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Monday, February 21, 2022

02/21 Links Pt1: Amnesty’s Israel chief criticizes group’s report accusing Israel of apartheid; First Arab Muslim, Mizrachi woman appointed to Supreme Court

From Ian:

Amnesty’s Israel chief criticizes group’s report accusing Israel of apartheid
The executive director of Amnesty International Israel has sharply criticized the umbrella international organization over its report earlier this month that accused Israel of practicing apartheid against the Palestinians, saying the document is not helping the situation, and may even be making things worse.

In an interview with Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, Molly Malekar aired her grievances over the report, which was rejected by Israel and has also divided her own organization.

She described the accusation that Israel engages in apartheid, as well as other elements of the Amnesty report, as a “punch to the gut.”

According to Malekar, many others who campaign for Palestinian rights, both in Israel and in the West Bank, feel the same way.

Amnesty’s report, released February 1 at a press conference in Jerusalem’s Bab A-Zahara neighborhood, found that Israel applies a form of apartheid against Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and around the world, and, most significantly and controversially, against Arab Israelis.

Malekar said that what bothered her most was not the claim that Israel engages in apartheid according to international law, about which, she said, there is a “serious debate.” Rather, she said, Amnesty, as an organization whose goal is to promote human rights, shouldn’t be concerning itself with theoretical definitions.

When Amnesty publishes a paper, “the only important question is what are you trying to achieve by it,” she said.

Malekar said she had stressed to Amnesty administrators and branches in other countries that within Israel there was a struggle between “nationalist forces and humanitarian forces.”


Israel Has Worked since 1948 to Make Peace with the Palestinians
Amb. Dore Gold interviewed by Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post)

In February, Amnesty International alleged that Israel has been guilty of the crime of apartheid since its inception in 1948. For Dore Gold, Israel's ambassador to the UN from 1997 to 1999, the Amnesty report and others have little to do with matters of law and much more to do with anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of the State of Israel.

"What Amnesty has done is to advance their narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by using a loaded term like 'apartheid' and then insisting that it is a legal term," said Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

"This method of slandering Israel by coating phony narratives with legality is something which Israel's adversaries do all the time," Gold said, adding that this "is a case of 'fake law.'"

It is standard practice for anti-Semites to "seek accusations which they know will ignite hatred against the Jewish people....Today the most effective instrument in the hands of anti-Semites is to say that Israel is an apartheid regime."

Article 7 of the Rome Statute, that is a common reference point for the ICC, refers to an apartheid regime as a "permanent arrangement." That is hardly the case, even if Israel adopted South African practices, which it did not.

The narrative relies on a false claim that Israel, from the start, intended to continuously oppress the Palestinian people, Gold said. In reality Israel has worked from the start to make peace with the Palestinians. Israel negotiated with the PLO for the creation of the Palestinian Authority as a self-governing body over territory in the West Bank, effectively not disempowering the Palestinians.

"It may not be ideal," but the arrangement is not one of "an apartheid regime" and, "most of all, it is not a permanent arrangement. Israeli governments have been trying to negotiate with legitimate representatives of the Palestinians for a way out. The only reason the PA lacks additional autonomy is because of the hard line taken by Abbas and his supporters."
First Arab Muslim, Mizrachi woman appointed to Supreme Court
The Judicial Selection Committee appointed four new justices to the Supreme Court on Monday, reordering the 15-justice body that sits atop the judicial branch.

The four are Judge Khaled Kabub, Judge Ruth Ronen, Judge Gila Kanfei-Steinitz and private-sector lawyer Yechiel Kasher. Kabub is the first Arab Muslim appointed to the Supreme Court, and Kanfei-Steinitz – Likud MK Yuval Steinitz’s wife – is the first female judge of Sephardi descent.

Kanfei-Steinitz and Kasher are both viewed as moderate conservatives, ensuring Sa’ar has placed his stamp on the judiciary and moving it slightly to the Right again, given that three of the four justices being replaced were affiliated with the activist or moderate activist wings.

Ronen was the main pick of Supreme Court President Esther Hayut, and is expected to follow her moderate activist approach.

Kabub has spent most of his career handling economic crime issues and has less well-known constitutional views.

He is replacing Justice George Kara to fill the “Israeli-Arab seat” on the court, and is expected to be somewhere on the moderate activist spectrum.

Kabub will also be the first permanent Muslim Israeli-Arab justice on the court. Prior Israeli-Arab justices were always Christian.


