COMMENTARY / OPINION
Has Anything Changed? Rabbi Pruzansky’s Blog
For all the government hype, spin, and bluster since October 8, 2023, in the end, has anything changed? The current hostage deal would seem to indicate that the conceptziya is alive and well. This is not the agreement of either a victorious nation or a nation poised for victory in six weeks. Hamas is not defeated. Gaza will continue to pose a security threat to Israeli citizens, and all the hostages will likely not be released. For why would Hamas release all of them? Hamas is evil but not foolish. The hostages are Hamas’ best asset, because Hamas knows its incarceration of Israeli hostages leads our people and government to act emotionally, which is to say self-destructively and recklessly.
There will be joy at the release of the freed hostages, at least by the families of those released. I will feel relief, not joy. The joy will appear on the faces of the Arabs who have once again seen their psychopath-terrorists murder Jews and literally get away with it., They will be whooping it up, handing out sweets, and plotting their next massacre of an “unwise and foolish people” (Devarim 32:6). Indeed, I imagine this is the same feeling that Jews had after the Holocaust when the survivors were liberated – not joy but relief. How can there have been joy, knowing what they suffered in captivity, knowing how many did not survive?
Relief, not joy, but at least when the Holocaust survivors were freed, the Nazis were defeated. Here, in our case, we have empowered these Nazis to fight and murder us another day, we have even emptied our prisons of more homicidal Nazis so they should be able to resume their life’s work of murdering Jews. Imagine winning the release of survivors by granting freedom to Goebbels, Goring, Hoess and Eichmann. That is our choice, and our fate.
Today, ours is not the face of victory. Have we squandered the lives of our precious soldiers just to restore the status quo of October 6, 2023? Have we elated our enemies just because we think that now Trump and the Americans will give us a free hand to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities? Most importantly, if the war resumes after the end of the cease fire, how many our soldiers will be killed once again conquering the same swaths of Gaza, now fully booby-trapped and mined? Why would any soldier want to go back there, especially knowing how ephemeral are any gains we make and how permanent is their loss of life?
For all the talk, we will still be prolonging the war and strengthening our enemies by lavishing even more provisions on these “innocent civilians,” not one of whom embraced Israel’s offer of $5,000,000 and free passage in exchange for information leading to the return of our hostages. The war is still managed by defeatists in the General Staff and the intelligence services, who still want to mow the lawn and prepare for another battle in this endless war, despite Hamas now on the brink of defeat. Just like in the Second Lebanon War, we are still sending our soldiers – our finest youth – to be killed and maimed seizing territory on Monday that we will surrender to the enemy on Thursday. For what? For what did they die? And we wonder why Haredim refuse to serve in an army that, too often – it is painful to say – is cavalier about the lives of our soldiers, refusing to bomb from the air buildings where no civilians should be, forcing our soldiers to serve as sitting ducks for the enemy, and still refusing to cut off food, water, electricity, and internet from our enemies.
We are still being lied to by our government. As I wrote during the first week of the war, defeating Hamas and freeing all our hostages are both worthy objectives but they are incompatible absent a miracle, and yet those goals are still being trumpeted as realistic and impending. The opposition, meanwhile, is still focused on toppling Netanyahu, with victory over our foes and freedom for the hostages merely secondary considerations. The streets are still filled with protesters who contrive fears of a Netanyahu dictatorship while obviously, and vehemently, preferring an actual judicial dictatorship, notwithstanding that the former is subject to elections while the latter is not and wishes simply to perpetuate its power by any means necessary.
After all the promises of “absolute victory,” and after PM Netanyahu demonstrated resilience and resolve such as he had never exhibited before as prime minister, he reverted to form, caved under pressure, and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Certainly, we were – and are – traumatized by the invasion and massacre of October 7, but few lessons have been learned. Pressure from Biden or Trump should be meaningless if they weaken our core values and interests. That is how independent nations act: they define their interests and do everything to achieve them. True resolve causes even the most intense pressure to dissipate. Israel has never learned that lesson, which is why we have suffered consistent diplomatic defeats for more than fifty years, and time and again, we rehabilitate and strengthen our enemies.
