MEF on the Israel-Gaza War
Reports and Analysis

President Joe Biden professes his love for Israel and his respect for the Jewish state. On Oct. 18, 2023, he traveled to Tel Aviv to declare, "As long as the United States stands — and we will stand forever — we will not let you ever be alone." Today, letting Israel be alone is exactly what Biden intends to do. As Israel fights a seven-front war...

As President Biden considers bringing Gaza war refugees into the United States, he would do well to recall what happened when other good-hearted people took a similar chance – and paid with their blood. Before the October 7 Hamas attack, Israeli citizens sponsored work permits for thousands of security-vetted Palestinians to earn money working on some of...

Israeli, international and Hamas officials are currently awaiting the decision of Yahya Sinwar, the terror group's military leader on a proposed ceasefire deal. Egypt has put forward a phased release of Israeli hostages and a temporary end to the fighting in Gaza. Sinwar is looking at the deal. As the talking and the diplomatic manoeuvring continues, two...

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October last year, a number of charity initiatives have emerged within the Muslim world under the guise of supporting Gaza in the face of Israel's military campaign. One of the more interesting examples is the "Wage Jihad With Your Wealth" (Arabic: Jahid bi-Malika) campaign. Based out of northwest Syria, the idea...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent hosting of Hamas leaders in Istanbul, coupled with an unprecedented endorsement of the jihadist group, underscore Turkey's decision to elevate relations with an organization known for perpetrating acts of terror against civilians. This move, marked by a significant reference to Turkish history by Erdogan, signals an...

The terrorist mastermind behind Hamas' massacre of nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans, is believed to be using hostages as human shields to hold off Israeli soldiers seeking to capture him in a tunnel deep below Gaza. The shocking information about Hamas kingpin Yahya Sinwar was revealed by Gen. Jack Keane, FOX News Channel senior strategic...

Columbia University finally sent in the New York Police Department on Tuesday night to clear anti-Israel protesters mouthing pro-Hamas messages. But DailyMail.com can now reveal that administrators may need to look in-house next if they truly want to clean house. For a new investigation has uncovered an endorsement of Hamas media outlets in – of all...

L'Informale: In an analysis for the Middle East Forum, Zvi Hauser writes, "Any conclusion of the war that does not include the elimination or withdrawal of Hamas's military force from Gaza will be interpreted as a Hamas victory, however extensive the damage it suffers." Do you agree? Daniel Pipes: I completely agree, not only because logic necessitates the...

The sudden uprising of university students across North America in support of Hamas and allegedly about the welfare of Palestinians does not result, for most students, from close ties with people on the other side of the world. Of course, there is in North America a small minority of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students who are strong advocates based on...

Columbia University and Yale University appear to be in a competition to see who will be the poster child for antisemitism, intimidation, and polemics trumping serious insight or discussion of world affairs. Historian Martin Kramer warned 14 years ago that Columbia was entering a tailspin. Columbia President Nemat "Minouche" Shafik essentially surrendered...

IntroductionGregg Roman On October 7, 2023, Israel was shaken by a devastating attack by Hamas that claimed over 1,200 lives, forcing the ongoing security challenges from threats originating in Gaza. This tragic day highlighted Israel's vulnerabilities and sparked an urgent reevaluation of its national security strategy. Traditionally characterized by...

Iran's unprecedented firing of hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel represents a serious change in Iranian policy, which heretofore has been pursued through various regional proxies. It also illustrates the consequences of American weakness. That weakness has been years in the making. In 2009, the United States balked at helping the Green Movement, in...

In a transparent effort to falsely portray Muslims—rather than Jews—as the primary targets of hate in America, more than 60 Islamist groups and their allies have called for the ouster of Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. In a statement released on April 15, the groups—many of which have defended and legitimized violence against Israel...

Last Tuesday, while I was having breakfast with a cappuccino overlooking the sea in Tel Aviv, there was no media outlet that did not mention predictions about the Iranian reaction to the elimination of half a dozen senior officers of its Revolutionary Guard in Damascus. This included Mohamed Reza Zahedi, one of the masterminds behind the Hamas attack on...

It's hard to imagine Iran's much-anticipated attack on Israel going any worse for the Islamic Republic. Tehran has been displaying weakness for months. On January 3, Islamic State terrorists killed at least 84 people in two explosions near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, as they marked the fourth anniversary of...

On March 7, 2024, President Joe Biden directed the U.S. military to establish a floating pier off Gaza's coast to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid. Whether delivered by truck or dropped by aircraft, Hamas hijacks most of the aid. The infusion of food and Hamas's ability to horde and distribute it as patronage, meanwhile, strengthens Hamas. There is...

In 1944, prior to the Allied invasion of France, a pivotal point in the Second World War, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton gave a memorable speech to rouse the troops on the eve of that fateful landing. "Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser," Patton boomed. "Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost...

JERUSALEM - President Biden's push Thursday in a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an immediate cease-fire in the Jewish state's six-month war campaign to defeat the terrorist movement Hamas in Gaza unleashed fierce criticism from Israeli experts. "A ceasefire now would be a victory to Hamas. It would show the terrorist...

After the relationship between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to reach a new low last week, signs have emerged that both sides want to patch things up, at least for the time being. After taking on Biden's criticism directly for weeks, Netanyahu dramatically canceled a visit — requested by Biden — of his top aides...

