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Wednesday, December 08, 2021

12/08 Links Pt1: 34 years after First Intifada, terror attacks still a daily threat in Israel; 58% of Israeli Jews back striking Iran’s nuke program without US consent

From Ian:

New GOP Taylor Force Bill Targets Palestinian ‘Martyr Payments’ Routed Through US Financial System
A group of Republican senators led by Tom Cotton on Monday introduced a bill that would allow the US government to sanction foreign banks using the American financial system to facilitate so-called “martyr payments” to families of Palestinian terrorists.

“Radical Islamic terrorists shouldn’t be rewarded for killing innocent people, and banks should be held responsible for processing any sort of ‘martyr payments,’ Cotton stated at a press conference Monday introducing the new bill.

The bill, named the “Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act of 2021,” seeks to ensure “Palestinian terrorists don’t benefit financially for committing these senseless murders,” Cotton added.

The legislation builds on the Taylor Force Act, which was passed with bipartisan support in 2018 to restrict non-humanitarian US aid to the Palestinian Authority if it continues to make payments to security prisoners and their families.

The Act was named in memory of a former American army officer stabbed to death in 2016 by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv.

“The legislation has made a difference, but our work is not yet finished. Reporting has revealed that foreign banks in the Middle East in the Mediterranean, continue to process the so-called martyr payments, sometimes in US dollar-denominated transactions,” Cotton said. “They have escaped sanctions by avoiding an official US presence, while maintaining correspondent accounts in the United States.”


34 years after First Intifada, terror attacks still a daily threat in Israel - analysis
There is no set date or event for when the Second Intifada ended, with some saying the unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip was the ‘end date’ while others say that the death of Yasser Arafat led Palestinians to stop the violence.

Ten years later, the 2015 “stabbing intifada” began with Palestinians – mainly youth – stabbing, running over and shooting Israeli soldiers, civilians and even tourists in a wave of violence in the West Bank and Israel. There were almost daily attacks in the winter of 2015-16 before the violence decreased.

There have been sporadic waves of violence since and all, if not most of them, were carried out by lone-wolf Palestinian youths.

Unlike during the first two intifadas, the challenges that the army faces during the current wave of violence in the West Bank and Israel are completely different.

The Palestinians who were involved in the violence during the first and second intifadas were much older than the average attacker that the army currently faces. The IDF’s intelligence-gathering capabilities have also increased dramatically since the prior two intifadas.

Another change that’s less apparent but just as important is the increased communications between the two sides which did not exist before. But while the IDF does not consider the recent attacks as a significant rise in violence, or another “wave” of attacks, the military must admit that the lone-wolf attacker is a threat that they have yet to control.
Jonathan Schanzer: US Media Coverage on Israel is 'insane'
Author and Middle East analyst Jonathan Schanzer joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin to discuss his new book "Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War."

The two discuss how the myths about the conflict spread by Palestinian terror groups and picked up by the media have impacted opinion about Israel and how the conflict between Fatah and Hamas and their opposition to peace with the Jewish state is ignored by the Jewish state’s critics.


Israel advances East Jerusalem project 25 years after promising Clinton to trash it
Municipal authorities on Wednesday advanced a housing plan for a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem to be located in an area that was at the center of an international controversy over a quarter of a century ago.

The project, which was given early-stage approval by the Local Planning Committee in the Jerusalem municipality, will be located beyond the Green Line, nestled against the largely Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. But while Arab residents of the latter neighborhood have for decades pleaded with municipal leaders for additional housing, the new, distinctly separate neighborhood named Givat Shaked, with its several planned synagogues, appears to be designed for Jews.

Former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin also envisioned a Jewish neighborhood there and ordered authorities to expropriate 134 acres of the open land near Beit Safafa in April 1995 to set the process forward. But news of the plan sparked immediate international uproar as it was the first such expropriation in East Jerusalem in over a decade. It also came against the backdrop of the Oslo Accords, flying in the face of the momentum building for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

A resolution was introduced in the UN Security Council demanding that Israel put off the expropriation. The US, which also condemned the move by Rabin, nevertheless vetoed the resolution.

