COMMENTARY / OPINION
Why The Palestinian Authority Will Not Be Able to Control Gaza by Khaled Abu Toameh
The US Must Cut Ties with Qatar, Designate the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization
February 3, 2025 at 5:00 am
- The failure of the Palestinian Authority’s security operation against the Jenin gunmen shows why the PA cannot be trusted to assume control over the Gaza Strip, where thousands of Hamas and PIJ terrorists continue to operate, especially after the recent US-brokered ceasefire-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas.
- Like Abbas, no Arab country will invest in or get involved in the Gaza Strip as long as Iran’s Islamist proxies continue to dominate it. Given the recent return of hundreds of convicted terrorists released from Israeli prisons to the streets in exchange for hostages — many of whom are dead — the possibility of another October 7-style atrocity against Israelis is still all too real.
- President Donald J. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, may have the best of intentions, but unfortunately appears to have placed his trust in his real estate business associate, Qatar, which is a major funder of Hamas.
- Witkoff, who regrettably took a terrible, ready-to-wear deal from the Biden administration… is proving an unfortunate embarrassment to Trump.
- From the beginning, the deal should have been, as then-President-elect Trump put it, that all the hostages must be released before his inauguration or “all hell will break out.” Such a warning presupposes that all the hostages, dead and alive, are placed at the border, on a certain date at a certain time. No negotiations, no release of hundreds of terrorists, nothing… It would be interesting to know how Trump’s strong, original vision got so badly derailed.
- “Qatar is at the top of funding terrorism worldwide, even more than Iran.” — Ehud Levi, retired head of the Mossad’s unit for economic warfare against terrorist organizations, Ynet, April 18, 2024.
- Qatar’s plan undoubtedly is to see that Hamas, one of its preeminent clients, remains in power. As the mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas through its vast television empire, Al Jazeera, Qatar does not want to see Israel in the region any more than Hamas does.
- There is only one viable way to address the Gaza Strip’s problems: discard Qatar as a supposedly honest broker (it is not), designate the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization (it is), disarm all the terrorist groups, and oust Hamas completely from power.
Qatar and Egypt are now spearheading efforts to bring the Palestinian Authority (PA) back to the Gaza Strip. The two countries are apparently trying to persuade the US administration to back the idea.
If the PA has been unable, or perhaps unwilling, to rein in dozens of gunmen in the West Bank, how can anyone expect it to take control of the Gaza Strip, where thousands of terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) continue to operate? PA President Mahmoud Abbas is not foolish enough to send his men to the Gaza Strip, where they are likely to be slaughtered again, as they were in 2007.
In the eyes of Hamas and many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Abbas and the PA are traitors, mainly because they conduct security coordination with Israel in the West Bank. Abbas is aware that if and when he dares to enter the Gaza Strip, he will meet the same fate as Palestinians suspected of “collaboration” with Israel: he will be murdered.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire-for-hostages agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect last month, Hamas has executed several Palestinians and shot others in the legs after accusing them of “collaboration” with Israel. The executions are aimed at sending a message to Abbas as to what awaits him and his men should they set foot in the Gaza Strip.
A few weeks ago, the Palestinian Authority launched a major security operation against Iran-backed armed groups in Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank, which were threatening Abbas’s rule.
After besieging the camp for 40 days and killing and arresting several Palestinians, the PA and the gunmen, most of whom belong to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, reached an agreement to end the PA operation. According to the agreement, the PA security forces would stop pursuing the gunmen in the camp and release detainees. In return, PA forces would be allowed to remain in the camp. The agreement, however, did not end the “presence of armed groups” in the camp, thereby signaling the failure of the PA’s security operation. It is estimated that dozens of gunmen continue to operate inside the camp, as well as in several nearby Palestinian towns.
The failure of the Palestinian Authority’s security operation against the Jenin gunmen shows why the PA cannot be trusted to assume control over the Gaza Strip, where thousands of Hamas and PIJ terrorists continue to operate, especially after the recent US-brokered ceasefire-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas.
