Trump does not do a favor by opposing Israeli resumption of sovereignty in Gaza

Donald Trump's recent kowtowing to demands of Muslim states has the Yesha Council concerned:

Israel’s Yesha Council is “deeply concerned” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to set a deadline for extending Israeli sovereignty to the region during a meeting with a council delegation in New York on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Judea and Samaria leaders on Sunday that he would tell U.S. President Donald Trump the region is inseparable from the Jewish state, according to the umbrella group of Judea and Samaria communities. However, he would not commit to a timeline. [...]

On Saturday evening, the council announced that an “unprecedentedly large emergency delegation” consisting of the organization’s leadership, as well as Judea and Samaria mayors and council heads, had departed for New York following Trump’s remarks against Israeli sovereignty.

Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office on Sept. 25, Trump said that he had ordered Netanyahu ahead of their Monday meeting not to “annex the West Bank” and that he would “not allow” the move to take place.

“There’s been enough,” Trump told reporters. “It’s time to stop now.”

What's objectionable about the above is that it implies Israel is a "thief", which is exactly what's led to only so much antisemitic persecution, and will continue to do so if not opposed. This is unacceptable. Similarly, if Trump's proposing that foreign Islamic governments take control of Gaza, that too could lead to renewed terrorist infrastructure in the future, and that's also unacceptable.

Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that his opposition against a Palestinian state “is not simply my policy or my government’s policy; it is the policy of the state and people of the State of Israel.”

“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after Oct. 7th is like giving Al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after Sept. 11th,” he said. “This is sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it.”

Nearly 70% of Israelis want Jerusalem to extend full legal sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.

Trump and company would do well to take note and acknowledge the above. It's bad enough they've legitimized Ahmed al-Sharaa in Syria. Any impositions upon Israel are also unacceptable.

Update: in related news, a Secret Service car caught fire in the District of Columbia today, and Catherine Salgado says:

Hopefully, the car burning is the only disaster of today, and Israel is not saddled with a horrible deal in which George Soros-tied globalist Tony Blair is the transitional ruler of Gaza before handing it back over to the terror-funding Palestinian Authority (PA). Reports of such a deal raised concerns due to Blair’s ties and the PA’s pay-for-slay program to incentivize and reward terrorism, not to mention the PA was formed for the express purpose of taking over Israeli land by Yasser Arafat, the inventor of the Palestinian people and father of modern terrorism.

These are very serious points being made, and Blair would be bad news too.

Last remaining American hostage of Hamas freed

Eden Alexander, the one remaining USA-born hostage of Hamas, has been released from captivity:

Edan Alexander, 21, the last American-Israeli hostage, was released Monday by Hamas to the Red Cross and is en route to Israel, where he will be met by his family, doctors, and officials from both Israel and the U.S.

Alexander, who comes from Tenafly, New Jersey, immigrated to Israel and volunteered in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where he was accepted into the elite Golani brigade. He was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, terror attack.

Many residents of Tenafly gathered at dawn to watch Alexander’s release.

Alexander was handed to the Red Cross — which, for nearly 600 days, failed to visit him in captivity — in Gaza on Monday afternoon local time, and was set to be delivered to Israeli forces in Gaza, before his return home.

It's to be remembered that this makes clear how evil the Red Cross actually is, if they refuse to try and visit hostages.

Donald Trump has welcomed Alexander's release, and this is an important achievement for the POTUS indeed. Here's more:

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum welcomes the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander “after 584 agonizing days of captivity.”

“Edan’s release is a beacon of light and hope, and it is also a reminder that 58 hostages are still being held captive in Gaza,” it says. “No hostage can be left behind. Unless all of them return, there will be no Israeli victory.”

“The return of all the hostages is the most urgent and important national mission of our generation,” the forum adds.

The problem is that the Hamas still cannot be allowed to remain, nor any other Muslims in Gaza, or this nightmare will return, and whether or not all hostages are released, we cannot allow that to impede upon punishing the jihadists. Food for thought.

Update: Alexander's been reunited with his family.

Hen Mazzig's offensive moral equations

About 2 months ago, the leftist homosexual journalist Hen Mazzig, who already did something bad enough by attacking Abigail Shrier for defending girls, Jewish or otherwise, from LGBT operations similar to the violence Hamas committed on October 7, 2023, wrote apologia for Muslims in Gaza in the Jewish Exponent where he says they shouldn't be "displaced" from the Gaza strip, obscuring that they disqualified themselves of the privilege of remaining:

I grew up on stories of exile. My family was forced out of Iraq and Tunisia for being Jewish — homes stolen, communities erased and history rewritten. To this day, too many people insist it was “voluntary migration,” as if nearly a million Jews in Arab lands simply woke up one morning and decided to leave behind centuries of roots, culture and history.

I’ve spent years pushing back against that erasure, making it clear that my family — and so many others — were forced to leave. And yet, today, I see a disturbing echo of that same denial. The same people who overlooked Mizrahi Jews’ suffering are now casually advocating for the forced displacement of Palestinians as “the only option” to deal with Hamas’ terror.

I get the disgusted feeling he's implying right-wingers "overlooked" eastern Jews' plight? Well that's awfully rich coming from somebody who doesn't seem to have much respect for women. This certainly obscures how the Menachem Begin government did its best to help people of such backgrounds, and suggests Mr. Mazzig's political leanings are impeding his ability to appreciate that. Of course, it's also possible he's implying the left as of now is advocating for moving out what Mazzig blatantly calls "palestianians", and can't stand if anybody on his end of the spectrum is supporting what's best worked on, which is to send away products of Islamic indoctrination who tragically were all on Hamas' side 2 years before, to a distance that would be best remained at.

Reactions to President Donald Trump’s statement last week about removing Palestinians from Gaza ranged from some voices applauding it as a necessary step — one online commentator even told me it was time to “try something new to solve this conflict” — to anti-Israel activists using it as “evidence” of Israeli intentions, to extremists on both sides seizing it to justify their absolutist solutions for this conflict.

I see things differently, because I don’t have to imagine what forced displacement does to a people. I see it in my own family, even 75 years later. My grandmother still speaks of Baghdad — not just as a city, but as her other homeland that was taken from her. The trauma of being uprooted never left her, nor did the deep pain of knowing that an entire world of Jewish life in Iraq was erased in a single generation. Yes, we rebuilt. Yes, Israel gave my family refuge. But what was lost can never be fully regained.

This is what’s missing from the argument that Palestinians would be “better off” leaving Gaza — that they would have safer, more comfortable lives if they were resettled elsewhere. It’s the same logic that was used to justify the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands. And while my family may have found security in Israel, that doesn’t mean the original trauma was justified. Nor does it account for the cultural and communal annihilation that came with it.

