Under the banner “Middle East Crisis,” The New York Times has attempted to reframe the current Hamas-Israel war into a crisis in which the Israeli military targets Palestinian Arab civilians.
The headlines refer to Israeli “troop presence” while the accompanying picture has rubble with a caption of “displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, last week.” One cannot find any mention of the Hamas.
The article continues about the “Israeli military” and its “ground troops” reviewing the reduction in the number “of the soldiers.” It added about the “98th Division” leaving “to recuperate and prepare for future operations in southern Gaza,” an area “where more than a million people have sought refuge.” There was no description of Hamas soldiers.
People should stop wondering why there is amnesia about Hamas’s atrocities and Palestinian support to butcher Jews. It is a narrative of emotions-not-facts that vomit on social media, and alternative facts spread by the anti-Israel mainstream media.
People debate the meaning of the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” Many believe it to be a genocidal chant to destroy the Jewish State of Israel and kill the Jews living there, echoing the stated intentions of the political-terrorist group Hamas. Others have said that it is simply a call for all people to live in the area to be free, in a democratic binational state (although neither Israelis nor Palestinian Arabs want such outcome according to polls).
Perhaps an easy way to decipher whether people yelling “Free Palestine” are pro-Hamas or pro-Palestinian is to ask their opinion about whether all people should have dignity and rights in the land. Specifically, do they support Jews being able to pray openly in mass at their holiest site of the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem? Would they further support rebuilding a Jewish Temple on the site?
Currently, Jews are denied the basic human right to pray at their holiest site because radical Islamists like Hamas demand that the site be a purely Islamic site. If the chanters want to disassociate themselves from the genocidal charter, and advocate for mutual dignity and rights, they should add another chant “All over the Temple Mount, Jewish prayer will abound!”
Failure to actively support full Jewish rights throughout the Old City of Jerusalem and especially on the Temple Mount, marks the chanters of “Free Palestine” as backers of a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and supporting the destruction of an ally. Those people should face the full ramifications of supporting such genocidal killers.
It is rumored that Israel may soon ban Al Jazeera, the Qatar-owned media company.
Qatar is Hamas’s principle backer (nearly $2 billion), and the oil rich kingdom has long used its state-owned Al Jazeera and AJ+ media platforms to broadcast the Palestinian political-terrorist group’s propaganda. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X/Twitter on April 1 that “the terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activities.”
At a press conference in Washington, D.C. later the same day, a journalist asked White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre about the potential Israeli ban. She said that it is “concerning,” and that “the United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do.”
White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on April 1, 2024 discussing Israel’s possible ban of Al Jazeera
Yet the United States itself bans terrorist-supporting media.
In December 2004, the United States banned Al Manar, the satellite station run by the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, which is backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, much like Hamas. In June 2021, the U.S. blocked and/or seized the websites of several dozen Iranian sites for spreading “disinformation.”
More recently, the U.S. was influential in getting social media sites Facebook and Instagram to shut down Hamas’s postings. Right now, the U.S. government is trying to ban the entire social media platform of Tik Tok which is indirectly owned by the Chinese government due to security concerns, even though the country is not a designated terrorist entity.
Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world and uses its vast fossil fuel deposits to fund the murderous jihadists of Hamas, as well as radical jihadist professors and student groups at American universities. Despite knowing this, the Biden Administration offered a hypocritical defense of Al Jazeera.
The U.S. government should not only reverse the White House press secretary’s remarks about Israel’s potential actions against Al Jazeera, but should support the effort and consider doing the sames in the U.S. as well.
There is a deep deformity in Gaza’s culture and society. It predates Hamas’s takeover of the region and the subsequent blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel. It has been constant for over two decades.
Palestinian Arabs poll themselves every three months and ask people in Gaza and the West Bank whether they are in favor of killing Jewish civilians inside of Israel. From 2001 to 2005, when Israel still controlled Gaza, 62.1% of Gaza’s adult population were in favor of killing Jewish civilians. That percentage increased to 65.3% of Gazans since Hamas took over the region completely in 2007.
