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In-Depth Issues:
Israel on High Alert for Possible Houthi Attack - Lilach Shoval ( Israel Hayom)
Following the American strike targeting the Houthis in Yemen on Saturday, Israeli security officials prepared for the possibility of renewed Houthi attacks on Israel.
Is Iran Distancing Itself from the Houthis? - Seth J. Frantzman ( Jerusalem Post)
Iran may now be distancing itself from the Houthis. Iranian state media IRNA said on March 16 that "the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami, said that Yemen's Houthi 'resistance movement' makes its decisions independently" and that Iran is not involved in the Houthis' decisions.
"We declare again today that the Yemenis are an independent and free nation in their own land, with an independent national policy."
U.S. Justice Department Announces Launch of "Joint Task Force October 7" ( U.S. Justice Department)
The U.S. Justice Department announced Monday the leadership team and membership of "Joint Task Force October 7" (JTF 10-7), an initiative that will seek justice for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel and address the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and its affiliates.
"The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win - and there will be consequences," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
JTF 10-7 will focus on targeting, charging, and securing for prosecution in the U.S. the direct perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack - the terrorists on the ground that day who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians.
JTF 10-7 will also investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups.
"The [Justice] Department will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland," said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
"Antisemitic acts of terrorism - whether here or abroad - will never go unpunished."
JTF 10-7 will be supported by dedicated FBI agents, analysts, forensic accountants, data scientists, and linguists.
More UN Lies about Israel - Brendan O'Neill ( Spiked-UK)
The UN Human Rights Council's latest report is a breathless account of all the "gender-based violence" Israel has apparently visited on Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
It's hogwash. This is without question one of the most dishonest official documents I have ever read.
Those in the media who covered the story should have read the report.
They'd have discovered that many of the things referred to as "sexual humiliation" and "gender-based violence" are in fact normal wartime events, common to virtually every conflict in history.
There's a whole chapter on "sexual violence against men and boys." It sounds awful, until you realize that included within this definition are such run-of-the-mill activities as searching fighting-age males for weapons.
The IDF, conscious that suicide bombings are a favored military tactic of Hamas, sometimes requires arrested men to undress to their underwear. The report refers to this as "forced public stripping."
Making fighting-age men remove their outer clothing is not "sexual violence," you loons - it's a means for the IDF to search for suicide belts.
The report describes the IDF's very separation of young men from the rest of the population as "gender persecution."
You heard that right: to isolate fighting-age men for interrogation is oppression on the basis of maleness.
To depict the IDF's sparing of women from the pressures of wartime interrogation as "gender persecution" of men is doublethink taken to dizzying new heights.
When the report moves from "men and boys" to "women and girls," it lists one of the
key examples of "acts of sexual violence" against women as "the removal of the veil."
Can we get real here? It is sometimes necessary in warzones to check people's identities. At one point Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had disguised himself as a woman.
Listen, UN - it is not a crime for Jews to defend themselves against an army of antisemites that wants to kill them all.
Why Britain Must Deepen Its Defense Ties with Israel - Former British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps ( Jewish Chronicle-UK)
The UK and Israel must deepen our defense ties. This isn't just about moral solidarity; it is about making Britain safer in an increasingly dangerous world.
As Defense Secretary at the time of the Oct. 7 atrocity, I ensured that Britain provided Israel with all the support we could offer.
British intelligence played a crucial role in efforts to locate and rescue hostages.
We understood that this was not just an Israeli fight but a battle against the forces of terror that threaten all democracies.
Beyond the emotional and moral imperative, the hard reality is that Britain's security interests are directly aligned with Israel's.
Iran is becoming more emboldened, funding and arming groups that threaten Western nations, not just in the Middle East but globally.
Israel's intelligence and counterterrorism capabilities are among the best in the world, and closer cooperation allows Britain to benefit from that expertise.
At the same time, America's role in European defense is becoming less predictable.
Strengthening alliances with key partners like Israel is not just advisable - it is essential.
