Thursday, September 29, 2022
The Women Burning Their Hijabs Want the Iranian Regime to Fall. Does Joe Biden?
Khamenei’s deal-denying obstinacy ought to be viewed as a liberating opportunity by the Biden administration. Why should we allow Khamenei and his regime a guaranteed pathway to bomb-grade uranium and long-range ballistic missiles and let them extort us? Unrestricted oil and gas sales, a bonanza of foreign investment, and big, legal purchases of Russian conventional weaponry will significantly abet Iranian expansionism . . . unless we believe just down the road that the Supreme Leader and his like-minded friends will give way to more reasonable people?Caroline Glick: How Benny Gantz killed Israeli-Palestinian peace
Obama’s nuclear deal never really made sense unless one believed the regime would evolve into something much less malign. But the theocracy has crushed every internal effort at even the most minimal political reform, and, as Masha Amini’s death makes clear, the regime that inspired The Handmaid’s Tale is still very much that regime.
Democrats, who’ve been pushing apologias since Bill Clinton apologized to Iran in an effort to jump-start better relations, have a chance to get more realistic about the nature of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei’s decision to tell Washington to pound sand may finally allow Democrats, who’ve been addicted to arms control with the theocracy, to regain a certain moral clarity about the most aggressive, antisemitic, revisionist state in the Middle East.
Many Republicans should also thank the cleric, who is the most impressive post-World War II dictator in the region. Those who’ve wanted to believe that a “good deal” and better Iranian behavior was possible if Washington just ramped up sanctions enough to coerce the mullahs into moderation are now obliged to ask themselves whether they are willing to argue for military strikes, which could lead to a war in the Persian Gulf. Whatever the timeline was for sanctions working—always just over the horizon—it certainly no longer matches the timeline for Iran to test a nuke.
If most Republicans, too, turn out to be Iran doves, then they can at least try to develop a bipartisan approach to the Islamic Republic that involves, at a minimum, continuing economic pressure. Sanctions won’t stop the mullahs’ nuclear drive, but they can weaken the clerical regime internally and deny it hard currency for its foreign adventures. Americans, Europeans, Turks, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, and, most emphatically, the Israelis would be a lot better off if Washington forestalled the Iranian bomb.
But if Americans no longer have the self-confidence to engage in such military action, if they just don’t believe U.S. hegemony in the Middle East is worth the price, then they can still default to something less delusional and destructive than paying an endlessly lying enemy to forsake the cornerstone of its hegemonic ambitions. We should take a cue from the protestors in the streets: a regime that so easily kills women isn’t one the United States can do business with.
American and European “realists” have never been so wrong. It is the nature of the regime that counts.
In 2014, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia acted as Israel’s unofficial allies in Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza. Among other things, they blocked the Obama administration from coercing Israel into accepting Hamas’ ceasefire terms.Abbas Asked Why There Is No Palestinian State. The Answers Were in His UN Speech
Their opposition to the Palestinians and support for Israel only grew during Trump’s presidency. Many people who spoke with the Egyptians, the Emiratis, Saudis and Bahrainis during this period understood that they were no longer willing to stand with the Palestinians and were willing to reach a pragmatic resolution of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria that respected Israel’s rights and interests as well as those of the Palestinians.
But blinded by ideology, and guided no doubt by Gantz’s political interest in humiliating Netanyahu ahead of the third round of elections, Eshel and Gantz ignored all of this. They insisted that nothing had changed in the Arab world since 2002, when the Saudi king gave a fake peace offer to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman demanding that Israel surrender to the PLO’s maximalist demands as a condition for Arab-Israeli peace.
While Kushner seems to reject Eshel’s version of events in his recently published memoir, in a way, the veracity of Eshel’s story is less important than the fact that he takes so much pride in his version of events that he chose to share it with the Israeli public. Eshel clearly never considered that he may have been mistaken, and as a result of his own ideological blindness and political interests, he had destroyed Israel’s chance of permanently securing its national and strategic interests in Judea and Samaria.
Eshel’s blindness is a testament to the most glaring and dangerous characteristics of the left, both in Israel and throughout the Western world today. For leftists from Tel Aviv to Washington to Paris, the world is a static place where the 1960s anti-colonialist slogans that blamed all the troubles of the developing world on the West and the Jewish state are truths etched in stone—a progressive Ten Commandments. And the tablets will never be broken. Anyone who rejects these slogans, or permits reality to seep into their policymaking at any level are enemies far worse than the likes of the PLO or the Iranian regime or any terror group or regime that bases their claim to legitimacy on anti-colonialist precepts. On the other hand, unelected elites who live and die by these precepts are “objective professionals,” who protect our societies from riff raff that actually take into consideration facts, events, statements and political forces that stand these anti-Western principles on their heads.
From the progressives’ collective slobberfest over Islamic terrorists from Ramallah to Tehran, to their political and legal wars against anyone who disagrees with them, all over the West, our ability to make informed decisions, whether as voters or policymakers, is under assault. Elites who insist that their catechisms to the anti-colonialist gods are the beginning and end of all legitimate policymaking are damning us to policies that cause our nations to fail perpetually.
