Biden’s pressure on Netanyahu

The New Neo Posted on by

There are a ton of articles about how Biden is trying to kneecap Netanyahu into a ceasefire. This reflects the influence of Obama and the State Department on Biden, as well as the fact that the Democrat left hates Israel and Biden realizes that more robust support of Israel’s desire to obliterate Hamas could cost him in the 2024 election.

How much this will affect Netanyahu’s own resolve really depends on how much leverage the US has on Israel. At this point, I think Israel realizes that trying to placate world opinion is literally impossible for Israel and incompatible with Israel’s continued existence. But the US has been – until Obama, anyway – Israel’s most staunch ally, and Netanyahu probably would like to keep it that way if possible.

Then there’s the matter of armaments from the US to Israel, and especially ammunition. Israel is at least somewhat dependent on that; will Biden threaten to pull the plug? I have no idea, but I do know that Netanyahu keeps saying nothing will deter Israel from the task of eradicating Hamas:

“Over the last few days, I’ve heard a question: When this phase of returning our hostages is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? My answer is an unequivocal yes,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to that link, Hamas has made an offer Israel has strongly refused: If Israel will stop their campaign for good, all the hostages come home – at least, the living ones. We don’t know how many are alive, because Hamas declared one hostage dead who later emerged alive in an exchange.

And speaking of hostages, remember the youngest hostage, a 10-month-old baby? This is what Hamas is saying now:

The Israel Defense Forces is investigating claims that three members of the Bibas family in Gaza, including 10-month-old Kfir, died in Hamas captivity, the military said on Wednesday. …

Without presenting evidence, the Al-Qassam Brigades attributed their deaths to “a previous Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip.”

It goes without saying that Hamas will attribute every hostage death to Israeli airstrikes. No doubt the entire left will believe that, as they believe everything those stalwart truthtellers of Hamas say.

I don’t know whether this article is true, but I certainly hope so:

Senior officials eliminated, scarce resources, and IDF dominance in Gaza war have harmed Hamas’s morale. In a symbolic move: IDF installs mezuzahs in temporarily seized Gaza houses. …

Field officers report that after the IDF successfully targeted Hamas brigade, battalion, and company commanders, the terrorist group’s armed wing struggled to execute attacks against Israeli forces infiltrating terrorist strongholds. The IDF’s control in northern Gaza and Gaza City, with established defensive fortifications, outposts, and supply sites, aims to hinder rocket refueling and road construction in Palestinian territory.

The temporary halt in the Israeli campaign helps Hamas regroup, but there may be a limit to how much regrouping it can do, depending on personnel.

Hostage psychology

The New Neo Posted on by

Whether or not you think the hostage deals are a good thing for Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas, I don’t think anyone here doesn’t take joy in the family reunions and in particular the release of the children. I’ve watched many YouTube videos and read many articles and find the stories highly moving.

Of course, Hamas would like people to think the hostages they forced to wave goodbye to their captors for the cameras were well-treated, but of course they were not. They were only well-treated in that they are still alive, and were kept that way because they were worth a lot to Hamas. Three terrorists for every hostage; not a bad deal for Hamas, and more to come.

I was especially struck with 13- and 16-year-old siblings Noam and Alma Or. The left holding hands, and they were held hostage together; a photo of them holding hands can be found here, although copying it is blocked. It’s pretty clear to me that whatever their relationship might have been before they were kidnapped, their bond is now extraordinarily deep and strong.

They will need that bond, because on their return there were no parents to greet them. Their mother was murdered and their father is assumed to have been kidnapped, and the children were unaware of those things while in captivity. It’s just as well they didn’t know till now; they had enough to contend with: being in a “safe” room when their house was set on fire, jumping out the window, being found by terrorists and taken to Gaza, being imprisoned – just the two of them, plus a woman unnamed by the press but who helped mother them and has now been left as a hostage. They will need every ounce of strength they can muster, and every relative who is still alive to comfort them. But the hostages may find it hard – for a time, anyway – to relate to anyone who has not shared their experience. That’s why siblings are so very important.

I wonder whether psychologists have any plans to get some of the child hostages together in groups to talk to each other, even if they have never met before. It might be a good idea. But whatever happens, recovering from trauma can take a long time. These children have multiple traumas, and they are just finding out some of it after being returned home (“home” being Israel; for most of them, their original homes are no more).

The other day I mocked the Irish prime minister for his statement about a hostage child having been “lost” and now “found.” I wrote: “‘Lost’ – like Hansel and Gretel, lost in the forest and captured by the Witch who wants to eat them?” But having seen the photo of the siblings Noam and Alma Or holding hands, I thought of Hansel and Gretel again, only this time in a non-mocking way.

