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Tuesday, February 14, 2023

02/14 Links Pt1: Palestinian School Backed By US Gov Celebrated Terrorist Who Murdered 7 At Synagogue; UN official says Israel to blame for Palestinians murdering Jews

From Ian:

Biden and Israel, So far no good
Throughout his senate career, Joe Biden ignored the easiest pro-Israel actions, nonbinding pro-Israel resolutions. Some of the resolutions called Bubba Clinton to press Syria to free the Jews locked in the county, supporting Israel’s efforts to make peace. He refused to sign the talent/Nelson Letter Urging Pres. Bush #43 to press Palestinian Arab leadership to bar terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian Legislative Elections. The letter had 73 co-signers then- Sen. Biden did not sign this letter.

As he neared becoming Vice President, Joe Biden got even worse. Two months before he was elected to be Barack Obama’s number two, syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt reported:

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. (…)

“Israel will have to reconcile itself with the nuclearization of Iran,” Israell Army Radio quoted Biden as telling the unnamed officials. “It’s doubtful if the economic sanctions will be effective, and I am against opening an additional military and diplomatic front.

Ed Morrissey, Managing Editor of Hot Air, discussed Hewitt’s report and news about Biden’s comments in Ha’aretz, Jerusalem Post, and elsewhere.

In 2021 Joe Biden was inaugurated and became the fourteenth American President since the rebirth of Israel in 1948. The easiest way to describe President Biden’s relationship with Israel after two years is, “so far, no good.”

He began his Presidency by selecting Israeli haters and/or Iran apologists to join his team. Some of them have left the administration, but that happens In every administration.

Examples of that problematic staff included:
Avril Haines,Director of National Intelligence (DNi) Ms. Haines’ appointment was endorsed by the anti-Israel group J-Street. She signed their letter to the DNC berating them for being “silent on the rights of Palestinians and on Israeli actions that undermine those rights.’

John Kerry- Climate Czar. Kerry believed Israel couldn’t make peace with any Arab state until peace was made with the Palestinian Authority. Kerry lied to the American people about the details of the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal to make it look better. In 2018 Kerry told a representative of Palestinian Authority’s President Abbas to ignore Trump’s demands because he’ll be out of office within a year.

Karine Jean Pierre- initially Deputy Press Secretary. Wrote an op-ed in Newsweek urging Democrats not to attend the 2020 AIPAC convention. She slandered Israel when the IDF was defending Israeli citizens against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists who set off explosives at Israel’s border fence, trying to allow 30,000 Hamas-led Arabs to invade Israel and commit more violence.

Robert Malley– Special Envoy To Iran. Not often do I lay the sins of the father on the son, but in this case, it is part of the story. Robert Malley’s dad was an Israel hater and friend of Yasser Arafat. Perhaps this was why Malley was the ONLY American who was part of President Clinton’s peace negotiating team to blame Israel for Arafat walking out of the talk. The others involved, including the former President, Bubba, said Yasser Arafat walked away from a “sweetheart” deal. Malley served under three different Presidents. Between his White House jobs, Malley publicly trashed Israel and promoted the terrorist group Hamas as an essential peace partner.

There are many others, but I don’t have enough bandwidth.

One of the most positive events in Israel’s seventy-five-year history was the Abraham Accords. Announced September 13, 2020, the accords were Israel’s first peace with Arab nations in 24 years. Along with ending a state of war between Israel and the participating nations, they included agreements of economic cooperation. Thus, demonstrating the economic benefits of peace with Israel’s multi-faceted solid economy. Over four months, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan made peace with the Jewish state. At the end of the Trump administration, the foggy bottom (State Dept) scuttlebutt was other countries, including Saudi Arabia, would soon hop on the peace train.

After his inauguration, Biden refused to continue the momentum that began with the accords. Instead, President Biden returned to the old unsuccessful strategy of no peace with other Arab nations until there is peace with the Palestinian Authority (which refuses to negotiate) and “land for peace” instead of “peace for peace.” The President and his foreign policy team are not fans of the Abraham Accords. Therefore, it has no chance of expanding to other countries during his term.
Palestinian School Backed By US Gov Celebrated Terrorist Who Murdered 7 At Synagogue
A Palestinian school backed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held a ceremony celebrating the deaths of seven Israelis killed at a Jerusalem synagogue in January, according to the school’s Facebook post.

Omariya Secondary School for Girls in Qalqilya, Palestine, was established in 2009 via funding from USAID, according to the school’s Facebook profile, and has a “computer center,” “fashion design studio,” “scientific laboratory” and 29 teachers. The school held a ceremony on Jan. 30 commemorating the “hero Khairy Alqum” who killed seven Israelis in a terror attack on Jan. 27, according to a Facebook post. (RELATED: US Charity Linked To Palestinian Terrorism Received Thousands In Taxpayer COVID-19 Funding)

“A distinguished view of the students of the Cultural Club, a stand in solidarity with our people in Jenin camp, and a lamentation for our martyrs and hero Khairy Alqum,” the post read, according to a Facebook translation.

In pictures taken of the event, the students and teachers could be seen outside the school with a USAID placard on one of the school walls, according to the post.

