Day: April 11, 2021

RUSSIA: Putin Threatens Full-Scale War in Ukraine as U.S. Sends Two Warships to the Black Sea

Russian Panic, NATO Send thousands of troops to join Ukraine to strengthen its borders

UKRAINE armed forces say Joining NATO forces for the next few months is a move that is likely to anger Russia's President Vladimir Putin and stoke already heightened tensions with Moscow, which has expressed its opposition to the idea. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said most of Ukraine's military appeared to understand the danger of a "hot conflict" in Donbas.

BY RICK MORAN

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/04/10/putin-threatens-full-scale-war-in-ukraine-as-u-s-sends-two-warships-to-the-black-sea-n1438961;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Russia now has more troops along its border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has little hope that war can be avoided. Moscow’s demands are impossible to meet.

“A diplomatic solution…requires a radical change in the position of the Kyiv authorities,” said Konstantin Sivkov, a Moscow-based military analyst. “If the Kyiv authorities agree to the recognition of the federal structure of Ukraine, if the authorities agree to the equal status of the Russian language in Ukraine along with the Ukrainian language, then the whole problem in [Donbas] will be removed,” he said.

The Ukrainians fear that giving Russia further opportunity to undermine the government in Kyiv will only result in the slow erosion of their independence.

“The cease-fire is over…and President Zelensky’s strategy of negotiating something with Moscow is generally over,” said Mykola Kapitonenko, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations in Kyiv and consultant to Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.

Wall Street Journal:

It is clear that Ukraine would prefer to find [a] diplomatic solution, but perhaps the Ukrainian president’s biggest mistake was that “he was too naive by thinking that he could reach a good deal with Putin and will do it on Ukrainian terms,” said Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the New Europe Center, a think tank in Kyiv.

The U.S. and European leaders have raised the alarm over the amassing of Moscow’s forces on the Ukrainian border. Washington expressed concern that “Russia now has more troops on the border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula that year and threw its support behind the separatists in the country’s east.

Ukraine is a corrupt, authoritarian kleptocracy and not worth spilling any American blood over. But an easy win for Putin in Ukraine would empower the Russian dictator in his efforts to reconstitute the territory of the old Soviet Union. An emboldened Putin would strike fear into the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.

The U.S. has dispatched two warships to the Black Sea to keep an eye on the situation.

The Hill:

The United States will send two warships to the Black Sea next week amid a Russian build up of military forces along its border with Ukraine, the Turkish government said Friday.

NATO ally Turkey said the two U.S. warships would reach the Black Sea from Wednesday to Thursday after Washington notified Ankara of the move a little over two weeks ago.

“A notice was sent to us 15 days ago via diplomatic channels that two U.S. warships would pass to the Black Sea, in line with the Montreux Convention,” a 1936 treaty which gave Ankara control of the Black Sea’s straits, according to Turkey’s foreign ministry, Reuters reported. “The ships will remain in the Black Sea until May 4.”

Putin would consider a war with Ukraine a win if he could detach a couple of eastern provinces from the government and win a few diplomatic concessions. The provinces have a majority of Russian-speaking populations and have been a source of friction with the national government for decades.

But Kyiv cannot stand by and watch Ukraine get dismembered. They will fight. Despite warnings from Germany, France, and the U.S., Putin will probably get his “splendid little war” and, to the surprise of no one, end up the victor.

CENSORED: Scientists From Oxford, Harvard, and Princeton Talked COVID With FLORIDA GOVERNOR DeSantis~YouTube Deleted It

THE CENSORED VIDEO REPUBLISHED: 

BY TYLER O'NEIL

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/04/10/youtube-memory-holes-desantis-covid-19-roundtable-with-medical-experts-n1438954;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

This week, YouTube deleted footage of a COVID-19 roundtable discussion between Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and medical experts from Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard. The doctors and medical experts reportedly disputed Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance that children wear masks in school to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Cody McCloud, DeSantis’s press secretary, condemned the move as “another blatant example of Big Tech attempting to silence those who disagree with their woke corporate agenda,” NBC News reported.

