Wednesday, February 16, 2022

02/16 Links Pt1: Israel advocacy, from Dreyfus to Amnesty; What's in Russia's global game of Chess for Israel?; Pelosi: Israel is 20th century's greatest accomplishment

From Ian:

Israel advocacy, from Dreyfus to Amnesty
The best way to truly counter anti-Semitism is to look into the darkness and declare: “I see you, and I am not afraid.” Yes, this is a daunting task, especially with the recent explosive surge in global anti-Semitic violence. But if we allow those who try to terrify and silence us to succeed, if we fail to stand up for ourselves and the Jewish state, then they will have truly won.

But what can be done beyond just shouting J’Accuse? What practical steps can Jews, pro-Israel activists or anyone fighting for truth and decency take?

The first and most important step is to call out those who spread lies and fan the flames of hate. Use your voice. Don’t assume as fact a story on Instagram. Always research, fact-check and create your own informed opinion. Create allies in this fight. Learn from experts and organizations on the front line. Most importantly, be proud and unapologetic in your Jewish and Zionist identity.

We are a generation with countless tools at our disposal; we just need the willpower, knowledge and skills to use them. The more we learn and truly understand, the better we can make the case for Israel. We should never be afraid of the debate or to learn more to make us better advocates.

Of course, none of this is to imply that everyone has to unflinchingly agree with every Israeli policy; far from it. That being said, if you call for Israel’s destruction, deny the Jewish people their fundamental right to self-determination or perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes and lies, such as Amnesty has done, the anti-Semitic line in the sand has well and truly been crossed.

Attacks such as these must be confronted no matter where they arise, whether on campus, online or within major organizations by elected officials. We must show that, while open to debate, we will not allow ourselves or the State of Israel to be vilified—that we will no longer stand idly by in the face of hatred and anti-Semitism, no matter what form they take.

We have an obligation and a responsibility, not only to the generations that have gone before us—those who went through hell on earth, yet never gave up on the dream of rebuilding our nation-state in our ancestral homeland—but to future generations, as well.

We cannot continue to allow the blatant lies and hatred of groups like Amnesty to go unanswered. Israel and the Jewish people are here to stay. We are fighting against a relentless enemy that has persisted for millennia. But even the smallest light can push away the darkness. And each one of us, in our own way, must be that light.
Amb. Alan Bake: Amnesty International’s Obsessive Fixation with Israel
The January 2022 Amnesty International report alleging that Israel practices apartheid against the Palestinians reveals a bitter fixation, extreme prejudice, and blatant hatred of Israel, even to the extent of questioning Israel’s very legitimacy and right to exist.

The Amnesty report willfully and deliberately distorts and misrepresents the circumstances surrounding the historic development of the State of Israel. Moreover, it ignores, sidelines, and downplays the existential dangers that Israel continues to face from its neighbors since its establishment, including ongoing Palestinian terror directed against Israel’s civilian population and territory.

Amnesty alleges that Israel “coerces Palestinians into enclaves within the State of Israel…and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.” In every multicultural society throughout the world, people of shared cultures and languages live together in their own communities as part of their national whole. This is a natural, social inclination and such social fragmentation is not apartheid.

Amnesty deliberately misled its readers by claiming that Israel was “forcefully evicting Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to transfer Jewish settlers.” The issue is a long-running, civil real-estate litigation that has been under scrutiny in Israel’s courts since 1972. It involves competing property claims by Jewish owners and Palestinian tenants and squatters.

The Amnesty report presents the flawed claim that six “prominent Palestinian civil society organizations” are innocent human rights organizations, manipulating readers into believing that Israel randomly and illegally outlawed such organizations. Yet the Israeli decision to outlaw NGOs with direct connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization was in full accordance with international law and obligations set out in international counter-terrorism conventions.

South African Judge Richard L. Goldstone, who headed a UN Human Rights Council investigation of the 2008-2009 Gaza War, wrote in an article in the New York Times on October 31, 2011, entitled “Israel and the Apartheid Slander”: “In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the Rome Statute.” The central elements of apartheid, and specifically the “intent to maintain an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group,” simply do not exist.

The Amnesty report repeats the phrase “occupied Palestinian territory (OPT)” as a given, ignoring the historical and legal claim by Israel and the Jewish People to the territory. Yet the “West Bank” territory of Judea and Samaria has never been determined by any authoritative and binding legal document, treaty, resolution, or declaration to be “Palestinian.” On the contrary, the territory is subject to a dispute, the settlement of which is to be negotiated between the parties.
Amnesty's Israel apartheid claim is a continuation of the Nazis' antisemitic propaganda
It was at Durban I that the taking down of Israel as an apartheid state became the cause du jour at the expense of other causes. Signed by groups including Amnesty International, the NGO Declaration called Israel a “racist apartheid state” guilty of “genocide”.

Fast-forward to 2022 and the methodology used by the Nazis, culminating in the Durban conference in 2001, has reappeared. Following on from Durban’s legacy, Amnesty have picked up the mantle and produced a report about Israel that reads like a conspiracy theory. In it, incomplete and incorrect pieces have been pushed together to confirm the pre-ordained conclusion that Israel is an apartheid state.

An interview with the Amnesty officials behind the report by Lazar Berman in the Times of Israel revealed a frightening lack of logic behind the report. Nor does it have any legal basis. Its publication is part of a wider campaign by those who perceive the Jewish state as symbolising a powerful evil in the world and something which must therefore be dismantled.

