Wednesday, September 07, 2022

09/07 Links Pt1: The Oslo discord; Glick: The six false, failed assumptions of the two-state solution; Back When Palestinians Insisted There’s No Such Place as Palestine

From Ian:

The Oslo discord
The shooting attack on IDF soldiers on Sunday near the Jordan Valley reinforces the security establishment's assessment that terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria are getting stronger and may reach a strategic tipping point. The Palestinian Authority has long lost its control over its cities and it is only thanks to the pro-active posture of the IDF and Shin Bet that Jenin and Nablus have not become another Gaza.

The new terrorist threat should have Israel rethink its overall rationale guiding its policies since the Oslo Accords have come into effect in 1990s. Almost 30 years since they were supposed to usher in a new era of peace, it is incumbent upon us to undergo a paradigm shift by scrutinizing the flawed assumptions on which they were based.

The first rationale was that a separation from the Palestinians was a prerequisite for any resolution of the conflict. The fact of the matter is that in northern Samaria the IDF pulled back from Jenin in 1996. In 2005, several Jewish settlements were uprooted in northern Samaria. In both cases, this only turned the area into terrorist hotbeds that only drew Israel back time and again in order to protect Israelis on the coastal plains.

It is also hard to deny that the IDF withdrawal only strengthened the terrorist elements there, much like the Gaza disengagement turned that enclave into an even greater threat to Israel. Thus, terrorist hotbeds are the direct results of the void created by the lack of Israeli troops and civilians in the area, and one must wonder: Perhaps separation is anything but a solution?

The second assumption: Any risk that is entailed in pursuing the path of the Oslo Accords was calculated and reversible. Then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin explained that Israel will retain effective control over areas that are handed over, making it possible to reverse course should the need arise. What has unfolded in the Gaza Strip over the past few decades – along with the new trends in Judea and Samaria – has been a rude awakening. Just look at how the efforts to reestablish the Jewish settlement in northern Samaria have been met with opposition by Israeli security officials (who are taking their cues from their US counterparts). This shows that as far as the international community is concerned, Israeli withdrawals are irreversible.
Back When Palestinians Insisted There’s No Such Place as Palestine
The thrust of the Palestinian legal case today is that Palestine is a centuries-old geopolitical entity whose residents are entitled to statehood as a matter of international law. But that has not always been the Palestinians’ legal position.

Immediately following World War I and continuing through most of the British Mandate period (1922-1948), Palestinian lawyers and witnesses argued repeatedly before various tribunals that there was no such place as “Palestine.” Instead, they claimed the area known colloquially as “Palestine” was in fact part of Syria, or “southern Syria” to be precise. Following the Israeli War of Independence, the Palestinians changed course and pledged their loyalty to Jordan.

It seems unthinkable that any Palestinian lawyer or legal scholar would argue today that Palestine is part of Syria or Jordan, but those were the predominant Palestinian legal positions from the end of World War I until the Six Day War.

For example, in November 1918 a Palestinian Arab group filed a petition with the French Commissariat in Jerusalem “begging that Palestine might be formally included in Syria.”

In February 1919 the Arab Delegation from Palestine to the Versailles Peace Conference submitted a formal petition urging that rather than be recognized as an independent state, Palestine should be deemed part of and merged into Syria. The petition said, “We consider Palestine as part of Arabic Syria as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economical and geographic bonds . . . In view of the above we desire that our distinct Southern Syria or Palestine should not be separated from the Independent Arabic Syrian Government.”

The Arab legal argument that there was no such political entity as “Palestine” continued after the League of Nations awarded the Palestine Mandate to Britain in 1922. For example, in 1925 Jamal Effendi-Husseini, a prominent Palestinian Arab, challenged a decision of British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel allowing local postage stamps to bear an inscription in Hebrew identifying the country as “Palestine E.I.” (Palestine Eretz Israel).

Husseini’s lawyer, Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, argued to the court that “Palestine” was “not an Arab word.” Auni Bey insisted the correct name of the country was “Southern Syria.” “Palestine,” he argued, had no separate existence and was in fact part of Syria.
Palestinian schoolbooks deny Holocaust, legitimize Munich massacre
Children in the Palestinian Authority too began their school year on Sept. 1, only instead of the promised education reforms, their schools continue to use the same books that have been heavily criticized for inciting hatred against Jews and Israel.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Munich Olympic massacre, Israel Hayom and the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) – an NGO that that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula for compliance with UNESCO-defined standards on peace and tolerance – conducted an analysis of Palestinian school curriculum.

