Wednesday, July 27, 2022

07/27 Links Pt1: Biden rewrites Israel’s history; Far Left is pushing to make Palestinian 'return' a viable option'; IDF releases new footage of Hamas infrastructure in civilian populations in Gaza

From Ian:

Biden rewrites Israel’s history
“Both the Israelis and the Palestinian people have deep and ancient roots in this land,” President Joe Biden declared at his July 14 press conference in Jerusalem.

The first subject of the president’s sentence is obviously true. The second, however, is utterly false.

The Palestinian Arabs do not have “deep” or “ancient” roots in the Holy Land. Their roots are shallow, recent, and for the most part artificial.

There were less than 300,000 Arabs living there in the 1880s, and they did not call themselves “Palestinians.” They defined themselves as “southern Syrians,” or as members of particular clans.

As Jewish pioneers began developing the land in the decades to follow, illegal Arab immigrants flocked to the area from neighboring Arab countries, attracted by the prospect of jobs and higher living standards. The British authorities turned a blind eye to this mass Arab influx.

The British occupied the country colloquially known as “Palestine” during World War I. In 1922, they decided to partition the country. The Arabs were given the 78% on the eastern side of the Jordan River. It was called “Transjordan,” then later “Jordan.” The Arab residents weren’t magically transformed from “Palestinians” to “Transjordanians” to “Jordanians.” The arbitrary slapping of a name on a region did not change their identity.

It was only in the 1960s under the guidance of the Soviet Union that Arab propagandists began actively calling the Arab residents of the area “Palestinians.” Those terms had no historical basis and were invented to advance the anti-Israel agenda. The fact that the United Nations and the Western news media adopted that language did not make it legitimate.

By contrast, archaeologists almost daily dig up new evidence of the Jewish people’s very deep and ancient roots in the Land of Israel. There have been a slew of discoveries in the past few years demonstrating the historical Jewish presence in that region.

A 2,000 year-old ritual bath (mikveh) was uncovered in the Lower Galilee—meaning that the residents of that region were practicing the same religious rituals that Jews throughout the world practice today. Those Galileans were Jews. They weren’t “Palestinians.” The word “Palestine” had not yet been invented.

In the Givati Parking Lot excavation in Jerusalem, archaeologists discovered Hebrew-language inscriptions dating back 2,600 years. One was a stone seal with the words “belonging to Ikkar son of Matanyahu.” The other was a clay seal impression that read, “belonging to Nathan-Melech, servant of the king.” They weren’t in Arabic. And the names weren’t Yasir or Mahmoud.

Excavators from the University of North Carolina discovered two stunning mosaics at the site of a 1,600 year-old synagogue near Huqoq, in northern Israel. One depicts a scene from the exodus of the Jews from ancient Egypt. The other shows images based on verses in the Torah’s Book of Daniel. The mosaics do not show scenes from the Koran. There is nothing Arabic of Islamic or “Palestinian” about them.

New laboratory testing methods developed at Ben-Gurion University deciphered a description on a 3,000 year-old seal: it has the Hebrew words “L’Shema, ever Yerov’am,” that is, “Belonging to Shema, the servant [or minister] of Jeroboam.” That’s the Jewish king, Jeroboam II, who ruled in the Land of Israel nearly 3,000 years ago.


Far Left is pushing to make Palestinian 'return' a viable option
Many have forgotten that in 2001, Israel passed a law rejecting the right of return. The law states that "Refugees will not return to Israeli territory unless it is with the approval of a Knesset majority." The law discusses Palestinian refugees, but without going into details about Palestinian identity, and it rejects any right of return. The Nakba Law, passed in 2011, gives the finance ministry the authority to dock the budgets of government-funded institutions that call for or work toward the end of Israel as a Jewish state, as well as deny funding to groups that mark Independence Day as a day of mourning.

