A Soldier and His Dog

 What needs to be written, the picture says it all.

What brave warriors these dogs have turned out to be.

Hamas rocket fire slows to almost a standstill

The IDF has brought down Hamas's rocket fire substantially in recent weeks since the attack on Khan Yunis began.

 During the week of December 1-7, Hamas still managed to fire 75 rockets per day, down from hundreds of rockets per day earlier in the war. However, by December 8-14, the number of rockets from Gaza per day had dropped to 23.raeli residents of six Gaza border towns set for return home

From December 15-21, the average number of rockets dropped to 16, with the number remaining relatively steady from December 22-27.

With Hamas having already fired, by some estimates, around 13,000 rockets and in addition Israel has destroyed large numbers of Hamas rockets, rocket launchers, and areas for placing rocket launchers, the terror group has been losing its launching capabilities.

Already in late November, its capability to fire rockets from northern Gaza had dropped by 80%, and now its capabilities to fire rockets from southern Gaza has also dropped, though there is still for the time being a capability in Rafah.

Israel wants UNRWA out of Gaza

David Isaac JNS. See http://tinyurl.com/3nzm8xnf

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has put together a classified report calling for the removal of UNRWA from the Gaza Strip in the long-term, noting that the U.N. relief agency works against Israel’s interests.

The report’s recommendations set out a three-stage process for shrinking and eventually eliminating UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, from the Strip: 1) Prepare a case detailing UNRWA’s cooperation with Hamas; 2) Reduce UNRWA’s field of activity and find replacement service providers; and 3) Transfer UNRWA’s responsibilities to another entity.

Channel 12, which revealed the existence of the secret report on Thursday, noted that Israel wants to move slowly, recognizing that the U.S. sees UNRWA as a positive player in humanitarian efforts in the Strip. The ministry hopes to gradually build the case for ousting the organization, linking that goal to discussions on “the day after” Hamas.

Israel must convince the U.S. and the international community of UNRWA’s unfitness by pulling together research, much of which has already been performed, on the U.N. group, (Michael co-authored a damning report on UNRWA in 2020). Israel should also highlight what UNRWA’s own people have revealed about it, he said, noting especially James Lindsay.

James G. Lindsay, an American civil servant, worked with UNRWA from 2000 to 2007, he has called for a close examination of UNRWA’s activities, saying it doesn’t solve the Palestinian refugee problem, but rather perpetuates it.

Lindsay has pointed out that aside from the fact that UNRWA is the only U.N. refugee organization dedicated to a single population, the Palestinians, it defines refugees differently than the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which handles all the rest of the world’s refugees.

“UNHCR does not consider someone a refugee who has acquired citizenship in another country. In other words, if you have been a refugee but then you become a citizen, you can no longer be a refugee,” Lindsay told UN Watch in 2019.

“If you can’t be a refugee under those definitions, then a very large number of UNRWA Palestinian refugees would not be refugees at all. For instance, in Jordan approximately 90% of the people UNRWA considers Palestine refugees are citizens of Jordan, and they would not be refugees under the UNHCR, or the U.N. Convention [Relating to the Status of Refugees] terms,” he said.

The Palestinian refugee population is the only one that increases each year. Starting from 700,000 in 1948 it has grown to 5.9 million refugees registered with UNRWA as of mid-2023.

Said Michael, “The idea that we are still talking about Palestinian refugees is not reasonable. We’re talking about fifth-generation refugees when actually they are not refugees at all.”

Controlled by Hamas

The worst aspect of UNRWA is that it’s controlled by Hamas. “All the workers of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip—something like 13,000—all of them are approved by Hamas,” he said.

In 2020, 58% of UNRWA’s then-$800 million budget (it has since ballooned to $1.6 billion) went to education. Michael says education isn’t even part of its mandate.

The curriculum in UNRWA-run schools has been repeatedly exposed for its glorification of jihad and antisemitism.

More than 100 of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who carried out terrorist attacks and murdered Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 were graduates of UNRWA’s education system, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) found.

In another report, it found at least 14 teachers and staff at UNRWA schools publicly celebrated the Hamas massacre and other Hamas attacks on their social media accounts.

Noting that the U.S. is UNRWA’s largest donor, disbursing almost $1 billion in funds to the U.N. agency over the last five years, IMPACT-se head Marcus Sheff said in early November that taxpayer funds pay for “the production of inciteful supplementary teaching materials by UNRWA staff,” “textbooks glorifying violent jihad against Jews” and “the salaries of UNRWA teachers, who are responsible for teaching them to students. . UNRWA is essentially Hamas’s educational arm, which is funded by the international community ”

The “Palestinian national consciousness is very ill, sick. During the three decades under the umbrella of the Oslo process, the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people were poisoned by the Palestinian Authority, and later on by Hamas,” he said.

IDF Uncovers Shocking Hamas Operation

TBN Israel's Yair Pinto reports from the frontlines of 

the Israel-Gaza War while on active duty with the IDF. 

Pinto gives a behind the scenes look at the work being done 

on the Gaza Strip. Last week IDF soldiers found 4.2 million 

Israeli shekels at the home of a terrorist operative. 

Hamas always finds a way to provide its militants 

with money while mistreating the residents in Gaza.

