ANJULI PANDAVAR | 26 Dec 2024

The metaphor of a butterfly flapping its wing on one side of the world setting off a chain reaction that ends in a storm on the other side of the planet is most apt here. The butterfly, in this instance, is a tiny Druze community in a forgotten corner of vast, war-torn Syria. Its wing is its simple wish for survival, and its flap is asking Israel to annex them. The chain of events that this promises to set in train is no less profound than the flap of a lonely 19th-century butterfly wing that eventually ended in the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, for it portends the demise of the forces that sought to strangle her at birth, and the dawning of a Golden Age of Israel.

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Peloni:  Great analysis as always by Joan Swirsky!

“HATE IS TAUGHT”

By Joan Swirsky, ©2024

Candace Owens at White House Young Black Leadership Summit, 2019 (public domain).

Pretty counts, and pretty girls know from the time they’re two years old that prettiness has power.

Brains count, and pretty girls with brains are quite thrilled when they realize––about age four or five––that they’ve been doubly blessed.

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Peloni:  Ukraine continues to act with complete disregard to the intrinsic needs of its neighbors, even as these neighbors have been integral to Ukraine’s war with Russia.  Indeed, as the unforced error by Urkaine with Poland last year appears to have taught the haughty now dictator of Ukraine very little, it appears that Fico will have his turn at tutoring the Ukrainians on the cost of believing that their interests alone must dominate every topic, and this lesson will likely be a very cold one for Ukrainians to bear in the coming months.

By RFE/RL | Dec 28, 2024

Drone attacks and fighting intensified in Ukraine and Russia on December 28, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Slovakia’s prime minister of taking “orders” from the Kremlin to harm Kyiv and his own people as an energy feud heightened as well.

“It appears that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin gave [Robert] Fico the orders to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” Zelenskiy wrote on social media.

“Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be explained by this.”

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On October 26 2024, the day after Israel conducted a massive counterstrike against Iranian missile and military sites, open-source sleuths noticed something strange: A building was unexpectedly missing within Iran’s Parchin military complex.

The relatively small, 40-meter-long building, known as Taleghan 2, was located southwest of several destroyed Iranian missile facilities — and happened to be used for experiments during Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons program.

The site’s demolishment raised numerous questions. Did Israel violate US President Joe Biden’s warning to refrain from striking Iranian nuclear sites during its counterattack, which came in response to an October 1 Iranian missile barrage?

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Jerusalem does not belong to Turkey. Aspirations to re-create a neo-Ottoman colonial empire are nothing more than a dystopian nightmare. Here is why. 

Leonard Grunstein | Dec 26, 2024

Recep Tayyip Erdo?anSenat RP/Polish Senate

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has implied a number of times since 2020 that Jerusalem belongs to Turkey.

Most recently, on December 22, 2024, in response to the loud chants of “Mr. President, take us to Jerusalem” from a crowd of young people at a speech he gave in Mardin, Turkey, he shockingly responded, “Patience brings victory”. Instead of chiding the crowd about their inappropriate demand, he embraced it. Lest their be any misunderstanding about the intent of this exchange, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, a coalition partner of President Erdogan, on the next day, December 23, 2024, in an address to a group of his supporters, reportedly assured them that the goal was for Turkey to take Jerusalem. This is in line with the resurgent neo-Ottoman posture of Turkish President Erdogan.

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Peloni:  Peterson is absolutely correct

Peloni:  Israel must secure all its borders, and among these, only the long border with Egypt hosts an army capable of mounting a conventional threat to Israel, and a significant one at that.  As Dr. Wurmser noted in an interview some months ago, and which Piflaks resonates below, Israel must focus on being able to address the capabilities of its neighbors rather than trying to divine their presumed intentions.  With regard to Egypt, this should have become particularly clear following Egypt’s obvious role in facilitating arms transfers to Hamas thru the causeways constructed under Rafah became clear.  Additionally, we should recall the resistance which Egypt resisted Israel’s actions in closing those causeways.

Tolik Piflaks | All Israel News | December 29, 2024

An Egyptian army soldier looks on from his position at a checkpoint in Al Arish city, the troubled northern part of the Sinai peninsula. Picture taken July 8, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Egypt has been engaged in one of the most aggressive military modernization and expansion programs in its history. Under President Al-Sisi’s leadership, the Egyptian armed forces have transformed into one of the world’s most formidable forces, with recent acquisitions including everything from aircraft carriers to advanced fighter jets, from German submarines to the latest American tanks.

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The Surgery that the Prime Minister will undergo on Sunday, is for a Medical Issue he has been suffering from for at least a Decade; with him having received an Experimental Treatment in 2015, that appears to have not helped his Condition. https://t.co/cWVQnPf11r

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 28, 2024

All the current “mainstream” proposals for the “Day After” in Gaza represent the triumph of misguided hope—or at least, misconceived correctness—over bitter experience.

Dr. Martin Sherman | Dec 28, 2024

You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.—Albert Einstein

Sadly, the discussion of the fate of Gaza in general, and of the “Day After” in particular, is taking on an eerily familiar look—ominously reminiscent of the discussions of yesteryear.

Misperceptions and misconceptions

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Peloni:  This is a very important video.  Barry Shaw, the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, provides an important region wide masterclass analysis of the consequences of recent events in Syria.

Towards the end of the video, he discusses a proposal to use the Abraham Accords as a protectorate guiding the reconstruction of Gaza and perhaps under the management of Mohammed Dahlan.  Shaw argues that the deradicalization of Gaza can not be completed by Israel, and that it must instead be conducted by the moderate Muslim states of UAE and Bahrain with the addition of Saudi Arabia, all of whom have chased Islamic radicalism from their own territories.  I find this proposal to be deeply worrisome.

