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Gaza Today, Lebanon Tomorrow
JNS.org – The international community has found its voice. Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre has resulted in a hallelujah chorus of international condemnation of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza. The barbaric attack on Israeli civilians is receding further and further into memory as the international community follows the Hamas gameplan to demonize Israel for the human suffering in Gaza that Hamas set in motion.
Each outbreak of violence between Gaza and Israel since Hamas seized power over Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 has resulted in international condemnations of Israel followed by ceasefire agreements. Those agreements have done nothing to rein in, let alone destroy Hamas. While Israel has periodically “mowed the grass” in response to rocket attacks, Hamas has diverted international funds meant for reconstruction to build underground fortresses.
Hamas’s massacre and use of its own people as human shields were not seen for what they were: Jihad against the Jews that can never be satisfied by diplomacy, border adjustments or money. Western minds proved incapable of understanding this religious drive to rid “Islamic lands” of “infidel” control.
Oct. 7 was, as Hamas planned, a red line. Israel finally acted like any other sovereign nation and set out to destroy Hamas’s ability to make war on the Jews. Enough kicking the can down the road. Despite the current pause in fighting, that road ended on Oct. 7.
Where we would be now if, when Israel left the Strip in 2005, the Palestinians had created a civil, proto-Palestinian state there rather than a terror enclave? And where we would be now if the international community had stood up to Hamas when it staged its 2007 coup against the P.A.? And what if, rather than romanticizing Hamas terrorists as “protestors” during the “great march of return” attacks on the Israeli border with Gaza, the international community supported Israel rather than demonizing it?
Today’s suffering on both sides of the border is the result of this betrayal of decency and reality.
Recent history is very likely about to repeat itself on Israel’s northern border. There, Lebanon is controlled by another major Iranian proxy—Hezbollah. It too is a proud death cult whose reason for being is to destroy the Jews. Hezbollah has accumulated an arsenal of 150,000 rockets aimed at Israel, an increasing number of which are precision-guided. When Hezbollah started a war against Israel in 2006, Israel conducted limited air and ground operations during which there were significant Lebanese civilian casualties because, like Hamas, Hezbollah embeds itself and its weapons in civilian areas.
That conflict ended with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that, among other things, called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and barred it from southern Lebanon, which borders Israel. But while the international community castigated Israel for its conduct of the 2006 war, it was all but silent as Hezbollah ignored 1701’s essential provisions. As Iran flooded Hezbollah with ever more advanced offensive weapons, the international community was silent.
For years, the threat of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel, fueled by Iran, has been increasing with barely a whisper of protest from the U.N. Now, in the aftermath of Oct. 7, Hezbollah is mounting limited attacks on Israel as Israel shows restraint. But if full-scale war erupts, either now or in the future, the consequences for Lebanon and the Lebanese will be catastrophic, as Israel has warned. The devastation in Gaza may pale in comparison.
Why isn’t the U.N. going all-out to prevent history from repeating itself in Lebanon? Why isn’t the world demanding Hezbollah comply with 1701? Why isn’t the U.N. threatening further sanctions against Iran? Why isn’t the U.N. debating sending a military force to enforce 1701?
Just as it was speechless in the face of the inevitable carnage in Gaza, only to find its voice when Hamas launched a full-scale war, the international community is again silent in the face of the human disaster that may soon engulf Lebanon. As with Gaza, the international community will only spring into action when the civilian death toll creates another media feeding frenzy, providing an excuse to hypocritically excoriate Israel.
This downward slide towards war can be stopped. The international community can stop it. But that means confronting Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran in order to crush these proud death cults. If the international community can’t or won’t do that, then it will be clear that its condemnation of Israel is merely part of the jihadist gameplan. It will be clear that the international community continues to validate that plan. And it will be clear that the plan by no means stops with Israel.
The post Gaza Today, Lebanon Tomorrow first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel for First Time Claims Responsibility for Killing of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday acknowledged for the first time that Israel killed Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
“These days, when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them at the beginning of my remarks: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran’s defense systems and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to stand,” Katz said during an event honoring defense ministry personnel.
Israel will “damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will behead their leaders. Just as we did to Haniyeh, [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, and [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon [respectively] — we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana’a,” Katz continued. “Whoever raises a hand against Israel will have their hand cut off, and the long arm of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will strike them and settle the score.”
Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are all internationally designated terrorist organizations backed by Iran. Katz’s comments came after the Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv over the weekend. The Houthis have also been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and will prevent all ships from heading to Israeli ports.
Haniyeh, the exiled political chief of Hamas, was killed in an explosion in Iran’s capital city on July 31. Iran had accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and vowed revenge; however, for months the Israeli government had neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.
Haniyeh was based in Qatar and had been the face of Hamas’s during the Israel-Hamas war, which the Palestinian terroris group launched with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
Following Haniyeh’s death, Sinwar was named the terrorist group’s overall leader after being its top official in Gaza. Sinwar, who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October.
The post Israel for First Time Claims Responsibility for Killing of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Should Scare Every American’: Top Trump Adviser Mike Waltz Explains Dangers of Iran Getting Nuclear Weapons
US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who was recently tapped to serve as the White House national security adviser for the incoming Trump administration, outlined in a new interview why Iran’s nuclear program could pose a major threat to the United States and must be stopped.
During an interview with Daily Wire co-founder and conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro, Waltz said that his constituents often do not understand how Iran’s nuclear ambitions impact American interests. The lawmaker explained that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons could kick-start an arms race and geopolitical firestorm in the Middle East, potentially forcing the US to become more involved in the region militarily.
