Just Cause

War in Gaza, Day 221

War 

                                                     

Israeli Troops in Gaza

IDF tanks and some troops are now in the controversial Rafah area of Gaza, fighting face to face with Hamas terrorists, destroying tunnels and seizing weapons. IDF troops also recently went back into the Jabaliya refugee camp of central Gaza after it became clear that Hamas was re-entering the area. 

The US has made it clear that they oppose an operation in Gaza concerned about civilian casualties. The US has also suspended the shipment of 2600 heavy bombs they suspected would be used in Rafah.

Israel’s PM Netanyahu has said that the IDF would continue to fight in Rafa and seek out Hamas leader Sinwar and the 132 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. The IDF believes that 4 Hamas battalions are still active in Rafah, the last Hamas force left in Gaza.

However, according to Ynetnews, the US has supplied Israel with information that Sinwar is not in Rafa but in the tunnels beneath his home town of Khan Yunis. Some observers wonder if this is just a ploy by the US government to keep Israel from launching a significant attack on Rafah, where nearly a million Gazans have taken refuge.

So far, 630 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives in the war on Gaza. Speaking on Israel TV’s Channel 12, Gen. (ret.) Israel Ziv has said that Israel has no strategy in place for the “day after” the war ends. Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi has reportedly angrily voiced his concern for a lack of a “day after” strategy to PM Netanyahu. 

A May 10th article in Haaretz by Yaniv Kubovich, blasts both the IDF’s top brass and government leaders for the failure of Oct 7th, when Hamas send thousands of terrorists into Israel resulting in the murder of over 1200 Israelis, some children, others women who were raped and then burned to obfuscate the crimes, and the kidnapping of 252 Israelis.

The article claims that the IDF top brass and the top political echelon, implying PM Netanyahu, blatantly disregarded intelligence warnings that Hamas was capable of a ground offensive and was close to launching an attack.

According to Kubovich in Haaretz, the IDF and top political leaders, were convinced that Hamas was incapable of such an attack and not only ignored the warnings but unbraided those officers, some of extremely high rank, who brought this issue to the heads of the army.

The top brass, and top political leaders, also ignored advice that the middle and lower level operatives of Hamas were the ones to watch. These were, it turned out, the very people who organized and led the invasion on Oct 7th. 

The Haaretz article stated that the IDF and the Israeli leaders focused their attention on rocket attacks and destroying Hamas in their tunnels, unaware that the tunnels went down much deeper than Israel’s ability to destroy them by bombs. These leaders also refused to assign intelligence assets to even investigate if these warnings had any basis in fact. The arrogant and obdurate attitude of the top brass and political leaders resulted in the tragedy that was Oct 7th, according to Haaretz. 

Also, even after 221 days of war, some military analysts have said that the War in Gaza can go on for many more months, even several years. And during that time Israel will face guerrilla warfare led by Hamas and other Iranian assets.

Hostages

According to the Nytimes, Yeheh Sinwar is holding up any hostage deal. 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza, many of them presumed dead. Israel had agreed to release Palestinian prisoners and call a temporary truce if the hostages could be released. Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, but among them corpses. And Hamas demanded an end to the war. Israel did not agree to the terms.

Hostage families are still protesting on the streets calling for an agreement that will return their loved ones.  So far no progress has been made.

Campus Protests

                            

Student Protests at Columbia University                 

 According to analysts, the campus protests that have roiled universities and colleges across the USA and Europe will taper off as the spring break approaches and more or less dissipate over the summer. However, meanwhile the protests are alive and well and creating havoc and unease.

According to Ynetnews, Hillel, the Jewish Students organization, recently published a survey that found that 61% of Jewish students on campus had witnessed pro-Palestinian protests. 63% of those felt threatened. 72% were in favor of the schools removing the protesters from campus.

                                   

Professor Larisa Geskin

Russian-born Professor Larisa Geskin, 56 teaches dermatology at Columbia University. Prof. Geskin emigrated to the USA from the former Soviet Union 35 years ago. 

Speaking to Ynetnews, she said, “Back in the Soviet Union, we knew our identities and where antisemitism lurked. We kept our heads down. But now, antisemitism has found its way to American, too.”

“The pro-Hamas side replies that all Zionists should be killed. So the students ask, 'Do you want to kill me?' and they answer, 'Maybe not you, but others, yes.' Some of these things are documented by video and audio.”

