Monday, November 11, 2019
Petra Marquardt-Bigman: The Myth of a Progressive Palestine
Ridding the world of its one Jewish state to create a state of Palestine “from the river to the sea” is a supposedly “progressive” ambition for the anti-Israel crowd.Pompeo Confirms Israel's Nightmare Scenario on Iranian Nuclear Weapons
But the idea that the Palestinians are in any way interested in establishing a progressive paradise is downright preposterous, since extensive opinion surveys document that extremist and fundamentalist views are mainstream in Palestinian society.
It’s only to be expected that fringe sites like the Electronic Intifada or Mondoweiss hide this evidence from the anti-Israel activists they cater to. But unfortunately, the prestigious magazine Foreign Affairs has recently also promoted the myth of a one-state solution as a model of peaceful co-existence and equal rights for all its citizens. By giving a platform to Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the magazine published a professional propagandist whose job is to demonize Israel while marketing the idea that Palestinian “rights” include the elimination of the Jewish state.
“One-state” proponents like Munayyer can’t really afford to be honest about the kind of state Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza want, because that would endanger the widespread illusion that the Palestinian cause deserves uncritical support from progressives.
As documented in a Pew survey from 2013 that included almost 40,000 Muslims in 39 countries, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were often among the Muslim populations with the most extremist views about the role of Islam in society: 89 percent of Palestinians said they wanted Sharia law; 66 percent endorsed the death penalty for Muslims who convert to another religion; 76 percent supported mutilation as a punishment for theft; and a shocking 84 percent wanted adulterers stoned to death.
When asked how much political influence religious leaders should have, 29 percent of Palestinians said religious leaders should have a lot of political influence, and another 43 percent wanted religious leaders to have at least some political influence. These views are reflected in the Palestinian draft constitution, which stipulates that the “principles of the Islamic shari’a are a main source for legislation.”
In one sentence, the US Secretary of State managed Nov. 7 to define the ultimate nightmare of diplomatic and security decision-makers in Israel and bring all the demons out into the open: “Members of the international community who are rightly concerned with Iran's latest attacks and provocations should imagine how Iran would behave with a nuclear weapon,” Mike Pompeo said, following the Iranian declaration of the start of phase 4 in its slow withdrawal from the nuclear agreement. He confirmed the estimate of Israeli intelligence that was published here a year ago, according to which the Iranians will violate the agreement gradually, in slow steps, that will gradually grow, until they reach a range from which they could break through to a military nuclear program within a few months.
In the end, so estimated Israeli intelligence officers after the United States left the nuclear agreement, Iran would be ready for a quick “breakthrough” toward the first military nuclear facility. This is, exactly, the situation Israel fears more than anything else on earth. Pompeo also discussed this possibility, saying that the United States will not let it happen; but these words convinced no one in Jerusalem, nor in Tel Aviv (the location of the Israel Defense Forces and intelligence agencies’ headquarters).
“Unfortunately, experience teaches us,” a former high-ranking Israeli intelligence official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “that not all of the Trump administration’s declarations are translated into deeds. The thing is that this time we are reaching an existential crossroad that might force us to choose an independent path. This time this isn’t North Korea, but Iran, whose declared intention is to erase Israel from the map of the world.”
Israeli intelligence predicted with astonishing accuracy all that has happened in the year and a half since President Donald Trump declared the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, in May 2018. In conversation with Al-Monitor in mid-2018, a senior intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, sketched the full scenario: The Iranians would respond to the American exit from the agreement with violations that would grow in severity, it was said in that conversation. At first, they will start enriching uranium again to the 3.5% level, then they will increase the number of centrifuges. Later, they will increase the enriched uranium supply they hold in their territory, then they will operate the enrichment facility at Fordow and start using their sophisticated, fast centrifuges.
Argentina Asks Azerbaijan to Arrest Iranian Involved in Jewish Center Bombing
Argentina has asked Azerbaijan to arrest a high-level Iranian adviser to the country’s supreme leader in connection with the bombing in 1994 of the Buenos Aires AMIA Jewish center
Alí Akbar Velayati was scheduled to attend the Second Summit of religious world leaders in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Nov. 14-15.
Velayati, who was Iran’s foreign minister at the time of the terrorist attack and has been implicated in ordering the bombing, is now an adviser on international affairs to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Under existing Argentine law, an accused person must have the opportunity to defend himself before a judge. Since the Iranians accused in the attack, many from the upper political echelons, have not set foot on Argentine soil, it has been impossible to move the judicial process forward.
