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In-Depth Issues:
93 UN Aid Trucks Entered Gaza on Tuesday - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reported that 93 UN trucks containing humanitarian aid including flour, baby food, medical equipment and medicines were transferred Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
Hamas Confirms Death of Hamas Military Commander Muhammad Sinwar - Nurit Yohanan ( Times of Israel)
Hamas recently informed the family of Muhammad Sinwar, the military commander of Hamas in Gaza, that he was killed in a tunnel in Khan Yunis, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
According to the report, after the IDF targeted Sinwar in a series of airstrikes on May 13,
Hamas forces discovered Sinwar's body and retrieved it.
The report said that Hamas confirmed that Rafah Brigade Commander Muhammad Shabana and a battalion commander from the Rafah Brigade were also killed in the strike on the tunnel.
Israeli Official: U.S. Backs Ending Hamas Rule over Gaza - Jonathan Lis ( Ha'aretz)
A senior Israeli official familiar with the negotiations with Hamas has told Ha'aretz that the U.S. opposes ending the war without Hamas conceding its rule over Gaza.
The U.S. is thus not pressuring Israel to be more flexible on this issue.
BBC, UN Admit Misleading in "14,000 Gaza Babies" Claim - Erez Linn ( Israel Hayom)
A startling claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza faced imminent death within 48 hours has been officially corrected by UN officials, who clarified that this figure actually represents children at risk over an entire year - long after the alarming statement had already reverberated through media outlets, parliamentary debates, and international diplomatic channels.
Tom Fletcher, the UN's humanitarian chief, originally stated on BBC Radio 4: "There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them."
IDF: Hundreds of Gaza Targets Rejected to Protect Civilians and Hostages - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
As IDF airstrikes in Gaza intensified over the past week, striking hundreds of targets and removing threats in coordination with ground forces, Israeli defense officials defended the oversight of the campaign.
"The IDF remains committed to the same values, with unchanged rules of engagement and strengthened oversight mechanisms," one official said.
"There is no one more ethical than the thousands of IDF officers planning and approving these targets."
Defense sources say hundreds of potential targets have been disqualified during approval stages due to proportionality concerns or the possible presence of hostages.
"Every officer in the process has the authority to halt or object to a strike. This ensures our adherence to moral and legal principles," the official added. "Anyone saying otherwise is simply lying."
In recent days, the IDF struck a Hamas command and control center sheltering senior Hamas leaders located in an underground tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. Israeli officials stressed that the location had been converted into a terrorist command post.
Defense officials also said the IDF uses small, precision munitions where needed to eliminate Hamas operatives while minimizing civilian casualties.
"Israel Is Only Country that Could Be Attacked on Seven Fronts and Described as the Aggressor" - Rob Roberts ( National Post-Canada)
After Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand last week described Israel's post-Oct. 7 war on Hamas as "aggression," IDF Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani said Sunday that Israel works hard to limit civilian deaths, often issuing warnings beforehand so they can get out of harm's way.
"Israel is the only country in the world that could be attacked on seven fronts and described as being the aggressor."
Shoshani said he had "a lot of respect for Canada," but said Hamas started the war and could end it by laying down their weapons and releasing the hostages.
"We're doing everything we can to fight a terrorist organization and we're not going to fight it in a non-aggressive way."
"We're differentiating and targeting terrorists who have said they want to kill us, kill my family. We have to act against these terrorists to make sure they can't do that."
The Haters of Israel Are Not the Majority - Stephen Pollard ( Jewish Chronicle-UK)
A scroll through social media about Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest from the brigades of Jew-haters and anti-Israel types shows their total inability to come to terms with the audience vote across Europe, which put Israel on top.
There's a common theme to many of the posts: "Look at the streets worldwide. Massive protests. This is the only vote you should pay attention to."
In the mindset of the anti-Israel crowd, it should be obvious to anyone that they represent the majority. Yet, the outraged and deeply puzzled social media posters make a fundamental mistake.
They assume that most people share their bigotry and racism. But as the vote showed both this year and last, they don't. Here in the UK, Israel topped the audience poll.
The Eurovision vote isn't an interrogation of Israeli policy. But it can be seen as an expression that Israel is understood - that far from regarding it as barbaric and genocidal, those who voted for Israel regard it as part of the community of nations.
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Executed Israeli Spy Eli Cohen's Secret Files - Yossi Melman ( Ha'aretz)
On May 18, 60 years since his execution in Syria, the Mossad revealed 2,500 documents, recordings, and personal items belonging to Israeli spy Eli Cohen.