Martin Sherman addresses the concern regarding Dahlan’s possible role in this Day After scenario.   Beyond Sherman’s comments, which I would argue are significantly material, I am additionally concerned about the consequence of outsourcing the deradicalization of Gaza to Israel’s AA partners to act on Israel’s behalf.  Israel has responded to an attack from Iran’s proxies since October 7 without any diplomatic support of either the current members of the AA nor from the Saudis, all of whom have repeatedly employed their influence to confound Israel’s response to October 7.  Indeed, it should be recalled that both Bahrain and UAE have issued multiple condemnations against Israel for its response to the Islamist savagery, with Bahrain also ceasing trade with Israel and recalling its ambassador.   Recall further that, even before October 7, the UAE acted on behalf of the radical leadership within the PA as it has repeatedly condemned Israel, even soliciting a condemnation from the UNSC against Israel on behalf of the PA.  Beyond this, since October 7, rather than supporting Israel in its defensive war against Iranian proxies, the UAE has consistently advocated for ceasefires and Israeli withdrawals from Gaza, leaving Hamas intact.  The UAE has also condemned Israel’s recent ban on UNRWA, which seems relevant to the UAE’s potential role in any protectorate guiding reform in Gaza. While the AA provided an important basis upon which Israel might lead a coalition against Iran, and thereby extend its support within the region, it seems that this end, in and of itself, has yet to be fully embraced, even by the current signatories of the AA.

Hence, whatever influences might be constraining the AA members and SA from supporting Israel in its fight against Islamic radicalism, should caution us from believing that they should, would or could effectively act on Israel’s behalf in ridding Gaza of its radical leanings on the Day After, this, despite the fact that they did so while stabilizing their own regimes.  What is more, should Israel place its interest in Gaza under the control or influence of any foreign/international body, it will beyond Israel’s control to influence what takes place on the Day After.

Janet Levy:  This speaks to the critical role of advisors.  The people a president surrounds himself with, make decisions that affect everyone.

William Upton | National Pulse | Dec 26, 2024

A fierce debate has broken out between President-elect Donald J. Trump’s very recent tech industry supporters and his long-standing America First base. At the core of the disagreement is the subject of legal immigration—specifically, how Trump should handle so-called “high-skilled” foreign worker programs like the H1B visa.

One of the staunchest proponents of expanding the labor pool in this way is billionaire Elon Musk. In a Christmas Day post on X, Musk exclaimed America needs more than double the 160,000 semiconductor industry engineers said to be required by 2032.

“No, we need more like double that number yesterday! The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk wrote, adding: “Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to wn.”

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By Eileen F. Toplansky | Am Thinker | Dec 28, 2024

Jews first came to Ireland in 1079.  But when Britain expelled all of its Jews in 1290, the Jews of Ireland were forced to leave.  A small number returned in the late 15th century as refugees from the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal.  In the 1700s, the synagogue in Dublin was forced to close.  In fact, “contributing to the closure may have been the government’s refusal to grant citizenship to Jews, despite other bills that gave citizenship to other foreign nationals.”

In the early 1920s and 1930s, Irish sympathies lay squarely with the Zionists and drew heavily on the presumed parallels between historical Irish and Jewish suffering.

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Behnam Ben Taleblu | Dec 27, 2024

“Fools” flocking to the “scent of kebab”: That’s how Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently described audiences abroad who sense an opportunity to support Iran’s people against their clerical overlords in the face of his regime’s myriad challenges.

But the joke’s on Khamenei: When President Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the United States will have a chance to end Tehran’s menace for good.

Iran is sunk in a months-long energy crisis that’s rocking the regime to its foundations.

Home to significant oil and natural gas reserves, the Islamic Republic has defied the Biden administration’s (admittedly lax) sanctions to remain involved in the global energy trade.

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Raylan Givens tweeted the following

10 DAYS TO WIN A WAR: In September 2024, PM Netanyahu made 2 decisions that decided the war with Hezbollah within 10 days – the pager operation (9/17), and the assassination of Nasrallah (9/27).

In both cases, Bibi clearly stood up to then DM Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Halevi, who opposed him on executing both of the operations. Here is the story behind the scenes of those dramatic 10 days

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Israel Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, Tweeted the following:

We must not look away—these are the true faces of the emerging terror regime in Syria. These are @RTErdogan allies.

Call them by any name you wish; it won’t change the fact that they are a gang of fanatical jihadists who must never be recognized or granted even a shred of moral… pic.twitter.com/7egMcGLYud

— ????? ????? – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) December 27, 2024

We must not look away—these are the true faces of the emerging terror regime in Syria. These are @RTErdogan allies.

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All Israel News Staff | Published: December 26, 2024

Head of Mossad David Barnaea and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: flash 90, Edited by All Israel News staff).

Following an increase in attacks from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Israeli government is reportedly weighing its military options for dealing with the threat.

According to reports in Israeli media, Israeli leaders are debating an escalation in strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which is said to be the strategy favored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or to strike against Iran directly, as the initiator of the attacks, said to be favored by Mossad Director David Barnea.

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By Jeffrey A. Tucker | Dec 25, 2024

Brownstone Institute has been tracking a little-known federal agency for years. It is part of the Department of Homeland Security created after 9-11. It is called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA. It was created in 2018 out of a 2017 executive order that seemed to make sense. It was a mandate to secure American digital infrastructure against foreign attack and infiltration.

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