Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Ruthie Blum: Washington Doublethink and the Iran Deal
The administration in Washington outdid itself in doublethink this week. Faced with the election of mass executioner Ebrahim Raisi to the Iranian presidency, top White House aides and media champions put such a spin on the situation that they ought to take home the gold in the George Orwell Olympics.Meet ‘The Butcher,’ Iran’s New President Ebrahim Raisi
To counter the problem presented by Raisi’s record as a sadist who commanded the torture and murder of masses of innocent Iranians, members of and apologists for Team Biden told The New York Times over the weekend that the “ascension of a hardline government” might actually constitute a window of opportunity to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
The logic behind the delusion is that Raisi, who announced on Saturday that neither Iran’s ballistic-missile program nor its support for regional militias would be up for negotiation, won’t be replacing incumbent Hassan Rouhani for six weeks, supposedly just enough time for all parties to the JCPOA to iron out any remaining differences and sign on the dotted line.
Furthermore, according to the Times, if a final deal is reached before Raisi takes the reins, “Iran’s moderates would be set up to take the blame for capitulating to the West and bear the brunt of popular anger inside Iran if sanctions relief does not rescue the nation’s stricken economy. But if the deal comes together, the new conservative government under Mr. Raisi can take the credit for an economic upswing, bolstering his case that it took a hardline, nationalist government to stand up to Washington and bring the country back.”
This is an astonishing view for three reasons.
Khamenei knows the fury of people in Iran and the region has been fueled in great part by the crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, which President Biden may soon undo—but also by the administration’s truth-telling about the brutality and corruption of regime officials. The highest humiliation for the world’s most anti-American regime, however, was the assassination of Khamenei’s favorite and most powerful loyalist, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Qassem Soleimani. Overwhelming financial pressure, scrutiny of human rights abuses and corruption, assassinations of top officials, relentless acts of espionage and sabotage (much enabled by the Israeli state’s moles at the highest ranks of the nuclear program and the IRGC), mounting dissent, and the regime’s own profound structural crises of mismanagement and incompetence have made the Islamic Republic more brittle and more vulnerable than ever.
But Biden’s Appeasement 2.0 policy has already given the regime a new lifeline, and with the selection of Raisi, Khamenei is puffing out his chest, showing that he knows that the United States has abdicated its own strong hand in favor of a losing one. The regime has studied—and sought to shape—the ideological underpinnings of the Obama/Biden outlook on the Middle East, a “realignment” toward accommodation of the regime at any cost. Emboldened by the recognition that Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Malley will stop at nothing to re-enter the nuclear deal, Khamenei feels unconstrained in choosing his potential successor and untroubled at making the American capitulation look even more desperate and devoid of morality.
The regime uses its nuclear program as a means to extort the United States so it can survive. But as much as the Obama/Biden playbook may want to keep the regime in power as a “counterbalance” in the region—a nonsensical phrase, since the “other side” being “balanced” in this formulation would be the United States and its regional allies—the regime itself knows it is in an irreparable legitimacy crisis, no matter how much the United States accommodates it. The regime knows it is structurally incapable of being accountable to the Iranian people. It knows that with its monstrous network of patronage and corruption, it is incapable of addressing the compounding existential crises that have galvanized the mostazefeen, the downtrodden in whose name the revolution was originally waged. It knows that any measure of freedom and openness it may grant to the Iranian people will only be used to press for wholesale regime change.
Khamenei is a student of the Soviet Union and the KGB. He knows how glasnost and perestroika backfired. His regime’s decay is undeniable, and the Iranian people’s determination to fight him will only grow. But he has decided the only recourse is further brutality, to which he hopes to make the United States a de facto partner.
Khamenei wants to put the United States in the debased position of not only lifting sanctions but lifting them on a president who has committed crimes against humanity. He wants to terrorize the people of Iran further and show them that they have nowhere to appeal to—and that the standard-bearers of freedom and human rights prefer to send pallets of cash to mass murderers than to support the legitimate and peaceful aspirations of ordinary Iranians. By doing so, he intends to fortify the culture of impunity he has created for his yes-men and himself. He wants to make the Iranian people lose their deep and abiding faith in the United States and give up on their dream of becoming a democracy. President Biden would be profoundly wrong to give Khamenei what he wants.
