Thursday, February 23, 2023

02/23 Links Pt1: American taxpayers should demand accountability from UNRWA; Biden Admin Is Blocking Attempts To Designate IRGC As A Terrorist Group

From Ian:

Republican Senators Introduce Bill to Halt Aid to Gaza
Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) on Tuesday announced the reintroduction of the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act, which would prohibit US aid expenditures intended for Gaza so long as that aid continues to benefit Hamas and other terrorist groups.

“Israel is a country facing unyielding attacks from terrorist groups, like Hamas, who wish to destroy the Jewish state and its people,” Scott said in a statement. “Our bill, the Stop Taxpayer Funding of Hamas Act, requires the president to certify that any taxpayer money authorized to the territory of Gaza will not end up in the hands of Hamas terrorists, making clear that we will cut off ANY AND ALL ties, direct or indirect, to terrorist organizations that attack our allies.”

Critics of US aid to UNRWA – the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees and their descendants – argue that by operating schools and hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the agency effectively benefits Hamas by relieving it of costs it would otherwise have to pay from its own budget.

“There is no circumstance in which taxpayer dollars should prop up terrorist organizations, especially when such an organization’s goal is the destruction of Israel, an important ally to us. Hamas is just such an organization,” Hyde-Smith said.

The bill follows the introduction on Monday of Republican-sponsored legislation that would cut funding to UNRWA entirely barring radical reforms to the agency.

Reviews by the State Department and independent watchdog groups routinely find UNRWA using school curricula promoting violent and antisemitic content.
American taxpayers should demand accountability from UNRWA
In July of 2022, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) thanked President Joe Biden for his financial support of Palestinian refugees, helping them “to live dignified lives (with) basic health, education and social protection services.” The funds, it said, “contribute to the human rights of Palestine refugees.”

To the average American who is not schooled in the Middle East or believes that media reporting is accurate, this sounds consistent with our values.

What was not stated was UNRWA’s educational programs, which incite violence and delegitimize and dehumanize Israelis. This is antithetical to creating an atmosphere of tolerance, respect and eventual peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) noted, “UNRWA is complicit in radicalizing schoolchildren through the glorification of terrorists, encouragement to violence and teaching of blood libels to Palestinian schoolchildren.”

“UNRWA’s Facebook pages have glorified suicide bombers, including Wafa Idris, a Red Crescent volunteer who drove an ambulance with explosives into the heart of Jerusalem, killing an elderly man and injuring more than one hundred civilians,” IMPACT-se pointed out. “Mathematical problems in UNRWA textbooks count terrorists, telling students to defend the motherland with blood. A spelling exercise condemns peace and normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states … while Israel is referred to as ‘the Enemy’ and is erased from maps of the region.”

Yet the Biden administration reinstated UNRWA funding to the tune of over $600 million in American taxpayer dollars since 2021. A White House official said UNRWA is committed to “zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and antisemitism.”

But is it?
Rights Groups Send Open Letter Demanding Re-Nomination of Axed Israel ‘Apartheid’ Activist
Dozens of human rights organizations and hundreds of individual activists on Wednesday sent an open letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding that he reinstate the nomination of a human rights candidate who called President Biden a “senile gaffe machine.”

The Biden administration on Feb. 14th withdrew the nomination of Professor James Cavallaro to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) after The Algemeiner uncovered his history of incendiary social media posts.

The letter, published on openlettertoblinken.com in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, and Arabic, repeats Cavallaro’s claim that “the basis for the withdrawal of his nomination was his posts on Twitter about Israel and Palestine.”

“Withdrawing the candidacy of a distinguished human rights advocate for their criticism of human rights abuses in Israel/Palestine or any other context sets a dangerous precedent that impacts human rights advocacy across the globe,” the letter says.

Signatories to the letter include Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), CODEPINK, and Noam Chomsky.


What Would a Third Intifada Mean for Palestinians?
A protest march at the University of Michigan in January featured chants of "Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!"

