Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Amb. Nikki R. Haley and Richard Goldberg: A Better Blueprint for International Organizations
The United States must call out China’s attempts to co-opt the United Nations and its agencies. We should rally other countries to oppose China’s influence. As ambassador, I lost track of how many countries expressed their fear of China’s bullying. They are counting on us to have their backs – and to push back, hard.Amb. Dore Gold: Prime Minister Bennett Should Nail Down Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights with President Biden
The WHO’s struggles illustrate another sad reality: Many UN agencies are broken. The United States should try to fix them where possible. Yet we cannot fall into the trap of mistaking process for progress. Some parts of the United Nations just cannot be salvaged. Sometimes we are better off leaving them behind.
An obvious example is the UN Human Rights Council, which is a cesspool of human rights violators – from Cuba to China to Venezuela to Russia. I pressed our allies and partners to demand reforms, but they were content with the status quo. So I led the effort to withdraw the United States from the council. We care too much about human rights and individual freedom to be part of a group that undermines both. Our principles are too important to get lost in the endless and pointless process that UN bureaucrats prefer.
We also withdrew from the Human Rights Council because the United States stands with our friends. The council spent the vast majority of its time condemning Israel – a free and democratic country. It has a standing agenda item devoted to Israel. It has passed 10 times as many resolutions condemning Israel as it has for China, North Korea, Iran, and Cuba combined. Friends do not sit still while their friends get attacked, so we walked away. We stopped funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for similar reasons. That agency does more to foster hatred toward Israel than it does to support actual Palestinian refugees. So much of the United Nations has an insane fixation on Israel. In fact, when it comes to Israel, there is no clearer sign of the United Nations’ profound shortcomings.
It was my privilege to tackle those shortcomings as ambassador. We made headway in many areas. But I have no illusions that we can solve all the United Nations’ problems. We should make progress where we can, walk away when we cannot, and hold the line when we must.
Israel captured the Golan Heights in 1967 as a result of the Six-Day War. According to UN Security Council Resolution 242, Israel was expected to withdraw from territories – but not all the territories – so that at the end of the day it would be left with “secure and recognized boundaries.” The most important U.S. statement on policy with respect to the Golan Heights was contained in the 1975 letter from President Gerald Ford to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin which stated that “the U.S. has not developed a final position on the borders. Should it do so, it will give great weight to Israel’s position that any peace agreement with Syria must be predicated on Israel remaining on the Golan Heights.”“Palestinians” Don’t Exist – but when they do, it’s to annihilate Israel.
What made the Ford letter so significant was that it provided the basis for the formulation of U.S. policy by subsequent administrations. Thus, right before the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, Secretary of State James Baker wrote a letter to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, stating: “You expressed a special concern about the Golan Heights. In this context, the United States continues to stand behind the assurance given by President Ford to Prime Minister Rabin on September 1, 1975.” A second American letter reconfirming the Ford letter was written in 1996 by Secretary of State Warren Christopher to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well. American assurances on the Golan Heights were bipartisan and in many respects set the stage for finally recognizing Israeli sovereignty on March 25, 2019.
The new U.S. approach to the Golan Heights was not formally locked in by means of a bilateral treaty. Thus, theoretically, the Biden administration would be within its legal right to modify this policy. These kinds of changes unfortunately happen. For example, Israel received a letter from President George W. Bush in 2004 recognizing Israel’s right to “defensible borders.” The letter was even backed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Nonetheless, the Obama administration disavowed the Bush letter. President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have not renounced Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, but they haven’t accepted it either.
Clearly, further diplomacy is required between Jerusalem and Washington. Perhaps the issue can be settled before the first summit meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Bennett. Remember, Iran is seeking to encircle Israel with its Shiite militias, in Lebanon, in new bases within Syria, and eventually in Jordan. If U.S. policy over the Golan Heights is interpreted as changing, that might even invite a conflict that neither the U.S. nor Israel is seeking.
First and foremost, Jews and Israelis must stop caring about world opinions. The fact that Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East, where people of every religion and creed thrive, is inconsequential to a world who views us as “occupiers”. We appear to be so for two simple reasons; The refusal of some to apply sovereignty and to destroy the “Palestinian” myth. That is the core of the issue.
Jews have absolute legal rights to rebuild and settle in Israel, according to the 1922 Mandate for Palestine: “Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country”. According to attorney Howard Grief, international law advisor and legal expert on Jewish rights to Israel, “the UN did not have the legal authority to partition the country in favour of the Arabs of Palestine who were not the national beneficiary of the Mandate entitled to self-determination”.
