Netanyahu is finally in a position to dismantle the forces that have long sought to subvert the will of the electorate.

Avi Abelow | Feb 20, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Ron Dermer (center), strategic affairs minister, and Danny Danon, ambassador to the United Nations, at Blair House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 3, 2025. Credit: Israeli mission to the United Nations

One of the most misunderstood and underreported significant developments in Israel’s war effort is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent decision to appoint Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer as the head of the ceasefire/hostage negotiations instead of the heads of the intelligence services.

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Peloni: Jonathan Schanzer provides details surrounding the recent release of the Bibas family bodies as well as choices going forward

by John Podhoretz | Commentary | Feb 21, 2025

Click on Photo for Audio

Daniel Greenfield | Feb 21, 2025

“O God, do not be silent; hold not Thy peace, and be not still,” the Chief Rabbi of Israel prayed the words of Psalm 83 over the bodies of two murdered children, their mother and an old man.

Hamas and PLO terrorists had mockingly paraded their coffins to the cheers and jeers of Muslim men, women and children occupying Gaza while upbeat music played, they had mixed up the bodies, locked the boxes and then attached keys that did not work. After inspecting the coffins for explosives, Israel had covered them with its blue and white flag and prayed over them.

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Peloni:  Trump policy on Turkey begins to take form, and as expressed by Rubio, it properly marginalizes Turkey in preference of Saudi Arabia.

By Robert Spencer | Feb 21, 2025

This is wise, in light of Saudi Arabia’s attempt to retreat from some of the harsher aspects of Wahhabi Islam, and Turkey’s Ottoman revanchism. Ultimately, however, none of these countries can be trusted to be reliable allies.

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Peloni:  I have raised the issue of the lack of independence of Ukrainian leadership from its radical elements in the past.  It is a tangible and sizeable issue which if addressed could significantly improve the possibilities in Ukraine for a durable and lasting peace.  Unfortunately, realizing such an outcome would not be easily achieved, particularly while the war is still ongoing.

Valery Zaluzhny and Volodymyr Zelensky in London.

President Trump says he has “had it” with Zelensky, and leaks from Washington suggest that Zelensky go into exile, maybe to France. But is that the right approach to getting a Ukraine deal? Maybe not.

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By Barbara Diamond | Feb 19, 2025

Words matter. The misuse of words… matters even more. It is not a new phenomenon for words to be appropriated by those the least appropriate to do so.  When the word “genocide” which was clearly used to discuss Hitler’s evil plan to eliminate the Jews of Europe… is now twisted to somehow be hurled against later generations of those self-same Jews when they courageously respond to the murderous attacks by Hamas barbarians against the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who escaped Hitler’s clutches…. is simply unconscionable.

It is bad enough when our enemies make claims against Israel which are invalid, but when self-professed “morally-superior” Jews do it, it is time to discuss the error of their ways.

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Peloni:  Establishing a ‘credible threat of military force’, as  described in detail in the Section 3 under the Policy Recommendations header in this essay, will not deter the Mullahs who are motivated by a armeggedonist ideology.  Failing to appreciate this reality will only serve to embolden the Mullahs as precious time is spent in the pretense that such radicals as those who designed the October 7 massacre can be either threatened into capitulation or reasoned into rational compliance.  Instead of establishing a credible threat of military force, the West, led by the US, should eliminate the existing threat emanating from Iran, which is organized throughout both Europe and South and Central America.  Coordinating an attack on its nuclear and oil producing infrastructure with regime change operations should be executed in lieu of demonstrations of force as described below.  By thus cutting the head off this nearly nuclear Hydra, the US led effort will stabilize and protect, not just the Middle East, but the entire world, while also freeing the people of Iran and Lebanon which are currently held fast in the fist of the tyrannical Mullahs.

Andrea Stricker | FDD | Feb 19, 2025

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58077

Executive Summary

A secret team of Iranian scientists is working to shorten the country’s route to nuclear weapons, according to current and former U.S. officials. This intelligence was collected during President Joe Biden’s final months in office, then relayed to the incoming national security team under President Donald Trump.¹

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By GIL TROY | FEBRUARY 20, 2025

The Federations of Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal hosted me from February 2 through February 12, having purchased over 2,500 copies of my book The Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream.

I spoke in Jewish day schools to sixth and twelfth graders, on campus and in Hillels, to fellow professors and teachers of Zionism and Israeli history, to interfaith groups and Jewish federations. The trip introduced me to a post-October 7 Canada – and academic world – I did not recognize.

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Seth J. Frantzman | Feb 19, 2025

The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

US President Donald Trump has conveyed a clear message to Israel. “You do whatever you want,” he says he told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a shift from the messaging during the Biden administration and for Israel’s governing coalition this appears to be welcome news. However, the complete support that Israel is now getting from the White House will now require Israel to come up with a plan regarding Gaza.

