Tuesday, December 06, 2022

12/06 Links Pt1: FM summons UN Mideast envoy over sympathy for Palestinian attacker; Saudi Arabia wants to normalize ties with Israel - report

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Herzog's Abraham Accords trip and the Palestinian elephant in the room
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said as much speaking to reporters Sunday night, saying the Abraham Accords will ultimately only succeed if a two-state resolution to the conflict is achieved.

Hamad also made sure to speak of the Palestinians in his public remarks at the start of his meeting with Herzog. There is firm support in Bahrain for “achieving a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace that guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and that will lead to stability, development and prosperity for both the Palestinian and Israeli people as well as for the people of the region,” Hamad said.

The incoming Israeli government needs to take those words seriously. The status quo of continued terrorist attacks on Israelis, as well as Palestinians acting against Israel being shot by security forces on an almost daily basis, might be manageable on a military basis, but it is unsustainable for the long-term stability and future of the Israeli and Palestinian people.

The Palestinian issue is likely to be number 999 on the to-do list of the Benjamin Netanyahu-led coalition, due to the obvious reasons of the coalition partners having no interest in pursuing any kind of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

Granted, during both Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s tenures there was little to no movement with the Palestinians, with the strategy seeming to punt the issue down the field for later.

That’s likely what the Biden administration surmised as well, knowing the tenuous makeup of the “change” government in which there was no consensus for engagement with the Palestinians.

With the likely new government, there will be a consensus, and it will not be about jump-starting negotiations about a two-state solution. It’s unclear if US President Joe Biden will push back now that Netanyahu is back in power.

Even if he doesn’t, it behooves Netanyahu to take the Bahraini comments to heart. Taking the Abraham Accords for granted, and ignoring the Palestinian issue, will only come back to hurt Israel in the end.
Foreign Ministry summons UN Mideast envoy over sympathy for Palestinian attacker
Wennesland later tweeted that he was “horrified by today’s killing of a Palestinian man, Ammar Mifleh, during a scuffle with an Israeli soldier near Huwara in the o[ccupied] West Bank.

“My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family. Such incidents must be fully & promptly investigated, & those responsible held accountable,” he added.

Wennesland’s comments were lambasted by Israeli officials.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid backed the officer who shot the attacker.

“Any attempt to distort reality and tell false stories to the world is simply a disgrace,” tweeted Lapid. “Our security forces will continue to act determinedly against terror wherever it raises its head.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon also slammed Wennesland’s statement, calling it a “total distortion of reality.”

“This is NOT a ‘scuffle’ — this is a terror attack!” he added.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz also said he “strongly condemned” Wennesland’s remarks.

“I want to praise the police officer who neutralized a terrorist yesterday. I strongly condemn the attempts to present the event in a false and manipulative manner, and the statement of the UN envoy to the Middle East against the [officer], who acted with determination and professionalism,” Gantz said on Twitter. Injuries caused to a police officer following a stabbing attack in the northern West Bank town of Hawara on December 2, 2022. (Israel Police)

Huwara Mayor Moein Dmeidy and others on Saturday cited secondhand accounts that said there had been an altercation between Mifleh and an Israeli motorist after a car accident, but Associated Press journalists were unable to find witnesses to the events that led up to the shooting.

Dmeidy argued the officer had no justification to kill Mifleh after he had already overpowered him. Mifleh was “killed in cold blood,” said the mayor, who arrived at the scene moments after the shooting.

Dmeidy said a Palestinian ambulance arrived minutes after the shooting but security forces prevented the medics from administering aid. Dmeidy said Israel has not handed over Mifleh’s body for burial.

Border Police said that the officer with stab wounds was subsequently taken for medical treatment, as was the officer who subdued the attacker. A knife used by an alleged Palestinian attacker in the West Bank town of Huwara on December 2, 2022 (Israel Police)

Images of the officer who killed the stabber were posted to social media on Saturday, some including threats against him.

The officer himself said it could have been a “more significant attack” had the attacker managed to grab his gun.

“During a struggle with the terrorist I understand that if he succeeds in stealing my rifle, there will be a more significant attack here. I manage to pull out my handgun and I shoot the terrorist until he is neutralized,” he said in a video published by police.




