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For the Sake of Israelis and Palestinians, Israel Must Completely Defeat Hamas in Gaza

Former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

It is fitting that Israeli soldiers finally killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the period between the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack, and the Hebrew calendar anniversary on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

The terrorist leader’s death marks a major milestone in the conflict. But it does not — and cannot — mark the end of Israel’s war in Gaza, or beyond. Those who would urge Israel simply to “move on” fail to understand the sheer brutality that Sinwar orchestrated, and the subsequent necessity of Israel’s operations to defeat Hamas and rescue the hostages.

Both of us witnessed Hamas’ brutality as part of programming organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), including an annual trip to Israel for retired senior US military officers.

Yet, even given our background, we were horrified by the raw footage of the attack, much of which Hamas terrorists filmed themselves, and a somber walk about and firsthand observation of one of the many devastated kibbutzim, Kfar Azza.

More alarming is that the full scope of the October 7 atrocities still has not reached the American public. The coordinated air, land, and sea invasion, and the barbaric violence against civilians, including rape, sexual violence, and mutilation, indicated this was not a spontaneous outbreak of violence — but a prepared assault fueled by the conditioned hatred of Jews.

Beyond the death and destruction, the October 7 attack also overturned Israelis’ sense of security and eroded deterrence against enemies even beyond Gaza.

But Sinwar also terrorized his own people. He served 22 years of four life sentences in Israeli prison for murdering Palestinians in his role as a brutal Hamas enforcer, until he was released in 2011 as part of a hostage release deal. Under his rule, life in Gaza even before 10/7 was subverted to Hamas’ military goals. Money and supplies were diverted, and civilian structures were appropriated to build “fortress Gaza” — turning the entire territory into a series of above- and below-ground fortified positions designed specifically for fighting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Sinwar wanted to bring the fight to the streets of Gaza because he knew they housed a potent weapon against Israel — not any of the tunnels or hidden bombs, but the Palestinian civilians that Hamas would ensure were caught in the crossfire.

Recognizing that Hamas cannot defeat Israeli forces militarily, Sinwar’s strategy sought to maximize the number of civilian casualties in Gaza to rally international pressure against Israel.

With this strategy, Sinwar intentionally sacrificed the lives of thousands of Gazans, and turned that of hundreds of thousands into a living hell. As we detailed in a JINSA report following our trip, Hamas has serially violated international law by turning the civilian population of Gaza into human shields to hide its fighters and weapons inside hospitals, schools, humanitarian zones, and United Nations facilities. It tried to force civilians to remain in harm’s way, attacking those who sought to flee. For those lucky to escape, Hamas nevertheless ensured their suffering by repeatedly stealing humanitarian aid, preventing it from reaching the civilians who need it.

Hamas then weaponized this suffering against Israel, waging a disinformation campaign to blame Israel for civilian deaths and insufficient aid. Indeed, Hamas’s disinformation has generated public pressure that has led to widening public tensions between the United States and Israel, including pauses of key US weapons transfers and threats of an arms embargo.

One senior IDF officer told us that international pressure against Israel was more challenging to Israeli success than any battlefield complexities.

With Sinwar’s death, that pressure is already mounting again, urging Israel to declare victory and end in the war in Gaza. To be sure, the death of Sinwar, the man responsible for the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust, sends a clear message that anyone who threatens Israeli lives will face justice. But it does not mark the end of the war in Gaza, nor the start of a new, more secure future for either Israelis or Palestinians.

This war is not about punishing the man responsible for 10/7. It is about ensuring that 10/7 can never happen again. It is about bringing home the remaining 100 hostages that were taken from their homes and kept, inhumanely, in tunnels for the last year. And it is about dismantling the remaining military capability of Hamas so that Gazans do not, once again, live under a terrorist regime. As long as Hamas persists in Gaza, these goals are not met and this war will continue.

The end of Sinwar is not the end of the war. Hamas will survive Sinwar unless Israel finishes its mission in Gaza. The United States should redouble its support for Israel to prevent the terrorist group’s next leader from rebuilding and not avoid pursuing victory for short term domestic political gain.

Rear Admiral (ret.) Paul Becker served as Director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and participated in JINSA’s 2024 Generals and Admirals Program. Ari Cicurel is Assistant Director of Foreign Policy at JINSA.

The post For the Sake of Israelis and Palestinians, Israel Must Completely Defeat Hamas in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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University of Michigan Student Government Impeaches Anti-Zionist President

University of Michigan PhD student, center, carries a sign that says ‘Free Speech! Free Palestine!’ at U-M’s Diag in Ann Arbor on April 4, 2024. Photo: Junfu Huan via Reuters Connect

The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government (CSG) has impeached President Alifa Chowdury, the anti-Zionist leader of the extremist Shut It Down (SID) Party that has, since taking office during the summer, attempted to withhold funding for campus clubs to pressure administrators into boycotting Israel.

