In a speech in which he angrily pushed back on criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war that has cleaved the Democratic Party and disrupted American college campuses, Mr. Netanyahu linked Israel’s security directly to that of the United States, insisting: “We’re not only protecting ourselves; we’re protecting you.”

“Our enemies are your enemies; our fight is your fight; and our victory will be your victory,” Mr. Netanyahu said, emphasizing the strategic role of Israel in countering Iran.

The fact of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was almost as notable as anything he said. In the face of increasing international censure and dissent both in Israel and in the United States, Mr. Netanyahu was seeking to use Congress to lift his sagging political fortunes — and leaders in both parties obliged with a bipartisan invitation to receive him.

But in the House chamber as he spoke, there was clear evidence of how the longstanding bipartisan consensus to back Israel has eroded in Congress since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 and the offensive in Gaza that followed. Dozens of Democratic members, including two top senators and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, boycotted the speech. Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside, as is traditional for the vice president, citing a scheduling conflict.

And Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan and the first Palestinian American member of Congress, held up a sign as Mr. Netanyahu spoke that read “war criminal” on one side and “guilty of genocide” on the other.

Outside, more than 5,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators massed on streets near the Capitol, some wearing Palestinian kaffiyehs, chanting for the United States to stop arming Israel. As they hoisted signs calling Mr. Netanyahu a “war criminal” and the “prime minister of genocide,” some clashed with police who used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and a few burned an effigy of him.

Inside the House chamber, the standing ovations Mr. Netanyahu received were mostly partisan, as Republicans applauded loudly and Democrats hung back, some clapping and others sitting silently and stone-faced. The speech appeared to be aimed at an Israeli audience to demonstrate that his leadership is critical for the state’s well-being and its future.

The bipartisan split in support for him is deeply concerning for Israel’s future, experts said.

“The one adhesive that has maintained the resilience of the relationship is bipartisanship,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator and adviser in Republican and Democratic administrations. “That is under extreme stress.”

He added: “If you have a Republican view and two or three Democratic views about what it means to be pro-Israel, the nature of the relationship is going to change.”

Mr. Netanyahu appeared aware of those politics in trying to strike a bipartisan tone.

He emphasized that Israel is a strategic asset and deserves America’s support, in a speech in which he praised both President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. He did not mention Ms. Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, whom he is set to meet later this week.

“He came to Israel to be with us in our darkest hour,” Mr. Netanyahu said of Mr. Biden, thanking him for being a self-proclaimed “proud Irish American Zionist.”

In a roughly hourlong address, Mr. Netanyahu graphically described what happened on Oct. 7, when 3,000 Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. “They burned babies alive,” he said.

And he placed the war in context with the struggles of Jews throughout history, including the Holocaust. “After Oct. 7, ‘Never Again’ is now,” he said, emphasizing the historical right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

In a nod to the deep political divisions the war has sown in the United States, Mr. Netanyahu condemned Americans who have protested his tactics — including large swaths of the Democratic Party — equating criticism of his conduct of the war with sympathy for terrorists.

“Many choose to stand with evil, they stand with Hamas, they stand with rapists and murderers,” Mr. Netanyahu said of pro-Palestinian protesters. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”

He received raucous cheers for calling the protesters outside “Tehran’s useful idiots.”

“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now, outside this building,” he added.

Above all, Mr. Netanyahu sought to claim the moral high ground as he spoke to lawmakers, thanking them for their support against Hamas.

“Give us the tools faster and we’ll finish the job faster,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

He wore a yellow ribbon in honor of the hostages, even though experts in the region said he was more responsible than anyone else in the country for blocking a deal that would bring them home, because of his own political calculations. He singled out Israeli soldiers seated in the chamber for their heroism, including one who immigrated from Ethiopia and one from Israel’s Bedouin community.

“These are the soldiers of Israel — undaunted, unbowed, unafraid,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit was fraught for Democrats, some of whom wanted to show support for the state of Israel while at the same time criticizing its current leader. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, did not shake hands with Mr. Netanyahu when he entered the chamber.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said in a statement ahead of the speech. Still, he sat in the chamber, and rose to applaud Mr. Netanyahu throughout his speech.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group, immediately criticized the speech for what it failed to do. “The speech was devoid of an actual plan for ending the war and bringing real security and peace to the region,” he said in a statement. “His empty calls for ‘total victory’ are simply an illusion as there is no military solution to the underlying conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”

A few Republicans also did not attend.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Mr. Trump’s running mate, was on the campaign trail. Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, said that he would not attend the speech, denouncing the event as “political theater.” In a social media post, Mr. Massie said “the purpose of having Netanyahu address Congress is to bolster his political standing in Israel.”

