Israeli Agony vs American Ecstasy

"This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November, as it signalled to the entire world that my administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans and our allies."

"I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones."

"[My national security team, through the efforts of envoy Steve Witkoff] will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven."

U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump

"I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council."

"My diplomacy [sic] never ceased in their efforts to get this done."

"[Thanks are due to] dogged and painstaking American diplomacy."

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden

AJC  Getty Images

 

What other country in the world ever was forced to face such a dilemma of conscience and self-defense? Seasoned by close to a century of unremitting attacks from Arab national militaries and Palestinian Arab terrorism in fruitless yet deadly campaigns of intimidation, threat, and violent assaults to dislodge the tiny geographic State of Israel, established on a minute portion of its ancient ancestral homeland; forced to respond with military might and precision to remain intact and protect its population, while at the same time dedicated to retrieving any of its citizens from enemy hands, intact or inert.

In responding to the most barbaric, savage assault in its modern  history, Israel dispatched its military into Gaza in October of 2023 for the dual purpose of rescuing Israelis taken hostage in their hundreds; from infants to the elderly, when Hamas terrorists led thousands of its members along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists, along with ordinary Palestinians on a deadly rampage through southern Israel on October 7. A chaotic maelstrom of death, torture, mass rape and destruction.

The international community had reservations about the Israel Defense Forces' hunt for the terrorists that had ravaged Israeli farming communities, burning entire families alive in their homes, hunting down young Israelis at a nearby music festival in an orgy of rape and murder. The Israeli military targeted the terrorist group's command centres, weapons depots, rocket factories, and network of  underground tunnels criss-crossing Gaza. 

 

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the release of Israelis held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and an end to the war, in Tel Aviv on January 15, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

 

The well-recognized Hamas practise of installing command centres, storing weapons and living among dense populations to shield themselves from Israeli responses, counting on Jewish reluctance to target civilian areas ensured that the damage done to crowded populations was as controlled as humanly possible, given advance warning of strikes urging civilians to move out of vulnerable areas to preserve their lives. The intention of Hamas was somewhat different; prepared and even inviting deadly assaults to gain a high number of civilian casualties, useful in portraying Israel as the aggressor, and Palestinians as victims.

The world's attention pivoted from horror at the sight of photographs and videos on social media taken by body cams worn by the terrorists as they rampaged through Israeli kibbutzim, to later Hamas videos of the sight of Gaza enclaves crumbling under Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas rocket launching sites. The fact that Hamas used hospitals, schools and private residences along with multiple housing complexes as command centres and weapons storage systems worked to Hamas' favour in persuading the West that the Israeli goal of destroying Hamas was sacrificing Palestinian civilian populations.

Leading to condemnation of Israel at every turn, and a generalized campaign to force a ceasefire. The latest of which is meant to return an estimated 98 Israeli captives held by Hamas and its operatives in Gaza, many of whom are considered to be dead. Israel is anxious to retrieve its citizens, young and old, whether they be dead or still alive. And for that purpose agreed, as is usual, to release thousands of criminal Palestinians from Israeli jails. 

The coming Sunday is meant to feature the first of the exchanges; the Bibas family, father and mother of a one-year-old infant and 4-year-old toddler are meant to be among the first tranche to be released, among 33 Israeli hostages, including adolescents, women and the elderly and ill. It is anticipated that all of the released will be in dire need of direct medical attention; weak and malnourished, wounded and suffering the trauma of deprivation and torture.

People stand by Israel flag-covered coffins meant to symbolize the price Israel will pay for agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas in a demonstration against the deal in Jerusalem on Jan. 16, 2025.

 

 

The Anguish of The Wait...

"Hamas said last week that it needed seven days to locate all the hostages and then another week to prepare them for release."

"Such offerings are the Hamas way of extending an olive branch. Compel Israel to cave to their terms because of domestic public fury."

"Every Hamas video taunts and the tortures the country. It knows that."

"Since the U.S. election, Hamas has posted three videos, two of which showed signs of life of hostages."

"The terrorist group has issued statements on Telegram, including one last Friday that hostages are now guarded by suicide squads."

Vivian Bercovici, journalist, Israel

Israelis react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

 

Guarded by suicide squads; yet another not very subtle message for Israel: try to mount rescues and however few of your precious Israelis are left in our hands alive will no longer be among the living. This is Hamas, extracting every ounce of bitter anguish from the families of the captured innocent civilians; infants, adolescents, girls, boys, the elderly and the ill, women and men, and oh yes, Israel Defense Forces' service-men and -women among them.

Toying with the fragile emotions of Israelis; of the families whose loved ones are held by Palestinians who love dead Jews and abhor live ones. Playing with the minds of Israeli authorities mulling strategies to somehow discover the whereabouts of the hostages and mount rescues to reunite them with their families suffering the agony of loss. Teasing the poor lost souls held in their dank, airless underground prisons by forcing them to deliver videoed pleas of rescue.

In Israel, hospitals are in preparation mode to receive the hostages, broken in spirit, mind and body. Hostages out of Gaza after having suffered dread privation, torture, fear and hopelessness. Is there, could there ever be a cure for relentless infliction of pain on helpless people? Of clearing the confusion from the minds of captured children whose vacant eyes abandoned the search for their parents?

