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Friday, February 04, 2022

02/04 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: The Anti-Defamation League and Amnesty International; David Collier: Where are the real journalists? 15 questions for Amnesty

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The Anti-Defamation League and Amnesty International
In October 2020, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced his plan to list Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam as anti-Semitic organizations due to their efforts to advance the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. Pompeo’s plan was in keeping with the Trump administration’s overall policy for fighting anti-Semitism. In December 2019, then President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that provided civil rights protection to Jewish students persecuted by BDS campaigns on their campuses.

Given the central role Amnesty and other phony human rights groups play in the political war for the destruction of the largest Jewish community in the world, Pompeo’s planned move was not just reasonable, it was imperative. But rather than applaud him for his resolve, the ADL attacked Pompeo and his plan.

When word broke that Pompeo was about the designate the three groups as anti-Semitic, the ADL released a statement aimed at undermining and blocking his move. The statement declared, “We oppose broadly applying the anti-Semitism label to these human rights organizations; doing so is neither accurate nor helpful to the fight against anti-Semitism. Rather, this move would politicize the fight against anti-Semitism.”

A month later Pompeo made it the official policy of the State Department to treat organizations that support BDS as anti-Semitic groups. But by that time, Trump had lost his reelection bid, and the wind had come out of the sails. Pompeo’s statement did not mention which specific groups were anti-Semitic. So thanks in large part to the ADL, Amnesty and its anti-Semitic comrades dodged the bullet.

On the surface, the ADL’s condemnation of the Amnesty report could have been written by the Zionist Organization of America. But a close look at the ADL’s response makes clear that the organization which is supposed to lead the struggle against anti-Semitism, hasn’t changed its position since it defended Amnesty from Pompeo’s charge of anti-Semitism.

The ADL had a great deal of criticism over Amnesty’s report, but it engaged in circus-style contortionism to avoid saying the plain truth: Amnesty’s report was anti-Semitic.

As the ADL put it, Amnesty’s report was “an effort to demonize Israel and undermine its legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state. In an environment of rising anti-Jewish hate, this type of report is not only inaccurate but also irresponsible and likely will lead to intensified anti-Semitism around the world.”

So the report wasn’t anti-Semitic per se. It was simply irresponsible. Amnesty didn’t factor in how its blood libels might be interpreted by people who (unlike Amnesty) actually hate Jews.

The ADL statement maintained its line – that Amnesty was irresponsible, not bigoted against Jews — through to the end. The statement concluded, “Amnesty International’s rhetoric is irresponsible. These are not simply abstract words but the kind of spurious charges that, time and again, have placed Jews in danger around the world.”


David Collier: Where are the real journalists? 15 questions for Amnesty
1. One of the key figures behind your attacks on Israel – and indeed one of those leading the press conference on the report – used to have Facebook profile pictures of PFLP and Islamic Jihad terrorists. How can you possibly believe he is fit for purpose when it comes to reporting on Israel?

2. Your Deputy Director for the MENA region, which covers dozens of states, is a Palestinian who spends over 99% of his time only talking about Israel. Given the state of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa – how can this be justified?

3. We have seen Amnesty employees support terrorist attacks or give advice to terrorists. Looking through who you employ, there is a distinct pattern. Amnesty has chosen to employ several people who were visibly active anti-Israel careerists. They promoted full BDS, believed Israel is an Apartheid state, worked on campaigns to delegitmise Israel, often spread fake news and so on – long before they started working for Amnesty. All this must have been on their CVs. If you deliberately employ anti-Israel activists such as this – and send them out to write your reports on Israel – what do you expect the result to be?

4. A clear example. In 2017 Amnesty employed an anti-Israel activist named Alli Jarrar (McCracken). Jarrar came from Codepink, an extremist group that has even supported Iran’s weapons program. Before she arrived at Amnesty, Jarrar worked on a Code Pink campaign to boycott Airbnb. Shortly after her arrival – Amnesty engaged in a well-funded campaign to boycott Airbnb. How much of your activity is driven by the obsessions of those you employ?

5. Going back in time – we often see names of authors on Amnesty reports. The authors are anonmyous in your Apartheid report. Why – is there something you are trying to hide?

6. In your latest report you called Israel an Apartheid state. It obviously isn’t. Can you explain why Amnesty wasted enormous resources, changing every definition of all the words neccessary – in order to try to squeeze Israel into a box it clearly does not belong inside?