PMW: PA and Abbas spit Biden and Blinken in the eyes – vow to continue rewarding terrorists with generous salaries
As US President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken are doing all they can to renew US funding to the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are simply spitting Biden and Blinken in the eyes. One of the major obstacles impeding US aid to the Palestinians is the PA’s terror rewarding “Pay-for-Slay” policy. While the PA seems to be trying to convince the Biden administration that it has reformed, or even abandoned its pugnacious terror reward program, at home, in Arabic, PA TV is clarifying the message of Abbas to the Palestinian people: “Pay-for-Slay” will continue!
Since the beginning of June, PA TV has repeatedly - no less than 18 times! - broadcast Abbas’ speech in which he promises that even if the PA is left with only “one penny” in its coffers, he will pay that penny to the families of the dead terrorists, the terrorist prisoners, and the wounded terrorists.
Introducing the speech, the PA narrator presents Abbas as the one who “preserves the right of the Martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners”:
PA TV Narrator: “Despite the blackmail, he defends the right of the Martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners.”
Abbas: “A blessing is sent to our loyal Martyrs, our prisoners, and their families who are standing firm and bearing their suffering with patience. We say to them, to the families of the Martyrs, that we will defend their rights regardless of the price we’ll have to pay. I won’t submit to what Israel has requested. I won’t submit. Even if I’m left with one penny, I’ll pay it to the families of the Martyrs, to the prisoners, and to the wounded, and I won’t withhold this from them.”
[Official PA TV, June 4 (twice), 5 (twice), 6 (four times), 9 (twice), 11 (twice), 12, 15, 16 (twice), 18, 19, 2021]
Amb. Dore Gold: The Gaza War 2021: An Overview
What motivated Hamas to attack Israel for the fourth time since 2008 after Israel had withdrawn from the entire Gaza Strip?Report: 48% of Gaza fatalities were terrorists
The Hamas war against Israel has ideological roots. The 1988 Hamas Covenant stated that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it.” The Covenant adds, “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.”
Hamas claims the war was caused by Israeli actions in Jerusalem, including plans to evict Palestinians in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. But in truth, this was a legal dispute that had been under consideration by Israeli courts for many years. A deed from 1876 gave legal title to two Jewish organizations that purchased the property. Palestinian Arabs moved into the area after 1948 when it was conquered by the Arab Legion and the Jews residing there were evicted. Thus, this was not a dispute between indigenous Arab residents and new Israeli “settlers.”
Since the early 20th century, the Palestinian leadership in Jerusalem has sought to use the so-called threat to the Muslim religious shrines on the Temple Mount as an instrument to rally public opinion, and Hamas did so once again in 2021 when Israel sought to end rioting and stone throwing from inside the barricaded al-Aqsa Mosque.
In this latest conflict, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, affiliated with the Israeli Defense Ministry, examined the names of those killed on the Palestinian side and found that two-thirds were terrorist operatives. Hamas spokesmen had claimed that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians killed were civilians.
Iran played a key role in support of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket fire at Israel from Gaza. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, declared that Iran was the “largest backer, financially, and militarily” of Hamas, while Ramez al-Halabi, a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, explained that “every weapon” his organization uses was purchased with Iranian funding.
A least 48% of the fatalities in Gaza during Operation Guardian of the Walls have been identified as members of terrorist organizations, according to a report by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.Israeli researchers measure continuous traumatic stress from rockets
According to the report, which was first obtained by the Jerusalem Post, 112 out of the 234 people who have been confirmed to have been killed during the 11-day conflict last month were members of terrorist organizations. 63 were members of the Hamas terrorist organization, 25 were members of militant parts of the Fatah factions, and 20 were members of Islamic Jihad. The remainder were members of smaller terrorist groups.
Another 11 young men could have been members of terrorist organizations according to the report, but no definitive information could be obtained.
The report identified 52 children, 38 women, and five elderly people who were killed in the fighting, noting that many of these civilians were family members of terrorists who were killed in air strikes. The report noted that many civilian casualties resulted from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad tactic of embedding their fighters among civilians.
In one airstrike, a high number of civilians died when the IDF underestimated the extent to which the Hamas tunnel network had weakened the surrounding structures and so a larger than intended area of tunnels under civilian buildings collapsed.
