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Thursday, February 16, 2023

02/16 Links Pt1: Why keep pretending that Jews building homes prevents peace?; When Is Terror Not Terror? When the Victims Are Jews; Pompeo calls Abbas a ‘known terrorist’

From Ian:

The “Two-State Solution” and the Arab Palestinians: Partition or Politicide?
“Justice for Palestine” and the Strategy of Phases
At present, the main advocates of the idea of “territorial compromise” are Israel’s enemies, along with well-meaning outsiders and “progressive” Israelis. For the Arab Palestinians, the basic objective is to achieve “justice” by means of “armed struggle.” One need only consult Article 21 of the Palestinian Covenant:
The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substituting for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization.4

Further, one cannot overlook the PLO’s “authentic genocide message.” For example, Daniel Pipes published a reader’s comment in the Middle East Forum stating that the PLO’s first chairman, Ahmad al-Shukeiri (Shuqayrī) (1908–80), coined the phrase “Driving the Jews into the sea,”/“Throwing the Jews into the sea.” The contributor [who most likely was Prof. Barry Rubin of the IDC, Herzliya] observed: “After the Six-Day War, realizing the great damage it has done to Arabs, Arab propagandists, including Shukairy himself, tried somehow to ‘transform’ his statement from the meaning of annihilation to the meaning of ‘transfer’ of Jews (or ‘ethnic cleansing’), but it was too late, the clarity of his authentic genocide message was already publicized.”5

Indeed, in a 1972 interview with Oriana Fallaci, and, later, in 1980, Yassir Arafat stated the Palestinian position succinctly: “Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else.”6 During a visit to Venezuela in February 1980, he elaborated on this theme:
Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war that will last for generations …. We shall not rest until the day when we return to our home, and until we destroy Israel …. The destruction of Israel is the goal of our struggle, and the guidelines of that struggle have remained firm since the establishment of Fatah in 1965.7

Over time, intransigent pronouncements and terrorist attacks, such as Black September (1970) and the Munich Massacre at the Olympics (1972) harmed the Arab Palestinian cause. Consequently, the PLO needed to repair its image in order to achieve its political goals. On the prompting of the Soviet Union, the Politbureau of North Vietnam coached a PLO delegation.

As early as February 1970, Salah Khalaf, a.k.a. Abu Iyad, led a PLO delegation to Hanoi where they met the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap. Their political experts advised them how to manipulate the Western media and transform their public image from terrorists to “moderates.” Abu Iyad described this important encounter in his book, My Home, My Land, a series of interviews with Eric Rouleau published in 1978.
Jonathan Tobin: Why keep pretending that Jews building homes prevents peace?
Biden and even his European allies know that the places where new homes will be built in Judea and Samaria will never become part of even a theoretical Palestinian state. Already, more than 500,000 Jews live in the parts of Judea and Samaria that were labeled as “Area C” in the Oslo Accords, plus another 250,000 who live in Jerusalem but who are also considered to be “settlers” by the world, if not by most Israelis.

None of them are going to be chucked out of their homes to create a Palestinian state that would also include “Area C.” Still, the more the world continues to act as if that were a possibility, the less likely it is that the next Palestinian leadership, which will eventually succeed 87-year-old P.A. head Mahmoud Abbas (currently serving the 19th year of the four-year term he was elected to back in 2005), understands that if they want sovereignty over any part of the country, they’ll have to concede the areas where Jewish communities exist.

It’s not just the fact that no one complains about Palestinian construction in this area, which is just as much an effort to create facts on the ground as Israel’s housing starts. It’s that the branding of “settlements” as illegal and subject to eviction is a standing incitement to more terrorism, as well as intransigence.

The existence of these communities hasn’t prevented a two-state solution, and they won’t stop one in the future if the Palestinians want it since they can have their own state without also taking the places where Jews currently reside.

If foreign governments and so-called human-rights groups really wanted to end the cycle of violence, then they would ditch the cycle of diplomatic condemnations of Israel that help reinforce the Palestinian mindset that Israel is an illegitimate nation that can eventually be destroyed. It may be too much to hope that the foreign-policy establishment ever acquires the wisdom to understand just how mistaken it is about the conflict. But if they did, they’d know that their supposedly well-intentioned advocacy for two states is a far greater obstacle to peace than any housing plan.
When Is Terror Not Terror? When the Victims Are Jews
In the aftermath of the shooting of seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem, one of the deadliest mass shootings in over a decade, many media outlets including the New York Times carefully avoided the word "terror." In 2022, the Times mentioned Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah in its headlines only eight times throughout the entire year. Only one mention of Hamas and Hizbullah was negative. Islamic Jihad was mentioned negatively twice. By comparison, 192 headlines mentioned Israel in a negative or critical tone.

