Friday, December 10, 2021
Dore Gold: Expansionist Iran is the Pearl Harbor of the Middle East
This past Tuesday, America and its allies commemorated 80 years since the attack by Imperial Japan on the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. At that time, Japan was carving out its “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”The Tikvah Podcast: Victoria Coates on the Confusion in Natanz
To secure the emerging Japanese Empire, Tokyo expanded its armed forces and its navy in particular, focusing its efforts on Manchuria, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The key to securing its positions in Asia was knocking out the US military presence in the Pacific and making itself the uncontested hegemonial power in Asia.
The dominant diplomatic doctrine in the late 1930s in the US was isolationism, undoubtedly encouraging Tokyo to conclude that to force an American retreat was feasible even with just six aircraft carriers in the Japanese Navy. The Japanese command envisioned that the strike on Pearl Harbor would undermine America’s self-confidence to a point from which it could not recover.
It is important to review this history today as the Islamic Republic of Iran seeks to evict the US military from the Middle East and assert Iranian hegemony over the entire region. Indeed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared during Friday prayers on January 17, 2020, that the real punishment for America is “expelling them from the region.”
Tehran’s plan began to unfold not long after the fall of the shah in 1979. Iran chose Lebanon as one of its earliest testing grounds, deploying its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the Bekaa Valley. It made every effort to evict the US Marine Corps from Beirut, using Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militia that it was forming under its command.
On Saturday, December 4, 2021, an explosion occurred near Iran’s nuclear facility outside the city of Natanz. Afterwards, two nearby villages were evacuated. Was the explosion the result of a weapons test? An accident? Sabotage? No one yet knows what took place in the mountains of northern Iran that day. And whereas civilians and observers can afford to wait for more information, national-security professionals are forced to act and react to events like this in real time without a lot of information. If there’s an explosion near the nuclear compound of an adversarial nation, what do you do?Caroline Glick: The generals' belated awakening
Natanz and its uncertainty is the point of departure for this week’s podcast. Victoria Coates, the former deputy national security adviser for Middle Eastern and North African affairs, shares her experience making decisions under pressure and with imperfect information.
Something is changing in Israel's military brass' assessment of the Iranian nuclear threat. Evidence is growing that members of the IDF General Staff and the Mossad are beginning to realize that the US doesn't share Israel's goal of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Last week, for instance, Michael Makovsky, head of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, (JINSA) a Washington-based group that cultivates ties between Israeli and US generals, published an article in the New York Post in which he described their rude awakening.Israel must adjust to a weak US
Makovsky wrote, "Recent meetings with senior defense officials from our closest Middle East ally, Israel, were the most pessimistic I can recall. They perceive America as checked out, adrift, pusillanimous, unfeared and desperate to avoid military confrontation, and Iran as emboldened and nearing the nuclear weapons threshold."
Makovsky said that all his interlocutors had raised the same three points: The US withdrawal from Afghanistan showed that the Biden administration is comfortable betraying US allies. The administration's decision not to respond to the Oct. 20 Iranian attack on its airbase in Tanf, Syria, showed the US is willing to allow Iran to attack it with impunity. And the administration's willingness to be humiliated by the Iranians at the nuclear talks in Vienna shows that the only thing the administration wants is to reach a deal – any deal – with Iran.
By Makovsky's telling, the Israelis are divided on what the Iranians want and they still haven't completely given up hope that the Americans will come through, somehow. He ended his article by arguing that the US should provide Israel with the equipment and weapons platforms it requires to successfully strike Iran's nuclear installations without the US. But it was clear from his description of the Israeli security brass' disposition that their faith the US will actually follow through on its pledge to block Iran from becoming a nuclear power has waned significantly. It is beginning to dawn on them that in the fight against Iran, Israel is alone.
While Israel's security establishment's frustration with the Biden administration, and their apparent, grudging acceptance of reality are understandable, there is something deeply unsettling about both.
Where have the generals been for the past 13 years?
