Sunday, August 29, 2021

08/29 Links: Collier: The ethical demise of the Jewish Diaspora left; Rothman: The ‘Forever War’ Fallacy; Tlaib Describes Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Loving’ and ‘Successful’

From Ian:

David Collier: The ethical demise of the Jewish Diaspora left
The electoral defeat of Bibi Netanyahu has done much to expose the ethical vacuum in much of the leftist Jewish Diaspora that both obsessed about and despised him. From the day he was no longer Prime Minister, the ground on which this modern ‘pseudo-Zionist’ left stood, simply melted way.

Three recent examples spring to mind – the first was when some Jews who call themselves Zionists – came out in defense of the Ben and Jerry’s pro-BDS boycott. The next was an awful article on a ‘community split’ in the Jewish News – and the third was the unwarranted attack by toxic groups such as Na’amod – on community heroes such as UKLFI and North West Friends of Israel.

Who are the ‘pseudo-Zionist’ left?
Let me clarify. I know many decent left-wing Zionists. I was one myself three decades ago. Like me, these people watched as Oslo burned in the exploding buses of the Second Intifada. Most of the left absorbed the necessary lessons – even more so if they lived in Israel where the entire ‘peace camp’ sank. Many of these people still identify as left-wing today, but do so from a rational standpoint and an understanding of the nature of the enemies we face.

Then there are the pseudo-Zionist left. The comatose (rather than ‘woke’) Jews. Self described Zionists who are more likely to discuss ‘Black Lives Mattter’, or pronouns, than terrorist attacks against Israelis. These people possess a post-Oslo, left wing Zionist ideology that matured in an era when Bibi was the undisputed king of Israel. In fact, Bibi was such a strong factor in their Zionist make-up – that they are at a loss as to what to do, or think, without him as their go-to ‘demon’ upon which everything can be blamed.

Before the fall of Bibi – everything was simple for them. It was always all Netanyahu’s fault. There was no need for any nuance. Bibi was a fascist – the Likud were fascists – together with the orthodox and settlers (more fascists) these ‘extremists’ were all busy ruining Israel for the ‘good and enlightened’ Jews. All that we needed for sanity to return, was for Israelis to vote Bibi and his clan out of power.

Unfortunately for these hard-left elements, the Israelis (with the help of a twisted electoral system) went and did just that.


Caroline Glick: Bennett’s goals, Israel’s goals
If Iran is on target to become a nuclear-capable state in seven weeks, then the upshot of Biden's statement is that the Biden administration is willing to live with a nuclear Iran.

There was no evidence of tension between the two leaders in their joint appearance at the Oval Office. This despite the fact that Biden's claim that he would consider "other options" was far weaker than statements by then-President Barack Obama. At the height of his efforts to appease Iran through nuclear concessions, Obama said that the "military option is on the table." Even worse, when US reporters asked White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki what other options are being considered, she said that at this point, no options other than diplomacy are being considered in respect to Iran's nuclear activities.

Biden failed in Afghanistan because he apparently believed that with the unstinting support of the US media, he didn't need to bother putting together a coherent withdrawal plan or discussing it ahead of time with US allies. He was convinced that good PR meant you don't need a good policy. His failure in Afghanistan proves that reality is unmoved by press clippings.

Israel's media are Bennett's flacks. And the reporters and commentators on TV claimed that Bennett's goal was simply to sit down with Biden. Just by sitting in the Oval Office, he showed that he is the prime minister now – not the other guy. But here too, the reality is a stubborn thing. According to Lapid and Gantz, we are but seven weeks away from Iran becoming a nuclear state. The atmospherics of the meeting had no impact on that state of affairs.

Biden's fiasco in Kabul showed the world that he is not a trustworthy ally. In their joint appearance, even the nice promise that Iran will not get nuclear weapons, which Biden read from his cue cards could not diminish the fact that his underlying message is that he is not with Israel on Iran.

