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Tuesday, November 02, 2021

11/02 Links Pt1: The Danger to the International Community of the Two-State Solution; Sheikh Jarrah residents in Jerusalem reject High Court compromise

From Ian:

The Danger to the International Community of the Two-State Solution
Because of the Palestinian Arabs’ radical stance, all of the very generous two-state proposals that have been submitted by Israel and supported by the international community were rejected by the Palestinian Arabs in the following years: 1967, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2008 and 2009-2014. In 2005, Israel even withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza strip hoping to move closer to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but in return, Israel has since received from Hamas barrages of rocket attacks and floating firebombs into its civilian populated areas, including its capital city Jerusalem and the highly populated city Tel Aviv.

Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority, which controls Judea and Samaria, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, continue with malicious deceptive brain washing of their own populations and that of their oblivious international supporters. In addition to destroying the wellbeing of their own people, these self-serving corrupt leaders use a big part of the financial resources that are provided to them by the international community to support terrorists and their families and to build a strong terror infrastructure that will attack anybody who stands in their way – be they Muslims, Christians, or Jews – to gain even more power and personal wealth.

Some politicians and others around the world are known to be vicious anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish operatives for whatever irrational reasons, but it is very difficult to understand why any honorable and good politician would join them in bringing any anti-Israeli resolutions to the table. We must help the good people understand that forcing Israelis to give up their security, or accept any preconditions to future negotiations, will cause serious damage to the international community and the State of Israel. Israel is known to provide the international community with serious life-saving military intelligence and major benefits from advanced research and development in many essential fields. Undermining the stability and safety of the only reliable democracy in the Middle East will deprive the free world from the benefits of the Israeli experience, and it will empower the enemies of good to solidify their grip on their own people and on their oblivious international supporters, to limit the freedom of women under their domain, and to continue the abuse of their children. It will definitively not bring peace to the region.

It has been said in the past that for evil to prevail good people only need to do nothing, and appeasing evil will bring destruction to the oblivious who did not have the wisdom to correctly assess the situation. We can see classic examples of this dynamic in the early British support of Nazi Germany and in the unopposed and out of control ascent of Iran’s puppets (Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen). The free hand that was given to Iran, the biggest supporter of international terrorism, did not bring peace to the region, and the irresponsible disengagement from Afghanistan, which allowed the powerful re-emergence of the radical Muslim Taliban and ISIS, created a time bomb, the eventual consequences of which are still being studied by the intelligence agencies.

It is important to remind the wise that appeasing the bad operatives with financial or political support will not convert them into peace-loving altruistic angels, but on the contrary, will only embolden them to stay their evil course to the detriment of all honorable peace-loving individuals across the globe.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Biden's Palestinian Policies Will Not Bring Peace
The Biden administration is apparently hoping that engaging Mahmoud Abbas would undermine Hamas and other Palestinian extremists and embolden "moderate" Palestinians who are prepared to make peace with Israel and renounce violence.

The results of the polls, however, show that the Palestinian public is moving in precisely the opposite direction – towards more extremism and disillusionment with the PA leadership.

Referring to the peace process with Israel, 68% of the Palestinians said that they oppose a return to negotiations with Israel led by the US under the Biden administration.

The millions of dollars that the Biden administration is pouring on the Palestinians will not make them more moderate and encourage them to abandon violence and terrorism. There is only one way to deradicalize the Palestinians: halt the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews.

It is the catastrophic failure to hold Abbas and the PA to account for their incitement against Israel and for their corruption that is emboldening Hamas and others who seek to destroy Israel.
Amb. Alan Baker: Israel’s Designation of Six Terrorism-Linked NGOs Was in Full Accordance with International Law
The Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Lastly, the highest court for international law, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has ruled in its infamous Nicaragua Judgement5 that the United States bore responsibility as a result of its training, arming, equipping, financing, and supplying or otherwise encouraging, supporting and aiding the Contra rebel forces. Even though this decision relates to actions by states, it nevertheless shows the line that international law draws with respect to providing support to terrorist groups. The idea of an absolute prohibition to providing support to terrorist groups, whether financially or by training (as members of Al-Haq and UAWC did), indicates the strictness of international law and thereby provides states with the opportunity to protect themselves against terror threats. This clearly must include criminalizing NGOs that provide active and tangible support to such terrorist groups.

The Problem of Funding
As identified by NGO Monitor, the designated Palestinian NGOs are occasionally funded by European governmental institutions. This draws a two-sided problem: firstly, the European frameworks financially support organizations linked to terrorism and thereby indirectly fund the PFLP terrorist organization. Secondly, the six designated organizations accept funding which they misuse for their involvement in terrorist activities. The use of funds for terrorist activities is a blatant breach of international law.