We still fall for Hamas’ psychological mind games – dangling hostage videos, murdering some, threatening others – all to achieve their aims, which they do. We know these are their tactics – and yet we still succumb to them. (Hamas demanded the release of more than one thousand of their terrorists? Why aren’t some of them being returned in body bags, like too many of our hostages?) We are easily manipulated, our enemies know it, and so they do it repeatedly. We learned nothing from the disastrous Shalit deal – nothing. That lopsided and immoral exchange not only murdered hundreds of us in the ensuing years but also guaranteed that the enemy would try to seize more hostages again, because, why not? It works. And it will work again in the future because the release of murderers in exchange for innocent civilians incentivizes the enemy to do it again. And again. The prattle about not releasing any of the murderers from the October 7 massacre in this round only guarantees that there will be future hostage-taking to win their freedom. Has anything changed?
It would be more plausible if many of those who disseminate the canard that “pidyon shvuyim,” the ransoming of captives, is the most important mitzvah in the Torah actually understood the concept, and perhaps even observed some of the other mitzvot in the Torah. (What the Sages meant is that “ransoming captives” is the highest form of tzedakah because it encompasses all dimensions of that mitzvah.) And as is well known to those who open a Gemara, we do not ransom hostages “for more than their value, for the betterment of the world” (Gittin 45a) because “overpaying” will ultimately bankrupt the community and encourage more hostage-taking. We do exactly what the Gemara says not to do, and obviously to our detriment.
Releasing bloodthirsty murderers is not just the “difficult price” we must pay, as the senseless and repetitive cliché uttered by numerous commentators and politicians puts it. It is not moral; it is immoral, because it has, does, and will put many others at risk. We do not endanger the entire community to save a small group. It is well meaning but also flat out stupid. And we need not speculate that this release might endanger the rest of us. It will! It always has. Terrorists leave our prisons more hardened and more hateful of Jews than they entered, and even more contemptuous of us because they know our weaknesses and how we cannot overcome them. More of us will be murdered, and still others of us will be taken hostage in the future. The only thing we don’t know are the names of the future victims.
Have we learned anything? Aryeh Deri announced that he would support “any deal.” And what if Hamas demanded that Yeshiva students must serve in the IDF? Would he pay that “difficult price”? Haredim should be embarrassed that they largely shirk army service but what is almost as embarrassing, this refusal has compromised their ability to present a true Torah view on “ransoming captives.” They lack any credibility, as they necessarily must prefer any option that does not involve the military in which they do not serve. That means you, Degel HaTorah, which has been forced to furl that flag and, in the process, muted the voice of Torah.
We are still tormented by a legal and judicial establishment that prioritizes the lives of our enemies over our own and which fetishizes the chimera known as “international law,” all progressive doctrines that favor the evildoers in any conflict and render victory impossible for those foolish enough to be guided by it. We are supposed to be the “light unto the nations.” We are the ones who should be teaching the true ethics of war to the world – not vice versa. We should be proudly and unabashedly disseminating the Torah’s ethic of war and not constraining ourselves by absurd moral notions concocted by human beings that cannot produce a better, more just world. Indeed, since the first Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1864, the world has experienced in the last 160 years unprecedented carnage and brutality. We have learned nothing from the evildoers’ exploitation of “international law,” that has effectively deprived the West of winning any war since World War II.
We have learned nothing from the Oslo debacle, from the Gaza Expulsion catastrophe, from the half-hearted waging of the Second Lebanon War and the various eruptions in Gaza, from the “hostages for terrorists” exchanges now four decades old, and from our reluctance, even fear, of acknowledging the true character of our enemies and dealing with that reality. When the next attack comes – and it will – and we suffer again, and go to war again, we will be accompanied yet again by the same false promises, the same lofty words, the same “together we will win!” – even as we disdain any plan for real victory.
We are victims of a terrible failure of vision, and of leadership, in the government and the opposition, in the upper echelons of the military and legal establishments. This deal is a classic example of “stage one thinking,” a visceral reaction that does not consider “stage two,” the real-world consequences of that emotional decision. Watch the glee on the faces of our enemies – and the agony on ours – and determine who thinks they won, and who thinks they lost.
It is especially galling that we take pride in our humiliation. Our enemies have not been deterred. They have been emboldened, inspired, and heartened by our surrender. They do not care about life – even their own. They care about murdering Jews and destroying the State of Israel, and we – wittingly or unwittingly – are abetting them.
Sadly, nothing has really changed. As a nation, we have been repeatedly let down by our leaders. The only redeeming value of the current government is that any potential replacement would be far worse. That is our fate – and a good reason we pray daily for judges and counsellors as of old, those who can hasten the coming of Moshiach and the kingdom of G-d on earth. May Moshiach come soon and may Hashem in His mercy spare us the harshest consequences of our folly.
