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Saturday, January 29, 2022

01/29 Links: Normalize with Israel, let insulters fend for themselves; Trump Prioritized Sending Vaccines to Israel; Christian Zionist Nominated for Nobel Prize by Israeli Jews

From Ian:

Normalize, let insulters fend for themselves
WHY are we the ones being insulted by the Palestinians?

When they are happy, they curse the Gulf leaders and people. When they are angry, they use all of the defamatory and abusive words in their dictionary against us.

We, the Gulf nationals, overlook all that by sending them aid. We also participated in all the Arab wars for defending the right of the Palestinians for self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on the 1967 borders.

We are the only ones who rescued them in the year 1970 when they launched their war on Jordan. The late Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah evacuated their leader Yasser Arafat from Amman. The Arabian Gulf states, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, boycotted oil export to the Western countries during the 1973 war.

Furthermore, Riyadh presented two initiatives to solve the issue. Despite their support of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and their participation in acts of intimidation, abuse and killing against Kuwaiti citizens, the Gulf nationals especially Kuwaitis continued to support the Palestinians and their resistance factions.

They supported the late Jamal Abdul Nasser against us. They stood with Gaddafi when he hurled everything he had on the leaders of the Gulf. Their derision even reached the point that they wrote the names of the kings and princes of the Gulf countries on animals and marched with them at the forefront of their demonstrations.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Gulf states and their people offered to the Palestinians, who were and still are ungrateful.

They stood with the Iranian Houthi aggressor against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. They slandered and cursed the leaders and governments of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries because they did not mourn the assassination of the head of the terrorist snake Qasem Soleimani.
Kuwaiti poet: ‘Embrace Jews without having a political agenda’
Kuwaiti poet and writer Nejoud Al-Yagou urged, in an eye-popping article, that Kuwaitis embrace Jews and put aside their power politics to create religious and social peace.

“Let’s take religion aside. Many here do not even practice religion but still hold a caustic hatred for Jews,” Al-Yagou wrote on the English-language website Fanack.com. earlier this month.

“What is their excuse? Is it politics? If that is the way we think, why are we judging others for being afraid of us?” she asked. “There are Muslims who have used religion to justify and perpetrate attacks on innocent civilians. Did the world ban mosques?”

Al-Yagou apparently authored her article in response to hateful reactions to the US embassy wishing Jews in the oil-rich Gulf country a happy Hanukkah on social media.

“Some commentators trolled the ambassador, and anyone who responded to the message in a spirit of love was verbally abused,” she wrote. “Some argued that there are not many Jews in Kuwait, so why would the US Embassy post such a message? The commentators used the message not only to accuse the ambassador of having an agenda but to attack Jews as a whole.

“What is this cringe-worthy fear we have toward Jews?” she asked, adding that “we cannot use the excuse that we don’t celebrate the festivities of other religions, because many Kuwaitis love to celebrate Christmas, and a few celebrate Diwali with Hindus.

“We cannot say we are protecting Islamic principles, because Kuwait is filled with people of all faiths and no faiths. As such, is this who we have become in a country whose heritage prides itself on coexistence?” she asked.

“What a pity; what a loss for us,” she lamented. “How heartbreaking for our forefathers, a few of whom were Jews who lived here alongside us.”


Honestly with Bari Weiss (podcast): An Imam Blows the Whistle on Muslim Antisemitism
As a boy growing up in Turkey, Abdullah Antepli thought hating Jews was normal. He read Mein Kampf before he was 15. His parents gave him a children's version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He burned Israeli flags.

Today, he is an imam, a professor at Duke University, and, as he puts it, a recovering antisemite. Imam Adbullah has been fearless about blowing the whistle about rising antisemitism in the Muslim community. In the wake of the recent hostage-taking at the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, he tweeted: “Houston, we have a problem!” He wrote, “we need to honestly discuss the increasing anti-semitism within various Muslim communities.”

Today, on Holocaust Remembrace Day, a conversation with a man who has paid a heavy personal price for working to eradicate Jew-hate and to promote peace between Muslims and Jews.


Trump Prioritized Sending Vaccines to Israel: Report
The Trump administration created a secret list while planning for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, prioritizing certain countries over others, Politico reported Friday.

According to the report, the list favored Israel and other allies such as Taiwan over low-and moderate-income countries.

