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Introduktion
Skolböckerna som utfärdats av den palestinska myndigheten (PA) används obligatoriskt i alla områden i Judéen, Samaria, Gazaremsan och östra Jerusalem (i skolor som följer PA:s läroplan) – i statliga, privata och i UNRWA-skolor.
The imperative of freeing the hostages and the crime of releasing terrorists
I write in the shadow and continuing pain of the mass atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and its collaborators on October 7th — murder, rape, torture, mutilation, pillaging and burning — culminating in the cruel and violent abduction of 251 hostages into torturous Hamas captivity, of which 94 hostages remain 475 days later.
I write also in the moving moment of the release of three Israeli hostages. Romi, Doron, and Emily — “our daughters” from the family of hostages — taunted and tormented by howling mobs of Hamas supporters, as they were transferred to the custody of the Red Cross, the first time the international aid organization had seen them in their 470 days of captivity. And on the eve of the impending release on Saturday of four more female hostages, as well as details regarding which of the some 30 remaining hostages are still alive.
It is the first stage of a three-stage process towards the release of 94 more hostages in exchange for the continued release of close to 2,000 security detainees and terrorists, many with blood on their hands. The asymmetry of paradigms — rescue and recovery of hostages, versus freeing for convicted mass murderers — rewards terrorist criminality and extortion while incentivizing further acts of terror and bloodshed.
In announcing the agreement, Hamas leaders reiterated, yet again, their intention to commit the heinous crimes of October 7th over again. The mass murderers being released to secure the return of innocent civilians taken hostage could be the architects or perpetrators of the atrocities Hamas proclaimed their intention to commit again.
Simply put — if past be prologue — more than acquiescence to extortion, this asymmetry not only rewards and incentivizes, but entrenches, rather than removes, Hamas. Indeed, the previous release of over 1,000 terrorists in the Gilad Shalit exchange included Yahya Sinwar and other murderous Hamas leaders who went on to perpetrate the horrors of October 7th. The international community should be combatting, rather than indulging, such asymmetry and its attending acts of extortion and incentivization of terror.
No country should be put in such a painful and impossible position, and every country should have condemned this dangerous paradigm from its inception.
From the Israeli and Jewish people’s perspective, it reflects the commitment to the redemption of captives (pidyon shvuim) as a supreme principle, for which transgressing the Sabbath is even permissible (as when the Israeli cabinet met on Shabbat to authorize the agreement); as well as the Covenant of Fate, between the Israeli government and its people that mandates the rescue of its people as itself being a supreme value. The community of democracies must stand steadfast against Hamas and the terrorist exploitative extortion of these values.
The global condemnations of Israel, coupled with the indulgence of Hamas’s ongoing “rejectionism” of a negotiated hostage-ceasefire agreement — including Hamas’s demands to release mass murderers in exchange for civilian hostages — only prolonged the painful process, and the pernicious paradigm that underpinned it. In not condemning Hamas’s outrageous demands, the international community delayed both the release of hostages and a ceasefire agreement, and thereby contributed to the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
A hostage release and ceasefire could have likely been achieved earlier — and many lives and universes been saved — had the world held Hamas accountable, and more clearly and unequivocally called for the release of the hostages as a stand-alone imperative and international legal obligation.
Indeed, I advocated in support of the framework agreement for a hostage release and humanitarian ceasefire immediately following the first agreement at the end of November 2023. I continued to reaffirm it, and then supported the framework agreement proposed in May by then-US president Biden and supported in Israel, but rejected by Hamas. As well, I supported former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when he spoke of the “fierce urgency of now” in his August reformulation of the agreement, and, as Secretary Blinken mentioned in recent public statements, Hamas was emboldened by the “daylight” created with Israel and the giving of a free pass to Hamas.
Accordingly, in the immediate aftermath of these “barbaric acts which outraged the conscience of mankind,” as the UN Declaration on Human Rights characterized the mass atrocities of the Holocaust, and where October 7th has been characterized as the worst day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, our Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which I chair, developed an advocacy plan for the release of the hostages. I also co-authored a piece with our hostage legal team lead Brandon Silver calling for the “immediate” and “unconditional” release of the hostages as “a stand-alone imperative,” irrespective of where one stands on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or any other consideration.
In particular, we characterized the urgency of the release of the hostages as a “humanitarian imperative” of the first order, given the violent abduction of babies, children, women, wounded, the infirm, and the elderly, Holocaust survivors amongst them. Those taken captive included the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, and they languished in Hamas captivity, where 98 hostages, about half of whom are believed to no longer be alive, remain in horrific conditions 15 months later. Their kidnappings posed a moral imperative of the first order, grounded in the foundational principle of humanity, and the inhumanity of their tortuous captivity. It is a legal obligation of the first order, as every day that hostages remain in captivity is an ongoing crime against humanity. It is also an international legal obligation of the first order, given that the hostages also include nationals from over 30 countries, whose abduction constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and mass atrocities constitutive of acts of genocide.
