Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Gadi Taub and Michael DoranIsrael Must Publicly Protest America's Policy of Appeasing Iran
The excessive desire to maintain a semblance of cooperation with the administration has led Israel to adopt the empty talk about a “longer and stronger” accord. The reigning assumption is that if the appearance of intimacy is maintained, Israel will be able in the future to employ quiet diplomacy in its efforts to persuade Washington, ultimately leading it to recognize its mistake and to turn from appeasement to deterrence – either directly, by American military means (or the threat to use them), or indirectly, by supporting Israel’s operations.Daniel Greenfield: Will Biden fund ISIS in Israel to aid the Palestinians?
There is no chance of such a plan succeeding. After all, Biden believes in the nuclear deal. It is the cornerstone of his regional policy. He believes that conciliation will create a historic opportunity to reset U.S.-Iranian relations, directing them toward a cooperative future. Why should he step aside and allow Israel to sabotage a policy he’s been working to promote?
The conclusion from all this is that Israel cannot effectively act against Iran’s nuclearization if it refuses from the start to engage in an open and sincere debate with its ally. It must develop a strategy of publicly protesting against America’s policy of appeasement, while taking into account the reasonable likelihood that Iran will try to drag the U.S. into the conflict. In other words, it must adopt a policy that won’t allow the administration to turn the American public against independent Israeli operations.
Can this be achieved? Fortunately, we have an example of such a successful policy. This was Winston Churchill’s policy at the start of World War II. The problem facing Churchill was similar. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, isolationist sentiment had great weight in American public opinion. Many Americans wished to avoid having their country dragged into what they perceived as a European war. Churchill sought to mobilize the U.S. without appearing as if he were asking the United States to fight Britain’s wars for it. In a speech he delivered in February 1941, he found the right balance. “Put your confidence in us. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job,” he said, addressing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt directly.
Israel must adopt a similar stance. A direct call for getting the tools that will enable it to vanquish Iran, without asking for direct American military assistance will force the administration to justify its pro-Iranian orientation to the American public, which it has been trying to hide behind the false rhetoric about a “longer and stronger” accord. Iran’s image in the U.S. is sufficiently negative to ensure Biden’s defeat in any competition over voters’ hearts if he is forced to admit openly that he prefers Iran over Israel.
Waiting for the Biden administration to wake up from its dream that appeasement will lead to Iranian moderation is futile. The only path available to Israel is to force the administration to take responsibility for the contradictions its policy is creating, including the hiding of its appeasement behind a veil of rhetoric about blocking or slowing down Iran’s military nuclear program. It’s doubtful whether Israel has many other options if it intends to look after its vital interests.
Blinken meanwhile used the visit to pitch Israelis on a Biden plan to remove the IRGC, Iran’s terror hub, from the list of foreign terrorist organizations, claiming it would be “symbolic”.David Singer: Can the Negev Summit pave the way for Israel-PLO-Egypt-Jordan negotiations?
He failed to condemn the terrorist attack as an ISIS attack, calling it “senseless” violence.
At his joint press conference with Abbas, Blinken also failed to condemn terrorism or to note that ISIS, with the tacit support of his PLO hosts in Ramallah and of Hamas in Gaza was planting its flag in Israel. Instead Blinken once again condemned Jewish Israeli “settler violence”.
Like Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland's previous visit, the formula of Biden administration officials condemning Israeli "settler violence" while promising to "strenghten" the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority is as familiar as it is evil. The Palestinian Authority is an unwanted institution whose leader 73% of the people the dictator rules over want to see out of office.
And 49% want to dissolve the Palestinian Authority.
Considering the decades of failure, misery, and terrorism wrought by the failed Clinton initiative to create a Palestinian state, it’s long past time for everyone to turn the book on this disaster.
Neither Arab Muslims nor Israelis want Abbas or the Palestinian Authority. Only diplomats like Blinken and Nuland insist on keeping the senile tyrant of Ramallah in office until he dies.
In a final statistic, the poll asked who was "most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people". 31% picked Hamas, 29% chose Abbas' Palestinian Authority, and 33% chose none of the above. 84% believe the PA is corrupt and 70% believe Hamas is dirty.
The “Palestinian people” have spoken. Will Biden listen to them?
The root source of the corruption comes from the hundreds of millions of dollars that Blinken came bearing last year for the regime of a corrupt senile autocrat who didn’t even know whom he was talking to. There’s more money coming this year to prop up the terrorist regime.
All in the name of a peace which doesn’t exist and that the majority of “Palestinians” don’t want.
The United States has gone from using its foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority to prop up PLO, Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorism against Israel, to subsidizing ISIS terrorism.
Will ISIS be a final red line for the corrupt farce of a two-state solution and a peace process?
The Negev Summit (Summit) taking place on 27 and 28 March – hosted by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid– could be the catalyst for promoting the beginning of direct negotiations - without preconditions - between Israel, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Egypt - on the allocation of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza.
Summit attendees will include:
US Secretary for State Antony Blinken
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco Nasser Bourita, and
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safdi will be meeting PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah during the Summit. However - according to Israel’s Channel N12 - al-Safdi may join the Summit before the event is concluded.
On 18 March Principal Deputy Spokesperson in the US State Department – Jalina Porter – had announced Blinken’s visit to the Middle East without mentioning the Summit.
