Second American Hostage Declared Dead In Gaza thumbnail

Second American Hostage Declared Dead In Gaza

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By The Daily Caller

A second American hostage in the Gaza Strip was confirmed dead on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

Judy Weinstein Haggai, a 70-year-old American-Israeli dual citizen, was confirmed dead on Thursday, roughly a week after her husband, Gadi, was also declared to have died, Israel National News reported. There are approximately six American hostages remaining in Gaza, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Haggai and her husband were walking through Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists shot them both, leaving them with critical injuries that resulted in their death, according to The Times of Israel. Their bodies remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

Another US citizen, Judy Weinstein, was found to have been murdered by Hamas in captivity. Her husband Gad Haggai was also murdered. pic.twitter.com/ZDPlgTQ6Ah

— Lahav Harkov 🎗️ (@LahavHarkov) December 28, 2023

The two leave behind four children and seven grandchildren, according to The Times of Israel. Judy was an English teacher who worked with special needs children, and Gadi was a musician and retired chef.

“[Judy was] a poet and an entrepreneur who loved to create and was dedicated to working for peace and friendship,” Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement on Thursday, according to The Times of Israel.

“[Gadi was] a musician at heart, a gifted flautist, he played in the IDF Orchestra and was involved with music his whole life,” The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum said in a statement reported on Friday.

Hamas is currently holding about 129 hostages in Gaza, 118 of whom are Israeli citizens or dual citizens, and 23 of whom are believed to be dead in captivity, according to The Wall Street Journal. A previous short-term truce deal between Hamas and Israel allowed for the release of over 100 hostages, but it ended after Hamas broke the terms of the deal.

Getting the remaining hostages out is “going to be a long process,” President Joe Biden said on Dec. 5, according to the WSJ. The U.S. has been working with Israel and Qatar to try and strike another temporary truce agreement with Hamas to allow for the release of the remaining hostages.

AUTHOR

JAKE SMITH

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Iran-Backed Militia Disregards US Warning, Vows To Keep Attacking Ships In Red Sea

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The Islamophobia Myth thumbnail

The Islamophobia Myth

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By Matthew Hausman, J.D.

Is there another people on earth against whom their murder, rape, and torture arouse enmity rather than empathy?

There has been an undeniable surge in antisemitism over the last few decades that has far outstripped prejudice against any other minority group. And since Hamas’ horrific terror attack on October 7th and the war that followed, there has been a nearly four-hundred percent increase in antisemitic incidents across the United States, including demonstrations by woke progressives and Islamists on university campuses and in major cities, where protestors chant antisemitic slogans and call for extermination of the Jews.

Is there another people on earth against whom their murder, rape, and torture arouse enmity rather than empathy?

When addressing the uptick in antisemitism within a few weeks of the attack, the White House press secretary injected the subject of Islamophobia into the discussion, though there have been no protest mobs demanding the extermination of Muslims or destruction of any Islamic state.

Neither Muslims nor Arabs are being threatened, harassed, or abused on university campuses or in the public square. They are not being attacked in coffee shops or their places of businesses by leftist Brownshirts and Islamist proxies. And there is no Republican Party “Squad” spewing hateful rhetoric against them the way radical Democrats do against Jews in the halls of Congress with alarming regularity (and without condemnation by Joe Biden).

Campuses across the country are seething cauldrons of antisemitism – not Islamophobia; and indeed, those claiming to be victims of a purported anti-Muslim backlash are often most vocal in advocating violence against Jews and death to Israel. The orgy of campus hate prompted Congress to launch an investigation into antisemitism in academia, during which the presidents of three prestigious universities, Harvard, MIT, and UPenn, would not say that calling for Jewish genocide violates their campus rules of conduct. Whether advocating genocide constitutes harassment, they said, depends on “context” but might be violative if it leads to conduct.

Really? Does that mean only actual genocide constitutes bullying in the Ivy League?

Though leaders of elite institutions claim the First Amendment bars them from curtailing antisemitic demonstrations, they seem to have no problem stifling speech that contravenes the woke agenda, e.g., stating that gender identity is binary and biological, endorsing the sanctity of traditional marriage, favoring border security, or defending family values. Hatred of Israel and Jews is defended by professors as anticolonialism (though Israel is not a colonial state), while pro-Israel advocacy and Jewish self-defense invite ridicule and abuse.

The reality is that nobody is demonstrating on college campuses or anywhere else for the genocide of Arabs or Muslims. In contrast, there is plenty of footage showing morally twisted students calling for Israel’s destruction and the Jews’ extinction. Progressive apologists would do well to compare the noxious protests they excuse or endorse to the peaceful pro-Israel rally that took place in November in Washington, DC, where there was neither violence nor demands for anybody’s death or destruction.

Some universities that were criticized for moral equivocation following October 7th have attempted to salvage their integrity with sanctimonious proclamations condemning both antisemitism and Islamophobia – as if to suggest that Arabs and Muslims are being attacked on campuses the same as Jewish students. They are not. The implication, however, illustrates how progressive academics simply cannot bring themselves to admit that antisemitism is the oldest and most pernicious of all hatreds, because to do so would contradict the anti-Israel propaganda and revisionist history taught in the classroom.

By using moral equivalence to present antisemitism and Islamophobia as equal scourges, university administrators demean the uniqueness of Jew-hatred, obfuscate Jewish history, and abdicate responsibility for protecting Jewish students. And given the toxic environments they facilitate and bigotry they nurture, these administrators probably know they will be attacked by woke students and faculty if they unequivocally condemn Jew-hatred.

An examination of US law enforcement statistics shows the incidence of antisemitism is strikingly disproportionate to prejudice against other minority groups, and the increase is glaringly apparent among progressives, university populations, and minority communities. Indeed, it skyrocketed during the Obama years, when the usual response to anti-Jewish violence was to deflect by condemning Islamophobia or chastising Israel. The frequency of incidents against Arabs and Muslims pales in comparison to attacks against Jews, Jewish institutions, and Israel, whether analyzed as ethnic or religious-based hatred.

Analysis of overall hate-crime statistics published by the FBI in 2019 showed a victimization rate of 13.8 for Jews, as compared to 6.3 for Muslims and 5.4 for African-Americans per population sample of 100,000 (according to the American Enterprise Institute in 2021). That is, Jews, who are the smallest minority of the three, were more than twice as likely to be victimized by hate-crimes. And when delineated as a function of religious identity by the FBI in 2022, hate-crimes against Jews represented 55% of all incidents reported, compared to only 8% for Muslims. Jews suffered religious hate-crimes substantially more than Muslims and significantly more than all other religious groups combined.

These trends are continuing unabated, with the current explosion of anti-Jewish hatred occurring after Israel was attacked by Hamas but before she retaliated. Thus, it cannot be blamed on false claims of disproportionate Israeli retaliation (as no responses had yet occurred), but rather on innate hatred of Jews. Those students who began their antisemitic, Nazi-like demonstrations at the first sight of Jewish blood behaved like sharks circling wounded prey in the water. And university administrators did little to stop their reign of intimidation and terror or protect their victims.

In contrast, the supposed proliferation of Islamophobia is a political tale concocted by Islamists and their progressive allies to portray Islam as a downtrodden religion and Muslims as an oppressed minority of color. The reality, however, is that Muslims are not identified by racial or ethnic heritage as are Jews; and with a world population of approximately 1.8 billion, they do not constitute a global religious minority.

Nor are they ultimately indigenous throughout the Mideast and large portions of Europe and Asia where they live today. Whereas Arab-Muslim culture was historically native to the Arabian Peninsula, it expanded well beyond its borders through holy war and conquest commencing during the first Islamic century. Therefore, in portraying themselves as a persecuted minority and labeling Israel “colonial,” they are projecting their own expansionist past onto the Jews, the only people who are truly indigenous to their homeland.

