Of course Israel's on a collision course with Turkey

Or destined to be, sooner or later. That's what professor Eyal Zisser is talking about now:

Turkey was the first Muslim-majority country to recognize the State of Israel, doing so in 1949. Since then, however, relations between the two countries have experienced ups and, above all, downs. For many years, ties remained deeply frozen because Ankara feared antagonizing the Arab states. In the late 1950s, however, Turkey joined Israel, Iran and Ethiopia in establishing the Periphery Alliance as a counterweight to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The peace process that began in the region in the early 1990s brought an unprecedented flourishing of relations between the two countries, along with economic, diplomatic and, above all, security cooperation. As it once did with Iran, Israel displayed appalling shortsightedness by helping to develop Turkey's security services and defense industry.

All this changed after Erdogan came to power more than two decades ago. Erdogan seeks to turn his back on the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, not only regarding the country's secular character but also, and especially, in foreign policy. Turkey's traditional focus on Europe has been replaced by an orientation toward the Arab and Islamic worlds. Turkey has consequently aligned itself with Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, using hostility toward Israel as a lever to advance its standing in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Even after Erdogan took power, however, relations between the two countries continued, particularly in the economic sphere. That remained the case until October 7, after which Turkey sided with Hamas in both words and deeds, bringing about a complete rupture between the two countries, although the Turkish Embassy continues to operate in Tel Aviv.

Following the takeover of Syria by Turkish protégé Ahmad al-Sharaa, Ankara gained a foothold in the country and effectively replaced Iran as its dominant foreign power. This heightened concerns in Jerusalem that Syria could become an arena for confrontation. There were even reports of near-clashes between Turkish and Israeli aircraft. Nevertheless, a hotline between the Israeli and Turkish air forces was established through Azerbaijani mediation to prevent incidents in Syrian airspace.

Oh, we just have to rely on another Muslim country for this. Azerbaijan, of course, is also guilty of jihadist bloodshed against Armenians, and that's one of the reasons why it's terrible how Israel in the past came to do potentially faustian deals with Islamic countries if that's what it took to supposedly keep a stable region. But of course, Islamic taqqiya (deception) is why it won't last long. If Israel's advocates don't show the courage to convince Islamic countries to stop worshiping the Religion of Peace, how do they expect to improve the situation with Turkey?

All this is why eventually, Turkey will have to be regarded as an enemy state, until its modern tyrants like Erdogan can be replaced with saner ones, who preferably aren't Muslim.

Why recognizing Ahmed al-Sharaa as legitimate is bad

Amine Ayoub wrote about why the Trump administration's continued recognition of Islamists like Ahmed al-Sharaa is bad news:

The recent declaration by President Donald Trump indicating a willingness to remove Syria from the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism marks a perilous pivot in American foreign policy. Coupled with optimistic projections regarding an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Washington appears to be rushing toward a premature stabilization narrative in the Levant. At the center of this strategy is Ahmed al-Sharaa, the interim Syrian president who assumed power following the dramatic collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Sharaa's sudden elevation from an international terrorist to a prospective diplomatic partner is not a triumph of moderate reform. Instead, it represents the most sophisticated mutation of Salafi-jihadist ideology observed in the modern era, posing a severe long-term threat to Western security and regional minorities.

The Illusion of Transformation

To understand the danger of the current U.S. trajectory,we must examine the meticulous career of Sharaa, previously known by his battlefield moniker, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Sharaa is a veteran of the global jihadist movement who gained operational experience fighting American forces alongside al-Qaeda in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Following his subsequent incarceration at Camp Bucca, he spearheaded the creation of Jabhat al-Nusra, which operated as al-Qaeda’s official Syrian franchise.

Under his command, the group executed horrific suicide operations, systematically targeted religious minorities, and enforced an uncompromising version of Islamic law. His subsequent break with al-Qaeda and the creation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, were widely interpreted by Middle East experts as tactical maneuvers rather than genuine ideological transformations.

The institutionalization of HTS under Sharaa demonstrates how modern radical groups adapt their vocabulary for Western consumption without abandoning their core Islamist objectives.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, so read the rest. What the Trump administration's doing, continuing to give al-Sharaa legitimacy, is a very bad example, and when the Democrats don't raise any objections to the administration's dealings with al-Sharaa, you know something's wrong.

Syrian woman converts to Judaism

An interesting story about a Syrian-born woman who came to understand a lot about Israel while living in France, and has since decided to become a Judaist convert. She also told them:

Rawan Osman has just completed another visit to Israel. It was her 20th trip since Oct. 7, 2023 — no small thing for a woman born in Syria, raised for 18 years in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and now living in Germany. After years of building ties with Israel and Judaism, Osman is preparing for another unexpected step: She plans to convert to Judaism and immigrate to Israel. [...]

The issue of alcohol sales has recently returned to the headlines in Syria. The government of Ahmed al-Sharaa decided in March to ban alcohol service in restaurants and nightclubs in Damascus and limit sales to several Christian neighborhoods. Even there, alcohol may be sold only in sealed containers and by licensed stores. The restrictions sparked public criticism, while the government said they were intended to impose order.

