Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed reports on Friday that Ankara will ban all imports from and exports to Israel in support of the jihadist terror group Hamas.
The post Turkey Announces Trade Embargo on Israel appeared first on Breitbart.
The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest reiterated that Palestinian flags are not permitted at the event.
The post Eurovision Song Contest Warns Protesters: No Palestinian Flags appeared first on Breitbart.
Officials at two universities run by radical jihadist terror entities -- Iran's public Tehran University and the Houthi-controlled Sanaa University in Yemen -- offered enrollment this week to students in America and Europe facing disciplinary action for supporting the Hamas terrorist organization.
The post Pro-Hamas U.S. Students Receive Offers from Houthis, Tehran University appeared first on Breitbart.
Colombian far-left President Gustavo Petro announced on Wednesday that he would cut diplomatic relations with Israel on Thursday over its "genocide" in Gaza.
The post Colombia’s Marxist President Cuts Ties with Israel on May Day appeared first on Breitbart.
The government of Turkey announced on Wednesday that it is seeking to become a party to a case accusing Israel of "genocide" against the terrorist organization Hamas at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The post Islamist Turkey to Join South Africa’s ‘Genocide’ Complaint Against Israel at the Hague appeared first on Breitbart.
The Taliban junta is putting some effort into reviving tourism in Afghanistan, and "adventure tourism" companies say it is working.
The post Taliban Seeks to Encourage Tourism in Afghanistan appeared first on Breitbart.
Shiraz University, a public institution in Iran, announced that it would offer scholarships and jobs to American college students and professors facing disciplinary action for participating in violent pro-terrorist actions at home, the state-run Iranian propaganda site PressTV reported on Wednesday.
The post Iran Offers Scholarships to Pro-Hamas American College Students, Jobs to Professors appeared first on Breitbart.
Authorities in Turkey have arrested more than 100 people in the past week accused of having ties to the Islamic State terrorist organization, including eight detained on Monday allegedly plotting a bomb attack on communist May Day marches in Istanbul.
The post Turkey Claims It Thwarted ISIS Bombing of Communist May Day March appeared first on Breitbart.
Inspired by student leftists in the U.S., pro-Palestinian activists spread blockades of French universities across the country on Tuesday.
The post Pro-Palestinian Student Activists Blockade Universities Across France appeared first on Breitbart.
The IRGC of Iran claimed on Monday that Israel counted on the support of ten nations to block an unprecedented missile attack from Tehran.
The post Iran Claims Coalition of Ten Countries Helped Israel Block Missile Barrage appeared first on Breitbart.
An organization tracking violence in Syria reported on Monday that Islamic State jihadists killed four of dictator Bashar Assad's soldiers in an attack intentionally targeting the military, the latest in what experts fear is an accelerating escalation in ISIS activity in the country.
The post Islamic State Resurgence: Four Assad Troops Killed in Syria Ambush appeared first on Breitbart.
The city of Hamburg saw over a thousand Muslims rally on Saturday calling for the imposition of an Islamic caliphate in Germany.
The post WATCH: Radical Islamists Rally in Hamburg Calling for Caliphate in Germany appeared first on Breitbart.
Pro-Palestinian protesters slammed members of the media and celebrities who were arriving outside of the Washington Hilton to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner.
The post Pro-Palestinian Protesters Slam Attendees of White House Correspondents Dinner appeared first on Breitbart.
Ships carrying humanitarian aid traveling from Turkey to Gaza were denied the right to sail by an international shipping registry.
The post Ships from Turkey to Gaza Transporting Humanitarian Aid Denied Passage appeared first on Breitbart.
Russia detained another suspect as an accomplice in the attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people in March.
The post Russia Arrests Another Suspect in the Moscow Concert Hall Terror Attack appeared first on Breitbart.
Leftist Latin American and Caribbean heads of state gathered in Caracas, Venezuela, condemned Israel on Wednesday for committing a "genocide" in Gaza through its self-defense operations against Hamas.
