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Monday, July 17, 2023

07/17 Links Pt1: End U.S. Aid to Israel; Morocco says Israel recognizes sovereignty of Western Sahara; Progressive Democrats boycotting Herzog's speech are trying to cancel Israel

From Ian:

End U.S. Aid to Israel
Had this been 1981, say, you could safely argue that Israel hardly has any choice but to depend on the kindness of strangers and disregard any unpleasant blowback. Back then, the Jewish state worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure that President Reagan’s sale of the AWACS weapons system to the Saudis came with a consolation prize for Jerusalem as well.

But the Israel of 2023 is immeasurably wealthier and more powerful than the dusty socialist country of 40 years ago, where local electrical grids could be overloaded by American hair dryers.

The growth of Israel’s independent capacities are particularly obvious in the military arena. According to some estimates, Arab states purchased about a quarter of Israel’s $12.5 billion arms exports in 2022, a number that keeps growing. Add to that India, a growing market—and the recent buyer of a $1.1 billion Phalcon advanced early-warning system—and you have a robust nation perfectly capable of striking bilateral deals with partners that aren’t superpowers hellbent on containing and downgrading their allies.

Still, a small but powerful cadre of Israelis seems invested in the idea that nothing has changed. Certain former generals, politicians, investors, and intellectuals in Israel—often graduates of elite American universities who enjoy strong ties to American corporations and NGOs—can’t imagine a scenario other than fealty to the Big Brother across the ocean. They see Washington not only as a crucial ally, but as the center of all power and legitimacy. It is the U.S., after all, that bestows fellowships in prestigious think tanks and sabbaticals at Harvard that have become essential markers of global professional success—and who helps them fight their enemies at home. While this small, American-adjacent clique is increasingly finding themselves on the unkind end of the voters’ ballots (see under: Barak, Ehud), they maintain a powerful ability to stoke fears about how displeasing America could threaten the entire Jewish future.

In this, they are joined by Jewish communal leaders stateside. It is a bitter irony that organized pro-Israel political advocacy in America places “support full security assistance to Israel” at the top of its list of policy objectives. In doing so, these groups are setting a strategic trap in which being “pro-Israel” requires supporting a policy of U.S. soft power projection that conditions Israel to act as a satrap of Washington, and go along with a regional policy that poses a direct threat to the country’s longer-term prosperity and survival.

Indeed, in order to maintain their own power, the entire cosmos of American Jewish organizations, with few exceptions, is now dedicated almost exclusively to maintaining an arrangement that cripples Israel’s capacity for independent action, while locking American Jews into a permanent posture of appearing to suck the U.S. government dry in order to fund their own niche overseas project.

This goes deeper than politics. Instead of looking at the Jewish state through the prism of a commitment that is as old as human civilization itself, and whose stakes include the physical survival of the Jewish people, American Jews have been herded into understanding Israel through the narrow prism of a 60-year-old political deal that has passed its sell-by date.

With Israel and Israelis increasingly a mystery to them, the only issue around which American Jews feel permitted to organize these days is antisemitism—and even then only as defined from above. Hence, we aren’t actually allowed to look at the major sources and manifestations of this phenomenon, which are anti-Zionism and attacks on religious Jews, but instead are urged to sign on to celebrity-driven, Instagram-friendly messaging campaigns whose actual beneficiaries—like those of other viral “justice” crusades—are, at best, unclear.

The whole charade has to end. External hostility has more or less been the Jewish fate since the time of the ancient Greeks. Yet Jews are still here—having somehow survived the previous 3,000 years and revived their historic homeland again without relying on U.S. military aid packages or officially sanctioned declarations against antisemitism that elevate people who hate us.

The irony is that American history, Jewish history, and the modern State of Israel already share a deeper, richer link than any provided by aid or social media: a belief in divine election, which also guided the Founding Fathers as they struggled to erect the political and moral foundations of the early republic.

If that sounds too lofty, too overblown, too religious, the same point stands on grounds of mere self-preservation, as evidenced by the history of Jews in Egypt, in Spain, and in Vienna whose survival strategy was to seek protection by those who happened to be in power at a given moment. The imperative to transcend such a strategy is not insular or backwards; it’s the powerful realpolitik of Jewish history.

Cut the stranglehold of aid. Let America pursue its interests. Let Israel, too, follow its own interests, which sometimes align with those of Washington and sometimes don’t. If Israelis think it will ensure their security to decapitate the Iranian regime, or give the Golan Heights on a platter to Bashar Assad, or develop their own homemade fighter plane and sell it to India or Saudi Arabia, let them go ahead. And let American Jews who care about being Jewish focus on observance and learning their people’s history, instead of pimping for Lockheed Martin. If the commitment to Israel is deeper than mere political fashion, if it is more than a secularized idolatry, then it’s time to prove it—by smashing the ideological idols of America’s Israel debate.
Palestinians: Victims of Apartheid in Lebanon
"The procedures and restrictions imposed on the entry of building materials into the Palestinian camps in Lebanon are in contradiction with the principles of human rights." — Hassan al-Sayyida, a researcher and human rights activist at the Palestinian Association for Human, palinfo.com, July 10,2023.

