Tuesday, August 11, 2020

08/11 Links Pt1: Jonathan Tobin: Lebanon proves President Trump right on the Middle East; Inside the Struggle Between Israel and Hezbollah; The Palestinian War on History

From Ian:
Jonathan S. Tobin: Lebanon proves President Trump right on the Middle East
Lebanese demonstrators are now calling for throwing out all of their leaders. But there is no formula for governing this country that would satisfy any of these warring tribes.

The world wants to help the Lebanese recover from the port disaster. But the question we should be asking is whether there is anything the West can do to change these countries. The answer is no.

Over the last few decades, both the United States and Israel have been dragged into Lebanon’s civil wars in ways that didn’t benefit anyone. The same is true in Syria, where Washington has fought ISIS and Jerusalem seeks to fend off incursions by Iran and Hezbollah.

Some outsiders might be tempted to try to “fix” Lebanon by helping impose a state modeled on modern and democratic norms, rather than its current tribal and sectarian format. As the United States proved in Iraq, anyone who takes on such a task is ignoring history and common sense and will pay for the hubris in blood and treasure.

Also unfortunately, Lebanon, like Syria and Iraq, is a breeding ground for terrorism. We will have to deter those baddies by other means, never again by entangling ourselves in these nations’ broken political lives. We can wish young, aspirational democrats well as they try to fix their countries — but they should do it on their own.

Anyone who criticizes Trump’s refusal, backed by most Americans, to contemplate more military involvement isn’t being realistic.

Pure isolationism isn’t the answer, of course. The United States should support Israel’s efforts to ensure that violence in Lebanon and Syria doesn’t spread. And the West should, as Trump has done, continue sanctioning and isolating Iran, to prevent it from creating more mischief. Sensible people should also worry about creating a Palestinian state that would be just as much of a disaster as Lebanon or Syria.

Americans have long labored under the delusion that we can heal the Middle East. But the internecine slaughter in Syria and Iraq and the catastrophe that is Lebanon should remind us that the only sensible approach is to stop letting ourselves get dragged into the region’s bloodstained sands.
Richard Goldberg: How the Middle East Can Hedge Against a Biden Presidency
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are in for a rude awakening if former Vice President Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump in November and Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate in addition to the House. The only thing that might save them: normalizing relations with Israel.

For now, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi seem preoccupied with whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will declare sovereignty over roughly 30 percent of the West Bank, consistent with the Trump peace plan proposal. The UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef al Otaiba, even penned a column for a leading Israeli newspaper warning that a sovereignty declaration would be a setback for Israeli-Gulf ties. Somehow, while President Trump's decisions to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, move the American embassy there and defund the UN agency for Palestinian refugees merited little more than pro forma foreign ministry press releases, the Emiratis are waging a full (royal) court press to stop Israel from asserting sovereignty over a slice of the West Bank.

With only a few months left until the November presidential election, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) might need to readjust their priorities. Without peace treaties with Israel, their support in Washington could soon collapse. Wasting time and energy fighting an Israeli sovereignty declaration in the West Bank—which may not even happen—will not insulate them from a Democratic takeover next January.

A Biden administration will be tempted to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal, returning to the Obama-era strategy of seeking a balance of power between the Islamic Republic and its Sunni Arab neighbors. The revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., Iran nuclear deal) would be compounded by congressional efforts to cut off arms sales to the Gulf—or condition them on Saudi Arabia and the UAE ending all operations in Yemen and ending their embargo on Qatar. A renewed push for sanctions on Saudi leaders in response to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi is also likely. Biden and his advisors would face enormous political pressure to acquiesce from the more radically pro-Iran, anti-Gulf faction of the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, with Iran once again flush with cash from U.S. sanctions relief and importing advanced conventional arms from Russia and China, MBS and MBZ will have only one true ally in the Middle East: the State of Israel. Sovereignty questions in a strip of land more than 1,000 miles away will seem irrelevant when compared to an existential struggle for survival in a region where the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism seeks hegemony.
The Palestinian War on History
"Every person, irrespective of whether or not they are disabled, should have the opportunity to visit the tomb, which is an important Jewish heritage site... The tomb belongs to us after Abraham bought it with his own money 3,800 years ago." — Former Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.

These Palestinian leaders continue to deny any Jewish connection to the holy site on the pretext that it belongs exclusively to Muslims. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki has condemned the elevator plan as an Israeli "war crime" and a "violation of international law."

