Wednesday, April 27, 2022

04/27 Links Pt1: Tampa Palestinian Islamic Jihad School Gala; Blinken confirms ‘ongoing threat’ to US officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

From Ian:

Tampa Palestinian Islamic Jihad School Gala
It has been a long and convoluted journey for the American Youth Academy (AYA), from its jihadist beginnings, as an alleged fundraising site for a brutal Palestinian terrorist group, to today with its brand new building and facilities. Given AYA’s radical history, it is amazing that it continues to exist and with impunity. Yet, earlier this month – 20 years later – the school has celebrated in style, along with a number of government and law enforcement officials to help give it the veneer of normalcy and legitimacy. The celebrants have seemingly ignored the school’s violent legacy.

AYA was incorporated under the name Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF), in August 1992. The school was the brainchild of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) co-founder and then-North American leader Sami Amin al-Arian. Al-Arian had used Temple Terrace, Florida, a suburb of Tampa Bay, to create a PIJ network, consisting of the school, a mosque (which is adjacent to AYA), a charity, the Islamic Concern Project (ICP), and a think tank, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE).

The mosque, the Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), also goes by the name Masjid al-Qassam, named for one of the main inspirations for PIJ, Palestinian militant icon Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. The mosque property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), a group that was named by the US Justice Department, in 2007 and 2008, a co-conspirator in the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. NAIT currently uses the school as its mailing address.

On the morning of February 20, 2003, al-Arian, Hatem Naji Fariz, Sameeh Taha Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut were arrested and charged by the FBI with racketeering, conspiracy to kill and maim persons abroad, and conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists, amongst other things.

IAF was cited in the indictment, according to which, “The members of the conspiracy would and did use the WISE, ICP, and IAF offices as the North American base of support for the PIJ and to raise funds and provide support for the PIJ and their operatives in the Middle East, in order to assist its engagement in, and promotion of, violent attacks designed to thwart the Middle East Peace Process.”

Florida legislators voiced concern that IAF had been named by the US government as part of a terrorist enterprise, and in July 2003, IAF was dropped from Florida’s state voucher program, a taxpayer funded plan that pays portions of eligible private school tuitions. The school lost roughly $350,000 in vouchers. As a result, the Islamic Academy of Florida changed its name, the following year, to the American Youth Academy – a patriotic-sounding title – using an eagle as a mascot.

On April 1, 2022, AYA held a gala to raise money for and commemorate the new AYA building, the result of AYA’s recent expansion project. The event was no April Fool’s joke, as it raised over $4 million for the school.
Where the 'dual loyalty' accusation actually applies
Take Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh, for instance. In a video message earlier this month that he delivered from the Old City of Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, a riot hotspot, Odeh called on Arab-Israeli youth not to serve in the police or other security forces, which "are humiliating our people, humiliating our families and humiliating all those who come to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque."

He then urged those already enlisted in the "occupation forces" to "throw the weapons back in their face and to tell them that 'our place is not with you. We will not be part of the injustice and crime.'"

His reference to the "occupation" is an expression of loyalty with the peace-rejectionist Palestinians who mourn the nakba, the "catastrophe" of Israel's establishment in 1948. They make no bones about their intention to "liberate Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea," a mantra about eliminating the Jewish state in its entirety.

"Dual loyalty," then, isn't exactly the problem of Odeh and his ilk; treason would be a better term for it.

Anti-Israel organizations abroad certainly fit the "dual-loyalty" bill, however. After all, protesters waving Palestinian flags in New York to promote "resistance by any means necessary" and a "globalization of the intifada" are letting their true affinity show. And it's not to Western civilization.
Bundestag president arrives in Israel ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day
Bundestag president Bärbel Bas was greeted by Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy on Wednesday at a special welcoming ceremony at the Knesset.

Bas will take part in events marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Knesset this week.

“The lessons of the Holocaust require us to never tolerate the emergence and spread of antisemitism,” Bas said. “Germany’s responsibility has not come to an end. We stand with Israel.”

She was invited by Levy, who tearfully addressed the Bundestag in Berlin in January on the day when the Holocaust is commemorated in Europe.

“Your participation in the Knesset’s ceremonies marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day is a significant and meaningful expression of the special connection between our countries, the historical responsibility Germany has taken for the crimes of the Holocaust, and Germany’s commitment to the security of the State of Israel,” Levy told Bas.

