Opinion | Biden Exploits a Tragic Israeli Mistake

 " 'Top secret' Hamas documents show that terrorists intentionally targeted elementary schools and a youth center (nbcnews.com)  Maps and documents recovered from the bodies of Hamas attackers reveal a coordinated plan to target children and take hostages inside an Israeli village near Gaza."   

UPDATE: BREAKING: Israel Fires Two Senior Officers in Wake of Drone Attack on World Central Kitchen Volunteers – RedState

. . ."It said the team had spotted a suspected Hamas gunman shooting from the top of one of the aid trucks they were escorting. The brigade officers who ordered the strikes, a colonel and a major, were dismissed, while senior commanders were also formally reprimanded." . . .

Fox News (msn.com)

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday there was "no evidence" Israel meant to intentionally strike and kill the food aid workers. 

The site where World Central Kitchen food aid workers were killed in the
Gaza Strip, on April 2, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

"Israel did the right thing this week by immediately investigating, taking responsibility and apologizing for its missile strike on Monday that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen in Gaza.

“ 'It shouldn’t have happened,” Israel’s top military officer said. “It was a mistake that followed a misidentification.” Israel’s Prime Minister, President and Defense Minister have also apologized and announced steps to try to prevent it from happening again.

"We say “try” because many people who know better, including President Biden, seem to have forgotten that errors are a tragic and inevitable part of war. The President pandered to the anti-Israel faction in his party on Tuesday by harshly condemning Israel, lecturing it and then blaming it (not Hamas) for the larger humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

"That apparently wasn’t enough. Egged on by the emerging anti-Israel liberal media consensus, Mr. Biden called on Thursday for an “immediate cease-fire” and urged Israel to make new concessions in hostage negotiations. The President then threatened, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it, that “if we don’t see the changes we need to see” from Israel, “there will be a change in our policy.”

"This is Biden Administration opportunism, using the World Central Kitchen tragedy to push Israel to cut short the war and let Hamas survive. It’s also the worst thing the President could do to free the hostages." . . .

Emal Ahmadi surveys the damage to his family home that was damaged when a
 U.S. military drone strike killed 10 of his friends and family members in Kabul,
 Afghanistan, in 2021. 

. . ."Rather than hold Hamas accountable and demand at every opportunity that it release the hostages, including five Americans, Mr. Biden places the full burden on Israel. He puts Israel on trial each day from Washington lecterns, undermining support for its war effort.

"Mr. Biden has mostly resisted pressure from his left to cut off Israel and deny it the weapons it needs to defeat Hamas. But in the wake of this tragic Israeli mistake, and while Israel goes on high alert for an Iranian attack, he threatens to reverse even that support.

"If he does so, he will send the wrong message to our friends and especially our enemies in the Middle East. He may also pay a bigger political price at home than he realizes."

Joe Biden openly goes to war against Israel - Andrea Widburg    . . ."This wouldn’t be happening if Trump were in the White House. Trump would have strongly supported Israel, giving her the moral support she so badly needs in an evil, broken world. But more than that, this never would have started on October 7 if Trump had been in the White House because the world’s bad actors, from Putin to Hamas, knew that Trump would destroy them were they to upset world peace on his watch. As for Biden…well, I know what I want to say, but I won’t lower American Thinker’s tone if I actually said it."

Joe Biden is screaming at Israel for civilian deaths? - Monica Showalter  ..."The U.S. is responsible for large numbers of civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, as the New Yorker described here, and it appears Israel has, too.  "A little humility here from Biden would work better than this disingenuous finger-pointing, given that the U.S. has made unintentional mistakes in the fog of war, too.

"That Biden can be such a flaming hot hypocrite in this instance is obviously a bid to shore up his pro-Hamas voting base as he seeks re-election.

"It's just sad that we as Americans are being dragged along for his sanctimonious ride."

Biden Loses the Plot on Israel (freebeacon.com)  . . ."For six months, huge swaths of the press have painted Israel in the worst possible light. Netanyahu could say the sky is blue and a thousand fact-checkers would scrub his claim for signs of misinformation. Pro-Hamas falsehoods, meanwhile, are recycled without second thought. The casualty numbers from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, the bogus tale of the Israeli rocket "fired" at al-Shifa hospital, the blood libel that Israelis separated Palestinian babies from their mothers, the lie that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was free of Hamas infiltration—these stories were peddled in bad faith before Israel had a chance to rebut them.

