Gadi Taub & Mike Doran | Tablet | May 22, 2024

A whirlwind week in Israeli politics: Ministers Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz delivered two ultimatums to prime minister Netanyahu, threatening to dissolve the cabinet they are both still members of. Both held independent talks with high American officials prior to the move. Did they coordinate with the Americans, or with each other? Is the government about to be dissolved? And how will international arrest warrants from The Hague, against Netanyahu and Gallant, play out in Israeli politics? Mike and Gadi suggest ways to connect the dots.

By Alexander G. Markovsky | American Thinker | May 24, 2024

Image by AI

At the end of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was at the peak of its global influence. It was imbued with the conviction that the future belonged to communism and its dominance was destined and unending.

In 1991, the Soviet Union unexpectedly collapsed. The Warsaw Pact dissolved, and the newly formed nation, the Russian Federation, denounced communism and extended the olive branch to the West. In contrast, the United States and its NATO partners chose to capitalize on the desperate period of Russian history—specifically, the weakened economy and fragmented military—by making a provocative and threatening move to expand NATO closer to Russia’s doorstep.

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By Sundance, CONSERVATIVE TREEHOUSE    23 May 2024

Posting to Truth Social account, President Trump shared a video with the background narration of Victor Davis Hanson last night.

The outline as spoken eloquently by VDH, walks through the fear of the entire apparatus of the political left; a fear created by their inability to destroy everything that Donald J. Trump represents.  {Direct Rumble Link}

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Peloni:  Recall Mudar’s comment on the very morning of October 7: “The King of Jordan’s intelligence and the Egyptian military intelligence are the ones behind Hamas’ escalation against Israel,”  The leadership of these two nations have badly betrayed Israel and they must be replaced.

T. Belman. Mudar also said that Abdullah enlised MBZ to convince Al Sisi to support Hamas. Of course MBZ brought a ton of money with him. But the truth of the matter is that al Sisi had to know about the smuggling and did nothing to stop it or acknowledge it.

If Mudar’s connection to the Shin Bet knew about it, the IDF also knew.  Its hard to escape the conclusion that the top echelon of the IDF who ignored all the evidence coming in, wanted the attack to take place as a means of dethroning Netanyahu.

Since Oct. 7, it has become clear that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi has been playing Israel for a fool.
Caroline Glick | JNS | May 23, 2024

Israelis have long viewed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as an ally in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. Sisi, after all, led the Egyptian military in overthrowing Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government of then-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since the Hamas regime in Gaza played a key role in ousting former President Hosni Mubarak from power and assisting Muslim Brotherhood terrorists from escaping Egyptian prisons in the Sinai in 2011 and 2012, el-Sisi also shared Israel’s negative view of Hamas. He stood with Israel during the Hamas war against Israel in 2014.

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Western analysts think otherwise, because they are seeing Israel’s war through the lens of America’s own failed counterinsurgency doctrines

BY ANDREW FOX, TABLET

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducts another assault in the north of Gaza, they face significant criticism from Western officials and analysts who are asking why the IDF is repeatedly going into areas they have already cleared and conducting further operations. Critics claim this behavior reflects a flaw in operational design, or is even proof that Israel’s campaign against Hamas has failed. The flaw, however, lies in their own assumptions.

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THESE ATTACKS ARE BRINGING ISRAEL CLOSER TO INVADING LEBANON.

The invasion should have happenned months ago. Hezbollah is getting stronger. For multiple reasons, Israel is not ready to do it.

E. Rowell:  This is the clearest example of utilizing the organization with the highest concentration of Jew haters in the world (The UN)  to provide aid to Hamas, in order to help Hamas destroy Israel.  There is no famine in Gaza.  It is a cynical PSYOP to make it appear that Israel is the aggressor against the suffering Palestinian “victims.”

‘The entire U.N. family’ will be leveraged in U.S. aid operations

By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON    20 May 2024

(Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

The Biden administration says it is channeling aid for a pier system built off the coast of the Gaza Strip through the entirety of the United Nations’ humanitarian infrastructure, comments that come after a top U.S. official confirmed the United States is still relying on the Hamas-linked Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for aid distribution. But officials from across the administration will not detail the extent of UNRWA’s involvement in their ongoing humanitarian efforts.