Porter articulated the Biden Administration’s views on creating a second Palestinian Arab State in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan:
... “the Biden-Harris administration believes that there should be a viable and democratic Palestinian state living in peace alongside a Jewish and democratic state. We believe that a negotiated two-state solution is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the administration has also made clear on numerous occasions that Israelis and Palestinians alike equally deserve to live in security, prosperity, and freedom.”
Porter’s choice of the term “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” was unfortunate. A more appropriate term would have been the “Arab-Jewish conflict” which has been raging unresolved in former Palestine for more than 100 years – long before the terms “Israelis” and “Palestinians” were created in 1948 and 1964 respectively.
For Israel, the Negev Summit was all about Iran. For other participants, not so much
On the face of it, the Negev Summit presented an excellent opportunity for Israel and its newest allies to come together to discuss the joint threat of Iran, even if Jerusalem’s concerns are primarily regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, whereas the other participants are more worried about its ballistic missile program and support for proxies throughout the region.A ‘mini-NATO’ for the Middle East won’t be stopped by terror
But a senior Emirati official told The Times of Israel that Iran still was not what brought Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to visit Israel for the first time.
“For us, it’s about regional integration and better economic, security and energy cooperation,” said the senior official.
The senior Emirati official agreed that each participant arrived in the Negev with their own unique interests. “The question is how will this new realignment benefit each country individually while at the same time address regional issues? I don’t have the answer for that yet but this meeting is a good start.”
Anwar Gargash, who serves as diplomatic adviser to UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed, further echoed that sentiment, saying “the UAE’s participation in the ‘Negev Summit’ stems from our belief in adopting a regional approach that deepens economic cooperation in the region and bridges gaps through a discourse of tolerance and communication.”
Noting the Gulf states’ close proximity to Iran and the power imbalance from which they suffer compared to the Islamic Republic, an Arab diplomat who participated in the summit said the UAE and Bahrain, in particular, are not interested in joining “an Israeli campaign that is too publicly aggressive” against Tehran.
The Arab diplomat added that contrary to Israel, the remaining participants at the summit are all more open to the idea of a revived nuclear deal, calling the current reality in which Iran is able to accelerate its nuclear activity with no agreement in place “not sustainable.”
This isn’t to say that Israel’s Arab allies support an entirely passive approach toward Iran.
While not mentioning Iran by name, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Monday that the summit represented a message to “those who are enemies of this positive dynamic — here in your region, also in North Africa, acting directly or through their proxies… that we are here to defend our values.”
Another big theme of the closed-door meeting between the six foreign ministers was America’s commitment to the Middle East. The Biden administration has long given the impression that it didn’t want to deal with the region, but between complications of Iran nuclear negotiations, Iranian proxy attacks in the Gulf and the Russia-related energy problems, Blinken assured the others his attention is on the Middle East.Seth Frantzman: Israel achieved a year of diplomatic milestones, without Netanyahu
After serving as a sort of intermediary between the UAE and America, with the former angry with the latter for not responding strongly to Houthi attacks on their territory, Israeli officials were reassured that Blinken and Bin Zayed were able to have an open and serious discussion. Their evaluation is that the tensions have been reduced and dialogue has reopened.
All of the Arab foreign ministers backed Lapid up when he expressed opposition to the US removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Blinken told them that the move is not yet final and that it is still unclear whether there will be a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The ministers also told Blinken that the US should not repeat its behavior after that deal, and needs to continue to help fight against Iran-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East.
The Palestinians also came up during the meetings, which was reflected in the minister’s public comments. Lapid even said in the statements to the press that the Palestinians are invited to join future meetings, though that seems unlikely, in light of an angry tweet from Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday that “Arab normalization meetings without ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine are just an illusion, a mirage, and a free reward for Israel.”
Jordan, by the way, was originally invited to the Negev Summit as well, but its Foreign Minister Ayman Sfadi was in a pre-scheduled meeting in Doha. He is more likely to attend future meetings.
The “mini-NATO” of the US, Israel, UAE, Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain, should it come together, would be the crowning achievement of the Negev Summit. The idea is not a defense alliance, but cooperation, with the countries’ defense establishments in constant contact.
There are already signs on the ground of cooperation, such as the US shooting down two Iranian drones last month that were headed for Israel.
The current Israeli leadership’s diplomatic successes, therefore, are not necessarily the opposite of Netanyahu’s policies – they are building on some of his successes.Jonathan Tobin: Israel's Arab states summit doesn't compensate for American betrayal
However, the current government’s ability to have several key officials all making important trips rather than all the power centralized in the prime minister’s hands means Israel can triple its efforts.
Netanyahu’s decision to conduct diplomacy in a highly personal manner, and often with secretive trips planned or canceled at the last moment, is very different from having a Foreign Ministry that works toward executing official visits.
Other things have changed as well. Israel’s diplomacy also takes more stock of the Diaspora and appears less tethered to using friends of the prime minister as interlocutors. That means Israel is relying less on having Evangelical leaders and others conducting pseudo-diplomacy, and is instead putting efforts into important meetings like the Negev Summit.
This has larger ramifications as well because the IDF is also doing more joint training with other militaries. These include Israel’s hosting of other countries at the Noble Dina and Blue Flag drills, as well as Israel joining drills such as IMX, Iniochos, and others.
