Wednesday, March 23, 2022
UN Human Rights Council report accuses Israel of apartheid
United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk accused Israel of apartheid in a report submitted Tuesday to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.NGO Monitor: Michael Lynk’s Final Fiction
“With the eyes of the international community wide open, Israel has imposed upon Palestine an apartheid reality in a post-apartheid world,” wrote Lynk, whose full title is “Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”
Lynk is slated to formally release his report on Thursday ahead of a debate on Agenda Item 7, the permanent HRC item reserved for Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians and other Arabs.
This is Lynk’s final report in his six-year term.
“The political system of entrenched rule in the occupied Palestinian territory which endows one racial-national-ethnic group with substantial rights, benefits and privileges while intentionally subjecting another group to live behind walls, checkpoints and under a permanent military rule… satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for the existence of apartheid,” wrote Lynk.
The Canadian academic argued Israel is pursuing a strategy of “strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian territory into separate areas of population control, with Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem physically divided from one another.”
Israel uses Gaza, Lynk claimed, for the “indefinite warehousing of an unwanted population of two million Palestinians.”
The issuing of thousands of work permits for Palestinian laborers in the West Bank and Gaza to work in Israel amounts to the “exploitation of labor of a racial group,” according to the report.
Lynk also posited that “torture continues to be used in practice by Israel against Palestinians in detention.”
The report, the main body of which does not mention terrorist groups Hamas or Islamic Jihad, says Israel “must cooperate in good faith with the Palestinian leadership to completely end the occupation and realize a genuine two-state solution.”
Israel and Jewish organizations blasted Lynk as hostile to Israel and the report as baseless.
Invented legal standards
Lynk continues to promote invented international law standards regarding the law of occupation. He states:
“By their very nature, occupations are required to be built with wood, not concrete. Accordingly, Israel’s occupation must be temporary, it must be short-term, it is prohibited from annexing even a millimeter of occupied territory, any changes to the occupied territory must be as minimal as possible, it must comply fully with international law and United Nations resolutions, and it must cooperate in good faith with the Palestinian leadership to completely end the occupation and realize a genuine two state solution.”
Contrary to Lynk’s claims, occupation is not illegal, nor is its duration proscribed under international humanitarian law (IHL). Article 6(3) of Geneva IV, however, limits the applicability of certain provisions of the Convention in occupied territory to one year after the ‘close of military operations’:
In the case of occupied territory, the application of the present Convention shall cease one year after the general close of military operations; however, the Occupying Power shall be bound, for the duration of the occupation, to the extent that such Power exercises the functions of government in such territory, by the provisions of the following Articles of the present Convention: 1 to 12, 27, 29 to 34, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 59, 61 to 77, 143.
In the absence of an IHL rule prohibiting prolonged occupation, Palestinian, Israeli and international NGOs, as well as UN rapporteurs, have sought to redefine the legal status of the West Bank from “occupation” to a situation of apartheid. Merging a discourse of “prolonged occupation” with allegations of apartheid began in the 1980s, coalescing further during preparations for the discredited UN Durban conference in 2001 and, following sustained advocacy by John Dugard and Richard Falk, Lynk has now taken up this narrative in his report.
Regarding the apartheid slander, Lynk relies on the invented definition proffered by Amnesty in its February 2022 report. See NGO Monitor’s Analyzing Amnesty’s Antisemitic Apartheid Attack, False Knowledge as Power: Deconstructing Definitions of Apartheid that Delegitimize the Jewish State, and Neo-Orientalism: Deconstructing claims of apartheid in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for more information on how Amnesty and other NGOs manipulate the definition of apartheid to target Israel.
.@MichaelLynk5 pretends he made a new finding. In fact, Lynk played a leadership role in several Arab lobby groups in Canada, including CEPAL which promoted “Israeli Apartheid Week” events. Lynk joined anti-Israel petitions and “One State” conferences seeking to eliminate Israel. pic.twitter.com/dx2qHFpLjn
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 22, 2022
NGO Monitor report debunks Israel apartheid claims, places Amnesty International ‘on the defensive’
A new report by NGO Monitor debunks the accusation of apartheid against Israel and assesses whether apartheid, as previously defined, is applicable to Israel and territories under its military administration.
This new report, titled “Neo-Orientalism: Deconstructing Claims of Apartheid in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” and written by legal expert Joshua Kern, and legal adviser and U.N. representative for NGO Monitor Anne Herzberg, expands on a previous report published in December that sought to rectify the lack of a coherent and legally substantiated definition of the crime of apartheid.
According to NGO Monitor, “accusations of this crime against humanity have been historically leveled at the State of Israel and its officials by powerful NGOs such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), B’Tselem and, most recently, Amnesty International. The lack of an accepted definition of the crime of apartheid has been harnessed by central actors in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, who apply the term to characterize the political and legal nature of Israel’s government, and in many cases to delegitimize the notion of Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.”
“Our report is for legal professionals, academics, practitioners and government officials,” Herzberg told JNS, “but it is also for those who are looking for answers to the false and often malicious charges by NGO and U.N. Rapporteurs who grossly misrepresent the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the legal basis for Israel as a Jewish state, and the nature of Israel’s democracy and legal system.”
In “A Threshold Crossed,” published in April 2021, HRW accused Israel of “crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”
Not to be outdone, Amnesty International took this accusation further on Feb. 1, when it released its own report, “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.”
According to NGO Monitor, “Amnesty’s 280-page report largely echoes those of the HSRC [Human Sciences Research Council] and HRW. It does, however, express (while HRW and HSRC only did so implicitly) a thesis that the establishment and maintenance of Israel as a Jewish state institutionalized apartheid.”
