Genocide - Really?

 

Durban Conference Shunned by 48 Countries

 The UN’s Durban Conference was set up in 2001 to advance the fight against racism, but it quickly turned into a platform for antisemitism and attacks on Israel.

The subsequent Goldstone report was relatively quickly dismissed by many as a distortion of the truth.

Following a diplomatic and advocacy campaign by the organisation  UN Watch, 48 countries chose not to take part in the UN’s 25th anniversary commemorative event. This is a significant achievement that shows how sustained advocacy can shape countries’ positions and reduce the legitimacy given to events promoting antisemitic and anti-Israel messages.

Credit: UN Watch LinkedIn

Pallywood preparations in Gaza

 Pallywood presentations to continue

Stealth Jihad of the West. Is Anyone Paying Attention ?

  

§  Stealth jihad is well advanced in the U.S., with the entire American left enabling and aiding the expansion of Muslim political power, without realizing or caring that they are supporting a radically intolerant and supremacist ideology.

§  We see in particular [in Europe] the increase of churches being bought and transformed into mosques. Muslims in general prefer this to building new buildings: the transformation of a church into a mosque is for them a visible manifestation of Islam's victory, superiority over Christianity, and coming hegemony.

§  Hundreds of years of jihad attacks weakened and ultimately destroyed the Roman Empire in Constantinople. The failure to get help from the West... played a large role in Constantinople's ultimate fall, as well as disunity among the leaders of the empire itself. Some were even short-sighted and self-serving enough to seek and obtain help from Muslim forces.

§  The U.S. faces a similar threat from short-sighted and self-serving leaders of our own. The Democrats are busy encouraging the growth of Muslim political power, while insisting on ignoring the political, supremacist, expansionist and violent aspects of Sharia. Few politicians are aware of the nature and magnitude of the threat, or are resolved to do anything about it. If this continues, we will eventually face our own May 29, 1453 -- the fall of Constantinople ....

§  [P]robably all religions are affected, even though there are some notable individuals who have not been afraid to speak out -- or prevented from doing so.

Robert Bruce Spencer is a Christian American scholar writing on topics including Islam, Orthodoxy, and the Byzantine Empire. The director of Jihad Watch, he is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He has led seminars on Islam and jihad for organizations like the FBI, the United States Central Command, and the U.S. intelligence community.

NAZA - The Real Story

The IDF have issued a documentary NAZA The Real Story https://nazadocumentary.com/  countering all the misinformation in the Guardian's film which is full of lies, misinformation and distortions

How did the film NAZA even got into the festival competition.  The lineup was declared final on July 23; NAZA’s entry only materialized on August 24.  A film that enters a month after the list was locked has not been selected normally.  It has been inserted, without even a Clinton-esque explanation that it depends what the meaning of “final” is.

Was it orchestrated?  Does it matter?  Everyone in that artsy audience understood what was happening, which is why the claps and cheers went on strong long after they could plausibly mean anything about artistic merit of any film.  They were clapping to make a point: to one another, to the cameras, to the media, and to us, as together they reveled in their genteel contempt for Israel.

In The Guardian’s anti-Zionist kangaroo court, both in their news content and their recent foray into filmmaking, Zionists are seen as their misfortune. Thus, the anti-Israel verdict is predetermined, and exculpatory evidence is never allowed to be presented.

Media Reporting Judea and Samaria

 What Actually Happened

The IDF responded to an arson and attempted stabbing attack at Hanania's farm near Geva Binyamin in Samaria. 

A Palestinian terrorist set fire to one of the farm vehicles and then threatened residents with a knife. The residents responded by driving another vehicle into the terrorist, removing the threat. No stabbing injuries were reported from the incident.

What Actually was Reported in the Media

The settlers drove a vehicle into a Palestinian, eliminating him.

Summary,

No context, just fitting the story to a pre conceived agenda

How Anti Israel Propaganda Works

 

Four lies that world leaders tell you about Israel - and the truth

 

a)     Emmanuel Macron: “Hamas has never operated in the West Bank.”

The Truth:

Hamas has operated in the West Bank since the 1980s and carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks from there, killing hundreds of civilians. Just this week, a Hamas terrorist killed Netanel Shukrun, a 30-year-old father.

b)     Zohran Mammdani: “I can’t support Israel’s existence because it’s a Jewish state that privileges one religion.”