In total, 53% of New York Times' news coverage of Israel was negative in tone, compared with 11% that was positive. Between January and October 2022, before the new government was elected, 60% of op-eds were negative towards Israel. After the election, the negative tone became more extreme.

According to the Israel Security Agency (ISA), there were 2,618 terror events in 2022, 204 of them significant (shootings, bombings, stabbings, or intentional car ramming). Another 472 significant attacks were thwarted. The Times has stressed that most of the Palestinians killed were not terrorists, whereas IDF data shows the exact opposite.

The Times is obsessed with Israel but offers the world a monochromatic picture of the situation. Its journalistic failing contributes to the growing hatred of the world's only Jewish state, and the global rise in antisemitism that comes with it.
Bassam Tawil: European Union, Biden Administration Embrace Palestinian Lies
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas continues to rewrite history. On Feb. 12, Abbas addressed an Arab League conference in Cairo and repeated his false claim that there was no connection between Jews and Jerusalem, as well as the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, part of the retaining wall from the Second Temple of Solomon that was destroyed in 70 CE - more than 500 years before the Islamic Prophet Mohammad was born. Abbas also once again argued that Israel was created because the Europeans wanted to get rid of the Jews living in their countries, when in fact the Jews have continuously lived in area since at least 1550 BCE.

Two days after Abbas' latest attempt to rewrite history, his friends in the Biden administration and some European countries issued a joint statement attacking Israel for advancing plans to build new homes for Jewish families in the West Bank, claiming that this would "exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians."

It is the Palestinian leadership's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people and to erase history that is exacerbating tensions between Israelis and Jews. It is the Palestinian leadership's massive campaign of incitement against Israel and Jews and continued glorification of terrorists that is aggravating tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Abbas made it clear in Cairo that the Arabs' problem with Israel started back in 1917, when the Jews were promised a homeland of their own. The conflict started long before the construction of even one house for Jews in the West Bank.
In Israel, Blinken Is Betting on the Wrong Peace Process
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited Israel and the West Bank, and said that normalization is "not a substitute for progress between Israelis and Palestinians." In other words: Washington wants to tether Israel's warming relations with the wider Arab world to the progress of negotiations with the Palestinians that have gone nowhere for the last fifteen years. By linking these two efforts, Blinken is likely guaranteeing the failure of both.

Palestinians see the PA as both corrupt and incapable of preserving law and order. It has no mandate to make the difficult compromises necessary for peace with Israel. Israelis know they have no credible partner with whom to negotiate peace. Four Israeli prime ministers from different political parties offered compromises in the name of peace over the years, but Palestinian leaders rejected them all. The PA continues rewarding terrorists and their families with handsome salaries for killing and maiming Jews.

It makes no sense for Blinken to create a linkage between advancing regional normalization and the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The normalization track has particular value for Washington because it is building a robust regional alliance to serve as a bulwark against Iran.
Draft Security Council resolution demands immediate halt to ‘settlement activities’
The United Arab Emirates has drafted a UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel to immediately cease all settlement activity, and the Palestinian Mission to the UN, which lobbied for the measure, is urging members of the top panel to hold a vote as early as Monday, three UN diplomats told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

The resolution was drafted in response to an announcement by Israel on Sunday that it would be legalizing nine outposts and advancing plans for some 10,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank in response to a series of terror attacks in Jerusalem.

The draft resolution, obtained by The Times of Israel, demands that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The resolution “reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”

It condemns “all Israeli settlement activities and all other unilateral measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians.”

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and considers it part of its undivided capital. As for the West Bank, it has stopped short of formally annexing the territory but successive governments have expanded Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line and the new government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is principally supportive of the measure.

The UAE’s UN Security Council resolution — first reported by Reuters — condemns moves toward annexation by Israel, including outpost legalizations.
Leaked UNSC resolution demands Israel completely halt settlement building

PMW: Major PMW success: PMW initiated law passed by huge Knesset majority
Yesterday, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) adopted a law that was initiated, formulated and originally written by Palestinian Media Watch. While the current Israeli Knesset is highly polarized, PMW’s law was adopted by broad, possibly unprecedented, consensus of both the coalition and the opposition, with 94 out of the 120 Knesset members of voting in favor of the law.

