Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel will not agree to halt in Gaza fighting without hostage return; Hamas releases hostage video of Noa Argamani

2024-06-01

[GEO.TV] Israel will not agree to any halt in fighting in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
that is not part of a deal that includes a return of hostages, a senior Israeli security official said on Friday.

The comment came after a statement from Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
declaring that it would be ready to reach an agreement including an exchange of hostages for Paleostinian prisoners, as long as Israel stopped the fighting in Gaza.

"There will be no truce, or any halt in fighting whatsoever, in Gaza which is not part-and-parcel of a hostage-release deal," the official said in comments sent to Rooters.

"Any ceasefire would arise solely within the framework of a deal."

‘Save us’: Hamas publishes propaganda video featuring voice of hostage Noa Argamani

[IsraelTimes] Family says they believe 26-year-old, taken captive alongside boyfriend Avinatan Or at Nova rave on October 7, drew the sketches in video featuring her voice

Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
published on Friday a new propaganda video featuring the voice of Israeli hostage Noa Argamani in which she urged the country to bring about her release after what she said had been over 237 days in captivity.

Friday marked the 238th day of the war, however the date the recording was made could not be verified.

"I appeal to the people of Israel, save us," she said in the recording, which is assumed to have been dictated to her by her captors.

"Go out to the streets to demonstrate, shut down the streets of Tel Aviv and don’t come home until we return. Don’t let [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the government kill us. Save us, time is running out, the people must decide. We don’t want to die here."

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the images seen in the video featuring Argamani’s voice were believed by her family to be drawings made by the 26-year-old.

Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips themselves unless asked or given permission to do so by the hostage’s family members; the Argamani family said that it approved the publication of the clip by media outlets. While the clip is subtitled in English, it does not precisely match Argamani’s words in Hebrew.

"One hundred and twenty-five men and women have been held hostage by Hamas for 238 days. The Israeli government must hear the call and act decisively, without the need for any propaganda video from Hamas, to swiftly reach a deal to bring the hostages home!" the forum said in a statement.

Argamani was seen in one of the first Hamas videos released during the massacre of hundreds of partygoers at the Supernova desert rave on October 7, seated on the back of a cycle of violence behind her Hamas captor, screaming, "Don’t kill me!"

In the video, Argamani is stretching her arms out toward her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, who is also held by hard boyz in GazooIn mid-January, Hamas released a video of her in captivity. She appeared gaunt and under duress, speaking about other hostages killed in ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s and frantically calling on Israel to bring her and others home.

Argamani’s mother Liora has terminal cancer and has issued pleas to see her daughter again.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

'Islamic Jihad' published a new video with the alleged hostage Trufanov taken within the month

2024-05-31

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Saraya al-Quds group (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation) published a second video with Russian Alexander Trufanov allegedly being held hostage. The video was posted on the movement’s Telegram channel.

In the video, the man stated his first and last name, and also talked about his state of health.

“The first thing I want to say is that my condition is fine and I am healthy,” he said.

The Saraya al-Quds group is the military wing of Islamic Jihad (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation)

As Regnum reported, a day earlier the group published the first video of a supposedly captured Russian. In these footage, a young man speaks Hebrew and promises to soon show the whole world the truth about the fate of the hostages.

Representatives of the Israeli Embassy in Russia commented on the information about the kidnapped person and his relatives. The diplomatic mission reported that terrorists kidnapped Trufanov along with his grandmother, mother and fiancee, who were returned to Israel as part of the first deal to free the hostages. The Russian's father was killed by terrorists.

Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023. According to Israeli authorities, 1.2 thousand people were killed as a result, and another 253 Israelis were taken hostage. Some of them - more than a hundred people - were released as part of a week-long truce last fall.

On November 30, Israeli Sapir Cohen, the fiancee of Alexander Trufanov, returned to Israel as part of those released from captivity by the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. As reported in the office of the Prime Minister of the Jewish State, Trufanov himself remained hostage to the radicals. Cohen was released along with five other Israelis.

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Israel announced that they managed to rescue Irina Tatti and Elena Trufanova, the grandmother and mother of Alexander Trufanov, who, like him, have Russian citizenship, from Hamas captivity.

The Times of Israel adds:

In scripted 3-minute propaganda clip, hostage held by Paleostinian terror group since Oct. 7 mentions Israel’s Al Jazeera ban, indicating he was likely alive earlier this month.

In the nearly three-minute-long video, Trufanov — in a statement almost certainly dictated by his captors in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip — refers to Israel’s decision to pull the Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i-owned Al Jazeera news channel off the air on May 5, indicating that the footage was likely filmed within the last month and that he was alive then.

