Friday, June 02, 2023

06/02 Links Pt1: Don't forget, remember the Farhud; Ahlam Tamimi’s 16th victim; US Slams New Iranian Leadership Roles at UN; What if Bernard Lewis was right about Iran?

From Ian:

Leo Dee to 'Post': Considering multi-billion dollar lawsuit against CNN
Dear David,
We have not met, however, you may have heard about my family. My wife Lucy and two beautiful daughters, Maia (20) and Rina (15) were recently and cruelly massacred by two Palestinian gunmen while driving on their way to a holiday on the Sea of Galilee during the festival of Passover. The gunmen swerved the car off the road until it stopped and then got out of their car and shot 20 bullets into my wife’s brain stem and 6th vertebra, Rina’s face and Maia’s leg. They all died from their wounds but not before Lucy donated all her organs to save five lives including one Muslim Arab Israeli in the North of Israel.

You, I understand, have recently had the honor of becoming the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery and the tenuous honor of becoming the de facto head of CNN.

As you know the founding fathers of Warner Bros. were Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack. They founded the company in 1923 and acted very bravely in the 1930s when they resisted a Hollywood ban on anti-Nazi films which was allegedly requested by Joseph Goebbels himself (chief propagandist for the Nazi Party) by way of the Nazi consul in Los Angeles, Georg Gyssling.

Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack would be turning in their graves today if they knew what Warner Bros was supporting in the Middle East.

CNN draws moral equivalence between victims of terror and families of killed terrorists
CNN is an organization that draws a moral equivalence between the innocent victims of terror, such as my wife Lucy and my daughters Maia and Rina, and the mother of a terrorist who was morally eliminated by Israeli forces in order to prevent him from murdering more innocent victims.

I know this, David, because of a conversation I had with the head of your Israel bureau, Richard Greene. When I asked him, “Do you think that it is morally equivalent to compare what happened to me to what happened to the mother of a terrorist?” Richard answered me, “Rabbi Dee, with great respect you are making an assertion that I do not agree with.” This is an appalling statement to someone, such as myself and my surviving three children, who have just been bereaved through a violent murderous attack by Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorists on three of our most precious family members. If CNN cannot admit that there is a moral difference between the murder in cold blood of three beautiful innocent women and the man who murdered them, then it can only be described as an evil organization.
JPost Editorial: Don't forget, remember the Farhud
We are living in an era when narratives battle with history – and often win.

This is particularly evident around this time of year, when the Palestinians and their supporters mark Nakba Day – commemorating the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation – and Naksa Day, the “upset” of Israel surviving the Six Day War that was meant to wipe it off the face of the earth. Shamefully, Nakba Day was even commemorated this year in the United Nations, to mark its 75th anniversary.

There is, however, a gap in both knowledge and acknowledgment when it comes to the history of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. More than 850,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab and Muslim lands in 1948, upon Israel’s establishment as a state. But this did not come out of the blue.

Remember the Farhud
One of the horrific incidents that preceded this mass flight of Jews is often overlooked. It is the Farhud – the onslaught or violent dispossession – which took place in Iraq on June 1 and 2, 1941, coinciding with the Shavuot festival. It was a pogrom in every sense. 179 Jews of all ages were killed in the two-day rampage, which was concentrated in Baghdad and Basra. They were slaughtered in their homes and on the streets – wherever they were found by the murderous gangs, whipped up by Nazi propaganda and the pro-German Iraqi leadership.

The lethal attacks, rapes, killing, looting and desecration of synagogues affected the entire community. It is estimated that more than 2,000 Jews were wounded and the property of more than 50,000 Jews was looted or destroyed. The dead were later buried in mass graves – and the illusion of peaceful coexistence was buried with them. Although Jews had lived in this ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia region for some 2,500 years, it counted for nothing when the Farhud broke out.

There were, of course, some righteous people among the general Muslim population, courageous people who risked their own lives to save their Jewish neighbors and friends. But they were a minority.

