by Eric R. Mandel | 12/27/2024

Most Americans are unaware that today’s Middle East is an artificial construct created by British and French diplomats (Sykes and Picot) after World War I to advance their empires’ economic and political interests. They carved up the Middle East map with the stroke of a pen, and we have lived with the consequences ever since.

The San Remo Conference in 1920 codified colonial interests out of the remains of the defunct Ottoman Empire. Ethnic, religious and topographical considerations were ignored or minimized.

Now, just over a hundred years later, we are at another crossroads in the aftermath of the collapse of Syria, one of the Western-created nation-states. Many wars have been fought to keep these artificial states together, but they have more compelling reasons to be divided than to stay whole. As Conrad Black wrote in Brussels Signal, “The collapse of the Assad government in Syria must rank as the final unflattering death knell of the attempts at nation-building by the victorious Allied leaders at the end of World War I.”

Read more…

If Abbas wanted peace, he would have said that Shubaki was wrong to participate in terror attacks, serve as a terrorist leader, or purchase tons of weapons.

By MOSHE PHILLIPS | Dec 30, 2024

Who cares what Mahmoud Abbas said in his eulogy for the late PLO finance director Fuad Shubaki?

We should all care – very much. Because in Abbas’s words, we see all too clearly the true attitudes and intentions of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority.

According to the PA’s Wafa news agency, Abbas “expressed deep sorrow” at Shubaki’s passing last week, at the age of 84. Abbas “praised Shubaki’s exceptional life and contributions to the Palestinian cause,” Wafa announced.

Read more…

Peloni:  In its announcement of Carter’s death, JPOST tweeted the following: “Jimmy Carter, a longtime friend to Israelis and Jews alike, passed away on Sunday at 100 years old.”

I think it is vital to recall exactly who Carter was and all the malicious roles which he came to play, both before and after his presidency.  I think Katzman’s pre-eulogy presents an important context of Carter’s accomplishments which are, as anticipated, being ignored.  Please share this widely.

by Abraham Katsman,

Carter may not have been the first president hostile toward Jews or Israel; but his was the first administration to allow that hostility to seriously skew policy to the self-inflicted detriment of America and its allies.

This column originally appeared in the Daily Caller (under a slightly different title).

It does not feel good to write an essay raising uncomfortable truths about a dying man; but sometimes, it’s more important to set the record straight. In the case of former President Jimmy Carter, such record-straightening is mandatory.
Read more…

Peloni:   This was an inevitable consequence of Europe’s decision to import a Jihadi Cleft into their midst.  Europe is now occupied by a enormous contingent of Islamist colonizers who have no tolerance for dissenting voices.  If Europe does not find their way to remedy this self owned error, the outlook for Europe is very disturbing.

And Jews are leaving.

by Hugh Fitzgerald | Dec 30, 2024

Throughout Western Europe, the Muslim percentage of the population grows steadily, both from continued immigration and from much higher birth rates among Muslims than those exhibited by the indigenous non-Muslim population. There are now an estimated forty-four million Muslims in Europe, about 5% of the population. That number is expected to rise to 7.5% of the population — if nothing is done to halt Muslim immigration — by 2050. And growing antisemitism, which is encouraged and spread mainly by those Muslims migrants, is causing more Jews to think of leaving Europe for Israel or North America. More on this disturbing development can be found here: “Islam conquers Europe and Jews flee,” by Giulio Meotti, Israel National News, December 18, 2024:

…“Islam is advancing and I see in the West a desire to disappear,” Michel Houellebecq told the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera.

Read more…

Reframing Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘freedom fighters’ distorts reality, legitimizing terror and undermining global security; these groups reject coexistence, target civilians and rely on propaganda, while their actions are fueled by Iran and weak local governance

Amir Avivi|12.28.24

(Photo: AP)

Efforts to reframe groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as “freedom fighters” distort reality and dangerously legitimize acts of terror. These groups, far from advocating for liberation or human rights, are driven by violent ideologies seeking the annihilation of the State of Israel and the perpetuation of conflict. Equating their actions with legitimate struggles for freedom is a grave error and a serious threat to global security.