This entirely obscures the evils of Islam, which I sadly guess Mr. Mazzig isn't even the slightest bit willing to acknowledge, and even if he studied the Koran's contents, chances are it makes no difference to him. He continues with his shoddy obfuscations:

The destruction of Gaza under Hamas’ rule is undeniable. But forced displacement doesn’t solve that problem — it only ensures that the pain and resentment of this war will last for generations. I am not blind to the fact that anti-Zionists today demand the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel. Not only is that hateful, but it fundamentally denies the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land of Israel. That’s racism. And it’s unacceptable.

Indeed, the loudest voices in the “Free Palestine” movement aren’t calling for a two-state solution. They’re not talking about peace. They want Israel gone. They want Jewish sovereignty erased. They don’t see Oct. 7 as an atrocity — they see it as a model.

But you don’t fight anti-Zionist eliminationism with eliminationist rhetoric of your own. You don’t counter the fantasy of erasing Israel by proposing the same for Gaza.

That’s not strength. That’s surrender — to the idea that this is a zero-sum war where one side must be erased for the other to survive.

And I guess it's weakness to look for the cause of the hatred driving Muslim adherents, right?

I am not talking about efforts — if they exist — to give Gazans who wish to seek refuge elsewhere the ability to do so. That is their right. I am talking about the fantasy that all Palestinians in Gaza will be wiped out or relocated to some as-yet-undetermined place, as if that were a serious solution.

Of course, the plan to displace Gazans that Trump floated, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, is unlikely to end up getting carried out.

Let’s be honest: Relocating Palestinians from Gaza is never going to happen. No Arab country will get on board. Saudi Arabia rushed to release a statement making it clear they won’t normalize relations with Israel without a Palestinian state. Egypt and Jordan have always said they won’t take in Palestinians from Gaza. No American administration — least of all one that ran on ending wars and tightening borders — will commit troops to enforce it or open the gates to Palestinian refugees.

This is political theater.

And this is defeatism on Mazzig's part. Mainly because the Jordanian king has so far shown the willingness to take in children of families who need medical care, and there are more who'll be relocating to Indonesia. But Mazzig, in all his moral equivalence, won't show any appreciation, will he? And of course, he avoids any reference to the Religion of Peace. He definitely doesn't speak of it negatively. And he doesn't seem particularly interested in making a case for sending a message to Arab countries that they should take in these so-called palestinians, whose very name draws from one given to Israel by the Roman empire, and Mazzig obscures that entirely.

We’ve seen this play before. Netanyahu and Trump previously dangled West Bank annexation only to “concede” it in exchange for the Abraham Accords. Now, Trump is floating this logistical insanity — likely knowing it will never happen — to position himself as the only one who can “negotiate it down.”

But here’s the real danger: While world leaders understand this is just bluster, the people watching — especially online — think it’s real. And that’s a serious threat to us.

Because Mr. Mazzig wants it to be. He's obviously anti-Trump, just like he's anti-Netanyahu. And if he thinks western conservatives are the root cause of all evil, and can't acknowledge even liberals make mistakes, that's just the problem Mazzig has failed to prove he can rise above.

Because when these extreme ideas enter the mainstream, they don’t just fade away. They stick. They fuel conspiracies. They get used to paint all Jews as complicit in a plan that doesn’t even exist. And once again, we become the scapegoat.

Political leaders pushing these ideas aren’t protecting Jews. They’re making us targets. Jews deserve better than to be associated with unrealistic, cruel proposals that will almost certainly never happen but will absolutely be used against us.

And if there’s one thing I know from my family’s history, it’s that displacement only creates new wounds; it does not heal old ones. The Jews who were expelled from Arab lands never found justice, and Palestinians won’t either if they are forcibly removed from Gaza.

Hamas started this war. Hamas is responsible for this war. But the people in Gaza shouldn’t have to pay for a tyranny that rules over them with an iron fist. Many of them, as we’ve seen from footage throughout this war, oppose Hamas and do not want to live under their control.

And we deserve better than to have leftists like Mazzig lecture us with cowardice. This reeks of blood libels anti-Israel propagandists use, to imply that Israel is literally guilty of tyrannizing Gazans entirely without justification. And ignores all the barbaric acts committed in the name of the Religion of Peace, to say nothing of how many Muslims in Gaza were indoctrinated with Hitler's Mein Kamph, translated into Arabic. That Mazzig apparently obscured such horrific discoveries speaks volumes, and the same goes for how he obscures the celebrations the Gazan Muslims had after October 7, 2023. The Islamofascists in Gaza also celebrated September 11, 2001, and Mazzig doesn't dwell on that either. What does that say about what kind of person Mr. Mazzig is?

The more we entertain the idea that one side must be erased for the other to live, the further we get from any future that isn’t defined by endless war.

There are no magic wands here. No shortcuts. And no amount of forced migration — of Jews or Palestinians — will bring the peace we all deserve.

The only way forward is to dismantle Hamas, empower Palestinian leaders who reject extremism and invest in a long-term solution where both peoples can live with security, dignity and self-determination — without adding to the traumas that must be overcome another episode of ethnic cleansing like what my family experienced.

And the more we vehmently refuse to discuss the content of the Koran/Hadith, and vehemently refuse to acknowledge that the modern claim of a "palestinian state" was an anti-Israel fabrication, the less likely we are to solve a terrible problem. Oh, and has Mr. Mazzig ever spoken in defense of black Africans who were victim of Islamofascism in Africa? Or victims of honor murders? He also doesn't seem particularly concerned about Islamic hostility to homosexuality, this despite Mazzig himself being homosexual. He also obscures how Gaza is really Israeli land, and this makes him no better than say, the phony conservative Ed Morrissey.

Mazzig has only proven himself one of the biggest hinderances to Israel, and if he hasn't apologized to the aforementioned Shrier, that's another serious error he's made.

Video footage of Hamas torturning Gazans comes out

The Hamas terrorist organization isn't just the enemy of Israelis. They also visit horrors upon their own fellow Gazans:

The Israel Defense Forces released footage this week that was discovered inside Gaza that showed Hamas terrorists torturing Palestinian civilians.

“The same civilians that Hamas outspokenly claimed to be fighting for, are the same civilians being tortured in this video,” the IDF said in a post that contained the video.

“Hamas is not only Israel’s enemy—they’re Gaza’s enemy also,” the post added.

IDF troops discovered what was described as “years’ worth of CCTV footage” of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists torturing civilians in Gaza.

Israel said that the footage was evidence of Hamas’ “brutal methods for interrogating civilians, violating human rights, and systematically oppressing residents suspected of opposing the organization’s rule.”

None of this will make an iota of difference to the leftists who've long turned their backs on the victims of Islamofascism, unfortunately.