Amnesty’s report alters the very understanding of apartheid to shoehorn Israel in, and finds Israel guilty of the original sin of existing. Amnesty appears to want to remove the remaining Jewish presence, the Jewish state, from the Middle East.

The aftermath of the impact of Nazism in the Middle East is still being felt and its legacy seems to be reflected in the latest Amnesty report. What greater abuse of Jewish human rights could there be than this?
Amnesty’s report might be a prequel of a greater assault on Israel’s legitimacy
Amnesty International’s infamous report was overwhelmingly rejected by Western countries like the US, Canada and Germany but was embraced by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the BDS Movement.

It was not just that the Amnesty Report claimed that the system Israel established in 1948 should be dismantled, but they also initiated a full-blown campaign against Israel that included a pre-meditated collaboration with BDS groups, a set of anti-Israel graphics and even a course on how to explain “the domination of Palestinians by Israel.”

Amnesty is another example of a human rights group gone rogue that has adopted the ideology of those who delegitimize Israel while avoiding the human rights of Jewish civilians that live in the Middle East, or anywhere, for that matter.

The Amnesty report, however, might just be a teaser for a greater assault taking place later this year on the legitimacy of the only Jewish state, this time by the United Nations.

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has formed a Commission of Inquiry to examine the events that took place during operation Guardian of the Walls last May. Unlike previous inquiry mandates, this time the commission members have been encouraged by the UNHRC to examine the “root causes of current tensions” between Israelis and Palestinians, including “systematic discrimination and repression.”

The Commission of Inquiry is headed by South African Judge Navi Pillay, who has a history of openly supporting the BDS movement and who has spoken out against Israel numerous times in the past, often calling it an “apartheid regime.”
Charity Commission to assess Amnesty ‘apartheid’ report funding claims
The report repeatedly said that the Jewish state is guilty of human rights breaches.

Critics said the report showed bias by barely mentioning violence against Israeli civilians and manipulating facts and quotes.

Jonathan Turner, chief executive of the UK campaign group Lawyers for Israel, was amongst those who raised the issue of those sponsoring the report.

He said: “The Charity Commission and HMRC should consider whether the sponsorship of this report by Amnesty International’s UK Charities is compatible with their charitable status and tax benefits.”

Lord Carlile, QC, the former government reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, called the report “overtly political”, adding:“This is on the very edge of their permissible role as a charity.”

Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Keith Black, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, said in a joint statement: “At a time of rising attacks on Jews around the world, Amnesty’s report is not just an attack on the state of Israel. It is an attack on the very concept and existence of Jewish sovereignty and on the Jewish people.”

A Charity Commission spokesperson confirmed to Jewish News they were aware of questions now raised over the legality of funding of the report.

A spokesperson said: “We are aware of this matter and in line with our standard process, are currently assessing information to determine if charitable funds have been used to fund the report and, if so, whether this is of regulatory concern.

“Amnesty International, the author of the report, is not a charity and therefore outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction. We cannot comment further at this time.”

Amnesty International told Jewish News: “Amnesty International will be happy to work with the Commission to answer any questions they might have”.
Amnesty International’s ‘woke’ racism towards Palestinians
If the 280-page report published by Amnesty International accusing Israel of ‘apartheid’ was a person, we’d say that he doesn’t have an honest bone in his body.

Whilst both the Economist and Freedom House have assessed the Jewish state as a liberal democracy, with the former ranking Israel’s democracy score higher than even the United States, Amnesty, like other so-called human rights organizations which have embraced the radical left’s malign obsession with Israel, offered what can fairly be described as a conclusion in search of evidence.

Their report is so riddled with errors of omission, fact, law and basic logic that not even the New York Times – which routinely attacks Israel’s very legitimacy – has deemed it ‘fit to print’.

To cite just a few errors:
Amnesty charges that Arab citizens of Israel can’t access state land in Israel. The charge is false – Israeli-Arabs have the same access to state land as any other Israelis.

Amnesty claims that Palestinians, and their millions of descendants, possess a legal “Right of Return” to Israel. In fact, there is no such right in international law.

Amnesty portrays Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem as being “ethnically cleansed”. However, all that’s happening is that several dozen Palestinian families face possible eviction due to their failure to pay rent for decades.


A new camp is taking shape in the Middle East
While the Israeli premier is the guest of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, another historic visit will take place – albeit not unprecedented – in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a reciprocal visit to UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, after nine years of not stepping foot on UAE soil. Erdogan, as a reminder, has also been signaling his desire to improve relations with Israel.

Although Saudi Arabia isn't being mentioned explicitly in any of these contexts, it's hard to believe these developments are unfolding without Saudi encouragement or at the very least consent. They tie in nicely with the series of diplomatic steps Saudi Arabia has spearheaded since July of last year, including the reconciliation agreement with Qatar, rapprochement with Iraq, and flourishing relations with Oman.

It's possible, therefore, that we are now seeing the start of a reorganization of the camps in the Middle East. Within this reorganization, the pragmatic Sunni camp – consisting of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf states (excluding Qatar) – is establishing a partnership with Turkey and Qatar – which will also incorporate Israel.

The primary catalysts for this camp are American policy, Iran, and the economy. The defeat suffered by ISIS and the jihadist-Salafist camp helps the sides shift their attention toward this goal. At the same time, the Abraham Accords and the pace at which they are being translated into tangible action and public gestures, are also a convenient platform for this development.

