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Israeli PM Netanyahu gifted Pres. Trump a golden pager during their meeting at the White House this week, the prime minister's office said.
— ABC News (@ABC) February 6, 2025
The gift is a nod to September's explosive attacks in Lebanon and Syria that killed dozens of people. https://t.co/evIRXn2gVe pic.twitter.com/Q18nPWDcCB
Ed: Best presidential gift ever?
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By Wednesday afternoon, Trump had backpedaled on some of the more extreme aspects of his plan. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “The Trump administration does not intend to pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, nor has it made any commitment to send U.S. troops there.”
But just as Trump’s retreat from the brink with Canada and Mexico did not signal an abandonment of tariffs as an economic and political weapon, he is sticking with what was most transformational about his initial statement—which he said was not improvised but resulted from “a lot of months” of study: Neither Gaza nor the West Bank will become a Palestinian state on his watch, and that indeed, a Palestinian state is not necessary to a resolution of the regional conflict.
Ed: That's precisely the message that Trump intends to send. He wants the world to worry that Trump will not accept the "Overton window" of narrow options that has led nowhere for the past 77 years. Read this all; former ambassador Michael Oren is always informative and interesting.
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USAID secretly poured uncountable hundreds of millions of dollars toward Hamas, including tens of millions of cash they could never account for.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 6, 2025
Throughout the Biden admin, they knew the money they were pouring into Gaza would benefit Hamas. They did it anyway.…
Ed: I'd bet that they haven't yet calculated the full amount of money that made its way into Hamas' pockets through USAID. Much of it will be in the pockets of the Hamas Doha Billionaires' Club, whence it should be clawed back.
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During his meetings in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan for ending the war in Gaza in return for Hamas giving up power and its leaders leaving Gaza, according to two U.S. sources and one Israeli source.
Why it matters: Netanyahu has said he doesn't see a path to a post-war plan for Gaza as long as Hamas is in control. If Hamas relinquishes power and its leaders go into exile, it could open the door for a day-after plan, possibly including President Trump's "Gaza takeover."
Ed: There's not a chance in Hades that Hamas would agree to this, which basically means that the IDF will get to finish the job. And that is likely what Trump has in mind, especially given his earlier warning that "all hell will break loose" unless Hamas concedes.
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🚨 Fatah Movement: Trump's statements should be taken seriously, and it is time for Hams to hand over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority to dispel the claims regarding Gaza pic.twitter.com/DPh4h2emKu
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) February 6, 2025
Ed: It wouldn't be a big improvement, but it might be an incremental improvement. But Fatah won't survive while Hamas remains in Gaza, and even Fatah knows it.
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Hamas strongly rejected US President Donald Trump's recent statements announcing his plan to relocate Gazans from the Gaza Strip to rebuild the area and called on Arab countries to unite with the intent of combating the decision in a Thursday official statement.
Hamas also demanded an emergency summit with Arab countries to confront what the terror group referred to as Trump's "displacement project."
Ed: Lotsa luck with that one, Bunky. The Arab countries would love to see you get roasted after your partnership with the Iranian mullahs.
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UNRWA after President Trump defunded it:
— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) February 6, 2025
“American aid constitutes 28% of UNRWA's budget. We are currently looking for new donors”
Turns out, running a child soldier factory and a terrorist daycare center isn’t cheap. Maybe Hamas can sell some of their humanitarian aid rockets? pic.twitter.com/EiIGPQ8Vc0
Ed: That money won't be coming back. And it's a pretty safe bet that the Trump administration will make sure no one replaces it, either.
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How do you get the Gazans out of Gaza? Gaza is a besieged city. Cut off supplies and give the people a safe way to leave. Even the fighters—no one can eat bullets. When Hamas marches out, ideally in battle formation and parade drill, give them the full honors of war and an double allocation of GAZA shares. Again, in crackpot world—super weird. In normal human history, which is rapidly reasserting itself—normal.
You think America has a “responsibility to protect”? You think mass migration is bad? Forced deportation, also bad? Have you heard of Artsakh? Didn’t think so.
All real-estate titles have war as a genesis block. War has consequences. At least, in normal world, war has consequences. In the Middle East, we tested the idea that war should have no consequences. The result: 80 years of war, with occasional cease-fires. That’s crackpot world—what my friend Tarik Sadouma calls the “Peace Fetish.” It all belongs in the trashcan with USAID.
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Dear @SenJoniErnst
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) February 5, 2025
Please investigate if any of these antisemitic orgs received taxpayer funding through @USAID. @UNRWA @amnesty @hrw @QuincyInst @NationalSJP @NewIsraelFund @splcenter @CAIRNational @jvplive @palyouthmvmt @UNWomenWatch @AMPalestine
Ed: It's coming.
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When asked who will take in the Palestinians, Mr Katz said it should be countries who have opposed Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
“Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories,” he said.
“Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse to do so. There are countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, that have previously expressed a willingness to accept Gaza residents.” (via Instapundit)
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JUST IN: Secretary of State @MarcoRubio has just informed USAID workers that he only needs 294 of them.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) February 6, 2025
There are 14,000 people who work at the agency.
The DOGE Effect. pic.twitter.com/debKfe2Kum
Ed: I will have more thoughts on this tomorrow morning.
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