Category: Ceasefire

Zelensky To Discuss Cease-Fire With Trump Following Putin Call

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: (L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Zelensky are meeting today to sign a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump says will allow America to recoup aid provided to Kyiv while supporting Ukraine’s economy. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

OAN Staff James Meyers
8:22 AM – Wednesday, March 19, 2025

President Donald Trump will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, after Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin took place a day earlier, discussing a possible ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zelensky said Putin’s promise following a call with Trump to stop Russian attacks on energy and infrastructure in Ukraine was “very much at odds with reality,” after Russia hit Ukraine Tuesday night with 150 drones, damaging energy facilities.

“Today I will be in contact with President Trump,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. “We will discuss the details of the next steps with him.”

However, Putin accused Ukraine of targeting Russian oil facilities overnight.

“If the Russians don’t hit our facilities, we definitely won’t hit theirs,” Zelensky said alongside Stubb, according to the Associated Press.

Additionally, Zelensky said he is expecting to hear more about Trump’s plans for implementing a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the 47th president has been pushing for a ceasefire between the two sides. Russia and Ukraine are expected to exchange prisoners on Wednesday, a new development that Zelensky claimed is a welcome sign of building trust.

During his call with Trump, Putin demanded that Ukraine not recruit more military personnel or rearm troops during a ceasefire. Ukraine has said the demands are a move by Putin to weaken its country.

The Russian president has also cited NATO expanding its membership to Ukraine as a direct threat to Russia’s security and what it views as “root causes” of its initial invasion into Ukraine.

Zelensky has also said one of the toughest issues in future negotiations would be the issue of territorial concessions.

“For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not go for it,” he said.

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3 More Hostages Released In Cease-Fire Deal, Including U.S.-Israeli Dual Citizen

TOPSHOT - Palestinian militant group Hamas fighters escort Israeli-French hostage Ofer Kalderon before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis on February 1, 2025, as part of fourth hostage-prisoner exchange. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)
Hamas fighters escort Israeli-French hostage Ofer Kalderon before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis on February 1, 2025, as part of fourth hostage-prisoner exchange. (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Sophia Flores
11:51 AM – Saturday, February 1, 2025

The terrorist group Hamas has released three more hostages as part of its current cease-fire deal with Israel. The hostages that returned home during this release included a U.S. – Israeli dual citizen from North Carolina, a father whose children were captured and released in a 2023 ceasefire-hostage deal, and the father of the youngest hostage.

On Saturday, Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon were released from Hamas’s hands. Two hours later, U.S.-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel was handed over by Hamas.

“Finally, after 484 long, terrifying days and nights, full of immense worry for our father, we can breathe again,” Siegel’s family said in a statement. “Thank you, President Trump, for bringing our father back to us. There are now 79 hostages who are also waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. Our hope rests with you.”

Siegel, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th, 2023 alongside his wife Aviva. She was released as part of a hostage deal that occurred in November 2023.

His release makes him the first American hostage to be released in the new 42-day truce.

Kalderon, a French-Israeli national, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his daughter and son. His children, Sahar and Erez, were released in the November 2023 hostage swap.

French President Emmanuel Macron took to X to share his relief that Kalderon was home.

“Ofer Kalderon is free! We share the immense relief and joy of his loved ones after 483 days of unimaginable hell,” Macron wrote. “Our thoughts are with Ohad Yahalom, still in the hands of Hamas, and with his family. France is doing everything it can to secure his release without delay.”

Bibas was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife Shiri and the couple’s young children, Ariel, 5, and Kfir. Kfir was nine months old at the time he was kidnapped.

The fate of his beloved family is unknown. The terrorist group stated that Shiri and their two red-headed children died. However, the terrorist group is known for creating mental warfare by lying about hostage deaths.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has made it known that they have “grave concerns about their well-being.”

Under the current cease-fire agreement, Hamas was to free all female hostages first, followed by men over the age of 50 and those considered ill. There are 33 total hostages set to be released in the first phase of the fragile ceasefire deal. Not all of those released will be alive.

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Hamas violates ceasefire agreement

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement by failing to release all the women. “Today, as part of these ongoing efforts, we welcomed home four more Israeli hostages after 477 days in Hamas captivity…Our mission is not over until every single hostage comes home," Hagari said. LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow is joined by Coastal Carolina University's Mark Chandler to discuss the latest.

Netanyahu cancels advisers’ visit to DC after Biden regime allows UN ceasefire resolution to pass

By

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/03/netanyahu-cancels-advisers-visit-to-dc-after-biden-regime-allows-un-ceasefire-resolution-to-pass; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The Biden regime’s betrayal of Israel is complete. In its craven desire to retain Muslim and far-left votes after repeated threats, the regime has allowed the UN to pass a resolution demanding that Israel implement a ceasefire in Gaza. A ceasefire in Gaza would allow Hamas to survive. It would amount to a massive Israeli defeat and lead to the ultimate demise of the Jewish state. The regime’s support for jihad against Israel is now out in the open.