Biden Can Reset the UN’s Discriminatory Approach to Israel
The facts in Israel and the territories don’t fit either the actual international law definitions of apartheid or even the false definition of apartheid cooked up by HRW and parroted by the COI and Amnesty. In apartheid South Africa, black persons had no rights to vote, hold political office, or use “white” universities, hospitals, ambulances, benches, and bathrooms.

In contrast, not only do Israeli Arabs vote but an Israeli Arab party currently holds the balance of power in Israel’s parliament. Israeli Arabs also serve as justices on Israel’s Supreme Court and as cabinet ministers. They also use the same facilities as Israeli Jews, and include leading Israeli scientific researchers and entrepreneurs, prominent physicians (23 percent of Israeli doctors are Arabs), and major generals in Israel’s military.

When asked whether Israel engages in apartheid, Jacque de Maio, who heads the delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Authority of the International Committee of the Red Cross—an influential interpreter of human rights law and the law of war—responded, “The Red Cross was very familiar with the regime that prevailed in South Africa during the apartheid period, and we are responding to all those who raise their claim of apartheid against Israel: No, there is no apartheid here ... There is a bloody national conflict, whose most prominent and tragic characteristic is its continuation over the years.”

Israel has faced repeated armed attacks designed to destroy it. Some in its neighborhood, including Hamas and Iran, continue to issue genocidal threats against it. Despite the security risks, Israel has repeatedly offered—in exchange for peace—a Palestinian state in up to 94 percent of the territory of the West Bank. This notwithstanding the Jewish people’s 3,000-year history there and the Palestinian leadership’s discriminatory insistence that it would not allow Jews to live within a Palestinian state. Israel’s policy is one of self-defense, not subjugation.

The Biden administration should spearhead an initiative at the UNHRC session that begins on February 28 to pass a resolution repealing the COI. Support could come from the several countries that abstained on the vote creating the COI but have recently taken proactive stances on analogous issues. That includes the thirty-eight countries that cited concerns about anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias as the reason they withdrew from the UN’s Durban IV conference in September 2021. The thirty-five IHRA member countries would also likely support repeal.

The United States led when it persuaded the General Assembly to repeal its 1975 vote declaring Zionism to be racism. It should now actively and decisively lead the effort to end the COI, which the UNHRC created to conclude essentially the same thing. Ending the COI before it can parrot Amnesty’s anti-Israel slander should be welcomed by those who support a UNHRC that truly advances human rights rather than authoritarian and other pernicious agendas.


Israel and Morocco Sign Trade Agreement
Israel’s Minister of Economy and Industry Orna Barbivay signed an economic-commercial cooperation agreement on Monday with Morocco’s Industry and Trade Minister Ryad Mezzour, a bit over a year after the two countries announced the normalization of their relations.

The agreement regulates the trade between the countries and will facilitate exporters and importers, business delegations, and the establishment of a joint economic committee for the two countries that will promote the implementation of the clauses of the agreement.

Barbivay, who signed the agreement while in Morocco, stated that the agreement is “intended to bring about economic growth and prosperity for Israel and Morocco.”

Her office is working to increase bilateral trade between the economies from $131 million to $500 million in the next five years, she said.

Mezzour crowned the Israeli visit as “groundbreaking” and said that it “created the opportunity for us to identify regions and channels for bilateral industrial and commercial cooperation and partnership. Together, we will embark on an intense, fruitful and beneficial partnership for both parties.”

Israel’s Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy and Industry explained that the main points of the agreement are the development of economic and trade relations between the parties – the agreement stipulates that the parties will take all necessary steps to encourage cooperation in order to increase the volume of trade and cooperate to remove any barrier to normal economic relations, including discriminatory laws, regulations or procedures.

As for cooperation, it was agreed that the countries will facilitate each other’s participation in exhibitions and economic conferences, will collaborate in the field of professional and technological knowledge sharing, and will organize study tours, seminars, trade shows and visits of businessmen and trade delegations.
Senior Bahraini diplomat says Mossad active in his country, boosting security
A senior Bahraini diplomat on Sunday said Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency is active in his country.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, an undersecretary at Bahrain’s ministry of foreign affairs, made the comment during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference alongside Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

“There is intelligence cooperation between Bahrain and Israel. Mossad is in Bahrain and they’re present in the region,” he said.

“If this security cooperation between Bahrain and Israel would mean providing more stability and security, so be it, if it would mean saving the lives of innocent civilians,” he added.