This new reorganization blurs the traditional dividing lines between the camps. This, along with Israel's potential role, poses complex challenges to its feasibility, alongside the many opportunities stemming from it.
Israel lobbying Biden for Houthi terror listing, at UAE’s behest
Israel has been pressing the Biden administration to designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terror group, at the United Arab Emirates’ behest, two officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been blamed for a series of drone and missile attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which has ramped up in intensity over the last month.

Amid the uptick in attacks, Abu Dhabi has stepped up its lobbying for the terror designation and has enlisted Israel in the effort.

Jerusalem has agreed, telling Biden officials that reimposing the terror designation would curb Iran’s “reckless” influence in the region, an Israeli official said.

“We’re not doing this only for the Emiratis. We believe such a step is in everyone’s interest,” the official added.
Israeli Energy Minister Says Personal Greeting From Egyptian President Was ‘Surprising, Exciting’
Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar said Tuesday that the welcome she received from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at a conference in Cairo a day earlier was “surprising” and “exciting,” and made her feel “great pride.”

The Egyptian premier crossed the large conference room in order to greet and converse with Elharrar, who was there to discuss gas, oil, and other energy issues with ministers from various Middle Eastern and North African countries.

“I was very surprised that he came straight to me and it was very important to him to welcome me,” Elharrar recounted in comments to Israel’s N12 news outlet.

Sisi, she said, “told me he was very happy that I came to the conference. You have to understand that we’re talking about an energy conference that has been held for five years and never had Israeli representation. It was not a given that we would be there.”

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett remarked on the gesture on Monday, writing, “President al-Sisi, you’ve touched us all.”


Lapid to ToI: Ukraine’s plight shows why Israel must always be able to defend itself
I assumed Yair Lapid would cancel the interview we had scheduled for Saturday night. After all, it found the foreign minister grappling with the potential repercussions of a possibly very imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, home to some 15,000 Israelis and tens of thousands of Jews, many of whom might urgently want and need to get out.

But Israel’s intended next prime minister, if the coalition holds, welcomed me as scheduled to his office at his Tel Aviv home, having just completed a situational assessment on Ukraine with the prime minister, defense minister and others. And he paused our interview only once, to speak to the minister of transportation about issues relating to additional flights from Ukraine in the coming days.

It’s been a decade since Lapid — journalist, sometime amateur boxer, primetime TV news anchor, “autobiographer” of his iconic father Tommy Lapid — plunged into national politics, and a coincidental decade since we launched The Times of Israel. An opportunity, I thought and he agreed, to discuss some of the big issues of where Israel is headed and its internal and external well-being.

Lapid has had a rollercoaster decade — as he built his Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party into a sizable political force, served and was fired as finance minister to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, partnered with former IDF chief Benny Gantz to try to oust Netanyahu, saw Gantz abandon him and join forces with Netanyahu in 2020 in a short-lived coalition, and then fashioned the most implausibly diverse coalition in Israeli history to push Netanyahu from power. Along the way, he put his own prime ministerial ambitions aside, first when allying with Gantz, and again when crowning Naftali Bennett as the only way to secure a Knesset majority last June.

However exhausting, the experience would appear to have been beneficial. The capacity to bring together parties from firm right to firm left, with his ally-turned-rival-turned-uneasy-colleague Benny Gantz in the center, and Ra’am, as Islamist party, as the icing on history’s most implausible coalition cake, reflects a political maturity and credibility nobody else in Israeli politics, including the Lapid of 10 years ago, could have mustered.
What's in Russia's global game of Chess for Israel?
Over these last few days, we have been on the precipice of historic developments which center around Russian President Vladimir Putin's determined decision to haul Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries back into Russia's sphere of influence. This is a well-calculated move with a clear strategy behind it, accompanied by a strong will to do whatever it takes, be it economically or militarily, including the risk of a direct confrontation (even if not a military one) with the United States.

Considering past precedents — Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Syria — combined with the high-quality intelligence the U.S. is sharing publicly with the rest of the world, it would be safe to assume that the Russians will soon carry their strategic plan into effect and bring about a regime change in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. If such a goal is achieved, Russia would challenge the U.S.'s status as the global hegemon.

Putin's decision probably stems from his vision of restoring Russia's glory back to the days of the Soviet Union and his assessment that the U.S. and the West are currently in a historic low point that would allow him, in tandem with China as a rising power, to create a multivalent world order.

Although Russia risks harsh economic blowback, it seems like the Russians have taken this into account and are convinced they can recreate their latest successes and pick the fruit with the most extraordinary historical meaning for them — regaining control over Ukraine as part of their vision of Greater Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia is also a dominant factor alongside the U.S. and the West in achieving an agreement to restrain Iran's efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon (Vienna talks).

On the Moscow-Beijing strategic axis, the Chinese seem to take a more cautious approach, as they always do. However, the Chinese and Russian presidents are elevating the comprehensive rapprochement between the two countries against their common rival — the U.S. All while assuming that Europe is an ally with limited power.
Estonian opposition leader, now leading in the polls, vows to move embassy to Jerusalem, forge major arms deal with Israel to protect Estonia from Russia
Could Martin Helme become the next prime minister of Estonia?

His enemies – and he has plenty – cringe at the very notion.

But it’s suddenly within the realm of possibility.

Helme, 45, is Estonia’s former minister of Finance and is currently the leader of the opposition in Parliament.

He is also the leader of the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE).

The party was previously led by his father, Mart, who recently served as interior minister and back in the late-1990s served as Estonia’s ambassador to Russia.