“Israel cancels Washington visit after US allows UN Gaza ceasefire resolution to pass,” by Richard Roth, Ivana Kottasová, Lauren Izso and Jeremy Diamond, CNN, March 25, 2024:

The US decision to abstain on the vote prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a scheduled trip to the US by two of his top advisers, two Israeli officials said.

The US had previously vetoed similar resolutions calling for a ceasefire. Its position evolved last week when on Friday it put forward a ceasefire resolution tied to the release of hostages. That resolution fell when it was vetoed by Russia and China. The US abstention on Monday’s vote allowed the latest resolution to pass, when the other 14 members of the 15-strong council voted yes.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that while the latest resolution included edits requested by the US, Washington could not vote yes because it “did not agree with everything.”

“A ceasefire could have come about months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages,” the ambassador said, calling on member states and the UNSC to demand that Hamas “accepts the deal on the table.”

“Any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages,” she added.

The resolution, put forward by the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and “the urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said a failure to implement the resolution would be “unforgivable.”

“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable,” Guterres wrote on X, previously known as Twitter….

Hamas Issues Counter-Proposal Hostage And Ceasefire Deal, Netanyahu Says Deal Is ‘Absurd’

Hamas Issues Counter-Proposal Hostage and Ceasefire Deal, Netanyahu Says Deal Is 'Absurd'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on January 7, 2024. (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:00 PM – Friday, March 15, 2024

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/hamas-issues-counter-proposal-hostage-and-ceasefire-deal-netanyahu-says-deal-is-absurd/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

In continuing negotiations over a temporary truce and hostage agreement in its conflict with Israel, Hamas has presented a formal counter-proposal, raising hopes for the first time in weeks that more Israelis kidnapped on October 7th may be freed and that hostilities may end.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the terror group was making “ridiculous demands” during a meeting with the families of roughly 20 captives on Thursday night, raising doubts about whether the negotiations would move forward.

“For the first time, we can envision embracing them again,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group created to lobby for the captives. “Please grant us this right.”

Following weeks of contentious negotiations during which both Israeli and Hamas leaders voiced pessimism about finding common ground, a counter-proposal was made.

The conditions that Hamas has set forth call for the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners from Israeli jails, including 100 who have been found guilty of murder or multiple murders, in exchange for the release of innocent hostages, which include women, children, the elderly, and the sick.

According to the proposal, Israel would have to agree to a long-term ceasefire, evacuate Gaza, and free all of the Palestinian security prisoners it is holding in order to free the remaining male hostages, whom Hamas views as “freedom fighters,” regardless of whether they were taken while serving in the armed forces.

At a meeting of his war cabinet on Friday, Netanyahu rejected the parameters, calling them “still absurd.” In addition, he declared that the Israeli army will keep getting ready for an impending invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that has become a haven for about 1.5 million Palestinians. However, according to Israeli officials, many of whom are Hamas leaders and members.

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U.S. vetoes UN resolution put forth by Arab states demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

By

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/02/us-vetoes-un-resolution-put-forth-by-arab-states-demanding-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The UN Security Council needs to immediately evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah, given its stated concerns about a humanitarian emergency. Instead, the UN has intentionally blocked civilian evacuations, and continues to choose instead to keep the global spotlight on Israel, not on Hamas and its use of human shields. While Israel has shown repeated concern for civilians and attempted to “do all it could” to evacuate Gazans in Rafah, it has emerged that the UN refused to allow it. The UN does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist group, according to UN Relief Chief Martin Griffiths, and so the UN stands with Hamas, including in its use of human shields. Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel media also aids and abets Hamas in its goal of obliterating the Jewish state by serving as its propaganda mouthpieces.

Hamas Political Bureau member and former Interior Minister Fathi Hammad took the gloves off in December and declared that the Palestinians are aspiring to establish a global Islamic caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. The UN is controlled by Islamic State and in 2018 adopted a statement “demanding respect for Islam.”

The UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire was put forth by Algeria “on behalf of Arab States.” In Algeria, where Islam is the state religion, some people still hold black slaves and torture them, but the Algerian government pretends to care about human rights. The country also engages in “mass death sentences marred by unfair trials, torture claims,” but this gets ignored, as do human rights abuses in other Islamic states — notably the Islamic Republic of Iran, a chief funder of the jihadist effort to obliterate Israel, which was appointed to chair the 2023 UN Human Rights Council Social Forum.