It will be the first time a senior German official participates in the Knesset’s Holocaust memorial events.

On Wednesday morning, Levy and Bas toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum together. The climax of her visit to the Knesset is expected to take place Thursday, when she will participate in the national Unto Every Person There is a Name ceremony, in which the names of Holocaust victims are read aloud at the Knesset on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The theme of this year’s event is Transports to Extinction: The Deportation of the Jews during the Holocaust.


Wary of Russian Propaganda Opportunity, Israel Cancels May 9 World War II Veterans Parade
As a result of the war in Ukraine, Israel has decided to cancel this year’s World War II veterans parade in honor of Victory Day on May 9 — a national holiday inaugurated in the former Soviet Union to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Pnina Tamano-Shata, the Israeli government’s Minister for Aliyah and Absorption, confirmed on Wednesday that the 2022 parade would not take place due to the “current delicate situation,” according to a report from Newsru, an Israeli news site catering to the country’s Russian-speakers.

Tamano-Shata’s decision was reportedly taken following consultations with veterans organizations in Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to hold a massive victory parade in Moscow on May 9, sparking fears of even greater intensification of his military campaign as the date approaches. According to Ukrainian sources, more than 20,000 Russian soldiers have already been killed during an invasion that has been depicted by the Kremlin as a “denazification” operation.

Separately, the Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv noted on its Facebook page that Tamano-Shata had met with Ambassador Yevhen Korniychuk on Tuesday, citing her view that “despite the tradition of previous years, this year it was decided to refrain from public events and marches on May 9, in connection with Russian aggression against Ukraine.” Korniychuk had earlier appealed to the Israeli authorities to cancel the May 9 parade. Instead, veterans will gather on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem for a ceremony honoring the contributions of Jewish soldiers to the victory over Hitler.

Israel became the site of the largest Victory Parade outside of Europe following the aliyah of some 20,000 Red Army veterans after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. The first veterans parade was held in 1993, with the event upgraded to the status of an official national holiday by a Knesset vote in 2017.


Does Putin distort Holocaust memory with Ukraine war?



Turkey Extradites Hamas Members to Israel
Turkey handed over several active Hamas members to Israel, a Palestinian official told Israel Hayom.

“Dozens of people identified with Hamas in various circles have been deported [from Turkey],” the source told the Israeli daily, adding that some of the members have ties to the terror organization’s military wing.

The information was confirmed by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Tuesday, reporting that Hamas members traveling outside of Turkey were not allowed to come back.

According to the Palestinian source, Turkey requested Hamas members to leave the country during the last “few months,” claiming that Israel is responsible for the deportation as they asked the Turkish government to send them a list of Hamas members.

“In response, the Turks contacted Hamas and told them, ‘You promised you wouldn’t do anything like that here, so now you need to leave,'” he said.
4 Syrian soldiers killed in alleged Israeli airstrike near Damascus
Four Syrian soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted sites near Damascus early Wednesday morning, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

A Syrian military source told SANA that Israeli aircraft fired missiles from over northern Israel towards sites near Damascus. The source claimed that Syrian air defenses intercepted most of them.

The Syrian Capital Voice news site reported that the strike targeted two locations near the Damascus International Airport, as well as a site belonging to pro-Iranian forces in the Samarian area of Damascus.

The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV reported that sites near Qudsaya and Jamraya, northwest of Damascus, as well as near the Mezzeh Military Airport, were targeted in the strikes.

The opposition-affiliated Halab Today TV reported that the strikes mainly targeted the Mezzeh Military Airport, saying that the site was targeted after an Israeli quadcopter which had fallen in Syrian territory on Tuesday was brought there. The IDF stated on Tuesday that there was no concern of information being leaked from the quadcopter. Two warehouses at the airport were destroyed in the strikes, according to the report.
Israel Convicts Seven Over Wedding Where Murdered Palestinian Baby Was Mocked
An Israeli court on Wednesday convicted seven people of incitement to violence and terrorism for their role in a 2015 wedding where far-right Jews were videotaped mocking a murdered Palestinian toddler.

One of the accused was also found guilty of supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism, a court document said. An eighth defendant was acquitted.

The incitement charges carry a maximum five-year jail term. A sentencing hearing is due in October.

