Eli Lake: Signal Leak Was 'An Embarrassment,' But Some 'Political Football' is Also Involved
Eli Lake, columnist at The Free Press , host of the Breaking History podcast, and contributing editor at Commentary , joined The Guy Benson Show to discuss the growing protests in Gaza against Hamas, which he described as a potential inflection point in the ongoing war in Israel. Lake explained why this rising sentiment could finally lead to the long-sought two-state solution. He also weighed in on the continued U.S. and allied strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the potential consequences of the recent Signal group chat leak for National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Listen to the full interview below!
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Who is leading the criminal mobs in Gaza that are armed by Israel?
Yasser Abu Shabab's Popular Force militia might get Israeli support as the fight for Gaza intensifies Yasser Abu Shabab has been named as the leader of a Palestinian militia in Gaza that Israeli officials have reportedly armed to attempt to undermine Hamas, the New York Times reported on Friday. Abu Shabab, a Bedouin man in his 30s, leads the Popular Forces, a crime group in Gaza that is significantly smaller than Hamas. On Thursday, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman claimed on Kan Reshet Bet that Israel is arming crime families and militias in Gaza to fight Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not deny Liberman's claim, and defended his decision. 'What's bad about it?' he said, as reported by the New York Times. 'It's only good and it only saves the lives of Israel Defense Force soldiers.' A Thursday press release from the Prime Minister's Office stated: 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas through various means, as recommended by all heads of the security establishment.' A video posted on Wednesday showed Abu Shabab telling the people of Rafah to return home, and said that food, medicine, and shelter would be provided. He then said he and his forces were working under 'Palestinian legitimacy,' a phrase that the report noted the Palestinian Authority often uses. However, analysts interviewed by the New York Times claim that the government is arming groups like the Popular Forces in order to avoid a long-term occupation of Gaza or a Palestinian Authority-led government ruling the enclave. 'If you think about who really can be an alternative to Hamas in Gaza, you have two options: either an Israeli military administration or the Palestinian Authority,' said retired Brig. Gen. Shlomo Brom, a former top Israeli military strategist. Brom told the New York Times that given the choices, the Israeli government was looking for 'other solutions.' Abu Shabab has been accused several times of looting aid trucks in the Gaza Strip by aid truck drivers and international humanitarian officials. Senior UN official Georgios Petropoulos once called him 'the self-styled power broker of east Rafah,' according to the report. In an interview quoted in the report, Abu Shabab said that he did not raid the trucks, and instead asserted that he was feeding his community. 'We are taking trucks so we can eat, not so we can sell,' he said, accusing Hamas of stealing aid. The Popular Forces also said that it had safeguarded aid trucks entering the enclave. 'We confirm that 92 trucks were secured and entered areas under the protection of our popular forces, and exited safely under our supervision,' a post from the criminal grou reads. Liberman originally claimed that the Palestinian groups were affiliated with ISIS. The New York Times report did not mention these claims. The Yisrael Beytenu leader also said that the matter did not pass cabinet approval, and said that he did not know if the IDF was aware of the operation. 'In my opinion, this did not pass cabinet approval,' he said. 'This was with the knowledge of the head of the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], but I don't know how much the [IDF] chief of staff was privy to the matter. Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Greta Thunberg's Gaza flotilla could reach Israeli waters over the weekend: What you need to know
Greta Thunberg's Gaza Freedom Flotilla is edging closer to Israeli waters, but will they actually make it? Five days after climate activist Greta Thunberg set sail Sunday afternoon along with 11 other activists on a ship carrying aid to Gaza, the group could soon near Israeli waters. Israeli officials have vowed not to allow the ship, called the Madleen, to dock. The country's navy is reportedly preparing to rebuff the ship and, if necessary, arrest its passengers. The group is carrying supplies for Gazan Palestinians and protesting what they say is 'Israel's 'illegal, decades-long blockade, and ongoing genocide' in the enclave. Their voyage is operated by the pro-Palestinian nonprofit Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has staged other naval efforts to reach Gaza by sea over the last 15 years. The latest trip, which departed from Sicily and detoured to pick up Sudanese refugees, comes as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza turns 20 months old and includes Thunberg, one of the most prominent progressive activists in the world. Here's what you need to know in advance of a possible showdown on the high seas. The trip comes amid widespread criticism of Israel's handling of aid to Gaza, where 2 million Palestinians live and where Israel has been fighting Hamas, the governing authority, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered 'basic aid' to enter Gaza last month amid growing concerns about starvation following Israel's months-long aid blockade. Since Netanyahu's announcement, aid distribution in Gaza has since faced multiple setbacks, including deadly shootings at aid distribution sites. According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Madleen is carrying baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women's sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children's prosthetics. 'We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,' Thunberg said during a press conference ahead of the voyage. 'Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,' she continued. 