Although the US vetoed the immediate ceasefire resolution, it also supports a temporary ceasefire, which will do damage to Israel’s war on Hamas, allow Hamas to regroup and place Israel in a severely vulnerable position.

“US vetoes Algerian resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” United Nations, February 20, 2024:

The UN Security Council met again in an emergency session in New York on Gaza Tuesday, where the United States vetoed a resolution put forward on behalf of Arab States by Algeria demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties”.

The latest council meeting on the Middle East crisis spiralling outwards from the war in Gaza has ended, with another US veto and an abstention on the part of the UK, while Algeria’s resolution gained support from 13 out of the 15 members around the iconic horseshoe table.

Here are the key points:

HIGHLIGHTS

The US uses veto power to quash Algeria’s draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and presents rival text that would condemn Hamas but also support a temporary ceasefire.

The US is expected to circulate its own draft later on Tuesday, but news reports suggest negotiations will be far from easy, with both Russia and China voicing strong opposition to the third use of a veto by the US on ceasefire resolutions.

Council members lament continued suffering in Gaza and lambast possible Israeli military operation into Rafah….

Biden pressuring Israel to prolong ceasefire, Son of Hamas warns that Hamas is buying time

  BY 

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/biden-pressuring-israel-to-prolong-ceasefire-son-of-hamas-warns-that-hamas-is-buying-time;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Hamas is infamous for violating ceasefires. Any ceasefire in the Gaza war against Hamas ignores this fact, as well as Hamas’ documented goal to destroy Israel. A ceasefire agreement buys Hamas desperately needed time to regroup. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, advocates for Israel’s resolve in destroying Hamas.

Yousef also “called on Israel to set a time limit for the terror group to release all its hostages and to assassinate his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and other Hamas leaders if they don’t.”

Yet America continues to meddle in favor of Hamas:

Blinken is set to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss extending the temporary truce that has seen Hamas terrorists free hostages and Israel release Palestinians from its jails, and how to further boost humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Biden is trying to please both the Israelis and Palestinians. He pays lip service to the fact that Israel is an historic American ally whose very existence is perpetually threatened by Hamas, and more broadly by the global jihad. On the other hand, he serves Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups in America. I discuss this with Frank Gaffney HERE, continued HERE.

Biden thus ends up playing both the sides for votes, to the detriment of Israel.

Muslim Brotherhood supporting Qatar was also part of “intense negotiations” in the ceasefire agreement for the release of 50 hostages in exchange for the release of 150 imprisoned Palestinian jihadists.

“Pressure Grows on Israel to Prolong Cease-Fire With Hamas,” by Paul Wallace, Alisa Odenheimer, and Henry Meyer, Bloomberg, November 27, 2023:

Israel is coming under increasing pressure to agree to an extension of a four-day pause in its war with Hamas.

US President Joe Biden said he wants to prolong the cease-fire in the devastating war, which has killed thousands of people since it erupted seven weeks ago and inflamed tensions in the Middle East and beyond. The halt in fighting — part of a deal for Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza and Israel to release Palestinian prisoners — is due to end on Tuesday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said negotiations were continuing on Monday afternoon over the list of people to be freed next.

“We are aware of the stress that families are under, and we will add information when it becomes possible,” his office said.

The temporary halt began last Friday after intense negotiations brokered by Qatar, with the help of Egypt and the US. Hamas and Israel agreed the Iran-backed militant group would free 50 captives in stages in return for the Israeli government releasing 150 Palestinians….

Hamas Violated Ceasefire Within 15 Minutes

MATT MARGOLIS | 9:30 AM ON NOVEMBER 24, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2023/11/24/hamas-violated-ceasefire-within-15-minutes-n4924194;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

AP Photo/Abed Khaled
A temporary ceasefire, or pause, between Israel and Hamas, was set to begin Friday morning. The pause was offered in exchange for at least 50 women and children hostages in Gaza, while Israel also agreed to pause hostilities for at least four days and release 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli custody.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Palestinian militants in Gaza violated the established ceasefire agreement within 15 minutes. The IDF reported they intercepted a rocket aimed at southern Israel.

Related: Yes, Biden Is Trying To Dictate How Israel Runs Its War With Hamas

"Rocket sirens sounded in the evacuated southern Israeli towns of Kissufim and Ein HaShlosha early on Friday morning, shortly after a four-day ceasefire came into effect that will allow a prisoner exchange and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip,” reported Newsweek.

"There was a rocket and it was intercepted," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit told Newsweek of the reports, noting it was fired at 7:15 a.m. local time; 15 minutes after the ceasefire—which the IDF is calling an "operational pause"—came into effect.

It is not yet clear which group was responsible for the alleged rocket launch, though the IDF has previously said Hamas bears responsibility for any attacks from Gaza into southern Israel given it holds influence over other local militant groups.