There were shameful scenes at a Women's Rights Day demonstration in Munich's Marienplatz. Palestinian flags everywhere. Israeli flags were not welcome. Left-wing and pro-Palestinian groups insulted and pushed several Jewish women. Among the participants was the president of the Jewish community of Munich, Charlotte Knobloch (a Holocaust survivor). Same...

As Israel's raids on the Al Shifa hospital in southern Gaza unfolded over recent weeks, the outrage of the international community at the alleged wanton targeting of a "civilian object" suggests questions about whether Al Shifa was civilian and whether Israel's actions were indiscriminate. Notwithstanding dangers to civilians, there is no such thing as an...

In 2017, shortly after becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Gutteres said: "Israel needs to be treated like any other UN member state". It was a solid start for someone who promised equality for the one Jewish State. Even in his personal manifesto, released as part of the election process, Gutteres specifically related to the need to...

The crisis between the White House and Israel continues to escalate. The State Department reacted angrily to Israeli statements that the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire had undermined negotiations to release Israeli hostages held by Hamas, calling the Israeli statement "inaccurate in almost every respect." President Joe Biden and...

Speaking by phone for the first time in a month on Monday night, US President Joe Biden made it clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US does not want to see a massive IDF ground incursion into Rafah, even if civilians are moved to a safer location in the Gaza Strip. For months, the White House had been saying publicly it would only support...

Iran has operated a network of proxy terrorist and militia groups across the Middle East and beyond for decades. They recently activated many of them and sparked the conflagration engulfing much of the Middle East and wreaking havoc on global commerce. These mark only the latest examples of the Islamic Republic of Iran's malign activities across its...

In his now-infamous speech from the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer referred to himself in his Diasporic Hebrew as "Shomer Yisroel—a guardian of the People of Israel." Schumer has done a lot for Israel on important issues, such as voting against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which proved to be a stunning failure. But at this critical juncture...

The U.S. and Israel were consoled and pitied – until they fought back. Then they were suddenly portrayed as aggressive colonizing villains, each seeking to impose its version of "empire" on an oppressed "other" while meting out "collective punishment."

Daniel Pipes: A decent postwar outcome in Gaza will require "tough Israeli military rule, overseeing a tough police state ... [where] citizens can lead normal lives so long as they stay out of trouble."

A significant portion of Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas.– U.S. President Joe Biden Netanyahu's PlanOn Feb. 22, 2024, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his Security Cabinet with a short document, "The Day After Hamas." His office calls it "principles reflecting a broad public consensus on the goals of the war, and the...

For years, Israel has gone to unprecedented lengths to avoid needless civilian harm. Gregg Roman: It's time for Israel to "recalibrate its military strategy to prioritize lethal efficiency over the pursuit of moral superiority."

It would be a terrible mistake to confuse compassion for the Gazans with mercy for Hamas and its ilk. True compassion dictates the eradication of the latter in order to salvage the former.

The discovery of a #Hamas server farm beneath UNRWA's Gaza headquarters and revelations that at least a dozen #UNRWA employees directly took part in the #October7Massacre are marks of the agency's irredeemable corruption. From Asaf Romirowsky and Alex Joffe.

138 days after the October7 massacre, "none of Netanyahu's declared war aims have been achieved ... Israel is no longer pursuing a campaign that can still be accurately described as a war." But that "doesn't mean Israel can't finish the job." From Lazar Berman.

The Red Cross has once again failed the Jewish people by choosing to appease its enemies rather than help those in need. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in its mission statement, claims to be "an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of...

The West Bank is a "simmering potential third front, on which the lid is currently being kept, with much ongoing effort." Jonathan Spyer reports on location with one of the lid-keepers – Battalion 910 of the IDF's Etzion Brigade.

Rather than applaud Israel's campaign to eradicate a U.S.-designated terrorist group of unspeakable brutality, the Biden administration hopes to reward #Hamas by accelerating the formal recognition of a Palestinian state. From Michael Rubin.

When Hamas terrorists carried out the October 7 Massacre, Israel had no up-to-date plan in place for reconquering Gaza and spent 3 weeks developing one – missing the opportunity to strike when "sympathy for Israel was at a high" internationally. From Lazar Berman.

A.J. Caschetta on the use of Holocaust inversion by militant anti-Zionists to undercut Israel's right to self-defense.

Hamas has "skewered" Israeli leaders "on the horns of a dilemma: Get your people back and fight us again later or ... leav[e] over 100 Israelis to violent deaths," writes Lazar Berman. But the dilemma is perhaps "not as dire as it might seem."

In the second installment of his series on Palestinian propaganda claims, A.J. Caschetta refutes the mantra that Israel is a "colonial settler state." Members of an oppressed minority flocking to their ancestral homeland is anything but colonialism.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia has proven to be the sleeper hit of the Iran axis, threatening global trade with drone and missile strikes on shipping in the Red Sea. But Iran may have miscalculated the consequences of its brazen attacks.

If President Biden wants to see the end of Netanyahu's reign as Israel's prime minister, he should stop calling for a two-state solution – something few Israelis support in the wake of October 7 and many believe only Netanyahu can prevent. From Lazar Berman.

