Thursday, June 10, 2021

06/10 Links Pt1: Will Israel's new government get off the ground?; US-funded Palestinian NGOs introduced children to convicted terrorists; GOP Seek FBI Investigation Into Terror-Tied BDS Charity

From Ian:

David Singer: Will Israel's new government get off the ground?
An amalgam of eight leaders trading insults and denigrating each other - whilst their parties have adopted policies that are totally irreconcilable on critical issues – is not the foundation for any stable Government – especially in Israel – whose enemies will become increasingly emboldened following the announcement of a cobbled-together Israeli Government comprising very different bedfellows.

A vote of confidence first needed from 61 members of the Knesset before this dysfunctional Government even begins operating is certainly not a foregone conclusion.

Either an Islamic-Arab party – Ra’am (4 seats) – or an extreme left wing party – Meretz (6 seats) which includes two Israeli Arabs – possess the ability to drag Israelis to a fifth election in 3 years.

This Government could implode in making decisions involving such issues as:
- Hauling Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Authorising future building in Judea and Samaria (aka 'West Bank')
- Extending Israeli sovereignty into Judea and Samaria
- Preventing the renewal of violent protests by Israel’s Arab population that saw synagogues burnt and attacks on Jews and their property during last month’s Israel- Gaza conflict

Fractured relations and policy differences abound:
- Meretz leader - Nitzan Horowitz - has adopted the position that the ICC has grounds for investigating Israel for suspected war crimes.
- Gideon Sa’ar – leader of the New Hope party - said that he would not include Meretz in any coalition he led for holding that viewpoint. “Horowitz can’t join the government with positions like that,” the MK who is only consistent in his personal hatred of Netanyahu..
- Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked, equally consistent – echoed Sa’ar’s sentiments: “Anyone who talks like that will not be with us in a coalition,”

Sa’ar and Shaked – and it seems, the 10 other members of New Hope and Yamina parties – are ready to sit with Horowitz in coalition as the ICC probe continues and Israel’s Government has to formulate its responses.


US-funded Palestinian NGOs introduced children to convicted terrorists
USAID-funded Palestinian NGOs introduced children to released convicted terrorists, Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor wrote in a report released Thursday.

The NGOs presented the terrorists as role models while publicly demonstrating “support for terrorists and US-designated terrorist organizations,” whether via social media, statements, events or protests, the report said.

The terrorists were imprisoned for various acts, including shooting attacks, stabbings, arms-smuggling, funding terror organizations, kidnapping and murdering of Israeli citizens, a minister, IDF soldiers as well as tourists.

NGO Monitor worked off public information that was readily available to USAID while it vetted secondary-grantees to implement the US-funded projects in the Palestinian territories.

“Between the years 2015-2019, USAID allocated approximately $500 million on programs in the West Bank and Gaza,” NGO Monitor said. “As detailed in this report, the agency awarded $7.2m. to six Palestinian NGOs whose activities are inconsistent with American values and policies.”

Some activities available to the youth organizations included the meetings with convicted terrorists, protests or events organized with “umbrella” organizations for various Palestinian terror groups and other events that incited children to advocate for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel – who are either known cells of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas or other similar terror organizations.

One such youth organization was observed chanting: “We are with the prisoners until death... We are behind you until liberation... Resist until death... Intifada until death,” at a recent event.


PMW: PA rejects “any conditional funding by any source that targets our Palestinian curricula”
The recent disclosure by the German newspaper Bild of the unpublished EU report on Palestinian textbooks, confirms what Palestinian Media Watch has been reporting for years: The Palestinian curriculum and entire education system is full of incitement to hate and violence, glorification of terror, and denial of Israel's right to exist in any borders (See schoolbook examples below). Accordingly, the EU is being urged to demand a change in the PA’s educational messages to Palestinian children and youth and to reconsider its funding of PA text books and PA teachers’ salaries.

