Important Takeaways:
- Senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk announced on Tuesday the signing of a Palestinian unity agreement that includes Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, which rules areas of Judea and Samaria.
- “Today, we sign an agreement, and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity, and we call for it,” said Abu Marzouk.
- The “Beijing declaration” was signed by 14 Palestinian factions that took part in negotiations hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
- The Islamist group reportedly also gave its blessing to P.A. chief Abbas’s proposal to establish a “government of technocrats” whose primary purpose would be the reconstruction of Gaza after the war prompted by Hamas’s murder of some 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7.
- Hamas is an “essential part of the Palestinian political mosaic,” then-P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told world leaders gathered in Qatar in December.
- “We want a situation in which Palestinians are united. … I think it is time that Hamas call the Palestinian president and tell him we’re all united behind you, and you are the legitimate authority of the Palestinian people and we are ready to engage,” Shtayyeh stated at the Doha Forum.
- Amid the unity talks, Shtayyeh submitted the collective resignation of his government last month. Abbas then appointed Fatah loyalist Mohammad Mustafa to fill the prime minister’s role.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that an “effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” should ultimately govern Gaza.
- The Biden administration wants the P.A. to assume control of the Strip after Israel’s war against Hamas ends, a move that Jerusalem rejects because of Ramallah’s overt support for terrorism.
- According to recent polls, 89% of Palestinians support establishing a government that includes or is led by Hamas. Only around 8.5% said they favor one controlled exclusively by Fatah.
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Important Takeaways:
- The latest proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza has the support of the United States and most of the international community, but Hamas has not fully embraced it, and neither, it seems, has Israel.
- Hamas is seeking the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including political leaders and senior militants convicted of orchestrating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly disputed aspects of the plan, raising questions about Israel’s commitment to what the U.S. says is an Israeli proposal.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas had requested “numerous” changes, adding that “some of the changes are workable; some are not.”
- Hamas has insisted it will not release the remaining hostages unless there’s a permanent cease-fire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
- When President Joe Biden announced the latest proposal last month, he said it included both.
- Israel has yet to put forward a plan for Gaza’s postwar governance, and has rejected a U.S. proposal that has wide regional support because it would require major progress toward creating a Palestinian state.
- Blinken hinted that the negotiations would not continue indefinitely. “At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Ivy League schools took millions in gifts from ‘State of Palestine’ entities
- Harvard University and Brown University collected more than $2 million combined from Palestinian entities in recent years, according to a new report released Wednesday that questioned what the universities had to do in exchange for the cash.
- com, a spending watchdog, said Harvard collected $1,575,000 in funds from the “state of Palestine.” Brown received $643,000.
- And Indiana University of Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh, received $7.3 million from entities labeled, the “State of Palestine” and “Palestinian Territory Occupied.”
- “American universities taking six-figure foreign funding from an area of the world dominated by terrorists raises all kinds of questions,” Adam Andrzejewski, founder of OpenTheBooks, said.
- The report comes as college campuses are wracked with conflict over Israel’s war with Hamas. Anti-Israeli students accuse the Jewish democracy of a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops are trying to root out the Hamas organization that launched the murderous terror attack on Israel in October.
- Protesters have dug in on demands that schools divest from Israel to express their sentiments about the ongoing war.
- OpenTheBooks said the Palestinian money may be “radicalizing American students.”
- OpenTheBooks counters that there is no such entity as “Palestine.”
- “Neither the U.S. State Department nor the United Nations recognize Palestine as a country. The ‘State of Palestine’ is a political fiction that provides cover for numerous terror organizations funded by Iran and others,” Mr. Andrzejewski wrote.
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Important Takeaways:
- Roughly 100 pro-Israel vigilantes stormed the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, sparking battles with activists.
- The raid occurred after nearly a week in which UCLA not only allowed the encampment to occupy the main plaza on campus, but also allowed pro-Palestinian activists to run their own security, barring access to students and the public.
- The Daily Bruin, the student newspaper, reported the clashes:
- Fireworks, tear gas and fights broke out just after 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night and continued early Wednesday morning as around 100 pro-Israel counter-protesters attempted to seize the barricade around and storm the ongoing Palestine solidarity encampment in Dickson Plaza.
