Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Former DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Policy. (Retweets do not imply endorsement.)
Washington, DC
Joined August 2019
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From my @AtlanticCouncil colleague @afalkhatib:
REVEALED: The scandal surrounding Gaza's failed winterization efforts lays bare a grim reality: Hamas obstructed attempts to protect Palestinian civilians before the devastating winter storms that flooded tens of thousands of tents.
Palestinian Authority employees inside Gaza have reported that professionals from the Ministries of Public Works and Relief Affairs were intimidated, summoned, and coerced by Hamas into signing pledges not to undertake humanitarian projects without the group's approval. According to their accounts, those who defied Hamas risked so-called "field justice," including beatings and worse.
Several officials, including Najla Hammad, Ihab Al-Bahtiti, Khaled Abu Safiya, Wiam Aboul-Nasr, Dr. Adnan Hamouda, and Ahmed Abu Zaiter, have publicly stated that efforts to build more durable fiberglass housing and improve conditions for displaced civilians were blocked.
Another example was a proposal that was put forward to demolish several heavily damaged towers which were at risk of collapse from rainwater after extensive bombardment. According to those involved, Hamas blocked the removal of the “Bank of Palestine Tower” in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood, reportedly arguing that it would "collapse from the rain anyway." The terrorist group did not show any concern for the civilian lives that would be lost when the tower eventually collapses on its own, because it wants dead Palestinians and news of tragedy to keep Gaza in the news cycle and to gain global sympathy, hoping for more incoming resources and donations for the Strip’s humanitarian and reconstruction needs that it could siphon.
Additionally, Hamas has also been accused of obstructing construction projects intended to create safer communities for displaced Gazans in southern Gaza, prioritizing political control over humanitarian relief.
This is a reminder that Gaza's suffering is not only a consequence of war. It is also the result of a fascist and ruthless governing power that repeatedly places its own interests above the welfare of the people it claims to represent. The same terror group that helped bring catastrophe upon Gaza continues to obstruct efforts to mitigate its consequences.
As floodwaters sweep through displacement camps and families endure another winter in misery, the question is unavoidable: how many Palestinian lives could have been spared had Hamas allowed humanitarian, housing, and reconstruction efforts to proceed unimpeded?
Since yesterday, I have been following statements from Gaza’s Government Media Office, municipalities, Hamas officials, and their supporters, calling on the international community, Arab countries, and the Palestinian Authority to take responsibility for the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, after heavy rainfall flooded the tents of tens of thousands of displaced people.
I do not deny Israel’s responsibility for destroying Gaza and displacing its people, nor do I overlook the international community’s failure to protect them. But what makes me angry is this relentless insistence on holding everyone accountable except Hamas itself!
Hamas made the decision to launch the October 7 attack without any clear plan to protect the people of Gaza from its catastrophic consequences. Israel’s brutality does not absolve Hamas of responsibility for that decision.
But there is another issue that deserves just as much scrutiny: the money.
During the first year of the war, Khaled Mashal appeared smiling as he recounted a message from Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas’s leader at the time), describing the donations Hamas was receiving as unprecedented. He reportedly referred to them as a “financial flood,” a description echoed by other officials.
And we are talking about a movement with international funding networks and financial backing from Iran, as well as reported sources of support connected to Qatar, Turkey, and Islamist organizations operating in Europe and the United States. The sums involved are potentially enormous, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more.
I am from Gaza, and I challenge anyone to show me a clear, publicly documented aid program through which Hamas has distributed tents or food parcels to displaced families since the war began. I would also like to hear directly from families inside Gaza who have received such assistance from Hamas.
Where has all this money gone?
And how is it acceptable for Hamas leaders and activists to suddenly present themselves as humanitarian advocates whenever disaster strikes, expressing outrage over flooded tents and demanding that the entire world take responsibility?
You are not outsiders watching this tragedy unfold. You governed Gaza, made decisions on behalf of its people, and received enormous sums of money in their name. You cannot continue demanding more money and holding the entire world accountable while refusing to answer for your own decisions or disclose what happened to the funds you collected in the name of the Palestinian people!
