Tuesday, July 11, 2023

07/11 Links Pt1: The UN and EU’s hostility and double standards toward Israel; UK refuses to release documents on aid to Palestinians; State Department rejects analogy of Russian war, Israeli ‘occupation’

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: The UN and EU’s hostility and double standards toward Israel
Aliens landing on Earth from the moon would be struck by amazement and disbelief upon hearing the latest official statements condemning Israel by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the so-called High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, regarding Israel’s recent military action against the terror infrastructure in Jenin.

They would immediately imagine in their mind’s-eye Israel’s forces, one sunny July morning, deciding out of the blue to willfully, cruelly, and disproportionately attack a sleepy refugee camp in the town of Jenin, for no apparent reason, while the camp’s innocent and peace-loving residents rest in their tents.

They would not fathom why anyone would want to attack such a sleepy refugee camp.

This, indeed, is the way in which the UN and the EU, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross and others such as US Congresswoman for Minnesota Ilhan Omar, have, lock stock, and barrel, so willingly, completely and utterly bought-into and openly repeat deliberately false and misleading Palestinian propaganda.

As UN Secretary-General Guterres stated: “Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in a crowded refugee camp were the worst violence in the West Bank in many years, with a significant impact on civilians,” calling on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, including the duty to exercise restraint and use only proportional force.

Our alien visitors from the moon would obviously not have any idea of the fact that Palestinian terrorists have turned what they have been given to perceive as such a sleepy refugee camp, into an armed, aggressive, and fanatic fortress.

They would not imagine a scenario in which explosives are implanted under the roads, where weapons and ammunition are stored in hospitals, clinics, mosques, civilian infrastructure, and in almost all private residences.

They would not understand how, in such an apparently peaceful and calm ambiance, terrorists would have burrowed and built a 300-meter tunnel under the local mosque in order to store weapons and produce thousands of lethal weapons in laboratories.

By the same token, they would not imagine that such a quiet and peaceful refugee camp could serve as the center, shelter, refuge, and exit-point for countless cruel acts of terror committed by residents of the camp against Israelis over the years.
Azerbaijan arrests Afghan man for planning attack on Israel’s embassy
Azerbaijani security forces arrested a 23-year-old Afghan national on suspicion of planning an attack on Israel’s embassy in Baku, the State Security Service announced Monday.

The statement did not specify that he was suspected of targeting Israel’s mission, but The Times of Israel has learned that he was observed near the embassy in the Hyatt Regency hotel and is currently being questioned by Azerbaijani officials.

“Fawzan Mosa Khan, a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, born in 1990, in conspiration with other individuals has been planning to commit terrorist act accompanied by explosion, fire or other similar events resulting in the death of people, health injuries, property damage and other socially dangerous incidents in order to create panic among the population, influence decision-making by state authorities and international organizations,” the State Security Service said in a statement.

Azerbaijan said that Khan came from “a foreign country” in order to surveil “a third country embassy,” recruit a cell, and obtain weapons and funding.

The SSS is working to find other members of Khan’s cell.

Though the statement did not identify the country from which Khan arrived in Azerbaijan, neighboring Iran has been using third-party nationals to plan terror attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets.
UK refuses to release documents on aid to Palestinians
The U.K. Foreign Office has declined to disclose how British development aid to the Palestinian Authority is audited, claiming it would “not be in the public interest” to do so, Jewish groups claimed on Monday.

In a statement first reported by the Jewish News website, We Believe in Israel and B’nai B’rith U.K. accused London’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) of attempting to dodge a May 2023 freedom of information request that sought to make public audit reports related to the so-called “Palestinian Recovery and Development Program.”

Established in 2008 by the World Bank, the donor scheme seeks to combine donations from multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, to provide a persistent cash flow to the P.A. Notably, as pointed out by Palestinian Media Watch in 2019, funds are provided to the P.A. “untied and unearmarked.”

