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Tuesday, July 12, 2022

07/12 Links Pt1: Why Biden's 'Gestures' to the Palestinians Will Not Bring Peace or Stability; Trump was a gift, Biden is the punishment; U.N. to review reports of torture carried out by the Palestinian government

From Ian:

Bassam Tawil: Why Biden's 'Gestures' to the Palestinians Will Not Bring Peace or Stability
The Biden administration might do itself a favor if it understood that previous "gestures" made by Israel did not contribute to peace and stability in the region, and did not advance any peace process between the Israel and the Palestinians.

There is much that the Palestinian Authority can do to ease tensions and help create a suitable atmosphere for the resumption of the peace process with Israel. The PA could, for example, stop the incitement against Israel, halt payments to families of terrorists, condemn terrorism and crack down on terror groups operating under its control.

It is this unresponsive governance by the Palestinian Authority to everything except killing Jews -- not the absence of "gestures" -- that strengthens the support for Hamas.

The Palestinians correctly spot these fig-leaf public relations "gestures" as just political plumage for Abbas that does not require him to change how he mistreats them. So why not try Hamas?

It was hard, in fact, to find anyone in the Gaza Strip who saw Israel's withdrawal as a positive development or as a sign that Israel wanted peace and calm. Instead, it was seen as a validation of terrorism: We shoot, they run. Great! It's working! So, let's keep on doing that!

Until today, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group controlling the Gaza Strip, continues to portray the withdrawal as a "defeat" for Israel and "victory" for the terror groups. In addition, Hamas continues to describe the "expulsion" of Israel from the Gaza Strip as a first step towards achieving its goal of eliminating Israel and replacing it with an Iranian-backed Islamist state.

Here is what the official Fatah Facebook page published as late as May 25, 2022: "No statute of limitations will apply to our historical right to take back all the Palestinian land from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, including the [Jordan] River and the [Mediterranean] Sea" -- thereby making an alliance with Hamas all the more tempting in order to accelerate the process.

The "gestures" and "concessions" will, in fact, be seen by the Palestinians, like Israel's retreat from the Gaza Strip, as a reward for their ongoing incitement and terrorism against Israel.

The "gestures" the Biden administration is demanding are, according to the Israeli group Regavim, illegal...
Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Arabs Are Fed up With the Palestinians
The Palestinians can only blame themselves for antagonizing their Arab brothers and consequently losing the Arab money. The Palestinians have been spitting in the face of the Arab countries, while at the same time expecting these countries to continue funding them.

The Arabs are clearly not as naïve as the Americans and Europeans, who are continuing to pour millions of dollars annually on the Palestinians without conditions and without demanding accountability.

Had the Palestinians welcomed the many peace accords between Israel and the Arab states instead of condemning them and bad-mouthing the Arab leaders, they would have been in a much better situation today. They would have continued to receive financial aid from the Arabs and been able to use this money to build a better future for their children

The Arab countries have more urgent issues to deal with than the corrupt, thankless Palestinian leaders do. You can start with the welfare of their own people. The Palestinian leadership, by contrast, is happy to fail its people by indoctrinating generation after generation with bloodlust for Jews. When Palestinian society finds itself left in the global dust of progress, it can thank its leaders for bringing them to that sorry pass.
Trump was a gift, Biden is the punishment
We can only hope the visit comes and goes in peace, and that Prime Minister Yair Lapid can charm his sleepy guest and mitigate any potential damage. Either way, the main sentiment regarding the visit is one of immense frustration over the administration in Washington, mainly from the chorus of foolish Israelis who cheered it on while ignoring the magnitude of the wasted historic opportunity we had when Trump was in power.

Netanyahu's main achievement in terms of the Trump administration shouldn't actually be judged according to the bottom line, although this would be quite sufficient (and in my opinion not enough). The main success is in the spirit of the matter. However we look at the Biden administration's positions regarding Israel, the impression is one of identification with a Palestinian narrative that seeks to persuade the world that Israel's very existence is a "problem." There are those who support this "problem" and others who have their reservations, but this has been our story since 1948: We're a "problem." An established problem, a successful problem, a problem the Americans share many interests with, but a "problem" nonetheless.