“YouTube claimed they removed the video because ‘it contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities,’ yet this roundtable was led by world-renowned doctors and epidemiologists from Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard, all of whom are eminently qualified to speak on the global health crisis,” McCloud argued. “Good public health policy should include a variety of scientific and technical expertise, and YouTube’s decision to remove this video suppresses productive dialogue of these complex issues.”

YouTube Removes Videos of Trump’s CPAC Speech, Suspends RSBN

Indeed, the panel included Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University; Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; Sunetra Gupta, an infectious disease epidemiologist and epidemiology professor at Oxford University; and former Trump White House COVID-19 advisor Dr. Scott Atlas.

The roundtable had been embedded in a WTSB TV’s news story. Jeffrey Tucker, editorial director at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), first reported the fact that YouTube had removed it.

Tucker praised DeSantis for taking the lead in rejecting lockdowns. He argued that the governor “became a master of knowledge and erudition on matters of public health and the cell biological issues concerning immunity,” and he praised DeSantis for following the Great Barrington Declaration, which AIER sponsored. He faulted YouTube for its policy on removing “misinformation” that contradicts the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

“YouTube has clear policies around Covid-19 medical misinformation to support the health and safety of our users,” YouTube spokesperson Elena Hernandez said in a statement. “We removed AIER’s video because it included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”

While YouTube allows videos “that otherwise violate our policies to remain on the platform if they contain sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” the platform apparently decided that the roundtable with scientific experts whose advice helped DeSantis make policy decisions on the COVID-19 pandemic did not fall under the “educational” umbrella.

“Our policies apply to everyone and focus on content regardless of the speaker or channel,” Hernandez insisted.

NBC News — which put “free market” in air quotes while describing AIER as “a ‘free market’ think tank” — suggested that the video violated YouTube’s rules when the medical experts questioned the wisdom of requiring children to wear face masks in school.

“Uh, children should not wear face masks, no. They don’t need it for their own protection, and they don’t need it for protecting other people either,” Kulldorff argued.

Bhattacharya argued that mask-wearing “is developmentally inappropriate and it just doesn’t help on the disease spread.”

“There’s no scientific rationale or logic to have children wear masks in school,” Atlas added.

Tyler O'Neil

Senior editor of PJ Media, Tyler O'Neil is an author and conservative commentator. He has written for numerous publications, including The Christian Post, National Review, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Signal, AEI's Values & Capitalism, and the Colson Center's Breakpoint. He enjoys Indian food, board games, and talking ceaselessly about politics, religion, and culture. He has appeared on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight." He is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.

For media inquiries, please contact tylero@pjmedia.com

MASS RESISTANCE: Fighting for critical anti-transGENDER legislation in Texas

Texas MassResistance activists up against Corporate America – fighting to pass important “Save James” legislation at the State House.

Goal: To stop ghoulish “gender clinics” from mutilating and sterilizing children in “sex-change” procedures. A big money-maker for clinics and pharma industry.

Lobbying hard in the Capitol – and protesting in Dallas!

Public hearings coming up this week.

SEE: https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen4/21b/TX-fighting-for-Save-James-legislation/index.html;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

April 10, 2021
ALT TEXT
Outside the entrance to the infamous "gender clinic" in Dallas. These gruesome "medical" procedures on children must stop!

MassResistance parents and activists across Texas are fighting hard to get their State Senators and Representatives to pass important legislation to protect children from bodily mutilation, sterilization, puberty blockers, and other experimental “sex-change” surgeries and procedures. Texas MassResistance, with help from some other groups, has taken the lead in tirelessly lobbying to get this legislation passed into law this year.

Dubbed the “Save James” legislation, six bills have been filed in the Texas House and Senate that would ban these gruesome procedures on minors. The bills are named for James Younger, a 10-year-old boy whom a judge has ordered to go through “sex-change” treatments against his father’s wishes, but with the blessing of his left-wing pro-LGBT mother. The father, Jeff Younger, has been very outspoken against what is happening to his son – and MassResistance supported him.

