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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

03/10 Links Pt1: Israel Is the Arab World’s New Soft Power; Netanyahu heading to UAE to meet crown prince; ICC prosecutor gave PA advance notice but asked to “keep secret” her decision to open an investigation ?

From Ian:

Israel Is the Arab World’s New Soft Power
The Middle East is currently split among this Saudi bloc, Iran, and Turkey. Israel is not particularly at odds with Turkey but is irked by its support for Hamas, a Palestinian movement and militia. The Saudi bloc is perturbed by Turkey’s support for the political Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has local branches in the Gulf and, those countries’ leaders fear, enough potential popularity to subvert their monarchical rule. Israel is set to benefit from this rivalry too.

“Israel’s policy focuses on degrading capabilities of radical enemy forces—starting from Iran to Hezbollah, Hamas and more,” said Koby Huberman, co-founder of an Israeli think tank working on regional cooperation. “In addition, Israel, together with other Arab states, aims to block the negative impact of the Muslim Brotherhood movements and forces, supported and funded by Turkey and Qatar.”

But while Netanyahu would love to sell Israel’s improving ties as his own achievement in the upcoming elections on March 23, the fourth in the last two years, there is a risk of too much cooperation, too soon, backfiring.

Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat currently living in exile in the United States, said while Arabs are happy to see Israel take on Iran, they still see Israel as an enemy state that stole their land. Ahmad is a dentist in Damascus, Syria and from an area that witnessed the worst of the coronavirus. Speaking to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity, he said he did not think much of Israeli largesse in purchasing Sputnik V, Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, for Syrians. “First Russians bomb, and now they give us vaccines. Who is going to trust them?” he asked rhetorically. “Israel is bombing Syria too, but the regime says nothing to them. This is all their deal-making. People can see through it. In fact, the vaccines must be coming for regime officials.”

Other Israeli analysts said they worried Israel may lose its leverage in the Gulf under Biden’s presidency. For decades, Arab nations have eased ties with Israel to seek U.S. pardons for their excesses at home. But as Israel itself is under the Biden scanner now, it can hardly put in a word for them.

Israel hopes to present itself as a soft power in the region, a worthy but unobtainable goal as long as it continues annexing Palestinian lands. Within the Israeli expert community too, some of the government’s policies are criticized, especially when they entail aiding the suppression of dissent in Arab nations. Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said Arab companies will be hesitant of purchasing Israeli products mainly because they would not want to “alienate customers.” She said business cooperation thus far has been in surveillance technologies, which might grow but at a cost. “It will further increase the repressive capabilities” of Gulf nations, Tsurkov said, “and their ability to track dissidents and surveil their private communications. Therefore, Israeli-Gulf cooperation will likely be quite detrimental to political freedoms.”

Bar said he is quite certain his company’s services were not misused to crush dissent in Saudi Arabia. However, he would be more comfortable conducting business with a country like Sweden.

Despite the challenges, Israel’s relationship with the Saudi and Emirati bloc seems to be on the up and up. And as they present a united front against Iran, Biden’s attempt to rejoin the nuclear deal will only become harder.
Pinsker Centre: Ep. 4 - The ICC's Probe Into Israel - Credible or Credulous? - with Colonel Richard Kem?p?
Colonel Richard Kemp is a distinguished retired British Army Officer. His experience includes commanding troops during Operation Fingal in Afghanistan, before going on to work in the Joint Intelligence Committee and Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (commonly referred to as COBRA).

Today, he sits down with Daniel Sacks, a Pinsker Centre Policy Fellow, to discuss the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court's probe into Israeli activity.
Netanyahu heading to UAE to meet crown prince
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to fly to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, for the first time since its normalization agreement with Israel last year.

Netanyahu is expected to meet with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed.

The trip is set to take place less than two weeks before the March 23 election, despite reports that officials in the UAE were hesitant to host Netanyahu at a date that would be viewed as political.

A well-connected source in Abu Dhabi confirmed that the election was a consideration, but the UAE decided to welcome Netanyahu regardless of the date.

The prime minister is expected to take a private plane to Abu Dhabi and conduct meetings in the airport.

