Thursday, July 13, 2023

07/13 Links Pt1: Palestinian cries of Israeli 'occupation' are an oxymoron; EU parliament again denounces PA for incitement; Ilhan Omar Announces Boycott of Israeli President's Address to Congress

From Ian:

Palestinian cries of Israeli 'occupation' are an oxymoron
A major article in The New York Times on July 6, reporting the aftermath of the Jenin conflict, began with this remarkable sentence: “Israel’s military said on Wednesday that it had withdrawn from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin after a large-scale incursion.”

That’s what I would call the very definition of an oxymoron. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says an oxymoron is “a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.”

They might as well add Jenin to that definition. According to The New York Times, Jenin is “occupied” by the Israelis, yet it is also a city into which the Israelis have staged “a large-scale incursion” and from which they have then “withdrawn.”

Apparently, nobody at the Times noticed that if the Israelis are indeed “occupying” the city, they wouldn’t be invading it and withdrawing from it. They would be there all the time. Only, they’re not.

Once upon a time, the Israelis did occupy Jenin. From 1967 to 1995, to be exact. There was an Israeli military governor and a military administration that ruled the city. There were Israeli troops patrolling the streets and keeping order. And then they left.

As part of the Oslo II agreement, of September 1995, the Israelis withdrew all their governors and military administrators, and troops from the cities where 98% of the Palestinian Arabs reside. Including Jenin. The “occupation” came to an end, literally.

But not according to the Times, it didn’t. Three more times in that same July 6 article about Jenin, the daily referred to Israel “occupying” Palestinian areas. One of the references quoted an “ex-militant” (that is, a convicted terrorist) named Nidal Naghniyeh complaining that the Palestinian Authority has failed to “protect us from the occupation.”

Is Naghniyeh hallucinating? Does he think he sees Israeli troops or an Israeli governor in Jenin each morning? Of course not. He lives in Jenin. He knows there are no Israelis occupying the city.
Rabbi Leo Dee to Netanyahu: 'No need to pretend there's a two-state solution'
Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in April, addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday regarding the financing of the Palestinian Authority.

"Thanks to your excellent economic policies, you increased the number of daily workers who leave their homes in the West Bank and work in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and Tel Aviv from 50,000 a day to 200,000 a day," Dee said. "And through this, you created a new and promising reality for Palestinians and Israelis." He also stated much of the income in the Palestinian territories comes from Israel.

Dee states that "Oslo and the two-state solution" makes little sense, and that bringing Palestinians into the Israeli workforce "makes them dependent on their trade with us."

"So there are no two countries. There are 10 Palestinian cities - actually 10 separate Palestinian states - that could happily be run by their clans, their tribal leaders. And there is no need to pretend that there is actually another country with its own government in Ramallah and its own Fatah army. Dee: "The two-state solution is completely dead"

"And there is no longer any need to pretend that there is a two-state solution. I spoke with foreign ministers and officials from Britain, Europe, and the United States recently - they all told me privately - the two-state solution is completely dead. Prime Minister, you are the only person in the world who continues to believe in it!"

The prime minister has most recently been opposed to the two-state solution, recently telling the Knesset in a closed-door meeting that Palestinian hopes of establishing a sovereign state “must be eliminated.”

Despite this, Dee addressed Netanyahu, asking "Why do you keep beating a dead horse? Why do you continue to support the Palestinian Authority and Fatah? Today, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for 70% of the terrorist attacks in Israel!"
European parliament again denounces PA for incitement
The European parliament passed resolutions on Wednesday condemning the Palestinian Authority for inciting violence, antisemitism and hate via its school textbooks.

The resolutions demanded the “deletion of all antisemitic references, and removal of examples that incite hatred and violence.”

Unlike previous resolutions, which mentioned incitement to violence without directly calling for the removal of antisemitism, the wording explicitly links E.U.-funded textbooks to “rising involvement of teenagers in terrorist attacks.”

The European parliament insisted that the European Union freeze its funding to the P.A. until its curriculum is aligned with UNESCO standards and called on E.U. authorities to prevent funding “to activities that incite hatred and violence,” in line with the E.U. strategy for combating antisemitism.

The adopted resolutions form part of a report recommending the way in which the European Union should define its relations with the P.A.

This is the second time in two months that the European parliament has voted on resolutions condemning P.A. incitement, the third time since December 2022, and the fourth consecutive year it has done so. The resolutions were supported by members of parliament from across the political spectrum in Brussels.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli nonprofit that monitors school textbooks worldwide, briefed parliament members from across the political spectrum in the lead-up to the vote, showcasing a continued failure by the P.A. to make any changes to its current school curriculum, despite promises of reform.


Dr. Einat Wilf: Palestinians Do Not Have a "Right of Return" into Israel under International Law
The events that led to the creation of the original Palestinian refugees have no connection to the existence of Palestinians who claim to be "refugees" today. Tens of millions of people who became refugees throughout the 20th century are not refugees today. No others have insisted on perpetuating their status.