“It’s ridiculous,” Osman said. “Maybe the only good thing about the Assad regime was that it was secular. Everything else was terrible. The current regime is not as monstrous as the Assad regime, but it wants to take Syria back to the seventh century and is contributing to the Islamization of Syria. Syria is going through a dangerous process that must be stopped.

“From my point of view, and I consider myself Israeli today, al-Jolani is very dangerous. He is not good news for us, because we have thousands of jihadists on the border.”

It's fortunate somebody fully recognizes what's wrong with al-Jolani, and again, it's shameful the Trump administration would agree to recognize him as a leader. What's wrong with all the Christians/Druze/Yazidis who live in the area? How do they not qualify as potential leaders?

‘Israel did not start it’

In recent weeks — on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day — Osman posted content to her Instagram account as if she had grown up in Israel. She met a Holocaust survivor and documented Memorial Day events at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.

Her connection to Israel began in France.

“When I moved there to study wine, I started the first part of my studies in Strasbourg. The place where I lived was in the Jewish Quarter, near the Great Synagogue of Peace. That was the first time I experienced Jews,” she said. “It opened my eyes because I had always imagined Jews as the enemy, as a terrible, problematic, aggressive people.”

That impression, she said, collapsed when she lived among Jews.

“They were nice to me,” Osman said. “In France, my point of view changed. I understood that the hostility that leads to wars was not started by Israel, but by the Arab world, which rejects the very existence of Israel. That made me start reading and researching organizations like Hezbollah, the Islamic Republic in Iran and the armed Palestinian factions, and understand that they are aggressive and that they choose terrorism to make Jews leave the Middle East.”

Trying to understand how the Palestinian issue could be resolved — a conflict she sees as holding back Lebanon and other countries — Osman began studying Islam and Judaism in Germany. She said she had been an atheist. In Lebanon, she attended a French Catholic school but never believed in God, Jesus, Muhammad or the Quran.

“When I studied, I understood that some of the biggest problems that led to terrorism were caused by mistaken interpretations of certain texts, and it does not have to be that way,” she said. “When I studied Judaism, my life changed completely. I fell in love with Judaism. I understood that I am Jewish. I felt that I knew the language, that it was close to me.”

On this, the problem with the verses in the koran advocating violence is that they were meant for just that, and if the newspaper distorted that part of the subject, that's wrong.

Anyway, I appreciate that the lady decided to convert to Judaism, and seriously, when the cards are played right, it can provide sensible Europeans with a good resource in which to find confidence. I will decidedly also say that, if there's any Europeans who think far eastern religions like Hinduism and Shintoism have positive values, I'm welcome to their trying those out as well, just to show that if a specific religion builds on positivity, I'm okay with competition.

Ukraine's president makes a horrific PR mistake by visiting Syria's autocrat

While Russia's war against Ukraine is abominable, so too is Syria's conduct under Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky made a serious mistake by paying the Islamofascist a visit:

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, receiving a warm welcome from President Ahmed al-Sharaa and reportedly discussing cooperation on food and security exchanges.

Zelensky and Sharaa met once before, in New York, while both were attending the United Nations General Assembly in September. Both their countries have experienced significant aggression by both Iran and Russia – Ukraine is facing an ongoing Iran-backed Russian invasion, while Syria endured over a decade of civil war in which both Iran and Russia supported deposed dictator Bashar Assad. On the groundwork of these shared experiences, Sharaa and Zelensky appear to be pursuing closer collaboration.

This is an utter embarrassment, and truly disgusting. As though it weren't bad enough the Trump administration had to be lenient on al-Sharaa, now Zelensky's getting chummy with the monster, and at the UN, no less. This does not help Ukraine's situation at all.

Trump declines Kurdish offer to participate in Iran war

President Trump told that he didn't want Kurdish militias to take part in the Iran war:

US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected the idea of the Kurds joining the war against Iran.

Speaking on Air Force One, he said, "We're not looking at the Kurds going into Iran. We're very friendly with the Kurds. We don't want to make the war anymore complex."

"I have ruled it out - I don't want the Kurds going in. They're willing to go in, but I told them not to."

Well there's a valid reason why it's better they don't take part in this war - many Kurds adhere to Islam, and it just wouldn't do to fight a regime already badly battered by the Religion of Peace using other adherents, even as backups, because we can't risk having them plot a takeover that would leave the region unchanged. After all, it's bad enough that the USA government had to recognize Ahmed al-Sharaa as the head of Syria after Bashar Assad was overthrown, and now things are getting worse, and it's unhealthy for Israel too. So for now, the Kurds in the Iranian area may not take part. But somebody has to convince Trump and company it's also bad to recognize al-Sharaa and his cronies as well. After all, what if such a region also tries to follow in Iran's footsteps to building nuclear weapons one day? What may have begun with Iran doesn't stop with them.

Israeli pilot shoots down Iranian-piloted plane

In what's being described as a historic first, an Israeli pilot manning a F35 fighter jet gunned down an Iranian jihadist pilot manning a Russian made Yak130 jet over Tehran:

An Israeli pilot in a U.S. built F-35 stealth fighter took out a manned Russian-made Iranian fighter jet over Tehran early Wednesday, reportedly a historic “world first” during Operation Epic Fury.