This law is virtually unenforced, while the government continues to effectively fund MKs and parties like Ra'am and the Joint Arab List, many of whose members publicly speak out against Israel's existence as a Jewish state and hold Nakba ceremonies on Independence Day. For the first time, an Arab party – Ra'am – became a member of the coalition, despite its official support for implementing return for Palestinians refugees. 'We murdered the Arab Jebusites'

The Arab school system in Israel still teaches a book by Ghassan Kanafani, Return to Haifa. Kanfaani, a native of Acre who was a writer and spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was killed in Beirut by Israeli forces in 1972, two months after the slaughter at the Lod airport perpetrated by a branch of the PFLP. The book deals with an encounter between Arab refugees who return to their homes in Haifa after the 1967 Six-Day War and the Holocaust survivors who live there. The book centers around the Nakba experience and Palestinian return.

Zameret, who has chair of the Education Ministry's Pegagogic Department disqualified the book from the curriculum and was attacked for his decision by radical leftists and groups like Zochrot, recalls that the book was "written by Jewish extremists, Palestinians, and international observers."

"The book supposedly presents both sides of the conflict," Zameret says. "The Palestinian side represents Zionism as having allied itself with British colonialism, fulfilled its aspirations, stole another people's country, erased their identity, and oppressed every liberation movement. Mount Zion is described by the Palestinians as a mountain that looks over the eastern half of Jerusalem, which is in Palestine, and [the book] explains that in that same part of the city, the Jebusites once lived. When King David conquered the city [it says], he emptied Jebus [as Jerusalem was then known] of its residents, seized the fort that was on the mount, and called it Zion. In short – we are criticized as having expelled and murdered all the Jebusites, the 'Arab Jebusites.' That is what they wanted us to approve."

Zameret cannot comprehend how the Israeli school system allows Arab schools to teach Return to Haifa.

"Then they wonder that left-wing Israeli groups, Jewish and Arab, are actively promoting right of return, and preparing lesson plans to further increase awareness of the lies about the Nakba," he says.
Caroline Glick: ‘If Russia sends a nuclear attack on the U.S., it’s going to arrive’ | Mideast News Hour
If Russia decides to attack the United States with a nuclear weapon it’s going to arrive, according to David Wurmser of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy. “I don’t think most Americans perceive that because their elites have convinced them that there is no such option,” Wurmser said in an interview with Caroline Glick on this week’s “Mideast News Hour.” “I think there is a misperception out there in America of our own power and strength.”

Glick and Wurmser also discuss the fallout from President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and the Middle East and the deeper reasons for the U.S.’s refusal to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Finally, they move to Israel itself and the stakes in the coming election.


Father of Israeli Held Captive by Hamas Pleads to UN Security Council for Son’s Freedom
Sha’aban al-Said called on the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to rescue his son Hisham, held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2015.

“I am pleading with you to get involved and exert effort and place pressure on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to free my son as soon as possible, and not to use him as a card against Israel,” al-Said said in a video message played by Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan.

Addressing the 15-member council after playing the brief message, Erdan said, “Here is a father of a son with special needs that is begging this council — begging you — to take action. Hamas is using his boy as a sick bargaining chip and the world remains silent. I hope we all internalize his words.”

On June 27, Hamas announced that the health of Hisham al-Said had deteriorated and released footage of him hooked up to a respirator.

Al-Said, who is from a Bedouin community in Israel, crossed into the Hamas-ruled enclave of Gaza of his own accord seven years ago.

He is one of two Israeli civilians held captive by Hamas. The other, Avera Mengistu, also crossed in voluntarily, in 2014. Mengistu also reportedly suffers from mental health issues.

Hamas is also holding the remains of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in combat during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014.


Bosnia & Herzegovina's parliament adopts IHRA definition of antisemitism
Bosnia and Herzegovina's parliament officially adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism on Wednesday. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the 38th state to adopt the definition.

This important decision, which took place at the parliamentary level and the president's cabinet, is due to the leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Chairman of Parliament Dargan Čović and the Serb member of the presidency cabinet, Milorad Dodik, following their visit to Israel last month.

