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Wednesday, July 20, 2022

07/20 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: The strategic fallout of Biden’s failure; When Iran Says ‘Death to Israel,’ It Means It; Biden Administration Funds Anti-Israel Curricula, Hate Messages

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The strategic fallout of Biden’s failure
States that support Palestinian-centric diplomacy include Jordan and Qatar, and of course also the Palestinian Authority also supports it. All of these are harsh opponents of the Abraham Accords. Indeed, they condemned them. Jordan does not view Iran as a threat. Hamas and to a degree the Palestinian Authority view Iran as a sponsor and ally. And Qatar is Iran’s close ally and partner.

All the same, the Biden administration’s policy is to bring the two sides together. The first sign of this came with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in March. At the time, Blinken tried to force the foreign ministers of the Abraham Accord nations to bring the Palestinians into their deliberations. He failed.

But rather than walk away, the administration has doubled down. They have sought to bring Iranian allies and proxies Qatar and Iraq, as well as Jordan, into the regional air defense alliance that the United States seeks to create through CENTCOM. But bringing Qatar and Iraq into the alliance means emptying the alliance of all meaning. Similarly, Biden seeks to bring Jordan and the P.A., which oppose the Abraham Accords, into the summits of Abraham Accord partners, a move that would, again, gut the accords and reduce them to strategic incoherence, at best.

Immediately after Biden left Jeddah empty-handed, Egypt and the UAE beat a path to Tehran’s door looking to reopen their embassies and formally reinstate relations with a state pledged to their destruction. With the U.S. effectively batting for Iran’s team, they need to explore their options.

All of this, of course, is devastating for Israel, on every level. The move Israel has to make is fairly obvious. Israel needs to pander to the Biden administration just as emptily as Biden and his hostile advisers pander to Israel. And then they need to pursue policies that actually defend Israel’s interests.

Unfortunately, our caretaker leaders, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, are doing no such thing.

For reasons that have nothing to do with strategic rationality or reality, both men are apparently operating under the impression that Israel is required to advance policies towards the Palestinians and Iran that are devastating to Israel’s existential security interests.

Israel has apparently no plan to attack Iran’s nuclear installations, despite the fact that we are at crunch time. We have no policy to defend or preserve the Abraham Accords. Indeed, both Gantz and Lapid seem to have no clear understanding of the accords’ purpose or rationale. It’s hard to know whether their positions are based on ideological blindness or simple incompetence. Both men have demonstrated both, and in similar ways.

But all the same, Biden’s cataclysmically failed visit, which was followed immediately by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s triumphant visit to Tehran on Monday, means that Israel has no time for its leaders to learn remedial statecraft.

Biden’s pandering was irritating and insulting. But it’s the devastating substance of his policies that is truly alarming. Israel has to stand up for itself now, because nothing it says, no pandering on its part, will change America’s trajectory.
Gil Troy: Biden actually did a good job in Israel
Admittedly, I would have preferred to see unanimity between Israel and Biden. I toast Biden’s growing awareness regarding the dangers of Iran’s sick quest for nukes and its evil Revolutionary Guards, yet I cringed when Biden’s staff removed Israel’s flag from his limousine before entering east Jerusalem. (As a presidential historian, I deem this an unnecessary error: the limousine should fly only two flags everywhere – America’s and the president’s seal.)

Nevertheless, these minor frictions reinforced the broader message of a friendship resilient enough to absorb policy differences.

HERE IS where Biden’s age is a factor – for the good. Born in 1942 to pious, patriotic Catholics, Biden grew up understanding that, as he said, “the ancient roots of the Jewish people [in Israel] date back to biblical times,” and the once homeless Jews deserve a national home. Biden’s sympathy for Zionism contrasts with the Israel-bashers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who echo today’s trendy vocabulary of delegitimization, sloppily and cruelly applying a critique of Western imperialism to Jews’ unique story.

