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Tuesday, December 07, 2021

12/07 Links Pt1: Does the UN have a moral compass?; Netherlands Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Israel’s Gantz Over 2014 Gaza Strike; Why an airstrike on Syria's Latakia Port matters

From Ian:

David Singer: Does the UN have a moral compass?
The term “West Bank” was coined in 1950 to designate 4% of the territory of former Palestine west of the Jordan River - called “Judea and Samaria” for the previous 3000 years - which was unified with an additional 78% of the territory of former Palestine east of the Jordan River - called Transjordan - to form a new territorial entity renamed “Jordan”.

Wennesland’s use of the stand-alone term “West Bank” without any reference to its 3000 years old historic name indicates the immoral depths to which the UN and its officials have sunk.

After all - the UN itself had used the term “Judea and Samaria” in Resolution 181 (II) on 29 November 1947:
“The boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River at the Wadi Malih south-east of Beisan”

The UN Special Commission on Palestine also used the term “Judea and Samaria” in its 1947 Report:
“...the interior of the country is very mountainous with the hills of Judea and Samaria in the centre”

Removing any possible identification with Jews and Jewish history by expunging any reference to “Judea and Samaria” – the Jewish People’s ancient and biblical heartland – exposes the UN’s anti-Jewish bias in papering over Jewish claims to this disputed territory in favour of an invented fake pro-Arab claim made for the first time in history in the 1964 PLO Charter.

“The Palestinian Authority”
On January 3, 2013 - the term “Palestinian Authority” was replaced by the term “State of Palestine” - when Mahmoud Abbas, acting in his capacities as President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed “Decree No. 1 for the year 2013.”

Article 1 of the decree states:
“Official documents, seals, signs and letterheads of the Palestinian National Authority official and national institutions shall be amended by replacing the name ‘Palestinian National Authority’ whenever it appears by the name ‘State of Palestine’ and by adopting the emblem of the State of Palestine.”

Article 4 states:
“All competent authorities, each in their respective area, shall implement this Decree starting from its date.”

What motivates the UN and its officials to still turn a blind eye to this official name change after almost 9 years?

The UN continues to lose its credibility, neutrality and impartiality as it and its officials use language and terminology which is antithetical to seeking an end to the Arab-Jewish conflict.

Sticks and stones won’t break the UN’s bones– but waging semantic warfare against Israel is certainly doing just that.


Czech FM: We changed our UN vote on Jerusalem to say no to antisemitism
The Czech Republic took a stand against antisemitism when it changed its voting pattern and for the first time rejected the United Nations General Assembly’s Jerusalem resolution, the country’s Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek told The Jerusalem Post.

“There is a rising tide of antisemitism around the world,” said Kulhánek, who, during his seven months in office, has been a staunch ally of the Jewish state.

He was one of a small number of European foreign ministers who made a solidarity trip to Israel during the Gaza war in May.

Last week at the UN he took another important step in Israel’s defense when it came to the Jerusalem resolution, which refers to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.

Already back in 2016, Kulhánek said, “The EU foreign ministers agreed on using both terms when referring to the holy sites in Jerusalem.” This includes the Temple Mount, which, as the location of the ancient Jewish Temple, is the most holy site in Judaism. As the place from where Muhammad ascended to heaven on his night journey, it is the third holiest site in Islam.

The holy site should be referred in UN documents as “Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif,” Kulhánek explained. The EU has attempted to push for the site to be referenced this way, but “needless to say, we have not been very successful,” Kulhánek said.

In 2018, the Czech Republic, along with the entire 28-member European Union bloc, supported the UNGA text, which was approved 148-11 with 14 abstentions.