Bennett told reporters after the meeting that he accomplished what he set out to achieve. And maybe that's true. But it will be reality not successful public relations that will decide if Israel got anything out of the trip. On the face of things, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Citing antisemitism, growing number of countries shun Durban conference
A global network of more than 3,000 pro-Israel lawyers and activists is asking European countries to withdraw their participation from an upcoming event marking the 20th anniversary of the Durban Conference.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a dozen countries have pulled out of the conference so far.

The original Durban Conference in 2001 singled Israel out as racist, with draft resolutions saying Zionism is a form of racism

The Durban IV Conference is slated to take place at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 22.

The International Legal Forum (ILF) said in a letter to UN ambassadors and foreign ministers that the event, first held in South Africa in 2001, has "descended into an infamous hotbed of unbridled Jew-hatred, anti-Semitism and vilification of the State of Israel."

ILF explained that the conference "revived the "Zionism is Racism" slur, outrageously claimed Israel is an 'apartheid state,' distorted the Holocaust and made numerous Nazi analogies. It also became the birthplace and catalyst of the modern boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks the destruction of the State of Israel as its ultimate goal."

The pro-Israel group sent the letter to countries that have adopted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.


Noah Rothman: The ‘Forever War’ Fallacy
What did we get out of an exercise that cost America over 2,400 lives and nearly $1 trillion? First and foremost, zero major foreign-directed terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in the generation that has elapsed since September 11. That’s no small feat, and it did not happen by accident.

Of course, the geostrategic obligations of the only nation capable of sustained power projection anywhere on earth do not always align with the desires of its electorate. Americans are tired of the mission. That fatigue, which ambitious politicians cannot help but exploit, was foreshadowed in George W. Bush’s 2001 address to a joint session of Congress, in which he outlined a “lengthy campaign unlike any we have ever seen” against terrorism and its enablers abroad. “Our resolve must not pass,” he warned, perhaps with America’s historic apathy toward the world beyond its shores in mind.

And yet, the kind of war Bush envisioned was not so new as to shock the American psyche. It had been outlined nearly 40 years earlier by John F. Kennedy in a 1962 speech at West Point. Then, America faced a threat posed by communist “guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins,” and tactics involving “war by ambush instead of by combat.” He outlined a doctrinal posture that would transform the American military from a reaction force and an instrument of deterrence into a preventative apparatus. It would deploy in smaller numbers but broadly and in pursuit of advantage in America’s struggle against the Soviet Union.

It was the logical basis that led the U.S. into the ill-fated morass that came of its support for South Vietnam, yes. But it also informed more successful deployments to Lebanon, the Dominican Republic, and Grenada. It guided the decisions by successive policy-makers to counter Soviet influence in Nicaragua, Cambodia, Mozambique, Angola, and, eventually, Afghanistan. And in the end, the United States emerged victorious in that great battle between two competing theories of social organization. We are once again engaged in a generational conflict against an ideology that is incompatible with egalitarian republicanism. It will end as the Cold War ended: when one side surrenders. But America’s political class has misjudged Americans if it believes the public will welcome surrender and defeat as a remedy for exhaustion.

If you thought Americans were displeased by the way we got out of Afghanistan, wait until you see how they respond to the circumstances that force us to go back. At best, the American retreat from Central Asia represents a new phase in the Global War on Terror — one that delivers us from stalemate and into a situation in which Afghanistan is once again a void in which threats to the U.S. and our allies can develop. As Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, reportedly told the president, “We’ve seen this movie before.” And we know how it ends.
Col. Kemp: 'It Would be a Mistake to Give Legitimacy to the Taliban Regime'
The UK on Saturday flew out the last of its military from Afghanistan, concluding its pullout while leaving hundreds of Afghans eligible for resettlement behind.

US forces remain on the ground following the withdrawal of most other Western forces, and are scheduled to depart by no later than August 31.

Earlier Saturday, the UK sent out a final plane carrying only civilian evacuees as it wound up its operation to airlift civilians, diplomats and troops.

Interview with Col. Richard Kemp, Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan.


US drone strike in Kabul hits IS suicide bombers heading to airport
US officials said an American drone strike has hit a vehicle carrying multiple Islamic State suicide bombers heading for Kabul airport. A military official said the strike on Sunday caused “significant secondary explosions,” indicating the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material in the vehicle.

