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Wednesday, February 09, 2022

02/09 Links Pt1: Amnesty’s apartheid lies abet global anti-Semitism; The Moral Mismatch: Democratic Israel vs. Palestinian Dictatorship; Sudanese envoy in Israel to promote ties

From Ian:

The biggest lie of the decade
A poll conducted in 2021 by “Palestine News Network” found that 93% of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem prefer to live under an Israeli government rather than a Palestinian one. This is the strongest answer to apartheid - even Palestinians themselves prefer the so-called “Israeli apartheid.” Because they know the truth - they know that Israel is a paradise for them, where they can make the “American dream” come true.

The ongoing efforts by Amnesty International and others to define the identity of Palestinians and Arabs living in Israel is nothing more than a colonialist effort to tell a minority how they should feel and who they are. I think that the Palestinian people and Israeli Arabs are smart, vibrant, and educated, and they do not need help defining their own identity.

Amnesty International will probably never report on the real apartheid against Israelis. While Palestinians can freely enter Israel with the proper documents, I, an Israeli Jew, am banned from entering Gaza or other Palestinian cities. The last time a Jewish man entered Gaza, it didn’t go very well. Avera Mengistu, an Israeli man, is being held hostage by the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

It’s time to put an end to the biggest lie of the century - Israel is not an apartheid state. It’s true that Israel is not a perfect country, just like no country in the world is perfect, but the fact that international forums treat Israel like a punching bag is outrageous. Israel goes above and beyond to preserve its minorities and support the Palestinian people while at the same time defending its civilians against radicals who want to destroy the only Jewish state in the world.

Before anyone calls Israel apartheid, they should come to Israel and visit the thriving communities and speak to Palestinians. They will hear nothing about apartheid and everything about coexistence and diversity.
Gil Troy: The Moral Mismatch: Democratic Israel vs. Palestinian Dictatorship
Sometimes headlines don’t mislead.

Consider the contrast: June 7, 2021: “Palestinian Authority pays $42,000 to family of terrorist who killed 2 Israelis.” February 1, 2022: “IDF’s Kochavi: ‘Immoral, Reprehensible’ Conduct by Soldiers in Death of Palestinian-American.”

These dueling headlines pit Israel’s imperfect democracy against the Palestinians’ perfectly awful dictatorships.

Anyone expecting their country to be perfect is a fool; anyone claiming their country is perfect is a liar. Life is messy. No nation lacks scoundrels. You cannot judge a democracy by its criminal citizens, or by every evil that occurs on its watch.

Instead, you judge a democracy by how it responds when people sin — and whether its politics or culture encouraged the wrongdoing.

Notice the stunning gap in the discourse about Israel’s enemies and Israel.

No one expects autocracies like the Palestinian Authority (PA) — let alone the Hamas regime oppressing Gaza — to investigate when a Palestinian kills an Israeli.

The request, which Western democracies make meekly and infrequently, is essentially: “please stop cheering, please stop calling murderers heroes, and please stop paying them off or naming streets after them.”

Half of the PA’s foreign aid budget subsidizes convicted terrorists — what they call “martyrs” — and they are the supposed “moderates.”

In 2016, the American Task Force on Palestine’s founding president, Ziad Asali, told Bloomberg’s Eli Lake that these payments are “sacred in Palestinian politics.”

By contrast, what’s sacred in Israeli politics is the Israel Defense Forces’ Code of Honor.


Amnesty’s apartheid lies abet global anti-Semitism
In its latest publication levying the apartheid canard at the Jewish state, Amnesty International offers a derivative repackaging of similar efforts from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and B’Tselem in 2021. These, in turn, largely mimicked a report issued by a group of BDS activists in 2009. The NGO publications are part and parcel of the 70-year ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel, exploiting legal terminology and using discriminatory tropes originating in anti-Semitic propaganda.

And make no mistake. Amnesty’s report is a paradigmatic example of anti-Semitism. As the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism makes clear, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” is anti-Semitic. The European Commission’s handbook on IHRA expounds that “denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination and a national homeland is anti-Semitic because it denies the religious and historic ties of Jews to the land of Israel … asserting that a country is a racist endeavour, by portraying ambivalent aspects of modern statehood in a demonizing manner exclusive to the State of Israel, is an attempt to undermine the international legitimacy of a country.”

An organization genuinely dedicated to human rights and peacemaking would surely do more than recycle the same incessant talking points and political propaganda. They would combat anti-Semitism instead of promoting it. And they would offer a pragmatic and realistic solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. What vision of peace is Amnesty offering? The group claims that it does not advocate for a particular political outcome; this claim, however, is wholly disingenuous.

Like its predecessors and throughout Amnesty’s screed, they make it abundantly clear that their apartheid accusation has nothing to do with contested borders, settlements or policies. Instead, their recommendations provide an ultimate wish list of sanctions and boycotts against Israel, in addition to the harassment and arrest of Israeli officials. The ultimate goal, however, is the elimination of Israel’s legitimacy as the nation-state of the Jewish people. This objective is reflected in support for a so-called Palestinian “right of return,” as well as the revocation of any laws or practices that protect Israel as a safe haven against Jewish persecution or preserve Jewish identity and national expression.

