Thursday, April 21, 2022

04/21 Links Pt1: The Temple Mount travesty and poor US policy; Is Israel Facing a New Intifada?; ‘Simply a lie’: Bennett spars with CNN's Amanpour

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: The Temple Mount travesty and poor US policy
FOREIGN MINISTER Yair Lapid adopted an equally powerless stance. After speaking on the phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he recounted having “emphasized Israel’s responsible and measured efforts in the face of riots by hundreds of Islamic extremists on the Temple Mount,” and insisted that Israel “would not tolerate calls for violence.”

Oh dear. Al-Khasawneh and Abdullah must have been shaking in their boots – double-time when they heard that Lapid had impressed upon Blinken the “need for international support to restore calm to Jerusalem.”

International support? Where from, exactly? The Israel-bashing Security Council?

Perhaps he was angling for a helping hand from Blinken himself, who last month “discussed [with Bennett] ways to foster a peaceful Passover, Ramadan and Easter across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem... [such as] 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 [and] evictions of families from homes they’ve lived in for decades.”

All one needs to grasp just how wrong the thinking and behavior of Bennett, Lapid and their American counterparts has been is a review of the period leading up to and responsible for the Abraham Accords. On April 30, 2018, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed the nation a trove of tens of thousands of documents obtained by the Mossad from a warehouse in Tehran.

It was on the basis of this massive archive, which provided proof of Iran’s clandestine nuclear-weapons program, that Trump announced on May 8, a mere eight days later, that he was withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and the Islamic Republic.
Is Israel Facing a New Intifada?
Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Shaul Mofaz was Chief of Staff when the IDF entered the West Bank in Operation Defensive Shield on March 29, 2002, to quell the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign that had murdered 135 people in Israel that month during the Second Intifada. Mofaz said the reality now is not at all similar. "Then the terror was directed by Arafat, and most of the Palestinians - 70% to 80% - joined in the confrontation and supported it." Today, the terrorism is not being directed by the PA leadership, nor does it have the same level of popular participation and support.

"Imagine 45,000 soldiers, half of them reservists, going into all the refugee camps, 15 in all, all eight of the cities, all of the tunnels, going into the casbahs and going house to house to take out weapons." That operation fundamentally changed the country's security reality. "That the IDF today operates freely in the area is thanks to Defensive Shield." The Second Intifada, Mofaz said, also changed public opinion in Israel, with a large part of Israelis no longer believing that it was possible to trust Arafat or the PA.

Mofaz said he did not see the support of 70-80% of the Palestinian population for an armed confrontation with Israel today. "Something happened to Palestinian society as well. Palestinian society, and a good part of our enemies, understand that they won't get achievements through violence and terror. Many of the Palestinian leaders during that period will tell you today that it was a mistake to strike out against Israel with suicide bombers and guns to kill Israelis to achieve diplomatic aims...because while Israelis were obviously hurt, those who paid a higher price were the Palestinians."
A Timeline of Terror and Tensions, Spring 2022
In the spring of 2022, Israel was struck by a series of Arab terror attacks. The attacks, in the cities of Beersheva, Hadera, Bnei Brak, and Tel Aviv, took 14 innocent Jewish, Arab, and Christian lives. During counter-terror operations and arrest raids in the weeks that followed, over two dozen Palestinians were killed, nearly all of them in the act of attacking Israelis.

Stone throwing attacks by Palestinian rioters on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount led to violent clashes between the rioters and Israeli police officers. Ramadan prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque, though, were attended by many thousands of peaceful Muslim worshipers and passed without incident.

In recent days, Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip escalated tensions, and threatened to incite broader fighting between Israel and the Hamas terror organization that rules the Gaza Strip.

The following timeline covers major incidents during the terror wave and subsequent tensions. As some coverage of and commentary on the tensions blur and equivocate, concealing the distinctions between civilians and assailants, lumping them together as a “cycle of violence,” or suggesting the violence is the inevitable result of the confluence of Passover, Ramadan, and Easter, the timeline helps clarify what happened, and why.


Will the EU Stand Steadfast Against PA Hate and Terrorism?
While Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has been exposing the destructive messages of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s education system and the problematic contents of the PA schoolbooks for over two decades (see here, here, and here) — most donor countries turned a blind eye, ignoring the warnings.