A new wind is blowing, and it is a wind of multi-lateral diplomatic and defense engagements where Israel is meeting with the US, UAE, Bahrain and other countries, including Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and others.
This last year of Israel’s diplomatic engagements abroad and at home, capped by the Negev Summit, may go down as one of the most intense years in Israel’s diplomatic history.
Not as significant as 1948 or 1967 or other turning-point years, but it does mean that Israel is now laying the groundwork for future decades in which Jerusalem will be a major player on the international stage. Having a functioning government and ministers who are able to do their jobs fully has made that possible.
Yet even more serious are the messages the United States is sending by agreeing to a deal that will inevitably lead to the West's acceptance of Iran as a nuclear threshold state and refusing to act to stop that from happening.Jerusalem Deputy Mayor to Blinken: ‘Please Leave Our Capital’
That creates a new geostrategic reality for both Israel and the Arabs that no amount of sweet talk from Blinken can erase: they are on their own vis-à-vis Iran. The combined strength of the summiteers and those who are not there but still aligned with them, like Saudi Arabia, is formidable. But that position is not nearly as strong as it would be if they – and the Iranians – knew that the United States had their back. And there is no mistaking that the American commitment to appeasing Iran, which seems to be an even higher priority than its current desire to aid Ukraine against Russia, is something that must inevitably overshadow the hoopla about what is happening in Sde Boker.
The point of the event is to demonstrate to the Iranians as well as the Americans that both Israel and the Arabs aren't taking these developments lying down. Their closeness, which the summit is illustrating, is a riposte to the new JCPOA that ought to give both Washington and Tehran pause. Nonetheless, it would be foolish to pretend that the circumstances that brought these countries together is not a catastrophic American policy for which no regional alliance can entirely compensate.
A world in which the United States is content to continue retreating – as demonstrated by Biden's disgraceful exit from Afghanistan – is one in which a great many terrible things suddenly become realistic possibilities. That's part of the correlation of forces that led to the invasion of Ukraine. Forestalling similar nightmare scenarios is the top priority of Israel and its new partners. But the notion that any such alliance can entirely replace the part played by an America that is no longer committed to defending its friends and deterring its foes is wishful thinking.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King on Monday called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to leave the city, saying he was “unwelcome” there and that his presence was “creating a bad feeling.”68 Senators urge Blinken to help end UN inquiry on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Blinken, who was in Israel for the first leg of a brief tour of the Middle East and North Africa, had tweeted a condemnation of the terror attack in Hadera on Sunday evening, which claimed the lives of two Israeli Border Police officers.
“We condemn today’s terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel. Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society. We stand with our Israeli partners and send our condolences to the families of the victims,” wrote Blinken.
The Islamic State terrorist organization took credit for the attack, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
In an English-language typo-laden reply, King wrote, “Dear sir. May I ask you as a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, the Jewish holy capital, to leave our city? You are not welcome at all. Your visit to Jerusalem is creating a bad feeling [among] most … Jerusalem residents. It seems that you intend to create [a] provocation. Please leave our capital.”
A bipartisan group of 68 senators sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him to lead a multinational effort in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and in the UN to end the permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) spearheaded the letter.Wrong Side of History, Again: Palestinian Leaders Lambast Middle East Summit
“With the return of the United States to the UN Human Rights Council, we think it is time for the American presence on the Council to be used to address major human rights problems around the world,” the senators wrote. “An important step in this regard would be to redirect the wasteful use of funds and personnel on excessive devotion to disparaging Israel to allow the UN Human Rights Council to fairly promote human rights around the world.”
“We write to urge you to prioritize reversing the UN Human Rights Council’s discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel by leading a multinational effort in the Council and in the UN to end the permanent Commission of Inquiry on the Israeli Palestinian conflict,” they continued.
The senators went on to write that the commission will not only focus on the actions Israel took in Gaza as it sought to defend its citizens, “it will also have a carte blanche mandate – in perpetuity – to examine any period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about violations not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but also within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.”
“This one-sided approach is consistent with UNHRC’s continuing bias against Israel and the disproportionate use of resources in an ongoing campaign to disparage, discredit and denounce Israel,” the letter reads.
Israel’s hosting of this week’s ‘Negev Summit’ with four Arab countries and the United States is being described by leading media outlets as a “historic meeting” and a “major realignment of Middle Eastern powers” determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
But while efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian dialogue will also be on the agenda, the Palestinian Authority (PA) government has warned the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco that Jerusalem is using the conference as a way to avoid dealing with the Palestinian issue.
For its part, the US-designated Hamas terrorist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, has been even blunter in its rejection of the summit. A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said it rejects “all forms of normalization with Israel” and called on Arab countries that signed agreements with the Jewish state to reconsider.
The condemnation of a conference aimed at promoting regional stability and furthering the cause of peace is the latest example of a chronic Palestinian refusal to drop maximalist positions that serve to function as a prelude to negotiations with Israel. Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Ramallah: Peace Between Israel and Arab World ‘Stab in the Back’
The two-day conference at Kibbutz Sde Boker in Israel’s Negev region was made possible by the Abraham Accords, a series of US-brokered normalization agreements that forged formal diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, as well as Morocco.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas described the deals as a “stab in the back.” He made his comments at a press conference in Ramallah that was attended by members of the Iranian-sponsored Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist groups.
