Another Shameless Pentagon Policy: Cutting Overseas Cost-of-Living Allowances to Fund Abortions

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

The shame of this is that the DOD is rolling in $ – over $820 Billion and you can bet there is a ton of fraud, waste and abuse going on.

So many examples including:

  • The Afghanistan withdrawal;
  • Cost overruns in F-35 program;
  • Unaccounted for billions in aid and equipment going to Ukraine;
  • Money being spent on Trans surgeries/procedures;
  • Money being spent to transfer military seeking abortions from Red to Blue state postings.

And now this.

The Pentagon Would Rather Fund Troops’ Abortions Than Their Overseas Living Expenses

BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD, OCTOBER 18, 2023

The Pentagon is reportedly planning to cut overseas service members’ cost-of-living allowances next month, even as it continues to subsidize travel for its employees to get abortions.

According to Military.com, the Defense Department “announced in May that service members stationed overseas, including troops in Alaska and Hawaii, would see cuts to their cost-of-living allowance.” While the first cut in allowances occurred on May 15, the second is slated to happen on Nov. 15 and will be reflected in service members’ Dec. 1 paychecks. More than 230,000 military members receive these payments, according to the outlet.

The purpose of overseas cost-of-living allowances, or OCOLA, is to help service members stationed in remote locations offset costs of basic necessities that are typically more expensive due to their base’s distance from the contiguous United States. Increased inflation and changing currency rates, however, have supposedly resulted in “the gap … diminish[ing], leading to the cuts.”

“OCOLA is based on a service member’s spendable income and does not consider money a spouse earns,” Military.com explained. “It’s calculated by comparing the price of goods and services overseas with the average cost for equivalent products in the States, which creates an index for the cost-of-living allowance. Service members receive an increase only if costs are higher overseas compared to prices stateside.”

Unnamed senior defense officials tried to justify the cuts, claiming in May that an “across-the-board” pay raise for service members this year will result in a “higher take-home pay even with OCOLA reductions than what they had in 2022.”

While the Pentagon seemingly can’t find enough funds to support service members in acquiring basic needs, it’s been more than willing to spend countless U.S. taxpayer dollars for its female employees to get abortions.

In February, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the agency would financially cover abortion-related travel expenses for service members and their dependents. This prompted Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville to launch a protest of the policy the following month. Using his position on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuberville has been slow-walking military promotions requiring Senate confirmation.

To be clear, Tuberville is not blocking votes, but is forcing the Armed Services Committee to vote on each nomination individually rather than voting “en masse on large numbers of nominations.”

The Alabama Republican has since come under a barrage of attacks from Austin, top-ranking military officials, and Democrats (I repeat myself), who have baselessly claimed Tuberville’s protest is harming U.S. “military readiness” and “national security.” Former CIA Director Michael Hayden — a Trump-Russia collusion hoaxer who joined more than 50 former intelligence officials in signing a letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation — took his unhinged criticisms a step further by apparently calling for Tuberville’s assassination.

Despite Democrats’ hysteria, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tacitly admitted he had the power to bring military promotions to the Senate floor the entire time last month after he filed cloture on several Biden nominees. Meanwhile, Tuberville has since doubled down, reaffirming in a Tuesday tweet that he’ll continue his protest until the Pentagon lifts its abortion policy.

“To be clear, I don’t care if Senate Republicans break with me or not. I’m not dropping my holds until the policy is revoked,” Tuberville wrote. “The DOD should be worried about defending our nation instead of forcing the taxpayers to fund elective abortions.”

SHAWN FLEETWOOD

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter: @ShawnFleetwood

©2023. Royal A. Brown. All rights reserved.

Illegal Immigration At Southern Border Hits New September Record

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Border Patrol saw a new surge in illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border in September that marked a new record for the agency, according to internal agency data exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Border Patrol recorded 218,777 encounters across the southern border in September, the highest on record for the month going back to at least the year 2000, according to the data. September marks the end of fiscal year 2023, meaning Border Patrol apprehensions surpassed 2 million.

The last September high was when Border Patrol recorded 207,597 encounters with illegal migrants in 2022.

“It is the policy of CBP to neither confirm nor speak to potentially improperly disclosed information or internal documents marked as law enforcement sensitive or for official use only,” a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told the DCNF.

Click here to view “Total Encounters” on our borders.

The spokesperson also referred the DCNF to a previous statement from Troy A. Miller, senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, about the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border in August that hit 181,059 encounters.

“CBP remains vigilant in the face of ruthless smugglers and transnational criminal organizations who exploit vulnerable migrants, the same criminal organizations trafficking in lethal drugs that harm our communities,” Miller said at the time.

“Our operational tempo along the border has increased in response to increased encounters, and we remain squarely focused on our broader security mission and enforcing U.S. immigration laws. We are maximizing consequences against those without a legal basis to remain in the United States, including by processing more individuals into expedited removal than ever before,” Miller added. “The men and women of CBP continue to work, day in and day out, to protect our nation, disrupting the entry of dangerous people and dangerous goods into the country while providing humanitarian care for vulnerable individuals.”

The Biden administration announced in early October the construction of more southern border wall in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas due to a surge in illegal immigration.

In Eagle Pass, Texas, Border Patrol has been instructed to cut concertina wire erected by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to deter illegal crossings. That area experienced a continued flow of migrants in September that largely came from Venezuela, the DCNF observed at the time.

“What is happening right here is completely against our own immigration laws, against our own constitution and we’re allowing this administration to continue to do this. We’ve seen hundreds of illegals come through here without absolutely no restriction. I don’t hear anybody seeking asylum, I don’t hear anybody talking about asylum or having a credible fear to be returning to their country,” Victor Avila, a former homeland security special agent who is running for Congress to represent a portion of south Texas that includes the town of Eagle Pass, told the DCNF during a visit to the area.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: Calls For US To Take In Palestinian Refugees Raise Serious Security Concerns, Former, Current Officials Say

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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.

The Audacious Hamas Attack on Israel: A Multi-Front Assault

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

In early October, the world witnessed a shocking turn of events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as Hamas, the Palestinian militant group governing the Gaza Strip, executed an audacious and meticulously planned attack on Israel. This attack, unlike any seen before in the conflict, was marked by its multi-front nature and the extraordinary complexity of its execution. In this article, we delve into the intricacies of the attack, exploring the land, sea, and air operations that left Israel reeling from the audacity and sophistication of  Hamas’s assault. We also examine the strategic use of the element of surprise and the breach of Israeli defenses, shedding light on the unprecedented nature of this event.

Land Operations: A Strategic Breach

One of the most striking aspects of Hamas’s attack  was its ground offensive, which involved infiltrating several Israeli towns and military bases. This land operation was strategically bold and marked a significant breach of Israeli territory. The audacious maneuver demonstrated Hamas’s ability to exploit vulnerabilities in Israel’s defenses.

