Saturday, July 01, 2023
French lawmaker: 'Intifada in heart of France' comes from antisemitic areas
The roots of the ongoing riots in France are in areas where antisemitism, among other hatreds, are rampant, French-Israeli lawmaker Meyer Habib warned on Saturday.World shrugs despite Mossad's impressive action on Iran
“This looks like an Intifada in the heart of France,” Habib said. “France is on fire, with 249 police officers injured. Nothing, not even the dramatic death of a young man justifies this chaos.”
According to Habib, “in these lost areas of the republic, for years there has been an undisturbed growth of hatred of France, white people and Jews.”
Habib contrasted the response to the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer, which sparked the riots, to the murder of 65-year-old Jewish woman Sarah Halimi, who was murdered in her home in 2017 by a man who shouted “Allahu Akbar” while attacking her.
“Sarah Halimi was beaten for 20 minutes in front of 20 police officers. Her murderer is practically free and no one rioted or burned anything,” said Habib, who holds a seat in parliament representing French expats living in the Eastern Mediterranean region, including Israel.
Holocaust memorial in Paris vandalized by rioters
The Holocaust memorial site in Paris, known as The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, was vandalized by rioters on Friday amid the large wave of anti-police protests, according to reports by The Jewish Chronicle and Algemeiner.
“The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation in Nanterre honors the 200,000 people who were sent from Vichy France to German concentration camps during WWII,” tweeted the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Video footage of the incident shows rioters shouting and writing anti-police slogans on the wall of the site.
The recent thwarting of the Iranian attack in Cyprus has several takeaways, some of which should fill us with joy; others should have us very much concerned.Israel's Spy Agency Mossad Uncovers Pak ISI's Involvement In Killing Rich Jews
First, it has been proved once again that the Mossad has exceptional intelligence reach when it comes to Iran, from the operational apparatuses and characters running the show to the smuggling routes and modus operandi and the ability to conduct real-time surveillance. Such rare capabilities, which are shared by other intelligence agencies in some cases, are rare – and can have a major impact in terms of saving lives.
The second takeaway – knock on wood – is that Iran has repeatedly failed at carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis abroad since the 2012 bombing in Bulgaria. Dozens of such plots have been foiled, often in the nick of time or using hair-raising counterterrorism operations, as was demonstrated in Istanbul last summer.
The third takeaway is that the Mossad has close collaborative endeavors with other intelligence agencies around the world, especially in the region. This helped in frustrating the terrorist plots in Istanbul and Georgia earlier this year and was helpful in the Cyprus operation as well. Such cooperation is a strategic asset of paramount importance that must be nurtured; it often runs along a parallel track to official ties with Israel.
The fourth takeaway is that the Mossad has impressive capabilities on Iranian soil. This has been evident multiple times in the past with various explosions, assassinations, and other mysterious events – but the arrest and interrogation of a key would-be perpetrator almost in real-time and the extraction of an incriminating confession that includes names of collaborators are a major feat. Let's hope that this accomplishment will also lead to a significant boost in the deterrence of Iranian officials and other activists, who will hopefully scale back their operations for fear of being targeted by Israel.
The fifth takeaway is that Iran is hell-bent on killing Israelis. Last year the head of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence apparatus lost his job after his plot to kill Israelis was thwarted in Istanbul; he was replaced by another one who now saw a similar outcome to his plot. The commanders get replaced but that Iranian motivation remains just the same, in part because Iran has not been forced to pay a price for its attempted murder of Israelis.
The final takeaway is that this intense Iranian effort has failed to cause any outrage around the world. The Mossad exposes plots, shows incriminating evidence and intelligence in practically every language, and shares it with key decision-makers and security chiefs in friendly and not-so-friendly countries, only to get a collective shrug in return. The conclusion is that Iran will continue to try to hurt Israelis and that difference between success and failure ultimately boils down to just how good the Mossad is.
Israel's spy agency, Mossad, has announced that it has thwarted an Iranian plot to attack Israeli business people in Cyprus with a detailed probe hinting at Pakistan's involvement in the assassination bid.Biden Will Fund Research in China, Not Israel
In a counter-terrorist operation on Iranian soil, the Mossad apprehended the head of the cell, Yusef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, who gave his investigators a detailed confession bringing about the dismantling of the attack cell in Cyprus.
Abbasalilu received detailed instructions and weapons from senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel in Iran. During questioning, parts of which were shared with the media, he admitted to his involvement in an attempted attack and described how he tried to carry it out.
In the wake of the information that he gave to the Mossad investigators, the cell was dismantled in an operation by the Cypriot security services, the announcement said.
In the video footage released by the spy agency, the Iranian also reveals Pakistani spy agency ISI's involvement in the plot to kill Jews and Israelis. Pakistani nationals have been caught recently in several other such plots targeting Israelis.
Abbasalilo names his handler as Hassan Shoushtari Zadeh, a known senior figure in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Foreign Intelligence Branch, who he said "trusted Pakistanis" who had carried out "very important activity for me".
In the video, Abbasalilo said Shoushtari Zadeh "discussed with me what he was planning to do in Cyprus. He told me you need to enter northern Cyprus, where we have certain people who can send you from there to southern Cyprus".
"He told me himself, 'I trust [The Pakistanis] and their group, they have carried out very important activity for me'", Abbasalilo says in the released video.