The Truth:

Around 83 countries in the world officially have a state religion or give special privileges to a religion. The only one that Mamdani explicitly said shouldn’t exist is the one Jewish state, which also gives equal rights to all its non-Jewish citizens.

c)     Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Israel's Hands are Stained with the Blood of 75,000 innocents in Gaza.”

The Truth:

Around 35, 000 of those killed in Gaza are combatants and not innocent civilians — a ratio of 1.2:1. A level never achieved in any other war. In comparison, the U.S. ratio in the war against ISIS was around 3:1. Even in total numbers, it is not the deadliest conflict in recent years, with Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen killing over 400,000 people.

d)     António Guterres “There has been no general commitment by UNRWA to provide any kind of support to Hamas.”

The Truth:

Even the UN has admitted that some UNRWA workers also worked as Hamas operatives and even took part in the October 7th massacre. Around 10% of UNRWA workers are estimated to have had ties with terror organizations. Hamas also used UNRWA facilities for electricity, shelter, and military bases.

 

Guardian Sponsored Film Full of Blood Libels

 Watch how the movie "Naza" manufactured a case against the world’s most moral army.

The End of Reliable Journalism

 The directors of the film  "Naza" did not have to work too hard to discover the real truth, says Sarit Zehavi, a reserve officer in the IDF and head of the Alma Center. 'They could have simply interviewed me. I was one of the founders of the field within the IDF that deals with warning populations on the other side of enemy lines and preserving the lives of their civilians.'*

The filmmakers preferred to tell a story from a very narrow angle, to interview anonymous sources whose level of involvement, rank, and understanding of the process is unclear, and to completely ignore the experts who built these systems with one goal: preserving human life,' Zehavi says. 'There are such experts. I was one of them.'*

"Naza" (which Israelis haven't yet seen) raises serious, urgent questions about the actions of the Israeli army. Financed by The Guardian ( a well known advocate of anti Semitism and distorter of facts) and presented as a documentary, it also raises serious, urgent questions about the practice of journalism.

A little less than 20 years ago, says Sarit, I was one of the founders of the field within the IDF that deals with warning populations on the other side of enemy lines and preserving the lives of their civilians.

We built the work processes that define how to call upon the population to evacuate, and how to track that evacuation. I was personally involved in formulating the target approval processes and operational discussions.

If they had spoken with me, I would have explained to them that the chart shown at the beginning of the film is not a chart for conducting killings, but rather a planning chart for a target identified as being used by Hamas.

Its purpose is to determine whether to strike a target at all, who in the command echelon is authorized to approve it, with what munitions, and under what conditions.

 In stark contrast to what is stated in the film, when the words "Naza 500 – collateral damage estimated at 500" appear in the approval process, the meaning is that action must be taken to reduce the collateral damage.

The filmmakers preferred to tell a story from a very narrow angle, to interview anonymous sources whose level of involvement, rank, and understanding of the process is unclear, and to completely ignore the experts who built these systems with one goal: preserving human life.

This film was produced by two Israelis who are so far to the radical left of the political spectrum that even the leftist parties in the upcoming elections have not associated themselves with them.

The boycott was meant to isolate Israeli settlements - it is not working

 Decades of boycotts have generated headlines but failed to change Israel, while inspiring Americans to strengthen economic ties with Judea and Samaria.

For more than two decades, various organizations have sought to change Israeli policy through boycotts targeting products, companies, academic institutions, and Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. Now, government sanctions are also being added to the equation, such as those announced by the United Kingdom.

One basic point must be made: no boycott can change history or undermine the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

But after decades of boycotts, it is worth asking: Has the boycott achieved its goal?

The answer is no.

The policies of successive Israeli governments have not changed as a result of boycotts. And over the past 25 years, hundreds of companies and businesses have been established in Judea and Samaria, alongside new industrial zones and factories.

a)     In 2018, Airbnb announced that it would remove approximately 200 properties in Judea and Samaria from its platform. Ironically, however, the decision exposed tens of millions of tourists around the world to a simple fact: there are Airbnb properties in the biblical heartland, and people can visit.

Less than six months later, Airbnb reversed its decision. The boycott generated headlines, but it did not change reality.

b)     The story of Ben & Jerry’s is also well known. In 2021, the company announced that it would not renew the sale of its products in what it called the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” while emphasizing that it was not leaving Israel.

Following a prolonged campaign, Unilever, sold its Israeli business to its Israeli licensee. As a result, Ben & Jerry’s products continued to be sold in Israel, including in Judea and Samaria.

c)     The pressure created against Sodastream resulted in the company relocating to the Negev and hundreds of Palestinians lost their jobs but the company continues to grow

In each case the boycott created a media storm, but it did not change Israeli policy.