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights has been serving as pro bono counsel to hostage families, and has been engaged with them since late October 2023. What follows is a narrative of the sequence and substance of our involvement and advocacy, which also serves as a looking glass into the run-up of the hostage-ceasefire agreement, finally concluded on January 17th.
First, in the days following the genocidal attack on October 7th, we mobilized and began pursuing diplomatic, judicial and legal advocacy strategies on an international level to secure the release of the hostages. We called on all those involved to prioritize bringing them home. Accordingly, we also established a Hostage Advocacy Task Force, where the imperative of hostage release became a priority on our Wallenberg Centre’s “Pursuit of Justice” agenda.
Second, we led high-level delegations of hostage family members to capitals around the world, including the United States, Canada, and the European Union. These delegations featured meetings with world leaders, expert officials, testimony in legislatures and engagement with the media, the whole to focus global attention and action on Hamas atrocities — and the need for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.
Third, during our engagement, we sought to remind the international community that Hamas is not only a terrorist organization under US, Canadian, and international law; it is an antisemitic, genocidal terrorist army and statelet — not because I say so, but because Hamas says so, in its founding charter of 1988 and since. Indeed, it has sworn to commit October 7th mass atrocities “again and again and again.” This constitutes incitement to genocide that is a standalone breach of the Genocide Convention, and where the State Parties to the Genocide Convention are required to “prevent and punish” these acts of genocide.
Fourth, early on, our RWCHR had proposed an international action coalition of states against hostage-taking, to develop a critical mass of advocacy for this purpose. While such a standing mechanism was regrettably not established, it should still be pursued to help ensure the implementation of the present hostage-ceasefire agreement and protect against future hostage-taking.
Fifth, our advocacy, combined with expert legal submissions and sanctions appeals, led to the designation of terrorist entities and their leaders and the seizure of their assets globally. In particular, our RWCHR also pursued justice and accountability — and pressure on the hostage-takers — via strategic litigation. In particular, we sought to ensure that evidence of Hamas atrocities and hostage-taking crimes were presented to international bodies, such as United Nations Special Rapporteurs and the International Criminal Court. We engaged with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, including hosting him for a visit to the crime scenes and sites of the hostage-taking in Israel, and filing a 1,000 page brief against Hamas leaders on behalf of hostages at the ICC in the Hague.
Sixth, in partnership with Hostage Aid Worldwide, we hosted world leaders on the heels of United Nations High-Level Week on combatting global hostage taking. UN Secretary General Guterres delivered a keynote address where he belatedly, but unequivocally, condemned Hamas hostage-taking and echoed calls for the immediate and unconditional release of their captives. The Ambassadors of the US, UK, Germany, and Argentina similarly spoke out, moderated by Canadian Ambassador and UN Economic and Social Council President Bob Rae and with opening remarks by the Canadian Foreign Minister. Joint statements of likeminded countries were published, sending an important message to perpetrators.
Regrettably, while we proposed at the time the international action coalition referenced above, such a standing mechanism was not then established.
Now that a deal has been secured – and assuming it holds through the first three stages -Israel should, in concert with the US and Arab allies, put a strategy in place for “the day after” – which has arrived.
First, Israel should frame a strategy for the governance of Gaza based on the seven “Ds” – the Disarming of Hamas; the Dismantling of its terrorist infrastructure; the Demilitarization of Gaza; the Deradicalization of the genocidal ideology; De-escalation of conflict zones in the region; the Deployment of a civil government administration for the protection and governance of the security, health and well-being of its inhabitants; and the Development and rehabilitation of the Gazan infrastructure.
Second, a state commission of inquiry should also be formed, which would improve Israeli governance by addressing the failures of October 7th, and thereby also provide important healing for the people and public of Israel. It would also further strengthen the complementarity legal principle in the ICC Statute – that the ICC will not substitute its judgement where there exists, as in Israel, an independent judiciary that reviews compliance with international law; thereby protecting Israel in the international legal arena and facilitating the withdrawal of ICC arrest warrants.
Third, Israel should not embark on yet another judicial overhaul which polarized, divided and weakened Israel, while Iran and its terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah were thereby aided and abetted in their criminal planning and preparation of the mass atrocities of October 7th. To paraphrase Einstein, insanity is repeating the same action over and over again and expecting a different result.