Accordingly, following the April 7, 2023 terror attack that killed three members of the British-Israeli Dee family, We Believe in Israel and B’nai B’rith demanded to know whether U.K. taxpayers are contributing to Ramallah’s “pay-for-slay” policy, under which it pays monthly stipends to terrorists and to the families of slain terrorists.

The two organizations said that Foreign Office initially ignored the request, in breach of the law, leading the Information Commissioner’s Office, the authority which enforces the Freedom of Information Act, to order a response.

“The disclosure of information detailing the audit reports of the Palestinian Recovery and Development Programme could potentially damage the bilateral relationship between the U.K. and Palestine,” the FCDO subsequently replied, adding that this would harm the government’s ability to “protect and promote” U.K. interests through its relations with “Palestine.”


State Department rejects analogy of Russian war, Israeli ‘occupation’
Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department spokesman, began Foggy Bottom’s press briefing on July 10 by noting it was the 500th day of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“For 500 days, the Ukrainian people have endured the Russian government’s relentless attacks against homes, schools, hospitals, playgrounds, nuclear facilities, shopping malls, restaurants and other infrastructure,” Miller said. “Members of Russian forces and their proxies have committed international crimes.”

“For 500 days, we have stood firmly united with Ukraine, and we will continue to do so for as long as it takes,” he added.

Some 20 minutes later, it was Said Arikat’s turn to ask a question. “I have a couple questions on Jenin. But since you mentioned a milestone of 500 days, I want to ask you: Do you know how many days has it been since the Palestinians have been occupied by Israel?” Arikat, Washington bureau chief of Al-Quds, asked Miller.

Miller said he did not.

“Well, not including today, 20,475. Not including today,” Arikat said. “Facing a very brutal occupation. Unlike the Ukrainians, they’re not–the Palestinians are not afforded the right to self-defense, facing against Apache helicopters, American-supplied weapons and so on. Kids throwing stones at these weapons that you supply so generously to Israel and so on.”

“Do you believe that the Palestinian people in Jenin have a right to defend themselves?” he asked.

Miller rejected Arikat’s analogy in toto.

“Let me just say first of all with respect to the comparison to Ukraine, the United States does not believe these two situations are comparable,” he said. “I’m not going to litigate all the differences here at the podium, but in no way do we believe there is a comparison to be drawn here.”
UN official accuses Israel of depriving Palestinians of their liberty
The U.N. special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories on Monday issued a scathing report accusing Israel of abusing Palestinians and depriving them of liberty.

Francesca Albanese, an Italian lawyer with a long history of hostile statements about the Jewish state, presented the 21-page examination of Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria and Gaza in Geneva.

“A 10,700-word report cannot capture the scale and extent of the arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the occupied Palestinian territory. Nor can it convey the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have, directly or indirectly, been affected,” Albanese writes.

The alleged violations inflicted on Palestinians by Israel’s “settler-colonial apartheid regime” may amount to international crimes that could be prosecuted under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, according to Albanese.

The report is a result of a six-month probe conducted from Jordan, and with virtual meetings and tours, due to Israel denying Albanese access to Palestinian areas.

Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva last year accused Albanese of making an antisemitic statement after a Facebook post surfaced that was written during the 2014’s “Operation Protective Edge” accusing the United States of being “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”

“America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish Lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust remain on the sidelines […],” wrote Albanese.

Pro-Israel NGO The International Legal Forum called the report “yet another display in unvarnished anti-Israel bias and greenlighting of Palestinian terror, that is devoid of reality and absent any shred of legal basis.”

International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky notes that there is not a single reference to Palestinian terror in the report, which instead makes “one absurd, baseless and antisemitic accusation after another.”


UN report: Israel’s West Bank policies are undermining international legal order
The UN official tasked with examining Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza presented in Geneva on Monday a scathing report accusing the Jewish state of collectively imprisoning the Palestinians, sexually abusing Palestinian women, and “challenging the very foundations of the international legal order.”

