Middle East

Ce 3 janvier, un juge de l'Oregon a enfin placé un premier garde-fou à la répression fasciste menée par Donald Trump et son ICE.

Les corps sans vie d’au moins 15 migrants, dont quatre femmes, viennent d’être retrouvés au large de l’île grecque de Chios, en mer Égée, après la collision entre leur embarcation et un patrouilleur des gardes-côtes grecs, qui a également fait 25 blessés, dont onze enfants. Sous la violence de l’impact, la vedette prise en chasse a chaviré puis coulé. On ignore le nombre exact de…

Il y a quelques mois, Majda a tenté de sauver sa tante, agressée par son ex-époux, en s’interposant. Fdila est morte, mais la jeune femme de 20 ans a survécu. Aujourd’hui handicapée, en situation irrégulière, elle demande sa régularisation, soutenue par la Fondation des femmes, Pow’Her et les enfants, covictimes, de Fdila.

Entre 2012 et 2014, le réalisateur français Michel Hazanavicius a entretenu une correspondance avec le pédocriminel Jeffrey Epstein. Son nom apparaît dans 306 documents révélés par le ministère états-unien de la Justice. Interrogé par « l’Humanité » sur cette relation, le cinéaste fournit des réponses dont certaines sont contredites par les « Epstein Files ».

Les faits avaient été révélés par une vidéo accablante, en septembre 2025. Le policier qui avait giflé et craché sur un jeune Dionysien de 20 ans comparaît, ce jeudi, à Bobigny, pour "violences volontaires par personne dépositaire de l’autorité publique".

Des milliers de personnes ont défilé ce mardi pour réclamer le retour du couple présidentiel enlevé par les États-Unis, tandis que la présidente par intérim continue les rapprochements avec l’administration trumpiste. Tout en assurant veiller à préserver la souveraineté nationale et renforcer l’économie.

En marge d’un meeting contre la répression antisyndicale, la CGT a dévoilé une carte de France des Bourses du travail, menacées d’expulsions, d’insalubrité ou de réduction de la surface d’accueil.

Depuis la fin du mois de janvier, une campagne publicitaire pour un collier baptisé Friend, dopé à l’IA, a fait son apparition dans le métro parisien et sur les réseaux sociaux. Présenté comme un « ami virtuel », il est capable de capter les déplacements, mais aussi les discussions et les bruits aux alentours du porteur. Selon le chercheur Olivier Ertzscheid, il s’agit d’un nouvel outil de surveillance de masse de la population.

A deep dive into China’s changing propaganda narratives on the South China Sea.

Uzbek media reports that Bakhodir Siddikov, until mid-December head of Uzbekistan’s state oil and gas company, has been taken into custody amid a corruption investigation.

While in China this week, Starmer must directly challenge Beijing on its treatment of Hong Kong and of Hong Kongers living abroad, particularly those who now live in Britain.

With RCEP’s first general review scheduled for next year, this is a timely opportunity to assess its relevance and potential amid profound global uncertainty today. 

Given the stakes, it is critical to chart a better course through China’s overseas ports presence.

China led the exercise, South Africa hosted it, and India sat it out. 

The new strategy pairs "denial defense" with a strategic silence on Taiwan to maximize executive leverage. Yet this design rests on a dangerous gamble.

From initial denials, through later partial acknowledgment and “legalization,” to rapid downsizing and eventual formal closure, the Chinese government’s handling of the re-education camps in Xinjiang suggests a series of unintended shifts.

I recently came across an excerpt of an interview that podcaster Theo Von did with Tucker Carlson. Oddly enough, the theme of the interview is revealed at the very end of the clip (begins at 7:12):

Theo Von: Oh, I think it's brave to be able to speak up; sometimes if you're right or wrong, it's brave to try.

Tucker Carlson: It's our obligation to try. I was quiet for 30 years. I shouldn't have been I didn't want to fight but I shouldn't have been

Theo Von: People say like you get information wrong, but if information is given out that's wrong, then how do you expect someone to know accurate information?

