A New Mexico woman was shot in the neck during her son’s graduation Wednesday, with the woman’s stepson charged in the incident. Cristian Bencomo, 21, was arrested after his stepmother, Victoria Bencomo,…

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Holocaust Day was marked by solemn remembrances in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. It was marked in the U.S., as has been customary, by a presidential address, where Biden said nothing that would garner more than perfunctory notice. Turns out that that was by design. For Biden had already approved a decision that gives cheer to the shade of Hitler and all his modern wanna-be-s — embargoing any arms to Israel that would allow them to keep Hamas from surviving intact and reasserting its plan for death to Israel. What is different between now and 1938 is just this — Israel is not going to slink away to its dismemberment. Old Joe’s cowardice extends even to speaking plainly to his own people. Let’s put his cowardice in perspective by looking at what is often held up as the gold standard for foolishness and fecklessness, the betrayal of the cause of freedom in the leadup to World War II by the appeasers. (READ MORE from Shmuel Klatzkin: Make America Hate Again) By 1938, Hitler had already consolidated his control over Germany. This included freeing himself from the bonds of the treaty which had ended the First World War, with all its limitations on German rearmament and it prohibition of militarizing the German territory west of the Rhine River. As the year progressed, his plans progressed further as he raped an Austria whose people seemed — in a huge demonstration in Vienna — to be stimulated to ecstasy by Hitler’s attentions. From Austria, Hitler turned to Czechoslovakia, one of the nations carved from the ruins of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. The rationalization for Hitler’s next move was the “rescue” of the ethnic Germans who lived in the western border region of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland. It was a human rights crisis, according to the Nazi media, with these poor Germans suffering under the Czechs and the Slovaks much as those in Germany proper had suffered under the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles (though not nearly as stringent and humiliating as the terms of the peace Germany had imposed on France on its defeat in 1871 — or the national annihilation that Hitler would bring to the Jews and the Slavs as his plans progressed). When Hitler’s intentions towards Czechoslovakia became clear in late summer of 1938, Britain and France were appalled at the prospects of another general European war. Surely war could be avoided by diplomacy, they wanted to believe. They had the experience of the failure of diplomacy in 1914, mainly due to the many alliance commitments that were triggered in a cascade by Austria’s invasion of Serbia. France had made a strong commitment of alliance with the Czechs and Britain and France were joined to each other as the guarantors of the peace their victory in 1918 had won. Perhaps smart diplomacy could avoid the tripwires of war. But Hitler’s demands were too much for any country to reasonably accept, and war seemed imminent, to the horror of the West. Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain expressed it this way: “How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing.” Chamberlain wanted peace and France followed his lead. To him, the obstacle to peace was the Czechs — they could not accept the dismemberment of their country. No Czech leader, democratically elected and accountable to the people, could agree with the Nazi demands. So Chamberlain decided to exclude the Czechs from the talks and to make a deal about their country in which they would have no say — and the French, though committed by treaty to Czechoslovakia’s defense, tossed the treaty aside and went along with the Brits. There was a moment of celebration in England on which Winston Churchill tossed a pitcher of cold water. Facing Chamberlain down publicly, he declared prophetically, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.” And war it was, more horrible than anything except the Nazi victory that only courageous resistance averted. In his history of the Second World War, Churchill considered whether Czechoslovakia should have defied its erstwhile protectors and taken up arms against the threatened German invasion. They had a good army and a very defensible position, well-fortified and commanding the high ground. It is possible that a spirited defense would have shamed France into belatedly honoring its commitments. And as it turns out, German generals had a coup plan in place to overthrow Hitler if he threw them into a war at that turn. But that never happened. By March of 1939, all of Czechoslovakia had been annexed and it disappeared as a nation until the end of the most destructive war of all time in May of 1945. There is much about today’s situation in the Middle East that reminds us of Czechoslovakia in 1938. There is the looming power of a country dominated by an ideology that cries for a total victory worldwide against all who would resist it. That country had been contained and rendered nearly powerless by an empowered West. But Western leaders tired of their task.  