So, why, then, does Israel continue its operations in Gaza, despite the consequences in this area? It is simple. Hamas has not yet surrendered.
By Alan G. Futerman and Walter E. Block, ISRAEL HAYOM Dec 19/23
Many people, the world over, are appalled by what is taking place in Gaza as a result of Israeli bombing of that territory. For example, states United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres “Amid Increasingly Dire Humanitarian Situation in Gaza, Hamas Attacks Cannot Justify Collective Punishment of Palestinian People.” According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “Israel’s attacks on Gaza refugee camp may amount to war crimes.” Amnesty International maintains that there is “Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza.” Not to be outdone, former US president Barack Obama said this: “Already, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the bombing of Gaza, many of them children. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes. The Israeli government’s decision to cut off food, water, and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis…” In the view Al-Jazeera: “From South Africa to Norway, the Middle East to Southeast Asia, calls for an end to the siege of Gaza are growing.”
T. Belman. My daughter used to be an Israeli diplomat and she was posted under Amb Halevy in Brussels for three years.
I found no fault with their analysis of our failure except that they suggested our right wing government was focused on the “West Bank” and turned their backs on Gaza. While that may be true, there were many other factors which contributed to the failure.
When it came to their ideas on the war, they all felt that we would not have the time to complete the destruction of Hamas. The American timeline will prevail.
They criticized the government for not articulating what political solution we wanted to achieve for the day after. They thought this was more important that articulating what our military goal was. They also felt that we have no choice but the TSS even if it takes decades.
As the Israel-Hamas war enters its second month, the role of intelligence has figured prominently. How did Israel fail to grasp Hamas’s intentions and capabilities and to anticipate the October 7 attack? Was this a failure of imagination or were there structural and bureaucratic impediments that prevented Israel’s intelligence community from identifying the dots and connecting them? Are domestic politics overriding sound intelligence analysis to shape the Israeli government’s campaign against Hamas, its approach toward Gazan civilians, its efforts to free hostages, and its thinking on post-conflict Gaza and the West Bank? Join us as Efraim Halevy, former director of the Mossad, and Ami Ayalon, former director of Shin Bet, engage in conversation with Aaron David Miller on these and other subjects.
The UK is marching in lockstep with America’s disastrous Middle East policy
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said last week that America will impose travel bans on “extremist [Israeli] settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank”.
He went on:
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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This webinar provides an update on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the main of the war for State of Israel, and an analysis of the Gaza, Hamas, and the future of the Two States Solution.
– What is the future of Gaza if and when Hamas is “eliminated”?
– Can Hamas be “eliminated”? What about Hamas in the West Bank? – Is Israel entitled to “re-occupy” Gaza? What would that involve?
– Is the two-state solution required by international Law?
– Is a Palestinian state feasible?
T. Belman. Mudar has been telling me for over a year that the UAE is not our friend despite having signed the Abraham Accords.
UN resolution failing to condemn or mention Hamas but demanding ceasefire set for vote after wording slightly changed to appease US.
By Gary Willig, INN Dec 19, 2023, 10:21 PM (GMT+2)
The United Nations Security Council will vote on a resolution demanding the suspension of Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist organization and the provision of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip tomorrow morning (Wednesday).
The vote, which was originally scheduled for Monday afternoon, has been delayed three times in an attempt to avoid an American veto of the resolution. It was previously scheduled for 5 pm Eastern Standard Time today. The US has vetoed multiple resolutions on the war between Israel and Hamas since the October 7 massacre, though it allowed the passage of a resolution that failed to condemn Hamas on November 15.
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How DARE you call for ethnically cleansing the Jewish people from our ancestral land?? You know nothing. No history, no reality, no truth. So I have this to say to you.
Israel is not a colonialist state – it’s a refugee state which was literally decolonized from Britain.
The director of a Gaza hospital admitted to Israeli interrogators that he was recruited by Hamas to help turn the Strip’s medical centers into military facilities, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced on Tuesday.
