Thursday, July 28, 2022

07/28 Links Pt1: Jerusalem Slams UN Official Who Questioned Israel’s Membership, Railed at ‘Jewish Lobby’; U.N. rebukes Israel only for violating women’s rights

From Ian:

Jerusalem Slams UN Official Who Questioned Israel’s Membership, Railed at ‘Jewish Lobby’
The Israeli Mission to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva has expressed outrage following a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigator’s comments about the undue influence of a so-called “Jewish lobby” on media, and whether Israel should be a member of the body at all.

“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by whether it’s the Jewish lobby or it’s the specific NGOs. A lot of money is being thrown in to trying to discredit us,” Miloon Kothari — a member of the UNHRC’s “International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel (COI)” — said on the latest episode of The Mondoweiss Podcast.

Formed by the UNHRC after the 2021 hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the COI was tasked with issuing annual reports on any human rights abuses committed during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has previously drawn scrutiny from Israeli and US officials for its unusually broad, open-ended focus.

“One of our mandates is to look at the role of both humanitarian law, human rights law, criminal law,” Kothari continued. “And on all three counts, Israel is in systematic violation of all the legislation. And in fact, I mean, I would go as far as to raise the question as why are they even a member of the United Nations, because they don’t respect — the Israeli government does not respect its own obligations as a UN member state. They, in fact, consistently, either directly or through the United States, try to undermine UN mechanisms.”

On Wednesday, Israel’s Permanent Mission in Geneva called the interview “disturbing,” and said that the Jewish state — recognized as a UN member in 1949 — will continue to participate in the body and “work with truly independent mechanisms and on promoting and protecting human rights for all.”

“Israel already questioned [Kothari’s] suitability for the role, given previous comments regarding Israel, and given the fact he is subject to a formal complaint for violating UN regulations and ethical standards,” the Mission said in a statement.


Mark Regev: The evolution of Israel-Greece ties, from enemies to allies - opinion
The Ottoman shadow
Undoubtedly, Israeli-Hellenic ties have been affected by the behavior of Ankara’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose neo-Ottomanism and political Islam have exasperated Turkey’s neighbors and brought them closer together.

Of late, Turkey has been striving to improve its relations with regional players, the invitation to President Isaac Herzog to visit Ankara earlier this year is an indication of Erdogan’s desire for rapprochement with Israel.

The scope and pace of any improvement in Israeli-Turkish ties remains uncertain. What is clear is that the newly found partnerships between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are here to stay.

Some believe that a threat to relations could come from an unexpected political victory for the radical Left in the coming Cypriot elections. Yet, in this context, Greece provides a reassuring example.

When, in the 2015 Greek election, Alexis Tsipras and his militantly socialist Syriza Party assumed power, there were initial fears that a Corbynist-Melenchonist type anti-Israelism could undermine ties. But not only did the Athens-Jerusalem relationship continue to flourish under Tsipras, it also expanded to include a strengthened trilateral framework with Cyprus. And Israel’s ties with Greece continued to prosper after the election in 2019 of the moderate-right New Democracy Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

All this demonstrates the remarkable resilience of the new Hellenic-Israel partnership. Perhaps next time the Hanukkah candles are lit, we should also celebrate that.
Israel and Morocco are rooted in justice - our relationship will only grow
With the founding of the State of Israel, cooperation between the two countries was natural. We maintained close security relations that continued and strengthened under the reign of His Majesty, King Mohammed VI (even without maintaining public relations, due to the general Arab-state boycott of Israel). Yet, even the boycott of Israel did not prevent Morocco from serving as a major contributor in brokering the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

In 1977, King Hassan brought Israel’s defense minister Moshe Dayan to meet with Egyptian president Sadat’s emissary and personal advisor. This enabled a diplomatic breakthrough, ultimately leading to direct contact between Israel and Egypt, culminating in president Sadat’s historic visit to Israel.

The diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco between the years 1994-2000, following the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, were extremely warm. In 2022, we now see amongst our nation a strong desire to fill these relations with content and to give them shape and form.

These warm and deep relations are based on mutual respect, a common understanding of the world and shared interests. These relations and the warm welcome Israeli tourists receive have brought forth an abundance of Israeli tourism in Morocco.