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E. Rowell:  We have learned from Fransisco Gil-White that US Middle East policy has been pro-Iranian since 1979 if not before then.  We have learned from others that George Bush, Sr. started Hamas with the Hashemite King.  All of this and more was carefully hidden from Americans until Obama was elected.  The Obama and now Biden Administrations have now been revealed in their naked, unashamed policy of supporting genocide against Israel while blaming Israel for committing genocide against the Palestinians.  There is nowhere for them to hide. The ugliness of their policies has set the Middle East ablaze.  But Israel will need to bind up her wounds and continue the fight.  The majority of Americans are behind Israel and will not give up on her.  Israel will succeed in the end.

The bloodier the terror attacks, the more stark the eliminationist rhetoric, the more support for a Palestinian state.

By Eugene Kontorovich, THE DAILY SCROLL    22 May 2024

Hamas’ grisly terror raid on Oct. 7 has proved to be the single most stunningly successful act in gaining support for the Palestinian cause—not among Israeli or American voters, of course, but among top Democratic policymakers, and their counterparts across the Western world. One might think that a campaign of unrepentant killing, torture, rape, and hostage-taking would be disqualifying for a national independence movement. But in Washington, Hamas’ ongoing crimes have resulted in much of the weight of the U.S. government being brought to bear on advancing the cause of Palestinian statehood, and its correlate, the punishment and demonization of the Jewish state.

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A simple test to check ‘criticism of Israel’ for antisemitism

By Cynical Publius, THE TABLET MAGAZINE     21 May 2024

A soldier lays tefillin near the Gaza border in southern Israel on Dec. 6, 2023ALEXI J. ROSENFELD/GETTY IMAGES

I have spent much of my adult life in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean regions of the Middle East. I am not Jewish, which will somehow matter to certain readers. I am, instead, a Roman Catholic American who has been in the area during war and peace, with multiple military assignments in the region.

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–DM Gallant Claims 4 Former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health, Minister of Interior, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, and Minister of Justice  23 May 2024

IMRA

X  https://x.com/ramonhaim/status/1793496715909099976

At a Likud faction meeting held this week, the Defense Minister presented a nightmare scenario, suggesting that if a military administration is established in Gaza, it would be the end of the State of Israel or close to it. Since Gallant does not have substantive reasons to explain his
opposition to military administration, which has already become irrational, he presented baseless arguments.

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By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”,   May 22, 2024,

*Secretary of State Antony Blinken is a true believer in the diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs. He rules out regime-change and military options, irrespective of the Ayatollahs’ 45-year-old track record of anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and proliferation of advanced military systems.

*Currently, Blinken is pressuring Israel to negotiate another ceasefire with Hamas, disregarding the litany of previous ceasefires, which bolstered Hamas’ terror capabilities. He leans on Israel to shift from the military option to the diplomatic option, snatching Hamas from the jaws of obliteration. Such a shift would be perceived by all Middle East entities as a dramatic victory for Hamas and a major defeat for Israel, fueling more terrorism and war against Israel and all pro-US Arab countries, which already have the machetes of Islamic terrorism at their throats. It will also reduce the Arab/Moslem interest to conclude additional peace treaties with Israel, and inspire Islamic terrorism on US soil, as stated by FBI Director, Chris Wray.

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JaFaJ, INTELLIGENCE     May 22, 2024

Peloni:  The ICC attack against Israel is a power grab which left unopposed will be wielded against all nation-states, subjugating them to the whims of the ICC, regardless of whether they consent or not.

If permitted to proceed unpunished for its actions on the global stage, the court will gain in power and stature.

Caroline Glick | JNS | May 22, 2024

The logo of the International Criminal Court at the entrance in front of the building in The Hague, Netherlands. Credit: oliverdelahaye/Shuttertstock.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s initial response to International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s announcement that he intends to issue international arrest warrants against Israel’s leaders was brief and to the point: “The international arrest warrants won’t deter me. This is a political, biased decision. It is a disgrace and a shame. We will continue on until victory.”