The winners? The Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who dream of extending their control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. This dream, thanks to the lawless and lethal regime of the Palestinian Authority -- funded by the West -- appears closer than ever.



Inside the Struggle Between Israel and Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s plan to conquer the Galilee was not abandoned because of the campaign in Syria. On the contrary, Nasrallah repeated several times his threats to take over the Galilee if and when a war broke out with Israel. Hezbollah also invested great engineering effort in digging tunnels from Lebanon into Israel.

In December 2018, Israel uncovered six of these tunnels. Lt. Gen. Eizenkot remarked that Hezbollah had a “grandiose plan” for a surprise underground infiltration of 5,000 fighters into Israeli territory amid a barrage of fire. Eizenkot disclosed that Israel had already become aware of Hezbollah’s plan in 2014. All six of the tunnels were blown up, and Hezbollah lost an important operational capability. Nasrallah, however, did not shelve his plan to seize control of parts of the Galilee in the next war.

The war in Syria revealed the extent of Iran’s involvement in transferring strategic weaponry, some of it game-changing, to Hezbollah. Most of the Iranian effort involved transferring long-range missiles to Hezbollah and developing their precision capabilities. At first, factories for the precision-guided-missile project were built in Syria, but they were discovered and bombed by Israel and so were relocated to Lebanon, where they were also soon discovered. Israel made clear that it viewed the precision of Hezbollah’s missiles as a red line and would not allow such missiles to be produced or transferred to Hezbollah.

In August 2019, two drones penetrated the very heart of Hezbollah, the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut. The objective was to strike a critical ingredient of the precision-guided-missile project. According to The Times of London, “The targeted facility was used to store high-end industrial planetary mixer, a component in high-grade precision missiles’ propellant.” The drones identified the facility and destroyed it.

In July 2020, the Jerusalem Post reported that Hezbollah has at least 28 missile-launch sites in populated areas of Beirut that are under its control. These include private homes, medical centers, industrial zones, and offices. The sites are involved in the launching, storing, and production of medium-range Fateh-110 missiles and are part of Hezbollah’s precision-guided-missile project.

Hezbollah is believed to have 600 Fateh-110 missiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers, among them more advanced missiles of the Zulfiqar model with ranges of up to 700 kilometers. Overall Hezbollah is believed to have 130,000 missiles and rockets with ranges of 10 to 500 kilometers, also dispersed in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in bunkers that are next to schools, clinics, hospitals, soccer fields, as well as the Iranian Embassy in Beirut and the Lebanese Defense Ministry.

The struggle between Hezbollah and Israel is currently at full throttle. Hezbollah, with Iran’s help, is working to build long-range capabilities that will allow it to strike precise targets in the Israeli home front. Israel is resolved to prevent Hezbollah from gaining that capability. Even though both sides want to avoid a war, the conflict between them could go out of control if one side makes a miscalculation. Meanwhile Hezbollah is also building a capability to use special forces to seize lands in the Galilee. This marks a basic change in Hezbollah’s approach to war, which until now primarily built deterrent and defensive capabilities and now is also dealing intensively with offense and with taking the next war to Israeli territory.
From Condemnation To Praise: Why Israel’s Bombing of Iraq’s Osirak Nuclear Reactor Stands Test of Time
Israel’s “clear violation” of international conduct
The United Nations passed two resolutions rebuking Israel for the attack. UN Security Council Resolution 487, passed on June 19, 1981, condemned the attack as a “clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international conduct.” The United States voted in favor of the resolution. On November 13, 1981 the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 36/27, criticizing Israel for the “premeditated and unprecedented act of aggression,” and demanded that Israel compensate Iraq for the damage and loss of life caused by the attacks.

Both resolutions called on Israel to refrain from attacks of this kind in the future. US President Ronald Reagan wrote in his diary that he believed the Israeli attack would lead to “Armageddon” and US ambassador to the UN Jean Kirkpatrick compared Israel’s attack to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The New York Times called the attack “an act of inexcusable and short-sighted aggression.” The Los Angeles Times went even further, calling it “state sponsored terrorism.”