These two countries share a core common goal: to partake in the international community and its core values. Together, they take a stand on the side of maintaining regional peace and stability, and the fight against extremism and terror.

Above all, the place that Judaism and the Jewish community have had in Morocco, over such a long period, facilitates good relations with Israel and warm ties between the peoples themselves, and not just between the leadership and governments.
Gideon Sa'ar speaks to i24NEWS from Morocco

Honest Reporting: Media Blackout: UN ‘Expert’ Tasked With Investigating Israel Peddles Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory (VIDEO)
The “Jewish lobby” controls social media, a UN expert tasked with probing the Jewish state told an anti-Israel website on July 25.

Miloon Kothari made the antisemitic remarks as he sat down with Mondoweiss’ David Kattenburg. A long-time pro-Palestinian activist, Kattenburg once asserted that “the Nazis would have been impressed” with what he described as the Israeli “terrorist apartheid regime.”

Kothari is one of three members of the ‘UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel,’ which is carrying out an unprecedented open-ended investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The commission’s first 18-page report, published in June, accused the government in Jerusalem of everything from “gender-based violence” to hindering “Palestinian democratic processes.”

At the time, news organizations like CNN, Reuters, AFP, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press were all too eager to parrot the UN’s slanted conclusions. Yet these same outlets have so far ignored Kothari’s most recent statements, which fall within the widely-adopted IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

Can antisemitic, pro-Palestinian “experts” like Kothari and Pillay be trusted to approach the Arab-Israeli conflict without bias? Perhaps it’s time for the media to ask this fundamental question.




U.N. rebukes Israel only for violating women’s rights
Libya, Russia, and Zimbabwe were among members of the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council, a principal organ of the world body, who voted on July 22nd to single out Israel as the only country in the world to be rebuked by the council this year for allegedly violating women’s rights.

In a resolution adopted 40 to 6, with 4 abstentions (see breakdown below), the Jewish state was accused of being a “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to the fulfillment of their rights, and their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development of their society.”

The council declared that women and girls are impacted by the “continuing systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel, the occupying Power.”

Despite global references to violence against women “in all its different forms and manifestations worldwide,” and to the need to eliminate violence against women in “all regions of the world,” Israel was the only country in the world targeted for criticism.

Cuba, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela were among the resolution’s sponsors via the Group of 77, a bloc now made up of 134 states and represented this year by Pakistan.

Out of 19 items on the UN Economic and Social Council’s 2022 agenda, only one—Item No. 16 against Israel—targeted a specific country. All the other focus areas concern generic topics such as disaster relief assistance and the use of science and technology for development.




Jonathan Tobin: Levin smears AIPAC to try and save his political skin
Yet for someone who trades on his Jewish identity and ties as Levin routinely does to aid those who oppose Israel and engage in anti-Semitic invective, as Omar and Tlaib have done, to also engage in some of the same kind of atrocious language as them is chutzpah on steroids.

It’s not hard to understand why Levin is, like J Street, employing smears. His campaign is in huge trouble. The most recent poll of Democratic voters in the district showed Levin trailing Stevens by a crushing 58% to 31% margin with only a couple of weeks to go before the primary. Levin is now a desperate candidate who knows his time in Congress is about to end.

His problem, of course, is bigger than just being out-of-step with most Americans about supporting Israel. Stevens’s good polling numbers are based on her reputation as a moderate rather than a progressive firebrand like Levin. She’s also more in touch with working-class voters in that rust-belt state than Levin, and was therefore supportive of former President Donald Trump’s trade policies that sought to protect American manufacturers and jobs from being lost to foreign countries where labor is cheaper.

Pulling out all the stops to win an election you know is slipping away is one thing. Still, for Levin and other left-wing Jews to join the progressive chorus claiming that there is something wrong with supporters of Israel engaging in commonplace political activism to advance their cause remains deeply troubling.

The notion that an all-powerful “Israel lobby” is engaged in conduct that is harmful to American democracy has been a staple of conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites. Being a former synagogue president doesn’t give anyone a pass for helping to propagate that kind of pernicious slur.