According to Article 2 (1) (a) of the Terror Financing Convention, “any person commits an offense within the meaning of the Convention if that person … collects funds with the intention that they should be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out an act which constitutes an offense….” Consequently, the use of funds of the designated NGOs for their PFLP-linked purposes creates a further violation of international law.

Conclusion
Israel’s designation of the six Palestinian NGOs was in full accordance with international law norms and obligations. Moreover, by designating those organizations, Israel focused on their connection to the PFLP and the resulting active support of a terrorist group, which outweighs activities ostensibly carried out by such organizations as a cover for their terrorist activity.

The linkage between the organizations and the PFLP renders them eligible for criminalization in accordance with provisions of the relevant UN Conventions and Resolutions.

As a protection against the PFLP’s active and ongoing actions to undermine Israel’s security and the safety of its citizens, Israel, therefore, is justified in designating PFLP-linked NGOs as terror groups and, as such, in protecting itself against prevailing threats to peace and security.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Palestinian NGOs Struggle With Concept Of Not Inciting To Murder (satire)
Civil society groups working for Palestinian independence acknowledged difficulty today in comprehending the insistence of donors and diplomats that those organizations’ activities not include the active pursuit of violence in which Israeli Jews will die.

Spokespeople for several NGOs that Israel listed last week as fronts for the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in addition to blanket condemnation of Israel for “silencing” or “suppressing” activity aimed at upholding human rights, disclosed that the organizations in question, in addition to similar ones operating throughout Palestinian society, get confused when Europeans or other foreign funding sources express unease at the organizations’ equation of dead Israelis to a freer Palestine.

“I mean, what else could be the path to liberation?” wondered Sufa Shubaki, whose group aims to empower women to emulate a Palestinian mother whose six sons all serve lengthy prison terms for attempts to kill Jews. “When I ask them to explain the concept of ‘not killing Israelis,’ they look at me like I’m the one who’s talking gibberish. Gentlemen, you introduced the idea; it’s on you to explain it. I can’t be expected to grasp something alien without some handle on what it’s all about.”


INSS: The Abraham Accords at One Year: Achievements, Challenges, and Recommendations for Israel
The four agreements and declarations achieved in 2020 between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, respectively, represent a breakthrough in the regional peace process, and perhaps even an opening for other Arab and Muslim countries to join the process of normalization with Israel. This paper assesses the importance of these agreements for Israeli national security in the broadest sense, and recommends a series of measures for enhancing the existing accords and extending normalization to other countries.

Given the relatively short amount of time that has passed since the Abraham Accords were signed – just over a year in the case of the UAE, and Bahrain, and ten months in the case of Morocco and Sudan – any evaluation of the agreements at this stage remains preliminary. Still, developments in the last year permit three overarching observations on their initial significance and their potential future trajectories. First, insofar as the Accords change a decades-old paradigm that had consistently linked prospects for Israeli peace with Arab states to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the normalization agreements of 2020 reflect a significant improvement for Israel’s strategic position in the region. Second, there remains considerable variation in the extent to which each agreement has translated into policies on the ground; at one end of the spectrum, the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates remains the strongest of the four, while the agreement with Sudan has not yet led to significant changes in bilateral relations. Third, the events surrounding the escalation between Israel and Hamas in May 2021 suggest that while existing normalization survived that critical test, even the most robust agreements are not likely to remain completely impervious to events in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

Background to the Abraham Accords: Long-Term Interests, Short-Term Triggers, and Initial Reactions
The announcement of normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates on August 13, 2020 surprised many people, even though the agreement capped a years-long process of gradually strengthening links between the countries. On September 15, 2020, the UAE signed a normalization agreement with Israel; that same day, Bahrain signed a declaration of peace with Israel, and one month later the two signed a joint declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations and a series of memorandums of understanding. On December 22, 2020, Morocco signed a declaration announcing the renewal of diplomatic relations with Israel, in the spirit of the Abraham Accords. After the announcement of normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan in October 2020, a declaration was signed in Khartoum on January 6, 2021, in the presence of the US Secretary of the Treasury.