The word "intifada," which literally means "shaking off," refers to the recurring effort by Palestinians to expel Israel, through varying degrees of violence, from the territories they seek for their national project. One intifada erupted in 1987. Another began in 2000. Going back, there was also the Arab Revolt of the 1930s—it, too, can be described as an intifada.

Today, the data suggest another intifada is possible. A mapping project by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies identified more than 1,120 violent incidents in the West Bank and Israel since last March.

The young Palestinians who welcome an intifada are too young to remember the last one. A 20-year-old today would have been just two years old when it ended. And crucially, few Palestinians remember that all three uprisings were disasters for their people.

Looking back, several major themes emerge:
Bloodshed. The violence of the Arab Revolt in the 1930s left an estimated 5,000 Palestinians dead, 15,000 wounded, and 5,600 incarcerated. The British colonial authorities were not bound by the vigilant media environment of today; a recently unearthed dossier of British military atrocities is a testament to that. During the First Intifada, an estimated 1,376 Palestinian died and at least three times as many were wounded. Around 175,000 were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Second Intifada, which was a much more violent affair, led to 2,700 Palestinians deaths and thousands more Palestinian injured. The IDF reportedly destroyed more than 5,000 homes as retribution for terrorist attacks.

Economic Devastation. Israeli researcher Tamir Goren observes: "One of the most grievous outcomes of the Arab Revolt (1936-1939) was the severe economic damage caused to the Arab community." The local Arab population staged strikes and boycotts to protest the British colonial presence. This crushed the Palestinian economy at a moment when resources were in short supply. During the 1987 Intifada, the Palestinians fared no better. The Israelis imposed economic penalties, including the revocation of work permits (a significant source of income for many Palestinians at the time), and blocked agricultural exports from Gaza. Concurrently, with anti-Jordan sentiment surging, King Hussein relinquished all claims to the West Bank, cutting off crucial social services. During the 2000-2005 Intifada, the Palestinians again faced calamity. Once the darlings of international donors, the Palestinian Authority's embrace of terrorism in the wake of 9/11 killed donor revenue. Cash dried up and budgets tightened. In 2003, the World Bank noted: "Physical damage resulting from the conflict jumped from $305 million at the end of 2001 to $728 million by the end of August 2002. Between June 2000 and June 2002, Palestinian exports declined by 45% in value, and imports contracted by a third...losses reached $5.4 billion after 27 months of the intifada."


Caroline Glick Show: Israel’s Historic Moment at Home And Abroad
In this week's episode, Caroline discusses the historic significance of the Knesset’s passage, in the first reading of the first two bills relating to the Netanyahu government’s program of judicial and legal reform. Monday, February 21, 2023, the Jewish new month of Adar, was the first time in Israeli history that the right began seizing governing power from Israel’s permanent bureaucracy.

Caroline is also joined by David Goldman from the Asia Times to discuss the status of the war in Ukraine, whose bitter one-year anniversary we mark this week. Caroline and David discussed the state of the war on the ground and the prospects for ending it. They discussed how the war has impacted the United States’ reputation as an ally and a global superpower, how it has impacted regional realities in the Middle East in light of Russia’s burgeoning alliance with Iran, and how Israel needs to assess its relationship with the U.S., with Russia and China as Iran strides towards a declared nuclear arsenal and the U.S. sinks in stature, competence and credibility.


Oman opens airspace to overflights by Israeli carriers
Oman has opened its airspace to overflights by Israeli airlines, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced on Thursday.

“This historic decision will shorten the time of flights from Israel to Asia and lower ticket prices. I thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the National Security Council and the director general of the Foreign Ministry,” said Cohen.

“I thank the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said and our American friends for their substantial help in the success of the move,” he added.

The announcement comes after months of talks between the Foreign Ministry and authorities in Oman, and after Saudi Arabia last July announced during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel the opening of its airspace to “all carriers,” paving the way for Israeli commercial airlines to overfly the kingdom.

The Saudi move had hitherto proved largely symbolic, as shortening flight times between Israel and countries such as India and China required a similar authorization from Oman.