If you need an indication that nothing is going to come out of the Vienna talks other than total capitulation to Iran's demands should look at the US's reaction to a more immediate and material threat to its closest allies in NATO – the Russian threat on Ukraine. Russia has shown determination, strength and strategic consistency, while the US has no sense of direction – something no superpower can afford, especially when it wants to stand up to the plate and counter the most important challenge of our generation, China's rise.
Tehran and Beijing are watching Biden and NATO and feel at ease. If the West's major powers just want to "return home safely from the battlefront" there is no risk that they will check Iran, and definitely not China.
Biden's Afghanistan fiasco has hurt him domestically, but that's much less of a concern because it was just a botched operational mission that ended a 20-year strategic failure that involved an unhelpful military deployment. Even the US departure from Iraq and other theaters in the region does not underlie weakness in and of themselves. In fact, in a different context, this would actually signal that the US was putting its resources where they are most needed.
But Biden has consistently shown that he lacks a backbone on all fronts. Just this week, the CIA chief said the US has no indication Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has decided to develop a military nuclear program. It's like a cop trying to stop a bank robbery but then says that he has no proof that the robbers' weapons are loaded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has massed troops on the border with Ukraine and has been sending plainclothed troops to help pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has vowed a forceful response if Russia invades. But judging by how the US reacted to the annexation of Crimea, Putin can very well assume that the only thing he will face after an invasion is sanctions.
Understanding Arab strategy towards Israel
The comprehensive Arab campaign revolves around three circles. Egypt represents the external circle, to which we attribute the Sinai withdrawal, also pullbacks from south Lebanon in the year 2000, and the transfer on the eastern frontier of lands to Jordan in 2018. The Palestinians represent the internal circle with withdrawals from parts of Gaza and the Jericho salient in 1994; then from cities, villages and rural areas in Judea and Samaria in 1995, Hebron in 1997, parts of Samaria in 1998; then the total pullback from the Gaza Strip in 2005, including areas in northern Samaria. Arabs in Israel proper represent the domestic circle, launching a political flight from the Zionist bedrock of Israel's existence. Now the ideological and national foundations of Israel are tottering with concessions to the Islamic Movement and accepting its participation at the heart of political affairs.MEMRI: New Palestinian Embassy Building In Tunisia Features Giant Marble Map Of Palestine From The River To The Sea
The domestic element draws the circle to the source of things in the Arab Grand Strategy. It constitutes the final phase, reaching the climax and pointing to the finale. The Arabs look to the future, though Israel is strapped to the present. Mansour Abbas would concur with Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, a Palestinian who journeyed from Jordan to Afghanistan to preach jihad against the Soviet invasion, who wrote that "Palestine is the foremost Islamic problem." However, that problem can be resolved by politics and not necessarily—or only—through warfare.
Through Nietzsche, we can better understand how a democracy—like Israel's—experiences a loss of will. An excess of tolerance and pluralism, with no hard sacred values, dilutes the judgment and seeps the energy from people in leadership. No matter how bizarre the demand, leaders in a democracy are sensitized to say "yes" to all and every disaffected and disgruntled groups. The combination of victimology and indoctrination fill the echo chambers, and the media engage in a brainwashing assault on behalf of the alleged underdog—the Arabs. Of a like mind with John Stuart Mill and Lord Acton, the activists and propagandists list the benefits of freedom and vitality that flourish in a country of many nationalities, lodged in a common union.
The Israeli experience, still unfolding, carries an alternative and ominous meaning. The fact that Arab citizens weigh in heavily in demographic proportions of crime and violence against both fellow-Arabs and Jews is a menacing sign. Poll findings revealing Arab rejection of a Jewish-majority state gain scant public attention. Alongside that, Arab employment in high-profile jobs, from professors to pharmacists, free from any discriminatory hiring practice, is a noticeable social reality. Active support from the Israeli Left combined with the tacit support of the Israeli Right accelerate the emerging peril to the integrity of the Jewish nation-state. Jews will increasingly not feel safe and at home in their own country.