Reports indicated that a bulldozer was used to destroy Israel’s fence at the Gaza border, providing a substantial breach point for the attackers. This method showcased the attackers’ understanding of Israeli vulnerabilities and their calculated approach to breaching the border. The use of heavy machinery in the operation emphasized the level of planning and sophistication involved.

The Maritime Dimension: Sea Operations

To add another layer of complexity to the attack, Hamas also utilized sea operations as part of its offensive strategy. While using the sea as a battleground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not unprecedented, Hamas’s incorporation of this dimension in the recent attack was unexpected. It showcased the group’s adaptability and determination.

Hamas attempted to breach Israeli defenses from the Mediterranean Sea, further complicating Israel’s response. This maritime element highlighted the group’s evolving tactics and the need for Israel to secure its coastal borders and land defenses. The inclusion of sea operations signaled Hamas’s intent to exploit every possible avenue to achieve its objectives.

Aerial Assault: Rockets Targeting Civilians

Hamas’s audacious attack was not confined to land and sea; it extended to the skies. The militants launched a massive barrage of rockets into Israeli territory, specifically targeting civilian areas. This aerial assault marked a significant escalation in the conflict, posing a grave threat to Israeli civilians and soldiers alike.

The use of rockets as a strategic tool underscored  Hamas’s intent to inflict maximum damage and chaos. The group aimed to create fear and disrupt daily life in Israel by targeting civilian areas. The barrage of rockets resulted in casualties among Israeli civilians and soldiers, further exacerbating the crisis and intensifying the Israeli response.

The Element of Surprise: Catching Israel Off-Guard

One of the critical factors that made this attack so audacious and successful was the element of surprise. Hamas meticulously planned the timing and scale of the assault to catch Israel off-guard. The attack occurred when Israel was not fully prepared, as many military personnel were off-duty due to a Jewish holiday. The surprise assault by Hamas militants on Saturday saw gunmen crossing the border with a heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

By launching the assault during this period of minimal preparedness, Hamas exploited a crucial vulnerability in Israel’s defense posture. This tactical maneuver highlighted the group’s deep understanding of Israel’s military calendar and ability to capitalize on perceived weakness. Needless to say, the attack was coordinated and required a level of intelligence and preparation on the part of Hamas, which reportedly blindsided US and Israeli intelligence.

The Complexity of Hamas’s Operation

In summary, the recent Hamas attack on Israel  stands out not only for its audacity but also for its remarkable complexity. The multi-front nature of the assault, involving land, sea, and air operations, demonstrated a level of sophistication that had not been witnessed before in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hamas’s exploitation of  vulnerabilities in Israel’s defenses, such as the bulldozer breach and the timing of the attack during a Jewish holiday, revealed a calculated approach to achieving its objectives. The group’s use of rockets to target civilian areas underscored its willingness to escalate violence to new heights.

The attack was a massive security and intelligence failure, and Israel’s blockade policy will probably be tightened. The sheer quantity of intelligence Israel collects on Hamas and the group’s constant activity and organizing may have played a role in obscuring plans for this particular attack amid the endless barrage of potentially credible threats. The domestic feuds of the past few months might have contributed to the Gaza attacks, and the attack was an intelligence failure that may take Israel years to unravel.

It is a stark reminder of the ever-evolving nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need for constant adaptation to emerging threats.

©2023. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Squad’ members rush to push Hamas propaganda about Gaza hospital blast: ‘The gravest of war crimes’

RELATED VIDEOS:

U.S. in Israel for Justice! U.S. Soldiers in Dangerous HAMAS Tunnels! HAMAS Leader Eliminated!

On the Anti-Israel Dialectic

‘Totally Inappropriate’: Trump Rips Biden For Sending $100 Million In Aid To Gaza

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump blasted President Joe Biden Wednesday for sending $100 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians, calling the move “totally inappropriate.”

Biden announced the aid Wednesday, just days after the United Nations Relief and Works Agency posted on X that Hamas stole fuel and other relief supplies. Hamas attacked multiple locations in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing over 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages.

WATCH:

“This is being led by Iran and you would have never seen this happen. You wouldn’t have seen Ukraine happen either,” Trump said during a break in his civil trial on allegations of fraud.

“You had something about the fact that Biden is sending $100 million to the Palestinians?” Trump asked a reporter.

Israel urged residents of Gaza to evacuate Friday, citing the potential for ground operations against Hamas. People were reportedly killed when a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad hit a hospital in Gaza, according to assessments by U.S. intelligence, even as many media outlets initially echoed claims by Hamas that Israel was responsible.

“I think right now, it’s totally inappropriate. It’s so inappropriate to be doing that right now,” Trump said. “He’s over in Israel and he’s giving money to the Palestinians. I think it’s very inappropriate.”

Biden also received criticism for making concessions to Iran, including arranging for the release of $6 billion held by South Korea for humanitarian aid in exchange for Iran freeing five Americans it held prisoner.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Biden Announces $100 Million In Aid To Gaza Days After Hamas Stole Humanitarian Supplies

‘We’ve Seen The History’: Wisconsin Rep Has ‘Zero Confidence’ Biden Admin Will Vet Gaza Refugees

Calls For US To Take In Palestinian Refugees Raise Serious Security Concerns, Former, Current Officials Say

US Universities Silent On Continued Partnership With Country That Funds Hamas

GoPro Footage Shows Hamas Fighters Breaching Border, Shooting Civilians

Pro-Hamas Protesters Disrupt Confirmation Hearing For US Ambassador To Israel Nominee

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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.

Biden Pact Would Force U.S. Soldiers to Die for Saudi Arabia

/in , , , , , , , /by

Even before anti-American ideologues held public rallies justifying terrorist violence in the name of “decolonization,” Joe Biden sought to hammer out an agreement that could force American soldiers to fight and die for Saudi Arabia. The terms could also give the Saudis, the world’s foremost funders of radical Islam, access to a “civilian” nuclear program and rein in Israel’s response to terrorist attacks.

The Biden administration has sought to build on President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords by getting Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. But in exchange, the Gulf states hope to receive an “ironclad” mutual defense agreement: If they are attacked, the U.S. will come to their aid. The Saudis also seek increased arms sales and U.S. assistance in developing “peaceful” nuclear technology. Each step would be counterproductive — as would unequally yoking Washington with Riyadh.

Marching to Mecca?

History proves an enlarged U.S. military presence provides a tantalizing target for Muslim terrorists. In a prelude to 9/11, al-Qaeda killed 19 American servicemen by blowing up the Khobar Towers in 1996. Osama bin Laden later said he intended the bombing “to drive out the enemy who has occupied our land … and to rid the land of the two Holy Mosques from their presence.” Increasing the U.S. military footprint would present no less incitement or excitement for the region’s bountiful extremists 25 years later.

