VIDEO: Reports indicate Israel is preparing to retaliate against Iran imminently, possibly within 24 hours thumbnail

VIDEO: Reports indicate Israel is preparing to retaliate against Iran imminently, possibly within 24 hours

By Vlad Tepes Blog

Will Israel strike Iran? That is the big question.

The below video report says yes, and perhaps within the next 24 hours.

This journalist claims that a few hours ago now, American and Frenchy and German citizens have all been advised to immediately leave Iran. Qatar has diverted all flights away from Iranian airspace, and Netanyahu has called a meeting of ALL the leaders of the many parties in Israel to a meeting with the exception of the leaders of the Arabic and anti-Israel parties.

WATCH: Breaking News – Iran & Israel on Behold Israel with Amir Tsarfati [Start at 7.00 minutes mark.]

Took some time to find, but his quote is from the Times of Israel, paraphrasing the WSJ. It is close, but not exactly that.

Decades ago, I used to be friendly with a family, the patriarch of which was a General in a Western military. He was a brilliant, and very decent man, who has passed away some time ago now. So I think its okay to tell this story.

He was telling me about some of the RealPolitik of the Middle East. About how during the cold war, an ally of the Soviet Union, I think it was Iraq, was developing nuclear weapons by constructing a 40 MW nuclear reactor which has pretty much no practical use beyond making nukes. But neither the U.S. nor the Soviets wanted Iraq to have these weapons. So it was decided that the U.S. would ask Israel to fly a single sortie over the area and take out the reactor. The Soviets would stand up in the United Nations and condemn the action and demand a resolution of some kind against Israel. The U.S. was to veto it, and that would be the end of the issue. Everyone wins except maybe the one guy in Iraq that thought having nukes was a good idea. And that is exactly how it played out.

This tells us a lot about how things happen. The attack against Israel by Iran was clearly something along these lines. Calls where made, understandings where arrived at, and events took place in a way that would satisfy the honour of the Islamic regime in Tehran without any kind of actual war per se.

Let’s hope the Israeli response, if indeed it is real at all, has a similar trajectory.

DM Gallant to Pentagon: No choice but to retaliate against Iran

The Global Security Situation group

Axios reports that Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Sunday that Israel has no choice but to respond to the unprecedented missile and drone attack launched by Iran over the weekend, a U.S. official and another source briefed on the call told Axios.

The Israeli war cabinet convened on Monday to discuss Israel’s possible response.

Gallant told Austin in a phone call Sunday that Israel can’t allow ballistic missiles to be launched against its territory without a response, the U.S. official and the source briefed on the call said.

The report went on to say that Israel won’t accept an equation in which Iran responds with a direct attack every time Israel strikes targets in Syria, Gallant added.

The sources said Austin conveyed a similar message to the one President Biden gave Netanyahu on Saturday night, stressing the need to do everything possible to avoid further escalation.

The Pentagon and the Israeli ministry of defense said that Austin and Gallant also discussed efforts to establish an international and regional coalition against Iran.

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Iran’s Attack Was Just a Taste of What Could Be to Come

Strangling Israel slowly

GOP Rep Blasts Squad Dems For Trying To Block Sale Of F-35s Israel Used To Defend Against Iran Attacks

POSTS ON X:

The IDF Chief of Staff delivers a message in English: pic.twitter.com/bPz5p9Q5AL

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 15, 2024

BREAKING: The Israeli Air Force has completed preparing for an attack on Iran pic.twitter.com/PjK2FTiSXv

— Inbar Cohen (@InbarCohen13) April 15, 2024

Huge success for Israel in defending itself against Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/GicWYyMRg7

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) April 14, 2024

NEW- Earlier today, the @IDF Chief of General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi visited Nevatim Airbase: “Missiles sent into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response.” pic.twitter.com/NF5mrYOc41

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) April 15, 2024

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

Big Tech Can Censor Us, But We’ll Tell the Truth About Islam thumbnail

Big Tech Can Censor Us, But We’ll Tell the Truth About Islam

By Jamie Glazov

Facebook allows praising Islamic terrorists, censors interview exposing them.


Last month, Google AdSense warned us to take down articles about Islamic terrorism, including one about the San Bernardino terrorist attack at a California Christmas party, or we wouldn’t be allowed to be part of their ad revenue program. And we didn’t even have to think twice about it.

After five years of political persecution by the IRS, we’re struggling to financially survive, but we won’t censor ourselves for Big Tech cash. We will go on telling the truth about Islamic terrorism.

A few weeks later, Frontpage Editor Jamie Glazov had his account disabled by Facebook over one of his Glazov Gang interviews warning about the threat of Islamic terrorism in America.

The interview, “Oct 7th Coming to the USA?”, was a continuation of Glazov’s long standing work of bringing attention to the enemy within in books such as “United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny and Terror” and “Jihadist Psychopath: How He Is Charming, Seducing, and Devouring Us” and many important articles and interviews that have led to him being targeted.

According to Facebook, Jamie Glazov’s work of exposing the Islamic terror threat, violated its “community standards” and posed a threat to “the security of people on Facebook.”

Which people on Facebook was the interview about Islamic terrorism a threat to?

While Facebook was telling Glazov that criticizing Hamas and other Jihadists posed a threat, its Oversight Board had ruled that the company should stop taking down posts calling Islamic terrorists “shaheeds” or “martyrs” because it violated their “freedom of expression.”

On Facebook, Islamic terrorism supporters have the freedom of expression to praise terrorism, but counterterrorism journalists like Jamie Glazov are banned from exposing them.

While Jamie Glazov has been banned from Facebook, Jihadists routinely operate there.

Telling the story of the barbarous Hamas atrocities of Oct 7 got Jamie Glazov banned, but one of the little told stories of that day is how Islamic terrorists had used Facebook to taunt and terrorize the families of their victims.

When Islamic terrorists broke into the home of Bracha Levinson, a 74-year-old grandmother, and murdered her, they used her phone to post a video of her killing to her Facebook page.

Her granddaughter, Mor, recalled leaving the bomb shelter and “my aunt called my mother, screaming, ‘Open Facebook, open Facebook’”. And there she was, “my grandmother on the ground, in her own home, murdered, in a video. The floor was all bloody.”

Facebook is full of pages supporting terrorist groups, glorifying Islamic terrorist attacks and calling for more of the same. The Israeli government had previously noted Facebook terrorist fan pages for Islamic terrorists, including one who had killed two children.

And Facebook or Meta goes to great lengths to protect their freedom of expression.

For example, “in the past, despite repeated external requests, Facebook has refused to take down a community page called, ‘Stab Israelis.’” Another “Facebook page contained a victim’s photograph with a knife blade almost completely embedded in his head” and the message “there is nothing greater than a knife penetrating the heads of the Jews.”

The proliferation of Islamic terrorists on Facebook led to a lawsuit by terror victims.

The Big Tech double standards on terror speech and counter-terrorism speech confronted by Jamie Glazov and Front Page Magazine are typical of the double standards faced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Facebook took down my original page because I spoke out against Islamic terrorism. Twitter, even after the Musk takeover, suspended me for criticizing Islamic violence. Jamie Glazov had been previously suspended by Twitter for mentioning an Islamic Hadith about sex slavery.

Many of us have stories like that.

In 2018, David Horowitz had been censored for tweeting,  “but if you’re a Muslim, you might not want to be sworn in on a Judeo-Christian bible, since Islam has conducted a 1500 year war against Christians and Jews, is calling for death to Israel and has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Christians recently.”

PayPal had previously banned Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch which is one of the numerous times that Spencer and his site were targeted by Big Tech platforms trying to suppress the truth.

And Front Page Magazine contributors like Raymond Ibrahim and Danusha Goska have also been censored for discussing the same forbidden subject.

But they haven’t silenced us and they never will.

After all these years and all of these bans, the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the brave men and women associated with it are still speaking out. We may be among the few that are left, who have not bowed to Big Tech and stopped talking about the Jihad and certain other banned subjects, and as long as we are around, that will never change.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center and our people have been deplatformed by Google, Facebook, payment processors like Visa and MasterCard, and more companies than we can count. We had our videos kicked off Vimeo because the Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon told the truth about the transgender movement and we lost Disqus, our commenting system, because of the smear campaign against us by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

And that’s nothing. We’ve spent the last 5 years and six figures fighting an assault by the IRS.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center is among the most censored, deplatformed, debanked and demonized organizations in the country. We may be small, but we’ve already been a big target.

And that’s because we won’t back down.

Jamie Glazov has appealed the disabling of his Facebook account, but has received no response, and he urges people to protest to the Big Tech giant social media monopoly through their Help Center and also via email at disabled@fb.com , support@fb.com and appeals@fb.com. You can also contact Facebook on X (formerly Twitter) at @facebook and @Meta – and of course Mark Zuckerberg at @finkd.

But whatever happens, the Glazov Gang is not about to stop spreading the truth. And neither are we. They can deplatform us, threaten us and censor us, but they will never silence us.

Below is the video that got Jamie banned and that Facebook doesn’t want you to see:

AUTHOR

Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

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Pre-order a copy of Daniel Greenfield’s first book, Domestic Enemies, by clicking here. Orders will begin shipping on April 30th.


EDITORS NOTE: This Glazov Gang column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Christian Nationalism’ and the ‘Catholic Thing’ thumbnail

‘Christian Nationalism’ and the ‘Catholic Thing’

By The Catholic Thing

David G. Bonagura, Jr.: Beleaguered Christians, appalled by America’s moral collapse, seek ways to stem the tide. Catholics and other Christians represent the final obstacles preventing the victory of the secular Left.


