Radio America Online News Bureau

Hamas

House Dems Rebuke Omar, Border Crisis Gets Worse, Inflation Expands

by

Listen to “House Dems Rebuke Omar, Border Crisis Gets Worse, Inflation Expands” on Spreaker.

Jim and Greg discuss a rebuke by 12 House Democrats of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s tweet comparing the U.S. and Israel to the Taliban and Hamas, the new record-breaking numbers of border crossings in May, and the continued expansion of inflation.

 

Please visit our great sponsors!

Theragun
https://theragun.com/martini
Try Theragun for 30-days starting at only $199 with promo code Martini.

My Pillow
https://mypillow.com/martini
Premium My Pillows are at their lowest price yet! Get a Queen Premium My Pillow for only $29.98 with code MARTINI.

Share

Why Netanyahu Won Again

by

Listen to “Why Netanyahu Won Again” on Spreaker.

On Tuesday, Israeli voters once again decided to keep Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, rewarding him and his coalition partners for a decade of strong economic growth and national security, but also suggesting a new party will be a major player in Israeli politics over the coming years.

Netanyahu’s Likud party actually tied the upstart Blue and White party, by winning 35 seats apiece in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset.  But when adding in like-minded parties, Netanyahu’s coalition is expected to control 65 seats in the new government.

So why is Netanyahu still popular after ten years in office, even while facing corruption charges?

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies President Clifford May says Israeli voters credit Netanyahu for turning their economy around and rightly so.

“He, as finance minister and as prime minister, is more responsible than anyone else for Israel making a transition from essentially a democratic socialist government to a capitalist economy,” said May.

May says Netanyahu’s strong defense of Israel against hostile neighbors like Hamas and Syria are also appreciated by the Israeli people, although he says the Blue and White party also fielded a candidate – retired Gen. Benny Gantz – who has strong national security credentials.

Listen to the full podcast as May discusses what Netanyahu’s win means for U.S.-Israeli relations and how the politics in Israel have shifted greatly in just a few years.

Share

Hamas Attacks Proves Iran in Turmoil

by

Middle East tensions are heating up again as Israel mounts a military response to nearly 200 Hamas rockets fired into Israel, but a Reagan-era Pentagon official says the real headline here is that the benefactors of Hamas are rattled.

“I think it’s because its patron, Iran, is in trouble.  The Iranians are making a concerted effort, I think, to attack Israel while they can,” said Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney, who served as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

“The regime, the mullah-ocracy if you will, is increasingly facing pressure from its own people, among others things, to stop supporting Hamas and for that matter Bashar Assad in Syria and Hezbollah,” added Gaffney.

Instability has arisen in Iran before, most notably in the 2009 Green Revolution against the mullahs and then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after clearly rigged elections.

But Gaffney says the current protests are unlike anything we’ve seen before.

“What seems to be different about what’s happening now is that it’s not just certain strata of society that are opposing the government in a visible, public way, as was true in the Green Revolution.

“You have masses of people from across the demographic, political, economic spectrum, many of whom are facing the fact that there’s no longer any water for them to drink.  There’s no employment opportunities.  They’re fleeing their cities and towns and going elsewhere in search of basic necessities,” said Gaffney.

The Israeli military has already carried out airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza after 180 rockets were fired into Israel.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ordering “strong action” in retaliation as well.

Gaffney says it’s a complicated issue for Israel.  On the one hand, Netanyahu cannot allow his country to be attacked without a fierce response.  At the same time, Hamas consistently embeds its military elements in civilian locations like hospitals and daycare centers.  When Israel attacks the military assets, Hamas and much of the world inevitably accuse it of carry out human rights atrocities.

But Gaffney says both sides need to walk a diplomatic tightrope.

“I think both sides are trying to walk that fine line.  The folks in Hamas understand that Israel can do very considerable harm to their infrastructure and operations.  On the other hand Israelis understand almost anything they do is going to be met with intense criticism by countries elsewhere,” said Gaffney.

The U.S. will be one of the few nations to defend Israel at the United Nations and elsewhere.  But Gaffney says President Trump can achieve greater stability in the Middle East by choking the economic life out of Iran and all of its proxies in the region.

Specifically, he implores Trump to keep up pressure through economic sanctions.  Earlier this week, the U.S. reimposed sanctions on items ranging from carpets to gold and from pistachios to automobiles and aircraft.  Another round of sanctions are scheduled for early November, which will target Iran banks and the oil industry.

“This is a moment when economic warfare against the regime and making very clear our desire to help the Iranian people and stand with them will have a very salutary effect,” said Gaffney.

Share

U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Constitutional Carry Vetoed, Media’s Middle East Bias

by


Jim and Greg are both on vacation this week.  They will be back June 25th.  There will new episodes with guest hosts Thursday and Friday of this week.  Today, please enjoy an encore presentation of the Three Martini Lunch.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem after three previous administrations acknowledged Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but refused to move the embassy.  They also wince as Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoes legislation that would allow residents to carry guns without a permit, leading Jim to wonder whether the anti-gun backlash after Parkland is making GOP officials more timid.  And they roll their eyes as the media condemn Israel for defending its borders against thousands of Palestinians specifically sent to the border to instigate a response from Israel.