'And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.' London has so far rejected requests by Israel to deter the Madleen, which is flying under a UK flag, from approaching Israeli waters, according to the Times of Israel. Last month, the leaders of France and the United Kingdom issued statements condemning Israel's blockade on aid to Gaza and continued offensive and vowing to take 'concrete actions' if they continue. The group has drawn support from pro-Palestinian advocates around the world. The human rights group Amnesty International, for example, called the voyage 'an important solidarity initiative that will help to keep the spotlight on Israel's illegal and suffocating blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip amidst its ongoing genocide.' But critics of the group have pilloried them for engaging in performative activism that is unlikely to achieve any results for Palestinian civilians. An Israeli official reportedly referred to the Madleen as the 'selfie flotilla,' for example. It has also added to concerns over whether Thunberg's increasing focus on Israel is distracting from her leadership on climate change. Thunberg has sparred with her critics. After Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, tweeted, 'Hope Greta and her friends can swim!' Thunberg said on the progressive radio show Democracy Now, 'We can swim very well.' Following two successful independent voyages that reached Gaza in 2008, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was founded in 2010 to protest Israel's blockade of Gaza. It operates a small fleet of ships that have tried — but rarely if ever succeeded — to bring aid and supplies by sea to the Gaza Strip. In the group's first mission, in 2010, a Turkish flotilla ship called the Mavi Marmara was raided by the Israeli military during an aid mission, and nine people on board were killed. Subsequent efforts in past years were intercepted, and their passengers were detained and deported. Last month, one of the ships in the group's fleet, the Conscience, was hit by two alleged drones just outside of Malta's territorial waters. The group accused Israel of perpetrating the attacks. Israel has declined to comment. An Israeli cargo aircraft reportedly flew at a relatively low altitude over eastern Malta several hours before the reported attack, according to flight data reviewed by CNN. The IDF declined to comment to CNN about the flight data. Thunberg told USA Today that she was supposed to be on the Conscience voyage but had stayed behind. Including Thunberg, there are 12 activists and journalists on board the Madleen, which is named for what the group says is Gaza's only female professional fisherwoman. Among them is Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. Hassan is of Palestinian descent and was barred from entering Israel in February due to her active opposition to the conflict in Gaza and support for the BDS movement. Others on board the Madleen come from at least half a dozen countries, according to a press release from the FFC. They include: Yasemin Acar, a German pro-Palestinian activist. Baptiste Andre, a physician from France. Thiago Avila, an activist from Brazil. Omar Faiad, an Al Jazeera correspondent. Pascal Maurieras, a French activist. Yanis Mhamdi, a journalist-director at Blast, a French independent media outlet. Şuayb Ordu, a Turkish activist. Reva Viard, an activist from France. Sergio Toribio, a crew member from Spain. Marco Van Rennes, a crew member from the Netherlands. 'Game of Thrones' actor Liam Cunningham was among the crowd of spectators who gathered in solidarity with the crew of the Madleen to bid them farewell in Catania, Sicily. 'Governments are not standing up for what their legal obligations are under international law, so it takes a disparate group like this to try and achieve it,' said Cunningham in a post on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla's Instagram account. 'Anybody who was fearful of using the word genocide, that's gone now.' If it is not intercepted, the Madleen could reach Gaza sometime over the weekend, according to a post on X early Friday morning by the International Committee to Break the Siege, which was reposted by FFC. 'We're on our way to Gaza — expected to arrive in about 48 hours,' the post read. 'These next hours are critical. Your voice is our protection. Let apartheid Israel know: the world is watching. Your silence gives them cover. Don't stay silent.' But the IDF has said it does not intend to allow the ship to dock. The Jerusalem Post reported that military officials said the ship will be warned not to enter the area, and if they defy orders, the IDF may take over the ship and arrest them. The protesters would then be transferred to the Ashdod port and deported, according to officials. The 'IDF is prepared to operate on all fronts, including in the maritime arena,' a spokesman, Effie Defrin, said this week. He added, 'We will act accordingly.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Detained Columbia graduate describes ‘visceral' harm of missing son's birth
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over his campus activism, said he has suffered 'visceral' harm after missing the birth of his son while in federal custody. 'The most immediate and visceral harms I have experienced directly relate to the birth of my son, Deen. Instead of holding my wife's hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,' Khalil, a green-card holder, wrote in court documents filed Thursday. 'I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me,' he added. The Trump administration said it plans to revoke Khalil's legal status and urged him to deport himself voluntarily, according to reports from The Associated Press. Khalil was denied permission to go to the birth of his first child last month. Secretary of State Marco Rubio initiated removal efforts for Khalil in March, citing a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act over the government's allegation that he participated in pro-Hamas rhetoric at campus protests amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 'To not be able to see them, hold them, speak with them freely, enjoy everything I imagined our first days as a family would be like, is devastating. Worst still is knowing that they must face all the fear and notoriety of this case without me,' Khalil wrote in this week's court documents. 'The Rubio Determination is casting a shadow of suspicion across our entire family. I could never have imagined this would happen, and it is horrifying to experience this as a husband and father,' he added. Khalil, in the court filings, denied accusations that he supports Hamas but questioned the Israeli government's strikes on 'innocent Palestinians.' Democrats and advocacy organizations have urged officials to immediately release Khalil, alleging that his constitutional right to free speech has been ignored. 'This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American. The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes. To be clear: The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. The government's actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate,' Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement. The State Department did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