An Israeli F-35 ‘Adir’ fighter jet, using the jet’s Hebrew name that translates to “Mighty One,” downed a Russian-made Yak-130 in air-to-air combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on X.

“This is the first shootdown in history of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 ‘Adir’ fighter jet,” the IDF said.

Until now, in the assault on Iran the F-35 jets, a product of the U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, have reportedly only downed unmanned military targets, including drones.

It’s also the first time in more than four decades that the Israel Air Force engaged in air-to-air combat with manned aircraft.

“The last time IAF jets shot down a manned enemy aircraft was on November 24, 1985, over Lebanon. In that incident, an IAF F-15 downed two Syrian MiG-23 fighters,” according to the Times of Israel.

This is also informative of how Iran's relying on Russian-made machinery, and it's repugnant but not suprising the neo-communists of Russia would continue to supply the Religion of Peace with weapons.

A columnist who takes a defeatist view on how to handle Syria, similar to Lebanon

Here's a writer named Jeff Crouere who apparently believes tyranny should be allowed to remain in place, much as it did in Lebanon, and even in Vietnam:

In his first term, President Donald Trump expressed a desire for our troops to leave Syria. Several years later, after another “ambush” attack on U.S. troops, it is time for our military to finally come home.

Recently, two U.S. Army National Guard soldiers from Iowa – Sgts. William Nathaniel Howard and Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar – and a civilian interpreter were killed in Palmyra, Syria. Three other U.S. soldiers, as well as two Syrian “security personnel,” were injured. President Trump is vowing “very serious retaliation” for the attack against Americans.

A member of the government’s “security forces” who had connections to the terrorist group, the Islamic State (ISIS), committed the “ambush.” According to Dr. Antonio Graceffo, national security analyst, writing in the Gateway Pundit, “An internal assessment on December 10 identified him as holding ‘extremist ideas,’ and his dismissal had been scheduled for Sunday, December 14. The attack occurred the day before, on Saturday, an administrative holiday.”

It is troubling that this individual was not removed immediately by Syrian officials after his terrorist sympathies were discovered. Their delay cost the lives of three American heroes.

Umm, isn't is rather obvious months ago that Ahmed al-Sharaa is as evil as they come, and a taqqiya specialist? This is why the Trump administration made a huge mistake doing a Faustian pact with him. But running away rather than taking down al-Sharaa along with the other monsters is defeatist, cowardly, and above all, a bad image for the USA. Crouere also says:

Another troubling development in Syria is the persecution of Christians. In 2011, 1.5 million Christians lived in Syria. Today, that total has dwindled to 300,000, and more are leaving every day.

The new regime has failed to protect Christians in Syria, described as “the cradle” of the faith, with 1st-century roots. For example, “in June 2025, a Christian church in Damascus was targeted in a suicide attack, which reportedly killed twenty-five people and injured sixty-three. It was reportedly the largest attack on Christians in Syria since 1860.”

For all these reasons and more, it is time that U.S. forces left Syria, a country in turmoil.

One can only wonder what he thinks of Europe's situation. Does that mean that Crouere has no worries about even Syria one day achieving what Iran did, in building nuclear weapons? Simply put, it's entirely possible, and aside from that, it doesn't sound like he believes any effort should be made to get Islamists to stop being Islamists, and stop worshiping the beliefs espoused in the koran. What is Mr. Crouere anyway, a Reagan-era propagandist? Such irresponsible people are exactly why Europe will be conquered, and the Islamofascists will achieve nuclear weapons on that very continent that'll eventually be used to attack the USA. Mr. Crouere is a disgrace, and people like him are precisely why the globe's being destroyed by the Religion of Peace he doesn't have the courage to clearly acknowledge is the problem.

Trump bans entry to USA for people from PLO-dominated areas, along with several other Muslim/communist countries

While the Australian government, among others, continue their pathetic refusal to be realists, Donald Trump is taking a wise step by banning entry for certain Muslim/communist region inhabitants from entering the USA:

The Trump administration is expanding its travel ban to include five more countries — plus the Palestinian Authority — and imposing new limits on 15 others, doubling the number of jurisdictions affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and emigrate to the U.S.

The administration said Tuesday it is banning citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria from entering the U.S., as well as people travelling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

Citizens of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe will face partial restrictions.

The move is part of ongoing efforts to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration, and follows the arrest of an Afghan national in the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., over the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.

It's interesting they wisely took steps to bar Syrian nationals entry to the USA, though it doesn't mean they're learning any clear and consistent lessons why it was wrong to validate Ahmed al-Sharaa as a "leader". That's something that'll need to be reversed if they really want to maintain proper security.

Syrian Muslims in Holland committed honor murder of daughter

Another honor murder occurred in the Netherlands, when a Muslim father and 2 sons murdered a daughter who dared to take up western style living:

Two brothers in the Netherlands are on trial for the alleged honor killing of their Syrian teenage sister, whom her family accused of living a Western lifestyle.