One analysts says that the Anti-Semitism that is sweeping the world has knocked the Jewish community back on its heels. US President Joe Biden has  come out strongly against the violent student protests that have taken a virulent and dangerous anti-Semitic turn.

According to the New York Times, “President Biden on Tuesday condemned a ferocious surge of antisemitism“in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7.

“This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust,” he said. “It didn’t end with the Holocaust, either.”

Campuses are in flagrant verbal flames, according to analysts. Comparison to the student riots in the 1960’s miss one central point, they point out: back then many of the protesters were against the war in Vietnam because they were at risk of being drafted and having to fight. That is not the case today. None of those protesting will find themselves in Gaza with an AK-47 in their hands being shot at by Israeli troops.

The student protests and the various universities inability or disregard for curtailing the student protests has resulted in a backlash by some big donors. According to the New York Times, “As protests have raged on campuses across the country, other leading donors have warned universities that future gifts are at risk. 

Last week, the billionaire real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht eviscerated Brown University for pledging to consider divestment from Israel, and suspended donations to the school. Marc Rowan, Apollo Global Management’s chief executive, led a donor uprising at the University of Pennsylvania last year, and Robert K. Kraft , who owns the New England Patriots, recently put future contributions to Columbia University on hold.

Also, the Berrie Foundation, often associated with grants to Jewish causes, has contributed nearly $90 million to Columbia University. Recently the Berrie Foundation applied, what the New York Times called, “subtle pressure” on Columbia to do something about the blatant antisemitism.  

The university responded by suspending the Columbia chapters of Students of Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Later, after more pressure on Columbia University president Dr. Nemat Shafik, the university called in the police to clear out the protest camp set up on campus.

The university also cancelled their graduation ceremony. 

                                     

Empty bleachers at site of cancelled Columbia U. graduation

Today, according to reports, many of those who are in the streets are of Moslem descent and see themselves as soldiers in the fight Hamas is waging against Israel.

                                                      

MIT student arrested

Idealistic non-Moslem, non-Palestinian students have joined the protests thinking they are fighting for justice. Fighting against genocide. Some of those students are even of Jewish extraction.

Recently, the police cleared protest tent villages from universities like MIT, UCLA, USC, U of Penn and others, arresting over 2,600 protesters who resisted the police.  Some universities, like Columbia, cancelled their  graduation ceremonies fearing unrest. Others, like USC scaled down their ceremonies.

                                     

Jerry Seinfeld speaking at Duke University graduation

Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld, a vocal supporter of Israel, spoke before  7,000 people at the Duke University commencement ceremony. He reportedly did not mention Israel nor the war in Gaza in his speech. Duke awarded Seinfeld an honorary degree at the ceremony.

However, some 30 students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday while some chanted “Free Palestine” in protest of Seinfeld’s supporting Israel throughout the war in Gaza.

                           

Police march on University of Pennsylvania campus tent protest

University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts graduation ceremony, May 12, 2024

Some students took a bolder approach to their support of Hamas during their commencement exercises.

Speaking off the record the president of a leading university in Chicago told an alumni that during one of the protests he’d seen a student of his. He called her over and asked if she understood the phrase, “From the river to the sea.” She admitted she didn’t know what it meant, but she was shouting the slogan because everyone else was shouting it. 

                                          

Hilary Clinton (L) in discussion

According to the NYtimes on May 9,2024, “Hillary Clinton on Thursday criticized campus protesters, saying young people “don’t know very much” about the history of the Middle East.

“I have had many conversations, as you have had, with a lot of young people over the last many months now,” she said on the MSNBC  “Morning Joe”show on Thursday May 9th. “They don’t know very much at all about the history of the Middle East, or frankly about history in many areas of the world including in our own country.”

Ms. Clinton then went on to imply that young people “don’t know” that had Yasir Arafat, the former leader of the Palestinian Authority, accepted a deal brokered by her husband, President Bill Clinton, the Palestinians would already have a state of their own. “It’s one of the great tragedies of history that he was unable to say yes,” she said.

UCLA student David Khait posted a video claiming that the funding for the protests on American university campuses could be traced back to a few specific sources. Khait says the present protests are similar to the 2020 Summer of Love riots. And that both then and now the cause is political, occurring on the eve of Presidential elections.

But others say that Khait misses the point. That some of the foundations putting up money support democracy and believe that the right to protest is sacrosanct. And that the war in Gaza is merely a side issue.

