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Monday, May 10, 2021

05/10 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: US has plunged its relations with Israel into crisis; Rocket sirens sound in Jerusalem, central Israel amid Temple Mount clashes

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: US has plunged its relations with Israel into crisis
In light of the reactions from Washington to the Hamas and Fatah-inspired Arab violence in Jerusalem, it is hard to see how Israel will be able to maintain a constructive dialogue about its relations with the Palestinians with the Biden administration or more broadly, with the Democrat Party. Indeed, the reactions coming out of Washington to the Arab violence in Jerusalem indicate that Israel will be hard-pressed to conduct a constructive dialogue with Washington about anything, and this will be the case regardless of who forms the next Israeli government.

Saturday, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren published a shocking post on her Twitter account in response to the Arab riots in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which started in earnest last Thursday. The progressive powerhouse wrote, "The forced removal of long-time Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah is abhorrent and unacceptable. The Administration should make it clear to the Israeli government that these evictions are illegal and must stop immediately."

Warren's statement isn't a demand for justice for Arabs. It is a demand for injustice for Jews. Warren has become the first senior US official to call for Jews to be barred from doing something specifically because they are Jewish since Ulysses Grant barred Jews from entering Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky at the height of the Civil War.

The situation in Sheikh Jarrah is cut and dry. Buildings in the neighborhood that were purchased by Jews 146 years ago were illegally seized in 1948 by Jordan as its forces illegally occupied eastern, northern and southern Jerusalem in the course of the pan-Arab invasion of the nascent Jewish state. During the course of Jordan's illegal occupation of those areas of Jerusalem, the Jordanian Registry of Enemy Property illegally leased the Jewish-owned buildings to Arab tenants.

When Israel liberated the Jordanian-occupied areas of Jerusalem in 1967, the owners of the buildings reasserted their property rights. Their ownership over the properties in Sheikh Jarrah was duly registered in Israel's land registry in 1973. But when the owners tried to retake poss. Their refusal instigated a now 48-year legal battle between the owners and the squatters which is scheduled to finally come to an end this week.

In countless court decisions, judges found time after time that the Jewish owners were the legitimate owners and the Arabs were illegal squatters. The Arab squatters admitted this was the case in 1982. And yet, 39 years later, the children and grandchildren of the squatters from 1982 still refuse to leave the buildings.


Melanie Phillips: Accessories to evil
During the administration of former US president Donald Trump, Palestinian violence declined as a result of Trump’s refusal to pander to Palestinian blackmail. Not only did Trump move the US embassy to Jersualem, he empowered a rapprochement between the Gulf states and Israel which left the Palestinian cause abandoned. He also cut funding to the Palestinian Authority as a consequence of its continued incitement and support of terrorism against Israeli Jews.

The Biden administration, which is stuffed full of officials with a baleful record of hostility to Israel, immediately restored funding and diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian Authority, started to try to drive a wedge between Israel and Saudi Arabia and made clear that it would give Israel short shrift and empower its genocidal foe, Iran.

This US shift in support effectively gave a green light to the Palestinian Arabs to renew their murderous onslaught against the Jews of Israel.

And so what’s been the response by the Biden administration and the EU and various European states to this co-ordinated campaign of incitement, murder and other attacks on Israeli Jews? Far from condemning these Palestinian aggressors and inciters, the EU and US have instead condemned their victim, Israel. They have warned against its planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, and repeated their habitual and historically illiterate lie that Israel is in illegal occupation of Jerusalem, the ancient historic capital of the Jewish people — the only people for whom it was ever their capital city.

But hey — the Bidenites, EU states and western “liberals” promote the Holocaust-denying Jew-hater Mahmoud Abbas as a statesman; declare that his terrorism-supporting, Jew-demonising, Israel-exterminating Palestinian Authority deserves to run a state; give it the funds which enable it to continue its incitement and support for terrorism; require Israel to compromise its security to facilitate the creation of an entity which aims to destroy it; parrot the false narrative of Israeli illegality while conniving at the Palestinians’ attempt to hijack both international law and Jewish history; and label murderous Palestinian attacks on Jews as “resistance”.

And then they have the sheer gall to urge a return to “calm”. They are themselves accessories to evil.


Rocket sirens sound in Jerusalem, central Israel amid Temple Mount clashes
Rocket sirens sounded in central Israel and Jerusalem on Monday evening as thousands of Israelis were parading through downtown to celebrate Jerusalem Day. Hamas had threatened Israel earlier in the day that it would launch the rockets due to the ongoing clashes in Jerusalem.

