A Humanitarian Pause in Gaza
Rebuke of President Biden for the Occultary Action of Israel During the Oct. 7 Attack by Hamas on the Gaza Strip
Ms. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been on the leading edge of a group of progressive lawmakers criticizing Mr. Biden’s embrace of Israel since the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, saying his actions have helped enable the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Israel’s response. Her comments on the war prompted a censure attempt by the House, but she beat it back and is now facing attack ads from a pro-Israel group.
After she speaks, the screen goes dark and the message on the white lettering is “joe b Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people”. The people of America will not forget. Biden, support a cease-fire now. We don’t count on you in 2024.
Mr. Biden has also grown more critical of the Israeli government’s response as the death toll in Gaza has ballooned and the humanitarian crisis has deepened, even while declaring unambiguous support for Israel and its right to defend itself.
Israel’s leaders have tried from the outset of this conflict to prepare their country for a long war, and a humanitarian pause is unlikely to change that fact. But it is a vital step to ease the burden on civilians in Gaza, and to allow international aid agencies, which are essential to life in Gaza, to keep functioning. Israel has been willing to listen to the concerns of allies who have pressed it to live up to its promises. The laws were designed to regulate conduct during hostilities, as well as to create a baseline for what follows.
Many Jews view the chant of the protesters in Michigan that was called “from the river to the sea” as a call for the eradication of Israel.
Tlaib said that President Biden was cheering on Netanyahu because of the citizens protesting against his refusal to support a cease-fire. We must be laser focused on saving lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity.
The House struck down a resolution on Thursday to formally rebuke Ms. Tlaib, with about two dozen Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The resolution, which was brought by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, accused Ms. Tlaib of “antisemitic activity” and referred to an Oct. 18 protest in a House office building, in which Ms. Tlaib accused Israel of genocide, as an “insurrection.”
Around 20 far- left members of the House signed onto a resolution that called on the White House to call for an end to violence in the Middle East. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, on Thursday became the first senator to call for a cease-fire if the hostages are released, and Pope Francis called for an end to the war on Sunday.
But anyone who thinks the cynical exploitation of civilian suffering will tie our hands and save Hamas this time is wrong. For us and for the Palestinians, the suffering will end only with the removal of Hamas. Anyone trying to tie our hands is, intentionally or not, undermining not only Israel’s defense but also any hope for a world where these atrocities cannot happen.
The result of these sickening tactics is the civilian suffering we are all watching unfold. There is real suffering and the reports of humanitarian difficulties in parts of Gaza are unverifiable. The withdrawal from Gaza was meant to give these people free lives and open the door for peace. To our dismay, Hamas and its many Palestinian supporters chose otherwise.
The calls have grown louder and louder after the recent bombardment of the Jabaliyya neighborhood in Gaza which Israel said targeted Hamas and killed many of their leaders. UNICEF, a children’s aid organization, described the damage as “horrific and appalling,” and it said in a statement that the attacks follow weeks of bombardment “that have reportedly resulted in more than 3,500 children killed.”
Hezbollah’s Plan for a Full-on War with Israel: The Case of Israel and the Axis of Resistance
That is not Hezbollah’s plan, the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a widely anticipated address to his followers on Friday, his first public remarks since the start of the war.
He said Hezbollah was already exchanging fire with a portion of Israel’s military, which would keep it tied up along the northern border with Lebanon.
“The Lebanese front has lessened a large part of the forces that were going to escalate the attack on Gaza,” Mr. Nasrallah said. “Some in Lebanon say that we are taking a risk, it’s true. This risk is a part of a beneficial, correct calculation.
That message was most likely a disappointment to Hamas, a Hezbollah ally that is also supported by Iran, some of whose leaders have called on their regional partners to do more in the fight against Israel. Both groups of terrorist organizations are considered by Israel and the United States.
Mr. Nasrallah did not rule out anything, however, warning that he was keeping Hezbollah’s forces ready should hostilities with Israel escalate. “All the possibilities on our Lebanese front are open,” he said. “All the choices are available and we could resort to them at any time.”
During one of the most tense periods in recent years, the speech of Mr. Nasralla offered at least one small measure of relief that one powerful force was not attempting to plunge the region into even greater violence.
The leader of the so-calledaxis of resistance, Hezbollah’s Mr. Nasrallah, is a man who is very respected within the group and has come to work closely with the Iranian militias in other Arab countries in order to coordinate their operations. Hezbollah’s possible decision to start a full-on war with Israel would most likely encourage attacks by allied militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
During his address, which was live-streamed to large gatherings of Hezbollah supporters around Lebanon, Mr. Nasrallah lashed out at the United States for its staunch support for Israel, accusing President Biden of dishonesty in telling Israel that it had the right to defend itself but that it had to respect human rights.
He said the group was not scared by the two aircraft carriers that the United States had sent to the eastern Mediterranean.
“Your fleets in the Mediterranean do not scare us and will never scare us,” Mr. Nasrallah said. “Your fleets that you threaten us with, we are prepared for them as well.”