The post Netanyahu Delivers a Forceful Defense of Israel to Applause in Congress appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden confirmed Sunday that Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old American girl held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed, was released as part of the cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war.

“Thank God she’s home,” Biden said told reporters. “I wish I were there to hold her.”

Abigail has dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship, and Biden said she was “safely in Israel.” She was the first U.S. hostage to be released under terms of the cease-fire. Biden said he did not have immediate information on Abigail’s condition. The White House said later that the president spoke by telephone with members of the girl’s family in the United States and Israel. He also spoke with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas militants stormed Abigail’s kibbutz, Kfar Azza, on Oct. 7 and killed her parents. She ran to a neighbor’s home for shelter, and the Brodutch family — mother Hagar and her three children — took Abigail in as the rampage raged. Then all five disappeared and were later confirmed to be captives. They were among the more than 200 people taken to Gaza in the attack that touched off the war. Abigail had a birthday while she was held.

Two of Abigail’s family members on Sunday thanked Biden, the Qatari government and others involved in securing her release, saying in a statement they remain committed to the “safe and swift return” of all hostages.

“Today’s release proves that it’s possible. We can get all hostages back home. We have to keep pushing,” said Liz Hirsh Naftali and Noa Naftali, Abigail’s great aunt and cousin.

The Brodutch family was also in the group, ranging in age from 4 to 84, released Sunday. Red Cross representatives transferred the hostages out of Gaza. Some were handed over directly to Israel, while others left through Egypt. Israel’s army said one was airlifted directly to a hospital.

“They’ve endured a terrible ordeal,” Biden said, and can now begin the “long journey toward healing.”

According to the White House, Biden and Netanyahu agreed the work was not yet done. Biden described the negotiations as a day-by-day, hour-by-hour process and said he would continue working until all hostages were free.

“Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is being taken for granted. But the proof that this is working and worth pursuing further is in every smile and every grateful tear we see on the faces of those families who are finally getting back together again. The proof is little Abigail,” the president said.

Biden said in remarks from Nantucket, the Massachusetts islands where he spent Thanksgiving with his family, that the cease-fire agreement was “delivering lifesaving results.”

Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal Sunday. A fourth exchange was expected on Monday — the last day of the cease-fire during which a total of 50 hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners were to be freed. All are women and minors.

Netanyahu issued a video statement after speaking with Biden. He talked about the happiness of bringing Abigail home, but also the sadness that her parents were killed. “She has no parents, but she has an entire nation that hugs her, and we will take care of all her needs,” he said.

Netanyahu reiterated his offer to extend the cease-fire by an additional day for every 10 hostages Hamas releases. But he also said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas “with all of its power” once the cease-fire expires.

International mediators led by representatives from the United States and Qatar are trying to extend the cease-fire for as long as possible.

“Critically needed aid is going in and hostages are coming out,” Biden said. “And this deal is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results. That’s my goal, that’s our goal to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those who are in need in Gaza.”

Before the pause in fighting, the first hostages were released on Oct. 17 — Judith and Natalie Raanan, an American woman and her teenage daughter. Their release was regarded as a successful test-case for negotiating the larger deal, according to U.S. officials.

There are believed to be eight other U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident still held hostage. Two were women, seven were men. It’s not clear whether they are alive.

Biden said he was “hopeful” the others would be released. “We will not stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones,’’ he said.

The war has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians killed by Hamas in the initial attack. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, roughly two thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Biden says 4-year-old Abigail Edan was released by Hamas. He hopes more U.S. hostages will be freed appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Americans were horrified at the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli villagers on October 7 this year. The brutality and futility of the attack rocked the imagination. Yet within days, we witnessed huge protest marches in U.S. and world capitals and universities in favor of Hamas.

