US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

US President Donald Trump‘s Middle East envoy said on Wednesday he would travel to the region to be part of what he described as an inspection team deployed in and along the Gaza Strip to ensure ceasefire compliance.

In an interview with Fox News, the envoy, Steve Witkoff, also said he believed all countries in the region could get “on board” to normalize ties with Israel. Asked to identify specific countries, he singled out Qatar, saying the Gulf country was a critical player in reaching the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Qatar, Egypt, and the United States brokered the multi-phase deal between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and the two Arab countries have set up a communications hub in Cairo to head off new clashes between the foes.

Witkoff told Fox that implementation of the deal, which took effect on Sunday, would be more difficult than its execution.

“I’m actually going to be going over to Israel. I’m going to be part of an inspection team at the Netzarim corridor, and also at the Philadelphi corridor,” Witkoff said.

Netzarim is an east-west strip Israel cleared during the war that divides north and south Gaza. Philadelphia is a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt.

“That’s where you have outside overseers, sort of making sure that people are safe and people who are entering are not armed and no one has bad motivations,” Witkoff added.

His comments appeared to be the first public confirmation of US involvement on the ground in Gaza to help keep the deal on track. Witkoff did not say who else might be part of the inspection teams.

Witkoff was also asked which countries in the region might join the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements struck during the president’s first term that saw Israel establish ties with Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates.

“I think you could get everybody on board in that region. I really do. I think there’s a new sense of leadership over there,” Witkoff said.

Asked to name a specific country, Witkoff said: “I mean, Qatar … Qatar was enormously helpful in this. Qatar’s [Prime Minister] Sheikh Mohammed, [his] communication skills with Hamas were indispensable here.”

The post Trump Envoy Says He’ll Go to Gaza to Monitor Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Schaeffer Hall, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Photo: Flickr.

Last October, the University of Iowa student-led Middle East and North African Students Association (MENASA) collaborated with Iowans for Palestine (IFP) and Eastern Iowa Jewish Voice for Peace (EIJVP) to host a panel called “Humanizing Palestine.”

Although the event was promoted to “combat dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding Palestine,” the speakers presented a biased narrative amounting to hateful anti-Israel propaganda.

Their falsehoods fell into two categories: distortions about the current war, and misrepresentations about the conflict’s history.

One current undergrad, an anti-Zionist and member of two of the anti-Israel groups, used her platform to demonize Israel and declare her “commitment to fighting against all injustices, including the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza…” Later, she denied the connection that the Jewish people have to Israel.

For over a millennia, Jews have called Israel home. As the center of Jewish faith, Jerusalem is revered as their holiest site. An honest reading of past and current international law shows that not only have Jews always had legitimate claims to establish and defend their country, but that their military has gone above and beyond to stop all Palestinian attempts at genocide.

Another speaker, the cofounder of a pro-Palestinian charity foundation that boasts about supporting organizations with proven ties to terror groups, emotionally manipulated the audience with pleas to “consider Palestinians when they are killed,” implying that the only way to do so is to blame Israel for every civilian casualty. In reality, Israel has made more effort than any other military in modern history to protect Palestinian civilians.

Furthermore, the war in Gaza only occurred because Hamas massacred and raped 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, and voted to repeat that attack until Israel was destroyed.

Another member of EIJPV outrageously claimed that her early education led her to “connect the dots between the Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza,” and dismissed all accusations of antisemitism towards Palestinians because she had “never once experienced antisemitism from a Palestinian, or from anyone at these [anti-Israel] protests, or from anyone carrying a Palestinian flag.”

Not only is this an oblivious and self-centered stance, but she would have needed to actively ignore so many incidents on and off our campus in the past year to make that claim with a straight face.

Further, her comparison is a horrific insult to all the Jews who were tortured, forced out of their homes, and murdered during the Holocaust. Life in the Warsaw Ghetto was defined by deliberate starvation, disease, and the constant threat of death. The uprising was an act of courage by Jewish men and women fighting back against Nazi forces who were actively working to wipe out an entire people.

While the situation in Gaza has its own challenges, they are suffering from the consequences of a self-inflicted war, not an attempt of extermination. In fact, the population in Gaza has gone up multiple times since 1948, while the level of Jews worldwide has still not come close to recovering from the Holocaust.