The wedding drew an outcry from both Palestinians and Israelis, coming months after one-year-old Ali Dawabshe and his parents died in an arson attack on their home in the West Bank.

An Israeli court in 2020 convicted a Jewish settler of their murders.

One of those convicted on Wednesday, Dov Morell, said on Twitter: “My deeds do not represent who I am today, and I regret them.” But he added: “I don’t think this constitutes a felony and it looks like I will appeal the conviction.”
Father of convicted terrorist threatens father of slain soldier victim
The father of a man convicted of murdering IDF soldier Ron Kokia in 2017 threatened the victim’s father on Wednesday and called him a murderer.

Odeh Abu Jaudah, whose son Khaled stabbed Kokia to death in Arad, clashed with Boaz Kokia at the Beersheba District Court. The two confronted each other, after a hearing for the elder Abu Jaudah, a resident of an unrecognized Bedouin village, who is facing charges tied to the attack, but is not accused of involvement in murder.

Abu Jaudah and his brother shouted at Kokia, who came to the hearing along with activists from Im Tirzu, a right-wing advocacy group.

A verbal altercation ensued between the two camps.

“We know where you live, let’s take this outside,” Abu Jaudah shouted at Kokia, according to a Channel 12 news report. “You are murderers, you are shit.”

In a statement later, Kokia called on the court to severely punish Abu Jaudah. The illegal presence of Palestinians who do not have permits to be in Israel is what leads to terror attacks, he said, and pointed to the recent deadly assaults in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv, both committed by Palestinian who were illegally in Israel.


PA minister: “Settlers” aiming to “blow up the situation in Jerusalem”
Official PA TV newsreader: “[PA] Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi says that the occupation authorities and the settlers are escalating their violations in occupied East Jerusalem on the eve of the blessed [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan. Al-Hadmi warned against the attempts that the settlers are leading under the auspices of the occupation police to blow up the situation in Jerusalem… The occupation authorities have announced they are letting the settlers invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan.”
[Official PA TV News, March 29, 2022]

The PA and its leaders misrepresent all of the Temple Mount as an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, they vilify any presence of Jews on the mount as an "invasion." It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Israeli police ban Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount because of threats of violence by Palestinians.


MEMRI: Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad Official: Allah Brought Jews to Palestine for Us to Finish Them Off
Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) official Muhammad Shalah said in an April 24, 2022 show on Al-Quds Al-Youm TV (Islamic Jihad – Gaza) that Palestine is unquestionably Palestinian land, and that the Jews have no historical claim to it. He also said that Allah brought the Jews to Palestine for the Palestinians to "finish them off. In addition, he said that the PIJ is part of the Iran-backed "resistance axis" and that while Iran supplied the Palestinians with rockets and weapons, the Arabs only gave them school supplies. Muhammad Shalah is the brother of the former leader of the Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Abdullah Shalah who died in 2020.

The MEMRI Lantos Project exposes anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East region and Middle Eastern communities in the West with the aim of supporting legislation and educating media and the general public.


Palestinian killed, 12 arrested in raids across the West Bank
A Palestinian man was killed during clashes with IDF troops in the West Bank city of Jenin and neighboring villages early Wednesday morning as Israeli security forces carried out arrest raids.

The man was identified as 18-year-old Ahmad Mohammad Massad from the nearby village of Burqin. According to a report by WAFA News Agency, Ibn Sina hospital head Jani Abu Jokha said that he had been shot in the head.

Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised Masad as a martyr who had previously served time for security offenses.

“We strengthen the hands of the resistance fighters and the youth who heroically confronted the terrorism of the occupation and its continuous attacks,” Hamas said in a statement. “We call upon the youth throughout the occupied cities and villages, to support Jenin, and to stand united and continue confronting the occupier until it is defeated.”

Three other Palestinians, a 16-year-old and two 19-year-olds were wounded and are in moderate and stable condition.

The clashes between Palestinian gunmen and troops from the IDF’s Duvdevan commando unit broke out after troops entered the Jenin refugee camp.

“During the operation in Jenin, Israel Defense Forces troops acted to quell a violent riot at the scene with dozens of Palestinians who opened fire, burned trash, and hurled explosive devices at troops, who responded with gunfire,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

No Israeli troops were wounded.