If Israel’s open enemies and their fellow travelers like Levin want to run on platforms that favor policies that would endanger it—or as his allies Omar and Tlaib believe, one Jewish state on the planet is one too many—they are free to do so. They are also free to spend whatever money they can raise to oppose friends of Israel when they run for re-election. Holding candidates accountable for their positions is, after all, the essence of representative democracy. But for these candidates and groups, amplified by the platforms provided by their mainstream media allies, to seek to silence or to delegitimize the efforts of pro-Israel groups is not so much ill-considered as it is despicable.


Jews, non-Christians not part of conservative movement - GOP candidate consultant
Jews and other non-Christians are "not conservative" because it is "an explicitly Christian movement" and because the US "is an explicitly Christian country," said Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab and reportedly a consultant for state senator Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, in a livestream responding to recent condemnations of Mastriano and Gab.

Mastriano has come into the public eye in recent weeks after US media outlets reported that he had spent $5,000 on advertising on Gab, a social media network favored by the far-right. The candidate has also reportedly paid for "campaign consulting" from the platform, with reports that new Gab users are set to automatically follow him.

Both Republicans and Democrats have called on Mastriano to withdraw his ad campaign from the social media platform.

Torba claimed that "many other candidates" are running ad campaigns on Gab, although he did not name any of these candidates. Gab is based in Pennsylvania.

"This is the most important election of the 2022 midterms because Doug is an outspoken Christian," said Torba in the video, complaining about the reports condemning Gab and Mastriano's decision to buy advertising on the site. "We are going to build a coalition of Christian nationalists, of Christians, of Christian candidates, at the state, local and federal levels and we're going to take this country back for the glory of God."
PA gubernatorial candidate urged to cut ties with extremist platform GAB
Jewish groups are pressuring Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano to cut ties with GAB, a far-right platform that caters to extremists who have been banned from other social media platforms


IDF reveals Hamas tunnel networks under Gazan civilian neighborhoods
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday exposed a number of Hamas tunnels under civilian sites in the Gaza Strip, including one in the Tafah area of Gaza City located next to a franchised Pepsi factory, and another running next to an UNRWA elementary school that acts as a shelter for some 2,500 people, according to the IDF.

The tunnels pass under “buildings that are essential for civilian life, in the knowledge that a strike on those targets will be provocative. If the tunnels collapse, hospitals, mosques, universities, or factories will collapse with them,” said the IDF.

A weapons storehouse and the entrance to a tunnel were also found in the homes of two Hamas operatives, said the IDF. One of the homes is located next to an UNRWA medical clinic which serves some 15,000 people in the area, according to the military.

“The locations in which this infrastructure was uncovered paints a very severe and sad picture, in which exploitation and lack of humanity are a modus operandi,” said the military. “The enemy is hiding infrastructure for the next war under the noses of the innocents, thereby placing them, against their will, at the front of the next conflict.”
IDF reveals Hamas terror tunnels embedded in civilian infrastructure
Israeli military officials reveal new intelligence on Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza Our defense correspondent Jonathan Regev explains why they are revealing it now


How Hamas Puts Civilians in Israel and Gaza in Danger
Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler talks about how the Hamas terrorist organization is constantly putting the civilians in Israel and Gaza at risk in the name of their terrorist agenda.


Intel Failures, Gaps in Police Preparedness Marked 2021 Riots in Israel, Comptroller Finds
The violence that broke out between Arab and Jewish Israelis last summer exposed intelligence failures and gaps in police preparedness, Israel’s state comptroller determined in an audit published Wednesday.

The report reviewed the response by Israeli security forces to inter-communal rioting that swept multiple Israeli cities in May 2021, amid hostilities between the Israeli military and Palestinian terrorist groups.

The IDF was engaged at the time in Operation Guardian of the Walls, striking more than 1,500 targets in the Gaza Strip in response to attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who jointly launched nearly 4,400 rockets at Israel. The 11-day conflict broke out after Israel failed to abide by the militants’ ultimatum to pull back from the Temple Mount and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem.