And these truths are clearly reflected by the historical record.

Jihad came to the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century before overtaking other parts of Europe, including the Balkans. As brutal as the Crusaders were to powerless Jews, the Arab-Muslims they fought were armed opponents whose forebears had unleashed holy war in Europe centuries earlier (which continued until the Battle of Vienna in 1683). The earliest Christian response to jihad in Spain and Portugal was the Reconquista, which preceded the First Crusade by two centuries. Though the later Crusaders would torture and slaughter myriads of Jews in their midst, their aggression against an Arab-Muslim world that had its own expansionist history (and military tradition) was a vastly different dynamic.

Consequently, there is no similarity between the treatment of Muslims by Christians and that of Jews in either Christendom or the Islamic world. Neither is there any truth to the claim that Islam treated the Jews benevolently. Though there were islands of tolerance at various times in assorted locations, Jews were always subjugated and often abused by the ruling and religious authorities in both worlds. So, the effort to portray a history of anti-Muslim discrimination analogous to Jewish oppression is inaccurate and dishonest, particularly considering how Jews were persecuted under Islam.

In the same way that Israel’s enemies imbue the revisionist Palestinian myth with false provenance by denying Jewish history, they create out of whole cloth an image of Arab-Muslim victimhood that has dubious historical foundation. The illusion of raging Islamophobia constitutes an attempt to usurp Jewish suffering and obscure the history of jihadist subjugation and conquest.

The intent is to discount the Jews’ suffering, humanity, and nationhood; for example, by substituting the word “Judeophobia” for antisemitism. However, “Judeophobia” is a dissimulative term implying that Jews are hated solely for their faith, when in fact they have been persecuted throughout history because of heritage, ethnicity, and ancestry as well. The Holocaust was not about eradicating religious belief, but physically annihilating the Jews as a people. The Nazis exterminated Jews whether they were observant, secular, atheist, communist, or baptized – faith had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Frighteningly, we are seeing the same genocidal impulse playing out on today’s campuses, where the medieval caricature of Jews as the embodiment of evil is stridently promoted by indoctrinated students and recklessly enabled by administrators. But then again, how different is this from the 1930s, when antisemitism in academia reigned supreme?

©2023. Matthew Hausman, J.D. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Second American Hostage Declared Dead In Gaza

WATCH: Palestinian Video Game lets Players Reenact Oct. 7 Hamas Massacre thumbnail

WATCH: Palestinian Video Game lets Players Reenact Oct. 7 Hamas Massacre

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

In the Steam online forum, where it is currently sold at a discounted winter price, the developer, Nidal Nijm, writes that the game serves as a means to “raise awareness” about the Israel-Hamas war.

A computer game called “Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” allows the player to assume the role of a Hamas terrorist, become a suicide bomber and kill IDF soldiers.

Originally developed three years ago by a Palestinian who identified himself as a devout Muslim, the game, updated following the Hamas massacre, has long sparked controversy.

The game comes with a content warning from Brazilian authorities and uses the Unreal Engine, developed by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite multiplayer shooter.

In the Steam online forum, where it is currently sold at a discounted winter price, the developer, Nidal Nijm, writes that it serves as a means to “raise awareness” about the war in Gaza, the Israeli website Ynet reported.

The actions required for the player to win the game are extremely violent, and the methods for neutralizing Israeli security officials include suicide bombings, slitting throats or decapitation, similar to the actions of Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack. The locations are taken directly from IDF bases surrounding Gaza, and the game encourages players to attack security personnel there.

While the Oct. 7 massacre targeted mainly civilians, the game deals with attacking Israeli soldiers and police.

Players are also tasked with fighting against Israeli security forces in a recreation of recent Israeli military operations against terror groups in the city of Jenin.

EDITORS NOTE: This JNS – Jewish News Syndicate column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Constitution Does NOT Dictate That Satanic Displays Must Get Equal Time in Public Square

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By Selwyn Duke

In the very tiresome battles over whether one religious element can be in the public realm without being accompanied by other “religious” elements that someone, somewhere claims to value, a simple point is missed:

We do have the right to freedom of religion.

But this does not equate to the right to equal government showcasing of religion.

The issue at hand is that cultural devolutionaries have for years now applied a religion-focused Cloward-Piven strategy, through which they seek to eliminate all public-square religious expression by inundating the system with equal-time requests for “religious” expression ranging from the evil to the asinine.

For example, the Satanic Temple has an after-school club that’s set to start in an elementary school near Memphis in January and also has “holiday” displays at the Iowa and Michigan state capitols (and no doubt elsewhere). Interestingly, after the first Iowa satanic display was destroyed, authorities charged the man responsible, a Navy veteran. Unlike when mobs tore down Confederate statues, they didn’t turn a blind eye and Nancy Pelosi didn’t say “People will do what they do.”

As for asininity, other Christmastime displays have “included a Festivus pole in tribute to a holiday created on ‘Seinfeld’ that satirizes the commercialism of Christmas,” related Fox News in 2014, “and a display by the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster, which mocks beliefs that a god created the universe and argues instead that the universe was created by a plate of pasta and meatballs.”

Is this what the Founders, those 18th-century giants who sometimes wore powdered wigs, envisioned?

Before answering, consider that the men who crafted the First Amendment, who birthed the Establishment Clause, opened the very first Congress in 1789 with exclusively Christian prayers. This practice continues to this day — and the prayers are still mainly Christian.

In other words, anyone supposing the First Amendment means that “religion must be kept out of government” is essentially saying that the men who wrote that provision didn’t know what it meant. (If that’s the kind of thinking secular reason gives us, I’ll stick with religious mysticism.)

Note, too, that our first president, George Washington, stated in his farewell address (1796), “[L]et us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.” And our second president, John Adams, said in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Clearly, they considered faith a prerequisite for the “American experiment’s” success.

What they didn’t want was a national church — and that’s what the First Amendment forbids. It reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” (emphasis added). If the Founders had intended for the prohibition to apply to all levels of government, they would have written “government,” not specified Congress. They clearly meant to constrain only the central government with the provision, not the states.

This said, most states have constitutions with language mirroring the First Amendment. Yet forbidding “establishment” means just that: prohibiting an official government church’s creation. Framers could have written that “no law shall be made respecting the expression of religion….” But they didn’t — and in the Founders’ case wouldn’t, as, again, evidenced by their official religious expression in Congress.

Nonetheless, we’ve long been operating under the idea that allowing one religious element in the public sphere but not others is, somehow, a constitutional violation. This position’s folly can be illustrated with an analogy.

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech as well as that of religion. So, question: If state-funded, faith-oriented elements in the public sphere violate freedom of religion, wouldn’t state-funded, speech-oriented elements violate the freedom of speech?

We do have state-funded, speech-oriented displays, too, such as at the Lincoln Memorial, where the 16th president’s Gettysburg and Second Inaugural addresses are inscribed. The former includes the words that our nation was “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” There’s also the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which includes the quotation, “Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation….”

Now, another question: Should it be mandated that such speech’s display be privately funded and restricted to private land, lest the government be guilty of “infringing upon speech”?

What’s more, should the same “anti-infringement” imperative also dictate that insofar as such speech is represented in the public sphere, contrary opinions must be displayed alongside Lincoln’s and King’s words? How about the 1619 Project proposition that our nation was not conceived in liberty but in slavery? How about a Nazi belief that racial chauvinism should be encouraged?

