Peloni: What a remarkably relevant lesson which holds important applications to both the Vatican and Jordan.
by Rafael Medoff
The Mount of Olives Cemetery, Jerusalem. Photo by Berthold Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia
It took 100 years, but the Vatican has finally agreed to surrender a kayak and other cultural artifacts that it stole from indigenous Canadian tribes for use in Pope Pius XI’s “Vatican Missionary Exposition” in 1925.
Peloni: Don’t miss Arlene’s second article at the bottom
Arlene Kushner | Nov 19, 2025
Jacqueline Martin/ AP
I begin with news of a stabbing and ramming terror attack which occurred at the Gush Etzion Junction. Aharon Cohen, 65, a veteran resident of Kiryat Arba, was killed. One woman was seriously injured; a man and a boy were moderately injured. This junction has been the site of numerous attacks over time.
Peloni: Many important topics covered by Gadi Taub and Mike Doran. One of the most important is Doran’s assertion that someone “very, very, very close to Trump” informs him that Trump is not listening to Netanyahu about the threat from Turkey. Doran believes that Turkey was responsible for Hamas releasing the hostages, and that Trump consequently sees Turkey as having an important role to play in Trump’s new security arrangement in the Middle East. This part of the conversation is at about the 20 minute mark.
Peloni: US pressure on Ukraine has routinely been met with intransigence, but with front lines collapsing, and no resolution in sight for Ukraine’s increasingly problematic deficiencies of men, munitions and morale, no matter what Zelensky tries to affect, the reality of Ukraine’s desperate situation is not going away.
The US has proposed a 21 point peace plan for Ukraine. The administration has told Ukraine they have until Thanksgiving (Nov. 25) to accept the plan. There is little likelihood Zelensky will accept the plan as it is, but he may offer various amendments to sow confusion and force delays. The US has threatened to pull all its support from Ukraine if Ukraine does not agree.
Peloni: I agree with Janet’s comment below. Beyond hope and prayers, I have nothing but questions with no reasonable answers on this topic. From the failure to address Qatar’s support of antisemitic protests, to the continuing unrestrained Qatar based antisemitic Al Jazeera, to the development of a UN resolution which certifies the French-Saudi declaration including Pal Right of Return. I would love to be wrong, but at some point the 4D Chess has to have some form of indication that everything is not going sideways. So far, I see nothing to support this hope.
Janet Levy: On September 9th, Israel bombed high-level Hamas operatives sheltering in Doha. Three weeks later, Trump issued an executive order promising military support for Qatar in response to such incidents. The September 29th order equated an attack against Qatar with an attack on the U.S. It read, “In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability,”
Trump describes Qatar as a close ally and important economic partner. Yet, Doha has invested over $20 billion in American universities to support the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan to undermine the West.
Supporters say Trump is playing “4D Chess” and that his actions are part of a brilliant master plan. It looks more like Russian Roulette or Ouija to me!
Georgetown University. Photo by Daderot – Self-photographed, Public Domain, Wikipedia
If only there had been someone around who had warned Americans about a captured internal Muslim Brotherhood document that states: “The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
Peloni: Jennifer provides a very insightful recipe for success. I was horrified when Trump was given a perfect opportunity to do exactly what Jennifer suggested, and failed to do what is needed, what he has done so very often in the past, and disown any support of antisemitism.
Affirm the right things and get out of do-loop jail.
Tucker Carlson. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Tucker Carlson, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia
The dispute roiling the political right needs to be briefly and simply addressed, without elaborate discussions into which endless causes for dispute can be interpolated. Obfuscating the matter that way is the worst thing for the right. Everyone from Vice President Vance to Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, to legacy media and hundreds (or who knows, thousands) of social media users has been engaging vigorously with the obfuscating factors of personalities and feelings, exaggerated depictions of the arguments of others, and elliptical allusions that provoke further rounds of exaggeration in the search for honest definitions.
Peloni: This supports a previous report that Indonesia is part of the plan initiated by Netanyahu, and which has reportedly already been agreed upon and signed.
Involvement of most populous Muslim nation is acceptable to Israel, under US leadership
President Prabowo Subianto delivered his first speech before the Plenary Session of the MPR RI after being inaugurated as President for the 2024-2029 period. Photo by Ministry of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia – Setneg.go.id, Public Domain, Wikipedia
As the United States is working to move forward with the international stabilization force (ISF) for Gaza, following the passage of UNSC Resolution 2803 last week, it is finding support from a partner outside the Middle East.