Light years apart, meanwhile, the Trump administration's collaboration with the Netanyahu government evinced a fundamentally different perception of Israel. It approached Israel naturally, as an indisputable fact, not just because of aligned interests but because of complete identification with the Zionist narrative predicated on the natural and historic right of the Jewish people – and the Palestinian opposition to this as a "problem." Israel is stable and upright, it has problems and those need to be addressed. These are not two versions of the same story. They are two different stories altogether.

Perhaps this situation was caused by Trump's abrasive and problematic personality. But who the hell cares? Beggars can't be choosers. Does Israel have the luxury of picking and choosing the source of its salvation? Every Israeli understands this. Then why the cheers and joy over the Democratic victory and open disgust over anything connected to Trump? Because of the game of pretenses, which first and foremost consists of needing to appear universal and approach every dispute in the US as if it is happening here; and second, because of the need to be considered enlightened. This is the powerful engine driving many Israelis and is behind their emotional reaction to the abortion issue there as if it is any of their business. No, friends, it's not your business. And yes, Trump was a gift. And Biden is the punishment for the sin we committed in denial and falsehood.


MEMRI: Emirati Academic Close To UAE President Tells President Biden On Eve Of Mideast Visit: You Must Recognize The Rising Status Of The Gulf States and Treat Them With Respect; 'The Time When The U.S. Ordered The World To Obey Has Passed'
In an article published on the eve of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East, Abd Al-Khaleq Abdallah, who is a researcher with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C. and also considered to be close to UAE President Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, criticized the U.S.'s "haste" in "dashing" towards signing a nuclear agreement with Iran. Stressing that "Iran constitutes the gravest possible threat to the region's security and stability." He called on Biden to listen to the fears of the Gulf states "instead of pushing them to accept a nuclear agreement that would perpetuate Iranian hegemony."

The article, titled "A Letter from a UAE Academic to President Biden," was published by CNN Arabic on July 6, 2022.

The Gulf states, wrote Abdallah, have their own geopolitical interests and considerations, different from those of the U.S., including their aspiration to deepen and expand their ties with other world powers. If the U.S. does not respect this, he continued, the Gulf states will not be able to establish a strategic partnership with it. He went on to note that President Biden must realize that the Arab Gulf has changed: its new, young leaders are demanding a more balanced partnership with the U.S. and are unwilling to comply with every U.S. request, and added that from now on, the price that Biden would have to pay for the Gulf states' compliance with his request to step up oil production, will be U.S. respect for the Gulf states and their leaders and recognition of their importance in the new world order. He concluded by calling on Biden to spare his hosts discussion of human rights and democracy, since the shine is off the U.S.'s democracy, and such talk would be a waste of time for both sides.

The following is the translation of the main points of Abdallah's article:
"A Letter From A UAE Academic To President Biden

"Dear President Joe Biden,

"I am happy to welcome you on your first visit to the region... You are the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, and the president of the most important partner of the Arab Gulf states, which understand the importance of this partnership and are interested in continuing it, even strengthening it and leading it towards new and promising strategic horizons.

"Mr. President, the Arab Gulf states, as you surely realize, live alongside a difficult Iranian neighbor. [This neighbor] constitutes the gravest threat to the region's security and stability; it has a religious, revolutionary, expansionist agenda. It is working speedily to build mighty nuclear and ballistic capabilities; it is providing aid in the form of funds and weapons to terror militias that undermine the stability and security of the region and direct their terror activity at the Arab Gulf states. The issue of [the clause regarding the] tackling [of] Iran's activity is the most important of the issues [clauses] that are on the agenda of your visit to the countries of the region – all of whom share this concern in light of the U.S.'s dash towards Iran and its ill-considered haste to sign the nuclear agreement. The Arab Gulf states are [situated] closest to Iran, and they understand it better than others, certainly better than the U.S. If only you would listen carefully to the legitimate concerns of the Iranian expansion instead of pushing them to accept a nuclear agreement that would perpetuate Iranian hegemony and strengthen its plans to become the policeman of the Arab Gulf[!]