"Israel will not be able to tolerate #Hezbollah fighters on its northern border. The dread in the north of a possible Hamas-style commando raid – with the mass rape, mutilation and massacre of Israeli citizens ... will never fade." From Amatzia Baram.

In the first installment of a series on Palestinian propaganda claims, A.J. Caschetta refutes the mantra that #Hamas is a "resistance organization that only targets Israelis," noting in particular that it has deliberately attacked Americans.

Jonathan Spyer on the "controlled but intense confrontation" taking place between Israel and Iran's proxies in Lebanon, and why "the tactical advantage ... appears to be on Israel's side."

Iran launched air and missile strikes on three different countries last week (to say nothing of its proxies' attacks on Israel, American troops, and global shipping). Its regional adversaries aren't impressed, but Washington is panicking.

Col. Elad Shushan, head of the IDF's 646th Brigade, takes Lazar_Berman into the heart of the Gaza battlefield. "If we don't want our kids to have to deal with Hamas, it will take another year" to finish to job, says Shushan.

The Houthis, formally known as the Ansar Allah ("Supporters of God"), have now attracted widespread global attention because of their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea regions as part of their campaign to put pressure on Israel to cease its military campaign in Gaza.

Israel's war in Gaza has been under way for three months and is at a hinge point. The Hebrew media is filled with discussion of a "phase three" of the war that is about to begin.

The Israel Defense Force's launch of an internal investigation into the failures of October 7 led to another shouting match in the cabinet this week as ministers and top military commanders met to discuss the war against Hamas.

Despite the ongoing support from the White House, this visit from Blinken felt different. US frustration with Israel's war leadership was closer to the surface, and disagreements over core issues were at the center of discussions.

Further missions deeper into Khan Yunis lie ahead, but the destruction of Hamas governance in Gaza, as seen from the ground, appears to be proceeding steadily apace.

Israel can trust that Hamas, like Hitler, intends to keep its promises, all its promises, to the Jewish people. In 2007, Hamas issued a statement assuring the world that, "We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine."

Israel's army recently found damning documents, video footage and photographs of Palestinian children used by two U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as trained fighters.

"Everything changed" in Israel on Oct. 7. But did it? Understanding the mistakes that led up to the Hamas massacre provides a basis to evaluate Israel's long-term response to that day. Contrary to general opinion, I shall argue that the presumptions behind those mistakes remain in place and will not change unless Israelis adopt a radically different attitude toward the Palestinians.

Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the Iranian regime's public support for it, the war of words as to whether Hamas should be called a "proxy" for Tehran has been rekindled. In this article I will try to argue why despite not technically fitting the term, Hamas should still be regarded as a proxy force for the Islamist regime of Iran...

The current Israeli operation in Gaza has led to an unprecedented wave of fury against the Jewish state in Western capitals. Massive demonstrations have brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in Washington, London, Paris and elsewhere.

The Hamas movement intensified its campaign of terrorism targeting American interests, declaring in a chilling December announcement that more violence is warranted against the U.S. after the jihadi group murdered over 30 Americans and over a thousand Israelis on the October 7 massacre in Israel.

Since October 7, most media coverage has tended to regard the Gaza war as the central arena, and the other two fronts as subsidiary to it. This perspective needs to be revised.

Will Israel launch a military operation to clear Hezbollah from its northern border? Or is the war there already under way? Ben, a reservist squad commander in the airborne infantry, laughed when I asked him about the possibility of a northern war. "It's a myth that Israel might open a front in the north," he said, "because there's already a front open."

The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah in the Dutch city of Enschede took a strange turn, after the mayor refused to be seen near the Israeli ambassador. The Enschede synagogue had invited mayor Roelof Bleker to the Hanukkah celebration and reserved a seat for Bleker next to the Israeli ambassador, Modi Ephraim.

Hamas may have perpetrated the Oct. 7 mass rape of and pogrom against Israeli Jews, but it did not act alone. Most of its enablers are well known: Iran helps train and arm the group. Qatar finances it. Turkey provides explosives and passports to facilitate operative movement, and its intelligence services protect Hamas terrorists abroad.

The three regular divisions engaged in Gaza are all moving forward. The Islamist gunmen of Hamas have not succeeded in turning the tunnels, alleyways and houses of Gaza into a graveyard or a barrier for the Israeli troops and armour.

Over the last few weeks of Operation Iron Swords, we have seen many individual soldiers or units who have taken it on themselves to demoralize Israel's enemies, whether in Gaza or Judea and Samaria.

By Oct. 6, 2023, Israel had already experienced a tumultuous 11 months following the Likud party's decisive, yet divisive, victory in the 2022 elections and the launch of its judicial reform. Despite a record of risk-averse military actions, Netanyahu has built a reputation, especially among his voter base, as "King Bibi" with a robust defense posture.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan flew to Israel for emergency consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. According to press reports from Israel, Sullivan told Netanyahu that Israel must "transition to the next lower intensity phase in a matter of weeks, not months."

Hamas has the stated goal of replacing the entire state of Israel with a Muslim state governed by sharia. Jihad and Islamist indoctrination are its two principal means of instituting this new state.

The U.N.'s controversial Commission of Inquiry (COI) tasked with investigating Hamas' crimes of rape and sexual abuse of Israelis has been deemed an "antisemitic" group by the Jewish State's ambassador to the U.N. that is incapable of conducting a fair probe. The EU and U.S. and many additional countries have designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization, the U.N. has not.