Fight antisemitism or it'll run rampant - opinion
Students for Justice in Palestine at the AU, along with six other AU-sponsored departments, has invited The Nation’s Palestine correspondent Mohammed El-Kurd as part of a settler-colonialism lecture series on March 17. Providing a space for Palestinians to speak about their experiences is necessary to foster inclusive dialogue surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Yisrael Medad: The Jewish "Palestine Resistance"
In fact, as an Israeli, it’s crucial to create space for diverse experiences regarding the conflict. That being said, El-Kurd has completely rejected my Israeli identity as illegitimate, all the while spreading violent antisemitism in his rhetoric.
El-Kurd, like the AU, has an extensive history of normalizing antisemitism. Firstly, El-Kurd has equated Israelis to neo-Nazi pigs. El-Kurd’s equation of Jews to neo-Nazis paints the Jewish people as their oppressors, blatantly insulting the memory of the Holocaust.
With the rallying cries of “never again,” thousands of Holocaust survivors fought to establish a country to safeguard the future of the Jewish people. Labeling their children and grandchildren as neo-Nazis inverses their trauma, a slap in the face to the legacy of survivors.
Secondly, El-Kurd claimed that Israel Defense Force soldiers traffic organs. Conspiracies placing blood on Jewish hands isn’t anything new. During the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of using the blood of Christian children for the preparation of matzah for Passover. Such libels prompted anti-Jewish pogroms across Europe.
In more recent history, Jews have been accused of using Christian blood for Jewish rituals during Nazi Germany. From the Damascus Affair to Deadly Exchange, blood libel against Jews has continuously mutated.
Lastly, El-Kurd described Zionism as a death cult. Zionism is the right for the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. Zionism, like keeping the laws of Shabbat or wearing a yarmulke, is an expression of Jewish identity. Dubbing this integral facet of Jewish identity deathly seeks to portray Judaism as a whole as a death cult.
It did not take long for me to find these statements by El-Kurd. Just a quick Google search and I found antisemitic after antisemitic Tweet and Instagram repost. So, I ask AU’s administration: how can you in good conscience claim to fight antisemitism, while endorsing a lecture led by an antisemite? Don’t claim to fight antisemitism if you aren’t willing to protect Jewish students on campus.
When, in 1946, the term "Palestine Resistance" meant the Jewish fight for freedom and liberation from the repressive British mandatory regime:Palestinian Authority Official Confirms Freeze on Millions in European Aid Over Textbook Concerns
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have confirmed that the European Union has delayed hundreds of millions of euros in aid because of concerns over hateful materials in PA textbooks.Bennett, Sisi and MBZ discuss Iran, joint defense strategy
PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki told the radio station Palestinian Voice on Monday that there has been “no breakthrough” on the restoration of over 200 million euros, which have been frozen since 2021.
A January report by Israeli education watchdog IMPACT-se found that the PA had failed to deliver on promises made to European partners to purge its curriculum of antisemitic and violent themes. In one example of study cards for eleventh graders, IMPACT-se found, Jews are accused of being “in control of global events through financial power” and leveraging “Zionist influence” to trigger wars between major powers.
The report’s findings troubled Brussels, according to a recent Haaretz report, prompting Oliver Varhelyi, EU Commissioner representative of Hungary and Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, to propose withholding 10 million euros from a Palestinian aid package unless the Palestinian Authority agreed to reform its curriculum to meet the standards of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Varhelyi’s proposal now awaits a final decision by the European Commission, delaying full disbursement of the 250 million euros the PA was due to receive until a ruling is rendered.
“There is a problem of conditionality which we are working to address,” the PA’s Al-Maliki said Monday, in remarks translated by IMPACT-se. “We will make it clear to [Commissioner Varhelyi] that we reject the idea of conditionality in return for restoring aid to Palestine and that he must reconsider his position and cancel this conditionality. This is the message he will hear when he visits Palestine.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed held a joint meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss cooperation on defense, energy and other issues on Tuesday.Focus of tripartite summit: Syria's potential return to Arab League
The leaders discussed a joint defense strategy in dealing with the Iranian threat, both nuclear and attacks by its proxies in the Middle East.
The meeting took place as the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran was nearing completion, and Israel and the United Arab Emirates expressed dissatisfaction with American concessions to the Islamic Republic, most recently the possibility that the US may remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of foreign terror organizations.
“The leaders discussed the ties between the three countries on the background of recent developments in the world and the region, and the ways to strengthen [the ties] at all levels,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated.
Sisi’s office, however, focused on economic matters in the first public statement from the meeting.
“The meeting dealt with discussions on the repercussions of global developments, especially with regard to energy, market stability, and food security, as well as exchanging visions and views on the latest developments of a number of international and regional issues,” Sisi’s spokesman wrote on Facebook.
The UAE released a similar statement to Egypt’s.
During their tripartite summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan discussed Syria's return to the Arab League and the ramifications of such a development for Israel and the region. The issue rose to the forefront on Friday following Syrian President Bashar Assad's historic visit to the United Arab Emirates – his first visit to an Arab country since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011 – where he met with al-Nahyan.MEMRI: Emirati Daily 'Al-Arab': New Arab-Israeli Coalition Born In Recent Summit Of Egyptian, UAE, Israeli Leaders
In Sharm el-Sheikh, the three leaders exchanged details regarding Assad's visit to the UAE and the motivations behind it, and new information was provided that will impact Jerusalem's position on the matter. Israel's political and security echelon haven't formulated a position on the issue of accepting Assad – who is persona non grata in the West – as a legitimate player in the region.