Two senior officials said the US believes it was a successful strike and that the intended target was hit. This is the second airstrike the US has conducted against the group, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing Thursday at the Kabul airport gate that killed 13 US service members and scores of Afghans struggling to get out of the country and escape the new Taliban rule.

The officials said Sunday that initial reports indicate there were no civilian casualties caused by the airstrike, but one official said they are assessing reports of any other collateral damage.

There have been reports of an explosion at a house near the airport, but it wasn’t clear the two explosions were connected. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

In that second incident, a rocket hit a neighborhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The rocket attack struck Kabul’s Khuwja Bughra neighborhood, said Kabul police chief Rashid, who goes by one name. Video obtained by The Associated Press in the aftermath of the attack showed smoke rising from a building at the site around a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport.

The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce.


Biden Contradicts Milley on Decision To Abandon Bagram
President Joe Biden contradicted his top military officer on who was to blame for the controversial decision to abandon Bagram Air Base prior to the final withdrawal from Afghanistan.

President Biden blamed his military advisers for the July withdrawal of troops from Bagram, a decision that has come under fire because it forced fleeing Americans and Afghans to a single evacuation point at the Kabul airport after the Taliban takeover of the country. After suicide bombings at the airport and a hotel left at least 13 American troops and 200 Afghans dead, Biden told reporters that defense officials suggested that the air base would not be of strategic importance as American forces left the nation.

"On tactical questions on how to conduct an evacuation or a war, I gather up all the major military personnel that are in Afghanistan … I ask for their best military judgment," said Biden. "They concluded, the military, that Bagram was not much value added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul, and so I followed that recommendation."

Biden's statement differs from the explanation offered by Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley said the decision to leave Bagram—the United States' largest installation in the country—was due not to strategy but to personnel constraints.

"Our task given to us at that time, our task was [to] protect the embassy in order for the embassy personnel to continue to function with their consular service and all that," Milley told reporters on Aug. 18. "If we were to keep both Bagram and the embassy going, that would be a significant number of military forces that would have exceeded what we had or stayed the same or exceeded what we had. So we had to collapse one or the other, and a decision was made."

The dispute over Bagram is not the first instance of friction between the commander in chief and his top military advisers. Biden reportedly pushed aside advice from Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who both proposed that the United States keep a troop presence in Afghanistan. After Biden decided on a withdrawal in spite of their warnings, the Taliban waged a lethal campaign to retake Afghanistan. Thursday's suicide attacks marked the deadliest day for American troops in Afghanistan since 2011.


Mosque boss quizzed over ‘civilised Taliban’ post shared ‘Nazi Israel’ clips
A mosque manager questioned by the police over his apparent support for the Taliban has posted videos in which Israel is compared to Nazi Germany and the pro-Israel lobby group Aipac is described as having vast power over American politicians, the JC can reveal.

Saddique Hussain, the general manager of Birmingham’s Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif mosque, triggered outrage when he shared a clip of Taliban fighters brandishing assault rifles and reciting the Quran and wrote above it: “How beautiful and civilised and no ‘I’. May Allah SWT guide us on to His beautiful religion.”

After a police warning, Mr Hussain insisted he “does not and never has supported the Taliban” but a string of controversial posts has now come to light.

Earlier this year he shared a video from the far-right American media outlet ‘TruNews’ in which pastor and antisemitic pundit Rick Wiles, who has previously claimed that Jews are “decievers” who “plot” and “lie”, explicitly compared the actions of Israel to Nazi Germany.

Another video labelled “a rare moment of truth” by the general manager claimed that “Zionist lobbying” could remove an online clip of Sky news reporting on Israeli military actions.


Bennett checked off all his boxes in Washington - analysis
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was able to start Shabbat with the satisfaction that he accomplished much of what he set out to do on his trip to Washington last week.

There were some curveballs thrown his way – after all, the plan was for him to be home with his family in Ra’anana for Shabbat and not at a hotel near the White House – but he still managed to check off every box on his public to-do list.

Bennett had seven or eight items on that list but only made four of them public.

First, Bennett wanted to create a positive, unmediated connection between himself and US President Joe Biden.

