MIKE HUCKABEE STRENGTHENS EVANGELICAL SUPPORT OF ISRAEL

I like Mike: A new chapter for Israel and evangelicals

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's selection as US Ambassador to Israel marks a significant diplomatic shift. Our diplomatic approach rarely leverages our allies' rich cultural heritage and theological perspectives to strengthen international bonds – often using these elements instead to create distance. Yet cultural and religious ties frequently supersede economic and security interests in shaping national relationships.

 

By Dror Eydar  

 

Israel Hayom

Nov 20, 2024

 

 

 

Mike Huckabee

 

Former President Donald Trump's election and his appointment of pro-Israel cabinet members have rekindled familiar criticisms about "extremists" and "messianic figures" ascending to power in America's administration. Critics now express concern about reduced American pressure on the Israeli government – the same critics who supported the Oslo Accords and endorsed bringing thousands of potential adversaries from Tunisia who had vowed to destroy Israel, arming them, and expecting them to provide protection. Three Nobel Prizes speak volumes about that decision.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's nomination as US Ambassador to Israel marks a significant diplomatic shift. A devoted Christian Zionist and evangelical leader, he ardently supports the Jewish people's return to Zion after their extended exile, as prophesied in biblical texts, throughout their ancestral homeland. He represents a broader trend in the Trump administration. Evangelicals, comprising hundreds of millions of followers worldwide, are re-emerging as a powerful force in global politics.

This movement's historical and theological foundations are profound. It represents a seismic shift in religious thought comparable to Christianity's fourth-century elevation to the Roman Empire's state religion. For centuries, "replacement theology" formed Christianity's cornerstone, maintaining that because Jews rejected Jesus's messianic claims and divinity, God withdrew their chosen status and transferred it to Christianity. Jews remained only "Israel in the flesh" – mere biological descendants of biblical Israel – while Christianity became "Israel in spirit," the true Israel (Verus Israel). Consequently, all biblical references to "Israel" were interpreted as referring to the church, establishing doctrinal foundations that eventually fostered antisemitism.

In 1830s England, Reverend John Darby pioneered a literal biblical interpretation. He maintained that biblical Israel meant the Jewish people, not the church. If prophets foretold Jerusalem's destruction and Jewish exile, then prophecies of Israel's return would likewise be fulfilled, obligating Bible believers to support Jewish restoration. Evangelicals firmly reject replacement theology, believing God neither abandoned nor substituted his chosen people.

Genesis 12:3 stands as their cornerstone verse. God instructs Abraham to leave his homeland for the promised land, declaring: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Evangelicals interpret this as practical, religious, and political guidance: those supporting Israel receive blessings, while those opposing it face divine judgment. Their historical analysis suggests nations respecting Jews prospered while those persecuting them declined. They attribute America's superpower status to its support for Israel and Jewish people. At evangelical gatherings, one frequently hears: "We are American patriots, therefore we support Israel."

 

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (C) and Likud MK Danny Danon (R) tour the ruins of Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border on December 20, 2023.

 

Evangelicals maintain deep religious convictions, requiring theological context for their statements. Complete sermons, not isolated quotes, reveal true meanings. Regarding apocalyptic beliefs - the war of Gog and Magog ("Armageddon") and their messiah's return – these remain theological concepts without practical application, similar to Jewish messianic beliefs. Both traditions anticipate a messiah and prophetic global conflicts. Most evangelical groups avoid proselytizing Jews.

Our diplomatic approach rarely leverages our allies' rich cultural heritage and theological perspectives to strengthen international bonds – often using these elements instead to create distance. Yet cultural and religious ties frequently supersede economic and security interests in shaping national relationships. While "shared values" encompass democracy, human rights, and property rights, they equally embrace the heritage of Abraham, Israel's prophets, and the return to Zion. Welcome to the Holy Land, Mike Huckabee.

U.S. VETOES SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION DEMANDING AN IMMEDIATE, UNCONDITIONAL AND PERMANENT CEASEFIRE

Casting lone ‘no’ vote, US vetoes UN Security Council ceasefire resolution

“We could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the global body, told the council. 

 

By Mike Wagenheim

 

JNS

Nov 20, 2024

 

 

 

Robert Wood, deputy permanent U.S. representative to the United Nations, votes against a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and unconditional Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Nov. 20, 2024.

 

The United States vetoed a U.N. Nations Security Council resolution calling for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday morning, citing its failure to condition a halt in hostilities directly to the release of the hostages, whom Hamas continues to hold in the Gaza Strip.

“We could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the council.

Wood accused Hamas—and not Israel—of blocking a negotiated ceasefire and cited Israel’s reference for a temporary ceasefire and a phased release of hostages.

Washington cast the lone vote against the measure among the 15-member body. It is one of five permanent members of the council that has veto power. 

The E10, a group of the council’s 10 elected members, put the resolution forward at Algeria’s urging. The North African country is the Security Council’s de facto representative for the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim world.

Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s envoy to the global body, called it a “sad day” for the council and claimed that the Jewish state has “impunity in this chamber.”

 

Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s envoy to the UN, called the U.S. veto a “sad day” for the council

 

The vetoed resolution demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages who remain in Gaza.

It rejected “any effort to starve Palestinians” and demanded immediate access to basic services and humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza. It also called for aid to enter the Strip at scale and be delivered, including to “civilians in besieged north Gaza.”

Wednesday marked the 12th time that the Security Council has voted on a resolution about the Israel-Hamas war. Only four have been adopted. None of the prior 11 appears to have had a substantive effect on halting hostilities or securing the release of hostages or delivery of aid.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s vote that the resolution “is nothing short of a betrayal.”

“It betrays the 101 innocent hostages still held by Hamas, their grieving families and the very principles the United Nations claims to defend,” he told journalists.

It is “not a resolution for peace. It is a resolution for appeasement” that abandons the hostages and validates and rewards terrorism, he added.

Softened language

The latest resolution was negotiated extensively and underwent multiple drafts. The first iteration demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire but only insisted upon immediate, unconditional release of all hostages in the next paragraph.