Behind this flurry of diplomatic activity was a mix of longer-term trends that over the years had brought Israel and the Gulf states into alignment, and a number of proximate triggers linked to the commitment of a particular administration in the White House and concurrent political considerations within Israel throughout the summer of 2020. With respect to the Gulf states, underlying the Abraham Accords were a number of core national security interests, including the common Iranian threat and a shared ally in the United States. The attitude of some Arab countries concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict changed over the years, and the Gulf states in particular gradually lowered their demands of Israel as a condition for normalization, effectively abandoning the implied bargain of the Arab Peace Initiative. Recently a number of statements emanating from the Gulf even placed some of the blame for the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian arena on the Palestinians, reflecting a rising frustration among leaders of the Gulf states at perceived Palestinian inflexibility. Israel had developed largely covert ties with several Gulf states (all the while maintaining quiet relations with Morocco) in the security/intelligence and economic/trade realms, and more recently the countries engaged publicly in regional interfaith dialogues partly spearheaded by the UAE.

Even before the normalization agreement was signed, in the Emirates alone the ties with Israel were gradually becoming more open: the Israeli national anthem was played at sports events; there were visits of Israeli ministers; a chief rabbi was appointed for the Jewish community in Dubai; Israel was invited to participate in Expo 2020 (which eventually opened in October 2021); Abu Dhabi sent aid to the West Bank to help it combat COVID-19 (although the aid was rejected by the Palestinian Authority because it was sent via Israel); the UAE ambassador to the United States published an article in an Israeli newspaper; and Israel and the UAE signed a treaty to cooperate in the fight against COVID-19. The Emirates (together with Jordan) headed the Arab camp that openly opposed Israel’s intention to apply its sovereignty in the West Bank, but in retrospect, it seems possible that this was in preparation for normalization.

The more proximate triggers motivating normalization with Israel were connected to the countries’ relations with the United States and what they stood to gain from the Trump administration. In June 2019, at a workshop in Bahrain, the administration described the financial benefits that could derive from the promotion of ties between the participating countries, including Israel. Then in January 2020 President Trump announced his “deal of the century” peace plan, which included stipulations widely seen as endorsing Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank. By the following summer, a number of core interests had converged to incentivize the agreements.
Dubai Space-Related Conference Showcases Array of Israeli Observation Satellites
Flagship observation satellites made by Israel Aerospace Industries have in recent days been on display at a key space-related conference held in Dubai—a development made possible by the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The International Astronautical Congress, which was held Oct. 25 to 29 in the United Arab Emirates, saw IAI present its OptSat3000 high-resolution satellite and the Tecsar radar observation satellite. The latter is able to use radar waves to collect intelligence during day or night in all weather conditions.

In September 2020, Israel launched the IAI-made Ofek 16 spy satellite, carrying a higher than ever resolution camera in space. Six years earlier, Israel launched its Ofek 10 radar spy satellite.

IAI led Israel’s space exhibit at the Astronautical Congress, which was held after being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Estie Rosen, IAI’s head of media relations, told JNS that the company also exhibited a new mini-communication satellite concept and a cloud computing-based ground station for processing information from satellites.

The cloud-based ground station unveiled by IAI recently is designed to “enable maximum availability of satellite information,” she said.

The company also showcased “Beresheet,” the lunar lander that nearly brought Israel to the moon in 2019 before crashing into its surface at the last moment.
Israeli company Rafael to present at the Dubai Air Show 2021
Israeli defense technology company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems will participate in the 2021 Dubai Air Show on November 14th-18th, marking the company’s first large-scale presence in a global defense exposition in the United Arab Emirates.

Rafael hopes to showcase its aerial defense systems, as well as its satellite intelligence and communications systems, at this year’s expo. Among solutions being presented at the event is their MIC4AD command & control system – which optimizes resource management between defensive systems and is currently deployed by 28 air forces around the world – and SPYDER, a surface-to-air missile system designed to counter attacks by aircraft, helicopters, UAVs and precision-guided munitions.

Their appearance at the event will also emphasize the regional partnership between Israel and the UAE, further reinforced by Rafael’s joint venture with G42, a leading artificial intelligence and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi.

Rafael was founded in 1948 as Israel's National R&D (Research & Development) Defense Laboratory for the development of weapons and military technology. It was restructured as a limited company in 2002 due to it's previous lack of profitability. Among Rafael System’s technological advancements is the famed Iron Dome, the world's first air defense system to intercept short-range rockets.
Israel, Russia share common goal of ousting Iran from Syria
Israel understands that while its strongest ally remains the United States, it is Russia who is the key influencer in the Middle East and it is Moscow who Assad will listen to in order to gain anything from the outside world.

A larger international effort is being made to reach a settlement in Syria that would allow the war-torn country to begin rebuilding, which Moscow understands means expelling all foreign forces from Syria. Especially Iran and its proxies like Hezbollah and other Shi’ite militias. For the first time since the civil war erupted over a decade ago, Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman agreed to reopen their embassies and Jordan reopened its border crossing with Syria.