But here is where things get interesting: the boycott does have an impact. For better, too.

In the United States, it has generated a backlash. Thirty-seven states have already adopted laws or other measures against BDS, including restrictions on public contracts or investments involving companies that participate in boycotts against Israel.

And last week, on September 3, the US House of Representatives passed the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act by a vote of 237-169. The bill seeks to restrict certain federal funding to academic institutions participating in boycotts against Israel. The legislation still requires Senate approval.

And this impact is reaching Judea and Samaria as well. For example, American businesspeople have approached American Friends of Judea and Samaria seeking investment opportunities in Judea and Samaria, both as a response to British boycott efforts and because they believe that investing in the biblical heartland can bring prosperity to their businesses in America.

This is how we can turn the boycott into something that has an impact, for better. And this impact is reaching Judea and Samaria as well. For example, American businesspeople have approached American Friends of Judea and Samaria seeking investment opportunities in Judea and Samaria, both as a response to British boycott efforts and because they believe that investing in the biblical heartland can bring prosperity to their businesses in America.

This is how we can turn the boycott into something that has an impact, for the better.

Genocide - Really?

 

E1: Just Another Pretext to Discriminate Against Jews

 (With thanks to Honest Reporting)

Yesterday, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced an import ban on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and also deemed the “occupation” to be illegal, along with potential sanctions against British companies for various offenses deemed helpful to any Jewish presence in the regions of Judea and Samaria as well as “East” Jerusalem.

Several weeks prior, Israel issued a construction tender for a small piece of land between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim known as E1. E1 has been in the news off and on for over 30 years, with the first plans to build there coming from the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, hardly a right-wing extremist. There is nearly unanimous consensus, in Israel and internationally, that E1 will remain part of Israel in any conceivable final status agreement with the Palestinians.

Despite these facts, the UK did what they and others have done in the past. They seized on a bureaucratic housing announcement, in an area nobody believes will ever be part of any country but Israel, to condemn the Jewish state. The claim most often associated with E1, an area of only 4.5 square miles, is that building there by Israel will cut the West Bank in two, thus making any possible future Palestinian state unviable.

The reason given for this assessment, as shown in the map below, is that the distance from Maaleh Adumim to the Dead Sea is only about 10 miles. Putting aside for a moment whether a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean is viable in any case, or if it is truly the Palestinian end goal, how do the British and others who advocate so vociferously for a Palestinian state along the 1948 armistice lines make the claim that a state just 10 miles wide lacks viability when it is exactly what they demand Israel accept?

The UK is saying that it is infeasible to have a viable country with a narrowest point very similar to an area where millions of Israelis live. In other words it is OK for Israelis living in Netanya but not Palestinians living near Maale Adumim!

This makes something abundantly clear: E1, as always, is just a pretext.

The UK government has its reasons, foreign and domestic, for why it believes it is in its interest to demand a judenrein Palestinian state, for why it believes Jews, and Jews alone, should be banned from living in a large part of the land of Israel, including our capital city, because we are Jews. Foreign Secretary Miliband listed some in his announcement on social media yesterday. Most were even more unconvincing, dishonest and inflammatory than any argument around E1.

Whatever the real reasons are, they have nothing to do with E1. E1 is simply their excuse to take discriminatory action against the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

Is the UK in Free Fall or Not?

 

How does the US transport oil through Hormuz?

 At least 25 million barrels of oil were transferred yesterday 25^th August from small tankers to supertankers, after crossing Hormuz via the southern route near the coast of Oman. This is in excess of the average 20 million barrels shipped prior to the outbreak of war with Iran

Small tankers, moving without signaling, cross Hormuz—without risking that expensive supertankers will be hit by Iranian launches—and then transfer their oil "back to back" to supertankers that are outside the range of Iranian danger, and from there they continue outward to the world.

The oil is transferred from all the Gulf states except from Iran.

This is how the US reduces the risk of damage to the large oil tankers and minimizes exposure to harm from Iranian launches.

 

Meanwhile Qatari liquefied gas exports have crashed by 96% over the past six months following the war with Iran

During these months, Qatar exported only 18 shipments of liquefied gas compared to 509 shipments in the same period last year.

According to Reuters, Qatar lost $24 billion in liquefied gas revenues. The increase in American liquefied gas exports strengthened at Qatar's expense and covered part of the global demand; however, Europe's gas reserves are depleted—which could lead to a rise in gas prices.