Newsweek has contacted a Hamas spokesperson by WhatsApp to request comment.

Friday's pause in the fighting comes after several weeks of tough negotiations between Israel, Hamas, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar. It is the first significant break in combat since the Hamas infiltration attack into southern Israel on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people and saw around 240 taken back into the Gaza Strip as hostages. 

This is not the first time Hamas previously postponed the ceasefire until Friday, which IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus says is  “indicative” of their “psychological warfare” tactics.

“Our posture on the ground will be to continue operations until specifically told by the government to change and facilitate the repatriation of Israeli hostages,” Conricus said Thursday. “This delay, I think, is indicative of what Hamas has been doing all along and will probably do throughout the implementation of this agreement. They are playing a game of psychological warfare where they want to extract maximum pain and discomfort and terror with Israeli civilians waiting for their loved ones to come home.”

Related: Hamas Is Playing Games With Hostage Release Agreement

Last month, Hamas also agreed to release two hostages in what was likely an attempt to delay a ground invasion as opposed to a gesture of good faith.

It is highly questionable whether Hamas actually intends to release any more hostages at all. But, clearly, Hamas can’t be trusted. There’s already chatter on social media blaming Israel for continued hostilities despite the ceasefire agreement. Clearly, Hamas knows that it can successfully manipulate the media to push the narrative they want.

BREAKING: Hamas releases 25 hostages amid Israeli cease-fire deal

Hamas releases 25 hostages: 13 Israelis and 12 Thai nationals. Hamas has agreed to release the first 13 hostages it took during the October 7 attack on Israel. Israel will in turn release Palestinian prisoners it has been holding. This is the first of several exchanges set to happen during a 4-day cease-fire. Hamas kidnapped more than 200 men, women, and children during the initial attack.

A Ceasefire Deal With Hamas Would Be a Mistake

  BY 

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/a-ceasefire-deal-with-hamas-would-be-a-mistake;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The only way to win is to pin Hamas in place and destroy it.

Terrorists and insurgents have one defensive strategy. When faced with superior force and numbers, they pull back, melt into the civilian population, and wait for a nation-state to exhaust itself and tire of hunting them.

Taking out a terrorist group requires moving fast, being agile, gaining the element of surprise, and choking off exits for the terrorists.

After a fairly slow start, Israel showed it had a good handle on speed and agility in ground attacks. It bypassed Hamas kill zones and took key Hamas infrastructure. But the problem is that Hamas is not a conventional military and seizing territory and infrastructure counts for only so much unless it’s used to choke off the movement of terrorists.

And then finish them.

Qatar, a state sponsor of Hamas, has been pushing for a ‘ceasefire’ deal in which some (not all) hostages will be traded for an extended ceasefire of a number of days. Hamas supporters around the world have been frenziedly chanting “ceasefire”.

The goal is the same.

Why does Hamas want a ceasefire? It needs time and space to escape the trap that Israel spent time and blood constructing.

Giving it to them would be a strategic disaster.

The lesson of Al-Shifa Hospital is that trying to conduct a humanitarian assault doesn’t work. Certainly, if Israel hopes to militarily free hostages, it can’t slowly edge its way toward its goal while offering every possible humanitarian concession. Israel has to strike quickly and unexpectedly. A difficult thing to do in urban ground warfare already.

Hamas bet that it could wait out Israel’s response. It did so in the past. Why not again?

The Biden administration would like a hostage deal and it’s not shy about dealing with terrorists. Qatar is exploiting that. And Israel’s government has internal divisions. Benny Gantz has emphasized that the war will go on until “our sons and daughters come home.” That’s a hostage release scenario. Not Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas.

And we’ve already seen from Al-Shifa hospital that Hamas will kill hostages if it can’t use them as leverage.

The only way to justify this operation is to pin Hamas in place and destroy it. The failure to do that will drag this out until international pressure forces an end to it. Hamas forces will slip away, regroup, and relaunch their operations.

And that would amount to at best a stalemate if not a very expensive Hamas victory.

DNC HQ Evacuated As Police Clash With Protestors Demanding Cease-Fire

Jewish Peace Activists Rally Near Capitol Hill WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 15: Members of U.S. Capitol Police take a protester away from the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee during a demonstration against the war between Israel and Hamas on November 15, 2023 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now held a candlelight vigil to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Members of U.S. Capitol Police take a protester away from the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee during a demonstration against the war between Israel and Hamas on November 15, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now held a candlelight vigil to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

OAN’s Abril Elfi 
2:50 PM – Thursday, November 16, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/dnc-hq-evacuated-as-police-clash-with-protestors-demanding-cease-fire/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Authorities have clashed with protestors demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas-Gaza conflict outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

On Wednesday, law enforcement arrested hundreds of protesters demanding a cease-fire in the Hamas-Israel war outside the DNC Washington headquarters.