Of course, it’s quite preposterous to equate government display of speech with its infringement upon speech. Yet is it any less silly to equate government display of “religion” with the infringement upon exercise of religion? Public-sphere Christian elements don’t force a person to attend church any more than public-sphere equality-dogma displays compel him to espouse equality.

Again, the principle here is simple: The right to freedom of religion does not equate to the right to the equal government showcasing of religion.

Asserting otherwise creates a situation in which we conceivably could be asked to showcase thousands of conceptions of religion, which would likely lead to the purging of all faith from the public square. To reiterate, this is precisely certain cultural devolutionaries’ goal, too.

Really, all this reflects a childishness. It’s much as with schools that pander to students who identify as animals or dress as “furries”: It wouldn’t be happening were the grown-ups actually adult and not just chronologically so. We’re simply not a serious country if we have to argue about whether a boy can become a girl just by willing it — or if we grant a “Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster” or sitcom-origin display equal footing with a Nativity Scene.

Of course, some of us revel in this as “sophistication,” liberation or love of liberty, but all it means is having an old heart, a child’s soul and the gravitas of a toddler. Unfortunately, though, the kid that is America is as decrepit as he is immature and, barring a spiritual renewal, is not long for this world.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on MeWe or Gettr or log on to SelwynDuke.com

©2023. Selwyn Duke. All rights reserved.

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Satanic Temple Unveils First High School Student-Led Club

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By The Daily Caller

The Satanic Temple (TST) announced Tuesday that it will be opening its first high school club in Kansas.

The club is an affiliate of TST’s After School Satan Club (ASSC) program, which only opens a club if a school has a religious club on campus, and has locations in Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, according to its website. This latest club is TST’s first move into high schools and the first time it’s going to be student-led, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The first ASSC-affiliated High School Satan Club is debuting in Kansas,” the post reads. “This student-led club has completed all the required steps to be an officially registered on-campus student club and will operate alongside other student-led religious clubs.”

The first ASSC-affiliated High School Satan Club is debuting in Kansas! This student-led club has completed all the required steps to be an officially registered on-campus student club and will operate alongside other student-led religious clubs.
Learn: https://t.co/l7FycZq3FJ pic.twitter.com/6tIAvCmb0u

— The Satanic Temple (@satanic_temple_) December 26, 2023

TST did not disclose the high school that the club will be located at, only noting that it will officially debut in January 2024, according to the post.

The ASSC program says that kids who partake in club activities will have a “safe and inclusive alternative to the religious clubs that use threats of eternal damnation to convert school children to their belief system,” according to the website. A video on the TST’s YouTube page shows a goat, TST’s mascot, in school with a voice in the background that sings “Satan is not a bad guy” and “Satan looks for truth.”

“Unlike our counterparts, who publicly measure their success in young children’s ‘professions of faith,’ the After School Satan Club program focuses on science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community,” TST’s website reads. “While engaged in all of these activities,  we want clubgoers to have a good time.”

TST came under heavy scrutiny recently after revealing its statue of Baphomet in the Iowa state capitol building in December. The display was destroyed a few weeks later after Christian veteran Michael Cassidy beheaded the statue.

TST did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

KATE ANDERSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Christian Military Vet Says He Decapitated Satanic Statue In State Capitol

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Iran Ramps Up Uranium Enrichment Following $6 Billion Payment Greenlit By Biden Admin thumbnail

Iran Ramps Up Uranium Enrichment Following $6 Billion Payment Greenlit By Biden Admin

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By The Daily Caller

Iran is ramping up the rate at which it enriches uranium several months after receiving a $6 billion transfer from the Biden administration, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran had slowed down its uranium enrichment program in June, a move that diplomats believe was related to negotiations with the Biden administration that ultimately led to the unfreezing of $6 billion in oil assets to Tehran, Reuters reported. Iran is now reversing the slowdown and has begun ramping up its uranium enrichment process once again, the IAEA said in a new confidential report this week, according to Reuters.

Since June, Iran had been enriching uranium at a rate of roughly 3 kg a month, but as of November that number had tripled, according to the IAEA’s report viewed by Reuters.

🇮🇱 IRAN ACCELERATES URANIUM ENRICHMENT

Iran has increased uranium enrichment to near weapons-grade levels at Fordow and Natanz sites, reversing its previous slowdown.

By accelerating from 3 kg to 9 kg per month, Iran could be signaling a stronger stance in nuclear negotiations… pic.twitter.com/g4OzckoQR0

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 26, 2023

“[Iran has] increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” the IAEA said in a statement as part of the report viewed by Reuters. “The Agency confirms that, since the end of November 2023, the rate at which Iran has been producing uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 at these two facilities combined has increased to approximately 9 kg per month.”

Iran has now enriched enough uranium up to 60% to develop three nuclear bombs and could develop more at lower enrichment levels, according to the IAEA report seen by Reuters. Approximately 90% uranium enrichment is considered weapons-grade.

Iran is conducting this enrichment process at its Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant in Natanz and its Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant located inside a mountain near the Natanz region, according to the report seen by Reuters. Iran continues to publicly deny that it is developing nuclear weapons.

The initial slowdown was suspected to be the result of discussions between the Biden administration and Tehran earlier in the year that ultimately led to the release of $6 billion in previously frozen oil assets and the release of five Iranian nationals, in exchange for five American prisoners. Critics said the deal was in essence a “ransom” payment that would only embolden Iran to act more aggressively toward the United States.

“Iran’s nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran-backed proxies continue their dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Iran International.

AUTHOR

JAKE SMITH

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Pentagon Says Drone That Hit Tanker Near India Was Launched From Iran

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Pope Francis Wants Everyone Except the Men Protecting Him to Give Up Their Weapons thumbnail

Pope Francis Wants Everyone Except the Men Protecting Him to Give Up Their Weapons

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By Jihad Watch

“Rome will be conquered in the near future, Allah willing.”

Great. It’s time for another call for “peace” that will be achieved by giving up all our weapons.

Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians…

“It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”

If he’s going to give up weapons, maybe start with telling the Swiss Guard to give up its “instruments of death”?

“For their protection and guard functions, the guards are equipped with Glock 19 and 26 automatic pistols, SIG 550 assault rifle (Stgw 90 ) and SIG 552 assault rifle (Commando), both in 5.56 mm x 45 caliber, OC-Spray and destabilizing devices (Taser X2). modernization of the already aging Stgw 90 (which was donated by the Swiss Army at the time), currently B&T APC 556 assault rifles and B&T APC 9 submachine guns are used.”

Beyond these, the only reason Vatican City isn’t overrun by guys with machine guns mounted on pickup trucks howling, “Allahu Akbar” is because there still is an Italian military, under the Lateran Treaty, such as it is, armed with some of those “instruments of death”.

Beyond it there’s the larger European community, NATO and the United States and all their instruments of death which serve as a guarantor of the security of the Vatican.

This is not a theoretical question.

Jihadists are obsessed with the idea of invading and conquering Rome to fulfill some of the genocidal prophecies of their cult.

On January 17, 2020, a video was uploaded to the Internet of an event at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on the anniversary of the 1453 AD capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire. The event was held by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Palestinian preacher Nidhal “Abu Ibrahim” Siam spoke before the crowd and said that the anniversary of the fall of Constantinople brings tidings that Rome will be conquered in the near future.

Nidhal Siam: “Oh Muslims, the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople brings tidings of things to come. It brings tiding that Rome will be conquered in the near future, Allah willing.

Samir Zaqout, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Political Bureau in Gaza, said in a June 8, 2023 show on Al-Quds Al-Youm TV (Palestinian Islamic Jihad – Gaza) the Muslims will conquer Rome and Europe as the Prophet Muhammad foretold in the Hadith.” He said that this will happen “at its destined time.”

