GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 163

Fireworks All Over The Place

Telling Israel How To Run Things

In an article found on the Jerusalem News Syndicate we hear from President Donald Trump on the topic of if the United States is truly supporting Israel:

There’s “100% no question” that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Biden administration are telling Israel how to run its government, former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday.

“The Democrats are very bad for Israel. Israel sticks with them. I guess Israel’s loyal maybe to a fault, because they stick with these guys,” the presumptive Republican nominee told Fox News’s Howard Kurtz.

This was after Senator Chuck Schumer lashed out at Prime Minister Netanyahu last Thursday:

In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday that Schumer described as a “major address” on a possible two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, the Democrat labeled some of Netanyahu’s senior Cabinet members as “bigots” and “extremists” and called for an early election.

Schumer claimed that he was speaking on behalf of “mainstream Jewish Americans” to represent their views on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He suggested that Washington should consider conditioning or cutting off military aid to Jerusalem unless a new government is formed.

Trump went on to say if he was president after the 2020 elections, Hamas wouldn’t have attacked:

According to Trump, if the Democrats had been good to the Jewish state, Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist massacre of 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, in the northwestern Negev would never have happened.

“If he [Biden] were supportive of Israel, the Iran nuclear deal would have never been signed and Israel would have never been attacked,” Trump told Fox News, adding: “I’ll bet you I would have had Iran in the Abraham Accords.”

Such talk is speculation, but Trump did have a plan to surround Israel with Arab nations that would have entered into treaties with them and was on his way to pulling it off in 2020. On the issue of killing Palestinians, Trump said this:

Asked about Schumer’s charge that the “Israeli war campaign” has killed many innocent Palestinians, Trump stated: “Well, they [Israel] lost a lot of people on Oct. 7, too. People have to remember that.”

“He doesn’t forget it—he looks at where do I get more votes. And I guess he’s seeing the Palestinians, and he’s seeing the marches, and they are big. And he says: ‘I want to go that way instead of Israel.’ I don’t know how Israel stays with these people,” Trump said of Schumer.

“He just said essentially that Bibi Netanyahu should take a walk, right?” added the presidential candidate.

“Totally Inappropriate”

In a Sunday interview on CNN.com Prime Minister Netanyahu responded again to a speech by Senator Chuck Schumer saying it was not right to call for elections in Israel:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that comments from US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel were “totally inappropriate.”

In a Senate speech that upended longstanding US policy, Schumer — who is the highest-ranking Jewish American in the US government and normally a staunch supporter of Israel — called Netanyahu a “major obstacle” to peace.

But in his interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Netanyahu hit back.

“I think what he said is totally inappropriate. It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” Netanyahu told CNN.

“That’s something the Israeli public does on its own. We are not a banana republic,” he said.

Netanyahu said the focus should stay on eliminating Hamas:

Instead, efforts should be focused on “bringing down the Hamas tyranny,” Netanyahu said.

When pressed to comment on whether he would commit to new elections when the war winds down, Netanyahu said, “That’s something for the Israeli public to decide” and added that it was “ridiculous” to talk about it while the war is ongoing.

The interview then turned to a possible hostage deal:

Speaking on a potential hostage deal with Hamas, Netanyahu told CNN Israel will keep trying to secure a deal that would see the release of 100 hostages in exchange for a six week pause in fighting. However, he said that the militant group’s “outlandish” demands were making negotiations more difficult.

“Time will tell, but Hamas’ outlandish demands … make that deal a lot more difficult, but we’re going to keep on trying, because we want those hostages back,” he said.

“We understand also that the one thing that gets Hamas to give them,” Netanyahu said, “is the continued military pressure that we are applying there.”

“So we will continue military pressure and we are going to continue to try to get those hostages out.”

Later in the interview, the news site confirmed with the Prime Minister that the IDF will operate in Rafah. It’s only a matter of when.

People Have Short Memories

At the start of an Israeli government meeting, Netanyahu gave his feelings on the proposed operation into Rafah and more as we read in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

"We will operate in Rafah. It will take a few weeks, but it will happen," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting on Sunday.

"Some in the international community are trying to stop the war before all its goals are achieved. They do this by making false accusations against the IDF, against the Israeli government, and against the Prime Minister of Israel," Netanyahu added.

"They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. And they do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months."

Not going into Rafah is not an option:

"So let's be clear," the prime minister said, "if we stop the war now before all of its goals are achieved, it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that. That is why we must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them."

The Prime Minister then added this about the short memories:

Netanyahu further noted, "And to our friends in the international community I say: Is your memory so short? So quickly did you forget October 7, the most terrible massacre committed against Jews since the Holocaust?

"So quickly are you ready to deny Israel's the right to defend itself against Hamas? Did you lose your moral conscience so quickly?"

Netanyahu’s political opponents were quick to impugn Netanyahu, though:

Responding to Netanyahu's comments, opposition head Yair Lapid issued a statement later on Sunday: "Netanyahu, our memory is actually not flawed. We remember who built and funded Hamas, and we remember who was prime minister on October 7, we remember that with you we will lose the war and not return the hostages.

"We also remember that an election now is the only way to strengthen the IDF, draft the haredim, and rehabilitate our relationship with the Americans," Lapid added.

And now we know who Schumer and Biden are working with.

Coordinated Attacks In Planning

Just as I suspected, a report in The Times Of Israel informs us that terrorist are plotting to attack Israel together:

Senior figures from Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels held a rare meeting last week to discuss coordinating their actions against Israel, Palestinian factional sources told AFP.

A Houthi source later confirmed the talks, saying the sides discussed “expanding confrontations and encircling” Israel during the meeting in Lebanon.

Hamas and the Houthis belong to the “axis of resistance,” a collection of Iran-backed movements hostile to Israel and the United States that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and Iraqi militias.

The Houthis rebels have been limited so far, but that could be changing:

The Houthis have attacked Red Sea shipping for months since the Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack, saying they are targeting Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

However, the threat has now widened to other ships in the area.

According to sources from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, leaders from the two Palestinian Islamist terror groups, as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, held an “important meeting” with Houthi representatives last week.

The groups discussed “mechanisms to coordinate their actions of resistance” for the “next stage” of the war in Gaza, the sources said without identifying where the meeting took place.

The Palestinian groups and the Houthis also talked about a possible Israeli ground assault into southern Gaza’s Rafah, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

Those in this meeting are looking at the IDF moving into Rafah as a trigger:

Another Palestinian source, also requesting anonymity to share details of the meeting, told AFP that those present discussed the “complementary role of Ansar Allah (the Huthis) alongside Palestinian factions, especially in the event of an Israeli offensive on Rafah.”

If you see the IDF evacuating Gazans, get ready of a lot of fireworks in March. Just a reminder, Hezbollah has also said they are prepared to act alone against Israel in the north. That could be in concert with these other terrorist groups. Fireworks indeed.