Saudi Arabia wants to normalize ties with Israel - report
Saudi Arabia is looking to normalize ties with Israel, although it will be a while before this ever properly manifests, Israeli news outlet i24NEWS reported Tuesday.

The article cited Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Abdel al-Jubeir, who recently spoke to senior American Jewish leaders. There, he guaranteed that Israeli-Saudi normalization will happen eventually, but stressed that it will take time.

In addition, in a meeting with US officials visiting Riyadh courtesy of the Washington Institute, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman listed three main demands that must be met for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords and normalize ties with Israel, according to i24NEWS.

According to the report, these demands did not include anything about the Palestinian conflict or requests for Israel. Rather, they hinged entirely on the US, specifically affirming a US-Saudi alliance, proper weapons supplies to the kingdom as if it were a NATO country and allowing Riyadh to have a restricted civil nuclear program.
i24NEWS Exclusive: Saudi Official: Israel normalization 'a matter of time'

Is Qatar using anti-Israel sentiment to deflect from critique? - analysis
WHILE SOME of the pro-Palestinian voices are surely authentic, it seems that the timing of the supposedly anti-Israel antics of a few people is well placed to move the media spotlight from abuses of gay rights and migrant rights, to discussing Israel. This is a well-known pattern in the region. Attacks on Jews and “anti-Zionist” rhetoric have often been used by extremists and authoritarian regimes for the last 100 years.

The sudden “chilly” reception to Israeli journalists may not be something that just happened suddenly. There is no chilly reception for Russian state media, even though Russia is engaged in a brutal war against Ukrainians. No other issue in the world seems to motivate a chilly reception.

For instance, even though Qatar has hosted extremists who are anti-India, there are no chilly receptions for Indian journalists. For example, Indian media reported in November that a fugitive preacher wanted for hate speech was in Qatar giving religious lectures. Yet his presence hasn’t led to major media reports of any anti-India incidents during the sporting events.

This is why the singling out of Israel seems to be, at least partially, choreographed. There is no doubt that many people in the region are pro-Palestinian. However, there is also a quiet attempt in Qatar to try to contrast itself with other Gulf states such as Bahrain and the UAE, both of which hosted Israel’s president this week. Doha wants to have this Janus-face of appearing moderate and welcoming and inclusive, while also stoking and fanning anti-Israel views.

This Janus-face has existed for many years. During the Gulf crisis, when Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states cut ties with Qatar, Doha worked to burnish its image, hosting several Jewish leaders and even hinting that it might one day normalize ties with Israel.

Now that story has faded. Today Iranian media is celebrating the supposed “hatred of Zionists” that is on display in Qatar. Perhaps it’s not so much “hatred” as the need to move the story from Doha’s track record to make it seem like Qatar is doing something for the Palestinians.
Will the EU choose to work with or boycott Netanyahu's government? - opinion
The outcome of Israel’s fifth election in under four years has many in the European Union (EU) concerned. Referred to as the victory of Israel’s extreme Right, Benjamin Netanyahu was tapped by President Isaac Herzog to form the next government, with the president expressing concern over its right-wing orientation. Anticipated to include Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties along with the right-wing Religious Zionist Party, Netanyahu will have a solid 64 seats in the 120-seat legislature, the strongest coalition, percentage-wise and ideologically, which Israel has seen in years.

Claims that the coalition will not last or that it is only a temporary step in Netanyahu’s quest to form a more moderate government are wishful thinking. And while concerns over what this government might be capable of are well-founded, many concerns are overplayed. It is instead time to think about potential opportunities for EU foreign policy from much-needed engagement with the new government. Why is the EU concerned over Israel's new government?

The EU is rightfully concerned over a number of primary issues. Despite claims to the contrary, the annexation of the West Bank is not a realistic prospect. No matter how right-wing his government, Netanyahu is above all an international statesman who understands the full implications of such a move in his relationship with the current United States administration and Abraham Accords nations.