After the rocket fire, at least nine people were killed, including three children in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The IDF said that seven rockets were fired towards the capital and one was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said that the combined rocket attacks towards Jerusalem, Gaza border communities and the anti-tank guided missile that hit a civilian vehicle “is a significant event that won’t go by quietly.”

According to Zilberman, “Hamas will feel that our response to this event...it will not last several minutes, but days.”

Calling it an “inexcusable event,” Zilberman warned that “If Hamas doesn’t understand it yet, they will understand after what we do. We have a number of options on the table.”


Palestinians say nine killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip
The IDF struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening in response to a rocket barrage into Israel that included at least seven missiles that were fired toward Jerusalem.

Palestinians said that nine people were killed in Israeli airstrikes. One bomb struck a motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip. In another strike, Palestinians said that at least two people were injured in an Israeli bombing near Beit Hanoun.

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said that the combined rocket attacks towards Jerusalem, Gaza border communities and the anti-tank guided missile that hit a civilian vehicle “is a significant event that won’t go by quietly.”
On Sunday the Arabs Burned Down 2,000 Acres of Israeli Forest Near Gaza
In the Gaza Envelope settlements, this week started with 10 fires, as southern Israeli was up in flames from Ashdod to Eilat. Fires are to be expected in Israel as the temperatures rise and the air becomes dry. But those 10 fires along the Gaza border—and more are expected this week—are the result of incendiary balloons shot over from the Gaza Strip, according to firefighting services.

All fires started within the Eshkol Regional Council area. The Nature and Parks Authority reported that large parts of the Be’eri Nature Reserve caught fire. The Be’eri Forest covers about 2,700 acres. It was planted by the founders of Kibbutz Be’eri in 1946. It is now mostly scorched earth.

The JNF, neighbors from the envelope settlements, the IDF, and the Nature and Parks Authority fought the forest fire the whole day Sunday. And there were other fires nearby, in Noam, Karmia, Mavkiim, Erez, and Sderot.

At noon, the fire from the incendiary balloons increased and reached the greenhouses of Kibbutz Be’eri, causing severe damage.

Shabbat also saw fires from incendiary balloons in the Eshkol Regional Council.


Israel pushes back against US ‘concern’ over Jerusalem violence
Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat pushed back when his US counterpart told him on Sunday that Washington was concerned over violent clashes between security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

According to media reports, Ben-Shabbat told US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan during a phone call that international intervention in the events, which have seen daily rioting in the Old City and other locations in the capital, is only rewarding those who are inciting the unrest.

Israel is handling the events “out of a position of sovereignty, responsibly, and with common sense despite the provocations,” Ben Shabbat said, according to a diplomatic source familiar with the conversation who was cited by Hebrew media reports.

Ben Shabbat went on to say international interference was “a prize for the rioters and those sending them who hoped to put pressure on Israel.”

He told Sullivan that it would be more helpful if the pressure were directed at those who were inciting the violence.

Sullivan had called Ben Shabbat to discuss Washington’s “serious concerns about the situation in Jerusalem, including violent confrontations at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount during the last days of Ramadan,” according to a White House readout.

The phone call came hours before the scheduled annual march of thousands of Jewish nationalists through the Old City as part of Jerusalem Day celebrations, which some security officials fear may cause the situation to boil over.

Without giving details, Sullivan noted recent engagement by senior US officials with Israeli and Palestinian counterparts along with key regional stakeholders in an effort to restore calm, the White House readout said.

Sullivan “also reiterated the United States’ serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood,” the statement said, referring to one of the key issues behind the mass protests in East Jerusalem over the past week.

The sides “agreed that the launching of rocket attacks and incendiary balloons from Gaza towards Israel is unacceptable and must be condemned,” the readout said. Terror groups have resumed attacks on Israel, saying it is in support of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
UNSC to meet on Jerusalem violence, Jordan summons Israel's envoy
The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed door session on Monday to discuss rising tensions in east Jerusalem, particularly around the Temple Mount, also known as al Haram al Sharif.

Diplomats said the briefing was requested by nearly two-thirds of the 15-member council - Tunisia, Ireland, China, Estonia, France, Norway, Niger, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Vietnam.

It's unlikely that the 15-member body will take any action, but the gathering is yet another sign of increased international concern of the continued violence in Jerusalem.

The Trump administration had been supportive of Israel at the UN and used its veto power at the Security Council to protect the Jewish state from censure.

US President Joe Biden has promised to also stand by Israel at the UN, but the Jerusalem violence is likely to test that resolve. Jordan on Monday summoned Israel's deputy ambassador to Jordan, Sami Abu Janeb, to its Foreign Ministry over the issue.
Middle East Scholar on Jerusalem Tensions, Gaza Flare-Up
Bar Ilan's Dr. Mordechai Kedar speaks to Jeff Smith about the rising tensions ahead of Jerusalem Day.