Summary:

1. Because of Iran, Qatar lost $24 billion in revenue (less money for incitement against Israel, which is already reflected in a significant reduction of Qatari budgets).

2. The US is selling more gas.

3. Europeans are going to pay dearly for gas this coming winter.

Palestinians Poison Sheep & No One Reports It

 

I'll spare you the gruesome video of the dying sheep. It happened yesterday.

Arabs from a village near Binyamin scattered poisoned dates and bread 
in a farm's grazing land. Not the first time, the ninth in two years.

Last time it was water troughs, oil mixed in so the poison would float and get scooped up in the first bucket. This time, dates and bread laced with poison and left where the sheep would find them first. They found them first. Convulsions, foam at the mouth. A shepherd found the rest.

I went looking for who else was covering it. The UN report: doesn't exist. The BBC piece: doesn't exist. The AFP wire: doesn't exist.

What I found instead was a headline from the last time this happened, when Jewish-owned sheep died the same way: "Israeli Colonizers Poison Sheep." Ours. Not theirs. Ours, with the victim and the perpetrator swapped, printed and shared and believed.

So let me save everyone the suspense. There will be no UN OCHA report on the bread, no BBC segment on the dates and Btselem and Yeah Din will not cover any if this.

The people who merely yawned when Jewish babies were stabbed in their cots will not be losing sleep over the sheep

GAZA HUMANITARIAN AID SINCE CEASEFIRE

 According to the IDF, more than 2 million tons of food have entered Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire. Around 600 trucks enter daily, with 70–80% carrying food, while food prices have fallen by approximately 72%. Forty-one internationally operated bakeries are producing more than 3 million pita breads per day alongside dozens of local bakeries. (Hamas still attempting to claim taxes on products entering Gaza)

The IDF says Gaza is receiving more than 70,000 cubic meters of water daily, exceeding 60 liters per person. The water system is supported by roughly 250 water trucks, 2,800 distribution points, four operational pipelines, desalination facilities and dozens of wells. 

More than 78,000 tons of hygiene and sanitation supplies have also entered.

More than 21,000 tons of medical equipment have entered since the ceasefire, while hospital-bed capacity has increased by more than 50%. Eight permanent hospitals, four field hospitals and four medical centers are operating in northern Gaza, while two permanent hospitals and eight field hospitals are operating in the south.

The IDF says the volume of aid entering Gaza exceeds humanitarian requirements assessed by UN agencies and international organizations. It accuses Hamas of interfering with humanitarian operations, exploiting civilian infrastructure and distribution mechanisms, and attempting to smuggle prohibited items under cover of aid. Israel says it will continue coordinating with international partners to expand the humanitarian response while preventing Hamas from exploiting it.

IDF Killing Gazan Children

The military wing of Hamas confirms that it is recruiting 15-year-old children 

to fight against the IDF

The RPG children in Gaza: In recent days, the military wing of Hamas has published  a video "in honor" of "the martyr" Zahib Labad, a military operative in its ranks who, already at the age of 15, served in a military role in the fighting: he planted explosives and fired an RPG at IDF forces.

After he was killed in combat against the IDF, he was listed by the Palestinian 

Ministry of Health in Gaza as a "child killed by Israel."

"Gazan child."

When you are told that Israel kills children in Gaza, show them Zahib Labad.

 

Follow the Money not the Narrative

 

“The “Gaza genocide” is the Greatest Hoax of all Time

 (Based on published article by Andrew Fox)

“The “Gaza genocide” is the greatest hoax of all time, enabled by social media, antisemitism, and gullibility.

Remember: genocide means a deliberate attempt to exterminate a group, simply for being members of that group. That’s what “genocide in Gaza” alleges: that Israel is unsuccessfully attempting to exterminate every last Palestinian.

But what about the overall population of Gaza? If Israel had wanted to wipe out every Palestinian, you’d expect that overall total to fall, right?

At some point, the word genocide has to survive contact with arithmetic. Gaza’s own records now sit in open contradiction with the claim that Israel attempted to destroy its population: approximately 121,000 live births since 7 October 2023, against a reported direct war death toll, including natural deaths, of just over 73,000. 

The extermination narrative looks increasingly absurd. More babies have been born in Gaza during the war than Gazans have been recorded as killed, including both civilians and combatants. 

The usual escape route is to say that genocide need not succeed. That is legally correct and intellectually evasive when deployed to make every contrary fact disappear. Genocidal intent still has to be proved, and the ICJ has held that, where it is inferred from conduct, the destruction of the group must be the only reasonable inference available.