America certainly does not need a defense pact with the Saudis because we lack opportunities to intervene in irrelevant or counterproductive foreign wars. According to Tufts University professor Michael Beckley, by 2015 the U.S. had some form of defense pact with 69 nations around the world, requiring the U.S. military to protect two billion people, or one-quarter of the Earth’s population. Yet the pronoun-obsessed U.S. military cannot fight two wars at the same time.

Remember, too, that any U.S. military conflict in the Middle East will be presided over by President Biden, who considers the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan one of his foreign policy successes, who abandoned U.S. civilians in Afghanistan, and who has taken exacting time in rescuing American citizens from war-torn Israel. After miring the military in a fruitless proxy war with Russia in Ukraine that depleted our munitions stockpile, Biden now seeks to open a second front in the Middle East. China may determine it has become an opportune time to open a third front in the South China Sea, possibly punctuated by a North Korean nuclear explosion over the Sea of Japan. This could be followed by the attack of a Hamas sleeper cell in the American heartland.

While a Biden defense pact might fall short of a NATO-style agreement, it could resemble Barack Obama’s plan to confer Major Non-NATO Ally status. Among other things, that would make Muslim states “eligible for consideration to purchase depleted uranium ammunition.”

Revving Up the Mideast Nuclear Arms Race

Biden’s negotiators are more likely to approve the Saudis’ request for help with their nuclear program — purportedly intended to provide nuclear power for a nation that sits atop 259 billion barrels of untapped oil. History should be a guide here, as well. The Saudis could violate the agreement’s strictures to develop nuclear weapons, as North Korea did after Bill Clinton agreed to a 1994 deal hammered out by former President Jimmy Carter giving Pyongyang two light water nuclear reactors. Barack Obama incorporated a similar model into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for Iran. Now Biden would like to widen the circle by furnishing Saudi Arabia with access to fissile nuclear material, bolstering the Saudis’ nuclear arms race against Iran … and Israel.

‘Can Two Walk Together, Except they be Agreed?’

To sustain such potentially catastrophic risks, this agreement would have to promote significant U.S. interests. Yet it is unclear how enhancing Saudi aims advances U.S. values. No fewer than 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 hailed from Saudi Arabia. While the State Department classifies the kingdom as “a full partner and active participant” in counterterrorism efforts, Saudi Arabia is also the world’s leading funder and exporter of Wahhabi Islam — the fundamentalist Islamic ideology that fueled the terrorism of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and ISIS. Saudi Arabia has reportedly spent $86 billion promoting Wahhabi Islam globally over the last 50 years, funding 24,000 madrassas in Pakistan in 2016 alone.

Although then-candidate Pete Buttigieg branded Islamism as “not unlike Christianity,” wiser analysts understand no president should risk U.S. troops to promote Saudi interests. “Saudi Arabia is actively undermining American interests in the Middle East while the United States continues to provide security for the kingdom,” writes Jon Hoffman of the Cato Institute. “Unwavering U.S. support has emboldened Riyadh to pursue reckless and destabilizing policies because it is comfortable in the assurance that the United States will come to its aid and not hold it responsible for its actions.”

Why would the U.S. enter a pact with such a nation? “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). What fellowship hath the Land of the Pilgrim’s Pride with the cradle of al-Qaeda?

Subverting the Will of the People

No wonder a majority of Americans (58%) say a mutual defense agreement with the Saudis would be a “bad deal for the U.S., and there is no justification for committing U.S. soldiers to defend Saudi Arabia,” according to a Quincy Institute/Harris poll taken last month. Pollsters found “no significant differences on views of this deal among political affiliation.” But then, the will of the American people rarely rules anything, especially foreign policy. Most Americans opposed our undeclared wars and military interventions against Serbia, Kosovo, Libya, and Syria, as well as additional foreign aid to Ukraine. All proceeded apace.

President Biden has already subverted democracy by pursuing a policy 180-degrees away from his 2020 campaign promises. “I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to” Saudi Arabia, Biden assured Democratic primary voters during a 2019 debate. “We were going to in fact make them pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.” But Biden has since announced that he will not, in fact, do that. Last July, Biden fist-bumped the blood-soaked hand of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who ordered his military to murder Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and dismember him with a bone saw inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

The Biden administration seems ready to sideline the American majority once again. When Biden officials signed a similar defense agreement with Bahrain last month, they did not submit it for Senate ratification. The agreement, which an administration official described as “legally binding,” requires the U.S. to “implement appropriate defense and deterrent responses as decided upon by” the two nations. Instead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the document, and perhaps its adoption process, as “a framework for additional countries” to follow.

Sapping U.S. Strength for Saudi Success

History, too, should make us realize that needless foreign military interventions degrade America’s power and prestige. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled “How the Israel-Hamas War is Tilting the Global Power Balance in Favor of Russia, China.” It explained the Israeli conflict is already “affecting the global balance of power, stretching American and European resources while relieving pressure on Russia and providing new opportunities to China.” That came before the United States tapped 2,000 U.S. troops for possible deployment to the Middle East — and sent an additional 2,000 members of the Marine Expeditionary Unit moving toward Israel via the Red Sea. The ground forces are poised to join two U.S. aircraft carriers, the USS Ford and the USS Eisenhower, in patrolling the region.

If this is true of a war that had not yet formally embroiled U.S. troops, imagine a war fought alongside a member of BRICS. In August, Saudi Arabia and five other nations asked to join BRICS — the Chinese-led global coalition intended to become a regional counterweight and eventual successor to U.S. global hegemony. The new members will form “BRICS plus six” on January 1, 2024.

A treaty with Saudi Arabia fulfills the typical leftists’ criteria for waging war: It serves no U.S. interests; it pursues Marxist “decolonization”; it advances fundamentalist Islam; and it increases the power of the president and/or international bodies at the expense of constitutional checks-and-balances and American sovereignty, respectively. But, in true progressive fashion, this treaty would go further: It would force U.S. soldiers to actively war against American interests.

A Tool of Left-Wing Foreign Policy

The Left also hopes to use the Saudi defense agreement as an additional locus of pressure against Israel. Two weeks ago, 20 Democratic senators — including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Raphael Warnock, and John Fetterman — signed a letter tentatively opposing the measure. “A high degree of proof would be required to show that a binding defense treaty with Saudi Arabia — an authoritarian regime which regularly undermines U.S. interests in the region, has a deeply concerning human rights record, and has pursued an aggressive and reckless foreign policy agenda — aligns with U.S. interests,” they wrote. But they eventually got around to their real concern: the fear that the Biden administration would be too pro-Israeli. “[T]he agreement should include meaningful, clearly defined and enforceable provisions” aimed at “preserving the option of a two-state solution,” especially “a commitment by Israel not to annex any or all of the West Bank.”

