Israel’s Opening Statement to the ICJ by Dr. Tal Becker but Shockingly State Dept. Spokesman Won’t Side with Israel

 

Below State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel 

State Dept. Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Thursday refused to take a stand regarding the insane South African charges at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Instead of declaring outright that America’s strongest ally in the Middle East is a moral and law-abiding democracy, and the IDF goes out of its way to avoid harming civilians, in Gaza and everywhere else, Patel demurred.

On Tuesday, the State Dept. issued a statement saying, “Allegations that Israel is committing genocide are unfounded. In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” and, “Israel is operating in an exceptionally challenging environment in Gaza, an urban battlespace where Hamas intentionally embeds itself with and hides behind civilians.”

So, it was surprising to those of us who read and analyze the State Dept. press conferences (so you won’t have to) to realize that the Department’s spokesperson had such a hard time keeping up with the above clear statement.

AFP State Dept. correspondent Shaun Tandon asked if the US is watching the proceedings in the Hague, and if there was a chance that it could be persuaded by South Africa’s arguments.

Our Boys in Gaza Singing with gunfire heard outside

 

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ve'eirah

 

Tom Friedman's Soft Jihad Against Israel

Tom Friedman YM"S with his Friend Arafat YM"S 

 The New York Times employs a diverse group of anti-Israel writers, such as Soliman Hijjy, who loves Hitler, and Raja Abdulrahim, who blames Israel for Palestinian suicide bombers. Occasionally their over-zealous anti-Zionists get carried away, like Jazmine Hughes and Jamie Lauren Keiles whom the Times fired in November after they signed a letter accusing Israel of "ethnic cleansing," "apartheid," and genocide."

But the Times' most effective anti-Israel scribe is not a raving, knuckle-dragging "river to the sea" enthusiast. Rather, it is Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer prize-winning columnist whose polished anti-Israel rhetoric has done more damage to Israel than that of the Times' hardcore Israel haters.

As William McGurn observed in comparing Barack Obama's anti-Israel sentiments to those expressed by Rashida Tlaib, "Obama would never be so crude as to invoke river-to-the-sea language or actually come out and say that Israel is as evil as Hamas ... his argument is smooth and sophisticated. That's what makes it so pernicious."

Likewise, Friedman's appeal is his claim to have staked out a consistently moderate and objective approach to Middle East affairs. His soft jihad against Israel is more subtle and acceptable, making it dangerous precisely because it is entertained by rational people and policymakers, especially Democrats.

Friedman loves the PLO/PA

US, British Militaries Launch Massive Retaliatory Strike Against Iranian-Backed Houthis in Yemen... DIN CALLS FOR CEASEFIRE!

 

DIN: How many innocent Houthis were murdered by these US attacks? How many innocent women and children will now be widows and orphans? We call for an immediate ceasefire, and we want to see humanitarian aid delivered to Yemen ASAP!! We must get college students to protest these unprovoked attacks. This is not a proportionate response, this is genocide! 

The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said. The military targets included logistical hubs, air defense systems and weapons storage and launching locations, they said.

President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s ceaseless attacks on the Red Sea. And he said they only made the move after attempts at diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement. He noted the attacks endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners and jeopardized trade, and he added, “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Associated Press journalists in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, heard four explosions early Friday local time. Two residents of Hodieda, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions hitting the western port area of the city, which lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city controlled by the Houthis. Explosions also were heard by residents of Taiz, a southwestern city near the Red Sea.

Arab MK Facing Impeachment Want Chareidie Parties to Support Him! Will They????

 First publication: After more than 85 Knesset members signed MK Oded Forer's (Yisrael Beytenu) proposal to impeach MK Ofer Cassif from the Knesset, his party, Hadash-Ta'al is trying to thwart the move by pressuring the haredi parties.

All the Knesset members of Shas, all the Knesset members of the Degel Hatorah faction of the United Torah Judaism Party, and MKs Yaakov Tesler and Moshe Shimon Roth from the Agudat Yisrael faction of United Torah Judaism, signed the request to impeach Cassif, together with members of the Knesset from Otzma Yehudit, the Religious Zionist Party, Likud, Yisrael Beytenu, the National Unity Party and Yesh Atid.