But our activists are up against a cabal of wealthy national corporations that are threatening Texas politicians – vowing to take action against the state if any of these bills pass. Performing these procedures on children has become a huge money-maker for hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. And national corporations, whose leaders are pro-LGBT and have no morals regarding children, want to strongly signal how “enlightened” they are and thus aggressively support their allies in this radical agenda.

Press conference outside the State House

On March 10, Texas MassResistance kicked off the lobbying blitz with a press conference outside the Texas State Capitol. Jeff Younger gave a chilling speech about what the state has done to his son.

ALT TEXT 
Jeff Younger speaking outside the Texas State House on March 10.

Protesting the Dallas “Gender Clinic”

Then on March 19, MassResistance activists converged outside of the notorious Dallas Children’s Hospital “Genecis Clinic” (which performs so-called "gender-affirming" care) to publicly protest the terrible quackery that this “medical facility” is performing on children.

To the consternation of hospital officials, they brought signs and a bullhorn.

ALT TEXT 
Outside the Dallas Children's Hospital "Genecis Clinic" that performs "gender" treatments on children.
ALT TEXT

Several police cars came to disperse the protesters, but the our people refused to leave and the police ultimately backed down and allowed them to stay until they were finished.

ALT TEXT 
Police were called to break up the demonstration ...
ALT TEXT 
... But when the protesters engaged with the police and reminded them that public money helped fund this hospital, they backed down and let the demonstration continue.

Intense lobbying at the Texas State Capitol

After that, our lobbying at the Texas State Capitol intensified. A number of legislators and their aides are now working with us directly. The word is getting out that the people of Texas strongly support these protections for children.

ALT TEXT 
Outside the Texas State House, Texas MassResistance leader Tracy Shannon holds a sign showing young James with his dad - and the boy dressed as a girl with his pro-LGBT mother.
ALT TEXT 
Tracy and others preparing to go inside and lobby.

Corporations jumping into the battle – against parents and science

On Tuesday, April 6, the Arkansas legislature voted to override the RINO Governor’s veto of the Arkansas “Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act,” thereby becoming the first state to pass a law protecting children from being harmed for life by the LGBT movement. Immediately, the mainstream media began wailing about children being denied “gender-affirming care” – a monstrous corruption of the truth:

Forbes: Arkansas Passes Anti-Trans Health Care Bill After Lawmakers Override Veto

NBC News: Arkansas legislators override veto, enact transgender youth treatment ban

And a warning about Texas:

Chron: Texas could follow Arkansas in passing anti-trans health care bill

Two days later USA Today published an op-ed by a group of national corporate leaders announcing that they are organizing a corporate effort to target the Texas Legislature (and possibly other states) to stop the "Save James" legislation. Citing the recent Arkansas law, they intend to do whatever is necessary to stop similar bills from passing in any other state.

ALT TEXT

They plan to use not only threats of economic boycotts, but also absurd “studies” that “anti-LGBT” laws would have a negative impact on Texas’ economy totaling in the billions of dollars. And of course, they would bring in medical “experts” to support these lunatic procedures.

Parents fighting back as public hearings start next week

But our activists are pushing forward at full speed. We have just found out that two of the “Save James” bills will have public hearings next week in the Texas State Senate. (We don’t yet know when the other bills will be heard.)

SB 1311 – Hall – Relating to the provision of and professional liability insurance coverage for gender transitioning or gender reassignment medical procedures and treatments for certain children. (Senate State Affairs)

SB 1646 – Perry - Pediatric gender transition creating designation as child abuse. (Senate State Affairs).

We will have a team of true medical experts submit testimony to these hearings, as well as others who have personal experience with this horrible issue. Several will be there personally. We plan to be fully prepared to confront any and all misinformation and bullying that the other side uses.

Final thoughts

Corporate America is horrible enough. But it is truly frightening how thoroughly the medical establishment has bought into this destructive nonsense and complete medical quackery. Below is a letter that appeared in the left-wing Boston Globe on April 8. It’s an example of the toxic Orwellian drivel we get more and more of from the intellectual class. This “pediatrician” should have her medical license taken away.