Furthermore, “Article 80 of the UN Charter [the Jewish People’s clause] preserves intact all the rights granted to Jews under the Mandate for Palestine… The UN is still committed by Article 80 to uphold [the Mandate and] not alter it”. Jewish settlement is fully protected by Article 80, and the UN has no power to give Jewish territory to any entity to create a state. Those who claim “annexation” may be a hurdle do not realise that one cannot annex one’s own land. We have full rights to sovereignty and must apply it, with many options to do so.
I posit, however, that it is not enough. There still remains the giant, KGB circus elephant in the room, the “Palestinian” hoax. Should we continue to use the false designation, the lie will perpetuate; We will still be viewed as the “occupiers” and any means used against us, no matter how violent, will be pronounced appropriate. The argument I often hear from Jews and Israelis is that “Palestinians” have a right to call themselves by that title because they “identify” as such.
By this logic, I, a non-indigenous American, can “identify” myself as a Native American and demand the tiny reservation they own. If they don’t hock it over, I can create the Native American Liberation Front and then barrage them with missiles while the UN backs my cause.
There is no imaginable reason to allow the appropriation of our historical title to continue. Such a belligerent level of cultural theft has not existed since the Germans fancied themselves “Aryans”, yet the Allied forces were not calling the Nazis by their chosen identity so as to avoid hurt feelings.
Each time we use the term “Palestinian”, we assist in legitimising the false narrative, and then battle the ensuing propaganda and terrorism that are a consequence of the hoax. It’s the story of Frankenstein’s monster. Give the monster life, then fight it off, in a continual cycle. Many Jews hold the same view of the situation, but we have yet to take action. It’s time to stop the Nazi protégé, made in the USSR, Iran-funded terror group once and for all. Negotiations with terrorists and land-for-peace must end, their leadership must be dissolved, and Jews and our allies must immediately rename “Palestinians” to “Arab migrants to Israel”, or any suitable, accurate title, and only address them as such from henceforth.
To achieve lasting peace for Jews and all Israelis, it can only come with G-d’s help and with our effort to return to truth and strength.
IDF: We believe there are still survivors in the Surfside Collapse
Describing the collapse as “very complicated,” Edri said that “usually when a building collapses, like during an earthquake, it doesn’t usually collapse onto itself. Sometimes they fall backwards like during the Mexican earthquake. Because this building collapsed onto itself... it just fell floor onto floor onto floor and inside there are people.”Avi Abelow: The Progressives in Israel Have Taken Over and Its Impact on Fighting Growing Global Jew-Hatred
In Miami, the troops also spoke with the families of the missing in order to understand where in their apartments they could have been when the building collapsed. Family members were also asked to describe what the missing could be wearing, what color hair they have and if they had any tattoos.
In one apartment, Edri said, he was told of a family with two daughters that were missing.
“They told me the father slept in the living room because he used to fall asleep next to the tv. The mother would be sleeping in the master bedroom with one daughter while another daughter slept in her room,” he said.
According to Edri the hundreds of rescuers at the sites know where apartments used to be and where exactly to look thanks to the 3D modeling that was done by IDF troops, even if they ran in an attempt to escape when the collapse happened.
“You need to know where to look,” he said, adding that now the Americans know exactly where apartments used to be and where exactly to look for those who may have been inside.
The families are updated twice a day about the rescue operation and as the days pass with no survivors being pulled from the rubble, the families of the missing are not giving up hope that the rescue workers will find their loved ones.
“Families went to see the site two days ago and they had a really hard experience,” Edri said. “What the families are going through is hell, nothing less than that.”
This is my first talk with Caroline Glick since our new reality with progressives in charge of the United States government and the Israeli government.
In this episode of the Caroline Glick and Avi Abelow show, we discuss the new Israeli government's decision to open a front against Poland while seeking to appease the Democrats and what it means for the fight against anti-Semitism and for Israel's diplomatic interests.
For those interested in the audio version or in listening to our long-form interviews at a quicker speed, then best to use one of the podcast services:
How the Biden administration funds Palestinian terrorists
When challenged at a Congressional hearing on June 8 about the renewal of funding for UNRWA despite its Jew-hatred, Blinken said that the administration is "determined that UNRWA pursue very necessary reforms in terms of some of the abuses of the system that have taken place in the past."The New York Times Relies on Amnesty and HRW Sources in Misleading Gaza Video
As President Biden would say – Come on, man. Secretaries of state and other political figures have been saying for decades that they were going to "reform" UNRWA. It never happened. It won't happen now, either. The pro-Palestinian wing of the Democratic party will make sure that the money flows to Gaza, come hell or high water. And the New York Times will facilitate it with more feature stories about how poor children in Gaza desperately need the taxpayer dollars of Americans.