It revealed that history books in PA and UNRWA schools laud and legitimize the tragedy, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes, describing it as "resistance" to Zionism, and "Zionist interests abroad."

It also showed that textbooks on World War II omit the Holocaust entirely. They cover the main events in detail, such as the German invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but not a word about the Wannsee Conference, concentration camps, or any other events related to the Holocaust.

Surprisingly, the German government is the main funder of the Palestinian education system, including textbooks. The PA Education Ministry's budget for the implementation of their plan comes from Germany, as well as Norway, Finland, and Ireland.

After international criticism, the PA and European authorities made changes to all textbooks for grades 1-12, but IMPACT-se officials say the content became more radicalized, "with hundreds of extreme examples that were introduced systematically that encourage harming civilians, jihad, violence, and incitement against Israel and Jews, in all classes and on all subjects."

"Moreover, the new books deliberately omit all the previous attempts for peace with Israel since the Oslo Accords. Antisemitic messages were also found in the books," they said.

Palestinian children are taught to believe that Judaism is a racist religion and that Jews control the media, politics, and finances. Jews are depicted as liars, corrupt, and "enemies of Islam at all times and places," and as such should be eliminated.

"Despite the European Union's repeated criticism of the Palestinian Authority, it did not make substantial changes to the textbooks for the 2022-2023 school year," CEO of IMPACT-se Marcus Sheff said. PA President Mahmoud and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh "must be made aware that there is a price for this – from hearings in the Council of the European Union to condemnation from the European Commission responsible for their funding and the European Parliament."


US Ambassador: Two-state solution needed to ensure Israel remains a Jewish and democratic country
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides on Wednesday said it is his guiding principle to advance a two-state solution with the Palestinians because failure to do so is making it difficult to ensure his “North Star” of “maintaining Israel as both a Jewish and democratic state.”

Speaking to reporters at a briefing in Jerusalem, Nides noted that U.S. President Joe Biden “articulated very clearly his support for a two-state solution” on his recent trip to Israel, and that “every speech that I give, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken gives, that the president gives, that [Vice President] Kamala Harris gives, all reference that.

“In order to push for a two-state solution, we need to be doing things to help the Palestinian people,” said Nides. This primarily entails improving economic conditions.

“We can’t lose the Palestinian street,” he continued, naming this as one of the reasons Biden visited a hospital in the eastern part of Jerusalem during his trip to Israel in July.

Nides also encouraged Israeli authorities to work towards enhancing freedom of movement for Palestinians, including through the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan, and by providing them with a more sophisticated cellular-communications network.


Caroline Glick: The six false, failed assumptions of the two-state solution | Mideast News Hour
Caroline Glick hosts IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gershon Hacohen on this week's "Mideast News Hour."

Hacohen, who served as commander of the IDF’s war colleges and currently commands the IDF’s northern column in reserves, explains the six false, failed assumptions behind the two-state solution, and through them demonstrates how the United States' continued support for the failed policy exposes a deep-seated hostility to Israel’s survival.


The Palestinian Authority, the Hebron Massacre, and 'The Three Heroes'
Hebron is one of the four holy cities in Judaism – the others are Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias – and second only to Jerusalem in religious significance. It is in the center of Hebron that the Cave of the Patriarchs is located, where religious Jews believe that four “prestigious couples,” Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people, are buried.

Hebron has been inhabited by Jews uninterruptedly for at least two thousand years, except in the period beginning on August 24, 1929, when a massacre of 67 Jewish men, women, and children took place, and the 435 Jews who survived were soon evacuated by British soldiers, leaving the city without any Jews. Many returned in 1931, but almost all of them had again to be evacuated at the outbreak of the 1936-39 Arab Revolt in Palestine.

The massacre of 1929 began when Arabs in the city were incited to violence by rumors that Jews were planning to attack Arabs in Jerusalem and seize control of the Temple Mount. These rumors were baseless, of course, but that would be learned only after the Arabs had completed their killing spree. The 67 Jews were murdered with knives and axes by hysterical mobs, their bodies often mutilated both before and after death, with women raped before being killed, and pregnant women cut open. The event also left scores seriously wounded or maimed. Jewish homes were pillaged and synagogues were ransacked.

