Saturday, April 09, 2022

04/09 Links: Bennett wants US to lean on Abbas to cut payments to terrorist’s father; Actress who played the ‘girl in the red coat’ in 'Schindler’s List' becomes real-life hero

From Ian:

Iran is Willing to Fight to the Last Israeli Arab
Iran, it has often been said, is willing to fight to the last Arab. The Islamic Republic’s long-standing policy of using Arabs to fight its proxy wars is, it seems, being extended to the Jewish state. And Israeli Arabs are paying the price.

Many of Israel’s Arab communities have seen a spike in violent crime in recent months and years. In 2013, for example, there were 58 homicides. But by 2020, that number stood at 97 – an astounding increase. That year, the Times of Israel observed, was for Israeli Arabs officially “their deadliest year in recent memory.”

The epidemic of violence attracted considerable coverage from news outlets, both foreign and domestic. The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, have devoted news and editorial space to the crime spree. Much of the press attention, however, has focused on the supposed social inequities – both real and imagined – which are allegedly fueling the violence.

“The wave of violence,” The Washington Post claimed in an October 2019 report, “has prompted outrage in the country’s Arab communities, near-daily protests and accusations that law enforcement protects some Israelis more than others.” Two years later, an October 2021 New York Times dispatch warned that “killing of Arabs by Arabs has soared,” but “the prevailing assumption, an official said, was ‘as long as they are killing each other, that’s their problem.’”

The news media narrative is clear: even when Israeli Arabs are shooting each other, it is somehow and someway, still the fault of the Jewish state.

But another, more credible culprit exists: Iran.
Bennett wants US to lean on Abbas to cut payments to terrorist’s father — report
Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office have reportedly asked the US to pressure the Palestinian Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas to cut payments to the father of the terrorist who carried out Thursday’s attack in Tel Aviv.

Ra’ad Hazem, a Palestinian from the West Bank, killed three people at a Tel Aviv bar before being killed in a shootout with Israeli forces.

His father, Fathi, is a former security prisoner who previously served as an officer in the Palestinian Authority’s security services in Jenin, and therefore already receives a stipend from the PA.

He is also expected to receive an additional stipend over the death of his son. Earlier Friday, he hailed his son’s deadly shooting spree and encouraged further such acts.

“Your eyes will see the victory soon. You will see the change. You will achieve your freedom… God, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the desecration of the occupiers,” Fathi said, according to footage from the scene.

Channel 12 said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office contacted officials in the US to pressure Abbas to cut the existing and future payments to Fathi’s following those remarks.
Gunman Who Carried Out Tel Aviv Attack Claimed as ‘Senior Member’ Of Fatah-Affiliated Terror Organization
Just hours after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Thursday night’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv that killed three Israelis and wounded seven more, a senior official from his own Fatah faction claimed that the gunman, 29-year-old Ra’ed Hazem, was a member of the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AMB) terror organization.

Speaking on Friday morning outside Hazem’s residence in the West Bank city of Jenin, Atta Abu Rumailah — the secretary-general of Fatah in Jenin — described the slain terrorist as a “senior member” of the AMB, which has engaged in hundreds of deadly attacks against Israelis since its foundation in 2002. Hazem’s father also spoke, lauding his sons’ actions and promising that “victory will come soon, in the coming days you will see the change.”

The atrocity in Tel Aviv was the second of the four terror attacks in Israel during the last several weeks to have been associated with the AMB. Diaa Hamarsheh — a 27-year-old from the village of Yabad near Jenin who carried out a gun attack in Bnei Brak on March 30, killing five people — was also reportedly linked to the AMB, which praised his shooting spree as “a natural response to the crimes of the occupation.”

In the wake of Thursday’s attack on a popular bar located on Dizengoff Street, in the heart of Tel Aviv, Abbas declared that the “killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads to a further deterioration of the situation, as we are all striving for stability, especially during the holy month of Ramadan and the upcoming Christian and Jewish holidays.”

Other Fatah officials were less nuanced. Munir al-Jaghoub, who heads Fatah’s information department, stated “the continued occupation of the lands of the State of Palestine” and the “double standards” supposedly demonstrated by the rest of the world towards the Palestinians had provoked the attack.

“The only solution is to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories and realize the Palestinian state on the ground,” Jaghoub said.


JPost Editorial: Media should have been more responsible in covering Tel Aviv terror attack - editorial
Many people who watched the live TV news broadcasts from Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv on Thursday night came away with an uneasy feeling.

First was the suspense and drama playing out live on television, reminiscent of shows like “24” or Miami Heat. Here was a live chase for a terrorist on the streets of the State of Israel’s main commercial and entertainment hub.