Khalifa noted that visits by Mossad chiefs have been reported by Bahrain’s official news agency.

“The head of Mossad was received by his counterpart in Bahrain, so we do believe security cooperation, intelligence cooperation is part of our ongoing partnership between Bahrain and Israel and will continue,” he said.

The session during which Khalifa spoke was called “Abraham Accords and Peace Options,” according to Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry.


Saudi FM: We Want to Integrate Israel in the Region But First – Palestinian State
Since the signing of the Abrahamic Agreements, Israel has been interested in reaching normalization with one of the most influential Arab states, Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Foreign Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, who attended the Security Conference in Munich, on Sunday clarified that his country conditions a rapprochement on an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, or at least that the parties discuss a workable plan that can be implemented.

In an interview he gave Maariv (בכיר סעודי חושף בראיון למעריב: התנאי של המדינה החשובה במפרץ לנורמליזציה), Bin Farhan said: “The integration of Israel in the region will be a huge benefit not only for Israel itself but for the entire region, but without addressing the core problems of the Palestinian people and granting respect and sovereignty to the Palestinian nation through the establishment of a Palestinian state, the instability and risks to Israel’s security and the security of the entire region will continue. In such a situation we would be strengthening the most extreme voices in the region.”

This may be a good time to discuss the Saudis recognizing the Huthi reign in Yemen, to grant them respect and sovereignty…

“The priority now is to find an arrangement so that the Israelis and Palestinians sit together and have a peace process that can be worked out,” the Foreign Minister said, almost implying that the optics, in this case, are more important than the content. “This will make it easier for all the countries that don’t yet have relations with Israel.” However, “For us, this will happen when a just solution is found to the Palestinian issue,” he stressed.

Regarding the Iran deal, according to Ma’ariv, the Saudis are in complete agreement with Israel and also insist that separate negotiations must be launched regarding everything else Iran is wreaking on the region and the world.

Bin Farhan told The Arab Weekly on Sunday that the Kingdom wants to schedule a fifth round of direct talks with Iran despite a “lack of substantive progress” so far, and urged Tehran to change its behavior in the region. As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, restoring the 2015 deal should be “a starting point, not an endpoint.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah kept secret Swiss bank accounts to hide vast wealth – report
The king of Jordan, Abdullah II, has for years kept massive bank accounts in Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank known for providing secrecy for high-end clients, during a period in which his country has suffered through economic and political turmoil, according to a Monday report.

King Abdullah was in possession of at least six accounts with the bank, including one that at one point was worth 230 million Swiss francs ($251 million), while his wife maintained another account. Some of the accounts date from as far back as 2011, The Guardian reported.

Lawyers for King Abdullah II and Queen Rania asserted that their clients had abided by every relevant tax law, that there had been no wrongdoing by the couple, and that most of the wealth in the bank accounts had been inherited from King Abdullah II’s father, according to the report.

Jordan’s economy, while strong compared to those of many other Middle Eastern countries, has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, contracting by 1.6% during 2020, according to the World Bank. Abdullah, meanwhile, has been dogged by allegations of corruption in recent years.

Through the release of the Panama Papers, it was revealed that he had secretly purchased 14 luxury homes — at an estimated total value of $106 million — in the United States and United Kingdom between 2003 and 2017, through front companies.

According to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, attorneys and advisers to Abdullah worked extensively to conceal his real estate holdings, including establishing multiple shell companies and working through entities in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands. The investigation found Abdullah owned at least 36 secret shell companies in tax havens.
A "Major Non-NATO Ally"?: For Decades, Qatar Has Supported Every Anti-American Islamic Terrorist Organization
The U.S. is to designate Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, despite concerns over its backing of Islamist groups throughout the region, including Hamas. Yigal Carmon, founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), told JNS that "The relationship between Qatar and the United States is bizarre, and makes no strategic sense. For decades, Qatar has provided financial and political support, directly and indirectly, to virtually every anti-American Islamic terrorist organization," including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and even organizations affiliated with ISIS.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, known for his vicious anti-Semitism and justification of the Holocaust, has been operating for years from Qatar under its protection, said Carmon. "In addition, Qatar has provided shelter to several other jihadi leaders. If it weren't for Qatar, the September 11 attacks might not have taken place. In 1996, terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad had been under Qatari protection in Doha."

