It is a shame that these murderous terrorist criminals are ever getting out of prison. The heinous crimes of Hamas's Palestinian prisoners now set to be freed as part of the Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal in exchange for hostages https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...an-prisoners-freed-israel-gaza-ceasefire.html
The reality is that Trump knows it will not hold... primarily because he does not want it to hold. His administration wants all of those Palestinians cleared out of Gaza by Israel so Jared can build resorts there. Trump says he’s ‘not confident’ Gaza ceasefire will hold https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/world/trump-not-confident-gaza-ceasefire-intl/index.html
Yaaaaawn, who woulda thought.... Israel launches ‘significant’ operation in West Bank, killing at least eight Palestinians By James Mackenzie and Ali Sawafta January 22, 2025 — 7.34am Jerusalem/Ramallah: Israeli security forces backed by helicopters have raided the volatile West Bank city of Jenin, killing at least eight Palestinians in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “large-scale and significant military operation”. The action, launched a day after US President Donald Trump declared he was lifting sanctions on ultranationalist Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian villages, was announced by Netanyahu as a new offensive against Iranian-backed militants. Medics evacuate a wounded man during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin,Credit: AP “We are acting systematically and resolutely against the Iranian axis wherever it extends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said. Judea and Samaria are terms Israel uses for the occupied West Bank. It was also announced that Israel’s top general had resigned, taking responsibility for security failures tied to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the Gaza war and adding to pressure Netanyahu, who has delayed any public inquiry that could potentially implicate his leadership. Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the security and intelligence breakdown on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led militants carried out a land, sea and air assault into southern Israel, rampaging through army bases and nearby communities. The attack – the single deadliest on Israel in its history – killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants abducted another 250. More than 90 captives are still in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be dead. Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, wearing a red beret, at a military ceremony in October.Credit: AP A second senior officer, Major-General Yaron Finkelman, head of Israel’s Southern Command, which oversees operations in Gaza, also resigned. Their departures will likely add to calls for a public inquiry into the October 7 failures, which Netanyahu has said must wait until the war is over. Halevi’s resignation letter noted that the military’s investigations into those failures were “currently in their final stages”. And Halevi made his most explicit call yet for a public inquiry in comments to journalists, saying it would be “granted full transparency” by the military. The move into Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over recent years, comes only two days after the start of a ceasefire in Gaza and underscores the threat of more violence in the West Bank. The Israeli military has launched a major attack on West Bank villages. The military said soldiers, police and intelligence services had begun a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin. It follows a weeks-long operation by Palestinian security forces in self-rule areas of the West Bank to reassert control in the adjacent refugee camp, a major centre of armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which get support from Iran. Gaza-based Hamas, which has expanded its reach in the West Bank over recent years, called on Palestinians in the territory to escalate fighting against Israel. As the operation began, Palestinian security forces withdrew from the refugee camp and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in mobile phone footage shared on social media. Palestinian health services said at least eight Palestinians were killed and 35 wounded in the raid, a week after an Israeli air strike in the Jenin refugee camp killed at least three Palestinians and wounded scores more. Armoured Palestinian security vehicles during a raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Credit: AP Since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel, and thousands of Palestinians have been detained in regular Israeli raids. Hardline pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for large parts of Israeli policy in the West Bank, said the operation was the start of a “strong and ongoing campaign”. Smotrich welcomed Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on settlers accused of violence against Palestinians and said he looked forward to cooperating with the new administration in expanding settlements. Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in 1967. Most countries consider Israel’s settlements on territory seized in war to be illegal. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the land. The internationally recognised Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule over some territory in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation. In the days leading up to the Israeli military operation, Palestinians throughout the West Bank said roadblocks had been set up throughout the territory, where violence has resurged since the war started. In the hours before Trump lifted the sanctions, bands of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, near the village of al-Funduq, an area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month. The military said it had opened an investigation into the incident, which it said involved dozens of Israeli civilians, some in masks. The Palestinian Authority condemned the settler attack in al-Funduq as well as the sudden appearance of multiple new barriers and roadblocks, which it said were aimed at “dismembering the West Bank”. Reuters, AP
Trump UN nominee backs Israeli claims of biblical rights to West Bank Elise Stefanik’s comments at Senate hearing align her with Israeli far right and highlight US-UN rifts over Israel policy Joseph Gedeon in Washington Wed 22 Jan 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/21/trump-un-elise-stefanik-israel Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations has endorsed Israeli claims of biblical rights to the entire West Bank during a Senate confirmation hearing, aligning herself with positions that could complicate diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. The New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican, was confronted on Tuesday over her backing of a position that aligns her with the Israeli far right, including Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. “You told me that, yes, you shared that view,” the Democratic Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen said during questioning. “Is that your view today?” “Yes,” Stefanik said. Stefanik’s confirmation hearing highlighted the rifts between the US and UN over Israel policy – of which the US is the UN’s single largest funder. The US – which houses the secretariat in midtown New York City – pays about $3.6bn, or 22%, of the UN’s regular budget, with China second at 15.25% and Japan roughly at 8%. And while the position puts Stefanik at odds with longstanding international consensus and multiple UN security council resolutions regarding Israeli settlements in occupied territories, it remains sharply in line with widespread Trump administration posturing. Mike Huckabee, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, has echoed similar sentiments over Israel’s sovereignty, declaring “there’s no such thing as