Captured terrorists under interrogation revealed details of the conditions of the hostages. The supposition is that the hostages, men and women, girls and boys, and fragile infants are all in failing health. How could it be otherwise? Imprisoned deep in tunnels from the time of their capture 15 months earlier. Given scant food and water, and no opportunity for hygiene. There are reports that many among them are incapable now of standing on their own.

 

Photographs of some of those taken hostage by Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023.

Leon Neal/Getty Images

 

Imagine a crowded, dank and airless dungeon, the air putrid with human waste, and barely breathable, lacking sufficient oxygen. A total absence of natural light. Among them are those who have been bound or chained for prolonged periods. And those who have been repeatedly raped -- both men and women, and of course, adolescents. 

Among Israelis, most oppose any agreement where all hostages are not simultaneously freed. And certainly they are not agreeable to a ceasefire agreement under any conditions. Yet saving the hostages is of primary importance. Even so, Israeli negotiators speak of the reality of the situation, only one deal has been eked out and that is the hand they and others must work with. To secure the freedom of the hostages, even as the dire need is acknowledged to destroy the capabilities of terrorists to continue mounting deadly attacks, as they are sworn to do.

The conditions stipulated in the agreement are not by any stretch of the imagination optimum for those waiting in agony to see their loved ones, for those being held in these inhuman conditions to breathe free and scent a glimmer of  hope for their future. It will take three months, at release intervals, for the first stage of the release of 33 hostages to play out. Israel is holding its collective breath for baby Kfir and Ariel, now two and five, with their mother Shiri Bibas, to be released.

Early in their capture, Hamas had told the children's father that his wife and children were dead, struck in an Israel airstrike, though never confirmed. The video of that little drama was one of the first ones released by Hamas. In return for the 98 Israeli hostages --both dead and alive -- released bit by bit, Israel has pledged to release no fewer than a thousand Palestinian terrorists, some of whom were convicted of dreadful crimes.

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Promoting A Universal Islamic Caliphate

"Hizb ut Tahrir Canada hereby announces, with regret, the cancellation of the Khilafah Conference 2025."

"This decision was necessitated by circumstances that were beyond our reasonable control."

"Hizb ut Tahrir categorically rejects the use of violence or material means in its methodology."

"The accusations linking the party to terrorism, extremism and violent activities are fabrications aimed at tarnishing its reputation."

Hizb ut Tahrir Facebook account

Inside Hizb ut Tahrir's  Khilafah Conference in 2023. Photo by Hizb ut Tahrir online promotion

"[Hizb ut-Tahrir's history of] glorifying violence and promoting antisemitism and extremist ideology and its support of terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah] are entirely contrary to Canadian values."

David McGuinty, Minister, Public Safety Canada

 

"[The conference and the organizing group is] extremist [and] radical [and would] jeopardize decades of progress made by Canadian Muslims in promoting inclusivity and dialogue."

"Its ideology not only threatens national unity but also isolates Muslim communities and endangers vulnerable youth."

The Global Imams Council

 

"This is important progress in keeping Canadians safe. We are relieved that this conference isn't  happening, but we also know that the fight against extremism cannot stop."

"We will continue to urge the government of Canada to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir as an illegal terrorist organization, as is the case in the U.K. and Germany."

Michelle Stock, vice-President, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Canada

 

"This dangerous event, organized by an extremist group banned in 13 countries, sought to undermine the very values of tolerance, inclusion, and democracy that define Canada."

"Thanks to swift and decisive action, the voices of  hate and division will not find a platform here."

B'nai Brith Canada

 

"The Canadian government must take the necessary measures to list this organization as a terror group under Canadian law, ensuring that it will never again have the opportunity to propagate its vile, extremist ideology in our country."

Michael Levitt, president, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

Members and supporters of the Islamist party Hizb Ut-Tahrir rally in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, in support of Palestinians and against Russian and US intervention in Syria, October 16 (credit: OMAR IBRAHIM / REUTERS)

The incident in question, that of a Canadian branch of an international Islamist group whose purpose it is to incite Muslims in the Western Islamic diaspora to take on the mantle of jihad for the purpose of infiltrating and dominating non-Muslim countries to effect a cultural-religious revolution in favour of Islamic conquest where as improbable as it might seem logically to the Western mind, the end result is the establishment of a worldwide Caliphate that would overrule all other religious faiths, cultures and laws through the primacy of Sharia law under Islamic rule.

The group speaks disparagingly of the 'colonialist' West and its deleterious impact on Islam, contrasted with its dedication to bringing world peace and security to all countries, unifying them under the banner of the one true religion, Islam. Its message also carries the impact of antisemitism, defining Jews throughout the world and Israel in particular, as a threat against peace and security in its designs to dominate everywhere, a irony of acute dimensions. 

 

The group is recognized for what it is in countries like Germany and the United Kingdom both of which banned its presence. By listing an entity as a terrorist group, its property can be seized or forfeited, its finances and assets become frozen and banks used for the group's finances cannot under the terrorism act in Canada dispose of or disperse its property. Anyone or any group that knowingly participates in or contributes to such a listed entity's activities commits a crime under the law.