The statesman in the room: How Isaac Herzog became Israel’s secret diplomatic weapon
Meretz MK Mossi Raz has not been shy about expressing his dissatisfaction with President Isaac Herzog over the president’s decision to light a Hanukkah menorah at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

Last week, as Herzog visited the divided shrine in the divided West Bank city, Raz and a handful of left-wing activists took up a position at a nearby intersection. The protesters held up signs decrying Israeli “apartheid” and promised to “banish the darkness” as they raged against the decision of a former head of the dovish Labor party to plant his flag in a city at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

A few days before the lighting, Raz and Herzog happened to run into each other in the central city of Modiin. Both were visiting the mourning Kay family, which was sitting shiva following the terrorist murder of Eliyahu David Kay in Jerusalem on November 21.

Outside the Kay home, the two shook hands warmly.

“I get why you have decided to light the candle in Hebron,” Raz told Herzog. “You’re the president for everyone. It’s your job. My job is to protest against you.”

This wasn’t a new situation for Herzog. As a savvy political actor, he understood the left’s inevitable criticism of his visit to Hebron was part of a familiar dance choreographed across the Israeli political stage. He was willing to absorb the brickbats in service of a larger goal: keeping an unstable Israel on an even keel.

Six months into his presidency, the veteran politician — who has been a minister, an opposition leader as head of the Labor party, and a cabinet secretary under Ehud Barak — is showing himself to be adept at navigating the current political map’s bizarre twists and hairpin turns, while acting as a beacon for those looking to engage with the Israeli political arena.
Netherlands Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Israel’s Gantz Over 2014 Gaza Strike
A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was immune from civil prosecution in the Netherlands in a case brought over the deaths of six Palestinians in an Israeli air strike.

The court upheld a lower court’s finding of January 2020 that Gantz, as a high-ranking Israeli official carrying out government policy, could not be held liable in a Dutch civil case.

The plaintiff, Ismail Ziada — a Dutch national of Palestinian origin — said he lost his mother, three of his brothers, his sister-in-law and his nephew in the attack, which took place in Gaza in 2014 when Gantz was Israeli armed forces’ commander-in-chief.

In the suit, Ziada sought unspecified damages against Gantz, a career soldier turned politician, under Dutch universal jurisdiction rules.

The appeals court said the case concerned officials — Gantz and his co-defendant, former Air Force commander Amir Eshel — who carried out the policies of the Israeli state.

That meant “a judgment on their actions will necessarily include a judgment on the actions of the state of Israel,” over which a Dutch court had no jurisdiction, a summary of the judges’ decision stated.

Reacting to the ruling, Gantz said he had been confident that he and Israel had been acting according to international law. “I am very happy that now other people have said the same,” he told Reuters.
Hague Court freezes proceedings against United States at Palestinian request
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has suspended its deliberations on a petition submitted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against the United States during the Trump era, following the former president’s formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from its former home in Tel Aviv.

According to a report in Israel Hayom, the judicial proceedings, which were initiated in September of 2018, have been suspended “until further notice.” The PA had argued that the United States violated international law with its actions regarding Jerusalem, which should therefore be defined as war crimes. The ICJ had intended to deal with the case in June of 2021, but it has now emerged that several months prior to that date, the PA submitted a request asking that the proceedings be frozen. An examination of the ICJ’s records reveals that the request was coordinated with the Biden administration.

A letter to the ICJ dated April 12, 2021, reads: “The State of Palestine has requested the suspension of oral proceedings that were to have been held on June 1, 2021, in order to provide the parties with the opportunity to find a solution to their dispute via negotiations.” A week later, the Biden administration issued its response, and the ICJ’s records note that the United States “is not opposed to the request of the petitioner. Taking into account the opinions of the two sides, the Court has decided to suspend hearings until further notice.”

It is to be presumed that the Palestinians decided that it was in their best interest to have legal proceedings frozen in order to advance their negotiations with the Americans for the reopening of the American Consulate for Palestinian affairs in Jerusalem. The Israeli government was already aware of the freezing of proceedings, regarding it as a mere technicality and noting that “proceedings can be renewed at any moment.”


Israel Unveils New Gaza Barrier to Thwart Underground Attacks: ‘An Iron Wall’
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi on Tuesday inaugurated the newly completed defense barrier between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, calling it an “iron wall” to better secure residents from the threat of terrorism.