I’ve written previously about Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel which differs slightly from the original fairy tale and which Humperdinck wrote with his sister, who composed the libretto. It’s considered a fairly light work, very suitable for children. But I have always found much of it deeply, deeply moving. Among other things, it shows the change in the relationship of siblings – an older boy and younger girl – over time, moving from light-hearted bickering, teasing, and high spirits; to confusion and attempts to compfort (lost in the forest); to teamwork under pressure in defeating an evil force who holds them prisoner and who would dearly love to kill and eat them. I think you can see the connection to the hostage story.

I love the opera, but the most relevant part here is the ending. Hansel and Gretel – played always by two women – find other children who have been put under a spell by the same witch that Hansel and Gretel have just vanquished by pushing her into her own oven, they same oven in which she was planning to cook Hansel and then Gretel. These other children had been turned into gingerbread cookies and now they are being transformed back into children, but their eyes are still closed at first (reminding me of the fact that some of the Hamas hostages had been kept in the dark and had to be re-accustomed to the light). After the gingerbread children are transformed back into themselves, Hansel and Gretel’s parents appear. The parents have been searching for them all this time, and the family is happily united again. Would that were true of all the children held hostage by Hamas, but many will not see that particular reunion in this lifetime.

Here’s a version of the finale that I’ve just described, with English subtitles. Note the religious aspects. (This is not a great version, but the voices are nice and it has the requisite translation):

Trump’s lead: what does it mean?

The New Neo Posted on by

Whether or not it means anything to you depends on how you feel about polls, as well as how you feel about the possibility and/or likelihood of fraud in 2024. But it’s a fact that Trump is doing well in current polls. That’s not just true in national polls, which aren’t as meaningful as state polls; it’s true of state polls as well:

What does the state polling show today? Trump leads in the RCP Average in Michigan for the first time, ever.

Pennsylvania? He leads for the first time ever, and has led in most polls.
“>
He narrowly trails Biden in Wisconsin but has already led in almost as many polls as he led in the state in 2016 and 2020 combined. His 0.7% deficit compares to his previous best showing in the state: A 3.5% deficit in August of 2020.

Florida? Trump has led or tied in every poll, including some double-digit leads.

Arizona? He leads by five in the RCP Average.

Georgia? He leads by six.

Ohio? Polling is sparse, but he leads by 10.

Does seem to be a trend, doesn’t it?

Of course, it may fizzle out. There may be some flaw in the polls, or collusion among pollsters to make sure Trump is nominated because he really is one of the weaker candidates (I don’t think that’s what’s going on). There’s a pause in some of the legal proceedings against him, and when that ends and the trials heat up again it might change things. Or, Biden may not be the eventual Democrat nominee; but one of the reasons he hasn’t been replaced as yet – and I have been saying I don’t think he will be replaced – is that possible alternative Democrat nominees fare no better, plus Biden stubbornly refuses to leave at the moment.

I think that one of the reasons Biden’s poll numbers are dropping is a strange and ironic one: many “progressives” support the decidedly unprogressive thugs of Hamas, and are unhappy with Biden’s relative support of Israel. Go figure. Probably some of the Jewish Democrats are leaving the fold, too, but Jews are such a small minority of voters that such a phenomenon wouldn’t matter in most states. Black voters are another story; they matter far more because they are much more numerous. They are said to be leaving Biden in significant numbers, although the vast majority of black voters are probably still going to vote for Biden over Trump. Same for Hispanic voters. And people are tired of being told the economy is great when it’s not great for them, for example when they shop for groceries.

Obviously, it’s too early to get all excited about these polls. Remember the Red Wave of 2022, the one that never happened? But it’s better than seeing Trump trailing dismally at this point, because I am convinced that Trump will be the GOP nominee in 2024.

The Gazan informants

The New Neo Posted on by

I hope this is true, and I hope it means that at least a few Gazans are, as Golda Meir used to say, beginning to love their children more than they hate Israelis:

A senior 504 [Israeli intelligence Unit] official added: “We received thousands of phone calls from Gazans on a scale never seen before in the unit. It is evident that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not satisfied with the barbaric conduct of Hamas. The ordinary civilian understands that Hamas is bringing disaster to the residents of Gaza that will be difficult for them to recover from.”

It’s certainly possible that – as a recent poll indicated – 75% of Gazans support Hamas. If so, then up to 25% don’t – although they may support another terrorist group. Then again, why would any Gazan feel free to disagree with terrorist aims, given the total control the terrorists have had until now, as well as their propensity for violence against Palestinians who don’t toe the line?

So maybe quite a few of those 25% have decided to tell what they know about the tunnel entrance down the street. And maybe, as Hamas is seen as weakened over time – if Israel does what it says it will – the number of Palestinians fed up with Hamas’ violent and tyrannical rule will increase.