Abe Foxman: Amnesty's Lies About Israel Only Hurt Its Own Credibility
It is a mark of Amnesty's incredible shrinking credibility that the anti-Israel narrative it peddles, seeming to want to divert attention from the internal dissension that has recently come to light inside the organization, has less and less traction in the Middle East itself, where Amnesty appears to have "lost the room." In the last two years, a series of Arab nations have moved to normalize relations with Israel, among them the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. More are close behind.

And it isn't only Israel's Arab neighbors who are telling Amnesty "No thanks." Last year, Israel's Arab party joined the most diverse government Israel has ever had, and is part of the coalition governing the country. "We have two hats," said the party's leader, Mansour Abbas. "On the one side we are Arab Palestinians. But we are also Arab citizens of Israel."

Mansour's significant role in leading the Middle East's only democracy, one which protects workers, women, members of the LGBT community and religious minorities, is unhelpful to Amnesty's line that Israel is an apartheid state. The same is true of the role that Israeli Arabs play on the country's Supreme Court, where an Arab justice presided over a trial adjudicating a national Israeli election.

Buffeted by an array of grave and downright existential challenges that no other country on the planet faces, beset by an over-abundance of complexity, Israel is no more perfect than the United States is. But the kind of over-the-top proclamations by agenda-driven organizations like Amnesty do less damage to Israel's reputation than to their own.


The Faces Behind Amnesty International’s Lies
Amnesty International’s latest report charging Israel with being an apartheid regime continues to be exposed for what it is—part of a widespread, disingenuous propaganda campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State. Although the report’s authors remain unnamed by the organization, these are the people who publicly promote the campaign and stand behind it. Long before their current campaign of vilification, they established their bona fides as defamers of the Jewish state willing to fabricate facts to accomplish their goal.

Agnès Callamard
Callamard was appointed Secretary General of Amnesty International in March 2021.

Her obsession with demonizing the Jewish state extends to lying about former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and an Israeli role in Yasir Arafat’s death. She falsely claimed that Peres admitted that PLO leader Yasir Arafat was assassinated [by Israel], although he said nothing of the sort. Even when her falsehood was publicly exposed, Callamard refused to retract it from her twitter account, where it still remains. This did not stop her from being appointed Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the notoriously biased UN Human Rights Council where she served from 2016-2021 – just before assuming her latest job at Amnesty International.
She has crowed about boycott of Israel on her twitter account:
When, in 2018, Hamas leaders encouraged its people to violently tear down the border between Israel and Gaza and “implement the right of return” as a “new phase in the Palestinians’ national struggle on the road to liberating all of Palestine, from the river to the sea,” Callamard in her capacity as UNHRC Special Rapporteur defended the violent attempts to eliminate the Jewish state as “a legitimate exercise of the rights of freedom of expression.” Instead, she condemned Israel’s measures to protect its soldiers and border. Despite video and photographs showing rioters who were throwing rocks, planting explosives at the fence, shooting at Israeli troops on the other side, and calling for killing Jews, Callamard and her cohorts insisted the violent rioting was “peaceful,” while discounting the evidence:
In the News: Amnesty Int'l & Israel
As Amnesty International publishes a report accusing Israel of being an Apartheid state, Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of The International Legal Forum, discusses the meaning of the report and the efforts to counter its libelous arguments. With Shahar Azani.




‘We do not agree’: UK rejects Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid
The United Kingdom on Thursday rejected an Amnesty International report accusing Israel of apartheid.

“We do not agree with the use of this terminology,” a spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office told The Times of Israel.

“Any judgment on whether serious crimes under international law have occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies,” they said.

The spokesperson added: “As a friend of Israel, we have a regular dialogue on human rights. This includes encouraging the government of Israel to abide by its obligations under international law and do all it can to uphold the values of equality for all.”

Amnesty International is headquartered in London.

Amnesty alleged in a major report released Tuesday that Israel has maintained “a system of oppression and domination” over the Palestinians going all the way back to the establishment of the state in 1948, a system the group said meets the international definition of apartheid.

The UK joins Israel, the US and Germany, in addition to a range of Jewish organizations around the world, in rejecting the 278-page report.

The Biden administration, as well as US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, were quick to condemn the document.


Calls for Amnesty charity probe over Israel ‘apartheid’ smear
Amnesty International’s incendiary new report smearing Israel as an “apartheid state” has sparked accusations of antisemitism and calls for a Charity Commission probe, the JC can reveal.

The claim that the Jewish state is guilty of human rights breaches is made repeatedly in the 278-page document published this week. The report depicts Israel as guilty of “apartheid” crimes since its very foundation in 1948.