Peloni: Israel conducted an airstrike in Lebanon today, targeting Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, in Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighborhood.
Message from the Prime Minister’s Office:
A short while ago, the IDF struck Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff in the heart of Beirut, the man responsible for the terror organization’s buildup and armament.
Frank Gaffney speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Frank Gaffney, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia
In an insightful article titled, Frank Gaffney: A Post-Ideological President in an Ideological World, Frank Gaffney, former Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan and currently the President of the Institute for the American Future and host of “Securing America” on Real America’s Voice, provides an important review of President Trump’s first year in office in his second term as president.
Peloni: Historical memory provides an important context for a nation’s identity. Indeed, while many might prefer to pretend our history out of existence because of this truth, the historical, archaeological and Biblical record stands nonetheless. We are the heirs to the land of our forefathers, and this fact has been recognized by the modern age in the passage of international agreements and the victories of repeated battles which were each raised to obscure our ownership of the lands which are rightfully documented as our own, Eretz Yisrael.
Hadrian rebranded Judea to annihilate Jewish identity; modern pan-Arabists rebranded themselves to appropriate that identity.
Dr. Michael L. Wise |
Hadrian. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen – Own work, Public Domain, Wikipedia
Almost two millennia ago, the Roman Empire learned that it could not extinguish the Jewish people by sword alone. After the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 CE), Emperor Hadrian razed Judean towns, rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan outpost, and reached for a different weapon: he renamed the land “Syria Palaestina,” transplanting the memory of the long-vanished Philistines to sever Jews from their homeland.
Beware that I’ve deliberately used many useful links to help provide readers with information that they would have to spend countless hours, which I’ve done for them, in double checking and sourcing the pertinent material found below.
As the Gaza ceasefire struggles into its second month, a significant difference between the position of Israel and that of its chief ally, the United States, on the way forward is emerging. This difference reflects broader gaps in perception in Jerusalem and Washington regarding the nature and motivations of the current forces engaged in the Middle East. The subject of that difference is Turkey.
Peloni: A great deal of damage to the administration could have been avoided if this release of the Epstein material had been made six months ago instead of AG Bondi claiming there was nothing to release at the time. In fact, if all the evidence implicating wrongdoing is factual, and all of it pointed exclusively towards the Democrats, the screaming question remains as to why AG Bondi not only failed to release it as promised last spring, but that she also stated (rather unconvincingly) that there was nothing to release. Notably this was months after she had previously stated everything on this subject was on her desk for review before it would be released to the public. Indeed, the claimed demonstration of transparency being asserted with the release of the Epstein materials today stands quite at odds with the explanation of why Bondi tried to prevent the release of the material in the first place.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings said on the “PBD Podcast” on Friday that Democrats’ effort to use deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to damage President Donald Trump has backfired.
New revelations have led Democrats to face backlash for their interactions with Epstein, and Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett subsequently claimed falsely on Wednesday that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin received political donations from the deceased sex offender. Jennings said on the podcast that Crockett’s claim was an act of desperation after the House Oversight Committee released documents that exposed Democrats’ correspondence with Epstein.
WATCH:
“She’s the smartest person they could find. So they sent her to do this. And the reason is this, because they are desperate to make this a story about Trump and Epstein,” Jennings said. “And the only thing we found out in the last week is that it’s a story about Democrats and Epstein. You got [Clinton-era Treasury Secretary] Larry Summers asking for dating advice from Epstein.”
Summers chose to back away from public commitments in response to the newly unveiled emails, some of which indicated that he regularly communicated with Epstein 2013 to 2019. The correspondences showed Summers appearing to solicit romantic advice from Epstein about a woman he was pursuing at Harvard University, where he previously served as president.
“You got [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries trying to raise money from Epstein. You got [Democratic Virgin Islands Del. Stacey] Plaskett being programmed by Epstein,” Jennings added. “They lost the narrative, so they sent out their smartest person, Jasmine Crockett, to try to reset the narrative, and it blew up in their face. They may regret going down this road.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer claimed on Tuesday that Democratic fundraisers sent a 2013 email inviting Epstein to an event or offering a private meeting with him, ABC News reported on Thursday. Jeffries called Comer a “stone cold liar” on Wednesday after the allegation.
