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Monday, October 18, 2021

10/18 Links Pt1: 89% of Palestinian films showcased by Netflix directed by BDS supporters; In Private, Iraqis Support Peace With Israel; Hamas sentences 2 to death for collaborating with Israel

From Ian:

89% of Palestinian films showcased by Netflix directed by BDS supporters
Nearly 90% of films in Netflix's recently launched "Palestinian Stories" collection of films are directed by supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, according to findings from right-wing watchdog group Im Tirzu.

On Friday, Israel Hayom reported the online streaming service had announced the launch of the collection of 32 films, which it said would be expanded in the future. Sixteen of the 19 directors whose films are currently available for streaming in the Palestinian category are BDS supporters, while 12 had called for a boycott of the Jewish state when they signed a letter blasting Israel as recently as May.

In the letter titled "A Letter Against Apartheid," the directors alleged "Palestinians are being attacked and killed with impunity by Israeli soldiers and armed Israeli civilians who have been roaming the streets of Jerusalem, Lydda, Haifa, Jaffa, and other cities chanting, 'Death to Arabs.'" The letter further accused Israel's government of carrying out a "massacre" in the Gaza Strip and fomenting "murder, intimidation, and violent dispossession."

"We call for an end to the support provided by global powers to Israel and its military … Israeli apartheid is sustained by international complicity, it is our collective responsibility to redress this harm," the letter's signatories said.

The films offer a one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and include scenes depicting interrogation by Israeli security officials and life in a refugee camp.

Critics of the new Netflix collection argue that the films portray a biased depiction of the conflict while glorifying terrorism and omitting the thousands of terror attacks perpetrated against Israeli civilians.

"It is unforgivable that Netflix has become an outlet for the spread of material written by propagandists who seek to boycott Israel and remove it from the map. This at a time of rising global antisemitism, much of it disguised as anti-Israel activity," investigative journalist David Collier said.
How Media Reviews Enable Cinema to be Used as Vehicle for Palestinian Propaganda
When Linda Sarsour recently tweeted about Palestinian films and documentaries arriving on Netflix, her choice of words was telling: “Educate yourself,” she told her followers. “Learn about the Palestinian experience.”

Not a word about Palestinian culture, cuisine, architecture, music or family drama. Sarsour summarised the function of Palestinian cinema as showing viewers about “the Palestinian experience,” a codeword for the story of what Sarsour and others term “life under occupation.”

In truth, the burgeoning Palestinian cinema scene has been developing for some years now, and is a key tool in Palestinian ‘soft power’ through which to influence the hearts and minds of people around the world. The relentless drab scenery and stories of alleged injustice meted out by an uncaring, unforgiving Israeli military machine are staples of Palestinian films and serve to influence the way people perceive the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians specifically, as well as the Arab-Israeli conflict in general.

Compare this to Israeli television. Many of the films and television series made in Israel have very little to do with the Palestinians or indeed the Arab world at all. Shtisel, aired by Netflix and subject of positive reviews around the world, focuses on an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem and barely mentions any non-Jewish characters.

While Israeli films and television series often do relate to the conflicts Israel deals with, their scope is far more extensive than the simple victimhood narrative that is the hallmark of Palestinian film. Instead, Israeli television wrestles with the ethical dilemmas facing Israeli soldiers and the Israeli public, and attempts to humanize the people on both sides, most notably in Our Boys (2019), based on the kidnapping and murders of young Israeli teenagers in the summer of 2014 that led to a serious escalation between Israel and Hamas.

To a lesser extent, this is also true of Netflix’s global hit show Fauda, which shows numerous Palestinian characters at home engaged in day-to-day life, as well as a romance between a Palestinian woman and an Israeli man. In some cases, Israeli television and film productions are highly critical of the Israeli government and military, and sympathetic to the Palestinians.

For example, the recent Israeli film Let There Be Morning (2021), featuring a Palestinian cast, depicts a Palestinian accountant whose path home is blocked by an Israeli checkpoint.

Overwhelmingly, Palestinian film and television, however, simply do not display anywhere near such compassion for the people on the ‘other side’ of the conflict.

