By Seth J. Frantzman, FDD
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) extended operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah during the third week of June. The IDF has been in Rafah since the evening of May 6, and it appears the campaign will now extend through July. The IDF’s presence continues because of the large number of tunnel shafts and significant terrorist infrastructure Israeli forces have discovered and must dismantle. Israel’s military estimates that it controls between “60 to 70 percent of Rafah” city and its environs.
The IDF’s battle for Rafah is led by the 162nd Division. The division has several key units that have been conducting the work of finding tunnels and removing munitions and other terrorist infrastructure. These include the Givati Infantry Brigade, the Nahal Infantry Brigade, the 401st Armored Brigade, and the “Negev” 12th Reserve Infantry Brigade.
A review of Daniel Pipes’ ‘Israel Victory’
Daniel Greenfield | June 21, 2024
A week before the Oct 7 Hamas assault on Israel, Daniel Pipes, a longtime respected foreign policy expert, a former board member of the United States Institute of Peace and the president of the Middle East Forum, had turned in his manuscript for his new book.
What emerged in the final months of 2023 was “Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated.” The foundational thesis of Pipes’ work, that Israel had spent far too much conciliating the Islamic terrorist groups that dominate Gaza and the West Bank, offering them the promise of peace and prosperity, emerged from the rubble more relevant than ever.
by Robert Williams, GATESTONE • June 20, 2024 at 5:00 am
Members of the Nazi SA and SS in Berlin paste a sign onto a Jewish shop, calling on Germans to boycott Jewish businesses, on April 1, 1933. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Peloni: Sen. Runestadt addresses the issue related to barring public transparency and investigation of election fraud. Similar actions are being reported in other states, not the least noteworthy of which was the restriction on election fraud investigation which was passed in Florida last year and signed into law by Gov. Desantis. These illiberal acts reinforcing the Selection process over the Election process must be halted/repealed.
Peloni: There is a great deal to discuss about this important interview, and overwhelmingly I would credit Musk and praise him for taking such an active stand in the recent war against the Jewish people which began on October 7. One remark which struck me in this conversation, however, was Musk’s response to Shapiro’s question “What are your hopes of ‘Never Again’ is a real thing”, to which Musk alludes to the ‘millions and millions of people who fought to and died to destroy Nazism’. It is a great misunderstanding of history to believe that millions and millions of people fighting and dying to destroy Nazism had anything to do with making the promise of ‘Never Again’ a reality. In fact, there are many answers which might be voiced to fairly answer that question, but all of them must acknowledge that the promise of ‘Never Again’ was answered by the establishment of the State of Israel. It is because the Jewish people have a standing army, because they have established borders, because the Jewish State stands as a refuge and protectorate for Jews who control their own destiny, choose their own leaders and are able to act in their own defense without the humbling need of requesting permission to do so from some Gentile power or leader. In short, if Never Again is to be realized as a real thing, it is because Israel exists. So while I would thank him for his outreach, which has been consistant and powerful in supporting the truth about this war, I would like to place a Community Note on his perspective of why ‘Never Again’ is a real thing.
Peloni: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It is an often quoted statement because it is clever, because it is poignant, and because it is true. In fact, I do not know who Trump will pick for the role of VP, and in some contexts the choice is less important than some people think and more important than is believed by others. Yet, in any event, it would be a mistake to pick a devout Never-Trumper-Turned-MAGA-Devotee and not expect that they will not turn out to be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Pence in disguise. Does anyone think Trump does not recognize this fact? Even if he does in fact pick another Never-Trumper-Turned-MAGA-Devotee?
A couple of quick hot points from the 2024 presidential race and Trump side of the equation.
? First, we can ignore all of the typical pre-debate banter about who is doing what in the lead-up to the Trump v Biden debate. Every cycle the debate narratives are pushed for clicks and attention; almost all of it is manufactured nonsense and false.
Peloni: The terror state envisioned by the US State Dept is the fulfillment of a dream long dreamt by these psychopaths in which Israel is finally left to the destruction for which it was intended back in 1948 when a blockade was forced on the fledgling Israeli state, while the Arab Legion was being trained, armed, financed and officered by the British Empire. Indeed, Israel was the experiment which was intended to fail, and when the Jews outmaneuvered all the obstacles intended to see us meet our destruction, the world began finding new imaginative tools by which to see our state crushed by our enemies. In fact, the vision to see our people slaughtered and our state fail may have eluded the detection of many in Israel for a very long time, but October 7 has woken too many for the State Dept psychopaths to have there way with us. We will win this battle as well as the next, but only so long as our people maintain a strength thru such unity as was found following October 7 will our vigilance and perseverance continue to lead us to victory.