In this context, the following recent statement by PA Minister of Education Marwan Awratani is particularly significant because it proves in all clarity the PA’s uncompromising stand and unwillingness to change any of the contents in its schoolbooks. In fact, the PA doesn’t want any funding for education if it comes with conditions or demands from the donors regarding the content:
Headline: “The [PA] minister of education: We are rejecting all conditional funding that targets our Palestinian curricula”
“[PA] Minister of Education Marwan Awratani emphasized that the [PA] government and Ministry of Education oppose any conditional funding by any source that targets our Palestinian curricula, which constitute a sovereign matter of the highest order (refers to international demands to remove incitement from PA schoolbooks as a condition of funding -Ed.).
He said that his ministry is working to find ways of national self-funding in order to build the schools.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 15, 2021]

In order to avoid pressure from donor countries to take out the hate and terror promotion, PLO Executive Committee member and Secretary-General of the Palestinian People's Party Bassam Al-Salehi repeated the PA’s rejection of “all foreign aid that imposes conditions on the education.” Instead, Al-Salehi said, PA education should be paid “only from the [PA] budget, from the PA’s income.”

This is of course a meaningless distinction since not only is money fungible but western donors also fund parts of the PA’s general budget, so either way, donors would still be paying for promotion of terror.


GOP Lawmakers Seek FBI Investigation Into Terror-Tied BDS Charity
Several Republican lawmakers are calling on the FBI to launch an investigation into a charity group that serves as a central cog in the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and that allegedly has ties to multiple terrorist organizations.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked the FBI on Thursday to investigate the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), an anti-Israel organization that acts as a central coordinating hub for the BDS movement and its supporting organizations, according to a copy of Burchett's letter exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

PACBI is a founding member of the BDS movement and operates under the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), "which serves as an umbrella organization for designated terror groups like Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ)," according to Burchett's letter, which was also signed by committee members Greg Steube (R., Fla.) and Maria Salazar (R., Fla.). The lawmakers say the charity group could be running afoul of U.S. anti-terrorism laws due to its reported links to Hamas and PIJ. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Burchett's letter to the FBI is just the latest salvo in an expanding congressional probe into PACBI, which initially came under the microscope in March after the Free Beacon reported that the charity was partnered with ActBlue, the online donation platform that primarily works with Democrats and party-aligned groups. ActBlue's relationship with PACBI sparked concerns that donations made through the platform could be benefiting designated terror groups.

Burchett petitioned the Treasury and Justice Departments later in March to investigate the ActBlue-PACBI relationship, citing concerns the online charity platform could be violating anti-terrorism statutes. Burchett's office confirmed to the Free Beacon that the Treasury Department declined to investigate the relationship, prompting Thursday's letter to the FBI.


UNHRC Creates Flawed Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Israel
The UNHRC has a long history of focusing disproportionately on allegations against Israel even while other states commit exceptionally grave violations. The United Nations disbanded the Commission on Human Rights, the UNHRC’s predecessor, partly due to its unfair treatment of Israel. Nevertheless, the UNHRC maintains Agenda Item 7, which requires Israel’s human rights record to be evaluated at every meeting, distracting attention from the flagrant abuses committed by the council’s own members. Thanks to this structural bias and the council’s inordinate focus on the Jewish state, the UNHRC from 2006 to 2019 passed roughly an equal number of resolutions condemning Israel and the rest of the world combined – a tally that included not a single condemnation of Russia or China.

The UNHRC’s settlements blacklist is one example of this selective scrutiny. In March 2016, the council passed a resolution calling for the creation of a database to catalogue companies operating in the West Bank, but has not passed a similar resolution for any other conflict zone. The list, which was published in February 2020, included 112 companies, mostly Israeli, and has served as a tool for anti-Israel boycotters.

The UNHRC commissioned a similarly biased COI during the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict. In establishing that COI, the council predetermined Israeli guilt, including by prejudging, in the very resolution establishing the commission, that Israel had engaged in “widespread, systematic and gross violations” during the conflict the commission was created to investigate. In another blow to the commission’s impartiality, its first chairman, William Schabas, resigned amid revelations that he had served as a consultant for the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Earlier, a UNHRC inquiry into the three-week Gaza war in 2008-2009, led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, also ran into strong criticism. Goldstone himself retracted the report’s most damning claim when he clarified, “Civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy.”

