Tuesday, January 15, 2019
PMW: Israelis/Jews "defile" Muslim and Christian holy sites
Muslim and Christian holy sites in "Palestine" are "defiled" and "desecrated" by the presence of Israelis/Jews. This hateful demonization is often expressed by Palestinians, including Palestinian leaders.
In December 2018, the PA "presidential office" stressed that Mahmoud Abbas was to have "urgent conversations" with Arab and international bodies about "the dangerous Israeli escalation," which among other things Abbas' office said is being expressed by "the defilement of the holy sites." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 11, 2018]
Every time an Israeli/Jew enters Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount plaza, the PA calls it "an invasion" and a "defilement" or a "desecration."
Recently, official PA radio broadcast a song which included the lyrics: "The Zionist" has "defiled the mosques and churches" in the cities of "Haifa, Ramallah, Gaza, Jaffa, Ramle, Acre, and occupied Jerusalem":
"Where is the Arab army, where? ...
Haifa, Ramallah, Gaza, and occupied Jerusalem call to you
Jaffa, Ramle, Acre, and occupied Jerusalem call to you...
The Zionist has defiled their mosques and churches, and trampled our sanctity."
[Official PA radio station The Voice of Palestine, Dec. 19, 2018]
Israelis/Jews "defile" holy sites. This hateful demonization is often expressed by Palestinian leaders. Recently, official PA radio broadcast a song which included the lyrics: "The Zionist has defiled their mosques and churches."
— Pal Media Watch (@palwatch) January 15, 2019
Read more here: https://t.co/vVfWajqRYK pic.twitter.com/2THhiMBBwz
Khaled Abu Toameh: Muslims protest against kippah-clad policeman at Temple Mount
Muslim worshipers and guards for the Wakf Islamic religious trust protested on Monday against an Israeli policeman wearing a kippah who tried to enter the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount as part of a routine security patrol.
The protesters barricaded themselves inside the shrine after a large police force was rushed to the area, witnesses said. They demanded that the policeman remove the kippah before entering the site, triggering a standoff with police. The incident ended several hours later.
The Wakf claimed the police detained five east Jerusalem men as they were leaving the Temple Mount after the incident. The five were identified as Fadi Elayan, Yahya Shehadeh, Ahmed Abu Alya, Awad Salaymeh and Luay Abu al-Sa’ed.
The Wakf said in a statement that it had ordered the closure of the Dome of the Rock after an Israeli policeman “attempted to storm it while wearing a kippah.” It said that two Israeli policemen enter the site daily – in the morning and evening – for a routine security check.
“The guards at the Dome of the Rock asked the policeman to remove his kippah before entering the site, but he refused and insisted on entering it even by force,” the Wakf statement said. “The guards then closed all the gates of the Dome of the Rock. Later, police officers were deployed at the entrances to the Dome of the Rock, while the guards and worshipers remained inside.”
Khaled Abu Toameh: The UN, the "State of Palestine" and the Torture of Women
This is the kind of story that the "State of Palestine" does not intend to raise during its chairmanship of the largest bloc of developing countries at the UN. It seems that, from the point of view of the Palestinian Authority leadership, Jbara's ordeal does not fall within the category of human rights.Caroline Glick: Mike Pompeo Destroys the Ideological Legacy of Obama’s Middle East
Jbara's story has barely attracted the attention of the international mainstream media. As far as many foreign journalists covering the Middle East are concerned, a Palestinian woman complaining about torture in a Palestinian prison is not newsworthy. Had she been detained by Israel, Jbara would have most likely made it to the front pages of the world's leading newspapers and magazines in a matter of minutes.
The PA regularly complains about human rights violations of Palestinians held in Israeli prison for security-related offenses. But when the PA's own security forces detain and torture a mother of three, Palestinian leaders are found elsewhere -- like at the helm of a UN bloc.
To sum up, Obama rejected America’s moral right to lead in world affairs. He undermined the morality of Israel’s very existence. He rejected the legitimacy of Arab governments and elevated the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate force in the Muslim world. And he ignored all of the pathologies of the Arab and Muslim world.
Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran; his hostile treatment of Israel; his support for the overthrow of allied and non-threatening Arab governments in Egypt, in Tunisia, and in Libya; and his refusal to take decisive action against either ISIS or Iranian aggression in Syria all were rooted in the anti-American principles he set out in his Cairo speech.
On Tuesday, Pompeo disavowed and condemned Obama’s speech point by point. Pompeo rejected Obama’s denunciation of American power insisting, “America is a force for good in the Middle East.”
Of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt following Mubarak’s ouster in 2011, Pompeo said
Pompeo went on to describe the Trump administration’s actions to restore and strengthen America’s alliances with its Arab allies, its strategy for countering Iranian aggression, and cultivating good relations between the Arab states and Israel.
He underlined the America’s continued commitment to utterly destroying Islamic State forces in Syria, even after U.S. forces are withdrawn. And he spoke in great detail about U.S. actions to curtail Iranian power and influence throughout the region.
There is little doubt that the media, the foreign policy establishment, the European Union and the Democrats will continue to seek to undermine Trump’s policies in the Middle East with the intention of paving the way for a restoration of Obama’s policies – based on Obama’s Cairo speech from January 4, 2009.
But on Thursday, by condemning and disavowing that speech in detail, from the place where it was delivered, Pompeo drove a spear through the lie at its very heart – that America is anything other than a force of good in the Middle East.
Trump signs into law genocide prevention act named for Elie Wiesel
US President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law bipartisan legislation named for the late Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, the White House announced in a statement.Republican Palestinian-American is sole vote against anti-Semitism monitor
The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act aims to improve the US response to emerging or potential genocides and passed final votes last month in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The act ensures that the official policy of the United States deems the prevention of genocide and other crimes a matter of national security interest.
It establishes an interagency Mass Atrocities Task Force and encourages the director of national intelligence to include information on atrocities in the annual crime report to Congress. It also enables training for US Foreign Service officers on detecting early signs of atrocities.
The legislation was introduced to Congress in June 2017 by New York Democrat Joe Crowley and Missouri Republican Ann Wagner, and in the Senate by Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin and Indiana Republican Todd Young, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The final bill passed in the House after previously passing in the chamber on July 17 in a vote of 406-5 with 117 cosponsors. The Senate approved the legislation, with 34 cosponsors.
Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who is trying to push through a bill that would enhance the role of the anti-Semitism monitor, put out a news release minutes after it passed the US House of Representatives and noted it was approved “overwhelmingly.”Palestinian Conspiracy Theories Explain the Lack of Peace
Legislators love to describe support for their bills as “overwhelming,” but the word they love even more is “unanimous.” Only one vote kept Smith from tasting that victory, and it was by a fellow Republican: Justin Amash of Michigan.
Why was Amash, a traditionalist Christian libertarian and Palestinian American, opposed to the bill, which would set a 90-day deadline for US President Donald Trump to fill a position left empty since the start of his term? JTA asked his office, as well as Amash directly on Twitter, and he was not forthcoming.
Amash is otherwise voluble on how and why he votes. Here’s a look at his record.
Amash values transparency…
Amash, elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, soon made a name for himself as a social media savant in painstakingly explaining every one of his votes on his Facebook page.
Somewhere along the line that commitment faded. Plenty of Amash votes go unexplained on his Twitter and Facebook feeds these days, including his anti-Semitism monitor decision. But he still engages plenty with followers on how and why he voted.
Though media outlets covering the region subject nearly every Israeli moral failure to something akin to a forensic examination, Palestinians (as we’ve documented continually) are usually spared this level of scrutiny — a pattern of double standards that egregiously skews reports on the conflict.Trump Should Endorse the Bush-Sharon Letter
The latest example of disturbing behavior by a Palestinian Authority (PA) minister that likely won’t be reported by the media involves the promotion of a bizarre anti-Israel conspiracy theory — that Israel spreads drugs and AIDS in Palestinian society, per a report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
PMW notes that the charge has actually been promoted countless times by PA officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas.