“Christian Nationalism” has fast become a favorite boogeyman term of the cultural Left. Its precise meaning, as many have noted, is intentionally ambiguous so it can tar as many believing Christians as possible with toxic intentions. The most overreaching definition, which rocked the Internet before a minor retraction, claimed that Christian Nationalists are those who “believe our rights as Americans and as all human beings do not come from any earthy authority. They don’t come from Congress, from the Supreme Court, they come from God.”

That is, Christian Nationalists are guilty of believing the truth of our nation’s Declaration of Independence (“men have been endowed by their Creator”), which is neither a Christian nor a nationalist document.

Such a fatuous description betrays a seemingly paranoid fear that Christianity might again become a public force that shapes laws and customs. A restoration of how America used to function would inaugurate, in the words of a longtime opinion writer at a supposedly responsible newspaper, “the peril of the theocratic future toward which the country has been hurtling.”

In calmer words, “Christian Nationalism” concerns the role that Christianity plays in American public life, culture, and law. Those lamenting it care nothing about Christian claims for the Triune God, the Virgin Birth, or the Resurrection. They fix their disdain on Christian moral teachings that oppose their creed of expressive individualism, which enshrines the Sexual Revolution as the first article.

Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, are the final obstacles preventing total victory. Yet, from the rewriting of marriage and family law to the sudden rush to enshrine IVF as a human right, it’s clear that expressive individualism has long had “Christian Nationalism” on the run.

Beleaguered Christians of all denominations, appalled by America’s moral collapse, have been seeking various ways to stem the tide. Public life, culture, and law are all expressions of a deeper vision, whether religious or secular, that a people hold in common.

For Christian morality to again direct American life, Americans would need not only to call themselves Christian, but they also would have to believe what they claim. For that, we need the slow, grinding work of guerilla evangelization. Top-down impositions by a “Christian government” or otherworldly power will not work.

Plus, given the GOP’s meager post-Dobbs opposition to abortion and its instant capitulation to IVF, progressives need not fret: “Christian Nationalists,” Twitter blusters aside, have little appetite for a government takeover.

As America severs more of its Christian roots, Catholics need not lose hope. We have been doing our “Catholic thing” – living out our universal faith in the particular historical context of America – for centuries, and almost always under duress. We forget that even when American law and culture embodied Christian morality – abortion was illegal, divorce was fault-based, pornography curtailed, adultery criminalized – Catholics were not entirely welcome in these United States because the reigning culture rejected their religious sensibilities.

Working within the law, Catholics responded by building their own neighborhoods, churches, schools, and universities where they could live their faith unencumbered. At the same time, Catholics found ways to participate in the general culture as Americans – through military service, civil and public offices, and working in industry.

Discrimination was rampant and nasty, yet Catholics fought the hostility as a creative minority. They prayed, they imagined, they built, they stuck together, they engaged rivals, and they offered charity to all.

“Creative minority” is a term coined by British historian Arnold Toynbee, who recognized how a small group’s spiritual vision can breathe new life into a dying civilization. Twenty years ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger baptized the term to articulate an approach to re-evangelize secular Europe. As Pope Benedict XVI, he identified three requirements for Catholics living as a creative minority: dialogue with agnostics, education, and charity.

In other words, the success of a creative Catholic minority today also depends on imitating the works of American Catholics in the early twentieth century, with today’s agnostics replacing yesterday’s Protestants.

Then as now, American Catholics felt uneasy in the land they loved. Balancing the “both/and” of maintaining a strong Catholic identity with engaging non-Catholic society has never been an easy feat – internal retreat or total assimilation are perennial temptations.

Individual Catholics and the Church institutions did not strike the balance properly every time, but the rise of Catholicism as a creative force – from Archbishop Fulton Sheen on television to the rise of Catholic schools and universities to the spread of Catholic hospitals and charities all over the country – enriched American culture. It’s no coincidence that when the American Church buckled after Vatican II, American culture collapsed with it.

Today, after decades of barrenness, seeds of a Catholic springtime are growing – admittedly, in unfertile soil. Among a small segment of believers, a strong Catholic identity is being rebuilt through homeschooling and classical schools, faithful colleges, online institutes, zealous young priests, and pious liturgies. The American Church once succeeded culturally beyond the dreams of her nineteenth-century trailblazers. And with her distinct identity reconstituted, she can blossom again as a creative minority that redeems the culture from within.

If “Christian Nationalism” means that Catholics cannot live their religious and moral creed publicly, or that Christian principles, as opposed to secular ones, cannot shape law and policy, then Catholics must fight this bigotry. But if “Christian Nationalism” means “government takeover” as critics allege, then Catholics are not interested. Perennial outsiders to American government and power, Catholics already know how to live their “thing” in these United States.

We look to our American Catholic forebearers for models, inspiration, and intercession.

AUTHOR

David G Bonagura, Jr.

David G. Bonagura Jr. an adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary and is the 2023-2024 Cardinal Newman Society Fellow for Eucharistic Education. He is the author of Steadfast in Faith: Catholicism and the Challenges of Secularism and Staying with the Catholic Church, and the translator of Jerome’s Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning.


You may also enjoy:

James Matthew Wilson John Paul II’s Song of the Earth

David Warren The World Is Falling


EDITORS NOTE: This The Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2024 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.

Biden Knew About, AND APPROVED, Iran’s Planned Attack on Israel thumbnail

Biden Knew About, AND APPROVED, Iran’s Planned Attack on Israel

By The Geller Report

Biden knew of the attack, signed off on it and then went on vacation to the beach. This is grounds for impeachment, at the very least.

Joe Biden not only had prior knowledge of Iran’s assault on Israel but also technically gave it the green light under certain conditions, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post.

HOLY CRAP: Joe Biden Approved Iran’s Assault on Israel ‘Within Certain Limits’

By MATT MARGOLIS

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the Middle East was not in anyone’s interest.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the US) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said…

More here.

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its operation against Israel – Turkish source

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, conveyed through diplomatic channels, aiming to limit escalation in the Middle East.

By Reuters, April 14, 2024:

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments…

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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Muslims Slaughter 11 Christians, Dozens Wounded, Churches Burned in Nigeria in Brazen Attack Which Targeted Children

POSTS ON X:

This is not the actual Iranian attack

This is the ‘attack’ prearranged for show between Iran and the Biden administration through backchannels

There will be an actual attack that will not be prearranged and will not come directly from Iran

That is how the regime operates

— Daniel Greenfield – “Hang Together or Separately” (@Sultanknish) April 14, 2024

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that the US conveyed to Iran via Ankara that its operation must be “within certain limits.”https://t.co/iG8Qr8WIYk

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) April 14, 2024

I don’t know why the president would go on vacation when he knew Iran was going to attack Israel!

— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) April 13, 2024

This is the key to understanding what’s going on. The Biden administration knew in advance about the attacks. They advised Iran on how to conduct them. The old way of understanding all this—“Iran must pay a price” etc.—is obsolete https://t.co/SIpf9Hi2t0

— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) April 14, 2024

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

ISRAEL: Muslim planned to poison the Sea of Galilee as part of Islamic State plot thumbnail

ISRAEL: Muslim planned to poison the Sea of Galilee as part of Islamic State plot

By Jihad Watch

Jihadis have long wanted to poison the water supply. As far back as 2002, the feds arrested two jihadis who were carrying plans about how to poison water supplies in Denver. In 2003, al-Qaeda threatened to poison water supplies in Western countries.

And in May 2013, seven Muslim “chemical engineers” were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir, a key supply of water for Boston, after midnight. Only months later and indirectly did we hear that it was a “criminal matter.” A month later, locks were cut at the aqueduct that supplies water to Greater Boston.

Also in May 2013, jihadists were caught in Canada who had considered poisoning air and water to murder up to 100,000 people. In October 2013, the FBI was investigating a possible water supply threat in Wichita. In January 2014, a Muslim broke into a water treatment plant in New Jersey. In September 2018 in Lebanon, a Muslim was arrested for two jihad mass poisoning plots, one of the Lebanese army’s water supply.

Israeli Arab indicted for planning to poison the Sea of Galilee

JNS, April 12, 2024:

A 22-year-old Arab from Baqa al-Gharbiya in central Israel, who was indicted on terrorism charges, planned to poison the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) as part of an ISIS plot, the Israel Police revealed Thursday.

Fahmi Kittani, who declared his allegiance to the terror group in 2015, planned various attacks, including assaults on Israel Defense Forces soldiers and suicide bombings, according to the indictment.

Kittani allegedly immersed himself in ISIS ideology, actively participating in and distributing content through Telegram channels associated with the terror group. In February, he circulated execution videos amongst his contacts, threatening similar actions against Jews….

The trio planned to poison the Kinneret—Israel’s primary freshwater source—by placing an animal carcass in one of the pumping stations. They also attempted, unsuccessfully, to manufacture explosives based on instructions communicated through ISIS networks. The prosecution has requested that Kittani remain in custody until the end of his trial….

In recent months, security forces have foiled an ISIS-inspired plot near the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, as well as dismantled a terror cell associated with ISIS in Tarqumiyah, near Hebron. The Judea cell had successfully produced over 100 explosive devices.

In early April, four residents of eastern Jerusalem were charged after planning an attack on a police station.