Israel shares the widely held moral stance that rejects Assad as a legitimate leader. With that, Israel's supreme interest is the removal of Iranian forces from Syria. Israel's excellent relations with the UAE in general, and the warm personal relationship between Bennett and al-Nahyan in particular, could facilitate coordinated activity on this matter. The position adopted by Egypt, which is a key member of the Arab League, will also carry considerable weight. It should be noted that the United States was livid over Assad's visit to the UAE, adding to the tensions between the two countries.
It should also be noted that Israel's potential approach to Assad is still in the very early stages of being decided. The political echelon views Assad's possible return to the family of Arab nations as a dramatic historic development but has not yet determined how it would respond.
The unprecedented summit between Bennett, el-Sissi, and al-Nahyan also touched on other regional and international issues and discussed bilateral and trilateral cooperation. They discussed the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, specifically wheat prices – a matter of particular concern to Egypt.
The leaders also addressed the Biden administration's desire to sign a nuclear deal with Iran and its intention to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its blacklist of terrorist organizations. The leaders expressed their concern that such a move would only obligate Iran not to target Americans.
In an article on the March 22, 2022 meeting in Sharm Al-Sheikh between Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, Emirati Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the London-based Emirati daily Al-Arab claimed that the meeting had given birth to an Arab-Israeli coalition. This coalition, it said, begins with economic and commercial cooperation among the countries, but is likely to develop into a security and military alliance as well. The article noted that a military coalition with Israel is an Arab interest, in light of Iran's aspirations for expansion and of the apprehensions about its nuclear program, as well as in light of the Gulf states' assessment that the U.S. under the Biden administration is working against their interests and aims to revive the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement between Iran and the Western powers.Daniel Greenfield: Biden’s Israel ambassador tells BDS group he wants Jews out of Jerusalem
The following are translated excerpts from the article:[1]
"Arab diplomatic circles in the Egyptian capital described the [March 22, 2022] tripartite meeting between Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Aal Nahyan and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Sharm Al-Sheikh as the birth of an Arab-Israeli coalition that is based on interests and realizes the wish to develop and stabilize the region, [a coalition] which leaves behind the residue of war and conflict and the slogans of the previous decades. This tripartite coalition, the circles said, conveys a clear message to Saudi Arabia, [namely] that it is impossible to wait any longer given the changes occurring in the region and the chaotic character of the American messages. [America] no longer looks after the interests of the Gulf states [but rather] prioritizes those of Iran, and is preparing to free Iran from restraints on more than one level: in the nuclear and non-nuclear arms race, and also by strengthening it with [renewed] oil revenues, which it will spend on its proxies [in the region] and thereby threaten its security.
"[The same circles] also noted that the Arab-Israeli coalition is based on realistic principles, and that this is what prompted additional countries to join the path of peace, which has widened and includes not only Egypt and the UAE but also Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan and Oman. The inclination to launch economic, trade and technological projects, they said, and to make [mutual] investments, will build trust between Israel and its Arab environment. They also assessed that building trust in these spheres, which will benefit the peoples and improve their quality of life, will [eventually] cause the peoples to support the development of this coalition on the security and military levels as well. This is something the Arabs need more than Israel, in light of the challenges they face, such as the rise of expansionist regional powers like Iran and Turkey, and America's violation of its commitment to defend its Arab partners.
"The Egyptian presidency disclosed that that the leaders discussed the energy markets and food security, which are the two main challenges facing Egypt [these days], now that the Russian attack on Ukraine has caused the prices of flour and crude oil to rise… The meeting also dealt with the security challenges facing the region… and the concerns shared by the three sides in light of the great changes [taking place], which could affect regional and international security and cooperation structures… The three countries are mainly concerned about the emerging agreement on reviving the nuclear deal that was signed by Iran and the superpowers in 2015, under which the sanctions were lifted from Iran in return for its halting of its nuclear program. Iran's enemies fear that it aims to develop nuclear weapons…
Biden’s ambassador to Israel recently told participants in a pro-BDS group’s webinar that the real problem with the Palestinian Authority funding terrorism is that “it gives the ‘haters’ an excuse not to support the P.A. based on the argument that it is ‘paying for people who killed Jews.’”Black Hebrew Israelites Are Not Hippies
He also told the anti-Israel group, whose CEO has described Israel as an “oppressive regime” and which cheered the Ben & Jerry’s boycott, that “your agenda is where my heart is.”
At this rate, Thomas Nides will be hugging and kissing Hamas leaders by the end of the year.
Expectations for Nides were already pretty low when the Biden administration announced that it had picked Obama’s former deputy secretary of state as its ambassador to Israel.
Hillary Clinton was going to make Nides her chief of staff, but once Hillary in the White House became as likely as peace with Hamas and the PLO, Nides had to settle for being Biden’s bully in Jerusalem while his wife, who is a VP at CNN, stays on in Washington D.C.
Nides’s main qualification for the job had been yelling “You don’t want to f***ing defund UNESCO” at a former Israeli ambassador. He had also vocally opposed efforts to defund UNRWA and stop subsidizing the terror refugee industry. He has also served on the board of the International Rescue Committee, which has repeatedly attacked Israel.
J Street, the anti-Israel pressure group, welcomed Nides’s nomination and announced that it “looked forward to working” with him. Other anti-Israel groups, including the Israel Policy Forum and Americans for Peace Now (APN), echoed the sentiment.
It didn’t take long for Nides to justify their faith in his hostility to the Jewish state.
When asked about a case regarding a group of Black Hebrew Israelites in her Senate confirmation hearing today, Ketanji Brown Jackson replied: “This case involved a small community, a cultural community of people who believe in vegan lifestyles. They call themselves African Hebrew Israelites, but it’s not a religious community, it’s a cultural community around healthy living.”
