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Wednesday, January 04, 2023

01/04 Links Pt1: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can't be solved, only ended; UNRWA paving the road to conflict; Iran vows response to Khamenei cartoons in Charlie Hebdo

From Ian:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can't be solved, only ended - opinion
It’s not about what Israel does, but about what Israel is and represents. That’s why many oppose Israel and support its enemies.

Attempts to find “solutions” were based on leftist assumptions that in order to have peace, Israel must make compromises and concessions. This was the basis of the Oslo Accords that legitimized the PLO and created the Palestinian Authority. The “peace process” was a hoax, a hype to bring Arafat and the PLO back to Israel and empower them.

This confused way of thinking persists. It is the basis of what is called the “two-state-solution,” (2SS) an independent Arab Palestinian state based on the 1949 Armistice lines, and support for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

In response to threats from the EU, UN, and even the Biden administration, Israel concedes, which always leads to more problems. The IDF, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) and police destroyed Jewish property for no rational reason and restrict building in settlements. Israeli leaders (including Netanyahu) went along with the fraud of trying to appease the Palestinians and those who supported them. Why should this absurdity continue? Who does it serve?

Jews who live in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem are not “occupying Palestinian territory.” It is not “illegal,” and there is no basis for this accusation. Jews should be protected and encouraged wherever they live. That’s what Zionism means. That’s what the new government will hopefully do. Some are opposed, and some call for a “civil war.”

Our recent elections indicated that most Israelis want a realistic agenda that ensures their safety and security. Dealing with Palestinian terrorism is our first and foremost concern, and – as many understand, the PA/Hamas are unwilling and unable to stop it. Palestinian identity was and is based on a “one-state solution” – “from the river to the sea.” This goal, enabled and facilitated by the Oslo Accords, is why resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains elusive.

The most practical and realistic alternative to the 2SS is to recognize Jordan as the homeland of the Palestinians – all of those who want to live in peace. Engaging in and supporting terrorism and seeking Israel’s destruction is simply not an option. The conflict cannot be resolved, but it can be ended by understanding why it exists.
UNRWA paving the road to conflict
The 67 nations and 33 agencies which aid UNWRA do not demand a change in its policies that support the perpetuation of conflict. Op-ed.

Realizing the extent of incitement in UNRWA schools and summer camps, the Trump administration cut US funding to UNWRA in 2018 for lack of “accountability.” The Biden administration has resumed funding but only under the condition that its education curriculum is for peace.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the UN, Gilad Erdan called for “countries to freeze contributions until UNRWA teachers expressing support terror are fired”. But the funding continues.

In 1967, following Israel’s victory in the Six Day War, when the IDF took control of the Arab populations of Judea and Samaria and Gaza, school textbooks used by Palestinian Arabs rejected Israel’s existence and incited violence. But, then placed under Israeli administration of COGAT,(Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories), new text books were implemented.

However, the signing of the Oslo accords on September 13, 1993, which would give the Palestinian Authority control over education in territories which they administered as a result of the agreements, saw a steady deterioration in the curriculum. Incitement to violence against Israel again abounded in what was supposed to be the beginnings of a process of reconciliation. With the OSLO Accords came the deterioration of UNWRA sponsored institutions, as anti-Israel propaganda proliferated in the territories.

Since Oslo, donor countries have not demanded accountability. Journalist, David Bedein who heads the Israel Resource News Agency and the author of ‘UNRWA Roadblock to Peace’, stated that when he posed the question to thirty-five of the sixty-seven nation which fund UNRWA, as to how they track the funds and where they are going, “they replied that they rely upon the rigorous oversight of UNRWA.”

Today, UNRWA facilities primes tomorrow’s generation for conflict. UNRWA should be seeking real solutions to what was the rejection by Arab nations of the partition of the land in 1947, according to UN resolution 181. Their leaders’ statements denying culpability belies their agenda, which is to allow perpetuation of conflict and the continued hope by Palestinian Arabs to flood Israel with refugees.
Iran vows response to Khamenei cartoons in French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo
Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after “insulting” cartoons depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic.

The magazine said the cartoons were part of a competition it launched in December in support of the protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,” tweeted Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path.”

The French magazine said the contest aimed “to support the struggle of Iranians who are fighting for their freedom.”