In a Friday sermon that aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on April 11, 2008, Hamas MP and cleric Yunis Al-Astal said: “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs [i.e., the Jews] in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam – this capital of theirs will be an advance post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and even Eastern Europe.

While Pope Francis encourages the Muslim migrants swarming into Europe to complete these genocidal “prophecies”, the only thing standing between Vatican City and an invasion are brave men armed with some of those “instruments of death.”

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israeli envoy: Hamas doesn’t want two-state solution, ‘From the river to the sea, this means genocide’ thumbnail

Israeli envoy: Hamas doesn’t want two-state solution, ‘From the river to the sea, this means genocide’

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By Jihad Watch

He is right. Find out why in The Palestinian Delusion.

Israeli envoy says Palestinians don’t want two states, they want genocide

by Elise Ann Allen, Crux, December 23, 2023 (thanks to Tom):

ROME – Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See has said the Vatican’s repeated push for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict fails to consider the real agenda of the Palestinian side, especially the desire to commit “genocide” against the Israeli people….

Speaking to Crux, Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See Raphael Schutz said talk about a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine “is part of what I call the ‘shallow discourse’ surrounding this conflict.”

“I believe this conflict has nothing to do with the two-state solution. Not at all, because Hamas is not speaking about the two-state solution…In the manifestations, in the protests, ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ this means genocide for Israel, as simple as that,” he said, saying this is true of allegedly moderate Palestinians, and not just Hamas….

Regarding the pope’s repeated calls for peace, Schutz said that “moral considerations during war are necessary; not only important, but necessary…but this moral standing does not mean pacifism. There is a time for war and there is a time for peace, and now unfortunately is a time for war.”…

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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An Unusual Christmas Miracle

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By Jerry Newcombe

The idea of the United States as an independent nation was saved by an unusual act on Christmas night in 1776. It was a battle, and, God in His providence helped America in one more step toward becoming free. Such was the belief of the leader of this effort.

George Washington faced a momentous task—to lead a ragtag army of farmers and merchants, armed with liberty in their hearts and a love for God and country, against the most formidable army and navy in the world at that time.

At the beginning of December 1776, things looked really bad for the American cause. Washington confided to his nephew, Lund Washington, just how bad things were.

He remarked in a letter dated December 10, 1776, “In short, your imagination can scarce extend to a situation more distressing than mine. Our only dependence now is upon the speedy enlistment of a new army. If this fails, I think the game will be pretty well up, as, from disaffection and want of spirit and fortitude, the inhabitants, instead of resistance, are offering submission.”

His troops were reduced that year from around 20,000 to about 3,000. And even some of those 3,000 were tempted to quit. A betting man would have thought it was all over.

So, Washington decided to take a risky gamble. He led a surprise attack on Christmas night against a force of German mercenaries—a Hessian Army—that King George III had hired in the war. This became known as the Battle of Trenton, and it required Washington and his men to row across the Delaware River in the freezing ice.

From this comes the iconic image of Washington crossing the frozen Delaware.

The story is told that a British sympathizer in Trenton became aware of the American plot, and wrote up a note warning the Hessian troops about it. The note is reported to have ended up in the hands of the commander, but he put it in his pocket to read later, and continued his drinking and his card games. Besides, it was Christmas night. Who would have an attack then? The Hessian commander died in the surprise attack.

But Washington didn’t stop there. He marched his troops onto Princeton, New Jersey, and soon successfully took on the British there also. Mount Vernon.com notes, “The American victory at the Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777) was one of the most consequential of the American Revolution ….Washington’s victory bolstered American morale and provided great confidence to his soldiers.”

The victories of Trenton and Princeton were important ones, not so much because they were strategic places in America, but to show that the Americans could beat the enemy after all. They led to more badly needed enlistments.

Six years later, on May 8, 1783, Rev. Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale College, gave a speech before the leadership of Connecticut. Keep in mind, here was a Christian headmaster addressing a Christian legislature. Note his reference to Biblical faith undergirding the American experiment.

Said the president of Yale: “All forms of civil polity have been tried by mankind, except one, and that seems to have been reserved in Providence to be realized in America.

“Our system of dominion and civil polity would be imperfect without the true religion; or that from the diffusion of virtue among the people of any community would arise their greatest secular happiness: which will terminate in this conclusion, that holiness ought to be the end [i.e., the goal] of all civil government. ‘That thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God.’”

Rev. Stiles continues, “In our lowest and most dangerous state, in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British Army of sixty thousand troops, commanded by…the ablest generals

Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of twenty-two thousand seamen in above eighty men-of-war.

“Who but a Washington, inspired by Heaven, could have conceived the surprise move upon the enemy at Princeton—that Christmas eve [sic] when Washington and his army crossed the Delaware?”

Christmas marks the birth of the Prince of Peace. George Washington regularly worshiped Jesus, and he faithfully discharged his duties of defending our country when needed, including on Christmas 1776.

Repeatedly, Washington saw the hand of God, whom he referred to 270 times as Providence (the God of the Bible who answers prayer), help the American cause. So much so that, at a different time, he wrote to one of his generals, “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”

Our “obligations” to thank God for the hard-fought American freedom are still in force today.

©2023. Dr. Jerry Newcombe, D.Min. All rights reserved.

‘Climate Solutions’: Biden Admin Sent 65 Million Condoms Abroad As Part Of ‘Family Planning’ Program thumbnail

‘Climate Solutions’: Biden Admin Sent 65 Million Condoms Abroad As Part Of ‘Family Planning’ Program

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By The Daily Caller

American taxpayers paid for more than 65 million condoms sent to foreign countries in fiscal year 2022 as part of a program for “family planning,” which the agency touts in other documents as a climate change solution.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sent 65.5 million condoms, 9.8 million injectable birth control products and 334,000 IUDs abroad in fiscal year 2022 as part of its efforts to facilitate family planning, especially in the third world, according to an agency document overviewing the program. That document specifically cites “[mitigating] the impact of population dynamics on natural resources and state stability” as one of the benefits of the family planning program, while a 2023 USAID document directly asserts that “climate vulnerability, population growth and unmet need for family planning often occur together,” touting family planning as a climate solution.

USAID Issues High-Risk Fraud Alert For Biden’s $100 Million Gaza Aidhttps://t.co/gF92fuCrUV

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 3, 2023

The USAID sends the contraceptives to many different countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Pakistan and Uganda, according to the agency’s website. The agency also distributes the contraceptives with an eye toward reducing the prevalence of AIDS, improving educational outcomes for women and decreasing abortion rates, according to the overview document for the program.

For example, the agency sent 500,000 condoms to Yemen as part of the “Strengthening Family Planning Services in Yemen” program over several years. Of those more than 500,000 condoms, 438,801 were “consumed,” according to the USAID’s report on the program in Yemen.

“Today, in the 41 countries where USAID focuses its support, modern contraceptive prevalence has increased to 34 percent, and the average family size has dropped to 3.9,” according to the agency’s program overview document.

USAID links climate change and the importance of family planning, asserting in its 2023 primer on the subject that “access to rights-based planning and girls’ education are among the most impactful climate solutions,” and that “climate change-related displacement can worsen already entrenched gender inequalities” like “disruptions in access to essential health services, poor maternal health outcomes, and an increase in gender-based violence and child marriage.”

Proponents of sweeping government action on climate change often assert that unchecked population growth is detrimental to the environment because a swelling population necessitates the consumption of more resources, and some even argue explicitly that population decline will make for a better world on that basis.

