T. Belman. Pollard: “Our elite leadership is grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.
Looking ahead, I see grinding but ultimately successful military campaigns on every border, political defeat for the Right, and emergence of next generation leadership.
By David M. Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM
The perils of predicting political and diplomatic developments are well-known, especially in the Middle East. “Black Swan” events seem par for the course (i.e., events that are highly improbable, difficult to predict, and end up having drastic consequences).
Which is why I am so glad I didn’t publish a forecast for 2023, one year ago this week. I would have been wrong on all accounts. Never could I have imagined that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s just-then-announced judicial reforms would tear this country apart for nine months. Nor could I have predicted that Hamas would catch Israel off guard with a barbaric invasion that has led to the shattering Gaza war, still underway.
T. Belman. Biden will go to great lengths to stop Israel from attacking Hezbollah.
Biden Admin. official tells Washington Post of concerns Netanyahu will seek to ensure his political survival with another war in Lebanon.
Israel National News Jan 7, 2024, 12:16 PM
PM NetanyahuPMO fficials in the Biden Administration fear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks an escalation in the conflict with the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the north in order to ensure his continued political survival, the Washington Post reported today (Sunday).
An American source quoted in the article said that “If the war in Gaza ends, Netanyahu’s political career will end, therefore, the prime minister’s political logic tells him to recover from his historic failure on October 7 through a successful military operation that will be presented to the Israeli public.”
Danielle Aloni, abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, speaks about capture and how she strived to take care of herself and five-year-old Emilia during 49 days of captivity
Today, 12:41 am
Screen capture from video of Daniella Aloni, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 and held for 49 days in the Gaza Strip. (Channel 12. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
An Israeli woman whom Hamas terrorists kidnaped during their devastating October 7 assault on Israel has described the moment she prepared her five-year-old daughter for them both to die.
Danielle Aloni, 44, and her daughter Emilia, 6, were on Kibbutz Nir Oz visiting her sister Sharon Aloni Cunio’s family when the community was overrun by terrorists amid their massive assault on southern Israel that killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They were among at least 240 people who were abducted to the Gaza Strip during the attack.
Here’s a quick summary of the key pieces of evidence that taken together show that the COVID vaccines are unsafe and that the medical community should not be trusted.
BY STEVE KIRSCH Jan 7/24
Here is a short list of reasons that everyone should be concerned about the COVID vaccine. This is not an exhaustive list.
By Shoshana Bryen, THE ALGEMEINER 3 January 2024
A Yemeni government fighter fires a vehicle-mounted weapon at a frontline position during fighting against Houthi fighters in Marib, Yemen March 28, 2021. Picture taken March 28, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, coordinating commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, has announced that Iran will close the Mediterranean Sea in retaliation for “US war crimes” in Gaza.
“They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways,” he said.
By Aviram Bellaishe, JCPA 4 January 2024
Barack Obama and his “Hope and Change” for America represented a political Trojan Horse phenomenon. Joe Biden was Obama’s choice for his vice president for eight years of his Trojan Horse presidency. Joe Biden’s presidency has been an Obama Trojan Horse II with less subtle, more blunt messages of political persuasion and policy formation.
Obama, through clever political manipulation, presidential dictates, and eloquent speechmaking brought a seductive liberal, progressive, socialistic utopian vision to America. Obama used sophisticated Alinsky-style tactics to construct his Trojan Horse. He has tried to change America from within by distorting our political system. According to Obama, we are not an exceptional country. We are in Obama’s mind merely another tribe in his vision of where the best history of the collective human village is going.
Read more…
by Majid Rafizadeh, GATESTONE • January 6, 2024
The world of Israeli jurisprudence is so surreal that you have to pinch yourself to believe what you see. This week, the country’s Supreme Court first struck down a constitutional amendment, then declared judicial authority to remove a sitting prime minister. Michael Doran and Gadi Taub explain what the judges are up to, and what the consequences may be. Because apart from judicial theory, these decisions have political implications for the war: they threaten to throw Israel back into the controversies about judicial reform that tore the country apart before October 7.
Meanwhile the war may be widening in the north following the assassination of Hamas’s West Bank chief, Saleh al-Arouri. The hit was carried out in Beirut and is widely attributed to Israel.
If the assassination was done by Israel, it might be a message not just to Hamas and Hezbollah, but also to the United States, which is trying to retrain Israel on the northern front.
And finally: Mike and Gadi’s picks for the dumbest takes on the news.
T. Belman. It looks like war with Hezbollah is imminent. Israel won’t be satisfied with a half-measure. I doubt diplomacy will achieve even that.
