Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

The Unraveling: The Unusually Slow Death of the Liberal International Morality We had a moral consensus surrounding basic human rights that the international community created with painstaking effort. Now we look around and it is completely gone. What happened?

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What Kind of Secretary of State Will Marco Rubio Be? Marco Rubio's Foreign Policy Evolution: Between Hawkish Roots and Trump's America First

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However, Trump put his foot down and insisted that the team go, otherwise it would be a violation of the ceasefire. Right now Trump is the only thing keeping Bibi in this deal.

Netanyahu tried to avoid sending a team to Qatar to start discussions over the second phase of the ceasefire as required by the deal on the 16th day of the 1st phase.

3) The is no contradiction between morality and strategic utility. Not complete contradiction anyway. If Israel had been more careful and had investigated its own actions, its position in the world would be far better.

2) Nothing can bring Israel genuine long-term security but peace. The use of force only buys time and creates temporary security, often at the expense of long-term stability.

The three most important things Israel can learn from this in the future is this:

1) Military force is important but it does not solve all problems. It must be combined with legal, diplomatic and political tools aimed at achieving its goals of security.

These mistakes led directly to the unfortunate situation Israel is in now. Its soldiers and heads of state are afraid to go to other countries. Hamas remains in power, many hostages are dead, and Palestinian civilians have suffered far more than was needed.

That could lead to needless bloodshed and a needless delay in the release of the hostages. I was, unfortunately, correct.

3) That the Netanyahu government was motivated at least partially by an attempt to survive and keep Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in the coalition and not by the strategic interests of Israel.

It became clear that the diplomatic clock would run out (it took far longer than I expected) and when the sides were finally forced into a ceasefire, Hamas would remain in power. I was, unfortunately, correct.

2) Israel did not have a day after plan. That meant that no matter how many Hamas terrorists the IDF kills they will not be replaced.

It became apparent that the Israeli courts were not investigating these things sufficiently and they will end up before international tribunals. I was, unfortunately, correct.

1) Israel was not as careful with civilians as it should be and was not disciplining its soldiers properly leading to all sorts of issues, some of which were war crimes.

When the war in Gaza started I supported it. I still think it had to be fought. But I realized the war had to end months ago. People wonder what happened to me and why I changed my mind. I realized three things, that would not give me respite. I simply couldn't ignore them.

He is not the most deadly terrorist that will be released in the first phase, but likely the best known and most symbolically important. Hamas really wanted the pictures of his release to buttress their influence, and now they will get them.

Responsible for the terror attack in 2002 Beit She'an attack that killed 6 people and two shootings on Israeli buses. But he also was the commander of the Palestinian forces in the horrific Battle of Jenin, where 23 IDF soldiers died.

Zakaria Zubeidi will be released tomorrow. That is a massive deal because he is one of the biggest symbols of the Second Intifada to the Palestinians. He was the Jenin chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Two months ago, my doctor told me I should stop drinking. I did not know if I could do it. But I have succeeded. Two months sober. Two months of meditating every day. I am so grateful.

The US is currently the number 1 country in the world in terms of science research and university quality. This will change that. Dramatically

What a lot of people are missing is that Trump is declaring war on science and education. His policies include:

* Stopping funding for scientific research.
* Defund universities and replace them with his own online college.
* Close the Department of Education.

It is almost as if he is signaling to Iran that not only won't he follow their policies, but that they are fair game.

One of the weirdest things about Trump's turn towards Iran is how he is punishing Brian Hook, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, the Iran hawks by revoking their security despite warnings that there are threats to assassinate them.

3) Hamas are brutal and disgusting monsters whose existence is a blight on the face of the earth.

Anyone who actually understands what is happening in Gaza understands these three things.

2) This is why most people do not rise up against Hamas. They don't want to get shot. Its Hamas that has the weapons and training. Even the IDF couldn't fully beat them and lost hundreds of soldiers. So stop telling regular people to rise up or free the hostages or whatever.

The execution of "collaborators" by Hamas is a reminder of a few things that many of you forgot:

1) There are plenty of innocent people in Gaza and even people far braver than we are willing to fight Hamas. They deserve better.

With every day of sobriety and meditation, I feel closer to understanding the unity of creation. “All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything” - Swami Vivekananda

The poor. Fight for their rights tooth and nail. If we win battles, fantastic. If we lose, people will see that we put our money where our mouth is.

Don't give an inch. That is what they want.

2) It precludes Democrats from being a genuine alternative. If we become MAGA lite, then people will always prefer the original and undiluted version than the fraud. We need to channel the purest essence of our ideology to win. Championing the weak. The underdog. The underprivileged.

We need to make every step they make as costly as possible. Delay. Obstruct. Protest. Make them pay in blood. Obeying in advance just makes it easier.