Earlier this year, Islamic State spokesman Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari published a speech calling on ISIS supporters around the world to attack Jews and avenge the deaths of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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Princess Salma of Jordan who is a pilot reportedly shot down 5 Iranian drones last night pic.twitter.com/iPPP0Y6lFI

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 14, 2024

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

GOP Rep Blasts Squad Dems For Trying To Block Sale Of F-35s Israel Used To Defend Against Iran Attacks thumbnail

GOP Rep Blasts Squad Dems For Trying To Block Sale Of F-35s Israel Used To Defend Against Iran Attacks

By The Daily Caller

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida blasted Democrats for trying to get the Biden administration to block the sale of advanced F-35 jets to Israel that defended on Saturday against Iran’s large-scale drone and ballistic missile attack in an exclusive statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi joined 39 Democratic colleagues, including members of the “Squad,” in an April 5 letter urging the president to reverse his decision authorizing a weapons sale to Israel after an Israeli airstrike killed seven humanitarian workers in Gaza. The transfer included U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets and other American-origin weapons needed “to ensure Israel can survive” amid threats and attacks from Iran, Mast, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to the DCNF.

“Just last week, Pelosi and the Squad demanded Joe Biden stop transferring ‘offensive weapons’ to Israel,” Mast said in the statement. “This was akin to them calling for the U.S. to abandon Israel in the middle of a war.”

Iran launched roughly 300 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israeli military, The Associated Press reported. U.S. weapons alongside its own Arrow Air Defense System enabled Israel to down up to 99% of oncoming Iranian drones and missiles, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

“Can you imagine how much more devastating Iran’s attack would have been if Israel didn’t have American-made fighter jets to shoot down some of these missiles?” Mast told the DCNF.

The sale authorized in late March included 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 500 MK-82 500-pound bombs, and 25 F-35A fighter jets, The Washington Post reported.

Video from launch site of Iranian ballistic missiles yesterday.
Part one. pic.twitter.com/zOlKDskfMS

— Mehdi H. (@mhmiranusa) April 14, 2024

The Democrats who signed the letter worried the weapons, which would not arrive in Israel for months, could signify the administration had determined to ignore the devastation in Gaza and possible Israeli war crimes.

“We strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed,” the democrats wrote, referring to the airstrike killing the World Central Kitchen workers.

The IDF took responsibility for the strike and relieved two officers determined to be responsible after an investigation.

The administration is considering another $18 billion weapons sale that would eventually supply Israel with dozens of F-15 fighter jets, 30 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and an unspecified number of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAMs).

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

RELATED ARTICLE: US Shoots Down Iranian Drones Targeting Israel

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


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

WATCH: A unity of decent nations came together against the diabolical intentions of Iran. thumbnail

WATCH: A unity of decent nations came together against the diabolical intentions of Iran.

By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

180 explosive drones, 120 ballistic missiles, 30 cruise missiles – all with the intention to kill Israelis.


99% intercepted together! Together we saved lives.

WATCH: Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner of the IDF spoke with Matt Barbet this morning on Sky News.

7-Year old Israeli Bedouin girl wounded by Iranian missile fights for life

By JNS – Jewish News Syndicate

Amina Alhasoni, 7, asleep in her bedroom when fragment of Iranian missile hit, leaving her with serious head wound.

A 7-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl injured overnight during Iran’s missile and drone assault on Israel underwent surgery Sunday for a serious head wound and remains in critical condition, according to Israel’s Soroka Medical Center.

The girl, Amina Alhasoni, from a Bedouin town near the southern Israeli city of Arad, was wounded by shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile that fell on her family’s home at around 2 a.m.

The home is not equipped with a shelter, and the girl was sleeping in her bedroom when the shrapnel hit. Her father, Mohammed, said that the family had heard air-raid sirens shortly before the missile fragment hit.

Iran fired over 300 missiles and drones at Israel in the unprecedented overnight attack.

Israeli coalition unified in call for retaliation against Iran

By JNS – Jewish News Syndicate

“It is time to go on the attack, with coolness and discretion,” stated Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch.

Jerusalem has “no other option but to retaliate” after the Islamic Republic of Iran dispatched hundreds of missiles and suicide drones towards Israel, Likud lawmaker Danny Danon told JNS on Sunday.

“I think we experienced an unprecedented attack by Iran against Israel,” said Danon, who also served as the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. between 2015 and 2020. “Not retaliating would be irresponsible.”

Israel’s War Cabinet is set to convene on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. local time to discuss the country’s response to Saturday night’s Iranian attack, which saw over 300 drones and missiles launched at the Jewish state.

“In the next few hours, the decision will be made on where, when and how we respond,” Danon told JNS early Sunday afternoon.

Danon’s call to restore deterrence vis-à-vis Iran was echoed by other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party.

Lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Iran’s attack proved that Israel was not isolated and made stark the contrast between good and evil.

“In the last few months, we heard repeatedly that Israel is isolated, that its western allies were turning their backs on us and that Sunni Arab countries were doing the same,” he stated.

“Yet, last night, which was difficult, was in fact an opportunity to reinforce [relations] as it became obvious who is good and who is evil. Last night, it became clear that Israel is on the side of the good,” explained Bismuth.

The lawmaker emphasized that deterrence was “key” in the Middle East, noting that “the Houthis won’t be replaced by Austrians, Hezbollah will never be Switzerland or Hamas [anything like] France.

“Today the world, and more importantly the enemy, saw that Israel has amazing capacities. Iran understands that those who have such amazing defensive systems have even better means of attack,” he concluded.

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch, also a member of the Likud Party, noted in a statement cited by Hebrew media that “it is time to go on the attack, with coolness and discretion.

“The actions of the Air Force, the air defenses, the cooperation with the U.S. and regional actors resulted in an impressive containment of the Iranian attack,” added Kisch.

Discussions over an appropriate response come against the backdrop of American pressure to not retaliate amid fears of a regional war.

U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Saturday that his administration will not support offensive action against the regime in Tehran.

According to a The New York Times report that cited two officials in Jerusalem, the Israeli government abandoned the option of a retaliatory strike on Iranian territory following the conversation between the two leaders, in part because the attack “caused relatively minor damage.”

A 7-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl injured in the attacks underwent surgery Sunday for a serious head wound and remains in critical condition.

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

WATCH: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), ‘Anti-Israel haters won’t be thanking Israel for protecting one of Islam’s holiest sites’ thumbnail

WATCH: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), ‘Anti-Israel haters won’t be thanking Israel for protecting one of Islam’s holiest sites’

By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

“Critics cannot help but downplay the actual wrongs against Israel and overplay the fictional wrongs by Israel,” the New York Democrat said.


Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) responded on social media to video footage showing intercepted Iranian munitions over the Temple Mount.

“Israel protected Al-Aqsa Mosque from destruction at the hands of Iran. Are the Anti-Israel haters going to thank Israel for protecting one of the holiest sites in Islam? No,” the congressman wrote.

“Are the Anti-Israel haters going to condemn Iran for endangering one of the holiest sites in Islam? No,” he added. “Selective outrage is their modus operandi.”

In another post, Torres wrote that “Even though Iran literally fired hundreds of missiles—drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles—against civilian areas in Israel, attempting mass murder, many in the media have dismissed Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel as ‘limited.’”

“Critics cannot help but downplay the actual wrongs against Israel and overplay the fictional wrongs by Israel,” he said.

“Watch Israel defending the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque from Iranian missile and drones,” wrote Gilad Erdan, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

“For the murderous ayatollah regime, murdering Israelis is more important than safeguarding Islamic holy sites,” he added. “The U.N. must clearly and unambiguously condemn the Iranian attack on Israel now.”

“If Israeli missile defense tech was a little less effective, or if an Iron Dome interceptor had suffered a technical glitch tonight, Iran could have completely destroyed the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock,” stated Democratic Majority for Israel. “Think about it. Israel defended Al-Aqsa against Iran.”

VIDEO: Use according to Section 27 A

RELATED ARTICLE: U.S. representatives weigh in on Iran attack

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

Biden Regime Demands Israel Stop Attacking Hamas Even If It Doesn’t Release the Hostages thumbnail

Biden Regime Demands Israel Stop Attacking Hamas Even If It Doesn’t Release the Hostages

By The Geller Report

While finding jihad terror through [anti]-humanitarian aid.

By Daniel Greenfield, Apr 11, 2024:

A total betrayal.

The grim farce of negotiating with Islamic terrorists always plays out the same way.

The terrorists keep attacking while playing the victim, make escalating demands and once you start negotiating with them, the negotiations never produce peace and don’t even reliably ensure the release of hostages.

The Biden administration initially rejected the Islamist/Leftist demands for a ‘ceasefire’ during which Hamas would be free to attack Israel. Then came around to proposing them in exchange for the release of the hostages. And now adopting the Leftist/Islamist position is just demanding a unilateral Israeli ceasefire without the release of the hostages.

The Spanish-language television network Univision aired an hour-long, pre-recorded interview on Tuesday in which U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. president appeared to state a previously unarticulated public position in the interview with the channel’s Enrique Acevedo.

“So I what I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden said.

No mention of Hamas here, but then again it has never abided by a ceasefire anyway.

Israel is expected to stop attacking Hamas.

Hamas is not expected to either stop attacking Israel or release the hostages.

So Biden is dropping the pretense that this is about the hostages or about anything other than the supreme victimhood of the Islamic genociders of Gaza.

The Biden administration has demanded more and more concessions from Israel to Hamas. Even as Hamas keeps rejecting the U.S. proposals as not being good enough.

Much like under Kerry, where the State Department negotiated with the terrorists and then demanded that Israel meet the demands of the terrorists, the Biden admin is doing the same thing, except with Hamas.

Hamas has informed mediators that it rejects the latest U.S. proposal for a renewed hostages-for-ceasefire deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources as saying that the terrorist organization intends to put forward a roadmap for a permanent end to the war.

The U.S. offer would have seen Jerusalem release 900 terrorist prisoners, including murderers, in exchange for 40 hostages, along with a partial IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the unrestricted return of Palestinians to the northern part of the coastal enclave.

The plan proposed that Hamas would release more hostages at a later stage following the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza.