The 2019 US-led ‘Peace to Prosperity’ economic workshop in Bahrain brought together Arab dignitaries as well as Israelis. The two-day event included a White House economic proposal for the Palestinians — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars — that, once again, drew nothing but condemnation from Ramallah.
It was subsequently revealed that the Palestinian Authority, which had boycotted the gathering in Manama, targeted — and in some cases tortured — Palestinians who decided to participate.
So why did your country not even think of creating a Palestinian state for the 19 years it occupied the West Bank, and instead annexed it? https://t.co/eTzc3sbzk7
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) March 29, 2022
JPost Editorial: Israel must take heed with the increasing amount of terror attacks
Arab-Israeli riots in the country’s mixed cities during last year’s Operation Guardian of the Walls set off alarm bells.Shin Bet leaves an open house for Islamic State terrorists
They continued to sound throughout the year as violent crime pounded Arab cities, with dozens of people killed by thugs who had easy access to illegal weapons.
When an Israeli Bedouin man from Hura, a teacher who identified with Islamic State, went on a murderous rampage in Beersheba last week, the bells tolled even louder. And they went off again on Sunday night after the horrific terrorist attack in Hadera carried out by two Arab Israelis from Umm el-Fahm, who were also acting under the influence of ISIS.
It’s about time people hear those alarm bells and take heed – Israel has a problem.
Israel has a problem with a radicalized fringe of its Arab population. Granted, it is only a fringe, as the vast majority of the country’s Arab citizens are law-abiding individuals who just want to get on with their lives and live in dignity and prosperity. The harsh condemnations of the last two terrorist attacks that have come from Arab-Israeli leaders, such as Ra’am head Mansour Abbas, are to be welcomed, appreciated and encouraged.
But there is definitely a radicalized fringe among Arab Israelis who have been poisoned by a destructive, murderous Islamist ideology, and it presents an enormous problem, one that Israel needs to better address.
That two major attacks in a week were perpetrated by Arab Israelis indicates that there are undercurrents and trends in that community that are not attracting enough intelligence and security attention.
While lone-wolf attackers like the one in Beersheba would be difficult to smoke out beforehand – though the perpetrator should have been under better surveillance because of his past prison record and identification with ISIS – the two terrorists who carried out Sunday’s attack in Hadera were apparently aided and abetted by like-minded fanatics.
Be'er Sheva attacker Mohammad Abu al-Kian had previously served a four-year sentence in an Israeli prison for his ties to the extremist group and was supposed to be monitored by the Shin Bet — but ultimately managed to sneak under its radar. The security agency claimed it was keeping a close tab on him and saw that his zealotry had tapered off. In the case of the most recent attack in Hadera, it seems that at least one of the two gunmen had been previously linked to the Islamic State. And with all due respect, this is starting to look like a scandal on the part of the Shin Bet, which failed to turn resources against terrorist sleeper cells working from within Israel.12 ISIS supporters arrested in Arab towns after Hadera attack
Both the IDF and the Shin Bet predicted that if tensions escalated during the month of Ramadan, it would happen in Jerusalem and the West Bank. But the latest attack wasn't spontaneous, it was premeditated. The terrorists were armed to the teeth and well-trained — and the Shin Bet still missed them.
In its defense, the Shin Bet's purview is the West Bank rather than Israeli Arabs, but still, it must do better.
We tend to look at last May's intercommunal violence as a wake-up call for the State of Israel in regards to a potential multi-front conflict, especially vis-à-vis our Arab citizens, but the Shin Bet did not particularly excel in giving us a forewarning about the impending events, nor did it during the riots.
The organization is admittedly limited in its capabilities, but it seems like it did not learn its lesson from last year's happenings, and certainly not when it comes to whom it is supposed to be monitoring.
This could be an outgrowth of what former Shin Bet officials call years-long neglect of the agency's Arab Department. Despite its exceptional performance against terrorism in the West Bank, which is studied the world over, the organization has failed time and time again when it comes to Israeli Arabs — and this requires a rude awakening.
However, the lessons do not end there. Israel has yet to establish a national guard based on reserve Border Police forces, and the police are still waiting for the budgets that would allow it, or the military will have to do the job for them next time around.
Twelve Islamic State members and supporters were arrested in the Wadi Ara area of northern Israel and in Nazareth on Monday night, after two terrorist attacks were carried out by ISIS-affiliated terrorists in Hadera and Beersheba in the past week.Thousands of airstrikes carried out by Israel in past five years
Items that may serve as evidence of the suspects’ affiliation with ISIS were seized by Border Police, Israel Police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officers who stormed the homes of the suspects.
Security forces searched 31 homes and locations on Monday night.
Police were placed on the highest level of alert across the country on Monday, a day after two ISIS-affiliated terrorists shot and killed Border Police officers Yazan Falah and Shirel Aboukrat in Hadera. A Bedouin Israeli stabbed four Israeli civilians to death in Beersheba on March 22.
The terrorists in the Hadera attack were identified as Arab-Israelis from Umm el-Fahm. Many police officers raided the city on Sunday night, arresting five suspects from there and other locations and seizing weapons and ammunition. Books and other items connected to ISIS were also seized in the raids.