The barrier, which replaces a previous security fence, began construction following Israel 2014 conflict with Hamas, during which a large number of attack tunnels were discovered beneath the fence.

The Ministry of Defense said the new barrier has five components: an underground wall with sensors to prevent tunneling; a surface wall over 20 feet high; a sea barrier with a remote-controlled weapons system; radar, cameras, and other equipment to detect ground and aerial threats; and an array of command and control rooms to coordinate a response to any threats.

“The barrier, which is an innovative and technologically advanced project, deprives Hamas of one of the capabilities it tried to develop, and places an ‘iron wall,’ sensors and concrete between the terror organization and the residents of Israel’s south,” Gantz said at the unveiling.

“This barrier will provide Israeli citizens a sense of security and will enable this beautiful region to continue developing and flourishing,” he asserted.

“Routine life here [in southern Israel], is our victory, and it is the greatest threat to terrorist organizations,” Gantz continued. “We will continue to maintain our readiness to thwart any attempt to harm Israeli citizens, with an emphasis on rocket attacks from Gaza. We will also prevent the transfer of Iranian know-how and technology to Gaza, and will continue thwarting any attempt by Hamas to operate its affiliates in Judea and Samaria or anywhere in Israel.”
Under Left-Wing Gov, Yad Vashem covers up the Islamic role in the Holocaust
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) head Morton Klein blasted the decision.

"After years of pressure and a recent op-ed by a longtime tour guide at the site attacking the museum’s stance, Dayan addressed the issue on Thursday, claiming the notorious Mufti’s role in the Holocaust was 'marginal,' his meeting with Hitler having 'a negligible practical effect on Nazi policy,' and thus the famous image depicting him with Hitler 'was never displayed' in the museum.

"Dayan said the museum would not fall prey 'to any political agenda,' while warning that demands to expand focus on the Mufti are tantamount to forcing the museum to 'partake in a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,' and may even 'legitimize Holocaust distortion' by others.

“'As a child of Holocaust survivors born in the displaced persons camp in Germany who lost most of my family to Hitler, I find it really appalling for Dani Dayan to actually be censoring out a part of Holocaust history at the major Holocaust museum in an attempt to appease the Palestinian Arabs,' Klein said.

"He also accused the museum of seeking to placate 'a Palestinian Authority that pays Arabs to murder Jews, names school streets and sports teams after Jew killers, promotes hatred and violence in every aspect of their culture, and has refused offers of statehood, clearly showing the issue is not land, but Israel’s destruction.'

“'Appeasement always fails, and it’s obviously failed with the Palestinian Authority who won’t even sit and negotiate [with Israel], let alone act in a civilized manner,' he said. 'This is just an atrocious mistake.'”

But a mistake that Israeli lefties and their hired help who pretended to be on the right insist on repeating
How the Media Distorts Terrorist Attacks to Attack Israel
Hamas last month called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to “escalate the resistance [sic] against the Zionist enemy” using “all tools and forms.” Since the terror group’s call to violence, numerous Israelis have been seriously injured in terror attacks. The Jewish state also mourned its first civilian death since the 11-day Hamas-initiated conflict in May.

By ignoring Hamas’ rampant incitement, international news outlets are effectively minimizing the effects of, and a core reason for, Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.

But HonestReporting is fighting back.

Just days ago, a slanted Washington Post (WaPo) article made clear how facts and evidence are seemingly subservient to the “blame Israel” narrative.

On December 4, around 4:30 PM local time, a Palestinian terrorist attacked an Orthodox Jew near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Security camera footage released within two hours of the attack shows the assailant repeatedly stabbing Avraham Elimelich before being shot by Israeli Border Police officers.

While clear proof of the terrorist act was promptly made available, WaPo in its initial reporting hours later, nevertheless described the perpetrator as an “alleged Palestinian attacker.”

