JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Trump names Morgan Ortagus, former State Dept. spokeswoman, as deputy Mideast Peace envoy
.@MorganOrtagus has been named the Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace!
Best of luck on your new mission, Morgan! pic.twitter.com/qv3T13eLjw
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 3, 2025
Incoming President Donald Trump has named pro-Israel former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus as Deputy Mideast Peace Envoy in his new administration.
Ortagus will serve with Jewish pro-Israel Mideast Peace Envoy pick Steve Witkoff, a close friend and confidant of the president-elect, according to the Jewish Press.
Ortagus is not new to politics. She served during Trump’s first term in office, from 2019 to 2021, as the State Department spokesperson under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an unapologetic Israel supporter. She was a member of the president’s historic Abraham Accords team during her tenure and has remained close to Jared Kushner, a lead member of the team and presidential son-in-law.
Hamas releases video of Liri Albag, female soldier kidnapped on Oct. 7
This young woman was just 19 years old when she was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th.
This is her now.
After 15 months in captivity, Liri Albag has appeared in a new hostage video, which her family have approved for release.
She has been subjected to unimaginable cruelty. pic.twitter.com/3VPAUhRfzw
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) January 4, 2025
Hamas published a disturbing new video, which features one of the young female Israeli soldiers kidnapped from her Nahal Oz military base abutting the Gaza border on Oct. 7.
The three-and-a-half-minute-long video was not dated, although Albag stated in it that she has been held for over 450 days, indicating that it was filmed recently reported the Times of Israel.
Albag, a surveillance soldier, was stationed at the Nahal Oz military base close to the Gaza border when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from the Palestinian enclave. Fifteen surveillance soldiers were killed in the onslaught, and Albag was abducted to Gaza along with six others.
Trump, Netanyahu named most influential people in Israel in 2024
Maariv has pulished the ten most influential people of the past year, with President-elect Donald Trump in first place and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in second.
Following them were Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in third, and Minister of National Security Itamar… pic.twitter.com/yKmx82ihmQ
— Netanel Worthy – נתנאל וורתי (@NetanelWorthy) January 3, 2025
Although he placed 4th, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir garnered the most coverage in the Israel National News report.
“Love him or hate him, but one thing is clear: Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir cannot be ignored. Almost all of his actions are controversial – especially in the police, where his opponents claim that he has completed the takeover of the police and its politicization with the appointment of Commissioner Dani Levi. They further allege that he is the almost sole responsible party for the trend of senior officers leaving the Israel Police.”
Biden administration planning U.N. January surprise along lines of Obama’s 2016 betrayal
Urgent help needed!!!
The Biden admin is reportedly planning a “January Surprise” to harm Israel by falsely claiming that Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and getting a resolution passed in UN Security Council.
Please help by sharing #TheGazaYouDontSee food videos as… pic.twitter.com/7ORWSf6cVB— Imshin (@imshin) January 3, 2025
As WorldNetDaily is reporting, the Biden administration is planning a “January surprise” that is “modeled directly on the January surprise of the Obama administration in 2016 – that is U.N. Resolution 2334, which basically, to put it a little bit crudely, recognized the Green Line that is the June 5, 1967, ceasefire lines that separated Israel from Jordan as an international boundary,” Michael Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of its center for peace and security in the Middle East, said on his podcast on Dec. 31.
Speaking with his co-host Gadi Taub, an Israeli historian and writer, Doran said that the Obama administration’s surprise meant that “any development that Israel has made to the east of the Green Line since the 1967 War is recognized by the U.N. as an illegal settlement,” reported the Jewish News Syndicate.
“This means including the Western Wall uh is ‘occupied territory,'” the former senior director in the U.S. National Security Council said on the “Israel Update” podcast.
“Lots of neighborhoods that any Israeli today regards as Israel proper are regarded by 2334 as Israeli illegal Israeli settlements,” Doran said.
