‘The Dark Clouds of Hamas Are Still Over Us’: Israeli Major thumbnail

‘The Dark Clouds of Hamas Are Still Over Us’: Israeli Major

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By Family Research Council

Since October 7, the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas has steadily caused ruin and demise — even beyond the Middle East. In a recent development, Israel and the terror organization agreed to a temporary, four-day ceasefire, an agreement that demanded Israel release three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released from the hands of Hamas. Major Doron Spielman, the international spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, explained on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” that this was not an easy exchange.

“We’re also releasing convicted Palestinian felons, including some who who’ve committed some really despicable crimes,” he said. “But this is part of the price we’re paying in order to get our people home.”

For those who have been released, which now totals 104 individuals, it brings “a great sense of joy” to have them home, the Major emphasized. “This should include children, these innocent little children who had [been] taken hostage and a number of their mothers. So, this really is a ray of light.” But despite the joy of some returning, there are still over 150 hostages trapped in Gaza. As Spielman put it, “[T]he dark clouds of Hamas are still over us.”

Out of those still in the terrorists’ grip, Spielman said they are unsure of who is alive and who isn’t. Even so, rescuing them is a “top priority,” right alongside getting rid of Hamas, which he described as “non-negotiable.” These have been stated as their two primary goals since the start.

Spielman encouraged viewers to imagine if this was happening in their own backyard. In graphic detail, he explained some of the trauma Hamas inflicted upon the Israeli people during the initial attack including the “massacred” neighborhoods, the burning of houses and people, and loved ones ripped away by “a murderous regime.” If this were happening to others, Spielman suggested, “Would they hold off? Would they pull back? What are we supposed to do in Israel? [When we] put our children to sleep at night … what are we supposed to say to them when they ask us, ‘Mommy and Daddy, are those murderers still out there?’” He added, “I can tell you, as an Israeli, that we are not going to stop until Hamas is eliminated, because I want to be able to tell my child they are gone.”

With such a goal, Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council and host of “Washington Watch,” shared his concerns about the potential longevity of this war, stating that Israel is seemingly “always on a time clock.” He continued, “[T]here’s only so much goodwill in the international community for Israel, no matter how great the threat is. And so, I think there’s just concern that the longer this [drags on], that Israel may not be able to finish what they need to accomplish.”

Speilman agreed but said, “Look, at the end of the day, we’re the ones who have to live with Gaza on our borders. No one else in the world.” He explained that they want international support, and further expressed his gratitude for the ally Israel has in the U.S. “I think when history looks back and sees how the United States has stood with Israel, it will go down in history as a great friendship,” he added.

But despite the valid concern Perkins raised, Spielman explained, “Every person, every country, [has] their own concerns, their own objectives. … [W]e have to be able to secure the State of Israel in the south, in the north, and make sure that our people are safe. That is our top priority, and it should be higher than anything else.”

He concluded that “all the thoughts and all the prayers and all the support is not only greatly needed, it’s felt. And that feeling gives us strength both on the battlefield and when we’re home with our families and in everything we’re doing to keep the state of Israel alive and well.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Mohler: Left-Wing Anti-Semitism Motivated by ’Hatred of God‘ thumbnail

Mohler: Left-Wing Anti-Semitism Motivated by ’Hatred of God‘

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By Family Research Council

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday took the rare step of rebuking his own party’s left flank for anti-Semitism, criticizing them for believing that the principle, “Injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all … does not extend to the Jewish people.” Schumer usually deploys his speeches to benefit Democrats at Republicans’ expense, but an increasing tally of violent anti-Semitic incidents in progressive strongholds has grown too glaring to ignore. In a Thursday conversation on “Washington Watch,” Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said left-wing attacks on Jews ultimately boiled down to their “hatred of God.”

Left-wing anti-Semitism is ironic because America’s Jewish community has “been clearly situated in the Democratic Party, most importantly since 1948, when Harry Truman, a Democratic president, recognized Israel,” noted Mohler. “You also have a concentration of Jewish population in a lot of the northern urban centers, which are predominantly Democratic,” and “Jewish culture in the United States very much associated with liberal causes.”

But Mohler wasn’t surprised by the display of anti-Semitism, ironic though it is. He described it as “deep-seated anti-Semitism that has just arisen to the surface.” Anti-Semitism is “one of the world’s oldest and certainly its most deadly hatred throughout all of human history,” said Mohler. “There’s something that is unique in terms of the hatred of the Jewish people. And you see this in the Old Testament.”

Mohler identified the root cause of anti-Semitism in the Jews’ special status as God’s chosen, or “elect,” people. “Israel is God’s elect nation. … This was the scandal of the Jewish people,” he said. And because of that, they have “basically had the antipathy of the rest of the world” directed at them since the exodus. “we see that in the anti-Semitism that has so characterized human history, even Western civilization,” Mohler continued.

“This is not, to me, just about anti-Semitism … against Jewish people. This is a spiritual issue,” said Family Research Council Action President Jody Hice, guest host of “Washington Watch.” “It is much deeper than just hatred for Jews. It is a hatred towards God. It is a hatred towards the people of God.” Mohler agreed, “By extension, yes, this is a hatred of God.”

Motivated as it is by a hatred of God, left=wing anti-Semitism would proceed to expressions of hatred toward God’s other chosen people, the Christian church, Hice predicted. “This is not going to end … with anti-Semitic behavior towards the Jews. It is going to go from there to expressions of hostility and hatred to people of faith, period. I mean, we saw this reaction to Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House most recently,” he argued. In another recent incident, “[progressive Senator] Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] basically told [former Trump administration official Russ Vought] in a hearing, ‘You have no right to be involved in politics because of your Christian faith,’” Hice offered.

Mohler agreed that left-wing anti-Semitism will spill over into anti-Christian bias and offered yet another example to suggest it is already happening. “I saw just this morning, where there are people saying, we’ve got to forbid these Christian parents from influencing their children.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently issued  a proposed rule that would require foster parents to affirm the gender identity of children in their care, which critics say would exclude many Christian families from participating.

Hice noted the inexplicable phenomenon of “Democrats who seem surprised, perhaps even disappointed, by the anti-Semitism in their own party or on the Left, but they never say a word about anti-Christian sentiment.” He wondered how these Democrats could not see the connection.

“The Left consumes itself,” Mohler offered in response. “The most [vulnerable] person in America right now … is yesterday’s liberal because tomorrow’s liberal will chew him up.” His point was that today’s anti-Semitism will turn into tomorrow’s anti-Christian hatred, and the switch will leave many old-school progressives to wonder what happened. “It’s kind of like the nature of sin,” suggested Hice. “It never is content with where it currently exists. It always is going to take a step further.”

One reason why some progressives, like Schumer, don’t see a connection between anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity is because “they define a Jewish identity largely in ethnicity, which is, of course, the one thing Christians can’t do,” said Mohler, as Christianity is “made up of every tongue and tribe and people and nation.” Revelation 7:9 describes “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes.”

“I don’t think that’s legitimate,” Mohler argued. “If [Schumer] had been aware of what was going on the Left — and it’s hard for me to believe he wasn’t — then he would have to know that the cultural Marxism on the Left was turning into deep antipathy to the nation of Israel first of all, deep antipathy to the very existence of Israel … and thus opposition to Judaism.”

But Judaism is not the only religion for which cultural Marxism fosters hostility, Mohler continued. “It’s a deep antipathy towards any form of theism.” To support this contention, he noted the targets of the Left’s cancel culture. “Nobody is trying to cancel New Age prophets. No one is going after the neo-pagans of this age. They’re going after theists,” he declared.

Then, Mohler zoomed in to be even more specific. “The part of Judaism that’s most hated is Torah. It’s the law of God: ‘Thou shalt. Thou shalt not. God created human beings in his image. Male and female created he them.’ A secular progressivist Left just has to hate that,” he argued. “And they hate any form of theism because theism comes with, ‘thou shalt, and thou shalt not.’ And that’s just as true of Christianity as it is of Judaism — a very important worldview issue for us to recognize.”

This hatred does not result in mere disagreement or vigorous political debate, Hice reflected. Rather, the Left wages campaigns of censorship, character assassination, and intimidation against those expressing viewpoints they dislike. “The radical Left actually wants religious freedom for no one. They want to dictate what we believe,” Hice complained.

“I don’t think they would say that,” Mohler responded cautiously, without disagreeing. “I think they’re sly enough to say that they’re for the toleration and liberty of ‘safe’ religions and ‘safe’ religious people. That means [religious beliefs that pose] no threat to the Left, no threat to its agenda.” He added, “when it comes to biblical Christianity … we are the main obstacle to the Left delivering on its goals. And they know that.”

The question is, do Christians know that? “So many churches refuse to get into these issues and equip their church family with a biblical worldview,” lamented Hice. “It is one thing to teach biblical principles from the pulpit. It is a different level to teach a biblical worldview and how to live out those biblical truths.” Paul urged believers in Ephesus to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

“You’re going to be ‘mugged by reality’ if you don’t understand the responsibility,” Mohler agreed, adapting an Irving Kristol quote. “A lot of Christian pastors are going to end up saying, ‘What in the world happened? How did this happen? How is this showing up in my church? How is this going uncontested in my community?’ Well, hey, it’s about time you wake up and see the challenge here and understand your responsibility as a pastor.”

Mohler also pointed to the role Christian families play in raising up their children in a counter-cultural, Christ-honoring manner. “The most important thing that goes on here is what goes on in Christian homes and in Christian churches,” he said. Lest any fall victim to the conceit that this duty is easy, Mohler added, “it’s going to bring opposition. You can count on it.”

“In the United States, we have a tremendous political stewardship,” concluded Mohler. “That doesn’t mean we translate the church’s ministry into politics. It does mean we tell Christ’s people how to be effective in contending for Christian truth out of love of neighbor.”

Mohler urged believers “to be praying that the American nation will continue to stand for righteousness around the world. He also urged prayer “that the American people and the American government will continue to stand with the nation of Israel.”

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘The Dark Clouds of Hamas Are Still Over Us’: Israeli Major

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

15 New York Synagogues Hit with Bomb Threats Today Alone thumbnail

15 New York Synagogues Hit with Bomb Threats Today Alone

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By The Geller Report

And there is no media coverage. None.

But leave bacon outside a mosque and you’ll face prison time.

WTH is happening here?

15 New York synagogues hit with bomb threats on Friday

By: JTA, December 1, 2023:

Bomb threats were made against 15 synagogues in New York State early Friday morning, according to a Jewish security agency in New York City.

Threats were made against five synagogues in Manhattan, two in Brooklyn, one on Long Island, two in Westchester County, and five in other parts of upstate New York, according to the Community Security Initiative, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions in the New York City area.

“There are multiple explosives inside the synagogue,” read one of the threats, which was sent via email. “These explosives will go off in a few hours and I will make history. I will make sure you all die.”

The threats were made as part of a campaign intended to interrupt synagogue operations by forcing law enforcement to go to a location, and there did not appear to be any actual danger to the targets, said CSI Director Mitch Silber.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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

American Jews Never Learned to Fight Leftist Jew-Hatred thumbnail

American Jews Never Learned to Fight Leftist Jew-Hatred

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By Jihad Watch

And talking about ‘anti-Semitism’ is part of the problem.

After the Holocaust, the American Jewish community, like most liberals, reduced the mass murder of millions of Jews to a problem of intolerance and prejudice. A massive effort was undertaken to educate about what had happened rather than what was happening.

While the first Holocaust museums were being built, the persecution and killing of Jews had mostly shifted over to the Soviet Union and its allies in the Arab Muslim world. American Jews failed to grapple with this shift much as they failed to come to terms with the reality that black nationalist groups were quickly eclipsing the KKK when it came to the domestic hatred of Jews.

These are the key ingredients that led to the current open climate of Jew-hatred in America.

Instead of talking about what the hatred of Jews looked like today, American Jewish liberals insisted on dwelling on what it had looked like decades earlier in America and in Europe. Like the generals who are always refighting yesterday’s war, they were not dealing with the present.

They relied heavily on “antisemitism”: a term invented in the 19th century by a German socialist bigot, Wilhelm Marr, to emphasize the race of the Jews. But post-Holocaust hatred of Jews on the Left was more often cultural than racial. Karl Marx, the progenitor of Marxism, had been of Jewish descent from a Christian family, and had spread poisonous antisemitic venom. Lenin, who had one Jewish grandfather, oversaw the oppression of Jews while denying they were a distinct people. The Soviet expectation was that the Jews would disappear as a people, but, aside from Stalin’s final years, avoided any plans for the racial extermination of the Jews.

The Marxist and the Islamic position, unlike the Nazi racial position, did not require the physical extermination of the Jews at a genetic level, only a cultural genocide. Jews would be allowed to exist under Communism or Islam, as long as they abandoned their religion and national identity. The liberal focus on fighting racial antisemitism left it unprepared to fight such cultural hatred.

Even though the Soviet persecution of the Jews as a people had been underway for generations, American liberal Jews never developed a vocabulary for describing it. Or showed much particular interest in it until a new generation of young activists in the USSR and America finally made it a burning issue that rose to national and international attention in the 1970s.

The Communist persecution of Jews was manifested in many of the same ways as the contemporary leftist hatred of Jews. The party and the regime claimed to oppose ‘antisemitism’, even passed laws banning it, while suppressing Judaism and Zionism as ‘reactionary’ and ‘nationalistic’. The Soviet Union could point to examples of high-ranking Jewish figures who had rejected Zionism and Judaism, and represented the Communist ideal for the Jews.

As Lenin put it, “whoever, directly or indirectly, puts forward the slogan of Jewish national culture is (whatever his good intentions may be) an enemy of the proletariat… he is an accomplice of the rabbis and the bourgeoisie… on the other hand, those Jewish Marxists who mingle with the Russian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and other workers in international Marxist organizations, and make their contribution… towards creating the international culture of the working-class movement… uphold the best traditions of Jewry by fighting the slogan of ‘national culture.’”

Jews had to be culturally, but not racially eradicated. Those Jews who joined with non-Jewish Marxists in the rejection of Judaism and Zionism were praiseworthy Marxists. Those who did not were an “enemy of the proletariat” to be executed like a number of my great-uncles.

Like most Soviet implementations of Communist ideology, this was a ‘Potemkin village’ of lies. Jews, regardless of their religious observance or interest in Israel, had been explicitly targeted for persecution and mass murder, were specially designated as being Jews in government documents, and the government’s formal anti-Zionism and anti-Judaism was just the same old ‘antisemitism’, complete with hook-nosed cartoons, dressed up in progressive clothing.

Much the same is true of contemporary leftist Jew-hatred which is based on Marx’s stereotypes of Jews as capitalists, but draws heavily on the Soviet playbook of substituting anti-Zionism for antisemitism, and trotting out model Jewish socialists to defend the persecution of Jews.