That was probably the easiest one. Both sides wanted, at the very least, to show that the US-Israel relationship is on track and doing well in the post-Netanyahu, post-Trump era. They held a 50-minute, one-on-one meeting – which, unusually, took place over tea in Biden’s private dining room off of the Oval Office.

Biden said during their photo-op in the Oval Office that they’re already “close friends,” and that they bonded talking about rides on Amtrak trains. In their meeting, Bennett shared a story of how his father, Jim, had been arrested in the 1960s at a sit-in against a hotel in California that would not accept black patrons.

Bennett said after the meeting that the atmosphere was “excellent,” that he felt Biden and his top brass were open to listening to what he had to say, and that he can now call Biden directly. He also invited Biden to visit Israel.
The Palestinian elephant in the Oval Office
Members of the Israeli delegation to Washington's satisfaction with the relatively minor attention given to the Palestinian issue during Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's meeting with US President Joe Biden could turn out to be premature. The US administration will not initiate a diplomatic move concerning the Palestinians at this point in time, at least not until the Knesset officially passes the state budget in November. Nor will it present its own diplomatic initiative at this stage. Yet alongside issues such as Iran, Iraq, the Gaza Strip, the replenishment of the Iron Dome missile defense system, and the US visa waiver program, the Palestinian issue was nevertheless present during the prime minister's meeting with the American leader Friday.

Biden asked Bennett to refrain from unilateral steps in the settlements. Bennett adhered to a policy based on natural growth. According to Bennett's Israel, the built-up area in the settlements may now stand at around 21,500 acres, spread out across just 1.52% of Judea and Samaria, but in principle, construction, in accordance with the natural growth of the half a million strong Jewish population, will spread out across the entire area under the settlements' jurisdiction – meaning around 132,695 acres, or 9.38% of Judea and Samaria, and will include the addition of several thousand new housing units every year.

The Americans disagree with the Israeli interpretation of "natural growth." They're barely willing to put up with construction within the Green Line, and definitely not thousands of units each year. The question as to how many units will be built and where exactly they will be constructed will be laundered in US-Israel talks behind the scenes at this point in time. That is the agreement that has been reached between the two sides. Bennett will try to gain approval for as much as possible, while the US will pressure Israel to do as little as possible. If understandings on the issue are not reached, the dispute, which both sides have for the time being declined to refer to as such, will come to light.

The Palestinian issue and that of Jewish construction were also raised in the Jerusalem context. Biden talked about the Arab families residing in Jewish homes in the Shimon HaTzadik / Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem's seam line. He asked for Israel to avoid an unfair solution. Bennett responded that the matter was now pending a legal decision.
A Shabbat to remember with Prime Minister Bennett - reporter's notebook
Traveling with Israel’s first-ever Orthodox prime minister wasn’t supposed to be that different. His spokesman did send out a moving photo of him praying with tallit and tefillin on the morning before his scheduled meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Other than that, it was standard operating procedure, until midday Thursday, when it became clear following the ISIS attack at Kabul’s airport that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was not going to be able to meet with Biden until the next day.

But a meeting on Friday meant there was no way to fly back to Israel in time for Shabbat, and we were going to be stuck in Washington for two and a half days longer than planned.

There have been prime minister’s trips over Shabbat before; the Prime Minister’s Office doesn’t travel on Saturdays as a policy. But this was the first emergency Shabbat stay anyone in the delegation could remember, including legendary Yediot Aharonot columnist Nahum Barnea, who has traveled with every prime minister since Golda Meir. And this was the first Shabbat stay by a prime minister in a COVID-19 capsule, meaning the entire delegation could not leave the hotel.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington jumped into action to make Shabbat happen for Bennett and his entourage, so many of whom are also Orthodox, organizing a Shabbat dinner and a suite-turned-synagogue thanks to American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and the Chabad Israeli Center in Rockville.

But the embassy only organized Friday night dinner, which left the Shabbat-observing journalists, including this reporter and those from Times of Israel, Arutz Sheva and Makor Rishon, to try to figure out how to organize kosher food for Shabbat when we were not allowed to go anywhere to get it.
Rashida Tlaib Describes Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Loving’ and ‘Successful’
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is under fire for calling on Israel to stop its “disgusting” policy of holding the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out terror attacks, and for describing the terrorists as “loving” and “successful” people.