The Canadian branch of this group had planned a conference and on its website, advertising for the conference plainly stated its purpose; to achieve a worldwide Caliphate and in the process destabilize and destroy Western and non-Muslim governments. The group's activities pose a security threat to Muslim-majority countries as well, most of which react to their agenda by banning them there, as well, as a threat to their ruling governments.

The Khilafah Conference 2025 promoted a revolutionary ideology that calls for overthrowing governments to replace them with a unitary, authoritarian Muslim Caliphate where everyone must live under strict Islamic Shariah law. Civic leaders and Jewish and Islamic groups, upon learning of the conference and its promoters took instant action reactively, reaching out to government agencies. The question is why would not Canada's intelligence agencies be ahead of the situation, in identifying the purpose of the group and bringing the threat of its agenda to the notice of the federal government, advising for action?

A letter had been sent to Public Safety Canada warning of the conference and the agenda of the organizing group as a threat, by the Global Imams Council, an independent NGO that adheres to mainstream Islamic teaching. Many Jewish advocacy and antisemitism groups also brought notice to the federal government of the conference and what it sought to advance, calling for it to be shut down, the group declared a terrorist entity.  

The Hizb ut Tahrir logo.

(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)

 

Raising Islamist Jihadists

"The ministry will open 10 regional centers in various states where the madrassa registration will be offered and those madrassas which will not meet requirements for registration will be closed."

Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood 

 

"[Successive Pakistani governments – both civilian and military – had attempted to reform madrassas but each time ended up surrendering more authority]."

"Even today, several ministries, such as religious affairs, education, interior, and commerce, and law enforcement and counter-terrorism bodies, have been dealing with the madrassa issue separately, making it more complicated."

Amir Tuaseen, Karachi-based analyst, former head, Pakistan Madrassa Education Board

 

"[More than 30,000 madrassas will soon be brought into the] mainstream [fold and overseen by the ministry of education.] An Islamic education will continue to be provided but there will be no hate speech."

Major-General Asif Ghafoor

There’s no exact number of madrassas in Pakistan but estimates put the number in the tens of thousands. They provide food, housing and a religious education to students from around the country. Many teach both male and female students.   AP

 

Religious seminaries in Pakistan have long been seen as contributing to violence and radicalization; their graduates have supplied recruits for the Taliban and other militant groups. In an earlier era, these same madrassas established all over Saudi Arabia with its strict Wahhabi code, furnished students enrolled within with the very same attributes. Students were taught to memorize the Koran, and this is what the curriculum consisted of. Radicalization was rife; it was from one of these madrassas in Saudi Arabia that a radicalized student by the name of Osama bin Laden went on to make terrorism through al-Qaeda a feared phenomenon.

 

Arabic is not the native language of Pakistan, but in the Pakistan-based madrassas it is Arabic that is taught, so that the students can recite all the passages of the Koran in Arabic. It is held that only Arabic can express the sacred scripture as it is meant to be. Pakistan's Islamic schools have long been a concern of the country's government. True, official Pakistan assured the United States and other NATO countries that it could be relied upon as a partner in the 'war against terrorism', while at the same time giving haven to the Afghan Taliban. Osama bin Laden's compound sat in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

 

Now, however, Pakistan, threatened by its own Taliban and violent jihadist Islamist groups has been attempting to control the content of the madrassas which typically teach only the Koran, and aspects from the Koran that glorify jihad. No other subjects taught in modern schools are part of the curriculum; this is a single and singular-faceted education system. They are not unique to Pakistan. Madrassas of this type have been established with Saudi funding all over the world.

The Pakistani Ministry of Education has enacted a requirement for madrassas to register with them in an effort to increase accountability. Islamist political parties resisted the government moves and the largest of the political parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, persuaded the government to end the registration requirement. A colonial-era law governing educational groups provides scant oversight of curricula, activities and funding.

The government cited concerns that the old system could undermine counterterrorism efforts and breach international commitments to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism. In Islamabad, anti-government protests emerged: "If the government deviates,the decision won't be made in Parliament, but on the streets" threatened Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. In the 1970s there were dozens of madrassas in Pakistan.

 

Pakistani government is juggling with different options to regulate centuries-old madrassa system. One such option is to set up a Imam Hatip schooling system based on the pattern of Turkey, where Islamic schools offer a mix of religious and worldly education.  TRTWORLD

U.S. and Arab funding in the 1980s transformed the madrassas to recruitment centres for Islamic volunteers to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. At present, some 30,000 madrassas operate in Pakistan. Some madrassa teachers endorsed the Al-Qaeda ideology, graduating future Taliban leaders. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, pressure was exerted on Pakistan to regulate the schools. "The post-9/11 war on terror and events like the 2005 London bombings raised global concerns about the lack of effective madrassa monitoring", explained Abdur Rehman Shah, a madrassa affairs expert with Tongji University in Shanghai.

In 2014, Islamist militants attacked a military-operated school in north-western Pakistan and over 145 people were killed, leading to madrassas observation becoming central to counterterrorism efforts. Raids targeting seminaries suspected of militant links by security agencies followed. The government attempted to curb Islamist parties' influence over seminary boards in 2019. Over 17,500 madrassas enrolled 2.2 million students, according to official data. Poor Pakistani children were given free education, meals and housing.

