Stop The Tsunami

War in Gaza: Day 235

WAR 

                                      

IDF tank  in central Gaza

The war in Gaza continues. Israel entered the controversial Rafah area where the IDF says Hamas still has three or four battalions of fighters, rockets, ammunition, and perhaps hostages hidden in the tunnels.

As the world condemns Israel for a fire in Rafah apparently caused by Israeli bombs, the IDF issued a statement that the fire was started by a secondary explosion of Hamas bombs stored in the nearby tent camp.

According to Ynetnews veteran columnist Nachum Barnea, the Israeli attack to eliminate two Hamas commanders was carried out against two buildings outside the tent camp.

The IDF also doubled-back and reentered the Jabaliya refugee camp when it became clear Hamas terrorists had returned to some areas. Fierce fighting took place resulting in the death of 7 soldiers and the wounding of over a hundred. According to reports, most of the deaths and injuries came from IED (booby-traps) or anti-tank missiles. Few of the IDF soldiers were hit by bullets.

On Monday, Israeli fighter jets and drones struck more than 75 targets in the Gaza Strip, the military says.

The IDF says the targets included weapon depots, rocket launchers — including one in Jabaliya used to attack Ashkelon and one in central Gaza primed for long-range attacks — buildings used by terror groups, observation posts, and other infrastructure, as well as cells of terror operatives.

In Jabaliya, the IDF says, it has expanded operations to the eastern part of the city in northern Gaza, during which troops killed numerous gunmen and located weapons. Tunnel shafts and a bomb-making lab were also located and destroyed, the army says.

In the past week over 100 wounded soldiers were evacuated from Gaza. A doctor at Ichilov hospital, said that in the past they’d see one or two helicopters a week with wounded soldiers and now they’re seeing two a day. But nearly none with bullet wounds.

So far, nearly 290 soldiers have been killed and approximately 3000 wounded since Israel entered Gaza on Oct 27th. This followed a Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct 7, 2023 when 1200 Israelis were massacred in kibbutzim and moshavim and IDF observation posts along the Gaza border. 242 hostages were taken into Gaza. 124 are reportedly still there but authorities fear most are no longer alive.

In a shocking report released by the IDF on Israel media, a terrorist father and son confessed to rape on Oct 7th. According to the Daily Mail in London, two interrogation videos were released by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday, showing Palestinian members of Hamas, a father and son, confessing to murdering and kidnapping people and raping women in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. 

          

  Captured Hamas terrorists Jamal Hassin Ahmad Radi (L) and son Abdallah Radi

Jamal Hussein Ahmad Radi, 47, and his son Abdallah, 18, both of whom were captured by the IDF in March, confessed to murder, kidnapping and the raping women in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Both men admitted they were members of Hamas. 18-year-old Abdallah said he was convinced to take part in the raid by his cousin Ahmad.

Jamal and is son came to the kibbutz, entered one house where they shot and killed a couple in their late 40’s then continued on. In the next two houses they entered Jamal, the father, said they kidnapped a woman and her daughter and a couple in their 50’s and turned them over to other Hamas terrorists in the kibbutz. In another house he said his group kidnapped a group of “10-12 civilians” about five of whom were children.

In another house Jamal said he saw a woman in leather shorts in the living room with other terrorists. He said he took her into another room and had sex with her. “She was screaming, she was crying, and I did what I did. I raped her,” he said.

Abdallah said that he and his cousin Ahmad also raped the woman and that his father had killed her. “My father raped her, then I did and then Ahmad did and then we left, but my father killed the woman after we finished raping her,” he said. 

Abdallah also said he had raped a second woman but did not specify which house she was in.  “I killed two people. I raped two people, and I broke into five houses,” Abdallah said, ending the interrogation.

The IDF told the Daily Mail that there was countless evidence of the brutal violence used by Hamas on October 7, including harrowing acts of genre-based and sexual violence.”

UN Secretary General Guterres has refused to admit to these crimes by Hamas even when presented to him by the UN’s investigator Pamela Patten.

However, a documentary made by Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta (Facebook) provided harrowing testimony by witnesses, survivors and others who dealt with the bodies after Oct 7th.

One pundit said that over dinner Israelis discuss these events. The are not forgotten and only strengthen Israel’s resolve to destroy Hamas.