The “Law to cancel the citizenship or residency of a terrorist who receives a payment for the commission of an act of terror,” provides that an Israeli citizen or resident who fulfills three cumulative criteria - Convicted of a terror offense; sentenced to actual prison time; requests and receives a payment from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for their acts of terror - will be stripped of their Israeli citizenship or residency.

Before the final vote on the law, Israeli Minister Avi Dichter, specifically noted the PMW’s contribution:
Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Avi Dicter: “The problem was a very serious problem: Israeli [Arabs] who engage in terror, including those who murdered Israelis, receive a status of Palestinian Authority employee the day they enter prison in Israel, from the day of their arrest until the end of their lives. Whether in prison or outside of prison, they are PA employees because they are terrorists. Here I owe a word of praise to the Palestinian Media Watch institute and to the one responsible for legal matters there [PMW Director of Legal Strategies] Maurice Hirsch, who truly invested day and night to gather the information that truly shines light on a phenomenon that we have been living alongside, living alongside it for years, and allowing it to pass.”

[Knesset Channel (Israeli public TV), Feb. 15, 2023]

The underlying rationale of the law is that the PA sees all the imprisoned terrorists - including the Israeli Arab terrorists to whom they pay a special addition - as Palestinians, as soldiers and as the “fighting sector” of Palestinian society. The terrorists also see themselves as Palestinian soldiers. When an Israeli citizen or resident carries out an act of terror, acting as a soldier of a foreign and hostile entity, and then receives a payment from that foreign entity as a reward for his participation in terror, that person is fundamentally breaching his duty of loyalty to the State of Israel, and is, by his own actions, demonstrating that he should no longer be considered to be and “Israeli.”

Research presented by PMW during the Knesset committee discussions on the bill showed that it would in no way be unique to Israel. Rather, that it reflected broad international consensus and was grounded in international law.
Israeli minister praises PMW for role in law to strip citizenship from Israeli Arab terrorists



Warning: PA Senior Official Devising Ways to Defeat Israel’s ‘Full Right’ Government
Ashraf al-Ajrami, the former minister of prisoners’ affairs in the Palestinian Authority and part of the Israeli-Arab group behind the 2003 Geneva Initiative, this month published a lengthy policy brief on the website of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which is behind the only reliable public opinion surveys in the PA and Gaza. Titled, “Confronting the New Israeli Government,” al-Ajrami’s brief reveals the general trepidation on the other side regarding the new Benjamin Netanyahu government.

“In reality, we are dealing with an extreme right-wing government that engraves on its banner the killing of the idea of a political settlement based on the two-state solution on the borders of the fourth of June 1967. Instead, it will seek with all its strength to permanently block this idea. All the coalition parties, especially the trio of Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir, do not even support maintaining the bad status quo as it is but will escalate things further. They certainly pose a grave and immediate threat to Palestinian national rights and aspirations,” al-Ajrami writes.

He proposes to “shed light on the changes taking place in the Israeli policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after the formation of the new government, the extent of its threat and impact on the reality in the Palestinian territories and on the overall national cause.”

“But it mainly addresses what Palestinians can and should do to avoid the risks resulting from the developing threat and preserve national rights,” al-Ajrami notes, suggesting his paper “takes into consideration the magnitude of the domestic Israeli, regional and international opposition to the fledgling government’s policy.”

After reviewing the “fundamental changes in Israel’s political system,” al-Ajrami examines “What would a Palestinian confrontational strategy look like?”
Christiane Amanpour’s Dubious, and Likely Fabricated, Polling Data
In yet another display of Christiane Amanpour’s prioritization of her disdain for Israel over journalistic integrity, the CNN anchor appears to have fabricated poll results to falsely suggest that the Palestinian side supports the two-state solution with Israel.

The comments came during her interview with former Israeli ambassador Yael German on February 14, 2023. Toward the end of the interview, Amanpour asked Ambassador German: “I want to know from you, as a diplomat, is there any hope for anything resembling negotiations on a two-state solution, given that the settlements and the settlement-believers are emboldened by now their backers who are in government?”

Ambassador German answered by pointing out the unwillingness of Palestinian leaders to agree to repeated offers of statehood and to live side by side with Israel. She also argued that the Palestinian people generally refuse to accept the existence of a Jewish state.

Amanpour responded first by downplaying the extent of Palestinian rejectionism of the Jewish state, saying only “some people” believe that, and then, without providing any specific source, claimed: “The latest polls from the Palestinian side also show that they want a peaceful, two-state solution to co-exist with you.”

It’s unclear what “latest polls” Amanpour might be referring to, given that every major recent poll from the Palestinian side shows exactly the opposite.