The post Latin American Leftist Summit Focuses on Trashing Israel, Support for Hamas appeared first on Breitbart.
Pakistan's top diplomat on Afghanistan issues claimed that his country has seen a 500-percent increase in suicide terrorist attacks since 2021.
The post Pakistan Sees 500% Increase in Suicide Attacks Since Biden Afghanistan Debacle appeared first on Breitbart.
The Islamist government of Qatar confirmed on Tuesday that it is open to continuing to host the leadership of the jihadist terror organization Hamas as long as doing so is "useful and positive."
The post Qatar Says It Will Host Hamas as Long as It Is ‘Useful and Positive’ to Do So appeared first on Breitbart.
Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the senior leadership of Iraq in Baghdad on Monday seeking support against Israel's self-defense operations against Hamas and approval for his years-long bombing campaign against Kurdish groups in Iraq.
The post Turkey’s Erdogan Visits Iraq, Country He Regularly Bombs, Seeking Support for Hamas appeared first on Breitbart.
Messages surfacing on the social media application Telegram on Monday both claimed and denied that the Iranian terror proxy Kata'ib Hezbollah would resume attacks on American troops in its home country of Iraq, leaving unclear the intentions of the group.
The post Iranian Proxy in Iraq Allegedly Announces, then Denies, Campaign Against U.S. Troops appeared first on Breitbart.
A study on juvenile delinquency in a German province found that radical ideology is prevalent among the Muslim youth population.
The post Germany: Nearly Half of Young Muslims Want Islamic Theocracy, Third ‘Understand’ Violent Retribution for Insulting Mohammed appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) slammed President Joe Biden for vowing not to back an Israeli response to Iran.
The post Exclusive — Rep. Tenney Slams Biden for Boosting Iran: Israel ‘Fighting for the West Against Islamic Terrorism’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held calls with the top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in which he expressed support for Iran's unprecedented bombing on Israel on Saturday and the Muslim world's opposition to Israel generally.
The post Chinese Foreign Minister Calls Iran ‘Good-Neighborly and Friendly’ After Israel Barrage appeared first on Breitbart.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin praised Iran's unprecedented, 300+ missile and drone assault against Israel on Tuesday in conversation with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, claiming it was the "best way" for Tehran to address its tensions with Israel.
The post Putin Praises Iran’s Missile Assault on Israel: ‘Best Way to Punish Aggressor’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Monday that it was "vital" to "immediately restrain Israel" in response to Iran's unprecedented missile assault on the Israeli homeland on April 13.
The post Turkey’s Erdogan Calls to ‘Immediately Restrain Israel’ After Iran Assault appeared first on Breitbart.
A leaked confidential letter from a high-ranking officer in Iran’s IRGC reveals Iranian support for anti-Israel protests around the world.
The post Report: Iran’s IRGC Terrorists Backing Global Anti-Israel Protests appeared first on Breitbart.
Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the Boko Haram kidnapping of nearly 300 mostly Christian girls from their school in Chibok, Nigeria.
The post Nigeria Marks 10 Years Since Boko Haram Chibok Kidnappings: 91 Girls Still Missing, ‘Little Has Changed’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The communist government of China demanded Israel "exercise calm and restraint" on Sunday following an unprecedented attack featuring over 300 drones and missiles on the Israeli homeland on Iran.
The post China: Iran’s 300 Missile and Drone Barrage on Israel ‘Restrained,’ Israel Should Not Respond appeared first on Breitbart.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) praised Iran on Sunday for attacking Israel, describing the massive but largely ineffectual wave of drones and missiles as “brave,” “legal,” and “natural.”
The post Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad Applaud Iran’s Attack on Israel appeared first on Breitbart.
The United Nations Security Council convened for an "emergency" meeting on Sunday in which several members condemned Iran for launching over 300 drones and missiles at Israel the day before.
The post U.N. Security Council Takes No Action in Meeting on Iran Missile Attack on Israel appeared first on Breitbart.
Hundreds of survivors of the Islamist terror attack on the Manchester Arena have launched a lawsuit against the MI5 intelligence agency.