The official Qatari-owned TV channel, Al Jazeera, functions as a mouthpiece for jihadi terror organizations. "It has praised Osama bin Laden and broadcasted his speeches and allowed a sheikh to pledge allegiance to ISIS on the air. The Qatari-based channel has also aired calls for terror attacks against American oil installations....Qatar funded the Taliban throughout America's presence in Afghanistan."
Israel Tests Naval ‘Iron Dome’ System on Warship Against Cruise Missiles, Drones
Israel said Monday it conducted several simulations testing a naval model of the Iron Dome defense system against advanced threats from Iranian proxies, with the ability to intercept rockets, cruise missiles and drones.

“The systems that we are developing as part of Israel’s multi-tier missile defense array enable us to operate against Iranian proxies in the region and defend against their weapon systems, which are constantly being upgraded,” stated Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “We continue to be two steps ahead of them and we will continue developing and upgrading our capabilities in order to maintain security superiority in the region and to defend the citizens and assets of the State of Israel.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described the defense system as an “important layer in Israel’s security envelope to protect our citizens, alongside vital freedom of action vis-à-vis Iran and its affiliates in the region.”

The offshore live-fire test of the C-Dome, launched aboard the naval warship Sa’ar 6 “Magen” corvette, is a milestone for Israel’s capacity to protect the country’s economic waters and offshore gas drilling rigs, the Defense Ministry said.

The exercise was conducted by the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), in the Directorate for Defense R&D of the Israel Ministry of Defense, the IDF, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

“The system successfully intercepted the threats with surgical precision,” said Moshe Patel, Director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization. “The success of today’s tests further strengthens our confidence in our missile defense systems as well as the ability of the Israeli Navy to defend the maritime assets of the State of Israel.”

The announcement comes after Gantz warned Sunday at the Munich Security Conference about rising “Iranian aggression,” accusing Tehran of violating the “freedom of navigation.” The defense head cited the July 2021 Iranian UAV attack on the Israeli-linked Mercer Street oil tanker vessel, which killed a British and Romanian civilian off the Gulf Coast.
Police Forced to Release Israelis it Arrested for Alleged Attacks on Arabs
The police released 16 of the 17 Israelis it arrested last week on suspicion of involvement in attacks on Arabs in the town of Hawara in Samaria last month.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered on Monday the release under restrictive conditions of all detainees, except one minor who is still in custody.

Last Wednesday, in a wide-ranging night operation, detectives arrested 17 Israelis at various locations across the country and charged them with attacking Arabs.

The incident began in January when about 30 Israeli vehicles drove in a convoy through the village towards the nearby Israeli community of Yitzhar, celebrating the release of a right-wing activist.

According to police, “At one point, a number of vehicles stopped in the village and its passengers got out holding batons, stones, and objects, causing extensive damage to businesses, vehicles and property and wounding a Palestinian.”

Whereas the Israelis said they were responding to attacks on them by local Arabs.
PMW: Who cares if the PLO revokes its recognition of Israel?
One of the foundation stones of the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accord was Yasser Arafat’s recognition of “the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.” While Arafat did indeed sign a letter accepting this fundamental reality on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), ever since, PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders have consistently raised the idea of revoking that recognition.

Recently, this threat has been raised over and over.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly last September, Mahmoud Abbas, who simultaneously holds the position of Head of the PLO and PA Chairman, laid down an ultimatum requiring Israel to capitulate to all the Palestinian demands – referred to by Abbas as the Palestinian “initiative” - within one year or face the consequences:
“To ensure our initiative is not open-ended, we must state that Israel, the occupying Power, has one year to withdraw from the Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and we are ready to work throughout this year on the delineation of borders and solving all final status issues under the auspices of the international Quartet and in accordance with United Nations resolutions. If this is not achieved, why maintain recognition of Israel based on the 1967 borders? Why maintain this recognition?”

[UN speech, Sept. 24, 2021]

Rawhi Fattouh, who was recently appointed Head of the Palestinian National Council - the PLO legislative body – echoed Abbas’ message, promising that if Israel does not capitulate to their demands, the Palestinians would “do everything,” including revoking its recognition of Israel:
Palestinians' West Bank Hunting Practices Leading to Animal Extinction
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority says hundreds of Palestinian hunters in the West Bank routinely kill wildlife including ibex and deer, porcupines, partridges, and falcons, and many rare animal species that are facing the threat of extinction.