Many of Israel’s critics pointed to the fact that Iraq had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that put the reactor under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which would prevent the country from using the reactor to develop nuclear weapons.
US: Bombing Osirak was a ‘good thing’

But Roger Richter, a former IAEA inspector, told the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the most sensitive facilities in the reactor were not subject to any safeguards. While Iraq and France insisted that the reactor was constructed for peaceful purposes, SRATFOR, a private American intelligence agency, reported that prior to Israel’s attack the Osirak reactor “was believed to be on the verge of producing plutonium for a weapons program.”

Quite remarkably, while Israel’s attack left the reactor crippled but still standing, coalition forces led by the United States Air Force completely destroyed the reactor during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Following that war, US Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney thanked the Israeli pilot who commanded the Israeli mission for “the outstanding job” that Israel’s air force did in 1981.

US President Bill Clinton said this at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos regarding the Israeli attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor: “Everybody talks about what the Israelis did at Osirak in 1981, which I think, in retrospect, was a really good thing. You know, it kept Saddam from developing nuclear power.”

The entire episode – from the difficult decision to bomb the Osirak reactor, to the international condemnation, to the gratitude a decade later – has reinforced Israel’s doctrine to not be held back by likely worldwide condemnation and to act, even at great risk, when it identifies real and present danger to its people and its survival.
Ashkenazi hints Hezbollah behind Beirut blast
The massive explosion in Beirut shows Hezbollah uses of Lebanese civilians and cities to cover for their terrorist actions, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told 12 ambassadors of UN Security Council member states at Israel’s northern border on Tuesday.

Ashkenazi made thinly-veiled hints that the Iranian-backed terror group was responsible for the blast and that the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the Beirut Port may have belonged to the terrorist organization. Israel has long held that Hezbollah controlled the port.

“Israel cannot remain apathetic to Hezbollah’s attempts to harm Israeli sovereignty and citizens,” Ashkenazi warned. “Hezbollah is acting in urban and populated territories and using Lebanese citizens as human shields as we saw in the unfortunate event last week, in which hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians were injured.”

Lebanon’s political instability allowed Hezbollah to take over “practically the whole country,” he added.

“Iran has taken Lebanon hostage through Hezbollah,” he said.

Ashkenazi also repeated the offer of humanitarian aid, saying Israel is still prepared to send equipment to Lebanon or treat injured people in Israel.
Former Lebanese justice minister calls Hezbollah a ‘murderous’ terror group
Amid the political turmoil in Lebanon and widespread calls for a commission of inquiry into the government’s role in the blast that devastated Beirut last week, the country’s former justice minister has called for the person in charge of the inquiry to get additional protection due to the threat of being targeted by Hezbollah.

Ashraf Rifi, who is also the former director-general of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) police service, also called the Iran-backed movement a terror group and said it routinely murders its rivals, in an interview with the Al-Arabiya network aired Friday.

“We should wait for the investigation [into the Beirut blast],” said Rifi, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“We demand a commission of inquiry that will be able to protect the investigating officer and the judges,” he added. “Lebanese society succumbs to the will of Hezbollah. Hezbollah might kill any judge who concludes Hezbollah is responsible. Hezbollah might kill any officer and their family.

“The investigator — whether it is an officer of the security forces or a judge — must be provided with protection and so should their family.”

Rifi, who served as justice minister from 2014 to 2016, resigned from that post in protest of Hezbollah’s influence over the country’s politics. Before that, he headed the ISF from 2005 to 2013.

“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. It is a murderous, criminal organization that kills its rivals,” Rifi said, giving as examples former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005, and two of Hariri’s associates, Wissam Eid and Wissan al-Hassan, who were killed in 2008 and 2012, respectively.


French MP demands that France designate Hezbollah a terror organization
French-Israeli member of the French National Assembly, Meyer Habib, categorically stated that France "must" designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, via his social media channels on Monday.

The call comes on the backdrop of the explosion that detonated more than 2,500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, devastating Beirut and triggering public outrage - resulting in the deaths of at least 163 people, the injuries of more than 6,000 and the destruction of swathes of the Mediterranean capital.

Habib penned the letter to French President Emmanuel Macron a year ago, requesting that the French leader denounces the organization and designates the movement as a terrorist entity.

Following the public outcry and outrage from the Lebanese people - who Habib adds, "say it loud and clear," that the disaster was a direct result of the heavily armed Iran-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah movement's grip over the country - Habib decided to revamp his position and resend the letter.

"My letter recalls the facts, all the facts, including that Hezbollah has a lot of French blood on its hands and that our country was even one of the first victims," Habib said on Facebook.