To this backdrop, simmering nationalist tensions boiled over in Israeli cities with mixed Jewish and Arab populations. Riots beginning on May 10, 2021 by Arab Israelis in Lod — where Jewish homes, synagogues, a school, hospital, and other public infrastructure were attacked — preceded days of unrest that extended to cities including Haifa, Acre, Ramle, and Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Three civilians were killed and hundreds injured during the violence, which also caused some 58 million Israeli shekels (about $17 million) in property damage, according to the comptroller’s report.

The audit found “deficiencies in police activities before and during the riots, as well as in police preparedness for multi-frontal civil disorders,” particularly in “mixed cities,” wrote Matanyahu Englman, state comptroller and ombudsman.
The Israel Guys: They JUST DESTROYED This Palestinian Terrorist's Home
A terror attack was foiled in Gush Etzion thankfully before anyone was injured. According to Mahmoud Abbas, Joe Biden’s visit to the PA accomplished absolutely nothing for the Palestinians. Another Iranian missile engineer strangely went missing just a day after an Israeli spy network was allegedly caught by Iran. Iran also removed 27 cameras from a nuclear site, threatening not to turn them back on until the 2015 nuclear deal is restored. The home of the terrorist that killed the security guard at the entrance to Ariel back in April was finally destroyed by the IDF.




Relative of ‘Al Jazeera’ journalist killed in Jenin says US will not launch independent probe
The niece of deceased Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh said on Wednesday that Washington’s top diplomat had told her that the United States would not conduct an independent probe into the killing of the Palestinian-American correspondent, the Associated Press reported.

Lina Abu Akleh said that during her meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, he also declined to provide additional information about how the United States determined that Shireen, who was shot dead on May 11 during clashes between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli forces in Jenin, was not intentionally targeted.

Nearly two months after her death, Palestinian authorities handed over what they said was the lethal bullet to the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel for forensic testing. The U.S. State Department later released a statement saying that the bullet was too badly damaged to yield conclusive results.

“After an extremely detailed forensic analysis, independent, third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator, could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet that killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” said the statement.

However, while the IDF noted that its own internal investigation had found that there was insufficient information to determine the source of the fire that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, the USSC concluded that “gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible” for her death.
6 east Jerusalem schools placed on conditional licenses due to textbook incitement
Education Minister Shasha Biton revoked the permanent operating licenses of six schools in east Jerusalem and replaced them with conditional temporary licenses on Thursday after it was discovered that textbooks at the schools included material deemed as incitement against the State of Israel and against the IDF.

The affected schools are Ibrahimieh College, the Al-Eman elementary schools for boys and girls and the Al-Eman secondary schools for boys and girls.

The textbooks at the school glorified Palestinian prisoners and their armed struggle against the State of Israel, and contains libels about treatment being withheld from patients and deliberate harm to medical staff, accusations against Israel for the water crisis in the Palestinian Authority and claims concerning killings, deportations and massacres by the IDF.

"Incitement against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers in children's school textbooks is an intolerable phenomenon that will be dealt with severely," said Biton. "Whoever in his educational institutions is found to be inciting and spreading hate speech against the State of Israel and its symbols - his license will be revoked. Incitement and hatred - not in our school."
Palestinian Frustration after Biden’s Visit
From Abbas’ standpoint, Biden’s visit was a failure. Therefore, Abbas discussed ideas with Abdullah about a diplomatic initiative at the September UN General Assembly session to emphasize the Palestinian problem’s centrality to the international community.

Abbas and Abdullah view with great trepidation the possible return of the Likud Party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, to lead Israel as an outcome of the elections.

Senior PA sources say Jordan’s role is “critical.” Abdullah has the ear of Biden and European leaders as well.

According to knowledgeable sources, Jordan and the PA will demand that any progress on economic cooperation in the region be conditioned on renewing the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Abbas and Abdullah will continue to meet in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see what messages Abbas tries to convey in his anticipated General Assembly address; each year, he tries to come up with “surprises.”

Meanwhile, he emphasizes that, despite his 87 years, he is in good health. After returning from Jordan, he underwent “routine” checkups at a hospital in Ramallah. His confidant Hussein al-Sheikh told the media that “the state of his health is good.”
"National Rescue Initiative" Challenges Palestinian Leadership, Seeks Reforms
In a direct challenge to the veteran Palestinian leadership, a group of Palestinian personalities on Tuesday launched a new initiative for major reforms and changes in the Palestinian political system and institutions.