These hunting practices have become more visible recently thanks to social media, as many Palestinians upload images of the dead animals they had killed.

"In many areas there's almost no wildlife left," said Erez Bruhi, enforcement officer of the Nature and Parks Authority.

"We know, for example, that there is competition between the villages regarding who can hunt more porcupines. They send each other pictures and videos to show proof of who's better. Deer hunting is the hardest. They go out wearing camouflage."

"We have already found 19 live deer in different houses. They keep them for fun. They use them as pets, until they start to get wild. They're very dangerous animals with sharp horns...in the end they make kebabs out of them."


A New, Weaker Iran Deal Would Pave a Path to the Nuclear Threshold
For all these reasons, it should come as no surprise that Biden’s team does not believe it can push Iran’s breakout time any higher than six or nine months. And that is likely an optimistic estimate.

Moreover, due to Iran’s efforts to restrict IAEA monitoring of its nuclear activities, the agency has not been able to monitor Iran’s manufacture of advanced centrifuges since February 2021. Absent an intensive investigation, the agency may not be able to detect whether Tehran has hidden away untold stockpiles.

By 2031, when all JCPOA restrictions on uranium enrichment terminate, the deal itself will have paved Iran’s pathway to the nuclear threshold. Thus, any “JCPOA-minus” that the Biden administration finalizes ultimately does little to address the Islamic Republic’s nuclear threat.

Under a JCPOA-minus, Tehran is likely to have already positioned itself only weeks away from making nuclear weapons material, fortified its economy with billions of dollars in sanctions relief, enhanced its missile program, and armed and funded its proxy militias. With limited time to act and likely facing uncertain information about a breakout, an American president may be forced to choose between carrying out major military strikes or letting the regime go nuclear.

Congress should not stand by as the Biden administration moves closer to lifting Iran sanctions in return for such poor terms. Instead, pursuant to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, lawmakers should vote to prevent the administration from lifting sanctions. Even if the vote falls largely along party lines and thus fails, it will send a message that a JCPOA-minus will end, and Iran sanctions will return, under the next Republican president. Washington is about to concede, once again, a massive uranium enrichment program to the Islamic Republic, when it should be negotiating the program’s closure and removal while holistically addressing all other regime threats.

A weaker JCPOA does not offer enough nonproliferation value to sacrifice the significant amount of leverage the United States retains over Iran’s economy. Biden should resurrect this leverage and cast aside the flawed accord in favor of pressuring Tehran into more comprehensive nuclear rollback.


Israel: A New Iran Agreement Will Buy 2 1/2 Years at a Price of Tens of Billions
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday: "The talks between Iran and the major powers on a return to a nuclear agreement are advancing quickly. We may see an agreement shortly. The new apparent agreement is shorter and weaker than the previous one."

"Restrictions on Iran's nuclear program are expected to expire in 2025....If the world signs the agreement again - without extending the expiration date - then we are talking about an agreement that buys a total of two and a half years, after which Iran can and may develop and install advanced centrifuges, without restrictions....In return, the Iranians will currently receive tens of billions of dollars and the lifting of sanctions."

"This money will eventually go to terrorism in the area. This terrorism endangers us, endangers other countries in the region...and it will also endanger American forces in the region. In any case, we are organizing and preparing for the day after, in all dimensions, so that we can maintain the security of the citizens of Israel by ourselves."
Revival of 2015 Nuclear Deal Will Be Windfall for Iran
The new nuclear agreement is dangerous because it paves the way for Iran - in nine years - to secure the ability to produce a large arsenal of nuclear weapons without fear, and without the prospect of crippling economic sanctions. The agreement does not guarantee IAEA supervision anywhere and anytime; it has sunset clauses; it fails to deal with ballistic missiles - the means by which nuclear bombs are launched; and the restrictions it details are to be gradually lifted.

Reviving the nuclear deal at this time takes place after Iran has already marked significant achievements in the field of enrichment technology and in its weapons program. Moreover, a significant portion of the restrictions placed on Iran are slated be removed in early 2024 and early 2026. Worse - all of this is taking place when it is clear that any hope for a change in Iran's subversive policies is baseless; and all while Iran still refuses to provide details on four facilities exposed in the nuclear archives by Israel.

It is clear that the tens of billions of dollars that will be made available to Iran will be used to continue arming Iran's proxies and paying for Tehran's efforts to expand its influence in the region - as well as increase its ability to threaten Israel. The U.S. is aware of all these dangers and yet it is determined to advance the agreement, simply to delay the end and avoid the need for a confrontation with Iran.