Speaking at a women’s event in Jordan late last month, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal declared that the organization’s leadership is “waging a negotiating battle no less fierce” than the military conflict with the IDF, according to a readout of his remarks posted to Telegram by Hamas.

“Inshallah [‘God willing’], we will defeat them in the field and in the negotiating battle,” said Mashaal, adding that the group is also fighting “intense battles” in the media and on the political battlefield.

The terrorists never win the wars, but when the White House is in charge, they win all the negotiations.

Hamas has no reason not to keep turning down deals since those are its only hope of survival and victory. Thanks to Biden.

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

Israeli PM Netanyahu: ‘We are ready for any scenario, both defensively and offensively’ thumbnail

Israeli PM Netanyahu: ‘We are ready for any scenario, both defensively and offensively’

By Jihad Watch

🚨 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Citizens of Israel, in recent years, and even more so in recent weeks, Israel has been preparing for the possibility of a direct attack from Iran.

Our defense systems are deployed, we are prepared for any scenario, both in defense and… pic.twitter.com/dXNLWacAZ5

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 13, 2024

In response to Iran’s launch of drones against the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released the following statement:

Citizens of Israel,

In recent years, and especially in recent weeks, Israel has been preparing for a direct attack by Iran.

Our defensive systems are deployed; we are ready for any scenario, both defensively and offensively. The State of Israel is strong. The IDF is strong. The public is strong.

We appreciate the US standing alongside Israel, as well as the support of Britain, France and many other countries.

We have determined a clear principle: Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We will defend ourselves against any threat and will do so level-headedly and with determination.

Citizens of Israel, I know that you also are also level-headed. I call on you to follow the directives of IDF Home Front Command.

Together we will stand and with G-d’s help — together we will overcome all of our enemies.”

Courtesy: Israel Government Press Office 

BREAKING: United States officials believe 400-500 drones and missiles will be launched at Israel.

The United States predicts that about 85% of drones and missiles will be intercepted.

The United States also appears to be ignoring Iran’s warnings and *will* be assisting Israel… pic.twitter.com/YfjkH3OB8L

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 13, 2024

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

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POSTS ON X:

🚨TRUMP: “What’s going on with the world?! Everybody is fighting. Russia, Ukraine, Israel, the middle east is blowing up. Everything is blowing up. China is going to be next with Taiwan. Because of weakness… Bring Donald Trump back as President and it will all stop.” pic.twitter.com/pHDivdrcxi

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 14, 2024

The moment ballistic missiles were launched from Iran towards Israel pic.twitter.com/zIuxenslrs

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 14, 2024

Nevatim air base is running as usual despite the claim by Iran they destroyed it. pic.twitter.com/1lXOrxtmwO

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 14, 2024

Some Israeli Sources are reporting that Nevatim Airbase in the Negev Desert of Southern Israel has been Struck by at least 7 Medium-Range Ballistic Missiles launched by Iran. pic.twitter.com/OXAYS6I2sY

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 13, 2024

Two words: preemptive strike.
Biden can’t even protect us in the US.
Don’t trust him!
Am Yusrael Chai! pic.twitter.com/ixTl4bIUKR

— Jim Bob Levy (@geotexasjew) April 13, 2024

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

Must-Read Vatican Document Slams Surrogacy, Gender Theory, War and Abortion thumbnail

Must-Read Vatican Document Slams Surrogacy, Gender Theory, War and Abortion

By MercatorNet – Navigating Modern Complexities

Earlier this week the Vatican published a 16,000-word document reaffirming Catholic condemnations of a wide range of moral issues, from war to surrogacy and human trafficking. Dignitas Infinita, or “Infinite Dignity”, is both a philosophical and a theological essay, appealing to open-minded people of all faiths and none.

Seldom has there been so much media coverage about a Vatican document which contains so few surprises. It’s no secret that the Catholic Church opposes abortion and euthanasia. Perhaps both the fans and foes of Francis thought that he might open up a crack for sex changes or for surrogacy.

But almost nothing has changed. Under Francis the Church is as severe as ever on life issues. Over at the New York Times, columnist Ross Douthat opined that the Pope’s “style has been to consistently push at the boundaries of his office, testing how far a pope can go in altering Catholic teaching”. He sounded mortified to report that Dignitas Infinita was “a clearer-than-usual line against developments in progressive thought and culture”.

Controversial issues

Here are some notable highlights.

Dignitas Infinita condemns surrogacy, first as a violation of the child’s dignity and second as a violation of the surrogate mother’s. It says:

the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a “right to a child” that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life … in this practice, the woman is detached from the child growing in her and becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others.

The document also rejects gender theory. In a few perceptive sentences, it criticises the transhumanist impulse to “self-determination”, describing it as “a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God”. Furthermore, it describes the difference between male and female as “foundational”.

In the male-female couple, this difference achieves the most marvellous of reciprocities. It thus becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world.

Sex-change interventions are also condemned. The document quotes the Pope: “creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.”

One possible innovation in Dignitas Infinita is its approach to war. While lamenting the cruelty and senselessness of wars, the Catholic Church has traditionally supported the possibility of a “just war”. However, with weapons of mass destruction, asymmetric warfare and terrorism, perhaps the nature of war has changed. The document quotes the Pope — “it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’ Never again war!”

Does this mean that requirements for a just war will be updated? Possibly.

Explaining human dignity

Even though there appears to be little novelty in Dignitas Infinita, it was five years in the making. The Pope’s top theologian, fellow Argentinian Cardinal Victor Fernández, explains in an unusual preamble that the document went through several versions, because the Pope had ordered some significant changes. He wanted the list of violations of human dignity to include issues like poverty, the wretchedness of migrants, violence against women, human trafficking, and war.

This is consistent with Francis’s impatience with what he feels is some Catholics’ single-minded focus on abortion and other pro-life issues. Dignitas Infinita endorses the notion that Catholic moral teaching is a “seamless garment” and that abusing migrants and abortion are both horrendous violations of human dignity.

But what is human dignity? The first half of the document offers a very helpful and thoughtful exploration of the topic.

It begins with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose 75th anniversary occurred last year. After the barbarism of World War II, the UDHR was a high-minded commitment by its signatories to restore a respect for human dignity. Its opening sentence asserts “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”. John Paul II described the UDHR as “one of the highest expressions of the human conscience”.

However, it’s obvious that the concept of human rights has become so muddled that it is almost meaningless. Accompanied by claims to be advancing human dignity, rights have multiplied and morphed. Nowadays internet accessair conditioning and same-sex marriage are claimed as human rights, along with a right to abortion.

Although this is a very complex question, one reason for this proliferation is that people base their approach to human dignity on different foundations.

The Church’s approach is ontological; human dignity flows from the very fact of being a human being created by God. This means that all humans have dignity, not just those who possess privileges like awareness or intelligence or autonomy. Notoriously, Peter Singer (and other philosophers) say that “the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee.”

In a brief, but very insightful observation, Dignitas Infinita analyses Singer’s notion of human dignity (without naming him):

Some people propose that it is better to use the expression “personal dignity” (and the rights “of the person”) instead of “human dignity” (and the rights “of man”) since they understand a “person” to be only “one who is capable of reasoning.” They then argue that dignity and rights are deduced from the individual’s capacity for knowledge and freedom, which not all humans possess. Thus, according to them, the unborn child would not have personal dignity, nor would the older person who is dependent upon others, nor would an individual with mental disabilities. On the contrary, the Church insists that the dignity of every human person, precisely because it is intrinsic, remains “in all circumstances.”

As well, the document deploys a very important concept: that we humans are relational beings. Fundamentally, none of us are individuals. We are all bound up in a web of relations with other humans, past, present and future: “Indeed, there is an ever-growing risk of reducing human dignity to the ability to determine one’s identity and future independently of others, without regard for one’s membership in the human community.”

The document condemns “a self-referential and individualistic freedom that claims to create its own values regardless of the objective norms of the good and of our relationship with other living beings” Unless one grasps this, it may be hard to appreciate why the Church rejects surrogacy, transgenderism, euthanasia and so on.

Dignitas Infinita may contain no surprises, but its clarity and consistency are admirable. It’s a good springboard for responding to today’s ethical challenges.


Does the Catholic Church have anything valuable to say about human rights? Leave a comment in the box below.


AUTHOR

MICHAEL COOK

Michael Cook is editor of Mercator.

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

The ‘Anachronism’ of Apostasy thumbnail

The ‘Anachronism’ of Apostasy

By Amil Imani

Whereas the practice of slavery enslaves the body, the dogma of apostasy ensnares the mind. Whereas slavery is a shameful practice of the past, some shameless religionists still use the doctrine of apostasy to intimidate and severely punish people who elect to choose their own beliefs.

Islam is extremely possessive of its subjects. It is a religion that admits anyone into its fold by the person simply uttering a one-sentence statement of faith, shahada: I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger. By so saying, one becomes Muslim for life and surrenders the right of ever leaving it. Anyone who leaves the Islamic fold is murtad (revert), apostate.

The notion of apostasy is best understood within the overall Islamic dogma. Islam forms a binding covenant with the believer. Once a person is Muslim, he and his issues are considered Muslim forever. In this covenant, Islam promises to bestow its beneficence on the faithful conditional on the person’s total and unquestioned surrender to it in all matters. Some of the rewards offered by Islam to the truly obedient believer, particularly the privileged males, are of this world as well as a great deal more promised to him in the next. If a Muslim faithful does not reap the rewards of his devotion in this world, Islam assures him of his inestimably cherished and limitless compounded rewards in the next world.