Under the son, EKRE is now leading in the polls and is more popular than any other time in its 10-year history.

Elections are scheduled for March 2023, but they could take place sooner, given that the governing Reform Party – led by current Prime Minister Kaja Kallas – has dropped 12 points over the past year, including nearly 5 points in the past five weeks.

WHO IS MARTIN HELME?

So, who is Martin Helme?

In his first-ever interview with an Israeli media outlet, Helme sat down with me here in the Estonian capital for an exclusive interview with ALL ISRAEL NEWS. We spoke for two hours, including nearly 30 minutes on the record.

As the founder and editor-in-chief of a non-profit and, thus, non-partisan site, ALL ISRAEL NEWS, I didn’t come to the interview with my own position on Helme. I just wanted to understand what he believes and what he wants – and he wasn’t shy about telling me.
Will Ukraine Crisis Lead Turkey and Israel Closer Together?
Erdogan this week arrived in the UAE for a two-day visit, as part of a regional balancing act in which various Middle Eastern states are trying to ensure that their differences and multiple regional conflicts do not spin out of control.

UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed heralded the visit, Erdogan’s first in almost a decade, as the start of a “prosperous new phase” of cooperation with Turkey. The UAE is Turkey’s foremost trading partner in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, Sabah, a flagship pro-government Turkish daily, reported in recent days that Turkish intelligence had last autumn foiled an attempt to assassinate Turkish-Israeli businessman Yair Geller. Some analysts suspect that the timing of the disclosure was intended to counter Israeli calls on Turkey to halt its support for Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, as part of a rapprochement with Israel. The paper said several suspects linked to Iran had been detained. Turkish officials suggested the assassination attempt was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020 by Israeli agents.

For Erdogan, repairing relations with Israel and forging a potential partnership in the Caucasus and Central Asia means walking a tightrope.

Erdogan has to balance improving relations with countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — perceived by their critics as having abandoned the defense of Muslim causes, including the plight of the Palestinians — with projecting himself as the Muslim leader who cares about his co-religionists. As a result, Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, made a point of saying last week that “any step we take with Israel regarding our relations, any normalization, will not be at the expense of the Palestinian cause, like some other countries.”

At about the same time, Turkey charged 16 people arrested last fall for being part of an Israeli spy network. Israeli intelligence sources have denied the existence of such a network.

“Ankara’s accusations of ‘espionage’ and apparent threats to raise the price for the detainees show that it was using hostage diplomacy involving innocent tourists. This is how Hamas, which is backed by Ankara’s ruling party, has also behaved. … Normal regimes don’t detain innocent people,” thundered Seth J. Frantzman, the right-wing Jerusalem Post’s Middle East correspondent, shortly after the arrests last fall.

An Israeli-Turkey rapprochement, then, is far from a given.
Israel not conditioning rapprochement with Turkey on booting Hamas
Israel did not condition improved relations with Turkey on Istanbul no longer harboring Hamas terror cells, a senior diplomatic source said overnight on Tuesday.

“We didn’t set a condition,” the source said. “Certainly, in a very careful process of growing closer, there are gestures here and there. We do see increased Turkish activity against terror in their territory.”

Israel is “working very carefully on this matter,” the senior diplomatic source added.

The remarks come as senior Turkish officials were set to meet with counterparts in Israel on Wednesday, ahead of President Isaac Herzog’s planned meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next month.

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s senior adviser and spokesman, led a delegation from Ankara to Jerusalem. They were scheduled to meet with Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz, President’s Residence Director-General Eyal Shviki, and other senior officials in both offices on Wednesday.

The visit comes after Ushpiz traveled to Turkey last December to discuss Herzog’s visit and improved relations between Ankara and Jerusalem.
Islamic State collaborators received Turkish citizenship, official report shows
According to information the police relayed to the MASAK on Sept. 23, 2020, Suat Ozdemir from Elazig, eastern Turkey, collected 1.7 million Turkish liras for the release of about 200 IS-related women and children held in Syria. In two separate instances in November 2018 and September 2020, the police informed the board that Tahsin Elhalaf, a Syrian residing in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, was involved in IS money transfers between Turkey and Syria.

Other information from the police, dated April 3, 2018, details a police raid on the El Hadi jewelry shop in Istanbul, owned by Halid Habu, a Syrian, on March 16, 2018. The police seized large sums of money believed to be used in IS-linked transfers, including more than $1.2 million, nearly 129,000 euros, some 1.8 million Turkish liras, nearly 47,000 Emirati dirhams and 2 million Syrian pounds.

The report shows that some IS sympathizers such as Suleyman Soltamuradov and Rukman Mazashev who raised money for Gayratjon Mirzotokhirovich, an IS financial operative known as Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, have also acquired Turkish citizenships.

The report mentions also a Somali man, Abdifatah Abdullahi Mohamed, who belongs to the Somalia-based jihadi group Al-Shabaab, according to information the MASAK received from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization on Feb. 4, 2021. Prosecutors in Istanbul investigated Mohamed on suspicion of membership in a terrorist group in 2020, but that probe too ended in nonprosecution.

The report includes curious tables on the identities of the individuals investigated by the MASAK. A column titled “TCKN” — the Turkish acronym for “Republic of Turkey Identity Number” — lists 11-digit numbers starting with the number 9. In the “citizenship” column, many are marked as citizens of Turkey. The tables might mislead the reader to conclude that all IS-linked individuals mentioned in the report are Turkish citizens, even though the report’s only open reference to the acquisition of Turkish citizenship pertains to Gneid. Back in 2017, following allegations that Ankara would allow Syrian refugees to vote, officials explained that identity numbers starting with 9 have been assigned to foreign nationals and do not denote citizenship. The identity numbers of several individuals other than Gneid do not start with 9.