This week, I spent an afternoon in the company of the 36th Division's fighters in Shejaia, as they continued the slow, methodical work of clearing out the Islamist gunmen and their infrastructure from the neighborhood. "What you can see before you is the destruction of Hamas infrastructure," Col. Oded Adani tells us as we look toward a row of ruined buildings.

It seems like far from containing the Iranians, the US has begun to ignore clear acts of aggression out of a desire to keep the war in Gaza within its boundaries west of the Jordan River, at almost any price. The activities of Iranian clients and proxies across the region can no longer be plausibly presented as a detail, a sideshow, or a distraction from the main event.

As Israel wages its righteous war against Hamas, it is important for the United States to be wary of Qatar, which is already attempting to establish itself as a mediator. Qatar is not a neutral agent, despite its attempts to portray itself as such. Time and again, it has supported the region's most radical nations and paramilitaries, all to the detriment of American and Western interests.

For many years, a figurative diplomatic clock was set for Israel every time it launched a defensive military operation. Unfortunately, as we know, the diplomatic clock is very much brought to meetings with foreign leaders, who are eager to end the war before Israel's goals have been achieved.

If Israelis expected the world to be horrified at the atrocities committed by Hamas and by Gazan civilians against Israeli citizens, they were quickly disabused of such a hope. Shockingly, celebrations of the Hamas attacks were widespread, followed by justifications of the atrocities offered by officials, politicians, academics, and mobs of Arabs, Muslims, and leftists around the world. 

Piecing together the events behind a legendary IDF commando's October 7 death – when he stepped into the chaotic security void. Ido Rosenthal's sacrifice on October 7 ultimately helped save the lives of the people of Kibbutz Alumim.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a research group associated with the Syrian opposition, this week reported that 700 pro-Iranian fighters have been deployed in the area adjoining the Golan Heights. The fighters, according to the SOHR report, are of "Syrian, Iraqi, Palestinian, and other nationalities."

The Turkish government's Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet, a multi-billion dollar organization with nearly 150,000 personnel overseeing approximately 90,000 mosques in Turkey and abroad, has aligned itself with Hamas. It appears to have adopted a policy that reflects an anti-Israel religious fatwa issued by top MB clerics and their Palestinian affiliates.

Defeating Hamas was pronounced as Israel's primary goal of the war it now wages in the Gaza Strip because of its importance to the security and safety of millions of Israelis, for regional stability and to impress on Israel's enemies that the Jewish State can win again, and no site or target is off the table.

Three hundred thousand protesters, many of them wearing face-hiding masks and Hamas-style headbands marched through London on Armistice Day on Saturday, November 11. It was the city's biggest demonstration since protests against the Allied invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"Everything changed" in Israel on Oct. 7. Except it did not. Despite much talk of victory by the prime minister and survey research showing the public endorses a tough new approach, Israeli officialdom and its security establishment show signs of reverting to their old failed policies, even before the bodies have been buried.

Many of the numerous people, organizations, and governments who regularly rely on the OCHA-OPT are unaware of how much misinformation they report. By cooperating with Hamas, the OCHA-OPT helps perpetuate the rule of a terrorist state, the oppression of Palestinians, and the murder of Israelis.

The military situation is only one of a number of ticking clocks that Israeli policymakers must consider – and these clocks are not ticking in sync with one another. The IDF is set to soon find itself in a race against time to effectively collapse and obliterate the authority that perpetrated the 7 October massacre.

An FWI investigation has uncovered over 260 million dollars sent through the 501(c) system to Hamas-aligned charities in the United States, provided by corporate foundations, employee-giving schemes, partisan community groups and a powerful array of Islamist grant-making foundations that make use of a largely-unregulated nonprofit sector.

Rather than placing the blame on the Arabs for the 1920 massacre, the world sought to make excuses and appease them when the British Mandatory powers made al-Husseini the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, despite his being clearly and legally implicated in the bloodshed.

The shocking and horrific Hamas attack on Israelis on October 7 – the mass murder, rape, abductions, torture, and mutilation – was a paradigm-shifting event. Israel's war in response is a starkly black-and-white conflict. Yet J Street, the lobbying group that advertises itself as "pro-Israel" and "pro-peace," has not seen it that way.

The IDF operation in the West Bank raises questions about the opening of a third front in Israel's response to Hamas' multipronged attack against the Jewish state on Oct. 7, resulting in the massacre of 1,400 people in southern Israel.

There are many parallels between Sri Lanka's decades-long fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan (LTTE), more commonly known as the "Tamil Tigers," and Israel's decades-long fight against the Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, more commonly known as Hamas. And while Hamas may be now stronger than ever, the Tamil Tigers are only a memory.

Just two weeks after Hamas terrorists stormed Israeli neighborhoods, massacring families in their homes and parading bloodied hostages through the streets of Gaza, an anti-Semitic hate group with multiple documented links to Hamas visited U.S. Congress members during its annual "Palestine Advocacy Days."

Hamas, the jihadi organization that has ruled Gaza since 2007, became the focus of global attention after massacring about 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. For 15 years, it has implemented an opposite and historically unique purpose in tormenting its subject population. Rather than sacrifice soldiers for battlefield gains, it sacrifices civilians for public relations purposes.