Call Me Back PodCast: Understanding Netanyahu’s new government – with Yaakov Katz
With Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new government now sworn in, and also developments for Israel at the UN, Yaakov Katz – Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post – returns to our podcast.

Earlier, Yaakov was an advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He served as the Post’s military reporter and defense analyst. He is the author of “Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power” and co-author of two books: “Weapon Wizards – How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran – The Shadow War”

“Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power” – shorturl.at/adioS
“Weapon Wizards – How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” – shorturl.at/fhIJ3
Lahav Harkov: Today’s Temple Mount news reflects a bigger problem
Unfortunately, many people still accept the falsehood that Sharon’s Temple Mount visit sparked the Second Intifada, which means that they see visits by controversial politicians to the Temple Mount as possible preludes to war.

Never mind that quite a few politicians and even ministers have visited the Mount in recent years, and the fact of their visit is enough to make them controversial. Maybe the reaction was of the social media “storming” video kind. Maybe Jordan had some angry things to say (the hypocrisy of which I documented here). But the vast majority of the time, nothing major happened.

This time, Hamas threatened to attack if Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount.

The reaction in much of the major Israeli media and from the political opposition was paroxysms of fear and righteous anger, and advocating for giving in to the terrorists’ threats. Yair Lapid, who was prime minister just last week, warned that people would die.

What’s especially bizarre is that was not the stance of the Bennett-Lapid government when they were still in power. The logic of people who were cabinet ministers just days ago seemed to be that if Hamas says they’re going to attack, we should stop whatever it is that’s making them angry.

Of course, we know from Hamas’s founding charter, its leaders’ statements, and recent history that what they want isn’t just for Ben-Gvir not to visit the Temple Mount. They want Israel to no longer exist. If Ben-Gvir were to cancel his visit, it’s not like Hamas would lay down its arms. Hamas would just find some other excuse to attack Israel at its own convenience, as it always has.

Then, there’s the fact that Israel is a democratic state with freedom of religion and expression. Even Lapid said not that long ago that it makes him uncomfortable that the rule is Jews cannot pray at their holiest site for that reason. Israel was also established to be the Jewish State – not a state of Jewish supremacy, as Ben-Gvir may argue, but one in which Jews can exercise their collective right to self-determination and security, and their individual rights to be Jews in religion, culture, education, language, etc.

Between Israel’s raison d’etre and the poor security policy precedent, Ben-Gvir should be allowed to pay a respectful visit to the Temple Mount, which is precisely what he did. He even made sure to say after the visit that while "the Temple Mount is the most important place for the Jewish People," he will maintain "freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians." There are enough unique issues with Ben-Gvir that we don’t have to pretend his visit to the Temple Mount is one of them. And the Temple Mount is too important to be conceded over the minister’s other problems.

Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount for 13 minutes this morning, and so far, the sky has not fallen. If Hamas or anyone else decides to respond disproportionately - to turn around a phrase people like to use against Israel - it’s on them.
Yisrael Medad: Jerusalem Temple Mount control could be decided with Saudi Arabia's help
The increased efforts of the small numbers of Jews who had been promoting Jewish prayer at the site with the backing of greater numbers of rabbis occurred after the three-year closure of the Temple Mount to all non-Muslims between 2000 and 2003 as a result of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel.

What had been viewed as a fringe activity and viewpoint altered dramatically when the stark actuality set in of the very real possibility that Jews would forever be banned from the compound. Meanwhile, for the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority as well as the more extreme Islamist forces in Israel, led by Sheikh Raed Salah – the leader of the hardline Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the situation at the Temple Mount became a mobilizing instrument with the rallying cry of “Al-Aqsa is in danger.”

Jewish Temple Mount activists have based their rights and demands on the 1967 Law for the Protection of Holy Places, which guarantees free access and worship. However, Israel’s governments have always claimed primacy privilege to prevent disturbances to the public order, a position with which the High Court of Justice has agreed, although – in principle – the justices have confirmed the right of silent prayer. In essence, this outlook permits the threat of violence by Muslims to dictate an override of Jewish rights.

For the activists, therefore, any suggestion, either by Israeli politicians or Jordan or various terror groups such as Hamas, that these visits are somehow “provocations” are rejected outright. The right to visit the Temple Mount and respect it is fundamental, legal and should not be doubted nor prevented.