Amnesty also demonizes efforts by Israel to end the conflict by ascribing nefarious intent to every move towards peace, while at the same time erasing more than 90 years of Arab and Palestinian rejectionism. In particular, the group claims that the Oslo Accords are an integral part of a supposed apartheid regime, despite their being mutually agreed to by the PLO and witnessed by the international community. Nevertheless, such moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state are falsely described by Amnesty as anathema to international law.
Honest Reporting: HRC Webinar: The Untold Story of How the UN Became Anti-Israel featuring Ambassador Danny Danon!
In 1947, the United Nations (UN) voted in favour of the Partition Plan, which gave Israel independence from the United Kingdom, and the Jewish people their own nation-state in two millennia.

Only 74 years later, the UN’s anti-Israel obsession makes that vote seem almost impossible to envision. What changed to make this world body so hostile to the Jewish state, and what can be done to set it on the right course? Or, is the UN a lost cause, as some critics suggest, and should be dismantled altogether?

On Tuesday, February 8, HonestReporting Canada held its first Insider Briefing of 2022, with special guest Ambassador Danny Danon, Israel’s former envoy to the United Nations from 2015-2020. Ambassador Danon shared his experiences, perspectives, and predictions for what the future holds for Israel’s place in the UN.


Amnesty’s Slander Why Now And For What Purpose?
The Political Context
There are two contexts here to understand the timing of these slanderous reports. While problematic in and of itself, it is important to understand that the Amnesty report did not appear in a vacuum. Rather, it has been dropped in the midst of an ongoing wave of attempts to delegitimize the Jewish State as somehow inherently a racist endeavor.

The International Criminal Court
First, there is the ongoing International Criminal Court investigation into Israel.

On February 5, 2021, an ICC pre-trial chamber ruled (preposterously) that it could exercise jurisdiction over Israel – a non-party state. A month later, in the waning days of then-ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s tenure, an investigation was officially opened into the “situation in Palestine.” The move was seen by some as an attempt to bind the hands of her successor, Karim A.A. Khan QC, and force him to pursue the anti-Israel circus act at the ICC.

Though much could be said about Bensouda’s behavior, even she never went as far as to hint that the “crime of apartheid” could be considered against Israel. For the professional anti-Israel “human rights” industry that would see Israel’s right to exist be denied, this was frustrating.

It was thus unsurprising that, when Human Rights Watch issued its “apartheid” report against Israel in April 2021, just one month after Bensouda opened the investigation, one of HRW’s recommendations was for the ICC Office of the Prosecutor to “[i]nvestigate and prosecute individuals credibly implicated in the crimes against humanity of apartheid or persecution.”

However, since taking office, Khan has made several statements that he is reviewing all the cases and files at the ICC Office of the Prosecutor. In his view, the “scarce resources of the [Prosecutor’s] Office have been spread too wide.” Any serious, professional prosecutor – cognizant of the need to use limited resources effectively – would naturally look at the highly politicized allegations against Israel and, comparing them to the serious atrocities in places like Myanmar or Sudan, conclude that the Israel file is not worth the time and resources. This, of course, concerns the anti-Israel industry.

Amnesty’s report – which goes even further than HRW’s report in its allegation of “apartheid” – thus serves as tool to pressure the new ICC chief prosecutor. Much like the HRW report, the Amnesty report also includes in its recommendations that the prosecutor “[c]onsider the applicability of the crime against humanity of apartheid within the current formal investigation…”

The United Nations
The second contextual background to understand is that of the United Nations. The Amnesty report will not be the only one you hear about in the coming months.

Next up is Michael Lynk, the UN Special Rapporteur “on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967,” who is scheduled to submit his annual report to the Human Rights Council (HRC) in March. It is anticipated that he, too, will be accusing Israel of racism and “apartheid,” attempting to build on the perceived momentum of the HRW and Amnesty reports.

For those unfamiliar, this “special rapporteur” mandate, currently filled by Lynk, is the only country-specific mandate created by the HRC with an indefinite mandate (i.e., it does not need periodic renewal). Historically, it has been filled by notorious partisans and antisemites, including John Dugard, who believes terrorism is a “relative concept” and that Israelis are “foreign soldiers,” and Richard Falk, who likes to accuse Jews of behaving like Nazis and peddles 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Lynk is no departure from this tradition. Like HRW and Amnesty attempt to redefine the law to slander Israel, so too does Lynk. He once wrote an entire report which tried to invent law on the topic of “occupation” to delegitimize Israel, claiming it was “illegally occupying” the West Bank. As CAMERA has repeatedly gotten corrected in the media (e.g., Fox News, NY Times), there is no such thing as an “illegal occupation.” Among his sources cited to justify this invention were Norman Finkelstein (best known for popularizing the antisemitic “Holocaust industry” libel) and, you guessed it, Amnesty International and HRW.

Yet even Lynk’s report likely will not be the worst one of 2022.
Dr. David Hirsh, Antizionism: An Ideology That Makes Israel Symbolic of all that is Bad in the World

Taoiseach will not follow Amnesty International in using 'apartheid' in relation to Israel
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he will not use the term “apartheid” in describing Israel’s policies against Palestinians following the publication of an Amnesty International report that does so.

Martin described some policies followed by Israel as “counterproductive” but added that using the term apartheid would not “add anything right now”.

Last week, Amnesty International labelled Israel an apartheid state that treats Palestinians as “an inferior racial group,” joining the assessment of other rights groups which the Jewish state vehemently rejects.

Amnesty stressed it was not comparing the situation to apartheid-era South Africa but that Israeli conduct met the criteria for the crime of apartheid under international law.