Fourth, Israel should initiate prosecutions of Hamas terrorism on October 7th so that a Nuremberg-like legal process can be implemented and the evidence and documentation of the horrors of October 7th can be secured and acted upon.
Finally, as part of “the day after” which is now, Israel should frame a “political horizon” for a pathway to peace with the Palestinians, expansion of the Abrahamic Accords, and normalization with Saudi Arabia.
As the hostage deal unfolds, the international community must ensure that Hamas is held accountable to its commitments, for the sake of both the Israeli hostages and Gazan civilians. Every life is a universe and must be safeguarded, and there is now an historic opportunity to build a brighter future for all. We must seize it for the sake of our common humanity.
Advisers to families of hostages held in Gaza backed by Qatari funding
THE QATARI MONEY BEHIND ADVISERS TO FAMILIES OF GAZA HOSTAGES: Some of the families trying to free their loved ones held hostage by Hamas in Gaza are getting advice from individuals and entities that have received funding from Qatar, Daniel reports — an unusual arrangement given Qatar’s role as one of the chief mediators between Hamas and Israel and that the country is home to Hamas’ political leadership.
— As hostage families work to keep their relatives in the news and urge the Qataris to get Hamas to release them, a consultant working for the Qataris, Jay Footlik, has also met with the families in both Washington and Israel to prep them for their meetings with Qatari officials and also help organize them, according to two people familiar with the matter.
— Footlik’s consulting firm ThirdCircle Inc. has been registered under FARA since 2019 to help arrange trips to Qatar for American elected officials on behalf of the Qatari Embassy, which pays the firm $40,000 per month, according to filings with the Justice Department.
— Footlik, a former special assistant to former President Bill Clinton and liaison to the American Jewish community, told PI his work with the hostage families began because he had a long-standing relationship with Israeli businessperson Eytan Stibbe, who asked for his assistance since Footlik had relationships with Qatar.
— He said that he then contacted Qatari ambassador Meshal Al-Thani and asked if he would meet a relative of several of the Israeli hostages, Avichai Brodutch. Al-Thani immediately agreed and soon asked Footlik to help facilitate direct communication with hostage family members who wanted to meet with Qatari officials, he said.
— “Since that initial meeting with Avichai Brodutch, we have been working tirelessly, really around the clock, at the request of Israeli families being held to meet with Qatari officials, and I’m proud of the work that I’m doing. If it saves even one life, it’s all worth it,” he said in an interview. “The Qataris have been instrumental in working with the U.S., the Israelis and others to secure the release of the first 109 to come out, and I think it’s natural to come back to ask them to continue to use their relationships to try to bring everybody home.”
— The hostage negotiating group Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson founded, has also received significant amounts of money from Qatar. Mickey Bergman, the vice president of the center, has also been a frequent adviser to many of the families and has reportedly advised them to not criticize Qatar.
— The Richardson Center said the partnership began in Qatar with an initial contribution in 2019 of $900,000 that helped the organization increase its capacity and get more hostages home. That same level continued for 2020 before declining; the last donation was $250,000 in early 2023.
— “The Richardson Center is a nonprofit organization and works on behalf of families at their request and at no cost to them. Beginning Oct. 8, we’ve been approached by dozens of families to assist them in getting their loved ones,” Bergman said in an interview, adding that its relationship with Qatar had been disclosed and is “one of the pillars of our strategy about why we can help them.”
— One family member of a hostage said they’ve found Bergman — who is close to State Department hostage envoy Roger Carstens — to be very useful in working hard to advocate for their relatives’ release. The person also said that he’s been transparent about the center’s funding.
Happy Wednesday, and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
LOTS OF YELLING, LITTLE PROGRESS: “Senators lit into the CEOs of Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord on Wednesday morning, attacking them on their ability to keep kids safe from sexual exploitation online and drug sales on their sites — as well as the mental health impact of their immensely popular platforms,” our Rebecca Kern, Ruth Reader and Mohar Chatterjee write.
— “By midday, however, the grilling had started to reveal the manifest challenges to any kind of fix. The apparent bipartisan consensus about the problem — both Republican and Democratic senators took aggressive shots at the companies — masks larger issues in Congress moving any kind of new rules forward. The industry has largely opposed any new laws aimed at protecting kids, and CEOs offered at best partial support for multiple bills currently stalled in the Senate.”
FIRST IN PI — ACCOUNTABLE LAUNCHES OVERDRAFT CAMPAIGN: Liberal watchdog group Accountable.US is coming to the defense of the Biden administration’s new proposal to rein in fees charged by banks for overdraft services. The group is launching a digital ad buy that begins tomorrow and will run through February criticizing the banking industry’s protestations of the proposed CFPB rule.