Shmuel Trigano has written persuasively on the destructive potential of the ideology of multi-culturalism, post-modernism without truths, minority rights for all, and identity politics, as an immediate, present, and future danger to the state of Israel. The mayor of the Arab town of Taibe, who is close to Mansour Abbas, gave voice to what is obvious to him and his Palestinian fellow-compatriots: "Taibe is part of Palestine," adding, "You [Israel] cannot erase our identity."
Memory is at the root of identity. It can also serve as an impetus for action. It becomes unacceptable to forgive what is a scalding old grievance that future generations must address. Recall the struggle for justice in the story of the King of Amon in the Book of Judges, who after three hundred years went to war against Israel for having conquered his lands long earlier. The Arab strategy of stages against Israel is resolute and tireless. Is it too harsh to characterize the present stage in the Arab strategy as going for Israel's political jugular?
The success of a sly deception depends not only on the skill of the deceiver but also on the indiscretion of the deluded. Sadat fooled Begin who thought there would be a warm peace with Egypt. Arafat fooled Rabin who thought there would be peace with the Palestinians. Abbas is now fooling Bennett who thinks it will be beneficial for Israel to conciliate and integrate the Arabs in Israel.
The wheel turns and stops always with Israel's misunderstanding.
During the December 8, 2021 inauguration ceremony for the new Palestinian Embassy building in Tunisia, with the participation of Tunisian President Kais Saied and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud 'Abbas, an outdoor wall featuring a giant marble map of Palestine from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean was highlighted.
The map shows major cities, including those within Israel such as Haifa, Jaffa, Lod, Ramla, and Nazareth. Photos of Saied and 'Abbas standing in front of the giant map appeared in reports about the inauguration in both the Tunisian and Palestinian media.
Fatah tweeted photos of the inauguration ceremony, adding: "The President of the Palestinian state, Mahmoud 'Abbas, and his Tunisian brother, the President of the Republic of Tunisia Kais Saied inaugurated the new building of the Palestinian Embassy in Tunisia on Wednesday [December 8]."[1]
The Facebook page of the Tunisian presidency also reported on the inauguration ceremony, and posted photos of it.
The United Nations General Assembly today is slated to adopt six resolutions (see details below) that single out or condemn Israel, and zero on the entire rest of the world.Media Erases Iran’s Ties to Hamas and Terrorism
The texts condemn Israel for “repressive measures” against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights and renew the mandates of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as well as the UN’s “special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.” (Click here for texts and prior voting sheets.)
The six resolutions were previously adopted on November 9th by the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization Committee, known as the Fourth Committee. Today the votes are repeated as the General Assembly plenary formally ratifies the texts.
“This latest torrent of one-sided resolutions continues the UN’s unrelenting assault on Israel,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental watchdog organization.
“Only last week, the UN adopted three resolutions against Israel including one on Jerusalem that showed contempt for both Judaism and Christianity by making no mention of the name Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site.”
“Three of today’s resolutions concern UNRWA — yet none address the agency’s employment of dozens of teachers and school principals who quote Hitler and praise Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist attacks.”
The Hamas terror organization this week declared that “the countdown to another confrontation with Israel has begun.” In a separate statement, Gaza’s rulers recently encouraged Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to “escalate the resistance [sic] against the Zionist enemy” using “all tools and forms.” Following Hamas’ call to arms, multiple terror attacks rocked the holy city, including one that left an Israeli tour guide dead.Israel Advocacy Movement: This is why people hate Israel We showcase some of the worst headlines of the last 3 weeks to help you understand why so many people hate Israel.
The flare-up comes as Iran and world powers are expected to return to the negotiating table with the goal of reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. Israel and Gulf countries vehemently oppose the nuclear agreement for several reasons, one being that it does not address Tehran’s widely-documented support for terrorist organizations across the region, including Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Over the last few years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been the largest provider of money and arms to the terror group’s so-called military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Additionally, it funds Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the PFLP, all with a view to advancing its quest for regional hegemony.