Immediately after the ceasefire-hostages agreement was announced, thousands of armed Hamas and PIJ terrorists reappeared on the streets of the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of the terrorists had been hiding in tunnels, hospitals and humanitarian zones during the 15-month Israel-Hamas war, which started after the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. More than 1,200 Israelis were murdered and thousands wounded during the attack. Another 250 Israelis, including children, women and the elderly, were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and “ordinary” Palestinians.
As Abbas’s security operation was underway in Jenin Refugee Camp, Hamas denounced the Palestinian Authority for its “catastrophic [security] coordination” with Israel. Hamas also held the PA responsible for the Palestinian “bloodletting” and accused it of committing a crime against the Palestinian people. Hamas, in other words, is saying that Abbas is a traitor who has Palestinian blood on his hands.
It is wrong to assume that Hamas or any other terrorist organization would consent to the PA regaining security control of the Gaza Strip. At most, Hamas will permit the PA to renter the Gaza Strip as a civilian body tasked with funding reconstruction efforts and paying salaries.
For now, Abbas feels safer living under Israeli security control in the West Bank than being with the masked terrorists of Hamas and PIJ in the Gaza Strip. Like Abbas, no Arab country will invest in or get involved in the Gaza Strip as long as Iran’s Islamist proxies continue to dominate it. Given the recent return of hundreds of convicted terrorists released from Israeli prisons to the streets in exchange for hostages — many of whom are dead — the possibility of another October 7-style atrocity against Israelis is still all too real.
President Donald J. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, may have the best of intentions, but unfortunately appears to have placed his trust in his real estate business associate, Qatar, which is a major funder of Hamas. Witkoff recently sold to Qatar the Park Lane Hotel in New York City, “once called the world’s greatest site for development.”
Witkoff, who regrettably took a terrible, ready-to-wear deal from the Biden administration — a deal ensuring that Hamas will remain in power in the Gaza Strip — is proving an unfortunate embarrassment to Trump.
From the beginning, the deal should have been, as then-President-elect Trump put it, that all the hostages must be released before his inauguration or “all hell will break out.” Such a warning presupposes that all the hostages, dead and alive, are placed at the border, on a certain date at a certain time. No negotiations, no release of hundreds of terrorists, nothing — just like the release of American hostages from Iran under President Ronald Reagan in 1981. It would be interesting to know how Trump’s strong, original vision got so badly derailed.
Qatar is a major funder of Hamas, with donations of more than $1 billion annually.
Qatar has also for decades been a state sponsor of Islamist terrorism in general (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
According to Ehud Levi, retired head of the Mossad’s unit for economic warfare against terrorist organizations, “Qatar is at the top of funding terrorism worldwide, even more than Iran.”
Qatar’s plan undoubtedly is to see that Hamas, one of its preeminent clients, remains in power. As the mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas through its vast television empire, Al Jazeera, Qatar does not want to see Israel in the region any more than Hamas does.
Qatar has “spent nearly $6 billion since 2007 lobbying the American government and funneling cash to the United States’ top universities,” according to the investigative journalist Adam Kredo of the Free Beacon.
“In 2023, the country spent $5 million lobbying the American government. Another $11 million was spent on nongovernment lobbying expenses, according to public records. From 2020 to 2022, Doha spent more than $130 million on government and nongovernment lobbying efforts.
“Qatar also has invested heavily in America, spending more than $30 billion as of 2019 through its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, according to the State Department.”
There is only one viable way to address the Gaza Strip’s problems: discard Qatar as a supposedly honest broker (it is not), designate the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization (it is), disarm all the terrorist groups, and oust Hamas completely from power.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
GAZA WAR DIARY: 2 FEBRUARY 2025 By Naomi Ragen
Another week in which the joy of hostages released was mitigated by the horror of terrorists released. The images of hundreds of thousands of Gazans mindlessly hurrying back to their “homes” in the north was a bit surrealistic, especially when they were halted in their path because of Hamas’ failure to release hostage Arbel Yahud. They will all remember her name.
I have to say I had a certain sense of glee seeing these Hamas supporters encountering for the first time what the IDF has done in northern Gaza. Many turned around and headed straight back to where they came from, complaining loudly that Hamas had tricked them, and that there was no water and no electricity… and no house. In one especially amusing video, a Gazan stands in his bombed out apartment and says: “It’s okay as long as the walls are still standing,” reaching out to touch a wall which immediately crumbles. Ha!