While progress will undoubtedly be made to lay the groundwork and appease a right-wing electorate, the EU or UN overreacting to such largely symbolic steps would be counterproductive. Such was the case with the UN vote about a month ago, requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal status of Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”

Biden, well experienced with handling Netanyahu government crises from his time in the Obama administration, has understood the nature of what shape the US-Israel relationship should take, calling Netanyahu to congratulate him on his return to office, underscoring his unwavering support for Israeli security but in order to make a statement, a week late.

An example where laying the groundwork might be most evident is the Temple Mount, a bone of contention where even a simple change in the status quo can inflame tensions across the entire West Bank. Right-wing coalition partner Itamar Ben-Gvir has been a long-time advocate of increased Jewish rights on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz hopeful about Arrow-3 sale to Germany
Israel believes that the United States will allow the sale of the Arrow-3 missile defense system to Germany, outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday.

“We have spoken to them to allow this, the process is ongoing and I am hopeful that it will go through,” Gantz said, speaking to Ynet News.

Also on Monday, the outgoing Director General of the Israel Ministry of Defense, Maj.-Gen. (ret) Amir Eshel met with German State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of Defense, Mr. Benedikt Zimmer for the yearly bilateral strategic dialogue.

The meeting included senior officials from the Policy & Pol-Mil Bureau and the DDR&D in the Israel Ministry of Defense and their German counterparts in the MOD Political Directorate, the Strategic Armament Cooperation Office, the State Secretary Office, and the Middle East Desk Office.

According to a statement released by the Defense Ministry, the officials discussed global and regional strategic issues such as the “growing Iranian threat and Iran's malign behavior, the global ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war, bilateral defense cooperation, the joint interest to strengthen regional stability, broadening research and development processes, and more in light of the developments in the region and around the world.”


Court: Senior Hamas member released in Shalit exchange will serve out life sentence
An Israeli court ruled on Tuesday that a senior Hamas terror group member will serve out his life sentence after he was freed in a 2011 prisoner swap and later rearrested.

Nael Barghouti, 65, was one of 1,027 inmates released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held at the time by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

At the time of the exchange, Barghouti had served 33 years for participating in the 1978 killing of an Israeli bus driver, Mordechai Yekuel, making him one of the longest-held Palestinians. He was first arrested that year, at the age of 20.

Israel has since rearrested scores of Palestinians on charges of resuming terror activities. Several Israelis have been killed by terrorists freed in the exchange for Shalit, who had been abducted by Hamas in 2006.

Many of the Shalit prisoners were rounded up after three Israeli teens, Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel, were kidnapped and killed by a Hamas cell in the West Bank in 2014.

Barghouti, arrested in that sweep, subsequently served 30 months for Hamas membership. He completed the sentence on December 17, 2016, but was never released.

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said a military court had reinstated Barghouti’s original sentence on appeal, life plus 18 years.

The ruling followed an appeal by military prosecutors who argued Barghouti violated the terms of his release under the Shalit deal by possessing an unspecified large sum of money, allegedly funneled by a terror group. The appeal was also discussed in May by the High Court of Justice before an appeals committee eventually ruled that Barghouti had indeed violated the terms of his release.
Dire shortage of bulletproof buses puts travelers in Judea and Samaria at risk
A significant number of bulletproof busses that travel in high-risk areas in Judea and Samaria are unfit, especially given the recent increase of terror attacks on public transport in the region, Israel Hayom has learned.

Officials said that the situation is so dire that there will soon be no safe vehicles to transport students to schools.

The budget for bulletproof busses in Judea and Samaria has been irregular for years, despite the importance of the matter, as they are often targeted by terrorists in the area.

Despite the security establishment having received hundreds of millions of shekels in budgets between 2018 and 2022, almost none of it was allocated for Judea and Samaria, except for NIS 4.8 million in 2019. Another 15 million was allocated for emergency repairs after Israel Hayom published an article on the matter and due to pressure from Religious Zionist Party MK Orit Strock.

Data showed that of the 158 bulletproof buses used for public transportation in Judea and Samaria as of October 2022, 109 are only in fair condition. Of the 267 bulletproof buses used to transport schoolchildren, 118 – almost half – are said to be in poor condition. Since October, some buses have been damaged in stone-throwing and even shooting attacks, such as last week's shooting in the Jewish settlement of Ofra.