After a period of doubt as IDF troops idled on the Gaza border for weeks, Israel's government has shown a serious commitment to the ground invasion of the Hamas-run enclave. Three divisions are inside the northern half of the Gaza Strip, cutting the territory in half and making steady progress toward the heart of Gaza City.

As Israel continues to respond with force to the heinous October 7th attack perpetrated by Hamas terrorists who raped young women, kidnapped children, and burned families alive, TV journalists try to demonstrate their objectivity by soliciting responses from leaders of CAIR, an organization with deep and enduring ties to Hamas.

The U.K.-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) wrote in its 123-page report released Monday, that "at least 14 teachers and staff at UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools have publicly celebrated the October 7 massacre and other Hamas attacks on their social media accounts."

While their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles. The terror group's three top leaders alone are worth a staggering total of $11 billion and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar.

What is this strange evil that afflicts the West and for which the war in Gaza is both a pretext and a revelation? Hamas is an Islamo-Nazi sect that intended to destroy Israel and its people before attacking the West when the time comes. Support for Hamas originates in the heart of darkness of Western consciousness. There are more fans of Hamas in the West than in Gaza.

We must wake up and complete the construction of the Iron Wall—a victory over Israel's enemies, such a victory that will make them lay down their weapons and stop hoping to throw us to the sea. To understand the simple truth that only with strength can we guarantee ourselves security.

The usual angry critics and opponents of Israel are demanding a ceasefire as Israel responds to Hamas' Oct. 7 pogrom. A ceasefire would give Hamas and its patron Iran a huge victory. It would be a strategic defeat for Israel, as it would reveal it to be a paper tiger unworthy of respect or even concern.

An all-out armoured and infantry assault on Gaza, with the intention of rapidly destroying Hamas rule, would almost certainly have the effect of ending these contacts and consigning the Israeli hos­tages to death, or a fate worse than death. The war initiated by Hamas on October 7 is far from over and may well not yet have reached its height.

Is the US-designated terrorist group Hamas active in the United States? Of course it is, as it has been since the early 1990s, albeit limiting its activities mainly to influencing the media and therefore government policy toward Israel, and potentially still illegally fundraising in ways the FBI has not yet uncovered.

Exactly 100 years ago, in his seminal essay, "The Iron Wall," revisionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky wrote these words: "As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter." Only an Iron Wall can achieve peace and security for Israel. It is time to build it.

Many Americans were surprised by the protests on college campuses in support of "Palestine" after the Hamas assault on Israel. How could anyone but condemn the Hamas pogrom, in which babies, children, and the elderly were massacred, raped, and burned alive? The answer lies in the toxic mix of politics, ignorance, and antisemitism emanating from the failure of American academia, especially the field of Middle East studies.

The more than 1,400 Israelis who were brutally slaughtered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, got what they deserve— according to the most prestigious university of the Muslim world, Al Azhar, located in Cairo. It has all but just decreed that no Israeli — by Muslim definition an "occupier" — is a civilian, that all are enemy combatants, to be treated just as they were on Oct. 7.

The Hamas terrorist attack was launched at the behest of the Iranian regime to obstruct the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and consequently the entire Arab and Islamic worlds. Tehran has taken the Arabs and the wider Islamic world hostage, not allowing them to lead a peaceful life. It has other plans.

Ever since the Hamas assault against Israel on October 7, cities and universities throughout the nation (and beyond) have erupted in what most of the media insists on calling "pro-Palestine rallies." But they really are at best "anti-Israel rallies." Many of them are outright "pro-Hamas" rallies.

The Hamas assault on Israeli communities in south west Israel changed the Middle East strategic picture with a single stroke. What will happen next cannot be precisely predicted. What may be stated with confidence is that the war which commenced with the Hamas attacks of October 7 is far from over and there is much suffering yet to come.

Palestinian leaders have repeatedly made crystal clear that they will never accept a two-state solution. The Arabs opposed partition in the 1930's, and they oppose it still. The truth is that Israel must defeat its enemies or be defeated. It must, yet again, discredit the old Qur'anic lie about Jews loving life too much to fight.

I too oppose the bombardment, but I'm talking about the non-stop bombardment of readers with false information in the media about Israel's war against Hamas, especially in The New York Times. Theirs is an obsessive attempt to influence America's foreign policy and mob opinion on the ground.

American universities receive massive sums of money from countries that openly support Hamas and terrorism more broadly, and we know very little about what these countries are getting for their money. We need transparency about these transactions. Fortunately, the House Education and Workforce Committee has rolled out legislation, months in formation, to help address this problem.

Allegations of recurring United Nations anti-Israel activity, including accusations that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres seemed to rationalize Hamas' murder of 1,400 people — illustrate the world body's obsession with the Jewish state. On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly failed to condemn Hamas in a non-binding resolution.

Urban warfare offers endless advantages to the defender, and comes at a massive cost to both soldiers and civilians, but the IDF might have no choice. Hamas has prepared for this fight for years, but so has Israel. It will be a test of skill, technology, tactics and leadership, but like all wars, it will be primarily a test of willpower.

The rules of war President Biden referenced are something known as "International Humanitarian Law" (IHL). The core of IHL is the Geneva Conventions. In contrast to IHL rules, Islamic law allows any men – combatants or not – who are taken prisoner to be killed, and it considers enemy prisoners, whether men, women or children, to be slaves who can be bought and sold.