Islam demands the subjugation of the individual’s will to that of Allah and permeates the thinking, actions, and speech of Muslims by prefacing commitments they make contingent on the will of God (inshallah)

This total surrender and submission to Allah’s will and decree also absolve the individual from taking full responsibility for his conduct or honoring any commitments he may make, for Allah has the unquestioned authority to consummate or contravene any action or promise made by a faithful.

Within this overall framework of complete acceptance of Islam as the perfect living charter for the believer, the rules pertaining to apostasy can be better understood. Islam considers an apostate as a person who unilaterally breaks the covenant he has made with the faith. An apostate is condemned as guilty of turning his back on Allah’s immutable, eternal religion. Anyone who is born to Muslim parents and leaves Islam is stigmatized as murtad fitri (natural apostate) in the sense that he was born genetically Muslim and had rejected his gift of birth. Anyone who converts to Islam and later leaves it is condemned as murtad milli (a person who has turned his back to the Ummah)

The severe stricture against leaving Islam is consistent with other main principle beliefs of the religion. Islam is a faith of surrender and not that of free will. A Muslim is to surrender his freedom of thoughts and actions to the will and dictates of Allah. The very principle of freedom is alien to the Islamic belief system.

With regard to apostasy, the two main branches of Islam, the Sunni and the Shiite, are in considerable agreement. The great majority of Muslim scholars of both major camps agree that the Quran stipulates death for the apostate.

Islam, by its very nature, is an all-encompassing belief system that prescribes every detail of a person’s and society’s conduct. Sharia law, a comprehensive code of Islamic jurisprudence, purportedly is based on the Quran and the Hadith (the reported enunciation of Muhammad and his conduct).

Furthermore, Islamic societies rule by the Islamic laws of Sharia. Any new societal legislation must be harmonious with those of the Sharia, which are conclusively anti-democratic. Sharia law is in explicit contradiction and violation of the foundation of democracy. Sharia law places the dictates and rules of Allah over the sovereignty of the people. It discriminates against non-Muslims to the extreme of disenfranchising them from their rights of citizenship of Baha’is, barring them from jobs, higher education, worship, etc., not only in Iran but also in Saudi Arabia and even Egypt. It is blatantly discriminatory against women, Muslim or not. Men have a greater claim to inheritance, their testimony in the court of law is worth twice that of women, and they may marry multiple women at the same time. It stipulates even different rules and privileges governing free Muslim men as opposed to slave Muslims, implicitly condoning slavery. Saudi Arabia, the flagship of Islam, was finally forced by the free world to abandon slavery, I believe, only in the late 1960s, but it has been reported that it has not been completely abandoned.

Apostasy is defined both in the Quran as well as the Sharia and its punishment is clearly stipulated.

“Those who blasphemed and back away from the ways of Allah and die as blasphemers, Allah shall not forgive them.” — Qur’an 4:48

Islamic law does not allow the freedom to choose one’s religion.

“Let there be no compulsion in the religion: Clearly the Right Path (i.e., Islam) is distinct from the crooked path.” — Qur’an 2:256

The Quran also specifically addresses the issue of murtad milli:

“But those who reject faith after they accepted it, and then go on adding to their defiance of faith, never will their repentance be accepted; for they are those who have (of set purpose) gone astray.”  — Qur’an 3:90

The Hadith further restates the Quran’s provision regarding the apostate’s punishment.

The Sharia law stipulates that any Muslim who turns his back to Islam should be given a chance to revert to the religion. For an un-repenting male apostate, death is the punishment and life imprisonment for a female apostate.

“Kill whoever changes his religion.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 9:84:57

“The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims.” — Sahih al-Bukhari 9:83:17

At present, apostasy is illegal in most Islamic countries. Although execution of the apostate is not common, it takes place occasionally by frequently buttressing the “crime” with additional charges. The Islamic Republic of Iran, for instance, often adds the charge of mohareb (one who wars with God) to legitimize its execution of apostates further. A case in point pertains to the treatment of the religious minority Baha’is by the Islamic Republic. A number of Baha’is have been charged as apostates and mohareb, executed and some secretly buried in unmarked graves.

The late Ayatollah Khomeini in his Tahrir al-Wassilah adjudicates how a person’s apostasy is established: “Apostasy is proven in two ways: First, the person himself confesses to his apostasy twice. Second, two and truthful men bear witness to the person’s apostasy. But women’s testimonies do not prove apostasy in any case; either they bear witness individually, in a group, or beside a man.”

The misogynistic nature of Islam is once again evident in Ayatollah Khomeini’s blanket disqualification of women’s testimony solely on the basis of gender.

“Apostasy — or the formal renunciation of religion — is already punishable in Iran with death. But now, Iran wants to make the death penalty for apostasy part of the penal code. The European Union is concerned and has asked Iran to reconsider.”

Who is an apostate according to the legislation?

Anyone in the world, not just Iranians, born to a Muslim parent; also, any convert to Islam who leaves it. Only one parent needs to be a Muslim at the time of conception for Islam to own that child for life. Islam is Ummahist. Islam doesn’t recognize nationalities and national boundaries. And these Islamist zealots are very serious and have no sense of humor. Some say they have no sense at all, and they may be right. What they certainly have is a thirst for blood, particularly for the blood of infidels and apostates.

It is noteworthy that Islam considers the world as its Ummah and overarches national boundaries. Hence, Islamic clerics feel free to issue fatwa and other adjudications regarding any person, group, or nation anywhere in the world. A celebrated case of this practice was the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini against the British author Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses. Hence, individual Muslims anywhere in the world take it upon themselves to carry out fatwa issued by Islamic high divines. In another high-profile case, the killing of Theo van Gough, a Dutch film director, and the recent attack on the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard clearly demonstrates this primitive practice that runs counter to the civilized world’s due process and has a seriously intimidating impact on the freedom of expression.

Free people and nations should not sacrifice their God-given liberty to please the Islamists by muzzling dissenters and even endangering their safety and their lives.

The concept and practice of apostasy is a shameful stain on the conscience of humanity. It is despicable for any belief system to stubbornly cling to the dehumanizing anachronism of apostasy while its counterpart, slavery, is already buried in mankind’s graveyard of past infamy.

©2024. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

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American Evangelicals among ‘the Last Ones Standing with Israel’ thumbnail

American Evangelicals among ‘the Last Ones Standing with Israel’

By Family Research Council

The Biden administration is applying a “double standard” to Israel, said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and “they’ve ramped up their rhetoric and their pressure on Israel” after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accidentally killed seven aid workers in a drone strike last week. Due to the U.S. government’s desertion, “Israel is standing alone in the world,” Perkins added, and “evangelicals in America are really the last ones standing with Israel.”

By holding Israel responsible for the mistaken drone attack, the Biden administration is expecting more of our allies than of our own armed forces. “On August 29th of 2021, as the United States bungled their withdrawal from Afghanistan … the Biden administration fired a drone attack, and it killed 10 civilians,” Perkins recalled. “And there was no action taken for those involved in that.”

Israel’s isolation is evident from the global opposition to its planned operation in Rafah. “There is a double standard,” Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), an evangelical himself, insisted on “Washington Watch.” “The Biden administration is putting pressure on Netanyahu to have a ceasefire and to stop and allow terrorists to remain in Rafah when we know there are thousands of terrorists that are literally hiding out in that last spot.”

Rafah has “become a symbol … in the sense that Israel keeps saying, ‘We have to go to Rafah.’ And so the entire world comes down against Israel saying, ‘You mustn’t go into Rafah,’” Center for Security Policy senior fellow Caroline Glick explained on “Washington Watch.” “The fact is that Rafah is the last redoubt of Hamas’s conventional forces, and they have to be destroyed.”

The debate over Rafah has “become sort of a stand-off between Israel and [the rest of] humanity that doesn’t want the Jews to succeed,” Glick added.

To defend its abandonment of Israel, the Biden administration has argued that an immediate ceasefire is necessary to protect the lives of Palestinian civilians. “Obviously, it’s a war time, there’s painful loss of life for civilians that are out there. That’s the painful difficulty of any war in any place,” said Lankford. “We’ve experienced that as Americans, [and] we do everything we can to be able to protect innocent life. Israel is also trying to protect innocent life.”

But Biden is applying pressure on the wrong party, Lankford insisted. “We really need to have pressure on Lebanon to back up Hezbollah [from the border]. We need to have pressure on Qatar. The Qataris could put pressure on Gaza and Hamas today and could release all of those hostages. But Qatar is choosing not to do that.”

While the media and now the Biden administration continually highlight the plight of Palestinian refugees, they neglect to mention that Israeli civilians also continue to face terror attacks and rocket barrages, and tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes. “There’s about 63,000 Israelis that have had to pull away from the northern border because of the constant attacks from Hezbollah,” Lankford noted.

“Israel is our ally. We need to stand with her. We need to help in every way we can, to help in the threat of terrorism that’s coming at them,” Lankford agreed. “We do want to end terrorism. We understand what it’s like to be attacked in a threat of terrorism.”

Besides the fact that Israel is our ally, Israel is engaged in a just, defensive war. Hamas initiated the current conflict by invading Israel without warning, pillaging, torturing, and killing without distinction. During that unprovoked raid, Hamas terrorists deliberately and brutally killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapped more than 200 victims as hostages, many of whom are still in captivity.

By contrast, Israel has not intentionally killed a single Palestinian civilian. While it’s true than many Palestinian civilians have been killed, that is only because Hamas terrorists deliberately surround themselves with as many civilians as possible, in order to maximize the collateral damage when Israel hits legitimate, military targets. It’s impossible to know exactly how many civilian casualties there have been in Gaza because the only casualty numbers reported from Gaza are produced by an organ of Hamas which does not distinguish between military and civilian deaths.