The UNHRC’s ongoing COI on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will serve as a permanent reminder of the council’s anti-Israel bias. Nevertheless, the Biden administration remains committed to rejoining the UNHRC. The White House should demand reform as part of its return to the council, namely by insisting on common-sense human rights standards for membership and by ensuring the UNHRC treats Israel fairly.
UN Human Rights Council: Epitome of Hostility and Double Standards
The fact that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad committed multiple war crimes by willfully targeting Israeli civilians in the 2021 Gaza War seems to have been completely overlooked by the UN Human Rights Council, which adopted a resolution on May 27 "to urgently establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry" to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law by Israel.

As British military commander Col. Richard Kemp stated on May 16: "I have taken part in every UN Human Rights Council evidence session and emergency debate on Gaza conflicts in the last 15 years. The willful ignorance combined with malice has always been breathtaking. Every commission of inquiry determined Israel's guilt before it even met for the first time. Every debate and vote has overwhelmingly and of course falsely affirmed Israel's supposed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, Hamas' actual multiple war crimes have been brushed aside."
Jonathan S. Tobin: The debunking of the 'apartheid state' lie
For all of the justified fears about bringing an Islamist party into the governmental tent, this is exactly what Israel has wanted for many decades. Indeed, visionary Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who is still rightly revered on the Israeli right as its founding father, wrote a model constitution for a future Jewish state in 1934 that called not only for legal equality for Arab citizens but also envisioned that every one of its governments would have Arab leaders alongside Jews.

Having an Arab political party embrace compromises that effectively nullify their anti-Zionist and Islamist beliefs could be a formula for coexistence in a country in which there will always be a significant Arab minority. That this will complicate things for any government is a given; it is also a signal to other Arabs that their continuing war on Israel's existence must be abandoned.

Of less importance is the way the agreement with Ra'am will strengthen Israel's case to the world. Still, an Israeli government with an Arab political partner conclusively debunks the ongoing lie about Israel and apartheid.

Unfortunately, that won't stop people like AOC and her pop-culture partners on the left from peddling their lies. Contempt for Jews as possessors of "white privilege" and hatred for Israel as an expression of that deceitful concept are deeply entrenched in the mindset of those who advocate for fashionable ideas about intersectionality, critical race theory and the Black Lives Matter movement. Much like those who claim to speak for the LGBTQ community but dismiss the fact that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where gays can live equally and safely as "pinkwashing," don't expect leftists to give up their apartheid lies about the Jewish state just because they are as illogical as they are immoral.

While we can't yet know whether the entrance of Ra'am into an Israeli government is truly a harbinger of coexistence and peace, it will be conclusive proof that those who demonize Israel as an "apartheid state" are spreading lies that can and should be debunked.
Why Pro-Israel Hasbara Fails
America and Israel have compelling stories about an upstart country that beat all the odds, whose founders built it out of nothing, defeating an empire and vicious enemies to form an outpost of civilization in a sea of barbarism. These are stories of heroes and desperate last stands, of refugees fleeing religious persecution, and of the lamp of ideas burning bright.

We’ve just forgotten how to tell it.

Some elements of the founding story have become politically incorrect. Others just seem dated. Instead we’ve been telling a story about a comfortable life and upward social progress. And what we’re really doing is telling a younger generation to value what they have and asking them if they really want to lose it. The rise of leftist radicalism provides an inescapable answer.

The only stories that matter are stories of struggle. When societies that have struggled begin telling new stories about what they have and why they’re afraid to lose it, they lose their story.

A society is only as young as its stories.

America and Israel are being accused of imperialism and colonialism by medieval Islamic colonialists and imperialists. The feudal proponents of Sharia law claim to be revolutionary and progressive. Against these compelling lies, we have even more compelling truths. The question is whether we can let go of the stories about what we have to tell the story of what we don’t.

To tell a compelling story of struggle we have to leave our comfort zones and feel the danger. And we have to stop inhabiting a nuanced reality, and enter a black and white world instead.

Pro-Israel image campaigns that talk about Israel as a nation of beaches and immigrants will fail. The true story of a few million people fighting for their lives against everything that has been thrown at them is much more compelling. But it’s also scary and uncomfortable. Telling it requires leaving the comfortable bubble in which most people find their sense of security and confronting the unthinkable fragility of the present, and the horrors of the past and the future.

That’s not just a lesson for Israel, but for all of us.