Titled “National Rescue Initiative,” the new plan was announced by Nasser al-Kidwa, a former PA foreign minister and envoy to the United Nations.

A nephew of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, al-Kidwa was expelled from the ruling Fatah faction’s Central Committee last year after he formed his own list to participate in the parliamentary elections. He has since been very critical of the Palestinian leadership.

The parliamentary elections, which were supposed to take place in May 2021, were called off by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The presidential elections, which were slated for July last year, were also canceled by Abbas.

Palestinians want "transformation, renewal"
Some 65 Palestinian figures are said to be behind the National Rescue Initiative, described as a “transitional body for transformation and renewal.”

These figures include prominent PLO official and spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, leading human rights activist Mamdouh al-Aker, and veteran political analyst Hani al-Masri.

The announcement of the initiative came amid growing criticism of the Palestinian leadership by many Palestinians over a number of issues, including rampant financial and administrative corruption and anarchy and lawlessness.

Abbas, in addition, has long been facing sharp criticism for refusing to share powers or consult with other Palestinians about crucial and sensitive issues affecting the Palestinians.
MEMRI: Palestinian Culture Minister: Britain Is The One That Stole Our Country; It Must Be Brought To Trial For Its Crimes
July 24, 2022 was the 100th anniversary of the League of Nations' issuance of the Mandate for Palestine, which authorized Britain to administer Palestine and the Transjordan. On the occasion of this anniversary, Palestinian Culture Minister 'Atef Abu Saif published an article in the Al-Ayyam daily that was sharply critical of Britain, stating that, other than the Zionist movement, it is the element that committed the gravest crimes against the Palestinian people. Britain, said Abu Saif, deliberately conquered Palestine in order to hand it over the Jews so they could "murder and expel" its Palestinian inhabitants, and today it is continuing its crimes by refusing to recognize the Palestinian state and denying the rights of the Palestinian people. Abu Saif called to activate the pro-Palestinian lobby in Britain in order to pressure its government to recognize the Palestinian state and act to end the occupation. He also called to demand a formal and public apology from Britain for its crimes against the Palestinians, and to sue it for these crimes in an international court.

The following are translated excepts from his article: [1]
"With the exception of the Zionist movement and its gangs, which became a state, it can perhaps be said that no country or force has committed graver crimes against our [Palestinian] people than Britain has. Furthermore, one of the main mistakes [we] made in the Palestinian national struggle was that we did not take Britain to court for its crimes against our people. True, it was the Zionist movement that murdered and expelled our people, but it did so thanks to the historically unprecedented aid it received: Britain seized our nation by the throat, forced it into the Zionists' slaughterhouse, placed its head on the butcher's block and handed the butcher a knife. What an evil act that was. Just as we must continue our struggle to attain freedom and win back our land and our rights, we must struggle to take Britain to court for this heinous act.

"[But] perhaps the most painful fact is that Britain was and still is the country that is most radically opposed to the rights of our people. Britain's insolence has crossed every line. This is the country that issued the reprehensible promise [i.e., the Balfour Declaration] to kill us and kill the [Palestinian] state and hand us over, shackled, to the Zionists. [It is the country] that occupied the land for this purpose, published the notorious document known as the Mandate [for Palestine], and then strengthened the foreign settlers [i.e., the Zionists], armed them, trained them and withdrew when they were ready to butcher and expel us from our land. To this day, [Britain] refuses to recognize our political rights; in fact, it is not even willing to contemplate recognizing any of our political [rights], such as our right to a state even on 21% of the land, [although] it had a hand in stealing and destroying [this land] and in killing its owners.
PMW: PA set to double the salary of the murderer of the Salomon family
As a reward for slaughtering Yosef Salomon and his two adult children, Chaya and Elad, by stabbing them to death while they were eating dinner in their home in Halamish, this month the Palestinian Authority will double the salary of Palestinian terrorist murderer Omar Al-Abd.