The list was split into several sections, including US strategic allies, countries that helped develop the vaccine, countries with relationships with Gavi — the global vaccine alliance — and all other countries.

Officials told Politico that the documents were passed on to the Biden administration, saying that it “does not use the previous administration’s policy or the cited list to make vaccine sharing decisions.”

The list was an annex to a longer document laying out the Trump administration’s international approach to facing COVID-19, planning the distribution of the vaccines based on political preference.

“We thought that the categories themselves made sense at the time,” said Paul Mango, the former deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Politico.

“The underserved countries were third on the list.”
Herzog’s visit will enhance relations, says UAE ambassador
The two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates by President Isaac Herzog will enhance relations between the UAE and Israel, according to ambassador Mohammed Al Khaja.

In July 2021, only a week after his inauguration, Herzog joined Al Khaja in opening the UAE embassy in Tel Aviv.

On Sunday, after just over six months in office, he will be the first president of the State of Israel to pay an official visit to the UAE, and the Emirates will be the first Gulf state to be visited by an Israeli president.

The countries normalized ties in August 2020, in what is known as the Abraham Accords.

During the visit, it is expected that progress will be made toward the completion of a bilateral free trade agreement.

Herzog was invited by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, with whom he has had several telephone conversations.

The visit comes as the UAE has been repeatedly attacked by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen; Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and others have made statements in solidarity with Israel’s ally in the Gulf.

Herzog will have an intensely crowded schedule during the two days in which he will experience a somewhat warmer climate than in Israel.


Argentine official causes outrage suggesting Israel should investigate AMIA bombing
A spokesperson for Argentina’s president is taking heat for arguing that Israel should help investigate the alleged perpetrators of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing that killed 85 people.

Israel was not a target of the attack. The bombing, carried out by a Hezbollah suicide bomber and believed backed by Iran, occurred in Buenos Aires.

Gabriela Cerruti, spokesperson for Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that Mohsén Rezaee, Iran’s current vice president for economic affairs and a leading suspect in the AMIA investigation, should have been arrested by Interpol during a recent controversial visit to Nicaragua. Argentina put out an international warrant for Rezaee’s arrest in 2006.

Jewish Argentine lawmaker Waldo Wolff promptly criticized Cerruti’s statement, arguing that Argentina’s government has let Rezaee off easy and has not followed through on its stated objective of serving justice in the AMIA investigation — which has dragged on for decades, and involved multiple trials and the death of Jewish investigator Alberto Nisman.

Argentina’s ambassador to Nicaragua attended the recent inauguration of President Daniel Ortega there, alongside Rezaee.

“Interpol in each country operates according to local political directives,” Wolff wrote to Cerruti on Twitter. “It is not autonomous. Nicaragua hugged Rezai. Our government did nothing… Obvious complicity.”

In response, Cerruti said that Rezaee is “wanted by Interpol and Mossad,” the latter being Israel’s intelligence agency. Those two groups “have far more intelligence resources than a Latin American embassy in a Caribbean country.”
PA slams Bennett for opposing Palestinian state
The Palestinian Authority has condemned Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying his remarks expose his “extremist and anti-peace ideology.”

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Friday, Bennett said that “this government set a diplomatic status quo. It’s OK that left-wing people like [Foreign Minister Yair] Lapid and [Defense Minister Benny] Gantz support the establishment of a Palestinian state, but my camp opposes it.”

Bennett said it would be “a terrible mistake to create a Palestinian diplomatic entity in our land.”

He added that while he does not forbid Lapid and Gantz from meeting with Palestinian officials, “I don’t think it’s right to meet with someone who is persecuting IDF officers in The Hague and transferring money to murderers.”

Bennett was referring to the PA leadership’s efforts to file “war crime” charges against IDF officers and Israeli officials with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the payments made by the PA to families of Palestinian security prisoners and those killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA General Authority of Civil Affairs and a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said in response, “The end of the occupation and the establishment of the Palestinian state won’t wait for Bennett’s approval.”

Sheikh wrote on Twitter that the prime minister “should be aware that the number of countries recognizing the State of Palestine is greater than those recognizing Israel.
Palestinian online campaign accuses Hamas of ‘kidnapping’ Gaza
Palestinians have launched a new social media campaign in protest of Hamas’s rule of the Gaza Strip, holding the Islamist movement responsible for poverty, unemployment and harsh economic and humanitarian conditions.

