Secure Freedom Minute

The joyous return of three Israelis held hostage and abused by Hamas for fifteen months cannot obscure the reality of the deal that set them free: It’s not a ceasefire, it’s a hudna – a temporary pause jihadists use to emulate a diabolical strategy practiced by Islam’s prophet Mohammed.When Muslims adherent to Sharia’s totalitarian doctrine are losing a conflict, they agree to suspend the fighting, then use the time to regroup, rearm and, when it suits them, renew the bloodletting to destroy the enemy.The images of operatives and civilians in Gaza and jihadists elsewhere celebrating “victory” is all the evidence one needs that a true and enduring regional peace is not in prospect. Before Hamas gets the resources, time, and jihadist reinforcements Israel is obliged to supply pursuant to this hudna, the plug must be pulled on a predictable disaster.This is Frank Gaffney.

Donald Trump has recently stupefied his supporters by embracing Joe Biden's policies towards Israel, antithetical to his own historic positions, to his campaign promises, and to our vital interests. Two new videos critically analyze the alarming Gaza ceasefire deal and how we got here.The first is a new podcast by my friend and colleague, Caroline Glick. It dissects the insidious role played by Trump’s special Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and what appear to be his handlers in Qatar, the principal global financier of toxic Sharia- supremacism and the jihad it commands.The second is a PresentDangerChina.org webinar about the deal and who will benefit from it most, namely today’s axis of evil of Communist China, Russia, Iran and their proxies. It underscores powerfully the need for Donald Trump to disassociate himself from Witkoff and his handiwork. Now.This is Frank Gaffney.
 

The Gaza ceasefire Joe Biden announced yesterday is a formula not for peace, but for more war. It would prevent Israel from finishing off Hamas and return the Gaza Strip to its effective control.
When Hamas predictably resumes its attacks, Donald Trump will be President, not Biden. Thankfully, his incoming National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, declared yesterday, “Gaza has to be fully demilitarized, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute….Hamas cannot have a role. ISIS doesn’t have a role. Al-Qaeda doesn’t have a role….These are hostage-taking, murderous rapists and torturers that never should…have any role in governing.”
For the moment, the ceasefire deal is on hold in Israel. Let’s pray that Israel, Trump and America are spared its dire repercussions and that the alternative vision laid out so clearly by Mike Waltz is realized, instead.
This is Frank Gaffney.

Can a man without an official portfolio inflict an enduring defeat on a President-elect not yet in power? That would be the case – unless Donald Trump promptly repudiates a disastrous deal engineered by a special Mideast envoy-designee that would effectively force Israel to lose its war with Hamas.Follow me: A rich investor-turned-amateur diplomat named Steven Witkoff invoked the authority of the pro-Israel Trump to coerce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire with the terrorist group Hamas crafted by the virulently anti-Israel Biden administration.Hamas is currently holding out for even more unacceptable concessions than the virtually complete capitulation Witkoff and Company dictated to Bibi.It is in the vital interests of President Trump and his incipient presidency 2.0, America and Israel that this moment be seized for the latest, hapless “Apprentice” to be told, “You’re Fired!”This is Frank Gaffney.

We traditionally mark the peaceful transfer of presidential power by holding the inauguration on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.A large temporary structure built for the occasion provides seating for not only the incoming and outgoing presidents and their families but virtually every other senior official and the entire Congress.In other words, it’s a perfect target for anyone wanting to decapitate our government. In time of war – which is what we are in – risking, let alone effectively inviting, that peril is simply not acceptable.With tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers in this country, countless jihadists and domestic enemies all set on its destruction, it is, as a practical matter, impossible to guarantee the inauguration’s safety.The national security and simple prudence demands that this spectacular public celebration of an America at peace be suspended until we once again are.This is Frank Gaffney.

Joe Biden is to visit the State Department today to boast about his foreign policy accomplishments. It should be a very short speech.Unfortunately, it will be likely be long, at best, highly selective – and, more likely, characteristically thoroughly dishonest. Put simply, Biden inherited from Donald Trump a world largely at peace; Biden bequeaths to him one engulfed in chaos and conflict.A briefing by our Victory Coalition today at 1 p.m. Eastern Time will examine the immense damage done in the Mideast to date – and the prospects for still more harm at the UN Security Council this week, both to Israel and to Donald Trump’s ability to control, and reverse, that damage.Join us at VictoryCo.org to learn more about what must be done by the incoming President to stave off this parting foreign policy shot by Joe Biden’s global wrecking operation.This is Frank Gaffney.