The plan is for a quick jaunt to Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, for several hours. Netanyahu would leave Thursday morning and arrive back in Jerusalem in time for a 6 p.m. meeting with the prime ministers of Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Netanyahu canceled three planned visits to the UAE in the past, due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, as well as political developments. He had originally planned a trip of several days, with stops in Dubai and Bahrain, as well.




Israel, US to hold first virtual Strategic Consultative Group meeting
The United States and Israel will hold on Thursday the first virtual US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group meeting, led by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat.

According to a statement from NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne, “the discussion will focus on regional issues, building on the close consultations between the two sides over the past several months.”

“This meeting is part of the broader ongoing dialogue between the United States and Israel on the full range of issues of importance to the bilateral relationship, building on long-standing dialogues between our two nations under previous administrations,” Horne added.
Israeli, Egyptian Officials Hold Largest Bilateral Conference in 20 Years
Some 60 Israeli and Egyptian officials and businesspeople recently took part in the largest bilateral meeting held between the two countries in the last 20 years. The meeting, held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, was aimed at expanding economic cooperation beyond textile manufacturing and natural gas, the latter of which Jerusalem began to export to Cairo in 2020.

Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen headed the Israeli delegation to the conference, which received little press coverage, at the request of the Egyptians. Delegates included representatives from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, National Security Council, and Water Resources Ministry Director-General Yechezkel Lifshitz.

Cohen held a lengthy meeting with Egypt’s Deputy Intelligence Minister Nasser Fahmi to discuss future plans for their economies and security issues. According to Fahmi, “Egypt is interested in promoting cooperation with Israel in all fields. We will continue to act to bolster economic and bilateral ties in the future.”

Fahmi spoke to Cohen about the security system in place around Sharm el-Sheikh, which includes a 43-kilometer-long fence that was completed in 2020. “To date, tourists from all over Europe are coming there after security figures from those countries defined Sharm el-Sheikh as a safe place,” Intelligence Ministry officials said.

In addition, the two spoke about the joint fight against radical Islamic terror, in particular in the Sinai Peninsula, as well as securing freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
Don’t be fooled by the ICC’s probe into alleged war crimes in disputed territories
Having been forced to conduct a defensive war against the extremists, the Israelis are now threatened with investigations by a politicised and biased International Criminal Court, which could find Israeli Defence Force personnel in the firing line for simply doing their job to defend a democratic nation. This could result in the conviction of good Israelis, their imprisonment (if found outside of the borders of Israel), and the seizure of their financial assets. We believe the ICC will find no end to fabricated “testimony” of radicalised Palestinians who claim such crimes took place. As happened in the war of 2014, the extremists will distort photographic imagery to prove their point.

Another concern for Israel is that “settlers” who are fulfilling their national and historic right to build a life on the land of their ancestors in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will also find themselves in the firing line of the International Criminal Court. The ICC may call the relocation of Israelis, who by their own choice decide to live on this ancestral land, a “war crime”. They may accuse Israel as an “occupying power” of transferring its citizens into this disputed territory. This while real crimes happening in other parts of the world will go unchecked. Why isn’t the ICC investigating war crimes taking place because of the actions of Iran, Syria, Turkey, and many others?

President Mahmoud Abbas, as leader of the Palestinians, made their position clear in 2011 regarding Palestinian membership into international institutions:
Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice. (NY Times, May 16, 2011)

Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority is once again using the ignorance of the international community; its susceptibility to swallow distorted emotive rhetoric and lies; and the bias that in our view already exists in the United Nations against the Jewish state, to try and fulfil what they had pledged themselves to fulfil only through open negotiations with the Israelis—a real Palestinian state. As long as the international community continues to accommodate this diversionary tactic by the Palestinians—i.e., trying to achieve their aim by any means except negotiations with the Israelis, then the stalemate will continue. Do not be fooled by the International Criminal Court’s probe into alleged war crimes by Israel in the Disputed Territories. This is not justice; it is Palestinian politics.