Amb. Dennis Ross on U.S. Reaction to Clashes in East Jerusalem

PMW: More evidence that Abbas is stoking the violence Abbas demands riots and violence using PA euphemism “peaceful popular resistance”

“Jerusalem – we’ll redeem it with our lives” – Fatah calls for violence in Jerusalem



Seth Frantzman: What is Iran’s goal in the Jerusalem crisis?
Iran has been fanning the flames of the confrontations in Jerusalem.

Days before the latest clashes developed, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and its IRGC head, Hossein Salami, prepared speeches and media engagements in which they pushed messages throughout the region, arguing that Israel is in a “downward spiral” and destined to fall apart. This message was given to Hassan Nasrallah in his Lebanon bunker where he would also emphasize Israel’s internal divisions in a Quds Day speech on Friday, May 7.

This message discipline of Iran and its proxies was clear. Days later, however, as the violence in Jerusalem has grown and western powers have joined the chorus condemning Israel, as well as countries in the Gulf, who have increased concerns. Iran has been more quiet. So what happened? Why isn’t Iran’s regime riding the chaos, exploiting it, increasing tensions in Syria?

While tensions simmer in Jerusalem on Monday, Iran’s Tasnim, which is linked to the IRGC, ran an all-important story about bureaucracy in Iran. “Why should an entrepreneur go to 18 places to get a license?” Good question, but not the usual “Zionism is ending” dogma. What other news from Tehran? The regime is talking about the Vienna nuclear talks and discussing the pandemic. At Fars News the stories revolve around the high cost of vaccines and reduction in smuggling.


Attempted lynching of Israeli driver in Jerusalem riots near Temple Mount
An injured Jewish driver lost control of his car and swerved onto a sidewalk after he was pelted with rocks by Arab rioters during a violent protest outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Monday morning.

The incident took place just outside Lions Gate, close to the Temple Mount of Jerusalem's Old City.

Israel Police said that stone throwers attacked the car that was travelling on Jericho Road and that as a result, the driver lost control of his vehicle and veered off the road, hitting several people.

After the car stopped, more stone throwers approached it and they continued to pelt it, opening the doors in an attempt to attack the driver and another male passenger.

A police officer arrived at the scene moments after the car swerved onto the sidewalk and he fired warning shots into the air to disperse the mob as they tried to get to the car's occupants.

Several Palestinian youths were injured when the driver lost control of his car, Palestinian media said.

Police forces in the area dispersed the rioters and were working to locate the suspects.

The car's occupants, two men aged 27 and 28, were lightly injured and received medical treatment, according to the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service.


Israel’s Ambassador to the US Criticizes Rep. Rashida Tlaib for ‘Stoking Tensions’ in Tweets on Jerusalem Violence
Israel’s Ambassador to the US criticized Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Monday, saying that her tweets on the ongoing Palestinian violence against Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount are “stoking tensions.”

Tlaib tweeted earlier in the day, “Al-Aqsa is the 3rd holiest site in Islam, & people praying during the holiest days of the holy month of Ramadan have been beaten, gassed, shot, & killed by Israeli forces. They are denied medics & forced to use prayer mats as stretchers.”

“A place of peace desecrated by violence,” she claimed.

No one has thus far been killed in the ongoing violence, though hundreds have been injured.

Ambassador Gilad Erdan tweeted in response, “Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib maybe you should open your eyes to the whole picture? Islam’s 3rd holiest site is being used to stockpile Molotov cocktails and rocks that are being lobbed at the police and at Jewish worshippers praying at the Western Wall, below the Temple Mount.”

He included a photograph of a pile of rocks inside the mosque to be used for attacking Israeli security forces.

“Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have prayed freely at their holy sites, including in Jerusalem, over the month of Ramadan because Israel believes in freedom of religion and Israeli security forces work hard to enable all groups to pray in peace,” Erdan said.


Anti-Israel Group IfNotNow Sides with Palestinians Demanding Destruction of Tel Aviv
The anti-Israel fringe group IfNotNow is under fire for throwing its support behind violent Palestinian rioters who called for Tel Aviv to be bombed and destroyed.

IfNotNow, a progressive advocacy group that claims its membership is primarily Jewish, took to Twitter on Saturday to promote video footage of violent Palestinian rioters in Jerusalem. Tensions have been high in the city as Palestinians riot in and around the Temple Mount, a holy section of the city that includes the al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

"Incredible, inspiring images of Palestinian resistance coming out of Jerusalem tonight," IfNotNow said in a since-deleted tweet. "American Jews are with you." The tweet included video footage of Palestinians yelling in Arabic for Tel Aviv to be bombed.