A person can hope, anyway. Do I believe it’s what will happen? Not really. But I believe it to be possible.

I wrote about the recent West Bank lynching of two men accused of collaborating with Israel. Whether they really were helping Israel is impossible to know, of course. Someone merely may have wanted them destroyed for other reasons. However, the public lynching and the reason given for it is an indication that the jihadis certainly want to send a very strong message against assisting Israel. They must be at least a little bit worried about the phenomenon.

Today’s hostage release: note the pattern, which is for Hamas to keep the fathers

The New Neo Posted on by

Here’s the list; the pattern is quite obvious:

From the Engel family:
Karina Engel-Bart, 51
Mika Engel, 18
Yuval Engel, 10
(Father Ronen Engel remains hostage in Gaza)

From the Calderon family:
Sahar Calderon, 16
Erez Calderon, 12
(Father Ofer Calderon remains hostage in Gaza)

From the Yaakov family:
Or Yaakov, 16
Yagil Yaakov, 12
(Father Yair Yaakov and girlfriend Meirav Tal remain hostage in Gaza)

From the Yahalomi family:
Eitan Yahalomi, 12
(Father Ohad Yahalomi remains hostage in Gaza)

Separate the fathers, the better to torture Israel and the families further, and to increase Hamas’ leverage on Israel and the US. I don’t think any of the US citizens other than yesterday’s 4-year-old (3 when taken) Avigail Idan have been released. The US hostages are particularly valuable to Hamas, because they constitute special leverage on Biden, who can pressure Israel in a variety of ways.

A very prescient Mark Steyn piece on immigration, leftism, and anti-Semitism

The New Neo Posted on by

[Hat tip: commenter “AesopFan.”]

Mark Steyn gets to say “I told you so.”

Boy, does he ever.

Please read this piece by Steyn that first appeared in Commentary back in May of 2009. It is astounding how much of the current blatant Jew-hating atmosphere was already present, especially in Europe. I suggest you read the whole thing. It’s all relevant, but I’ll highlight some especially relevant portions:

“Israel is unfashionable,” a Continental foreign minister said to me a decade back. “But maybe Israel will change, and then fashions will change.” Fashions do change. But however Israel changes, this fashion won’t. The shift of most (non-American) Western opinion against the Jewish state that began in the 1970s was, as my Continental politician had it, simply a reflection of casting: Israel was no longer the underdog but the overdog, and why would that appeal to a post-war polytechnic Euro-Left unburdened by Holocaust guilt?

Fair enough. Fashions change. But the new Judenhass is not a fashion, simply a stark reality that will metastasize in the years ahead and leave Israel isolated in the international “community” in ways that will make the first decade of this century seem like the good old days.

Let that last sentence sink in.

More:

…[T]here is a difference of scale between the well-established faculty-lounge disdain for “Israeli apartheid” and a mass psychosis so universal it’s part of the air you breathe. For a glimpse of the future, consider the (for the moment) bizarre circumstances of the recent Davis Cup First Round matches in Sweden. They had been scheduled long ago to be played in the Baltiska Hallen stadium in Malmo. Who knew which team the Swedes would draw? Could have been Chile, could have been Serbia. Alas, it was Israel.

Malmo is Sweden’s most Muslim city, and citing security concerns, the local council ordered the three days of tennis to be played behind closed doors. Imagine being Amir Hadad and Andy Ram, the Israeli doubles players, or Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt, the Swedes. This was supposed to be their big day. But the vast stadium is empty, except for a few sports reporters and team officials. And just outside the perimeter up to 10,000 demonstrators are chanting, “Stop the match!” and maybe, a little deeper into the throng, they’re shouting, “We want to kill all Jews worldwide” (as demonstrators in Copenhagen, just across the water, declared just a few weeks earlier).

This has been going on for a long, long time, and authorities in Western countries have not stopped it. Steyn explains:

In Britain in January, while “pro-Palestinian” demonstrators were permitted to dress up as hook-nosed Jews drinking the blood of Arab babies, the police ordered counter-protesters to put away their Israeli flags. In Alberta, in the heart of Calgary’s Jewish neighborhood, the flag of Hizballah (supposedly a proscribed terrorist organization) was proudly waved by demonstrators, but one solitary Israeli flag was deemed a threat to the Queen’s peace and officers told the brave fellow holding it to put it away or be arrested for “inciting public disorder.” …

… But, if you look at it from the authorities’ point of view, it’s not about Jew-hatred; it’s a simple numbers game. If a statistically insignificant Jewish population gets upset, big deal. If the far larger Muslim population – and, in some French cities, the youth population (i.e., the demographic that riots) is already pushing 50 percent – you have a serious public-order threat on your hands. …

One Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, a group wearing “BOYCOTT ISRAEL” T-shirts entered a French branch of Carrefour, the world’s largest supermarket chain, and announced themselves. They then systematically advanced down every aisle examining every product, seizing all the items made in Israel and piling them into carts to take away and destroy. Judging from the video they made, the protesters were mostly Muslim immigrants and a few French leftists. But more relevant was the passivity of everyone else in the store, both staff and shoppers, all of whom stood idly by as private property was ransacked and smashed, and many of whom when invited to comment expressed support for the destruction. “South Africa started to shake once all countries started to boycott their products,” one elderly lady customer said. “So what you’re doing, I find it good.”