Former American Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley visited destroyed Israeli kibbutzim and moshavim along the Gaza border. Haley said she thought the Russians and Chinese were responsible for the Oct 7th Hamas massacre. She offered no proof to back up her accusations.

According to the Times of Israel Haley said, “China’s been funding Iran the entire time. Russia’s intelligence helped them know where everything was. Iran helped get them trained. So this isn’t Hamas. These are all murderers and accomplices,…If we really mean it’s never going to happen again, we have to be honest and truthful with ourselves who did this.”

Haley is reportedly trying to position herself as a candidate for vice-President on former President Trump’s bid to retake the presidency.

Haley also warned, “if you think this will only be in Israel, if we are arrogant enough this could absolutely happen in America too.”

GAZA 

                                           

Fire in Rafa Tel al-Sultan DP camp

IDF ground forces have entered the Rafah area of Gaza. On Monday, IAF fighter jets bombed a Hamas compound a kilometer from the Tel al-Sultan DP camp. Two wanted Hamas terrorists, Khaled Nagar and Yassin Rabia, were eliminated. According to Ynetnews, the point of the attack was defined as an area from which Hamas carried out terrorist operations.

Reportedly, the two men who were eliminated were inside a closed complex and not in the nearby displaced persons camp being used by civilians.

IDF satellite view of the air strike in Rafah

The IDF reported that about 47 meters from the point of attack there was a Hamas rocket launcher, and a kilometer separated the safe zone that the IDF had set up for the displaced and the point of attack.

A secondary fire in the nearby tent camp reportedly killed 35 civilians.

The IDF has set up an investigation but initial reports were that secondary explosions caused by a Hamas weapons stockpile may have sent sparks flying that ignited a fuel tank. Some skeptics speculate that perhaps Hamas set the fire after the assassinations as a way to bring the world’s condemnation down on Israel. Or that a errant Hamas missile landed in the tent camp.

IDF satellite view of the air strike in Rafah

According to Ynetnews, Yassir Rabia managed the entirety of Hamas' terrorist activity across the West Bank, transferred funds to terror targets and planned Hamas terror attacks throughout the territory. In the past, Rabia carried out numerous murderous terror attacks, including in 2001 and 2002, in which IDF soldiers were killed.   

Nagar, according to Ynet, “had reportedly directed shooting attacks and other terrorist activities across the West Bank and transferred funds intended for Hamas’ terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip. 

“Both Rabia and Nagar were given several life sentences in Israeli prisons but were freed in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap deal for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The IDF said that the strike was “carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas' use of the area.” 

The Palestinian Authority, and Egypt, both accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians at the displaced person’s camp where the two Hamas commanders were killed. And where, some speculate, a fire broke out in the camp and spread to a number of tents.

The IDF Chief Military Advocate Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said on Monday that the army was investigating what was called a “very grave” incident in Rafah.

The UN, as well as several countries who are usually critical of Israel, were quick to condemn the airstrike and tragic loss of life.

Also, on Monday, an Egyptian soldier was killed in an exchange of gunfire with IDF troops at the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt. Both sides say the other fired first. The IDF said they have launched an investigation.

Pundits worry that the shooting may exacerbate an important relationship with the Egyptians. The Rafa border is one of the flash points between Israel and Egypt. Israel claims that there are a plethora of tunnels beneath the crossing that have been used for years by families of smugglers bringing in black market goods and weapons for Hamas. 

However, Channel 12TV news reported that the Egyptians were trying solve the problem and keep relations with Israel on an even keel.

And, Iran is reportedly secretly continuing to enrich uranium on its march to develop a nuclear bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran is expanding its stockpile of weapons grade uranium and now has 142.1 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%.  

One Israeli pundit reacted to the report with “That’s all we need.”  Another pointed out that should Iran acquire the bomb, Israel was facing an existential threat that would make the war in Gaza seem like a game children played in the kindergarten. A threat that could see not only the destruction of Israel but the beginning of a world war using nuclear weapons.

Some media reports that the outrage over the fire in Rafah has created an international furor. One commentator thought this might be the event that forces Israel to stop the war and withdraw from Gaza without any concessions from Hamas or the release of the hostages.