The United States and Japan, among others, requested a revised draft repeatedly, and the next version placed the two demands in the same paragraph. (That followed the agreed-upon text from a prior resolution in March, upon which Washington controversially abstained, allowing it to pass.)

This time around, the Biden administration insisted on an explicit conditional link between the demands for ceasefire and hostage release. This was the formula that was articulated in a June resolution, which called for a phased ceasefire and hostage release scheme. That resolution passed with a Russian abstention.

The E10 rejected the demand, leading to a stalemate—and Wednesday’s U.S. veto.

Washington won other concessions on the text of the resolution, including a critical deletion of language relevant to Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter. The original text of the resolution determined “that the situation in the Gaza Strip and the regional escalation constitute a threat to international peace and security.”

 

  

Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters ahead of the U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, Nov. 20, 2024. 

That specific language triggers Chapter VII, which empowers the Security Council to take collective action it deems fit, up to and including the use of force. The Biden administration insisted that it be removed.

The new draft also softened language about implementing the International Court of Justice’s ruling on provisional measures that it said Israel must take in Gaza and on text rejecting actions that undermine the mandate of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which Israel has said has many employees that are part of Palestinian terror groups and that participated directly in the Oct. 11 attacks.

Despite U.S. pressure, the resolution did not condemn Hamas explicitly, nor did it establish a standing mechanism to review Israel’s allegations about UNRWA.

AMERICA'S JEWS WILL NOW BACK TRUMP .... AND PIGS CAN FLY

Jewish liberals should follow ‘Morning Joe’ and drop the ‘resistance’

It’s time to abandon the smears about Donald Trump and his voters being fascists and prioritize the clear-and-present danger to Jews from Democrat and Islamist antisemites. 

 

By Jonathan S. Tobin

 

JNS

Nov 19, 2024

 

 

Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough of the MSNBC talk show “Morning Joe” 

 

Maybe he isn’t Hitler after all. That’s the upshot of the announcement by political talk-show hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough after they journeyed to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this past weekend for a chat with President-elect Donald Trump.

The pair is being roasted by critics on both the right and left (including staffers at their own network) for seeming to back away from their claims that Trump is a fascist seeking the destruction of democracy. Despite all that, they were right to journey to his Florida resort, even if it meant subjecting themselves to catcalls about kissing his ring. More to the point, their example ought to be emulated by those who look to them for political guidance. At a moment in history when the political left in both the United States and Israel have adopted a strategy of demonizing the leaders of their opponents as an organizing principle, it’s high time for opinion leaders to stop acting as if doing so is appropriate or not damaging to democracy. That’s especially true for American Jews, who should be prioritizing the battle against antisemites over partisan grudges and smears.

The married hosts of the MSNBC “Morning Joe” program came under heavy fire from fellow liberals for a meeting that the couple pompously spoke of as if it were a major international diplomatic mission. In their defense, Brzezinski said the question to ask was “Why wouldn’t we” wish to restart communication with the president? Yet as comedian Jon Stewart, a leading liberal voice, satirically noted, the answer to that question was fairly obvious: “Uh, because you said he was Hitler.”

Smearing Trump and lying about Biden

The couple has done as much as anyone at the hard-core, left-wing cable-news network or anywhere else to demonize Trump over the last eight years. That included promoting smears alleging that he was an authoritarian and a fascist, as well as making specious and slanderous comparisons between his rallies, such as the one held in October in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, and events held by Nazis.

That ought not to be forgotten. The same is true of their mendacious claims, which they based on their closeness to the incumbent, that a visibly aging and confused President Joe Biden was not mentally incapacitated. They only backed away from that lie once Biden’s problems became obvious in his disastrous June 27 debate with Trump.

Similar to some other Democrats in the weeks since Trump’s victory, Mika and Joe have come to realize that their incendiary rhetoric leaves them in a precarious position. Like many others who wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to win, they were willing to say just about anything about Trump, including bogus claims that he was a threat to democracy at a time when it was his opponents who were undermining it by promoting censorship of political speech and trying to jail their leading opponent to justify his defeat.

Now that he’s won, they are putting the talk about fascism and Hitler on hold. That demonstrates that this line of argument was never sincere. They are being widely lambasted by those on the right, who have called out their hypocrisy, as well as their preposterous claim that they aren’t seeking to “normalize” a person who had just won a presidential election.

As absurd as they might be—it’s good television optics, after all—the stars of what many still consider to be the leading political talk show on cable are right.

The argument for Trump being a threat to democracy was always a product of quotes taken out-of-context, deliberate lies (such as the false claim that he called neo-Nazis who attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017 “very fine people”), myths about Russian collusion, and a disingenuous attempt to confuse his politically incorrect and highly unpresidential manner of speaking and posting on social media with support for racism and tyranny.

Having gone out on a limb to make these points, people like Mika and Joe—and the countless others who took the same line—haven’t left themselves many options as Trump’s second term begins. They can double down on their wild attacks on Trump and their fellow Americans who have voted for him while claiming that the only reason their side lost was the manifest awfulness of the country they profess to love, as some on the left have done. Or they can behave the way that political factions are supposed to when they lose an election by acting as a loyal opposition and biding their time until they can win the next election.

A destructive ‘resistance’

That’s not the path that was chosen by Trump’s opponents in 2017 as they sought to “resist” the new president as opposed to merely oppose him. In doing so, they strained the fabric of American democracy to the breaking point, spreading conspiracy theories about Russia electing a stooge to the White House and justified efforts to censor news that might damage Trump’s opponents. That helped beat Trump in 2020 as the nation floundered amid his administration’s confused response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also set the stage for a period during which Democrats have come to believe that any tactic, no matter how anti-democratic, is permissible if it hurts Trump.

Even after his victory earlier this month, they can continue along those lines by treating his justified efforts to strip the administrative state—an unelected fourth branch of government that is both a partisan stronghold for Democrats and the authors of a growing body of law in recent decades—of its power as evidence of his fascism.