New York-based Human Rights Watch in April last year became the first major international rights group to publicly level the allegation.

Amnesty now asserts that Israeli-enforced apartheid exists in occupied Palestinians territories and within Israel itself, where Arab citizens make up more than 20% of the population.

Israel has strongly rejected Amnesty’s claims, with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid saying they were “divorced from reality”.
La Presse Columnist Uncritically Parrots Amnesty International’s Anti-Israel Claims
In a column published on February 2 in La Presse entitled: “The Art of Torpedoing Criticism,” Laura-Julie Perreault, the newspaper’s international affairs columnist, chastised what she considers Israel’s unfair opposition to Amnesty International’s recent report accusing the Jewish state of “apartheid,” but the biggest victim of Perreault’s attack is the truth itself.

Perreault’s column is an uncritical acceptance of Amnesty International’s egregious report, and her only scorn is reserved for Yair Lapid, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, for calling Israel a democracy “open to criticism.”

Perreault totally whitewashes the report, and neglects to give any mention of Amnesty International’s long-standing anti-Israel fixation, which should make any commentator take pause before naively accepting the organization’s fantastical claims of apartheid in Israel.

Israel is a liberal democracy of nearly 9.5 million people, of which roughly 2.5 million are Arabs (predominantly Muslim, Christian, and Druze). These 2.5 million Israeli Arabs enjoy full civil and democratic rights, including the right to vote and to be elected to political office. Israeli Arabs – who sometimes identify themselves as Palestinians – can live anywhere they want, hold any job they want, and travel freely through the country with just as many freedoms as their Jewish neighbours. In the eyes of Israeli law, all Israeli citizens regardless of religion or ethnicity are fully equal.

For many years, Arabs have been represented in Israel’s Knesset, or federal parliament, but in Israel’s 2021 election, Ra’am, an Arab Islamist political party led by Mansour Abbas, was elected to Israel’s coalition government. Such an event would have simply been inconceivable in Apartheid South Africa. Blacks could not vote, could not hold political office, and certainly could not serve in the government itself.


Antisemitism Envoy Nominee Lipstadt Attacks Branding of Israel as ‘Apartheid’ State During Senate Confirmation Hearing
Deborah Lipstadt, US President Joe Biden’s nominee for the post of antisemitism envoy, warned a confirmation hearing on Tuesday that the effort to brand Israel as an apartheid state was part of a larger delegitimization campaign, as wary Republicans took issue with what they depicted as her partisan positions.

Addressing her confirmation hearing seven months after Biden nominated her for the State Department position, Lipstadt told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that antisemitism globally was a growing challenge. “Increasingly, Jews have been singled out for slander, violence and terrorism,” she said. “Today’s rise in antisemitism is staggering.”

Part of the hearing canvassed Lipstadt’s view of the recent Amnesty International report that accused Israel of practicing the same form of racial segregation that prevailed in South Africa for most of the 20th century.

“Branding Israel an apartheid state is more than historically inaccurate,” she said. “I believe it’s part of a larger effort to delegitimize the Jewish state. Such language, I see it spilling over onto campuses where it poisons the atmosphere, particularly for Jewish students.”

Lipstadt — a professor of Jewish studies at Emory University in Atlanta who famously defeated the British Holocaust denier David Irving in a 2000 libel case at the High Court of Justice in the UK — emphasized that criticism of Israeli government policies should not be classified as antisemitic.

“Criticism of Israeli policy is not antisemitism,” she said. “If you want to hear criticism of Israeli policies, I suggest you sit yourself down in a cafe in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem, whatever part of the country, depending who is in the government. It’s the national sport in Israel, second only maybe to soccer or maybe more than that.”
Biden antisemitism envoy nominee faces GOP criticism at confirmation hearing
Despite the pushback from some Republicans, Lipstadt is expected to be voted out of committee in the coming days, given the Democratic majority. She is then expected to be confirmed through a full vote in the Senate as well.

The antisemitism monitor is responsible for reporting on antisemitism overseas and pressing governments to adopt measures to mitigate antisemitism.

Lipstadt, 74, is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, where she was the founding director of the Institute for Jewish Studies.

She is the author of “Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust 1933-1945”; “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”; “The Eichmann Trial” and “Holocaust: An American Understanding” and “Antisemitism: Here and Now.”

She has also served in several roles at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, including twice as a presidential appointee to the museum’s council, and was asked by former US president George W. Bush to represent the US at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the White House noted in its biography of Lipstadt.

The historian received a BA from City College in New York and an MA and PhD from Brandeis University. She is also fluent in Hebrew.

In 2020, during the election, she broke a longstanding taboo on comparing present-day American politicians to the Nazis and endorsed an ad by the Jewish Democratic Council of America likening the Trump administration to 1930s Germany. Lipstadt said Holocaust analogies were still off-limits, but she could see parallels to the rise of the Nazis.

Lipstadt will be the first nominee who will need to be confirmed by the Senate since the post was first created in 2004. Last year, Congress moved to elevate the position to ambassador level, with more funding and easier access to the secretary of state and the president. If confirmed, Lipstadt will be the fifth individual in the post.

A diverse array of Jewish organizations were quick to laud the nomination, from Americans for Peace Now, to the Jewish Federations of North America and the Orthodox Union. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan also welcomed her nomination.