Amid subsequent criticism, including from HonestReporting, the headline was amended to read, “Clashes break out in Jerusalem after Palestinian who stabbed Israeli is killed by police.”
CNN Downplays Wave of Palestinian Terrorism With Bizarre Comparison to ‘Attacks by Jewish Settlers’
The most egregious portion of the CNN article, however, is actually a passage right at the very end:
Away from Jerusalem, there are also concerns over a rising number of attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. A report by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 410 such attacks in the first 10 months of 2021 (up from 358 for the whole of 2020) including more than 100 against individuals. Four Palestinians have been killed in settler violence, OCHA says.”

This clumsy attempt to link the issue of settler violence to Palestinian attacks effectively normalizes terrorism while totally ignoring the scale of the problem: between 2016 and 2020, Palestinians firebombed 3,675 Israeli buses and cars; carried out more than 10,000 stonings and perpetrated a total of 353 knife, gun and vehicular assaults.

Furthermore, if the distinctly separate issues of settler violence and Palestinian terrorism are going to be lumped together, the stark difference in the official responses to both should also be examined. Namely, that the Israeli government has unequivocally condemned any and all settler violence in the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority actively encourages terrorism by providing “salaries” to perpetrators and their families.

Naturally, CNN has neglected to mention this salient detail.

With this in mind, here is an alternative headline suggestion for CNN: ‘Israeli injured in vehicle attack by Palestinian terrorist’.

No qualifications, no justifications: just facts.


PA leader visits Algeria, secures pledge of $100M
During a visit by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Algeria pledged $100 million in assistance to the PA.

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The grant is "in keeping with Algeria's revolutionary history and the entire Algerian people's commitment to support the just Palestinian cause under all circumstances," said Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during a joint press conference, AFP reported.

Tebboune also said that Algeria plans "to put the Palestinian cause at the center" of a summit of the Arab League the country will host in March 2022.

Tebboune plans to host Palestinian factions for talks as well, AFP reported, citing Algerian television reports.

The meeting with Abbas comes two weeks after Israel and Morocco signed a historic defense agreement.

The defense deal is only the latest in a series of agreements inked since Morocco signed a historic accord with Israel, ratified by the Knesset in January. The two countries have also launched direct flights and signed a multimillion dollar trade agreement.
Once Again, Qatar Saves Hamas
The government of Qatar has again rescued Hamas.

Every time the Hamas terror regime in Gaza is on the brink of collapse, the Gulf state of Qatar comes riding in on a white horse like a knight in shining armor to ensure that Hamas will live to see another day. What happened to the “moderate” Qatar that American Jewish leaders were praising just a few years ago?

This time, Hamas allegedly is running out of money to pay the salaries of its employees. If you don’t pay your employees, they don’t work. And if your workers don’t work, your gangster regime collapses. The collapse of Hamas would obviously be a good thing for Israel, the United States and modern civilization in general.

But once again, Qatar has jumped in on the side of the bad guys.

The new deal, according to media reports, will involve Qatar sending fuel to Gaza through Egypt. Hamas is then going to sell the fuel in order to meet its payroll.

That will keep Hamas in power so that it can continue firing thousands of missiles at Israeli kindergartens and kibbutzim near the Gaza border. And it can keep its cells in Judea and Samaria operating, so they can murder Jews there, too.

Qatar is already underwriting Gaza’s power plant and sending financial aid to 100,000 Gazans every month through a UN voucher system, which saves Hamas the expense of having to provide that aid. And it offered Hamas $500 million to rebuild after the 11-day conflict with Israeli in May—a conflict started by the terrorist organization and one that ended with the launching of more than 4,000 rockets at civilian populations in Israel. In short, Qatar is pretty much propping up the entire Hamas mini-terror state.
MEMRI: Gaza Journalist: Hamas, Islamic Jihad Officials Voice Belligerent Slogans, Ignoring Gazans' Difficult Circumstances, And Seek To Advance Their Own Personal Interests
In a November 27 article on the Palestinian website Amad.ps which is close to supporters of former Palestinian Authority senior official Muhammad Dahlan, Gaza-based journalist Abd Al-Qader Hassuna harshly criticized Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) officials who preach that Gazans should continue the armed struggle against Israel. These officials, he said, travel abroad frequently and invest their money abroad, and have no personal experience of the suffering of ordinary Gazans who are enduring the difficulties of making a living while subjected to the yoke of Hamas's failed government. Therefore, he said, they should not speak in the name of the Gazans, or voice belligerent slogans that have no real meaning.