Taken in comparison with the type of jingoistic fare often seen on Palestinian television, which depicts Palestinians as crushing scared Jews, and often features military parades and Islamic preaching, a stark contradistinction emerges. These themes are entirely absent from the films made for Western consumption.
UKLFI warns Amazon and Google that “workers'” BDS campaign orchestrated by anti-Israel NGOs
Anonymous Amazon and Google workers’ supposedly wrote a letter to the Guardian claiming 300 Amazon workers and 90 from Google had signed a letter calling on Amazon and Google to drop the cloud contract, which is known as Nimbus.

UKLFI has now written to Amazon and Google with information that undermines the claim that this campaign that was started by workers at Amazon and Google.

The time line indicates that the campaign was co-ordinated by anti-Israel NGOs.

On 12 October at 11.45 BST NBC News published an op-ed by two Amazon and Google workers, which attacked the Nimbus contract. One of the co-authors was Bathool Syed, a content strategist at Amazon, whose Instagram page links directly to a website called notechforapartheid.com.

A letter in the Guardian was published on Tuesday 12 October at 17.15 BST, by “anonymous Google and Amazon workers”, which stated that “So far, more than 90 workers at Google and more than 300 at Amazon have signed this letter internally “. Since the signatories were anonymous there was of course no proof of who or how many people actually signed the letter.

The “No Tech for Apartheid” website was launched on 13 October at https://www.notechforapartheid.com/, and it appeared to be in response to the Guardian article. The website urges people to add their names to an automatically generated email to these Amazon and Google executives, demanding that they should pull out of the Nimbus contract.

The Wayback Machine web archive shows that the activity on the website began on Wednesday 13 October 2021 at 14.43 BST. (screenshot at A4). The “No Tech for Apartheid” website is professionally designed and contains a great deal of content, including long articles from five different Palestinians describing “life under apartheid”. On 13 October it contained endorsements from 40 anti-Israel organisations.
Pro-Israel Advocacy Groups Send Letter to Unilever Asserting It Can Overturn Ben & Jerry’s Israel Boycott
Two major pro-Israel advocacy groups have sent a letter to Unilever, the parent company of the ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s, arguing that, contrary to its claims otherwise, Unilever could overturn the latter’s decision to boycott the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

Ben & Jerry’s stated in July that it will not sell its products in what it called the “the Occupied Palestinian Territory” because it was “inconsistent with our [company] values.” The ensuing backlash has seen a number of US states seek to divest from the company and its multinational parent company Unilever, on the basis of anti-BDS legislation.

In July, Unilever released a statement saying that “as part of the acquisition agreement, we have always recognized the right of the brand and its independent Board to take decisions about its social mission.”

In a letter dated Oct. 15, 2021 addressed to Unilever CEO Alan Jope and the company’s Board of Directors, StandWithUs and the Israeli-American Coalition for Action argued that the “right” referred to by Unilever is not absolute, and the company has the power to overturn Ben & Jerry’s decision.

Unilever’s contract with Ben and Jerry’s, the letter stated, “gives Unilever the power to make ‘financial and operational’ decisions for Ben & Jerry’s; the Board can make ‘social’ decisions only insofar as they are ‘commercially reasonable.’”

“Boycotting an entire country is, in fact, commercially unreasonable,” asserted the letter, “especially when it triggers counter-boycotts by states and consumer groups and divestment of state pension funds” — referring to legal and financial actions taken by various entities in reaction to boycotts of Israel in general and Ben & Jerry’s in particular.

“Ben and Jerry’s must explain — to you and to the investing public — how its social mission requires such a boycott when it signed a contract showing that doing business in Israel was consistent with its social mission,” the letter said. “Clearly, it is Ben and Jerry’s that is in breach, and it is within Unilever’s rights to reverse the Board.”


In Private, Iraqis Support Peace With Israel
Compounding such hard feelings is the behavior of many Palestinians and their leaders, who not only expect Iraqi and Syrian solidarity without reciprocation but have even befriended Iraqi and Syrian tyrants.