USAID sponsored initiatives at the school under the Local Government and Structural program (LGI), according to a USAID report from 2013 to 2014, and sponsored more initiatives from 2014 to 2015 under the “Let’s Change It” project. The school participated in the Female Role Models Initiative that aimed to promote “leadership skills, and worked on projects promoting women’s leadership and potential in their communities,” according to the report.

USAID did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s multiple requests for comment.
Al-Qaeda video shows former leader urging Muslims ‘to target interests of Israel’
Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda Central Command, published an eight-minute video on Sunday showing a speech by the organization’s assassinated leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who was killed in a U.S. drone hit in Kabul on July 31, 2022.

According to a report by MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor, shared first with JNS, the video titled “How to Support the Palestinian Cause” is subtitled in English, and Al-Sahab published transcripts of Al-Zawahiri’s speech in Arabic and English.

Zawahiri urged Muslims to rise up and help Palestinian Muslims “by targeting the interests of Israel and [of] the powers that support Israel everywhere.”

Addressing Palestinian Muslims, Al-Zawahiri urges them to defend their homeland “until your last breath.”

The video was posted during a Palestinian terror wave against Israelis.

The video begins with a series of short clips of Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount plaza, juxtaposed with older footage of senior Israeli officials meeting with Arab leaders, including Palestinians and leaders of countries that are Israel’s allies, such as the U.S. and Turkey.


How can peace-loving Americans support Palestinians’ celebration of cold-blooded murder?
No surprise, then, that we find zero mention of even the idea of peace with Israel in Palestinian school textbooks. What we do find, however, is plenty of material encouraging Palestinian children to hate and murder Jews—the kind of material found in the textbooks of 13-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad Aliwat, who shot and wounded an Israeli man and his son just one day after the synagogue massacre that killed seven.

Aliwat’s textbooks glorify violence, telling children to “cut the throats of enemy soldiers” and “put on explosive belts,” because “martyrdom” is required to fight the enemy. Apparently, the young boy took this to heart, as he left a note for his mother before carrying out his attack. He wrote, “God or victory or martyrdom.”

Palestinian textbooks contain a steady diet of such antisemitism. In schools run by the United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for example, Palestinian children are taught that Jews are “impure” and “inherently treacherous and hostile to Islam and Muslims.”

Palestinian children are also taught to celebrate the murder of Jews—whenever Palestinians kill Jews, children see jubilation in the streets. Sweets are passed out, fireworks explode, and motorists honk their horns, as reveling Palestinians fire their guns in the air. Chants calling for more murder and more dead Jews ring out.

As Palestinian children get older, they learn that not only is killing Jews a righteous deed, but it’s also lucrative, since the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) pays lifetime salaries to those who commit terrorist acts against Israelis.

Per the P.A.’s “pay-for-slay” policy, the more Jews a Palestinian kills, the more he or she is paid—up to $4,000 per month, three times the average Palestinian wage. In 2021, the P.A. was in dire financial straits. Nevertheless, its leaders still doled out some $270 million in salaries to jailed and released terrorists, as well as for wounded terrorists and the families of dead terrorists.

Would the U.S. government or American citizens ever consider subsidizing such a murderous culture? In fact, American taxpayer dollars handsomely support the Palestinians and their culture of death by sending them hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Indeed, following the synagogue massacre in Jerusalem a few weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced an additional $50 million in new aid to UNRWA, the U.N. agency that runs schools where Palestinian children learn to vilify and kill Jews. UNRWA alone has received a total of $940 million from U.S. taxpayers since President Joe Biden took office.

Yet, Palestinian society continues to encourage its citizens of all ages to participate in and celebrate the cold-blooded murder of innocent Jews. Even as other Arab countries, like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco are beginning to promote peace between Jews and Arabs after decades of hostility, Palestinian leaders are doubling down—promoting increased hatred and violence toward their Jewish neighbors.

How can any American, no matter where their sympathies on the political spectrum, justify supporting the cult of heartless murder of innocents that defines the Palestinian cause?

The United States must stop subsidizing the Palestinians’ virulently antisemitic murder culture. American citizens should not have to see their tax dollars used to aid the Palestinians, unless the Palestinians commit to 1) ending their ferocious campaign of antisemitic hate against Jews, 2) purging their society of its death culture and incitement to violence against Israel and the Jewish people, and 3) ending their financial support for terrorists who murder Jews.
More outrageous UN anti-Semitism: High-level official says Israel to blame for Palestinians murdering Jews
A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem plowed his car into a busy Jerusalem bus stop Friday, killing three Israelis, including 6- and 8-year-old brothers. The response from Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinians: crickets.

Perhaps that’s for the best. The day before, Albanese blamed Israel for last month’s Palestinian terrorist attack outside a Jerusalem synagogue that left six Jews and one Ukrainian national dead.

In a tweet Thursday, Albanese heaped praise on Barcelona’s city council for falsely labeling Israel an apartheid state — a classic example of anti-Semitism by declaring the world’s only Jewish state to be a racist endeavor. A Twitter user replied by asking her if she had addressed a murder of Jews, citing a 14-year-old killed in the synagogue attack and a shooting carried out by a 13-year-old Palestinian terrorist the following morning that injured two Jews. Albanese responded that she had — by condemning Israel.

She asserted that the “brutal colonial occupation Israel maintains over the Palestinians (an apartheid regime by default) continues to traumatize millions of people, pushing them into hopelessness &despair, including kids.” Truly a master class in victim-blaming. Never mind that Palestinians have been murdering Jews since long before Israel controlled the West Bank.