Jordan’s “historic role” stems from a swearing of allegiance to Abdullah’s great-great-grandfather, Hussein ibn Ali, who sought to be caliph but was forced to relinquish any claim after he was exiled from Saudi Arabia for good during that same year, 1924. But the Saudi Arabia connection has come back to haunt Jordan’s monarch.

Netanyahu has set his sights on a peace arrangement with Saudi Arabia. It is likely that transferring the so-called “custodianship” over Haram A-Sharif from the Husseinis to the Saudis will come up during the discussions. As Daniel Pipes has noted, the Saudis are seeking to enhance their international standing, as even the legitimacy of their custodianship of Mecca and Medina has been challenged, notably by Iran. If a third shrine would somehow be added to their supervision, their claims to be absolute religious leaders of the Islamic world would gain standing.

It should not be ignored, however, that Jordan’s Religious Affairs Ministry oversees the Waqf that administers the Temple Mount and funds it. If Jordan insists on continuing its custom of terming the entrance of Jews to the Temple Mount as “stormings” and “break-ins,” the terms used in its official Foreign Ministry pronouncements and in their media, as well as financing new endowments and construction at the site, Abdullah may face an internal Arab/Muslim threat as well.
UAE requests emergency UN Security Council meeting after Israeli minister visits Temple Mount
The United Arab Emirates has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

The UAE submitted its request on behalf of the Arab League and at the behest of Jordan and the Palestinians. It comes after Ben-Gvir, the firebrand Otzma Yehudit party leader, ascended Judaism’s holiest site on Tuesday morning.

Ben-Gvir visit was widely and unsurprisingly criticized in the Arab world, including in the UAE and Jordan, which claim Ben-Gvir violated the status quo at the flashpoint holy site. The Temple Mount is also home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

This was the first Temple Mount visit by an Israeli minister since Uri Ariel, then the agriculture minister, ascended in July 2018 following the end of a three-year visitation ban on Knesset members applied by the Israeli government.

Gilad Erdan, then the public security minister, also went up to the Temple Mount in 2017, though that was for a security briefing following a deadly Palestinian terror attack at the site.

Japan, which joined the Security Council on Sunday and simultaneously took over the presidency of the council for the month of January, will decide how to act on the UAE’s request.

Notably, Japan abstained on a recent resolution calling for the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian territories. Japan abstained both in the U.N.’s Fourth Committee and in the full General Assembly. While separate from the Ben-Gvir issue, the abstentions may provide a window into Japan’s thinking on the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
UN Security Council to Confirm Jewish Inferiority on Temple Mount
Here are some facts: General Assembly resolution 36/55, November 25, 1981, declares (Article 1:3): “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.”

And (Article 2:1-2): “No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons, or person on the grounds of religion or belief.” And, “For the purposes of the present Declaration, the expression ‘intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief’ means any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on religion or belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nullification or impairment of the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis.”

To summarize: UN resolution 36/55 says no one can be discriminated against in their religious practice, and the only restriction of this right can be imposed by the legal authority to protect public safety, it stands to reason that the government minister who is in charge of public safety is allowed to decide whether his religious practice (in this case visiting the ancient site of his ancestors’ holy temples) constitutes a threat to said safety.

But the UNSC will go ahead and violate its own enlightened principles, essentially because they only trample the religious freedom of Jews, and, the other favorite argument, there are billions of Muslims out there, and if you make them mad, they’ll murder cartoonists in Paris and members of Parliament in the Netherlands, and behead dozens of Europeans and Americans on YouTube.


Israel condemned by UN more than all other countries combined
'If we look at resolutions this year, we have 15 on Israel, 1 on Iran, 1 on Syria, and 1 on North Korea'

Hillel Neuer breaks down how new PM Netanyahu can help change votes at the UN after Israel has been condemned more than all other countries combined




Jordan parliament member on Ben-Gvir: We'll become suicide bombers
A Jordanian parliament member has said that 'Jordanians will become suicide bombers for Al-Aqsa' following Ben-Gvir's visit to the Temple Mount

i24NEWS Middle East Correspondent Alec Pollard explains the antisemitic language used by the MP and the feeling within Jordan right now




JPost Editorial: Israel must tread lightly to avoid harming US ties
Nevertheless, Blinken made it clear just a week before the government was sworn in that the US would judge the government by its policies, not its personalities. That is to say, until legislation is set forth in direct contradiction to that which was an unbreakable line in the past from the US point of view, Israel is in the clear. This is despite having numerous members of the government stand in firm support of policies the US has deemed unacceptable, such as West Bank annexation.