Removing Iran from the region has been a central focus of Israel’s military and while Russia has been turning a blind eye to Iran’s actions in Syria, it’s had enough.

For Israel, it’s a matter of life and death. For Russia, it’s a matter of prestige and sole influence over Assad.

The question is: will Assad listen to Putin and choose Russian influence over Tehran? Or will he decide to stay in Iran’s camp and allow the Islamic Republic to entrench its forces and weapons even further for a future war with Israel?
MEMRI: Lebanese Journalist: Peace With Israel Will Benefit Lebanon's Economy
In a recent column in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Nadim Koteich, a Shi'ite Lebanese journalist and media figure known for his opposition to Hizbullah, wrote that this organization is holding Lebanon hostage and is beggaring the country, for instance by preventing it from reaching an agreement with Israel that would enable it to exploit its natural gas resources. Referring to the deal that is currently under discussion, for alleviating Lebanon's energy crisis by importing gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, Koteich wondered why, as a country on the shores of the Mediterranean, Lebanon could drill for its own offshore gas.

What prevents this, he said, is Hizbullah's culture of perpetuating the conflict with Israel in order to justify its existence as an armed organization. It is this 'conflict first' strategy, he explained, that keeps Lebanon from reaching understandings with Israel on the demarcation of the maritime border, which would enable it to drill for gas. Koteich called on the Lebanese to free themselves of Hizbullah's grip and sign a peace agreement with Israel, since there is no ideological dispute between them but only technical problems that can be resolved.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Koteich has called for Lebanon to make peace with Israel. In September 2020 he published a similar article under the headline "When Will There Be Peace Between Lebanon and Israel?", in which he advised the Lebanese to join the dynamic of peace in the region, and argued that peace with Israel was in Lebanon's interest, but that Hizbullah was standing in the way. Similar calls were also made by other Lebanese politicians and journalists over the last 18 months.[1]

The following are translated excerpts from his column:[2]
"A surreal [farce] is now unfolding in Lebanon: the country is about to be plunged into total darkness, yet the media, political and popular [arenas] are preoccupied with a 'criminal investigation' into suspicions that the Egyptian and Jordanian gas [delivered to Lebanon] might be 'contaminated' by molecules is Israeli [gas]. Lebanon, [the land of] 'heroism, honor and resistance,' insists that it can only enter the age of electricity… after making sure that every molecule of gas [it receives] is free of normalization bombs!...

"The Egyptian gas is to be delivered to Lebanon via Syria, through the Arab pipeline that starts in Al-'Arish in Egypt, reaches 'Aqaba [in Jordan], continues northward along Jordan's territory, and then crosses Syria before arriving in Lebanon. But the thing is that, in northern Jordan, this pipeline is joined by the Israel-Jordan pipeline, carrying gas from the shores of Haifa to Al-Khanasiri in the Al-Mafraq region in Jordan's north, as part of an agreement signed in 2016 and implemented since 2020. From this point onward, one can no longer be certain of the 'racial purity' of the gas piped to Lebanon.

"As for the Jordanian electricity that was promised Lebanon, 40% of it is generated using Israeli gas. This means that Lebanon cannot find a way out of its darkness while completely avoiding 'Israeli contamination.'
Israel, Bahrain Prime Ministers Meet in Glasgow
The Israeli and Bahraini prime ministers met on Tuesday for the first time since normalization of ties, on the sidelines of the UN climate conference in Glasgow, an official Israeli statement said.

No further details were immediately available about the meeting between Israel’s Naftali Bennett and Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s crown prince and prime minister.

Bahrain and Gulf neighbor United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel last year in a US-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords that built on common commercial interests and concerns about Iran.

In September, Bahrain hosted Israel’s foreign minister in the highest-level visit since the countries formalized ties.
UK PM Johnson: We need some of Israel’s spirit to fight COVID-19 in UK
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is looking to Israel to learn how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, in a meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Tuesday.

“We need everybody in our country to learn from the Israeli booster campaign and get their jab,” Johnson stated.

While the UK has begun administering booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson said they need to try to move “at Israeli speed.”

“We need some of that spirit in the UK as well,” Johnson said.

The UK prime minister noted that he and Bennett had been in touch for months to talk about fighting COVID.

He called Israel's vaccine rollout "astonishing," saying Israel "showed the whole world a pretty clean pair of heels" by running ahead of everyone.

Bennett congratulated Johnson for hosting the climate conference.

