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Sunday, May 14, 2023

05/14 Links: Col Kemp: Israel under Fire and The West's Pusillanimous Response; David Collier: The Gaza Strip – always remember how we got here; A congressional Nakba Day debacle

From Ian:

Richard Kemp: Israel under Fire and The West's Pusillanimous Response
Neither Ukraine nor Israel has any territorial ambitions or aggressive intent against their attackers — both Ukraine and Israel are fighting purely defensive wars to protect their civilian populations.

There is another common factor. Islamic Jihad in Gaza is an Iranian proxy terrorist group, funded and directed from Tehran. Iran's hand is behind this conflict....

I do not recall any Western government or international body suggesting moral equivalence between the aggressor and the defender in the Ukraine war, but that is exactly what we have seen repeatedly in this and previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza with the UN Secretary General calling on "both sides" to exercise restraint.

Unlike the immediate condemnation of Russian violence, we have seen only silence in the US and Europe since Islamic Jihad's rockets began to fall on Israel. The best we have heard from the White House is that "Israel has the right to protect itself", a statement of the blindingly obvious. None of this is good enough when what is needed is the strongest support for Israel and the most blunt condemnation of Islamic Jihad, along the lines we see over the Ukraine war.

The usual media suspects, such as the BBC and CNN, both cheerleaders for Ukraine's defensive operations, have predictably been doing their best to slant their coverage against Israel.

As we can see from the Western approach to Ukraine as well as wars everywhere, no other country that is unlawfully attacked by a foreign power is portrayed as the aggressor or at best on a par with the attacker.... The IDF takes the greatest possible care to defend its civilians while avoiding unnecessary casualties among civilians on enemy territory, frequently aborting attacks when there is the risk of killing innocent people....

Gaza terrorist leaders, on the other hand, make sure their wives and children are nearby and ready to die whenever there is the risk of attack against them. They deliberately position their weapons stores, missile launch sites and fighters among the civilian population, including in schools, hospitals and occupied residential buildings. The IDF will frequently warn civilians to get out of the area when preparing an attack. Understanding how this undermines their policy of causing maximum casualties on their own civilians in order to achieve international condemnation of Israel, terrorists in Gaza have warned their citizens that anyone who complies will be punished.
David Collier: The Gaza Strip – always remember how we got here
These are the lessons Israel learnt – the hard way. This is why the Israeli peace camp imploded – as Israelis became aware that there is no Palestinian peace partner. It does not mean that there are not Palestinians who would make peace – but that the Islamic terrorists – those who want war – control the Palestinian street.

This means that every time Israel moved towards peace with the Palestinians – it paid a bloody price. It is worth remembering that in the 1990s there was enormous pressure to get Israel to give up the Golan. Given what happened in Syria we can only be thankful that the naivety of the Israeli ‘peace bloc’ did not leave ISIS just a few miles from Tiberias.

Egypt wanted peace – and got it. Jordan wanted peace – and got it. The Palestinian leadership has no interest in peace – it just wants Israel gone. This is why there is still conflict.

The truth is that everything we see in Gaza today is a result of Israel ‘playing nice’ and doing whatever it could to make peace. Every time Israel ceded ground, or did what the west was telling it to, the price was paid in Israeli blood.

If there was a radical Islamic enclave firing rockets and cities in the US, UK, France, or any other western nation – these nation’s forces would have obliterated the terrorists long ago – at whatever cost. In consistently showing self-restraint, Israel is – as always – going above and beyond what every other nation would do.

Never forget this when reading the distorted news reports that circulate during times of conflict.
Bassem Eid: Iran is Waging War on the Palestinian People
I have reason to understand how these foreign states manipulate the Palestinian people. When I was a child, our family was forcibly moved from our East Jerusalem home to the Shuafat refugee camp, not by Israel, but by Jordan. Today, Gaza has devolved into a base for terror groups that follow an Iranian, not a Palestinian, agenda. About a quarter of all PIJ rockets launched in this week’s fighting fell short and landed within Gaza; at least four Palestinian civilians, including children, were killed in Gaza on May 10 alone as a result of failed rocket launches. And yet day after day and night after night, the brutal rocket onslaught continues, rendering normal life impossible in many Israeli communities, necessitating a targeted defensive response from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Operation “Shield and Arrow,” that has brought daily life in the Strip to a screeching halt.

Strategically, the tragedy of the ongoing escalation represents a loss of opportunities, political and economic, for the Palestinian people. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip have much in common with Israel, the Middle East’s most remarkable economic success story that can’t be attributed to fossil fuels. The Palestinians have repeatedly been invited to join their neighbors in a zone of peace and prosperity, which the late Israeli statesman and peacemaker Shimon Peres called “the New Middle East.” Simultaneously, the Palestinian leadership at least three times (in 2000, 2001, and 2008) rejected comprehensive peace agreements with Israel that would have created an independent Palestinian state, solved the refugee problem, and ended the crisis. Instead, our leaders – the terrorist mastermind Yasser Arafat and the perpetual dictator Mahmoud Abbas, now serving the nineteenth year of his four-year term – have committed us to endless war.

What is happening in the Middle East right now is very simple. The theocratic regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran, not content with quashing women’s dignity and hanging youthful protesters at home, seeks to impose its apocalyptic medieval vision upon the whole region. Just as the terrorist factions that claim Palestinian leadership were used as enthusiastic pawns in the fascist-style wars of aggrandizement waged by the pan-Arab regime of Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt and the Ba’ath totalitarianism of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, PIJ and Hamas are now attempting to pull the Palestinian people into Iran’s bloodthirsty schemes. I have a better idea. Let’s give our families and our children peace and prosperity, not projectiles and pain. Let’s have an agreement and understanding with Israel, instead of endless fighting and religious tyranny under Iran.


Israeli ambassador to UN to member states: Avoid Nakba Day event
Attendance at a “Nakba Day” event at the UN will only increase tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan warned member states in a letter sent Sunday.

Erdan railed against the event declaring Israel’s establishment a “catastrophe,” the meaning of the Arabic world Nakba, saying that he is “working to ensure member states understand that attending this despicable event means destroying any chance of peace.”

Going to the event means “adopting the Palestinian narrative calling the State of Israel a disaster while ignoring Palestinian hate, incitement, terror and refusal to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state,” the ambassador said.

What is 'Nakba Day'?
“Nakba Day” events mark what Palestinians consider to be the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding and Israel’s War of Independence that led 750,000 Palestinians to flee, many at the encouragement of Arab leaders who promised they would be able to return after the Jews were defeated. The events present Palestinians entirely as victims, rather than parties to a conflict with Israel.

The US and UK do not plan to take part in the event, diplomatic sources confirmed last week. Erdan said that several others have followed suit, and he calls on all member states to do so, as well.

The ambassador’s letter describes the historical events surrounding Israel’s founding, stating that “on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its establishment in line with the United Nations’ 1947 Partition Plan. The Arab states, including the Palestinians who lived in Israel, rejected the Partition Plan and immediately following Israel’s declaration of independence, five Arab armies invaded Israel in order to obliterate the nascent State.”

“The thought that an international organization could mark the establishment of one of its member states as a catastrophe or disaster is both appalling and repulsive,” Erdan wrote. “This event is a blatant attempt to distort history, neglecting the fact that those who paint themselves as the victims were actually the aggressors who initiated a five-front war on the newly established State of Israel. This horrifying falsification must not be condoned in any way shape or form.”


JPost Editorial: A congressional Nakba Day debacle
Last year alone, according to the ADL, Nakba Day events in the United States featured speakers who openly and explicitly called for violent attacks on Israelis, participants who waved the flags of designated terror groups and chants of “intifada” – that is, calls for a campaign of violence against Israeli Jews.

It is unclear which would be worse: if Sanders knew what he was enabling or if he didn’t. What is clear is that he has a major blind spot when it comes to close associates who have been accused of antisemitism, which speaks to a broader problem in progressive politics in America.

Partisan politics should never get in the way of doing what is right. Rashida Tlaib, Linda Sarsour and Ilhan Omar may be rising stars in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, but they are also deeply controversial figures who each have a history of engaging in rhetoric regarded by the Jewish community as antisemitic.

Sanders should be distancing himself from them and denouncing them publicly. Instead, he has embraced their endorsement and has reciprocated in kind, even going so far as to grant his imprimatur to an event centered on unadulterated hostility to Israel and organized by groups accused of antisemitism. That an elder statesman of the American Left is conducting himself in this way should trouble all Americans.

The Nakba Day debacle should signify a watershed moment in the conversation surrounding Israel in America. There should be no place in the halls of power for rhetoric that characterizes the establishment of the State of Israel – a staunch ally of the United States that is supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans of both parties – as a “catastrophe.” Americans should expect better from their elected officials, and the officials themselves should have the integrity to stand against hateful and incendiary rhetoric, even when going along with it may appear to be politically expedient.

We applaud the lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, who have spoken out against Wednesday’s event and hope their voices win out in the end.


Seth Frantzman: Did Iran benefit or lose from Israel, Islamic Jihad fighting in Gaza?
No unified Iranian command
This leaves serious questions about Iran’s abilities. Did Israel successfully isolate PIJ in this round, concentrate on achieving blows in Gaza, and prevent an Iranian attempt to spread the conflict? That could be one reading. On the other hand, another read on the outcome could be that Iran simply was not engaged and not planning for this and therefore was not only caught by surprise, but was unable to dictate the tempo.

Iran’s regime, in terms of work with its proxies, likes to plan in the long term. It invests over many years in growing the proxies and arming them and using them. But it can’t always be in control of them. It doesn’t appear to have a unified “operations” room for the “unity of fronts.”

That means that there isn’t a physical place where the Quds force commanders sit with members of PIJ, Hamas, Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat Nujaba, Liwa al-Quds and others. This means that in the absence of Iran and the IRGC Quds Force being able to decide beforehand that they want to “heat up” the fronts, they may not have the capability to work well as a concerted effort.

If we compare the five days of fighting that was Operation Shield and Arrow with the ten days of May 2021 and the several days of fighting during the Passover week this year, there are clear differences. In the lead-up to the April 2023 and May 2021 clashes, Iran used Ramadan to create tension and worked closely with Hamas. It was able to get groups to fire rockets from Lebanon and Syria in April 2023, and in May 2021 Iran ordered rockets fired from Lebanon and a drone used from Iraq.

Iran’s inability or decision not to coordinate is one feature of Iran’s possible failure over the last week. However, if Iran didn’t want to achieve anything then this could be seen as a draw, neither side achieving much. Israel views Iran as the main adversary in the region. This is known as a “third circle threat” and Israel has acted for a decade in Syria via the "Campaign Between the Wars" to prevent Iran’s entrenchment there. In the past, Israel has chosen to not operate in Gaza, such as in 2018, in order to focus on Iran’s threats in the north and further afield. This was clear during Northern Shield in 2018.
Netanyahu hails ‘perfect’ operation against Islamic Jihad
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised “Operation Shield and Arrow” on the first full day of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after five days of fighting against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

“The execution was perfect. With a continuous initiative, we thwarted the entire top of the organization and damaged combat equipment that endangered Israel’s security,” the premier remarked at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

“We destroyed 17 jihadist headquarters, eliminated dozens of terrorists, hit rocket and missile depots, thwarted anti-tank squads and more. I would like to thank the members of the security establishment and the citizens of Israel, and especially the residents of the [‘Gaza Envelope’], for the firm stand that allowed us to succeed in the operation. We changed the equation,” Netanyahu said.

The Israel Defense Forces began to ease restrictions on “Gaza Envelope” communities on Sunday following the truce that went into effect at 10 p.m on Saturday, although terrorists continued to fire rockets at Israel and the IDF pounded terrorist targets in the Strip in response for a couple of hours after the ceasefire was supposed to start.

Roadblocks were removed from Israeli communities close to Gaza on Sunday and the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings to the Strip reopened among other measures that marked the beginning of a return to normal life as the tenuous ceasefire took hold.

Netanyahu also had a warning for Israel’s enemies.

“Today, the enemies of Israel and far beyond Gaza know that even if they try to hide, we can and we are willing to reach them at any time. This recognition grew significantly stronger in Operation Shield and Arrow. We changed the equation,” he said.
Gaza conflict by the numbers: 1,478 Islamic Jihad rockets, 422 IDF attacks
The Islamic Jihad officials assassinated by the IDF
The first three and most senior Islamic Jihad officials killed started with Khalil Bahitini.

Khalil Bahitini, the commander of the al-Quds Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip, Tareq Ezzaldin, a spokesperson for the movement who also managed terrorist activities in the West Bank and Gaza, and Jihad Ghanem, secretary of the movement's military council.

They were all killed almost simultaneously, within minutes of each other, by a mix of around 40 aircraft and drones.

The commander was responsible for rocket fire toward Israel in the past month and was planning further rocket fire in the near future, according to the IDF.

Who is Tareq Ezzaldin?
Next was Tarq Ezzaldin, a spokesperson for the terror group, who was responsible for the communications between the movement and its branches in the West Bank, for transferring funds and coordinating incitement efforts in Israeli territory. Ezzaldin was released from Israeli prison in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap.

Who is Jihad Ghanem?
Next was Jihad Ghanem, secretary of the movement's military council, who was one of the most senior and veteran operatives in the movement and served at one point as the commander of the al-Quds Brigades in the southern Gaza Strip. In his latest position, Ghanem was responsible for coordinating the transfer of funds and weapons from the PIJ to Hamas.

The wives and some of the children of the three senior terrorists were killed in the strikes as well.

Despite those numbers, most current and former IDF officials cited the operation as an example of a series of top-notch surgical strikes in complex urban areas which mostly succeeded at keeping civilian casualties lower than what might be expected from other militaries with lesser intelligence and precision munitions capabilities.


Gaza rocket killed Palestinian Abdullah Abu Jaba, also seriously injured his brother
The Palestinian laborer killed Saturday by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip was named as Abdullah Abu Jaba, from the Gaza Strip.

The same missile also seriously injured his brother, Hamad Abu Jaba.

Abdullah, 34, and Hamad, 39, were caught in the blast when the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group fired missiles at Israel in the closing hours of a conflict that lasted five days. A mediated ceasefire that came into effect later in the evening continued to hold Sunday.

Abdullah was married and had six children aged 11, 9, 7 5, 3, and a baby girl, Channel 12 reported Sunday. Hamad is a father of eight.

Abdullah was the fifth Palestinian killed by rockets fired from Gaza in the recent fighting, according to Israeli officials who said last week that failed PIJ rockets that crashed back into Gaza killed four civilians.

The rocket on Saturday hit an agricultural building site where the Abu Jaba brothers were working near the southern border town of Shokeda. An Israeli Bedouin man who was employed as a guard at the site was moderately wounded.

The men were apparently at the location in violation of IDF Home Front Command instructions and there was no bomb shelter available for them to seek refuge, the Haaretz daily reported Sunday.


Breaking calm, one rocket launched from Gaza at south; IDF hits Hamas posts
A rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon on Sunday evening, the military said, breaking around 20 hours of calm after a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ending five days of fighting.

Incoming rocket sirens sounded in Ashkelon’s southern industrial zone, and the nearby towns of Zikim and Netiv Ha’asara.

The Israel Defense Forces said the rocket landed in an open field, without causing any injuries or damage. The Iron Dome air defense system was not used, as the projectile was not heading for a populated area, the IDF added.

A source in the so-called “Joint Room” of Palestinian terror factions in the Gaza Strip told Al-Jazeera that the rocket was launched as a result of a technical malfunction.

“The resistance confirms its commitment to the ceasefire,” the source added.

The IDF said tanks carried out strikes against two observation posts belonging to the Hamas terror group in response. Israel generally responds with strikes against Hamas sites regardless of the group launching the attack, noting that it is responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory. At times, it has directed its response at Islamic Jihad, if the terror group claimed responsibility.
The Caroline Glick Show: BREAKING : Gaza and its Media Allies
Journalist Caroline Glick explains the current Islamic Jihad assault on Israel and how it is assisted by its allies in the Western media.


The Caroline Glick Show: We are stronger than our enemies
Journalist Caroline Glick reacts to last week's news when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Iran has stockpiled sufficient quantities of uranium enriched to 20% and 60% purity to build five nuclear bombs. In response to Iran’s nuclear advances, the Biden administration again moved its redline for backing Israeli military operations against Iran’s nuclear weapons.

Is this a time to despair Iran’s strengths, or can Israel take advantage of its strengths and Iran’s weaknesses to defeat the Iranian regime?


The Caroline Glick Show: Simcha Rothman: The Future of Israel's Judicial Reform
This week’s guest on the Caroline Glick Show was MK Simcha Rothman from the Religious Zionism Party. Rothman is the Chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. As committee head, Rothman has been leading the effort toward reform of the judicial system together with Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

They discuss
- Failed negotiations at the President's house
- What is the next step to make judicial reform?
- Why judicial reform is necessary?
- What is the protest movement all about?

Finally, Glick asked Rothman to discuss his party’s views of Diaspora Jewry. Rothman explained the rationale for abrogating the so-called “Grandfather Clause” in the Law of Return which as provided the rights of new Olim to non-Jews with one Jewish grandparent and why the situation has no relevance for U.S. Jewry.




Israeli forces detain Palestinian gunmen accused of March attack on troops in Huwara
Two Palestinian gunmen accused of shooting and wounding Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Huwara in March were detained by the military on Sunday morning.

In a joint statement, police and the Israel Defense Forces said forces detained Iyad al-Takrouri, 24, and Musab Mazhar, 21, during a raid in the Nablus Old City.

Officers of the police’s elite Yamam unit broke into the wanted men’s apartment and called on them to come out, and they did so without any resistance, the statement said.

Forces seized an assault rifle and ammunition at the scene.

The pair were handed over to the Shin Bet security agency for further questioning.

In the attack on March 25, al-Takrouri and Mazhar allegedly opened fire from a passing vehicle at IDF soldiers stationed in Huwara, just south of Nablus.


Daniel Greenfield: Godfather of Islamist Campus Antisemitism Plays “As a Jew”
The DNA of campus antisemitism goes back to Hatem ‘Hate’em’ Bazian. Bazian is the co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine and the one figure who did the most to kickstart the culture of campus hate.

Back in the 90’s when Hatem was at San Francisco State University, he participated in an assault on the offices of the Golden Gater student newspaper accusing it of being full of Jewish spies. Jewish students had complained about anti-Semitic behavior by Bazian, in his role as student body president, and his campaign against Hillel, the leading Jewish campus organization, was a direct attempt to disenfranchise Jewish students.

The SJP organization allowed Hatem an even larger platform for his violent bigotry. In April 2002, seventy-nine members of SJP attempted to disrupt a Holocaust Remembrance Day event and were arrested. At a rally to protest their arrests, Bazian said, “take a look at the type of names on the building around campus – Haas, Zellerbach – and decide who controls this university.”

SJP’s conference in 2001 was sponsored by a Hamas front group with the American head of Islamic Jihad as its keynote speaker. Bazian would later serve as the representative for KindHearts, another Hamas front group. And true to its MSA roots, the SJP Berkeley site describes Hamas as “a vast social organization” which “also has a militia established to fight Israeli troops in the occupied territories.”

So it was a little surprising to see Hatem Bazian tweeting “As a Jew” critiques to CNN over Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

“As a Jew” has a long and low dishonest history in which leftists, who happen to be of Jewish ancestry or pretending to be, denounce Israel… “as a Jew”.

It’s hard to think of anyone less Jewish than Hatem Bazian, but there he was.


BBC reporting on PIJ continues to leave readers underinformed
Previously we looked at the BBC News website’s initial report concerning Operation Shield and Arrow on May 9th:

As noted, at no point in that report were BBC audiences told that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organisation which is designated by the EU, the US, the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel and readers were not provided with any information concerning the financial and military sponsorship provided to the PIJ by Iran.

As the operation continued, the BBC News website published additional reports which, like that initial article, were not tagged with the name of the terrorist organisation that is their topic.