The 1929 Hebron massacre remains deeply imprinted in the minds of Israelis, as the site of one of the worst massacres of Jews by Arabs in the pre-war period. It was the particularly atrocious nature of those killings, and the fact of Hebron’s religious importance, and the pusillanimous behavior of the British officlals and military men who, with one exception, did nothing to stop the massacre, that have imprinted that episode on Israeli minds.

This year, as it does every year, the Palestinian Authority celebrated the Hebron murderers. While the Jews mourn the victims every August 24, the Palestinians are proud of the men who cut open and eviscerated pregnant women, mutilated the bodies of men, and caught children on the edge of their knives. The P.A. holds a celebration to honor the “heroes of Hebron.” And this year, as every year, the Western press pays no attention to this ghoulish celebration. To do so, after all, would make the Palestinians look bad, and we can’t – can we? – have that.
NGO Monitor: Al-Dameer's Ties to the PFLP Terror Group
Al-Dameer’s Organization Ties to the PFLP


On April 4, 2021, PNGO reported that Al-Dameer held a meeting on “the elections and current demands on various issues.” According to PNGO, Acting Executive Director of Al-Dameer Alaa Skafi participated in the meeting alongside PFLP central committee member Osama Al-Haj Ahmed and DFLP political bureau member Talal Abu Zarifa.

On December 30, 2019, Al-Dameer held a conference on “The reality of the right to association in accordance with international obligations of Palestine”; among the participants was Mariam Abu Daqqa, a member of the PFLP Central Committee.

In November 2018, “Al-Dameer association, in coordination with the prisoners’ committee of the PFLP, organized a seminar on administrative detention and the continuation of the arrest of Khalida Jarrar,” a PFLP leader (on file with NGO Monitor, see PFLP website for details).

Al-Dameer lawyer Mohammed S. Al Bardaweel and numerous PFLP officials, including “a member of the General Central Committee of the Front, the head of the prisoners committee in Gaza” Allam Kaabi and members of the PFLP Central Committee Mariam Abu Daqqa and Kayed al-Ghoul were present at the seminar. The PFLP’s “information office” uploaded a short film of the joint event to YouTube.

In May 2017, lawyers from the Democratic Association of Lawyers – a PFLP-linked organization3 – participated in a “march organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation to support the prisoners and against Trump’s visit to the Palestinian territories.” Photos from the event show Al-Dameer staff – including Fathi al-Helou, Mohammad Al Jaish, and Yousef Balousha – waving a PFLP flag. Al-Dameer’s Secretary of the Board of Directors Ra’fat Sulaiman Salha also serves as the Democratic Association of Lawyers’ Chairman.

In 2015, the PFLP demanded security forces in Gaza bring the perpetrators of “dangerous” threats against the former director of Al-Dameer Khalil Abu Shamala to justice. An article in Palestinian media also explains that the PFLP stressed that it would “not allow continued assaults and threats against Abu Shammala and others,” noting that they have information that enables them to deal with these threats in the event of the “failure” of security services.

In 2009, the PFLP condemned a break-in of Al-Dameer’s Gaza offices, claiming the “intrusion” was to “obtain information about the organizations and its activities.”


JPost Editorial: IDF Shireen Abu Akleh probe shows Israel will learn from its mistakes - editorial
Israel and the US are close partners and allies, and this incident illustrates not only cooperation between the two countries but also how they can share assessments and learn to mitigate the chances for further incidents like this – a point the US also noted in its statement.

Some will always castigate Israel. The Committee to Protect Journalists slammed Israel for not revealing the name of the “killer.” However, Israel’s response is in line with that of other democracies that have all faced the complexity of battling terrorist enemies who embed themselves among the civilian population.

Israel did not choose to fight in the complex battlefields of places like Jenin. It is groups like Islamic Jihad that purposely operate from these areas, hiding in apartments and in alleyways and engaging the IDF from civilian areas. These terrorist groups violate the basic laws of armed conflict by conducting their operations among civilians and endangering the civilians and journalists who cover these incidents.

The enemy conducts itself in a method that is contrary to human-rights norms, but that does not reduce Israel’s need to safeguard the rights and lives of civilians who find themselves in harm’s way. We care deeply for our journalist colleagues who cover this conflict; they are peers and friends. It is essential that journalists always be protected and that militaries and terrorist groups refrain from harming them.

Israel has learned from its past mistakes and will learn from this incident. We hope the IDF has already learned from the raid on Jenin to improve procedures and protocols.

