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The Case Against a Ceasefire with Hezbollah: A Jewish Perspective
People rush to a soccer field hit by a Hezbollah rocket in the majority-Druze northern Israeli town Majdal Shams Photo: Via 924, from social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah presents profound questions about security, morality, and the responsibilities of a nation bound by both historical and religious imperatives.
From a Jewish religious standpoint, the notion of a ceasefire with Hezbollah raises critical issues about the survival of the Jewish people and the imperative to protect the land of Israel.
The Torah teaches the importance of self-defense, and the protection of life. In Exodus 22:2-3, we read, “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.”
This verse underscores the principle that a person must act to protect themselves and their community. Hezbollah, an organization that openly declares its intention to destroy Israel and its citizens, embodies a direct threat to Jewish life and existence.
Throughout Jewish history, we have faced existential threats, and the Biblical narrative reflects this reality. The wars fought by the Israelites were often in response to direct aggression.
For example, in the Book of Joshua, the Israelites were commanded to engage in battles to secure their land against hostile nations (Joshua 1:6-9). This historical precedent emphasizes that the survival of the Jewish people often required military action against those who sought their annihilation.
Similarly, Hezbollah has shown its desire and willingness to kill Jews, and the people of Israel.
For decades, Hezbollah has engaged in acts of terror and violence against Israeli citizens. The organization, armed with advanced weaponry and trained militias, poses a continual risk to the Jewish State. A ceasefire would not eliminate this threat; instead, it would allow Hezbollah to regroup, rearm, and prepare for future aggression.
Ecclesiastes 3:8 reminds us, “A time for war, and a time for peace,” but it is crucial to recognize when peace is merely a facade for future conflict.
Judaism places a high value on the sanctity of life. The Talmud teaches that saving a single life is akin to saving the entire world (Sanhedrin 4:5). In the face of a persistent threat like Hezbollah, which targets civilians and undermines the security of the Israeli state, the imperative to act is reinforced.
Ceasing military action might result in greater loss of life in the long run, as Hezbollah could continue its assaults unimpeded.
The Jewish tradition stresses vigilance against threats. Proverbs 25:26 states, “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.”
Allowing Hezbollah to remain intact and capable contradicts the very essence of Jewish perseverance and survival. This is not merely a military strategy; it is a reflection of our commitment to ensuring a secure future for the Jewish people.
In light of the Biblical imperatives and the contemporary realities facing Israel, it is clear that a ceasefire with Hezbollah would be both a strategic error and a moral failing. The Jewish people have a responsibility to defend themselves against those who seek their destruction. As we reflect on our historical and religious texts, the call to protect innocent Jews remains paramount. We must continue to dismantle Hezbollah’s capabilities, ensuring that we can thrive in peace, security, and faith.
In the end, our commitment to survival is rooted not only in our desire for peace, but in our profound responsibility to protect the sanctity of life for all who call Israel home.
Darren Hollander is the Group CEO of Global Energy, based in South Africa and the United States.
The post The Case Against a Ceasefire with Hezbollah: A Jewish Perspective first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Apartheid,’ ‘Brutal Attacks,’ and ‘War Machine’: The Anti-Israeli Posts of Reuters Bureau Chief Exposed
Israeli forces stand near the scene of a shooting attack in Jaffa, Israel, Oct. 1, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Timour Azhari should have known better. As the Iraq Bureau Chief for Reuters, who currently covers the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, he is supposed to act as a role model for professional journalism.
Instead, his X (formerly Twitter) account reveals anti-Israel bias that casts doubt on his objectivity.
And it’s not just him: among his followers are top Reuters editors. They either knew about his posts and kept quiet, or had no idea about his activity — either of which point to the decline of journalistic standards in what used to be a respected news agency.
Meet Timour Azhari. He’s the @Reuters bureau chief in Iraq. He’s now reporting from Lebanon on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Some of his tweets make us wonder whether he can report objectively. Take a look below. pic.twitter.com/45hF66Nywm
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 13, 2024
Apartheid and “Terror”
Two posts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict expose Azhari’s true colors.
The first was posted during the Israel-Hamas conflict in May 2021, when Azhari was Reuters’ Lebanon correspondent. In it, he advises journalists to mention that “Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians,” otherwise their stories would be “lacking.”
He solidifies this so-called journalistic advice by attributing the accusation to “top human rights” organizations B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch — two agenda-driven non-governmental organizations that place their politicized agendas above the human rights they claim to be protecting:
If this is the manipulative editorializing Azhari practiced as a correspondent, it’s alarming to think about how he mentors his team as a bureau chief.