Alpay Antmen, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party, submitted a parliamentary question to the interior minister last week, asking why the police were not acting against the individuals cited in the report and how many IS-linked people have acquired Turkish citizenship. Antmen told Al-Monitor he has yet to receive a reply.
FDD Podcast: Generation Jihad Ep. 61 — The State of the Jihad
Host Bill Roggio is joined by Edmund Fitton-Brown, Coordinator of the United Nations Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, to discuss the findings from his team’s latest report on the statuses of ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Take a look around the globe today and you’ll see jihadists fighting everywhere from West Africa to Southeast Asia. They aren’t the dominant force in all of those areas, or even most of them. But jihadism has mushroomed into a worldwide movement, with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and other groups waging guerrilla warfare and launching terrorist attacks on a regular basis.

Each week Generation Jihad brings you a new story focusing on jihadism around the globe. These stories will focus not only on Sunni jihadism, but also Shiite extremist groups. We will also host guests who can provide their own unique perspectives on current events.
Pelosi: Israel is 20th century's greatest accomplishment
The formation of the State of Israel is the greatest accomplishment of the 20th century, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the Knesset on Wednesday.

Pelosi said the United States is proud to have Israel as an ally and will continue supporting its security and stability, amid the threat from Iran.

“We are together in the fight against terror posed by Iran and its nuclear development,” Pelosi said. “It’s a threat to the world. Israel’s proximity to Iran is a threat to all of us and the responsibility of all of us.”

Pelosi is heading a delegation of congressional representatives. She said the delegation is united in the support of two states for two peoples, and would continue to work for that goal. She said relations between the Knesset and Congress were critical.

Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, who greeted Pelosi, said Israel is grateful for her uncompromising struggle for its security. He thanked her in particular for passing funding for the Iron Dome missile-defense system.

“For many years, you have defended our right to protect our citizens, and you have stood by us even in the most difficult of times, as we saw just recently during the last operation in Gaza,” he said. “The passage of the law to fund the replenishment of the Iron Dome system will forever be associated with you, and always as one of the greatest displays of support by the American people and by the United States House of Representatives for the State of Israel. The State of Israel could not have asked for a better friend.”


Jamaal Bowman pulls support for Abraham Accords bill
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) plans to withdraw his support for and vote against bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords, the congressman announced in a letter sent to constituents on Tuesday evening and obtained by Jewish Insider.

The Israel Relations Normalization Act has 328 House cosponsors, not including Bowman — 162 Democrats and 166 Republicans — and 72 in the Senate. The Abraham Accords, originally signed in September 2020, normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with Morocco and Sudan joining later. Bowman signed onto the bill in September 2021, following its introduction in April.

Bowman traveled to Israel and the Palestinian territories in late 2021 on a J Street-sponsored trip, meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leadership. He explained in the letter that the trip contributed to his decision to pull his support of the bill.

“On this visit, I continued to dig deep and engage people directly on the ground, including high level Palestinian and Israeli government officials,” Bowman wrote in the letter. “While I originally co-sponsored the Israel Relations Normalization Act seeing it as an opportunity to make progress toward justice and healing in the Middle East as well as a path to a two state solution, my experience on the ground and further conversation with constituents led me to see that it is not the right step to fulfill these goals.”
The Real Ethnic Cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah That Has Been Struck From Media Reports
When two people were injured and six arrested during clashes in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik on February 13, international news agencies such as the Associated Press (AP) quickly reported on the story. This latest development came after Israeli police carried out a court-ordered eviction of a family’s home in the neighborhood last month, to pave the way for its subsequent demolition so that a school for special-needs Arabs could be built.

Major international news outlets have become somewhat fixated on Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik, covering the minutiae of every new development, after tensions stemming from a property dispute in the neighborhood were cited as a catalyst for the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas (see here, here, and here, for example).

Yet, such reporting has often glossed over several salient facts.

An HonestReporting feature published in January revealed that Reuters, AFP, and the AP — wire services whose stories reach more than a billion people every day — had failed to include crucial information pertaining to Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik.

Specifically, the demolished structures they reported on were used to run a business that had been illegally built on the land, and the demolition order had been given after years of negotiations between authorities and the family. In addition, these outlets neglected to mention that under a years-old plan, the site had been earmarked for the construction of a special-needs school for Arab residents.

The crucial point that had been absent in reports is that Israeli courts had previously ruled that the home, business, as well as two storage units, had been built illegally on publicly owned land.

As a result of this selective reporting, the story of Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik has been repeatedly framed as that of helpless Palestinians being victimized by Israeli authorities, who are engaged in a campaign to drive people out of their homes.

This grossly oversimplified depiction of events taking place in eastern Jerusalem pervades, despite these important aspects of the Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzadik story being regularly emphasized in the local press (see here, here, and here). Furthermore, significant portions of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood’s history have been essentially struck from the mainstream media’s narrative.
17 Israelis Detained for Hate Crimes Against Palestinians in the West Bank
Authorities detained 17 Israelis, including a minor, for hate crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank town of Huwara last month, Israel’s police said Wednesday.

“During the past month, an undercover investigation has been conducted in the central unit of the [West Bank],” the police stated.