Pakistan boasts the second-highest number of children not attending schools globally, with 22.8 million children from age 5 to 16 not attending school, representing 44% of the country's young. The country's public education system fails to meet the needs of millions of its children. Supported by private donations, madrassas partially fill the public system gaps. Their education consists largely of Islamic theology and Arabic. Many of the madrassas emphasize doctrinal purity and Islam's defense. 

Administrators of madrassas claim they are unfairly blamed for militancy.

"There are many people who go to liberal schools and are radicalized."

"Terrorism must be curbed, but scapegoating madrassas is not the solution."

Qari Shahid Gul, teacher, Karachi madrassa

As there has long been a concern that the madrassas produce unskilled graduates who espouse intolerant misinterpretations of Islam, many organized attempts have already been made to "modernize" them. TRTWORLD

Russian Sabotage Against NATO Nations

"...We knew what they were doing."

"Some of it was espionage, where they are charting a lot things. Some of it, I think, was positioning in case of a war or a deep crisis."

Stale Ulriksen, researcher, Royal Norwegian Naval Academy

The Estlink 2 power cable in the Gulf of Finland was ruptured in suspected Russian interference

 

Drones began appearing over oil rigs and wind farms off Norway's coast some three years ago, and the puzzle to officials was where they came from although they were suspected of having been launched from ships in the North Sea by Russia. Ships close by underwater energy pipelines. But action could not be taken, since they were flying over international waters. Drones were seen as well over military bases in Britain and Germany over areas where U.S. forces are stationed.

According to military analysts, the drones may have been on a surveillance mission sponsored by a state; their presence a hybrid (gray zone) attack. This represents a new range of tactics -- military, cuber, economic, psychological -- utilized in covertly attacking or destabilizing an enemy. Hybrid attacks on Western countries are being increasingly brazen as hostile states such as Russia, Iran and others plan these dangerously unsettling attacks. The challenge for the West is how to react without setting off an infinitely more dangerous response?

 

Finnish authorities announced on January 8, 2025 that they had banned the oil tanker Eagle S, suspected of belonging to the Russian 'ghost fleet' and of having caused damage to five submarine cables, from sailing due to 'serious faults'

 

This past July three packages exploded in Europe, postmarked from Lithuania, parcels containing electric massage machines containing highly flammable magnesium-based substances, an event that was potentially deadly as a hybrid attack. Two such packages exploded in DHL cargo facilities in Britain and Germany, a third in a Polish courier firm. Investigators felt the packages represented a test by Russian military intelligence in planting explosives on cargo planes bound for the United States and Canada.

Hybrid attacks have been deployed, it is believed, by Russia through covert sabotage against NATO allies dating from the Kremlin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. American and NATO intelligence agencies discovered a Russian plot to murder the chief executive of Rheinmetall, a German weapons giant, which manufactures arms and ammunition for Ukraine.

Drones appeared in Germany over Ramstein Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military posts in Europe; others seen near facilities owned by Rheinmetall. All of which Russia has time and again denied any involvement in. "Failing to act (by NATO members by imposing a unified range of measures) will mean the Kremlin retains the strategic advantage", warned former British intelligence strategist Charlie Edwards.

In the Baltic Sea, the crew of the Estonian mine hunter EML Sakala kept a careful watch on vessels slowing down or suddenly changing course suspiciously, just west of Russia. With the use of binoculars and long zoom lens cameras, they log names of ships, searching them out for missing anchors or trailing cables About 200 vessels were so scoured in a week at sea by the Estonian crew.

 

Finnish authorities said on December 26 that they were investigating a Russian oil tanker, named Eagle S, that sailed from a Russian port over suspected 'sabotage'

 

One of three Estonian navy ships, in marine patrols by NATO countries in the wake of the Estlink-2 power cable and communication links between Finland and Estonia damaged on December 25. Two other undersea data cables were also damaged a month before and suspicion fell on Russia, although nothing has been proven and once again the Kremlin denied involvement. The infrastructure provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.

In the wake of the December 25 incident, the Eagle S, an oil tanker had left a Russian port, when Finnish police and border guards seized the tanker as it fell under suspicion of cutting the Estlink 2 power and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor. Carrying 35,000 tons of oil, investigators charged the ship left a drag trail with its anchor for close to 100 kilometres on the sea bed before it was apprehended and escorted to a Finnish port.

At a depth of 90 metres at its deepest point, the cable is some 145 kilometres in length, stretching across one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe. Ten Baltic Sea cables have suffered damage since 2023. Undersea cables and pipelines criss-crossing the sea, link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. They promote trade, energy security and serve to reduce dependence on energy resources from Russia.

The patrol ship Turva located an anchor that is suspected to be related to the cable damage that occurred on December 25.    Finnish Police

Repatriating Syrian Refugees to Syria

"It is very uncomfortable."

"We are not some people who just arrived in Germany. We have lived here for ten to twelve years."

"We are part of the [German] society."

Sulaiman Abdullah, Syrian journalist/refugee 

"This is mentally devastating. It's difficult that after you set your mind to live here, build a new life here, learn the language and integrate in this country, you now have to return to your homeland where basic necessities are still missing."