The Trump peace plan, including the sovereignty plan, was the first pragmatic blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace ever presented, because unlike all of its predecessors it was not based entirely on anti-Israel mythology. Eshel and Gantz didn’t just kill the sovereignty plan when they scared Kushner with their myths. They killed the entire concept that reality should form the basis of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.
In his memoir and in subsequent interviews, former ambassador Friedman has said that whatever one thinks of the Trump peace plan, it was an opportunity for Israel to begin having a serious discussion about what it wants to do with Judea and Samaria. Obviously, so long as Israel’s left controls the discourse and blocks reality from entering the discussion, no such discussion will be possible.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas asked the UN General Assembly on Friday why the Palestinians do not yet have a state. I found the answers to Abbas' questions were in his speech as well.
He claimed to genuinely want peace with Israel, but made clear that he rejects Israel's very legitimacy. He described Israel as a colonizing power for 75 years - that is, since its historic rebirth in 1948. He airbrushed Judaism out of his "eternal" Jerusalem, in which there are only Muslim and Christian holy sites.
There was no mention that Israel dismantled its settlements and withdrew all its soldiers from Gaza in 2005. No hint that Hamas took over, and has provoked conflict with Israel ever since with indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel, teaching Israel that relinquishing adjacent territory merely empowers the forces that seek our destruction.
Abbas devoted some of his speech to Nasser Abu Hamid, whom he described as a heroic martyr who was now dying in jail of cancer, failing to note that Abu Hamid is serving multiple life terms for the murders of seven Israelis and the attempted murders of 12 more. Abbas championed the killers of Israelis - to whom his Palestinian Authority insists on paying salaries, thus nurturing the next generations of murderers.
Abbas ignored the "one condition" Prime Minister Yair Lapid set on Thursday for the implementation of a two-state solution: "That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being and the very existence of Israel."
Lapid offered Abbas a one-sentence formula for Palestinian independence: "Put down your weapons, and there will be peace."
UN Security Council hails Lapid’s ‘two-state’ commitment, questions Israeli couterterrorism ops
As the United Nations Security Council met on Wednesday, a recurrent theme emerged. Council members lauded Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s support for a two-state solution, while simultaneously expressing concern over growing instability in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.What Lapid said at the U.N. and how J Street changed it
The council held its monthly briefing and consultations on the Israeli-Palestinian file. United States Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield hailed Lapid’s announcement last week at the General Assembly as “courageous and impassioned.”
At the same time, Thomas-Greenfield was unusually harsh in her assessment of Israeli actions, including “violence inflicted by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in their neighborhoods, and in some cases escorted by Israeli security forces.”
She did note ongoing terrorist attacks and “incitement to violence against Israelis” and called on the Palestinian Authority to stop “making payments to those who harm Israelis.” Thomas-Greenfield was referencing the P.A.’s so-called “pay-for-slay” policy that provides monthly stipends to Palestinians who carry out terror attacks, and to the relatives of slain terrorists.
On the sidelines of the General Assembly last week, at a broad international development forum for assistance to Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority, known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), the P.A. committed, under pressure, to heavily reducing the $200 million a month it spends on public employee salaries. However, the P.A. was quick to clarify that “allowances paid monthly and regularly to categories of non-employees, specifically the families of martyrs, wounded and prisoners…will not be affected according to assurances issued by the Palestinian Authority at all levels.”
What do you do if Israel’s prime minister makes a speech that includes some statements you don’t like? If you’re the left-wing lobby J Street, you just edit out the parts with which you disagree, thus fooling the public into thinking that the prime minister never said them.Eugene Kontorovich: Israel Must Reject a Terrible Natural Gas Deal With Hezbollah
That’s what happened with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s speech at the United Nations on Sept. 22. J Street loved his line about “two states for two peoples” and immediately issued a press release “welcoming and commending” Lapid for using those “extremely important” words.
But J Street edited out what Lapid said immediately after talking about “two states,” which was arguably even more important.
Lapid said, “We have only one condition: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being and the very existence of Israel.”
Why is Lapid, like all Israelis, so worried about a Palestinian state becoming a “terror base”? Because it has already happened. In 1995, Israel gave the Palestinian Authority control over 40% of Judea and Samaria, where 98% of the Palestinian Arabs live, and 100% of Gaza. Those areas immediately became terror bases.
Defenders of the agreement posit that granting Lebanon significant natural gas reserves will give the country "something to lose" in the event of a conflict with Israel. Hezbollah would not want to start a conflict that could so severely hurt Lebanon's economy, the thinking goes. These fantasies ignore that Lebanon's economy has reached its precarious state in large part due to Hezbollah. And Iran does not mind seeing its regional puppet-states implode, judging by the situation in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen alike.Jordan's Abdullah needs to stop spreading blood libels against Israel - opinion
The notion that the gas fields give Lebanon "something to lose" also depends on the unlikely assumption that Israel would target these fields, operated by a French company, in retaliation for a Hezbollah missile attack on Israeli facilities. In reality, the entire international community—as well as legal and environmental concerns—would restrain Israel.