With about 1.2 million adults in Gaza, the number who supported terrorism was roughly 800,000 before the October 7 Simchat Torah War. As Israel is now actively destroying Hamas and its military infrastructure, more Gazans are starting to turn away from their genocidal aspirations according to the latest PCPSR poll.
Americans understand the noxious hatred and violent attitudes of Hamas, and support Israel in its current defensive war according to a March 2024 Pew Research poll. Americans have read Hamas’s antisemitic foundational charter and see the Nazi-like evil of Palestinian intent to wipe Jews out of the land of Israel.
But there are powerful antisemites and anti-Zionists in America trying to protect Hamas. Rep. Jamaal ‘Fire Alarm’ Bowman lied (once again) to the media and claimed that Americans support a permanent ceasefire to allow Hamas to live to kill Jewish civilians again. He is banking on obtaining campaign funding from anti-Zionists and Jew haters outside of his district, as he aligned his fundraising with notorious antisemite and anti-Zionist Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
There are roughly three-quarters of a million Gazans who dream of spilling Jewish blood in the streets of Israel, and there are two American members of congress – Bowman and Talib – who are fundraising to enable them to commit such massacres.
But the UNSC has refused to collectively condemn the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas when several resolutions were introduced over the past two months.
The UNSC ultimately did pass Resolution 2728 calling for a ceasefire for the remainder of Ramadan, and only the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and Israel condemned Hamas and its attacks during their comments. The rest of the council remained silent and refused to endorse a prior US-led proposal which included formal language condemning Palestinian terrorism.
The countries which refused to condemn Palestinian barbarism included:
Algeria
China
Ecuador
France
Guyana
Japan
Malta
Mozambique
Korea
Sierra Leone
Slovenia
Switzerland
Note that in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 atrocities, the UN Security Council did not issue any statement condemning the Palestinian barbarity. It did not address the attack until Russia tried to pass a ceasefire resolution a week later on October 16, to protect Hamas terrorists as Israel responded.
In sharp contrast to the brutal slaughter of 1,200 people in Israel and taking of 250 hostages, the UNSC issued the following denunciation of terrorism just one day after six people were killed in Pakistan on March 26:
“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack near Besham, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, on 26 March which resulted in the deaths of five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani national.
“The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Governments of Pakistan and China, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.
“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard.
“The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.“
Imagine the UNSC issuing such a statement for Israel. The failure to do so after October 7 sums up the United Nations.
The United Nations is deeply and systemically anti-Israel and the United States caved to the global body rather than lead in a principled fashion. It is imperative for the United States and other moral countries to send as much military aid to Israel as possible to both finish Hamas and prepare for war against Iran’s other proxies which surround the Jewish state, and simultaneously cut funding to the horrific global agency.
The United States abstained from a United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728 because the language calling for a ceasefire “did not contain a condemnation of Hamas” (22:35). The reality is that the United Nations needs to do more than just “condemn Hamas” as advocated by the US (23:30). They have to join the US in the goal “to defeat Hamas” (25:58).
According to the latest PCPSR March 2024 poll, the ongoing war has finally made Gazans start to change their attitudes. From September 2023 (pre-war) to March 2024, the percentage of Gazans who support a two state solution jumped from 34% to 62% (figure 28). Further, the percentage of Gazans supporting violence dropped from 56% in December 2023 to 39% in March 2024 (figure 29). Overall, the percentage of Palestinian Arabs (Gazans and West Bankers) favoring armed Arab militias patrolling the West Bank also declined from 56% in December 2023 to 41% in March 2024 (figure 31).
Yet the United Nations takes actions exactly opposed to their stated goals. Nations voice support for an immediate end to the war and movement towards a two-state solution even though those things are completely incompatible. The path to two-states is moving Gazans out of harm’s way so that Israel can finish the neutering of Hamas. Advancing a ceasefire and leaving Hamas intact will continue the ongoing hostilities for years.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh celebrated the passing of the UN resolution while in Iran. He said “Although this resolution came late and there may be some gaps that need to be filled, the resolution itself indicates that the Israeli occupation is experiencing unprecedented political isolation.” He sees the UN saving his genocidal approach towards the conflict on the eve of its potential destruction.