At a joint press conference with PMW to release one of our reports on PA schoolbooks, then Senator Hilary Clinton commented that the PA textbooks “do not give Palestinian children an education; they give them an indoctrination,” and said that the PA curriculum “profoundly poisons the minds” of Palestinian children.

As additional studies repeated and reaffirmed PMW’s conclusions, the European Union, which has been a huge donor to the PA, was the first to take a stand, conditioning its aid to the PA on curriculum reform. As a result of the EU decision, according to PA published financial reports, aid from the EU to the PA plummeted from 758,400,000 shekels in 2020 to just 97,000,000 shekels in 2021.

In June 2021, an EU commissioned report of the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research found that PA textbooks have antisemitic content; present Palestinian violence and terror against Israelis as part of a “heroic struggle”; and deny the legitimacy of Israel’s existence through maps that erase Israel and label the entire area “Palestine.”

Despite being desperate for foreign aid, the PA is quite adamant about its refusal to implement any reforms. Rather than changing the destructive content of its schoolbooks, the PA expects the EU to capitulate and continue funding the PA schoolbooks.
Arab League urges Israel to stop Jewish prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque
The Arab League called on Israel on Thursday to end Jewish prayers inside the compound of Islam's third holiest shrine in east Jerusalem, warning it was a flagrant affront to Muslim feelings that could trigger a wider conflict.

They said while Israel was restricting the right of worship of Muslims in Jerusalem's Old City, ultra-nationalist Jews under police protection were being allowed at the height of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Sitting atop the walled Old City plateau, the site is known to Muslims as Haram al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where they believe two ancient temples were located.

"Our demands are clear that Al-Aqsa and Haram al-Sharif in all its area is a sole place of worship for Muslims," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al Safadi told reporters alongside the Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit after an emergency meeting in Amman on the matter.

Gheit said Israel was violating centuries-old policy according to which non-Muslims may visit the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam's third most sacred site after Mecca and Medina, but not pray there.

Israeli leaders have said they are ensuring freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem.
MEMRI: Jordanian Writer Raja Talab: It Is Hard To Believe That 6 Million Jews Were Killed In The Holocaust; There Are No Ideological And Moral Contradictions Between Nazism And Zionism – And These Movements' Cooperation Is Well Documented
In an April 17, 2022 op-ed in the government-owned Jordanian daily Al-Rai, titled "Zionism, Nazism and the Hidden Truth," Jordanian writer Raja Talab expressed doubt that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and stated that the Zionist movement has used the Holocaust to accelerate global recognition of Israel. He added that there is no ideological or moral difference between Nazism and Zionism, and that the two movements' cooperation was well documented in a 2005 article by the late Egyptian Marxist-turned-Islamist intellectual Dr. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri.

The following is the full translation of the article. [1]
Lord Shaftesbury's Statement "A Land Without A People For A People Without A Land" Is The Biggest Lie In Human History
"Global Zionism, even before it was founded as an organization by Herzl in 1897, had succeeded, with the support of Evangelical (Christians) in Britain and the U.S. in turning the biggest lie in human history into a concrete project – Israel. The lie I am referring to is the 19th-century statement by the English Lord Shaftesbury [sic] – 'a land without a people for a people without a land' – inviting European nations to convene in London in 1840 to adopt it and work to bring Jews back to Palestine and establish a state of their own. As a result, Lord Henry Palmerston, Shaftesbury's father in-law and at the time British foreign minister, adopted a project aimed at creating a Jewish commonwealth in the southern half of Syria – that is, historic Palestine and Jordan.

"Based on these efforts came the famous Balfour Declaration, backed by Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, as Balfour promised Rothschild in 1917 that Britain would stand with the Zionist movement in its quest for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. That promise was considered the birth certificate of the lie that is called Israel, which became a reality in 1948."

It Is Hard To Believe That Six Million Of 11 Million Jews Were Killed During The Holocaust
"In the same context, this lie was followed by another one, amplifying the Jewish Holocaust and falsifying a lot of information about, it as Zionist propaganda maintained that the Nazis killed almost six million Jews during World War II, out of the eleven million Jews worldwide at that time. This figure is hard to believe. The truth of the matter is that the Nazi murders and torture during the war included most Slavic peoples, among them the Jews who were descendants of the Slavic race – in addition to the Romany people of Romania, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and the mentally and physically disabled. The killing operations were carried out under the purely racist pretext that these races and peoples are menial and loathed.