Defense minister calls for ‘a new reality in the northern arena’ so that displaced Israelis can return to their homes: ‘We will not tolerate the threats posed by the Iranian proxy’
ByEMANUEL FABIAN and AFP 4 January 2024, 7:16 pm
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right) meets US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein that there is “a short window of time for diplomatic understandings” to be reached with Hezbollah, as the Lebanese terror group continued to carry out daily attacks on northern Israel.
“There is only one possible result — a new reality in the northern arena, which will allow for the secure return of our citizens,” Gallant said to Hochstein, according to remarks provided by his office.
T. Belman. Pollard called me a week ago and we had a long conversation. Remember, he was an intelligence officer with the US government before he was imprisoned for 30 years. Mostly, I agree with him.
TOM NASH REPORT
By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, BESA 2 January 2024
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On the morning of October 7, 2023, the strategic Israeli security concept collapsed, marking the end of the 30-year era since the Oslo Accords. With the shocking force of an earthquake, a cultural concept that had its roots planted in the dream of peace, and in the illusion that the State of Israel could aspire to become a kind of Denmark, disintegrated completely. For Israel to achieve victory in the war with Hamas, it will have to adapt its security concept to reflect a new and deeper understanding of the enemy’s perception of the nature of its struggle with Israel.
The three analyzed the state of war from a legal perspective and wrote, among other things, that no such duty exists under international law because there are ongoing hostilities and that allowing residents to return northwards would thwart a key military objective in war – finding and returning captives.
By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM 4 January 2024
Gazans move to the south during Operation Swords of Iron/Dana Ben-Shimon
A memo submitted Wednesday to Israel’s political leadership claims that Israel has no legal obligation to allow displaced Gaza residents to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip for the coming months. The opinion was written in recent days in light of claims made within the security establishment that under international law, Israel had to allow residents to return to their homes.
The memo is signed by Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Bitton from Sapir College, Prof. Eugene Kontorovich from George Mason University, and Prof. Avi Bell from the law schools of Bar Ilan University and the University of San Diego.
Will this desperate country finally see the light?
Information on the loss to Jordan’s economy that the war between Israel and Hamas has entailed can be found here: “Jordan Losing Over $250 Million Per Month Due to Israel-Hamas War,” Algemeiner, December 27, 2023:
Despite major economic headwinds, Jordan announced last month that it would refuse to sign a deal to provide energy to Israel in exchange for water that was planned to be ratified in October, according to Reuters.
Peloni: Israel should resist the pressure to agree to any plan for the Day After. Also, when the time comes to formulate a plan, it should recognize the history of the series of failures which came from the use of international forces. This is an Israeli issue which will affect Israeli civilians and should be dealt with and controlled by Israel alone.
Hamas will not rule Gaza and Israel will not rule Gaza,’ Defense Minister Gallant said, ruling out the building of Israeli settlements in the enclave
By Lahav Harkov, JEWISH INSIDER January 4, 2024
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant plans to present the war cabinet with a road map for the administration of Gaza after the end of the war, in which Israel, an international force, Egypt and local Palestinians — but not the Palestinian Authority — would all play a part, Gallant said in a briefing on Thursday. After the war, he said, “Hamas will not rule Gaza, and Israel will not rule Gaza.”Gallant’s plan, drawn up by the Defense Ministry with input from the IDF, is based on four major partners.First is Israel, which would need full freedom to act militarily in Gaza to ensure that Hamas and other hostile groups cannot threaten Israel or the people of Gaza, Gallant said. Israel would also provide relevant intelligence to the other partners and would inspect all goods entering Gaza.
By Brooke Mallory, OAN – Thursday, January 4, 2024
People visit the scene of Wednesday’s bomb explosion in the city of Kerman 820 km (about 510 miles) southeast of Tehran, Iran. (Photo by MAHDI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
In one of the largest terrorist attacks to hit Iran in decades, Wednesday’s suicide explosions targeted a memorial service for an Iranian commander killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike.
The attacks came while the Middle East as a whole is still in a state of tension. The Islamic State organization, ISIS, claimed credit for the attacks on Thursday.
T. Belman. Why is the Army investigating the Army. Half the people on the committee should be right wing civilians. There is no urgency for doing it now while the fighting is ongoing. There is absolutely no need to discuss the day after while the fighting is ongoing.
Meeting of Political-Security Cabinet ends abruptly after ministers blast Chief of Staff over appointment of a team to investigate the events of October 7.
Israel National News Jan 5, 2024, 2:10 AM
A meeting of the Political-Security Cabinet ended abruptly on Thursday night, after a confrontation erupted between several ministers and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, against the background of the appointment of a team that will investigate the events of October 7.
Kan 11 News reported that Ministers Miri Regev, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir and David Amsalem claimed that the members of the investigating team supported the Disengagement from Gaza. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tried to silence the ministers who attacked the Chief of Staff and said that he supports Halevi, before senior officials in the defense establishment walked out of the meeting.