PMW: ICC prosecutor gave PA advance notice but asked to “keep secret” her decision to open an investigation ?
The response of the Palestinian Authority to the decision of the Prosecutor of the ‎International Criminal Court (ICC) again exposed the level of collusion between the ‎two. ‎

The ICC was created as a court of last resort to bring to justice persons who have ‎committed a spectrum of crimes. The court and its organs are meant to be ‎independent and deal equally with all potential suspects. Preferential treatment, ‎such as open collusion with one set of suspects, fundamentally undermines not ‎only the requirements of justice the court is meant to provide, but also the ‎appearance of justice being done. ‎

After the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber decided - solely for the purposes of the court - that ‎a “State of Palestine” actually exists and that the prosecutor can proceed with her ‎investigation, the Prosecutor is now legally, ethically and morally bound to consider ‎all offences that may have been committed within that area, and by all parties. ‎Showing preference and colluding with potential suspects to the point where those ‎suspects – i.e. the Palestinians - are given a feeling of impunity, fundamentally ‎undermines both justice and the perception of justice. ‎

Theoretically, the ICC investigation of the “situation in Palestine” is meant to ‎examine the claims that all sides, including Palestinians, have allegedly committed ‎crimes covered by the Rome Statute. Crimes committed by the PA officials would ‎potentially include the incitement to murder Israelis and the PA policy of paying ‎financial rewards to terrorists and their families. The potential crimes of other ‎Palestinian terrorist groups, such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation ‎of Palestine would include inciting and conducting systematic attacks on Israel’s ‎civilian population, including murder, and indiscriminately firing rockets at Israel’s ‎civilian population. ‎

While these actions clearly give rise to concrete suspicions, the PA Minister of ‎Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki has exposed that the PA and the Prosecutor, Fatou ‎Bensouda, have been in constant contact and that Bensouda even gave the PA ‎advance notice of her decision to formally open an investigation, but asked that the ‎PA ”keep it secret”. Al-Malki also explained that PA representatives intend to meet ‎with the Prosecutor in the near future. ‎


A Quick Swab and a Boarding Pass: Israel’s El Al Launches Check-In COVID-19 Test
Israel‘s El Al airlines launched a pilot program at its Tel Aviv airport check-in counters on Monday to test unvaccinated passengers for COVID-19 before allowing them to board a non-stop flight to New York.

Just before stepping up to the counters, 112 of the 280 passengers on flight 003 were required by El Al to undergo a nose swab – a rapid antigen test, with results within 15 to 20 minutes, that detects protein fragments specific to the coronavirus. All 112 passed the test.

Airlines have for months been lobbying governments for such measures to prevent people from having to go into quarantine on arrival.

With some 40 percent of Israelis over the age of 16 already fully vaccinated after their second dose of Pfizer /BioNTech’s vaccine, most of those tested at the airport were children, who under current health guidelines are not given the shots.

“He was good. He only cried for a second,” said the mother of a 10-month-old after the nose swab by a medical team stationed in front of the check-in desk.

For 5-year-old Hili Lazarof, the test was “okay”.

The aim of the test was to ensure no one on the plane carried the coronavirus or could infect others. But masks were still mandatory for the duration of the 12-hour flight.

“What we are trying to do in this concept is basically taking three layers of protection for the passengers,” El Al Chief Executive Avigal Soreq told Reuters.
Forward Publishes Egregious Lie About Israeli Vaccinations
Sari Bashi says she is “dismayed” that Israel distributes and withholds COVID-19 vaccines according to ethnicity. This charge of ethnic discrimination is the central premise of her March 8 Op-Ed in the Forward, which argues that Jews, because they’re Jews, get the vaccine, while other ethnic groups, because they’re not, do not.

But it’s readers of the Forward who should be dismayed, both by the printing of this brazen lie, and the web of deceit used to promote it.

The most dishonest account of Israel’s vaccination campaign in the mainstream press?

In Bashi’s words, “the Israeli government is using ethnic, rather than medical, criteria to determine distribution” of its vaccines. And what is that “ethnic criteria”? The author purports to answer that question when stating, “I belong to the ethnic group eligible for the vaccine,” and when later clarifying that she is a Jew.

