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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.
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Anti-Israel Groups ‘Amplifying’ Messaging of Terror Groups, Iran-Backed Info Ops, US Lawmakers Hear in Testimony
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WithinOurLifetime (WOL), leading a pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo: Michael Nigro via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel activist groups are “amplifying” the violent messaging of terrorist groups and Iran-linked information operations, which seek to incite hate crimes against Jews as revenge for the war in Gaza, experts testified to a US congressional panel on Wednesday.
The Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee of the US House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on Capitol Hill, titled “The Rise of Anti-Israel Extremist Groups and Their Threat to US National Security,” to discuss the ongoing surge in antisemitic incidents across the country.
“America’s Jewish community is under attack, and we need to take decisive action to save lives and mitigate the escalating threats,” said Kerry Sleeper, deputy director of intelligence and information sharing at the Secure Community Network.
Sleeper noted that his organization has identified a “notable increase” in the number of antisemitic threats from foreign terrorist organizations and allied media organizations, warning that these threats “will likely persist for several years.”
He added that these organizations are using the recent shooting of two Israeli embassy aides in Washington, DC and firebombing of a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado as recruitments tool to incite more violence as “retribution” for Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Sleeper explained, anti-Israel “propaganda networks” in the US, such as Within Our Lifetime (WOL), Unity of Fields, and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are actively “amplifying messaging consistent with foreign terrorist organizations and Iranian-backed information operations.” Although all of these groups do not share a direct connection to foreign terrorist groups, they “help blur the line between protest and incitement.”
These organizations are also actively “justifying” and “glorifying” violence against American Jews “in the name of Gaza,” Sleeper said.
Prosecutors say the man charged for the Boulder firebombing yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack. The suspect also told investigators that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people,” according to court documents.
Less than two weeks earlier, the suspect charged for the double murder in Washington also yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supported the criminal charges against the man stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Sleeper said on Wednesday that every analytic brief produced by his group since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel has revealed a swell in antisemitic threats, “exacerbated by online incitement by Iranian-linked groups and designated foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS.”
He urged Congress to begin producing strategies to combat the surge in antisemitic terror threats: “We are long overdue for a national strategy to specifically combat targeted violence against the Jewish community.”
Oren Segal, senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), warned that online platforms are spreading rhetoric justifying violence by calling on anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists to “bring the war home.” He said that online platforms are allowing foreign terrorist groups “to share and promote their propaganda to thousands across the US and across the globe.”
Segal then outlined a series of steps he believes Congress should take to combat the increase in antisemitic threats.
He suggested that US lawmakers increase funding for the non-profit security grant program to protect vulnerable houses of worship and community centers, invest in community violence prevention units, grant the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism with additional powers, pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and penalize antisemitic online platforms by enforcing laws regarding providing support for terrorist groups.
“The time is act is now,” Segal warned.
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Palestinian Authority’s Terror Support, Lack of Credibility Undermine UN Conference on Statehood, Experts Warn
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, Sept. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The Palestinian Authority has demanded that Hamas disarm and vowed to implement internal reforms ahead of a United Nations conference this month on Palestinian statehood — a move that experts say is unlikely to succeed given the PA’s lack of credibility and support for terrorism against Israel.
In a letter delivered Monday to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, co-chairs of the upcoming UN summit, PA President Mahmoud Abbas made a series of what France described as “concrete and unprecedented commitments” intended to secure international trust.
The upcoming conference, scheduled for June 16–18, will focus on advancing efforts toward international recognition of a Palestinian state in order to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Ahmad Sharawi, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank, the French- and Saudi-backed plan is fundamentally flawed because the international community will be trusting in the PA “an entity that has been promising but not delivering since 2006.”
“Despite its condemnations of the [Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel] and Hamas’s refusal to release hostages, individuals within the PA’s bureaucratic and security system are implicated in terrorist activity against Israel, they spew anti-Israel rhetoric publicly, they celebrate individuals who commit terror against Israel, and continue their pay-for-slay policy which encourages more Palestinians to kill Israelis,” Sharawi told The Algemeiner.
