On the heels of a much publicized Gallup poll released Wednesday showing Americans’ shrinking support for Israel’s war in Gaza over the last four months, another poll is revealing that when people are informed about the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) alignment with the terrorist group Hamas, their support for a peace deal between the PA and Israel drops dramatically.
The survey, conducted by the public affairs agency Gideon300 in partnership with Scott Rasmussen’s RMG Research, found that “55 percent of American voters initially favor the U.S. encouraging Israel to make a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority.” However, after survey conductors informed the participants that the PA “wants to form a unity government with Hamas (including Cabinet positions for Hamas), pay Hamas Terrorists, and that 82% of PA supporters approve of the October 7th terrorist attacks by Hamas,” the percentage that still approved of the peace deal dropped down to 30%.
Notably, the survey also found that Democratic voters saw the “biggest swing towards negative sentiment” towards the peace deal after learning about the PA’s association with Hamas, from 73% of initial support down to 43% support (Republicans went from 38% to 19% and Independents went from 47% to 28%).
On Wednesday, Matthew Faraci, president of Gideon300, joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss the impetus behind his organization’s administration of the poll and what the results indicate.
“There’s a Harris/Harvard CAPS poll that they do quite regularly, and one of the things that we’ve seen in this poll back from the beginning, since October 7th, is that [Americans’] support for Israel hovers around 79 to 80%” versus support for Hamas, he pointed out. “[I]n fact, one of the interesting trends is that young people have actually trended more supportive [of Israel], which again, goes against everything you see from the propaganda official state media that we’re fed every day.”
But as Faraci went on to contend, the Biden administration is attempting to lessen the public’s support of Israel in order to put pressure on the Israeli government to give in to Biden’s preferred policy objectives, including a two-state solution.
“[P]art of the tension [between Israel and the U.S.] is clearly that the U.S. … doesn’t want Israel to finish the job and take out Hamas and invade Rafah,” he explained. “But the slight of hand, the quiet other thing that they are pressuring Israel for is that they ultimately want Israel to settle for a two-state solution, which means the end of Israel. And the State Department … is trying to polish up the Palestinian Authority and make them look more palatable. Because the question is, if there’s a two-state solution, who would such a solution be with? Who’s the person making the deal on the other end? And what the Biden administration is doing is saying, ‘Well, that’s going to be the Palestinian Authority, the more moderate, peaceful wing of the governance over there.’”
However, when Americans are presented with the facts regarding the PA, Biden’s policies aren’t well received, Faraci observed. “Once people started to learn the details of that, they swung in their opinion,” he noted. “I’ve never seen a swing this big in any poll I’ve ever done, and I’ve done hundreds of them.”
“So Matthew, are you saying facts matter?” asked Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
“Shocking,” Faraci deadpanned in response. “Facts matter.”
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-03-29 11:02:582024-03-31 05:25:26‘Facts Matter’: Poll Shows Americans’ Firm Rejection of Hamas-Linked Two-State Solution
President Joe Biden is currently considering granting amnesty to illegal migrants in a bid to act on the worsening immigration crisis, according to Politico.
Biden and his administration are weighing several ideas to take a tougher stance on the southern border crisis and illegal immigration amid criticisms he has thus far failed to act on either. The administration could start dolling out green cards to illegal immigrants who have long stayed inside the United States, thereby giving them amnesty to stay in the country, three people familiar with the planning told Politico.
President Joe Biden is currently considering granting amnesty to illegal migrants in a bid to act on the worsening immigration crisis, according to Politico.
Biden and his administration are weighing several ideas to take a tougher stance on the southern border crisis and illegal immigration amid criticisms he has thus far failed to act on either. The administration could start dolling out green cards to illegal immigrants who have long stayed inside the United States, thereby giving them amnesty to stay in the country, three people familiar with the planning told Politico.
The plan would grant migrants who have been in the country for more than 10 years access to the cancellation of removal program provided that they have relatives who would suffer if they were deported, according to Politico. Migrants could then receive a green card — a permanent residency grant — if they meet the cancellation of removal requirements and an immigration judge rules in their favor.
It would represent a larger effort by Biden to take action on behalf of illegal immigrants who have long stayed inside the U.S., the three officials told Politico. The Obama administration took similar action in 2012 with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which delayed the deportation of illegal migrants who came to the U.S. when they were minors.
The plan would grant migrants who have been in the country for more than 10 years access to the cancellation of removal program provided that they have relatives who would suffer if they were deported, according to Politico. Migrants could then receive a green card — a permanent residency grant — if they meet the cancellation of removal requirements and an immigration judge rules in their favor.
It would represent a larger effort by Biden to take action on behalf of illegal immigrants who have long stayed inside the U.S., the three officials told Politico. The Obama administration took similar action in 2012 with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which delayed the deportation of illegal migrants who came to the U.S. when they were minors.
One idea the administration has mused is increasing support to states and cities that have taken in a high number of illegal immigrants, such as Denver, Colorado and New York City. Biden also previously considered using executive authority to make it harder to claim asylum at the southern border by raising the standards for a migrant to claim “credible fear” of being deported to their home country.
Biden previously claimed he was unable to act on the southern border crisis or illegal immigration unless Congress gave him approval to do so, going so far as to blame Republican lawmakers for stonewalling him.
“I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power. I’ve asked from the very day I got into office,” Biden said during a press gaggle on Jan. 30.
Illegal immigration has skyrocketed under the Biden administration. Roughly 2 million migrant encounters were recorded by Border Patrol at the southern border in fiscal year 2023, up from approximately 1.7 million in fiscal year 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection. Migrant apprehensions at the southern border never crossed more than one million under the former Trump administration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-03-29 10:49:322024-03-29 10:54:13Biden Moves To Grant Amnesty, Hand Out Green Cards To Illegals: REPORT
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:10
Today, Christians the world over will commemorate Good Friday, the occasion of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Everywhere the liturgies will be solemn and the faithful will grieve, but nowhere will more Christians mourn than in Africa, where the faith’s largest flock[1] is also one of its most persecuted.
There, the cry of Good Friday[2] will resonate with the weary voices of countless Christians who are silently suffering from violence, abuse, and persecution at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS). But, despite the cacophony of their cries, the world will – unfortunately – remain largely indifferent.
The world’s attention was last briefly fixated on the continent’s persecuted a decade ago, in February 2015. At the time, an ISIS video, entitled “A Message in Blood to the Nation of the Cross,” broadcast for all to witness the brutal and shocking beheading of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians on a beach in Libya – It proved to be but a foreshadowing of the terrors to come.[3]
Other notorious attacks elsewhere by the Islamic State on Christians have generated even more fleeting attention: the 2010 massacre in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad on All Saints ‘Eve, the twin suicide bombing of Coptic Orthodox churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt on Palm Sunday 2017, and five years ago, the ISIS attacks on three churches (two Catholic and the third Evangelical) on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. But nowhere has the ISIS frenzy against Christians been as bloody and as sustained as on the African continent.
Today, global attention has waned while ISIS’s persecution of African Christians has not. In fact, violence against Christian believers has surged as ISIS expands its reach across the continent.
ISIS fighters now routinely reenact that harrowing scene on Libya’s beach in countries such as Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Mali – and gleefully publicize the acts online – as part of a continent-wide campaign of terror designed both to intimidate and inspire violence.[4]
For those of us who daily monitor ISIS, the targeted violence against Christians that has accompanied the group’s expansion is unsurprising. Indeed, ISIS has long prioritized the persecution of Christians as being a crucial manhaj, or methodology, for projecting strength and driving recruitment,[5] and its supporters regularly boast of “breaking the crosses”[6] and “returning the Islamic conquests to Africa.”
But what is also unsurprising is that Africa’s Christians remain resilient to this terror. Even after almost ten years of persecution – and the world’s deafening silence – The faithful are thriving on the continent as never before; in fact, African Christians now number over 718 million, the most of any continent.[7]
Cardinal Robert Sarah, a Guinean and Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps offers an explanation. In an interview about his book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, Sarah noted:
“When I traveled to countries that were going through violent, profound crises, sufferings and tragic miseries […] I observed that silent prayer is the last treasure of those who have nothing left. Silence is the last trench where no one can enter, the one room in which to remain at peace, the place where suffering for a moment lays down its weapons. In suffering, let us hide ourselves in the fortress of prayer.”[8]
So today, on this day of silent remembrance, Christians will quietly reflect not only on the suffering of Jesus, but also on the continued suffering of his followers. And they should do so not in the silence of indifference practiced by the world, but in the silence of contemplative prayer practiced by Africa’s resilient faithful.
For as Cardinal Sarah writes: “The grace of Easter is a profound silence, an immense peace, and a pure taste in the soul. It is the taste of heaven, away from all disordered excitement.”[9]
Matt Schierer is a research fellow at MEMRI JTTM Project.
EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
SOURCES:
[1] Gordonconwell.edu/blog/who-owns-global-christianity/, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[2] Medium.com/@archbishopofcanterbury/my-god-my-god-have-you-forsaken-me-reflections-on-good-friday-in-a-suffering-world-eb1531779771, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[7] Gordonconwell.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2023.pdf, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[8] Catholicworldreport.com/2016/10/03/cardinal-robert-sarah-on-the-strength-of-silence-and-the-dictatorship-of-noise/, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[9] Sarah, Robert. The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise. May 10, 2016.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Middle East Media Research Institutehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMiddle East Media Research Institute2024-03-29 10:22:372024-03-29 10:24:27Silence Speaks: A Good Friday Reflection On The Islamic State’s Persecution Of African Christians
“Police are the greatest people we have…there is nothing, and nobody like them…this should never happen…” — President Donald J. Trump
The Police Union told the politicians of NYC that they weren’t welcome to attend the funeral of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller. They reached out to Donald Trump and formally invited him.
President Trump speaks at the wake of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot and killed in the line of duty by a career criminal.
Suspect accused of killing NYPD officer has 21 prior arrests
A community in Queens, the NYPD, and a young family are all mourning the loss of Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Queens.
Diller, 31, who lived in Massapequa Park with his wife Stephanie and nearly 1-year-old son, joined the NYPD in February 2021.