And I have not even begun to address the charities allegedly linked to Hamas, some of which present themselves as independent humanitarian organizations while raising millions of dollars from donors abroad.
Whenever disaster strikes, some of these organizations send photographers into the streets, produce English-language content showing the suffering, and publish it alongside donation links.
One fundraising campaign I have been following on Chuffed has, according to the figures displayed on the platform, raised more than $15 million, including approximately $400,000 since yesterday alone!
And yet, families whose suffering is featured in these fundraising appeals are still sleeping on the ground inside flooded tents, with little or no information about how the money raised in their name is being spent.
I am not calling on the world to stop helping Gaza. Quite the opposite. But the people of Gaza, and the donors who are trying to help them, have every right to know where this money is going, who controls it, how it is being distributed, and why so many families remain without the most basic necessities despite the enormous sums being raised.
Yesterday, children in Gaza were shivering from the cold inside flooded tents, while their parents struggled to salvage what little they had left.
They know very well who destroyed their homes and displaced them. But they also have every right to question those who made the decisions that helped bring them to this point, and those who continue to raise millions of dollars in their name.
It is no longer acceptable for Hamas to evade responsibility for the catastrophe it helped bring upon Gaza. Nor should any organization raising money in the name of Gaza’s suffering be allowed to operate without transparency, accountability, and clear evidence of how those funds are being used.
You cannot collect millions in the name of people who have lost everything, leave them without answers about where that money has gone, and then demand that the rest of the world take responsibility.
This level of disregard for accountability and for the dignity of the people whose suffering is used to raise money is morally indefensible.
#Gaza
#Hamas
Very interesting update from @gadi_eisenkot, who looks likely to be given the first mandate to form a new government in Israel.
משלים שבוע ראשון של שיחות ומפגשים עם מפלגות השינוי והתיקון. הערב הושלם סבב ההתייעצויות בבית הנשיא עם רוב מוחלט של ממליצים לצורך קבלת המנדט מנשיא המדינה להרכבת ממשלה.
המטרה: הקמתה של ממשלת חירום לאומית, שתחזיר את המדינה היקרה שלנו לחוף מבטחים ולשפיות.
הדרך לפנינו עוד ארוכה, אנו נחושים מאוד.
נעשה ונצליח!🇮🇱
Tom Warrick retweeted
Say no to the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex, Islamism, and cultural relativism: These scenes cannot become normal in the Western world. Earlier today in Copenhagen, Palestinian and Arab immigrants and their descendants were filmed chanting for Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Obaida, jihad, the destruction of Tel Aviv, and terrorism under the banner of being “pro-Palestine” (video source: Moumen Al-Natour @moumalnatour).
For three years since October 7, this behavior has been excused, minimized, or dismissed as fringe. In reality, it has become a recurring and alarming trend across North America, Europe, and Australia. As Palestinians in Gaza increasingly reject Hamas, segments of diaspora Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim communities have embraced the group as the embodiment of “resistance” and the supposed voice of Gazans.
Equally troubling is how academics, journalists, influencers, activists, politicians, and celebrities have obscured these pro-Hamas sentiments by presenting them as merely advocacy for Palestinian rights. Some have relied on “cultural relativism” that blurs basic moral distinctions. Yet there is nothing complicated about condemning Hamas’s torture of Palestinians, theft of aid and resources, disastrous two-decade rule, decision to launch October 7, devastation of Gaza, and perpetration of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
The tolerance of Islamist extremism in Western societies, and the reluctance to confront openly hateful and pro-terror rhetoric, risks deepening polarization and instability. It is long past time to scrutinize pro-Hamas ideology, activism, and narratives that have gained traction among politicians, students, journalists, and protest movements. Nor is it “racist” or “Islamophobic” to oppose campaigns targeting Jewish-owned businesses or attempts to pressure businesses into adopting political litmus tests. Democratic societies should confront extremism consistently, regardless of who promotes it.