Chowdury’s behavior has worsened in recent weeks, according to articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Margaret Peterman and passed overwhelmingly by legislators via secret ballot. Among the charges enumerated in the documents are “incitement of violence, cyber theft, and dereliction of duty,” The Michigan Daily reported on Wednesday.

“In all this, President Chowdury gravely endangered the security of students and the functioning of the Central Student Government,” a motion outlining the case for removing Chowdury from office says. “They threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful consideration of legislation, and imperiled a coequal branch of government. They thereby betrayed their trust as president, to the manifest injury of the students of the University of Michigan.”

The Daily added that the cyber theft charge is based on Chowdury’s changing, allegedly, the login credentials for CSG’s Instagram account in retaliation for losing a vote on a bill which aimed to hold hostage hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for distribution to student clubs unless the administration agreed to condemn Israel, sever institutional partnerships with its universities, and divest its holdings of Israeli companies and companies which do business with Israel. Chowdury has also allegedly failed to perform key functions of the presidency, including submitting reports, preparing committee members for their roles, and convening meetings with CSG’s executive council.

CSG representatives have fought tooth and nail to resist the president’s agenda and have had help from student club leaders, who insisted that Chowdury and SID were subordinating their interests to partisan politics. The fate of her term is now in the hands of the body’s Central Student Judiciary, which will soon rule on the merits of Peterman’s case against her.

SID’s capturing of the CSG has led to a historically dysfunctional administration, prompting the involvement of school officials at key moments when its brinksmanship threatened to derail core functions of the university. In August, the administration resolved to fund student clubs over Chowdury and SID’s objections, effectively stripping the new government of the power of the purse. Explaining the intervention to The Algemeiner on Tuesday, university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said it was prompted by Chowdury’s “senior” colleagues in the CSG Assembly.

SID’s rise to power on the University of Michigan’s campus has coincided with a surge of alleged anti-Black racism in the pro-Hamas community. Recently, the Black Student Union (BSU) resigned from the SID-collaborator Tahrir Coalition, citing “pervasive” anti-Black discrimination fostered by its mostly Arab and Middle Eastern leadership.

“Black identities, voices, and bodies are not valued in this coalition, and thus we must remove ourselves,” BSU said in a statement posted on Instagram. “The anti-Blackness within the coalition has been too pervasive to overcome, and we refuse to endure it.”

The university moved earlier this month to discipline another SID-affiliated group, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) — which endorsed SID and helped promote its campaign — for repeated violations of school rules. It may suspend the group for up to four years.

“The complaint was initiated through the Office of Student Organization Advancement and Recognition (SOAR), which is under the Center for Campus Involvement,” SAFE said in a statement published on Instagram. “Similarly to the academic disciplinary charges initiated through [the Office of Student Conflict Resolution] against protesters from the November 17th sit-in, the university acts as the judge, jury, and executioner in these disciplinary proceedings.”

SAFE has long been a source of anti-Israel activity on campus. In January, its members led an anti-government protest against the outgoing presidential administration, represented by US Vice President Kamala Harris, who appeared at the school to discuss climate change. They chanted “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” and called for mass casualty events inspired by Islamist terrorism, screaming “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution” while waving Palestinian flags.

Opposed by the student body and the administration, SID, which has accused the university of owning “blood money,” vowed on Tuesday not to surrender its power.

“Over the past three weeks, we’ve heard critiques about our work within CSG,” the party said in a statement. “We wanted to take the opportunity to clarify that Shut It Down was never intended to uphold ‘business as usual.’ The assumption that our party would operate like precious CSG administrations is simply ironic. CSG members calling for our resignations are weaponizing a manufactured narrative to paint Shut It Down as divisive … We see through these tactics and we stand with our comrades who feel forgotten and betrayed by a university that would rather protect its investments in violence than listen to the calls for divestment.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post University of Michigan Student Government Impeaches Anti-Zionist President first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Kamala Harris Passing on Josh Shapiro for VP Cost Her Jewish Support, Exit Poll Shows

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) holds a rally in support of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic presidential election campaign in Ambler, Pennsylvania, US, July 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski

US Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid could have received more support from Jewish voters had the Democratic nominee selected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, an exit poll revealed.

Had Harris picked Shapiro — a popular moderate who is also Jewish — instead of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), she would have won Jewish voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania by a margin of 53 percent to 38 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Teach Coalition, an affiliate of the Jewish Orthodox Union. The Harris-Walz ticket ultimately won Jewish voters within the Keystone State by a narrower margin of 48 percent to 41 percent. 