You would be hard-pressed to find a more heartfelt defense of spreading misinformation. The implicit argument is that error is excusable so long as it is delivered with confidence and moral self-regard. That is precisely the license Carlson gives himself as he proceeds to traffic in fake history, scientific illiteracy, and anti-Israel propaganda, all wrapped in a tone of faux humility.
Carlson advances his own peculiar version of supersessionism. Rather than claiming Christianity replaces Judaism, he suggests something even more radical: that Judaism itself no longer exists, and that modern Jews have no meaningful connection to the Jews of antiquity or to the land of Israel. In a neat rhetorical trick, Carlson simply denies Jewish continuity altogether (begins at 4:48):Theo Von: But because this Israel is not the Israel from the Bible, right? This is…

Tucker Carlson: I've tried to have this conversation. If it is, tell me how? What are you even talking about? And I'm not a theologian. I'm a freaking Episcopalian like I admit I know nothing but I do read the Bible every day, so I just don't see what you're talking about.

So you tell me what you're talking about. This is the Israel we read about. This is the inheritance of Abraham.

Theo Von: No way!

Tucker Carlson: How is it genetically the same? Are the people who live there now related to the people we read about in the Old Testament? If they are, we have DNA test. Tell me how that works? Oh, those are banned.

Okay. So then you tell me it's the same religion. How is it the same religion? There's no temple like, what are you even talking about? By the way, maybe there's a good answer that I just don't understand.
On at least one point, Carlson is refreshingly honest: he does not understand. Unfortunately, ignorance does not stop him from lecturing millions of listeners as though he does. His insistence that he “reads the Bible every day” is beside the point. This is not a theological question; it is a matter of history, archaeology, and population genetics—fields in which Carlson appears to have invested no effort at all.
Carlson reaches for a conspiracy theory. He claims that DNA testing is “banned” in Israel to hide the supposed lack of Jewish continuity. This is simply false. Snopes debunked the claim last year, noting that it is part of a broader attempt to accuse Israel of concealing evidence that undermines Jewish ancestral ties. More recently, an article in the Israel Institute of New Zealand was published, No, DNA Tests Are Not “Illegal in Israel': Debunking a Libel While Acknowledging the Real Policy Debate:Few modern anti-Israel talking points are as bizarre — or as revealing — as the persistent claim that “DNA tests are illegal in Israel.” As with many libels, the accusation begins with a thin thread of truth, wraps it in distortion, and emerges as another conspiracy theory designed to delegitimise Jewish identity and the State of Israel.

The truth is that such tests are not banned--they are regulated, nor is Israel the only country that does this. The fact that such tests exist—and are widely studied—fatally undermines Carlson’s argument. He also betrays a basic ignorance of Jewish diversity. Sweeping claims about “the Jews” ignore well-documented distinctions among Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Mizrahi populations, all of which have been extensively studied.

According to a 2001 report on the website of the National Library of Medicine

although Ashkenazi Jews were found to differ slightly from Sephardic and Kurdish Jews, it is noteworthy that there is, overall, a high degree of genetic affinity among the three Jewish communities. Moreover, neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardic Jews cluster adjacent to their former host populations, a finding that argues against substantial admixture of males

The LA Times reported in 2010 on a study of Ashkenazic Jewish ancestry:

The study shows that there is "clearly a shared genetic common ancestry among geographically diverse populations consistent with oral tradition and culture …and that traces back to the Middle East," said geneticist Sarah A. Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study. "Jews have assimilated to some extent, but they clearly retain their common ancestry."

Carlson’s final move—arguing that the destruction of the Temple somehow severed Judaism from its own past—is just as foolish. Judaism did not end in 70 CE. It adapted, as living civilizations do. Jewish law, liturgy, language, and communal identity evolved organically from Second Temple Judaism, preserving continuity across catastrophe and exile. To suggest otherwise is not scholarship; it is historical vandalism.

