Tag Archive for: Israel

U.N.R.W.A. Staff Recordings Prove Hamas Treated Young Women ‘Like Animals’

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‘Sabaya’ is a term in Islam that describes women and children as the property of a Muslim man. It also means slave and handmaiden.

The most difficult use of ‘Sabaya’ was by ISIS terrorists, who called the captured Yazidi women this.

The Qur’an allows men to have sexual access to “what their right hands possess,” meaning female captives or slaves (Q. 23.5-6; 70.29-30).

IDF spokesperson: UNRWA staff recordings prove Hamas treated young women ‘like animals’

By Emanuel Fabian, Times of Israel, 4 March 2024:

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an evening press conference says that despite the “difficult content,” the military chose to release the audio recordings of UNRWA staff who participated in the October 7 onslaught, to “remind and not forget.”

“The massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 is the most documented massacre in history. Hamas terrorists filmed their own cruelty. As time goes by, more and more testimonies are revealed, more intelligence every day,” he says.

“You can hear how the terrorists entered Israeli territory, participated in the massacre, and terror, and captured ‘sabaya.’”

He explains that in one of the recordings, a Hamas terrorist, who worked as a teacher at a UNRWA school in Deir al-Balah, tells his friend that he captured a sabaya, a term used by Islamic State jihadists that means sex slave.

“Sabaya” is a term in Islam that describes women and children as the property of a Muslim man. It also means slave and handmaiden. The most difficult use of “sabaya” was by ISIS terrorists, who called the captured Yazidi women this, Hagari says.

“In the conversation, the terrorist on the other side of the line describes a woman as a noble mare,” he says.

“On October 7, Hamas treated young women with cruelty and brutality, kidnapped them from their homes, and treated them like animals,” Hagari continues.

“How they refer to the hostages as ‘sabaya’ and a ‘noble mare’ keeps us awake at night, and requires the world to shout, as it did for the Yazidi women,” he says.

Hagari adds that, via the testimonies from hostages who were released from Gaza, “we learn about the dangers the hostages are exposed to, especially the women and children.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

UN AUDIO: United Nations Employee Brags, Laughs About Kidnapping Female Hostage During the 10/7 Atrocities in Israel

Sex Slavery in Islam

Rape Jihad

RELATED VIDEOS:

How this murderous Hamas terrorist describes with glee October the 7th

What do they mean when they say “by any means necessary”?

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

72 Percent of the Youngest Voters Support Israel

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Information on the latest poll of American attitudes on Israel, Hamas, and Gaza can be found here: “Vast Majority of American Voters Back Israel in War Again Hamas, New Poll Reveals,” by Ben Cohen, Algemeiner, February 28, 2024:

A heavy majority of respondents — 78 percent — agreed that Hamas needed to be removed from governing Gaza. Asked about who should administer the territory after the war, 34 percent answered Israel, while 39 percent expressed support for a new authority created by Arab states. Only 28 percent believed that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) should govern in a post-war scenario.

Nearly four out of five Americans polled believe that Hamas should be removed altogether from any future position of authority in Gaza. As for alternatives, more than one-third wanted Israel to administer Gaza (which the Israelis do not want to do; they only want to ensure that Hamas does not make a comeback in the Strip). Nearly 40 percent want the Arab states — meaning the rich Arab states that will be largely responsible for the reconstruction in Gaza that will take years — to appoint a new authority in Gaza, neither Hamas nor the PA, but a group of technocrats whom the Arab donor states can keep a close eye on, making sure that there is no repetition of the colossal corruption that has been such a feature of Hamas rule in Gaza, where just three of its leaders — Khaled Meshaal, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mousa abu Marzouk — managed to steal for themselves a total of $11 billion. And Americans are suspicious, too, of the Palestinian Authority, because it has been a despotism ruled by the corrupt Mahmoud Abbas, who with his sons Tarek and Yasser has acquired a family fortune of $400 million. Abbas is in the nineteenth year of his four-year-term. When dissidents against his rule acquire a following, he does not hesitate to murder them, as he ordered the murder of the late Nizar Banat. Only 28 percent of those polled saw any role at all for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends.

The poll also examined voter attitudes towards the wider region, with 80 percent agreeing that US forces in the Middle East are facing attacks from local terrorist groups. US President Joe Biden’s policy towards Iran has also attracted significant criticism, with 54 percent answering that the US response to attacks launched by Iranian-backed terrorist organizations in Yemen, Syria and Iraq had been “too weak.” Pressed further on whether Biden’s Iran policy had been “successful,” 61 percent answered negatively….

More than half of those polled think that Biden has been “too weak” in responding to attacks by Iran-backed terrorists in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. It is obvious that the attacks on the Houthis have had no effect in slowing down, much less in ending, attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping near and in the Red Sea. The Houthis have even launched drone attacks on American warships. Those polled want a more muscular policy toward Iran’s proxies. which makes one wonder if they would be willing to support a preemptive strike on Iran, as it creeps ever closer to being able to make a nuclear bomb. That question, however, was not asked.

Among 18-24 year olds, support for Israel stood at 72 percent, and at 66 percent among voters aged 25-34. More than 90 percent of voters over 55 declared their support for Israel.

The loss of support for Israel among the young has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, 72 percent of the youngest voters, 18-24 year olds, support Israel, and the figure dips just a little, to 66 percent, among those 25 to 34. Too many people have assumed that those noisy campus pro-Hamas protesters who garner such media attention reflect the views of a great many young people; it turns out that they do not.

However, a majority of 18-24 year olds — 53 percent — expressed backing for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza irrespective of whether the hostages are released, while the majority of older voters remained opposed. Among the over 55s, more than 80 percent said they were opposed to a ceasefire absent the release of the hostages….

This is the only response that is a bit worrisome. A slight majority — 53 percent — of the youngest voters support an immediate ceasefire, whether Hamas releases the hostages or not. Clearly the freeing of the hostages does not loom as large in the minds of the young as it does among the older people polled, A reflection, perhaps, of the wisdom that some say comes with age?

More than half of the young voters, in the 18-34 age groups, want Israel to continue its ground invasion, which means, since the poll was taken on February 20-21, they support an attack on Hamas operatives in Rafah.

The younger voters are still on Israel’s side. The two key figures are these: Of the 18-24 age group, 72 percent support Israel, and of the 25-34 age group, 66 percent support Israel. And that is despite the malign coverage in so much of the media.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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How the New York Times Reported on the ‘Massacre’ in Gaza

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Why Is Israel to Be Subject to a Standard Imposed on No One Else?

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Many in the political and media arenas are blaming the IDF for the deaths of 104 Gazans at a site where a convoy of aid trucks was trying to make its way to a distribution point: “US blocks Security Council motion blaming Israel for deadly Gaza aid convoy incident,” Times of Israel, March 1, 2024:

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called the deaths “unacceptable” and said they underlined “the urgency of a ceasefire.”

Which deaths are “unacceptable”? The fewer than ten who were shot by IDF soldiers protecting themselves? Those who were trampled or crushed to death in the stampede? Is it the position of José Manuel Albares that IDF soldiers, who were present only to facilitate the safe arrival of the aid trucks to the point where that aid was supposed to be distributed, had no right to defend themselves from Gazans bent on harming them? Why is Israel to be subject to a standard imposed on no one else? Would the Spanish Foreign Minister have been less displeased if some Israeli soldiers had been killed?

 

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell similarly denounced the deaths as “totally unacceptable.”

Of course. What else would one expect from the virulently anti-Israel Josep Borrell? He says nothing about the Gazans’ stampede and the subsequent crush of bodies being trampled, letting it be assumed that “the deaths” were all the result of IDF fire. Should the IDF soldiers, who were there, let’s remember, to facilitate the delivery of food and other humanitarian aid to the Gazans, have allowed themselves to be attacked by those hellbent on harming them? Would Borrell be happier with that? Yes, I’m sure he would.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced his government was suspending purchases of weapons from Israel, describing the deadly incident as “genocide” and blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the violence. His statement came months after Israel suspended security exports to Colombia in a diplomatic spat over online messages by Petro comparing Israel’s military response to the Hamas-led October 7 atrocities to the actions of Nazi Germany and calling what is now going on in Gaza as a continuing “genocide.”…

Petro has long been a virulent Israel-hater, so it was to be expected that he would describe the Jewish state’s attempt to wipe out Hamas in Gaza, so that never again would Israelis have to endure the atrocities that took place October 7, as akin to the actions of the Nazis against the Jews.