The adoption is a joint effort by different governmental and non-governmental entities, including the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and the Center for Jewish Impact (CJI).

“I am excited to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, an effort that was made by Mr. Dragan Čović,” said Head of Cabinet of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairman of Parliament, Tonka Krešić-Gagro.

She added that “For me, as a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a Jewish legacy in my family, it is a step forward for our people. It is a way to show deep respect for the millions who were murdered during the Holocaust, and to those who survived, and to preserve their legacy and remember history.”
UN official: Social media largely controlled by Jewish lobby, NGOs
A United Nations human-rights investigator spoke of the Jewish lobby and the overuse of antisemitism in a wide-ranging interview with the Mondoweiss website that was published on Monday. He questioned Israel’s membership in the 193-nation global body.

“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by – whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs,” said Indian human-rights expert Miloon Kothari.

He is one of three members of the “UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel,” which was created last year and is tasked with issuing reports twice a year.

The COI is unusual in that its mandate is open-ended, and it is tasked with investigating human-rights violations in sovereign Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel has accused the COI of bias. The COI has warned that it plans to investigate Israel for the crime of apartheid.

COI members have said, including to The Jerusalem Post in June, they eventually intend to examine the question of apartheid as it relates to Israel.

“We will get to the apartheid question at some point in the future,” Kothari said. “We will be looking at discrimination in general, you know, from the river to the sea.”

He accused Israel of disregarding intentional human-rights law and UN resolutions, including snubbing the COI by refusing to cooperate with it and banning it from visiting.
South African official calls for Israel to be declared an ‘apartheid state’
South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said Tuesday that Israel should be classified as an apartheid state and that the United Nations General Assembly should establish a committee to verify whether it satisfied its requirements, Al Jazeera reported.

"The Palestinian narrative evokes experiences of South Africa's own history of racial segregation and oppression," she added. The comments and accusations were reportedly made at the second meeting of the Palestinian Heads of Mission in Africa, held in Pretoria, one of South Africa's capital cities.

Long-term ties
The first Palestinian embassy in South Africa opened in 1995. A statement on the South African government website echoes Pandor's statement: "Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa has always been an ally of Palestine and has constantly highlighted the struggles of the Palestinian people, supported them on international platforms, and offered material assistance within its capacity."

Pandor was the first representative of the government to denounce the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May during a raid in the West Bank. At the time, she compared the violent disruption at Abu Akleh's funeral procession by Israeli police to the brutality of the South African apartheid military.


Lapid, King Abdullah discuss regional issues in surprise Amman meeting
Prime Minister Yair Lapid met with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday in the royal palace in Amman, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement after the visit had been kept under wraps for several hours.

This is the first such meeting the two hold since Lapid became prime minister in June and the first time in several years in which photographs were shared with the media of such a high-level summit between the two countries' heads of government.

The PMO said in a statement that the encounter was "lengthy and cordial" and included lunch with the staffers on both sides. The statement further said that the two discussed "opportunities to add more content to the peace treaty between the two countries, to improve the ties between the nations and bolster the shared interests."

The statement added that the two stressed the importance of personal relations and mutual appreciation as a key component of maintaining regional stability and presenting tangible gains for both peoples and to the entire region.,

The Jordanian monarch told Lapid that Palestinians should be part of US-sponsored regional economic projects to underpin stability in the Middle East. He also told Lapid, in the first meeting after US. President Joe Biden's visit to the region earlier this month, that creating a Palestinian state was essential to reach a lasting peace between Arabs and Israelis.
‘Hawkeye’: Israeli Fighter Pilot Holds World Record for Jet Downings
After a record-shattering career in the Israeli Air Force, the pilot who shot down the most enemy jet aircraft in combat of all time distilled the elements that led him to retire with 17 confirmed victories: a confrontation, top flying skills, and “many enemies.”