— The ads will be served up to smartphones, tablets and laptops within a certain radius of the Capitol and Union Station, and Accountable.US plans to project it onto the headquarters of the Consumer Bankers Association next week, urging viewers to “be a bank lobbyist’s worst nightmare” and read up on the practice.
— The ads will direct viewers to a landing page that highlights a recent report from Accountable.US in which the group found overdraft fees brought in at least $2.3 billion last year for the 10 largest banks who still charge them. The initial buy is five figures, but could expand, the group said.
FLYING IN: “The companies and crews digging ditches and laying fiber optic cable to expand the nation’s broadband networks are calling on Washington to address immigration reform in order to address a shortage of workers,” our John Hendel reports.
— “The Power & Communication Contractors Association will visit lawmakers and agencies in Washington, D.C., this week to make the case for legislation that would create a path allowing undocumented workers to help perform these key tasks. Twenty-five association members will be on the Hill to discuss the difficulties they’re facing in finding workers to build out the nation’s broadband network.”
— “Association CEO Tim Wagner told POLITICO he believes the U.S. is short by hundreds of thousands of workers needed for construction in the coming years,” a shortage that comes “as the Biden administration is set to dole out more than $42 billion in broadband infrastructure grants to all the states to support the buildout of internet networks,” on top of other projects.
— The trade group “will focus this week’s lobbying in favor of a bipartisan immigration bill called the Dignity Act, H.R. 3599 (118), which the group supports due to its provisions giving a path for undocumented immigrants to work in the country,” and will be “targeting meetings with Hill offices who have not co-sponsored the legislation, according to Wagner.”
PATAGONIA’S NEW PATH: “A little more than $3 million to block a proposed mine in Alaska. Another $3 million to conserve land in Chile and Argentina. And $1 million to help elect Democrats around the country, including $200,000 to a super PAC this month. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel brand, is funneling its profits to an array of groups working on everything from dam removal to voter registration,” according to The New York Times’ David Gelles and Ken Vogel.
— “In total, a network of nonprofit organizations linked to the company has distributed more than $71 million since September 2022,” an influx of giving made possible by “an unconventional corporate restructuring in 2022, when Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his family relinquished ownership of the company and declared that all its future profits would be used to protect the environment and combat climate change.”
— “Patagonia and the Chouinards set up a series of trusts, limited liability corporations and charitable groups designed to protect the independence of the clothing company while distributing all of its profits through an entity known as the Holdfast Collective,” which received an initial dividend from the company of $50 million in 2022, and another, undisclosed sum, last year. “Each year going forward, Patagonia will transfer all the profits it does not reinvest in the company to Holdfast.”
— But “for a group that is distributing so much money, the Holdfast Collective has so far managed to remain largely under the radar, unknown to several philanthropy experts and Democratic fund-raisers who were asked about it.”
LIVE NATION DOUBLES ITS LOBBYING OUTLAYS: “Live Nation Entertainment more than doubled its federal lobbying spending to $2.4 million in 2023 from $1.1 million in 2022 as it navigated legislative and regulatory efforts to break up its power in the live entertainment and ticketing industry,” The Hill’s Taylor Giorno reports.
— “The lobbying blitz comes on the heels of the infamous Taylor Swift ‘Eras Tour’ presale that crashed Ticketmaster in November 2022, which prompted congressional scrutiny of the ticket vendor’s parent company.”
— “It’s no secret we’ve stepped up our advocacy efforts this past year. More than ever, Congress is focused on ticketing policies, and there is an unprecedented amount of lobbying going on by ticket resellers and competitors attempting to use legislation to protect ticket scalping and deceptive sales practices to advance their own competitive interests,” Dan Wall, Live Nation’s executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, told The Hill.
IT COMPANIES LAUNCH NEW COALITION: A quartet of government IT stakeholders has launched a new coalition aimed at increasing competition and diversifying cloud providers and IT infrastructure used by the federal government. The Small Business Multi-Cloud Coalition comprises software providers Aretec and Westwind Computer Products and industry consultancies ATX Defense and Daston.
— The coalition wants the government to shift away from single cloud providers toward a multi-cloud approach that could help rivals (both big and small) compete with behemoths like Amazon Web Services and spark improvements and efficiency in cloud offerings. The coalition will also advocate for “harmonizing cybersecurity and risk management compliance while prioritizing modern cybersecurity strategies.”