The PA, which has long been riddled with accusations of corruption, has also maintained for years a so-called “pay-for-slay” program, which rewards terrorists and their families for carrying out attacks against Israelis. Under the policy, the Palestinian Authority Martyr’s Fund makes official payments to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the families of “martyrs” killed in attacks on Israelis, and injured Palestinian terrorists. Reports estimate that approximately 8 percent of the PA’s budget is allocated to paying stipends to convicted terrorists and their families.
Abbas had announced plans to reform the system earlier this year, but the PA has continued to issue payments, with top officials saying they will not deduct any of the funds.
Nonetheless, the PA is trying to position itself to play a leading role in Gaza once the current Israel-Hamas war ends. Abbas reportedly announced that the PA is “ready to invite Arab and international forces to be deployed as part of a stabilization/protection mission with a [UN] Security Council mandate.”
In an effort to secure international support, Abbas also wrote that “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza, and must hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian [Authority] Security Forces.”
However, Sharawi explained that the PA “is not trusted by either Israel or the Palestinian people as a competent entity for governance.”
“The Gazan population sees the PA as collaborators with Israel and if they do end up governing Gaza, then it would look as if they came on top of Israeli tanks and thus it is expected that the popular sentiment will lead to the rise of other militias or a resurgence of a Hamas insurgency,” Sharawi told The Algemeiner.
A poll released last month by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) found that, if an agreement is reached to end the Gaza war, only 40 percent of Palestinians (46 percent in Gaza and 37 percent in the West Bank, where the PA exercises limited self-governance) “support the return of the PA to managing the affairs of the Gaza Strip and providing for the requirements of daily life and responsibility for reconstruction,” while 56 percent oppose it. The poll also showed that, among the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank, just 23 percent are “satisfied” with the PA’s performance, while an even smaller 15 percent expressed satisfaction with Abbas and a mere 24 percent did so for Abbas’s ruling Fatah party.
Despite the PA’s lack of support among the Palestinian people, Macron said last month that recognizing “Palestine” was “not only a moral duty but a political necessity.” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned France’s announcement, stating that such a move would only reward terrorism in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Reuters reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration is discouraging governments around the world from attending next week’s conference on a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, describing the event in a diplomatic cable as “anti-Israel” and “counterproductive.”
In his letter, Abbas also reportedly reaffirmed his commitment to long-promised administrative reforms, stating that he intends to hold presidential and general elections “within a year” under international supervision. Abbas was elected to a four-year term in 2005, and the PA has not held elections since then.
According to Sharawi, Abbas’s latest reform — appointing Hussein al-Sheikh as his vice president and potential successor — illustrates how the PA speaks of change yet continues to maintain the same entrenched inner circle.
“The challenge in trusting the PA is that the international community would be legitimizing an entity that is solely run by an executive council composed of Abbas and his affiliates who block any attempt of passing laws … and an incompetent security force that is unable to confront the threats made by groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the areas they control,” Sharawi told The Algemeiner.
In an apparent shift from previous remarks, Abbas in his letter also condemned the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, calling it “unacceptable.”
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israel-based nongovernmental organization, dismissed Abbas’s supposed criticism of the Hamas onslaught against the Jewish State, calling it “two-faced” and accusing him of hypocrisy.
“It took Abbas 20 months to figure out that Oct. 7 rape, beheading, torture, and murder of 1,200 is merely ‘unacceptable.’ What’s truly unacceptable is thinking that Oct. 7-defender Mahmoud Abbas has a gram of decency in him,” PMW wrote in a statement.
Last week, the NGO called on France and Saudi Arabia to cancel the upcoming conference unless Abbas publicly denounces Hamas terrorist attacks.
“As Western leaders plan to meet at the UN on June 17 to give PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas a present of recognition of a Palestinian state, Abbas continues to prove how unworthy the PA is of being a state,” PMW said in a statement on Sunday.
In the past, Abbas praised Hamas for achieving “important goals” with the Oct. 7 onslaught, describing the attack — the deadliest single-day massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust — as one that “shook the foundations of the Israeli entity.”
Other PA officials, including Mahmoud al-Habbash, Abbas’s adviser on religious and Islamic affairs, have similarly praised Hamas’s atrocities, describing them as “legitimate resistance.”