However, rather than focusing on the media’s failure to cover this libel, let’s consider instead how high-level Palestinian officials promoting such conspiracies reflects on their society.
For starters, we know from polling that such conspiratorial thinking — especially of the antisemitic variety — is quite common among Palestinians. A staggering 88 percent of Palestinians, for instance, believe that Jews have too much control over global affairs and the global media. And 78 percent think that Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars. Other conspiracy theories widely accepted in Palestinian society involve the claim that Israel is trying to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque, and that Israel steals Palestinian organs.
Why does this matter? Because, it gets to the heart of the question of why a slim majority of Israelis still support two states, but are nonetheless extremely cautious in proceeding with such a plan out of concern for what kind of Palestinian state would come into being.
The Obama administration pointedly refused to accept Bush’s position, and undermined it by pressuring Israel to accept Palestinian demands and repeatedly criticizing Israeli settlements. As former peace negotiator Dennis Ross noted, resurrecting the Bush-Sharon understanding between the leaders is important “because it said that no agreement can involve going back to the 1949 Armistice lines or the equivalent of June 4, 1967.” It is also important, Ross said, because the Obama administration’s decision to abstain on UN Security Council Resolution 2334 “effectively created June 4, ’67 as a default position.”U.S. must erase legal opinion condemning West Bank settlements, ZOA says
Trump should also reiterate Bush’s position that the Palestinians ”undertake an immediate cessation of armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere, and all official Palestinian institutions must end incitement against Israel. The Palestinian leadership must act decisively against terror, including sustained, targeted, and effective operations to stop terrorism and dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.” This applied to both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
The Palestinians recognize their predicament under the new reality of Trump’s policies, and have concentrated their efforts on the UN and the international community. They know, however, that the gambit is ultimately futile so long as the United States is prepared to veto punitive measures directed at Israel in the Security Council. Still, until their leaders are convinced they have run out of options, they will remain intransigent — to the ongoing detriment of their people.
If Trump also reiterates Bush’s position that the Arab states “move toward more normal relations with the State of Israel,” he may create the leverage ultimately needed to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table with realistic rather than delusional expectations. The Arab world has grown increasingly fed up with the Palestinians, who were always seen as no more than pawns in what was once a general Arab-Israeli conflict. If the Palestinians are isolated in the Arab world (the non-Arab Iranians will still use them as pawns), they may finally see the light, and force their leaders to seek an agreement.
The United States must rescind its famous 41-year old legal opinion that West Bank settlements are "inconsistent with international law," the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) said as it embarked on a renewed campaign this week to pressure the Trump administration on the matter.The 'Arab Street' Is a Dead End
“Termination of this opinion is long overdue,” said Jeff Daube, the ZOA’s Israel Director, adding that it has been used to “fuel Israel bashing,” particularly at the United Nations.
Daube is in Washington this week to solicit support among US Congress members for the Trump administration to formally rescind a 1978 opinion by former State Department legal adviser Herbert J. Hansell, who worked for the Carter administration.
He authored the opinion in support of UN Security Council Resolution 465 against West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in Jerusalem. All 15 UNSC members, including the US, supported the resolution.
Daube said he believes the Obama administration failed to veto the 2016 UNSC Resolution 2334 that condemned Israeli settlement activity and affirmed its illegality under international law because of the Hansel opinion. Former ambassador to the UN Samantha Power hinted as such in her remarks, he added.
Failure to rescind the opinion would allow future US administrations to use it as a basis to support anti-Israeli resolutions at the UN, Daube said.