The terrorists posted a video on Facebook before the attack, showing them swearing allegiance to ISIS. The terrorist movement published a statement on Sunday night, taking responsibility for the attack and the attack in Beersheba.
One of the attackers in Hadera had previously spent time in prison for trying to join ISIS in Syria, like the Beersheba attacker who was recently released from prison for supporting the terrorist group.
Facing multiple enemies on multiple fronts, the Israeli Air Force has carried out over a thousand airstrikes on several fronts in the past five years, striking targets near and far from Israel’s borders in order to protect the country.Im Tirtzu: Anti-Israel EAPPI Activists Don't Like Being Filmed
With a rapidly changing region and new threats emerging from state and non-state actors, the Israeli Air Force has been required to conduct extensive operational activities to ward of various threats.
According to data, over the past five years under the command of outgoing IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin, the IAF has struck some 1,200 targets with over 5,500 munitions during 408 missions.
In 2021 alone, dozens of aerial operations were carried out, 586 munitions were used against 174 targets. In addition, 239 anti-aircraft missiles were also fired toward Israeli jets during operations carried out as part of Israel’s war-between-wars campaign meant to prevent Iran from entrenching on Israel’s northern borders and smuggling advanced weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has been carrying out its war-between-wars campaign, known in Hebrew as MABAM for close to a decade and the past three years have seen the most amount of missions striking a variety of targets posing threats to the Jewish State such as weapons convoys, anti-aircraft batteries and radars, warehouses and more.
Members of the anti-Israel European organization, EAPPI, roam around Israel looking for ways to slander Israel and harass IDF soldiers.
They love filming and harassing soldiers, but they weren’t so happy to be filmed themselves!
EAPPI, the flagship program of the World Council of Churches, is funded extensively by foreign governments. After staying in Israel for three months under the guise of tourists, their members return home and use their "first-hand experience" to slander Israel, call it an apartheid state, and even promote BDS.
PMW: What are the Palestinians thinking - A new survey exposes the harsh reality
If elections for PA Chairman were held today, the Palestinians would elect Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh or convicted terrorist murderer Marwan BarghoutiPalestinian researcher libels Zionist leader Herzl
In election for the Palestinian Parliament, Hamas would most likely defeat a splintered Fatah
When asked how to break the current impasse, 68% of Palestinians choose violence, ranging from an all-out terror war (44%) to sporadic terror attacks (24%). Only 25% choose the path of negotiations
The decline of popular Palestinian support for the PLO continues and would only be improved if the organization opened its ranks to internationally designated terror organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Most Palestinians (55%) believe that the PA is a burden on the Palestinians; 49% support dissolving the PA
One third of Palestinians believe that the most vital Palestinian goal is to destroy Israel by flooding it with millions of so-called “Palestinian refugees”
Palestinian researcher libels Zionist leader Herzl, claims he planned to “destroy all the Muslim and Christian antiquities” in Jerusalem
[Official PA TV, The Supreme Authority, March 15, 2022]
Official PA TV program The Supreme Authority
Researcher of international law Samir Zaher: “I remember something that [Zionist leader] Herzl said during the Zionist Congress in Basel: ‘If we gain control of Jerusalem, we will destroy all the Muslim and Christian antiquities.’ That is what is currently happening.”
Official PA TV host: “Yes.”
Note: Zionist leader Theodor Herzl never made such a statement at the Zionist Congress. While Herzl did write in his diary that if the Jews ever got Jerusalem he would “clean it” of dirt and of anything “not holy” in an effort to make the city more orderly and accessible, he noted his desire to preserve the holy sites and the old building style while building a modern city around them.
Note: Israel does not destroy Muslim and Christian antiquities.
Palestinian Islamic Scholar Mraweh Nassar: The Jews Now Claim Biblical Jerusalem Is Located in Ukraine; They Instigated the War There in Order to Empty Out Ukraine and Move In #antisemitism #Ukraine #Russia #UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/4KmK0aA6HQ
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 29, 2022
Hamas Leader’s Nephew Was ISIS Member, Killed in Sinai Battle
Musab Matawa, the nephew of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip, was killed in a battle with the Egyptian army in Sinai while fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) terror organization a few days ago.
Matawa, who since joining ISIS has been known as “Abu Jamil al-Ghazawi,” was formerly a senior member of Hamas’ military wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam, and a member of its Nukhba naval commando unit.
In a conversation between TPS and Matawa’s father, himself a Hamas member, he refused to comment on the matter of his son’s death, but family sources claim that he was killed by an Israeli aircraft operating in Sinai, while ISIS itself issued a statement stating that he was eliminated by the Egyptians.
Hamas and the Sinwar family do not like the publications about the wayward son who went to fight Egypt, the “big sister” of Gaza which is in charge of rehabilitating the Strip, and prefer the fame of those killed by Israel, and Hamas itself did not officially address the incident in which its leader’s nephew was killed.
In Gaza, it is said that Sahib, Matawa’s brother, also joined ISIS in Sinai.