In other words, Bashi tells readers that “the ethnic group,” singular, eligible for vaccination in Israel is the Jews. If this weren’t clear enough, she restates the point more directly at the close of the piece: “In a system of apartheid, we don’t get to choose our place in the ethnic hierarchy. Because I am Jewish, the authorities bought me two doses of vaccine.” Israel, she concludes, is “classifying people by ethnic identity — and allocating a life-saving resource accordingly.”

So malevolent and false are these claims that they make the piece arguably the most dishonest account of Israel’s vaccination program in the mainstream, English-language press. The charge that Israel withholds live-saving resources from those who aren’t Jewish, moreover, not only echoes the ancient blood libel that charged Jews with ritualistic killing of non-Jews, but also fuels the less-antiquated antisemitic slur that Jews care only about their own kind.
Aspirin may protect against COVID-19, Israeli research finds
Aspirin, one of the oldest and most widely used drugs, is preventing COVID-19 infections, Israeli scientists have claimed in “exciting” findings.

In the peer-reviewed research, they found that in a sample of Israeli PCR tests, patients who take small doses of aspirin were 29 percent less likely to test positive. They cross-referenced 10,477 results with medical records covering what preventive drugs patients take.

“We were really excited to see a big reduction in the proportion of people testing positive, and this gives a promising indication that aspirin, such a well-known and inexpensive drug, may be helpful in fighting the pandemic,” Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern of Bar-Ilan University told The Times of Israel.

As well as concluding that people who take aspirin, which was developed more than 120 years ago, are less likely to be diagnosed with the virus, Frenkel-Morgenstern hit on another “important” finding: Aspirin users who are diagnosed with COVID-19 are likely to have a shorter illness — by about two days — and be less likely to suffer from aftereffects of the coronavirus, she reported.

“This finding with regard to ‘long COVID,’ a phenomenon that is a real concern, is very important,” said Frenkel-Morgenstern, whose past research has been ahead of the curve. Her study in June, in which she concluded that vitamin D gave people a major boost in fighting COVID-19, was followed by similar claims from many other researchers.

The aspirin study focused on people who take “baby” 75 milligram doses of the drug for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, but don’t already have such diseases. Results were adjusted to account for age and co-morbidities.
Israel: Coronavirus Czar Says New Lockdown Unlikely Before Passover
Israel is unlikely to see a new lockdown before the Passover holidays in late March, the country’s coronavirus response czar Prof. Nachman Ash said on Wednesday.

In his remarks for Radio 103FM, Ash pointed at the decreasing transmissions and new daily infections as positive signs for the country.

He warned, however, that while the probability of new restrictions was low, nothing could be set in stone.

Also on Wednesday, Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy told Ynet that he was hoping that the ministry would be able to lift more restrictions on social gatherings ahead of the coming holidays.

“Undoubtedly there is a trend of stabilization in the basic reproduction number, there is a trend of a decrease in the number of new verified cases, and a decrease in seriously ill patients,” he told the outlet.

The official stressed, however, that full removal of restrictions was not yet on the table.

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported registering 3,055 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, with the positive test ratio declining to 3.3%.

With 653 patients still in a serious condition, Israel’s death toll throughout the pandemic neared 6,000.
BBC News ignores PA vaccination roll-out criticism
Previously we documented the BBC’s promotion throughout January and February 2021 of the political campaign exploiting the topic of Covid-19 vaccinations:

Although BBC audiences were informed in a February 3rd report headlined ‘Palestinians begin vaccinations after Israel provides doses’ that “[p]eople over 60 or with chronic illnesses will be the first to get vaccinated among the general public, the [Palestinian] health ministry says”, the corporation has not produced any coverage of the more recent news relating to that topic.

In response to calls from Palestinian civil society organisations for a commission of inquiry into the PA’s distribution of vaccines, the Palestinian Authority admitted on March 2nd that priority had not been given exclusively to healthcare workers or people at risk.
Netanyahu's Likud asks Israelis who will protect settlements from Biden
A text message sent out by the Likud campaign on Wednesday referred to protecting settlements from US President Joe Biden. “Who will protect settlements from the new administration in the US?” the message asks, giving the options of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, Religious Zionist chairman Bezalel Smotrich and New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar. The Likud Party identified itself as the source of the message, as required by law.