If we can’t tell the story of the struggle we are in because it seems too stark or alienating, or because we are too afraid to face it, then we will not only face the struggle, but we will lose it.
Jonathan Pollard: Let's 'decisively' win the war for Jerusalem
The time has come for the Jewish people to "decisively" win the war for Jerusalem, Jonathan Pollard told the Youth for Sovereignty Conference held Thursday evening as he spoke in support of the right for Jews to walk anywhere in the Old City.

"No Jew should be afraid to walk the land, from Metulla to Eilat, ever," said Pollard, who spent 30 years in an American prison for passing classified US information to Israel. He is considered an hero in Israel, particularly among the Right, whose cause he supports.

On Thursday night he gave rousing speech in support of Judea and Samaria sovereignty and the need to ensure that Jerusalem remains Israel's united city, when he spoke at Oz Ve Gaon in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.

Pollard explained that Israel had not won the battle for Jerusalem, when it wrested the eastern part of the city from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day war.

"We won a battle," in that war, he said, but "for every year after that victory we have been losing Jerusalem brick by brick."

It's time to turn the tide on the downward trajectory and push for a final victory with respect to a united Jerusalem, Pollard said. "I'm not interested in just winning the battles anymore. I want to decisively win the war for Jerusalem and for our God given land in Judea, Binyamin and the Shomron," Pollard said.
The Joshua and Caleb Network: Will 4 Palestinian States Be Enough? (& the Human Rights Abuse Happening in Gaza)
Hamas is not only abusing civilians, they are also abusing their own children. We have the proof in today’s episode on the Joshua & Caleb Report.

Wondering what is going on in Israel’s government, and who will be the next prime minister?

The UNRWA Gaza Director has been expelled from the strip for admitting that Israel’s military strikes are precise. UNRWA, an organization which is supposed to be helping Palestinian refugees, is the largest employer in the Gaza Strip and is known for their anti-semitism and for teaching propaganda to children in their schools.

At the end of the show, we discuss the four Palestinian states that the world wants to create in Israel. Two of them have already been created, and the world wants to create two more.


North Macedonia’s first Jewish lawmaker breaks taboos, is hit with antisemitism
Politics was supposed to be a very brief interlude in Rasela Mizrahi’s career as a scientist.

A 39-year-old Jewish fertility researcher from North Macedonia, she was appointed last year to serve for 100 days as the temporary minister of labor in her Balkan country, situated north of Greece. She was deemed a good nonpartisan pick to serve as a placeholder ahead of elections.

“I had zero interest in politics,” Mizrahi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “But I thought it’d send a good message for women. Plus, like any Jewish daughter, I wanted to make my parents proud.”

But what began as a token stint resulted in multiple diplomatic spats and the country’s worst-ever wave of public antisemitic rhetoric.

Along the way, Mizrahi became an unlikely hero for many of her country’s conservatives and a fighter for preserving the memory of a Jewish community that the Nazis and their allies almost rendered extinct.

It all started in February of 2020, she said, during a routine press conference that she gave at the labor ministry in the capital Skopje weeks after she became its temporary boss.

“I talked unemployment, stimulus plans, welfare. The usual stuff,” she recalled. But in media reports, Mizrahi’s message was upstaged by the backdrop: A large wooden sign that read “the Republic of Macedonia.”
Mike Pompeo: F-35 sale to Abu Dhabi was 'critical' for UAE-Israel peace
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said that the sale of F-35 aircraft to the United Arab Emirates was “a critical part” of the normalization deal between Abu Dhabi, Jerusalem and Washington.

In an interview in Yediot Ahronot, portions of which were published Thursday morning, Pompeo contradicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contention that the sale of the F-35 aircraft was not a core component of the August 2020 trilateral negotiations.

Netanyahu has tried to present the UAE deal as “peace for peace” to reject the paradigm in which Arab states only make peace or normalize with Israel if they receive land or some other benefit in return.

The prime minister has also de-emphasized his suspension of his plans to annex the West Bank on July 1, 2020, saying the option was still open to him – though the UAE has said its normalization deal took that completely off the table.

Previously, Israeli intelligence sources had told The Jerusalem Post that the F-35 deal was an important part of the UAE agreement and had pushed back against criticism by the Defense Ministry, saying they were in the loop. Further the sources had said selling cutting-edge technology to Middle Eastern countries like the UAE was no longer rare.
Kuwait TV Anchor: The Silent Majority Support Building Ties with Israel
Controversial Kuwaiti writer and TV host, Fajr Al-Saeed, has sparked outrage on social media after she appeared on an Israeli TV channel and expressed support for normalising ties with Israel.

