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In-Depth Issues: Poll: Americans Continue to Strongly Support Israel (Harvard-Harris Poll) 79% of American voters, including 80% of Independents, support Israel in the Gaza war, while 21% support Hamas, according to a Harvard-Harris Poll conducted on May 15-16, 2024. 69% agree that Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. 66% think any ceasefire should happen only after the release of all hostages and Hamas is removed from power. 78% say Hamas needs to be removed from running Gaza. &nbs p; 74% think Israel should move forward with an operation in Rafah to finish the war with Hamas. 56% agree that threats to withhold weapons from Israel embolden Hamas and its backers to continue the war. 58% say such threats hurt negotiations to get the hostages back. 57% think Biden should continue to provide Israel with weapons even if it enters Rafah. Gaza Aid Trucks from U.S. Pier Raided by Palestinians - Michelle Nichols (Reuters) As aid deliveries began arriving at a U.S.-built pier on the Gaza coast on Friday, the UN said 10 truckloads of food aid - transported from the pier site by UN contractors - were received on Friday at a World Food Program warehouse in Deir al Balah. But on Saturday, only five truckloads made it to the warehouse after 11 others were cleaned out by Palestinians during the journey. "They just basically mounted on the trucks and helped themselves to some of the food parcels," said a UN official. Goods from Aid Packages on Sale at Inflated Prices in Gaza Markets - Raja Abdulrahim (New York Times) Wartime vendors lined a street in Deir al Balah, Gaza, selling entire aid parcels - still emblazoned with the flags of their donating countries and meant to be distributed for free. "Most of the goods found in the markets are labeled, 'Not for sale,'" said Issam Hamouda, 51. Humanitarian aid and looted items end up in makeshift markets.   ; Hamouda said that the aid his family occasionally received came from the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Development. He said packages were often missing items - especially sugar, dates or cooking oil. The food items that go missing from aid parcels eventually end up in markets sold at high prices. In the years before the war, the economy in Gaza was beginning to improve, according to economists and Gazan businesspeople. Beachside hotels and restaurants were opening. More Palestinians got permits to work in Israel and earned good salaries. All of those gains - and more - have been lost. Palestinian Authority Building Illegal City in Judean Desert Nature Reserve - Hanan Greenwood (Israel Hayom) The Palestinian Authority is rapidly building a new illegal city in the Judean Desert nature reserve, said Gush Etzion Regional Council head Yaron Rosenthal. In addition to causing severe damage to the nature reserve, the construction poses a severe security threat, turning eastern Gush Etzion communities into an enclave surrounded by Arab cities and villages. Currently, the construction is rapidly advancing without any intervention from law enforcement. Many new roads and buildings have been built, scattered across 6 km. A Palestinian tourist resort is also being built swiftly, together with access roads. Rosenthal stated: "If we do not stop the rampant illegal construction in the reserve today, in a few years we will be dealing with one of the most severe security incidents here. This...is a security threat to the State of Israel." Iran Is Trying to Punish Jordan for Helping Israel - Ahmad Sharawi (Ha'aretz) Jordan earned the gratitude of Israel and the U.S. for intercepting Iranian drones on April 13, but Amman is now facing explicit threats from Tehran. Fars News Agency, linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, announced, "Our armed forces are closely monitoring Jordan's movements during the operation to discipline the Zionist entity." Jordan's King Abdullah II sought to frame the operation as completely unrelated to protecting Israel. As the king faces domestic upheaval because of the war in Gaza, Tehran has stok ed this unrest through both propaganda and proxy forces, including increasing trafficking of weapons and narcotics. Jordan is especially enticing for Iranian intervention, since a foothold in Jordan - replicating Tehran's model in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon - could serve as a direct gateway to Israel. The writer is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Salman Rushdie: Palestinian State Would Be "Taliban-like," Ruled by Hamas (Times of Israel) Salman Rushdie, the British-American author who narrowly survived an attempt on his life in 2022 by an Islamist radical, told the German tabloid Bild on Sunday that it was "strange" that progressive youth would support a "fascist terrorist group" like Hamas. Rushdie says, "If there were a Palestinian state now, it would be run by Hamas and we would have a Taliban-like state - a satellite state of Iran. Is this what the progressive movements of the Western Left want to create?" He thought protesters should at least hold the terror group responsible for the war too. "It all started with them [Hamas]," he said. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa - a religious edict - calling for Rushdie's death over the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which he declared blasphemous. Israel C annot Afford to Allow a Terror State to Exist along Its Borders - Israel Kasnett (JNS) Biden administration warnings that an Israeli military incursion into Rafah would cause a great number of civilian casualties are being proven wrong, as few Palestinian civilians have died since Israel decided to enter the Hamas stronghold. The international community's claim that Israel had no credible plan to deal with the Palestinian civilians in Rafah is also being proven wrong, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are moving out of harm's way and relocating to other areas of Gaza. Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, noted the West's seeming obsession with the Arab-Israeli conflict compared to many other conflicts with far greater civilian casualties. "No one cares about people in Congo, Sudan or Syria. There was no uproar when civilians died in the thousands in these countries. When Jews are responsible, suddenly they are sensitive to civilian losses." Inbar added that the Biden administration's obsession with establishing a Palestinian state as a seeming reward for terrorism is "naive." Such an entity would be a terror state, and the tragic events of Oct. 7 prove that Israel cannot afford to allow terror states to exist along its borders. U.S. Repels Houthi Anti-Ship Missiles that Are Faster than Cruise Missiles - Jake Epstein (Business Insider) U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea have been intercepting deadly Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that no military had ever faced in combat. Cmdr. J eremy Robertson, captain of the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney, said Monday that while the missiles are a challenge, "we have certain capabilities to be able to detect stuff like that." Some of the missiles are Iranian in origin, while others just contain parts from Tehran. Ballistic missiles, generally, fly at faster speeds than cruise missiles. Robertson said the complex process of detecting a threat, making sure it's real, sorting the trajectory, and engaging may last "anywhere from nine to 20 seconds." "Our systems are doing exactly what we've designed them to do," he said. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said the Carney "conducted 51 engagements in six months. The last time our Navy directly engaged the enemy to the degree that you have was way back in World War II." Masked Anti-Israel Protesters Are Hiding the Shame of Their Prejudice - Douglas Murray (New York Post) How do we explain all the young protestors who seem so unnaturally scared of Covid that they wear masks? How to explain all those rage-filled keffiyeh-wearing students who just happen to mask up whenever a camera is around? By last month, the total of Covid deaths in New York state was down to 15 a week. What's more, young people are at the lowest risk of dying from Covid. So rejoice, brave protestors. The masks can come off. But why is it that in 2024, today's brave protestors in New York are nearly always wearing a mask? Why should students making their demands for ceasefires in the Middle Eas t have to holler their demands through a piece of cloth? The reason is that they are bullies. And like all bullies, they are at the same time terrible cowards. Despite pretending that they are world-beating revolutionaries, the protestors are trying to keep their identities hidden. Perhaps these people want to cover their faces because the media in this country might just notice that the same professional revolutionaries tend to turn up wherever there is trouble, almost as if they are paid to do so. Or just maybe, what they are afraid of are the opinions they are espousing. Because they know, at some level, that bullying other students and shrieking about things they don't know about is not a good look. The KKK was the last organization in America that was so proud of their beliefs that their members covered their faces during protests. Now "Students for Jihad" are doing the same job. | News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court's prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN on Monday. The ICC is also seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. By applying for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same ac tion, the ICC is placing a terror organization and an elected government on an equivalent footing. A panel of ICC judges will now consider the matter. Israel and the U.S. are not members of the ICC. (CNN) See also Statement of ICC Prosecutor regarding Applications for Arrest Warrants (International Criminal Court) See also Deflating the Threat Posed by the International Criminal Court - Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) See also below News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Reactions t o ICC Prosecutor Seeking Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders The Gaza War Antisemitism A former Harvard