But Carlson is not trying to educate. As with his claim that Benjamin Netanyahu called him a Nazi or that American taxpayers somehow “pay Netanyahu’s salary,” this is pure provocation. He gives his audience what it wants: grievance dressed up as insight, ignorance masquerading as courage.

Tucker Carlson’s performance is not merely uninformed—it is reckless. By presenting his lack of knowledge as a form of bravery, he invites his audience to confuse curiosity with certainty and skepticism with denial. Jews, Judaism, and Israel are not abstractions to be waved away with rhetorical questions and conspiratorial shrugs. They are among the most thoroughly documented continuities in human history. Carlson’s failure to grasp that is not a moral stand. It is a choice—and one that trades truth for applause.

The cease-fire is holding, Israeli hostages are being exchanged for Palestinian terrorists, and the stage is being set for further Israeli compromises.

What could go wrong?

Typical of the media agenda leading up to the cease-fire is the sloppy media narrative as per The Washington Post:

The conflict started when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others hostage. The Israeli military responded with a brutal campaign that destroyed much of Gaza and killed at least 47,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children....in which:

• Hamas terrorists are described as "Hamas-led fighters
• The massacre is described merely as an attack, with no modifier
• While the Israeli retaliation is described with an added adjective as a brutal campaign
• At least 47,000 were killed -- despite analyses that dispute that number
• The Gaza Health Ministry is quoted, without mentioning it is controlled by Hamas
• The claim that the majority of those dead are "women and children" without mentioning contrary views
• No mention of what age range defines "children"
• No mention of the Hamas rockets landing in Gaza or how many Gazans killed by those rockets

Now, the media is framing the appropriate cease-fire narrative for their audiences. All this time, the media has carefully eschewed labeling Hamas as terrorists. This is hardly the time to describe the agreement as swapping of hostages for terrorists. Instead, we have descriptions along the lines of The New York Times:

Mere "prisoners"?

In the second paragraph, they clarify:

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, crowds of Palestinians held aloft the returning prisoners, many of whom had been jailed for deadly militant attacks against Israelis

Give The New York Times credit for at least admitting that the attacks were deadly. But many of them were guilty of "deadly attacks"?

Honest Reporting points out that actually the vast majority of the first batch of "prisoners" -- 83% -- were guilty of violent and deadly offenses.

f But the New York Times "admission" of deadly attacks does not stop them from gushing:


"One of the largest prisoner exchanges" -- a prime example of New York Times evenhandedness, equating hostages with terrorists, "some" of whom are serving life sentences, without any specifics as to why.

Speaking about that exchange, it is noteworthy that Hamas violated the agreement during the second exchange. As The Washington Post noted:Israel said Saturday that Hamas had violated the deal, which required it to release all living civilian women first. Israel had expected that Arbel Yehud, a 29-year-old civilian who was abducted with her boyfriend from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, would be among those in the Saturday release. [the article is reposted on msn.com]JNS therefore duly noted that Israel took measures to ensure that Hamas would follow through by releasing Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud as agreed:

But CNN's sloppily constructed headline could not be bothered with the facts:

The headline paints Israel in the worst possible light. It is not until the eighth paragraph that CNN deigns to inform us:Israel has been pushing for the release of Arbel Yehud, 29, who was kidnapped from her home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Israel says she is a civilian and should have been released Saturday.Not only does CNN bury this important detail, but they also make it seem that Israel is inconveniencing the hapless Hamas terrorist leaders by "pushing" for the release.

In case you are wondering just how many cease-fire violations is Hamas guilty of violating...

According to Haaretz, Hamas is guilty of 3 violations:The first, current phase of the deal was intended to be the simplest of the deal's proposed three phases. Both Hamas and Israel are thought to be committed to the so-called humanitarian part of the phase, but obstacles thrown up by both sides have threatened to stop the deal before it even began.

