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Enforcing the Truce: ‘Our Actions Will Talk,’ Israeli Security Official Says

A view shows the moment of an Israeli strike on a building, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah district of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Nov. 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

JNS.orgThe Israel Defense Forces delivered a severe blow to Hezbollah during the recent conflict, significantly degrading the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization’s capabilities, and is determined to use force if it detects attempts to supply it with weapons, according to Israeli security officials.

An Israeli security official said on Wednesday that on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas-led mass murder attack in the south, “it was Hezbollah that started a war against Israel.”

He emphasized the impact of the conflict on Israeli civilians, saying that Hezbollah fired more than 17,000 rockets, missiles and UAVs at Israel over the past year, targeting civilians, cities and towns, killing dozens of civilians and forcing 60,000 Israelis out of their homes in the north.

“Hezbollah made a mistake starting this war with Israel. [The group’s leader Hassan] Nasrallah made this mistake,” said the source.

The official detailed the achievements of the IDF: “Today, after almost 14 months, we have brought a major achievement that has brought a severe blow on Hezbollah, bringing Hezbollah dozens of years back. Hezbollah brought a disaster on Lebanon and tried to drag all the Middle East into a larger escalation.”

Highlighting the IDF’s current posture, the source said the Israeli military is currently positioned in Southern Lebanon, where it is patrolling the ground, while the Israeli Air Force conducts patrols over Lebanon to enforce the truce arrangement.

“We are ready for any development or any violation of Hezbollah. And there is a possibility for a new reality in Lebanon,” said the source.

He called on the Lebanese government to enforce the ceasefire, saying that it “should enforce it on all terror organizations. And this is what agreed. And by enforcing this agreement, this is the condition, I think, for the stability and also the prosperity of Lebanon as a country.”

The official stressed Israel’s commitment to preventing Hezbollah’s rearmament. He vowed that the military would respond to any intelligence of attempts to deliver arms into Lebanon for Hezbollah. “We will enforce it by fire. We will not let any arms be delivered to Hezbollah from the Syrian border or by any other method. And our actions will talk, not our words.”

The Israeli security official also addressed the mechanisms in place to prevent Hezbollah’s rearmament, saying, “We are monitoring the Middle East, we are monitoring Syria. We are monitoring the pathways. We are monitor not just the pathways, but any other way or method to deliver arms to Hezbollah.

“Of course, if we will see Hezbollah coming back or trying to build any capabilities …, we will prevent it. Of course, there is a mechanism in the agreement, but in the end the mechanism, if it won’t be enforced by others, it will be enforced by the IDF,” he added.

Addressing the initial phase of the truce, the official said this period will be crucial, and will see the IDF remain in positions in Southern Lebanon.

“If everything works in order and to plan, this is a gradual agreement. Our forces will leave Southern Lebanon after 60 days,” he explained. On the other hands, if the IDF sees armed terrorists trying to restore military facilities, it will act, he said.

“There won’t be any houses with missiles or rockets or arms. This is unacceptable,” the source clarified.

A different reality

On Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said, “The activity in Lebanon was very determined, and the enforcement of the ceasefire agreement will be even more determined. With determination, according to the guidelines approved yesterday by the minister of defense, the prime minister, and the Cabinet, Hezbollah operatives who approach our troops, the border area, and the villages within the area we have marked—will be hit.”

Halevi emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of residents of northern Israel, saying that IDF ground troops will be the first to encounter terrorists returning to Southern Lebanese villages with “a warning, with fire, with capabilities and mostly with air support.”

The general highlighted the IDF’s preparedness to enforce the truce, adding that Israeli aircraft are continuously airborne while naval vessels are gathering information and also capable of striking targets. “Above all, we are preparing, getting ready for the possibility that this approach won’t succeed,” he cautioned.

“We are very, very determined to enforce the guidelines and bring about a completely different reality for the residents of the north,” said Halevi.

Hezbollah is no deterrence

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former head of the National Security Council, said that Iran’s position has deteriorated significantly, speaking during a call organized by the Jerusalem Press Club on Wednesday.

“Iran now is much weaker than a year ago,” Amidror said, adding that while Hezbollah in Lebanon is stronger than Hamas in Gaza, neither can function at this time as Iranian proxies capable of deterring Israel.

“That was the whole idea to build Hezbollah—to deter Israel. Hezbollah is no deterrence anymore. We know how to cope with it. We know what its weakness points are and we know how to continue to destroy it if there will be a need. They lost Hezbollah as an asset against Israel,” said Amidror.

He highlighted the impact of the war on Hezbollah’s leadership. “We succeeded in eliminating all its leadership from Nasrallah down three levels. No one answers the phone anymore. The whole leadership, which … led Hezbollah in the last 40 years, their leadership does not exist.”

Discussing the potential for Hezbollah’s rearmament, Amidror said that the more Hezbollah understands its weakness, the “more cautious Hezbollah will be to violate the agreement.”

He also warned of the consequences if the terrorist group attempts to rearm, saying, “The minute that Hezbollah feels that it is strong enough to violate the agreement, then it’s the end of the ceasefire. From my point of view, my advice will be it’s the end of the ceasefire.”

The post Enforcing the Truce: ‘Our Actions Will Talk,’ Israeli Security Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration

(Source: Reuters)

(Source: Reuters)

NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza. 

The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians. 

Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan. 

The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”

In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza. 

Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories. 

The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation. 

“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement. 

The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.

Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.

The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.

Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.

“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”

Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”

The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”

Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.

In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

Additionally,  60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.

One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels—marking a significant shift from the government’s previous policies.

In an interview with Belgium’s VRT broadcaster on Thursday, Prime Minister Bart De Wever was asked about Hungary’s decision to not act on the ICC warrant against Netanyahu during the Israeli leader’s visit to Budapest this week.

“To be completely honest, I don’t think we would either,” De Wever said during the interview.

“There is such a thing as realpolitik, I don’t think any European country would arrest Netanyahu if he were on their territory. France wouldn’t do it, and I don’t think we would, either.”

As Hungary welcomed Netanyahu to Budapest with full military honors on Thursday, ignoring the ICC arrest warrant against him, the country also announced its decision to withdraw from the international court.

After their meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he believes the ICC is “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”

“I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage,” Orban said during a press conference.

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which until a recently imposed blockade had provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout the war.

Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Belgium’s center-right government, led by De Wever’s National Flemish Alliance party, took power this year after defeating a left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party, known for its anti-Israel stance.

Under the previous government, Belgium joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Last year, Belgium’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, said, “War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished,” referring to the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu.

“Europe must comply. Impose economic sanctions, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants,” De Sutter wrote in a post on X.

In line with this position, former Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in November that Belgium would “assume its responsibility” towards the ICC, emphasizing that “there can be no double standards.”

After the ICC’s decision to issue the warrants, several countries, including Hungary, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France, and Italy, have said they would not arrest Netanyahu if he visited.

Germany seems to have a conflicting stance on this matter. During a press conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he could not imagine the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu being executed during a potential visit to Berlin.

However, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, criticized Hungary’s refusal to enforce the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader this week.

“This is a setback for international criminal law,” Baerbock said during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

“In Europe, no one is above the law. And this applies to all areas of law,” she said.

The post Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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