The Likud campaign confirmed that the message was authentic, while distancing itself from its content.

Though the text message was signed and sent by the Likud Party, campaign manager Aaron Klein and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political spokesman Yonatan Urich both said the concept of protecting settlements from Biden is “not a campaign message, and not something the prime minister says.”
Iran, conversion, Biden, Lapid - Netanyahu's full 'Post' interview
Lahav Harkov: This is an exciting week with everything opening up after all the coronavirus restrictions, but there is one question I hear often from the olim community. When can they visit their parents and their parents visit them? Right now, I know only Georgia accepts the "Green Passport" [Israeli vaccination certificate].

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Look, I think Israel is coming out in a remarkable way with the Green Passport before any other country in the world and we’re going to have mutual exchanges with other countries. We already have several countries coming here; we’re going to exchange green passports. I think that’s coming. Within a few weeks we’re going to finish inoculating the whole adult population of Israel and we’ll have reciprocal agreements with the United States.

It’s a great thing. Israel is leading the world in vaccines; Israel is leading in coming out for the economy. I personally intend to devote myself this year to the economy so we are not merely the world champion of vaccines – vaccination nation – we’re also going to be the world champions in having the fastest-growing economy, which includes tourism and travel.
WATCH: i24NEWS Exclusive In-Depth Interview with Netanyahu Fatah lauds murder of 3 Israeli civilians as “heroic operation”
Text on screen: “On March 7, 1988, a self-sacrificing squad belonging to Fatah carried out the Dimona operation (i.e., murder of 3), in which an Israeli bus was hijacked while it was transporting laborers and workers to the Israeli nuclear center. The self-sacrificing fighters demanded the release of the Palestinians whom Israel had arrested during the [first] Intifada, but the occupation forces attempted to attack the bus and the self-sacrificing fighters died as Martyrs and killed three Israeli officers and a woman (sic.).”

Posted text on Facebook page: “Today, March 7 [2021], is the 33rd anniversary of the heroic operation (i.e., terror attack) in Dimona that led to the death of three Israeli officers and a female settler (sic.). This followed precise planning and preparation by the Fatah Movement and the leadership of the Palestinian revolution.
#Dimona?
The [Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture”

Mothers’ Bus attack – 3 Israelis – Miriam Ben-Yair, Rina Shiratzky, and Victor Ram – were murdered when the bus they were on that was carrying workers to the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Dimona was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists Muhammad Abd Al-Qader Muhammad Issa, Muhammad Khalil Saleh Al-Khanafi, and Abdallah Abd Al-Majid Muhammad Kallab on March 7, 1988. The attack is referred to as the Mothers' Bus attack because many of the passengers were working mothers. The terrorists were all killed by an Israel Police counter-terrorism unit.

The first Intifada - Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel, approximately 200 Israelis murdered, 1987-1993.


Sinwar wins 2nd term as Hamas Gaza chief after tense election standoff
Yahya Sinwar has won a second term as the organization’s Gaza leader, a Hamas spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.

“Yahya Sinwar has been elected for a second term as head of Hamas’ Gaza political bureau, from 2021 to 2025,” Hamas spokesperson Hazim Qasim said in a statement.

The Hamas terror group is holding clandestine elections for its top spots. The Palestinian movement’s internal elections are normally conducted in utter secrecy over a period of months.

Sinwar won the top position in Hamas’s Gaza politburo. Whoever holds the post becomes the highest-ranking Hamas official in the coastal enclave, the Strip’s de facto ruler, and the second most powerful member of the organization.

Three rounds of voting were conducted last night, with neither Sinwar nor his chief opponent Nizar Awadullah able to clinch victory. Sinwar received more than 50% of the vote in Wednesday’s ballot, leading him to a second four-year term.

In a statement following the tense election standoff, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh praised Hamas’s internal vote as “real elections, not purely for show.”

“With transparency and integrity, everyone accepts its results,” Haniyeh said of the vote.


Police Charge French Girl With Slander Over Lie That Possibly Led To Schoolteacher Beheading
Police in France charged a girl with slander after she admitted to lying about slain schoolteacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded in October after showing students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on freedom of speech, the BBC reported Monday.