- After the barricades came down, counter-protesters and protesters inside the encampment began to fight. Counter-protesters shot fireworks into the encampment just after 11 p.m., and irritant gasses were released from both sides. A Daily Bruin reporter was indirectly sprayed in the face.
- In another statement released at 3:30 a.m., protesters inside the encampment said the university has not done enough to protect students, and they repeated earlier calls for the university to meet their demands.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Palestinian Representatives’ Do Not Want a Two-State Solution; They Want The Final Solution
- The schoolyard bully who bruises the little girl. The thug who pushes an old woman to her death on the subway rails. The gang that robs a jewelry store and stabs the owner. The coward who carjacks and shoots the driver. They’re all guilty of crimes against innocent lives. The abortionist who wields forceps may kill a preborn baby legally, but the end is the same — innocent and alive moments earlier, dead and discarded now because someone had the power to do it.
- The war in Israel is only the latest example of the cheapening of human life. The abortifacient pill, gun, or missile aimed at civilian centers all say that might equal right. My superior ideals or brute force justify any action I take. If no one can stop me, I’m right. Political rhetoric suggests support for the innocent, but street protests belie the philosophy that anything is acceptable if it furthers your cause.
- Israel has the right to defend herself, but only if no innocent people die — well, except for Jews.
- Israel has the right to defend herself, but only if it allows aid to “innocent civilians.” Ignore the $4.8 billion dollars Hamas and the PA have stolen already.
- Israel has the right to defend herself, but only if it promises to harbor refugees. Since NONE of the neighboring Arab states will.
- Israel has the right to defend herself, but it would be so much easier for everyone if the Jews would just agree to die. I’m sure the UN would arrange a nice bronze plaque: “This land, briefly known as Israel during its flourishing years, we now officially designate a Palestinian heritage site.”
- This is not a war over land and never has been. Israel has given up land repeatedly. The PLO, then the PA, then Hamas, missed each opportunity for peace. The Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Why? Because the warlords and wealthy theocrats who claim to represent the Palestinian people do not want a two-state solution; they want the final solution.
- “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free!”
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Important Takeaways:
- Turkey cozies up to Iran after praising Hamas ‘mujahideen,’ seeks reconciliation on key issues
- Turkey has found itself at odds with its NATO allies, most of whom have backed Israel’s right to defend itself following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, while Turkey has echoed the stances of other Middle Eastern nations in questioning Israel and defending the Palestinians.
- Erdogan took things a step further and defended the Hamas terrorists who carried out the attack, calling the group a “mujahideen,” or freedom fighters, “defending their lands.” He has also continued to push for a ceasefire, accusing the West of being “too weak” to call for one — a stance that seems common among the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members.
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Important Takeaways:
- China wants to be a peace broker in the Middle East. How has it responded to the Israel-Gaza war?
- When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Beijing in June, China vowed to contribute “Chinese wisdom, Chinese strength” to resolve the long-standing conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.
- That pledge, coming on the heels of a Beijing-brokered rapprochement between bitter rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, was widely seen as part of China’s ambition to expand its diplomatic clout in the Middle East – a region traditionally dominated by US power.
- A few months on, Beijing’s offer to broker peace in one of the world’s most intractable conflicts is being tested by a fresh outbreak of war between Israel and Gaza, after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel.
- So far, China’s response to the crisis – which has left at least 1,200 Israelis dead alongside 950 Palestinians and thousands more wounded or displaced – has been a bland call for restraint from both sides, with no condemnation of Hamas for a rampage that unleashed the killing of civilians and kidnapping of hostages, including children and the elderly.
- As condemnations against Hamas poured in from the United States, Europe and much of Asia, Africa and Latin America, Beijing refrained from calling out the group and sought to present itself as a neutral party in the conflict.
- US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was in Beijing for a bipartisan congressional visit, also expressed his disappointment with China’s response during a meeting with Xi on Monday.