The exit poll was first reported by The New York Post earlier this week.

Over the course of her ill-fated campaign, Harris had been dogged by accusations of being both soft on antisemitism and an unreliable ally of Israel. The polling results suggest that selecting Shapiro, a vocal defender of the Jewish state, would have helped bolster some of her support among Jewish citizens. 

Harris’s decision to bypass Shapiro for the vice-presidential nomination elicited surprise, outrage, and even accusations of antisemitism. Many observers perceived Shapiro, a popular governor with charismatic oratory skills, to be a strong choice to compliment Harris on the presidential ticket. 

However, Shapiro’s repeated passionate defenses of the Jewish state and repudiation of anti-Israel protesters infuriated many within the far-left flank of the Democratic Party. In an interview with CNN, Shapiro condemned anti-Israel college campus protesters, saying that such demonstrations would be met with fierce backlash “if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia.” Shapiro has also backed a Pennsylvania bill that would “financially penalize the government of Israel or commercial financial activity in Israel.”

In the days following Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel ;ast Oct. 7, Shapiro, a practicing Jew, issued statements condemning the Palestinian terrorist group and gave a speech at a local synagogue. The governor also ordered the US and Pennsylvania Commonwealth flags to fly at half mast outside the state capitol to honor the victims.

Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, now the president-elect, pounced on Harris’s snub of Shapiro, suggesting that she blocked the Pennsylvania governor from the ticket because he is Jewish. Trump argued that Shapiro could anger Muslim voters in critical swing states such as Michigan, especially with a heightened focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid the war in Gaza. However, Shapiro defended Harris, claiming that antisemitism had nothing to do with his failed bid to become the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Some commentators suggested that Harris passed over Shapiro because she was worried about his ambition, a lack of chemistry, and the possibility of the governor overshadowing her.

The post Kamala Harris Passing on Josh Shapiro for VP Cost Her Jewish Support, Exit Poll Shows first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Tells IAEA Chief It Will Negotiate but Not Under Pressure

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 14, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear program but won’t succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the UN nuclear watchdog head on Thursday, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“The ball is in the EU/E3 court,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X following talks in Tehran with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, referring to three European countries — France, Britain and Germany — which represent the West alongside the United States at nuclear talks.

“Willing to negotiate based on our national interest and inalienable rights, but not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,” Iranian state media quoted Araqchi as saying. “I hope the other side will adopt a rational policy.”

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers through Grossi about Tehran’s seriousness to resolve its nuclear standoff, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran would have the opposite effect.

Diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday that Britain, France, and Germany are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency board next week to pressure Tehran over what they view as its poor cooperation.

Grossi, in a televised joint press conference with Iran‘s nuclear chief, urged Tehran to take steps to resolve the remaining issues.

“It is in our power here to take concrete steps that will indicate clearly, to the US and the international community, that we can clarify things and move forward with concrete solutions,” Grossi said.

Grossi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since Pezeshkian was elected in July. The president told Grossi that Tehran was prepared to cooperate with the IAEA to clear up “alleged ambiguities” about Tehran’s nuclear work, state media reported.

Trump’s return to office as US president in January upends nuclear diplomacy with Iran, which had stalled under the outgoing administration of Joe Biden after months of indirect talks.

During Trump’s previous tenure, Washington ditched a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear work in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

On Tuesday, Pezeshkian, seen as relatively moderate, said Tehran would not be able to ignore its arch-foe the United States and needs to “handle its enemies with forbearance.”

Trump has not fully spelled out whether he will continue his “maximum pressure” policy on Iran when he takes office.

SOURED RELATIONS

Relations between Tehran and the IAEA have soured over several long-standing issues including Iran barring the agency’s uranium-enrichment experts from the country and its failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

In August, the agency said Iran‘s production of highly enriched uranium continues and it has not improved cooperation with it, despite a resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors in June.

Grossi, who has long sought progress with Tehran over its fast-advancing nuclear work, said: “Inspections are just one chapter of our cooperation and cannot be discussed.”

The US withdrawal from the nuclear pact in 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions prompted Tehran to violate limitations on its uranium enrichment — seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability.

Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60 percent fissile purity, close to the roughly 90 percent required for an atom bomb. Tehran says its nuclear work is purely for peaceful purposes.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran’s reaction to a resolution could be to limit diplomatic and technical cooperation with the IAEA.

On Friday Grossi is scheduled to visit Iran‘s Natanz nuclear plant and its Fordow site, which is dug into a mountain.

The post Iran Tells IAEA Chief It Will Negotiate but Not Under Pressure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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