Nevertheless, when Tehran’s proxies go to war with the Jewish state, news consumers are often left with the impression that an Israeli move “triggered” the “outbreak of violence.”
Yet, as Middle East analyst Jonathan Schanzer notes in his book “Gaza Conflict 2021,” “the preparations for conflict against Israel are constant, and usually with help from state sponsors. There is rarely one single spark that ignites a conflict. There is no single point of failure — except, perhaps, in the reporting that follows.”
"Mehablim" means "terrorist". Not "Arab". It doesn't matter if the terrorists are Arab, Jewish or Pastafarians, they're "mehablim".
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) December 10, 2021
Why does BDS insist on labelling all Arabs terrorists? We would never say that, because it's stupid and wrong. But BDS says it ALL THE TIME. https://t.co/hYNbNfwGk7
In ‘Goodwill’ Gesture, Lapid Returns 95 Smuggled Artifacts and Relics to Egypt During Cairo Visit
Israel on Thursday returned to Egypt dozens of artifacts and relics which had been smuggled into the country, during Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s diplomatic visit to Ciaro.Moroccan Muslims asking where they can study Hebrew
The 95 relics seized in Israel were handed over by Lapid during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Escozido presented Shoukry with the Egyptian relics that had been illegally brought into Israel.
“At the request of the Egyptian authorities and as a gesture of goodwill, the Israeli government and the Israel Antiquities Authority decided to return the items to the Egyptians,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated.
In March 2013, an Israeli antiques dealer was caught by local customs authorities at the Ben Gurion Airport as he attempted to smuggle four Egyptian antiquities into the country. The antiques dealer had purchased the items in England and tried to bring them into Israel without passing through customs.
Believing the items to belong to ancient Egyptian culture, the Israel Antiquities Authority updated the Egyptian authorities, who confirmed they had been stolen.
In the same year, Egyptian authorities contacted their Israeli counterparts claiming that relics held in an antiques store of a licensed merchant in Jerusalem were also stolen items from the country. The Israel Antiquities Authority opened an investigation at their request, which led to the seizure of 91 archaeological items found in the store.
So what if the Israeli-Moroccan normalization agreement is not officially part of the Abraham Accords? In practice, the deal is no different. Ties between Rabat and Jerusalem were renewed within the same window of opportunity that opened up in September 2020.Israel and Morocco Celebrate 1 Year of Relations
A particularly fascinating outcome of the agreement is the Muslim Moroccans' interest to learn Hebrew.
"We receive a lot of inquiries about Hebrew courses from individuals who want to learn the language, simply because Moroccans love languages and are known polyglots," said Einat Levi, a political and economic consultant at Israel's diplomatic mission in Rabat. "Business owners and service providers also express interest in learning Hebrew, because they understand that there is an economic opportunity for them" in Israel.
One can also see more signs in Hebrew across the markets and old cities of Morocco put up by local residents and shop vendors who are excited about the return of Israeli tourists.
In the Jewish quarter of the port city of Essaouira, which used to boast a thriving Jewish community, the local pharmacy now also displays a sign in Hebrew.
"The sign in Hebrew is a symbol of cultural renewal, invitation, and testimony to the close connection between culture and tourism, and more than that – it has an assertion of belonging," Levi said.
Trump Expresses Anger Towards Netanyahu During Interview
Former United States president Donald Trump expressed anger towards former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Friday interview, stating the former prime minister was “disloyal” for congratulating President Joe Biden after the election.Czech President Rejects New PM’s Foreign Minister Nominee Over ‘Distance’ on Israel, Central Europe Ties
“Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, while speaking to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.
“But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape. And it was on tape.”
He continued that Netanyahu’s message came too early, “earlier than most,” cursing the former prime minister.
“I was personally disappointed in him,” he said. “Bibi could have stayed quiet. He made a terrible mistake.
“I haven’t spoken with him since. F*** him.”
Netanyahu was later than most in congratulating Biden in November of last year, doing so hours after many other world leaders.