I’m not being mean. The images of Gazans – including women and children – surrounding the young women IDF observers as they were released showed that there are no innocents in Gaza and they haven’t learned anything. So yes, I think it’s delightful to watch them discovering what their “Flood” has accomplished for them. Morons. But I have to say they are being inventive in keep up a brave face. One Gazan asked someone to tell him if his house was still standing. “Yes, it’s standing,” he was told. “But it’s on its knees bowing to Allah.”
Gazans are still stubbornly claiming victory: Senior Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya: “What happened on October 7 is a military victory that will remain a source of pride for our people, our nation, and future generations.”
I agree with Abu Ali who says: “Allowing Hamas any achievements whatsoever – and securing the release of over one thousand jailed Palestinian terrorists is a major achievement – justifies the events of Oct. 7 and their devastating aftermath in the eyes of the Palestinians. The effect will be even worse if the West pushes for the rapid creation of a Palestinian state in response to this war.”
We have to keep fighting. We have to win a decisive victory. We have to hunt down and kill every, single terrorist murderer released under duress from our jails. And most of all we have to institute the death penalty so that this revolving door finally has a stopper.
While we might have a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, the IDF is now in a full scale war against terrorists in Judea and Samaria, adjacent to the population centers in the heart of Israel. “Operation Iron Wall” in Jenin represents a “shift in Israel’s security doctrine in Judea and Samaria,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz. According to Israel Today: “the goal is to eradicate the Iran-funded terrorist infrastructure that threatens Jewish life in the biblical heartland and beyond.” “Belt of Fire” attacks that are familiar from the wars in Gaza and Lebanon but have never yet been seen in Judea and Samaria, have destroyed 23 buildings in Jenin, whose population of terror supporters have been banished. It is absolutely necessary, and we are glad this is happening.
In Gaza and Lebanon, Israel is closely observing and reacting decisively to any ceasefire violations. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit on Sunday reported that “An IAF aircraft fired at a suspicious vehicle that was advancing northward from the central Gaza Strip along a route that is not the agreed inspection route, thus violating the framework of the agreement.” The vehicle was destroyed, and several stupid people got what they deserved.
In Lebanon, Israel is conscious of the very chummy relationship of the Lebanese Army with Hezbollah as the latter attempts to reestablish its presence in the villages along the border with Israel. But I was happy to see the special envoy Trump has appointed to discuss these violations with the Lebanese government was wearing a huge diamond Magen David around her neck (I have the same, exact one.). Morgan Ortagus who takes over from Amos Hochstein, is a Jewish convert and a very firm Israel supporter. She is very experienced and played an important role in the David Accords.
The new Chief of Staff taking over from Herzi Halevi is Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, currently Director General of the Ministry of Defense. Across the board, the appointment has earned praise and support among all parties and factions.
A true professional, he is exactly what we need. Known to be in favor of Israel developing and producting its own weapons, he had this to say
Today: “We were all brought up on the phrase ‘The State of Israel will defend itself by itself.’ I now also tell you that the State of Israel will produce its own munitions, in the face of any threat and any scenario… Reducing dependence on the world is good for security, for the economy and for the industry. It will also prove itself in the export of security technologies… Our neighbors, from Iran to Gaza, from Yemen to Beirut and Damascus, are mistaken about us. The people of Israel and the IDF are strong. At the moment of truth, we see a fighting nation. We must salute the IDF, its fighters and commanders. They saved the State of Israel. The Ministry of Defense gave the IDF the tools, the support and the safety net to meet the challenge. In the war, the IDF rose from the depths – the enemies on all fronts were defeated and their leaders are buried under the rubble, but the campaign is not over and the challenges are still ahead of us. We must remember the heavy price we paid in casualties and wounded. 2025 will be another year of war. The Ministry of Defense must continue to build the force and support the needs of the IDF and the national security missions.”