Iran then gradually subverted the economic and military controls with the cooperation of Western leaders. It now has a ring of allies of all sorts. It has launched violent military actions through a wide theater and threatens even worse when it accesses the most terrible weapons ever devised. The greatest power standing against this new aggressor is as feckless as Chamberlain and at least as self-regarding. But Chamberlain was at least a man of rectitude, without the slightest whiff of using his political power for self-enrichment or subverting the powers given into his hands to gag and jail his opponents. Nor were Chamberlain’s mental powers in a visible state of decay. But there is a breathtaking parallel to Chamberlain’s willingness to cut Czechoslovakia out of a voice and a choice in its own fate when confronted with deadly danger. (READ MORE: The Bible Calls Us to Courage and Freedom) Biden and his crew have been seeking to find a peaceful resolution of the Gaza crisis. Properly, they wish to minimize civilian death and the crushing destruction that is inevitable in urban warfare. They find, as Britain was eventually to find, that the Iranian proxies are not inclined to accept a peace that does not leave open their power to eventually carry through their core commitment to Israel’s (and America’s) destruction. And like Chamberlain, these guys may just believe that they will effect a religious conversion through their sheer goodness, and Hamas will emerge chastened and abashed, ready to live in peace and harmony and embrace the rainbow agenda. More likely, though, is that lacking Chamberlain’s integrity, all they really believe is that they might win votes they need to stay in office, and wouldn’t it be a relief to just let Israel somehow just go away and stop being so difficult. And one thing that is certainly common to both historical eras is the very retro antisemitism that is more and more asserting itself as the badge of true wokeness. And so they plunge forward in Chamberlain’s footsteps, at least in its worst aspects. Take what just went down last week. Israel made an extreme offer under Biden’s pressure, one that probably would have caused Netanyahu’s political demise had Hamas accepted it. He committed Israel to extend a six-week ceasefire, to accept the return of less than thirty of its kidnapped civilians, to release many times that amount of convicted criminals, including terrorist murderers. But this offer was spurned. Why should Hamas accept when it knows that Biden is taking away the only pressure that Israel holds over it — the threat to continue the war if it refuses. So Israel, having effectively no allies in its resistance to Hamas’ permanent threat to its existence, is stuck in the corner where Chamberlain put the Czechs. Worse. The U.S., probably through the offices of CIA Director Burns, presented to the world the lie that Israel had made an offer that Hamas had accepted in which Israel would commit to leaving Gaza permanently, allowing Hamas to re-emerge and take control, and would accept about twenty Israeli corpses in place of live hostages. Of course, the Biden media ran with this story, for it painted Israel’s non-acceptance of an agreement an offer it never made as just more Israeli arrogance and perhaps criminality (for aren’t all opponents of Biden policy criminal?). How hideous this has become. What is different between now and 1938 is just this — Israel is not going to slink away to its dismemberment without standing up for itself. As Biden at this point is seeming to make it necessary, says Netanyahu, “We will stand alone.” Israel will not consent to its own elimination, to denying its people protection from the orgiastic murderers and rapists who will never stop trying to exterminate every vestige of Jewish independence, political and spiritual and ethnic. Now we will see the if America will pass the test that the Czechs allowed the British and the French to skip. Are we going to stand with the heirs of the Nazis, as totally committed to extermination as Hitler was? Or are we going to stand with the people who brought the world the book whose teachings are the basis of human rights and political freedom that have been America’s glory to bring to birth in the world? I have no doubt what the people will choose. How much injury Biden and his sorry crew will inflict before that will is done remains to be seen. Pray that it is as small as their wisdom and courage. The post Chamberlain and Biden: Appeasement Then and Now appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