USAID did not respond immediately to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

NICK POPE

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: US Taxpayers Paid For Hundreds Of Thousands Of Condoms To Be Sent To Terrorist Hotbed

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

America Must Stand With the People of Iran thumbnail

America Must Stand With the People of Iran

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By Amil Imani

The United States, Israel, and other democracies have a huge stake in the success of the Iranian people to rid themselves of Islamic tyranny. This is not just a matter of geopolitical concern but a moral imperative rooted in the principles of democracy, human rights, and global stability. As I have continuously stated, the Mullahs are highly vulnerable.  And it is the Iranian people who continuously find themselves at the forefront of this enduring quest for freedom and justice.

A comprehensive political, moral, and economic measure by the United States and others offers the best chance of ending Mullah’s reign of terror and diffusing the existential threat it poses to the world.

We must fully engage in this great battle of hearts, minds, and ideas. Let us stop talking about unimportant issues and peripheral concerns. Let us concentrate our efforts on bringing down this foreign enemy in Iran, the Islamofascists.

The survival of the Iranian nation and its identity depends upon it. Human beings cannot create an ideal world of peace and tranquility under totalitarian, despotic, and tyrannical regimes, such as the Islamist regime in Iran. Individual freedoms would be brutally repressed. The individual would be at the mercy of the merciless despots. Based upon the general reaction among Iranian opposition groups, it is clear that the time has come to form a new brand of political opposition, a united force whose sole purpose will be a regime change in Iran and establishing the rule of law.

The moral dimension of this endeavor is underscored by the timeless wisdom embedded in the Biblical adage, “From those who are much given, much is demanded.” Perhaps it is for this reason that the people of the United States of America are again called upon to make huge sacrifices to defeat another tyranny. The United States, as a nation endowed with immense power and influence, carries the responsibility to stand against this tyranny and champion the cause of liberty.

This echoes a historical pattern where the United States has, at critical junctures, risen to the occasion to confront oppressive regimes and champion the aspirations of those yearning for freedom. It is important that this great nation stays the course and enlists its power in support of the freedom-loving Iranian people and help them topple these ruling, bloodthirsty Mullahs who are bent on wreaking death and destruction in the world.

As the spotlight shines on the vulnerabilities of the Mullahs, a crucial moment presents itself for the international community, particularly the United States, to undertake comprehensive political, moral, and economic measures. The strategic alliance of democracies, spearheaded by the United States and Israel, can only serve as a beacon of hope for the people of Iran who seek to break free from the chains of oppression.

By doing so, the world can bestow upon the Iranian people the support they need to overcome the oppressive regime and pave the way for a new era of freedom, dignity, and self-determination. Through diplomatic efforts, economic sanctions, and moral solidarity, these nations can create a formidable front against the tyrannical rule of the Mullahs.

Furthermore, empowering the Iranian people to shape their destiny is not just a geopolitical maneuver but an enduring commitment to human rights and the dignity of every individual on this planet.

In conclusion, the challenge posed by the Mullahs in Iran is not just a regional issue; it is a global concern that demands the collective efforts of democracies worldwide. The United States, with its historical commitment to liberty, is once again called upon to lead the charge against tyranny.

By standing firmly with the Iranian people, the world has the potential to witness the triumph of freedom over oppression, signaling a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for justice and human dignity. By offering support to those on the front lines of the struggle for freedom, the international community can reaffirm its dedication to fostering a world where justice, liberty, and democracy prevail.

The United States has, in secular and free Iranians, its best friends in the entire world. It is imperative for the U.S. to help these Iranians to dislodge the vicious doomsday Mullahs, not as an act of altruism, but as a prudent measure of enlightened self-interest.

©2023. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

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PM Netanyahu visits unit 9900: ‘We say to the Hamas terrorists – we see you and we will get to you’ thumbnail

PM Netanyahu visits unit 9900: ‘We say to the Hamas terrorists – we see you and we will get to you’

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the 9900 formation of the Intelligence Division, in Kirya in Tel Aviv.

At the beginning of the visit, the Prime Minister received an overview from the commander of the formation Brigadier General S. on the main visual intelligence efforts in the fighting in Gaza, on the information collection technologies at the various levels and on the international cooperation in this field.

In addition, Brigadier General S. surveyed how the information collected by the fighters in the field was used.

In addition, Prime Minister Netanyahu observed the artificial intelligence capabilities of the array through augmented reality glasses, which show the Gaza Strip in a three-dimensional view.

Afterwards, the Prime Minister visited the “Space Center” which leads the collection of intelligence using satellites.

EDITORS NOTE: This NEWSRAEL column with published by a Prime Minister’s Spokeswoman is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

WATCH: How the IDF Prevents Civilian Casualties thumbnail

WATCH: How the IDF Prevents Civilian Casualties

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

The IDF takes significant measures to diminish harm to innocent civilians.

Here’s a breakdown of how we do it:

Phone Calls and Text Messages

As part of its efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, the IDF makes phone calls and sends text messages to civilians residing in buildings designated for attack. In the following video, you can hear a recording of an IDF soldier calling a Gazan to warn him of an impending airstrike in his vicinity.

Leaflets

The Israel Air Force has dropped leaflets over Gaza that warn civilians to avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives. These leaflets urge civilians to move away from Hamas targets, making clear Israel’s intention to minimize civilian casualties. Since the operation began, Hamas has repeatedly instructed Palestinians to ignore these warnings.

Roof-Knocking

“Roof knocking” is when the IAF targets a building with a loud but non-lethal bomb that warns civilians that they are in the vicinity of a weapons cache or other target. This method is used to allow all residents to leave the area before the IDF targets the site with live ammunition.

Abandoning Air Strikes

The IDF has aborted aerial strikes seconds before they were to be carried out, due to civilians being present at the site of the target. The following video shows how IAF airstrikes were called off when civilians were identified in the area.

EDITORS NOTE: This NEWSRAEL column with video of an IDF Spokesperson is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Biden Regime Refuses Israeli Request for Vital Apache Attack Helicopters

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By The Geller Report

Israel is on the front lines of the global jihad. She is the thin blue line that keeps jihadi terror at bay against the West.

Look at how Islamic terror proxies are turning major cities in the West (USA and Europe) into war zones.

Denying Israel cripples the West’s war in defense of freedom and Western civilization.

This will come back to bite us – in spades.

U.S. rejects Israeli request for vital Apache attack helicopters

The IAF currently has only two squadrons of the vitally-needed air asset, and they are being flown around the clock to support troops in the field.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The United States has rejected an Israeli request for Apache attack helicopters to help its forces fight Hamas during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, but the answer may not be final, Ynet reported Tuesday.

The IDF asked the Pentagon if it could purchase the choppers a few weeks ago, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also pressed his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, for them, when the Secretary of Defense visited Israel last week, said the news site.

“Security sources” told Ynet that Israel is not taking “no” for an answer and that the Americans have not put a decisive kibosh on the acquisition.

The IAF currently has only 48 of these aircraft, which are being flown around the clock to support troops in Gaza and conduct airstrikes to deter Hezbollah terrorists in the north. They are so vitally needed that overage pilots in their fifties have been called out of retirement to fly combat missions so that the regular pilots and active reservists can rest a little more.

There is one squadron each of the AH-64A and D varieties, which have already been decommissioned in the U.S. as their Boeing manufacturer has gone on to produce the faster, stronger, AH-64E that has improved avionics, radar and other systems. The IAF has mulled for years whether to invest in the E version or wait for an even more advanced attack helicopter that won’t be on sale until the early 2030s.