The second way that the Biden administration is underwriting the training of Palestinian terrorists is through the fungibility of funds. In other words, the part of the $188.5 million Palestinian Arab "humanitarian aid" package that will go to Gaza will free Hamas from having to spend that money from its own coffers.
While Biden administration spokesmen can say that the money is being used to build hospitals and apartment buildings that were damaged in the recent retaliatory raids, the reality is that if the US was not sending those funds, Hamas would have to pay for those expenses.
The newly freed-up funds are then used by Hamas to pay for the militant summer camps that train young terrorists, the schools that indoctrinate Gaza children with a love of violence, and the missiles that Hamas fires at Israeli homes.
The third way in which Biden's aid will help train future terrorists is the example that it sets. The huge US grant to the Palestinian Arabs helps legitimize such aid in the eyes of the international community.
Several European governments have in recent years begun to reduce or restrict parts of their own aid to the Palestinian Arabs because of Jew-hatred and glorification of violence in their schools. It will be harder than ever to persuade any other country to restrict aid when the US is writing check after check without any real conditions attached.
That will free the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to do whatever they want with the funds – and what they want, most of all, is to raise another generation committed to jihad and hatred of Jews.
The New York Times continues to present anti-Israel propaganda as news. In the latest example, the paper published a 15-minute video alleging Israeli war crimes during the May conflict in Gaza. The sources called upon by the Times to back up these claims are exclusively members of NGOs known for their hostility to Israel. Not a single genuine expert on either the specifics of the incident in question or international law was used as a source in the Times’s highly misleading and biased report.Numerous MPs appear to excuse antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks in Parliamentary debate
One incident from the May 2021 Gaza conflict—one that is sure to factor in UN Human Rights Council and International Criminal Court investigations against Israel—is a May 16 strike that killed 44 people when apartment buildings collapsed in an upscale neighborhood in Gaza. The IDF did not target the buildings. According to The New York Times (NYT), “several Israeli aircraft fired 11 missiles along a 200-yard stretch of Al Wahda Street, aiming to destroy a tunnel and command center beneath it…. But while most of the adjacent buildings remained standing, the Abul Ouf Building collapsed in what the official described as ‘a freak event.’ …When the bombs exploded deep underground, they unexpectedly dislodged the Abul Ouf Building’s foundations.”
This incident was at the center of a major NYT article (“Dreams in the Rubble: An Israeli Airstrike and the 22 Lives Lost,” June 17) and 15-minute video (“Gaza’s Deadly Night: How Israeli Airstrikes Killed 44 People,” June 24). While both feature emotive accounts that emphasize the human tragedy, they also pointedly repeat allegations that the Israeli strikes were in violation of international law: “In a conflict in which both sides are accused of war crimes, the air raid on Al Wahda Street that night stands out for its shocking civilian death toll and for nearly decimating entire families.”
The video, in particular, asserts at the beginning that “The Times has uncovered new details” that seem to undermine Israeli claims about the strike (“The Israeli military has said that these strikes were carefully targeted. But our investigation will show how Israel dropped some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal without warning on a densely packed neighborhood and with limited intelligence about what they were attacking”.
However, the discussion of the legality of the attacks is based entirely on unreliable NGO officials who are not experts in the laws of armed conflict and who had no access to any of the relevant targeting information. In fact, the two leading producers of the video were formerly employed by these same political NGOs, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW). These conflicts of interest were not disclosed. While the Times journalists could have consulted with dozens of actual legal and military experts, they instead turned to their NGO colleagues. The basis, extent, and funding of the Times-NGO collaboration is unknown and was not disclosed to readers.
Moreover, a careful “reading” of the video shows that the Times investigation is consistent with Israeli army statements regarding the incident and the unanticipated collapse of the building and does not, in fact, support assertions of illegality. (Others have effectively shown how the video is “one-sided” and “ultimately delivers not much.”)
Numerous MPs from across parties appeared to excuse antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks in a debate in Parliament today.
The debate focused on a recent “EU Review into Palestinian school textbooks”, which revealed that Palestinian Authority textbooks are rife with antisemitism. As Caroline Ansell MP put it, opening the debate, “The EU report clearly identifies evidence of anti-Jewish racism within the curriculum.”