UK involvement was "instrumental" in helping Israel launch a new policy for Climate change, he added.
Israeli Minister in Wheelchair Gains Access to COP26 a Day Late
Using wheelchair access now in place and with Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at her side, the country’s energy minister made a delayed entrance on Tuesday to the United Nation’s COP26 summit in Glasgow.

The minister, Karine Elharrar, said on Monday she was sad that she could not reach the conference grounds because the only options to get there from the gathering area were to walk or board a shuttle that was not suited to her wheelchair.

The lack of accessibility drew apologies from Britain’s ambassador to Israel and British Environment Secretary George Eustice, who suggested in a BBC interview that Israel may not have made the hosts aware of Elharrar’s particular needs in advance.

But the spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Britain said the mission had “communicated all of the necessary details to everyone concerned, as required, over the past several weeks.”

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office released a video clip showing Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy, arriving at the venue in a wheelchair-accessible taxi on Tuesday.


Johnson apologizes to wheelchair-using Elharrar as she joins Bennett at COP26
Energy Minister Karine Elharrar entered the United Nations COP26 climate conference alongside Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday morning, a day after she was barred from the confab because it was inaccessible to people in wheelchairs.

After she got out of an accessible van, Bennett pointed at the blue ramp leading into the event. “Tomorrow, it will be exactly the same,” he promised. “Let’s go.”

“This is very important,” he said to her, gesturing toward the ramp.

Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy, drove her wheelchair alongside Bennett into the venue as cameras flashed.

At the start of his three-way meeting with Bennett and Elharrar Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized to the energy minister for the incident.

He elbow-bumped Elharrar, said he was pleased to see her, and added: “I gather there was some confusion with the arrangements yesterday. I am very, very sorry about that.”

Late Monday, Bennett spoke with Johnson on the sidelines of the conference and the two agreed that Elharrar would join their formal meeting on Tuesday,


Israeli 'occupation' is critical environmental threat, PA PM tells COP26
Israel’s “occupation of Palestine” is the most critical environmental threat his people face, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh told the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) on Monday.

“We’re here today to tell the world that the Israeli occupation is the most critical long-term threat to the Palestinian environment,” Shtayyeh tweeted in advance of his speech.

He was one of 30 prime ministers, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who spoke on the second day of the event which ends on November 12. Shtayyeh used his few minutes on the global stage to blame Israel and settlement activity for the environmental problems in the West Bank and Gaza.

“The way in which waste is treated by Israel, particularly toxic waste, as well as solid waste, are the principal causes of pollution in Palestine,” Shtayyeh said.

In addition, he said, “our resources are stolen by our neighbor Israel,” he said.

Shtayyeh accused Israel, for example of felling 2.5 million trees in the Palestinian territories, since 1970, including 800,000 olive trees. In Gaza, he said, 95% of the groundwater is already contaminated. The Dead Sea will entirely dry up by 2044 if Israel doesn’t stop its practice of extracting salt and minerals from that sea, he said.

The Palestinian government signed the 2016 Paris agreement and was one of the first to adopt national environmental adaption plans ten years ago, including a program for the “greening of Palestine,” he said.

Public institutions have adopted solar energy as the main source of electricity, he said, adding that this includes 500 schools and the goal is to extend this to all educational facilities.
How the PA is Polluting Judea and Samaria
The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel’s “colonial settlements and their waste” as “Palestine’s most significant environmental dangers” in his address at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on Tuesday, listing the various grievances against Israel’s supposed environmental policies.

He accused Israel of “target[ing] land, trees, and water resources” and claimed that “around 2.5 million trees have been uprooted since 1967.”

Additionally, Israel has been “exhausting the resources of the Dead Sea, which threatens to dry it up, and restricting Palestine’s access to its shores,” Shtayyeh claimed.

However, an examination of the facts shows that the PA is the primary and almost sole environmental contaminator in Judea and Samaria in multiple facets.

The Prat Stream is polluted from sewage coming from Al-Bireh. The Shiban Stream is polluted by the slaughterhouses of Ramallah. Nahal Alexander is contaminated by PA oil mills in Samaria. The Hebron River is polluted by Hebron’s marble industry.

The Ramallah municipality poured massive mounds of trash into an abandoned quarry in the Binyamin region. More than 10,000 cubic feet of garbage were dumped there for weeks and then set on fire. The fire burned for almost a week and the smoke reached the outskirts of Jerusalem.

PA residents established a huge car wreck lot in the heart of a nature reserve in Samaria. Hundreds of similar sites are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, in almost every Arab village.


'Israel will not write off Palestinians' electricity debt'
The Palestinian Authority owes the Israel Electric Corporation 400 million shekels ($128 million) in unpaid electric bills for Palestinian residents, Minister in the Finance Ministry Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beytenu) said late Monday in response to a query by MK Orit Strock (Religious Zionist Party).