In recent months, Hassuna, who previously worked for the Al-Rai news agency which is overseen by Hamas, has published a number of articles criticizing the Hamas regime, that are in line with the ongoing anti-Hamas economic and social protests in Gaza. These articles have included highly unusual criticism of corruption in the Hamas movement.[1] Hassuna's November 27 article was prompted by statements by PIJ secretary-general Ziyad Nakhalah in an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV, in which he blasted Hamas for making it easier for Palestinian workers to enter Israel and added that the PIJ would launch a rocket attack on Tel Aviv if Israel targets any of its members.[2] According to Hassuna, Nakhalah's statements reflect ignorance of the reality of the miserable Gaza residents who are not prepared for yet another military escalation.

The following are translated excerpts from Hassuna's article:
"Thousands of citizens have been killed and thousands [more] wounded, and thousands of homes have been destroyed in the four wars that Gaza has been through... so that the PIJ's secretary-general [Ziyad Nakhalah] could appear before us yesterday [November 24, 2021] with incendiary statements, including threatening Israel that if any PIJ activist were to be assassinated, the city of Tel Aviv would be bombed. Many [Gazans], including myself, think that [such] statements are inappropriate at this time. It appears that the speaker is ignoring what happened and what is still happening in Gaza – the misery, the loss of direction, and the poverty that have become Gazans' trademarks, such that they are not prepared at this time to experience any military escalation...

"It appears that the PIJ secretary-general, who lives in Tehran,[3] is unaware of the pain, repression, and tyranny suffered by Gazans, particularly in light of his astonishment... at the fact that the [Hamas] Labor Ministry website in Gaza has been registering workers who have been unemployed for many years for jobs [in Israel],[4] and he is claiming that this [Hamas] government in Gaza has become a contractor for [supplying Gazan] workers to Israel. It appears that the PIJ leader has not been updated regarding the record-breaking unemployment in Gaza, and does not know that over two-thirds of Gazans live below the poverty line and that they are more interested in finding a job [than in military escalation against Israel]...
PreOccupiedTerritory: Palestinians Send Congratulations To Japan On Anniversary Of Glorious Pearl Harbor Operation (satire)
Eighty years after a carrier-based bombing attack on the main American naval base in the Pacific Ocean that provoked US entry into the Second World War, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority conveyed to the government in Tokyo his people’s admiration for the Empire of Japan’s audacity in provoking conflict with a more powerful, better-armed, and more-technologically-advanced foe that would eventually check, isolate, weaken, bleed, and thoroughly defeat them.

The Palestinian president sent an envoy to the Japanese capital Tuesday bearing a letter of congratulatory commemoration of the aerial bombing of Pearl Harbor, in acknowledgement of an achievement that Japan began attaining in 1941, and which the Palestinian leadership has sought to emulate: attacking an enemy that stands in the way of questionable territorial and demographic goals, thereby all but guaranteeing eventual humiliation and removal from the echelons of entities whose agendas drive global policymakers.