There were the initial images from the scene of the attack, at the Ilka Bar where three people were murdered and half a dozen more were wounded and then the live feed from Dizengoff 176 where dozens of policemen and IDF soldiers stood with their guns and assault rifles pointed upwards due to a suspicion that the gunman - later found near a mosque in Jaffa - was holed up inside.

What they were thinking exactly, was unclear. Had the terrorist been inside the building and opened a window and started spraying the street below he would have hit many of those same security officers. Should the street have not been cleared and then only a select group sent to the building?

And this is only one of the many questions that came out of that evening. In general, what was obvious from the scene was that chaos reigned in Tel Aviv on Thursday night and no one was able to control what was happening.

The reason was that the terrorist was still on the run and was not neutralized right after the attack as mostly happens. As a result, with a terrorist on the run, the city went wild - and with it the country.

Approximately 1,000 policemen and soldiers - including elite units like Sayeret Matkal and Shaldag - descended on the city and began going door-to-door searching for the terrorist. What also happened was that the media - there in larger numbers than usual since it was after all Tel Aviv - decided to follow the security forces on their house-to-house hunt.

Reporters were running - mostly out of breath - after the soldiers and policemen as they went into apartment buildings, backyards and narrow alleyways in search of the shooter. That they were broadcasting police and army tactics on live TV meant nothing. That they were showing the soldier’s and policemen’s faces - some banned from being publicized- also meant very little.

This was about ratings and drama and there was nothing like it before on Israeli TV.
IDF, police, Shin Bet criticize media for coverage of Tel Aviv attack in rare letter
The spokesperson units of the Israel Police, IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) sent an unusual joint letter to “all of the media outlets” in the country, denouncing the coverage of the shooting on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv and the aftermath of Thursday night and calling on them to examine and learn lessons from the incident.

Reporters on Thursday night followed IDF soldiers during the hunt for the escaped terrorist, at one point even filming almost directly over their shoulders as they searched a building. While the police said they had requested that the reporters stay away, they admitted that they did not close off the area and did not officially demand that the material be censored.

“The recent security situation has been sensitive and challenging for all of us – the broad public, the security and emergency bodies and the Israeli media,” the letter began. “The security incidents sharpen the special role we each have: the professional role to provide security, to provide coverage of the reality on the ground and bring it to the public’s attention, and no less important: to strengthen the feeling of security and prevent the distribution of fake news that can enhance the public’s anxiety and panic.

“The difficult terror attack that occurred on Dizengoff Street and the fact that the area was not ‘closed off’ immediately, caused, unfortunately, media conduct that reminded viewers of television programs that have nothing to do with an emergency situation.

“Some of the TV channels turned the hunt for the terrorist into actual reality TV, without any censorship or self-criticism,” the letter added in bold letters.


City of Jenin to be closed following TLV terrorist attack
Israeli-Arabs will be prevented from entering the city of Jenin and merchants and other businessmen from the city will be unable to enter Israel following a situational assessment on Saturday evening.

Israel's Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, Maj.-Gen. Ghasan Alyan decided on a number of steps following a situational assessment with Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Saturday evening. Among them were several steps surrounding the city of Jenin.

Among the actions to be taken, is complete cessation of pedestrian and vehicular passage into and out of Jenin through the Gilboa Crossing (Jalameh) and the Reihan (Barta'ah) Crossing.

Complete cessation of the D2D transfer of aggregates out through the crossings of the Jenin district.

Exclusion of merchants and senior businesspeople (BMC) who are residents of the Jenin area from entering the territory of the State of Israel.

Continuing the exit of laborers into Israel, and other civil routines, while intensifying inspections at the crossings.
PIJ operative killed, three suspects arrested in IDF operation in Jenin
IDF special forces and Border Police forces came under fire while operating overnight and on Saturday morning in Jenin and the surrounding area. The forces arrested three suspects connected to Ra'ad Hazem, the terrorist who went on a shooting spree on Thursday in Tel Aviv, killing three. A Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative was killed during the fighting, while no Israeli casualties were reported.

The operation was part of the wider "Break the Wave" campaign aimed at curbing the current wave of, and included two efforts. The first was to map the terrorist's home. This was carried out by Sayeret Golani along with engineering troops.

The second effort was directed at arresting suspects involved in the attack. The Duvdevan commando unit along with Border Police troops and undercover fighters operated in a number of locations. They arrested the two operatives they were looking for, but arrested a third and evacuated him for medical treatment after he was seriously injured after firing at the forces.