Recent polling by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) has consistently shown low support for a two-state solution. A June 2022 poll found that only 28% of Palestinians support the concept of a two-state solution. In September, that figure rose to 37%, but dropped again in December to 32%.
JPost Editorial: Lapid should use judicial reform protest success to compromise of the opportunity.
Lapid wants to use anti-reform protests to bring down the government
Fresh off of addressing the massive rally in Jerusalem on Monday that brought out some 100,000 people in the middle of a work day, Lapid obviously feels that the momentum is in his favor.

Although the sheer size, passion and longevity the protests are impressive, they are not an end to themselves – they are a tool for getting the coalition to step back from the scope of the proposed judicial reform.

That the coalition is saying it is willing to negotiate is a positive development that should be seized.

The problem, however, seems to be that Lapid is interpreting the protests differently and trying to seize the moment not only to alter the reform, but also to bring down the government.

This makes perfect sense. After all, Lapid is the leader of the opposition, whose job, as traditionally perceived in this country, is to hasten the government’s end.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did this last year when he was opposition leader. But he was able to bring down the government through parliamentary moves inside the Knesset because the Bennett-Lapid government had such a slim majority. Netanyahu’s own coalition is broader – and Lapid, unlike then-opposition leader Netanyahu, cannot bring down the government through the defection of one or two disgruntled MKs.

But Lapid can possibly bring down the government by harnessing the protests and current atmosphere of domestic crisis for his own political needs. Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi said honestly in Rothman’s committee on Monday that negotiations would take the wind out of the demonstrations.

Lapid understands this and, as a result, is in no great hurry to enter into those negotiations. The demonstrations serve his purposes: not only to alter the judicial reform, but also to bring down the government.

The problem is that in the process, the country is on a collision course and leaders – including those in the opposition – need to do what they can to prevent a head-on crash. That is what Israel needs right now.
Alan Dershowitz's 3 compromises to fix Israeli judicial reform - opinion
My proposed compromise would give both sides much of what they want without substantially curtailing either majority power or minority rights.

As to the second area of dispute, no democratic nation has devised a system for selecting high court justices that is perfect. Some, like in the US, are too political. Others, like in Israel, are too elitist. The trend in most countries is away from elitism and in favor of greater diversity. An appropriate balance must be struck between selecting for professional excellence and assuring that no group is omitted.

One way of striking that balance is to require more than a simple majority of the selecting body for approval, as Israel currently does. This encourages consensus candidates who have multi-partisan support. It also results in some good prospects being passed over and delays filling seats.

But these are prices worth paying to assure the highest quality of non-partisan judges, who will serve for many years. There is room for some reform of the current process, such as eliminating the veto by the three judges who are currently on the committee that requires seven of nine votes.

The key is to assure that the pendulum doesn’t swing too far away from excellence and toward partisanship. As the Torah commands judges: “lo takir panim” – do not recognize faces (or political parties).

Neither of these proposals is written in stone. Other proposals should be considered as long as the two primary principles – Supreme Court authority over core issues of liberty, and a non-partisan selection process – are followed. The rest, as Hillel said, “is commentary.” Both sides should keep open minds and welcome principled compromise.

In that spirit, I offer a third proposal: The president’s office should sponsor, at the appropriate time, a series of high-level debates on each of the divisive issues. Only the president can provide non-partisan credibility to such an enterprise, which is consistent with his excellent and principled address.

These widely watched events – modeled after the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates – would demonstrate Israel’s commitment to the democratic resolution of contentious issues and would present Israel in its best light. They might also persuade the Israeli public that there are good arguments on both sides and that principled compromises are in the best interest of all Israelis.
Venice Commission: Israel reforms shouldn't risk judicial review, court independence
Israel's proposed judicial reforms shouldn’t jeopardize judicial review by an independent High Court of Justice, Venice Commission President Claire Bazy Malaurie said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Venice Commission has consistently stated that in a democratic country governed by the rule of law and respectful of fundamental rights, meaningful judicial review of the compatibility of laws, especially those affecting individual rights, with fundamental principles should be carried out by independent courts, whose decisions must be upheld and respected by all," said Malaurie. "These courts should be shielded from political interference, notably as concerns their composition. Decisions by apex courts should be final and binding on all state institutions and individuals."

Malaurie called the Israeli government, which has been a member of the commission since 2008, to respect these principles through a process of broad agreement.

