Monday, February 3, 2025

What's Happening To Israel Now: February 2025

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

                                     Major General Eyal Zamir b: January 26, 1966, age 59

He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Tel-Aviv University, a Master's degree in national security from the University of Haifa, and is an alumnus of the General Management Program for Senior Executives (GMP) of The Wharton School.  Trump famously graduated from Penn’s Wharton School in 1968 .  

Major General (Res.) Eyal Zamir has been appointed as the new IDF Chief of Staff in Israel. In his first speech since his appointment, Zamir said that despite the cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza, "the year 2025 will continue to be a year of combat."                                             

                               Chief Herzi Halevi b: December 17, 1967, age 57

Halevi was the first practicing Orthodox Jew to serve as the head of Israeli military intelligence, born in Jerusalem, whose is related to the late Rabbi Kook, Chief rabbi of Israel who died in 1935.   

Zamir’s appointment as chief of staff still requires approval from the Advisory Committee for Senior Appointments, and final government approval. Assuming these are secured, Zamir, who was already considered the leading candidate, is expected to assume his role next month, following the resignation of outgoing Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

 With this appointment, Zamir will become the first tank officer to serve as Chief of Staff since David (Dado) Elazar in the 1970s. For more, click here. 

                                                                       

Prime Minister Netanyahu is in Washington. He will meet with White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff today and with President Trump tomorrow evening.   Steven Charles Witkoff (born March 15, 1957) is an American billionaire real estate investor and developer, attorney, and philanthropist, who serves as the United States Special Envoy to the Middle East. He is the founder and chairman of the Witkoff Group. He began his career as a real estate attorney, before transitioning to property investment and development.                                                

                                      Jenin is in northern Samaria (West Bank)

                                                                 

                43 min (16.2 mi) via Qbateyet Al Zeyada

The IDF expanded counter terror operation in Judea and Samaria yesterday. Forces demolished buildings in the center of Jenin, used for terror operations, and entered the Palestinian village of Tamun, a hotbed of terror activity. The operation has eliminated around 50 terrorists, arrested over 100 terror suspects and confiscated and destroyed hundreds of weapons and explosive devices. 

                                                              

Keith Siegel, dual citizen of USA and Israel, says the terror group’s propaganda only ‘demonstrates Hamas’s cruel and cynical behavior.’   

Israeli hostages Keith Siegel, 65, Ofer Calderon, 54, and Yarden Bibas, 35 were released on Saturday.  Freed US-Israeli captive Keith Siegel was forced ahead of his release to write a letter thanking his Hamas captors for his treatment while being held in captivity for 484 days (1 year and 4 months). 

    Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook was born in Rafa in the Gaza Strip in 1951. 

Abu Marzook, Hamas' deputy political leader, along with a Hamas delegation is visiting Moscow to meet with Russian officials. He told Russian media that Hamas would release hostage Alexander (Sasha) Trupanov in phase 1 of the deal, even though he is a soldier, as a goodwill gesture to Russia. He graduated from Helwan University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1975 and obtained a master’s degree in construction management from Colorado State University in 1984. He received a doctorate in industrial engineering from Louisiana Tech in 1992.

 "He took part in founding the Islamic University of Gaza and helped establish the first branch for the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE. He worked as manager of a factory in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until 1981. In 1987, he was one of the founders of Hamas and was elected to head the first politburo in 1992. He later served as vice-president and remains a member of the politburo." Hamas is a terrorist section of the PA.  

Trupanov, 29, who holds Russian citizenship, was kidnapped on October 7 along with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. The 3 women were released in the first hostage deal. This boyfriend of Israeli Sapir Cohen of the Kibbutz  will be released "despite being a soldier" as a gesture to Moscow, Marzook explained.   Trupanov must have enlisted in IDF, then.                                         


Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has taken over the running of the Rafah Crossing. The Rafah Border Crossing or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip


It is located on the Egypt–Palestine border. Under a 2007 agreement between Egypt and Israel, Egypt controls the crossing but imports through the Rafah crossing require Israeli approval.  Arms to help Palestinians would not be allowed to cross.  

Resource:

israelAM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyal_Zamir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzi_Halevi

ihttps://www.timesofisrael.com/keith-siegel-forced-to-write-thank-you-letter-to-hamas-captors-ahead-of-release/

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1ie0xaojx

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mousa-abu-marzook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah_Border_Crossing

https://www.google.com/search?q=Rabbi+Kook%2C+chief+rabbi+of+Israel&sca_esv=1215752a080e1767&sxsrf=AHTn8zoRkw6Die5cSeu5t_rPHsOZ_whXPA%3A1738603309453&source=hp&ei=LfugZ9T6GJqx0PEP_fSL6AI&iflsig=ACkRmUkAAAAAZ6EJPU4

Sunday, February 2, 2025

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           


Biden had been slowly but surely backing away from his initial support for the Israel-Hamas war and the goal of eradicating Hamas since the Palestinian terrorist group started it with unspeakable atrocities on Oct. 7. 