According to authorities, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Representative Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) were among those inside the headquarters as the clash between protesters and police sparked.

United States Capitol Police said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that a “large group of illegal protesters…have cleared out, but USCP officers will stay on scene out of an abundance of caution.” 

They previously put the number of demonstrators at about 150 and said they were “violently protesting in the area.”

Six officers were treated for injuries as a result of the demonstration, and one person was arrested and accused of assault on an officer, Capitol Police said on X.

According to Capitol Police, all lawmakers were evacuated from the location for their protection.

IfNotNow, an organization that bills itself as “American Jews organizing our community to end U.S. support for Israel’s apartheid system,” stated it was present at the rally and accused officers of being harsh toward protestors.

IfNotNow spokesperson Eva Borgwardt released a statement saying the protest was “nonviolent” and a “moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a cease-fire and an end to our government’s funding of violence against Palestinian civilians by Netanyahu’s far-right government.”

Representative Sean Casten (D-Ill.), posted on X that he was “rescued” from the DNC building by “armed officers” who “did not know the protestors’ intent; they knew only that Members of Congress were inside, could not leave and that protests would not let police through.”

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________________________________________________________

Chaos at DNC HQ When Pro-Palestinian Rioters Attempt to Break In

659f2b46-bffb-43ac-acfd-4f5c7c5a120b-1052x615.jpg

Chaos erupted outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters Wednesday evening when pro-Palestinian protesters became violent as they called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) estimated that approximately 150 people were "illegally and violently protesting" near the DNC headquarters on Capitol Hill. 

Six officers were injured during the melee, according to the USCP, with either minor cuts, pepper-spray burns, or being attacked by rioters.

CNN reports that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Rep. Pete Aguilar were inside the building at the time of the riot, and had to be evacuated.

Around 150 officers and a minimum of 50 police cruisers from The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were also on the scene. Videos of the chaos were shared on social media.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) reported that the situation was so bad that the Capitol went into lockdown.

The violent mob of pro-Palestinian rioters stands in contrast to the peaceful March for Israel that took place on the National Mall a day prior. 

Ask yourself why.

Biden Regime Pushes for a Three-Day ‘Pause’ Proposed by Hamas

  BY 

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/biden-regime-pushes-for-a-3-day-pause-proposed-by-hamas;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Biden administration is playing into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

Israel has pushed deep into Gaza. It has mobilized large numbers of troops is taking out top Hamas leaders and is on the verge of a full push into Gaza City that would finish Hamas.

And the Biden administration is pushing a demand straight from a demand by Hamas and its state sponsor, the Islamic terrorist state of Qatar.

President Joe Biden confirmed on Tuesday that he asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a pause in the fighting in Gaza.

“I asked Prime Minister Netanyahu for a pause in the fighting in Gaza in a call on Monday,” Biden said, as quoted by Reuters.

Biden’s comments came hours after Barak Ravid of Axios reported that Biden urged Netanyahu in their call on Monday to agree to a three-day pause in the fighting to allow progress in releasing some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

According to a proposal that is being discussed between the US, Israel and Qatar, Hamas would release 10-15 hostages and use the three-day pause to verify the identities of all the hostages and deliver a list of names of the people it is holding, a US official told Ravid.

Remember when Hamas was claiming that it would release all the hostages in exchange for a 24-hour pause?

Hamas doesn’t need a three-day pause to verify the identities of the hostages. It’s had them for a month now.

Netanyahu has offered a pause in exchange for the release of all the hostages. Hamas won’t do that. And any list it produces is likely to be worthless. Islamic terrorists have a history of trying to claim ransom for dead bodies. It’s unknown how many of the hostages are actually alive. But if Hamas wants to verify all that, it can let the Red Cross (the actual one, not the Red Crescent which is just Hamas in a different color uniform) get access to them.

If there’s any lesson to be learned from Oct 7, it’s that Islamic terrorists lie. They attack under ceasefires, make false promises, and do anything they can to kill their victims.

The Israeli official told Axios that part of Netanyahu’s reservation is because Hamas attacked a group of Israeli soldiers, kidnapped one of them, and killed several others during a humanitarian pause during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.

The Biden administration tried to rebrand the “humanitarian pause” as a “tactical pause”. Big mistake. This is a ground operation. Unlike air strikes, you’ve got soldiers in the middle of a battlefield. You can’t just hit the pause button. It’s one thing to have the WWI Christmas snowball fight, but we’re dealing here with monsters who cannot be trusted.

Why does Hamas keep demanding a pause and why do its supporters rally for a ceasefire?

