[IsraelTimes] UK opposition leader Kemi Badenoch sends a letter to the BBC demanding to know whether the broadcaster used license fees paid by the British public to make payments to Hamas, the Daily Mail reports.
Her inquiry comes after the BBC on Friday removed a documentary about the Gaza war from its online streaming service, once it emerged that the child who is a central figure in the film is the son of a Hamas deputy minister, a fact that is not disclosed in the movie.
Badenoch’s letter, seen by the Daily Mail, calls for a probe into any “potential collusion with Hamas” and “the possibility of payment to terrorists.”
According to the Daily Mail, the BBC said it could not immediately answer her question and was carrying out “further due diligence” on how the program was made.
“Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone” is narrated by Abdullah Al-Yazouri, a 14-year-old boy. His father is Ayman Al-Yazouri, deputy minister of agriculture in the Strip’s Hamas government.
Badenoch also said anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s reporting of the conflict was not an “isolated incident” and called for rooting out the “systemic and institutional bias against Israel.”
[IsraelTimes] Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar instructed diplomats to open channels of communication with far-right political parties in Sweden, France, and Spain, Walla reports, citing senior officials in the Foreign Ministry.
A Foreign Ministry official confirms the report to The Times of Israel.
The French National Rally, Sweden Democrats, and Spanish Vox factions had been shunned by the Foreign Ministry, President’s Residence, and Prime Minister’s Office over concerns over antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and fascist roots. Rogue Israeli ministers and legislators have also met with party official recently, without approval from the government.
“We do not agree with the entire platform of these parties or with every statement made by their leaders, but we believe that it is possible to have a dialogue with them,” one of the senior diplomats tells Walla.
Staff work began under Sa’ar’s predecessor Israel Katz, according to the report. Upon his appointment as foreign minister, Sa’ar assessed the parties based on their support for Israel, attitude toward the local Jewish community, the communities’ feelings toward the parties, and whether they had confronted their antisemitic legacies.
Sa’ar decided to continue avoiding contacts with the Austrian Freedom Party and the German AfD, says Walla.
Local Jewish communities were notified by the Foreign Ministry about the contacts.
[IsraelTimes] Friedrich Merz vows to ‘find a way’ for PM to travel to and from Germany without arrest; premier hails Merz for ‘openly defying ICC’s scandalous decision’ to accuse him of war crimes
German election winner Friedrich Merz said Monday he would make sure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can visit Germany despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for the Israeli leader.
Merz, who is expected to become Germany’s chancellor after his conservative CDU/CSU bloc came first in an election on Sunday, told a presser he had spoken with Netanyahu.
"I told him that we should see each other soon after the government is formed," Merz said. "In the event that he plans to visit Germany, I have committed myself to find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested."
Merz said it was a "completely absurd idea" that an Israeli prime minister could not visit Germany.
Netanyahu’s office said he had congratulated Merz and that the German election winner had invited the premier to visit.
"Merz thanked the prime minister for his call and said he would invite him for an official visit to Germany, openly defying the ICC’s scandalous decision to label the prime minister as a war criminal," said the Prime Minister’s Office.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November against Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for allegedly targeting civilians and using starvation as a weapon of war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... . Israel has rejected the accusations, with some calling the arrest warrants antisemitic.
The ICC also sought to prosecute slain Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... leaders Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintained a separate PM in the West Bank. Zapped during the 2023-24 war, to eveyone's satisfaction... , Muhammad Deif and Yahya Sinwar for crimes against humanity perpetrated during and after October 7, 2023 — when thousands of Hamas-led bully boyz stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
All three terror criminal masterminds had already been killed by Israel by the time the ICC issued the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Reacting to Merz’s remarks, the ICC said states have a legal obligation to enforce its decisions, and any concerns they may have should be addressed with the court in a timely and efficient manner.
"It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court’s legal decisions," the court said.
GERMAN LEFTIST PARTY BLASTS INVITATION
The Left party in Germany called Merz’s invitation a "disaster" and accused him of "double standards."
Germany has always insisted that international arrest warrants must be implemented, said Left co-leader Jan van Aken.