One would not know, from Petro’s description, that the IDF makes enormous efforts to minimize civilian casualties, just as Hamas makes efforts to maximize them. To this end, the IDF has dropped a total of 12 million leaflets, made two million prerecorded phone calls and 72,000 personal calls, all to warn people in Gaza to move away from areas — such as “northern Gaza” — that will soon become a battlefield, and also to warn them away from buildings, including apartment buildings, schools, mosques, and hospitals, that are about to be targeted. Does President Petro know that when Israel held Gaza, between 1967 and 2005, the Strip’s population rose from 400,000 to 1.3 million, or more than tripled? Is that “genocide”? As for ending the purchase of military equipment from Israel, it’s a meaningless gesture, because Israel had already ended all security sales to Colombia several months ago. Finally, does President Petro know that the ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths in Gaza is 4:3, an unheard-of low number, almost 1:1, when the closest any other army has come to that ratio is the 3:1 ratio (three civilians killed for each civilian death) achieved by the American military in the Iraq war? No wonder that the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, has described the IDF as “the most moral army in the history of warfare.”

Eventually the truth of what happened in Gaza on February 29 will come out. Only a very few of those who rushed to judgment to condemn Israel will issue corrections, and even then, none will come out with the shamefaced apologies and mea-maxima-culpas that they should be uttering. That truth is this: the IDF fired warning shots in the air, and then fired again at about ten individuals who continued to menacingly approach them at the checkpoint where the soldiers stood. The other 94 Gazans who died that day had either been trampled or crushed to death in a stampede by thousands of Gazans trying to grab food off the aid trucks, or they were run over when they fell under the wheels of those trucks. That is the truth. One hopes that the Bidenites, who have not been treating America’s most loyal ally with the understanding and support it deserves, will this time do the right thing, and declare its satisfaction with the Jewish state’s version of what happened on February 29 in northern Gaza.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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Mozambique: ‘Hunger, thirst and disease’ threaten Christians amid jihad attacks

Islamic Republic of Iran: Convert from Islam to Christianity found dead at age 37 of ‘heart attack’

France: Muslim walks into a bar, screams ‘Allahu akbar,’ praises al-Qaeda, gets psych exam

EDITOR NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

VIDEOS: Operation ‘Swords of Iron’ News Summary: March 1st and March 2nd, 2024

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Here are the latest news headlines from this afternoon that reached our news desk. The times given are Jerusalem time (GMT +2)

March 1st, 2024

12:34 – SYRIA: The Syrian army claims that it managed to intercept and shoot down in the sky of the city of Raqqa in Syria, 2 American drones manufactured by the Boeing company RQ-21 A Blackjack while they were on intelligence gathering flights. The cost of each such UAV is estimated at about 8 million dollars

13:10 – IRAN: Iranian channels affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards: Reza Zaraei, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in an attack tonight in Banias in Syria, along with two senior Hezbollah officials.

13:58 – LEBANON: Lebanese channels: The IDF fires shells at the town of Khula Wazani in the Marj Ayon district

14:01 – JERUSALEM: Clashes between Arab rioters and the security forces in the Old City of Jerusalem. [VIDEO]

14:02 – GAZA: A number of rockets fall in the fence area in the Ashkelon beach area in open areas.

14:03 – LEBANON: Lebanese channels: air strike on buildings in the town of Ita al-Sha’ab in southern Lebanon, there are casualties

14:09 – LEBANON: Hezbollah launched a heavy rocket at a military target in the Upper Galilee area in the Ramim Ridge area.

14:09 – LEBANON: Arab reports: air strike towards Jebel Blat in southern Lebanon

15:21 – SYRIA: Arab reports of explosions in the Syrian Golan

15:29 – LEBANON: The IDF attacked military buildings and terrorist infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah

14:38 – IRAN: Reports that the Israeli attack in Syria killed an advisor in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards named Reza Zarei, in addition to two Hezbollah members

March 2nd, 2024

12:09 – USA: US Representative Ilhan Omar: “President Biden’s administration gave Israel the green light to commit a massacre against the Palestinians.”

12:14: The IDF spokesman confirms that this morning the Air Force eliminated terrorists belonging to the Imam Hussein Division who had previously fired rockets into the territory of the State of Israel in a vehicle attack in southern Lebanon; military buildings and infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah were attacked during the night and morning.

12:20 – LEBANON – Hezbollah announces the deaths of 3 more of their officers. The three killed this morning belong to the Imam Hussein Division, which operates in Syria directly by Iran and in Lebanon under Hezbollah. IDF spokesperson: “This morning, the IDF eliminated in a vehicle attack in southern Lebanon terrorists who belong to the Imam Hussein division and had previously fired rockets into the territory of the State of Israel.” Military buildings and infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization were attacked during the night and morning. This morning, aircraft attacked a vehicle in the area of southern Lebanon containing a number of terrorists who fired rockets at Israeli territory. The terrorists operated under the Imam Hussein Division, which is associated with Iran and works for the terrorist organization Hezbollah. In addition, a short time ago fighter jets attacked a terrorist infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Lebanon region of Lebanon, and during the night two additional military structures of the terrorist organization were attacked in the Leyda region.

12:35 – GAZA: The Egyptian Air Force in aid drop carried out over the Gaza Strip

13:05 – RED SEA: Freighter Rubymar has sunk in Red Sea, Yemen internationally recognized government says

14:00 – GAZA: The IDF spokesman announces that the fighters of the commando formation are engaged in intense combat in the west of Khan Yunis, during which they eliminate dozens of terrorists and carry out raids on terrorist infrastructures in accordance with designated intelligence.

14:01 – RED SEA: The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Saturday that it received a report an attack 15 nautical miles west of Yemen’s port of Mokha, where the Houthis that control much of Yemen have been attacking shipping lanes.

14:42 – JUDEA: 57-year-old man moderately injured in suspected attack at Mount Hebron

16:05: LEBANON: Reports on Arab networks: A vehicle was attacked from the air in the Rashia al-Fakhar area in southern Lebanon. According to the report of the Lebanese newspaper affiliated with Hezbollah, “Al-Akhbar”, the attack was carried out using an Israeli drone.

16:28 – GAZA: Reports in Gaza of two dead and several wounded in the bombing of a house in southern Deir al-Balah.

16:33 – RED SEA: U.S. Central Command reports: The ship that was attacked by a Houthi bomb in the Red Sea on February 18 sank as a result of the hit today.

18:30 – IDF continues striking targets in Lebanon: IDF spokesperson, “This morning, IDF aircraft struck a vehicle in southern Lebanon, in which a number of terrorists who launched rockets into Israeli territory were driving in. The terrorists operated under the Imam Hossein Division, which is affiliated with Iran and operates for the Hezbollah terrorist organization. In addition, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Labbouneh in southern Lebanon a short while ago. Moreover, two Hezbollah military compounds were struck in the area of Blida overnight.”

20:30 – ‘He strengthened Hamas’ position’ – Former U.S. ambassador blasts Biden’s ‘ice cream shop’ prediction. Former U.S. ambassador Friedamn accuses Biden of ‘malpractice,’ slamming president for ‘ice cream shop’ prediction on hostage deal with Hamas.

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UN Report: ‘Reasonable Grounds To Believe’ Hamas Members Sexually-Assaulted, Raped Abductees

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Hamas on October 7th: The Teachings of Islam on Display — Part 1

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On October 7, 2023, at about 6:30 AM, Hamas jihadists attacked Israel.  These jihadists killed people attending an open-air music festival and people who lived in the Israeli communities close to the border.

By the time the Israeli military regained control of the affected areas in southern Israel, more than a thousand people – mostly civilians – had been killed, hundreds of houses looted and burned, and more than 230 men, women, and children taken hostage.[1]

The Hamas jihadists also displayed a callous savagery toward the people they engaged.  Among the atrocities committed by these Hamas jihadists were:

  • Beheadings
  • Burning People Alive
  • Killing Non-Combatants/Disbelievers
  • Killing Women and Children
  • Mutilations
  • Rape of Non-Muslim Women
  • Torture

There has been a great amount of outrage expressed about these atrocities.  However, there has also been a large amount of support expressed for the Hamas jihadists.  This support is found largely on college campuses and among Muslim populations.

Unfortunately, such support among Muslim populations should not be surprising.  The Hamas jihadists were following the commands of Allah found in the Koran and the teachings and example of Muhammad, Islam’s Perfect Man and a timeless example that Muslims are expected to follow if they want Allah to admit them into Paradise (see Koran Chapter 33, Verse 21).

The jihadists’ attitude toward the Jews were formed by teachings of Islam such as these:

Koran Chapter 5, Verse 51:  O you who believe!  Take not the Jews and the Christians as Auliya’ (friends, protectors, helpers), they are but Auliya’ of each other. 

Koran Chapter 5, Verse 82:  Verily, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers (Muslims) the Jews and those who are Al-Mushrikun,

Koran Chapter 9, Verse 30:  And the Jews say: ‘Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allah.  That is their saying with their mouths, resembling the saying of those who disbelieved aforetime.  Allah’s curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth!

It was narrated from ‘Amr bin Shu’aib, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah ruled that the blood money for the People of the Book is half of that of the blood money for the Muslims, and they are the Jews and Christians.[2]

Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight against the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, ‘O Muslim!  There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’”[3]

And why were the Hamas jihadists following Allah and Muhammad?  Because the Koran commands them to do so, for example:

Chapter 33, Verse 36:  It is not for a believer [Muslim], man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger, have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision.  And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed into a plain error.

Chapter 59, Verse 7:  …And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).  And fear Allah; verily, Allah is Severe in punishment.

Chapter 4, Verse 115:  And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers’ way, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell – what an evil destination!

Each of the atrocities listed above is supported by the commands of Allah found in the Koran and/or the teachings and example of Muhammad.  Let’s examine each atrocity.

Rape of Non-Muslim Women

Islam allows the rape of non-Muslim women.  A non-Muslim woman captured by Muslims during a battle falls under the category of those “whom your right hands possess.”  She then becomes a slave to her Muslim captor and it becomes “legal” for him to have intercourse with her.  This is authorized by Koran 4:24, which begins by talking about how Muslim men are forbidden from marrying (and having sex with) women who are already married, but then makes an important exception:

…except those (slaves) whom your right hands possess.  Thus has Allah ordained for you…

The Muslim scholar Ibn Kathir explained the meaning of this verse:

The Ayah [verse] means, you are prohibited from marrying women who are already married, (except those whom your right hands possess) except those whom you acquire through war, for you are allowed such women after making sure they are not pregnant.  Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri said, “We captured some women from the area of Awtas who were already married, and we disliked having sexual relations with them because they already had husbands.  So, we asked the Prophet about this matter, and this Ayah was revealed…Consequently we had sexual relations with these women.”[4]

So instead of Muhammad prohibiting his Muslim warriors from raping the women they had captured in the area of Awtas, Koran 4:24 was “revealed” to him giving his Muslim warriors Allah’s authorization to also actually go ahead and rape them.

Muhammad’s attitude about how captured non-Muslim women could be treated was shown again in another eye-opening example in which Muhammad condoned the rape of female captives from the non-Muslim Mustaliq tribe.

In this story about the Mustaliq tribe we shall see that the only problem to be resolved was whether or not the ransom the Muslims were expecting for these particular female captives would be affected if those captives were returned pregnant.  In response to the question from his Muslim warriors about whether they should therefore engage in coitus interruptus with their soon-to-be rape victims, Muhammad, instead of prohibiting the rapes, merely said that coitus interruptus would not matter because every soul that was destined to be born would be born:

Abu Sirma said to Abu Sa’id Al Khudri (Allah he pleased with him): O Abu Sa’id, did you hear Allah’s Messenger (SAW) mentioning al-‘azl [coitus interruptus]? He said: Yes, and added: We went out with Allah’s Messenger (SAW) on the expedition to the Bi’l-Mustaliq.  We took captive some excellent Arab women.  We desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing ‘azl…But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah’s Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah’s Messenger (SAW), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.[5]

So Muhammad gave his approval to the rape of these “excellent Arab women.”  It is an interesting side note that coitus interruptus was one of the “ten characteristics” that Muhammad disliked.[6]

It should therefore come as no surprise that the founders of the four major Sunni schools of Islamic Sacred Law agreed that

…when a married woman becomes a prisoner of war without her husband, her contract of marriage with her husband ends, and her new master has the right to have sexual relations with her after the birth of a child if she is pregnant, or after waiting a while to confirm the status of her womb if she is not apparently pregnant.[7]

Has there been any change in the understanding of this verse over the centuries?  The answer is “No.”  The 20th century Koran commentary Tafsir Ahsanul-Bayan explained Koran 4:24 this way:

The historical background of the verse is that when pagan women were captured by Muslims in battles, they disliked having intercourse with them because they had husbands.  The Companions asked the Messenger of Allah about it.  Thereupon, this verse was revealed.  The verse allowed the Muslims to have intercourse with pagan women if they were captured in battles even if they had husbands, providing their wombs have been cleansed, that is, after one menses or, in case they are pregnant, after the delivery of the child.[8]

Although it is claimed that the Muslim warrior is not allowed to rape his captive until he has waited to make sure that she is not pregnant, as we saw above this was ignored even in Muhammad’s time.  Here are additional examples of Muhammad handing out newly captured non-Muslim women to his Muslim warriors:

  1. After the defeat of the Jewish Banu Qurayzah tribe, Muhammad divided up that tribe’s “property, wives, and children” among the Muslims, with the exception of some of the women that he sent to Najd and to Syria to be sold for horses and weapons.[9]
  2. After the defeat of the Jews at Khaybar, Muhammad had the women of Khaybar “distributed among the Muslims.”[10]
  3. After the non-Muslim Hawazin tribe was defeated, Muhammad gave Ali, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman (all later “Rightly Guided” Caliphs) each a woman from among those captured.  ‘Umar then gave his to his son.[11]  Muhammad gave other “slave girls” to some of his Muslim warriors, who, along with ‘Uthman, then had “intercourse” with their slaves.  It was reported that ‘Uthman’s slave-girl “detested him” after the “intercourse.”[12]

So we can see that the commands of Allah in the Koran and the teachings and example of Muhammad fully support the raping of non-Muslim women by the HAMAS jihadists.

Ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, a 20th century Muslim scholar, summed it up well:

But if the dividing (of the Ghanimah) [spoils of war] takes place, and the woman from them ends up as a slave woman, then she becomes property of the right hand.  The person can have intercourse with her as a right hand possession, which is permissible and there is nothing wrong with this.[13]

On October 7th Hamas jihadists were committed to following those commands of Allah and those teachings and example of Muhammad.

Haim Outmezgine, commander of a special unit of Zaka, which collects the remains of the dead, told The Sunday Times it was clear Hamas terrorists aimed to sexually assault women.

“We collected 1,000 bodies in ten days from the festival site and kibbutzim,” he said.

“No one saw more than us. It was clear they were trying to spread as much horror as they could — to kill, to burn alive, to rape … it seemed their mission was to rape as many as possible.”[14]

Israeli officials pointed to a Hamas pamphlet discovered on Nov. 2 that gives detailed instructions about how to pronounce phrases in Hebrew including “raise your hands and open your legs” and “take off your pants.”

During interrogations, captured Hamas militants talked about raping women and children as a Hamas tactic of war. “To have our way with them, to dirty them, to rape them,” said one Hamas militant during a videotaped interrogation.[15]

Killing Women and Children

It is commonly claimed that Muhammad had issued a general prohibition against the killing of women and children, and that this was established Islamic Doctrine.  There are two popular hadiths that are often used to support this claim:

It has been reported from Sulaiman b. Buraid through his father that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) appointed anyone as leader of an army or detachment he would especially exhort him to fear Allah and to be good to the Muslims who were with him.  He would say: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah.  Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah.  Make a holy war… do not kill the children.[16]

And

Ibn ‘Umar narrated that a woman was found killed in one of the expeditions of the Messenger of Allah, so the Messenger of Allah rebuked that, and he prohibited killing women and children.[17]

So according to the first hadith, whenever Muhammad appointed anyone to lead a Muslim army or detachment, he would issue an order that children were not to be killed.  And the second hadith states that Muhammad prohibited the general killing of women and children.

However, Muhammad never issued such sweeping prohibitions.

For example, when it came to women criticizing him, Muhammad had no problem with such women being killed:

  1. “Ibn ‘Abbas told us that a blind man had a female slave…who reviled the Prophet and disparaged him, and he told her not to do that, but she did not stop…One night she started to disparage and revile the Prophet, so he took a dagger and put it in her stomach and pressed on it and killed her…The next morning mention of that was made to the Prophet and he assembled the people and said: ‘By Allah, I adjure the man who did this, to stand up.’ The blind man stood up…and he came and sat before the Prophet.  He said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who did it.  She used to revile you and disparage you, and I told her not to do it, but she did not stop…Last night she started to revile you and disparage you, and I took a dagger and placed it on her stomach and I pressed on it until I killed her.’  The Prophet said: ‘Bear witness that no retaliation is due for her blood.’”[18]
  2. It was narrated from ‘Ali that a Jewish woman used to revile and disparage the Prophet. A man strangled her until she died, and the Messenger of Allah declared that no recompense was payable for her blood.[19]

And when the actions of Muhammad are examined chronologically, one finds that instead of it being a general, all-encompassing prohibition issued by Muhammad, and therefore an established part of Islamic doctrine, the prohibition against the killing of women and children was a specific, situational prohibition based on Muhammad’s judgment at the time.  At other times he actually advocated for or allowed the killing of women and children.

For the details about this, see my article “Muhammad and the Killing of Women and Children.”[20]

On to Part 2

In Part 2 we will examine more of the atrocities committed by the HAMAS jihadists.

AUTHOR

STEPHEN M. KIRBY

Dr. Stephen M. Kirby is the author of six books about Islam. His latest book is Islamic Doctrine versus the U.S. Constitution: The Dilemma for Muslim Public Officials.

SOURCES:

[1]           “Interview: Building the Evidence for Crimes Committed in Israel on October 7,” Human Rights Watch, January 31, 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/31/interview-building-evidence-crimes-committed-israel-october-7.

[2]           Muhammad bin Yazeed ibn Majah al-Qazwini, Sunan Ibn Majah, trans. Nasiruddin al-Khattab (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 2007), Vol. 3, No. 2644, p. 521.

[3]           Muhammad bin Ismail bin Al-Mughirah al-Bukhari, Sahih Al-Bukhari, trans. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 1997), Vol. 4, Book 56, No. 2926,  p. 113.  In another hadith Muhammad said that the Jews would hide behind stones and trees, and these stones and trees would call out,

Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Abu’l Hussain ‘Asakir-ud-Din Muslim bin Hajjaj al-Qushayri al-Naisaburi, Sahih Muslim, trans. ‘Abdul Hamid Siddiqi (New Delhi, India: Adam Publishers and Distributors, 2008),Vol. 8, No. 2922, p. 349.

[4]           Abu al-Fida’ ‘Imad Ad-Din Isma’il bin ‘Umar bin Kathir al-Qurashi Al-Busrawi, Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Abridged), abr. Shaykh Safiur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, trans. Jalal Abualrub, et al. (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 2000), Vol. 2, p. 422.

[5]           Sahih Muslim, Vol. 4, No. 1438, p. 373.

[6]           Abu Dawud Sulaiman bin al-Ash’ath bin Ishaq, Sunan Abu Dawud, trans. Yaser Qadhi (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 2008),Vol. 4, No. 4222, p. 474.

[7]           Abu ‘Eisa Mohammad ibn ‘Eisa at-Tirmidhi, Jami’ At-Tirmidhi, trans. Abu Khaliyl (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 2007), Vol. 2, Comments to Hadith No. 1132, p. 503.

[8]           Salahuddin Yusuf, Tafsir Ahsanul-Bayan, trans. Mohammad Kamal Myshkat (Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Darussalam, 2010, 2012 and 2013), Vol. 1, pp. 441-442.

[9]           Muhammad ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad (Sirat Rasul Allah), trans. Alfred Guillaume (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2007),  p. 466.

[10]         Ibid., p. 511.

[11]         Ibid., p. 593.

[12]         Muhammad b. ‘Umar al-Waqidi, The Life of Muhammad: Al-Waqidi’s Kitab al-Maghazi, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail, and AbdulKader Tayob, ed. Rizwi Faizer (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 462.

[13]         The Clarification Regarding Intentionally Targetting Women and Children, At-Tibyan Publications, October 31, 2004, p. 73.

[14]         “Hamas gang raped and beheaded women at rave massacre, fresh testimony reveals,” The Jewish Chronicle, December 3, 2023, https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/Hamas-gang-raped-and-beheaded-women-at-rave-massacre-fresh-testimony-reveals-blp0ghdl.

[15]         Anna Schecter, “Their bodies tell their stories. They’re not alive to speak for themselves.,” NBC News, December 5, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/Hamas-rape-israeli-women-oct-7-rcna128221.

[16]         Sahih Muslim, Vol. 5, No. 1731R1, pp. 162-163.

[17]         Jami’ At-Tirmidhi, Vol. 3, No. 1569, pp. 341-342.

[18]         Sunan Abu Dawud, Vol. 5, No. 4361, pp. 20-21.

[19]         Ibid., No. 4362, p. 21.

[20]         Stephen M. Kirby, “Muhammad and the Killing of Women and Children,” Jihad Watch, February 23, 2021, https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/02/muhammad-and-the-killing-of-women-and-children.

The Untold Story of Israel After October 7th

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The national awakening you won’t hear about in the media.

The story of what happened after Oct 7 has played out in the international media as a montage of bombs and rubble. And while Israel’s campaign against the Hamas perpetrators of the horrific massacres, rapes and kidnappings is an important part of the story, it is not the only one.

From the men who grabbed their guns and drove south in the hours after the attack began to the warehouses quickly set up to provide food and clothing for the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who were forced to leave their homes after the attacks from Gaza, inside Israel, the real story has been defined by a country coming together not only to fight, but to support each other.

In the month after the attacks, one survey estimated that the majority of Israeli Jews were volunteering in one form or another at everything from baking cookies for soldiers to standing guard at potential terrorist targets. With hundreds of thousands of soldiers mobilized and hundreds of thousands of people stranded, even the most ordinary things became a problem.

Like laundry.

A Chassidic rabbi loaded up washing machines and dryers on trucks and headed with them to an army base. Laundry from displaced families was crowdsourced through social media groups with messages like, “there are at least 2000 people from Sderot who need help with their laundry. If you can help with doing one or two loads please reach out.”

Both religious and secular groups assembled massive warehouses filled with clothing and supplies for displaced people. Restaurants have set up meals and volunteers have deployed mobile kitchens in parking lots. And tens of thousands volunteer to cook in their own homes.

Weddings and bar mitzvahs have gone forward for refugee families welcomed by communities. Teenagers have volunteered to babysit and to perform household chores for military families.

At farms, including in the communities targeted by the Islamic terrorist invaders, tens of thousands headed to help. In one kibbutz, a “motley dozen-strong crew ranging from housewives to engineers and stockbrokers” could be found “tending to around 600 dairy cows”.

Polly Levine, the daughter of longtime David Horowitz Freedom Center supporter Tammy Steinsapir, recently wrote about her experiences doing everything from preparing food boxes to planting broccoli. “I was surprised to see hundreds of volunteers from all over the world: Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, France, Mexico and beyond,” she wrote.

And in grimmer work, in the days after the attacks, volunteers arrived to dig graves to bury the over 1,000 dead. “Google docs were sent out on community WhatsApp groups and it wasn’t unusual for empty 2 a.m. slots to be filled within minutes in the race to honorably bury the dead.”

“We had 50 people yesterday,” a police officer said. “Now the invitation to volunteers has gone viral, and we’re worried 5,000 could turn up.”

And there are the armed volunteers putting their lives on the line.

After the attacks, hospitals asked anyone with a gun license to volunteer as a guard. Other volunteer guards rallied to protect kindergartens in Jerusalem after the soldiers who usually defend them were summoned to war. While normal kindergartens don’t require soldiers or guards, Islamic terrorists have repeatedly targeted Israeli children. In one notorious incident in 2011, Hamas even fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus. Fortunately it hit only after most of the children had disembarked and only one teenage boy was wounded in the terrorist attack.

600 civilian security squads were established after the attacks and armed with thousands of rifles. These squads help patrol and secure communities likely to be targeted by terrorists. Volunteer forces had played a crucial role in countering the Hamas invasion at a time when the Israeli military had been caught by surprise and was outnumbered by the attacking terrorists.

The volunteerism is only the outward expression of a country at war. At a Shabbat table, I heard the story of a woman who calmly stated, “my husband is in the army, my father is in the army and my son is in the army”. After the Oct 7 attacks, reporting rates in some reserve units passed 100% with personnel showing up who had not even been called up. One viral video shows a 73-year-old “soldier” visiting his 101-year-old mother and then standing watch in the rain.

And that solidarity is really the untold story of what happened after Oct 7.

Turn on CNN and you’ll see the same montage of crying old women in hijabs and wrecked buildings that seems to have been running as a constant feed in the region since the rise of cable news, but in Israel, the story is not just the war, it’s also the peace. Before Oct 7, Israel had been tearing itself apart along political and religious lines. The underlying tensions haven’t gone away and every Hamas hostage offer calculatedly plays on those same divisions.

But Israel has also come together to a remarkable extent. That’s not a story which interests the media, but it ought to interest us because our hope for the future also lies in solidarity. In the years since 9/11, 7/7 or the other numberless Islamic terror atrocities that should have marked an awakening, we have learned all too well that superior weapons are not enough to win a war.

Wars are not just won or lost with firepower, but with the spirit of a people. The food baskets, clothing warehouses, volunteer guards, cooks and even gravediggers represent something as important, and perhaps even more important, than a military force: a national spirit.

“I see mothers of soldiers on the front lines volunteering in supermarkets. I see rabbis leaving their communities, traveling 48 hours across multiple countries to return home and fight for their country.” an email circulating after Oct 7 read. “I see police officers feeding bottles to babies who no longer have parents. I see teenage girls with flags at 2:30 in the morning dancing for soldiers who have returned to fight who simply cannot believe their eyes.”

The war against Islamic terrorism is not only a physical war, it is a spiritual war. Fighting it with weapons, but without conviction, with drones but without a national revival, has failed and will go on failing. Islamic terrorists do not just attack our bodies, they seek to destroy our spirit. They divide us in order to conquer us, they terrorize us and then play the victims, and they make every effort to convince us of the futility and wrongness of our cause so that they may defeat us.

Israel has long been the canary in the coal mine of Islamic terrorism. It has shown us how to physically fight terrorism. Perhaps it will now show us how to awaken our nations to the war.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. Must Stop Funding ‘Corrupt, Anti-Semitic, Terror-Complicit’ U.N.R.W.A. Agency: Congressman

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The Biden administration’s rhetoric has condemned the October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, but its deeds have made the U.S. one of the top contributors to terrorist incitement, according to a senior congressmen seeking to cut all financial ties to a terror-tied U.N. organization.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established after 700,000 Palestinians were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel. Today, UNRWA reports 1.7 million refugees, only 200,000 of them the original refugees, as the great-grandchildren of the 1948 population have joined the list. International intelligence found 12 members of UNRWA took part in the October 7 terrorist attack — which included numerous kidnappings, rape as a tool of torture, and murdering of Israeli civilians. But they say that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

UNRWA has “spawned this cycle of hate,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), senior member on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and co-chair of the House Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Monday.

The United States has become complicit, because “we are the biggest donor by far,” Smith told Perkins. The U.S. funded UNRWA to the tune of $6 billion between 1950 and 2018. Donald “Trump, to his credit, ended all funding for UNRWA when he was president. Then came Joe Biden, and he’s given them over $1 billion U.S. tax dollars, without any condition.” The Biden administration transferred as many taxpayer dollars to UNRWA in three years as previous administrations gave in more than a decade.

“UNRWA is a corrupt, anti-Semitic, and terror-complicit agency,” said Smith earlier that day at an international conference in Geneva. “UNRWA radicalizes Palestinian children with seething anti-Semitic hate — it is a child soldier factory. It is child abuse.”

Although President Joe Biden and 18 nations “paused” aid to UNRWA after last fall’s hostilities, this constitutes “only a pause pending outcome of an ‘investigation’ that appears to be woefully and unnecessarily limited in scope,” Smith told the “International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA,” hosted by UN Watch. “I remain deeply concerned that they too will not go beyond a look at the 12 UNRWA employees alleged to have participated in the October 7 atrocities.”

Israeli intelligence documents furnished to CBS News reportedly document the dozen UNRWA workers’ participation in the uprising, including taking part in kidnapping Israeli civilians.

But Israeli intelligence states 10% of all UNRWA’s 12,000 employees (or 1,200 people) have some kind of affiliation with Hamas, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority.

They say 236 UNRWA workers have ties to the militant/terrorist wings of Palestinian groups, including 185 affiliated with Hamas and 51 with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly found Israeli allegations about UNRWA’s participation in the October 7 atrocities credible but cannot verify the exact number of employees affiliated with the terrorist groups.

On February 10, Israeli intelligence said it discovered a tunnel beneath a UNRWA facility in Gaza City, nearly half-a-mile long and 59 feet deep, that leads to a Hamas intelligence hub. “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been knowingly providing material support for Hamas terrorists who committed unspeakable atrocities against over a thousand Israelis and dozens of Americans,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That support included salaries and facilities. Foreigners who knowingly funded UNRWA should be subject to sanctions and Americans who knowingly fund-raised for them should be investigated for criminal material support.”

A former investigator for the U.N.’s investigative body, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), said the OIOS cannot impose a greater disciplinary measure than dismissal: Of the 12 in question, two have been reported dead, and the other 10 have already been fired. “I can confidently say that its investigation will amount to nothing,” wrote Peter Anthony Gallo in The Wall Street Journal.

Cutting off funding to the terror-linked U.N. agency enjoys bipartisan support. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Tenn.), the liberal co-chair of the House Israel Allies Caucus, said he would “applaud President Joe Biden’s decision to suspend UNRWA funding,” before tracing the previous seven years of troubling UNRWA activity.

“In 2017, UNRWA acknowledged the falsehood of its previous denials and fired its Gaza union head after he was revealed as part of Hamas leadership. A month prior, an UNRWA staffer was discovered to be [in the] Hamas politburo,” said Sherman. “In 2023, dozens of UNRWA teachers and staff were revealed to regularly praise Hamas and Hitler on social media. Yet UNRWA claims these staff are not teaching a pro-terror curriculum.”

Sherman has a 10.5% rating on FRC Action’s Scorecard.

Yet most of the Democratic Party base has aligned with the Palestinian cause. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American, urged her state’s sizable Arab community to vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s Democratic primary as a protest against Biden’s rhetorical support for Israel. Although Biden won handily, “uncommitted” racked up 13% of the vote, more than 101,000 votes as of this writing — far beyond its sponsors’ goals.

Smith, who is Sherman’s pro-life counterpart on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a veteran pro-life congressman who has long tried to reform the U.N. Palestinian relief organization. In 2003, he passed an amendment through the House of Representatives stating the UNRWA has “funded schools that promote anti-Semitism, allowed its facilities to be used as warehouses for weapons, bomb-making factories, terrorist training,” and based its actions on “anti-Semitic textbooks.” But the amendment never became law.

Two decades later, the body has “deep and widespread ties with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Perkins pointed out on Monday. Although the U.S. designates Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as terrorist organizations, the United Nations — and UNRWA — do not.

Smith introduced the Stop Support for UNRWA Act of 2024 (H.R. 7122) to defund UNRWA. The one-page bill states simply, “The United States may not make any voluntary or involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (referred to in this Act as ‘UNRWA’), to any successor or related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity.” It passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 6, 30-19. He offered an amendment saying the bill does not prohibit U.S. foreign aid to the region but believes it should be administered only by organizations the U.S. has vetted and found not to “promote violence, terrorism, or anti-Semitism” nor to employ those who “promote, espouse, or affiliate with such entities or individuals.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) has also introduced the Uncovering UNRWA’s Terrorist Crimes Act (H.R. 7202), which would account for UNRWA funding during the Biden administration and end all U.S. funding to UNRWA “directly or indirectly.”

Critics like Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) say, “UNRWA is beyond redemption. Disbanding the organization is the only solution.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

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

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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 Muslim Rebellion Brewing in the Democratic Party

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In eight months, Americans will vote for president. All available polling and recent primary results indicate that the country is looking at a rematch of the 2020 election with Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Millions of primary voters have yet to cast their ballot, and given concerns with the president’s age and ability and the current lawfare entangling the former president, anything can happen between now and November 5. But, as a thought experiment, let’s briefly examine one of the current trends playing out in the presidential election: the rebellion of Muslim voters.

Tuesday night, more than 2.6 million Michiganders voted for their choice to represent the top of the ticket in the upcoming general election. While former president Donald Trump bested former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, 68% to 27%, most of the big news centers on Biden’s performance. Although the president won statewide (81%) against Rep. Dean Philips (D-Minn.), who earned 2%, more than 100,000 voters — 13% of the Democratic primary vote in Michigan — selected “uncommitted” in a protest vote against Biden’s handling of the war in Israel.

Just a little over 1% of the 2020 Michigan Democrat primary vote went to “uncommitted.” Similarly, four years earlier, in 2016, “uncommitted” again picked up around 1% of the vote. This year, after Muslim leaders vowed to deny their vote to Biden over their support for Palestine, combined with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) urging voters in her district to select “uncommitted,” the uncommitted vote swelled to 13%. Suffice it to say a rebellion is brewing inside the ranks of the Democratic Party.

In Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of, if not the largest, Muslim-American populations in the United States, “uncommitted” beat Biden 56% to 40%. You can be assured the alarm bells are ringing at the Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign. With an election months away, they should be focusing on persuading swing voters; instead, they’re facing a significant protest vote among a demographic that was key to their 2020 result.

In 2020, 1.1 million Muslim Americans voted. According to a report following the 2020 election, 71% of Muslims voters turned out to vote in 2020. Of those who showed up to vote, exit polling shows Biden won 64% to Trump’s 35%. Though a small part of the overall American population and electorate, the Muslim vote can have a big impact on election results. A piece in Politico from 2020 put it well: “The Muslim American community is relatively small in number, but its participation was targeted enough to make a difference in 2020. In Georgia, where President Joe Biden won by almost 12,000 votes, more than 61,000 Muslim voters came to the polls. … In Pennsylvania, which Biden carried by nearly 81,000 votes, about 125,000 Muslim voters turned out.”

Should Biden fail to win back support from the Muslim voters who helped put him over the edge in places like Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, what could the damage look like on election day? Let’s take a look: there are an estimated 4.4 million Muslim citizens in America. If we focus on the most competitive states that could decide the upcoming 2024 election (Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin), we have an estimated population of about 700,000 Muslims. If, as the data suggests, 78% of this group is eligible and registered to vote, and of that population 71% actually show up to vote, we have an active voting population of a little more than 388,000 Muslim voters across these six key battleground states.

Remember, Biden’s 2020 level of support from Muslim voters was 64%, so if we project that level of support forward into 2024, we can get a sense of how much Muslim vote Biden would be missing on November 5. The math shows Biden is looking at a hole of more than 248,000 voters in the states that can sway the electoral college. That’s a devastating blow to his reelection chances when you consider his margin across these same six states in 2020 was a cumulative 312,362 votes.

Much attention is paid to Michigan because of the prevalence of the Muslim community in Dearborn and Tlaib’s prominence as a member of the Squad, but Biden’s 2020 result exceeded the reach of the Muslim vote in Michigan. So theoretically, he could still win the state in November without a single Muslim vote. But that is not the case in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, three states that also have significant Muslim populations and collectively can deny an electoral college win to Biden.

Biden’s 2020 margin across these three states was 42,919, and the projected 2024 Biden vote from Muslims in these states is 107,079. For every Muslim voter in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin that doesn’t show up to vote (or votes for another candidate), Biden’s path to 270 is imperiled.

The reality is Muslim voters will likely not completely abandon Biden in 2024. But if Tuesday’s results in Michigan are any indication, Biden will struggle to get the same level of support from them in 2024. The fact remains that assembling winning coalitions is difficult. Elections are won on the margins. Small movements in key voting groups in key regions are all that is needed for big wins.

Biden also has more problems than a protest vote from his base. His approval ratings are upside down by 15 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average. He is facing additional fractures in his base from black and Hispanic voters, and he also loses in head-to-head polling against his potential challenger (Trump) when it comes to who will better handle things like inflation, jobs, securing the border, taking care of crime, and more.

However, in our era of mail-in voting, it’s more important than ever to secure the ballot box. Deceased voters must be removed from the voter rolls, noncitizens must not be allowed to vote, dropboxes should be secured 24/7 (if we must use them), voting machines need to operate smoothly and accurately (if we must use them), and so on.

The 2022 midterms looked like a slam dunk for Republicans, but the red wave only materialized in Florida. Elections nowadays are less head-to-head contests and more about the mechanics of contacting voters and collecting ballots. Mass mail-in voting lowers the threshold for participation. Democratic candidates in 2022 were able to overcome a less than enthusiastic base. and polling that showed the public generally opposed their record, but they still retained control of many governorships, the Senate, and only barely lost the House.

If the GOP is to compete against Biden’s political machine in 2024, it should not count on the “uncommitted” voter staying home or voting third party.

AUTHOR

Matt Carpenter

Matt Carpenter is the director of FRC Action.

RELATED ARTICLE: Western Islamists Work to Build the Taliban’s Afghanistan into a Global Caliphate

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

Israeli Defense Minister: Iran, Hizballah, and Hamas are planning ‘October 7, part two’ for Ramadan

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Before October 7, violence on the Temple Mount was routine and intense at times, and now Israel is gearing up for what the Jerusalem Post has called “October 7-Part 2,” which could be planned for this year’s upcoming Ramadan, a month dedicated to jihad and further inflamed by Palestinian dignitaries.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s worse case scenario warning is realistic, and his warning is prudent given the current climate and the fact that Islamic zeal is off the charts since October 7.

Consider some points :

  1. the emboldening of jihadis after October 7;
  2. the fact that Ramadan is the month of jihad;
  3. widespread Palestinian rage over the war against Hamas, fueled by Islamic religious zeal;
  4. prodding by the Iranian regime as it escalates the activities of its proxies, and now claims that its Afghan proxy battalions are ready to support Gaza;
  5. the wavering of the Biden administration’s support for Israel;
  6. pressure from the United Nations for a ceasefire, which would enable Hamas to survive and regroup;
  7. the unity of the ummah globally in standing for Hamas.

Ramadan is certainly a period that Iran, Hamas and Hizballah will take advantage of one way or another. Some may regard Gallant’s warning as an exaggeration, but it is a better to be prepared. Preparedness, however, isn’t always straightforward. Gallant is “strongly against National Security Minister Itamar Ben- Gvir’s push to reduce access to the Temple Mount for certain Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan.” Palestinians call it the Al-Aqsa compound. One can only imagine the reaction to such an order as Palestinians ready themselves for “martyrdom” in an explosive atmosphere.

‘October 7, part two:’ Iran plans for terror during Ramadan, Israel charges

by Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post, February 27, 2024:

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday warned that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are trying to use Ramadan to inflame the region so as to achieve another October 7 disaster against Israel.

According to Gallant, their hope is to provoke Palestinians in the West Bank, Hezbollah, and Arabs and Muslims across the region to attack and turn their rage on Israel, using the Temple Mount and tensions in the West Bank as an excuse.

The defense minister has been a leading voice for smashing Hamas and earlier in the war, tried to persuade the war cabinet to launch a preemptive strike on Hezbollah.

Gallant calls for reducing tensions

However, at this point, he believes that fighting the war without hesitation must go hand in hand with reducing tensions in areas where there is no reason for there to be tensions.

This means Gallant is strongly against National Security Minister Itamar Ben- Gvir’s push to reduce access to the Temple Mount for certain Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan….

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Attacks in West Bank Highlight Futility of Two-State Solution: Expert

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Last week, an Israeli civilian was killed and several were left wounded after a Palestinian terrorist shot at cars around the Maale Adumim settlement. In response to the attack, Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced that over 3,000 housing units would be built in the West Bank, also known by their biblical names of Judea and Samaria. This decision, however, seems to have sparked further controversy.

As The Jerusalem Post reported, other than a short period of time during the Trump administration, “Israeli settlements in the West Bank have almost always been a thorn in the relations between Israel and the U.S.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already condemned the construction initiatives. He stated that he’s “disappointed” because “settlements are counter-productive to reaching an enduring peace” and “inconsistent with international law.” He added that the Biden “administration maintains a firm opposition to settlement expansion,” holding the belief that the settlements “only weakens … Israel’s security.”

Some have pointed out that Blinken’s comments, as well as Biden’s developing stance on the issue, are the opposite of “the Trump administration’s view in 2019, which did not consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank as inconsistent with international law.” But as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out on “Washington Watch” Monday, the Biden administration has only widened the “divide between the U.S. and our strategic ally Israel.”

In addition to that statement, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that the claim Blinken made during Friday’s press conference, that Israel’s decision was inconsistent with international law, was simply “not true.” He stated that Blinken’s belief implies “the Jewish people have no right to live in their biblical homeland.” And ultimately, “It really is just a gut punch to those who take a theological view to biblical Israel.” And “people need to know,” Perkins added, “when you hear this term ‘West Bank,’ we’re talking about everything we read about in the Bible.”

But aside from the biblical significance, Friedman highlighted that “Biden’s been nothing but difficult on some of Israel’s most important issues.” For instance, Biden has pushed for a two-state solution, Friedman pointed out, “which nobody in Israel wants. … [N]obody with half a brain should want.” In the past, when a two-state solution was in place and the Palestinians in Gaza were self-governing, Perkins noted that “all they did was focus on how they could attack Israel.”