T. Belman. The Court ruled so because he “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” First of all, it isn’t true but the lower courts must have held a hearing and determined it was so. Unbelievable.
Colorado’s Supreme Court rules Trump’s candidacy in the state’s primary is prohibited on constitutional grounds. Trump to appeal.
Donald TrumpREUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Colorado’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that former President Donald Trump’s candidacy in the state’s primary next year is prohibited on constitutional grounds, NBC News reported.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the ruling said. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
T. Belman. Israel started out with this mindset and stated its goal was to totally destroy Hamas. But Biden, Blinken et al went to work to replace this mindset with “humanitarian” concerns. So we morphed from destroying Hamas to protecting “innocents”. As a result the whole world’s focus ia on protecting the “innocents”. By our actions , we have validated the notion that the Gazans and palestinians are innocent and must be protected. the Israel government never fought back against this notion and so it went unchallenged.
We are very close to the UNSC passing a resolution which calls for Israel begin “winding down major combat operations in Gaza, withdrawing most ground troops and moving to more targeted operations”. This will be a CHAP VI resolution which , though binding, is not enforceble.
Is it too late to follow Weinberg’s advice? Geez, I hope not.
Humanitarian concerns, both for the one hundred or so Israeli civilians still held hostage by Hamas and for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians held hostage by Hamas, must be secondary.
By David M. Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM 12-17-2023 18:10
That is what has happened to Israel over the past three weeks, ever since it agreed to a series of pauses in the war against Hamas and then reignited the ground campaign against Hamas under increased US scrutiny. It has lost focus. It is seeking to concurrently accomplish diverse goals and balance competing interests. And in trying to cover too many bases, Israel risks failure across the board.
“Only love can save us; only justice and forgiveness can save us. Don’t allow Hamas to win,” said Egyptian human rights activist Majed El Shafie.
By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JPOST 18 December 2023
Human rights activist Majed El Shafie. December 2023/Marc Israel Sellem
The Hamas terrorist organization did what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not: Unite Israel – according to human rights activist Majed El Shafie.
Sitting in the lounge at the David InterContinental Hotel, the Egyptian refugee who converted from Islam to Christianity and now lives in Canada told The Jerusalem Post on Monday morning that he would like to thank Hamas for “showing the world the ugly face of extremism” and “for displaying the rise of antisemitism in Western countries – no one was aware of how bad it was.
By Sundance, THE LAST REFUGE 18 December 2023
In the world of tracking geopolitical maneuvers closely, particularly as it relates to military intervention, it becomes critical at a certain point to get more deliberate.
Two fronts seem like they are about to open on the geopolitical stage. The first in Yemen, the second in Moldova. We can watch them unfold together if we begin from the same baseline.
Against the background of the Israeli-Gaza war against Hamas terrorists, the U.S. military is about to begin a large-scale operation in the Red Sea under the auspices of combating Houthi rebels and terrorist attacks. Against the background of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, we can also anticipate NATO opening a new front using Moldova.
T. Belman. The three diplomats questioned are clearly anti-Israel. What they see as bad news, I see as good news.
By asserting it will maintain security control over Strip, rejecting PA return, not advancing alternate plans, Israel likely to find itself stuck in enclave, top officials tell ToI
Tom Nash
T. Belman. I posted this article because it tells what is really going on behind the scene. Biden is paving the way for a ceasefire because he wants Israel to end “high intensity military operations”. So don’t believe any “happy talk” by US officials.
US poses as Israel’s friend while at the same times gets France, Britain and Germany to work in tandem with her to keep the pressure on Israel.
According to an Israeli source U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made it clear that the current phase of the war will have to stop in early 2024
The Biden administration and pro-Israel governments in Europe are placing increasing pressure on Israel to transition within the next few weeks from the current phase of “high intensity military operations” to more targeted raids, acute airstrikes and assassination of senior Hamas leaders. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who arrived in Israel Monday, and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who visited last week, conveyed clear messages on the issue to Israel’s war cabinet.