"Global Zionism invested deeply and qualitatively in the Holocaust, thanks to Western complicity particularly on the part of Britain and the U.S., in the process of mobilizing the acceleration of global recognition of the occupation state in 1948."
Jordan Calls Emergency Regional Meeting Over Tensions in Jerusalem
Jordan, which administers the Al-Aqsa Mosque, will hold an emergency meeting of a regional committee with the “illegal Israeli policies and measures” in Jerusalem on the agenda.

The committee meeting includes member countries that have recently normalized relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority will also participate in the meeting.

WAFA reports that the purpose of the meeting will be to “discuss the recent Israeli escalation at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and ways to stop it and restore calm.”

On Wednesday, a senior Israeli diplomat accused Jordan of playing a “double game” with its responses to recent unrest in Jerusalem, haranguing Israel in public while speaking more reasonably behind closed doors.

“They tell us this is how they keep those who ask Jordan to cut ties with Israel at bay,” the diplomatic official said during a briefing with Israeli journalists.

More than half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent, and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel is highly unpopular, especially during times of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Rocket Sirens Sounds in Sderot Area of Southern Israel
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip damaged a home in southern Israel on Wednesday night, in the second such attack this week.

A red alert warning was given to Sderot and the surrounding communities of Ibim and Nir Am in the Gaza envelope.

One launch was detected, causing minor damage to a house and a vehicle, police said. No wounds were reported, although several patients were treated for anxiety.

The launch comes after a flag march through Jerusalem’s Old City, a flashpoint event.

This is the second rocket attack this week, with Monday’s launch setting off alarms in multiple southern towns before being intercepted by Israel’s military.

“A few minutes ago, sirens sounded in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip. One rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said in a statement posted to its official Hebrew-language Twitter account.


Gaza Rocket Lands in Sderot Yard, Third Attack in Four Days
Terrorists in Gaza fired a single rocket at Jewish communities in the Gaza Envelope area of southern Israel late Wednesday night — the third such attack in the past four days.

The rocket landed in the yard of a house on Keren Hayesod Street in the city of Sderot, less than a mile from the border. “It was scary,” said a resident of the house. “It landed near a gas cylinder. Miraculously, it didn’t explode.”

No physical injuries were reported, but four Israelis were treated by medical personnel for severe anxiety.

“Sappers are handling the item to safely remove it from the scene,” said a spokesperson for Israel Police.

“I expect the prime minister, the minister of defense and the cabinet not to ignore this rocket attack that miraculously ended without casualties,” Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi told reporters.

The Red Alert incoming rocket alarm siren was triggered in Sderot, Ibim and Nir Am just a bare few seconds before the projectile landed, sending hundreds of families scrambling for cover, in many cases yanking their small, sleeping children out of their beds to make the run.


Israeli War Planes Strike Hamas Targets in Response to Rocket Attack
Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza before dawn on Thursday after a rocket launched from the Palestinian territory landed in Israel, Hamas officials and Israeli military sources said.

Two training camps used by Hamas, the Islamist terror group that rules the blockaded enclave, were hit, and no casualties were reported, witnesses said.

Israeli war planes struck a security post and part of an underground site used to produce rocket engines, the Israeli military said in a statement.

Earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza struck southern Israel, causing slight damage to a house but no injuries, police said. No faction claimed responsibility for what is the second such attack in days.

In a statement, Hamas said Israel’s bombing will only encourage Palestinians to “resist the occupation and step up their support for Jerusalem and its people.”


‘Simply a lie’: Bennett spars with CNN anchor Amanpour over Jerusalem tensions
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday had a tense back-and-forth with CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel’s handling of recent clashes on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.

In the interview, Amanpour asked Bennett why Israeli police sometimes enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is located on the Temple Mount, citing the sensitivities of Palestinians and Muslims elsewhere.

“There you go again starting the story in the middle,” he said.

Referring to clashes last Friday at the Temple Mount, the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism, Bennett noted police entered the mosque after rocks were hurled from it toward officers.

“My responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to provide freedom of prayer for everyone in Jerusalem, including Muslims, which is why I had to send in policemen to remove the rioters and it worked,” he said.