Nevertheless, despite the evidence of incitement to murder Jews and glorification of terrorism against Jews in those textbooks, several MPs in the debate obscenely appeared to claim, without foundation, that Israeli textbooks might exhibit similar incitement, or that Israel was somehow to blame for the incitement in Palestinian Authority textbooks, or that the incitement did not really matter.
Labour Party MP Julie Elliott made the case for moral equivalence, insisting that “There is no doubt that there is room for improvement, but there is also room for improvement in Israeli schools. That is the nub of the problem.”
Her colleague Andy Slaughter blamed the Jewish state for anti-Jewish racism in the textbooks, conceding that there are “regrettable passages” in the textbooks but proceedings to say: “Above all, there is an inequality of arms. What the Israelis have been able to do to the Palestinians over 53 years of military occupation, with 650,000 Israelis in illegal settlements, and many other things during this crisis, needs to be addressed. That is the real root of the problem that has to be dealt with.”
The SNP’s Brendan O’Hara made a similar argument: “Perhaps we would pay greater heed to the howls of protest from the Benches opposite about the content of Palestinian children’s schoolbooks if they were equally vociferous in calling out the outrageous human rights abuses that those same Palestinian schoolchildren face every single day of their young lives.”
Ken Roth's campaign to smear Israel as an 'apartheid' state gains a new adherent.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 30, 2021
Writing in the FT, ex-UN chief Ban Ki-moon adopts wholesale the Palestinian narrative of the conflict, with not one word about Hamas rockets, PLO terrorism & repeated rejection of peace offers. https://t.co/ooUVvWeCQn
Apparently @jstreetdotorg is now trotting out this blatantly inaccurate visual that has been debunked on numerous occasions.
— Zac Schildcrout (@ZacSchildcrout) June 29, 2021
In 2015, @MSNBC even issued an on-air correction after presenting a similar version as accurate. pic.twitter.com/4SsyCy3TnK
The Tigray genocide in Ethiopia.
— Dumisani Washington (@DumisaniTemsgen) June 29, 2021
The Igbo & Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The 1 million+ slaves in Libya.
The Iranian proxy war in Yemen.
Africa continues to pay for the international community's obsession with demonizing Israel.
Israel Seeks to Extend New Gulf Ties to All Middle East, Says Lapid
Israel’s foreign minister said on Wednesday his visit to the United Arab Emirates was just the start of a road to peace with other Middle East countries, signaling an offer of friendship with Arab states still wary of normalizing ties.
Yair Lapid, the first Israeli cabinet minister to visit the Gulf state since the countries forged ties last year, also reiterated Israel’s concern about the Iran nuclear deal being negotiated in Vienna.
The trip comes amid unease in Israel and Arab capitals about US efforts to re-enter a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, which then President Donald Trump quit in 2018 in a move backed by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies.
“This visit isn’t the end of the road to peace, it is just the beginning,” he told reporters. “Our hand is outstretched … I hope this visit is the first of many and that together with our new friends we continue to make history in the entire region.”
The UAE and Bahrain normalized ties with Israel under so-called “Abraham Accords” brokered by Trump’s administration, creating a new regional dynamic based on mutual concern over Iran and Islamist groups. Sudan and Morocco followed suit.
The agreements in effect challenged a decades-old allegiance to the Palestinian issue as a major driver of Arab policy.
Lapid declined to comment on whether Israel was coordinating with Gulf states over Iran, saying he did not want to “embarrass” his hosts by remarking on a neighbor while in the UAE, but noted his country was worried about the nuclear deal.
A moment that will remain in Jewish and Israeli memory: A traditional mezuzah containing Biblical verses is affixed to the doorpost of the new Israeli Consulate in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/UfBNlIS1H1
— ????Ilan Sztulman (@Ilan_Sztulman) June 30, 2021
Today, two Middle East summits offered competing visions.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 29, 2021
THE PAST: Hate, misogyny, terror, murder, enmity, poverty, despair. ????? Hamas & ????? Hezbollah.
THE FUTURE: Peace, friendship, cooperation, development, innovation, prosperity, hope. ???? United Arab Emirates & ???? Israel. pic.twitter.com/atMbyWIevQ
Israel digs in heels on Gaza, demands captives' release
In three high-level meetings this week, Israel has insisted on linking the rehabilitation of Gaza with the return by Hamas of the remains of two soldiers and the release of two captives.