Tom Warrick retweeted
Gaza is not hopeless. Despite Hamas’s entrenchment in the 30% of the Strip it still controls, its defeat is achievable, regardless of clichés like “you can’t kill an idea” propagated since October 7. During speaking events with veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal (@Nadav_Eyal) at Ohio State University and with community members, I challenged the notion that Gaza’s people and Hamas are one and the same. Most Gazans oppose Hamas, even if they retain anti-Israel sentiments. Their anger and disillusionment with the armed “resistance” narrative offer an opening for an alternative nation-building agenda that ensures Gaza never again becomes a citadel of isolation, hate, violence, and Islamist terror.
With a newly elected Congress whose members speak extensively about Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, radical pragmatism is essential: make a difference, not just a point. Cooperation with Israel, especially if a new coalition emerges after its elections, will be key to transforming Gaza’s prospects. The first step is to establish Hamas-free zones and communities across the “Yellow Line,” in the Israeli-controlled parts of the Gaza Strip, and begin separating civilians from Hamas. Meaningful progress is impossible while the group holds two million Palestinians hostage and uses them as bargaining chips.
Thank you to Nadav Eyal, Ohio State University Hillel, and everyone who organized and attended these events for engaging in difficult but necessary conversations, even amid disagreement.
Tell your Chatbot to put these on your calendar. #IranWar
There are two windows for US strikes on Iran, and both are on the calendar.
Window 1 is this weekend. 8 and 9 November are the darkest nights of the month, and two US carriers are already in the region. Israel's new Knesset is sworn in on the 10th, with no majority yet. That leaves a caretaker government running coalition talks, and a strike before those talks settle could be more tempting for some than one after.
Window 2 is early December. The third carrier, Theodore Roosevelt, arrives at the end of November, after Thanksgiving on the 26th, and the next dark period comes around 9 December. That's three carriers and darkness again, enough for a longer campaign rather than a short one.
Then the clock runs out. A new US Congress sits on 3 January. Until then the outgoing Congress is unlikely to challenge the White House. After that, war powers votes and funding fights become real constraints. Anything big is easier to do before January than after.
My read is that Doha decides which window matters. If Qatar's draft dies this week, watch the weekend.
Someone brought this to my attention, from @BennieGThompson:
democrats-homeland.house.gov…
And then there is this important news!
Italian chef fired for refusing to put pineapple on pizza bbc.in/4egT8uf
This is interesting.
השינויים בקונגרס - עובדות, ואז תוכנית
--
הדמוקרטים לקחו הלילה את שני הבתים. מה זה אומר? זה אומר שיש צורך דחוף במנהיגות ותוכנית עבודה במקום פאניקה של פוליטיקאים. הכי קל לצעוק ש"אמריקה אבודה", כי אם היא אבודה לא צריך לעבוד. זה רק לא נכון. ממש לא.
את בית הנבחרים יוביל חכים ג'פריס. את הסנאט ינהל צ'אק שומר. שניהם ידידים שלי, שניהם הצביעו השנה עם ישראל גם כשרוב הסיעה שלהם הצביע אחרת. הם בדיוק סוג המנהיגים שישראל אמורה לדעת לעבוד איתם, גם אם לא נסכים על כל דבר.
אין שאלה שהגרעין האנטי-ישראלי בבית הנבחרים גדל. יהיו שם קולות קיצוניים יותר, אבל גם אחרי הבחירות מדובר בכעשרים וחמישה חברי קונגרס מתוך 435.
גם בסנאט נוספו כמה קולות מאוד עוינים לישראל אבל גם אחרי הלילה האחרון הגרעין הקשה והקיצוני שפועל נגדנו לא מגיע ל-10% מחברי הסנאט.
הבעיה האמיתית היא לא הקיצונים.
לפני שנתיים 11 סנטורים הצביעו להגביל את משלוחי הנשק לישראל. לפני שנה המספר עלה ל-27, באפריל היו כבר 40. זה נורא, אבל רובם לא באמת שונאים אותנו. חלק מהם ישבו כאן בחורף של 2023 עם סרט צהוב על הדש. ישראל חשובה להם, והם מבינים את החשיבות האסטרטגית שלנו. פגשתי כמעט את כולם ואני אומר לכם, אפשר לדבר איתם, אפשר להסביר, אפשר לשנות את המגמה.