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Epstein, the ace of supersonic jet pilots, played a pivotal role in defending Israel in dogfights with enemy aircraft in Middle Eastern skies. He downed his first enemy fighter during the Six-Day War of 1967, and four additional aircraft during the War of Attrition of 1967-70, becoming a fighter ace — a pilot who downed five or more enemy aircraft in combat. He recorded another 12 aircraft downs over only four days during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

When asked about his record in a recent IAF profile, Epstein said: “It is not a title. There is no championship, and wars are not sports games.”

“In order to down aircraft, you need a few things,” he explained. “First, to confront them. Second, you need to be good enough of a pilot to win the battle. Finally, to down many aircraft, you need many enemies.”

Epstein was born in Afula in 1938 and raised in Kibbutz Negba, to parents who immigrated from Poland and later lost many of their relatives in the Holocaust. He was eager to become a pilot from a young age and sought to join the IAF’s flight course, but was rejected as he didn’t pass the necessary medical examination — instead enlisting as a parachuting instructor.

Yet Epstein was determined. At the age of 25, after persistent attempts, he was accepted to the military’s flight course. He graduated with excellence and was placed in the 101st (“First Fighter”) Squadron as a combat pilot.
Report: Russian forces in Syria fired at Israeli jets in May
Israeli military aircraft came under Russian anti-aircraft fire over Syria in May in an isolated incident, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday. The anti-aircraft fire missed its target.

Gantz's disclosure came amid tensions between Israel and Russia over the former's condemnation of the Ukraine war and the latter's steps to shut down the local branch of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Having helped Damascus turn the tide of a more than decade-old civil war, Russian forces in Syria regularly turn a blind eye to airstrikes attributed to Israel against suspected Iranian-sponsored deployments and arms transfers.

But on Tuesday, Channel 13 News reported that on May 13, a Russian-operated S-300 air defense battery fired on Israeli jets as they carried out a Syria sortie, without hitting any.

"It was a one-off incident," Gantz told a conference hosted by Channel 13, when asked to confirm the report. The Russian launch happened when the aircraft "were no longer around," he said.
Counter-Terror Is Working in Judea and Samaria, but What Comes Next?
Ever since the wave of terrorist attacks this past March and April, the IDF and the Shin Bet have increased arrests in Judea and Samaria. Every night, a few arrest raids are carried out as part of Operation Breakwater, but the Nablus operation was unusual in the level of violence it entailed. Security officials said that the relatively early arrival at the Kasbah, combined with the comparatively harsh response to the shots fired at Israeli forces, were intended to make it clear to the Palestinians that the IDF is not deterred from acting in any place at any time in Judea and Samaria.

“The idea is to get them on the run. To take their safe place, home, and make it unsafe for them and for the people hiding them,” a military official explained.

On Sunday, rumors were circulating in the P.A. that the target of the Nablus operation was Ibrahim al-Nablusi, a member of a terror cell that the police counter-terror forces broke up last February in a daytime operation that was also unusually violent. Three terrorists involved in a number of shooting attacks against IDF forces in Samaria were fatally shot. Since then, al-Nablusi has been hiding out in the Kasbah, and became a local hero among the Tanzim youth. Both the IDF and the Shin Bet denied that he was the target.

Meanwhile, Israel’s security apparatus attributes the recent relative quiet to the intensive nightly activity in Judea and Samaria. Another reason is the increased deployment of forces along the seam line border area, which makes it difficult for undocumented Palestinians to enter Israel. Officials said that given there is no drop in the number of alerts and terrorist plots, the high level of arrest activity can be expected to continue. The activity paused briefly ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit and started again after Biden left the Middle East.

The heavy terrorist activity that has been ongoing since the start of the year is a source of concern for Israel, especially in light of the P.A.’s struggle to govern. All this could intensify after Abbas dies. Abbas has picked Hussein al-Sheikh to succeed him, and this year appointed him chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, but it’s unlikely that it will be easy for al-Sheikh to take charge of all the Palestinian factions.

