Wednesday, April 06, 2022

04/06 Links Pt1: Israel's coalition loses majority; To the Biden Administration, Israel Is Always at Fault—Even While 11 Israelis Are Murdered; UN to vote to suspend Russia from HRC

From Ian:

Israel's coalition loses majority as Yamina MK Silman quits government
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that MK Idit Silman had been threatened by supporters of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Religious Zionist head Betzalel Smotrich until she "broke" and left the coalition on Wednesday.

"Idit was persecuted for months, verbally abused by supporters of Bibi and Smotrich at the most horrific level," said Bennett on Wednesday evening. "She described to me the threats against her husband Shmulik's workplace and her children in Bnei Akiva. She broke in the end."

The prime minister stressed that the "main thing we need to deal with at the moment is stabilizing the faction and the coalition." Bennett added that all the leaders in the coalition are interested in continuing the current government.

"There is an opportunity here to take this event, learn from it and correct the gaps that have been created," said Bennett. "The whole government was founded on maintaining the status quo - and not on making sharp movements."

Bennett warned that the alternative to the current coalition is more elections and possibly multiple rounds of elections, "back to the days of dangerous instability for the State of Israel."

Silman said that she "could not take it anymore," and that she could not continue undermining the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, a reference to a disagreement she had with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over allowing chametz (leavened grain products) into hospitals over Passover.

Netanyahu congratulated Silman on her decision, thanking her "in the name of many people in Israel who waited for this moment."
Will Israel's government fall? four scenarios
1. Domino effect
Another member of the Knesset quits the coalition and helps the opposition – led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu – to pass a bill dispersing the Knesset and taking Israel to a new election.

In this event, immediately after the dispersion of the Knesset, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would become prime minister until the formation of a new government.

For Silman, the ideal situation would be for another member of Yamina to break away from the party so that she can then – together with earlier Yamina rebel MK Amichai Chikli – form a new faction that would be able to merge with an existing party and run in a new election.

2. Gantz jumps ship
Before the Knesset dissolves, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz decides to join the opposition and become Israel’s prime minister. This scenario is possible for a few reasons. The first is that Gantz, who currently serves as defense minister, has been unhappy with the current government since its inception. He was particularly bothered by Bennett – with six seats and now five – becoming prime minister while he, Gantz, had eight seats.

In addition, Gantz might prefer this option over the dispersion of the Knesset, which would see Lapid become prime minister. Remember that the two politicians split – with Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party leaving the Blue and White alliance – in 2020 when Gantz decided to join Netanyahu’s last government, which ultimately fell apart.

While Gantz has said that he learned the lesson from sitting with Netanyahu and that he would not make the same mistake again, he could argue that by joining Netanyahu he would not only be serving as prime minister but would also be preventing another election and further political instability.

3. A comeback for Netanyahu
Netanyahu somehow manages to form a government in the current Knesset or steps aside as chairman of the Likud – highly unlikely – and allows a different Likud MK to do so. It is more likely that he would prefer crowning Gantz than someone from his own party, something he could have done before Bennett became prime minister last June.

4. Limping to the finish line
The government – now a lame duck and unable to pass legislation – manages to survive until the beginning of 2023, when it needs to pass a new budget. Although it would not be able to pass any laws, this might be the best scenario right now for Bennett.
To the Biden Administration, Israel Is Always at Fault—Even While 11 Israelis Are Murdered
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Israel last week coincided with a wave of terrorist attacks. In the week preceding Blinken's visit, an Israeli Bedouin man affiliated with ISIS killed four and severely wounded two by driving his car into a crowd and stabbing people with a knife. Later that week, a Palestinian man from east Jerusalem stabbed a civilian in Israel's capital and another Palestinian stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers. Then, on the first day of Blinken's visit, two terrorists who also had ISIS affiliations shot at multiple crowded restaurants, killing two Border Police officers and wounding five others. And two days later, a Palestinian man shot at pedestrians, killing five. They included a young father pushing a toddler in a stroller and two Ukrainian citizens.

Yet, when Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, his description of the situation made it sound like it was Israel that needed to be reined in. In a statement after the meeting, Blinken said he and Bennett "discussed ways to foster a peaceful Passover, Ramadan, and Easter across Israel, and Gaza and the West Bank," which he said meant "working to prevent actions on all sides that could raise tensions, including settlement expansion, settler violence, incitement to violence, demolitions, payments to individuals convicted of terrorism, evictions of families from homes they've lived in for decades."