For instance, the new technology that the military is absorbing as part of Momentum, especially the increased work with digitization and artificial intelligence, should help pinpoint journalists and civilian areas so that defense forces can be careful in the future and direct their fire in the most efficient, precise and safe way toward threats. In addition, the way the IDF operates in Gaza, by calling civilians to warn them to evacuate targets, is a tactic that can be drawn on when operating in other places, such as the West Bank.

The use of technology and briefing soldiers on what is expected in complex urban battlefields will help us reduce the chances of more incidents like the death of Abu Akleh.
Rebuffing US, Lapid and Gantz say IDF ‘alone’ will determine rules of engagement
Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday rejected American overtures for Israel to reexamine its military’s rules of engagement, after an IDF probe into the killing of Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh determined that errant fire from an Israeli soldier was likely responsible.

On Tuesday, US State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel said the US would “continue to press our Israeli partners to closely review its policies and practices on rules of engagement and consider additional steps to mitigate the risk of civilian harm, protect journalists and prevent similar tragedies in the future.”

“That is a key goal for us,” Patel said.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony of Navy officers at the Haifa naval base on Wednesday evening, Lapid hit back, saying “no one will dictate our rules of engagement to us.”

Lapid said he hears “calls to prosecute IDF soldiers following the death of Shireen Abu Akleh” and “calls to change our rules of engagement.”

“Israel has expressed sorrow over her death. It was a tragedy that transpired in an incident in which there was heavy enemy fire. The IDF never intentionally shoots at innocent people. We are deeply committed to freedom of the press and to some of the most stringent rules of engagement in the world,” Lapid said.

“But to be clear, I will not allow an IDF soldier that was protecting himself from terrorist fire to be prosecuted just to receive applause from abroad,” Lapid continued.

“No one will dictate our rules of engagement to us, when we are the ones fighting for our lives. Our soldiers have the full backing of the government of Israel and the people of Israel.”


Debate: Should Israel change rules of engagement in wake of Abu Akleh?



Arab-Israeli Journalist Killed by Arabs: U.S., Europe Remain Silent
An Arab-Israeli journalist was shot dead in his car in northern Israel on Sunday evening, the apparent motive being his reporting on organized crime in the country’s Arab sector.

Nidal Agbaria, 44, was shot dead at close range by at least two masked men while sitting in his car outside of his home in Umm Al-Fahm, a high-crime city with a population that is entirely Arab.

Last year, criminals shot 50 rounds at Agbaria’s house, in what was believed to be a warning regarding his reporting.

“I am conscious of the growing violence in Arab society, and the ease with which people pull the trigger, so I am extremely careful with every sentence I publish”, Agbaria told the Haaretz daily after the incident.

He added that “the atmosphere is tense due to the increasing threats against Arab journalists, and following the shooting the fear is greater. It shows that no one is immune.”

According to veteran Arab crime reporter Hassan Shalaan, Agbairya was “definitely killed because he was a journalist,” he told the Kan public broadcaster. Shalaan said he was fearful for his own life and that threats are routinely issued to Arab crime reporters.

“A journalist was murdered [because of his profession] tonight — an event that only happens in third world countries,” Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel wrote on Twitter.

“The weapon that shoots a journalist inside the [Arab community] is the one that will be used against Jews outside the community,” he added.
Shin Bet arrest five for 2021 lynching of Jewish man in Acre during riots
More than a year after the attempted lynching of Mor Janashvili in Acre, over the last two months, the Shin Bet and Israel Police arrested five suspects for their involvement in the attack on Janashvili during clashes in mixed cities during operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021, the Shin Bet said in a statement on Wednesday.

One Shin Bet opened the investigation, it became clear that the five were involved in the tensions that took place in the city of Acre during Operation Guardian of the Walls, including their involvement in the attack on Janashvili.

The five suspects were prosecuted for a series of charges, including crimes that were committed with a nationalist motive, in the circumstances of an act of terrorism.

The suspects, residents of Acre, are Rani Piran, 27, Muhammad Hamad, 25, Ayman Zalfi, 28, Hissam Awad, 31 and Salah Majeg, 28.

They join two other Acre residents, Kosai Abbas and Adham Bashir, who were initially arrested and questioned as early as May 2021, with indictments already filed against them for their involvement in the attack.
The Israel Guys: Defense Minister's House Cleaner Turned Out to Be IRANIAN SPY
In a shooting attack in Lod, an Arab Israeli woman and her daughter were killed. The IDF demolished the home of the terrorist who murdered three people in the Tel Aviv shooting attack back in April. Naftali Bennett has announced that he has no plans of returning to politics. A tour guide was detained on the Temple Mount. And a spy for an Iranian hacker group was caught as a cleaner in Benny Gantz’s house.