האנשים האלה לא נגד ישראל. הם נגד שרים קיצוניים שאומרים דברים מטורפים. הם נגד אלימות מתנחלים, הם נגד ממשלה שהם לא מבינים, הם בעיקר נגד נתניהו, מבחינתם כל דבר שקשור אליו הוא רעיל.
אז מה עושים?
חוזרים לכלל שעבד בשבילנו שבעים שנה ונשבר ב-2015, כשנתניהו נסע לנאום בקונגרס נגד אובמה. אמרתי את זה אז, אני אומר את זה היום: ישראל לא בוחרת צד באמריקה. עובדים עם כולם.
יש אתגרים גדולים. יש כוחות חזקים שרוצים שניכשל. יש הרבה כסף קטארי ואיראני שמממן את הקמפיין נגדנו. אבל כמו שאנחנו מטפלים באתגרים ביטחוניים, אנחנו צריכים לטפל גם באתגרים מדיניים.
הביקור הראשון בוושינגטון של נציגי הממשלה הבאה חייב להיות גם בבית הלבן, אבל גם בקונגרס, אצל שתי המפלגות. לא רק לנאום אלא גם להקשיב, לדבר, לספוג בקורת, להסביר את העובדות, לבנות אמון מחדש.
אחרי וושינגטון צריך לצאת למסע בארה"ב, לדבר עם מושלים, נציגים מקומיים, תקשורת בכל רחבי היבשת. להגיע לאמריקה שמעבר לפוליטיקה. לדבר עם קהילות יהודיות, הן רעבות לזה, אבל לא רק איתן.
גם עם מנהיגים היספנים, עם כנסיות של אפרו-אמריקניות, עם האוונגליסטים הצעירים שנטשו אותנו. הם צריכים להכיר ישראל אחרת, לא של נתניהו ובן גביר.
את החברים שעדיין יש לנו צריך לחזק. את הגרעין הקשה צריך לבודד. כדי לבודד עשרה צריך מאה שיהיו בצד שלנו. את המאה האלה איבדנו. אותם אנחנו צריכים להחזיר.
להחזיר אותם לא מביא לנו רק אהדה. זה גם נשק לצה"ל, שיתוף פעולה מודיעיני, חיזוק הביטחון הלאומי שלנו (ולא, לא הרמנו ידיים לגבי הסכם הסיוע הבא).
עשינו את זה כבר בעבר.
ב-2022 חתמתי עם הנשיא ביידן על "הצהרת ירושלים" בלי לאבד רפובליקני אחד. זה לא קסם, זו עבודה. אמריקה לא אבדה ולא אבודה. היא מחכה שמישהו יחזור לדבר איתה.
Interesting, Governor @RonDeSantis.
It is important to end the warlords fighting each other to end the suffering of the peoples of Sudan.
Sudan would be a priority for me as Secretary-General. The fighting must stop. Civilians and humanitarian workers must be protected. RSF atrocities require accountability. Sudanese people’s democratic aspirations must guide a political process.
My response to @POLITICO’s NatSec Daily on this topic.
This important story needs to be read by those concerned about #Gaza, #Palestine, #Israel, and the #WestBank. Also those who follow @BoardOfPeace, @nmladenov, @InstituteGC, and @NCAG.
Shaimaa Rabah is a newly elected councilwoman in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, and a member of Fatah, who was part of a limited set of local municipal elections inside Gaza back in April. After Al Jazeera aired a documentary featuring exclusive footage from Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades about the life of slain military leader Mohammed al-Deif, Shaimaa Rabah shared a Facebook post condemning what she viewed as the glorification of Hamas, which she blamed for Gaza’s devastation. She described the program as “a rich meal of animal feed for the Muslim Brotherhood” and criticized Al Jazeera’s efforts to portray Hamas as heroic despite the destruction and suffering that followed its rule and the 10/7 terror attack.
In response, Hamas and its supporters pressured members of Shaimaa Rabah’s clan with a wave of threats and harassment to compel her to delete the post and issue a public apology, which she did. Even that has not satisfied her critics, who are now demanding her resignation from the Deir al-Balah municipal council, arguing that her status as the council’s first elected woman does not entitle her to disparage the memory of those they regard as “martyrs.”