In the Oslo Accords, Israel brought a bankrupt PLO in from Tunisia and gave it a government so it would have "something to lose." Instead, the PLO launched terror attacks that killed thousands of Israelis—and Israel today fears dismantling the organization, along with the Palestinian Authority, because it would lead to instability in Judea and Samaria.
According to news reports, American and Lebanese negotiators have been scrambling to reach a deal this month in order to finish before Israel's November 1 elections, which were triggered by the collapse of the current government. Lapid became caretaker prime minister when Naftali Bennett's government fell, thus enjoying a formal term of only four months before the elections. Given the long course of dispute, it is more than a coincidence that the deal is being rammed through during Lapid's fleeting ministry. With elections mere weeks away, Hezbollah attacks on Israel's new gas facilities would be disastrous for Lapid.
On the Israeli side, accepting the deal would also mean ignoring a variety of constitutional restrictions. The Israeli Supreme Court forbids lame-duck governments from taking major actions, but given its left-wing slant the Court is unlikely to intervene if Lapid completes the gas deal. An Israeli constitutional law requires a full Knesset majority and a national referendum on any surrender of sovereign territory. The government plans to formally conduct neither, because it knows it would lose; indeed, the government will reportedly pass the agreement in secret, and only later reveal its contents to the public.
Thus, Israel will pay for this agreement not just in fossil fuels and territorial integrity, but also in harm to its democracy itself. But the international audiences that clutch their pearls over threats to the rule of law are unlikely to object when such actions are taken in the name of territorial surrender to terrorist demands.
As I watched the women march and chant words of hate and incitement, I immediately thought of the speech given just days before at the UN General Assembly by Jordanian King Abdullah.
“Christianity in the holy city is under fire... this cannot continue,” Abdullah told the world. “As custodians of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites, we are committed to protecting the historical and legal status quo and to their safety and future. We are committed to defending the rights, the precious heritage, and the historic identity of the Christian people of our region.”
He went on.
“The future of Jerusalem is an urgent concern. The city is holy to billions of Muslims, Christians and Jews around the world. Undermining Jerusalem’s legal and historical status quo triggers global tensions and deepens religious divides. The holy city must not be a place for hatred and division.”
And there it was: one day Jordan’s dictator falsely claims that Israel is undermining the status quo in Jerusalem, and one week later there are women in the Old City chanting that they will liberate al-Aqsa with blood and fire.
Similar scenes played out on the first day of Rosh Hashanah when Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount came under attack from young Palestinians who barricaded themselves inside al-Aqsa and shot fireworks at police.
As expected, Amman decided it needed to speak up again. The Foreign Ministry condemned the violent escalations, which it claimed were instigated by “Israeli extremists” who were “storming the blessed al-Aqsa mosque with extensive protection from the Israeli police.”
“The attackers force fed me matzo ball soup and called me a shayna punem” https://t.co/2j7ttQB2bp
— Isaac de Castro (@isaacdecastrog) September 28, 2022
Arab Israeli activist: No danger to Al Aqsa Mosque
Haddad is the CEO of “Together – Vouch for Each Other,” an organization that aims to enhance the connection between the Arab sector and the rest of Israeli society.
“I have been hearing that Al Aqsa is in danger since I was born,” he tells Ellie Cohanim in this week’s episode of “Global Perspectives.” “This is a complete lie, Al Aqsa was never in danger, Israel is actually doing absolutely everything to protect it.” Fighting crime in the Arab sector
Cohanim and Haddad discuss several pressing issues connected to the Arab sector, including the high level of violent crime within the community.
According to Haddad, Israel should focus on three elements to address the emergency.
“First of all, we need harsher punishments,” he says, pointing out that when criminals are caught, they often receive very light sentences.
“Second, we need a police unit that knows how to deal with crime in our society,” he suggests. “We need something like an elite unit who knows how to get the job done.”
The third element of the strategy is education, “because when we educate from age zero to handle conflicts with dialogue and not with violence, this is something that will eventually help with upcoming generations.”
Biden Administration Officials Call on ‘All Parties’ to De-escalate ‘Violence’ in Judea, Samaria
The Biden Administration is continuing its policy of moral equivalency between Palestinian Authority terrorists whose attacks on Israelis are backed by the Ramallah government, and the Israel Defense Forces operating to end the wave of terror that began with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.Spotlight on Jenin: The Geography of Jenin and the Surrounding Area
“We are deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in the West Bank. This year alone, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and more than 30 in Gaza, while more than 20 Israelis and other civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks,” spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday in a briefing at the State Department.
“We call on all parties to do everything in their power to de-escalate the situation and return to a period of calm,” Price said. “This is in the interest of all Israelis and Palestinians.
“As we have said for some time, we call on the parties themselves to contain the violence. The United States and other international partners stand ready to help but we cannot substitute for vital actions by the parties to mitigate conflict and to restore calm.”