JCPA: Mahmoud Abbas Fears an Armed Intifada in the West Bank
A Wave of Terrorism and Not an Intifada
Sources in the Fatah movement claim that the recent wave of violence is tantamount to venting hot air and releasing pressure. However, it is not the beginning of a new intifada.

According to them, the Palestinian street in the West Bank is not interested in an intifada now and knows there is no purpose to the current wave of violence and that it will eventually disappear.

“An intifada is a political, social, military, and mental state,” explained a senior Fatah figure, “which requires a national consensus of all the factions and the implementation of this consensus in all aspects of life.” He continued, “This is not the case today, and if Israel does not act stupidly, we will not sink to that situation.”

Today, there is no united leadership that will lead an intifada. Abbas strongly opposes it, and the military power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank is not sufficient to trigger an armed intifada against Israel without Fatah.

Palestinian society is divided without a national consensus. Abbas rejected all the demands of senior Fatah figures to implement the recent decisions of the PLO’s Central Council to suspend the Oslo Accords and freeze security coordination with Israel. He is not interested in escalation and an armed intifada.

In Abbas’ assessment, the wave of violence and terrorism will eventually subside.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad call to step up 'resistance' in West Bank
Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Wednesday called on Palestinians to step up the “resistance" attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.

The call came in response to increased IDF counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank.

A senior Palestinian official, meanwhile, ruled out the possibility that the PA security forces would move to disarm armed groups in the northern West Bank.

The official told The Jerusalem Post that the PA leadership has come under pressure from Israel and some international parties to take action against the gunmen, most of whom belong to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“If Israel wants the violence to stop, it should stop sending its soldiers every night to arrest and shoot young Palestinians,” said the official. “We can’t do anything while Israel is continuing to escalate its military operations.”

On Wednesday morning, soldiers shot and killed 21-year-old Yunis Ghassan al-Tayeh in the town of Toubass in the northern West Bank after he reportedly hurled an explosive device at them.

Hamas is proud of Palestinian 'martyrs'

Expressing pride in the Palestinian “martyrs” killed by the IDF, Hamas urged the Palestinians in the West Bank to continue to support the “heroic battle” against the soldiers and settlers. It also called on Palestinian gunmen to continue “confronting” IIDF troops that enter Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps as part of the crackdown on terrorism.

Islamic Jihad, for its part, mourned the death of Tayeh, whom it described as “our son and martyr.”

The group called on all Palestinians to “close ranks” and work towards escalating the “resistance” against Israeli soldiers and settlers.


Israeli forces arrest 25 in Judea and Samaria raids; Palestinian sources claim one person killed
Israeli security forces arrested 25 terror suspects across Judea and Samaria in a series of raids overnight Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Illicit funds and weapons were also seized.

During a raid in the Fara’a refugee camp northeast of Nablus, IDF forces were fired upon and attacked with an improvised explosive device, the military said in a statement. No Israeli casualties were reported. Palestinian sources reported that one person had been killed in the clash.

“A Palestinian claim of a casualty is known to us,” said the IDF.


Israeli Air Attack Damages Syria’s Aleppo Airport, Takes It Out of Service
An Israeli air attack on Syria‘s Aleppo airport on Tuesday has damaged the runway and taken the airport out of service, the Syrian defense ministry said.

The Israel missile attack was launched from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 8:16 p.m. local time (1716 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.

Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli missiles, downing several of them, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported earlier on Tuesday.

It was the second reported attack in less than week. On Aug. 31, Israel fired rockets at the airport, which resulted in material damage, according to Syrian state media.

Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told Reuters.

Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.
FDD: A New Iran Deal Would Empower Hamas
Latest Developments
Iran would receive approximately $275 billion in sanctions relief during the first year of a new nuclear deal and more than $1 trillion by 2030, according to an FDD analysis. If past is prologue, a significant portion of these funds would likely flow to Iranian-supported terror organizations in the region, including Hamas. In the year after the implementation of the original 2015 nuclear accord, Tehran’s military budget increased by 90 percent, enabling the regime to shower Iran-aligned terror organizations, including Hamas, with additional resources.