The terrorist's father praised the attack and security forces are investigating whether Hazem had help planning and carrying it out. His father also refused a summons to the IDF investigation unit, saying that if the IDF wanted him, it should come and get him, KAN reported.

Gun battles were reported between Palestinian operatives and the IDF forces. Numerous news outlets reported that at least one Palestinian was killed and 13 injured, three seriously.


Generation Jihad Ep. 68 — Israel terror wave: 3 weeks. 4 attacks. 13 dead. Here’s what we know.
In just under three weeks, the most recent string of terrorism to strike Israel has so far included four high-profile attacks that left 13 dead and many more injured across Israel — including in heavily-populated civilian areas like Be’er Sheba and Tel Aviv. Just yesterday, a terrorist opened fire on civilians enjoying an evening out on Tel Aviv’s famous Dizengoff Street, known for its bustling nightlife. We’re approaching almost one-year since the 2021 Gaza Conflict. Is any of this related? Who is responsible? Are these lone-wolf attacks? Have any jihadi groups claimed responsibility? Should we believe them? To make sense of what’s happening, host Bill Roggio is joined by Long War Journal’s Joe Truzman to unpack and analyze the latest information from a variety of sources.
Hamas slams Bahrain, Turkey for condemning Tel Aviv attack
Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip have attacked Bahrain and Turkey for condemning Thursday’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.

On Friday, Bahrain condemned the attack, describing it as a “terrorist operation.”

“We reiterate the Kingdom of Bahrain’s position that opposed all forms of terrorism and violence no matter the motives and justifications,” Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Turkish Embassy in Israel condemned the terrorist attack and expressed concern over the recent increase in such actions. The embassy offered condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack, as well as the government and the people of Israel.

The United Arab Emirates Embassy in Israel said in a statement that it “condemns the terrorist attack and expresses its condolences to the families of the victims of this dreadful act.”

On Friday morning, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s office published a statement in which he condemned the killing of Israeli civilians. The statement warned that the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians will further deteriorate the situation.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denounced Bahrain and Turkey, but did not mention the UAE.

“The resistance of our people and holy sites is an act of self-defense,” Qassem said. “This right is guaranteed by all international laws.”

Several Hamas officials and activists are based in Turkey. The criticism of Turkey is seen as another sign of tensions between Hamas and Ankara, especially in the aftermath of the recent rapprochement between the Turkish government and Israel.

A committee representing several Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip also expressed outrage over the condemnations of the Tel Aviv attack.


CBC Publishes Opinion Column & Broadcasts Radio Interview Whitewashing Palestinian Terrorism
As the conflict in Ukraine rages on, it has become tempting for some commentators to attempt to shoehorn their own anti-Israel politics into the Russo-Ukrainian War. Regrettably, while this tactic is repeatedly tried, the biggest victim continues to be the truth.

In a recent April 8 column for CBC Opinion entitled: “Palestinian Winnipegger grateful for world’s response to Ukraine, though it’s been painful to witness,” author Idris Elbakri attempted to draw parallels between Ukraine and the Palestinians, and to portray Israel as a menacing figure.

“The vocabulary used to refer to Ukraine and its people’s heroic efforts to defend it – resistance, sanctions, Molotov cocktails, sacrificing oneself for country — were all familiar to us. They form part of the vocabulary of a people long steeped in resistance and protest,” Elbakri wrote.

Despite this attempt to link Ukraine and the Palestinians, the circumstances between the two could not be more different.

Ukraine is a sovereign state being invaded by a separate sovereign state, Russia, and in the face of the invasion, Ukrainians are fighting against an armed force actively involved in combat.

Conversely, what Elbakri calls “resistance” is nothing more than a whitewashed version of reality. Israel is a sovereign state, and despite repeated offers on Israel’s part to create a Palestinian state, Palestinian leadership has refused the offer, and instead has continued to deny Israel’s right to exist, incite hatred against Israel and Jews, and incentivizes and rewards Palestinian terrorists.

The results are as predictable as they are tragic.

In recent weeks, 14 innocent people have died in Israel at the hands of Palestinian and Arab terrorists, including shooting and stabbing attacks. None of these people are involved in active combat in any way.

Yet Elbakri would have readers believe that the fight against an invasion force is tantamount to Palestinians stabbing and shooting innocent Israeli civilians in the street for no reason other than that they are Israeli or Jewish.
CBC National Fails To Label Palestinian Attack Terrorism, But Calls ISIS Terrorists
On April 7th, CBC The National aired a segment by co-host Adrienne Arsenault who reported on the latest terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which saw 3 Israelis murdered, and several more wounded.