The United Nations is the major roadblock to peace, continuing to tell the descendants of “Palestinian refugees” that they will get to move into Israel, and protecting the antisemitic political-terrorist group Hamas. The United States should not just stop payments to UNRWA but the entire United Nations.
Official United Nations map about “holy places” in Jerusalem which does not include the Temple Mount as a Jewish holy place, despite it being the holiest place in Judaism
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, has long made clear his sympathies for Palestinian Arabs over Israel. Those Arabs are his adopted wards and there are 50 Muslim-majority countries at the UN, so he does their bidding as part of his job.
As part of protecting Palestinian Arabs, he has refused to call for the Hamas terrorists which committed the heinous attacks on October 7 to be brought to justice, and instead urged “maximum restraint,” contrary to how he responds to other terrorist attacks.
On March 15, 2024, Guterres took a step beyond defending Palestinians to accusing Israel of engaging in an ethnically-motivated war against Muslims.
On the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, Guterres led with a call “for a silencing of the guns in Gaza and Sudan. Today, at this important event, I call on all political, religious and community leaders — everyone, everywhere — to join our plea. It’s time for peace.”
This is outrageous.
The war taking place in Sudan is an ethnic battle of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias against ethnic Masalit Muslims. The RSF deliberately murdered over 1,000 people, somewhat like the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas attack on Israelis.
But Guterres inverted the narrative. While the targeted victims were Muslims in Sudan, the targets in the Gaza war were Israeli Jews. The radical jihadists of Hamas engaged in an all-out ethnic war to rid the land of Jews as made clear in their foundational charter. Israel is simply responding to the attack which happened to be committed by radical Muslims. Charging Israel with “Islamophobia” is both a disgusting smear and a whitewashing of the noxious antisemitism of Palestinians.
The United Nations Secretary General is fanning the flames of hatred against the Jewish State, inverting the vile antisemitism of Hamas jihadists to an accusation that Israel is engaged in an anti-Islamic war. His comments should be repudiated by every member of the United Nations and he should be forced to resign.
Megilat Esther tells a 2,400 year-old story of a raging antisemite named Haman who managed to obtain power of a king in ancient Persia. With this power, he managed to secure an edict calling for the genocide of the Jews in the kingdom. Fortunately his plan failed, due to people close to the king confronting the plan as well as having a history of doing good works for the emperor. The event is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Purim, from the Hebrew word pur, meaning lottery, as Haman chose the date for genocide randomly.
There are lessons to be gleaned for diaspora Jewry, and it is the exact opposite of randomness and involves a topic of which many are uncomfortable: power.
There have always been, and will always be, antisemites who seek to kill Jews. What differentiates the rouge madman from a Haman or Hitler is power. Hamas achieved its October 7 barbarity as the democratically-elected majority party in the Palestinian parliament which has had complete rule over Gaza since 2007. Evil ideology plus power is a grave threat to Jews.
Therefore, it is incumbent on Jews to befriend people in power, to keep bad people from obtaining power, and to perform good deeds at all times that benefit society.
In the United States, the broken election system has fostered a political class increasingly made up of extremists. Whether right-wing or left-wing, they often come for Jews. This primary season, it is imperative to support the challengers of the extremist incumbents in congress:
In NY-16, extremist Rep. Jamaal Bowman is being challenged by Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Donate to Latimer here.
In MO-1, extremist Rep. Cori Bush is being challenged by public defender Wesley Bell. Donate to Bell here.
In MN-05, extremist Rep. Ilhan Omar is being challenged by Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. Donate to Samuels here.
In PA-12, extremist Summer Lee is being challenged by local legislator Bhavini Patel. Donate to Patel here.
There are other extremists like antisemite Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Michigan, but she is running unopposed. It is nevertheless important to share her vile antisemitism and extremism widely, especially as the liberal press gives her a large platform.