A hallmark of irrational ideologies is the fear of a bogeyman: some inexplicable evil hiding just out of view. For leftism, the bogeyman is and always has been the Catholic Church: an institution swarming with the evils of oppression, ritual, and moral objectivism. A prime example of this bogeyman phenomenon may be observed in Canada. In 2021, leftists claimed to have found “evidence” of unmarked mass graves at predominantly Catholic-run boarding schools across Canada. It was alleged that over 200 children had been dumped into a pit at just one school; some schools were alleged to be the burial site of nearly 300 children. For leftists, this was confirmation that the Catholic Church is the bogeyman haunting society. These slanders and lies are repeated incessantly, and as soon as one is debunked, a new one is invented. In the wake of the “mass graves” claims, “memorials” were set up, flags were flown at half mast, protests were staged, statues of monarchs were toppled, and churches across the country were burned to the ground. As of the beginning of this year, at least 85 churches have been torched in Canada since May, 2021, some of them a hundred years old or older. The head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association gleefully called for Canadians to “burn it all down.” Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who calls himself a Catholic despite his rampant abortion and LGBT advocacy, said that rage directed at the Catholic Church was “fully understandable.” The allegations of “mass graves” were founded on the use of “ground-penetrating radar.” Since then, the Canadian government has spent nearly $8 million in attempting to recover the supposed remains of children. As of last week, no “mass graves” have been found. Three years ago, the unfounded allegations of “mass graves” were covered extensively in Canadian and international news. Politicians and tribal leaders talked of the ordeal incessantly — some even compared Catholic priests and nuns at the schools to Nazis. Now, not a word of apology, not a single admission, “We were wrong.” Of course, that’s not surprising. The “mass graves” episode was never about seeking truth, it was never about redressing wrongs, it was always about the bogeyman. Catholicism is the leftist’s bogeyman because it represents all that the leftist finds horrifying: hierarchy and order, ritual and tradition, self-sacrifice and duty to others, and the existence of eternity. The leftist strives for an erroneous egalitarianism, wrought by chaos and mayhem. (Think of the incendiary Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.) The leftist abhors ritual because it is prescribed and tradition because it is inherited: both prescription and inheritance denote the wisdom and authority of the past, and the leftist always looks to the nebulous future. Self-sacrifice is alien to the leftist, as his only desire is self-satisfaction. Duty is a form of oppression to him, since it may impose itself on his self-pleasuring. And, of course, the existence of eternity is a distraction from the pleasures of the present and the hubristic hopes of the unfettered future. But it is not enough for the leftist to simply fear and despise the bogeyman of Catholicism — for leftism is itself a diabolical inversion of Catholicism, it is a religion, and as such it must proselytize. Thus, tales of “mass graves” at Catholic-run boarding schools. Thus, lies of St. Teresa of Calcutta mistreating the poor and the sick. Thus, fever dreams of Catholic politicians forcing pregnancy tests on women trying to cross state lines. Thus, horror stories of the Inquisition. Thus, all manner of slander and fanciful fearmongering leveled against Catholics and the Catholic Church. These are not merely vitriolic expressions of opposition, they are proselytizing myths — they are, in a sense, the leftist’s gospel. These slanders and lies are repeated incessantly, and as soon as one is debunked, a new one is invented, or an even older one regurgitated. This is not solely for the benefit of the leftist, it is rather chiefly the leftist’s means of evangelizing, of bringing others into the church of self, into Hell. For as C.S. Lewis once so wisely observed, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” Christ ordered His Apostles, the first bishops of the Catholic Church, to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). So also does Hell command its acolytes to go and make slaves of all nations. Lies and slander against the Church are merely the evangelization of Hell. READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Who Killed God? Britain Allows Child to Travel to Vatican Hospital for Treatment Speak Boldly, Not Softly: Pope Francis and the Absence of Moral Clarity The post The Bogeyman: The Leftists’ Hatred of the Catholic Church appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

WASHINGTON — The April jobs report found the U.S. economy added 175,000 new positions, but it fell below expectations. Unemployment nudged up to 3.9 percent last month, which at least keeps unemployment below 4 percent for 27 months in a row. Despite the middling reports, President Joe Biden crowed in a statement, “The great American comeback continues.” In Congress, the reliable rump of fiscal conservatives in both parties has evaporated. The voting public is not on board. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, 65 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction, and just under 25 percent see the country headed in the right direction. (READ MORE from Debra J. Saunders: Protest Much? An Academic Reckoning Is Overdue.) “The reason people are so unhappy is they know where they stood three years ago, and they’re still trying to catch up,” David Ditch, an economist with the conservative Heritage Foundation, told me Friday. To ward off stagnation, the Federal Reserve wants to reduce inflation to 2 percent. It’s headed in the wrong direction, according to Ditch, co-author of a Heritage paper released in September, “The Road to Inflation: How an Unprecedented Federal Spending Spree Created Economic Turmoil.” The paper laid out how COVID-19 pandemic spending and subsequent overspending in the Biden years “has left the U.S. with a weakened economy, an inflation crisis, and a looming debt crisis.” But you knew that. It took 215 years for the national debt to reach $7 trillion. In the wake of COVID, from March 2020 to June 2022, Washington overspent another $7 trillion. It was understandable that in 2020, then-President Donald Trump pumped money into the economy during (excessive) government shutdowns, but it didn’t end there. I was there in 2019 at a Peter G. Peterson Foundation summit when Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted he didn’t know if the administration could get the annual deficit below $1 trillion. That was before COVID. Biden’s increased spending — including a $95 billion national security package to help Ukraine and Israel (which I support) and efforts to “forgive” student loan debt (which I do not support ) —  will only make it harder for future elected officials to balance the books. And when the economy is vulnerable, you don’t raise taxes. How does America fund the next emergency? Now the national debt is more than $34 trillion, or over $100,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. Five years ago, the per-person debt was around $67,000. And practically no one is talking about it. “There’s almost no media coverage about budget issues,” Ditch lamented. I remember when presidential candidates talked about what they would do to curb deficit spending. Now Biden, who calls this an economic comeback, campaigns on spending more tax revenue and Trump promises more tax cuts, both of which inevitably will add to the crushing debt burden no matter what the campaigns say. (READ MORE: Biden’s Loan Amnesty Passes the Buck) In Congress, the reliable rump of fiscal conservatives in both parties has evaporated, only to be replaced by ideologues who never think about paying the bills they’re running up. But we know who will pay for the red ink. Everyone. The only way to stop a future of growing IOUs is for voters to start pushing both parties to remember that someone has to pay for the party. Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Federal Spending: Where Are D.C.’s Fiscal Watchdogs? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

It will be interesting to see which Joe Biden will deliver the keynote address at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on May 15th.  In 2021, an angry Biden delivered a bitter tongue-lashing to the officers who adhered to honor their fallen brothers and sisters.  He was playing to his base at that time, the rabid anti-law enforcement activists who advocated defunding the police, and set the major cities ablaze in the George Floyd summer of 2020. If he manages to be awarded a second term … his far-Left handlers will have free rein to decimate the police. Because it is a federal day and week, whoever occupies the White House issues a proclamation during Police Week every year. With that in mind, does this sound as if it’s part of a presidential tribute to law enforcement officers? This year, we also recognize that in many of our communities, especially Black and brown communities, there is a deep sense of distrust towards law enforcement; a distrust that has been exacerbated by the recent deaths of several Black and brown people at the hands of law enforcement. If your answer is “no,” then you won’t be surprised to learn it’s a passage from President Biden’s 2021 Proclamation on Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week. I suspect his aides were given the word to tone it down after the blowback that the proclamation received from members of the law enforcement community and pro-law enforcement voters. The following year Joe loaded his speech with platitudes and scrapped the tongue-lashing. In this election year, it will be interesting to see what type of speech he will give at the Peace Officer Memorial service, which takes place on the lawn of the Capitol Building grounds. My guess is that he’ll play up to the Capitol Police and use the occasion to again condemn the ‘MAGA’ rioters and anyone who votes Republican. If this happens, then perhaps some of the more conservative officers in the crowd will voice their disgust and turn their back on him as he stands at the lectern. While the violent rioters on January 6th deserve fitting punishment, those who were merely trespassing do not deserve years in prison.  This is especially true since Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department did not pursue the Portland Federal Courthouse rioters with the same determination in 2020.  In fact, most were let off with a slap on the wrist, if they were even prosecuted at all. DHS sent more than 750 federal officers and spent millions responding to Portland protests during the summer of 2020. I submit that these were the “shock troops” of the Democrat Party, and the Justice Department treated them with kid gloves. In effect, they were performing a de facto in-kind service to benefit the Biden campaign by energizing their far-Left wing. But now, in this presidential election year, Biden can’t afford to be anti-law enforcement in the least.  