide them with financial aid. The Palestinians receive lip service from the Arabs and Muslims, but that is all.