Hamas supporters claimed that the Palestinian Authority and Israel were behind the new campaign.

The supporters launched counter campaigns in which they accused the PA of financial and administrative corruption, collaboration with Israel and imposing financial and economic sanctions on the coastal enclave as part of an attempt to instigate a revolt against Hamas.

They also defended Hamas by arguing that it had “kidnapped” the Gaza Strip from the corrupt PA leadership, adding that the movement continues to enjoy large support among the Palestinian public.

The anti-Hamas campaign, titled “They Hijacked Gaza,” came following a report by the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which said that “about 1.5 million of the Gaza Strip’s total population of 2.3 million have become impoverished due to the Israeli blockade and restrictions imposed since 2006.”

The report pointed out that poverty has risen sharply, from 40% in 2005 to 69% in 2021.

But several anti-Hamas activists rejected the attempt to shift the blame onto Israel. They also condemned Hamas for its alliance with Iran and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the Middle East.


US blocks $130 million aid to Egypt over human rights concerns
The Biden administration is set to deny $130 million of military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, US State Department officials said on Friday, in a rare punishment of a key ally, even though it fell short of expectations of rights groups.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in September that the aid would be withheld if Egypt did not address specific human-rights-related conditions Washington has set out, which activists say included the release of certain individuals deemed political prisoners.

Rights groups had called on the administration to block the entire $300 million of foreign military financing to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's Egyptian government. Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, has overseen a crackdown on dissent that has tightened in recent years.

"While the Secretary has not made the final decision, if there are not major developments over the next couple of days, the Secretary will re-program the $130 million to other national security priorities as he previewed in September," a State Department official said in a call with reporters.

The portion of the aid withheld accounts for 10 percent of the $1.3 billion that was allocated for Egypt for fiscal year 2020. This amount has been appropriated to Egypt every year since 2017, according to a congressional research report.

But Friday's announcement comes after the administration earlier this week approved the potential sale of air defense radars and C-130 Super Hercules planes to Egypt for a combined value of more than $2.5 billion, raising doubts about the impact of the withheld amount.
US plans to reroute $67M in aid towards Lebanon's armed forces
The United States plans to reroute $67 million of military assistance for Lebanon's armed forces to support members of the military as the country grapples with financial meltdown.

According to a notification sent to Congress, the State Department intends to change the content of previously appropriated foreign military funding for Lebanon to include "livelihood support" for members of the Lebanese military, citing economic turmoil as well as social unrest.

"Livelihood support for (armed forces) members will strengthen their operational readiness, mitigate absenteeism, and thus enable LAF members to continue fulfilling key security functions needed to stave off a further decline in stability," said the notification to Congress, seen by Reuters.

Washington is the biggest foreign aid donor to Lebanon. US officials had pledged additional support in October.

The news was praised in Washington. "It is in the United States' national security interest to help these servicemen make ends meet and continue supporting the Lebanese people, and I'm really glad to see the administration putting our security assistance dollars to Lebanon toward that goal," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said in a statement.

Sunni Muslim leader Saad al-Hariri announced his departure from Lebanese politics this week, opening the way for the Shi'ite Hezbollah to extend its sway over the country.
Lebanon Will Not ‘Hand Over’ Hezbollah Arms at Gulf Meeting, Minister Says
Lebanon’s foreign minister said he was not going “to hand over” Hezbollah’s weapons during a meeting this weekend with Gulf Arab counterparts that want Beirut to rein in the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi’ite group in exchange for improved ties.

In a nod to Gulf concerns, Lebanon will however say that the country will not be “a launchpad for activities that violate Arab countries,” according to sources familiar with a draft government letter responding to Gulf terms for improved ties.

Lebanon is due at the meeting in Kuwait on Saturday to deliver its response to the terms for thawing relations, which have suffered as the heavily armed Hezbollah has grown more powerful in Beirut and the region.

“I am not going (to Kuwait) to hand over Hezbollah’s weapons. I am not going to end Hezbollah’s existence, it is out of the question in Lebanon. We are going for dialogue,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al Jazeera.

Hezbollah supports Iran in its regional struggle for influence with US-allied Gulf Arab states, which say the group has aided the Iran-aligned Houthis who are fighting a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah has a militia more powerful than Lebanon’s army and has backed pro-Iran allies in the region, including Syria.