T. Belman. Bottom line, Israel agreed to all US demands. in exchange for allegedly “no timeline”. In reality he imposed a timeline for “winding down major combat operations in Gaza, withdrawing most ground troops and moving to more targeted operations”.
More IDF soldiers will die as a result. The US has made it very difficult for Israel to destroy Hamas to the extent its needed. Austin limited the fighting to killing Hamas leaders and specifically did not include their entire forces. Lurking in the background is the US commitment to establish a Palestinian state. Israel is against this but has set up a committee to make a report for the day after.
Austin pushes for more Gaza aid, two-state vision; says he’ll convene regional ministers to counter Houthis; Gallant: There’s ‘no clock running,’ war will see ‘end of Hamas’
By AMY SPIRO and JACOB MAGID, TOI 18 December 2023, 9:34 pm
From left: IDF Chief Herzi Halevi, US military chief CQ Brown, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meet in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Tel Aviv on Monday, meeting with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He reiterated US backing for Israel’s war against Hamas, while calling to increase humanitarian aid entering the Strip, though he declined to set any timeline on the ongoing Israeli operation.
T. Belman. Dr Eldad spoke at the Jordan Option conference in 2017
T. Belman. I reposted this article because Austin re-emphasized Biden’s policies again.
President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, once said “Never let a crisis go to waste”. The Biden Administration (Biden) is following this dictum by supporting Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas in order to advance the Two-State Solution. It matters not at all that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis want such a solution.
Read more…
T. Belman. Austin repeats Biden’s policy of emphasizing the need to protect “innocent” Palestinians and to stop “settler violence”. No change there. He also stressed the need for surgical strikes in the south as opposed to what took place in the north of Gaza. The humanitarian effort must continue because we must protect these “innocent civilians,” Austin and Biden have never mentioned the need to save IDF lives. Yet that should be Israel’s primary concern, not the lives of Gazans. He made one concession. He won’t “‘dictate timelines or terms’ of war” but he did call for ““winding down major combat operations in Gaza, withdrawing most ground troops and moving to more targeted operations””
Gallant re-emphasized that Israel’s goals will be achieved but he had nothing to say about saving our soldiers lives.
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T. Belman. It is enough that Ben Gvir takes this position but he should stay in the government. As a government Minister, his voice is much louder. He shouldn’t put Gantz in the position to decide when to end this coalition by leaving it. Mind you, if Gantz leaves the coalition, Ben Gvir could rejoin it if Bibi invites him. The last thing Bibi wants is an early election.
By SAM SOKOL, TOI Today, 5:01 pm
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting of his Otzma Yehudit party at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 4, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticizes the government’s handling of the war against Hamas, reiterating his demand that terrorists be executed and declaring he will not remain in the coalition if the military offensive doesn’t “continue at full strength.”
Asserting that Hamas is still undeterred after 73 days of war, Ben Gvir objects to the government’s decision to let aid into the Gaza Strip, telling reporters at a Knesset faction meeting of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party that “you don’t bring in 200 fuel trucks, you don’t transfer money to any official.”
Read more…
By Sarit Zehavi and Tal Beeri, ALMA REC 17 December 2023
Photo credit: ALMA Research and Education Center
What does Hezbollah want?
Hezbollah did not desire to be lured into the conflict by the Palestinians on October 7 and to come across as though it was being managed (“playing second fiddle”). Hezbollah was “forced” into the campaign on October 7, but on its terms – in a limited capacity; not as a tag-along, but as a supporter. Hezbollah joined the fight to enhance its narrative, although, it would have preferred to start the major conflict by itself. As far as Hezbollah is concerned, the current scenario is a win-win situation.
It should be noted that Hezbollah has been pursuing a policy of provoking Israel since the end of 2022 and throughout 2023. Hezbollah is interested in war with Israel but through its initiative and timing.