“The Far East is not so far away and the skies are no longer the limit. This is a day of great news for Israeli aviation. Israel has, in effect, become the main transit point between Asia and Europe,” said Netanyahu on Thursday.
The UAE Is Playing Both Sides in Israel and the US; But That Has Limits
The United Arab Emirates has mastered playing both sides against the middle.

In the game’s latest iteration, the Gulf state earned significant brownie points in Washington this week by withdrawing a draft United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity.

The replacement of the draft resolution, which if adopted would have been legally binding, with a non-binding statement by the Council’s president, allowed the Biden administration to appear to be criticizing Israel without creating a political storm. Moreover, the UAE maneuver shielded President Joe Biden from potential allegations of hypocrisy as he focused attention on the first anniversary of the Ukraine war with his visit to Kyiv and in the United Nations.

The United States would not have emerged from a Security Council vote smelling like roses, irrespective of whether it abstained or vetoed the resolution. Voting in favor was never an option.

At the same time, the UAE was offering Biden a helping hand, and as the US president made his historic visit to Kyiv, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese-made DJI drones were being sold to Russia via the UAE.


Netanyahu on recent IDF actions: ‘We will strike at terrorism forcefully’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday promised a firm response to terrorism following the previous day’s rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip and an IDF raid that encountered gunfire in Nablus.

“We have a clear policy: To strike at terrorism forcefully and to deepen our roots in our land,” Netanyahu said during remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

“In response to the firing of rockets at our territory, IDF fighter jets attacked Hamas terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip this morning,” he added.

Fighter jets struck a Hamas arms manufacturing facility in central Gaza as well as a military compound in the northern Strip used to store naval weapons, according to the military.

Netanyahu also referred to the raid in Nablus in Samaria that targeted three terrorists and came under fire from additional terrorists. “These terrorists shot and murdered St.-Sgt. Ido Baruch last October and they were about to carry out additional attacks against us,” he said.

“We always say that we will settle accounts with those who attack Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and we have done so again. I would like to commend the ISA [Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet] and IDF Intelligence for the precise intelligence, and to thank the soldiers who acted with heroism and confidence under fire.”
US ‘Extremely Concerned’ Over Fresh Israeli-Palestinian Escalation
The United States on Wednesday expressed deep concerns over the eruption of fresh violence in the West Bank, including an Israeli military raid that left 11 Palestinians dead and an attempted terror attack hours later.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 11 Palestinians were killed and at least 100 wounded – with five in critical condition – after the Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Nablus. Later on Wednesday evening, reports emerged of an attempted terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Homesh and at the Qalandiya crossing. There were no casualties.

Meanwhile, a source connected to the Hamas terror group in Gaza told i24NEWS that militants in the Strip were discussing how hard they should attack Israel – rather than if they should attack – as Egyptian officials were reportedly failing to convince the Palestinian enclave’s Islamic Jihad to not engage in escalation.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed that the Israeli army’s “counterterrorism” operation had killed and wounded both militants and bystanders, and left more than 100 hurt.

“The United States is extremely concerned by the levels of violence in Israel and the West Bank today,” Price said. “We recognize the very real security concerns facing Israel. At the same time, we are deeply concerned by the large number of injuries and the loss of civilian lives.”
IDF hits Hamas assets in Gaza after terrorists fire six rockets at Israel
The Israel Defense Forces struck Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, after Palestinian terrorists fired a barrage of rockets at southern Israel.

Fighter jets struck a Hamas arms manufacturing facility in central Gaza, as well as a military compound in the northern Strip used to store naval weapons, according to the military.

“The compound is built near a mosque, a clinic, a school, a hotel and a police station. This is further proof that the Hamas terrorist organization is placing its military assets in the heart of the civilian population,” the IDF said in a statement.

“This attack is a significant blow to Hamas’s ability to fortify and arm itself. The terrorist organization bears responsibility for Gaza and will pay the price for security violations against the State of Israel,” added the military.

The strikes came after Palestinian terrorists fired six rockets at southern Israel, including Ashkelon.

Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system intercepted five of the rockets, with the remaining one landing in an open area, according to the military.