President Reuven Rivlin raised the matter with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday in New York and with US President Joe Biden on Monday in Washington.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett raised the matter during his first phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi since taking office earlier this month.
Egypt and the United Nations are attempting to broker a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The UN is the primary institution tasked with organizing humanitarian aid to Gaza, and it is also working on a mechanism to allow for aid to be sent to Gaza that would prevent Hamas from diverting material and funds to constructing weapons.
“We are interested in continuing to work with the UN to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, with whom we have no conflict,” Rivlin told Guterres.
“However, any agreement should include steps to return our soldiers and citizens, who are held by Hamas, a terrorist organization,” he added. At issue are the bodies of Lt. Hadar Goldin and St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul, presumed to have been killed during the 2014 Gaza war, and the fate of two Israeli citizens, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who crossed into Gaza in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
What you hear about #Silwan isn’t the truth! This isn’t "ethnic cleansing." Silwan has a long (Jewish!) history that makes the question of “what is just?” today very difficult.
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) June 29, 2021
There’s no easy answer, but knowing the facts can help stop exaggerated claims that fuel hate. pic.twitter.com/Kdp9mQiNG3
Israel’s Interior Minister Signs Off on Revocation of Hamas Terrorist’s Citizenship
Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked signed off Tuesday on the denaturalization of Ashraf Hassan, a member of Hamas.
Shaked based her decision on information she received from military officials, who told her Hassan had orchestrated an attack on an Israeli soldier and taken advantage of his Israeli citizenship to move around the country freely in pursuit of his plans.
In 2004, Hassan was convicted for plotting to kidnap and kill an Israeli soldier and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He maintained his ties with Hamas after his release. He left Israel in 2016 and has not returned since. The Interior Ministry said it was proceeding with Hassan’s denaturalization with urgency as “a matter of national security” and in an effort to deter others who might be planning to commit terrorist actions against Israel.
Shaked also approved the revocation of the permanent residency status of Salah Hamouri, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Hamouri was arrested in 2005 and sentenced to seven years in prison for plotting to murder a prominent Israeli rabbi. He was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap. After his release, he continued his terrorist activities.
“Salah Hamouri’s actions are a serious violation of the basic core commitment of an Israeli citizen, and due to this breach of trust, the revoking of his citizenship is legally justified,” Shaked explained.
Ramallah - A Palestinian man sentenced by a Palestinian Authority court to 7 years in prison with hard labor for attempting to sell land to the (Israeli) enemy.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 30, 2021
When will Mahmoud Abbas step down?
The sun has set on the dictatorship of Mahmoud Abbas, and it is now just a matter of time until he leaves the scene.Jordan's king meets with Abbas, reiterates support for two-state solution
Initially elected as Palestinian Authority president in 2005, Abbas is now in his sixteenth year of what, according to PA law, was meant to be a four-year term. Since his election, Abbas has rejected or quashed any attempt to hold new elections. In January this year, under pressure from the United States and European Union, Abbas announced that the PA would hold its first general elections since 2006. The general elections were to be followed by presidential elections.
Abbas did not want to hold elections, because he knew that his Fatah faction would lose to rival Hamas—an internationally designated terror organization. After four months of maintaining the pretense that the elections would actually happen, Abbas expectedly cancelled them, much to the despair of Palestinian voters.
A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) found that “two thirds of the [Palestinian] public believe that Abbas postponed the elections because he was worried about the results.” Only 25 percent of those surveyed believed Abbas’s excuse that he cancelled the elections due to the alleged Israeli refusal to allow the elections to take place in Jerusalem.
Responding to Abbas’s decision, and in an attempt to bolster its popularity, Hamas attacked Israel, firing over 4,300 missiles indiscriminately targeting Israel’s civilian population. Hamas’s violent response led to a sharp decline in popular support for the already beleaguered Abbas.
Following the Hamas aggression, the PCPSR poll found that if elections for the position of PA chairman were held now, between Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, Abbas would receive 27 percent and Haniyeh 59 percent of the votes, this compared to 46 percent for Haniyeh and 47 percent for Abbas three months ago.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday made a surprise visit to Amman, where he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah. The visit is to be seen in the context of coordination between the PA and Jordan ahead of Abdullah’s planned trip to the US on July 19. The PA and Jordan have expressed support for resuming the Middle East peace process on the basis of a two-state solution.Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinian Police State
Abbas’s visit to Amman came as a committee, formed to investigate the death of Palestinian anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat, presented its findings to PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
The death of Banat, allegedly beaten to death by PA security officers who came to arrest him last week in Hebron, triggered widespread protests in a number of Palestinian cities, where demonstrators chanted slogans against Abbas.