The Venice Commission, officially the Commission for Democracy through Law, is a Council Of Europe body. According to its website, it supports "constitutional, legislative, or administrative reforms to ensure the progress of democracy, the protection of fundamental rights and the respect for the rule of law."

On Sunday's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee session, Labor MK Gilad Kariv said that he planned to petition Justice Minister Yariv Levin and President Isaac Herzog to contact the Venice Commission for advice.

Kariv's appeal regarding the commission came following a discussion on the security and international law impact of the judicial reform. Deputy Attorney-General on international law Gilad Noam had expressed concern that the international courts would claim jurisdiction over IDF soldiers and Israeli officials because Israel would ostensibly no longer have an independent and responsible court system.


Pompeo, weighing presidential run, calls Palestinian president a ‘known terrorist’
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who is considering running for the presidency in 2024, has said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is a “terrorist” and hedged on support for a two-state solution.

Pompeo, in comments made to the One Decision Podcast released on Thursday, also dismissed US concerns over the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul and expressed support for settlers.

He criticized the Obama administration for its negotiations with Abbas, referring to the Palestinian president by his nickname, Abu Mazen.

“Our theory of the case was this — what is in America’s best interest? Is it to sit and wait for Abu Mazen, a known terrorist who’s killed lots and lots of people, including Americans, and given those martyrs money, for having done so?” Pompeo said of the Trump administration’s approach. “We said that’s just not in America’s best interest.”

He did not offer evidence for the claim against Abbas during the talk with hosts Julia Macfarlane, a journalist; and former chief of the UK’s MI6 intelligence agency Sir Richard Dearlove.

The Palestinian Authority is affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, a US-designated terrorist group, and pays stipends to terrorists and their families. The payments have long been a point of contention between the US and the Palestinians.

Congress under the Trump administration passed the Taylor Force Act, which cut some aid to the Palestinians due to the stipends. The law was named after an American murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel in 2016.


Call Me Back Podcast: Check-in on the Abraham Accords – with Aryeh Lightstone
The Abraham Accords were signed in September 2020. This agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, marked the first full normalization agreement between Israel and an Arab country since the 1994 Jordan-Israel agreement. Soon after the September 2020 signing, Morocco and Sudan joined the Accords as well.

Since these historic breakthroughs, Israel has been through wild political swings, from a left-right coalition government that included Naftali Bennett from the Right, Yair Lapid from the center-Left, and Mansour Abbas from a Muslim-Arab party. Fast forward to today, there is a government of the Right led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been on this podcast.

And through it all, the Abraham Accords have endured. One of the architects of the accords was Aryeh Lightstone, who served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman from 2017 to 2021. On a recent trip to Israel, I sat down with Aryeh to hear the latest and also discuss his book, “Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace-and What Lies Ahead.”

Aryeh played a critical role in the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and he was a U.S. Government point person in the Middle East for the actualization of the Abraham Accords.
Israeli foreign minister visits war-torn Ukraine
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen arrived in Ukraine on Thursday for a solidarity visit ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the European nation.

Cohen is the first Israeli minister to travel to the war-torn country since the conflict erupted on Feb. 24, 2022.

“I came to say that Israel stands by Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in its difficult hour,” tweeted Cohen upon his arrival.

Cohen met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and was slated to have a sit-down with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The top Israeli diplomat is also attending a ceremony for the permanent reopening of the Israeli embassy in the Ukrainian capital.

Cohen arrived in Kyiv by overnight train from neighboring Poland. Due to security concerns, the trip was not announced until Thursday morning when he reached Bucha, the site of alleged Russian atrocities.

“It is impossible to remain indifferent in the face of the terrible sights and horror stories that I have heard and been exposed to here. Israel condemns any intentional harm to innocent people,” said Cohen.

He also toured Babyn Yar, where the Nazis and their local collaborators massacred 34,000 Jews over two days during the Holocaust.


Israel's best response to Palestinian terror is more settlements - opinion
It certainly makes no sense to hand over more land to the PA because appeasement is the worst policy and Palestinian terrorist gangs already have enough maneuvering room. Instead, with every terrorist outrage, Israel should take over more land and build, build, build.

It is in Israel’s national interest to develop the French Hill to Ma’aleh Adumim continuum (the E-1 quadrant) on Jerusalem’s north-eastern flank; to expand Givat Ze’ev southward to Ramot; to build in Atarot and in Givat Hamatos; and to complete the eastern ring road – all of which will strengthen Israel’s hold on its historic national capital.

It is in Israel’s national interest to promote significant settlement growth in the Jordan Valley, using economic incentives to attract new residents, and providing financing to help kibbutzim in this strategic sector fill in the large gaps between their farms.