Nachum Barnea, writing in Ynetnews, called the IDF’s entry into Rafah a mistake that never should have happened. Barnea calls the present situation a “deep black hole” that will be hard to get out of. He criticized not only the IDF and Netanyahu for the blunder but also former generals Benny Gantz and Gadi Eiszenkott, both members of the war cabinet, for approving the plan.

Rockets 

                            

Bedroom in Herzliya hit by Hamas Rocket

For the first time in four months, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets at central Israel on Sunday, striking as far as Kfar Saba. Blasts were heard in Tel Aviv. One rocket punched through the roof of a small home in Herzliya. No one was injured in the barrage. Most of the rockets were either destroyed by the Iron Dome or fell in open areas.

According to Nir Dvori, Channel 12TV military correspondent, the missiles were fired from the Rafah area. Reportedly, the missiles were launched because the IDF was closing in on the location of the missile launchers and Hamas had to decide, “Use it or lose it.” The chose use it. On Sunday evening the IDF reported that the launch site and the launchers used in Sunday’s volley were destroyed.

Channel 12TV’s Nir Dvori also said that Hamas still posses tens of long range rockets and could be expected to use them as the IDF troops close in on their positions. Eventually all the missiles will be found and eliminated, he said.

Adm (ret.) Eliezer “Cheni” Marom, said on a panel that the IDF was working quite well in Rafah. He said that Hamas realizes they are being surrounded. “Boots on the ground will find all of the rockets, but until then we will get hit by rockets.

However, Dvori was also critical of the IDF and the government for waiting four months to enter Rafah. According to Dvori the IDF could have entered in a two prong attack, north Gaza and south Gaza, simultaneously when there was a huge concentration of IDF forces on the ground. Now the fighting is harder. He avoided outrightly blaming the government for prolonging the war.

On Monday, according to Ynetnews, Terrorists were eliminated in Jabaliya, and launch facilities were eliminated in north and central Gaza

Ynetnews reported that IDF troops had expanded their operational activity into eastern Jabaliya in recent days. Reportedly, the troops eliminated several terrorists in close-quarters combat and located large amounts of weaponry, including Kalashnikov rifles, mortar shells, explosives and additional military equipment.

In addition, IDF troops located and dismantled an explosives manufacturing facility and a number of tunnel shafts, eliminated several terrorists, and dismantled dozens of weapons and terror infrastructure. The Israeli Air Force aircraft also struck a site in Jabaliya from which rockets were launched toward Ashkelon throughout the war. 

In the central Gaza Strip, the IDF eliminated several terrorists, including those who had been spying on the troops.These terrorists were eliminated by tank fire and in direct encounters. 

Also, IAF fighter jets struck a rocket launcher in the central Gaza Strip that was about to fire at Israel, according to the IDF. The IDF also said that in the past day, IAF aircraft and fighter jets struck and dismantled over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including weapons storage facilities, terrorist cells, rocket launchers, military structures, observation posts and additional terrorist infrastructure.

Hostages

                          

Funeral of Chanan Yablonka 

125 hostages are still being held in Gaza. It is not known how many are still alive. Over the lasts week seven bodies were discovered in tunnels and apartments in Gaza. One was Chanan Yablonka, whose family asked for those who supported hostage negotiations to join the funeral procession.Thousands turned out. 

Some experts say no more than 85 hostages are still alive. Meanwhile, protests are taking place every night to get the government to reach some sort of agreement with Hamas for the return of the hostages.

According to Amir Shirki on Channel 12TV, the problem isn’t really Israel but Hamas leader Sinwar who is in no hurry to release any hostages.

Channel 12TV military correspondent Nir Dvori said on Sunday that the US is partly to blame for the situation because they, and the EU, did not do enough to pressure Qatar, where the Hamas high-command are living, to make a hostage deal.

Speaking on Israel Radio a mother of one of those soldiers who was killed in Gaza, a woman who attends the nightly protests, said that she has spoken to soldiers from her son’s unit and they are losing the high motivation they had when the war began eight months ago. They are still fighting, still doing their jobs, but now they are questioning the government and the army’s policies.

The mother said she had voted for Netanyahu, and up until about four months ago, supported him and his policies, but now she wonders if Netanyahu’s strategy isn’t simply to prolong the war for his own political advantage. 