Authorities say Diller and another officer were conducting the traffic stop on Mott Avenue at around 5:45 p.m. Monday. The NYPD Critical Response Team has been focusing on cars with fake plates, illegal tints or other quality-of-life issues.
NYPD officials say the officers stopped the vehicle, which had two men inside, because it was parked at a bus stop illegally. When officers asked the individuals to step out of the vehicle, the suspect in the passenger’s seat refused, and pointed a gun at the officers.
Guy Rivera, 34, is accused of shooting Diller, who was struck in the torso, just below his bullet-resistant vest. Officials say Diller’s partner then fired at Rivera, striking him in the back.
Diller was rushed to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition and later died.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-03-29 08:12:252024-03-29 08:21:51WATCH: President Trump speaks at the wake of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller
by Joseph Wilkes and James Liddell, Mirror, March 28, 2024:
Islamist terror group ISIS has called for lone wolves to engage in a Ramadan massacre of Christians and Jews across the US, Europe and Israel.
Abu Hudhaifa al-Ansari, spokesperson for the evil extremists also known as Islamic State, sickeningly praised the horrendous Moscow terror attack that killed 140 people in Russia last week. On Thursday, the jihadist took to encrypted messaging app Telegram to call on “lone wolves” to target Christians and Jewish people, especially in US, Europe, and Israel during the holy month of Ramadan.
The spokesperson also claimed that the presence of American troops in Iraq will “lead to more attacks from group”. It comes as he commemorates the 10-year anniversary of ISIS’ declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
In an audio speech, he highlighted the global expansion of Islamic State. al-Ansar also terror organization Al-Qaeda for straying from their so-called ‘path’, before claiming that Ramadan was the month of jihad.
The spokesperson also called on ‘members’ in Mozambique to “double attacks” and militants in Philippines to “move operations into major cities”, in a chilling and worrying sign. He calls on the Mujahidin – those who engage in Jihad – and media leaders to obey their elders, and disseminate Islamic State’s message.
He concluded: “By Allah, this matter will be made possible.”…
⚠️ BREAKING:. Three Jews have been injured after Arab terrorists opened fire at an Israeli school bus carrying children and vehicles on Route 90 in the Jordan Valley.
30-year-old man is in moderate-to-serious condition after being shot, another man in his 20s is lightly hurt,… pic.twitter.com/iIPHVfwgYg
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2024-03-29 07:28:242024-03-29 07:33:34ISIS calls for Muslim ‘lone wolves’ to carry out Ramadan massacres of Christians and Jews in the United States, Europe and Israel
The Israeli girl in this video filmed of her kidnapping on Oct 7th has spoken out about the horrifying sexual assault she faced during Hamas captivity.
The Israeli woman in this video filmed of her kidnapping on Oct 7th has spoken out about the horrifying s*xual assault she faced during Hamas captivity.
Amit Soussana, 40, has spoken for the first time about the harrowing ordeal she experienced while being held hostage in a… pic.twitter.com/GcHS4YnhUb
Released Gaza hostage Amit Soussana gave her personal testimony of the sexual violence and physical abuse she endured in Hamas captivity in an eight-hour interview with The New York Times that was published on Tuesday. She is the first released hostage to give direct testimony of sexual atrocities committed by Hamas.
Soussana previously made headlines when a video surfaced of the moment of her capture, when she fought off seven Hamas terrorists before being brought to Gaza.
In the interview, Soussana recalled being held hostage in a child’s bedroom in Gaza with a chain attached to her left ankle. The Hamas terrorist in charge of guarding her, whom she named Muhammad, occasionally would sit beside her on the bed, lift her shirt, and grope her, she said.
Muhammad would constantly ask about her period, inquiring if she was bleeding, if she had washed herself since, and when it would end, she added.
Sometime around October 24, Muhammad forced her to commit a sex act on him, Soussana said.
On that morning, he unlocked the chain around her ankle so that she could wash herself in the bathtub, she said, adding that after she began, Muhammad returned with a pistol.
“He came toward me and shoved the gun at my forehead,” Soussana said.
Muhammad hit her repeatedly to force her to take her towel off. After she did, Muhammad groped her before continuing to hit her.
Afterward, he dragged her back to the child’s room at gunpoint. The room was covered in images of SpongeBob SquarePants, she said.
“Then, with the gun pointed at me, [he] forced me to commit a sexual act on him,” Soussana said. After it was over, Muhammad left the room to wash up and left Soussana naked in the dark.
When he returned, she said, he expressed remorse, telling her, “I’m bad. I’m bad. Please don’t tell Israel.”
Soussana also recounted her moral quandary of accepting food from her abuser.
“You can’t stand looking at him, but you have to,” she told the Times. “He’s the one who’s protecting you. He’s your guard. You’re there with him, and you know that at any moment it can happen again. You’re completely dependent on him.”
Soussana then discussed her second captor, Amir, after she was transferred to a different location. On the day that she arrived at the new apartment, the Hamas terrorists wrapped her head in a pink shirt, forced her onto the floor, handcuffed her, and beat her with the butt of a gun, she said.
Minutes after that, they suspended her “like a chicken on a stick, suspended between two couches.” She recalled that she felt that her hands would be dislocated due to the intensity of the pain.
While suspended, her new captors beat and kicked her, focusing on the soles of her feet while demanding information that she might have had about the enemy.
After that, she was untied and led to a new bedroom, where they told her she had 40 minutes to produce information or else they would kill her.
Reports of acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas have been told in second-hand accounts by women and girls who were freed in the hostage deal last November, but none have been as explicit as Soussana’s.
Many apologists have denied any reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas, saying if it took this long to bring the allegations to light, they could not be true. Sexual crimes do not always get reported, as the trauma suffered by the victims could take such a toll as to dissuade them from bringing the crimes to light, according to experts.
Many of the victims of Hamas’s sexual crimes either died in the October 7 massacre or are still held in captivity in Gaza.
Currently, there are still 19 women hostages or whose bodies are still held in Hamas captivity: Naama Levy, Shani Louk, Noa Argamani, Romi Gonen, Arbel Yehud, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Doron Steinbrecher, Maya Goren, Ofra Kedar, Inbar Haiman, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa, Shiri Bibas, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Emily Damari, Amit Esther Buskila, and Judy Weinstein.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s Supreme Leader in Afghanistan, says women will soon be stoned to death for adultery. ‘We will flog women in public, we will stone them to death in public,’ he said in an audio message broadcast on Afghan state television. pic.twitter.com/wiU7zDE24r
“This is a wake up call to the world to act. To do everything and pressure Hamas. To free our hostages. To bring our hostages home.”
Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari’s full statement following the published testimony of released hostage Amit Soussana and IDF… pic.twitter.com/qa4It0GdRo
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-03-28 16:35:552024-03-31 05:26:27Released Hostage Amit Soussana Recounts Horrors at Hands of Hamas Kidnappers: ‘I Was Forced to Commit Sexual Acts with a Gun Pointed at Me’
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s Supreme Leader in Afghanistan, says women will soon be stoned to death for adultery. ‘We will flog women in public, we will stone them to death in public,’ he said in an audio message broadcast on Afghan state television. pic.twitter.com/wiU7zDE24r
Stoning adulterers is not “extremist”; it is Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad’s closest companions, supposedly even maintained that it was originally in the Qur’an:
‘Umar said, “I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, “We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book,” and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession.” Sufyan added, “I have memorized this narration in this way.” ‘Umar added, “Surely Allah’s Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him.” (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)
“Allah’s Apostle” is, of course, Muhammad, who according to canonical ahadith did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:
The Jews came to Allah’s Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah’s Apostle said to them, “What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?” They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them.” Abdullah bin Salam said, “You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm.” They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, “Lift your hand.” When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, “Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. (‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones.” (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)
Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:
During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)
Muhammad’s example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior: “Indeed in the messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for him who looks to Allah and the last day, and remembers Allah a great deal.” (Qur’an 33:21)
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2024-03-28 16:18:072024-03-28 16:22:17Afghanistan: Taliban’s Supreme Leader says ‘We will flog women in public, we will stone them to death in public’
Mass rallies have taken place in Germany, with thousands of people taking to the streets, in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7 and Israel’s military response. The ongoing large-scale pro-Palestinian rallies were planned to call for an immediate ceasefire and in support of Hamas. Berlin has been one of the main sites of the protests in Europe on this issue. The ideologies represented among the protesters include Islamist, far-left, and Turkish extreme-right. As of November 2, 2023, the Samidoun – Palestine Prisoner Solidarity Network, which Germany explicitly banned in November 2023 and which is the foreign affairs’ arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the U.S.,[1] EU,[2] and Canada[3] have designated as a terrorist organization, served as the primary organizer of the many rallies and vigils held throughout Germany in support of the Palestinian cause and is known for its antisemitism and for its advocacy for Israel’s elimination. Germany’s Interior Ministry says that there are around 450 members of Hamas in the country.[4]
The Broader German Left And The Palestinian Struggle
The Palestinian struggle is exploited by mainstream leftist circles to pursue various goals, including: a communist revolution to replace neoliberalism and capitalism; opposition to anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, social justice and human rights, solidarity with the oppressed, opposition to Zionism, and criticism of U.S. policy in the Middle East. All these objectives, they believe, align with the Palestinian situation.
Many large rallies across Germany are organized by leftist organizations, many of which maintain close ties to Samidoun. Some of these organizations are: “Global South United,” “Young Struggle,” “Revolutionäre Linke,” “Revolution Germany,” and “Arbeiterinnen Macht,” together with “Palästina Spricht,” “Palästina Kampagne,” “Jüdische Stimme,” and “Jewish Bund.” The presumption is that some of these groups convening mass protests on German streets are acting, in part, on behalf of Samidoun, whose banned activities may have been simply diverted to these other groups.