Stone-throwers attack mother, three children in Samaria
Three young children and their mother were lightly wounded on Thursday in a Palestinian stone-throwing attack near the Tapuach Junction in Samaria.

Heftziva Shani was driving with her children, aged 2, 5 and 6, to shop for Purim, when their car was struck.

“I was traveling with three children; they threw a rock at us, the stone hit my daughter directly in the cheek. We continued straight to Tapuach Junction,” said Shani.

“I felt that God was watching over us,” she added.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said it was a “miracle” that the family was not injured more seriously.

“We demand that the government increase the punishment for stone-throwers and review the open-fire regulations,” he said.

Dagan said that the incident once again proved that stone-throwing is not a “prank” but constitutes terrorism. Nevertheless, he noted, the IDF had recently issued a directive to troops to be prudent when opening fire at stone-throwers.


The Israel Guys: ISRAEL Vows to STRIKE Iran if No One Stops Their NUCLEAR Program
In the highest enrichment rates ever recorded, Iran is enriching uranium at 84%, just 6% away from nuclear capabilities. Israel vowed that if the world does nothing about this, then they will.

In protest of the judicial reforms being passed in the Knesset, the Yesh Atid and labor parties are threatening to actually resign from the Knesset.

And the home of the terrorist who carried out the deadly bombings in Jerusalem in November is set to be destroyed.


Israelis Say Palestinian Waste Fires Are "Killing Us Slowly"
Israelis living in Judea and Samaria told the Knesset Interior Affairs Committee on Monday that illegal Palestinian waste fires are "killing us slowly." "Our house is closed all the time. My children have an aggravation of hives and tingling in the throat. The neighbors' children have asthma," said Reut Schechter from the community of Kedem Arava. "We have been suffering from these fires since our first day, and recently it has increased to the extent that there are fires all day long. The fires can be for days in a row....The suffering is daily - you cannot play outside, do sports or go on a walk....We are simply being killed."

MK Yitzhak Kreuzer told the committee, "Illegal burning of waste is one of the main causes of carcinogenic air pollution in Israel and harms the health and quality of life of millions of residents."

Former director-general of the Environmental Protection Ministry Galit Cohen said in January 2023 that the ministry offered the Palestinian Authority thousands of shekels to gather the waste from 72 villages, but the PA had refused to accept the funds. A 2021 report by the ministry found that illegal waste fires caused 43% of the air pollution in Israel.
Israel to Counter Deliberate Waste of Water by Palestinian Security Prisoners
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has told the Israel Prisons Service to reduce the amount of time that security prisoners are allowed to shower, according to a Monday report.

Terror inmates, often referred to as security prisoners, will only be allotted four minutes to shower, and running water for showers will only be allowed for an hour a day, the Ynet news site reported.

The new rules will be implemented first in two wings of southern Israel’s high-security Nafha prison. The facility’s water system allows guards to shut off water flow to showers at specific times. The Prisons Service has received the new order from Ben Gvir and is preparing to implement the measure in the coming days.

Other prisons that house terror inmates do not have such a water system, and Ben Gvir has asked the Prisons Service to find a solution for restricting shower water for security prisoners in those facilities.

Ben Gvir said the measure is meant to halt the intentional waste of water by inmates.

The Prisons Service in recent years has said that security prisoners leave the showers running for hours at a time. In 2007, the service said security prisoners consumed around 1,000 liters of water per day, while criminal prisoners consumed 500 liters, and civilians used 250 liters.


MEMRI: PLO Member And PFLP Official Comes Out Against Participation Of Children In Terrorist Attacks: 'Our Children Were Born To Live'; Death Must Not Be Their Goal
Amid the growing phenomenon of Palestinian children perpetrating terrorism against Israelis, politician and columnist Nihad Abu Ghosh, a member of the PLO and a senior official in the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), came out against this phenomenon in his column in the daily Al-Quds, based in East Jerusalem. Titled "Our Children Were Born to Live and Our People Was Born to Be Free," the column deviates from the dominant discourse in the Palestinian press, calling on Palestinian society to take a firm and "courageous" stance against the participation of children in the armed struggle against Israel. Children, says Abu Ghosh, belong with their families and in school, and they should enjoy their childhood until they grow up and become mature enough to decide how to participate in the struggle against Israel. Abu Ghosh also condemns the Palestinian factions which, he says, compete with each other in lavishing praise on child terrorists, and urges them to send their adult fighters to carry out operations, instead of encouraging children to do so. He adds that "no sane man wants his children to wage war in his stead" or to see them killed, even for the sake of the homeland or some other lofty goal. "It is inconceivable that death should be our goal and the goal of our young people or children, who were born to live and [look towards] to the future," he concludes, and calls on Palestinian society to protect the children and spread awareness of this issue.

In response to Abu Ghosh's column, Dr. 'Issam Shawer, a columnist for the Hamas daily Filastin, accused him of distorting the facts and directing false accusations at the Palestinian factions, which are the backbone of the resistance against Israel. These factions, says Shawer, issue statements welcoming any operation against Israel, even before they discover the identity and age of the assailant – but they do not send children to carry out operations in their stead and do not expect them to do so. He adds that the resistance of the Palestinian factions is no longer carried out with stones and firebombs, but rather with missiles, bombs, drones and the like.

The following are translated excerpts from Abu Ghosh's column and from Shawer's response.

Nihad Abu Ghosh: We Must Take A Stance Against Children's Participation In The Armed Struggle; A Sane Person Does Not Want His Children To Wage War And Be Killed In His Stead

Nihad Abu Ghosh wrote: "Amid the recent consecutive waves of resistance operations – which were a natural response to the crimes of the occupation – there were some emotional operations carried out in the occupied territories by children younger than 18, that is, below the age of mental maturity and of legal responsibility, according to all the national and international laws. This in itself gives rise to some political, legal and moral questions that require us Palestinians – factions, individuals and institutions – to take a clear, courageous and firm stance against this phenomenon.

"There is no need to repeat the known fact that the crimes of the occupation do not distinguish between adults and children or between men and women. Every Palestinian is a legitimate target for the murderous uncontrolled weapons of the soldiers and settlers, who are supported and encouraged by the fascist [Israeli] government and are legitimized by an array of laws of racist discrimination. Resistance is the most noble form of political struggle known to the peoples [of the world], and it is usually the weapon of the weak and the defeated against the violence of the strong oppressor. International charters and laws support it, and it has become a lever of undeniable [effectiveness] in restoring our national Palestinian identity… But resistance needs good guidance, for it is a means rather than an end in itself…
13-year-old Palestinian indicted for killing Border Police officer in East Jerusalem
Prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment against a 13-year-old Palestinian who stabbed a police officer last week, charging him with aggravated murder for the killing of Border Police officer Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed, 22.

Due to the suspect’s age, he is not expected to be jailed and instead be placed in a juvenile detention center or similar institution.

According to the indictment filed at the District Juvenile Court in Jerusalem, Muhammad Bassel Fathi Zalbani, a resident of the Shuafat Refugee Camp, found a knife as he was leaving the building in which he lives, and allegedly decided to commit the February 13 attack.

Zalbani took a bus heading into Jerusalem that passes through a checkpoint, where he sought to attack security forces.

The indictment said the teen sat at the back of the bus, placed the knife near his leg to be able to draw it quickly, and waited for security forces to board for a routine inspection.

Sawaed boarded the bus and began to question the passengers heading into Jerusalem. When he reached the back of the bus, Zalbani pulled out the knife and stabbed Sawaed in the head and neck multiple times, according to the indictment.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Allah Thinking Maybe Endorsing Culture That Glorifies Child-Murder A Mistake (satire)
The creator and sustainer of the universe who reveled himself to a seventh-century Arabian tribesman and commanded him to bring a “corrected” version of the True Faith to humanity at the point of the sword if necessary acknowledged today that the track record of the movement in the last fourteen centuries indicates that granting divine imprimatur to a society that includes as some of its foremost representatives promoters of lethal violence to children under the pretext of those children being “settlers” or “occupiers” might, pending further consideration, constitute a misjudgment.