Noa Argamani was held hostage in house of al-Jazeera photographer

One of the Israeli Hostages that was Rescued yesterday during the Joint-Operation in Central Gaza, 26-Year-Old Noa Argamani was being held Captive in the Home of Abdallah Aljamal, a Photojournalist and Writer/Editor for both Al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Chronicle. During the… pic.twitter.com/1755PL8X9X

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 9, 2024

According to this information, the now thankfully rescued Argamani was held prisoner in a house run by an al-Jazeera journalist:

According to a report by the Arab media, former Israeli hostage Noa Argamni, who was rescued in a daring raid by the National Counter-Terrorism Unit on Saturday, was apparently held captive for 8 months in an Al-Jazeera cameraman's house. "26-Year-Old Noa Argamani was being held Captive in the Home of Abdallah Aljamal, a Photojournalist and Writer/Editor for both Al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Chronicle, " Open Source Intelligence Monitor said in a recent post on the social media platform X.

Amid escalating tensions with Qatar over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet voted unanimously to close Qatari television network Al-Jazeera's operations in Israel, after Israel's parliament recently passed a law allowing the temporary closure of foreign broadcasters considered a threat to national security during the ongoing war against Hamas.

This continues to speak volumes about what even news "journalists" can be like, and do. If the monster who enslaved Argamani and others was killed in the raid, he's no loss.

In related news, while Almog Meir was rescued, it's sad to learn that his father died before he may have heard the thankful news of his son's rescue:

In a tragic turn of events, Yossi Meir, 59, father of hostage Almog Meir Jan, died just hours before his son was rescued in the daring Israeli raid in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. Almog's parents were divorced, and his father lived in Kfar Saba.

Family members tried to reach him when they learned of Almog's release from Hamas captivity but were unable to make contact. When IDF representatives arrived at his home to deliver the joyful news, they discovered his body.

Family members arrived at his Kfar Saba home after learning of his death. His sister Dina shared, "He died of cardiac arrest, he died from grief. He didn't get to know that his son was released from captivity." His sister-in-law Yaffit added, "He constantly sat by the television to stay updated on what's happening with his son, but sadly he didn't make it. His sister visited him on Thursday, and he probably passed away at night, and we didn't know."

Very sad. And we have Islam and its apologists to blame for all this. On which note, Argamani and the other hostages were forced to read the koran while in captivity:

The hostages who were freed from captivity during Saturday’s rescue operation in Nuseirat told the medical teams that they were emotionally abused while in captivity and that the terrorists forced them to read the Quran and learn Islamic rulings.

It's to be hoped they'll describe all that without reservations in future interviews, because everyone needs to know what the koran says about non-Muslims, sexual violence and jihadism, in example.

Did the Biden regime approve of ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu?

According to Robert Spencer, it looks like a recent report is warning that approval could've been given by Biden for what even the ICC could be planning:

If a Wednesday report in the Israeli media is accurate, this is one of the most, if not the most, craven betrayal of an ally in American history, and in the entire world’s history.

The Israeli journalist Amit Segal published a Hebrew-language story in the popular Israeli news outlet Mako that reveals an American betrayal of Israel of stupefying magnitude. “Very senior officials associated with the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” wrote Segal, “have spoken about Israel’s fear of arrest warrants for senior officials in the context of the war in Gaza. The officials told N12 [Mako’s broadcast channel] that the intention to issue such orders would not have been possible without American consent.”

The threat of arrest from the International Criminal Court is not hanging over the heads of minor officials only. “Last week,” Segal reports, “the Prime Minister’s Office held an urgent discussion on the issue, in which serious concerns were raised about allowing the issuance of arrest warrants against senior Israeli security and political leaders, including against Netanyahu himself.” This could all happen quickly: “Reports that have recently arrived in Jerusalem,” Segal continues, “indicate that the chance of issuing arrest warrants has increased dramatically, possibly as soon as next month.”

Segal noted that this was happening with American approval: “Regarding the intention to issue arrest warrants for senior Israelis, the sources at The Hague said that it is impossible that the chief prosecutor would have decided on such a dramatic step, in a war that is still ongoing, with very little evidence, if he had not at least had a ‘green light’ from the Americans. If this is true, this is another and unprecedented low in relations between Israel and the US, at a very sensitive time, on the eve of the ground entry to Rafah.”

Let's also remember Biden's "administration" refused to oppose a UN resolution against Israel a number of weeks ago, so this is no shock either. It's just another disgusting moment in a world that's eroding under political correctness and Orwellianism.

Update: foreign minister Yisrael Katz warns there'll be a wave of antisemitism if the ICC issues arrest warrants.

Update 2: Meir Ben-Shabbat makes clear the planned raid on Rafah must take place, even without the approval of the USA and the ICC.

50 creators who worked on Batman call for release of Israeli infant hostage whose family wore T-shirts of the Masked Manhunter, & Doonesbury cartoonist depicts Hamas properly

Something most remarkable was performed by quite a few comics contributors, old and new, who've had writing/art/editing credits on Batman over past years, as the Times of Israel reports:

Fifty creators of the iconic Batman superhero character signed a petition urging the governments of Egypt and Qatar to press for the release of Yarden and Shiri Bibas along with their two red-haired sons, Ariel and Kfir. All four family members have been held hostage in Gaza since October 7.

The family was kidnapped from Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists on October 7, a day that saw 3,000 terrorists infiltrate southern Israel to massacre 1,200 Israelis — most of them civilians — and kidnap 253 people into the Strip. Mother Shiri and her sons were captured separately from her husband Yarden.

One of the iconic images of the family that has been circulated since their capture shows the four wearing Batman apparel. Ariel, 4, is a dedicated fan of the Gotham City protector.

The petition was sent to Egyptian and Qatari ambassadors in Washington, DC, on April 12. The effort was organized by Dr. Rafael Medoff, historian and director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.

“These comics creators have spent decades developing a hero who fights for the innocent and stands as a beacon of hope for his community, and we’re trying to channel that spirit through this effort,” Medoff told The Times of Israel. [...]

Some of the Bibas petition’s high-profile signees include Mike Carlin, DC’s head of animation; longtime DC publisher Paul Levitz; and former president of Warner Animation Sander Schwartz.

The petition was also signed by some of Batman’s veteran writers, including Chip Zdansky and Mark Waid. Leading artists from the franchise who signed include Mark Bagley, Dan Jurgens, Denys Cowan and Amanda Conner, the celebrated artist behind the Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

“As members of the community of Batman writers and artists, we are contacting you concerning the young Batman fan who was taken hostage by terrorists and held in Gaza since last October 7,” said the creators.

“Moved by the many anecdotes of Ariel’s affection for the iconic character who has become a symbol of hope and justice for so many, we implore your governments to exercise all possible leverage on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to immediately release the Bibas family, and all the Israeli hostages, from captivity,” said the petition.