Lankford recently traveled to Israel, where people are feeling “abandoned” by the Biden administration, he said. “The folks in Israel that I talked to are really grateful to see folks on the ground saying, ‘No, there are Americans that do stand with you,’ including evangelical Christians and others, especially a lot of Republicans that are speaking out clearly to say, ‘We’re going to stand with Israel.’”

Not only do evangelicals support Israel for the same reasons liberals used to — basic human rights, national self-determination, etc. — but they have an additional affection for them as God’s chosen people under the Mosaic covenant, the nation of David, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, and Jesus. As the world’s progressive elite continues to unjustly demonize the Jews, American evangelicals are among the last voices in the world who will speak up for Israel, making their support even more essential.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


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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.

Misplaced Moral Outrage—Moronic, Mendacious, or Malevolent? thumbnail

Misplaced Moral Outrage—Moronic, Mendacious, or Malevolent?

By Dr. Martin Sherman

Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties and use them as a propaganda tool.

“Israel has taken more steps to avoid harming civilians than any other military in history…]S[teps that Israel has taken to prevent casualties [are] historic in comparison to all these other wars.” — John Spencer, Chairman of Urban Warfare Studies, West Point, February 17, 2024.

[Immediately after taking office] Obama authorized two Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, which, combined, killed an estimated one militant and 10 civilians, including between four and five children. “Obama’s Embrace of Drone Strikes Will Be a Lasting Legacy”, New York Times, January 12, 2016

In recent years we have investigated civilian harm from U.S. air strikes…in Afghanistan, Iraq,  and Somalia, and found that thousands of civilians have been killed or seriously injured…with little accountability.—Amnesty International at US Senate Judiciary Council hearing, |February 9, 2022.


Note to readers: As I was finishing off this article, reports came in of Joe Biden’s designation of Israeli military action in Gaza as “outrageous”. This presumably enhances its newsworthiness, but beyond that, it will show just how outrageous Biden’s “outrageous” slur really is.


The recent accidental deaths of 7 foreign aid workers in Gaza sparked an eruption of anti-Israel vitriol, which highlights the vicious Judeophobic prejudice that is sweeping much of the globe today. This is something that defies all—and any—tenets of morality and reason. Indeed, by any conceivable criterion of human decency, there is no conflict in the annals of recent history, in which the gulf between good and evil, between wanton barbarism and humanitarian restraint, has been so clearly delineated as that between the protagonists in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Painstaking Israeli restraint

The tragedy of collateral damage, and the killing of non-combatants, has been a lamentable element of warfare ever since nation-states began to displace dynastic monarchies as the dominant structural element in the international system—and perhaps even before that.

Indeed, rarely—if ever—has one of the belligerent parties—let alone the victim of a brutal unprovoked attack on its civilians—demonstrated such painstaking care to avoid harm befalling enemy civilians. This is reflected in the unequivocal declaration of the former commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp: “…I have fought in combat zones around the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Based on my experience and on my observations the Israel Defense Force…does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

In Gaza, the vulnerability of non-combatants is greatly exacerbated by the malicious actions of their leaders, who cynically exploit them by deliberately placing them in harm’s way and coercively preventing them from seeking safe havens. Thus, as a Wall Street Journal piece underscoresIsrael seeks to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties and use them as a propaganda tool.”

“Israel setting ‘gold standard’ for avoiding civilian casualties”

Indeed, the chairman of urban warfare studies at West Point, John Spencer,  described Israel’s achievements in avoiding collateral casualties as “unprecedented,” particularly given the complex combat conditions above and below ground. According to Spencer, Israel is setting the “gold standard” for avoiding civilian casualties.

Likewise, Richard Kemp praised the IDF for its record of avoiding civilian casualties during its operations in Gaza and pointed out that the average combatant-to-civilian death ratio in Gaza is about 1 to 1.5, while according to the United Nations, the average combatant-to-civilian death ratio in urban warfare has been 1 to 9—six times higher!!.

The issue of civilian casualties in Gaza is hugely complicated by Hamas’s heinous practice of exploiting medical facilities as a cover for its terror activities. This includes the copiously documented abuse of ambulances for the transportation of terror-related personnel and materiel.

Indeed, Israeli moderation is underscored by comparison with non-combatant fatalities in other military encounters involving democracies at war. Thus, in WWII, between 1939 and 1945, nearly 600,000 European civilians were killed by Allied aerial bombardment of German cities which were reduced to rubble and ashes. Moreover, cities in other countries in Nazi-occupied Europe were also bombarded—including their non-combatant civilian residents. One of the most grisly and tragic of these events occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark (March 1945) when the RAF was sent to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in the city, inadvertently hitting a nearby school, killing 123 Danish civilians including 87 schoolchildren.

And of course, then there were the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—neither of which was ever designated as a military target—of whom between 100-200 thousand were incinerated and irradiated by the US in early August 1945.

There is always a cost to defeat a great evil.”

Half a century later (during which hundreds of thousands of civilian fatalities in East Asia (Indo-China), including innumerable non-combatant victims, were killed in the US carpet bombing of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) NATO launched a war against Serbia in response to Serbian excesses in Kosovo and Bosnia. This was done despite the fact that Serbia had not committed any hostile act either against any NATO citizen or any NATO territory. The NATO campaign consisted of high altitude—and hence far-from-accurate—bombing raids that regularly hit civilian targets—including residential neighborhoods, old-aged sanitariums, hospitals, open-air markets, columns of fleeing refugees, civilian buses, and trains on bridges, and even a foreign embassy. When the then-NATO spokesman Jamie Shea was pressed on the issue of the significant numbers of civilian casualties, his response was: “There is always a cost to defeat an evil. It never comes free, unfortunately. But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher”—which echoes precisely the Israeli sentiment concerning the rationale of the IDF’s operation in Gaza.

But those were not the only post-WWII instances of pervasive human suffering induced by large-scale US-led military operations across the globe.

More Iraqi babies died than in Hiroshima

For example, after Saddam Hussein’s 1991-takeover of Kuwait, the US and its allies imposed sanctions on the Iraqi regime and dispatched forces to repel the invasion. These measures resulted in tremendous suffering to the civilian population, the scale of which can be gauged by a 1996 interview on 60 Minutes with the late Madeleine Albright, former US ambassador to the UN and Secretary of State under Bill Clinton. Albright was quizzed by the interviewer, Leslie Stahl, about the ravages that the US-led measures wrought on the Iraqi population.

Stahl asked:We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?” Albright responded: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it.”

Of course, it should be underscored that—unlike Israel’s post-October response to a massacre of its citizens on its sovereign territory—at this (pre-9/11) time, neither the US homeland nor any US resident had been harmed by the Iraqi regime. But more on that a little later.

“Tremendous human toll…”

In 2001, in response to the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, in which almost 3000 people died, a US-led military coalition (in which the UK had a prominent role), invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government and uproot A-Qaeda that perpetrated the lethal attack. Here it would be apt to point out that the 10/7 attack on Israel that led to the IDF action in Gaza was—in proportion to Israel’s population—almost 35 times the scope of the 9/11 atrocity—i.e., the equivalent of almost US 50,000 fatalities.

Although reliable figures regarding the toll the war inflicted on the civilian population of Afghanistan and neighboring countries impacted by it, are not easy to obtain, an estimate published by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs states that “The U.S. post-9/11 wars…have taken a tremendous human toll on those countries” and puts the 1921 assessment of Afghani civilians deaths directly related to these wars at almost 47,000 but adds a proviso that “Several times…more have been killed as a reverberating effect of the wars — because of water loss, sewage and other infrastructural issues, and war-related disease”.

Thousands of civilians hit with little accountability.”

However, US strikes, where clearly civilian targets were hit are a matter of undisputed record. Over the course of the 20-year war, several weddings/parties/processions were struck by drones—inflicting hundreds of fatalities, including women and children. Such strikes took place not only in Afghanistan but in other countries, including neighboring Pakistan and more distant Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and even Somalia.

Summing up the consequences of the US air strikes in America’s protracted “Global War on Terror” a statement by Amnesty International (USA) stipulated: In recent years we have investigated civilian harm from U.S. air strikes and U.S.-led Coalition airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria  and Somalia, and found that thousands of civilians have been killed or seriously injured by U.S. air strikes (both using drones and manned aircraft), with little accountability.”

Finally. the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition—launched on the dubious (at least unsubstantiated) allegations that (a) Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein was implicated in the 9/11 attacks and (b) he had instigated a program for the production of weapons of mass destruction–wrought untold misery on millions of Iraqi civilians and death on of upward of 300,000 non-combatants.

Why I wrote this article

I wrote this article after a rather sharp exchange with an old school friend of mine, now resident in the US, someone of exceptionally high moral character, mildly supportive of Israel, and fiercely supportive of the Democratic Party. He was very critical of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, appalled by the fate of the Gazan population, and concerned that it would sharply erode support of Israel in the US.

I hope after reading this, he will realize how misplaced his criticism and concern are—and how unfair and unfounded—indeed how outrageous—the current vogue of berating Israel is. Lending it any support or sympathy will only serve to fan the flames of today’s smoldering antisemitism that will eventually engulf the ill-informed, un-informed, and mis-informed diaspora Jews, who naively believe that there is any merit in it.

©2024. Dr. Martin Sherman. All rights reserved.

The letter from Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. on his support for Israel. Truths — 3, Lies — 11. thumbnail

The letter from Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. on his support for Israel. Truths — 3, Lies — 11.

By Dr. Rich Swier

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“There are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics.” ― Benjamin Disraeli


The following is an analysis of a letter we received from the White House, signed by Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., in response to our letter questioning the support of the State of Israel by Biden and his administration.

Here is our analysis of the letter:

Dear Mr. Swier,

Thank you for writing to me.