"If Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... comes to Germany, then this arrest warrant must be implemented. The same applies to Netanyahu," said Aken, referring to an ICC arrest warrant issued for the Russian leader over the deportation of children from Ukraine.
The German government had previously said it was "examining" the ICC warrant against Netanyahu and that it was bound by the court.
But German officials carefully avoided saying whether they would act on the warrant, referring to the country’s "great responsibility towards Israel" as a consequence of the Holocaust.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States... imposed sanctions on the ICC, accusing it of "abusing its power" in issuing the warrant against Netanyahu.
Merz still needs to find a partner to form a coalition before he becomes chancellor, which could be a lengthy process.
[FreeBeacon] When Paleostinian Authority president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> issued a vaguely worded decree purportedly revoking the PA's infamous "pay for slay" system, the European Commission called it a "significant political development" that "signals the Paleostinian Authority's commitment to implement far-reaching reforms." Since then, Paleostinian officials have assured the Arab world that the terror payments aren't going anywhere.
The man overseeing the allegedly reformed system is Raed Abu al-Humus, the Free Beacon's Andrew Tobin reports from Jerusalem. He spent 10 years in prison alongside Nasser Abu Hamid, the late founder of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Abu al-Humus has praised his jailmate as a "masked lion" and "inspiration" to the "Paleostinian youth." Now, he's leading Abbas's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
Abu al-Humus replaces Qadura Fares, another convicted terrorist whom Abbas fired in a move that seemingly demonstrated his seriousness about reforming "pay for slay."
"Just hours after his appointment," Tobin reports, the commission "published a photograph of Abu al-Humus smiling alongside two arch-terrorists, Ahmed Barghouti and Mohammed Aradeh, whom Israel recently released to Cairo as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ." Both were serving life sentences.
"The photo is among a number of early signs that Abbas will once again disappoint international donors who expect him to end 'pay for slay,'" Tobin writes. "Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... 's al-Sharq newspaper quoted unnamed senior Paleostinian officials last Wednesday as saying the terrorism payments would continue 'without any reduction.'"
[IsraelTimes] The hostage-release ceremonies that Hamas has been holding throughout the first phase of the ceasefire have significantly harmed the terror group’s chances to remain in power in Gaza, two international diplomats tell The Times of Israel.
Hamas has sought to use the ceremonies to demonstrate that it remains in control of the coastal enclave after over 15 months of war with Israel. Israel and others have rejected the displays as “humiliating” and demanded they stop before any more prisoners are released in exchange for hostages.
A senior Arab diplomat and a senior European Union diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity say that the performances have led the Trump administration to massively ratchet up its pressure on its Arab allies to advance a plan for the post-war management of Gaza that sees Hamas removed from power.
“This was something that the Arab states wanted before but were resigned to the fact that it wasn’t possible, given that Israel had tried to defeat Hamas for over a year and couldn’t succeed,” the EU diplomat says.
“Hamas has been sending signals that it is prepared to give up ruling Gaza. Giving up its weapons will be far more difficult, but that is being discussed in the region in recent weeks,” the senior Arab diplomat adds.
[IsraelTimes] Report says terror group could transfer bodies to Egypt to be ID’d before inmates set free in two groups, as official warns ceasefire on ‘brink of collapse’ if logjam persists
The Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... terror group was reportedly considering a deal Monday to transfer the bodies of two slain hostages to Egypt in exchange for hundreds of prisoners previously slated for release, as international mediators sought to salvage a fraying ceasefire deal in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Israel says it is holding onto 602 Paleostinian inmates who had been scheduled to be freed Saturday until Hamas halts the practice of holding elaborate, propaganda-filled ceremonies when releasing hostages or transferring the bodies of those slain in captivity.
The decision, announced early Sunday, has set off a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at keeping the ceasefire alive, with the crisis compounding worries that negotiators will fail to secure an agreement on extending the ceasefire beyond an early March deadline and into a second phase of hostage releases.
A senior Israeli official was quoted by the Walla news site warning that the entire hostage-ceasefire deal is on "the brink of collapse," if the current impasse is not bridged by Thursday.