Also on Wednesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan pressured Israel to “improve the lives of Palestinians” in his meeting at the White House with Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata.
According to a readout from the White House, Sullivan “stressed the need to take steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and to continue to take steps to improve the lives of Palestinians.”
No mention of improving the lives of more than half a million Israelis who live with the daily threat of terrorism aimed at the families and homes in Judea and Samaria.
Jenin, dubbed the Palestinian “terror capital” by observers, has been in the news for the past few months as Israel continues to carry out counter-terrorism operations in a bid to save Israeli lives and prevent the actions of those who seek to harm the Jewish state.IDF to use armed drones for targeted killings in West Bank
But while Jenin is constantly being mentioned in the media, how much do we really know about Jenin?
In this series, we will take a look at different Jenin-related topics and hopefully provide a multi-faceted understanding of the city at the center of the current rise in violence and terrorism.
This is ‘Spotlight on Jenin.’
In this piece, we will focus on Jenin’s geography, its proximity to Israeli cities, and its influence on the surrounding Palestinian towns and villages.
Where is Jenin Located?
Jenin is located in the northern West Bank, relatively close to the Green Line and Israeli communities established before 1967.
In relation to major Israeli cities, Jenin is 31 miles (50 km) from Haifa, 40 miles (65 km) from Tel Aviv, and 48 miles (77 km) from Jerusalem.
This means that, if Hamas and Islamic Jihad gain control of the West Bank, three of Israel’s major population centers will be within the firing range of between 5 to 10 of these US-designated terror organizations’ deadly rockets.
For residents of Jenin, the closest crossing between pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank is the Jalama / Gilboa Crossing, which is approximately 4.35 miles (7 km) north of Jenin. This crossing is used for pedestrians and vehicles as well as the transfer of goods.
However, some Palestinians cross from the Jenin region into pre-1967 Israel through holes in the security fence. While most of those crossing through these gaps are day laborers, they have also been used by terrorists to avoid detection by Israeli security forces.
IDF commanders in the West Bank have been given the green light to use armed drones to carry out targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists, with the approval of Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi.
According to sources, commanders will now be allowed to use the platforms not only as cover and intelligence for forces during operations but also to carry out strikes should armed gunmen be identified as posing imminent threats to their troops.
The order comes as Israeli security forces have encountered a significant rise in shooting attacks and massive gunfire during arrest raids, specifically in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus.
On Wednesday, four Palestinians were killed and 44 others injured during an arrest raid that saw heavy gunfire targeting troops who had entered Jenin’s refugee camp to arrest Abd al-Rahman Hazem, brother of the terrorist who killed three civilians on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street in April.
Kohavi later met with Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs and West Bank Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Avi Blot, and was presented with an updated assessment of the region.
During the meeting, the use of the aerial platforms was discussed by the senior officers.
It’s believed that the order was given as the continued violence threatens to drag Israel into a more extensive operation in the northern West Bank, similar to Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
Hamas Inaugurates ‘Shehab’ Drone Square in Gaza City, Senior Hamas Official Iyad Abu Funun: What Is Yet to Come Will Be Even Mightier #Hamas #Gaza #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/mbajfQMLa3
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 29, 2022
IDF hunts terror cell after drive-by attack on Israeli vehicle
The Israel Defense Forces launched a search for a terrorist cell in Judea and Samaria on Thursday, following a drive-by shooting on an Israeli vehicle from a passing Palestinian car at the Adorayim Junction, in the Hebron Hills area, on Wednesday night.IDF: Soldiers did not cause Palestinian child's death
The Israeli vehicle sustained damage but there were no injuries, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated, adding that security forces were sweeping the area.
Overnight Thursday, Israeli security forces arrested seven wanted suspects across Judea and Samaria.
On Wednesday morning, the brother of a terrorist who murdered three Israelis in Tel Aviv on April 7 was killed in Jenin, along with three other Palestinian gunmen, during a firefight with Israeli forces.
Rahman Hazem had been on the run from Israeli security forces since the April 7 attack, together with his father, Fathi Hazem. The Border Police identified a second casualty as Muhammad Aluna, a resident of Jenin. Both Hazam and Aluna took part in a shooting attack near the Palestinian village of Jalamah on September 13, and had plotted additional, imminent attacks, according to the Border Police statement.
A seven-year-old Palestinian died after falling from a height while being chased by IDF soldiers near Tekoa in the southern West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The IDF stated that an initial investigation found that the boy's death was not connected to Israeli soldiers.The Washington Post Murdering Jews is ‘Violent Resistance’
Palestinian reports claimed that Israeli forces were chasing students in the Khirbet Al Deir area near Tekoa, when Rayan Yasser Suleiman, the seven-year-old child, fell from a height. Suleiman was brought to the hospital where his heart stopped and doctors were forced to declare his death after resuscitation attempts failed.
The reports additionally claimed that Israeli forces raided the home of Suleiman's family shortly after the incident. Find Your Place Find Your Place
The IDF stated on Thursday afternoon that a number of suspects who were throwing stones at a central thoroughfare near Tekoa ran into the village. IDF soldiers entered the village to search for the suspects, with the IDF stressing that no clashes took place during the searches and no weapons or riot dispersal methods were used.