Expert Analysis
“Hamas has demonstrated the ability to obtain and produce high-quality weapons such as drones and long-range rockets that can target all of Israel. A new Iran deal will provide additional funds to the group, giving it the ability to advance its weapons program and finance further terror activity in the West Bank.” – Joe Truzman, Research Analyst, FDD’s Long War Journal

Iran Provides Hamas With Weapons and Know-How to Strike Israel
Hamas — a U.S.-designated Foreign Terror Organization — has ruled Gaza since it seized control in a violent coup in 2007. Hamas is financially supported by Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah and was estimated in 2021 to have an army of 30,000. Hamas produces arms locally, leveraging Iranian technology and logistical support. What Hamas does not produce it smuggles into the Mediterranean enclave from tunnels under its border with Egypt. “Iran provided us with rockets,” Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar boasted in 2019, shortly after the group fired a barrage at a city in southern Israel. “Had it not been for Iran, the resistance in Palestine would not have possessed its current capabilities.”

Hamas’ Arsenal
In May 2021, Hamas initiated a war against the Jewish state, indiscriminately firing more than 4,000 rockets, including newly developed long-range projectiles, at Israeli population centers. These rockets constitute a key part of Hamas’ robust military arsenal.
Will new Iran deal redefine US-Israel ties?
At this stage, it's likely that not even those American diplomats most immersed in the ongoing nuclear talks between the United States and Iran know what the outcome of their efforts will be. For the last 20 months, since President Joe Biden was sworn into office, the expectation has been that Tehran will sooner or later agree to re-enter the weak nuclear accord it concluded with the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2015. But, as they did during the two-year lead-up to that agreement, the Iranians are clearly having too much fun making their American counterparts sweat to agree to the advantageous terms that everyone knows that Biden's foreign-policy team has been offering to them.

Yet if, as most observers still believe, a nuclear deal is reached, it will set up a new and potentially divisive chapter in US-Israel relations and a dilemma for the government of the Jewish state. That will be true whether it is led after the Knesset election in November by current Prime Minister Yair Lapid or his rival for power, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party remains the largest in Israel but is not assured of being able to assemble a majority coalition. Unless the diplomatic effort being pursued by Biden and the Democrats is thwarted by Iranian intransigence, it will set in motion a series of events that could (assurances to the contrary being made by both countries) lead to a situation in which past assumptions about the alliance will be thrown to the winds.

Such a scenario will be bad for both Israel and the United States – not least because a nuclear Iran, which is more or less guaranteed to eventually be the result of a new deal, will undermine both nations' security and undermine alliances in the Arab world. The most frustrating aspect of all this is that it could potentially undo so much of the good that was done to the region by the Abraham Accords that brought normalization of relations between Israel and important elements in the Arab world. And if that happens, it will be because the Biden administration has decided to ignore some basic conclusions about the Middle East and foreign policy that its predecessor had learned. That involves choosing ideology and false assumptions about Israel and the Islamic world over realism and, most of all, returning to a policy that isn't based on the understanding that alliances work best when all sides to it are pursuing their own best interests.

In recent weeks, there had been a surge of optimism in Washington, which generated a corresponding sense of panic in Jerusalem and Arab capitals, about the Iranians finally dropping some of their most outrageous and clearly unserious demands, and finally taking "yes" for an answer and thereby beginning to profit from the dropping of Western sanctions. But as with every previous such glimmer of hope among Biden officials that their efforts will be rewarded with success, there has come a new set of unreasonable answers from Tehran.
Iran nuclear deal likely on hold until after US midterm election - source
A return to a nuclear deal with Iran is unlikely to take place before the US holds its midterm elections in November, a European diplomatic source said on Wednesday as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported further advances in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Iran's latest response to what was meant to be a final draft of the agreement has almost eliminated the chance of a deal being reached in the coming days and after that, it will be too late for a speedy conclusion to talks, the source explained.

US law requires a 30-day Congressional review period before any deal lifting sanctions on Iran can be implemented, which would put a potentially unpopular agreement on the agenda in mid-October, shortly before the November 8 elections. The European source, as well as Israeli officials, said that US President Joe Biden would likely choose to avoid that scenario.

The US left the Iran deal in 2018, with then-president Donald Trump saying it was reached under false pretenses does not sufficiently limit Iran's nuclear program. Biden vowed to rejoin it in his campaign, and Iran began major violations of the nuclear program, which limited its uranium enrichment to 3.67% purity as opposed to its current 60%, in addition to restrictions on stockpiling, developing advanced centrifuges and more. The Biden administration has been in indirect talks with Iran to return to the agreement since April 2021.