The trove, acquired "in cooperation with an allied foreign intelligence service," includes recordings and documentation from Cohen's interrogation by the Syrian secret service, details about with whom he was in contact, handwritten letters to his family in Israel, photographs from his operations in Syria, and personal belongings seized from his home after his arrest.
"Our Man in Damascus" had successfully infiltrated the highest levels of the Ba'ath Party and the Syrian government.
In recent weeks, multiple reports have suggested that officials from Israel's security establishment held meetings with envoys of Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria's interim president.
According to Reuters, Syria's leadership approved the handover of the belongings of Cohen to Israel "in a bid to ease Israeli hostility and show goodwill to U.S. President Donald Trump."
While it is not known if the materials were transferred through Saudi channels, in recent years, there have been credible accounts of long-standing secret collaboration between Israel's Mossad and Saudi intelligence.
This cooperation included meetings between every Mossad director over the past three decades and their Saudi counterparts, as well as high-level meetings between senior Saudi royals and Israeli prime ministers.
There have also been covert deals involving Israeli arms and technology sales.
Sen. Fetterman: Israel "Deserves Much Better from My Party" - Gabby Deutch ( Jewish Insider)
Speaking to members of NORPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy group, on Tuesday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said, "Israel and your community deserves much better from my party."
He described how American universities have produced a "monoculture that produced, actually, rampant antisemitism."
"We have to address that. But in my party, you will pay a price. That's OK. I think that's what defines character... that you're going to support things even if it moves against your own political interest."
How Iran Recruits Israeli Spies - Oded Ailam ( Israel Hayom)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has embraced a model for recruiting spies in Israel that is disturbingly effective.
Through aggressive mass campaigns on social media, thousands of Israelis are being approached with messages like, "Want to earn some easy cash?" This is Iran's version of digital marketing applied to espionage.
Like any marketing effort, only a tiny fraction need to respond for the campaign to succeed.
The Israel Security Agency does impressive work uncovering and thwarting these plots time and again.
The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Two Israeli Embassy Staff Members Murdered outside Jewish Museum in Washington - Alex Marquardt
Two staff members at the Israeli Embassy in Washington were killed at close range Wednesday night near the Capital Jewish Museum, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said. The shooter chanted "Free, Free Palestine" while in custody, said Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith.
Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said the victims were a "young couple about to be engaged. A young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem." (CNN)
See also Israeli Embassy Staff Shooting Victims Identified - Sarah Moskowitz
Israel's Foreign Ministry identified the victims of the shooting in Washington as Yaron Lischinsky, 28, who worked in the political department of the Israeli Embassy, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a Jewish American who worked at the embassy's department of public diplomacy.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also Suspected Jewish Museum Shooter Identified - Marc Rod
Police have identified the suspected shooter outside the Capital Jewish Museum as Elias Rodriguez, 31, from Chicago. After the shooting, he entered the building and then started screaming, "I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza." Security footage showed Rodriguez shooting one of the two victims.
Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said, "The people of Israel are a resilient people. The people of the United States of America are a resilient people. Together, we won't be afraid. Together we will stand and overcome moral depravity of people who think they're going to achieve political gains through murder."
(Jewish Insider)
- Iran's Khamenei Slams "Outrageous" U.S. Demands in Nuclear Talks
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are "excessive and outrageous," state media reported. "I don't think nuclear talks with the U.S. will bring results," he said. (Reuters)
- U.S. Envoy: Lebanon Has More to Do on Disarming Hizbullah
Lebanon still has more to do on disarming Hizbullah following the war with Israel, Deputy U.S. Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said Tuesday. As part of a deal agreed on to end 14 months of fighting last November, Hizbullah was to withdraw its fighters north of Lebanon's Litani River. The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area and has been dismantling Hizbullah infrastructure there.
Lebanese authorities "have done more (to disarm Hizbullah) in the last six months than they probably have in the last 15 years," Ortagus told the Qatar Economic Forum. "However, there's a lot more to go. We in the United States have called for the full disarmament of Hizbullah. And so that doesn't mean just south of the Litani. That means in the whole country." (AFP)
- U.S. Demands Dismissal of UN Envoy to Territories over Hamas-Linked Travel Funding - Corey Walker
The U.S. Department of Justice has called on the UN to remove Francesca Albanese from her role as special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, citing her repeated "defamatory" actions against Israel and alleged acceptance of thousands of dollars from pro-Hamas groups.