The probe focused on an “incident of assault, participation in a prohibited gathering, and damage to property with racist motives,” the statement said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

On January 24, a convoy of some 30 cars under an army escort, on its way to the Yitzhar settlement, stopped in the center of Huwara near the city of Nablus.

Individuals from the convoy broke store windows, stoned cars, and assaulted Palestinians.

At least three Palestinian residents were wounded, including a three-year-old, and some 25 cars were damaged.

Israel’s army did not arrest the rioters and escorted the convoy to Yitzhar, according to the Post.


PreOccupiedTerritory: COVID, Anarchy Making Israelis Think Maybe 5th Elections Wouldn’t Have Been So Bad After All (satire)
A historically unpopular prime minister, a paucity of fulfilled campaign promises, critical compromises that betrayed a core electoral constituency, incompetence in handling the ongoing pandemic, foreign policy missteps, cementing unelected bureaucrats in positions of power that distort democracy, and rewarding violent lawbreakers who undermine governance and Jewish sovereignty in the ancestral Jewish homeland, among other failures, has a growing number of citizens wondering whether they might have been better off in the endless cycle of parliamentary elections that preceded the formation of the current coalition government, polls indicate.

Surveys showing that less than a twentieth of the electorate support Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his Yamina Party, which leads a government that comprises a a diverse set of Knesset factions – and includes the Arab party Ra’am, a first for any Israeli government. Bennett’s decisions, as well as those of his Number Two in the party, Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked, and other coalition partners, have alienated the right-wing voters whose voices he entered to Knesset to represent, as the delicate arrangement depends on keeping Islamist-backed and left-wing members without whom the government would fall. Skyrocketing COVID infection statistics have compounded the debacle, even as unelected appointees engage in wanton favoritism to fill key posts and obstruct justice on several high-profile scandals. Public opinion, once cautiously optimistic, now sees the Frankenstein’s monster of the current coalition as worse than even the stagnant quagmire of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose twelve-year reign through multiple terms many saw as an important obstacle in addressing multiple core national issues – and whose removal formed a central element of the rationale for the current coalition. Now, however, Bennett’s presiding over lack of transparency and justice in combating Arab violence among the Bedouin and in mixed cities; his failure to wrest control of important institutions from unelected officials and restore power to the people; and his bumbling efforts to articulate a coherent policy on any front, have resulted in an unprecedented nadir in popularity for a sitting prime minister, even worse than Ehud Olmert in the aftermath of the Second Lebanon War – despite mainstream media that cheerlead Bennett’s government simply because he isn’t Netanyahu, just months after treating Bennett and his party as modern-day Mussolinis before his machinations to oust Bibi.
Israel seized NIS 103 million Hamas terror funds - counterterror financial official
A range of moves by the government have led to the seizure of NIS 103 million of Hamas terrorism funds, National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel official Sagi Volkovitz said at a government conference on Tuesday.

His agency is part of the Defense Ministry. Volkovitz gave complex examples of groups that would sell or deliver goods to Hamas in Gaza to get around banking regulations, while a seemingly disconnected Hamas office in a foreign country would pay for something in return that regulators would be hard-pressed to make a connection with.

The conference primarily highlighted the 20th anniversary and work of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA) headed by Shlomit Wagman, but it also featured officials from other agencies, including the police, the prosecution and the courts.

Wagman said the IMPA works with the police, the prosecution, tax agencies, but also “with the Mossad, the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] and other agencies in ways that I cannot specify,” to combat terrorist financing and money-laundering.

She said the IMPA helps intelligence agencies and law enforcement to be able to arrive at declaring certain groups as terrorist organizations by helping them connect Israel’s adversaries’ complex schemes and financial dots.

“Our joining the FATF [Financial Action Task Force] was noted as a difficulty for Iran,’’ as the Islamic Republic has tried, and failed to date, to get its name off the FATF global agency economic blacklist, she said.
PMW: The making of a new terrorist folk hero – The PA at work
Nasser Abu Hmeid is a terrorist imprisoned in Israel, serving 7 life sentences for his responsibility for the murder of 7 Israelis. He is also sick with cancer – and right now on the fast track to become a Palestinian folk hero.

As Palestinian Media Watch has exposed for years, the PA cherishes and promotes terrorists as role models for society. And a sick, imprisoned terrorist murderer is the stuff heroes are made of in the PA, only overshadowed by a dead, imprisoned terrorist – a “Martyr.”

Nasser Abu Hmeid could be either, depending on whether he dies of cancer or not while in prison. However, regardless of his fate, the PA has already begun the work to turn him into a folk hero.

In fact, the PA has already turned the entire Abu Hmeid family into celebrities. First and foremost among them is Nasser Abu Hmeid’s mother, Latifa Abu Hmeid, who is admired and honored for simply being the mother of 6 terrorist murderers, 5 of whom are in prison for having murdered 10 Israelis in total, and a 6th terrorist son who died as a “Martyr.” In support of her sick imprisoned son, Nasser Abu Hmeid, the official PA daily praised Latifa Abu Hmeid in an editorial for having “nursed her children with the milk of pure heroism” – i.e., educated them to become terrorist murderers:
“Um Nasser Abu Hmeid is the Palestinian woman of the hour. [This is] not only because she nursed her children with the milk of pure heroism, honor, and patriotism until they became unequal knights in the paths of resistance.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2022]


In answer to 'Fauda,' Hamas TV series glorifies fight against Israel
The Palestinian terrorists scrambled out of the tunnel and attacked an Israeli tank in broad daylight as gunfire and explosions echoed across the Gaza frontier.