Their favored chant, “from the river to the sea,” means only one thing, and that is the annihilation of Israel and all its Jewish inhabitants. Such support for terrorism exploded in the 1970s as well in European cities and universities, and people wondered then about this same gleeful valorization of revolution by comfortable, privileged youth.

One might expect campus teach-ins or op-eds on either side of a political conflict today too in elite educated spaces like Harvard and Columbia, but why do we again see such unchecked street rage there? Why do we hear absurdly hyperbolic accusations like “genocide” and “apartheid,” and why do news outlets accept unvetted news reports and ludicrous casualty counts from Hamas itself? The Germans had a word for it: Leidensneid, or an envy of suffering, first described by authors such as Jillian Becker, the chronicler of the Baader Meinhof group.

The youth of this formerly Nazi nation thought of their old country as irredeemably evil, and they were not entirely wrong. They came to envy the romanticized and righteous suffering of oppressed peoples, whose plight seemed authentic and meaningful. As they lived a soft life under the new democracies, their hatred of the old order grew. Eventually, they demanded nothing short of a utopian standard of justice for the new.

They developed an ideology of hypersensitivity to wrongdoing, including any they saw in their new nations. And so, bereft of a nation to identify with, they identified with the victims of the post-war world, vowed destruction of “the system,” and embarked on urban guerrilla terrorism. Similarly, today, protesters believe that Gazans live in an “open air prison” and thus suffer nobly.

Therefore, they deserve our pity and support. Their struggle is heroic; their lives are significant and noble, unlike the Western student’s comfortable middle-class, or even upper-class, existence, purchased with the wrongdoing of their country. The Leidensneid of the ’70s repeats in today’s popular oppressor/oppressed theory, the simplistic reduction that any successful nation or people must have achieved its success by oppressing less successful peoples.

They valorize this suffering and therefore believe that Hamas, in the present instance, has no choice but to resort to terrorism for “liberation” against giants like Israel and the U.S. Psychologist Schura Cook also noted that the main youth terrorist groups arose at the same time in Italy, Germany, and Japan — the Axis nations defeated by the West in World War II — suggesting that emotional reaction to the past sins of their countries rather than political ideology is the driving force of this terrorism.

Today, in an atmosphere of one-sided criticism of the West, protest and repudiation seem the only ethical course to the protesters, like the reaction after WWII. This especially presents a difficulty for youth from families that emigrated from the Middle East. If the old country is beautiful and advanced, why did it fail to meet the needs of their immigrant parents? The oppressor/oppressed paradigm resolves this conflict. Additionally, tyrants (like Hamas) use the oppressed claim to deflect responsibility for their own failures.

The scapegoating of the U.S. in general and Israel in this particular conflict thus answers the need of both the confused protester and the tyrant. The media in today’s hyper-emotional atmosphere play a huge role. Much has already been written about Pallywood, which the legacy media finally acknowledged as propaganda. But shockingly, today we see that this nonexistent neutrality of media persists. The media repeat obviously erroneous news, like the bombing of the hospital in Gaza, or suppress other news, or couch a news item in misleading language.

Also, the media studiously avoid investigating the funding of these marches, when names like “International Answer” appear printed on the very placards that the marchers are carrying. Today, we can only wonder how thousands of Palestinian flags and martyr/soldier garb suddenly appear in all the world capitals. Who paid for it all? The academy today extols the supremacy of sensitivity over truth. Students seek mental health care when they hear a political opinion they do not agree with or after a “misgendering” — and the media reinforce these sentiments.

Ignorance of the history of the Middle East region adds to the emotionalism of the conflict. This ultra-sensitivity of the protesters can easily harden into a state of cold insensitivity toward their own victims in the fight for utopia. The terrorists of the ’70s chose to break all contact with conventional life and embark on guerrilla revolution, and today we see growing hatred as people rip posters of kidnapped children off lampposts, burn flags, chase down Jewish students, justify each October 7 atrocity in the name of “resistance,” or deny that the massacre happened at all. This is how violent ideation begins.

This situation is at an inflection point. We must employ sophisticated public relations and media strategies if we are to avoid the same catastrophes that occurred in the former Axis countries: years of bloody urban terrorism. We can discount their overblown rhetoric at our peril; their hypersensitivity is approaching a breaking point, and that means real terrorism. Rather than dismissing the current fevers as youthful naïveté, the universities must introduce the protesters to real education.