Japan brought its fleet of aircraft carriers undetected to within several hundred kilometers of Hawaii and staged a surprise attack on the US air and naval bases there, crippling the latter’s capacity to mount an effective initial resistance to near-simultaneous Japanese expansion operations in the western Pacific. Japan’s naval and ground forces soon overwhelmed Allied positions and threatened Australia. But Tokyo underestimated American resolve, resources, and resourcefulness, leading to disastrous miscalculations that, by mid-1945, had left the Japanese empire in ruins, its once-vaunted army a shadow of its former self, its navy all but nonexistent, the home islands isolated and threatened with both starvation and invasion, and its cities rubble. Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined with a Soviet invasion of northern Japanese islands, forced the empire’s unconditional surrender in August of that year.
Jordanian TV rejects German station’s accusation of antisemitic content
A Jordanian broadcaster on Monday rejected accusations of publishing antisemitic content that led a German broadcaster to suspend a decade-long cooperation agreement.

Amman-based Roya TV said in a statement that it “regrets the declared decision” of international German broadcaster Deutsche Welle to suspend the partnership.

It added the Arab media group was the target of “a hostile campaign” from parties it did not name.

German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle said Sunday it was suspending cooperation with Roya TV, because of concerns about anti-Israel and antisemitic content and caricatures on its social media.

In Monday’s statement, Fares Sayegh, Roya’s chief executive, stressed that the “criticism of illegal, inhumane or racist actions by Israel as a state” should be differentiated from antisemitism.

The German public broadcaster’s partnership arrangements involve Deutsche Welle supplying journalistic content. Sayegh said his channel had “a successful professional relationship” with Deutsche Welle.
Qatar removes some antisemitic, violent material from school textbooks - report
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) released a report on changes made to Qatari school textbooks, which a previous review determined were rife with antisemitism and condoning violence.

The organization praised the removal of inflammatory material, including an 11th-grade Social Studies textbook that promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories such as the notion that Jews control global financial markets and are responsible for the rise of the Nazis. Other passages that were removed referred to Jews as treacherous, hedonistic, immoral and elitist and claimed that they kill prophets.

IMPACT also noted that passages praising Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and glorifying jihad were removed as well.

But the organization expressed concern that a number of examples that it had designated as problematic in the earlier review were kept in the textbooks. These include the idea that Jews were responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I; criticism of non-Muslims; references to "Christianization" as a threat; rejection of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians; and maps labeling the entirety of Israel as Palestine.
MEMRI: Lebanese Journalist: The Americans Will Leave Lebanon Horizontally, Like They Left Vietnam
Lebanese journalist Pierre Abi Saab said on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) on November 30, 2021 that the American embassy in Lebanon is a military base and that they are turning it into a fortress. He said that this would not help the Americans and that they will leave Lebanon horizontally like they left Vietnam, as Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said.


Syria Says Israeli Attacks Latakia Port With Air Strike
Israel carried out an air strike on the Syrian port of Latakia on Tuesday, causing a fire in a container storage area, Syrian state media reported, in what appeared to be the first such Israeli attack on the facility.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the reports. The Syrian reports did not mention any casualties.

Israel has mounted frequent attacks against what it has described as Iranian targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah have deployed over the last decade to support President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s war.

Citing a military source, state news agency SANA said Israel had mounted an “aerial aggression” at 1:23 a.m., firing a number of missiles targeting the container storage area at the port and setting some on fire.

A source familiar with port operations said it was the first time Israel had attacked the facility on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. Latakia, Syria’s main commercial port, brings in a considerable amount of cargo from Iran, the source said.

Images posted by SANA showed flames and smoke in the container area and a fire truck at the scene.
Seth FRantzman: Why an airstrike on Syria's Latakia Port matters
Previous reports indicated that Iran has sought to move advanced air defenses to Syria as well. In April 2018 Iran sought to move its 3rd Khordad system to T-4 airbase near Palmyra. The system was reportedly destroyed in an airstrike that month.

A report at Alma Research and Education Center by Yaakov Lappin noted on November 16 “Iran is attempting to smuggle its surface-to-air missile (SAM) system into Syria, as part of its ongoing efforts to entrench itself militarily in the country and turn it into a war front against Israel.”

Overall the context is then clear. A very rare incident occurred in Latakia. This is a very sensitive area near Russian forces in Khemeimim and Tartus. So far there has been no major media response in Iran or Russia, the two backers of the Syrian regime.