He said that with regard to the letter, Macron gave him a courteous but evasive answer, "dodging the heart of the subject."

Therefore, he is now reiterating his request to the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, "France must declare Hezbollah terrorist organization and remove the artificial distinction between armed and political branch, like Germany!"
Were suspicious tunnels near Beirut Port discovered after blast?
Yet Sky News did show a ceiling of a subterranean chamber and noted that people had hope that loved ones might have survived the blast in the tunnels. The Sky News report, which was posted online on Sunday, said the people excavating the site and searching for survivors “know there is a labyrinth of subterranean chambers here; they have discovered the opening of one of them.”

This comment appears to indicate that the search-and-rescue teams and officials know about these chambers.

Are these “tunnels,” or is there another explanation for these underground rooms? There may be a more prosaic explanation for underground rooms or other aspects of the urban environment having underground infrastructure, such as tunnels for electrical, water and sewage facilities.

For now, the question of the “tunnels” appears to feed stories that Hezbollah was using the area for illicit trafficking of weapons or munitions. However, the investigators who found the opening to one alleged tunnel were not wearing any kind of suits or using devices as if the area was full of unexploded ordnance. That means there didn’t appear to be a concern that they would find missiles and dangerous items inside these areas.

Nevertheless, the quick denial by Lebanon that these areas exist and the video of the subterranean chamber or “tunnel” seems to illustrate that Lebanon is still afraid to fully investigate the area for fear of finding the suspicious activities that those critical of Hezbollah allege were taking place here.

Hezbollah is known to have expertise in building tunnels and underground bunkers.


Iran Pledges to Help Lebanon in Any Way Except the One That the Lebanese Are Asking For (satire)
Following the blast that leveled a good chunk of Beirut, the Iranian regime joined the international chorus of pledges of aid. The Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon said that the Islamic Republic was willing to render any assistance necessary; when a Lebanese journalist asked if that included ceasing to use Lebanon as a staging area to attack Israel with blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the Lebanese and Lebanon itself, he clarified: “oh, yeah no, anything except that”.

Iranian Foreign Minister and man who definitely dresses his little dogs up in girl clothes, Javid Zarif also tweeted that they would never abandon Lebanon to the forces of democracy, or peace and quiet. He also said that they intended to increase their support for Hezbollah and to harass Israel because Iran is committed to making Lebanon a target for the foreseeable future.

Lebanon has been plagued by ongoing protests since last year due to allegations of government corruption, foreign meddling, and falafel counterfeiting; protests have often included anti-Iran and Hezbollah slogans, but the blast that leveled a part of Beirut’s port and left thousands of people homeless seems to have been “pretty bad” even by Lebanese standards and has renewed calls for the Persians to get on their carpets and scram.

Iran assured the protestors that “we would do anything for Lebanon. But we won’t do that. No, we won’t do that.”



Beijing Has Big Plans in the Middle East
The first is Israel, which has become a major focus of China's economic outreach to the region in recent years. Over the past half-decade, the PRC has become a major investor in the Jewish state, focusing in particular on Israel's vibrant (and highly lucrative) high-tech sector. That penetration, in turn, has become a serious source of concern for the Trump administration, which is increasingly worried that Beijing could gain insights into an array of emerging technologies and sensitive defense-industrial projects. U.S. officials have gone as far as to intimate that, unless it is properly regulated and overseen, China's deepening footprint in Israel might end up harming the latter's longstanding "special relationship" with the United States.

The second is Saudi Arabia. Since 2017, China has concluded over $100 billion worth of energy and trade deals with the House of Saud, in the process becoming a major enabler of the Kingdom's sweeping domestic modernization plan, commonly known as "Vision 2030." But Beijing is also feeding Riyadh's great power ambitions. As The Wall Street Journal has reported, China is aiding Saudi Arabia's drive to master nuclear processes by helping it build a facility to extract uranium yellowcake. That effort, many now fear, might be a precursor to a serious Saudi effort to develop nuclear weapons as a strategic counterweight to a nearly-nuclear Iran.
National People's Congress in Beijing in May
National People's Congress in Beijing in May Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The results are undeniable. Through its shrewd straddling of the Sunni-Shiite divide and its contacts with Israel, the PRC has deftly positioned itself to become a key regional power broker. As Hudson Institute scholars Michael Doran and Peter Rough lay out in a masterful new essay for Tablet magazine, China is creating a "Middle Eastern kingdom"—a sphere of influence where it can advance its economic, political and strategic interests.