The Argentine Foreign Minister summoned the ambassador of Azerbaijan in Buenos Aires on Friday and expressed the “deep concern” of Argentina’s government about Velayati’s presence in Baku and asked for Azerbaijan’s cooperation “in order to carry out the detention for extradition purposes.”
Iran also is believed to be behind the 1992 car bombing that destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 and injuring 242.
Trump to address upcoming Israeli-American Council summit
US President Donald Trump will speak at the Israeli-American Council’s annual conference, scheduled to take place on Dec. 7 in Hollywood, Florida.US Senate to Submit Measure to Remember Kristallnacht, US Synagogue Shootings
This will be the American president's first speech before an apolitical Jewish organization since he was elected into office in 2016.
The Israeli-American Council is a California-based nonprofit organization that represents and serves more than 250,000 Israeli-Americans across the United States.
Its mission is to preserve and strengthen the Israeli and Jewish identities of future generations, strengthen the American Jewish community, and strengthen the relationship between the American public and Israel.
Active in over 73 communities and 100 college campuses in the US, the IAC is considered the fastest-growing Jewish organization in the world.
The annual conference will begin on Dec. 5 and continue through to Dec. 8. More than 3,500 people from across the US and Israel are expected to attend, including elected officials, senior academics and media outlets, as well as leaders from the Jewish and Israeli-American community.
This year, the conference will be held under the banner of "Israel Together." The theme aims to send an unreserved message of support with respect to the connection between the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
A resolution to mark the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, also noting the deadly synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., will be introduced in the US Senate.Nikki Haley’s Stellar Pro-Israel Record Can’t Be Denied
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will initiate the measure on Tuesday to memorialize the “The Night of Broken Glass,” which happened Nov. 9-10, 1938.
It also marks the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which left 11 Jewish worshippers dead, and the April 27, 2019 shooting at Chabad of Poway in Southern California that resulted in the death of a 60-year-old woman and the injuring of three others, including the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein.
The resolution calls on the Senate to remember Kristallnacht and “the more than 6,000,000 Jewish people killed during the Holocaust and the families affected by the tragedy.”
The tragedy, it states, “teaches mankind how hate can proliferate and erode societies” and “serves as a reminder that the United States must advance global efforts to ensure that barbarism and mass murder never occur again.”
“Whereas, while the United States has made progress towards addressing anti-Semitism, recent events demonstrate that much work remains,” according to the text, citing the two US tragedies as an example of the latter.
On September 27, Elon University hosted former South Carolina governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley as the Fall 2019 Convocation speaker.Poll: Public attaches little importance to 'peace process'
The description of the event on Elon’s Speaker Series webpage was brimming with notes of the former ambassador’s many accomplishments, including her record as a human rights advocate and her vocal stance against abuses committed by the regimes in Iran and Syria. But Nikki Haley’s consistent advocacy for the nation of Israel during her term at the United Nations was notably absent, and later only received scant attention in the brief bio handed out at the event itself.
In reality, her support for Israel was one of the major trademarks of Haley’s term at the UN. Shortly after her appointment, Haley was interviewed at the 2017 AIPAC Conference, where she made the statement: “Never do we [America] not have the backs of our friends. We don’t have a greater friend than Israel.”
Living up to that statement, Haley repeatedly condemned the double standard that existed (and still does) at the UN against Israel.
Speaking at a session of the Security Council that was called to assess the violence on the Gaza border after the US announced its decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem (per a 1995 law), Ambassador Haley rebuked her fellow ambassadors for singling out Israel for condemnation while ignoring Iran’s aggressive posturing in Syria.
“Those who suggest that the Gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the American embassy are sorely mistaken,” she declared. “Rather, the violence comes from those who reject the existence of the State of Israel in any location. Such a motivation, the destruction of a United Nations member state, is so illegitimate as to not be worth our time in the Security Council other than the time it takes to denounce it.”
The Israeli Foreign Policy Index for 2019 by the Mitvim Institute indicates that since 2015, there has been a continuous upward trend in the public's satisfaction with Israel's status in the world and Israeli foreign policy.Abbas says Palestinians slapped Washington in the face over peace plan
At the same time, according to a survey by the Rafi Smith Institute for Mitvim, the satisfaction index is mediocre.