"I replied: 'If it is possible, I will carry out this mission immediately.' He replied: 'Wait, it is not possible yet, as there are policemen searching for you'", the English translation of his confession in Persian released says.
The United States obviously isn’t obligated to conduct any kind of cooperative research with foreign countries, and yet choosing China over Israel is highly revealing of the real agenda.
The Biden administration has refused to ban funding for research in the People’s Republic of China, but has chosen to ban it, no matter how benevolent, in parts of the Jewish State. Democrat administrations are willing to fund dangerous viral research in China, but not explore ways to teach autistic children to cope with the challenges of their environment in Israel.
Gain of function research that creates deadly viruses in one of the world’s most ruthless nations was fine, but bonding hip implants to bones in one of our closest allies is beyond the pale.
Even the Department of Defense has funded research in Hong Kong which is under the control of Communist China. The CDC and NIH have funded research at Chinese universities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Najiing with no interest in the legitimacy of the Communist regime’s control over these territories or the legitimacy of the regime. But when it comes to Israel, Democrat administrations scruple over who has the right to the land that the university is on.
The Communist regime’s right to rule China is not contestable, but Israel’s right to its country is.
Unlike Communist China, Israel is run by a democratically elected government. Ariel University is located in the city of Ariel and has a student body of over 10,000. The city of Ariel, also known as the capital of Samaria, is built near the ruins of an ancient 3,000 year old Israelite city. No Arab Islamic colony had ever existed on the site. The graves of Joshua, the leader of the original Jewish return to Israel, and of Caleb, the other righteous biblical scout, lie near Ariel.
And yet the Biden administration considers the Communist Chinese regime to be more legitimate than the scientific researchers living and working in Ariel.
“The State Department is telling the entire U.S. government not to cooperate with Jews in Judea and Samaria. And of course it was sent to Congress in secret, and only revealed because reporters found out. “The Biden administration defends funding scientific research in Wuhan with the Chinese Communist Party, but they’re discriminating against and banning cooperation with Jews based on where they live,” Senator Ted Cruz said.
“The ZOA condemns the Biden administration’s reinstatement of a discriminatory, antisemitic boycott of research, development, science and technology cooperation and joint projects with Israel, in lawful Jewish areas that invading Arab nations seized from the Jewish people in 1948-1949, which Israel recaptured and liberated in the defensive 1967 war,” Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein stated.
The Biden administration has made it clear that it is more open to scientific cooperation with the ruthless regime of Communist China than the Jews of Ariel.
Jordan Valley sovereignty will effectively mitigate terrorism
Now is the most appropriate time to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, for all the right reasons.Efrat: The story of one of Israel's most unique, successful settlements
First, it would be the best answer to the increasing terrorism in general and to the recent murderous attacks in particular. This is the will of the bereaved families, as expressed most succinctly by Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters were murdered in the Jordan Valley in May: “They are murderers, we are builders.”
Those who tried to discourage us and sow fear in our hearts will see that our love of life will overcome their lust for killing.
Second, Israel must show determination and strength in front of its enemies and its partners alike, who may think that Israel is weakening, considering our internal debates.
We must carry out a political-security-strategic move, which will defeat Palestinian rejectionism, which has broad support in the Israeli public and will repel any thought of harming the State of Israel in moments of crisis or even defeating it in the long term.
The third reason is that there is broad support in the Israeli public and in the Knesset.
Efrat isn’t your typical settlement in Judea and Samaria.
Always considered a bit different from its neighbors in the Gush Etzion area, and definitely from other further settlements, for years it was seen as the liberal version of the settler movement.
As an example, residents of Efrat have always maintained a very close relationship with the Arab villages that border it. If you come to Efrat, it’s worth visiting a store owned by a Palestinian family right outside the northern gate. Many of the Jewish residents are regular customers and buy Palestinian-made Coca-Cola cans or home appliances. Before Sukkot, many of the residents even buy sukkot that are custom-made in Bethlehem.
Efrat, formerly known as Efrata, is a vibrant Israeli settlement nestled in the picturesque Judean Mountains. Its captivating story began in 1983, when it was established as a flourishing community.
Situated just 12 km. south of Jerusalem, Efrat finds itself gracefully positioned between the historic cities of Bethlehem and Hebron. This beautiful settlement is located approximately 6.5 km. east of the Green Line.
Perched at an impressive altitude of up to 960 m. above sea level, Efrat boasts breathtaking views of its enchanting surroundings. Spanning across a sprawling expanse of approximately 1,500 acres, this settlement boasts a huge percentage of English-speaking immigrants.
Recognized as the unofficial capital of Gush Etzion, Efrat exudes a unique identity within this region. It’s worth noting that while Efrat is geographically located within Gush Etzion, it operates independently from the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
Oded Revivi: Running the local council of Israel's Efrat settlement
LEADING THE Efrat local council since November 2008 is Mayor Oded Revivi, a distinguished attorney and a lieutenant-colonel (res.) in the IDF. Revivi met with the Magazine this week and shared the unique aspects of the municipality he has been managing for the past 15 years.
The 54-year-old Revivi was born and raised in Jerusalem, but decided to move with his wife 29 years ago, since “we couldn’t afford a house in Jerusalem and at the time we could afford a house in Efrat,” he said. Revivi explained that back in the late 1990s, it was a 15-minute drive between Jerusalem and Efrat; they therefore felt as if they were in a suburb of Israel’s capital.
He remembers with distinction the moment when he first met with the rabbi of Efrat, Shlomo Riskin, while falling in love with his unique and lovable personality. “We moved in the summer and the first times I met him were during the High Holy Days. On the eve of Yom Kippur, he came to our synagogue, as he did annually, visiting all synagogues in Efrat, and delivering a sermon.
“Rabbi Riskin was a lot younger then, and Efrat was also smaller; he would visit all synagogues across the settlement on the High Holy Days and on Simhat Torah, but he would also visit every bar mitzvah prayer service, as well as bat mitzvah and other positive events.”
Palestinians furious over Netanyahu claims that Israel must 'crush' statehood ambitions
Palestinian officials are enraged by reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli parliamentary committee Monday that he rejects an independent Palestinian state but is also not interested in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) demise.Israel to approve construction of new town in Galilee region
Palestinian hopes of establishing a sovereign state “must be eliminated,” Netanyahu told Knesset (Israeli parliament) committee members in a closed-door meeting about his government’s plans for the eventual departure of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We are preparing for the period after Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas],” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel “need[s] the Palestinian Authority. We must not allow it to collapse.”
The Israeli prime minister said his government was ready to offer economic support to the PA based in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Netanyahu’s remarks were reported on a radio news program owned by Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster.
The Palestinian Authority's response
In an official response, Hussein al-Sheikh, civil affairs minister for the PA, rejected Netanyahu’s remarks. “The role of the Palestinian Authority is to achieve the Palestinian national project of freedom, independence, and protection of the Palestinian people,” al-Sheikh said. The PA “has not and will not accept anything other than this national and historical role.”
Palestinians have long sought to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel. This arrangement is popularly known as the “two-state solution” to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not deny Netanyahu’s comments. If accurate, Palestinian leaders say, the comments prove the premier’s “true motives.” In years past, Netanyahu has offered perfunctory support for the internationally backed notion of an independent Palestinian state, provided it had no military or security power.
Netanyahu’s statements aroused widespread anger in other Palestinian political quarters.
The construction of a new town in the Lower Galilee, to be called Ramat Arbel, is expected to be approved by the government on Sunday, Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf announced on Thursday.UK, Australia and Canada Want Reversal of Israel Approval of New West Bank Settlement Units
Goldknopf toured the Galilee on Thursday as part of his policy to strengthen the Jewish presence and settlement in the area. To further these goals, Goldknopf announced that on Sunday he plans to bring forward a bill proposal for the first establishment of a new town in years, which will be named Ramat Arbel.
"Beyond increasing supply and lowering housing prices, this has important news for strengthening Jewish settlement in the Galilee," Goldknopf stated.
The plan is a cooperation of Goldknopf's ministry with the ministries of Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer and the Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Struck. In the first stage, the initial planning of the settlement will be financed with millions of shekels. Multiple ministries cooperated to advance the plan
"We promised, and we keep. In the election campaign and also in the coalition agreements, we promised to establish a new settlement in the Galilee - 'Ramat Arbel' and now it is coming to fruition," Wasserlauf said. "On Sunday, together with Housing Minister Goldknopf, we will submit the establishment of the Ramat Arbel settlement to the government's decision."
Ramat Arbel is planned to be a community settlement, where about 500 families, some of them recent immigrants, will be able to live.
Britain, Australia and Canada have called on Israel‘s government to reverse a decision to approve new settlement units in the West Bank, saying they are “deeply concerned” by an ongoing cycle of violence.UN removes 15 companies from blacklist for halting settlement activity
This week, Israel approved over 5,700 new settlement units in the West Bank and earlier this month instituted changes to the settlement approval process which facilitate swifter approval of construction.
“The continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution. We call on the Government of Israel to reverse these decisions,” the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia and Canada said in a joint statement.
Violence has been surging in the West Bank, including deadly clashes in Jenin, a fatal shooting by Palestinians near a Jewish settlement, attacks on Palestinian villages by rampaging settlers, and rare use of Israeli air power against militants.
The United Nations removed 15 companies from its controversial blacklist of businesses operating over the pre-1967 lines in West Bank settlements and in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem after they stopped their activities in those communities.Police arrest suspect in Netanyahu death threat case
“There were 15 businesses that were removed from the list of 112” entities, said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights told reporters during a virtual press briefing out of Geneva on Friday.
In a further statement she issued to the press, Shamdasani said that the High Commissioner’s Office had removed the companies “on the basis that they were ceasing or were no longer involved in one or more of the listed activities in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territory.)”
Non-Israeli companies on the list
Two international companies — General Mills Inc. of the United States and Indorama Ventures P.C.L of Thailand — were removed from the list as were 13 Israeli entities.
Out of the remaining 97 companies on the list, only 15 are international and the remainder are Israeli. Among the 15 are companies from the US, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Three of those companies are among the web giants when it comes to vacation travel, Airbnb, booking.com and Trip Advisor Inc.
The United Nations Human Rights Council had originally mandated the compilation of the list in 2016, with the stipulation that it be updated on a yearly basis.
The blacklist was published only in 2020 and lack of funding has since prevented the High Commission’s Office from updating it.
A person suspected of placing a threat against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the grave of his brother, Yoni, was arrested on Saturday night, according to police and the Shin Bet.Jerusalem bridge-builder revisits intifada hot spots for new streaming series
The arrest was made as part of a joint investigation by the Cyber Unit of Lahav 433 and the Shin Bet. The suspect, a 26-year-old from southern Israel, was brought in for questioning at the offices of the Cyber Unit and, in accordance with the findings, the suspect will be brought to a hearing on the extension of his detention at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court.
On Friday, a letter containing threats against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was placed on the grave of his brother, Yoni, at Mt. Herzl.
A senior Shin Bet official stressed on Friday that "the Shin Bet does not intend to let a deliberate threat against a prime minister that was placed on the grave of an Israeli hero pass, and they will handle the incident with all the tools at their disposal."
Letter writer demands that Netanyahu invade Gaza
The letter placed on the grave stressed that "it should be clear that this is a first-degree threat, red alert level."
"Bibi (a nickname for Netanyahu), you are no better than [Ariel] Sharon," continued the letter. "Sharon received a stroke and sank into an eight-year coma. To you I wish even worse things...I won't touch you at all Bibi...because a crony does not touch girls."
The letter than listed two "missions" for Netanyahu including: conquering Gaza and returning the body of Hadar Goldin - who the letter referred to as "my counselor" - as well as the other Israelis being held captive. The letter stressed that "the clock is counting down" and set a deadline of "a little more than three and a half months."
During some of the most fractious, violent, hateful moments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Avi Melamed’s job was to build bridges.The Israel Guys: Is Israel Taking Revenge on Joe Biden? Brilliant moves happening...
“I’m always saying it’s very challenging to live in a city where God is your neighbor,” Melamed told JNS.
Melamed is now bringing his arguably unmatched understanding of the complexities of Jerusalem to “The Seam Line,” the first original series for IZZY, an international streaming service for Israeli-produced documentaries, television series and movies.
Melamed is a fourth-generation Jerusalemite Jew, former Israeli intelligence official and a fluent Arabic speaker. He served as Arab affairs adviser to two Jerusalem mayors.
“The Seam Line” highlights how Melamed, the series’ narrator, helped to earn trust between Jewish and Arab communities of Jerusalem during the first and second intifadas.
“The idea was to take the whole issue that is called Jerusalem, in the context of the conflict, and to talk about the struggle over Jerusalem and in Jerusalem,” he told JNS.
The initial episode lays out the foundation for understanding the reality—in plain view and hidden—of the complexity of Jerusalem’s societal fabric. Later episodes focus on Melamed’s delicate strategies for neutralizing flashpoints in the city; tensions on the Temple Mount; and Melamed’s return to neighborhood hot spots like Isawiya, East Talpiot and Jabal Mukabar, where he reconnects with residents he leaned on and who leaned on him during some of the harshest days in Jerusalem’s modern history.
“The story of Jerusalem is very complex, very emotionally charged and controversial. The idea was to really provide additional layers to Western audiences that are rarely known in the discussion in the West,” Melamed said. “So, narrative was part of that. But the large part was really to show the ground level, everyday life and its different aspects. This is one of the major things that this series brings.”
“The Seam Line” showcases Melamed’s hands-on involvement with both Jerusalemite Jewish and Arab communities to “show the different aspects of the struggle over the city, how it impacts the city’s fabric, its beat, its people,” said Melamed.
The Biden administration lands yet another gut punch to Israel’s national security, and Netanyahu announces he is going to pay his first visit to China in over six years. Is Israel taking revenge on the Biden administration?
CUNY SJP activist Islam Allan organized a rally for her arrested cousin Mohammed Allan. Mohammed was jailed for trying to recruit a suicide bomber in Israel for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. She said her cousin was “making all of us so proud.” https://t.co/9CW1kq01MQ pic.twitter.com/aEVkEQAAV8
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) June 30, 2023
Palestinians call for international force to halt West Bank settler violence
The Palestinian Authority is promoting the idea of deploying an international force in the West Bank to protect Palestinians against settler violence, Palestinian officials said over the weekend.Islamic Jihad leader: We are arming Fatah terror groups in West Bank
The officials said the proposal has been brought to the attention of United Nations and European Union officials following the recent attacks by settlers on Palestinian towns in the West Bank.
“The Israeli government is responsible for the settler terrorism,” said one official. “Its ministers support and encourage the settlers. The only way to stop the attacks is by having international troops in the West Bank.”
Another official said on Saturday that the idea of deploying an international force in the West Bank is backed by a number of Arab and EU states, as well as other countries.
“The recent attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian towns and villages underscore the need for international protection for the Palestinians in the West Bank,” the official said. “The force can be formed by the UN or other countries.”
He pointed out that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for providing international protection for the Palestinians.
On Saturday, the PA called on the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other Israeli ministers for allegedly supporting settler “terrorism” against Palestinians in the West Bank.
In the past, the PA called on the ICC to also issue an arrest warrant against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization is arming groups belonging to the ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank, PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhaleh revealed on Saturday.In first, Gaza rulers Hamas open weapons exhibit for Palestinian public
“Palestinian Islamic Jihad has worked and is working to form combat battalions in all Palestinian cities in the West Bank, and the size and ability of these battalions vary from one place to another, according to our ability to arm them,” Nakhaleh said in an interview with the Iranian newspaper Al-Wefaq.
Palestinian Authority officials recently expressed concern over the growing cooperation between PIJ and Fatah armed groups in the northern West Bank. The officials revealed that many Fatah gunmen were currently on the payroll of Iran and its Palestinian proxies, including PIJ and Hamas.
Nakhaleh said the Jenin Battalion was “distinguished,” although many of its leaders were killed or imprisoned by Israeli security forces over the past few months. The group has claimed responsibility for a series of shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
'Islamic Jihad responsible for terror groups formed across West Bank'
“Other armed groups have been formed in all the Palestinian cities, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for this,” Nakhaleh said. “This does not mean that there aren’t fighters from Hamas and other factions. I also say that we have benefited from opening up to the bases of Fatah. Among the bases of Fatah, there are influential segments that oppose a settlement [with Israel] and the Palestinian Authority.
"We decided to open up to these segments and provide them with aid. The arming of these [Fatah] groups helped expand the resistance [against Israel].”
Nakhaleh pointed out that some of these groups belong to the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah. “A few days ago, two members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were martyred; they had with them one from the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,” he said. “This makes you gain a wider popular base, especially among the youths.”
The armed wing of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display for the first time, drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children brandishing rocket launchers for selfies.Hezbollah refuses to remove posts set up on Israeli side of border with Lebanon
Dressed in black balaclavas and tactical camouflage suits, members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades mingled with young men and women at the exhibition in Gaza City’s Unknown Soldier’s Square.
“Resistance is an image and a memory. Take souvenir photos with many of Al-Qassam’s weapons,” the terror group, which is committed to Israel’s destruction, said in an invitation on social media and posters in mosques.
The event was the first at which Hamas has allowed the public to take photos of weapons. It follows the latest surge in worsening Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank. Four Israelis were killed in a terror attack last week outside the West Bank’s Eli settlement. Sixteen Palestinians were killed over six days in late June, the majority in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
In May, Israel and terror groups in Gaza traded cross-border fire for five days, killing 34 Palestinians, among them six Islamic Jihad commanders, fighters from other Palestinian terror groups and civilians including children. One Israeli woman died.
Among the Hamas weapons on display in Gaza City on Friday were a range of locally manufactured missiles, “Shihab” drones, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Russian-made “Kornet” missiles.
Exhibitions were also scheduled to take place on Saturday in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, where people are normally forbidden to approach and photograph military sites.
Mohammad Raad, head of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc (Hezbollah's political wing), announced Saturday that Hezbollah would not be removing two tents placed on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, according to Lebanese media.Congress Launches Probe Into Scandal-Plagued Biden Iran Envoy
For the past two months, Hezbollah fighters have been manning two tents placed on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, the ceasefire line and border with Lebanon, established after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
The specific area in question is called Mount Dov in Israel, for the IDF officer killed there in 1970, and called Shaba farms in Lebanon. The area was part of the Syrian Golan Heights before the Six-Day War, and had Israeli law extended to it along with the rest of the Golan Heights, in 1981.
Jerusalem wanted diplomacy
The government had preferred that the dispute be handled diplomatically by the UN in order to avoid escalation in the northern sector, so it had asked the UN to apply pressure on Lebanon and also Hezbollah to remove the tents.
The IDF also stated that the tents were not a threat to national security.
According to the request, "Unless Hezbollah evacuates the two sites, the Israeli army will itself take the initiative to evacuate them by force, after two weeks of mediation by European capitals in contact with Hezbollah in Lebanon."
"Israel has been talking a lot about the two tents on the border for a month, and they consider that they have been placed at an advanced point on the Blue Line, according to their interpretation. Israel requests that these two tents be removed and that Israel prefers that the resistance remove them, because if the Israeli enemy wants that, war will occur and Israel does not want it," said Raad at a memorial ceremony held in the town of Marwaniya.
The two tents were erected on Mount Dov, where there is no border fence, most of which is marked by rocks and barrels.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday launched a formal investigation into U.S.-Iran Envoy Robert Malley following reports that the senior Biden administration official had his security clearance revoked for mishandling classified information.The Biden Administration's Dangerous Nuclear Deal: Congressional Approval Required
"The Department’s failure to inform Congress of this matter demonstrates at best a lack of candor, and at worst represents deliberate and potentially unlawful misinformation," Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), the committee’s chairman, wrote in a letter to the State Department, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
McCaul and other Republican leaders suspect the Biden administration attempted to hide information about Malley’s alleged mishandling of classified information. Malley has been on an extended leave of absence from the State Department, but it remains unclear if this is due to his current inability to access classified information. After news of his security clearance issue became public on Thursday, the State Department officially put Malley on unpaid leave.
The revelations come as the Biden administration engages in secret diplomacy with Iran. The White House is working to secure a revamped nuclear deal that would provide the hardline regime with billions-of-dollars in sanctions relief. Malley appears to have been sidelined from the talks, which are reportedly being held in Oman.
Malley confirmed late Thursday he was "informed that my security clearance is under review," but would not provide additional information. The State Department, in comments to the Free Beacon, would only say that Malley is on a leave of absence, and declined to provide any details about the status of his security clearance and position in the administration.
The situation, McCaul informed the State Department, raises "serious concerns both regarding Malley’s conduct and whether the State Department misled Congress and the American public."
"While the suspension of Special Envoy Malley’s clearance is independently troubling, our concern is compounded by the State Department’s failure to respond to the Committee’s efforts to conduct oversight of its negotiations with and policy toward Iran," McCaul wrote.
"I urge the Administration to remember that U.S. law requires that any agreement, arrangement, or understanding with Iran needs to be submitted to Congress." — Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a letter to US President Joe Biden, June 15, 2023.I went undercover among the fascists and this is what I found
"INARA [the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015] was enacted with strong bipartisan support to ensure Congressional oversight of U.S. policy regarding Iran's nuclear program.... This definition makes clear that any arrangement or understanding with Iran, even informal, requires submission to Congress." — Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a letter to US President Joe Biden, June 15, 2023 [Emphasis added].
[T]he return to the nuclear deal means that the current sanctions against Tehran will be lifted and the regime would reportedly receive $100 billion a year "to Destabilise [the] Region," as well as legitimately to rejoin the global financial system. Through the nuclear deal, the Iranian regime will again buy itself a blank check to advance its aggressive and fundamentalist policies across the Middle East, just as it did after the 2015 nuclear deal, but this time with the potential of threatening other countries with its nuclear breakout capability.
"To give them another windfall of cash like we did as a result of the 2015 nuclear deal, which led to an expansion of their proxy wars in the Middle East, it doesn't make any sense. It's not in our national interest.... They're gonna fuel their proxy wars and they're seeking domination and control in the Middle East.... No, it's not a good deal. It wasn't a good deal in 2015. It's not a good deal now." — Retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane, The Hill, June 18, 2023.
My undercover investigations brought me to the inside of neo-Nazi groups, QAnon conspiracy theorists, US Capitol rioters, violent misogynists and radical anti-LGBTQ activists.Four men jailed over French far-right terror plot against Jewish and Muslim targets
Many find common ground in overt or covert antisemitism. There is no clear profile for people who spread extremist ideas anymore: anti-minority and anti-democracy movements are recruiting from left, right and centre. What has happened?
1) Exploitation of grievances and crisis narratives
In 2021, I was on the phone with Mark Collett, founder of Britain’s largest white nationalist movement, who has praised Adolf Hitler and was arrested for threatening to kill a politician in 2010. He was playing an association game with my avatar Claire Lafeuille, a British-French free-speech warrior whose identity I invented to go undercover. Whatever keyword I gave Mark, from climate change and Covid to Black Lives Matter and feminism, his replies linked everything he considered evil to “the great replacement”.
The great replacement is the conspiracy myth that white Christian populations are gradually being replaced by non-whites as part of a bigger plan designed by a cabal of global elites (often explicitly or implicitly described as Jewish). Climate change, according to Mark, is “a manufactured problem used to raise taxes and to guilt-trip white people into not having children”, while Covid is “a fake pandemic used to spread fear and to institute draconian new legislation which takes away the rights of people all over world”.
Today’s extremist movements have skilfully tailored their narratives to tap into widespread societal fears, grievances and frustrations about globalisation, disease and rising energy prices. Throughout history, Jews have repeatedly served as scapegoats. Antisemitic crisis narratives have reoccurred during pandemics, economic troubles and wars: from the 14th-century Bubonic Plague, to the 1929 Great Depression, the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. The idea that Jews had poisoned the wells was a myth used to explain the plague.
2) Marriage of old and new conspiracy myths
During a roundtable discussion hosted by a consortium of white nationalist movements, one speaker with the tag line “Name the Jew or Die” spoke up: “We know what the problem is. It’s this parasite that follows us around nation by nation and uses and abuses us.” He went on: “They dominate all of our media, they push paedophilia and homosexuality onto our children”. Antisemitic layers are common in conspiracy thinking of any kind. The far-right buzzword “Cultural Marxism” is directly linked to the idea that the political left — controlled by the Jews — is trying to undermine Western culture. Reaching a climax of absurdity, the “transhumanism” conspiracy myth has accused Jews of wanting to use trans rights as a gateway to robotic transhumanism. Some anti-LGBTQ activists have singled out Jewish philanthropists who apparently donated to trans rights campaigns. Other than that both terms use the Latin prefix “trans”, the myth makes no sense but conspiracy myths are hardly ever based on rational explanations.
Today’s antisemitism combines old tropes with new narrative patterns that can be linked to current affairs and top news agenda items. The idea that Jews were harvesting the blood of Christian children for use in religious rituals is not new. It was widespread in the Middle Ages and has regularly reoccurred with different mutations. A modern interpretation has re-emerged and found millions of followers: QAnon. In the 2022 US Congress Elections, at least 24 candidates endorsed the idea that the global elites are blood-sucking Satanists. Research shows that once people believe in one conspiracy myth, they are much more likely to buy into others. That’s part of the success recipe of the master conspiracy myth movement QAnon, which integrates old conspiracies ranging from the 9/11 Truther movement to ideas about the Moon landing, Princess Diana’s death, Hollywood elites, aliens and the WHO.
3) Gamification, rebranding and code words
“Hello friends”, a user with the handle “Adolf Hitler” greeted players in the Call of Duty tournament hosted by Patriotic Alternative. Combining entertainment with political indoctrination is a tactic that has allowed the movement to attract even minors who wrote in the group chat they would have to attend school the following day. The US alt-right has pioneered gamified recruitment and propaganda, which is now increasingly used by the European far-right as well as Islamist extremists. Insider codes and satirical subculture references have been deployed alongside gamification to camouflage extreme ideologies. The Happy Merchant cartoon is by no means new but has been reinvented as memes and satirical social media visuals. For example, it has been widely used in the context of Covid, suggesting Jews created the pandemic (referred to as “plandemic” or “Jewflu”) to profit financially.