This episode is a reminder to those who believe elections can produce meaningful political change while Hamas retains effective control over Gaza. Democracy is not the foundation of a free society but the product of one. It depends on the prior existence of independent civil institutions, a free press, freedom of expression, and mechanisms for holding power accountable.
I have shared this concern with Dahlan-affiliated Fatah reformists, EU officials, Arab ministers, and others who advocate elections as a solution to the Palestinian Authority’s legitimacy crisis and the search for an alternative to Hamas. In today’s Gaza, any non-Hamas voice can be rapidly silenced, making meaningful reform, let alone a challenge to the entrenched “resistance” narrative, nearly impossible.
Before any credible democratic process can take place, Hamas’s system of control must be dismantled. Until then, the most realistic path forward is a transitional administration focused on restoring basic services and rebuilding a truly free civil society while removing the coercive structures Hamas and its patrons have spent decades creating.
Two days after a Hamas-affiliated clan fired thousands of rounds into the air at the funeral of a relative killed in an Israeli strike and created horrific scenes and chaos that reverberated around the world, a prominent Israeli news site, Walla!, reports that the government has instructed the military to grant “immunity” to senior Hamas governance officials in Gaza. Under the reported policy, the security establishment will spare high-ranking Hamas government and municipal administrators while continuing to target some of the group’s military/terror operatives and leaders.
The rationale is that eliminating Hamas’s administrative apparatus could trigger total collapse and civil chaos in the enclave, with direct consequences for Israel’s security. Officials reportedly doubt that international NGOs could fill the vacuum. Frustratingly, the Israeli government continues to block every alternative: the Palestinian Authority’s return, the Board of Peace’s plans, and a gradual handover of governance to the Palestinian technocratic committee (NCAG) alongside disarmament.
This echoes the pre-October 7 logic, when a supposedly contained Hamas was preferred over a non-Islamist, nonviolent alternative. Prime Minister Netanyahu may once again see the group as a “useful idiot.” It keeps Palestinians divided, blocks a reformed polity uniting the West Bank and Gaza, and lets him manage the conflict rather than resolve it. And this time Hamas is a shell of its former self. Its infrastructure and leadership are largely destroyed, and the IDF controls nearly 70% of the Strip.
The policy is deeply flawed and dangerous, and it freezes the war in place. It combines what pro-Hamas voices have long demanded, a ceasefire that resolves nothing, while Israel’s far right wishes to keep Gaza as a standing argument against any future of Palestinian self-governance, freedom, and prosperity.
The immediate alternative is to use the territory under Israeli control, beyond the “yellow line,” to offer Gazans the option to relocate to Hamas-free zones and areas. Arrivals can be vetted for Hamas members and weapons, creating a self-selected population that could become the nucleus of a deradicalized Gaza. Those who choose to stay under Hamas, amid armed militias and violent clans, do so at their own risk. Until that option exists, Hamas will keep terrorizing Gaza’s people, and nothing meaningful will change. If civilians are moved out of the way, this makes it easier to discern who is Hamas, and if the Israeli government actually decides to get rid of the terror group, it would be able to do so without unacceptable levels of harm to uninvolved civilians and the associated global backlash.
No more support for Hamas, and no more containment, whether from the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex or from Netanyahu’s government.