An initial investigation by the IDF found that there was no connection between the soldiers' operations and the death of the child, but added that the incident was still under investigation.
In October 2019, the Washington Post was justly derided for referring to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the terrorist group ISIS, as merely an “austere religious scholar.” But nearly three years later, the newspaper is referring to Palestinian terrorism as “violent resistance.”
The online version of the Post’s Sept. 20, 2022 report proclaimed, “Young Palestinians arm themselves for a new era of violent resistance.” The dispatch sought to highlight the growing threat of terrorism emanating from the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank (Judea and Samaria). But “violent resistance” is a euphemism—an inexcusable whitewash—for committing terrorism. The only “resistance” is to Jews living in social and political equality in their ancestral homeland.
Indeed, such terminology obfuscates the act of murdering and maiming Jews—or on-Jews, like American veteran Taylor Force, who was targeted by Palestinian terrorists in the mistaken belief that he was Jewish. The Post’s decision to employ it is outrageous. It is also highly selective.
CAMERA was unable to find any other instance of the Washington Post calling attacks by ISIS or al-Qaeda “violent resistance.” It seems that it is only reserved for those who prioritize murdering Jews.
Importantly, the phrase “violent resistance” is taken directly from the talking points that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) provides to journalists. The PLO, itself a former U.S.-designated terrorist group, is an umbrella organization that is led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The PLO’s official media routinely praises terrorist attacks and the PLO has steadfastly refused to quit paying salaries to terrorists. The PLO, as CAMERA has documented, also has a long history of threatening journalists.
How hard would it be to use "gunmen" in the headline, @CNN?
— (((Emanuel Miller))) ?? (@emanumiller) September 29, 2022
All those words, and yet none of them make clear that the "Palestinian men" were combatants firing guns and explosives.
One of them can even clearly be seen on video aiming a gun. pic.twitter.com/GEcKQYMcPU
Hamas funneled terrorism funds through Gazans with Israeli entry permits
The IDF and Shin Bet thwarted a Hamas terrorism financing scheme using Gazans who were entering Israel for humanitarian reasons or with work permits and student activists at the Birzeit University in the West Bank, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced on Thursday.PMW: PA Security Forces/Fatah terrorist becomes Fatah’s new poster boy to incite more attacks
The terrorist movement used the financing scheme in order to transfer funds from the Gaza Strip to Hamas members in Turkey and to finance terrorist activities in the West Bank and Turkey.
A group of student activists at Birzeit University were arrested in the case after they were caught in possession of credit cards that were used to transfer illegal funds from the Hamas leadership in Gaza to Hamas officials in Turkey.
The money was smuggled out of Gaza using people who entered Israel for humanitarian reasons or with the aim of looking for work. The students at Birzeit University then withdrew the money from ATMs in Ramallah and used the funds for terrorist purposes, including to fund Hamas activists who belong to the Islamic bloc, which is considered to be student cells who work for Hamas at educational institutions in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Defense establishment cracks down on Hamas funding schemes in past year
The Hamas movement has been caught using a variety of schemes in recent years to fund its activities in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and abroad.
In August, Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed several designations and property seizure orders on Wednesday, imposing international restrictions on 20 parties involved in Hamas’ investment mechanism, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the wake of the terror attack two weeks ago on Sept. 14 in which an Israeli soldier was murdered by two terrorists, one of whom was a member of the PA Security Forces, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Movement went out of its way to praise the terrorists and the attack, as reported by Palestinan Media Watch. In particular, Fatah bragged that terrorist Ahmed Abed was a PA Security Forces officer “by day,” while a member of Fatah’s terror organization the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades “by night.”
Since the attack, Fatah has emphasized and celebrated this double role of terrorist Ahmed Abed as both member of the PA Security Forces and of Fatah’s terror wing and encouraged similar terror attacks against Israel, promoting and glorifying both the PA Security Forces and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
In one video, Fatah Jenin Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh encouraged Palestinians to cause “mourning in the Zionist settlements,” implying that this will be done by the PA Security Forces as they are “in the front of the battle to defend” the Palestinian people. The Jenin secretary made it crystal clear that he meant additional terror when he prayed that “the resistance” will hit Israel “just like it reached Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak” – two recent attacks in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 3 and 5 Israeli civilians respectively:
Fatah Jenin Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh: “The occupation must bleed like the Palestinian people is bleeding. The occupation must cry, be sad. Mourning has to be in the Zionist settlements, and not only in Palestine and the Palestinian areas…The Palestinian [PA] Security Forces are in the front of the battle to defend the members [of our people]… Allah willing, just like the resistance reached Tel Aviv (i.e., murder of 3), Bnei Brak (i.e., murder of 5), and Jalame (i.e., murder of 1), it will reach-… The resistance will not stop, today it is advancing from defense to offense. The operations (i.e., terror attacks) will continue and will not stop until the [Israeli] aggression stops.”