The group and its allies also exercise major sway over Lebanese state policy.
Time running out to decide whether Iran can make a deal, Western diplomats say
Negotiations for the US and Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal are nearing the point where a decision must be made or that agreement will no longer be salvageable, European diplomats said on Friday, as the negotiating teams returned to their capitals for consultations.

“January has been the most intensive period of these talks to date,” negotiators from the US State Department and the E3 – France, Britain and Germany – said in a statement at the end of the eighth round of talks in Vienna. “Everyone knows we are reaching the final stage, which requires political decisions.”

Brett McGurk, the White House’s national security council Middle East coordinator, said on Thursday that “we’re in the ballpark of a possible deal... [but] there’s also a very real chance that these talks could collapse very soon.”

Western diplomats have said that Iran is moving too slowly in the talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action while it enriches and stockpiles uranium, and that weeks, not months, remain until the restrictions of that deal will have been irreversibly hollowed out.

Nearly 10 months after the negotiations started – with a five-month break imposed by Iran – the hardest issues remain, they say.


Anti-Israel protesters arrested in front of Israeli embassy in Washington, DC
Seven anti-Israel protesters were arrested on Sunday in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., after attempting a sit-in, blocking the entrance to the embassy.

According to the United States Secret Service, which conducted the arrests, protesters were arrested at 4:41 p.m. for failing to obey orders from officers and “incommoding,” which is defined as an individual or group of individuals blocking or obstructing roads or entrances.

The protesters were part of a group called the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which conducted anti-Israel rallies across the country on Jan. 23.

The D.C. rally, called “Hands off Palestine: From the River to the Sea,” was scheduled from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., according to PYM’s Twitter account.

A handful of the 50 or so protesters remained afterwards, pitching tents in front of the embassy gates, according to the account, and refusing to move when instructed by the police. They called the action a “sit-in.”

The protesters were released from jail later that night.

“Demonstrators courageously stood their ground outside the embassy, demonstrating their support and commitment to Palestinian resistance against ongoing ethnic cleansing,” tweeted PYM. “In Palestine and across the diaspora, our people will continue to struggle ceaselessly until the full liberation and unconditional return of all Palestinians to our homeland—from the river to the sea.”


‘Sex and the City’ Reboot Accused of ‘Bad Taste’ for Holocaust ‘Hoax’ Joke on Remembrance Day
Fans of the “Sex & The City” reboot “And Just Like That…” reacted on social media to the awkward timing of a comment denying the Holocaust in the show’s latest episode that aired Thursday, which was also International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The ninth episode of the HBO Max show featured a scene in which the character Anthony Marentino, played by Mario Cantone, brought his date, Justin, to a Friday night dinner hosted by a Jewish couple, Charlotte York-Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) and her husband, Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler).

When the dating couple arrived at the Goldenblatts’ home in New York City, Justin said, “Oh, is this a Jewish dinner? You know the Holocaust is a hoax, right?”

Cantone’s character then yelled at his date, telling him to leave. He later apologized to the Goldenblatts for bringing Justin to their home.

“Did no one flag that it might be bad taste to put a throwaway Holocaust denial joke in an episode released on Holocaust Memorial Day #andjustlikethat,” asked one Twitter user. Another wrote, “#andjustlikethat Know your f**king audience…. A joke about the holocaust on the official memorial day….are you f**king kidding me! #HolocaustRemembranceDay.”

A separate Twitter user said, “NOT the #AndJustLikeThat episode premiering on #HolocaustRemembranceDay with Anthony’s date saying ‘You know the holocaust is a hoax, right!’…who approved this?”
BBC News ignores a story that contradicts a recurrent claim
Last year the BBC produced multiple reports on the topic of crime within the Arab-Israeli sector, with audiences told that:
“Bereaved families and Arab officials claim that police inaction is one of the main reasons for the endemic violence plaguing their neighbourhoods.”

In November a similar claim of “police inaction” appeared in a report about the arrests of sixty-five illegal arms dealers:

THREE MONTHS OF BBC COPY-PASTING OF A REDUNDANT CLAIM
As noted at the time, the BBC’s report did not make any mention of the sources of the weapons seized.

“Investigators believe most of the weapons came from the West Bank and were smuggled into the country from Lebanon and Jordan. The rest were stolen from Israeli army bases.”

On January 25th the IDF and the Israeli police thwarted a smuggling attempt from Jordan.