In the report, Arsenault (former CBC Middle East Bureau Chief) failed to call the Palestinian terrorist-attacker a terrorist. In what smacks as a complete double standard, Arsenault concluded her report by calling ISIS terrorists.

Here is the full transcript:
“An attacker targeted crowds in a restaurant district in Tel Aviv, shooting at least two people dead and wounding several others. Israeli police and first responders rushed into the chaos, but the suspect had already fled. This is the fourth in a string of deadly attacks that began late last month, have now claimed at least 13 lives; among the suspects in those previous attacks, Palestinians, reportedly inspired by the ISIS terror group.”

It is incumbent upon CBC The National, Canada’s public broadcaster, as well as Adrienne Arseneault, a respected journalist, to label terrorists in their stories properly and consistently.
Updated CBC News Headline Turns Palestinian Terrorist Into Victim
Update: April 8, 2022 (3:15pm ET)
Subsequent to complaints sent to the CBC by HonestReporting Canada and our subscribers, we take note that CBC has amended its headline which now acknowledges that Israeli forces killed a “suspected attacker”.

While the CBC chose to not identify the Palestinian terrorist as a terrorist, which is deeply regretful in its own right, at the very least this headline no longer misleads readers into thinking that Israeli forces killed a presumably innocent Palestinian civilian.

Original Alert:
On April 8, CBC News published a Thomson Reuters article on its website with the following headline: “Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian after Tel Aviv bar attack”.

In one fell swoop, CBC managed to turn a Palestinian terrorist into a victim of alleged aggressive Israeli actions, with readers who only saw these headlines concluding that a presumably innocent Palestinian was killed.

This was the fourth attack in recent weeks, which saw 3 Israelis murdered after a terrorist opened fire at a bar on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.

This is not the first time that CBC News has published misleading headlines after senseless terrorist attacks in Israel. As you can see from here, here, and here, CBC News has repeatedly ignored and refused to call terror by its rightful name.


Arsen Ostrovsky: The Case Against Putin – A Litmus Test for International Law
In his opening remarks before the Nuremberg Trials, Chief United States Prosecutor, Justice Robert H. Jackson, said:

“The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.”

Yet here we are, some 77 years after the Nazis were defeated, with the question being asked again, can civilization tolerate Putin’s Russia, who is now repeating some of these very same crimes, in their brutal, devastating and merciless assault on Ukraine?

The irony here is inescapable that, as one of the major allied powers, then the Soviet Union, was also represented in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg. Today, we are seeing a role reversal, with Vladimir Putin and the Russian leadership that ought to be sitting in the dock of the accused, for these gravest of crimes on mankind.

Thus far, in just over five weeks of relentless war and savage violence, we have already witnessed what appears to be war crimes and violations of international law committed by Russia on an industrial scale, including the targeting or indiscriminate firing at civilians or civilian infrastructure, use of cluster bombs, crimes against humanity and even possible genocide.

From Mariupol to Bucha, Ukraine has become one mass war crime scene wherever you turn.

It is impossible not to look at the images from Bucha, including mass graves and civilians with their hands tied, summarily executed by Russian forces at point blank, and not be sickened to your very core. If this is not the most flagrant violation of international law, then what is?

As of the time of writing, a number of international legal proceedings have already commenced, including an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, as well as cases brought against Russia by Ukraine, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.

Of these, the ICC is the most important, because it has the power to investigate, prosecute and jail individuals.

The ICC was created in 2002, as a court of last resort, to ensure that individuals who carry out the most egregious crimes, such as those prosecuted in the Nuremberg Trials, do not remain immune for the actions.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia however, are party to the Rome Statute, the governing document which established the ICC’s jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. However, pursuant to Article 12 of the Rome Statute, Ukraine has submitted a declaration acquiescing to ICC jurisdiction for crimes committed any time on its territory after February 2014. In theory, this could include jurisdiction over individuals from President Putin, Foreign Minister Lavrov, Russian military forces and all those complicit in the enabling and carrying out of the alleged crimes.
UK’s Boris Johnson meets with Ukrainian leader Zelensky in Kyiv
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was visiting Kyiv Saturday for face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of a “show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” Downing Street said.

“They will discuss the UK’s long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid,” a spokesperson said.

An aide to Zelensky, Andriy Sybiha, posted a photograph of the leaders sitting opposite each other in a grand room.

Johnson was wearing a dark suit and Zelensky khaki overalls, his signature outfit for public appearances since Russia invaded Ukraine end of February.

“The UK is the leader in the defense support of Ukraine,” Sybiha wrote.

Sybiha described Johnson as “the leader of the anti-war coalition. The leader of sanctions on the Russian aggressor.”