The two men are suspected of being involved in the murder of their sister, Ryan Al Najjar, who was drowned, the NL Times reported Thursday.

Twenty-three-year-old Mohamed and 25-year-old Muhanad are suspected of being involved in the murder along with their father, Khaled, who has been named the main suspect in the case. However, he allegedly fled to Syria after the killing, according to i24 News. The father will reportedly be tried in absentia. [...]

Prosecutors have recommended sentences of 25 years for the father and 20 years each for the brothers in the case, the i24 News article said, noting a verdict is expected in early January.

Ryan’s body was found in a lake in northern Netherlands. Her hands and feet were bound and an autopsy report said there was signs of strangulation and drowning. [...]

Islam has long been an issue in the Netherlands. In 2014, Breitbart News reported a Dutch right-wing member of parliament called for a purge of mosques.

“Dutch unity, identity and culture are being wrecked by immigration and incubation. We do not want Islam in the Netherlands,” Machiel de Graaf, a member of Dutch anti-immigration and anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), stated at the time.

The Religion of Peace should definitely be purged from all of Europe and here in Israel too. In the meantime, it's sad that the satanic "father" may never be punished for his part in the crime, and the brothers may not receive the death sentence, which they deserve to receive for the abominable crime they committed against their sister.

Syria needs to be broken up

Jason Shvili makes a case for dividing up Syria, though there's 2 parts that need to be taken issue with:

Syria doesn't work. It never worked, and it never will work. It needs to be partitioned. Its major ethnic and religious groups – Alawite Muslims, Christians, Sunni Arabs, Druze, and Kurds – deserve self-determination. They should have the right to go their separate ways. The alternative is more bloodshed. Yet, the US is stubbornly and ridiculously trying to maintain Syria's territorial integrity following a decades-long civil war.

Ahem. Islamists are unqualified for "self-determination", because they don't support democratic values, and the koran certainly doesn't support civility. It should be noted that Sunni is an Islamic sect, so why include them? It'd be better to include the Yazidis, if any live in Syria. And while any and all attacks al-Sharaa's forces have committed against other Muslim communities in Syria is obviously bad too, that still doesn't excuse what the Religion of Peace is built upon.

Hence, President Trump has embraced Syria's new leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, an Islamist terrorist, who, until December last year, had a $10 million bounty on his head. Al-Sharaa has promised that under his rule, "The Syrian state is committed to protecting all minorities and communities in the country." But his actions and those of his regime say otherwise. In March of this year, forces linked to Al-Sharaa's regime ruthlessly massacred over 1,000 Alawite Muslims in the Syrian coastal region of Latakia. A few months later, in July, Bedouin tribesmen and other forces loyal to Al-Sharaa brutally murdered hundreds of Druze in Syria's Sweida province. And just recently, Alawite Muslims were forced from their homes in Damascus.

Despite these atrocities, however, all of Syria's minorities have expressed their willingness to remain part of the country. All they ask is that they have some autonomy to govern their own communities and not be subject to tyranny at the hands of Syria's Sunni Arab majority. But Al-Sharaa refuses to discuss any possibility of regional autonomy for Syria's minority communities, and insists on a unitary Syrian state. So does the Trump Administration, whose special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, declared that there must be "One nation, one people, one army, one Syria." Why does the US ridiculously insist on maintaining the territorial integrity of a country that should never have been created in the first place?

That's the sad case we have now, that Trump's 2nd administration is making the horrible error of recognizing a Muslim despot as a leader for the entire area, not a Christian/Druze/Kurd. And it definitely doesn't reflect well on the USA's track record when it comes to persecuted Christians either. Is it any wonder Betty Mahmoody and her daughter were thrown under the bus by those who could've spoken out in their defense?

Fortunately, all of these groups are geographically concentrated – the Alawites in Latakia, the Kurds in Rojava (north and northeastern Syria), the Druze in Sweida, the Christians in Wadi Al-Nasara (Valley of the Christians), and the Sunni Arabs in the rest of present-day Syria. Thus, creating borders for these new states should not be too difficult.

What will be difficult, however, is ensuring the viability of the newly-independent states. Latakia, Wadi Al-Nasara and Sweida have few natural resources, and the latter two have small populations. Rojava has significant natural resources and a sizeable population, but is landlocked and faces a powerful enemy in Turkey, which detests the idea of any part of Kurdistan obtaining independence. Wadi Al-Nasara and Sweida are also landlocked, as will the new Sunni Arab state be. All of these new states will need help from abroad to secure their independence. [...]

Israel will surely help the Druze of Sweida maintain their security and develop their economy. It has already taken action against Al-Sharaa's forces to protect the Druze from further atrocities. It would also be advantageous for the Jewish state to secure new allies by aiding the new states of Wadi Al-Nasara, Latakia, and particularly Rojava, as Israel and the Kurds have a long history of friendship.

Depending how things can be done, it is possible to develop these areas into agricultural regions, and that's a great way to build up an economy. In which case, let's hope Israel can avail in farming development as well.