The reason why there were Arab refugees at all in 1948 is simple - the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine and Arab armies waged an entirely unnecessary war against the partition of the land into a Jewish and an Arab state. Then as now, they chose to forfeit having their own state if it means that the Jews would have one too. The Palestinians have worked to maintain their inter-generational refugee status for one reason only: to avoid accepting the outcome of the war of 1948 in the form of a Jewish state in any part of the land.

Palestinians do not have a "right of return" into the sovereign state of Israel under any kind of international law. There is no precedent of a country being forced to accept a group of people against its will, and Palestinians, despite impressive efforts, cannot make up laws that gives them something that does not exist.

The modern "nakba-catastrophe" narrative seeks to erase any memory of Arabs waging an unnecessary war and to turn Palestinians into innocent bystanders rather than people who pursued a clear objective of denying another people a state, and failed.

The writer, a former IDF intelligence officer and Knesset member, is the co-author of The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace (2020).
Elliott Abrams: America’s Ham-Fisted Interference in Israeli Domestic Affairs
As of July 4, French police had detained some 2,000 people in response to the riots that swept through the country. Yet the White House made no statement comparable to that issued on Monday urging Jerusalem “to protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly” after a handful of arrests in protests there. Elliott Abrams notes that this was but one of several declarations from U.S. officials about the turmoil in Israel surrounding judicial reform:

Unlike in France, the protests [in Israel] are non-violent, no one has been killed, and there are many fewer arrests—dozens, not hundreds or thousands.

Why does the administration feel quite free to interfere with the internal politics of one democratic ally and not another? Here are two related reasons: in the case of France, critics of Macron have not sought such U.S. interference and pressure. In the case of Israel, opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu have traveled to the United States and made almost daily appeals for this pressure. Second, there is no domestic pressure in the United States for criticisms of Macron while there is one for criticisms of Netanyahu. Many American Jewish groups and leaders have expressed their own opposition and invited—or demanded—U.S. pressure on Israel’s government.

The double standard in Biden administration treatment of the unrest in France and in Israel is evident. It is also quite problematic, because it creates a precedent that those who are today urging interference in Israeli domestic disputes may tomorrow regret. Unlike Israel’s policies regarding Iran, Egypt, Jordan, or the Palestinians, the role of its judiciary is about as “internal” an internal matter as can be imagined. Israelis are struggling—democratically and peacefully—over those domestic issues. They should be able to do so without U.S. interference—and without unfair and baseless suggestions that Israeli authorities are not protecting the right to demonstrate.
AJC calls on Justice Department to pursue Ahlam Tamimi extradition
The American Jewish Committee is for the first time publicly calling on the Justice Department “to exert every effort” to push Jordan to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, a Palestinian terrorist convicted in an Israeli court for her role in the 2001 bombing of a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in which 16 people, including three Americans, were killed.

Tamimi, who received 16 life sentences for escorting a suicide bomber to the restaurant, was freed in a 2011 exchange with Jordan along with more than 1,000 prisoners, most of them Palestinian. She has since become well-known in Jordan and for years hosted a program on a Hamas-affiliated television network.

In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, AJC CEO Ted Deutch writes that Tamimi is “unrepentant” and has “enjoyed celebrity status since returning to Jordan, glorifying and inciting terrorism and for five years hosting a program on the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, beamed throughout the Arabic-speaking world.”

The letter comes ahead of the 10th anniversary of Tamimi’s indictment — done under seal — by the Department of Justice. After the charges were made public in 2017, Jordan rejected the premise of a longstanding extradition treaty between Washington and Amman.

“There is no ambiguity regarding the U.S.-Jordan extradition treaty,” the letter says. “Legal obligations between nations cannot be set aside because they are inconvenient to enforce.”

Americans Malki Roth, 15, and Shoshana Greenbaum, 31, were killed in the blast. New York-born Chana Nachenberg was critically wounded in the attack, and remained in a vegetative state for more than two decades before dying from her injuries in May. Nachenberg’s young daughter survived the attack unharmed.

Malki Roth’s parents, Frimet and Arnold Roth, told JI that the AJC letter was “honorable and welcome.”


Malcolm Hoenlein: Has Washington turned its back on the Middle East? | Our Middle East
Has the US sent the wrong signals to its allies and enemies alike? Why is the US pushing to make a deal with Iran as the regime terrorizes Israel from Jenin? Is the US missing an opportunity to form a bond between the Iranian people and Israel?

In this episode of the “Our Middle East” podcast, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs president and host Dan Diker has on Malcolm Hoenlein, former Executive Vice Chairman, and current Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to discuss.

They delve into
- the recent operation in Jenin and Iran's involvement
- how perception is absolutely key in the region
- a secret visit from a former high official in Iran and the alliance being built between Israel and the Iranian people.


Herzog dispels rumored Biden ‘reassessment’ of Israel ties ahead of US visit
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday became the latest official to dispel rumors of a White House “reassessment” of ties with Israel, ahead of his scheduled speech to the U.S. Congress next week.

“In just a few days, I will pay an important visit to the United States, to mark 75 years of Israeli independence, and 75 years of our solid alliance, which lies above and beyond any and all disagreements,” he told Israel Defense Forces soldiers at a gathering of the 7th Armored Brigade.