Biden’s pro-Zionism contrasts with woke extremists like the Democratic member of Congress, Cori Bush, who on Saturday attended a fundraiser organized by Neveen Ayesh. The government relations coordinator for the St. Louis chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, Ayesh has tweeted out filth saying “I tried befriending a Jew once. Worst idea ever” and “I want to set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it.”

But Biden’s mature example also resists the silliness of Peace Now, which hung a huge poster in Tel Aviv proclaiming – in Hebrew – “welcome to the two states we love the most.” As the election campaign intensifies, and people wonder why Israel’s Left lacks credibility, remember that sign.

Beyond the obvious facts that Biden doesn’t speak Hebrew and the “state” of Palestine doesn’t exist, the entities currently representing Palestinians are corrupt, terrorist-addicted, dictatorships, fueled on anti-Jew hatred, abusing their own people in the West Bank and Gaza, and particularly hostile to Zionists – as well as fellow Palestinians advancing American liberal-democratic ideals. Ignoring those realities, falsely equating your own democratic country with its authoritarian enemies, confuses peacemaking with breast-beating.

Pit stop
Admittedly, a cynical British friend of mine was correct. Biden’s Israel visit was a most elaborate rest stop on the way to the Saudi Arabian “petrol station.” Still, Biden done good. He showed Democrats at home – and peaceniks in Israel – how to recognize the eternal ideals that make Israel Israel and link Americans and Israelis in our unique and mutually beneficial bond. For that, we should say, “Toda raba! Thank you, Mr. President.”
Biden Administration Funds Anti-Israel Curricula, Hate Messages
US taxpayer money, thanks to the Biden administration, is now once again going directly to an international agency that promotes messages of hate against Israel and denies its right to exist.

The claim that the UNRWA services contribute to maintaining regional stability is not only false, but, sadly, ridiculous.

On the contrary, most of the refugee camps have since become hotbeds for extremist and terrorist groups and individuals, especially in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria.

A study published earlier in early July.... found that children attending UNRWA schools are exposed to textbooks that include references to violence, martyrdom, overt antisemitism, jihad (holy war), rejection of the possibility of peace with Israel, and the complete omission of any historical Jewish presence in the region.

"[W]e found material that does not adhere to international standards and that encourages violence, jihad and martyrdom, antisemitism, hate, and intolerance...." — IMPACT-se study, July 2022.

Instead of pressuring UNRWA to change its policies and stop the anti-Israel incitement in its schools, the Biden administration has decided to reward the agency for encouraging hate, violence, martyrdom and the delegitimization and demonization of Israel and Jews.

The Biden administration, in short, has just sent a message to the Palestinians and all the Israel-haters that it supports their efforts and shares their dream of obliterating Israel.

Those who fund school textbooks that glorify terrorists and deny Israel's right to exist are complicit in the global jihad against Israel.


Israel must say ‘no’ to Tom Friedman
In February 2002, veteran New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman crossed the line from respected journalist to diplomatic adventurist, advocate, lobbyist and provocateur.

Friedman’s victim was the State of Israel, which came under enormous international pressure to embark on a dangerous withdrawal from the entire biblical heartland of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria.

The so-called Saudi Initiative, which was really Friedman’s own delusion, called for a total withdrawal by Israel to the lines of June 4, 1967, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. In return for relinquishing all its diplomatic, security, historic and religious assets won in the 1967 war of defense, Israel would receive an obviously empty promise that all 22 members of the Arab League would offer full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and security guarantees.

The Arab League back then still featured Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya and Bashar Assad’s Syria, who in Friedman’s eyes would turn their attention from the mass murder of their own people to suddenly guarantee the future security of the Jewish state.

The world – and Friedman’s own employer – should have already shunned him then as an insane purveyor of nonsense and dismissed his pathetically far-fetched ideas. But they were instead taken very, very seriously.

Ariel Sharon’s Gaza Strip disengagement – and further withdrawals planned by his successor Ehud Olmert – were a direct result of Friedman’s plans. The Gaza Strip withdrawal was intended to resist international pressure on Israel to relinquish land in the center of the country.