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by Daniel Greenfield  •  Gatestone Institute  •  February 20, 2025

Lebanon’s government is a Hezbollah puppet regime. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is a puppet army. The $3 billion that America squandered on the LAF, like the even larger sums wasted on arming and training the Iraqi military, didn’t counter Shiite Islamic rule, it enabled it. Pictured: Soldiers of the LAF organize displaced persons outside the village of Kfar Kila, in southern Lebanon on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images)

• The State Department has spent nearly two decades selling the myth that empowering the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] will weaken Hezbollah, but after $3 billion in spending, Hezbollah is more powerful than ever, while American taxpayers are stuck with financing its auxiliary force in the hopes of defeating it.

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Peloni: Where is Netanyahu as Trump again calls for the utter destruction of Gaza?

? JUST IN

Israel’s Channel 14: Trump tells advisors he wants ‘Gaza wiped out’ after Hamas parades coffins of dead hostages mom, two young sons, elderly man

“I want to see Gaza wiped out. I don’t want to see even one building standing.” pic.twitter.com/w1sBcp7D8d

— Awesome Jew (@JewsAreTheGOAT) February 20, 2025

Peloni: Trump should learn from this spontaneous rebuke of Phizer’s CEO by a very enthusiastic crowd which had just been chanting for Trump to run for another term.  The public rejection of the hushed silence surrounding the mRNA tragedies are real and Trump should support this outcry rather than ignoring it.

This Message Brought To You By Pfizer
??????????????

Is President Trump this STUPID??
OR… is he just this BRILLIANT??
He thanks Dr. Albert Bourla CEO of Pfizer for being there today. pic.twitter.com/wSC6AtPEed

— Curtis Fernheiser III (@CurtFernheiser) February 20, 2025

Peloni:  This is an important interview.  Qatar is an existential threat to the West, and to America in particular.  Hence, it begs the question as to why key appointments within the Trump White House have included many who have business ties or lobbyist connections for this nation of Jihadists, such as AG Bondi,  FBI Director Patel, Middle East Envoy Witkof and EPA Administrator Zeldin.  Qatar has infiltrated nations all around the world, and as Carmon discusses in this interview, it came to influence Trump’s first administration regarding the US base in Qatar.  This lesson should be taken to heart, and there should have been a zero tolerance for any connection to Qatar within Trump’s second administration.  This litmus test was unfortunately not employed, and it does not bode well for the current administration’s abiltity to act against Qatari influence, which was most apparent when the damaging Witkof surrender deal was forced on Israel, following Witkof’s consultation with the Qatari’s.

UPDATE ?
– Five buses had explosives on them
– They were supposed to go off tomorrow morning during the hostage release
– Hamas has taken responsibility
– Netanyahu has called for an emergency meeting pic.twitter.com/HSmu1C7ZAh

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 20, 2025

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Peloni:  This is a must read article by Tanya Lukyanova which was published by the Free Press.  The revelations in this report will likely surprise many who have come to rely extensively on Ukrainian news reports.  The reality of the facts discussed by the author should of course have been obvious long ago.  Recall the use of the Peacemaker website which lists targets to be purged, and that following their names having been listed on this site, many journalists were in fact eliminated, not the least notorious of these was the Ukrainian secret services having first detained and later murdered the American journalist, Gonzo Lira.  Recall further that the Peacemaker website has been tied to the Ukrainian govt and it has remained active even after the US began overtly subsidizing Ukraine’s government, which was also coincident with the timing of Gonzo Lira’s detention and murder by Ukraine’s state police.

The purpose of the media in any democracy is to maintain transparency and accountability between the govt and the people who chose the govt.  Of course, under the use of USAID, both Ukraine’s govt and media have been weaponized in pursuit of American misadventure.  The consequence of this has led to the decimation of Ukrainian democratic process, such as it was, their freedoms, their elections, their religious choices, and their access to a free press.  This should disgust us all, and it should disgust those who claim any love of the Ukrainian people more than anyone.

The FP’s @TanyaLukyanova_ goes inside the USAID media machine: https://t.co/sJ7gdxXWxh pic.twitter.com/8o8eJFSJs3

— The Free Press (@TheFP) February 19, 2025

Peloni:  Pollard reveals that war with Egypt is imminent, and makes the similar argument recently put forward by David Wurmser for why.  He also explains that the cost of this war will be quite high for Israel and that victory lies with the use of unconventional weaponry.  He continues by suggesting that Israel needs a leader with the skill and gravitas which will use such unconventional weapons, and that Netanyahu is clearly not the leader to do so.  A longtime critic of Netanyahu, Pollard does little to balance his overt criticism of the PM, which might be better presented by Yishai Fleisher’s recent comments.