After initially standing his ground — albeit pledging that the controversial expropriation would be the government’s last — Rabin froze the plan days after the Security Council vote. In the 26-plus years since, no Jewish neighborhood was ever built on that land; nor were any other such expropriations carried out in East Jerusalem.


Greece and Cyprus Tout Energy, Security Ties With Jerusalem, Pledge Closer EU-Israel Relationship
Cyprus and Greece pledged to continue advancing Israel’s relations with the European Union on Tuesday, during a trilateral alliance meeting in Jerusalem focused on energy and security cooperation.

During the eighth Israel-Greece-Cyprus summit, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said his country and Greece “remain committed to the enhancement of [the EU-Israel] relationship.”

“We will continue stressing the need to further advance this cooperation in the framework of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and particularly in swiftly convening the very long overdue EU-Israel Association Council,” he said.

The Cypriot leader also called the Abraham Accords a “true game-changer” for regional cooperation, and welcomed a recent agreement on solar energy and water between Israel and Jordan, which was brokered by the United Arab Emirates. The deal “manifests the potential of the region as a pioneer in cross-border energy cooperation,” Anastasiades said, adding that both he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are willing “to take part in common projects between the parties to the Abraham Accords.”

Discussions further touched on achieving regional security and stability, and cooperation on climate change and the long-term effects of the COVID-19 crisis. The summit also saw the launch of a trilateral forum for security and natural disaster reduction and prevention, to better prepare for fires and other emergency situations.
Palestinian terrorist stabs Jewish mother in east Jerusalem
A Jewish woman was stabbed while walking with her children in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, the latest in a recent wave of terrorist attacks.

The suspect was arrested later Wednesday morning at a school in the east Jerusalem neighborhood, Israel Police announced.

Police suspect that the attacker was helped by the school, said Shimon Marziano, deputy police chief, according to KAN. “We would have expected more cooperation [from the school],” said Marziano, “this was an abnormal event.” A number of additional women at the school were arrested as well, according to police.

The suspect is a teenager whose family is one of those threatened with eviction from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, and is active in the fight against the evictions, according to the Palestinian Asra Media Office.

Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev responded to the attack on Wednesday morning, calling it a “serious incident” and thanking the police for their quick response and arrest of the suspected terrorist.

Hamas responded to the attack saying that “the heroic operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the last of which was at dawn today, with the stabbing of a settler in Sheikh Jarrah, prove the greatness of our rebellious people and that their resistance is unbreakable,” according to Palestinian media.
Israeli woman stabbed in Jerusalem, suspect caught
Interview with Raphael Jerusalmy, Former Senior Intelligence Officer, Israel Defense Forces.

Police forces arrested a suspect, a minor who was located by the police

A woman was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Magen David Adom reported Wednesday.


Husband of Jerusalem Stabbing Victim: If Attack Continued, ‘I Don’t Want to Think About How It Would Have Ended’
The husband of the woman who was stabbed on Wednesday by a 14-year-old Palestinian girl in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah said his wife’s condition is improving, but had the attack continued, “I don’t want to think about how it would have ended.”

Moriah Cohen, 26, was walking with her five children near her home in the flashpoint neighborhood when she was approached by an attacker and stabbed once in the back.

The Israel Police said that officers arrived at the scene in force, and a police helicopter located the suspect a short distance from the site of the attack. The teenager was arrested at her school, with several others being questioned by police in connection with the incident.

“We will continue to fight terror with determination and act in every part of the city to ensure the well-being of the public and their security,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman said of the incident.

Cohen’s husband Dvir recounted the scene to Israeli news site N12.

“My wife was with all the children, arrived at a crossing not far from our home, and there [the attacker] fell upon her and stabbed her,” Dvir said. “Our son screamed, ‘Mommy, you have a knife in the back,’ and with the aid of God the terrorist was apparently shocked and ran away.”

“If [the attacker] had continued,” he said, “I don’t want to think about how it would have ended.”

Dvir Cohen said that he was called to his wife’s side while he was on reserve duty, and “she is feeling good and, with the help of God, will be released today.”

“The knife, thank God, was not long,” he explained. “She says that it hurts less than childbirth.”
Stabbing victim's husband says attacker 'is our neighbor,' vows to 'continue living here'
Authorities announced Wednesday that the woman who was stabbed earlier in the day in Jerusalem's Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood (also known as Sheikh Jarrah) is 26-year-old Moriah Cohen. She was attacked while walking her children to school by a 15-year-old girl who lives in the neighborhood.

