USA Falling for Iran's Tricks Again

• Iran appears to be using diplomacy to stall, deceive and advance its nuclear capabilities behind closed doors, while securing financial and geopolitical concessions from the West.
• The disturbing part is not that Iran's mullahs are following their usual tactics. The horror is that American officials and Western leaders appear to be falling for this shell-game all over again.
• The problem with enriching hostile regimes to "buy quiet" is that this is the money they use to build nuclear weapons with which to attack us.
• An additional problem, unfortunately, is that the Iranian regime has a well-documented history of lying.
• No deal that permits any level of enrichment or allows Iran to keep its centrifuges intact will prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.
• We are trying to "deal" with theocrats who believe it is their divine duty to destroy Israel and America, and take over the oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf.
• What makes the current situation even more exasperating is that despite decades of talks, deals and diplomatic theater with North Korea, Russia, China and Iran, we have watched them exploit Western weakness and lack of resolve time and again right under our noses. Yet, like Charlie Brown and the football, the West insists on accepting the same failed, bogus guarantees. We do not need another Swiss-cheese agreement filled with loopholes. We do not need photo-ops and press conferences proclaiming bogus triumphs.

(Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, born in Iran, a political scientist, human rights defender, and journalist, is president of the International American Council on the Middle East. Harvard-educated. )

For full article read at https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21627/iran-using-north-korea-playbook 

The Oslo Accords Experiment is Dead

So many Israelis, particularly on the left of the political map (but not only) have considered for years that the aim of the Palestinian movement was one of nationalistic aims. In other words, the establishment of a Palestinian state. Thus, much of the thinking imposed similarities between the Zionistic aims and the Palestinian aims.

 
This was a total misunderstanding of Palestinian intentions and their fundamentalist ideology was not taken seriously. Israelis were not listening to the messages being broadcast to Palestinians themselves. How often were the “peaceful” messages of Arafat given to lull the West, but his messages to the Palestinians were, in fact, one of the hope of destroying Israel, as clearly set out in the charters of both Hamas (article 32) and the Palestinian Authority (articles 2 and 25).
 
There is a need to move away from the Oslo Accords ideology which was based on the thoughts that by giving the Palestinians work in Israel, this would give them the opportunity for a brighter future. We now know that many of those working in Israel were part of an extensive intelligence network created by Hamas which provided all the information they needed for maximizing the potential of the October 7^th heinous invasion.
 
At all levels in the IDF, the security and intelligence establishment and the police, the Oslo Accords syndrome is still alive and well. However, it is clear no Palestinian leader has ever aspired to building a nation state unless it was by the elimination of the State of Israel.
 
It is now necessary to rebuild the leadership in the IDF, security, intelligence and police forces to acknowledge what should have been acknowledged years ago, the Oslo Accords was a failed experiment.

The West in Trouble - Does it Realise it?

 The Middle East conflict is a small part of a world wide cultural war.

When will the West wake up to this?

The Yellow Parking Lot

 (With thanks to my friend Forest Rain Marcia)

A yellow parking place, in a bustling parking lot, symbolically set aside for the hostages—until they all come home.

I don’t think people abroad comprehend how all-consuming is the fact that there are hostages. In every moment, every breath, they are with us.

The liberated hostages have told us about the starvation, torture, and abuse. The lack of air and sun. We saw the physical effects on them when they returned. Some of the effects.

I don’t think people abroad understand that the hostages are a symbol of the horror and abuse we have suffered—and are still suffering—from the Gazan invasion. They are not the totality of our suffering. And rescuing them is not enough.

Even many Israelis don’t fully comprehend that.

We cannot wrap our minds, our hearts, around the monstrous crimes that defiled our loved ones and destroyed the sanctity of our homes. Homes destroyed. Families ripped apart. Soldiers killed and wounded. Sons (and some daughters) crippled for life. Fathers who will never come home. Countless people who saw soul-shattering things...

And the people around the world who deny, justify, and celebrate October 7th.

It is easier not to see the entirety of our pain. To deflect blame. To pretend that the return of the hostages would be enough.

That it is possible to compromise with those who promised to exterminate us.
That Israelis can return to their homes, when their neighbors are the monsters who slaughtered their families.

That it is possible to live with neighbors who we have taught can get anything they want—if they take Jews hostage—and what they want is to destroy the Jewish State.

That there is any solution but removing the threat.

Winning Battles, Losing Minds

 By IRWIN J. (YITZCHAK) MANSDORF . Full Article at https://tinyurl.com/5bzzxxme

One of the most basic insights in behavioral psychology is that people are wired to respond to immediate rewards even if those carry long-term consequences. Whether it’s eating another slice of cake, smoking a harmful cigarette, or running a red light, we tend to act when the benefit is now and the price is later. If the reward feels good enough and the threat seems distant enough, we take the risk.

This is not just human nature. It’s a weapon; one that Hamas has used masterfully in its psychological war against Israel and the West over the past 18 months.

With the help of Iranian and Qatari backers, Hamas has turned hostage diplomacy into a psychological trap. The emotional appeal of bringing hostages home – a deeply human desire – has become the bait. The cost? A stronger, bolder, more dangerous Hamas, just as ideologically committed to Israel’s destruction as ever.

And the trap is working.

Every potential deal with Hamas carries a price. And the terror organization ensures that the price is steep. Within Israel, a moral rift is deepening. For some, particularly hostage families, nothing matters more than bringing loved ones home. For others, the memory of October 7 and the desire to ensure it never happens again means defeating Hamas, even at terrible cost.

