Hezbollah
November 26, 2024 — John Hinderaker
We have not joined in the calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. What Israel needs is victory, not a stop to the fighting; not until the fighting is done. But today Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had submitted the proposal to the cabinet for approval Tuesday evening local time. The deal was approved 10-1, with only far-right minister Ben Gvir voting against
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October 28, 2024 — Scott Johnson
John Fetterman is the Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania who suffered a serious stroke in the course of his campaign. If he is not at the limit of his recovery he is still recovering. Yet a brain-damaged John Fetterman has distinguished himself from the Democrat pack with his undiluted support of Israel and a clearer understanding of Israel’s current ordeal than some of the speakers at President Trump’s rally last night,
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October 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
After firing thousands of rockets that forced the depopulation of much of northern Israel, Hezbollah has been devastated by Israel’s counterattacks. But if down, Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran are not quite out. Earlier today, they tried to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: A drone fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon that exploded in the central seaside town of Caesarea early on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home, his
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October 19, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Michael Doran is director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and (says I) our best analyst of American Middle East policy. See, for example, his classic 2015 essay “Obama’s secret Iran strategy” and, following up, his 2021 Tablet column “The realignment.” Doran explains otherwise inexplicable Obama/Biden policies while also demonstrating that the Obama/Biden team is, speaking colloquially, crazy. That’s not how the Obama/Biden
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October 14, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Andrew McCarthy updates events in Israel’s current multifront war in the NRO/Corner post “Hezbollah Attack Kills Four Israeli Soldiers as U.S. Deploys Troops to Operate Missile Defense System.” Unless you follow events with the help of Elon Musk’s X, you may not know that the United Nations forces pose something like an eighth front as they work in apparent collaboration with Hezbollah south of the Litani River: [I]t has long
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October 7, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Our friends at the Washington Free Beacon have posted the upbeat editorial “Oct. 7, A year Later.” Seeking to provide additional commentary and perspective on the day, I asked the editors (via my daughter Eliana) for permission to publish it on Power Line. The text is below the break. * * * * * Israelis awoke to a country safer and more secure today, a year after Jews around the
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October 7, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Our friends at Tikvah deem this the most consequential year in modern Jewish history. They refer, of course, to the invasion of Israel by Hamas this past October 7 and the related events since then. Well, since then…as has frequently been noted by the Israelis, they have been fighting a war on seven fronts. On every front the intention of Israel’s enemies is to wipe it off the map. They
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October 6, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre of well over 1,000 Israeli Jews on October 7, 2023. That is the purpose for which Hamas exists, and the massacre was celebrated by the overwhelming majority of Gazans as it was taking place. That the massacre included the burning of babies alive and the gang rape of Jewish women only increased the Gazans’ enthusiasm. Anti-Semites around the globe immediately joined in, protesting
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October 6, 2024 — Steven Hayward
The Washington Post has a long feature out today with more details about how Israel carried out its fabulous “Operation Grim Beeper.” I gave up on the Post out of disgust and canceled my online subscription, but here’s a non-paywalled version if you want to see the original. But here’s a great summary of the piece by Raylan Givens (JewishWarrior13 on Twitter): This operation started in 2022, when the Mossad
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September 30, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Israel’s stunning success in taking out the entire leadership of Hezbollah has laid the foundation for a ground incursion that will eliminate the terrorists’ ability to threaten northern Israel, where somewhere around 100,000 people have had to flee their homes to avoid Hezbollah rockets. The Wall Street Journal reports: Israeli special forces have been carrying out small, targeted raids into southern Lebanon, gathering intelligence and probing ahead of an expected
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September 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In my head I can hear some keffiyeh-clad folk singer warbling an adaptation of the folk song about union activist Joe Hill: “I dreamed I saw Fateh Sherif last night, alive as you and me…” That would be after the IDF blasted him in an airstrike in one of those eternal refugee camps in Tyre, Lebanon. Sherif was head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon with a second gig
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September 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Sunday morning gabfests are generally a waste of time, but Senator Tom Cotton’s appearances are not to be missed. He was the lead guest on Face the Nation yesterday. I have posted the video at the bottom. CBS has posted the transcript here. Robert Costa filled in for regular host Margaret Brennan. Costa asked Senator Cotton about Israel’s potential expansion of the war between Israel and Iran. This is
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September 29, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Israel’s precision attacks on Hezbollah have brought warfare to a new level of sophistication. This New York Post story mostly summarizes reporting by others, but it is a good compendium: Former Israeli intelligence officials and Lebanese politicians told the FT that the battle in Syria unearthed a trove of information from the otherwise secretive terror group, with Hezbollah constantly publishing information on its slain fighters that revealed their personal information.
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September 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
The London Times is a liberal paper, but not far-left like the New York Times or the Washington Post. So it is not surprising to see this headline: “Why killing of Hassan Nasrallah marks beginning of the end for Iran.” The piece is by Lina Khatib, associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. Some excerpts: Iran found in Nasrallah a valuable tool for expanding
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September 28, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. The prime minister’s office posted the YouTube video (below) on X Times of Israel has posted the text. Diplomats of unfriendly nations left the room when Netanyahu took the floor. Like northern Israel, the room was mostly depopulated. Hezbollah is responsible for the depopulation of northern Israel as a result of its attacks on every day since October 8,
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September 27, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Right around the time Prime Minister Netanyahu took the lectern to address the United Nations General Assembly, Israel hit Hezbollah’s underground command center outside Beirut with a massive kaboom or two (video linked below). This strike follows up impressively on Israel’s “from the liver to the knee” pager assault of last week. Right now Israel and the IDF are showing the defeatist, self-hating secular elites of the west what it
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September 27, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the White House hosted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vice President Harris met with Zelensky. The White House has posted a readout of their meeting. Among other things, they discussed Zelenskyy’s plans for victory. In a public statement with Zelensky by her side Harris talked tough. “Putin started this war and he could end it tomorrow if he simply withdrew his troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” she said. Harris: 'I
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