Jewish Leaders, Colleyville Rabbi Appeal to Congress to Boost Funding to Protect Synagogues
Jewish leaders presented their case on Tuesday for the increase in funding and streamlining that is critical to improving the Federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) during a hearing of the House Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Subcommittee, and Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee.

Testifying before the committee were Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where he and three congregants were held hostage by a terrorist on Jan. 15. The hostage situation, which ended with the death of the suspect only—44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram—was the impetus for the hearing.

Others included Rabbi Yosef Konikov of Chabad of South Orlando, Florida; Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA); and Michael Masters, national director and CEO of Secure Community Network, which works to protect Jewish institutions.

The main issue the witnesses called for was an increase in funding of the grant, which currently stands at $180 million a year to $360 million.
CENTCOM nominee promotes Middle East integrated air and missile defense
Israel’s incorporation into US Central Command has increased the possibility of a regional integrated air and missile defense system against aerial threats, top US generals have said.

“That’s probably the area with some of the greatest opportunity: working toward an integrated air and missile defense. I think the addition of Israel... will help with that,” Army Lt.-Gen. Michael Kurilla was quoted by Defense News as telling the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

Kurilla currently leads the 18th Airborne Corps and is likely to be confirmed in the coming days as the head of US Central Command, replacing Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie.

“We are collectively stronger together, and there are areas where each one brings unique capabilities.”

During a virtual seminar hosted by the Middle East Institute, McKenzie also touted the idea of integrated air and missile defenses as a “rare opportunity” since Israel joined CENTCOM.

“The unique capabilities that Israel brings, now that Israel is in the Central Command area of responsibility, is another great resource that we can draw upon as we build this,” he was quoted by Airforce Magazine as having said.
UN panel describes ‘systematic’ persecution driving Jews out of Yemen
Systematic persecution of Jews in Yemen by Houthi rebels and a previous government has driven the ancient community almost entirely out of the country, with possibly just seven remaining, a United Nations panel said.

The revelations, first reported this week by Jewish Insider, were included in a report commissioned by the U.N. Security Council on the civil war ravaging the country. According to the report, one of the seven verified Jews in Yemen is imprisoned.

“The panel documented the systematic persecution of Jews in Houthi-controlled areas,” said the report, released Jan. 26. “Most of Jewish population left Yemen after several years of persecution, which started under former President Ali Abdullah Saleh but intensified under the Houthis. The panel knows of seven Jewish individuals still in Yemen, including one who remains detained despite an order to release him issued in July 2019.”

That appears to refer to Levi Marhabi, arrested for his role in bringing an ancient Torah to Israel.

The Houthis, a Shi’ite faction backed by Iran, assassinated Saleh in 2017 after allying with him in a bid to unseat his successor.

The report said that the Houthis preach anti-Jewish violence to their school-age children.

“Children were expected to regularly shout the Houthi slogan ‘Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam’,” the report said, describing a Houthi summer camp.

The report laid much of the blame for the conflict with the Houthis, describing their practices as “posing a constant threat to the civilian population.” It noted also that airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government “also continue to result in civilian casualties.”
Sudanese envoy in Israel to promote ties
A Sudanese envoy was in Israel on Wednesday in order to promote ties between the two countries, a source with close knowledge of the visit said.

The presidential envoy arrived in Israel at the beginning of the week, the source said. There was no immediate confirmation from Israeli and Sudanese government spokespeople.

Sudan moved toward normalizing ties with Israel in 2020. Envoys have traveled between Israel and Sudan since then, though no official pact has yet been signed.

Sudan's military is seen to have led the move toward Israel while civilian groups have been more reluctant about it. The Sudanese military seized power in the country on Oct. 25, ending a partnership with civilian political parties that began after the army toppled Omar al-Bashir as Sudan's ruler in 2019.


Missile fired towards Israel from Syria, sirens sound in north
Rocket sirens sounded in and near Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, as Syrian state media reported an alleged Israeli airstrike near Damascus on Tuesday night. The IDF confirmed that an anti-aircraft missile fired from Syria set off the sirens and that the missile exploded mid-air.

Shrapnel from an air defense missile fell on a residential building in the city of Qudsaya near Damascus, according to Syrian reports. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The IDF confirmed early Wednesday morning that it hit Syrian air defense sites in response to the anti-aircraft missile which flew into Israeli airspace. The targets included a Syrian radar and air defense batteries.

A military source told the Syrian state news agency SANA that airstrikes were launched from over Lebanon on Tuesday night, followed by an attack by surface-to-surface missiles fired from the Golan Heights targeting sites near Damascus. The source added that Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the Israeli missiles and that authorities are examining the results of the attack.

Ambulances were heard in some neighborhoods of Damascus after the airstrikes, according to the Syrian Capital Voice site. The strikes reportedly targeted sites belonging to the Assad regime and Iranian militias.

According to SANA, a Syrian soldier and five civilians were killed in the airstrike in Syria.
Russian Army in Syria Activated Defense System During Israeli Strikes That Interfered With GPS
The Russian army in Syria activated electronic defense systems that interfered with GPS in the region during Israeli retaliatory strikes on Syrian targets, Israeli media reported Wednesday.

The Israeli air strikes came early Wednesday morning in response to a Syrian anti-aircraft missile that breached Israeli air space and then exploded in midair.

“Following the anti-aircraft missile launch earlier tonight, the Israel Defense Forces attacked surface-to-air missile batteries and radar that fired at Israeli air force planes,” the IDF said on Twitter.

According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, the GPS interference was based at a Russian base in the Syrian port city of Latakia and interfered with electro-magnetic waves in the eastern Mediterranean area.

It is not the first time the system has been activated. Two weeks ago, Israeli civilian planes had difficulties landing at Ben-Gurion Airport due to the interference.

Israel conveyed a message regarding the interference to the Russians, who responded that they were seeking to protect their military personnel. In addition, Israel worked to neutralize the effect of the systems. Israel believes that Russia was attempting to send a message that it is “the landlord” in Syria.


Opposition bill on connecting illegal West Bank outposts to power grid shot down
An opposition-led bill that sought to allow the connection of illegal Israeli outposts in the West Bank to the power grid was shot down on Wednesday afternoon.

The bill, put forward by opposition Likud MK Yariv Levin, did not receive the support of right-wing coalition factions Yamina and New Hope, and failed its preliminary reading at the plenum.

Levin said the right-wing parties’ votes against the legislation were “a new height of shame, cynicism and the breaking of promises by people who don’t even care about the distress of small children.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who voted against the bill, was accused by Levin of “turning a cold shoulder to the children of the young settlements” — a term increasingly used on the right to refer to illegal outposts.

“While Arab intruders in the Negev are being connected to the power grid, the children of settlers will continue to freeze,” he said, referring to legislation that allows thousands of illegally built homes inside Israel proper, mostly in Arab communities, to be connected to the power grid.

The Electricity Bill, proposed by the coalition’s Islamist Ra’am party in August, aimed to address the issue of more than 130,000 Arab Israelis who live in illegally built homes across the country that cannot be connected to the national grid.
AFP Headline Conceals Slain Palestinians’ Terror Activity
Unlike AFP, other media outlets published headlines clearly indicating that the three slain Palestinians were not innocent civilians quietly going about their own business when they were gunned down by Israeli forces, as one could wrongly conclude from AFP’s headline. Thus, Reuters‘ headline states: “Israeli forces kill three Palestinian militants in West Bank.” Similarly, CNN‘s headline is: “Three Palestinian militants killed in Nablus in Israeli counter-terror operation.” AP’s is “Israel says it killed 3 suspected militants in West Bank.”

It’s not only AFP’s headline which which obscured the casualties’ terror involvement. AFP captions both yesterday and today cast their terror involvement as an Israeli claim, despite the fact that the terror organization in question itself has confirmed the information. Thus, multiple captions captions from the French news agency yesterday and today refer to “a daytime raid against what Israel described as a ‘terrorist cell.'” By attributing the information only to Israel and employing scare quotes, AFP captions conceal from readers that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror organization has also confirmed that the three are members. Incidentally, in the funeral image at left, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade flag is visible.

AP captions, while opting for the euphemism of “militant” over “terrorist,” nevertheless report as fact the slain Palestinians’ violent activity, referring to “three Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces.”


Suspected antiquities looter arrested in West Bank with thousands of coins
Israeli authorities accompanied by security forces on Tuesday arrested a West Bank Palestinian suspected of stealing and trading in antiquities, seizing thousands of items during an operation in the village of Kafr Qallil near Nablus.

The Civil Administration, which governs areas of the West Bank under Israeli control, said that among the artifacts the suspect had in his possession were ancient coins from various periods, some of them dating back to when coins first made an appearance in the region, as well as from the Persian period that began in 539 BCE, the Hellenistic period that began in 333 BCE and the Jewish revolt against the Roman rule of 66-73 CE.

The hoard was valued at hundreds of thousands of shekels.

An investigation began several months ago that culminated in the arrest.

The suspect was being interrogated and charges are expected to be filed by military prosecutors in the next few days. Palestinian suspects from the West Bank are tried by Israel’s military court in the territory.
Escape plan found in Palestinian security prisoners’ cell in Ofer Prison
Public Security Minister Omer Barlev said Wednesday that an escape plan drawn up by prisoners had been uncovered at the Ofer Prison, outside Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The handwritten plan was connected to seven security prisoners from the Hamas terror group, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

Barlev made the revelation of the plan’s discovery as he testified before a committee investigating the escape of six security prisoners last year from the Gilboa Prison in northern Israel.

“I understand that this came as a great surprise to the Israel Prison Service,” Barlev said.

The IPS said in response to Barlev’s comments that during a search on Monday, a plan detailing the security provisions at the facility was found hidden in a cell at the prison.

The prisoners involved were immediately separated and put in isolation in a high-security wing, the IPS said. Public Security Minister Omer Barlev arrives to testify on the escape of security prisoners from the Gilboa Prison, February 9, 2022 (Flash90)

Barlev was speaking to a committee investigating the daring escape last September from the Gilboa Prison, which ended with the capture of all the escaped inmates within some two weeks, and has been seen as a major failure and embarrassment to the Prison Service.
Italian Jews Take Legal Action Against Video Game Encouraging Palestinian Terror Against Israel
A video game in which players adopt the role of a Palestinian terrorist whose mission is to kill as many Israelis as possible is the subject of a legal challenge in Italy on the grounds of incitement.

Released in September 2021, the “Knights of Al Aqsa” video game centers on a young Palestinian named “Ahmed” who has just been released from a prison term in Israel. Ahmed’s goal in the game is to kill Israeli soldiers and government agents using a variety of weapons, including semi-automatic rifles, knives and axes.