Significantly, it is also apparent that China is doing so at the expense of the United States. "American policymakers have long assumed that Chinese and American goals in the Middle East are largely complementary," Doran and Rough note. But China's recent machinations suggest that policymakers in Beijing see things quite differently, and that their ultimate goal is to supplant America "as the dominant power in the Middle East."

That makes China's burgeoning Middle East presence a cardinal challenge for the United States. Over the past three years, the Trump administration has made "great power competition" with the PRC a major tenet of its foreign policy. That focus has intensified dramatically in recent months against the backdrop of the global coronavirus pandemic, as the Trump White House has embarked upon what amounts to a "whole of government" effort to roll back Beijing's international position. Yet the United States now appears to be losing ground to China in one of the most important arenas in this contest: the Middle East. Unless Washington can formulate a serious response, it risks ceding its position in the region, as it is progressively outflanked by an ambitious and increasingly activist Beijing.
Netanyahu: US has kept me from annexing West Bank settlements
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the United States for his failure to annex West Bank settlements during an interview Monday with Channel 20.

“It was clear from the start that the application of sovereignty would be done only with agreement from the United States. Otherwise, I would have already done it a while ago,” Netanyahu said.

Similarly, “other prime ministers would also have done it,” he added.

US President Donald “Trump is now busy with other things, and this [sovereignty] is not on the top of his mind,” Netanyahu said. “I hope that in the near future we will be able to advance recognition of the application of sovereignty as well as other diplomatic issues of importance to Israel.”

He took credit for the US decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, as well as the legalization of West Bank settlements.

“All of that didn’t happen by accident,” Netanyahu said.

He also referenced Trump’s peace plan, which allows for the application of Israeli sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank.

“I worked with Trump’s team on this plan for three years,” he said. “In my opinion, it is the only one that preserves Israel’s essential interests.”

He made similar comments last week at a closed-door session of the Likud faction in the Knesset.
PMW: PA Minister of Justice confirms that ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel
In a critical and timely confession, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Justice Dr. Muhammad Al-Shalaldeh has announced that the Palestinian Authority has never had legal jurisdiction over Israelis, and accordingly, the International Criminal Court (ICC) likewise lacks jurisdiction to deal with Palestinian complaints against Israel.

The ICC is not a regular national criminal court. Rather, it works solely on the basis of “delegated jurisdiction.” Membership in the ICC is limited to “states,” whose national jurisdiction could be delegated, in given circumstances, to the ICC.

While the Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has used unfounded legal acrobatics in order to invent a “State of Palestine,” she completely ignored the fact that this so-called “state”, known as the Palestinian Authority, lacks any criminal jurisdiction over Israelis. The old maxim declares “nemo dat quod non habet” - “no one gives what they do not have.” Since the PA has no jurisdiction over Israelis, it cannot delegate that jurisdiction to the ICC.

Citing multiple provisions in the 1995 Oslo Accords, Palestinian Media Watch, raised this argument in the brief submitted to the ICC, together with other organizations, as “Friends of the Court.”

However in a striking new development, PMW has found that earlier this year the PA Minister of Justice publicly admitted that the PA never asserted jurisdiction regarding Israelis. He announced in January that the PA Ministry of Justice is working on a new strategic plan to prosecute Israelis:
“The Ministry of Justice has been appointed to determine a plan and strategy for submitting lawsuits against settlers, who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity towards [Palestinian] civilians on occupied Palestinian lands – including East Jerusalem – before the Palestinian judicial system… First, this constitutes the establishment of the principle of the sovereignty of the Palestinian state that was declared in 2012 at the UN. This is the establishment of the local, criminal, and civil principle of rule over the occupied Palestinian land.”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Jan. 5, 2020]


FM reprimands Belgium for supporting NGOs aiming to silence pro-Israel voices
Belgium is legitimizing anti-Israel activism by funding organizations trying to silence Israel supporters, Foreign Ministry deputy director-general for Europe Anna Azari said, reprimanding Belgium’s Ambassador to Israel Jean-Luc Bodson on Monday.

Azari summoned Bodson after the research institute NGO Monitor reported last month on the Belgian government’s standards for giving aid to Palestinians through a group of NGOs, consisting of Oxfam Solidarity, Broederlijk Delen, a Catholic aid agency and Solidarité Socialiste, whose listed goals include “mitigating the influence of pro-Israel voices.”