If he manages to be awarded a second term, the restraints will be off; his far-Left handlers will have free rein to decimate the police, as they have always dreamed of doing.  The Biden Trojan Horse strategy going forward during election season will be to appear as “moderate” as possible and keep a lid on any overt radicalism until after November 5th. There will be shenanigans and withholding of critical information by the “progressive” mainstream media this time around as in the past several presidential election cycles.  The electorate is becoming more aware of these tactics, and their effectiveness is waning.  Let’s hope that the backlash is so overwhelming that the Biden crew won’t be able to push Old Joe over the finish line. Michael Bertolone, MS is a freelance writer and a past Executive Vice President of the Monroe County (NY) Law Enforcement Association. READ MORE: A Modest Proposal for Police Reform Foreigners Can Now Become Law Enforcement and Arrest US Citizens in Illinois Want Safer Cities? Introduce Street Thugs to the ‘Fear Factor’ The post Which Joe Biden Will Give the Peace Officers Memorial Address? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

I hope you never have to see someone you love frog-marched off to jail. It’s not something I ever expected to experience. But last August, that’s exactly what happened as two U.S. Marshalls flanked my 69-year-old godfather and whisked him out the back door of a courtroom to the Alexandria Detention Facility, where he’s been held for nine months pending sentencing as a violent felon. How did we get here? Well, for that, we’ll have to go back a ways. Operation Rescue Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade (1973), the Pro-Life Movement has pursued a multitude of tactics to save mothers and babies from the devastating abortion procedure. The jury was filled with members who admitted to supporting pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood. One tactic was Operation Rescue, which built on the sit-in tactics of the Civil Rights Movement. Where civil rights activists peacefully took their seats at businesses that denied service to blacks, refusing to leave until removed by police, pro-life activists in the 1980s began peacefully sitting in at the entrances to abortion clinics, blocking the doors and thereby preventing any abortions from taking place until they were removed by police. At the same time, these activists shared options and resources with the women arriving for abortion appointments. According to the organization Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, it is estimated that 60 percent of women who had abortion appointments scheduled on the day that a Rescue took place never rescheduled. The success of Operation Rescue didn’t go unnoticed by the abortion industry or its supporters in government.  Therefore, in 1994, President Clinton signed the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act, making obstruction of an abortion facility a federal crime punishable by up to a year in prison for a first offense. Previously, Operation Rescue arrests appropriately fell under the category of simple trespassing laws with penalties ranging from fines to a few days in jail. Though thousands of pro-lifers could risk days in prison, few found themselves in a position to risk years behind bars. And so, for 25 years, Rescue faded. But, in recent years, some pro-lifers determined that it was time for a revival of Rescue despite the risks. That’s where my godfather comes in. My Uncle John always felt a calling to save babies through Rescue. That’s how he came, along with nine other pro-life activists, to be peacefully blocking the entrance to abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Center operating room in Washington, D.C. on October 22, 2020. Police eventually arrested the activists, who were then interviewed by an FBI agent. After being scheduled for March 2021 court appearances, they were released. These appearances were subsequently postponed indefinitely. The court never made clear why the hearings were postponed. The Pro-Life Five One of the pro-life activists involved in the 2020 Rescue was Lauren Handy. Two years later, on March 25, 2022, Lauren and her colleague, Terrisa Bukovinac, were outside Washington Surgi-Center when they spotted a medical waste truck picking up boxes from the abortion business. The driver agreed to surrender one box to the women upon learning that it was full of dead babies.  