The liberal Jewish failure to meaningfully confront the Soviet hatred of Jews left them unprepared for the leftist movements that mainstreamed the same hatred in America.

There were plenty of warnings. Decade after decade, academics pushing these positions on college campuses, journalists embedding them in magazines, and fringe politicians making these arguments grew in power and influence while the liberal establishment talked of ‘antisemitism’ purely in terms of far-right racial supremacism or small town prejudices.

The rise of black nationalist antisemitism in the seventies, which was often explicitly racialist in nature, produced flailing responses. The American Jewish liberal establishment held up faded pictures of Heschel marching with MLK, failing to grasp that this made black nationalists despise MLK rather than like Jews, and prattled about the Jewish contribution to civil rights. The liberal establishment was so committed to a model of top-down persecution that it was unable to defend Jews against antisemitism that appeared to be coming from a minority on the bottom.

When various forms of critical race theory made the formula official that black people and minorities could not be racist toward anyone with more privilege than them, a position that legitimized a general hatred of white people, Asians and Jews, there was little response. The formal understanding that Jews could now be freely hated was ignored by liberal Jews.

Some outnumbered figures launched a struggle for the soul of liberalism, but they had little and fleeting support from an establishment that was still influential enough to make a difference. The liberal Jewish establishment was more interested in being in the vanguard of civil rights than in protecting Jews from the emergence of an ideology that deprived them of their civil rights.

Only after the Hamas mass murder of over 1,000 Jews and the statements of support for it at major universities, did some donors and community leaders wake up enough to push back. It took the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the widespread acceptance of it by their friends for them to realize how bad the situation had gotten, but not to realize why.

And that is the crucial issue.

The pro-Hamas Left insists that it is not ‘antisemitic’ and most of it probably believes that’s true because while traditional bigotry and hatred created the Islamic obsession with killing Jews and the conviction in the old Marxist Left that the Jews were not a legitimate people, the final product is cloaked in talk about liberation, decolonization and an end to privilege and oppression.

It may support the mass murder of Jews, but it doesn’t culturally ‘feel’ like ‘antisemitism’.

The Leftist hatred of Jews doesn’t fit the liberal model in which there is a continuity of oppression. A downtrodden minority faces prejudice, which escalates into political repression  and then violence. First there are the jokes, then laws and then bullets. Leftists cheering for Hamas would argue that since they don’t tell ‘antisemitic’ jokes, they can’t be considered antisemitic even while they’re calling for the mass murder of Jews.

This is why the traditional model of talking about antisemitism has failed so badly.

The liberal insistence on teaching tolerance by addressing the roots of bigotry rather than its outcome has been a disastrous failure because where far-right bigotry is a continuity, left-wing bigotry is a discontinuity of ideological abstractions leading indirectly to mass murder. The ideological detachment from reality can be measured in the fact that inmates in Nazi camps did not shout, “Heil Hitler” before dying, but those in Soviet gulags were known to shout, “long live Stalin” before being executed. The Nazis knew what they were doing, Communists often did not. They existed and still exist in an ideological haze of slogans rather than people.

‘Antisemitism’ is an ideological abstraction that leftists reject because it appears to refer to a certain type of person and behavior that their ideological purity tells them that they couldn’t be. They’re not the sorts of people who talk about ‘jewing down’ or believe in the inferiority of races and therefore, even while they’re smashing Jewish store windows and attacking a Holocaust museum, they can’t be ‘antisemites’. They know ‘antisemites’ are ‘right wing’ and when they’re assaulting Jews in the street, they, like the Soviet Communists, are fighting against ‘Zionism’.

The emphasis on antisemitism, on the roots of bigotry rather than their outcomes, makes such moral evasiveness easy for leftists. Focus on the mass murder of Jews, the broken glass and a mob outside the doors of a Holocaust museum, and then you’re talking about hateful outcomes.

Those are much harder to evade than abstractions.

The analysis of ‘antisemitism’ rather than the concrete reality of Jew-hatred has played into the hands of a leftist culture of hate that uses analysis to disguise the reality of its actions.

Confronting the realities of the assaults on Jews will require taking stock of a cultural war, rather than a racial one, and deal with outcomes instead of motives. Talking about ‘antisemitism’ becomes misleading when confronting a form of antisemitism that hides its ethnic hatred behind cultural and political hostility. And that will require discussing cultural, religious and political differences, topics which liberal Jews are uncomfortable with.

The modern liberal consensus, like that of the Soviet Union, is racially diverse but ideologically unified. The illusion of multiculturalism in the Soviet Union or a college town in America is limited to only those cultural differences that don’t clash with the dominant leftist belief system. This is a comfortable echo chamber for those who agree and a repressive cage for those who do not.

Liberal Jews bought into this system in a big way because they were terrified of feeling different. They shed their religious traditions for non-threatening culturally Jewish versions of liberal Protestantism and stayed silent about the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust. The rebirth of Israel challenged their theology and their politics, but mostly their anonymity.

While American Jewish anti-zionists lashed out at Israel in resentment for creating tension between their politics and their identity, Israel was just the canary in the coal mine. Black nationalists weren’t attacking Jewish teachers because of Israel. And Marxists weren’t targeting Jews because of the Jewish State. To a liberal establishment that was turning leftist, the existence of a traditional Jewish community was unsustainable in either Israel or America.

Oct 7, like the protests for Soviet Jewry and the defenses of Israel, forced American Jews to break with their political community in support of their religious and ethnic community. It’s a painful and alienating experience, but like any escape from a toxic relationship, also liberating.

Among the unexamined truisms that need to be rethought is ‘antisemitism’.

Antisemitism refers to race and when it comes to the hatred of Jews, culture trumps race. Aside from the Nazis and a few ‘Jewish Question’ obsessed racialists, hardly anyone who hates Jews would propose using genetic screening to track down people of Jewish descent who don’t even know that they are Jewish to exterminate them. Most cultural ‘antisemitism’ has a racial component, but it’s triggered by the idea of the Jews as a community and a people.

The term ‘antisemitism’ conflates someone who doesn’t like Jews, but would never engage in violence or support violence, with those who engage in and support violence against Jews. Furthermore some of those who support the mass murder of Jews don’t believe that they’re prejudiced against Jews, but believe that killing Jewish children is the right thing to do.

Talking about ‘antisemitism’ or even ‘hatred’ is wholly inadequate in such situations.

The idea of a continuity of bigotry often breaks down in the madness of contemporary political discourse. The same term used to describe someone who resents Jews moving into his town should not be used to also describe someone massacring Jews. Calling it all ‘antisemitism’ minimizes it and puts the local jerk on the same level as Hitler or Hamas. And that’s a mistake.

The liberal Jewish establishment has spent too much time fighting ‘prejudice’ and not enough time dealing with ‘eliminationist’ sentiments. The existential threat is not prejudice: it’s genocide.

Fighting the leftist and Islamic hatred of Jews will require developing a new terminology and a new approach than the same old tired ‘fight against antisemitism’ establishment rhetoric. Liberal Jews will have to confront their own fears and rethink their assumptions to take on the threat.

During the Hitler-Stalin Pact, Jews had to confront Communists and their sympathizers who were now suddenly insistent on a friendship with the Nazis. That genocidal alliance crystalized a rejection of Communism by American Jews as “Jewish workers assaulted Communists who tried to defend their alliance with the Nazis, calling them, ‘Communazis.’”

The pact between Islam and the Left manifested once again in the response to the Oct 7 atrocities should be met the same way. The Left should be rejected the same way the Communists were. The ‘Communazis’ have been replaced by ‘Commuhamasniks’, but that is the only thing that has changed. American Jews must relearn how to fight this enemy.

After three generations of failing to confront the leftist hatred of Jews, it’s time to fight.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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

Iranian Regime Officials Praise Iran’s Proxies In The Palestinian Resistance And The October 7 Massacres, Call For Eradication Of Israel thumbnail

Iranian Regime Officials Praise Iran’s Proxies In The Palestinian Resistance And The October 7 Massacres, Call For Eradication Of Israel

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By Middle East Media Research Institute

Iran, Palestine | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1729

Introduction

Officials in the Iranian regime have been openly praising Hamas, Iran’s Palestinian proxy in the resistance axis, for its success in its October 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel and massacre of over 1,200 civilians there, which Hamas dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. Three days after the scope of the brutal massacre became clear, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei chose a path of renouncing responsibility for the actions of its proxy Hamas, lest Iran’s image in the West be tarnished.[1] However, statements by Iranian regime officials, politicians, military leaders, and media figures show that Iran is the guiding force behind Hamas as well as behind the other militant groups belonging to the resistance axis and that these groups all act in coordination with Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen – and that Iran is pulling the strings behind the scenes as it hides behind Hamas.

Tehran is speaking out of both sides of its mouth: While claiming that it has no connection to the brutal Hamas massacre of civilians in Israel, regime officials are at the same time boasting of Iran’s Islamic ideology being implemented by Hamas and Iran’s other proxies in the resistance axis. IRGC

The close Iran-Hamas relationship was also reflected in statements by IRGC commander Gen. Hossein Salami, who explicitly said on October 28: “All it takes to break Israel is one of our operations.”[2] Additionally, Iranian armed forces commander Ali Bagheri’s November 21, 2023 said at the tomb of slain IRGC Qods Force commander Qassim Soleimani: “These are the days when the entire world is witnessing how the sapling planted by the lord of the martyrs of the resistance front, [Qassem] Soleimani, and his colleagues has become a strong and stable tree that is waging resistance and that will destroy the Zionists. We in [Iran’s] armed forces, along with all the young people who join the army, see Hajj Qassem Soleimani as a role model whose footsteps must be followed and whom we must try to imitate. The martyr Soleimani is an excellent example, not just for the Iranian youth and people, but also for all freedom-seekers in the world… The enemies must know that Soleimani’s blood still bubbles, [and] that the young people in the Islamic countries and the resistance axis will not stand idly by and will not allow the institution of arrogance [i.e. Israel] to continue to exist.”[3]

Iranian regime encouragement and incentivizing of Hamas operatives and other members of the Iran-backed resistance axis was voiced by Alireza Panahian, cofounder of the Ammar think tank for Iran’s universities. On November 20, 2023, he said:

“A time will come when the Zionist regime will be wiped off the face of the earth. Why shouldn’t this be in our time? A time will come when there will be the last of the gatherings [with the chant] ‘Death to the Zionist regime’ [because it will have ceased to exist]. A day will come when the Palestinians sacrifice their last martyrs. A time will come when we witness the emptiness of the Zionists’ power.

“The era of the Jewish Zionism is over. Perhaps the time has passed for the motto ‘We will not let the enemy humiliate us’ – perhaps we need instead to chant the phrase of Mukhtar [Al-Thaqafi, an early Shi’ite leader who called for avenging the murder of Imam Hussein in 680]: ‘Oh victors, bring death!’[4]

“We have passed the first phase in which we seek martyrdom, and we have entered the phase of vengeance. Perhaps one day the motto ‘Death to Israel!’ will be just a memory for us. Today, the skull of the Zionist regime was broken, and the cup of its life was cracked. The time has come to tell the Palestinian people: ‘Oh victors, bring death!’”[5]

Several narratives can be observed in statements by Iranian regime officials about the Hamas massacres in southern Israel on October 7, 2023:

Narrative No. 1 – The Iranian Resistance Axis’s Strategic Victory And Humiliation Of Israel

Hamas’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel is viewed as an historic and strategic victory for the resistance axis, and it was described by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as “amazing” and “a wonderful lesson.” Khamenei also called the Hamas massacres an irreversible and insurmountable defeat and failure for Israel. The historic humiliation of the “Satanic front” – in which Israel is “Little Satan” and the U.S. is the “Great Satan” – is even greater, in Iran’s eyes, because it happened even though Israel is receiving U.S. aid.

Iranian regime officials have praised the massacres as having changed “the equation of the past 75 years”  and have called the operation “a shining and proud” victory. Other officials have called the Hamas operation “the resistance front’s smartest, bravest, and most effective operation” and praised it for having killed an unprecedented number of Zionists. In conversations with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad Nakhaleh and Hamas political bureau head Isma’il Haniyeh, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi praised the operation as “heroic.” In addition, the Islamic scholar who serves as Tehran’s Friday preacher called for kissing the hands of those who carried out the massacres, and Iran’s culture minister designated October 7 the national “Day Of The Epic Valor Of The Young Palestinians.’”

Narrative No. 2 – Iran’s Ideological Line: The Destruction Of Israel And The Failure Of The Zionist Enterprise

In many statements, senior officials have reiterated that the Zionist regime has collapsed as a consequence of the Hamas operation, which they said shattered the myth of the effectiveness of Israel’s military and intelligence capabilities. The resulting war, they said, will soon lead to the total destruction of Israel, and they depict the surprise nature of the attack as proof that the liberation of Palestine is not a myth and, in the words of IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi, “the shock that the resistance forces’ strike caused to the Zionists will remain until this cancerous growth disappears from the map of the world.” Officials have also stated that the operation crushed Israel’s security, and led to the failure of its “steel-clad army,” proving that the Zionist idea has failed.

Narrative No. 3 – The War Of Religion And Civilization Between The West And Islam

Iranian regime officials have spoken about a religious war between Islam and infidels – that is, the U.S., the West, and the Jews – and stated that Islam will win in the end. According to their reasoning, the one responsible for the deaths of the “oppressed” – i.e. the Palestinians, according to the terminology of the Islamic Republic – is the U.S., which is itself waging the current war in Gaza, and this justifies the slogan “Death to America.” IRGC commander Hossein Salami has said: “God did not establish a way for the infidels to overpower the Muslims. The condition for divine victory is for us to simply be present on the battlefield.” Other Iranian officials, including intelligence chief Esmail Khatib, have stressed that the most important achievement of the October 7 operation was the defeat of America’s hegemony in the Middle East, as America flees the region. IRGC Aerospace Force commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh even mocked the U.S., claiming that it has been sending Iran messages begging it not to join the war.

Narrative No. 4 – Attributing The Success Of The Hamas Attack And Massacre To Hamas’s Belief In The Quran And Islam

This aspect was particularly notable in statements by IRGC commander Salami, who said that “the infiltration of 1,200 [Hamas operatives] via the walls, and their historic victory, constitute a practical implementation of the Quran” and proves that belief in the Quran leads to victory. Other regime officials have even attributed godly qualities to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in light of his analysis of the Quran that predicted the destruction of Israel.

Narrative No. 5 – Justifying The Massacre As Permissible According To International Law

Iranian officials have justified the Hamas massacre by claiming that because the Palestinians’ land is occupied, they had a natural right, enshrined in international law, to carry out the October 7 operation. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has called such use of force justified and legitimate, adding that the killing of Israeli civilians is a consequence of, and natural response to, the Israeli occupation. Similarly, Supreme Leader Khamenei has denied that Hamas massacred Israeli civilians, and his mouthpiece, the Kayhan daily, has even accused Israel of faking images of children being murdered and of inflating the number of Israeli civilian casualties. Also, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian has criticized the comparisons of Hamas to ISIS, calling this a media crime against “a group that is advancing freedom.”