Members of the extremist “squad” including Reps. Bowman, Omar, Pressley, Bush, Lee
There is a reason that this war in Israel feels much more frightening for American Jews: your local antisemites feel empowered by an increasingly anti-factual, anti-Jewish school curricula and by shrill antisemites in positions of power. We are not powerless to stem the tide of hatred. Work to get them out of power in the upcoming primaries.
Pew Research conducted a poll of Americans in February 2024 about the current Gaza War. There are number of findings worth flagging.
Americans side with Israel. Roughly 58% of Americans think that Israel is right to go after Hamas, while 49% think that Hamas has few if any valid reasons to fight Israel. An astonishing 28% had no opinion on the matter.
A wide majority of 73% of Americans think that Hamas’s approach to fighting the war is unacceptable, arguably way too few considering the savage butchery of the Palestinian army burning families alive. There is no real consensus about Israel’s handling of the war with 38%, 34% and 26% saying that they approve, disapprove or have no opinion of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Jews and Protestants versus Muslims, Secular Americans and Blacks. The poll examined people’s attitudes in the war by religion. Jews and Protestants aligned in their perspectives with 77%, 71% and 55% of Jews, White Evangelical Protestants and White Protestants, respectively, believing that Hamas had no valid reason for attacking Israel. The percentages who believe that Israel is just in fighting Palestinian Arabs is 89%, 74% and 69%, for those same groups respectively.
Muslims had polar opposite reactions, closely followed by secular Americans and Blacks. A sickening 49% of Muslims believe that Hamas had a valid reason for committing the October 7 massacre (and 21% support he way it carried out the attacks), followed by secular Americans and Blacks with 33% and 19% endorsement of the terror. Those groups also believe that Israel is not correct in fighting Hamas, with 54%, 24% and 18% of Muslims, seculars and Blacks, respectively, contesting Israel’s motivations.
Young Americans Support Hamas. The gap between Muslims and Jews is as wide as it is between the young and older Americans.
People over 65 years old think that Israel has a valid reason to pursue Hamas, by 78% to 6%. The percentages among 18 to 29 year-olds is only 38% to 27%. As alarming, the 65+ cohort believes by a 4-to-1 ratio that Hamas has no valid reason to fight Israel, while more young people think Hamas has a valid reason to fight Israel. A sickening 9% of young people believe that the way Hamas carried out the October 7 massacre was appropriate, and 14% have a positive view of Hamas. They are the only age group to have more positive feelings towards Palestinian people than Israelis.
Republicans support Israel’s military. Along with the gap in attitudes among age groups and religions are political leanings. Republicans are twice as likely to support providing military aid to Israel (50% to 25%). Democrats are almost twice as likely to support humanitarian aid for Gazans (66% to 35%).
Generally, among those who completely side with Israelis, Republicans outnumber Democrats by 7-to1. Among those who totally support Palestinians, Democrats outnumber Republicans by 8-to-1.
Jews are more divided than Muslims. Muslim Americans are much more fully supportive of Palestinian Arabs, with no positive feelings towards Jews. Almost half – 45% – of American Muslims only support Palestinians while Jews are more divided in loyalty, with only 28% totally committed towards Israel. Jews have the highest share of empathy for all parties in the conflict compared to all other religions.
Limited knowledge amongst Blacks and young people. Not surprisingly, American Jews and Muslims are the most knowledgeable about the war, with Jews by far the most knowledgeable, as 45% of global Jewry lives in Israel, and most Jews are directly connected to the region. Blacks, those 18-to-29 and without a college degree were very ignorant about the regional players and current situation.
CONCLUSION
There is a divide in America regarding Israel and Palestinian Arabs. On one side are Jews, older Americans, Protestants and college educated people who support Israel. On the other, are Muslims, atheists, Blacks, young people and the uneducated who favor Palestinians.
Zionists must do a much better job in educating the world on social media and in high schools, as today’s youth and secular society is frighteningly siding with radical jihadists.
First One Through 