On May 10th a report by David Gritten that was originally headlined ‘Gaza militants fire rockets after new Israeli air strikes’ appeared on the website’s ‘Middle East’ page. The headline was later amended to read ‘Israel and Gaza militants in heaviest fighting for months’ and the updated version was credited to Raffi Berg and David Gritten.

As in its initial report on the operation, the BBC continued to skirt the issue of terrorism, describing the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a “militant group” and failing to provide relevant background concerning its Iranian funding and its record of terror attacks.

“The Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which is the second biggest militant group in the territory after Hamas…”

The report’s portrayal of Palestinian fatalities includes the following:
“Six people were killed and 45 injured in Gaza, local medics say. […]

It comes a day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including three Islamic Jihad leaders.”

BBC audiences were once again not informed that one of those “three Islamic Jihad leaders” orchestrated a shooting attack in 2004 in which Tali Hatuel, her unborn baby and her four daughters were murdered. Neither did the BBC report that another – Tareq Izz ed-Din – directed Islamic Jihad terror activities in the West Bank from Gaza.
BBC Blame Game: Broadcaster Faults Israel For Islamic Jihad Rockets Preventing Urgent Cancer Care
As Islamic Jihad stepped up its rocket attacks against Israel over the weekend, the BBC was busy cooking up a new angle from which to cover the conflict: how to apportion blame for cancer patients dying in Gaza.

In “Gaza cancer patients face life-threatening treatment delays,” the British broadcaster’s Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell and reporter Rushdi Abualouf report on the “mounting humanitarian situation” in the Hamas-ruled enclave, specifically that approximately 200 cancer patients are unable to leave for urgent treatment.

The reason for the delays in providing care to sick Gazans is offered in the third paragraph:
Israel controls two crossings with Gaza – used for people and goods – which have been closed since the start of its military operation on Tuesday.

With no further context or explanation added, the suggestion is that Israel has decided to cut off and further isolate the Gaza Strip for no other reason than sheer malevolence.

Building on this insinuation, the BBC quotes at length a British surgeon and humanitarian worker who warns of potential deaths as a result of delays, and a Palestinian cancer sufferer who explains that he was unable to travel to Ramallah for treatment due to the closure of the Erez crossing into Israel.

However, it is only at the very end of the story — in the final three paragraphs of 31 — that readers are told why Israel was forced to close the crossings: Islamic Jihad terrorists were repeatedly firing rockets at them.

Indeed, the BBC actually references a video clip showing one such mortar attack on the Erez crossing, but even then seeks to cast doubt on the event by describing the footage as merely showing what the Israeli defense ministry “said” is CCTV of the blast.


King Charles III could make historic visit to Israel in near future - report s attending his coronation at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, May 5, 2023
King Charles III may visit Israel in the near future, according to a report by The Daily Mail. The newly coronated king would be the first reigning monarch to come to Israel after his mother Queen Elizabeth II did not travel to the country in her 70-year reign.

Though his visit will be historic if it happens, he would not be the first royal to visit. King Charles III has visited previously, though without his current title, as did his late father Prince Phillip, and his son William, Prince of Wales.

The monarch's political peer Lord Polak, who served as director of Conservative Friends of Israel for a quarter of a century, said "There is no doubt that Charles will be the one to break this pattern. The preparation has been done by his team to pave the way for this visit."

According to Polak, early preparations have begun for a possible king's visit.

The structure of King Charles III's potential visit to Israel
Charles would also plan to visit Palestinian territories. Though he has previously visited Israel in a private capacity on three different occasions before taking the throne, the visit to the territories would likely be to "keep up appearances," according to reports by The Daily Mail.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog had reportedly been part of lobbying efforts for the King's potential visit. The recent rocket attacks from Gaza associated with Operation Shield and Arrow proved to be an obstacle in setting an official date for Charles' visit.

Lord Polak also added that it was regrettable that the late Queen never made a visit to Israel.