Well this definitely is amazing, considering how quite a few of these same creators, even the veterans, have taken such a lenient position on Islam in the past, and on that note, maybe it'd be a good idea to remind everyone why they still have fences to mend, and not just in the sense they've acted as apologists for the Religion of Peace in some way or other.

For example, Levitz, when he was in charge of DC comics, vehemently refused to greenlight Frank Miller's story that later became Holy Terror, yet Levitz had no issue going ahead with a collaboration with the Kuwaiti publishers of a propaganda comic called The 99. Waid was once involved in the writing of the storylines that led to Age of Apocalypse in X-Men, which drew a bizarre moral equation between Israel's officials and the PLO. Zdarsky's quite a woke leftist ideologue himself, as is writer Andrew Farago, the museum curator who attacked Comicsgate and blocks even Jewish X posters who could support the hashtag. Jurgens once wrote an apologia tale for Islam in the pages of Superman, as did Mike Grell in Iron Man during the early 2000s, and should it be mentioned it's ludicrous and offensive how a lethal villainess like Harley Quinn is being depicted with a Jewish background? After all, chances they'd do something similar with a Moslem character are next to nothing.

The writers who signed onto Wyman Institute's petition who do impress me more are Chuck Dixon, Ann Nocenti and even Steve Englehart. The latter 2 are leftist, to my knowledge, but unlike a lot of modern ones, seem to recognize the advantage of avoiding divisive statements, on social media or otherwise.

No stranger to Batman lore, Medoff penned an essay for a book called “Theology and Batman.” One of the book’s central themes is the theodicy — or sense of redemption — Batman brings to the world by vindicating goodness over evil.

Many of the creators of Batman, Superman and other superheroes were of Jewish descent. Quite a few books and essays have been written about how these creators were influenced by Jewish history while at their drawing boards.

Yes, but whatever the background of the creators, those of more recent times aren't exactly helping matters, if the latter of these 2 examples says something:

Earlier in 2024, an issue of DC’s “The Penguin” remembered that Bruce Wayne — Batman’s alter-ego — is Jewish. The moment came when Bruce Wayne referenced his handkerchief as being a Hanukkah gift from his father to his mother.

In a “Batwoman” reboot released in 2006, the character Kate Kane — Batwoman’s alter-ego — was reintroduced as a Jewish, lesbian cousin of Batman, demonstrating how comic artists both shape and reflect their times.

And they don't think this is even remotely insulting to the intellect the Kane character's depicted as lesbian solely for woke brownie points? And implying Wayne could have some Jewish ancestry (in some past renditions, it was established his ancestry was from Scotland), will not work if the writing is as woke as it's become lately. To imply Bruce is even bisexual only damages the character's image/reputation all the more, and is an embarrassment to Bill Finger and Bob Kane's legacy. Let us be clear. Those writers and artists who've joined Dr. Medoff's petition did the right thing. But unless they can prove they're repentant, and writers like Jurgens and Grell won't boomerang back on apologia for Islam tomorrow, what good is this project going to do in the long run? Add to this the unlikely scenario any of these creators will show the courage and altruism to work on a comics project tackling Islamic terrorism, and that's another frustrating issue right there.

Besides the above news, Dr. Medoff tells on Israel National News how Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Truedeau's acknowledged that Hamas is evil, and mocked them in his newspaper strips:

One of America’s most beloved newspaper comic strips has dared to poke fun at Hamas. Get ready for controversy!

In the latest Sunday installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doonesbury strip, a fictional anti-terrorist fighter—known as “the Red Rascal”—bursts into the bedroom of an actual Hamas leader, Ismail Haniye, who is living in Qatar.

The cartoon shows Haniyeh enjoying luxurious accommodations, and identifies him as “one of three Hamas leaders worth billions, who enriched themselves with donor money intended for impoverished Gazans!”

Garry Trudeau, the writer and artist of Doonesbury, has dared to acknowledge a fact about the Hamas leadership that most of the mainstream news media prefer to ignore. [...]

What makes this Doonesbury strip even more interesting is that Trudeau has been strongly critical of Israel in the past. His view of Hamas is not motivated by any kind of built-in pro-Israel bias.

Not only that, but Trudeau has been extra sensitive concerning Muslim reactions to controversial cartoons, such as the one about Mohammed that was published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. Islamist terrorists responded to that cartoon by massacring twelve members of the magazine’s staff.

Trudeau accused Charlie Hebdo of engaging in “hate speech.” He argued that the magazine's publication of the cartoon was unjustified because it constituted "attacking a powerless, disenfranchised minority."

But the Doonesbury creator can’t count on any of his past statements to protect him from a furious reaction to his criticism of Hamas. Pro-Hamas extremists in the United States are not known for their ability to calmly and rationally discuss differing points of view—especially when somebody reveals uncomfortable facts about their heroes.

Obviously, it's to be unfortunately expected Islam's sympathisers will react poorly and horrifically. Why, they could act the same way towards any and all of the above Batman contributors, and that too will be terrible, if God forbid it happens. Of course, one must wonder at this point if creators like Trudeau are repentant for the harm they caused by blaming the victims in horrible incidents like that in France. If not, then while it's amazing on the surface he'd attack Hamas as the evil entity they are, any failure to acknowledge he was wrong to blame Charlie Hebdo and other victims of Islamofascism in France ruins everything. I do vaguely recall at least a few Doonesbury strips that were negative to Israel, and so it sure has taken Trudeau a lot of time to show the courage to acknowledge that jihadist organizations like Hamas and PLO are barbaric evil incarnate.

So far, if there's one notable name connected with Batman stories whom I couldn't find on the Wyman petition, it's Frank Miller. How odd. Is he really that stupidly regretful for penning Holy Terror back in 2011 that he doesn't have the guts to participate in a project like Medoff's now? Well it's honestly disgraceful, IMO. Come to think of it, when even far-leftists like Kurt Busiek, Ron Marz, Dan DiDio, Joe Quesada, Gail Simone and Axel Alonso can't even contribute, that too has got to be saying something. This isn't just something that should involved Batman contributors, but all sorts of comics creators, even those more into independent productions. I'd strongly suggest Medoff try to contact them as well, and try to convince them to put aside all their vehement leftism and recognize why the message he's sending here is important for all to uphold, not just anybody who's worked on the Masked Manhunter. Calling for release of the hostages - many of whom have doubtless been subjected to torture and sexual violence - is surely the most important part of this whole tragedy.

Israel may have to consider not relying on the USA anymore

Fraud-in-chief Joe Biden continues to do what he and the Democrats can to damage Israel's ability to rescue hostages:

President Joe Biden, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded that Israel enact an “immediate ceasefire” in its war against Hamas and threatened that the U.S. would change its support for Israel if it does not meet the administration’s demands.