ALT TEXT 
Letter to the Editor, Boston Globe, April 8, 2021

MassResistance will always stand for the truth, no matter what pressure there is to deny it.

This just in ...

After we posted this article, Jeff Younger, Tracy Shannon, and Robert Oscar Lopez posted this in-depth video explaining: What is happening behind the scenes, which Texas GOP leaders are caving in, and what the public needs to do to help push these critical bills over the finish line.

ALT TEXT 
This video gives you the important background!
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Our successes depend on people like you.

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Your support will make the difference!

Biden/Harris framing guns as ‘public health epidemic’

Rumble — Biden White House unveils a sweeping plan to implement more gun control – a response to what they call a “public health epidemic.” One America’s Chief White House Correspondent Chanel Rion has more from the White House.

U.S. military extremism ‘stand down’ agenda released seminar centered around liberal ideologies

Rumble — Details from the recent "all hands" stand-down across the U.S. military are raising concerns about political bias among the brass. One America's Christina Howitson has more.

Erdogan targeted German and US intelligence investigating Turkish jihadists in Afghanistan, Pakistan

STOP BUYING TURKISH FIREARMS NOW! BOYCOTT!

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/04/erdogan-targeted-german-and-us-intelligence-investigating-turkish-jihadists-in-afghanistan-pakistan;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Turkey didn’t simply refuse to cooperate with U.S. and German authorities in their intelligence gathering on Turkish jihadists who were recruited to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Turkish group operating in Europe, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on an aggressive campaign to target the investigators, signifying that he supported the Turkish jihadists and claiming that U.S. and German authorities were getting in the way.

Considering that Turkey is a member of NATO, its actions are particularly a matter of concern.

One example of the jihadist activity in Turkey:

The investigation revealed how Mullah Muhammed had asked his followers to build bombs and mortars in their homes, urged the decapitation of Americans, claiming that the religion allowed such practices. “I’m telling you to take up your guns and kill them,” he said in recorded sermons, adding, “If the sword is not used, then this is not Islam.” According to Mullah, all Muslims were obligated to respond to then-al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s armed fight.

This was Turkey’s reaction to Muhammad being investigated:

An article tried to portray Mullah Muhammed as a victim. The government claimed that Mullah Muhammed was framed by the Gülen movement, a group that is highly critical of Erdoğan on a range of issues from corruption to Turkey’s arming of jihadist groups in Syria and Libya.

Turkey was also influential in fueling the rise of the Islamic State, so its protection of those engaging in jihad terror activity within its borders is consistent. A report late last month indicated that Turkey protected a “Turkish al-Qaeda group that sent fighters, money” to a “jihadist campaign in Afghanistan, Pakistan.”

Jihad, throughout history, is the foremost tool of Islamic conquest. Turkey's support for violent jihad is consistent with this history.

Erdogan’s hatred for the West, his unceasing propaganda, and his ambitions for a revived Ottoman Empire make Turkey a foremost threat to Western interests. Turkey does not belong in NATO.

“Erdoğan gov’t trashed German and US intelligence on Turkish jihadists in Afghanistan, Pakistan,” by Abdullah Bozkurt, Nordic Monitor, April 7, 2021:

As part of a vindictive campaign to punish investigators who played a crucial role in cracking down on radical groups in Turkey, the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted police chiefs who had acted on US and German intelligence on Turkish jihadists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The intelligence that was shared with Turkey back in 2009 concerned Turkish militants who were recruited to the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) from Turkey and the Turkish diaspora in Europe. The IJU emerged in North Waziristan in northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, and was affiliated with both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It was a splinter group from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IBU) and attracted many Turkish jihadists including some in the diaspora communities in Europe.

According to secret government documents, the Erdoğan government identified all police chiefs and officers whose signatures appeared on papers that ordered the monitoring and investigating of IJU cells that had connections to European countries, especially Germany. Ahmet Manavbaşı (aka Selahattin al Turki), a Turkish national who was a key propagandist for the IJU, and his network in Turkey were the subject of a criminal investigation as police scrambled to decode its network, identify operatives and discover methods used by the IJU in Turkey.