Analysts pointed out that Netanyahu did not address Biden as “president-elect” in his tweets and remarks to the cabinet, and did not explicitly state that Biden won the elections, according to The Times of Israel.
Czech President Milos Zeman said on Friday he had rejected the nomination of a foreign minister in the incoming cabinet over the candidate’s reservations toward Israel and toward cooperation with other members in a central European alliance.Israel Travel Restrictions Extended by 10 days
Zeman said in a statement he was ready to appoint the rest of the cabinet but the rejection sets the stage for a legal battle with the new prime minister, Petr Fiala, leader of the centre-right Civic Democrats.
Fiala has backed the foreign minister nominee, Jan Lipavsky, from the liberal Pirate Party, which is part of Fiala’s coalition that won an election in October.
Zeman, who is not the head of the executive under the constitution but has frequently exerted pressure on cabinets, said Lipavsky lacked qualifications.
Zeman said he was rejecting Lipavsky’s “distanced” stance on Israel and on the central European Visegrad group, whose fellow members Poland and Hungary have been at loggerheads with European partners over the rule of law.
The Czech Republic has had strong ties with Israel and Fiala’s coalition pledged to hold that line.
Lipavsky signed a letter alongside more than 400 other lawmakers from Europe in February in protesting Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
He has been against on moving the Czech embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is one of Zeman’s goals that would align the Czechs with US policy.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided Thursday evening to extend the country’s travel restrictions for another 10 days from December 12, to prevent a massive spread of the omicron variant in the territory."More Israelis Visited Temple Mount in Last 3 Months Than in All of Year 5776"
The borders have been closed for nearly two weeks to foreigners.
The Prime Minister’s statement, however, did not mention the reopening of the borders to tourists, but specified that the two men agreed “on the extension of the current restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport.”
All Israelis arriving in the country, including those vaccinated against the coronavirus with all three doses, will be required to take a PCR test at Ben Gurion Airport upon arrival and then immediately go into home quarantine. They will have to take a second test on the third day after their arrival to be able to come out of isolation if it is negative.
People who have not been vaccinated or who have not received the third dose when their second date is more than six months old will have to quarantine themselves for seven days. People returning from countries classified as “red” will be placed in isolation in coronavirus hotels.
In the three months since the beginning of the Hebrew year of 5782 in Tishrei (beginning of September) more Jews ascended the Temple Mount than throughout the entire Hebrew year six years ago.The Israel Guys: President of Israel “Breaks” Into HEBRON Mosque | Israel News
In all of the year Hebrew year of 5776 (2015-2016), 12,148 Jews ascended the Temple Mount. Since then, the number of Jews visiting the Temple Mount has been climbing, and from the beginning of the current Jewish year, 12,177 Jews have already ascended to pray on the Temple Mount.
“This is an amazing statistic that shows how much the return of Israel to the Temple Mount is intensifying,” Temple Mount activists stated Thursday.
The Yera’eh organization, which presented the data, has been following the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount for the past seven years.
Yochai Sar’el, one of the organization’s volunteers, noted the great change that took place in the visits to the Temple Mount compared to 2016.
“The visit has become much more comfortable. The policemen greet the visitors, the security is tight, Muslim harassers are removed from the complex, a large lobby welcomes the visitors when they come to the mountain, and on the Temple Mount itself, Shacharit and Mincha prayers and Torah lessons are held daily,” he said.
The organization believes that a new record number of visitors will be set this year and will probably surpass 40,000 worshipers a year, “an amount that has apparently not come to the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple” 2,000 years ago.
Terrorist attacks in Israel have increased in the last several weeks. Just before recording this program, a Jewish mother of five was stabbed by a teenage Palestinian neighbor girl. This is the sixth terrorist attack that has taken place in the last two and half weeks.
Israel finished a security barrier they have been working on for a long time. This fence that runs along Israel’s border with Gaza however, is far more than a normal fence. It is designed to work above ground, below ground, and in the Mediterranean. This should keep many Hamas terrorists out of Israel’s communities.