It’s time to put an old aphorism to rest. For decades, Middle East analysts and journalists have used the informal phrase “the Arab Street” to describe public opinion in the Arab world. The term is often used to imply monolithic thought when contemplating policy decisions. Western policymakers and pundits, for example, have often warned that increased support for the world’s sole Jewish state would come at the expense of relations with Arab nations; pro-Israel positions might cause “the Arab street” to explode. But evidence suggests otherwise.The end is no different from the beginning
As David Pollock, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted more than a quarter of a century ago, Arab opinion, while “measurable,” is “anything but uniform, or static” even on “enduring and seemingly mobilizing issues.” Pollock, who regularly monitors public opinion and polls in the Middle East, conducted his 1993 study after many analysts incorrectly predicted mass uprisings in response to the deployment of US and UN forces in Saudi Arabia in order to prevent an invasion by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Western decision-makers and bureaucrats have long warned of “the Arab street” reaction when the US was viewed as too supportive of the Jewish state. Dennis Ross documented these warnings — and their frequent failure to materialize — in his 2016 book Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama. Ross, a former State Department and National Security Council official, provides a litany of failed prognostications resulting from misreading Arab nations and their motivations.
In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, President Harry Truman bucked his top foreign policy advisers — many of them labeled the “Wise Men” for their role in crafting early Cold War policies — by deciding to recognize Israel. Venerable figures such as Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall, the former Army chief of staff during World War II; James Forrestal, the first Secretary of Defense; and the famed diplomat George Kennan, among others, vehemently opposed Truman’s decision.
These advisers, understandably concerned with potential Soviet penetration of the region and access to oil, “conjured up terrible consequences” for the United States “for acting in any way that alienated the Arabs,” Ross noted. Marshall warned, “There was a danger that if the Jewish state came into being it would be a front for the Soviets.” Paradoxically, others worried that support for Israel would push Arab nations into Soviet arms. As Marshall’s future successor at Foggy Bottom, Dean Acheson, warned, supporting Israel’s re-establishment would “imperil … all Western interests in the Near East.”
Today marks 14 years since Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, became "rais" [president] of the Palestinian Authority. Fourteen years is a long enough time to sum up a term in office, even if we don't know how long he will remain there. As befits an Arab leader, we must not forget that Abbas believes in elections only when they can give him a victory, and if that's not certain – neither is the election itself.
Abbas was a loyal follower of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat, in every sense. Like Arafat, Abbas' relations with Israel stemmed from his own basic anti-Semitism. Even when he was picked out as a possible successor to Arafat, the Israeli Left tried to hide Abbas' simmering hatred of Jews. Special effort was devoted to making people forget that Abbas is a bona fide Holocaust denier.
The doctoral thesis Abbas completed in the communist USSR was characterized by "scientific" discoveries that we know and condemn. Jews, the man who would later lead the PA wrote, invented millions of victims, and the Zionist leadership even encouraged the Nazis to kill Jews so they could get "the land of Palestine" in compensation. After he was appointed head of the PA, the Russians took care to have his doctorate classified so he would not be publicly embarrassed if it were published.
Over the past 14 years, one aspect of Abbas' worldview has changed – he now blames the Holocaust on the Jews themselves, the same Holocaust he used to claim never took place. In a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council in May 2018, Abbas used colorful language to describe how the Jews' social behavior and tendency to work in banking and finance were what brought upon them the horrors of the Holocaust.
Today: as Palestinian President Abbas just began 15th year of his 4-year term, he's addressing the UN as State of Palestine (still legally represented by the PLO) replaces Egypt as Chair of G-77, a coalition of 134 developing nations. Let's see how long his 1-year term lasts. pic.twitter.com/A9ypWNj57o
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) January 15, 2019
UN chief backs 2-state solution in talks with Abbas
The United Nations says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and stressed again that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only path to peace.Abbas at UN calls for global battle against terrorism
Guterres’ strong backing for an independent Palestinian state came ahead of the release of a long-awaited US plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace and Israeli elections in April.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Guterres also congratulated Abbas during Monday’s meeting on the election of the Palestinians to preside over the Group of 77, a bloc of 134 mainly developing nations and China that promotes their collective interests at the United Nations. Abbas will take over the chairmanship from Egypt on Tuesday.
As Abbas and his entourage left UN headquarters, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters: “It was a good meeting.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for all nations to combat terrorism afterIsrael set to begin exporting gas to Egypt in a few months' time
gunmen blasted their way into a hotel and office complex in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday.
At least one person was killed and eight wounded, hospital officials said.