The war between Israel and Hamas launched by the Hamas massacre of October 7 appears currently to be in a kind of holding pattern, as the current focus appears to be on the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, and efforts to secure their release. The tiny, gas-rich emirate of Qatar is, according to a number of reports, playing a key role in these efforts.

U.S. firms must divest from Qatar (and all states that support Hamas) and stop doing business with Qatar. U.S. authorities should freeze all Qatari assets in American financial markets. Anything less signals a willingness to do indirect business with the murderers of Hamas.

There are many verses in the Qur'an which speak disparagingly of Jews and incite contempt for them. To look at the Jews through the frame of the Qur'an is to see them as contemptible, weak, cowardly-yet-warmongering, treacherous losers. This stereotype offers a very poor basis indeed for Muslims to engage in a lasting quest for peace with the Jewish state.

Islamists in Europe have overwhelmingly come out in support of Hamas's October 7 brutal massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis. That support has been expressed in different ways: explicitly approving of Hamas's murder, rape and abduction of Israeli civilians; justifying the crimes by blaming Israel; and by remaining silent and refusing to condemn Hamas publicly.

Jew hatred in our universities rests on two updated academic theories: Marxist-Leninist "postcolonial theory" and critical race theory. Postcolonial theory rightly states that imperial conquest and colonial occupation has a major deleterious effect on the indigenous population. But then, quite oddly, asserts that all worldly problems are due to European imperialism and only European imperialism.

Almost three weeks after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Hamas is still alive and kicking. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his vaunted war cabinet still have no significant military achievements in the same time it took for Israel to defeat Syria and Egypt in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

From Lebanon to Yemen, via Syria and Iraq, the Iran-led regional axis of which Hamas is only a minor element is moving into position. It is the fruit of the methodology and the investments of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps during the past four decades in the Middle East.

"Occupation" is a term meant to delegitimize Israel. It implies that Israel is an alien military force occupying the region. From an Islamist perspective, it is in reality the non-Islamic character of Israel that makes this illegitimate. It is not military occupation in itself that is today's sticking point, but the fact that Israel is a non-Muslim, Jewish-majority state.

The idea of Israel attaining victory over the Palestinians went from the margins to the mainstream, from peripheral to consensual. Politicians and polls both support this idea. Israelis seem to be a transformed people. But are they?

The word "Palestine" comes originally from the name of the Philistines of the Old Testament and ancient inscriptions. The Philistines were a people, probably related to the Greeks, who are sometimes referred to as "Sea Peoples." Like so many other ancient peoples, the Philistines eventually lost their distinct ethic identity, and disappeared from the pages of history around 2,500 years ago.

It can be offensive, and even deeply hurtful to Muslims, to draw attention to the victimhood of others. Why is that so? Why this widespread, competitive victimhood? Those who are not familiar with the foundational texts of Islam may not be aware of how deeply a sense of Muslim victimhood runs through these texts, and how Muslim victimhood trumps all other victimhood.

Hamas's massacre of 1,400 people in Israel on October 7 has catapulted the alleged state-sponsor of terrorism Qatar and its ownership of the Maybourne hotel in Beverly Hills into the spotlight for the oil-rich nation's role in financing the jihadi terror movement that rules over the Gaza Strip.

Israeli leaders have said in no uncertain terms that this war will only end when Hamas no longer runs the Gaza Strip. IDF commanders are reportedly champing at the bit, leaking to journalists that a ground invasion has to begin soon.

In the wake of Hamas's terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, the Islamic Great East Raiders Front (İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncıları Cephesi, IBDA-C), a militant Turkish jihadist organization that openly endorses al-Qaeda ideology, has targeted the Jewish community in Turkey and called for NATO bases in Turkey to be closed.

Nine days before Hamas murdered and raped its way through kibbutzim in southern Israel and brought almost 200 hostages back into Gaza, officials from the Department of Homeland Security hosted a White House roundtable with five prominent Islamist organizations in the United States, three of which have promoted pro-Hamas propaganda after the October 7 attack.

The Hamas Charter asserts that once land has been conquered and occupied by Islam, it belongs eternally as a waqf ('perpetual trust') for Muslims. For this reason, the Charter states that Palestine is "consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day." As a Hamas spokesman recently declared, "It's all ours."

Islamist organizations in the U.S. expressed their support for Hamas's slaughter of Israelis within hours of the attacks. Nihad Awad, co-founder and executive director of CAIR, tweeted in Arabic, "All Arab peoples must go out on Sunday, October 8, and every day, in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and in rejection of normalization with the occupier and the apartheid regime."

Footage of participants at an October 9 anti-Israel rally outside the Sydney Opera House chanting "Gas the Jews," "F**k the Jews," and "Allahu Akbar" sent shockwaves around the globe, revealing a troubling side of Australia, a nation not previously known for having widespread and public issues stemming from Islamist antisemitism.

Recent events should serve as a belated alarm call to Israel and its allies about the new multipolar world – and about the nature, dimensions and existential seriousness of the Iranian and Islamist project that forms this new geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and beyond.

Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded in 1988. It is one of two parties in power among Palestinians, the other being Fatah. Hamas rules in Gaza, while Fatah rules in the West Bank. They are both radical Islamist movements. Hamas's goal, laid out in its Charter, is to implement Islam fully and strictly.

Iran now possesses a contiguous area of control stretching from Syria's Quneitra Province adjoining the Golan Heights, across southern Syria and into Iraq. Should one of the infiltrating groups in the North get through, or shell a major target and cause considerable loss of life, Israel might find itself impelled to carry out a major response, with all that this would imply.

Hamas was encouraged by shifting Israeli national priorities that led its security planners to rely heavily on electronic surveillance and remote-controlled weapons at the expense of boots on the ground and the human eye. Hamas's threats to destroy Israel have never been a secret; they have been written openly at the heart of its covenant.

The Qatar state-owned network Al Jazeera is facing intense criticism that it is assisting the Hamas terrorist movement in its war against the Jewish state, prompting the government to declare that Al Jazeera's operation will be outlawed in Israel for transmitting "sensitive information to our enemies." When asked about a ban on Al Jazeera and two...

The sad truth of the matter is that two formal U.S. allies, Turkey and Qatar, are, apart from Iran, the most important state sponsors of Hamas in the world. U.S. diplomats, military officials, Congress, and the White House should reorient our policies accordingly and use U.S. leverage to cause our "frenemies" to change course.

In the following interview, an individual called Mazen (his first name, though I have omitted his full name for his own security), who resides in the primarily Druze province of al-Suwayda' in southern Syria and is a member of a local faction there opposed to the Syrian government, expresses an opinion going against popular Arab consensus.

Amid a growing divergence with the Islamist government of President Erdoğan, the US has been intent on sidelining Turkey from significant global and regional events. During diplomatic efforts by the US to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not visit Ankara while touring capitals in the Middle East.

Israel is the only country in the world that is never allowed to win a war. Whenever Israel begins to win, it is told to stop. That is because the proportionality obsessives know Israel can't be defeated by Hamas, so they try to ensure that Israel doesn't defeat Hamas.

The Biden administration must step up pressure on Iran with financial sanctions, diplomatic isolation, an expanded U.S. military footprint in the region, increased defense support for allies, and cyber operations against Tehran's terror network.

It's possible for a decent Gaza-led administration to emerge, which could make autonomy and even statehood possible. On seizing control of Gaza, Israel can reasonably expect to find plenty of residents ready to work with the new authority to create an administration that could return them to normal life.

Accepting the inadvertent killing of civilians is more logical when one is defending their home—which is what Israel is doing—as opposed to when one is trying to conquer the homes of others—which is what the prophet of Islam and over a millennium of jihadist leaders (or terrorists) did.

The question Israel will have to face if it does indeed dismantle Hamas as an organization is who runs the Strip now? That difficult question will have to be answered by Prime Minister Netanyahu's war cabinet. Until then, the IDF must show that it knows how to design a campaign that brings about its ambitious war aims.

The supreme religious leader of Turkey's Iran-backed Hizbullah, Edip Gümüş, an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist government, has recently made a public call for a global jihad against Israel, leading to concerns about the safety of Jewish communities both within and without Turkey.

This is not a war which can be resolved through a negotiated settlement. Hamas has shown the world, in its own bloody way, that this is a war to destroy Israel together with its people. Israel does have the right to defend itself. It now has no choice but to make this a war to completely uproot and destroy Hamas.

As Israel readies for an invasion of Gaza, the IDF will be met with drones, anti-tank weapons, and a barrage of rockets. Hamas will continue to use civilians as human shields, and Israel will continue to conduct its operations against a diplomatic stopwatch.

The events of October 7 and the larger fight now brewing in its wake will be an episode in a broader contest between Iran and its proxies and efforts by Israel, the UAE, the Saudi crown prince, and others to promote a diametrically opposed vision of the region that places commerce and peaceful economic and societal development, alongside respect for tradition, at the heart of its project.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ramped up his anti-Israel rhetoric over the past several days, lamenting that "our brothers in the Gaza strip" are being bombed and claiming Israel is "acting like [a terrorist organization]" rather than a state.

In the wake of a brutal terrorist attack on Israel, members of the ultra left-wing "Squad" in the U.S. House released public statements calling for a "ceasefire" in Israel. Despite strong condemnatory evidence, Omar and Tlaib continue to champion CAIR. Their patronage provides the Hamas lobby with an alarming foothold in U.S. Congress.

Turkey, an ally of the United States and a member of NATO, has conducted itself appallingly in the aftermath of Hamas's terroristic, genocidal invasion of Israel this past weekend. The United States should leverage all of its political, military and economic capability to bring Turkey in line.

The Hamas offensive against the Israeli communities surrounding Gaza is a pivotal moment in a war that has been going on for some years. It's a mistake to see this as another chapter in the long and interminable 'Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel, both state and society, is facing one of its greatest challenges since its establishment.

Following the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, Islamists across the United States are refusing to condemn the Hamas perpetrators. Instead, they are announcing unequivocal support for Palestine, regardless of Hamas's control over its leadership.

A surge in antisemitism in Turkey, set against the backdrop of Hamas's terrorist attacks in Israel and the Israeli military's retaliation against targets in Gaza, has been exacerbated by officials in the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and its allies.