This is the heart of our moral dilemma: Two values – both legitimate – that feel increasingly irreconcilable.

Hamas is exploiting this divide with precision. One day, it offers a temporary hudna (“ceasefire”). The next, it releases a hostage video. All the while, it plays the victim: children under rubble, hospitals without power, shelters destroyed. The images are tragic – but they also serve a purpose. The responsibility, they suggest, lies not with Hamas, but with Israel.

Incredibly, many Israelis, who despise Hamas and all it stands for, fall into this psychological trap. Instead of demanding that Hamas release the hostages unconditionally, as international law requires, public anger often turns inward, toward the Israeli government. It is a striking success of Hamas’s psychologically asymmetric strategy.

The same is true in the West. There, the dominant narrative is one of Israeli oppression and “genocide” in Gaza. This narrative is a result of years of emotional manipulation and moral confusion.

Headlines show starving children and suffering patients, rarely acknowledging Hamas’s role in initiating the conflict or continuing to hold innocent Israelis captive. The moral burden shifts to Israel, while the terrorists evade accountability.

What does this all mean? First, we must take a more sober view of the reality we’re in. The moral imperative to rescue living hostages is real – but so is the government’s duty to protect its citizens from future atrocities. 

These are not easy choices. But they are not mutually exclusive either. We must stop demonizing decisions we disagree with and start appreciating the weight of the dilemma.

Second, we must recognize that Hamas is watching us, learning about us, and playing us. 

Militarily, we may be stronger. But on the psychological battlefield, Hamas currently holds the emotional upper hand. That’s how it continues to manipulate public opinion, both in Israel and in the West.

New Humanitarian Aid Plan for Gaza

 Israel is preparing to implement a new humanitarian aid distribution system in southern Gaza designed to prevent Hamas from seizing the supplies, according to a report on Tuesday.

The plan, revealed by military correspondent Doron Kadosh on Army Radio’s “Boker Tov Israel” program, will focus on the Rafah area between the Morag and Philadelphi corridors—territory currently under Israeli military control. Civilians will only be permitted access to aid after undergoing strict screening procedures.

Three designated distribution centers will be established in Rafah, which will serve as the central hub for aid to the entire Gaza Strip. Each Gazan family will be represented by a single, registered individual authorized to collect a weekly food allotment, calibrated to meet survival needs—approximately 70 kilograms per household—without creating surpluses that could be exploited by terrorist groups.

Distribution will be managed via a formal registration process overseen by vetted NGOs and American private contractors. A senior Israeli security official emphasized that the new system aims to eliminate Hamas’s ability to intercept or steal bulk shipments.

“Hamas will find it much harder to seize aid from Gazan families,” the official said. “It’s one thing to hijack a supply truck. It’s another to rob food directly from the hands of hungry civilians.”

The new mechanism comes amid heightened pressure from the United States and international community over humanitarian conditions in Gaza. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged that “people are starving” in the Strip and pledged U.S. assistance, while sharply criticizing Hamas for seizing aid deliveries and “making it impossible” to help civilians in need.

Israeli officials believe the plan strikes the right balance—addressing civilian needs while denying Hamas the ability to weaponize humanitarian relief, according to the report.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that he had briefed European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on the situation in Gaza, including the delivery of humanitarian aid to the coastal enclave.

“Hamas used the humanitarian aid that entered Gaza to feed its war machine,” Sa’ar wrote on X, warning that the war against the terrorist group would “continue forever” if such conditions persist.

“Therefore, Israel must change the way it facilitates the entrance of goods,” he added. “The international community—and any country interested in ensuring that aid reaches civilians rather than Hamas—must support Israel’s efforts, not obstruct them.”

From protest to duty: How Gaza war Recast the Israeli Reservist Ethos

 As Israel expands its Gaza campaign, reservists who once questioned the system now report for duty.

For the full report click here.  

Less than two years ago, some Israeli reservists threatened to put down their rifles. They marched in Tel Aviv, signed letters of protest, and warned that serving under a government dismantling the country’s democratic foundations would be a betrayal of their values.

Today, many of those same reservists are packing bags and crossing back into Gaza.

“I’ve been called up three times already,” says Liel Friedmann, a 38-year-old infantry reservist from Tel Aviv. “People ask, ‘Why are you going again?’ But this isn’t a social club. There’s no one else. That’s the truth.”

Friedmann, who spoke  just hours before deployment, reflects a broader transformation among segments of Israeli society once aligned with protest. His voice—anxious but resolved—embodies the fatigue of war and the burden of necessity.

“I try not to think too much about civilian life when I’m called,” he says. “The second round, a few months ago, felt pointless. It was like we were just stretching the war out. But now it feels more focused, like there’s a goal.”

That goal—at least in the eyes of Israel’s military establishment and right-leaning security circles—is the complete dismantling of Hamas and the return of 59 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza. To achieve that, the government is now calling up tens of thousands of reservists in what may be the most extensive reserve mobilization since October.

According to Lt. Col. (res.) Yaron Buskila, secretary-general of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, this call-up is not a matter of policy—it’s a matter of survival.

“This is not a choice. It’s a necessity,”  “There is no way to defeat Hamas or to bring the hostages home without reserve forces. Negotiations could drag on for years—and that would only endanger the hostages further.”

As tens of thousands of Israelis report for duty once again, the picture is complex. Loyalty to the country does not mean loyalty to its leaders. For some, the uniform is a burden. For others, it’s a line of defense—for their families, for democracy, and for the right to keep fighting for both.