That scenario is a troubling one for Israel, and recently Israel has begun making preparations for it. Most of the attention is on Hamas, which is always trying to set terrorist attacks in motion from Judea and Samaria, so far without success, thanks to the Shin Bet’s work in thwarting them. These failures are part of the reason why Hamas has been stepping up its efforts to establish military units in refugee camps in Lebanon, efforts that are being overseen by Salah al-Arouri, who is also responsible for many of the attempts to recruit terror cells in Judea and Samaria.


IDF unveils Hamas sites to be targeted in future Gaza conflicts
Following the May conflict, the IDF opened an investigation into public relations-related issues connected to the conflict and began to work on better coordinating its public advocacy efforts with its actions during war.

While it’s a complex effort, the military believes that legitimizing its actions even before war would provide it with more freedom of action when conflict breaks out. Defense officials said that while the military does not see another war breaking out, preparations for another round of conflict in the Strip are conducted regularly.

On Wednesday shared with both foreign and local press several sites used by the terror group that are military targets.

Among the sites disclosed to journalists on Wednesday was a tunnel used to store weapons and and move fighters in Gaza City's Tuffah neighborhood next to a now-closed Pepsi factory that closed following last year’s war as well as close to a UNRWA elementary school which is used as an emergency shelter for some 2,500 people in times of hostilities.

Another tunnel used by Hamas in the Zabara neighborhood of Gaza City identified by the IDF on Wednesday is under a UNWRA school and a central ambulance center with 14 ambulances as well as a medical equipment storage complex. The tunnel also runs under a church and schools that are used as shelters during hostilities.

Another site is a tunnel entry shaft that was exposed during last year’s conflict near the al-Azar university in Gaza City which has about 20,000 students. According to the IDF, the tunnel entry shaft leads to a network of subterranean tunnels that branches throughout the Tel-Hawa area southwest of Gaza City and is also close to a police station, a UNWRA school, medical clinic, mosque, a community center and UNRWA’s headquarters in the area.

According to the IDF, Hamas has a munition production facility located in a building that is also used as a residential building. The site, which contains explosives and flammable material that would cause extreme damage should it explode, is 45 meters from a mosque, 55 meters from a UNRWA clinic that is used as a triage and primary screening center, and 60 meters from Shifa hospital.

Shifa hospital is considered the blockaded enclave’s main hospital and treats thousands of patients daily. But it has also been used by the terror group for years, including in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead when senior Hamas officials used to hide in the building and in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge when it was used by Hamas as its main headquarters.

The IDF also shared the location of a munition warehouse used by Hamas located inside al-Shahid mosque in the Bureij refugee camp, in the heart of a civilian neighborhood and next to a public library funded by Germany’s KFW bank. The mosque serves as a community center providing first aid courses and activities for local children.
IDF releases new footage of Hamas infrastructure in civilian populations in Gaza
Middle East Correspondent Ariel Oseran joins host Benita Levin to discuss the new footage the IDF has released showing how Hamas places its military infrastructure within it's civilian population inside the Gaza Strip




MEMRI: Hamas Political Bureau Head Isma'il Haniya's Visit To Lebanon Sparks Criticism In Country: He Is Embroiling Lebanon In Regional Conflicts In Service Of Iran
A two-week visit made by Isma'il Haniya, the head of Hamas' political bureau, to Lebanon in late June 2022 sparked harsh criticism from Lebanese elements. These elements warned that Hamas aspires to strengthen its relations with Hizbullah and Iran and may drag Lebanon into a confrontation with Israel.

During his visit Haniya held a meeting with Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in which emphasis was placed on cooperation between all parts of the pro-Iranian resistance axis in the Palestinian context.[1] Furthermore, throughout his visit Haniya made militant statements in favor of resistance and confrontation with Israel. At a rally in Sidon, south of Beirut, he threatened that "in the case of a new [Israeli] aggression, 150 missiles will pulverize the Zionist entity within five minutes.”[2] At the Islamic National Conference in Beirut, he again stressed "the unity of the resistance arenas and fronts," adding that "the resistance continues… and will continue until all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, is liberated."[3]

In addition, the London-based Emirati daily Al-Arab assessed that Hamas is angling to become fully sponsored by Iran, and is acting to increase its influence and power in Lebanon in order to threaten Israel simultaneously from South Lebanon and from Gaza.