SPOTTED: At Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s annual fundraising dinner for the NRSC at Altria’s D.C. office, per a PI tipster: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.); and Norm Brownstein, Will Moschella, Brandt Anderson, Rosemary Becchi, David Bernhardt, Geoff Burr, David Cohen, Steve Demby, Leah Dempsey, Bill Duhnke, Will Dunham, Emily Felder, Jon Hrobsky, Charlyn Iovino, Joe Jaso, Greta Joynes, Melissa Kuipers Blake, Marc Lampkin, Doug Maguire, Elizabeth Maier, Bill McGrath, Brian McGuire, Tripp McKemey, Lauren Mish, Travis Norton, Ed Royce, Preston Rutledge, Adam Steinmetz, Jon Towers, Mark Warren and Ari Zimmerman of Brownstein along with other friends and clients of the firm.
Mr. Witcoff: Conflict of interests because of his extensive investments in Qatar,sponsor of Hamas?
Mrs. Karoline C. Leavitt
Press Secretary
The White House
Deas Mrs, Leavitt,
As a US journalist who has covered Middle East policies since 1987 in Jerusalem, I am now writing an in depth piece on the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witcoff.
My question to you is whether Mr. Witcoff was vetted for a conflict of interests because of his extensive investments in Qatar, the nation that sponsors Hamas.
By way of introduction, members of the US Congress who know and respect my work over the past 35 years include Senator James Risch and Rep. Chris Smith.
Thank you. God bless you in your new position.
Cordially Yours,
David Bedein
IsraelBehindTheNews.com
US tel. 215 240 4919
Huffing, puffing and bluffing
President Trump at the Israel Museum. Jerusalem May 23, 2017
President Trump at the Israel Museum. Jerusalem May 23, 2017
Nothing is worse than the spectacle of politicians and others blustering and then being stranded when their deadlines fall flat.
Last Saturday at 12 noon was the declared deadline issued by President Trump and echoed by PM Netanyahu for the release of ALL hostages being held by Hamas and their partners in crime.
We had been promised on several occasions that if this did not occur “all hell would break out.”
There was nothing ambiguous about these messages. Every single hostage, including those alive and dead, had to be returned to their families if dire retribution was to be avoided.
All those who still naively believed that political promises are an ironclad guarantee of being fulfilled felt a sense of immense joy and satisfaction. Here at long last, these trusting souls understood, were leaders prepared to finally act tough against international terrorists. Gone, they thought, were the recent days of appeasement and double standards. Banished at long last were the daily acts of trying to bend over backwards in order not to upset the bullies. Finally, the optimists rejoiced, policies with a backbone had been born.
Realists, while happy to hear something other than a continual chorus of “don’ts” and pleas for restraint and futile gestures, reserved judgment until the appointed deadline had been reached.
To paraphrase the late Neville Chamberlain when his deadline to Hitler had been ignored in 1939, “I am sorry to report that no such release of hostages has been undertaken.”
The appointed date and time has been and gone. All that happened was yet another disgusting spectacle whereby three hostages were forced to endure a humiliating experience as Hamas drip feeds the agony.
We turned on the news after Shabbat expecting the worst and we were not disappointed.
The remaining hostages were still in their underground tunnels and the gates of hell remained firmly shut and silent. The only gates which opened were those releasing unrepentant murderers of Israelis serving life sentences.
It was always doubtful that the USA was going to put boots on the ground or undertake any sort of military intervention in Gaza. Sure enough it did not take long for Trump to clarify his original intentions. Still promising dire consequences, he now has thrown the ball right back at Netanyahu and the Israeli Government. Anything that Israel will do following the failure of Hamas to release all the kidnapped Israelis will apparently have the full support of the American Administration.
This is a welcome change from the previous Biden waffling and puts the onus where it most probably should belong.
Unfortunately, instead of resolute retribution as of this moment, all we can witness is more bluster and political hot air. Israeli families still grieving for murdered relatives are witnesses as the released terrorists are hailed as returning victors who will inevitably be recycled as future terror perpetrators.
Israel’s PM declared that neither Hamas nor the corrupt PA will have any chance of running Gaza. The US agrees yet at the same time Macron of France and other EU leaders as well as the UK are working towards achieving the opposite.
Which scenario will prevail?
Based on current developments, it is anybody’s guess.
As another example of huffing, puffing and bluffing, look no further than the ongoing farce of the Palestinian Arab Authority’s “pay for slay” theatrics and sleight of hand.
Past Israeli coalitions and the Biden/Harris Administration were all aware that the internationally anointed “peace partners” based in Ramallah were rewarding terrorists and their families with stipends, pensions and bonus payments. Despite offering lip service condemnation no concrete steps were taken to force the PA to cease these obscene rewards for terror. The UN was totally disinterested, democratic countries preferred to look the other way, the US State Department chose appeasement and Israel’s political elites swept the problem under the carpet.