Critics say such claims are a clear breach of the widely recognised International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

The code adopted by the UK government and other authorities worldwide states that it is antisemitic to deny Jews their right to self-determination “by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”.

Legal figures and MPs have called for the Charity Commission to consider Amnesty’s status.


The Guardian outdoes Amnesty in peddling anti-Israel vitriol
The bias here is egregious, and has more to say about the anti-Israel circles McGreal travels in, who view “an all-powerful state unleashing destruction against a largely defenceless population”, than about American opinion – which, as the poll above shows, did NOT in fact trend towards the Palestinians after the 2014 war.

Additionally, he gets key details of the war wrong, and omits others.

First, roughly half of those killed in Gaza were believed to be combatants. Also, the three Jewish teenagers were not killed by “Hamas rocket attacks”. The children were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank by a group affiliated with Hamas, which was followed by Israeli arrests of Hamas operatives in the territory. Hamas rocket attacks followed, which ultimately ignited the war. Moreover, the “defenceless” antisemitic extremists in Gaza managed to fire thousands of rockets and mortars at Israel’s civilian population during the conflict.

McGreal then evokes Black Lives Matter:
The rise of Black Lives Matter has fuelled the drive to frame the Palestinian cause as a civil rights issue of resistance to Israeli domination.

Of course, this narrative has been “fuelled” by those cynically attempting to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one between powerful Israeli ‘whites’ and marginalized Palestinians ‘people of colour’ – a counter-factual claim about the racial make-up of Israeli and Palestinian society that we’ve previously posted about. This false binary denies Palestinians agency and erases the annihilationist antisemitism of well-armed groups like Hamas, for whom the conflict will only end when the Jewish state ceases to exist.
The Israel Guys: SLAMMING Israel With 211 Pages of Lies? *Disqualified*
Amnesty International, the largest human rights organization in the world, just released a 211 page report slamming Israel as an apartheid state. The report even speaks of Israel’s “cruel system of domination and crime against humanity”. The policy director for Amnesty International even goes so far as to say that the problem is not with the Jewish people, but with the state of Israel.

Did you know that the Arab Palestinians have been claiming that Israel is the occupying power since long before the War of 1967? More and more evidence is revealing that the Arabs are not interested in a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, but they rather want the Jews pushed into the sea.




Report: Israel Helped US Eliminate ISIS Leader Through Sources in Syria
Israel “has been involved in and aided” US efforts to eliminate Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, Channel 13 reported Thursday evening citing unnamed foreign sources.

“It is possible to assess, according to security sources, that Israel participated in the search for al-Qurayshi’s intelligence and contributed, using its sources in Syria, to create this bridge which allowed the United States to act,” the channel said.

The United States “has eliminated a major terrorist threat in the world,” US President Joe Biden said Thursday in a brief and solemn address at the White House.

In his address, Biden confirmed that “in a final act of desperate cowardice, (al-Qurayshi) … chose to blow himself up… taking several members of his family with him.”

He followed the operation from the ultra-secure “Situation Room,” as evidenced by a photo released by the White House, showing the president alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

The raid came days after an ISIS assault on an SDF-held prison ended, the jihadist group’s biggest offensive since its territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.


‘Progressive’ groups tell Congress to reject ‘dangerous’ Abraham Accords
The United States Congress was called upon to reject the Abraham Accords by 29 progressive advocacy organizations and other institutions last Saturday.

“We're joining with other progressive orgs to tell Congress that lasting peace comes from justice, not weapons deals. The US should reject the Abraham Accords,” Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the advocacy arm of the NGO JVP, tweeted on Monday. “Instead, we must end support for Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and its apartheid rule.”

In a January 26 statement entitled “Reject the Dangerous Abraham Accords,” JVP Action and 28 other signatories said that they called “on members of Congress to embrace a US foreign policy toward Palestine/Israel that is rooted in human rights, justice and equality, and to resoundingly reject any attempts to further the Trump administration ‘Abraham Accords,’ including through legislation like H.R. 2748/S. 1061, the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021.

“While masquerading as ‘peace’ and ‘diplomacy’, the Abraham Accords and this legislation are in fact an endorsement of arms sales and political favors between the US and authoritarian regimes – including weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates and the recognition of Morocco’s illegal annexation of Western Sahara – in exchange for the sidelining of Palestinian rights,” the statement continued.

