News too good to go unmentioned
A spring in my step today. Too busy for more than a quick update, but even so. . .
‘When tyrants tremble, sick with fear. . .’
It has transpired that Hamas godfather Ismail Haniyeh has changed his pronouns to was/were. Only hours earlier, top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was also removed from life in an IDF strike in Beirut.
It may be bad form to take delight in Mossad’s amazing handiwork in Tehran. It’s certainly regrettable that there were civilian casualties in the otherwise pinpoint elimination of Shukr, but what curbs my enthusiasm is something else.
The “axis of resistance” supreme ruler Ayatollah Khamenei, the Hezbollah high command and the Ansurallah regime in Yemen are vowing bloody revenge. Israel is on high alert, and a barrage of rockets is coursing through the skies of Northern Israel as I write this.
Meanwhile, attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses are becoming commonplace in Canada, and “pro-Palestine activists” are heeding Haniyeh’s exortations in his last harangue to make August 3 a “pivotal event” in anti-Israel barbarism. “Honor his last demand,” says Montreal4Palestine. With a car rally and a “night of rage” at Dorchester Square.
But here’s what makes me happy. It follows directly from Tuesday’s newsletter, Journalism: A bleak wasteland, surveyed.
‘When friends by shame are undefiled. . .’
Vladimir Kara-Murza and Evan Gershkovich are free.
Here’s a good roundup: Putin’s narrative on the prisoner exchange? Don’t believe a word of it. Yes, yes, we know already. It’s a lopsided exchange.
A picture of the Wall Street Journal’s Gershkovich had been my Twitter mugshot ever since April last year when he was first imprisoned. That was my way of keeping vigil. Kara-Murza and I are both senior fellows with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. So yes, I am biased.
Subscribers may also recall that I’m officially sanctioned by Moscow and barred for life from returning to Russia, which does not please me, beyond the undeserved badge of honour that comes with the distinction.
For background on both Gershkovich and Kara-Murza, and on Putin’s friends on the “right” and the “left,” and other directly-related resources from my contributions to the National Post and the Real Story:
The Russian propagandists amongst us
We can be heroes, just for one day.
‘Russia will be free. Tell everyone.’
The men who dare defy Vladimir Putin.
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, And hear their death-knell ringing, When friends rejoice both far and near, How can I keep from singing? In prison cell and dungeon vile, Our thoughts to them go winging; When friends by shame are undefiled, How can I keep from singing?
That’s from an old hymn. Here’s something livelier:
Back to work.
Glad to see that the demise of Haniyah under the noses of the IRGC cheered you up as it did me.
My aunt called me from Israel to say she had been feeling apprehensive about what was coming next, but that she was now feeling better. We all worry about what depravity the enemy may try next, but seeing how capable Israel is when they choose to strike back helps all of us to walk a little taller.
Love the hymn. Thank you for all you do.
It makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I hear the leaders of Hamas, living comfortably far from Gaza and the suffering of “their people”, are actually not so comfortable and very dead in their luxurious surroundings.