Further delays in negotiations, coupled with ongoing advances in Iran's nuclear program could jeopardize the deal, if it is set aside for two more months.
UN watchdog says it ‘cannot assure’ Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful
The UN’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday it could not guarantee the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, saying there had been “no progress” in resolving questions over the past presence of nuclear material at undeclared sites.

In a report seen by AFP, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was “not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

It said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi was “increasingly concerned that Iran has not engaged with the Agency on the outstanding safeguards issues during this reporting period and, therefore, that there has been no progress towards resolving them.”

The IAEA has been pressing Iran for answers on the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites.

Tehran, which maintains that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, is insisting that the IAEA probe be closed in order to revive the 2015 deal on its nuclear program with world powers.

In a separate report also issued on Wednesday, the IAEA also said Iran was continuing to enrich uranium well over the limits laid down in the ailing 2015 deal, with its stockpile now over 19 times the limit set out in the accord.
Iranian TV Report About IRGC Navy’s New Martyr Soleimani Patrol Ship With Anti-Aircraft Capabilities
On September 5, 2022, Channel 2 (Iran) aired a report about a recently-launched 67-meter-long IRGC Navy patrol ship called Martyr Soleimani. According to the report, the Martyr Soleimani is the first Iranian vessel made with a non-corrosive aluminum alloy hull instead of a steel hull, and its catamaran design and unusual angles give it the radar signature of a small yacht. The report featured a brief interview with IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, and it said that the Martyr Soleimani has a helicopter pad and classified defense systems that include vertically-launched anti-aircraft missiles, enabling the vessel to provide anti-air cover for missile-bearing speedboats.

The report compared the Martyr Soleimani to trimaran boats used by the U.S. Navy, and it said that Iran is one of only three countries in the world to have a vessel of this type. In addition, the reporter said that the Martyr Soleimani has been deployed with the IRGC Navy’s southern fleet, that U.S. CENTCOM has admitted that Iran has air superiority in the Persian Gulf, and that this makes Iran the “ultimate power in the region.”


Albania Cuts Iran Ties, Orders Diplomats to Leave Over Cyberattack
Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Wednesday and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours, saying a probe had found the Islamic Republic was behind a cyberattack on the country in July.

“The government has decided with immediate effect to end diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a video statement sent to the media.

“This extreme response … is fully proportionate to the gravity and risk of the cyberattack that threatened to paralyze public services, erase digital systems and hack into state records, steal government intranet electronic communication and stir chaos and insecurity in the country,” Rama said.

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian Embassy in Tirana.

The United States also said it concluded after weeks of investigation that Iran was behind the “reckless and irresponsible” July 15 cyberattack and said it would support its NATO ally.

“The United States will take further action to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a U.S. ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement.
Persecution in Iran, Supreme Governing Body in Israel: the Baha’i Faith Across the Middle East
In stark contrast to the treatment of the Baha’i in these aforementioned states, one Middle Eastern country that is welcoming to members of the faith is Israel.

As mentioned earlier, the Israeli port city of Haifa is home to the supreme governing body of the Baha’i, the Universal House of Justice. This is because Haifa is home to the Shrine of the Bab, a mausoleum that houses the remains of the Bab, which were brought from Iran to Haifa in 1909.

Further up the coast is the holiest site in the Baha’i faith, the resting place of the Baha’u’llah outside of the city of Akko.

However, while Israel is home to two of the holiest shrines in Baha’i, there is no official Baha’i community in the Jewish state. This is due to the mysterious request of the Baha’u’llah, that no Baha’i community be established in the Holy Land.

Nevertheless, there are approximately 750 Baha’i members from 70 countries who come to Israel in order to volunteer in either Haifa or Akko for limited amounts of time.

As one Baha’i volunteer stated in an interview with The Jerusalem Post about the reception of the Baha’i in the Jewish state: “We are treated well. There is no interference by the authorities at all. There is a very cordial relationship of respect and obedience to whatever the government might say.”

Due to the location of the Baha’i faith’s world headquarters in Israel, this gives the Islamic Republic a convenient excuse for persecuting the Baha’i minority in Iran: claiming that they are spies trained by Jerusalem.

As Iranian state persecution of the Baha’i minority continues, it is imperative to ensure that Iranian state propaganda does not seep unimpeded into the mainstream media.




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