In her “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” Francesca Albanese called on UN member states to prosecute Israeli officials under universal jurisdiction, and urged Palestinian Authority security forces to suspend cooperation with Israel “that may lead to violating fundamental rights and freedoms under international law.”

“A 10,700-word report cannot capture the scale and extent of the arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the occupied Palestinian territory,” she wrote. “Nor can it convey the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have, directly or indirectly, been affected.”

Albanese has a history of antisemitism, which she has not explicitly apologized for, instead denouncing criticism of her rhetoric as a smear campaign.

In her report, Albanese accused Israel of torture, mistreating Palestinian corpses, coercing gay Palestinians to provide information, and “invasive strip searches, sexual abuse, and threats” toward women.

She also denounced Palestinian self-rule, saying it “has added a layer of repression to Palestinian life under occupation.”

“The security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel has pioneered a direct connection between Palestinian and Israeli detention apparatuses,” she wrote.

“Arbitrary arrests and detention carried out by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the de facto authorities in the Gaza Strip have contributed to stifling Palestinians’ rights and freedoms,” she continued, not naming the Hamas terror organization throughout her report.
‘Open-Air Panopticon’: UN Special Rapporteur Alleges Israel Has Imprisoned Entire West Bank
The UN’s Special Rapporteur for Palestine on Monday issued a report alleging that all of the West Bank and Gaza is now an open-air prison.

Citing the work of French postmodernist philosopher Michel Foucault, Francesca Albanese’s report says that “the Israeli regime has turned the occupied territory into a ‘panopticon.’”

“Israel’s military occupation has morphed the entire occupied Palestinian territory into an open-air prison, where Palestinians are constantly confined, surveilled and disciplined,” Albanese said in a statement accompanying the report. “Mass incarceration serves the purpose of quelling peaceful opposition against the occupation, protecting the Israeli military and settlers, and ultimately facilitating settler-colonial encroachment.”

While the press release refers to “peaceful” opposition to Israel, the report asserts that Palestinians have “the right to resist an illegal foreign occupier.”

“Israel’s occupation has been a tool of settler colonial conquest also through intensifying methods of confinement against an entire people who – as any people would – continuously rebel against their prison wardens,” the report’s summary says.

The 21-page report was based on Albanese’s six-month “remote investigation” of the situation as she was “unable to visit the occupied Palestinian territory…due to Israel’s continued refusal to facilitate her entry.”


JPost Editorial: Biden warns against 'extreme' members in Israeli gov't
Biden’s remarks should raise alarms in Jerusalem. A public fallout at this level between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel could have a deeply detrimental ripple effect. It could cast a shadow over the strength of Israel’s relationship with the Abraham Accords partners and hinder efforts to broaden the accords to include other countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. It also gives hope to Iran and its terrorist proxies that Israel has fallen from grace.

Biden likes to remind Israelis that his relationship with the country goes back to the days of Golda. It adds to his credibility and emphasizes that he is speaking as a friend who cares. There is no doubt that Biden has been a friend and that the US is an essential ally for Israel, and vice versa.

The relationship between Israel and the US stems from mutual interests and shared values. That is the source of its strength and scope.

The ties between the two countries should not be dependent on who leads them, although this definitely plays a role. In countries where the head of state can change as a result of democratic elections, the bonds have to go beyond the personal. Nonetheless, it is clear that the current situation is neither beneficial to the US nor to Israel. Biden can bypass Netanyahu by inviting Herzog, but ultimately Netanyahu is being sent the message that he is – for now – persona non grata at the White House.

While Israel is entitled to determine its own domestic policy, the government must take into consideration the broader international ramifications of its actions. Israel’s ties with the US are a key strategic interest. Nothing should be done to undermine them.
Jonathan Tobin: Netanyahu’s still in charge. Can Biden say the same?
Though Biden pays lip service to Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, his belief that the surge in Palestinian terrorism is a reaction to internal Israeli politics is absurd. Hamas and PIJ seek to duplicate their Gaza terror base in Abbas’s territory. And Fatah is so afraid of its rivals that the P.A. has virtually abandoned parts of the region, which is what made Israel’s recent anti-terror operation in Jenin necessary.

