RSS
The World’s Lies About Israel Encourage Worse Conduct by Other Countries
Members of the United Nations Security Council meet on the day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, March 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
In six months of fighting in Gaza, Israel has produced the lowest civilian to combatant casualty ratio in history.
Nonetheless, the Jewish State has found itself subject to accusations ranging from being overly aggressive to outright genocide — accusations that are flatly contradicted by well established data. To accuse a country that is being so incredibly careful sends a dangerous message to the world: that being careful doesn’t matter, and that terrorism works.
A case-in-point is the recent statement by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) spokesman Tarek Abu Shaluf, who admitted that terror groups (such as PIJ and Hamas) have taken over all of the hospitals in Gaza, and are using the medical facilities to hide military activities and launch attacks.
Shaluf was speaking while under interrogation by Israeli intelligence, a situation that public audiences typically find non-credible. However, in this case, Shaluf’s statement coincides with multiple international intelligence findings, including by the United States and Europe, not to mention a mountain of specific evidence publicly disclosed by Israel.
Nonetheless, Israel has garnered a general and baseless reputation for being overly aggressive and even malicious. Last week, for example, senior Democrat, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, signed a letter calling on President Biden to withhold arms sales from Israel. This move is especially notable because Pelosi does not represent a niche faction of the party, but is considered to be a senior and mainstream leader within the US political establishment.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board said that Democrats were “play[ing] into Hamas’s hands,” and that, “Cutting off weapons to an ally in wartime would be the definition of betrayal.” There is also opposition to supporting Israel on the political right, though it has yet to reach levels that are quite as senior and mainstream as those represented by last week’s letter.
Internationally, Israel is fighting accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice at the Hague. Meanwhile, Nicaragua — which for years has been closely tied to both Iran and Hezbollah — brought a similar suit last week against Germany based on the country’s support for Israel. The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the United States, in a notable shift of policy, did not exercise its veto power to prevent it.
Notwithstanding the accusations against Israel, which are often dramatic and deeply emotional, the numbers tell a different story.
Currently Hamas claims a total of some 33,000 casualties. It is well established that Hamas’ casualty figures are wildly inaccurate, including such faults as counting combatants and also counting civilians that Hamas itself has killed.
The IDF states a combatant casualty count of some 14,000, putting the civilian to combatant casualty ratio at slightly over 1:1, even if one accepts Hamas’ figures. This 1:1 ratio is nine times lower than the UN published global average, and 4 to 5 times lower than numbers produced by the US and its allies (such as in Iraq and Afghanistan).
In fact, the figure is lower than any urban warfare scenario that has ever been recorded in history. Even now, conflicts are raging in places like Syria and Yemen with death tolls in the hundreds of thousands, with abysmal civilian to combatant ratios, and yet they are receiving precious little global attention.
On the humanitarian aid front, Israel has facilitated the transport of more than a quarter million tons of food and over three million cubic meters of clean water into Gaza since October 7. Hamas habitually steals this aid to supply its military machine at the expense of Gaza’s civilians, a leading factor behind much of the food insecurity in the region. However, Hamas’ food theft has gone mostly unnoticed by international critics.
The global publicity campaign against Israel is no accident: Hamas has little chance of defeating Israel militarily, and their leadership is well aware of this reality. The terror organization has therefore publicly stated that it intends to use public pressure to stop Israel’s military campaign prematurely, and thus achieve an overall victory even despite losing every physical battle. Such tactics are nothing new, but if recent changes in American policy are any measure, it seems that this time, the tactic may actually stand a chance of working.
Israel has lost more than 600 soldiers since October 7, many of whom fell precisely because of Israel’s historic caution in protecting civilians, and the world is watching.
On the one hand, world leaders see the price Israel is paying to protect civilians and they see that this sacrifice goes unacknowledged. On the other hand, terror groups are also watching: they see that hiding behind civilians works, that placing military bases inside hospitals works, and that a campaign of global defamation works as well. If we publicly malign the very caution we wish to see in the world by Israel, if we permit the very abuse of civilians we wish to prevent, then we build the very kind of future we should rationally wish to avoid.
Daniel Pomerantz is an expert in international law, an adjunct professor at Reichman and Bar Ilan Universities in Israel, and the CEO of RealityCheck, an nonprofit NGO dedicated to clarifying global conversations with verifiable data. Daniel lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and can be found on Instagram at @realitycheckresearch or at www.RealityCheckResearch.org.