The result of this pressure on Israel, initiated by Friedman, ended up being the tens of thousands of rockets fired upon Israelis from the Strip, three avoidable wars and the overthrowing of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization. That should have been enough to silence Friedman into shame.

THE FINAL nail in the proverbial coffin of Friedman’s diplomacy should have been the success of the Abraham Accords in achieving peace for Israel with four Arab countries. The accords proved that the Jewish state need not give up an inch of land, allow another capital in Jerusalem or bestow its security to a maniacal Mideast dictator. All it needed was to be strong, technologically advanced and economically successful to be a desired peace partner.
Meeting Palestinian leader Abbas, France’s Macron calls for renewed peace talks
French President Emmanuel Macron called for a return to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at a press conference alongside visiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.

The French president stressed the need for the “renewal of direct political dialogue between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Speaking at the Elysee Palace in Paris, he warned that violence could break out at any time and that negotiations may be a “difficult path, but we have no other alternative.”

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have not been held since 2014.

In his own remarks, Abbas denounced Israeli activity and the killing earlier this year of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh “in cold blood without reason.”

“Who killed her? We want them to find out who did it,” he said.

He also repeated comments similar to those he made alongside US President Joe Biden in Bethlehem last week, urging a restart of talks based on a two-state solution.
UK launches Israel Free Trade Agreement talks
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, is meeting Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, on Wednesday to launch negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The UK’s current agreement with the Jewish state, which was rolled over following Brexit, allows for free trade in goods.

Now the UK and Israel hope to strike a new deal to boost their service sectors, which dominate both economies.

Ms Trevelyan said: “The UK and Israel are both modern, hi-tech services superpowers, but our current trading relationship is based on an agreement from 1995, before smartphones, the internet, and digitally delivered services transformed the global economy.

“We want a deal that will play to British strengths, while stimulating innovation and increasing opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises across the UK.

“Combining the power of our economies in a revamped trade deal will boost trade, support jobs and help take our economic relationship to the next level.”

Ms Hotovely said: "The respective UK and Israeli economies complement each other in many fields.

"A modern free trade agreement will open new channels for collaboration in R&D, innovation and investment between our two countries, whilst simultaneously strengthening both economies.

"I am, therefore, very pleased that the Free Trade Agreement negotiations are being launched today, building on the strong collaboration that Israel and the UK enjoy, and I look forward to getting an FTA in place in the near future."
GOP Battles Biden Admin Decision That Made It Easier for Terrorists To Enter US
Congressional Republicans want to mandate that any immigrant who applies for a U.S. visa disclose ties they might have to Iran and its terror affiliates, according to legislation obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Those seeking entrance into the United States are not currently asked on immigration forms if they have ties to the hardline Iranian government and its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the country’s paramilitary fighting force responsible for orchestrating terror attacks on Americans.

The bill, led by Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) and a coalition of 14 lawmakers affiliated with the House Republican Study Committee (RSC), comes on the heels of a Free Beacon report detailing the Biden administration’s decision to loosen immigration laws so that individuals with known ties to designated terror groups can more easily enter the country. The amended law permits foreigners who provided "insignificant material support" to designated terror groups to receive "immigration benefits or other status."

"Opening the border to members of a hostile terrorist army violates the Biden administration’s constitutional obligation to protect states from invasion," Banks said. "Unfortunately, House Democrats have prioritized appeasing Iran above all else."

Banks and his colleagues say the administration is opening "the floodgate for supporters of IRGC terrorism to enter the United States," according to an RSC-authored memo circulating among Republican offices on Capitol Hill and obtained by the Free Beacon.