This is far from Albanese’s first anti-Semitic controversy. In December, a review of her social media history revealed several virulent comments: She’d described the United States as “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” and claimed that the “Israeli lobby,” directed by “Israel’s greed,” skewed media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Top US officials condemned these remarks as anti-Semitic. Israeli emergency responders gather at the site of a reported ramming attack.

Albanese, meanwhile, is leading a campaign to undermine the internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism the US State Department and 36 other countries have adopted. Why? She wants to change the definition of anti-Semitism to accommodate her anti-Semitism. Under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition, Albanese is engaging in clear-cut anti-Semitism by holding Israel to a double standard, claiming Israel is a racist endeavor and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.


Jonathan Tobin: How Americans can save Israeli democracy
Yet there is one caveat to that broad principle: Diaspora Jews can say whatever they like about Israel, but they should also have some humility when doing so.

That’s not just a function of the inequality of sacrifice or risk that the two communities bear. Only Israeli Jews pay the ruinous taxes that are levied on the country’s citizens and, more importantly, send their children to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Though American Jews are subject to antisemitic attacks, they are not on the front lines of a sustained campaign of Palestinian terrorism, as is the case in Israel.

Yet the real problem is the chutzpah of Americans weighing in on Israeli political disputes with only the biased coverage of outlets like the Times to guide them. This explains the vast disconnect between Americans and Israelis when it comes to security issues. The overwhelming majority of Israelis understand that the nonsense about the conflict with the Palestinians peddled by the likes of Friedman is divorced from reality.

Moreover, Biden’s comments effectively support a political campaign based not so much on a desire to preserve democracy but on the desire to thwart it. The Israeli Supreme Court’s arrogation of unprecedented and unique powers to itself is a way for forces within Israeli society that have been on the losing side of most recent elections to retain control regardless of who sits in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The effort to stop the government from passing the agenda on which it won the last election is itself anti-democratic. Resisting the kind of pressure to which politicians who usually seek the praise of establishment institutions often succumb will be a genuine test of Netanyahu and his coalition’s courage.

Talk about democracy in peril is nothing less than an attempt by Israeli politicians to import Democratic Party talking points with which Biden and his supporters sought to label their Republican opponents as anti-democratic. Those seeking to rally Americans behind those politicians are intervening in a political squabble in which, despite the apocalyptic rhetoric, Diaspora Jewry and the U.S. government have no reason or right to intervene.

An Israel in which there will be some checks and balances—currently absent in a situation in which the Supreme Court can rule unchallenged, without reference to law but only its own sense of what is “reasonable”—will be more of a democracy and not the proto-authoritarian or theocratic state that Netanyahu’s foes talk about in their partisan smears.

No matter how the battle over judicial reform is resolved in the Knesset, Israel will remain a democracy. No matter where you stand on the Israeli judiciary, the best way to support democracy in Israel is to avoid participating in an effort to effectively overturn the results of a democratic election. That’s a stand that Biden and his many Jewish supporters consider a litmus test of virtue when it comes to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. They should treat the results of Israeli democracy with the same respect.
Lapid declines mediation, demands judicial overhaul legislation be frozen
Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman on Monday evening called on leaders of the opposition to meet at the President's Residence in Jerusalem to discuss the government's judicial reform program.

"Following the call of the president of the state last night, our offices are currently contacting the offices of the head of the opposition and the chairman of Yesh Atid, MK Yair Lapid, and the chairman of the State Party, MK Benny Gantz, in order to coordinate a joint meeting as soon as this evening," said the lawmakers in a joint statement. "We call on the heads of the opposition to begin negotiations without preconditions. It is time."

Lapid rejected the overture, saying he would only agree to meet if the proposed legislation was paused.

"As the president stressed yesterday and as explained time and again, the necessary condition to start a national dialogue is an immediate halt of all legislation processes for a designated period of time, during which talks will be held with the president's mediation," he said. "If Minister Levin and MK Rothman agree to this, we would be happy to meet at the President's Residence tomorrow morning."

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Monday voted to send the first bill in the government's judicial reform package for its first reading in the full plenum, which is likely to take place next week. The bill has been formulated as an amendment to Basic Law: Judiciary and would give the government control over the Judicial Selection Committee with five of the panel's nine members, and only a simple majority needed to appoint judges.

Opponents of this particular change argue that it would give the coalition too much power, whereas proponents have pointed to the U.S. Senate, which approves Supreme Court justices by simple majority, often along partisan lines.

Before the committee vote, opposition lawmakers shouted down members of the coalition, with some having to be physically restrained. Many parliamentarians were ejected from the meeting.

Lapid earlier Monday slammed the government at a mass rally protesting its judicial reform plan held outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
JPost Editorial: Israel's gov't shouldn't link new settlements to murderous terror attacks
There is an argument to be made that some of the outposts were built at the scenes of past terrorist attacks and therefore, their legalization in response to terrorism, is a natural one. It is also true that without the terror attacks, it would be harder to pass such a decision without a strong international condemnation. While there will definitely be a negative international response, the deadly terror attacks ease the blow.

Nevertheless, the legalization and expansion of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria must be a decision taken for strategic or historic reasons, not at a moment’s notice in response to this or that terrorist attack.