It is in Israel’s national interest to thicken and promote rapid natural growth in the string of wonderful communities that line the Samarian ridge overlooking Gush Dan, from Alfei Menashe through Peduel, down to Nili and Kiryat Sefer.

The same expansion arguments hold true for the Dolev-Talmon block, which sits on the critical Yarkon-Tanninim aquifer; as well as settlements in the southern Hebron Hills, from Eshkolot to Carmel, which are but a few minutes away from Beersheba and Arad. Israel should move rapidly to build the planned Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem Mountain highway, intended to swing by Betar and nearby Gush Etzion.

With every terrorist outrage, the government should speed up construction, increase the building budget, expropriate more land and ever more grandly celebrate the start of each new neighborhood with fanfare and the International and Palestinian press invited.

A policy of proud settlement in response to terrorism, alongside continuing military action where possible, will allow Israel to regain the initiative, recover from a dangerous loss of self-confidence and exact a real price from the Palestinians for their recalcitrance and barbarity.

And if it scares a sobered Palestinian leadership back to the peace negotiating table, so much the better.
The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Israel's Defense Minister DESTROYED This ENTIRE Vineyard
Israel just approved the building of nearly 10,000 new housing units in Judea and Samaria. What was the world’s response? Complete outrage.

France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States all issued a joint statement condemning Israel for daring to build up their own land.

A vineyard was uprooted in Shiloh and huge counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria.


Steps to Counter the Protracted Wave of Palestinian Terrorism
To contend with the protracted wave of Palestinian terrorism, what is called for is the judicious use of the broad basket of means available, each of which provides a limited contribution, but whose cumulative impact might just be able to bring about the desired change.

A rapid and effective response is required at the very moment an attack is perpetrated. Attempted attacks that end one after another in the death, injury, or arrest of the attackers without them being able to cause damage, will not encourage copy-cats.

Prevent the glorification of terrorists. If the intelligence organizations have information that can harm the image of terrorists being portrayed as national Palestinian heroes, then they should make sure it is published and do everything to highlight it, to prevent such an individual from becoming a role model for others to imitate.

Destroy the houses of the perpetrators. In traditional Palestinian society, family plays a key role in a terrorist's life. So the fate awaiting the family could have a significant impact on a would-be terrorist's desire to engage in acts of violence. This is also designed to encouraging the family to step in and stop the would-be attacker as soon as they identify any suspicious, tell-tale signs.

Action should be taken to confiscate funds and assets belonging to the terrorist and to trace funds transferred to him or his family from the Palestinian Authority or various terrorist organizations. This would enable the authorities to prevent potential attackers from receiving any financial incentives.

Revoke the permanent residency status of inciters from eastern Jerusalem and deport them to Gaza or to other areas within the Palestinian Authority.


Coalition MK calls Palestinians ‘Palestinazis,’ urges TikTok ban in East Jerusalem
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s extremist Otzma Yehudit party continued Thursday to rail against the coalition, of which it is a member, for its policies toward the Palestinians.

One party member warned of a real threat to the government, advocated a “chokehold” on East Jerusalem neighborhoods, and repeatedly likened Palestinians to the Nazis.

Ben Gvir declared his disappointment Wednesday with the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after it uprooted trees planted illegally by a settler near Shiloh in the West Bank. He said the policy “cannot continue,” while also decrying an incident in which his party MK Limor Son Har-Melech said she was sexually assaulted by a police officer.

Ben Gvir’s threat regarding the continued cohesion of the coalition is “serious,” Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen told Radio 103FM on Thursday. “We joined the government on the basis of a promise that it will be a fully right-wing government, and this policy can’t continue.

“If we don’t get the relevant tools to restore personal safety, we won’t be part of the mission,” he said. “We don’t prefer the scenario of a left-wing government, but… we didn’t come to get lucrative jobs, but to create a change.”

On Wednesday, when Cohen was being interviewed by the Kan public broadcaster about the incident in the Shiloh settlement, he casually used the term “Palestinazi villages” when referring to Palestinian towns in the area.

“Had I known [the tree uprooting] was happening I would’ve been there myself and protested against the selective enforcement,” Cohen said. “It’s important to understand, this is an enclave between many Palestinazi villages, which come there and grab the land.”
Tank stolen from memorial for anti-judicial reform protest
Anti-judicial reform protesters stole a Yom Kippur War-era tank from a memorial site on the Golan Heights for use in a protest on Thursday.