The Republican legislation, called the "Protecting America from IRGC Terrorists Act," seeks to close these loopholes by mandating that every foreigner applying for a U.S. visa or citizenship disclose any ties to Iran and the IRGC on relevant immigration forms. The Republican coalition says the legislation is particularly important as Iran and its terror proxies actively plot to assassinate current and former U.S. government officials.
In Jeddah, where Israel still taboo, path to normalization feels anything but direct
As I made my way through Palestine Street, I recalled a 2012 Saudi movie called “Wadjda” that had been part of the curriculum for one of my Arabic college courses. Filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour subtly criticizes the conservative kingdom for failing to extend many rights to women and girls while also opening a window into shifting Saudi attitudes toward the Palestinians.

In the film, a 10-year-old girl named Wadjda dreams of owning a bike in order to race and beat her friend Abdullah. While largely disconnected from religion, Wadjda enters the school’s Quran recital competition in order to use the winnings to buy a two-wheeler. But when she wins, her teacher decides that instead of using the prize to buy a bike — bike-riding being immodest behavior for women in Saudi Arabia of the 2000s — she will instead donate the money to the Palestinian cause.

Returning home, Wadjda’s mother asks her where the prize money is.

“In Palestine,” comes her furious reply, showing little understanding or care for the cause that robbed her of a bike.

As for Israel, the Atlantic Council’s Arbit noted that increased opportunities for interaction between Israelis and Gulf Arabs afforded by the Abraham Accords may eventually help chisel away some of the negative attitudes toward the Jewish state.

“All sides have a long way to go to weed out hate,” she said. “But fostering opportunities to meet the other and supporting education initiatives will be key to promoting tolerance between countries in the region.”
Glenn Ivey wins key Democratic primary for Maryland House district that borders DC
Glenn Ivey won the Democratic primary in Maryland's 4th Congressional District following an intense race between political insiders and millions in funding from outside groups.

Ivey, a former Prince George's County state's attorney and congressional aide, beat former Rep. Donna Edwards for the seat she held between 2008 and 2017. The heavily Democratic leaning of the district means Ivey is all but guaranteed the seat in the November general election.

Ivey outraised Edwards by about $1.2 million to $980,000, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. A good portion of this money came by way of outside spending from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which wanted to keep Edwards out of Congress for her voting record on Israel.

Though both candidates are progressives with nearly identical policy platforms, this similarity exacerbated their few differences and led to a spending war between the factions of the Israel lobby. AIPAC backed Ivey with over half a million dollars and funded about $6 million in advertisements supporting Ivey and attacking Edwards through an affiliated PAC. However, the attack ads focused on claims that Edwards's constituent services were lagging during her last stint in Congress. The more liberal J Street PAC, which supports Israel conceding some territory to the Palestinians, backed Edwards.

Edwards had the advantage of high-profile endorsements, including Hilary Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). The Washington Post and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) endorsed Ivey.

Israel has been a sticking point in several Democratic primaries, which have usually resulted in losses by the candidate perceived as not being supportive enough of the country. This held true in blue districts in North Carolina and Ohio, where Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) and Valerie Foushee beat out opponents with histories of unsupportive comments about Israel. In a newly redrawn open Pittsburgh district, Democrat Summer Lee bucked this trend and secured the nomination despite saying that Israel has committed "undeniable atrocities."
MEMRI: Saudi Magazine 'Al-Majallah' Publishes Exclusive Article On Israeli Arabs Serving In Israeli Army
An exclusive article in the English edition of the Saudi monthly magazine Al-Majallah is devoted to the topic of Arab Israelis who serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The long article, by Suzan Quitaz, a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher specializing in Israeli politics and the Gulf region, notes that the number of Muslim and Christian Arabs who serve in the IDF is on the rise, thanks to the IDF's effective recruitment methods and outlook.

Reviewing the topic from a very positive perspective, the article starts by noting that, contrary to the misconception prevalent in the media, the IDF is not predominantly Jewish, but is "a people's army" that comprises members from all sectors of Israeli society, including many Arab soldiers, Druze, Muslim, and Christian, who serve at all levels alongside their Jewish comrades. It notes that the Druze community in fact has highest enlistment rates in all of Israeli society, including the Jewish sector, and that serving in the army has long been part of the identity of the Israeli Druze and a source of pride for them. A young Druze quoted in the article states that, during his service, he was never treated differently than his Jewish fellow-soldiers. "On the contrary IDF is one of the few institutions where everyone is treated equally and fairly," he says.