The PA’s official news agency Wafa said that Abbas had a “private meeting” with the Jordanian monarch. “They discussed the latest political developments in the Palestinian arena, bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern,” the agency said. “President Abbas affirmed ongoing coordination with Jordan on the interest of the Arab nation and its common causes, primarily the Palestinian cause.”
These [Palestinian] leaders have turned the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank into a police state where political opponents are beaten to death, arrested, tortured and intimidated.PA said to ask Israel to allow in riot gear amid protests over activist’s death
The crackdown was almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media in the West -- until the death of Banat. It was ignored because the perpetrators were not Israeli policemen or soldiers. It was ignored because the media could not find a way to blame Israel for the fact that the Palestinian government was harassing, intimidating and torturing Palestinians.
The silence of the international community and media towards the human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority has prompted Palestinian journalists to make a direct appeal to the European Union to provide them with protection.
The protests... are mainly directed at the Biden administration, whose representatives have recently been courting and searching for ways to cozy up to Abbas and his Fatah cohorts. The message Palestinians are sending to the Biden administration: Stop empowering our brutal, corrupt leaders.
Will the Biden administration and the Western world actually legitimize -- and reward with millions of dollars and possibly even a state – political leaders who brutalize, torture and murder their own journalists and citizens? To gain what? A legacy of America championing a regime like that?
The Palestinian Authority has asked Israel for permission to obtain additional riot equipment in anticipation of an uptick in protests over the death of prominent opposition figure Nizar Banat while he was in the custody of PA security forces, the Ynet news site reported on Tuesday night.PMW: Official PA TV praises terrorist murderers who were residents of Jerusalem
PA security forces arrested Banat, who was known for his scathing social media presence criticizing the Palestinian leadership, in a raid early on Thursday morning in Hebron. According to his family, Banat was “viciously beaten” by PA officers before they dragged him away.
Banat’s death sparked protests in Hebron and Ramallah over the weekend, with thousands calling for a end to the rule of octogenarian PA President Mahmoud Abbas. PA security forces cracked down on the Ramallah demonstrations, firing tear gas and arresting protesters.
Human rights groups have alleged that PA officers in civilian clothes deliberately targeted journalists to ensure that footage of the crackdowns did not reach the press.
While the PA has a stock of riot dispersal materiel, those reserves have been somewhat depleted in recent days, leading it to ask Israel to approve further shipments, the Ynet news site reported.
The report did not clarify where the equipment could come from.
In a continuing effort to encourage Arab residents of Jerusalem to carry out terrorist acts, official Palestinian television chose to praise three murderous terrorists who lived in the Jabel Mukaber neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Based on the narrative of victimization and distorted reality, PA TV praised the terrorists as those who "refused to submit to the occupation.”
"Since the occupation of [Jerusalem], the residents of the village [Jabel Mukaber] (i.e., neighborhood of Jerusalem) have not stopped their resistance for one day against the arbitrary acts of the occupation that are manifested in the theft of their lands, the arrest of their children, and the destruction of their homes. The village [Jabel Mukaber] gave Martyrs for the sake of Jerusalem like Martyr Fadi Al-Qunbar, Baha Alyan, Alaa Abu Jamal, and many others who refused to submit to the occupation that is making their lives bitter, and to its blockade on the village of Jabel Mukaber.”
[Official PA TV News, June 26, 2021]
While in practice, the actions attributed to Israel - arrests, demolition of houses and the imposition of closure - were taken only in response to terrorist acts committed by residents of the neighborhood, according to the PA narrative all the arrests, house demolitions and closures were entirely arbitrary and lacked any cause, justification or background.