Hezbollah chief threatens to re-start hostilities if ceasefire conditions not upheld
JUST IN
Naim Qassem, Hezbollahs Secretary General warns in his speech: “Our patience might expire before the 60-day ceasefire ends. It depends on when we decide it’s time to confront Israel’s aggression and violations.” pic.twitter.com/aI0DBpkFem
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 4, 2025
Hezbollah’s reluctant chief Naim Qassem, warned the Iranian terrorist proxy would resume the conflict if in the organization’s leadership’s opinion Israel has violated the conditions of the shaky ceasefire.
Speaking on Saturday, Qassem rewrote the conflict’s recent history, claiming Hezbollah successfully repulsed Israel’s advance to only a few hundred meters, according to Ynet.
“Israel failed to penetrate deeper into our land thanks to the strength of the resistance. The resistance is powerful, deterrent and effective, disrupting the enemy’s objectives despite the extensive destruction and Israeli aggression,” he added.
Regarding the fragile cease-fire, Qassem said, “The resistance wielded significant power during the cease-fire. Israel was forced to request a cease-fire due to the resistance’s capabilities. We faced unprecedented aggression, stood firm and broke Israel’s strength. Sacrifice is the path to dignity and the resistance will continue.”
Bipartisan approach to U.S. airlines resuming flights to Israel
For all but two brief periods in 2024, the major U.S. carriers – Delta, United and American – have not flown to Tel Aviv since the war broke out, citing security concerns.
El Al, now passengers’ only option for direct flights to and from America, doesn’t have enough planes to meet travelers’ demand, leading to crushingly high prices and flights that are often sold out weeks or months in advance, reported Jewish Insider.
Some European airlines have recently resumed flights to Israel after Israel reached a cease-fire deal with Lebanon, while several Gulf airlines have been flying to Israel throughout the conflict, including the United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways, which is now operating three daily flights to Tel Aviv. But those realities have not swayed U.S. airline executives.
At a meeting of United’s board of directors in early December, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said he has “no interest in returning to Tel Aviv only to pull out for a third time,” according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. United has also not resumed service to Amman, where it flew during the first several months of the war but suspended service in August.
Pennsylvania man indicted on terrorism charges for joining Hezbollah
Jack Danaher Molloy, a 24-year-old former US Army soldier from Pittsburgh, has been indicted for attempting to join Hezbollah in Lebanon & Syria.
He faces charges of attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization and making false statements about international… pic.twitter.com/N4mKT09rrJ
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) January 3, 2025
A grand jury has federally indicted an American who absconded to the Middle East with the intention of joining Hezbollah – the Iran-backed Shia terrorist organization based in Lebanon – the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
The action affirmed the veracity of evidence that Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, had “attempted to provide material support and resources” to Hezbollah both in and out of the U.S., operating in his home state of Pennsylvania as well as in Syria and Lebanon between August and December 2024, reported the Algemeiner.
The venture ultimately proved unsuccessful, however, as Molloy – a dual citizen of Ireland and former active duty soldier for the U.S. Army – was, according to the department, rejected by his would-be terrorist colleagues. They reportedly told him that “the time was not right” for his enlistment.
WATCH: Blinken says Israel’s war with Hamas won’t define his legacy
Iran sold 2 million barrels of oil a day during Biden administration
“By the end of Obama administration, Iran was exporting 2.6 million barrels of oil a day. Following Trump’s sanctions, it went down to 100,000 a day. During the Biden administration, it went up again to 2 million barrels a day.”
— @jaredkushner pic.twitter.com/7alz90qiFf— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 31, 2024
Yet more evidence emerged about Biden’s administration effectively being Obama 3.0 when the statistics about Iran’s oil production and sale, were recently published.
Iran exported approximately 2 billion barrels of oil
–a significant increase compared to the volumes recorded between 2019 and 2021, according to Iran International.