The attack occurred as Abbas was in the middle of leading his meeting as chairman of the Group of 77 in New York.
He condemned the terrorism that takes place world wide on a daily basis. He said that “state of Palestine has adopted 83 protocols with 83 countries” throughout the world to put an end to this scourge.
But he made no mention of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis nor did he take responsibility for them.
Israel will begin exporting natural gas to Egypt in a few months' time, a key step in the country's plans to sell its expanding gas production abroad and bolster diplomatic ties, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday.Leading Jewish Groups Among Those Mourning Assassinated Polish Mayor Pawel Adamowicz
Steinitz did not give a specific target for initial exports, but said shipments would double after the huge Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean becomes fully operational in November.
Steinitz said Israeli exports to Egypt were expected to reach 7 billion cubic meters annually over 10 years. About half the exports were expected to be used for Egypt's domestic market and half to be liquefied for re-export, he said.
Israel has discovered vast amounts of gas since the early 2000s, signing deals to export to Egypt and Jordan. Its production, currently around 10.5 bcm, is expected to more than double in 2020, rising to 27 bcm in 2021.
In an interview on the sidelines of a regional gas forum in Cairo, Steinitz said Israel and Egypt had discussed how to extend cooperation on natural gas, including through exports.
A leading US Jewish advocacy organization was among the many voices on Monday mourning the death of Pawel Adamowicz, the mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk. Adamowicz was stabbed through the heart by an assassin on Sunday night as he addressed thousands of people attending a charity concert in the city.Trial to probe Brussels museum gunman’s links to other jihadists
An outspoken liberal who was frequently critical of Poland’s right-wing government on issues ranging from immigration to LBGT+ rights, Adamowicz died in hospital following over five hours of surgery.
Dr. Tomasz Stefaniak, the director of the hospital where Adamowicz was treated, said: “With the deepest regret we must confirm that unfortunately we lost the struggle for the life of the mayor of the city. We honor his memory.”
The alleged assailant, a 27-year-old man from Gdańsk with a record of violent crime, was released from prison last month, it emerged on Monday. After the stabbing, the assailant told the crowd he blamed Adamowicz’s former political party Civic Platform for his jailing in 2014 over a series of violent attacks.
Among those expressing shock at Adamowicz’s passing was the American Jewish Committee (AJC), whose office in Warsaw worked closely with the Gdansk mayor.
The Frenchman accused of murdering four people at the Jewish museum of Belgium had links with other jihadists, including those behind the Brussels and Paris attacks, investigators say.Tunisia’s New Jewish Tourism Minister: ‘I Think My Nomination Is a Message’
At least one lawyer wants to see if defendant Mehdi Nemmouche sheds more light on such links during his trial that opened last Thursday for the May 24, 2014 museum shooting spree.
The first opportunity may come on Tuesday when Nemmouche begins testifying in his defense in a Brussels criminal court.
Guillaume Lys, the lawyer for the French Association of Victims of Terrorism (AFVT), hopes his cross-examination may yield more detail about the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks.
“Our goal is to be able to have more information about the links between these people and others whom we know and who committed other acts,” said Lys, who represents a civil party in the trial.
Tunisia’s newly-appointed tourism minister, Jewish businessman Rene Trabelsi, believes his nomination sends a strong signal to the rest of the world.Aviv Kochavi takes reins from Gadi Eisenkot as IDF chief of staff
“I think my nomination is a message,” he told i24NEWS. “I was told by people in government that it was time for someone from the Tunisian Jewish community, from the private sector to take over in the tourism industry.”
“We have a lot of talented people here in Tunisia, but Tunisian Jews, as you know, have more than 3,000 years of history behind them,” he added.
Trabelsi is known for his role in the Jewish community, and has helped organize Jewish pilgrimages to the oldest synagogue in Africa, located in the country.
“There should be no restrictions on tourism in Tunisia,” he said. “People from everywhere should be allowed to come here.”
Tunisia was once home to one of the largest Jewish communities in North Africa, peaking at around 100,000 people. After Israel’s establishment in 1948, persecution by the dominant Arab majority caused most Tunisian Jews to flee to the new Jewish state. Somewhere between 700 to 2,000 Jews remain in Tunisia today.