Trump’s astounding political comeback, however, has appeared to put a damper on the enthusiasm of his detractors for more trips down the conspiratorial rabbit holes in which they have dragged so much of the country’s political discourse. They may still despise the “bad orange man,” but the idea that they can go on pretending that he is not a legitimate president is no longer viable.

They’d do far better to drop the “resistance” tactics. By contrast, engaging in normal political tactics in which they criticized Trump’s missteps rather than pretending that he is another Hitler will do more to enhance their prospects of winning back power in Washington. Doing so will also help to calm the waters that both sides have helped to stir up and restore some confidence in the government as well as legacy mainstream media whose credibility was undermined by their vicious attitude towards Trump, and willingness to ignore Biden’s misrule and mental incapacity.

Fight antisemitism, not Trump

All this should give those liberal Jewish groups who are now preparing to join the new resistance to Trump 2.0 a reason to reassess their position.

Both the supposedly mainstream Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the left-wing lobby J Street that support efforts to halt the supply of U.S. weapons to Israel to allow Hamas to survive, as well as a host of other even more marginal groups, seem prepared to join those bitter-end Trump-haters. They seek to duplicate efforts to obstruct and topple the president’s first administration and are uninterested in playing the role of loyal opposition. And it’s more than likely that many of those liberal Jewish groups who prioritize a domestic “social justice” agenda will join those who may wish to try to sabotage Trump’s efforts to protect the U.S. border against illegal immigration and deport many of those who have violated the law.

That would not only be irresponsible but would do little to take the country back to a place where political disputes are not treated as a religious holy war in which compromise or mercy for opponents is considered beyond the pale. It will be bad for democracy and likely won’t hasten the Democrats’ return to power.

Just as important, they are ignoring the fact that the real peril to American Jews is not from Trump. Love him or hate him, efforts to tie him to antisemitism or to claim that he is a fascist are false. They are a distraction from the ongoing threat to American Jewry coming from an increasingly aggressive leftist wing of the Democrats that has used the post-Oct. 7 war to advance blood libels against Israel and Jews as “white” oppressors and guilty of genocide.

By doubling down on lies about Trump and his voters (a group that includes the not insignificant number of Jews who voted for him in states like New York and Florida in greater numbers than before because, among other reasons, of his sterling record as a friend of Israel) as fascists and allies of Nazis, liberal Jewish groups will be undermining attempts to do something about an unprecedented surge of antisemitism in this country and beyond.

The reality of the post-Oct. 7 era is that American Jews need to stop prioritizing partisan politics over their obligation to fight back against the scourge of Jew-hatred on the left as well as on the far-right.

It’s long past time for the Jewish members of the anti-Trump resistance to stop playing politics and start fighting the real bad guys, including those they might otherwise consider their political allies. Much like Joe and Mika, they have to tone down the rhetoric about Trump and realize that their hard feelings about the election are not as important as responding to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Charlottesville-type anti-Israel and anti-Jewish demonstrations carried out by left-wingers demonizing an entire country and its population over the past year. Those who think that sabotaging Trump is more important than fighting left-wing Jew-haters will only give undeserved assistance to those who seek Israel’s destruction and the silencing of American Jewry.

FROM THE TIME THAT ROOSEVELT RAN FOR PRESIDENT IN 1932, AMERICA'S JEWS HAVE OVERWHELMINGLY ALIGNED WITH DEMOCRATS' LEFT-OF-CENTER PHILOSOPHIES ..... OH, WHAT FOOLS THEY BE

American Jews put ideology first at the polls

The election results underscore that U.S. Jews are, on average, much further to the left than other Americans. 

 

By Kenin M. Spivak

 

JNS

Nov 19, 2024

 

 

During her campaign Harris said “What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that … the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.” 

 

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is highly skeptical of Israel’s conduct and deeply sympathetic to Palestinian goals, going so far as to tell people at one of her rallies that “What he’s talking about, it’s real” when a protestor accused Israel of genocide. Unlike her recent predecessors, she has not visited Israel while serving as vice president.

To left-leaning Jews, Harris is unfathomably seen as a strong ally of Israel. These supporters cite trivial acts such as Harris’s support in 2019 of a unanimous U.S. Senate resolution condemning antisemitism and her endorsement of the Biden-Harris administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. That substance-free, 59-page plan has done nothing to quell the largest wave of antisemitism in American history. Harris’s supporters also claim that her far-left policies are good for everyone, thereby constituting support for Jews and Israel.

Her supporters cited her initial statement about Israel in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer as proof of her support. As she said at the time, “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.” That statement was also included in advertising that her campaign ran in Jewish areas.

Her campaign then used the remainder of that statement in advertising to Arab communities. “At the same time,” Harris said, “what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that … the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

Harris selected advisers who opposed Israel’s Gaza operations, held Israel responsible for “too many” Palestinian deaths, criticized Israel’s Rafah operation, and boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. She refused to be “silent” about Palestinian suffering, saying “Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters. … What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating.”

At least from the time that Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for president in 1932, the American Jewish community has overwhelmingly aligned with Democrats’s left-of-center philosophies. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, since 1948, on average, about 70% of Jewish votes were cast for the Democrat presidential nominee and 25% for the Republican nominee. Despite waning Democrat support for Israel during the Obama administration, in 2016, Donald Trump received only 24% of Jewish votes.

Once elected, Trump racked up a strong record supporting Israel, including the Abraham Accords, moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and a warm relationship with Netanyahu. As a result, in 2020, Trump’s Jewish vote increased to about 30%.

Seeking to capitalize on Trump’s strong support for Israel and Harris’s tilt toward Palestinians, in the run-up to the 2024 election, the Republican Jewish Coalition launched the biggest media campaign in its history, achieving notable successes in New York, Florida and swing states. According to exit polls, Trump secured 46% of the Jewish vote in New York, 44% in Florida, 42% in Nevada, 41% in Pennsylvania, and 38% in Arizona. In Pennsylvania, Trump’s Jewish vote was about 75% of his total margin over Harris. In New York, the shift likely reflected strong support for Trump among Orthodox Jews. In Florida, there is a general trend to the right among voters.