The U.S. has no formal treaty commitment to defend Israel from military attacks. Should we sign such a treaty with Saudi Arabia, U.S. soldiers could one day fight in the Middle East to “defend” Riyadh against Tel Aviv.

The Israeli-Hamas conflict has momentarily scuttled the Saudis’ interest in pursuing the agreement as it stands. MBS kept Blinken “waiting several hours” Sunday night, according to The Washington Post, arriving the next morning. Instead, the Saudis entered talks with Iran. But Biden officials remain optimistic they can foist this pact on the American people. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told “Meet the Press” on Sunday, “There’s not some kind of formal pause” in the talks,” because “the long-term goal” of inking a mutual security defense pact with the Saudi kingdom “remains very much a focus of U.S. foreign policy.”

A U.S. defense pact with Saudi Arabia would be a ludicrous policy under any president, worthy of being invalidated by any Congress. Should Biden’s team approve the pact, Congress should pass legislation annulling it at once. U.S. soldiers should never become the janissaries of the Wahhabi Islamic kingdom.

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

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.

America’s Universities Reap What They Have Sown

/in , , , , , , , /by

America’s elite institutions are shuddering from the impact of the outbursts of anti-Semitism on their campuses. Their spasms of panic are animated less by the Israel-hatred and hostility to Jews emanating from their students than by something even atheist materialist postmoderns find terrifying: loss of income.

From Harvard to Berkeley, universities long-reputed to be the nation’s — and often the world’s — finest have proven to be cauldrons of seething bigotry. But it’s bigotry of a specific kind, aimed at Jews and the State of Israel.

This is not new; it’s been simmering for years. As journalist Seth Mandel reports, many universities’ “diversity, equity, and inclusion” agenda is substantially anti-Semitic. Numerous incidents of anti-Semitism have been well-documented, and the U.S. Department of Education currently is reviewing reports of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish behavior — even by some professors — at the City University of New York and its law school, UCLA, U.C. Berkeley, George Washington University, the University of Vermont, the State University of New York at New Paltz, and the University of Illinois.

Since Hamas launched its atrocity-laden attack on Israel on October 7, there have been outbursts of unrestrained Israel hatred at some of our country’s most storied places of higher education. Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania are among the schools at the center of the storm, but not just because so many of their students have signed odious petitions and blamed Israel for Hamas’s morally squalid assault.

These expressions of anti-Semitism have led many previously generous donors to pull their pledged donations. For example, former U.S. Ambassador to China John Huntsman has written to the president of the University of Pennsylvania that the institution is “deeply adrift in ways that make it almost unrecognizable.” Huntsman, a Penn alum and billionaire whose family has long supported the school, wrote that “the University’s silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low.”

Financier Kenneth Griffin, who “has donated more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University,” placed a call to the school’s president expressing dismay that Harvard had been so tepid in response to a public letter produced by 30 student groups blaming Israel for Hamas’s attacks. “Asked if his hedge fund Citadel would hire the head of a student group that signed the Harvard letter, his answer was an unequivocal no. ‘Unforgivable,’ he said.” Griffin then asked, “How do you end up in such a twisted place?”

So, with money on the line, university leaders are now almost falling over themselves condemning Hamas and its brutality. Better late than never. But there’s a larger issue at stake.

For decades, America’s top colleges and universities have become home to far-left academics who denigrate America’s founding, its history, and its basic principles. The United States is cast as a global villain and portrayed as little more than politically bankrupt and racially and economically oppressive. This is not about an honest accounting of the nation’s failures but an almost exclusive emphasis on her faults, omitting all that is noble in our past and worth upholding in the present.

So with Israel: According to some of America’s most talented young people, a little country founded after a mid-century genocide of six million Jews, occupying about 8% of the land mass of the Middle East, surrounded by Islamists for whom nothing short of Israel’s utter destruction will be enough, is at fault for the attacks and attempted conquest to which it so often has been subject. This mentality is, in part, the fruit of the propaganda to which they have been subject in the name of education. And fearful of offending those who scream the loudest, university leaders have cowered upon hearing such “woke” shibboleths as (so-called) justice, “triggering,” and so forth.

Even more, the unwillingness of college heads to articulate clear moral rights and wrongs stems from their own denial of objective, knowable, and unchanging truth, truth revealed by the Creator, Who our Declaration of Independence heralds as the author of our inherent rights. So, why is it unsurprising that impressionable students, many if not most raised in religiously vacuous homes and taught in faith-hostile schools, would gravitate to the grimy alleyways of anti-Semitism? That, Mr. Griffin, is why we are now in “such a twisted place.”

Donors to prestigious institutions are shocked by what they are seeing. Where have they been? And what do they expect? As C.S. Lewis wrote prophetically in “The Abolition of Man,” “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”

AUTHOR

Rob Schwarzwalder

Rob Schwarzwalder is Senior Lecturer in Regent University’s Honors College.

RELATED ARTICLE: More Campuses Are Requiring Access to Abortion Pill: ‘Women Are Being Exploited’

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

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.

UN Refugee Fund for Gaza Is Being Used to Finance Terrorism and Anti-Semitism, Experts Say

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

In the wake of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas terrorists that killed over 1,400 Israeli civilians on October 7, increased scrutiny is being centered on the ideology that fueled the barbarity that took place. Experts say that funds allocated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have not only been funneled to terrorists in Gaza, but have also been used to fund educational materials for Palestinian youth that is rife with anti-Semitism.

UNRWA was established in 1949 by the U.N. General Assembly with the original purpose of aiding the refugees that resulted from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Since then, the fund has been renewed almost every year and has grown astronomically to a current annual budget of over $1 billion. The Biden administration contributed $153.7 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars to the fund in June, which the UNRWA commissioner claimed would “help us keep over 700 schools and 140 health centres open over the next months.” For decades, however, the fund has been embroiled in controversy, as reviews of the fund’s expenditures showed that a significant amount of money was going to terror-group affiliates.

In 2018, the Trump administration ended funding for UNRWA due to the corruption that was uncovered. A report found that less than 5% of the population that it funded actually met the original definition of a “refugee.” But as experts have observed, this was only the tip of the iceberg. It was found that a number of the UNRWA staff working in Gaza had personal ties to terrorism and that “UNRWA schools in Gaza have been used by Hamas to launch rockets against Israel.”

What has become particularly distressing to observers is how the money is being used to fund schools that indoctrinate Palestinian youth to hate Israel and the Jewish people. On Monday, Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss the situation.