Biden attacked Israel for the humanitarian situation inside Gaza, calling it “unacceptable,” even though Israel has worked to allow aid to flow into the area, but has had to do so in a manner that prevents weapons from entering.

“[Biden] made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” the White House said in a readout of the call. “He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

“He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the statement continued.

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby confirmed at the White House press briefing shortly after the readout was published that Biden did threaten Israel if it did not meet his demands.

He also seems to blame Israel for the hostages' continued situation. And that's reprehensible. Joel Pollak says Israel may have to consider whether becoming a pariah is for the best:

Biden, like Barack Obama before him, is trying to appease the Iranian regime that funds and arms most of the terror groups in the Middle East. He also believes a Palestinian state is the key to peace, despite evidence to the contrary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes these policies, as do most Israelis, from right to left. So Biden is trying to do everything he can — overtly and covertly — to push Netanyahu aside and hope for a more pliant leader.

The result is that Israel finds itself alone. Biden is emphasizing Israel’s isolation by using tragedies like the World Central Kitchen deaths to accuse Israel, falsely, of being responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Biden, like Hamas, is demanding an “immediate ceasefire,” and may let the UN declare a Palestinian state.

If Israel wants to defeat Hamas by destroying the last Hamas battalions in the city of Rafah in Gaza, it may have to do so without U.S. support.

Likewise, if Israel takes on Iran — directly, or in Syria and Lebanon — it will be on its own. The White House is hinting that Israel can claw back support by dumping Netanyahu, but Israel would do so at the cost of its independence.

That's simply unacceptable terms. So, Pollak has a point.

Government approves memorial day for October 7, 2023

The Israeli government unanimously approved a rememberence day for October 7, 2023, when the Hamas committed their horrifying bloodbath and sexual violence last year:

The government unanimously approved a National Day of Remembrance to be held every year on the 24th of the Jewish month of Tishrei, to commemorate the October 7th massacre and the Sword of Iron War.

On the first anniversary, a ceremony will be held also on the secular date – October 7th, 2024.

The National Day of Remembrance will be marked annually with two state ceremonies: a ceremony at 11:00 a.m. in memory of those killed in the war, and a ceremony at 1:00 p.m. in memory of the civilians murdered in hostilities.

This year, in light of the fact that the 24th of Tishrei falls on Saturday, the ceremonies will take place on Sunday, the 25th of Tishrei, and so forth every year that the 24th of Tishrei falls on Shabbat (Saturday).

Those who voted in favor did the right thing. It's terrible, of course, that the horrifying incident had to happen, and now one more antisemitic tragedy's been scarred into history. But that's exactly why it's vital to remember these horrible incidents in order to try and prevent more from happening in the future.

IDF rescues 2 hostages in Gaza's Rafah neighborhood

The IDF has thankfully and successfully rescued 2 men who were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza:

Two Israeli hostages Louis Har, 70, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, were rescued at around 2 a.m. on Monday from the second floor of a building in the center of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the Israel police’s Yamam anti-terror unit, Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security agency. The men were flown by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where they are in good condition. One soldier was slightly injured during the rescue.

Har’s son-in-law Idan Bejerano, said that he and his wife met with his father-in-law briefly before he was taken for medical examinations.

“We were called at 3:30 a.m. and jumped out of our beds in joy. We were told, ‘We have them in our hands,’ and instructed to get to the hospital. It took us nearly an hour to get there, and I am not sure my wife was breathing at all during that time. This is a great relief,” he said.

Asked about their condition, Bejerano replied, “They are both in bed in the hospital. Whether they are healthy in spirit, in body, is still hard to know, but they look whole. It seems they had the strength of spirit of these 128 days to remain strong and come back to us.”

The men were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7, when terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands and took 253 hostage in a murderous rampage near the Gaza border. Marman and Har were taken captive along with Marman’s sisters Clara, 62, and Gabriela Leimberg, 59; and Gabriela’s daughter, Miam Leimberg, 17. They were visiting Har at the kibbutz for the Simchat Torah holiday weekend. The five were hiding in their sealed room during the attack before they were taken hostage. The women were freed as part of an earlier hostage release.

This is very fortunate, but only a small part so far in rescuing any more hostages who're hopefully still alive. For now, we must thank God these 2 men were saved from the awful situation they were in, and now reunited with their families. Let's hope they'll be able to recuperate as best as possible along with their families.

Argentinian president visits Israel, will move embassy to Jerusalem

Argentinian president Javier Milei, an impressive supporting of Israel, has paid a visit with plenty of good things to tell:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday at his office in Jerusalem with Argentine President Javier Milei, who has promised to move his country’s embassy to the capital and designate Hamas a terrorist group.

“I’m delighted to welcome you, President Milei, and your delegation, to Israel. You’re a great friend of the Jewish state. We are delighted with your decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move your diplomatic post there, and also, of course, an embassy,” began Netanyahu.

“We share the desire for prosperity, security and peace. We know that the greatest challenge to peace in our area, but also in yours, is Iran. And we appreciate the cooperation that we are doing with you in security and diplomacy.

“Your stalwart support for Israel in so many forms is deeply, deeply appreciated. Welcome to Jerusalem. Welcome, friend,” added the premier.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog hosted Milei at his official residence on Tuesday evening and presented him with a Hebrew Bible in appreciation of his firm support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

“The people of Israel have immense warmth and friendship with Argentina, and your visit here exemplifies the unique relationship that we have with Argentina, and the fact that we have so many Israelis whose family originated from Argentina,” said Herzog.

“You have shown your love and affection, both for the Jewish people and the nation-state of the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and we thank you wholeheartedly for this,” he added.

Said Milei: “I have been committed since day one to making sure that my first diplomatic visit as president would be to the State of Israel. Here I am, keeping my promise now.”

Milei also visited Yad Vashem, and certainly has proven an excellent example of a leader. And, he's also paid a visit to Nir Oz, the kibbutz that was hardest hit by the Hamas bloodbath on October 7, 2023:

President Javier Milei of Argentina expressed his solidarity with Israel against Hamas terror Thursday, as he toured the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz with President Isaac Herzog of Israel.

Milei visited the burned-out homes and bloodstained bedrooms of Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities attacked by Hamas on October 7, where a quarter of the residents were either murdered or kidnapped. Several of the victims were Argentinian.

Milei met survivors from the community, including Ophelia Roitman, 77, who was abducted and later released in a hostage deal. Roitman had been a teacher at a Jewish school in Argentina before immigrating to Israel.

He also paid a special visit to the home of the Bibas family, who are Argentinian-Israeli. They were kidnapped on October 7, including one-year-old Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage, who recently is thought to have celebrated his first birthday, in captivity.

Irit Lahav, one of the survivors of the attack on the kibbutz, who accompanied Milei during his visit, told Breitbart News that he had cried at several stops along the way, deeply moved by what he had seen.