"The fall of Assad is a huge joy for all Syrians, but we who came here and went into debt to finance this journey, every time we arrive in a new place, we have to start over again. It's difficult to think about returning to Syria now."

Hasan Alzagher, Syrian asylum seeker, Germany

Containers used as houses for refugees at former Berlin Tempelhof airport in Berlin. Germany has frozen the application process fo asylum seekers from Syria. EPA-EFE/Filip Singer

Syria's new government the head of which, Ahmad al-Sharaa of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, appears to have convinced some Western governments that his party is no longer affiliated with al-Qaeda, no longer a terrorist entity, but transformed to one that is dedicated to saving Syria from the failure it became under now-deposed Bashar al-Assad; that under his new direction for the country it will emerge an entirely different nation, one with room and respect for its minorities, one where the rule of law (Sharia law) will prevail, one that will no longer seek incursions into other countries' territories, nor wage conflict with neighbours.

 

The European countries to which displaced Syrians fled during the Syrian civil war when the Baath party led by the Alawite (Shi'ite) minority went to war under the Assad regime with its Sunni Syrian majority when Sunni discontent at being treated like second-class citizens convinced the regime it need not negotiate when violent repression was an option of choice, are viewing the downfall of the Assad regime with relief, believing that now is the time to return the refugees to their homeland.

 

Syrians who fled the civil war that ravaged their communities are now facing the prospect of the countries where they settled in Europe are prepared to wave them adieu, and they are anything but pleased at the turn of events. Germany alone holds 1.3 million Syrian refugees, while Turkey had given haven to multiple millions and soon became restive under the burden of harbouring them at huge economic cost. Turkey, in fact, did not wait for Assad's departure before returning tens of thousands of those it sheltered to Syria.

 

In Europe, many of the refugees ran afoul of the law and cultural/social mores ... and posed a threat to women and other minorities. Conservative elements within Europe, along with some mainstream politicians discussed the feasibility of chartering planes to Syria to return their Syrian refugees as soon as Assad departed Syria. They were willing to pay each refugee $1,000 euros as a bonus if they agreed to leave. Denmark has offered a $20,000 euro repatriation package to any Syrian residing in Denmark as an incentive to leave.

The asylum status of Syrian refugees in Germany has not yet been reviewed, with the European Union cautioning its members not to rush in deporting people, in that the peace now prevailing in Syria is preliminary and it remains to be seen what may occur yet in the near future, as the country grapples with its newfound freedom, and whether the euphoria over Assad's departure is pasted over the actual presence of yet another oppressive regime temporarily posing as the country's saviour.

 

A protest outside the Danish Embassy in Dublin in June 2021 in support of Syrians who were deported from Denmark back to Syria [Getty]

 

The situation is now such that many of those refugees who settled across Europe have become uneasily apprehensive of their future. In Germany the presence of Syrians is that of the largest refugee population. One that has become an integral part of the country's workforce, some operating their own businesses. They labour in the service sector or as drivers, delivery people or warehouse workers.

In addition, a significant number of Syrians are in the professions of medicine and health care. Leaving German officials to warn that dire consequences could ensue for the German health care sector should they lose the medical specialists of Syrian origins operating within a strained German health care system. Syrians who are now comfortable with the language and the lives they have established in Germany are alarmed at how swiftly their status in Europe is now being questioned.

Getty Images

There is no Consolation for Devastation Wildfires Produce

"[The Los Angeles area] had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire."

County supervisor, Lindsey Horvath

"We're not out of the woods yet. We have some very significant fire weather ahead of us." 

"We've prepositioned additional engines, fire crews, helicopters, bulldozers, water tenders across all of Southern California ... all poised to assist and support the additional fire threat."

Nancy Ward, director of the California Office of Emergency Services

 

"There's likely to be a lot more [fatalities in the wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area]."

"We always have to be careful on the death toll." 

"I've got search and rescue teams, we've got cadaver dogs out, and there's likely to be a lot more."

California Governor Gavin Newsom

 

"To all residents, please be assured that we will continue to be here for you until the last fire is completely extinguished."

"We stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation of evacuated areas, establishment of disaster recovery centers, and the rebuilding of your homes, your communities, and your lives."

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone  

"[Curfews remain in place for the Pacific Palisades and Brentwood neighborhoods, which is a] measure that is necessary to ensure public safety, as high winds are expected to pick up again."

"[The Palisades Fire] remains active, and as others have said, this situation is far from over."

"Pacific Palisades still faces dangerous conditions, including downed power lines, broken gas and water pipes and now slide conditions because of water activity."

Los Angeles City Council member Traci Park

Firefighters watch as water is dropped on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, in Los Angeles, on January 11.  Jae C. Hong/AP

Spreading wildfires saw firefighters racing to cut them off before the return of howling winds that could shove the flames closer to the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California Los Angeles. More home-owners were left on edge by new evacuation warnings, as a fierce battle was underway in Mandeville Canyon against the flames. Swooping helicopters were seen near the Pacific coast, dumping water on the downhill charging blaze. On the ground, firefighters were using hoses in an effort to beat back flames leaping everywhere, as thick smoke blanketed the hillsides.