This would be the equivalent of a GOP judicial candidate referring to a white supremacist group as “a cultural community centered on body art.” Moreover, Black Hebrew Israelites are a religious community. I used to occasionally see them cosplaying Temple priests on Manhattan corners, preaching some of the vilest antisemitism and racism you could imagine. They believe that African Americans are God’s true chosen people, the real descendants of Abraham, Moses, and the lost tribes of Israel. White people — especially Jews — they maintain, are Satan’s tools. The Black Hebrew Israelite’s messiah (who was supposed to appear in 2000 but is running late) is to one day seek vengeance on all white people. Some members of the group have gotten a head start and have engaged in acts of violence.
Also, yes, Black Hebrew Israelites — and there are a few different sects — are vegans. Now, perhaps the case in question, which seems to be about a property dispute, was decided correctly. Even racial supremacist groups have property rights, of course. But, boy, that’s a weird way for Jackson to describe them.
PSA - Black Hebrew Israelites David Anderson and Francine Graham murdered 4 people, including a Detective, in Jersey City.
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) March 23, 2022
Their end goal was to ambush a Jewish school and kill children.
They are cold blooded killers, not vegan lifestyle enthusiasts! pic.twitter.com/1XWlv3DX67
Apparently this was misreported, deleting my RT. @kampeas says it was African Hebrew Israelites not, as reported, Black Hebrew Israelites, and the AHI like healthy food and Jews. Neither the Judean People's Front nor People's Front of Judea were involved https://t.co/3wh4Ylyqmn
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) March 23, 2022
Poll shows American support swinging toward Palestinians, away from Israel
While Americans continue to favor the Israelis over the Palestinians, 55% now sympathize with Israelis and 26% with the Palestinians, according to a new Gallup poll.
That percentage of Americans who side with the Palestinians represents a new high. The slight dip in support for Israelis and the increase for the Palestinians is based on a 2022 survey conducted from Feb. 1-17.
The poll also found that 77% of Republicans sympathize more with Israelis while only 13% with the Palestinians. Among independents, 54% side with Israelis and 26% with Palestinians. And with Democrats, 40% favor the Israelis and 38% the Palestinians. Pro-Palestinian activists hold Friday prayers during a demonstration outside the Israeli consulate in New York, May 21, 2021 after a ceasefire took effect following 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas during Operation Guardian of the Walls
Still, the favorability of the Jewish state itself remains high, according to the poll, with 71% of US adults saying they have a favorable view of Israel while 27% have a favorable opinion of the Palestinian Authority.
The 71% viewing Israel favorably today matches the average since 2013, while the 27% favorable to the Palestinian Authority exceeds the 22% in that period and continues the upward trend seen in this sentiment over the past decade.
This is same @GovHowardDean that has shamefully previously accused Israel of ‘apartheid’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’, that @JeremyBenAmi is RT’ing. So, are these the kinds of friends J-Street stands with? pic.twitter.com/aFxrt22R59
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 23, 2022
Giant missile-detecting balloon begins operational use over northern Israel
The military on Tuesday officially received a massive new balloon equipped with an advanced missile and aircraft detection system from the Defense Ministry.Race to Reject Israel: The Problematic Palestine Marathon
The radar-based system, deployed in the north at an unspecified date, is part of a general effort by the Israeli Air Force to improve the country’s air defenses, particularly in the north, due to the proliferation of Iranian drones and cruise missiles in the region.
The detection system, dubbed “Elevated Sensor,” or “Sky Dew” in Israel, is deployed at high altitudes in order to detect incoming long-range missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, officials said.
Israel already maintains an array of radar systems to detect incoming threats, but the new aerostat is meant to complement and improve existing capabilities by placing the sensors at high altitudes.
During a Tuesday ceremony, the system was formally handed over to the military and began its operational use under a new air force unit, with the same name as the system.
Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin hailed the new system, saying the unit would “enable [air traffic control] to build a more accurate and broader air surveillance picture.”
He added that the system would “make the air force more prepared, and assist it in continuing its mission — maintaining security in the skies of Israel.”
“The ‘Sky Dew’ system was a challenging task that we set for ourselves about a decade ago,” said the director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, Moshe Patel. As it becomes operational, it is “reality-changing,” he said.
“This aerostat system will cruise at high altitudes and provide an exceptional multi-directional detection capability against advanced threats,” Patel added.
Sports have the unique power to foster inclusion and bridge gaps in increasingly divided societies around the world.
But not so much, it seems, in areas where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is in charge.
The annual Palestine Marathon, held on March 18 this year, was ostensibly created in order that people from around the world could gather in Bethlehem to participate in one of the highlights of the city’s social and cultural calendar.
However, the race was used by its organizers — various branches of the PA — to target Israel.
For a supposedly apolitical event like a running race, this year’s Palestine Marathon was noteworthy for its political agenda. For one thing, the official logo of the marathon was a map — but not of Bethlehem or various parts of the West Bank. Rather, the entirety of Israel was subsumed under the ‘Palestine’ moniker.
Furthermore, terms such as ‘country,’ ‘Palestine,’ and ‘State of Palestine’ were frequently used on the event’s official website.
For the record, there has never been a Palestinian state. While the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 voted to accept the PA as a “non-member observer state,” this did not confer full sovereignty upon the government in Ramallah. In fact, the PA does not meet the requirements for statehood as defined in international law.
To date, the Palestinian leadership has failed to live up to its obligations under the Oslo Accords that lay out a path to possibly establishing an independent Palestinian state.