Israel’s new president, Isaac Herzog, went to Hebron to light candles at the Cave of the Patriarchs on the first night of Hanukkah. Reactions from the leaders of the Arab world as well as PA media were ridiculous, even though predictable. Some are even using his visit to the Jewish site to try and spark the beginning of the 3rd Intifada. In other words, they’re trying to use President Herzog’s visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs as an excuse to kill thousands of Jews.
BBC rejects complaint on accuracy in report on Jerusalem terror attack
The BBC’s response does indeed clarify its position. It clarifies that the BBC is not concerned by the lack of accuracy in its portrayal of the number of people wounded in the attack (as was also the case in the BBC News website’s written report on the incident).
It also clarifies that the BBC is quite happy to have provided a platform for Odeh’s deliberate – and, in contrast to the claim in the BBC’s response, unchallenged – misrepresentation of the attack as having been directed at members of Israel’s security forces, as a means of ‘justifying’ Palestinian terrorism.
Let’s look again at that part of the interview:
Odeh: “Look you have to put this in the context of occupier and occupied, whereby the occupying power – Israel – is carrying out several policies and actions that place extreme pressure on Palestinians. It is outlawing, it is criminalising their civil society organisations. It is persecuting their human rights advocates. It is imprisoning their student activists. It is listening in on their conversations and hacking the phones of political and human rights defenders. And at the same time it is rejecting any kind of political dialogue with their leaders. So in that context, confrontation has become the norm of exchange between the two sides.”
Marshall: “So…so direct your response at a military target, not at a civilian then.”
Odeh: “Right well I don’t have the full details of all those who were targeted but my understanding is that the targets were border police. They were the symbols of Israeli occupation.”
As we noted at the time, the full information concerning the sequence of the incident was in the public domain hours before the interview with Nour Odeh was aired and so Julian Marshall had no excuse not to challenge Odeh’s deliberate falsehood concerning the targets of the attack.
The BBC’s response to our complaint however makes it perfectly clear that it regards its supposed commitment to accuracy, impartiality and “the highest editorial standards” as an optional extra.
Can you imagine if a headline like this was written about any other race or ethnicity? pic.twitter.com/cRO5aCaWk1
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) December 9, 2021
In an Al-Aqsa Mosque Address, Palestinian Islamic Scholar Nidhal Siam Incites for the Overthrow of the Jordanian Regime: It Was Instated by the English and Is Beyond Reform; Its Very Existence Is against the Shari’a #Jordan #Palestinians #Israel pic.twitter.com/MB4ASr4yoF
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 10, 2021
MEMRI: Former Palestinian Authority Minister: Attacks By Individual Palestinians Do Not Serve Our Cause And Must Stop; The Leadership Is Letting Our Youngsters Shed Their Blood To Cover Up For Its Incompetence
In a December 5, 2021 article, Ziad Abu Zayyad, a former minister of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian Authority (PA), called to stop the wave of terrorist attacks in the West Bank. The article was published in the in the daily Al-Quds, based in East Jerusalem, one day after a Palestinian, Muhammad Salima, stabbed and wounded an Israeli civilian in Jerusalem and was shot to death by Israeli police officers, and following several similar attacks over the past few weeks.