The campaign of terror came against the backdrop of the power vacuum between the collapse of the pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, who had seized control from the Iraqi monarchy, and the return of British forces to Baghdad. The interim Iraqi prime minister was an ardent supporter of Hitler and introduced the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, to the Nazi leader. Nazi thinking fell on fertile ground. As always, the Jews paid the price.
King of Morocco demanded a ransom for 100,000 Jews
It is widely believed, not least by the Jews themselves, that Morocco regrets the exodus of over 100,000 Jews to Israel in the early 1960s, the final chapter in a millennial story of coexistence. Having researched the question thoroughly, Agnès Bensimon, writing in The Times of Israel, concluded that the mass aliya was foisted upon Israel because King Hassan II demanded a ransom of $50 per emigrant. Not only did the King line his own pockets, but establishment members owned shares in a travel company used by the departing Jews. Thus Morocco was no different from Iraq, for instance, where politicians and their families profited from the mass exodus (with thanks: Veronique): A Moroccan-Jewish family arriving by ship in Israel

In four years, between 1960 and 1964, 102,000 Jews left Morocco for Israel. In her investigative book “Hassan II and the Jews. History of a secret emigration”, Agnès Bensimon indicates, with supporting documents, that King Hassan II received fifty dollars per Jew who emigrated to Israel, including children.

In her book, which almost thirty years after its publication has become almost unobtainable, Agnès Bensimon, a journalist with a degree from SciencesPo Paris and (in 2018) a cultural attaché at the Israeli Embassy, reveals the hidden causes of this departure in a paragraph entitled “The price to pay. ”

“The financial aspect not being the least of the interests of Hassan II, the discussions in Geneva opened on this question. Israel had promised benefits in return for a liberal policy, and it soon learned the price. At stake was the departure of 50,000 Jews. The fixed amount per person was fifty dollars, including children. The required advance amounted to half a million dollars. A considerable sum for the finances of the Jewish state. The Jewish Agency refused to pay it, as did the World Jewish Congress, both institutions being headed by Nahoum Goldmann. He thought it would be a waste.

Isser Harel then turned to Lévi Eskhol, the Israeli finance minister, who remained inflexible. As a last resort, he turned to the equally reluctant David Ben-Gurion. To convince him, Harel played his last card: “It’s true that we may be investing this money in the sun. I firmly believe, however, that if we do not pay this price, we will miss the historic opportunity to deliver the Jews from Morocco and bring them up to Israel. According to him, Ben-Gurion summoned his Minister of Finance on the spot and ordered him to release the necessary sum. »

“Alex Gatmon went with the Israeli ambassador to France, Walter Eytan, to Geneva, each with a large suitcase. The transaction took place in one of the most luxurious hotels in the city. The half-million-dollar advance went into a personal account belonging to the king. Throughout the duration of Operation Yakhin, i.e. several years, the Israelis regularly transferred funds to Switzerland. Hassan II stuck to the fixed amount of fifty dollars.
Ahlam Tamimi’s 16th victim
Twenty-two years after a Palestinian suicide bomber devastated the Sbarro pizza restaurant in downtown Jerusalem, the 16th victim of that massacre succumbed to her injuries.

Chana Nachenberg, an American-Israeli mother who was 31 at the time of the deadly attack in August 2001, died on May 31, having never woken from the coma in which she languished for so long after the bombing. “After almost 22 years of heroism, Chana is the 16th victim of the attack,” her father, Yitzhak, said prior to her funeral in the central city of Modi’in on Thursday morning. While the family had not been expecting her death, he added, in recent weeks she had experienced trouble breathing and had been moved to hospital, where she died.

Nachenberg’s is not the only harrowing experience recorded on that terrible day, Aug. 9, 2001, which came during a spate of suicide bombings against Israeli targets carried out by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Palestinian factions. Yet arguably more disturbing than the stories of those who lost their lives and the more than 100 who were injured is the simple fact that justice continues to be denied.

Thanks in part to the advocacy efforts of Arnold and Frimet Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malki, an American citizen, was also murdered at the Sbarro restaurant, the facts of the bombing are fairly well known, as is the identity of the accomplice of the terrorist who died executing the atrocity, Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri.

Al-Masri was driven to the pizzeria by a Jordanian-born Palestinian woman, Ahlam Tamimi, who also assisted with the preparation of his bomb. Tamimi was apprehended by Israeli security forces following the atrocity and sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms in prison.

In October 2011, as part of the deal in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who spent more than five years in Hamas captivity, Tamimi walked free. Moving to her native Jordan, Tamimi became a celebrity in the Arab world, hosting her own weekly show on the Hamas satellite TV station, Al Quds. In between extolling the virtues of “martyrdom attacks” against Jews, she frequently celebrated her own monstrous achievement. On one occasion, when Tamimi learned that she had enabled the killing of eight children at the Sbarro restaurant and not three as she had previously believed, she turned to the camera wearing a broad grin of pride.