Deepening defense ties with Israel is not about taking sides in a distant conflict; it is about ensuring that Britain remains protected in an era of rising global threats.
For Britain's Future Defense, We Need a Reset with Israel Now - Editorial ( Jewish Chronicle-UK)
Europe's decades-long holiday from history has come to an abrupt end.
The continent now has to contemplate the sobering reality of deterring or fighting Russia - possibly without full U.S. support.
In this precarious new landscape, no ally offers more strategic value than Israel.
Its dominance in key weapons systems critical to our national security as well as its invaluable battlefield experience and intelligence prowess could mean the difference between life and death for British and European soldiers.
But forging this alliance requires a reset of our relationship with Jerusalem.
Following the Oct. 7 massacres, the West pledged full support for Israel's right - indeed obligation - to defeat the terrorists who invaded the country.
But this understanding quickly melted away under the pressure of hostile media coverage, wild accusations by NGOs, and the biases of politicized international organizations.
The British government suspended arms licenses based on unsubstantiated human rights claims.
Just last month, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accepted the ICC's arrest warrants against Israeli leaders without question.
Likewise, Britain and other European nations routinely vote in favor of or meekly abstain from the UN's obsessive, one-sided condemnations of Israel.
Just as Britain and Europe have abandoned their naivety regarding the Russian threat, they must apply this newfound realism also to Israel's even more dangerous security situation.
Though Israel stands on the front lines against forces that threaten the entire West, we demand its restraint while applying double standards on how the Jewish state defends itself in a seven-front war.
Neither history nor our enemies will judge this contradiction kindly.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Israel Launches Renewed Attacks on Hamas in Gaza - Feliz Solomon
Israel launched a series of attacks against Hamas targets across Gaza early Tuesday after Hamas failed to release the hostages or accept U.S. proposals for extending the ceasefire. Israel said the strikes were aimed at dozens of targets among Hamas's leadership, midrank military commanders and infrastructure. Israel said the effort would expand beyond airstrikes. "From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force," the prime minister's office said.
President Trump gave Israel the green light to restart attacks on Hamas after the U.S.-designated terrorist group failed to give up hostages, an Israeli official said. "Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said. (Wall Street Journal)
See also Israel Demands 11 Live Hostages to Continue Ceasefire
Israel demanded that Hamas return 11 live hostages, including American hostage Edan Alexander, in exchange for a continuation of the Gaza ceasefire, the Prime Minister's Office announced Saturday night.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also White House: "All Those Who Terrorize Israel and U.S. Will Have a Price to Pay" - Jack Khoury
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday that the Trump administration was consulted by the Israelis prior to the Israeli offensive. "As President Trump has made clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran - all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but the U.S. - will see a price to pay, and all hell will break loose," said Leavitt. "The Houthis, Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran and Iranian-backed terror proxies should take President Trump very seriously when he says he's not afraid to stand for law-abiding people and stand up for the U.S. and our friend and ally Israel." (Ha'aretz)
- U.S. Vows to Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop - Phil Stewart
The U.S. will keep attacking Yemen's Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Sunday. "This is about stopping the shooting at assets...in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States," he said. "They better back off." The Houthis said U.S. airstrikes killed 53 people and injured another 98.
The Houthis' military spokesman said Monday that the group had launched attacks against the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. U.S. planes shot down 11 Houthi drones on Sunday, none of which came close to the Truman, a U.S. official said. U.S. forces also tracked a missile that splashed down off the coast of Yemen and was not deemed a threat.
(Reuters)
See also Trump Vows to Hold Iran Responsible for Houthi Attacks - Idrees Ali
President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthis in Yemen, as the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes in response to the Houthis' threats to international shipping. On Monday, the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said.
"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Lt.-Gen. Alex Grynkewich said the latest campaign against the Houthis was different because the range of targets was broader and included senior Houthi drone experts.
