“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Sunday, October 15, 2023

MSNBC in a "death fall" loses 33% of primetime audience during coverage of Israel war

 


MSNBC — which has been slammed for refusing to refer to Hamas attackers as terrorists during its coverage — has lost 33% of its primetime viewers since the deadly attack on Israel.

The cable news channel — home to anchors Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Joy Reid — saw its total viewer figures plunge 24% for the four days between Oct. 7 and 10, compared to the same period the previous week.

Meanwhile, rival Fox News has gotten a 42% jolt in total viewers, and even ratings-challenged CNN saw a 17% spike as new boss Mark Thompson took the reins this week.

Fox handily won in primetime over the four-day period, averaging 2.1 million, according to Nielsen. MSNBC came in second with 960,000 and CNN logged 760,000 viewers.

MSNBC has drawn intense criticism over its coverage of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,200, including 25 Americans.

The network has run a joint death toll graphic that lumps the casualties together, unlike other networks that separate the number of Israelis killed from those in Gaza.

NewsNation host Dan Abrams singled out MSNBC anchors Ayman Mohyeldin, Mehdi Hasan, and Ali Velshi for saying the Hamas assault was the result of “failed policies” by Israel and the US.

“Right. It’s Israel’s fault. It’s the United States fault,” Abrams said mockingly on Monday. “The policies that somehow justify or even explain the slaughter, rapes, and kidnapping of innocent civilians.”

“And that ridiculous commentary set the tone for much of MSNBC’s coverage throughout the weekend, where many hosts seemed determined to say, ‘Well, what about the Palestinians?’”

The host of “Dan Abrams Live!” called out MSNBC’s push for “nuance” and context, but said it isn’t necessary when it’s a “story that fits their political agenda” such as an “officer-involved shooting.”

“Look, this is not a both-sides story, period,” Abrams said. noting that since Saturday, the network has made 441 references to Hamas terrorists or “the fighters”– in an effort to avoid calling them “terrorists.”

Network veteran Andrea Mitchell also came under fire for asking an Israeli mother, whose 12- and 16-year-old sons were abducted by Hamas terrorists, about Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

The mother, who was visibly shaken by Michell’s line of questioning, replied: “I can’t be sympathetic to animal-human beings — well, they’re not really human beings — who came into my house, broke everything, stole everything, took my children from their bedrooms and took them to the Gaza Strip.”

“Israel never done that, and it will never do. So there is no symmetry! I’m sorry,” the mom said. “If you were dealing with a war who is between two countries, countries don’t take children hostages. I’m sorry. It’s against the laws of war. It’s against humanity. It’s against anything that we all believe in.”

She concluded: “Every time we had missiles shot at us, I used to say to my children that they should be sympathetic towards the children of Gaza because they suffer a lot more than they do.”

“Israel never done that, and it will never do. So there is no symmetry! I’m sorry,” the mom said. “If you were dealing with a war who is between two countries, countries don’t take children hostages. I’m sorry. It’s against the laws of war. It’s against humanity. It’s against anything that we all believe in.”

She concluded: “Every time we had missiles shot at us, I used to say to my children that they should be sympathetic towards the children of Gaza because they suffer a lot more than they do.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) took reporters including Yingst and his crew to Be’eri, just three miles from the Gaza border, on Tuesday.

The site, which had been a kibbutz known as an artistic and farming community of 1,200 people, was decimated and declared unsafe for outsiders.

Yingst described the scene as “hell on Earth,” a community “littered with bodies,” as the camera panned to the blood-stained floors of the homes that were racked by bullet holes.

Meanwhile, CNN’s war correspondent Clarissa Ward has led the coverage on the ground, with Jake Tapper anchoring the broadcast. Ward won praise for her bravery after she was forced to take cover in a ditch as rockets fired over her head near the Israeli border with Gaza.

Cameras continued to roll, capturing an out-of-breath Ward, lying on the ground.

“Forgive the inelegant position but we have just had a massive barrage of rockets coming in here not too far from us so we have had to take shelter here by the roadside,” she said. “We are just about five minutes away, Gaza is in that direction. We can hear now a lot of jets in the sky we can also hear the iron dome intercepting a number of those rockets as they were whizzing overhead and making impact.”


NY lawyer Stanley Cohen, who was raised as Orthodox Jew, now reps terrorists

 


A New York lawyer infamous for defending terrorists said he is providing legal aid to Hamas members in Gaza and elsewhere.