The late Yasser Arafat stood next to Hussein as both men paraded the Iraqi army that had decimated a fellow Arab country, Kuwait. In 2014, Incumbent Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas sent Syrian president Bashar al-Assad a congratulatory note on Assad’s “reelection for a third term.” Earlier this year, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, sent a delegation that praised Assad for his support of “the cause.”

Murals of Hussein decorate Palestinian streets, and when Palestinians worldwide protest any war in Gaza, many of them join rallies wearing shirts with pictures of Hussein.

To top it all, Palestinians expect Iraqis to boycott Israel even as Palestinians in the territories benefit from the stability of the Israeli currency and buy electricity and water from efficient Israeli facilities. Thousands of Palestinians earn a living by working in or trading with Israel, one of the region’s biggest economies.

Iraqis, however, are not supposed to seek the economic opportunity offered by the normalization of relations with Israel. Iraqis are supposed to boycott Israel, support Palestinians, and call on the world to focus on the “Palestinian cause,” all while ignoring their own interests until those of the Palestinians are served.

This is why, in private, Iraqis call for peace with Israel. In public, they are forced to say the opposite. Even Iraqis living abroad fear Palestinian social shaming should they support peace and normalization with the Jewish state.

Most people support peace, but only a few of them are willing to suffer for its sake. Had America been consistent in supporting freedom of expression and democracy in Iraq, then many of the peace supporters would have shown their faces. But in the absence of freedom, people should not expect much.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. He Tweets @hahussain.
Dore Gold: Saudi Arabia is No Longer a Kingdom of Hate
What is required in the region is a new infrastructure of relations. After the Second World War, the US wanted to withdraw its troops, but the Soviet Union kept its armored forces ready in Germany and Czechoslovakia. The Western powers created NATO, bringing together former enemies, in order to address the new threat to them all. Today our collective challenge is Iran and its proxies, which seek to re-establish Persian power in the framework of a renewed Safavid Empire.

That would bring the Iranian armed forces into most of Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, and large parts of Syria. Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been in Lebanon since 1982 and stand to take over that country today as its economy collapses. Tehran is claiming much of the Arab Gulf, as its sovereign territory, beyond the obvious case of Bahrain.

Iran is also active across Africa. It uses Hizbullah to train Arabic-speaking militias. It employed its embassy in Algiers to reach out to the Polisario in the Western Sahara, and arm them to fight Morocco. Iran has a clearly expansionist agenda. The West’s attitude to Iran is unclear. The last time it made a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2015 (the JCPOA), it removed sanctions’ leading to massive funds flowing to the Iranian treasury and then to its militia forces around the Middle East. This must not happen a second time.

The way forward is for like-minded Saudis and Israelis to draw together. Governments will follow. We need to create consensus for the security of our nations. There are great risks on the horizon but there are great opportunities as well if we can cooperate. The time for action is now. It cannot be delayed while we wait for political developments that might take years to reach fruition. Even private citizens can bring about the needed changes if they can reach out to visionary leaders on both sides.

This is not about geo-politics alone. Historically, Jews and Muslims have been cousins who surmounted their differences and reached a common language that brought us together. In the Middle Ages, Jewish religious scholars like Maimonןdes and Yehuda Halevi wrote in Judeo-Arabic–which was written in Arabic with Hebrew letters

Our religions are rooted in common concepts, especially the One-ness of G-d, which is called Tawhid in Arabic. Our concept has been enshrined in the Biblical verse: “Hear O Israel the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One.” We have both protected our peoples from the Byzantines, the Crusaders, and others who sought to obliterate both our civilisations. We overcame what separated us and we survived.

While we have security challenges that bring us together today, we should leave future generations with a new basis of cooperation and hope that keeps our peoples as one in an alliance of civilisations. Our region gave birth to our religions and to the nations that today live with us. We must embrace that history again and in doing so set the stage for a very different Middle East.
PMW: Does the third Geneva Convention apply to the Palestinian terrorists arrested by Israel?
While the Palestinians and their supporters often claim that Palestinian terrorists are legitimate combatants who, upon arrest, are entitled to the status of POWs in accordance with GCIII, this claim has no basis whatsoever.