The post Manchester Arena Terror Victims to Sue MI5 Intelligence Agency For Failing to Prevent Islamist Attack appeared first on Breitbart.
A senior Iranian general with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike at the beginning of April had reportedly been involved in the "planning and execution" of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The post Report: Iranian General Killed in Israeli Airstrike Involved in ‘Planning and Execution’ of Hamas Oct. 7 Attack appeared first on Breitbart.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, General Hossein Salami, on Sunday applauded the drone and missile attack on Israel, lauding it as more successful than expected before warning against any retaliation from the Jewish state or its allies.
The post Iran’s General Salami Lauds ‘Successful’ Attack on Israel, Warns Against Retaliation appeared first on Breitbart.
Israel intercepted missiles over one of Islam's holiest sites, the Dome of the Rock, during the attack launched by the Iranian regime.
The post WATCH: Iranian Missiles Intercepted over Islamic Holy Site Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem appeared first on Breitbart.
On April 12th, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized an Israeli ship near the Strait of Hormuz. While this represents one of the most overt and direct attacks by the IRGC against Israel, it underscores the broader support and training provided by the IRGC to groups like the
Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militias and terrorist organizations. This support contributes to the destabilization of the Middle East and poses a threat to both Israeli and U.S. interests in the region.
Established during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stands as a formidable military force in Iran, operating directly under the authority of the Supreme Leader, presently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Guided by an ideology vehemently opposed to Western influence, particularly directed towards the United States and Israel, the IRGC is renowned for its fervent slogans such as ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ emblematic of its hostility towards these nations.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is known for its support of various militias and terrorist groups across the region. Notably, it provides assistance to Hamas in Gaza, furnishing weapons, financial aid, and training to bolster the group’s military capabilities.
Additionally, the IRGC backs Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip, Kata’ib Hezbollah, and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq in Iraq, as well as Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis are now active in disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.
The IRGC has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the United States. This designation is significant because the IRGC is an official government entity in Iran, making it one of the few state-backed actors to be labeled as a terrorist organization.
This raises legal questions regarding whether the Iranian government’s support for the IRGC constitutes aid to terrorist organizations, which is prohibited under international convention.
Most Americans have never forgotten nor forgiven the 1979 Islamic Revolution’s seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the subsequent hostage debacle, which went on for more than one year. Over the past decade or so, Iran-backed militias have indeed been involved in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, where U.S. soldiers have faced combat, encountered security threats, or lost their lives.
These militias have often been supported, trained, and equipped by the Iranian government or its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), contributing to instability and violence in these countries.
In response to Iran’s aggression, the US and its allies have launched repeated strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Apart from supporting Israel, the US also backs numerous local partners, including the Yazidis, Kurds, Sunni Arab Tribes, Turkmen, Arab Tribal Militias, and Chaldean Christians. Consequently, it could be argued that both the US and Israel have been engaged in a proxy war with Iran for some time.
Retaliating against Iran’s proxies has done little to curb Iran’s aggressive actions. Since October 7th, there have been repeated clashes between American and allied troops against targets in Syria and Iraq, yet Iran’s aggression persists. Despite US and UK bombings in Yemen, Houthi attacks on ships persist.
At this moment, not only are Hezbollah and Hamas attacking Israel, and the Houthis attacking everyone else’s ships, but it also seems that Iran is threatening direct attacks on Israel. President Biden has warned Iran that the US is committed to defending Israel.
After years of limited engagement, Israel’s strategy now appears to aim for the complete elimination of Hamas, while also showing readiness to confront Hezbollah directly in Lebanon.
The proxy model has proven costly for the US, both in terms of lives and finances, yielding no tangible gains, not even peace. Furthermore, China and Russia leverage US failures in the Middle East to caution Taiwan, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Japan about the unreliability of the US as a partner.
Israel’s new strategy of directly and unequivocally destroying the bad guys is the one that no leader has dared try up until now. But it makes the most sense. And it would seem that the most logical step would be to cut the head off the snake, in a direct conflict with Iran.