Bashing Israel and Netanyahu won’t fix that. But Biden isn’t really interested in peace. He may want an Israeli government that will, like the “anybody-but-Bibi” coalition that ran the country from June 2021 to December 2022, neglect the security situation in the territories. What he really wants is one that will do his bidding when it comes to American efforts to appease Iran and its nuclear ambitions. And that is something that Netanyahu will never do.

It is because Netanyahu remains a strong leader who is very much in charge of things that Biden wants him out. The same applies to Israeli leftists who fear that judicial reform will end the juristocracy that effectively prevents the right from governing no matter who wins elections. They are determined to destroy Netanyahu by fair means or foul.

It is also worth noting that Biden is guilty of doing exactly what he claims is going on in Israel.

Though elected as a moderate who would return normalcy to America after Trump, Biden has governed as if he is in thrall to the extreme left wing of his party. From his imposition of the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on the federal government, to his Department of Justice treating parents protesting the education system as “domestic terrorists,” to its embrace of extreme environmentalism and its creation of a virtually open border with Mexico, Biden acts as if he is a hostage of progressives. That is only accentuated by his physical decline, which raises serious questions about his ability to continue in office even as he runs for a second term.

Biden’s war on the Netanyahu government isn’t promoting peace or strengthening U.S. interests in the Middle East. By fighting a losing battle aimed at ousting a Democratically elected government, he is drawing attention to his own weaknesses.


As they attack Israeli judiciary reform, Biden, Democrats undermine US Supreme Court
Neither Smith, nor fellow bill co-sponsors Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), responded to JNS queries about how their efforts to “pack” the court ought to be seen in light of criticism from Democrats of Israeli judicial reform.

Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster and founder of the Democratic Majority for Israel, told JNS that the two situations are not comparable.

The U.S. Supreme Court has become “radically interventionist,” according to Mellman. Democrats are pushing to add four seats to the court in light of its recent decisions on abortion and affirmative action, he added.

“The Supreme Court lost legitimacy in the eyes of the American public,” Mellman said.

Unlike in Israel, the U.S. Supreme Court is part of a system of checks and balances, with three co-equal, federal government branches. That makes it harder to pass legislation that is at odds with any of the three, Mellman said.

Mellman said packing the U.S. high court is unlikely.

“My understanding is that President Biden is not supportive of expanding the court,” he said. “This is unlikely to happen without his support.”
Thousands protest on ‘Day of Resistance’ to judicial reform
Police arrested 71 persons on Tuesday who participated in protests and violated public order as thousands of opponents of the government’s judicial reform initiative blocked highways and interchanges across the country after the Knesset voted overnight to advance key legislation.

Thirty-three of the suspects were arrested during disturbances in the Tel Aviv District, 21 in the Central District, 10 in the Jerusalem District and seven in the Coastal District, police said.

Forty-five of the 71 suspects have been released, police added.

More arrests are expected.

While police would not provide estimates to JNS on the number of protesters, there appeared to be significantly fewer participants than in previous demonstrations held over the past few months.

In Tel Aviv, protesters clashed with police. Police were making much more of an effort to keep the city’s main routes open than during past protests against the judicial reforms, deploying water cannons against people illegally blocking the roads.

The “Day of Resistance” saw marches, demonstrations and convoys to highways in and around Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Binyamin region, and Ben-Gurion Airport. Demonstrations outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem and the U.S. embassy branch in Tel Aviv were due to be held on Tuesday evening.

Police made additional arrests in the afternoon, including in Tel Aviv for an illegal demonstration on Kaplan Street, where officers kept activists from reaching the nearby Ayalon Highway, and two in Jerusalem.


US proposes Israeli concession for removal of Hezbollah outpost
It was reported on July 2 that Hezbollah had removed one of the tents. A day prior, a Lebanese Parliament member for Hezbollah, Mohammad Raad, expressed defiance in a message to Israel, saying, “If you don’t want war, shut up and walk back [the demand to remove the outpost].”