(Reuters)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Targets Senior Members of Hamas in Gaza - Einav Halabi
Israel targeted senior members of Hamas in its surprise attack on Gaza late Monday after Hamas refused to release hostages. At least five senior members of Hamas were killed including Mahmoud Abu Watfa, Director-General of the Hamas Interior Ministry who was in charge of the Hamas police force. Also killed were two members of the Hamas political bureau, Issam Aldialis and Mohammad Al-Jmasi, the commander of internal security and the director-general of the Hamas Justice Ministry. All played central roles in the rebuilding of Hamas rule over Gaza.
(Ynet News)
- Hamas Rebuilding Its Military, Increasing Efforts to Attack IDF in Gaza - Yoav Zitun
Israeli security officials said they had observed increasing efforts by Hamas to target IDF troops in Gaza and launch attacks on Israeli communities across the border before Israel launched its surprise attack on Tuesday. Hamas has been rehabilitating its capacities under the protection of the ceasefire and rebuilding its military forces. Thousands of Hamas terrorists returned to northern Gaza after the IDF withdrew from the Netzarim corridor, joining the thousands of terrorists that remained in northern Gaza during the fighting.
Hamas was reorganizing its battalions and brigades, using underground tunnels that were not discovered or building new ones, placing new IEDs in anticipation of an Israeli incursion, and setting up rocket launchers and cameras. Hamas set up roadblocks and took control of hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, fuel and water. It collected taxes and demanded payment for humanitarian aid from the civilian population so that it could pay its operatives.
(Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Israeli Security
- Israel's Second War of Independence - Amb. Michael Oren
During the summer of 2024 - because I could no longer bear the thought of not taking an active part in our ongoing war, and thanks also to my stubborn refusal to acknowledge my advancing years - I volunteered for the IDF reserves. For the first time in decades, I put on a uniform, donned a helmet, and picked up a gun. My assignment was to help guard a kibbutz in the Upper Galilee, an area that was then under constant rocket fire from Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon.
As in our 1948-49 War of Independence, the current war has been fought nearby and indeed within the state itself. Like that war, this latest war has been waged not only or even principally against our armed forces but rather against our civilian population. This war, as well, has seen civilian Israeli volunteers picking up guns to protect and secure their homes. This war also rivals the War of Independence in terms of its duration. The current conflict has already outlasted our independence struggle.
On May 14, 1948, only hours after David Ben-Gurion had proclaimed Israel's independence, five Arab armies joined by barbarous terrorist bands invaded the nascent Jewish state in order to destroy it. That, too, was a genocidal campaign, smashing through our borders and claiming the lives of thousands.
Israel had been alone. We had no major allies. Although President Truman recognized the re-created Jewish state, he slapped a total arms embargo on that state. Visiting an artillery base last summer in the north, I was told that, as a result of the cutoff of American supplies, our cannons were down to firing a mere five shells per day.
In this war, we Israelis will remind ourselves of lessons from 1948. We will recall that we live not in Sweden or California but in the homicidal, fratricidal, and genocidal Middle East. We will recall that, while we can form crucial alliances, at the end of the day we alone are responsible for our defense. We will also recall that, rather than remaining dependent on foreign sources of arms, to the greatest degree possible we must be munitions-independent.
The 360,000 reservists who have fought and continue to fight this war are tempered, steeled, anything but fragile, and intensely patriotic. They are unparalleled in their resilience, their camaraderie, their quiet moral confidence, and their courage. This generation will lead our country in rebuilding, reviving, and breathing new life into the Zionist project. This is the war for restoring our dignity, our identity, our independence, and for reaffirming and embracing our responsibility.
The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and Deputy Minister for Diplomacy. (Mosaic)
- New IDF Initiative Reshapes Border with Lebanon - Yair Kraus
In the initial days following Oct. 7, as tens of thousands of IDF soldiers arrived at the Lebanese border to prevent Hizbullah from joining the Hamas attack, an unprecedented engineering operation was launched to reshape the sector. For over a year, thousands of engineering and infantry soldiers shaped the new border of diverse terrain along more than 120 km. stretching from Rosh Hanikra to Har Dov.