Those who oppose a direct conflict with Iran often say that it would trigger a world war. But the reality is, there are only three major armies in the world capable of waging war overseas: the US, Russia, and China.
And it would not be in either Russia or China’s interests to go to war with the US over Iran. If they wanted a war with the US, there are a million other pretexts they could have come up with, but neither country has a mutual defense agreement with Iran.
If the US and Iran went to war, Russia and China would condemn the US actions. They would bring a resolution to the UN Security Council, and the US would veto it. A war would destabilize the Iranian government, nullifying its ability to support terrorist groups.
At the same time, Iran’s support for China with cheap oil, and Iran’s support for Russia with cheap drones, would also evaporate, bringing an end to the Ukraine War much closer.
The post Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC): Terrorists Supporting Terrorism appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Sure, here's a proper attribution for the image: "Photo by Mohammad Sadegh Heydari, sourced from [YPA.ir](http://www.ypa.ir/media/k2/galleries/517/02.jpg). Image depicts the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution exhibiting its main battle tanks during the Sacred Defence Week parade on September 21, 2012. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license."
Argentina declared Iran and Hezbollah responsible for the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA).
The post Argentina Finds Iran, Hezbollah Guilty of 1990s Terror Attacks Against Israeli Targets appeared first on Breitbart.
Justice for All, a human rights group based in Chicago, called for a boycott of Chinese online retail giant Shein to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Wednesday.
The post Muslim Group Calls to Boycott China’s Shein on Eid Holiday over Uyghur Slavery appeared first on Breitbart.
President Joe Biden insisted on Wednesday that his support for Israel in the aftermath of the unprecedented terrorist assault on October 7 was "ironclad" and his administration would do "all [it] can to protect Israel's security."
The post Biden Claims Support for Israel ‘Ironclad’ After Omitting Hostages from Ceasefire Call appeared first on Breitbart.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday he looks around the world and sees so much suffering for the followers of Islam it causes him pain.
The post Video: U.N. Chief Guterres Says His ‘Heart Is Broken’ for Global Muslim Community appeared first on Breitbart.
Two Iraqis accused of being members of the Islamic State group and keeping two young Yazidi girls as slaves.
The post Alleged Islamic State Members Arrested in Germany, Accused of Keeping Child Sex Slaves appeared first on Breitbart.
Three Republican senators introduced a bill on Tuesday challenging the elite status of Qatar as a "major non-NATO ally" of the United States, citing the Islamist state's close relationship with Hamas and its failure to use those ties to help free hostages taken in the unprecedented October 7 siege of Israel.
The post Republicans Debut Bill Challenging Qatar’s U.S. Alliance over Ties to Hamas appeared first on Breitbart.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center shows that nearly half of Muslims in the U.S. support the Hamas terrorist group in its war against Israel -- a similar proportion to that found in a different poll of Muslims in the United Kingdom.
The post Nearly Half of U.S. Muslims, Like U.K. Muslims, Support Hamas in War appeared first on Breitbart.
ISIS-linked media published calls to attack high-profile football matches expected to be attended by tens of thousands of fans this week.
The post Police on High Alert as Islamic State Threatens to Attack Champions League Football Matches appeared first on Breitbart.
Officials have arrested a young man accused of planning to attack churches in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
The post VIDEO — ‘Craving for Mayhem and Terror’: Idaho Teen Accused in Plot to Attack Churches for ISIS appeared first on Breitbart.
The number of so-called “honour-based” crimes has risen by over 60 per cent in England over the past two years, according to police data.
The post ‘Honour-Based’ Crimes Soar by More Than 60 Per Cent over Two Years in England appeared first on Breitbart.
Israel released video Monday of an interrogation of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official admitting that one of its rockets hit the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, and not an Israeli airstrike, as Palestinians and the media originally claimed.
The post Interrogated Terrorist Appears to Admit Palestinian Rocket Hit Al-Ahly Hospital appeared first on Breitbart.