Leo Terrell - head of the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism within the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division - sent a letter on Monday to Albanese, citing the UN official for spearheading "an alarming campaign of letters targeting institutions that support or invest in the state of Israel."
The Justice Department repudiated Albanese for reportedly informing private organizations that they are "criminally liable" for assisting Israel in carrying out a so-called "genocide" in Gaza. "Your suggestion that these organizations may be criminally liable for aiding and abetting genocide or war crimes is not only legally groundless. Your actions are defamatory, dangerous, and a flagrant abuse of your office." Terrell said Albanese, "a special rapporteur who consistently minimizes or excuses terrorism when it targets Jews, forfeits all authority to speak on human rights."
The letter also accused Albanese of "taking money from Hamas-linked groups." The UN launched a probe into Albanese last summer for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations that cost over $20,000. "We call on the United Nations to immediately remove you from your role and restore the integrity of the special rapporteur mandate," Terrell wrote. (Algemeiner)
See also Text: UN Rapporteur's Campaign Threatening Institutions Supporting Israel Is an Abuse of Office (U.S. Justice Department)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Missile Launched from Yemen Headed to Central Israel Intercepted
Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel at 3 a.m. Thursday morning after a missile was launched from Yemen, sending over a million residents to shelters. The IDF said the missile was successfully intercepted by the Arrow 3 missile defense system. A similar incident occurred early Sunday.
(Ynet News)
See also Second Houthi Missile from Yemen Intercepted on Thursday - Emanuel Fabian
IDF air defenses successfully intercepted a second ballistic missile at noon on Thursday launched at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen, targeting the Jerusalem area and Judea. Since March 18, the Houthis have launched 37 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel.
(Times of Israel)
- IDF Kills Terrorist Who Murdered Israeli Woman in Samaria - Elisha Ben Kimon
Israeli security forces have killed the Palestinian gunman who murdered Tzila Gez, a pregnant Israeli woman, in Samaria while she was on her way to give birth.
Nael Samara, a former Hamas member who served a prison sentence for terror activity, was located during a raid in the Palestinian village of Bruqin, near the site of the May 14 shooting. Two additional suspects were arrested. Authorities believe the group was behind three other recent shooting attacks in the area.
(Ynet News)
- IDF Fires Warning Shots after Diplomats Deviate from Approved Route in Jenin - Hanan Greenwood
During a coordinated diplomatic visit to Jenin on Wednesday, the delegation deviated from the approved route and entered a restricted area, prompting an IDF unit to fire warning shots in the air to drive them away. No injuries were reported. (Israel Hayom)
- "For Israel, after Oct. 7, the High Ground Is More Important than the Moral Ground"
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon on Monday rejected international calls to halt Israel's war against Hamas and accused the UN of moral failure in its response to Oct. 7. Responding to recent moves by the UK, France and Canada to consider sanctions on Israel if it continues military operations in Gaza, Danon declared, "These countries threatened Israel that if we will not stop the war, they will apply sanctions against us. I have news for those distinguished leaders who signed this declaration - we will not stop the war! We will not stop the war and leave behind 58 hostages. We will not stop the war and leave Hamas in power. They should understand it and support us."
"For Israel, after Oct. 7, the high ground is more important than the moral ground. We want both always, but if we have to choose whether our soldiers will win the war or we get claps at the UN, I prefer to win the war." (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Israel's Operation to End Hamas Rule over Gaza - Maj. (ret.) Andrew Fox
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called Israel's recent military push in Gaza "morally unjustifiable." Israel has launched an operation aimed at ending Hamas's rule over Gaza once and for all.
Over the past year, Israel's strategy has been shaped by the constraints of American policy under the Biden administration, characterized by measured responses, humanitarian pauses, and repeated attempts at de-escalation. That phase is over.
Hamas remains entrenched, hostages continued to be held captive. The January 2025 ceasefire solidified Hamas's grip on power and enabled it to rearm and reassert control in Gaza. The current offensive aims to dismantle Hamas entirely and bring the hostages home.
Counterinsurgency warfare in densely populated urban areas is notoriously brutal, slow, and unpredictable. Yet if Israel fails to achieve its objectives swiftly, international pressure will intensify.
The nightmare scenario is one in which Israel is compelled to cease operations before dismantling Hamas's leadership or securing the return of all hostages.
In such a scenario, Hamas will emerge politically emboldened, asserting that they repelled the IDF, a narrative that will resonate across the region and beyond. Hamas regains legitimacy, Israeli deterrence is weakened, and the strategic status quo becomes entrenched. Either Israel is permitted to complete what it initiated or it is compelled to halt, still ensnared in the cycle of war, ceasefire, and inevitable relapse.