CalFire operations chief Christian Litz explained their major focus on the Palisades Fire in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus. "We need to be aggressive out there", he said. The National Weather Service warned strong Santa Ana winds could soon return to replace the light breezes that were fanning the flames on Saturday. Santa Ana winds have been credited for the infernos that the wildfires were transformed into, levelling entire neighbourhoods which have seen no rainfall of any significant for the past eight months.

Megan Mantia, left, and her boyfriend Thomas, return to Mantia's fire-damaged home after the Eaton Fire swept through in Altadena, California, on January 8.   Ethan Swope/AP

There were fears that the fire threatened to leap over Interstate 405, into the Hollywood Hills and San
Fernando Valley, both highly populated. Teams conducted systematic grid searches on Saturday in the grim work sifting through the devastation with cadaver dogs. A family assistance centre was set  up in Pasadena as Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna urged residents to abide by curfews. "We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away."

The death count now stands at 26. Over 12,000 structures have been burnt to a cinder. Some 145 square miles have been consumed by the fires. Tens of thousands remain under evacuation orders while new evacuations were ordered Friday evening, following a flare-up on the Palisades Fire eastern side.Since the start of the fires on Tuesday north of downtown Los Angeles, structures including homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles have been burned.

No cause  has yet been attributed to the largest fires that have caused the nation's costliest wildfires event in its recorded history. Donation centres on Saturday were overwhelmed by volunteers to the point that many were turned away, although donations of necessities were accepted. Some residents have been returning in hopes of salvaging keepsakes, sifting through what was left of their homes in the rubble.

People were urged by officials to stay away. The ash, they warned, can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other dangerous materials. "If  you're kicking that stuff up, you're breathing it in", advised a spokesman for the  unified command at the Palisades Fire. "All of that stuff is toxic."

The Living Hell of Urban Wildfires

"We're looking for a little respite on Friday and Saturday from the Santa Ana winds but then they're going to pick up again Sunday through most of next week."

Meteorologist Rich Thompson

"[Right now, it's impossible to quantify the extent of the destruction other than] total devastation and loss."

"There are areas where everything is gone, there isn't even a stick of wood left, it's just dirt."

Barbara Bruderlin, head, Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce

"I've lived out here since the mid-80s and I don't think I've experienced anything as strong and forceful as these winds. I'm looking at a number of houses that have been destroyed of people I know."

"Not everybody who lives in California is a multimillionaire. There are a lot of [regular] folks here. If you're a person who doesn't have good finances, this is going to be devastating."

"I think this is a game changer for Los Angeles. People are going to have to re-evaluate where they live and I'll be surprised if they're going to rebuild in the areas quickly."

Hollywood Actor John Kapelos 

A still from a video that Kapelos took from his condo's rooftop on Tuesday near La Brea and Franklin Avenues, looking west from Hollywood toward the Pacific Ocean. (Submitted by John Kapelos)

"It's been scary. Looking around, you can see the smoke in the air and you're smelling it. Obviously the air quality is terrible right now."

"All these areas that are on fire, the majority of them are in the hills, so those are really narrow and winding roads, and a lot of people park on those streets and are trying to get out, so getting a firetruck up there would be an absolute nightmare. That really slows things down."

"I've had a few people I know who've lost their homes. Right now, they're just in shock because there's places they've been in for decades and all of a sudden everything is gone. Basically they just have what they could fit in their cars and nobody knows the next steps."

David Cooke, realtor, Toluca Lake neighbourhood

A man walks in front of the burning Altadena Community Church on Wednesday in in Pasadena, Calif., as wildfires continued to create devastation in the L.A. area. (Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press)

 To the present, 16 people have died in the blazes in the Los Angeles area. Entire neighbourhoods have been obliterated in America's second-largest city. Firefighters had  hoped for a break frmo fierce winds that fuelled the area's massive blazes. Over 10,000 homes have been burned, along with other structures since Tuesday. Fires first began appearing around the 40-kilometre expanse north of downtown Los Angeles, a densely populated area. 

 

Firefighters monitor the advance of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on January 11.

Eric Thayer/AP

 

California is accustomed to massive wildfires. Even so the shock at the fierceness and swift spread of these fires are like none before them, with dozens of blocks of Pacific Palisades flattened, and smouldering -- rubble only remains. The 13 million inhabitants of Metropolitan Los Angeles awoke Friday to another day of high winds stoking the fires with the threat of new flare-ups. Earlier in the week hurricane-force winds ignited the nearby hillsides with embers.

The forecast by meteorologist Rich Thompson was for Santa Ana winds to pick up once more on Sunday and throughout the following week. Thursday afternoon, the San Fernando Valley Kenneth Fire saw new blazes where evacuees from another fire were taking shelter in a school. An aggressive response by firefighters managed to quell the flames in neighbouring Ventura County. Calmer winds and out-of-state crews helped firefighters beat back two devastating wildfires. 

Over 5,000 structures were burned in the Altadena area by the Eaton Fire. Finally, firefighters have seen progress in containing the Eaton blaze. The fire in Pacific Palisades, the largest in the Los Angeles area, destroyed over 5,300 structures, with firefighters establishing the first containment on Thursday. Even so, that blaze is considered the be the most destructive in the history of blazes in Los Angeles.