Under the current deal, Hamas is scheduled to transfer the bodies of four hostages killed in captivity Thursday, marking the final hostage-prisoner exchange of the first stage of the agreement, which began on January 19.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... a Channel 12 news report Monday indicated that mediators are working on a formula that could see Hamas transfer two of the bodies to Egypt as early as Tuesday, in exchange for 301 of the prisoners from the Saturday release.
Should the formula work, the process would then be repeated for the two other hostages and the remaining 301 prisoners, according to the unsourced report.
By going through Egypt, Israel hopes the transfers will take place quietly, amid palpable anger and disgust over staged ceremonies put on by Hamas in Gaza in which hostages are forced to feign appreciation for their captors in front of crowds of Gazooks before being handed over to the Red Thingy.
Israel had been slated to release the 602 prisoners on Saturday, including dozens serving multiple life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, in exchange for six living hostages, including two who had been held in Gaza for around a decade.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided late Saturday night to postpone the release of the inmates, accusing Hamas of repeatedly violating the ceasefire and saying the prisoners would only be released once Israel receives a promise that ceremonies "demeaning our hostages’ dignity" come to an end.
According to the senior Israeli official quoted by Walla, Hamas has since agreed to transfer the bodies of the four hostages on Thursday without any fanfare.
But despite appearing to meet Netanyahu’s demands, the premier responded by stiffening the ultimatum, informing mediators that a commitment from the terror group is insufficient and that the prisoners will only be let out once Israel receives the hostages and verifies their identity, the source said.
Israel has insisted on verifying that the released remains are indeed whom they expect to receive, after Hamas last week sent a Gazook woman’s body in place of Shiri Bibas’s remains. It eventually gave Israel the murdered hostage’s remains.
The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed the Walla report as "more fake news from the echoes of Hamas propaganda."
"Through his aggressive stance, the prime minister has already returned 192 hostages and he is determined to return them all," the PMO added.
HAMAS DENIES ANY TALKS WITH ISRAEL
Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported earlier Monday that negotiations between Israel and Hamas were progressing and could lead to the handover of two hostages’ bodies within hours. Hamas denied the Saudi news reports however, doubling down on its official boycott of talks with Israel through mediators.
In a statement on Telegram, Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi demanded that Israel implement the ceasefire agreement by "releasing the 600 Paleostinian prisoners" who were supposed to be freed on Saturday, and said the terror group had not changed its stance regarding continued negotiations.
The three-stage ceasefire agreement, reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, when Hamas-led invading hard boyz killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
The deal requires Hamas to gradually release all its hostages, Israel to release thousands of Paleostinian security prisoners in return, and both sides to halt fighting in the Strip, as the sides negotiate for a "sustainable calm" and the IDF withdraws gradually from the enclave. With the first phase of the deal set to end this coming Saturday, negotiations are ongoing for the second phase.
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated in recent days that there are battle plans ready should the war resume. But Gal Hirsch, the government’s liaison with relatives of hostages, indicated in a meeting with the families Monday that Israel was still attempting to negotiate an agreement to extend the deal to phase two.
"We’re trying to continue the phased releases to bring back living hostages, and the dead," he was quoted saying by Channel 12.
Hirsch also reportedly told the families that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close Netanyahu loyalist, was heading up negotiations, alongside himself. Previous rounds were negotiated by a team headed by Mosssd ...... chief David Barnea and Shin Bet counterpart Ronen Bar.
According to the Kan public broadcaster on Monday, Israel is currently seeking to extend the current, first phase of the deal — repeating the framework of 42 days, with a hostage release each week — without committing to end the war. According to an Israeli official, negotiations for phase two would continue during this extended phase one.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... Egypt, which has served as a key mediator, has refused to discuss an extension of phase one until negotiations over phase two begin, according to two Egyptian officials who were not authorized to brief news hounds and spoke on condition of anonymity.
One official familiar with the negotiations said the mere launch of phase two talks would keep the truce intact, according to the language of the deal. That would mean a continued halt in fighting and aid flowing into Gaza, though there would be no further hostage releases beyond what has already been negotiated, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... to discuss closed diplomatic contacts.