Police recovered the armored vehicle on a flatbed truck near Kibbutz Gadot, just west of the Golan Heights. It had been taken by former soldiers who fought in the 1973 war and intended to use it as a prop in the protests against the government’s legal reform program.

The tank was draped with a large replica of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which was signed by the former IDF soldiers. They also spray-painted the word “Democracy” on the side of the tank.

A common theme at ongoing protests against the reforms is that they will bring about the “end of democracy.”

Matan Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu, a Zionist NGO, said, “The Israel Police must act immediately and file charges against those who stole military equipment. The theft of the tank is a direct result of the incitement of Aharon Barak who likened the legal reform to a revolution of tanks.”
Abbas’ advisor: The Al-Aqsa Mosque – with the Western Wall – is an exclusive permanent Islamic waqf
PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “The rights are indivisible – Give me 60% or 70% of my rights, and tell me: ‘That’s it, that’s yours, take it.’ Perhaps temporarily, yes. [But] strategically, no! … Our rights are non-negotiable. They want to negotiate over Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque – then by Allah, it is better [to be dead] in the belly of the earth than to be on its surface... There is no negotiation on [even] one millimeter of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount), which is an exclusive permanent Islamic waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law; see note below) according to a decision from Allah… This is our right, and whoever fights us over our right is an oppressor, and it is a duty to resist the oppressors.”
[Official PA TV, Jan. 20, 2023]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations.


The Nazis trained Jewish soldiers - Palestinian researcher distorts history
The Nazis trained Jewish soldiers “to carry out despicable acts of murder here without feeling anything” - Palestinian researcher distorts history

Researcher and author Aziz Al-Asa: “Many of the Jewish fighters during the Nakba (i.e., establishment of Israel, 1948) came from Germany… They were trained to carry out despicable acts of murder here without feeling anything, without using their humanity… Imagine that the Jewish soldiers used to kill and cry loudly… The Zionist movement reached an agreement with the German government that it would take the young people from the [concentration] camps, the young Jews, train them, and prepare them.” [Official PA TV, Debunking the Zionist Narrative, Feb. 4, 2023]


Jordanians Reject Israel, the U.S., and Iran
94% of Jordanians refuse Amman's recognition of Israel in line with the peace treaty signed in 1994, according to a poll by the Qatar-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, presented Monday at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.

87% considered the U.S. a great threat to the region, while 78% saw Iran as a security threat to the Arab world.
Nasrallah threatens violence against Israel if Lebanese gas development delayed
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel's Karish gas field again on Thursday, warning that if there is "procrastination" in extracting gas from Lebanese waters for Lebanon they will not let the Karish field continue to operate.

"If there is procrastination regarding the issue of oil and gas from Lebanese waters, will we allow Israel to continue extracting oil and gas from Karish? I tell you never, this means if you want us to starve, we will kill you, and I thought well of what I said," warned Nasrallah.

The Hezbollah leader added that the US "must be told to stay away" from the issue of gas and oil extraction off the coast of Lebanon.

In the months preceding the signing of the maritime border demarcation agreement between Israel and Lebanon last year, Nasrallah issued a series of similar threats against the Karish field. Hezbollah also launched a number of reconnaissance drones toward the gas field, most of which were shot down by the IDF. The day before the deal was signed, the Energean company began producing gas from the Karish field.

Earlier this week, Energean exported hydrocarbon liquids extracted from the Karish field to global markets, the first such export of hydrocarbon liquids in Israel's history.

Meanwhile, gas and oil exploration is going slowly off the coast of Lebanon. Last month, QatarEnergy, Qatar's state-owned oil and gas company, announced that it would participate in oil and gas exploration off the coast of Lebanon, alongside France's TotalEnergies and Italy's Eni.


Iranian Terror Is a Clear and Present Danger to the UK
The brutal regime in Tehran is deploying unimaginable violence against its own citizens for daring to call for greater freedoms. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has become the world's pre-eminent terror organization. Its terror franchises Hizbullah and Hamas are the de-facto rulers of Lebanon and Gaza respectively, inflicting immeasurable suffering.

The UK's continuing failure to proscribe the IRGC is indefensible. This inaction has led to an emboldened IRGC. It is now brazenly conducting ever more activities in the UK, presenting a clear and immediate threat. Its involvement in the attempted kidnap and killing of UK-based individuals was dramatically revealed by MI5 last year. A number of Islamic centers in the UK have also been publicly linked to the IRGC. Photos showing British children celebrating arch-IRGC terror leader Qassem Soleimani as a "martyr" are particularly chilling.