Ahead of next week’s UN summit, Abbas’s promises seek to counterbalance the PA’s history of corruption and its hardline anti-Israel policies, including the notorious “pay-for-slay” program.
According to The Guardian, recognition of a Palestinian state at the upcoming conference will be tied to several conditions, including a truce in Gaza, the release of hostages taken by Hamas, reform of the PA, economic recovery, and an end to Hamas’s terrorist rule in the war-torn enclave.
The post Palestinian Authority’s Terror Support, Lack of Credibility Undermine UN Conference on Statehood, Experts Warn first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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President Milei Announces Argentina Will Move Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem Next Year
Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Argentine President Javier Milei delivered an impassioned address to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Wednesday, in which he announced that Argentina would relocate its embassy to Jerusalem next year. He also declared his country’s full support for Israel’s war against Hamas and accused much of the international community of siding with terrorists.
“I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem,” Milei declared.
Milei said Argentina stood firmly with Israel at a time when, in his view, much of the international community had failed to do so. “Argentina stands by you in these difficult days. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators,” he said.
“How does the world allow a murderous terrorist organization to continue to hold innocent civilians hostage?” Milei asked, referring to the dozens of captives still being held in Gaza following the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “When both sides are good and evil, there is no moral equality here.”
Milei also attacked climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and deported by Israel after she attempted to break the Gaza blockade by sea. “She became a hired gun for a bit of media attention, claiming that she was kidnapped when there are really hostages in subhuman conditions in Gaza,” he said.
Milei’s three-day visit to Israel – the longest leg of a ten-day foreign tour – began with a prayer at the Western Wall and included meetings with Israeli leaders, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who paused his corruption trial earlier in the day to host the Argentine leader.
“Javier, you are a true friend,” Netanyahu said, speaking hoarsely. “We both woke up with sore throats. The question is, who infected whom? But we also ‘infect’ one another with friendship — both personally and between our nations.”
“For 20 months, we have been fighting human monsters,” Netanyahu said. “You said clearly: ‘We stand with you in the fight against the forces of darkness.’ This is a just war like no other. Terror seeks to drag us back to the darkness of the Middle Ages, and we will fight it with all our might.”
Milei framed his support for Israel within a broader critique of global threats to democratic societies. “Whether we like it or not, the West is being tested. Various forms of barbaric tyranny are attacking us and have no relation to democracy,” he said.
Arab lawmakers did not attend Milei’s Knesset address.
During the visit, Milei met with survivors of Hamas captivity and relatives of Argentine hostages still being held in Gaza. Twenty-seven Argentine nationals were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, and a further 21 were taken hostage, including Shiri Bibas and her two toddler sons, Ariel and Kfir, all of whom were murdered in captivity.
“We continue to demand the unconditional return of the four Argentines who are still held captive – Eitan Horn, Ariel and David Cunio, and Lior Rudaeff – and all those kidnapped and still held by the terrorist organization Hamas,” Milei said during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Herzog expressed the country’s admiration for Milei, saying, “During your presidency, my friend Milei, our relations have reached new heights – and will continue to rise. You love Israel – and we love you.”
A rocket fired by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Tuesday evening triggered air raid sirens across Israel, sending millions – including Milei in his Jerusalem hotel – into shelters. The incident prompted him to write on X: “I strongly recommend that when you react to what happens in Israel, remember what it’s like to live in this situation. I witnessed this from the hotel where I’m staying in Jerusalem.”
The following day, Milei canceled a planned tour of the City of David archaeological site due to illness. His itinerary was expected to conclude Thursday with a return visit to the Western Wall.
Milei was also expected to unveil plans for nonstop flights connecting Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv, which would mark the first direct air link between the two countries since Israeli agents apprehended Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1960.
Since taking office in December, Milei has made Israel a focal point of his foreign policy and has visited the Jewish state twice in as many years. He pledged to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem during his earlier visit.
The embassy move would place Argentina in alignment with the United States and five other countries: Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Paraguay, and Papua New Guinea, all of which moved their embassies from Tel Aviv. The Argentine embassy is currently located in Herzliya, a coastal city to the north of Tel Aviv.
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