"Mr. President, you are coming to the region amidst a growing discourse about the U.S.'s reexamination of its presence in the Arab Gulf and its intention to withdraw from the Middle East so as to contend with the Russian threat and China's rising [power]. Doubtless this is a purely American matter, but it is important that the U.S. understand that the Gulf states also have their own national agenda and geopolitical priorities which differ from those of the U.S.; these include activity to diversify partnerships and deepen relations with the rising global forces.
US lawmakers petition Biden not to visit east Jerusalem hospital
Among the numerous stops on his itinerary, US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Augusta Victoria Hospital in east Jerusalem while in Israel. As no American president has ever visited a Palestinian institution in east Jerusalem, such a move would be unprecedented in nature and deviate from customary protocol.

Biden's east Jerusalem visit has sparked opposition among politicians and public figures in Israel and the US. Last week, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, penned a letter to the American press in which he called on the US president not to visit east Jerusalem.

In the wake of the letter and conversations Danon has held in recent days with US lawmakers, an initiative has emerged in Congress over the past week to change Biden's itinerary and cancel his tour of east Jerusalem.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne of Texas has begun circulating a petition calling on Biden not to visit the hospital.

"As you know," the petition says, "Jerusalem has already been recognized as the capital of Israel. This has been the United States' consistent position since the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which rejects the partition of Jerusalem."

The US lawmakers emphasized in the petition that Biden himself supported Jerusalem's unification in the past.

"The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which you supported as a senator, affirms the United States' policy of preserving Jerusalem as a united city while upholding freedom of religion and equal rights for all religious and ethnic groups," the petition says.


Palestinians to protest Biden visit amid unfulfilled promises
Palestinian activists have called for holding a protest in Ramallah on Thursday against US President Joe Biden’s visit to the West Bank and meeting in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The protest, scheduled for 6 p.m. in Ramallah’s Al Manara Square, will be held to express “rejection of Biden’s humiliating policies toward the Palestinian issue” and Washington’s “blatant bias” in favor of Israel.

A poster published by a number of Palestinian activists on social-media platforms denounced the US as the “head of the snake” and said, “America does not liberate people but only enslaves them.”

The Palestinian leadership was not pinning high hopes on the Biden visit to the region, a Palestinian official in Ramallah said Monday, adding that it was mainly aimed at establishing a new alliance to confront Iran.

The Palestinian leadership has not received any assurances that the Biden administration would fulfill its promises to the Palestinians, the official told The Jerusalem Post.

“The Palestinian issue is not at the top of Biden’s agenda,” the official said. “Ignoring the Palestinian issue will only increase tensions and undermine security and stability in the region.”

The official repeated the Palestinian demand to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem, which had previously served as the de facto embassy to the Palestinians, and to remove the PLO from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list.
Archival records show planned US embassy located on Palestinian property - Arab NGO
Lease agreements from 1947 show that land situated within the area designated for a planned US diplomatic compound in Jerusalem belonged to Palestinians before the State of Israel was founded, according to a report by the Adalah NGO and legal center published on Sunday.

The planned diplomatic compound for the US includes an embassy, offices, residences for staff and other structures in an area known as the Allenby Barracks. The plan is at the advanced stage of the zoning approval process at the District Planning Committee of Jerusalem after it was resubmitted to planning authorities last year after the original plan expired in 2008.

The lease agreements shared by Adalah show that the land in at least part of the area known as the Allenby Barracks was owned by a number of Palestinians, including the El Fitiani family, Habib, Qleibo, El Khalidi, Razzaq and El Khalili families.

According to Adalah, the land was seized under Israel's Absentees' Property Law of 1950, which states that any property belonging to Palestinian Mandate citizens who "left their ordinary place of residence in [the Mandate]" to either outside the Mandate before September 1st, 1948 or to a place in the Mandate area held at the time by forces which fought against Israel would become property of the state's Custodian of Absentee Properties Department.

According to the Absentees' Property (Compensation) Law of 1973, absentees who were Israeli residents on July 1, 1973 or became residents afterward and owned or leased absentees' property before the custodian took control of them, are entitled to compensation of a value established by the law.

"The US Embassy Plan will violate the private property rights of Palestinian landowners and the internationally established right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and gain restitution of their properties," wrote Adalah in a press release.