Of all the hostages, the released young women observers tug at our heartstrings the most. They were, after all, IDF soldiers and were captured because of an IDF failure to listen to their warnings that war was about to break out. They say that they were abducted rather late on October 7 and were thus aware of the magnitude of the atrocities. From the bomb shelter where they barricaded themselves, they witnessed the death and murder of their friends. It has had a significant effect on them. They also said they used black humor to communicate, occasionally dropping in Arabic words as they all became proficient in the language.
They are now together at Beilinson Hospital surrounded by close friends and family. Recovery will hopefully be complete in the end. Such brave young women! Barely out of their teens! They are awesome.
Naama Levy was held hostage on her own for a long time until she was united with the other girls. Then she asked them if they were really alive. Four of the girls tried to pass the time with physical exercise despite the difficult condition they were held in and the lack of food.
American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegal, released on Saturday, thought his son had been murdered and then heard his voice on the radio All of the hostages were held in tunnels for months and starved, even as truckloads of food allowed Hamas to stuff themselves, if the beefy operatives guarding the girls are any indication.
One can only imagine the feelings of released hostage Yarden Bibas, husband of Shiri and those little red-heads we have all been following. Yarden did his best to protect his family as terrorists overran Kibbutz Nir Oz. But he was overwhelmed. He was kept in cages, beaten, starved and tormented constantly by his captors over the fate of his wife and children. I am sure his return without knowing what happened to them must be heartbreaking. Gazans are Nazis.
No, this war isn’t over. And many hostages remain. At present, there is no clear plan for when second phase negotiations will begin – or so says
Qatar’s foreign minister. Since Qatar is Hamas’ main supporter, their prominent role as “negotiator” is bizarre, don’t you think? What we are waiting for, is for the last hostage to be freed, and for the IDF to return and finish them off!
As seventy bloodthirsty released Hamas prisoners now housed in an Eygptian hotel are finding out, nobody actually wants them. Turning buildings into rubble isn’t enough unless all the Gazans responsible for these atrocities are underneath them.
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived in Israel since 1971. She has published thirteen internationally best-selling novels, and is the author of a hit play, “Women’s Minyan”, that has been performed more than 600 times in Israel’s National Theatre as well as in the United States and Argentine. Naomi has written for the Jerusalem Post and other publications in Israel and abroad, as well as to her blog list, about Israel and Jewish issues. An Orthodox woman, feminist and iconoclast, Naomi is a tireless advocate for women’s rights in Israel, waging a relentless campaign against domestic abuse and bias in rabbinical courts, as well as a successful Supreme Court case against gender segregation on Israeli buses.
Denying the Jewish Past By Alex Grobman PhD.
5 Shevat 5785 – February 2, 2025
No one can realistically be expected to know everything about the Palestinian Arab/Israeli conflict, yet there are recurring canards that one should be prepared to address with some level of knowledge.
In order to delegitimize the Jewish state, Arabs often deny the Jewish historical connection to the land, especially the city of Jerusalem.
Denying the Historical Connection of Jews to the Land of Israel
One example involves Dennis Ross, the chief US Middle East peace negotiator from 1988 to 2001. In his book The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East, Ross relates how Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the (Palestinian Authority) PA, claimed that in all the archeological excavations conducted during 34 years near the Western Wall, they “found not a single stone that the Temple of Solomon was there, because historically the Temple was not in Palestine [at all]. They found only remnants of a shrine of the Roman Herod.”
At the 2000 Camp David summit, Yasser Arafat alleged that “Solomon’s Temple was not in Jerusalem, but Nablus.” Ross understood that in making this outrageous charge, Arafat “was challenging the core of Jewish faith, and seeking to deny Israel any claim in the old City.” This absurd assertion and Arafat’s history of incitement and involvement in the murder of Israelis should have signaled that the US was once again being duped and played as a fool. Yet Ross and President Bill Clinton ignored Arafat’s rantings, because an agreement was their ultimate goal.
According to Yael Yehoshua writing in MEMRI, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Arafat’s successor, also impugns Israel’s “claim that 2000 years ago they had a temple. I challenge that this is so.”
Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, quotes Dr. Hassan Khader, founder of the Al Quds Encyclopedia on PA TV, who claimed, “The first connection of the Jews to this site [the Western Wall] began in the 16th Century…The Jewish connection to this site is a recent connection, not ancient…like the roots of the Islamic connection…The Jewish connection to this site is a fabricated connection, a coincidental connection.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Sheik Raed Salah, who directs the northern faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel, also denied the Temple ever existed, insisting that, “the claims of the Jews are big lies, and they have no right to any speck of dust here.”
In addition, some members of the Arab academic community have gone so far as to deny Israel’s legitimacy by portraying the Jewish state as a product of colonialism and that Jews have a tenuous claim to the land at best.
Employing Archeology
Among those espousing of this view is Nadia Abu El-Haj, a professor of anthropology at Barnard College. She argues that Israeli archeologists use their profession to prove Israel’s right to establish a Jewish national homeland in a land where Jews never lived.
In her book Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society, she contends that “There never was an actual metropole [mother city] for Jewish settlers in Palestine…the projects of settlement and of nation-building developed at one and the same time on a single colonial terrain.” In the process, the Israelis have “erased other geographies. Most centrally, it effaced Arab/Palestinian claims to and presences within the very same place.”
Establishing the Historic Jewish Presence
William G. Dever, an American archaeologist and biblical scholar, said archeologists have been using the evidence found in archeological excavations as an additional method to authenticate Israel’s claim to a Jewish presence in the land from the time of Joshua bin-Nun (1354 BCE-1244 BCE) to the Arab conquest in the 7th century .
The archeological evidence is significant.
Samaria
The Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology (Aiba) describes the extensive excavations of Samaria by Harvard University, the British Academy, the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, the Palestine Exploration Fund and The Hebrew University.
Samaria, founded by the Israelite king Omri during the mid-to-late ninth century BCE, served as Israel’s capital for roughly 200 years. Writing in Aiba, Seth Malone said, “Understanding ancient Samaria is crucial to understanding biblical history. As the capital of the north, Samaria was more than just a city, it was a symbol for the kingdom of Israel.”
Excavations, which began more than a 100 years ago, indicate proof of significant infrastructure, sophisticated fortifications, and royal palaces. Malone concludes that “The archaeological findings at Samaria paint a detailed picture of what the ancient city was like, highlighting the luxurious lifestyle of the monarchs and the cosmopolitan nature of its society.”
The centrality of Jerusalem
Attempts to deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem are part of this unrelenting war against Israel.
Shalom Paul, a professor of Bible at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and chair of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, and Dever said that beginning in 2004, Israeli archeologists examined the ruins the Waqf deposited in the Kidron Valley, Slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem. Among the rubble, they found remnants from the late period of the kings of Judea (8th and 7th centuries BCE) including a seal of impression in ancient Hebrew script of the last days of the First Temple.
In an article in Abia, Christopher Eames reports on an excavation where coinage produced by the Jewish people in rebellion against Roman rule was found at the City of David National Park’s sifting project. “Nothing says ‘revolt’ and ‘self-determination’ like the creation of one’s own coins,” he said. .At times, the Roman coinage “was decorated with religious Jewish symbols and ancient Hebrew script, the type used.”
He adds that “one coin is labeled ‘Year Two’ (of the Revolt)—unsurprising, as most of the Revolt coins found are from this year (67–68 C.E).” But this one is different.
“This is a rare find,” said Dr. Robert Kool, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s coin department. “Out of many thousands of coins discovered to date in archeological excavations, only about 30 coins are made of silver, from the period of the Great Revolt (66–70 C.E.).”
Kool explained that “since the temple was the prime treasury of silver in Israel, we can say with caution that this coin is, apparently, one of the only items we hold today that originated on the temple itself.”
One side of the coin displays the image of a cup and the ancient Hebrew text “Israel Shekel, Year Two;” the other face has the words “Holy Jerusalem” and a depiction of pomegranates. (Other revolt coins typically read “For the Freedom of Zion;” Year Four coins, in a sign of desperation due to the besieged capital, read “For the Redemption of Zion.”)