However, many of the students being harassed are Jewish and those doing the harassing are wearing a black and white checkered Palestinian scarf called a kafeyah. 

According to NPR, one student at UCLA was denied access to his classroom by a dozen young people, ostensibly students, wearing face masks and kafeyahs. When the Jewish student attempted to cross this line the men, some well over six feet tall stepped up to confront him. He turned to the camera and said, “You see, I can’t even get to class. Just because I’m Jewish.”

Again, some observers say they expect the campus protests to dissipate, at least temporarily, since the spring break holiday will empty the campus of students. 

BDS & DEI & Bernie Sanders

Some analysts point to the BDS movement as the early motivator for todays present wave of anti-Semitism. That movement was begun decades ago by a group of Palestinians as a way to oppose Israel.

Some say that the current wave of protests follows on the heels of the support garnered for Sen. Bernie Sanders when he threw his hat into the ring as a presidential candidate in 2020.

Sanders won wide support among the young and idealistic who saw his stand of the haves vs. the have-nots as a just cause. Observers say that those who supported Sanders and his new-socialist agenda were the talent pool that flocked to the support of Hamas during the war in Gaza following on Sanders long-standing criticism of Israel. 

Others point to the funding of pro-Palestinian organizations by Arab countries. There is a considerable amount of information about the Qatar government providing scholarships to American students and thus currying favor for the Arab cause. But, ask some cynics, is this actually anti-Semitism, clever manipulation of naive Americans, or simply philanthropy with no strings attached?

Some observers say that behind the pro-Palestinian campus organizations, and the pro-Palestinian street protests, on the larger international front, social media has become a major weapon. According to observers, equal in some way to launching missiles and bombs. Israel is the target of much of this vitriol. 

But, experts believe that much of this social media messaging is created from paid operatives working in warehouses filled with computers and servers spewing out misinformation. The first goal is to incite against Israel. This has been exceedingly effective. The other goal is to discredit the USA and push American from the top of the mountain.

A growing number of political analysts have pointed at the relatively new axis of Iran-Russian-China as the root cause of todays disturbances.This trio have been, according to some analysts, the funding sources of the social media warehouses spewing out false and incendiary information. And using these social media operatives as troops in the war against Israel and the USA.

One computer terrorism expert said that China “…basically controls TikTok which is number one social media source for young people.”

Some analysts believe that this triumvirate’s main goal is displacing the USA as the leader of the western world. Today’s protests, say these observers, is significantly weakening the USA. The fact that the USA backs Israel is a side issue. Israel is not the real target, but the USA.

When the press quotes the Gaza Health Authority with the numbers of Gazans killed and injured, no one mentions that this authority is run by Hamas and is known for distorting the truth.

On Sunday, the UN issued a report that cut the number of civilians killed in Gaza by 10,000, to 24,000, giving no reason for the reassessment. Israel says that it has killed about 13,000 Hamas terrorists since the war began. That means that the number of civilians killed is actually 11,000 not 35,000. But still not a small number.

When the campus protests and the street protests call for an end to genocide and oppression of the Palestinians there is an obvious avoidance of mentioning Hamas and the atrocities that terrorist organization committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023 when over 1200 Israelis were massacred, women raped and their dead bodies burned, hostages taken into Gaza and turned into sex slaves. 

According to one pundit, Hamas has become, in the telling of these protesters, a victim not an invader and murderer. Black has become white. And white has become  black.

Memorial Day 

                        

Soldiers hold Memorial Day ceremony in Gaza

According to the Times of Israel, since Israel’s last Memorial Day, 1,600 soldiers and civilians have been killed in combat or by terror, according to statistics released by authorities. According to the Defense Ministry, 766 soldiers were killed while serving in the military during the past year, and another 61 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service in previous years. According to the National Insurance Institute, 834 names were also added to the list of civilian terror victims who perished in attacks during the past year, the vast majority of them during the October 7 massacres. 

At sundown on May 13th, Israel celebrated her 76th birthday. One pundit quotes the late Amos Oz who related that his father, who escaped persecution in Europe, as saying, “They didn’t want us there. They don’t want us here. So we might as well stay where we want to stay.”

According to writer Mitch Album, author of "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven,”writing in the Detroit Free Press, “Imagine, if you are Christian, that there is only one nation in the world where you are the majority (instead of more than 150). And nearly half the Christians on earth live there.