The people of Israel lived through a moment of pure evil on October 7 when more than 1,300 civilians, including Americans, were murdered by the terrorist organization Hamas [TRUE – Hamas slaughters innocents on October 7th].

The reports of atrocities are seared on our souls [LIE – Biden via UNRWA continues to send aid to Hamas, thus keeping them alive and in the fight against Israel]:  Parents killed while trying to protect their children.  Young people massacred while attending a music festival.  Entire families slain.  And so many more innocents wounded or taken hostage.

For many across the United States, Hamas’ terrorist assault was not only painful—it was personal [LIE – Biden and his administration are doing everything they can to undermine Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas, including calling for a ceasefire, funding Hamas via UNRWA and calling for a two-state solution, which will led to the end of the state of Israel.]  It resurfaced horrible memories left by millennia of antisemitism and genocide.  And it was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust—one of the worst chapters in human history that reminded us all that silence is complicity [TRUE – But Biden and his State Department are working to undermine the state of Israel and support Hamas and Iran].

I want you to know:  I will not be silent [LIE – Biden and his administration have not only been silent but they have helped fund Hamas via UNRWA and funded Iran, the sworn enemy of Israel, by lifting the sanctions put into place on Iran under President Trump.]  The United States stands with Israel [LIE – The Biden Regime stands against Israel, see the comments above.]  We will continue to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against terrorism in accordance with international humanitarian law [LIE – The Biden Regime is using international law to condemn Israel and give Hamas a free pass.]  I will bring all resources to bear to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas—including our fellow Americans [LIE – Biden has done nothing to date to free American hostages. However, Biden has approved building a new port in Gaza, which helps Hamas and does nothing to release American hostages.]  I will also do everything possible to ensure civilians are protected, provide humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians, and prevent this conflict from spreading across the region [LIE – The war against Israel has entered a new stage where the IDF is not only fighting Hamas but Hezb’allah and a growing possibility of a war with Iran].  And I will continue to work steadfastly with partners to pursue peace and a two-state solution so that the Israeli and the Palestinian people can both enjoy equal measures of security and dignity [TRUE – The worst thing Biden can do is create a new and expanded two-state solution. There is already a two-state solution. Israel gave up Gaza to the Arabs living there and removed all Jews, who had lived there for decades. The the Arabs elected Hamas, a terrorist’s organization, to represent them. On October 7th we saw that any two-state solution does not work, rather it leads to wholesale slaughter of Jews. Read more about the two-state solution.]

Here at home, I have directed my team to identify, prevent, and disrupt any domestic threats that could emerge against Jewish, Muslim, Arab, or any other communities [LIE – The only groups that Biden is protecting are the Muslims and Arabs. Jews are being attacked on college campuses, Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan have called out “Death to America” and Jews are under attack across America by pro-Hamas protestors. No Muslim or Arab has been arrested for fomenting violence against America and American  Jews.]  There is no place for hate in our world.  Not against Jews.  Not against Muslims.  Not against anybody [LIE – The Biden regime is allowing anti-Semitic, anti-Christian hate to spread while protecting Muslims.] Under my Administration, the United States will continue to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate [LIE – The Biden Regimes war against white people, Christians and parents who speak out about the indoctrination of their children is a fact. Additionally the Biden Regime stood silently by as American patriots who attended a mostly peaceful rally on January 6th are arrested by the FBI and DOJ, jailed, tortured and even killed.].  And we will continue to reject terrorism and its indiscriminate evil, just as we have always done [LIE – The Biden Regime is by its own actions is a terrorist organization and is committing indiscriminate evil.]

That is what America stands for.

Sincerely,

[signed] Joe Biden

©2024. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Why Does Biden Treat Christianity with Disdain?

Experts: Biden Administration’s Foreign Policy Is Naïve thumbnail

Experts: Biden Administration’s Foreign Policy Is Naïve

By Family Research Council

President Joe Biden’s rapidly shifting Israel policy is taking criticism from foreign policy experts who believe the administration is fundamentally or deliberately misunderstanding the true nature of the situation. “The Biden administration either is not connecting the dots or frankly, they don’t care, which is actually more troubling,” suggested Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

“The Biden administration fundamentally doesn’t understand the Israeli people,” Center for Security Policy senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs Caroline Glick lamented on “Washington Watch” Monday. “They think they can snap their fingers, and Israel will just salute them and do whatever they tell us. But the Israeli people — particularly since October 7th — understand the implications of the enemy’s calls to annihilate the Jewish people.”

“The Biden administration doesn’t understand the seriousness of purpose, not only of Israel, but of our enemies — of Iran, of Hezbollah, of Hamas, etc.,” Glick continued. “They think that they can just again snap their fingers and say, ‘It’s over,’ and we’re going to get it to a ceasefire. And it never happens that way.”

If Jews aren’t safe in Israel, “Where do they go from here?” Perkins asked. He related an anecdote to demonstrate that “people go to Israel as kind of the last place of protection and safety for the Jewish people.” During a recent trip to Israel, he visited “one of the kibbutz that had been attacked just north of the Gaza border,” where residents told him they had emigrated from Europe “because of the rising anti-Semitism.” The perception that Israel is a safe place for Jews “was shattered on October 7th,” he explained, and “that’s the realization that really encompasses Israelis in Israel right now, that the rest of the world — at least here in America — doesn’t fully understand.”

Glick agreed that even “the Jews in the diaspora in the United States and Europe and in other countries are beginning to realize that” same fact. “The scale of the massacre and the savagery of what was done to Israel by Hamas … on October 7th has empowered and inspired anti-Semites of all kinds in the United States to openly attack Jews on the streets … in a way that nobody had experienced until now,” she said. “The idea that Jews can be safe anywhere if they’re not secure in Israel has just been shattered. It’s very clear that the security of all Jews everywhere is contingent on Israel defeating our enemies in Israel.”

Yet the Biden administration seems slow to recognize this, she complained. “There is a lot of ideological rigidity in the administration that’s very hostile to Israel and willing to accommodate Hamas,” said Glick. Based on their actions, “it’s almost impossible to not reach that conclusion.”

“The Biden administration is falling into the U.N. rhetoric right now of ‘Israel is always the problem,’” Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) pointed out during Monday’s “Washington Watch.” “If you go to the U.N., Israel is always the problem.”

But Lankford disagreed with that assumption. “The problem is Iran in the Middle East. They are the destabilizing force,” he said. “They’re funding the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah. It’s amazing to me,” he added, “that President Biden is chastising Israel right now for trying to defend themselves from the attacks that come from Gaza, but I hear absolute crickets about Hezbollah and their march to the south right now, and their militarization of that zone that’s supposed to be demilitarized.”

“The problem [is] the Qataris right now, that they’re not using the leverage that they really have” as one of Hamas’s chief financial backers, Lankford continued. “The pressure really needs to be placed on the people that could actually end this war. Rather than demanding Israel has a ceasefire, let’s demand [that] Hamas has a ceasefire, the Houthis [have] a ceasefire, Hezbollah has a ceasefire, [and that] Qatar uses its real leverage that it has to be able to get those hostages out.”

Glick criticized the Biden administration for believing that, “if they can just blame Israel for everything, then Iran will be happy and appeased and they’ll stop bothering America, at least until after the elections in November.” She skewered them for thinking that, “if they just say that there’s going to be a ceasefire, humiliate the government of Israel, [and] try to overthrow the government of Israel by sowing domestic subversion … that all the problem is going to go away.”

“That, of course, is not how things work,” Glick declared. “Nothing happens that way. Nothing.”

“There are people in that region that intensely hate our freedom, that intensely hate us as Americans,” Lankford noted. Radical Islamist extremists often repeat that “America is the Great Satan, and Israel is the Little Satan,” he said. “They’re really trying to be able to come after us and will do that [with] every opportunity.”

“Jews aren’t responsible for what happened,” protested Glick. “We’re not responsible for the hatred of others. We can only do our best to defend ourselves from that hatred. And that’s what we’re doing in this war.”

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

The Key to Our National Motto thumbnail

The Key to Our National Motto

By Jerry Newcombe, D. Min.

The war on America as founded continues unabated.

As well know, the Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed recently, and already the woke elites are calling for it to be renamed.

Key, who wrote what became the basis for our National Motto, was a man of his times. And those times don’t measure up to today’s standards. So off with his head, metaphorically speaking.

The Washington Times noted (3/29/24): “Key’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years along with other historical figures who owned slaves. Key also represented slaveholders in court and was a proponent of racist views….As a lawyer, he also represented slaves seeking freedom and he asserted ‘all men are free.’ But he held eight enslaved people when he died.”

Since many Americans, including prominent ones, owned slaves in the past, does that mean they should be entirely dismissed, or erased from our history?

I am absolutely convinced that abortion is the taking of innocent babies’ lives. Future generations will look in horror at the cavalier attitude toward this evil which should be unthinkable. Will cancel culture in the future cancel us because we allowed such horrors? Will Joe Biden and Barack Obama be erased from our national memory?

As to slavery, note these insights from Michael Farris, the general counselor of the National Religious Broadcasters, from a recent interview he did for Coral Ridge Ministries-TV.

Farris said of today’s war on America’s history: “Now we see many, many forces in our country, the 1619 Project and others like it, that are saying America was an illicit, improper, immoral nation from the beginning. And the reason they do that is because they say, ‘Well, look at July 4th, 1776, and we had slavery; and we had problems of inequality in other areas.’”

Farris added, “Well, that’s like judging a baby’s life on the day it’s born. America was founded on July 4th, 1776 and the ideals should be our judge. And so, have we reached our ideals? Were those the right goals? That’s the question to be asked. Not were we reaching those goals on the day we were born, but were those the right goals? And then the second question is, how are we doing on those goals?”