On opening the box, Lauren and Terrisa discovered the bodies of 110 first-trimester babies and five late-term children bearing injuries indicating that they were killed either after birth or via partial-birth abortion, both of which are federal crimes. For four days, the women attempted, without success, to find a private pathologist to examine the late-term babies. When those efforts failed, they worked with an attorney to alert the D.C. medical examiner and Washington D.C. police to the existence of the bodies, requesting “an investigation and forensic examinations be undertaken as required by applicable law.” Authorities instructed them to leave the door to Lauren’s apartment unlocked so that police could enter and retrieve the bodies. The women did so and stayed at Terrisa’s house for the night. The next morning, the FBI conducted early-morning raids on the ten pro-life activists who had participated in the Rescue two years earlier. My Uncle John responded to the 6:00 a.m. pounding on his door to discover agents poised with a battering ram ready to smash their way into his house. Lauren Handy was immediately swarmed by agents and taken into custody upon returning to her apartment. All ten activists were indicted on charges of violating the FACE Act and “conspiracy against rights,” a charge that brought the potential penalties from a year in prison to up to eleven years and $350,000 in fines for each activist. The Trial In August 2023, the case went to trial. The jury was filled with members who admitted to supporting pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood. The odds were stacked against the defendants. When time came for the verdict, the jury stated its decision for each defendant on the charges of conspiracy and violating the FACE Act and the question of whether “force” was used: “Guilty.” Turning to the prosecution, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that, given all the defendants had been found guilty of using force, she could have them immediately incarcerated as violent felons if the prosecution so requested, despite the understanding prior to trial that they would be allowed to return home to their families pending sentencing. The order was given. Two U.S. Marshalls descended on each prisoner and marched them out a back door. I haven’t seen Uncle John in person since. Neither has his wife, his children, or his grandchildren. Our first opportunity to do so will be on May 14 as he is brought with his fellow prisoners back to court for sentencing, nine months after being found guilty. It is imperative that Americans stand up against this blatant persecution of pro-lifers by the government. If you are in the D.C. area, we invite you to join us at E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse at 9:00 a.m. on May 14 to stand in solidarity with these unjustly imprisoned activists. Clare Hinshaw is the Legacy Society & Development Relations Director at Young America’s Foundation, the leading youth outreach organization in the Conservative movement, where she fosters relationships with the foundation’s supporters and organizes the annual Standing Up for Faith & Freedom seminar for students at Catholic schools. Clare is a 2012 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and a 2021–2022 Leonine Forum fellow, and she was the host of the third season of the television program Book.ed on ShalomWorld TV. READ MORE: Defying the Birth Dearth Isn’t Just a Trend Trump Weighs In on the Abortion Debate The Washington Post Has It All Wrong. Women Should Rethink Birth Control. The post Stand Up for the Pro-Life Persecuted appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Recently the Biden administration elevated humanitarian aid to Gaza as a foreign policy priority amidst ongoing negotiations for hostages and an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire. The talking point of aid to Gaza is nothing new; international outcry from Israel’s adversaries, UNWRA, Amnesty International, and Islamic charities have been propagating a narrative of famine and poverty in Gaza due to an Israeli “total blockade.” On April 24, Hamas launched a rocket attack on the beach where UN officials were touring the prepared site for the pier connection. The U.S. Navy’s current Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) initiative — consisting of a floating humanitarian pier connected to a landside cargo facility in central Gaza — perhaps unintentionally gives the impression that an international, U.S.-led intervention was necessary to break the alleged blockade. But following President Biden’s announcement of the JLOTS initiative on March 8, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) threw in its support, “further demonstrating the IDF’s commitment to working with the international community to ensure the continuous entry of humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF reported. Furthermore, the IDF “will operate to provide security and logistics support for the JLOTS initiative,” which is scheduled for completion by the end of this week. Often lost in the fog of this war are the tireless efforts taken by the IDF to alleviate civilian suffering and facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza. In reality, the JLOTS project essentially debunks the blockade myth, stands as a prime exhibit of U.S.