The post The World’s Lies About Israel Encourage Worse Conduct by Other Countries first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US House Members Ask Marco Rubio to Bar Turkey From Rejoining F-35 Program
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers is pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law.
Members of Congress on Thursday warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia. The letter pointed to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite repeated US warnings, as the central reason Turkey was expelled from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The S-400 poses a direct threat to US aircraft, including the F-16 and F-35,” the lawmakers wrote. “If operated alongside these platforms, it risks exposing sensitive military technology to Russian intelligence.”
The group of signatories, spanning both parties, stressed that Turkey still possesses the Russian weapons systems and has shown “no willingness to comply with US law.” They urged Rubio and the Trump administration to uphold the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and maintain Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program until the S-400s are fully removed.
The letter comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington have begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Lawmakers argued that reversing course now would undermine both US credibility and allied confidence in American defense commitments. They also warned it could disrupt development of the next-generation fighter jet announced by the administration earlier this year.
“This is not a partisan issue,” the letter emphasized. “We must continue to hold allies and adversaries alike accountable when their actions threaten US interests.”
RSS
US Lawmakers Urge Treasury to Investigate Whether Irish Bill Targeting Israel Violates Anti-Boycott Law
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A group of US lawmakers is calling on the Treasury Department to investigate and potentially penalize Ireland over proposed legislation targeting Israeli goods, warning that the move could trigger sanctions under longstanding US anti-boycott laws.
In a letter sent on Thursday to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 16 Republican members of Congress expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s recent legislative push to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), called for the US to “send a clear signal” that any attempts to economically isolate Israel will “carry consequences.”
The Irish measure, introduced by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris, seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters say the bill aligns with international law and human rights principles, while opponents, including the signatories of the letter, characterize it as a direct extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a step toward the destruction of the world’s lone Jewish state.
Some US lawmakers have also described the Irish bill as an example of “antisemitic hate” that could risk hurting relations between Dublin and Washington.
“Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland,” the lawmakers wrote in this week’s letter, urging Bessent to determine whether Ireland’s actions qualify as participation in an “unsanctioned international boycott” under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Ribicoff Amendment.
Under that statute, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that pressure companies to comply with international boycotts not sanctioned by the US. Inclusion on the list carries tax-reporting burdens and possible penalties for American firms and individuals doing business in those nations.
“If the criteria are met, Ireland should be added to the boycott list,” the letter said, arguing that such a step would help protect US companies from legal exposure and reaffirm American opposition to economic efforts aimed at isolating Israel.
Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.”
RSS
US Families File Lawsuit Accusing UNRWA of Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
American families of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing material support to the Islamist terror groups behind the deadly assaults.
Last week, more than 200 families filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC district court accusing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing funding and support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA employs staff with direct ties to the Iran-backed terror group, including individuals allegedly involved in carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.
However, UNRWA has firmly denied the allegations, labeling them as “baseless” and condemning the lawsuit as “meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible.”
According to the organization, the lawsuit is part of a wider campaign of “misinformation and lawfare” targeting its work in the Gaza Strip, where it says Palestinians are enduring “mass, deliberate and forced starvation.”
The UN agency reports that more than 150,000 donors across the United States have supported its programs providing food, medical aid, education, and trauma assistance in the war-torn enclave amid the ongoing conflict.
In a press release, UNRWA USA affirmed that it will continue its humanitarian efforts despite facing legal challenges aimed at undermining its work.
“Starvation does not pause for politics. Neither will we,” the statement read.
Last year, Israeli security documents revealed that of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza, 440 were actively involved in Hamas’s military operations, with 2,000 registered as Hamas operatives.
According to these documents, at least nine UNRWA employees took part directly in the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israeli officials also uncovered a large Hamas data center beneath UNRWA headquarters, with cables running through the facility above, and found that Hamas also stored weapons in other UNRWA sites.
The UN agency has also aligned with Hamas in efforts against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices.
These Israeli intelligence documents also revealed that a senior Hamas leader, killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024, had served as the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, where Lebanon is based,
UNRWA’s education programs have been found by IMPACT-se, an international organization that monitors global education, to contribute to the radicalization of younger generations of Palestinians.