Netanyahu has a criminal trial and uses the war as an excuse not to show up in court. Should the trial, that has been dragged out now for five years, end with a guilty verdict, Netanyahu could well go to prison. The mother thinks that perhaps Netanyahu is not really interested in any hostage deal.

          

Screen shot from video of captured female Israeli soldiers

A video was aired on all of the Israeli TV channels and quickly made the rounds of social media. The video, released by families of five women held hostage in Gaza, was a three-minute clip of five female soldiers kidnapped on Oct 7th and dragged into Gaza. The video showed the women, before they were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, with battered bleeding faces, one limping, one unable to walk. All had been physically, and experts assume, sexually violated.

The video was so powerful that the government was pressured into restarting negotiations to get the hostages back. Israel’s negotiating team, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, was to meet with the US team, led by CIA chief William Burns and the PM of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who represents Hamas.

According to the Times of Israel, Maj. Gen (res.) Nitzan Alon, the Israeli military’s envoy to negotiations aimed at freeing hostages held in Gaza, expressed hopelessness over the chances of reaching a deal with the current government at the helm.

According to the Channel 12TV news Alon had recently pushed for the war cabinet to give the negotiating team more leeway once talks resume, lobbying for a mandate more in line with Hamas’s demands.

In a statement released shortly after the Channel 12 report Sunday night, Netanyahu’s office criticized the publication of the leaked comments, saying they “only harden Hamas’s position, harm families and delay the release of our abductees.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu reportedly told the war cabinet he was adamantly against any pause in the fighting.

MK Gadi Eisenkot, who is an observer in the war cabinet, has reportedly told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee that Israel should suspend its offensive in Rafah for as long as is necessary to secure the release of the hostages through a deal with Hamas.

According to Hebrew media reports, Eisenkot told the committee that the correct thing to do in the Gaza Strip is to “reach the end of the fighting in Rafah and at the same time, move forward with hostage deal, in which we will cease fighting for as long as it takes.

Eisenkot is said to have told the committee, referring to the weeklong truce in late November that brought about the release of 105 hostages, “Just as we stopped for a truce last time, we can suspend the fighting and return to it for as long as it takes to achieve the goals of the war,”

West Bank 

                                              

IDF bulldozer in Jenin May 21,2024

Israel ended a forty hour operation in the West Bank town of Jenin. The IDF says that 8 terrorists were killed, terrorists arrested, and weapons seized. The IDF also said that it had demolished the home of Ahmet Barakat, a Palestinian terrorists involved in the killing of Meir Tamari in a shooting attack in May 2023. Barakat was killed in a drone attack in March.

The IDF also launched a rare airstrike at a terrorist command room. Since Oct 7, IDF troops have arrested some 4,000 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including 1,700 connected to Hamas.

North

                

  David Azouli holding remains of a rocket

Hezbollah continues to pound the north of Israel with rockets, armed drones and mortars. According to Channel 1 Kan TV, over 80 rockets fell on the north on Monday with 65 landing within an hour and a half.

Nearly 60,000 Israeli residents of the north have been forced out of their homes by the rockets. Towns like Kyriat Shmona and Metula are practically abandoned. Rockets continue to fall on these towns, as well as kibbutzim and moshavim in the Galilee and even the Golan Heights.

David Azouli, head of the Metula regional council, says that every home in Metula has been hit by a rocket. “Every morning I walk around and tears come to my eyes.” Ynetnews reported that the streets were destroyed, gardens filled with debris.

On Sunday, an anti-tank missile hit the B&B complex (Bed and Breakfast). A bedroom received a direct hit. The burned out frame of a king-size bed was all that remains of the bed. Metula, once a tourist magnet, has been abandoned except by a few die-hards and the army patrols. 

                          

Bed and Breakfast room in Metulla

Israel has continued to respond with artillery and airstrikes. On Monday the leader of a Hezbollah group responsible for rockets fired along the coast was killed when an unmanned drone fired a missile at him as he rode through southern Lebanon on his motorcycle. 

This assassination prompted Hezbollah into a furious round of rocket and drone attacks. Some Israelis were injured by shrapnel in the attacks.

Prosper Azran, former long-time mayor of Kyriat Shmona, has not left the besieged city even though his house has been struck twice. “This is my city. I have no other city. I have no other country.”

Hezbollah leaders have said they will cease firing on Israel once the war in Gaza ends. However, military analysts expect that Israel will have no choice but to go to war with Hezbollah once the fighting in Gaza subsides. 