This comparison is Holocaust Inversion, and echoes the antisemitic belief prevalent in Palestinian society that the Holocaust was necessary to save the world from all future evils committed by Jews.

The bottom line is, the people involved in this event are trying to convince our community that it’s perfectly acceptable when people refuse to condemn Hamas, scream “I am Hamas,” or deny the rape of Israeli hostages. Apparently, the only way to humanize Palestine is to demonize Jews.

If that isn’t antisemitism, then nothing is.

The University of Iowa should make clear their official positions on such dangerous and contentious claims and offer equal support to events that platform a variety of perspectives in order to show their commitment to free speech and balance — so students can critically engage with opposing views and strive for justice and peace. Problematic events like these do nothing but spread hatred and disinformation.

Jasmyn Jordan is a 2024-2025 CAMERA Fellow and senior honors presidential scholar at the University of Iowa, double majoring in Political Science and International Relations, with a minor in Journalism.

The post My College’s Efforts to ‘Humanize Palestine’ Only Led to Anti-Israel Propaganda first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Icebergs float in a fjord near the south Greenland town of Narsaq July 28, 2009. REUTERS/Bob Strong

President Donald Trump has reignited interest in the strategic status of the island of Greenland following his proposal to purchase it from Denmark, which controls it. The previous Trump administration had already proposed to purchase the island.

Greenland is a central part of the Arctic region, an area that is of substantial geopolitical significance. The increased focus on the island’s strategic value has been accompanied by calls from its Inuit residents to make the local government in Nuuk (Greenland’s capital) fully independent of Denmark. While recent statements by Trump about his intentions have stoked tensions, Denmark is conducting secret talks with the US to expand American military bases.

The region is important because the melting of the glaciers is creating potential economic and strategic opportunities. The US, Russia, and China are all taking steps to strengthen their military presence in the area. In 2014, Denmark and Greenland claimed an area of ​​895,000 square kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle and up to the border of the Russian exclusive economic zone. Denmark also has claims to the Lomonosov Ridge, which it sees as a geological extension of Greenland. For its part, Russia has territorial claims against Norway, which has expanded its continental shelf to include the Barents Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea.

Denmark, which officially maintains its sovereignty in the region, has struggled to preserve the Arctic island’s Danish identity and set its agenda. The two share a long history of power struggles. In late 1826, a trade treaty was signed between Denmark, Sweden, and Norway that included recognition of Danish sovereignty over Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. William H. Seward, the US Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869 who spearheaded the purchase of Alaska from Russia, also proposed — without success — that the US purchase Greenland and Iceland from Denmark.

During World War I, Denmark sold the West Indies to the US in return for American recognition of its claim to extend its sovereignty to all of Greenland. In 1919, the Norwegian Foreign Minister expressed his government’s explicit recognition of Denmark’s ownership of Greenland, following negotiations that resulted in the transfer of the Arctic island of Spitsbergen to Norway. In 1933, a decisive judgment was issued recognizing Danish sovereignty over all of Greenland as part of a legal battle between Denmark and Norway. A tribunal of judges rejected the Norwegian argument that parts of Greenland were no-man’s land. Following the judgment, the Norwegian government declared that it was rescinding its ownership of East Greenland. In return, Denmark announced that it would not harm Norway’s economic interests in the island.

Fast forward to today. In recent years, Denmark has adopted a renewed defense strategy in the Arctic region, which includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands. As a result, it has accelerated its armament while striving for close security cooperation with the Nordic countries in the protection of critical infrastructure especially in the Arctic region and the Baltic Sea. The Norwegian General Staff increased Nordic cooperation by establishing a Nordic Air Force Command as part of the NATO command structure. Norway notes that it is necessary to recognize the military challenges along the Finnish-Russian border, the strategic location of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, and the importance of the Danish Straits that connect the Baltic and North Seas.

At the same time, Denmark has pledged to be a significant player in the Arctic. In December 2019, at the NATO summit in London, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen revealed plans to spend two hundred million euros on promoting a renewed strategy for the Arctic region, and in June 2022, Denmark and the Faroe Islands agreed to install an early warning radar system around the islands. In view of the war in Ukraine, the Faroe Islands extended the ban on Russian vessels entering their ports, a move that aligns with the Danish government’s commitment to expand its defense infrastructure investment to an average of 143 billion Danish kroner over the coming decade.