The report found that 21 civilians were killed by rockets fired by terrorist organizations in Gaza which misfired or fell short and landed in Gaza instead of Israel.
Israeli scientists have created a new and unique methodology to measure the impact that rocket attacks had on traumatic stress. Published in the open-access online academic journal PLOS ONE, the study by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev worked to identify three very distinct factors: exhaustion/detachment, rage/betrayal and fear/helplessness.Tempers flare at controversial 'apartheid' conference in Knesset
The study examined 313 adults who either were or were not exposed to ongoing security threats from the period of December 2016 to February 2017. The exposed participants lived in communities along the Gaza border area in southern Israel, a location where rocket attacks from Gaza are frequent and where there is often a window of only 30 seconds to reach a shelter.
“Exposure to ongoing life risk exists wherever people experience continuous terror, rampant crime and civil war,” lead researcher Dr. Aviva Goral, a graduate of the BGU School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, and a researcher at the PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research (PREPARED), said in a statement.
“Current scales assess the more commonly known effects of exposure to traumatic stress, mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This limits patient assessment and may lead to misdiagnoses and ineffective treatment. The research was conducted to address this gap by developing a validated, comprehensive assessment tool, the Continuous Traumatic Stress Response (CTSR) Scale.”
A controversial conference in the Knesset on Tuesday with the title "After 54 years: Between occupation and apartheid" has caused a firestorm.20 Palestinians, 1 Israeli wounded in fresh clashes at East Jerusalem flashpoint
A heated exchange took place during the conference between MKs Aida Touma-Suleiman and Ofer Cassif from the Joint Arab List and Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir. At one point, Cassif compared Ben Gvir, who is considered by many as one of the most right-wing MKs in the current Knesset, to animal feces and said he was a fascist. Ben-Gvir shot back, saying, "all of you are terrorists," referring to the Joint Arab List's anti-Zionist agenda.
The Joint Arab List is not formally part of the "change coalition" that unseated former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early June, although it has provided it with de facto support.
Members of that coalition, which comprises left-wing parties and some on the Right who refuse to support Netanyahu, had asked Speaker Mickey Levy to prevent the conference from taking place, saying they were "horrified by the misuse of the parliament as a venue for an event that casts Israel as an apartheid state," adding that "while this house cherishes freedom of speech, we cannot remain silent when the Knesset is cynically exploited as a platform to undermine the very existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state through slander."
Despite Meretz being part of the coalition, an MK from the faction – Mossi Raz – was one of the organizers of the event.
Palestinian protesters and Jewish residents clashed late Monday in a volatile East Jerusalem neighborhood before police moved in to disperse the Palestinians, wounding at least 20.6 Arabs Arrested for Multi-Million Sheikh Jarrah Real Estate Forgery Scam
Jewish residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood said protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Jewish homes, lightly wounding a pregnant woman who was hit in the back with a stone.
The neighborhood has been the scene of frequent clashes in recent weeks over the impending eviction of Palestinian families. The violence has also spilled over into wider conflict in Jerusalem and beyond. The Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip used the clashes as a pretext to fire rockets at Jerusalem in May, sparking an 11-day conflict with Israel.
After the protesters attacked a Jewish home, residents responded with rocks and pepper spray and a brawl broke out.
Police then used riot dispersal munitions, including batons, tear gas, “skunk” water cannons and sponge-tipped bullets, to disperse the protesters.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 20 Palestinians were treated, including three for pepper spray, 13 for tear gas inhalation, two who were hit by sponge-tipped bullets, and two with wounds caused by batons.
The rescue service also accused Jewish residents of stoning an ambulance.
The Israel Police said Tuesday morning that four Palestinians were arrested, one for shooting fireworks at police forces and Jewish homes and the rest for “causing unrest.”
Israeli police arrested six Arabs early Tuesday morning suspected of a multi-million shekel real estate scam in eastern Jerusalem, an affair sure to send shockwaves throughout the system.Top Indonesian Diplomat Says Country Not Considering Relations With israel
The police stated that following an undercover investigation by the Jerusalem District Police Central Unit and other groups, they were successful in exposing a plot by the suspects to illegally steal land in eastern Jerusalem.
Police units raided the suspects’ homes in Jerusalem and in the Arab town of Taibeh in the center of the country, arrested the suspects and searched for additional documents suspected of being forged by them.