The decision to go with 20 of the currently available Apache E’s was reportedly made in May, but none had yet been ordered. At the time, the idea was not to add another squadron but replace the oldest aircraft, for which it is very difficult to find spare parts anymore. Considering current circumstances, the phase-out may be drawn out over a longer period of time.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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Turkey is taking its Muslim illegals, putting them into cages, and shipping them back to where they came from. (Many from Syria & Iraq) pic.twitter.com/jqwvUBNC9N

— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) December 26, 2023

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New York Times Caught Lying Again To Incite More Jew Hatred

Is There Really a ‘Disproportionate Death Rate’ Among Gazans?

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

NEWSRAEL ‘Iron Swords’ News Summary: Dec. 26, 2023 thumbnail

NEWSRAEL ‘Iron Swords’ News Summary: Dec. 26, 2023

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

Here are the latest news headlines from this morning that reached our news desk. The times given are Jerusalem time (GMT +3)

6:37 AM – Mansour Abbas calls for an end to the war

7:00 AM – Russia: Opposition leader found in one of the toughest prisons
Alexei Navalny tracked down to penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, after supporters lost touch with him for more than two weeks.

8:00 AM – US retaliates in Iraq after three US troops wounded in attack
The U.S. military carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two other U.S. personnel, officials said. The back-and-forth clash was the latest demonstration of how the Israel-Hamas war is rippling across the Middle East, creating turmoil that has turned U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria into targets.

8:30 AM – UKMTO report incident west of Yemen’s Hodeidah port – advisory note
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report of an incident about 50 nautical miles west of Yemen’s port of Hodeidah, an advisory note said on Tuesday

9:00 AM – IDF troops counter ambush in Jabaliya; Air Force hits over 100 targets in south Gaza
261st Infantry Brigade troops clashed overnight with armed terrorists who tried to detonate an IED on an Israeli tank and its crew in the Gaza Strip’s Jabaliya, the IDF reported Tuesday morning. The forces engaged the attackers and directed air support to eliminate them and destroy the military compound from which they were operating. Meanwhile, IDF forces continue to strike Gaza from land, air and sea. The Air Force completed an extensive bombing run in the southern Gaza Strip as part of the support for the forces maneuvering in the field, targeting more than 100 Hamas terror targets, including tunnel shafts, terror infrastructures and military sites used by the organization to attack IDF forces

9:30 AM – Citizen to be compensated for baseless police warning.

A citizen who received a warning from the Israel Police before the Jerusalem Pride Parade will be compensated for violations of his rights.

9:35 AM – Indian navy to deploy guided missile destroyer ships after strike off its coast
India’s navy will deploy guided-missile destroyer ships in the Arabian Sea after an Israel-affiliated merchant vessel was struck off the Indian coast over the weekend, in an effort to “maintain a deterrent presence,” it said

9:45 AM – Israel carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon, Lebanese media reports
Israel is carrying out strikes on the town of Mays al-Jabal in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese network Al Manar reported Tuesday morning

10:00 AM – Japan to impose sanctions on three senior Hamas members
The Japanese government will freeze assets and impose sanctions on payments and capital transactions on three senior Hamas members, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday.  The three terrorists were believed to be involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and in a position to use funds to finance such terrorist activities, the top Japanese government spokesperson said

10:20 AM – Pro-Israel student leaders visit Israel on solidarity mission
Pro-Israel student leaders from top US universities embark on ‘Take Action for Israel’ solidarity mission during holiday season.

10:30 AM – Israel arrests 8 PA suspects, seizes dozens of firearms, explosives in West Bank raid
Israeli security forces arrested at least 8 suspects and seized dozens of firearms, explosives and other pieces of combat gear in a counterterrorism raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank

11:00 AM – The Washington Post: US pressures Abbas to reform PA for post-war Gaza role
As part of its plans for the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas, the United States hopes to pave the way for Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza by supporting the establishment of a new Palestinian government and training its security forces, The Washington Post reported on Monday. According to the report, Washington has encountered difficulties, including persuading Israel to unfreeze garnished funds for the salaries of senior PA officials. It was also reported that senior U.S. officials who visited Ramallah in recent weeks have urged President Mahmoud Abbas to implement reforms and appoint new blood to key positions, aiming to improve the PA’s shaky standing among the Palestinian public

12:13 – SAMARIA: The IDF spokesman publishes documentation from the moment of the explosion in the laboratory for the production of explosives and rockets that was destroyed this morning in the Noor al-Shams camp.

12:36 – GAZA: Today, the IDF will return to the Gaza Strip about 80 bodies of terrorists and Gazan civilians captured by it during the ground operation, according to Arab sources. The bodies will be transferred to the Palestinians through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

12:42 – ISRAEL: Defense Minister Galant in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: “We are in a multi-arena war, from the beginning we were attacked from 7 arenas, we have already operated in 6 of them. Anyone who works against us is a target’

12:46 – LEBANON: 3 attacks from the air a short time ago near Jabeshit, South Lebanon.

13:25 – EGYPT: The Reuters news agency cites a report in the Egyptian network Al-Qahara, according to which an unidentified aircraft was intercepted and dropped about 2 km from the shores of the city of Dahab in the Sinai coast.

13:29 – NORTH LEBANON – Reports of an explosion and fire in the port of Tripoli

14:09 – GAZA: Red Alert in the Ashkelon area

14:17 – IRAQ: Western factor: Yesterday’s attack on the building where the American forces are stationed in Erbil is the most dangerous attack since the beginning of the attacks on the United States forces.

14:23 – GAZA: Red Alert in the Gaza border towns

14:36 – RED SEA: The British Trade Center reports another incident in the Bab al-Mandab Straits.

14:40 – LEBANON: The attacks on the Israeli north do not stop. Now there were launches to the Har Dov area (Upper Galilee – Golan Hights) . Earlier to Adamit and Dobb (Western Galilee).

14:52 – IRAN: Iranian Army Commander Mohammad Baghri: “Israel made a grave mistake when it assassinated Barazi Mousavi. Its crimes will not go unanswered”

14:56 – The IDF announced the opening of a humanitarian corridor for 4 hours in two neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah. The goal – to allow Gazans to move south to get away from combat zones. In response, crowds of residents were recorded leaving the area.

14:59 – SYRIA: Rocket attack on the US base in eastern Syria The US military base in al-Shadadi, located in al-Hasqa province (Northeastern Syria), was the target of a rocket attack.

15:00 – LEBANON: Hezbollah took responsibility for six attacks along the northern border since the morning hours, a civilian was moderately injured by an anti-tank missile that was fired at a church in the Shumra area

15:02 – LEBANON: The IDF responds with a wave of widespread attacks in southern Lebanon

15:51 – GAZA: Red Alert in Gaza border towns

15:52 – LEBANON: The Air Force attack on the village of Yaraon in Lebanon

16:02 – BREAKING: Explosion heard near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, India

16:04 – LEBANON – Several IDF attacks in Southern Lebanon

16:28 – SYRIA: Reports in southern Syria of IDF artillery fire at positions of the Iranian militias in the western countryside of Damascus and northern Quneitra

16:43 – LEBANON: An aerial attack near the al-Maliya camp south of the city of Tzur

16:45 – GAZA: Mount Hebron Regional Council: First Sergeant Maor Lavi, resident of Susya, fell in battle

16:50 – LEBANON: Terrorists fire projectile at Israel from Lebanese mosque

16:58 – LEBANON 9 Wounded IDF soldiers in the north, the IDF attacks targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah

17:03 – JAPAN: The Japanese government has announced that it will freeze the assets of three senior members of the Hamas organization, who are suspected of being involved in the attack on Israel on October 7.

17:07 – JUDEA AND SAMARIA: Palestinian media reports the death of Khamis al-Najjar, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza.