“Our first report on Palestinian schoolbooks … was in 1998, and they were filled with poison,” he explained. “At that time … [an] American representative said, ‘I read this material and I wanted to vomit.’ It’s just unimaginable.’ Americans condemned it then, and the United States continued funding the Palestinian Authority year after year after year, knowing what was happening already then.

Marcus continued, “[W]e did a report in 2007, which I decided to release in the Senate, and I turned to Hillary Clinton. I wanted a Democrat … someone who would [not] be automatically pro-Israel. And she appeared at a press conference with me … [and] said, ‘The Palestinians are profoundly poisoning the minds of their children.’ And that was 2007. I call the Palestinians who are running through the streets today murdering Israelis, the Hamas, as well as the Palestinian Authority, Fatah people, the mainstream. They are the poisoned generation. They were brought up on hate, on demonization. And that’s what we have today.”

Marcus went on to describe the specific beliefs that have been espoused by religious authorities in Gaza.

“Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the Palestinian Authority — he’s seen as the moderate,” he noted. “He has a personal adviser on Islam … name[ed] Mahmoud al-Habash. He went on TV and he said that the Jews have been the enemies of Islam since the beginning of time, literally since the time of Adam. … [He also said] when you see a Jew, it actually might be Satan in the form of a human. … He literally said that the Jews are subhuman. [He also] said that the Jews are humanoids — creatures that Allah created in the form of humans but aren’t really humans. So you’ve got the top religious figure in the Palestinian Authority [saying] that Jews are actually subhuman, either Satan or animals, but they’re humanoids, so of course you can kill them.”

Marcus also pointed out that Palestinian textbooks for schoolchildren include quotes from a hadith (an Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) that commands Muslims to kill Jews, and that TV programs owned and controlled by the Palestinian Authority teach children similar lessons. “Children have said they’ve learned in school to hate the Jews and kill them,” he noted. “We’ve had many, many chants and children’s programs where they talk about the Jews being the descendants of apes and pigs. … And one of the worst things that they’ve taught these kids is that they should go out and die for Allah, that if they [fight] against Jews and they’re killed, that’s the best thing that can happen to them.”

Perkins further wondered if peace is possible when Palestinian youth are taught that Israel has no right to exist.

“They deny Israel the right to exist as a state, and they deny Jews the right to exist as individuals,” Marcus somberly emphasized. “Those two together make peace impossible.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

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.

WATCH TRAILER: “Lawless, Liberal Policies | American Blood” Premiering on October 26th, 2023

/in , , , , , , , /by

The Latest Daily Caller Original Documentary “Lawless, Liberal Policies | American Blood”  which exposes the fallout of the “Defund the Police” Movement.

It is scheduled for release on October 26th, 2023.

WATCH:  The Trailer to “Lawless, Liberal Policies | American Blood.”

Bad Liberal Policies have created a society sympathetic to criminals, not victims.

What can we do to take our country back?

Is it too late?

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller documentary is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Obama-Appointed Judge Partially Grants Biden DOJ’s Proposed Gag Order On Trump

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

A federal judge limited the scope of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed gag order for former President Donald Trump after raising concerns during a hearing Monday.

United States District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, granted the requested order in part, restricting statements about special counsel Jack Smith, his staff, witnesses and court personnel while permitting Trump to make statements about the Biden administration and DOJ, according to reports. Smith’s office requested an order last month that would restrict Trump from making “disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating” statements about any “party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors.”

Chutkan expressed reservations about the broadness of the DOJ’s proposed order Monday.

At one point during the hearing, Trump attorney John Lauro said George Orwell “would be having a field day” over prosecutors’ arguments. Chutkan replied he “definitely” would, per reports.

Yet Chutkan rejected the defense’s argument that Trump had entirely unrestricted First Amendment rights to make statements about any party in the case, noting he is still facing criminal charges.

“First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses,” Chutkan said, according to Politico. “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.”

Chutkan said Trump can not, for instance, make statements calling prosecutors “deranged” or a “thug.”

“No other defendant would be allowed to do so and I’m not going to allow it in this case,” she said, per NBC News.

Chutkan permitted Trump to make statements criticizing Washington, D.C., and its residents. She said sanctions were on the table if Trump violates the order but did not specify what that may entail, according to Politico.

A Trump spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement that the order is “an absolute abomination.”

“Today’s decision is an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy by Crooked Joe Biden, who was granted the right to muzzle his political opponent, the leading candidate for the Presidency in 2024, and the most popular political leader in America, President Donald J. Trump,” the spokesperson said. “President Trump will continue to fight for our Constitution, the American people’s right to support him, and to keep our country free of the chains of weaponized and targeted law enforcement.”

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Denies Trump’s Bid To Have Her Recuse Herself From His 2020 Election Case

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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.

U.S. Venture Capital Firms Participated In Chinese Gov’t ‘Technology Transfer’ Contests

/in , , , , , , , /by

Five U.S.-based venture capital firms have participated in Chinese government-backed entrepreneurial contests that effectively aid Beijing’s “technology transfer” strategy, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Chinese-language contest records.

U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firms GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital and Walden International are variously identified as “participating institutions” and/or “angel investors” in Chinese government-backed “start-up” contests supporting the Thousand Talents Plan, according to the contest’s brochures and promotional videos. Executives from these five VC firms have served as Thousand Talents Plan start-up contest judges, steering committee members and mentors for contestants going back to the first 2012 contest, according to a DCNF review of contest records.

For example, the first contest’s website identifies GSR Ventures’ co-founder, Sonny Wu, and IDG Capital’s global chairman, Hugo Shong, as steering committee members. The contest website also lists GGV Capital’s managing partner, Jixun Foo, Sequoia Capital’s global executive partner, Neil Shen, and Walden International’s managing director, Bill Li, as either judges or contestant mentors.

“Launched in 2008, the Thousand Talents Plan incentivizes individuals engaged in research and development in the United States to transmit the knowledge and research they gain here to China in exchange for salaries, research funding, lab space and other incentives,” a staff report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs said in 2019.

In January 2022, Jeff Stoff, a former U.S. government analyst and linguist, warned the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission about how China is using “start-up contests” to obtain U.S. technology.

“A key element of China’s technology transfer apparatus are the tethers it has built to tap into the R&D and innovation occurring inside the U.S.,” Stoff testified in 2022. “In addition to benefitting from informal research collaboration and partnerships with U.S. academic institutions described in the previous section, China’s party-state deploys official and unofficial proxies; investment structures such as venture capital funds, incubators and innovation centers; start-up contests; talent programs and supporting recruitment networks; and partnerships with diaspora organizations, at least some of which are part of China’s United Front apparatus commonly and myopically viewed in terms of political influence operations.”