Should the United States intervene directly in the war, Mr. Nasrallah said, it could expect attacks by Hezbollah’s allies on its military bases and other targets in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
The U.S. military has said the carriers were sent to deter a wider regional war — a fear that has grown alongside mounting anger in Arab countries over the crisis facing Gazan civilians and the death toll in the strip, which has risen into the many thousands since Israel’s bombardment began. Israel has resisted calls for a cease-fire or humanitarian pauses in order to help deliver aid in Gaza.
The leader of Hezbollah said that the fighters from his group and other ones were attacking Israeli military positions and destroying communication infrastructure. Those attacks had forced Israeli civilians to flee and drawn Israeli military resources to the north so that they could not contribute to attacks on Gaza.
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered to watch the speech on giant screens in locations throughout Lebanon. The largest site was decorated with Hezbollah and Palestinian flags. He appeared on screen and fans chanted, “We are here for you, Nasrallah.”
He said that a great event had to be done to reestablish the Palestinian cause because the Israeli treatment had gotten so bad.
Antisemitism exposed: Living in Jerusalem with Abramson and the Sbeti & Mosaic Manifestations
After Mr. Nasrallah finished speaking in Beirut, the 40-year-old Sbeti fired a volley of gunshots into the air with a pistol. He said he would go to war against Israel with Hezbollah.
A driver who had grown poorer during Lebanon’s deep economic crisis in recent years, Mr. Sbeti was not overly worried about the vast damage that Israel could do to Lebanon in a new war.
Ross Abramson, a software engineer and recent New York University graduate, had a fairly conventional news diet until recently. He regularly checked his phone for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. And as a Jew with an interest in Israel, he would browse a handful of outlets like The Times of Israel.
“Did I watch it religiously before? He stated that he found Fox’s commentary on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza less combative than that of other news organizations. Mr.Abramson said you don’t feel as though you are being attacked.
It’s somewhat of an improbable alliance. Jews identify as Democrats more than any other group. As the Republican Party began to advocate a more populist brand of politics thatvilifies globalization and liberal businessmen like George Soros, Fox News hosts and guests promoted those views.
In recent days, a Fox News White House correspondent has sparred with President Biden’s press secretary over whether the administration would label anti-Israel demonstrators “extremists.” Its hosts have criticized the White House for announcing this week that it would put in place a national strategy to fight Islamophobia while hate crimes against Jews are on the rise. It debuted a new section on its website this week called “Antisemitism Exposed.”
I have been in Jerusalem since Oct. 7 and have spent time with some of the families of the people kidnapped by Hamas. The hostages now held in Gaza include Jewish Israelis, Muslim Israelis and foreign citizens of different ethnicities.
In all my years of public life, the meetings with these families were the most difficult and fraught I’ve ever held. I’ve also spoken with families of some of the more than 1,400 of my people who were killed that day, many of them murdered in their living rooms and kitchens or dancing at a music festival. I had to wash my shoes after returning from one kibbutz that was devastated in the attack.
The Hamas terrorists, who attacked Israeli homes and families, had no qualms about burning babies. They tortured children, raped women and destroyed peace-loving communities. They were so proud of their actions that they filmed and broadcasted them live. These videos will remain a stain on the Palestinians and their supporters for a long time as a testament of the depravity of the terrorists and the ideas that inspired them.
Some governments fail to condemn Hamas, instead condemning Israel and trying to justify the actions of the terrorist group. It would have been unthinkable to hear such moral confusion uttered after the Sept. 11 attacks or after bombings in London, Barcelona and Baghdad. I told Congress in this year’s meeting that terrorismcontradicts humanity’s most basic principles of peace. It turns out that not everyone agrees.
We are going to give early warning to the civilian population and move them out of the major battle zones to allow for humanitarian aid through the Gaza border with Egypt, even though Hamas fires hundreds of rockets at our cities. Hundreds of aid trucks are now arriving, with more expected each day.
These are questions that we had to ask President Biden when he visited Israel a few weeks ago, and will be key issues in our discussions with the Secretary of State when he arrives in the region.
Protests against Israel’s actions against the Hamas attack in Washington and across the United States reopened their protests on Saturday
Thousands of people gathered in Washington and across the US on Saturday to protest the scale and severity of Israel’s response to Hamas.
Saturday’s marches, organized in cities including New York, Nashville, Cincinnati, Las Vegas and San Francisco, extended a stretch of loud calls for a cease-fire and lifting of the siege, following vast demonstrations a week ago in Asian and European capitals.
In a poll released by Quinnipiac University on Thursday, 84 percent of voters said that they were concerned that the United States would be drawn militarily into the Middle East conflict. More military aid to Israel for their campaign against Hamas was supported by 51 percent of respondents.
There were many groups that have long connected themselves to the Palestinian cause which was reflected in the demonstrations on Saturday.
Many placards were lifted before the protest started to show their support for the people of Gaza. A coffin shrouded in a Palestinian flag rested on the ground, not far from where more than a dozen adults and children stretched out another flag. A Muslim call to prayer can be heard through the plaza around 1 pm.
Some protesters on the edges of the demonstration sat on a ledge outside the White House Visitor Center, their message to President Biden clear. “Stop U.S. military aid to Israel,” their signs read. Another said, “You lost my vote.”