AT NY Times Jerusalem Bureau, a New Hire With the Same Old Slant
On May 10, 2021, Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip opened fire on Israel, launching barrages of rockets toward Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and across the country. In response, Israel struck at Hamas targets in Gaza.

One of those killed in the Hamas-ruled territory on May 10 was Saber Ibrahim Mahmoud Suleiman, the Hamas militant commander pictured below.

Saber Suleiman, a Hamas commander killed shortly after Hamas launched barrages of rockets at Israel on May 10, 2021

A day later, even as hundreds of rockets continued to fly into Israel, a journalist named Hiba Yazbek took to Twitter to post video of Suleiman’s funeral and to say she was livid at Israel for having supposedly “murdered” the man.

A serious observer, and especially a sober-minded journalist, would be expected to know the difference between “murder” and a legitimate military casualty. Even without knowing Suleiman was a Hamas commander — something that was already clear to analysts and even anti-Israel groups — a good reporter would be expected to strive for objectivity; to understand that many Gaza civilians had already been killed by misfired Hamas rockets and that this could certainly have been one of them; and that even civilians inadvertently killed by Israeli strikes targeting military objectives are not murdered.

Yazbek’s comment, in other words, was far from serious, sober, or objective-minded. And so a year later, she was hired by the New York Times to report on the conflict.
Al Jazeera Anchors Continue Tradition of Praising Terrorist Attacks
When terrorists randomly attacked Israeli civilians in recent weeks, some surprising voices reacted with horror. The string of attacks that killed 14 Israelis drew condemnations from Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan, among others.

To top anchors on Qatar’s state-owned Al Jazeera network, however, the attacks were cause for celebrations and praise.

“The martyrdom of the attacker of the Tel Aviv operation … made the Israelis taste humiliation and so they spent a dark night of terror imprisoned in their homes, while an entire army of thousands of Israeli soldiers pursued him for 9 hours, [during which time] he freely wandered until he reached Jaffa,” Al Jazeera host Ahmed Mansour wrote on April 8. “He clashed with an Israeli force in Jaffa and was martyred, may God have mercy on him.”

Mansour was writing about Ra’ad Hazem, who killed three people and wounded 11 others on Tel Aviv’s popular Dizengoff Street. The post included two pictures of Hazem, one showing him cradling a baby and the other showing him hoisting a rifle.

Mansour, who has 1.2 million Twitter followers, cheered another terrorist attack 11 days earlier. In that case, a gunman killed five people in Bnei Brak, a Tel Aviv suburb. His victims included Arab-Israeli police officer Amir Khoury and two people from Ukraine.

The terrorist, Diaa Hamarsha, “moved steadily and courageously from one area to another, focusing on his targets from the settlers precisely, spreading terror among them before he was martyred,” Mansour tweeted.


Are the Palestinians turning against UNRWA?
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has come under attack from the Palestinian Authority over an emergency policy change that both the PA and Gaza's rulers see as undercutting its interests.

UNRWA Director Philippe Lazzarini said recently that given the agency's dire financial situation, it may soon have to outsource some of the services it provides the Palestinian to other UN agencies.

In 2018, the Trump administration suspended its donation to UNRWA. As the United States was the largest donor to the organization, it plunged into a crisis soon after that. In late 2021, US President Joe Biden's administration restored the funding, but the agency, which administers to a reported 5.7 million people it claims are Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, continues to struggle.

Lazzarini's announcement vexed the Palestinian Authority as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, with Hamas castigating the move as "undercutting the core issue of Palestinian refugees and the role of the agency formed to care for them."

The terrorist group called on Palestinians to "protest this policy, which spells [UNRWA's] doom and will eradicate the issue of Palestinian refugees as part of a plan promoted by regional and international elements."

The PA said that Lazzarini does not have the authority "to promote solutions to its deficit that undermine its operational mandate."

Lazzarini later clarified that his intention is only to increase partnerships with outside service providers, but that did little to calm the storm.
PMW: PA: Israel “Reenacting the Nazi Holocaust,” Zionism is “Nazism,” Israelis are the “new Nazis”
Tomorrow Israel is commemorating Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Memorial Day. While the world recognizes that there is nothing comparable to the systematic murder of 6,000,000 Jews in the Holocaust, Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders, as part of their incessant libelous demonization of Israel, regularly compare Israelis to Nazis , Israel to Nazism, and Palestinian experiences to the Holocaust.

The PA accusing Israel of Nazi-like behavior is one aspect of its vicious Antisemitism. The IHRA’s (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of Antisemitism includes this libelous comparison under the category of Antisemitism:
“Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

The IHRA definition has been adopted by 34 countries, the European Union, the Secretary-Generals of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe, and many other political and organizational structures.

The Palestinian Authority’s abusing the memory of the Holocaust for libelous purposes, is just one example among many, including its paying salaries to terrorists, glorifying terrorist murderers of civilians, and encouraging children to die as Martyrs, that reconfirms that the Palestinian Authority embraces abhorrent values placing it in a class all by itself.

The following are some of recent examples of PA and Fatah abusing the memory of Holocaust for its political purposes from 2022.
Palestinians Find the Aid Cupboard is Bare
The Palestinians were once the favored recipient of foreign aid, as billions of dollars were heaped upon them every year from so many the donors – the United States, Western European countries, and the Gulf Arab states. But since 2014, there has been a steady, precipitous drop in that aid, and now, so far in 2022, there has been no foreign aid coming in for the P.A at all. A report on the colossal drop in aid is here: “Foreign cash aid to Palestinian Authority so far this year: $0,” Elder of Ziyon, April 21, 2022:
Estephan Salameh, who is the advisor to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for aid coordination, says that no foreign countries have paid a red cent so far this year of their pledges to help the Palestinian budget.

He said, “We expect to receive 200 to 300 million dollars in international financial support for the Palestinian government treasury this year, but so far none of those financial pledges have arrived.”

Speaking to Voice of Palestine Radio, Salameh said that in 2021, the Palestinian Authority only received 10% of the amount it had gotten in 2013 and 2014. That was when the EU and Arab governments didn’t care about accountability or transparency.

In 2015, as the donor nations began to insist on an end to the colossal corruption in the PA, and made the momentous decision to cut their aid until “accountability and transparency” were instituted, they steadily turned down the spigot of aid until, with the PA still unable or unwilling to come clean about its finances, by 2021 the PA was receiving only 10% of what it had been getting just seven years before. And now, one-third of the way through 2021, the PA has received no aid from foreign donors.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Share Of Palestinians Who See Jews As Human Doubles, To .002% (satire)
A survey of public opinion in the Gaza Strip and West Bank shows a marked rise in the popularity of viewing Jews as something other than demonic, child-killing purveyors of evil, increasing since last year at this time from one in one-hundred-thousand to two in one-hundred-thousand, a one hundred percent increase.

A series of polls over the last month in Palestinian areas bore out the emerging shift, which surprised some analysts because of the constant stream of antisemitic propaganda and rhetoric emanating from official Palestinian leadership channels. Experts believe the doubled acceptance of Jews as human reflects less a softening of Palestinian animosity and more a further deterioration of Palestinian leaders’ standing in the eyes of their public, such that Jews seem more popular by comparison.

A minority of analysts raised the possibility that wider Arab normalization with Israel has affected Palestinian attitudes. “A number of us have considered that developments in the broader region,” noted pollster Khalil Shikaki, “with Arab leaders downgrading the Palestinian issue after decades of frustration with Palestinian leaders’ refusal to engage in any constructive pursuits and thus holding the whole region back, might prompt some Palestinians to the realization that Hamas, Fatah, Abbas, and before him Arafat and Husseini, among others, have consistently placed their own power, prestige, and enrichment above the welfare of the people they ostensibly care about, and that the policies of those leaders account for more Palestinian suffering than anything Israel or the Jews have ever done. That might help explain the doubling of the number.”
High levels of Jew-hatred in Iran and Turkey - US gov’t report
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom published a new report on Monday, detailing shockingly disturbing levels of antisemitism in Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Iran also continued to spread antisemitism," the report said. "It released the results of its third Holocaust denial cartoon contest in January. Several submissions critical of Israel contained explicitly antisemitic tropes. In December, a state media outlet criticized a Shab-e Yalda display reminiscent of a Jewish Sukkah as a ‘distortion.’”

The commission listed the clerical state as a “country of particular concern” – the most severe designation – because of its harsh treatment and repression of religious minorities and freedom.