"Which is why a sense of moral clarity in this conflict is so important. Hamas is evil. Hamas could end the war it started by surrendering its cadres and releasing its prisoners. Hamas refuses. Hamas would rather sacrifice the civilian population of Gaza on the altar of its genocidal ambition and suicidal desires. Hamas brutalizes children, abuses captives, steals food, fires its rockets indiscriminately, wears no uniforms, and hides behind schools, hospitals, and mosques. Hamas does not just commit war crimes. It is a war crime." . . .

Hamas is 'happy,' celebrating Biden's apparent shift in war, Israeli official warns: 'Stand against evil'

Barkat said U.S. officials can spare the "lectures," reminding Biden of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. To date, about 130 Israelis reportedly remain in captivity in Gaza. 

Those in the struggle against Hamas are so much better than the likes of Joe Biden, Stephen Colbert, and any number of Democrats in Congress. TD

Yael Halon (msn.com)   "Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat accused President Biden on Thursday of emboldening Hamas after he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. policy in Gaza could change if the Israeli military doesn’t do more to protect civilians in the region.

"In an appearance on "Kudlow," Barkat urged Biden to re-establish his commitment to Israel, emphasizing the importance of the United States' unwavering support as they fight to eradicate the "Nazis" behind the Oct. 7 terror attack. 

"His comment came moments after Biden wrapped up a phone call with the Israeli leader, during which the U.S. president threatened a change in his policy toward the war if Israel doesn't do more to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

" 'After things like this, you know what happens with Hamas?" Barkat asked, referring to Biden's warning to Netanyahu. "They’re happy. They toughen their negotiation stance. They give candy to everyone."

"During the phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Biden reportedly lectured Israel for the strike that killed humanitarian workers and stressed the need for an "immediate cease-fire," arguing such a move would be "essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians," according to a White House readout of the call.

"The same sentiment was echoed later Thursday by both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby, with Blinken telling reporters that the United States would shift gears "if we don't see the changes that we need to see," according to a report from the Jerusalem Post." . . .

Biden ridiculed for condemnation of Israeli airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza: 'Obvious hypocrisy' | Fox News   . . ."Our expectation from our best friend in the world, the United States of America, is to support us fighting the Nazis," Barkat continued. "The Nazis that are holding these girls captive underneath the tunnels, that get raped every day. I spoke to the families of these victims. We expect the United States of America to understand that the biggest enemy we have is Iran and Qatar. They are funding terror all over the world. They have blood on their hands. They are evil. We expect to align interests against the Muslim Brotherhood that are threatening the world, not just Israel." . . .

President Biden's condemnation of the Israeli airstrike that killed seven food aid workers in Gaza earlier this week isn't sitting well with some critics, who called the president's reaction "obvious hypocrisy.". . .

 The Triumph of the Blood Libel - CarolineGlick.com

The accusation was inherently insane. Jewish law prohibits murder. It prohibits cannibalism. It prohibits child sacrifice. It prohibits eating food with blood. But none of that mattered. Like the cartoon in La Presse, the blood libel didn’t seek to persuade anyone. It presumed that its target audiences already hated Jews or had a latent tendency to hate Jews, which the blood libel aimed to unleash

. . ."The nature and purpose of blood libels make them impossible to combat. Jews cannot disprove blood libels because they aren’t based on fact but on feelings or intentions attributed to Jews by people who hate them. Can Netanyahu prove that he isn’t a vampire? Of course not. If he bothered to try, it would be seen as proof that he’s covering something up. Can Jews prove that they aren’t evil? No, again. Because people predisposed to believe that Jews are evil see everything good that Israel does as an effort to cover up its foundational, immutable malevolence. “Pink-washing” is a case in point.

"The discourse on Israel’s war in Gaza is suffused in blood libels.

"Consider the accusation that Gazans are starving. USAID administrator Samantha Power issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that “famine is imminent in northern Gaza.”

"Power pointed a finger directly at Israel, blaming it for the “imminent” famine. “The U.S. will continue to do everything we can to get food to people in Gaza, but Israel must do more to put an end to this mass—and preventable—suffering.”

"Almost simultaneously, E.U. Foreign Minister Josep Borrell accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza. As he put it, “In Gaza, we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people. This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.”