Read more…

Peloni:  This will only make the Mullahs that much more desperate to restore their position in the region.  Their regime must be eliminated.

By Janatan Sayeh | December 28, 2024

The Arab League Hall in Cairo, Egypt

The League of Arab States, based in Cairo and comprising 22 nations, issued a pointed rebuke of Iran’s ambitions in Syria on December 26, stating, “The Arab League rejects the recent Iranian statements aimed at inciting strife among the Syrian people.” This declaration underscores a broader shift: the Islamic Republic is steadily losing its foothold in a region where it has invested heavily—financially and militarily—for decades.

Read more…

A message for the Pope… from a Catholic… in response to your recent commentary regarding the Middle East… with the utmost respect ? pic.twitter.com/8B43PdFzar

— Erin Molan (@Erin_Molan) December 28, 2024

Peloni:  Feldstein provides an utterly fair depiction of a remarkably unrepentant antisemite.  Carter’s hatred of Jews was the focus of his post presidential years and thru it, he caused an great deal of unnecessary harm to the Jewish people.  Any sentiment being expressed in the wake of his death should be reserved for those who suffered from his flagrant lies and distortions over the years and not for Carter who memory should be split between his utter failure as a president of the US and his success at stoking Jew Hatred around the world while defending the terrorists and terrorism.  His was a life which was truly poorly lived, or so I would and do argue.

Jonathan Feldstein 

Ok Jimmy Carter died. Many will fill volumes writing now that he was a good guy, honest, smart, did some good things as president and in his post presidency. Despite many of these things being true, to me Carter was an unrepentant antisemite who made excuses for Arab aggression and terror against Israel. For that alone and using the pulpit of his presidency in exile to spread these messages, I say good riddance.

As a failed one term president despite some achievements including helping to broker the Camp David peace agreement with Israel and Egypt, Carters abysmal policies vis a vis Iran left the US ally Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi overthrown by Islamists, himself dying in exile, paving the way for the Islamic Republic regime  to take over Iran which it has hijacked for the past 46 years. The Iranian hostage crisis was an example of Carters weakness and underscored by the fact that the hostages were released the day Carter was out of office.

Read more…

Peloni:  Germany is looking to pay the Syrians to find a better life in their own land, something which should be applied to the psychopathic Pals who have been purposefully weaponized by the Western world against the Jewish people.  As Germany is offering the Arab Cleft in their midst a paid return to Syria away from the German people, should Israel not do the same and pay the Pals of Gaza and J&S to take a one way visit to Jordan or some other Arab realm where they will find precious few, if any, Jews upon which to practice their well trained barbarism?  In fact, as Turkey and Jordan will likely soon evict their refugee hordes, the hypocrisy will be maintained in which Israel alone must maintain its Cleft of Pals who have no right to be considered refugees nearly a century later, nor should they suffer being constrained in place by the likes of Egypt and its US & European allies who have manufacture the plight of the Pals and weaponize it against Israel’s sovereignty.

Germany’s CDU party has proposed a financial incentive for Syrians living in Germany to return to their home country.

Followin Assad’s fall, the CDU suggested refugees receive €1000 each, as well as chartered flights, to facilitate their voluntary repatriation.

Jens Spahn, the… pic.twitter.com/leeJhfPIYW

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 29, 2024

Mark Levin tweeted the following:

The police state war on Trump and Netanyahu

To show you how horrendous Israel’s legal system is, its justice system is a police state system run exclusively by the far left, which hates PM Netanyahu. No matter how many elections he wins, they try to topple him with endless investigations and charges. Unlike our country, the fact that he’s elected doesn’t stop the police state from seeking to overthrow his government and imprison him. In fact, every time the Israelis elect the Netanyahu the more the saboteurs are motivated to try to destroy him.

Well, the contrived, phony cases against the PM are crumbling. His testimony has been brutal against the prosecution’s cases. So, the police state is worried. And, again, it’s lashing out. It has decided to pursue the unimaginable — it is plotting to pressure the PM into some kind of plea deal by opening and announcing a witness tampering investigation into his wife, Sara Netanyahu, Israel’s First Lady!  Stalin would be proud!

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.”

Read more…

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?

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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