Later, after walking throughout the community for nearly two hours, Milei addressed journalists.

With explosions resounding in the background from ongoing battles in Gaza nearby, the Argentinian president shared his deep feelings of sorrow at seeing the devastation around him — as well as his commitment to supporting Israel, and the cause of freedom in general.

Milei said that the terror attack represented pure antisemitism similar to the Nazis, and that the free world had to stand against it.

Milei's done the right thing to visit the sites of the tragedy, and we must hope he can help improve the sad situation the world's now fallen into.

The ICJ is a tool for evil, as is the government of South Africa

Joseph Klein looks at how the Intl. Court of Justice has become the tool of anti-Israeli activists, here being primarily the South Africa government:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided in its January 26th provisional ruling to move forward with a peculiar case that South Africa brought against Israel, alleging that Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza. South Africa claimed that it was simply enforcing rights protected by the international Genocide Convention to which both countries are signatories.

The ICJ is enabling South Africa to weaponize against the Jewish State of Israel the Genocide Convention, which was enacted in 1948 when the genocide of Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust was still fresh in peoples’ minds. To hurl an accusation of genocide against Israel, where at least one of the nearly 150,000 Holocaust survivors still living in Israel was killed during Hamas’s October 7th attack, is obscene.

Hamas initiated the war with Israel when it invaded Israel on October 7th and went on a genocidal rampage against Israeli civilians. Israel’s military operations in Gaza following that attack are a legitimate exercise of Israel’s inherent right of self-defense, which is recognized in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter when “an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.”

The ICJ deferred making a final judgment on the merits of South Africa’s genocide claims, which could take months or even years to decide. However, the ICJ issued provisional orders to take immediate effect, which are prejudicial to Israel’s inherent sovereign right of self-defense. Fortunately, the ICJ has no mechanism to enforce its ruling, although technically it is legally binding. Nevertheless, the ICJ’s decision that South Africa has presented a plausible case of genocide against Israel will put increased pressure on Israel to quickly wind down its military operations in Gaza.

To make matters worse, South Africa's government has practically celebrated evil:

A mere ten days after the October 7th attack, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor had a phone call with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The Jewish News Syndicate reported Hamas’s claim that Pandor had called to congratulate Hamas for the success of its October 7th rampage.

Last December, just weeks after Hamas’s horrific October 7th genocidal attack, senior Hamas officials visited South Africa to participate in the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine.

South Africa is not an objective party benevolently seeking to protect a group of people from genocide, as it has falsely portrayed itself to the ICJ. The South African government is advocating for a savage terrorist group, whose founding genocidal mission, repeated by its leaders on multiple occasions, is to destroy the Jewish State of Israel and kill as many Jews as possible.

The actions of the South Africa government are repulsive, and are equally hostile to other countries that suffered Islamic terrorist attacks. One can only wonder what their position is on al Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in the USA.

The behavior of the South Africa government could also explain why business is collapsing there, and citizens are even emigrating:

A new white paper from payroll services group Playroll, in partnership with tech and developer jobs marketplace OfferZen and executive recruitment firm Aims International, shows that South Africa’s skills crisis runs deeper than industry-specific shortages portray.

The group’s research found that close to 80% of all business leaders it surveyed consider the emigration of skills one of the critical risk factors facing their organisations.

This comes at a time when emigration appears to be accelerating, it said.

Playroll noted that over 900,000 South Africans have already left the country – a number that was most recently published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ 2020 International Migrant Stock report in 2022.

According to the UN report, by the end of 2020, 914,901 South Africans were living in other countries and territories, up from 786,554 in 2015.

Worryingly, three times as many people emigrated from South Africa between 2015 and 2020 – over 128,000 people – than between 2010 and 2015 (43,000 people), the data showed.

The UK has the most migrant stock from South Africa, with almost a quarter of a million residents listing RSA as their birth country. This is followed by Australia, the USA and New Zealand.

Playroll said that the problems around the emigration of critical skills run deeper than even these numbers show because, increasingly, young people are the ones leaving.

The group noted that those aged between 25 and 40 are the most likely to leave the country – and possibly more concerningly, over half of South Africa’s graduates have the potential to emigrate in the future.

Senior employees are also more likely to relocate, probably because they have the financial means to do so, it said.

[...] According to Simonetta Giuricich, Chief Operating Officer for Playroll, remote work arrangements that were fuelled by Covid-19 means that many skilled South Africans are not available for local employment because they can access high-paying work opportunities with international companies while still staying in the country.

For example, the group’s research showed that an alarming number of local software developers are working for overseas companies while still being based in South Africa. It estimated that 40% of the 120,000 developers in the country are working remotely for foreign companies.

So even though emigration may be slowing down in certain sectors, this doesn’t necessarily mean good news for local businesses.

Giuricich said that the loss of employees to emigration not only creates immediate gaps in the skills and qualifications required by an organisation but could also lead to entrenched competitive challenges in the longer term.

One can only wonder if the South Africa government's become so obsessed with backing evil, they've practically ignored the crisis facing their business industry, to say nothing of how folks are emigrating because clearly, business prospects in South Africa aren't what they could be. Let's hope most of those who've emigrated are people with common sense, and they'd be the ones more deserving of the country than those current running the government into the ground. South Africa's tragically made themselves look very, very bad, mainly based on their associations with jihadists.

Virtually every school and mosque in Gaza has weapons around

While the IDF operates in Khan Yunis, they found what they've practically discovered everywhere and anywhere else in Gaza:

Guided by precise intelligence, the forces conducted a targeted raid on terror infrastructure where dozens of rocket launchers, explosive devices and intelligence documents were located. The rocket launchers were dismantled.

The IDF emphasized, "There is no area without a tunnel shaft, no school or mosque without weapons."

All these years since Yitzhak Rabin/Shimon Peres/Ariel Sharon enabled these horrors to build up, and now, look at what astonishing damage that enabled by extension. Thankfully, the IDF is now destroying much of it.

Chechnya taking in Muslims from Gaza

Well, this is most intriguing. The autocrat of a region circa Russia that's Muslim-majority is taking in Mohammedans from the Gaza strip:

Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov announced this week that his majority-Muslim Russian republic will construct a "Palestinian village" for refugees from the Gaza Strip.

Kadyrov, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, laid the cornerstone for the establishment of the village that will accommodate the refugees. The hamlet will be built in Chechnya's capital Grozny, in the vicinity of schools and kindergartens, and will include five residential buildings with 35 apartments each with a total living space of roughly 45,000 square feet.

Family members of refugees who do not hold Russian citizenship received a passport and citizenship upon arrival. Kadyrov also announced that each family will receive 100,000 rubles (1,100$) in financial assistance.