In the past, there has been controversy over airstrikes and incidents in this region. The explosions heard in the area can be attributed to air defense interceptions, secondary explosions of munitions in containers, or the airstrikes themselves.

Time will tell if satellite photos and open source information gatherers provide more clues as to what happened, or if regional media provide more reports.

The Syrian regime may appear to be humiliated after its foreign minister told Iranian counterparts on Monday it would respond to this kind of aggression. This may also ruffle feathers from Moscow to other states in the region that want the Syrian regime to be more stable and able to control its airspace.
The 'First Iran War' is just around the corner
To date, Iran has succeeded in establishing a regional axis of evil through the creation of a ring of armed divisions around the State of Israel.

In practice, Tehran is working toward the kind of warfare it is comfortable with, meaning far from its borders. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian missiles are dispersed on Israel's borders, and they are launched in accordance with Tehran's interests from time to time.

The Iranian working model is to build a security network in the form of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations. Change the equation

The time, therefore, has come to change the equation. For every missile that is launched from Lebanon, the address should be Tehran. Iran's days of immunity are over. They need to pay a price at home, in Tehran, and every other place they hold dear.

That is why the talks in Vienna do not tell Iran's story. The question is not whether or not Iran will or will not obtain nuclear weapons. This is a terrorist state aspiring toward expansion and world domination through the decimation of Western culture. Unfortunately, the West is always the last to know.

As a public official and Israeli citizen, I am personally unable to look on from the sidelines. I will leave for the US Saturday to try and wake Washington from its stupor. I will embark on a public diplomacy campaign within the framework of which I will meet with senior members of the US Congress, opinion leaders, and journalists. Every one of us must do everything we can to influence the situation. The window of opportunity may soon be closed completely.
Drones, bombs, spies — inside Israel’s cunning plan to stop Iran’s nukes
Mossad’s attention then turned to the production of the centrifuges themselves, to disrupt the regime’s attempt to restore the Natanz facility. The crosshairs moved to Karaj, 30 miles northwest of Tehran, where the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA) is located.

Over the preceding months, a team of Israeli spies and their Iranian agents had jointly smuggled an armed quadcopter — weighing the same as a motorcycle, a source confirmed — into the country, piece by piece. Now it was time to deploy it.

On June 23, the team assembled the kit and took it to a location 10 miles from the TESA factory. The operatives launched it, piloted it to the factory and released the payload, causing a large explosion. Then the drone returned to the launch site, where it was spirited away to be used again.

It is significant that these operations took place while the negotiations were continuing in Vienna. The Mossad operations were carried out without international collaboration. To use Israeli intelligence slang, the attacks were “blue-and-white” rather than “blue-white-and-red,” which refers to American involvement. This is significant, too.

In recent weeks, Axios reported, Israel has shared intelligence proving that Iran has been laying the technical groundwork for enriching uranium to 90 percent purity, the level required for a bomb.

While Biden’s team, saturated with naivete and a “Back to the Future” focus on the Obama years, fruitlessly pursues jaw-jaw in Vienna, the cynical Iranians are preparing for war — and the Mossad, whose instincts are sharpened by the desire to protect their families from annihilation, is trying to stop them.

The contrast between cloud-cuckoo Washington and post-Holocaust Jerusalem is stark. And in seven months’ time, you might read even this in the New York Times.
Mossad is preparing to strike at the heart of Iran’s nuclear programme
The stakes could not be higher. Sometimes it seems like public opinion is somnambulant on the matter. We are facing the spectre of a fanatical, Islamist regime – the world’s foremost sponsor of terror, both in the Middle East and across the world – going nuclear. Would it launch a strike at Israel, which it has promised to wipe off the map? What would be the consequences of that? Would Israel and the Gulf States launch a pre-emptive strike? What would America do? Where would all this leave Britain, and our interests overseas? Even the Iranian use of nuclear weapons tactically in Syria or elsewhere is not unimaginable. And that would be an entirely different crisis. Hand-in-hand, the world is sleep-walking into a moment when Jerusalem decides that the risk has become unbearable, air strikes are launched, and full-scale war breaks out.