According to Channel 11, the remaining tent has become a symbol for Hezbollah, and Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who allegedly didn’t initially know about the tents, is trying to take advantage of Israel’s desire to end the issue peacefully.

Ongoing border issues with Lebanon, brought on by Hezbollah aggression, continue despite Israel’s signing of a U.S.-mediated maritime border deal with Lebanon on Oct. 27, 2022.

On July 5, several Hezbollah terrorists and dozens of armed Lebanese army soldiers briefly entered Israeli territory. The incident occurred in the area of Menara, a kibbutz adjacent to the Lebanese border in the Upper Galilee region, while the IDF was carrying out work on the border area.

The Hezbollah operatives and uniformed Lebanese soldiers reportedly stayed on the Israeli side of the border for about 20 minutes. The IDF attempted to resolve the issue via liaising with UNIFIL.

A day later, the Israeli military carried out strikes against a missile launch site in southern Lebanon after rockets were fired toward Israeli territory. It is believed that the missiles were fired by Palestinian factions and not by Hezbollah.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry revealed in May that Hezbollah has in the past year constructed no fewer than 27 military posts along the Blue Line.

The posts were built under the guise of Green without Borders, a Hezbollah-affiliated organization that poses as an environmental NGO.

Hezbollah launched the project in parallel to Israel’s construction of a fortified perimeter fence along the 140 kilometer (90 mile) border.

According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the terrorist group is forbidden from operating near the frontier.
Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah learned from maritime deal how to threaten Israel - analysis
At the same time Hezbollah, using the Lebanese government as its spokesperson, now wants to negotiate. This is how the maritime deal also played out. Lebanon came into a situation where everything was working fine and made outlandish claims. Then to get Lebanon to back down, and therefore get Hezbollah to stop claiming it was “defending” Lebanon; a “compromise” had to be made.

This is the pattern. Last October NPR noted “the crux of the conflict was who gets to drill for natural gas in disputed waters off the Mediterranean coast. More than a decade of US mediation — with some recent saber-rattling by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — led to a compromise on the drilling rights, announced by the US, Israel and Lebanon.”

Once the deal was done in October, the alert for a possible confrontation was reduced. Hezbollah had been increasing its threats throughout 2022. This showed Hezbollah could create the “risk” of war over random claims.

Iran’s politicians are now heralding what they see as the success of Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin. Iranian media on Tuesday said that whereas Palestinians once confronted Israel with rocks, now they use rockets. This is a reference to two incidents where groups near Jenin tried to set up rockets. Pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen media also says Israel continues to live in the shadow of the “July war,” a reference to the 2006 war.

Al-Ain media in the Gulf notes that “Lebanon has expressed its willingness to demarcate the land border with Israel immediately, following the tensions of what has become known as the ‘tent crisis’, set up by Hezbollah.” This is an example of how Hezbollah operates and conducts Lebanon’s foreign and defense policy. Hezbollah illegally stockpiles weapons and sets up tents in a disputed area.

Then the Lebanese government follows that up with territorial demands against Israel. Hezbollah learned this from the maritime deal. It works in concert with Beirut, where Beirut is the “carrot” and Hezbollah the “stick” used in concert to try to get concessions and threaten war.
Israel’s IDF Has Some CRAZY NEW Warfare Strategies to Fight Terrorists, THIS Might Be a Game Changer
Israel has some crazy new warfare strategies they are using against terrorists which just might be working. With over 1,000 soldiers fighting for 48 hours in the densely populated refugee camp of Jenin, there must have been a lot of Palestinian civilians killed in this operation right? Watch today’s show for some info that might just blow your mind.

Also, a deadly terror attack was just miraculously thwarted by the IDF.


Gush Etzion bypass road to open for traffic on Wednesday
After years of complaints about stone-throwing by local Arabs, Israeli Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety Minister Miri Regev this week officially inaugurated the first part of the Gush Etzion-Hebron bypass road.