A video of Al-Saeed's interview with KAN11 TV went viral yesterday, in it she claimed to be a representative of "the silent majority [in Kuwait] who is inclined to peace" adding that she is a "huge supporter of normalisation with Israel".

Al-Saeed remarked on Israeli Member of the Knesset Abbas Mansour who has recently agreed to form part of a government coalition in an effort to oust Israel's longest serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new government would be led by far right leader, Naftali Bennett. Al-Saeed said she does not recognise Abbas, because he is practically, intellectually and ideologically affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Abbas, 47, is the deputy chairman of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which in 1995 split from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement led by Sheikh Raed Salah in an effort to run in Israel's election the following year. He established the Ra'am party which is also known as the United Arab List.

Al-Saeed went on to criticise the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, claiming the Palestinians are being punished because of him and the movement's policies.

The controversial statements sparked uproar on social media with many users calling for her to be punished, especially as her views go against the country's official position on Israel.


Only 12 Democrats Condemn Ilhan Omar For Comparing U.S., Israel To Terrorists
House Democrats released a statement on Wednesday night condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-NY) for comparing the United States and Israel to an Islamic terrorist organization. Only 12 Democrats condemned Omar, which is less than 6% of the total number of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” Omar wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”

Reps. Brad Schneider (IL), Jake Auchincloss (MA), Ted Deutch (FL), Lois Frankel (FL), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Elaine Luria (VA), Kathy Manning (NC), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Dean Phillips (MN), Kim Schrier (WA), Brad Sherman (CA), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) slammed Omar in a statement.

“Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided,” they wrote. “Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.”

“The United States and Israel are imperfect, and like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalence give cover to terrorist groups,” they continued. “We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words placing the U.S. and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban.”


Israeli troops kill 2 PA intel officers, Islamic Jihad terrorist in Jenin
Two members of the Palestinian Authority’s military intelligence and one Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist were shot and killed by Israeli security forces on Wednesday night in Jenin, according to Palestinian reports.

The two military intelligence members, Adham Yasser Eleiwi and Tayseer Ayasa, were killed in a firefight with Israeli security forces after the Israeli troops entered the city to arrest terror suspects. Muhammad Samer Al-Bazour, another member of the PA intelligence services, was reportedly critically wounded in the firefight as well.

The Israeli forces reportedly entered Jenin to arrest Jamil al-Amouri and Wissam Abu Zaid, members of PIJ’s al-Quds Brigades. The two were reportedly detained, and al-Amouri reportedly died due to injuries sustained in the firefight.

Army Radio reported on Thursday morning that an Israeli undercover force entered the city in pursuit of two armed Palestinian terrorists. Fatah officers who saw the pursuit began firing at the Israeli forces and the Israeli forces returned fire, killing the three Palestinians.

The Israeli forces were seen leaving the city while towing what appeared to be a civilian car after the incident, according to Palestinian reports.

The PIJ issued a statement mourning the deaths of al-Amouri and the Palestinian military intelligence officers on Thursday morning. According to the statement, al-Amouri was part of al-Quds Brigades and was wanted by Israel after carrying out “many commando operations in the northern West Bank.”

“We salute the sons of the security services who stood side by side with the resistance fighters and confronted the aggression of the occupation, and this role is what the masses of our people are waiting for from the sons of the security services in confronting the occupation and fighting it,” Hamas said in response to the incident.


Sivuv Sha’arim: Hundreds of Jews March Around Jerusalem’s Old City Walls
The monthly walk around the walls and entrances to the gates of the Old City in Jerusalem, which takes place at the start of every Hebrew month on the Jewish calendar, was held as usual Wednesday night even though the annual Jerusalem Flag Dance march was – again – postponed this week by Israel Police.

Hundreds of Jews participated in the tour, encircling all the gates to the Old City – including the gates to the entrances of the Temple Mount, despite the postponement of the Jerusalem Flag Dance March, which takes a similar route.

The Jerusalem Flag Dance March was rescheduled after Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem last month, during the march, which takes place each year on Jerusalem Day. Under rocket fire, the marchers quickly dispersed and the event rescheduled for this Thursday.