The POW status is defined in GCIII. The examination above of GCIII and its provisions demonstrates why even the former PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Ashraf Al-Ajrami admits that Palestinian terrorists are not POWs. Asked to clarify how many of the imprisoned Palestinian terrorists are legally and lawfully entitled to enjoy POW status, Al-Ajrami was forced to concede that of a potential of 12,000 prisoners, less than 5 would legitimately have been entitled to be seen as POWs.

The reasons for this are numerous.

First and foremost, since GCIII only applies to “international armed conflicts” and since no such conflict exists between Israel and the Palestinians, there is no general basis to invoke the application of GCIII.

Additionally, examination of the provisions set in GCIII to warrant the POW status shows that the Palestinian terrorist groups do not meet the required conditions. The terrorists do not belong to hierarchical bodies in which commanders are responsible for the actions of their subordinates or in which there are disciplinary
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin commemorated 26 years after assassination
YONATAN BEN ARTZI said that the anniversary of his grandfather’s death leaves no Israeli untouched, but for members of his family, it’s a daily loss. They remember Rabin’s valiant efforts to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians while defending Israel’s democracy.

Harking back to the hatred and incitement which caused deep rifts in Israeli society on the eve of Rabin’s murder, Ben Artzi said that in recent years, hatred, incitement and violence had prevailed, but 2021 had been a turning point.

“After years of fear and paralysis, the citizens of Israel straightened their backs and stood upright; liberty and democracy triumphed and overpowered the verbal and physical violence and the culture of tyranny and lies,” Ben Artzi said. “The rule of the people defeated the one-person rule. Gone was the notion of a single privileged individual.” The inference to Netanyahu was loud and clear. It was time for the nation to overcome its trauma and to begin to heal, he said.

Netanyahu’s reported reaction was that he has always been used as a political foil at Rabin memorial events. If he showed up he was attacked, and if he didn’t show up, he was also attacked.
IAF, Luftwaffe fly over Knesset in Jerusalem as Blue Flag drill launches
The Israel Air Force (IAF) and German Luftwaffe flew over the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday, as the international Blue Flag exercise launched with the participation of seven countries.

Blue Flag, which will take place until October 28, will include air force soldiers from the US, Germany, Italy, the UK, France, India and Greece. This is the largest and most advanced aerial exercise ever hosted in Israel.

This is the first time that British fighter jets will take part in an exercise in Israel since the British Mandate, the first time that an Indian "Mirage" fighter squadron will ever be deployed in Israel and the first deployment of a French "Rafale" fighter squadron in Israel.

The exercise is meant to strengthen strategic international cooperation through shared learning about the integration of fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft in complex operational scenarios. The participating forces will drill air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) threats and a number of operational scenarios in enemy territory.

The flyover of Jerusalem, titled "The Wings of History," was led by IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin in a "Baz" F-15 fighter jet, alongside an "Adir" F-35. Luftwaffe (German Air Force) Inspector Lt.-Gen. Ingo Gerhartz flew alongside the Israeli aircraft in the "Eagle Star" Eurofighter, which was painted with the Israeli and German flags.
Swedish FM in visit to Israel: Sweden is a friend of Israel
The president thanked Linde for hosting the Malmö Forum, stressing the need for international unity in fighting antisemitism. Herzog “emphasized the importance of the indisputable fact of Israel’s unique status in the family of nations as the state of the Jewish People, which maintains equality between all its citizens and is a liberal democracy,” his spokesman said.

The president also highlighted the Abraham Accords and encouraged Sweden to actively support efforts for peace and normalization with more states in the region.

The 2014 diplomatic dispute between Israel and Sweden was exacerbated when Sweden’s foreign minister at the time Margot Wallström accused Israel of “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinians. Lapid, then leader of an opposition party, accused Wallström of antisemitism, at a pro-Israel rally in Stockholm in 2016.

Israel recalled its ambassador from Stockholm for a month, and there was no contact between the countries on the ministerial level until this year.

But in the past two years, Sweden has made an effort to improve relations, including speaking in favor of convening the EU-Israel Association Council and supporting Israeli candidacy to UN bodies.