The data shows that the public does not share the sense of crisis regarding the Foreign Ministry's status, which has been warned by professionals in recent years. However, the public is very interested that the next government work to strengthen the Foreign Ministry.
On the Arab issue, most of the public thinks regional cooperation in the Middle East is possible, but one-third of the public does not think Israel should promote cooperation with any Arab state. Saudi Arabia overtakes Egypt as the Arab state with which it is most important to promote cooperation. Only 3% mentioned Jordan, although a large majority of the public sees peace with it as a strategic asset.
The figures also indicate that a majority of the public thinks that Abbas is not a peace partner, and attaches relatively little importance to promoting the "peace process" by the next government.
A significant majority sees the EU as an opponent of Israel rather than its friend, but at a lower rate than in 2018. The Arab public, unlike the Jewish one, sees the EU as a friend of Israel. In order to improve the EU's image in Israel, the public is interested in statements from European politicians about the importance of the relationship with Israel and more information on EU-Israel cooperation.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said he’d “slapped” the US administration in the face by rejecting US President Donald Trump’s promised peace plan.Further Cooperation with Israel Can Help America Address Its Strategic Challenges in the Middle East
In a speech Monday, Abbas derisively referred to the US peace plan, known colloquially as the “Deal of the Century,” as the “Slap of the Century.”
“Some have tried to give us the slap of the century, but we slapped them in their faces,” he said during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death.
Trump has not yet released the plan or said when it will be released. But Abbas has preemptively rejected it, accusing the White House of being unfairly biased toward Israel.
The PA has boycotted Washington since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017. The administration responded by cutting all aid to the Palestinians.
The PA has been in deep financial crisis since February when Israel froze transfers of VAT and customs duties it collects on the Palestinians’ behalf, due to its handouts to prisoners convicted of terrorism as well as the families of dead terrorists.
Abbas’s administration had to impose austerity measures, cutting almost half the salaries of its employees.
“Israel came to say that martyrs are criminals, terrorists and killers,” Abbas said. “We will never accept giving up on our martyrs. They are the holiest of what we have. Our martyrs, prisoners and wounded persons are the holiest of what we have.”
According to the Pentagon’s most recent National Defense Strategy, the U.S. must shift from focusing on counterterrorism to responding to the threats of hostile states; at the same time, the document acknowledges that the threat of jihadist terror has not abated. For assistance in dealing with the latter, write Bradley Bowman and Andrew Gabel, Washington should look to Jerusalem:Facts Matter: U.S. Congressman Misled by Palestinians over Water Infrastructure in West Bank
America’s adversaries in the Middle East are virtually indistinguishable from those of Israel. From an American perspective, Israel’s capability and willingness to target assertively Iran’s [forces abroad] and Hizballah are welcome, serving to undermine Tehran’s reach in Syria and Iraq. . . . Such strikes keep strategic pressure on these organizations, leaving them with less time, space, and security in which to plot attacks and build infrastructure.
If Israel is effectively and persistently targeting these American foes, it is functionally advancing U.S. security interests without putting American lives at risk. This frees up U.S. resources that Washington may employ elsewhere in the great-power competition, such as in Eastern Europe or the Indo-Pacific [region].
More specifically, despite the already extensive collaboration between the U.S. and Israel in the realm of military technology, Bowman and Gabel argue that far more can be done to benefit both countries:
With some important exceptions, the United States and Israel develop military doctrine and new weapons independently. In some cases, that makes sense. In others, it does not. Washington’s failure to team up earlier with Israel on research and development has resulted in dangerous gaps in U.S. military capabilities.
Consider the case of the Israeli-made Trophy active-protection system, which was recently delivered to the U.S. Army to protect its M1 Abrams main battle tanks from rockets and missiles. Despite the fact that the system has been operational in the Israeli military since 2011, it is only now making its way into the U.S. Army’s arsenal.
While Israel is by no means ahead of the United States in most types of military technology, there are nevertheless select areas in which the U.S. military could benefit from Israeli experience and technological innovation. [It] would be strategically negligent not to do so.
On Nov. 6, U.S. Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) tweeted, "Yesterday, I traveled to the southern West Bank, including the Palestinian village of Susya....We watched the government utility, right before our eyes, lay in pipes right across the village's land to deliver tap water to an illegal Israeli outpost nearby."Katz: Israel wanted joint event to mark peace anniversary, but Jordan refused
In response, the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories tweeted on Nov. 7, "We were surprised to read @RepAndyLevin's tweet. The pipe is part of a major water infrastructure project for the region and will serve all populations in the area, mainly the Palestinians. We regret that your hosts misled you and misrepresented the situation. #factsmatter."