Hizbullah had spent decades constructing terrorist compounds in buildings, forests and underground infrastructure along the entire border as part of its plan to conquer the Galilee. Now, the IDF sought to ensure that the entire border zone, including a few dozen km. into Lebanese territory, would be cleared and barren.
IDF Northern Command Chief Engineering Officer Col. I. explained, "Back in October 2023, when the war kicked off, we brought in geologists, engineers and earthworks experts to provide solutions for the forests, wadis, buildings and underground infrastructure we knew we would encounter....Our operational priorities rested on firstly addressing the areas facing civilian communities."
Even before the IDF ground operation, at night, under the cover of darkness, armored engineering vehicles would work beyond the border.
After the ground operation began in October 2024, "Once we attained operational control of the sector, we...went in with full force. We drafted hundreds of reservist engineering soldiers and civilian earthworks contractors who joined in demolishing terrorist infrastructure across the entire sector." (Ynet News)
Iran
- The Window Is Closing for Diplomacy to Stop Iran's Nuclear Program - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
Of the many challenges facing Israel, our highest priority must be denying Iran - whose rogue regime denies Israel's right to exist - the capability to produce nuclear weapons. If U.S. efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program by nonmilitary means do not succeed within a few months, military action is needed given Tehran's dangerous behavior. The regime in Tehran has demonstrated its willingness to attack Israel directly, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles over our border in the past year.
I believe that if Israel were to attack, it has a good chance of causing damage that would make it very difficult for Iran to proceed with building a weapon. American support could yield even greater damage to the Iranian program. For years, Israel restrained itself from attacking Iran because of the fear of mass retaliatory rocket attacks by Iranian allies Hizbullah and Hamas. Importantly, Israel feels it has strong support from the Trump administration to eliminate Iran's capabilities to produce nuclear weapons.
The writer, former head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, is president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. (U.S. News)
- Former IRGC Officers Discuss Growing Discontent within Its Ranks
Several Iranian officers have spoken out against the Islamic Republic regime in an interview with Israel's N12 news site published on Saturday. Javad, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operative, said, "The IRGC knows Hamas and Hizbullah may never fully recover, so it's putting its hopes in advancing operations from Yemen."
Javad said that with the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime, "the IRGC lost one of its strongest fronts in Syria. Now, Syria is acting in Israel's interests against Hizbullah. That was a crushing defeat for Iran." Regarding the Iranian regime, he said, "the ones calling Israel corrupt are drowning in corruption themselves. Corruption in Iran has doubled. People are starting to wake up."
Lt.-Col. (ret.) Arash, a veteran of the Iranian Air Force and special forces, claimed that some within the regular army are waiting for an opportunity to turn against the regime. "The Iranian Army is made up of ordinary people. That's why they're more disillusioned with the regime compared to the Revolutionary Guards."
Both men expressed support for Israeli military action against Iran's ruling elite.
"No country likes being attacked, but in this case, 95% of Iranians were happy when Israel...took out the S-300 air defense systems provided by Russia," Javad said. Arash said, "People want Israel to go even further - hit IRGC bases, take out Quds Force commanders - so that the people can rise up and overthrow the regime themselves." Javad added, "We were once allies. Now we hope Israel's military strength can help the Iranian people reclaim their country." (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Arabs
- The Case for Palestinian Pragmatism - Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
Not long ago, I spoke at a university in New Jersey and described the horrors afflicting Gaza. I also said that Hamas's kidnapping of Israeli women, elderly people, and children as hostages, and the killing of innocent civilians, were atrocities that could easily be condemned without minimizing Palestinian rights or grievances. Agitators affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine stood outside the lecture hall shouting that I was a "traitor."
How did student activists in New Jersey who claim to represent Palestinians and to care about Gazans make me, a Gazan American who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for humanitarian projects in Gaza, their enemy? The so-called pro-Palestine movement has no space for a Palestinian who opposes Hamas's terrorism and promotes a future of coexistence with Israelis.
