Terrorist Meir Kahane called for the burning of churches and the murder of Christians, who he considered "the greatest enemy of Jews"

 

Israeli government accused of trying to sabotage Gaza ceasefire proposal

The Israeli government has been accused of attempting to sabotage a US-backed ceasefire proposal, according to Israeli media, by introducing new demands despite previously accepting the plan.

Hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza had risen in recent days following reports that Hamas had given initial approval for a new proposal for a phased deal, after ninth months of war since the attack on 7 October.

Egyptian officials and representatives of Hamas said the Islamist militant organisation had dropped a key demand that Israel commit to a definitive end to the war before any pause in hostilities, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.

Two Hamas officials told Reuters they were now waiting for a response from Israel, where protesters took to the streets on Sunday to press the government to reach an accord to bring back the hostages still being held in Gaza.

However, David Barnea, the chief of the Mossad foreign intelligence service, who was dispatched over the weekend to Qatar, where talks are being held, was reported to have provided the mediators with a list of new reservations, according to Israeli media.

The Haaretz newspaper cited a source familiar with the details as saying Israel’s new demands were expected to delay negotiations, and that it was not clear whether Hamas would accede to them.

“Hamas has already agreed to the latest position presented by Israel,” the source told Haaretz. “But in Friday’s meeting, Israel presented some new points it demands that Hamas accept.”

Negotiations with Hamas were expected to last “at least three weeks” before the deal could be carried out, Haaretz reported. — Times of Israel

And …

Top U.S. officials arrive in Cairo for talks on Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal

CIA director Bill Burns and President Biden's top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk are meeting with senior Israeli and Egyptian security officials in Cairo Monday to discuss the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal and arrangements to secure the Egypt-Gaza border, four Israeli and U.S. officials said.

Why it matters: The Egypt-Gaza border security arrangements and the reopening of the Rafah crossing are key issues to solve ahead of a possible hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that one of his conditions for the deal is that there will be no smuggling of weapons to Hamas from the Egypt-Gaza border.

Israeli and U.S. officials said that while this issue isn't mentioned in the text of the proposal for a hostage and ceasefire deal, they want to find a solution through U.S.-Egyptian-Israeli trilateral cooperation.

Driving the news: McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, arrived in Cairo Monday along with Burns. — Axios

Our Take: The head of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, who in June quit the emergency government in a sign of divisions over Netanyahu’s post-conflict plans for Gaza, said: “Netanyahu, not everything depends on you. But you must show commitment, determination and sincere intentions this time as well. You know as well as I do that since the previous proposal, we have lost many of the hostages, who died in captivity.

And there's the slow knife from Benny Gantz.

Look, there's a lot of incredulous reaction happening from everybody on all sides, in regard to this story, but none of these developments surprise me—as I'm sure many of you already know. From the beginning, I've been suspicious of the truth behind the October 7th attack. Back in September, I was warning everybody on Badlands Daily to watch out for efforts trying to derail the Saudi Peace Initiative—the Two-State Solution—which was about to be signed.

Now we have the MSM reporting that the IDF issued the "Hannibal Directive" on October 7th—an operational order that is designed to protect Israeli national security by requiring IDF soldiers to kill any comrade being taken hostage by enemy forces, lest they be tortured in order to extract critical information. On October 7th, this procedure was extended to Israeli civilians, resulting in hundreds of people being killed by helicopter and tank fire from the IDF. Back in November, CannCon and I reported this exact information—citing an interview conducted by The Cradle of one of the IDF helicopter pilots from that day. Many dismissed the reporting as "Hamas propaganda."

What I expect is for Netanyahu to continue to subvert and delay any deal to get the hostages back—assuming there are even hostages still out there. Because those hostages are Netanyahu's lifeline: They justify the continuation of this war, which Netanyahu needs in order to avoid the pending prosecution against him.

This past weekend, I found a fascinating lecture given in May 2022 by a journalist named David Sheen, where he explained the nuance of Israeli politics. He explained that the political landscape that encompasses dozens of individual parties can be broken down into four movements: the Theocrats, the Nationalists, the Liberals, and the Socialists. The largest and most dominant movement being the Nationalist movement—the Zionists—which have historically held roughly 70% of the seats in the Knesset, and can be distinguished between Labor Zionists (left-wing) and Revisionist Zionists (right-wing). The Theocrats make up about 20% of the Knesset, with the other two movements comprising the remainder.

The Zionists seek to dominate the Palestinians—a single apartheid state—but being secularists, their discourse is grounded in rational logic, where Palestinians would be allowed to remain, just as second-class citizens. The Theocrats also desire a single state, but one that is free of all gentiles—non-Jews. However, being religious men who are inherently pacifists, they do not express plans to enact this state of affairs—leaving it in the hands of God to deliver it to them.

According to Sheen, there has been a fifth movement that has emerged since the 1980's, which he calls the Monarchists: a blend of the "worst ideas" from the Nationalists and Theocrats, creating a doctrine of eliminationism that naturally requires genocide. They are also expansionists, seeking to establish the Greater Israel project that we have covered before. These people are radical zealots who are every bit as deranged and dangerous as radical Islamic terrorists, and as Sheen explained, they are most dangerous whenever Israel is about to sign a peace deal with Palestine. (Remember, this lecture is from 2022.)

After facing corruption charges in 2020, Netanyahu has lost the support of many centrist Nationalists (such as Benny Gantz) and Theocrats, forcing him to form a coalition with more radical Theocrats, but also these emerging Monarchists.

These Monarchists—who follow the teachings of Meir Kahane, a Jewish terrorist who once plotted to blow up the Al Asqa Mosque in order to create a "forever war" between Arabs and Jews, but also called for the burning of churches and the murder of Christians, who he considered "the greatest enemy of Jews" (see this 2015 interview with one of his most famous followers, Benzi Gopstein, who called Christians "vampires and bloodsuckers")—have been appointed as part of Netanyahu's cabinet. They would include Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir-- two ministers that we have discussed, in depth. They now hold Netanyahu's leash, as they have the power to dissolve his government if he doesn't continue the war, which they have expressly stated as their terms.

I believe this is all part of Trump's counterinsurgency operation against these radical zealots, who have to be driven from power by the Israeli people. Make no mistake, they now dominate the Israeli government, and when you consider their radical view of Christians, they are no friend of the United States. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry