Wednesday, March 29, 2023

03/29 Links Pt1: Why Did the Biden Administration Oppose Israeli Judicial Reform?; UNRWA is evil! Here's why; Iran-linked Pakistanis arrested for plotting attacks on Jewish targets in Athens

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Israel’s protesters are enemies, not heroes, of democracy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu announced Monday night he was temporarily pausing his government’s judicial-reform efforts in the face of strikes by key industries, insubordination in some parts of the military and huge protests.

While many within the international community, as well as on the Israeli left, will attempt to portray the announcement as a triumph of democracy, it is anything but.

The reforms seek to introduce a modicum of checks and balances into Israel’s political system, where the “court” sits as a de facto unelected supreme legislative chamber that can exercise veto power over every single government action.

The assault on the proposals, apart from the telegenic protesters, was actually rooted in the state’s bureaucracy, which remains highly sympathetic to the judiciary.

For 25 years, Israel’s Supreme Court has operated entirely without democratic constraints.

Not only does the court remain unfettered by any written constitution when evaluating a law — it is guided by such nebulous principles as “human dignity” and “liberty” — it’s also seized the ability to block any government act it deems “unreasonable.”

Perhaps most confounding, judges exercise veto power over the selection of their successors, resulting in an ideologically homogenous judiciary.

To top it off, what little power the court has not assumed for itself, it has delegated to the attorney general, who can veto any government action or policy by his or her own discretion.

Israel’s fired defense chief still at work as talks begin on court overhaul compromise after mass protests In the United States, presidents can and do fire their AGs. In Israel, it is closer to the opposite.
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did the Biden Administration Oppose Israeli Judicial Reform?
Ignore Washington's hypocritical talk about protecting democracy. They want a weak government that won't make trouble when it comes to Iran, and they won't stop until they get one.

Washington made no secret of its efforts to directly intervene in a domestic Israeli dispute....

The people who jammed the streets... see the maintenance of an unaccountable court with virtually unlimited power as the only way to maintain the Israeli left's political power even when they lose elections....

Washington is... determined... to oust a democratically elected government by any means possible.

What the White House and State Department want is more pliable Israeli Prime Minister, who will keep quiet about the nuclear threat from Iran, and who can be intimidated into not acting too forestall that deadly threat to Israel's existence.

As for behaving like a dictator, Biden's predilection for governing by executive order... even when his diktats are obviously contrary to the constitution or existing laws makes anything Netanyahu might attempt look like child's play.

[Biden's] administration apparently thinks that when Israel's Supreme Court strikes down Netanyahu's efforts to govern – on the basis of no law, and only on the judges, subjective ideas about what is "reasonable" – it's a great idea.

[E]stablishment Jewish groups... joined the liberal groups in praising Netanyahu's surrender to the mob and then had the chutzpah to laud the protesters, who sought to sabotage the country to get their way without even any attempt at balance by treating supporters of the government and reform, who clearly outnumbered the critics at the ballot box last November, as equally praiseworthy.

[T]hey also understand that the hyperbolic claims that Netanyahu and advocates of judicial reform seek to impose a dictatorship or a Torah state is pure fiction.

What Biden and his supporters want in Jerusalem isn't so much an all-powerful Supreme Court... but anything that can help oust the prime minister.

The [Biden] administration is now willing to tolerate Iran having nuclear weapons as long as they are not going to publicly flaunt them.

This attitude isn't just unacceptable to all of Israel's major political parties. It constitutes a grave threat to the security of the Jewish state that no Israeli prime minister could reasonably be expected to tolerate.

The brazen nature of Biden's attack on Netanyahu... speaks volumes about how much the administration wants an Israeli government that won't cause trouble over Iran.
The problem with Israel’s protests
The most recent electoral defeat was particularly crushing. It led large sections of the Israeli left to effectively give up on winning elections – and winning over the people of Israel. Much of the left now seems to accept that future governments will be made up of coalitions including right-wing, far-right, religious and ultra-orthodox elements.

This is the context shaping and driving the left’s support for a strong Supreme Court. The left, which now represents the interests of Israel’s technocratic elite, sees the court as a way to check the power of the elected but right-wing Knesset. Hence, it wants to vest power in judges to limit the power of elected politicians.

Analyses of the rightward shift in Israeli politics usually focus on demographics. They point out that religious and ultra-orthodox communities have higher birth rates than the secular, left-leaning sections of society. That is then used to explain the apparent right-wing trajectory of Israeli politics. But this is much too simplistic. This apparent rightward shift is not a straightforward result of conservatives having more babies.

For a start, Israel’s leftish technocratic elite is increasingly influenced by globalist and ‘woke’ ideas – indeed, LGBT rights have enjoyed a high profile at the recent demonstrations, with rainbow Pride flags being waved alongside Israeli flags. This globalist, cosmopolitan left is increasingly distancing itself from Israel’s national project – and much of the Israeli populace. This is most apparent in the military. Its elite units and officer ranks were traditionally populated by the left. Today, however, the national religious community is much more strongly represented.

The rise in support for the far-right Religious Zionism bloc also cannot be explained by demographic trends. RZ is a vile grouping that has overtly supported violence against the Palestinians and Israeli protesters. But those who voted for it often did so out of despair. For example, it is not widely known that there were 5,000 terror attacks of various sorts against Israelis last year, according to figures from the prime minister’s office. Support for RZ stemmed partly from the government’s perceived failure to tackle this problem of extreme violence.

Too many on Israel’s left, aided and abetted by their international cheerleaders, ignore all of this. Instead, they have given up on the Israeli electorate. They continue to distance themselves from Israel’s national project. And they ostentatiously wave rainbow flags at anti-government demonstrations. By doing so, they effectively position themselves against the supposedly backward nationalist majority.

Israel may be relatively small, but it is a complex society that faces unique challenges. There is a lot wrong with Netanyahu’s coalition government to say the least. But to view its judicial reforms as a dictatorial threat to democracy misunderstands the dynamic at play here. For it is not the government that is trying to entrench power in an unaccountable, unelected body here. It is the protesters and their elite backers.


Jewbotinsky: UNRWA is evil! Here's why:
Against peace, against justice, against Palestinians.

Why is UNRWA so evil?


Israel’s Netanyahu Upbeat on Reform Compromise After Biden Reproach
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced confidence on Wednesday that he would find compromise with the political opposition over his judicial overhaul after the contested reforms drew a strong reproach from US President Joe Biden.

Israel “can’t continue down this road,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday in reference to unprecedented protests that have swept the country and penetrated its military, spurring Netanyahu‘s defence chief to break ranks and call for a halt.

The conservative Israeli leader did press the pause button on Monday to allow for negotiations with opposition parties.

Addressing the US-led Summit for Democracy, he said his stated reason for the reforms – balancing the branches of Israeli government – could be reconciled with civil liberties.

The negotiators, he said, will “try to achieve a broad national consensus to achieve both goals. And I believe this is possible. We’re now engaged in exactly this conversation”.

Opposition parties spanning the political spectrum have accused Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges – of seeking to curb judicial independence. He denies any wrongdoing.

Separately, Netanyahu predicted on Wednesday that Israel would join the US Visa Waiver Programme in September after passing legislation required by Washington. The US Embassy in Jerusalem had no immediate comment.


Biden: Israel can’t continue this way, Netanyahu won't be invited to White House
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t be invited to the White House in the “near term,” US President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday, as he urged Israel to drop its judicial reform plan.

"I hope he [Netanyhau] walks away from it," Biden said as he issued his most clear objections to date over Israel’s judicial overhaul process.

“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I am very concerned. I am concerned that they get this straight. They can not continue down this road. I have sort of made that clear,” Biden said.

“Hopefully the prime minister will act in a way that he will try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen.”

When asked if he would invite Netanyahu to the White House, Biden quickly replied, “no, not in the near term.”

Netanyahu defends judicial reform, says Biden shouldn't interfere in Israeli domestic affairs

In a very public dispute that followed Netanyahu said in response, “I have known President Biden for over 40 years and I appreciate his longstanding commitment to Israel.

"The alliance between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and always overcomes the occasional differences between us,” Netanyahu said.
White House says will not invite Netanyahu 'in near term'
Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Michael Oren comments on the rift in the alliance after President Biden announces that there are no plans to invite Prime Minister Netanyahu 'in the near term,' and reflects on the ups and downs of the relationship in recent decades.


Morocco increasingly struggles to balance Israel ties with support for Palestinians
Morocco is struggling to balance its alliance with Israel with support for the domestically popular Palestinian cause, an increasingly complex challenge while Israel is ruled by its most right-wing government ever.

The North African country normalized its ties with Israel in December 2020, part of a series of deals known as the Abraham Accords, backed by the administration of then-US president Donald Trump.

In exchange, Rabat won a key concession from Washington: recognition of its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where the Polisario movement seeks independence.

But the move was at odds with a strongly pro-Palestinian public mood in Morocco.

That square has been harder to circle in recent months as violence has surged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a series of Palestinian terror attacks and Israel carrying out near-daily, often deadly anti-terror army raids in the West Bank. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories

But Rabat has been quick to defend itself.

A case in point is the royal palace’s reaction after the opposition Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) “deplored” Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita for allegedly defending Israel publicly, even as it commits “criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers.”


Iran-linked Pakistanis arrested for plotting attacks on Jewish targets in Athens
Police in Greece acted on intelligence supplied by Israel’s Mossad to arrest two men suspected of planning a “mass casualty” attack on a kosher restaurant in Athens run by Chabad.

It is understood that the suspects are Shia Pakistanis, and are believed to have been working with Iran’s Islamic Republican Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – the Iranian regime agency that sponsors terrorism abroad, and has been accused of mounting surveillance of prominent British Jews.

The Mossad said in a statement that those detained were part of a “wide Iranian network that operates from Iran and out of many countries”.

The statement added: “After the investigation of the suspects started in Greece, the Mossad assisted in uncovering intelligence related to the infrastructure, methods of operation and connection to Iran.”

Greek security sources told local media that two men, aged 27 and 29, were planning to attack the restaurant, a synagogue and Israelis in Athens. Greece is a popular tourist destination for Israelis, with many due to visit next week over the Pesach holiday.

“Their aim was not only to cause the loss of life of innocent citizens, but also to undermine the sense of security in the country, while hurting public institutions and threatening Greece’s international relations,” Greek police said in a statement.
Mossad helps thwart Iranian terror plot against Israelis in Greece
Adonis Seferlis of Greek channel ANTENNA TV joins Benita to bring you the latest developments from a thwarted plot against Israelis in Athens.


Terrorist found guilty of stabbing two in UK for 'atrocities on Palestinians'
Munawar Hussain, a 59-year-old terrorist, was found guilty in court on Wednesday for stabbing two women inside a Marks & Spencer in the English town of Burnley. Both women survived the attack.

The motivation behind the December 2020 attack was that he felt the grocery chain funded "atrocities on Palestinians," Hussain declared at the time.

The attack at Marks & Spencers
As he was carrying out the attack, Hussain carried a note that read, "O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks & Spencer is helping you financially."

Hussain's wife had hidden a knife from him a few days before the attack, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Marks & Spencer is well-known for its Jewish roots. Jewish immigrant Michael Marks founded the company in Northern England while attempting to restart his life after escaping persecution.

"Marks and his brother-in-law Sieff along with several family members were strong supporters of Zionism. In fact, they became known in pro-Zionist circles as ‘The Family’. They gave generously to the Zionist cause, believing in the importance of a Jewish national home in what was at the time called Palestine," according to Christians United For Israel.

Munawar Hussain's court trial
In court, Hussain did not appear remorseful, claiming that "Allah will not be upset with me or angry with me and he will be happy with me,” according to the Jewish Chronicle.

There were inconsistencies within his case. Hussain told the police that he wanted to kill the women and other shoppers but told the jury that he only wanted to injure them. Hussain acknowledged that he would have liked to stab more people, but his knife was caught in the second woman's handbag.


'Checkpoints have to be reinstated,' says survivor of West Bank terror attack
Former U.S Marine and survivor of the Huwara terror attack, David Stern, shares the horrifying moments in which he was shot by a Palestinian terrorist, and then shot back and managed to tourniquet himself. He speaks to us from his home in Israel where he is recovering from his wounds.


Palestinian teachers’ strike over wages grows, reflecting deep crisis in governance
In schools across the world, children are halfway into their second semester. But in a Palestinian refugee camp south of Jerusalem, kids wake up at 1 p.m. They kick soccer balls, hang out in barbershops and aimlessly scroll through TikTok. They watch television until dawn, just to wake up late and laze around all over again.

Palestinian public schools in the West Bank have been closed since February 5 in one of the longest teachers’ strikes in recent memory against the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Teachers’ demands for a pay raise have escalated into a protest movement that has vexed the increasingly autocratic Palestinian self-rule government as it plunges deeper into an economic crisis.

