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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich writes at Fox News about the speech Rep. Kevin McCarthy gave on the House floor after winning the post of Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot. Gingrich calls it a “unifying speech” in the tradition of President Abraham Lincoln’s call for government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Speaker McCarthy said:

It’s nighttime here in Washington, but in some ways it’s also like a new beginning – a fresh start. My friends, this chamber is now fully open for all Americans to visit. I want to give all Americans a personal invitation: You are welcome to see this body at work. No longer will the doors be closed. But the debates will be open for you to witness what happens in the People’s House.

From the committee rooms to this floor, we commit to pursue the truth passionately and embrace debate. No more one-sided inquiries. Competing ideas will be put to the test in public so that the best ideas win.

He concluded:

…I will never give up on keeping our commitment to America. Our nation is worth fighting for. Our rights are worth fighting for. Our dreams are worth fighting for. Our future is worth fighting for. Therefore, with love for this country and charity for each other, let us know take our oath and be worthy of the office on which we are about to enter.

C-Span’s coverage that night is here. Speaker McCarthy’s remarks begin at the 3:19:00 mark.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) released the following statement

urging the administration and our allies to transfer to Ukraine urgently critical weapon systems they need to defeat Russia.

The current handwringing and hesitation by the Biden administration and some of our European allies in providing critical weapon systems to Ukraine stinks of the weak policies of 2021, such as not sanctioning Nord Stream 2 or providing US-origin Stingers before the full-scale invasion. While those policies failed to deter this conflict, the current indecision and self-deterrence will prolong it – costing Ukrainian lives. Now is the time for the Biden and Scholz governments to follow the lead of our UK and Eastern European allies – Leopard 2 tanks, ATACMS, and other long-range precision munitions should be approved without delay.

Richard Goldberg and Rebeccah Heinrichs, writing at The Dispatch last week, make the argument that President Joe Biden is prolonging the Russia-Ukraine war by not providing Ukraine with what it needs to stop Russia’s aggression. They write:

Biden’s chronic risk aversion and deference to Putin’s saber-rattling continues to deny Ukraine the ability to force a complete Russian retreat.

… During his historic visit to the US last month to meet with Biden and address Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky included conventional surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) among his requests for assistance. Biden has thus far refused, in keeping with his responses to Zelensky for nearly two years.

… The contrast is striking: Moscow may soon flood the Russian-Crimean border with Iranian missiles capable of traveling 300 kilometers, but Washington won’t provide Ukraine with ATACMS that carry the exact the same range. Biden’s mistaken risk calculus is once again prolonging the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

While the Biden administration dithers over giving Ukraine sophisticated weapon systems to defend themselves from Russia, the US is providing less sophisticated materiel to Ukraine, taken from stockpiles stored in Israel. Axios reports:

The US has in recent months transferred hundreds of thousands of artillery shells from its ammunition stockpiles in Israel to Ukraine, three current and former Israeli officials told Axios.

Why it matters: The ammunition that was transferred to Ukraine was part of a US weapons stockpile that is pre-positioned in warehouses on Israeli soil as part of an agreement between the countries. [Those stockpiles were initiated by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.]

The Jerusalem Post adds:

The Biden administration will replenish any US weapons it recently transferred to Ukraine from an American stockpile long located in Israel, an IDF source confirmed on Wednesday.

The weapons transfer would not in any way impact Israel’s readiness for any emergency situation or conflict, the source explained…

American manufacturers have not kept pace with Ukraine’s military [so] Washington decided to tap its weapons reserves stored in Israel.

Jonathan Ruhe and Ari Cicurel at JINSA see the transfer of artillery from the stockpile in Israel to Ukraine as an opportunity to replenish the War Reserve Stock Ammunition-Israel (WRSA-I) with more modern, sophisticated munitions. They write:

WRSA-I’s primary purpose as a forward-based arms depot is to serve as a readily accessible reserve – an insurance policy – for Israel to obtain vital munitions that would ensure its military superiority in wartime.

Since it was first established in the 1980s, American officials have stated repeatedly how WRSA-I helps ensure Israel’s ability to defend itself at acceptable cost, known in US law as Israel’s “qualitative military edge” (QME) – including by obviating the need for a challenging US resupply to Israel mid-conflict, as happened during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

… JINSA understands that WRSA-I has not been upgraded since before the Obama administration, thus rendering the depot full of artillery shells, like those now destined for Ukraine, and unguided “dumb” bombs, which are almost entirely eschewed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Instead, the IDF depends heavily on precision-guided munitions (PGMs) to accurately hit targets on complex, crowded battlefields while minimizing collateral damage, especially in light of its adversaries’ deliberate placement of weapons stockpiles, launchers, and other military infrastructure in close proximity to, and often among, civilian sites.

…Working with Israel, the Biden administration urgently should replenish WRSA-I with much-needed PGMs, chiefly Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tailkits and GBU-39 and GBU-53/B small diameter bombs, and potentially other much-needed weapons.

Liberal Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has a long record of defaming Israel and spreading false history and lies about the Jewish state. This week she tweeted:

I’m outraged that the @StateDept is moving forward with plans to build the US embassy in Jerusalem on land stolen from Palestinians. By doing so, the US is complicit in the illegal confiscation of Palestinian property. @POTUS should reverse this Trump era policy immediately.

Tlaib and her comrade on the Squad, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) were mentioned among those who support so-called “humanitarian NGOs” that are actually fronts for terrorist groups, as Irit Tratt writes at JNS:

In the 15 months since Israel classified six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist groups, the international community has done little to follow in the Jewish state’s footsteps.

After a months-long investigation by Israeli security officials, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Addameer, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Works Committee (UAWC), the Bisan Center and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees (UPWC) were not the humanitarian NGOs they claimed to be. Instead, they were operating as front groups for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a US-designated terrorist group.

…With antisemitism at an all-time high, US reluctance to investigate these terrorist affiliates is granting PFLP proxies free rein to espouse violence in US cities… The DOJ’s reluctance to punish the terror-connected NGOs is likely politically motivated, because these groups are supported by progressive politicians.

…Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)… recently signed a congressional letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing “serious concern” over Israel “criminalizing” the terror-linked NGOs.

Pressley is not alone. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) is a defender of institutions such as Al-Haq, which she once described in a video address as “on the front lines on the fight for human rights.”

Regev: Israel and Jordan: A troubled peace

Mark Regev, a veteran Israeli diplomat, examines the fraught history of Israel-Jordan relations and Jordan’s refusal to “warm” up the cold peace between the two countries today.

What’s life like under Hamas?

The Times of Israel presents a series of animated videos, drawn from interviews with ordinary Gazans about their lives in the Hamas-run territory.

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