The criminal justice system must bring appropriate charges for violent action, or for monetary or other support for terrorism. Protesters not yet hardened into violence must be re-educated, by media or universities, with substantive exposure to those they claim are evil. It is heartening to see the action of Columbia University to ban two radical anti-Israel student groups and of MIT to suspend violators.

The Israeli government is showing film taken by the Hamas attackers themselves on October 7 to journalists and influencers. This is a good start. Many protesters would eventually abandon the movement, given the real facts. Reality is the surest cure for this relentless self-loathing and nihilism.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Why the Support for Hamas? appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Do you think that things have clarified somewhat over the last week since the Hamas massacres in Israel?

I get the feeling that our beloved leaders are caught, just a little, between a rock and a hard place. They would like to equivocate on the Palestinian Question, but the Hamas atrocities make it just a little more difficult. Our leaders like to be on the side of the Left-approved victims, and are embarrassed to support our friends — like Israel.

And you know what? I couldn’t be happier. The harder it becomes for our rulers to support fake victims, the happier it makes me.

Oh, I get it. Ever since Marx, lefty politicians have recognized that the royal road to political power is to pose as the savior of the victims, whether workers, women, blacks, gays, Palestinians. Never mind that most of the problems of the workers was due to government screwing up the economy with wars, inflations, deflations, and central bank incompetence. Never mind that, after the passage of the civil rights acts, pro-black politics is simple racism. Never mind that feminism has benefited high-born women and destroyed the traditional family that supports ordinary women. Never mind that the gay rights movement has morphed into the trans rights racket.

Never mind that our current leaders came to power upon the promise that they would administer an efficient and just state, replacing the horrors of the “spoils system” with educated and honest administration.

Can anyone doubt that our present rulers operate a “spoils system” that makes the 19th-century system seem like a walk in the park?

And the incompetence! Two world wars and a cold war. Two muffed credit crashes, in 1929 and 2008, when the central bank utterly failed. Two inflation episodes, in the 1970s and now the 2020s.

But… climate change and systemic racism.

And now our government is slow off the mark on the Hamas atrocities.

What exactly is the big idea in the Obama and Biden Iran negotiations? Maybe you chaps in the intelligence community can leak us a memo signed by 51 current and former intelligence chiefs to set us straight on Iran and Hamas and the $6 billion.

What exactly is the idea that Trump supporters are extremists and need deprogramming but Antifa rioters are mostly peaceful protesters that need to be bailed out of jail?

Why is it that bookstores all across the land feature Banned Books Week, that this year seems to be all about sexually explicit books to be used in elementary schools, while nobody talks about the “Books Banned by Amazon” over at unz.com. Not that Holocaust denialism is any more appetizing than gay sex instruction for the little kiddies.

Why is the confinement of the mentally ill in government mental institutions a scandal and Nurse Ratched a monster, but the confinement of children in government schools — government child custodial facilities — is okay and unionized teachers pushing trans propaganda are doing Gaia’s work?

We know why. Our ruling class has a Narrative on all kinds of issues, and you disagree with the Narrative at your peril. Our leaders have ways of suppressing disagreement, from mere marginalization of opposition figures to the development of government censorship agencies like CISA and its terrible MDM triplets: misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, to the active demonizing of nonconforming opinions as literally Hitler, as in “climate denialism.” In emergency, break glass and play the Race Card.

Really, we shouldn’t be that shocked that our rulers use their power to suppress their opponents. Rulers gotta rule.

But we the people should remember that politics is a gussied-up lie to get you to think that your neighbor is your enemy. Government is a gussied-up lie to get you to think that straight-up corruption is really public service. Activism is a gussied-up lie to get you to think that regime paramilitaries are really peacefully protesting against injustice.

All this may not be pretty, but it certainly tends to clarify the State of Things in America.

There is another way. It is founded on the notion that there is very little that government can do to Make Things Better, and an awful lot that every government does to Make Things Worse.

Once upon a time there was a woman writer, George Eliot, who concluded her most famous novel Middlemarch with the following words: [T]he growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Only half, Georgie? I’d say that nearly all the things that help make the world go round have nothing to do with politics and government.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Hamas provides a clarifying moment appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.