The administration has toyed at times with the idea of linking aid to halting the offensive, but never previously acted on the idea, despite the constant urgings of left-wing Democrats to do so. 

A Palestinian inspects near a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the NGO as the Israeli military said it was conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this "tragic" incident, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the... Read more;  Deir Al-Balah, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

The aid worker incident of April 1 convoy thus is a turning point as this is the first time that Biden has directly said that he would impose conditions on military assistance.   While the deaths of the aid workers were the result of a terrible blunder by the Israel Defense Forces, the firestorm of criticism aimed at Israel in the days since the incident occurred isn't really about their tragic fate, sad though it is.   This is not your usual war, and Israel is fighting on 7 fronts a war that has never had to have been fought in such a manner before.  The enemy, Hamas, hides its terrorists and arms in all the places one would not think of looking;  churches, mosques, schools, apartments, hospitals, etc, and the terrorists then hide behind the people.  These are people who come from people who voted Hamas as their government over the Palestinian Authority of Arafat .  They wanted the touch guys.  So if the IDF blundered this time, there was a reason they became confused as to who or where the enemy was.  They would NOT do this on purpose.  I stand inflamed to think that the world community would jump to think the worse of Israel, including many American Jews.                                 

Jose Andres  is from Spain. He was born in Mieres, Asturias, Spain on July 13, 1969. He moved to the United States in 1991 at the age of 21. He's 56 years old.  

CNN said:  The founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), Jose Andres,  has accused Israel of targeting his aid workers “systematically, car by car” during the strikes that left seven dead on Monday, as mounting international fury over the attack further strains Western support for Israel’s war in Gaza.  Those who would believe this was done on purpose would also believe that the USA could do the same thing, yet Israel has a much higher morality level than any country in the world, though the fighting doesn't mirror my statement. Israel is doing everything they can to keep the Arabs alive, but the terrorist manage to push them into the areas of danger.   

Wikipedia has listed:  Casualties. As of 8 January 2025, over 47,000 people – 45,936 Palestinian and 1,706 Israeli – have been reported killed in the Gaza war, as well as 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 179 employees of UNRWA. Israeli airstrikes, said to be  targeting aid workers distributing food in Gaza resulted in the deaths of at least seven individuals, among them a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, as well as citizens from Australia, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

The World Central Kitchen sometimes uses armed guards, the employee said, though it was not clear if they had been employed for the April 1 convoy. The employee and other aid officials insisted their guards were not part of Hamas or its militant ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but did not elaborate on the guards’ affiliation. Despite such denials, it is unlikely anyone riding on top of an aid truck wouldn’t have at least tacit permission from Hamas.

Neither group, evidently, the IDF or the World Central Kitchen took the necessary precautions needed in such an impossible situation.  UNRA Aid Workers have been known to be helping Hamas.  

Resource:

https://www.reuters.com/pictures/pictures-israeli-airstrike-kills-7-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-gaza-2024-04-02/



The Attacked-Israel: Hated for Defending Itself

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

Then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, right, and Defence Minister Moshe Dayan meet their troops on October 21, 1973, on the Golan Heights during the October War [File: Ron Frenkel/GPO/Getty Images]  Remember the 1967 Six Day War when Israel was attacked by ALL Arabs and in  6 days, Israel won.  What was their secret?  They had no where  else to go.  

Golda Meir's words have never rung more true: "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children."Golda Meir served as Israel's fourth prime minister from 1969 to 1974. She was the first and only female head of government in Israel and the Middle East.    

Anybody that relies on "KNOWING JEWISH HISTORY" by only studying its history and political science at Yale College, does not know as much as they should about Judaism and Israel.  This is the position that I find a fellow Jew Peter Beinart,  who has come out with a damming book called Being Jewish After The Destruction Of Gaza. Since Peter was  born in 1971, he was only 3 when Golda said the words above.   He only sees one level of facts that Hamas wants him to see, and that also goes for most of the world population, unfortunately.   In 1969, Golda was faced with the same problem of IDF having to kill Arabs, and no one wanted to, then or now. 

