by Efraim Inbar and Jakob Rheins, Middle East Quarterly
Winter 2024 (view PDF)

The parallels between the predicament of Israel and the Republic of Korea are considerable. Both face existential threats on their borders. Though both states are democracies, the commonalities between them run deeper. Both are relatively young countries born out of conflict. Both exist under threats from their respective neighbors from inception. Both suffered periods of isolation in world politics,[1] yet despite heavy economic burdens due to many security challenges, both managed to build a vibrant democracy and a prosperous economy. Both countries maintain the most vital asset one can provide to the United States: strategic relevance. And both states’ economies are export-oriented. A bolstered relationship with Seoul, which is relevant and useful to American interests, serves Israel’s strategic interest.
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In recent years, deep cracks have appeared in the Zionist Iron Wall. The goal of the current war should be to restore the Zionist Iron Wall and establish it with renewed strength for the next hundred years.

By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, BESA      January 8, 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.

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https://www.now14.co.il

Our forces operate in the Gaza Strip. Photo: IDF Spokesperson.

A poll published this evening by Channel 14 News shows that a majority of the public believes that even after the elimination of Hamas, the Gaza Strip will still have a terror-supporting population. It also emerges that most of the public agrees with the claim that an arrangement for the deployment of an international force in the Gaza Strip is dangerous

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T. Belman. As you know I have been a fan of Col Macgregor’s analysis of the Ukraine War. I stopped listening to him when he was not supportive of Israel. Nevertheless, I listened to this video. Macgregor’s thesis is that Israel is doing itself more harm than good in procecuting this war and it will turn out very bad for Israel and for the US. So he is looking out for Israel. I pray he is not correct.

This is not a war of choice for Israel as Macgregor suggests. It is a war of necessity. Israel believes it has no choice but to continue til victory. It also believes that such victory will not be a pyrrhic victory as Macgregor is suggesting.

Macgregor is fear-mongering. Neither Jordan nor Egypt will go to war against Israel. They have both been there, done that with a destructive outcome for them. Even Hezbollah is holding back and sticking to a low level war rather than a full blown war. Israel has made itself very clear. If Hezbollah doen’t retreat and stop the low level war, it will be destroyed. As for Jordan, King Abdullah will soon lose his crown. I am disappointed in the Judge for including an antisemitic clip from Max Blumenthal.

E.Rowell: This interview gives a concise overview of the way the mRNA platform works, and the massive number of people (about 17 million) worldwide who have died or been seriously injured by the COVID “vaccines.” Not only is this threat to humanity not ended, but the WHO is working to end national sovereignty by May 2024 and become the world’s public health decision maker without the ability of countries to disagree with their policies.

By Bret Weinstein, TUCKER CARLSON    6 January 2024

 E. Rowell:  This fascinating interview highlights the tragedy of Middle East policy vis a vis Iran, in which many innocent Kurds, and other Iraqis who were American allies, were killed in an ongoing effort to prop up Iran.

By Entifadh Qanbar, JEWISH POLICY CENTER  4 January 2024

The United States rehearsed its disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan when it pulled all forces from Iraq in 2011, according Entifadh Qanbar. Qanbar told a Jewish Policy Center webinar January 4 that U.S. officials “were aware” of an internal Iraqi defense ministry report indicating that Baghdad’s own forces stood at only 25 percent readiness on the eve of the pullout.
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By Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez*, MEMRI       5 January 2024

The Middle East is no stranger to ridiculous statements but the official reaction by Iran and Hamas to the purported Israel strike killing senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri was particularly odd. Both Hamas and their patron in Iran condemned the attack, of course, but also condemned it as “a violation of Lebanese sovereignty”[1] and Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”[2] These are odd statements. Perhaps Lebanon’s sovereignty or integrity is like that thought experiment in quantum mechanics with the cat. Like Schrödinger’s cat, this sovereignty is both alive and dead. Alive when it is useful to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran and dead when it is not.

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By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS     7 January 2024

Orit Strook May 2013/Miriam Alster

“Zehu Zeh,” A humorous show on Kan11 TV that used to be funny but since January 2023 became increasingly angry, last week featured a satirical attack on Minister Orit Strook (Religious Zionism). A mock interviewer inquired if she regretted questioning an IDF official in a cabinet meeting regarding news reports that some Air Force pilots refuse to attack targets in Gaza on consciousness grounds. The question was directed at the Head of the Strategy Division Major General Eliezer Toledano, who rebuked the minister, telling her it was a “horrible question.”

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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.

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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).

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

By TOI STAFF      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.

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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.

1. Doctors are told to trust the FDA and CDC, but not verify, when prescribing vaccines. All the post-marketing safety data is kept hidden by health authorities so not even doctors can look at the data themselves to find out if any vaccine is safe. Doctors have to trust the authorities. They are essentially told: “trust, do not verify.” Read more…

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

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.
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by Majid Rafizadeh, GATESTONE  •  January 6, 2024

• If the US fails to remove Iran’s nuclear capability — and not just (literally) buy time to enable it — the catastrophes that follow will surely go down as US President Joe Biden’s legacy, as well as the legacy of those around him.
• From the Iranian regime’s perspective, the failure of the Western powers to counter its nuclear program serves as the most explicit endorsement one can provide that it should continue developing its nuclear-weapons without any fear of negative consequences.

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By Gadi Taub and Michael Doran, TABLET Jan 4/24

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.

WATCH THE EPISODE HERE: