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Lone Soldiers
Yahya al-Sinwar, head of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, attends a meeting with people at a hall on the seashore in Gaza City.
JNS.org – “Israel Alone” was the headline on the cover of the March 23 issue of The Economist, the British weekly. The illustration shows an Israeli flag buffeted by a sandstorm.
I wonder if Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, is sitting in a tunnel under Rafah gazing at that image, and if it’s brought a smile to his lips.
Perhaps, when he was planning the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, one of his deputies advised that their fighters target only soldiers and spare Israeli civilians, at least children and babies; that they not rape women and mutilate corpses; that they conduct themselves, in short, as honorable warriors rather than barbarians.
And perhaps Sinwar replied: “No. The United Nations, the Red Cross, most diplomats and much of the media will support us—no matter what we do.
“When the Israelis counterattack, we will hide underground, shielded by hostages. Above us, the body count will mount. There will soon be demands for a ‘ceasefire.’ We’re fighting Jews—support for them will not last long.”
Indeed, less than two weeks after Hamas’s invasion, Brazil put a ceasefire resolution before the U.N. Security Council. The Biden administration vetoed it, explaining that it would “leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7.”
A second resolution was proposed by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself in December. Again, the United States vetoed it.
A third resolution came from Algeria in February. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said it would extend “the fighting between Hamas and Israel,” “the hostages’ time in captivity” and “the dire humanitarian crisis Palestinians are facing in Gaza.” She vetoed it.
Last Friday, Washington offered its own resolution, calling for “diplomatic efforts” to secure a ceasefire “in connection with the release of all remaining hostages”—134, with roughly 100 believed still alive, including five Americans. It also condemned Houthi attacks on shipping.
That language was tough enough on Israel to win 11 of Security Council’s 15 votes. But Moscow and Beijing vetoed it, for which Hamas expressed its “appreciation.”
No doubt Iran’s rulers were appreciative, too. Hamas is their client, as are the Houthis. And Tehran, whose intentions toward Israel are openly genocidal, has become Moscow and Beijing’s strategic partner in a strengthening anti-American axis.
Another resolution, backed by Moscow, Beijing and 22 Arab countries, was put forward on Monday. It called for a ceasefire until April 9, the end of Ramadan, “leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire,” and the release of the hostages.
But it didn’t make the ceasefire contingent on the hostages’ release. Nor did it condemn Hamas. Indeed, it didn’t even mention Hamas or the Oct. 7 massacre. This time, the United States abstained, allowing the resolution’s passage—which Hamas welcomed.
I expect that, following the conclusion of Ramadan, the hostages will still be in chains and the Israel Defense Forces will proceed with what could be the last major battle of the war.
President Biden has said Hamas shouldn’t be left with a “safe haven anywhere in the Gaza Strip.” But he’s also said he doesn’t believe achieving that requires a “major ground operation.”
“The key goals Israel wants to achieve in Rafah can be done by other means,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan asserted last week, without elaboration. Military experts I’ve spoken with are skeptical.
The Israel Defense Forces estimates that there are up to 8,000 Hamas fighters in Rafah. In addition to defeating them, the Israelis need to shut the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt through which Tehran supplies Hamas with an enormous quantity of weapons and ammunition.
The Israelis have agreed to provide “humanitarian enclaves” for non-combatants away from the battlegrounds.
Of course, if Sinwar were to release his hostages and lay down his arms, no one else would be killed. That needs to be said repeatedly and emphatically.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the U.S. abstention a “retreat” that suggests moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel. He canceled a visit of Israeli officials to Washington, where Sullivan and his colleagues were to suggest specific “other means” that could lead to Hamas’s defeat with fewer non-combatant casualties.
In the final analysis, Israelis are unlikely to be persuaded to let Sinwar emerge from the tunnels, one hand holding a weapon, the other flashing a V sign.
Perhaps he’d then whisper to his deputy: “Now do you understand? We don’t obey the infidels’ rules. We make the Jews bleed, and then the infidels obey our rules.”
There’s one flaw in this reasoning. In 1967, when all the Arab states surrounding Israel were mounting what they expected would be an annihilationist war, President Lyndon Johnson told the Israelis to hold their fire. Rejecting that advice, the Israelis fought and won what became known as the Six-Day War.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan advised the Israelis not to bomb a nuclear reactor in Iraq, and in 2007, President George W. Bush advised the Israelis not to bomb a nuclear reactor in Syria. In those instances, too, the Israelis did what was necessary—as anyone with a shred of strategic sense now knows.
“Better to stand alone than to live at the mercy of others,” Rachel Gur, an Israeli attorney—and, more importantly, a mother of four—noted above an image of The Economist’s cover appearing on X last week.
“We are the first Jews in 2,000 years who refuse to die quietly. We will continue to stand, to prosper and thrive. We have survived exile, the inquisition, crusades, pogroms and the Holocaust. We will prevail.”
If Sinwar saw her comment on his laptop in the tunnels beneath Rafah last week, I don’t imagine it brought a smile to his lips.
The post Lone Soldiers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.