Hamas failed to submit to Israel the names of the hostages to be released in time, didn't release the civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud as promised and delayed issuing the list specifying which of the hostages designated for release are still alive. Israel, for its part, delayed allowing displaced residents of northern Gaza to return to their homes in response.The 3 Hamas violations are:

• Failing to submit to Israel the names of the hostages to be released in time
• Not releasing the civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud as promised
• Delaying issuing the list specifying which of the hostages designated for release are still alive

But wait! Israel also placed an obstacle preventing the smooth proceeding of the cease-fire. According to Haaretz, Israel put an obstacle in the way of the cease-fire by insisting on the release of a kidnapped hostage as per the agreement.

In their haste to be "fair" and find something to pin on Israel, Haaretz claims that "obstacles thrown up by both sides have threatened to stop the deal before it even began," But the one "obstacle" by Israel clearly happened after the cease-fire began.

Now the campaign to erase Hamas responsibility for the war begins, as CNN tells us that this is not Hamas's war at all:

After 16 months of war, we were inundated by the media agenda to reframe the Hamas massacre itself and the war that Israel had to wage to protect itself.
Now, we should prepare for the media's coverup of the cease-fire as well.

George Gilder is an American author and economist. His book, The Israel Test, was published in 2009. A new version of the book came out last year.

George Gilder (YouTube screencap)

What is so important about your book, The Israel Test, that it merits a new third edition?

The issues of The Israel Test are imperative for everyone to understand—a relaunch of the message of the essential book of my lifetime. I've been writing for nearly 70 years, and of all my books, I like The Israel Test best. It's the most personal of my books and the most fervent. It may be the most important. I write about entrepreneurship, I write about technology, I write about creativity as the paramount force in human life. It is all epitomized in the fabulous feats of Israel as the Startup Nation and now possibly the leader of the Free World.

I think Israel is transforming the world as we speak.

Briefly, what is the Israel Test?

The test is how people respond to those who excel in creativity, intellect, accomplishment, and wealth. Do you admire them and try to learn from them or do you envy them, resent them, and try to tear them down? This is the central test of the world economy and human life. When we resent those who excel us and attempt to suppress them, we doom our Human Experiment. To the extent that we admire them and emulate them, there are no limits to our achievements on this planet.

For whatever reason, most of the great breakthroughs of the century have come from Jews, and Israel now epitomizes this genius of the Jews. So when we attack Israel, we're really attacking the very source of human creativity and accomplishment in the world. That is the Israel Test.

U.S. corporations have some 70% of the global market cap and all the world's equity markets. When you examine the companies that account for this global leadership in the United States, they all have crucial, laboratories inventions, factories, research, and operations in Israel. People talk about Israel being dependent on the United States. But the U.S. is more dependent on Israel today than Israel is on the U.S. The United States is in a maelstrom at the moment, and Israel is really the inspirational leader of the world economy.

What are the biggest misconceptions about Israel's economy and the Israeli society that you debunk in your book?

First of all, the whole idea that Israel somehow is occupying something is just misconceived.

One of the reasons for the second edition of the book is that once, after I addressed a synagogue in Far Rockaway in New York, fifteen years ago, someone came up to me and gave me a beaten-up, frayed copy of a book by Walter Lowdermilk. That book is the basis for a couple of new chapters in the recent editions of The Israel Test.

Walter Lowdermilk was a Christian in the United States in the Agriculture Department under FDR. A heat wave had led to a terrible drought in the U.S. causing a crisis for US agriculture and for the West. Lowdermilk traveled around the world, in search of agricultural methods to meet this crisis. He ended up in then-Palestine and discovered amazing agricultural feats. This is back in 1938, before the establishment of the state of Israel. He found that the Jews had performed an agricultural miracle unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Lowdermilk found that they had solved the water problem and made the desert bloom. In time, this led to desalination plants, drip irrigation, microirrigation, and the planting of a million trees. There is now an Israeli university with a Lowdermilk building because he became a hero and is recognized for his important contributions.