Note that amidst a wave of terror by Palestinians against Israelis, Blinken's list of the actions to foster peace includes four which fall to Israel and just one that is clearly the responsibility of the Palestinians, with a sixth item—"incitement to violence"—vague enough to belong to either or both.

Someone seeking to interpret Blinken's remarks charitably might have presumed that he sought to bring up Israel's faults in Jerusalem and would later stress the Palestinians' problems in Ramallah, to encourage each side to change. But such a person would have been proven wrong when Blinken presented the exact same litany, almost verbatim, hours later that day after a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The problem with Blinken's list is not just its insensitivity to a nation in mourning, but what it reveals about the Biden administration's orientation to this conflict. The Biden administration "obsessively" fixates on settler violence, a senior Israeli source told me. And this obsession creates a false equivalence and lets the Palestinians off the hook.
Gil Troy: Some American Jews stay silent when Palestinians turn violent
Dear Fagie and David,

Your supportive emails expressing “deep profound grief” moved me, as we in Israel dug eleven new graves for innocent terror victims. If Star Trek invented the Vulcan Mind Meld, you epitomize the Jew-Fuse: our souls are interconnected, our nerve endings are intertwined. Our pain is your pain and your pain is our pain.

However, I’m wondering if you felt as lonely as you looked. Frankly, I (and many other Israelis) didn’t feel the love last week. When our neighbors turned violent, too many American Jews turned silent.

Both of you are atypical. You, Fagie, having been born before Israel, know the costs of not having a Jewish state – for American Jews not just European and Middle Eastern Jews. And you, David, as a Moroccan Montrealer living in Los Angeles, bleed blue-and-white, even as many of your peers and their kids bleed red, white, and blue (or these days, just blue).

Addressing most other American Jews, it’s gut check time. Ask yourselves: Last week, how often did you think about or talk about “the slap” Will Smith gave Chris Rock during the Oscars? Compare that to how much you thought about the Colleyville, Texas, crisis in January, before every hostage was freed, and how scared you were by 2018’s Pittsburgh massacre, which killed 11.


UN to vote on proposal to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council
The 193-member UN General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a US push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, diplomats said Wednesday.

A two-thirds majority of voting General Assembly members in New York can suspend a country for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights. Russia is in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russians of gruesome atrocities in Ukraine and told the UN Security Council that those responsible should immediately be brought up on war crimes charges in front of a tribunal like the one established at Nuremberg after World War II.

Over the past few days, grisly images of what appeared to be intentional killings of civilians carried out by Russian forces in Bucha and other towns before they withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv have caused a global outcry and led Western nations to expel scores of Moscow's diplomats and propose further sanctions, including a ban on coal imports from Russia.

Zelenskyy, speaking via video from Ukraine to UN diplomats, said that civilians had been tortured, shot in the back of the head, thrown down wells, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.

"They cut off limbs, cut their throats. Women were raped and killed in front of their children," he said. He asserted that people's tongues were pulled out "only because their aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them."

Zelenskyy said that both those who carried out the killings and those who gave the orders "must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes" in front of a tribunal similar to what was used in postwar Germany.


Pope says UN, international organizations ‘impotent’ in Ukraine war
Pope Francis said that international organizations, such as the United Nations, have proven to be useless in stopping violence and atrocities in the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on Wednesday about the massacres in the recently freed city of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, the pope denounced the “increasingly horrendous cruelties [that] are also committed against civilians and defenseless children. They are victims whose innocent blood cries out to the heavens and implores: Put an end to this war, silence the weapons, stop sowing death.”

Speaking about his trip to Malta last weekend, he said the Mediterranean nation was a country that represents the “rights and power” of the nations that, though being small, are rich in history and civilizations.

He proposed Malta as an example that should lead the international community towards a logic that is not dominated by the most powerful countries.

“Today we often hear about ‘geopolitics’,” Francis said. “But unfortunately, the dominant logic is the strategies of the most powerful countries to affirm their own interests, extending their area of economic, ideological and military influence. We are seeing this in the war.”

He said that following World War II, an attempt was made to lay the foundations of a new “era of peace, but unfortunately, we do not learn.”

