Thinking aid: Trump’s warning to Hamas is about hostages, not a ceasefire; UPDATE  

Listen with your ears.

J.E. Dyer, a retired Naval Intelligence officer, blogs as The Optimistic Conservative | Jan 14, 2025

See UPDATE at the bottom. – J.E.

There’s been perturbation from many in the last couple of days, as news media retail a narrative that Trump – and Netanyahu’s delegation to hostage talks – are agreeing to a comprehensive “deal,” nominally to get hostages released, by Trump’s inauguration day, 20 January 2025.

Within the last hour, as this goes to post, AP has reported that a draft agreement has been OK’ed by Hamas – previously a hold-out – and final details are being concluded.  The terms are not advantageous for Israel, in the draft AP has been given.  A key point is that even in full execution, they would not meet Trump’s demand.  Only 33 of 50 hostages believed to still be held would be released.

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January 16, 2025 | 5:00 am | Comments »

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Israel Is Overhauling Its Defense Ideology; Will Arab States Finally Support It?  

Hussain Abdul-Hussain | Jan 14, 2025

Israel is perhaps the most muscular and influential power in the Middle East today. When Israel changes its defense ideology, as per the Nagel Committee Report released last week, the region must take notice.

Under the new doctrine, Israel will not wait for its enemies to build lethal capabilities but will preemptively deny them the pathway to becoming a threat. Islamist Iran and what is left of its proxies remain the top threat to the Jewish State. Turkey is on its watch list. Moderate Arab countries face similar threats from Iran and Turkey, and have an interest in making common cause with Israel.

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January 16, 2025 | 1:33 am | Comments »

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HOSTAGE DEAL: IS TRUMP ENDORSING BIDEN’S POLICY?  

Peloni:  This is a very important conversation.  The first half of the video includes a bit of a squabble between Doran and Taub over land confiscation by Israel as part of the solution to war in Gaza, even as they each agree that Israel must ultimately be responsible for conducting any reforms put in place in post war Gaza, ie Israeli occupation.  Also, Taub correctly notes that the denazification process in Gaza will be far more difficult than it was in Germany.  To this, Doran challenges him with the example of Saudi Arabia, which turned its society from being an Islamist swamp to being a moderate Sunni nation following the decision of MBS, ie the people accepted the fiat decision of their national leadership without revolution or public outrage.  What Doran misses on this point was that the success of MBS’ conversion process in SA was a result of the severity with which his reforms were instituted.  In fact, while we all applaud MBS’ success in moderating his nation’s previous Islamist nature, he has been universally condemned for the harsh measures which have been taken to free itself of these Islamists, including mass executions, and questionable judicial tactics.  Recall that it was just two years ago in which scores of Islamists were publicly executed in SA, as MBS’ reforms continue.  So, while Doran is correct that only Israel can be trusted to act in Israel’s interests regarding reforms in Gaza and elsewhere, there is no likely possibility that Israel will follow the severe measures employed by MBS in Gaza.  where the death penalty is not employed against anyone, not even against those who were recorded raping, murdering and enslaving Israelis on their own trophy videos.  Gadi is right, and Doran is wrong – Gaza will take an incredibly long time to reform.  Facilitated emigration would be a better solution to the degree that it is instituted, but whatever fraction  remains will be psychopaths who have been weaponized to murder Jews & Israelis their entire lives.

January 15, 2025 | 3:07 pm | 5 Comments »

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From Israel: Awaiting Good News, But…!!  

Arlene Kushner | Arlene from Israel | January 13, 2025

Fervently did I hope to be able to do a “good news” posting – tracking progress we are making in several quarters. There is some good news, but as I write this, I feel considerable unease, or, more honestly put, a great heavyheartedness.

We may be, it seems, on the cusp of a completed hostage deal – at least this is the way it is being reported by several media sources. We are being told that at this point that we are closer than we have been since the only successful deal to date, in November 2023, when some 40 Israeli hostages were released in three separate exchanges, along with other captives, Thai, etc.

Because of the imminence of the deal, I have tabled what I was working on and want to put this out.

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January 15, 2025 | 10:20 am | 4 Comments »

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Ukraine Attacks TurkStream Pipeline  

Europe Could Face an Economic Nightmare

The Ukrainians sent nine drones to attack a natural gas compressor station in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia. The compressor station was part of the TurkStream pipeline. All the drones were shot down. There was some minor damage, but the compressor station is operating normally.

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January 15, 2025 | 10:12 am | 1 Comment »

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Israel’s Good News Newsletter to 12th Jan 2025  

By Michael Ordman, VGNI

In the 12th Jan 25 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

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January 15, 2025 | 9:28 am | Comments »

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Why Israel’s enemies hate cartology  

Jordanian Parliament Speaker Ahmad al-Safadi said maps of ancient Israel “express a criminal mentality and malicious ambitions that cannot be tolerated.”

Moshe Phillips | Jan 14, 2025

A map of ancient Israel and Judea. Credit: Richardprins via Wikimedia Commons.

Enemies of the Jewish state hate cartology—the study of mapmaking—as the world was reminded again last week in the commotion over a map of biblical Israel.