The article goes on to note that, even in other Israeli-Arab communities, and especially among the Bedouins of northern Israel, the number of recruits has been growing in the recent years. It presents comments from a number of Arab soldiers and ex-soldiers who state that their sense of belonging and their desire to serve their homeland is what made them join the IDF. They also express that military service contributed to their personal and professional development, and that it is one of the gateways to equality in Israeli society. The article highlights the story of a young Arab woman who, defying the norms of her Arab society, enlisted in the IDF and is today a high-ranking officer. She originally joined the army without her parents' knowledge, but today they are proud of her military career, as is she.

The article stresses that the IDF's success in recruiting more and more Israeli Arabs is largely due to its effective recruitment mechanism, and specifically due to the efforts of the IDF unit in charge of recruiting minorities, which has subdivisions specializing in specific minority groups. An senior officer in this unit explains that it reaches out to young Arabs through schools and community centers, and today also through social media and by reaching out personally to potential recruits. The unit, he adds, ensures that each recruit is supported in terms of wellbeing and given the same professional progression like any other new enlistee. "Young Israeli Arabs are more aware of what the IDF is and what it can offer them in terms of career opportunities within the army itself or further education [in] post-army life," he says.

The article admits that serving in the IDF is still very controversial among Israeli Arabs and that many fiercely oppose it. It quotes former Israeli Arab MP Hanin Zoabie, who claims that Arab soldiers in the IDF do not enjoy equality, and join the army only because they are poor and unemployed. She claims further that Israel recruits them for political reasons, in order to sow division among Israeli Arabs. Replying to these claims, Hassan Kaabia, an Israeli Arab and a former Lieutenant Colonel who served in the IDF for over two decades, states that "the IDF is the only institution where there is no discrimination and there is total equality and inclusion. It is not true that they are joining because of economic factors. The majority of Israeli Arabs who join the army are doing it because of one reason and that is they want to be part of the state." He also wryly points out that one of Zoabie's close relatives served in the IDF.
Israeli Photographer Neutralizes Terrorist in Jerusalem, Six Years After Stopping Another Attack
A Palestinian attacker who stabbed an Israeli bus passenger in Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon was neutralized by an armed civilian — one who stopped a different stabbing attack in the Israeli capital several years ago.

The incident took place in the afternoon near the northeast Ramot neighborhood, when a man in his 40s from Ramallah started stabbing a fellow bus passenger with a screwdriver, according to an initial police statement. The bus driver immediately stopped the vehicle, at which point the terrorist and passengers exited.

It was around this time that Meshi Ben Ami, a photographer for the Israeli news site Ynet, drove by the scene.

In an interview, Ben Ami recounted driving towards Jerusalem’s city center when he saw a man laying atop another and stabbing him. “I recognized it as a stabbing incident,” he told Ynet. “I was a little skeptical at first, but when I saw people fleeing, I understood there was a stabbing incident.”

“Immediately, I stopped on the side, exited the vehicle,” said the photographer. After witnessing the stabber in action and confirming the situation, he withdrew his gun “and ran in his direction.”

The stabber moved away from his victim, later identified as a 41-year-old man who was evacuated to a hospital in moderate condition with upper body wounds. “Then I saw someone throw a stone at [the stabber] too,” Ben Ami shared. “Then he moved in my direction with the same tool he used to stab the person, a screwdriver.”


PreOccupiedTerritory: Diplomats Stress Importance Of Not Calling Murderous Barbarian Terrorist Thugs To Task (satire)
Government insiders reminded the public today that upholding the values and morals of a society entails saying nothing to or about the heinous actions of brutal criminals and the organizations that use them.