Those efforts culminated with Lapid and Linde meeting at the sidelines of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council in July, where Linde expressed her willingness to improve relations between the countries.

Following the first official conversation between Israeli and Swedish foreign ministers in seven years in September, Sweden announced that it would boycott the anti-Israel Durban IV Conference at the UN.

Ties between Israel and Sweden also fit with Lapid’s stated goal of strengthening Israel’s ties to liberal, democratic countries.
Ex-Sec. of State Colin Powell dies of COVID complications
In a brief statement, the Powell family said he had died on Monday morning from COVID-19, had been fully vaccinated against the disease, and it thanked the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center near Washington.

It did not address such matters as what vaccine he received or whether he had gotten a booster shot, when he fell ill, when he may have been hospitalized and whether he may have had underlying health conditions that contributed to his illness.

Condolences poured in, including from former President George W. Bush.

"Many presidents relied on General Powell's counsel and experience," Bush wrote in a statement. "He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom - twice."

Israeli officials on Monday also offered their condolences to Powell's family and to the American people.

"I send my deepest condolences to the family of Colin Powel (sic) and to the American people," former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted. "Colin Powel served his country with great dedication and we will always remember his friendship to the State of Israel."

Israeli Ambassador to the US and the UN Gilad Erdan said Powell was a "friend & strong supporter of the State of Israel" and described him as "a true military & foreign policy leader and statesman."
Sir David Amess killing: Suspect’s online activity may be the most relevant factor in fatal stabbing
Top of the list of concerns for security services is the fact that Ali Harbi Ali’s conduct was once troubling enough for him to have been referred as a teenager to the Prevent deradicalisation scheme, yet subsequently deemed harmless enough never to have made it on to MI5’s list of subjects of interest.

The Prevent scheme is voluntary and there are plenty referred to it who turn out to be no threat. The long gap between Ali’s referral and Friday’s attack — with no apparently signs of extremism in between — means that even if a different assessment had made in his teenage years, it’s unlikely he would still have been on MI5’s radar now, given the number of others posing a more visible threat.

That makes his activities online potentially the most relevant factor behind what happened. Reports already suggest that his teenage views were influenced by hate speech on YouTube, including inflammatory content posted by the convicted IS sympathiser Anjem Choudary, and police will be trawling the suspect’s accounts to see whether fears of radicalisation during lockdown, which both MI5 and senior counter terrorism officers warned about previously, were borne out in this case. Analysis of phones and computers will also make clear whether social media companies might have been able to spot extremist activity that they could have done more to flag or block.
Did Mail on Sunday Seek Out Islamist Hate Preacher In Hopes of Prompting Linkage Between MP’s Murder & Israel?
The article later notes that while Sir David was a member of a group that backs the Jewish state, he was “not known for taking a hardline pro-Israeli stance.”

There are three troubling elements to this article.

First, from the description that Choudary was speaking from his home and the fact that, as yet, no other publication has printed his comments, we can only assume the MoS sent a journalist to doorstep or at the very least to call this publicly-reviled figure to ask his views on the brutal murder of an MP less than 48 hours after the tragedy occurred.

It is a mystery why a news outlet would give a platform to the ramblings of a man who inspired terrorists, including the killers of British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013, and who was once described as “the gateway to terror.”

Second, given the title of the article it appears the MoS contacted Choudary specifically with a view to manufacturing a “fury” — and, as a corollary, drive traffic to its site — even as Britain and the world at large were still reeling in shock from the murder.

In this respect, the MoS was the cause of the effect it subsequently reported on.

If so, to say that artificially creating an upheaval in order to sell some advertising on the heels of such a gruesome event is unethical would be an understatement.


Palestinian woman arrested while approaching settlement armed with a knife
Border Police officers arrested a Palestinian woman armed with a knife as she approached an Israeli settlement outside Jerusalem on Monday, police said.

The suspect, whom Palestinian media identified as Samah Bakrawi, 37, from the village of Bayt Surik, was spotted by Israeli soldiers monitoring security cameras as she walked up to a locked gate into the Har Adar settlement.