The orders, in line with Turkish law and the criminal code, were presented as criminal evidence against the police chiefs by the government in a bizarre and twisted move.

The first document submitted against the police chiefs was dated April 10, 2010 and indicated that the Istanbul counterterrorism department received intelligence on December 12, 2019 from Turkish intelligence agency MIT, coded as “Institution IV.” The intelligence, passed from the German and US intelligence services, stated that “financial and in-kind fundraising activities are organized by individuals belonging to radical religious organizations operating in the tribal regions of Pakistan in order to finance military articles and basic living supplies needed in the Afghanistan/Pakistan field.”

The police, under orders from the prosecutor’s office, launched a criminal investigation to uncover the network and looked into phone numbers, emails and names mentioned in the intelligence, which was apparently picked up from the notebook of Manavbaşı, who was killed in Pakistan. More than 30 phone numbers were found on Manavbaşı’s contact list, and they were transmitted Turkey for investigation.

The investigation revealed dozens of Turkish jihadists, many already known to Turkish authorities. One identified person was Mahsum Yeşilırmak from Muş province who was operating in connection with the now-defunct jihadist website www.diriliszamani.com. The site openly promoted armed jihad and functioned as a meeting and communications forum for Turkish jihadists. Banners advertising the Afghanistan Islamic Emirate and reports from jihadist regions were posted on the site.

There was an interesting figure on the list. Retired professional football player Candan Sayın (aka Ebu Seyfullah or Hamza), who was in contact with Manavbaşı, was listed in Manavbaşı’s notebook. Police put Sayın and his brother Sinan under surveillance and monitored their movements and communications. Sayın was detained at the airport on April 8, 2010 as he was about to get on a flight to Tehran and from there to Afghanistan. His brother was also detained at his home in Istanbul.

In the police interrogation, Sayın admitted that he wanted to go to Afghanistan for armed jihad, denied the charges of terrorism and said Islam obligated him to join the jihad. He added that he would try again when he was released from detention. He also admitted to his communications with Manavbaşı, whom he knew by his code name, Selahattin el-Turki, who had referred him to a man named Özek Azzam (assumed name). He tried several times to go to Afghanistan with the help of Azzam but failed before his detention at the airport.

The jihadist web site http://www.sehadetzamani.com/ and http://www.takva.com, now both defunct, helped Sayın radicalize with jihadist videos and news from around the world.

The people who were identified by Turkish police based on the phone numbers listed in the notebook were Ertuğrul Gazi Türker, Zekeriya Çiftçi, Muhammed Şerbetçi, Bekir Gültekin, Emin Aydemir, Soner Kazan, lbrahim Kayagil, Hakkı Yıldız, Kemal Durakoglugil, Bülent Sönmez (aka Bekir), Yakup Erdal, Mustafa Ürkmez, Bulut Güç and Mehmet Aydoğdu.

Police also found their associates and added their names to the report: Levent Ureyil, Amkhad Umaroc (aka Vaha), Osman Akyıldız, Serkan Öztürk, Sultan Çakar, İsmail Duru (he was already in the jihadist regions of Afghanistan/Pakistan), Talip Tekin, Mücahid Kemal Elverdi, Furkan İlbar, Haydar Kaya, Özcan Savucu, Emrah İçigen, Mehmet Toprak and Abdulhamit Doğrusözlü.

Another Turkish jihadist website sehadetzamani.com, now defunct, promoted jihadist ideology in Turkey.
While the German and US intelligence services informed Turkey about the Turkish jihadists, the police in Turkey and prosecutors were already investigating some of the names on the list as part of a separate investigation into an al-Qaeda-linked group known as Tahşiyeciler in Turkish. The group, also referred as Molla Muhammetçiler, was a radical jihadist group led by Mehmet Doğan (aka Mullah Muhammed el-Kesri), who openly declared his admiration for Osama bin Laden and called for armed jihad in Turkey.