“Here, on the battlefields, at a time when our enemies over the border in Syria and Lebanon, led by Iran, are trying to test us, I say what I will also say in Washington: Israel and the United States are strong and strategic, democratic allies of the highest level,” stated Herzog, warning that “our enemies should not underestimate us.”

In an article titled, “The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu’s Government Has Begun,” published on July 11, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman claimed that a reassessment by the Biden administration of Washington’s relations with Israel is “inevitable.”

Friedman argued that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was being “led around by the nose” by “extreme” Cabinet members, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, risking a breakdown in Israel-U.S. ties and a “civil war” in Israel.

Seemingly in response to Friedman’s observations, Herzog on Wednesday called Jerusalem’s alliance with America “unbreakable and irreplaceable—just like Israeli democracy,” adding, “It has always been and will always be.”

Earlier that day, an Israeli official likewise said that the government was “unaware” of any decision to reexamine ties. The unnamed official reportedly told local media that many U.S. administrations have announced “reevaluations” of relations with Israel in a number of different scenarios.


The Israel Guys: Joe Biden is Trying to STOP ISRAEL From “going off the rails” | 100,000s in the Streets
Israel just passed the first reading of the Reasonableness Standard Bill in the Knesset, advancing the first stages of judicial reform. In response, the Biden administration called on Israel to “respect the right of peaceful assembly” after saying they are trying to keep Israel from going off the rails.

Thousands of protesters also took to the streets to demonstrate. They blocked roads across Israel and demonstrated at the Ben-Gurion Airport and additional locations on Tuesday, calling it a "Day of Resistance" and “Disturbance”. In Herzliya, the protesters, or as some are calling them, anarchists, set up tents and burned tires in the middle of the HaSira junction. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of a court in Haifa and in Rehovot, around 2,500 protestors gathered at the Park junction. Additional protests were also planned throughout the day in dozens of other cities, towns, and junctions.

These protesters claim they are protesting for democracy but the judicial reform is actually pushing democracy forward, so the question is, why are they protesting?


'No Way in Hell': Ilhan Omar Announces Boycott of Israeli President's Address to Congress
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) announced she will boycott an address by the Israeli president to Congress next week.

"There is no way in hell I am attending the joint session address from a President whose country has banned me and denied @RashidaTlaib the ability to see her grandma," Omar said on Wednesday, referring to the scheduled July 19 address by Israeli president Isaac Herzog.

She added that because Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu "barred the first two Muslim women elected to congress from visiting the country," Herzog should not be invited. Netanyahu issued the ban in 2019. Tzipi Hotovely, the then-deputy foreign minister, said at the time that the country bars entry to "those who reject our right to exist in the world."

Herzog is making the trip to Washington to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israel's founding.

Omar has a history of making anti-Semitic statements. In 2012, she invoked an anti-Semitic trope, tweeting, "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." In 2019, she suggested pro-Israel politicians were paid off, saying, "It's all about the Benjamins, baby."

The announcement comes a month after the far-left "Squad" Democrats Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) boycotted an address by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

"A joint address is among the most prestigious invitations and honors the United States Congress can extend," Ocasio-Cortez said ahead of Modi's June remarks. "We should not do so for individuals with deeply troubling human rights records."


Ilhan Omar’s Unhinged Tweets Show How Confused She is About Israel
Deranged ranting aside, the striking thing about Omar’s thread is just how confused she is about Israel.

For one thing, she claims that her fellow Democrat and “squad” member Rashida Tlaib was barred from visiting her grandmother in the West Bank. Fact check: Tlaib was allowed to see her grandmother but chose not to in order to protest Israel’s “oppressive conditions.”

While she appears to grasp that there is a difference between Israel’s prime minister and president, she suggests that Herzog is some kind of shadowy shill for Benjamin Netanyahu.

Of course, if Omar knew as much about Israel as she thinks she does, she would know that Herzog ran against Netanyahu as head of the Labor Party and has also been the key figure pushing for watering down the controversial judicial reforms, which she dubs a “coup to centralize power and undermine checks on their power.”

Naturally, Omar lambastes Israel for last week’s Jenin raid, which she notes “killed at least a dozen people,” while failing to mention the fact they were all members of terrorist organizations. She additionally blames the failure to establish a Palestinian state on Israel, apparently blissfully unaware of how many peace deals the Palestinians have turned their noses up at.

While Herzog is unlikely to miss Omar’s presence next week and she got the big dose of attention she craved, the saddest thing about Omar’s tweets is that they reveal her total ignorance about a country that is one of America’s most important allies. Depressing stuff indeed.


What To Do When a UN Official Hates Israel, and Is Unbearably Biased?
As recently as last week, she gave an interview on Australian radio in which she stated the very presence of Israel in the West Bank is illegal, and again saying that any “resistance” to the “illegal occupation” is legitimate and acceptable. She notably refused to use the word “terrorism,” using instead the euphemism of “resistance.”

At the same time, she maintains that Israel has no right to self-defense, stating that the “unlawfulness of the Israeli occupation negates any legitimate title to exercise authority with respect to Gaza or the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.”