With the assistance of aircraft water drops, crews were able to knock down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills. The famed Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue was close to immolation near the heart of the entertainment industry. No figures have  yet been released on the cost of the damage to date, but AccuWeather on Thursday increased its preliminary estimate of the damage and economic fallout to a range of $135 billion to $150 billion.

 

A fire fighting helicopter drops water on the Palisades fire on January 11.

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

 

Release Our People!

"We had hoped and worked for the safe return of the four members of the family from Hamas captivity."

"I send my deepest condolences to the family. I thank the IDF and Israel Security Agency forces for their determined operation to return our hostages."

"We will continue to make every effort to bring all of our hostages home -- both the living and the dead." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 

"I hope that all the captives, whether alive or not, will return."

"We don’t need to keep receiving news every week about one or two captives coming back to us in coffins."

"I hope there will be peace, quiet, and tranquility for the whole world. Enough already with all this suffering for these innocent souls."

"We were told by the army that Hamza was also killed, but his body has not been recovered. At the funeral, [Ziadna’s] children ran around shouting, ‘how can it be? Our father’s name was on the list of captives; he’s supposed to come home.’ Now, that hope is gone."

"The family is angry that the government isn’t making a deal to free the captives. Unfortunately, two days [after seeing the list], we received the heartbreaking news — for the whole family, for the entire city, for the world — that they were murdered, and this was their fate."

"It’s so very sad for the entire family. We’re all in shock."

Youssef Ziadna

 

"We continue to do everything to fulfill our supreme moral obligation -- the return of all the hostages, living and dead, to Israeli soil."

"Deep condolences to the Ziyadne family upon the discovery of the bodies of Youssef and Hamza, who were kidnapped by Hamas murderers on October 7 and were rescued in a heroic operation by our heroic soldiers."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz

Funeral of Youssef Ziadna, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Rahat, Israel on Jan. 9, 2025.

The bodies of two hostages, Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne, were locaed by troops with the Israel Defense Forces during military operations in the Gaza Strip, it was announced on Wednesday. Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "deepest sorrow for the terrible news that the Ziyadne family received today". 

On that infamous day of October 7, 2023, among other Israelis taken captive by Hamas operatives and some Palestinian civilians who had joined the terrorist invasion from Gaza into southern Israel, six Arab Muslim Bedouin Israeli citizens were kidnapped, and taken into Gaza. There were four members of the Ziadna family, and two others; Fouad al-Talalka, 22, and Qaid Farhan al-Qadi 53, from the Bedouin Israeli community of Houra, kidnapped from kibbutz Magen. Qadi was returned to Israel in August, found in an IDF rescue mission in a southern Gaza tunnel.

 

Youssef's remains, confirmed by the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), were discovered in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. Hamza's death was not immediately confirmed, although the announcement stated that the discoveries in the tunnel raised 'serious concerns' for his life. "Our hearts ache. We wanted them to return to our family alive, but unfortunately they returned dead. Aisha and her brother Bilal were waiting to embrace them. This is a difficult and shocking disaster", said Youssef's brother, Ali Ziyadne.

53-year-old Youssef Ziyade and his children Hamza, 22, Bilal, 28, and Aisha, 17, residents of the Israeli Bedouin community of Rahat, were working in Kibbutz Holit, close to the border with Gaza, when they were abducted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists on October 7. As part of the November 2023 ceasefire agreement between Jerusalem and Hamas following 55 days of captivity, the two younger children, Bilal and Aisha were released.

 

Israeli authorities estimate there remain 98 hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, 94 of whom were abducted during the October 7 attacks. Negotiations to release the remainder of the hostages have been ongoing. Hamas insists that consideration will only be given to their release in exchange for their conditions, among which is the condition that it be agreed they can return to Gaza. Their negotiators claim that it is Israel that is holding up the release of the hostages.

In the latest round of negotiations, when Israel demanded a list from Hamas of the hostages being held, those that are alive and those whose corpses Israel insists must be released as well, Hamas responded that it would need a week or more to compile such a list. That was followed up by Hamas announcing that as a result of Israeli 'aggression' it cannot now find where most of the abductees are. There are, however, estimates by Israeli intelligence that no more than 20 of the hostages may still be alive. 

 

This is part of the Hamas excruciating psychological warfare; after having begun this conflict by inflicting pain and suffering on an unarmed civilian population, conducting an organized mass rape, perpetrating torture and mutilation on Israeli girls and women, incinerating entire families in their homes, slaughtering infants, the elderly, and taking farming villages in stealth early-morning invasions, looting and destroying, slaughtering 1,200 people, including foreign farm workers, it invokes Israeli 'aggression' in response to its own atrocities.

 

And to eke out as much misery and anguish as it possibly can, torturing the families of the vulnerable, starving and beaten hostages by circulating photographs and videos of those purportedly still alive, their gaunt and battered faces barely resembling the healthy youth they had once been as they plead for release from their living hell. Now Hamas coyly denies it can even place all of the hostages known to be in their hands, knowing the anguish they cause the hostages' loved ones and revelling in the divisions it causes between the hostage families and Israeli government authorities determined to destroy their ability to carry out any future atrocities against Israel.