Border Police officers were quickly sent to the scene and called for the woman to halt, according to police.

“The officers made the arrest without the use of gunfire as the suspect threw away the knife from her hand,” police said.

She was taken into custody for further questioning, according to a police statement.

Israeli security forces have in the past noted a phenomenon of Palestinians attempting so-called “suicide by cop” by acting in a suspicious or threatening manner with the hope that they will be shot dead by Israeli troops.
MEMRI: Palestinian Public Figures, Journalists Criticize President 'Abbas' UN Speech: His Ultimatum To Israel Is Meaningless; He Must Immediately Step Down, Hold Elections
In his September 24, 2021 speech at the UN General Assembly, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud 'Abbas presented Israel with an ultimatum, giving it one year to withdraw to the 1967 borders and settle the final status issues with the Palestinians. He threatened that, if this fails to happen, the PA will revoke its recognition of Israel, and the Palestinian people will have a range of options, including "returning to a solution based on the partition plan of resolution 181 (II), adopted in 1947, which gives the State of Palestine 44% of the land"; demanding "equal and full political rights for all on the land of historical Palestine, within one state," and asking the international court to rule "on the issue of the legality of the occupation of the land of the Palestinian state.”[1]

Despite its harsh tone, the speech sparked intense criticism from journalists, politicians and former officials in the PA and the PLO, who stated that 'Abbas' ultimatum was meaningless, because similar threats had been made in the past but never truly implemented – and therefore that the statements would not be taken seriously by either Israel or the world.[2] They also argued that waiting a year for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders constituted a passive position aimed at perpetuating the stagnation in the Palestinian arena, rather than a plan aimed at creating real change. One of the writers complained that 'Abbas had raised the one-state solution at this international forum without first bringing it to the Palestinian institutions, chiefly the PLO, for an in-depth discussion. This is wrong, he said, not only because it disregards the official Palestinian institutions, but because it accepts in advance that the cause of an independent Palestinian state is already lost.

The writers also criticized 'Abbas's conduct in the internal Palestinian arena, noting his postponement of the Palestinian elections and accusing him of cementing his autocratic rule, usurping the will of the people and suppressing freedom of expression. They urged him to stop clinging to his seat and hold elections for the Palestinian institutions, giving the Palestinians a chance to elect a new leadership that will correctly read the political map, formulate a vision, promote the Palestinians' national interests and improve their situation. It should be mentioned that these statements reflect the public criticism against the PA, and especially against 'Abbas, that has been growing in the recent months due to the repeated postponement of the elections and the repression of free speech, as seen, for example, in the context of the Nizar Banat murder.[3]

The following are translated excerpts from these articles:
Palestinian Journalist To 'Abbas: Instead Of Making Bombastic Speeches, Note The Situation On The Ground And Step Down

Ibrahim Du'aibas, a columnist for the Al-Quds daily, published in East Jerusalem, ridiculed 'Abbas's ultimatum and said that verbal threats against Israel will not be effective. He urged 'Abbas to leave office gracefully and let the Palestinian people elect a new leadership. He wrote: "President Abu Mazen addressed the General Assembly by video from his office in Ramallah, in a speech full of demands and reservations, saying that things have come to a head and that Israel has one year to withdraw from the territories it occupied in 1967. These are fanciful statements that evoke many questions, mainly, what if Israel fails to withdraw? What will we do then?

"In the past, Arafat threatened [to use] 'the rifle of the revolutionary,' yet he has passed from the world, and the [Palestinian] revolutionary has not used that rifle for decades. [My] question for President ['Abbas] is the following: What will you do if Israel does not withdraw in a year?... The role of the UN has ended, and so has the role of fiery speeches. People have long been considering only the reality they see on the ground. What we see is very painful, and there is no attempt to change this reality.


Hamas sentences 2 to death, 2 to hard labor for collaborating with Israel
Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip sentenced two men to death on allegations that they had collaborated with Israel, according to Sunday reports.

A Hamas court ordered that the two men, from Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, be hanged.

Reports did not say when the sentence will be carried out.