Amar said that Israel would not forgive the debt and added that he had instructed the Israel Tax Authority to "coordinate a framework with the PA that would allow the debt to be removed gradually from the tax money Israel transfers [to the Palestinians]."

The IEC produces most of the electricity consumed by the Arab residents of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. According to agreements between Israel and the PA, the PA is supposed to pay for its residents' electricity consumption.

Over the years, the Palestinians have amassed a massive debt for their electricity consumption, but the PA claims that it is unable to collect the money owed by residents who do not pay what they owe.

Israel has made a few attempts at plans to collect the PA's electricity debt. In 2017, a deal was reached that would allow Israel to deduct payments for the PA's outstanding electric debt from the tax money it collects on behalf of the PA.
Christian, Muslim, And Jewish Faiths Recognize Jerusalem Is Jewish-Why Won’t Biden?
Joe Biden is looking to reverse the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. He plans to divide the city, not geographically but diplomatically. He wants to open a Palestinian mission in Jerusalem, taking a giant step back from Trump’s recognition and reestablishing a roadblock to peace.

Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy there was a big part of setting up the Abraham Accords. This action tool the religious component out of the peace equation and allowed the Arab States to make peace without conceding the Muslim’s third holiest city to Israel because it was a done deal. If he opens a Palestinian mission in Jerusalem, he is taking away the freedom of Muslim states to make peace. He also provides the Palestinians another reason to refuse peace.

But Biden’s obligation is not to encourage peace. It’s to make his far left, anti-Israel base happy.

Jerusalem is often described as a holy city to three faiths Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, a very accurate statement. But it leaves out the most important part, any Muslim, Christian, or Jew who denies that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people is denying the scripture of their own faith.

Let’s start out with the basics. Jerusalem was NEVER part of a Palestinian State because there was never an independent state of Palestine. After the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE, the Romans punished the Judeans (Jews) for revolting a second time in sixty years. They changed the country’s name from Judea to Syria Palaestina (after the ancient enemy of the Jews, the Philistines. The Philistines were destroyed about a thousand years before Rome changed the name). At the same time, the Romans changed the name of the holy city and Judea’s capital from Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina (literally Capitoline Hill of the House of Aelius). After the Romans threw out many Jews, the holy land was ruled by the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and finally, the British mandate before it became a Jewish State in 1948.

From 135 C.E. through 1948 C.E. (when Jordan began to occupy Jerusalem), there was a large population of Jews in Jerusalem. In fact, starting with the earliest information I could find (1844), there were more Jews in Jerusalem than people of any other faith.


Jonathan Tobin: Neo-Nazis are not a political metaphor
All may be fair in love, war and politics, but you have to wonder about the astonishingly poor judgment of the political gurus at the Lincoln Project for their latest act of campaign malpractice. The group, which has been widely and accurately slammed by both conservatives and liberals as a collection of political grifters, is somehow still in business. And it made the news last week when it sent a group of its staff members to pose next to the campaign bus of Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin while pretending to be neo-Nazis supporting him.

Group members were dressed in the same manner—white shirts, khakis and tiki torches—as the extremists who participated in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally that took place in Charlottesville, Va., that led to the murder of one counter-demonstrator. The point was to make it appear as if neo-Nazis were endorsing Youngkin. And that’s the way liberal Twitter treated it for several hours afterwards with a wide variety of personalities from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to the Jewish Democratic Council of America denouncing Youngkin for being associated with such disreputable characters. Many of those tweets had to be subsequently deleted by the end of the day after enough pushback from those who smelled a rat (the fact that one of the alleged neo-Nazis appeared to be African-American understandably raised some questions about the authenticity of the effort to tie Youngkin to them), the Lincoln Project admitted they were behind it.

Rather than apologies, the geniuses at the group thought they had done something good, excusing the stunt as a way to remind voters that Republicans like Youngkin were not so different than neo-Nazis because they supported former President Donald Trump. Though some, like the JCDA, had to admit that playing the Nazi card in this manner was “inappropriate,” talking out of the other sides of their mouths they also insisted it was fair commentary because of the claim that Trump called such extremists “very fine people.”

As I’ve previously noted, the belief that Trump endorsed the Charlottesville neo-Nazis in this manner has become so entrenched in the public imagination, at least among many on the left, that pointing out that he didn’t actually say that about them, is like talking to a wall.
Trump says 'Israel literally owned Congress' in interview
Former US president Donald Trump said "Israel literally owned Congress" in an interview with Ari Hoffman on 570 KVI Friday.