student wrote: "Harvard signals that Jews are only acceptable so long as they don't fully embrace Judaism and choose to practice their religion....The only hope of surviving Harvard as a Jew was to not dress 'too Jewish,' request the university accommodate Jewish holidays, speak Hebrew, or, God forbid, actually support Israel's right to exist." On Oct. 8, the day after Hamas murdered 1,200 people in Israel, more than 30 Harvard student groups signed a statement that "held the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." In the following weeks, many Harvard students rall ied in support of a genocidal terrorist group that had just committed crimes against humanity, while simultaneously condemning Israel as a racist, apartheid, and genocidal state worthy of elimination. This was a wake-up call and led to the formation of the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, to research the day-to-day experiences of Jewish and Israeli Harvard students and to explore the root causes of the hatred on display. We found that Harvard has been a hostile environment for many Jewish students since before Oct. 7. "[The professor] said, 'Where are you from?' I said, 'Israel.' He looked at me and said...'I need to ask you to leave the class.' No other visiting student was asked to leave." - Kim Nahari, sophomore. Our research found that when student protesters rally for Hamas as freedom fighters, they are repeating what they are taught in classrooms and at department-sponsored events. The recurring narrative taught is that Israel - a tiny country with half of the world's Jewish population - is the last remaining colonial settler power embodying the world's worst evils, that the Palestinian people are innocent victims of Jewish (white) oppression, and that known terrorist groups are simply "political movements." In 2022-23, Harvard held at least 20 events that spread the virulently anti-Israel narrative. (Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance) See also What It's Like Being Jewish at Harvard - Editorial (Wall Street Journal) I came to the University of Illinois at Chicago as head of sociology, expecting to spend the rest of my career here. I co-chaired the universitywide committee on faculty equity for more than a decade. Then came Oct. 7. Across the country, support for Palestinians quickly escalated into committing hate crimes against Jews. Just days after Hamas' terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, the faculty in women and gender studies and Black studies posted a joint statement with no mention of antisemitism, the terrorist killings or the hostages. Jewish and Israeli students were rendered invisible. Perhaps there is some legalistic "context" that allows for political rhetoric to support one group of students even while excluding others, at least when the "others" are Jews. UIC is a public university using tax dollars to educate future citizens. We shouldn't allow an yone with an anti-Zionist agenda to make UIC a hostile environment for Jewish, Israeli or Zionist faculty and students. I will retire before I intended to because UIC is no longer an institution comfortable for me, as a Jew who believes Israel has a right to exist. And to be clear, more than 80% of Jews in America share that belief. When university departments and programs publish statements implying support for the destruction of the state where more than half of all Jews alive today live, they have crossed the line from simple micro-aggressions against Jewish students and faculty to outright institutional antisemitism. (Chicago Tribune) Other Issues President Joe Biden said Sunday, "I'm working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet the landscape is increasingly resistant to such dreams. A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute after Oct. 7 found that only 35% of Israelis now believe peaceful coexistence between Israel and a Palestinian state is possible. The brutal reality of violence has transformed public opinion, solidifying the perception that territorial concessions equate to security risks. Historical experiences, such as the 2005 Gaza disengagement, have left deep scars, reinforcing fears that a Palestinian state could become a launchpad for more attacks. This sentiment is echoed across political lines. Israeli leaders and a significant portion of the public prioritize immediate security needs over long-term diplomatic solutions that seem increasingly impr actical under current conditions. The persistent violence and lack of trust have repeatedly undermined the concept of a two-state solution. In February, the Knesset voted overwhelmingly against the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. It underscored the prevailing sentiment in Israel that any move towards a Palestinian state must be carefully negotiated and secured. The fear of repeating mistakes, where territorial concessions brought increased violence, looms large. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: U.S. Nazi War Criminal Prosecutor: Israel Is Obligated to Stop Hamas' Genocide - Michael Starr (Jerusalem Pos t)
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