It Wasn’t a Deal – It Was a Crime by Alan M. Dershowitz
January 17, 2025 at 5:00 am
- The decision by the Israeli government to make significant concessions to the Hamas kidnappers should never be called a “deal.” It was an extortion…. The kidnapping was a crime. And the extortionate demand was an additional crime.
- When a terrorist group “negotiates” with a democracy, it always has the upper hand. The terrorists are not constrained by morality, law or truth. They can murder at will, rape at will, torture at will and threaten to do worse. The democracy, on the other hand, must comply with the rules of law and must listen to the pleas of the hostage families.
- Especially complicit, with blood on their hands, are supporters of Hamas on university campuses who chant for intifada and revolution. Also complicit are international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court, that treat Israel and Hamas as equals.
- [L]et us put the blame for ALL the deaths in Gaza where it belongs: on Hamas and the useful idiots and useless bigots who support murderous terrorists.
The decision by the Israeli government to make significant concessions to the Hamas kidnappers should never be called a “deal.” It was an extortion. Would you call it a deal if somebody kidnapped your child and you “agreed” to pay ransom to get her back? Of course not. The kidnapping was a crime. And the extortionate demand was an additional crime. Pictured: A Hamas terrorist holds two of the many Israeli children that Hamas murdered, or abducted and brought as captives to the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. (Image source: Hamas/X [Twitter])
The decision by the Israeli government to make significant concessions to the Hamas kidnappers should never be called a “deal.” It was an extortion. Would you call it a deal if somebody kidnapped your child and you “agreed” to pay ransom to get her back? Of course not. The kidnapping was a crime. And the extortionate demand was an additional crime.
So the proper description of what occurred is that Israel, pressured by the United States, capitulated to the unlawful and extortionate demands of Hamas as the only way of saving the lives of kidnapped babies, mothers and other innocent, mostly civilian, hostages.
This was not the result of a negotiation between equals. If an armed robber puts a gun to your head and says, “your money or your life,” your decision to give him your money would not be described as a deal. Nor should the extorted arrangement agreed to by Israel be considered a deal. So let’s stop using that term.
When a terrorist group “negotiates” with a democracy, it always has the upper hand. The terrorists are not constrained by morality, law or truth. They can murder at will, rape at will, torture at will and threaten to do worse. The democracy, on the other hand, must comply with the rules of law and must listen to the pleas of the hostage families. The result of this exertion was bad for Israel’s security, but good for the hostages who remain alive and their families. The heart rules the brain, as it often does in moral democracies that value the immediate saving of the lives of known people over the future deaths of hypothetical people whose identities we do not know. This tradeoff is understandable as compassionate, even if not compelling as policy.
If every democratic nation adopted a policy of never negotiating with terrorists, it might discourage terrorism. But every nation submits to the demands of kidnappers and extortionists, so terrorism and hostage-taking have become a primary tactic of the worst people in the world. And the rest of us are complicit.
Especially complicit, with blood on their hands, are supporters of Hamas on university campuses who chant for intifada and revolution. Also complicit are international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court, that treat Israel and Hamas as equals. These supporters of terrorism encouraged Hamas to hold out for many months in the belief that their support would pressure Israel into making more concessions.
The students of terror – the university students who are encouraging Hamas into continuing their murderous ways – must be held accountable for their complicity in evil. Though they may have the same First Amendment rights as Jews do, they should be treated with the same contempt that Nazis, the KKK and racist supporters of violence are treated. The First Amendment does not give them the right to be hired by decent employers.
The First Amendment gives employers the power to refuse to associate with supporters of Nazism, Hamas terrorism or other evil groups. American law criminalizes giving material support to designated terrorist groups, which include Hamas and Hezbollah. Morality, as distinguished from law, should deem immoral providing any support — material, political, economic or demonstrative – to any terrorist group such as Hamas. Yet both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Democrat Party urged people to listen to the messages of these protestors. They would never say that about demonstrators who favored lynching blacks or raping women. But Hamas does lynch Jews and rape Jewish women. There is no moral difference.
Let us welcome the news that perhaps 33 of the 98 hostages may be released, some of them alive, with the realization that what Hamas extorted from Israel in return for these releases may well endanger Israel’s security in the future and cost still more innocent lives.
And let us put the blame for ALL the deaths in Gaza where it belongs: on Hamas and the useful idiots and useless bigots who support murderous terrorists.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism, and Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of “The Dershow” podcast.
5 Things You Need to Know About the Hostage Deal [2:25] Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
Jan 15, 2025 Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center
33 hostages are set to return home under this hostage deal, but over 65 still await freedom.