Officials made the remarks as part of a press conference at which they explained that refraining from pressure on, for example, the Kingdom of Jordan for not just harboring but celebrating a terrorist mastermind behind suicide bombings that killed children and US citizens, despite an extradition agreement with the US.

“Yes, Ahlam Tamimi is a monster and the injustice continues to grate on us,” acknowledged the officials. “But King Abdullah might have a sad if we pressure him to do the right thing.”

“It’s bad when King Abdullah has a sad,” they added. “Reminding him that his throne is secure and his country has enough drinking water only thanks to us, and that he should therefore reconsider his not-quite-tacit support for mass-murdering Jew-killers, would create an unsafe space for him. A safe space is very important. Look at the safe space Jordan provides Ahlam Tamimi, for example.”

Tamimi planned with and transported the suicide bomber who killed 15 civilians at a Jerusalem restaurant in 2001. Israeli authorities captured her and tried her as an accomplice. Imprisoned but released in a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier, she now lives as a hero in Jordan and has bragged on national television about her role in the attack. The Hashemite Kingdom signed an extradition treaty with Washington but has refused to ratify it – while Tamimi sits atop the FBI’s Most Wanted List. Successive US presidential administrations have also refrained from applying noticeable pressure to avoid upsetting delicate regional alignments. Antisemitic violence enjoys broad support in Jordan.
ILF's Arsen Ostrovsky on i24, discussing our claim for torture against Palestinian leadership

PMW: PA still addicted to blaming Israel for drug “epidemic” among Palestinian youth
On International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Head of the PA Anti-Narcotic Department Abdallah Ilawie blamed Israel for the “rise in the use of drugs” among Palestinians. The PA official claimed Israel deliberately uses drugs as a “tool” against Palestinian youth. The host on official PA TV interviewing him seconded this, stating that Israel “is aiding and contributing to the spread of this [drug] epidemic among the Palestinian public”:
Head of the PA Anti-Narcotic Department Abdallah Ilawie: “There is a demand and rise in the use of drugs as a result of factors, some of which are social and some of which are financial. We are a state that is being subjected to occupation. This is one of the tools-”

Official PA TV host: “Right.”

Abdallah Ilawie: “-that the occupation is using to divert the [Palestinians’] compass, and especially among the youth.” …

Host: “This is a great challenge, especially on everything concerning the occupier who is aiding and contributing to the spread of this [drug] epidemic among the Palestinian public.”

[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, June 27, 2022]

This is not the first time the PA is blaming Israel for Palestinian drug problems. In fact, as numerous Palestinian Media Watch reports document, the PA seems positively “addicted” to blaming Israel whenever its drug problem is mentioned. Even PA Chairman Abbas has repeated this allegation, claiming Israel brings "cannabis and drugs" to Palestinians because they "don't want us to have a future":
Abbas: “The occupation plants corruption among us… If we don't have it, it brings us corrupt people and corrupters. Therefore, we see substances like cannabis and drugs etc., and also spoiled goods which are always accepted in our land, from them, because they want to fight our existence… They don't want us to have a future.”

[Official PA TV, Dec. 10, 2019]

A PA minister and two university leaders have claimed Israel lets drugs “infiltrate” the PA, claiming Israel “inflicts the scourge of drugs” on Palestinian society and is using drugs to wage “a war” against young Palestinians.


Daughter gets imprisoned terrorist dad’s salary - Proof terrorists have control over their PA salary

Old wedding song glorifies violence

Ayman al Zawahiri is alive; Taliban and Al Qaeda “remain close,” UN reports
Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of Al Qaeda who served as Osama bin Laden’d deputy on 9/11, “is confirmed to be alive” and is “communicating freely,” according to a report from the United Nations’ Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. Additionally, the UN said the Taliban-Al Qaeda alliance remains strong, as reported by FDD’s Long War Journal, and the leaders of Al Qaeda’s branches in North and East Africa have assumed roles in Al Qaeda’s line of succession.

While it is not news that Zawahiri is alive, well, and communicating comfortably, some terrorism analysts previously claimed Zawahiri was dead as recently as Nov. 2020. While not explicitly stated, Zawahiri is likely operating inside Afghanistan.