In Croatia v Serbia, it examined whether civilians had been spared, evacuated or allowed to survive when their supposed destroyers had the opportunity to kill them. Conduct preserving members of the protected population counted against genocide. Now apply that reasoning to Gaza.

a a) Start with polio. In September 2024, while Israeli troops were still fighting across the Strip, Israel agreed daily, area-specific pauses so Palestinian and international medical teams could vaccinate Gaza’s children. The first round reached 559,161 children under ten, around 95 per cent of the eligible population.

b)b) Israel then agreed to do it again. The second round reached 556,774 children, with 448,425 children between two and ten also receiving vitamin A. The campaign required the delivery of 1.6 million vaccine doses, refrigerators, freezers, ice boxes and hundreds of vaccine carriers. WHO and UNICEF planned for the vaccines and cold-chain equipment to transit through Ben Gurion Airport before entering Gaza.

c) c)  A third campaign followed in February 2025. It vaccinated 602,795 children under ten, reaching 102 per cent of the estimated target because medical teams found children missed during earlier rounds. 

d) d)  The combined figure is 1,718,730 administered polio doses. (That represents repeated protection of roughly 600,000 individual children, rather than 1.7 million different children.) Almost the entire under-10 population was reached again and again.

These vaccines were administered by Palestinian health workers, WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA and their partners. Without Israeli cooperation, the campaigns could not have happened.

UNICEF’s end-of-year report says the outbreak had been interrupted by July 2025. It also records 49,000 children under two receiving catch-up vaccinations, with coverage exceeding 80 per cent. BCG vaccinations rose from 37,471 in 2024 to 47,556 in 2025. 

It was an enormous public health enterprise, run over several months, involving thousands of workers and protecting nearly every child in Gaza from paralysis. 

That is the physical reality of what Israel enabled: the children it was supposedly trying to destroy were repeatedly protected against a disease that could disable or kill them. 

A coherent programme of genocide cannot be inferred by treating every Israeli action that preserved Palestinian life as irrelevant.

BIRTH FIGURES The birth figures deepen the problem for the accusation. A reconstruction using Gaza Ministry of Health and civil registration records suggests approximately 12,000 babies were born during the final quarter of 2023, around 38,000 during 2024, 49,267 live births during 2025, and roughly 21,000 so far in 2026. The latest portion is necessarily estimated because complete July and August registrations have not yet been published. 

Many babies born during the first months had been conceived before 7 October. That explanation expired nine months into the war. Tens of thousands of children were subsequently conceived and delivered while Israel supposedly pursued the biological destruction of Gaza. 

Births fell below their pre-war level, hardly surprising amid displacement and combat. Miscarriages, premature births and maternal complications also rose. Nothing about those conditions was humane or desirable. 

However, the comparison remains devastating. Approximately 121,000 live births against just over 73,000 reported direct war deaths leaves a difference approaching 48,000. The number killed includes combatants as well as civilians, of course.

Gaza’s overall resident population fell because the calculation includes outward migration, the missing and other demographic changes. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates that around 100,000 people left Gaza during the war. A decline driven substantially by people leaving a war zone cannot simply be relabelled as physical destruction.

No Israeli advocate needs to pretend that civilian life in Gaza was tolerable. It was an urban war fought against an enemy dug into hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools and camps. Hamas designed that battlefield to make civilian deaths unavoidable and politically useful. 

Israel issued evacuation warnings, created corridors and humanitarian zones, admitted food and medicine, coordinated medical evacuations, paused military operations and enabled almost 600,000 Palestinian children to receive repeated protection against polio. Around 121,000 babies were born during the war, far exceeding the reported direct death toll. 

The genocide allegation survives only by declaring every piece of exculpatory evidence meaningless. Births supposedly tell us nothing. Vaccinations tell us nothing. Food deliveries tell us nothing. Humanitarian pauses tell us nothing. Failed famine predictions tell us nothing. The absence of measured famine mortality tells us nothing.

Such reasoning insulates the genocide accusation from reality for the Palestinians. Every death becomes proof of genocide, while every Palestinian life preserved through Israeli cooperation is dismissed as public relations.

The simpler explanation: Israel fought a devastating war against Hamas, accepting extraordinary military and political costs while repeatedly undertaking measures to preserve Palestinian civilian life. Those measures were imperfect and sometimes failed, as measures do in war. 