He reported that when the Jews moved to Palestine in the 19th century, there were only 200,000 to 300,000 Arabs in this wasteland that was really a desert. Their average lifespan was around 30 years old. When the Jews came and made the desert bloom, the Arabs crowded into Palestine to take advantage of these breakthroughs the Jews achieved. Jewish migration made a population of Palestinians possible. Without the Jewish immigration, there could not have been a sustained population because of the lack of water. Lowdermilk's book documents detailed observations and testimony about how the Jews transformed the desert and made Israel ultimately into the world's most Innovative agricultural country.

But Israel made a big mistake. They adopted socialism. By 1985, Israel was about over, approaching 1000% inflation with the economy on the verge of collapse. The Histadrut domination of banking had resulted in the bankruptcy of banks and the fall of the shekel. That was when the new government under Netanyahu led the transformation of Israel into a capitalist leader.

The real Israel Test came when Israel demonstrated that freedom, capitalism, and creativity enable human life and accomplishment. That vindication of capitalism, pioneered by Netanyahu, changed the Israel Test from a test of recognizing their agricultural changes to recognizing their technological changes. Israel was a key source of the success of Intel Corporation, the leading American semiconductor company. Nvidia achieved great success by buying an Israeli company called Melanox, making Nvidia one of the world's most valuable companies by enabling their Artificial Intelligence breakthroughs.

It begins with half the Nobel prizes and the serious Sciences and it goes on to the richest people in the world, to the most pioneering country in the world. And it's all ultimately a recognition of the incredible genius of the Jews.

The Israel Test is about how Israel's genius enriches the world.

Is the Israel Test of the Arabs different? Aside from the psychological and emotional elements of envy and hatred of the Jews, the Arab world also has a cultural aspect that you mention in your book: shame and honor. Going a step further, are those Arabs living in Israel under Jewish rule for the first time in Arab history being tested and challenged differently than any other people?

Israel is a democratic government that grants Israeli Arabs more rights than any other place in the world, except maybe the United States. Arabs do better in Israel than they do anywhere else. The million Arabs in Israel comprise 16% of all the engineers. The Arabs do well in Israel and do not support Hamas or Hezbollah activities. There are, of course, disgruntled Arabs. But I think that the Arab integration with Israeli Society and Israeli industry has been a lesson for the world and the Israel Test.

I've spent a lot of time in Israel, talking to Arab engineers. They are making crucial contributions. The ones who learn from the Jews rather than resent the Jews do brilliantly in Israel.

You write that capitalism is one of the best remedies for antisemitism. How does that work?

Capitalism is based on giving. A fundamental principle of capitalism is its dependence on the moral fabric that the Jewish and Christian traditions enabled. capitalism is the secret behind the emergence of Israel as the world's leading creative force and its world leadership. Israel did not become the Startup Nation until it adopted capitalism and they didn't employ all these Arabs either until it adopted capitalism.

Probably seven out of the ten richest people in the world are Jews. All their wealth is invested in projects and companies that employ millions of people around the world. This makes the continued triumph over human exigency possible. It explains why the genius of the Jews converges with the capitalist insights to make Israel's emergence as the leader of the West possible. Israel's amazing achievement is that this tiny country has accomplished so much, yet has only existed for 75 years. And it could only have happened with capitalism.

The American economist and political commentator Thomas Sowell makes an important observation. He studied minorities all around the globe. He acknowledges the incredible achievements of the Jews and of Israel as the spearhead. However, he also shows that a similar phenomenon exists in Asia with the overseas Chinese. There are some 40 million overseas Chinese, more overseas Chinese than there are Jews. It's not exactly comparable, but the overseas Chinese dominate the economies of Asia in the same way that Jews dominate the Middle Eastern economy--and the American economy for that matter. Millions of overseas Chinese have been killed in pogroms in Indonesia, for example. This ended up depleting the Indonesian economy for decades They imagined that the overseas Chinese were somehow stealing wealth instead of creating wealth. Wealth is created; it is not stolen.

You write that anti-Semitism withers in wealthy capitalist countries. But is that really true today?