“I continue to represent various Palestinian movements and individuals. I have since 1995,” said Stanley Cohen, a self-described radical attorney whose website boasts he has “Hamas on the phone.”

“I speak with representatives of Hamas on an as-needed basis for legal advice and in matters pending in international courts,” said Cohen, 70, who has also repped members of Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.

The attorney claims he’s recently communicated with Hamas members in Gaza and abroad but declined to specify when, with whom, or about what.

Hamas leaders are known to live in plush compounds in friendly host nations.

Former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal called for an international day of Jihad this week from his hideaway in Qatar.

Cohen was raised as an Orthodox Jew but has left the faith.

“I walked away long ago as the effort to conflate a 120-year-old European colonial project with a 3000-year-old faith took hold,” he said.

Last week Hamas fighters stormed into Israel from Gaza, killing 1,300 and taking at least 150 people hostage.

Among the victims were dozens of babies, some of whom were burned alive and decapitated.

Among the dead were 27 Americans.

“Do I agree with the notion that Palestinians have a right to armed struggle, I do,” he said, calling Israeli “settlers” and soldiers “legitimate targets under international law.”

On Thursday he posted on X that a “dear friend” had been killed during fighting in Gaza.

“A retired general, he served for many years with [late Palestine president Yasser Arafat],” he wrote.

Another tweeted image he posted in 2021 shows him smiling with former Hamas terror leaders Ahmed Yassin and Ismail Abu Shanab — who were both later killed by the Israeli military.

Cohen, who resides mostly in the Catskills but travels to New York City periodically, said he doesn’t take money from Hamas and that his legal work for the terrorist organization was pro bono.

In 2014, Cohen was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being indicted on charges of failing to file six years worth of tax returns.

The colorful litigator represented Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for conspiring to kill Americans. He repped Weather Underground terrorist Kathy Boudin and Larry Davis — who shot six NYPD officers in the South Bronx in 1986.

Cohen’s work has generated a cottage industry of critics, some of whom are mentioned in a special area of his website dedicated to “haters.”

“Thank God that Hamas is being represented by so incompetent and bigoted a lawyer like Stanley Cohen. They deserve each other,” said Alan Dershowitz, longtime Harvard Law Professor.

“There is a big difference between defending the constitutional rights of accused terrorists, and supporting their ongoing terrorism in an ideological way, as Cohen seems to be doing.”


Iran threatens to intervene if Israel carries out ground war in Gaza, says Jewish state will be hit with ‘huge earthquake’

Iran threatened to intervene if Israel carries out its planned ground invasion of Gaza, Axios reports.

In a meeting with UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed The Islamic Republic does not want to see the war in Gaza escalate to a regional conflict but his country would get involved should the Jewish state launch a ground offensive in Gaza.

It is unclear if Iran would get involved directly or via its many proxies in the region, including Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist group it backs.

The Iranian FM also said Israel would suffer "a huge earthquake," if the country does not stop its attacks on Gaza, The Times of Israel reports.

US President Joe Biden has sought to discourage other actors from joining the war against Israel, saying "[to]anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word: Don't."

Iran reportedly collaborated with Hamas on the deadly attack on Israel, the worst the country has seen in 50 years, a year before it was executed.

 

George W. Bush: Negotiating with killers is not an option for Israel


 

Israeli Billionaire Idan Ofer Pulls Support For Harvard Over Response To Hamas Attacks

 

Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife Batia, who are significant supporters of Harvard University, have decided to quit their positions on the Harvard executive board in protest of how university leaders have responded to Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel.

“Unfortunately, our faith in the University’s leadership has been broken and we cannot in good faith continue to support Harvard and its committees,” the couple said in a statement to CNN.

Idan Ofer, one of the richest Israelis in the world with a fortune valued at nearly $20 billion according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index, said that “Our decision to resign from the board has been precipitated by the lack of clear evidence of support from the University’s leadership for the people of Israel following the tragic events of the past week, coupled with their apparent unwillingness to recognize Hamas for what it is, a terrorist organization.”

“With so much disinformation being spread by social media it is essential that the world’s great institutions speak with a clear and unequivocal voice at this critical time,” the Ofers added.

Earlier in the week a coalition of Harvard student groups issued a letter blaming Israel alone for the Hamas attacks, prompting severe criticism and calls not to hire the students signed on the letter.

Harvard did not comment on the resignation and criticism from the Ofers. The university instead pointed to a video statement released Thursday night by Harvard President Claudine Gay.