"These allegations were regurgitated in every language at multiple forums throughout the week. The fact that they are untrue is of no interest." . . .

‘Greatest humiliation since Saigon!’ World renowned historian says Biden ‘left allies hanging’ with Afghanistan withdrawal

There is shame in poorly-led America, but also shame in our people, the poorly-educated, morally inferior ones we see in the streets chanting and cheering for those most evil around the world. TD 

Ben Chapman "Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan left the USA’s allies ‘hanging’, world-renowned historian Victor Davis Hanson has claimed.

"Speaking on GBN America, he discussed the President’s move that prompted a chaotic evacuation from the war-stricken nation and effectively handed the reins to the Taliban.

"Hanson told Nigel Farage that as a result, the US is now viewed in a different manner worldwide.

"Asked whether it was a moment enemies to the West sensed ‘weakness’, he affirmed ‘it was’.

"That was the moment Americans did too [saw weakness]”, he said.

“ 'There was still this goodwill as we have for newly inaugurated presidents. 

“Prior to August 2021, he was polling around 53-54 per cent approval. That immediately went down to 42 per cent.

“The American people saw it as a disaster. We had just spent $400 million at Bagram with the biggest airbase in Central Asia, which would give us all sorts of options with Iran, China or Russia.

“We could have watched the Taliban and the way they were behaving and we fled in the greatest humiliation since Saigon.

“We left our allies hanging without notice. We left thousands of American contractors, tens of thousands of sympathetic Afghans who were murdered or are sought out.”. . .

Former ESPN Host Says Her Joe Biden Interview Was ‘Scripted’ By Network Execs: ‘Told Not To Deviate’

  One America News Network (oann.com)  From 2023

After Steele’s ESPN lawsuit settled, in which she claimed that the network had infringed upon her right to free speech and expression, she departed the sports media company in August of last year. Since then, Steele has become a member of Maher’s Club Random Studios, where her podcast is being produced.

"Sage Steele, a former ESPN host, disclosed that network officials “scripted” her 2021 interview with President Joe Biden.

"Steele described the pre-recorded interview as “structured” in an interview with Fox News Digital. In fact, she claims that her ESPN supervisors even gave her a “script” to follow, and instructed her not to deviate from any question listed in order.

“That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured,” Steele said. “And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’” 

"In the March 2021 interview, Steele grilled Biden on a number of pre-planned topics, including sports leagues’ efforts to resume business as usual in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine reluctance among athletes. When Biden backed the MLB’s decision to boycott Atlanta’s All-Star game in response to Georgia’s election reform bill being passed, her interview garnered major media attention.

“But everything Steele said to the president ultimately came from ESPN‘s c-suite,” Fox News reported.

“To the word. Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives. Absolutely. I was on script and was told not to deviate,” Steele said. “It was very much ‘This is what you will ask. This is how you will say it. No follow-ups, no follow-ups. Next.’ … This went up to the fourth floor, as we said, where all the bosses, the top executives, the decision makers are, the president of our company, the CEO, where they all worked.”

"However, Steele admitted that she was unsure if ESPN had submitted the interview questions to the White House beforehand.

"Steele, who debuted her new podcast, “The Sage Steele Show,” last week, described her brief encounter with the current president as “heartbreaking,” alluding to his mental capacity.

“I think it’s really heartbreaking that the people who love Joe Biden and say they truly care about him have allowed it to get to this point,” Steele stated. “So I’m not even looking at this from a political angle or my beliefs in anything. This is the human side of it. And when someone is struggling, we allow them to continue to be in the spotlight and put them out there in the first place when they knew there were issues? Of course, they had to know. So it’s a humanity thing with me where I don’t care where anyone stands and what they vote for or who they believe in. Do you really care about that person? As a father, as a husband, as an everything.”

"Previously, Steele had already described how Biden “trailed off” in their pre-tape conversation.

The fourth anniversary of Faucism

  Don Surber

We should learn from this because we failed to learn from the London Plague in 1665. The plague was spread by fleas. Rats carried the fleas. The Lord Mayor of London did not fully understand this. He ordered the slaughter of all the dogs and the cats in the city. The rat population rose. The human population withered.