[Official PA TV, Sept. 15, 2022]
This is a common problem in the West Bank unlike Gaza where the majority of militants aren't claimed by multiple factions. I've come across evidence where deceased militants have seemingly belonged to one group and then switched alliegences. >>
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 28, 2022
Gaza-based Mujahideen Brigades has published a claim of responsibility for targeting an Israeli vehicle south of Dura in the West Bank. Though the group did not provide proof to support their claim. This is the third such claim the organization has made in the last month. pic.twitter.com/kLKXYji2vP
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 29, 2022
Former Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour: The U.S. Is Stealing Syrian Oil – It Is Only Natural That the Resistance Is Attacking U.S. Bases #Lebanon #Syria pic.twitter.com/WB12dheNC1
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 29, 2022
Don’t Let Iran Go Nuclear
In an interview on Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the Biden administration remains committed to nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic, even as it pursues its brutal crackdown on the protests that have swept the country. Robert Satloff argues not only that it is foolish to pursue the renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal, but also that the White House’s current approach is failing on its own terms:Iran Nuclear Deal Talks at Dead End, Biden Admin Tells Congress in Classified Briefing
[The] nuclear threat is much worse today than it was when President Biden took office. Oddly, Washington hasn’t really done much about it. On the diplomatic front, the administration has sweetened its offer to entice Iran into a new nuclear deal. While it quite rightly held firm on Iran’s demand to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from an official list of “foreign terrorist organizations,” Washington has given ground on many other items.
On the nuclear side of the agreement, the United States has purportedly agreed to allow Iran to keep, in storage, thousands of advanced centrifuges it has made contrary to the terms of the original deal. . . . And on economic matters, the new deal purportedly gives Iran immediate access to a certain amount of blocked assets, before it even exports most of its massive stockpile of enriched uranium for safekeeping in a third country. . . . Even with these added incentives, Iran is still holding out on an agreement. Indeed, according to the most recent reports, Tehran has actually hardened its position.
Regardless of the exact reason why, the menacing reality is that Iran’s nuclear program is galloping ahead—and the United States is doing very little about it. . . . The result has been a stunning passivity in U.S. policy toward the Iran nuclear issue.
The Biden administration’s negotiations with Iran over a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear deal have hit a dead end, jeopardizing the likelihood of a new agreement, senior U.S. officials informed Congress during a classified briefing.US downs Iranian drone
A deal seemed within reach earlier this month as U.S. officials presented Iran with a proposal that would significantly unwind economic sanctions and provide the regime with somewhere near one trillion dollars over the lifetime of the agreement. Iran, however, balked and negotiations are at a standstill, according to Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who participated in the closed-door briefing held two weeks ago for members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Two weeks ago, they thought they had a deal, and now they know they don’t have a deal, and are stymied about how they get to a deal because they’ve negotiated all there was to negotiate, and, at the end of the day, Iran doesn’t want the deal that was negotiated," Issa told the Washington Free Beacon. Those details were also relayed by other congressional sources familiar with the briefing.
Biden administration officials were not optimistic about the prospects for a new deal. Officials told lawmakers, "We’ve negotiated for a year and a half through our good friend and honest broker Russia and we got the same thing that we should have expected, which is, they want a better deal than they had before, and if you don’t give them a better deal, then they don’t want a deal," according to Issa. "They’re basically on the eve of getting a nuclear weapon and don’t want to be talked out of it."
Issa’s comments jibe with the rhetoric coming from Iranian officials, who say the proposed deal does not go far enough in providing Tehran with sanctions relief and assurances that funds will keep flowing to the regime. Iran also wanted sanctions on several of its designated terrorist entities lifted, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration for its attacks on U.S. positions and allies in the region.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday said that talks were "at a stage where there are just a couple of issues remaining on the table, but which are very significant and important."
"The issue of guarantees is very important to us," Amir-Abdollahian said. "The American side has taken some steps towards giving us guarantees. We just need these guarantees to become a little bit more complete."
Issa said the outstanding issues center around sanctions that target Iran’s terrorism enterprise.
"They want concessions as to their basic sanctions for being a terrorist state, and it’s a bridge that neither Republicans nor Democrats will allow them to cross," said Issa.
The American military’s Central Command announced on Wednesday that it “brought down” an Iranian drone near Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdish region, as it threatened U.S. personnel in the area.
“At approximately 2:10 PM local time, U.S. forces brought down an Iranian [Qods] Mohajer-6 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle headed in the direction of Erbil as it appeared as a threat to CENTCOM forces in the area,” said the statement from CENTCOM spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino.
The Iranian drone attack targeting the base of an Iranian-Kurdish resistance group in northern Iraq killed at least nine persons and wounded 32 others, according to the Kurdish Regional Government’s Health Ministry.
No U.S. personnel were injured by the Iranian attack, said Buccino.
“U.S. Central Command condemns the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ unprovoked attack in Iraq’s Erbil Governorate this morning,” said the statement.