The country should ask itself if the government would be authorizing the outposts if there had not been a recent spate of terror. We must refrain from politicizing the Civil Administration and planning authorities but that is exactly what happens now that 10,000 new housing units will be approved in the West Bank. Besides the asymmetry involved in answering terror with settlements, another concern is that these kinds of decisions will create tensions with our allies and friends, mainly the United States, which has already expressed reservations about such moves.

This comes at a sensitive time in relations between the two countries, as Israel seeks visa-free travel to the US and President Joe Biden has made it clear that the Netanyahu government’s push for the judicial overhaul should be a consensus decision.

It’s clear that Israel’s presence in the West Bank is not going to end, and that hundreds of thousands of Israelis are not going to be removed. However, our legitimacy to live in the West Bank must rest on more than quick decisions to legalize some places because of murderous attacks.

Everyone is in agreement that there must be a price for terror. However, it’s not clear that legalizing nine outposts sends a message that will deter terror attacks.

The government should not link settlements to these murderous attacks. It harms our image, conflates the attacks with the settlements and does not do justice for victims.
Smotrich Vows Unrestrained Building in Judea and Samaria Despite US Opposition
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on Tuesday to promote unrestrained construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, despite opposition from the Biden administration.

“The real answer to [Palestinian] terror is to continue to build, to continue to set roots in the Land of Israel,” said Smotrich at a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party in Givat Harel, one of the nine outposts the Security Cabinet on Sunday unanimously decided to legalize.

“That is what we as a government, as a state, as a nation, must do. The settlement enterprise thrives thanks to the pioneers who have sustained it for many years, with great love and determination,” he said.

“The American response is entirely understandable,” he continued, but “the [Biden] administration knows that this government is committed to the settlements. There’s nothing wrong with two friends having disputes. They understand, and that’s the way things will continue.”

Smotrich further said that the government needed to remove all restrictions on fully developing Judea and Samaria. “This area must be treated exactly as any other part of the State of Israel, and that is what will happen,” he said.
US, France, Germany, Italy, UK Condemn Israel’s Legalization of Outposts
Five foreign ministers wrote in a joint statement on Tuesday that they oppose Israel’s security cabinet approving legalization of nine outposts in the West Bank and the construction of nearly 10,000 housing settlement units.

“We strongly oppose these unilateral steps that will only serve to exacerbate tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians and undermine efforts to negotiate a two-state solution,” the statement said.

“We continue to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which must be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace, with equal amount of freedom, security and prosperity,” it added.

The ministers also noted they “continue to closely monitor developments on the ground.” These statements come a day after Israel’s security cabinet unanimously decided to legalize nine West Bank settlements that were set up without legal authorization years ago. Additionally, the Civil Administration will convene in the coming days to approve construction of new housing units in established Jewish communities in the West Bank.

Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned these steps saying that Washington is “deeply troubled by Israel’s decision.”


Meeting Erdogan in Ankara, FM Cohen raises issue of Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza
Meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen raised the issue of Israeli civilians and the bodies of IDF soldiers being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to Israeli sources.

Hamas is holding two Israeli men, along with the remains of two soldiers killed during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. Israeli authorities have been quietly engaged in fruitless negotiations for their release for years.

Erdogan has fostered a close relationship with the Hamas terror group, which took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

In addition to providing financial and logistical support to the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by much of the West, Turkey is home to senior Hamas officials, including Saleh al-Arouri, a long-time Istanbul resident. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and former chief Khaled Mashaal also visit Turkey.

Israel has asked Turkey to expel Hamas officials, but moved ahead with the recent rapprochement without Ankara conceding to the request.

Cohen and Erdogan also discussed Iran’s nuclear program, the sources said.
The King of Jordan Should Help to Restore Calm on the Temple Mount
After the Israeli cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount last month, the Jordanian government condemned this peaceful tour of the area as the “storming of al-Aqsa mosque and violation of its sanctity,” while the U.S., the UK, and other Western countries cautioned Jerusalem against doing anything that might “inflame tensions” (as one diplomat put it). No such admonitions, however, have been issued to King Abdullah of Jordan, observes David M. Weinberg:

Standing beside every world leader he possibly can, and when meeting Israeli prime ministers too, the Jordanian king Abdullah defiantly declares his self-anointed “custodianship” over the Temple Mount and “all holy sites” in Jerusalem. Let’s leave aside for the moment the fact that no Jordanian “custodianship” or “jurisdiction” in Jerusalem ever has been agreed to by Israel nor does it exist in any international accord. All Israel acknowledges is that the Hashemite kingdom has a “special role” to play on the Temple Mount.

One would think that “special role” would mean that Jordan has special responsibility to help maintain the site as a holy place of prayer, brotherhood, and tolerance. At a minimum, one would expect the Jordanians to do everything possible to help keep the peace by blocking attempts to turn the site into ground zero for violent Arab insurrection, wild Palestinian rioting, and the most anti-Semitic and genocidal anti-Israel incitement.

Alas, the Jordanians have done no such thing. . . . Using al-Aqsa as a base for physical assaults on Israel (like storing weapons) and as a platform for the ugliest education about the evils of Jews and Israel is not an occasional thing. It has become the Jordanian-sponsored standard of behavior on the Temple Mount. This has been the contribution of Jordan’s much-ballyhooed “special role” condition.