Sources in Gaza say Matawa stayed in hiding places throughout Sinai and used to infiltrate the Gaza Strip from time to time through the tunnels. According to one claim, the battle in which he was killed also took place as he tried to return for a visit to Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
According to another claim, Matawa was killed as he was trying to transfer supplies from Gaza to ISIS members during a football match between Egypt and Senegal on Friday, assuming that this would attract the attention of the Egyptian soldiers who were supposed to be watching the game on television and would have been off guard.
After Hamas lauded the terror attack commited by ISIS on Sunday, the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv tweeted a condolence message to the victim's families. https://t.co/XJ3QwVqBdn
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) March 28, 2022
Liwa al-Tawhid, the salafi-jihadist branch of al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, published a video Sun. (likely spurred by the IS attack) lauding last week's terror attack in Be'ersheba. The org. routinely calls for terror attacks inside Israel against civilians. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/wYHOPCh4g3
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) March 28, 2022
Jenin: Gunmen open fire at the car of journalist Shatha Hanaisheh, who reported about anarchy and lawlessness. No one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/yfrPvIQ6cS
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) March 29, 2022
Dr. Mordechai Kedar: How Israel should respond to the Iranian nuclear deal
We must bear in mind that with all the importance of security, the Jewish people has ancestral rights to the Jordan Valley, rights that the world recognized more than a hundred years ago in the resolutions of the San Remo Convention of the League of Nations (1920). The League of Nations gave the Jewish people all of the land of Israel, including Jordan, although it later took back a great deal of it to create the “Emirate of Transjordan.” That did not include the west bank of the Jordan River and everything west of the Jordan River belongs to the Jewish people, both by virtue of its ancestral rights as well as the still-valid decisions of the international community.Is the US Pretending That Iran's IRGC, "Mother of All Terrorist Groups", Is Not a Terrorist Group?
Two questions immediately arise. The first: What will Israel’s new allies – the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, who signed the Abraham Accords in return for Israel not declaring sovereignty over the Jordan Valley – say? And the second, what will the world say and do in the face of such an Israeli step?
The answer to the first question is that Israel’s new friends will denounce and condemn Israel in no uncertain terms, but will not do anything. This is because in view of the growing strength of Iran, which is breathing down their necks and threatening their very existence and as the United States twists the knife it stuck in their backs, they have no alternative to their alliance with Israel. They may take some kind of public steps, but in essence will do nothing.
The answer to the second question is a little more complicated and is related to the fact that when Israel established its sovereignty in the areas around Jerusalem that it liberated from Jordanian occupation in 1967, the world took no steps at all against Israel. However, although the world does not recognize any part of Jerusalem, not even the western part of the city, as Israeli territory – the sky did not fall. Israel passed Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel and Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which determine that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and the world did not go berserk.
What Israel needs to do is to expand Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction to all of the Jordan Valley, incidentally applying these basic laws and Israeli sovereignty to it. The world will rant and rave but will not do much else, just as it did nothing with regard to Jerusalem as it is today.
The current war raging in Ukraine proves once again that only a determined nation steadfast in its positions can endure in the cynical world in which Israel is trying to survive. Israel must act and show all its neighbors, friend and foe alike, that it knows what to do for its own security and the security and safety of its citizens, and that it will do what it must without fear or hesitation.
"It [the IRGC] is also a chief supporter and enabler of other FTOs and insurgent groups in the region. These organizations include, but are not limited to: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthi insurgency. The IRGC's actions have led to decades of instability and conflict across the Middle East and the group is responsible for countless deaths, including more than 600 U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq." — Letter from 80 Republicans to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Fox News, March 23, 2022.MEMRI: Articles In Saudi Press: Biden Administration's Intention To Remove IRGC From Terror List Is An Unprecedented Act Of Supporting Terror That Threatens Global Security
"In Havlish, et al. v. bin Laden, et al., Judge Daniels held that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran's agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ('IRGC'), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security ('MOIS'), and Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11." — PR Newswire, December 23, 2011.
One of the IRGC's elite branches, the Quds Force, deploys its proxies and militia groups to attack the interests and assets of the US and its allies in the Middle East, as well as the soft underbelly of the US, Latin America. The Quds Force exerts significant influence, direct or indirect, through a conglomerate of more than 40 militia groups....
"The Iranian Al-Quds Force packs weapons, ammunition and missile technology to Hezbollah in suitcases and puts them on Mahan Air flights.... these planes fly directly to the airport in Lebanon or Damascus and from there the weapons are transferred on the ground to Hezbollah." — Amb. Danny Danon, then Israeli Ambassador to the UN, from a 2016 letter to UN Security Council members.
The IRGC "continues transferring weapons and drones to terrorist proxies.
The mission of Jihad for the IRGC is unmistakably clear in Iran's Constitution. Its Preamble states: "the Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad... the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are to be organized in conformity with this goal, and they will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of (Shiite) jihad in God's way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God's (Shiite) law throughout the world in the hope that this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others." [Emphasis added.]
"These assessments, combined with the IRGC's lengthy history of killing hundreds of Americans... make it clear: The IRGC is a terrorist organization and should remain labeled as such.... The pursuit of an ill-conceived 'deal' should not compel American leaders to acquiesce to the demands of a terrorist regime to deny the truth. American lives are at stake, and this is a time to project strength, not weakness." — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, joint statement, Axios, March 22, 2022.
