Monday, May 09, 2022
David Collier: The Palestinian death cult – worshipping the murder of Jews
Endless hateEU Parliament condemns PA textbooks over incitement
None of this would exist without support from the west. UNWRA’s schools, Palestinian textbooks – all paid for with our tax money. Palestinian children are openly taught lies – a twisted version of history that strips from Jewish history any ethical justification. It renders Israelis as sub-human and worthy only of death. Last night I watched a Hamas propaganda film ’11 days in May’ at a picture house in London. The decontextualised narrative suggests Israelis are ‘homocidal maniacs‘. It is raw Gazan propaganda spreading freely on our streets. The movie – which does nothing but spread hate – has UNICEF’s stamp of approval on it.
While governments of third world countries cannot afford to dig wells or place solar panels – Hamas channels its money into rockets and tunnels. Why is a place that is not even a fraction as desperate as others – given so much funding – if all it does is use it to try to kill Jews? How is it possible that the money continues to flow towards them?
You’ll have to ask the myriad of NGOs who persistently set up campaigns to get people to divert their charity money towards Gaza. There are more NGOs helping Hamas build rockets than there are NGOs helping fund new wells in Niger (see Israel – Niger). And perversely, periods of Hamas-driven violence always sees more money flow into the Gaza strip. The leaders in Gaza see the material benefits of murdering Jews. This is the world that Jews have to live in.
The silent and willing allies
And then there are the death cult’s allies. Organisations, movements, and individuals. From Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the Teachers Union, Church groups and political figures.
You know the type – each and every one of them posts endless manufactured anti-Israel propaganda when Israel kicks squatters from a tent, but there is total silence when Jews are slaughtered in the streets.
Rashida Tlaib – no tweets about Israel since the murderous violence started.
Jeremy Corbyn – no tweets about Israel since the murderous violence started
Chris Williamson – attacks Israel constantly – no mention of Palestinian violence
Russell Brand – only mention of the conflict was to promote a Hamas inspired PR documentary
Ilhan Omar – no tweets about Israel since the murderous violence started
Amnesty International – only tweets about Israel have been to attack it – no mention of murderous violence
Human Rights Watch – only tweets about Israel have been to attack it – no mention of murderous violence
It does not matter what the reasons for this are. The end message is the same – a drumbeat of dehumanised Israelis spreads deeper and deeper into the mainstream.
Hate driven – not human rights driven
As Amnesty deliberately and falsely labels Israel an ‘Apartheid state’, they turn every murdering Palestinian terrorist into a ‘Nelson Mandela’.
Those two Elad terrorists who were captured on Sunday morning, will now be financially secure for life. The PA – funded by the west – will make sure their families spend out their days in comfort. Pro-Palestinian groups, with their placards calling for the release of ‘all Palestinian prisoners’ – are going to be on the street calling for their release.
In areas under Palestinian control, children are taught to want to kill Jews – while in the west, people send money to help ‘Palestinians’ succeed in their ‘struggle’.
Let us call it what it is – a death cult.
The European Parliament has passed a decision condemning the Palestinian Authority for extremist incitement in its school textbooks, Israeli media reported on Saturday. The books are produced with EU funding.A recipe for explosion on Temple Mount
The decision called for rapid removal of the problematic material and for urgent changes to the curriculum, according to the report.
The motion was submitted by the liberal Renew Europe Party. According to the report, it noted that the parliament had previously condemned the P.A. for failing to meet United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization standards for European funding of textbooks, as well as calls to create content that educates towards peace and tolerance.
According to the report, the latest European Parliament decision is part of an annual E.U. budget process that examines how taxpayers' money should be invested.
This is the third consecutive year in which the EU Parliament has condemned the P.A. textbooks in a decision passed with a parliamentary majority.
Recent events on the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa mosque, with the growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians, largely reflect the completely different ways the two sides view the reality around the Mount, particularly Israel's actions there. That disparity stems from different perceptual frameworks.
In the Israeli perceptual framework, Israel is a state that seeks stability and is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount, the freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem, and maintaining public order. However, the status quo is challenged by extremist groups from both sides, and Israel is taking the necessary measures to prevent them from undermining stability, including the use of reasonable force. It is thereby exercising its sovereignty and the responsibility entailed by it.
However, many Palestinians, along with many Israeli Arabs and Muslims worldwide, plus international actors mainly on the left, see the existence of the nation-state of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel as lacking all justification. In their view, Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem is illegal, and Israel as a state – not just the marginal messianic groups within it – seeks to alter the status quo on the Temple Mount.
This is not a worldview unique to radical political Islam, spearheaded by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Palestinian Authority is convinced that this Israeli threat to the Al-Aqsa compound reflects the actual state of affairs, along with Jordan and many other actors in the Arab and Islamic world. Not long ago, Jordan convened a gathering of Arab foreign ministers, including representatives of the United Arab Emirates and Morocco – which, a month earlier, had taken part in the "Negev Summit" in Israel – to discuss Israel's actions.
A look at the resolutions of this conference indicates that all these actors are thoroughly convinced of the justice of their claims – that Israel is curtailing Muslims' and Christians' freedom of worship; seeks to apportion the prayer times on the Temple Mount just as in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron; is using force against Palestinian worshippers and youth far beyond what is necessary, including acts of dangerous, unjustified, and violent forced entry to the Al-Aqsa mosque; and is likely to spark a conflagration.
Some of these actors, particularly Hamas, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Qatar and Iran, see the threat of escalation as a means to counteract Israel and also to boost their own political status. Others see it as a way of damaging Israel's international and regional status while also preventing a slide into a high-intensity violent confrontation that could jeopardize their own uncertain status as well.
Amb. Alan Baker: Jordan and the Temple Mount: Have the Jordanians Forgotten Their Peace Treaty Obligations?
The Israel-Jordan peace treaty of 1994 specifies that Israel "respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem." Israel agreed that the day-to-day administration and organization of visiting and worshipping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque would continue to be the responsibility of the Jordanian Waqf, a branch of Jordan's Ministry of Awqaf Islamic Affairs and Holy Places, subject to Israeli security supervision and presence.Ruthie Blum: Defeating the danger from without
The most recent Ramadan disturbances have given rise to a number of statements and actions by senior Jordanian personalities, expressing both support and encouragement for the continuing violence, as well as voicing threats against Israel and calls to change the present arrangements regarding the Temple Mount. Such enhanced Jordanian activism raises questions about Jordan's commitments pursuant to the 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
The peace treaty distinctly referred to the situation, recognized and acknowledged by both parties, which existed at the time of its signature in 1994. It must be assumed that Jordan thereby acknowledged and committed itself to Israel's overall authority, including security responsibility, over the Temple Mount compound, subject to Israel's recognition and acknowledgment of the special role of Jordan.
Therefore, recent reports of a new Jordanian initiative to remove Israel's control over the Temple Mount and to transfer security responsibility from Israel to the Waqf, as well as the authority to approve non-Muslim visits to the Temple Mount, would appear to be at stark variance with Jordan's peace treaty obligations.
Moreover, statements by senior Jordanian personalities expressing support and encouragement for the Al-Aqsa rioters would appear to be at variance with the provisions of the peace treaty.
In Article 11 of the peace treaty, entitled "Mutual Understanding and Good Neighborly Relations," the parties undertook to "seek to foster mutual understanding and tolerance based on shared historic values" and "to abstain from hostile or discriminatory propaganda against each other."
It is sound practice to examine one's own behavior before casting aspersions on that of others. But self-reflection in the Jewish context is all too often an exercise in directing accountability inward, rather than where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the people of Israel's external enemies.Palestinian Assailant Stabs Israeli Officer in Jerusalem; Armed Palestinian Intruder Shot in Tekoa
European Jews learned the hard way that their very existence – and the blood in their veins – was sufficient cause for all of them, from the visibly Orthodox to the utterly assimilated, to be systematically tortured and slaughtered. Tragically, it's a lesson that American members of the tribe are now being forced to internalize and in which their counterparts in Paris, London and elsewhere on the Continent are being given a refresher course.