Not to mention that the people in Gaza “have yet to denounce the October 7th attacks on Israel,” Perkins said. As a matter of fact, the Palestinian National Authority (PA) “has a pension system … where they award funds to terrorists … based upon the severity of the terrorist attack,” Friedman explained. In short, “The more Jews you kill or wound or maim, the more money you get as a pension,” he said. “And this goes on to this day.” In other words, Perkins explained, “the PA is just hostility by another name.”

Biden’s agenda for Israel, Friedman argued, would only lead to “another terrorist state and another October 7.” Perkins agreed, adding, “It would not even be kicking the can down the road, because we know exactly what’s going to happen with this setup. They regroup and they attack again.” To which Friedman concluded, whether it’s a two-state solution or ceasefire the administration is pushing, “It’s just a terrible idea on many fronts.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

Massive Protest Vote Sucks The Wind Out Of Biden’s Michigan Primary Victory

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President Joe Biden won the Michigan Democratic primary Tuesday evening where 117 delegates were up for grabs, but faced a campaign that encouraged voters to support the “uncommitted” ballot option in protest to his handling of the war in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.

A group of Arab and Muslim American activists encouraged Michigan Democratic voters who oppose Biden’s support of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack to vote against the president in the primary to send a political message ahead of November. Still, Biden won over 78.8% of Democratic primary voters compared to the “uncommitted’s” 15.8%, and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips secured 2.7% support, the AP projected at the time of writing.

Democratic lawmakers in the state have rallied around the “Listen To Michigan” campaign, which has encouraged voters to support the “uncommitted” ballot option rather than voting for Biden. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, whose sister, Layla Elabed, is the campaign manager for the group, has also endorsed the effort that views Biden’s support for Israel as “funding war and genocide in Gaza.”

Elabed’s 10,000 vote threshold to measure the “Listen To Michigan’s” success was surpassed, as over 20,000 individuals backed the “uncommitted” ballot option. The “uncommitted” ballot option has received a similar number of votes in recent cycles, but made up for only 1.2% of the share in 2020 and 1.8% in 2016.

The state has one of the largest populations of Arab and Muslim Americans in the country, with Dearborn, Michigan, accounting for a high concentration of the community. Michigan is home to roughly 200,000 registered Muslim voters, and approximately 145,000 participated in the 2020 election, according to the Michigan chapter of Emgage, which aims to boost Muslim turnout.

Biden only beat former President Donald Trump by 154,000 votes last cycle.

A similar effort, the Abandon Biden campaign, formed due to Biden’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and is urging Muslim Americans to vote for anyone but the president. The group is operating in Michigan and other battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Trump also beat former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley 65.5% to 30.2% in the Michigan primary, according to the AP’s projection. Haley has yet to win a single nominating contest, and she lost her home state of South Carolina by roughly 20 points on Saturday.

The RealClearPolitics average for a potential 2024 rematch between Trump and Biden, based on polls conducted between Feb. 13 and Feb. 25, indicates the former president is leading by 2.1 points. Biden is also lagging behind in several crucial battleground states, including Michigan.

AUTHOR

MARY LOU MASTERS

Contributor.

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Maine Secretary of State Tries to Keep Trump and Kennedy off the Ballot

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The Truth About ‘Genocide’ and Israel

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In a too-infrequent moment of moral clarity, the United States has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Israel to accept a comprehensive ceasefire arrangement regarding the Gaza Strip.

Instead, the United States is calling for “a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released, and calls for lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, was both more direct and more accurate: “A ceasefire achieves one thing and one thing only — the survival of Hamas. A ceasefire is a death sentence for many more Israelis and Gazans.”

Hamas must be ended as any kind of viable military or political organization — without qualification. Israel is not trying to kill the families of Gaza. For a time, at least, the Israel Defense Force posted warnings on the internet, dropped leaflets, and even made phone calls into Gaza urging everyone not involved with Hamas to leave for the Strip’s southern region to avoid bombings and ground attacks.

No one can question that the needs of the people in Gaza are profound, and Christians need to be deeply concerned for them. As relief ministries seek to provide essential medical and food aid to the Palestinian Arabs, followers of Jesus should support them.

Yet with all this said, the single greatest irony of the conflict to date is the charge that Israel has a “genocidal” policy toward Gaza’s Arab population while genocide is exactly what radical Islamists have in mind for Israel.

Consider Iran, the greater Middle East’s leader in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. As reported by scholar Kian Tajbakhsh in The Atlantic, “Hours after Hamas’s horrific attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, all of Iran’s parliamentarians rose from their seats to chant ‘Death to Israel!’” Tajbakhsh notes, “Iran’s fingerprints were all over the October 7 operation. Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, are only the biggest in a network of 19 armed groups that Iran has established along Israel’s borders.” These and other groups receive financial support nearing $1 billion annually from Iran, whose military provides them with weapons and training.

Hamas is unapologetic in its desire to slaughter Jews and destroy the Jewish state. In April of last year, a Hamas leader named Hamad Al-Regeb preached a sermon in which “he prayed for ‘annihilation’ and ‘paralysis’ of the Jews whom he described as filthy animals: ‘[Allah] transformed them into filthy, ugly animals like apes and pigs because of the injustice and evil they had brought about’.”

Why such hatred? Clearly, Satan is its ultimate inspiration. The irrational hatred of a people who compose one-fifth of one percent of the world’s total population cannot but have a spiritual basis. The story of the Bible is, in part, the story of the adversary’s attempts to destroy the Jewish people spiritually, morally, and physically. The Jewish people are the channels of God’s self-revelation in His written Word and in the person of the world’s Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Of course the Hateful One wants them dead.

On a political level, many Arab leaders see Israel’s representative democracy as a threat to their power. Newsweek columnist Lee Habib, himself Lebanese, writes that “Israel, like America itself, is a threat to dictators, kings, mullahs, and clerics who despise freedom of conscience and the sanctity of the individual.” This has led Arab nations to rally against “a manufactured common enemy” — Israel.

Again, consider the disturbing but undeniable paradox: Those who try to deny that six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis and their abettors are the same people who want to fulfill Hitler’s demonic scheme all while claiming that the Jews themselves want to commit genocide against Gazan Arabs. “There can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” said Israeli attorney Tal Becker in his opening defense of his country at the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands. “Israel is in a war of defense against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people,” he added.

Israel is in crisis, at home and abroad. America has a moral duty and political obligation to safeguard her security. And, at a time when America’s college campuses contain cesspools of anti-Semitism, that safety must be ensured on our own shores. In a 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, President George Washington wrote to Jews anxious about how they would fare in the then-new republic, “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Amen, Mr. President. Amen.

AUTHOR

Rob Schwarzwalder

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

RELATED ARTICLES:

Anti-Zionist Jews: Fringe Voices

Hamas is Directly Trying to Influence Biden

Hamas didn’t just gang-rape children and women at gunpoint, they forced their families to watch

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

Anti-Zionist Jews: Fringe Voices

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It’s time we ridicule them.

Since the Soviet Union, the Arab League boycott, and the Iranian Revolution, antisemites have tried to hide their anti-Jewish bigotry behind politically acceptable “anti-Zionism.”

Get two Jews in a room, get three opinions. True of most things, but one thing most Jews agree on is that Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people and that their connection to it is a core tenet of their Jewish identity. Despite this majoritarian view, there is a loud minority of radical anti-Israel Jewish voices. Although unrepresentative of the broad Jewish community, our detractors and the media weaponize them, turning them into “token Jews” used to attack Israel and sow division within the Jewish community. It’s time we ridicule them.

From the Soviet Union to the Arab League Boycott, from the Iranian Revolution to October 7th and anti-Israel protests today, antisemites attempt to hide their anti-Jewish bigotry behind politically acceptable “anti-Zionism”. Jews who support this charade willingly provide political cover for this generation’s loudest and proudest antisemites.

The normalization of anti-Zionist Jews in public life has three glaring issues:

1. Israel-hatred doesn’t exempt you from the Jewish collective future

Jewish life in the diaspora is directly dependent on the continued survival and flourishing of the Jewish state. Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and If Not Now (INN), deploy and weaponize their Jewish identity in their anti-Israel activism. The effect? The re-assurance of non-Jewish groups that anyone can target Israel without fear of alienating the “Jewish community”. JVP and INN are a collection of radical left, mostly Jewish ideologues who use their ancestry to leverage attacks against Israel. They cite Jewish ritual, reference texts, and use our people’s language to validate their radical attacks against the homeland of the Jewish people, the state of Israel.