This time it wasn't the start of another war, but an action scene filmed for a TV series produced by the territory's Islamist Hamas rulers.

The 30-episode series, titled "Fist of the Free," presents the fighters as scrappy heroes outwitting a better-armed Israeli military. Unlike "Fauda," the hit Israeli drama that deals with some of the same subject matter, it is unlikely to get picked up by Netflix.

It's the latest such production by the media arm of Hamas, which has invested heavily in its offerings despite an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza since the terrorist group seized power in 2007.

The shows are aired on Hamas-run TV, and "Fist of the Free" will debut during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when viewership soars after the dawn-to-dusk fast and networks across the Muslim world debut big-budget offerings.

"The idea of our films and series centers on our struggle with the enemy," says Sadi al-Attar, the assistant director. He says the latest show is a response to "Zionist aggression."


Nasrallah brags about missiles, drones, reminisces on 1st Lebanese War
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah bragged about the terrorist movement's missile and drone capabilities and discounted Israeli attempts to stop weapons shipments, during a speech on Wednesday marking the anniversary of the assassination of former Hezbollah secretary-general Abbas al-Moussawi.

Nasrallah claimed that the movement is able to convert thousands of its missiles into precision missiles and has been working to do so alongside Iran for years, adding that Israel's "war between wars" has been "fruitless." He additionally claimed that Israel's actions to confront Hezbollah's weapons projects had actually led to "excellent results" for the movement.

The Hezbollah leader added that the movement is able to manufacture drones and will sell to whoever wants to buy.

Nasrallah encouraged Israel to keep trying to find the multiple locations where Hezbollah stores and produces weapons. He added that "we may be facing an Ansariya 2" a seeming reference to a deadly ambush that targeted the Israeli Shayetet 13 special operations unit near the town of Ansariya in 1997.

The Hezbollah leader stated that since Hezbollah had activated air defenses in Lebanon, Israeli military air traffic had decreased over the country.

Nasrallah additionally compared the current situation in Lebanon to the situation in 1982, saying that both now and then the "identity" of Lebanon was "under threat" and that it was Hezbollah who preserved the country's identity in 1982 and would continue to do so.
Is Hezbollah's alpine unit a match for the IDF's alpine unit?
Hezbollah’s elite ski unit took to the slopes in south Lebanon, preparing to fight against Israeli troops.

In a video shared on Twitter, at least eight Hezbollah operatives were seen firing assault rifles and handguns towards Israeli targets while on skis and Skidoos.

The video, which was accompanied by dramatic music, also showed the operatives doing hand-to-hand combat in the snow and warning Israel that “Hezbollah has a characteristic that fear marches in front of him.”

Like IDF troops in the military’s reserve Alpine Unit, operatives in the video were wearing white uniforms to camouflage with the snow in south Lebanon.

The military’s alpine unit consists of reserve soldiers who serve in elite infantry units during their active duty. In the winter, they patrol Mount Hermon, which straddles the Lebanon and Syrian borders, while regular infantry units patrol during the summer months.


Houthis and Hezbollah are Learning War-Fighting Techniques From One Another
For the Islamic Republic, said Shay, “the Yemen war is a lab in which the Iranians can assess the technical performance of their weapons. They can also assess how effective their firepower-activation techniques are. All of the variations of Iran’s missiles and UAVs are being tested there. And this is the disturbing part.”

For Hezbollah, the advantage is obvious. Since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Lebanese Shi’ite army has had no opportunity to examine its own arsenal that it obtained from Iran, he pointed out.

“Since 2015, Hezbollah has been on the ground in Yemen—some believe from 2014. Hezbollah sent advisers who supported training programs, mostly on the activation of ground forces, and in some cases, the use of weapons. We saw IEDs in Yemen hidden in rocks that we recognized from Southern Lebanon, used by Hezbollah in Israel’s Security Zone in the 1990s,” said Shay.

This experience joins lessons that Hezbollah learned in the Syrian war, when it gained many insights into land warfare, urban warfare and coordinating artillery fire, noted the former defense official.

“These lessons, too, can be shared with the Houthis,” he stated.

In addition, Iran has equipped the Houthis with explosive-laden fast boats, operated by remote control, which have made an appearance in the Red Sea, against military and civilian vessels.

Such an attack capability is of certain interest to Hezbollah, cautioned Shay: “I would not be surprised if we run into this in the future in the northern arena.”


State Department on Defense Over Iran Talks After Nuclear Negotiator Quits
Following reports that a member of its negotiating team quit the administration last week over opposition to the Biden administration's concessions to Iran, the State Department is defending its ongoing diplomacy with Tehran.

Richard Nephew served as the deputy special envoy for Iran before leaving that post on Dec. 6 "due to a sincere difference of opinion concerning policy," according to a Tuesday tweet by Nephew announcing his departure from the administration. He briefly continued to work at the State Department after leaving the Iran team last year.

A State Department spokesman, speaking only on background, defended the ongoing talks with Iran and told the Washington Free Beacon that Nephew's positions have been mischaracterized in the media.

"It is not true that there was a cartoonish division between people wanting to take harder or softer lines," the official said. "The same people may want to move faster on some issues and slower on others."