The writer, who served in the British Army in 2005-21, is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. (Substack)
- Israel Can't Be Expected to Sustain Terrorists Intent on Its Destruction - Yaakov Katz
The international press has spent the past few weeks zeroing in on a single story: the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Each day brought a new headline and condemnation.
Within days of the Oct. 7 massacre, the Biden administration began pressuring Israel to allow truckloads of food, fuel and supplies into the Strip.
That much of that aid ended up in Hamas's hands made little difference to Washington or Europe. And that's what happened - with one hand, Israel struck Hamas targets and hunted its leaders and with the other, it sent in food and fuel, effectively helping to sustain the very terrorist group it was trying to destroy.
Imagine if, in the aftermath of 9/11, as the U.S. Air Force bombed caves where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding, someone had asked President George W. Bush to halt operations so food convoys could reach al-Qaeda fighters. Would America have agreed? Of course not. Yet when it comes to Israel, a double standard was imposed from the outset – one that has extended the war and strengthened Hamas.
Under international law, Israel's actions are permitted and there is no legal obligation to provide supplies if they are known to reach the enemy. But the world does not seem to care.
Thankfully, there is broad international consensus that Hamas must not control the aid. Everyone understands that if Hamas is allowed to handle distribution, the aid will become yet another lifeline - prolonging the group's rule. This is why Israel and the U.S. have spent the last few weeks constructing a network of aid distribution centers in Gaza to bypass Hamas.
If not handled correctly, aid will become less about saving civilians and more about saving Hamas. It is hard for Israelis to accept lectures from a world that seems to forget who started this war and who is still holding the hostages. Humanitarian aid is important. But so is moral consistency. And if the world wants this war to end, it must ensure that its interventions do not end up sustaining the very terrorists that need to be erased from this earth.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and a former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
- Humanitarian Aid Returns to Gaza - and Hamas - Editorial
Israel restored the flow of aid to Gaza on Monday with full knowledge that much of it will be stolen by Hamas. Some of the supplies will then be sold back to the people, financing Hamas's war effort and the patronage that sustains its rule.
Now Israel is letting in a basic amount of aid as a bridge, it says, until a new mechanism can bring more to civilians but deprive Hamas. That's the goal of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. initiative led by Jake Wood, a founder of the Team Rubicon disaster-response group. The foundation will open distribution centers in areas of Gaza with IDF perimeter control. Private U.S. security contractors will handle the distribution.
The UN and human-rights and aid groups have protested bitterly. They - and Hamas - are being sidelined by the new initiative. The UN complaint is that the new aid mechanism won't initially reach every part of Gaza. Maybe so, but the answer is to help it get started and scale up, not to resign oneself to aiding Hamas's war effort.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Gazans Are Posting Messages of Surrender - Nagham Zbeedat
A growing number of Palestinians are directing their anger increasingly at Hamas, part of a shift in public sentiment being expressed through protests and social media posts.
Musa, 25, a social media activist from Khan Yunis who evacuated to Egypt last year, said,
"Many have reached the point of envying the dead, believing that in death, at least, there is rest....These are not people persevering with steadfastness....We're not legends or heroes. We don't want to be resilient. This isn't resilience. This is torment, misery and complete exhaustion."
There is a growing trend on social media in which civilians in Gaza are publicly declaring their surrender. Many are vocal critics of Hamas. On May 16, Omar Abd Rabou, a social and political activist from Nuseirat, posted on X: "I, citizen Omar Abd Rabou, declare on behalf of myself and my family our surrender in this brutal war, and that we raise the white flag. We seek nothing but survival, and our only wish is to live in peace, safety and freedom."
On Monday, Palestinians in Khan Yunis took to the streets once again to protest Hamas's rule and the ongoing war. One demanded: "Open the crossing and let us leave. We don't want to be heroes anymore, and we're done living through tragedies. We're tired."
(Ha'aretz)
Israel and the West
- Britain, France and Canada's Lifeline to Hamas Is a Dangerous Blunder - Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp
As Israel aims to deliver the final blow to Hamas, with a masterstroke of ill judgment, Britain, France and Canada reach into murky waters that they do not understand and hold out a hand to pull Hamas back to the surface. Their joint statement demanding Israel halt its operations in Gaza is nothing less than a call for Israel to surrender.