 

Funeral of Youssef Ziadna, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Rahat, Israel on Jan. 9, 2025

 

 

"Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away"

"I had no idea where we were. It was unreal and beyond my imagination."

"After being tattooed [133628] and inducted as a prisoner and losing my identity, I thought this was hell on Earth, from which I had little or no hope of getting out. I was in total despair."

"Only my father's presence gave me some hope."

Nate Leipciger, 96, from Sosnowiec, Poland

 

"[The artifacts, augmented by survivors' recorded testimonies], are the traces of genocide, the remnants of a murdered people, and the material evidence of crimes against humanity."

"They are what remain despite the perpetrators' attempts to conceal their crimes."

Paul Salmon, curator, exhibit catalogue, "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away" 

 

"It's not easy to go to a museum to learn about the particular story of Auschwitz, but sometimes the things that are more difficult are the ones that are more necessary."

"We knocked on many doors. I never got no for an answer."

 Luis Ferreiro, director, Musealia, Spain

 

"[The Royal Ontario Museum's mission is] to help people understand the past, make sense of the present, and come together to shape a shared future."

"[With the Auschwitz exhibit], we could not imagine an exhibition that more materially fulfilled our mission."

"[There is a deliberate attempt to avoid] gratuitous depictions of violence." 

Josh Basseches, museum director and CEO, ROM

Jews from Lubny, Ukraine, shortly before their murder by an Einsatzgruppe, 1941. This photo is one of the items in the exhibit Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away. Photo by Musealia

In 2008, Luis Ferreiro, director of his family's Spanish company Musealia, in mourning after the death of his 26-year-old bother, read psychotherapist and philosopher Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. It gave him comfort. Viktor Frankl was a survivor of Auschwitz. It was there that his pregnant wife, parents and his brother perished in Nazi Germany's campaign to extinguish all Jewish life in Europe. The book's story of survival and finding purpose in life despite the worst possible circumstances, resonated with Mr. Ferreiro.

Although not a Jew, he took inspiration from the writer's message and decided to pursue "a moral necessity to do something. It was always about Auschwitz for me". He collaborated with the Auschwitz Museum and spent time tracking down other potential involvement in a long but rewarding process to showcase human survival in the most obscene, inhumane period of modern human history. His decision to dedicate himself to this project gave purpose to his own life, through his grief.

 

The end product of his research and organizing of an exhibit to feature the Auschwitz death camp during the years of the Holocaust, in the Second World War, opened in 2017 in Madrid. Since then the exhibit has toured in New York, Kansas City the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Malmo, Sweden, and Boston. Between 1.4 and 2 million people have viewed the exhibit, according to Mr. Ferreiro's estimation. During his search for collaborators for his project, Mr. Ferreiro discovered Robert Jan van Pelt, professor at the University of Waterloo, among the world's leading experts on Auschwitz, who became the exhibit's chief curator.

At Birkenau, the largest of the nearly fifty sub-camps collectively known as Auschwitz, 96-year-old Toronto resident, Nate Leipciger, Holocaust survivor, who has over the years dedicated himself to educating the public about the Holocaust, had lost his mother and sister, murdered along with eight other members of his extended family. Their lives were taken in the gas chambers of Birkenau.

Of the Nazi death camps scattered throughout Europe, Auschwitz was the largest, most notorious and deadliest. At liberation, photographs of skeletal inmates in striped uniforms and dazed eyes, many too weak to rise from their serried bunks, were  seen worldwide as examples of the Nazi atrocities perpetrated against Europe's Jews in the slaughter of six million of Europe's Jewish communities. 

Details like crammed boxcars, crematoria, belching chimneys of human ash, barbed wire enclosures, a gate whose legend read "Arbeit Macht Frei" have become symbolic of the Holocaust. 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz in the four years of 1940 to 1944; 1.1 million were Jews. 900,000 were gassed soon after their arrival in packed rail boxcars. Others were used for slave labour until they died of exhaustion and malnutrition. Some 75,000 non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Roma, 14,000 Soviet prisoners of war and up to 15,000 of other categories including criminals, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and "undesirables", were also murdered there.

On January 10, preceding the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation on January 27 (annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day), the exhibit will open at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Over 500 original artifacts, along with hundreds of photographs, charts, drawings, correspondence and diagrams will be shown at the exhibit, most of them on loan from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, and from over 20 other institutions.

Among many other items are receptacles that once contained Zyklon B pellets. Belongings of newly-arrived prisoners of the time, are heaped within a large glass case, comprised of everyday common personal items such as shaving material, perfume bottles, eyeglasses, hair brushes, bowls and buttons. Personal property items of the victims were in such abundance they were stored within 30 barracks, referred to as "Kanada", a country imagined to be brimful of wealth.

 

During the Holocaust an estimated 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered or died of deprivation. At a time of steeply rising antisemitism all over the world, a time when knowledge of the Holocaust is fading, the exhibit strives to reawaken a disinterested world's memory and conscience. The exhibit will be on display until September 1. The ROM is its only Canadian destination. The museum has suspended an admission charge for Grades 6 - 12 students in organized school visits.