According to Russian-born Israeli social activist Alex Tenzer, about 1,124 refugees have arrived in Russia from Gaza so far since the start of the war, with most of them settling in Muslim-majority areas, such as Chechnya and Dagestan.

The first group of refugees has already been taken in by Chechnya, which has announced that it is ready to take in about 250 more refugees. Kadyrov himself met with some of them, and said that 30 refugees have already been accepted for employment in the health sector, while the rest are now taking courses to learn the Russian language.

Last month, Canada announced that it intends to ease the criteria for accepting relatives of Canadian citizens and residents living in Gaza. However, Canada made it clear that the exit from Gaza depends on Israel's approval, and warned that leaving the area could be dangerous. According to Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Mark Miller, hundreds of people will be able to resettle in the country under the program.

Whatever one thinks of Canada, they're certainly less lucky. As is the public in Russia proper, recalling it may have been reported there's some Muslims who went directly there as well. One can only wonder if Putin's preparing a poison "gift" for the Russian populace for after he's gone.

This news does give an idea of what European and other countries who're more realist might want to encourage their own Muslim populations to do, and move to places like Chechnya and Dagestan instead. And who knows, that might be just what'll happen in the future. If the Gazan Muslims move to those areas in the meantime, it's quite fine. We do not need any of the worst Islamic-influenced bigots dwelling here, as Ron deSantis would surely agree.

Here's more on this news at the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Press.

Rescued child hostages suffered serious traumatic effects

The child hostages who were rescued from Hamas captivity suffered awful psychological effects, as doctors pointed out:

Doctors working with children who were hostages held by Hamas after the October 7 massacre of 1200 Israelis are discovering how traumatic the ordeal for the children was and how much it has affected them.

The children seized by Hamas ranged in age from 10 months to 18 years old. Some were held alone. Israeli doctors found that most of the children had lost between 10% to 15% of their body weight, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But the behavior that the doctors found most unsettling was that the children spoke in whispers, slowly gathering the courage to ask if they could look out the window or open a door, Efrat Bron-Harlev, chief executive of the Schneider Children’s Medical Center, said, adding, “They looked like shadows of children.” He said that when the famished children were asked why they ate in such small quantities, they answered they had to save some for later.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Renana Eitan, chair of psychiatry at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said. “We feel as a group that we have to rewrite the textbook.”

Adult hostages who were released back to Israel said the Hamas terrorists who seized the children routinely gave them benzodiazepines and other drugs to keep them quiet; many of the children, now used to the drugs, have trouble sleeping.

It goes entirely without saying that the jihadist monsters who carried out such a horror story have really caused repulsive damage to children as much as to adults, and now, these children, while safe again, are going to sadly have a hard time growing up. Especially if they've been orphaned.

Update: here's also some news on how the attempt to rescue 3 hostages sadly killed by friendly fire was a disaster.

Update 2: there's also some troubling news about several thousand Muslim workers who were allowed over the "green line" in Judea/Samaria to attend work in Israel.

After October 7, some leftists hopefully changed their view of Muslims

In this Wash. Free Beacon article, they interview a leftist "peace activist" who appears to have changed after her experience with the jihadists from Gaza who also invaded her household on October 7:

Irit Lahav, 57, was a peace activist who believed in the decency of the Palestinian people. Then, on Oct. 7, ordinary Gazans joined in a terrorist attack that left more than one in four of her neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz dead or abducted.

For many members of Nir Oz and other Israelis, the atrocities of Oct. 7—and particularly the broad participation of the Gazan public in the day—destroyed their faith in coexistence with the Palestinians.

Lahav, a manager at a travel company, long participated in peace demonstrations. In recent years, she volunteered for an Israeli charity called Road to Recovery, driving Palestinian children from the border of the Gaza Strip, less than two miles from her home, to Israeli hospitals for life-saving medical care.

"We thought that Palestinians are good people. All they want is peace and prosperity," Lahav told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview from a hotel in this Red Sea resort city where she and most of her community were temporarily relocated. "It's just that Hamas is forcing them to be in this aggressive situation."

When terrorists first shook the door of her safe room on Oct. 7, Lahav was sure that she and her 22-year-old daughter were about to be killed. But a makeshift lock she had fashioned out of an oar and a vacuum cleaner thwarted three separate break-in attempts. The women lay in the darkened room for about 10 hours listening to sounds of automatic gunfire and grenade explosions. At one point, they heard a group of teenagers robbing their house.

Later, Lahav learned from other Nir Oz survivors that Gazan women and children as young as 10 years old had followed Hamas terrorists into the kibbutz, looting, helping the armed terrorists, and apparently enjoying themselves.

"Basically it was sort of an invasion of a community," Lahav said. "That's why for me, I cannot say this was a Hamas action. No, for me, this was a Palestinian action. A whole community had come to our kibbutz, took our things, stole stuff, killed people, and kidnapped others."

"Am I thinking about myself being foolish until now?" Lahav added. "Maybe. But more is that I'm disappointed in them, that they're so cruel, have no values, really lost their human values."

During Israel's ongoing war to destroy Hamas, 40 of the hostages taken from Nir Oz have been released, while 30 remain in Gaza. Several other hostages have been declared dead in recent weeks, bringing the total number of people killed from Nir Oz to 46.

While it's good to know she's changed her mind about what people like her still call a "palestinian people", it remains to be seen if any of these presumably no-longer-peace-activists recognize that Islam played a very horrific major role in the bloodbath of October 7. And what would Lahav say if "settlers" of background more religious than hers were the victims? Lahav should publicly renounce all associations with anyone who until now supported Islamic savages. And she'd do well to consider how many women in Europe, in example, have fallen victim to Islamofascism as well. Many on the left now owe a serious apology.

More news coverage of the horror of sexual violence Hamas inflicted on October 7

Here's another report (via Front Page), repulsive as can be, about the sexual violence the Hamas committed along with graphic gore on October 7 this year:

Israeli investigators probing the fallout of the brutal October 7 attacks have found evidence that men as well as women suffered sexual violence and rape at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad attackers, activists have claimed.

Yael Sherer, a spokeswoman for Israel's Survivors of Sexual Violence advocacy group, said there was physical evidence as well as eyewitness accounts of sexual violence perpetrated against both sexes amid the attacks.

'There was sexual violence and rape in these communities in the south of Israel... we have a few living survivors - not a lot - of both genders. It didn't only happen to women, it happened to men as well,' she told BBC Radio 4.

'Aside from finding bodies of people who were murdered, a lot of the bodies were mutilated... terrorists made sure to disgrace these people and dishonor them,' she added.

It comes as Israeli police opened up the biggest investigation into sexual violence and crimes against women ever in the nation.

The leader of the investigation, Shelly Harush, said: 'It's clear now that sexual crimes were part of the planning and the purpose was to terrify and humiliate people.'