London did not announce Johnson’s Ukraine visit ahead of time, with the prime minister himself batting away questions about a possible visit in a press conference on Friday.

His trip to the Ukrainian capital followed visits to Kyiv of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday and the visit of the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer earlier on Saturday.


Actress who played the ‘girl in the red coat’ in 'Schindler’s List' becomes real-life hero
An actress who was the “girl in the red coat” in “Schindler’s List” has turned real life heroine by coordinating help for fleeing Ukrainian refugees.

Oliwia Dabrowska appeared in Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 classic aged just three – her red coat providing the only flash of color in the black-and-white Oscar winner.

Her character, a little Jewish girl, was the catalyst that saved the lives of more than 1,200 Jews destined for Nazi concentration camps in 1943.

And now Oliwia, 32, from Krakow, Poland, has taken inspiration from Oskar Schindler and is helping those fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

She told followers on social media she was coordinating a group of volunteers who are helping refugees as they arrive at the Polish border.

She said she has already found homes for ten families and ensured hundreds more refugees are transported to major cities in Poland.

Oliwia posted a photo of her wearing a yellow high-vis jacket at the border, with a line of coaches behind her.

Livestreaming on Instagram, she said: “I don’t wait for things and no one from our group of volunteers wants to hear thank you, we just do our job.


i24NEWS: Is Israel an apartheid state?
Is Israel an apartheid state? Yoseph Haddad went all the way to London to check out what the British people know about Israel and especially about Arab Israelis, who according to Amnesty International, live under an“apartheid” regime.


French Jewish voters divided as Zemmour makes Jewish man’s death a national issue
It’s been six months since Éric Zemmour quit his job as a journalist to run as a far-right candidate in France’s presidential elections. But this week Zemmour, who is Jewish, landed likely the biggest scoop of his career.

On Tuesday, just days before Sunday’s first round in the presidential race, the right-wing Zemmour broke on social and mainstream media the story of Jérémie Cohen, a 31-year-old disabled Jewish man whose death in February police now suspect may have been the indirect result of violence, which some believe was antisemitic.

Zemmour, a 63-year-old former television pundit whose chances of becoming president are slim, has helped focus national attention on the incident in the midst of a campaign in which antisemitic violence, the rule of law and politicized Islam are central themes.

Asked on TF1, France’s most popular domestic television network, what his first act as president would be, Zemmour replied on Wednesday: “To visit the family of a young man whose name was Jérémie Cohen. The French public doesn’t know about him yet, that’s normal. I will tell the story.”

Zemmour, who is trailing three to four other candidates in recent polls, recounted how Cohen’s death was treated as a vehicle accident for nearly two months, until the man’s father, Gerald, shared with Zemmour the results of the family’s private investigation — including a video in which Cohen is seen running away from men who assaulted him and getting fatally hit by a tram.

The video attracted the attention of incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and other candidates vying for the presidency. The exposure prompted Paris prosecutors this week to announce for the first time that they are opening a criminal investigation into the affair.

For the firebrand Zemmour and his supporters — including many Jews — the incident captures the heart of what is wrong in French society, including the proliferation of antisemitic violence and the media’s treatment of it.
Man who impersonated US federal agent claims Pakistan intelligence ties, Iran visits
One of two men accused of impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington has claimed to have ties to Pakistani intelligence and had visas showing travel to Pakistan and Iran, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The men, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, were arrested Wednesday. The FBI raided a luxury apartment building in Southeast Washington, where the men were staying and had been offering free apartments and other gifts to US Secret Service agents and officers.

During a court appearance Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Ali had told witnesses that he was affiliated with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Pakistan and that he had multiple visas from Pakistan and Iran in the months before prosecutors believe the men began impersonating US law enforcement officials. Rothstein said the US has not yet been able to verify the veracity of Ali’s claims to the witnesses.

Prosecutors believe the men were trying to “ingratiate themselves” and “integrate” with US federal agents and people who worked in the US defense community, Rothstein said.

The FBI searched five residences at the building on Wednesday and three vehicles. They found body armor, gas masks, zip ties, handcuffs, equipment to break through doors, drones, radios and police training manuals, Rothstein said.

The two men also had surveillance equipment and a high-power telescope, he said. The FBI found evidence that they may have been creating surveillance devices and also found a binder with information on all the residents in the luxury apartment building, which is home to law enforcement officers, defense officials and congressional staffers.
Rare daytime Israeli airstrike targets northwest Syria
A rare daytime alleged Israeli airstrike targeted sites near Masyaf in northwestern Syria on Saturday afternoon, according to Syrian reports.