Washington, DC Jewish Community ‘Disturbed’ After Union Station Plastered With Swastika Graffiti
Jewish communal groups in Washington, DC and national lawmakers expressed outrage on Friday at the discovery of swastikas daubed across the facade of the city’s Union Station, just steps away from the US Capitol building.

The vandalism was seen on nearly every column of the central train station building, local reporters shared on social media.

“We are disturbed by this video of a swastika taken this morning just outside @wmata at DC’s Union Station,” said the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington on Twitter. “This antisemitic and hateful symbol has no place in our society, and to find it in our city the week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is particularly offensive.”

“Once again this reinforces the need to teach about antisemitism and hate. We call on law enforcement to conduct a swift investigation,” said the Anti-Defamation League’s DC chapter.

In a statement Friday afternoon, Amtrak said an investigation was underway in tandem with the Metropolitan Police Department.

“Amtrak strongly condemns this act of hatred and will work with our landlord, USRC and their lessor to remove these symbols as quickly as possible,” the railroad service said.


Tel Aviv ranks second after Silicon Valley on 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report
Tel Aviv has ranked number second globally as a Cleantech ecosystem on the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER): Cleantech Edition from Startup Genome, launched on Monday at the CleanTech Forum San Francisco.

Tel Aviv came in at a close second after Silicon Valley and before key global hubs in the field such as Stockholm, London and Los Angeles.

The Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) is the world's most comprehensive and widely read research on startups with 280 entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems and 3 million startups analyzed.

The Cleantech Edition looks into the "the globally competitive landscape of technology-based startups focused on reducing environmental impact and solving the scaleup gap in Cleantech."

The report includes startups "dedicated to renewable energy, transportation, logistics, and more."


Israeli startup 'Air' develops personal electric plane
Interview with Rani Plaut, CEO at Air. The electric private plane business aims for sales in 2024.

'Aircraft is always dangerous… we are bringing the aircraft to the car level in terms of safety'

An Israeli startup recently unveiled its fully-electric flying vehicle that is also drivable on roads, a concept thought to be the future of personal transportation.

The “AIR ONE” two-seater aircraft, by the electronic aviation company AIR, can take off and land vertically and has a range of over 10 miles at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour.

Cleantech ecosystems are ranked based on numerous factors such as ecosystem performance, sub-sector strengths, success factor gaps, ecosystem lifecycle, and peer benchmarking.


EU earmarks $736M for power cable connecting Israel, Greece, Cyprus
The European Union has earmarked 657 million euros ($736 million) for the construction of a 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable that will link the power grids of Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides said Thursday.

Pilides told reporters the funding is Cyprus' largest-ever investment as well as the lion's share of the total sum that the EU's Connecting Europe Facility, which bankrolls infrastructure projects, has allocated to a single project this year.

Pilides said the money enables crews to start constructing the segment of the cable that will connect Cyprus with the Greek island of Crete, the total cost of which is estimated at roughly 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Negotiations to transfer the funds are expected to wrap up this summer.

The minister said beyond the project's geopolitical weight, it will ensure Cyprus' energy security, boost competitiveness in the power supply sector, and help the island nation more easily transition to a green economy.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said in a statement that the cable "tangibly underscores the significance of the three-way cooperation between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel."

"This is a significant landmark regarding the three countries' strategic choices, which upgrades the region's energy goals," the Cypriot president said in a statement.
Christian Zionist Nominated for Nobel Prize by Israeli Jews
American Evangelical leader Mike Evans has been officially nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a senior Israeli academic.

Senior Vice President of Ariel University in Israel, Bobby Brown, said in his submission to the Nobel Prize Committee that he “knows of no living person doing more to combat antisemitism” than Mike Evans.

Evans heads the Friends of Zion Heritage Center and has long been at the forefront of mobilizing Christian support for Israel and the Jewish people.

“It’s a great honor being nominated, but I consider combating antisemitism an even greater honor,” Evans wrote upon hearing the news. “The key to happiness is committing your life to a cause greater than yourself. I have such a cause.”

Evans is Jewish through his mother, and as a child both he and his mother suffered antisemitic violence at the hands of his father.

The chances that an Evangelical Christian Zionist nominated by Israelis for fighting antisemitism will actually win the Nobel Peace Prize is of course slim, to say the least.







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