The Lev Yehuda-Levinger Road, named after the founders of Hebron’s modern-day Jewish community, bypasses the Arab village of Al-Arub and will eventually connect Hebron and Kiryat Arba with the Gush Etzion bloc and Jerusalem.

The majority of the route will be opened to traffic on Wednesday.

“We are inaugurating Lev Yehuda Road in the name of the late Rabbi and Mrs. Levinger, founders of the Judea and Samaria Jewish community,” stated Regional Council head Shlomo Ne’eman at a ceremony on Monday. “We see with our own eyes the bulldozers along Road 60 that will shortly transform this vital road into a wide highway, and provide the population with passage to Jerusalem.”

Ne’eman, who also serves as the head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella group of municipal assemblies in Judea and Samaria, called the project an “essential lifeline and a key factor to strengthening our way of life in the region.”

The opening was initially planned for last week, but was postponed for security reasons in light of the IDF counterterrorism operation in the Samaria city of Jenin. Over the weekend, Jewish drivers reported multiple instances of rock-throwing near Al-Arub, Beit Ummar and Karmei Tzur.


Ben-Gvir cancels appearance by ‘Fauda’ actor who legitimized attacks on IDF
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir canceled the participation of “Fauda” actor Hisham Suliman in a conference on Tuesday over his prior legitimization of attacks on IDF soldiers.

Ben-Gvir organized the event for Arab authorities in northern Israel.

Israeli media had previously quoted Suliman as saying that Palestinians in Judea and Samaria “have a right to fight and oppose the occupation…. A soldier who is in the [West] Bank and someone attacks him—I do not think that is a terror attack.”

Said Ben-Gvir on Tuesday: “Whoever gives legitimacy to harming IDF soldiers and is not loyal to the State of Israel absolutely cannot receive payment from the state and perform at National Security Ministry events,” adding, “Not under my watch.”

Presented bilingually in Hebrew and Arabic with subtitles, “Fauda” tells the story of an elite undercover unit in the Israel Defense Forces with a focus on Israeli agent Doron Kavillio, played by the show’s co-creator, Lior Raz.


Palestinian family evicted from Jerusalem home after decades-long legal battle
Israeli authorities on Tuesday evicted a Palestinian family from their contested apartment in Jerusalem’s Old City, the family said, capping a decades-long legal battle that has come to symbolize conflicting claims to the holy city.

Left-wing activists say the Ghaith-Sub Laban family’s eviction is part of a wider trend of nationalist Israelis, backed by the government, encroaching on Palestinian-majority neighborhoods and cementing Israeli control by claiming property in East Jerusalem.

Israel views the case as a simple legal battle over real estate, with the Jewish plaintiffs saying the Palestinian residents are squatters in an apartment historically owned by Jews.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down the Palestinian family’s final appeal, capping a 45-year-long legal battle over their right to live in the apartment and ruling that the home was historically Jewish-owned.

During British rule over Mandatory Palestine, before the War of Independence over Israel’s creation in 1948, the apartment was owned by a trust for Kollel Galicia, a group that collected funds in Eastern Europe for Jewish families in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian family says it moved into the property in the early 1950s and rented it from a “General Custodian” for abandoned properties, first under Jordanian authorities and then under Israel after the Six Day War in 1967. The case dragged on for decades, as the Israeli custodian and then the Kollel Galicia trust contested the family’s “protected” status. Among its claims was that the family did not use the property for extended periods.

Police officers came to Nora Ghaith-Sub Laban’s house in Jerusalem’s Old City early Tuesday morning, forced open the door and removed the family, said her son, Ahmad Sub-Laban. He said his family has been barred from reentering the premises.


What Terrorism?: Al Jazeera Gaslights Israelis on Jenin Threat
In Al Jazeera’s latest anti-Israel hit piece, the Qatar-funded news organization both whitewashed Palestinian terrorism and effectively gaslit Israelis over their concerns regarding West Bank-based violence.