Lo and behold, when the much-reviled current Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotritch, decided to deduct millions of shekels from the PA’s transfers, all hell broke out. Suddenly, those who had hitherto been unconcerned sprang to life and condemned this “robin hood” act. They huffed and puffed that it was “immoral” and against some sort of international law to garnish money and instead direct it towards the needs of victims’ families.
With the advent of Trump to the White House, the traditional chorus of disapproval disappeared to be replaced by a demand that Abbas stop rewarding criminal terrorists. Sensing a distinct shift in the winds blowing from a hitherto compliant Administration, the corrupt coterie of foreign aid kleptomaniacs in Ramallah started singing a different tune.
The response became one of perceived compliance with “payments” now becoming one of “financial need” as opposed to automatic reward and incentive. Additionally, it was hinted that instead of payment emanating from the PA itself, it would now be made via some sort of perceived independent foundation.
A spontaneous outburst of hallelujahs for this supposed u-turn erupted from all those who previously had ignored the scandalous situation. The media and other gullible sources embraced this seemingly stunning reversal as proof that Abbas and his cronies had acquiesced to the demands of Trump and his officials.
As on so many past occasions this charade was nothing but a big inflated bluff designed to pull the wool over the eyes of those who look for every opportunity to excuse the lies of terror supporters. It should not come as any revelation that murderers’ families and the murderers themselves are deemed to be suffering “financial hardship” and are therefore eligible for financial support. The PLO/PA still has its fingers in the financial pie and for all intents and purposes it is business as usual.
According to a decision made by the Knesset, all UNRWA facilities and staff in Israel are supposed to cease operations. Many officials have already left the country because their residency permits have been either cancelled or not extended. It took many years of exposing the organization’s infiltration by Hamas and other terror groups before action was taken. In fact, it was the sight of UNRWA employees participating in the 7 October pogroms that literally broke the camel’s back. Additionally, proof that some of the kidnapped hostages had been held in UNRWA facilities and employees’ homes finally convinced all those terrified of a UN reaction to actually act.
It now turns out that while some buildings have been vacated, schools still teaching Jew hate and other facilities in east Jerusalem are still open and operational. The uproar has been such that the Israel PM’s office has been forced to issue a directive enforcing the Knesset’s decision.
Once again, a massive bluff was exposed.
Much has been made of the International Red Cross and its supposed assistance in evacuating some released hostages from the hell of Hamas. Despite the complete and utter failure of the IRC to provide any sort of humanitarian help, mirroring its previous moral failure during the Holocaust, no tsunamis of condemnation or sanction ever erupted from the international community. The current attempt to portray this group as saints instead of sinners is nothing more than a futile exercise.
Israel’s Foreign Minister has revealed that Turkey with the aid of Iran is actively engaged in rebuilding Hezbollah. As a member of NATO one would expect that consequences against Turkey might follow. No such action however will occur because the bluff that this country is a champion of human rights has seduced the remaining democratic members.
Last but not least is one of the biggest bluffs of the millennium.
The proposition that the creation of a PLO terror State in the midst of Israel’s heartland will usher in peace, democracy, tolerance and fraternal feelings, defies history and reality.
The Jewish People have endured three thousand years of such brazen bluffing.
It is time to expose and call it out for what it really represents.
Gaza – The day After
“This Morning’s End Game: What’s Next for Gaza?”
Recent reports about accelerating the return of hostages may indicate that, despite Netanyahu government’s maneuvers, we are approaching Phase B of the deal and the war’s conclusion. It’s time to consider the day after.
While Netanyahu avoids this discussion for obvious reasons, the Arab world is already preparing for it. If we don’t articulate what we want, others will decide for us. From what we can already observe, the emerging processes appear to be the same old tricks that will maintain the status quo, if not worse.
The main issue Israel must insist upon – and there’s no indication Israel is even aware of it – is transforming Gaza’s education system. Amid all the talk about UNRWA, we’ve forgotten the core dispute between UNRWA and donor nations: the UN organization’s education system that promoted conflict with Israel, wrapped in the jihadi narrative that Gazans received in UNRWA schools.
One could argue that this education system, which has indoctrinated generations of Gazans with hatred towards Israel, led to the October 7 massacre and consequently to Gaza’s destruction. The first thing Israel must strongly demand is replacing this terror-promoting education system with one that fosters peace and coexistence.