17:19 – GAZA: Gaza rocket strikes synagogue in southern Israel – Synagogue in Sdot Negev Regional Council suffers extensive damage after being struck by a rocket fired by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

17:33 – ISRAEL – Foreign Minister Eli Cohen: The data proves that the “settler violence” campaign is a false campaign

17:35 – GAZA: Artillery fire continues to the areas of Jabaliya and the Mu’azi camp, several attacks in al-Boreij

17:39 – LEBANON: A short time ago, 2 cars were attacked from the air in Kfar Kalia, South Lebanon

18:00 – ISRAEL: The Chief of Staff: “The war will continue for many more months and we will operate with different methods – so that the achievement will be preserved over time”

EDITORS NOTE: This NEWSRAEL Editor column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Massive increase in number of French Jews immigrating to Israel

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

A hefty increase in the number of prospective Jewish immigrants from France to Israel has been recorded over the last week, the Jewish Agency for Israel reported on Monday.

Following a series of fairs last week in Paris, Marseille and Lyon promoting Aliyah — “immigration” — to Israel, the agency, which has historically been in charge of the absorption process, revealed that the number of applications had risen by 450 percent in the weeks since the Oct. 7 pogrom carried out by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.

The total number of immigrants heading to Israel from France is 1,200, compared with 220 at the same point last year. Additionally, 1,300 families participated in information evenings organized by the Jewish Agency across the country.

“In these difficult days, French Jews continue to express their unconditional love for the State of Israel,” Doron Almog — the president of the Jewish Agency — said in a statement. “It is our right and our duty to welcome the olim (‘immigrants’) with open arms and support them in the realization of their dream to settle in Israel.”

The Israeli Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Ofir Sofer, said after attending the Jewish Agency fair in Paris that he had been “very happy to meet future olim who made the decision to immigrate to Israel immediately after Oct. 7 while the country is at war.”

Sofer remarked that “their main motivation for immigrating lies in their feelings of solidarity and identification with Israel. Jewish communities around the world, and in France in particular, are facing a significant increase in antisemitic acts. We stand by them and will contribute even more to the integration of the new olim. The State of Israel remains the homeland of the Jewish people.”

Nearly 70,000 Jews out of a community of approximately 500,000 have made aliyah from France to Israel since 2000, amid a steady rise in antisemitic acts and invective.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to disrupt the Jewish Agency fair in Marseille last Monday. Police arrested six individuals after blows were exchanged at the entrance to the fair. More than 1,500 antisemitic acts have been reported in France since the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities.

EDITORS NOTE: This World Israel News column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Assassinated Iran IRGC Brigadier-General Seyed Razi Mousavi: Who is he? thumbnail

Assassinated Iran IRGC Brigadier-General Seyed Razi Mousavi: Who is he?

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By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

We will start with the official message from Iran, which is, in itself, interesting.

“In the name of God:

We bring to the attention of the noble and heroic Iranian nation that a few hours ago, in a criminal airstrike by the fake Zionist regime that kills children in Damascus, Brigadier-General Seyed Razi Mousavi, one of the experienced military advisors of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in Syria.

He was one of the friends of the martyred general Hajj Qassem Soleimani, and was responsible for supporting the resistance front in Syria.

We send our congratulations and condolences on the martyrdom of this heroic commander to his noble family, and to the commanders and fighters of the Islamic Resistance Front. It must be emphasized that the usurping and barbaric Zionist regime will pay for this crime.”

So who is the senior Iranian officer who was killed, according to the Iranians, in a targeted Israeli assassination operation?

Position: Lieutenant Colonel Seyed Radi Mousavi, head of Unit 2250 of the Quds Force. (Established as a subgroup of Unit 2000).

Seyed Radi is the head of the headquarters office in the Damascus branch, considered a key Iranian figure in the region for many years. He previously worked as the unit’s representative in Tehran for several years.

Unit 2250 supervises special logistical operations of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria. It runs several logistics bases in Syria including a headquarters in Damascus and central bases in Latakia, Hama, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor.

The unit oversees the receipt of incoming equipment, weapons and personnel from Iran, as well as support for Hezbollah’s logistics in the country. It is also assigned the task of accompanying and hosting senior members of the Revolutionary Guards and their families upon their arrival in Syria, which is usually carried out in coordination with the senior authorities in Syria.

Location of activity: Syria/Iran.

As you can already see, the curse of eternity continues to strike: everyone who was photographed with General Soleimani in the past eventually died in the sea of violence that Iran ignited in the entire region.

EDITORS NOTE: This The Nziv Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israeli Defense Forces find Islamic Bombs for Tots in Gaza kindergarten thumbnail

Israeli Defense Forces find Islamic Bombs for Tots in Gaza kindergarten

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By The Geller Report

Israeli Defence Forces find explosive belts made for kids, toy chests with warheads in Gaza and more.

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Israel finds explosive belts made for kids, toy chests with warheads in Gaza

BY Ronny Reyes, NY Post · Dec. 24, 2023:

Israeli soldiers found Hamas explosive belts adapted for children and toy chests hiding warheads at a Gaza kindergarten, the army said over the weekend.

The Israel Defense Forces said a sweep of a Hamas-operated area near schools, a mosque and a medical facility turned up a weapons compound filled with countless explosives.

In the compound, the IDF found explosive belts specifically modified for children to wear, along with dozens of mortar shells, hundreds of grenades and several intelligence documents, it said Sunday.

The raid on the compound was carried out after Israeli troops took out seven Hamas terrorists in the building.

After the refugees were evacuated, a sweep of the building turned up rows and rows of grenades, RPG missiles, explosives and firearm ammunition.

The eerie discoveries were revealed just a day after the IDF announced that it had found another weapons cache inside a kindergarten.

“IDF troops found toy boxes filled with dozens of mortar shells, warheads and RPG type anti-tank missiles in a kindergarten in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

The Israeli army has long accused Hamas of harboring its members and weapons inside civilian areas in Gaza, with the small explosive belts suggesting the terrorist group was even attempting to use child fighters in its war against Israel.

The IDF did not specify which areas in Gaza the raids took place, as the Jewish army advanced across all areas of the Palestinian enclave — and added forces underground to root out the enemy in its elaborate tunnel system.

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

POST ON X:

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, under Israeli control, was over 80% Christian until 1995, when the Palestinian Authority took over.

After only 20 years, the Christian share of the population declined to just 16% in 2016. In 2023, Christians are estimated to be less than 10%.… pic.twitter.com/nki78GM7kB

— Dr. Maalouf ‏ (@realMaalouf) December 25, 2023

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Meet Linda Tigani, NYC’s Anti-Semitic Director of the Commission on Racial Equity thumbnail

Meet Linda Tigani, NYC’s Anti-Semitic Director of the Commission on Racial Equity

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By Jihad Watch

Linda Tigani is the latest bureaucrat to be rising high in the diversity-equity-inclusion racket (NYC Division). She was recently appointed by New York Mayor Eric Adams to direct the city’s Commission on Racial Equity. When it comes to Jews her presumed commitment to “diversity-equity-inclusion” seems to evanesce.  She has quite a history, caught on videos proudly uploaded to social media, of urging, chanting, shouting at rallies “from the river to the sea/Palestine shall be free,” which means, of course, that the one tiny Jewish state must disappear, to be replaced by a 23rd Arab one. More on Linda Tigani can be found in a story from late October; unfortunately, since then nothing has changed.

New head of NYC racial equity commission has spewed antisemitic rhetoric

by Matthew Sedacca and Deirdre Bardolf, New York Post, October 28, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams’ new appointee to lead the city’s Commission on Racial Equity, Linda Tigani, has posted antisemitic messages for years, The Post has found.

Her views on the Israel-Palestine war aren’t so equitable.