In a tweet posted Saturday, Tlaib mourned the fact the body of Palestinian terrorist Mai Afana, whom Tlaib described as a “loving daughter and successful student,” has not yet been released to her family.

Nowhere in the tweet does Tlaib mention why Israel killed Afana.

“Meet Mai Afana’s mother, Khuloud, who is fighting to be able to bury her daughter & begin her healing. Mai was a mother, loving daughter & successful PhD student. She was killed by the Israeli government last June. Israel won’t release her body to her family,” Tlaib posted, alongside a photo of the terrorist’s mother holding a picture of her daughter.

Afana was killed by Israeli troops in June after attempting a ramming attack on a group of Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Afana then exited her vehicle and charged at the soldiers, attempting to stab them with a knife she was brandishing.


Head of Ben & Jerry’s board accused of alleged self-dealing
The head of the board of directors of Ben & Jerry’s is accused of alleged self-dealing, doling out tens of thousands in cash from the controversial ice cream company’s foundation to fund her own pro-Palestinian non-profit, according to a watchdog complaint to the IRS.

Anuradha Mittal, the chair of the ice cream maker’s board since 2008, organized the company’s recent, controversial boycott, refusing to sell ice cream to Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories.

She is also a vice president of the company’s non-profit foundation. Between 2017 and 2018, the foundation doled out more than $100,000 to the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that studies land reform around the world, where Mittal is executive director and the only salaried employee, according to IRS filings.

“It is our contention that this a possible violation of self-dealing as Mittal is considered a disqualified person under IRS rules,” reads a copy of the complaint prepared by the Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center.

The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation sent a total of $104,000 in grants to the California-based Oakland Institute where MIttal was paid a combined $156,000 in salary in 2017 and 2018, IRS filings show. Part of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation cash went to finance the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. The controversial human rights group in the West Bank received $3,000 from the foundation in 2017, according to tax filings.

Last year, the European Union pulled nearly $2 million worth of funding from Badil after it refused to sign an “anti-terror” clause in its funding contract. The clause stated that none of the EU’s funds would be diverted to members of terrorist organizations, such as the military wings of Hamas and Hezbollah.


PMW: Before giving aid, the EU should ask the PA why it’s funding the PLO and rewarding terrorists
In the first half of 2021 the Palestinian Authority did not receive any donor aid funds, according to the budget performance report it publishes monthly. Recent reports indicate that EU funding to the PA has merely been delayed for “technical reasons”. The delay processing the EU aid has compounded the alleged financial difficulties of the PA resulting from the major drop in all international aid.

Before the EU manages to overcome its technical difficulties and other countries consider restoring aid to the PA, Palestinian Media Watch suggests that the donors first demand that the PA explains why it is funding the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and what exactly the PLO has done with over 415 million shekels it received from the PA since the beginning of 2021. Over the years, cumulatively, the PA expenditure on the PLO institutions has totaled nearly 8 billion shekels.

Every month the PA transfers huge sums of money to the “PLO institutions”. The sum transferred depends on whether the PA is open and honest about its payments to the terrorist prisoners or whether it is trying to hide them. As PMW has already proven, when the PA is open and honest about its monthly salary payments to the terrorist prisoners, the PA’s monthly budget performance includes a provision for the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs (or some similar name). When the PA is trying to hide its payments to the terrorist prisoners, it funnels the money through the budgetary provision for the “PLO institutions.” While PMW has written extensively on this PA deceit, the following table sums up the story.

In 2016 and 2017, the PA was trying to hide its payments to the terrorist prisoners. In those years, the PA, according to its own financial reports, had no expenditure for the terrorist prisoners. In each of those years the PA expenditure on the “PLO institutions” stood at 430 million and 464 million shekels, respectively, for the first half of the year.