Major Leftist Organizations Facilitating Or Co-Ordinating Pro-Palestinian Protests
Left-wing engagement with pro-Palestinian solidarity marches demonstrates a convergence of political ideas, values, and assessments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Highly vocal involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian issue has also become popular among many members of Gen Z. Leftist views on Israel and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are generally heterogenous, ranging from nuanced support for a reasonable resolution, acknowledging the rights and aspirations of both Palestinian Arabs and Israelis, to vehemently rejecting Israel’s policies and even its very existence. Today, the latter appears to be dominant as the extremist perspective has become prevalent in both civil and political life. Leftist organizations, in particular, add significantly to the typically high protest turnout as an effective popular mobilization vehicle, reaching a broad spectrum of interest groups: country/region-specific, feminist, student, and LGBTQ entities. Each community expands its own following, creating an expansive network that transcends narrow interests and regions.
Israeli Flags Burned Outside Two Synagogues in Germany, as European Jews Fear New Violence Fueled by Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations | Jewish & Israel News https://t.co/1VGEQVWvpnhttps://t.co/YM5AghC3OU
— ((( Gianluigi ))) (@Gianlui91580067) May 13, 2021
Following are descriptions of groups that are the most prominent in organizing large-scale protests in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Global South United Collective: Decolonize Human Rights
“Global South United Collective” is an organization operating throughout Germany. Its activity is particularly centered in Berlin, operating under the umbrella of “Decolonize Human Rights: No Borders, Abolish Apartheid, Abolish Deportations, Stop the Genocide.” It stands “against all forms of oppression and colonial continuities,” calls for the breaking of silence on injustices, and encourages unity against major human rights violators.
The group asserts that Europe, despite its claims to democracy and human rights, has a dark legacy of perpetuating conflict, injustice, and oppression globally. Hence, the group explains, Europe’s actions have forced countless people to flee their homes in search of safety and opportunity – sometime in Europe. Once seeking refuge in Europe, the migrants experience unequal treatment and additional human rights violations, while the mainstream media too frequently overlooks attacks against marginalized communities, the group contends, encompassing “black, indigenous, and people of color, perpetuating a narrative that ignores the realities of systematic oppression.”[5] Global South United says that echoes of past atrocities continue to reverberate through these injustices.[6] The group posits that Germany obstructs humanitarian aid and tacitly supports atrocities, including genocide and ethnic cleansing. This entrenches Germany’s role in perpetuating oppression, and frustrates efforts to confront the German past. Global South United sees itself playing an important role in dismantling all forms of oppression, challenging structural racism which, the group alleges, is ingrained within German society.
Activities
Together with other groups, including “No Border Assembly,” Global South United launched a campaign calling for the boycott of the German multinational technology enterprises. The campaign “Boycott Siemens, Free Palestine” launched recently aims to shed light on the conglomerate making profits at the cost of human lives, the group alleges. The campaign slogan is: “From WWII to the EU borders to Palestine – no more complicity from Siemens, nor from other profiteers of genocide and border violence.” Global South United claims Siemens operates in occupied regions selling technology to dictatorships including Myanmar, the Western Sahara, and Iran. Interestingly, Iran’s proxy, Hamas, is not mentioned in the campaign, nor in the group’s alleged advocacy for the Palestinian people. Campaign-related protests aim to mobilize health care workers to “make a strong statement of solidarity, as well as [to issue] an indictment against complicity and war profiteering.”[7]
A “Boycott Siemens” vigil was held at the Siemens facility in Berlin. A Palestinian flag waved above signs reading: “[Siemens] guilty of genocide, apartheid, border violence, climate crisis, weapons production!”
Protests organized by Global South United are usually organized under the pretext of holding Israel liable for alleged genocide while holding Germany “once again” complicit in genocide, misappropriating the Holocaust. In some cases, exploiting or trivializing the Holocaust can lead to legal prosecution in Germany.
Global South United posted one of its many protest flyers held under the umbrella of “Israel Is Guilty – Germany Complicit.” Several symbols at the protests are forbidden in theory – however, enforcement of the law is rare.
A mass protest, organized under the banner of Global South United and affiliated groups, was held at the central train station (Hauptbahnhof) in Berlin, with loud chants, many Palestinian flags and some participants wearing keffiyehs.
A mass protest co-organized by Global South United was held in front of the headquarters of the media company Axel Springer. Protesters accused the enterprise of being “Zionist Propaganda.” The protest was primarily organized to oppose a Jerusalem Post conference held in Berlin. The protesters also accused the German media of criminalizing pro-Palestinian voices and sought to bring attention to the more than 120 journalists “murdered by Israel since October,” states the group, in Israel’s war against Hamas.
At a recent protest co-organized by Global South United with a group called the “Egyptian Diaspora Resists,” held in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin, participants called for the Egyptian borders to open to Palestinians.
A member of Global South United spoke at the demonstration. The speaker claimed that 460,000 people had been wounded and 26,000 people had been killed in Gaza “by the genocidal settler colonial state of Israel. The genocide continues against the Palestinian people and by closing the Rafah crossing, Egypt is not just complicit in the killing and suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, but Egypt is a part in the crime.” The man, speaking in Arabic, urged those assembled to remember the stories of those allegedly massacred by Israel and to never forget and never forgive. He said: “Resistance provides us with meaning […] No borders are going to stop [the resistance] and no walls, from Palestine to Congo, to Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Kurdistan – one fight against colonialism, imperialism, fascism, and dictatorship.” Moreover, the speaker demanded that all Palestinian prisoners be released, and called for the end to the so-called “colonial genocidal settler state of Israel.”
The “Young Struggle” (YS) ideologically aligns itself with the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLCP), a designated terror organization in Turkey. YS serves as an umbrella organization for MLCP youth groups. The youth wing, “Komünist Gençlik Örgütü/KGÖ” (Turkish, “Communist Youth Organization”) fields organizations across Europe, established by entities from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Britain. In Germany, YS is predominately active in major cities, including Berlin, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Duisburg, Cologne, Hamburg, Kiel, Mannheim, Hildesheim, and Ulm, among several major university cities. The organization’s activism is focused on what they call the “revolutionary struggle,” drawing distinct parallels with militant groups such as the German Red Army Faction (RAF). YS relies heavily on an extensive network throughout the left-wing activism landscape, hence its ability to mobilize young people for its proclaimed cause. YS politicizes youth while raising awareness of injustices and societal disparities; it advocates for active collective resistance. Its activism primarily focuses on anti-repression, anti-capitalism, women’s struggles, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, and pro-internationalism.[12] Among the organization’s flagship causes are the “Palestinian struggle for liberation,” as well as the “Kurdish liberation cause.”[13] On its webpage, YS regularly publishes extensive articles and opinion pieces.
Activities
After the October 7 attack on Israel, Young Struggle issued a lengthy statement on October 10, defining the Hamas massacre as a “prison break of the Palestinian people.” The statement alludes to October 7, when the “Palestinian National Liberation Movement” staged an operation organized by 14 factions, releasing Palestinian militants to return home in what many termed as a “prison raid.” YS criticized the mainstream media in Germany, as well as generally leftist Turkish and Kurdish outlets, for assuming a narrative in which innocent people were killed by Hamas terrorists, while Israel was described as the “democratic heart of the Middle East.” YS sees itself as the “critical voice emerging from the anti-imperialist youth” that criticizes the reactionary aspects of the revolt, while also denouncing a spectrum of the left that supports reactionary forces rather than emphasizing revolutionary and progressive ones.
YS viewed October 7 as a “popular revolt by the Palestinian resistance movement.” The violence perpetrated by what they call the “oppressed” Palestinians in conjoined as well as with “revolutionary activities in Turkey and Kurdistan.” The civilian casualties are dismissed: “If we reject the validity and legitimacy of any movement or people who have made civilian sacrifices for their liberation and compare them with their oppressors, we will be absolutely incapable of action.”[14]
YS also justified the attack, saying: “Palestinians have neither the capacity nor the motivation to carry out a slaughter of Palestine’s Jewish people. However, the invasion of Gaza, the attacks on the long-demolished migrant camps, the detention of Palestinians in the media and by leading Israeli politicians, and the decade-long surveillance of Israeli soldiers all contribute to an objectively increased risk of mass murder in the Gaza Strip, though the numbers will not be in the hundreds.”[15]
Further, YS claimed the kibbutzim residents are not ordinary civilians, but rather “assault troops” backed by the IDF that are allegedly accelerating the “colonization of Palestine.” YS states that each kibbutz represents a “devastated Palestinian village and hundreds of murdered and displaced Palestinians.”[16]
The importance of resistance is emphasized in the German context, where there is some incitement against migrants; Arabs are sometimes portrayed as those importing antisemitism, and people YS considers “revolutionaries” are imprisoned. To combat perceived injustices on German land, unilateral support is essential in “freedom for Palestine and all oppressed peoples, from the river to the sea.”
YS and Samidoun have maintained close ties as a result of their joint participation in, and organization of, rallies and protests marches. In the wake of Samidoun’s monitoring by German law enforcement, which intensified in the spring of 2023, Samidoun issued a statement titled: “Statement of Young Struggle: Solidarity with Samidoun!” on May 18. On Nakba Day, Samidoun praised “our comrades [of] ‘Young Struggle’ for their continuous work against imperialism […].”[17] Immediately after Germany’s interior minister disclosed Samidoun’s involvement, YS uploaded a graphic captioned “Solidarity with Samidoun!” and “No ban can stop us!” A photo of the Samidoun rally reads: “In the fight for a just peace and justice for the Palestinian people, Samidoun has remained steadfast in recent weeks, despite all the repression, smear campaigns, and attacks.” YS, it appears, shall continue to stand with them. [18]
YS members further participate in pro-Palestinian vigils, frequently held at the campuses of German universities such as the Berlin-based Freie Universität (FU), which serves as a hotspot of activities which include anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric. One action included the occupation of an FU auditorium where students called for the end of the alleged “genocide” against the Gazans. YS published a statement following the dismantlement of the auditorium siege by the police, in which it claimed that “Solidarity with Palestine is no crime!”[19]
On January 31, YS held its own pro-Palestinian protest at the FU by occupying an auditorium for an extended period of time “with around 50 people since Tuesday, 9:30,” as reported by the university’s newspaper “Furios.” The occupiers demand that Germany cease all alleged imperialist actions, including “warmongering” aims, while also demanding the revision of an FU civil clause. [20] The demand calls for the university to cease from investing in arms businesses, and withdraw from research and initiatives involving Israel, and allocate funding solely to civilian research projects. The occupation attempted to disrupt university life in a way reminiscent of left-wing protests of past decades. Previous flyer campaigns had failed to achieve their aims, according to Furios, which also stated that YS had meticulously planned the occupation of the auditorium in advance, perhaps as early as December. “Roles were delegated and recorded, logistics were evaluated, and teams were formed for each stage of the action,” Furios reported. Furthermore, campaigners reportedly submitted an open letter to the FU Executive Board, listing their demands.