Hamas has been hit hard, it needs to reposition, get some of its leaders out, move resources around, and launch new attacks. Israel’s approach has been to keep hammering it, to move quickly, be agile, and force it to react.

The Islamic terror group would like to stop reacting and take some kind of initiative.

That is what the ‘pause’ or the ‘ceasefire’ is for. It would be disastrous to agree to it.

The spectacular deal presented by Hamas and the Al-Thanis of Qatar is that it might release as many as 15 hostages in exchange for Israel allowing it to take the tactical initiative. Instead of Israel ending it and freeing the surviving hostages.

There’s nothing surprising about the actions of Hamas and Qatar here, but the Biden administration is playing into the hands of Islamic terrorists by pushing this offer.

Islamic Republic of Iran says US will ‘be hit hard’ if there is no ceasefire in Gaza

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/islamic-republic-of-iran-says-us-will-be-hit-hard-if-there-is-no-ceasefire-in-gaza;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Funny how Rashida Tlaib and Nihad Awad are advocating the same course of action as Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s Minister of Defence.

“Iran’s chilling threat to America over Israel: Islamic regime says the US will be ‘hit hard’ if no Gaza ceasefire is implemented – after Tehran-backed Hezbollah terrorists warned of escalation on Lebanon border,” by Nick Craven and Summer Goodkind, Daily Mail, November 5, 2023:

Iran has issued a chilling threat to the United States, telling them it will ‘be hit hard’ if no ceasefire is implemented in Gaza, amid new fears that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza could escalate.

Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s Minister of Defence, emphasized the urgency, stating: ‘Our advice to the Americans is to immediately halt the war in Gaza and implement a ceasefire, otherwise they will be hit hard.’

But Mr Blinken rejected a ceasefire, insisting it would only give Iranian-backed Hamas a chance to regroup following its horrific attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 civilians and taking more than 240 hostage.

Instead, Mr Blinken pressed for ‘pauses’ in the fighting to allow civilians to evacuate from the battleground of Gaza City and the northern part of the enclave, which is being pounded with heavy Israeli artillery barrages as the war passes its 30th day.

The uncompromising tone was echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pledged at an air force base: ‘There will be no ceasefire without the return of our hostages, we say this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we beat them.’

Another senior Iranian government figure ramped up the tension with the West still further.

Mohammad Reza Naqdi deputy leader of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: ‘If Israel’s crimes continue, we should strike America’s interests,’ without specifying how….

Biden Regime Warns Israel Has Limited Time Before It Pulls Support

  BY 

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/biden-regime-warns-israel-has-limited-time-before-it-pulls-support;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

“It is a matter of weeks before the White House is compelled to call for a ceasefire.”

Publicly, the Biden administration is pressuring Israel for pauses in the fighting. Privately it’s also warning that support is on the way out.

According to CNN, top Biden administration officials have been increasingly warning Israel that it will become more and more challenging to pursue Jerusalem’s goal of toppling Hamas in Gaza due to the international outcry and that there is limited time to do so with full US support.

The outlet quotes unnamed sources saying close Biden advisers believe that it is a matter of weeks before the White House is compelled to call for a ceasefire.

“If this really goes bad, we want to be able to point to our past statements,” the outlet quotes one official as saying, adding that the Biden administration doesn’t want there to be a perception that it supports all of Jerusalem’s actions and that US arms were used to kill civilians.

It says that “particularly jarring to Biden and his national security team” were strikes on Jabaliya that accompanied an IDF takeover of a Hamas command center situated there, which reportedly caused many civilian deaths. Biden “didn’t like this at all,” one source is quoted as saying.

What Biden doesn’t like is that the poll numbers are bad in his party. There are threats from Islamic groups that they’ll sit out the election and make Biden lose. There are other threats from leftists that they’ll primary him.

I’m surprised Biden, and for that matter Pelosi and Hillary, have made arguments against a ceasefire, but they’ll end up backing one as the war goes on.

Netanyahu decided to at least break in word from Secretary of State Blinken on a call for more supplies into Gaza. The argument from the Biden administration is that aid and ‘humanitarian pauses’ will help improve world opinion, prevent the U.S. from being isolated, and allow it to support Israel, but there’s zero chance of that happening. The Muslim world will go its predictable way, Russia and China already have, smelling a chance to undermine America, and the various Third World nations are doing their usual thing. That means Israel can’t afford any pauses. It’s a bait and switch that won’t work anyway and the Biden administration will pull its support when the political clock runs out.

We’re getting the usual anonymous tribal balloons ahead of time. Jewish Dems will be told the usual story that the Biden administration did the right thing and blame Netanyahu and the “ultra right-wing government” for losing the support of the administration and the world. Maybe now coming to the end of his political career, after having tried to play that game, jumping through hoops, making good arguments, he’s learned the futility of playing the rigged game.