“No. 1, if Iran gets a nuke, the Saudis are going to want a nuke, the Turks are going to want a nuke, and the Middle East exploding, not literally but figuratively, in a nuclear arms race should scare every American,” Waltz said.
Though Waltz conceded that nuclear proliferation in the Middle East would not necessarily result in “World War III,” he asserted that it would be “catastrophic for the world.”
The lawmaker added that a nuclear-armed Iran would endanger Israel, which he described as America’s “critical ally, morally and historically and geopolitically,” and that the US should take threats by Iranian leadership to eliminate Israel seriously.
“We should believe [Iran’s so-called ‘supreme leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] who intends to wipe Israel off the face of the earth if they have nukes,” Waltz said.
Waltz also praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “exposing Iran’s air defenses so that they literally are naked right now and on their back foot.” He appeared to be referring to Israel’s precision airstrikes on Iranian military and air defense sites in October which devastated the regime’s air-defense system and ballistic missile program. The strikes were in response to Iran’s ballistic missile barrage against Israel weeks earlier.
Waltz went on to say that the incoming Trump administration plans on “hitting” Iran’s finances throughout the Middle East and stopping the flow of money “out of Tehran into Beirut and into [Iran’s] proxies in Syria.”
Iran has supported several terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — both of which have been devastated by Israeli military operations in recent months. The Iranian regime also backed the recently ousted Assad regime in Syria, where Israel launched limited operations to ensure security at its northeastern amid uncertainty about Syria’s future.
“I hope that all of this has Hamas so isolated. They really thought the cavalry was coming from the north with Hezbollah. Now, that has been shown not to be true; Hamas has every exit blocked except one, and that is to release our hostages if you want to live,” Waltz said.
Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under the Trump administration from 2017-2021 crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. US President-elect Donald Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized the Biden administration for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency.
US intelligence agencies have for years labeled Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, noting it devotes significant sums of money and weapons each year to supporting proxies across the Middle East such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
The post ‘Should Scare Every American’: Top Trump Adviser Mike Waltz Explains Dangers of Iran Getting Nuclear Weapons first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Far-Left Lawmakers Call for End of Probe Into Spain for Barring Ships Bringing Arms to Israel
A cohort of American progressive lawmakers has called for the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to drop its investigation into Spain for reportedly denying port entry to cargo vessels transporting US weapons to Israel.
Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI), Cori Bush (MO) and Summer Lee (PA) on Friday sent a letter to the FMC, expressing “deep concern” over its recently announced investigation into Spain’s decision to “deny port entry to ships carrying weapons bound for the Israeli government.” The three congresswomen lauded Spain for enacting an arms embargo against Israel, citing what they called the “ongoing genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas since the terrorist group invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.
“This investigation is a reckless insult to our allies in Spain, which has only sought to enforce in good faith its sovereign national policies and uphold international law, including its treaty obligations to prevent genocide,” the congresswomen wrote.
The lawmakers then lambasted the US for “violating these same obligations and its own domestic laws” by continuing to support Israeli “human rights abuses, war crimes, and credible evidence of genocide. Tlaib, Bush, and Lee did not mention Israel’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties or Hamas’s strategy of using civilian sites for terrorist operations. However, they nonetheless argued that Washington should join Madrid in punishing Jerusalem for its military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The FMC, an independent agency of the US government, said it opened its probe into Spain earlier this month after receiving information that the NATO ally had refused to allow at least three cargo vessels — two of which were US-flagged — into its ports.
“The commission is concerned that this apparent policy of denying entry to certain vessels will create conditions unfavorable to shipping in the foreign trade,” the FMC said in a notice published in the Federal Register, official journal of the US federal government, on Dec. 5.
Two of the three incidents noted by the commission involved vessels run by the Danish shipping giant Maersk in November. The other occurred in May, when Spanish officials said they refused permission for the Danish Marianne Danica ship because it was “carrying weapons to Israel” and added they will not allow ships carrying arms for Israel to stop at its ports moving forward.
“Reports that the Government of Spain has denied access to certain US-flagged vessels raise serious concerns. Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, 46 U.S.C. § 42101, authorizes the commission to identify and offset unfavorable shipping conditions in U.S. foreign trade that result from the laws or regulations of a foreign government,” FMC commissioner Louis Sola said in a statement last Thursday. “If confirmed, Spain’s actions could constitute a violation of the law, and could result in substantial offsetting fines on Spanish-flag vessels, limitations on cargo carried between Spain and the United States, and other remedial actions within the commission’s discretion.”
Spain could be fined up to $2.3 million per voyage if the country is found to have interfered with commerce in such a way.
“Disruptions to international trade systems not only threaten global shipping networks, but also compromise the consumer markets they support,” Sola added. “Spain’s uniliteral restrictions on US-flagged vessels could raise questions about the core principles of non-discriminatory practices.”
Spain has been one of Europe’s fiercest critics of Israel following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
In October, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged other members of the European Union to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Sanchez’s demand came three days after the Spanish premier urged other countries to stop supplying weapons to the Jewish state.
Spain stopped its own defense companies from shipping arms to Israel in October 2023.
In May, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”
Spain, like many other countries around the world, experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents targeting the Jewish community following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers Tlaib, Bush, and Lee have been among the most outspoken opponents of Israel in the US Congress, falsely accusing the Jewish state of “genocide” and pushing Jerusalem to accept a ceasefire just weeks after the Hamas atrocities of last Oct. 7.
The post US Far-Left Lawmakers Call for End of Probe Into Spain for Barring Ships Bringing Arms to Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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