Put simply, what she clearly appears to say is that Palestinians have the right to kill Israelis in terrorist actions, but Israelis don’t have the right to resist those activities.

Her charge that the “the entire occupied territory” is an “open-air prison” is also demonstrably false. Israel left Gaza entirely in 2005, withdrawing all military and civilian personnel, including uprooting entire Jewish communities, yet Albanese still considers the territory to be under “military occupation” and that Israel still has obligations as “the occupying power.”

Bizarrely, she even suggests that Israel’s efforts at facilitating a level of Palestinian self-rule have added a layer of repression, stating that since the signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinian authorities have “contributed to stifling Palestinians’ rights and freedoms.”

And of course, in what has become standard, she accuses Israel of practicing “apartheid,” and calls for the International Criminal Court to enable Israelis to be put on trial for the crimes of apartheid.

The entire report is effectively a hate manifesto, accusing Israel of a series of appalling crimes including torture and sexual abuse. It is characterized by a complete lack of context in regard to historical, political and military events, existing in a bubble separate from reality.

The UN’s own rules state that a Special Rapporteur has to be someone who is both neutral and independent, but Francesca Albanese has proven once again, as she has many times before, that she is incapable of serving in any kind of objective capacity in regard to Israel and the Palestinians, and this report does nothing for a lasting or peaceful resolution to the conflict. It only continues to fan the flames of hatred even further.


The Jenin operation was the end of the beginning
Therefore, the operation was not intended to be decisive. Instead, it served as a foundational preparation for potential future military activities. These could continue as an extension of Break the Wave activities, escalate into a more intensive operation resembling House and Garden, or evolve into a larger-scale military operation akin to Defensive Shield.

House and Garden signified a shift in perception among Israel’s leaders, but alone it is insufficient to achieve significant deterrence and disrupt terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria, particularly in Northern Samaria and Jenin. Israel must capitalize on the groundwork laid during this operation to take more aggressive action against terrorism in Jenin and, subsequently, in Nablus. Therefore, the conclusion of the House and Garden military operation marks the end of the beginning, signaling the need for the next phase.

It is anticipated that the results of the operation will lead to a temporary reduction in terrorist activities from the Jenin area, targeting IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens. However, given the operation’s time, space, and depth limitations, it is likely that terrorist organizations will regroup and regain strength in the short and medium term, seeking to restore their military capabilities in Jenin.

Consequently, in the short and medium term, the IDF must continue to launch airstrikes against terrorists and their infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. The focus of the IDF’s offensive and air-based operations should be on Jenin and Nablus. Additionally, regular military raids on Jenin are necessary to prevent the resurgence and rebuilding of terrorist organizations, including their rocket and explosive manufacturing facilities.

Simultaneously, in the longer term, the IDF should develop comprehensive plans for an extensive military operation in Jenin. This operation would involve deploying significantly larger ground and air forces to penetrate deep into the refugee camp, targeting a substantial number of terrorists and the leadership of these terrorist organizations, which represent the enemy’s center of gravity.

This operation would be akin to Defensive Shield but limited to the Jenin area. Subsequently, a similar plan would be required for the Nablus area, another significant terrorist stronghold in Northern Samaria.

By pursuing these strategic actions, Israel aims to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, eliminate key operatives, and ultimately enhance security and stability in the region.
Tzipi Hotovely: Israel fought terrorists in Jenin, not Palestinians
Just two weeks ago, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegations visited Tehran and met the Supreme Leader and other security officials to receive their instructions for carrying out more attacks in Israel.

There, the Supreme Leader said that the “growing power” of Palestinian groups was “the key to bringing the Zionist enemy to its knees”. Iran’s overreach should concern us all, including everyone in the UK.

We only have to think back to its attempted assassinations of British or UK-based individuals last year.

The Palestinian people are in a complex and difficult situation.

But the ungoverned spaces that exist inside the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), due to years of neglect and a leadership that preferred to invest in terrorism instead of investing in education for peace, has fostered a new and dangerous environment that has allowed terrorists to thrive.

The horrific recent car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, in which nine people were injured, one of whom was a pregnant woman who subsequently lost her child, is yet another reminder of the necessity to do everything we can to protect our population from harm. And Israel is doing what any other state has to do.

Despite this, Israel is careful to act with precision and takes every measure to mitigate harm to civilians.

Beyond that, we are trying to help Palestinians as much as possible economically by increasing the number of work permits in Israel, even during the last military operation.

Hundreds of thousands of households from the West Bank and Gaza make a living out of being part of Israel’s diverse industries.

Of course, Israel wants peace. It has proven such with the Abraham Accords, a historic partnership with several of our Arab neighbours. Israel has no quarrel with the Palestinian people.

Unfortunately, as long as the Palestinian leadership chooses to invest in terror, incitement and incentives to carry attacks against Jews, we will not be able to move forward and will have to continue to protect our citizens.

Only when the Palestinian leadership acknowledges that Israel is an integral part of the Middle East will there be a genuine chance for peace.
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.”
High Court to hear petition demanding Netanyahu’s removal
Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, agreed on Thursday to hear a petition calling for the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the premiership due to an alleged violation of a conflict of interest settlement.