In response to reports that the Biden administration is considering removing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations as part of its efforts to renew the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the JCPOA), articles in the Saudi press attacked the administration, calling this an absurd move and a crime that will threaten global security. The writers claimed that the Biden administration, like the Obama administration before it, is eager to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran in order to extricate it from its plight, even if this comes at the expense of America's Arab allies. The IRGC. they argued, which controls Iran, is the spearhead of regional and global terror, and also operates other organizations, like the Lebanese Hizbullah, the Houthis in Yemen and the Shi'ite militias in Iraq. Therefore, removing it from the terror list is an unprecedented act of supporting terror and a "plot" that crosses every red line, which changes the power-balance in the region and places the Arab states, and the world at large, in direct danger.Sanctions alone won’t stop Iran, Israeli strike may be necessary, Graham says
The following are translated excerpts from these articles:
Saudi Journalist: Removing IRGC From Terror List Gravely Endangers U.S. Allies, Crosses Every Red Line
Saudi journalist 'Abdullah bin Bijad Al-'Otaibi wrote that the Biden administration's intention to remove the IRGC from the list of terror organizations is part of its efforts to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran and extricate it from its plight, at the expense of the security of the Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This, he said, is an unprecedented act of supporting terror that crosses every line:
"America in the Biden era is very similar to America in the Obama era in terms of the vision, policy and inclinations [of its administration]: You have to be leftist and liberal, and seek to impose your agenda on your allies and partners and attack them, and at the same time be friendly towards the enemies of the U.S. and of its allies around the world. This is political absurdity, and the policy towards the Iranian regime is the clearest example of it. The nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime was signed in the Obama era without any consideration for the interests of the Gulf and [other] Arab states, and its only effect is to delay Iran's military nuclear enterprise, rather than stop it. That is why former [U.S.] president Donald Trump opposed the agreement and withdrew from it, and imposed severe sanctions on the [Iranian] regime. [But] the minute the administration of President Biden came [to power], the American eagerness to revive this wretched agreement remerged, and so did the attacks on the Arab states – [manifested] not only in blunt statements, but also in [America's] regional and international policy and positions. The Arab and Gulf states did not change [their attitude] towards the U.S. It was the American positions that became more extremist and regressive and gave less consideration to the need to support [America's] allies and maintain the partnership with them...
"One urgent task the Western countries have set for themselves is to make serious efforts to rescue the Iranian regime, even without reaching a new [nuclear] agreement in Vienna, now that Russia has begun to sabotage [the negotiations] and restrain America's eagerness to sign one. The U.S., Britain and some of their allies around the world have undertaken to pay enormous sums of money, hundreds of millions of dollars, to the Iranian regime. In one deal Britain paid almost half a billion dollars to Iran.[1]
"After revoking the terrorist designation of the Houthi militia, [the U.S.] has [also] started talking about revoking the terrorist designation of Iran's IRGC, which is the spearhead of [supporting] regional and international terror in the modern era, from Al-Qaeda and ISIS to the Lebanese Hizbullah and the Shi'ite militias around the world. This is a direct threat and danger not only to the Arab states but to the entire world. The first to be harmed by this unprecedented support for terror and terror organizations are the Arab states and Israel. This crosses all the red lines and is an attempt to change the power balance…
"There is an American and Western policy that cannot be ignored. [It is a policy] of insisting on exposing Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to the military attacks of the Iran-[backed] Houthi militia in Yemen and to its ballistic missiles and drones, [and at the same time] setting unreasonable terms for providing them with the weapons required to deal with these serious threats. These two countries are strong and have extensive international ties. They are able to compensate for any shortage and confront any danger. This [article is merely] an attempt to distinguish who is a friend and ally of America and who is not based on its position and policies, not just based on its statements..."[2]
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that an Israeli strike on Iran could be the most likely way to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon in an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday from Jerusalem.Former US amb. Dan Shapiro resigns from Iran negotiating team
While “maximum pressure” sanctions “[make] it more difficult,” Graham argued the only ways to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions are an unlikely “change of heart” by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an internal overthrow of the regime or a U.S.-supported Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“If you don’t [understand] that, you’re making a huge mistake,” Graham said. “This is never going to end short of a nuclear weapon unless somebody stops them. And those are the three ways that would stop the advance toward a nuclear weapon. The first one is one in a billion. The second one — who knows — if the Iranian people want to continue to live like this, that’s up to them. But the third one [the Israeli strike] is probably the way this movie ends.”
Graham detailed a plan to increase congressional oversight of Iran’s nuclear program that he has been developing during his trip. He said he had asked Israeli officials on his previous visit to the country in February to put together a detailed list of red lines and major concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
The South Carolina senator said those conversations prompted him to craft legislation, tentatively titled the Iran Nuclear Weapons Monitoring Act, which will likely require a report from the administration every 120 days about Iranian weaponization efforts, fissile material, missile technology, proliferation and violations of International Atomic Energy Agency inspection regimes. The legislation will also require collaboration with U.S. allies.
“This would be in place in perpetuity until the threat goes away to monitor the Iranian nuclear program,” he said. “It’s a directive to our government, in consultation with our allies, to stay on top of the Iranian nuclear program. And if we see areas of concern, the administration, whoever they would be, would be required to come up with an action plan. This approach, I think, is the best insurance policy to make sure that the Iranian nuclear program does not get out of hand.”
Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has resigned from the Biden Administration's negotiating team in the talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Haaretz reported.MEMRI: Saudi Journalist: If U.S. Renews Nuclear Deal, Gulf States Must Act To Isolate Iran
Shapiro was US Ambassador to Israel under former US President Barack Obama from 2011-2017. Shapiro continued to live in Israel following the end of his term and has worked as a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
In August 2021, Shapiro was appointed by the State Department as US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley's liaison to Israel. His job was to focus on coordination with Israel on Iran's aggression throughout the Middle East as well as the nuclear issue.
Shapiro will join the Atlantic Council, an American foreign policy think tank.
In his February 19, 2022 column in the Saudi daily Makkah, Faisal Al-Shammari outlined a plan for the Gulf states to pursue if the U.S. renews the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. He called on the Gulf states, which feel threatened by Iran, to develop air, naval and cyber defense systems, while also continuing their efforts to isolate Iran in the world. If Iran violates the agreement, he added, these countries must act to have it revoked and even establish an international military coalition that will destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure.Retired IRGC General: Russia Should Not Be Mediator in Nuclear Talks – It Is Our Economic Rival
The following are translated excerpts from Al-Shammari's column:
"After the [anticipated] announcement about the signing of a nuclear agreement between Iran, the Biden administration and the six [superpowers], the initial response of the nations will perhaps be characterized by pessimism, disappointment and frustration. However, this may [also] be an opportunity [for them] to prove that Iran lies, and says one thing while doing the opposite… Most of the world countries still fear Iran and are likely to fear it even more once it becomes a country that is developing its nuclear capability. The Arab countries and Gulf countries should harness these feelings [and act] to intensify Iran's isolation and make sure that the nuclear agreement does not smooth its relations with outside world…
"Iran must understand that all the world countries, not only those signed to the agreement, have the right to know its intentions regarding its nuclear program. Iran is not a peaceful country, and does not strive for stability in the region, and therefore the world countries will not be indifferent if Iran plays with fire and threatens its neighbors with becoming a nuclear power.
Republicans Investigate VOA for Biased Coverage of Iran, Advocacy for Biden
Voice of America (VOA) and its Persian-language affiliate are facing a congressional investigation for what Republican lawmakers say is the taxpayer-funded network's biased coverage of Iran and partisan advocacy in favor of President Joe Biden.Iran’s regime continues its execution wave in restive Isfahan province
Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and six of his congressional colleagues are requesting that VOA and its Persian News Network turn over all internal documents and communications related to its decision to rehire Setareh Derakhshesh Sieg to lead the agency's Iran coverage. Sieg was fired during the Trump administration over accusations that she misappropriated nearly $1 million in funds and allowed the Persian network to become a source of pro-Iran propaganda.
The lawmakers are also interested in information about a Persian News Network employee's 2015 bid to solicit negative comments about then-candidate Donald Trump and a separate 2020 incident in which VOA's Urdu Service published "what was effectively a campaign video on behalf of then-candidate Joe Biden." Many viewed the video as a violation of the news network's government charter, according to a copy of the investigation letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The probe is a sign of mounting congressional frustration with VOA's coverage, particularly of Iran, and its hiring of several individuals who are seen as using the network to carry out a partisan agenda. Iranian dissidents and U.S. officials have accused VOA Persian of being infiltrated by the Iranian regime and used to disseminate the hardline government's propaganda. While the Trump administration acknowledged this bias and attempted to reform the agency by firing officials like Sieg and implementing a series of reforms, VOA Persian continues to carry water for the Iranian regime, according to the Republican lawmakers.
"Over the past few decades, a lack of congressional oversight over the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has allowed for partisan actors to obstruct the integrity and mission of the agency," Perry told the Free Beacon. "There's a lot of corruption that needs to be cleaned out immediately. We have a duty to ensure that our Voice of America—and the wider agency—are truly the voice of American values and the American people."
The Islamic Republic of Iran is slated to hang two men accused of killing a security official in the province of Isfahan, sparking outrage from Iranian dissidents about the theocratic state’s credibility in bringing charges against opponents of the regime in Tehran.
“The Islamic Republic's forces kill the people but there's no justice for them, neither in Iran nor in the international society. Sure any criminal must face justice but the fact is no one believes the Islamic Republic when they execute people with such charges," Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled to Germany to escape persecution, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
The first branch of the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan and branch one of the criminal court of the province convicted the 25-year-old Sadegh M. and the 38-year-old Mohammad G. of murdering Ehsan Nasiriduring clashes with security forces according to reports on Sunday in the regime-controlled media.
The full last names of the men were not revealed in the articles.
It is unclear from the Iranian regime news reports if the protest was against the clerical state. The opaque nature of the Iranian regime’s widely criticized judicial system makes it difficult to understand execution cases.
There have been widespread protests against the regime in Isfahan, including the arrests of 67 people in November 2021 for protesting against the regime's mismanagement of its water policies.
After publishing this video on female fitness jumping in Mahshahr Iran, the authorities have cancelled the fitness coach's work permit. Islamic Republic of Iran is like Taliban.pic.twitter.com/GGVZ6k1DYg
— mina bai (@bai_mina) March 29, 2022
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