Some Israel-hater noticed that the X (Twitter) account of the Israeli Foreign Ministry included a map showing the biblical borders of the ancient kingdoms of Judea and Israel, including the parts that extended eastward across the Jordan River.

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January 15, 2025 | 9:22 am | 2 Comments »

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The Imam at the Inauguration and Trump’s Adviser on Arab and Middle East Affairs, Massad Boulos  

By

The curious choice of pro-Hezbollah Imam Husham al-Husainy to offer a prayer at Trump’s inauguration has brought new attention to Massad Boulos, whom Trump has appointed to be his senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Massad Boulos is a Lebanese-American billionaire businessman who campaigned for Trump among Arab voters in Michigan, and helped to persuade enough of them to vote Republican so that Trump won that state. Boulos also happens to be the father of Michael Boulos, who is the husband of Trump’s daughter Tiffany. Now he has been rewarded for his help in Michigan, and for his status as Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, with this appointment to serve as Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. It’s a bit worrisome because Boulos, though Greek Orthodox, has ties to a Christian Lebanese named Franjieh, who happens to be a political ally of Hezbollah.

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January 15, 2025 | 9:08 am | 2 Comments »

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The Hamas Surrender Deal  

Peloni:  This surrender deal looks worse and worse should reports prove to be accurate.

A moral and strategic abomination that sells out America and Israel.

Daniel Greenfield | Jan 14, 2025

After a Pearl Harbor or an Oct 7, the only ‘deal’ that could be considered with the perpetrators is their absolute surrender. Hamas however took hostages to force an Israeli retreat.

That’s what a ‘ceasefire’ always was.

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January 15, 2025 | 9:03 am | 12 Comments »

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THE REAL CHARLIE KIRK AND TPUSA  

Kelleigh Nelson 

We are told that there are conservatives, liberals and independents in America. We wish this were true, so that our task would not be so great. The truth is that 99% of Americans are liberals. They do not know it and they cannot help it, until they relearn what conservatism is and what it is not. -The Don Bell Report

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen –Samuel Adams

Thus sayeth the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.  Jeremiah 23:17

The GOP establishment is toothless and most of them favor the unconstitutional rot promoted by the Democrat Party. You know who they are! I wrote about these false friends in a 23-part series in 2014.  Other writers received complaints about my work because they felt I was disparaging conservative leaders.  Nevertheless, many politicians with an “R” behind their names are false friends.  Look at the 12 Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act.

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January 15, 2025 | 8:10 am | Comments »

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Steve Bannon: “I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day”  

January 14, 2025 | 4:59 pm | 11 Comments »

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The Syrian Pipeline Game: How Turkey’s Plans Affect Israel’s Regional Ambitions  

By | January 13, 2025

BESA Geo-Energy Insights No. 7, January 13, 2025

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has revived Turkey’s plans to construct oil and gas pipelines through the country, turning it into a regional “energy corridor” for neighboring states. Some of these plans would offer the Arab Gulf States a more convenient land route for exporting energy to Europe through Turkey, posing a challenge to Israel’s similar aspirations. Israel has other opportunities to export its natural gas to new markets via pipeline, but they pose the risk of undermining Israel’s relationship with Greece and Cyprus. Israel should follow the “pipeline game” in Syria closely to ensure that new economic opportunities in the region don’t pass it by.

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January 14, 2025 | 3:51 pm | 1 Comment »

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Silence in the Face of Actual Genocide  

by Rafael Medoff 

The Biden administration has confirmed that Arab militias are committing genocide against black Africans in Sudan. So how will those who are falsely accusing Israel of genocide respond to the news that real genocide is underway?

It seems unlikely there will be much of a response. After all, the evidence of genocide in Sudan has been reported for many months, yet there have been no noticeable protests. 

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reported last year that “Some of the same Arab forces responsible for the genocide in [the Sudanese region of Darfur] in the 2000s are picking up where they left off…massacring, torturing, raping and mutilating members of non-Arab ethnic groups—the same victims as before—while burning or bulldozing their villages…”

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January 14, 2025 | 2:10 pm | 4 Comments »

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Lebanon’s Christian President Joseph Aoun  

Arthur A. Flower | January 12, 2025

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi meeting Joseph Aoun in January 2024. (Photo: The Maronite Patriarchate)

In a significant political breakthrough, Lebanon’s parliament elected army commander Joseph Aoun as the country’s 14th president in January 2025, ending a presidential vacuum that had lasted more than two years. The 61-year-old Maronite Christian military leader ascended to the presidency with broad domestic support and international backing, particularly from the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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January 14, 2025 | 1:02 pm | 2 Comments »

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IDF faces growing threat from IEDs in northern Gaza  

By Seth Frantzman | January 13, 2025

IDF troops from the Nahal Brigade operating in northern Gaza. (IDF)

Seven Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers have been killed in two recent incidents in northern Gaza, illustrating the continued challenges Israeli troops face from terrorist cells and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The IDF has been clearing the areas of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun over the last three months. Operations recently shifted toward Beit Hanoun, where Israeli troops have encountered terrorists and booby traps.

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January 14, 2025 | 10:09 am | 3 Comments »

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