“Unfortunately, the old story of competition between the greater powers went on,” the pope said. “And, in the current war in Ukraine, we are witnessing the impotence of organizations of the United Nations.”


Ukraine’s Eurovision Band Calls for End to War at Israel Event
The frontman for the group representing Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest called Tuesday for people across the world to protest Russia’s invasion of his country, as he visited Israel.

“Our message is this: everyone who hears us, who knows about the situation in Ukraine, can help us even if he doesn’t solve these issues,” said Kalush Orchestra’s Oleh Psiuk.

The group is one of 24 Eurovision acts visiting the country for a four-day “Israel Calling” promotional event.

“Everyone has social networks… everyone can just speak about it and write about it, tag people in social networks, talk about how to stop the war in Ukraine,” he told reporters.

“If everyone does that, this war will end very soon,” he added. “If every day you do something to end the war, this war will not happen in other countries.”

The six members of Kalush — a favorite to win the Eurovision contest in the Italian city of Turin next month — needed to get special permission to leave Ukraine.


ADL Warns Against ‘Incendiary’ Anti-Israel Stances of Some Left-Wing Candidates in 2022 US Elections
Social media postings and statements issued by several candidates on the left confirmed these trends, the briefing stated. Among the examples given was a tweet posted by Stephanie Gallardo, a Democratic congressional candidate in Washington state, that declared, “I will not allow Zionism to manifest any further in the largest labor union in the country” — a reference to ongoing political disputes within the National Education Association (NEA), which represents teachers in public schools and other workers in public education.

In a similar vein, the briefing highlighted a tweet from another Democratic congressional candidate, longtime Palestinian solidarity activist Huwaida Arraf, in Michigan — stating that “Zionism … has no place in our collective vision of freedom, justice & equality for ALL.”

Assertions that supporters of Israel exercise a sinister influence over government and media are also commonplace. “These ideas play into longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish lust for money and control over public affairs,” the briefing argued. “Several left-wing candidates have claimed that American pro-Israel policies are chiefly influenced by financial donations by Zionists.”

“Among the 2022 candidates who have run into this issue in recent years are Congressional candidate Nina Turner (D-OH) and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). On two occasions, Reps. Tlaib and Omar have expressed regret or apologized for their remarks,” the ADL noted.

The briefing warned that rising levels of antisemitism in the US had impacted the thinking of parts of the left.

“Hateful and extremist beliefs, along with fringe ideas, have penetrated into mainstream spaces, sabotaging civil discourse,” the briefing argued. “More than any time in recent memory, people view political disagreements not as good faith disputes but as zero-sum clashes with dangerous, malicious, or illegitimate adversaries. Such a dynamic can create systemic dysfunction and ultimately subvert democratic institutions and governance.”


Most Israeli Arabs Believe Voting in Israel’s Next Election is Important—Survey
Eighty-four percent of Israeli Arabs agree that it is important to vote in the next Israeli election, and more than three fifths are optimistic about conditions for the sector improving in the future, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The study, released at University of Haifa’s recent Conference on Politics and Arab Society, found that 21 percent of Arab respondents are extremely supportive of United Arab List Party’s (Ra’am) membership in the coalition, 23 percent are very supportive, 24 percent somewhat supportive and 32 percent not supportive.

Just over half of respondents feel that conditions for Israeli Arabs have improved over the past year (17 percent agree, 14 percent strongly agree, 24 percent somewhat agree), and 67 percent are optimistic about conditions improving in the future (20 percent optimistic, 16 percent highly optimistic and 31 percent somewhat optimistic).

Fifty-eight percent strongly believe it is important to vote in the next election, with 17 percent agreeing and 9 percent somewhat agreeing.

The survey of 701 respondents from Israel’s largest Arab population centers was conducted by Doron Navot, a lecturer at University of Haifa’s School of Political Science, in the second half of February 2022.

The conference is a joint initiative of University of Haifa, the Israel Institute of Democracy and the New Israel Fund
IDF, police seize 30 firearms in latest smuggling attempt on Jordan border
Israeli security forces arrested a man suspected of smuggling guns into Israel from Jordan overnight Tuesday, confiscating a large number of firearms in the process, the military said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, 19 handguns, three AK-type assault rifles, two M-16 assault rifles, a shotgun, ammunition, and four magazines were found during the arrest. A second suspect managed to flee, the military said.