The antisemitism of the above type is foreign to native Israelis, especially the younger generation, despite contending daily with foes out to kill them for being Jews. In fact, even many Israelis whose families have been ripped apart by terrorist missiles, firebombs, guns and machetes don't recount having experienced antisemitism. Instead, they view themselves as victims of Arab/Palestinian terrorism; as though it were a separate phenomenon.
A minority of Israelis, some of whom have high positions in the government and an even higher number of whom hold seats in the Knesset, still cling to the notion that the cause of the hatred and ensuing violence is political. This bloc thus believes that the solution lies in diplomacy – Israeli territorial and other concessions whose ultimate goal is the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Since all such efforts on Israel's part have belied this idea, the weary majority has come to realize that the hostility is deep-seated, religious, ideological and not going anywhere in the near future. The divide between the two perspectives is not new in Jewish history or the annals of the Jewish state.
One wouldn't know this, however, when witnessing the incessant carry-on about the disappearance of "societal unity." This has been the theme of the current coalition in Jerusalem since its inception a little more than a year ago.
Israel continued grappling with a renewed wave of terrorism on Sunday evening, as an officer was stabbed by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem shortly before another armed Palestinian was shot dead in Tekoa.While sipping tea with his wife: Tekoa resident recounts confronting terrorist
The first incident took place around 7:45 pm, when a Palestinian man approached Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, police said. The assailant, identified as a 19-year-old who entered Israel illegally, raised the suspicion of nearby border police officers before charging at them with two knives.
One officer was stabbed in the neck during the altercation, which lasted for several seconds before the terrorist was shot and neutralized. The injured officer was evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition.
Also on Sunday evening, a Palestinian terrorist armed with a knife entered Tekoa in the West Bank before being shot and neutralized by a civilian, the Israeli military said. The assailant, a 17-year-old male from the nearby town of Harmala, had attempted to break into a house, local media reported.
Soldiers were dispatched to the scene and are looking for additional suspects, according to the military.
An Israeli man who shot an armed Palestinian who attempted to infiltrate the West Bank settlement of Tekoa in the Etzion bloc on Sunday night was drinking tea with his wife when he spotted the would-be attacker climbing the security fence a few meters away.
Yair Maimon did not hesitate, he said, quickly rushing his family inside and grabbing his M16 rifle, which he possessed as a civilian member of the settlement’s security team.
“We were sitting on the porch, on the western side of Tekoa. Suddenly, within that serene landscape, we spot a face, a person climbing the fence right in front of us,” Maimon said in an interview with Radio 103FM Monday morning.
“That made us jump right out of our chairs,” he said. “I shouted toward him, ‘Stop, who is that?’ He mumbled something unclear and continued climbing. From that moment, we realized it was a terrorist attack.”
The incident came shortly after a Palestinian man who had illegally entered Israel stabbed a police officer in the neck at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Tensions have risen sharply between Israel and the Palestinians in recent months, against a backdrop of a spate of terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have left 19 people dead since March 22.
Security camera footage showed the attacker vaulting Tekoa’s perimeter fence and then running into the town.
A Hamas banner eulogizing Muatasem Mohammed Atallah who was shot and killed tonight after he entered the West Bank settlement of Tekoa armed with a knife. pic.twitter.com/6yZo1ztfyd
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) May 8, 2022
Boy, 6, alerted Elad guards during attack: ‘There are terrorists, my father is dead’
The 6-year-old son of Yonatan Havakuk, one of three men killed in Elad last week, ran to tell security guards that his father was dead and that a terror attack was underway, the child’s uncle said Sunday.Should Israel have the death penalty for terrorists?
Meir Illuz told the Kan public broadcaster that while his nephew was a hero, he needed care after witnessing the extreme violence.
“After all, he is a child,” Illuz said. “He is a hero… He didn’t just stand there. He left his father and went to the security guards and told them, ‘My father is dead, there are terrorists.’ He is a hero, and his father is a hero.”
Havakuk’s widow told Army Radio that her son said his father chose not to run away during the attack.
“My son saw the entire incident,” Limor Havakuk said. “He said his father could have run away, but decided to stay.”
Limor said Friday that her late husband put up a prolonged struggle against his attacker, allowing others to escape.
The brother-in-law of a man who remained in critical condition on Sunday said the man’s children were traumatized after witnessing the attack.
Bloodstained banknotes led security forces to Elad killers
Blood on banknotes, a piece of pita bread and a suspicious lump of grass led Israeli security forces on Sunday to the two Palestinian terrorists who killed three Israelis last week in Elad.IDF arrests 15 suspects for assisting Elad attack terrorists
Soldiers, police officers and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) agents caught the two suspects – As’sad al-Rifai, 19, and Emad Subhi Abu Shqeir, 20, both from Rummama, near Jenin – in a forested area close to Elad and Nahshonim Park.
Lieutenant Y., a deputy platoon commander from the Maglan unit, told reporters he had been searching for the terrorists since Thursday evening and noticed an “unusual lump of grass” on Sunday morning.
“We identified what looked like a suspicious body in a bush, and as I approached closer, I saw the body was breathing, and I called for backup support, and we surprised them,” Y. said. “They were exhausted and did not resist arrest.”
According to an IDF Central Command senior officer, some 800 soldiers took part in the manhunt, including from the Egoz, Maglan and Duvdevan Special Forces units, the Ghost unit, the Lotar counterterrorism unit and the Mirol tracking unit.
“The terrorists came from our sector, and we bear responsibility,” he said.
The security forces had set up a joint command center near Nahshonim, the officer said, adding that the area where the terrorists were caught had been searched several times during the manhunt.
The IDF operated throughout the West Bank on Monday morning, including in Rummanah, the hometown of the two terrorists who killed three men in Elad on Thursday, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.MEMRI: Al-Jazeera Journalists, Public Figures In Qatar Tweet In Praise Of The Elad Terrorist Attack On Israel's Independence Day
Two Palestinians suspected of assisting the terrorists were arrested in the West Bank town. Another two Palestinians suspected of aiding the terrorists who carried out the shooting attack in Ariel at the end of April – in which a guard at the entrance of the settlement was murdered – were arrested overnight in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, near Salfit.
Israeli security forces also arrested terrorism suspects in Balata, Aida, Bayt Rima, Al-Walaja, Bil'in, Azzoun, Qatanna and Hizma overnight.
In total, 15 suspects were arrested by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Monday morning.
The two Elad terrorists were captured by Israeli forces on Sunday morning. Later in the day, the army mapped their homes in preparation for their demolition.
Additionally on Monday morning, a suspected price-tag attack was reported in the town of Jisr e-Zarka, after graffiti was sprayed on walls and cars and 17 vehicles were vandalized, according to police.
On May 5, 2022, Israel's Independence Day, two Palestinians carried out a deadly terrorist attack in the Israeli town of Elad, murdering three civilians with axe-blows to the head. Following the attack, hosts and reporters of Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel, as well as other media and public figures in Qatar, tweeted in support of the attack and its perpetrators. They praised their use of axes and celebrated the fact that the attack took place on Israel's Independence Day.
The following are some of these tweets.[1]
Praise For The Attack And Its Perpetrators
Al-Jazeera host Tamer Al-Misshal tweeted on May 7, 2022: "In the era of [Arab] pandering [to Israel], we are proud of Palestine, of its people and of its resistance, which surrender only to Allah."[2]
On May 8, after the terrorists were captured, Al-Misshal tweeted photos of the two, with the comment: "[These are] the two youths who embarrassed the entire [Israeli] entity. The occupation has arrested those who carried out the operation in Elad after a chase that lasted three days."[3]
Al-Jazeera host Ahmad Mansour tweeted following the terrorists' capture: "The fact that those who carried out the operation in the settlement of Elad managed to hide and evade capture throughout the last few days despite the security cooperation between the Israeli entity, the Palestinian Authority and the treasonous collaborators reveals the fragility of Israel's security apparatuses. The Palestinians have lately managed to make high-quality security achievements and breakthroughs, which prove that Israel is experiencing a real security defeat."[4]
A cartoon published by the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi on May 9 is captioned "The Zionist Security Array" and shows the Israeli flag disintegrating and an axe dripping with blood.[5]
The hacks at the AP really twist themselves into pretzels to avoid saying that two terrorists were killed while attempting to murder Israelis https://t.co/7m3FEI2mjf
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) May 8, 2022
Mothers who will receive thousands of dollars every month because their sons died while murdering Jews. Mothers who raise their children on the ideals of mass murderers of Jews. Mothers who dream of a day their children will live in a world without Jews or die trying. ?????? https://t.co/L7e7JebX7j
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) May 8, 2022
More lies from verified Twitter accounts spreading disinformation
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) May 8, 2022
Palestinians aren’t being hunted down and killed these were terrorists who were actively engaged in attacks! pic.twitter.com/88Qxmf6qir
Beinart wants you to believe he opposes the goals of Sinwar & Hamas. He may oppose their tactics — though he often excuses them. But like Hamas & Khamenei, he seeks the Jewish state’s destruction.
— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) May 8, 2022
His weapons are sophistry & mendacity instead of rockets, cleavers & knives. https://t.co/3FycDaYXRT
.@elevendaysinmay Terrorist propaganda. Incites hate. Mendacious, completely devoid of context, emotionally manipulative, exploitative (shows dead kids incl horrifically injured faces). Whoever at Picturehouse decided to show it shd be fired. https://t.co/t5qUJrKxPu
— (((Jonathan Hoffman))) (@jhoffman1) May 9, 2022
PMW: Fatah spokesman: Last week’s murder of three civilians is “heroic action” Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah continues to express support for the murder of Israeli civilians as the Palestinian terror wave continues.
On Thursday, two Palestinian terrorists armed with an ax brutally murdered three Israeli civilians in the city of Elad. Between them the three fathers have 16 young children. Yonatan Habakuk was murdered in front of his six-year-old son.
Despite the horrific brutality (or because of it), Fatah spokesman of the Jenin branch Nasri Hamamreh called the murders an “heroic action,” when interviewed on Fatah’s Awdah TV. Also, consistent with Fatah’s presenting all of Israel as “occupied Palestinian land” the spokesman referred to the Israeli city Elad, which is situated within Israel's pre-1967 borders, as a “settlement” on “our Palestinian land.”
Palestinian Media Watch reported that after the murder of 3 civilians in Tel Aviv, Mahmoud Abbas sent condolences to the family of the killed terrorist.
Fatah Spokesman, Jenin branch, Nasri Hamamreh:
"The occupation (i.e., PA euphemism for Israel) claims that two youths from the Jenin district from the town of Rummanah carried out this heroic action [murder of three civilians with an ax] in the settlement of Elad, on our Palestinian land in the settlement of Elad (Note: Elad is within the pre-1967 Israeli borders).”
[Fatah’s Awdah TV, May 8, 2022]
British-Palestinian Journalist Abdel Bari Atwan: The Recent Axe Murder of Three Israelis Was Legitimate Resistance to the Occupation; The Attackers Are Tigers, Lions #Palestinians #hamas #terrorism @abdelbariatwan pic.twitter.com/MdXni5BHJr
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 9, 2022
Stephen Harper: Why it’s time to stop negotiating with Iran
In the shadow of Russia’s appalling war against its peaceful neighbour, misguided efforts to revive the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal have continued. The dangerous naiveté among Western leaders that left Ukraine outside NATO also underlies efforts to make deals with Tehran. We should hope that negotiators do not return to Vienna and that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) process with Iran is abandoned for good.Gulf Arab Countries Copying Qatar in Hedging Against U.S. Power; Iran Is Thrilled
I spoke out in favour of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 and have long viewed the effort as fatally flawed. Rather than stopping Iran’s nuclear program, the JCPOA in fact left the mullahs inching ever closer to nuclear weapon capabilities. Worse, the original 2015 deal served to enrich the Iranian regime and helped it finance and expand its terror network that is destabilizing the wider region. A revived deal would provide a new infusion of resources to the Iranian government, empower their ability to threaten neighbours, and advance activities hostile to our interests.
The recent effort to revive the deal has absurdly engaged Russia as a key facilitator of negotiations, at the very moment when its troops are perpetrating war crimes in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran has predictably used the talks to push for additional, outrageous concessions, such as the removal of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from the U.S. terror list.
There are two deeper problems underlying efforts to re-start the JCPOA.
First, the approach fails to recognize that Iran’s nuclear program is only a manifestation of its extremist Shia theocratic ideology. That ideology calls for goals that threaten the wider region. It is why, one step at a time, Iran has been working to build a nascent empire throughout the Middle East: Shia government and militia figures in Iraq, support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, and the Houthi takeover in Yemen. The correct response to such extremism is deterrence, not accommodation. Western leaders should have recognized this truth in the case of Russia long before Feb. 24. We must not wait for an equally dire moment with Iran to figure it out.
Second, and even more troubling, is that the obsession with engaging Iran has caused many leaders to lose sight of who are our real allies in the region, especially the Gulf Arab nations that share our fundamental security interests. Just as the West needs help from them with the energy challenges presented by dependence on Russia, these countries need our support from the serious threat they face from Iran. Several of them have pursued an unprecedented thawing of relations with the democratic State of Israel, while some in the West seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Again, the West is failing to recognize a fundamental principle: you embrace willing friends and stand up to implacable foes, regardless of systems of internal administration.
The emirate of Qatar houses a key U.S. air base, Al Udeid, and enjoys a defense pact and major non-NATO ally status with the U.S., all the while maintaining friendly relations with Iran; hosting senior leaders of U.S.-designated terrorist groups including Hamas and the Taliban; and financing Al Jazeera, a media network that pushes anti-Israel, anti-U.S., pro-Iran, and pro-Muslim Brotherhood messaging.Seth Frantzman: How the pro-Iran deal lobby became the Russia appeasement lobby
Qatar's success has made it a model for the rest of the region.
Increasingly doubtful about the constancy of U.S. military support, the rest of the Gulf is in the process of hedging their bets against U.S. power, playing footsie with Tehran and making economic and weapons deals with China and Russia.
It became clear after Iranian-sponsored attacks on key Saudi oil facilities that even the most virulent of Iran's foes in the White House would not spring to Riyadh's defense.
THE STRANGE nexus that links appeasement of Russia and concerns that it might lose in Ukraine, to the Iran deal and a bizarre belief that the Islamic Republic could bring stability to the Middle East, stretches back a decade and a half to the period after John Kerry ran for president, when he hinted at some of these concepts at Davos in 2007 while sitting on a panel with Iran’s former president Mohammed Khatami.Seth Frantzman: Does Iran benefit if Russia moves units from Syria?
In the fall of 2009, the US even sought out a “reset” with Russia and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton posed with Sergey Lavrov – Russia's foreign minister then as now – in Geneva. This came a year after the Russian invasion of part of Georgia in the Caucasus.
Moscow likely believed in February 2022 that it could also invade Ukraine, as it did to Georgia, and it might get appeasement and a reset. Instead it has faced American resolve and a more unified NATO and EU.
Nevertheless, the voices out there suggesting the US not “provoke” or “escalate” the situation any more in Ukraine continue to push op-eds at media in the US and UK. They warn of nuclear war and complain about every new initiative. They believe the same propaganda about “war” will work again as it did with the Iran Deal.
The argument reveals a hidden truth about the Iran deal. It’s now clear that the deal was designed to empower Iran and to basically hand it a blank check to invade countries in the region, under the guise that any confrontation needed to be replaced by “engagement.” And if Iran one day gets a nuclear weapon then the talking point will change to the one rolled out about Russia: We shouldn’t confront Iran or it could increase the danger of nuclear war.
In short, the same voices who believe Russia must not be defeated in Ukraine are the same ones that wanted Iran to be empowered – and some of the same voices that don’t want Ukraine to have all the funding it needs for self-defense are the ones who also opposed Israel-US cooperation.
WHY WOULD Russia hand over bases or posts to the IRGC or Hezbollah? It would appear that this would risk those sites and also lead to tensions. Moscow may have had some brief tension last week due to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comments, but it likely doesn’t want to open up new files dealing with problems with Israel or Syria. It therefore makes little sense for Russia to give up much space to the IRGC. That being said, smaller Russian posts or areas Russia once used might be sponged up by the Iranian octopus.Seth Frantzman: Assad’s devil’s bargain on display with Iran meeting
The question is whether Iran really benefits here. If Russia does move out of some places, then Iran can’t use them for cover or plausible deniability. It likes the fact Russia is in Syria because Russia shields the Syrian regime and lets Iran hollow out Syria from within.
This is also how Iran does business in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. It sets up shop, hollows out and bankrupts, backfills with religious extremist proxies, and then leaves a shell country. It is like a robber baron or corporate raider that leaves shell corporations saddled in debt. Iran is a kind of mafia/empire/corporate raider all wrapped into one, guarded by drones and missiles that it exports.
So how can Iran really benefit if Russia begins to move forces out of Syria? Iran would be more exposed; it would have to “own” more Syrian real estate. This brings us back to the old maxim, “if you break it, you buy it.” Supposedly then-US secretary of state Colin Powell told this to president George W. Bush: “If you break it, you fix it. Now, if you break it, you made a mistake. It's the wrong thing to do. But you own it.”
Either way, does Iran really want to “own” a broken Syria, or merely to use it? The Islamic Republic prefers to use the embattled country; it wants the best of both worlds, with Russia propping up the Syrian regime and giving it legitimacy, while it uses Syria to move weapons and knit together Hezbollah and the Hashd al-Sha’abi in Iraq – and then use these as leverage against Israel; even flying drones from the bases in Syria, Iraq and Iran to threaten Israel as it has done in recent years.
Less Russia in Syria could actually backfire on Iran. In the near-term of course, Tehran can benefit because of the shadow of conflict and lack of knowledge about whether the Russians really did move forces out. But if they did or are moving them, then the evidence will come to light – and the Iranians will be seen at these new locations and will then be exposed.
THIS IS another fantastical statement. He knows full well that the real story of Iranian support is operatives and also some cannon fodder, not even the weapons Iran sends. In fact, the term “resistance front” is a largely imaginary concept that Iran conjures up to pretend it is resisting the US and Israel.Elite universities are protecting Iranian agents
“In the end, the Syrian president emphasized, what made the Zionist regime unable to rule the region is the strategic relations between Iran and Syria, which must continue with strength,” the report said.
Syria talks about Israel because it is wary of the real Iranian agenda. It must focus on a largely fake threat, that of Israel, rather than the real threat of Iran swamping the Syrian regime with militias, leading to chaos and weakness that will invite more troubles.
If Iran stirs up trouble with Jordan via the drug smuggling, moves its 3rd Khordad air-defense system to T-4 or does other nefarious movements, it could create tensions with the US or Israel.
This means the regime could also face hurdles. It doesn’t want more troubles in the south, in the Houran or with Russian-backed units near the Golan. It doesn’t want more unbridled attacks on Tanaf and the US garrison in Syria near the Jordanian border.
The regime has too many problems, so it has cut a devil’s bargain with Iran. But how can it balance this with outreach to the Gulf and Egypt? How can it balance this with investment it wants from China and other countries?
It faces challenges, and being mortgaged to Iran’s “resistance axis” is a huge problem. But it has fewer choices because Russia’s focus is elsewhere.
The Biden administration is on the precipice of approving another disastrous deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. It will reportedly relieve pressure on Iranian terrorist organizations and provide hundreds of billions of dollars to a regime allied with Russia and China.
Tehran is guilty of gross human rights violations, ignoring UN Security Council resolutions and violating nearly every one of its obligations to restrain its nuclear program. This should be cause for great concern, but in higher education, it is likely to be met with a shrug of the shoulders if not outright applause.
Leading universities like Princeton University and Oberlin College in Ohio have for too long chosen to cast their lot with the Iranian regime, not the United States and its democratic allies. Iranian government agents are members of the faculty at both institutions. Princeton must cut ties with Iranian Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian and Oberlin with Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Jafar Mahallati.
They represent the brutal Iranian establishment and hide behind calls for diplomacy and peace to mask their bloodstained records. It is shameful that both schools are standing by their side instead of prioritizing student safety and upholding their moral obligations to protect against infiltration by agents of hostile foreign powers.
Despite mounting public pressure, as members of the faculty, they are protected by their brethren, no matter their offenses. This must stop.
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