Diplomatic sources close to King Charles III told The Daily Mail that he "made it clear in recent years that he is not afraid to go to Israel and will not allow being the monarch to prevent him from returning in that role."
U.K Chief Rabbi speaks to i24NEWS about the King's Coronation
U.K Chief Rabbi speaks to i24NEWS about the King's Coronation and his personal relationship with King Charles III


David Friedman: 5 years on, the US embassy in Jerusalem remains the key to peace in the Middle East
I have often been asked, “How were you so sure that moving the U.S. embassy would not lead to outbreaks of global violence?” The answer is that I wasn’t sure. Although we studied the security issues extensively, no one could be sure that no terrorist would emerge anywhere on the planet. But I believed that we were on the side of history and doing God’s will, and that that would be enough to keep us safe. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah predicted many years ago that our actions would advance the cause of peace. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories

The paradigmatic biblical verse prophesying world peace is in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 2, verse 4: “Nation will not lift up sword against nation nor study war anymore.” So widely known and accepted is this verse that it is carved into the wall across the street from the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

But Isaiah doesn’t just foresee peace on earth, he also explains how it is to be achieved. In the prior verses, he prophesied that the nations of the world will all come to Jerusalem to learn God’s ways and follow his paths. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, God will resolve their differences and then, and only then, “nation will not lift up sword against nation nor study wear anymore.”

How does a nation “come to Jerusalem?” By moving its embassy to that holy city. Isaiah makes clear that the road to peace runs through Jerusalem. Perhaps that is why the name “Jerusalem” means “City of Peace.”

In May 2018, most of the world’s pundits predicted that moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would cause endless wars and unresolvable conflicts. Some 2,800 years earlier, Isaiah predicted that the move would lead to peace. Isaiah was right! After we moved our embassy, Israel succeeded in normalizing relations with four Muslim countries—the Abraham Accords.

Some have said that the Abraham Accords were achieved despite moving our embassy to Jerusalem. No, the Abraham Accords were signed because of the move. In moving our embassy, we ended the fantasy within parts of the Arab world that Israel might cease to exist or that the bond between Israel and America could be broken. We demonstrated that the United States will always stand with Israel but, at the same time, we signaled that the United States was prepared to stand as well with nations of good faith who are prepared to combat extremism and bring about a more stable and peaceful Middle East. Our message to moderate Sunni nations was as clear then as was Isaiah’s message in ancient times: the path to better relations with America runs through Jerusalem.

This is the formula for Middle East peace and it all began on May 14, 2018, with the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.
Nikki Haley: The Jerusalem embassy, five years later
Moving our embassy was ultimately about standing up for ourselves. No one—not the U.N., not our friends and certainly not our enemies—has the right to tell the United States where to put our embassy. After Donald Trump finally made the decision to implement the Act, I proudly vetoed a U.N. resolution criticizing the U.S. for doing so. I was the lone veto out of the 15-member Security Council. It was the first U.S. veto at the U.N. in nearly seven years.

In my speech following the veto, I explained, “Jerusalem has been the political, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years” and that America was acknowledging the obvious.

Just as importantly, I stood up to the critics, defended American sovereignty, and took the names of those who attacked us. As I warned, “The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. … This vote will be remembered.”

For too long, America acted like an international doormat. We worried more about upsetting enemies than defending friends. We looked the other way when evil regimes committed unspeakable crimes. We convinced ourselves that playing nice would make the worst countries in the world play nice too.

They did not. All we did was embarrass ourselves.

Five years later, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a proud symbol of American strength and the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship. It is also a reminder of how America can and must ignore the bullies and do what’s right—not least because it puts the bullies in their place.

How things have changed. Under President Joe Biden, America has gone into retreat. From the surrender in Afghanistan to the failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine to putting partisan politics ahead of allies like Israel, Biden is listening to the same foolish ideas—often from the same foolish people—that I heard over and over before we moved the embassy to Jerusalem. They say that weakness is really strength, that inaction is really leadership.

It wasn’t then. It isn’t now. More than ever before, the United States needs to send the message that our friends can trust us, our enemies should fear us and we’ll do what’s right no matter who stands in the way. That is the lesson of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. It’s a lesson we need to remember, and then remind the world of it.
US Embassy marks five years in Jerusalem
i24NEWS Correspondent Nicole Zedek takes a look at the five year anniversary of the United States moving their embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem






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