Israeli Ambassador to Belgium Emmanuel Nahshon officially complained to the Belgian Foreign Ministry soon afterward, taking issue with the fact that the goal was explicitly anti-Israel, as opposed to pro-Palestinian.

Nahshon received an answer last week: the ministry “does not intervene in the legitimacy of the goals of these organizations” and that it values freedom of speech.

The ministry added that it does not necessarily share the goals of the organizations that it funds, and that it opposes “racism, antisemitism and discrimination.”

An Israeli Foreign Ministry source said Azari told Bodson on Monday that “the Foreign Ministry takes the funding of organizations with the goal to harm support for Israel very seriously.
GOP Aides: Trump Nom for German Ambassador ‘Dead on Arrival’
The Trump administration's nominee to assume a critical ambassadorship in Germany is "dead on arrival," according to three senior Republican congressional aides who pointed to Douglas Macgregor's insinuation that a cadre of American Jews are manipulating U.S. foreign policy.

President Trump tapped the retired Army colonel to fill the vacant ambassador position in July. Macgregor has since come under fire for his suggestion in 2012 during an interview with the Daily Bell that "neocons" are "making decisions in Washington that in their minds are beneficial to a foreign power and are not necessarily good for the American people or the United States."

Senior congressional officials and Trump administration insiders said that several Republicans would vote against the Macgregor nomination, a fact that would likely scuttle his chances. "Although Colonel Macgregor was only nominated a few weeks ago, even a cursory view of his comments makes it clear this nomination will not move forward," a senior staffer to a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said.

The nomination, said a second GOP aide, is "dead on arrival. Anti-Semites and isolationists are not confirmable."

A third aide called the nomination a "mistake."

"He can't get confirmed, because Democrats say he's a racist and Republicans say he's to the left of Joe Biden," said the source, who also spoke only on background. "If he was confirmed that'd be worse, because he'd undo all the good work from the last few years of splitting Germany away from Russia, China, and Iran."

Macgregor is a familiar face to many Americans due to his frequent appearances on Fox News's Tucker Carlson Tonight. But several American Jewish groups—including the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee (AJC), and Center for Combating Anti-Semitism—have also raised concerns about the nomination.
Seth Frantzman: Antisemitic Houthi rebel in Yemen bashes UAE for ‘building synagogues’
The United Arab Emirates is “building synagogues for Jews,” Houthi rebel leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in a statement published over the weekend in Iranian media. Iran is a major backer of the Houthi rebels who have been fighting a civil war in Yemen.

The official slogan of the Houthis contains the statement: “Death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.” The movement is one of the few in the region that is officially and openly antisemitic. While the rebels are called Houthis, the movement’s official name is Ansar Allah.

“The UAE authorities are looking to improve their image by building a synagogue for the Jews,” Houthi said. The UAE is involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is waged against the Houthis and has “displaced millions of Yemenis,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has intervened in Yemen since 2015 to prevent the Houthis from taking the Port of Aden and controlling the Bab al-Mandab Strait leading to the Red Sea.

Houthi’s latest statement was posted at Tasnim News in Iran on Sunday. Iran transfers missiles and drones to the Houthis, and the group has used them to target Saudi Arabia. The US Navy has intercepted several weapons shipments from Iran to Yemen.

In addition, there were concerns that the Houthis could be working with Iran to target Israel last October. In mid-July, the Houthis claimed they have “targets” in Israel this year.


Colombia will open trade office in Jerusalem, President Duque says
Colombia will open a trade and innovation office in Jerusalem, the country’s president announced Monday.

Ivan Duque made the announcement during a videoconference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marking the ratification of a free-trade agreement between the two countries.

The new mission will help Colombia “consolidate the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he said.

Netanyahu welcomed Duque’s announcement, saying Colombia — the third-largest economy in Latin America — was joining other countries on the continent that have already opened similar offices in the capital.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu will continue to work toward the goal of encouraging additional countries to open representations in Jerusalem,” his office said in a statement.

Currently, Brazil and Honduras have trade offices in the city. Guatemala has an embassy in Jerusalem.
Blue and White backs down from ultimatum, anti-Netanyahu bill
Less than an hour before Blue and White leader Benny Gantz's 24 hour ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to end, Gantz's party announced it would not vote for Opposition leader Yair Lapid's so-called anti-BiBi bill when it comes to a vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.