Three pro-Israel associations in Italy have now filed a complaint with the public prosecutor in the Asti region, asserting that the game violates Italian laws against terrorism, racial incitement and the denial and abuse of the Holocaust.

A statement from the lawyers representing the pro-Israel groups highlighted the gory violence that distinguishes the game alongside its promotion of antisemitic tropes. Comparing the game’s imagery to “Nazi and fascist propaganda,” the statement observed that “the target to be eliminated is always the Jew, marked by the Star of David.”

Developed by Nidal Nijm — a 37-year-old Brazilian whose father fought with the Palestinian Fatah terrorist organization — “Knights of Al Aqsa” is easily downloaded from Steam, a popular online gaming platform with over 120 million active users monthly.

In an interview last year with the Palestinian Quds news agency, Nijm claimed that he had nothing against Jews, but that “Zionism” was the main cause of anti-Jewish prejudice today. “Valiant hero! Take your revenge with the dagger,” the game exhorts. “The blood of the oppressed calls you. Resistance is not terrorism.”
PMW: Three ways the PA tried to hide its terror reward payments in 2021
Palestinian Media Watch estimates that in 2021 the PA spent no less than 841 million shekels ($270.75 million) paying rewards to terrorists. 600 million shekels ($193.16) were paid to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists and another 241 million shekels ($77.59 million), at least, were paid to wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists.

In 2021, despite the international pressure and despite its alleged financial difficulties, the Palestinian Authority continued to implement its “Pay-for-Slay” policy, showing particular cunning in its efforts to hide these terror reward payments. According to the head of the PA-funded PLO Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs, in 2021 the PA paid between 48 and 50 million shekels, every month, to terrorist prisoners and release terrorists. The payments were additional to the PA payments to the wounded terrorists and the families of the dead terrorists (so-called “Martyrs”), which PMW has estimated to be over 20 million shekels a month.

The PA’s efforts to hide the terror reward payments took three main forms: Reorganizing the PA payments to the released terrorists; establishing a new payment system through which to pay the terrorists; and distorting its openly published financial records, to hide the terror rewards.

Reorganizing the PA payments to the released terrorists
The 2004 PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners and the regulations adopted to implement the law, guarantee both terrorist prisoners and released terrorists a monthly salary from the PA. After the PA identified that the payment of salaries to the released terrorists was particularly condemned by the donor countries, instead of abolishing the payments, the PA decided to integrate the released terrorists into the PA ministries, thereby, pretending the payments were legitimate salary expenses.

As part of this program, the PA disbursed the salary payments to 7,500 released terrorists, integrating thousands of terrorists into the PA ministries and retiring thousands of others. Hundreds of released terrorists were even placed in positions in the PA security apparatus. Exposing that these were neither real jobs nor legitimate salaries for employment, PMW showed that the salary scales were not based on the terrorists’ new positions, but rather on artificial pay scales linked to the time the terrorist spent in prison. The terrorists “retired” by the PA were guaranteed 100% of their “pension salary.”
Media Ignore Growing Despotism Inside Abbas’ PLO as Palestinians Protest Corruption
Little noted by the media, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has this week managed to consolidate his vice-like grip on power by ensuring that both the PLO Executive Committee, of which he serves as chairman, and the Fatah Central Committee are overflowing with his loyalists.

Gathered at the walled-in compound that is the presidential palace in Ramallah on February 7, leading members of the Palestine Liberation Organization held what has been described as a “rare meeting” for the group “to fill key roles that could hint at a favoured successor.”

According to Israeli media reports, octogenarian Abbas is said to have secured himself a number of wins when the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), which is the legislative authority within the PLO, voted in favor of appointing a raft of his loyalists into key leadership positions.

Among this chosen few is Hussein al-Sheikh, the head of the PA General Authority of Civil Affairs, who was tapped to fill the role vacated by the late Saeb Erekat, who was the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee until his death in 2020.

Also selected for a prominent new position was Mohammad Mustafa, who fills the seat in the PLO Executive Committee that was left vacant following former PLO spokesman Hanan Ashrawi’s 2020 resignation. Ashrawi complained at the time that the Palestinian leadership was shutting officials out from decision-making.

Another significant appointment at the meeting was long-time Abbas aide Rawhi Fattouh, 73, who was chosen to lead the National Council, which is the PLO’s highest policy-making entity.

The appointment of Sheikh, in particular, is noteworthy because it signals that he is what AFP described as “Abbas’s preferred choice as a presidential successor.”

The billing of Sheikh as Abbas’ heir apparent (see also Reuters) is problematic, to say the least.
Palestinians Create Online Campaign Against Hamas



Nasrallah: If Israel could beat Hezbollah, it would've attacked already
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah wrote-off Israeli threats against the movement's precision missile program during an interview with the Al-Alam channel on Tuesday evening, saying that Israel would need a full war to eliminate the missile program.

"If the Israeli entity was certain of victory over Hezbollah through the war, it would not have hesitated for one moment," added the Hezbollah leader.

Nasrallah questioned whether Israel knows how many precision missiles the movement has and where they are located. He additionally warned that Hezbollah would respond to any military operation by Israel.

"We do not seek or dislike war, and we understand its dangers and challenges, but we do not fear it," said Nasrallah. "There are surprises we hide for any war, and for the first time, we are using the air defense systems for the resistance, but the goal is not to bring down the drones, but to eliminate their danger."

Nasrallah added that the movement has been using air defense systems for the past two years.