 By the way, According to available information, the best college to study Jewish history at is New York University (NYU), with its Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies offering one of the most comprehensive Jewish studies programs in North America, covering all aspects of Jewish history and culture across different eras.                                                                     

  I recommend reading From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters:  a controversial book that claimed that modern Palestinians were not indigenous to Gaza or Israel.    Has Peter read this book?  I have;  every page, no skimming.  From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab–Jewish Conflict over Palestine is a 1984 book by Joan Peters, published by Harper & Row, about the demographics of the Arab population of Palestine and of the Jewish population of the Arab world before and after the formation of the State of Israel.  Peter was only 13 when this came out.  Watch out;   Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said Yehoshua Porath. and Ian and David Gilmour criticized it.  I believe she's a journalist who followed journalism rules and wasn't lazy about it.  She tells where they came from.  
                  Hasid and Soldier, both Jewish, respecting same religion

A people who have waited patiently for 2,000 years to regain their homeland because the world jealousy and hatefulness toward them; who have had the highest of moral expectations for themselves and have been the icon for Christianity and Islam, with an army trained in defense; not offense;  known for their high standards, does not suddenly change with the horrible challenges that Gaza has presented to them.  The Palestinians, who never had an empire or even a country called Palestine, cannot wait for any length of time, but began attacking Jews in the 1920s who were fleeing from pogroms in eastern Europe and Russia, knowing they needed their land back if won back by the West in WWI.  

Only the USA has stood by,  till Biden doubted, holding back arms; which changed the IDF planning;  with the rest of the world not seeing a thing but what Terrorists wanted them to see.                                 

How about this movie of our history, Cast a Giant Shadow:  The film is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a real-life Jewish-American military officer, Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded units of the fledgling Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.  From the very beginning, we've had to fight for our right to live, even after being thought about with the Jewish Homeland Promise.  

I've been studying this since 2004, and know that Israel has offered them the sun, moon and stars to get them to be peaceful and they have resisted;  especially in 1967 in Sudan in a big meeting where they swore NO NO NO to every possibility to be peaceful with Israel;  our FOREVER ENEMY.  I remember our leftist government then ready to give away all we cherished to get some cooperation, and they WOULD REFUSE!  

Peter Beinart has a commonality  with me: he was born in South Africa with ancestors from Lithuania while I was born in the USA with our relatives being from Lithuania and then South Africa. He's orthodox, which makes me even angrier in that I feel he should know more of our history and how we have been the only ones defending the land with caution for our enemy.  

 In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. Now he sounds like Elon Musk who told the Germans the same thing in that they should end that feeling with Jews.  

It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition  (that which has held us together for the past 3,000 years?)and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine.   After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, (Oh my G-d !)   Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story.  

(Israel is fighting for her very existence after 77 years that includes offering the world much good, more than this bad attack of today forcing them to a point where other countries would go for the jugular and bomb the heck out of the terrorists and put a quick end to all of this.  Can you imagine the Nazis putting up with such terrorism?  The only reason Israelis have a lower death rate than the terrorists is because of LIFE being the most important goal, and have bomb shelters for their people.  

 "After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?"  We are aware of what it means to be a Jew, the self expectations we've put on ourselves.  We know our history of a people of monotheism living among polytheism for starters and all that prevailed there to reach the Holocaust, finding out that we're still not the favored people even though the Diary of Anne Frank was popular.  What gets me is that all should know our struggle to arrive in 2025 alive and that our ethics are still meaningful !!!

Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life.

We can't change and allow an alternate narrative to be published, Mr. Beinart, but expect the truth to be told, and nobody's coverup.  Israel has had right to the land but has had to fight all 77 years to keep it because the Palestinians would rather destroy their own homes and people before they allow us JEWS TO LIVE IN PEACE,  and that's who is responsible.  The Hamas Terrorists themselves.   

Our Illegal Immigration Problem and Why

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

                                             Signing Laken-Riley Act Law:  Immigration #1 Priority

                                                                              

                                                   Laken Riley, Murdered by blunt                            trauma and asphyxiationkidnappingbeatingcrime of opportunity

The legislation is named for Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered by an illegal alien on the University of Georgia’s campus on February 22, 2024. The Laken Riley Act does two things:

  • It would amend federal law to require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue detainers and take custody of illegal aliens who commit theft-related crimes, such as shoplifting, as defined by state and local law.
  • It allows state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for injunctive relief if immigration actions such as parole, violation of detention requirements, or other policy failures harming that state or its citizens.

Laken's murderer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.  Ibarra was found guilty in November 2024 and has been sentenced to life without parole.


On illegal immigration,  Polls conducted by ABC NewsCBS News, Marquette University and New York Times/Ipsos show that respondents favor deporting all illegal immigrants by decisive majorities, ranging from 55% to 64%. That's taking only 4 sources that only favored deportation of illegal immigrants at the highest a little more than half of those asked (64%)  So to me, our USA population is still in a quandary of what to do about it.  

That contrasts with the numbers from eight years ago that showed that only 36% to 42% were in favor. It amounts to a national consensus in favor of slowly seeing the reasoning of enforcing the law, and gives Trump and Homan a mandate.

                               New citizens who passed their citizenship test

                                              Who cannot vote?