Do the right thing, not the politically correct thing.

Tlaib and CAIR’s Awad Threaten Biden Where It Hurts: No Votes for You Without Ceasefire

ROBERT SPENCER | 9:34 AM ON NOVEMBER 05, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2023/11/05/tlaib-and-cairs-awad-threaten-biden-where-it-hurts-no-votes-for-you-without-ceasefire-n4923638;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Gerald Herbert
The longstanding leftist/Islamic alliance has never seen this much strain. Will it be enough to bring down the Biden regime and Democrat Party hegemony? It’s possible.

As enraged pro-Hamas demonstrators tried on Saturday to break down the gate surrounding the White House and storm the grounds, high-profile Muslim leaders warned Old Joe and his henchmen that they couldn’t count on the support of haters of Israel unless the Biden regime forced the Jewish state to accept a ceasefire. A ceasefire may seem like a reasonable request at first glance, which is why the pro-Hamas forces are couching their demands in this language, but if Israel stopped fighting short of its goal to destroy Hamas utterly, it would essentially amount to a surrender to Hamas and other jihad groups. They would live again to massacre more Israeli civilians another day.

And so Ibrahim Hooper of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a longtime master at manipulating public opinion, professed at the Washington demonstration to be motivated solely by humanitarian concerns: "The main goal of everyone right now is a cease-fire," the old dissembler said, adding: "You can't do anything without a cease-fire − you can't do humanitarian aid, you can't treat the wounded, you can't even remove bodies until there's a cease-fire. Nothing should get in the way of a humanitarian cease-fire." Nothing! Not even Israel’s self-defense and fight for its own survival.

Playing bad cop to Hooper’s good cop was his CAIR colleague, Nihad Awad, the co-founder and longtime national executive director of the unsavory organization. While Hooper talked humanitarianism, Awad was ready to hit Old Joe where it hurts and make sure that the addled corruptocrat understood exactly what was happening: "The language that President Biden and his party understand,” Awad thundered, “is the language of votes in the 2023 elections and our message is: No cease-fire, no votes."

Awad couldn’t have made his point more clearly if he had been in a plane, skywriting over the White House. He added: "No votes in Michigan, no votes in Arizona, no votes in Georgia, no votes in Nevada, no votes in Wisconsin, no votes in Pennsylvania." These were, of course, the states that allowed Old Joe to pretend to be president over the last three years. But not this time. Awad concluded: "No votes for you anywhere if you don’t call for a cease-fire now."

Awad was echoing the ever-winsome Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Ramallah), who asserted on Friday that “Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people." Oh, you missed the genocide of the Palestinian people? That’s only because it never happened. The Palestinian people numbered close to two million in 1990, and they number over five today. That’s a 155% growth rate over thirty-two years, making Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians one of the most remarkably inefficient such operations in human history. Nonetheless, Tlaib, like the good leftist that she is, doubled down on her lie, adding: "The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a cease-fire now. Or don’t count on us in 2024.”

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Meanwhile, Meredith Weisel of the hard-left Anti-Defamation League offered a lamentably weak response, saying of the Washington demonstration: "There was zero acknowledgment of Israeli suffering and a lot of legitimizing and justification for violence against Israelis. Surely there are people there today who are responding to the humanitarian crisis. But most of the people we have seen on the stage have been justifying what happened on Oct. 7."

Related: The Biden Regime Is Now Setting Policy By Old Norm Macdonald Tweets

Not much better can be expected from the thoroughly compromised ADL, but Weisel missed the opportunity to point out that there actually was no “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza. While Hamas has been claiming that Gaza is on the brink of mass starvation, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) issued a report Saturday that noted that “food reserves are sufficient for the near term. There is no food shortage. International organizations are permitted to bring food aid into the Gaza Strip.” Why trust Israel and not Hamas? Hamas has been shown repeatedly to be lying recently, most notoriously in claiming Israel hit a hospital and killed 500 people when it turned out that Palestinian Islamic Jihad hit a hospital parking lot with an errant rocket and killed ten people. Meanwhile, what Israel has stated about the conflict has been accurate.

 In any case, Old Joe and the Democrats are now caught between a rock and a hard place. If they abandon Israel utterly, they risk losing the votes of Jews and supporters of Israel, who still generally deny the evidence of their senses and vote Democrat. If, however, they continue to offer the weak support to Israel they’ve given so far, Tlaib and Awad will make good on their threats. The leftist/Islamic bloc, however, is caught between a rock and a hard place as well. If they don’t vote for Old Joe, for whom will they vote? The most pro-Israel president in history? How this game of chicken will play out is anybody’s guess.