The airstrikes were carried out from over northern Lebanon, with Syrian air defenses responding to the strikes, according to Syrian state news site SANA. According to SANA, only material damage was caused.

Video reportedly from the scene showed large plumes of smoke rising from hillsides in the area.

The Step News Agency reported that the strikes targeted sites belonging to pro-Iranian militias and scientific research sites in Masyaf.

The area of Masyaf has been a target in several attacks in recent years, mostly attributed to the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The last time an airstrike attributed to Israel targeted the area of Masyaf was in early June, when an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted chemical weapons facilities in the city and in other locations, according to The Washington Post. At least eight Syrian soldiers were killed in those strikes, according to opposition-affiliated media.

A site belonging to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) is located in Masyaf and has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes in the past. In 2017, two soldiers were killed in an airstrike blamed on Israel, according to the BBC. The SSRC site in Masyaf was used to produce chemical weapons, according to the BBC.
NYPost Editorial: Even Democrats fear Biden’s Iran deal
The Biden White House is obsessed with putting a new Iran deal in place, no matter how often reality flies in the president’s face.

The latest warning: A group of 18 House Democrats took their case against the deal — in its specifics and in general — to the press Wednesday. “We feel that we can’t stay quiet,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (Va.).

Absolutely: The developing deal would be an even bigger disaster than the 2015 Obama accord that President Donald Trump rightly withdrew from.

That entente emboldened Iran, upped the global legitimacy of its theocratic terror regime and put the Islamic Republic on a glidepath to “legally” building nukes. This one would likely do the same. Israeli experts put the time to nuclear breakout under such a deal at four to six months.

Plus, it requires massive buy-in from Vladimir Putin, the guy President Joe Biden has rightly called a “war criminal” who “cannot remain in power.” So the deal includes sanctions waivers for Russia’s energy projects in Iran.

Appeasing a butcher to cut a deal with another gang of butchers: Does it get more insane?

Well, maybe: Biden’s held off on key aid to Ukraine (like letting Poland give it MiG fighters) for fear of triggering a war with a nuclear power. And this deal (like the first one) won’t stop Tehran from going nuclear, but at best delay it slightly.

And a non-nuclear Iran is already a plague on the region, sponsoring wars and terrorists (and plots to kill US officials); protected by a nuclear umbrella, it’ll only grow more aggressive.
State Department: Biden 'shares the view that IRGC Quds Forces are terrorists'
US President Joe Biden shares the view that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force are terrorists, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a press briefing on Friday.

“The president shares the chairman’s view that IRGC Quds Forces are terrorists, and beyond that we aren’t going to comment on any of the topics in the nuclear talks,” Porter said. “But what I would say is out of the 107 Biden administration designations in relation to Iran, 86 have specifically targeted the IRGC-related persons as well as affiliates.”

Biden does not plan to concede on the IRGC’s terrorist designation, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius reported on Saturday. The administration is willing to continue nuclear talks with Iran, which has demanded the Guard Corps’ removal from the US Foreign Terrorist Organization List as part of an agreement. But the president “doesn’t want to budge” on this matter, which he views as separate from the nuclear file.

The Biden administration's position on the IRGC comes after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s diplomatic adviser Shimrit Meir was in Washington last week, holding intensive meetings with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and other officials on the Iranian threat. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also discussed the matter in his meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the previous week, and Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog has held meetings with officials and legislators in Washington.

Bennett and other Israeli leaders have been publicly voicing their strong opposition to delisting the IRGC for the past six weeks, along with top Emirati and Bahraini officials. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have also expressed their opposition to such a move.


Jewish Students at Princeton University ‘Concerned’ Over Upcoming Anti-Israel Vote
A planned student vote weighing whether Princeton University should stop using construction equipment manufactured by Caterpillar, Inc. over the company’s business in Israel has prompted pushback from some Jewish students worried about its effect on the campus climate.

The referendum, which is set for a campus-wide vote on April 11-13, asks whether Princeton undergraduates should call on the university to “immediately halt usage of all Caterpillar machinery in all ongoing campus construction projects given the violent role that Caterpillar machinery has played in the mass demolition of Palestinian homes, the murder of Palestinians and other innocent people, and the promotion of the prison-industrial complex.”

It cites Caterpillar’s listing as “one of the only targeted construction companies” by the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Jared Stone, president of the student group Tigers for Israel, believes that despite the referendum’s seemingly limited focus, it serves as a way to “import” the BDS conversation to campus, he told The Algemeiner.

“Because the BDS movement has become such a virulent and toxic force on American and global college campuses, stifling dialogue and ensuring the presence of a hateful and un-constructive environment for Jewish and Zionist students, I, as a proud and practicing Jewish student and Zionist who believes in a sustained peace in the region, am quite concerned about its presence,” Stone said.