a West Bank” during a 2017 visit to Israel. Huckabee has also dismissed Palestinian identity entirely, once claiming “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian”. Stefanik’s statement came hours after Donald Trump rescinded US sanctions on far-right settler groups and individuals accused of involvement in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which also coincided with Israel’s military launching a “large scale and significant” operation in the territory. Critics of Stefanik’s position such as Van Hollen also argue that endorsing biblical claims to disputed territories could undermine US credibility as a mediator in the region, and could complicate efforts to advance a two-state solution, which has been the cornerstone of American Middle East policy for decades. “It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,” Van Hollen said. The US has historically been Israel’s strongest and most consistent diplomatic backer across Democratic and Republican administrations at the UN, alongside a string of smaller island nations. The United States has vetoed 49 security council resolutions directed at Israel since 1970, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, including five since 7 October 2023. The exchange comes at a particularly sensitive moment for US-UN relations, following months of escalating disputes over the international body’s role in the Middle East conflict. Earlier last year, the US suspended funding to Unrwa, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, after allegations that some staff members participated in the 7 October Hamas attacks. Stefanik again criticized what she has called anti-Israel bias at the UN, dismissing the institution as a “cesspool of antisemitism” and echoing Trump administration positions that led to US withdrawal from the UN human rights council and Unesco during his first term. “Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism,” Stefanik said. Stefanik’s stance reflects her broader political evolution from a moderate Republican who initially criticized Trump’s rhetoric and behavior to one of his staunchest defenders. After condemning the January 6 Capitol attack as “absolutely unacceptable” and that they “must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” in a now-deleted press release, she later voted to remove representative Liz Cheney from House leadership for criticizing Trump’s election fraud claims, and has become one of the former president’s most vocal supporters on Capitol Hill.
Trump cancels sanctions on Israeli settlers imposed by Biden administration on first day in White House Israeli politicians thank Trump and call the move a restoration of US friendship for Israel All Israel News Staff | Published: January 21, 2025 U.S. President Donald Trump holds former United States President Joe Biden's letter on the day he signs documents as he issues executive orders and pardons for January 6 defendants in the Oval Office at the White House on Inauguration Day in Washington, January 20, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria) Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump, rescinded a series of sanctions imposed by former president Joe Biden on a group of Israeli settlers accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians. A webpage titled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” was published on the White House website shortly after Trump's inauguration. According to the White House website, Trump rescinded Executive Order 14115, issued on Feb. 1, 2024, which had authorized the imposition of certain sanctions "on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank.” The Biden administration had slapped sanctions on several individual settlers and settler organizations, freezing their U.S. assets and generally barring American businesses and organizations from having dealings with them. The announcement of the canceling of sanctions against the settlers and settlement groups was met with strong support by leaders in the settler movement and Israeli politicians who support the settler movement. Shai Alon, head of the Beit El Council, thanked Trump and called for the Israeli government to take advantage of the moment. "This is the time for sovereignty. I call on the government and its leader to take advantage of every moment and work tirelessly for Israel,” Alon said. "The entire settlement movement greets President Trump and thanks him for his loyalty and willingness together. The President proved, already in his first moments in office, that the settlements in Judea and Samaria are no different from anywhere else, strengthening Israel’s sovereignty and security," Alon said. "This is the first step that shows that the winds of change in the settlements in Judea and Samaria have begun, and even greater things are yet to come.” Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Council, said, "President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the scandalous sanctions of his predecessor, Biden, upon entering the White House, is not only an important moral message, it is also a political message that the United States is once again a friend of Israel.” Former Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett also thanked Trump for helping with the hostage deal and canceling the sanctions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked Trump for his “just” decision to lift the sanctions. “Mr. President, your firm and uncompromising stand by the State of Israel is an expression of your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historic right to our land. I have no doubt that during your term, we will continue to strengthen our strategic partnership and deepen our friendship based on shared values of belief in justice, freedom, and security,” Smotrich wrote on . Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also thanked Trump, saying, “I welcome the historic decision of incoming US President Donald Trump to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on the settlers of Judea and Samaria.” He also expressed his hope that Trump would change the policy towards the Hamas terror group. “Now, all that remains is to hope for a change in policy towards the terrorist organization Hamas, in a way that will not allow them oxygen and deals that help them continue their activities,” Ben Gvir posted to . Trump administration officials have not indicated that he will support the applying of Israeli sovereignty to the territories of Judea and Samaria but many in the Israeli settler community hope that he will. The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
As expected, the hostages were held at a UNRWA location by the terrorists. Freed Israeli hostages say they were held in UN camp https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...d-israeli-hostages-held-united-nations-camps/
I very much doubt GWB is a Jew. He might have an ancestor or two. Once GWB has boarded a train of thought, he rides it to the last station, even if the tracks are heading straight off a cliff. I've seen this through my life with many Irish Americans, they had a farts worth of knowledge about the "Troubles" from the same few books mostly and were certain they knew who the goodies and the baddies were. The ones actively involved in the conflict WERE ALL BAD past a point in time. Not in a both sideism way, in the way that natural selection puts the most insufferable cunts in charge once all the decent people are dead or crippled. At the beginning of this I was told that Bibi's regeim had a target of about 50:1 and would not stop until they reached this symbolic (dunno why) number. Well, seems that this has been reached. Bad people are this kind of calculating. A very similar thing happens in Medellin Colombia, the great Netflix experts on Pablo Escobar tourist will with a straight face tell people like my wife and her family how they misunderstood when it was their actual life. It takes wisdom to know when you best be silent or look a fool.