Palestinian Media Watch founder Itamar Marcus says the main target of denying the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem is supposedly the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israel allegedly schemes to demolish to build the Jewish Temple. Palestinian Authority political and religious leaders, officials and academics refer to the Temple as Al-Haikal Al-Maz’oom, the “alleged Temple.”
The question of the centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish people is irrefutable from many sources. Historian Rivkah Duker Fishman examined the works of Greek and Roman authors of classical antiquity from nearly 20 diverse sources dating from the third century BCE to the third century CE, roughly six centuries.
Fishman found that the authors of these historic works unanimously agreed that Jerusalem was Jewish since it was “founded by Jews, its inhabitants were Jews and that the Temple, located in Jerusalem, was the center of the Jewish religion.”
Even though some of these authors like Manetho, Apion, Tacitus and Juvenal held clearly negative views about Jews and Judaism, they were completely in accord about the Jewish identity of Jerusalem.
After its destruction in 70 CE, the memory of the Temple persisted in the retrospective histories by Tacitus and by Cassius Dio.”
Archeology in Perspective
Shalom Paul and William G. Dever place the role of archeology in perspective. They assert that it is essential to understand that the connection between archeology and the Bible is frequently misconstrued. “The most dangerous error” is to assume that the role of archeology is “to prove the Bible.”
Faith in the Bible is founded on history, but fundamentally “biblical faith is beyond history: it is a way of viewing the result of God’s action in history which interprets events through the ‘eyes of the faith.’” With regard to the Land of Israel, the Bible’s “claim is not that Israel took the Land, but that God gave the Land to Israel.”
This declaration is not open for investigation since this is a matter of faith which archeology cannot prove or disprove. Archeology increases our ability to study the Bible in the context of contemporaneous events, and becomes a valuable tool to understand the life of the Jews who lived in the land of Israel.
Inadvertently Acknowledging Jewish Connection
Even when the Palestinian Arabs unintentionally concede the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, this contradiction is hardly, if ever, exposed in the media declares Itamar Marcus. When a Judean Shekel coin from the year 66 CE, the first year of the Jewish rebellion against Rome, for example, was sold in auction in March 2012, the PA daily claimed the Hebrew coin to be an “ancient Palestinian coin” and part of the “Palestinian cultural tradition.” As a result, the PA categorically admitted the Jewish people’s historical presence in the land of Israel by citing the Jewish revolt against the Romans.
War Room’s Steve Bannon on the Purge of the Administrative State (VIDEO)
Trump intends to defeat radical Islamic lobby, sympathetic to Hamas, in the leadership of Ukraine By Slavisha Milaćic
February 3, 2025
The Republicans who came to power in the United States, who are particularly sympathetic to the Israelis, decided to eradicate the Islamic lobby in the Ukrainian military department. The administration of American President Donald Trump has already initiated a large-scale audit in the Ukrainian military department to check the spending of previously allocated funds. This has already led to the first resignations of Ukrainian officials. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has come under attack.
Another scandal has broken out in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. According to the statement of the “Anti-Corruption Action Center”, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has opened a criminal case on abuse of power from official position. https://antac.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/25_0124_20_TSPK_z_NABU_st_364_KKU.pdf This article provides for a punishment of up to six years in prison. According to Ukrainian media, even the head of the military department, Rustem Umerov, may suffer. https://www.unian.ua/politics/rustem-umyerov-nabu-rozpochalo-kriminalne-provadzhennya-proti-ministra-oboroni-ukrajini-12898842.html
Under public pressure, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was forced to fire his key deputy minister, Dmitry Klimenkov, who was responsible for arms procurement. According to the official version, Klimenkov lost his position due to the failure of procurement for the Ukrainian army. According to the unofficial version, due to the resale of Western military aid to Islamist movements in the Middle East, which could soon cause harm to the Ukrainian Defense Minister himself.
The fact is that the administration of American President Donald Trump has declared the need to conduct an investigation and find out where Ukraine spent the billions of dollars allocated to it. “There are a lot of really good reasons to be concerned because Ukraine has been known as a place of corruption, a place of money laundering,” said Cash Patel, a candidate for the post of FBI director.
