WND News Center

New York Times refuses to publish American Quaker ad accusing Israel of genocide

David Brummer

(Photo by Dushawn Jovic on Unsplash)

(Photo by Dushawn Jovic on Unsplash)

JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief

New York Times refuses to publish American Quaker ad accusing Israel of genocide

The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that has regularly advocated against the Jewish state, has condemned the New York Times for declining to publish its ad alleging genocide in Gaza.

“The refusal of the New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth,” AFSC General Secretary Joyce Ajlouny said on Monday, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

According to the AFSC, the text of its ad read, “Tell Congress to stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza.”

AFSC said that a member of the newspaper’s advertising team requested the group use “war” instead of “genocide.”

After rejecting this change, AFSC said it received an email stating that “various international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation. In line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards, we must ensure that all advertising content complies with these widely applied definitions.”

Iran drills on shielding nuclear facilities from potential Israeli attack

Iran is preparing for the strong possibility that Israel – with or without the United States – will attack its nuclear development plants sometime this year, reported the Jewish Press.

The Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerial defense forces have been conducting a joint war game since January 7 – but on Sunday morning, the drill was shifted to Iran’s northern and western sectors.
The air defense units drilled on a plan to protect the Fordow nuclear site in Qom province, and the Arak nuclear facility in Khondab, part of Markazi province, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency.

Last week, the IRGC Aerospace Force employed point-defense tactics to protect a nuclear site in Natanz against aerial threats and possible electronic warfare, the news outlet reported.

Israel’s late October attack on Iran is thought to have largely put out of use a secret nuclear facility as well as knocking out most – if not all – of the Russian-supplied S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems.

Trump to press Netanyahu for concessions on Saudi peace

“President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House will inevitably lead to significant shifts in U.S. policy, both internationally and regionally, due to his contrasting worldview and leadership style compared to Biden,” according to U.S. policy expert and senior researcher at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Reichman University, Dr. Shay Har-Zvi.

Har-Zvi outlined three main objectives for Trump: ending the war in Gaza and ensuring the return of hostages, brokering a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The expert stressed Trump sees these objectives as interconnected. “Without resolving the Gaza conflict, normalizing relations and strengthening ties between Israel and the broader Arab and Muslim world will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Failure to achieve normalization could hinder efforts to form a regional coalition against Iran and would forfeit economic opportunities for both the Middle East and the U.S.”

Har-Zvi also discussed Trump’s potential strategy toward Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Trump will likely push hard to advance normalization efforts from the outset and may pressure Netanyahu to be more flexible in meeting the demands of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – particularly on ending the war in Gaza and signaling a political horizon for the Palestinians.”

Trump’s Ukraine envoy says maximum pressure must be restored on Iran

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Keith Kellogg has called for a return to “maximum pressure” on the Iranian regime.

“These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economical (sic) and diplomatic as well,” Kellogg stated on Saturday at a National Council of Resistance of Iran event in Paris, France. The NCRI group is opposed to Iran’s ayatollah regime.

Kellogg said while it is possible “to change Iran for the better,” he warned that there was a small window of opportunity, All Israel News reported.

“We must exploit the weakness we now see. The hope is there, so must too be the action,” he assessed.

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi concurred, stressing that the power balance in the Middle East had shifted against the ayatollah regime over the past year.

“It is time for Western governments to abandon past policies and stand with the Iranian people this time,” Rajavi said.

Iran’s current weakness and vulnerability are attributed to the significant blows dealt by the IDF to its terrorist proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In addition, the substantial degradation of Hezbollah’s military capabilities played a key role in the downfall of the Syrian Assad regime in December.

Vance: Trump will allow IDF to knock out Hamas if hostages not released

As WorldNetDaily is reporting, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance revealed the true meaning behind President-elect Donald Trump’s threat that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released by Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“It means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership,” Vance told Fox’s Shannon Bream.

He added, “It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership, which Donald Trump did very well for four years, and he’s gonna do very well for the next four years.”

Judea and Samaria leaders to attend Trump inauguration

An official Yesha Council (Judea and Samaria) delegation has been invited to participate in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next Monday in Washington. The delegation comprises Yesha Council chairman and Benjamin Regional Council Head Israel Ganz, Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan, Oranit Council Head Or Piron-Zomer and Yesha Council CEO Omer Rahamim.

The group will attend the inauguration as official guests, and will spearhead various side events in Washington before and after the main event, the Jewish News Syndicate reported. Their agenda includes meetings with incoming administration officials and leaders from both Jewish and evangelical communities.

According to Yesha Council sources, the delegation plans to focus on relationship building rather than presenting specific demands or proposals.

“Our objective is to strengthen existing connections and forge new ones. Washington’s attention is elsewhere at present. Trump is focused on Greenland sovereignty matters, not Israel’s concerns in Judea and Samaria. Timing is crucial. We must proceed strategically and appropriately,” a council official explained.

Israel seizes billions in PA funds in shock debt maneuver

The Finance Ministry has offset all electricity debts of the Palestinian Authority – 1.1 billion shekels ($310 million) – while simultaneously emptying the Norwegian fund where Palestinian Authority-destined funds had been deposited since the start of the war, reported Israel Hayom.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich led this initiative throughout the past year and on Sunday told the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet the completion of the process – collecting the entire debt that had stood 1.9 billion shekels ($515 million) for over a decade.