Cohen's husband, Dvir, told Israel Hayom, "We will not leave the neighborhood. We believe in settling in east Jerusalem. We know that there are terrorists around us, but we will continue to settle Jerusalem until they understand one day that Israel is the one in charge.

"We are being threatened, and I have heard threats like 'I will kill you' many times. Such incidents happen daily, and there is also threatening graffiti. During Hanukkah, our menorah was extinguished and another one was broken. We live near terrorists."

Moriah "stepped out this morning and an Arab teenager who followed her stabbed her in the upper back. I was on reserve duty and my wife was alone with our five children. Someone who was there called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital. She underwent some tests and thank God, her internal organs had not been injured."

When asked whether he knew the attacker, Dvir said, "It seems she is a neighbor of ours. She followed my wife. Moriah got to an intersection not far from our house. She told me that one of our sons screamed, 'Mom, you have a knife in your back.' It was a miracle.


AP Corrects Captions Palestinian Killed by Policemen Was Attacker
CAMERA’s Israel office yesterday prompted corrections of multiple Associated Press captions which had failed to make clear that the Palestinian shot dead by Israeli policemen in Jerusalem Dec. 4 had just stabbed an Israeli citizen and attempted to attack the police.

The incomplete and unclear captions stated (examples at left): “Israeli police shot a Palestinian on Saturday after an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed and wounded near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, a crowded area that is often the scene of demonstrations and clashes.”

Based on this partial information, the shot Palestinian could have been a bystander entirely uninvolved in the stabbing incident, when in fact Muhammad Salameh was the assailant.

AFP’s brief captions, in contrast, clearly reported that the Palestinian killed by policemen had stabbed an Israeli:
“Israeli forces inspect the body of a Palestinian man killed by policemen after he stabbed an Israeli man on December 4, 2021 outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City.” Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP

In response to communication from CAMERA, AP amended all of the captions in question. In the AP photo archive, the amended captions carry a prominent “Correction Israel Palestinians” heading. The corrected wording of the caption for the photograph immediately above, for example, states:


IDF medic caught on video saving Palestinian baby in distress
A Palestinian baby was saved last week by the quick response of an IDF medic on duty at the Zeitim border crossing in Jerusalem.

The incident took place when two Palestinian women arrived at the border crossing carrying the baby, who was ill and was breathing with an oxygen tank, and called for help.

Nineteen-year-old Corporal Adam, who was stationed at the crossing as a combat medic, rushed to the infant's help as he struggled to breathe and was unresponsive.

The quick-witted soldier noticed that the child's oxygen tank was poorly connected and began performing CPR on the child as they waited for an ambulance.
Dozens of artifacts, some from Bar Kochba era, found by police, 3 arrested
Israeli police on Tuesday arrested three Palestinians, including a resident of east Jerusalem, who had been keeping dozens of archeological items in their cars, some of which were from the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt, according to a statement by a police spokeswoman. While on duty, a team of detectives from the Lev HaBira police station noticed three people in a car who drew their suspicion, so they searched the vehicle.

The detectives found scores of artifacts in the car, some from the Roman and Byzantine eras. They took the suspects in for questioning and transferred the items to Antiquities Authority's Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit.

The police statement noted that this is the second time this week that artifacts were found in illegal possession in the Jerusalem area.

Earlier this week, police discovered another trove of historical items in the possession of an east Jerusalem resident, including a Hasmonean coin from the time of Antigonus II Mattathias as well as a Hasmonean oil candle and a biblical seal with ancient Hebrew text.
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.
Israel completes upgraded Gaza border barrier



Will the Palestinians soon have their own Arab Spring?
All this is leading the Palestinian public to rely on itself and its social leadership and revert to tribal laws. This is precisely what led Khalilia's relatives to join forces and demand such laws be implemented. And according to tribal law, as long as the suspect of a crime remains unpunished, all of his nuclear and extended family members can be targeted with crimes such as arson or murder.