In addition, an audit of the funds already allocated will be conducted. The audit will be conducted, among others, by the United States Ministry of Defense
Weapons for Ukraine ended up in Hamas
Earlier, journalists reported that during the IDF operation in Gaza and its environs, caches with military equipment of European and American production intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine were discovered.
Sources of the Algerian publication Menadefense reported that Deputy Ministers of Defense of Ukraine Yuriy Dzhigir and Dmitry Klimenkov, responsible for finance and procurement of the defense department, were behind the arms supplies to Hamas. https://www.menadefense.net/middle-east/hamas-sourcing-weapons-in-ukraine/
In Israel, back in June 2023, there were concerns that weapons supplied to Ukraine could be used in the Middle East. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Benjamin Netanyahu reported that Western anti-tank weapons intended for the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been spotted on the borders of Israel.
The Hamas attack of 2023 confirmed the validity of Tel Aviv’s mistrust of Kyiv. The Palestinian group then acquired FGM-148 Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missile launchers, as well as AT4 missile launchers made in the US and Sweden. These weapons were supplied to Ukraine, but a considerable part of them ended up in the Gaza Strip due to corruption in the top leadership of Ukraine and sympathy for the militants on the part of high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense.
In order to protect Israel from Islamist attacks in the future, Trump and his circle are interested in understanding what happened with military equipment and to punish Ukraine for corruption
Umerov’s counter steps
After the looming reputational threat, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov decided to terminate the contract with the head of the Defense Procurement Agency, Maria Bezrukova. He appointed his trusted man, fellow countryman, ethnic Crimean Tatar and Muslim Arsen Zhumadilov, as the new director of the Defense Procurement Agency. Previously, he headed the Defense Ministry procurement agency “State Rear Operator”, and was engaged in the procurement of food for the Ukrainian army. Zhumadilov and Umerov have long-standing friendly relations. This reshuffle will allow Umerov to retain his influence in the sphere of arms supplies even after a possible resignation, which is now not excluded due to the scandal with the initiation of a criminal case.
Muslims in the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
Earlier, the German media outlet Publikum wrote that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is ruled by an Islamic lobby sympathetic to Hamas. It is involved in secret deliveries of weapons supplied by the West as military aid to Islamist groups. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, an ethnic Crimean Tatar, is helped by his Muslim subordinates to carry out the uninterrupted illegal sale of military equipment. https://publikum.net/ukrainisches-verteidigungsministerium-wird-von-einer-islamischen-lobby-beherrscht-die-mit-der-hamas-sympathisiert/
The office of President Volodymyr Zelensky encourages the Islamic lobby in the military leadership. The resale of military equipment to Islamist movements meets the interests of both the functionaries of the Ukrainian military department and the president’s entourage: the former fulfill an ideological duty, the latter make good money on it.
Rustem Umerov is the first Crimean Tatar and Muslim to head a Ukrainian ministry, but he is not the only follower of Islam in the current leadership of the Ministry of Defense. The dismissed Dmitry Klimenkov voluntarily converted to Islam many years ago.
In May 2019, in an interview with the YouTube channel Seytumer Bağçaraylı, Klimenkov said that he, an ethnic Ukrainian, “had been a Muslim all his life, but did not know it.” In this religion, Klimenkov, who adopted the name Daud when he converted to Islam, found answers that fully corresponded to his concept of God. The deputy defense minister’s wife and children also converted to Islam.
Klimenkov’s interview, in which he portrays himself as a devout Muslim, has not attracted public attention, perhaps due to the small audience of the Seytumer Bağçaraylı channel. Klimenkov himself does not advertise his religious affiliation, although he uses his Muslim name, Daud, on his social media account X. https://twitter.com/Daud_Klimenkov
Sympathies of Umerov and his entourage for radical Islamists
Until 2023, the current Minister of Defense of Ukraine was not noticed in excessive publicity. Umerov entered big politics in 2019, when he became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. After three years in the Ukrainian parliament, he briefly headed the State Property Fund. When Umerov replaced Reznikov as Minister of Defense, information about his participation in negotiations on a grain deal and in the process of exchanging prisoners with Russia began to be widely circulated.