More than 300 noncitizens have been added to Oregon’s voter rolls over the last three years, after lawmakers passed a bill allowing people to obtain drivers licenses in the state without proving citizenship, according to a recent review by the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division.  It was the state's error.  

  • Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, cannot vote in federal, state, and most local elections.
  • Some people cannot vote after being convicted of a felony or if they are currently serving time for other types of crimes. Rules are different in each state. Check this guide from vote.gov to understand the laws in your state.
  • Some people who have a mental disability may not be able to vote. Learn about your voting rights. Rules vary by state.
  • U.S. citizens residing in U.S. territories cannot vote for president in the general election.  The five major U.S. territories are:  America  Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, US 
  • Virgin Islands

    •                                                       Biden's Open Door Policy              We needed to initiate closer ties with the Mexican government to tackle the fentanyl crisis, which seems to be our biggest problem with Mexico nowdays.Fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance that is similar to morphine but about 100 times more potent. Under the supervision of a licensed medical professional, fentanyl has a legitimate medical use. Patients prescribed fentanyl should be monitored for potential misuse or abuse.  

  • The orders make clear that the flow of contraband drugs like fentanyl to the United States, through illicit distribution networks, has created a national emergency, including a public health crisis. Chinese officials have failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organizations.

  Illicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico, is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market.  Fentanyl is being mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase the potency of the drug, sold as powders and nasal sprays, and increasingly pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids.  Because there is no official oversight or quality control, these counterfeit pills often contain lethal doses of fentanyl, with none of the promised drug.

Biden’s open border policies throughout his Presidency have intentionally lured millions to come through our Southwest border.  This has led to nearly 8 million encounters with illegal immigrants since President Biden took office. The cost to cover this unprecedented surge in illegal immigration comes out to at least $150 billion annually – paid in full by U.S. Citizens.

President Biden is accused of recognizing that Americans are not buying his political messaging and in turn, released this sham of a “crack down” on border protection solely to gain votes.

Overcrowding of families observed by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General on June 10, 2019, at Border Patrol's McAllen, Texas, station.

Biden’s open border policies had a lot to do with this, allowing as many as 10 million illegals to enter the country. That consisted of approximately 8 million “encounters” with those entering without permission tabulated by the government and perhaps as many as 2 million more so-called “gotaways” who evaded apprehension. 

This has led to a situation where the number of illegals currently in the country is far higher than the 11 million figure used by the left-wing media for the past decade. It could be as high as 30 million if one considers that an authoritative Yale University study estimated that in 2018, there were at least 22 million illegals in the United States.

The election denial movement in the United States is a widespread false belief among many Republicans that elections in the United States are rigged and stolen through election fraud by Democrats. Adherents of the movement are referred to as election deniers. Election fraud conspiracy theories have spread online and through conservative conferences, community events, and door-to-door canvassing.

 Since the 2020 United States presidential electionmany Republican politicians have sought elective office or taken legislative steps to address what they assert is weak election integrity leading to widespread fraudulent elections, though no evidence of systemic election fraud has come to light and many studies have found that it is extremely rare.

   Democrats Said to Gain Power From Immigration: more voters

In March, Elon Musk tweeted "Since illegals are mostly in Democrat states, both the House and the Presidential vote are shifted ~5% to the left, which is enough to change the entire balance of power!" In a subsequent X interview with Don Lemon, Musk put a number on that political power alleging that Democrats have gained 20 seats in the House due to illegal immigration. Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said Democrats "want these illegal migrants to create more electoral power for them in their blue states" and estimated Democrats gained 13 seats because of them.

Tractor trailers wait in line at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, on the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.   They will now have to pay the 25% tariff for these goods.  
Carlos Moreno/Bloomberg/Getty Images

And Mexico:  how do they feel about their people leaving?  The tens of billions of U.S. dollars that Mexican emigrants and other members of the diaspora send back are similarly the second largest remittance stream globally. Although the Mexican immigrant population in the United States has declined over the last 15 years due to factors including the global economic crisis, the increasing appeal of the Mexican economy, and heightened U.S. border controls, migration to the United States is still a fact of life for millions of Mexicans.

Resource:

https://www.jns.org/open-borders-for-america-is-not-a-jewish-religious-principle/

https://www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl#:~:text=Fentanyl%20is%20a%20Schedule%20II,for%20potential%20misuse%20or%20abuse.

https://www.thirdway.org/memo/is-illegal-immigration-really-a-democratic-plot-to-sway-congressional-apportionment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_denial_movement_in_the_United_States

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexico-crossroads-emigration-transit

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/

https://budget.house.gov/press-release/president-bidens-180-on-border-security-political-showmanship-and-broken-promises

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/13/noncitizens-registered-oregon-error/