The USCIRF report took Turkey to task for state-sponsored Jew-hatred. “Government officials at various levels expressed antisemitism through statements and social media posts. In May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used antisemitic language in a televised speech, prompting strong condemnation from the U.S. Department of State."

The study added that “In November, a court in Bursa ruled that a man who called President Erdogan ‘a Jew’ on social media had insulted the president, and it ultimately convicted the man and fined him... 7,000 Turkish lira [$472]. President Erdogan’s lawyer argued that the remark was ‘humiliating [and] damaging to his honor and respectability.”’

According to the commission, “In other instances of antisemitism, unknown individuals set fire to the gateway of a disused synagogue, and online groups hacked and carried out cyberattacks on Salom, Turkey’s only Jewish newspaper, and Avlaremoz, a Turkish-language Jewish news platform. “

Aykan Erdemir, the director of International Affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, and a former Turkish lawmaker, tweeted: "Alarming tally of the antisemitic incidents recorded in #Turkey over the past year as reported in USCIRF.”
MEMRI: Iraqi Shiite Militia Al-Nujaba Movement Publishes Video Threatening Missile Attacks against Israel
On April 26, 2022, alnujaba.ir published a Hebrew-language video released by the Al-Nujaba Movement, an Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq, threatening Israel. The video is titled “The Collapse of the Walls,” in a parody of Israel’s May 2021 “Guardian of the Walls” anti-terror military campaign. It shows footage from missile and terror attacks against Israel, and it describes the missile arsenal of the IRGC, the Al-Nujaba Movement, Hizbullah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Syrian military, and the Houthis. In addition, it depicts several Israeli landmarks as targets, including the Port of Eilat, Tel Aviv, Haifa the Golan Heights, and the region between the Shebaa Farms in the north and western Jerusalem. The video concludes with a warning that in a future war, Israel would not only face the Palestinians, but other “fighters who believe in divine borders.”


Antony Blinken confirms ‘ongoing threat’ to US officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Tuesday there is an “ongoing threat” against past and present American officials by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, just weeks after reports revealed the State Department is paying millions of dollars to protect former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from threats.

“Is it true the IRGC is actively trying to murder former senior officials of the United States,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked Blinken during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

“I’m not sure what I can say in an open setting,” Blinken started to say. “Let me say generically, there is an ongoing threat against American officials both present and past.”

“Is it true the State Department is spending roughly $2 million a month to protect those affected?” Cruz asked, referring to an Associated Press report that revealed the State Department is paying that amount towards security for Pompeo and a former top aide.

“We are making — we will — we are making sure, and we will make sure for as long as it takes that we’re protecting our people, past and former if they’re, if they’re under threat,” Blinken responded.

Cruz pressed further, asking the secretary if the department had specifically asked the IRGC to stop their attacks and threats against US officials and if they refused to do so.

“Of course, within the context of any engagements that we have directly or indirectly with Iranians, one of the strong messages we sent to them is they need to stop targeting our people, period,” Blinken said.

“Did they tell you no?” Cruz asked.

“Again, I’m not going to characterize what they said, they know what they would need to do to address this problem,” Blinken said. “And that’s pretty straightforward.”


Lawmakers to Biden: No More Secret Negotiations With Iran
Republican lawmakers in Congress are fed up with the Biden administration's secret diplomacy with Iran and refusal to inform the American public about what concessions will be granted to the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism as part of a new nuclear deal.

With negotiations stuck in their final stage amid Iran's demands that all U.S. sanctions be lifted on its chief terrorist outfit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Republican foreign policy leaders are pressing top Biden administration officials to publicly brief Congress on the state of diplomatic talks.

"With uncertainty surrounding the status of the negotiation, the American people have a right to know what their diplomats agreed to in Vienna, what alternatives your administration is considering, and how you intend to address the wider range of threats from Iran—including its increasingly dangerous missile and drone programs and taking American hostages," a group of Republican lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees wrote in a letter sent on Wednesday to the White House and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.

The secrecy surrounding the talks—and Iran's demands for billions of dollars in sanctions relief that will likely fund its regional terrorism enterprise—are unacceptable and hint that the Biden administration is poised to enter a deal that is weaker than the original 2015 accord, according to Republican representatives Claudia Tenney (N.Y.), María Elvira Salazar (Fla.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Ronny Jackson (Texas), and Don Bacon (Neb.).