“When faced with violence you have to act tough,” he added.


Bennett to CNN’s Amanpour: You’re voicing a lie



The Israel Guys: The TRUTH About the Temple Mount Riots | *crazy footage
Did Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett just end his political career by closing the Temple Mount to ALL non-Jews? As usual, the news is all topsy-turvy coming out of Israel, and most of what you’ve been seeing and hearing is not true.

On today’s program, we break through the fog of riots on the Temple Mount, the supposed Israeli police storming the Al Aqsa Mosque, and the many international condemnations that have piled up against Israel.




The Mista'arvim: an Elite Israeli Undercover Unit Disguised as Palestinians
Mista'arvim is a Hebrew word derived from the Arabic musta'ribeen, which means those who disguise themselves as Arabs.

They dress, speak, and act like Palestinians, and carry out missions in the heart of Arab towns and cities.

Among other roles, the mista'arvim operate during Palestinian riots and even partake in burning tires and hurling rocks.

They usually wear keffiyehs and leave their shirts untucked to conceal their handguns. They target young Palestinians closest to the Israeli army's front line and arrest them.

The goal is to create an atmosphere of distrust, paranoia, and fear, thus discouraging riots.

"You can't really know if this person next to you is another Palestinian like you or an undercover agent that can abduct you at any moment or pull out a weapon," explained Esmat Omar, a Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs and intelligence.
Hamas calls for Palestinian ‘mobilization’ ahead of Friday’s Al-Aqsa prayers
The Hamas terror group on Thursday called on Palestinians to “mobilize” for Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in defense of the holy site and Jerusalem.

In a statement, the organization hailed the steadfastness of protesters who “repelled the incursions of the occupation and its settlers with courage and pride, assuring everyone far and wide that Al-Aqsa has men who protect it and defend its purity, despite the ugliness of aggression and terrorism of the occupiers.”

At the same time, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh held a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on security developments in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, his office said.

According to the Palestinian Shehab news agency, Haniyeh expressed appreciation for Moscow’s support of Palestinian rights at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The head of the terror group accused Israel of preventing worshipers from reaching the Jerusalem holy site, assaulting and arresting worshipers and vandalizing property.

Meanwhile, Shehab reported, Lavrov said Russia has “always been on the side of the Palestinian people in their right to self-determination and their right to establish their Palestinian state.”


The Iranian Takeover of Lebanon
According to Brig.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, the outgoing commander of the Galilee Division, in Lebanon, "Hizbullah is expanding the Iranian foothold. While ordinary citizens don't have food or fuel, Iranian-funded grocery chains and gas stations are assisting the Shi'ite community."

"Even if Iran is subject to international sanctions, its aid to Hizbullah, though it has been affected, hasn't stopped. A soldier in Lebanon's army earns less than a Hizbullah operative....The Iranian influence is dangerous, not least because today they are more ready to be bold and play with fire in our direction."

The main change in recent years relates to the deployment in southern Lebanon of the Radwan unit, Hizbullah's elite force, after years of experience in the Syrian civil war. "They have tools they didn't have in 2006, notably an attack plan and capability in our territory. They have expanded the firepower aimed at our home front and they have improved their defensive capability in the face of an IDF maneuver."

In the next confrontation, Binder says, the goal will be "to finish when Hizbullah has sustained a mortal blow. We will try to reduce significantly their arsenal of all types, to strike at commanders and fighters. The hope is that it will lead to deterrence of many years."
MEMRI: Fmr. Lebanese Ambassador to U.S.: I Support Increasing Hizbullah’s Arsenal “Dozens of Times Over”
Garbiel Issa, the former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, said in an April 14, 2022 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that not only does he support the presence of Hizbullah’s weapons on the Lebanese border, but that he even supports increasing Hizbullah’s arsenal dozens of times over because it protects the Lebanese people. He said that it is hypocritical of the U.S. to “grumble” and call for the dissolution of Hizbullah and other Lebanese militias because today’s situation in Lebanon is America’s doing. He explained that the issue of the militias’ weapons will be resolved when the regional issues are resolved, and he pointed out that Lebanon is facing many other problems.