The Absentees' Property Law to confiscate land in Jerusalem also violates the city's special status under intentional law, the NGO stressed, as, under UN General Assembly resolutions, Jerusalem has a special separate status which the law would violate.
Media, For Peace Sake, Don’t Let Biden Visit Be Marred by Inaccurate Reporting Again
Washington Manipulated by Media’s Framing of Ramat Shlomo Story
Biden purposely came 90 minutes late to dinner with Netanyahu and then condemned the news, saying it “undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions I’ve had in Israel.” The PM not only apologized — he formed a committee to investigate the unfolding of events during the Biden visit and come up with regulations to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

The next day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Netanyahu and complained to him for 45 minutes straight about the incident that she called “insulting.”

Officials in the Obama administration admitted years later that the anger expressed over the construction plan inside Jerusalem ended up undermining their efforts to persuade Israelis to take risks to advance the peace process in areas where Israeli concessions were actually possible if handled correctly.

While the Ramat Shlomo construction that only occurred years later did not and could not have harmed the peace process because the chance of the area being relinquished in a diplomatic deal was zero, the headlines and the uproar they created did make it harder to advance the process for the remaining seven years of the Obama administration.

Will History Repeat Itself This Week? It’s Up to the Media
Now Biden is returning to Jerusalem, this time as president. He will be meeting with Prime Minister Yair Lapid and opposition leader Netanyahu, who polls show could become prime minister again. Relations between the Biden Administration and Israel are currently viewed as positive, with no major disputes likely to erupt.

Lapid spoke with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend, the first call between an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian leader in five years. Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Abbas in person.

For those positive relations to continue and deepen — and for there to be any chance of restarting peace talks — Biden’s visit must be successful and cannot be marred by inaccurate reporting, as it was 12 years ago.

Media, it’s your move.


Guatemalan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus Marks Fifth Anniversary
The Congress of Guatemala presented a new book in Spanish titled “Friendship Documents” at an event on Monday that showcased relevant documents describing the development of diplomatic ties between Guatemala and Israel.

The celebration included pro-Israel resolutions and declarations issued by the Guatemalan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus since its inception in 2017, as well as the transfer of the Guatemalan embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.

Speakers at the event included Guatemala Minister of Foreign Affairs Mario Bucaro; President of the Congress Deputy Shirley Rivera; Chairman of the Israel Allies Caucus in Guatemala Deputy Fidel Reyes Lee; and Israel Allies Foundation President Josh Reinstein.

“Guatemala once again demonstrates its commitment and support for the nation of Israel, in coordination with the Israel Allies Foundation, promoting the bonds of brotherhood between both nations,” said Bucaro.

“As chairman of the Israel Allies Caucus in Guatemala, I want to send a message of support to the State of Israel. We are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the historic moment when a group of deputies, in coordination with the Israel Allies Foundation, signed the ‘Declaration of Solidarity and Friendship with the State of Israel’ and formed the first Israel Allies Caucus in the Guatemalan Congress,” said Lee.
Russia ‘Exploiting’ Holocaust, Pushing Antisemitism to Justify Ukraine Invasion, New US State Department Report Protests
A new report issued by the US State Department on Monday charged Russia with having invoked “Nazism and the horrors associated with World War II and the Holocaust” as justification for its invasion of Ukraine, asserting that Moscow’s bid to tar the Ukrainian leadership as “neo-Nazis” in the eyes of the world had unleashed a revival of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The report — titled “To vilify Ukraine, the Kremlin resorts to antisemitism” — reviewed a number of episodes since the Russian invasion at the end of February that involved Russian officials disparaging Jews or distorting the Holocaust.

It accused President Vladimir Putin’s regime of trying to “manipulate international public opinion by drawing false parallels between Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine and the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany, a source of pride and unity for many people of the former Soviet republics who made enormous sacrifices during World War II, including both Ukrainians and Russians.”

It emphasized that Holocaust research institutes around the world — including Yad Vashem in Israel and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC — had denounced “Russia’s ‘completely inaccurate comparisons with Nazi ideology and actions and the false claims that ‘democratic Ukraine needs to be denazified.'”