Narrative No. 6 – Warning That The War Is Likely To Expand To Additional Fronts

Despite the Iranian regime’s attempts to distance itself from the events of October 7 by claiming that Hamas had acted entirely independently, since that day, many regime officials have warned that if Israel continues its fighting in Gaza, additional fronts will be launched against it, presumably by means of Iran’s other proxies in the region. Supreme Leader Khamenei said as much himself: “If the crimes of the Zionist regimes continue, nobody will be able to stop the Muslims and the forces of the resistance.”

This document will review key statements by Iranian regime officials and media outlets about the events of October 7 and the Hamas “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

In a speech at a meeting with Iranian students, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei said: “One of the most important things that the Al-Aqsa Flood operation did was to show [that] the Palestinians had humiliated the usurper regime [Israel] and its supporters, by means of their bravery, and, today, with their patience. This is a wonderful lesson. They cannot compensate for this blow that they received.”[6]

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 25, 2023

At an October 25, 2023 conference held by the National Congress of the Martyrs of Lorestan Province, Khamenei said: “The blow that was inflicted in [the October 7 operation] in this attack by Palestinian fighters against the usurping regime is decisive. There has never before been such a blow against this regime, and as we have previously said, it cannot be healed. As time passes, it becomes increasingly clear that it cannot be healed.”[7]

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 17, 2023

Khamenei said on October 17, 2023: “If the crimes of the Zionist regime continue, nobody will be able to stop the Muslims and the forces of the resistance… Officials from several countries talked with officials from our country, and defended the usurping Zionist regime. They protested the killing of civilians by the Palestinians. First of all, this statement is incorrect and contradicts the reality – that is, the people in the settlements are not civilians. They are all armed. Even assuming they are civilians – how many [Israeli] civilians were killed? The usurping regime is now killing 100 times more civilians – women, children, the young, and the elderly.”[8]

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 10, 2023

​Khamenei said on October 10, 2023: “The usurping Zionist regime has suffered a military and intelligence failure that is irreversible… My emphasis is that this is ‘irreparable.’ I am saying that this destructive earthquake successfully destroyed some of the main foundations of this usurping regime’s rule that cannot easily be rebuilt… It is not reasonable that the usurping Zionist regime will manage to rebuild these foundations, even with all the noise it is making and with all the support it is getting today from the West.

“I want to say that since Saturday, October 7, 2023, the Zionist regime is not the same Zionist regime that it was before…  Oh Zionist oppressors! You are to blame, you caused this storm, you brought this tragedy upon yourselves. The [Islamic] ummah has no choice but to respond zealously and bravely to this hostility [on Israel’s part]… This operation is the work of the Palestinians themselves. The smart planners, the brave youth, and the fighters who sacrificed themselves have managed to create an epic, and with God’s help this epic will be a giant step towards saving Palestine.”[9]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, November 6, 2023

At a November 6, 2023 press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Shia’ Al-Sudani, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said: “After the struggle and the steadfastness of the resistance against the Zionist regime and the defeat that it has been dealt, this regime has collapsed.”[10]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, October 18, 2023

Raisi said on October 18, 2023: “[The Hamas] fighters showed that the initiative is in their hands, and they dealt a great defeat to the enemies by virtue of the storming that comprised the Al-Aqsa Flood [operation]. This was a crushing defeat for the Zionist regime, which has seven intelligence agencies to ensure its security. Aside from the Iron Dome, and the Mossad, there are six other intelligence agencies, but the Al-Aqsa Flood and the will of the Palestinian fighters caused heavy intelligence, security, and military failures for the Zionist regime.”[11]

IRGC Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, October 16, 2023

IRGC commander Hossein Salami said on October 16, 2023: “The radius of the impact of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation is global… The Zionist regime suffered not only defeat, but also humiliation, and Hamas, on its own, caused them a great defeat, with no reliance on anyone else. It makes no difference what the Zionists do in the future – this humiliation of the regime will not be rectified. The war in Gaza is the first phase in the early collapse of the false Zionist regime.”[12]

IRGC Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, October 28, 2023

Salami said on October 28, 2023: “The blow suffered by the enemy in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation was unprecedented, special, and entirely surprising… The Israelis slept soundly because they believed that their intelligence and military apparatus, which are equipped with the most advanced weaponry, would take care of them. But the Al-Aqsa Flood ruined everything, and [the resistance fighters] reconquered territory larger than the Gaza Strip… All it takes to break Israel is one of our operations. Today, Israel is a country of anxiety and terrible nightmares… [Israel] cannot fight Hamas. The land is Hamas’s strength, and if they fight on land, they will be swallowed up and Gaza will become their graveyard.”[13]

IRGC Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, October 30, 2023

He said on October 30, 2023: “They [Israel] does not want history to record that a besieged and lightly armed group triumphed over all the strength of falsehood… Until three weeks ago, the Zionists – who are the essence of enemy cunning and power – believed that insecurity and fear have meaning only on the other side of [their] walls, and belong [solely] to the Palestinian people. [The Zionists] thought that they were untouchable due to the support of America, England, Germany, and France. They thought that they had advanced security systems, that they controlled everything, and that not a single movement was hidden from them. They thought they had a strong army, and they slept soundly with these ideas. On October 7, all these ideas collapsed. Up until [October 7], they had been able to create the impression that insecurity cannot be brought to the occupied territories [i.e. all of Israel], but they suffered the greatest failure.”[14]

IRGC Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, November 9, 2023

On November 9, 2023, Salami said: “The Zionist regime suffered a terrible and irreversible defeat in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Gaza is today the grave of America and the Zionist regime. The regime that is occupying Jerusalem cannot regain the power that it lost. The fear in the hearts of the Muslims disappeared when the Palestinian youth [carried out the October 7 attacks], and the nightmare of destruction will not leave the minds of the Zionist regime and America.”[15]

IRGC Commander Gen. Hossein Salami, November 10, 2023

Salami said on November 10, 2023: “These days’ events in Gaza are the manifestation on the ground of the divine Quranic verses. The mystery of the Palestinians’ sudden incursion, via all the walls, is still unsolved… The Israeli army had a strong defense system around Gaza – yet no one paid attention to this incursion. This is nothing other than a manifestation of what the Quranic verses say…

“History will not forget this amazing victory. This victory was an event that showed how the power of faith can win… Today, the world is united more than ever against America and Israel… God did not allow the infidels to overpower the Muslims. The condition for divine victory is for us to simply be present on the battlefield… America will not be able to keep the Zionist regime on life support.”[16]

Tehran Friday Sermon Preacher Ahmad Khatami, October 13, 2023

Tehran Friday preacher Ahmad Khatami said in his October 13, 2023 sermon: “The Al-Aqsa Flood operation was unique, if not rare, in the time that Palestine has been occupied. Everything has changed. The global equation has changed. This situation will undoubtedly lead this story to the point where Supreme Leader [Khamenei] said that Israel will not survive another 25 years. What the resistance front did was legal and legitimate defense… This was totally legitimate defense, and the resistance front must be thanked for it… The leader of [Iran’s Islamic] Revolution said, rightly, that he kisses the foreheads, hands, and arms of these forces that invaded [Israel]. It can be said that this nation also kisses the foreheads, hands, and arms of these heroes.”[17]

Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran Army, November 9, 2023

Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi said on November 9, 2023: “The Al-Aqsa Flood operation is a turning point in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, and it has accelerated the collapse of the Zionist regime. The aerial bombing of defenseless people who have no protection and no shelter in their homes, schools, public places, hospitals, and elsewhere cannot [be compared] to those moments in which those great people [i.e. the Hamas operatives] crossed the intelligence and operational barriers of the infamous [Zionist] regime… The complete destruction of the Zionist regime will happen earlier [than previously thought]. This spider’s house will collapse, and we hope for this.”[18]Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran Army (Source: Fars, Iran, November 9, 2023)

Ebrahim Jabari, Advisor To The IRGC Commander, October 22, 2023

Ebrahim Jabari, who is advisor to IRGC commander Salami, said on October 22, 2023: “The deep wound [caused] to the body of the Zionist regime by the Al-Aqsa Flood [operation] cannot be rectified, and will destroy that regime… The successful operation by the Palestinian fighters refuted the myth of the intelligence effectiveness of the Zionist regime and proved that it is closer to collapse… The wound caused to the body of the monster of crime and child slaughterer, the Zionist regime, will become worse and will accelerate its collapse.”[19]Jabari, advisor to IRGC commander (Source: Tasnim, October 22, 2023)

Iranian Majlis Speaker Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, October 13, 2023

Iranian Majlis Speaker Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf said on October 13, 2023: “Within one week, the young Palestinians showed, and proved, that Israel is a great lie… The Zionist regime used to say that it is the supreme power – but the Palestinian youth movements from Gaza showed them that they are a well-equipped army. At the height of surprise, the Palestinians carried out the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, broke the Zionists’ pride, and took them captive… The Palestinian fighters and Palestinian groups had faith, but they were oppressed and alone; the Al-Aqsa Flood operation showed that victory is one step away, and their faith was strengthened.”[20]

Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, October 21, 2023

Intelligence minister Esmail Khatib said on October 21, 2023: “A harsh and deadly vengeance is coming… The Al-Aqsa Flood operation is the resistance front’s smartest, bravest, and most effective operation, and it will cause a serious strategic change to the regional and global equations.”[21]

Kayhan Article, October 8, 2023

An article published October 8, 2023 in the regime mouthpiece Kayhan stated: “The Palestinian battalions’ extensive incursion into the cities and communities surrounding Gaza, that led to the absolute conquest of seven cities and communities, showed the Palestinians’ total readiness, and, at the same time, the surprise and helplessness of the state, intelligence, and military forces of the [Zionist] regime. This regime must divide its shameful history into two parts, [from its establishment] up to Saturday [October 7, 2023] and from [that] Saturday onwards, [and now] must it must await its complete and certain collapse. Taking a considerable number of Zionist army captives was an additional blow that was carried out by the Palestinian resistance against this regime.”[22]

Kayhan Front Page, October 8, 2023

On its front page on October 8, 2023, Kayhan wrote: “The Palestinian resistance forces’ unprecedented ground advance, and their incursion into the Israeli cities and towns, as part of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, caused the Zionists unprecedented losses – losses that have never been seen in this regime’s entire shameful history. Within one day, this regime’s official sources announced over 110 Zionist deaths, and 900 wounded!… The Palestinian resistance forces’ advance in the Zionist cities, and their takeover of at least seven cities and towns, was very much welcomed among the citizens of the region, and by the resistance groups.”[23]

Article By Kayhan Editor Hassan Shariatmadari, October 18, 2023

Shariatmadari wrote in Kayhan on October 18, 2023: “One of the prominent and decisive initiatives in the Al-Aqsa Flood was the simultaneous filming by the resistance fighters of their successes in the various operations, and the description of the humiliated state of the Zionist soldiers in the face of the resistance forces. The resistance forces shared these videos on social media and updated global public opinion about the magnitude of the operation and the heavy and humiliating defeat of the Zionists.”[24]

Kayhan Article, October 26, 2023

An October 26 article in Kayhan stated: “[Regarding] this historic humiliation of the front of Satan, it is not inconceivable that the Al-Aqsa Flood of October 7, 2023 is the Israelis’ most unique military and intelligence failure after the Khaybar war [i.e. the massacre of the Jews at Khaybar in the Arabian Peninsula by the Prophet Muhammad and his forces in 629]. This operation was such a powerful slap, with its planning and wise execution, that it confused and maddened them…”[25]

Kayhan Article, October 28, 2023

An article published October 28, 2023 in Kayhan stated: “The comprehensive and joint operation called Al-Aqsa Flood, carried out by the zealous young Palestinians, shocked the Zionist regime. The Al-Aqsa Flood operation made the message of the oppressed Palestinian people reach the ears of the world, as honorably as possible, and humiliated the Zionist regime in the eyes of everyone.”[26]

Kayhan Article, November 11, 2023

On November 11, 2023, Kayhan published an article that stated: “Israel, that claims to have the strongest army in the region, and is fully supported militarily by the American army, took the greatest failure by not managing to eliminate and destroy a small group like Hamas… In exchange for the heavy price of war paid by the resistance, it had a great achievement that changed, for the first time, the equation of the past 75 years, and with the operation of all the resistance groups in the region, America and Israel both realized that from now on, they would be harmed if they were to attack [the resistance]!”[27]

Sa’adollah Zarei, Kayhan Editorial Board Member And International Affairs Expert, November 1, 2023

Kayhan editorial board member and international affairs expert Sa’adollah Zarei said on November 1, 2023: “The Al-Aqsa Flood operation changed the power relations with the Israeli side, and no event can overshadow this great success.”[28]

IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi, October 17, 2023

At an October 17, 2023 change of command  ceremony, Ali Fadavi said: “The Zionist enemy has not yet emerged from the great shock of the greatest defeat in its history. This strategic failure will not leave the minds of all those who have plundered the holy land of occupied Palestine for years. The shock that the resistance forces’ strike caused to the Zionists will remain until this cancerous growth disappears from the map of the world. The Zionist regime always does evil, and one day the Islamic resistance will destroy it.”[29]

Majlis Member Mahdi Sharifian, October 8, 2023

Iranian Majlis member Mahdi Sharifian said on October 8, 2023: “Today we are all proud of the Palestinian resistance groups because they achieved strength and progress to the point where they can attack the heavily armed Zionist army. The [Al-Aqsa Flood] operation turned the Zionist regime’s dream of the Nile to the Euphrates into a nightmare for it… Today is the day of vengeance, the day of justice, and the day that Israel must be destroyed. The destruction of Israel is imminent, and it can be accomplished because of the Zionist regime’s political instability and social schisms.”[30]

Kayhan Article, October 14, 2023

In an article published October 14, 2023, Kayhan wrote: “This [Al-Aqsa Flood] operation is indeed a great victory, and a great defeat and an unprecedented humiliation for the Zionists. We declare with certainty that except for a handful of people in the upper echelon of Hamas and [Palestinian Islamic] Jihad, no one was aware of the details of this operation and that actually ‘unmatched intelligence security’ was one of the most important reasons for this operation’s success… We see no need to explain that the mass media is controlled by global Zionism. However, the Palestinians managed to defeat the Zionist media empire with the tiniest media equipment that they have at their disposal. Everyone knows that the Zionists always censor the statistics concerning their victims and losses… But the photos of the operation, the destruction of the Zionists, their capture, and the simultaneous and sometimes livestreamed footage, and the pictures, left the Zionists with no choice [but to acknowledge their defeat].”[31]