To a majority of the Palestinian public, the PA is no more than a security mechanism that coordinates security with Israel and maintains PA President Mahmoud Abbas's and his Fatah's party rule. It won't be long before we see a popular uprising that is liable to bring Abbas's rule to an end in the same way other Arab rulers have head their regimes brought to an end.

Events in the PA can influence what happens in Israel because a majority of them could be exported to Israel. This, in turn, will lead to either a confrontation or a wave of the kind of lone-wolf terror attacks we have witnessed in recent months. The security mechanisms in Israel and in the PA control the situation for now, but they will be hard-pressed to control the initiatives of individuals who carry out attacks without divulging any of the details of their plans.

Special attention must be paid to what is happening in the territories, in particular among Palestinian youths, who can be inspired by other peoples and spark an uprising against their rulers that will alter the situation on both sides of the Green Line.
Palestinians outraged by sperm-smuggling drama film
Palestinians on Wednesday expressed outrage over a film that revolves around a 17-year-old Palestinian girl who was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her father, a security prisoner held by Israel.

The girl, Amira, was raised believing that she was conceived in this unconventional manner. She later discovered that her father’s semen had been replaced with that of an Israeli prison guard.

According to Palestinian sources, over the past decade, more than 100 children have been conceived using smuggled sperm from security prisons. The film, shot in Jordan, is coproduced by Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians.

Jordan has nominated the film as its official entry for the 94th Academy Awards (Oscars) to compete in the international feature film category, the Jordan Times reported.

Amira had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it won two major awards, according to the newspaper.

The Palestinian Authority and several Palestinian groups, including those representing security prisoners in Israeli jails, condemned the drama film as an “insult to the dignity” of the inmates.
PMW: Swiss money misused by Palestinian NGO to deny Israel's right to exist at cultural event
Once again donor money is misused by Palestinians.

Western donor countries presumably want their money going to Palestinians to promote peace. Palestinian Media Watch has found another example of Western money being misused by a Palestinian NGO to teach children to anticipate a world without Israel.

The Abd Al-Muhaisen Al-Qattan Institution in cooperation with Al-Aqsa University held a cultural event in the Gaza Strip, which was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. One of the songs performed at the event taught Palestinian youth that the Israeli cities Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, and Beit Shean are actually cities of “Palestine”:
Coordinator of the initiative Sa’id Abu Ghazza: “The Life Initiative at [Al-Aqsa] University is one of the events of culture, art, and communal involvement that is being carried out by the Abd Al-Muhaisen Al-Qattan Institution with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).”

Lyrics: “Oh flying bird, circling around…
by Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy.
My country Palestine is beautiful.
Turn to Safed, and then to Tiberias,
and send regards to the sea of Acre and Haifa.
Don't forget Nazareth - the Arab fortress,
and tell Beit Shean about its people's return.”

[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, Nov. 6, 2021]


Lebanese Author Boycotts Cultural Festival in Paris, Cites Israeli Singer and Exhibit
A well-known Lebanese novelist withdrew his participation from a festival for Arab culture in Paris after he discovered that the event will showcase an exhibition about Jews and a performance by an Israeli artist.

The Arabofolies festival organized by the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in France is being held from Dec. 3 to Dec. 12.

Elias Khoury announced his withdrawal from the festival last week in a Facebook post. He stated in Arabic that he made the decision “as a result of the festival’s ambiguity and the air of normalization that surrounds it,” reported The New Arab.

Speaking to the Arabic-language news outlet Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Khoury further explained that he has withdrawn because an Israeli singer is part of one of the participating bands and there will be a featured exhibition titled “Jews of the Orient.”

The IMA has since canceled the symposium “The Arab-Israeli Conflict Between Literature, Cinema and History” that was to feature Khoury as a speaker, according to The New Arab. The rest of the festival’s events will take place as scheduled.
58% of Israeli Jews back striking Iran’s nuke program without US consent
A significant majority of Jewish Israelis, 58%, would support a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities even without a green light from Washington, according to an Israel Democracy Institute report published Wednesday.

That number drops to 51% of Israelis when Israel’s entire population is taken into account, including its significant Arab minority.

Still, for a country that was once ready to downgrade or replace its prime ministers if they did not get along with a US president, and where many security experts consider at least a quiet US “wink” as necessary for an attack on Iran, that the general public feels differently was telling.