We are slipping back into Socialism. The West is no longer so wealthy and our wealth does not distribute itself as thoroughly as in a free economy. We are socializing our economy in the name of climate change and other delusions that are inducing us to abandon capitalism. When we abandoned capitalism, people began to look for victims. They consider themselves victims and resent the wealthy. They start failing their Israel Test.

So it's not just because we're living post-October 7th?

That's right. Marxism is based on resentment of wealth. If you start resenting and tearing down wealth, you end up failing your Israel Test and bring about catastrophe. And that's our history.

One of the stories I like to tell is about World War II. It was won because the U.S. admitted Jews to lead the Manhattan Project and create the nuclear weapons that made the triumphs of the Western order possible. After the Second World War, democracy and capitalism were the fruit of the Manhattan Project, and the Manhattan Project was accomplished almost entirely by the Jewish scientists fleeing Europe.

John von Neumann is a great hero of the Israel Test. He was a pivotal figure both in the Manhattan Project and in the creation of the computer industry. He won his debate with Albert, Einstein and persuaded Israel to create a supercomputer and acquire nuclear power. Israel could not have survived without von Neumann's contributions. A Jew who fled Europe for the United States ultimately saved both Israel and The United States.

You mention the United States. Generally, antisemitism doesn't seem to be as large a problem here as it is in Europe. Why is that?

One of the reasons is that Europe accepted massive Muslim immigrants without requiring them to adopt the principles of a free society, and without requiring them to abandon their antisemitism. Europe got occupied. It's a terrible problem and it's why Trump's insight about immigration is so critical. You accept immigrants who accept the constitutional principles of your society, the key moral underpinnings of civilized society. An obsession with exterminating Jews is utterly inconsistent with the principles of any kind of free, civilized society. Europe accepted too many jihadists and it's changing their culture.

Eastern Europe is now becoming more prosperous than Western Europe because of this. It is not trivial. Eastern Europe refused Islamic migration and has managed to continue its capitalist prosperity. Poland is now one of the world's most creative and productive countries.

You write that Judaism perhaps more than any other religion favors capitalist activity and provides a rigorous moral framework for it. How so?

Capitalism is based on escape from materialism. It is based on the belief that human beings are created in the image of their Creator. These Judaic insights and principles help explain why Jews lead the world economy.

Is capitalism the escape from materialism? Some say capitalism is dependent on materialism.

No, it absolutely isn't. Many models imagine the economy is dominated by land, energy, resources, rare metals, or whatever claims they make. Actually, ideas are all the world has. As Thomas Sowell puts it, the Neanderthal in his cave had all the material resources that we have today The difference between our age and the Stone Age is entirely the triumph of intellect and ideas and the transcendence over our material bondage and our material entrapment.

What are Israel's biggest challenges in maintaining its economic growth?

Israel led the world in new venture capital in 2024. It grew its venture capital by 38% over 2024 while the U.S. expanded its venture capital, because of the advance of artificial intelligence and the transformative impact of AI on various industries. But even during this horrific war, Israel has expanded its economic leadership. That is why I say they are the leader of the West. They have to maintain their openness, creativity, and inventiveness. They can't retreat to the materialist superstition that wealth comes from the land. Israel demonstrates that wealth doesn't come from the land--it comes from the mind.

What would you like your readers to take away from The Israel Test, especially the younger readers, who may not be familiar with Israel's story?

They should understand that this is a world of abundance. They should be careful not to accept the materialist superstition that ends up resenting wealth by imagining wealth is something material that was stolen from them. And that's the crucial recognition.

We always face the Israel Test. We all have the propensity to envy people who excel us. We all feel that temptation. We must shun the material superstition and embrace the infinite possibilities of the human mind and creativity.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and concision

“If Hamas truly believes that the people, the Palestinian people are suffering, then why would they want to take this aid and use it for themselves to support their terrorist organization? One would hope that this aid will get to the people that are most deserving and in need.”
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder when asked how the US was going to ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians and not Hamas, March 8, 2024

Did Ryder really acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization and then in the same breath expect that those terrorists would happily share humanitarian aid with the rest of Gaza?