Terrorists opened fire at a bus traveling outside the settlement, but, thankfully, no injuries were reported as the vehicle was bulletproof.
The Israel Guys: Israeli Air Force DESTROYS Hamas Rocket Factory in Gaza
Palestinian Terrorists ram through a security barrier at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv causing the airport to go into lockdown. Gaza fired a rocket into Israel Saturday night prompting a swift response from the IDF. The air force destroyed a large rocket factory inside of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

A tour guide in Samaria escaped a deadly stoning attack on the highway by driving through a roadblock of burning tires.

If the media headlines are correct, an Israeli Police Officer killed a Palestinian in cold blood in Huwara last week. . .The question is: Is this what actually happened?


Al Jazeera hands ICC purported proof IDF ‘deliberately’ killed reporter Abu Akleh
Qatar-based television network Al Jazeera on Tuesday submitted what it said was detailed evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, allegedly proving that the Israel Defense Forces deliberately shot dead its reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during clashes in the West Bank in May.

In a statement, Al Jazeera said it “will today submit the case of Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing by Israeli Occupation Forces to the International Criminal Court,” adding that its reporters and legal team will hold a press conference in the Dutch city alongside “members of Shireen’s family and leading journalists and human rights experts.”

An AFP journalist saw a lawyer representing Al Jazeera’s case entering the ICC’s headquarters to hand over the network’s submission.

Abu Akleh’s family filed an official complaint with the ICC in September. The court’s Office of the Prosecutor will presumably determine whether to launch an investigation into the case.

After the complaint in September, the IDF told The Times of Israel that it rejects the claim that

Abu Akleh was shot intentionally and said the establishment of a new investigation would be “biased and misleading.”
Israel slams Al Jazeera for taking Abu Akleh case to ICC
Prime Minister Yair Lapid condemned Qatari news network Al Jazeera Tuesday after it filed a lawsuit at the International Criminal Court against Israeli forces over the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

"No one will interrogate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals of combat, certainly not the Al Jazeera network," Lapid said after the announcement.

Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 in an exchange of gunfire between Palestianina terorrists and IDF soldiers in Jenin, a known Islamic stronghold. The IDF conducted its own investigation, which said that the journalist might have been killed by an Israeli soldiers, albeit accidentally.

On May 11, Akleh, an American-Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist, was shot dead in the West Bank city of Jenin while covering an Israeli military operation in the area. Israeli authorities initially blamed Palestinian gunmen for the killing but then acknowledged that Israeli soldiers likely shot her, albeit accidentally.

.Al Jazeera said its legal team conducted its own "full and detailed investigation into the case" and claimed it unearthed new evidence that "clearly shows" that Akleh and her colleagues were fired at directly.

Last week, the news outlet aired a 38-minute-long documentary titled "The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh" that included the supposed new evidence and eyewitness accounts.


PMW: Fatah song mocks Israeli official taking cover during terror attack: “I sow fear in your heart”
masked Palestinian terrorists carrying assault rifles
Israeli official taking cover during terror attack

Lyrics: “I set out from the heart of death
From every home and from every street
I came to you from my land’s sorrow
I sow fear in your heart
We have risen up and caused the deaf to hear
We made the deaf speak
My bullets whistled towards the tyrant
And we made the enemy cry”

The Fatah video shows footage of Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan holding a handgun and taking cover after Palestinian terrorists shot at a protest against Arab terror he was participating in near Nablus on Oct. 2, 2022; an Israeli soldier was wounded by the terrorists during the attack.

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 2 and 4, 2022]




Jewish national security group calls for Biden to stop Iran’s assassination plots
The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) on Monday called on the Biden administration to take immediate action to stop Iran from killing U.S. citizens overseas and for plotting assassinations domestically.

In a Washington Examiner opinion piece, Gabriel Noronha, a fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy, called for a military response against Iran to protect nearly a dozen U.S. officials and exiled dissidents living under a threat of attack.