“Or if you are Muslim, and there is only one country where you are the majority — instead of nearly 50 — and half the world’s Muslims live within its borders.

“If you are Black, imagine just one country where you are the dominant race, and half of the world’s Black population shares the space. Same thing if you are Latino or Asian.

“Now imagine if college campuses across America were screaming for your country’s elimination. Your one country. Your only country. And you watched those protests grow in size, in hate, in violence, and wondered why so few people were defending you?

“Then you can begin to sense how Jewish people felt these past few weeks.

“…today the subject is the antagonism toward Jews, subtle and outright, in these recent college protests.

“And let’s be clear. That is the end-game desire of many angry students, faculty and outside agitators who, wearing masks, erecting barricades and occupying buildings, turned college campuses into theaters of the absurd these past few weeks.

“They would like Israel eliminated. From the river to the sea. Half the Jews in the world left to find someplace else to go, or worse, if Hamas has its way, eliminated altogether.

“One of Columbia’s protest leaders, Khymani Jones, an American raised in Boston, had said “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and spoke about “murdering Zionists.” (His subsequent apology is meaningless.)

“At UCLA, a Star of David was drawn on a walkway, under the words “Step here.” (Imagine if that were a cross!) Videos emerged of Jewish students on campuses being denied access by keffiyeh-wearing protesters. One Jewish student was asked “Are you Zionist?” and when he answered, “Of course I’m Zionist,” he was not allowed to advance.

“Note that he didn’t say “I believe Palestinians should die,” or “I hate Muslims.” His sole “crime” was believing Israel has a right to exist.

“Peggy Noonan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Wall Street Journal, visited the Columbia protests and came away with this observation: “They weren’t a compassionate group. They weren’t for anything, they were against something: the Israeli state, which they’d like to see disappear, and those who support it.”

“…If during the George Floyd aftermath, a broadcaster was terminated for tweeting the words “All lives matter,” because his accusers said everyone knew what he meant, this is miles beyond that.

“Yet the same people who wagged those fingers are now spewing vitriol against Jews and Israelis and want a mulligan. Sorry. You can’t have it both ways. If you get furious over implied racism, then you must be furious over implied antisemitism.

“And if you want to erase Israel off the map — as Hamas has stated, as UNRWA schoolbooks teach, and as those who wave the Hezbollah flag support — you don’t get to say you’re not anti-Jewish.

“The irony is many of these protesting students have never been to Israel. Some, I’ll bet, couldn’t find Gaza on a map. Yet they are being praised by the President of Iran, who last week called their efforts “a big event.” That ought to scare everyone.

“…In fact, a recent Harvard poll (yes, Harvard) found that “Israel/Palestine” ranked 15th out of 16 issues as most important to young people ages 18-29. You even see videos of protesters who shout ‘from the river to the sea,’ but can’t name either the river or the sea they are talking about.

“Many of these ‘student protesters’ weren’t even students at all. Of the 44 people who barricaded themselves inside Columbia's Hamilton Hall, 13 weren’t even affiliated with the university, despite the school’s supposed insistence that no outsiders get onto campus. In fact, outsiders played an enormous role in what looked like spontaneous revolt.

“On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published a long story headlined ‘Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests.’ It detailed Zoom meetings, coordinated plans and internet encouragement between many organizations, including National Students for Justice in Palestine and former Black Panthers. According to the WSJ report, (one pro-Hamas) leader told the participants, ‘There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas. These are the people that are on the front lines defending Palestine.

“Yeah. These are also the people who murdered, raped and kidnapped over 1,400 Jewish people on Oct. 7. And who vow to do it again and again and again. No wonder the Hamilton Hall occupiers hurled a banner out the window that read “Glory to our martyrs.”

“…Yet while American kids screamed to free Palestine, you heard no screams to free American hostages being held by Hamas for more than six months (or, heaven forbid, the Israeli ones). Instead, you have graduations canceled, classes put online, buildings vandalized, American flags replaced with Palestinian flags and a statue of George Washington at a university named after him defaced, spray-painted and covered with a keffiyeh.

“…Go back to Poland? Final Solution? Murdering Zionists? We wouldn’t tolerate that for any other minority groups. Why on earth have we been tolerating it up till now? The Catholics have Rome, why can’t the Jews have Israel?”