- “I say this with respect but I’m disappointed by the foreign ministry’s statement showing no sympathy or support for the Israeli people during these tragic times,”
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘I Stand With Palestine’: BLM in Chicago, Indianapolis Blasted for Celebrating Hamas’ Violence
- Black Lives Matter chapters in Indianapolis and Chicago are drawing sharp bipartisan criticism for praising the heinous actions of Hamas in its brutal invasion of Israel.
- On Tuesday, the Black Lives Matter Indy organization retweeted a post from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, praising “[t]he heroic Palestinian people” and their “right to resist their racist, white supremacist, land-stealing [Z]ionist occupiers!”
- On Tuesday, Black Lives Matter’s Chicago organization showcased its support of Hamas by posting a depiction of a paratrooper with a Palestinian flag captioned “I stand with Palestine,” appearing to endorse the attack by Hamas, in which terrorists slaughtered innocent attendees of a music festival near the Israel/Gaza border.
- According to a tweet by Andy Ngô, a senior editor at the Post Millennial, “A unit of Hamas militants used paragliders and hang gliders to launch their armed massacre of civilians in southern Israel. BLM, like Antifa, has long expressed support for Palestinian terrorism in the name of ‘de-colonialism’ and fighting capitalism.”
- Brian Krassenstein, a left-wing journalist, lambasted Black Lives Matter Chicago for “[posting] a series of graphical cartoons [on their Facebook page] which try to normalize and rationalize what Hamas Terrorists have done to innocent men, women and children in Israel.”
- By castigating their political opponents as “white supremacists” and identifying their “challenging oppression” with the unspeakable cruelty Hamas is committing, BLM gives itself and others the green light to violently assault, rape, and kill anyone who stand in its path here in the U.S.
- As such, it’s fitting perhaps that the logo of the website of Black Lives Matter Indianapolis enshrines the Marxist clenched fist along with the motto “By any means necessary.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Palestinians’ War on Israel and US Senators’ Delusional ‘Two-State Solution’
- Less than 48 hours after 20 US Democratic Senators urged President Joe Biden to push for the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Palestinian terror proxies launched a massive attack on Israel, killing more than 700 Israeli men, women and children, and wounding thousands more. An unknown number of Israelis (estimated at more than 100), including infants, toddlers and an elderly Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, have also been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip.
- The two groups [Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad] do not recognize the Oslo Accords that were signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993-1995, and they are opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state only in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The only solution they believe in is one that would see Israel replaced with an Islamic state.
- Instead of condemning the Palestinians for transforming the Gaza Strip into a base for Jihad against Israel, the Senators who signed the letter are asking the Biden Administration to give the Palestinians another state in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Like the Gaza Strip, the new Palestinian state will also be quickly transformed into an Iran-backed terror entity and a base for pursuing the Jihad against Israel.
- In their letter, [the Senators] make no mention of the tens of thousands of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel over the past two decades
- The Senators also failed to mention the wave of Palestinian terrorism that Israel has been facing over the past two years in the West Bank
- The Senators further ignore Abbas’s “Pay-for-Slay” program that rewards terrorists and their families, as well as the Palestinians’ ongoing campaign of incitement to violence
- The Palestinians [in 2005] were given, with no conditions, the entire Gaza Strip. They replied by launching tens of thousands of rockets into Israel. These are inconvenient facts that the 20 Democratic Senators, who appear to be shockingly uninformed, do not want to acknowledge.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
- This proposed enlarged kingdom would include present-day Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank (areas populated by Palestinians attached in a contiguous manner and physically connected to Jordan, i.e., not broken up into islands). Israeli arguments as to the need to retain the Jordan Valley become moot since the valley will now be controlled by a Jordanian government with a reliable record of maintaining peace with Israel. The convenient argument that Israel has no “peace partner” will now also be eliminated.
- Jerusalem, despite the fact that neither Arabs nor Muslims have a hope of dislodging Israel from it, is, given its symbolism, a key bargaining chip in Palestinian hands. The formal relinquishment of any claims to Jerusalem (with an appropriate arrangement for the holy places) can be an important concession used to secure the foregoing terms. The Palestinians, after all, are the only party who can do this and, hence, completely legitimize Israel in the eyes of the region and the world.
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