Share

Media Malpractice: Good Guy with a Gun, ‘Animal’ Lies, Ignoring Hamas Admissions

by


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America take aim at three examples of egregious media bias.  They start with the heroism of Dixon High School (Ill.) school resource officer Mark Dallas, who saved countless lives in a would-be school shooting this week, yet the media glossed over the story since there was no body count and they have little interest in highlighting the effectiveness of a resource officer willing to engage the shooter.  They also slam the press for selectively quoting President Trump to make it seem he was referring to immigrants as “animals” when he was responding specifically to comment about the vicious Latin American gang MS-13.  And they throw up their hands as Hamas admits most of the people killed along the Israeli border were armed Hamas members and not random civilians and the media show no interest in reporting it.

Share

‘The Palestinians Use Any Excuse to Riot Against Israel’

by

Hamas, the media, and many nations are blaming President Trump decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem for inflaming Middle East passions and Israel for the scores of deaths along its border with Gaza this week, but a terrorism expert who grew up in the region says the embassy is just an excuse, radical groups are looking for any reason to paint Israel as the villain, and the media are perfectly willing to oblige.

For days, mainstream media outlets have shown side-by-side images of the ceremony opening the American embassy in Jerusalem and the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.  While critics of Trump and Israel suggest this loss of life was inevitable if the embassy was moved, Act for America President Brigitte Gabriel says there’s no real connection.

“Palestinians use any excuse to riot against Israel.  As a matter of fact, these riots have been building up for weeks to culminate today – in what is celebrated across the Islamic world as the ‘Day of Catastrophe,'” said Gabriel.

“So what is the catastrophe that they are celebrating, that they dedicate a day to remember every single year?  The establishment of the state of Israel.  This Palestinian rioting is about hatred.  It’s not about us moving our embassy or the occupied territories,” she added.

Gabriel, who is also the author of “They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It,” also pushed back on the widespread reporting that the Palestinian demonstrators were peaceful or “mostly peaceful.”

“It is not peaceful at all.  I have seen background footage of Hamas rallying up their people to come to the border.  They are showing up at the border with Molotov cocktails, even launching kites to help them set fire to the Israeli farms,” said Gabriel.

Among the dozens of Palestinians killed in the fighting was an eight-month-old baby, whose lifeless images have been broadcast around the world as evidence of Israeli repression.  Gabriel says there’s much more to the story.

“Why would a mother bring an eight-month-old child where Molotov cocktails are being launched?  Why are they doing that?  They’re doing it because Hamas is willing to sacrifice the lives of its own children in order to get worldwide publicity against Israel,” she said.

That sort of thing is rarely, if ever, reported in the mainstream media.  But why not?  Gabriel says it’s a combination of Arabs and Palestinians rewriting history and feeding the misinformation to reporters and scholars who are largely alumni of institutions with a strong bias against Israel.

“Our universities have been influencing young minds because of all the money from the Middle East pouring into Middle East study departments and political science departments and appointing Arab professors who are anti-Israel and anti-America to basically brainwash the students,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel also asserts that giving up land does not lead to peace for Israel.  Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew Israel from Gaza in 2005.  Subsequent elections places Hamas in charge.  Gabriel says the Palestinian people live in squalor while Hamas officials live in sprawling mansions on the Mediterranean coast and hire their family members to high-ranking positions at very generous salaries.  Much of the rest goes to purchasing weapons and training fighters.

In addition, Hamas destroyed the very lucrative flower and greenery industry deliberately left behind by Israel to provide an economic boost inside Gaza.

“They gave all that to the Palestinians.  A businessman in New York gave $14 million so the Palestinians could start immediately in Gaza with an industry.  Within 24 hours, Hamas in Gaza destroyed the greenhouses to the point they broke down the copper pipes and took them home.  This is self-destruction,” said Gabriel.

And she says as long as the hatred for Israel rages, there will be no change in the region.

“The Arabs and the Palestinians cannot tolerate Israel in the Middle East and that’s what’s driving the hatred.

“Until the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate the Jews, that’s when we’ll have peace in the Middle East,” said Gabriel.

Standard Podcast [ 9:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Dem Impeachment Squabbles, Clueless in Seattle, Steve Schmidt vs. Reality

by


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy watching Democrats publicly feud over how prominent the impeachment issue should be in 2018.  They also shake their heads as the Seattle City Council tries to fight homelessness by taxing companies $275 for every employee if the business makes more than $20 million per year.  They fire back as Never Trump “Republican” Steve Schmidt says Trump’s decision to embassy is only a calculation for the midterm elections and that the president has blood on his hands from the violence along the Israel-Gaza border.  And Jim offers a champagne toast to mark the passing of prolific author and National Review friend Tom Wolfe.

Share

U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Constitutional Carry Vetoed, Media’s Middle East Bias

by


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem after three previous administrations acknowledged Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but refused to move the embassy.  They also wince as Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoes legislation that would allow residents to carry guns without a permit, leading Jim to wonder whether the anti-gun backlash after Parkland is making GOP officials more timid.  And they roll their eyes as the media condemn Israel for defending its borders against thousands of Palestinians specifically sent to the border to instigate a response from Israel.

Share