It was not until 2016, five years after Tamimi’s release, that a glimmer of hope concerning her possible arrest came into view when the U.S. Department of Justice issued a warrant for her capture. However, an American attempt to extradite her in 2017 was rebuffed by the Jordanians, who by disingenuously claimed that a bilateral extradition treaty that was agreed with the United States more than 20 years earlier had expired.

The American understanding is that the treaty remains in force and that justice for U.S. citizens murdered in terrorist attacks, like Malki Roth, is of the highest priority. Still, the Jordanians continue thumbing their noses in Washington’s direction in the case of Tamimi.

One might argue that this wretched situation would be much simpler had Tamimi moved to Iran instead of Jordan. Were Tamimi ensconced in Tehran—a capital city with no American or Israeli embassies, where diplomats representing democratic countries are closely monitored by the Iranian regime—there would be little prospect of securing her extradition. Still, that would at least allow both American and Israeli government representatives to denounce the ruling mullahs for harboring a convicted terrorist, as well as for their ongoing commitment to terrorist organizations that are sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction, without worrying about any diplomatic fallout.


Caroline Glick: Iranian-American broadcaster attacked in California
In Caroline’s news analysis this week, she opened with the disturbing report that Ahmad Obali, who was a guest on the show in October, was brutally attacked with his son in California last week. Obali is the director of Gunaz TV, the Azerbaijani language satellite station that broadcasts to millions inside Iran and throughout the Middle East and Europe. Caroline went on to give an overview of developments in Iran and the region.

Caroline continued her update with analyses of the Biden administration’s newly announced strategy for combatting anti-Semitism, and the Israeli left’s internalization of Zionism is racism canard. Caroline concluded the show with a promising, albeit tenuous development on the U.S. left that could spell the start of a breakup of the intersectional alliance over progressives’ embrace of anti-Semitism.




Blinken, Jill Biden to skip Israel trips
On an upcoming trip to the Middle East and North Africa, Jill Biden, the U.S. first lady, will visit Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal, but not Israel. And Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, reportedly scrapped a planned trip to Israel, according to news reports.

On June 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement, which stated in part, “I have heard all of the reports about Iran. I have a sharp and clear message for both Iran and the international community: Israel will do whatever it needs to do to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”

The first lady “is expected to attend the wedding of the Jordanian Crown Prince—an unelected monarch whose country is majority Palestinian—as part of her visit. But she will skip the region’s only true democratic nation,” Joel Pollak reported in Breitbart.

“The Biden administration has refused to engage directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who won Israel’s elections last November but has yet to receive a customary White House invitation,” Pollak added. “The Biden administration appears to be isolating Israel as a way to exert leverage within internal domestic Israeli politics, and over Israel’s policy on Iran and the Palestinians.”
Israeli, US national security advisors meet at the White House
Jake Sullivan, national security advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, hosted Tzachi Hanegbi, his Israeli counterpart, and Ron Dermer, minister of strategic affairs, at the White House on June 1 “to discuss a broad range of global and regional issues of mutual concern,” per a White House readout.

The meeting was a follow-up on a March 6 meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group, per the White House. The Israeli and U.S. officials “continued discussions on enhanced coordination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and ways to counter threats from Iran and its proxies.”

According to the White House, Sullivan also reaffirmed Washington’s goal “of further enhancing Israel’s security and economic integration throughout the Middle East” and “stressed the need to take additional steps to improve the lives of Palestinians, critical to realizing a more peaceful, prosperous, and integrated region.”

The U.S. official also addressed shared concerns “with Russia’s deepening military relationship with Iran and the importance of supporting Ukraine in the defense of its territory and citizenry, including from Iranian drones.”

Jacob Nagel, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former national security advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned ahead of the meeting that “Israel must not be confused about the priorities of what should be presented during the talks.”
‘Absurd Beyond Contemplation’: US Slams New Iranian Leadership Roles at UN
Iran on Thursday was elected to two new leadership roles at the United Nations in New York, eliciting a fierce rebuke from both the United States and Israel.

Speaking at the UN’s first committee, which is responsible for disarmament, US Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood said following Iran’s election as the committee’s rapporteur that Iran was unfit to serve given that the committee’s purpose is to “address the very security problems that Tehran itself perpetuates.”

“It is absurd beyond contemplation that Iran would serve in a position of leadership on the General Assembly’s committee on disarmament and international security,” Wood said.

Wood cited Iran’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its export of “violence and weaponry to neighboring countries, causing death and destruction from Syria to Iraq to Yemen, and elsewhere.”

As is common for UN positions, Iran’s election was uncontested and the vote for the position was unrecorded. Iran was similarly elected on Thursday to serve as one of the Vice Presidents of the UN General Assembly, which was likewise condemned by US Representative for UN Management and Reform Chris Lu.

“Iran’s record, unfortunately, speaks for itself,” Lu said. “It defies UN Security Council arms embargoes, violates the human rights of its own citizens, and exports violence and weapons, fostering insecurity and inciting violence throughout the Middle East and across the globe.”

Israel was the only other country to speak out against Iran’s election to the roles. Writing on Twitter, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called the elections a “disgrace.”

“The Ayatollah regime in Iran is a threat to its citizens, the Middle East, and the world,” Erdan said. “It murders its own people, funds global terror, and is galloping toward a nuclear weapon at unprecedented speed. This regime must be stopped and sanctioned and should never have a role in the UN system. This election shows that the UN has reached a new low.”

Iran will assume both leadership positions at the start of the 78th session of the General Assembly in September.


Mossad agent who died in Italy was on mission working against Iran - report
The Mossad and Italian intelligence personnel that were on the boat that capsized earlier this week at Lake Maggiore in northern Italy were working together to prevent Tehran from obtaining advanced weapons, according to a Friday report by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The operation was exposed when the boat sunk, killing four people, including one retired Mossad agent, the report said. Others that drowned include two that worked for Italian intelligence as well as the wife of the ship's captain.

The collaboration of the two espionage organizations reportedly began following Italian media reports which claimed that Russian oligarchs were operating in the area and taking part in transferring Iranian-manufactured UAVs to Moscow.

The sequence of events that led to the operation's exposure
On Sunday morning, 21 secret agents from Italian organizations and the Mossad disguised themselves as tourists and got on a boat in Slovenia which took them to Isole dei Pescatori, the smallest of the Borromean islands in Lake Maggiore. The capsize of the boat was reportedly caused due to the unexpected, and violent stormy weather.

The retired agent that was killed was laid to rest in Ashkelon on Wednesday in a funeral that had many Mossad employees who attended hide their faces behind surgical masks at the cemetery.

Although he retired from the intelligence agency, he continued to serve in the organization's reserves and arrived together with his colleagues in Italy as part of cooperative relations between the Israeli and Italian spy organizations, The New York Times reported citing a former official.
IDF investigates after boy critically injured when troops return fire on terrorists
An Israeli soldier was lightly injured in a shooting attack in Samaria overnight Friday.

He was hit with shrapnel in the leg and received immediate medical attention. Five bullets were fired at the fighters from the direction of the Palestinian village of Deir Sharaf.

In a separate incident on Thursday evening, a Palestinian father and his three-year-old son were injured in an exchange of gunfire between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli troops near the settlement of Neve Tsuf, also known as Halamish. The two, in critical condition, were taken by helicopter to a hospital.

The military said in a statement that "as a result of the gunfire by the [IDF] forces, two Palestinians were hurt." It "regretted the harm" caused to the civilians and said that an investigation into the incident was underway.

The Magen David emergency service said in a statement, "At 20:52 a report was received of two shooting victims on Route 465 near Halamish. MDA medics and paramedics in cooperation with the IDF medical force are providing medical treatment on the spot to two wounded Palestinians, including a 3-year-old boy in critical condition and a 40-year-old man in serious condition."The IDF confirmed that the shooting attack was aimed "at a military position near the settlement of Neve Tsuf in the area of the Ephraim Bridge."

"A preliminary investigation shows that two terrorists fired for several minutes at the settlement, the IDF force recognized the shooting and returned fire. It appears that as a result of the force's shooting, the two Palestinians were injured. The IDF regrets harming those not involved and works to prevent incidents of this type. The incident is being investigated," the IDF said.


Rally held outside New Jersey synagogue during speech by overhaul architect Rothman
Israelis and American Jews protested Thursday in New Jersey outside an event attended by a leading figure in the government’s push to overhaul the judicial system.