According to a report in the Times of Israel, the IDF’s 146th Division and 205th Reserve Armored Brigade carried out a drill in recent weeks simulating a ground offensive in Lebanon, the military says.

Politics 

                                   

  International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice in the Hague issued a ruling on Friday May 24 that called for Israel to stop fighting in Gaza. But the wording of the court’s decision was vague, according to experts, and left open Israel’s right to continuing to fight in Gaza.

However the media and many countries saw no ambiguity and demanded Israel immediately withdraw from Gaza. This call was made louder and more forcibly by the fire in the Rafah refugee camp.

According to Yuval Elbashan, writing in Ynetnews, “Internal law is nothing but politics… a web of power and international interests, and given the immense pressure exerted on the court in The Hague against Israel, the ruling that emerged is certainly the least bad for Israel. The ruling was a judicial ‘safety valve’ that could be interpreted and implemented in many ways.” 

Elbashan brings the example of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The justices ruled that racial segregation must be abolished “with all deliberate speed.” But never defined what time frame that entailed. This allowed segregation to go on for years.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that "Israel must immediately halt any actions in Rafah that could affect the civilian population according to the Genocide Convention." 

Judge Aharon Barak, former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, in his dissenting opinion, clarified that.”Israel is not barred from military action in Rafah as long as it fulfills its obligations under the convention.”"

Ugandan Judge concurred. “…the order instructs Israel to pause its attack in Rafah only if such a pause is necessary to prevent conditions that could lead to the destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza."

Elbashan concluded “The order is far from a defeat. Therefore, it is wise to adhere strictly to the order, which is clearly worded and instructs Israel to preserve evidence and allow investigators into the war zone, as long as it does not endanger our soldiers.”

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the UN International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan has requested an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and  Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as three Hamas leaders, including Sinwar and Haniyeh, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the conflict.

Some countries have bristled at the idea that the Prime Minister of Israel, a sovereign democratic country, could be equated with the leaders of a terrorist organization. President Joe Biden denounced the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.

According to CNN, in a statement Monday, Biden called the ICC’s efforts “outrageous” He said, “Let me be clear…whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”

Like the ICJ ruling, the ICC has little power to enforce its rulings, even though, according to Reuters, all 27 European Union countries are ICC members and EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell noted that they "are bound to execute the court's decisions.”

Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Britain's upper house of parliament on Tuesday."And as we've said from the outset, because Israel is not a signatory to the (ICC's founding) Rome statute and because Palestine is not recognized as a state, we don't think that the court has jurisdiction in this area," he added.

Anthony Dworkin, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the request for warrants in itself could limit any travel plans for Netanyahu and Gallant. The ICC has no police force, so the arrest of suspect must be carried out by member or cooperative states.

Meanwhile, Israel’s attorney general Gali Baharav-Mirara, says Israel is actively investigating allegations of Gaza war conduct. She accuses ICC prosecutor Kahn of violating the ICC charter by rushing to seek arrest warrants.

She also described South Africa’s suit as “baseless” and as “totally distorting the concept of ‘genocide.’”

Said the attorney general, “Hamas is a genocidal organization that murders Israelis and Jews because of who they are. It is carrying out abominable war crimes at this very moment. Hamas is responsible for the suffering of Gaza’s residents, it does not take care of them. It has invested massive sums in building terrorist infrastructure and uses civilians as human shields.”

The attorney general also told a lawyers conference in Eilat that Netanyahu’s government was still trying to push through their contentious Judicial Reform package but through more subtle means. 

Israel Politics

In Israel, Benny Gantz, National Unity party head, and member of the war cabinet, has accused Prime Minister Netanyahu and other ministers of prioritizing politics over security.  Gantz also called for a state inquiry into the Oct 7th massacre. 

A Ynet article said that the rejection of an appeal filed by National Unity party MK Chili Tropper against advancing a bill that would lower the age of exemption from military service for yeshiva students is evidence that “among Israel’s government ministers, politics comes before Israel’s security.”

“Instead of joining the war effort – they are uniting for coalition considerations,” Tropper said.

Military experts have said that Israel is facing a manpower crises. Moves have been made to extend the length of mandatory military service and reserve duty to fill the gap. The contentious Ultra-Orthodox draft law is considered an obstacle to incorporating young Ultra-Orthodox men into the military.