During more than a year of negotiations, the Biden administration has refused to brief Congress in an open setting. Biden administration officials, including U.S.-Iran envoy Robert Malley, have only consented to classified briefings, unlike the Obama administration, which discussed the talks openly with lawmakers and the public. Classified briefings on the deal—which came after lawmakers from both parties chastised the administration for cutting Congress out of the negotiations—are no longer tolerable, Tenney and her colleagues say.

"To date only closed-door classified briefings have been provided to Congress. This is a start, but it is not enough. Special Envoy Robert Malley works for the American people, and he should answer to them," they wrote. "On behalf of the American people, we therefore urge you to ask these senior officials to appear before a public hearing to provide crucial transparency about your plans and efforts to prevent a nuclear Iran."
MEMRI: Saudi Columnist: U.S. Must Remember Iranian IRGC's Terror Against American Forces And Interests
On his column in the Saudi daily 'Okaz, journalist Muhammad Al-Sa'ad slammed the U.S. administration for considering the removal of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations as part of its efforts to renew the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the JCPOA). Al-Sa'ad claimed that Iran is a "terrorist ally of the U.S." and that the Biden administration wants to delist it in order to make up for the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike carried out in January 2020 under the Trump administration. To remind the Americans of the IRGC's terrorism, Al-Sa'ad listed a series of attacks it has perpetrated against American interests, forces and nationals since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He added that, given the current U.S. policy towards Iran, nobody should be surprised if in the future the U.S. adopts a lenient attitude towards other terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The following are translated excerpts from his article: [1]
"Leaks coming out of Washington indicate that the U.S. under Biden is about to remove the IRGC from the terror list and recognize it as a peaceful organization that serves mankind according to the American perception, [i.e.,] through murder and intimidation. The Biden administration clearly wants to make up for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani – the most serious and important decision courageously taken by former [U.S.] president Donald Trump – in order to convey to Iran that the Democratic administration, headed by the godfather Barack Obama, was not pleased with Trump's action and that it is [now] apologizing for the assassination of the terrorist Soleimani. The IRGC will soon become an organization that the American security apparatuses will welcome. Perhaps they will even carry out security coordination with it, in the service of the agenda of the deep state, just like they previously made use of ISIS.

"Let's remember and remind the Americans of some of the crimes perpetrated by the terrorist Iranian IRGC and the murders it committed against innocent people, American and otherwise:

"1. In 1979, Iranian students established their special assembly, which over time became an extremist military organization called the Iranian IRGC, whose role is to fight on the behalf of the Iranian regime and defend the so-called revolution. It was this organization that took over the U.S. embassy [in Tehran] and captured hundreds of diplomats who happened to be in Iran when the revolution took place. They were held for hundreds of days, during which hundreds of secret American documents were stolen, and the incident became a great humiliation for the U.S. Trying to save their honor in a Hollywood-like manner, in April 1980 the Americans carried out a large-scale landing operation called Operation Eagle Claw, sending military helicopters and cargo planes, along with a special fighting unit, to the Tabas [area] in eastern Iran. But from the beginning things did not go well, and a sandstorm compounded the Americans' difficulties and prompted them to withdraw. But then [one of the American] helicopters crashed into a military cargo plane, setting both of them on fire and killing eight U.S. servicemen.

"2. Only two years later, the IRGC perpetrated a direct operation of military 'emasculation' against the American army and elite Marines forces:… On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were used to attack buildings in Beirut housing American and French troops from the Multi-National Force in Lebanon… The attack killed 307 people, 241 of them American and 58 of them French… There was every indication that the Iranian IRGC was involved in the operation.

"3. In 1988, an American frigate, the USS Samuel [B. Roberts], struck an Iranian mine in international waters and was badly damaged. Reagan's America refused to accept this humiliation and responded militarily with Operation Praying Mantis, in which part of the Iranian navy was destroyed.

"4. The 1996 attack on a [U.S. Air Force] housing complex in the city of Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia, which killed hundreds of American experts and other innocent people, was perpetrated by terrorists linked to Iran, the IRGC and their proxy in Lebanon, Hizbullah. The Saudi investigation directly implicated Tehran and the full file was handed over to the U.S. administration at the time, but it preferred to ignore the Iranian crime.




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