Code words with antisemitic connotations have been adopted. For example, concepts such as NWO (“New World Order”), “Great Reset”, “global elites”, “deep state” and “globalists” have an antisemitic undertone. Others are more explicit, such as “ZOG” (“Zionist Occupied Government”), which propagates the idea of a Jewish world government that controls the large parts of politics and business. The brackets ((( ))) around a person’s name, the abbreviation “YKW” (you know who) or term “blue” are used to speak about Jews without it being explicit. Antisemitic campaigners sometimes refer to themselves as “Jwoke”, “good goys” (goyim) or “Noticers”.
A Paris court Friday sentenced to prison four men from a French neo-Nazi group who discussed attacks on mosques and Jewish targets in an online chat group.Austria seizes vast trove of weapons, swastika flags in raid on far-right biker gang
A 27-year-old former voluntary police officer accused of being the ringleader got 18 years in jail, the longest term, with the judge concluding he had “an undeniable influence over the group.”
Named as Alexandre Gilet, he was arrested after police learned he had ordered equipment that could be used for making explosives and was found in possession of weapons, including two Kalashnikov machine guns.
The other three, one of whom was a minor at the time, were given lighter prison terms ranging from five to three years, but are expected to serve non-custodial sentences.
Prosecutors alleged during the trial that the four men, now aged between 22 and 28, joined a private internet chat group called “Operation WaffenKraft,” where talks “very quickly turned to the preparation of terrorist projects.”
The Waffen-SS was the military branch of the Nazi’s elite SS corps, which was founded by Adolf Hitler.
The chat group discussed targets, including mosques as well as the headquarters of the Jewish council (CRIF) and the office of the anti-Jewish discrimination league (LICRA).
Austrian authorities said Thursday they had seized hundreds of weapons, ammunition and Nazi memorabilia and arrested six people after raids on several premises of the right-wing extremist Bandidos motorcycle gang.German teens present research to son of former student killed in Holocaust
Police found a huge weapons stash including about “35 long firearms, 25 submachine guns, 100 pistols, over a thousand weapons components, 400 signal weapons,” the interior ministry said.
The haul was made following 13 house searches in the neighboring provinces of Upper and Lower Austria carried out Monday, the ministry added in a statement.
More than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as grenade launchers, were also seized, it said.
Nazi memorabilia, including daggers, flags, uniform parts, busts and pictures were also found at the homes of the suspects, who were remanded in custody.
After plans by the Bandidos MC motorcycle group to expand to Austria were revealed in late 2022, authorities have been surveilling them.
Investigations aimed to avoid potential violent clashes between the Bandidos, which has a worldwide network of branches, and their rival Hells Angels MC, as has occurred in Switzerland.
The history club at Comenius Gymnasium in Düsseldorf, Germany, decided to research what happened to 41 Jewish students who attended the school between 1900 and 1945.Why did Hulu’s ‘The Bear’ refer to arson caused by ‘Jewish lightning’?
The German teenagers learned that seven of the 41 were killed in the Holocaust. One was Guido Willinger, who attended the school in 1915 and 1916.
With help from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, the student club contacted his son, Gershon Willinger, a resident of Toronto, Canada. In a nearly two-hour video call, 15 students and four teachers shared their research with Gershon and his wife, Jane.
That included student identification cards and grades for Guido and his brothers, (Gershon’s uncles) Kurt and Izmar, and locations and photos of the family’s home and business. The school sent materials to Gershon after the presentation.
The call, which Daniella Lurion, an educator at Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, facilitated during a trip to Düsseldorf in March, left Gershon “deeply moved and overwhelmed,” stated the nonprofit agency.
An hour-and-a-half recording shared with JNS included eight students and a teacher sharing their findings, including things Gershon didn’t know about his family, and the survivor sharing his thoughts and experiences and posing questions.
“The Bear,” FX and Hulu’s drama series about the behind-the-scenes workings of a Chicago restaurant, has been one of TV’s most acclaimed series since debuting last year.Israeli docuseries airs on Saudi MBC TV
The first episode of its second season, which debuted June 22, brought up a controversial term that caught the attention of critics: “Jewish lightning.”
Most found the reference funny but didn’t want to touch it. A Vulture critic wrote,” I’m not even going to go into what ‘Jewish Lightning’ is.”
But what does it mean, and is it as antisemitic as it sounds?
This season focuses on the restaurant’s transition from an Italian sandwich stop into a more high-end restaurant called The Bear, a transformation that requires heapings of money and effort. Protagonist Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), a decorated chef, returned to Chicago at the start of the series to run the restaurant following the death by suicide of his brother Mikey (Jewish actor Jon Bernthal, who appears on the show in flashbacks).
In the first episode of Season 2, a character falls into a hole in the wall. When the characters wonder why there’s a hole there, veteran restaurant employee Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) describes it as “the result of some failed Jewish lightning.” At one difficult point for the restaurant years earlier, Mikey, in the throes of drug addiction, had “thought that if this place were to accidentally burn down, that maybe there’d be some insurance money.”