“Member States note that al-Zawahiri’s apparent increased comfort and ability to communicate has coincided with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the consolidation of power of key [Al Qaeda] allies within their de facto administration,” the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team noted in its latest report on the status of Al Qaeda and its rival, the Islamic State.

Additionally, Al Qaeda’s “leadership reportedly plays an advisory role with the Taliban, and the groups remain close.”

Previously, in 2020, the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported that the Taliban “regularly consulted with Al Qaeda during negotiations with the United States and offered guarantees that it would honor their historical ties.”
Hezbollah believes Israel can be bullied over disputed gas rig
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is making blatant threats that if no solution is found to Israel's dispute with Lebanon over Israel's Karish gas rig in the Mediterranean by September 2022, when drilling is supposed to start there, Hezbollah will not permit Israel to drill. These threats increase the possibility of a military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah's launching of four unarmed drones at the gas rig in July, even with the knowledge that Israel would shoot them down, was meant as a concrete warning that if the sides failed to reach an agreement, Hezbollah would launch armed drones of various kinds. Nasrallah indicated that Hezbollah has various capabilities in the air, land and sea and will use whatever serves it at the appropriate time. Nasrallah further threatened that he was prepared to widen the clash "beyond Karish" – an allusion to his threat "beyond Haifa" during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah – and to hit other Israeli energy facilities in the Mediterranean.

Hezbollah's propaganda machine asserts that a new stage of the conflict with Israel has begun and that the terror group is in a state of operational preparedness for a wide-scale war that will not be limited to special operations. The organization published an interactive map of Israel's energy production facilities in the Mediterranean, emphasizing that they are within Hezbollah's striking range. Hezbollah also underlined that the IDF military command opposes military action and recommends that Israel's political leadership show flexibility and reach an agreement with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah's bloc in the Lebanese parliament and a personal confidant of Nasrallah, said that Hezbollah "does not wish for war, but is ready and prepared for it. … You will see our might when you make a wrong choice and resort to aggression in the coming days."


When Iran Says ‘Death to Israel,’ It Means It
Although these statements are the views and desires of the Islamic Republic’s political and military elite, they do not represent the broader Iranian population. For their part, the Iranian people are protesting and bringing the regime’s anti-Israel and revolutionary foreign policy into their crosshairs, chanting “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran”; “Palestine, Syria, make us miserable”; and “Forget Syria; think about us.”

Yet the transnational and Islamist nature of Iran’s governmental priorities, in contravention of the wishes and values of its citizens, is a design, not a defect, of the Islamic Republic. After all, Khomeini himself was hostile to the concept of nationalism as popularly defined, and said that “nationalist people are of no need to us; Muslim people are.”

For every anti-Israel utterance from the mouths of Iran’s Islamist elite, there is equal chapter and verse, if not more, said about America. “Death to America” is chanted alongside “Death to Israel.” American flags are burned alongside Israeli ones. Iran’s proxies target American military installations across the region with the help of the IRGC, and the IRGC directly harasses American naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. And as is evident in both the Israeli and American cases, every opportunity afforded to the regime to safely snub or spite its adversary or to escalate against it without incurring serious retribution or ruin is taken.

Under sanctions pressure, Khamenei authorized Iranian diplomats to negotiate directly with America in 2013 by saying Iran needed to show “heroic flexibility” against an adversary. But in the face of unenforced sanctions throughout 2021 and 2022, Khamenei felt comfortable enough to make American diplomats sit in different rooms, or as some analysts have called it, at “the kiddie table,” amid talks to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal. Clearly, when the balance shifts, the regime grows more aggressive and is able to act on its ideological impulses.

Therefore, a coherent Iran policy, be it from Washington, Jerusalem, or any other capital finding itself the target of the Islamic Republic’s critiques, should begin not with putting words in the mouths of Iranian leaders, but rather with listening to what is being said and seeing what is being done.