Soldiers operating surveillance cameras spotted the two suspicious men crossing the border, and after a brief chase, one was arrested by police officers.

Law enforcement officials identified the alleged gun smuggler as a 21-year-old Palestinian.

Officials estimated the value of the guns at some NIS 1.37 million ($425,000).

The IDF has stepped up efforts to halt smuggling attempts along the Jordanian border in recent months. Such attempts are foiled every few weeks, but some officials have admitted that the military has failed to achieve much success thus far.


Hamas broadcasts 'terror porn' reenactment of 2002 attack
Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV recently aired a video reenactment of a deadly July 2002 terrorist attack near the Emmanuel settlement. The video has been translated and made available by MEMRI.

In the attack, Hamas terrorists disguised themselves as IDF soldiers, immobilized a civilian bus with roadside bombs, and opened fire on the passengers and rescue workers with rifles.

Nine Israelis, including a nine-month-old and a baby delivered prematurely after the attack, were killed, and 16 others were wounded.

In the video, a kippah–wearing bus driver tells the passengers not to worry about a repeat of the 2001 Immanuel bus attack, in which 10 Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists, because the bus in which they are riding is armored.

The video then shows Israeli soldiers saying over the radio that the bus is being attacked and that explosions and "crazy shooting" can be heard. The video cuts to soldiers on the bus taking cover and crying for "mommy" as grenades are thrown into the bus.

Later in the reenactment, the bus driver tells his passengers "I told you, trust the army," before being shot in the head by the attackers, who then proceed to shoot at the passengers through the bus's narrow upper windows.
Hamas TV Airs Reenactment of a 2002 Terrorist Attack That Left Nine Israelis Dead
On April 1, 2022, Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) aired a video reenactment of a July 2002 terrorist attack near the Israeli settlement of Immanuel in the West Bank in which Hamas terrorists disguised themselves as Israeli soldiers, immobilized a civilian bus with roadside bombs, and opened fire on the passengers and rescue workers using rifles. Nine Israelis, including a nine-month-old-baby, and a premature baby delivered after the attack, were killed, and 16 others were injured. In the video, a yarmulke-wearing bus driver tells the passengers that they should not be worried about a repeat of the 2001 Immanuel bus attack, in which 10 Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists, because this bus is armored.

The video then shows Israelis soldiers saying over the radio that the bus is being attacked and that explosions and "crazy shooting" can be heard. The video cuts to Israeli soldiers on the bus taking cover and crying for their "mommy" as grenades are thrown into the bus. Later in the reenactment, the bus driver tells his passengers “I told you, trust the army” before being shot in the head by the attackers, who then proceed to shoot at the passengers through the bus’s air vents. In addition, the video features a description of the attack by "Abu Ahmad," a Hamas logistical support officer.




PMW: PMW makes 11,687 submissions to the biased UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry
While the United Nation’s anti-Israel bias is well documented, last year, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) went even further. It chose to “establish an ongoing, independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate” only one country in the world: Israel. This unprecedented committee is now a permanent UN fixture with a budget of US $ 4,151,800 for the year of 2022 alone, that will report to the UN twice every year on Israel's alleged human rights violations.

To expose the anti-Israel bias of the commission, Palestinian Media Watch immediately went into action. Working in cooperation with Human Rights Voices, PMW submitted 11,687 unique submissions - content from PMW’s website - to the so-called “Commission of Inquiry."

Under its own regulations, the commission, which invited these submissions, must review all PMW’s evidence and failure to do so will be additional proof of the one-sided, biased nature of the commission.

In the submissions, PMW gave critical evidence demonstrating how the PA indoctrinates Palestinian children to hate, kill, and seek Martyrdom-death, promotes terror, honors mass murderers of children, operates an institutionalized and systematic policy of paying huge financial rewards to terror, promotes vile Antisemitism, and much more.

This commission, whose sole purpose is to demonize Israel, is being boycotted and ignored completely by the Israeli government and some NGOs. Nonetheless, PMW wants to be able to expose and undermine the commission by supplying it with all the critical evidence proving the PA is the terror supporter and human rights violator, and not Israel. However, not wanting to give it any legitimacy and to ensure that the commission will not use PMW’s submissions as a fig leaf for its anti-Israel designs, every one of PMW’s submissions included this disclaimer: “This submission in itself should not be understood as an endorsement of the inquiry or its mandate.”