At the beginning of November, Young Struggle co-organized a large-scale demonstration in the heart of Berlin, near the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall). Activists displayed several flags, including the Palestinian, YS, KGÖ, and MLCP. Activists wearing keffiyehs chanted “From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” climbed on a Neptune Fountain statue situated near the City Hall, and hung Palestinian flags from the TV Tower.[22]
A YS spokesman, shared a video of his speech on his Instagram account. The speech was titled: “Free Palestine – Fight the Apartheid State: The Palestine’s Freedom Movement Will Triumph!” In the video, Glenn discussed Palestinian suffering since the Nakba (Israel’s founding and displacement of approximately 700,000 Arabs) from the Palestinian perspective, using words like “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing.” He cited Al Jazeera news reporting during his address.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Middle East Media Research Institutehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMiddle East Media Research Institute2024-03-28 14:53:192024-03-28 14:56:51Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (PFLP), With Other Terror Groups, Are Among Key Organizers Of Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations In Germany
I’ve heard from friend who has contacts in DOD Personnel that this could involve a “recall” of retirees up to the age of 68. I’m glad I don’t qualify for this potential recall.
Anyone volunteering for this must not have kept up at how totally woke all services have become at the top.
The Army is seeking to bring back retired soldiers to fill critical manpower shortages, according to a service wide directive published this week.
The All Army Activities document describes how Army retirees can find and apply for open positions and aims to maintain a sufficient number of personnel to fill all of the Army’s authorized positions.
The message comes as the service publicly has acknowledged its struggles to balance a shrinking workforce with the demands of sprawling global mission sets as recruitment woes persist for a third year in a row.
“A review of commands’ requests for [the] fill of authorized personnel vacancies, in conjunction with current Army manning guidance, prompted review of how the Army can fill key and critical position vacancies,” the document states, outlining the situation. “The retiree recall program can be an effective tool to fill personnel shortages of authorized regular Army vacancies that are considered key and essential.”
It was unclear whether the Army already had identified manning shortages to be filled or was issuing the message in anticipation of future need. The Army didn’t respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comments by deadline.
A recalled retiree is a retired Soldier who is ordered to active duty from the Retired Reserve or the retired list under 10 USC 688/688a, 12301(a), or 12301(d) and serves in his or her retired status. Retiree Recall is not an extension of your MRD.
Who can approve a Retiree Recall?
The Assistant Secretary of the Army (ASA) of Manpower & Reserve Affairs (M&RA) is the authorized approver to recall retired Soldiers.
Who is eligible for Retiree Recall?
Personnel of all grades are eligible for retiree recall to Active Duty (AD). There is no age limitation, although personnel older than 70 not normally recalled. Recalled retiree Soldiers must be aligned to a valid AC vacancy with an exact grade and skill level match (“one up-two down” does not apply). The retiree population will be utilized as a last resort to fill AC requirements.
I’m currently drawing retirement and disability pay. Can I continue to receive those?
You may only receive one form of compensation while on AD. Usually, that will mean AD Pay and Allowances. Your retirement pay will be suspended. You must notify the Veterans Administration of your active service and make a pay election (i.e., suspend your disability payments). Failure to do so will result in collection actions for overpayment.
Slide 2 of 9
DIRECTORATEOF MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
How long is a recall?
Retired Soldiers voluntarily ordered to AD, in support of peacetime operations, will normally remain on AD from 1 to 2 years. Retired aviation officers are generally recalled for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years.
Can I be promoted?
No. Retirees are not eligible for promotion. (AR 600-10, Chapt 2). Retired Soldiers will be ordered to AD in their current grade on the retired list unless otherwise directed by HQDA. Members of Retired Reserve must be ordered to AD in their reserve grade.
Can I be released early?
Yes. Retirees may be released for poor performance, lack of operational requirements, personal hardship, or other reason deemed appropriate.
Can my security clearance be reinstated?
Everyone is required to pass a National Agency Check with Local Agency Checks (NACLC) and Credit Check (also known as Tier 3) to be able to attain a Secret Clearance. Generally, those with less than two years into retirement are easier to process. You must, of course be eligible to hold the level of clearance that the job requires.
Slide 3 of 9
DIRECTORATEOF MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
I am still on Active Duty. What do I need to start?
Soldiers serving on AD who are immediately recalled (day after contractual obligation ends) must go through the actual retirement process and initiate DD2656 (Data for Payment of Retired Personnel) to allow DFAS to build a retired account. HRC will require either your retirement order or your DD214.
How do I find a position eligible for recall?
Currently, the only mechanism is for Commanders, ACOMs, Army Service Component Commands, Direct Reporting Units, and Army component commanders to request retiree support by one of two means: through a requirement-based request or a by-name request. There is no database or system to post and/or search for retiree recall positions.
What are the minimum requirements?
You must meet the medical fitness standards IAW AR 40-501, para. 8-17, which states “A current (within the past 12 months) periodic health assessment, separation health assessment, or retirement medical examination is required.” A civilian medical assessment may be substituted or you may be sent to a Mobilization Force Generation Installation (MFGI) who will validate your medical readiness before assignment. For mobilization, you must also meet standards for deployment to the theater of operations.
You must maintain personal fitness and stay within Army weight/body fat standards during period of active duty.
DIRECTORATEOF MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
What do I need to submit?
HRC will provide you with a checklist of required documents. You must complete this checklist to be further considered for recall. Some additional documents and certifications may be required, but generally you will need:
Your report location for in processing will be located on your orders. Failure to report to the location specified will negatively impact your tour and may result in immediate revocation of the active duty order.
What are my entitlements?
Your pay and entitlements are the same as any other Soldier currently on active duty. CONUS and OCONUS tours follow the rules as outlined in the Joint Travel Regulation.
What else?
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act applies to all retired Soldiers ordered to AD.
ProtectionunderUniformed ServicesReemployment Rights Act (USERRA) applies • Recalled personneldonot receive additional entitlements to educational benefits,
unlessspecifically provided for by Congressional action.
Recalled personnelorderedto AD are automatically enrolled in SGLI (unless declined) • SurvivorBenefit Plan (SBP) Law stipulates a Soldier typically may not change previous
SBP election, however cost of coverage is suspended until Soldier is released from AD • OnceADperiodiscomplete,retired pay will be recalculated based on:
1)highergradeto which [if] appointed while on AD 2) Disability incurred or aggravated
3)Length of service on AD
Youmust contact the VA upon completion of AD to reinstate your disability benefits
Slide 6 of 9
DIRECTORATEOF MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
120 days*
Force Requestor identifies a critical vacancy and selects a qualified Soldier (must be an exact match of Rank/Grade and MOS/AOC).
Soldier† completes the Retiree Recall
packet and submit directly to Human Resources Command
HRC conducts the initial screening
of the recall request, builds the packet, and forwards it to DMPM
† 90–120 days from start
OTJAG†† DMPM requests a legal
opinion from HQDA-Office of Judge Advocate General (OTJAG)
† † Minimum 30 days
DMPM
Upon receipt of the legal opinion, the entire packet is routed through the HQDA G-1 DMPM, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, and the ASA (M&RA) for a final decision.
ASA M&RA Packet approved, routed back to HRC for orders production; only HRC may publish, amend, or revoke a recall order.
G) Army Regulation 601-10 Management and Recall to Active Duty of Retired Soldiers of the Army in Support of Mobilization and Peacetime Operations (7 June 2019)
H) Army Regulation 135-200 Active Duty For Missions, Projects, and Training for Reserve Component Soldiers (20 October 2020)
I) Army Regulation 40-501 Standards of Medical Fitness (27 June 2019)
Slide 9 of 9
U.S. Army Retiree Recall Process Flow
Force Requestor Identifies a critical vacancy and selects a qualified RR Soldier (must be an exact match of Rank/Grade and MOS/AOC).
≈ 90totaldays
Force Requestor Completes the Retiree Recall packet and submits it directly to HRC RPMD
HRC
Conducts the initial screening of the recall request, builds the packet in DAMPS and will forward to the DMPM, MOB DIV.
OTJAG
The MOB DIV requests a legal opinion from the HQDA, OTAG. The packet is sent back to the MOB DIV.
DMPM
The MOB DIV will SLAP the packet in ETMS2 to the HQDA G-1 DMPM and the DCS, G-1 to recommend approval or disapproval.
ASA
The MOB DIV will route the RR packet in ETMS2 to the ASA (M&RA) for final determination. The RR packet is routed back to HRC.
HRC
HRC will complete the orders production process. ** only HRC may publish, amend, orrevoke a recall order.**
RR
Soldier receives orders and reports to unit of assignment.
≈ 120totaldays
≈ 7-14 days ≈ 1-7 days ≈ 30 days ≈ 7-14 days ≈ 7-14 days ≈ 3-5 days
v ASA(M&RA): Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower & Reserve Affairs)
v COMPO: Army Component
v DAMPS: Department of the Army Mobilization Processing Systems
v DMPM: Directorate of Military Personnel Management v DCS, G-1: Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1
v EO: Executive Order
v ETMS2:Army Task Management System v.2
v FR: The Command Requesting the RR v HRC: Human Resources Command v MOBDIV: Mobilization Division v OTJAG: Office of the Judge Advocate
General
v RPMD: Reserve Personnel Management Directorate
v RR: Retiree Recall Soldier
v SLAP: Senior Leader Approval Process v USAR: United States Army Reserve
Regular Army (COMPO 1) (RA)
10 USC 688 / 688a • EO 13814
DODI 1352.01 • AR 40-501
AR 600-9 • AR 601-10
ReserveComponents(COMPO 2 (ARNG) & COMPO 3 (USAR)
10 USC 12301(a) / 12301(d) • DODI 1352.01
AR 40-501 • AR 600-9 • AR 601-10
GeneralOfficers(COMPO 1, 2, & 3)
10 USC 689 / 690 • EO 13814
DODI 1352.01 • AR 40-501
AR 600-9 • AR 601-10
vO7/ SES-equivalent command justification memorandum vDAForm160(request for active duty)
vDA5500-5501 (body fat worksheet) vDA7349(Initial medical review) v Current PHA(consecutive tours) v Security Clearance level and date v Retirement order orDD214
v FMS Web printout identifying the vacant AC position
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q1: What is Retiree Recall?