-Israeli humanitarian cooperation, and clears the fog to reveal the IDF’s ongoing humanitarian mission. Prior to Israel’s advance into northern Gaza on October 21, the IDF and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) embarked on a mass information campaign via text messages, public announcements, and leaflets informing Gazan civilians of infiltration areas and humanitarian refuge points that provide food, medical attention, and lodging. COGAT also facilitated the transit of aid trucks across Israel from Jordan and shipments from UAE and other Arab allies to Egypt where, after undergoing security inspections for arms and explosives, entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing. To reach northern Gaza, convoys accessed the humanitarian corridor established and maintained by the IDF as per the Geneva Convention which requires the “rapid and unimpeded passage” of humanitarian aid to civilians. Numerous airdrops from international suppliers accompanied these shipments although, often conducted without coordinated ground support, frequently missed drop points and resulted in casualties. A maritime corridor between Larnaca, Cyprus, and a makeshift jetty in central Gaza was also established in March for the World Central Kitchen’s (WCK) aid vessels Jennifer and Open Arms to transport pallets of foodstuffs. As of April, close to 300,000 tons (more than 12,000 trucks) of aid, including food, water, medical, and shelter supplies entered Gaza from international suppliers under IDF and COGAT logistical support and security. In response, U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller stated that Israel has not been found “in violation [of international law], either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance.” The WCK suspended humanitarian activities from April 1 through the 27th following the IDF’s accidental targeting of a convoy, killing seven aid workers, an unfortunate incident that incited other agencies to reduce humanitarian activity and instigated public fear of impending famine and starvation. The Jennifer and Open Arms combined load capacity, however, is around 600 tons. While an average freight truck carries approximately twenty tons, the WCK’s suspension of activity only amounted to a deficit of about thirty freight trucks per day. What failed to reach most news outlets, however, was that through late April, an average of 400 humanitarian trucks per day still arrived in Gaza from other sources and international suppliers. While the WCK incident was certainly a tragedy, the subsequent three-week suspension of aid was a far cry from instigating famine. Ahead of the JLOTS pier, the Israeli cabinet also approved the use of the Ashdod port located twenty-four miles north of Gaza (and the target of repetitive Hamas rockets) to receive humanitarian deliveries for Gaza. On April 27, Jennifer left Larnaca for the first time in three weeks loaded with aid organized by the UAE and the American Near East Refugee Aid bound for Ashdod. The cargo from Jennifer and other vessels soon calling at Ashdod will be inspected by Israeli security before being loaded onto trucks for the new Kerem Shalom humanitarian border crossing recently opened by the IDF in southern Gaza. On his latest visit to Israel on April 30, Secretary of State Blinken toured the Ashdod port and the Kerem Shalom crossing. The sole hindrance now to the Ashdod corridor and the JLOTS operational success is security. While the world is busy blaming Israel for its alleged military blockade, Hamas has been attacking humanitarian corridors, successfully confiscating aid deliveries by force, and withholding it from civilians in areas such as Rafah where they still maintain control. To prohibit Hamas from foiling the JLOTS initiative, the IDF has dedicated a reserve brigade, naval ship, and aircraft to provide round-the-clock security for the U.S. and UN construction workers on the floating pier and beachhead facility. On April 24, Hamas launched a rocket attack on the beach where UN officials were touring the prepared site for the pier connection. On May 3, after the reopening of the Erez crossing for humanitarian purposes, cameras captured Hamas militants confiscating the first shipments of aid. Two days later, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigade fired fourteen rockets from Rafah at aid assembly points at Kerem Shalom killing four IDF soldiers and closing the crossing while shipments from Ashdod were scheduled to arrive. As noted by one popular Gazan Facebook account, “Hamas inadvertently helped [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu by launching rockets from Rafah toward the crossing that brings in goods.” The Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings reopened on May 9 to welcome trucks from Egypt carrying food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies ahead of the JLOTS pier going fully operational and the IDF’s potential intervention in Rafah. Although the best solution to end the humanitarian crisis is for the war to end, it’s a fallacy to say that Israel has been non-compliant or obstructive to the flow of aid to Gaza. And while relief organizations across the world continue to promote an alleged Israeli “total blockade” as the culprit of the crisis, there is relative silence for the 100-plus civilian Israeli hostages held in Hamas captivity for over six months whose condition, proof of life, or whereabouts remain unknown. READ MORE from Bennett Tucker: Iran’s Tactics and Targets Open a New Chapter in the War Iran Makes Inroads in Latin America   The post US and Israel’s Humanitarian Mission to Gaza appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.