In this article in @politico, I urge a thorough, impartial Congressional investigation into the DHS data leak:
wxii12.com/article/dhs-worke…
Tom Warrick retweeted
50 legendary internet rabbit holes you can spend hours exploring👇
1. zoom.earth — Watch the world via live satellite imagery
2. flightradar24.com — See every plane currently in the sky
3. marinetraffic.com — Track all ships at sea in real time
4. windy.com — Live map of winds and storms
5. lightningmaps.org — Watch lightning strikes hitting Earth in real time
6. earthquake.usgs.gov — Live list of recent earthquakes
7. submarinecablemap.com — Ocean cables carrying the internet
8. globalforestwatch.org — Watch forests disappear from space
9. worldometers.info — The world's statistics, second by second
10. internetlivestats.com — Current number of tweets and searches being posted
11. thetruesize.com — Compare the true sizes of countries
12. oldmapsonline.org — Maps from centuries ago
13. davidrumsey.com — Archive of 150,000 historical maps
14. openstreetmap.org — World map drawn by volunteers
15. window-swap.com — Look out the window of a random person around the world
16. virtualvacation.us — Virtual walks through cities
17. mapcrunch.com — Teleport to a random spot on Earth
18. atlasobscura.com — Catalog of the world's strangest places
19. neal.fun — Interactive knowledge experiences
20. htwins.net/scale2 — Scale journey from atom to universe (Updated HTML5 link)
21. eyes.nasa.gov — Explore the solar system in 3D
22. stellarium-web.org — Real sky map in your browser
23. apod.nasa.gov — NASA's astronomy picture of the day
24. images.nasa.gov — NASA's entire visual archive, free
25. pudding.cool — Visual articles told through data
26. ourworldindata.org — The state of the world with real data
27. gapminder.org — What we mistakenly think we know about the world
28. informationisbeautiful.net — Visualizing complex data
29. data.worldbank.org — World Bank's open data
30. data.tuik.gov.tr — Turkey's official statistics database
31. archive.org — Archive of millions of books, films, and software
32. gutenberg.org — 70,000 free books whose copyrights have expired
33. openlibrary.org — Record of every book in the world
34. loc.gov — U.S. Library of Congress digital archive
35. europeana.eu — Europe's cultural heritage archive
36. dp.la — America's digital library collection
37. artsandculture.google.com — Tour museums from home
38. rijksmuseum.nl — Download artworks in high resolution
39. wikiart.org — Archive of 250,000 artworks
40. publicdomainreview.org — Forgotten visual treasures of history
41. openculture.com — Free archive of culture and education
42. metmuseum.org — Met Museum's open collection
43. musicmap.info — Family tree of music genres
44. radiooooo.com — Pick a country and decade to listen to that era
45. listen.hatnote.com — Turn Wikipedia edits into audio
46. wikipedia.org — Random knowledge well
47. timeanddate.com — Time, sunrises, and sky events
48. sciencedaily.com — Live stream of science news
49. arxiv.org — Free preprints of scientific papers
50. observablehq.com — Visualize data with live code
Save this. You’ll definitely need some of these later. 🔖
Follow @The_techAI for more useful websites, AI tools & tech resources.
Tom Warrick retweeted
At a time of deepening divisions and urgent crises, the United Nations must act with greater urgency. It was built to help the world agree, and I believe I can keep that promise alive through active, relentless diplomacy anchored in the Charter.
I am grateful to the members of the Security Council who supported my candidacy, and to the many Member States across the wider UN membership that have publicly expressed their encouragement. I appreciate the opportunity to continue to engage with Member States, listen to their priorities, and make my case as this important process moves forward.
I want to see an American politician, after the election, use this to tell the truth to the American people.
A classic chart to counter the wisdom of crowds idea. US Americans are absolutely clueless about how common things are. They think over a quarter of Americans are Native Americans, one in five Americans is transgender, over a quarter of the population are Muslim, one in five households earn over half a million dollars. The right answer to all of these questions is 1%. They build their worldview on totally incorrect assumptions towards reality. Data literacy matters.
I would like everyone concerned about #Gaza and the @BoardOfPeace to read this, by my @AtlanticCouncil colleague Miroslav Zafirov:
atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/me…
@nmladenov
An interesting comment by my colleague @DanielBShapiro:
Here is good news from these Israeli exit polls: In almost no scenario -- minority Eizenkot government, unity government with Likud (possible, but still unlikely in my eyes if Bibi leads Likud) -- will Ben Gvir and Smotrich continue to have the influence they currently enjoy. Likely out of the cabinet altogether, which is clearly the preference of the majority of the Israeli electorate. Ensuring that is the case is an important incentive to the opposition bloc to avoid going to new elections, which would extend the damaging tenure of these extremist ministers.