What does this deal really mean? Watch now!
Avi Abelow: Why Did President Trump Pressure Israel to Make a Deal with Hamas?
Iran’s Ayatollahs Expand Encroachment on US Hemisphere (the Caribbean Sea) Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
January 15, 2025
Will the Monroe Doctrine be revitalized in the face of the growing military, economic and diplomatic entrenchment of Iran’s Ayatollahs throughout Latin America?! The Ayatollahs aim to undermine the strategic posture of the US in its own “soft underbelly,” and bring “The Great American Satan” to submission. Against this alarming background, can the US afford to persist in its diplomatic option toward Iran, or revert to President Trump’s maximum pressure economic sanctions, which were proven reversible, while refraining from the irreversible regime-change?!
*”After more than four decades of systematic penetration of Latin America, Iran is reaching its full geopolitical potential in the Western Hemisphere, prepositioning military assets and armaments in the region. Tehran’s goal is to bring the fight to the United States…. Venezuela’s Armed Forces is the first Latin American military to have armed drones in its inventory, courtesy of Iran. In 2021, Venezuela began receiving shipments of Iran-made precision-guided short-range missiles that will likely be used to arm the drones….”
*The Warsaw, Poland-based Defense Industry Europe reports that “Iran’s supply of military systems to Venezuela creates grave concerns in South America. Iranian-made Zolfaghar-class missile boats (a modified version of the North Korean IPS-16) armed with Nasr-1 anti-ship missiles were observed during a July 24, 2023 naval parade in Venezuela [Do the Ayatollahs intend to export the Houthi piracy in the Red Sea to the Caribbean Sea and the Venezuela-Guyana territorial conflict?]. The Iranian defense industry is using straw companies to obtain dual-use components used in their locally manufactured military systems…. Iran is using Venezuela as its front base in South America, intending to target American interests….”
*The Riyadh-based Journal for Iranian Studies indicates that “Iran’s significant and growing presence in Latin America, [is noticed] among governments with adversarial relationships with the United States. [There is] a progression of Iran-Latin American cooperation from diplomatic, cultural and commercial ties to the signing of military agreements and the export of Iranian military technology, notably drones…. to Latin America, which represents a critical region for US national interests and security…. A drone production factory was established [in Venezuela] over a decade ago during Hugo Chavez’s tenure…. These commercial and military agreements help Iran circumvent international sanctions and the 2007 UN arms embargo, providing a venue for Iranian companies affiliated with the [US State Department terror-designated] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to establish a presence beyond Iranian borders, notwithstanding the sanctions…. Bolivian Defense Minister, Edmundo Novillo, disclosed that the [Iran-Bolivia] agreement entailed provisions for acquiring drones and boats aimed at monitoring regional borders…. [He] underscored Bolivia’s need for maintenance services for its aircraft and helicopters [paid for by lithium], acknowledging the technical expertise offered by Iran in this regard….”
*According to the NYC-based The Latin Times, “Iran is increasing its military presence in Venezuela…., establishing a [predator] drone development base at the El Libertador Air Base, where training is carried out for Venezuelan military personnel…. Iran’s Mahan Air, makes direct flights between Caracas and Tehran, violating international sanctions by transporting Venezuelan gold in exchange for Iranian oil….”
*Iran’s Ayatollahs have expanded their Latin American footprint toward the Caribbean Sea in collaboration with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, militarily, economically and diplomatically, supporting Maduro’s territorial claim in Guyana (in defiance of an 1899 US-led arbitration agreement), which Maduro considers as a US proxy. In fact, the accelerated US-Guyana military cooperation, has been in response to Venezuela’s growing military presence along the border with Guyana, which includes Iranian assistance with the construction of an airstrip and training ground next to the Guyana border.
*Iranian (as well as Russian and Chinese) support has bolstered Maduro’s military threat to occupy Guyana’s Essequibo region, which is the size of Florida (2/3 of Guyana’s area). Essequibo’s territorial waters have a bearing on the access from the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and the illicit maritime trade conducted there with the involvement of Iran’s Ayatollahs and Hezbollah.
*Essequibo is rich in off-shore oil and natural gas deposits (mostly discovered in the mid-2010s), gold, bauxite, diamonds and additional natural resources. As reported by a 2023 report of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, significant ExxonMobile’s oil discoveries are projected to make Guyana the world’s 4th largest offshore oil producer by 2035, surpassing countries like the US, Mexico and Norway. In addition, Guyana’s oil has a major competitive advantage in the hydrocarbon market, with most of its oil resources being light crude with lower-than-average carbon emissions and low extraction cost.
* 46 years of the self-destructive US diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs, and 40 years of reversible economic sanctions against Iran, including President Trump’s maximum pressure crippling sanctions, have failed to moderate Iran’s Ayatollahs. This failure has demonstrated that the only way to end the Ayatollahs’ rogue conduct, and thus minimizing the level of wars and terrorism, is through an irreversible regime-change.
CEASEFIRE: Has Trump adopted Biden’s failed Israel policy? w/ Victor Davis Hanson [52:51] Caroline Glick
January 15, 2025 JNS TV – The latest ceasefire deal with Hamas leaves Israel supporters with lots of questions about what to expect from the new Trump administration. Has President Trump changed course and adopted the failed policies of President Biden? Caroline Glick hosts political commentator and expert Victor Davis Hanson to answer these questions and more on today’s episode of the Caroline Glick Show!
California Burning – Part 3 TIERNEY’S REAL NEWS
JAN 15, 2025
This is Part 3 of my report on California Burning. If you haven’t read Parts 1 and Part 2 yet – you should – because they set the scene. It’s the most comprehensive and HONEST coverage you’ll find on the fires.
With a smile on his face, Newsom did a live interview from the scene, and while bobbing and weaving – like he was high on something – said this:
NEWSOM: “We already have a team reimagining Los Angeles 2.0. I was just talking to Josh Green, the governor down in Hawaii, who had some ideas around some land use and speculators coming in, buying up properties. So we’re already working with our legal teams to to move those things forward and we’ll be presenting those in a matter of days, not just weeks.”
Remember that the Maui fire situation was suspiciously similar to what just happened in LA. Same MO – same narrative.
https://x.com/HustleBitch_/status/1878670579676635399
So, basically, Newsom just admitted that they burned it down so something else could be developed and he was happy about it. Hmm. You mean like the 2028 Olympics & a Smart City and a police surveillance state and the multi-family housing to support that – all that I mentioned in Part 2 of this series?
SENATOR MELENDEZ: “When talking about developers buying up the property in LA damaged by the fires, Gavin breaks into a little dance, smiling like someone who’s about to get away with something.”
In September 2024, Newsom signed a bill into law that would allow them to subdivide a lot zoned for “single family” use to be REDEVELOPED as a multi-family building if it is vacant, abandoned and uninhabitable.
So, every structure that burned down can be REDEVELOPED into multi-family or low-income housing. This goes into effect July 2025. Convenient timing, huh?
Look at the map from NASA – thanks to @I_Am_JohnCullen on X. All the red dots are homes that are 100% destroyed and gone. All the black dots are homes that are damaged.
Now – connect those dots with the fact that this area is needed for development to support California’s goal to host t
he 2028 Olympics & convert Los Angeles into a Smart City – a total POLICE STATE.
LA fires clear the way for SmartLA 2028 and 2028 LA Olympics DR. PETER AND GINGER BREGGIN
The coincidences continue to pile up, leading many to declare that the massive neglects, mistakes, and failures resulting in devastation from the LA wildfires was more than a natural disaster.
Jan. 9, 2025 4 pm ET – The LA fires are unprecedented in the number and size of the fires that have broken out in and around the second largest city in the US. Over 1000 structures and 45 square miles are destroyed. More than 380,000 people have been under warnings or orders to evacuate. Over 450,000 people are without power. More than 24 school districts are partially or totally closed. Fire hydrants have run dry. Arsonists in Santa Monica have been caught on camera setting fires. The LA County Sheriff says some areas look like ‘a bomb was dropped.’ President Biden commented on the fires while in LA. He doled out relief funds, and announced he is a first time great-grandfather, and that son Hunter’s home in LA is unharmed. Today Biden gave a national address promising to oversee a full federal response to the wildfires.
The 15 Minute City Plans for Los Angeles
Los Angeles is one of dozens of cities whose “mayors and the cities they lead” are members in the international C40 Cities initiative. This is a movement to achieve the United Nations and globalist goals of restructuring cities to address the manufactured “climate change” crisis. Cities from around the world are participating in this movement.
Funding support comes from many progressive and globalist sources, including the Open Society Foundations run by George Soros and son as well as other supporters. Soros is notorious for training and funding riots in America and for taking many other actions to ruin the economies of sovereign nations, earning him the title among others of the “worst billionaire in the world.” Other contributors are Uber, FedEx, Google, Wellcome, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the UK Government, the European Union, among many others. The World Bank, one of the most predatory globalist institutions which is closely associated with the UN, is a designated Partner.