Nephew reportedly advocated for a tougher line with Tehran in talks, conflicting with efforts by U.S. Iran envoy Robert Malley to secure a new agreement that will grant Iran billions in cash windfalls. Nephew would not discuss his disagreements, tweeting only that "my views and record have been and continue to be mischaracterized by quite a few people. I do not intend to convey any further details at this time or in public, given the ongoing nature of discussions in Vienna."

Nephew's departure from the negotiating team made waves in Washington, D.C., foreign policy circles, with many taking it as a sign the Biden administration is poised to ink an accord that is weaker than the original 2015 nuclear deal. Republican hawks on Capitol Hill warn that a new nuclear deal with Iran will do little to stop its atomic weapons program and only enrich the hardline regime.


Iran calls for US Congress to make a ‘political statement’ on nuclear deal
Iran urged the US Congress on Wednesday to issue a “political statement” that Washington will stay committed to a possible agreement in Vienna talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.

The accord offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, but then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed heavy sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian urged the US to provide a guarantee on the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in an interview with the Financial Times published on his ministry’s website.

“As a matter of principle, public opinion in Iran cannot accept as a guarantee the words of a head of state, let alone the United States, due to the withdrawal of Americans from the JCPOA,” he said.

He said he had asked Iranian negotiators to propose to Western parties that “at least their parliaments or parliament speakers, including the US Congress, can declare in the form of a political statement their commitment to the agreement and return to the JCPOA implementation.”


Decision on Iran Nuclear Deal Days Away, Ball in Tehran’s Court: France
France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that a decision on salvaging Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was just days away, but that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the tattered agreement resumed last week after a 10-day hiatus and officials from the other parties to the accord — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — have shuttled between the two sides as they seek to close gaps.

Western diplomats previously indicated they hoped to have a breakthrough by now, but tough issues remain unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.

“We have reached tipping point now. It’s not a matter of weeks, it’s a matter of days,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament, adding that the Western powers, Russia and China were in accord on the outlines of the accord.

“Political decisions are needed from the Iranians. Either they trigger a serious crisis in the coming days, or they accept the agreement which respects the interests of all parties.”
Iranian Media: Israeli Officials Deterring Progress in Vienna Nuclear Talks
An Iranian news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lashed out on Tuesday at Israel’s delegation to the nuclear talks in Vienna.

“The open and unexpected presence of the Zionists in Vienna undoubtedly represents a deterring factor to progress in the Vienna talks at the current sensitive juncture,” tweeted Nour News in Hebrew. “The dialogue between Israel’s representatives and [International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi] and [Russian envoy to the talks Mikhail] Ulyanov, whatever their purpose, is a step toward fulfilling this regime’s characteristic destructive role,” the tweet continued.

The Israeli delegation, led by Joshua Zarka, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s strategic department, was dispatched to Vienna to clarify Israel’s position regarding a possible return to the 2015 nuclear accord.

Zarka met on Tuesday with Robert Malley, the lead US negotiator of the 2015 deal, as well as with negotiators from Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany. On Monday, he met with IAEA director Grossi.
MEMRI: Former Iranian Ambassador To Australia And Mexico Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri-Abyaneh Makes Antisemitic Remarks, Adds: Rouhani Is A Traitor, Ahmadinejad Delusional, Zarif A Coward
In an interview that was posted on Javanan.tv on January 14, 2022, former Iranian ambassador to Australia and Mexico Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri-Abyaneh criticized former Iranian leaders. He said that former president Hassan Rouhani was a "traitor" who deserved to be lashed and to have his religious scholar’s cloak taken from him. Ghadiri-Abyaneh also said that he suspects Rouhani, as well as former president Ahmadinejad, had been pleased with the "martyrdom" of IRGC Qods Force commander General Qasem Soleimani. In addition, Ghadiri-Abyaneh said that former president Mohammad Khatami is "good for nothing" and that former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is a "coward." At a different point in the interview, Ghadiri-Abyaneh said that Jews infiltrate wealthy and powerful non-Jewish families, and that the mortality rate in those families subsequently increases so that the Jews get a larger portion of the inheritance. Furthermore, Ghadiri-Abyaneh claimed that the Israeli flag represents a Zionist belief that the geographic area between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, which he claims spans 20 countries and includes Mecca and Medina, belongs to Israel. For more information about Ambassador Ghadiri-Abyaneh, see MEMRI TV clips Nos. 8918 and 998.

Israel's Flag Represents The Country's Belief That "20 Countries, Including Mecca And Medina Belong To The Zionists"

Interviewer: "If you wanted mention one senior Iranian official from recent years who deserved to be lashed, who would you choose?"

Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri-Abyaneh: "Mr Rouhani. In addition, he should be stripped of his religious scholar's cloak, in my view. His Islam is English Islam.

"The Jews have a book called the Talmud. This is their book of jurisprudence and it was written 1,500 years ago. It says that Jewish girls must not marry non-Jewish men, unless they are kings or wealthy people. But another thing is at play here. When a Jew marries into a family of wealth or power, the mortality rate in that family increases, so that the share of the person who married the Jew in the inheritance grows.

"I think that Rouhani may have even rejoiced over Soleimani's martyrdom and his elimination, and the same is true of Ahmadinejad."

Interviewer: "As always, at the end of the show, we say a word to our guest, and ask him to tell us how he feels about it in one word.

"The flag of Israel."

Ghadiri-Abyaneh: "It has two blue stripes that represent the Nile and Euphrates rivers. It means that the entire area between those two rivers, which includes 20 countries as well as Mecca and Medina, belongs to the Zionists."






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