Richie explains the term correctly — it’s used to describe arson aimed at collecting insurance money. The American Jewish Committee calls it “a derogatory phrase… rooted in Jewish stereotypes of stinginess and greed” and “an ethnic slur that should be condemned.”
In what may be another step on the road to opening diplomatic ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Kan, the Israeli government broadcaster, announced this week that its documentary series, The Cassandra Prophecy, is being shown on a Saudi television network, MBC.The Melvins bring uncompromising grunge to Tel Aviv, Israel
The series documents a joint decade-long operation by the Mossad and the US Drug Enforcement Administration to disrupt the flow of billions of dollars from drug cartels and money laundering operations in Latin America to Hezbollah and Iran.
Kan said in a statement that this is the first time that broadcasting rights for an Israeli television series have been sold to a Saudi broadcasting network.
The first Israeli TV series sold to a Saudi broadcaster
The Saudi broadcaster, MBC, operates in the Middle East and North Africa. It was launched in London in 1991 but is now run from Riyadh.
The series, which was directed by Duki Dror, written by Dror with Itai Landsberg and Dudi Oren, and produced by Liat Kamai-Eshed and Dana Wolfe, will also be broadcast soon on the German ZDF network, on Arte France, and on CBC Canada. The series is a German-Israeli-Canadian co-production, produced by Zygote Films. Script consultant David Toledano brokered the deal with MBC.
Kan also announced this week that its educational drama series for teens and children, Special, about young people on the autism spectrum, was sold to the Turkish network, Kanal D, for a remake.
When one hears superlatives like “the kings of the Northwest (US) music scene” and “the heaviest band of all time,” bands like Nirvana or Soundgarden might immediately come to mind.Morrissey’s misery is our ecstasy: Rock legend returns to Israel
But Nirvana’s drummer and longtime frontman of rock giants Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, recently used the terms to describe The Melvins, the Washington-based trio that Kurt Cobain named among his favorites.
The Melvins and Nirvana were two sides of the same coin – the former a sludgier metal sound and the latter a punky, pop sound.
In fact, The Melvins’ leader, wild-haired Buzz Osbourne, played a significant role in Grohl’s joining Nirvana in 1990. As legend has it, Osborne took his friends Cobain and Krist Novoselic to see Grohl’s band Scream. When that band broke up, Grohl phoned Osbourne who gave him Cobain’s number, knowing that he was looking for a drummer.
Nirvana went on to scale rock ‘n roll heights in their short history and following the breakout success of Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991) and the scramble by record labels for any Seattle rockers, the Melvins signed to Atlantic Records. Their credo was “slow it down and turn it up” and it helped set them apart from the grunge pack. Their first major-label release, 1993’s Houdini, which Cobain co-produced, was a moderate success.
Cult rock legends The Melvins to make Israel debut
That’s been the line for the last 40 years of The Melvins’ existence as a revered cult band, influenced by everyone from Black Sabbath and Black Flag to The Ramones and Motorhead. The trio, including founding drummer Dale Crover and bassist – since 2016 – Steven Shane McDonald, will be making their Israel debut next week with two shows at Tel Aviv’s Barby Club, July 5 (sold out) and July 6.
The shows mark the end of a two-month 40th-anniversary tour for the band, which has been crisscrossing Europe. The enduring grunge rockers are also marking the release of their 26th studio album Bad Moon Rising, last September.
Morrissey could have retired in 1987 and his status in the annals of rock ‘n roll would have been impeccable. That was the year The Smiths, the band that the British vocalist founded with guitarist Johnny Marr, broke up after five years of producing some of the most wondrous music coming out of England, since, I dare say, the Fab Four, a couple of decades earlier.
But the now 64-year-old Manchester-raised singer born as Steven Patrick Morrissey refused to fade away and on the contrary, has spent the ensuing decades building a solo career that has brought out the most sparkling (amazing voice, songs and lyrics) and most tiresome (questionable politics and a penchant for canceling shows) elements of his sharp persona to the forefront.
Labeled by the BBC as “one of the most influential figures in the history of British pop,” and by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest rock singers of all time, Morrissey has uniquely made moroseness and loneliness seem desirable. With a cutting wit, a journalist’s eye, a suitcase full of hang-ups and the ability to make bleak seem funny, he’s been called the “Oscar Wilde of rock” and “the greatest-ever lyricist of desire that has ever moaned.”
His nearly a dozen albums under his own name since the demise of The Smiths have only added to the baritone’s reputation as rock’s most potent iconoclast. And Israelis love him. Why do Israelis love Morrissey?
After a six-year hiatus, lengthened by cancellations due to the COVID pandemic, the affectionately nicknamed “Moz” returns to these shores next week for two shows, July 2 at the Zappa Shuni outdoor amphitheater in Binyamina and July 4 at Expo Tel Aviv.
A vocal supporter of Israel, Morrissey last performed here in 2016. In his song “Israel” from 2017’s Low in High School, he defends Israel against its detractors, singing:
“In other climes, they bitch and whine/Just because you are not like them – Israel, Israel.”
Another tune from the same album is “The Girl from Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn’t Kneel,” which is a reference to a theatrical production of the same name based on the diaries of Etty Hillesum, murdered in Auschwitz in 1943.
When he appeared in Tel Aviv in 2012, he received a symbolic key to the city from Mayor Ron Huldai. And in 2008, he played on a double bill with the revamped legendary 70s garage rockers The New York Dolls, whose reunion they credited to him.
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