In recent years, however, Tunisia has come to be seen as something of a bastion of liberalism in the Arab world, one of the only real success stories to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring.
“Today we can see that in six or seven years only, Tunisia has already recovered,” said Trabelsi. “Tourism is working once more and tourists are flocking to Tunisia, this means Tunisia is different from other Arab countries, or even European countries.”
Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi took over Tuesday as the 22nd commander of the Israel Defense Forces, replacing outgoing chief Gadi Eisenkot, who ended his four-year term as the army’s top officer.Prosecution to indict Israeli teen for Palestinian woman’s killing
The handover took place at a 9:30 a.m. ceremony at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv where the first order of the day promoted Kochavi, 54, to the rank of lieutenant general.
Kochavi, until now the deputy chief of staff, takes over as Israel faces an array of challenges on its borders with Gaza and Lebanon along with an evolving campaign against Iran in Syria.
As expected, he hit the ground running, meeting his general staff on Tuesday afternoon, after which he issued a daily order sent out to all IDF commanders and soldiers.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, left, speaks with Galil Division commander Amir Baram and head of the Northern Command Aviv Kochavi (right), during a visit to Israel’s northern border on December 30, 2015. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
Eisenkot, who retired after four years at the helm and 40 years as a soldier, formally handed over the IDF Chief of Staff’s standard to Kochavi at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently also the defense minister.
Kochavi also paid his respects at the National Hall of Remembrance at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
State prosecutors informed the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Tuesday that they intend to indict the prime suspect in the deadly October stoning of a Palestinian woman.PA hands over Palestinian Jerusalem resident held for alleged role in murder
The court agreed to the prosecution’s request to extend the remand of the Israeli teen until Sunday in order to provide time to submit charges against him.
Police in a statement said the prosecution “intends to submit an indictment in the coming days.”
A Justice Ministry official told The Times of Israel that the state is planning to charge the suspect with manslaughter, a crime whose maximum sentence is 20 years behind bars.
The minor was arrested on December 30 along with two other students from the Pri Haaretz yeshiva high school in the northern West Bank settlement of Rehelim. A week later, two more boys from the same boarding school were arrested.
The Palestinian Authority police announced on Monday that it has handed over murder suspect Sameh Nasser al-Din, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, to Israel.Abbas likely to visit Syria soon, senior Palestinian official says
The PA had held Nasser al-Din in its custody since April on suspicion that he participated in the murder of Raed Ghrouf, a young Palestinian man who was found dead on the premises of the Millennium Hotel in Ramallah on March 3, 2018.
Ghrouf, who was from Jericho, was a worker at the hotel. Members of his family protested the PA’s transfer of Nasser al-Din to Israeli authorities on Monday in central Jericho.
In a rare move for a case involving a resident of Jerusalem, the PA started to carry out legal proceedings against Nasser al-Din several months ago.
The PA Attorney General’s Office has released few details of the investigation it undertook into the killing of Ghrouf, but it has said it indicted a total of five persons including Nasser al-Din for participating in it.
A senior Palestinian predicted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Syria in the near future.West Bank Palestinians strike against social security law
The PA president has not visited Syria or met Syrian President Bashar Assad since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.
“The visit of the President Mahmoud Abbas is possible at any time… I believe [it] will happen soon, if God wills it,” Azzam al-Ahmad told al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper, at the opening of a new office for Palestine TV, the official PA channel, in Damascus on Monday.
Several Palestinian officials attended the opening of the Palestine TV office including Ahmad, a member of both the Fatah Central Committee and Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee; the PA’s Jenin Governor Akram Rajoub; and PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef.
Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank joined a strike on Tuesday against their government’s proposed new social security law, fearing the fund will be mismanaged.
The strike, which saw much of Ramallah, Hebron and other West Bank cities closed, came hours before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the United Nations.
A few thousand people protested outside the Social Security Institution in Ramallah, where Abbas’s government is based.