However, the Gaza terrorist group again threatened attacks if the Flag Dance March – which celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day War – proceeded as scheduled.

The march has now been rescheduled again, this time for next Tuesday, July 15.

But Sivuv Sha’arim, the Rosh Chodesh walk around the Old City walls, went on as planned to mark the upcoming Hebrew month of Tamuz.
PA TV distorts Arab eye witness account in Israeli historical report, invents massacre of 150 Arabs
Arab eye witness, in Hebrew: This great tree –

(PA TV:) Hajj Mussa from Lod.
Arab eye witness: my entire family [was] there, 150 people.
(PA TV:) They slaughtered 150 Arabs under this tree.
Arab eye witness: Everyone fled.
(PA TV:) The rest fled.

Arab eye witness, in Hebrew: “This great tree – my entire family [was] there, 150 people. Everyone fled.”

PA TV’s mistranslation, in Arabic: “Hajj Mussa from Lod. They slaughtered 150 Arabs under this tree. The rest fled.”

The official PA TV program From the Israeli Archive is hosted by Nasser Al-Lahham, who is also the Editor in Chief of the independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an.

In this program, Al-Lahham discusses history based on Israeli footage and documentaries. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA TV host misinterprets - and at times even mistranslates ??- the original narration so it presents the Palestinian narrative and even an antisemitic perspective.

This episode of From the Israeli Archive dealt with part 3 of the Israeli documentary series T'Kuma from 1998. Part 3 analyzed Israel's War of Independence in 1948.




Polls Show Gazans Reject Hamas Rule
Credible public opinion polls conducted by the Palestine Center for Public Opinion over the past decade demonstrate that most Gazans have consistently opposed the Hamas policy of firing rockets or incendiary balloons at Israel, as well as the Hamas-sponsored protests at the border fence.

The majority of Gazans have typically supported a cease-fire and even open economic relations with Israel.

Half or more have also voiced the view that Hamas should drop its calls for the destruction of Israel.

Overall, the large majority of Gazans, according to the most recent polls, reject Hamas rule altogether.


Hezbollah’s German Presence Grows Despite Terrorist Designation
Despite Germany’s efforts to curtail Hezbollah-related activities, the terrorist organization’s presence continues to rise across the country.

German intelligence estimates that the number of Hezbollah operatives increased 20 percent last year, from 1,050 members and supporters to 1,250.

There are roughly 180 Hezbollah-affiliated individuals in the German state of Lower Saxony alone.

The intelligence report, reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, warns that Hezbollah’s mobilization “should not be underestimated in Germany” and that Hezbollah’s followers “maintain organizations and ideological cohesion, among other things, in local mosque associations, which are primarily financed by donations.”

German intelligence previously identified about 30 mosques and cultural associations intimately connected to Hezbollah, or that propagate the terrorist group’s Iranian-inspired, radical Shia ideology. The latest report asserts that Hezbollah “demands the application of the Islamic legal system of Shari’a” and directs its “propaganda against Western institutions” to advance its goals.

Hezbollah-affiliated associations in Germany are largely financed through membership fees and fundraising activities. They encompass a range of people, from sympathizers of the group’s aims, to active supporters and formal members. These local institutions also receive support from Hezbollah operatives who have come to Germany from Lebanon to participate in religious ceremonies or special commemorations.

The report’s findings follow Germany’s ban of three Hezbollah-affiliated organizations last month. Under the guise of pursuing religious and humanitarian aims, these groups allegedly collect donations for the families of fallen Hezbollah fighters. Knowing that their families will receive such “martyrs” aid can encourage future generations to join the organization and fight on its behalf.
Did Israel Cripple Iran's Natanz Underground Nuclear Enrichment Facility?
On April 11, Iran reported an "incident" at the Natanz nuclear facility that completely shut down its power supply. A televised statement by Alireza Zakani, the head of the Iranian Parliament's research center, revealed that an explosion had destroyed "thousands" of centrifuges. It appears that the Israeli intelligence service - possibly with the help of Iranian anti-government groups - had smuggled an explosive device into Natanz and detonated it remotely.