Notable signatories of the statement were the Progressive Democrats of America, a political organization affiliated with the US Democratic Party, and the US Presbyterian Church, which was recently embroiled in a scandal in which one of its leaders said that Israel was committing a modern act of slavery against Palestinians. The Presbyterian Church had over 1.2 million active members in 2020.
Ruthie Blum: Erdogan's deceitful courtship of Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest overtures to Israel should not be misconstrued as a change of heart where the Jewish state is concerned. No, the regional shift marked by the Abraham Accords has not suddenly swept over the tyrant in Ankara. You know, the one whose initial response to the normalization deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was to weigh severing diplomatic ties with the Gulf state.

"History and the conscience of the region's peoples will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behavior," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement in August 2020, a month before the deal was inked at the White House. "It is extremely worrying that the UAE should, with a unilateral action, try and do away with the [2002] … peace plan developed by the Arab League."

This wasn't the least bit surprising, given Erdogan's penchant for the Palestinians in general and close ties with Hamas in particular. The Arab League initiative required an Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 Armistice Line – the pre-1967 Six-Day War borders, dubbed by the late statesman Abba Eban as those of "Auschwitz."

But even that proposal was a non-starter, as nothing short of the elimination of Israel has ever been on the PLO or Palestinian Authority agenda. And while the Fatah-run PA sometimes tweaks its tune for international consumption, Hamas boasts about its ultimate aims for Israel, despite the latter's having evacuated every last Jew from Gaza in 2005.

Turkey's love affair with the terrorist organization that rules the Strip has made perfect sense, given the Islamism they share and brutal methods of both to control their populaces. Erdogan, for instance, has spent years imprisoning critics in the media, the police, the justice system and the universities.
Erdogan Says Turkey, Israel Can Jointly Bring Gas to Europe
Turkey and Israel can work together to carry Israeli natural gas to Europe and the two countries will discuss energy cooperation during talks next month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Friday.

The two countries expelled their ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out. Ties have remained tense since with Ankara condemning Israel’s policy toward Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the militant Palestinian group Hamas which rules Gaza.

However, Turkey has been working to repair its strained ties with regional powers as part of a charm offensive launched in 2020. In an apparent easing after years of animosity, Erdogan said on Thursday that Israeli President Isaac Herzog would visit Turkey in mid-March.

“We can use Israeli natural gas in our country, and beyond using it, we can also engage in a joint effort on its passage to Europe,” Erdogan told reporters on a return flight from Ukraine.

“Now, God willing, these issues will be on our agenda with Mr Herzog during their visit to Turkey,” he was quoted by Turkish TV media as saying. Erdogan had visited Ukraine to discuss the crisis there.

While Erdogan has spoken to Herzog amid tensions before, the Israeli presidency is a largely ceremonial role. In November, he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the first such call in years.
Turkish ethnic cleansing strategy in Syria uses Israeli-Arab NGO
On June 21, 2021, a newly built mosque was inaugurated in the village of Sheikh Khurez, in northwest Syria, close to the Turkish border.

Sheikh Khurez is located in the part of Syria under the nominal administration of the opposition-linked Syrian Interim Government. In practice, since the Turkish Armed Forces’ Operation Olive Branch of 2018 destroyed the Kurdish Afrin canton, the area has been under the de facto rule of Ankara and its associated militias. The latter are organized in the framework of the Turkish-trained and financed Syrian National Army.

The opening of a small mosque in a remote corner of northwest Syria six months ago might generally be seen as an unremarkable event. The new house of prayer in Sheikh Khurez, however, was noteworthy because of a particular detail – namely, the identity of the organization that sponsored the mosque’s construction, and whose logo is displayed at its entrance.

The organization in question is called the Jamia’at al aish bi’Karama, or Living with Dignity Association. This body is based not in Syria, but in the city of Tira, in central Israel. It achieved some prominence last year because of the support it afforded to Arab residents of Jerusalem protesting planned expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah. It is linked to other organizations supporting a Sunni Islamist outlook, of the type represented by the Muslim Brotherhood and the government of Turkey.

So what is a Tira charity, apparently devoted to the Palestinian cause, doing building mosques in northern Syria?
Belgian Armed Forces buy anti-tank missiles from Israeli subsidiary company
German company Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND), a subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, announced in recent days that it won a 19 million euro ($22 million) contract to supply man-portable anti-tank weapons to the Belgian Armed Forces, according to a report by Israel Defense.

The missiles, of the RGW90 type, “can be used from confined spaces and are able to destroy a wide range of land targets [such] as main battle tanks, light armored vehicles, fortified facilities, bunkers, wall structures and fixed shelters,” the report stated.

The missile weighs around 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and has a firing range from 10 meters to 400 meters.