It is not like King Abdullah can’t control things if he wanted to. I can assure you that not a single word of criticism against Abdullah is heard on the Temple Mount from any Palestinian preacher, just as not a single mild word of criticism against Abdullah is allowed out of the mouths of any sermonizer in mosques across Jordan. . . . But apparently at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem no such censorship exists. At the most sensitive, explosive, holy site in the world, everything goes, especially anti-Semitic and genocidal anti-Israel incitement—under the allegedly benevolent and hypothetically moderate watch of King Abdullah of Jordan.
Holy False Reuters Continues to Insist Jordan is Custodian of Jerusalem’s Christian Sites
Reuters, which promises “independence, integrity and freedom of bias” in news gathering, is digging down on the false claim that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the custodian of Christianity’s holy sites in Jerusalem.

In his Jan. 24 article, Suleiman Al-Khalidi erroneously reported: “Jerusalem is a particularly sensitive issue for Jordan’s Hashemite royal family as it is the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy sites in the eastern part of the city” (“King Abdullah meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in surprise Jordan visit, royal court says“).

While Jordan is custodian of the Muslim holy sites in the eastern parts of Jerusalem, it is not custodian of the Christian sites. The Israeli-Jordanian agreement regarding Jerusalem holy sites does not, in fact, deal with Christian shrines at all. It recognizes Jordan’s special role regarding only Muslim shrines, as quoted on the Jordanian government’s website, which includes the full peace agreement: (Article 9, Paragraph II): “Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.”

Indeed, BBC Arabic recently apologized and corrected after twice publishing the same error, referring to “King Abdullah II, custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy places…” (May 10, 2021) and indirectly referred to Jerusalem’s “Muslim and Christian” holy places as one, in the context of Israeli and Jordanian approaches towards them, as though the two religions’ sanctuaries belong in the same category in both parties’ eyes (May 16). BBC acknowledged that “Jordan’s custodianship (or special role) in Jerusalem’s holy site… extends to Muslim sites only.”

When presented with this information, Reuters continued to insist that Jordan is the custodian, asserting, “The Jordanian Hashemite royal family’s custodianship of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem dates back to British-ruled mandatory Palestine in 1920s.” Furthermore, said the news agency, “In 2013, after the Oslo peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, an agreement between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority recognized Jordan’s role in Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites.”
FDD: Captagon: Assad’s Deadly Drug Of Choice Expands To Israel
Israel’s Ministry of Defense thwarted an attempt to smuggle thousands of captagon tablets into the Gaza Strip last week. The news was overshadowed by soaring tensions, amidst continued unrest in the West Bank and the firing of rockets out of the Hamas controlled-Gaza Strip.

The pills, hidden inside a shipment of office refrigerators, were en route from the West Bank when they were seized by Israeli security forces at the Tarqumiyah border crossing. Israel’s exposure to the captagon trade can no longer be ignored.

What is Captagon?
Captagon, known colloquially as the “poor man’s cocaine,” is an amphetamine-type stimulant illicitly produced in the Levant. While it is primarily trafficked in Jordan and the Gulf states, the captagon trade has started to spill beyond its traditional borders. Captagon is slowly but surely evolving into a broader regional problem that merits a coordinated intervention. The drug bust in Israel this week validates this changing reality.

Originally, “Captagon” was the brand name for a legal drug containing fenethylline and prescribed to treat conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and depression. Fenethylline, however, was made widely illegal in the 1980s, forcing captagon production underground. Since then, counterfeit captagon production has proliferated; today’s highly addictive pills bear little, if any, chemical resemblance to their predecessors.

Today, the captagon industry is concentrated in Syria and Lebanon, where civil war, financial collapse, and the crippling effects of US and European sanctions left Iranian proxies strapped for cash. In search of new revenue streams, the Bashar al-Assad regime and Hezbollah resorted to captagon production and sales. And it proved to be a financial boon.
Israeli soldier succumbs to wounds sustained in Jerusalem attack
Twenty-two-year-old Israeli soldier Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed died on Monday evening from wounds sustained earlier in the day in a terrorist attack at a checkpoint to Shuafat in eastern Jerusalem.

A 13-year-old Arab assailant stabbed Sawaed after he and a civilian guard had boarded a bus during a routine inspection at the checkpoint, police said. The guard then opened fire at the suspect, accidentally hitting Sawaed.

He was evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center with stab wounds to the head and a bullet wound to the thigh, according to reports, where he was pronounced dead.

The terrorist was subsequently arrested.

It came just hours after a teenager was stabbed and lightly to moderately injured in a terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Magen David Adom said its personnel treated a fully conscious 17-year-old male near the Western Wall, who was stabbed at the Chain Gate entrance to the Temple Mount.

The victim was taken in stable condition to the city’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.
The policeman Asil Su'ad, who was killed this evening in the attack in Shu'fat, is the 17th martyr from the Su'ad tribe! His fall is yet another bloody price we are paying for the covenant of life we have made with our Jewish brothers in the Land of Israel. And another reminder that terrorism does not distinguish between anyone, we are all Israelis, and we will all continue to fight shoulder to shoulder for our safety! May your memory be blessed with asil.