We Palestinians have grown far more comfortable analyzing the role of Israeli decision-making than in reflecting on our own mistakes. The Palestinian political leadership has manifestly failed to inspire meaningful action that could achieve progress. Wishing for the disappearance of 8 million Israeli Jews is not a policy. Hamas and its embrace of "armed resistance" have hijacked the Palestinian discourse.
What Palestinian politics need, and grievously lack, is pragmatism. Palestinians have few resources, no military advantage, no political leverage, and virtually no economic viability on our own.
The time for maximalist demands and rhetoric is over. To be pragmatic means abandoning unrealistic demands, such as the right of return to land that has been part of Israel since 1948. It means accepting Israel's existence, and understanding Israeli security as complementary to the Palestinian pursuit of freedom, dignity, and independence.
Israel is here to stay; it will not be annihilated and can even be a helpful partner in the future. Many things will become possible once we recognize the necessity of political and security cooperation with Israel. I have spoken with thousands of Palestinians over the years who believe, as I do, in the viability of a pragmatic path to peace.
The writer, a Gaza native, is a resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. (The Atlantic)
Israel and the International Community
- The Hypocrisy of the Human Rights Industrial Complex - Dr. Dan Diker
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, a "human rights" agenda has been weaponized against Israel by NGOs and the international community. The UN, for example, inexplicably accepted death statistics provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry and quoted them as fact, although the numbers of civilians purportedly killed were intermingled with those of militants, and some numbers were statistically impossible. The UN called for a ceasefire without demanding that Hamas release Israeli civilian hostages.
The "human rights industrial complex" criticized Israel, which has fought Hamas Islamist militants who massacred Israeli civilians, while treating Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) with kid gloves for doing the same to Alawites and Christians. No campus protests were held for murdered Alawites or Christians.
Israel has been a target for "human rights" political warfare because it is convenient to corner Jews and the Jewish state, while it is politically inconvenient - and politically incorrect - to criticize Sunni-Shi'ite tribal warfare in Syria or anywhere else.
The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Jerusalem Post)
- The ICC Should Be Prosecuting Hamas, Not Benjamin Netanyahu - Guglielmo Verdirame
The International Criminal Court (ICC) should intervene only where national legal systems fail - a principle known as complementarity. So why has it gone after Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of a country with a legal system so independent that he is already on trial there? And why, with so much evidence, is no living Palestinian terrorist facing arrest by the ICC in connection with the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel?
Oct. 7 was no ordinary terrorist act. The catalogue of crimes included murder, hostage-taking, arson, mutilation and rape - much of it recorded and live-streamed by Hamas. Even corpses were kidnapped. Under international law, acts of extermination, murder, torture or rape committed as part of such an attack against civilians amount to crimes against humanity. The destruction of civilian life was Hamas's central objective.
Israel had been routinely condemned for its blockade of Gaza which critics said was grossly disproportionate. But by Oct. 7, Hamas had amassed vast quantities of advanced weapons and munitions. Far from being disproportionate, the blockade had in fact been far less than adequate.
Imagine if scores of small towns and villages had been destroyed in Britain, with thousands killed and wounded, and hundreds raped, mutilated or taken hostage. And then imagine the enemy sitting a stone's throw away, continuing to launch rockets and planning more. What would be a proportionate response? The ICC should be acting against the leaders of Hamas, not Netanyahu.
Lord Verdirame KC specializes in public international law. (Telegraph-UK)
U.S. Crackdown on Hamas Supporters
- The Drama over Mahmoud Khalil's Detention Is Not Really about Him. It Is about the Fate of the U.S. - Josh Hammer
The national political conversation has curiously focused on whether a Syrian national and Algerian citizen who was the face of last year's violent pro-Hamas Columbia University campus riots gets deported.
Mahmoud Khalil is, by any metric, a wildly unsympathetic figure. He was the spokesman of a pro-Hamas student group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest. CUAD has referred to the Oct. 7 slaughter of Israelis as a "moral, military, and political victory" and asserted that it is fighting for nothing less than the "total eradication of Western civilization."