Additionally, and no less significantly, the Finance Ministry on Sunday issued an order to the Norwegian fund, where Israel had deposited millions deducted from PA funds earmarked for the Gaza Strip (275 million shekels monthly or $74 million), totaling some 1.4 billion shekels accumulated until May ($379 million).

This money will cover PA debts to Israeli companies: Half will go to companies that supplied fuel to the Palestinian Authority and half to the Israel Electric Corporation.

IDF says terrorist operating from mosques in Judea and Samaria

Terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria persistently takes place within civilian infrastructures, including mosques, hospitals, medical centers, and educational institutions, according to the IDF website.

Since the beginning of the war, the IDF and Israel Security Agency have targeted terrorist strongholds in Judea and Samaria to eliminate terrorists and destroy terrorist infrastructure. To date, at least 165 armed terrorists who posed a threat to IDF forces have been eliminated in approximately 110 aerial strikes conducted in Judea and Samaria. These strikes are conducted with precision to avoid harming uninvolved civilians and in accordance with international law.
During operational activities by Israeli security forces in Jenin and Tulkarm, the IDF identified three different mosques that were being exploited for terrorist purposes. Amid counterterrorism activity conducted in the area of Jenin in November 2024, terrorists opened fire at IDF soldiers from inside and near the mosque, using it for cover.

The following morning, soldiers returned to the mosque to search it and found a shooting range on the lower floor of the mosque, a training area, and shooting positions overlooking the forces and the area adjacent to the mosque. Dozens of bullet shells were located next to every window, left from the gunfire carried out the night before.

China allows Iran to begin shipping oil from storage

Iran has begun shipping oil stored in China with Beijing’s approval, sources told the Wall Street Journal, about two weeks after Iran International reported Tehran’s determination to sell off the supplies ahead of harsher sanctions expected under Donald Trump.

The 25 million barrels of oil were gradually shipped to China prior to May 2019 as a precaution when President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports but granted China temporary waivers.

However, in May 2019, when the Trump administration revoked these waivers, the oil was left unsold and stranded in leased storage tanks at the ports of Dalian and Zhoushan.

On Dec. 23, Iran International first reported on the IRGC’s mission to remove these oil reserves from Chinese Dalian port. In a subsequent report, the outlet cited a source as saying Iran was trying to withdraw other oil reserves from Zhoushan Port, China.

Anti-Semites blame Gaza war for starting L.A. fires

Fatima Mousa Mohammed, the City University of New York School of Law graduate who made headlines in May 2023 for her anti-Israel commencement speech, is now blaming the Jewish state for the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

In posts on X, Mohammed linked Gaza bombings to global climate consequences, claiming the “flames of Gaza” would affect everyone, the New York Post reported on Saturday, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

On Wednesday, a day after the catastrophic Southern California blazes were sparked, she wrote: “Dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on Gaza, turning it into a blazing inferno, has consequences that extend beyond our moral condemnation – there are climate consequences that will find us all.”

A subsequent X post from her read: “You cannot care about the quality of rain failing in one part of the world while ignoring the rain of fire you help fund in others. The climate crisis will only worsen, and our complacency will only fuel the flames.”

Mohammed also wrote: “The flames of Gaza will not stop there, they will find us all if we don’t stop them. … None of us are spared in the eye of the empire.”

Venezuela’s Maduro labels Argentina’s government ‘Zionist’ and ‘Nazi’

The Jewish community in Argentina lambasted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last week after he described Argentina’s government as “Nazi and Zionist” while addressing on ongoing dispute between the two countries over the arrest of an Argentine military officer in Venezuela.

“A terrorist like this famous Argentine has been captured. The Nazi and Zionist government of Argentina wants us to award him a decoration,” Maduro said during an event in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, and reported in the Algemeiner.

Maduro was addressing the situation of Nahuel Gallo, a corporal in Argentina’s Gendarmería security force who was arrested in Venezuela last month and charged with terrorism. The socialist Venezuelan government accused Gallo of “being part of a group of people who tried to commit destabilizing and terrorist acts [in Venezuela] with the support of international far-right groups.”
Argentina is currently governed by the administration of President Javier Milei, whose security minister, Patricia Bullrich, described the charges as “another lie” by Venezuela’s government and said that Gallo should be returned to Argentina “immediately.”

Lebanon elects new president after two-year hiatus

The weakening of Hezbollah in last year’s war with Israel allowed Lebanon’s long-deadlocked parliament to reach a consensus around a president who has the confidence of the international community, according to the Times of Israel.

Lebanese Armed Forces chief Joseph Aoun, who was elected late last week – ending a more than two-year vacancy – signaled a readjustment of Lebanon’s foreign policy as the country works with international creditors to forge a way out of six years of deepening financial crisis.

Deadlock in parliament between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs had stalemated a dozen previous attempts to elect a president, leaving the country largely rudderless in its efforts to secure an emergency bailout.

IDF strikes Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, citing ‘ceasefire violations’

The IDF conducted intelligence-based strikes on a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated early Monday morning.

Prior to the strike, the threat posed by the targets to the Israeli home front and IDF troops was presented to the monitoring mechanism of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and the threats were not addressed, it added, according to Israel National News.

Among the targets struck were a rocket launcher site, a military site, and routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

“The IDF continues to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces in accordance with the ceasefire understandings.”

* * *

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

Related Posts

WND News Center

‘Every unborn child is a human being’: Court blocks mail distribution of deadly abortion drug

Bob Unruh
WND News Center

Trump letter to Congress: Hostilities with Iran have ‘terminated’

Bob Unruh