Hamas terrorists standing within the municipal boundaries of Tulkarm, a Palestinian Authority-governed city, unleashed a barrage of gunfire aimed at the nearby Israeli town of Bat Hefer. Then they posted a video of the shooting on social media.
Moshe Phillips | June 20, 2024
Demonstrators gather outside the White House, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, during a pro-Palestinian protest in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2024 | Photo: Reuters / Tom Brenner
Nobody in the State Department, or the United Nations, or at J Street headquarters, is talking about the recent terrorist shooting attack on the Israeli town of Bat Hefer, less than 12 miles from the coastal town of Netanya. Because it shattered the premise at the heart of all their proposals concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Hamas terrorists standing within the municipal boundaries of Tulkarm, a Palestinian Authority-governed city, unleashed a barrage of gunfire aimed at the nearby Israeli town of Bat Hefer. Then they posted a video of the shooting on social media.
Peloni: “A Republic, if you can keep it” is a phrase of some import. Indeed, it is claimed to have been made by Benjamin Franklin, but whoever coined this phrase was wise enough to recognize that tyranny is ever just a generation away from an apathetic democratic society. This standard holds true for the digital realm as well, and in fact, the loss of freedom across the internet in recent years is actually being harnessed to institute the mental shackles in the real world in which we live. It will be a true test of the modern democracies to see if we might take back the freedoms thus far constrained from our grasp, and yet to pass onto our children those freedoms which were passed onto us from our forefathers, this is exactly what we must not fail in doing.
Jeffrey A. Tucker | June 21, 2024
Twelve years ago, I wrote a book called “A Beautiful Anarchy,” which was a celebration of how the internet had evolved until that point in time. It largely operated in a decentralized manner, with businesses thriving within a spontaneous order.
Wikipedia is such a hard-left organization that its founder disavowed it. Under the leadership of former Obama administration official Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL, once established purely to fight antisemitism, is also a hard-left organization. However, October 7 scared it, and it began to remember its Jewish roots—so Wikipedia’s editors have banned it as a source for events in the Israel-Hamas war and its fallout at home. We are witnessing the American equivalent of the Bolshevik purge of the Mensheviks, which was the true prelude to the Russian Revolution.
I’ve written at length about the ADL’s leftism, which has seen it partnering with Al Sharpton, an unrepentant antisemite, and attacking Elon Musk. Additionally,
Read more…
Peloni: Mike Benz explains what does a CIA closer has to do with foreign assassinations, gun running, and money laundering, and how this is all tied back to the back story of Bill Clinton and why the Trump DOJ (perhaps better described as the anti-Trump DOJ) provided cover for Hunter Biden as the statute of limitations ticked by on numerous allegations.
Peloni: A thoughtful and perceptive conversation between Jordan Peterson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Very interesting conversation.
Downplaying the Lebanese terrorist group puts Israel in peril.
By David Daoud & Jonathan Schanzer | June 20, 2024
Let’s not mince words: The Middle East is on the precipice of the most destructive war of the region’s modern history.
This war did not begin on October 7. It actually began one day later, when Hezbollah, the most powerful proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, began attacking Israel. The Israelis, already on their back foot from the Hamas assault in the south of their country, struggled to gain equilibrium.
Peloni: Since the govt has chosen to partner with Hamas’ allies on American campuses rather than prosecuting them, it falls to the public, and specifically those whose rights were violated, to pursue those who are responsible for the civil rights violations which are clearly taking place, making this legal challenge against Hamas’ allies a very important case to watch.
A battle for justice.
by
There is no point in invoking morality, decency, or any suchlike stuff, in appealing to the pro-Palestinian groups that have been spewing their antisemitic venom on campuses from sea to shining sea to cease and desist. But a just-announced lawsuit against two of those groups could lead to a possible hit to their pocketbook, and that’s another matter. That will get their attention. That will fill them with anxiety. And so will another possible outcome of that lawsuit: both the groups, and those of their officers who are non-citizens, could also face expulsion from the country.