Los Angeles is all-in on their 15 Minute City plan that they have named the Livable Communities Initiative (LCI): “a plan to address LA’s housing, traffic and climate crisis by building 3-5 stories of gentle density above small retail along carefully chosen commercial streets that are transformed to be walkable, bikeable, and livable.” This sounds like the perfect plan for the now destroyed Pacific Palisades community which is part of Greater Los Angeles. The Pacific Palisades neighborhood was an older community with many quirky and quaint but aged features. A profile of the neighborhood offers further details about the community that existed prior to the fire destruction. Now that the area has suffered such destruction, rebuilding has to occur.
Whether it is a bizarre coincidence or a result of dreadfully bad politics this is the kind of disaster that progressives and globalists love to take advantage of and we can expect to see glowing reports of the coming construction of LA as a shining example of the Olympics and future cities of the world. The only question is, can they get it together in time? We anticipate that all the regulations and red tape that they usually embrace will magically disappear.
We are left with the astonishing serendipity that a huge swath of the City of Los Angeles has been cleared just in time to be made shovel ready for a newer, better, futuristic version of city neighborhoods to be constructed that will be a showcase for the 2028 Olympics. All the sentimentality and the cultural and historic building objections to modernization, not to mention property owned by private individuals who may not want to sell or give up their home or business building, have been swept aside in a 48-hour period by a scorched earth event.
Let the building begin.
Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste
The coincidences continue to pile up, leading many to declare that the massive neglects, mistakes, and failures resulting in devastation from the LA wildfires was more than a natural disaster. Evidence of this has not yet emerged. But Los Angeles is prepared. They already have all the plans in place to build back better. As President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is famous for saying: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
With the LA fires of 2025 the landscape is now prepared for the building of SmartLA 2028, just in time for the Olympics.
SmartLA 2028—The Blueprint is Already in Place
[Ed.: What I don’t get is how they keep getting away with this (Lahaina, Springfield, North Carolina, etc., etc., etc.,) with complete impunity!
Will the LA Fires Now Make Shovel Ready the Globalist Plan for 15 Minute Cities Written up in December of 2020? [VIDEO 45:17] DR. PETER AND GINGER BREGGIN
Dr. Peter Breggin talks with Brannon Howse on WorldViewTube
JAN 12, 2025 – Dr. Peter Breggin and journalist Brannon Howse have an in-depth and vigorous discussion about what really is driving the Los Angeles fires. Here’s a hint: the global predators want to wipe the landscape clean to build a global city that will be planned by the globalists creating an international city independent of the United States and subject to the United Nations and world governance. See the interview here. See the original LA Fires story below.
California Burning – Part 2 TIERNEY’S REAL NEWS
JAN 12, 2025 – This is part 2 of my report on California Burning. You can read Part 1 here which you should read first if you haven’t yet. My purpose in Part 2 of my report is to provide you with some FACTS about where we are at – so you can continue to do your own research and process what you have learned so far.
I have conclusions about the TRUE PURPOSE BEHIND THIS ARSON – but that will be revealed totally in Part 3. I am still awaiting a couple of key pieces of evidence but by the end of this article you’ll see where I am going.
Some of you may say – well, I don’t need to read this – I don’t live in California so this doesn’t matter to me. Yes, it does. This wildfire (and the arsonists and puppet masters behind it) will end up being one of the most important events in American history for many reasons and it is important for us all to understand why it happened and what/who is behind it.
The reason I am presenting this report in segments is because they are purposefully bombarding the public with TOO much information – so we are overwhelmed with emotion and can’t see the forest for the trees. They are sending us down numerous rabbit holes to keep people from focusing on the truth. WE NEED TO PROCESS IT SLOWLY AND FULLY ABSORB THE TRUTH SLOWLY SO WE RETAIN IT AND ARE ABLE TO CONNECT THE DOTS THEY DON’T WANT US TO SEE.
The death toll from the Los Angeles fires is now 16 plus. So far, the LA fires have destroyed over 12,300 homes.
The Palisades Fire is only about 11% contained. The Eaton Fire in Altadena (which has killed 11 people) is still only 15% contained.
To put the size of these fires into perspective, Manhattan is about 15,000 acres. I’m going to focus on the Palisades fire.