Allah, the almighty source of all reality and sole true divine entity, disclosed to several members of the supernal court that the relish with which Palestinian Muslims slaughter Jewish children indicates He might have to reassess His endorsement of their culture that took place in the early Middle Ages and served as the chief source of legitimacy for the potentates that extended from it for centuries afterwards.

“Calling an eight-year-old and a six-year-old at a bus stop ‘settlers’ or ‘colonialists’ was the real wake-up call,” a representative of the Almighty stated. “The dishonesty of calling dead Palestinian fighters of any age ‘children’ or whatever – that’s within the bounds of propaganda: false, but understandable on an emotional level. But justifying, nay, glorying in, the violent, targeted deaths of children because they are ‘agents of Apartheid’ or some other falsehood – well, that makes Allah glad He decided to gradually withdraw His favor from the Islamic world some time ago. Now the process will only accelerate.”


PMW: PA journalists are political pawns: National duty supersedes professional duty
Objectivity, accuracy, and truth are some of the core values of journalism in democracies and countries with freedom of speech.

However, in the PA, the role of journalists is defined by the PA and Chairman Abbas who views them as “the homeland’s soldiers defending the Palestinian national narrative against the Zionist narrative.” Speaking on behalf of Abbas, General Supervisor of the Official PA Media with the rank of minister Ahmad Assaf emphasized this at a recent conference held by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate:
“In a speech he gave on behalf of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, General Supervisor of the Official [PA] Media [with the rank of] minister Ahmad Assaf emphasized that the president is showing a special interest in the journalists and members of the press…

He added: ‘In the eyes of His Honor the president, you are the homeland’s soldiers defending the Palestinian national narrative against the Zionist narrative.’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 30, 2023]

Assaf also stressed that Palestinian journalists “are fighting the Israeli occupation, its policy, and its actions.”

On their part, the journalists working for the official PA media also seem to accept and implement the PA’s expectations. For example, when the son of a terrorist prisoner thanked a host on official PA TV for being invited to the show, she replied that it is their “duty” and added that the “national duty” precedes their “professional” duty:
Alaa Sharbati, son of terrorist prisoner Ayman Sharbati: “Good morning, thank you very much for having me.”

Host: “No, this is our duty.”

Alaa Sharbati: “You are the homeland’s TV channel of which we are proud.” …

Host: “Our national duty comes before [our] professional [duty].”

[Official PA TV, Good Morning Jerusalem, Jan. 6, 2023]




Egyptian Researcher Islam Behery: Mainstream Islamic Scholarship Is Radical, Leads to Terrorism
Egyptian researcher Islam Behery said in a January 29, 2023 interview on Sky News Arabia (UAE) that like other fields of study, Islamic jurisprudence will not survive if it does not undergo reform. He said that Islam currently has “a problem” with modernity, women, politics, banking, medicine, science, human rights, and personal liberties, and he predicted that it will lose followers if this does not change. In addition, Behery said that Islamic institutions are currently preaching the same man-made extremist Islamic heritage that gave rise to organizations such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Jama’a Al-Islamiyya, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and he argued that extremism leads to terrorism. He also asserted that the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence are all extremist because they claim that all non-Muslims are infidels and seek to wage Jihad and spread Islam throughout the world.


MEMRI: IRGC Commanders On Eve Of Anniversary Of Iran's Islamic Revolution: 'With The Revolution's Victory, A New Identity Was Created In The Islamic World, With Iran At Its Center'; 'We Have Triumphed Over America For 44 Years And Will Continue To Do So'
For the February 11, 2023 celebrations in Iran marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, along with his deputy Ali Fadavi and IRGC Coordination Department head Mohammad Reza Naqdi, gave speeches praising the revolution and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They also praised the continuation of martyrdom until the attainment of the vision of the revolution – to establish Islamic rule worldwide.

The following are translations of the statements by Salami, Fadavi, and Naqdi.