In 2018 and 2019, when the PA openly showed its expenditure on the terrorist prisoners, the expenditure for the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs suddenly jumped to 266 million and 322 million shekels, respectively, during the first six months of the year, while the expenditure on the PLO institutions plummeted to 193 million and 177 million shekels, respectively.

In 2020 and 2021, when the PA returned to its policy of trying to hide the financial expenditure for the salaries of the terrorists, it completely removed the line of the “Ministry/Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs” from its budget performance. Accordingly, while the PA expenditure on the monthly salaries of the terrorist prisoners ostensibly disappeared, the PA expenditure on the “PLO institutions” again spiked, rising to 390 million and 415 million shekels, respectively, for the January through June period.


Iran taking advantage of lax enforcement of US sanctions to export fuel
As Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets with U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House in the midst of U.S. force withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Iranian file will soon take center stage. Experts tell JNS that existing sanctions are becoming problematic, as they tend to wear down over time as workarounds are found. They also say that the current administration has been lax in enforcing them—sanctions that were put in place by the former administration.

Patrick Clawson, a senior fellow and director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tells JNS that in blocking Iranian energy exports, “the U.S. government’s objective has been to prevent Iran from getting resources it can use elsewhere.”

“While fuel exports to Lebanon are unlikely to produce money for Iran, they will give Hezbollah a potent way to raise cash, which means Tehran needs to send the group less. So such exports are a setback for U.S. policy,” he explains.

“Fuel exports to Afghanistan produce a flow of cash: We are talking small traders on both sides, and Afghan banks are not working,” adds Clawson.

It is useful for the Iranians involved and marginally useful for the Iranian government since the price for the exported fuel products is low; the government makes little off them, he says. “I would be surprised if this is more than 20,000 barrels a day, even though officially it is less than 10,000, but there is a fair amount of smuggling.”
Hezbollah looks to take over Lebanon’s energy needs
Hezbollah has increasingly become more powerful than the State of Lebanon, conducting its foreign policy, sending fighters to wage wars on behalf of Lebanon in Syria, and now looking to have a stranglehold on the country’s energy needs. The Iranian-backed Lebanese group said it would begin to import gasoline and diesel from Iran in mid-August. In the two weeks since then, Hezbollah has clarified some of the details.

According to Tasnim News in Iran and Al-Ahd News, Sheikh Ali Dammoush, deputy chairman of the Executive Council of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said on Friday during a sermon that Hezbollah will solve Lebanon’s problems. Lebanon is in a financial free fall and the country is slouching from one crisis to another with inflation, a weak currency and energy scarcity.

This has ruined the middle class, from which Hezbollah has fed – meaning that as Lebanon falters, Hezbollah sponges up more parts of the economy. Because it traditionally lived off the poorer Shi’ite population, its goal was to sideline Sunnis and co-opt Christians, in order to grab enough votes in the sectarian parliament of Lebanon.

Hezbollah has already achieved control of the presidency, with its Christian ally Michel Aoun installed there, and it controls the country’s foreign policy. Although Lebanon has an army, Hezbollah controls defense policy as well, stockpiling 150,000 missiles aimed at Israel. Now the Islamic group says it provides livelihoods and reduces the suffering of the people, and the decision to import fuel from Iran has been made in order to serve the people and meet their challenges, according to Dammoush.
Iran taps UN-sanctioned minister as new chief of nuclear agency
Iran’s president on Sunday appointed a new director of the country’s nuclear department, state TV reported, replacing the nation’s most prominent nuclear scientist with a UN-sanctioned minister who has no reported experience in nuclear energy but ties to the defense ministry.

Iran’s newly elected hardline President Ebrahim Raisi chose Mohammad Eslami, a 64-year-old civil engineer who previously oversaw the country’s road network, to lead Iran’s civilian nuclear program and serve as one of several vice presidents. He succeeds Ali Akbar Salehi, a US-educated scientist who was a key player during the years of intense international diplomacy that led to Tehran’s now-tattered 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

The deal curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, but then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement and reimposed crushing sanctions. Iran, in response, has gradually and publicly abandoned all restrictions on its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium.