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the birth of Faucism, in which an elfin bureaucrat uses a health emergency to shove people around and show what a big man he was. The birth was in Barbra Streisand’s backyard where police valiantly pursued and subdued a flagrant violator of the high and hideous crime of surfing on the high seas.

"Gidget and the Beach Boys were hardest hit.

"No, this was not a joke. This was an attack on the liberty of every American.

"The Faucists succeeded in using fear to remove us from our beaches and to strip us of our president, who so loved America and so wanted to make her great again that they impeached him twice.

"Let us review as I go over an old post from my old blog. (And I thank Ed Driscoll at Instapundit for reviving it yesterday because we must remember the evil they unleashed in the name of protecting public health.)

"Here is that post.  

"On April 3, 2020, the Daily Breeze reported, “Malibu surfer in handcuffs after enjoying empty, epic waves.”

Los Angeles County sheriff deputies arrested a man who was by himself in the ocean, in the name of stopping the spread of covid. The deputies were unmasked. It was a crazy time in which authorities erred on the side of authoritarianism to stop the spread of a virus.

The experts sided with closing down the world.

The LA Times reported, “Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.”

She told the paper, I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now.”

Why?" . . .

Below:  Faucian Bargain – a review - by Diann Russell (substack.com)   

“Few have ever had so little accountability for their inadequacy in addressing the task at hand, while being handed so much unconstitutional and unwarranted responsibility for doing so.” — Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History.  . . .

California Audit Released 350 Days Past Deadline, Shows Conservatives Are Right About the State

 The Western Journal (msn.com)

"California, land of boundless opportunity and breathtaking natural beauty that seemed to symbolize Reagan's "Morning in America," helped its former Republican governor complete that historic near-sweep in the unforgettable 1984 presidential election.

"Alas, everything has changed. California, by its own accounting, has degenerated into a failed state.

"According to The Center Square -- a news outlet focused on state and local governments -- California's belated Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, showed that the state had liabilities $55 billion in excess of its total resources.

"Despite post-pandemic job growth in its lucrative tech industry, California still did not come close to achieving a balanced budget.

"Nor does the future look promising. A $73 billion deficit confronts the state in 2024-25. With expanded, taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants, and with Texas' stepped-up border security diverting invaders to California, that number could increase, particularly in the face of much slower job growth.

"Furthermore, according to Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute, California's pandemic-era profligacy included $29 billion in improper Unemployment Insurance payments that the state may have to repay to the federal government." . . .

Burger King, In-N-Out, and Others Raise Prices Significantly 2 Days After California's $20 Minimum Wage Kicks In (msn.com)

. . ."The Texas Double Whopper meal at Burger King went from $15.09 on March 29 to $16.89 by April 1. The Big Fish Meal went up from $7.49 to $11.49, with other items on the menu going up by 25 cents to $1.

"In-N-Out Burger saw burgers go up 25 cents and soft drinks by a nickel. Hart House, owned by actor and comedian Kevin Hart, increased all milkshake prices regardless of size by a dollar, sandwiches by 50 cents, and large fries by $1.10 going from $4.49 to $5.99.

"While Chik-fil-A, McDonald's, and Wendy's haven't seen price increases, one would have to imagine they are on the way."

From our parodigal child: Mexican Robots Surge Across Southern Border To Take New Fast Food Jobs In California | Babylon Bee  

At publishing time, Democrats in California had already introduced legislation that would grant Mexican robots the right to vote in elections.

Press secretary KJP, the artful dodger.

 

AfterMath - Home

KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist (The Western Journal)

. . ."In a remarkable interview with WBT radio in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, KJP first bristled when News Director Mark Garrison asked if President Joe Biden has dementia, and then, after stumbling over her words on both that question and a subsequent question about inflation, abruptly ended the interview by hanging up the phone.

" 'I don't understand the fragility of this person," another radio host said of KJP afterward.

"Fragility, of course, tends to plague those who, deep down, recognize themselves as frauds.

"Accustomed to friendly treatment from the corrupt establishment media, KJP perhaps did not anticipate the kind of questions she received.

" 'When I told a number of people that I was talking to you today, it was interesting, though, they all said, 'Would you please just ask her, does the president have dementia?' So before I move on from that, does he?" Garrison asked.

"The news director framed the question as something that, understandably, "a number of people" wanted to know. After all, Biden often gives the impression of not knowing where he is. Furthermore, much like his beleaguered press secretary, the president struggles to say coherent things." . . .