The German military purchased similar systems last year from DND, announcing the procurement of more than 2,000 rocket-launchers.

Meanwhile, 33 countries worldwide use Rafael’s Spike family of missiles, which are made for land, air and naval platforms.
'Settler violence' is isolated, Palestinian violence is daily
There has been a lot of kerfuffles lately about “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria, focusing on recent “settler rampages” in Huwara and Burin (south of Nablus) and attacks on Palestinians harvesting their olive crop.

The UN has an entire bureaucracy (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA) devoted to cataloging the “precipitous rise in settler violence.” It has a “Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967” who harps on “settler violence” non-stop, as well.

The UN says that in the first 10 months of 2021 (latest statistics available) there were 410 attacks by settlers against Palestinians – 302 attacks against property and 108 against individuals.

American Jewish groups have now joined the outcry against “settler violence” too, with the Anti-Defamation League, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Israel Policy Forum, National Council of Jewish Women, Rabbinical Assembly, Union for Reform Judaism, and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism writing recently to Prime Minister Bennett and his foreign and defense ministers to condemn these attacks. The seven groups called the attacks “terrorism and political violence” committed by Jewish Israeli extremists.
Meeting American envoy, IDF chief sorry for ‘moral’ failing in death of US citizen
In his first meeting with US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides on Friday, IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi expressed regret over the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man who suffered a heart attack after being bound, gagged and abandoned at a construction site in the middle of winter by Israeli soldiers last month.

Kohavi “made clear that this was a grave moral incident that is contrary to the values of the IDF,” an Israeli military statement on the meeting said, reiterating the one issued on the findings of the IDF’s internal probe into the January 12 incident death of Omar As’ad.

Kohavi also confirmed to Nides that a criminal investigation into the incident is ongoing and that disciplinary actions had already been taken against the officers involved. Two officers were removed from their positions and a third was formally censured.

As’ad’s death sparked a sharp response from the Biden administration, with the State Department emphasizing in the multiple statements issued on the matter that it takes the safety of its nationals abroad very seriously.

Even after the IDF’s internal probe, the US has continued to call for a “thorough criminal investigation.”

“The United States expects a thorough criminal investigation and full accountability in this case, and we welcome receiving additional information on these efforts as soon as possible,” a State Department statement said.


Palestinians lost confidence in 'corrupt' leadership, PLO official tells Post
Veteran PLO official Bassam Abu Sharif criticized the Palestinian Authority leadership for disregarding the decisions of Palestinian institutions to suspend all ties with Israel.

Abu Sharif, who previously served as a senior adviser to former PLO leader Yasser Arafat, told The Jerusalem Post that the PA leadership has turned the decisions into “toilet paper.”

He held the PA leadership responsible for “rampant corruption.”

Abu Sharif’s remarks came on the eve of a meeting of the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), a key decision-making body, scheduled to take place on Sunday.

The PCC, which consists of various Palestinian factions, is expected to approve the appointment of two senior officials – Hussein al-Sheikh and Rouhi Fattouh – to senior positions in the Palestinian leadership.

Sheikh is expected to replace the late Saeb Erekat, who died in 2020, as secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee.

Fattouh is expected to replace Salim Zanoun as chairman of the PLO’s legislative body, the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

Sheikh and Fattouh have close links to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
PMW: Terrorists receiving “military ranks” and officers being murdered – Expressions of the morally bankrupt PA reality
The contrast between how Palestinian terrorist Osama Al-Silawi and United States Army Captain Taylor Force received their military ranks provides a clear picture of the moral bankruptcy of the Palestinian Authority.

Speaking recently, released terrorist murderer Al-Silawi thanked PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for the “military rank” he was given and “salaries” the PA pays him.

Released terrorist prisoner Osama Al-Silawi: “I greatly thank His Honor [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas for his generous inclusion of the prisoners from before [the 1993] Oslo [Accords]. When we were released, he honored us by giving us military ranks and salaries with which we are living dignified lives.”

[Official PA TV, In Spite of the Handcuffs, Jan. 15, 2022]

Terrorist Al-Silawi was arrested in February 1993. After his conviction for the murder of Israeli Mordechai Biton, the wounding of Biton’s wife and the torture and murder of three Palestinians he thought were cooperating with Israel’s security forces, he was sentenced to 4 life sentences.

In 2013, as a precondition to start peace talks with Israel, Abbas demanded, inter alia, that 104 terrorists who had been arrested before the Oslo peace process be released. Terrorist Al-Silawi, who was 19 when he murdered Biton and tortured and murdered the Palestinians, was among the terrorists Israel released.