But in the meantime, the Mossad is coming. That was the coded message that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave to Iran last week. ‘They make us bleed without paying a price for it,’ the Prime Minister said. ‘We have to get to the dispatchers.’

Retaliating directly on Iranian soil enables Mossad to flex its muscles and send a message, creating more fear and confusion in Tehran. This will prepare the way for further sabotage operations on its nuclear facilities. It is vital that this succeeds. The sobering truth is that if international negotiations fail, and Israel's spies fail, then war is all but certain. For those who aspire to live in peace, rarely has Israel – and the world – needed the Mossad more.
MEMRI President: Iran Working on Nuclear Bomb, Israeli Military Action Would Constitute Self-Defense
Yigal Carmon, the President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) said in a December 5, 2021 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that any Israeli military action against Iran would constitute self-defense, and that the West will not come to Israel’s help if it is week. Discussing Iran’s intentions to build a nuclear weapon, Carmon quoted Iranian political analyst Emad Abshenas, who said that Iran has the capability of assembling a nuclear bomb within minutes or hours (see MEMRI TV Clip No. 9177).

He also quoted Professor Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who said that Iranian nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in 2020, had been working on manufacturing a nuclear bomb (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 9663). In addition, Carmon said that the only way to stop Iran from realizing its doctrine of annihilating Israel is to establish a new democratic system in Iran, and he criticized Al-Jazeera for ignoring the demonstrations currently taking place in Iran. Carmon pointed out that conversely, during the Arab Spring, Al-Jazeera had played a role in promoting regime changes in Arab countries. For another appearance by Carmon on Al-Jazeera, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 6134, in which he accuses Al-Jazeera of inciting terrorism.


New “Magnitsky” laws should apply to Iranian abusers
The thugs who detained Australians in Iran’s worst prisons could potentially be among those soon to be sanctioned by the Australian Government.

This month, the Australian Parliament passed amendments that will allow the Government to implement Magnitsky-style sanctions on human rights abusers.

Australian academic, Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was held hostage by Iran for 26 months, has said it would be a “no-brainer” to impose sanctions on the “Iranian government, judiciary and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials who kidnap Australian citizens.”

But what are Magnitsky-style sanctions?

These are laws named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who uncovered a massive fraud being conducted by the Russian Government. For his efforts, Magnitsky was imprisoned, tortured and eventually killed. Magnitsky was still tried by Russia, three years after his death. In response, the US Congress passed the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act to sanction officials responsible for human rights breaches.

In addition to the US, Magnitsky-style laws have been passed by the European Union, Canada and the UK. These laws impose sanctions against individuals – not countries – who have committed serious human rights offences. [More background information available here]

Australia has now joined its allies in being able to target individual abusers with sanctions, rather than penalising whole societies or countries.
Biden Threatens to Move MLB All-Star Game from Iran (satire)
Facing increasing intransigence from the Islamic Republic in its pursuit of nuclear weapons, President Joe Biden is considering his own nuclear option.

If Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear weapons program and refuses to honor previously made commitments, Biden says he will ask Major League Baseball not to hold the 2022 All-Star Game in Tehran.

“Listen, I’ve lost my patience with you mullahs and your haggling, and I’m done playing around,” Biden said following reports that Iran had reneged on concessions made prior to the 2015 deal. “If these Shiitakes (sic) don’t get their act together, I’m going to have to call up [MLB Commissioner] Bobby [Manfred] again and tell him that those ayatollahs don’t deserve to have the All-Star Game held in their capital.”

It is the second time President Biden has used the All-Star Game as leverage to push a state or country to reverse course on a policy decision. Earlier this year, Biden pressured the MLB to move the 2021 game from Atlanta over concerns about voting laws in Georgia.







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