The suspects, which included lawyers and prominent businessmen, used a sophisticated scheme of forged documents and fraudulent activities to seize state-owned land in eastern Jerusalem. Some of the suspects are believed to have earned tens of millions of shekels in these fraudulent land deals.
The suspects were taken in for questioning on suspicion of committing fraud under aggravated circumstances, forgery under aggravated circumstances, hiding of income, submission of false documents to the tax authorities and money laundering offenses.
TPS has learned that one of the suspects is the wealthy businessman Ibrahim Julani, who had previously forged documents and was sentenced to court-ordered community service for the forgery offenses. Sources in eastern Jerusalem told TPS that Julani purchased land in the Shimon Hatzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood in the past using inside information from the Israel Lands Administration for his scams. One of the officials in the administration was removed from office on suspicion of collaborating with him and exploiting inside information.
In one of the plots, Julani built 52 housing units, each worth $700,000. He has building permits for another 52 apartments.
Following the Israeli ambassador to Singapore’s remark that Israel is interested in establishing ties with Muslim nations in Southeast Asia, a top Indonesian diplomat stated that his country will not consider doing so until the Palestinian issue is settled.Biden Gives al Qaeda List of Buildings to Not Blow Up (satire)
Abdul Kadir Jailani, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s Director General of Asia Pacific and Africa, said that peace is “Indonesia’s main focus at this time, and we hope for the revival of the peace process,” Turkish media outlet Anadolou Agency reported.
He did express some optimism that relations would be possible once an Israeli-Palestinian agreement is reached, but pledged that Indonesia would continue to support the Palestinians in international forums.
However, Jailani said that he expects the peace process to be stymied due to the views of newly-installed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
“As we know, the political direction of the new Israeli government is quite tough, especially regarding the idea of a two-state solution and the construction of illegal settlements,” Jailani said.
The comments came after Israeli ambassador to Singapore Sagi Karni indicated that Israel would be open to a rapprochement with Southeast Asia’s three Muslim-majority states — Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
“We are willing to talk, we are willing to meet, and the door is open as far as we are concerned. I don’t think it’s so difficult to find us,” Karni said on Thursday.
Following a successful meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he presented a list of critical infrastructure off limits to cyberattacks, US President Joe Biden announced that he has sent the terror group al Qaeda a list of 16 critical buildings to not fly a plane into.The Long History, and High Costs, of Palestinian Intifadas
Biden sent the list by fax, stating that al Qaeda would be in “a whole world of hurting” if any of its adherents fly planes into any of the sites on the list.
“If you chicken-hearted mollycoddle terrorists decide to launch another devastating attack against America, you’d best stay as far away as possible from the buildings I name below,” Biden wrote. “If you think you can mess with me, I’ll meet you for a push-up contest anytime, anyplace.”
Critics of the president were stunned, noting that the list could give al Qaeda a blueprint of the most critical and vulnerable locations in the country. Those concerns were alleviated, however, when the list was found to comprise 16 Häagen-Dazs locations across Delaware.
The first “intifada” did not begin in 1987, as commonly supposed. Rather, it began half a century earlier.D.C.-Based Palestinian Academic Mohamed Rabie: The Jews, 'Mostly The Zionists,' Control U.S. Media, Bribe Politicians, Make Americans Ignorant; The West Committed Massacres Because It Has No Conscience
At the time, Palestinian Arab politics was dominated by Amin al-Husseini, who had been appointed by the ruling British as the grand mufti of Jerusalem. Husseini had incited anti-Jewish violence in 1920, 1921, and 1929. But by the 1930s he came under increasing criticism from firebrands such as Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, who argued that he was not being militant enough in combating Zionism.
When Qassam and some supporters murdered a British policeman and were subsequently killed in November 1935, his well-attended funeral sparked what has commonly been called the “Arab Revolt,” but which, in truth, was the first intifada. Husseini hoped to capitalize on the growing violence. Armed and equipped by the authoritarian anti-Semitic powers of the day — fascist Italy and Nazi Germany — Husseini’s forces murdered Jews and British officials. Husseini also used the occasion to assassinate and eliminate members of the Nashashibi clan, his chief rivals for power.