The report also cited a statement signed by 140 historians at North American, European and Israeli universities that protested the Russian propaganda offensive, stating as well that while they did not “idealize” Ukrainian society, there was “no Nazi government for Moscow to root out in Kyiv. There has been no genocide of the Russian people in Ukraine. And Russian troops are not on a liberation mission.”
Populist Japanese Politician Who Railed Against ‘Jewish Capital’ Wins Parliamentary Seat
A far-right populist party whose leader railed against “Jewish capital” in an election stump speech secured one seat in the upper house of Japan’s parliament in Sunday’s elections.

Sanseito, a populist party launched in 2020, ran candidates in all of Japan’s 45 electoral districts. Sunday’s vote marked a major victory for the governing Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, with ballots cast just two days after the shock assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe.

Sanseito’s sole parliamentary representative will be the party’s general secretary and co-founder, 44-year-old Sohei Kamiya.

At a campaign rally in June, Kamiya told the crowd that Sanseito would not sell out Japan to “Jewish capital,” a remark that was greeted with applause.

According to Japan’s Mainichi news outlet, Sanseito boasts that it was “created from scratch because there are no parties to vote for.” Its platform centers around around “education for children,” “food and health,” “environmental conservation” and “protecting the nation.” The party spread its message though YouTube and other social media platforms, criticizing the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Israel Guys Daily: President Biden Planning to Give Compensation to Terrorists
Today in Israel, five terrorists were arrested in overnight raids. The Samaria military court released the father of the Bnei Brak terrorist. A crazy Arab news report about the American administration. The Blue & White and New Hope parties may be planning a joint run in the next elections, and an open letter warning Yair Lapid about Biden’s upcoming visit to Israel.


U.N. to review reports of torture carried out by the Palestinian government
For the first time, a United Nations committee focused on addressing torture will scrutinize the actions of the Palestinian Authority and its treatment of those under its care.

The U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) — a subsidiary of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) — convenes today in Geneva, where it will investigate instances of enforced disappearances, violent interrogations and the holding of the remains of Israeli soldiers, among other issues. In addition to investigating the Palestinian Authority, the committee will also probe Botswana, Nicaragua and the United Arab Emirates.

CAT, which holds broad powers to probe incidents of torture and cruel treatment, is expected to review reports submitted by American, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, the Palestinian Coalition Against Torture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Clinic on International Human Rights and others.

“We welcome the fact that for the first time ever the Palestinian Authority will come under scrutiny at the United Nations for its record on torture,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental organization based in Geneva, told Jewish Insider.

In preparation for the session and in accordance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (from which CAT derives its authority), the Palestinian Authority (PA) was required to submit a report of its current adherence to the convention.
As Biden meets with Abbas, Abbas raises the salaries of hundreds of terrorists As Biden meets with Abbas, Abbas raises the salaries of hundreds of terrorists
In their meeting on this coming Friday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will pressure US President Joe Biden to renew the US aid to the PA. Abbas needs the renewed US aid to help him meet the ever-rising cost of the PA’s terror rewarding “Pay-for-Slay” policy. In essence, Abbas is going to ask President Biden to abolish the Taylor Force Act, or at the very least, bypass it and thereby desecrate its spirit.

The terrorist murderers Fahmi and Ramadan Mashahreh are just two of hundreds of Palestinian terrorist prisoners who have recently received or are about to receive a rise in salary from the Palestinian Authority.

Arrested in July 2002, the Mashahreh brothers are 2 of the terrorists responsible for the bus bombing on June 18, 2002, in which 19 people were murdered and tens were injured. The Mashahrehs are members of Hamas - the internationally designated terror organization - and were residents of Jerusalem, who used the freedom of movement enjoyed by Israeli residents to carry out their attack. Having now been in prison for 20 years, the PA considers the Mashahrehs to be “veteran prisoners.”

According to Palestinian “prisoners’ institutions”, the number of Palestinian terrorist prisoners held in Israeli prisons as of the end of June 2022 was “approximately 4,650.”

Among these prisoners are 233 so-called “veteran prisoners”. The report continued saying that the number of Palestinian “veteran prisoners” has more than doubled since the beginning of the 2022, when their number stood at 112. The report added that the number of “veteran prisoners” is set to continue rising as a result of the arrests of terrorists “during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 and during the invasion of the West Bank cities in 2002”:
“The prisoners’ institutions said that… the number of Palestinian prisoners being held in the occupation’s prisons stands at approximately 4,650 as of the end of June 2022. Among them are 30 female prisoners, 180 minors, and approximately 650 administrative detainees…

The institutions said that the list of veteran prisoners, which is a term the Palestinians give to those who have served over 20 consecutive years of imprisonment, rose in June to 233 prisoners.