CBS did a video of how the Palisades fire spread hour by hour. Here are screenshots from that video:
California Burning TIERNEY’S REAL NEWS
JAN 10, 2025 – For what purpose would the 5th largest economy in the world ALLOW ITSELF to be burned down? If California were a sovereign nation, it would be the 5th-largest economy in the world—ahead of the UK and France.
I’m watching pundits come out and blame climate change or old power lines or lack of water or horrible leadership or whatever. I’m here to prove to you that the cause behind it all is ARSON (either intentional or purposeful) and those other things have simply made it worse and are simply fuel for the fire.
PRAGER U: California has always had wildfires. Long before they renamed “global warming” into “climate change” because the planet was cooling – Californians have had to deal with fires. The hot, bone-dry summer and fall winds, thick forests, and dense brush that cover good portions of the state made sure of that.
As the state’s population grew, the citizens took steps to mitigate that risk. First, there were large-scale logging operations. These helped thin the forest. Then there were “controlled burns” — fires purposely set to clear areas of brush in fire zones which were then quickly extinguished.
The environmental movement forced new regulations to stop logging operations. Cutting down trees for lumber or clearing dead lumber was depicted as an act of cruelty. That’s where the term tree-hugger comes from. Controlled burns were viewed the same way. The environmentalists said we should just let nature do its thing and let it burn. As housing became more expensive in the big cities, developers started to build homes further from metropolitan areas and closer to the wilderness.
Parallel to this was the state’s green energy mandate and diversity mandates. Governor Jerry Brown (with the blessing of his Democrat pals – Pelosi, Clyburn & Schumer) declared that California must be powered entirely by renewable energy—mostly wind and solar—by 2045. Tremendous pressure was put on Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) the state’s largest energy company, to get started tilting at windmills.
President Trump fought Jerry Brown & Gavin Newsom at every turn and rightly predicted disaster. Why did they let it happen anyway?
The GREEN ENERGY MANDATE turned the power company’s resources away from the power grid and forced them to focus on wind and solar.
How did that work? They ran out of energy. In 2019, California became the first state ever to intentionally deny electricity to its own citizens. No power for your home, your Tesla, your cell phone or, maybe, your oxygen tank. How are you going to drive your electric car if there is no electricity?
How did the green energy mandate further help fuel deadlier fires?
Wildfires can be started in all sorts of ways: lightning strikes, campfires not properly put out, a cigarette carelessly tossed away, old power lines or straight-up arson.
One out of every six wildfires in California are started by arson, but the fake news and the Democrats who run California don’t want to tell you that.
Who Really Denied Statehood to the Palestinian People? by Alan M. Dershowitz
January 12, 2025 at 5:00 am Gatestone Institute
- Israel agreed to Palestinian statehood in 1937-1938, 1947-1948, 1967, 2000-2001, and 2007. In each case, it was the Palestinian leadership that refused to agree to the two-state solution….
- The Jews accepted the [1937] Peel partition plan, while the Arabs categorically rejected it, demanding that all of Palestine be placed under Arab control and that most of the Jewish population of Palestine be “transferred” — ethnically cleansed — out of the country…
- The Jewish leadership [in 1948] declared statehood in the area allocated to it by the UN. The Arab leadership responded by declaring a genocidal war against the new state of the Jewish people. They did not want a Palestinian state. And they wanted there to be no Jewish state.
- No one, therefore, should believe that it was Israel that has made the Palestinian people stateless. It was the Palestinians themselves… The current anti-Israel protesters in the West are not calling for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel. They, like the failed Palestinian leadership, just wants to end Israel’s existence. It is not going to happen. Until the Palestinians recognize this reality, they will be denying themselves any possibility of statehood.
- In 1937, the Jews accepted the partition plan of the Peel Commission, while the Arabs categorically rejected it, demanding that all of Palestine be placed under Arab control and that most of the Jewish population of Palestine be “transferred” — ethnically cleansed — out of the country. Pictured: Lord William Peel (right) and Sir Horace Rumbold (left) leave the British War Cemetery on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem in 1936, as part of their work on the Peel Commission. (Image source: Library of Congress)
One of the most pervasive myths of the Palestinian protest movement is that Israel has denied statehood to the Palestinian people. To the contrary, Israel agreed to Palestinian statehood in 1937-1938, 1947-1948, 1967, 2000-2001, and 2007. In each case, it was the Palestinian leadership that refused to agree to the two-state solution that would have created a Palestinian state, alongside a state for Jewish inhabitants.
