FDD | Feb 28, 2025

IDF Investigation of October 7 Finds Hamas Was Developing Attack Plan in 2016: On Thursday Doron Kadosh, military correspondent for Israel Army Radio, wrote about the IDF’s investigation into the failures of October 7, noting that according to the findings, Hamas decided to launch a large surprise attack following Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021. A Hamas document found in Gaza in 2021 stated, “The defeat of Israel is not impossible. Imagine that if there were a conflict on all fronts, the enemy would not be able to hold out. We must prepare for the liberation, this has now become feasible.” However, as early as 2016, Hamas was preparing a plan for Nukhba forces to attack Israel and take hostages. After Yahya Sinwar came to power in Gaza in 2017, Hamas decided to add deception to the plan. It considered launching the attack twice in 2022, once in April and once in September, when it discussed carrying it out during the Jewish holidays in October. The IDF does not know why Hamas chose not to attack that year. A Hamas document states: “We must continue to work to convince the enemy that Hamas in Gaza is interested in calm and is working for economic prosperity …”

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Peloni:  Mike Doran, in a conversation with Dan Diker, discusses how the Biden administration structured their response to October 7 to revitalize the Two State Solution(TSS) to block the Right wing govt while also maintaining the administration’s momentum towards their Iranian Pivot away and from Israel.  Doran goes on to explain that the TSS is simply not going to happen due to Israeli and American interests and Israeli public shift against the TSS.  Doran asserts that the Turks and the Israelis will come to a “quiet accommodation”  based on the major security interests of the two nations, while still having significant disagreements on issues such as Gaza and the Palestinians.  It is his suggestion that the US should facilitate the cooperation of Turkey and Israel, despite these differences.  Despite Erdogan’s very recent call for retaking Jerusalem, Doran explains that Turkey is not looking for a fight with Israel, that it balances threats from the Balkans, Iran, Russia, the Caucuses and the Middle East, all at once resulting in the Turkish military maintaining a very cautious perspective.  Despite this view, it should be recalled that among all of these threats being balanced by the Turks, Iran was among the most overt and tangible, and with the Mullah’s hopefully soon to be extinction, this would result in a power vacuum in the Middle East which the Turks will certainly try to fill, just as they did in Syria after the Israelis decimated Hezbollah.  Such a possible eventuality would be a grave threat to Israel, as Turkey heads the radical Sunni Axis, which is far less objectionable to the Sunni nations of the region than the radical Shia Axis which Iran heads.

Peloni: It is time to fix this problem, and this requires open dialogue between the US and Russia, which was previously scorched by the US, to be re-established. This is what Zelensky opposes, it is why he demanded to be present when the US and Russia re-established their diplomatic connections, and it is why the US-Ukraine mineral deal has not yet been signed, even though it presents Ukraine with a substantial security commitment from the US. It may appear that Zelensky is the problem, but the truth is that the problem is embedded in the entire Ukrainian power structure, which is centered around war with Russia at any cost. They feel the US is obligated to Ukraine to continue its war with Russia because the US helped ignite that war, helped fuel that war, and helped keep that war going for the past three years. There is, however, no such obligation for the US, and in fact, it is specifically an American interest that this war be ended as soon as possible, under the best terms possible, so that the US can focus its entire effort on China.

?RFK Jr. is RIGHT about Ukraine and Russia

He explains how the war is nothing more than a money laundering scheme pic.twitter.com/41aVO9Gx6C

— Died Suddenly (@DiedSuddenly_) March 2, 2025

Peloni:  Ben Gvir was correct, both before and after he came to agree with the govt’s actions.  It was a great mistake for him to have left the govt.

Witkoff proposal calls for ceasefire extension during Ramadan-Passover, release of additional hostages

All Israel News Staff | Published: March 2, 2025

By PH3 James R. Klein – http://www.defenseimagery.mil; VIRIN: DN-ST-92-04697, Public Domain

Following a security cabinet meeting Saturday night, which also marked the end of the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would adopt a framework for a temporary ceasefire extension during the Ramadan and Passover period put forward by U.S. Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff.

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Michael Ordman | March 2, 2025

In the 2nd Mar 25 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

• A week of contrasts – Buses & Bibas.
• An innovative, less-invasive, Israeli device to minimize the chance of a stroke.
• Israel had a friendly visit by a Pakistani Moslem leader.
• See what Israel uses to prevent wildfires.
• An Israeli startup is vastly extending the life of electric car batteries.
• Fiji promises to be the next country to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

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By Hugh Fitzgerald | Mar 1, 2025

While Israel has had its hands full, and its attention focused, on fighting Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and on “demilitarizing” Syria by destroying all the weaponry that Bashar Assad’s army had accumulated, it has at the same time been monitoring Tehran’s race to acquire nuclear weapons. The news is alarming. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that since December, there has been a “dramatic increase” in the amount of uranium enriched to 60%, or just below weapons-grade, in Iran. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar now says that despite the new and crippling sanctions on Iran just imposed by the Trump administration, economic collapse may not be enough to halt Iran’s nuclear program, and a “military option” must remain on the table. More on Sa’ar’s warning can be found here: “‘Military option’ on table to halt Tehran’s nuclear threat, Sa’ar warns,” Jerusalem Post, February 26, 2025:

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Peloni:  The regime which Zelensky leads in Ukraine is the product of the US Deep State coup which overthrew the last Ukrainian president which was elected by the entire Ukrainian nation.  The factions and ideologies which have been established in Ukraine as dominant since that time will remain an obstacle to peace, no matter who leads the nation, and is likely why Zelensky has repeatedly acted to try to scuttle Trump’s attempts to make peace thus far, something which should be expected to likely continue.