A1: Are called retiree is a retired Soldier who is ordered to active duty(AD) from the RetiredReserveortheretiredlistunder10USC688 / 688a, 12301(a),or12301(d).PerAR601-10,Recalledretiree Soldiers must be aligned to a valid vacant AC requirement that matches the grade and skill of the retiree before he or she may be recalled to AD. The retiree population will be utilized as a last resort to fill Active Componentvacant requirements.
Q2: I am still on Active Duty. What do I need to start?
A2: Soldiers serving on AD who are immediately recalled(day after contractual obligation ends)must go through the actual retirement process and initiate DD Form 2656 Data for Payment of Retired Personnel)to allow DFAS to build a retired account. HRC will require either your retirement order or your DD Form 214.
Q3: What are the minimum requirements?
A3: You must meet the medical fitness standards IAW AR 40-501, 3-2. For initial tours you may utilize a DA Form 749 Annual Medical Certificate with page 2 signed by a physician. IAW AR 600-9, retirees must stay within Army body composition standards during period of active duty. Retirees who exceed standard will be placed in Army Weight Control Program.
Q4: How do I find a position eligible for recall?
A4: The only mechanism is for the Command to request retiree support by one of two means: through a requirement-based requestor a by-name request. There is no data base or system to post and/or search for retiree recall positions.
Q5: How long is the period of recall?
A5: RetiredSoldiersvoluntarilyorderedtoAD,insupportofpeacetimeoperations, will normally remain on AD from 1 to 2years. Retired aviation officers are generally recalled for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years.
Q6: How does the FR request an extension for a Retiree Recall?
A6: Any extension requests requires the FR to generate a new recall packet; the packet will follow the same processing timeline and review/approval requirements.
Q7: Can I be promoted?
A7: No. Retirees are not eligible for promotion. (AR 601-10, Chapter 2-4). Retired Soldiers will be ordered to AD in their current grade on the retired list unless otherwise directed by HQDA. Members of Retired Reserve must be ordered to AD in their reserve grade.
Q8: I’m currently drawing retirement and disability pay. I am still eligible to serve as Retiree Recall and will I continue to receive these payments?
A8: Retire pay will automatically be suspended for retired Soldiers ordered to AD for over 30 days. On release from active duty (REFRAD), other than for training, retired Soldiers are entitled to credit the additional time served on AD for computation of retired pay. Disabled Veterans are still eligible to serve as a Retiree Recall however they must notify the Department of Veterans Affairs and make a pay election (i.e., suspend your disability payments). Failure to do so will result in a collection action for overpayment.
Additional Information and Points of Contact
Timeline: The Force Requestor must contact HRC to initiate the recall process at a minimum of 90 before the requested start date. The process can take 90-120 days from start to finish.
Are called retiree is a retired Soldier who is ordered to active duty(AD)from the Retired Reserve or the retired list under 10USC 688/688a,12301(a),or 12301(d). PerAR601-10,Recalled retiree Soldiers must be aligned to a valid vacant AC requirement that matches the grade and skill of the retiree before he or she may be recalled to AD. The retiree population will be utilized as a last resort to fill Active Component vacant requirements.
I am still on Active Duty. What do I need to start?
Soldiers serving on AD who are immediately recalled (day after contractual obligation ends) must go through the actual retirement process and initiate DD Form 2656 Data for Payment of Retired Personnel) to allow DFAS to build a retired account. HRC will require either your retirement order or your DD Form 214.
What are the minimum requirements?
You must meet the medical fitness standards IAW AR 40-501, 3-2. For initial tours you may utilize a DA Form 749 Annual Medical Certificate with page 2 signed by a physician. Retirees must stay within Army body composition standards during period of active duty. Retirees who exceed standard will be placed in Army Weight Control Program.
How do I find a position eligible for recall?
The only mechanism is for the Command to request retiree support by one of two means: through a requirement-based request or a by-name request. There is no database or system to post and/or search for retiree recall positions.
How long is the period of recall?
Retired Soldiers voluntarily ordered to AD, in support of peacetime operations, will normallyremainonADfrom1 to2years. Retired aviation officers are generally recalled for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years.
Can I be promoted?
No. Retirees are not eligible for promotion. (AR 601-10, Chapter 2-4). Retired Soldiers will be ordered to AD in their current grade on the retired list unless otherwise directed by HQDA. Members of Retired Reserve must be ordered to AD in their reserve grade.
I’m currently drawing retirement and disability pay. I am still eligible to serve as Retiree Recall and will I continue to receive these payments?
Retire pay will automatically be suspended for retired Soldiers ordered to AD for over 30 days. On release from active duty (REFRAD), other than for training, retired Soldiers are entitled to credit the additional time served on AD for computation of retired pay. Disabled Veterans are still eligible to serve as a Retiree Recall however they must notify the Department of Veterans Affairs and make a pay election (i.e., suspend your disability payments). Failure to do so will result in a collection action for overpayment.
Force Requestor
Identifies a critical vacancy and selects a qualified Soldier (must be an exact match of Rank/Grade and MOS/AOC).
Force Requestor†
Completes the Retiree Recall packet and submit directly to Human Resources Command
† 90–120 days from start to finish
HRC
Conducts the initial screening of the recall request, builds the packet, and forward sit to DMPM
OTJAG††
DMPM requests a legal opinion from HQDA-Office of Judge Advocate General (OTJAG)
† † Minimum 30 days
DMPM
Upon receipt of the legal opinion, the entire packet is routed through the HQDA G-1 DMPM, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, and the ASA (M&RA) fora final decision.
ASA M&RA
Packet approved, routed back to HRC for orders production; only HRC may publish, amend, or revoke a recall order.
Additional Information and Points of ContactTimeline: The Force Requestor must contact HRC to initiate the recall process which can take 90-120 days fromstart to finish.
Required Documents:
O7/SES-equivalent command justification memorandum DAForm160(request for active duty)
DA5500-5501(body fat worksheet) DA7349(Initial medical review) Current PHA(consecutive tours) Security Clearance level and date RetirementorderorDD214
FMS Web printout identifying the vacant AC position
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Royal A. Brown IIIhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRoyal A. Brown III2024-03-28 12:17:592024-03-28 12:27:59Army Recall ALARCT 2024: Army Looking to Recall Up to Age 68
“There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again – now.” — Eugene O’Neill
“History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.” — Karl Marx
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana
It appears that history is truly repeating itself and the United States is more and more looking like the former Soviet Union, while the New York Times yawns.
The New York Times during the era of Joseph Stalin
Walter Duranty was an Anglo-American journalist who served as Moscow bureau chief of The New York Times for fourteen years (1922–1936) following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1917–1923).
The New York Times’ Walter Duranty, one of the most famous correspondents of his day, won the Pulitzer Prize for 13 articles written in 1931 analyzing the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Duranty’s cabled dispatches had to pass Soviet censorship, and Stalin’s propaganda machine was powerful and omnipresent. Duranty’s analyses relied on official sources as his primary source of information, accounting for the most significant flaw in his coverage – his consistent underestimation of Stalin’s brutality.
Describing the Communist plan to “liquidate” the five million kulaks, relatively well-off farmers opposed to the Soviet collectivization of agriculture, Duranty wrote in 1931, for example: “Must all of them and their families be physically abolished? Of course not – they must be ‘liquidated’ or melted in the hot fire of exile and labor into the proletarian mass.”
Taking Soviet propaganda at face value this way was completely misleading, as talking with ordinary Russians might have revealed even at the time. Duranty’s prize-winning articles quoted not a single one – only Stalin, who forced farmers all over the Soviet Union into collective farms and sent those who resisted to concentration camps.
Collectivization was the main cause of a famine that killed millions of people in Ukraine, the Soviet breadbasket, in 1932 and 1933 – two years after Duranty won his prize.
Even then, Duranty dismissed more diligent writers’ reports that people were starving. “Conditions are bad, but there is no famine,” he wrote in a dispatch from Moscow in March of 1933 describing the “mess” of collectivization. “But – to put it brutally – you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”
Some of Duranty’s editors criticized his reporting as tendentious, but The Times kept him as a correspondent until 1941. Since the 1980’s, the paper has been publicly acknowledging his failures.
Ukrainian-American and other organizations have repeatedly called on the Pulitzer Prize Board to cancel Duranty’s prize and The Times to return it, mainly on the ground of his later failure to report the famine.
Fast Forward to 2024 and the New York Times under Joseph Biden
Desperate politicians do desperate things in an election year and that describes President Joe Biden’s strategy for 2024 perfectly.
[ … ]
The shameless Biden will do anything to get re-elected. With no answers on how to fix the economy, no interest in securing our southern border, and no ability to project strength abroad, Biden is going to run in support of the Washington swamp and broken status quo. This means signing legislation to fund the government and his failed policies with 1,000-page omnibus bills that are barely read or debated. It means running on radical climate alarmism and abortion fear tactics. It means prioritizing another forever war in Ukraine and damaging our alliance with Israel. And it means stealing from responsible American taxpayers by forgiving billions upon billions in student loans. So, if you’re looking for a reason to be hopeful about the future, don’t look to Joe Biden.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the Biden student-loan forgiveness program is an unconstitutional vote buying scheme. To date, the administration has robbed $144 billion from the American people without congressional approval in an attempt to buy the votes of nearly four million debtors. When you consider that the 2020 election was decided by about 43,000 votes in just three states, Joe Biden’s lawless loan repayment operation could pay off in droves.