Hamas has previously said it is open to a short extension to complete talks on phase two, but that was before Israel held up the release of the prisoners.
One of the Egyptian officials said Egypt is also demanding Israel complete its withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, before moving on to the next phase. The agreement calls for that withdrawal to begin this weekend and be completed within eight days.
[IsraelTimes] Moussa Abu Marzouk says ‘impossible’ to call Gaza war a victory for terror group, says he’s open to discussing its disarmament; Hamas: Words taken out of context, don’t represent us
Senior Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... politburo member Moussa Abu Marzouk said he would not have backed the October 7, 2023, invasion and onslaught in southern Israel if he had known what the consequences would be for the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, in an interview with The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that was conducted on Friday and published on Monday.
The October 7 attack — in which thousands of Hamas-led faceless myrmidons burst across the Gaza-Israel border, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid rampant acts of brutality and sexual assault — sparked the subsequent war in Gaza, which has devastated the enclave, seen tens of thousands killed, and prompted the US president to call for the forced relocation of the more than 2 million residents of the Strip.
The war has also, through fighting on other fronts, significantly weakened Iran’s so-called "Axis of Resistance®," devastating the Hezbollah terror group in Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... , and indirectly contributing to the collapse of the Iran-backed Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... regime in Syria.
"If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been October 7," Abu Marzouk said, asserting that — though he claimed to not have been privy to the exact details of the planned assault — he could not have brought himself to approve it, knowing what he knows now.
Y’all assumed that naturally Allah would protect his best beloveds from any serious repercussions, and thus President Biden’s America, the EU, and the Moslem governments would force Israel to surrender. But it turns out Allah just isn’t that into you, and after what you and your little friends did on 10/7, the Israelis gave up on the idea that there was anyone on your side worth bargaining with. Though they were willing to work with you if you’d learnt anything from the experience, the stupid games you played these past two weeks means once the hostages are recovered, you’re toast.
The statement of regret marked a departure from previous statements by Hamas officials. A few weeks after the invasion, for example, politburo member Ghazi Hamad publicly declared that October 7 was "just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth," saying, "we are ready to pay" the price, and vowing to continue until Israel was totally annihilated.
A fatal misjudgment, that.
In the weeks since a hostage release-ceasefire deal was reached last month, Hamas and its allies have also repeatedly called the war a "victory" for their cause.
Indeed, Abu Marzouk’s remarks were quickly countered by Hamas front man Hazem Qassem, who said: "The occupation’s aggressive and destructive behavior is the cause of the destruction in Gaza. The October 7 epic marks a strategic turning point in the Paleostinian national struggle."
In a statement issued a short while later by the group itself, Hamas claimed Abu Marzouk’s comments were "incorrect and taken out of context."
Oh well. It was nice to think learning had happened, but clearly that’s not permitted. Now we know.
"The interview was conducted a few days ago and the published statements did not reflect the full content of the answers," the terror group contended.
In the interview, Abu Marzouk said Hamas’s survival, despite Israel’s campaign in Gaza, constituted a "kind of victory." He compared the terror group, which has been the de facto government of Gaza since ousting the Paleostinian Authority’s main Fatah faction in a 2007 coup, to a regular person who has survived a boxing match with heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. But he said that in absolute terms, it would be "unacceptable" to call the war a win for the terror group.
"We’re talking about a party [Israel] that lost control of itself and took Dire Revenge against everything," Abu Marzouk claimed. "That is not a victory under any circumstances."
Sez you. We disagree.
ABU MARZOUK SAYS OPEN TO TALKING DISARMAMENT
In the interview, Abu Marzouk also said he was open to discussing the potential disarmament of the terror group in Gaza, saying that, "We are ready to speak about every issue," and, "Any issue that is put on the table, we need to speak about it." He declined, however, to answer specific questions about what a compromise on disarmament might look like.
The comments seemed to contradict more hardline statements from other public leaders of late, such as politburo member Osama Hamdan, who said this month that "the weapons of the resistance" were non-negotiable.
Asked about Hamdan’s remarks, Abu Marzouk told The New York Times that no one leader could set the organization’s agenda.