They call the IDF's renewed offensive "disproportionate." It is nothing of the kind. Israel is fighting a defensive war to protect its population from further attacks. That requires the destruction of Hamas's military capabilities and the removal of it and its kind from controlling terrain that would again threaten Israel if given half a chance.
The Allies in the Second World War used overwhelming force to destroy Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Was this a "disproportionate" way to defend our freedom? Or is it only the Jewish state that can never be allowed to win?
The statement warns that Israel is at risk of breaching International Humanitarian Law by blocking aid from entering Gaza. It does not. The obligation under the 4th Geneva Convention to allow aid to the enemy civilian population is explicitly exempted if there is a risk that the aid will be diverted to enemy fighting forces.
This joint statement is extremely dangerous. It strengthens Hamas, giving them hope. It could lead to them digging in their heels to inflict even greater bloodshed on Israeli soldiers as well as their own people. If these Western leaders actually wanted to make a real contribution to peace in the region, they would have told Hamas to release the hostages and lay down their arms.
The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA. (Ynet News)
- When Hamas Applauds You, It's Time to Rethink Your Stance - Editorial
France, Great Britain, and Canada on Tuesday threatened sanctions against Israel if it does not halt its military operations in Gaza, saying "this escalation is wholly disproportionate." They completely ignore the reason behind Israel being there in the first place: Hamas.
Prime Minister Netanyahu responded: "The leaders in London, Ottawa, and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on Oct. 7 while inviting more such atrocities." Nowhere did these countries mention the egregious actions of Hamas in holding and torturing hostages in unspeakable conditions.
As Netanyahu said, Israel has a right to fight and disarm an enemy that infiltrated its borders, kidnapped and killed its people, continues to hold them hostage, and vows to destroy Israel.
However, from Israel's allies there is no pressure on the real culprit: Hamas. Instead, they threaten sanctions on the country trying to get back its citizens.
The proof that the warnings by the three countries were misguided and damaging was the immediate reaction by Hamas, which "welcomed the joint statement issued by the leaders of Britain, France, and Canada." Perhaps when terrorists who committed the worst massacre of the century agree with you, it is time to recalibrate your beliefs.
(Jerusalem Post)
- A Gift to Hamas - Editorial
The UK, France and Canada threatened Israel with sanctions on Monday unless the Jewish state halts its military campaign in Gaza. These are the same Western powers that helped reduce Raqqa and Mosul to rubble to defeat ISIS. Now they cite humanitarian concerns to shield Hamas from the same fate - which is exactly what Gaza's jihadis were counting on.
Their diplomatic statement included this gem: "We must all work towards the implementation of a two-state solution, which is the only way to bring long-lasting peace." As if the massacre of 1,200 people was an impassioned plea for diplomatic compromise. Hamas rejects the two-state solution. As Islamists, they don't even have much use for a Palestinian one; they dream of a Muslim caliphate.
Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists have returned to the battlefield, not because they love war but because they know that if Hamas survives, peace is an illusion and their children will never be safe; and without pressure, Hamas is unlikely to release all hostages.
Where Israel has been clear-eyed, the West has lost its moral compass. After initially calling for Hamas's defeat, many Europeans shifted to demanding a ceasefire that would leave Hamas in power. And now, Britain, France and Canada have escalated - not against the hostage-takers, but the hostage-rescuers.
Imagine if the UK, France, Canada and other Western leaders had said this: Hamas alone is responsible for every death in this war. The path to peace begins with its defeat. Perhaps Gaza would already be rebuilding. Unless Hamas is defeated, this war won't end - it will only pause, until the next massacre. (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
- UK Government Attack on Israel Is Completely Unjustified - Jake Wallis Simons
When the leaders of the UK, France and Canada issued a statement rebuking Israel and vowing "concrete action" against it, the jihadis issued a delighted official response, calling it a "principled stance." Which rather suggests that we're now on the wrong side of history, doesn't it? Or at least on the wrong side of morality.
The government has been edging the country towards a position that is hostile towards Jerusalem. If this continues, we can bid farewell to our security cooperation. British troops were supplied with the Spike NLOS missile directly from IDF stocks to defend bases in Iraq and Afghanistan against enemies firing rockets at them or planting bombs nearby. It prevented attacks and saved British lives.
Our servicemen have also trained with Israel's high-tech Rhino mobile command and control center. The RAF has conducted numerous exercises with the Israelis, which has been of huge benefit; Israeli forces are unique in actually putting their kit and training to the test in high-stress, real world environments.