Reportedly, Gantz insisted that it needed to be accompanied by efforts to extend the national service requirement to both Haredi and Arab Israelis.

Also, Transport Minister Miri Regev, a close confidant and outspoken supporter and defender of Prime Minister Netanyahu, has been accused of staffing her ministry with political supporters who would help her win a top spot on the Likud list in the upcoming primaries rather than appointing qualified individuals. 

She has been accused of trying to appoint Ofer Malca as CEO of the airports Authority after having dismissed CEO Hagai Topolansk. There has been no CEO at the authority since Feb 2023 because the appointments panel has continuously found Malca unqualified for the position.

The allegations were made on Channel 13TV on Thursday. According to the report, Yonatan Yehosef an ex-aid to Regev, has said that guilt over what happened on Oct. 7th has led him to produce records showing that “the Transport Ministry was awash with party politics, corruption and a sycophantic adviser corps.”

Yonatan Yehosef, said he decided to come forward as a mea culpa for his involvement in the type of politicking which, he said, was typical of state failures leading up to October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take over 250 hostages.

According to the report, Yehosef said that there were colors coded for each city showing the support, or lack thereof, for Regev in the party’s primaries. Arad was considered a “red city for not supporting Regev.

Nisan Ben Hamo, mayor of Arad, told Channel 13 that Regev’s ministry had never responded to his requests to repair the notoriously dangerous Route 31, which connects the southern city with the Dead Sea. Ben Hammo was not a strong Regev supporter.

A senior law enforcement official was quoted by Channel 13 as saying that Regev’s alleged conduct “exudes a stench of rot and corruption” and was possibly criminal.

The attorney general’s office is reportedly investigating the accusations.

But one pundit scoffs at the possible investigation. “Netanyahu has been on trial for three felonies for the last five years. We’ll all be in nursing homes before Regev is indicted and dead before she’s convicted.”

Antisemitism 

                                                           

Mohammed Hadid

“Let’s be clear,” said one observer, “statistics can be misinterpreted. Research can be cited erroneously.”

In a recent Jerusalem Post article, Mohamed Hadid, a Nazareth-born Muslim American-Jordanian, a luxury real estate developer, and father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, recently cited a Johns Hopkins genome study.

Hadid claimed that the study showed that only 2.5 percent of those “Judaic” people living in Israel are related to the ancient Hebrews of the biblical era, but that 80 percent of the Palestinians living in Israel had DNA that traced back to the ancient Hebrews.

                          

Super-model Bella Hadid

Therefore, according to Mohamed Hadid, the Palestinians were the true inheritors of the land of Israel not those Israelis claiming a right of return and historic title.

Bella Hadid, and her Palestinian-born father, have long been critics of Israel. Bella Hadid has nearly 60 million followers on Instagram and often posts anti-Israeli items. She is considered, according to AP news, a “social media influencer.”

The problem is no study can be easily found to support Mr. Hadid’s claim.There are a few Johns Hopkins studies that allude to some of Hadid’s claims, but those have been discounted by serious scholars.

Another example of misrepresentation of facts and figures is the Hamas controlled Gaza Health Ministry. The numbers of dead and wounded Gazans the Health Ministry publishes cannot be independently verified. More than once the Gaza Health Ministry has been caught lying.

Last week, the UN issued a report with the number of deaths in Gaza caused by the Gaza war with Israel is half of what the Gaza Health Ministry publishes. The UN gave no reason for issuing figures different from Hamas’ Gaza Health Ministry.

The problem is that statistics like the number of deaths the Hamas Gaza Health Minister publishes, or the dubious study quoted by Hadid, are quickly disseminated on social media and broadcast TV, radio and internet news sites as the truth.

These erroneous statistics are then used to incite pro-Palestinian protesters on the streets and on the campuses. The statistics are also used as proof of Israel committing Genocide.

Because of social media posts based on these statistics, and false reports like the one Mr. Hadid propagates, antisemitism is sweeping the globe like a tsunami.

False narratives are being used to spread antisemitism. There is nothing new in that, according to one pundit. Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels turned false narratives into an art form. The problem today is that so many people are swallowing the distortions of the truth, grabbing placards, and rushing into the streets.