To date, the Biden administration has bailed out over 14,000 borrowers in Arizona; 35,000 in Georgia; 30,000 in Michigan; 38,000 in Pennsylvania; and 16,000 in Wisconsin. According to the Department of Education, President Biden is literally emailing “an additional 380,000 public service workers thanking them for their service and notifying them they are on track to have their debt cancelled…”
And Biden’s message for the millions of Americans who paid their students loans off on time? Playing by the rules no longer matters. Remember, this is Joe Biden’s America, where everything is upside down and hard work no longer pays off. Congress must aggressively investigate this loan program so the American people know the truth about exactly what’s going on behind the high walls of Biden’s vast bureaucracy.
At the same time, President Biden’s political allies in the biased mainstream media brutally attack former President Trump for simply campaigning to make America great again.
The only thing that will stop this new slaughter is if we the people vote in a president who will return power to the people by draining the swamp from the schoolhouse to the White House.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2024-03-28 08:29:082024-03-28 16:07:31VIDEO: ‘The Soviet Story’—From Joseph Stalin to Joseph Biden. History is repeating itself!
A squatter in Georgia recently demanded $190,000 from a landowner in response to eviction attempts.
On Wednesday, David Morris, an Atlanta property owner, said on Fox & Friends that before the COVID-19 pandemic, he ran a non-profit and allowed squatters to live on his nine acres of land for free, but he recently attempted to have these individuals evicted.
[ … ]
Morris said that he’s spent $10,000 on cleanup crews across his property as he continues his eviction attempts.
Well this won’t fly in the Free State of Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation on March 27th that ends this scam and protects homeowners and their property.
WATCH:
Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation to End the Squatters Scam & Protect Homeowners https://t.co/MjqOKiAHPZ
Where these laws allow squatters to occupy houses without the owner’s consent, they qualify as takings of private property that require payment of compensation under the Fifth Amendment.
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of media coverage of squatters’ rights laws that sometimes have the effect of blocking property owners from removing trespassers who occupy their houses without the owners’ permission. Newsweek describes some highly publicized recent cases:
A recent string of incidents in Georgia, New York and Washington has brought squatting, the practice of occupying someone else’s property without their consent, into the spotlight.
In Washington, a squatter named Sang Kim made headlines after preventing Jaskaran Singh, a landlord, from possessing his $2 million property following Kim’s refusal to pay rent for two years.
Earlier in March, a New York property owner was arrested over unlawful eviction after confronting a group of alleged squatters who had taken over her deceased parents’ home in Flushing, Queens, ABC 7 reported. While the woman held the property’s deed, one man said he was on a lease for the house—which meant the property owner was barred from kicking him out [he, in fact, did not actually have a lease].
That same month, David Morris, a landlord in Atlanta, told Fox 5 of a group of squatters who were preventing him from building affordable housing on his nine-acre land and whom he was unable to remove because of a moratorium on evictions.
Morris told the outlet he had agreed to let four people stay on the land without paying rent about 10 years ago, but that he found the number of people occupying the property had grown to about “30 campers.” Though the squatters were taken away from the land, Morris said he spent $10,000 to clean up their garbage.
John Stossel of Reason made a video focusing on the New York case.
As often happens when an issue attracts media attention, it is hard to tell from early reports how widespread the issue actually is. But even a few cases of successful squatting may be problematic, because they could incentivize imitation. Media attention could accelerate that process.
Ideally, state and local governments should make it easy for property owners to swiftly remove squatters, and should subject the trespassers to civil and criminal sanctions. But where they instead facilitate this violation of property rights, the laws that do so violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which requires payment of “just compensation” whenever the government takes “private property.”
This illegal practice is spreading in blue states and in blue areas in red states.
We the people cannot stand by and see our families, our property, and our freedoms taken away from us by squatters, some of whom are illegal aliens.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2024-03-27 15:56:472024-04-02 06:20:29FLORIDA: Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation to End the Squatters Scam & Protect Homeowners
Top executives behind a Chinese chemical manufacturer planning to build two U.S. factories belong to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and affiliated influence outfits, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has found.
Capchem Technology USA, the wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Shenzhen Capchem Technology (Capchem), is slated to build a $120 million factory in Ohio and a $350 million plant in Louisiana. At the same time, Capchem records and social media posts that the DCNF translated show the company employs dozens of CCP members. Executives at Capchem and Capchem USA have also held positions at organizations affiliated with CCP influence operations, a DCNF review of Capchem’s website, Chinese social media account and executives’ social groups found.
The DCNF’s investigation is based, in part, on information provided by the Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action. The DCNF previously reported that Capchem, which makes chemicals used for batteries in electric vehicles, has received tens of millions of dollars in subsidies from Chinese government agencies, including a blacklisted Chinese government entity that plays an instrumental role in the CCP’s “Military-Civil Fusion” efforts.
“Communist Chinese companies have no place on American soil,” New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, told the DCNF. “The Communist Chinese-owned company has a concerning history of advancing CCP military technology, presenting a clear and pressing national security threat.”
A Capchem spokesperson acknowledged that “some” of its employees are CCP members, but that “the company doesn’t have exact statistics about the number of them.”
However, a DCNF review of Capchem’s Chinese social media account found that the firm reported employing 44 CCP members as of June 2020. A separate social media post from 2023 identifies Capchem President Zhou Dawen as Party Secretary of the company’s CCP branch.
A “Party branch” is the smallest “grass-roots” CCP organization, and is required in Chinese institutions containing three or more Party members, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which is China’s state organ for legal supervision.
“As a privately controlled company, Party member identity does not influence company management or operations,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.
Yet, the CCP Central Committee’s Organization Department says party committees are meant to “guide and oversee enterprises in obeying state laws and regulations, unite their employees, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties and promote the sound development of their enterprises, with a focus on carrying out the [CCP]’s principles and policies.”
In July 2019, Capchem’s own social media account shows the CCP Committee in the Pingshan District of Shenzhen recognized Zhou as an “Outstanding Party Secretary” during an event celebrating the CCP’s 98th anniversary.
“This honor doesn’t belong to me personally, it belongs to all of Capchem’s Party branch comrades,” Zhou said during the 2019 event, according to the post. “As an old CCP member, I have a responsibility and duty to do my best for the Party’s cause.”
“My experience tells me, as long as we work according to the instructions assigned by our superior Party unit, work conscientiously, obey the law and what may come, the enterprise will most certainly overcome obstacles and usher in a better future,” Zhou said.
Capchem’s spokesperson admitted Zhou is “a member, but he is at retirement age,” adding that Capchem USA “does not employ any member of the Chinese Communist Party.”
But Capchem USA executives have been affiliated with groups identified by U.S. government entities as serving CCP’s “United Front” strategy. “United Front” groups engage in “influence activities and intelligence operations,” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP.
The “United Front” system is led by the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a “Chinese intelligence service” responsible for coordinating domestic and foreign “influence operations,” according to the U.S. government-funded U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Capchem Chairman Qin Jiusan is identified in a Louisiana business filing as a director of Capchem USA.
Qin’s company bio previously disclosed his membership in the Pingshan branch of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission identified the CPPCC as one of several “important actors within the United Front system” in a 2023 report.
The CPPCC’s English-language charter states that delegates must “uphold the leadership” of the CCP, “take advantage of the CPPCC as a United Front organization,” and “keep state secrets.”
Qin is also a member of the Pingshan branch of the All-China Federation Of Industry And Commerce (ACFIC), according to the Shenzhen municipal government and CPPCC websites.
The UFWD lists ACFIC as a “subordinate,” and ACFIC describes itself as CCP “led” and tasked with linking the CCP “with people in non-public economic activities.”
A Capchem spokesperson confirmed Qin is a “local member” of the CPPCC and ACFIC. Capchem itself is also a corporate member of ACFIC, the spokesperson added.
However, Qin’s CPPCC affiliation disappeared from his company profile after the DCNF reached out for comment.
Capchem previously scrubbed references to its products being used in “high-end military equipment” and within the “military and aerospace industries” from its website after being contacted for comment by the DCNF.
“When these companies start scrubbing their websites, it’s clear that we’re on the right track,” Mike Howell, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, told the DCNF.
‘Follow Closely In The Party’s Steps’
In May 2023, Capchem announced that a “top advisor” to ACFIC’s Shenzhen branch, who was also a former China Ministry of Aerospace official, inspected the firm’s headquarters and met with company chairman Qin Jiusan.
The Shenzhen UFWD’s social media account also contains posts indicating that United Front officials have inspected Capchem facilities several times, including in February 2020 and April 2022. Photos from the 2020 and 2022 inspections show Qin leading UFWD minister Li Guangming on a tour of Capchem’s headquarters.
In August 2022, Qin spoke at a UFWD event in Shenzhen, according to the Shenzhen UFWD’s social media account. In his remarks, Qin described a speech given roughly two weeks earlier by President Xi Jinping as “profound,” telling the audience it “clarified a series of major theoretical and practical questions concerning United Front work in a new era.”
“As the vice chairman of Pingshan District’s ACFIC, I will take the lead in strengthening my personal study [of Xi’s teachings],” Qin said, adding that he would also “follow closely in the party’s steps.”
“Exacerbating our reliance on companies like Capchem for the domestic manufacture of energy products would be a self-defeating mistake,” Bryan Burack, senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, told the DCNF.
Capchem USA CEO Charlie Yao also previously belonged to an organization that the Chinese government has identified as serving the United Front, a Capchem spokesperson said.
Yao “was a member of the All-China Youth Federation from 1995-2000,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.
The All-China Youth Federation (ACYF) is a “patriotic United Front organization” that operates “under the leadership” of the CCP, according to the Chinese government.
John Dotson, deputy director of Global Taiwan Institute, called ACYF a “CCP-operated agency” and “United Front” organization.
“Any of ACYF’s officials would be subject to Party orders, Party discipline, etc.,” Dotson told the DCNF.
Capchem’s spokesperson, however, claimed that “neither Shenzhen Capchem nor Capchem USA has a relationship with individuals or entities involved in the CCP’s United Front.”
Burack told the DCNF that, given all Capchem’s CCP and United Front ties, he views the company as “part of the CCP’s influence apparatus.”