This gives hope for the relations in the future, and Cohen’s comments following initial talks with Blinken only further solidify the sense that Israel has made the right moves diplomatically in just a few days. Prioritizing relations with the US is the right move tactically and should be supported and encouraged on all ends.

That being said, it is important for Israel now, more than ever, to be attentive to outside voices during a time of instability. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday awakened harsh responses worldwide, including from the US.

“Let it be clear – we are interested in preserving the status quo, and any action that prevents this is unacceptable,” US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides told Walla News shortly thereafter. “We said this clearly to the Israeli government.”

According to Nides, the visit was a direct violation of the trust and understanding between the US and Israel.

Coming so soon after the installation of the new government, Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount will not ingratiate Israel’s new government with the US.

Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir met on Monday evening, after which the Likud put out a statement saying, “After consulting with security officials, Netanyahu did not request that Ben-Gvir not visit the site.”

That somewhat lukewarm reaction shows how Netanyahu is attempting to tread the thin line between trying to appear strong to his right-wing constituency, yet appearing diplomatic to the US and the rest of Israel’s Western allies.

If there is any advice to give to the new Israeli government, it is this: Be careful. The US-Israel relationship takes priority over other ties. Take each step cautiously, and act on Eli Cohen’s words.


Why Is Blinken Hiding Report on Global Terrorist Threats?
According to 22 USC 2656f, "The Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report providing . . . detailed assessments with respect to each foreign country . . . in which acts of international terrorism occurred."

The April 30 deadline is rarely met. June and July releases are more common. The CRT most recently released, covering 2020, came out on December 16, 2021.

When asked for a comment on the tardy report, Vincent Picard, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism told me, "We've hit a couple of internal bureaucratic process hurdles this year that are almost resolved. The report should be released soon."

The nature of the CRT's retrospective assessment of the previous year means that some years are far more politically charged than others. The 2021 CRT was produced by the Blinken State Department assessing 2020, the final year of the Trump administration. Had it been submitted in accordance with law, the 2022 CRT would have been the Blinken State Department's assessment of the Biden administration's first year.

What could it say? 2021 was a spectacularly bad year for U.S. foreign policy and perhaps the most significant year for global terrorism since 1979.

It started out with Blinken assembling a team of failed diplomats who specialize in "peace processing" but never produce anything close to peace for their efforts: Brian McKeon, Ross Wilson, Wendy Sherman, and the dung beetle of international diplomacy, Robert Malley, whom Biden put in charge of jump-starting Obama's failed Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA.

Blinken's team began the year in Alaska, meeting a team of Chinese diplomats who berated them.

In violation of the Taylor Force Act, the Biden administration restored funding to the Palestinian Authority in 2021, despite the PA's continued "Pay to Slay" program, which rewards terrorists who attack Israel with stipends and compensates the families of dead terrorists ("martyrs") for the violence carried out by their dead relatives.

But the single-most-disastrous decision of the Biden administration in 2021 was its botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, effectively handing the country over to the Taliban, erasing 20 years of effort, leaving behind billions of dollars' worth of military hardware, and abandoning a secure Bagram Air Base in favor of a fantasy about the military's "Over the Horizon" capability to stop terrorist acts.
Biden Renominates Board Member at Anti-Israel Group to Small Business Administration
The Biden administration will renominate a board member at an anti-Israel group to help lead the Small Business Administration, one year after the nominee was blocked by Republicans, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Dilawar Syed served on the board of Emgage Action—a group that describes Israel as an "apartheid state" and defends the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement—until at least 2021, when President Joe Biden nominated him as deputy administrator at the SBA, according to federal disclosure records.

Syed is one of 85 failed nominees whom the Biden administration is resubmitting for confirmation by the new Senate, the Journal reported on Tuesday.

Syed’s affiliation with Emgage raised concerns among Republican legislators and pro-Israel leaders, who blocked his nomination in September 2021. Since last February, Syed has served as a special representative for trade at the State Department, a position that doesn’t require Senate approval.

Emgage has accused the Jewish state of instituting a "racist, undemocratic Israeli apartheid rule that steals [Palestinian] land and destroys their homes to make way for illegal Jewish settlements" and said it "support[s] the right to boycott, divest, and sanction, as well as the Right of Return of Palestinians."