Iran then announced with great fanfare that it would now start enriching uranium up to 60%, but would not do so at Natanz, as originally intended. Anyone producing uranium enriched to 60% is definitely working on nuclear weapons - there is no other conclusion.

Israel has succeeded in crippling Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility for the unforeseeable future - with a single explosive device and without significant collateral damage. This is particularly important because the 2015 nuclear agreement stipulates that Natanz is Iran's sole facility for enriching uranium - Natanz "exclusively," as the text of the JCPOA puts it.

Now more than ever, the "Begin Doctrine" applies, according to which Israel will under no circumstances allow an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction that could be used against the Israeli population. Israeli elites have come to understand that they must fight the battle against Iran and its nuclear program without U.S. assistance.
Is the Biden Administration Helping Iran to Achieve Its Nuclear Dream?
The improvement in Iran's technical ability to develop nuclear weapons is the result of a number of steps Tehran has taken during the past year to increase its nuclear activity, all of which constitute clear violations of the terms Tehran agreed under the JCPOA.

Consequently, if the predictions are correct and Raisi emerges triumphant in the presidential elections [June 18], the prospects of the hardliners making any tangible concessions over the country's nuclear programme will be negligible.... [Raisi] made his name during as a prominent member of Iran's notorious Death Commissions, when opposition activists were either executed or sent to clear minefields during the Iran-Iraq war.

As a result, the only achievement of Mr Obama's deeply-flawed nuclear deal with Iran will have been to enable the ayatollahs to achieve their dream of acquiring nuclear weapons, with all the implications that will have for the future security of the globe.
Resigned to nuclear deal's revival, Gulf leaders willing to engage with foe Iran
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, resigned to the revival of a nuclear pact with Iran they always opposed, are engaging with Tehran to contain tensions while lobbying for future talks to take their security concerns into account.

World powers have been negotiating in Vienna with Iran and the United States to revive the 2015 deal, under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

The new US administration of President Joe Biden wants to restore the deal, which Washington abandoned under his predecessor, Donald Trump. But Washington's Gulf allies have always said the deal was inadequate because it ignored other issues, such as Iran's missile exports and support for regional proxy fighters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear on Monday that Washington's priority was to get the deal "back in the box" and then use it as a platform to address other questions.

But with Saudi Arabia embroiled in a costly war in Yemen and facing repeated missile and drone attacks on its oil infrastructure which it blames on Iran and its allies, the Gulf States say the wider issues must not be set aside.

"The Gulf countries have said 'fine the US can go back to [the nuclear deal], this is their decision we cannot change it, but...we need everybody to take into account regional security concerns'," Gulf Research Center's Abdulaziz Sager, who has been active in past unofficial Saudi-Iran dialogue, said this week.

Gulf officials worry that they lack the same clout with the Biden administration that they had under Trump. They lobbied to join the Vienna talks, but were rebuffed.


Turkey's Erdogan Whips Up Antisemitism
"Anywhere which was connected with these people or with these prophets who were all Muslims becomes a Muslim territory.... So any place like this [Israel] had to be freed.... had to be liberated. So, Islam appeared... from their point of view -- as a liberator. And therefore, there is no Islamic occupation.... So, there is no Islamic occupation. There is only Islamic liberation." — Moshe Sharon, Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, YouTube, September 10, 2015.

Such accusations are, of course, totally false, but imagine how many ignorant people worldwide they infect with violent Jew-hatred.

In reality, both Muslim Arabs and Ottomans violently invaded Jerusalem and remained occupiers there for centuries.

What actually needs to be condemned is Hamas's terrorism. It is Hamas that aims to destroy Israel, that commits war crimes, and that attempts genocide... as seen, for example, in Article 7 of the Hamas Charter. Moreover, it is Hamas that harms its own people and puts them in danger, and uses them as human shields: an additional war crime. Hamas has made no secret of advocating the use of civilians as human shields.

Erdogan's offer to change the administration of Jerusalem is an open assault on the sovereignty and security of Israel. The three religions are already present and enjoy religious liberty in Jerusalem, unlike the tiny, dying non-Muslim community in Turkey.... Erdogan also issued a threat -- his word -- to Jerusalem if he does not get his way....

A major reason for this Jew-hatred appears to be irresponsible leaders who repeat hateful propaganda while remaining completely blind to, or proud of, their own crimes.









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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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