In a more recent second post, Azhari put the word “terror” in quotation marks in a post about the October 1 Jaffa shooting and stabbing attack, where two Palestinians murdered seven innocent Israelis:
The quotation marks are redundant because of the attribution to the Israeli police. So the message is clear: For Azhari, this brutal attack cannot be labeled as terrorist.
Israel’s “War Machine”
But Azhari has no problem saying that Israel’s acts of self-defense are “brutal.”
That’s the word Azhari chose to describe Israel’s retaliation against Hezbollah, which started firing at its northern communities on October 8, 2023:
And here, he labeled Israel as a “war machine,” forgetting perhaps that Hezbollah is the most heavily armed non-state actor in the world:
If this is the anti-Israel editorializing that Azhari is posting on his social media, how can he be trusted to report objectively for Reuters on the current conflict?
Although Azhari’s background as the Beirut reporter for the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, may explain why he would not think about filtering views which would not have raised any eyebrows on the Hamas sympathizing network.
How can news consumers trust Reuters when such a “journalist” handles its Mideast coverage?
HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post ‘Apartheid,’ ‘Brutal Attacks,’ and ‘War Machine’: The Anti-Israeli Posts of Reuters Bureau Chief Exposed first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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The Palestinian Authority Denied Oct. 7 and Lied About It
Partygoers at the Supernova Psy-Trance Festival who filmed the events that unfolded on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Yes Studios
Last week, Israel marked one year since Hamas’ gruesome massacre and murder of approximately 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The number of Israelis murdered on Oct. 7 was 20 times greater than Americans murdered on September 11, 2001, proportional to the population.
On October 7, a reported 3,800 Hamas terrorists and 2,200 Gazan civilians entered Israel from the Gaza Strip accompanied by massive rocket fire, murdering children, youth, women, men, elderly, and the disabled.
Hamas beheaded babies and burned entire families alive in their homes. They raped women in front of their children and shot children in front of their parents. They executed the elderly. They took 251 young and old people hostage — dead or alive.
Since Hamas’ attack and launch of its terror war against Israel, Palestinian Media Watch has exposed the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah’s reactions to the massacre, to Hamas and Hezbollah’s continued attacks on Israel, and to Israel’s response.
While praising Hamas’ carnage in southern Israel, the PA/Fatah also denied the massacre had even taken place, or else claimed that Israel had started the war and even committed the Oct. 7 atrocities itself.
In addition, the PA/Fatah added that Hamas’ attack served as an excuse for Israel to advance a pre-planned plot to empty not only the Gaza Strip, but also the West Bank of Palestinians.
Here are some of PMW’s reports on PA/Fatah denying and lying about Oct. 7 in the weeks after the massacre:
PA libel: Oct. 7 attack, beheading of babies, rape, and burning of women are “stories and tales spun from the imagination”
Outrageous PA libel: Israel itself committed the October 7 massacre to justify the attack on Gaza
Israel wanted Hamas attack to happen just as the US wanted Sept. 11, 2001 attacks — Fatah official libels Israel and the US
Top PLO official: Israel “killed their [own] civilians, committed all these crimes and burned the bodies”
PA denies Hamas murdered Israeli civilians, claims it fought “military squads”
PA TV libel: Israel lied about Hamas killing children
Top PA official lies, claims Hamas didn’t murder children
Abbas’ advisor lies, claims Hamas didn’t murder children
Ignoring evidence, Abbas’ advisor repeats libel that Israel — and the US — bombed Gazan hospital
Don’t confuse us with the facts — PA repeats lie about hospital bombing
Abbas’ advisor: Israel’s defense is “satanic Israeli plan supported by the US” to empty “Palestine” of Palestinians
Abbas’ advisor: Israel’s goal is “to uproot and erase the Palestinian people”
October 7 denial: Palestinian Authority lies led to worldwide phenomenon
As more and more evidence has surfaced of the atrocities on Oct. 7, the outright denials of the massacre have become fewer.
Some PA officials have instead shifted to criticizing Hamas for not consulting with the PA in advance:
Abbas’ advisor criticizes Hamas for not “consulting and briefing” the PLO about October 7 massacre insert video to play
Others have called for more of the same and even for the genocide of Jews — kill them “one by one.” You can see a video of that here.