In 1937 – in the midst of the terrorist revolt inspired by Adolf Hitler’s ally, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – the British published the Palestine Royal Commission Report (also known as the Peel Commission Report).
The Commission recommended a partition plan by which to resolve what it characterized as “irrepressible conflict… between two national communities within the narrow bounds of one small country.” Because of the general hostility and hatred of the Jews by the Muslims, “national assimilation between Arabs and Jews is… ruled out.” Nor could the Jews be expected to accept Muslim rule over them, especially since Husseini made it clear that most of the Jews would be transferred out of Palestine if the Muslims gained complete control. The Peel Commission concluded that partition was the only solution.
The Peel Commission plan proposed a Jewish state in areas in which there was a clear Jewish majority. Divided into two non-contiguous sections, the northern portion extended from Tel Aviv to the current border with Lebanon. It consisted largely of a 10-mile-wide strip of land from the Mediterranean east to the end of the coastal plain, then a somewhat wide area from Haifa to the Sea of Galilee. A southern portion, disconnected from the northern one by a British controlled area that included Jerusalem, with its majority Jewish population, extended from South Jaffa to north of Gaza.
The proposed Arab state was, on the other hand, entirely contiguous and encompassed the entire Negev, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It was several times larger than the proposed Jewish state. The population of the proposed Jewish state would have included 300,000 Jews and 190,000 Arabs. Another 75,000 Jews lived in Jerusalem, which would have remained under British control.
The Commission also alluded to how partition would help the rescue of Europe’s Jews from Nazism.
The Jews accepted the Peel partition plan, while the Arabs categorically rejected it, demanding that all of Palestine be placed under Arab control and that most of the Jewish population of Palestine be “transferred” — ethnically cleansed — out of the country, because “this country [cannot] assimilate the Jews now in the country.” The Peel Commission implicitly recognized that it was not so much that the Arabs wanted self-determination as that they did not want the Jews to have self-determination or sovereignty over the land the Jews themselves had cultivated and in which they were a majority.
The Arabs of Palestine wanted to be part of Syria and be ruled over by a distant monarch. They simply could not abide the reality that the Jews of Palestine had created for themselves a democratic homeland pursuant to the League of Nations mandate and binding international law. Even if turning down the Peel proposal resulted in no state for the Arabs, that was preferable to allowing even a tiny, non-contiguous state for the Jews.
Following the end of World War II, the United Nations also recommended partition of the area into two states — one for the Arab population, the other for the Jewish population. Once again, the Arab leadership rejected the two-state solution, while the Jewish leadership accepted it. The Jewish leadership declared statehood in the area allocated to it by the UN. The Arab leadership responded by declaring a genocidal war against the new state of the Jewish people. They did not want a Palestinian state. And they wanted there to be no Jewish state.
As soon as Israel declared its independence, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded it, with help from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Libya. Arab armies, with the help of local Arab terrorists, determined to destroy the new Jewish state and exterminate its population.
After the Six Day War of 1967, which resulted in Israel capturing the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem, Israel signaled its willingness to negotiate land for peace. However, the Arab League met in Khartoum and issued the famous “Three No’s”: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel. This led Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abba Eban, to equip: “I think that this is the first war in history that has ended with the victors suing for peace and the vanquished calling for unconditional surrender.”
According to former US President Bill Clinton, the Israelis, in 2000-2001, offered to withdraw from approximately 96% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip in exchange for peace. The Palestinians were offered large land swaps from Israel in exchange for the small amount of land that would remain under Israeli control. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat rejected that offer and — presumably to change the subject and deflect the blame — initiated a wave of terrorist attacks that left thousands dead.
In 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered an even better deal. Once again, the Palestinian leadership did not accept the offer. As one Israeli leader put it, “The Palestinians don’t know how to take yes for an answer.”
It is therefore not correct to claim that Israel denied the Palestinians statehood. The Palestinian leadership did.
The Palestinians may deserve to have a peaceful state, but their claim is no greater than that of the Tibetans, the Kurds, the Chechens, and other stateless groups. These other groups, unlike the Palestinians, have never even been offered statehood, let alone repeatedly turned it down.
No one, therefore, should believe that it was Israel that has made the Palestinian people stateless. It was the Palestinians themselves, through their anti-Jewish leadership. The current anti-Israel protesters in the West are not calling for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel. They, like the failed Palestinian leadership, just wants to end Israel’s existence. It is not going to happen. Until the Palestinians recognize this reality, they will be denying themselves any possibility of statehood.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism, and Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of “The Dershow” podcast.
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