Iran is selling weapons to Russia to use against our Ukrainian allies. Nothing the Biden administration has done is working to stop those weapons.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 29, 2022
Why hasn’t the Biden Administration imposed sanctions on the Iranian banks that fund and facilitate those sales? pic.twitter.com/O1D1bKY4YG
Drones, Ballistic Missiles Showcased at Iranian Military Parade for Anniversary of Iran-Iraq War
On September 22, 2022, Channel 1 (Iran) aired footage from an Iranian military parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq War. At the parade, cadets from the IRGC’s military academy marched and chanted: “Death to America! We are the conquerors of Jerusalem, the destroyers of Haifa… Death to Israel! We are on our way to liberate Palestine.” The parade’s announcer praised the IRGC, and particularly the members of its Aerospace Force, including for being a “constant nightmare” for Zionism, and he said that the day is near when they will annihilate Israel. He also said: “We will trample America underfoot. [It] is the Great Satan [and] we will bring Satan to his knees.” Later in the parade, various Iranian weapon systems were showcased, including the Khaybar Shekan (“Khaybar Crusher”) ballistic missile, the Rezvan ballistic missile, the Ghadr H ballistic missile, the Emad ballistic missile, the Sejjil ballistic missile, the Ra’d-85 suicide drone, and the Arash suicide drone.
Exclusive: Picture of the passport of US citizen Omer Mahmoudzadeh who was killed in the Iranian attacks against the Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/d8MDI5nJPS
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) September 28, 2022
A week and a half after Mahsa Amini was murdered and over 75 Iranians massacred by the regime, J Street comes out with a statement. Meaningless in any case, as they continue to be the No.1 cheerleader for the Iran regime in Washington, blindly pushing the nuclear deal. https://t.co/UckG9CrFUL
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 28, 2022
MEMRI: Arab Intellectuals Accuse Al-Jazeera Of Ignoring Protests In Iran, Abandoning Protesters And Promoting Iranian Government Narrative
After the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa "Zhina" Amini, on September 16, 2022, after Iran's morality police beat her because she was not wearing a head covering correctly, Iranian protestors took to the streets throughout the country. Footage showing thousands of protestors clashing with security forces have quickly made it to social media platforms under multiple hashtags. As the protests expanded and gained momentum, Arab intellectuals on social media expressed their disappointment in coverage of the protest by the Qatar-based and funded TV channel Al-Jazeera, which they accused of ignoring the protests, abandoning the protesters, and focusing on promoting the Iranian government's official narrative.Ruthie Blum: Is Biden going to hinder the hijab revolution?
On September 20, Abd Al-Hadi Al-Shihri, a Saudi Twitter user with over 26,000 followers, tweeted under the hashtags "Iran rebelling" and "Mehsa Amini" saying: "Where is the Al-Jazeera channel on the protests that are taking place in Iran against the mullahs? Al-Jazeera and its anchors cover everything whether significant or not that take place in the Arab countries.[1]
On September 21, Nawwaf Al-Sulaiman, the programs manager at Safa TV tweeted: "I reviewed Al-Jazeera Breaking news account for an entire day and I did not find a single news item about the protests in Iran. What if these protests were in an Arabic country? Al-Jazeera would have published multiple breaking news [bulletins], relying on 'close and familiar sources' and 'exclusive reports.'"[2]
Analyzing Al-Jazeera's editorial policy regarding Iran, Syrian opposition writer Dr. Mahmoud Al-Shami, who has over 11,000 Twitter followers, commented on Al-Jazeera's breaking news headline quoting the Iranian president, saying: "The unprecedented oppressive sanctions against Iran are imposed on the Iranian people who yearn for freedom." Al-Shami wrote: "Al-Jazeera reports on everything regarding Iran except the protests and the crackdown by the mullahs' regime in Iran. This is not fair. You used to be described as the number one Arabic channel and you used to be highly credible but now your credibility has been lowered."[3]
Kuwaiti writer Ghazi Al-Nazel tweeted on September 22, asking: "Where is Al-Jazeera, which has always claimed to be the voice of nations, on what is taking place in Iran? Where is it today on the uprising in Iran? I think Iran is a red line for this channel if the issue is related to the mullahs' regime."[4]
It’s been two weeks since Iran’s morality police beat to death 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for the crime of not having her head covered properly. The one good thing that’s come of her senseless murder at the hands of the uniformed goons who pounced on her while she was touring Tehran with her family is the response of the public.Women’s Rights in the Middle East: Iranian Oppression & Israeli Progression
Throngs of Iranians from every walk of life have taken to the streets to demand “death to the dictator.” Females of all ages, throwing off their mullah-imposed hijabs, are marching alongside members of the opposite sex who have joined them in their protest. The uprising isn’t merely about the right for girls to let their hair out, of course.
More importantly, it’s an expression of frustration with and rage at the regime that has held the Iranian people in its radical grip since the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Nor is it the first time in the past two decades that Iranians have risked their lives in an attempt to wrest themselves from the chains of their leaders’ corruption and repression.