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Peloni:  The Western elites seem to have chosen a path to replace the democratic Jewish State with a terrorist Pal state.  Their every move seems to presage this eventuality, regardless of past promises to the contrary, regardless of the savagery of the opponents who are slaughtering our people, and regardless of our every attempt to placate the impossible demands of our supposed Western ‘allies’.

The bloodier the terror attacks, the more stark the eliminationist rhetoric, the more support for a Palestinian state.

By Eugene Kontorovich | Tablet | May 22, 2024

A Pro-Palestinian supporter stands next to a placard during a demonstration at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Feb. 25, 2024. Davide Longari/AFP via Getty Images

Hamas’ grisly terror raid on Oct. 7 has proved to be the single most stunningly successful act in gaining support for the Palestinian cause—not among Israeli or American voters, of course, but among top Democratic policymakers, and their counterparts across the Western world. One might think that a campaign of unrepentant killing, torture, rape, and hostage-taking would be disqualifying for a national independence movement. But in Washington, Hamas’ ongoing crimes have resulted in much of the weight of the U.S. government being brought to bear on advancing the cause of Palestinian statehood, and its correlate, the punishment and demonization of the Jewish state.

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Israel Undiplomatic

IDSF founder and chairman Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi tells Arutz Sheva that to win the war and bring back the hostages, Israel must tell the US ‘thank you’ and do what it needs to do in Rafah. Amir Avivi will be addressing the Arutz Sheva-Israel National News Jerusalem conference in New York City on Sunday, June 2nd.

Yoni Kempinski | INN | May 22, 2024

As the IDF expands its operations in Rafah and returns to fight in areas in the northern Gaza Strip, Arutz Sheva-Israel National News sat down with Brigadier General (res.) Amir Avivi, Chairman and Founder of the Israel Defense And Security Forum (IDSF) to discuss the situation on the ground.

Regarding reports that Israel only killed a third of Hamas fighters and that victory is far away, Avivi does not believe that is the case. “I think we can reach victory in a month or two. We talk about how many were killed; but how many were injured? How many are incapable of fighting? Much more I would guess.”

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E. Rowell:  If there weren’t enough reasons before now, this is yet one more good reason for Netanyahu to turn down ANY “deal” from the Biden Administration.

Sources close to the discussions in Oman tell MEE that the delegations spoke about ending Israel’s war and a shared desire for a change in Israeli government

By MEE Correspondent in Tehran, MIDDLE EAST EYE  21 May 2024

Iran’s late foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks with chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani in Tehran, 23 June 2022 (Reuters/Majid Asgaripour/WANA)

Secret talks between Iran and the United States in Oman were making good progress, but have now been jeopardised by the sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister.

Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser, held indirect negotiations earlier this month with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s point man for negotiations with the West, according to three Iranian sources close to the talks.

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E. Rowell:  The Biden Administration has wrecked just about everything they have touched.  Their propensity to sow chaos, their attempts to bring down governments and create division within the US, NATO, and many other countries around the world has brought only disaster.  They have been trying to foment a coup against Netanyahu since the last election, and so far they have been unsuccessful.  The Israeli people have one focus now:  they want the destruction of Hamas and return of the hostages.  Gantz, Gallant, and Haliva have all been destructive.  If necessary they can be replaced,  (Haliva should have been replaced long before now). Yes, Israelis prefer unity in government during war, but if destructive elements within the government leave, it’s a net win for the Israeli people. Will their leaving necessarily force a new election during the war?  Netanyahu knows what the Israeli people want.  He may not be perfect, but he’s determined to win this war.  In addition, if these men leave and force an election during the war, I think the people of Israel would feel either abandoned by them, or glad they are going, and rightly so.

By Lawrence A. Franklin, JEWISH POLICY CENTER  20 May 2024

The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, greets US President Joe Biden at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel on July 13, 2022. (Photo: Haim Zach / Israeli Government Press Office)

The open split been between the Biden Administration and the Israeli government as to how Israel should conduct its war against the Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza has become a gut wrenching policy dispute while the wartime goal to expunge Hamas is still ongoing.

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