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, October 29, 2023

After Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was interviewed on CNN on October 29, 2023,[32] the Iranian outlet Tasnim reported that he had said: “What happened on October 7 in occupied Palestine was [the result of] a decision made by the Palestinians, and, taking into account that their land is occupied, they saw that they have a natural right to defend their land. The operation… that they carried out was correct according to the guidelines and the explicit text of international law in defense of land that is occupied. The people whose land is occupied can even use weapons to get back their occupied land… We never approve of the killing of civilians, but this deed by the Palestinian resistance is a reaction to 75 years of Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people… Hamas is a liberation movement… and thus in response to 75 years of occupation, the operation was carried out… What happened was a natural response to 75 years of crime, genocide, and occupation.”[33]

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, October 16, 2023

Amir-Abdollahian said on October 16, 2023: “If Israel’s crimes against Gaza continue, any operation is acceptable… The West, in its propaganda, wants to compare Hamas to ISIS.. but they [Hamas] comprises people who are trying to remove the occupation from their land, according to the law. Comparing Hamas to ISIS is a media crime against a group that is advancing freedom.”[34]

Kayhan Front Page, October 12, 2023

Kayhan wrote on its October 12, 2023 front page: “Israel failed on the battlefield, [and thus] began to falsify reports and the killing of children, [and] as the number of Zionist victims tops 1,200, the Zionist regime’s propaganda machine is trying to accuse the Palestinian forces of killing children, with a distortion of reality. But many acknowledged that Hamas did not kill children and that the photos of the killing of children were faked.”[35]

IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, October 8, 2023

Salami said on October 8,. 2023: “Today we are witnessing the birth of a new Palestine based on greatness and might. This strong Palestine has brought fear and terror to the homes of the Zionists. Today the Palestinians are humiliating the soldiers of the Zionist regime, without any resistance on their part.”[36]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, October 8, 2023

President Raisi said in an October 8, 2023 telephone conversation with Ziyad Nakhaleh, the secretary general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Isma’il Haniyeh, Hamas political bureau head: “In the name of the Iranian government and nation, I congratulate the Palestinian people and [I also congratulate] the [Palestinian] fighters and the Palestinian resistance forces for their brilliant and impressive victory…  What happened in the occupied territories and in the fighting against the usurper Zionist regime was a mighty and unique event of the last 70 years, and truly, you gladdened the Islamic ummah with this innovative and triumphant operation… What happened with the victorious operation of the Palestinian fighters in the occupied territories was the realization of the 70-year expectation of the Palestinian nation and the Islamic ummah, and, with God’s help, we will soon pray together at Al-Aqsa mosque [in Jerusalem].”[37]

Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, October 24, 2023

Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Esmaili said on October 24, 2023: “The epic of October 7 is unprecedented in the Palestinian people’s struggle. This number of killed Zionists is unprecedented in history. We in the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution have designated this day [in the Persian calendar] as the ‘Day Of The Epic Valor Of The Young Palestinians.’”[38]Culture and I

Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor To Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 7, 2023

In a letter to Hamas political bureau head Isma’il Haniyeh and Palestinian Islamic Jihad secretary general Ziyad Nakhaleh, Velayati wrote: “The pictures that were published today [October 7, 2023] from the Palestinian resistance operation against the criminal Zionist regime – [an operation] that destroyed the hegemony of this regime – are a great victory that will lead to fear and amazement among the enemies and to joy and gladness among the Muslims worldwide, particularly in Western Asia [i.e. the Middle East]. The era of the terrorist Zionist regime’s control and tyranny has ended, and what is happening today in the occupied territories is [but] a small manifestation of the growing might and authority of the Islamic resistance front in Palestine. The Al-Aqsa Flood operation, which is a response to the Zionist regime’s ongoing crimes in the occupied territories, has fundamentally changed the power relations in occupied Palestine, and will place the Zionist regime in a position of even greater weakness.”[39]

Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor To Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 11, 2023

Velayati said in an October 11, 2023 phone call with Haniyeh: “The Muslims salute the sacrifices and the proud deeds of the Palestinian fighters who are honorably defending the strong fortifications and supporting them with all their hearts. Without a doubt, the Zionists are the main losers in this precious and decisive historic scenario… The strategy of the resistance against the enemies in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, and the victories achieved in the history of the struggles of the brave Palestinian nation, are unprecedented. The Palestinian people has shown that today it is one of the most important strongholds of the resistance against the Zionists.”[40]

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister For Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani, October 30, 2023

On Iranian television, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani said: “Hamas has succeeded well in administering the region in recent years, when Gaza was cruelly besieged by the Zionists. In fact, this was an expression of the intelligence and prescience of the resistance. The operation that happened on October 7 underlined exactly this point. The point that I wanted to stress is that this incident on October 7 caused an irreversible earthquake in the Zionist regime’s military security system.”[41]

Kayhan Article, October 10, 2023

Kayhan wrote in an October 10, 2023 article: “This operation [Al-Aqsa Flood] was unique in the might of its planning and in its coordination of the resistance groups that allowed its execution, in 30 minutes in an occupied area three times the size of the Gaza Strip… The takeover of parts of the occupied territories and of some Zionist cities and towns, the clashes on the ground in the streets of Israel, and so on, broke the taboo of [the impossibility of] liberating Jerusalem, and showed that the Zionist regime is highly permeable… The liberation of Palestine is not a myth or a slogan, and it can be done.”[42]

Kayhan Article, October 25, 2023

In an article published October 25, 2023, Kayhan wrote: “Who would have believed that young people in Gaza and the West Bank who once filled their little hands with stones to throw at the cars and tanks of the regime occupying Jerusalem would [one day, i.e. hinting at assistance from Iran] become experienced commanders who, in a unique operation, would break through the Zionist regime’s billion-dollar security fence and cause it more losses than in all the Arab wars [put together]?”[43]

IRGC Coordination Department Head Mohammad Reza Naqdi, November 2, 2023

Top IRGC official Mohammad Reza Naqdi said on November 2, 2023: “The [Israelis’] fences and railroad and asphalt roads, concrete barriers, outposts, ground surveillance [systems], mighty guard towers, and extensive spy networks could not stop the Palestinians. We must explain this influence of faith – how 1,200 people broke through the line and surprised the enemy. This can be explained. We can be certain that this path is the path of victory.”[44]

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani, October 7, 2023

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said on October 7, 2023: “Congratulations to the great nation of Palestine and to all the resistance groups and anti-Zionist streams in the region and in Palestine, on the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Today’s operation is a turning point in the continuation of the Palestinian people’s armed resistance against the Zionists… This operation showed that the resistance movements in Palestine have excellent confidence [in that they can] carry out [such a] a joint operation against the occupiers… In this operation, the Zionists were badly surprised. This issue has proven yet again how fragile the Zionists are… We hope that the resistance movements will succeed in achieving more and more victories on the path to liberating Palestine and actualizing the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”[45]

Majlis Speaker Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, October 23, 2023

At an October 23. 2023 Majlis session on Palestine attended by ambassadors of Islamic countries, Qalibaf said: “We must not forget the situation of the Palestinians before the Al-Aqsa Flood operation… The Palestinians reacted to it on October 7. In effect, that day the Palestinians decided to die once honorably instead of dying every day. The heroic attack on the Zionist outposts that day was a response to years of unprecedented cruelty and suffering. In fact, it cannot be expected that a rational and heroic people see this much violence and submit or be silent against it.”[46]

Iranian Army Commander Mohammad Bagheri, November 1, 2023

On November 1, 2023, Iranian Army commander Bagheri said: “The Palestinian fighters’ brave, surprising, and unique defense in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation is the beginning of a new chapter for Palestine, the region, and the Islamic world. This operation showed that all the concepts built by the Zionists and their masters were empty and meaningless, and that all their hollow strength collapsed in this perfect and precise operation. There can be no correction of or compensation for this usurper regime’s scandalous failure.”[47]

Iranian Army Commander Mohammad Bagheri, November 1, 2023

At the “Stable Iran” conference, on November 1, 2023, Bagheri said: “What happened in the recent operation was a result of the years-long oppression by the Zionists, and attributing this operation to any other countries [i.e. Iran] is a coverup for this failure. ‘The steel-clad army’ and the unique security and might of the Zionists collapsed on October 7, showing that the stolen land of Palestine is no place for immigrants… The Palestinian fighters’ operation was full of might and showed the depth of their intelligence and operational capabilities… Palestine decided to arise and take its right instead of dying by degrees.”[48]

Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor To Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, October 30, 2023

Advisor Ali Akbar Velayati said at the October 30, 2023 “Gaza Is The Symbol Of Resistance And Uprising” conference: “The Palestinian groups’ strategic and unprecedented battle in the occupied territories that was carried out in response to the decades of crimes by the apartheid Zionist regime added another proud and shining page to the strife of the Palestinian nation.”[49]

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian In Jeddah, October 18, 2023

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on October 18, 2023, Amir-Abdollahian said: “Without a doubt, the Al-Aqsa Flood operation proved that the Palestinian issue lives. The situation in Palestine will be different after Al-Aqsa Flood than it was before. This operation proved that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians.”[50]

​​Tehran Friday Prayer Imam Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, October 30, 2023

Ayatollah Khatami said on October 30, 2023: “The motto ‘Death to Israel’ is the motto today in the world. The promise of the Quran is that this regime has no other end but humiliation and a fall. The blood of the Palestinian martyrs will defeat the Zionists and their supporters… 500,000 Zionists have left the settlements and said that they will not return because these areas are not [safe] to live in… This great man [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] talks like God. The analysis of this great man is that, God willing, victory will not be far off for Palestine and its people. His announcement is a Quranic analysis… The hands of the Americans are stained with the blood of the oppressed, and they deserve [the motto] ‘Death to America.’”[51]

Iranian Army Commander Abdolrahim Mousavi, November 16, 2023

Iranian Army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi said on November 16, 2023: “The Al-Aqsa Flood operation had two aspects: First, it was an unprecedented, astounding operation, and an irreversible event for the Zionists. Second, it is a strategic turning point in the struggle to liberate the oppressed Palestinian people… and it will accelerate the process of the disintegration of this regime [Israel]… America and those who are silent in light of the crimes of this regime are disgusting. The nature of America, that wanted to show a different face via the media, has again become clear to the world. This is the America of Hiroshima, Fallujah, Mosul, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so on. Obviously, it is updated and more arrogant, and relies on the useless international organizations… Had there been a [possible] future for a certain regime [Israel], it would not have shown [to the world] a face that is worse than the face of animals.”[52]

IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, November 13, 2023

IRGC Aerospace Force commander Hajizadeh said on November 13, 2023: “The Zionist regime… will not live long. The victory of the Palestinian fighters is a great strategic victory… The Americans are no threat to Iran – in their correspondence they sometimes corresponded with Iran three times in one night and all this correspondence [consists of] requests and pleas. Iran is not in a situation in which anyone would want to threaten it. We are at the height of our power, and we have prepared ourselves for any scenario.”[53]

Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, November 4, 2023

Intelligence Minister Khatib said on November 4, 2023: “During these days, the historic Al-Aqsa Flood operation by the Islamic resistance of Palestine has caused an additional ignominious failure in the region against the U.S., and has completely disrupted the false glory of the aggressive Zionism.”[54]

Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, November 11, 2023

Minister Khatib said on November 11, 2023: “The Hamas jihadis’ operation is an additional defeat for America in the region. The important point of this operation was the defeat of the American force in the region and in the world. The hegemony of the American power, that claimed it had military, intelligence, economic, and political support in the Zionist regime and exchanged it for an ignominious withdrawal from the region, has disintegrated.”[55]

Hamas Representative In Iran Khaled Qaddoumi, November 14, 2023

Khaled Qaddoumi, Hamas’s representative in Iran, said on November 14, 2023: “[President] Biden conducted the war in Gaza before Netanyahu did. [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken and Biden are in the Israeli war room in Tel Aviv. The current war is not between Israel and Palestine – it is between Islam and the arrogance [the U.S.]… If Gaza fails, it will be the turn of Beirut, Amman, Cairo, and other places. When we defend Gaza, we are defending Tehran, and the security of Beirut. Today, the Gaza residents are defending the security of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi [that is, Iran’s adversaries in the Middle East]. Today, this is an historic opportunity.”[56]

AUTHORS

N. Katirachi and A. Savyon

N. Katirachi is a Research Fellow at MEMRI; A. Savyon is Director of the Iran Media Studies Project.

SOURCES

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10857, Iranian Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan: Iran Is The Mind And Hands Behind Hamas; Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Was Planned, Orchestrated By Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani Before He Was Killed; Khamenei Hinted In August 2022, August 2023 At ‘The Complete Conquest’ Of Israel, October 12, 2023; Special Dispatch No. 10889, Exclusive Report By Iranian News Agency Tasnim: ‘The “Mighty Pillar” Maneuvers Were The Resistance [Organizations’] Planning For An Attack On Israel; [They Constituted] Four Years Of Training The Palestinians For ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’, October 19, 2023; Special Dispatch No. 10878, The Iranian Regime’s Media Campaigns To Recruit Iranian Citizens To Be Sent To ‘Fight The Zionist Regime In Palestine’, October 16, 2023; and Special Dispatch No. 10860, Iranian Website Asr-e Iran Calls On Iranians Not To Speak Out On Iranian Involvement In ‘The Hamas-Israel Conflict’ – For Fear Of Harming Iranian Interests And International Status, October 13, 2023.

[2] Mashregh (Iran) October 287, 2023.

[3] Tasnim (Iran), November 21, 2023.

[4] The call “Oh victor, bring death!” was used in battles during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and in the time that followed. It was used by early Muslims to report that victory is near. Among Shi’ites, its use is associated with Mukthar Al-Thaqafi’s call to avenge Imam Hussein’s death in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.

[5] Fars (Iran), November 20, 2023.

[6] Farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=54271, November 1, 2023.

[7] Farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=54222, October 25, 2023.

[8] Tasnim (Iran), October 17, 2023.

[9] Farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=54056, October 10, 2023.

[10] Tasnim (Iran), November 6, 2023.

[11] Tasnim (Iran), October 18, 2023.

[12] Tasnim (Iran), October 16, 2023.

[13] Mashregh News (Iran), October 28, 2023.

[14] Tasnim (Iran), October 30, 2023.

[15] Fars (Iran), November 9, 2023.

[16] Tasnim (Iran), November 10, 2023.

[17] Mashregh News (Iran), October 13, 2023.

[18] Fars (Iran), November 9, 2023.

[19] Tasnim (Iran), October 22, 2023.

[20] Tasnim (Iran), October 13, 2023.

[21] Fardanews.com, October 21, 2023.

[22] Kayhan (Iran), October 8, 2023.

[23] Kayhan (Iran), October 8, 2023.

[24] Kayhan (Iran), October 18, 2023.

[25] Kayhan (Iran), October 26, 2023.