“Since you don’t have any answers on the classified documents, are you sure you are fit for this job” Simon Ateba. Of course she then rejects Simon. Bigly.

https://t.co/E18eA4FeB5

— AG 🔥 (@Yolo304741) January 25, 2023 

Why does KJP keep dodging questions? – HotAir 

 " As you know, I’m covered by the Hatch Act” is a phrase many in the White House Briefing Room are used to hearing from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. In fact, Jean-Pierre has invoked the Hatch Act on 33 occasions at the podium since September." . . . 

October 7th and the Future of the United States

 David Lanza - American Thinker

We must wake up to the fact that our television rerun culture will not immunize us from the consequences of allowing an open border. Nothing in our cultural establishment is equipped to stop the next October 7th or September 11th -- either in Israel or in the United States. Controlling the border is the only tactic that will give us a fighting chance.

. . ."The notorious Rep. Rashida Tlaib [and I suggest personally repugnant] is a member of a secretive Facebook group that unashamedly supports Hamas and its war goals. DSA congressional representatives including Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Casar, and Cori Bush refused to condemn pro-Hamas terrorists that violently attacked Democrat party headquarters in Washington D.C. in December. Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman publicly dismissed claims of Hamas atrocities as “propaganda.”

"Nationwide controversy erupted in December when the presidents of leading universities could not say that student calls for genocide would constitute harassment or justify expulsion. This policy is consistent with the conduct of other colleges that refuse or fail to protect Jewish students from harassment.

"The Washington Post removed the work of political cartoonist Michael Ramirez that mocked Hamas’ use of human shields. An NBC “journalist” was arrested in Israel for inciting and glorifying Hamas terror attacks. In December, fourteen attorneys general across the U.S. felt the need to warn the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and CNN that providing material support to overseas terrorists violated U.S. law.

"In October, it was discovered that the Department of Homeland Security employed and even promoted a former PLO official who began posting online in support of Hamas shortly after Hamas’ invasion of Israel.

"The genocidal phrase “from the river to the sea” has now become common at protests and rallies, in music, social media and even in Congress. One almost expects to hear it sung at an upcoming Super Bowl." . . .

UPDATE: Israeli minister ‘yelled at US Secretary of State’ over Rafah invasion, reports say (msn.com)    . . ."But Israel is insisting on launching a full-scale ground invasion in Rafah as it has elsewhere in Gaza, to try to destroy the last four Hamas battalions believed to be operating there and attempt to free the remaining 130 or so Israeli hostages.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly clashed with the Biden administration over the issue, saying Israel has “no choice” but to enter the city.

"Mr Netanyahu and Mr Biden will discuss Rafah over the phone on Thursday, according to Israeli media."

Hamas Treats Captive Israeli Women as Animals

 Raymond Ibrahim - American Thinker  

In short, when Hamas, ISIS, and other Islamic terrorists treat captive women as “animals” -- referring to them as “mares,” etc. -- their behavior and perspective is being informed by Islamic teachings that trace back to Muhammad and the most authoritative sheikhs.

What will she be like when - if -she comes home?

 "The Hamas terrorists behind the Oct. 7, 2023 jihadist raid literally view their female Israeli captives as horses and other animals -- to be “ridden.”

"During a recent press conference, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari stressed that Hamas members could be heard in their own (now captured) recordings referring to their female captives as sabi (or sabiya), an Arabic word that in Islamic jurisprudence refers to non-Muslim female slaves, whom Muslim men could freely copulate with -- in a word, concubines.

"Sex-slavery is not only an ironclad aspect of Islam; it is a reflection of “piety,” as well captured by a 2015 report:

In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old [non-Muslim] girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her -- it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

“ 'He said that by raping me,” recalled the 12-year-old, “he is drawing closer to God.”

“ 'Every time that he came to rape me, he would pray,” explained another girl, aged 15. “He said that raping me is his prayer to God. I said to him, ‘What you’re doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.’ And he said, ‘No, it’s allowed. It’s halal.’”

"Seeing rape as a pious gesture is only one of the “oddities” of Islamic sex-slavery. In the same press conference, Hagari said that

“ 'Hamas treated young women… like animals,” and that one terrorist could be heard describing “a woman as a noble mare.” . . .