The rally was held as far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman addressed Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck. Rothman heads the Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee, which is shepherding the judicial legislation through parliament.

Demonstrators chanted “shame on Rothman” in English as he spoke inside and brought shirts and signs that read “Saving Israeli democracy.”

After the event, Rothman “was whisked away through the bushes and came out of a neighboring house” to avoid the protest, according to the group that organized the rally.

UnXeptable, which is made up of Israeli expats, claimed a turnout of 400.

“Whoever attempts to dismantle Israeli democracy and the future of our children should not expect a quiet vacation in New York,” protest organizer Shany Granot-Lubaton said in a statement. “We will reach everywhere they will go. We are all very committed to fighting for our country”

There was no immediate reaction from Rothman.


The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Conservatives Declare War On PALESTINIAN JIHAD in ISRAEL
Israel receives yet another massive blow by jihadist in the heart of the country. What is incredibly sickening is now to find out that the current US government is backing the terrorist in a proxy-like war against the one and only Jewish state of Israel. What can we do to stop it?




Palestinians: Name an important Palestinian in history?



Lebanese military tribunal accuses Hezbollah fighters of killing UN peacekeeper
A military judge has accused five members of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, only one of whom is in custody, of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper in December last year, a judicial official told AFP Thursday.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of Al-Aqbiya, a Hezbollah stronghold in the south of the Mediterranean country.

Fadi Sawan, the investigating judge in the military tribunal for the case, issued a 30-page indictment accusing five Hezbollah members of “forming a group of malefactors to commit a crime,” the official said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

Mohammad Ayyad, in custody after Hezbollah handed him over to the army in December, is accused along with four other members of the group of “intentional homicide,” the official said.

Under Lebanese law, such crimes are punishable by death, he said, adding that Sawan had referred them to military court and shared the indictment with the UNIFIL.

Footage from surveillance cameras near the scene of the incident “clearly shows the patrol being attacked by armed men from all sides,” the document read.

“Some of them could be heard saying ‘we are Hezbollah’ and using walkie-talkies to communicate,” the indictment added.
What if Bernard Lewis was right about Iran?
What If Bernard Lewis was rIght about nuclear Iran welcoming Apocalypse rather than seeking deterrence?

In that case, he said that "mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead -- hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement." Bernard Lewis - The Wall Street Journal Aug. 8, 2006

It would appear that the overwhelming majority of Israelis participating in policy discussions relating to the Iranian nuclear challenge think that Iran seeks nukes to protect their leadership from regime change.

Unfortunately, these policy makers and analysts simply cannot comprehend that Iranian Twelvers could actually welcome an apocalypse set into motion by an Iranian nuclear strike and the response that would follow. Without saying it explicitly, they are arguing that there is some set of universal values that has some kind of veto power over belief systems when adhering to those beliefs can have unsavory results when judged by these "universal values".

This is not an inconsequential academic disagreement.

The attitude of policy makers and analysts towards the threat of a nuclear Iran would be radically different if they thought that there was even a 25% chance that Bernard Lewis is correct.

I daresay that if they gave Bernard Lewis the weight his opinion deserves that we would have already "pulled the trigger" on a massive operation long ago.


Charity commission accused of 'harassing' Muslim charities after ICE investigation
The Charity Commission has been accused of “deliberately harassing” Muslim-run charities after the watchdog investigated a controversial Iranian organisation.

The Islamic Centre of England (ICE), dubbed the “London office” of Iran’s brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was closed and its trustees stripped of power three weeks ago amid an ongoing statutory inquiry by the charity watchdog.

The inquiry, which was launched last year after ICE failed to compile an anti-extremism “action plan”, was ostensibly opened “due to serious governance concerns and follows extensive engagement in recent years which includes issuing the charity with an Official Warning.”

The commission issued the centre with a warning after it held a vigil to mourn the IRGC terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani when he was killed by a US drone strike.

The JC has previously revealed that the Maida Vale-based centre has regularly hosted extremist preachers and that its director, Seyed Moosavi, the UK representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called protesters against the regime “soldiers of Satan”.

Last year, the premises was used to film an Iranian regime propaganda video of a song called ‘Hello Commander’ in which children sang verses that alluded to an apocalyptic massacre of Jews.




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