IRGC Commander Salami: "We Have Succeeded In Basing Our Presence In The Region And Expanding Our Defensive Power – And Today Dear Iran Is Strong In All Aspects

At the February 1, 2023 ceremony concluding the annual Basij conference, on February 1, 2023 – the date of the opening of the 10-day Fajr ("Dawn") celebrations marked by the regime, which in 1979 preceded the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Iran – IRGC commander Hossein Salami praised the Islamic Revolution. He said that with its success, the revolution had created a new identity in the Islamic world, with Iran at its center. The following is a translation of his statements:

"Several moments in history continue forever, and they are the living continuation of the truth. These events transcend time, history cannot obliterate them. Today is one of these divine days; [it is the day] the Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution] returned home after 15 years of exile [and] the comprehensive plan of the world's most glorious revolution was actualized.

"Iran, that has a history and an ancient and mighty civilization in the chronicles of humanity, was considered an important part of [U.S. President Richard] Nixon's 'twin pillars' policy[1] – that is, Iran was the axis around which American policy revolved. Iran was able to be a tool for American policy because of its special strategic status and superior economic power. Iran's political geography was part of America's political geography, and they did not want Iran to have an independent political identity.

"But with the victory of the revolution, they [the Americans] did not believe that one of their strategic backbones against the Soviet Union had been removed from America's political sphere of influence. The Imam [Khomeini's] artistry was to challenge the global balance of power and to restore the plundered identity of the Iranian nation.

"With the victory of the revolution, a new identity was created in the Islamic world, with Iran at its center. But this was not the end of the story, and because in addition to the global power [the U.S.], a new power [Iran] appeared, and America could not tolerate losing its biggest asset in the region. Therefore, they [the Americans] did not remain indifferent to this phenomenon. From the victory of the revolution to this day, the global arrogance [the U.S.] has invested all its efforts in renewing [its influence on] the history of this country [Iran]. They could not accept Iran as a great power. [Thus, they began scheming against] the Iranian people, starting with the military revolution and culminating with separatist plans and a great world war, but all these [efforts] were met with the triumph of the Iranian nation.
Biden Waives Sanctions on Iran's Chief Propaganda Arm
The Biden administration waived sanctions on Iran's state-run news arm, even as the hardline regime uses the outlet to distort and underreport its murder of dissidents and fuel sham trials against protesters.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken waived sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) channel, the regime’s chief propaganda outlet, on Feb. 15, according to a non-public notice transmitted to Congress and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The waiver allows the IRIB to conduct financial transactions as it disseminates propaganda and helps the hardline regime quash nationwide protests that threaten to topple Tehran’s clerical regime. The waiver comes less than a month after the Biden administration lifted sanctions on Iranian and Russian nuclear cooperation.

This is the first time these sanctions have been lifted since a wave of nationwide protests erupted across Iran, drawing a violent crackdown from the regime. While the sanctions were first waived as part of the 2015 nuclear deal and throughout the Trump administration, the Biden administration’s decision to reissue the waivers is generating pushback from regional experts in light of the IRIB’s role in helping the Iranian regime censor the uprisings.

"The IRIB is an important part of the regime's oppression machine," Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank told the Free Beacon. It is in charge of disseminating propaganda and disinformation and works closely with the regime’s security services, which have cracked down on protesters and murdered dozens in recent months.
FDD: U.S. May Release $7 Billion in Frozen Funds to Iran
U.S. Previously Linked $7 Billion Hostage Deal to Nuclear Talks
Following a meeting in September 2022 between U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyundong, Malley tweeted, “We thank the Republic of Korea for their close partnership, including their efforts to help ensure the return of our wrongfully detained citizens in Iran and to reach a deal on JCPOA.” In August 2022, leaked details from nuclear negotiations revealed that the release of $7 billion from South Korea would be the first step taken in a revived nuclear agreement’s sequencing.

A Dangerous Precedent of Paying for Hostages
In 2015, the Obama administration negotiated a similar scheme alongside the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, sending Iran $400 million — the first installment of a $1.7 billion payment — at the same time Tehran released four Americans. Predictably, Iran later took more hostages. Raising the ransom to $7 billion will guarantee even more hostage-taking to come. As Russia comes under increasing sanctions pressure, Moscow may follow Iran’s suit in detaining more U.S. citizens as leverage for negotiating sanctions relief.