Gaza Politician Khaled Abu Hilal: We Demand the Death Penalty for All the “Criminal Murderers” Who Took Part in Killing Activist Nizar Banat, Including President Abbas and PM Shtayyeh #Gaza #Hamas #Fateh pic.twitter.com/T2iO9Y9wTr
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 30, 2021
Palestinian journalist Shatha Hammad breaks into tears while talking about how she was assaulted by PA security officers in Ramallah: 'We are afraid and there's no immunity for a journalist on the Palestinian street.' https://t.co/1HvCF2F0Jd
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 30, 2021
Palestinian Islamic Jihad held a closing ceremony for its military summer camp for children and teenagers. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/qOWMzD8pjO
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) June 30, 2021
MEMRI: Houthi Indoctrination Of Children: Chanting 'Death To America, Israel' Gives Life To The People They Kill, Corrupt; 9/11 Was Staged By The U.S., Jews As Pretext For Occupying Arab Countries
In a series of shows that aired on Al-Eman TV (Houthis-Yemen), Houthi scholars indoctrinated children against the U.S., Jews, Israel, and the leaders of the Gulf states. In a show that aired on June 12, 2021, Houthi Islamic scholar Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami said that the "scam" of 9/11 was a "theatrical show produced by the Jews and the Americans." He said that the Americans decided to kill "a group of their own people" in order to create a pretext to occupy and destroy Arab and Islamic countries. Dr. Al-Shami said that chanting "Death to America" means life for all those people "that America is killing." He added that "Death to Israel" means life to all the people, "in whose killing and corruption Israel is taking part." In a show that aired on June 14, 2021, Houthi Islamic scholar Dr. Khaled Mousa said that Muslim leaders should not follow the example of Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince, who leads his people "to taverns" and Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, who leads his people "to nightclubs." Rather, he said, they should lead their people to the liberation of "occupied lands such as Palestine and others." The children concluded their lesson by chanting: "Allah Akbar! Death to America! Death to Israel! Curse be upon the Jews! Victory to Islam!"
Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami: "The Scam Of 9/11 Was A Theatrical Show Produced By The Jews And The Americans" As A "Pretext" For The "Occupation Of All The Arab And Islamic Nations"
Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami: "The scam of 9/11 was a theatrical show produced by the Jews and the Americans. They killed a group of their own people so that they could have a pretext. They would be able to say: Since you Muslims killed our people, we will take revenge and occupy you. In order to orchestrate this, they molded public opinion into believing that 'you killed us and this justified our occupation of all the Arab and Islamic nations, and destroying their infrastructure and resources.' All of this is done under the pretext of fighting terrorism, which 'emerged from your midst of Muslims and Arabs.'
"In order for us to understand the crimes of the Americans... They invaded and occupied Vietnam, killed two million Vietnamese, and raped tens of thousands of Vietnamese women. They wounded 3 million Vietnamese. In Japan, they dropped two nuclear bombs on two cities. They did not drop them on military targets or in the desert, but on two populated cities. Within moments, 70,000 Japanese died in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When they invaded Iraq, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, two million Iraqis were killed – men, women, and children. In addition, they raped thousands of women, children, and even men.
Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami: "When We Say 'Death To America,' It Means Life For All The Nations That America Is Killing"
"When we say 'Death to America,' it means life for all the nations that America is killing. When we say 'Death to Israel,' it means life for all the people, around the world, in whose killing and corruption Israel is taking part. "
Reeling From Gaza War and Lebanon Crisis, Hamas and Hezbollah Chiefs Meet in Beirut
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and head of Hamas’ political bureau Ismail Haniyeh met in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss repercussions of last month’s hostilities in Gaza, in what one Israeli analyst called a sign of the two groups’ current “weakness and distress.”US Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Press Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah
At the meeting, the two leaders stressed “the depth of the existing relationship between Hezbollah and Hamas and its key position in this blessed axis and in this decisive battle,” according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu, which cited a statement from the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Haniyeh and Nasrallah discussed how they can build on the experience of the latest 11-day round of Israel-Hamas clashes in May and how they can further deploy and organize the capabilities of their groups for their activities against Israel.
According to Orna Mizrahi, senior research fellow at the Israel-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), the Beirut meeting comes at a time when both Hezbollah and Hamas suffer from severe internal distress: the former because of the complete collapse of the Lebanese state; and the latter due to the aftermath of the fighting with Israel in Gaza in May.
“This meeting can be seen as another expression of the growing cooperation between Hamas and the Shiite axis led by Iran that risks Israel, but in my opinion this meeting actually expresses the weakness and distress of the two, who need the resulting moral encouragement of each other,” Mizrahi told The Algemeiner.
A bipartisan bill aimed at pressuring the government of Lebanon to disarm paramilitary groups such as the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization within its borders was introduced in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The bill, called the “Strategic Lebanon Security Reporting Act,” requires the State Department to put together a strategy to help Lebanon implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disarming of armed groups along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Resolution 1701 was agreed on after the 2006 Lebanon War.
The bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
“Having been to the Israeli-Lebanese border, I’ve seen the rockets aimed at Israel and I understand the importance of curbing Hezbollah’s presence and impact in Lebanon,” Luria said in a news release.