In its report on the latest Israeli counter-terror raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post program sought to discredit Israeli claims about Palestinian terrorism by diminishing the role that terror groups play in such volatile cities as Jenin and Nablus while also dismissing the threat posed by these same groups.

However, as will be seen below, Al Jazeera’s assertions are based on the twisting of facts, the manipulation of reality, and other deceptive practices.

Throughout this report, Al Jazeera seeks to idealize the burgeoning terror groups that have popped up in volatile Palestinian urban centers like Jenin and Nablus by portraying them as grassroots organizations that are composed of young fighters whose desperation forces them to take up arms in a futile fight against the Israeli army.

This narrative is best exemplified by interviewee Tariq Kenney-Shawa’s claim that the members of these groups “are basically children and teenagers” who have “gotten to a point in their lives where they have no other option than to take up a gun, take up a rock, take up a Molotov cocktail and use it against an invading military.”

While it is true that groups like the Jenin Battalion and Lions’ Den are more decentralized than traditional Palestinian terror organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, they are not the ragtag fighting forces comprised of desperate freedom-loving Palestinian youth that Al Jazeera seeks to portray.

The Jenin Battalion was initially founded by Islamic Jihad and includes members of Hamas and the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Most Battalion fighters are between the ages of 20 and 30 and they are reportedly the recipients of millions of shekels’ worth of arms and other military-grade equipment from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Iran.
MEMRI: Palestinian Authority: Al-Jazeera Incites Against Us In Service Of Qatar, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood; We Will Consider Taking Legal Measures Against It; Al-Jazeera In Response: Our Coverage Is Balanced And Professional
On July 3-5, 2023, the Israeli armed forces conducted a military operation in the Jenin refugee camp against the Jenin Brigade, a recently formed group comprising fighters from several Palestinian terror organizations, including the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ); Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Hamas' military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. Although the operation resulted in the death of 12 armed terrorists[1] and in the dismantling of terror infrastructures in Jenin, the media outlets of the various terrorist organizations, chief of them Hamas, present it as an achievement and victory of the Palestinian resistance.[2]

During and after the operation, the Palestinian public, especially in Jenin, expressed anger over the weakness of the Palestinian Authority (PA) vis-à-vis Israel and over the helplessness of its security forces, which did not take part in the fighting in Jenin and even arrested PIJ operatives who were on their way to join the fray. This undermined the credibility of the PA's announcement after the operation that it was extending the suspension of the security coordination with Israel.[3] Moreover, a delegation of Fatah officials, headed by the movement's deputy-chairman Mahmoud Al-'Aloul, which came to the funeral of some of the fighters killed in the camp, was chased away with cries of "Out! Out!"[4]

Against this backdrop, an intense conflict broke out between the PA and the Qatari Al-Jazeera media network over the latter's coverage of the events in Jenin.[5] Officials in the PA and in its ruling party, Fatah, accused Al-Jazeera of unprofessional and unobjective coverage that favored Hamas and dishonored the PA. They claimed that Al-Jazeera favored Hamas spokespersons and commentators, who had attributed the operation's "achievements" to this movement.[6] The officials were also furious with Al-Jazeera for covering the incident of the ousting of the Fatah leaders from the funeral in Jenin, and for expressing contempt about the initiative of the PA leadership, headed by PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas, to convene an "urgent meeting" of the Palestinian faction heads in Cairo.[7]

Fatah and PA spokespersons accused Al-Jazeera of waging a campaign of incitement and slander against the PA in the service of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The PA's clash with Al-Jazeera came to a head when Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the PA's presidency spokesperson and information minister, sent a letter to the Al-Jazeera management threatening legal measures against the network. Articles in the PA press slammed Al-Jazeera, accusing it of serving the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist elements and Qatar and seeking to spark internal wars throughout the Arab and Islamic world.