Who Supports Hamas?

by Alan M. Dershowitz  •  December 28, 2023 

• Many of the current protests that now demand a unilateral ceasefire – including the attempts to shut down Christmas celebrations -- are orchestrated by some of the same radical groups that organized the pro-Hamas demonstrations before Israel went into Gaza.
• Demonstrations and protests by groups such as the Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace or the National Lawyers Guild seem anything but spontaneous and grassroots responses to "Israel's military actions in Gaza." They are not demonstrations against what Israel does; they are protests against what Israel is, namely the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people.
• Recall that these protests began before Israel counterattacked against Hamas. They were in full bloom on October 8, even while the bodies of 1,200 murdered Israelis, including babies burned alive, were still being gathered and counted, and the roughly 240 hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza identified.
• Where are the calls for anything that would actually help the Palestinians or make their lives better: freedom of speech, equal justice under the law, freedom of the press, better job opportunities, and an end to government corruption and abuse?
• The protests are exclusively anti-Israel, anti-American, pro-Hamas, and pro-terrorism.
• So when you watch an anti-Israel demonstration on television, please understand who is behind it and what are their ultimate goals, because the next target is American democracy -- and you.

The main groups that comprise the bulk of organizers and demonstrators who have supported the Hamas barbarism against Israel are:

1) Radical Islamic groups that, like the Islamic Republic of Iran after the 1979 revolution, regard Israel as the "Little Satan" and America as the "Big Satan."

2) American revolutionary groups who used to be affiliated with Communism but now call themselves radical socialists or workers parties. Their goal is to overthrow our government and they attach themselves to every disruptive movement in the hope of garnering support and creating distrust for American democracy.

3) Old-fashioned anti-Semites who hate anything associated with Jews and concoct conspiracy theories that blame "the Jews" for all evils.

4) Useful idiots who have little or no knowledge of the issues but march in lockstep with all "woke," "hard left," and "anti-colonial" causes on the theory that "if it's left, it must be right."

The Show Must Go On

For the full article see  https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-779137

During World War II, life for the Jews had stopped. They were busy trying to survive – hiding, running, and escaping. They were forced into ghettos, where they faced immense challenges just to try to stay alive until they were taken to some concentration camp or mass grave, where they were tortured and eventually killed.

The non-Jews in Europe continued with their daily lives, aware that something was happening to the Jews but often choosing to ignore it.

Today, for Israelis, the situation feels like a mini-Holocaust after the events on October 7, especially for those who were directly hit in the South. Yet despite the ongoing conflict, daily life continues at an abnormal normalcy. While not confined to ghettos or seeking refuge in other countries, we still grapple with the emotional toll of the situation.

There is one big difference: We have our own country. In fact, for most of us life goes on as usual. Our kids go to school, we work, we go to eat in restaurants, we celebrate weddings, we go to concerts. Yet spiritually, in our souls and hearts, we are going through something that we have never experienced before, even though we have already been through many wars in Israel.

This analogy between the experiences of Jews during World War II and the current situation in Israel provides a powerful perspective on the complexities of daily life during the conflict.

In spite of all, the country continues to function perfectly amid these challenges, showing a remarkable strength and unity prevailing despite the emotional roller-coaster. Indeed, the ability to navigate such multifaceted and overwhelming circumstances showcases the resilience and strength of the Israeli people.

No other country in the world could face so many ongoing dramatic situations while fighting a war. No other country could show such strength and unity while facing so much drama and disaster. No other country in the world can celebrate the festival of Hanukkah and light candles, trying to fight the darkness around us while singing songs with tears in our eyes and a smile on our face.

We are so unique. We have that crazy ability to contain in our minds and hearts sadness and happiness together while faith makes us move forward every single day, believing that there is a reason for everything, and eventually it will be good.

“Yihiye tov” as we say in Hebrew, or “It will be good,” has become our motto.

Another year has gone by. Hashem chose us as his nation for a reason; we are so powerful.

So we go on, like robots. We have no time to waste; we have families, we have children, we have work, we have a country to run. And if we don’t do it, we are going to lose it.

We dance, we sing, and if there’s a siren we run, we hide, we breathe, and then we go back out and keep dancing. Just keep dancing.

Hamas Weaponised anti-Zionism

 

Written by Richard Kemp. For full article see http://tinyurl.com/yead3yn9

Hamas is by far the most successful antisemitic entity in the world today. Beyond all competition, it has mobilized Jew-hatred around the world, using the State of Israel both as its target and its primary weapon. By waging war against Israel over many years, Hamas has inspired and energized international organizations such as the UN and the EU; governments and parliaments; the Western media; university authorities, professors, and students; human rights groups; businesses; and large sectors of the general population.

 All dance to its pernicious tune: some out of malevolence, some out of ignorance, and others blindly jumping on the virtue-signaling woke bandwagon.

Majority of Arab citizens feel part of Israel, most fear for their safety

 Consequently, the global scope and scale of Hamas’s antisemitic influence dramatically exceeds even the Nazis from whom it takes much of its own inspiration.

The foundations of Hamas’s success lie in the Soviet Union. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, when Israel aligned with the West rather than the USSR, the Soviet Zionism leadership decided to undermine American and British influence in the Middle East by fomenting a war of national liberation against Israel. Moscow invented a Palestinian national identity in order to turn religious malice against the Jews of Israel into a struggle over land, a cause it correctly understood would gain much greater traction and support in the West than a religious war.

That developed into the most successful slur campaign in history, giving rise to accusations of land theft, unlawful occupation, illegal settlement, apartheid, and all the other lies and distortions that are now accepted as undisputed facts by so many around the world. Decades of this anti-Israel propaganda have taken us to the dangerous position we are in today.

 That means that whatever is done to Israel and its Jews is justified as legitimate resistance. I’ve even heard some saying that the people of Israel brought upon themselves the undiluted evil and savagery of Oct. 7. They had it coming. By the same token, any action taken by Israel to defend its people is unjustified, unlawful, and unacceptable. 

Like so much else in our post-truth world, facts and reality don’t matter. If the “oppressed” Palestinians are doing anything, it’s justified and understandable. If Israel is doing anything, it’s intolerable and wrong.