Gaza’s own birth records, vaccination figures and famine evidence have negated the allegations. A country attempting to destroy a people does not enable more than 120,000 births, facilitate 1.7 million childhood vaccine doses and support humanitarian operations feeding virtually the entire population. 

That is war, with all its brutality and tragedy. It is not genocide.

Hypocrisy Par Excellence

 

If you're going to make a deal with Hamas, this is how

 Shimon Cohen   Aug 3, 2026, https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/431171

 Dr. Mordechai Kedar says Hamas views agreements as temporary, warns Israel to expect violations and demand strict enforcement.

The possibility of an agreement with Hamas is reigniting the question of whether Israel is repeating past mistakes when it puts trust in a terrorist organization that some say sees deals as merely a tactical means and not a binding obligation.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar warns that the safest way to avoid falling into a trap is to refrain from signing deals with Hamas.

"They have a long history of violating agreements," he said. "As far as they're concerned, particularly when it comes to non-Muslims, deception, hiding, stalling for time, and cheating are legitimate means to reach a goal. This modus operandi is based on the Hudaibiya Pact (signed by Mohammed in 628 AD), which they see as merely temporary.

According to Kedar, the Hudaibiya Pact, which various Islamic organizations rely on, is seen as an arrangment which may be violated the moment the balance of power changes. "As long as they don't have power, they sign, but the second they gain power, as far as they're concerned, the agreement is no longer binding. Therefore, anyone who signs with them has to understand that the agreement may be broken the moment they have an interest to do so."

That being said, Dr. Kedar does not rule out signing a deal for diplomatic reasons if it serves a broader Israeli interest. "If we want to make a move that enables diplomatic achievements with the White House or in preparation for another move, we can sign. But we can not make a mistake and think that this is true peace. We have to understand that this is a game."

According to Kedar, one of the mistakes that Israel and the West repeat is the assumption that the other side aspires to the same objectives. "We assume that they want peace, welfare, and a good economy just like we do. But to them, the goal remains the destruction of Israel. As long as they can't do it, they accept temporary agreements."

Kedar believes that, in any case, if a deal is signed, it must be backed by especially tough enforcement mechanisms. "We must state that any violation, even the entry of one rifle into the Gaza Strip, immediately cancels the agreement and allows Israel to return to war. Not to wait until they bring in thousands of weapons and only then to claim that the agreement was violated."

He says that it is not enough to simply prohibit the entry of weapons, but rather the agreement must include clauses that would prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities. "We have to also ban the weapons training, even with fake wooden weapons. We can not allow them to rebuild their military infrastructure under the guise of other activities. We have to close every possible loophole."

To demonstrate the importance of enforcement, Kedar points to the peace agreement with Egypt. "An agreement at the end of the day is just paper. The question is how it's enforced. If every violation is answered with a fierce and unrelenting response, the other side will understand that there's a real price for violating obligations."

Regarding the possibility that senior Hamas officials could be expelled from the Gaza Strip as part of a future arrangement, Kedar said such a move would be valuable but cautioned against viewing it as a complete solution. “If the commanders leave, that would certainly be a success," he said. “But we must not think the problem ends there. There will always be replacements. At first, they may be less experienced, but within a short time, new leaders will emerge and continue down the same path."

Israel’s Economy is Actually Doing Rather Well

 Based on article by Matan Shitrit is Chief Economist at Phoenix Financial

Full article at https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/banking-and-finance/article-903403

While the shock originating in the Middle East is pushing many economies worldwide toward higher inflation, higher interest rates and weaker growth, in Israel the macroeconomic picture is moving in the opposite direction — annual inflation has fallen to its lowest level in roughly five years, the shekel remains very strong, the risk premium has returned to the range that characterized it before the "Swords of Iron" war, the labor market remains tight at around full employment, and the policy rate has resumed its descent.

The strong shekel, and inflation continuing to moderate, resulted in the Bank of Israel cutting the rate by 25 bps, to 3.50%. The Bank's own forecast now embeds a continuation of the process, with an average rate of 3.0% in the second quarter of 2027 — that is, two further cuts over the coming year.

The strong shekel is not merely an expression of relative confidence in the Israeli economy; it is also an important economic factor in its own right. In a world where energy and commodity prices are once again being driven by the war in the Middle East, some of the inflationary pressures arriving from abroad are absorbed by the exchange rate before they reach the Israeli consumer.