MEMRI: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Other Palestinian Groups Threaten Violence During Ramadan – 'The Month Of Jihad And Martyrdom'
Amid the current escalation of terror attacks in Israel, and as the month of Ramadan begins, officials in Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) threaten a large-scale and imminent explosion of violence. This explosion, they say, will take place on all the fronts – in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in the "1948 territories" – and will be "more powerful and painful" for Israel. The officials also reiterated numerous times that Ramadan is the month of jihad, martyrdom and great conquests in Islam.

Hamas official Khaled Mash'al stated that the coming period will be difficult for Israel and "will hold surprises." PIJ official Ahmad Al-Mudallal said that Israel's fears regarding Ramadan are being realized.

Warnings about an upcoming widescale violent conflict were also expressed by columnist Rajab Abu Sariya in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. He wrote that this confrontation would be very difficult to prevent and likewise emphasized that Ramadan is the month in which the most glorious jihad takes place. His suggestions of ways for Israel to prevent confrontation included easing restrictions on the Palestinians, granting Muslims freedom of worship in Jerusalem during Ramadan, refraining from provocation, and creating a path for a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

The following are examples of threats and warnings by Hamas and PIJ leaders as well as excerpts from Abu Sariya's column:
Hamas Official Khaled Mash'al: "The Month Of Ramadan Will Be Difficult And Will Hold Surprises"
An article posted on the Hamas website on March 30, 2022, stated: "The leader of the Hamas movement abroad, Khaled Mash'al, said that the coming month of Ramadan will be difficult and will hold surprises, because the enemy is trying to enforce quiet in exchange for nothing, while continuing its raids and attacks. He emphasized that the finger of the resistance is on the trigger, and that it [the resistance] is ready to repeat the Sword of Jerusalem [i.e. the May 2021 round of fighting in the Gaza Strip]. Mash'al also said, at a Wednesday [March 30] online conference titled 'The Resistance Continues,' held by the Jordanian Association for Support for the Resistance and the Defense of the Homeland: 'We are not striving for war, but we will not abandon the land, Jerusalem, and the holy places.'
Palestinian Jerusalem committee defends PA curriculum

When you see a 15-year-old with a rock or knife… know that this cause continues, says Fatah official



Iran gave IAEA documents on outstanding issues, country's nuclear chief says
Iran provided the UN nuclear watchdog with documents related to outstanding issues, Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said Wednesday, as Tehran demanded the agency close its investigation into uranium particles found at three undeclared sites.

In March, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed on a three-month plan to attempt to resolve the long-stalled issue, an obstacle to the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamist Republic and world powers.

"We have handed over the documents on March 20 to the agency. They are reviewing those documents and probably the agency's representatives will travel to Iran for further talks and then the IAEA will present its conclusion," Eslami told a televised news conference.

The IAEA has long said Iran had not given satisfactory answers on those issues, but in early March the agency announced a plan for a series of exchanges.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said last month he would aim to report his conclusion by the June 6 Board of Governors' meeting.
Iran Moves Machines for Making Centrifuge Parts to Natanz: UN Nuclear Watchdog
Iran has moved all its machines that make centrifuge parts from its mothballed workshop at Karaj to its sprawling Natanz site just six weeks after it set up another site at Isfahan to make the same parts, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.

Iran granted International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to Karaj in December to re-instal surveillance cameras there after a months-long standoff that followed what Tehran said was Israeli sabotage that destroyed one camera and badly damaged another, prompting Iran to remove all four cameras.

A month later, Iran told the IAEA it was moving production of the parts for advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, to a new location in Isfahan, and the IAEA set up cameras there to monitor that work.

Little is known about the Isfahan workshop. Diplomats have said it is slightly larger than the Karaj one. On Wednesday, the IAEA said Iran had moved all the equipment from Karaj to an unspecified location at Natanz, raising the question of whether it will increase output by using both Natanz and Isfahan.

“On the same date (April 4), agency inspectors verified that these machines remained under agency seal at this location in Natanz and, therefore, were not operating,” the IAEA said in a statement summarizing a confidential report to member states seen by Reuters.

Neither the statement nor the report described the location at Natanz, a site that includes a large underground enrichment plant and various buildings above ground.




 

 

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