ISIS threatens Europe, especially France

While incompetant and disastrous leaders like Emmanuel Macron waste time on "palestinian state recognition", Islamic jihadists continue to threaten France and other parts of Europe:

ISIS reportedly called upon Muslims to use any means necessary to kill “Christians and Jews” in the United States and Europe, with a specific focus on France, in an edition of its Arabic-language magazine.

Although the so-called Islamic State has lost its physical Caliphate after it was defeated under the first Trump administration, ISIS radicals continue to advocate for their strict interpretation of the Islamic religion and seek to influence impressionable young Muslims in the West to commit acts of terror in its name.

In a copy of its al-Naba obtained by the Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT) and shared with the French paper of record Le Figaro, ISIS wrote: “O monotheistic Muslims… Hit Jews and Christians, their crowds and convoys, in the streets and on the roads of America and Europe, and especially in France. Do not spare them, attack them, kill them by all means: by car, with a knife, a gun or by causing a fire.”

“Know that every disbeliever you kill makes them suffer more than our strikes can do here… Hit them in solitary attacks like those we have seen before in Paris, Brussels and other places in the countries of the Crusader.”

Despite the overtures from France and other European nations to back Palestinian statehood, the radical Islamist group urged Muslims to reject such offers, arguing that they are merely intended to “disarm Muslims and neutralise their jihad”.

One of the reasons all this appeasement will never work is because of verses in the Koran like 47:4, which condone attacks on "infidels" no matter their ethnic/religious background. Now, France continues to be a canary in the coal mine, targeted virtually from within by these monsters.

Update: it's also worth noting that leaders of the UK and Canada are facing internal criticism for their reprehensible positions.

Update 2: Naftali Bennett, of all people, is warning that Britain and France risk empowering Muslims in their countries with the way they're going.

Update 3: Hugh Fitzgerald says Emmanuel Macron's becoming an immoral president.

Update 4: new polls indicate that over 70 percent of the French public oppose recognition of a "palestinian state" (Hat tip: Jihad Watch).

Mahmoud Khalil will be deported

A federal judge has thankfully upheld deportation for the repulsive Muslim anti-Israel activist Khalil, to either of 2 locations:

A federal judge ordered Wednesday that immigrant Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist behind some of the radical protests at Columbia University, be deported — either to Algeria, or to his native Syria.

Khalil was arrested in early March by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Trump administration sought to have him deported, despite the fact that he had become a legal permanent resident (though not yet a U.S. citizen).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the arrest: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

President Donald Trump had campaigned on a promise to deport foreign activists who had participated in the antisemitic “encampments” that sprung up across universities campuses in the late spring of 2024.

Whichever country he goes to, he can live in the poverty he deserves for all we care. Such an utterly repellent excuse for a "student" if that's what he's to be called, and he doesn't belong on university campuses in any sane country. And we should hope the Trump administration will also revive exile laws as well, so that domestic traitors can be banished from the USA for any offensive behavior they commit. That's another something needs to be worked on for safety's sake.

More news about why Syria's new dictator, al-Sharaa, is dangerous

Here's another op-ed by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, explaining why Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new despot in Syria, is a serious danger, along with his jihadist minions:

In a disconcerting paradox, Saudi Arabia and the United States are actively propping up Syria’s jihadist-led government even as its armed forces carry out ethnic cleansing against minorities from the Druze and the Alawite communities. This alignment is clearly born of fear – not only fear of Iran’s resurgence but also fear of the rising regional authority of Israel and Turkey in response to Iran’s dwindling. Yet, in choosing the “lesser evil,” the West and its allies risk legitimizing a regime ideologically aligned with the very jihadists they once vowed to destroy.

From July 13 to 20, Syria’s newly revamped public security forces brutally attacked the Druze population of Suwayda, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,340 people, including hundreds of civilians executed in their own homes. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 196 civilians were summarily executed by government forces, including women, children, the elderly, and even medical workers. Over 516 total fatalities were recorded. One of the victims is an American citizen, 35-year-old Hosam Saraya from Oklahoma. Hosam was abruptly executed alongside seven family members by the government’s public security forces. A widely circulated video shows the forces grabbing Hosam from inside his family’s house and then shooting him dead on camera. His crime? Being a Druze, just like the hundreds of civilian Druze and the hundreds of Alawite citizens who were brutally slaughtered in the government-led ethnic cleansing campaigns against the non-Sunni Muslim minorities in Syria that have been happening under the world’s watch since March.

The government security forces, which are a terrifying mix of jihadist organizations – many of their members are not even Syrians – assembled by the current self-assigned Syrian President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who himself is a leading jihadist, claimed that they were sent to Suwayda to end the clashes between the Druze community and the Sunni Bedouin clans that had been occupying the Damascus-Suwayda road for months, besieging the people in Suwayda with purpose to deplete their living resources, and violently harassing the Druze families and looting their homes.

This is building up to be a major PR embarrassment. Did the USA government do this because they assumed, perhaps with considerable accuracy, that nobody sensible in the west would bat an eyelash? Well now it's really led to a fiasco that could've been avoided if Trump's government had wanted to. They're going to have to reverse their position on al-Sharaa, and it must be now.