The head of the EU mission in Ramallah Sven Burgsdoff onstage at the Bethlehem Marathon while a Senior PA official compares Zionism to Nazism. We call on @EUpalestinians, @EUinIsrael to strongly condemn this blatant #antisemitism according to the IHRA definition you've adopted. pic.twitter.com/wC2tV1xNJZ
— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) March 22, 2022
This is disgusting. Once again Palestinians are using a holy site — the Al Aqsa compound to smear the #UAE burning the images of their leaders.
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) March 23, 2022
Absolutely vile. pic.twitter.com/Ocq1a4JEhn
Mahmoud al-Habbash, Religious Affairs Adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas: "Israel is preparing to commit a new crime against Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan." pic.twitter.com/6qGQrsYuc0
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) March 23, 2022
“The self-sacrificing fighters succeeded in killing” - Fatah glorifies murder of 3 civilians
The Dimona operation (i.e., terror attack, 3 murdered), March 7, 1988
- On March 7, 1988, three heroes demonstrated heroism and daring of the most spectacular kind
- Planned by Martyr commander Abu Jihad, the Dimona operation was carried out
- The goal of the operation was the release of the Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli prisons
- The three who carried it out –commander Martyr Kallab, Martyr Saleh, and Martyr Al-Husseini set out to the [nuclear] reactor in Dimona in the Negev desert, which is surrounded by the most complicated security measures
- The heroes broke through an Israeli check point and took control of a bus transporting officers (sic.) and workers to the reactor
- On the way, attack helicopters stopped them and an unequal battle between them and the occupation soldiers broke out
- The self-sacrificing fighters succeeded in killing 3 soldiers and a woman (sic., 3 civilian hostages) before they died as Martyrs
- The bodies of the three Martyrs are still being held by the occupation in the numbered cemeteries (i.e., Israeli cemeteries for temporary burial of terrorists)
Al-Asifa Fatah - the Palestinian National Liberation Movement [Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture; the southern districts.
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, March 7, 2022]
The Iran Deal is a dead-end pact — stop negotiating, Joe
The fate of the Iran nuclear deal is in limbo after a pause in talks prompted by Russia’s 11th-hour demand for written guarantees it will be allowed to trade freely with Tehran — including military and technical cooperation — despite Ukraine-related sanctions. Russia seems to have scaled back its demand, however, and meetings might resume quickly.Gantz: IRGC a ‘Terror Organization’; Iran a ‘Global and Regional Problem’
For all the recent talk of “off-ramps” for Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine, the pause in nuclear negotiations has provided an unexpected chance for President Joe Biden to extricate himself from disaster, namely the deal being hammered out in Vienna.
Since 2015, proponents of the nuclear deal have touted its supposed virtues: “unprecedented inspections,” “a one-year break-out time” and the “blocking of all Iran’s paths to nuclear weapons.” But experience has taught us that these virtues always have been a mirage.
The deal decriminalized Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, allowing the regime to maintain and expand a nuclear infrastructure unnecessary for the peaceful production of nuclear energy, subject only to limited, temporary and reversible restrictions. At the same time, it lifted economic sanctions imposed for the illegal construction, concealment and use of that very same infrastructure, giving the regime and its terrorist proxies access to billions of dollars.
For the United States, the primary benefit was supposedly keeping Iran a year away from nuclear breakout — i.e., having the fissile material necessary for an atomic bomb. Yet these commitments were always more easily reversible than the Obama administration let on, as the response to the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the deal has demonstrated.
By rapidly installing a larger number of — and more advanced — centrifuges than permitted under the deal and enriching uranium to 60% purity in short order, the regime proved that the one-year breakout time was just arms-control vaporware. In this sense, withdrawing exposed the many mistakes inherent in the agreement itself. Though it certainly wasn’t his intent in leaving the deal, Donald Trump called Barack Obama’s bluff.
A day after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid released a statement calling on the United States to avoid dropping Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from Washington’s terror list, the country’s defense minister weighed in on the issue.Seth Frantzman: Iran media accuses Turkey of backing 'terrorists'
According to a report by Ynet on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz used an appearance at a conference to call on the United States to keep the IRGC on the American terror list, stating, “I want to be very clear on this: The IRGC is a terror organization, and they should stay as such, and this is how they should be perceived.”
Gantz added that Israel is coordinating its steps and positions with America and clearly expressing these points to it.
“I think that ultimately, the State of Israel’s strategic relations with the US, Western states and regional states should not be managed on Twitter,” he said. “It is done directly with them, and this is what I am doing. I am in touch with all of the American elements and traveling in all regional states—those that have relations with Israel and those that do not.”
“Iran is a global and regional problem, and a potential existential threat to the State of Israel,” he emphasized. “Hence, we must recruit the world, and we must make our intelligence, offensive and defense capabilities available.”
Iran may be upping tensions with Turkey. The evidence can so far be found in one article at Fars News which accuses Turkey and its leading AKP party of backing “terrorists.” This comes as the world is changing and countries weigh their next moves amid the Ukraine war. Turkey is seeking to play both sides, being friendly with Russia and also Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia is holding up the Iran deal.Cruz To Force Recorded Vote on Biden Nominee Accused of Lying to Congress About Iran Deal
Turkey is also critiquing Iran. “Tehran is trying to take advantage of the Ukraine crisis and strengthen its own position in the Syrian arena. Soon after Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, Iran and the Syrian regime increased their strategic engagement by increasing military diplomacy.”
Fars News says that Turkey’s foreign policy has fluctuated in recent years. It has moved from having “zero problems” with is neighbors to seeking to recreate a kind of new Ottoman empire.