During his visit Haniya met not only with Hizbullah officials but also with Lebanese officials, including Lebanese President Michel 'Aoun, who received him at the presidential palace along with a large Hamas delegation. In the course of this visit 'Aoun praised and supported "the achievements of the resistance." Haniya met as well with Lebanese Interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri.[4] The meetings aroused criticism against these Lebanese leaders, who were accused of lending Haniya's visit an official character, and of legitimizing Hamas and its militant positions that threaten to drag Lebanon into conflicts that do not concern it and to transform it into an arena for Iranian conflicts.


Turkey: Torture Has Reached "Unprecedented Levels"
"We saw his body while washing it. There was a scar on his neck as if he had been hanged with a clothesline. Both of his eyes had burst. Blood was coming from his eyes. His nose was completely broken and filled with cotton. There was such a large swelling and bruise on his chest it looked as if a tree had been stuck there. His upper lip was almost as big as a palm. His right foot was stitched." — Hikmet Yilmaz, elder brother of Ferhan Yilmaz, evidently tortured to death in Silivri prison on April 10, 2022.

"There are thousands of cases like this. I spoke to his brother a while ago.... There is ill-treatment and torture in all prisons, systematically everywhere." — Sezgin Tanrikulu, deputy of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), bianet.com. July 14, 2022.

"[W]e learned that the transferred prisoners told their families, 'We are at risk here too. Do not make any more statements to the press.'" — Monitoring Delegation of Prisons in the Marmara Region, press conference, tihv.org.tr, April 15, 2022.

"Both of his hands have cuts and stitches.... His whole body is bruised.... He can't see any more. They tortured him so much he has lost his eyesight. They hit him so much in the head that his head shakes all the time. His eyes start moving as if he had a stroke.... He has seven stitches on one arm and six on the other...They put him in a cell where there was feces of other prisoners. They told him to eat the feces. They beat my son and hanged him twice. And then removed him from the rope. He also hanged himself once... He said they made him do it... They put a razor blade there and told him to cut himself. They waited there so he had to cut himself." — Beyaz Çelik, mother of prisoner Halil Kasal, who was tortured at Silivri Prison.

"I emphasize that there is no torture or ill-treatment in Turkish prisons... Almost all of the allegations against prisons are exaggeration, distortion and fiction... Such allegations were made by terrorist organizations, circles that support terrorist organizations or those who support them politically." — Turkey's Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag, t24.com.tr, April 20, 2022.
David Kilcullen: Missing the Mark
The United States has funded, trained, and equipped the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to ensure “they serve as an institutional counterweight to Hezbollah,” a senior State Department official testified last August.1 Since 2006, American taxpayers have paid more than $2.5 billion in security assistance to Lebanon in pursuit of four goals, according to the State Department: “to strengthen Lebanon’s sovereignty, secure its borders, counter internal threats, and disrupt terrorist facilitation.”2 The primary (though not the only) source of these internal threats is, of course, Hezbollah.

The LAF is contending with sharp cuts to the Lebanese defense budget, spurred by an economic meltdown that the World Bank says “is likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crises episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century.”3 In 2020, the LAF stopped serving meat to its troops amid widespread food shortages. The salaries of junior soldiers fell to only $100 a month, one-eighth of their pre-crisis value.4

To help, the French government convened an international donor conference last July to “bolster the cohesion, resilience, and stability of the LAF,” as scholar Aram Nerguizian put it.5 The United States added $15 million to the $105 million military aid package already in the pipeline for 2021 and announced another $67 million in September. The White House has also requested $160 million for the current fiscal year.6

International donors seem committed to continuing or reinforcing their previous policies despite, or because of, the unprecedented nature of Lebanon’s ongoing crisis. Donor states are doing more of the same even as opportunities arise to increase their leverage, alter the political dynamics inside Lebanon, and potentially break the cycle of exploitation, corruption, and violence that has left the Lebanese people impoverished and insecure.7 Rather than doubling down on the status quo, donors should question the basic assumptions behind their policies.

