Gantz: Israel will launch Rafah offensive if hostages not returned by Ramadan

  The Times of Israel   

Gantz’s comments came hours after the cabinet approved a statement rejecting unilateral steps by countries toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, which the government described as a “massive, unprecedented prize for terror.”

"If hostages held in Gaza are not freed within the next few weeks, Israel will broaden its offensive in southern Gaza and push into the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, war cabinet member Benny Gantz warned on Sunday.

“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know — if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area,” Gantz said.

"The holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins this year on March 10.

“ 'We will do so in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties,” the former IDF chief of staff and defense minister told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, as they convened in Jerusalem.

“To those saying the price [of an offensive] is too high, I say this very clearly: Hamas has a choice — they can surrender, release the hostages, and the citizens of Gaza will be able to celebrate the holy holiday of Ramadan,” he said.

"Rafah, which sits on the Gaza-Egypt border, is the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the enclave, but it is also where over a million displaced Palestinians have fled to seek shelter from fighting elsewhere." . . .

Freed hostage Aviva Siegel recounts Hamas's sexual abuse, violence toward captives | The Times of Israel  

  . . ."Siegel said that when “three particularly young girls” took up the guards’ offer of a shower, the condition was that they would bathe together, with an open door and the terrorists watching.

"Siegel said that in another instance, a young female hostage was ordered at gunpoint to accompany a guard, who then pulled her by the hair, tossing her to the floor, as he and three other terrorists beat her with a stick.

“They hit her entire body, and she didn’t say a word,” Siegel said. “When she returned and I asked ‘how did you not scream?’ she said, ‘I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction [of knowing] that they hurt me.'”

These girls will never recover from Hamas abuse and will be scarred for life. Do Democrats in Congress and leftists on campuses know this?  TD

Riots at Rafah Crossing after Gaza teen trying to grab aid is shot dead by Hamas | The Times of Israel

WATCH: Moment Two Minor Teens Get Into Heated Exchange Before Shooting Up Kansas City Chiefs Parade

 The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila

This story disappeared quickly.

Two minor teens were arrested and charged last week in connection with a fatal shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs parade.

BREAKING: Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Police order crowds away from Union Station after multiple shots ring out while Super Bowl champs celebrate win pic.twitter.com/g0vstfvaXm— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 14, 2024

“Two juveniles were charged on Thursday, February 15, 2024, by the Office of the Juvenile Officer related to the incident at the Chiefs’ rally on February 14, 2024,” the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri said on Friday.

One woman was killed and 22 others were injured. At least 11 children were injured.

TMZ obtained video of the two minor teens who got into a heated exchange before shooting up the Kansas City Chiefs parade." . . .   Video

Been A Problem Since At Least 2017, According To Special Counsel

  Mollie Hemingway (thefederalist.com)

Denying Biden's Senility Is More Media Election Interference (thefederalist.com)

Media excuses for Biden’s senility aren’t just political favoritism, but an example of controlling what information reaches voters.

 "In 2020, corporate media blacked out coverage of the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop right before the presidential election. After the election, a survey of Joe Biden voters in swing states found that nearly half were unaware of the pay-for-play scandal evidenced by the laptop and nearly 1 in 10 said they would have changed their vote if they had known about it. That’s an election-altering percentage of voters.

Here we are one presidential election cycle later, and 62 percent of voters say “Joe Biden not having the necessary mental and physical health” for another term is a major concern of theirs heading into November. A full 89 percent say it is at least a minor concern. But again, media outlets are telling voters to disbelieve their own eyes about Biden’s unelectability.

Even after a special counsel declined to charge Biden for his apparent crimes relating to classified documents because he deemed the president too senile for a trial, corporate media are extending a generous double standard to Biden at best and outlandishly lying for him at worst.

NBC News cited “brain experts” to assure readers that “forgetting the names of acquaintances or having difficulty remembering dates from the past doesn’t affect decision-making or judgment.” Then they took things one step further: “There are cognitive benefits that come with growing older,” the paper insisted. “Mental processes like decision-making and judgment can actually improve with age.”

The Tools Of Soros

 “George Soros has quietly orchestrated the dark money political equivalent of ‘shock and awe,’ on local attorney races through the country, shattering records, flipping races and essentially making a mockery of our entire campaign finance system,” . . .

AfterMath

Racism means Fani Willis can do no wrong - American Thinker    . . ."It would be nice someday if women in power, like Fani, Kamala, and Hillary, just answered questions like adults instead of routinely playing the race and sex cards when they are asked questions they don’t like or when anyone disagrees with their policies or opinions. 

It is pathetic that most of the media also play the race card and the sex card, but usually only in the case of Democrat women." 

The Tangled Fates of Fani Willis and Her Biggest Case | The New Yorker

. . ."Willis had hired a special prosecutor named Nathan Wade, in November of 2021, to lead the case, which she’d launched in February of that year. But when Arora dug into his background, last fall, he thought that Wade had an oddly thin résumé for someone working on such a high-profile case. Wade had spent his career as a private defense lawyer, often fighting misdemeanor charges, and later as a municipal-court judge. He’d never worked on a racketeering case. “He really didn’t appear qualified to lead a rico prosecution,” Arora, who had also worked in the Fulton County D.A.’s office, two decades ago, told me. Georgia has an unusually broad racketeering statute, which Willis is fond of using. “Most lawyers in this state aren’t qualified to do it, and here you’re talking about using it in the most unique way in American history—going after a President,” Arora said. “And the D.A. hires someone that hasn’t had any serious felony experience, much less something at this level?” . . .

. . .“Crooked Soros-funded Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an ‘improper’ romantic relationship with a top Trump prosecutor in her office,” a piece in the Gateway Pundit read. Republicans in Congress piled on, too. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from northwest Georgia, called for the state’s ethics commission to consider sanctioning Willis.