Having mentioned USD/ILS, in recent months the Bank of Israel has also returned to purchasing foreign currency. In May it bought roughly USD 801 million, and in June roughly USD 1.03 billion. Relative to the large-scale purchase programs seen in the past, these are not dramatic volumes, and the Bank stresses that the purchases were made on a discretionary, ad hoc basis to preserve orderly market functioning. Even so, the mere return to the market is a reminder that the Bank has both the tools and the willingness to act when volatility turns abnormal.

The economic forecasts improved as well. The Bank of Israel raised its 2026 growth forecast from 3.8% to 4.0% and, at the same time, lowered its inflation forecast from 2.2% to 1.8%. Beyond the headline figure, the composition of the forecast is also constructive — exports excluding diamonds and startups are projected to grow 8% in 2026, as is fixed-asset investment. These are the components capable of supporting a recovery that does not rest solely on government consumption or on a technical rebound after the war.

The labor market remains tight, with unemployment around 3.0% and the number of job vacancies rising to 146 thousand — here to a high level relative to the period before "Rising Lion."

A further indication of continued economic recovery comes from tax revenues, which came in higher than expected in the first half of the year, leading the Bank of Israel to lower its 2026 deficit forecast from 5.3% to 4.9% of GDP. In June, the trailing 12-month deficit recorded a further decline, to 3.3% of GDP — so here, too, we are seeing upside surprises.

So much for the positives. On the less favorable side, Israel is of course not immune to the war, and it still contends with a heavy security and fiscal cost. The 2026 deficit ceiling stands at 4.9%, and the debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to rise to 69%. (lower than the USA and most Western countries). For now, the deficit appears to be surprising favorably from month to month, partly on the back of revenue growth beyond expectations.

As things stand, the data point to an economy under control. Anyone who views Israel solely through the security headlines is liable to miss a flexible, technology-intensive economy with credible economic institutions, a strong labor market and a financial system that continues to function even under stress. Bottom line: Israel is still in the eye of the storm, but it is entering the next phase from a far stronger position than it appears from the outside.

"Settler Violence"

Looking into the "thousands of incidents" of “settler violence”, here is what I found.

The UN office called OCHA, the one that produces the "settler violence" statistics international media loves to quote, has an internal database of incidents. However, one has to accept you cannot see it. OCHA has locked it behind a registration process that does not actually let anyone register.

The organization Regavim obtained the internal spreadsheet the database is using and analyzed it. Case by case.

Here is what you should also know. OCHA itself relies heavily on data from B'Tselem, a left-wing Israeli human rights organization. B'Tselem is the source I analyzed independently last week. My analysis showed that B'Tselem's database includes active terrorists killed while committing attacks and files them as victims of settler violence.

So, on the left, B'Tselem is manufacturing the same statistics. On the right, Regavim is doing the exposé. And in the middle, OCHA is refusing to let anyone see the raw data. Until OCHA becomes transparent, this is what we have to work with. And what we have is damning.

OCHA filed 8,332 incidents leading to injury "involving Israeli settlers" between January 2016 and April 2023. Seven and a half years of data.

Here is what is actually in those 8,332 UN incidents.

* 2,047 of them are actual violence by Palestinian Arabs against Israelis. Nearly a quarter of the "settler violence" database is Palestinian attacks on Jews. The UN files it in the same folder.

Which leaves 6,285 cases against Palestinians. Sounds terrible. Then you look at what is actually in them.

**1,704 cases happened in Jerusalem, not in settlements. Not by settlers. In Jerusalem, a city with a mixed population where any friction between Jews and Arabs gets thrown into the settler-violence bucket.

**1,361 cases involved Jews visiting the Temple Mount or clashes between Israeli security forces and rioting Muslims. Zero settlers involved. Filed under "settler violence" anyway.

**1,613 cases were complaints about "entering land" — meaning a hiker walked somewhere a Palestinian claimed as his. No physical assault. No property damage. No violence at all. Someone took a walk. Filed as settler violence.

**96 cases were state infrastructure projects. Israeli government road-paving and construction. No settlers involved. No violence. The state of Israel building a road is officially "settler violence" in the UN database.

**2,039 complaints alleged property damage or assault with no physical injury. Which is not what a database of injuries inflicted by settler violence is supposed to contain in the first place.

Add it up. Take out Jerusalem, take out the Temple Mount, take out the hikers, take out the road-paving, take out the complaints without injury.

You are left with 833 incidents. Out of 8,332. JUST 10% and that ten percent still contains problems.

**404 of the remaining 833 are listed as "involvement in a clash", meaning two people fought and the UN could not determine who started it. Not settler violence. Two-way friction.