Meanwhile, others justify the massacre and all previous terror as “self-defense”:
PA Shari’ah Judge justifies Oct. 7 massacre and previous Palestinian terror waves as defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque insert video to play
Even though there has been a diversity of comments and reactions to the Oct. 7 horrors, it would be difficult to find a Palestinian who openly speaks against what Hamas did to Israelis that day. On the contrary, Palestinian Media Watch exposed a poll showing that 98% of Palestinians say that the events of Oct. 7 “made them proud.”
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post The Palestinian Authority Denied Oct. 7 and Lied About It first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Biden Administration Has Provided ‘No Evidence’ of Israel Denying Aid to Gaza Civilians: Expert
US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Biden visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The Biden administration has provided “no evidence” that Israel is deliberately denying humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza as part of its war strategy against Hamas, an expert and former top US policy adviser told The Algemeiner on Tuesday, in response to a letter from the White House warning Israel that US arms shipments could be cut off unless the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves within 30 days.
John Hannah, former national security adviser to US Vice President Dick Cheney, added that it would be a “disaster” for President Joe Biden’s legacy if he were to withhold military support from Israel at this critical juncture.
“There’s no doubt the situation on the ground in Gaza is dire for innocent civilians. That’s the reality of war in general and urban warfare in particular,” Hannah said. However, he emphasized, “the administration has so far not produced any compelling evidence that Israel is weaponizing starvation against civilians.”
The White House letter, addressed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, expressed concern over what it said was a significant drop in aid deliveries to northern Gaza in recent months. The letter stated that the decline raised questions about Israel’s compliance with a National Security Memorandum (NSM) issued by Biden earlier this year.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrote that Israel “must — starting now and within 30 days — act on the following concrete measures” to ensure the flow of aid, warning that “failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law.”
The memo, sent just weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election, requires US security aid recipients, including Israel, to ensure that humanitarian aid is not obstructed in areas where American-supplied weapons are being used. The administration’s concerns are rooted in reports from international aid agencies and the United Nations that aid deliveries to Gaza have plummeted, raising the risk of widespread famine.
However, Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, pushed back against these accusations, pointing to Israel’s efforts to keep aid flowing despite the complexities of urban warfare and the presence of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction and seeking to retain control of the neighboring enclave.
“The facts are that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has facilitated the delivery of more aid to territory controlled by the enemy than any military in the history of warfare, despite knowing with certainty that doing so is actually strengthening Hamas and making the IDF’s job harder,” he said.
According to Blinken and Austin, the amount of aid that entered Gaza in September was the lowest in a year. They urged Israel to allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza each day, facilitate aid routes through Jordan, and end the “isolation” of northern Gaza by ensuring continued access for humanitarian organizations.
The letter also called for temporary pauses in IDF military operations to enable aid deliveries, stating that “multiple evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people” into increasingly precarious living conditions.
Hannah argued that these demands overlook the significant risks Israel is already taking by allowing aid into an active conflict zone. “There simply has been no famine or mass starvation despite all the dire warnings that the sky was falling,” he said, criticizing what he called unfounded accusations against Israel.
“On the contrary, in the face of incessant accusations since Oct. 7 from the United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies that Israel is systematically withholding aid and Gaza is on the precipice of widespread famine, the IDF has time after time shown the charges to be blatantly false,” Hannah said.
In April, Blinken warned Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid, stating, “If we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there’ll be changes in our policy,” though he stopped short of explicitly threatening an arms embargo.
However, a month later a report authored by renowned academics and public health officials found that humanitarian aid allowed into the Strip from the period of January-April amounted to more than 3,000 calories per person per day.
In June the IPC Famine Review Committee walked back its own prediction that Gaza was in danger of famine, saying that the findings were “implausible” and the original March review was based on inadequate information.
“Given the record of past calumny against the IDF, people are right to be deeply skeptical that the charges against Israel this time are true,” Hannah said.
Hannah highlighted the broader geopolitical consequences of the Biden administration’s stance, saying that “the fact that the administration would leak this letter and attempt to undermine and weaken Israel in the middle of a brutal multi-front war will be celebrated by Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah and won’t reflect well on the Biden administration.”
Hannah’s most pointed criticism was reserved for the potential fallout if the Biden administration decides to follow through on its threat to restrict military aid to Israel.
“It would be a disaster for Biden’s legacy, and for his image as a life-long Zionist, if he were to choose to end his presidency by withholding arms from Israel at its moment of greatest peril in the last 50 years,” Hannah said.
The post Biden Administration Has Provided ‘No Evidence’ of Israel Denying Aid to Gaza Civilians: Expert first appeared on Algemeiner.com.