During the interview, Hoffman mentioned to Trump that he had bought yarmulkes with the former president's name on them and that when he asked the vendor if they sold Joe Biden ones, they laughed.

Trump quickly went on a tangent, saying the biggest change he had seen in Congress was the shift of power from legislators under Israel's influence to anti-Israel politicians:
"Well, you know the biggest change I've seen in Congress is Israel literally owned Congress – you understand that, 10 years ago, 15 years ago – and it was so powerful, it was so powerful, and today it's almost the opposite," Trump said.

The former president referred to certain left-wing Progressives in Congress who he accused of hating Israel. "You have – between AOC [Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez] and [Rep. Ilhan] Omar and these people that hate Israel, they hate it with a passion – they're controlling Congress and Israel is not a force in Congress anymore, it's – I mean – it's just amazing. I've never seen such a change," he said.
Man with knife shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ shot by Paris Metro guards
A man wielding a knife and shouting “Allah Akbar” was shot and seriously wounded by guards at the Saint-Lazare metro station in Paris overnight Monday.

According to BFMTV, the man also shouted: “France is ruled by the Islamic State.”

The outlet said that the incident began when guards tried to question the man for not wearing a mask.

“Shortly before midnight, a man took out a knife from his bag and ran toward the agents, threatening them and shouting Allah Akbar,” a police source told AFP.

“The two agents used their service weapons to defend themselves and neutralize him. The injured individual was treated by the emergency services,” the French national railway company said.

The man was reportedly hospitalized in serious condition with bullet wounds to his torso.
Sheikh Jarrah residents in Jerusalem reject High Court compromise
The families threatened with eviction from their homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah announced on Tuesday that they have rejected a High Court compromise to solve their dispute with the Jewish-owned Nahalat Shimon Company.

Four of the families – al-Jaouni, al-Kurd, Qassem and Iskafi – were supposed to present their response to the compromise by Tuesday.

Hours before the expiration of the deadline, however, Palestinian sources said that seven other families also threatened with eviction have accepted the compromise, according to which they would be recognized as “protected tenants.”

The reports about the agreement of the seven families to the compromise, which appeared in several Palestinian media outlets, sparked a public outcry among the Palestinians. The reports claimed that several unnamed parties had advised the families to accept the compromise.

Palestinian Authority and officials from the ruling Fatah faction came out against the compromise and called on the families to reject it. Last week, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also urged the Sheikh Jarrah families to reject the compromise.

Following the outcry, a statement issued by the families said that the compromise has been rejected.

“We rejected the proposal by the Israeli Supreme Court, which would have rendered us protected tenants at the mercy of the Nahalat Shimon settler organization,” read the statement. It claimed that the compromise “paves the way for a gradual confiscation of our right to our lands.”


Israel’s High Court Rejects Request by Killer of IDF Soldier to Open His Grave to Exhume Helmet
Israel’s High Court on Monday rejected a request from a Palestinian terrorist to open the grave of the IDF soldier he killed in order to exhume the soldier’s helmet.

Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal was killed in May 2020 during an anti-terror operation in the West Bank town of Yabed.

He died after Palestinian Nizmi Abu Bakar dropped a large stone on his head from a rooftop. Yigal was wearing a helmet, but heard a sound and looked up, which exposed his unprotected face to the impact.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported Monday that, due to the severity of his injuries, Yigal was buried wearing the helmet, and Bakar’s defense attorneys asked the court to exhume it because, they claimed, it could prove Ben-Yigal was not in fact killed by the stone dropped by Bakar.

Yad Labanim, an organization that works to commemorate the lives of fallen soldiers and give aid to their families, joined with Ben-Yigal’s family in denouncing the request, saying it would be a desecration of the dead.

Eli Ben-Shem, the organization’s chairman, called the request “a new terrorism” that “seeks to harm bereaved families.”
PMW: Female Martyrs and terrorists are proof of gender equality in Palestinian society - PA minister
PA Minister of Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad: “The first women’s committee was on Oct. 26, 1929, in the shadow of the Al-Buraq Rebellion. The mighty rebellion (i.e., Hebron Massacre, 1929) in which great Martyrs died… The mighty rebellion in which the women were partners in the battle of resolve and defiance, and nine female Martyrs died… We don’t think that there is a difference [between the genders] in Palestinian society. Especially in the battle of the national struggle we emphasize going hand in hand. The proof of this is what I said… There were nine female Martyrs. We speak about Dalal Mughrabi and the Martyrs of the [Fatah] Central Committee. There is a long list and there are also female prisoners in the occupation’s prisons. Therefore, we are going hand in hand [with the men].”