The group also lobbied against legislation that would penalize boycotts of the Jewish state and called the BDS movement a "constitutionally protected nonviolent response that seeks to end the occupation."
US state rep calls Israel an 'apartheid-run thuggery terrorist regime'
Massachusetts Rep. Jaime Belsito (D) called on the United States to acknowledge that Israel is an "apartheid-run thuggery terrorist regime" in a Twitter post last week.

"The US must acknowledge that the [Israeli] administration is an apartheid-run thuggery terrorist regime on a mission to kill Palestinians," she wrote. "Killing and land taking [have] nothing to do with antisemitism. It is genocide."

Belsito represents the fourth Essex district in Massachusetts. The district includes the towns of Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rowley, Topsfield and Wenham. It has a population of roughly 45,000.

Belsito's comment came amid a flurry of moderate and left-wing politicians from Israel and across the globe who criticized the newly-formed Israeli government, referring to it as the most right-wing, religious government in the country's history.
Arye Deri calls to strip Palestinian terror 'icons' of Israeli citizenship
Ahead of the release of the murderers of an IDF soldier and “longest-serving Palestinian prisoners in Israel” on Thursday, Interior and Health Minister Arye Deri sent an official request for Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to apply to strip them of their Israeli citizenships on Tuesday night.

Deri said that, under the Citizenship Law, he was exercising his authority to ask the A-G to apply for the revocation of the citizenships of Karim and Maher Younis, who killed Sgt. Abraham Bromberg in 1980, with the Court of Administrative Affairs.

“It’s unthinkable that these people would continue to hold Israeli citizenship, and revocation of the citizenship will be an important message when speaking of those that have become icons of committing criminal terrorism actions,” said Deri. “These things receive a different validity when speaking of those that use Israeli citizenship to harm the State of Israel and its citizens.”

The murder of Sgt. Abraham Bromberg
In 1980, Cousins Karim and Maher Younis, under the direction of relative Sami Younis, abducted Bromberg in their car as he hitchhiked to Zichron Ya'akov from his base in the Golan Heights. They reportedly shot the soldier in the head, threw him from the vehicle, and stole his weapon. Bromberg was found injured but died a month later from the severe wound.

Karim and Maher were initially sentenced to death, but the sentence was reduced to 40 years imprisonment, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network said on Monday. According to Shurat HaDin, Sami, who was sentenced to life in prison, was released as part of the Gilad Schalit deal but died in 2015. Both organizations have described the Younis cousins as the “longest-serving Palestinian prisoners in Israel.”

The Younis cousins have become celebrities among some Palestinian factions, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group-affiliated Samidoun saying “his release this coming Thursday is long-awaited by the Palestinian people.”
Rocket launched from Gaza falls in Palestinian territory
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket at Israel on Tuesday night, but the projectile fell in Gazan territory, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The launch was detected, but in accordance with standard operating procedures no alert was sounded as no area of Israel was under threat, the IDF said in a statement.

“Full routine continues on the Israeli home front,” the statement continued.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Hamas terror group had threatened to “cleanse” the Al Aqsa Mosque of “the filth of the occupation,” following a visit to the Temple Mount a few hours earlier by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The day before, Hamas said that it would “not stand idly by” if Ben-Gvir ascended the Mount, adding that his visit would “ignite the region.”

The Palestinian Authority called the visit an “unprecedented provocation.”

Following his early-morning visit to the site, Ben-Gvir said that Israel’s new government would not surrender to terrorist threats.
IDF razes homes, water tanks in disputed West Bank ‘firing zone’
The IDF has demolished homes, water tanks and olive orchards in two Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank where some residents are at risk of imminent expulsion, residents and activists said Wednesday.

One of the villages whose structures were demolished on Tuesday is part of an arid area of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta, which the Israeli military has designated as a live-fire training zone. Some 1,000 residents of the eight hamlets that make up Masafer Yatta are slated for expulsion, an order Israel’s Supreme Court upheld in May after a two-decade legal battle.

According to images shared by local residents and activists, armored vehicles escorted construction equipment to the demolitions in the villages of Ma’in and Shaab al-Butum, which are part of Masafer Yatta.

Guy Butavia, an activist with the Israeli rights group Taayush, said the army razed five homes, animal pens and cisterns.

“They come and demolish your house. It’s winter. It’s cold. What’s next? Where are they going to sleep that night?” he said.