FDD: Israel Strikes Hamas Rocket Factory
Expert Analysis
“Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are signaling an end to the general calm that prevailed through the latter half of last year. Gaza-based terrorist groups sense instability in Israel, largely due to the ongoing violence in the West Bank and political strife that has spurred massive protests in many Israeli cities. By gradually destabilizing the Gaza front, Hamas and other terror organizations can mount more pressure on an Israeli government in the throes of a significant period of terrorism and political uncertainty.” — Joe Truzman, Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

A Context of Increasing Violence
The instability in Gaza comes amid increasing Palestinian terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. Hours after the Israeli strike, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli near the Temple Mount. Shortly thereafter, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli at the checkpoint to the Shuafat refugee camp.

On Friday, a Palestinian terrorist rammed a car into a bus stop, murdering a 20-year-old man and a six-year-old boy. A third victim, the latter’s eight-year-old brother, died of his wounds the next day. In January, a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue following Shabbat evening prayers. Palestinian terrorist groups may view Israel as weak and unprepared given Israel’s inability to prevent this wave of assaults on Israeli civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday pledged “broader action” against Palestinian terrorism.

Palestinians Blame Israel
Some Palestinian officials have asserted that the recent spike in terrorist attacks is the result of new Israeli policies that the Netanyahu government has implemented since taking office in late December. This conflicts with available data showing 29 Israelis were killed in Israel and the West Bank in 2022 before Netanyahu took office, with the total number of terrorist attacks gradually increasing over the course of the year.


The Israel Guys: IDF Makes UNDERCOVER Arrest in a Palestinian Town *Rare Footage*
An Arab terrorist rammed his vehicle at high speed into a bus stop full of people in Jerusalem on Friday killing two children and a 20-year-old Israeli man. While most of the world condemned this attack, the Palestinian people are hailing him a hero.

Israel’s response to this attack is to legalize nine Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and build 10,000 new homes. Israel responds to terror with more life.

I also show you an epic video of the IDF going undercover to arrest a wanted terrorist in a Palestinian village. Plus, I have some actual footage of the Iron Dome Shooting down a rocket from Gaza.




IDF jails soldier for 10 days for assaulting Palestinian activist in Hebron
The initial investigation of the incident cited by Kan news said the soldier told Amro he could not pass through the area. Amro filmed the soldier and continued to walk forward. The soldier then told the activist to wait for an officer to show up.

The soldier claimed, according to Kan, that Amro began yelling expletives and hit him. And in response, the soldier pushed Amro to the ground and kicked him.

The IDF said the soldier was to be jailed for ten days, after which, his commanders would decide if he is to be permanently dismissed from combat roles.

“The IDF views any violent behavior with severity, and condemns it,” the statement added.

Among The New Yorker journalists was Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright.

“I never had a source assaulted in front of me until today when an Israeli soldier who stopped my interview did this with a Palestinian peace activist Issa Amro in Hebron. I can’t stop thinking how dehumanizing the occupation is on the young soldiers charged with enforcing it,” Wright said on Twitter.

In November, Amro filmed an Israeli soldier in Hebron taunting him and other activists. A second clip from the same incident showed another soldier assaulting a left-wing activist. Both soldiers were given short jail sentences.

Amro is a prominent activist who lives alongside the Jewish settlement in Hebron.

He is a longtime critic of both Israel and the PA who has faced charges in both Israeli and Palestinian courts. In 2017, Amro spent a week in prison for his criticism of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

During a recent remand hearing, a police representative testified against Amro, calling him a provocateur who “creates friction” in Hebron with his tours for Israelis and others in the city.
PMW: Fatah praises child killer for “continuing the path” of other terrorists
Yaakov Yisrael Paley and Asher Menachem Paley were 2 brothers, aged 6 and 8, who were brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a car ramming attack last week. Alter Shlomo Lederman, aged 19, was also killed together with them as they were all waiting at a bus stop in Jerusalem. An off-duty Israeli police officer shot terrorist Hussein Karake, thereby ending his attack.

The murdered children Yaakov Yisrael Paley and Asher Menachem Paley

Child killer Hussein Karake has since been praised and eulogized as “a Martyr” by the PA, Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization, and the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club.

The Fatah Movement in the Deheisheh refugee camp “eulogized Martyr Hussein through the loudspeakers of the camp’s mosques,” while a Fatah spokespersonpraised him for continuing in the footsteps of other terrorists, using the PA euphemism “Martyrdom seeker”:
“[Karake is] a son of the Deheisheh refugee camp, a Martyrdom seeker, who is continuing the path of the Martyrs who preceded him.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

Distorting reality, the official PA daily ignored the fact that Karake carried out a deadly attack, and declared that he was “shot by settlers” and “died as a Martyr”:
“Yesterday, Friday [Feb. 10, 2023], young Hussein Khaled Karake, 32, was shot by settlers and died as a Martyr.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

Official PA TV mimicked the claim:
Official PA TV newsreader: “Young Hussein Karake, 30, died as a Martyr from serious wounds after settlers opened fire on him at the Nabi Samwil Junction in northwest occupied Jerusalem.”