Details from Kpler, a commodity intelligence company, reveal that Iran, whose daily oil exports had fallen below 400,000 barrels in January 2021, at the start of the Biden Administration, exported 1.6 million barrels daily last year.
Similarly, the United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) organization, which also tracks oil tankers carrying Iranian oil, says: “In 2024, Iran exported 587 million barrels of oil, an increase of 10.75% compared to 2023’s 530 million barrels. Over the four years since the start of the Biden Administration, with less than one month remaining in its term, Iran has exported a cumulative total of nearly 1.98 billion barrels of oil.”
Biden presented plans to strike Iran if it makes dash for the bomb
.@StrickerNonpro: “…Iran’s nuclear threat has become so advanced. It is due in large part to failed Biden administration policy — its unwillingness to use maximum economic pressure and a credible threat of military force — to constrain and deter Tehran.”https://t.co/uZUol2nLbG
— FDD (@FDD) January 4, 2025
The Biden administration is amidst a flurry of activity as it seeks to do in less than three weeks, things it didn’t manage to achieve in four years of power.
One of those critical issues is a report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which reported national security advisor Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options last month for a U.S. attack on Iran, should the Islamic Republic push to develop a nuclear weapon prior to President Trump’s Jan. 20th inauguration.
A report published by Axios on January 2 claimed the meeting included discussions of military “options and scenarios” but wasn’t prompted by new intelligence. Biden reportedly did not make any final decision on a course of action.
U.K. poll predicts Starmer will be out of PM’s residence within a year
And there it is…
Keir Starmer will be out of No 10 within a year, poll predicts
https://t.co/AhnUYoXEqE— Mike Graham (@Iromg) January 5, 2025
Sir Keir Starmer, who seems to be the U.K.’s most unpopular prime minister in recent living memory – even more than the forgettable Liz Truss – will be gone from his official London residence of No. 10 Downing Street before the year is out, according to a poll published in the Mail on Sunday.
Voters are apparently furious over his handling of a number of issues, including the economy, the NHS, immigration, and the cost-of-living crisis. The recent revelations about his input into the prevention of prosecutions for Muslims involved in the child rape gangs will be similarly weighing on voters’ minds.
Nearly a third of all Britons polled in the “state of the nation” survey expect the Labour leader to last another year at most, with more than two thirds (68%) saying he is doing “badly,” just six months into the job.
And in news that will worry both Labour and the Conservatives, one in five voters thinks that Nigel Farage will be Britain’s next Prime Minister.
Since Labour’s landslide victory last July, the party has been dogged by a series of missteps, including rows over changes to farmers’ inheritance tax reliefs, a tax raid on private school fees and freebies from donors and lobbyists.
America needs to wake up to the terrorism on its doorstep
America needs to wake up to the terror at its doorsteps https://t.co/h6qM6txI4q
— Fredric U. Dicker (@fud31) January 5, 2025
Terrorism has once again arrived on America’s doorstep, and tough questions need to be asked about how and why this happened, according to an op-ed in the New York Post.
How, for instance, was law enforcement so ill-prepared to recognize the signs of terrorism in New Orleans? And why aren’t Americans adequately educated to identify potential terrorists themselves? Most urgently, what more can police do to detect and prevent explosive devices from being planted in our streets?
Unfortunately, lax laws dating back decades have enabled terrorists to use the United States as a base, and the internet as their tool for recruitment.
The 1996 Communications Decency Act, for instance, was designed to incentivize big-tech to remove content deemed harmful to children.
But Section 230 of the Act shields tech platforms from liability for harmful content posted by users, including extremist and terrorist material.
Terrorism-related content can proliferate without consequence, facilitating real-world violence.
Despite enhanced surveillance resources under the controversial 2001 USA Patriot Act, Federal law efforts failed on Bourbon Street. Law-enforcement agencies issued pre-holiday warnings that low-tech vehicle-ramming was a key area of concern.