However, exit polls show a different story in many other states. According to Fox’s highly respected exit poll, nationally, Trump’s overall Jewish vote, inclusive of the states above, increased by just 2% to about 32%. According to Edison Research, which does extensive exit polling for most networks and other media, Trump received only 22% of the Jewish vote. Based on a much smaller sample, left-leaning J Street concluded that Harris won 71% of the vote, to 26% for Trump. The data shows that Jews were among the most loyal Democrats in this election, with little slippage compared to prior years. Given the increased Jewish vote for Trump in some states, it means that he lost support in other states, including California; yet, overall, Trump improved his performance in California in 2024 compared to 2020.

By contrast to U.S. results, two-thirds of Israelis favored Trump, with just 17% supporting Harris and 17% undecided.

While many American Jews do not rank Israel as a top issue, undoubtedly, more than 22% to 32% do, still, Jews remain key leaders and supporters of the far-left, progressive movement, apparently undaunted by its virulent antisemitic and anti-Israel beliefs.

The majority of Americans of most ethnicities, most men and almost half of all women voted for Trump, a far superior performance as compared to 2020 and 2016. Yet despite the Democrats’s declining support for Israel, weak opposition to antisemitism and radical far-left agenda, two-thirds to three-fifths of Jews continued to support the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate.

Polls show that the United States remains a center-right country. Harris lied about and hid her traditional positions because of this. The election results underscore that U.S. Jews are, on average, much further to the left than other Americans. In swing states, where their votes could affect the election, Jews were open to considering a Republican. But looking at national numbers, if the stark differences between Trump’s and Harris’s views of Israel and the antisemitism sweeping through the progressive movement are insufficient to motivate more Jewish voters to reconsider the Democratic Party, then it is unclear what would or could do so.

AS I SAID BEFORE, THE POPE CAN TAKE HIS ZUCCHETTO AND STICK IT UP HIS ASS

Pope’s false ‘genocide’ accusations are a fountainhead of antisemitism

Suggesting that Israel may be committing “genocide” fails to take into account the realities of the war and the real perpetrators of genocide. 

 

By Fiamma Nirenstein

 

JNS

Nov 18, 2024

 

 

 

Pope Francis

 

As the whole world faces the violent growth of antisemitism, unprecedented since World War II, Pope Francis adds fuel to the fire with his new book, Hope Never Disappoints.

One line in the book immediately became a headline in all languages as it suggests that an alleged, possible genocide committed by Israel on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip should be investigated. The implication is that the war in Gaza—an unwanted war necessitated by the devastating Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—is being carried out with a malign intent.

Perhaps the pope has been misadvised by those who imagine that the world he speaks to is steeped in populist pietism—crowds who march on the cities of the world with violence in the name of a front in which democracy and freedom have no citizenship.

I don’t see the Christian world of ordinary people this way. Friends of the Jews in the democratic world, understand that the term “genocide” brings a wave of antisemitism all over the world today, it leads to signs on which the Star of David is replaced with the swastika while reckless crowds shout “Free Palestine.” It leads to portraits of Adolf Hitler being superimposed with pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, shouts to the media that these two men act the same, a line that makes headlines on Al Jazeera or in Il Manifesto or The Guardian, every day.

Repeating the “genocide” accusation increases the fashionable game of attacking Israel and the Jews to please the Third Worldism of the United Nations, satisfy Iran, Russia and China, and make liberal social-media platforms and talk shows go crazy with joy.

And does this exhortation from the pope have a concrete reason to exist? No.

Not only are the number of dead in Gaza uncertified as the source for such statistics has always remained only that of the unverifiable and unreliable Gaza Ministry of Health, the United Nations itself, which also stuttered about it a lot, has suggested that only a fraction of the 40,000 killed were women and children. Instead, the only realistic figure on the number of dead is that of the armed combatants, which Israel estimates to be around 20,000. That tells us that the proportion of civilians killed in Gaza would be one-to-one—one civilian for every combatant—this is the lowest ratio in the history of modern warfare.

Unlike any other country in the history of warfare, Israel has provided tons of medical aid to those in need and tried not to hit the civilian population with measures of any kind, even forwarning residents in areas the Israel Defense Forces intended to target. The war’s results have reflected now-slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s belief that the blood of innocent Palestinians serves as a shield for fighters and inspires solidarity with Hamas.

The term “genocide” was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin to describe the atrocities of the Shoah and adopted in international law in 1948 to criminalize “acts committed with the intent to destroy an ethnic, racial or religious group.” Yet the term has never been used to stigmatize Fatah and Hamas, who promise “the construction of an Islamic and Palestinian state in place of Israel.”

On the contrary, it is difficult to imagine that Israel has ever had similar intentions having accepted territorial partition since 1948, the Camp David agreement in 1978 and the Oslo Accords in 1995. Another thing, it would be unimaginable to sanction Israel as it fights for its survival against terrorism. In any case, the Arab presence in Israel has grown by 1,182% since the State of Israel was established, while the Jewish presence in Arab countries has dropped by 98.87%. Yes, there was ethnic cleansing, but not by Israel.

Professor Robert Wistrich, the greatest historian of antisemitism, explained it as the “Holocaust inversion,” which makes the Jews the new Nazis, and the Palestinians the new Jews It was an idea born with the Soviet Union and which continues to this day.

There was an attempt at genocide, but it was by Hamas on Oct. 7 when its operatives and even Palestinian residents attacked Israel and sought to kill all the Jews. It failed. It would be tragic for the church to proclaim otherwise.

GIDDY YAP AND ROUND 'EM UP

Texas offers Starr County ranch to Trump for mass deportation plans

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the state’s recently purchased 1,400-acre ranch could be used as a deportation hub.

 

By Alejandro Serrano

 

The Texas Tribune

Nov 19, 2024

 

 

The Rio Grande seen through dense brush near the Starr-Camargo bridge in Starr County. The state recently purchased a ranch in Starr County that it's now offering to the federal government for a migrant detention center.