Most residents of the area have remained in place since the ruling, even as Israeli security forces periodically roll in to demolish structures. But they could be forced out at any time.


Palestinian Terror Groups Challenge PA Forces
The current wave of Palestinian terrorism continues in the West Bank despite the efforts of the Israel Security Agency and the IDF to curb it. The IDF has undertaken major arrest operations for nine months which have thwarted many attacks, though this was not enough to stop them entirely.

The wave of terrorism is led by armed terrorist groups, some of which have begun to operate in the field independently. They are currently supported by Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as by Iran.

During 2022, the PA lost its security control over the Nablus and Jenin areas in the northern West Bank. The PA seeks to avoid a frontal military confrontation with the armed groups as long as they do not pose a direct threat to the PA leadership in Ramallah.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas tells his associates he fears that such a conflict will lead to a civil war in the West Bank. Before foreign parties, he claims that the reason for the growth of terrorist groups lies in the fact that the IDF enters the centers of Palestinian cities and Area A on a daily basis in violation of the Oslo Accords and that these groups protect the Palestinian citizens.

The PA security forces are trying to bring about the peaceful disbandment of these groups through the lure of money and jobs. Palestinian officials say the PA is ready to pay $25,000 for every weapon that is handed over to it in the Nablus area.

Six armed terrorist groups operate in the northern West Bank. In the Jenin area, there is the Jenin Battalion, the Jabba groups, the Kabatya groups and the Birkin groups. In the Nablus area, there is the Lions’ Den and the Balata Battalion.
PMW: Israel “trained cattle” to spy! - official PA daily reports
After years of PA libels, you think you’ve read and heard it all but then the official PA daily reports that a Palestinian village Elder has encountered Israeli cows that are actually “recruited and trained” spies. In a statement to the official PA daily, Khirbet Yanun Village Elder Rushd Morrar said:
“These are recruited and trained cattle, as on the neck of each cow they hang a medallion with an eavesdropping and recording device on it, and sometimes cameras, in order to monitor every detail in Khirbet Yanun large and small.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 27, 2022]

To this the Elder added another libel: That “settlers release herds of wild boars” to destroy Palestinian crops. Morrar alleged that “the settlers’ crimes are diversifying and becoming sophisticated, and the means they employ in their war are unlimited.”

These statements bring to mind another outrageous animal libel exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, according to which “settlers” were accused of releasing a species of super rats immune to poison in the Old City of Jerusalem:
"One of the most amazing things that we've read during this month is that [Israeli] settlers have been bringing chests filled with rats and releasing them in the Old City's [Arab] neighborhoods; they breed and have become a major curse... the [Arab] residents' efforts to counter this infestation have failed, especially since cats run away from these rats because of their size and ferocity... All of the conventional efforts to kill them have not succeeded, because they seem to be immune to poison and they breed in the sewers. It is known that this female rat gives birth seven times a year, each time giving birth to 20 babies; which compels Jerusalem's [Arabs] today to face the dangers of [Israeli] settlement and the infestation of rats."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2008]

Other PA libels include the claims that Israel is planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque, that a Jew started the fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, that Israel murders innocent Palestinians and then places knives near the dead Palestinians to claim they are terrorists, that “Israel rewards their soldiers for killing Palestinians,” that Israel poisoned Palestinian wells, that Israel carries out “mass murder of Palestinians," and many others. Click to read other PA libels.
“Armed resistance” is “only solution” to “expel the occupation” says Fatah official
Fatah official in the Jenin area Fida Turkeman: The Palestinian resistance that is being led by Fatah and the national forces will continue until the occupation and its collaborators are swept from our occupied lands… This occupation only knows one language and it is armed resistance against the Zionist occupation. We have nothing except armed resistance to expel the occupation and its collaborators from our occupied territories since 1948 and 1967. This is the only solution for resistance to the occupation: Armed resistance until establishing our state and sweeping away the occupation and its collaborators from our occupied land.”
[Official PA TV, Dec. 8, 2022]


Fatah official calls for more terror: “We need… to strike in the Zionist depth”
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Wafa Zakarneh: The world needs to reexamine its relations with the Palestinian people, and this will only happen with the language of force. The world only understands the language of the strong. We as a Palestinian people, we own the right, and we need to be the strong ones, to strike in the Zionist depth (i.e., inside Israel) just as they are striking our sons and our heroes.” [Official PA TV, Dec. 20, 2022]




Fmr. Hezbollah member arrested for spying for Israel after being blackmailed by Mossad - report
A former member of Hezbollah was arrested in September in Lebanon on suspicion of spying for the Mossad, and was blackmailed into doing so on threat of the release of videos showing him engaged in sexual relations, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, in June 2021, the former Hezbollah member, identified as Mohsen S., met a woman who said she was Belgian at a cafe in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The next day, they met at her house and had sex. A few days later, the woman disappeared and would not answer his calls.