This is precisely the educational approach of two candidates poised to take roles in post-war Gaza – the UAE and Indonesia. These distinctly Muslim nations have differentiated themselves from other Islamic countries by developing education systems that emphasize individual success rather than promoting the “Jamaa” – the collective ethos that, in Gaza’s case, created a jihadi society.
The UAE and Indonesia had already begun establishing a separate aid system from UNRWA in southern Gaza, but Israel removed them, closing Rafah to leave Kerem Shalom crossing under Qatar’s exclusive control, with all the “day after” implications this entails. In other words: continuing with Hamas and UNRWA.
To understand what a Qatar-led future means, one need not look further than Syria, where Qatar works hand in hand with Turkey. Those who want Turkey in Gaza should stick with Qatar.
But there’s more. Doha is hosting the conference for the Palestinian body supposedly meant to replace Hamas in Gaza – the “Palestinian National Conference.” However, it’s headed by none other than Mustafa Barghouti, a vocal Israel critic who leads a network of NGOs in Ramallah. Using European funding, he maintains militant nationalist rhetoric, viewing any PLO “reform” as a means to enhance the fight against Israel.
Understanding the Doha conference’s true agenda requires revisiting the unresolved PLO-Hamas dispute over a national unity government – a topic currently discussed in Arab and Western diplomatic corridors, from which Israel is notably absent.
What derailed the “reconciliation talks” between the West Bank and Gaza? Hamas demanded PLO membership, which the PLO firmly rejected. The PLO demanded control over Gaza, requiring Hamas to surrender its weapons – more precisely, transfer them to PLO control – and full economic control over Gaza, which Hamas refused to accept. The keyword in understanding PLO’s position was “Tamkin” – something akin to “empowerment” in English. The PLO demanded “Tamkin” – genuine ability to control Gaza.
We’re at the same impasse today. Recently, Abbas signed a “presidential decree” interpreted here as canceling allocations to terror families. Not exactly. The PLO established a new institution called “Tamkin,” meant to manage support for Gaza’s needy, with terror families included among Gaza’s welfare recipients. Classic Ramallah-style maneuvering.
Barghouti’s conference represents Qatar-style manipulation – its hidden agenda is to establish a new PLO with Hamas, potentially under Hamas control, essentially transferring Hamas to the West Bank.
Every day we remain outside the post-war picture and fail to ensure our Gulf allies take responsibility for Gaza, we risk losing not only Gaza but the West Bank as well.
The Meaning of Kfir Bibas
f Hamas’s statement is true, this week will bring a tragic, though not unexpected, close to a painful episode: the fate of the rest of the Bibas family.
Yarden Bibas was released this month by Hamas after nearly 500 days in captivity, and the terror group is claiming it will soon deliver the bodies of his wife, Shiri, and two sons, Ariel and Kfir. Ariel was four when he was taken on Oct. 7, 2023, and Kfir was nine months old.
To be Jewish has meant experiencing a crushing disappointment in the world since the Hamas attacks that started this war. A stray line in one of the many articles about the Bibas family today unintentionally offers a crystal clear explanation for that disappointment. “For many Israelis,” the New York Times writes, “the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.”
That sentence is accurate. But in another universe, one where the “international community” cares a whit for justice and human decency, the sentence would read this way: “For everyone, the story of the Bibas family has become a symbol of the brutality of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.”
In such a world, the faces of the Bibas children would be everywhere at all times. In the world in which we live, by contrast, posters with those faces get torn down from bulletin boards. In the kind of world we hope to deserve to inhabit, no children’s charity or NGO would go a day without drawing attention to Kfir and Ariel and the monsters who stole them.
The crimes against the Bibas family are indeed the symbol of the anti-civilizational menace that is Hamas—but also of the cowardice of the political and cultural leaders of the enlightened West. Yes, we should be ashamed of our fellow Americans, who not only won’t mention the Bibas family but won’t even learn the name of a single American hostage held in Gaza throughout the war.
At last year’s Oscars, a line of “pro-Palestine” stars—Mark Ruffalo, Billie Eilish, Ava DuVernay and others—wore a pin of a red right hand that is meant to valorize the murderers of Jews. In a just world, all these celebrities would instead be using their time on the red carpet to do anything, anything at all, other than express public sympathy for the Bibas children’s kidnappers.
It shouldn’t be only Jews who see Kfir Bibas’s smiling face and bright red hair when they close their eyes. In that famous picture of baby Bibas, he is holding a small pink stuffed elephant. Kfir’s relatives spent over a year searching the rubble of Nir Oz, where the family lived, for that pink elephant. It turned up, finally, in January, in what his aunt hoped would be a “good sign.”