Having now completed 5 years in prison, the PA will raise the salary of the murderer from 2,000 shekels (~$643) per month to 4,000 shekels (~$1,286) per month.

Just days before the attack Fatah, the party of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, rebroadcast Abbas' implicit call to violence from 2014, in which he claimed that Jews “have no right to defile” the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that Palestinians should “prevent” the Jews from doing so:
Abbas: "We must all carry out Ribat [religious conflict] in the Al-Aqsa Mosque... We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary... They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places."

[Official Fatah Facebook page, July 15, 2017, rebroadcast of Abbas' speech on official PA TV, Oct. 17, 2014]

Adopting and echoing the call of Abbas and Fatah, terrorist murderer Al-Abd wrote in a "will" on Facebook before committing the attack that he was taking his "sharpened knife" to "respond" to what was happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which he described as Israelis/Jews "defiling our Al-Aqsa Mosque." He openly wrote that he did not expect to return, rather he was going "to Paradise":
"They defile our Al-Aqsa Mosque, the place of our beloved [Prophet Muhammad's] Night Journey, while we are asleep. Isn't it a disgrace for us to sit idle? You whose weapons are covered with rust, you who only take out your weapons for display - aren't you ashamed of yourselves? They've declared war on Allah. Isn't Allah deserving of you making efforts for Him? They closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and your weapon did not respond to the call! All that is in my hands is a sharpened knife, and it answers the call of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

[Palestine Today, independent Palestinian news agency, July 21, 2017]
PMW: PA recruits and trains 100’s of child terrorists
The 2022 summer-time Palestinian Authority abuse of Palestinian children and its process of recruiting them as child terrorists has started. At “the Buds of Construction and Liberation” summer camp, run by Fatah’s Central Hebron branch, hundreds of Palestinian children had individual pictures taken holding AK-47 rifles. The Fatah branch uploaded multiple photo albums of these pictures to its Facebook page.

[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement – Hebron Branch, July 19, 2022]

Leaving no room for misconception or doubt regarding the organizers of the event, the armed children had their pictures taken in front of a large poster with former PLO/PA/Fatah leader Yasser Arafat on the left, and current PLO/PA/Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas on the right. The Fatah logo, which includes a grenade, crossed rifles, and the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine,” was placed at the top in the center.

The text on the poster and the accompanying Facebook post reads: “The Fatah Movement Central Hebron branch - The Buds of Construction and Liberation camp”
Kids in West Bank trained for combat in summer camps
Maurice Hirsch, Head of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, and Samer Sinijlawi, a Fatah Activist from Jerusalem, join host David Matlin to discuss Palestinian combat training summer camps for children and possible resolutions to violence in the West Bank


Seeking new funds, Hamas raises taxes in impoverished Gaza
Gaza’s Hamas rulers have imposed a slew of new taxes on imported clothes and office supplies just ahead of the new school year, sparking limited but rare protests in the impoverished coastal strip.

The move by the militant group comes at a time when Gaza’s 2.3 million people are suffering not only from a 15-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade, but also from a new jump in prices caused by global supply-chain issues and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“This is a wrong, oppressive decision that destroys the national economy,” said Nahed al-Sawada, who imports clothes from China and Turkey.

A list by the Ministry of Economy includes planned taxes on items like packaged nuts, with an import tariff of 2,000 shekels (nearly $600) per ton. In the past, nuts were imported tax free. The tariff on a ton of toilet paper rose from $90 to $580. The taxes are set to go into effect on Aug. 1.

The list also includes a tax of about $3 on pair of jeans, and $230 on a ton of plastic folders used to store papers. Demand for these items increases ahead of the school year.

Emad Abdelhadi, a representative for Gaza’s union of clothes’ merchants, said a new pair of jeans sells for $3 to $10, and the new tax will pose an unfair burden on struggling consumers.

In a territory suffering from rampant poverty and unemployment approaching 50%, he said many Gazans already look for used clothes. The new taxes, he said, “will deprive them of the ability to buy.”


Protesters break into Iraqi parliament, chant curses against Iran
Hundreds of Iraqi protesters breached Baghdad’s parliament Wednesday, chanting curses against Iran, in a protest against the selection of a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties.