“People have asked me where we stand. So, let me be clear. Our university rejects terrorism — that includes the barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas,” Gay said. “Our university rejects hate — hate of Jews, hate of Muslims, hate of any group of people based on their faith, their national origin, or any aspect of their identify.”

Gay added that Harvard “rejects the harassment or intimidation of individuals based on their beliefs” and “embraces a commitment to free expression.”

“That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous. We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views,” Gay said. “But that is a far cry from endorsing them.”

Gay is apparently continuing to walk the tightrope between denouncing the actions of Hamas and trying to equivocate a the same time and blame the acts on “hate of Muslims” as well as respecting students right to support Hamas atrocities.

After the anti-Israel statement was released, CEOs and business leaders including hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman called for the public release of the names of students linked to the organizations that backed the statement, stating that they would not be hired by him in the future.

An electronic billboard truck drove near Harvard’s campus on Wednesday, displaying the names and faces of students who apparently were linked to the statement.


Saturday, October 14, 2023

Amb. Gilad Erdan to UN's Tor Wennesland: 'Don’t forget to wash your hands of the blood of Israeli children!'

 



Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan issued a sharp and direct message to the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, who met Saturday in Lebanon with Iran’s Foreign Minister and was photographed shaking his hand.

"The UN envoy met, during a bloody war, with those who financed the killing of our children and said nothing! No condemnation!" Ambassador Erdan said. "I call on Wennesland to wash the blood of Israeli babies from his hands after shaking hands with the Iranian Foreign Minister, who represents a regime which has the blood of the babies, women, and families murdered by Hamas on its hands."

"The rules have changed! We will not continue accepting the legitimacy that the UN gives to the Nazi regime of Iran which openly calls for the destruction of Israel.

"I am officially announcing the severance of my ties with Wennesland until he publicly condemns the Iranian regime of murder and terrorism."

Dramatic footage: Navy's Snapir Unit eliminated dozens of terrorists in the Mediterranean

 


On Saturday morning last week, fighters from the Israeli Navy's southern command were alerted following a notification regarding an attempted infiltration by sea. Following this, the Navy forces fired towards the terrorists' ships, eliminating them.

Fighters from the Snapir unit noticed that some of the terrorists whose boat was elimianted were still alive in the water and swimming towards the shore.

The fighters then opened fire towards the surviving terrorists, while pursuing them by sea and firing. The fighters succeeded in eliminating a number of terrorists in the sea, and from there they continued on and eliminated additional terrorists as they reached the shoreline.

The operation was carried out by Party 916 from the Ashdod base, which has thus far taken part in the elimination of dozens of terrorists since Hamas attacked Israel last week.

On Saturday, the IDF allowed the footage, which was filmed last Saturday, to be publicized.

IDF finds bodies of several missing Israelis during raids in Gaza Strip territory

 


 The IDF located the bodies of several missing Israelis during raids it conducted in the territory of the Gaza Strip, it was cleared for publication on Friday evening.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said earlier that over the past day, the IDF conducted raids in the territory of the Gaza Strip in an effort to eliminate the threat of terrorists and weapons in the area and locate hostages.

According to the statement, IDF soldiers searched and collected evidence that would assist in the effort to locate hostages.

The statement marked the first time that the IDF has publicly confirmed that its troops searched for hostages inside the Gaza Strip.

In addition, IDF soldiers thwarted terrorist cells and infrastructure located in the area, including a Hamas cell that fired anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory.

The IAF continued, meanwhile, its strikes on Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip, as well as strikes on anti-tank missile launchers immediately after they attacked Israel.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Friday evening that the IDF has so far notified 120 families that their loved ones have been abducted to the Gaza Strip.

He added, “Our forces have found findings within the Strip that may help locate them."

Israel eliminates one of the leaders of the Hamas massacre

 


The IDF and ISA targeted a company commander of the Hamas "Nukhba" commando forces who led the Hamas terror attack against Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip

Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IDF aircraft killed Ali Qadi, a company commander of the Hamas "Nukhba" commando force, who led the terror attack in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip last weekend. In 2005, Ali was apprehended following the kidnapping and murder of Israeli civilians and was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

Hamas is blocking the evacuation of Gaza residents

 


Following the IDF's warning, residents of northern Gaza began to evacuate from their homes to south of the Wadi Gaza for their own protection.

In footage released by the IDF it can be seen that Hamas has obstructed and prevented the safe passage of residents in Gaza moving along central roads.

Large traffic jams have been caused by Hamas in Gaza.