Criminalizing the IRGC would decisively curtail its activities in the UK - disrupting funding streams, and ending its attempts to promote home-grown extremism. There is near unanimous support for proscription in Parliament, uniting members in a way that precious few issues do.


How I infiltrated the Tehran regime and met the Ayatollah
Despite the huge risks, not to mention the potential threat to the wellbeing of her then school-age children, she felt compelled to take the chance to rub shoulders with some of the West’s worst enemies.

A failed marriage to a Yemeni Muslim in 2000 – during which she had experienced vicious antisemitism from her husband’s relatives – had left her with opportunities to forge pro-Iranian connections.

She had written blog posts and Middle East analysis that had caught the eye of the Ayatollahs and led to an invitation to Tehran.

That was how she found herself about to meet Ayatollah Khamenei. “We pulled into a courtyard with trees,” she recalls. “I was ushered into a sitting room. There was a carpet, and rugs on the carpet, with photos of Khomeini and Khamenei.

“I’d expected something presidential, but this was humble. There were Arab-style sofas and cushions on the floor. I was given sweet tea in a glass with a stirring stick covered in saffron sugar crystals and walnuts to nibble.

“There was a commotion around the doorway and Khamenei came in. He told me through an interpreter to sit on the floor. He sat in a chair. I’d been warned not to make eye contact, and not to speak unless he asked me a question.

“Khamenei spent a few minutes on chit-chat,” she said. “Then he began talking about the End of Days, how he would be the one who would usher in the return of the Mahdi [the mythical leader who will herald the apocalypse].

“His voice was quiet, high-pitched. He talked about this great war that would take place, and how al-Aqsa had to be liberated for the Mahdi to return to save humanity. He talked about the wars Iran was fighting in Yemen and Syria and how he had a divine mission.

“He was basically trying to justify crimes against humanity, saying you had to harm the enemies of God, who shouldn’t be seen as human beings.

“He said killing the innocent was OK, because they weren’t really innocents.

“A mistake we make is to assume he cares about his country. He doesn’t. He will literally see it burn if it means Islam will triumph.”

She said Khamenei seemed scared of only one thing — an Israeli attack. “He believes Netanyahu’s threats and he knows that, for now, Israel is militarily superior. And he feels that the Iranian regime can’t sustain a defeat.”
Iran ‘mapping’ Jews in diaspora for kill squads
Iran has been “mapping” the Jewish diaspora for an assassination campaign that will be triggered if Israel attacks its nuclear facilities, a Jewish woman who met Ayatollah Khamenei has told the JC.

The chilling plan, disclosed at a high-level meeting in Tehran, involved identifying key Jewish figures and determining “how to strike and where”.

The hit squads would be deployed if Israel ever attacked Iran, she was told, so “the diaspora would have a very nasty surprise”.

The revenge plot was revealed to Catherine Perez-Shakdam, one of the few Westerners to be granted an audience with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei only seemed scared of one thing — an Israeli attack, she said, adding: “He believes Netanyahu’s threats and he knows that, for now, Israel is militarily superior. ”

She also met Qasem Soleimani, the terrorist mastermind killed in a US attack three years ago, and Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s hardline president.

Unbeknown to the despotic regime, Ms Perez-Shakdam, a Middle East analyst and research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think tank who contributed to pro-Iranian websites and the Russian propaganda TV channel, RT, was also a Jew.
Iranian Chess Player in Exile Has No Regrets About Removing Hijab
An Iranian chess player, who moved to Spain after she competed without a hijab and had an arrest warrant issued against her back home, has no regrets over her bold gesture in support of the protest movement against her country’s clerical leadership.

But 25-year-old Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, better known as Sara Khadem, also told Reuters that the warrant, which made her return to Iran impossible, was “the most horrible thing” that happened to her.

She said that, after playing in December’s FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Kazakhstan’s Almaty without the headscarf mandatory under Iran’s strict Islamic dress code, she had hardly expected harsher reprisals than a travel ban.

“(As chess players) we always have to predict what is going to happen next, but…it didn’t go as I expected,” she told Reuters at an undisclosed location in southern Spain where she now lives with her film-maker husband and child.

Khadem, who arrived in Spain in January on a residence visa linked to the purchase of property, said Iranian authorities had told her to record a video saying that she regretted her actions as a condition of returning home.

She refused, and subsequently learned about the warrant.

Still, removing the hijab was “something that I thought was right to do and I don’t regret anything”, she said, adding that she only used to wear the headscarf at tournaments when there were cameras, and that many Iranian sportswomen felt the same way.




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