‘No Such Thing As A Private Company In China’
Capchem USA currently has plans to build chemical manufacturing facilities for electric vehicles in Lawrence County, Ohio and Ascension Parish, Louisiana.
Capchem USA also stands to benefit from U.S. government largess. Ohio’s Lawrence County recently granted Capchem USA a 50% tax break and Louisiana offered the firm a “$2 million performance-based grant for infrastructure expenses,” among other state incentives. Likewise, Capchem could also benefit from the web of subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022.
The company’s plans, however, have come under scrutiny from lawmakers who believe the firm’s Chinese government ties present a national security threat.
“Examples like Capchem are all the more reason we need to ensure Chinese companies are not eligible to receive U.S. taxpayer funding to further entrench our reliance on CCP-dominated supply chains in strategic industries,” Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, told the DCNF. “There is no such thing as a private company in China.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-03-27 14:57:462024-03-27 15:02:16Chinese-Owned Chemical Giant Expanding Into U.S. Heartland Led By Members Of Communist Party, Influence Orgs
Over the weekend, the Biden administration ratcheted up its rhetoric against Israel’s fight against the terrorist group Hamas, as Vice President Kamala Harris declared that there could be “consequences” for Israel if it invades the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, which remains the last major stronghold of Hamas. Experts and lawmakers say that despite the difficult situation in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees are encamped, the U.S. must support Israel’s military efforts to rid Gaza of Hamas in the wake of the terrorist group’s October 7 atrocities.
As opposition to Israel has grown within some segments of the Democratic Party’s voter base, prominent Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have vocalized an increasingly hard-edged position against Israel in recent weeks, with Schumer calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down on March 14. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued the drumbeat last week, saying that a failed U.S.-led U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire tied to the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas was meant to create “a sense of urgency.”
But dissent from within the Democratic ranks on the party’s stance against Israel appears to be growing. On Sunday, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) responded unequivocally to Vice President Harris’s remarks that a Rafah invasion would be a “huge mistake” and that the Biden administration would not rule out consequences against Israel if it moved forward. “Hard disagree,” Fetterman wrote on X. “Israel has the right to prosecute Hamas to surrender or to be eliminated. Hamas owns every innocent death for their cowardice hiding behind Palestinian lives.”
Last Friday, Lela Gilbert, a senior fellow for International Religious Freedom at Family Research Council who spent 10 years living in Israel, joined “Washington Watch” to discuss the current status of Israel’s war against Hamas and the Biden administration’s response to it.
“I think that what we’re looking at is a war during an election year and how our American policy may shift about a little more than usual [due to] trying to satisfy everybody with our decisions,” she observed. “… I think … our American president and his administration [are] try[ing] to get it over with as quickly as possible as we get closer to the election.”
Gilbert further argued that the events of October 7 must be the central issue guiding American policy, despite a legacy media and Democratic Party that wants to move on from it. “[W]e have to remember what happened on October 7th, which was the absolute genocide, the most brutal killing of Israeli women, children, babies. It was unbelievably bad. That’s not in front of people anymore. What’s in front of them now is the continuing efforts of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to clean Hamas out of Gaza.”
Reports over the weekend indicated that those efforts are continuing apace, as the IDF said Saturday that it had “killed more than 170 gunmen and captured 800 terror suspects during its ongoing operation against Hamas at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.”
What remains to be seen is how a potential invasion of Rafah would unfold. “We have no way to defeat Hamas without getting into Rafah and eliminating the battalions that are left there,” Netanyahu made clear last week. But with 1.4 million Palestinians currently packing the city, with thousands sheltering in refugee camps, it will likely be difficult for Israel to avoid significant casualties during a hypothetical invasion. Because of this, the Biden administration has urged Israel to come up with a “credible” plan to evacuate civilians.
However, tensions between the administration and Israel appeared to escalate even further on Monday as Netanyahu “canceled a planned trip to Washington by his top aides to discuss plans for an offensive” in Rafah due to the U.S.’s failure to block a China and Russia-backed U.N. resolution that “called for a ceasefire without conditioning it on the release of hostages.”
Gilbert, who also serves as a fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, acknowledged the difficulties with a hypothetical invasion of Rafah but also emphasized the danger of Hamas.
“[M]any of the people that are stranded in the cities that are being looked at now are definitely going to be sidelined and sometimes injured and maybe some killed, so we have to be compassionate about that,” she noted. “But on the other hand … I hope that America has the presence of mind to see that there’s no reason to protect Hamas, period. It’s doing nothing for the good people in Gaza, the ordinary citizens. It’s not good for anyone. … I think we should support every effort to clean house in these cities and get rid of as much of Hamas as possible.”
Gilbert concluded, “Israel has to be careful about being blatantly offensive, but I think right now Netanyahu has been down this road before. I trust him to make wise decisions and to do what he can to protect the Israeli people from another Hamas attack.”
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
POST ON X:
A few days ago, Khaled Mashal, a senior member of Hamas who is hiding in Turkey, gave this interview and that's what he said:
“For anyone who supports a two-state solution, we want ONE state. We will have no choice but to accept the two-state solution temporarily so we can… pic.twitter.com/VfW2GTlLzx
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-03-27 07:23:112024-03-28 08:03:18As Israel Eyes Last Hamas Stronghold, Experts Urge Biden to Support Netanyahu
The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) files many lawsuits, but actually wins comparatively few. So when it does receive a favorable decision, its operatives crow about it loudly. In the latest example, CAIR is calling a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling in its favor a “historic milestone for American Muslims.”
However, a simple reading of the Supreme Court’s decision in Federal Bureau of Investigation et al. v. Fikre, or of any of the many media reports on that decision, show that CAIR is overstating the victory.
See, for example, “Supreme Court Says ‘No Fly List’ Suit Can Proceed Against FBI, for Now”, by Jimmy Hoover, Law.com, March 19, 2024. In essence, the court ruled:
Yonas Fikre, a U.S. citizen from Sudan, can—for now—pursue his claim that the FBI violated his constitutional right to due process when it placed him on the list roughly eight years ago. He says the placement left him stranded abroad for four years and led to his torture in the United Arab Emirates.
The Government had tried to have Mr. Fikre’s case dismissed as moot, since the FBI had already removed Fikre from the No-Fly list, and as a result, there was no more damage to him. However, the Supreme Court did not accept this reasoning. From FBI vs Fikre:
In May 2016, the government notified Mr. Fikre that he had been removed from the No Fly List and sought dismissal of his suit in district court, arguing that its administrative action had rendered the case moot.”
Mootness is defined in Maniar v. Mayorkas, Civil Action 19-3826 (EGS), 36 (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2023), as
[a] change in factual circumstances[,] . . . such as when the plaintiff receives the relief sought.
Additionally,
the party urging mootness bears a heavy burden.
However, in the present case, according to FBI vs. Fikre:
The government has failed to demonstrate that this case is moot.
Were the rule more forgiving, a defendant [FBI] might suspend its challenged conduct after being sued, win dismissal, and later pick up where it left off; it might even repeat “this cycle” as necessary until it achieves all of its allegedly “unlawful ends.” Already, 568 U. S., at 91. A live case or controversy cannot be so easily disguised, and a federal court’s constitutional authority cannot be so readily manipulated. To show that a case is truly moot, a defendant must prove “‘no reasonable expectation’” remains that it will “return to [its] old ways.”
The government had failed to meet its burden because the declaration did not disclose the conduct that landed Mr. Fikre on the No Fly List and did not ensure that he would not be placed back on the list for engaging in the same or similar conduct in the future.
Again, the court’s ruling means Fikre’s suit against the FBI can continue. But as Justice Gorsuch says in the court’s decision:
This case comes to us in a preliminary posture, framed only by uncontested factual allegations and a terse declaration. As the case unfolds, the complaint’s allegations will be tested rather than taken as true, and different facts may emerge that may call for a different conclusion.
CAIR’s very well-established pattern of overstating the results of court decisions in its favor really should be more widely discussed.
When Judge Anthony Trenga ruled in CAIR’s favor, saying that the terror watch list was unconstitutional, CAIR hailed this as the greatest legal decision the history of the country. Indeed, CAIR’s victory was widely reported in the mainstream media. However, when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded Judge Trenga’s decision, sending the case back with instructions to rule properly, there was little word from CAIR on that.
More recently, CAIR was very proud of a favorable ruling in the case A & R Engineering and Testing, Incorporated vs. John Scott, Attorney General of Texas. But CAIR minimized the fact that the judge’s ruling applied to just this one case, and only to the plaintiff, Rasmy Hassouna.
In the article “Why a Texas Court Ruling on Israel Boycott Was No Victory for CAIR” by Erielle Davidson, which appeared in The Algemeiner on February 4, 2022, there is this statement: “But CAIR is patently wrong in its legal analysis, rendering the recent victory lap is nothing short of bizarre. While the opinion does deem a fraction of the language in the Texas law unconstitutional, the opinion itself explicitly asserts that most of the language in the Texas statute — including the central element prohibiting economic boycotts of Israel — is constitutional.”
CAIR is, among other things, a public relations firm with itself as its biggest client. As a result, any event which is favorable to the organization and its goals is exaggerated out of all proportion, while incidents that do not fit a favorable narrative are whitewashed, hushed up, or simply ignored completely.
Although the FBI is certainly no friend of Jihad Watch, and the terror watch list may be a necessary evil, it does have value. Already, the DHS has stopped at least 160 people on the watch list from entering the U.S.’s porous border. Additionally, Project Veritas has reported that many of the Afghan refugees on the terror watch list are roaming free in the U.S.
As Justice Gorusch wrote in the court’s decision:
The government does not generally disclose the full reasoning for why people are placed on the list, and the Justice Department expressed concerns that allowing cases such as Fikre’s to move forward would needlessly force the government to reveal its sometimes-classified explanations.
Of course, the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations appears to have absolutely no regard for the national security of the United States of America.
When Israeli voters next go to the polls, over what led to the grim events of Oct. 7, their choices must not be driven by uninformed rumor, ill-informed speculation, and misinformed emotion.
The campaign [Breaking Dawn] has reinstated Israel’s deterrence and initiative – Yair Lapid – Ynet, Aug. 8, 2023—barely a year before the massacre of October 7.