Update: Jason Shvili also makes clear why it's vital to defend these specific communities:

Last month, the Druze of Syria experienced their own October 7th massacre—hundreds of them were brutally massacred by terrorists backed by Syria's Islamist President, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, also known as Al-Julani. Like Hamas, these terrorists took hostages, including more than one hundred women and girls. The province of Sweida, which has a Druze majority, is now under siege by Al-Sharaa's forces. Only Israel stands between Syria's Druze and the Islamist forces determined to annihilate them.

Israel responded to last month's massacre by launching airstrikes against Al-Sharaa's forces, even hitting targets in the Syrian capital, Damascus. But if Israel is to prevent the slaughter of more innocent Druze, it must go further in its military efforts. Israel needs to establish a permanent military presence in southern Syria, particularly in Sweida province. Doing so will create a safe buffer zone on Israel's northern border, preventing attacks from Islamists aligned with Al-Sharaa's regime or Iran. At the same time, it will protect the vulnerable Druze population of Sweida, as it is doubtful that Al-Sharaa's forces, or anyone else, will attack them knowing that they are protected by the IDF. [...]

As you read this, you might be thinking that the Jewish state cannot seriously be expected to protect all of Syria's vulnerable minorities, especially now, when the IDF is busy fighting in Gaza, and Israel still faces threats from Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. But truly, the recent war with Iran proved that there isn't anywhere in the Middle East that Israel can't reach. Besides, protecting Syria's minorities isn't just the moral thing to do. It's also very strategically beneficial, since it allows Israel to cultivate new allies in a region where it has very few. And in a time when Israel faces almost unparalleled ostracization for simply defending itself, the Jew amongst nations needs all the friends it can get.

Exactly. There's also Europeans who need defense against the jihadists, and Israel will have to go to war there too again soon, if that's what it takes to put an end to the horror that's taken root even over in Europe.

Syria now flooded with more demonic imams promoting jihadism

New reports on the new autocratic regime in Syria reveal al-Sharaa's dictatorship has put imams in place at mosques who preach even more rabid incitement of Islamofascism:

The Islamist government in Syria has facilitated the proliferation of radical Islamic ideology through systematic book distribution campaigns and the installation of new imams in mosques across the country, according to Syrian sources who spoke with Israel Hayom.

This initiative includes the widespread circulation of works by the contentious Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, alongside texts advocating violence against Jews, Christians, and other minority communities throughout Syrian streets and religious institutions.

Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah, a 13th-century theological figure, championed jihadist principles, including warfare against civilian populations, while categorically denouncing Shia Muslims as heretics. His writings have gained particular prominence among ISIS and al-Qaida adherents, primarily due to his emphasis on strict Quranic and Hadith interpretation in religious jurisprudence.

Documentation provided to Israel Hayom reveals bookstore proprietors affiliated with Islamist networks celebrating their newfound ability to distribute these materials, which remained prohibited throughout Assad's tenure. While Assad's regime did support terrorist organizations, this support stemmed from different motivations, particularly alignment with Iranian geopolitical interests.

Syrian sources report these publications are being distributed through mosque networks and incorporated into clerical education curricula. Additionally, numerous mosque imams have been systematically replaced with ideologues who actively promote jihadist doctrine.

If these propaganda publications have been distributed for free, that's how Hitler's Mein Kamph was also distributed. No doubt, if al-Sharaa's minions have access to funding for publication, that's one of the ways they're able to do this, and exactly why something must be done to cut off their funding, period. Read the whole article.

IDF wisely takes action against Syrian forces who were trying to attack Druze townships

Syria's new despot - whom the USA government should not be recognizing as legitimate - tried to attack Druze residencies, mostly around the south of the country, and the Israeli military wisely fought off the jihadists:

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a stern warning on Wednesday morning to the Syrian regime and its president, Ahmed al-Sharaa: "The Syrian regime must back off the Druze in Sweida and withdraw its forces. As we've made clear and repeatedly warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarization policy we've adopted. The IDF will continue to strike regime forces until they retreat from the area, and will soon escalate its responses if the message is not understood."

According to reports last night, large columns of Syrian government troops were seen entering Sweida, the capital of the mountainous Druze region and home to the country's largest Druze population. This followed several days of clashes between Druze militias and regime loyalists. Areas entered by Defense Ministry and internal security forces have descended into chaos, with looting and shops being set ablaze. A mass exodus of residents from the city is underway, according to sources cited by the website. Videos shared on social media show regime fighters abusing captured Druze militiamen.

Simultaneously, Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Syria. According to reports, the strikes were aimed at halting the advance of regime forces. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Defense Minister Katz held a phone consultation about the recent developments in Syria and the attacks on the Druze.

Netanyahu and Katz emphasized that Israel is acting "to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them and to ensure the demilitarization of the area adjacent to our border with Syria." A defense official said, "This is an exceptionally high volume of strikes against regime forces in the Druze Mountain region. Israel sees this as a test of its policy to demilitarize southern Syria and its commitment to the Druze."

This is exactly what the Trump administration is obscuring, along with the jihadist attacks on Christians in Syria. If the Trump administration really wants to prove they respect all innocent life, they'll have to start recognizing the Druze communities, along with the Christian adherents and even the Yazidi. The IDF is absolutely correct to be taking action against al-Sharaa's monsters.