John Hannah Randi & Charles Wax Senior Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy
Lewis Libby, Former White House, Pentagon, and State Department National Security Official; Member, Vandenberg Advisory Board
Get ready for what may be the final round of President Biden’s ill-fated Gaza pier adventure. After rough seas scattered parts of the project across the Eastern Mediterranean in late May, forcing it to shut down, the pier was repaired and sent back into action.
But less than a week later, heavy swells again suspended operations. The latest report is that the entire effort may be scrapped months early.
The failure to solve the problem of Gaza’s notoriously choppy waters obscured a more fundamental challenge that has plagued all plans, Biden’s included, to surge humanitarian assistance to suffering Gazans: Hamas’s determination to ensure such efforts fail.
A “ceasefire deal” won’t end it
By Clifford D May, FDD June 19, 2024
The Nova Music Festival was billed as a celebration of “Friends, Love, and Infinite Freedom.” On Oct. 6, 2023, attendees from more than two dozen countries gathered in Israel’s Negev Desert just three miles from Hamas-ruled Gaza to sing, dance, and celebrate peace through the night.
At dawn the next day, Hamas terrorists used bulldozers and bombs to break through Israel’s high-tech fence that was thought to secure the border. Arriving at the festival grounds, they began slaughtering, raping, mutilating, and kidnapping concertgoers, exuberantly shouting: “Allahu Akbar!” – “God is greatest!”
On a visit to Israel earlier this month, I wandered through that killing field, now a makeshift memorial. Atop a small forest of poles are pictures of the more than 360 victims, most of them young, and, in these photos, smiling and full of life. Flowers and Israeli flags surround them.
Read more…
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,284, June 20, 2024
by Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The UN decision on May 10, 2024 to upgrade the status of the Palestinian state is not surprising. It is a direct continuation of previous UN decisions, most notably that of November 29, 2012, which granted the Palestinian Authority the status of non-member observer state. Since the 1970s, there has been an almost automatic majority for anti-Israel resolutions in the UN. This majority includes Muslim countries and countries that define themselves as part of the “Global South”, such as African countries and some South American countries, all of which are known for their invariably critical approach towards Israel. The UN’s recognition of the Palestinian Authority grants the Palestinians an independent state without a negotiated peace process or clearly defined and agreed borders between it and Israel. This is precisely the situation the PLO has been striving for since 1974. The establishment of a Palestinian state without peace with Israel is a sure recipe for instability and perpetual war in the Middle East, and those negative consequences are being deliberately fomented by the UN.
Read more…
‘We found that the food supply entering Gaza is more than sufficient to feed all 2.2 million Gazans according to what is considered a normal diet in North America”
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN JUNE 18, 2024 16:38
Trucks deliver humanitarian aid over a temporary pier on the Gaza coast, May 18, 2024(photo credit: US ARMY CENTRAL/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Columbia University Professors Awi Federgruen and Ran Kivetz have analyzed available data and conducted research whose “findings demonstrate that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza,” they noted in a summary of their findings presented to The Jerusalem Post.
They note that it is “a myth that Israel is responsible for famine in Gaza.” They argue that the International Criminal Court and UN have joined Hamas in blaming Israel for a “famine that never was, hoping to stop the war [in Gaza].”
EPOCH TIMES: Louisiana has become the first state to enact a law mandating that the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed at all public schools and colleges.
Under legislation that became law on June 18, Louisiana schools that receive state funds will have to display the Ten Commandments “in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction.”
The bill specifies that the text must be printed in a “large and easily readable font” and also requires a 200-word “context statement” explaining that the Ten Commandments were “a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
by Uzay Bulut, GATESTONE • June 19, 2024
Naama Levy, an Israeli woman abducted and taken to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, when she was 19 years old. She is still being held hostage by Hamas. (Image source: Hamas)
Today, June 19, the United Nations will observe the annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Yet, it took the UN five months to document and condemn Hamas’ sexual crimes on October 7.
October 7, it was widely believed that the real threat in the region was Iran and that Iran’s provision of weapons to Hezbollah was the main front that Israel should concentrate on. However, October 7 showed that Hamas could trigger a regional war by attacking Israel.
This means that it’s worth understanding now how Hamas continues to have its hand on the trigger. If there is a ceasefire in Gaza, for instance, there may be “quiet” in northern Israel. This means that Hamas’s actions may determine Hezbollah’s actions. Together, their actions are likely coordinated with Iran and also its other proxies such as the Houthis.