The cooperation goes both ways. Ram Ben-Barak, former deputy director of Mossad, told me that a 2007 Israeli strike on a secret nuclear reactor in Syria came about after a tip-off from MI6.
Of course, we crave an end to the fighting in Gaza. But the Israeli hostages are not an afterthought. They are a casus belli, and Israel is entitled to do all it can to get them home. Britain may have the luxury of suggesting that Israel downs weapons before it finishes the job, but that's only because our people aren't the ones who will be raped, kidnapped, butchered and mutilated - again - if Hamas is able to regroup.
(Telegraph-UK)
- Spain Should Think Twice before It Lectures Israel about Genocide - Daniel Friedman
When Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accuses Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza, it is the height of historical hypocrisy. Spain has committed genocide against the Jewish people three times.
With the rise of the Almohad regime in the 12th century, the golden age of Spanish Jewry came to a violent end, as Jews were given the choice to convert to Islam, flee, or die by the sword.
In 1492, under Ferdinand and Isabella, some 200,000 Jews were forced to leave the country they had called home for centuries. Tens of thousands who had converted to Christianity were hunted down by the Inquisition, tortured, and burned at the stake for "heresy." Jewish identity was systematically erased from the public sphere. Jewish books were banned. Synagogues were converted into churches. This was physical and cultural genocide in its most thorough form.
The third time was when Spain turned its back on the Jews during the Holocaust, when Europe's Jews desperately sought refuge from Nazi annihilation. Spain even closed its doors to its own citizens. Of the 4,000 Jewish Spaniards in western Europe, only 800 were readmitted into their country of birth. The rest were sent to the gas chambers, making Spain a complicit partner in the genocide of its Jewish citizenry.
The writer is a professor of political science at Touro University. (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Arabs
- The Rhetoric of Hamas and Abbas on Israel Is Identical - Bassam Tawil
When one listens to leaders of the PA and leaders of Hamas in Arabic, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them. Their rhetoric to vilify Israel is identical: "The Zionist Enemy," "the Zionist Entity," and "the Apartheid State." Hamas and the PA both call for flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees" so that Jews become a minority to eliminate or cast out.
Most of the so-called refugees are not real refugees. Most are descendants - now quite distant - of refugees who lost their homes when five Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948 in an attempt to prevent it from coming into existence. For Hamas and other Palestinians and Arabs, the fact that they failed to thwart the establishment of Israel is a "catastrophe." The real nakba was that they started a war and lost it. Well, if you start a war, that is what can happen.
Statements by Hamas and Abbas show why talk about a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is, unfortunately, just a sick joke. If Palestinians consider the existence of Israel as a "catastrophe" and "tragedy," this means that they will not recognize Israel's right to exist.
Those who continue to advocate for the creation of a Palestinian state need to consider that such a state would be backed, politically and militarily, by Iran and its ruling mullahs, whose declared goal is to eliminate the "Zionist entity" Israel, as well as the United States. In the years leading up to its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas developed a concrete plan to destroy the Jewish state, in full coordination with Iran and Hizbullah.
Iran was a critical player in funding Hamas's plan to destroy Israel. The Palestinians and the Iranian regime do not want Israel or America in the Middle East - period - and are prepared to do anything to achieve this goal, including with nuclear weapons. (Gatestone Institute)
Observations:
- From mid-1948 to June 1967, Judea and Samaria were under Jordanian control. The Jordanians did not recognize the existence of the "Palestinian people" as a separate national identity, nor did they acknowledge the existence of a need to establish a separate Arab state in that area.
- Accordingly, the Jordanians did not work to establish a "State of Palestine" in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, or in any other area. Instead of working to establish a new state, the Jordanians annexed Judea, Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem. While most nations rejected the annexation, the Jordanians took it seriously and even gave Jordanian citizenship to all the residents of those areas.
- The Jordanians maintained their claim to Judea and Samaria until July 31, 1988, when King Hussein declared that "Jordan is not Palestine," and that he had decided to grant Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem - areas over which he had no title - to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
- While the Arab residents of these areas had held Jordanian citizenship for 38 years, on August 20, 1988, the Jordanian government issued a decree announcing that "every person residing in the West Bank prior to July 31, 1988, is a Palestinian and not a Jordanian." In this manner, the Jordanians unilaterally stripped most of these residents of their Jordanian citizenship, rendering them stateless.
- While some privileged residents, such as senior PLO figures, were allowed to keep their Jordanian citizenship, in 2018, the Jordanians decided to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas and 30 other senior Palestinian leaders.
The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.
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