Nearly half of British Muslims said that they sympathise with Hamas while just one in four believe Hamas committed attrocities on October 7th.
The post Nearly Half of British Muslims Sympathise With Hamas, Only One in Four Admit October 7th Atrocities appeared first on Breitbart.
Israeli commandos located and retrieved the body of Elad Katzir, 47, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz who was murdered in Gaza by his captors from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The post Israeli Commandos Retrieve Body of Murdered Hostage Elad Katzir in Gaza Raid appeared first on Breitbart.
Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon have reportedly been holding “secret strategy sessions” with Hamas in Lebanon.
The post Iran’s Terrorist Militias Hold Secret Meetings with Hamas in Lebanon appeared first on Breitbart.
French govt rapidly walked back claim security services foiled terror attack over Easter weekend, stating no such plot actually existed.
The post ‘Foiled’ Easter Terror Attack Never Actually Existed, Clarifies French Government appeared first on Breitbart.
The top Kremlin spokesman told reporters on Tuesday that Russia is considering removing the Afghan Taliban from its official terrorist organization list, paving the way to recognize the jihadists as the official government of Afghanistan and establish diplomatic ties.
The post Russia Confirms It Is Considering Delisting Taliban as Terrorists appeared first on Breitbart.
The Japanese government said on Tuesday it will resume funding UNRWA despite allegations of Hamas infiltration.
The post Japan Resumes Funding to Hamas-Linked UNRWA After October 7 Pause appeared first on Breitbart.
In France, at least two teachers have been murdered by Muslim students, one of them beheaded. The French press reports that “death threats and threats of rape have become common among pupils.” Those threats are directed toward both teachers and fellow students.
Now, students at dozens of French schools have been sent “threatening messages and beheading videos” by Islamic radicals. The story is hard to parse out, and more is, perhaps, being concealed than revealed:
At least 30 schools in the Paris region have this week received threatening messages accompanied by “shocking” footage of beheadings, the education ministry said on Thursday.
That effort is being made in support of Islamic terrorism:
The establishments – mainly secondary schools – have received “serious threats” containing “justification of and incitement to terrorism,” a representative of the education ministry told AFP.
The Muslims apparently made use of software that France uses to connect students and teachers. Reportedly, they “‘hacked a student’s email address’ in order to distribute the message and a beheading video.” They also have been making bomb threats:
In the department of Seine-et-Marne, to the east of the French capital, a secondary school received a message saying that explosives had been hidden throughout the establishment “in the name of Allah”, a police source said.
The latest threats follow a flurry of false bomb alerts targeted schools, airport and tourist sites in autumn 2023.
All of this is due to France’s feckless immigration policies. But, to be fair, their policies are a lot better than Joe Biden’s.
UPDATE: Of course, it could be worse. You could be in Russia.
President Biden apparently thinks the IDF should observe Ramadan as it seeks to eliminate the genocidaires of Hamas. By contrast, the genocidaires of Hamas find Jewish holidays the right time to do their thing. It’s enough to make a sane man vomit.
Wall Street Journal letters editor Elliot Kaufman is not too choked up about Biden’s Ramadan recess. His column on the subject is datelined Tel Aviv and runs with the headline “Hamas’s ‘Operation Ramadan’—and Ours.”
The headline works a witty variation on the title of Norman Podhoretz’s classic Commentary essay “My Negro Problem–and Ours.” By the same token, it could have been headlined “My Biden Problem–and Ours.” However, it would require more than 800 words to lay it out. It would take a book.
Elliot’s column is behind the Journal’s paywall. Here is the heart of it:
There is an idea that it is wrong to fight an Islamic country during the holy month of Ramadan, which this year starts Sunday night. It’s nonsense: Look at Egypt and Syria’s 1973 Ramadan War against Israel or Iran’s 1982 Operation Ramadan against Iraq. Conversations with senior Israeli political, military and legal officials, however, suggest that the taboo is a weapon—and every player in the Gaza war has an Operation Ramadan of its own.