The U.S. is Israel's most important ally. While efforts should be made to prevent negative repercussions on the Abraham Accords and to prepare for independently taking action to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state, such an undertaking will be much more difficult without American support.
The West Is on the Verge of Signing a Surrender Pact with Iran
It appears that the American delegation at the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna has swayed global powers to consent to an exceedingly problematic deal that will pave a certain path for Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb in the coming years. The emerging deal lacks any mechanisms that will force the Iranians to engage in additional negotiations over a "longer-term, stronger" deal before the new deal expires.

The deal does not block all the avenues that can lead to a nuclear weapon, doesn't address the holes that were identified in the previous agreement, and doesn't even give global powers any actual ability to activate the snapback mechanism that allowed them at the time to reimpose sanctions.

Reinstating the original deal will "whitewash" all of Iran's violations and the progress it has made with its nuclear program, and at the same time grant it hundreds of billions of dollars, allow it to rehabilitate its economy, and continue funding its terrorist proxies. Instead of re-imposing maximum economic pressure and building a credible military threat, the Americans are about to sign a "deal of surrender."
Lapid calls on White House not to delist Iran’s Guards as terror group
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid indicated on Monday that the Biden administration may be open to delisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization, and called on international actors to convince the White House to reject this Iranian demand.

“Everyone in his right mind should talk to the administration about this and tell them, ‘This is just wrong, don’t do that,'” said Israel’s top diplomat, speaking in Jerusalem at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

In front of the same forum the night before, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also warned that Tehran was demanding the IRGC be delisted.

“They are now asking to let the biggest terror organization on earth off the hook,” Bennett said.

In July, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a report to parliament that the US would delist the IRGC and remove sanctions on senior Iranian officials if a nuclear deal were reached in Vienna.

In 2019, Trump administration secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced that the IRGC would be designated a foreign terrorist organization, the first time the US blacklisted an entire entity of a foreign government in this way.

The designation came with sanctions, including freezes on any assets the Guard had in US jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it or providing material support for its activities.
i24NEWS exclusive interview with Benjamin Netanyahu: We need 'constant aggression' towards Iran



Sen. Menendez: Other Options Exist Rather Than Going Back to Bad Iran Nuclear Deal
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) sat down for an interview with AIPAC supporters on Thursday, focused on the latest in the ongoing indirect negotiations in Vienna between the United States and Iran to re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and explaining the reasons that he prominently spoke on the issue on the Senate floor on Feb. 2.

Elliot Brandt, AIPAC’s managing director for national affairs and the presentation’s moderator, called Menendez a champion of the US-Israeli relationship and a true friend of AIPAC.

Brandt began the discussion—sitting in a studio with Menendez connecting with an audience online—by showing a clip of Menendez during his speech where he calls on the Biden administration to enforce sanctions on Iran and not to allow Iran to coerce the United States into a bad deal.

Menendez said he made the speech because he felt that many of his colleagues had been focused on other global issues in recent weeks, such as the growing standoff between Russia and Ukraine, and were not paying attention to the direction the talks were taking.

“The challenges of Iran are clear and present. And so I wanted to revert the attention of my colleagues … and also send a message to the administration and our allies abroad, for which I’ve had discussions, about what is and is not going to ultimately pass muster here. What can get support and what cannot get support,” he said.

After the speech, Menendez noted that many of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle told him that they gained a lot from the speech.
A New Iran Deal Means Old Chaos
To leaders in Jerusalem, the 2015 nuclear deal gave Iran official license to proliferate. The fact that the agreement left Iranian nuclear facilities at military sites off limits to inspection only heightened these concerns.

The Arab states in the Persian Gulf were equally unhappy over sanctions relief. Leaders in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other countries were convinced Iran's new access to money would be used to fund proxies around the region, further destabilizing the Middle East. After the 2015 deal, Iran's proxies stepped up their operations.

Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen have been firing missiles at Saudi and Emirati cities. Saudi and Emirati leaders are skeptical that the money from sanctions relief will be used for anything other than intimidating them in the service of Iran's interests on the Arabian Peninsula.

For Israel's leaders, Iran remains an existential threat. They do not believe the new deal is well crafted and believe it will be consummated with people who are not to be trusted. Given Iran's long-term drive to develop nuclear technology, one has to wonder whether getting back into the nuclear deal is worth it.




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