Compared to the start of the current year, the number of prisoners on this list [then] stood at 112, and it is expected to rise in the coming days due to the numerous arrests carried out by the occupation forces against hundreds of Palestinians during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered) and during the invasion of the West Bank cities in 2002.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 8, 2022]

The “Al-Aqsa Intifada” is the Palestinian name for the PA instigated and controlled terror campaign that raged from September 2000 through 2005, and during which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered.


Teen terrorist declared he would become a Martyr and join other terrorist Martyrs
Official PA TV reporter: “According to the friends [of Ghaith Yamin], he always loved being photographed and would tell them: Take a picture of me, because I will [become] a Martyr and join the three Martyrs of Nablus whom [the city] bid farewell some months ago… when the occupation cold-bloodedly executed Muhammad Al-Dakhil, Adham Mabrouka, and Ashraf Mubaslat (i.e., terrorists).”
[Official PA TV, May 25, 2022]

Ghaith Rafiq Yamin – 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist who threw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers while participating in a violent Arab riot in Nablus on May 25, 2022. The soldiers shot and killed Yamin in self-defense. The rioters were attempting to attack Jews visiting Joseph’s Tomb. Yamin actively sought to die as a Martyr and left a will on his social media accounts with instructions to relatives and friends about what to do with his body after his death.


Palestinians form Jenin Battalion to challenge Israel's army



'Security Council must condemn Hezbollah drone launch at Israeli offshore rig'
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Monday called on the Security Council to condemn the Hezbollah drone launch at the Karish offshore natural gas field, warning such action could trigger wider escalation.

The US is currently mediating a maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel, surrounding their adjacent exclusive economic waters. The disputed area is about 330-square-mile wide, but the Karish rig sits completely in Israel's waters, making Hezbollah's July 2 drone launch a clear act of aggression.

"These UAV's were launched by Hezbollah from Lebanese territory to the Karish natural gas field, a critical civilian energy facility, in a deliberate attempt to threaten Israel and gather intelligence. This is a dangerous, hostile act, and serves as yet another provocation by Hezbollah that must be strongly condemned by the international community," Erdan asserted in a letter to the Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho, who currently chairs the Security Council.

The letter explains that the drones were sent to Lebanon by Tehran, which "demonstrates yet again the dangerous involvement and influence of Iran in Lebanon, and exposes Iran's malign intentions in the region."

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also made explicit threats against Israel's saying that the terrorist group "has the capacity to prevent Israel from beginning to extract natural gas from the Karish field, thus clearly spelling out its hostile intentions." The incident earlier this month "serves as evidence for the imminence and severity of these threats," Erdan explained.

Hezbollah's actions are a blatant violation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, calling for a full cessation of hostilities between the Iranian proxy and Israel.


ISIS Leader in Syria Killed in Drone Strike, Says US Military
The leader of Islamic State in Syria, one of the top five leaders of the militant group, has been killed in a US air strike, the US military said on Tuesday.

In a statement, US Central Command said Maher al-Agal had been killed in a drone strike in northwestern Syria and a close associate of his was seriously injured.

“Extensive planning went into this operation to ensure its successful execution. An initial review indicates there were no civilian casualties,” the statement added.

It said al-Agal was responsible for developing ISIS networks outside of Iraq and Syria.

It would be another blow to the Islamist insurgent group’s efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory.

The United States has roughly 900 troops in Syria, mostly in the east of the country splintered by a decade of civil war, although President Joe Biden’s administration has yet to detail its long-term plan for the eight-year-old mission.

The Syrian Civil Defense, a humanitarian organization operating in opposition-held areas, said an unidentified drone targeted a motorcycle in the village of Khaltan in the northern countryside of the Aleppo region, killing two people.

In February, the top leader of Islamic State blew himself up during a US military raid in Syria.


MEMRI: Iranian Regime Incites To Israel's Destruction On World Qods (Jerusalem) Day, Using The Palestinians To Accomplish The Goals Of The Islamic Revolution – Destroying Israel And Establishing Iranian-Shi'ite Control In The Region – Part I
Introduction

As it does every year, the Iranian regime marked Qods (Jerusalem) Day, established by the father of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1979 as the last Friday of Ramadan; this year, it fell on April 29, 2022. Iran considers Qods Day a symbol of the destruction of Israel, aka the Little Satan. Beyond regime calls for the Israel's destruction, whether through armed confrontation by the Islamic resistance or through a referendum among Palestinians worldwide (though not Jews, not even those in Israel), two trends are evident in this year's Qods Day statements by regime officials:
The use of the Palestinians to accomplish the goals of Iran's Islamic regime – the destruction of Israel and the "export of the revolution" – that is, establishing Shi'ite-Iranian control in the region at the expense of the Sunni Arabs.

Spreading antisemitism and hatred of the Jews and the Zionists.

This report, Part I of two, will discuss these trends as they appear in Iranian regime officials' statements for World Qods Day.

Qods Day Serves The Islamic Revolutionary Regime: The Destruction Of Israel And "Exporting The Revolution"

Since its establishment in 1979, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary regime has set the annihilation of the State of Israel as its ideological focus. In order to actualize this goal, it works on the military level by striving to obtain nuclear weapons and by funding, training, and arming resistance organizations such as Hizbullah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with weapons and missiles, and on the ideological level, whose apex is World Qods Day.

At the same time, the Islamic Revolutionary Regime is working to accomplish another central goal – "exporting the revolution." This entails spreading and inculcating the Shi'ite Islamic Revolution and its values across the Sunni Arab hegemony in the Middle East. It is the view of the Iranian regime that 1979 was the beginning of Iran's "comprehensive Islamic Revolution."


Seth Frantzman: What are the massive ramifications of the Russia-Iran drone connection?
MANY MORE questions are raised. Is Moscow really running so low on weapons that it needs Iranian drones? Will Iran harm its relations with Kyiv by moving forward with this sale? What is America’s reason for revealing this information now? Is the US trying to show how Iran is a key ally of Russia and thus cannot be trusted? Wouldn’t the linkage of Tehran and Moscow illustrate the danger of any kind of new Iran deal?

This would appear to cement US ties with Israel and their joint concerns over Iran. If the White House is clearly pointing the finger at the Kremlin for being in the Russian camp regarding harming Ukraine, then that would bolster Israel’s case that Iran is a threat to the region.

This is a big change from the rhetoric of the Obama administration that wanted to have talks with Iran. Some members of that administration were critical of the Jewish state, seeing the Islamic Republic as holding promise for “moderation.” Now we know that Iran is a huge drone threat and is backing Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

The Iran drone threat has been rising rapidly in recent years. It has used drones for decades but has increasingly been able to arm them and use them for pinpoint attacks. Iran’s drones can carry warheads and operate in a kamikaze fashion. Some can also do surveillance. Some fly on one-way missions, using gyroscopes and waypoints. Others, apparently, can be controlled from a mission control center, meaning they can fly and return to base.

Why does Russia need these drones? Does it want Iranian kamikaze ones? Does it want them for surveillance or to be used as expendable flying machines? Other countries have successfully used drones in complex attacks. Azerbaijan used them against Armenian forces in 2020. It used some as decoys, and others to hunt down radar defenses. It pummeled the Armenian forces using numerous types of drones.
Crackdown in Iran leads to anti-veil protests
Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils on "National Day of Hijab and Chastity" on Tuesday, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code as the country's hardline rulers crack down on "immoral behavior".

Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators face public rebuke, fines or arrest.

But decades after the revolution, clerical rulers still struggle to enforce the law, with many women of all ages and backgrounds wearing tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly colored scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.

Critics and activists see the establishment's stepped-up efforts to enforce hijab compliance as part of a wider clampdown on dissent amid deepening resentment over economic hardship at home and growing Western pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

As the state holds ceremonies across the country to celebrate the "National Day of Hijab and Chastity", rights activists have criticized the move and called on women to remove the veil.

"The National Day of Hijab and Chastity is only an excuse to target women and launch a new wave of repression against Iranian people and in particular women," dozens of prominent women's rights activists said in a joint statement on Monday.




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