The op-ed mentions Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles and suicide drones into Iraqi Kurdistan on Sept. 28, in an attack that killed 14 civilians, including a U.S. citizen. Noronha also points to U.S. citizen Stephen Troell being gunned down on the streets of Baghdad by an Iranian-backed militia group on Nov. 7.

A recent State Department report to Congress revealed Iranian threats of assassination of high-level American officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook. The Department of Justice earlier this year discovered an Iranian plot to kill former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

The Washington Post reported this week that, among dozens of plots that have been uncovered and thwarted, one Iranian assassination plan targeted French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy—an outspoken critic of repressive regimes.
Iran-backed hackers targeting activists, journalists, politicians - HRW
Hackers backed by the Iranian government have targeted activists, journalists, researchers, academics, diplomats and politicians working on Middle East issues in a phishing cyber attack, Human Rights Watch announced on Monday.

The investigation, conducted by HRW and Amnesty International's Security Lab, found that the phishing attack was likely being conducted by a group known as APT42, a group first identified by the Mandiant cyber security company in September.

Two HRW staff members and 18 other individuals are among the victims of the phishing operation.

The email and other sensitive data of a correspondent for a major US newspaper, a women's rights defender in the Gulf region and Nicholas Noe, an advocacy consultant for Refugees International based in Lebanon, have been compromised by APT42.

The hackers gained access to their emails, cloud storage drives, calendars and contacts and exported data from their accounts.

“Iran’s state-backed hackers are aggressively using sophisticated social engineering and credential harvesting tactics to access sensitive information and contacts held by Middle East-focused researchers and civil society groups,” said Abir Ghattas, information security director at HRW. “This significantly increases the risks that journalists and human rights defenders face in Iran and elsewhere in the region.”
Iranian Israeli TV anchor provides platform for anti-government protesters

Nine face death in Iran for ‘colluding with Israel’ to kill top nuclear scientist
Nine people will face the death penalty in Iran over the assassination of one of the country’s top nuclear scientists, the judiciary said Tuesday.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed when his car was ambushed on a highway outside Tehran in November 2020, in an attack Iran blamed on its regional arch-foe Israel.

The nine defendants were charged with “corruption on earth” and collusion with Israel, both capital offenses in the Islamic Republic, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi said.

“Fakhrizadeh’s case has 15 defendants,” Setayeshi told a news conference.

Along with those facing the death penalty, a further six people had “other accusations” leveled against them, he said.

In September, Tehran’s chief prosecutor Ali Salehi had announced 14 people were indicted in the case.

The charges against them included “colluding with the purpose of disrupting national security” and “actions against national security,” Salehi said at the time.
MEMRI: Afghan Taliban Government Minister For Refugees And Repatriation Khalil Rahman Haqqani: Iran Is Sending Former Afghan Soldiers To Fight In Ukraine
The Afghan Taliban government's Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Khalil Rahman Haqqani has said that Iran is sending former Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Haqqani's statement corroborates earlier media reports stating that Iran has an ongoing policy of using Afghans to fight as part of pro-Iranian militias, especially in the Fatemiyoun Brigade.[1]

Khalil Rahman Haqqani made the statement on a visit to Parwan
The Afghan news website ToloNews quoted Khalil Rahman Haqqani as saying that the former Afghan soldiers have also been sent to fight in Syria and Iraq as well as in the war in Ukraine.[2]

"I have shared this issue with them (Iranian authorities); Afghans have previously been used in the fighting in Iraq and Syria, and it may have occurred in the war in Ukraine as well," Khalil Rahman Haqqani said on a visit to Parwan province.

According to the report, Afghan military analysts said that Iran has a policy of using former Afghan soldiers as a leverage. "They [Afghans] were forced to contact other groups to provide for their family's costs, not only in Iraq and Syria but also in the Ukraine war, where they were also recruited by the Russians," said Sarwar Niazi, a former Afghan soldier.

Military affairs expert Sadiq Shinwari also noted that Iran was using immigrant Afghans, who go to Iran for jobs, to fight in different countries. "The host nations, including Iran, should not use Afghan immigration as a military force," Sadiq Shinwari said.

According to the report, the Iranian Embassy in Kabul denied the claim that Iran is sending former Afghan soldiers to fight in the war in Ukraine.




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