Netanyahu: No ‘Pause,’ No Ceasefire, No Fuel For Gaza Unless Hostages Released

RICK MORAN | 8:57 AM ON NOVEMBER 04, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2023/11/04/netanyahu-no-pause-no-ceasefire-no-fuel-for-gaza-unless-hostages-released-n4923620;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci
"We won't stop until victory," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a short, televised address on Friday. He told the Israeli people that he had rejected U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's suggestion of a humanitarian "pause" in the fighting that does not include a release of their hostages. He also says Israel “will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza.”

He promised that victory would be “sharp and clear” and would “resonate for generations.”

For the first time since the war began, we can see daylight between the U.S. and Israeli governments. As Israel continues to prosecute a war that, by necessity, is leading to a high civilian death toll, Israel's friends find it more and more difficult to give the Jewish state unqualified support.

I'm pretty sure Netanyahu was aware of this going into the war. It doesn't appear that anything the United States says or does will deter him from achieving his number one war aim: destroying Hamas so they can never threaten to security of the Israeli people again.

Times of Israel:

He says he told Blinken that “Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of our hostages. Israel will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza and opposes sending money to the Strip.”

He notes that Israel has lost hundreds of civilians and soldiers on and since October 7 — wonderful fighters, incredible Israelis… people who blocked these monsters with their bodies.”

He tells some of their stories and says they “sacrificed their lives for our lives.”

“We are trying to fight with minimal danger to our warriors, but we will do whatever is needed to defeat our enemies,” he concludes.

Indeed, the call for a "humanitarian pause" would only give Hamas time to regroup and dig in. And a pause would definitely do no favors for the Israeli and foreign hostages being held in Gaza. Netanyahu has no choice. All he has for leverage regarding the hostages is Israel's ability to make life absolutely miserable for Gazans. 

Hamas, of course, is doing fine. It's the Gazans who are suffering and even if public opinion turned against Hamas -- a remote possibility -- the terrorists wouldn't care. They're not at war to save the Palestinians or create a homeland for them. They are fighting a holy war to destroy Israel. 

Hamas certainly doesn't care about a "pause" except how they can use it to better their strategic position.

Wall Street Journal:

As Israeli forces have advanced, quickly encircling Gaza City and bearing down on tunnel networks and strongholds, Hamas would like nothing more than to slow them down.

It strains credibility to think Hamas wouldn’t use a pause to its advantage. Nor is Hamas likely to release all hostages and forfeit its best leverage. It may drag out negotiations, dribbling out hostages to win reprieve after reprieve, plus propaganda bumps.

The way to help Palestinian civilians isn’t to slow the Israeli advance. The less control Hamas has over Gaza’s streets, the more civilians can escape the fighting and the more aid can be brought in securely. The ground invasion has already allowed humanitarian assistance to ramp up, with more than 100 truckloads now arriving each day. Hamas would use freedom of action to keep civilians as shields and pilfer more aid—limiting what Israel can let in.

The fate of the hostages may be uncertain but they are possibly Hamas's last, most potent weapon. As their infrastructure and fighters are being systematically eliminated, Hamas's only hope for survival is the intercession of others — the United States in particular — who could use its influence to stop Israel short of their primary war aim of destroying Hamas.

At the moment, Biden is still — reluctantly — on board. But Biden is in a campaign for re-election and anything is possible if American public opinion changes.

At Least 200 Arrested In Grand Central Station Protest Demanding Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire

Protesters gather at Grand Central Terminal during a rally calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

Protesters gather at Grand Central Terminal during a rally calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

OAN’s Abril Elfi 
12:32 PM – Saturday, October 28, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/at-least-200-arrested-in-grand-central-station-protest-demanding-israel-hamas-cease-fire/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

At least 200 people have been arrested during a protest in the Grand Central Station in New York City demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Palestine War.

Hundreds of activists, wearing black T-shirts with the slogans “Jews say cease-fire now” and “Not in our name,” were detained by New York Police Department (NYPD) officers and brought out of the train station, their hands zip-tied behind their backs during rush hour on Friday. 

The NYPD stated that the demonstrators were momentarily detained, issued summonses, and then released and that a more precise number of detentions would be available on Saturday.

Some protesters carried flags as they ascended the stone ledges in front of departure time leaderboards. 

After police broke up the sit-in, the remaining demonstrators streamed into the streets outside.

One of the groups involved appears to be a group called “Jewish Voices For Peace,” which posted on X, the social media formerly known as Twitter announcing that they are “taking over.” 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said in a statement that it is sad that the organization chose rush hour to organize a protest when New Yorkers were trying to get home, but it is proud of both MTA officers and NYPD officers for their professionalism.

Commuters were advised to use Penn Station as an option by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

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