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2023]

The PFLP also praised Karake, who was apparently a member of the terror organization, by calling him a Martyr:
“In addition, the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] (PFLP) eulogized the Martyr as did the factions’ coordination committee, which conveyed ‘its sincere condolences to his comrades in the PFLP for the past year and the relatives of the Martyr.’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

In its usual way, the PA presented the terrorist murderer as an innocent man who “died as a Martyr from serious wounds after settlers opened fire on him,” stating that “the Israeli media outlets claimed that the Martyr ran over a group of settlers.”[Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2023]
PMW: Fatah: Murderer of 7 is “hero” who “took revenge” for dead terrorists
Official PA TV News, on the death of terrorist Abdallah Qalalweh, who attempted to attack an Israeli soldier

Fatah Secretary in Al-Judeida village Abu Maryam: “Our people in Jerusalem took revenge for the heroes of the Jenin [refugee] camp (i.e., terrorists). Khairy Alqam (i.e., terrorist, murdered 7), the Martyr, the Martyrdom-seeker, the hero who took revenge for the Martyrs of the Jenin [refugee] camp– this is national unity.” [Official PA TV News, Feb. 3, 2023]

Jenin gun battle, January 2023 - Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers while they were conducting a counter-terror operation in Jenin on Jan. 26, 2023. In the ensuing gun battle 8 terrorists, including PA police officer and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) member Izz Al-Din Salahat, were killed, as was 1 Palestinian civilian. The soldiers were in Jenin to arrest a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist and prevent an imminent terror attack.

Khairy Alqam - 21-year-old Arab terrorist and resident of Jerusalem who shot and murdered 6 Israelis and 1 Ukrainian national - Asher Natan, 14, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Natali Ziskin Mizrahi, 45, Eli Mizrahi, 48, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Irina Korolyova, 60, and Shaul Chai, 68 - and wounded 5 others outside of the Ateret Avraham Synagogue in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov on Sabbath eve, Jan. 27, 2023, as some of them were coming out from prayers in the synagogue. Alqam fled the scene in a car and then opened fire on Israeli police officers, who shot and killed him. The attack took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.


PMW: “I want Martyrdom… [I act] only for Allah” – dead terrorist’s last words to his mother
An interview is shown with the mother of terrorist Malek Awni Lafi, one of 5 Hamas terrorists who shot at Israeli soldiers and were killed, after previously being involved in a shooting at an Israeli restaurant.

Official PA TV reporter: “How was the last meeting between you and your son [Malek Awni Lafi], whose death as a Martyr was announced today? …

Mother of terrorist Malek Awni Lafi: “I saw him as a lion, an upright lion. He was dressed in black, with his flak jacket. He embraced me and said: “Here is the rifle, mom… This is what I want. I want Martyrdom. I’m not interested in the faction. I don’t belong to any faction. [I act] only for Allah.”
[Official PA TV News, Feb. 6, 2023]

Rafat Wael Aweidat, Ibrahim Wael Aweidat, Malek Awni Lafi, Adham Majdi Aweidat, and Thaer Aweidat – Palestinian terrorists and members of the Hamas terror organization who shot at Israeli forces conducting a counter-terror operation in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp south of Jericho on Feb. 6, 2023. The forces returned fire, killing the 5 terrorists. Israeli forces were in the camp to arrest a Hamas terror cell that shot at an Israeli restaurant at Almog Junction in the Jordan Valley on Jan. 28, 2023 – all 5 terrorists were involved in that shooting attack. Israeli forces arrested 2 senior Hamas members in the operation.


Hamas Calls on Palestinian Minors to Fight Israeli ‘Aggression’ as Teenagers Mount Attacks in Jerusalem
The Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas has urged young Palestinians to step up their fight against Israel on the day that one Israeli was killed and another injured in two separate attacks carried out by Palestinian teenagers.

Muhammad Bassel Fathi Zalbani, a 13-year old resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in eastern Jerusalem, was detained by security forces after he stabbed a police officer at the camp’s entrance on Monday night. The wounded officer, named as Asil Suaed, underwent treatment at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he later died.

The attack in Shuafat came just hours after a 17-year-old Israeli male was stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City by a 14-year-old Palestinian who is also a Shuafat resident. The victim told police he was knifed in the back while walking near the Temple Mount and that he managed to flee to the Western Wall after being attacked. He is reported to now be in a stable condition.

Both assailants were apprehended by the police and are now in custody.

In a statement on Monday, Hamas lauded the attacks as “heroic operations” that had been provoked by the Israeli government’s decision on Sunday to legalize nine Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank.

“Our youth will deal with the occupation’s aggression and the extremist government’s fascism with courage and violence,” Hamas declared.
What’s Really Happening in Gaza
While a member of Congress denounces Israel as an apartheid state, Palestinians are beginning to stand up to Hamas.

Last Wednesday, Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) drew attention after she chose to fly a flag used by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) outside of her office and, not for the first time, decried Israel as an “apartheid” state. Yet, Tlaib has remained silent amid recent revelations about human-rights abuses perpetrated against Palestinians.

Palestinians in Gaza are standing up to Hamas. For nearly two decades, the terrorist group has maintained an iron grip on its coastal enclave. But rumblings of discontent are growing louder, and one American organization is doing its utmost to make sure they’re heard.

The Center for Peace Communications (CPC) is a New York-based nonprofit that works to “grow peace between peoples” in the Middle East and North Africa. The NGO has recently launched a project called Whispered in Gaza, which seeks to elevate the voices of everyday Gazans living under Hamas rule.