How George Soros funded progressive DAs behind US crime surge  2021: "For the last several years, billionaire philanthropist George Soros has been quietly financing a revolution in criminal justice reform, doling out tens of millions of dollars to progressive candidates in district attorney races throughout the country amid movements to abolish bail and defund the police.

"Working with an activist attorney, Soros, 91, mainly funnels cash through a complicated web of  federal and state political action committees as well as non-profits from coast to coast, public records show.

"Last year, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a nonprofit in Soros’ orbit, gave $3 million to the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability, according to a recent report. The group provides resources to “local advocates and organizations working to address the harm of policing in the US.” . . .

Biden Regime Plans to Give Hamas a Grand Reward for Murdering 1,200 Israelis

 Robert Spencer – PJ Media

Where is there a single Palestinian leader or political group that has ever expressed any willingness to live side-by-side in peace with Israel? Yet instead of pressuring the Palestinians, the [loathsome] Biden regime is focusing on efforts to “convince the Arab world that this time will be different.” This is a total inversion of reality.

"It has been clear for quite some time that the Biden regime, despite its show of support for Israel, is really on the side of Hamas. Now the regime is in serious talks to respond to Hamas’ brutal and inhuman murder of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023 by giving it the biggest reward of all: a Palestinian state.

"If you are skeptical that Old Joe and his henchmen are really on Hamas’ side, consider the fact that, in November, they enabled the release of ten billion dollars in frozen funds to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hamas’ primary financier. That followed $100 million in “humanitarian aid” to Gaza and the West Bank on Oct. 18, less than two weeks after the massacre. Biden huffed and puffed about how that $100 million better not end up in the hands of Hamas, but really, who else was there in Gaza who could receive it and keep it from the jihad terror group? Hamas-linked UNRWA?

Joe is my man!

"As if all that weren’t bad enough, now the Biden regime is planning to follow it with the worst betrayal of all of our most loyal ally in the Middle East. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that “Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Palestinian representatives, in addition to the United States” were “rushing to complete a detailed, comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and Palestinians, including a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks.” As you may have noticed, the one concerned party that would likely lose territory if any such state were established was conspicuously absent from these negotiations.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noticed. On Friday, he declared: “Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent arrangements with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.” As Biden regime apparatchiks worked with Muslim Arab nations to establish a Palestinian state without the approval of or even participation of Israel, Netanyahu was unequivocal: “Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement.” . . .

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 27 books, including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad, The History of Jihad, and The Critical Qur’an. His latest book is Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization.

Why Do So Many Young Americans Hate Israel?

Biden Regime Again Shows Which Side It’s On, and It's Not on Israel's

 Robert Spencer – PJ Media  

The Biden regime is trying to show Tlaib, Awad and co. that it is listening to their rage, and pressuring Israel accordingly. The subtext is blazingly obvious: Please vote for us! Don’t stay home in November! We are betraying Israel as quickly as we can! 

"The Biden regime has been under heavy pressure from its far-left base for months. Foes of Israel have repeatedly demanded that Biden’s handlers punish the Jewish state for defending itself, or else they’ll lose their votes in November. Clearly, the Biden camp has been listening, and now the matter has come to a head: the Biden regime has actually threatened our foremost ally in the Middle East with a cutoff of military aid.

"The Jerusalem Post reported that “Biden issued a memorandum on Thursday night asking countries receiving US military funding to prove they’re following international humanitarian and human rights laws.” There is only one country to which that pertains at the moment, and as the Post pointed out “the timing of the memorandum coincides with President Biden’s unscheduled press conference where he took reporters’ questions on the Israel-Hamas war, saying Israel’s response is ‘over the top.’”

"This has been coming for a long time. Nihad Awad, executive director of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who infamously said that he was “happy” about Hamas’ Oct. 7 jihad massacre of 1,200 Israelis, thundered at a November pro-Hamas rally: “No cease-fire, no votes. No votes in Michigan, no votes in Arizona, no votes in Georgia, no votes in Nevada, no votes in Wisconsin, no votes in Pennsylvania."

"These were, of course, the states that allowed Old Joe to pretend to be president over the last three years. Awad concluded: "No votes for you anywhere if you don’t call for a ceasefire now." Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Ramallah) added: "The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a ceasefire now. Or don’t count on us in 2024.' ” . . .

Netanyahu to Biden: Israel Will “Fight Until Total Victory” In Gaza, Including Capture of Rafah (legalinsurrection.com)   "Despite growing pressure from President Joe Biden on Israel to suspend the planned military operation against the last remaining terrorist stronghold of Rahaf, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday vowed to pursue complete victory over Hamas in Gaza, including the capture of the southernmost terrorist bastion.

"In a apparent reference to President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that “Those who want us to desist from the Rafah operation … are telling us we should lose.”

“ 'We won’t be dictated to,” Netanyahu declared at a press conference on Saturday evening.

"The Jerusalem Post reported Prime Minister’s remarks:

An IDF military operation in Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas irrespective of any hostage deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he pushed back against massive international pressure to hold off from such a move.

“There is no substitute for total victory and there is no other way to do it than eliminating the [Hamas] battalions in Rafah,” he said, adding, “We will do it.” . . .

 Why Is Biden Kowtowing To Dearborn’s Terror-Justifying Mayor? (thefederalist.com)   . . ."Finer’s message to Hammoud was one of contrition. “We are very well aware that we have [made] missteps in the course of responding to this crisis since Oct. 7,” said Finer. He said the administration was sorry for its messaging and policies in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacres in which Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 men, women, and children in southern Israel. Biden had forthrightly declared American support for Israel’s right to defend itself but also for the cause of eradicating Hamas." . . .