Orthodox church in Syria was attacked by suicide bomber

At least 30 people were injured/murdered by a jihadist suicide bomber at a Greek Orthodox church in Syria, in a sign of how making faustian pacts with Islamofascists in that area is a very bad idea:

A suicide bomber in Syria on Sunday detonated himself inside a church filled with people, state television and a war monitor said.

The explosion in Dweil’a in the outskirts of Damascus took place as people were praying inside the Mar Elias Church. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says there were 30 people wounded and killed, but the exact numbers are unclear. Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.

Though authorities in Syria arrested some jihadists who were linked to the attack, this is still a very horrifying incident, one that mainstream politicians are refusing to address. And so long as they don't, it'll end very, very badly.

Hamas agitator Mahmoud Khalil attacks USA policy after judge tragically orders his release

It's very sad that so far, Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Hamas advocate who violated the terms of his citizenship in the USA, was released following the orders of a judge who took his side despite his dark record, and now, Khalil is continuing to bash the USA alongside one of the worst Democrat members of Congress:

Syrian-born anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, released from detention despite alleged Hamas ties, vowed on Saturday to continue anti-Israel protests while appearing alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at a New Jersey airport.

Khalil, 30, spent 104 days in a Lousina detention center after his March 8 arrest, as the Trump administration sought to deport the Columbia student for allegedly engaging in activities “aligned to Hamas,” the Palestinian terrorist group responsible for the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

Immediately upon his Friday release following a court order from U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, Khalil bashed the U.S.-funded “genocide” in Gaza, and even vowed to fight for the rights of the “incredible men” he was imprisoned with in Louisiana, per the New York Post.

“The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,” Khalil declared at the airport. “This is what I was protesting. This is what I will continue to protest with every one of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who joined Khalil at Newark Liberty International Airport alongside his wife and their newborn son, claimed the allegations against Khalil were politically motivated.

It's interesting that according to this news, he appears to be turning against Columbia, even though they hardly seem repentant for their grave misdeeds. That said, this is a travesty of justice, and now will make things harder to get him out of the country. The Trump administration shouldn't have waited for the courts to deal with this.

Now, just a few days after his release, Khalil returned immediately to participation in anti-Israel/USA protests, and even supports the Iranian mullahs:

BREAKING: Just days after being freed from ICE detention, Mahmoud Khalil helps lead chants at Pro-Palestine march from Columbia University. The green card–holding activist was arrested in March, held for 104 days, and released on bail after a federal judge ruled his detention… pic.twitter.com/zrWOIIpz88

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 22, 2025

This too is quite telling, and should be considered a violation of any restrictions one would assume Khalil had imposed on him as release conditions. Again, this is turning out to be a serious judicial embarrassment, and a humiliation for USA legal systems.

The Syrian danger zone, close to Ahmed al-Sharaa's fortress in Damascus

Some staff for Israel Hayom went to look at the area the IDF is now guarding past the current border with Syria, just an hour's drive from Damascus, where the new Muslim overlord al-Sharaa is now residing in the despot palace:

We stand at an abandoned Syrian military position, surrounded by equipment the former Syrian regime's soldiers left behind during their hasty retreat, positioned near the Commander vehicles of the Mounted Tactical Unit – the exclusive means of reaching this remote location. Standing at 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) above sea level represents the most distant point Israeli forces have ever achieved. This marks Israel's new frontier boundary. No obstacles prevented our continued advance. The distances tell the story – 81 miles (130 kilometers) to Beirut, 280 miles (450 kilometers) to Aleppo, 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) to Istanbul, and from there direct access to Europe. Southern Lebanon lies a short distance to our left; the Druze villages that recently suffered massacres spread to our right in the distance. We stand centrally positioned at this IDF-controlled outpost, maintaining the defensive perimeter.

Al-Sharaa bears responsibility for the tragedies that occurred here, and he cannot be recognized as a valid "leader".

It's bad for national interests to allow jihadists to run Syria

Daniel Greenfield makes a vital point that the Trump administration's doing deals with Syria's current, much worse totalitarians than Bashar Assad, does a terrible disservice to the USA's interests:

In March, the Trump administration laid out conditions for ending sanctions on Syria.

The new Islamic terrorist regime led by a former Al Qaeda terrorist that had taken over Syria was warned to “exclude foreign terrorist fighters from any official roles”, difficult to imagine considering that the country was being run by domestic and foreign terrorists, “and ensure the security and freedoms of Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities”. Especially Christians.

“Any adjustment to U.S. policy towards Syria’s interim authorities will be contingent on all of those steps being taken,” the terrorist regime was warned.

This position was reaffirmed by the Trump administration in April at the UN Security Council.

Syria’s Jihadi government not only refused to expel its foreign Jihadi allies, but gave members of Al Qaeda and ISIS linked terrorists ranks in its new ‘military’. Syria not only harbors terrorist networks from as far away as China and Albania, but also Muslim terrorists from Western nations like Omar Diaby, listed by the United States as linked to Al Qaeda, who was “responsible for recruiting 80% of the French-speaking jihadists who went to Syria or Iraq” and who are at high risk of carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States.