For more than a month, the Biden administration has set the start of Ramadan as the deadline for a deal to release Israeli hostages and stop the war. “There’s got to be a cease-fire because Ramadan,” the president said Tuesday. “If we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.” The danger, in his formulation, is all on the Israeli side, so Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had better cut a deal.
Israel’s leaders lamented privately that every day in February and early March seemed to bring a new U.S. shot across Israel’s bow—an unprecedented sanctions regime; new strings attached to weapons transfers; Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call for a “timebound, irreversible path to a Palestinian state”; a turn against the war effort, which Mr. Biden called “over the top”; loud opposition to an offensive in Rafah, now termed a “red line”; a new policy deeming all settlements illegal; blame pinned on Israel for humanitarian aid problems; calls for an “immediate cease-fire”; and leaks that the U.S. could demand its weapons not be used in Rafah.
Meanwhile, the president no longer speaks about defeating Hamas, let alone destroying it. Victory is off his list of priorities—and Israelis worry that Mr. Biden is the most pro-Israel member of his administration. Where American words gave Israelis succor after Oct. 7, they now confound and demoralize the country. According to a senior Israeli official, Mr. Blinken “says it right in your face: ‘You can’t win.’ ”
This was America’s Operation Ramadan: Spook and threaten Israel into accepting a hostage deal that would end the war much sooner than Mr. Netanyahu wants, because victory is unattainable anyway.
The administration misread Israel. Its pressure tactics have allowed Mr. Netanyahu to rally even his rivals around his positions on Rafah and against unilateral U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, an idea Israelis find criminally insane right now. The prime minister’s chief opponent, Benny Gantz, has publicly agreed with him on both, and reportedly told U.S. officials that “finishing the war without demilitarizing Rafah is like sending in firefighters to put out 80% of a fire.” As retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, tells me, “All the Hamas leaders are there. All the hostages are there. The fighters, the munitions—they’re in Rafah.”
It may not exactly fit the IDF’s timetable, but taking Rafah for Ramadan would be the right way to observe the holiday this year.
As a guest of the Jewish Community Relations Council I attended a private showing of the atrocity video compiled by the IDF in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre this past December. Several of the clips compiled in the video had previously been posted to social media. The sadistic glee of the Hamas savages is apparent throughout the 45-minute video. They shriek in ecstasy as they perform their barbaric deeds. They take sensual pleasure in committing acts from which we recoil in disgust and horror.
Now Professor Alvin Rosenfeld seeks to capture the Hamas spirit in the Tablet column “Longing for Auschwitz.” What’s it all about? Professor Rosenfeld seems to me to get at the mania that is otherwise beyond our verbal grasp if not our human understanding. This is just the opening slice of his column:
Hamas’s assault on Israelis on October 7th was not an act of war as we normally think of it but something far worse. We don’t have an adequate term for what occurred on that day, so people use words like “terrorism,” “barbarism,” “atrocity,” “depravity,” “massacre,” and so on. All are correct, and yet all fall short of capturing the annihilationist fury set loose at the Nova music festival and in the kibbutzim and small towns of southern Israel. The people attacked in those places were not only to die, but to die in torment. In addition to the merciless torture, killings, slashings, burnings, beheadings, mutilations, dismemberments, and kidnappings, there were gang-rapes and other forms of sadistic sexual assault, including, according to some reports, the cutting off of women’s breasts, nails driven into women’s thighs and groins, bullets fired into their vaginas, and even intercourse with female corpses. Unimaginable? For most normal people, yes. But before going into Israel, the Hamas assassins were instructed to “dirty them” and “whore them.” And that’s precisely what many of them faithfully did.
If it were possible to encapsulate all the evil of that day in a single image, it would be that of the violent seizure of a young Israeli woman, Naama Levy, 19, barefoot, beaten, and bloodied, her hands tied behind her back, the crotch of her sweatpants heavily soiled, possibly from being raped, dragged by her hair at gunpoint into a Hamas car, and driven off to Gaza to suffer an unspeakable fate among her captors there.Her assailants filmed every second of her ordeal; and as one watches the clips of her being taken away, one sees crowds nearby loudly shouting “Allah-hu Akbar” – “Allah is the greatest”—a victory cry that offers religious sanction to the malign treatment of Naama Levy and countless others seized, slaughtered, and abducted on that horrific day.