Biden Admin State Department Is Blocking Attempts To Designate Iran's Paramilitary As A Terrorist Group:
Elements of the Biden administration’s State Department are trying to thwart the United Kingdom’s move to formally label Iran’s paramilitary organization as a terrorist group, according to The Telegraph, which cited anonymous sources.

The U.K.’s Home Office supports the move to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, but U.S. diplomats are pressuring the foreign ministry to oppose it, The Telegraph reported, citing government sources. The U.S. argument, echoed by the Foreign Office, is that the designation would harm Britain’s potential role as a mediator between the two hostile countries.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said he was “not familiar” with the report at a briefing Wednesday.

“We are determined to work with our allies and partners around the world … to do everything we can to hold the IRGC accountable, to counter its malign activities,” Price said. “Obviously questions of legal authority in individual countries or blocs of countries are not precisely questions for us.”

Former President Donald Trump designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019, saying the organization serves an “outlaw regime that uses terrorism as a key tool of statecraft” and has committed terrorist acts for decades.

“The idea that we would discourage other countries from taking an approach that we’ve taken, that doesn’t ring true to me,” Price said.
Security minister: Criminals are tracking British Jews for Iran’s killing squads
Iran is hiring organised criminals to spy on Britain’s Jews in preparation for a potential assassination campaign against prominent members of the community, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told the JC.

Last week, we exposed how the regime is “mapping” Jews in the diaspora to lay the ground for high-profile revenge murders should Israel launch a military attack against the theocracy.

In response, the minister, who is responsible for MI5, said: “You were right. We have very clear intelligence about the activities of hostile regimes in the UK and we keep a very close eye on what their agents and those close to them are doing.

“We know that the Iranians are using non-traditional sources to carry out these operations, including organised criminal gangs.

“They are paying criminal gangs to conduct surveillance.

“Basically, the Iranians are using crooks based in Britain to spy for them.”

He added: “You can be very clear that I wouldn’t have mentioned Jewish and Israeli targets unless I had good reason to do so.

“I take all threats against anyone in the UK very seriously and the reason I highlighted Israelis and the Jewish community is that we have been seeing threats and Iranian operational activity directed against them. I do not issue these warnings lightly.”


Why are Princeton and Oberlin selling out to Iran's regime?
The Islamic Republic of Iran has carried out terrorism worldwide since its founding in 1979, frequently using its “diplomats” and embassy personnel to commit, then cover up, these attacks. Just a few weeks ago, the FBI charged three assassins with ties to Tehran who targeted Masih Alinejad, an American citizen and critic of the Islamic Republic, in her own neighborhood in Brooklyn.

A new Amnesty International report cites evidence against a number of Iranian officials, including Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, Iran's former United Nations ambassador. Mahallati is accused by Amnesty of crimes against humanity. According to the human rights group, “Mahallati played a particularly active role in seeking to undermine credible reports by the then U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and Amnesty International, and to weaken the U.N.’s response. For instance, he undertook efforts in late November and early December 1988 to block the adoption of a resolution by the U.N. General Assembly that expressed concern about the mass executions."

Yet incredibly, Mahallati is now the Nancy Schrom Dye chairman of Middle East and North African Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Not only is this “professor of peace” implicated in the killing of thousands of Iranians, but he also called for the destruction of Israel and has a long record of antisemitic statements. During a speech at the U.N. in 1989, Mahallati called Israel “an Islamic territory, an Islamic heritage,” and “an Islamic point of identity.” He concluded, “Its occupation by Zionist usurpers is a transgression against all Muslims of the world, and its liberation is therefore a great religious obligation and commitment."

Mahallati also complained about condemnations of Iran's persecution of the Baha’i community. He attempted to justify the revocation of Baha’i Iranians’ citizenship, as well as their imprisonment, torture, and execution. He endorsed the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and mocked the killing of American soldiers.

During a recent interview with Alinejad, Mahallati refused to acknowledge his well-documented connection to the Iranian regime, despite calling himself its loyal servant in a letter to the head of Iran’s parliament.




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