Terrorist Al-Silawi received his military rank from the PA because he was a terrorist who murdered innocent people.

In contrast to terrorist Al-Silawi, Captain Taylor Force invested four years of hard work to graduate as an officer from the United States West Point Military Academy. He then led soldiers in the fight against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.


MEMRI: Kuwaiti Journalist Abdallah Muhammad Al-Mulla: The Palestinians Supported Saddam's Invasion Of Kuwait, Hitler During WWII – Now They Support The Houthis, Iran's IRGC; Arabs Today Are Less Inclined To Support The Palestinians Cause
Kuwaiti journalist Abdallah Muhammad Al-Mulla said in a video that was posted to the Diwan Al-Mulla YouTube channel on January 31, 2022 that the Palestinians behave in a fashion that harms their cause rather than advance it. He gave the examples of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem's support for Hitler during WWII, the Palestinians' support for Saddam Hussein and his use of chemical weapons during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and the recent demonstration in Gaza in which protesters held up posters of Houthi and IRGC leaders (see MEMRI TV clip no. 9320), who he said are killing the Yemeni people. Al-Mulla said that previous generations of Arabs had supported the Palestinian cause, but that current and future generations of Arabs are less inclined to support the Palestinians because they see them cursing Arab leaders and supporting “killers.”

"The Mufti Of Palestine Stood With Hitler, And In 1990, The Palestinians Stood By Saddam Hussein Against Kuwait"

Abdallah Muhammad Al-Mulla: "One assumes that no nation in the world is more familiar with the pain of occupation than the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, however, the behavior of some Palestinians reflects the exact opposite. If we take a look back at history, we see that the Mufti of Palestine stood with Hitler and against humanity, and in 1990, the Palestinians stood by Saddam Hussein, against Kuwait.

"Not only that, they took to the streets, shouting: 'Saddam, use chemical weapons from Khafji to Dammam.' Sadly, in the streets of Palestine today, they raise poster of the Houthi [leader] and the commanders of the IRGC, who will annihilate the poor and wretched Yemeni people. In conclusion, such mistaken positions and considerations harm the Palestinian cause.




MEMRI: Lebanese Columnist: Letting Armed, Non-Democratic Forces Participate In Elections, As Happens In Iraq And Lebanon, Is Dangerous
In his January 20, 2022 column in the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Lebanese journalist and political analyst Hazem Saghieh addresses the problematic phenomenon of militant and non-democratic forces taking part in the democratic process. These forces, he points out, participate in the democratic game when it serves them, but have no respect whatsoever for the principles that underpin it. Therefore, if they take part in elections and lose, they often use force and violence to fight the result. And if they win the elections, they immediately take steps to abolish the very democratic institutions that brought them to power.

An example of this, says Saghieh, was provided by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, in the October 2021 elections to the Iraqi parliament. After the political factions affiliated with these militias lost the elections, the militias started targeting some of the victorious parliamentary factions with grenades and bombs. Another example is Hizbullah in Lebanon, which has assassinated many politicians from rival factions since 2005, including prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, in order to weaken their factions in parliament. The immediate inspiration for both these movements, Saghieh adds, is the Iranian regime, and further examples are the Nazi regime in Germany and the fascist regime in Italy – all of which rose to power by democratic means but then turned their countries into dictatorships.

Saghieh notes that it is important to remember the real nature of these belligerent forces and not to believe them when they pretend to embrace democracy.

The following are excerpts from the article as published in the English-language edition of Al-Shar Al-Awsat, lightly edited for flow.[1]

"A question that often preoccupied political thought: ought non-democrats be allowed to take part in the democratic process? A more glaring question faces countries like Iraq and Lebanon today: Ought armed organizations that can impose their will by force be allowed to take part in the democratic process?

"To start with, let us say that the term 'ought' means little here, as the presence of weapons determines what 'ought to be' and what 'ought not to be.' Those who care about the democratic process and comply with its rules can do nothing about it.

"Elections were held in Iraq last October, and the results, as we all know, went against the armed factions loyal to Iran. Unrest spread alongside armed parades held in protest of the election results that the losing factions claimed had been rigged. Later, the Independent High Electoral Commission announced the results after looking into the challenges presented against it, which changed very little.
Iraq’s laws have discrimination against Jews baked in
Al-Hamadani is a lawyer in Iraq representing the interests of Iraqi Jews, who were stripped of their citizenship and had their property frozen. But as he writes in the Fikra Forum (Washington Institute) his work is hampered by the in-built bias against Jews in Iraq’s legal system and a Constitution that does not even mention Jewish rights.