Israel sought to stage a joint event to commemorate the current 25th anniversary of its peace agreement with Jordan, but Amman refused, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Monday.Jordan vows to respect Israeli private property rights in Naharayim enclave
“With all due diplomatic sensitivity, I have to say that Israel did want to have a ceremony [together with Jordan]. They said that the [Israeli] government forgot and did not ask to have an event. The government did not forget; it asked [the Jordanian authorities], but it did not happen,” Katz said.
The reason for the Hashemite Kingdom’s refusal to mark a quarter century of peace has to do with “the complicated reality within Jordan,” the foreign minister said, referring to the country’s large Palestinian population and the fact that ties with Israel remain deeply unpopular there.
Speaking at a conference on Israeli-Jordanian relations in the Knesset, Katz recalled that earlier this year, he had attended an event to mark 40 years of Israeli-Egyptian peace at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, which was attended by Cairo’s ambassador to Tel Aviv.
Like several speakers before and after him on Monday, Katz lamented the fact that Jordan’s ambassador to Israel, Ghassan Majali, was not present at the Knesset for the conference. In fact, not a single Jordanian attended the event.
Jordan will respect private property rights of Israelis in the northern Naharayim border enclave in accordance with the Hashemite Kingdom’s laws, an official source in the Jordanian Foreign Ministry told the state-run Petra news agency on Sunday.Jordan’s King Tours Enclave Along Israel Border After End of Lease Deal
The source made the statement on the same day that annexes in the landmark 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement — which had created special arrangements for Israeli farmers and their employees to work lands in Naharayim and the southern Tzofar enclave — were terminated.
For some 25 years, Jordan and Israel had implemented the annexes of the peace deal regarding Naharayim and Tzofar, which are sovereign Jordanian territories. In late 2018, however, Jordanian officials informed their Israeli counterparts of the kingdom’s intention to end them.
“Regarding Baqoura, the peace agreement recognized the private ownership of 820 dunams,” the unnamed source in the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said, referring to the Arabic name for Naharayim.
“Jordan will allow any Israeli citizen who proves his property ownership to receive an entry visa from the Jordanian embassy in Tel Aviv to enter the kingdom through its official border crossings,” the source added, stating that Amman “will respect the right of property ownership according to Jordanian laws.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah paid his first visit on Monday to an enclave fringing its border with Israel a day after the expiry of a 25-year special regime that allowed Israeli farmers access to the area, official sources said.'Post' reports stop funding for German neo-Nazi party linked to Hezbollah
The king on Sunday declared an end of the arrangement, which many Jordanians saw as a humiliation that perpetuated what they regarded as an Israeli occupation of Jordanian territory.
Under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, two territories straddling the border were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but with special provisions allowing Israeli farmers to work the land without visas.
But in 2018, Jordan said it did not want to renew the arrangement, in what was widely seen as a sign of increasingly strained bilateral relations.
Jordan is one of only two Arab states with a peace accord with Israel, and the neighbors have a long history of close security ties.
But the treaty is unpopular in Jordan where there is strong support for Palestinians who seek the Israeli-controlled West Bank, bordering Jordan, for part of a future state.
The Jerusalem Post’s investigative series into bank accounts and online payment services for organizations that support Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorism caused the German neo-Nazi party The III. Path to pull the plug on its online fund-raising.Israel’s ambassador rebukes German TV outlet for airing anti-Israel slogan
The III. Path Party (Der Dritte Weg), which energetically campaigns for a boycott of the Jewish state, announced on its website that “Unfortunately, the repression against national Germans by banks and money transfer service providers is very large. Again and again, loyal clubs, parties and communities even have to seek the legal way to open a bank account. For this reason, we have not published any bank data from us.”
The Post first revealed in January that The III. Path was using the giant online payment service PayPal, prompting the US company to close its account with the right-wing neo-Nazi party. The III. Path declared on its website that its goal is the creation of “German socialism.”
The III. Path claims it has a bank account but did not list the financial institution on its website.
After the closure of the PayPal account, The III. Path switched to the French online payment company leetchi.