Conservative leader Badenoch says public inquiry into ‘grooming gangs’ is only way to expose those who turned blind eye
KEMI BADENOCH: The only way to expose those who turned a blind eye to the grooming gangs is by holding a full public inquiry https://t.co/lV7ZaeeYOn pic.twitter.com/DvmmzS99rm
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 4, 2025
U.K. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has joined the growing chorus to push for a public inquiry into the extensive child rape rings – also known as grooming gangs – where hundreds of Muslim men from the Indian subcontinent, the majority from Pakistan, systematically raped and abused more than 1,000 white working class girls and young women.
It was a scandal made possible by the collusion and cover-ups of officials, the police and politicians who were more concerned about community relations than about victims and their families, reported the Mail on Sunday.
The fact that perpetrators of this sexual violence appeared to have deliberately picked victims because they were white – and not from their own of the community or religious background – must not be ignored.
Previous inquiries have failed to examine this. It’s for society and the state to address the issue, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
The testimonies of the victims are hard to read. Girls being forced into barbaric sexual acts. Raped by multiple men at the same time or one after the other. Punished by grotesque sexual violence when they resisted.
Rutgers University failed to address hundreds of complaints alleging harassment against Jewish students
Tonight at @RutgersU the President held a town hall with students. It devolved into anarchy, and he fled with half the police present. Jewish students who came to ask about how the admin would keep them safe on campus were left to beg the remaining police to escort them out. pic.twitter.com/nCBeqxiWCi
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) April 5, 2024
Rutgers University faces federal scrutiny according to a new Title VI resolution agreement reached between the school and the U.S. Department of Education, in which the school failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students during the height of the post-Oct. 7 protests its campus.
The agreement says that schools must review their anti-discrimination policies, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The agreement is the latest in a flurry of such deals to be reached with schools involving allegations of antisemitic harassment in the waning weeks of the Biden administration. The administration spent the better part of the last year immersed in dozens of anti-Semitism-related Title VI campus cases.
The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights announced in its report on Rutgers that “the university likely operated a hostile environment based on national origin/shared ancestry in university programs or activities without redress,” adding that the school “subjected some students to discriminatory different treatment based on national origin.”
IDF destroys weapons cache found in Syrian Hermon
IDF Discovers Weapons in Syrian Hermon
The IDF’s 810th Brigade recently completed operations in the Syrian Hermon area, conducting raids on strategic points to bolster Israel’s defense. Troops uncovered and destroyed stockpiles of weapons, including mines, explosives, anti-tank… pic.twitter.com/PWzuKQ9WoR
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 5, 2025
Israel’s lightning move to take the Syrian Hermon once it became clear the Assad dynasty had collapsed after 50-plus years of dictatorship bore more fruit over the weekend, after a significant weapons cache was uncovered … and destroyed, according to Israel National News.
During targeted raids, the soldiers searched military structures and key terrain points in the area, where they located, confiscated, and destroyed stockpiles of weapons and intelligence assets.
These included mines, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets, and launchers.
Two Israelis wounded in New Orleans car ramming are army reservists who fought in Gaza, Lebanon
‘Tragic irony’: Two Israelis injured in New Orleans attack fought in Gaza, Lebanonhttps://t.co/uukLoQpMdX
— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) January 5, 2025
Two of the people wounded in the murderous ISIS-inspired car-ramming attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve are Israeli reservists who had fought together in battles in Gaza and Lebanon, and decided to get away to the United States for some rest and relaxation following more than a year of war, reported Ynet.
They’re currently hospitalized in New Orleans and will only be flown back to Israel once their conditions stabilize.
The two have known each other since their compulsory military service and had planned to conclude their U.S. trip with a visit to a relative of one of them in Florida. The Foreign Ministry aided their families to fly to Louisiana.
One of the wounded is in a critical condition, and has already undergone two life-saving surgeries. His friend, while seriously wounded with limb injuries and internal trauma is not assessed to be in any immediate danger.