Police have collected thousands of statements, photographs and video clips that have been called unbearable to watch from a mother's perspective and include 'girls whose pelvises were broken they had been raped so much'.

The irony in this is that those Hamas jihadists who raped men were bound to be homosexual. In which case, there's definitely a contradiction when it comes to homosexuality and Islam. Is that why some of the most antisemitic LGBT ideologues aren't against the Religion of Peace?

Joe Sacco's anti-Israeli graphic novel is going back to press

The UK Guardian, a very bad MSM outlet themselves, published a puff piece about Joe Sacco's GN titled "Palestine", which was intended as anti-Israel propaganda, and is now seeing new print, clearly for the sake of obscuring the Hamas' savagery on October 7, and pandering to the crowd of creeps supporting them:

An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago.

Palestine, by Joe Sacco, was originally released in comic book form by the American publisher Fantagraphics 30 years ago, then published as a single volume by the company, and by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2003.

It was created by Sacco, a Maltese American journalist and cartoonist from Portland, Oregon, as a record of his own journeys around Gaza in 1991, and has since then won a clutch of awards and been included on university courses as a primer for the whole conflict. Edward Said, the Palestinian American academic and critic, said in his introduction to the book: “With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco.”

Gary Groth, the co-founder of Fantagraphics, said that after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent bombing of Gaza demand for the book had soared.

He said, “We blew out of our inventory of several thousand copies quickly and are reprinting now. Retailers and wholesalers began ordering the book in far greater quantities than in the recent past, which indicates that every element down the chain – consumers and retailers – are expressing demand for it.”

Well, this is certainly telling about Groth to boot, the same disgrace and shame who did a sugarcoated interview with Maurice Sendak years ago. Of course, one must also wonder where any and all comic retailers stand on a subject involving Stan Lee, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Will Eisner and Gil Kane's Israeli brethren. If any are seeking to capitalize on the tragedy that struck many Jewish women and children in particular, that's offensive in the extreme, and they have no business associating even remotely with the creations of famous Jewish artists. Sacco, along with the article writer, makes clear he remains sympathetic to followers of Islam, and shows no sign of horror over what followers of the Religion of Peace in Gaza did to innocent and defenseless women and children. That's what really makes this Guardian article repulsive. Unshockingly, they didn't even see fit to mention that Edward Said falsified his history. None of which matters to Sacco, sadly, nor to Groth. I absolutely do not want to buy from Fantagraphics if this is the kind of graphic novels they're going to market.

And Sacco's GN didn't so much pioneer comics journalism as it did propaganda, and exploiting the medium for that specific goal. It's sickening to think how many GNs of this sort came down the pike in the past 2 decades that did more harm than good for the comics medium's image overall regarding political issues.

Female hostages of Hamas were imprisoned in cages, as were infants

More unshocking news on the horrible treatment of Israeli hostages has been reported, and the Hamas' misogyny comes into focus:

Women who were abducted from Israeli territory and held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were kept in cages, according to a report by Israeli media, citing a statement from a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

This claim is not the first of its kind: In the days immediately following the October 7 attacks, videos from Hamas's Telegram channel showed child hostages being kept in cages for the majority of their time in captivity.

Hamas distributed a letter on Monday allegedly written by Danielle Aloni, who was kidnapped alongside her 5-year-old daughter Emilia and held in captivity. In the letter, written in Hebrew and translated into Arabic, she reportedly thanked Hamas for the "extraordinary humanity" provided to her daughter, who "felt like a queen."

The letter also read, "I will forever be a prisoner of love because [Emilia] did not leave here with psychological trauma forever." The Aloni family has not confirmed this letter nor the statements made in it, though it has been widely distributed on social media by the Hamas terror organization.

This letter is one of many that hostages were forced to write, according to Israeli media reports.

Survivors reported being provided with limited food while being held hostage, without clear reports of physical abuse or torture. Of the small rations they received – sometimes only rice and pita at best – the hostages were often left to cook the food for themselves and for the children held with them. They also said how their final two weeks had seen supplies running low.

Supplies running low

Merav Mor Munder, the cousin of Keren Munder who was released on Friday, told N12 "There were days when there were no supplies, so they only ate pita bread. They were not tortured, but there were days when they barely had any food, in the last few days they only ate very little rice."

She relates how one of the hostages, Hannah Katzir, who was also released, learned of her son’s murder on one of the few occasions they would be permitted to listen to Israeli radio. It was upon her own release that she found out that her husband had also been kidnapped and remains in Gaza.

Some of the hostages spoke of their worry about last-minute attempts by Hamas or Gazans – who had thrown stones at the vehicles taking them to Egypt – to attack them before they got home. "Until the last moment we weren't sure," a hostage said: "We thought they would lynch us on the way to Israel."

This is going to stand out as some of the worst hostage abuse of the century.

Update: in the meantime, a fifth group of hostages has been released from captivity. Here's some more about what they went through.

Update 2: it's also important to note that more lies are being spread about Israel, and even the UK Guardian is one of the biggest defenders.

MSM outlets had reporters embedded with Hamas during terrorist attack

Some very horrific discoveries have been made about the AP Wire and Reuters, demonstrating just how evil journalists can be:

Photographers from the Associated Press and Reuters appear to have been embedded with Hamas terrorists as they executed terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, according to a new report from Honest Reporting, a media watchdog.

Photos posted by the news agencies of the surprise terrorist attack on Israel include ones showing terrorists breaking the gates to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where residents were caught completely off guard and dozens were murdered. Photos also show that photographers were on the scene as terrorists took civilians such as Shani Louk hostage, and attacking Israeli tanks on the other side of the Gaza border.

The photos raise serious questions about whether the news agencies had advance knowledge that the terrorist attacks were taking place. The four individuals credited by the Associated Press for images of the attacks — Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali — are all photographers based in Gaza, where it was revealed in 2021 that the Associated Press shared office space with the terrorist group.

One of the photographers, Hassan Eslaiah, has reportedly been pictured getting kissed by a top Hamas operative who is said to be one of the chief architects of the deadly terrorist attacks, which killed over 1,400 and have led to a massive war with Israel.

This is seriously offensive, and any and all reporters involved are guilty of participation in a crime, not to mention failure to report/prevent one. This whole catastrophe even led to the recent murder of a USA-born policewoman in the past week. The AP/Reuters reporters who were part of the massacre must be arrested and imprisoned for being party to a heinous crime. This recent horror practically makes clear journalists and photographers are more than fully capable of committing evil in their own ways, and if the 2 aforementioned news agencies won't weed out these monsters from their staffs, they should be boycotted and ostracized.

Update: speaking of the policewoman, it turns out a colleague of hers abandoned his post when this occurred, and enabled the tragedy to take place more easily. He's been removed from his position, as a result.