 

The Texas General Land Office is offering President-elect Donald Trump a 1,400-acre Starr County ranch as a site to build detention centers for his promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a letter the office sent him Tuesday.

Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in the Tuesday letter that her office is “fully prepared” to enter an agreement with any federal agencies involved in deporting individuals from the country “to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”

The state recently bought the land along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley and announced plans to build a border wall on it. The previous owner had not let the state construct a wall there and had “actively blocked law enforcement from accessing the property,” according to the letter the GLO sent Trump.

A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

A cornerstone of Trump’s campaign was his pledge to clamp down on immigration by returning policies from his first term and deporting undocumented people en masse on a scale the country has not experienced in decades. Former aides — including some who are set to rejoin him — have described incorporating staging areas near the border to detain and deport people.

In an interview with Fox News posted Tuesday, Buckingham said she was “100% on board with the Trump administration's pledge to get these criminals out of our country.”

Buckingham had previously said she approved an easement within 24 hours of acquiring the Starr County land to let the Texas Facilities Commission, which is overseeing the state’s border wall construction, to begin building a wall. In the Fox interview, she said that move was followed by “brainstorming” with her team.

“We figured, hey, the Trump administration probably needs some deportation facilities because we've got a lot of these violent criminals that we need to round up and get the heck out of our country,” Buckingham said. She noted the land is mostly flat, “easy to build on,” accessible to international airports and near the Rio Grande.

“We're happy to make this offer and hope they take us up on it,” she added.

Trump’s vow to carry out mass deportations is certain to encounter logistical and legal challenges, like the ones that stifled promises from his first campaign once he assumed office.

However, Trump’s Cabinet picks indicate he is moving ahead in trying to carry out the deportations. He has selected Stephen Miller, an architect of the previous Trump administration’s border and immigration policy, to return as a top aide and has named Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to be his “border czar.”

And Texas is poised to try to help him implement the policies. After Trump left office in 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott launched an unprecedented border enforcement operation that included building a military base in Eagle Pass and the deployment of thousands of Department of Public Safety troopers and state National Guard troops to the border.

CNN reported Saturday that Texas’ “border czar” — Michael Banks, who serves as a special adviser to Abbott — has been a part of behind-the-scenes discussions with Trump’s team about immigration initiatives.

CIALIS AND VIAGRA REDUCE DEATHS, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND DEMENTIA

Study finds erectile dysfunction medications associated with significant reductions in deaths, cardiovascular disease, dementia

 

UTMB News

Nov 19, 2024 

 

 

A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine has found that medications commonly prescribed for erectile dysfunction—tadalafil (Cialis) and sildenafil (Viagra)—are associated with significant reductions in deaths, cardiovascular disease and dementia in middle-aged men. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch and assessed outcomes over a three-year follow-up period.

The medications, known as PDE-5 inhibitors, were prescribed to patients for erectile dysfunction and, in the case of tadalafil, also for lower urinary tract symptoms often caused by an enlarged prostate gland.

“These medications, such as Cialis and Viagra, are believed to offer cardiovascular benefits through improved blood flow, lowering blood pressure, enhancing endothelial function, and providing anti-inflammatory effects,” said Dr. Dietrich Jehle, Professor and Chair of UTMB’s Sealy Department of Emergency Medicine and lead author of the study. “Additionally, the enabled sexual activity may contribute positively to mental health.”

The study utilized the United States Collaborative Network, which includes data from over 50 million men within the TriNetX global database. For the study, researchers evaluated more than 500,000 men aged 40 or older diagnosed with erectile dysfunction between February 2004 and February 2021. Outcomes in men prescribed tadalafil or sildenafil were compared to those diagnosed with erectile dysfunction who did not receive the medications. Key findings include:

• Mortality: 34% reduction with tadalafil, 24% with sildenafil
• Heart Attack: 27% reduction with tadalafil, 17% with sildenafil
• Stroke: 34% reduction with tadalafil, 22% with sildenafil
• Venous Thromboembolism: 21% reduction with tadalafil, 20% with sildenafil
• Dementia: 32% reduction with tadalafil, 25% with sildenafil

Tadalafil, which remains active in the bloodstream longer than sildenafil, showed more substantial results across each category. Both drugs are PDE-5 inhibitors, which relax muscles and blood vessels.

The benefits of tadalafil for patients treated for lower urinary tract symptoms were even more pronounced. Among over 1 million men aged 40 or older diagnosed with lower urinary tract symptoms, those treated with tadalafil showed marked reductions in mortality (56%), heart attack (37%), stroke (35%), venous thromboembolism (32%), and dementia (55%) compared to patients who did not receive these medications for lower urinary tract symptoms.

“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States and is influenced by environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors,” Jehle said. “Both erectile dysfunction and lower urinary tract symptoms have been associated with an increased cardiovascular risk in men, highlighting the potential broader impact of PDE-5 inhibitors on public health.”

The Food and Drug Administration has approved these medications for treating erectile dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension and lower urinary tract symptoms related to an enlarged prostate.

“PDE-5 inhibitors like Cialis and Viagra were originally developed for hypertension and angina, and their impact on erectile dysfunction was initially considered a secondary benefit,” said Dr. Hani Jneid, UTMB’s Chief of Cardiology and co-author of the study. “These findings could shift our approach to treating middle-aged and older men at risk for cardiovascular disease and dementia.”

“The authors used a large-scale database of over 50 million men and employed propensity matching to control for confounding factors, which strengthens the validity of these significant results,” said Dr. Jochen Reiser, UTMB President and CEO of the UTMB Health System.

The study’s co-authors from UTMB included Raheed Sunesra, Dr. Hamza Uddin, Krishna K. Paul, Dr. Alejandro A. Joglar, Obadiah D. Michler, Dr. Thomas A. Blackwell, Dr. Diann Gaalema, and Dr. Salim Hayek.