**117 more are attributed by the UN itself to Israeli security forces, not to settlers or civilians.

**Dozens more are actually Palestinian terror attacks in which the attacker was shot in self-defense by the Jewish target. A stone-thrower shot after wounding a driver on Route 60. A rioter killed by a driver after his car was smashed. An attacker who stabbed a guard at Karmei Tzur and was shot by another guard.

The UN files these as settler violence against Palestinians. The Palestinian was the attacker. The Jew defended himself. And in the UN's database, the Jew is the perpetrator.

There are traffic accidents in there.

A Palestinian worker bitten by a dog at his workplace. Filed as settler violence.

Let me say this clearly.

The UN office that shapes global discourse about "settler violence" is running a database in which more than 90 percent of the entries are a blatant lie.

Jerusalem incidents. Government construction. Hikers. Palestinian attacks in which the attacker was shot in self-defense. Traffic accidents. Dog bites.

And they will not let you see the database, because if you could see it, the entire international narrative about a wave of Jewish settler violence would collapse in an second.

The UN is not a neutral data source. Until they open their database to public scrutiny, they are a bad actor, producing statistics designed to smear an entire population.

Every headline you have ever read about "settler violence" traces back to numbers like these. Every foreign minister who has ever quoted UN data on the West Bank is quoting this.

Ten percent real. Ninety percent invented.

Until OCHA opens the database, this is what we have to work with. And what we have is enough.

What Price Technology?

 (Cross posted from Grandma's Army)

To quote Einstein: "I believe that the abominable deterioration of ethical standards stems primarily from the mechanization and depersonalization of our lives—a disastrous byproduct of science and technology. Nostra culpa! (We are to blame!)".

Nobody questions the remarkable achievements and progress that science and technology have made to our quality of life. However, it’s become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity. Our great-grandchildren know how to use smart phones and computers, from an early age. But their general knowledge is woefully lacking. What do they know of the great cultural visionaries of the past,  who introduced us to art, music, philosophy, etc.  To a world of beauty, grace and the thirst for knowledge. For the most part, they haven't a clue.

People increasingly rely on smartphones, tablets, and computers for daily tasks such as navigation, reminders, work, and entertainment. This dependence reduces problem-solving abilities, memory retention, and independent thinking. Over time, technology can become a crutch rather than a tool.

While social media enables fast communication, it often replaces face-to-face interaction, weakening emotional bonds and empathy. Families may be physically together but emotionally distant. Excessive use of mobile phones, including social media and gaming apps, especially among teenagers can lead to screen addiction. This negative impact on their mental health could cause anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

The humanities have become undervalued and split from more profitable STEM (science/technology/engineering/mathematics) fields. Humanities' vocations, many of which do not directly feed into capitalist structures, are thereby compensated poorly.

The notion that the humanities are inherently less valuable than STEM has pushed students away from studying societally important subjects. The number of humanities degrees awarded drops every year - almost 25% from 2012 to 2020, and continuing in a downward trend. This decline of the humanities could deeply hurt academia and society as a whole.

 Not long ago, students at Montclair State University in New Jersey held a mock funeral outside the university’s college of humanities and social sciences building. Carrying bouquets of flowers, they stood by a tombstone inscribed with the names of the school’s 15 departments, including English, history and sociology.                                                                        

 Fears over the future of the humanities aren’t limited to New Jersey’s second-largest public university. At many schools, those fears are already becoming reality.

The humanities are not hobbies. They are critical pursuits that have shaped the world we know today. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was inspired by philosopher David Hume. Quantum mechanics was apparently first imagined by writer Jorge Luis Borges. Medicine was influenced by Hippocrates, a famous Greek philosopher. The earliest scientists such as Isaac Newton, were deemed “natural philosophers.” Their creativity in their fields came from their understanding of the humanities.

Above all, the world could not function without English, journalism, sociology and other humanities majors. These disciplines are not only useful to STEM students, but are valuable majors in themselves. Journalists keep politicians accountable. English majors write our novels. Sociology majors point out the injustices in society. Philosophy transforms our understanding of ourselves, and the world we live in - making fundamental contributions to our economy, society and culture.

Technology, the market, and the liberal democratic state give us choices, but don’t teach us how to choose. They provide neither identity nor the set of moral sensibilities that are inseparable from identity: loyalty, respect and reverence. Technology knows how to make life easier and more comfortable, but it does not know how to make a person better. True success is not merely what a person has achieved, but what kind of person he/she has become.