Ziad Abu Zayyad (Source: Youtube.com, December 29, 2019)
While harshly condemning Israel's policy and the police officers' killing of the stabber, calling it "murder in the full sense of the word," Abu Zayyad also directed sharp criticism at the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and Gaza, which glorifies these attacks instead of stopping them. He accused the Palestinian leaders of letting young men and women spill their blood in vain instead of formulating a comprehensive national plan for the struggle against Israel. Resistance against Israel should not be a matter of individuals acting on their own discretion, he said, for such attacks do not serve the national Palestinian goal of ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, but only cause further rounds of violence and bloodshed. He called on the Palestinian leadership to stop shirking its responsibility and formulate a clear plan for the struggle against Israel, as part of which these individual attacks will stop.[1]
It should be noted that Ziad Abu Zayyad frequently criticizes the Palestinian leadership and presents alternatives to its conduct and policies.[2]
The following are translated excerpts from Abu Zayyad's article.[4]
"If the killing of Muhammad Shawkat Salima, who was martyred yesterday when Israeli soldiers shot him near Bab Al-'Amoud [Damascus Gate] in Jerusalem, is not an act of murder in the full sense of the word, then what is an act of murder? He was wounded by a bullet in his calf, unable to move, and no longer posed a threat to anyone. So what sort of logic and what law entitled the soldiers to shoot him again and again, when he could no longer respond, until they ensured he was dead[?] I will not debate [the question] of whether he did or did not carry out a stabbing, but assume that he did.[5] Even so, was the soldier who shot him while he was lying helpless on the ground entitled to execute him and deprive him of the right to live? In every country under the rule of law – and Israel claims to be such a country – criminals are brought to court and are allowed to have their say. They are not [judged] by policemen, whose duty is to obey the law and make sure that others respect and obey it as well.
"What happened yesterday was murder in the full sense of the word, and is another in a chain of cold-blooded murders perpetrated against our children and young people, hundreds of whom have fallen in the recent years, so many that the refrigerators in Israel's hospitals can no longer hold them. This was a crime, and its perpetrators and those behind them… should be punished to the full extent of the law…
"However, there is another question we must face in a courageous, direct and responsible manner: Who sent the martyr Muhammad Shawkat Salima to do what he did? And if nobody sent him, then who is responsible for what he did?... We must not absolve ourselves of responsibility.
Arab American University has decided to dismiss all the students who were involved in the brawl during which student Mahran Khaliliyeh was stabbed to death. pic.twitter.com/L03YcY8idW
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) December 9, 2021
A Hamas motorcade in northern #Gaza today to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of the militant group's founding. The poster held by one of the participants is of a militant killed by a Merkava during a military exercise in which the IDF believed he was firing towards the border. pic.twitter.com/iigactZtyN
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) December 9, 2021
Israel's real Iran deal fear: US disengagement from Middle East
In October 2019, Donald Trump stunned Israel and pretty much every other American ally when announcing his decision to withdraw troops from Syria. The move was made as a gesture to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan whose hostility for the Kurdish forces the US was supporting was no secret.
The Israeli shock was hard to hide. Concerned how it would grapple alone with the growing presence of Iranian and Russian forces in Syria, all Israelis – from across the political spectrum – cried out in protest. While the US never went ahead with the full withdrawal – it did downscale numbers – Trump’s move should not have surprised a soul in Jerusalem.
The reason is because ever since the presidency of Barack Obama, the US has been on a clear trajectory of scaling back its presence in the Middle East, partly a reactionary move to the two terms of George W. Bush, which saw wars started in Afghanistan and Iraq, and partly due to an understanding that after years of not seeing success it was time to bring the troops home.
This is important to keep in mind because the tension right now being felt between Jerusalem and Washington DC is not just about the possibility that the Biden administration will lead the P5+1 into a bad deal with Iran. It is about something far broader – the future of American involvement in the Middle East.
The signs are worrisome. Already during the campaign, Joe Biden – like Trump – vowed to end the so-called “forever wars,” first and foremost the one in Afghanistan. When he abruptly pulled out last summer, though, Americans and the rest of the world were aghast; not because Biden kept his word but because of the consequences and the Taliban’s immediate takeover of the country.
This might be the most honest and accurate thing a JCPOA supporter ever said. That's exactly what the JCPOA does. https://t.co/kG3yOSCX6g
— Mike (@Doranimated) December 9, 2021
Should Israel worry about warming UAE-Iran ties?
A senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem said that “the Emiratis hedging their bets is not a good sign,” in terms of how they see Iran talks going. “They see a danger of returning to the 2015 normalization of Iran, so they’re being careful,” the source added.Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Iran: A Review of State Narratives Since 1979
“Iran is their neighbor and they’re a big country, so the UAE needs to play a mixed game,” the source said. “Even when they had a more anti-Iranian line, they were cautious and kept up economic ties.”
Abu Dhabi-based expert on Israel-Arab relations Loay Alshareef similarly said: “We cannot change geography. Iran is a neighboring country that is a few kilometers away from many Arab states in the Arabian Gulf.”
Alshareef put the meeting in a broader context, not related to Vienna, and pointed to recent visits by Sheikh Tahnoon to Qatar and Turkey, countries with which the UAE had tense relations in recent years.
“The UAE is making sure to keep good ties with key players in the region to minimize tension and achieve peace,” he said.
LIKE ALSHAREEF and the Israeli diplomatic source, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs president Dore Gold said the Emiratis are probably trying to place themselves in a position of greater neutrality so they won’t be targeted by Iran.
However, he said that effort is misguided.
“If anyone thinks that by giving in to Iran, it will make them suddenly behave better, they’re sorely mistaken. That will only invite greater Iranian intervention in the Middle East,” Gold warned.
Jews have been living in Iran since Biblical times, after Cyrus the Great freed them from captivity in Babylon. But since the 1979 Islamic Revolution the Jewish population of Iran has dwindled to a fraction of its former size.
Those Jews who have remained in Iran under the present rule by Shia clergy are attacked and harassed on three fronts: generalized, historical antagonism toward Jews, the political skirmish between the Islamic Republic and Israel, and allegations of “Crypto-Judaism”.
The Jewish population of Iran stood at more than 65,000 in 1956 and has now fallen to fewer than 20,000. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the lives of Iranian Jews have been dominated by the regime’s hostility towards Israel and systematic Holocaust denial. For the past 40 years, Iranian Jews have been bluntly viewed by the ruling clergy as assets and allies of Israel, and the tragedy of Holocaust has been presented as nothing more than Western propaganda to justify the existence of Israel. As tensions have grown in recent years so too has the harassment of the Jews, both officially and unofficially.
Officially, Judaism is recognized as a “legitimate” religion under the Islamic Republic. The Iranian Constitution states Jews can worship freely and have a representative in the Iranian parliament. They are also granted their own schools, temples and cultural and sports societies – although, under the law, Jewish students are also free to study at any school or university. Jewish institutions and activities are not under surveillance by security and intelligence agencies — or so claims the Islamic Republic.
The reality is different. Since certain elements within the Shia clergy took over governance of Iran, the Jewish community has been viewed as a politically “suspect” minority, as a religious “rival” and as an “ally” of the West when it comes to the Holocaust and other issues of concern to the international Jewish community.
The Tehran Jewish Committee says these emigrations are the result of “constant humiliation of the Jews and unhappy events”. But for obvious reasons, most notably a justified fear of repercussions if its members speak out too forcefully, the Committee has not specified what these “unhappy events” have been.
“The current deal doesn’t protect us from an Iranian nuclear or military capability,” Prince Faisal said.
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) December 9, 2021
You have to love the way the Saudis comply with pressure from Malley to issue a JCPOA mutual compliance statement but manage to slip in why they actually oppose any return. https://t.co/wbUA2UVwF1
This comprehensive study on the anti-Semitic feature of the Khamenei-led IRI and its ongoing efforts to spread anti-Semitism is a must-read for anti-Semitism researchers and Iran wonks. @beehnam https://t.co/FDWlpFcDZb pic.twitter.com/FsauEwKBBx
— Yossi Mansharof (@Yossi_Mansharof) December 8, 2021
You murdered Navid Afkari, a champion wrestler.
— Kaveh Shahrooz ???? ????? (@kshahrooz) December 10, 2021
You'd rather have your athletes forfeit than compete against Israelis.
You don't let women into stadiums.
Maybe shut up about the "politicization of sport", @SKhatibzadeh. https://t.co/SE7JoSM1Q5