Qassem, the Hamas front man, also rejected the idea of disarmament, saying: "We hold onto our resistance weapon as a legitimate right, and what was attributed to Moussa Abu Marzouk does not represent the movement’s stance. Resistance® in all its forms is a legitimate right for our people until liberation and return."
Asked about the ongoing, fragile hostage release-ceasefire deal, which has paused fighting in the Strip as Hamas has freed captives who were mostly kidnapped on October 7 and Israel has set free over a thousand Paleostinian security prisoners, including many terror convicts, Abu Marzouk said he was open to extending the three-part deal’s first phase, which is currently slated to end on Saturday.
He said, however, that the group would demand far more security prisoners released in exchange for each of the remaining hostages than it had for those released in the past, noting that Hamas considers all the remaining living captives — including those who are in fact civilians — to be soldiers.
Abu Marzouk suggested 500-to-1 and 1,000-to-1 as possible prisoner-to-hostage ratios for the remaining captives, which are likely to be rejected out of hand by Israel.
The interview was conducted before Israel’s decision on Saturday to freeze the release of 602 security inmates in exchange for six living hostages, after five of those hostages were released in propaganda ceremonies that the state called "humiliations."
Abu Marzouk added that Hamas is also open to releasing all the hostages at once, in exchange for an end to the war and the release of all Paleostinian prisoners — terms which Israel has rejected.
IDF RESPONDS TO ROCKET FIRE, AS CEASEFIRE UP IN THE AIR
With the first phase of the deal set to end Saturday, negotiations are ongoing for the second phase, which envisions Hamas releasing all remaining living hostages — believed to be at least 24 of the 63 captives — in exchange for several thousand Paleostinian security prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a permanent end to the war.
US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... ’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that, "We will get to phase two... I think it’s going to happen," but called any Hamas role in the postwar government of the Strip a "red line."
Israeli leaders have repeatedly stressed in recent days that there are battle plans ready in the event that the deal should collapse and fighting resume.
On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces struck a rocket launching site in Gaza, from which a rocket had been fired at Israel but fell short in the Strip, the military said. It added that a second rocket launch site in the area was also targeted.
* Hamas attacked, murdered and took civilians. Civilians, which included raping kids and women hostages. All while using GAZA as a launch pad & base of operations.
* Hamas shown videos and bragged that it holds hostages in GAZA in conditions that PETA would raise hell about, if it involved animals, instead of Jewish persons.
And this Hamas idiot wants us to believe Hamas didn't expect a world of hurt to happen to the GAZA people for supporting such plain ass EVIL?
So, he is either an early nominee for IDIOT OF THE YEAR?
Or he, Iran & Hamas are Back-Tracking because they are getting their asses handed to them by the IDF and the USA.
#3
Hubris. My calculus is Hamas thought with the investment that Iran had provided in the lead up to Oct 7 that their allies (iran and hezbollah) would support them regardless of Hamas unilaterally deciding to start the war prematurely and without their allies consent.
[IsraelTimes] Decision made as French-Palestinian legislator Rima Hassan is en route to Israel; she lands and returns to Brussels; has been questioned in France for allegedly supporting terrorism
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel barred European Parliament member Rima Hassan from entering the country on Monday, over her past comments encouraging boycotts and sanctions of Israel, and armed struggle against it.
Arbel gave the order at the recommendation of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, as Hassan was en route to Israel from Brussels to meet with Paleostinian Authority officials, as a member of a five-person European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... delegation.
Arbel issued a statement before Hassan landed at Ben Gurion Airport, claiming that she had "consistently worked to promote boycotts against Israel and made numerous public statements and social media posts" hostile to the country.
"Hassan will be returned to Brussels," he said.
Shortly after Hassan landed, an Interior Ministry official told The Times of Israel that the parliamentarian was awaiting a return flight. She indeed boarded such a plane and was back in Belgium by Monday evening. The delegation’s leader, Lynn Boylan, returned with her.
The incident occurred as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar was in Brussels for meetings with EU leaders and the 27 foreign ministers from EU states.
Hassan has voiced support for armed struggle against Israel on social media, and has been summoned by French police for comments allegedly lauding terrorism.