In the next step of the impeachment, the House Committee must convene and vote with a majority of 75% in favor of the move. After that, the Knesset plenum has to approve it with a majority of 90 Knesset members.

Arutz Sheva-Israel National News has learned that MK Cassif asked to speak with senior members of the haredi parties in an attempt to convince them not to support his impeachment in the upcoming proceedings. He claimed that he always stood alongside the haredi public, and that supporting the impeachment process is a precedent that will ultimately harm the haredi representatives themselves.

The chairman of the Joint List faction, MK Ahmad Tibi, who has a long-standing relationship with many of the haredi MKs, also began to pressure the haredi parties to stop the impeachment of Cassif.

Qatar Funds a Brooklyn Public School "Arab Culture Arts Program" that Erases "Israel" From the Middle East Map

 A public New York City elementary school is being accused of “Jewish erasure” because a map in one of its classrooms showed all of the countries in the Middle East except for Israel — which it labeled as Palestine.

The map, labeled the “Arab World,” appears in a classroom at PS 261 in Brooklyn, where Rita Lahoud gives students lessons in the Arab Culture Arts program — which is funded by Qatar Foundation International, the American wing of the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit owned by the country’s wealthy ruling family.

It was manufactured by Arab education company Ruman and features Islamic landmarks in each of the countries in northern Africa and the Middle East.

At the school, the map is posted under the heading “Arab World” with hand-drawn labels marking each country, except for Israel which Lahoud labeled “Palestine.”

“It’s not just that we’re experiencing Jewish hate in NYC public schools, we’re actually experiencing Jewish erasure,” Tova Plaut, a New York City public school instructional coordinator for preschool through fifth grade, told the Free Press.

With Blinken in Tel Aviv, 7,000 IDF Mothers Protest US Interference in War

  A group composed of some 7,000 mothers of Israeli soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip held up huge posters depicting the children of senior U.S. officials as IDF recruits during a protest in front of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Tel Aviv hotel on Tuesday.

The message: 

What if it were your children fighting in the Gaza Strip? Would you continue to demand the resupply of the enemy?

The group behind the protest, Imahot HaLohamim (“Mothers of Combat Soldiers”) is demanding an end to U.S. pressure on Israel.

“Our message is very simple. Our soldiers’ lives have to come first and foremost, and be prioritized over those of enemy civilians,” Mirit Hoffman, the group’s spokesperson, told JNS.

Paramedic shares her story about an injured soldier wish to say Shma Yisrael

 Oshrit Hadad, an Ashdod-based paramedic, shares her experience from the initial day of the war:

"A severely injured soldier held my hand, requesting me to say "Shma Yisrael" with him" 

Blinken to Israel: You Must Die So a Palestinian State May Live

 

The Biden administration, like many before it, is your rich American uncle who suffers from halitosis. He keeps padding your pockets with much-needed cash (or much-needed arms and ammunition), but sooner or later he’ll kiss you.

A case in point is Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s press conference Tuesday night, when, after going through the motions about the Hamas atrocities, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the need to bring back the hostages (reminder: the American hostages were kept in Tehran for 444 days, from 1979 to 1981, and the US couldn’t release them – they tried and failed), the Secretary treated us to this:

“Finally, we continue to discuss how to build a more durable peace and security for Israel within the region. As I told the prime minister, every partner that I met on this trip said that they’re ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence and ensures Israel’s security. But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.”

That is a lie. Instead of trying for the umpteenth time a solution that started failing back in 1936, and came crashing down many different times with dire consequences for both Arabs and Jews, a durable peace and security could be achieved faster and with far fewer casualties with immigration. It worked for refugees from North Africa, Syria, Iraq, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam: millions of suffering people in crisis areas are absorbed by wealthy countries, and within a generation become thriving, industrious members of their new home countries. This could resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza practically overnight – but no…