By Monica Showalter | Am Thinker | Mar, 1, 2025

Is Volodymyr Zelensky somebody’s little puppet?

It was a strange specter to watch the Russian state media’s observation of that in response to the meeting between Zelensky and President Trump, which ended in a shouting match, and Zelensky sent home without his presidential lunch.

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by Majid Rafizadeh  •  Gatestone Institute • March 1, 2025 at 5:00 am

Despite having survived through the presidencies of multiple U.S. leaders — from Jimmy Carter through Joe Biden — the Iranian regime has never softened its hostility. Its leaders and supporters continue to chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and proxy militias target U.S. interests, and are expanding its influence not only across the Middle East but deeply into Latin America. The exasperating reality is that every attempt at reconciliation or engagement seems only to embolden Iran’s regime further. Pictured: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows “Death to America” in a televised appearance, in November 2022. (Image source: MEMRI)

• The Islamic of Republic of Iran is a revolutionary state, deeply committed to an ideological mission that transcends conventional diplomacy. Its very core identity is rooted in anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and the goal of exporting its revolutionary ideals worldwide.

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Peloni:  This self imposed tragedy was the greatest Ukrainian defeat in the long list of defeats which Ukraine secured over the past more than a decade.  In fact, this catastrophic misstep by Zelensky is potentially if not likely regime changing in its nature.  The Ukrainian Ambassador facepalmed gesticulation during the event really captures the reality which Ukraine faces at this juncture.  As has been explained by Bryen, below and more extensively in his previous essays, Zelensky can not be seen to negotiate with Putin which likely played no small role in this diplomatic implosioin.  Quite a terrible moment for the Ukrainian rank and file whose morale was already at a significant deficit.

and some guesses about what happens next

Remarks from Trump officials take a clear stance on a new era for the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Avi Abelow | Feb 28, 2025

By U.S. Embassy Jerusalem – https://www.flickr.com/photos/46886434@N04/54334316812/, CC BY 2.0

Under the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump, America and Israel are fully aligned in their shared missions: defeat Islamic terrorism, prevent a nuclear Iran and ensure Israel’s complete victory over Hamas. With his visit to Israel earlier in February and a subsequent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a clear message to the world: The U.S.-Israel alliance has never been stronger.

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By Seth Frantzman | February 27, 2025

On the evening of February 25, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out airstrikes in Syria. The strikes came two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for south Syria to be demilitarized. “The IDF struck military targets in southern Syria, including command centers and multiple sites containing weapons,” the Israeli military said.

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Peloni:  As the US prefers to negotiate with Iran on the topic of their nuclear program, it ignores the wider implication that Iran has mounted its own assault upon America from its southern border.  Adding to this is Iran’s long history of state sponsor of terrorism, and her infamous proxy armies which mount open assaults on the non-combatants as well as defeating America’s role of securing freedom of the sea.  Hence ignoring the reality that any deal struck with Iran will be at best a temporary victory, and more likely a staged tactic towards delay than anything else, Iran represents a whole of society threat to America, and if America persists in preserving the Mullahs rather than irradicating them, this threat will continue to invade and corrupt America to her great regret.

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | February 24, 2025

Iran and Latin America By Alborzagros – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

While attention has been focused on Iran’s nuclear ambition, it is Iran’s conventional power, which has made it the leading global epicenter of war, terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering, including in Latin America and on US soil. Moreover, the aim to end war and terrorism, on the one hand, and Iran’s conventional potency, on the other hand, constitutes an oxymoron. In fact, the existence of the Ayatollahs regime, on the one hand, and any attempt to end war and terrorism, on the other hand is a contradiction in terms.

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Madeline Brooks: Jonathan Pollard and his friend, Rabbi Bar – Hayim, challenge the hold the secular left have on Israeli society and call for religious zionists to bring new life to politics. They want them to shake off the second class status secularists imposed on them for decades, and hope they will boldly bring new leadership to the country. Bibi is described as weak, not deeply principled enough, and giving in to the judiciary’s left wing control. This control, which can overrule democratically chosen legislation, is compared to George Soros’ Open Society’s deliberate destruction of national integrity, replacing democracy with top heavy beurocracy. In addition to civil strife, what could be more serious in a country fumbling to combat enemies on every side?! What is not spelled out, but could have been, is that Israel’s enemies are all waging a religious war against it so what is needed is greater religious strength on Israel’s part. The video ends with the participants agreeing, “We can only succeed if we cling to Hashem and His Torah.” In other videos Pollard clearly spells out the importance of Torah to him.

Peloni: I noticed that Rabbi Bar-Hayim and Pollard continue to overstate the case which might fairly be held against Bibi, even suggesting that he buckled on Judicial Reform at the “first real sign of opposition”, which is clearly not accurate.  He was in fact facing an ongoing US sponsored color revolution, and the considerable threat against the state, not just his govt, was both very real and very great, when he buckled on this topic.  In fact, the USAID and US State Dept objective to destabilize the country led to Hamas believing that their moment for victory was well at hand, demonstrating the complicating features considered while Bibi pulled that legislation from being considered.  While their arguments for the electorate being in need of an upgrade in choosing a leader may be warranted, I would argue that the outspoken bias expressed by Pollard and Rabbi Bar-Hayim against Bibi is quite significant, though more so with the former than the latter.