“Although Turkey sought to reduce tensions with its neighbors to zero during Ahmed Davutoglu’s chairing of the Foreign Ministry [this lasted] until the wave of Islamic awakening. Erdogan has since abandoned the strategy in pursuit of widespread influence. He dealt with regional developments even with unreasonable means.”
This is tough language for an Iranian paper close to the IRGC. Turkey has expanded its presence in Africa, the article says; and it has expanded its “presence in northern Iraq to suppress Kurdish separatist groups.” Meanwhile Fars says that Turkey has “also suffered devastating defeats in this regard. The inability to overthrow the Syrian government has created major internal divisions as well as the dangers of the spread of terrorism are some of these failures.”
The report says that the “Erdogan government saw the spread of this widespread wave of unrest and terrorism in Syria as a way to expand its influence in the country.
The situation became more sensitive for Turkey when a significant part of the armed movements was led by the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) will force a recorded vote Wednesday morning on a Biden administration nominee who Cruz says lied to Congress about details surrounding the new Iran nuclear agreement, according to a notification sent by Cruz’s office to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC).
The vote to advance Barbara Leaf, a veteran Democratic Middle East hand who is nominated to serve as the State Department’s assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, will serve as the first recorded congressional vote tied to a new Iran deal as it starts to roll out, which the Biden administration is expected to announce soon.
"Leaf was a key player in the Biden administration hiding the details of their new Iran deal from SFRC and Congress more generally—until it was too late to shape it," Cruz’s office wrote in an email sent Tuesday to SFRC members and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "They were working on a weaker ‘less for less’ agreement since the very beginning of the Biden administration, all the way back in February 2021. They now plan to announce it as a ‘take it or leave it’ bad deal."
Cruz is forcing the recorded vote to signal mounting Republican frustration with the Biden administration’s efforts to skirt congressional review of the deal and keep details surrounding it secret. Cruz has been blocking Leaf’s confirmation since last year due to her refusal to answer questions related to the Biden administration’s Middle East policy, including about the Iran deal.
Leaf, in written testimony to Cruz, claimed in September that the Biden administration was not seeking a deal with Iran that is separate from the original 2015 accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Asked for the details of a potential, weaker new deal, Leaf said "there have been no such arrangements, deals, or agreements contemplated to reduce pressure on Iran."
The victims of #PS752 would disagree.
— Kaveh Shahrooz ???? ????? (@kshahrooz) March 23, 2022
The Jewish community in Argentina would disagree. 1500 people killed during the 2019 Iran protests would disagree.
Thousands of dead Syrian children would disagree. #IranLobby pic.twitter.com/aQSxqGVg4R
The new proposed Iran deal is even more dangerous for America and Israel than the one under President Obama. @elliecohanim joins to react. pic.twitter.com/ICiZHq6YnV
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) March 23, 2022
What Twitter permits // what it bans pic.twitter.com/hG0nsbl67Z
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 22, 2022
Houthi Military Expert Brig.-Gen. Abdallah Al-Jifri: Saudi Arabia and UAE Are Within Range of Our Drone and Missile Force; If they Don’t Stop Their Aggression, We Will Wipe Them Off the Map #Houthis #Yemen #KSA #UAE pic.twitter.com/oiasEC2WqV
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 23, 2022
An Open Letter to the UConn Community
To my fellow students and members of the UConn community:McGill University Faces Call to Defund Student Society Over ‘Extreme’ Israel Boycott Measure
Those of you who know me personally know that, throughout my nearly four years here, I have always been a staunch advocate for free speech.
My parents grew up in the former Soviet Union, where they did not have the luxury of condemning the oppressive regime that governed their lives, and where they had the word “Jew” stamped under Nationality in their passports, defining who they could and could not be under a system of institutionalized discrimination. They fled to the US as refugees in the nineties so that I might have a chance at a better life. I have never taken this for granted. I was raised to speak up against injustice, and it’s been a part of who I am for as long as I can remember.
Like many of you, I have taken immense pride in being a part of a diverse and vibrant community here at UConn. Our university promises to encourage freedom of expression through civil discourse, stating that “debate surrounding discussion of difficult and controversial subjects is a key component to our university.” Throughout my nearly four years here, I’ve seen the administration deliver on this promise, voicing its support for many minority groups and encouraging tolerance among the student body.
However, in light of a recent series of experiences on campus, I am forced to call into question the University’s commitment to this promise and my fellow students’ understanding of it.
In Mid-February, the UConn University President Dr. Radenka Maric announced in an Instagram post that she would be taking a trip to Israel alongside Connecticut State officials, including Governor Ned Lamont. The purpose of the trip would be to further the state’s and university’s cooperation with Israel’s innovation ecosystem. Scrolling through the comment section of this post, I was disheartened to see a flood of negative comments, many of which were not respectful expressions of political beliefs, or nuanced criticisms citing factual information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but ignorant and inflammatory words, some of which invoked age-old antisemitic tropes. I saw comments that characterized Israelis and Zionists as “greedy” and others calling for “another Intifada” (a wave of Palestinian protests that have in the past been characterized by suicide bombings and countless civilian deaths on both sides).
In an effort to add my voice to the conversation and provide context about the conflict, I responded to a comment that said “Free Palestine” with my view, which is that Palestine cannot be truly free until the Palestinian people are freed from Hamas, the US- and EU-designated terrorist organization that currently holds political power in Gaza. The group is openly committed to the destruction of the State of Israel, and Palestinian civilians suffer immensely because they are caught in the middle between this threat and Israel’s defense against it.