[26] Kayhan (Iran), October 26, 2023.

[27] Kayhan (Iran), November 11, 2023.

[28] Fars (Iran), November 1, 2023.

[29] Khabaronline.ir, October 17, 2023.

[30] Tasnim (Iran), October 8, 2023.

[31] Kayhan (Iran), October 14, 2023.

[32] For the actual interview, see Cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/29/gps-1029-iranian-fm-on-hamas-attack.cnn, October 29, 2023.

[33] Tasnim (Iran), October 30, 2023.

[34] Tasnim (Iran), October 16, 2023.

[35] Kayhan (Iran), October 12, 2023.

[36] Fars (Iran), October 8, 2023.

[37] Tasnim (Iran), October 8, 2023.

[38] IRNA (Iran), October 24, 2023. See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10947, Iranian Culture Minister: October 7 Will Be Designated ‘Day Of The Epic Valor Of The Young Palestinians’ – This ‘Number Of Dead Zionists Is Unprecedented In History’, November 8, 2023.

[39] Tasnim (Iran), October 7, 2023. See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10882, Senior Iranian, Hamas, And Palestinian Islamic Jihad Officials Link Hamas Attack On Israel To Thwarting U.S.-Saudi-Israel Normalization Initiative, October 17, 2023.

[40] Mashregh (Iran), October 11, 2023.

[41] Tasnim (Iran), November 16, 2023.

[42] Kayhan (Iran), October 10, 2023.

[43] Kayhan (Iran), October 25, 2023.

[44] Tasnim (Iran), November 2, 2023.

[45] ISNA (Iran), October 7, 2023.

[46] Tasnimnews.com/fa, October 23, 2023.

[47] Mashregh (Iran), November 1, 2023.

[48] Fars (Iran), November 1, 2023.

[49] Tasnim (Iran), October 30, 2023.

[50] Mehrnews.com/news, October 18, 2023.

[51] Tasnim (Iran), October 30, 2023.

[52] Tasnim (Iran), November 16, 2023.

[53] Tasnim (Iran), November 13, 2023.

[54] Tasnim (Iran), November 4, 2023.

[55] Tasnim (Iran), November 11, 2023.

[56] Tasnim (Iran), November 14, 2023.

Watch and Understand the Faith of Donald J. Trump a Christian Man thumbnail

Watch and Understand the Faith of Donald J. Trump a Christian Man

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By Dr. Rich Swier

Many know about what President Donald J. Trump truly believes in, his unyielding faith in God.

Watch as Paul Washer shares The Gospel with President Donald J. Trump. I was uplifted and hopeful after watching Paul Washer sharing the gospel with President Donald J. Trump in this amazing meeting where President Trump listens and Pastor Washer gives the lesson. Amazing indeed.

In the forward to their 2016 book   David Brody and Scott Lamb wrote,

“Donald J. Trump was raised as a Presbyterian and has praised both Christianity and the primacy of the Bible. In the Oval Office, he has surrounded himself with close advisors who share his deep faith. In this deeply reported book, David Brody and Scott Lamb draw on unparalleled access to the White House to explain President Trump’s connection to the Christian faith, the evangelical right, the prosperity gospel, and the pressing moral and ethical issues of our day.

In part, the authors argue, President Trump won over evangelicals not by pandering to them, but by supporting them and all their most important issues without pretending to be something he’s not. Though the forty-fifth president is far from the perfect vessel—he has been married three times—his supporters argue that Donald Trump may be just what America needs. This book reveals how he has surrounded himself with believers who think he is the one guiding figure who can return us to the traditional values—hard work, discipline, duty, respect, and faith—that have long been the foundation of American life, and truly make America great again in all ways.”

Given everything that President Trump and his family have undergone one might wonder from where comes his strength of character. It comes from the Holy Bible.

America today is in desperate need of a Godly man. Donald J. Trump is that man.

President Trump said, “Throughout our Nation’s history, Americans have consistently turned to God for guidance at pivotal moments. Our Nation’s honored tradition of prayer has sustained us and strengthened our trust that God will continue to watch over and accompany us through the best of times and the darkest hours.”

Today we are going through very dark times. We must all now turn to God and pray for His guidance.

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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Biden Regime Abandoning Israel

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By The Geller Report

“Biden administration is setting the stage to abandon Israel. What started off as “We are totally with you in destroying Hamas, which is as bad as ISIS,” is deteriorating into “You don’t have our support unless you can dismantle Hamas very quickly with very limited civilian casualties.” That’s impossible.” — Mark Dubowitz on X

Not only impossible but delusional. We have seen all of Gaza cheer Hamas and the mass slaughter of Jews, many taking part in the October 7th massacre. One hostage escaped and was captured and returned to Hamas by civilians.

Biden’s hack Secretary of State meets with war cabinet and tries to RESTRICT Israel so they won’t be able to eliminate Hamas

BY THE RIGHT SCOOP

Joe Biden’s hack Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pressuring Israel to end their war in Gaza without asking them to actually end it.

According to new reports, Blinken told Israel that the longer this war goes on in Gaza, the greater the international pressure will grow to stop the war.

He even suggested Israel restrict their military operation in southern Gaza in such a way as to avoid more civilian casualties.

Here’s more from Axios:

Scoop: Blinken warns Israeli war cabinet that the longer Gaza war goes on in the current intensity, the more international pressure on the U.S. and Israel will grow. My story on @axios https://t.co/m0R54Vd77R

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 30, 2023

Blinken met on Thursday in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and the members of his war cabinet.

The possibility of an Israeli operation in southern Gaza was a major topic of the discussion, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

One source called the discussion “a frank exchange of views” — hinting at growing disagreements between the parties on the way forward when it comes to the IDF operation in Gaza.

Two of the sources said Blinken was the one who initiated the conversation when he asked to be briefed on the Israeli military’s plans for southern Gaza and asked how long Israel thinks the military operation will continue in its current scope.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

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HAMAS TERROR IN JERUSALEM: Islamic Terrorists Open Fire At Bus Stop, 3 DEAD, 16 Injured, Ceasefire Broken Again

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POSTS ON X:

Israel: We will dismantle the Hamas terrorist network

Sec. Blinken: No you won’t

Biden regime is now stopping Israel from fully defending itself against a terrorist organization

Insane https://t.co/vcvtHNdGxS

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) November 30, 2023

I don’t see why Blinken feels the need to lecture the Israeli military about human rights when the abusers are on the other side of that wall in Gaza. 

Biden’s putting more pressure on Israel than Hamas, their backers in the UN, and the anti-semites on the Left. pic.twitter.com/RzOb7oCfOj

— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) November 30, 2023

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

Over the last ten years, Turkey has made 249 requests every day for removal of content from Google thumbnail

Over the last ten years, Turkey has made 249 requests every day for removal of content from Google

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By Jihad Watch

Who controls your access to information, and determines what you can see and what you cannot? To a surprising degree, Recep Tayyip Erdogan does.

Turkey has requested removal of massive amount of online content from Google in 10 years

Turkish Minute, November 23, 2023:

Turkish government agencies have requested the removal of a total of 90,400 web pages and other content from Google in the last decade, Voice of America (VOA) Turkish edition reported on Wednesday, citing data from a report by the virtual private network company Surfshark.

According to the report, 150 countries have submitted a total of 335,000 removal requests to Google in the last 10 years. These requests included the removal of 3,870,000 different websites and pages claimed to be “objectionable.”

Turkey was the fourth country, after Russia, North Korea and India, that most frequently requested the removal of content from Google, submitting 18,900 requests for the removal of 90,400 web pages and other content in 10 years, which corresponds to an average of 5 pieces of online content per day.

During the same period, Russia submitted a total of 215,000 content removal requests to Google, accounting for 85 percent of all requests. North Korea came in second, submitting 27,000 content removal requests to Google over the past decade, and India was in third place with 20,000 requests.

The report showed that “national security” is the most common reason cited by governments to get unwanted content removed, with 27 percent, followed by “copyright” (19 percent) and “defamation” (10 percent). Turkey leads in citing defamation as the reason, representing over a fifth of all defamation claims with more than 7,600 requests.

According to the report, the number of requests worldwide has increased approximately 13 times, rising from 7,000 annually to 91,000 in the past 10 years, or from 19 requests per day to 249….

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

RELATED ARTICLES:

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The Nazi Roots of Hamas

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RELATED VIDEO: This Week In Jihad with David Wood and Robert Spencer

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

Iran’s Struggle Against Islamic Terrorism and its Spurious Narratives thumbnail

Iran’s Struggle Against Islamic Terrorism and its Spurious Narratives

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By Amil Imani

Iran is a nation gripped by a crisis.

In the last few decades, the lines between truth and misinformation have gradually blurred, adding to the complexities of an already dire situation. As the nation grapples with the onslaught of these Islamic terrorists, who have usurped power, it becomes increasingly crucial to distinguish between the aggressors and the innocent citizens trapped within the chaos.

I make an impassioned call to politicians, media outlets, and individuals alike and urge them to refrain from painting Iran with the same brush as that of these terrorists. My plea is clear: those who fail to distinguish between Islamic terrorists and the genuine people of Iran are “wicked.” My cry for accuracy underscores the gravity of the situation, and yet again, I seek to shed light on the situation in my beloved Iran.

Once again, I assert that Iran is an occupied country and a historical parallel can be drawn to the occupation of France during World War II. These Islamic terrorists responsible for the siege should be referred to as the “Islamic Republic” or simply “IRGC.” This distinction is more than a matter of semantics; it serves as a crucial reminder that the perpetrators of any attack or supporting any terrorist initiative across the globe are not representative of the Iranian people.
My repeated call to cease the use of the term “Iran” in connection with the terrorists highlights the urgency of preventing the mischaracterization of an entire nation with such a deeply rooted ancient culture as that of Iran. Such misattribution can perpetuate stereotypes, breed prejudice, and hinder international efforts to address the root causes of the conflict.

It is essential to recognize the gravity of the situation and acknowledge the long-term impact that the Islamic Republic’s actions could have on Iran. By consistently labeling them accurately, the hope is to diminish their perceived connection to the nation they have invaded and oppressed.
Within Iran, there is a deliberate control over the media and the narrative of the country, where the Islamic Republic censors news and controls what information is disseminated to the public. I can give a few specific examples of this:

Within Iran, there is a deliberate control over the media and the narrative of the country, where the Islamic Republic censors news and controls what information is disseminated to the public. I can give a few specific examples of this:

The Islamic Republic mandates complete control over television and radio broadcasting. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) controls all internal and external broadcasting. There are no private or independent broadcasters inside Iran. This control extends to the state-controlled television that airs nationally and internationally and is streamed online. The host operates dozens of provincial, national, and foreign networks airing programs on culture, science, and news.

The Islamic Republic News Agency’s (IRNA) official news service is controlled and operated by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Semi-official news agencies operate allegedly independently of government control but are often seen by analysts as touting the agendas of various government agencies.

The Islamic Republic has developed sophisticated means to control the internet. This includes blocking popular international platforms like WhatsApp or Instagram and imposing precise, targeted blocking of access to mobile data in specific neighborhoods where protests are planned. The Islamic Republic has also created a “cyber police” unit and announced a Supreme Council of Cyberspace, placing Internet regulation more directly in Mullahs—not secular—authorities.

The Islamic Republic operates an immense web of online personas and propaganda mills, virtually none of which disclose their affiliation with the government of the Islamic Republic. These operations have targeted dozens of nations with tens of millions of pieces of content, varying widely in their message and intent.

The use of fake social media accounts to disseminate false information creates a battleground of misinformation, making it challenging for both domestic and international audiences to discern the truth. This deliberate confusion contributes to an information war that muddles reality and perception.

Iran has as many as three hundred newspapers but only a dozen major national dailies. Like their weekly cousins, these papers are typically funded by and ideologically connected to political parties or politicians. They all have an unequivocally anti-Iranian tilt.

The Islamic Republic’s control over media and information is a crucial aspect of its strategy to maintain power and control over the population. Through this global information dissemination program, the Iranian government’s concerted efforts to control the narrative have far-reaching consequences that extend beyond the nation’s borders.

By shaping the narrative presented to the public, the Islamic Republic creates an environment where dissenting voices are marginalized and alternative perspectives are suppressed. This manipulation could breed fear and distrust among the domestic population. The Islamic Republic’s restrictions on internet access and increased censorship play a pivotal role in narrative control. In response to shocking images and stories emerging from the country, the Mullahs seek to mitigate the potential fallout by restricting access to such content. However, it’s an altogether different matter that resilient users find ways to circumvent these controls, thereby leaking out accurate information about the terror happenings within the country.

The control exercised by the Islamic Republic over the narrative extends to the international stage. By filtering information that reaches the global community, the IRGC can craft a narrative that portrays their actions positively or downplays negative occurrences. This strategic shaping of international perceptions contributes to the nation’s diplomatic and geopolitical challenges.

The Islamic Republic’s narrative control becomes particularly apparent during social protests, where attempts to suppress sentiments of freedom and democracy are met with international support for the protesters. The global community’s response highlights the direct link between the Islamic Republic’s narrative control and its influence on global perceptions and support.

However, I see the promise of a brighter future, and this vision is embedded in the faith that there will come a time when the Islamic terrorists will face justice, and Iran will rise again. This vision serves as a rallying cry for my homeland, for unity, resilience, and the ultimate triumph of justice over oppression.

Therefore, once more, my plea to the global community is clear: distinguish between the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran, for only then can a path toward liberation and reconstruction be forged. In a world where the lines between fact and fiction often blur, the quest for truth becomes more critical than ever.

©2023. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICE: Why Israel is entitled in law to the “West Bank”

NEW YORK CITY: Videos of pro-Hamas Riot at the Christmas Tree Lighting thumbnail

NEW YORK CITY: Videos of pro-Hamas Riot at the Christmas Tree Lighting

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By Vlad Tepes Blog

Islam and leftists are really capitalizing on the Gaza war now. Remember George Soros’ tactic of “reflexivity”. They know how organizations and peoples will react to a stimulus. So they do the stimulus with full preparedness to use the predictable response to work towards their own goals. A kind of mass-Judo tactic. Use the enemy’s inertia collectively against them.

The most obvious example would be how terrorists will use half their resources to launch an attack, and then use the other half to go after the first responders. This makes the attack for more effective both from a damage and fear inducing point of view.

The October 7th attack on Israel could be seen as a scaled up example of the same. the left and Islamic nations funded the most barbaric attack on Israel they could think of, knowing they would not achieve a strategic goal in the traditional sense, but they would achieve one in the reaction to the reaction.

They knew Israel would wage war on Gaza, which is why they took hostages. The hostages in their estimate means Israel won’t do any significant damage to Hamas because Israel values the life of its hostages. Meanwhile, Hamas can play victim to the return fire on Gaza and the left and Islamic nations can fund massive demonstrations all over the world, all appearing to be about justice in Palestine, which of course is the last thing Islamic nations or Leftist groups want. Using the word “justice” in the usual sense that is. Once you look at the word in a communist or Islamic sense, its another matter.

