Positive Signs of Israel’s Sustained Pressure on Hamas As The Terror Group Drops Demand For Permanent Ceasefire And Resumes Talks To Release Hostages. CIA Director Talks To Egypt And Qatar. Iran’s Role In Stoking Antisemitism In America. Iran’s Exiled Crown Prince In Washington. And Why Calls To Boycott Israeli Prime Minister’s Upcoming Historic Address To Congress Are Misplaced.
But, first, this good news:
FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM WILL REMOVE POSTS TARGETING “ZIONISTS” when used to reference Jews or Israeli citizens in general. This is a major step forward in the fight against antisemitism. For decades, Zionism and Zionist have been used to disparage Jews and Israel and as a proxy term for Jew-hatred. Considering the widespread global use of Facebook and Instagram, this decision by their parent company META will go a long way in spreading awareness. Deborah E. Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, posted on X welcoming this development.
ISRAEL’S PRESSURE ON HAMAS IS WORKING. Something unexpected happened over the weekend and now top U.S. officials are in the Middle East to seize this opportunity. Hamas suddenly dropped its demand for a permanent end to war before it agreed to any deal to release the hostages. On Sunday, Israeli leaders said this happened thanks to the Israeli military’s sustained pressure on terror holdouts in Gaza despite international pressures to stop the war. The Associated Press wire service spoke to diplomats in the region who recognized that devastation in Gaza is now beginning to unsettle Hamas terror commanders, who fear reprisals by Gaza’s residents when they emerge from their tunnels. CIA Director William Burns met the Egyptian president Wednesday in Cairo where Israeli, Qatari, and Jordanian officials were also present, and headed later to Qatar for additional meetings with negotiators from these countries. And White House national security spokesman John Kirby says there is a glimmer of hope and it’s “worth a shot.”
ENTER IRAN, as new evidence emerges that Iranian intelligence operatives have tried to establish links with some of the anti-Israel protesters at American campuses and cities, likely without the American protesters knowing they are being played by hostile foreign operatives. This raises the possibility that some of the anti-Israel protesters have unwittingly advanced Iran’s agenda. The Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, issued a detailed statement on this on Tuesday. [see the statement here].
THE UNITED STATES IS AT RISK FROM IRAN. This was a second warning on Iran on the same day coming out of Washington, D.C., and this one from Iran’s former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed by the extremist Khomeinist clerics who rule Iran today. Pahlavi is in DC as a keynote speaker at NatCon-4, a conservative event on American foreign policy. In a moving speech, in which he condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, crown prince Pahlavi linked the rise of Hamas and its radical Islamist ideology to today’s Khomeinist Iran and advocated for a U.S. action against that regime: “The problem that began in Iran must end in Iran.” [Check more of his remarks here).
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS WHO SENT ANTISEMTIC TEXT MESSAGES remain employed by the university despite being removed from their positions. In fact, three deans have been removed while a fourth, Josef Sorett, Dean of Columbia College, has been retained in his position after an apology. All four mocked Columbia’s Jewish students who faced harassment by pro-Palestinian protesters [see CNN’s reporting]. The incident lends credence to fears that some of the targeted attacks against Jewish students at American universities post-Oct. 7 were passively supported by individuals in university management. Rep. Ritchie Torres posted on X highlighting the fact that Columbia continues to employ the four deans involved in this scandal.
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU will address a joint session of U.S. Congress on July 24, 2024. This will be the first address by the Israeli prime minister to America’s elected leaders since the war began nine months ago. The invitation was extended by a bipartisan group of congressional leaders and signals America’s support for Israel at this difficult time. However, a handful of lawmakers have confirmed they will boycott the Israeli leader’s speech. This will be unfortunate if it transpires because this occasion is about Israel and not about the incumbent holder of the office of the Israeli prime minister. This is a story we’re closely following. You will hear more from the American Jewish Congress on this as we get closer to that date.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CIVILIANS TRY GETTING HUMANITARIAN AID IN GAZA? With this title, Israel’s army, the IDF, released a video on Instagram that shows Hamas militants arresting and beating Palestinians who took humanitarian aid without Hamas’s permission. The clip is verified, and multiple mainstream Arab media outlets have aired it. It shows Hamas militants verbally and physically abusing Palestinian civilians, and then one of the militants sprays the word “thief” in Arabic on the naked back of a Palestinian civilian. Hamas takes the best food and other items underground, likely to be given to top Hamas commanders and their families and leaves the rest to be distributed among those Gazans who show respect and loyalty to Hamas. Click here or on the image below to watch the video.
