T. Belman. The wishful thinking persists. Hope burns eternal.

Does this mean that the Israeli Iron Wall has been cracked? Nothing of the sort.

By Uri Dromi, JTA  DECEMBER 14, 2023 03:48

One hundred years ago, in November 1923, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, one of the greatest leaders of the Zionist movement and definitely the one with the greatest foresight, wrote in Berlin a seminal article in the Razsviet (Dawn, in Russian) newspaper, titled “The Iron Wall (We and the Arabs).” His main argument was that in order for the Zionists to succeed in settling the Land of Israel and persist in living there, they must create an “Iron Wall” that will thwart Arab ambitions to eradicate the Zionist enterprise. It is worth quoting him at some length:
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Peloni:  Badran continues to provide an insightful look into the ridiculous lengths to which the US gone in recent weeks while refusing to end or even to slow the US realignment towards Iran which has been taking place since Trump left the White House.

A chronicle of the Biden administration’s increasingly absurd attempts to hide its complicity in the worst mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust

by Tony Badran, TABLET    December 13, 2023

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| The Caroline Glick Show In – Focus

(December 13, 2023 / JNS) Israeli security forces operating in the Samaria city of Jenin have detained hundreds of Palestinian suspects in a major counterterrorism raid that has already lasted some 30 hours, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday.

The suspects were transferred for questioning by Israel’s security agencies, added the military.

IDF soldiers, as well as officers from the Israel Border Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), have so far searched more than 400 buildings and confiscated 30 weapons, large amounts of ammunition, explosives and other military equipment, the IDF said.

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State Comptroller Matanyahu Engleman tours border fences in the north, south, and in the Jerusalem area, highlighting gaps in the security barrier, and in the nation’s security.

By Jerusalem Post Staff,  13 December 2023

View of the Separation Wall and the Al-Aqsa compound in the background on February 02, 2020/OLIVIER FITOUSSI

After touring along the southern and northern borders, State Comptroller Matanyahu Engleman visited the security fence in Jerusalem, the Sharon region, and Samaria, in the West Bank.

Engleman stated, “The massacre in the Gaza border area should never happen in Jerusalem and Gush Dan. It is the government and the army’s responsibility to thoroughly examine the effectiveness of the security barrier.”The State Comptroller emphasized that he would present security authorities with the weaknesses in the border that require urgent refortification, following extensive surveys since the outbreak of Operation Swords of Iron on the southern and northern borders and in bordering communities.

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T. Belman. This is a site in Hebrew that was recommended to me. If anyone can find other articles about what’s happening in Jenin in Hebrew of otherwise please provide me with the url.

TOV.NEWS

Yesterday’s activity in Jenin is an exception (for the better) compared to the pattern of the last few weeks which was based on spot raids.

Yesterday the pressure and measures were deep and continuous.

Israel immediately needs a type of “protective wall” model 2023 and similar events in other areas of Judea and Samaria as well.

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Gaza resident: Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar “are sons of dogs.”

By Baruch Yedid, JNS   13 December 2023
Israeli troops operating in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Dec. 12, 2023. Credit: IDF

by Richard Goldberg, COMMENTARY

Israel is resolved to remove Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure from the Gaza Strip permanently, and for much of the world, its determination raises one question more than any other: What comes next in Gaza? For those who disapprove of Israel’s actions in the war or those who either passively or actively support the role of Hamas as the Strip’s governing authority, the lack of answers provides a pretext not only to demand a permanent cease-fire but to suggest (often quietly and with a furrowed brow indicating supposed realpolitik wisdom) that the path Israel seems to be making for itself is a dead end from which it needs to be saved.

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Israel’s prime minister says he won’t allow the Palestinian Authority to take over Gaza

By David S. Cloud, Carrie Keller-Lynn, Summer Said and Andrew Restuccia, WSJ    Dec. 12, 2023 4:40 pm ET

American Thought LeadersDec-12-2023

WATCH VIDEO
“People think democracies die with a sudden shock, and you see Black Shirts or Brownshirts goose-stepping in the streets. That’s not how democracies die. Democracies die through a thousand cuts,” says Naomi Wolf, CEO of DailyClout and author of the new book, “Facing the Beast: Courage, Faith, and Resistance in a New Dark Age.” “…

US president promises to give Israel what it needs to ‘finish the job’ against Hamas, but decries ministers in Netanyahu coalition who want ‘retribution against all Palestinians’

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Full White House text of remarks by President Joe Biden at a Campaign Reception, December 12, 2023

President Biden: Thank you all so very much. Many of you have been my personal friends and political friends for a long time.  I know I don’t look it, but I’ve been around a long while.  (Laughter.)