By the time the intifada was crushed in 1939, Husseini had been banished from British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. Many of his followers and supporters had been killed by the British, but he himself was now the undisputed master of Palestinian Arab politics. Despite his World War II-era collaboration with the Nazis, Husseini remained the dominant force among Palestinians for at least another decade, only declining in influence when his forces failed to destroy the fledgling Jewish state in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
Fifty years later, in December 1987, anti-Jewish violence again erupted, perpetrated by young Palestinians, many of whom were critical of the old guard of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. Younger Fatah members felt that Arafat and other Fatah founders were old, out of touch, and corrupt. Like Husseini before him, Arafat tried to capitalize on the fire that others had lit, attempting to use the intifada to regain relevance. Arafat would manage to maintain his dominance thanks in no small part to the U.S.-backed Oslo Accords, which allowed him to lead the newly created Palestinian Authority. But he would spend the next two decades alternately battling and cooperating with younger rivals and groups such as Hamas.
The violence from 2000 to 2005, commonly known as the Second Intifada, began with Arafat’s blessing. But it would end in his death and leave behind a Fatah whose ranks were depleted, with top members killed or jailed. As the 2006 elections illustrated, Arafat’s successor, Abbas, would inherit a movement that was poorly positioned to counter Hamas.
Yet recent events prove that Abbas is incapable of learning the salient lesson of this long history: For Palestinian leaders who choose to promote them, intifadas are more than costly — they’re often suicidal.
U.S.-Based Palestinian professor Mohamed Rabie said that the Jews, mostly the Zionists, control American media and bribe politicians on both sides. He made these remarks in an interview that aired on Sada Al-Balad TV (Egypt) on May 27, 2021. Professor Rabie said this why "they take all that money from Congress, and they turned the American people ignorant." He explained that American people are ignorant and uneducated and added that only 100-150 universities produce "good graduates." Professor Rabie gave an example from a time when he taught at a "university for Blacks," and claimed that his students could not follow the course work and he had to help them with mathematics instead of teaching economics. He added that Americans are racist, and that this is why the West committed massacres around the world. According to his social media accounts, Professor Rabie is a member of the advisory board for the Cambridge Centre for Palestinian Studies and has taught at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, St. Gallen University in Switzerland, and Erfurt University in Germany.
"The Jews — Mostly The Zionists — Have Taken Control Of The Media [And] Over Decision-Making By Using Their Money... They Have Turned The American People Ignorant"
Mohamed Rabie: "The Jews — mostly the Zionists — have taken control of the media. Simultaneously, they have taken over the decision-making, by using their money. We [Arabs] do not know how to use our money. When there are elections, they donate to candidates from both parties. They buy in advance both the candidate who makes it to Congress and the one who doesn't. This is why they take all that money from Congress, and they turned the American people ignorant.
"The Americans Are An Ignorant People... There Is Total Racism In That Nation"
"The Americans are an ignorant people. They are uneducated. There are about three times as many university graduates among the Palestinians compared to Americans. People don't know this. Furthermore, there are about 100 or 150 universities in the entire U.S. that produce good graduates. While the other universities...
"I taught at a university for Blacks. The students were unable to listen for the full duration of the course. They simply could not. I offered to help these kids with everything. I had to help them with mathematics instead of teaching them economics, because they did not know anything. These are college graduates. What kind of work can they do? This is the American people.
Another Hadid sister spreading misinformation falsely claiming Israel killed a Palestinian https://t.co/48EQKtehqs pic.twitter.com/j9YxddEY2s
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) June 22, 2021
Abbas rivals targeted in ‘unprecedented’ PA crackdown
Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested 49 Palestinians on suspicion of being affiliated with ousted Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, a spokesperson for the Dahlan-led Democratic Reform Current told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. Another 150 Palestinians have been briefly detained or summoned for interrogation by PA security forces for the same reason, the spokesperson, Dimitri Diliani, told the Post. The PA crackdown on Dahlan supporters in the West Bank began during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Ramallah on May 25, Diliani revealed. Diliani, a resident of east Jerusalem, is regarded as one of the most vocal and prominent opposition figures in the West Bank. A former member of the Fatah “Revolutionary Council,” he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hamilton Software Co. and the Palestinian Company for Hospitality Services. The unprecedented clampdown has mostly targeted activists and candidates associated with the Dahlan-affiliated Al-Mustaqbal list for the parliamentary election, that was supposed to take place on May 22. The list has several thousand members in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Most of them are disgruntled Fatah activists and former PA security officers.