It is the latest gaffe for an organization that has eroded its credibility over the years by repeatedly smearing American Jews and promoting violence against Israel. While the group is beloved by far-left anti-Israel activists aligned with the Democratic Party, mainstream American Jews have largely shunned it.

IfNotNow’s tweet drew a litany of angry responses from American Jews, who largely said the group does not represent its attitudes or interests.

"No, we (Jewish Americans) are certainly not supportive of an angry mob of Palestinians in Jerusalem," wrote Bryan Leib, a former Republican congressional candidate and executive director of Iranian Americans for Liberty, which opposes the hardline Iranian government. "I really don't know how IfNotNowOrg thinks they can speak on behalf of Jews."

"How low can IfNotNow go?" asked the organization Stop Anti-Semitism. "Miserably low to side with Hamas supporters singing, ‘bomb bomb Tel Aviv.’ What an embarrassment to American Jews."

A number of American Jews contacted by the Washington Free Beacon also said they do not, in fact, stand with the Arab mob calling for the destruction of Tel Aviv, as IfNotNow claimed in its posting.

IfNotNow has a history of promoting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel messages.


Guardian coverage of Jerusalem violence is as bad as you'd expect
Their Guardian’s latest report on the escalating violence in Jerusalem, by Jerusalem correspondent Oliver Holmes, with the incendiary headline “Israeli police storm al-Aqsa mosque ahead of Jerusalem Day march”, mirrors previous reports on the Palestinian riots.

It begins:
Israeli police faced off with Palestinian protesters in another full night of clashes in East Jerusalem, ahead of a planned parade by hardline Israeli nationalists through the Old City in an annual flag-waving march meant to cement Israeli claims to the contested area.

First, the day in question, Jerusalem Day, celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem on June 7th 1967 during the Six Day War, when Israel defended itself against three Arab armies who sought its destruction. The IDF’s capture of the ‘east’ part of the city occurred nineteen years after the 1948 Jordanian occupation and the expulsion of Jews from Atarot, Neve Ya’akov, the Old City and other Jerusalem neighbourhoods. During that time, Jews were not permitted to visit their holiest sites.

Additionally, whilst extremists do participate in the annual march through the Old City, Holmes’, in every report we’ve read, has consistently highlighted the Jewish extremists, or “hardliners”, who were increasing tensions, but failed to even allude to Palestinian extremism that’s fueling continued violence.

Here’s a mass demonstration at the Temple Mount on Friday, where Palestinian extremists are waving Hamas flags and chanting “In spirit and in blood, we will redeem al-Aqsa.”.
BBC News report on Jerusalem violence promotes a partial narrative
Relatedly, the BBC’s report adopts the corporation’s typical practice of omitting all relevant history from before June 1967, including Jordan’s invasion and 19-year-long occupation of parts of Jerusalem, which is particularly relevant to the topic of the properties in Sheikh Jarrah.

“Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East war and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the future capital of a hoped-for independent state.”

“Israel’s Supreme Court is due to hold a hearing on the Sheikh Jarrah case as Israelis mark Jerusalem Day. The annual celebration of the capture of the east of the city during the 1967 Middle East War includes a flag march in the Old City that typically leads to clashes with local Palestinians.”

By focusing audience attentions on the Sheikh Jarrah story, the BBC’s report plays into the Hamas narrative and fails to provide audiences with any information concerning the additional issues which lie behind the violence on Temple Mount that is supposedly its topic. Readers are told nothing at all about the efforts of Hamas, other terror groups, the PA and interested parties to escalate tensions in Jerusalem and in other locations and the connection between that and Mahmoud Abbas’ indefinite postponement of Palestinian elections scheduled to be held later this month.


Newsweek’s Falsehood Israeli Forces Crack Down on Praying Muslims
The fallacious notion that Israeli police cracked down on praying Muslims is reinforced by the article’s egregiously misleading headline referring to “violence against Palestinians,” as if the Israeli police initiated violence, and not the other way around.

In addition to failing to report any of the violence carried out by Palestinian rioters, Lemon quoted without comment or clarification tweets by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ihlan Omar promoting the libel that Israel is attacking peacefully praying Muslims.