In addition, Issa said that by pressuring Lebanon about Hizbullah’s weapons, the U.S. is trying to push Lebanon towards civil war. Moreover, Issa said that the U.S. threateningly told the Lebanese that they must not contribute to the reconstruction of Syria in the aftermath of the Syrian civil war, even though Lebanon was impacted by the war more than any other country. Issa, an Aoun-ally, was appointed ambassador to the U.S. in July 2017 and presented his letter of credence to President Trump in January 2018.


Iran claims to arrest three people accused of spying for the Mossad
Iranian intelligence officers arrested three people belonging to a group linked to Israel’s Mossad agency and charged them with involvement in releasing classified information, state TV reported Thursday.

The report said they were arrested in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, but didn’t identify them or how they had access to classified information.

Iran and Israel have long accused each other of spying and waging a shadow war for years. Israel views Tehran as its greatest threat and has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.

In January, Israel said it had broken up an Iranian spy ring that recruited Israeli women via social media to photograph sensitive sites, gather intelligence and encourage their sons to join Israeli military intelligence.

In July, Iran said it arrested members of an armed group linked to Mossad after they sneaked into Iran across its western border.

Iran occasionally announces the detention of people it says are spying for foreign countries, including the United States and Israel.
Iran's Hollow Victory
Since 1979, Iran has sought to expel the U.S. from the Middle East, replace Israel with Palestine, and remake the region in its image. Tehran has not achieved any of its ambitions, but it is feeling emboldened by its recent successes. Iran has established primacy in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, four failed or failing states.

Iran's success is as attributable to opportunism as it is to resolve. The Lebanese civil war, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the Arab uprisings all created power vacuums that Iran filled with its network of foreign militias. The story is more about Arab weakness than Iranian strength.

However, Iran has neglected the well-being of its people and made itself poorer and less secure. Moreover, Iran will continue to bleed national resources to subsidize regional militias and external conflicts, deepening the public's frustration and necessitating ever-greater repression.

The U.S. retains 45,000-65,000 troops in the Persian Gulf. Israel is a global technological hub more integrated into the Arab world than ever before. And the model most Arabs aspire to is the socially liberal, globally integrated, and economically prosperous UAE, not Khomeinist Iran. Opinion polls show that nearly 2/3 of young Arabs view Iran as an adversary, a sizable majority of Arabs of all ages want Iran to withdraw from regional conflicts, and more than half of Arab Shiites hold an "unfavorable" view of Iran. Arabs who chafed under centuries of Turkish and Western hegemony will not countenance Iranian influence easily.
Israeli Space Expert: Iran Assembling Building Blocks for Long-Range Ballistic Missiles
Iran is assembling the building blocks necessary to construct ballistic missiles with very long ranges which could threaten Europe and North America, Tal Inbar, a leading Israeli missile and space expert, told JNS.

"When one examines what the IRGC is doing, it is possible to see the various technologies being developed for long-range missiles, such as solid propellant. They have the building blocks to build an intercontinental ballistic missile."

"The IRGC, which is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S., has a space division. I'm not aware of other terror organizations that can reach space....All missiles, including space launchers, are built by Iran's military industries, and all of the industries belong to the IRGC."


Iranian Olympic Gold Medalist Slams Iran’s Ban on Competitions With Israeli Athletes: ‘We Cannot Tolerate This Anymore’
An Iranian karate athlete and Olympic gold medalist has criticized his home country for barring its athletes from competing against Israeli opponents, the London-based Iran International reported.

Sajjad Ganjzadeh said on Monday in a since-deleted Instagram post that Iran’s ban on facing Israeli athletes limits Iranian competitors to only matches in Asia. Israel has been banned from the Asian Games since the early 1980s and has been refused permission to participate in other Asian competitions, such as a squash tournament that was set to take place in Malaysia last year.

The world karate champion called on Iranian authorities to consider the athletes, not only their ideologies and political issues. “We cannot tolerate this anymore. Not competing is more difficult than competing,” he added, according to the outlet.

Following the 2020 Tokyo Games, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated his country’s policy of not permitting Iranian athletes to compete against Israelis. He has insisted that athletes refuse to face Israeli opponents even if they are penalized by international bodies, promising to support those punished.

While there is no legislation in place banning Iranian athletes from playing against Israelis, pressure from officials often results in athletes intentionally losing or forfeiting matches to avoid going head-to-head against an athlete from Israel.




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