As it's #TelAvivPride we thought we'd share an insane interview we did with 'Queers for BDS' in 2018.
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) June 22, 2021
Unsurprisingly they were left absolutely speechless ???????
Catch the full video on our Youtube. pic.twitter.com/HfC0gTsInt
Our video for #GazaPride & #TelAvivPride for #PrideMonth #pride #Pride2021 pic.twitter.com/hXnKlIQlLo
— Milk Media (@milkmedianewyor) June 22, 2021
Hamas Leader in Gaza Demands Immediate Transfer of Qatari Cash
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar raised demands for the immediate transfer of Qatari cash to the Gaza Strip, threatening an escalation if that failed to happen, Kan news reported on Monday evening.Israel's Foreign Affairs Min.: Top 5 Things Hamas Wants
Sinwar reportedly made the comments during a meeting on Monday with the UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland in the Gaza Strip. He called for the transfer of $30 million per month. Otherwise, Hamas would escalate the security situation through violent disturbances on the border and the launching of more arson balloons into southern Israel.
During the meeting, Sinwar stated that “there are no signs of a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the occupation is trying to extort us,” according to the report. He added that he would re-evaluate Gaza’s armed factions to decide the next steps.
An Israeli delegation is due to visit Egypt in the coming days to discuss ways of transferring money from Qatar.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said last month that the past arrangement that took shape in Gaza will not continue.
#Hamas terrorists dream of forming an Islamic Caliphate in our region.
They serve their Iranian masters, and are destroying the future of #Gaza 's Palestinians.
Lebanese Palestinians are the real victims of apartheid
Lebanese Palestinians cannot own a business or work in a number of well-paying professions. This is the law despite the fact that Lebanon grants work permits to non-Lebanese individuals from a variety of countries. Palestinians cannot own real estate in Lebanon. They cannot participate in the country's social security pension system even if they pay into the pension fund. They cannot participate in the country's national health insurance system. They must live in the UNRWA refugee camps unless they receive a travel permit. Finally, Lebanon's Palestinian children are limited in their rights to an education.Hezbollah is Facing Unprecedented Domestic Challenges: Now is the Time to Act Against its International Enterprises
These limitations, all violations of the UN Convention on Apartheid, have been in force for over 70 years – and not just in Lebanon, but also in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries. Yet progressive lawmakers or anti-apartheid campus groups are silent on these policies. Had the parents of Rep. Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, immigrated to Lebanon instead of the US, her family would be stateless – meaning that a non-Arab state grants her family citizenship while an Arab country refuses to do so.
Israel found itself with 220,000 additional residents following the War of Independence: Palestinians who chose not to flee. Among Israel's first acts as a new sovereign nation were laws making these Palestinians citizens of Israel, Arabic an official language and Sharia courts recognized for civil purposes (parallel to rabbinical courts for Jews). Land titles were recognized, as well as Palestinians' right to acquire real estate in general.
Arabs and Muslims vote in Israeli elections, sit in the Knesset, sit on courts (including the Supreme Court) and serve in the executive branch. They attend Israeli universities, work in white-collar professions, hold executive positions in Israeli companies, hold positions and appear in Israeli television and the press in general, and work as actors in Israeli entertainment productions. In the current political situation, the Israeli-Arab political party Ra'am held the balance of power between the right- and left-wing camps that formed a new governing coalition. Nevertheless, Israel's critics accuse the country of apartheid while remaining silent about the real apartheid occurring in Arab countries.
Why have the Palestinians suddenly taken center stage? When all else fails, Christian and Muslim leaders blame the Jews. Today the Christian left has found common ground with the Christian right in attacking Jews, each from a different angle. Neither camp within the Christian community seems to have a unifying message for their followers, so Jews become the focus of their attention. The good fortune of the Palestinians is that their fight is with the Jews. We should have pity for the Kurds and Yazidis, whose fight is with other Arabs and Muslims.
Therefore, it is important to step up international efforts to combat the group’s illicit activities around the world. This is the opportune time to go after the group while it is facing widespread unpopularity inside Lebanon. Acting against the group’s illicit activities will also send a message to the Lebanese that Hezbollah cannot take part in any political discourse and cannot participate in the political system. Without an extensive international campaign against the group’s activities, it cannot be significantly weakened — even though it is facing unprecedented unpopularity inside Lebanon.