In July 2023, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced it was launching “investigations into U.S. venture capital firms funding problematic PRC companies.” Chairman Mike Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, the announcement said, “sent letters to four U.S. Venture Capital Firms — GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Walden International — expressing serious concern and demanding information about the firms’ investments in Chinese artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor and quantum companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).”

“Advanced technologies — even if they start out with an innocuous, consumer focus — can be integrated into the CCP’s techno-totalitarian surveillance state or into China’s military modernization,” Chairman Gallagher told the DCNF. “In fact, that is exactly what China’s policy of military-civil fusion requires.”

“While all four firms have begun producing information, we still have a lot of unanswered questions,” Gallagher said.

None of the VC firms targeted by the House committee have been accused of illegal activities, nor have they been charged with any crimes.

‘I Have An Ambition To Transfer My Achievements’

The Chinese government launched its Thousand Talents Plan in 2008. Four years later, the Thousand Talents Plan Venture Capital Center and the Thousand Talents Plan Expert Association jointly held the first Thousand Talents Plan contest in 2012, the contest’s website states.

The inaugural contest — called the “East Sand Lake Thousand Talents Plan Start-Up Contest” — shared its name with the Chinese city of Suzhou’s East Sand Lake, which is near the Thousand Talents Plan Venture Capital Center, according to a brochure on the center’s website.

The Thousand Talents Plan’s contest “gives entrepreneurs the chance to find investment backing to establish companies in China,” according to a 2021 Department of Defense (DOD) report concerning China’s state-sponsored technology transfers.

The inaugural contest’s organizing committee was “composed of Thousand Talents Plan Venture Capital Center and Thousand Talents Expert Association representatives,” according to the contest’s website.

In addition to executives from U.S.-based VC firms, executives from China-based VC firms with U.S. offices also served as judges and/or on the steering committee for the inaugural contest. This includes Sinovation Ventures‘ founder, Li Kaifu; Northern Light Venture Capital‘s founding managing director, Deng Feng; and Qiming Venture Partners‘ founding managing partner, Kuang Ziping, according to the contest’s records.

Sinovation Ventures, Northern Light Venture Capital and Qiming Venture Partners did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Li, Deng and Kuang could also not be reached for comment.

The inaugural contest proceeded in several phases between April 2012 and March 2013, according to the contest’s archived website. Contestants first submitted business plans, which then underwent preliminary evaluation, before the contest’s semi-finals and final in-person competition, the contest’s website states.

In the run up to the finals, the judges evaluated contestants’ business proposals and narrowed down a pool of at least 400 applicants to 66 contestants, from which 20 finalists emerged, according to the contest’s website.

During the March 2013 finals, contestants presented their business proposals for six-minutes, before a 10-minute question-and-answer session, with judges from the various VC firms scoring the finalists’ projects and determining the winners, according to the contest’s rules and procedures.

In the end, the inaugural Thousand Talents Plan contest awarded first prize to a project involving nanomedicine and tissue regeneration products, according to the contest’s website. After the finals, the contest’s main page featured a photo of first prize being awarded to the winner who was identified as Wen Xuejun, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“After winning the championship, he received 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in strategic funding from venture capital investors, as well as 300,000 yuan in prize money,” Chinese state-run media outlet China Daily reported several months after the finals.

Before the contest, Wen’s U.S. lab had “mastered a core technology to make collagen-coated medical catheters, which are more resistant to bacteria and cost less,” China Daily reported. Wen told China Daily that he established Ryan Nanomedicine Co. Ltd. in Suzhou, because “the cost of commercializing the technology in the U.S. would have been too high.”

“I have an ambition to transfer my achievements in the lab into useful medical products, and I chose to realize this ambition in China, after careful consideration,” Wen said, according to China Daily.

A Virginia Commonwealth University spokesman referred press inquiries to Wen.

“Yes, Ryan Nanomedicine took part in the ‘Thousand Talents Plan Start-Up Contest,’” Wen told the DCNF via email, adding that his start-up never actually received any prize money.

“Ryan nanomedicine got 300K (~$41K) for participating in the competition to cover the expenses attending the contest,” Wen told the DCNF. “But Ryan nanomedicine didn’t get 10 million yuan venture capital investment because no investment company was interested in investing Ryan nanomedicine. I felt we were cheated by the competition organizer.”

‘Overvalue Opportunities And Undervalue Risks’

In 2019, the East Sand Lake Thousand Talents Plan Start-Up Contest rebranded as the “Jinji Lake Thousand Talents Plan Start-Up Contest,” taking its name from another nearby Suzhou lake. The contest, however, remains backed by the Chinese government and administered by members of the Thousand Talents Plan Venture Capital Center and the Thousand Talents Plan Expert Association, according to a review of the contest’s website.

Executives from GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital and Walden International have continued to participate in the Thousand Talents Plan’s contests since their 2012 inception, and members of each VC firm are listed on the contest’s 2023 roster, contest records show.

“These judges are likely in it for the connections and the money that comes from the connections,” Dan Harris, a lawyer specializing in emerging markets and the editor of China Law Blog, told the DCNF. “By participating, they are aiming to be the first person called when these companies — or other Chinese companies — seek foreign funding.”

However, maintaining a bullish investment approach towards China may be financially risky “given the laundry list of political, economic, security and geostrategic risks,” Steve Yates, senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute and China Policy Initiative chair, told the DCNF.

“It truly is remarkable that venture capital firms would continue to overvalue opportunities and undervalue risks in China,” Yates said, citing the possibility of war in the Taiwan Strait and China’s apparent real estate bubble.

Far too few companies investing in China have realistic exit strategies, Harris added.

“Getting the money out has become increasingly difficult,” he said, “but this has not received much coverage because few want to be viewed as not having seen this coming.”

‘The Interests Of The State’

Although brochures and promotional videos for the Thousand Talents Plan’s contests identify GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital and Walden International as “participating institutions” and/or “angel investors” for the contests, it remains unclear with which contestants these VC firms may have invested, if any.

In July 2023, the House Select Committee on the CCP sent a letter to GGV Capital stating that from “2015 to 2021, GGV Capital conducted 43 investment transactions in PRC AI companies — more than every other firm examined by the Center for Emerging Technology in a recent study.”

“GGV,” the letter said, “has invested in Megvii, which actively supports the surveillance of Uyghurs.”

The Treasury Department in 2021 identified Megvii as “part of the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex.”

For their part, Sequoia Capital and Walden International have both invested in Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, according to the investment portfolios on the VC firm’s websites. The Treasury Department identified DJI as “part of the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex” in 2021.

GSR Ventures, IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital have likewise invested in Chinese AI chip manufacturer Horizon Robotics, according to Horizon Robotics’ website. In July 2023, the Select Committee on the CCP identified Horizon Robotics as “PLA-linked,” stating that “the CEO of Horizon Robotics was recognized for his contributions to the PRC’s military-civil fusion strategy.”

In June 2023, Sequoia Capital China was split-off from Sequoia Capital’s main operations, according to Nikkei Asia. Despite this split, Sequoia Capital China’s website and the 2023 Thousand Talents Plan contest steering committee roster identify Neil Shen as both Sequoia Capital’s “global executive partner” as well as Sequoia Capital China’s “founder and executive partner.”

GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Walden International and their executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

AUTHOR

PHILIP LENCZYCKI

Philip Lenczycki is the Daily Caller News Foundation’s investigative reporter, political journalist, and China watcher. Twitter: @LenczyckiPhilip

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: CCP Officials Set Up Talent Recruitment Program At US Firm Behind Taxpayer-Backed EV Battery Plants

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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.

THE WAR ON X: WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 12

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Today is October 18th, 2023, and the12th day of The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism.

Since Saturday, October 7th—a date that will live in infamy—we have learned:

Today we have learned that:

Hamas is the poster child for Islam.

They are showing the world what Islam is truly about. Hamas, like ISIS, are the true believers and the and their supporters have demonstrated their beliefs for the world to see globally.

WATCH:

WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 12

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

‘Moderate’ Fatah Declares Unity with Hamas, Praises Massacre

/in , , , , , , , /by

In a newly released military statement, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ supposedly “moderate” Fatah movement governing in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) — declared its alliance with Hamas and its commitment to the ongoing terror campaign against Israel.

In a Monday statement, Fatah articulated its unwavering dedication to liberating “Palestine” and Jerusalem, while asserting its pivotal role in what Hamas has termed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

“We were there from the start of the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation out of our dedication to the ideal of fighting to liberate Palestine and holy Jerusalem… [The] armed struggle is the only and fastest way to liberate Palestine,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade stated, adding that “the unity of the rifle, the [struggle] in the field, and the firm stand of our people is the only way to guarantee victory.”

The statement also issued a stern warning against those who conspire against the Palestinian people.

“We will have a reckoning with those who will deceive our people and plot against them, even if it takes a long time,” the statement reads. “We will protect our people and our struggle and we will not stop except with the liberation of Palestine.”

Fatah’s Central Committee lauded the terrorists it claimed were confronting “the occupation’s crimes and aggression” and “attacking the enemy.”

Fatah (al-Fatah) (AF)

55 Known Connections

In January 2015, Rabbi Aryeh Spero wrote: “The Fatah Party Central Page recently featured a picture: a pile of skulls and skeletons as seen in concentration camp photos, topped with a rifle. The skulls and skeletons are Jewish and covered with blood, with a Star of David. The message: kill the Jews.”

To learn more about Fatah, click here.

RELATED ARTICLES:

ISIS Member Kills 2 in Brussels, Belgium Raises Terror Alert to Highest Level

Blinken Forced into Israeli Bomb Shelter During Hamas Attack

EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

TAKE ACTION: Stop Chinese Paramilitary from Flooding Our Borders

/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

China’s Dangerous Alliance with Iran and Their Proxies.

TAKE ACTION: Stop the Chinese Paramilitary Threat in America!

Earlier this year we wrote about Chinese soldiers flooding our borders with known ties to the CCP People’s Liberation Army.

Our coalition partner, Colonel John Mills, has issued a compelling warning regarding the ongoing and relentless invasion across the unsecured Southern Border. According to his assessment, this breach in border security is being exploited by international terrorists and Chinese paramilitaries, who are using it as an opportunity to position the vanguard of their advance force for a potentially dangerous “summer of love” in 2024. With a known number of Chinese para-military personnel already present as an advance force for invasion within the US, the time to act is now!

One of the key points raised by Colonel Mills is the resemblance between the current situation in the United States and the well-known “little green man” strategy used by Russia. This term, “little green man,” is used to describe agents or operatives placed by Russia in target regions, often as a prelude to invasions, as seen in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. These agents are used to foment unrest, gather intelligence, and create chaos to facilitate Russia’s strategic objectives.

Over 107 thousand illegal Chinese military-aged immigrants have been admitted into the United States since Biden took office.

Colonel Mills draws a parallel with China’s attempts to employ a similar strategy in Taiwan. However, he highlights the success of a new national security law passed in December 2019, which has helped identify and neutralize such agents who were operating within the legacy Kuomintang (KMT) political party which should serve as a guide to a similar solution here in the US.

The core concern is that, with the unsecured Southern Border acting as a point of entry, the United States could be hosting an array of such covert operatives, whether they be international terrorists or Chinese paramilitaries.

The dark relationship between China, Islamism, and conflicts in the Middle East is alarming. China has established ties with Iran, which is predominantly Shia, and Iran, in turn, supports Hezbollah, another Shia organization. However, Iran also supports Sunni Hamas in the Palestinian territories. The notion of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” often applies in these cases.

In case you missed it, Hamas Terrorists Based in Venezuela Crossing Our Border.

The Chinese state media’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict is concerning, portraying the United States as an “enemy of peace” in the context of this conflict. This rhetoric reflects the wider geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, where both nations are positioning themselves as global powers.

The Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive stance toward Taiwan, along with territorial disputes with neighboring countries like India, the Philippines, and Japan, underscores its broader ambitions and the complex geopolitical landscape in the Asia-Pacific region. The interplay between China’s foreign policy, support for various factions in the Middle East, and its wider geopolitical goals paints a dangerous picture.

As the United States grapples with the ongoing border security issue, it becomes crucial to address the potential presence of covert operatives, agents, or actors who might be leveraging the situation for their purposes.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hamas May Have Used North Korean Weapons During Israel Terror Attack: REPORTS

EDITORS NOTE: This ACT for America report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Anguished Families Cling to Hope that Hamas Hostages Will Be Found

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

“I can’t describe such a moment in words where you watch your whole family get taken away from you,” Yoni Asher tried to explain. Summoning the courage to keep talking, he looked around the room of diplomats, U.N. officials, and other suffering families, and put himself back in the moment where his world changed forever.

“My wife was visiting her mother at one of the kibbutzim, and I stayed home,” Yoni stopped, as he probably had a million times in the last week, to let his decision sink in. “I got a phone call from my wife,” who was, “scared — scared,” he repeated, “whispering, terrif[ied], saying that she’s hearing gunshots and people are entering the house.” It wasn’t until later that he saw the video of his wife and two daughters on one of Hamas’s cars or trucks. “I recognized them,” Yoni said quietly of his two little girls, Raz and Aviv, and his wife, Doron.