However, Epstein did receive a campaign email from a fundraising company on May 7, 2013, describing Jeffries as “one of the rising stars in the New York Congressional delegation” and offering “an opportunity to get to know Hakeem better,” according to records published by Comer’s committee, ABC News reported.
Moreover, documents showed text messages between Plaskett and Epstein, in which the deceased sex offender advised her on how to question former Trump attorney Michael Cohen during his 2019 testimony.
Plaskett admitted on CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Wednesday that she would not have asked Cohen certain questions without the texts from Epstein.
Crockett claimed on CNN’s “The Source” Wednesday that she was not attempting to “mislead people” with her false claim about Epstein.
“I never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein. Just so that people understand, when you make a donation, your picture is not there. And because they decided to spring this on us in real time, I wanted the Republicans to think about what could potentially happen, because I knew that they didn’t even try to go through the FEC [Federal Election Commission],” Crockett said. “So my team, what they did is they Googled, and that is specifically why I said ‘a Jeffrey Epstein.’ Unlike Republicans, I at least don’t go out and just tell lies.”
Trump urged Republicans to support the legislation to release the Epstein files on Sunday, leading it to pass in the House with a 427-1 vote on Tuesday. The president announced he signed the legislation on Wednesday after the Senate passed it through unanimous consent.
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While global focus has shifted to other crises, Iran has rapidly and aggressively been accelerating its ballistic missile production at the speed of light. Pictured: Iranian Airborne Cruise Missile (Photo by Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0)
While global focus has shifted to other crises, Iran has rapidly and aggressively been accelerating its ballistic missile production at the speed of light.
Peloni: A not to be missed insightful discussion between Hoover Institute’s Mike Doran and Advisor to PM Netanyahu, Caroline Glick. The topics cover the Gaza resolution, regional threats (Turkey, Iran, Syria, Houthis and more), as well as a description of the US-Israel relationship.
Peloni: The ISF will never work for the very reason that is cited by Cohen below: “[Arab countries] are wary…of being perceived as doing the dirty work of the Israelis, and they are determined not to risk the lives of their soldiers in that regard.”
No matter the composition of the ISF, this would be true. Recognition and ‘peace’ treaties with Israel has hardly changed the reality that Arab states act in tto the stability of their own regimes, which includes satisfying the radicals in their own realm with false representations and baseless condemnations of Israel. Multiple examples might be chosen to exemplify this fact, for instance, with the UAE, whose domestic outlawing of the Muslim Brotherhood contrasts significantly with their call to ‘reform’ the UAE. The Arabs will always have a foreign face which is markedly different from their domestic face, and the reason is that they both serve to support their national interests and the survival of their respective regimes. Unfortunately, Israel is being forced to abrogate its own national interest yet again with the adoption of a farcical security force in Gaza which will seek to support foreign national interests at the expense of that of Israel.
The world is on the cusp of making the same mistake with Hamas that it did with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. Still, there is progress to be made if the involved parties pay attention.
Ben Cohen | FDD | Nov 21, 2025
No doubt, the passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2803 on the postwar reconstruction of Gaza was a triumph for American diplomacy. Drafted by the United States and eagerly endorsed by a host of Middle Eastern and Islamic nations on Nov. 17—among them Qatar and Turkey, two of Israel’s most insidious adversaries—the resolution garnered 13 of the 15 votes on the council. Russia and China, two of the five permanent members with the power of veto, decided not to oppose the resolution, meekly abstaining instead.
However, the diplomatic obstacles to securing the resolution’s passage pale in comparison with the political and strategic obstacles confronting its implementation.
A while back, after unpacking boxes from a recent move, I came across a wonderful surprise.
What I discovered was an example of what makes a middle school (or any) educator’s life worthwhile, despite the trials and tribulations teaching 12-14 year olds in that “in between” age, often too willing to engage in negative behaviors just “for show” to gain status among peers.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Connection” | November 21, 2025
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris’ The First Thanksgiving. Image by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris – This file was derived from: The First Thanksgiving cph.3g04961.jpg:, Public Domain, Wikipedia
*Thanksgiving was initially celebrated in November 1621 by William Bradford, the leader of the “Mayflower” and the 1621-1657 Governor of the Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts), who played a key role in establishing the civic foundation of the first permanent colony in New England. Bradford compiled a first hand 580-page-manuscript of the Mayflower’s 66-day-voyage, which arrived in Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. The manuscript is exhibited at the Massachusetts State Library.