Mayor Eric Adams’ new appointee for chair and executive director of the city’s Commission on Racial Equity has a history of spewing antisemitic rhetoric.

Linda Tigani, who raked in $143,938 in fiscal year 2022 as acting chief equity and strategy officer for the city Health Department, has repeatedly shared posts on X that include the phrase “from the river to the sea,” which is call by Hamas terrorists and their anti-Israel backers for the eradication of the Jewish state.

“FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA! PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!!” Tigani wrote in a July 1, 2020, post, which also included a clip from the “Day of Rage” rally in Brooklyn, where protesters reportedly chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” in Arabic in response to Israel announcing plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

Tigani shared a video of a Palestinian artist and cook, along with a variant on the antisemitic phrase again in a November 2022 post, writing “Beautiful. From the River to the Sea #PalestineWillBeFree.”

Tigani has also shared a slew of posts highlighting Israeli attacks on Palestinians earlier this year.

The city’s appointed leader of its new Commission on Racial Equity has repeatedly posted antisemitic messages on social media.X @LindaTigan

Tigani has also championed Palestinians in the Middle Eastern conflict on her Facebook page, with her banner image currently reading “Free Gaza!!! Ethiopian for Palestine.”

Read more.

Gaza has been “free” of Israelis since 2005, when every last Israeli, of some 8,500 who had been living in Gaza, left the Strip. Within two years, the Gazans were most unfree, suffering under the barbaric rule imposed by Hamas, the terror group which has ruled Gaza ever since. The people of Gaza owe their impoverishment to two things. First, the leaders of Hamas, most of whom are now living in five-star hotels in Doha, Qatar, watching the fighting from a safe distance, have long been engaged in the massive theft of aid money. Mousa Abu Marzouk has a fortune of $3 billion, Khaled Meshal has $4 billion, and Ismail Haniyeh has $4 billion. Just three Hamas leaders have helped themselves to eleven billion dollars. Second-echelon figures in Hamas have not been idle, either; they have grabbed a few million dollars apiece.

The second explanation for the wretchedness of life in Gaza is that the billions that were not stolen by Hamas leaders were spent, not on the wellbeing of ordinary people, but on buying weapons and constructing more than 1,300 tunnels that are 311 miles in total length, more than half the total length of the New York City subway system.

“Ethiopian for Palestine” writes Linda Tigani. This is Tigani’s quaint way to signal that she is Afro-American. She doesn’t realize, of course, that the only Ethiopians who may right now be in Gaza are not fighting “for Palestine.” They are Ethiopian Jews, Falashas, fighting in the IDF to protect the people and state of Israel.

Tigani has yet to post publicly on her social media accounts in the wake of Hamas slaughtering 1,400 people in Israel on Oct. 7….

Now that her antisemitic posts from the past have been revealed, she is likely to be very careful not to add more incriminating posts. I expect that from now on she will maintain a discreet silence about Israel and the Palestinians. But she’s left ample proof of her deep anti-Israel animus —and some would say, of her antisemitism.

Tigani and City Hall did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What can she say? More importantly, what will Mayor Adams do now? When he appointed her, he was unaware of Tigani’s bigotry. I think he’ll do the only thing a sensible person can do, and fire her from her new job as Director of the Commission on Racial Equity. Don’t worry about Linda Tigani. Al Jazeera may well snap her up as a commentator on “Racism in America.” Or she could write a column for the Tehran Times. Or she could become an English-language journalist for the Palestinian News Agency Wafa. She’ll land on her feet, this Linda Tigani. Such people always do.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Bethlehem Church Makes Christmas All About Hating Israel thumbnail

Bethlehem Church Makes Christmas All About Hating Israel

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By The Geller Report

Christmas used to be the season of joy, hope, and renewal, but all that is so pre-October 7. The new Christmas spirit is one of lies, rage, and hate. In that new spirit of the woke twenty-first century victimhood Christmas, the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem has set out a figure of the baby Jesus not in the traditional cradle in a manger, but surrounded by rubble meant to indicate buildings destroyed by the Israelis. Because nothing says Christmas more beautifully than hating Jews, right?

According to a Religion Unplugged report, the Rev. Dr. Munther Ishaq, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, explained: “This is what Christmas looks like in Palestine.” The report adds that “his crèche featuring building debris was a gesture of solidarity with Gaza’s beleaguered civilians caught between Hamas gunmen and Israeli Defense Forces.”

The Religion Unplugged report by Gil Zohar makes no mention of the fact that Gaza’s citizens are “beleaguered” because of Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. Instead, it presents the plight of Bethlehem’s Christians as entirely the fault of the terrible Israelis. Ishaq, whom Zohar further identifies as a “Palestinian theologian,” laments: “Christmas celebrations are canceled this year — for it’s impossible to celebrate Christmas while our people in Gaza are going through a genocide. Usually, it’s Jesus in the manger surrounded by the shepherds, surrounded by the Holy Family Joseph and Mary and the magi who came from the east.”

There is no indication that Zohar challenged Ishaq for his fantastically libelous claim that Israel is carrying out a “genocide” in Gaza. The source for the generally accepted casualty figures in Gaza is the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. To take their figures at face value would be akin to trusting the word of Josef Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry for information about the conduct of World War II. Hamas has a vested interest in exaggerating the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, because it knows how effectively civilian casualties turn international opinion against Israel.

In service of that goal, Hamas has lied repeatedly. On Oct. 19, for example, the total casualty number increased by 307, from 3,478 to 3,785. Yet at the same time, the total number of children killed went from 853 to 1,524, an increase of 671. Nor was that the only time such a thing happened. On Oct. 26, the total number of casualties increased by 481, while the number of children casualties went up by 626. Clearly, the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza is not too concerned that people will study these numbers closely; the idea is simply to shock and appall people with Israel’s alleged inhumanity, and that is working well enough.

Munther Ishaq is not in Gaza at all, as Bethlehem is in Judea and Samaria, now known as the West Bank. But he nevertheless wanted to claim some coveted victim status for himself and his congregation. “Here we wanted to say,” he explained about his crèche, “that it is as if they are looking for Jesus in the midst of the rubble. We wanted to send a message to the world – a message that while the whole world is celebrating Christmas in festive ways, here in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus where Christmas originated from, this is what Christmas looks like to us.” Zohar tells us that this craven cleric “preached against the IDF offensive from his pulpit at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the adjoining town of Beit Sahour,” but doesn’t say anything about his preaching against the Oct. 7 jihad murders.

Zohar adds that “the sermon followed the IDF’s strike on Gaza City’s oldest active church, the historic St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church. The bombing killed 18 people, injured others and displaced about 400 civilians who were taking shelter in the church complex.” He gives no hint, however, of what even the Washington Post, never a friend of Israel, reported: “The Israel Defense Forces said in an emailed statement that a strike targeting a Hamas control center ‘damaged the wall of a church in the area’ and that it was ‘aware of reports on casualties’ and was reviewing the incident. They declined to provide further information and reiterated, ‘It is important to clarify that the Church was not the target of the strike.’”

Undaunted by facts, secure in the knowledge that his distortions would go unchallenged, Ishaq also said: “Christmas is the solidarity of God with those who are oppressed, with those who are suffering, and if Jesus is to be born again, this time this year he will be born in Gaza under the rubble in solidarity with the people of Gaza.” He doesn’t explain how he reconciles Jesus’ own recorded words with the oft-repeated genocidal statements of Hamas leaders, or the Gazans’ enthusiastic support for Hamas. In the world that Ishaq and Zohar inhabit, the facts don’t matter, only the narrative does. And the hatred for Jews and Israel that narrative is designed to elicit.

AUTHOR

Robert Spencer

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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