Remember, the overall goal is the global communist revolution. And they are using imputed and manufactured victim narratives of the Palestinians based on the Israeli response to their attacks to give them the breathing room they need to attack everything Western. Like the tree lighting ceremony in NYC.

Anyone who has ever watched a Col. Kemp video knows that Israel has done more to protect the civilians in target zones than any army in the history of the world. They would also know that Hamas, who the Palestinians voted for at something like 70%, puts civilians in harms way on purpose for the dual win of either preventing an Israeli strike on military assets, which often works, or a lot of dead women and children, which makes for great PR while Hamas leadership yuks it up in world-leading luxury.

1. Could this LARPER, this COSPLAY Commie not have found a larger cross?

A Pro-Palestinian and Hamas Supporter holding a Poster of Swastika in reference to the Israel Defense Force tonight during the Riots in Manhattan, New York. pic.twitter.com/iMQtb7OppS

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 30, 2023

2. A patriot faces off with the protestors as they grab his flag, while he asks them why they are in America if they hate it so much. Why not move to Iran or Iraq?

“You are in America right now” – A man with American flag CONFRONT Pro-Palestine protesters during ‘Flood Tree Lighting for Gaza’ Protest near Rockefeller Tree Lighting tonight. One protester tries to rip American flag away as someone shouts “AllahuAkbar” and “Free Palestine!” pic.twitter.com/j62uSV3msc

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) November 30, 2023

3. Multiple videos of the scene

Crowds of Pro-Palestinian and Hamas Supporters have Attacked Police and Businesses in New York City tonight in an attempt to Disrupt and Destroy the Annual-Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting Event in Manhattan; several Police Officers have reportedly been Injured with Riot and… pic.twitter.com/egJwBAPeqX

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 30, 2023

POST ON X:

⚠️ An Israeli hacker group hacked the Iranian Judiacial and Parliament:

“We broke into the computerized systems of the Iranian judiciary and parliament and were able to obtain thousands of classified documents of the decision makers on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards.

These… pic.twitter.com/IMHQOBscfh

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) November 29, 2023

EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Brace Yourself For What’s Coming in 2024 thumbnail

VIDEO: Brace Yourself For What’s Coming in 2024

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By The Geller Report

Watch this clip of Victor Davis Hanson warning about what will happen during the 2024 election.

Transcript by Real Clear Politics:

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: They look at Trump as a vampire and they put a stake in his heart but they’re afraid that that stake could come out any time. That he’s undying and they’re afraid of him. They are terrified of him.

They are terrified of him because they think he’s smarter this time and he has just cause to really get angry because of what they did to him. They can write all of The Atlantic Monthly and New Yorker clever, glib little essays about “Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,” and their little Molly Ball in Time Magazine essays how clever and brilliant they were with their cabals and conspiracies to get rid of him.

But deep down inside they know that if the right ever did that to Barack Obama or Joe Biden, they could have really made something out of the fact that Barack Obama had a hot mic expose where he told the president of Russia, “You tell Vladimir that I will be flexible on missile defense.” That’s the security of the United States of America. “If he gives me space in my last election.” Putin did do that. That’s an impeachable offense if a phone call to Ukraine is. So they understand that, the right could have done that to them, and they understand now the right probably will do that to them for their own survival, and they are scared.

They’re saying that if a MAGA candidate wins, and they win the House and Senate, they’re cooked because they’re going to get special prosecutors and go after the Biden family like they’ve never gone after anybody. And they’re going to find stuff because we know Joe is crooked. And then they’re going to go after [Attorney General] Merrick Garland and [Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro ] Mayorkas. And they’re not going to stop. And that’s why they’re scared.

Everybody thinks the danger passed, they got what they wanted. No, no, no, you’re never going to see anything like what they’re going to do in 2024. All of this could have been reconciled, all they had to do was say Donald Trump should not be president if that’s what they believe, and we’re not going to do any lawfare or try to change the voting laws or pack the court, we’re not going to let in two states, we’re not going to try to abolish the Senate filibuster, we’re not going to try to change the voting ID laws, we’re just going to play under the rules we have, we don’t need $419 million by Mark Zuckerberg infused, we don’t need Sam Bankman-Fried, the crook, giving us $100 million, we’re not going to go under the radar with George Soros, we’re just going to show you, the American people how we think Donald Trump should not be president and we’ll have a fair election. They can’t do that, and they don’t trust themselves.

They think anybody in his right mind would close that border right now. Anybody in his right mind would recall all of those DAs that have destroyed these major cities. Anybody in his right mind would not beg the Saudis or the Venezuelans or the Russians or the Iranians to pump oil on the eve of a midterm, or pump the strategic petroleum reserve when you have so much natural gas in the U.S. Nobody in their right mind would do that. nd nobody in their right mind would ever just pull out of Afghanistan without warning just so Joe Biden can say that on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 or the original October invasion of Afghanistan, “I am the president that got us out.” Nobody would do that. And nobody would print $6 trillion when there’s pent-up demand post-Covid lockdown and there’s a supply chain disruption, and all that money without an audit or examination of who got it and why and how it was spent, but to inflate the economy and ruin it. Nobody would do that! So they know that and they know that they cant take that record to the American people.

They have a deductive mind because their ideologues, so they start with a premise that we’re for social justice and equity of result, so we’re morally superior and smarter than anybody else. And therefore we’re entitled to do things other people don’t do. So if, under the cover of Covid, and frightening people about Covid, we can change all the voting laws so that 30%, instead of voting absentee and early voting shall become 70% in most states, with very little audit of the level necessary to authenticate most ballots.

They just do all this stuff because they start with the deductive principle that, “We are better, this is the vision and thereof the following must happen.” And if things don’t fit the narrative, they go after the person, they censor. That’s how they work. And if you keep that in mind, than everybody makes sense.

What I’m saying is they go on from one lie to the next.

So everybody now knows that Donald Trump was impeached for things that Joe Biden got away with. OK. Everybody knows the laptop was authentic. Everybody knows that now. Everybody knows it would have made a big difference in that debate when Donald Trump said it was and Joe Biden said, “Oh, no, no, 51 authorities.” Everybody knows that Christopher Steele was a fraud, and especially Glenn Simpson. And that Hillary Clinton took over an old Never-Trump file and inflated it with a million bucks, got the FBI on it to hire Christopher Steele as a consultant-informant, hid her so-called legal expenses when she was fined and cited for that violation, through Perkins-Coie, Fusion GPS, and the DNC, and that file was fraudulent. It was made up! I said that the first time I saw it, everything in it was false. And yet we wasted 22 months and $40 million to know what was obvious. No apology, not only no apology but they got Pulitzer Prizes, some of these reporters.

Every time they give these monstrous lies, there’s no apology, and why should they? They’re just narratives, the’re post-modern Foucauldian, Lacan, Derrida narratives. They were useful. That’s what they look at. They were useful at the time, because when we went through the Mueller investigation, we crippled Donald Trump and therefore we were able to stop him. We had Anonymous, he was burrowed deep into the Homeland Security. He was a minor official, but we said he was one of the major operatives in the Trump administration, we lied. And then we printed his op-ed because it did what it was supposed to do, it weakened the right-wing agenda, so they think. And we got Admiral McRaven to come in and write an op-ed and said Trump should leave, the sooner the better. And then we got all of the four-star generals, McCaffrey, McCrystal, all of them, to say that Trump was Hitler, that he was Mussolini, that he was a liar, he was dangerous. We got Mark Milley to call the Chinese. We did all of this.

Yes, we do not want this to be done to us. If right now, a retired four-star general said Joe Biden is senile or dangerous of the Afghan thing is a disaster and he should be removed sooner or later, or his weaponization of the DOJ or FBI is Mussolini-like, or his hounding of individual people at school boards, or the way he conducted the Mar-a-Lago raid is Nazi-like — and I’m just quoting from what they’ve said — you know what’s going to happen to those people? You’re going to get [Attorney General] Merrick Garland to call up the Pentagon and they’re all going to be slapped with a Code 88, uniform code of military justice and court-martialed for disparaging the commander-in-chief. Trust me, they would in two seconds. And that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to say anything because they’re not equally going to apply their standards of correct behavior. And second, they’re going to say things about Donald Trump because they know the media and the Pentagon are not going to do anything to them. Now? They would destroy them if they ever criticized the commander-in-chief. They would go after them like you would not believe. And they know that.

We’re talking about, to sum up and end this, they understand deterrence. They are saying to the American people, “We are SOBs, we’re capable of everything and anything. Which side do you want to be on? Because if you’re on our side, you can do what Hunter Biden is, there are no consequences. If you want to say the voting machines are crooked like Jill Stein, go ahead, she said that in 2016. If you want to be Barbara Boxer and 32 Democrats and say you’re not going to certify the Ohio count and hold up the whole election, don’t worry, they did it in 2004. If you’re Al Gore and the attorney general says the votes have been counted and certified in Florida. Oh no, we’re going to sue and hold up the entire election for a month. And so, you can do all of that — as long as you’re on our side. But if you don’t do that, and you want to go on the other side, you’re in big trouble.”

That’s the message they’re trying to send, that’s what we’re really getting down to. Join the winning side. It’s sort of like in the Soviet Union, if you’re part of the nomenclature and you join the party, you’re exempt; if you’re not, well, you’re on your own.

People say to me: “You’re an academic and you spent your whole life, how did you deal with the 94% of all academics who are left-wing? … Why are they so left-wing? Do they have tenure? They’re exempt from worrying about losing their job? … Are they idealistic because they deal with words?”

I say, “No, they understand that if you want to get tenure and be promoted and liked, you parrot the majority. If it paid better, they’d be fascists.”

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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

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Would you knowingly fly in a plane whose pilot or co-pilot supports Hamas?

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By The Geller Report

Ibraham Mossallam is a now-suspended (with pay) pilot for United Airlines. He’s also a great fan of Hamas. More on Mossallam can be found here.

The disgraced pilot also argued that the attack on Israel was ‘not provoked’ but rather was a ‘response to years of attacks by the Zionist regime.’

First, the years of intermittent warfare between Israel (“the Zionist regime”) and terrorists in Gaza have always been started by the Gazan terrorists, belonging both to Hamas and to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They launch rockets into Israel. Again and again. The IDF responds with rockets of its own. But this does not stop the Palestinian rockets, and finally, the IDF decides to put paid to those rockets with airstrikes, drone strikes, and artillery barrages. And one more Gaza-Israel war begins. They end the same way: the Palestinians and the Arab states that support them pressure the UN, and the US, to pressure Israel to agree to a “ceasefire.” And that “hudna,” or truce, will last until the next time the terrorists feel sufficiently strong, and emboldened, to start another series of rocket attacks, leading to another campaign by Israel of “mowing the grass.”

On Tuesday, United told DailyMail.com that Mossallam was taken out of service with pay as an investigation is carried out. The carrier said that Mossallam was only removed from service on November 20, the same day that his social media posts became public knowledge.

So it was only when Mossalam’s social media posts became known to the public that United decided to take him out of service. But when did United Airlines know about those posts? Did it know about them earlier than November 20 but chose to ignore them, hoping no one would notice? Was this a case of trying to sweep a problem like Mossalam under the rug, but United could no longer do so once his posts became known to the wide public?

On the very day that Hamas launched its barbaric assault on Israel, Mossallam posted enthusiastically on Facebook about the “brave resistance” of the Hamas killers who attacked, raped, tortured, and murdered Israeli civilians in their homes.

In addition to his flying career, Mossallam is also the board vice president for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Israel Relations.

Mossallam’s posts were first highlighted by the activist group Stop Antisemitism.

The group asked in a post on X exposing his activities: ‘How can Jewish passengers feel safe with this man flying their plane?’…

It is not just Jewish passengers who need to worry. A Muslim pilot who has been raised to despise all Infidels as “the most vile of created beings” won’t be separating Jewish from non-Jewish passengers; when the plane crashes, everyone dies. He may be so full of hatred, as his praise of Hamas suggests, that he would want to bring down a plane full of Infidels, just like the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber had unsuccessfully tried to do. And it need not be a political or theological hatred, but something purely personal, that prompts a Muslim to crash a plane with himself on board. Who can forget the Egypt Air Flight 900, and First officer Gameel Al-Batouti, who intentionally crashed the plane to exact revenge on an airline executive who had recently demoted him? He drove the plane downward, all the while shouting “Allahu akbar.”

In a 2012 interview with the website Brooklyn Ink, Mossallam discussed volunteering as an outreach director with the Muslim American Society….

The Muslim-American Society is a fount of anti-Israel animus, as well as a center for “outreach” which includes attempts to convert the Infidels; it also builds mosques to spread the presence of Islam throughout the land.

Ibrahim Mossallam is not the only pilot who has expressed his pro-Hamas and virulently anti-Israel views on social media, and been grounded as a result. An Air Canada pilot, Mostafa Ezzo, was grounded when his anti-Israel social media posts were made apparent.

I would never knowingly fly in a plane whose pilot or co-pilot supports Hamas. I would expect that airline companies would be keeping close tabs on the social media posts of their pilots. I’d worry about both a spontaneous, and a carefully planned, mass murder of a planeload of innocents by someone who might wish to punish Infidels by crashing that plane he is piloting. That pilot would not suffer, but in his own Islamic understanding, he would become a martyr, akin to a suicide bomber, inflicting pain on the Infidels while suffering none of his own, as he makes ready to meet the 72 dark-eyed virgins who await him in paradise.

AUTHOR

Hugh Fitzgerald

RELATED ARTICLE: United Airlines Muslim Pilot Who Praises Hamas Removed From Service, WITH PAY

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

Muslim American Society, Linked to Hamas, Flooded Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting thumbnail

Muslim American Society, Linked to Hamas, Flooded Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting

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By Jihad Watch

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.”

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran … should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” — CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad

And where better to kick off that agenda than in New York City?

The Muslim American Society, Samidoun, designated as a terrorist group, and other pro-terror hate groups have put out flyers threatening to “Flood the Tree Lightning for Gaza”.

The “flood” reference is to Al Aqsa Flood: the Hamas name for the atrocities of Oct 7.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting is a great New York tradition. But those are not things that Islam will tolerate.

The Muslim American Society, as Discover the Networks reveals, has as its mission to promote “Islam as a total way of life”

In May 2005, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross reported in The Weekly Standard that MAS is a U.S. front group for the Muslim Brotherhood — a claim supported by a September 19, 2004 Chicago Tribune story that stated: “In recent years, the U.S. Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews. One of the nation’s major Islamic groups, it was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members.”  This Tribune article was later reproduced on the Muslim Brotherhood’s English-language website, Ikhwanweb.