All wars cause human suffering, but the cruelties visited upon Israelis on October 7th far surpasses what normally happens when armies go to war. Hamas’s actions had a different aim: not conquest but the purposeful humiliation of Jews by people who detest them and were sworn to degrade and dehumanize them before murdering them. For those familiar with Jewish history, the mass violence enacted against Jews in Kishinev in 1903 came instantly to mind, as did the Farhoud in Iraq in 1941 and Chmielnicki’s savage decimation of Ukrainian Jewish communities in the mid-17th century. With memories of those earlier massacres newly revived, October 7th instantly evoked the word “pogrom.” With cause. But how could such a catastrophe occur in today’s Israel? The country’s military has been hailed as one of the strongest in the world and was regarded as invincible. And yet on October 7th, it failed to protect its southern border and prevent the ruthless assault on Jews in the Gaza envelope. Responding to Hamas’s bloody deeds, one Israeli woman summed up the reactions of virtually every Jew in the country and millions of others abroad when she said, simply and incontrovertibly, “Every Israeli’s worst nightmares have come true.”
October 7th, 2023 was the most destructive day of mass violence against Jews since the end of the Holocaust. The carnage carried out on that day, far from being a by-product of war, was a religiously sanctioned, orgiastic display of unrestrained Jew-hatred. One cannot begin to understand it if one ignores the Hamas Charter and other Islamist teachings that make Hamas the organization it is and inspires it to do what it does.
Hamas originates as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is and always has been a jihadist organization, which sees the existence of the State of Israel as an intolerable intrusion into the Domain of Islam (“dar al-islam”) and is committed to removing Israel by whatever means necessary. The preamble to the Hamas Charter declares that “Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it, just as it obliterated others before it.” The “Palestinian problem,” it affirms, “is a religious problem” and is not amenable to a negotiated political settlement. The only way to “raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine” is through “jihad,” a holy war that is a “duty for every Muslim wherever he may be.”
After watching the atrocity video, I wondered: Has Dementia Joe or blind Tony Blinken seen this? (Kelly Jane Torrance reported in her New York Post column on it that Biden has seen it.) If so, what are they doing hectoring Israel, yammering about a two-state solution, and disparaging a country acting in self-defense while in the throes of a crisis that goes to its reason for being? If that’s the best they can do, why won’t they shut up?
The “solution” is part of the problem. A people must have civilized norms and civil institutions on which to predicate a state. It can’t be created ex nihilo or ex worse than nothing.
Israel exists as a homeland and refuge for the Jewish people. The events of October 7 belie its reason for being. In other words, it won’t remain a refuge if Israelis aren’t safe from such atrocities in their homeland. Thus the war on Hamas in which it is currently engaged. Israel, by the way, also has to contend with Iranian proxies including Hezbollah and the Houthis as well as Iran itself. The day of reckoning is coming.
No government freely elected by the people of Israel can tolerate what Israel withstood on October 7. There can be no return to the status quo ante or its functional equivalent under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority, whose president for life himself supports terrorism with funds generously provided by his supporters among the Biden administration and elsewhere.
This morning I stumbled across a Tweet linking to an Australian “60 Minutes” segment about the unassimilable migrants that are causing the crime rate and other social dysfunctions to soar in Sweden. Turns out the episode is seven years old, but since we don’t see Australia’s “60 Minutes” here (and our CBS “60 Minutes” won’t touch this subject with a ten meter pole), I doubt little has changed in the last seven years, so here’s the complete seven minute segment—watch to the very end:
I still contend that sooner or later, European nations are going to institute mass deportations of migrants. (If it wants to survive, anyway. It may not have the will to do so any more.) Germany has already said it is going to step up deportation proceedings against recent migrants whose asylum claims are unfounded, but look for other countries to ratchet up from there.