Some opponents of the measure have formed around the social media campaign Tigers United, Stone said.

“BDS, when it appears on American college campuses, has a deleterious effect on Jewish and Zionist students. Hate crimes and antisemitism have increased immensely because of its presence,” he continued. “And the passage of BDS referenda has only contributed to a snowball effect allowing BDS to spread and metastasize at universities in America and across the globe.”
Pro-Palestine policy may cause McGill student union to be sanctioned
McGill University's student union has been threatened with being sanctioned after being associated with a pro-Palestinian policy that is viewed as discriminatory, according to a Wednesday report by CBC News.

The union was given a month by the Montreal public research university to repeal the policy, or else it would no longer be able to collaborate with McGill if their demands are not met.

This happened because the university's Student Society plans to participate in an international campaign to boycott anything "complicit in settler-colonial apartheid against Palestinians," the report states.

The Palestine Solidarity Policy called on the union to pressure its own university to join the boycott.

Student unions at McGill may use their power to block funding to Jewish and/or pro-Israel groups on campus, according to a report last month report from Israel Hayom.

Reactions were both for and against the policy. Jewish advocacy groups on campus say the policy targets Jewish students; others say that the university's threat to the policy will result in many students feeling underrepresented and leading to political conflict on campus.

Last month, it was reported that McGill Prof. Rula Jurdi Abisaab worked with a Samah Idriss, the late Lebanese writer and anti-Zionist activist. The professor stated that he glorified Idriss’ campaign to erase Zionist sympathizers.


BBC WS uses propagandists to tell ‘the real story’ about the Negev summit – part two
In part one of this post we looked at BBC World Service radio’s use of an inadequately introduced and less than impartial interviewee in the April 1st edition of the BBC World Service radio programme ‘The Real Story’ – presented by Julian Marshall – titled “Israel’s Arab Allies”.

Hot on the heels of that interview came another one with a no less problematic figure from 23:13.

Marshall: “Well one of the reasons Israel’s failed in the past to build formal relationships with most Arab countries is because of the failure of the peace talks with the Palestinians. For many in the Muslim world, normalisation is dependent on Palestinian statehood. Let’s explore that a little bit. All the Arab states at the Negev meeting signed up to what’s known as the Saudi initiative back in 2002 which called for a normalisation of relations between the Arab world and Israel in return for a withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Hence, Palestinian anger that such a meeting in Negev [sic] was taking place. And to get a sense of the depth of that anger, let’s hear from Gaza where Hamas is in control. Fathi Hamad is a senior member of Hamas and a member of the organisation’s political bureau. What does he make of the new warmer relations being developed between Israel and its Arab neighbours?”

As we see, despite the UK government having declared Hamas a terrorist organisation in its entirety in November 2021, the BBC continues to use its members as contributors – a step supposedly requiring senior approval.

“Any proposal to approach an organisation (or an individual member of an organisation) designated a ‘terrorist group’ by the Home Secretary under the Terrorism Acts, and any proposal to approach individuals or organisations responsible for acts of terror, to participate in our output must be referred in advance to Director Editorial Policy and Standards.”

Despite his reference to the Saudi (Arab) initiative, Marshall refrained from telling listeners that Hamas rejected that initiative, as clarified by his interviewee in 2007. Unsurprisingly, all listeners heard from Fathi Hamad were the usual – unchallenged – Hamas talking points.
Artifact on Display at German Museum to Return to Jewish Heirs, Decades After Seizure by Nazis
The descendants of a German Jewish woman will be given restitution for silverware forcibly taken from her by the Nazis in Munich, after intervention by the magazine of B’nai B’rith International, the Jewish organization said on Thursday.

Hermine Bernheimer —who was born and raised in Göppingen, Germany, and later moved to Munich — was adhering to a 1939 Nazi order that Jews must turn over precious metal objects to their local pawn shops when she reliquished a silver cup she owned, according to B’nai B’rith Magazine. She was later deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and murdered.

Her great-niece Naomi Karp first learned about the silver cup in January 2020 from Dr. Matthias Weniger, head of provenance research at the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, which had the item held in storage for decades. Karp proved her relationship to Bernheimer, but she and her extended family had been waiting since April 2021 for the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts to sign paperwork releasing the item to Bernheimer’s family.

After B’nai B’rith Magazine’s Dina Gold reached out to the ministry, asking why the objects were still being held by the national museum, the ministry signed the paperwork last month. Bernheimer’s family has decided to give the cup to the Jewish Museum in Goppingen.