Shortly after my comment, I received a direct message from a fellow student saying that “No one cares about my opinion like they didn’t in the 40s,” a clear reference to the tragic events of the Holocaust, where my ancestors were among the 6 million Jews systematically and heinously murdered by Nazis.
A Canadian Jewish group is calling on McGill University to defund a student government body after it endorsed a boycott of Israel over the objections of its own judicial board.UC Berkeley Group posts antisemitic charicature
The “Palestinian Solidarity Policy” motion, placed on a winter referendum ballot by the Students’ Society at McGill University (SSMU), was passed with 71% of participating students voting in favor. It accused Israel of imposing “settler-colonial apartheid” against Palestinians and backed a boycott of “all corporations and institutions complicit” in that alleged practice.
On Monday, B’nai Brith Canada called the resolution “extreme,” warning that “the document’s language is so broad that it may compel SSMU to boycott virtually all Jewish clubs and associations on campus.”
B’nai Brith noted that voting on the measure had proceeded against the counsel of SSMU’s own Judicial Board. The board has twice ruled that joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which opposes Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state, would violate not only SSMU’s constitution but also the university’s policy on equity and inclusion.
“SSMU’s behavior over the past week has not only been antisemitic, but contrary to the rule of law,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn commented. “We call on McGill University to immediately cease funding SSMU until it rescinds this bogus referendum result.”
That demand followed a precedent-setting decision earlier this month, when the University of Toronto withheld thousands of dollars in student fees from the school’s graduate student union over its efforts to boycott the Jewish state.
Everyday antisemitism at UC Berkeley.
On World Water Day, Cal Berkeley's Palestinian Public Health group posted an antisemitic charicature on their Instagram account.
The bulbous nosed Jewish stereotype has been used since the Middle ages and was a regular feature of Nazi-era propaganda. Now we see it at one of the top public universities in America.UC Berkeley has had more of its share of antisemitic activities. There have been assaults on Jewish students, swastikas carved into dorm doors and bathroom stalls, and exhibits glorifying the murderers of Jews. This has a cumulative effect on the psyches of Jewish students, Israeli students, and pro-Israel students and has contributed to creating an unsafe space on campus.
Why is Twitter allowing content actively praising and encouraging civic activity in support of a convicted Al Qaeda terrorist?! pic.twitter.com/hHtZMOGkwj
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) March 22, 2022
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine thanked the BDS movement at McGill University (@mcgillu) for passing the Palestine Solidarity Policy. The document accuses Israel of practicing apartheid against Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/74N17mzuTB
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) March 22, 2022
2,000 people participate in the 'Never again, Thessaloniki – Auschwitz' march
To commemorate the first deportation train with 2,800 Jews from Thessaloniki, 79 years ago, the Jewish Community together with the Municipality, the European March of the Living Network and three local universities organized this Sunday, a joint silent memorial march.Dutch publisher pulls Anne Frank betrayal book from stores after derisive criticism
More than 2,000 people led by the Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulo, the European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Greek officials, Jewish Community leaders and the Director of the European March of the Living network, marched down the same road from the Jewish neighborhood to the Old train station from where they were deported to Auschwitz.
In her address, the Greek President stressed that: “Only if we pass on historical knowledge to the new generations, if we preserve historical memory, if we feel as our own the pain and suffering of the victims, if we understand that the Holocaust is a universal historical heritage, will we equip ourselves against a new onslaught of evil, possibly in another form, but always threatening and abhorrent.”
Based on that strong commitment, Michel Gourary, the Director of the European March of the Living invited the Greek President to lead a large delegation of Young Greeks to the 2023 March of the Living which will highlight the 80th Commemoration of the deportation and the annihilation of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki.
Around the same time, a freshly-painted street mural in the western Greek city of Patras was inaugurated and is already drawing renewed attention to the courageous deeds of two “Righteous Among the Nations” heroes who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
The public art display, an initiative of Artists 4 Israel, in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), honors two Greek citizens, the late Zakynthos Mayor Loukas Karrer and Metropolitan Dimitrios Chrysostomos, who, at great personal peril, protected all the Jews of Zakynthos after the Nazis occupied the island in 1943.
A group of Dutch historians has published an in-depth criticism of the work and conclusion of a cold case team that said it had pieced together the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family.Neo-Nazi Group Spotted at Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade in ‘Disturbing Display’
The cold case team’s research, which was published early this year in the book “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation,” by Canadian academic and author Rosemary Sullivan, immediately drew criticism in the Netherlands.
Now, in a 69-page written “refutation,” six historians and academics describe the cold case team’s findings as “a shaky house of cards.” The book’s Dutch publisher repeated an earlier apology and announced Tuesday night it was pulling the book from stores.
The book said that the person who revealed the location of the Frank family’s secret annex hiding place in an Amsterdam canal-side building was likely a prominent Jewish notary, Arnold van den Bergh, who disclosed the location to German occupiers of the Netherlands to save his own family from deportation and death in Nazi concentration camps.
The Dutch historians reviewed the team’s work and concluded that the “accusation does not hold water.”
The historians said the book “displays a distinct pattern in which assumptions are made by the CCT (Cold Case Team), held to be true a moment later, and then used as a building block for the next step in the train of logic. This makes the entire book a shaky house of cards, because if any single step turns out to be wrong, the cards above also collapse.”
A neo-Nazi group was seen at Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, prompting concern from local officials and Jewish community members.
The group of around 20 men were photographed at the South Boston parade with a sign saying “Keep Boston Irish.” They wore green clothing and baseball caps, and concealed their faces with masks and sunglasses.
A Boston Globe report identified them as belonging to the Nationalist Social Club, a neo-Nazi group founded in 2019 in Eastern Massachusetts whose tactics include public demonstrations and disseminating white supremacist propaganda.