“Netanyahu violated the prohibitions and restrictions that apply to him as prime minister” and “acts in a conflict of interest,” the petition states.

It claims that despite the fact that Netanyahu is prevented by law from dealing with certain issues, he “declared explicitly and publicly that he intends to continue to act in violation of the prohibitions and restrictions that apply to him in the position of prime minister.”

The petition describes Netanyahu’s decision as “tainted by an extreme lack of reasonableness.”

The petition was signed by 39 senior officials from business, military, academic and other backgrounds. At the top of the list is former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz.

Attorney Dafna Holtz Lachner submitted the petition on behalf of a group calling itself “Fortress of Democracy.”

“The petition will be forwarded to the panel [of justices] for discussion as soon as possible,” the court said.

Lachner expressed “great satisfaction” with the High Court’s decision and said the prime minister’s disqualification “is the required result, because otherwise “there is no meaning” to conflict of interest prohibitions on elected officials.


Arab Israeli convicted of attempted murder with terror motive in 2021 Acre mob assault
An Arab Israeli man was convicted Thursday of attempted murder with a terror motive for his role in the mob assault of a Jewish resident of Acre during the May 2021 riots that left the victim, Mor Ganashvili, with life-threatening and permanent injuries.

The guilty verdict for Qusay Abbas, 21, is the most serious yet among the nine individuals that are suspected of involvement in the attack.

Ganashvili was beaten with iron bars and other blunt instruments that rendered him unconscious and left him with two brain hemorrhages and internal bleeding, among numerous other injuries.

Judges in the Haifa District Court unanimously found Abbas guilty of terror charges including attempted murder, throwing rocks at a vehicle, vandalizing a vehicle with a racial motive, and rioting.

They rejected the defense’s claim that Ganashvili tried to run down his attacker.

The riots in Acre were part of a series of violent inter-communal disturbances, particularly in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities, that took place in the days following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in May 2021.

“I was very scared of the verdict. I am happy that a judgment like this was handed down because it really sends a message that Jewish blood is not worthless,” Ganashvili told reporters after the conviction.


Caroline Glick: Israel must respond forcefully to Hezbollah aggression
Hezbollah personnel are battle-hardened veterans of the wars in Syria and Iraq. They have a war plan that includes invading the Galilee, overrunning border towns and massacring inhabitants. Hezbollah has excavated underground cross border tunnels. Israel exposed some in 2018, but it is not clear what the situation is today.

All the same, as IDF (Res.) Col. Gad Ivgy explained in an article on Wednesday in the Hebrew online journal Mida, both Hezbollah and Israel are averse to fighting a major war at this time. If Jerusalem orders the IDF to blow up the Hezbollah encampment with a combat helicopter, there is no reason to assume Hezbollah will initiate an all-out war.

On the other hand, if Israel allows the Biden administration to coerce it into accepting Hezbollah’s land demands, it will undermine its reputation and standing as a regional power with which to be reckoned. The strategic consequences of such a state of affairs are liable to be catastrophic, whether in relation to future warfare with Hezbollah, to Lebanon’s boss Tehran and its nuclear weapons program or to the Palestinians.

The IDF stood with Lapid when he capitulated to Biden last October. IDF Military Intelligence Directorate head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva and other IDF senior commanders parroted the line that capitulating to Hezbollah would advance Israel’s security interests. Then Defense Minister Benny Gantz, of course, agreed completely with his generals and welcomed the deal as a strategic breakthrough that somehow worked against Hezbollah’s interests.

The only major Israeli figure who virulently opposed the deal, calling out its strategic insanity, was then opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The prospect that voters would return Netanyahu to power in the November 1 elections made the region’s nations pause in rendering final judgment on Israel’s seriousness as a regional actor. Netanyahu’s possible return meant that there was still a chance that Israel hadn’t accepted the humiliating position of U.S. vassal state.

Today, the IDF is reportedly torn over how to respond to Hezbollah’s aggression, particularly in relation to the tent in Israeli territory. But the majority approach apparently is to stand down and hope for a deus ex machina mediation deal.

So far, Netanyahu is going along with that approach. Israel’s failure to date to push back forcefully against Hezbollah’s cross border aggression, and willingness to permit the United Nations, Biden administration and France act as intermediaries, sends the dangerous signal that Netanyahu is little different from Lapid. The fact that Hochstein reportedly left Israel with an offer of any kind reinforces the sense that Israel is weaker than Hezbollah.

Wednesday, IDF forces by Metulla fired a stun grenade at Hezbollah operatives attempting to sabotage Israel’s border fortifications. It’s not much to go on. But it may be a sign that even as Israel agreed to Hochstein’s mediation, it may not have settled on an approach for contending with Hezbollah.

The door may still be open to fighting fire with fire. Hopefully, the move is a harbinger of such an approach. Whatever the consequences of showing strength to an aggressor, they will be better than continuing to display weakness.
Hezbollah Members Wounded in Flare-Up on Lebanon Border With Israel: Sources
Several members of Lebanon’s powerful armed Hezbollah group were wounded on Wednesday in a flare-up on the southern border with Israel, two Lebanese security sources and a source briefed on the developments told Reuters.

The Israeli military said it used “a non-lethal weapon” to distance “a number of suspects” attempting to damage the security fence with Lebanon to the north.

The incident took place on the 17th anniversary of the start of a month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and around 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon.

In a televised address to mark the occasion, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the incident was under investigation but did not say more.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) told Reuters it was aware of “disturbing reports about an incident along the Blue Line,” urging all sides to refrain from escalating given the situation was “extremely sensitive.”

The Lebanese source briefed on developments described the incident as an attack and said several Hezbollah members had been wounded, but could not immediately provide more details.
Hezbollah, seeing division in Israel, launches calculated provocation
As part of the defiant image he is seeking to portray, Nasrallah warned in his speech that Hezbollah will retaliate if Israel targets the remaining tent militarily.

Israel’s National Security Council has received a list of Hezbollah’s demands and conditions, which mainly center on the location of the Israeli security barrier being built at Ghajar.

Hezbollah’s claim that this barrier erodes Lebanese sovereignty is both baseless and telling, since it reflects the terror organization’s concern over progress made by Israel in its construction of an extensive new border barrier. This structure is a combination of a tall fence, a wall and artificial cliffs that would force Hezbollah’s elite Redwan Force to climb up and expose their location in any future cross-border offensive, and an array of advanced detection sensors. Hezbollah has good reason to be concerned that the new barrier will challenge its ability to launch a ground assault into Israel’s Galilee.

Ultimately, however, Hezbollah senses weakness and division in Israel, and this is emboldening it. Nasrallah views domestic developments in Israel as negatively affecting the Jewish state’s relationship with the United States, and he is out to exploit, with Iranian backing, what he sees as an opportune moment to embarrass the Israeli government.

The way Israel now handles the matter will be critical. From a defense perspective, the tent in its remote location near the fence does not threaten Israeli security, but from a symbolic perspective, it is an icon created by Hezbollah to violate Israeli sovereignty.

Nasrallah’s willingness to cross the Blue Line and send armed terrorists into the area is, therefore, one more match in an increasingly combustible situation.

Sooner later, he will start a fire.
Hezbollah chief: 'If Israel acts against us, we won't sit in silence'
Hassan Nasrallah says the Israelis 'think they're waging a psychological war on us, but in reality, it's being imposed on them'

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday marked 17 years since the Second Lebanon War between his terror group and the IDF, saying in a speech that if Israel were to act in a military confrontation, "we won't sit in silence."

Fears of escalation between Hezbollah and the IDF – reminiscent of the 34-day conflict in 2006 which was considered to be the first round of the Iran-Israel proxy war – have increased over the recent months.


MEMRI: Lebanese Journalist: No Hope For Lebanon As Long As Hizbullah Holds On To Its Weapons
In two columns in the London-based daily Al-Arab, Lebanese journalist Khairallah Khairallah, known for his opposition to Hizbullah, came out strongly against this organization's armed presence in Lebanon, and stressed that the country will have no future as long as Hizbullah refuses to surrender its weapons.

In the first column, from May 28, 2023, written on the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000 , Khairallah stated that this withdrawal had kicked off the final phase of Lebanon's collapse, because it set the stage for Iran's takeover of the country by means of Hizbullah. He criticized the Lebanese, saying that they could have used Israel's withdrawal to start developing their country, but instead they allowed Hizbullah to hold on to its weapons and Iran to take control of the homeland. The Lebanese are deluding themselves, he added, when they refuse to realize that their state is doomed as long as Hizbullah maintains its status as an armed organization in the service of Iran's expansion plan.

The second column was published on June 16, two days after the Lebanese parliament made another attempt to elect a new Lebanese president, but failed because the candidate who got the most votes – the opposition's candidate, Jihad 'Azour – did not obtain the two-thirds majority required to win the presidency.

Khairallah noted that Hizbullah and its patron, Iran, have essentially been controlling the Lebanese presidency since 2016, when they arranged for the election of Michel 'Aoun, and that now they will not relinquish this control by allowing the election of a candidate they do not support. He stated that, unfortunately, in the present situation Hizbullah cannot be forced to relinquish its weapons or its grip over the state institutions. But this, he stressed, does not mean that the Lebanese must give up and surrender to Hizbullah and Iran, for this would be suicide. Instead, they must maintain the kernel of opposition to Hizbullah and its weapons, which will hopefully grow in the future, he said.


During rare visit, Abbas hails Jenin refugee camp as ‘icon of struggle and defiance’
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday paid a brief visit to the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, where he threatened to “cut the hand of those who tamper with the unity and security of the Palestinian people,” an implicit reference to his rivals in Hamas. The visit, which ended without incident, was hailed by Abbas loyalists as “historic” and “successful.”

It was Abbas’s first visit to Jenin since 2012, when he arrived to offer condolences to the family of former governor Kadoura Musa, who died of a heart attack. It was also his first visit to the Jenin refugee camp since he was elected president of the PA in January 2005.