I’ll stop there. You get the picture: almost 15 years ago.

Newspeak again: according to Ireland’s PM, 9-year-old Hamas hostage Emily Hand merely wandered off without her GPS

The New Neo Posted on by

And then she apparently came home, wagging her tail behind her.

I would say that the man is incredibly stupid, except that I know he’s not. He’s being incredibly careful with words – like most good leftists – trying desperately to avoid saying the truth about Hamas, Palestinians, and Israel.

There’s an awful lot of that going around in Ireland lately.

So here’s how the PM described Irish-Israeli citizen Emily Hand, nine years old, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and finally returned to her family:

In a post that has quickly been lambasted on Twitter, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar welcomes the release of Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand, “an innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned.”

The passive tweet from Varadkar does not mention that the 9-year-old Hand had been held hostage for 50 days in Gaza by Hamas terrorists after she was kidnapped from a sleepover with her friend.

“We breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered,” he says.

“Lost” – like Hansel and Gretel, lost in the forest and captured by the Witch who wants to eat them? Lost, like in the “Amazing Grace” lyrics? Lost, like a mitten or one’s reading glasses?

Not only was Hand not “lost,” but she was also not “found.” Her captors exchanged her for terrorists who plan to kill and abduct more Israelis, and that is the purpose for which she was kidnapped (excuse me: lost) in the first place. The kidnappers knew where she was all the time, although we didn’t. I don’t know whether we’ll ever know, actually.

The Irish PM, Leo Varadkar, is a pretty nasty piece of work vis a vis Israel:

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “something approaching revenge”, in some of the strongest criticism of Israel by a leader of a European Union member state. …

“I strongly believe that … Israel has the right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas, that they cannot do this again,” Varadkar told journalists during a visit to South Korea, according to comments broadcast by state radio RTE.

“What I’m seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self defence. It looks, resembles something more approaching revenge,” Varadkar said.

“That’s not where we should be. And I don’t think that’s how Israel will guarantee future freedom and future security,” he said. …

Ireland has traditionally been one of Western Europe’s strongest critics of Israeli policies towards Palestinians.

I eagerly await Varadkar’s suggestions about what Israel should do instead, to “guarantee future freedom and security.” No doubt they’re as brilliant as his remarks about Emily Hand. Hey, maybe he’ll suggest pulling out of Gaza and letting them have their own elections …

And then there’s Reuters, whose headline writer seemed to think that little Israeli children and old ladies are “soldiers”:

Some progressive publications and politicians have come under fire for downplaying the kidnappings and plight of the Israeli hostages under Hamas or for generally showing anti-Israel bias. For instance, Reuters called the hostages released in the second tranche “Israeli soldiers,” even though many of them were young children and teenagers. The New York Times published a headline, “2 Dozen Hostages Are Freed as Aid Heads into Gaza” alongside a picture of a Palestinian prisoner draped in what appears to be a Hamas flag.

Hamas says all Israelis are soldiers, or soldiers-to-be, or ex-soldiers, and therefore fair game. Some Hamas talking head – I forget which one – recently claimed that “no Israeli civilians” were killed or harmed on October 7. When questioned further, he explained that there are no Israeli civilians. And at least one person working at Reuters appears to agree. Of course, part of the Orwellian collusion between the MSM and the terrorists is to also call the released Palestinian prisoners “children,” and to highlight their heartfelt reunions with their family members.

It’s all the same, right? Moral equivalence, amoral equivalence, 3-year-old toddlers or 17-year-stabbers – whatever.

I’m not sure where to put this next bit, so I may as well place it here – Biden apologizes for doubting Hamas’ word:

President Biden apologized to some prominent Muslim-American leaders for publicly questioning the Palestinian death toll being reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, a new report says.

Biden huddled with five Muslim American leaders the day after his Oct. 25 comments about reported Gaza deaths roiled the Islamic community, vowing to “do better.”

During the meeting, which was initially planned for 30 minutes but lasted more than twice as long, Biden heard the leaders describe individuals they knew who were personally affected by the conflict.

“I’m sorry. I’m disappointed in myself,” Biden told the group, the Washington Post reported.

No reason to doubt Hamas, right? Must be Islamophobic to do so.