Members see themselves as “soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the white race,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, which last year reported that the group was focusing on a six-state area in New England.
The protesters wore masks bearing the number 131, which is a symbol for “Anti-Communist Action,” and a black flag with a stylized cross commonly used as a logo by white supremacist groups.
The St. Patrick’s Day parade is an institution in Boston due to the city’s large Irish-American population, and regularly draws thousands of spectators and attendance by numerous politicians, municipal officials, and other luminaries.
Official condemnations of the group’s attendance were quick in coming.
The NYPD is seeking a black male suspect who drew a swastika on a building in midtown Manhattan on March 10. Earlier this month, an investigation into racist & threatening graffiti at @OLM_HS in Rochester was revealed to be carried out by a black student. pic.twitter.com/SEIbVHPiZA
— Andy Ngô ?????? (@MrAndyNgo) March 22, 2022
Watch: Israeli Natural Honey Making without the Bees
BEE-IO is a food-tech company located at the Science Park in Rehovot, Israel (yes, not far from the Weizmann Institute of Science). They are producing honey without bees, aiming to address the rising demand for honey in an eco-friendly, sustainable way. The busy-bee lab workers at BEE-IO. . Courtesy of BEE-IOIsraeli Academic Study of Zionism Published in UAE Amid Expanding Ties
The argument they’re making, as you’ll see explained very eloquently in the video, is that humans have picked only seven bee species to produce honey, and this selection weakens the bees. It also limits their participation in plant pollination, which is the higher task of bees. And so, by isolating the properties of real honey and producing it without the bees, there are more bees left to fly around and pollinate to their little hearts’ content.
On January 20, the BEE-IO stock rose by 5% to a value of NIS 142 million ($44 million) after the company reported success in expressing the protein lysozyme, an antimicrobial enzyme produced by animals that form part of the innate immune system, and is found in pure honey. Lysozyme’s antibacterial activity kills bacteria by breaking down the bacterial wall. BEE-IO believes that its success in producing Lysozyme in the lab will play a significant role in the antibacterial property of its artificial honey and prolong its shelf life.
An Israeli academic study of Zionism has been translated into Arabic and published in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in another sign of expanding ties following the Abraham Accords.'Tech for humanity': Israeli startup developing universal blood awarded in Dubai
The book, “Zionism in Arab Discourse,” explores the relationship between certain Arab intellectuals and Zionism, positing that despite their hostility to the movement for Jewish self-determination, many also felt it had qualities that ought to be emulated. These include a focus on democracy, women’s rights, the revival of Hebrew, scientific achievement, and others.
Originally published in Hebrew by Prof. Uriya Shavit of Tel Aviv University and Dr. Ofir Winter of the Institute for National Security Studies in 2013, the Arabic version was translated by Egyptian Rami Abd el-Hai. It is also available in English.
Although Israeli books have long been available in Arabic, they are often pirated copies, according to a press release by TAU. The publication of Zionism in Arab Discourse some two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi marks one of the rare occasions when an Arabic translation was published under a formal copyright agreement.
In a statement, Shavit and Winter said, “In the book’s final chapter we wrote that Israelis can and should note the strengths identified by Arab thinkers — for example, the widely accepted notion that Israel’s democracy and rule of law can serve as a commendable model. We are very glad and proud that readers of Arabic will now be exposed to our book.”
Israeli startup RedC Biotech was awarded Tuesday $500,000 at the first-ever Aviram Awards – Tech for Humanity contest held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.After Criticism, Academy Museum to Open Exhibit on Jewish Trailblazers of Hollywood
RedC Biotech was founded in 2015 by Ari Gargir. The company is developing universal red blood cells for transfusions, which can be suitable for any patient, thereby revolutionizing the field by lowering prices and eliminating dependence on blood donations.
The awards were organized by Israel's Aviram Family Foundation and Forbes for innovative Middle East startups.
The foundation was established in 2011 by Israeli entrepreneur Ziv Aviram, the innovator of Mobileye driving technology.
In 2017, Intel purchased Mobileye for $15.3 billion, the highest-value acquisition of an Israeli company to date.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will feature a permanent exhibit about the Jewish founders of Hollywood’s prominent film studios after facing backlash for excluding nearly all mention of Jewish trailblazers from the museum when it opened last year.
“Hollywoodland” will launch in late spring 2023 and chronicle the history of filmmaking in Los Angeles beginning in the early 20th century, the museum said on Monday.
It will be the institution’s first permanent exhibit, and will delve into how the founders’ “personal narratives shaped the distinct characteristics of the movies their respective studios produced,” the museum said. “It will foreground the ways in which the birth of the American film industry — and therefore the projected depiction of the American Dream — is truly an immigrant story.”
Aside from spotlighting the film studios, commonly referred to as “The Majors,” the display will also pay tribute to independent producers who worked in Hollywood in the early 1900s.
“The history of film is endlessly rich and varied, which is why we envisioned the exhibitions of the Academy Museum as a continually evolving set of installations and virtual content,” said the museum’s director and president, Bill Kramer. “We are delighted to present a new round of stories, explorations, moving images, props, and other objects that explore the many facets of moviemaking — from the founding of Hollywood to present day.”
When the museum — the largest in the US devoted to moviemaking — opened in LA in September 2021, it hosted a two-month screening and panel series on Viennese émigrés, many of whom were Jewish, including Max Steiner, Billy Wilder, and Hedy Lamarr. However, several members and donors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science questioned why it did not include an exhibit acknowledging Hollywood’s predominately Jewish founders, with one Academy member saying, “They erased the past.”