And I want to thank you all — all of you — for — for your steadfast support.  And, Rosy, particularly, thank you for that introduction and all the work you did to make this successful.

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By Peter Wood and David Randall, NAS

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) calls on the Harvard Corporation to remove Claudine Gay from Harvard College’s presidency.

President Gay is at the center of the controversy that followed her December 5 testimony to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, in which she found herself unable to give a clear answer to questions about what Harvard could or would do in response to calls for genocide against Jews. Her answers on that occasion were far from satisfactory, but they are not the only reason why she should be removed from the presidency.
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Netanyahu acknowledges there is disagreement with the US about how Gaza will be run after the war: Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan.

By Nitsan Keidar, INN  Dec 13, 2023, 2:03 AM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening commented on the disputes between Israel and the US regarding the management of the Gaza Strip after the war.

“I greatly appreciate the American support for destroying Hamas and returning our hostages. Following an intensive dialogue with President Biden and his team, we received full backing for the ground incursion and blocking the international pressure to stop the war,” said Netanyahu.

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The strong support of the Biden administration for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza remains steadfast, but this stance is not necessarily permanent. What elements might possibly undermine America’s critical support for the continuation of the combat, and how can Israel overcome these challenges?

INSS Insight No. 1798, December 12, 2023

By Eldad Shavit and Chuck Freilich

The US administration continues to support Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas, which is why it has thus far refrained from calling for a ceasefire and even went so far as to use its veto power to block a Security Council resolution. However, the administration has presented Israel with clear boundaries, especially when it comes to ensuring humanitarian aid to Gaza and the protection of civilian lives. It has also expressed some degree of frustration with what it sees as Israel’s insufficient response to US concerns and with the lack of a vision for “the day after” the war, following the administration’s presentation of what it believes should guide the postbellum discussion on the future of the Gaza Strip.

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IDF says 500 terror suspects held in past month, some took part in Oct. 7 slaughter; Kerem Shalom crossing to open to ease aid flow as clips show apparent theft, looting of goods.

By Emanuel Fabian and TOI STAFF,   12 Dec 2023

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks with soldiers near the Gaza border, October 19, 2023. /Chaim Goldberg

Hamas battalions in the Jabaliya and Shejaiya neighborhoods in the northern Gaza Strip were on the verge of collapse Monday, said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, amid ongoing heavy fighting in and around the terror stronghold of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and rocket fire on central Israel during the day.

“We have encircled the last strongholds of Hamas in Jabaliya and Shejaiya, the battalions that were considered invincible, that prepared for years to fight us, are on the verge of being dismantled,” Gallant said at a press conference Monday.

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Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

It took J Street a week to turn on Israel. In less than two weeks it was lobbying against Israel.

By Daniel Greenfield, JNS  12 December 2023

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivers a speech at the J Street National Conference in Washington, DC., Dec. 4, 2022. Credit: State Department Photo by Ron Przysuch

The Oct. 7 Hamas massacres hit hard at communities where many of the residents were left of center. As a result even some of the usual anti-Israel types temporarily came around to the idea of fighting Hamas.

That included the anti-Israel lobby group J Street.

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EPOCH TIMES
[CLICK ON IMAGE]

“This person has risen to the leadership of a major university, but I don’t believe that the moral guidance is there or the intellectual integrity that you would expect. And I’m not calling for her to resign or to be fired, but I’m calling on the board of trustees of Harvard to look very seriously at these issues, and hold her to the same standard that they would hold a white male or a white female to.”
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Amir Tibon, HAARETZ

This denial is welcome for Israel’s Western allies, following both coded and explicit references to the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza by multiple Israeli ministers

A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that Israel had no plans to move the Palestinian population out of the Gaza Strip, calling such claims “outrageous and false accusations.”

Eylon Levy made the comment in a talk with the foreign media, during which he was asked about remarks made by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi earlier in the day. “What we are seeing in Gaza is not just simply the killing of innocent people and the destruction of their livelihoods [by Israel] but a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people,” Safadi said at a conference in Doha.
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