The genuine bravery that this requires of average citizens – painfully aware of the dire consequences of confronting vicious members of the Basij paramilitary militias and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – ought to be a source of shame to Western liberals. These are the Americans and Europeans who use the word “courageous” to describe movie stars who reveal how their careers were damaged by influential sexual predators.
They’re the same privileged people who talk about “oppression” without knowing its true meaning – the very camp that championed the election of former US president Barack Obama, not only due to the color of his skin but for his utter rejection of American exceptionalism and greatness.
PART OF his policy of “leading from behind” was outreach to the radical-Muslim world and abandonment of modernizers. One of his first steps in this direction was to ignore the Iranians decrying the phony reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
Rather than “interfere” in the political workings of a separate sovereign nation, he pushed for a nuclear deal with its evil rulers. The upshot was anything but a halt to Iran’s pernicious activities.
Lapid reminded the world of Raisi’s brutality against his own people, the severe women’s rights violations in Iran, and why the only way to prevent the Mullahs from getting a nuclear weapon is to “put a credible military threat on the table, and then — and only then — to negotiate a longer and stronger deal with them.”
Ironically, just two months ago, the UN Economic and Social Council led by Pakistan and China voted to condemn Israel — and Israel only — for allegedly violating women’s rights. The ECOSOC resolution took advantage of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s tragic death to falsely claim that the “Israeli occupation [sic] remains a major obstacle for Palestinian women and girls with regard to the fulfillment of their rights.”
Never mind that since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the vast majority of Palestinians have been governed by either the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or by Hamas — considered a terrorist group by most Western countries — in Gaza.
Hamas’ Sharia Supreme Judicial Council last year ruled that unmarried women would require the permission of a male guardian to travel.
Notably, the support for the July 2022 anti-Israel resolution came from countries with some of the worst human rights violations on the planet, including China, North Korea, and Syria.
China sends Uyghur Muslims to detention centers and tortures them in the name of “re-education,” in what the United States says amounts to genocide.
The government of North Korea is responsible for sexual abuse against girls, widespread famine, and allows zero freedom of speech.
Bashar al-Assad’s Syria arbitrarily detains citizens it deems a “threat” to the regime, including children and women. About 15,000 people have died from torture in Syrian detention centers, where many young boys and girls claim to have been sexually abused.
Related Reading: Palestinians Versus Everyone Else: Media’s Selective Outrage When Israel’s Not Involved
By contrast, in Israel, women’s rights are actively protected and promoted.
According to a recent Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) report entitled ‘Women in Israeli Politics: 2022,’ the number of female members of Israel’s parliament tripled since the country’s founding. Women currently hold 33% of all cabinet seats and a record 36 of the current MKs are female.
Equal rights for women in the Israel Defense Forces have seen improvement as well. Between 2012 and 2017, the number of female combat soldiers has almost quadrupled. They serve in virtually all roles, from the IDF’s canine unit to pilots in the air force.
As universities go on strike in #Iran, students rip Khomeini and Khamenei's pictures (that are hung in every classroom) #MahsaAmini
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) September 28, 2022
pic.twitter.com/LJ9WonA8vV
Meanwhile in #TelAviv… Israelis ???? ?? Iranians — in fact Iranian flags and Israeli flags can be seen side-by-side! #MahsaAmini #IranProtests #Iran #israel pic.twitter.com/wzRmYcs3jE
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) September 29, 2022
PreOccupiedTerritory: What Is Russian Word For Nakba? by Vladimir Putin, President, Russian Federation (satire)
Special Operation in Ukraine began February, but I will be first to admit it did not follow plan we had. Bombast and disinformatsiya had only part of desired effect, we failed in surprise assault on Kiev, and in months since, our military has failed in objective after objective, suffering shame of defeat in attempt to remove sovereignty of neighbor in bid to restore glory of empire by ancestors. Exactly like Arabs against Jews in 1948, when Arabs outnumber Jews ten to one and still lose – shame of that episode they call Nakba, for which we now need word in Russian.
Word for “catastrophe” – which is literal translation of Nakba – not evocative enough. катастрофа is weak translation, like Arabs thought Jews were weak and we thought Ukrainians were. Thought it would be cakewalk. Thought boasts were true. “Nakba” is mean nothing in Russian, but is sound like kind of cake, so no good as word for our Nakba. Russian colorful language, but not up to task for this – like Russian military not up to task of defeat weak little no-nuclear-weapon Ukraine because we promise them thirty years ago we never attack. Like Arabs with regular armies and oil and Nazi Wehrmacht training not only fail to drive outnumbered, under-equipped Jews into sea, but lose territory United Nations proposed for Arab state next to Jewish one. Need word for that kind of intense shame.
We need word for Nakba also because of parallels in blame. Russian ego is unable to accept weak outnumbered Ukraine with comedian president and Soviet-era equipment is fight off superior Russian forces and pin them down for months before counterattack and drive back demoralized Russian units in short time, so Russians are try save face with claims of foreign fighters and help – just as Arabs unable to accept Jews under arms embargo able to fight off valiant Arab legions and forced by ego to believe is something more sinister afoot. Otherwise, shame too unbearable. Nakba.
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