QUICK. SPEND ALL THE FUCKING MONEY BEFORE TRUMP CAN GET TO IT

By Bob Walsh

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo 

 

Gina Raimondo is the Commerce Secretary for Joe Biden.  She has a message.  Spend every fucking dime she can before Trump comes into office.

Specifically in question is the $50 billion microchip production subsidy.  Joe is desperate to chisel his legacy into stone in this arena and wants to make as sure as possible that Trump can not reverse it.  Why Trump would WANT to do that is unclear.

It is apparently actually technically difficult to spend $50 billion in a hurry.  I admit that surprises me, but it seems to be true.  Her staff is working weekends to achieve this goa.

This money is part of the CHIPS Act  and the Science Act.

HUSBAND AND WIFE MURDRED BY WIFE'S BOYFRIEND

by Bob Walsh

Rachael Martinez, 31, and Jose Medina, 39, were shot dead Wednesdayby Martinez's 'toyboy' Christopher Farrell, 26

 

Rachael Martinez, 31, screwed up.  She took up a relationship with a security guard at work.  When she decided she wanted to preserve her marriage to Jose Medina, 39, she tried to give the heave-ho to her lover, Christopher Farrell, 26.  He didn't much like it and became a problem.

He was arrested by the cops for kidnapping and assaulting Rachel.  However he was not prosecuted due to lack of coroborating evidence.  By then Mrs. Martinez feared for the safety of herself, her husband and their four children.  She got a TRO against Farrell that, among other things, required him to turn in his guns until the matter was settled.  He didn't.

Farrell literally gunned them down on the steps of the San Diego courthouse on November 12.  He was killed in a shoot-out with the cops shortly after. 

WOMAN STRANGLED TO DEATH BY MAN OUT ON BAIL FOR CHOKING OUT ANOTHER WOMAN

By Bob Walsh

 

Christopher Neal

 

Victoria Gamble, 38, was strangled to death in her apartment in Sauk Rapids (Minneapolis) Minnesota on August 12.  She had the bad luck to run into Christopher Neal, 45, at a bar that evening.  He offered her a ride home from the bar. She accepted.  It probably cost her her life.  He was arrested later that month in Louisiana in possession of her car.  

At the time of Gamble's death Neal was out on bail for a domestic assault by strangulation.  There was a no-contact order violation involved in that case. 

SACRAMENTO COUNTY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION SUED FOR NOT RATTING OUT CHILD PORN PRODUCER

By Bob Walsh

 

 

A high school student spread some sexually explicit material of his ex-girlfriend.  Not nice, but not rare.  The issue is that at least one school official KNEW it was happening and didn't inform the cops.

A parent is suing on behalf of his daughter.  The suit is against the student who posted the material, that students parents, step-parent, three employees of the Bella Vista High School and the San Juan Unified School District.  The cause of action is child sexual abuse and infliction of emotional destress.

Specifically the suit alleges that, in September of 2023, the male student secretly recorded the young lady performing oral sex in the baseball dugout on campus.  The bad guy then told the young lady he had the recording.  She allegedly brought the issue to the attention of Athletic Director, John Hardwick, the football coach, Jim Gray, and the Vice Principal, Edward Moore.  They all failed to report this to the cops as is required by law.  In the mean time the bad guy circulated the video. 

COMCAST DUMPING BALLAST

By Bob Walsh

 

MSNBC's (from left) Willie Geist, Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough, Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow.

 

Comcast is the parent company of, among other dogs, MSNBC and CNBC.  The spun-off corporation will be called, appropriately, SPINCO.

It is not known for sure if that has anything to do with the fact that MSNBC and CNBC now have ratings that are lower than whale shit.  The company asserts that it is a realization of the "new media landscape."  

Maybe if they were not hacks for the DNC and any other uber-liberal pack of clowns that comes along people might take them seriously.  The election blew that whole thing up except for people who are so clueless that they are also hopeless.

NOT BEING A CHRISTIAN, I AM OPPOSED TO BIBLICAL TEACHINGS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

State Board of Education signals support for Bible-infused curriculum

Critics say the curriculum overemphasizes Christianity. The board is expected to officially vote on whether to approve the materials later this week.

 

By Jaden Edison

 

The Texas Tribune

Nov 19, 2024

 

 

The State Board of Education signaled support for a new state curriculum that critics say overemphasizes Christianity. Board members are expected to make a final vote on whether to approve the materials later this week.

 

A majority of the Texas State Board of Education signaled their support Tuesday for a state-authored curriculum under intense scrutiny in recent months for its heavy inclusion of biblical teachings.

Ahead of an official vote expected to happen Friday, eight of the 15 board members gave their preliminary approval to Bluebonnet Learning, the elementary school curriculum proposed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year.

The state will have until late Wednesday to submit revisions in response to concerns raised by board members and the general public before the official vote takes place Friday. Board members reserve the right to change their votes.

The curriculum was designed with a cross-disciplinary approach that uses reading and language arts lessons to advance or cement concepts in other disciplines, such as history and social studies. Critics, which included religious studies experts, argue the curriculum’s lessons allude to Christianity more than any other religion, which they say could lead to the bullying and isolation of non-Christian students, undermine church-state separation and grant the state far-reaching control over how children learn about religion. They also questioned the accuracy of some lessons.

The curriculum’s defenders say that references to Christianity will provide students with a better understanding of the country’s history.

 

The state of Texas is proposing to adopt a curriculum for Texas public schools that includes Christian-based religious references in K-5 education.

 

Texas school districts have the freedom to choose their own lesson plans. If the state-authored curriculum receives approval this week, the choice to adopt the materials will remain with districts. But the state will offer an incentive of $60 per student to districts that choose to adopt the lessons, which could appeal to some as schools struggle financially after several years without a significant raise in state funding.

Three Republicans — Evelyn Brooks, Patricia Hardy and Pam Little — joined the board’s four Democrats in opposition to the materials.

Leslie Recine — a Republican whom Gov. Greg Abbott appointed to temporarily fill the State Board of Education’s District 13 seat vacated by former member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who ran successfully for a Texas House seat earlier this year — voted for the curriculum. Abbott handpicked Recine, potentially a deciding vote on the materials, to fill the seat through the end of the year days before the general election, bypassing Democrat Tiffany Clark. A majority of District 13 residents voted this election for Clark to represent them on the board next year. She ran unopposed.

Board members who signaled their support for the curriculum said they believed the materials would help students improve their reading and understanding of the world. Members also said politics in no way influenced their vote and that they supported the materials because they believed it would best serve Texas children.

“In my view, these stories are on the education side and are establishing cultural literacy,” Houston Republican Will Hickman said. “And there's religious concepts like the Good Samaritan and the Golden Rule and Moses that all students should be exposed to.”

The proposed curriculum prompts teachers to relay the story of The Good Samaritan — a parable about loving everyone, including your enemies — to kindergarteners as an example of what it means to follow the Golden Rule. The story comes from the Bible, the lesson explains, and “was told by a man named Jesus” as part of his Sermon on the Mount, which included the phrase, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Many other religions have their own version of the Golden Rule.

Brooks, one of the Republicans who opposed the materials Tuesday, said the Texas Education Agency is not a textbook publishing company and that treating it like such has created an uneven playing field for companies in the textbook industry. Brooks also said she has yet to see evidence showing the curriculum would improve student learning.

Hardy, a Republican who also opposed the materials, said she did so without regard for the religious references. She expressed concern about the curriculum’s age appropriateness and her belief that it does not align with state standards on reading and other subjects.

Meanwhile, some of the Democrats who voted against the curriculum said they worried the materials would inappropriately force Christianity on public schoolchildren. Others cited concerns about Texas violating the Establishment Clause, which prohibits states from endorsing a particular religion.

“If this is the standard for students in Texas, then it needs to be exactly that,” said Staci Childs, a Houston Democrat. “It needs to be high quality, and it needs to be the standard, free of any establishment clause issues, free of any lies, and it needs to be accurate.”

More than 100 Texans signed up Monday to speak for and against the state-authored curriculum.

Courtnie Bagley, education director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that helped develop the curriculum, told board members that the Texas Education Agency has made every effort to respond to concerns from the public. She said rejecting the lessons would give other materials not owned by the state an unfair advantage.

“It would create a double standard, as Bluebonnet Learning has been held to a different and more stringent review process than other materials under consideration,” Bagley said.

Opponents argued that revisions did not go far enough, and some questioned whether the state’s intentions with crafting a curriculum that leans heavily on Christianity are political.

“I am a Christian, and I do believe that religion is a part of our culture, but our nation does not have a religion. We're unique in that,” said Mary Lowe, co-founder of Families Engaged for an Effective Education. “So I do not think that our school districts should imply or try to overtly impress to young impressionable children that the state does have a state religion.”

Education officials say references to Christianity will provide students with a better understanding of the country’s history, while other supporters have stated their belief that the use of religious references does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause. Legal experts note that recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority have eroded decades of precedent and made it unclear what state actions constitute a violation of the establishment clause.

State leaders also say the materials cover a broad range of faiths and only make references to religion when appropriate. Education Commissioner Mike Morath has said the materials are based on extensive cognitive science research and will help improve student outcomes. Of 10 people appointed to an advisory panel by the Texas Education Agency to ensure the materials are accurate, age-appropriate and free from bias, at least half of the members have a history of faith-based advocacy.

The Texas Tribune recently reported how parents, historians and educators have criticized the ways the materials address America’s history of racism, slavery and civil rights. In public input submitted in response to the curriculum and in interviews with the Tribune, they have said the materials strip key historical figures of their complexities and flaws while omitting certain context they say would offer children a more accurate understanding of the country’s past and present. Board member Rebecca Bell-Metereau, a San Marcos Democrat, and other Texans referenced the Tribune’s reporting during public testimony on Monday.

In response to those concerns, the Texas Education Agency has said the lessons will provide students with “a strong foundation” to understand more complex concepts as they reach later grades. State officials have also said those materials are written in an age-appropriate manner.

EMPTY THREATS OR NUCLEAR CONFLAGRATION?

'This is escalation... we will react accordingly': Putin's foreign minister's chilling warning to West after Ukraine fired US-made missiles into Russia - as Starmer hints Kyiv CAN use Brit rockets and ex-Kremlin PM says 'that means WWIII'

Putin provocatively signed off changes to the country's laws that will  allow Russia to launch a nuclear attack in response to a conventional weapons strike – such as one by long-range missiles.

 

By Olivia Christie

 

Daily Mail

Nov 19, 2024

 

Vladimir Putin on Tuesday morning signed off on an updated version of the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine that broadens the scope for Moscow to turn to its fearsome atomic arsenal

 

Russia has signalled it will retaliate with full-scale nuclear war after Ukraine launched US-made missiles over the border on Tuesday. 

Vladimir Putin's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov chillingly warned that Moscow would 'react accordingly' as he described the strike as a signal Kyiv 'wanted to escalate'. 

The terrifying sabre rattling was confirmed by the Russian President's close ally Dmitry Medvedev. Posting on X, the Deputy Chair of Russia's security council said it meant 'World War III'.

In a dramatic escalation on the 1,000th day of the conflict, Kyiv launched six 'ATACM' missiles from an undisclosed location over the border into Russian territory. 

The strikes triggered a fiery explosion at a depot in Karachev, believed to be storing ammunition supplied by North Korea, around 75 miles from the Ukrainian border. 

At the same time, Putin provocatively signed off changes to the country's laws on nuclear weapons to make it easier for them to be deployed against Ukraine in retaliation.

The amendments allow Russia to launch a nuclear attack in response to a conventional weapons strike – such as one by long-range missiles.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer offered his biggest hint yet that No.10 would authorise Ukraine to fire UK Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.

 

A fiery explosion lit up the night sky around 77 miles from the nearest Ukrainian border at an ammunition store in Karachev, in Russia's Bryansk region, on Tuesday

Vladimir Putin 's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured) chillingly warned that Moscow would 'react accordingly' as he described the strike as a signal Kyiv 'wanted to escalate'

 

He said the G20 summit in Brazil: 'I've been doubling down in my clear message that we need to ensure Ukraine has what is needed for as long as needed to win this war against Putin.