The bill would prevent anyone indicted of serious crimes - including Netanyahu, who has been indicted for fraud, bribery and breach of trust - from forming a government. The Likud had warned Gantz that if he allowed his MKs to vote for the bill, elections would be initiated immediately.

"Our opinion on this matter has not and will not change, but at this time, all the bill would accomplish is destabilizing the political system even further," Blue and White said in a statement. "At this time of one of the worst crises in the history of the state, we decided to do everything possible to prevent elections that would bring about an economic disaster and tear Israeli society apart."

Blue and White called on the Likud and all other factions to pass a state budget as soon as possible.


Israel threatens ‘forceful’ response as over 60 fires sparked by arson balloons
Israeli leaders on Tuesday threatened Gaza’s Hamas rulers that Israel would take “forceful” action if a rash of airborne arson attacks is not brought under control, as incendiary balloons continued to fly following Israel’s shuttering of a key crossing into the Palestinian territory.

Balloon-borne incendiary devices launched from the Gaza Strip sparked at least 60 fires in southern Israel throughout the day, according to firefighters. Officials said most were small fires, but some caused damage.

Tensions on the Gaza border have intensified in recent days, with balloon-borne incendiary devices igniting a number of fires across southern Israel. The Hamas terror group, which rules the Strip, has also threatened to renew rocket fire and there have been a number of small fire exchanges. No injuries have been reported.

“In the south, Hamas is allowing the continued launching arson and explosive-carrying balloons into Israel,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said during a tour of a Home Front command center. “We are not prepared to accept that and we closed the Kerem Shalom crossing as a result. They would do well to stop disturbing the security and quiet in Israel. If that doesn’t happen, we will need to respond, and forcefully.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also took a threatening tone as he toured the Hazor air force base in the center of the country, accusing Iran of being behind the Gaza balloon attacks.
Screen capture from video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the Hazor air force base, August 11, 2020. (Channel 13 news)

“I want to say to all of Iran’s forces, including in Gaza, there will be a very heavy price for the balloon terror,” Netanyahu said. “We will not suffer this, we will act and exact a heavy price. We have done it in the past and we will do it now.”
Police sappers working around the clock to neutralize balloon terror
With the return of incendiary and explosive balloon launches from the Gaza Strip, Israel Police's Bomb Disposal Unit have once again been placed on the frontlines to handle and neutralize explosive devices sent into Israel by terrorist groups in Gaza.

The balloon terror began with incendiary kites and balloons aimed at burning land, causing economic damage. This terror eventually expanded to explosive balloons aimed at harming people directly and causing terror.

Erez Tamsut, chief superintendent, Commander of the Police Bomb Disposal Unit in the south, explained to The Jerusalem Post that explosive balloons, rocket sirens and gunfire have become "routine" for residents and police in the Gaza envelope.

“For us this has already become routine, but people looking at this from the outside see that these are not usual incidents. In routine here, we get incendiary and explosive balloons and from time to time we get rocket sirens and gunfire,” explained Tamsut. “All this together forms our 'routine of terror' as it's called, that both the residents and us, Israel Police, experience.”

Tamsut is also a resident of the Gaza envelope alongside being a commander of the Bomb Disposal Unit in the south. The situation in the south leads to the unit needing manpower and reinforcements from other districts in order to distribute forces throughout the area to provide a quick and useful response to the incidents.

The commander stressed that the unit is prepared for new developments and a number of situations as the terror groups improve their equipment, devices and methods in every round or renewal of rocket fire of balloon launches. “We need to be ready for all sorts of developments and surprises from the terror organizations,” explained Tamsut.


Israel closes Gaza border crossing after spike in arson balloon attacks
Following waves of explosive balloons launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory over the last few days, Israel will shut the Gaza Strip’s Kerem Shalom commercial crossing beginning Tuesday morning “until further notice,” the Israeli military liaison to the Palestinians announced.

“The decision was made following security deliberations and in light of repeated terror attacks committed by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip against Israeli citizens, which is a violation of the Israeli sovereignty,” the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement late Monday.

Fuel and humanitarian aid, including food, would continue to be allowed into the Strip, COGAT said.

More than a dozen blazes were reported in and around Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip on Monday as incendiary balloon attacks from the Strip continued to increase. Mayors of communities near the Palestinian enclave demanded action against the fire-causing threat.

