Articles by Joel B. Pollak

Technology

Hamas Offered Starving Hostages More Food If They Converted to Islam -- and They Refused

Hamas offered starving hostages more food if they converted to Islam — and they refused, according to statements by families of some of the 20 living hostages who were returned to Israel earlier this week. Hamas is an Islamist terrorist group whose ambitions extend beyond destroying Israel, and include converting the entire world to Islam by force. The name Hamas is an acronym, in Arabic, of the words “Islamic Resistance Movement” — a fact often overlooked by pro-Palestinian activists in the West. Families of the hostages, returned in U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal, had described Hamas’s attempts to convert their relatives in captivity — and the heroic efforts of the starving hostages to resist: The hostages also endured psychological terror. [Rom] Braslavski’s mother said his captors pressured him to convert to Islam, offering him extra food and better conditions, but he resisted. They also told him, falsely, that Israelis were too weak or uninterested to protest on his behalf, while inflating the IDF’s death toll and the damage inflicted on Israel. [Yosef-Haim] Ohana and another hostage were also made to listen to Muslim religious messages via a radio, his father said — a situation they managed to turn to their advantage. By playing with the radio’s wires, he said, they were able to tune into Israeli army radio, where Ohana heard his father being interviewed. “He said to himself, ‘My father is alive! He is waiting for me!’ and it gave him new life,” the rabbi shared. On Thursday, another freed hostage, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Matan Angrest, attended the funeral of his colleague, tank commander Cpt. Daniel Perez, who was killed by Hamas on October 7 and whose body had been taken to Gaza. Angerest, the only survivor of the tank unit, praised his commander and said he was prepared, barely three days after being freed, to return to Gaza to fight for the return of the remains of the remaining dead hostages, the Times of Israel reported. Hamas promised to return the remains of 28 hostages; it has only returned 11, and one body returned to Israel turned out to be that of a dead Palestinian. Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Technology

Newsom Vetoes Fire Prevention Bill, Citing Cost -- While Spending $250M on Gerrymandering

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would require the state to develop a fire mitigation strategy, citing the cost — while spending $250 million on a vote to gerrymander congressional districts. SB 326 would have required “the Office of the State Fire Marshal (SFM) to prepare, and regularly update, a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework (Framework), a Wildfire Risk Baseline and Forecast (Forecast), and a Wildfire Mitigation Scenarios Report (Report).” It also would have required “the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to provide local assistance to local governments to achieve wildfire risk reduction to achieve wildfire risk reduction consistent with the aforementioned plans” and to comply with “ember-resistant zone (known as zone zero) regulations.” It would have required expenditures estimated in the tens of millions of dollars annually — to save, potentially, hundreds of billions of dollars in damage caused by wildfires. It passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously. But Newsom vetoed the bill, citing the cost, claiming that it would disrupt his balanced budget for the state: The requirements of this bill would trigger substantial, ongoing costs that are not accounted for in the budget. In partnership with the Legislature this year, my Administration has enacted a balanced budget that recognizes the challenging fiscal landscape our state faces while maintaining our commitment to working families and our most vulnerable communities. With significant fiscal pressures and the federal government’s hostile economic policies, it is vital that we remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications that are not included in the budget, such as this measure. In reality, the state had a $12 billion deficit. Despite that fact, Newsom is spending an estimated $250 million on Proposition 50, his proposal to set aside the congressional districts drawn by the state’s constitutionally-mandated independent redistricting commission, and to approve gerrymandered districts drawn behind closed doors by Democrats to eliminate up to five of the existing nine Republican seats from California. Many residents, notably reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades Fire, were outraged: The issue received virtually no coverage in local media. The “zone zero” regulations are controversial because they require homeowners to remove certain kinds of vegetation and to clear space within a certain distance of their homes. But that was not the reason Newsom vetoed the bill. SB 326 now goes back to the legislature for a possible override, but California legislators rarely attempt to override a veto, even when they have the votes. Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.