The Al-Buraq Rebellion or the 1929 Arab Riots - was a wave of Arab violence in late August 1929 following a Jewish protest at the Western Wall calling for national rights. In a week, 133 Jews were killed – mostly murdered in their homes by Arabs, including the Hebron Massacre in which 65 Jews were murdered in one day and the Safed Massacre in which 18 Jews were murdered in one day; 116 Arabs were also killed during the confrontations – mostly by British police trying to stop the riots. The British reported the cause of violence in the riots was “the Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews” (1930 Shaw Commission Report).

Dalal Mughrabi – female Palestinian terrorist who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.




MEMRI: Fmr. Iranian Diplomat Mohammad-Qasem Mohebbali: Iran Causes Instability In The Middle East And Cannot Provide Any Plausible Reason For Its Uranium Enrichment, Which Leads Rivals To Conclude It Is Developing Nuclear Weapons; There Is No Alternative To The JCPOA; The American Plan B Could Be War
On October 14, 2021, the Iranian website Didarnews.ir posted an interview with Mohammad-Qasem Mohebbali, who has served as Iran's Ambassador to Malaysia and Greece and as the director of Middle East and North African affairs in Iran's foreign ministry. Ambassador Mohebbali said that 40 years of economic sanctions have crippled Iranian economy and have left the country very far behind other countries in the region in terms of economic growth. Mohebbali then discussed the issue of Palestine, which he said has "paved the road" to many of the crises in the Middle East, such as Islamic extremism. He said that Iran has been a key player in making the Palestine issue a central issue in the Middle East, and he explained that Iran adopted the "slogans" of the Palestine issue as part of an attempt to align with Arab countries during the Iran-Iraq War and to prevent the Iran-Iraq War from becoming a war between Iran and the Arab world.

He elaborated that Iran, many of the Arab regimes, and Iranian allies like Hizbullah have all had no interest in liberating Palestine because they benefit politically from the issue being prolonged. Mohebbali later said that support by Iran and its proxies for Arab governments led by ethnic minorities, such as the regimes in Syria and Yemen, has a negative impact on Iran's relations in the region, and he said that political development and democracy in the Middle East would greatly benefit Iran and would improve these relations. He reflected that Iran should not have caused instability in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Later in the interview, Mohebbali said that Iran's policies since 2017 have not taken the national interests into account. He argued that Iran should have ensured that the JCPOA was an agreement between Iran and the United States rather than between Iran and President Obama, and he expressed his opinion that Iran's current government lacks the experience to successfully negotiate with the "giants" on the other side of the negotiations table. He argued that Iran's economy is being "held hostage" by its foreign policy, which in turn is being held hostage by the JCPOA and Iran's regional policies.

He said that any alternative to the JCPOA would be a step towards war with the United States because the U.S. military considers the development of Iranian nuclear weapons to be an important threat. In addition, he pointed out that even though Iran's official policy is that nuclear weapons are prohibited for religious reasons, it is natural for Iran's opponents to conclude that there could be no other purpose for Iran's uranium enrichment efforts other than for nuclear weapons, since Iran has no nuclear power plants or nuclear submarines. Mohebbali added that Iran had initially agreed to the JCPOA because it was in dire straits, and that he fears that Iran's current government will do the same, rather than act out of "wise policy."


MEMRI: IRGC General Gholamreza Jalali: U.S., Israel Were Behind Cyber Attacks against Iranian Port, Trains
IRGC General Gholamreza Jalali, the chief of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, said in an October 30, 2021 show on Channel 1 (Iran) that the United States and the “Zionist regime” are behind a May 2021 cyber attack against the Shahid Rajaee Port, and a July 2021 cyber attack against Iran’s train system. General Jalali said that the people who carried out these attacks must have gained levels of access that only equipment manufacturers and installers usually have. General Jalali’s remarks were made against the backdrop of a cyber attack that targeted Iranian gas stations on October 26. For more information about General Gholamreza Jalali, see MEMRI TV Clips No. 7873, No. 7866, No. 7643, and No. 7575.


MEMRI: Houthi Islamic Scholar: The More Jews, Christians Trample “Jackass” MBS, the More He Clings to Them
Houthi Islamic scholar Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami said in a Friday, October 22, 2021 sermon that aired on Al-Eman TV (Houthis – Yemen) that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is a “jackass” because even though the U.S. disrespects him, “tramples” Saudi Arabia, and treats Saudi Arabia like a cash cow, he only becomes more loyal to America. Dr. Al-Shami said: “The Jews and Christians know that the hypocrites are degenerates [and that] the more you slap them, the more they cling to you.”







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