International pressure is mounting on Israel to stay out of Rafah, a final Hamas foothold in southern Gaza. The Israeli government -- which is operating under a 'unity' wartime cabinet -- has approved an Israeli Defense Forces operation in the city. The usual coalition of Islamist terrorism supporters, Hamas sympathizers, Israel haters, anti-Semites and leftists are pulling out all the stops to deter this incursion. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose pro-Israel record has been fairly strong for years, issued astonishing and deeply inappropriate demands last week for new Israeli elections and the replacement of the current government in Jerusalem. They were rejected by the country's leadership, across the spectrum. Then we have vaunted 'international institutions' coming out of the woodwork to oppose Israel completing its objectives in a war that was started by a genocidal terrorist organization, whose leaders promise to continue killing Jews until Israel is annihilated. Oh no, not the World Health Organization:
BREAKING: World Health Organization chief says he is 'gravely concerned about reports of an Israeli plan to proceed with a ground assault on Rafah'
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) March 16, 2024
The WHO, I'll remind you, ran interference for the Chinese Communist Party's dangerous spin and cover-up in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Their credibility should be judged accordingly. It's also worth noting that some of the 'news' outlets most eagerly highlighting WHO's pronouncements about Gaza are literal CCP state media propaganda shops -- as well as Al-Jazeera, which is run by the Hamas-harboring Qatar regime:
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday called on Israel not to proceed with its ground assault on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. #XinhuaNews pic.twitter.com/bHLeb0Yjax
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 17, 2024
“This humanitarian catastrophe must not be allowed to worsen.”
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 16, 2024
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he’s “gravely concerned” about the Israeli plan for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/nVEALi3d2K pic.twitter.com/V70ddEl1KL
Fortunately, the Israelis are having none of it. Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose war policies are widely supported inside Israel, laid out the government's position in no uncertain terms at Sundays' cabinet meeting:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, today, at the start of the Government meeting >>https://t.co/giGRHUuQfe pic.twitter.com/telN7gy0B2
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) March 17, 2024
Some of the pushback against Schumer's comments wasn't subtle:
"In the international community, there are those who are trying to stop the war now, before all of its goals have been achieved. They are doing so by hurling false accusations at the IDF, the Government of Israel and the Prime Minister of Israel. They are doing so by means of an effort to bring about elections now, at the height of the war. They are doing this because they know that elections now will halt the war and paralyze the country for at least six months. Then let it be clear: If we stop the war now, before all of its goals are achieved, this means that Israel will have lost the war, and this we will not allow. Therefore, we cannot, and will not, succumb to this pressure. On the contrary, this simple truth only strengthens our determination to continue rejecting the pressure, and fighting to the end – to total victory. No international pressure will stop us from realizing all of the goals of the war: Eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel. In order to do this, we will operate in Rafah. This is the only way to eliminate Hamas's murderous brigades, and this is the only way to use the military pressure necessary to free all of our hostages.
To this end, we have approved the operational plans for action in Rafah, including advancing the steps to evacuate the civilian population from the combat zones. This is an essential stage ahead of the military action. Those who say that the action in Rafah will not occur are those who also said that we would not enter Gaza, or act in Shifa or in Khan Yunis, and that we would not resume the fighting after the lull. Therefore, I reiterate: We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen. To our friends in the international community, I say: Are your memories that short? Have you so quickly forgotten October 7, the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust? Are you so quick to deny Israel the right to defend itself against the Hamas monsters? Have you so quickly lost your moral consciences? Instead of pressuring Israel, which is fighting a war, the justice of which is unparalleled, against an enemy of unparalleled brutality, apply your pressure to Hamas and its patron – Iran. It is they who constitute a danger to the region and to the entire world. In any case, we will withstand any pressure and with G-d's help, we will continue to fight together until total victory."
Israel has no choice. They must do this. It's outrageous that they're being lobbied so heavily to subvert their own national security, especially in light of the horrific massacre that Hamas perpetrated several months ago. Meanwhile, defenders of the disgraced and scandal-destroyed 'UNRWA' agency are back to pretending that the agency isn't effectively a Hamas front group. You might expect this garbage from a literal UNRWA spokesperson, whose colleagues took part in, and celebrated the October 7th attack:
“We know that it is Israeli forces who were responsible.”
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) March 14, 2024
Speaking to BBC News, Unrwa Director of Communications Juliette Touma said that Israeli forces had struck “one of our largest warehouses” in the eastern part of Rafah, a distribution centre where food and other critical… pic.twitter.com/OTD8IlEuzJ
It's less expected, or at least it should be, from a US Senator:
Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen says claims that "UNRWA is a proxy for Hamas are just flat-out lies."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 17, 2024
UNRWA employed a dozen people involved with the 10/7 terrorist attack on Israel, has been complicit in storing Hamas weapons, and runs schools that teach kids to hate Jews. pic.twitter.com/IvxTgZq6vS
If his point that UNRWA isn't a formal proxy for Hamas, so what? Given everything we know, UNRWA is irredeemably corrupt. Does he disagree? This sort of image rehabilitation requires burying or ignoring knowledge that has been amassed for years, and especially since 10/7. UNRWA schools have been used for terrorism, and brainwashing the next generation of terrorists with vile Jew hatred. UNRWA's Gaza headquarters had a Hamas data center directly beneath it, including equipment and servers that drew significant electricity from the UN facility. And UNRWA's employee ranks are shot through with literal terrorists and outright terrorism supporters. A number of them have been established as helping to carry out last fall's atrocities against Israeli civilians. The Biden administration's temporary quasi-pause on US funding for UNRWA should be made more comprehensive -- and permanent.
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