Al-Jazeera responded with a letter of its own, in which it rejected these allegations, stressed its commitment to professional standards of journalism, and stated that it would not yield to pressure. Elements close to Al-Jazeera and Qatar took to social media to attack the PA. They claimed that its allegations against Al-Jazeera were nothing but an attempt to cover up the fact that the PA is an agent of Israel working against the interests of the Palestinian people.

This report reviews this clash between Fatah and the PA and Al-Jazeera, and their mutual accusations.


As PA forces enter Jenin, Israel watches cautiously
Palestinian Authority security forces have begun entering Jenin in recent days, following the Israel Defense Forces’ intensive security operation to degrade the terrorist presence in Jenin camp on July 3 and 4.

Israel is watching closely to see whether the P.A. is able to reestablish control in a city where a power vacuum saw Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, localized terror groups and Iranian financing create a terrorist hornet’s nest as well as a budding rocket launch base.

The Israeli security establishment appears to be monitoring recent statements by P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which focused on internal policy in what is seen as a noteworthy departure from his usual focus on slandering Israel at the United Nations and other international forums.

It is too soon to know whether the P.A.’s entrance to Jenin will be effective and whether it can lay the basis for stability. It does, however, appear as if the P.A. has finally internalized the steep price it pays for losing control in Samaria, and the fact that Israel will not accept such developments, which also directly threaten the P.A.’s ability to govern other parts of Area A in Judea and Samaria, where the Palestinian cities are located.

The coming days will prove decisive in determining the effectiveness of the P.A.’s latest move into Jenin.

Meanwhile, hundreds of armed terrorists escaped the city last week to avoid engaging the IDF’s brigade-sized force of special units. Their absence could mean that it will be easier for the P.A. to take control.
Mahmoud Abbas to make rare visit to Jenin
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit the city of Jenin and its refugee camp on Wednesday, more than one week after the large-scale Israeli military operation there, PA presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudaineh announced on Tuesday.

Abbas will meet with local residents and officials and receive a briefing about efforts to “rebuild” the city and its refugee camp in the aftermath of the Israeli military operation, Abu Rudaineh said.

This will be Abbas’s first visit to Jenin since 2012, when he briefly visited the city to offer condolences over the death of former governor Kadoura Musa.

It will be his first visit to Jenin Refugee Camp since he was elected PA president in 2005.

Abbas will be accompanied by PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence Service chief Majed Faraj.

Jordanian military helicopter will transport Abbas
Palestinian sources said a Jordanian military helicopter will take Abbas and the senior officials from Ramallah to Jenin.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and members of his cabinet, as well as senior Fatah officials, will receive Abbas upon his arrival in Jenin, the sources said.
Palestinian Authority President Abbas to visit Jenin
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit the city of Jenin and its refugee camp tomorrow after last week's IDF operation




Indonesia seizes Iranian-flagged tanker suspected of illegal oil transfer
Indonesia's coast guard said on Tuesday it seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, and vowed to toughen maritime patrols.

The MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 metric tons of light crude oil, valued at 4.6 trillion rupiah ($304 million), when it was seized last week, the Indonesian authorities said.

The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was suspected of transferring oil to another vessel without a permit on Friday, the Southeast Asian nation's maritime security agency said.

The vessel was captured after being spotted in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea, carrying out a ship-to-ship oil transfer with the Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos, the agency's chief, Aan Kurnia, said.

"MT Arman was spoofing their automatic identification system (AIS) to show its position was in the Red Sea but in reality it is here," Aan told reporters.

"So it seems like they already had a malicious intent," Aan said, adding that the vessel also dumped oil into the ocean, in violation of Indonesia's environmental law.

The vessels' operators could not be immediately reached for comment.

Along with the Arman, authorities detained its Egyptian captain, 28 crew and 3 passengers, who were the family of a security officer on board, the agency said.

After the two supertankers attempted to escape, authorities focused their pursuit on Arman, assisted by Malaysian authorities as the vessel sailed into their waters, Aan said.

The Tinos was supposed to have been scrapped in 2018, he added. It was built in 1999 while the Arman was built in 1997, according to shipping database Equasis.




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