The time has therefore come for a close examination of whether 15 years of substantial American support have enabled Lebanon’s armed forces to serve as an institutional counterweight to Hezbollah. To that end, this monograph examines the LAF’s operational performance since 2006, with an emphasis on the four goals the State Department identified: defense of sovereignty, border security, internal security, and counterterrorism. The evidence strongly suggests a correlation between increased U.S. assistance and greater LAF effectiveness in counterterrorism, but not in the other areas. Yet this constitutes only a partial answer, since improved combat performance is not the same as counterbalancing Hezbollah.

The theory of change animating U.S. military assistance is that “building the security apparatus of the Lebanese state will improve internal stability and public confidence in the LAF,” in turn “creating political space for the Lebanese government to address more complex, politically sensitive issues.”8 This monograph finds that such space has not grown but has instead contracted during the period of enhanced U.S. security assistance, which has coincided with a significant increase in Hezbollah’s influence. The argument for strengthening the LAF rests in part on the assumption that the LAF is in competition with Hezbollah for prestige and influence.

In fact, the two are conjoined at the highest levels because Hezbollah’s influence over Lebanon’s civilian authorities is so extensive. The terror group has effective veto power over the choice of prime minister and the actions of the Lebanese Cabinet. Hezbollah’s coalition holds a majority in parliament, and its allies serve as president and speaker.9


PreOccupiedTerritory: Hezbollah Plans To Help Cash-Strapped Lebanon By Blowing Up Gas Platforms (satire)
The Shiite militia that effectively controls Lebanon on behalf of its Iranian masters unveiled an ambitious program today to help extract the country from its current economic disaster: destroying access to fossil fuel resources in Israeli possession that Lebanon claims lie within its maritime borders.

A spokesman for the Hezbollah movement announced Wednesday that Lebanon’s rampant inflation, unemployment, collapsing public services, sectarian violence, spiking crime, Syrian refugee crisis, and other devastating ills will soon end because the organization will launch explosive drones and other weapons at Israeli platforms in the Mediterranean Karish Field that drill for methane trapped in the earth’s crust.

“We will liberate everything from the usurping Zionist Entity,” declared Kamel Fakr. “That natural gas lies within Lebanon’s territorial waters, not in the domain of the illegitimate Entity. By blowing up the drilling platforms that extract the gas from beneath the seabed rock, we will resolve all the issues plaguing Lebanon.”

Fakr declined to specify the mechanism by which such operations might lead to the stated goal. “The details are unimportant,” he insisted. “The idea is to make existence so bad for Zionists that they abandon their colonialist imperialist project and leave. This approach has a proven track record: since it began a hundred years ago, the Entity has gone from a robust several hundred thousand Jews to a mere six million. In that time the Entity’s economy has deteriorated from mostly-agrarian to becoming an economic powerhouse plagued with advanced economic issues. Also, they now have the headaches associated with maintaining nuclear weapons and military superiority over all of its neighbors.”
EU Puts Forward New Draft Text to Revive Iran Nuclear Deal
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday he has proposed a new draft text to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying there is no room left for further major compromises.

“I have now put on the table a text that addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA,” the European Union’s Josep Borrell wrote in an essay in the Financial Times. He was referring to the 2015 deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“After 15 months of intense, constructive negotiations in Vienna and countless interactions with the JCPOA participants and the US, I have concluded that the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted,” he added.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, confirmed Borrell had put forth a new proposal, adding on Twitter, “We, too, have our own ideas, both in substance & form, to conclude the negotiations which would be shared.”

US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that Washington was reviewing the “draft understanding” Borrell shared with Iran and other parties to the 2015 deal and would respond directly to the EU.

Borrell did not provide details about his proposal, but he suggested — as many Western officials have before — that time was running out to restore the deal under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.




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