Some are well-meaning liberals. Others Palestinians who see this as another front on the war in Gaza.

                                               

Yale University Graduation

According to Reuters, 150 students walked out of the Yale University commencement ceremony when the university’s president Peter Salvoes began his presentation of candidates for degrees. 

The protesters carried small banners, some read “Books not bombs” and “Divest from War.” Yale has been pressured by protesters not to invest in funds that hold shares in Israeli companies. 

Other signs “Drop the charges,” referred to the 45 people arrested in a police crackdown last month on demonstrations in and around the campus.

According to Reuters, “Yale is one of dozens of U.S. campuses roiled by protests over the mounting Palestinian humanitarian crisis stemming from Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip following the bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack on communities in Israel by Hamas militants.

The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony altogether, and dozens of students walked out of Duke University's commencement last week to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza.

Reuters reported that,“Fallout from a violent attack weeks ago on pro-Palestinian activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, reverberated on the UC Santa Cruz campus on Monday as academic workers there staged a protest strike organized by their union.

“Also on Monday, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in New Hampshire, narrowly voted to censure president Sian Beilock, according to a college spokesperson, for her decision to call in police to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on May 1. The censure vote does not directly endanger Beilock's job.

“The police action resulted in the arrest of 89 people and some injuries.”

Protests at Brown University graduation saw placards and shouts of “No Rest Until University Divests.”  Not surprisingly, a recent study showed that anti-Israel protests were more prevalent at elite US universities. 

                      

Pro-Palestinian students at Harvard

What makes these and other actions the most interesting, according to one observer, is that the heated demonstrations are incited by pro-Palestinian movements on social media that are often written by Palestinian students, or state-sponsored media specialists, and based on exaggerated or simply false narratives.

                            

Dr. Amit Serusi

An NPR story on May 18,2024 featured six student protesters who had been arrested. They all said that they would continue the protests when school resumes in the fall. All but one were Palestinians or Palestinian-Americans, or students who had spent time in the West Bank with Palestinians.

Dr. Amit Serusi, a strategic consultant, and angel investor Israeli citizen living in Philadelphia, writing an opinion piece in Ynetnews that said the rising antisemitism on campus poses an economic threat to Israel. He pointed out that today’s protesters would be tomorrows business executives, professors, attorneys and politicians.  

Serusi urged Federal pressure on universities to clamp down on campus antisemitism, “and ask corporate leaders to publicly condemn antisemitism and stop recruiting students who engage in antisemitic activities.

And finally, that the Israeli government must continue to pursue global economic collaboration…rather than isolating ourselves, we must strive to ensure Israel continues to be a leader in the global economy.”

Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel, far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib warned on Sunday that in the upcoming election President Biden and other Democrats would pay for their support of Israel.

Tlaib spoke at a People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit. In the past, the conference has included speakers linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated as terrorists by the US. 

Panelists have expressed support for terrorism and other acts of violent “resistance” against Israel. These acts included supporting the Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct 7, where 1200 Israelis were killed and 252 taken hostage. Tlaib ended her speech with chants of “Free Palestine.” 

                                           

Debora Lipstadt

On Friday, Deborah Lipstadt, US Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, called antisemitism a “threat to democracy,” amid sharp rises in instances of Jew hatred in the United States and elsewhere since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

In a virtual event from her office in Washington, Lipstadt said she didn’t think that we were in 1938. “I think it’s more like the early 1930’s, maybe the late 1920’s.” She was referencing the destabilization of society taking place then, likening it to “what has happened in many countries since Oct. 7th.”

She said that the situation today was more dangerous because of the ability to rapidly spread antisemitism over social media. But on the other hand she pointed out that there are governments today, including the USA, have appointed senior officials to combat antisemitism.

Lipstadt was upset that the rape and sexual mutilation Hamas terrorists committed on Oct 7 was “celebrated” by some and questioned by others.

“The silence, “ she said, “… was the most disconcerting — silence of precisely those groups from whom one would expect to have been outraged — women’s groups, progressive groups, groups that fight sexual violence, human rights groups.” Lipstadt stressed that those same groups were quick to speak out when the perpetrators were Boko Haram or ISIS.

“What’s the difference between that and October 7? There’s only one difference, and that difference is the perception that these victims were all Jews,” she stated,