Many protesters were followers of an influential cleric. Some were seen walking on tables and waving Iraqi flags.

No lawmakers were present. Only security forces were inside the building and they appeared to allow the protesters in with relative ease.

The breach came amid the biggest protest since Iraqi elections were held in October.

The demonstrators were protesting the recent nomination of Mohammed al-Sudani as the official nominee of the Coordination Framework bloc, a coalition led by Iran-backed Shiite parties and their allies.

Earlier Wednesday, demonstrators entered Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone to protest al-Sudani’s selection.

Riot police used water cannons to repel demonstrators pulling down cement blast walls. But many breached the gates to the area, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies.
Seth Frantzman: Pro-Iranian groups, mass protests erode Iraq's stability
Protesters stormed Iraq’s parliament this week. It’s not the first time protesters have entered the Green Zone in Baghdad where the parliament is located, but the images coming out of Wednesday evening’s event have been jarring.

The protesters back Muqtada al-Sadr and are angry that the pro-Iran parties in Iraq have backed Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as a candidate for prime minister. Nouri al-Maliki, head of the pro-Iran State of Law Party, was shown walking around with an AK-47 and an M-16 during the night's disturbances.

Part of a cycle
The protests in Iraq are part of a cycle. Iraq has no government and the country is teetering on the brink of chaos. In northern Iraq, Turkish forces have been shelling civilians and killing a number of tourists recently. However, Baghdad can’t assert its authority to get Ankara to withdraw its forces because it is in disorder. Turkey claims to be “fighting terrorists” in Iraq, but the killing of tourists raises questions about whether it feels increased impunity to attack Iraq.

Meanwhile, there have been a number of rocket attacks. Rockets were fired on Tuesday from west of Kirkuk near a town called Qara Hanjir targeting the Khor Mor gas field, operated by the UAE’s Dana Gas. That attack, which is in the autonomous Kurdistan region, appears to be from pro-Iran militias using what appear to be 122mm rockets. A Kia truck with simple rocket launchers attached to the back was found on Wednesday night.

Other rockets targeted the Turkish consulate in Mosul this week. That attack appears to be a response to Ankara’s killing of the tourists. Iraq has complained to the UN about the Turkish attacks. The rocket attack may have been carried out by pro-Iran militias acting alone or with anti-Turkish groups that operate in the Nineveh plains. Turkey’s nearby base at Bashiqa has been targeted numerous times in similar rocket attacks from those plains over the last year.

The rocket attacks and the protests in Baghdad, coupled with Turkey’s continued operations in Iraq, all erode the country’s stability.
Walter Russell Mead (WSJ): The Iran Nuclear Deal's Convulsive Death
As Iran approaches the nuclear threshold, the saga of the Iran nuclear deal seems to be moving toward a close. Even the most optimistic Washington insiders are losing hope. In lead negotiator Robert Malley's words, "You can't revive a dead corpse."

The definitive end of the Iran deal would almost certainly force the administration to choose between accepting a nuclear-armed Iran and initiating a confrontation likely to culminate in another American war in the Middle East. Both courses of action entail unpredictable but large risks and costs.

Mr. Biden has repeatedly said that allowing Iran to build nuclear weapons is not an option. If his administration fails to hold that line, the consequences for American power in the Middle East and globally would be profound.
US official: Nuclear deal with Iran ‘highly unlikely’ in near-term
It is “highly unlikely” that the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran will be revived in the near-term, Axios reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk blamed the stalemated talks on the Iranian camp, and suggested Tehran wanted the United States “to add something to the pot” to sweeten the deal, a potentiality that he shot down.

McGurk also reportedly said that in the absence of a renewed agreement, the Biden administration would impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic and attempt to isolate the mullahs diplomatically. He qualified that Washington would “not needlessly escalate the situation,” but reiterated the threat of using force as a last resort to prevent Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb.

Meanwhile, U.S. Envoy for Iran Rob Malley and other officials were slated to give a classified briefing to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday about the status of the negotiations and Tehran’s nuclear progress.

The report comes a day after European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in an op-ed that the latest version of a nuclear deal presented to Iran is the best one possible.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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