Two other men were sentenced to hard labor, also for collaborating with Israel.

The sentences came as a Palestinian Authority court in the West Bank city of Bethlehem sentenced a man to 15 years in prison for attempting to sell land to Jewish Israelis.

Under Palestinian Authority law, selling land to Jews can be a capital offense.


Iran despot to snub Cop26 after calls for him to be arrested on arrival in Scotland
Iran’s new president will snub Cop26 talks after we revealed calls for him to be arrested on arrival in Scotland.

Despot Ebrahim Raisi — dubbed the Butcher of Tehran — had considered making the UN climate change summit his first appearance on the global stage.

But Iranian state media has reported he will not attend.

Campaigners have said the tyrannical president should never be allowed on European soil amid accusations he tortured and executed 30,000 political opponents including pregnant women and children during the 80s.

Hossein Abedini, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran UK, said his organisation understood Raisi would not attend.

He said: “Raisi should be held accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide.” (h/t MtTB)
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad forced to leave UAE - report
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was forced to leave the United Arab Emirates after he arrived in the country to visit the Expo 2020 in Dubai, due to the recommendation of Emirati officials, according to Iranian Fars News. He reportedly returned to Iran on Sunday night.

Ahmadinejad served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. In May, it was reported that he wants to run for the presidency again. The Expo 2020, an event to display the achievements of all participating countries to the world, had been postponed to October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was originally supposed to start last year.

The European Parliament voted last month to boycott the UAE Expo due to the country's human rights record, and also called on other member states to not participate in the event.

Ahmadinejad is known to be controversial due to his statements denying the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad attempted to justify his claims by saying that the Holocaust is "a pretext for Israeli oppression of Palestinians."
Alleged Hezbollah money launderer close to Venezuelan leader extradited to US
A fugitive businessman accused of acting as a money launderer for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime said Sunday he would not collaborate with the United States, a day after he was extradited to the country from Cape Verde.

Past media reports have said some of the laundered cash ended up with the Hezbollah terror group, Iran’s proxy terrorist militia in Lebanon.

Maduro said Sunday evening in a televised address that Alex Saab’s extradition on Saturday was “one of the most ignoble and vulgar injustices that has been committed in recent decades.”

Authorities had held a rally in Saab’s support earlier Sunday in Caracas, during which his wife, Camilla Fabri, read aloud a letter from him.

“I will face my trial with total dignity,” Saab said in the letter. “I want to be clear: I do not have to collaborate with the United States. I have committed no crime.

“I declare that I am in full possession of my means and I am not suicidal, in case I am murdered and then (they) say that I committed suicide.”

Saab, a Colombian national, and his business partner Alvaro Pulido are charged in the United States with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela, an oil-rich nation mired in an acute economic crisis.

They are alleged to have moved $350 million out of Venezuela into accounts they controlled in the United States and other countries. They risk up to 20 years in prison.
EU’s Borrell ‘Optimistic’ About Possible New Iran Talks
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday he hoped EU and Iranian diplomats would meet soon to discuss a potential return to nuclear talks but declined to confirm reports of a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

A senior EU official said last week Iran was not ready yet to return to actual talks with world powers over its nuclear program and related US sanctions but could discuss with the EU in Brussels texts that would later be put forward.

Iran’s Fars news agency said discussions could take place on Thursday, citing a lawmaker on Sunday after a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. Borrell, speaking as he arrived for an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said he was becoming more optimistic.

“No confirmation yet, but things are getting better and I am hopeful we will have preparatory meetings in Brussels in the days to come,” Borrell said in Luxembourg as he arrived for an EU foreign ministers meeting. “You never know, I am more optimistic today than yesterday.”

Western diplomats have said they are concerned Tehran’s new negotiating team — under a president known as an anti-Western hardliner rather than a pragmatist like his predecessor — may make demands beyond the scope of what had already been agreed.

Iran has long denied any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.

EU political director Enrique Mora, the chief coordinator for the talks, was in Tehran on Thursday to meet Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, four months after talks broke off between Iran and world powers as Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iranian president.







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