As the tears fell freely down his face, Yoni finally got out the words that thousands of tortured families have said since October 7: “I woke up to the worst nightmare of my life.”

Others, like Yakov Argamani, pace around their houses, clutching a book of psalms. Surrounded by memories, he mourns that his beautiful teenage daughter’s smell is gone from the room. “Noa was here, there, everywhere,” he told The New York Times’s Jeffrey Gettleman. “All of a sudden, it’s gone. And I’m lost,” the broken father laments.

Other dads, like Hen Avigdori, try to comfort the one child who’s left — while slipping away to cry for his son’s missing sister and mom. “I’m in this endless loop of hope and despair, hope and despair,” he said. “I need some proof of life. I need to know where my wife and daughter are.”

From Thailand to France and America, the families of the 199 missing hostages are in an aching form of limbo. Between television interviews and underground meetings with government officials in Tel Aviv, they live hour to hour, haunted by their last conversations and the knowledge of what Hamas is capable of. To so many, captivity is a fate worse than death. As one heartbroken father told reporters, realizing his eight-year-old little girl had been killed was better than thinking of her in the terrorists’ hands. “It’s a blessing,” an emotional Thomas Hend told CNN the moment he learned Emily’s fate. “She was either dead or in Gaza,” he said after the 48-hour search. “And if you know anything about what they do in Gaza, that is worse than death.”

The number held by Hamas, which Israeli officials increased to almost 200 over the weekend, is complicating things for the soldiers on the ground. While teams of military teams search the 30-mile Gaza strip, terrorist Abu Obeida warned that his men have scattered the hostages — babies, grandmothers, young women, newly orphaned children, and soldiers — in “safe places and the tunnels of resistance” all throughout the area.

Brigadier General Daniel Hagari, a top Israeli military spokesman, insisted they have information on the location of the captives and sought to reassure families that the troops “will not carry out an attack that would endanger our people.” In the meantime, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, issued a stunning declaration, offering himself to Hamas if the terrorists would let the child hostages go. “I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home.”

Countless parents at the makeshift headquarters of the Families of Hostages and Missing Persons Forum would almost certainly do the same. “All we have been told is that her phone is in Gaza,” Meirav Gonen said helplessly. Romi, who was kidnapped from the music festival, stayed on the line with her mom for almost 45 minutes until her phone went dead.

“I know she was shot,” Meirav explained. “She called me at 10:15 and I was on with her until 10:58, she was fading away and I heard shooting around her coming closer to the car and then people shouting in Arabic … shouting she was alive and that they need her.”

Romi’s face is one of many lining the wall of Tel Aviv’s HaKirya government building, a horrifying reminder of the dozens of missing. “It’s so, so lonely,” Meirav chokes up. “All the thoughts and feelings that you have once you stop for a minute to listen to them.”

Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin understands the pain of hostage crises more than most. As commander of the Army’s elite Delta Force, he was one of the leaders on the failed mission to rescue Iran’s hostages in 1980. Like so many veterans, he knows the incredible lengths America will go to bring its people home. “I think most of what you see, other than the bombing and the shelling by the Israelis … is reconnaissance to try to locate the hostages,” he explained to guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice on “Washington Watch.” “This is a big issue for the Israelis because there are Americans being held. And I can assure that those people on the ground in [Gaza] include some Americans, our special operations that are experts at hostage rescue.”

But, Boykin warned, “the key thing to hostage rescue is good intelligence, and I think that’s what they’re doing [in Gaza right now]. … They’re in there looking for the hostages. And I pray that they will find them before the end of this campaign … because ultimately,” he said soberly, “these people will be killed if we can’t find them in time.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was cagey on Sunday about the involvement of U.S. special ops, saying only that the military “won’t rule anything in or out” about the hostage effort on the ground.

For now, Boykin insisted, the world needs to keep its eye on the ball. All of this, he argued, “is on the backs of Hamas.” “Hamas is responsible for everything that has happened up to this point. There is nothing, no one killed, nothing that Hamas is not responsible for. And we have to remember that. … What has happened here is a terrible, brutal, even demonic attack on the Israelis. … And we stand with the Jews.”

More than that, we pray for the Jews — and everyone affected by this unspeakable tragedy. For a partial list of hostages to remember in prayer, visit Pray for Israel by Name and join us in asking for God’s continued blanket of peace and protection on the innocents in the grip of Hamas.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

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.

THE WAR ON X: WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 11

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Today is October 17th, 2023 the 11th day of the WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism.

Saturday, October 7th, 2023—a date which will live in infamy—as the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas began and continues its murderous slaughter of the innocents. This was not an attack on Israel, it was an attack on the World, Western Europe and mankind itself.

As of today we have learned the following:

  1. Hamas terrorist sympathizers held a rally in Orlando, Florida where a Screaming Jihadi In Yoga Pants. During the rally a Muslim woman was leading Muslim men (…the times are a changing!); the attendance was very poor (maybe, even Muslims realize HAMAS is ISIS); the terrorist sympathizers used the word “Zionist” instead of Jew (this is supposed to trick you into thinking this is NOT Jew-Hate); and the total ignorance about the facts of this war by those who attended. Are yoga pants Haram?
  2. Israel denounced Pope Frances’ Statement calling for a cease-fire as ‘unacceptable’. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen denounced the Pope’s expression of concern “primarily” for Gaza civilians over Israelis and demanded a “clear and unequivocal” condemnation of the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
  3. The U.S. Congress is being asked to take action to stop stop Hamas terrorists based in Venezuela from crossing America’s border.

To view the previous 10 days of  THE WAR ON X: WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism click here.

We recommend that all read Appeasement is the Art of Losing Slowly  and We Have Been Betrayed to truly understand just how we got to this point.

WW III The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 11

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Obama and Biden’s effort at détente with Tehran destabilized the entire region and emboldened Hamas.

More Footage From Hamas Body Cams Show Mass Murder, Going House to House Murdering Civilians, Including Elderly

BELGIUM: Shouting “ALLAHU AKBAR!,” Muslim Terrorist Kills People and Warns, “In the Name of Allah…The Islamic State Will Remain Despite Your Laws”

Iran to Hamas: ‘Keep fighting’ to achieve ‘resistance’s objective — the destruction of Israel’

The Longstanding Media Bias Against Israel is Now Bearing Bitter Fruit

France deploying 7,000 troops after deadly school stabbing by ‘Islamic radical’

The Hamas ‘Inside Job’ Truthers Don’t Understand Israel or War

France: Muslim migrants disrupt wedding ceremony in church, threaten to BEHEAD woman who asked them to respect the religious service

MEMRI President: Qatar Is Hamas And Hamas Is Qatar

Jew-Hating Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad Still Employed After Calling Hamas Terror Attacks “Awesome”