Being a dissident in Gaza is certainly dangerous. In his 2004 book, The Case for Democracy, the Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician Natan Sharansky argued that there were two types of societies: a “free society” and a “fear society.” He formulated a simple test to discern which category a given society fell into: Can one enter a public square and express any opinion without fear of being arrested? And in Gaza, the answer is tragically clear.

Gaza residents who spoke to the CPC for the Whispered in Gaza campaign — a multipart series featuring animated interviews, which use animation and voice-altering technologies to protect the interviewees’ identities — have no illusions about their Hamas rulers. They know the risks of speaking out. But as the CPC’s president, Joseph Braude, has said, they “want these stories to be heard.”


Assad hates Israel more than he loves his people
Who sent the most volunteers and were among the first on the scene to assist in the rescue of the victims of the earthquake in Turkey?

Israel, of course.

Yifat Erlich reported in Israel Hayom that an IDF rescue team and hundreds of volunteers from other organizations were working feverishly to find survivors amidst the rubble.

“The conditions in their make-shift camps are not easy, and rescuers have no access to running water or electricity, and sleeping on the floor in the bitter cold,” Ehrlich related. “The team— consisting of 500 people—has been working non-stop since Tuesday, racing against time and in the conditions of the winter cold. No one stopped to eat or sleep, despite the fact that they had been at it for over 48 hours. By early Wednesday morning, they had already managed to rescue several people, including a 2-year-old child and a 23-year-old woman.”

At least 19 people have been rescued by Israelis in what the IDF is calling Operation Olive Branches.

Israel is doing this in a country that only recently restored diplomatic relations. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spent the last several years attacking Israel and, even today, after reconciling with Jerusalem, allows Hamas officials in Istanbul to plan operations. Rejecting Israel’s request that they be expelled, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in October, “We didn’t satisfy any request on Hamas, because we don’t perceive Hamas as a terror group.”

Still, Israel sent rescuers.

Meanwhile, across the border in Syria, thousands of victims of the quake were dying due to a lack of assistance. Israel offered to send its finest to help there too but President Bashar Assad would rather see his people die than accept help from Israel.
Biden Move To Halt Syria Sanctions Will Boost Assad, Critics Say
A Biden administration decision to halt sanctions on Syria will prop up dictator Bashar al-Assad and make it easier for his regime to steal humanitarian assistance, according to Republican lawmakers and regional experts, who argue that current U.S. sanctions already include carveouts for humanitarian aid that can reach the country in the wake of a massive earthquake that killed 33,000.

The Treasury Department late last week issued a license that freezes all measures prohibiting financial transactions in Syria, according to a copy of the authorization reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. The license was meant to make humanitarian aid reach the country more easily, but sources said it is unnecessary and so broad that it will allow Assad to siphon international aid money to pay for his war on opposition groups, which has been ongoing for 12 years.

"President Biden's Syria general license has no controls to prevent diversions that could allow aid money to end up in the hands of the regime," Sen. James Risch (R., Idaho), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Free Beacon. "It is misguided, and will be a windfall to Assad."

The authorization is an unnecessary gift to Assad because U.S. sanctions already include exceptions for humanitarian aid, according to Risch. The Biden administration has tried several times since taking office to waive a range of sanctions on Syria as part of what sources described as a bid to normalize Assad's regime. The recent earthquake has provided the administration with an opportunity to water down sanctions, creating a "dangerous precedent," according to Risch and other Republican lawmakers. Iran and Russia, Assad's main patrons, have already used the earthquake as an excuse to reinforce the dictator's regime.
The U.S. Is Quietly Leaving the Door Open to a New Iran Deal
On Friday, the White House announced that it will continue to waive sanctions on Russian and Chinese businesses assisting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. The renewal of this six-month waiver, reports that the U.S. envoy for Iran has thrice met with the Iranian UN ambassador in the past few weeks, and other off-the-radar policy decisions all suggest that Washington has not given up its hopes of restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement. This despite Tehran’s support for the Russian war in Ukraine, its coziness with China, and its ruthless suppression of mass demonstrations. Richard Goldberg comments.

The fundamental failing of the 2015 agreement was its legitimization of Iran’s illicitly built nuclear infrastructure and capabilities without first requiring a complete and verifiable accounting of the regime’s past work on nuclear weapons. Thus Iran was able to keep its Natanz and Fordow uranium-enrichment facilities and continue low-level enrichment on Iranian soil without even admitting it had violated its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). These concessions allowed Iran to keep its pathways to nuclear weapons intact, advance its technical knowhow through research and development, and preserve its option to restart higher-level enrichment at any time.

Take, for example, the Fordow facility near the Iranian city of Qom, which Iran had kept secret until exposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in 2009. A peaceful civil nuclear-energy program does not require secret domestic enrichment since nuclear fuel for reactors can be imported with proper nonproliferation safeguards in place. All the more so, an enrichment facility buried underneath a mountain can have only one objective in mind. . . . But rather than require the facility’s irreversible dismantling, the deal allowed Iran to keep more than 1,000 centrifuges at the site, and invited Russia to partner on radioisotope production.

The United States, the United Kingdom, France, or Germany could kill off the [2015 deal] for good at any moment by simply sending a letter to the Security Council requesting a snapback of UN sanctions on Iran. Yet they quite intentionally choose not to do so. They also choose not formally to declare Iran in noncompliance with the NPT at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) despite Iran’s refusal to cooperate with a four-year-long investigation into undeclared nuclear sites and materials.




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