Abbas’s visit to Jenin and the refugee camp, which lasted less than two hours, came in the aftermath of last week’s IDF military operation, during which 12 Palestinian gunmen were killed and dozens wounded.

Abbas and his entourage flew from Ramallah to Jenin aboard two Jordanian military helicopters. He was accompanied by several senior officials, including PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence Service Chief Majed Faraj.

Senior representatives of the ruling Fatah faction, including Mahmoud al-Aloul and Jibril Rajoub, and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also joined Abbas on his visit to the city and its refugee camp,

Leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) did not attend the rally in the Jenin refugee camp, where Abbas addressed hundreds of people.


Palestinian Authority chief Abbas visits Jenin for first time since 2012
'Jenin refugee camp stood firm in the face of aggression, and made sacrifices for the sake of the homeland,' Abbas said

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday visited the northern West Bank city of Jenin for the first time in over a decade, a week after the largest Israeli raid there in years




PMW: 8-year-old congratulates 15-year old cousin on her “Martyrdom-death”: “1,000 times congratulations”
Last month, 15-year-old Sadil Ghassan Naghnaghiya Turkeman – a female Palestinian terrorist and member of the Islamic Jihad terror organization – was killed during an Israeli counter-terror operation in Jenin.

Naghnaghiya was reportedly filming the exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists when she was shot. Israeli army officials said it was unlikely she was shot by Israeli forces.

Naghnaghiya's Facebook profile picture showed her holding an M16 assault rifle, and one of her posts read:
"We do not love Martyrdom-death, rather Martyrdom-death loves us...
#Jenin_mother_of_the_Martyrs"

[Website of The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Israeli research institute, June 27, 2023]

[Sadil Ghassan Naghnaghiya Turkeman, Facebook page, accessed July 12, 2023]

[Website of The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Israeli research institute, June 27, 2023]

Two days later, her 8-year-old cousin Jana “congratulated her 1,000 times on her Martyrdom” on Fatah TV, and expressed how “happy” she is for her dead cousin:

Posted text on Telegram channel: “Jana Bilal Naghnaghiya, 8, speaks about her good friend and cousin Sadil [Naghnaghiya]”

Jana Bilal Naghnaghiya: “Sadil was very beloved by the people, very very much, by the children and adults… Now, she is- congratulations on the Martyrdom, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations. I want to tell you congratulations with my whole heart, 1,000 times congratulations…Today I was happy for her, I was very very happy. Congratulations on the Martyrdom.”

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, Telegram channel, June 21, 2023]

The fact that 8-year-old and 15-year-old girls hold the view that “Martyrdom-death” is something to be happy about is the result of decades of PA brainwashing of Palestinian children to seek death in violent confrontations against Israel.

In 2002 – over two decades ago – Palestinian Media Watch exposed the shocking words of two 11-year-old girls, Walla and Yussra. They told official PA TV that “Martyrdom-death” is “a very, very beautiful thing” and “sweet,” and that what they desired was “not this world but the Afterlife”:


Fatah lauds as “heroes” the murderers of a mother and her two children
Narrator and text on screen: “The heroes of the Nahariya operation
Self-sacrificing fighter Abd Al-Rahim Nasif
Self-sacrificing fighter Ahmad Abd Al-'Al
Self-sacrificing fighter Muhammad Hanafi
The squad infiltrated… the settlement of Nahariya
The operation took place on the night of June 25, 1974
The operation lasted 7 consecutive hours
The operation shocked the enemy’s leaders”
[Fatah Movement – Gaza Strip Branch, Facebook page, June 25, 2023]


Fatah celebrates death: “Make sounds of joy, mother of the Martyr”
The video shows the funeral of terrorist Abd Al-Jawad Saleh, in which participants are heard chanting:

Crowd at the funeral of terrorist Abd Al-Jawad Saleh: “Make sounds of joy, mother of the Martyr. Your son is a Martyr in Paradise.”
[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, July 8, 2023]

Posted text on Telegram channel: “The mother of Martyr Abd Al-Jawad Saleh (i.e., terrorist) accompanies her son in a wedding procession (i.e., a Martyr's funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam) with sounds of joy.”

Abd Al-Jawad Saleh – 24-year-old Palestinian terrorist who was shot and killed while participating in violent confrontations against Israeli civilians and soldiers outside of Umm Safa near Ramallah on July 7, 2023.


PA TV: “Jews were persecuted because they were parasites,” and closed in ghettos to protect the public
Lebanese film critic Georges Kaadi: “[Zionist leader Theodor Herzl] was an atheist like many of the founders of this [Zionist] entity… They did not believe in all the Jewish dogma of fairy tales. [They acted] only out of their tribalism that united them, this tribe, this Jewish group, that was always in exile, and at all times was what I call a parasite in peoples and in states. Therefore, they were persecuted, and therefore they lived in ghettos, closed off, so [as not] to harm the general public - and to protect themselves.”
[Official PA TV, An Intellectual and a Cause, June 26, 2023]

This interview was edited by official PA TV before broadcast. Official PA TV chose to include and broadcast these antisemitic messages without any kind of reservations or disclaimer.