“Hezbollah will not stop their pursuit of destroying Israel. I introduced this bill to strengthen the international effort to prevent Hezbollah and other terrorist paramilitary groups within Lebanon’s borders from freely amassing arms and posing significant security risks to our closest Middle East allies.”
The bill encouraged cooperation between Lebanon and international peacekeeping missions on the border, and utilized US-Lebanon diplomatic engagement to prevent the building of cross-border tunnels into Israel and weapons factories inside Lebanon.
Tension between citizens and Lebanese forces in Tripoli today as economic conditions in the country continue to deteriorate. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/6Zydj3muFl
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) June 30, 2021
The "Iran Deal" Soon to Be Resuscitated
Raisi's election, "engineered to guarantee his victory," looks suspiciously like a ploy by Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei to terrify the American negotiators into capitulating to Iran's demands even faster and more recklessly, to avoid negotiating with an opponent more uncompromising than the one with whom they are negotiating at present.UN chief urges US to remove Iran sanctions as agreed in 2015
The JCPOA is allegedly designed to prevent, or at least postpone, Iran's drive for a nuclear weapons capability along with the means to deliver them. Among the deal's many major drawbacks is that after it expires, Iran can enrich as much uranium to have as many nuclear weapons -- and the means to deliver them -- as it likes.
Despite signs that the P5+1 negotiating team will subscribe to a re-constituted JCPOA "understanding," there seems to exist no trust that the Islamic Republic will comply with any agreement. The IAEA's catalogue of doubts regarding Iran's compliance with any nuclear safeguards is lengthy.
Based on Iran's pattern of obstructionism, the impending renewal of the JCPOA does not inspire confidence that the Islamic Republic -- even if it verbally agrees, or this time signs a document -- will ever be in compliance.
It is also sadly assumed, based on past patterns, that the US, in its eagerness to secure a deal -- any deal -- will back down when faced with any Iranian demand.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Guterres also urged the United States to "extend the waivers with regard to the trade in oil with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and fully renew waivers for nuclear non-proliferation projects."Former Iranian Intelligence Minister: ‘Mossad Has Penetrated the Regime’
The 15-member council on Tuesday was to discuss the secretary-general's biannual report on the implementation of a 2015 resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal between Iran, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.
Guterres' appeal to Washington comes amid talks to revive the deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for a lifting of many foreign sanctions against it.
Former US President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to start violating some of the nuclear limits in 2019. Among its numerous flaws, the nuclear deal fails to address Iran's ballistic missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which Tehran has said it will not negotiate with foreign powers, nor does it address Iran's ongoing support and financing of regional terrorist organizations, chief among them Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"I appeal to the United States to lift or waive its sanctions outlined in the plan," said Guterres, who also appealed to Iran to return to full implementation of the deal.
Iran has refined uranium up to a purity of roughly 60%, far above the deal's limit of 3.67% and much closer to the 90% suitable for atom bomb cores, though it maintains it could quickly reverse its moves if Washington rescinded sanctions and returned to the 2015 deal.
Guterres said: "I continue to believe that a full restoration of the [JCPOA] remains the best way to ensure that the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains exclusively peaceful."
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency has infiltrated Iran’s leadership, and many senior officials in the Islamic Republic are compromised, a former Iranian intelligence minister said on Tuesday.
“The leaders of the country don’t show any interest in what’s best for the public and their lives, and the Mossad has succeeded, with enticements of influence and money, to penetrate the regime’s security bodies,” Ali Younesi said in an interview with the reformist Jamaran news website.
“Now the regime is busy persecuting people who are loyal to the country, particularly from the reformist camp, instead of detecting and detaining the infiltrators working on behalf of Israel. The regime established many intelligence agencies with overlapping tasks, for the purpose of weakening the intelligence ministry,” he said. Younesi served under former reformist president Mohammad Khatami from December 2000 to August 2005, and was an adviser to former president Hassan Rouhani.
“Spy agencies can easily penetrate radical groups and organizations, because in these groups only radicalism matters,” Younesi continued. “Spy agencies pick the right radicals from among their own ranks or elsewhere and have them infiltrate other intelligence agencies. The more radical they are, the quicker they get promoted and reach the top echelon of the intelligence agencies.”
Claiming all Israeli infiltration took place after he left the intelligence ministry in 2005, Younesi suggested Iran should remove sycophants and radicals, who he claimed were the most likely to be lured by foreign intelligence agencies.