The summons came at the heels of a complaint filed against her by the European Jewish Organization, a group of French Jewish lawyers dedicated to combatting antisemitism and anti-Israel boycott campaigns.
Elected to the European Parliament in 2024, Hassan was born to Paleostinian parents in Syria’s Neirab refugee camp. She immigrated to La Belle France at the age of 9 and obtained French citizenship as an adult.
The 32-year-old was trained as an attorney before entering parliamentary politics as part of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left La Belle France Unbowed party. She wrote her master’s thesis in international law on the question of apartheid, drawing legal comparisons between South Africa and Israel.
Hassan has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide for its Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... offensive following the Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel. In 2024, she called for a boycott of French TV channel TF1, after it broadcast an interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and she participated in a protest outside the channel’s headquarters.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli welcomed the Interior Ministry’s move, saying that Israel was "not obligated to grant entry to any foreign official, including members of parliament, if they work to delegitimize or boycott the country."
"Israel will not grant legitimacy to those who seek its harm. We will continue to act against antisemitic and anti-Israel elements trying to exploit our democracy," he wrote on X.
[IsraelTimes] A delegation of European Union parliament members has canceled its trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah after Israel barred two lawmakers and two staffers from entering the country, the EU’s mission to the Palestinians tells The Times of Israel in a statement.
The Interior Ministry said earlier today that it had denied entry to EU MP Rima Hassan over her support for boycotts against Israel, but the Jerusalem-based EU mission tells The Times of Israel that the delegation’s leader MP Lynn Boylan
…an Irish Sinn Féin politician, with all that entails…
was also denied entry along with two other EU staffers accompanying the lawmakers.
While the Interior Ministry statement said that Hassan was banned over her public support for boycotting Israel, the EU mission says that Israeli authorities did not provide any reasons to any of the officials who were denied entry.
We can guess, though.
The three other MPs traveling with Boylan and Hassan were allowed into Israel, but they will return to Europe on the first flight tomorrow morning, as Boylan decided to cancel the delegation entirely, the EU mission says.
[Rudaw] The United States Department of the Treasury on Monday imposed new sanctions on over 30 individuals and vessels for their "involvement" in importing Iranian petroleum-related products.
According to the US Treasury, its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US State Department targeted oil brokers and operators in China, India, and the United Arab Emirates "for their role in brokering the sale and transport of Iranian petroleum-related products."
The sanctions also included the head of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, both of which "contribute to financing Iran’s destabilizing activities," according to the US Treasury.
In addition, eight vessels have been designated as "blocked property" due to their association with the blacklisted entities.
The new sanctions follow US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... ’s restoring the maximum pressure policy against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... in early February, arguing that Tehran is "too close" to obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump also expressed interest in negotiating a deal with Iran.
For its part, Tehran has repeatedly denied any intentions of developing nuclear weapons, maintaining that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Monday’s sanctions additionally freeze the assets of the designated persons and entities. The US Treasury issued a warning to individuals and businesses that they cannot engage in transactions with the sanctioned entities unless authorized by OFAC.
The US Treasury Department accused the Iranian government of allocating billions of dollars worth of oil each year to gangs to supplement its annual budget allocations.
This round of sanctions marks the second such move since Trump reinstated the maximum pressure policy. Earlier this month, the US targeted individuals and tankers involved in shipping Iranian crude oil to China, which the Treasury Department said was done on behalf of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff. The sanctions also affected entities and individuals in China, India, and the UAE.
[IsraelTimes] Channel 12’s investigative program Uvda is to air a report tonight documenting its reporter Itai Anghel’s visit to Damascus a few days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
In a promo, Anghel is seen roaming the markets of Damascus, entering abandoned military bases and Iranian headquarters, and interviewing soldiers from the post-revolution Syrian army.
Ahead of the broadcast, Anghel shared details of his visit, stating: “Everything is open; you can walk into bases and even the Iranian embassy. I took a folder from there that might contain descriptions of Iranian spies. There are passports and photos. It’s hard to believe how exposed everything is.”