The Muslim Brotherhood is also the parent organization of Hamas.

MAS, like the Muslim Brotherhood, wishes to see the United States governed by sharia, or Islamic law. “The message that all countries should be ruled by Islamic law,” writes Gartenstein-Ross, “is echoed throughout MAS’s membership curriculum. For example, MAS requires all its adjunct members to read Fathi Yakun’s book To Be a Muslim. In that volume,

spells out his expansive agenda: ‘Until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful.’”

MAS’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood were confirmed on August 14, 2007, as The Investigative Project on Terrorism reported: “As the terror-support trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) continued today, FBI agent Lara Burns testified that a phonebook found at the home of Ismail Elbarrasse — un-indicted co-conspirator and former assistant to HAMAS leader Musa Abu Marzook — listed the names and numbers of the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in the United States.

So we’ve got a Hamas-linked group threatening the Christmas tree lighting ceremony while New York politicians continue to tolerate this state of terror.

Finally, if there’s any doubt as what we’re dealing with, here’s a Muslim Society of America event from 2019. (That’s where the screenshot is from.)

Disturbing footage of Muslim kids saying they would sacrifice themselves and kill for the “army of Allah” surfaced from an Islamic center in Philadelphia.

The Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center in Philadelphia posted the video to its Facebook page celebrating “Ummah Day” in which young children wearing Palestinian scarves sang and read poetry about killing for Allah and the mosque in Jerusalem.

“We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation,” a second girl says. “We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture.”

Hamas is here. Al Qaeda is here. ISIS is here. And yes, they don’t intend to allow Christmas trees or menorahs.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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Close to Half of British Jews Have Thought of Emigrating

India: Muslims wanted to repeat 11/26 jihad massacre by targeting restaurants and hotels

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

Video: Gaza Before and After Israel’s Disengagement Plan that Saw the 2005 Forced Removal of Thousands of Jews thumbnail

Video: Gaza Before and After Israel’s Disengagement Plan that Saw the 2005 Forced Removal of Thousands of Jews

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By Jihad Watch

In 2005, under international pressure, Jewish people were withdrawn from Gaza by Israel’s then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.  Whole communities were uprooted by force after years of building up Gaza to a level of superior agricultural production — an effort that had been called a “miracle.” The Jewish community was smeared as “settlers,” just as Jews are still maligned today for living in their tiny ancestral homeland.

When the Jewish community left Gaza, they left behind an entire infrastructure, which included sewage and water pipes, factories, greenhouses, and farmland which included animals. So the Palestinians were gifted with an entire infrastructure they could have used to continue production for their own people. But they didn’t.

In 2006, the Palestinian people in Gaza chose Hamas rule. From 2007 to 2010, the international community donated $7.7 billion to Gaza, despite the fact that it was under Hamas rule. Another $5.4 billion was pledged in 2014 to develop Gaza. Further billions kept flowing in to this very small region, ruled by a monstrous force for evil, Hamas.

Gaza was quickly transformed from a thriving economy with green, fertile lands into a dirty slum, despite the billions donated.

Watch this eye-opening video, produced by Israel MyChannel, to find out what happened to the fine infrastructure left behind by hard-working Israeli citizens, and also how international humanitarian aid money was and is still being used.

Those who insist that giving money to the Palestinians will lead to peace are misguided. Jihadists everywhere have counted on Western egocentrism to gain an advantage over the West. Westerners think that everyone globally thinks like them. This lie overwhelms the truth of what the jihad mission is all about. It makes for analyses that grossly underestimate the jihadist enemy, and for this reason, jihadists are succeeding.

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

RELATED ARTICLES:

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Did Any Palestinian Try to Save a Jew on October 7?

Palestinian Authority to pay nine jihadis released in exchange with Hamas $5,300 a month for life

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

Israel Is Prepared To Act Alone in Gaza, as a Rift Opens Between It and America thumbnail

Israel Is Prepared To Act Alone in Gaza, as a Rift Opens Between It and America

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By The Geller Report

Israel still hasn’t learned that America under the Democrats only respects countries that betray, mock and work feverishly against us like Iran (Death to America!) and the Palestinians terror groups  The more you oppose us, the more billions come your way. If you respect and admire America (like Israel does), the Biden regime is going to stab you hard in the back.

Israel must go it alone and end this infernal ceasefire.

Jewish state will do what it has to in an existential struggle, even if it is abandoned by its most important

By: Benny Avni, NY Sun, November 28, 2023:

A rift is growing between America and Israel over how to proceed the day after the current pause in Gaza fighting ends, as Washington attempts to micromanage the war conduct.

With a two-day extension of the original ceasefire that was scheduled to end Tuesday, intelligence chiefs from America, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar are meeting at Doha to contemplate further hostage releases. Israel has initially agreed to a maximum of a 10-day war pause if at least 10 hostages are released daily.

Ten Israeli women and two Thais were released Tuesday. At least eight children remain in Gaza, including 10-months-old Kfir Bibas, who has become a symbol of Hamas’s cruelty. Also, at least nine Americans are yet to be freed.

Meanwhile the Israel Defense Force is readying an invasion of southern Gaza, to where Hamas elite leaders escaped after the IDF captured Gaza City and most of the north. Washington, though, is urging a change in war tactics. Pressured by the Democratic left, President Biden increasingly seems more concerned about the humanitarian plight in Gaza than eliminating Hamas.

Meanwhile, Hamas is already violating the ceasefire. On Tuesday, three explosive devices were detonated next to IDF positions in northern Gaza, followed by gunshots. Three soldiers were lightly wounded. “The response needs to be disproportional, so we don’t play by Hamas rules,” a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Zvi Hauser, told Israel Channel 11 television.

Mr. Netanyahu’s government, though, seemed to be in full diplomatic mode. The Mossad chief, David Barnea, and his American counterpart, William Burns of the Central Intelligence Agency, were at Doha Tuesday to negotiate further military pauses for hostage releases. According to the Washington Post, Mr. Burns is seeking a “longer, multi-day pause,” beyond even the Israeli 10-day cap.

Israel seems willing to let negotiations play out as long as hostages are freed. “To date, we got 74 abductees released, including 50 children and women that were included in the first phase of the agreement,” Mr. Netanyahu said Tuesday. “We will complete this phase when all women and children are released — and then everyone else.”

Qatar, which serves as a Hamas proxy in the talks, is reportedly seeking an agreement to release all hostages held in Gaza in return for top Hamas terrorists held in Israeli prisons, including those who have committed deadly acts. Most importantly for Hamas, such a pact would entail a durable ceasefire and end of war.

Such a deal is opposed by the Israeli government. “Gaza would not remain what it was before, and would no longer threaten Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said. A senior cabinet member, Benny Gantz, told reporters Tuesday that once the current ceasefire ends, “fire will resume. We are ready for the next stages in the war all over Gaza. There would be no place of refuge for terrorists and Hamas leaders.”

Washington, though, is warning Israel to avoid “significant further displacement” of civilians in the south, senior officials told reporters this week.

Continue reading.

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

Belgian MP from Iran: ‘More and more people are trying to silence people who criticize Islam’ thumbnail

Belgian MP from Iran: ‘More and more people are trying to silence people who criticize Islam’

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By Jihad Watch

“When I was detained in Tehran in 1999 in the ayatollahs’ prison, I could never have imagined that one could also be imprisoned in the West for the same reason. The day before yesterday, it was announced in the United States that they have a comprehensive plan to fight Islamophobia. What might this national plan entail? Criminalizing “Islamophobia” and making it punishable?” — Darya Safai MP  Belgian Parliament.

When I was detained in Tehran in 1999 in the ayatollahs’ prison,
I could never have imagined that one could also be imprisoned in the West for the same reason.

The day before yesterday, it was announced in the United States that they have a comprehensive plan to fight… pic.twitter.com/tfMJXH6e7X

— Darya Safai MP (@SafaiDarya) November 4, 2023

“The day before yesterday, it was announced in the United States that they have a comprehensive plan to fight Islamophobia. What might this national plan entail? Criminalizing ‘Islamophobia’ and making it punishable?”

That’s likely the plan. And it won’t be limited to criminalizing vigilante attacks against innocent Muslims, which are already illegal. It will criminalize any criticism of Islam, including honest analysis of the motive and goals of Islamic jihadis.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

RELATED ARTICLES:

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Islamic Republic of Iran: Security forces fire on protesters from a mosque’s minaret

France: Six Muslim teens go on trial in connection of beheading of teacher Samuel Paty for showing Muhammad cartoon

NYC: Pro-Hamas protesters scream ‘Allahu akbar,’ pray in street outside Museum of Natural History

Austria: Muslim migrant with screwdriver disrupts cathedral mass, says he’ll slit throats, cops can’t find motive

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

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The Legal Making of Orphans

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By The Catholic Thing

John D. Grondelski: Surrogacy deliberately sets out to make offspring orphans – in the name of assuaging somebody’s felt want to be a “parent.”

Michigan, which in 2022 ensconced a right to abortion-on-demand into its state constitution, may be on the verge of another adaptation to the sexual revolution: adopting commercial surrogacy.

The Great Lake State, along with Nebraska and to some degree Louisiana, are the three states that still outlaw commercial surrogacy.  “Commercial” surrogacy is distinguished from “altruistic” surrogacy, where the latter is nominally a volunteer undertaking.  I say “nominally” because (a) how does one really monitor financial exchanges in such quasi-private contexts and (b) when does “compensation for care” (e.g., medical “expenses”) blur into pay?

Are you surprised that the vast majority of states allow trafficking in children?  If you are, you’re soooo 1987, when New Jersey’s “Baby M” case was decided.  As bioethics activist Jennifer Lahl has observed, America is the “Wild West” when it comes to artificial reproduction.

Amid the controversies over abortion from the 1970s-90s, many state legislators decided to steer clear of any involvement in the emerging field of artificial reproduction, including surrogacy.  And Roe fostered a perspective of treating childbearing as an “individual liberty interest” with which states should not interfere, a mindset that has perdured in the various post-Dobbs state constitutional amendments enshrining abortion-on-demand.

So, while those pushing commercial surrogacy in Michigan would like simply to suggest the state is catching up with all the others, in fact, the legislation advancing in Lansing is extreme.

Just as Obergefell redefined marriage to eliminate sexual difference, Michigan’s proposed surrogacy law redefines parenthood to eliminate genetics and the bodily.  The only “parent” in law in Michigan would be the person(s) commissioning the baby.

If there are two, they wouldn’t even need to live together or have any formal relationship to be listed as “Parent One” and “Parent Two.”  (Yeah, sexual differentiation in parentage goes away, too).  Parenthood becomes a state of mind.

We need to make ourselves fully aware of what that means.

For a child to come into existence requires genetics, gestation, and upbringing, what Catholicism once used to call procreatio et educatio.  You need a man for sperm; a woman to provide an ovum.  You need a woman – who may or may not be the woman who provided the ovum – to bear that fertilized ovum for nine months.  And you need somebody to raise that newborn.

That used to be understood as what mothers and fathers do.

Technology has allowed the genetics, gestation, and social dimensions of parenthood to be separated into unrelated components.  Surrogacy laws have decided that the only legally valued component is raising the child.  All the other elements are deemed sub-personal and legally irrelevant to what constitutes a “parent.”

Sperm and egg are not essential to parenthood: they are parts to be obtained.  A female body is just a biological incubator, necessary only insofar as our technology has not (yet) found an artificial substitute for the interval between Petri dish and viability.

Of course, if gametes become mere “parts,” one should be able to customize.  Just as car buyers may like red over black, sedan over convertible, or leather upholstery over plastic, so baby buyers might prefer blue eyes over brown, boys over girls, hirsute over smooth.  De gustibus non disputandum est.

And if female bodies simply become a temporary domicile at her “choice,” why shouldn’t we have wombs for rent?  That, of course, is the raw theoretical argument.  We know that’s not how it is in fact.

Since the woman providing the ovum also provides a permanent genetic definition to the child, she’s going to command a higher price: physically attractive, college-educated co-eds (especially Ivies) don’t come cheap.

But if all you need is a temporary dwelling, poorer women will do.  As Lahl observes, no small number of military wives, initially attracted by “helping a woman have a baby,” also decide surrogacy is supplemental income, especially with long-deployed husbands on low enlisted salaries.  And, if you can offshore the job to a woman overseas, so much the better: labor costs are cheaper abroad.

Let’s be honest about the exploitative element.  A typical American commercial surrogacy arrangement runs about $60-70,000.  That’s for 24/7 “work” for nine months, i.e., about 6,500 hours.  That comes at best to about $10.80/hour, with no overtime, below current hourly minimum wages in 24 states.

Now, let’s stop and take a step back: how have we, in 2023, come to the point of talking about the choice between getting paid to make a human being or maybe making more money flippin’ burgers?

Because that is, in fact, what the “intended parent” is commissioning.  (S)he has placed an order for a custom-made child. As Michel Aupetit, the former Archbishop of Paris once remarked, the “parental project” – the treatment of a child as a “want” rather than a gift – must inevitably turn that child into a product.  Reification is unavoidable.

Indeed, what the “intended parent” has asked of us as a society is that we make an orphan.  We are to create a child who will be cut off from his genetic parents.  Michigan says the child’s genetic mother and father do not matter. 

The child’s family and ancestry are irrelevant.  Any siblings the child might have through this man or woman are biological accidents that have no inherent value.  The physical contact of a child with his mother’s body – before as well as after birth – is merely a biological necessity of no further significance in surrogacy.  Any woman/child bonding is purely coincidental.

We are making orphans but pretend otherwise because we deliver them to “adoptive” parents.

In the Biblical world, widows and orphans receive special care because circumstances beyond their control have made them particularly vulnerable.  But surrogacy sets out to make them orphans deliberately, in the name of assuaging somebody’s felt want to be a “parent.”

One can feel for such persons. . .but is that a reason to make an orphan?

You may also enjoy:

Fr. Paul D. Scalia’s The Impious Public Square

Ines A. Murzaku’s Surrogacy: A problem of human dignity

AUTHOR

John M. Grondelski

John Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is a former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. All views herein are exclusively his.

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2023 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

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Biden is the primary obstacle to Israeli victory

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By Center For Security Policy

The time has come to discuss the Biden administration’s relationship with Israel. With each passing day, two things become obvious. First, Israel cannot fight the war without U.S. resupply of the Israel Defense Forces. As a consequence, Israel is beholden to the administration’s directives. And second, if Israel follows the Biden administration’s directives, it will lose the war.

Israel’s dependence on the United States was stated bluntly by retired IDF Maj. General Yitzhak Brick in an interview earlier this week.

“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Brick went on to explain that President Joe Biden’s demand that Israel permit “humanitarian aid” to enter Gaza means that he is demanding that Israel keep Hamas fully supplied with food, water and fuel.