Due to the complex and sophisticated structure of Hezbollah’s networks — which are designed to protect the organization’s assets even in the event that one of them is exposed — it is imperative to approach the matter in a calculated and unified way to undermine the group’s international infrastructure. The following steps are recommended and encouraged:
1. Enlarging the scope of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group (LECG) that is led by the US State Department, so that it will have a mandate to deal with all illicit Hezbollah activity outside of Lebanon.
2. Building an effective intelligence sharing mechanism under the task force regarding Hezbollah’s activities outside of Lebanon that are connected to the modus operandi of the organization.
3. Building dedicated operational teams under the task force to disrupt the ways in which funds are transferred to the organization in Lebanon, based on intelligence gathered.
4. Monitoring incitement and hate speeches by Hezbollah-affiliated clerics in religious centers around the world that provides a fertile ground for Hezbollah recruitment.
A combination of these steps could significantly weaken Hezbollah — which is at least politically and economically in one of the worst periods since its inception — and improve conditions for political change in Lebanon. It is evident that Hezbollah’s strength in Lebanon is largely dependent on the support it receives from Shiite centers globally. Therefore, only a “pincer movement” will be able to substantially weaken the organization and bring about long-awaited change to Lebanon.
Hizbullah Brigades in Iraq Spokesman Muhammad Mohi: Any Danger to Jerusalem Means Regional War; We Will Give the Zionists a Taste of Humiliation and Defeat Like We Did to Their ‘American Masters’ #Iraq #Israel #terrorists pic.twitter.com/NNHLux2ApN
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 22, 2021
Iranian President-Elect Rejects Biden Meeting and Refuses Negotiations
Iran’s newly elected hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, said in his first press conference on Monday that he will not allow negotiations to take place on the country’s contested missile program, which includes long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. He also said that he will not agree to any future meetings with President Joe Biden.Saudi Arabia presses IAEA over inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites
Raisi, a former chief justice who authorized the murder of thousands of dissidents, also said Iran will not agree to any new nuclear agreement without the Biden administration first unilaterally lifting all economic sanctions on the country. The country also announced during the weekend that it is likely to abandon negotiations with the United States in the near future.
Raisi’s comments, his first since winning an election Friday that was widely seen as rigged, are a sign the president intends to take a more hardline approach to diplomacy with America. The Biden administration is engaged in talks with the Islamic Republic in Vienna and had hoped a new deal would be finalized before the election. Raisi's rise to power is likely to complicate these efforts, particularly in light of his decision to take the ballistic missile portfolio off the table.
"We urge the U.S. Government to live up to its commitment to this agreement. Regional and missile issues are not negotiable," he said in comments carried by the country’s state-controlled press. "An issue has been negotiated and agreed upon, and a contract has been concluded, and they have committed to it but have not acted on it. Now, how do they want to negotiate new topics?"
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud urged the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday to institute a “rapid and comprehensive inspection of all Iranian nuclear sites.”
The Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted in English and Arabic that Al Saud met with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, in Vienna on Monday. In Arabic, the ministry added that the pair discussed the need “to stop Iranian violations and policies of international laws and norms that undermine the security and stability of the region and the world.”
Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Austria and to the UN offices in Vienna, also took part in the meeting.
The IAEA hasn’t been able to access its surveillance cameras at Iranian nuclear sites since late February, or data from its online enrichment monitors and electronic seals, hobbling the UN nuclear watchdog’s monitoring abilities. Iran also restarted enrichment at a hardened underground facility and is building more centrifuge halls underground, after two attacks suspected to have been carried out by Israel.
If Iran’s nuclear program remains unchecked, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned, it could shrink Tehran’s “breakout” time down to “a matter of weeks.” That has worried nonproliferation experts.
Netanyahu’s statement against the new Israeli government’s Iran policy — in English. pic.twitter.com/NgCbiWIHZs
— Mike (@Doranimated) June 21, 2021
Bashing Israel and keeping silent on Iran’s Raisi's history of torture.