Regarding his visit to the abandoned Iranian embassy, Anghel added: “There were hidden doors in the embassy building, behind which I found a massive server farm and loads of files. They shredded a lot of documents, but many were left intact. You can see classified materials still there. This was Shi’ite Iran’s greatest power hub. From here, they operated Hezbollah.”
“Surely, our [Israeli security] people were also there in the first chaotic days to gather intelligence,” Anghel said. “I wandered alone in the bases. You could take grenades or the warheads of fighter jets.”
[IsraelTimes] Israel has begun staff work on a pilot program that would allow Syrian Druze to work in Israeli towns on the Golan Heights, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
The program was initiated by Golan Druze who asked Israeli security officials and the military to assist their Druze brethren over the border, says Kan.
The plan is being drawn up by Gen. Ghassan Alian, who heads the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and is Druze himself.
The initial stage will see dozens of Syrian Druze working in construction and agriculture in Golan Druze towns.
Israeli leaders have publicly warned Syria’s government not to harm the Druze in southwestern Syria, and regularly speak with foreign leaders about the importance of protecting them, along with Syria’s Kurds.
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa received an invitation to attend an Arab summit in Cairo to discuss post-war governance of Gaza, the Syrian presidency says.
“The president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Mr Ahmed al-Sharaa, received an official invitation from the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt… to participate in the extraordinary Arab League summit” on March 4 in Cairo, the presidency statement says
[IsraelTimes] Foreign ministers in Brussels say they’ll monitor developments to ensure move remains appropriate; bloc had conditioned relief on rebel leader eschewing religious extremism
European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... countries on Monday suspended a range of sanctions against Syria with immediate effect, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and reconstruction.
The EU has a range of sanctions in place targeting both individuals and economic sectors in Syria.
European leaders began rethinking their approach after Death Eater forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) ousted Syria’s Iran-backed president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... in December, more than 13 years after the start of the country’s civil war.
Meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to suspend restrictions on the energy sector that covered oil, gas and electricity, and sanctions on the transport sector.
They have also lifted asset freezes for five banks, eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank and indefinitely extended an exemption to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid.
EU states had maintained a range of other sanctions related to the Assad authorities, including those on arms trading, dual-use goods with both military and civilian uses, software for surveillance and the international trade of Syrian cultural heritage goods.
They said they would continue to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure that the suspensions remained appropriate.
It was unclear if the EU’s sanctions relief applied to HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto president.
HTS, a former branch of al-Qaeda, has attempted to shake off its holy warrior image and said it would honor religious minorities. Soon after the group ousted Assad, the EU’s top diplomat said sanctions on Syria would be lifted only after the country’s new leadership disavowed religious extremism and proved it would respect women’s and minority rights.
Following Assad’s ouster, Israel moved troops into the two countries’ buffer zone, citing fear it would fall into the wrong hands. The buffer zone, on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights, had been demilitarized under a 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria.
Sharaa has called on Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone and said he would accept international peacekeepers being stationed there.
On Sunday, speaking at a military ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops would stay in the buffer zone indefinitely.
"We will not allow [HTS] forces or the new Syrian army to move into territory south of Damascus," said Netanyahu.
Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria since Assad’s ouster and destroyed the lion’s share of the former Syrian military’s air defenses. Throughout the Syrian civil war, Israel had reportedly carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, with the country having become a throughway for arms from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. Both Iran and the terror group propped up Assad’s regime during the war.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Yesterday, February 23, a solemn funeral of the Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah took place in Beirut. Nasrallah was killed by the Israelis in September 2024, but he was only buried almost six months later, and this event turned into a major political event.
Nasrallah's body could not be removed from the underground bunker destroyed by an airstrike for a long time, and after that, political instability in Lebanon prevented the burial - Hezbollah preferred to wait for the formation of a new government, so as not to draw attention to itself and not to provoke former opponents.
In addition to Nasrallah, the last respects were also paid to his cousin, Hashim Safi al-Din, who was elected the new secretary general, but survived his predecessor by only a couple of weeks.
The funeral procession, aptly titled “We Are Committed to the Covenant,” attracted more than a million people and was the largest in Lebanon’s history in 20 years. It also offered a clear indication of how support for Hezbollah has changed in the past six months.