His comments about the precision missile program come just days after Defense Minister Benny Gantz issued an administrative seizure order against three Lebanese companies for allegedly providing raw materials to Hezbollah for its precision missile project.
MEMRI: Hizbullah Leader Hassan Nasrallah: Iran Itself – Not Its Allies – Would Respond to an Israeli Strike
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a February 8, 2022 interview on Al-Alam TV (Iran) said that if Israel attacks Iran, Iran would retaliate directly in a hard and violent fashion, and not through its "friends" in the region. He said that since such a "stupid act" would have severe consequences, it is implausible for Israel to strike Iran.

In addition, Nasrallah said that Israel cannot simply bomb Hizbullah's arsenal of precision missiles because they are stored in several locations and because Hizbullah has taken security measures to prevent this. He elaborated that all-out war would be necessary for Israel to effectively target Hizbullah's arsenal of precision missiles. Later in the interview, Nasrallah said that the U.S. embassy in Beirut is the CIA's main station in the entire Middle East, and that the CIA recruits Lebanese citizens to gather intelligence for Israel.

He said that even though the U.S. says it does not negotiate with terrorists, it has for decades attempted to establish a "channel of communications" with Hizbullah, but that Hizbullah has rejected its overtures. He also accused the U.S. of having created, run, and cooperated with several terrorist organizations, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda.


Classified Iran Nuclear Deal Brief Leaves ‘More Questions Than Answers,’ GOP Lawmaker Says
At least one Republican lawmaker was left with "more questions than answers" on Tuesday after Biden's Iran envoy Robert Malley provided his first classified briefing on Capitol Hill.

Malley, who until Tuesday had avoided testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for more than a year as talks with Tehran took place, faced a flurry of questions from Republican lawmakers who are outraged by the White House’s decision late last week to grant Iran sanctions waivers so that countries like Russia and China can build out its civilian nuclear program.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), a committee member, has been leading the charge to pressure Malley into testifying. She told the Free Beacon Tuesday afternoon that the classified briefing left her with "more questions than answers"—and that Malley must immediately testify in an open setting so that the American public can learn exactly what the United States has promised Iran in exchange for a new deal.

"Before today, Rob Malley had yet to appear before the full Foreign Affairs Committee, either publicly or in private, to answer our questions and explain to the American people why sanctions are not being fully enforced on Iran," Tenney said. "This briefing unfortunately left me with more questions than answers. While it was a start, it is still not enough."

Malley’s decision to appear before Congress for a briefing indicates that the United States is close to reentering the 2015 nuclear deal and providing Tehran with billions of dollars in cash assets. The talks have also generated scrutiny from Iran hawks in Congress as it becomes increasingly clear that China and Russia are taking the lead in pressing the United States to accept Iran’s demands for sanctions relief.
Seth Frantzman: Did Iran name its new missile after anti-Jewish battle?
Iran announced a new missile this week that it claims has a range of 1,450 kilometers, which means it can reach Israel from western Iran. The missile is called “Khaybarshekan” or “Khaybar breaker,” apparently a reference to a historic battle against Jews in the early Islamic period.

The chant “Khaybar, Khaybar ya yahud” is often used as part of antisemitic chants in the region, encouraging the mass murder or genocide of Jews.

There is no doubt that references to Khaybar have been used in the region as a battle cry against Israel and the Jews. The American Jewish Committee noted that antisemitic protests that swept Europe and the US during the May war between Israel and Hamas included chants of this nature.

“Antisemitic protesters in Brussels chanted ‘Khaybar khaybar, ya yahud! Jaysh Muhammad sa-ya’ud,’ or, ‘Remember Khaybar, O you Jews, Muhammad’s army will come back to you’ – a reference to a battle in which the Prophet Muhammad and his armies decimated a Jewish community in the year 628, that has become an Islamist battle cry against Jews,” the AJC report said.

Iran’s media did not link the missile directly to attacks on Israel when it first announced the new weapon and new name. It says the weapon is a third-generation strategic missile developed by the IRGC that uses solid fuel. It was unveiled by Amir Ali Hajizadeh when he visited a missile base. “The Khyber Breaker strategic missile is one of the third-generation of long-range missiles of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has unique features,” the Tasnim report said in Iran.

There are questions on whether Iran’s name for the missile is meant to conjure up old Islamic battles and influence public opinion in the region. The Islamic Republic may be trying to openly or subconsciously reference an ancient battle between Muslims and Jews, as a way of trying to assert that modern-day Iran is the current incarnation of the early Muslim period, the “true Islam” in this sense, and that it is fighting “the Jews.” It is doing this without openly saying so, because Iran’s regime pretends it is not antisemitic, even when it issues antisemitic dog whistles.


Former Trump Ambassador Ric Grenell Criticizes Big Tech “Hypocrisy” for Allowing Iran to Promulgate Antisemitism
Ric Grenell, who served as the United States Ambassador to Germany and Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Negotiations in the Trump administration, criticized Big Tech platforms for allowing the Iranian regime to promulgate misinformation and hate on their platforms, Newsmax reported.

Grenell was speaking on a February 3 fireside chat with Iranian Americans for Liberty (IAL) Executive Director Bryan Leib. Leib told Grenell that the Iranian regime released a video in December showing them firing missiles into Israel and a month later released another video showing former President Donald Trump being killed. “Shouldn’t these actions, Ric, by the Iranian regime be a disqualifier for us to sit across the table from them?” Leib asked.

Grenell replied: “What’s really troubling is that the social media companies, Big Tech, have these policies that if you give COVID misinformation, you’re kicked off or you get a warning. But the regime continues to have a variety of social media accounts spewing not only misinformation but violence and antisemitism and homophobia. This is unbelievable that Big Tech allows this to happen and I think we’ve got to constantly raise our voices that this hypocrisy of allowing the hate and the terror to be spewed on social media is unacceptable.”

He added that “the Iranian regime does not allow their own people to use Google but they have Google themselves in their elite ranks. They know exactly that Joe Biden is extremely weak and wanting to have some sort of deal. I can tell you that the deals that the Biden team is cutting will include cash, there is no question about it.” Grenell argued that the U.S. needs to “bring down the government firewalls on the Internet, social media and all information.” “If we’re going to have this big debate in America about perfect information and allowing accurate information to flow, why aren’t we using our technology––which does exist in America and Silicon Valley––to be able to bring down the government firewalls?” Grenell said. “This would allow individuals in Cuba, in China, in North Korea and in Iran, to actually have access to all of this information, to perfect information, and then they would be able to make decisions on their own.
MEMRI: Iraqi Journalist: Iranian Leaders Are Bold, Shameless Liars Who Speak Against External Intervention While They Themselves Bluntly Interfere In Neighboring Countries
In a January 28, 2022 article in the online daily Sotaliraq.com, journalist Mona Salem Al-Jabouri wrote that the Iranian leaders belong to a unique species of liars who know they are lying and know that their addressees know they are lying, yet are not embarrassed or ashamed of this. An especially conspicuous example of this, she said, is Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who, upon assuming office, called on the countries of the region to oppose foreign intervention while Iran itself was and is boldly intervening in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and committing terrible crimes there. Therefore, it would be better for Abdollahian to remain silent and keep his lies to himself and his regime, she concluded.

The following are translated excerpts from her article:[1]
"They say about liars that their memory is weak and tends to betray them and expose their shame and the truth of their lies. [In most cases], when you confront a liar with his lie and condemn him for what he said or says he naturally feels not only embarrassment but shame. But when it comes to the leaders and officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the situation is completely different and presents us with people of a new sort: expert liars whose methods and manner of lying are beyond anyone's ability to emulate or compete with. It looks like [Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian is set to top the list of expert liars whose lies are especially radical and far-reaching!

"The leaders and officials of the Iranian regime do not belong to the first and familiar kind of liars who are embarrassed and ashamed when their lie is revealed and they are exposed in public. They belong to the kind [of liars] who know full well that everyone knows they are lying. This was perfectly true of Minister Abdollahian when he spoke after the so-called National Conference of Iran and Its Neighbors… Like a wolf pretending to be an innocent lamb, he said that the top priority for the government of [Iranian President] Ebrahim Raisi is [Iran's] neighbors and establishing ties with them that have geographical, legal and cultural implications. Even more derisible was his claim that there is need to confront the foreign intervention in the region.[2]

"The most ironic aspect of all is that Abdollahian, a former commander in [Iran's Islamic] Revolutionary Guards [Corps], who has abilities in the sphere of exporting extremism and terror to the countries of the region and was involved in many activities of this sort, claims falsely and fraudulently that 'the top priority for Ebrahim Raisi's government is [Iran's] neighbors and establishing ties with them.' [He says this] even though he himself, immediately upon becoming foreign minister, stressed the need to cultivate the [Iranian] regime's proxies in the countries of the region, help them and support them, and it appears that, in President Raisi's era, the Iranian regime is continuing this policy as usual. When Abdollahian continues to lie and says that 'there is need to confront the foreign intervention in the region,' what intervention is he referring to, this man who knows better than anyone that there is no country or regime in the world who enters the countries of the region and intervenes in them with complete insolence [like Iran does]? [He also knows that] the atrocious crimes and massacres that were perpetrated by the Revolutionary Guards [Corps] and by its terrorist Qods Force – especially in the era of [Qods Force commander Qassem] Soleimani – against the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are known to all. Therefore, it would be better for Abdollahian to remain silent and keep his lies to himself and his regime!"
Biden Admin and EU Silent on Iran's Rising Persecution of Religious Minorities
In 2021, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi signed two alarming amendments to Articles 499 and 500 of its Penal Code, making it easier for the authorities to crack down on religious minorities. The amendments impose prison sentences and fines on whoever insults "divine religions or Islamic schools of thought recognized under the Constitutions with the intent to cause violence or tensions in the society," as well on whoever conducts "any deviant educational or proselytizing activity that contradicts or interferes with the sacred law of Islam."

Persecution of Christians in Iran has especially been on the rise. While Iranian leaders celebrate and publicize those who convert to Islam, those who convert to Christianity are severely punished.

Another religious minority that faces persecution in Iran is the Baha'i faith... [Others] include Zoroastrians, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Yarsanis.

Meanwhile, the European powers are not only failing to hold the Iranian regime accountable, they are busy appeasing the ruling mullahs of Iran and doing business with them.

Since the Biden administration lifted the "maximum pressure" imposed by the previous administration, the ruling mullahs have only escalated their persecution of religious minorities. Instead of incessantly lecturing the world on human rights, the EU and the Biden administration would sound more credible if they would stop appeasing the human rights catastrophe that Iran's regime has become, and hold the ruling mullahs accountable.







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