Mahmoud Royaee told the Sun about his own torture at the hands of Raisi. Royaee spent ten years in prison where he was tortured after being offered the chance to make a televised confession, but he refused. Mahmoud was thus found guilty of being "at war with God" and was told that he "deserved to be killed". "Raisi beat prisoners with an electric cable," Royaee said. “The first time I was beaten on the soles of my feet I tried to count but the pain made it impossible. He was also one of the few judges who signed a religious sentence for someone who was thrown off a cliff ”.CNN Op-ed Equates ‘Butcher of Tehran’ with Israel’s Prime Minister
What these people are capable of is unfortunately known history. So is the hypocrisy of the West.
Where are legions of indignados who for a year have accused the West, Trump and Israel of being unjust, evil and racist, and spent their free time knocking down statues and destroying names? Where are the people filling the squares who protested against the US?
Where are the rainbow marchers? Where is the UN, which was ready to send inspectors to Italy to investigate our “notorious racism”?
Ah, the UN. It has just elected Raisi's regime to the Women's Rights Commission. Did we understand, yes?
CNN recently drew a bizarre parallel between Israel’s new prime minister and the president-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose rulers are dedicated to detroying the Jewish state. In a June 20 opinion piece, titled Iran elected a hard-liner. Let’s see what he does now, David A. Andelman writes:Germany's Largest Right-Wing Extremist Group is Turkish, not German
A new government in Israel now presents its own set of challenges, with two determinedly hard-liners astride most issues dividing Iran and Israel.”
By juxtaposing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, this piece draws a false moral equivalence between one of the world’s most repressive regimes and the Middle East’s only democracy.
To be clear: Ebrahim Raisi was elected president of Iran in a rigged process that disqualified centrist candidates before the vote even took place. On June 21, US State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated Washington’s official view that the election was neither free nor fair.
Raisi’s election puts extremists firmly in control of all the levers of power in Tehran as negotiations in Vienna continue with a view to reviving a deal meant to limit Iran’s nuclear program; this, at a time when the Islamic Republic is enriching uranium at its highest levels of purity ever.
Unsurprisingly, among those praising Raisi was Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group based in Lebanon: “Your victory has renewed the hopes of the Iranian people and the people of the region who see you as a shield and a strong supporter… for the resistance against aggressors,” he said.
By contrast, it was the world’s democratically elected leaders who were quick to congratulate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on forming a new government on June 14. The United States led the way, with phone calls from President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Additionally, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco reached out to the new Israeli government, indicating that the normalization deals forged under former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and mediated by the Trump administration would remain in effect. Raisi the ‘Ultraconservative’ Vs. Bennett the ‘Ultranationalist’
CNN is not alone in obfuscating the stark contrasts between the new leaders of Israel and Iran. News organizations have even resorted to using similar modifiers to describe Bennett (see here, here, and here) and Raisi (See here, here, and here)
According to an HonestReporting study conducted between June 15 and June 21, the term ‘ultraconservative’ was the adjective of choice when describing Iran’s new ruler. That sounds very much like the ‘ultranationalist’ term that Israel’s premier is regularly labeled by the media.
The German Parliament and other federal agencies estimate that the true number Grey Wolves in Germany is above 18,000. This is five times more than the number of members (3,500) of Germany's neo-Nazi party.
The ideology underpinning the Grey Wolves movement is a Turkish version of Aryanism and sets itself in opposition to anyone who is not Turkish or Sunni Islamic. It is anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, as well as anti-American, anti-Armenian, anti-Kurdish and anti-Greek.
The objective of the Grey Wolves is to unify all the Turkish peoples into a single country called Turan whose territory would stretch from Europe to China. The Grey Wolves also want to establish a new world order based on Islam that is led by Turkey; they are opposed to the assimilation or integration of Turkish immigrants into Western society.
"Supporters of the 'Grey Wolves' are responsible for a large number of murders of political opponents and members of minorities in Turkey and abroad." — Die Linke, Parliamentary Resolution, November 2020.
"So, the CDU is in reality working with the right-wing extremist Grey Wolves, although it preaches that right-wing extremism is the greatest danger in Germany." — Zara Riffler, Tichys Einblick.
"Erdogan despises the West and Western values. He says this openly at every opportunity.... One is not working here on integration, not even on a parallel society, but quite obviously on a counter-society.... Why can Merkel — and Germany — criticize Trump and the USA, but not publicly and unequivocally put Erdogan in his place?" — CDU politician Ali Ertan Toprak, Tichys Einblick.