A week after the woman disappeared, Mohsen received a video clip on his phone showing him in intimate situations with the woman. Mohsen responded by sending question marks and received no answer except for a message reading "Rejoice, sweetheart." A short time afterward, he received a call from the number, with a man telling him that he was "a friend who wanted help" and that he was from the Mossad.

After hearing the word Mossad, Mohsen hung up and blocked the number, but the man contacted him from another number, warning him that he would send the video clip to his friends and family, according to Al-Akhbar. Mohsen called his friends and family to check whether they had been sent the video and confirmed that they had not.
MEMRI: Syrian Journalist Calls To Increase Resistance Against U.S. Forces In Eastern Syria: "Only American Dead Bodies Strewn Over Syria's Sand Dunes" Will Lead To The Withdrawal Of The U.S. Forces
On December 23, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the national defense spending bill for 2023, which includes a provision for combating narcotics production and trafficking by the Syrian regime. This provision, which is known as the Captagon[1] Act and was approved by Congress on September 21, 2022, requires the Secretary of State to provide within 180 days "a written strategy for disrupting and dismantling narcotics production and trafficking and affiliated networks linked to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria," which are described as "a transnational security threat."[2]

The Syrian state and pro-regime press, and the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is also close to the Syrian regime, described this as a U.S. move that complements the Caesar Act and is aimed at imposing even more sanctions on the Syrian regime. Its ultimate goal, they said, is to destroy the Syrian economy under the pretext of the war on drugs. They also expressed concern that the Captagon Act would serve as a pretext to ban the import of raw materials for the Syrian industry, especially the pharmaceutical industries.[3]

Against this backdrop, Dr. Bassam Abu 'Abdullah, head of the Damascus Center for Strategic Studies and a political science lecturer at Damascus University, who writes for the pro-regime daily Al-Watan, published two columns in which he called to increase the resistance against the U.S. forces in eastern Syria. In the first column he called the Captagon Act "a new knife" that America wants to drive into Syria's body in order to bring about its final collapse. He therefore urged the Syrians to devote all their efforts to fighting the U.S. forces in Syria so as to cause them to withdraw, stressing that "the American knife will be removed from our throats only after American dead bodies are strewn over Syria's sand dunes." In the second column, he repeated his call to increase the operations against the U.S., which he described as "the head of the snake" that must be chopped off, and assessed that the Syrian state and its institutions will indirectly support this effort. Fighting the U.S., he added, is justified even at the cost of Syrian lives, because "the homeland is more important than parties and individuals." He called to establish a national body to promote the option of popular resistance, and again stressed the importance of causing fatalities among the U.S. forces, in order to clarify that only a U.S. withdrawal will save the lives of American soldiers.


MEMRI: American Writer on Iranian TV: Holocaust Narrative is the Fundamental Myth of the American Empire
American writer E. Michael Jones said in an interview aired on January 1-2, 2023 on Channel 4 (Iran) that the most “fundamental” problem in American politics is Jewish “control” over the government and foreign policy. He said former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are controlled by the Jews and by Jewish money, and that the “Holocaust narrative” is the “fundamental myth of the American empire.” He also said that the “Jewish revolutionary spirit” of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland is the reason that the U.S. has been “provoking” the war in Ukraine, and he said that both of them are viewed as “always right” because they supposedly had relatives who died in the Holocaust.

Jones said that Paul the Apostle had far preceded Hitler in saying that the Jews are the enemies of the “entire human race”, and he claimed that the Jews have caused the birth rate in Germany to “collapse” by implementing “ruthless forms of social engineering” as revenge against the Germans after World War II. He also said that in the United States, the Jews and the Protestants promote “covert warfare” by means of “population control” against the Catholics. He added that abortion is a “Jewish sacrament” and that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Jews have been saying that abortion is a “fundamental” religious value for them.




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