After all, this is exactly the stratagem that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to employ against Putin when the secretary addressed the UN Security Council in New York this February. Say—“with no qualification, equivocation, or deflection—that Russia will not invade Ukraine. State it clearly. State it plainly to the world. And then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their barracks and hangars and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table,” Blinken said.

Would the Islamic Republic ever state plainly, clearly, and with no qualification that Israel must not be destroyed and that it does not wish death upon America? And then act accordingly? If you are laughing, it means you have been listening to Iranian leaders all along.
Ruthie Blum: What constitutes a 'last resort'?
Nevertheless, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was heartened by these words. He was even more buoyed by the "Jerusalem US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration" that he and Biden signed on Thursday.

The passage of the document relating to the Islamic Republic reads: "The United States stresses … the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome."

That's all well and good, except for what's missing: a deadline for Biden's patience. This renders his "last resort" comment meaningless. The fact that Lapid's term as Israel's premier could be over after the Knesset elections on Nov. 1 makes the issue moot at the moment as well.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, possibly past the point of no return. If the regime in Tehran is to be believed, the sand has already filled the bottom of the hourglass.

Former Iranian Foreign Minister and current adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said as much on Sunday.

"In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60%, and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium," Kamal Kharrazi announced. "Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb, but there has been no decision by Iran to build one."

It's a threat worth taking seriously. Even America's diplomacy-obsessed Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, who called the latest indirect talks with Tehran "more than a little bit of a wasted occasion," claimed that it is only "a matter of weeks" before Tehran has enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

That was two weeks ago. What, then, is Washington waiting for? What in Biden's mind constitutes a "last resort"—a missile with a nuclear warhead launched at Tel Aviv?
Iran reconfirms its ‘fatwa’ against building nuclear weapons
Tehran gives assurances that its nuclear policy is unchanged and that it still adheres to a fatwa banning weapons of mass destruction, after an Iranian official said the country was able to make atomic bombs.

“In regard to the topic of weapons of mass destruction, we have the fatwa,” or religious edict, by Iran’s supreme leader that prohibits the manufacture of such weapons, says foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

The fatwa declares the use of atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction to be haram, or forbidden by Islam, and it is often cited by Iranian authorities as a guarantee of Tehran’s good intentions.

“It seems that there has been no change in the view and position of the Islamic Republic of Iran” regarding the nuclear policy, Kanani tells a news conference.

His comments came in response to a question about remarks made by Kamal Kharazi, head of Iran’s strategic council of foreign relations, to Al Jazeera on Sunday about Iran’s capability to manufacture nuclear weapons.

“It is no secret to anyone that we have the technical capability to make atomic bombs, but we have not made a decision in this regard,” Kharazi said, before reiterating Iran’s position that it does not want to make a nuclear bomb.


Iran Hails ‘Historic’ $40 Billion Deal With Russian Energy Giant Gazprom as Putin Arrives in Tehran
Iran’s state-owned oil company announced on Tuesday that it had signed a “historic” deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom that will enable the development of two offshore gas fields, six oil fields and the construction of gas export pipelines.

Valued at $40 billion, the deal was inked at a ceremony in Tehran as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Iranian capital for talks with Iranian and Turkish leaders. A memorandum of understanding between the two companies was signed by Mohsen Khojastehmehr, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), and Vitaly Markelov, deputy chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Khojastehmehr hailed the deal as “the largest foreign investment commitment on record” in the history of Iran’s energy industry, commenting that the influx of cash would account for 25 percent of all investments in Iran’s energy sector until 2025. Both the Russian and Iranian economies have been battered by international sanctions stemming from, in Russia’s case, its invasion of Ukraine, while Iran has been targeted over its backing for a range of terrorist organizations.

A report on the signing ceremony carried by Shana, an official Iranian news agency serving the oil sector, emphasized that relations between Moscow and Tehran “have been put on a new path with the support of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the two countries want to expand relations at all economic and political levels.”




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