Posts on Sunday, October 8, 2023
Former Trump National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien criticized the Biden administration for paying Iran $6 billion in ransom money, saying that it incentivized Hamas to take Americans in Israel hostage on Saturday as it launched a number of terrorist attacks across the country.
“While welcoming our Iran hostages home, I said at the time — paying ransom (eg unfreezing $6 billion) is problematic because it incentivizes new hostage taking & gives terrorists money for new operations. I didn’t think we would see these points illustrated so vividly, so quickly,” O’Brien posted on X.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a statement Sunday directly condemning the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas for a bloody terror spree that has left over 700 dead since early Saturday, urging the region to avoid following the group toward “nihilistic destruction.”
The UAE is one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential explicitly Islamic governments. (snip) In the official statement, the Ministry “stressed that attacks by Hamas against Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza strip, including the firing of thousands of rockets at population centers, are a serious and grave escalation.”
Iran was instrumental in helping Hamas launch a surprise attack against Israel early Saturday and gave a thumbs-up to the attackers in Beirut last Monday, senior members of Hamas and fellow militant group Hezbollah revealed Sunday.
Iranian officials helped plan the attack, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources within those and other groups. They said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers had plotted the assault over land, sea and air with Hamas since August, finessing details at several meetings in Beirut. Two other Islamic militant groups were also involved in the planning, the sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Ronald Reagan's Warning
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The free-fall that is now the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is a needless self-inflicted political wound that only serves to distract the GOP caucus, and the nation at large, from the very real crises facing America.
Rather than focus on the open borders that are transforming our nation's cities into migrant camps and threats from foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party, we are engaged in recriminations and intraparty personal feuds. Rather than tackle a crippling debt of nearly $33 trillion, we are witnessing a political drama associated with selecting a new Speaker of the House. Rather than advance American energy independence,
Former Vice President Mike Pence is blaming President Trump and other GOP rivals for the 2024 presidential nomination–but mainly Trump–for the attack by Hamas on Israel. In back to back attacks in a speech in Iowa on Saturday and a CNN interview on Sunday, Pence accused Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy of “appeasement” and “signaling retreat.” Pence said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, “This is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis signaling retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world….When I’m President of the United States, we’ll lead from American strength.”
Stop Pretending – It’s Not the “Fungibility,”
It’s the Location of the $6 Billion
Returned to Iran replies
It’s the Location of the $6 Billion
Returned to Iran replies
You want to go deep weeds, let’s go deep weeds. Almost all of the conversations about the $6 billion given back to Iran have focused on the fungible aspect of money. While true, that focus misses the key and essential point, where the money was delivered.
The captured $6 billion was held in a South Korean bank, the result of sanctions violations. What the Biden/Blinken crew did, was move the money from South Korea to a bank in Qatar. (snip) Qatar is the financial center for Islamic extremist operations.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker, has endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to become the next House speaker.
"Jim Jordan is an honest man, true to his word and his values," Mace said in a post on Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "He's also a workhorse. He will put people above petty Washington politics. He has my full support to be the next Speaker of the House." Mace was one of eight House Republicans who joined all House Democrats in ousting McCarthy from the speakership last Tuesday.
Perhaps no greater delusion stubbornly persists from one generation to the next than the idea that governments can be trusted. Sure, they conduct their affairs in secret, spy on their own people, and arm themselves to the teeth — but, by all means, trust them as you would a dear relative. Sure, they steal from productive citizens, manipulate markets, and swell their bureaucratic armies with ever-growing taxes — but, by all means, trust them as you would a close business associate. Sure, they impose their beliefs on our culture, ban the public expression of unfavored religions, and interpose their agents between parents and children —
The US military is fighting a fitness crisis brought by a growing number of obese troops and 'skinny fat' recruits who can't pass fitness tests.
Obesity rates among service members surged during COVID and recruiters are also confronted by a growing number of would-be soldiers who are simply too large, too weak or both.
Top brass are now redefining fitness tests - including the military's notorious 'tape test' - and introducing state-of-the-art scanner machines that calculate body fat. Troops who fail are placed on special programs to bring them into shape.
Proportionate about Gang Rape
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In our initial report on this new war yesterday, we published a video showing a terrified young lady being abducted by Hamas "soldiers" from an Israeli music festival. She was delivered to Gaza. This is the condition she arrived in:
"Allahu Akbar!" Because Allah is truly great, isn't he? He let us target the Jewess, and then strip her and beat her and rape her. And then, when we drive what's left to the dar al-Islam, we all get to dance in the streets and desecrate her corpse. Boy, what a generous guy that Allah is!
The Hamas leader behind the deadliest attack on Israel watched and celebrated the invasion from the safety of his Qatar office.
Ismail Haniyeh was spotted with other Hamas officials cheering for joy before they prostrated themselves on the floor and praised God.
It came as the terrorist group launched the single deadliest attack ever launched against Israel - which the Jewish state has claimed is 'our 9/11'.sraeli media said at least 700 people were killed and 2,000 wounded in Saturday's attack.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said as many as 1,000 Hamas fighters were involved in the assault,
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that they have reports several Americans were killed during Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Saturday, which resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want to ask about any Americans in Israel. Is there any indication that Americans were killed or kidnapped by terrorists?” Blinken said, “Yes. We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans, and, there again, we’re working to verify those reports.”
Amazon's Alexa has told users that the 2020 presidential election was 'stolen by a massive amount of election fraud' causing Jeff Bezos' empire to scramble to explain the concerning content.
An investigation by the Washington Post showed when the devices were asked if the election was stolen, they would cite unproven facts and say that electoral fraud had taken place.
The Alexa said it was 'stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,' while citing Rumble, a right-wing video streaming site.
On Saturday, the worst single-day attack on Israel in the nation's history occurred as thousands of Palestinian terrorists invaded and brutally murdered men, women, and children in the streets. As of this writing, dozens are still being held hostage, and retaliatory strikes within the Gaza Strip are already underway.Some of the videos that came out in the immediate aftermath were horrific, with one showing a women who had been tortured, stripped, and murdered before being paraded around in the back of a truck. Other videos circulated showing Hamas militants going door to door, killing civilians.
Code Pink Endorses Hamas Attacks on Israel;
“Anti-War” Groups Announce Pro-Hamas
Rallies in US replies
“Anti-War” Groups Announce Pro-Hamas
Rallies in US replies
The masks are finally completely off of the communist front groups that have led the “anti-war” movement the past two decades. The communist group Code Pink, founded in 2002 to oppose the U.S. liberation of Iraq from the regime of the mass-murdering, genocidal, war-mongering tyrant Saddam Hussein, posted the group’s endorsement of the Hamas attacks on Israel Saturday as other “anti-war” groups announced plans for pro-Hamas rallies to be held across the U.S. over the long Columbus Day holiday weekend.
….. Have you ever boiled milk?
Many people are struggling to understand the extent of the radicalization that is currently taking place inside our nation. Fewer still are willing to accept that all the datapoints in the continuum lead us to a very specific place.
For the intents of this outline, consider the attack against Israel by Hamas as one element of a destructive story that will not remain isolated as a war in the Middle Rast. Gaza is to the transit of terrorists into Israel, as Mexico is a transit hub into the United States.
On September 22, 2023, the Dept of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
Harvard students expressed their support for Palestinian terrorists amid the unprecedented terror attack on Israel this weekend. In a joint statement signed by at least 57 student groups, the Ivy League students blamed Israel for the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas killing 600 Israelis.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” a joint statement by scores of Harvard student groups read. ( X ) “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the statement continue. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison.
Senior members of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah claimed that Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed at least 600 people was given the green light by Iranian security officials.
Hamas plotted the air, land and sea invasions with help from officers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The official go-ahead for the attack was allegedly given at a Monday meeting in Beirut. Four other Iranian backed military groups were believed to be at the meeting, including members of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken claims he has 'not yet seen evidence' that Iran was involved in the attack. 'We don't have any information at this time
A Boston college professor's daughter and son-in-law were among those killed in Israel after a series of fierce attacks from Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Professor Ilan Troen, 83, had recently retired from his role at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and moved to Israel to be with his family.
The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter Debbie Shahar Troen Mathias and son-in-law Shlomi Mathias were killed by gunmen from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.They managed to save their teenage son by flinging their bodies over him.
The family were together in a secure room inside their home when in was penetrated by Hamas fighters.
The Blood Deal
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On Saturday morning at dawn, Hamas, supposedly representing all Palestinian people, invaded Israel, causing widespread panic, mayhem, death, and destruction. No precursor event launched this attack, one of five over the last 25 years. The attack was punctuated by firing thousands of rockets all over Israel, overwhelming Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defense system.
With no chance of militarily defeating Israel, what precipitated the attack, and what is the deeper meaning for America and Israel, who have been joined at the hip almost since Israel’s inception?
President Joe Biden ordered US ships and warplanes to move closer to Israel in a show of support on Sunday, while sending fresh military aid after attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Pentagon said it was sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, while boosting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. The United States, a major supplier of arms to Israel, has moved quickly to affirm its backing for Israel after Saturday’s surprise attack
A counter-protest has erupted in New York City's Times Square after pro-Palestinian groups gathered to rally - just one day after terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel, leaving hundreds of civilians dead.
Irate demonstrators waving Israeli flags clashed with hundreds of seething placard-clad protesters - who rallied together at 1pm on Sunday in Manhattan's Midtown.
New York is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.'How can you support this!
Hamas terrorists launched a massive surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, killing dozens of soldiers and innocent families inside Israel.
Hamas reportedly launched over 5,000 missiles into southern and central Israel. Over 250 Israelis are dead, and over 1,000 were hospitalized following the massive assault inside Israel.
Hundreds of Israelis were attending a nature party, also described as a peace party, in the desert near the border on Saturday when Hamas launched its attack.
Chaos erupted after Hamas reportedly opened fire on the gathering.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that none of the $6 billion released by the U.S. for humanitarian aid in Iran was used to help fund Hamas’ attack against Israel on Saturday, which resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “While we’re talking about Iran, I have to ask you to, if you want to respond to what we’re hearing from Republicans who are over and over since this happened using word appeasement when it comes to Iran and they criticized the decision to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian funds. I know and want to state that that money has not yet
Caroline Glick provides a somber rundown of what has happened in Israel, and starting at 06:00 of the video below, shares some pragmatic thoughts on the meaning of the war and the only way that it can end with Israel and its people safe.
Given the nature of what has been happening in Israeli politics, and the coordination Saturday in the Hamas attack, as Mrs. Glick aptly notes, all prior metrics for a regional Israeli control and defend policy has failed.
In very somber tones, Caroline Glick deconstructs the pretending model and cuts to the heart of the issue. Regardless of diplomatic costs, the strategic killing of every element of Hamas
Americans are among the hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog confirmed Sunday.
“I understand there, but I don’t have details,” Herzog said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel early Saturday morning, killing hundreds and kidnapping others. The massive incursion came a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the surprise invasion on Yom Kippur, up until now the worst surprise attacks Israel has been subject to.
Victor Davis Hanson is a man not known for short-term thinking. Indeed, while his analysis does not always contain the same scope of datapoints reviewed here, his opinions are generally rooted in accepting things as they are, not as he would pretend them to be.
Recently during an interview with Tucker Carlson, as he contrasts the targeting of President Donald Trump, VDH was far more distraught than previously noted in his analysis. He increasingly sees our American options for a peaceful approach to retain our constitutional republic, diminishing.
Today, VDH takes the overall geopolitical landscape and outlines his thoughts below on the Hamas terror attack against the nation state of Israel.
As expected, there have been a lot of truly terrible takes shared about the recent Palestinian invasion of Israel. Despite shocking videos showing women and children being tortured and murdered in the streets, members of the Democrat "squad," including Rep. Ilhan Omar, still managed to draw a moral equivalency and demand a ceasefire that it just so happens would save Hamas. What a coincidence, right?
But while those statements weren't ambiguous, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's post on the matter left people completely confused as well as angry. Really, can someone tell me what the heck this is?
It would be hard for anybody to justify or spin the dastardly attacks on Israel by Hamas.
But that isn't stopping some from coming out with bad reactions, like some of the Squad members, suggesting that now that Hamas has viciously attacked, it's time not to respond but to call for a ceasefire, as opposed to dealing with the terrorist murderers. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) followed in line with other Squad members calling for an immediate ceasefire. She also spoke about the "oppression and occupation" more than she spoke about the murder of hundreds of Israelis by Hamas. (X) From her other account, AOC also "liked" this misleading post,
Palestinian terrorists (no, that’s not necessarily redundant) in Gaza launched a brutal terrorist attack on Israel yesterday. They slaughtered at least 800 Israelis, many of them unarmed women and children. Some were taken hostage back to Gaza where they were paraded through the streets and beaten.
It was a massive and highly coordinated attack with incursions by land, air and sea. From a thousand miles away, Iran was likely funding and coordinating it. There had to be a lot of cyber chatter preceding the attack.
Yet Israel was apparently caught by complete surprise.
The question being rightly asked is, how could Israel’s intel operations
The deadly Hamas-led incursion into Israel should serve as a warning sign for America, GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said Sunday, comparing America’s southern border with Mexico to Israel’s border with Gaza.
“We don’t need to wait for another 9/11. You also look at the fact that, Kristen, America is incredibly distracted and incredibly divided and when America’s distracted the world is less safe. And look at what happened to Israel. They waited for them to be distracted and that’s when your enemies move in. America needs to wake up,” Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told NBC’s Kristen Welker during an interview on “Meet the Press.”
The surprise attack by Hamas on Israel suggests a massive intelligence failure as the Israeli government appeared blindsided by the infiltration of Hamas fighters across the southern border and the launch of thousands of rockets.
The Hamas assault by air, land and sea also raised questions as to why U.S. intelligence agencies apparently did not see it coming, experts and former intelligence officials said. U.S. officials said that if the Israelis knew an attack was imminent, they did not share it with Washington.
“We were not tracking this,” one senior U.S. military official told NBC News.
A compilation of clips released by Hamas shows how the terror group invaded southern Israel yesterday and carried out its vast, murderous attack, killing some 500 civilians and soldiers, and kidnapping dozens more to the Gaza Strip.
First, Hamas bombed Israeli observation towers and weapons systems on the border using drones.
Footage shows drones dropping explosive devices onto Israeli sites on the Gaza border.
Next, the terror group fired hundreds of rockets at southern and central Israel, as terrorists on paragliders flew over the border.
Israel formally declared war with Hamas, the first time the Jewish State has undertaken such a move since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
“Hamas wants to murder us all. This is an enemy that murders children and mothers in their homes, in their beds, an enemy that abducts the elderly, children and young women, that slaughters and massacres our citizens, including children, who simply went out to enjoy the holiday,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released in a public message on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“What happened today is unprecedented in Israel — and I will see to it that it does not happen again. The entire government
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have made California the first U.S. state to outlaw caste-based discrimination. Caste is a division of people related to birth or descent. Those at the lowest strata of the caste system, known as Dalits, have been pushing for legal protections in California and beyond. They say it is necessary to protect them from bias in housing, education and in the tech sector — where they hold key roles.
In a recent CNN interview, former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for "formal deprogramming" of what she terms as the "MAGA cult." Formal? Did she mean government-sponsored deprogramming? This is not the first time the left is calling for deprogramming of the right.
In 2021, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., proposed using taxpayer funds to deprogram white supremacists, a code name for conservatives and MAGA Republicans.
Joe Biden's tension with his Secret Service detail goes back to his years as vice president when he made female agents uncomfortable by skinny-dipping in front of them but it's gotten worse during his White House years after his German Shepherds bit several agents.
Biden's new two-year-old dog Commander has bitten at least a dozen agents plus people who work in the White House residence, requiring some to get medical attention. And the first couple's former dog Major was so aggressive and prone to biting that he was rehomed to friends in Delaware.
President Trump on Saturday revealed the one thing that would make him drop out of the race for President, and it’s not the politicized indictments, the harassment of his family, the destruction of his wealth, or a Hillary Clinton Special.
It’s Joe Biden’s failed policies.
Trump joked with the crowd in Cedar Rapids on Saturday that he will possibly drop out of the race to open up a tow truck company. “I’m going to open up a massive, all over the country, tow trucks so that when they run out of their energy, I’ll tow those suckers right back home,” said Trump, talking about “Biden’s insane electric vehicle mandates.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a variety of other Muslim and pro-Palestinian groups in the United States failed to condemn the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Saturday, and instead offered their support.
In a statement, CAIR expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, and did not condemn violence against Israel. Over 300 Israelis were murdered, and over 1,500 wounded, in an unprecedented terror attack on civilian targets. CAIR called for “maximum pressure on Israel” and added: “Furthermore, we urge Arab and Muslim countries that have normalized relations with Israel to reconsider their approach.”
“Sociopaths are attracted to politics because the see it as a sphere in which you can be ruthless and step all over people. That fact that some politicians can tell such awful lies is another example of sociopathy. Sociopaths lie—they see nothing wrong with it.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Revolving Door of Life
An evil person is someone who engages in malevolent behaviors. They are frequently immoral, depraved, wicked and/or mentally ill.
Each of those words can easily be attributed to Hillary Clinton. The many crimes she committed while the First Lady of Arkansas are well-known old news
If blacks need any more proof that, as a group, the white Democrats and leftists who run things see them as inferior, the “Fire Alarm” issue surrounding Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) should leave no doubt.
Briefly, during the recent vote to avoid a government shutdown, the Democrats sought to delay the vote because the resolution did not include Ukraine funding, but they were unable to buy time. Coincidentally (and conveniently), Rep. Bowman pulled a fire alarm Rep. Bowman, causing a 1-hour delay in the proceedings. It’s worthwhile considering how Rep. Bowman came to do this.
White liberal leftist Democrats, plus blacks who are running their own con
A 78-year-old veteran asked a question that went viral: Why are illegal aliens getting more benefits than he does? While his facts were shaky, his premise is valid: Illegal aliens suck up tax money. The answer lies in how leftists on the Supreme Court interpreted the 14th Amendment.
Paul is a Vietnam veteran, former correctional officer, and truck driver who is 100% disabled and living primarily on his Social Security disability and Medicare. He’s noticed that illegal aliens who sneaked into a country to which they contributed nothing are suddenly getting lots of taxpayer benefits:
The Democrats are making no effort to hide their totalitarian impulses. Certainly, Hillary Clinton isn’t. In an interview this week with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. she suggested that Trump supporters were part of a cult and needed formal deprogramming. Whatever the reason, you know, make America great again was a bid for nostalgia to return to a place where people could be in charge of their lives, feel empowered, say what they want, insult whoever came in their way. And that was really attractive to a significant portion of the Republican base. So, it is like a cult.
And somebody has to break that momentum.
The Washington Post is putting a damper on the fall by invoking the "violent history" of America's beloved seasonal tradition: pumpkin spice.
The report titled "Fall’s favorite spice blend has a violent history" set the scene of the Dutch's 1621 invasion of the Banda Islands (located in modern day Indonesia), detailing that "Thousands were killed, others enslaved, and many who fled to the mountains were starved out."
University of Texas at Austin historian Adam Clulow told The Post, "The Dutch company was later accused of carrying out what some describe as the first instance of corporate genocide. . . . And it was all for nutmeg."
A scheduled “picnic” sponsored by the University of Nevada Las Vegas law school’s Environmental Law Society has been renamed “Lunch by the Lake” due to “diversity and inclusion” concerns.
According to a memo obtained by Libs of TikTok, the law group informed members that the word “picnic” has “historical and offensive connotations,” and apologized for “any harm or discomfort” caused by its use.
The group’s view mirrors that of the University of Michigan’s IT department from several years ago: “Picnic” was included in a “Words Matter Task Force’s” list of offensive words and phrases along with “brown bag,” “blacklist” and “long time, no see” among others.
Things may be about to deteriorate even more, and where the Biden team has led us is into a real mess.
As we reported earlier, a horrific terrorist war by Hamas is underway against Israel and Iran is celebrating, calling it a "proud operation," chanting, "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."
According to reports, now the Taliban have announced that they are asking Iran, Iraq, and Jordan for passage through to Israel to help Hamas continue its terrorism against the Jewish state. They state they intend to "conquer Jerusalem."
So if we don't get the wider war out of Ukraine, it looks like it might
One week before Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel, a top aide to President Joe Biden touted a relative calm in the Middle East.
“The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, according to The Atlantic. He went on to stress that “challenges remain,” citing Iran’s nuclear weapons program and “tensions” between Israel and the Palestinians, but added, “the amount of time I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11 is significantly reduced.”
Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin took some serious backlash on Saturday after she suggested in an X post that the GOP was somehow responsible for creating the conditions that led to Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel.
Rubin appeared to be lashing out at Republicans, many of whom had suggested that President Joe Biden’s failures in foreign policy — particularly the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the recent deal freeing up $6 billion in Iranian oil money — had ultimately led to the attack on Israel, a close ally.
“How about this: With US House in chaos and US military promotions on hold, Hamas struck. Republicans’ weakness invites terror,” Rubin posted.
As the world reacted Saturday to the news of Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel, a video clip of the late comedian Joan Rivers began circulating on social media.
In the clip, which entertainment site TMZ first aired just weeks prior to Rivers’ death in 2014, the legendary comic delivered a perfect summary of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians — along with an analogy comparing them to New York and New Jersey. [Video]
TMZ approached Rivers in late July, two weeks into what would turn out to be 50 days of hostilities between the Israelis and the Palestinians,