This is a paradigm-shifting moment. After previous Hamas attacks, Israel has responded with aerial bombardment of targets in Gaza or, at most, limited ground incursions. Israel has followed this framework since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007. But after these new atrocities, this framework can no longer stand.

Hamas's rule is underwritten to a large extent by Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich sheikhdom in the Persian Gulf, among others. Congress should persuade the administration to designate Qatar as a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as pressure the Qatari government to extradite Hamas commanders to face justice.

President Joe Biden declared, "In this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel" and referred to Hamas's terrorist assault as "pure, unadulterated evil." Congress should go even further than this and pass a resolution calling for the dismantlement of Hamas.

'This is our generation's Yom Kippur,' one of the tank crewmen told us, standing on the hull of his vehicle. 'We haven't even begun to understand the implications of this.' Yom Kippur is Israeli shorthand for the massive intelligence and conceptual failure which led to Israel being taken by surprise by the armies of Egypt and Syria on that day 50 years ago, in 1973.

Left-wing feminists demonstrate in favor of Hamas, ignoring the real issues facing women in Gaza, including child marriage, forced veiling, and honor crimes. Little wonder: most women do not automatically embrace freedom and truth any more than most men do.

Intense expert debates over whether Israel will launch full-scale war against Iran's main strategic ally, Hezbollah, is underway amid the Lebanese terrorist entity's aerial incursions into Israel. The US military sent additional naval groups to the Eastern Mediterranean, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.

Amidst rape outrages, at least dozens taken hostage, hundreds dead and thousands wounded in Israel, numerous anti-Israel academics in Middle East studies have opened a second Twitter/X front in the terrorist war against the Jewish state. A battle for public opinion often heavily stacked against Israel seeks to constrain the environment in which it can maneuver.

Joseph Massad is excited about what he calls "the Palestinian war of liberation." He is ecstatic over the "shocking success" of "the Palestinian resistance." He is a ghoulish anti-Semite who is absolutely elated at the "astounding," "striking," "awesome," and "innovative" "victories of the resistance."

In revolutionary logic, the ends often justify the means, and violence against a perceived oppressor is not only permissible but heroic. For 75 years, the Israel-Palestinian conflict has been interpreted in just such ways—by Arab nationalists, by Islamic fundamentalists, and by Western revolutionaries.

Pro-Erdoğan daily newspaper Yeni Şafak wrote that the "terror state Israel is targeting civilians." Another pro-Erdoğan daily, Star, tagged the entire spiral of violence "Israeli oppression." This evidence and much more shows the fanatical anti-Israeli legacy of Erdoğan has "successfully" poisoned an already xenophobic society; it will probably take generations to clean up.

Officials of Gazan charities funded by British and American Islamist groups, and even the U.S. government, have expressed support for the Hamas operation killing and kidnapping Israelis. Operating with impunity for far too long, these incestuous radical networks of Islamist charities serve as the fundraising arms of Hamas terror.

Israeli leaders believed that the border fence with Gaza, an NIS 3.5 billion ($1.1 billion) project that took over three years to complete, would provide a defensive shield around its citizens on the border. As videos of the calamity on Saturday made painfully clear, the fence did next to nothing to stop the invasion.

The Middle East is not a place for do-gooders and much less for that virus installed in the West under the false name of Wokeism. The unpreparedness for this attack is rooted in the accelerated "westernization" of the Israeli people. By "westernization," I mean its latest cultural manifestation, the woke mentality.

"Free Palestine"—the slogan, the fantasy, and the policy—has always consciously implied the mass murder of Jews in their towns, streets, shops, and living rooms. To the Arabs of my own generation, I say it's time to confront the darker corners of our ideological heritage, and question the ideas and beliefs we may have uncritically absorbed.

Across the Western world, Islamist activists do not only support the designated terrorist group Hamas from afar, but have embraced Hamas leaders in person. This live document, updated with new examples as we gather them, will serve to document such instances.

The leaders of the French National Rally party, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, in a sharp turn that could change the pattern of politics in France, have issued separate statements of support for Israel in the wake of the Hamas terrorist onslaught. The entire political class is doing it, including the socialists and the ecologists.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the driving force in the war launched Saturday against the Jewish state. The $6 billion in unfrozen sanctioned money that was sent to Iran via Qatar's financial system is fungible money and can be used to fund Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah.

In the tumultuous wake of an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas forces from Gaza, a defining moment has arisen for United States foreign policy. The escalation of violence prompts the consideration of stringent policy measures aimed at curbing the Islamist organization's aggression and restoring stability in the region.

Hamas's surprise attack is a strategic opportunity for Israel, the U.S. and democracies everywhere. The Hamas charter of 1988 calls for Islam to "obliterate" Israel. After this vicious assault, the time has come for Israel to obliterate Hamas.

Just a day after Iran-backed Hamas terrorists slaughtered and kidnapped Israeli civilians, Iranian Islamists in the United Kingdom are organizing an event, at a venue in London controlled by a British Hamas network, featuring pro-Hamas voices, including a prominent American Islamist leader.

The current situation is not just an act of terrorism: it is an invasion, an orchestrated massacre gleaming with the sinister glare of genocidal intent. The re-occupation of the Gaza Strip emerges not as a choice but an imperative. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, entities nurtured by an unquenchable thirst for Israeli destruction, must be eradicated.