Former colleagues in the Verkhovna Rada described Umerov as a successful negotiator with the Arab world. The Minister of Defense has had close ties to the Middle East for a long time, since the time when he accompanied the leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement, Mustafa Dzhemilev, a well-known follower of the ideology of nationalism and radicalism, on foreign trips. Officially, Umerov was Dzhemilev’s adviser, but in fact, his right hand and successor. Zhumadilov was also Dzhemilev’s subordinate – he headed the department for ensuring the activities of the presidential commissioner for the affairs of the Crimean Tatar people.
Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Nikolov previously reported that Klimenkov is listed as a co-founder of the Muslim religious community “Unity of Muslims” in the Desnyansky district of Kyiv. It holds joint events with the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and the ASTEM Foundation. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people has long established partnerships with the Palestinians and held meetings with them. The de facto leader of the Mejlis is the same Dzhemilev, and the co-founder of the ASTEM Foundation is his protégé Umerov. https://www.facebook.com/yuurii.nikolov/posts/pfbid0ZM8mFm9huKCDTU13msg7t4zHbg3aH6QrKwqEtkjsdB3Jd7WdqT5W6NKKNBtgnV8zl
Like Umerov, the fired Klimenkov and the appointed Zhumadilov are experienced procurement managers. Skills acquired in the corporate sector and in government service, connections to Arab countries, and an ideologically motivated sympathy for radical Islamist groups seem to have helped Umerov’s team quickly and smoothly establish shadow arms supplies to militants.
But now, with the help of the Americans, the Israelis are preparing their response. Most likely, Klimenkov’s resignation is a preventive step by Umerov to hide traces of the illegal business of reselling weapons to the Middle East. After all, large-scale inspections initiated by the Trump administration are ahead.
Witkoff Meets PLO Leader Who Vowed to Spend ‘Last Penny’ Financing Terror BY DANIEL GREENFIELD
JAN 31, 2025 5:00 PM
What is Witkoff doing?
Fresh from his success of implementing the Biden plan and saving Hamas, Steven Witkoff, acting as Trump’s Middle East Envoy, went to Saudi Arabia, homeland of the 9/11 hijackers, and met with a top PLO leader.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee and head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs, who is apparently the leading candidate to replace ‘Abbas,
The meeting between Witkoff and Hussein al-Sheikh took place amid efforts by the Trump administration to end the war in Gaza and push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal that includes a path toward a Palestinian state.
Hussein al-Sheikh isn’t just an Abbas adviser, he’s a possible successor to the aging PLO tyrant (or at least he was until he was recorded badmouthing Abbas) to run the Palestinian Authority.
And Al-Sheikh has a vision. Terror and more terror.
According to a MEMRI report, Sheikh claimed the Palestinians would spend every single dime they have on the so-called martyrs (dead terrorists) and their families as well as imprisoned terrorists.
Sheikh said, “I would like to reassure you of our firm and unwavering commitment: Our martyrs, prisoners, and their families are where we cross the line.”
He added, “Even if we have one penny left, it will be spent on the families of the martyrs and prisoners…They are our purest, most permanent, loftiest, and most precious jewel.”
In English, Al-Sheikh is referring to the ‘Pay-to-Slay’ program under which the PLO funds terror by providing payments to imprisoned terrorists or the families of dead terrorists.
Al-Sheikh also claimed that “our arms are open to” Hamas and bragged of the PLO’s role in defending the fellow Islamic terrorist group with which it had signed a unity agreement under the aegis of Communist China.
“Even as the world talked and demanded that Hamas be designated as a terror organization, who stood up the world? Was it not Abu Mazen who stood in front of the UN and declared, ‘No, Hamas is not a terror organization?’” al-Sheikh says, referring to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“The real terrorism is the Israeli occupation. The real terrorism are the settlements. The real terrorism is the crime being committed against the Palestinian people. We’ve done our homework… and know very well what our priorities are and how to defend our internal front,” al-Sheikh adds.
The Saudis are proposing some sort of deal under which Al-Sheikh gets a terrorist state in Israel to run. Witkoff ought to be asked why he’s pulling America into nation-building terrorist states.
That’s not America First. That’s Jihad First.