The 13-year-old girl admitted that she told her father Paty had asked Muslim students to leave the room while he showed the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that appeared in the satire magazine Charlie Hebdo 2015, according to the BBC.

After the girl lied to her father, he filed a legal complaint against Paty, and then launched an online campaign against the teacher. After the killing, prosecutors said there was a “direct causal link” between online incitement against Paty and his slaying by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee.

The girl’s lawyer claimed she lied because “she felt trapped in a spiral because her classmates had asked her to be a spokesperson,” Agence France-Presse reported, according to the BBC.

The girl’s father and an Islamist preacher also face charges of complicity in the murder.

Abdoullakh Anzorov, Paty’s killer, was shot dead by police. He had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in a text found on his phone, where there was also a picture of Paty, according to the Associated Press.


Report: Returning to Original 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal Would be ‘Nearly Impossible’
A new report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) details how it would nearly impossible both politically and technically for the Biden administration to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

According to the report “No going back now: The case against returning to the JCPOA,” Iran has violated the original agreement to such an extent that “simply abiding by the letter of the JCPOA would leave Iran with too advanced a nuclear program for the United States to accept, and too many economic constraints for Tehran to abide.”

“This creates the possibility of an untenable ‘more for less’ interim outcome in which the United States tries to get back to the original nuclear agreement by giving up too many sanctions in exchange for too few nuclear concessions from Tehran,” it said.

The report listed several technical, political and strategic hurdles that would likely make it impossible to return to the deal. Among them is the fact that it would take Iran several months to reverse its violations of the JCPOA, including uninstalling centrifuges, and diluting and cutting its enriched uranium stockpile. Iran has also taken several actions to expand its nuclear infrastructure beyond what was considered in the agreement, such as experimenting with advanced centrifuges and building new underground facilities.

“Since the JCPOA’s implementation in 2015, the world has learned more about the existence and scope of Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, primarily due to Israel’s covert seizure of secret Iranian nuclear archives in 2018. Returning to the JCPOA would do nothing to resolve the growing list of inspectors’ concerns about the full extent of Iran’s weaponization work, nor the fact that Iran has been acting in bad faith since 2015 toward the other JCPOA participants,” said the report.
Blinken Urges Iran to Release Answers on Death of Former FBI Agent Robert Levinson
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with the family of former Jewish FBI agent Robert “Bob” Levinson, who US officials believe was abducted by the Iranian government more than a decade ago.

“I was honored to speak with the Levinson family yesterday,” said Blinken, according to a State Department release. “Since his abduction in 2007, Bob, a father and husband, has missed graduations, marriages and the birth of all but one of his grandchildren. Bob’s family continues to advocate for the answers about what happened after he went to Kish Island in Iran 14 years ago.”

“We call on the Iranian government to provide credible answers to what happened to Bob Levinson, and to immediately and safely release all US citizens who are unjustly held captive in Iran,” he added.

Levinson, who disappeared in 2007 while visiting Iran and working part-time for the CIA, is believed to have died while in Iranian custody.

In October, a US court ordered the Iranian government to pay more than $1.4 billion in punitive and compensatory damages to Levinson’s family.
US State Dept Blacklists Two Iranian Officials Over Human Rights Violations
The US State Department on Tuesday blacklisted two Iranian government interrogators, accusing them of torture and other human rights violations, in what appeared to be the first such action against Tehran under the Biden administration.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) interrogators of gross violations of human rights, including “torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” of political prisoners and people detained in 2019 and 2020 protests in Iran.

The Biden administration chose to take the action despite its efforts to coax Iran into negotiations over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018, dramatically increasing tensions with Tehran.

“We will continue to consider all appropriate tools to impose costs on those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Iran,” Blinken said.

The move bars Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari, as well as their immediate family members, from entering the United States.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing that the United States can both pursue its interests in barring Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon while also making clear that there will be consequences for violations of human rights.

Biden’s administration has said it is ready to talk to Iran about both nations resuming compliance with the nuclear deal, but the parties cannot agree who should make the first move.



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