Under the proposed system, both private employers and their employees would pay monthly into a government-managed fund, with employees receiving a pension when they retire.
The PA says it will provide new security for employees, arguing similar systems exist in countries across the globe.
Egyptian Cleric Sameh Al-Juba on Muslim Brotherhood TV: The Jews Are Treacherous and Should Not Be Dealt with Kindly or Justly pic.twitter.com/CFXb38cdIi
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 15, 2019
MEMRI: Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif's Claim That Iran Does Not Seek Israel's Destruction Is A Blatant Lie (Part I)
In a December 23, 2018 interview with the French weekly Le Point, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that no Iranian leader had ever threatened to destroy Israel. When the interviewer responded by quoting a statement made by former Iranian president Ahmadinejad at the UN against Israel, Zarif replied that Ahmadinejad had merely been quoting the founder of the Islamic Revolution regime, Ruhollah Khomeini. Ahmadinejad, he added, had not threatened Israel but only meant to say that "Israel would eventually disappear if it continued its present policy."[i]Iran ignores US and proceeds with satellite launch, which fails
Zarif's claim is a blatant lie. The various Iranian regime governments have consistently and explicitly presented the destruction of Israel as an ideological and practical goal of the Islamic Revolution regime.[ii]
Statements By Iranian Leader Khamenei On The Need To Destroy Israel
It should be mentioned that statements by Iranian officials about the need to destroy Israel did not end with Ahmadinejad's presidency. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei periodically posts to this effect on his various websites and social media accounts, such as the following tweet, from June 2018:
A report focusing on recent statements by top Iranian officials regarding the need to destroy Israel will be published soon.
Below is a comprehensive report published by MEMRI in September 2018 elaborating Iran's policy with regard to the destruction of Israel.
Israel's Eradication – An Ideological And Practical Goal Of Iran's Islamic Revolution Regime
Since its establishment in 1979, the regime of the Islamic Revolution in Iran has made the eradication of Israel the focus of its ideology, expressing and emphasizing it openly in declarations. However, this aspiration has never been confined to declarations. The Islamic revolutionary regime has invested tremendous, years-long, yet indirect military efforts towards actualizing it. These efforts have included, inter alia, providing ongoing funding and weapons to Hizbullah, training it as a fighting force and equipping it with over 120,000 missiles for use against Israel; [1] and helping Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad by providing funding, training, and weapons, including missiles – and on occasion having them operate in accordance with Iran's needs.
The Islamic revolutionary regime likewise works to maximize the indoctrination and mobilization of the Iranian public towards this goal. For example, the last Friday of Ramadan is designated "Qods [Jerusalem] Day," both inside and outside Iran; the event is marked by emphasizing the goal of eradicating Israel, on the ideological and the practical levels, in conferences, marches, and other public events.
This report will focus on both the ideological aspect and the declarative aspect – i.e. in statements by regime spokesmen – of the Islamic revolutionary regime's firm intent to eradicate the State of Israel.
Iran's bid to launch a satellite has failed, the country's Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said on Tuesday, after it ignored U.S. warnings to avoid such activity.Head of Iranian Atomic Energy Org.: Our New 20%-Enriched Nuclear Fuel Increases Reactor Production
Washington warned Tehran this month against undertaking three planned rocket launches that it said would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution because they use ballistic missile technology.
The United States is concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads.
Iran has said its space vehicle launches and missile tests were not violations and would continue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out about the failed launch at a ceremony to inaugurate the new IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in Jerusalem, Tuesday.
"Iran is lying when it says it now wants to launch a satellite into space. In practice, it is trying to launch an intercontinental missile," Netanyahu said.
In a January 13 interview with the Iranian broadcasting authority, the Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, discussed Iran’s new 20%-enriched nuclear fuel. He said: “[The new fuel is] in keeping with modern fuel [standards]… [It] increases the production of the reactor. We will be able to provide fuel for any other reactor we will build, like the Tehran reactor.” The report also claimed that Iran has begun the production of raw nuclear materials for PET scans. Salehi's comments were posted online by Fars News (Iran).