What they fail to realize is that their misplaced activism allows virulent antisemites to turn them into useful idiots. They’re ephemeral political fronts weaponized by antisemites until they no longer serve their purpose. Antisemites hate all Jews – “good Jews” or “bad Jews”, those from the right and from the left alike. So, if Israel ceases to exist, as JVP and INN desire, where will these Jews turn when antisemites inevitably turn on them? By normalizing and validating the progressive movement’s exclusion of Zionist Jews (most Jews) they are essentially digging their own graves.

JVP and INN should forever be contextualized properly and referred to for what they are – useful jesters for Jew haters around the globe. And once contextualized, they should be ridculed.

2. Institutions empowering “token” Jews endanger all Jews 

Radical leftist orthodoxy continues to permeate American institutional life. This ideological capture is perhaps most obvious throughout American universities. Since October 7th, university leadership keen to balance the appearance of caring about antisemitism while maintaining their progressive bona fides,  use token Jews as proof that their progressive agendas are not antisemitic. For example, recently, Stanford named Ari Kelman, a Jewish professor aligned with anti-Israel groups, and who concluded antisemitism wasn’t a problem on campuses in 2017 paper, as the Co-Chair of their Committee on Antisemitism.

In an effort to redefine what constitutes antisemitism, Kelman alongside Jewish Voice for Peace, argued that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism is “flawed and overly expansive” and “silences Palestinian voices.” Deborah Lipstadt, the US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism called IHRA “one of the most fundamental tools we have to combat [antisemitism].” Stanford selected someone to combat antisemitism whose views are directly at odds with the State Department’s pre-eminent defender of the Jewish people. And after Kelman essentially offered his Judaism as political cover to defend San Francisco State University’s (SFSU) antisemitism, the school admitted to allowing antisemitism on its campus.

More recently, Harvard selected Jewish professor Derek Penslar, a known anti-Israel proponent, to lead an antisemitism task force on campus. In August, Penslar signed an open letter accusing Israel of running “a regime of apartheid” and employing “Jewish supremacism”. And following Claudina Gay’s resignation, Penslar downplayed the antisemitism on campus, telling JTA that outsiders had “exaggerated” the issue. As Larry Summers wrote, “Could one imagine Harvard appointing as head of anti-racism task force someone who had minimized the racism problem,” as Mr. Penslar has done with antisemitism at Harvard.” The double standard glaring.

When selecting leadership and given the centrality of Israel for most Jews, institutions would be wise to listen to the fears and concerns of Zionist Jews. Committees, task forces, and organizations are constantly formed to combat “Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab hate” – lumping in ethnicity, religion and state-based hatred. But Jews aren’t afforded this same protection. Institutions who solely elevate Jews with anti-Israel views perpetuate this double standard.

3. Anti-Israel views are not pro-peace. They’re anti-Jewish future.

Since 10/7 it’s hard to find a “pro-Palestinian” rally that isn’t drenched in antisemitic rhetoric, anti-Jewish venom, or stereotypical tropes. Anti-Israel Jews, aligned with radical leftist ideology, have taken part in many of these rallies. They have joined the growing numbers who view the world through over-simplified binaries and hypothetical pyramids of power and oppression. These activists enthusiastically point to Israel as a unique perpetuator of oppression.

But JVP and INN activists have no interest in peace. One of their allies, Omar Barghouti, the co-founder and co-leader of the BDS movement, explains: “You cannot reconcile the right of return for refugees with a two-state solution. . . A return for refugees would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.” And he makes clear that this is precisely his goal. “Most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.” And he hails JVP as a “key partner in the BDS network.”

Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant, thus JVP and INN should be exposed as radical, fringe, and anti-peace. They harbor views that not only fail to represent the broad Jewish consensus, but they also directly endanger the Jewish people.

Since 10/7, what many Jews have feared for a long time has been made crystal clear–our place in the world is tenuous, our footing is fragile, and there aren’t many of us. Jews who openly call for the destruction of Israel threaten our future as a people, and we must see them as who they really are –tools that are used by the hands of our enemies.

Originally published in the Jerusalem Post.

AUTHOR

Adam Milstein

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at adam@milsteinff.org, on Twitter @AdamMilstein, and on Facebook www.facebook.com/AdamMilsteinCP.

©2024. Jamie Glazov. All rights reserved.

Israel Unfazed by Global Disapproval, Sticks to Eurovision Song ‘October Rain’ Entry Despite Pressure

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KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, reaffirmed the decision even at the cost of being barred from the competition.

The Israeli Culture minister sent Miki Zohar the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) a letter on Thursday urging them to approve Israel’s submission to the Eurovision song competition after the EBU called it “too political.”

“As you know, the State of Israel is experiencing one of the most difficult and complex periods since its establishment. We lost our loved ones, and there are women, men and children who are still held captive by a terrorist organization,” Zohar said.

Israeli media reported that the broadcasting union would not approve the song, called “October Rain,” after several countries even issued threats to boycott the event if Israel participated. The EBU issued a statement saying “We are currently in the process of carefully examining the lyrics of the song – a process that is confidential between the EBU and the Public Broadcasting Corporation until a final decision is made. To all broadcasters, they have until March 11th to officially submit their songs. If a song does not meet the criteria for any reason, the corporation will be given the opportunity to submit a new song or new lyrics, according to the contest rules.”

“The song that Israel sent to the Eurovision Song Contest was chosen by a professional committee made up of well-known names in the local music and entertainment industry,” Zohar added. “It is a moving song, discussing renewal and revival from a very fragile reality of loss and destruction, and describes the current public mood in Israel these days. We see now most clearly because our lives – as one, united society – manage to overcome even the greatest suffering. This is not a political song.”

Despite the news that the song by Israeli singer Eden Golan would not be approved, The CEO of KAN, Israel’s national broadcasting service, and the body that approves the song, Golan Yokhpaz, said “We will not change the words or the song, even at the cost of Israel not participating in Eurovision this year.” Adding “The Israel Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) is in dialogue with the EBU regarding the song that will represent Israel at Eurovision.”

Zohar said later in a television interview “The songwriters, KAN, and the singer will have to make the decisions at the end of the day… I do think that Israel should participate in Eurovision because it is important for us at this time to be represented there, and to express ourselves throughout Europe.”

NOTE: Based on the Israeli outlet “Israel Hayom“, we can reveal the following details:

  • The majority of the lyrics are in English, but there are 2 lines in Hebrew.
  • The song is a ballad with a build-up in the melody
  • The title of the song is probably “October Rain”

Israeli broadcaster Kan has released the full lyrics of the song:

Writers of the history
Stand with me
Look into my eyes and see
People go away but never say goodbye

Someone stole the moon tonight
Took my light
Everything is black and white
Who’s the fool who told you
Boys don’t cry

Hours and hours and flowers
Life is no game for the cowards
Why does time go wild
Every day I’m loosing my mind
Holding on in this mysterious ride

Dancing in the storm
We got nothing to hide
Take me home
And leave the world behind
And I promise you that never again
I’m still wet from this October rain
October Rain

Living in a fantasy
Ecstasy
Everything’s meant to be
We shall pass but love will never die

Hours and hours and flowers
Life is no game for the cowards
Why does time go wild
Every day I’m loosing my mind
Holding on in this mysterious ride

Dancing in the storm
We got nothing to hide
Take me home
And leave the world behind
And I promise you that never again
I’m still wet from this October rain
October Rain
October Rain

לא נשאר אוויר לנשום
אין מקום
אין אותי מיום ליום
כולם ילדים טובים אחד אחד

(There’s no air left to breathe
There’s no space
I’m gone day by day
Everyone is good kids one by one)

As of the moment, the approval process for the song is still underway.

RELATED ARTICLE: “October Rain”— First Glance at The Lyrics of Israel’s Eurovision 2024 Entry

EDITORS NOTE: This World Israel News column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

10/7 Testimony: The murder of Inbar Haiman

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Inbar Haiman, 27, was murdered after being abducted by Hamas on October 7th from the Supernova music festival where she was volunteering.

When Hamas attacked, Inbar first hid under a stage with friends and then took cover under a bush where she was found by a pair of Hamas gunmen armed with knives, who hauled her out and placed her on a motorbike.

Eventually, her family and boyfriend received a video posted by Hamas on Telegram, showing Inbar bloodied and beaten, surrounded by four men.

She was murdered while in captivity, and Hamas is still holding her body hostage!

We must not forget this beautiful soul, taken far too early by such monsters.

Bring Inbar home so that her family, and all of Israel may mourn her.

EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael News Desk column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.