As the “pro-Palestinian” mobs filled the streets of every major city to celebrate Hamas’s slaughter, Jews around the world looked at them dumbfounded; they kidnapped a baby. How much does one have to hate Jews to side with the monsters who kidnap babies? A lot, is the answer—an unpleasant realization Jews came to over the past 16 months.
Kfir’s face became a symbol of the conflict because it represented a line that had been crossed and cannot be uncrossed. Members of Congress giddily attended tentifada demonstrations that were no longer simply “pro-Palestine” or “anticolonial”; they were about defending those who stole Kfir from his home and dragged him to Gaza where, according to Hamas, he died. And it is impossible for the rest of us to pretend that we didn’t see a chunk of society, whether in person or online, rush to cross that line and cheer the people who kidnapped a baby.
Kfir became a symbol because he is the answer to every relevant question about this conflict. His case is the war boiled down to its essence. Kfir is the dividing line. In a better world, there’d be no one standing on the wrong side of it.
Qatar sponsor of Hamas; responsible for kidnap and murder of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas
Qatari Embassies Around the World Who Should Hear Your Voice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_of_Qatar
UNRWA Education: Responsibility of Donor Nations
Despite Canada’s temporary withdrawal of funding from UNRWA between 2011 and 2015, recent developments have seen Canada resume its role as one of the top funders of UNRWA. (Photo: JNS.org)
The Center for Near East Policy Research, which has operated since 1952, now renamed for my brother Nachum Bedein, who succumbed to renal cancer, has completed another comprehensive study of textbooks used in UNRWA schools.
https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/app/uploads/2024/05/E_114_24.pdf
https://israelbehindthenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/p14-17.pdf
This study complements the movies that our Center produced on location in the UNRWA schools from 2004 to 2024.
https://www.cfnepr.com/205640/Movies
Today, UNRWA’s curriculum is focused on the theme of the Right of Return by force of arms, which is hardly appropriate for a United Nations educational facility.
We cordially offer to provide our expert, Dr. Arnon Groiss, the author of this comprehensive report, to brief your staff on the subject.
Since 58% of the 1.6 billion dollar UNRWA budget is allocated to education, our question to you is whether you will request that the UNRWA educational system be revised in a more peaceful context?
Please respond as soon as possible to this query.
David Bedein MSW
Director
058-7222661
Trump admin giving Arab states space to formulate their own Gaza plan
The Trump administration has yet to get the sense that any pan-Arab plan for Gaza is coming together, and it believes that the matter will become clearer after a five-nation meeting on the subject on Friday, JNS learned.
Saudi Arabia is set to host Egyptian, Jordanian, Qatari and Emirati leaders on Friday to work toward a plan for Gaza’s reconstruction while ensuring that Gazans aren’t relocated.
Several Arab countries reacted angrily to U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement earlier this month that he envisioned a U.S. takeover of Gaza to revitalize it after its destruction in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Trump demanded that Egypt and Jordan absorb nearly 2 million Gazans and has acknowledged that they may not be able to return to the Strip.
The Trump administration believes that the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians have ideas to bring to the table in offering an alternative to Trump’s plan, which the U.S. president said he would welcome. The White House aims to give the Arabs space to formulate their plan before weighing in further, JNS learned.
The Trump administration believes that there would be no shortage of funders to foot the bill for reconstruction in Gaza under a potential, Arab-formulated Gaza plan. There are many construction companies, engineers and other experts who could handle the large task, the administration thinks.
The biggest sticking point by far, JNS learned, is who would control Gaza. The Trump administration thinks that another war would be inevitable absent a realistic plan to remove Hamas from power.
Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, met on Monday with Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, in part to cement Saudi support for the implementation of the second phase of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal.
JNS saw Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East special envoy, meeting on Tuesday with Saudi National Security Advisor Musaid al-Aiban in Riyadh at the American delegation’s hotel. It was unclear whether those discussions addressed Gaza or a potential end to the Russia-Ukraine war—a topic on which the Saudis hosted talks earlier in the day at Diriyah Palace.
Witkoff and al-Aiban were also involved in those discussions.
JNS has also learned that the Trump administration does not believe that Israel has an interest in maintaining even its limited presence in southern Lebanon. A U.S.-brokered Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire extension expired on Wednesday evening.
Israel insists on maintaining troops at five strategic points inside Lebanese territory to ensure that there are no immediate threats from the Hezbollah terror group.
The ceasefire calls for the Lebanese Armed Forces to regain control of the country’s south from Hezbollah and to drive the terror group north of the Litani River, creating a safer buffer zone between the militants and Israeli territory.
The White House is holding out hope that the small presence at those five points alone will not derail the entire ceasefire process, amid pushback from Beirut.