But the strike isn’t just about money. As the largest group of government employees in the West Bank after security forces, teachers are also calling for a democratically elected union. The authority hasn’t budged, fearing its rivals, like the Islamic terror group Hamas, could use their movement against the ruling Fatah party.

“Everything is chaos,” said Sherin al-Azza, a social worker and mother of five in a refugee camp called al-Azza, which has become a neighborhood of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Determined that her children have an education, she cobbled together $200 in savings to hire private tutors and send her eldest son to after-school classes during the strike — an impossibility for most of the refugee camp, she said.
The Lions’ Den Terrorist Group Has Raised Its Head Again
The Lions’ Den terrorist group operating in Nablus and its neighboring villages has rehabilitated itself in recent months as new members have joined its ranks. It continues its terrorist attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians and poses a security challenge to the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

So far, Lions’ Den has carried out about 100 shooting attacks in which Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded. It also planned attacks inside pre-1967 Israel that the Israel Security Agency thwarted, and it is still planning attacks in Israel’s major cities.

To date, Israeli security forces have killed more than 20 members, but the group has about a hundred members. About 20 members have surrendered to the PA, handing over their weapons. They will be employed by the PA’s security forces and receive a monthly salary.

The PA security forces have failed to act against the group, under orders of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, as long as it did not endanger his rule. While most of the group’s members belong to Fatah, it receives funds from Hamas, which also supports it through its media and social networks.

The Lions’ Den group continues to grow stronger and Israel’s confrontation with the terrorist militia is inevitable. There seems to be no escape from a significant Israeli military operation in Nablus and entry into its old city (Kasbah), with arrests or killing of the terrorists and the dismantling of its terrorist infrastructure.
Generation Jihad Ep. 90 — Israel and her enemies
To unpack and assess the latest terror threats faced by Israel, Bill had to call in the experts: Dr. Jonathan Schanzer and Joe Truzman.

If you’d like to dig deeper on the topics discussed in this episode, we recommend you check out Joe’s project on mapping terrorism in the West Bank and Jon’s book Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War, which according to LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster: “If you want to understand the hell in a very small place that is Gaza, read this book.”
PMW: Released terrorist confirms: Terrorists “carried out the orders of the [PA] leadership”
Senior PA officialand terroristFuad Al-Shubaki has confirmed Palestinian Media Watch’s findings that Palestinian terrorists are seen by the PA and by themselves as soldiers carrying out “orders” of the PA:
Released terrorist prisoner Fuad Al-Shubaki: “[The prisoners] have sacrificed that which is most precious and carried out the orders of the [PA] leadership.The leadership. Now we need to find a solution for them...”

[Official PA TV News, March 13, 2023]

Al-Shubaki made this statement upon release after 17 years in prison for his role in the attempt to smuggle 50 tons of illegal weapons to the Palestinian Authority aboard the Karine A weapons’ ship, during the PA’s terror campaign, the second Intifada, in 2002.

In addition, Al-Shubaki indirectly called for kidnappings of Israelis as he advocated for “deals” to “release our prisoners.” Complaining that some prisoners have been in prison for several decades, he joined others who have recently called for kidnappings, as PMW has documented:
Released terrorist prisoner Fuad Al-Shubaki: “Everyone says that we need to make [prisoner exchange] deals and release our prisoners. We need to make sure that they will be released. There are those who have been [in prison for] 34 years, 37 years, or 38 years. What is going on?”

[Official PA TV News, March 13, 2023]




Bernard-Henri Lévy: Iran and Persia
And so the first of the Pahlavi—seeking emancipation from Anglo-Saxon guardianship and rapprochement with this other “Aryan nation” that Germany wished to be, where he saw, as many others did, the face of the future—falls into the trap and announces, by decree, on March 21, 1935, that the only official diplomatic name of Persia shall be Iran.

His son, assuming the throne in 1941 after the Allies forced the father’s abdication, confirmed in his memoirs that his father had, in making the name change, “deliberately encouraged relations between Persia and Germany.”

The young shah’s first prime minister, Mohammad Ali Foroughi, regretted that the country of Darius, Xerxes, and Ferdowzi risked amputation—“at the stroke of a pen”—of a part of its memory.

A council of sages was named and recommended, 18 years later, to go back and put both names in use again.

But 1979 loomed.

The mullahs, looking to erase the pre-Islamic past, closed the case.

And this is how, in international usage, the noble and beautiful name of Persia fell into disuse.

This episode is, again, mentioned by all the historians.

And it is detailed in the monumental Encyclopaedia Iranica—piloted by Columbia University and under the direction, up until his death in 2018, of Ehsan Yarshater—by some of the most preeminent Iran specialists.

Of course, we could always consider this name-changing affair of little importance and say instead that today, all that matters is the women’s revolution, life, and liberty.

We would be wrong.

Because this semantic backslide laid the groundwork for the deculturalization begun, in 1979, by these authentic fascists who were, and remain, the Guardians of the Revolution.

It preceded the iconoclastic rage that would wipe the sun and Zoroastrian lion from the national flag and would, in Isfahan, Tabriz, or Tehran, tear down the monuments and symbols of Persian dynasties.

And I remember, conversely, the day in 1971 when the sister of the shah came to the United Nations to offer a copy of the Cyrus Cylinder, when the world discovered that engraved in clay, 23 centuries before the French Revolution, was the first declaration of the rights of man.

In great civilizations, things cannot be separated.

Iran is not Iran if it isn’t also Persia.

And there, as elsewhere, the battle for rights is also a battle for memory.

It’s simple: To win, the democratic revolution underway there must relearn how to braid the three golden strands: Shiism, the Enlightenment, and the heritage of the Book of Kings.
MEMRI: Following Renewal Of Saudi-Iranian Relations, Debate In Jordanian Press Over Whether Jordan Should Also Reconcile With Iran
The agreement signed on March 10, 2023 between Saudi Arabia and Iran to renew their relations after a seven-year hiatus[1]sparked a debate in Jordan about the implications of this agreement for the kingdom's own relations with Iran, and regarding the option of following Saudi Arabia's example.

The diplomatic relations between Jordan and Iran have been kept at a low level for several years. In April 2016 Jordan recalled its ambassador from Iran over the Iran's "intervention in the internal affairs of Arab countries, especially of the Gulf states."[2] This was a gesture of solidarity with Jordan's ally Saudi Arabia, whose embassy in Tehran had been attacked and torched by Iranian rioters three months earlier.[3] The Gulf countries themselves also recalled their ambassadors from Iran following this incident. In early 2019 the last Iranian ambassador to Jordan, Mojtaba Ferdosipour, finished his term in office, and Jordan refused to receive a new Iranian ambassador.[4]

However, despite this, and despite Jordan's membership in the pro-Saudi camp, which took a stern line vis-à-vis Iran, Amman's relations with Tehran were never severed completely. The embassies continued to function at the level of deputy ambassadors, and mutual visits by officials continued. For example, in February 2017 a delegation of Jordanian MPs, headed by then parliamentary speaker 'Atef Al-Tarawneh, visited Tehran and met with its president at the time, Hassan Rohani, on the sidelines of the International Conference on Supporting the Palestinian Intifada.[5]In December 2022, Jordan's King Abdullah II met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq, held in Jordan.[6]

At the same time, Jordan took a cautious position vis-à-vis Iran over the years, due to the threats posed to it by this country. King Abdullah warned about Iran's efforts to spread in the region and create a territorial continuum extending from Iran to Lebanon, which he referred to in 2004 as "the Shi'ite Crescent."[7]The civil war in Syria and Iran's growing involvement there exacerbated Jordan's concerns about Iran and about the presence of pro-Iranian militias on the Syria-Jordan border, which the kingdom regards as a grave strategic threat.[8] Moreover, in the past few years these militias have been involved in attempts to smuggle drugs and weapons from Syria into Jordan.[9]

Furthermore, Iran has for years been torpedoing the implementation of economic agreements between Jordan and its neighbor Iraq, including the project to build an oil pipeline from Basra to Aqaba. Many reports indicate that Shi'ite and pro-Iranian Iraqi elements have repeatedly clarified to the Jordanians that realizing Jordan's economic interests in Iraq depends on Jordan's warming its relations with Iran and returning its ambassador to Tehran.[10] For years, Iran has also been expressing an interest in promoting religious tourism to Shi'ite pilgrimage sites in Jordan, and has even offered Jordan incentives in return, such as oil at a reduced price and the construction of an airport.[11] However, Jordan has refused, fearing this would give Iran a foothold in its territory.




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