With Al-Qaeda and ISIS Jihadis in control of Syria, the country’s Christians live in fear.

The new terrorist regime was supposed to protect Syria’s Christians as a precondition to dropping sanctions. And while Al-Jolani has made all sorts of assurances, Islamic terrorists remain in control of some Christian property seized during the war (many other churches were destroyed) and Christians have been warned to become Muslims or face the consequences.

Leaflets bearing the message “death to the pork eaters” and other threats against Christians continue to circulate. Selective curfews were imposed on Christians who defended themselves against Muslim violence and they were disarmed in at least one community.

See, this is horrifying, and that the Trump administration would give a pass on these atrocities only makes things worse, and betrayes tons of innocent and defenseless non-Muslims, who're not getting a chance to speak in front of the USA Congress on these issues. Marco Rubio isn't making things better by going along with this:

Rubio also argued in the Senate that sanctions needed to be dropped because Syria was weeks or months “away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up.” Why this would be any worse than the current state of affairs in which Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists run the country was not made clear.

“We want to help that government succeed, because the alternative is full-scale civil war and chaos, which would, of course, destabilize the entire region,” he argued.

Do we really want terrorists to succeed in ruling Syria? Is that in our national interest?

Why is keeping Syria united under Turkish, Al Qaeda and ISIS rule preferable to letting the various ethnic and religious groups forced at gunpoint to pretend they’re part of one country get their independence? Syria’s Christians would be more likely to benefit from independence than rule by an Islamic terrorist coalition with a history of committing atrocities against Christians.

Correct, and what Trump/Rubio are doing now is a serious betrayal of Christian communities in Syria and anywhere else in the middle east where they're still living. Somebody needs to gather a delegation of Christians to speak in Wash. D.C about this issue. This is going to end very badly so long as they keep on with this. If they really want to prevent horrors, they should help the Christian communities form an independent region, or even to come under Israeli sovereignty.

Trump has sadly made a serious mistake when it comes to dealing with Syria's new jihadist autocrat

Many no doubt were disturbed when Emmanuel Macron met with Ahmed al-Sharaa recently. But now, Donald Trump has caused more damage to the ability to deal properly with Islamic terrorism in Syria - and anti-Christian persecution occurring there - as he was willing to meet with al-Sharaa and even lift sanctions against Syria:

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the jihadist terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), praised President Donald Trump in an address on Wednesday for taking the “courageous and historic” step of lifting sanctions on his country.

Sharaa delivered a speech to the Syrian people following an in-person meeting with President Trump in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where President Trump concluded the first of three stops in a Middle East tour on Wednesday. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who first met Sharaa shortly after HTS toppled the half-century-old Assad family regime in Damascus, arranged and presided over the meeting.

The event was the first time in 25 years an American president had met a Syrian head of state.

President Trump announced that he would lift sanctions on Syria on Tuesday before the meeting. He reinforced his commitment to the decision in remarks to reporters following his meeting with Sharaa, who he called “pretty amazing.”

Syria is currently on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and the subject of extensive, onerous sanctions. All stem from the behavior of former dictator Bashar Assad, who allied himself closely with Iran and its entire terrorist proxy network and, throughout over a decade of civil war, committed a host of atrocities against his own people. HTS, the al-Qaeda offshoot Sharaa led under the alias Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, overthrew the Assad regime in December, sending the dictator fleeing to his patrons in Moscow.

As one of several factions actively combatting the Assad regime, HTS made a longstanding enemy of Iran and the Shiite terrorist axis and did not participate in the Assad regime’s crimes – though it engaged in its own atrocities, particularly against groups that Assad did not persecute, such as Christians and Alawite Shiites. HTS massacres of Alawites have been documented to have occurred as recently as this March; Sharaa has attempted to distance himself from the violence.

Seriously, this causes terrible damage to the cause of Christians who fell victim to horrific crimes of jihadists in the area, and the whole notion al-Sharaa had nothing to do with it is naive. It's regrettable Trump is doing this, no matter what for.

A similar concern could be raised about whether Trump intends to meet with Vladimir Putin:

President Donald Trump said Friday that he would like to set up a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin “as soon” as possible.

Trump made the comments in Abu Dhabi as he prepared to return home to the United States at the end of his Middle East tour. He had previously floated a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin in Turkey, but the Russian president refused to attend.

“They all said Putin was going and Zelensky was going. And I said, If I don’t go, I guarantee Putin is not going, and he didn’t go,” Trump said. “And I understand that, but we’re going to get it we’re going to get it done. We’ve got to get it done. Five thousand young people are being killed every single week on average, and we’re going to get it done.”

While Ukrainian and Russian officials are meeting in Turkey on Friday, Trump said he believed he would have to meet with Putin to make real progress toward ending the war.

And this meeting between Putin and Zelensky is being conducted in equally bad territory, Turkey? Well that's got to be telling too in its own way. No matter how one looks at this, what's regrettable here is the whole notion Putin cannot be brought down in any way, even though he's the one who began all this, not to mention that he still acts as an autocrat. And meeting in Turkey is not improving the situation either.