In January, leetchi confirmed to the Post in a phone interview that the company “deleted” the account because it was “against the terms and conditions” of the business. When asked specifically what the account violated, the spokesman said France’s law against hatred. The Post sent press queries to leetchi about The III. Path’s account prior to the closure.
In 2017, the Post reported that the website of The III. Path published a report in April on a visit by its members to Lebanon to champion Hezbollah’s war against Israel.
The III. Path secured enough votes in May to be elected to the town council in Plauen, Saxony.
Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, on Sunday criticized a program on the ZDF television outlet for broadcasting an anti-Israel slogan calling for an end to the occupation of disputed Palestinian territories during a show about the fall of the Berlin Wall.Netanyahu to Gantz: Govt. with Arab list 'slap in face' of IDF soldiers
It is disgrace that some people consider this useful to exploit this event for political goals against Israel, Issacharoff told the Bild paper, adding Germany just celebrated the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the communist East German state.
“On November 9, we celebrated the fall of the Wall, but also dignifiedly recalled the pogrom night 81 years ago, which is also symbolic of the horrors of at the time approaching Holocaust,” said Issacharoff.
After an appearance by the singer Anna Loos on the German public-service television station ZDF, the show projected in large Hebrew letters the slogan on the stage “End the Occupation.” Bild said the slogan was aired during one of the most-viewed periods on German television.
Uwe Becker, the newly elected head of the German-Israel association, told The Jerusalem Post that “Against the background of the historical significance of November 9, 1938 as the beginning of the systematic mass murder of six million European Jews, dealing with the joy of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 must be done in a sensitive manner.” He added that “ZDF has done exactly the opposite with the display of the call to end the Israeli occupation in its own wall show and just on the anniversary of the November pogroms.”
Becker noted that ZDF provided “a stage for anti-Israel antisemitism. I expect that the ZDF explains how it came to this totally unacceptable crossing of a line and apologizes.”
Forming a minority coalition with the Joint List would be a slap in the face to IDF soldiers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a message to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz in his address to a conference held by the Makor Rishon weekly on Monday.Abbas: No elections without Gaza, Jerusalem; ‘martyrs’ are not terrorists
Netanyahu called on Gantz to drop the “insane” and “dangerous” idea and form a national unity government with Likud.
“Benny, you were the [IDF] chief of staff during Operation Protective Edge. We ran that operation together. We sent soldiers into battle,” Netanyahu recounted. “Do you remember what [Joint List MK Ahmed] Tibi did during the operation? He read the names of terrorists killed in Gaza from the stage of the Knesset. He said that the IDF is committing war crimes…In a campaign video, they said ‘Gantz, there is blood on your hands.’”
Blue and White is considering building a minority coalition of 44 or 52 seats, with outside support from the Joint List. However, the faction is divided, with its MKs on the right opposing the move, because the Joint List is an anti-Zionist party.
Netanyahu said a government that depends on Tibi and Joint List leader Ayman Odeh is a “slap in the face of the IDF soldiers who we sent into battle together.”
“Those are the people with whom you want to form a government?...It’s unbelievable,” Netanyahu said, calling the idea “insane” and saying the Joint List “doesn’t recognize the state’s right to exist.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that there would be no new Palestinian elections unless they include east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
In a speech in Ramallah on Monday marking the 15th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Abbas said that he is planning to first hold new parliamentary and then presidential elections. No date has been set.
“We have decided to go to a parliamentary election, to be followed by a presidential election,” Abbas told dozens of Palestinians who gathered at his Ramallah presidential Mukata compound to mark the anniversary of Arafat’s death. “These elections should be held in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Otherwise, there will be no elections.”
Also on Monday, hundreds of Palestinians marched in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities in the West Bank carrying yellow Fatah flags and posters of Arafat.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas security forces detained several Palestinians who were planning to hold a rally to commemorate Arafat. Last week, Abbas’s Fatah faction accused Hamas of banning all events marking the anniversary of Arafat’s death. Palestinians sources in the Gaza Strip, however, said that Hamas allowed followers of former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, an archrival of Abbas, to hold a number of events in the Gaza Strip on this occasion.
In September, Abbas announced his initiative to hold new elections during a speech before the UN General Assembly.
Since then, the PA and several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been holding indirect negotiations in an attempt to reach agreement on the long-overdue elections.
The last presidential election was held in 2005, while the last parliamentary vote took place in 2006.