In the clip released Thursday, Trufanov notably addresses both of his parents as recipients of the message, even though his father, Vitaly Trufanov, was murdered on October 7 in the Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
onslaught.

The Russian-Israeli was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his mother, Yelena, grandmother, Irena Tati, and girlfriend, Sapir Cohen — all of whom were released in a hostage deal in late November.

Sasha and Sapir had recently moved in together in Ramat Gan, and had been visiting their family in Nir Oz over the Simhat Torah holiday.

Sasha’s parents and grandmother had been in their home, which had a safe room, while Sasha and Sapir had been in another house without a safe room. It was later learned that Vitaly had been taken from the house before the rest of the family.

In the propaganda video released on Thursday, Sasha mentions Israeli hostages allegedly killed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza amid the ongoing war, a pressure tactic that has been used repeatedly in clips published by the terror groups. In many of the cases, Israel says hostages were kidnapped after being killed by the murderous Moslems on October 7 or by their terrorist captors in Gaza.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF discovers weapons in UNRWA facility, kills Hamas terrorists

2024-05-20

[JPost] The IAF stuck approximately 80 terror targets over the past day throughout the Gaza Strip, including weapons storage facilities, rocket launchers, terrorist cells, and other terror targets.

IDF troops have located additional weaponry in an UNRWA facility in Jabalya, the Israeli military announced Monday afternoon.

Additionally, an Israel Air Force aircraft struck and eliminated the terrorist Zaher Huli (also known as "Abu Hamed"), who held roles in Hamas's military wing and the Hamas Police in central Gaza, the IDF and the Shin Bet announced.

Zaher reportedly used his position to build connections with other Hamas terrorists and promote terror attacks on Israel.

During an additional operation on Sunday, the terrorist Rami Khalil Faki, who held roles in Hamas' military wing and Hamas Police in the area of Nuseirat, was also targeted in an aerial strike.

Rami Khalil Faki commanded armed terrorists who carried out attacks against IDF troops. His deputy and four additional Hamas terrorist operatives were eliminated together with him.
Islamic Jihad commander eliminated

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad tactical-level commander was also eliminated in an aerial strike in the eastern Rafah area with three other terrorists from the organization who engaged in close combat with IDF soldiers, the IDF later announced.

In Rafah, the Maglan Unit drone team located tunnel shafts and terrorists in the area. During an operation, a terrorist exiting an underground tunnel shaft was targeted and killed by an IAF aircraft, the military added.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

US evacuates 17 volunteer doctors trapped in Gaza since Israel took Rafah crossing

2024-05-19

Human interest.

[IsraelTimes] Physicians leave via Kerem Shalom after working in one of the few hospitals in Strip still functioning amid war; several others choose to stay despite uncertain plan for departure

The United States on Friday evacuated out of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
17 American doctors who had been stuck since Israel took over the Paleostinian side of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt earlier this month, according to official American sources.

US diplomats arranged for the doctors to leave instead through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel.

"Some of the US citizen doctors who had been stuck in Gaza have now safely departed and made their way to safety with assistance from the US embassy in Jerusalem," a State Department spokesperson said.

"We have been in close contact with the groups that these US doctors are part of, and we have been in contact with the families of these US citizens," he said.

At least 14 doctors from a delegation made up of 35 US and other international volunteer physicians, including three Americans, chose to stay despite the uncertainty on when they will again have a chance to leave, according to the Paleostinian American Medical Association. The US-based non-profit medical group FAJR Scientific, which organized a second volunteer team, could not immediately be reached.

The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been the main gateway for goods and people entering Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the onus on Egypt to reopen the crossing.

Egypt has accused Israel in turn of denying responsibility for a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and says that truck drivers and aid workers do not feel safe crossing through an Israeli checkpoint.

The doctors came to help one of the Strip’s few hospitals still functioning. They brought suitcases full of medical supplies and had trained for one of the worst war zones in the world. They knew the health care system was decimated and overwhelmed, with local doctors and nurses beyond exhausted after seven months of treating never-ending waves of Paleostinians maimed since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
’s October 7 massacre.

"I did not expect that (it) will be that bad," said Dr. Ammar Ghanem, an ICU specialist from bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang...
with the Syrian American Medical Society. "You hear the news, but you cannot really recognize ... how bad until you come and see it."

The teams were trapped beyond the scheduled end of their two-week mission when Israel began what it has called a "pinpoint operation" into the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah on May 6.

Those who left included Ghanem, who said the 15-mile trip from the hospital to the Kerem Shalom Crossing took more than four hours as explosions went off around them. He described some tense moments, such as when an Israel Defense Forces tank at the crossing apparently took aim at the doctors’ convoy.

"The tank moved and blocked our way and they directed their weapons (at) us. So that was a scary moment," Ghanem said.

You’re in what the experts call a “war zone”, buddy. What on earth did you expect?

The 14 doctors with the Paleostinian American Medical Association who stayed behind include American Adam Hamawy. US Sen. Tammy Duckworth credits Hamawy with saving her life when, as a military helicopter pilot in Iraq in 2004, she was hit by an RPG, causing injuries that cost her her legs.

The two international teams have been working since early May at the European General Hospital, just outside Rafah, the largest hospital still operating in southern Gaza. The volunteers are mostly American surgeons but include medical professionals from Britannia, Australia, Egypt, Jordan, Oman and other nations.

The World Health Organization said the UN, which coordinates visits of volunteer teams, is in talks with Israel to resume moving humanitarian workers in and out of Gaza. The IDF said it had no comment.

Now an answer for those who wondered how many hospitals Gaza has:

Nearly two dozen hospitals in Gaza are no longer operating, and the remaining dozen are only partially working.

Much of the European Hospital’s Paleostinian staff left to help families fleeing Rafah amid new evacuation orders to find new shelter. As a result, the foreign volunteers are stretched between medical emergencies and other duties, such as trying to find patients inside the hospital. There is no staff to log where incoming maimed are placed. Medicines that the teams brought with them are running out.

Thousands of Paleostinians are sheltering in the hospital. Outside, sewage overflows in the streets, and drinking water is brackish or polluted, spreading disease. The road to the hospital from Rafah is now unsafe: The United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
says an Israeli tank fired on a marked UN vehicle on the road Monday, killing a UN security officer and wounding another.

That other: was he a gunny for Hamas or for Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

When the Rafah assault began, FAJR Scientific’s 17 doctors were living in a guesthouse in the city. With no warning from the IDF to evacuate, the team was stunned by bombs landing a few hundred meters from the clearly-marked house, said Mosab Nasser, FAJR’s CEO.

They scrambled out, still wearing their scrubs, and moved to the European Hospital, where the other team was staying.

Dr. Mohammed Tahir, an orthopedic surgeon from London with FAJR, does multiple surgeries a day on little sleep. He’s often jolted awake by bombings shaking the hospital. Work is frantic. He recalled opening one man’s chest to stop bleeding, with no time to get him to the operating room. The man died.

Tahir said when the Rafah assault began, Paleostinian colleagues at the hospital nervously asked if the volunteers would leave.

"It makes my heart feel really heavy," Tahir said. The Paleostinian staff knows that when the teams leave "they have no more protection; and that could mean that this hospital turns into Shifa, which is a very real possibility." IDF troops raided Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, for a second time in March, killing and detaining hundreds of terror suspects. Israel says that Hamas uses hospitals as command centers and hideouts, an accusation denied by Gaza health officials. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas.

”Pshaw! Pish and tosh! Fiddlesticks! Where do you people get such silly ideas?”

The patients Tahir has saved keep him going. Tahir and other surgeons operated for hours on a man with severe wounds to the skull and abdomen and shrapnel in his back. They did a second surgery on him Wednesday night.

"I looked at my colleagues and said, ’You know what? If this patient survives — just this patient — everything we’ve done, or everything we’ve experienced, would all be worth it,'" Tahir said.

Dr. Ahlia Kattan, an anesthesiologist and ICU doctor from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, with FAJR, said the hardest case for her was a four-year-old boy, the same age as her son, who arrived with burns on more than 75 percent of his body, his lungs and spleen shattered. He didn’t survive.

Human shields so often don’t — it’s the strangest thing.

"He reminded me so much of my son," she said, holding back tears.

"Everyone has different stories here that they’re taking home with them."

Weighing heavily on all the volunteers, Kattan said, is "the guilt that we’re already feeling when we leave, that we get to escape to safety."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF spokesman reveals how Hamas infiltrated Islamic Jihad

2024-05-16

[IsraelNationalNews] IDF Arabic Language Spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee revealed on Thursday that Hamas recruited a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative to act as a spy within the terror organization.

Don’t tell anyone, but his name is Mohammed. Or possibly it was Abdul…

According to Adraee, Murad Walid Omar Shaheen joined the ranks of Islamic Jihad in 2010, where he served in the counter-espionage department of the organization’s military wing.

In 2022, an operating officer for the Hamas General Security Service, named Taher Mahmoud Tahar Al-Aqqad, recruited Shaheen to work as a spy for Hamas and provide information about Islamic Jihad.

As a double agent, Shaheen provided Hamas with sensitive internal information about Islamic Jihad members, individuals nominated for promotion, and internal tensions within Islamic Jihad. He also provided military information about the organization, which dealt with the geographical deployment of "Al-Quds Brigades" members, and information about how to purchase spy equipment and the reason for stopping the Islamic Jihad’s tunnel-digging work.

During a presentation prepared by the Hamas General Security Service, which was presented to Yahya Al-Sinwar, the members of the agency recounted the method of their spying on Islamic Jihad and their work to influence the internal trends and actions of the organization.

So Israel had the meeting room bugged or someone inside recording? Kinky.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

No compromise on demands of ceasefire, Israeli troops withdrawal: Hamas

2024-05-07

You gotta be you, dude. Enjoy that while Rafah crumbles to rubble around your ears.

[GEO.TV] Hamas reiterated that the resistance group would not budge from their demands of ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops, as their political chief Ismail Haniyeh discussed the ceasefire proposal with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Haniyeh had a phone call with al-Nakhalah regarding the peace proposals put forward by mediators.

After the call, the group issued a statement, saying the two leaders emphasised that “resistance factions will not back down from their demands”, including a ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal of Israeli troops, an “honourable” exchange of prisoners, reconstruction of Gaza and the lifting of the siege.

“The two leaders also reviewed the procedures required to ensure the implementation of the agreement after the resistance took its decision based on a conscious vision of developments in the current situation at all levels,” a statement from Hamas said.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PIJ says worked with DFLP to shell Israeli forces in Gaza

2024-05-03

[NEWARAB] Paleostinian Islamic Jihad's

...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
military wing says it fired a barrage of mortars on Israeli forces in Gaza City, adding that it collaborated with the armed branch of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

While Islamic Jihad is a religiously motivated group, the DFLP is a leftist organisation.

Islamic Jihad's armed branch is called the Al-Quds Brigades.

The DFLP's military wing is the Omar Al-Qasem Forces.
Nobody's heard of them, have they? I mean, I guess they might be in a card file someplace, but they're just not very prominent.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF says combat engineers destroyed 2 attack tunnels in northern Gaza

2024-05-02

[IsraelTimes] IDF combat engineers demolished two attack tunnels belonging to the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun in recent weeks, the military says.

The IDF says the two tunnels were under "continuous intelligence and technological surveillance" since their discovery and until they were demolished.

The underground passages did not cross into Israeli territory, according to the IDF.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF: 2 Palestinian gunmen open fire at West Bank checkpoint, are shot dead by troops

2024-04-28

[IsraelTimes] Soldiers had been ready in ambush near Salem Crossing after recent repeated attacks in area; one the gunmen’s magazines had sticker with Palestinian Islamic Jihad logo.

Two Paleostinian button men who shot up a checkpoint in the northern West Bank in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday were rubbed out by troops, the military said.

The incident took place at the Salem checkpoint and army base, close to the Arab Israeli town of the same name, and some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the West Bank city of Jenin.

Troops of the Border Defense Corps’ 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit had been ready in an ambush following several recent similar attacks at the same location, when the gunman arrived by vehicle at the checkpoint area.

As the button men began shooting at the checkpoint and adjacent base, the soldiers returned fire at the pair, killing both, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The button men’s assault rifles were seized. An image released by the IDF showed that one of the gun’s magazines had a sticker with the logo of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group.

No troops were hurt in the incident.

The button men were named by the Paleostinian Authority health ministry as Mustafa Abed, 21, and Ahmed Shawahna, 20. It said two more Paleostinians were maimed by Israeli fire in the Jenin area, although the circumstances of their injury were not immediately clear.

The Salem Crossing has been the target of frequent shooting attacks in recent years. It is predominantly used by Arab Israelis who travel to the Paleostinian city of Jenin and the surrounding area for business or leisure. It has been largely shuttered for civilian traffic in recent years.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before October 7 — when thousands of Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,-led murderous Moslems stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and abduct over 250 — has escalated throughout the war sparked by the onslaught, with frequent army raids on terror groups, deadly Paleostinian attacks, and rampages by Jewish settlers in Paleostinian villages, at times also deadly.

Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,850 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,650 affiliated with Hamas, the IDF has said.

According to the PA health ministry, more than 490 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were button men killed amid raids or murderous Moslems carrying out attacks.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF wraps up central Gaza raid, says 100 terror sites destroyed, 40 operatives killed

2024-04-21

More on this minimalist story from three days ago.

[IsraelTimes] The Israeli military says it has wrapped up a pinpoint raid against Hamas in the central Gaza Strip, during which troops destroyed more than 100 sites belonging to terror groups, killed some 40 operatives, and expanded the east-west corridor held by the army.

The operation, carried out by the 401st Armored Brigade and other troops under the 162nd Division on the outskirts of the Nuseirat camp, was aimed at clearing the area of Hamas operatives, destroying its infrastructure, including a tunnel network that allowed passage from Nuseirat to Gaza City, and expanding the Netzarim corridor.

The corridor, built around a road south of Gaza City and north of Nuseirat, enables the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza while allowing Israel to control access to the north for Palestinians seeking to return after fleeing south.

Amid the operation near Nuseirat, the IDF said it destroyed two rocket manufacturing plants, one belonging to Hamas and the other to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, among a total of around 100 sites.

The military says it also demolished 17 tunnel shafts, part of at least five separate underground networks. Rockets and launchers were also discovered and destroyed during the operation.

Some 40 gunmen were killed amid the fighting, including in airstrikes, the IDF said. Ahead of the offensive, a series of airstrikes were carried out in the area.

The 162nd Division has now mostly been withdrawn from Gaza. The division’s Nahal Brigade continues to be the sole unit in the Strip, operating in the Netzarim corridor, where the IDF says troops have killed more than 1,000 gunmen in the past three months.

Nahal is due to be replaced in the Netzarim corridor by a reserve brigade, to allow all of the division’s forces to prepare for future operations, including planned offensives in Rafah and central Gaza.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

After Unprecedented Missile Attack, Top Iranian Official Still Has a Valid U.S. Visa

2024-04-17

[Townhall] Just days after Iran's unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, following months of attacks on U.S. troops in the region by Iranian terrorist organizations, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian still holds a valid U.S. visa.

"I write to request immediate action to revoke the visa of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian ahead of his planned travel to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting on April 18, 2024," Republican Senator James Lankford wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken late Monday. "As documented by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) in its letter to you last week, Amir-Abdollahian is a senior card-carrying member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and has direct ties to the heinous October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel and the ongoing attacks that Iran continues to orchestrate through Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis. In the wake of Saturday’s direct attack by Iran on our ally, Israel, I urge you to prevent Iran from using American soil as a platform to amplify its anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric."

"Given his ties to terrorism against Israel and US forces, Amir-Abdollahian should not be welcome in our country. April 18, the day of his anticipated meeting at the UN, also marks the 41st anniversary of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 63 people, including 52 Lebanese and American Embassy employees, and injured 120. Several months later, Hezbollah’s bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut would end up killing another 241 Americans. Hosting a senior member of the IRGC on the 41st anniversary of Hezbollah’s terrorist attack would be an insult to the victims and their families," Lankford continued

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Mavi Marmara 2: New aid flotilla to sail from Turkey to 'break siege' of Gaza - report

2024-04-14

[JPost] The flotilla itself is organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a group of 12 NGOs from countries such as the US, Turkey, and South Africa, and should leave for Gaza on Monday.

Turkey is set to send a flotilla to Gaza on Monday, bringing 5,500 tons of aid to "break the siege" on the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The flotilla itself is organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a group of 12 NGOs from countries such as the US, Turkey, and South Africa.

The organization is backed by Fehmi Bulent Yildirim, a Turkish humanitarian activist and president of the Turkish NGO IHH.

IHH is a charitable branch of the the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, very close to president Erdogan’s government.

In a press conference, Yildirim said the flotilla will include ships from Turkey, Lebanon, and Libya and will sail to Rafah after first docking at El-Arish in Egypt, Ynet reported.

According to a Globes report, the flotilla will also include Zwelivelile "Mandla" Mandela, the grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela, and Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

Ynet claimed that Turkish authorities would approve the flotilla, and the country's intelligence chief was involved in arranging it.

This would be the latest of many aid flotillas launched by Turkish groups to Gaza. The most notable of these in the past was the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010. At the time, Israeli commandos raided the ship and ended up killing several Turkish civilians who were part of the flotilla. The Mavi Marmara incident was a landmark moment in Israeli-Turkish relations, which became severely strained at the time and have yet to fully recover 14 years later.

That flotilla was also organized by IHH, with Yildirim himself having been on board. He was arrested by the IDF and deported.

In the past, IHH has also been accused of aiding or having links to different extremist groups. This includes multiple accusations of links to al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Link

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