INNER CIRCLE
The Lebanese services responsible for security at the mourning event eventually reported the presence of representatives from at least 12 countries. According to observers, the largest group of guests came from Iraq (almost 140,000 people). The top three also included Iran (106,000 people) and Yemen (27,000 people). In fact, the entire pro-Iranian “Axis of Resistance” was present.
It is also noteworthy that the ceremony was attended not only by Muslims, but also by representatives of the Christian community, including representatives of the Maronite communities of Lebanon.
In terms of representation at the official level, Iran, as expected, demonstrated the greatest involvement.
Official Tehran sent a group of high-ranking politicians to Beirut under the leadership of the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Both officials at one time worked quite closely with Nasrallah and ensured operational communication between Hezbollah and the Iranian authorities.
At the same time, the Lebanese establishment treated Nasrallah's funeral very formally. The country's President Joseph Aoun did not take part in the funeral ceremony, although as a sign of respect for the party past of Nasrallah and al-Din, he sent a fairly large delegation from the presidential administration and government apparatus to the event.
Newly appointed Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also avoided attending the ceremony on the pretext of a business trip.
As a result, of the prominent Lebanese politicians, only the speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, was present at the farewell to the Hezbollah leaders ; his presence was interpreted as a willingness to remain a link between Hezbollah and other political forces in Lebanon, as well as a lack of intention to “push” Hezbollah supporters out of legislative work.
The weak representation of Lebanese officials (compared to Iran) can be explained by official Beirut’s fears of overly angering Israel.
Despite the fact that relations between Lebanon and the Jewish state are already at a low point, it is important for Beirut to achieve a complete withdrawal of the Israeli contingent from its territories.
In this context, obvious sympathy for Hezbollah could be perceived by Tel Aviv as a sign of hidden agreements between the new Lebanese authorities and Iran and used to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon.
For a similar reason, representatives of Arab states with close ties to the Israeli side were almost completely absent from the event.
COUNTER MOVE
The Israeli side took advantage of the excitement surrounding the funerals of former Hezbollah leaders in its own way.
On the day of the mourning ceremony, footage of an airstrike on the Dahya neighborhood, where the underground headquarters of the Hezbollah leadership was located, appeared on the resources of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) - later, they were actively published by Israeli LOMs, accompanied by ironic captions and comments.
The Israelis did not abandon Hezbollah supporters during the farewell ceremony itself - IDF fighters flew at least several times at dangerously low altitudes over Beirut, simulating preparations for a missile and bomb strike.
Later, the press also reported "indiscriminate strikes" by Israeli aircraft in various parts of the country (primarily in the south) - however, most of them were later denied by the Israeli side. The "clear shell explosions" that journalists wrote about that day were in fact the result of sapper work to destroy the movement's old arsenals.
True, the IDF did have to admit to several bombings: Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of the towns of Zeraria, Zibqin, Kalila, Janneta, Deir Qanun al-Nahr and Maroub. All of these settlements are located in southern Lebanon and, according to Tel Aviv, are “included in the military zone” of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Official Beirut responded to this with a "demonstration of serious concern."
CONTINUERS OF THE BUSINESS
Perhaps the most important element of the event was the “solemn oath” of Hezbollah’s current leader, Naim Qassem. He not only promised to “continue the work” of Nasrallah, but also to destroy US plans to “sell Gaza” to Israel with the tacit approval of its Arab partners.
Despite the fact that the oath was given via video link and Kassem was not personally present at the ceremony (for security reasons), it fulfilled its purpose in full.
After six months of “radio silence,” Lebanon’s Hezbollah has effectively announced plans to fully engage in the fight against Israel and provide Iran with support for a possible Operation True Promise 3.
Of course, the movement's positions were seriously undermined and one should not expect a quick entry into the fight. However, it was much more important to show Israel that the IDF still cannot consider the "northern direction" completely cleared.
And Hezbollah in this case used the same tactics to convey its message as the Palestinian Hamas had used earlier, explicitly framing the demonstration of the potential of its supporters, both military and civilian, within the confines of a public event.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
......
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