Yeşilırmak, whose name was passed by Turkey’s allies under an intelligence sharing scheme, was also among the members of Tahşiyeciler, which was raising funds and sending jihadists to Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. Some of the cells run by Tahşiyeciler were also active in Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries. Many members of the group were rounded up by the police in 2010, indicted by the prosecutor on terrorism charges and tried in court.

The investigation revealed how Mullah Muhammed had asked his followers to build bombs and mortars in their homes, urged the decapitation of Americans, claiming that the religion allowed such practices. “I’m telling you to take up your guns and kill them,” he said in recorded sermons, adding, “If the sword is not used, then this is not Islam.” According to Mullah, all Muslims were obligated to respond to then-al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s armed fight….

The government also went after journalists who criticized the Tahşiyeciler group and even hired a lawyer to file a civil suit in the US against Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has been an outspoken critic of radical and jihadist groups, for defaming this fanatic. The case was dismissed by a US judge…..

 

UN applauds Biden administration gift of $250,000,000 in ‘aid’ to Palestinians

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/04/un-applauds-biden-administration-gift-of-250000000-in-aid-to-palestinians;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Joe Biden has become the most renowned useful idiot, and now his administration gets a gold star from the United Nations.

Australia and even Canada announced in February that they would investigate UNRWA funding because of Palestinian schoolbooks inciting jihad violence:

In January, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli watchdog that analyzes Palestinian textbooks, found that the new textbooks produced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were “rife with problematic content that contradicts stated UN values.”

Back in August, “Palestinians” said that UNRWA was planning to rename its schools after jihad terrorists, but UNRWA issued a denial. Given the reputation of the UNRWA and the fact Biden is rewarding the Palestinians while they remain on a one-state mission (i.e., the total annihilation of Israel), Americans should be in an uproar over how their tax money is being spent. Add that to Biden’s disastrous immigration policy.

For more reference:

Hamas sleeper cell and Islamic Jihad discovered working together inside UNRWA June 25, 2019

UNRWA inciting jihad violence against Israel in its Jerusalem schools January 31, 2019

UNRWA schoolbooks in Gaza stress jihad, martyrdom, denial of Israel, and return of “refugees” by force of arms October 30, 2014

UNRWA gives Hamas rockets found in Gaza school back to Hamas July 20, 2014

Why there are civilian casualties in Gaza: Islamic jihadists place rockets in Gaza UNRWA school July 17, 2014

“U.N. Applauds Biden Admin for $250 Million Aid Gift to Palestinians,” by Simon Kent, Breitbart, April 8, 2021:

The Biden administration was applauded Thursday by the U.N. agency for so-called Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, after it offered $250 million in funding while sidestepping a 2018 law that prevents U.S. taxpayer dollars from supporting the Palestinian Authority.

“UNRWA could not be more pleased that once again we will partner with the United States to provide critical assistance to some of the most vulnerable refugees across the Middle East,” the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement seen by AFP.

“The U.S. contribution comes at a critical moment, as we continue to adjust to the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic presents.”

As Breitbart News reported, the State Department’s announcement of the funding flow confirmed weeks of speculation about a “quiet” effort to restart finance for the Palestinians — even as the American public struggles during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. plans included $75m in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10m for peacebuilding programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid), and $150m in humanitarian assistance for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The direct Palestinian aid – with no concessions asked for or offered in return – is in direct contrast to the position taken by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In 2018 he signed the Taylor Force Act into law, which prevents the U.S. from providing economic support and other funding to the Palestinian Authority while it continues to offer stipends for the families of deceased terrorists, or to pay terrorists in Israeli prisons — a policy referred to by critics as “pay-for-slay.”

The Palestinian leadership, having refused to end the payments, as a consequence lost U.S. funding.

Trump also cut funding to the UNRWA because of concerns that it has supported terror. The Taylor Force Act allows for a limited set of humanitarian exemptions, such as funding for vaccination programs.

The Biden decision to earmark millions in Palestinian support drew particular anger from Israel, which argues the agency serves to perpetuate the idea of a Palestinian refugee problem in a way that undermines the Jewish state.

Palestinians never concealed their contempt for Trump or his support of Israel….