While we can all agree that Francis Scott Key was wrong on the issue of the great evil of slavery, we should still be grateful for his contributions to the American experience.

Key’s poem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was inspired by what he saw and interpreted as the hand of Providence to help our country at a time of crisis during the War of 1812. For two centuries his poem, which became our National Anthem, inspired Americans with gratitude to be a part of our country—one nation under God.

Since 1956, our national motto is “In God We Trust.” Despite the intense secularism of our day, it still is. The origin of this phrase gets back to a phrase in Key’s song, our National Anthem.

Key was on board a British ship (our enemy in that war) being held overnight against his will. He was an eyewitness to the incessant, overnight British bombing of Fort McHenry, which protected the Port of Baltimore. This was in mid-September 1814, a month after the British invaded our nation’s capital and burned down the White House and the U.S. Capitol, which housed the Supreme Court.

Thus, the buildings used by the three branches of government were burned down by the British. But in those days, a much more handsome prize was the older city of Baltimore. Fort McHenry guarded that city and its port.

Hence, the battle that Key witnessed. He helplessly watched overnight as cannon ball after cannon ball was shot against the fort through the night of September 13 and morning of the 14th. Would the fort be standing by the morning? Would the flag on the fort be still waving?

Key was relieved that indeed it was, and he could see “by the dawn’s early light” that “our flag was still there.” In the last verse of his famous song, he notes, “Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’

Recently, in various sports venues, it has been en vogue to “bend a knee” in protest during the singing of the anthem or to miss it by being in the locker-room instead, as apparently happened with the LSU women’s basketball team recently.

But this is just another example of the war on America as founded. Self-rule under God is the essence of the American experiment. Francis Scott Key turned out to be key in formulating our national motto, which reminds us of that.

©2024. Jerry Newcombe, D. Min. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: America’s ship of state is underwater and sinking faster each and every day!

U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ Shakeba Morrad Mocks Families of Hostages thumbnail

U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ Shakeba Morrad Mocks Families of Hostages

By Canary Mission

How is this America? How is this person in the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs?

Shakeba Morrad of the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs shockingly mocks the pleas of Jews and Israelis for the release of hostages by Hamas.

About Shekeba Morrad

Overview

Shekeba Morrad is an attorney with the United States federal government who mocked people pleading for Israeli civilians kidnapped by Hamas terrorists to be returned. She posted an Instagram video in November 2023 where she put on an accent and mocked calls for the return of hundreds of hostages, but she deleted the video that same month.

The federal government subsequently opened an investigation into the incident amidst calls from several U.S. senators for Morrad’s immediate removal from her job in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). At the time of her video, she was an appellate attorney in VA at the Office of General Counsel.

Hamas kidnapped the civilians, including women and children, during a series of terror attacks and war crimes that left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Hamas executed the terror attacks on October 7, 2023.

The other Hamas war crimes included mass murder, torture, rape and beheadings. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 2] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

🚨 US Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ Shakeba Morrad Mocks Families of Hostages

👉 REPOST to join our call for accountability.

Caught on video, Shakeba Morrad of the U.S. @DeptVetAffairs shockingly mocks the pleas of Jews and Israelis for the release of hostages by Hamas.

Does this… pic.twitter.com/TJK5zhaHC6

— Shirion Collective (@ShirionOrg) April 10, 2024

Mocking People Pleading for the Return of Kidnapped Israelis

On November 12, 2023, Morrad appeared in a video of herself from Instagram mocking calls for the return of Israeli citizens who were kidnapped by Hamas and being held hostage in Gaza.

Morrad put on an accent and said [00:00:01]: “We just want our hostages back! Give us our 200 hostages!”

Morrad later deleted the video and privated her Instagram account.

On November 28, 2023, VA reportedly opened an investigation into the incident.

On the same day, VA released a statement that said: “We are aware of this incident, are investigating the matter, and will take any appropriate action.” The statement also said: “There is no place at VA for anti-Semitism or any expression of bigotry or hatred.”

Biographical Information

As of November 2023, Morrad was listed on the website RocketReach as having received a JD from Syracuse University (SU) College of Law in 2013. The website also said that she graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) with a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs. Her location was listed as Washington, D.C.

Several Michigan Democrats Fail To Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants thumbnail

Several Michigan Democrats Fail To Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants

By The Daily Caller

A number of Democratic elected officials in Michigan failed to condemn “Death to America” chants made at an Al Quds Day Rally in Dearborn, Michigan, late last week.

An activist named Tarek Bazzi spoke to the crowd at the rally calling for “all of” the crowd’s chants and shouts to be directed at America. The protesters can be heard chanting, “Death to America” in a video posted on social media.

At International Al-Quds Day Rally in Dearborn, Michigan Protesters Chant “Death to America!”; Speakers at the Rally: America Is One of the “Rottenest Countries” on Earth; Israel Is ISIS, Nazis, a Cancer pic.twitter.com/B6hMlaKfi5

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 7, 2024

“The death to Israel is the most logical chant heard across the world, today,” said Bazzi in the video. After Bazir’s remarks, Michigan Imam Usama Abdhulagani said to the crowd, “Israel is an evil settler-colonial State.”

“Israel is ISIS,” continued Abdhulagani.

The Daily Caller contacted Democrats from Michigan’s Congressional delegation, along with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to ask if they condemned the chant. A number of them responded with condemnations, but several did not, including Whitmer and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Rep. Hillary Scholten denounced the “anti-Semitic” rhetoric of the protesters. “I fully condemn this dangerous and disturbing rhetoric and will stand strong against hatred, bigotry, and anti-Semitism wherever it exists,” said Rep. Scholten.

Rep. Dan Kildee also reprimanded the protesters for “dangerous” speech.

“I unequivocally condemn such extreme and dangerous speech,” said Rep. Kildee. “Calling for violence, including the destruction of America, is wrong and should be denounced.”

Rep. Elissa Slotkin thanked Dearborn leaders for speaking out against the protesters.

“Violent, hateful language has no place in our communities, no matter the cause,” said Rep. Slotkin. “I’m grateful to the Dearborn leaders and others for making clear that these statements do not reflect the views of Michigan’s communities. ”

After initially saying they would “politely decline” to condemn the “death to America” chant, the office of Rep. Shri Thanedar stated, ‘The Congressman condemns any chants calling for death to America” after the Daily Caller pressed for a statement.

Thanedar added,” I love America; I immigrated to the USA in 1979 and became a proud citizen in 1988. Any hate towards this great country must be condemned with the strongest words. I am deeply saddened by such attacks on American soil.”

The Daily Caller repeatedly requested a statement of condemnation from other elected officials from Michigan, including Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Haley Stevens, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Sen. Gary Peters and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, but they refused to share their stance on the matter. Gov. Whitmer also did not respond to a request for comment.

Last November, the House censured Rep. Tlaib for anti-Semitic remarks made by the Congresswoman after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The White House condemned the statement Monday morning in a statement first reported by the Daily Caller. Previously, the Biden administration had made multiple attempts to bridge divides with Arab-American voters in Michigan, particularly around Dearborn, who have expressed opposition to Biden’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

AUTHORS

HENRY RODGERS AND ZACK BRAVE

Contributors

RELATED ARTICLES:

Media Refuses To Cover ‘Death To America’ Protest Even Though White House Condemned It

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

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Biden Now Offering to Take Houthis Terrorists OFF the Terror List

By The Geller Report

We are ruled by traitors.

BREAKING: Biden now offering to take Houthis OFF the terror list

By: Right Scoop · Apr. 3, 2024:

It’s been a roller coaster between Biden and the Houthis since he took office. He originally undid Trump’s move and took the Houthis off the terror list and then had to put them back on.

Now he’s begging them to stop attacking ships and offering to take them back off the list again.

Here’s more from Bloomberg:

The US said it would consider revoking its recent designation of Yemen’s Houthis as terrorists if the Iran-backed militants cease their shipping attacks in and around the Red Sea.

“My hope is that we can find diplomatic off-ramps,” Tim Lenderking, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Yemen, told reporters in an online press briefing on Wednesday. “To find ways to deescalate and allow us to pull back, eventually, the designation and of course to end the military strikes on Houthis’ military capability.”

The comments suggest Washington is once more leaning on diplomacy after a nearly three-month-long campaign of airstrikes against Houthi facilities in Yemen. Those have failed to stop the group’s missile and drone attacks against merchant vessels and warships, though the US says it has managed to degrade the Houthis’ military capabilities.

Asked by Bloomberg News after the briefing if the US was offering the Houthis a quid pro quo to end their attacks on ships in return for revoking the designation, Lenderking said: “We would certainly study that but not assume it’s an automatic thing.”

Biden is such a weak president and they clearly see it. I think if Trump were president, these Houthi attacks on international merchant vessels would already be a distant memory.

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AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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POSTS ON X:

The Houthis in a threatening music video are calling on for death to the Jews and death to the US.

Israel and the US are trembling. pic.twitter.com/juLr3LlL6t

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 4, 2024

-Biden takes the Houthis off the Terror Watch List when he enters office.
-The Houthis go back to attacking throughout the region.
-Biden ignores the attacks until they put the Red Sea in crisis.
-Biden puts the Houthis on a Terror List for just the Red Sea attacks.
-Biden says…

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) April 4, 2024

BREAKING:

🇾🇪🇮🇷We have 400,000 fighters at your disposal – the Houthis

The Yemenis have informed Iran that if there is a regional war, more than 400,000 fighters are ready to completely blockade the Red Sea and target US bases in Africa and the Middle East

The Yemenis have… pic.twitter.com/cINpGSRKYP

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) April 7, 2024

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