The Israeli Voice Index survey for November 2021 was published by IDI’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.

Less than a third (31%) of Jewish Israelis would not support action against Iran without American approval, while around 82% of Arab Israelis would want the Biden administration to sign off.

Next, the report noted that the gaps between the political camps (among Jewish Israelis) was large, with 67% on the political Right supporting a strike without US consent, while only 37.5% of the political Left would support such a strike.

Perhaps most importantly, 50% of the ever-growing political Center in Israel would support such an attack.
US Imposes Sanctions on People in Iran, Syria and Uganda, Citing Rights Abuses
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on more than a dozen people and entities in Iran, Syria and Uganda, accusing them of being connected to serious human rights abuses and repressive acts.

In an action marking the week of the US Summit for Democracy, the Treasury Department said in a statement it was targeting repression and the undermining of democracy, designating individuals and entities tied to the violent suppression of peaceful protesters in Iran and deadly chemical weapons attacks against civilians in Syria, among others.

“Treasury will continue to defend against authoritarianism, promoting accountability for violent repression of people seeking to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement.

Washington blacklisted two senior Syrian Air Force officers it accused of being responsible for chemical weapon attacks on civilians and three senior officers in Syria’s security and intelligence apparatus, according to the statement.

In Iran, the United States designated the Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces, as well as several of their officials, and Gholamreza Soleimani, who commands Iran’s hardline Basij militia. Two prisons and a prison director were also blacklisted over events that reportedly took place in them.
Iranian Commander Ghaani: ‘Our Goal is to Establish the Hidden Imam’s Global Rule’
The commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force said in a speech on Dec. 2 that aired on Iranian Ofogh TV that the United States still has time to choose to withdraw from the region, lest it is driven out like it was from Afghanistan.

According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), brigadier general of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force Esmail Ghaani warned that if the Americans make “the slightest mistake,” they will be “punched in the mouth so hard that their teeth will shatter.”

He said the final goal was to remove the United States from the Middle East and establish the Hidden Imam’s global rule. The audience chanted: “Allah Akbar! […] Death to America! […] Death to Israel!”

“With the help of the Lord, this path of the martyrs will conquer all the relevant targets, one phase at a time, and as I have said, it will reach the final goal of establishing the global rule of the Hidden Imam. Inshallah,” said Ghaani.


US reveals its largest-ever grab of weapons shipment by Iran’s Guards
The US Navy made its largest-ever seizure of weaponry from Iran in a haul that included surface-to-air missiles as well as cruise missile parts, the US Justice Department revealed Tuesday.

The weapons were taken from two “flagless vessels” in the Arabian Sea that were delivering the cargo to Iran-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen in 2019 and 2020, according to a statement.

“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, orchestrated the arms shipments, which were destined for Houthi militants in Yemen,” the statement said.

The haul was taken during “routine maritime security operation” on November 25, 2019, and February 9, 2020. It included 171 guided anti-tank missiles, eight surface-to-air missiles and “land attack cruise missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components, thermal weapons optics and other components for missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.”

In addition, 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum products were taken from four foreign-flagged tankers in or around the Arabian Sea as they headed to Venezuela, the statement said, without specifying when those seizures took place.
Israel Has Struck 75% of Iran’s Weapons in Syria: Security Sources
Israel has struck some three quarters of Iran’s weapons supply in Syria, sources within Israel’s security establishment told Israeli media Tuesday.

According to the Walla news site, the unnamed sources said that part of the weapons were constructed in Iran and smuggled into Syria by land, air, and sea in order to supply pro-Iran militias and assets in the war-torn country, as well as the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

In their assessment, said the sources, Israel had achieved full deterrence against both Iran in Syria and Syria’s ruling Iran-allied regime of dictator Bashar Assad.

The materiel damaged in Israeli operations include rockets, missiles, air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, weapons production infrastructure, and other assets.

Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria and has conducted a years-long air campaign against Iranian weapons and assets in the country, which has been wracked by civil war since 2011.

Syrian state media reported Tuesday that Israel had carried out what appeared to its first-ever air strike on the port of Latakia. Israel has not publicly commented on the reports.







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