As for “the tensions surrounding Israeli settlers working to evict Palestinians from their homes” in the Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem, Lemon quoted Senator Elizabeth Warren’s claim that “these evictions are illegal.” He failed to inform readers that in 1982 the Arab residents and their lawyers agreed in Magistrate Court that two Israeli non-profits, the Sephardic Community Council and the General Council of the Congregation of Israel, own the properties. Nor does he report that the residents have refused compromises which would have enabled them to continue to stay in their homes as protected tenants on the condition that they acknowledge the Jewish ownership of the properties.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Islamic Scholars Agree Killing Jews More Important Than Dignity, Sanctity Of Al-Aqsa (satire)
Authorities on the Muslim faith around the world agreed today (Monday) that the religion assigns greater importance to asserting dominance, violently if possible, over inferior peoples such as Jews, than to upholding the sedate glory of the religion’s third-holiest site. The rulings came in the context of images showing rocks, fireworks, and other implements of violence that Palestinians have stockpiled in the shrine in anticipation of conflict with Israeli authorities who would dare protect Jews who wish to worship at or near the site.

Imams and scholars of Islam reacted over the last several days to scenes of preparation for violence even within the sacred confines of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where mainstream Islamic tradition has Muhammad the Prophet stopping during his legendary Night Journey. Palestinian leaders and interest groups have fanned sectarian flames over a real estate dispute in the city’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, fomenting violent clashes with Israeli police and attacks on Israeli civilians under the pretext of “protecting” Al-Aqsa but with the stated goal of denying Jews access to the site, which sits at the southern end of a plateau where two Jewish Temples stood and where Jews face during prayer.

“It is a straightforward principle that attacking, and preferably killing, Jews, ranks higher than preserving Al-Aqsa’s dignity in Islamic sensibilities,” explained Imam Mustafa Massikr of Istanbul. “Allah finds greater pleasure in the degradation of the infidel descendants of apes and pigs, at the hands of His faithful, than in mere maintenance of His holy places. Expiating the great shame of losing to the inferior scum Jews in 1948, 1967, and a bunch of other times takes far greater precedence than treating holy things with reverence. If undoing the humiliation of losing to a bunch of Holocaust survivors and refugees who weren’t even allowed to possess weapons under British rule requires using worship space as arsenal instead of sanctuary, so be it. Allahu Akbar.”
Syria says IDF chopper bombs site near border, 1 injured, in rare daytime strike
An Israeli helicopter bombed an alleged Hezbollah site on the Syrian Golan Heights, injuring one person, in a rare daytime strike on Monday, according to Syrian sources.

The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on the matter.

Syrian state news outlet SANA said the Israeli helicopter struck a target near the town of Khader, an area known as deeply tied to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime and his allies, Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, both of which Israel says maintain a presence on the Golan.

The man who was injured in the strike was identified in Syrian media as Tahir Mahmoud, a resident of Khader. SANA said he was a civilian, though photographs shared on social media showed him in military garb, carrying a rifle.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group linked to Syria’s opposition, Mahmoud worked on behalf of Hezbollah, which maintains bases of operation near the border with Israel and has carried out and attempted a number of attacks on Israeli troops from there over the years.

Daytime strikes by Israel are highly unusual and are generally only conducted in order to prevent impending attacks.

Earlier this month, Israeli helicopters bombed targets near the city of Quneitra on the Syrian Golan border, according to Syrian media. SANA said the attack caused neither injuries nor damages. Then too, the IDF declined to comment on the reported strikes, in accordance with its policy to neither confirm nor deny most of its operations in Syria.
The Logic of the JCPOA – Then and Now
The Biden administration must stop the Iranian regime’s rush toward nuclear weapons threshold capability.

Only about one-fifth of the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015 addresses nuclear issues, with the remaining four-fifths detailing payments to Iran designed to compensate it handsomely for its nuclear concessions. The original deal was endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2231, which granted further incentives to Iran.

The document is rapidly becoming irrelevant, as the limitations it places on Iran are gradually expiring. Six years on, the arms embargo has already expired, and Iran can acquire state-of-the-art defensive weapons systems from Russia to establish strategic immunity to attack. The “call” to Iran to desist from developing and testing ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons will lapse in two years’ time, as will sanctions regarding ballistic and cruise missiles and BMD (ballistic missile defense), which will facilitate the regime’s acquisition of unprecedented offensive missile capabilities.

Sanctions on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) entities like the Quds Force, its commander, the IRGC commander, IRGC Air Force Missile Command, and the bonyads (para-governmental organizations that manage the IRGC’s economic empire) will also end. The nuclear clauses, which allowed the continued development of advanced centrifuges and which can expedite the rate of enrichment 10- to 20-fold, make this matter urgent. This is all occurring as the Rouhani government is about to end its term and a radical government is likely to take its place.







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