Khalil personally distributed propaganda pamphlets titled "Our Narrative - Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," borrowing Hamas's code name for Oct. 7. Khalil is not a U.S. citizen. He is a green card holder - a legal alien. And he can only remain on our soil when the U.S. consents to it. The power to exclude is the singular defining feature of what it means to be a sovereign. When the alien violates the terms of his admission, he can be removed.
Khalil violated the terms of his sojourn here by supporting at least one (perhaps multiple) U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organizations, and by making common cause with an organization clamoring for "the total eradication of Western civilization." The day the U.S. loses the ability to deport noncitizens who espouse such toxic beliefs is the day the U.S. ceases to be a sovereign nation-state. Thus, the drama over Khalil's arrest and detention is not really about Khalil. It is about the fate of the U.S. (Newsweek)
- There's a Difference between Free Speech and Persecuting Jews - Zoe Strimpel
The BBC's news coverage leaves the strong impression that in deporting Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University's top pro-Palestine ringleader, the Trump administration is preying on an innocent student for simply having exercised his right to free speech. But Khalil deserves to be deported, along with the many hundreds of his compadres who have devoted themselves to making American college campuses hell on earth for Jews. It is essential if the Enlightenment values and ideas on which America and the Free World are built are to be saved.
As historian Richard Landes argues, the zest for the "terror and the slaughter of Jews" makes Israel a "major battlefield" in the "global war" between Medieval forces of darkness and Western democratic civilization. Last year's widespread whipping up of hatred against Jews on campuses was a clear example of that global war.
Lest we minimize what actually happened, let us look at the testimony of one of the mothers of Jewish students on campuses. Miha Schwartzenberg wrote on X: "We had to move our kids out of the campuses, not just because of the protests and tents and blocking their access to...everywhere in campus - but because of the constant death threats, very dangerous and disgusting physical gestures, shouting and banging on their dorm doors, day and night...violating their privacy in the [common] bathrooms...class disrupted freestyle, calling them humiliating names while in class."
"Most of the Jewish students literally locked themselves in dorms, those who were lucky to share the room with a sane student. But those who had [pro-Palestine] room-mates had to move out, while we paid not just for the school, but for the dorms as well. It was the worst student year any Jewish/Israeli ever imagined." (Telegraph-UK)
Observations:
Oded Ailam, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad and now a researcher at the Jerusalem Center, declined an invitation to participate in a European documentary focusing on Israel's failures on October 7, 2023. This is his response:
- Following the massacre of October 7, Israel remains in the throes of a collective trauma, leading to intense self-recrimination. Yet the obsessive focus on our failures risks diverting attention from the true threat - the ideology that drove the October 7 attack in the first place.
- The October 7 massacre was the culmination of an ideological war driven by Hamas and its backers, who have cultivated a relentless culture of hatred, jihad, and the eradication of Israel. However, instead of facing this reality, much of the world chooses to exploit Israel's moment of vulnerability, portraying us as aggressors committing so-called "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza. This twisted narrative does not just distort the truth, it strengthens the wave of anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the world.
- Radical Islam is not merely waging war against Israel, it is waging war against any system, any people, any ideology that does not conform to its absolutist vision. Israel stands on the front lines of this battle. Yet, instead of acknowledging this, much of the world chooses to focus exclusively on Israel's internal failings, thus emboldening our enemies.
- If there is any hope for peace, it must begin with an honest reckoning, not within Israel alone but within Palestinian society itself. There must be a total rejection of Hamas's ideology - embedded so deeply within Palestinian society, an abandonment of the so-called "right of return," and, most importantly, a fundamental shift in the education of Palestinian children away from indoctrination and towards coexistence.
- Given the existential threat Israel faces, this is not the time to fixate on Israel's failures while treating Hamas's monstrous atrocities - enthusiastically supported by large segments of the Gazan population and radicalized Muslims worldwide - as a mere side note.
- A true reckoning must confront the entire reality, including the radical forces that orchestrated October 7 and the global enablers who continue to justify their actions.
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