No injuries were reported, but 400 dunams of land in the Be’eri nature reserve was burned, Channel 12 news reported Monday night.
Egypt-Gaza crossing opens, allowing Palestinians to leave for 1st time in months
The only crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened on Tuesday for 72 hours, allowing people to leave the Palestinian enclave for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak began.

The reopening of Rafah came as Israel shut the Gaza Strip’s Kerem Shalom commercial crossing into Gaza “until further notice,” in response to a sharp uptick in launches of incendiary balloons.

Gaza residents holding Egyptian passports, foreign passports and patients seeking treatment abroad were to leave through the Rafah crossing point during its three-day opening, the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza said.

Some 500 people were scheduled to exit Tuesday, the first time the crossing has allowed departures since March as Hamas, the terror group that controls the Strip, sought to guard against a major virus outbreak in the densely-populated territory with weak health infrastructure.

Rafah was opened for three days in April, but only to allow Gazans stranded abroad to return home.






Iran Nuclear Deal at Risk as UN Council Prepares to Vote on Arms Embargo
The UN Security Council is preparing to vote this week on a US proposal to extend an arms embargo on Iran, a move that some diplomats say is bound to fail and put the fate of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers further at risk.

A last-minute attempt by Britain, France and Germany to broker a compromise with Russia and China on an arms embargo extension appeared unsuccessful so far, diplomats said. Russia and China, allies of Iran, have long-signaled opposition to the US measure.

A Chinese diplomat at the United Nations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “extending the arms embargo on Iran in whatever form lacks legal basis and will undermine efforts to preserve” the nuclear deal, adding that there is “no chance” the US text will be adopted.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said Russia and China wanted to benefit from the end of the arms embargo. “Russia and China are waiting to be able to sell arms to Iran,” Craft told Fox News.

The embargo is due to expire in October under a 2015 deal among Iran, Russia, China, Germany, Britain, France and the United States that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in return for sanctions relief.

Even though US President Donald Trump’s administration quit the accord in 2018 — with Trump dubbing it “the worst deal ever” — Washington has threatened to use a provision in the agreement to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran if the Security Council does not extend the arms embargo indefinitely.
Iran Shuts Down Newspaper After It Questions Regime’s Coronavirus Numbers
Tehran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks that questioned state-published coronavirus data, the Associated Press reported.

A former Iranian public health official had told the paper, Jahane Sanat, that Iran's death toll and case load could be 20 times the reported numbers. Jahane Sanat‘s editor in chief, Mohammad Reza Sadi, told Iranian state media that authorities closed down his newspaper after the remarks were published.

Iran has struggled to keep the pandemic under control and its economy afloat in recent months amid a wave of protests over government mismanagement, including an understaffed coronavirus response and a failure to pay government workers.

The country has reported 330,000 cases of the virus and 18,616 deaths. But the actual numbers may be much higher, given Tehran's well-documented efforts to suppress information about the disease. Leaked government records put the true death toll at around 42,000, and several Iranian officials—including the country's vice president—contracted the coronavirus.

"While governments throughout the world have struggled to address the health crisis, the clerical regime in Iran made a bad situation worse by initially concealing the virus from its population," wrote Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz and senior Iran scholar Saeed Ghasseminejad. "In the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran quickly became the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis."
Iran says five Iranians spying for Israel arrested in recent months
Iranian authorities have arrested five Iranians on charges of spying for Israel, Britain and Germany, convicting and handing down prison sentences on at least two of them, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Addressing an online news conference, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili named one of the five as Shahram Shirkhani, saying he had spied for Britain and tried to recruit some Iranian officials for the British MI6 espionage service.

He added that Shirkhani had passed on sensitive information about banking and Defence Ministry contracts, and had been convicted and received a prison sentence.

Masoud Mosaheb, the co-chairman of the Iranian-Austrian Friendship Society, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for sharing information on Iran's "missile and nuclear projects" with Israel's Mossad and the German intelligence service, Esmaili said.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry said efforts to achieve the release of Mosaheb, an Iranian-Austrian dual national, continued unabated and at the highest level.

"Since the person detained in Iran is an Austrian-Iranian dual citizen ... Iran does not allow the monitoring of legal proceedings, visits to prison or access to trial and medical records," the ministry said in a statement to Reuters.




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