#BREAKING
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) November 11, 2019
Nov 11 - Babil (Babylon), southern #Iraq
Massive rally by students chanting slogans against #Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani.pic.twitter.com/G7RSouLVjG
No joke: today at the U.N. Human Rights Council "states commend Iraq for...progress in advancing human rights." This is after the Iraqi regime just massacred peaceful protesters with assistance from Iran. https://t.co/vx5ro4qrSX
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 11, 2019
UN Watch: Reviewing Iran's Human Rights Record
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, more than 200 Baha'is have been executed for their religious beliefs.JCPA: How Long until Iran Builds a Nuclear Weapon?
According to an August 2019 report from the UN Secretary-General, women in Iran face ongoing repression and discrimination. Women who object to compulsory veiling are regularly harassed and arrested. The 2018 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Iran 142 out of 149 countries.
Journalists, writers and media workers are routinely subject to arbitrary arrest, detention and harassment, according to a UN report. Iran is ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the "most censored" countries in the world.
Freedom House gives Iran one of the lowest ratings for political and civil rights. The Guardian Council vets all candidates and rejects those who are not deemed fully loyal to the clerical establishment.
According to a 2018 report from Amnesty International, Iranian authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained thousands of individuals. Torture was widespread. Floggings and amputations have been carried out by the state.
The head of Iran’s nuclear energy organization said that six years after its groundbreaking, the expanded Bushehr NPP is operated entirely by Iranian experts with all the necessary equipment installed indigenously. The building costs of the reactor will be paid over the course of six to eight years, and with oil fuel costing $60 a barrel today, the reactor will save almost $700 million annually.Iran enriching 12 times as much uranium now Fordo restarted, nuclear head says
Ali Akbar Salehi and Hassan Rouhani
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in October 2019 that Iran is designing and producing all necessary nuclear equipment, including various models of centrifuges. Ali Asghar Zarean, special advisor to Salehi, emphasized, “100 percent of the Iranian nuclear industry is local, and today Iran can independently provide all its requirements in design and production of different centrifuge models.”
As part of the strategy it has adopted, Iran continues to build capabilities that will enable it to return quickly to a fully active military nuclear program whenever it chooses to do so. At the same time, Iran continues to develop the nuclear power plant (NPP) complex in Bushehr.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the steps Iran is taking to erode its commitments to the nuclear deal are shortening its breakout time toward producing nuclear weapons. In any event, it appears that Iran does not intend to budge from its condition for a renewal of the negotiations – the lifting of the sanctions. Hence, the freeze in the talks with the European partners over the deal appears likely to continue, and so do Iran’s steps toward renouncing its commitments under the agreement.
The head of Iran’s nuclear program told The Associated Press on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground facility.Iran rejects reports of IAEA finding traces of uranium at unnamed site, blames Israel
Ali Akbar Salehi of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran made the comments as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also called on hardliners to support the country’s troubled nuclear deal, saying it could open up international arms sales for the Islamic Republic next year.
Iran has broken out of the accord’s limits since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord between Tehran and world powers over a year ago.
Salehi told AP journalists in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily (12 pounds). That’s compared to what Tehran had been producing — about 450 grams (1 pound) of low-enriched uranium per day.
Salehi said that’s due in part to restarting enrichment at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.
“I believe (that) in total, 5.5 kilograms is the daily volume of uranium enrichment in Natanz and Fordo,” Salehi told the AP, mentioning Iran’s other nuclear facility at Natanz.
Iran currently enriches uranium to up to 4.5%, far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday rejected as a "trap" reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, found traces of uranium at an Iranian site that Israel called a "secret atomic warehouse".Iran downgrades new oil find to just 2.2 billion accessible barrels
"The Zionist regime and Israel are attempting to re-open ... this file," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in remarks carried on state television. "We have announced that this is a trap," Mousavi said.
Iran’s oil minister said Monday that an oil field whose discovery President Hassan Rouhani announced over the weekend adds only 22.2 billion barrels to the country’s estimated crude reserves.
Out of the amount at the site, only a tenth — 2.2 billion barrels — can be extracted due to technological limitations, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran.
Rouhani on Sunday announced the discovery of a field containing 53 billion barrels of oil in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, saying it was a “small gift by the government to the people of Iran.”
The oil minister said the discovery added 22.2 billion barrels to the country’s oil reserves.