His demand that Israel minimize Palestinian civilian casualties endangers IDF soldiers and renders the expansion of the ground offensive into central and southern Gaza, where the bulk of Hamas’s force is now located, almost impossible to carry out. Brick suggested various forms of long-term tunnel warfare and other suggestions for how the IDF may be able to defeat Hamas over time while operating within the constraints that Biden and his top advisors are dictating.

It is hard to judge whether Brick’s suggestions are workable without access to situational intelligence about conditions on the ground in southern Gaza. At a minimum, it is clear that Biden’s preference for the lives of civilians in Gaza over the lives of IDF soldiers on the ground ensures that far more soldiers will be killed in the fighting than would otherwise. Three weeks ago, the administration began demanding that Israel limit (or cancel entirely) its pre-ground battle aerial bombings. Consequently, in the week that preceded this week’s “humanitarian pause,” the IDF’s battle losses were overwhelmingly the consequence of sniper fire from Hamas terrorists hiding in buildings that the air force did not destroy before the battles, due to U.S. pressure.

Then there is the issue of the hostages. Israel is duty-bound to the hostages, their families and Israeli society as a whole to rescue them. There are two ways to do this. Israel can bow to Hamas’s demands, as it is presently doing by suspending its offensive, and endangering Israel’s soldiers and civilians by permitting Hamas to rebuild and reorganize its forces, and by releasing terrorists from its prisons and retuning them to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. Or it can renew its military operation, locate the hostages and rescue them itself. Clearly, the second option is preferable.

Securing aid from America

Until Monday, it appeared the reason that Israel had accepted the deal it is currently operating under owed to its inability to locate the hostages. The London-based Daily Express reported on Monday that the real reason Israel is not rescuing the hostages—and instead agreed to the current deal with all of its tactical and strategic costs—is related to the Biden administration’s directive not to harm Palestinian civilians.

Based on Israeli sources, the British Daily Express reported that Israel knows where many of the hostages are located. It has opted not to rescue them because Hamas is holding the hostages among civilians. Rescuing them would involve collateral damage to those Palestinians and risk U.S. resupply, which Israel cannot fight without.

Here it is important to note that the number of actual civilians that have died as a result of Israel’s bombings remains unknown. On Oct. 25, Biden acknowledged that the Gaza Health Ministry’s data on civilian casualties lacks credibility in light of the fact that the Health Ministry is simply an organ of Hamas and reports the numbers it is told to report by Hamas’s terror masters. That data counts every dead terrorist as a dead civilian.

Israelis were thrilled with Biden’s statement. But the next day, he apologized for it. According to Fox News, in a meeting with Muslim American leaders on Oct. 26, Biden apologized for telling the truth.

“I’m sorry. I’m disappointed with myself,” he said.

Since Oct. 26, the administration has embraced as fact Hamas’s casualty counts and uses them as the basis for its demand that Israel minimize Palestinian casualties. The administration’s willingness to ignore the fallacies at the heart of those data indicates that its policy is based on something other than concern for Palestinian civilians, and therefore is not a tactical challenge that Israel may be capable of contending with and still win.

To be sure, Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have all expressed their solidarity with Israel, as well as their revulsion at Hamas’s actions and desire to see the genocidal jihadist terror group defeated. And to be sure, Biden has taken steps to resupply Israel—requesting $14.3 billion in military supplies to Israel (although the assistance has yet to be approved by Congress or signed into law by Biden). These positions and at least partial actions lend credence to Brick’s assessment, shared by the IDF and the government, that the challenge the Biden administration’s position on civilian casualties in Gaza is an operational or tactical challenge and not a strategic conundrum.

Dealing with Fatah and the P.A.<

But there are additional indications that Biden doesn’t want Israel to win. First, there is the issue of Egypt. Due to the U.S. decision to support Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s determination to prevent Gazans from fleeing to Egypt or to a third country through Egypt, the million or so Gazans who evacuated the northern end of the Strip during the fighting are now concentrated in the south. Among them are the bulk of Hamas’s forces, which Israel must destroy to win the war. Facing the U.S.-backed Egyptian refusal to permit these civilians to leave Gaza on the one hand and the U.S. directive to keep civilian casualties close to zero on the other, Israel is facing an impossible operational challenge. Brick may be right that a low-key, slow offensive would be capable of achieving the goal. But he may be wrong. Certainly, a more conventional operation would have a much higher chance of succeeding.

To this must be added the Biden administration’s demands for a post-war settlement. Israel’s goal is not only to defeat Hamas now but to prevent it from rebuilding and to prevent other terror groups from emerging in a post-war Gaza. To this end, at a minimum, Israel will be required to take two actions. First, it must retain permanent military control over all of Gaza. Second, Israel must seize a buffer zone several kilometers wide on the Gaza side of the border to protect civilian communities and military bases from a repeat of Oct. 7.

Biden and his advisers oppose both of these goals. Not only do they completely oppose Israeli military control over Gaza and the establishment of buffer zones inside Gaza, they demand that in a post-war settlement, Israel end its maritime blockade of the Gaza coast, and permit everything and anything to enter Gaza from the sea. In other words, the U.S. position is to permit terrorist forces whether they call themselves Hamas or anything else—to rebuild their capabilities unfettered in post-war Gaza.

Even worse, the administration’s position is that Gaza must be ruled by the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority after the war has ended, and that Gaza be united with Judea and Samaria in a post-war era, and together receive full sovereignty. In other words, the administration’s war goal is to establish a Fatah-dominated Palestinian state in these areas. On its own, this position is antithetical not only to an Israeli victory in the war. It represents an existential threat to Israel’s continued existence. Fatah—and the P.A. it runs—is a terrorist organization and regime. The P.A.’s U.S.-armed and funded security forces are Hamas’s junior partners in terror. As Eugene Kontorovich and Itamar Marcus reported in The Wall Street Journal this week, P.A.-controlled Fatah terrorists from Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group posted videos of its members in Gaza participating in Hamas’s Oct. 7 slaughter. Fatah terrorists killed, tortured and kidnapped Israelis, and took videos of their actions.

Unlike Gaza, Judea and Samaria are a stone’s throw from all of Israel’s major population centers, and half a million Israelis live in cities and villages throughout Judea and Samaria. Last Friday night, the threat posed by Palestinian terrorist and paramilitary forces in Judea and Samaria to the lives of millions of Israelis came into sharp relief with the public lynching in the city of Tulkarm of two Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israeli counter-terror operations. To the roars of a crowd of thousands—secured by P.A. security forces—Hamas publicly hanged the two men from an electricity tower. The two men’s bodies showed signs of brutal torture that preceded their execution. Tulkarm is controlled by the P.A. It is located less than a kilometer from the Cross Israel Highway and a few minutes’ drive to Kfar Yona and Netanya.

Israel’s dependence on U.S. weapons makes it impossible for the Netanyahu government to publicly air the strategic threat the administration’s policies pose to its war effort and its long-term ability to survive in the post-Oct. 7 Middle East. Israel cannot risk additional stress to its position vis-à-vis the Biden administration and wants to avoid exposing the rift to its enemies already emboldened from Gaza to Lebanon, Yemen to Iran.

Congressional lawmakers face no such constraints, however. Moreover, they have an interest in exposing the truth and working to compel a change in the administration’s Hamas-enabling policies. Polling data shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans support Israel in this war and want it to destroy Hamas. The overwhelming majority of lawmakers from both parties share their views. To date, the Republican majority in the House has made no effort to exercise oversight over the Biden administration’s policies in relation to Israel’s war with Hamas, largely due to the Israeli government’s unwillingness to air the actual state of relations.

As the humanitarian pause is extended to secure the release of additional hostages and before the Christmas recess, House Republicans and like-minded Democrats should open hearings to compel the administration to explain its policies. Specifically, it should be asked to explain how Israel can defeat Hamas given the constraints the administration is placing on IDF operations. The administration should also be asked why it supports the P.A., given the P.A.’s involvement, support and defense of Hamas’s invasion of Israel, and the slaughter of its civilians on Oct. 7. Congress should also ensure that the aid package, when passed, contains no conditions on Israel’s use of the weapons it will receive.

Lawmakers must understand the source of the Israeli government’s fulsome praise for Biden. They should then take action to prevent the administration from maintaining its policy of paying lip service to an Israeli victory while preventing Israel from achieving one.

Originally published by Jewish News Syndicate

AUTHOR

Caroline Glick

Senior Fellow.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Western Civilization’s Most Important and Neglected Strand

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By Jerry Newcombe

For the last few generations, Western civilization has been under attack. But recently there were some excellent defenses of it made by Bill Maher (earlier this month) and by Greg Gutfield in his program on Fox News last Friday.

Gutfield said: “So let’s talk about the death of Western civilization. It’s in trouble, people….Now, before you accuse me of being too pessimistic, let me just say the West has been tested before and we’ve come through….in 1940 when it looked like the Nazis could take over all of Europe, it was the British who stood up to them alone. Sounds familiar to what Israel is doing right now, doesn’t it?”

Gutfield went on, “When the wall and Soviet communism fell, our president didn’t. The West survived once again….So if you’re a parent, think hard about where your kids are going to school. Make sure they understand that America is unique in history and so are the achievements and the freedoms of Western civilization.”

I really appreciate the comedian’s insights as far as they go. But I would add that the Judeo-Christian tradition has been the critical foundation for this strength and resilience.

For example, Gutfield rightly extolled Winston Churchill for his great rallying speech when the British army was surrounded at Dunkirk. But it’s important to also note that Churchill declared in that speech that they (the British) would fight against the Nazis in every way they could “until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Churchill said in another speech on June 18, 1940, “I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.”

Although many point to the influences of the Enlightenment, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome, it is the predominant Judeo-Christian influence that defines Western Civilization.

Meanwhile, another comedian recently defended the West. A few weeks ago, Bill Maher said, “For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western Civilization, like it’s a bad thing…Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every [expletive] liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore. Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women’s rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech.”

He credited Rousseau and Voltaire with the giving the world the idea of human rights. There I would disagree. Rousseau and Voltaire were at war with Western civilization, and they helped create the nightmare that was the French Revolution. The streets ran red with blood because of their anti-God philosophies.

Maher did properly credit John Locke for the rights “against unreasonable searches and seizures” embodied in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. But Maher left out Locke’s Christian worldview—which is seen throughout his books, including his Second Treatise on Civil Government, which has some 90 references to the Bible to formulate his arguments. That book was influential to America’s founders.

Furthermore, John Locke wrote a book entitled, The Reasonableness of Christianity. I once attended Sunday school classes taught by Greg Forster, Ph.D., now with Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. Forster credits his conversion to Christ through his study of that book by Locke for his doctoral thesis at Yale.

What makes Western civilization what it is? A dozen years ago, reports emerged that some Chinese intellectuals were beginning to realize how important Christianity was to the genius of the West.

Writing for the Iona Institute for Religion and Society (March 3, 2011), Tom O’Gorman opined, “In the West we are doing our best to destroy our Christian heritage; but in China, Chinese intellectuals are coming around to the view that it is precisely this heritage that has made the West so successful.”

Harvard University’s Niall Ferguson quoted a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in his book, Civilization: The West and the Rest: “The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

At D. James Kennedy Ministries, we are gearing up to release in December our ground-breaking documentary based on a book that I co-wrote with Dr. D. James Kennedy, What If the Bible Had Never Been Written? This book shows how the Scriptures have transformed our world in a multitude of positive ways.

One quote from our book says it all—as to the Scriptural contribution to Western civilization. Said author and former Yale professor William Lyons Phelps: “Our civilization is founded upon the Bible. More of our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, our ideals come from the Bible than from all other books combined.”

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

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Disney Admits to Prioritizing Politics over Profits

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By Family Research Council

The Walt Disney Company has been at the forefront of culture wars in recent years. Many became aware of their left-wing political proclivities when they aggressively opposed legislation in Florida that would prohibit schools from giving lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity to children in kindergarten through third grade. The bill, which enjoyed broad public support (even among Democrats), was dishonestly described by progressive activists as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill simply because it prohibited activists from proselytizing young children.

In truth, Disney has seen itself as a political force for a long time. Video of staff meetings showed the company’s creators admitting the purpose of their content was to advance the values and frameworks of the sexual revolution.

Disney’s decision to publicly oppose Florida’s parental rights law led to calls for boycotts and an immediate 5% decline in the company’s stock price. Some studies have found the boycotts have had a material economic impact on the company while others have found no impact. Regardless, according to recent Security and Exchange Commission filings, Disney seems to be accepting that their political convictions are going to cost them money and they are fine with that.

As a publicly traded company, Disney is required to release a “Form 10K” to provide transparency about past, current, and future business prospects. CEO Bob Iger must take these documents seriously because they can be held legally liable by shareholders if they are found to have misled the public. This prospect of legal liability is part of what makes Disney’s recent statements somewhat shocking. In discussing risk factors that could affect future business, the company said:

“We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products, which impact demand for our entertainment offerings and products and the profitability of any of our businesses.”

In isolation, this statement isn’t cause for alarm. The fact is, most companies face the risk of creating products the public doesn’t want. But they go on to clarify why they think there could be a disconnect between the company and their customers.

“Further, consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”

Many Disney shareholders will be surprised to learn that Disney considers their “environmental and social goals” to be a liability. Notably, the company does not say they are deprioritizing or changing their “social goals” to ensure they don’t threaten shareholders. Instead, they put shareholders on notice, effectively saying, “Our political goals are going to alienate millions of customers and that could hurt the stock price.” Now, if Disney’s political activism does hurt their stock price and shareholders sue the Disney board for failing to prioritize the interests of shareholders, the Disney board can point to this language and say, “told you so.”

Whether this message will be received among the Disney shareholders is yet to be seen, but there may be something the church can learn in all of this. The leadership of Disney just said in writing that they are more committed to ESG, LGBT, and DEI than they are to MONEY. They have counted the cost of serving the rainbow gods and are willing to pay, whatever it may be.

Meanwhile, the church, in significant ways, is counting the cost and looking for a truce to see if there’s any way to avoid paying it. Paul exhorted us to share in the sufferings of Christ in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:17), but for the most part we are looking to avoid the suffering. Of course, this is a relatable and virtually universal human temptation. This was Peter’s problem when he denied Christ three times the night he was crucified. He wanted to be identified with Jesus when it was popular, but suddenly it had become risky. Christians in 21st century America can relate.

We all see that we are in a conflict, but we must understand that conflicts of this kind are almost always won by those who are most committed — and commitment is always demonstrated through sacrifice. Disney and many others on the Left have shown they intend to be more committed to the cause than to comfort. They just told their shareholders they’re expecting to sacrifice profit in order to win the culture wars. We don’t need more Disneys, but we do need a church that is just as committed to the truth as Disney is to the lie.

AUTHOR

Joseph Backholm

Joseph Backholm is Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

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