In the days preceding the surprise attack, senior figures in the IDF told the political leadership that Hamas was deterred…The deadly attack, which the terror organizations in the Strip launched, came after senior IDF officers informed the political leaders over the last fortnight that Hamas was deterred – Ynet, on the day of the October 7 massacre.
Every time an election rolls along in Israel, it is widely dubbed as “crucial”, “historic” “fateful” and so on and so forth.
However, the next election, which inevitably will be held under the baleful shadow of the October 7 barbarism, will undoubtedly be all of these and more. Indeed, how these appalling events are processed and dealt with will, in large measure, determine the resilience of Israeli society well into the future.
The core question.
It is for this reason that, when Israeli voters go to the polls, they be as fully informed as possible as to what led to the grim events of October 7, and not be driven by uninformed rumor, ill-informed speculation, and misinformed emotion. After all, if blame is to be apportioned fairly, and culpability assigned equitably, this ought to be based on what actually transpired and not on biased assumptions and skewed presumptions.
For, the voters’ verdict should not be solely the undiscerning expression of vengeful vindictiveness. After all, the decision as to who ought to be elected, and who ejected, should be made not merely to replace the incumbent government. Rather it should be made to enhance it with those deemed not only untainted by the October debacle, but endowed with the necessary acumen and aptitude to run the affairs of the nation more astutely than their predecessors.
This, of course, will be the core question that the next election must address. But to address it intelligently and effectively, voters will need reliable information that will provide them with a fact-based gauge to determine which–if any—of the candidates for office would have behaved substantially differently from the sitting incumbents on October 7. After all, nearly all the realistic alternatives to the current coalition members were deeply enmeshed in the fatally flawed “conception” that was at the root of the October 7 fiasco—no less so than most of the current coalition.
“Hamas do not want war…”
Voters will have to weigh three factors in arriving at their decision:
What information was available to decision-makers immediately prior to October 7?
Who, if any of the potential candidates to replace the sitting coalition, warned of the impending danger of a wide-scale invasion by Hamas?
Were the incumbent decision-makers provided in a timely manner, with the pertinent information to allow them to take appropriate action to contend with the emerging threat—and if not, why not?
With regard to the first of these—the available information—clearly, it is unrealistic to expect the political leadership to be responsible for the collection and operational evaluation of intelligence. For this, they must necessarily rely on the operational organs of the defense establishment. On this matter, there was virtually wall-to-wall consensus among security circles that Hamas was not planning large-scale armed aggression against Israel. Indeed, over recent years, this assessment was virtually immutable. Thus. as early as 2019, at a gathering at Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center, then-Head of Military Intelligence, Tamir Hayman, stated that Hamas “was very deterred from initiating war, and had a desire to stay on a course of accommodation. They do not want war at all.”
“Israeli initiative & deterrence restored…”
Four years later, in September 2022—barely a year prior to October 7—the current IDF Intelligence Head, Maj-Gen Aharon Haliva echoed almost identical sentiments: “I predict that the calm following Operation Guardian of the Walls will last for five years…and I still stand behind that forecast. In Gaza–along with the use of force and substantial deterrence of Hamas—I discern that the processes promoted by Israel of economic stabilization, allowing Gazan workers into Israel and enhancing the living standards have the potential to bring long-term calm.”
But it was not only the military that made such grossly inaccurate assessments. They were also made by political figures, who are likely to be major contenders for office in any new election and candidates to replace the October 7 coalition. Thus, former interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid—today leader of the Opposition—smugly proclaimed at the end of the three-day Operation Breaking Dawn (September 2022), conducted solely against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)—as the prevailing assumption was that Hamas has a vested interest in preserving stability and improving living standards: “In Operation Breaking Dawn, Israel reclaimed the initiative. It restored Israel’s deterrence. All our goals were achieved.”
Qatari funding “an Israeli interest”
The then-Defense Minister—and the person, who the polls predict has the best chance of replacing Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister—Benny Gantz, enumerated the achievements attained by Operation Breaking Dawn “1. Removing the imminent threat from Gaza; 2. Maintaining our freedom of action in all arenas; 3. Maintaining deterrence, while sending a clear message to our enemies in each of the arenas: Israel is determined to maintain its sovereignty and protect its citizens.”
Even the much-maligned practice of transferring millions of Qatari dollars to Hamas was approved by the IDF High Command. For instance, the current media favorite, former IDF Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot declared that Qatari funding helped maintain stability and was in fact “an Israeli interest that helped promote the economy in Gaza”\
This was not a random slip of the tongue on Eisenkot’s part. Indeed, elsewhere he articulated precisely the same position when he asserted that the Qatari millions that are funneled into Gaza are for “administrative financingand that this is done to benefit both our interests “
Clearly then, the belief that Hamas was not spoiling for a large-scale offensive and that its major focus was on the economic conditions was widely held in military, intelligence, and political circles well outside the bounds of the Netanyahu-led coalition.
Beyond intelligence failures…
However, beyond the failures that led to the gruesome tragedy of October 7, there is another troubling concern that increasingly emerges as evermore information comes to light. Ongoing media coverage and investigative reporting reveal an accumulation of errors, misjudgments, dereliction, neglect, arrogance, and shoddiness that strain the bounds of credulence that all this could be the result of unintended misfortune.
Indeed, the failure of intelligence besides, what is perhaps even more difficult to understand are the operational omissions including, but not only, in the hours immediately before and after the dawn attack, as well as the often lethargic and haphazard response in the initial hours—once the assault was ongoing.
The list is bewildering in both its length and its scope:
Civilian first-response squads in border communities had their weapons—particularly long-barreled firearms—confiscated; intelligence monitoring of Hamas was curtailed; the three reconnaissance air balloons, all of which were inoperative, were left unrepaired; the “See-Shoot” RWS (Remote Weapons System) were left vulnerable to drone attacks; electronic surveillance systems were inoperative; warnings by junior officers and NCOs that a significant operation by Hamas was imminent, were dismissed/denigrated by senior officers; documents detailing Hamas’s operational intentions that fell into the IDF’s hands were not taken seriously—despite the existence of corroborating evidence…
Killing and looting unchecked
No less perplexing and perturbing were the following:
Reports by IDF look-out posts of suspicious Hamas movements prior to the October 7 atrocities went unheeded; warnings—on the night of the attack—that Hamas forces were advancing towards the fence, were ignored; a pre-dawn meeting of the IDF and the ISA officials estimated that Hamas was about to attack border communities, but this appraisal was not conveyed to the brigade command, or to the police tasked with securing the dance festival a few kilometers from the border; the IDF forces along the border were not reinforced—and were overwhelmed by the Hamas attackers; in numerous locations, the usual dawn patrols were not conducted; immediately prior to the attack, IDF forces were ordered to redeploy away from the border fence; IDF forces were not dispatched to where the fence was breached by a bulldozer, which appeared to have operated un-harassed; none of the points of penetration appear to have been shelled or blockaded; a second wave of terrorists crossed into Israel unhindered; not a single para-glider used by the invaders was shot down; the traffic routes to and from Gaza remained open until the afternoon, allowing killing and looting to go unchecked; there was no pursuit of the hostage abductors—either on foot or in vehicles; a battalion of intervention forces was delayed for hours as the key to their armory could not be found; for long hours the air force (apart from two attack helicopters) was absent from the action.
A baleful mist gathers
What is so inconceivable about the events of October 7th is, that for hours, Israel conducted itself as if it were a country, devoid of any intelligence capabilities, with only minimal deployable military forces—both infantry and armor, and—apart from two helicopters—without an operational air force. How are Israelis to account for this appalling and tragic fiasco? And how is such an account to be reflected in a future vote on the composition of a new Israeli leadership?
Given the gory specter of the October 7th slaughter, a baleful mist is beginning to gather around the furor over the gruesome tragedy, and the accompanying clamor for elections. With it, a new and sinister aspect is beginning to intrude ominously into the public debate, enveloping the effort to make sense of what transpired.
These are the startling rumors—now gaining currency—that the was some kind of purposeful complicity between certain Israelis and Hamas, which went tragically beyond their envisioned scope. Admittedly, for most Israelis—myself included—such claims seem wildly far-fetched. But then who could imagine, until recently, the behavior of some individuals who held the highest positions in the land during the 2023 protests against a proposed judicial reform bill—passed by a democratically elected government? Who could imagine a former prime minister calling on foreign countries—including the US—to boycott Israel, with all the attendant security implications?
Who could have envisaged ex-defense ministers, IDF chiefs-of-staff, heads of Mossad, and commanders of the air force condoning refusal to perform reserve duty in the IDF? Who could conceive of a man who served as prime minister, defense minister, and IDF chief-of-staff, speculating (despite a jovial and unpersuasive retraction) that his path to regaining the premiership would be paved with corpses of Jews, slain in a possible civil war?
Moronic or Malevolent?
However, no matter how far-fetched such “conspiracy theories” may seem to many, it is precisely those who are targets of these “theories” who have themselves to blame for the emerging maelstrom. After all, it was the leadership of the pre-October anti-reform demonstrations, who repeatedly threatened that, by September, Netanyahu would “have no intelligence and no military.” After all, that is what they called for—and that is precisely what transpired!!
So, if what one threatens does, in fact, happen, it is hardly surprising that many will see in that outcome a purposeful fulfillment of the threat.
Of course, in the absence of definitive diagnosis as to the cause of the calamity, imbecility is usually as plausible an explanation as iniquity. Accordingly, while the trauma of October 7 has understandably unleashed a clamor for fresh elections, it is essential that voters have adequate information at their disposal to make an informed and intelligent choice.
To hold elections now would be perilously premature. Indeed, it runs the risk of insufficient knowledge resulting in rewarding those who behaved with malevolent—albeit miscalculated—design; while unjustly—at least partially—punishing those who were victims of that malevolence.
Accordingly, while the post-October clamor for election is eminently understandable, to conduct them now would be a grave error. After all, much of what should be voted on is still shrouded by dense clouds of uncertainty as to who knew what and when—and who did not.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Martin Shermanhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Martin Sherman2024-03-27 06:09:412024-03-27 06:31:01ISRAELI Elections: Why now is not the time!