We shouldn't be all that surprised. Remember, this is the same administration where Biden himself wholeheartedly accepts -- and repeats -- the Hamas claim that 30,000 Gazans have died so far.

The Biden administration, like most of the West, has fallen for the Hamas propaganda -- hook, line, and sinker. That is the point made in a recent YNet article, The US sees situation in Gaza through Hamas' optics:Hamas uses the suffering of the people in Gaza for its propaganda purposes and for pressuring Israel. The fact that the U.S. has fallen for this Hamas tactic is no less than shocking. It only reinforces Hamas’ incentive to use the civilian population as a human shield since this strategy works - it is more harmful to Israel than it is to Hamas.Of course, we can make the argument that the Biden administration is not fooled by Hamas at all -- they are merely undercutting Israel because this is an election year and the powers that be are afraid of losing votes. But that interpretation doesn't make Biden look any better.
Either way, the administration is publicly accepting Hamas disinformation and reinforcing it. That only strengthens the terrorists in their strategy and encourages them to hold out while putting lives and the future of Gaza at stake. Biden says he wants stability, but his actions have the opposite effect.
The destruction of Hamas terrorists is not a stated goal. The foreign policy is even more wishy-washy.
For that matter, in the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2728, there is no linkage between a cease-fire and the release of the hostages. Hamas wins again. 

 The resolution fails to explicitly tie humanitarian aid to the release of hostages. The resolution merely puts the two issues side by side.
During Monday's Press Briefing, Matt Lee of the Associated Press pushed State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller on this point:QUESTION: So last week when you guys presented your resolution at the UN, there were complaints from people who said that it delinked the ceasefire from the release of hostages, and U.S. officials were rather vociferous in saying that that is not the case. However, what you guys abstained on today does appear to delink them. Is that your understanding of —


MR MILLER: So we don’t believe it delinks them. You see in the same paragraph it – the resolution calling for both a ceasefire and the release of hostages. It’s not the exact language that we would have put forward, obviously, because the language that we would put forward is the language that we did put forward last week, but it is language that is consistent with our policy to call for both a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and that’s why we did not exercise a veto today.

As I said, we did have concerns about the lack of other provisions in the resolution, but as it pertains to a ceasefire and the release of hostages, both the things that we called for were there in the resolution. A few moments later, Miller admits this resolution is toothless since it is non-binding. Matt Lee asks the obvious question:QUESTION: So what’s the point?

MR MILLER: Well —

QUESTION: Why did you —

MR MILLER: — you could ask that —

QUESTION: Why did you abstain? Why didn’t you veto?

MR MILLER: We didn’t veto because we thought the language in it was consistent with something that – the language as it relates to the ceasefire and release of hostages was consistent with the longstanding United States position.

QUESTION: So you don’t believe anything is going to happen as a result of the passage of this resolution.

MR MILLER: So I think that separate and apart from this resolution, we have active, ongoing negotiations to try to achieve what this resolution calls for, which is the – an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages. I don’t – I can’t say that this – this resolution is going to have any impact on those negotiations. Matt Lee


This whole drama leading up to passing a resolution for a cease-fire has all been for nothing. That fact leads to Lee's obvious question:If that’s the case, what the hell is the point of the UN or the UN Security Council?Miller admits the US is not looking to the UN to get things done. It is looking to negotiate in Qatar. That would be the same Qatar that supports Hamas and plays host to Hamas leaders. This is not exactly neutral territory.
Is it any wonder that Hamas has shown no inclination to surrender and is willing -- and confident -- in its strategy to sit and wait?
I recall that during the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration, some suggested that the Iranians would not have dared to try taking Russians hostage -- such was the fear that the Soviet Union inspired. 
That was then.
The ISIS massacre at the concert hall shows that those days are over. Ukraine's ability to hold out against Putin has seen to that.
The West will blame Israel for the Hamas massacre and for unrest in the Middle East. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the weakness and indecision of the once powerful "superpowers" is seen as an invitation to Islamists to renew and expand their jihad.