'I am not going to go into operational details. You would not expect me to. The only winner in that would be Putin and it would undermine Ukraine.' 

He added that the rhetoric currently coming from Russia was 'irresponsible' and would not deter the UK's reosponse.  

 Zelenksy's plea to use UK Storm Shadow missiles on targets in Russia has so far been rebuffed by Downing Street for fears of escalating the conflict. 

A senior defence source said the UK prefers to 'confirm by use', for example, when a missile strikes.

Meanwhile, there is growing concern about Europe's ability to respond to Russia's increased use of hybrid warfare and sabotage attacks. 

A former defence official, has warned that it is 'totally unprepared' for the Kremlin's escalating response, The Guardian has reported. 

The senior European defence official, who recently left their position, said the block lacked the resources to counter Russian sabotage attacks. 

 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a joint press conference with Denmark's prime minister at the presidential palace in Kyiv, on November 19

ATACMS - Army Tactical Missile - being fired from an M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System

Zelensky presenting his plan of resistance to the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 19

Such attacks are expected to increase in frequency after Biden approved the use of ATACMS earlier this week. 

Earlier this year, US and German intelligence services reportedly uncovered a Russian plot to assassinate several defense industry executives across Europe.

US security sources have indicated that the decision to allow ATACMS strikes was a direct response to Russia recruiting thousands of North Korean troops.

Around 10,000 soldiers provided by Pyongyang are expected to take part in a Russian bid to liberate the province of Kursk, parts of which have been seized by Ukrainian forces.

Yesterday, Mr Zelensky raised the prospect that the number of North Korean troops could even swell to 100,000.

Neither the US nor Ukraine has confirmed the use of the missiles, with Zelenksy merely saying his country has 'long-range capabilities'. 

But Russian news agencies explicitly referred to ATACMs in their state-supported reports.

Following the attack, Moscow's emergency ministry announced it had  begun mass-producing mobile bomb shelters that can protect against shockwaves and radiation from a nuclear blast.

The new 'KUB-M' shelters will offer protection for 54 people for up to two days against natural and man-made hazards, Moscow's emergency ministry has said.

'The mobile shelter is a multifunctional structure that provides protection for people from various threats, including natural disasters and man-made accidents,' its research institute explained, calling it 'an important step towards improving the safety of citizens'. 

 

Russian army's multiple rocket launcher Solntsepyok fires towards Ukrainian positions in the border area of Kursk region last week

Volodymyr Zelensky, centre, walks with Vadym Fiashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, right, during a tour of frontline positions on November 18

 

They can easily be transported on a truck and connected to water supplies, and can also be deployed in Russia's vast northern permafrost, it added. 

In anticipation of Ukraine receiving permission to use ATACMS, Russia's air force is said to have redeployed many of its fighter jets and strategic bomber aircraft away from the airbases in range of the missiles to sites further east.

But there are still more than 200 military facilities that could be battered by the US-manufactured munitions from positions along the 800-mile-long frontline.

Among the first likely targets for Ukrainian strikes could be the Kuzminka Military Base, a critical staging area for Putin's forces between the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and the Ukrainian border which acts as a hub for vehicle storage, troop assembly and operational planning.

Russia's 381st artillery regiment is also located close to the Kuzminka base along with several logistics centres.

Meanwhile, in Kursk, Kyiv's troops could seek to target the headquarters of Russia's 448th Missile Brigade or regional assembly points used to gather troops preparing to push back the Ukrainian incursion in the region.

Targeting these sites could cripple Russian logistics, command, and combat support, significantly reducing Moscow's offensive capabilities in occupied Ukrainian territory​ and harming efforts to retake territory in Kursk.

However, the overall supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine is short, so US officials and analysts have questioned whether allowing Ukraine to use the weapons systems is really worth it given the potential consequences that could ensue.

Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank, was critical of the Biden administration's decision to approve the use of ATACMS on targets in Russia.

 

A house destroyed as a result of Russian shelling in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine on November 19

A military cadet lights a candle during a commemorative ceremony on the 1000th day of Russia's full scale attack on Ukraine

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) during a bilateral meeting with President of Brazil Lula da Silva

A man holds a placard reading 'Stop Russian Terror' as he and other members of Ukrainian diaspora and supporters take part in demonstration in front of Russian embassy in Warsaw

 

'Expanding Ukraine's ability to launch offensive strikes with Western weapons inside Russia will not alter the trajectory of the war or help Kyiv gain an advantage against a better equipped and more resilient adversary.

'Any escalation could reverberate on Ukraine itself. With the Biden administration on its way out and the incoming Trump administration indicating an intention to end the war, Putin has little incentive to act with restraint in his retaliation toward Kyiv.'

But proponents of the policy say that even a few strikes deeper inside Russia would force its military to change deployments and expend more of its resources.

George Barros, leader of the Russia team and GEOINT team at ISW that compiled the list of targets, sought to highlight the way in which ATACMS could impact Putin's troops and campaigned for the Biden administration to allow strikes beyond Kursk as a result.

'Reminder that there are hundreds of valid, legal, legitimate, and operationally consequential military targets in range of Ukrainian ATACMS,' he wrote.

'The Biden Administration's shift to allow ATACMS use in Russia is a good thing.'

Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, said of Ukraine's ATACMS attacks: 'Many of the best targets – helicopters and glide-bomb armed aircraft attacking Ukrainian cities and troops in the north or in Kursk have largely moved to airbases outside the range of ATACMS.

'This still leaves plenty of opportunities to strike military headquarters and ammunition or supply locations supporting Russian and North Korean troops, but this would be a reduced impact from when the Ukrainians first requested these weapons.'

It remains to be seen whether Britain and France will follow America's lead by allowing Kyiv's troops to attack Russian targets with Storm Shadow and SCALP long-range missiles - though it is expected the restrictions will soon be relaxed.