“I’m thrilled that the logjam has been broken and grateful for Dina’s help,” Karp said.

Weniger commented, “There can never be a truly happy ending after all that’s happened. But I look forward to handing the cup, at Naomi and her family’s request, to the Jewish Museum in Göppingen, to be a permanent memory of Hermine’s terrible fate and that of so many others.”
Hate Crime: Palestinian Arab allegedly attacks Jewish bartender with glass
A Chicago woman has been charged with a hate crime for attacking a Jewish bartender with antisemitic abuse and a cocktail glass, CWB Chicago reported.

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a hate crime charged against CVS pharmacy manager Sara Abdulrasoul who is accused of using antisemitic language and throwing a cocktail glass at a River North bartender at 2:30 a.m. on November 7, 2021.

The incident, which occurred at The Underground bar, started when Abdulrasoul, 30, began talking with the bartender and allegedly demanded that she remove her Star of David Necklace. Abdulrasoul called the Jewish bartender a derogatory term and then used “offensive and virulently antisemitic language” to demand that she remove her necklace, Assistant State’s Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis said.

The bartender told Abdulrasoul that she went to school in Israel. Abdulrasoul called her “derogatory terms” and repeated her demand that she take off the necklace, Kalliantasis recounted.

According to Kalliantasis, the bartender apologized and told Abdulrasoul that she wasn’t trying to upset her. However, Abdulrasoul responded that she hated Jews and once again told the Jewish woman to remove her necklace. She then said that the “bartender’s people were killing her people.” The bartender replied, “Oh, you’re Palestinian?”

It was at that point that Abdulrasoul allegedly threw her cocktail glass, which was full, at the bartender, hitting her in the collarbone.
Holocaust survivor passes torch of responsibility in emotional ceremony
Four individuals with personal connections to the Holocaust participated in a moving and gripping panel discussion at the Jerusalem Post London Conference on Thursday.

Eitan Neishlos, a third-generation Holocaust survivor from Australia; Eve Kugler, a first-generation survivor from the United Kingdom; Carolin Hohnecker, a third-generation granddaughter of Nazi SS officers; and Nobuki Sugihara, son of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who issued thousands of exit visas to the Jews of Kovno, Lithuania, discussed their personal circumstances and experiences.

All four will be participating in the March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau on April 28. This year's March will focus on the importance of passing the torch of memory and responsibility from the survivors to the next generations. Jerusalem Post correspondent Zvika Klein moderated the discussion.

Immediately prior to the panel discussion, Eve Kugler addressed the audience, recounting her experiences in the Holocaust, warning that "When you don't confront evil, evil finds a way of pushing the boundaries beyond anything anyone thought possible. It didn't start with six million dead. It started with words. But it rose to more than six million very quickly from there."

Eitan Neishlos, president of the Neishlos Foundation, responded to Kugler's words by promising that "We will continue the message. We stand before you on behalf of the next generation, the third generation. We will light this candle, and we will take this flame of remembrance, and we will pass it down from generation to generation."
Arriving at ISS, Israeli astronaut Stibbe gives station its first taste of Hebrew
A space capsule carrying four astronauts, including Israeli Eytan Stibbe, docked at the International Space Station Saturday in the first fully private mission to the station, and Stibbe and his fellow passengers entered the station.

Speaking at a welcome ceremony aboard the station, Stibbe said a few words in Hebrew.

“Welcome to the International Space Station. It’s the first time that it’s possible to speak in Hebrew here,” he said. “It’s a workgroup that will operate together, we’ll help each other reach our goals. Each of us has come with a full plan of work.

“Good luck to everyone, good luck to Rakia,” he said, referencing the name of the Israeli mission.

The Dragon capsule had blasted off aboard a SpaceX rocket on Friday. It briefly paused its approach to the ISS after the failure of a video feed needed for docking, but teams on the ground found a way to work around the issue.

NASA has hailed the three-way partnership with US company Axiom Space and SpaceX as a key step towards commercializing the region of space known as “Low Earth Orbit,” leaving the agency to focus on more ambitious voyages deeper into the cosmos.

Businessmen Stibbe, American Larry Connor of Ohio, and Canadian Mark Pathy have paid $55 million apiece for the rocket ride.

The visitors’ tickets include access to all but the Russian portion of the space station — they’ll need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Three Americans and a German also live up there.

Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and the second-ever Israeli to go to space, is carrying some 35 experiments for companies and research institutions on the privately funded Rakia Mission to the orbiting lab.




 

 

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 


AddToAny

EoZ Book:"Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism"

 Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM


Stellar reviews from:
Algemeiner
Jewish Press
Times of Israel/Jewish Link


Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates