Are Cuba and Panama Connected to Hamas?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Cuba is in the North closest to USA's Florida;  Panama is the bridge between Central America and South America

Cuba has links to Hamas through political support and intelligence sharing, while Panama has no known connection to Hamas and maintains strong pro-Israel relations. 

They are both said to be on Trumps radar for further take-overs for thesake of US security.                      

Arafat made as many eight official visits to Castro's Cuba [The Arafat Foundation]

Cuba has significant political and historical connections to Hamas and its primary patron, Iran. The Cuban government publicly supports the Palestinian cause, views the conflict through an anti-imperialist lens, and refuses to condemn Hamas's actions, leading the U.S. to again designate Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT). 

•  Cuba has a decades-long history of supporting the Palestinian national movement and views the Palestinian struggle as an anti-colonial effort. The Cuban Foreign Ministry released a formal statement after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, blaming Israel and the U.S. for the violence and describing the massacre as a "consequence" of Israeli actions, while refusing to condemn the attacks themselves.
•  Cuban officials have held meetings with high-ranking officials from Iran and Hamas. For example, a Hamas delegation publicly visited the Cuban ambassador in Lebanon in February 2023 which was after the gross slaughter by Palestinians, where the ambassador recognized the "legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend their land".
•  Reports from sources such as the Center for a Free Cuba and U.S. congressional testimony allege that the Cuban intelligence service provides intelligence to Hamas and allows Hezbollah to maintain a base in Cuba.
• The Cuban government has organized large, official pro-Palestinian marches in Havana, some of which included banners of Hezbollah leaders, to express solidarity and protest Israel's military actions.
• Historical Context: Cuba has not had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1973. Historically, the Castro regime trained members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970s and 1980s and has a history of promoting anti-Israel and allegedly antisemitic propaganda.
• State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation: The U.S. placed Cuba back on the SSOT list in 2021 (having previously been removed in 2015) due to its continued support for international terrorism, including its relationships with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. 
• In March 1960, U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his approval to a CIA plan to arm and train a group of Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro government. 
  
  Raúl Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama at their joint press conference in Havana, Cuba, 21 March 2016.  As of December 2014, talks with Cuban officials and American officials, including President Barack Obama,
  
                               Alan Gross, Jewish US Federal worker
  resulted in the release of Alan Gross , age 76, held for 5 years , fifty-two political prisoners, and an unnamed non-citizen agent of the United States in return for the release of three Cuban agents currently imprisoned in the United States. (ratio of 54:3)
• Raúl Castro stepped down from the presidency on 19 April 2018, and Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president of the State Council by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Raúl Castro remained the First Secretary of the Communist Party and retained broad authority, including oversight over the president.
• On 12 January 2021, then-U.S. President Donald Trump added Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, implementing a new series of economic sanctions on the country.  The 2024–2025 Cuba blackouts were the most severe living crisis that the country has experienced since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. President Díaz-Canel blamed the blackout on the United States embargo against Cuba, which he said prevented much needed supplies and replacement parts from reaching Cuba.     
  
  
  
•                                     PANAMA

• The United States cooperates with the Panamanian government in promoting economic, political, security, and social development through US and international agencies. Cultural ties between the two countries are strong, and many Panamanians go to the United States for higher education and advanced training.

  Panama is the 96th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index.

  

• It's past is something else.  Since the end of Manuel Noriega's military dictatorship in 1989, Panama has completed five peaceful transfers of power to opposing political factions. 

  
                Noriega's mug shot after his surrender to U.S. forces in 1990.  Beginning in the 1950s, Noriega worked with U.S. intelligence agencies, and became one of the Central Intelligence Agency's most valued intelligence sources. He also served as a conduit for illicit weapons, military equipment, and cash destined for U.S.-backed forces throughout Latin America..

• The political landscape is dominated by two major parties and various smaller parties, many of which are driven by individual leaders more than ideologies. Former president Martín Torrijos is the son of the general Omar Torrijos. He succeeded Mireya Moscoso, the widow of the former president Arnulfo Arias. Panama's most recent national elections took place on May 5, 2024.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Gross

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/26/fidel-castro-the-palestinian-connection#:~:text=Castro%20always%20welcomed%20him%20like,against%20imperial%20and%20colonial%20powers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#:~:text=Manuel%20Antonio%20Noriega%20Moreno%20(%2Fm%C9%91%CB%90n%CB%88w%C9%9Bl&text=was%20a%20Panamanian%20military%20officer,Panama%20from%201983%20to%201989.

Why It Was Easy For Hamas To Take Over Gaza

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                                   Rabin, Clinton, Arafat

By 1964, the primary Palestinian groups were earlier nationalist movements and emerging militant organizations that predated the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in May of that year. 

• Arab Higher Committee: This was a prominent, older Arab nationalist group that had been active since the British Mandate era and the 1948 War. Led by Hajj Amin al-Husayni, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, it was largely sidelined after the establishment of the PLO.                                     
  
  
  
• Fatah (Palestinian National Liberation Movement): Founded as a political movement in 1959 by members of the Palestinian diaspora, including Yasser Arafat from Egypt, Salah Khalaf, and Khalil al-Wazir. Fatah operated clandestinely before 1964 and publicly emerged in January 1965 when it claimed responsibility for attacks in Israel. Fatah members attended the first Palestinian National Congress in a personal capacity.
• Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM): Founded in 1953 by George Habash, a Palestinian Christian, the ANM was a secular, pan-Arab movement with branches in several Arab countries. Its commando group, "Heroes of Return" (Abtal al-Audah), was established in 1966 in collaboration with the PLO's army. The ANM was a precursor to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was formed in 1967.
• Palestine Popular Liberation Organization: This far-left group was founded in 1964.
• Ba'ath Party: Members of the al-Ba'ath Party also attended the first Palestinian National Congress in a personal capacity. 
It is important to note that many of the major factions prominent in later years, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), were established after 1964. 
• Origins: The PLO was formed in 1964 as a secular, nationalist umbrella organization for various Palestinian groups, with Fatah being its dominant faction. 
• Hamas, an Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded much later in 1987 (at the start of the First Intifada) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, making it an Islamist organization.
• Arafat was the PLO leader, so Israel had been fighting those terrorists since 1964, before the 1967 War.  
• Opposition to Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation: The Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, opposed attempts at reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, stressing that Hamas needed to accept the Quartet Principles (renunciation of violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements) to be considered a legitimate political actor. This stance made it difficult for a unity government to function or gain international support, thereby entrenching the existing split.
  
  
  
• Lack of Credible Peace Process: The administration's failure to make significant progress on a peace settlement, despite President Obama's initial declaration regarding the 1967 borders, led to widespread frustration and a sense among Palestinians that the U.S. was a biased mediator favoring Israel. "The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states."
• After all the dickering that went on, the Jewish Homeland was eaten up by Jordan's Abdullah who received 80%, leaving 20 % for the Jews, and now they are to lose at least 10% more of it to Palestinians who never ever had land in Palestine.  These people came from surrounding countries, like Syria.  
• This disillusionment with the U.S.-led peace process and the internationally-backed Fatah leadership may have indirectly sustained or increased underlying support for alternative, more resistant factions like Hamas.  

Seated at the table for these important talks were noteworthy leaders, including PLO head Yassir Arafat, former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Norwegian deputy foreign minister Jan Egeland. The Norwegians effectively served as mediators between the two sides.

Now they say that:  Although the Oslo Accords were noteworthy in that the PLO agreed to formally recognize the state of Israel and that Israel, in turn, allowed the Palestinians some form of limited self-governance in Gaza and the West Bank (the so-called Occupied Territories), they were originally seen only as a stepping-stone toward the ratification of a formal peace treaty between the two sides that would end decades of conflict. However, the Oslo Accords have yet to result in any lasting peace—and their overall impact remains up for debate. Why? Because they keep on attacking Israel, like the town of Sderot; attacked almost daily.

• Late 2001 onwards: The city of Sderot has been a target of continuous, though often less lethal, Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since this time, with rocket fire intensifying significantly after the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005. The first Israeli fatalities from rocket fire occurred in the Sderot area in June 2004. 

Hamas

The Oslo Accords were caused by a convergence of factors, including the Israeli government and PLO facing pressure to end the First Intifada, which eroded Israel's international standing, like today. The Intifada began on 9 December 1987 in the Jabalia refugee camp after an Israeli truck driver collided with parked civilian vehicles, killing four Palestinian workers, three of whom were from the refugee camp. Palestinians charged that the collision was a deliberate response for the killing of an Israeli in Gaza days earlier.

The accords were brokered through secret, back-channel negotiations in Norway and began with the premise of gradual self-governance for Palestinians, based on the mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO. 

The Oslo Accords were made up of the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). They also involved other parties as mediators and witnesses, most notably Norway, which hosted the initial secret negotiations, and the United States, which hosted the signing ceremony for the first accord and played a role in its implementation. 

• Main parties: The primary signatories and participants were the Israeli government, represented by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the PLO, represented by Chairman Yasser Arafat.
• Mediators: Secret negotiations took place in Oslo, Norway, and were facilitated by Norwegian officials like Jan Egeland and Johan Jørgen Holst.
• Witnesses and supporters: The signing of the accords was witnessed by leaders from other countries, including the United States and Russia, as well as representatives from Egypt, Jordan, and the European Union. The U.S. played a significant role in bringing the parties together and helping to implement the agreement. 

• 1994: Under the Oslo Accords, Israel began a phased transfer of governmental authority in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho to the newly created Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Yasser Arafat.
• Since 2001, Palestinian militants have launched tens of thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of the continuing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
• August-September 2005: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon implemented a full, unilateral disengagement from Gaza, which involved evacuating all Israeli settlers and soldiers and demolishing all 21 Israeli settlements in the territory. The last soldier left the Gaza Strip on September 12, 2005
• Following the 2005 withdrawal, control of the territory was transferred to the Palestinian Authority. However, Israel maintained control of Gaza's borders, airspace, and shoreline for self protection-security, leading many international bodies and legal experts to still consider the territory under Israeli occupation according to international law. 

2006 Election: Tensions escalated after Hamas, an Islamist movement designated a terrorist organization by the US and EU, won a decisive victory in the Palestinian legislative elections, ending decades of Fatah leadership.  The 2006 elections were the second elections to the PLC. The first elections took place in 1996, but the subsequent elections had been postponed for many years due to disagreements between Fatah and Hamas. They vied for being leader with power.  Hamas was considered a terrorist organization by countries like the United States. Along with this, Yasser Arafat's cabinet called off the 2003 election because it claimed that the "Israeli military occupation of West Bank cities made a free ballot impossible"

• In 2007, the militant group,  Hamas,  forcibly seized control of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-led PA after a violent conflict, and the territory has remained under Hamas's governance since then. This led to Israel and Egypt imposing a significant blockade on the area. The Bush administration, which had pushed for the elections in an effort to promote democracy, chose to ignore the results and isolate Hamas after it won a majority of the seats. 
• The 2007 conflict between Fatah and Hamas, known as the Battle of Gaza, was a brief but brutal civil war from June 10 to 15, 2007, resulting in Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip and a de facto division of the Palestinian territories. 

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_the_Gaza_

Strip#:~:text=In%202005%2C%20Israel%20disengaged%20from,Court

%20of%20Justice%20advisory%20opinion

A Controversial War For Some, A Real War To Israelis

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Seems like the Diaspora just doesn't see eye to eye when others find themselves in the midst of a war, a Declared War to let let world know they are being attacked and it's WAR!  They find, in their own safe quarters, that it must be controversial because they sure don't know why Jews are killing children, yes, that's what they see on their TV screens and come to only one conclusion.

Cast a Giant Shadow is a 1966 American action film based on the life of Colonel Mickey Marcus, and stars Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson. Melville Shavelson adapted, produced and directed. The film is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a real-life Jewish-American military officer, Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded units of the fledgling Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

David Daniel "Mickey" Marcus was a United States Army colonel, later Israel's first general, who was a principal architect of the U.S. military's World War II civil-affairs policies, including the organization of the war-crimes trials in Germany and in Japan.  David Daniel Mickey Marcus, a tough Brooklyn street kid, rose by virtue of his courage and intelligence to help save Israel in 1948 and become its first general since Judah Maccabee. After a distinguished career in military and public service to the United States, the 46-year-old Marcus wrote his name forever in the annals of Israeli history.

Born to immigrant parents in 1902, Marcus grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn where, to defend himself against neighborhood toughs, he learned to box. His high school athletic and academic record won him admission to West Point in 1920, from which he graduated with impressive scores. After completing his required service, Marcus went to law school and spent most of the 1930s as a Federal attorney in New York, helping bring Lucky Luciano to justice. As a reward, Mayor LaGuardia named Marcus Commissioner of Corrections for New York City.

In 1947, Marcus returned to civilian life. A few months later, the United Nations authorized the partition of Palestine and the eventual creation of a Jewish state. Within days, David Ben-Gurion asked Marcus to recruit an American officer to serve as military advisor to Israel. Failing in his attempts to recruit one of his friends, Marcus decided to volunteer himself. The U.S. War Department granted Marcus, who was a reservist, permission to accept the offer, provided Marcus not use his own name or rank and disguise his military record. This should explain to many how long Israelis have been fighting terrorists.                    

     writing assignment done in cocktail bar, not at action was also noted done by some reporters using hearsay, this way can spread

false reports, trusting in others in what the reporter hears, not

really sees.  Today people are seeing terrible things but not understanding how they came to happen...

Israel is very tiny, and has returned to their ancient homeland that the Romans had renamed as Palestine.  The population of Jews in Israel is approximately 7.15 to 7.3 million, with different figures depending on the specific definition of "Jewish population" used.  

I remember, being 91,actually seeing Palestinians staging such situations on purpose to get the raves on TV against the Jews. They're as good at acting as many of us, just never had the inclination, I guess, to do something with it. I've also seen children in their father's grip, learn to shoot and the ISIS group even having their children in on the beheading.

This "War" started in 1920 with attacks on Jewish homes with Husseini, the Sherif of Jerusalem.  It grew with Arafat taking the stage "Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement launched its first attacks against Israel in 1965, but he became a prominent figure in armed Palestinian resistance following the 1967 Six-Day War, which led to intensified guerrilla operations against Israel. Arafat supported the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, which aimed to achieve a Palestinian state through armed struggle."  

By then, Jews were used to being attacked in Israel, and that's bad when it has to be common in one's daily life, like hearing the alarms to get into a bomb shelter, and you have but 2 minutes. You accept it.  It's the new norm.                                 

    October 11, 2023 attack on Israel

Hamas came along in 1987 as an offshoot of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, officially founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his aide Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi. Its formation occurred at the start of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israel's "occupation".  Now the Muslim Brotherhood isn't even accepted in Egypt, let alone Israel.  It's the tough arm of the PLO.  They won the election their people had, their first experience, by the way.  It was in 1989 that they first attacked 1989: Hamas carried out its first significant attacks, which included the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers.  

Palestinians break into the Israeli side of Israel-Gaza border fence after gunmen infiltrated areas of southern Israel, October 7. REUTERS/Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa

         October 7, 2023 surprise attack on Israel

The large-scale bombings from Hamas hitting Israel began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. The attack involved thousands of rockets and ground forces, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, which in turn triggered a massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

 The hostages were taken in the ground attack when their attackers      and their citizens came in a frenzy attacking Jews ona Holiday of Succot, the last day of it, when they were also involved in a dancing music festival from Europe, and wereenjoying their youth and life itself. Hamas held a surprise attack on Jews. 

You in the Diaspora would scream if one rocket was shot into your neighborhood and you would demand immediate action from your army.  

WAR IS HELL. Everyone knows that phrase.  WWI certainly was, and so was WWII.  This wasn't a world war but a warof religion, actually since it was this terror group of Muslimswho wouldn't accept Jews returning legally to their ancient land of Israel.  Have their ever been other wars in the worldfought over religion?  Well, in India, there were the Muslimsand the Hindus with the Muslims being moved out and they formed Pakistan. 

Fighting between Muslims and Hindus in India has occurred for centuries, with roots dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries CE when Islam was first introduced to the region. The conflict has continued intermittently throughout history, with notable periods of intensified violence, including the 1947 partition and subsequent events in the 20th century. 

Other major religiously motivated wars include the Crusades (1096–1291), the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) in Europe, and the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598). Other examples include the Greek War of Independence and the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's, though the religious component of the latter is debated.  

Not once did Israel do a thing except defend themselves against attacks.

 Hamas, who knew of Israel's reputation of being a defender of life, did rotten things like hide their ammunition in their homes,schools, mosques, hospitals, etc, and since that was working,they also hid behind their own people in these very places for workable attacking places.  Israel warned the people to get out of the wayusing every form of  systems possible, leaflets, bullhorns.   As part of its efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, the IDF makes phone calls and sends text messages to civilians residing in buildings designated for attack. In a video, you can hear a recording of an IDF soldier calling a Gazan to warn him of an impending airstrike in his vicinity.

 If they ignored the warnings, they were in the path of attack and were killed. In Hamas' eyes, this only helped their cause, and indeed, they have turned the world against Israel, for they all wear blinders. 

I can only conclude that those that are against Israel by not understanding why they are fighting because they are  anti-Semitic, for what they would be backing is the destruction again of 6 million Jews and their ancient country that they had been working on since 1881 to restore and even add to  its  beauty and its use being the land they were told to live in by G-d, the country of protection for them, the land welcoming them for a change.  There's no turning the other cheek here, Hamas is bent on total destruction.