Currently, I work to represent the cases of Iraqi Jews seeking to gain equal representation under the law. I do this work pro-bono out of a sense of duty to my country. In order to retain their privacy, I shall not mention the names of those Iraqi Jews who have authorized me to defend them before the politically-driven Iraqi judicial system.

The general situation is clearly visible within Iraq’s laws. Enacted in the early 1950s, these inhumane laws aimed to legalize the actions of the Iraqi government, which was engaged in pushing out Iraqi Jews, stealing their possessions, and removing their Iraqi citizenship.

The unfair legal structures which revoked Iraqi citizenship from Iraqi Jews were enacted during the Iraqi Hashemite monarchy, which passed law no. 1 in the year 1950 and law no. 12 in 1951. When these laws came into effect, many of Iraq’s Jews were forced into exile and their property and money were confiscated by the state as an additional form of punishment. What is disturbing is the fact that these two pieces of legislation are still in effect today. This is despite the political change that took place in Iraq in 2003, and despite the enactment of a new Iraqi constitution in 2005—which gave some hopes of change for Iraqi Jews in a democratic, federal, and multicultural Iraq.

Those who call themselves Iraq’s current leaders claim the new constitution respects all religions, values multiculturalism, and supports the rights of religious minorities and the equality of all Iraqis under the law.
MEMRI: Houthi Health Minister Taha Al-Motawakel: The Jews Lead Humanity to Sin, Immorality, Lust
Houthi Health Minister Taha Al-Motawakel said in a Friday, January 28, 2022 sermon in Sana'a, Yemen that was aired on Al-Eman TV (Houthis – Yemen) that the Jews spread moral decay in the world and among Muslims, and he said that Satan and the Jews are the “two real manifestations of all the sins of humanity.” Al-Motawakel said that until the French Revolution, which he claimed was led by the Jews, women in the West had some degree of modesty, but the Jews started to spread the culture of women’s liberation and the free-mixing of the sexes. Al-Motawakel also said that through their “deceptive nature," the Jews took over the centers of decision-making in France and in the world. He added that the Jews are living their “golden age” today and making a big profit by spreading pornography. For more about Taha Al-Motawakel, see MEMRITV clips nos. 9336, 8624, 8550, and 7893.


Is Iran trying to provoke Israel against Russian assets in Syria?
Russia is now flying missions with Syrian jets to reassert Syrian authority over the whole country. This should not pose a problem unless Russia changes the rules of the game and limits Israel’s access to Iranian targets. That would be a game-changer that would benefit Iran and endanger the détente Israel and Russia now enjoy in Syria.

Even if Russia doesn’t want Iran to transit weapons near its military bases, does it have the will or power to stop Iran? With Russia on the verge of attacking Ukraine, the last thing it wants is to deal with Iran or Israel over Syria.

According to Nicole Grajewski, international security fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, “Although Russia and Iran have converged around the overarching objective of strengthening the Assad regime, Moscow and Tehran’s engagement in Syria illustrates a complex mosaic of overlapping interests… [and] diverging views on military reform… However, these disagreements are unlikely to lead to a breakdown of the relationship.”

Which brings us back to the large-scale Israeli attack in Latakia in December. According to the Times of Israel, videos showed massive explosions and fires raging across the port, likely from secondary explosions of Iranian munitions… For years, Israel avoided conducting strikes against the Latakia port due to the large presence of Russian forces nearby, despite Iran allegedly using the terminal to transport advanced munitions through it to its proxies in the region, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.”

Expect Iran to continue to test Russian resolve and place an ever-growing number of weapons closer and closer to Russian bases, hoping for an Israeli mistake. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has likely discussed this possibility with Putin, hopefully outlining contingencies if an inevitable error happens and Russians are killed. What is certain is that the US does not influence Syria, even with its soldiers still in harm’s way in eastern Syria at al-Tanf, allowing them to be target practice for Iranian militias without any meaningful response.

For the foreseeable future, this means Israel will have to walk a tightrope with Russia.
Nikki Haley: Why is Joe Biden letting Iran off the hook?
When I learned recently that Iran had sanctioned me, I viewed it as a badge of honor . But it should remind us all about President Joe Biden’s relationship with Iran.

Even as Iran is targeting Americans like myself, Biden is letting the No. 1 state sponsor of terror off the hook for its support of terrorism and threats against the United States. Forget Iran’s attack on me — Biden should be holding Iran accountable for so much more.

Biden has spent the last year falling over himself to get back into a nuclear deal with the ayatollahs. Yet only now is it becoming clear how much he’s willing to give away. For years, the U.S. has applied unprecedented sanctions on Iranian oil shipments, which finance terrorists across the Middle East and military assaults on American troops. Yet last year, Iran still shipped 40% more oil than it had the year before. That’s only possible because Biden refused to enforce sanctions.

The way the Biden administration talks, it’s only thinking about loosening sanctions on Iran. That is false. Biden has already given Iran relief. Iran has made at least $15 billion that should have been off the table. And based on history, we know exactly where it is headed: more money for terrorists and millions that threaten America and our allies.

Congress recently mandated that Biden report the sanctions relief that would be going to terrorists, but Biden just announced he’ll ignore that law .

So, where is Iran’s oil going? To a who’s who of America’s adversaries — China, Russia, Venezuela, Syria. That’s a big problem. By refusing to enforce sanctions on Iran, the Biden administration is directly helping countries that want to undermine the U.S.
Biden Must Learn From the JCPOA's Mistakes
While American diplomats have been offering proposals in Vienna, the clerical regime has responded with increased attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and against U.S. allies. Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists—who the Biden administration removed from the U.S. foreign terrorist organization list in February to appease Tehran—have replied to this unilateral American concession by attacking the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones. One attack on the UAE used long-range missiles traveling more than 1,000 km and carrying around 500 kilograms of conventional warheads. It was the first such attack in decades of this range and potency. And it's a clear violation of the Missile Technology Control Regime, an agreement between three dozen countries to control the proliferation of missiles. While Tehran is not a part of this agreement, its flagrant violation cannot go unanswered. Returning to the JCPOA without a clear way forward on how to constrain Iran's deadly missile program—the delivery vehicle for a nuclear weapon—would pose a direct threat to American allies and, when Iran finishes an intercontinental ballistic missile, to the American homeland.

Returning to an even worse version of the 2015 deal legitimizes all of Iran's nuclear advances, permits it to retain and expand its nuclear and missile capabilities and enables it to build a deadly conventional military. This "JCPOA minus" will leave Tehran less than six months from nuclear breakout with this time limit dropping sharply in a few years. The JCPOA, at least temporarily, kept breakout time to one year. Fueling all this will be tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief that will fortify Iran's economy, strengthen the regime and expand support for its terrorist proxies.

If the Biden administration does return to the 2015 agreement, it will need a "day after" package that imposes clear and painful costs on Tehran if it doesn't move quickly to negotiations on a longer and stronger deal. That package should address the imminently expiring UN snapback that is essential for negotiating leverage. There will also be no new deal of any length or strength without serious pressure and a credible threat of military force.

Playing for time is not a strategy when time benefits your enemy. And, as Chairman Menendez made clear in his remarks on the Senate floor, hope is not a strategy either.
Richard Goldberg: The New Worst Deal in History
The White House knows it cannot win a debate on the merits of this prospective agreement. If it were submitted to the U.S. Senate as a treaty, which it ought to be, the Senate would reject it overwhelmingly. So it’s preparing instead for a different fight: a congressional attempt to use the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act—a law passed by Congress in 2015 ahead of the JCPOA debate—that allows the House and Senate to consider a joint resolution of disapproval before the president can lift sanctions.

To wage that political fight, the administration will resort to a blame game, invoking Trump’s name whenever possible to give congressional Democrats a political talking point. And it may falsely claim it’s this deal or war: the same false choice that Barack Obama employed to keep just enough Democrats in line to keep the JCPOA alive.

But the pushback from Congress should be swift and furious. Just as the Afghanistan withdrawal will forever be Biden’s responsibility, the new worst deal in history is a result of Biden’s policy failure alone. And since this deal, if it runs its course, would leave Iran on the threshold of nuclear weapons—potentially adjacent to an Israeli red line for military action—Congress could retort, it’s not “this deal or war,” but more likely this deal and war.

Congress should also decry the illegitimacy of an agreement that suspends terrorism sanctions without any change in the underlying conduct of Iranian banks and companies that support the Quds Force, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorists. Congress can also rightly say that any deal that ignores an active investigation into undeclared nuclear material and sites inside Iran would eviscerate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—triggering a cascade of crises in other countries in the years ahead.

Members of the House and Senate need not tie themselves to another foreign policy debacle from a White House in political freefall. Now is the time to reject a foolhardy proposal. True “Plan Bs” do exist. Tell the president to choose another path.







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