Israel “insists on teaching Hitler what Nazism is” – Fatah official
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Wafa Zakarneh: “The occupation (i.e., Israel) is continuing its invasion of the [Jenin] refugee camp and the Nazi bombings against our defenseless Palestinian people... Every day the occupation is insisting on teaching Hitler what Nazism is.”
[Official PA TV, July 3, 2023]

Zakarneh made this statement during Israel’s counter-terror operation Home and Garden:
2023 Operation Home and Garden - an Israeli counter-terror operation in Jenin that lasted from July 3-5, 2023. The operation targeted terror infrastructure in the city, and particularly the Islamic Jihad-affiliated terror group the Jenin Brigade, after 50 terror attacks had originated from the city and 19 terrorists had fled to it since the start of 2023. Israeli soldier David Yehuda Yitzhak, 23, was killed during the operation, while at least 18 Palestinian terrorists were killed and over 300 terror suspects were arrested. During the operation, Israeli forces attacked a terror headquarters located next to a medical clinic and two schools, one of them belonging to UNRWA. Several weapons factories were discovered containing hundreds of explosives and weapons caches. Terrorists opened fire on Israeli forces from within a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp, and after gaining control of the site, the Israeli forces discovered weapons caches including explosives and entrances to underground tunnels in the mosque's basement.


Abbas’ deputy about young terrorists dying: We “taught them about sacrificing” for the land, the need “to resist the enemy” Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul: “The sacrifices of our sons are a completely natural affair… Did we not teach them about loving the land, about sacrificing for it, about loving the holy sites, about how they are Palestinians, about how they need to resist the enemy? This is without a doubt the education of these heroes, these young guys.” [Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, July 9, 2023] Posted text on Facebook page: “A delegation of the Fatah Central Committee and Fatah Revolutionary Council carries out the duty of consoling the mourners for Martyr Samih Abu Al-Wafa (i.e., terrorist, shot at Israeli soldiers) in Jenin.”

Mahmoud Al-Aloul also serves as Fatah Central Committee member.




UK scientist revealed advanced jet research in Tehran lecture
A top aviation scientist at a British university linked to the Ministry of Defence shared “the latest ideas and research” on Western jet engines at an Iranian college sanctioned for its role in the regime’s nuclear weapons programme, the JC can reveal.

Dr Soheil Jafari, who is based the Centre for Propulsion and Thermal Power Engineering at Cranfield University, gave the lecture via videolink in December 2020 at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, despite its links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The disclosures come as the government announced that it would impose new sanctions on the regime — including broader powers targeting its efforts to proliferate arms and weapons technology — rather than heed widespread calls to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist group.

More than a dozen British universities, including Cambridge, Imperial College, Glasgow, Edinburgh, King’s College London, Northumbria and Liverpool have been identified as being involved in research into military or “dual use” technology with institutions in Iran.

Dr Jafari gave the December 2020 lecture to Sharif University’s Aerospace Scientific Association, despite EU sanction documents saying that the institution “cooperates with the Iranian Ministry of Defence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)”.

A leaflet publicising the event at Sharif University, which is sanctioned by the west, said Dr Jafari would “present the latest ideas and research and industrial achievements of major aircraft engine manufacturers Rolls-Royce, General Electric and Pratt & Witney”.

Dr Jafari’s talk, entitled The future of aircraft engine control: Challenges and Opportunities, would, the leaflet added, “familiarise attendees with the real challenges of designing and building these systems and how to solve these challenges”.
Biden State Department Blocks Congressional Investigation into Scandal-Plagued Iran Envoy
The Biden administration is stonewalling a congressional probe into Iran envoy Rob Malley following reports the senior diplomat had his security clearance revoked for mishandling classified information.

The State Department on Tuesday informed House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) that it wont answer any questions about the matter or provide the committee with details about the allegations against Malley, who was placed on unpaid leave late last month while the FBI and other security agencies investigate his actions.

"The Department is not in a position to provide further documents or information related to this personnel-security clearance matter," the State Department informed McCaul, according to a copy of the correspondence obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The exact charges against Malley remain unclear, but the decision to revoke his security clearance has led lawmakers to suspect the top diplomat may have mishandled classified information during diplomatic talks with Iran. Malley has been working to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which would remove sanctions on Tehran and provide the hardline regime with billions in cash windfalls.

Malley has a history of going off the rails in his diplomatic efforts. In 2008, he was fired from the Obama campaign for conducting unauthorized talks with the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas.

McCaul and other lawmakers suspect the Biden administration tried to conceal Malley’s alleged mishandling of classified information. He has been on an extended leave of absence from the State Department for some time, but was formally placed on unpaid leave after news of the investigation into his behavior leaked to the press last month.

Instead of answering McCaul’s questions, the State Department referred him to the Foreign Affairs Manual, an internal employee handbook that summarizes how classified information should be treated.

The State Department’s refusal to answer basic questions and turn over information to Congress is "absolutely unacceptable," according to McCaul, who said that "nothing could be more serious" than the charges outlined against Malley.




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