The latest moves were also made under pressure from the Pentagon, which called for increased Danish involvement amid concerns that the government in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, would find it difficult to refuse generous offers from China to increase its exposure and economic activity on the island. These actions correspond with Denmark’s policy on Greenland, which prohibits Chinese companies from building an airport on the island. The Americans are also conducting broader exercises in the region, and airborne divisions are training to increase their mobility to be more effective on a future battlefield. When these units operate in Greenland, they operate on missions on behalf of the Joint Arctic Command.

While Trump’s belligerent rhetoric is not conducive to negotiation, the Danes are nevertheless trying to form direct secret understandings with Trump’s people in order to increase the American presence in the region. The Danish public may be taken aback by Trump’s style of speech, but the government in Copenhagen gained experience dealing with a Trump administration during his previous term in office. It can be assumed that the government in Copenhagen is formulating a plan of action. It will allow Trump’s public statements to gain political capital, but will at the same time build discreet confidential or unofficial understandings with him to expand American activities.

Furthermore, NATO sees the Nordic countries as a vital factor in strengthening regional security and is developing an Arctic military strategy that involves large-scale exercises throughout the Nordic region. In 2018, a NATO exercise held in Norway showcased a significant demonstration of military strength. This large-scale maneuver involved NATO forces practicing a comprehensive offensive, including an assault on the Arctic coastline. NATO has also begun a renewed series of exercises and operations designed to respond to the Russian submarine threat in the region. These exercises, called Dynamic Mongoose, took place in the Norwegian Sea and adjacent areas and included most of the fleets of NATO’s northern flank.

The US has also been refining its Arctic policy through strategic military deployments. These include stationing a B1-Lancer squadron in Norway, establishing a naval operations center in Iceland, and conducting submarine-based exercises to ensure high operational readiness in the high north. Notably, in 2022, the US conducted the largest military exercise within the Arctic Circle in Norway since the 1980s, further underscoring the growing strategic importance of the region.

These developments reflect a concerted effort by NATO and its allies to enhance their preparedness and maintain stability in the evolving Arctic security landscape. The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO slightly alters the military balance in the Arctic region while also supporting non-military initiatives that both countries have actively promoted in recent years.

Therefore, one should avoid drawing conclusions about a political clash between the Americans and the Danes. The latest challenges point to cooperation in the Arctic region. The government in Copenhagen has approved the resumption of Cold War-era radar activity on the Faroe Islands. In 2023 and 2024, two pairs of satellites were launched to monitor more than two million square kilometers of the Arctic Circle. This is to improve the intelligence capabilities of the US, and there is a high probability that this agreement also applies to Greenland.

Alongside these moves, there is the Arctic Security Forces Roundtable (ASFR), which serves as a platform for military leaders from Arctic and observer states to strengthen multilateral security cooperation. Denmark also encourages cooperation with the European Commission and Naalakkersuisut (the government of Greenland), which have initiated the EU Arctic Forum on Inuit Dialogue. In this context, Denmark acts as a liaison between the interests of the EU and the people of Greenland, with the participation of the current Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Nordic leaders have consistently demonstrated their ability to settle regional disputes without compromising broader Arctic cooperation. For instance, ecological concerns arising from a decade-long dispute among Iceland, the European Union, the Faroe Islands, and Norway were successfully addressed, leading to collaborative efforts to preserve the region. Similarly, disputes around Svalbard—related to the application of the Svalbard Treaty to the continental shelf surrounding the archipelago—were resolved. These disagreements, sparked by developments in the Norwegian Arctic as a potential resource hub, were effectively compartmentalized, ensuring they did not negatively impact overall Arctic cooperation.

The resolution of such disputes has maintained stability in the region, reinforcing the preference of Nordic states for peaceful and collaborative Arctic relations. However, recent suspicions and events highlight the need for strengthened security arrangements, including military exercises and enhanced surveillance capabilities by Nordic air forces to deter unexpected actions in the Arctic.

Meanwhile, Nuuk’s push for greater autonomy has raised concerns in the US, prompting warnings about potentially taking control of Greenland to prevent foreign interference. These developments are likely to foster dialogue between the US and Denmark on Greenland’s future, with the aim of avoiding political escalation and preserving regional stability.

Dr. Nir Levitan is a researcher at the BESA Center at Bar-Ilan University and at the Center for Cold War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.

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