In 2008, when Eslami served as head of Iran’s Defense Industries Training and Research Institute, the United Nations sanctioned him for “being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran’s proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

The UN linked the blacklisting to his “involvement in procurement of prohibited items, goods, equipment, materials and technology,” without elaborating.

During the tenure of more moderate former president Hassan Rouhani, Eslami served as transportation and urban development minister. Before joining the cabinet in 2018, he worked for years in Iran’s military industries, most recently as deputy defense minister responsible for research and industry.


Intel previews biggest chip shifts ‘in generation,’ some developed in Israel
Intel has previewed its most significant architectural innovations “in a generation,” disclosing some specifications for upcoming microprocessors including the semiconductor chip manufacturer’s first performance hybrid architecture developed partly in Israel, data center processors, infrastructure processing unit architectures, and graphics architectures.

At its Intel Architecture Day 2021 this month, Intel provided a glimpse into its 12th-generation Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture for PC users, code-named Alder Lake, and designed chiefly in Israel. The chips work with Intel Thread Director technology, a type of controller built into hardware that will enable the upcoming Windows 11 operating system to better manage active and background tasks and workloads on PCs.

Alder Lake is Intel’s “most intelligent client system-on-chip (SoC) architecture,” according to the announcement, featuring a combination of Efficient-cores and Performance-cores for faster, better-performing PCs. Alder Lake mobile chips are also in the works.

In an internal presentation earlier this month, Raja M. Koduri, chief architect and senior VP of Intel’s architecture, graphics and software division, provided a deft analogy between the design of Alder Lake and that of hybrid cars.

“The fastest racing cars in the world like in Formula One use hybrid technology to achieve maximum performance. In addition to the conventional turbocharged engines that give them top speed and enough range to make it to the finish line on a tank of fuel, they add electric power to blast them out of the corners with acceleration that cannot be achieved with conventional engines,” he said.
'Natural Immunity Is Really Better': New Israeli Study Fuels Debate On Vaccination Versus Natural Immunity
A new study of the power of COVID-19 natural immunity versus the protection provided by vaccines is igniting further debate among scientists on how to assess risk from the virus.

The observational study of more than 700,000 Israelis, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, compared three groups: those who hadn’t been infected and received two doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, those who had been infected and were completely unvaccinated and individuals who were previously infected and received one dose of the vaccine. The researchers found that uninfected vaccine recipients were 13 times more likely to experience a breakthrough infection than those who were previously infected.

“It’s a textbook example of how natural immunity is really better than vaccination,” Charlotte Thålin, a physician and immunology researcher at Danderyd Hospital and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, told Science Magazine. “To my knowledge, it’s the first time [this] has really been shown in the context of COVID-19.”

Prior research has indicated that natural immunity to COVID-19 is strong, but no research has definitely shown that it is more protective than getting vaccinated up to this point.
COVID: Booster opened to all, jabbed with 3rd dose exempt from isolation
The third coronavirus vaccine was opened to all Israelis who have been fully inoculated for at least five months, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Sunday, as Israel reached two million people jabbed with the booster.

In addition, those who are recently fully vaccinated, or not recently but received the booster, are going to be exempt from isolation when they enter the country from abroad, it was announced during a press conference with the ministry’s Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash, Coronavirus Commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka, and Public Health Services head Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis.

“There is some improvement in morbidity. However, it is too early to talk about the end of the fourth wave,” Horowitz said.

"There is room for optimism, but we have no certainty that the slowdown will continue,” he said, adding that in spite of the difficult situation, “in close cooperation with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, we are maintaining a balanced and responsible approach. We value life above all, but do not forget that restrictions and closures have very severe consequences.”

Zarka announced that from October 1, only four kinds of people will be eligible for the green pass that grants access to several activities and venues: those who became fully vaccinated with a second shot during the previous five months, who have received a booster, who recovered within the last six months, or who have recovered and received one shot.

“We are updating our definition of what it means to be vaccinated,” Zarka said.
Archaeologists Dig Up a Famous Hebrew Inscription

The REAL History of Israel
Can you name the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago?

That's right - #ISRAEL!

This video is all #facts #NoFakeNews and tells the story about the #Jewish people and their eternal connection to the land of Israel.









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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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