“Considering that there was already 31 billion barrels of oil (in the region), the in situ amount added is 22.2 billion barrels,” he said.
Due to the area’s “dense and stone material,” the amount that can be extracted is only “2.2 billion barrels, considering the current technology we have,” he added.
Mashhad Friday Sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda on Eve of Anniversary of the 1979 Takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: We Want America to Die a Painful Death; One Day It Will Be Toppled and Destroyed pic.twitter.com/iEuIeyGqNp
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 11, 2019
Yes, anybody can run, but Assad will again win 99.82% of the votes. https://t.co/smuS2UHvS3
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 11, 2019
Erdogan Guards Attacked U.S. Secret Service in Washington in 2017, New Documents Show
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s planned visit to Washington this week is raising concerns about a repeat of violent protests from his 2017 trip, as recent court documents provide new details about the clashes between U.S. and Turkish security personnel.Turkey: Hate Speech against Christians and Jews
More than a dozen Turkish security officials were first identified by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) two years ago as instigating violence against protesters who were demonstrating outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Erdoğan’s last visit to Washington, D.C., though charges were dropped against most of them.
The security officials left the country before they could be arrested. They were delivered to a waiting flight at Joint Base Andrews by State Department diplomatic security and Secret Service. One agent described it as the fastest “joint move and departure I’ve ever seen in my 16 years on the job,” according to a memo sent to the State Department the day after the clashes.
The memo was included in court documents in a lawsuit against Turkey on behalf of the victims of the attacks. It details violent outbursts against both civilians and U.S. security personnel who are charged with coordinating protection for foreign dignitaries with visiting security officers.
“These guys are out of control,” said Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen Milstein, a firm representing five people in a lawsuit against Turkey for the assault on protesters 2½ years ago.
“This case is really important for the rights of American citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights in the United States, and it was just kind of a shocking, shocking disrespect for our Constitution and our citizens by Turkey,” Fryszman said.
Turkey is claiming immunity from the lawsuit, arguing that its agents acted in defense of Erdoğan.
Billboards with images of blood-splattered crosses and Stars of David that began to appear in October on bus stops in central Turkey were removed recently, after eliciting an explosive response from a concerned opposition parliamentarian and a complaint by the country's main human rights organization.Iranian-Born Refugee Completes Israeli Border Police Commander’s Course
The disturbing images on the billboards -- created by the Islamist Anadolu Youth Association and the National Youth Foundation, affiliated with Islamist Felicity Party -- were accompanied by the Qur'anic verse, 5:51:
"O believers, take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them. God guides not the people of the evildoers." (Arberry translation)
"Ey iman edenler! Yahudileri ve Hristiyanları dost edinmeyin. Onlar birbirlerinin dostudurlar ve sizden kim onları dost edinirse, O'da onlardandır. Allah zalimler topluluğunu doğru yola eriştirmez."
In a motion submitted to the Interior Ministry, Garo Paylan, a Member of Parliament from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) questioned how such posters could have been displayed or approved by the Konya Municipality. Paylan also hinted that the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has not only failed utterly to do enough to prevent hate speech but actually has been instrumental in spreading it.
Simultaneously, the Committee against Racism and Discrimination of Turkey's Human Rights Association lodged a criminal complaint against the mayor of Konya and the Islamist groups that prepared the posters.
Meanwhile, although the billboards have been taken down, the Interior Ministry has yet to respond to Paylan's parliamentary questions.
A 19-year-old Iranian-born woman who moved to Israel with her family at the age of seven has succeeded in becoming a combat soldier in the Border Police force and just completed a commander’s course.
According to Israeli news website Mako, the officer, referred to only as “N.”, fled persecution in Iran and was inspired to seek a combat position during a visit to Jerusalem shortly after her family’s arrival in Israel.
“I remember as a girl my parents took me to Jerusalem,” she said. “In Jerusalem, I saw police officers and Border Police guarding the city and the safety of the citizens, and I decided I wanted to be like them.”
“I’m glad I made this dream come true,” she added. “My whole family is Zionist, and I wanted to serve where I could contribute to the security of the state and protect its citizens.”
N., who now lives in the southern city of Ashdod, was born in the Iranian city of Kermanshah. When she was a young child, her father was imprisoned as a result of the persecution faced by Jews in the country.
“To this day, dad prefers not to share with us about his time in prison,” she said. “It’s very hard for him to do that.”
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