Independence Day #76 

                     

Historic alternative Independence Day observance

Israel observed the 76th anniversary of the establishment of the state on May 14th. The usual celebration at Mt. Herzl was more somber than normal and did not include the traditional fireworks at the end of the extravaganza. The event had been pre-recorded, the first time since the Covid plague. Observers say this was in order to edit out any untoward remarks hurled at PM Netanyahu or other government officials.

What attracted most of the attention was a historic alternative observance of the state’s founding. This was the first time an alternative ceremony was held and even broadcast on Israel TV. Observers say in this alternative ceremony, flames were doused rather than lit, as is done in the traditional ceremony on Mt. Herzl that honors heroic or exemplary deeds.

According to the times of Israel, the alternative ceremony was held “in an amphitheater in Binyamina, which was attended by roughly 1,000 Israelis, many of whom held placards proclaiming, ‘No hostages; no independence’…. Tens of thousands more joined other hostage families to commemorate the start of Independence Day at a similarly solemn rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.”

Pundits say that even with the war raging, and Israel poised to go into Rafah “like a tidal wave,” according to one IDF officer, and with 128 hostages still held in Gaza, many no longer alive, there is not a feeling that Israel has reached the end.  ‘Yehiyeh b’seder’ (it will be all right) is the common refrain.

Zionism may not be a popular word today, but that does not imply that Israel as a country is finished. The total population of Israel has reached 9.9 million, with 7 1/2 million Jews. Not everyone agrees with the war. Nor does everyone agrees with the government. But few, other than Hamas supporters, want to see Israel disappear.

Israel is, according to one pundit, trapped by the persistent presence of Prime Minister Netanyahu. No elections are on the horizon. Netanyahu, who has yet to admit that any of his mistakes caused the invasion of Oct 7th and the death of 1200 Israelis, the wounding of thousands and the capture of 252 hostages, was his doing.

But, says another pundit, Netanyahu cannot last forever. Sooner or later there will be new elections. The only fear is that his arrogance, according to this pundit, as exemplified by his bypassing then President Barak Obama and going directly to speak to Congress, will wind up making Israel an international pariah.

Netanyahu can ignore US President Biden as he did Obama, but that will only drive a further wedge into Israel’s heart. As of now the wedge isn’t too deep, the point can still be removed and the damage repaired. But should Netanyahu’s arrogance overcome his common sense Israel could well be in for a difficult period ahead.

Nytimes columnist Tom Friedman wrote on Thursday that the danger to Israel was not US President Biden and his actions holding back weapons, but Netanyahu. “The danger to Israel is not Biden but Bibi,” wrote Friedman.

Friedman says that Israel has no ‘Day After’ plan. And that Netanyahu will not allow the Palestinian Authority to help run Gaza fearing that would lead to a Palestinian State. Israel, with 7 1/2 million Jews will wind up in control of Gaza and the West Bank with a total population of 5 million Palestinians.

Damien Cave, writing in the NYtimes, points out that young people don’t know the Israel-Palestinian issues. All they see, he writes, is Israel killing Palestinians. And they want justice.

They have no memory of the Holocaust or Israel’s wars in ’48, ’67, 73, and the wars in Lebanon or Gaza. Cave writes that Israel lives with these wars. They remember them over dinner, they talk about which friends and family are now fighting in Gaza. “There is a disconnect between how Israel sees the war in Gaza and how young Americans see it.”

One observer, with a military and security background, thinks that Netanyahu should be replaced, but how to do it is another question. Perhaps, he postulates, if ultra-nationalist ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotritch are pushed far enough they’ll bolt the coalition and allow the government to fall. Although, he said, the issue would have to be very dramatic since both realize that with new election both would be out of power.

The same observer thinks the only solution to the problem is Tom Friedman’s worst fear, that Israel will take over Gaza. “The solution is a military government, put in temporarily, until a permanent solution can be found. The Palestinian Authority isn’t an answer since they’re not strong enough to stand up to Hamas. Only the IDF can run Gaza at this time, temporarily.”

Another pundit quipped, that Israel has often imposed temporary taxes on its citizenry but never have those temporary taxes ever been lifted, or reduced. The IDF running Gaza means, in essence, occupation.

“Yes,” said the observer. “But only temporarily.”

“Like the taxes,” said the pundit. “Just like the taxes.”

“And don’t forget about Hezbollah in the North,” said the security observer. “We’re going to need those heavy bombs. Let’s hope Netanyahu remembers that when he’s playing hardball with US President Biden.”