This is the second case within a year in which a Palestinian has been arrested on charges of a "construction violation." On July 28, 2022, Lebanese authorities arrested another Palestinian woman, Amal Mousa, also on the pretext of building a house without a permit. Mousa was released only after she was forced to demolish the foundations of her house.

Israel, too, has demolished illegal homes -- but for Arabs and Jews.... Israel is not even doing much about the massive illegal building by Arabs, who have reportedly seized 30% of the land unpoetically called "Area C": land that by mutual agreement in the Oslo Accords belongs wholly to Israel. One can go to the edge of Jerusalem and see literally countless illegal apartment towers built by Arabs, as well as smaller illegal buildings that extend south for miles. "At present [2022]... there are 81,317 illegal Arab-built structures in this area," according to the research group Regavim. Moreover, Israel never arrests or imprisons anyone because of a construction violation.

[T]here is an urgent need to build new houses for Palestinians in Lebanon, "especially since the existing houses are not sufficient and do not meet the demographic increase in the population." Many Palestinians, as in the case of Um Wissam, are forced to build homes on top of the roofs of existing structures. — Palestinian Association for Human Rights, refugeesps.net, July 10, 2023.

"Palestine refugees in Lebanon face substantial challenges to the full enjoyment of their human rights. They are socially marginalized, have very limited civil, social, political, and economic rights, including restricted access to the Government of Lebanon's public health, educational and social services and face significant restrictions on their right to work and right to own property." — UNRWA, reporting that the Palestinians are still prevented from employment in 39 professions such as medicine, law, and engineering.

"Palestine refugees consistently report experiencing discrimination in hiring practices and opportunities for employment. They are faced with informal restrictions on the types of jobs and industries they can be hired for due to additional bureaucracy around contracts and work permits, and discrimination..." – UNRWA.


Herzog must tell Biden: You’re hurting Israel
The only thing that has remained on the Knesset docket from the initial judicial restructuring effort is a bill that seeks to prevent courts from striking down governmental decisions that are deemed unreasonable. Even the Israeli opposition has agreed to some version of this bill, meaning that Biden’s request for broad consensus has also been met. Herzog, who presided over the reconciliation talks, can attest to this more than anyone else, since he knows exactly what kind of understandings were reached.

Netanyahu even accommodated Biden by approving measures to bolster the Palestinian Authority—despite his government comprising hardliners like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. That step, too, was not reciprocated by the administration.

Even as Biden boycotts the Israeli prime minister and trashes him in interviews, he continues to meet with leaders whose lack of democratic bona fides is unequivocal. In other words, Biden’s cold shoulder to Netanyahu is no longer based on actual policy differences.

Perhaps it stems from a more emotional source, or perhaps from political motives. Biden needs the big Jewish Democratic donors, who dislike the Israeli leader and have been very attuned to the protest leaders in Israel. Herzog’s above-the-fray role should be used to put an end to this ugly game.

Netanyahu is the prime minister of Israel. He was elected in a democratic election and stands at the helm of a country that Biden claims to have been committed to for 40 years. Herzog should tell Biden that if he is, as he likes to describe himself, a “Zionist president,” he should know that refusing to invite Netanyahu to the White House hurts Zionism because the prime minister—whether he likes it or not— currently stands at the helm of the Zionist enterprise.

Herzog must also make it clear that the boycott is not only an affront to Netanyahu but also to the millions of Israelis who voted for him and feel he represents them. In fact, by not extending an invitation, Biden is hurting Israel and undermining its security, because when Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah brandishes his weapons and Hamas rears its head, they do so because they are seeing an erosion of U.S. support for the Jewish state.

In other words, during their tête-à-tête—or perhaps even in a larger forum—the Israeli president must tell his U.S. counterpart that his approach hurts Israel. Changing Biden’s posture should be Herzog’s overarching mission as he embarks on his Washington tour.
JPost Editorial: Progressive Democrats boycotting Herzog's speech are trying to cancel Israel
Herzog is a dignified and level-headed leader. Even without seeing an advance copy of his speech, it is reasonable to assume it will concentrate on the shared values and shared interests of the US and Israel, and stress the mutual, strategic importance of the alliance between the two countries.

Herzog will likely also express his support of the Abraham Accords and Israel’s hope that the circle of peace can be expanded to include other Arab and Muslim states. There will no doubt be a mention of Iranian nuclear aspirations and the threat that they represent to the entire world.

But Omar, Tlaib, et al, do not want to hear this – not the message of friendship, not the message of peace, and not the message warning of an Iran on the threshold of a nuclear weapon.

When, at the invitation of Republican leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in 2015 to warn about the dangers of the Iran deal, some Democrats skipped the speech, perceiving it as a snub of then-president Barack Obama.

Herzog, however, represents Israel as the non-political head of state who, earlier in his career, led the opposition to Netanyahu and headed the Israeli peace camp. He has been invited by the entire congressional leadership, Democratic and Republican, and will be meeting with President Joe Biden during his visit to Washington.

Those Democrats publicly declaring their intention to skip Herzog’s speech are sending a clear message: They are boycotting the State of Israel. Not the Israeli government, not its actions or policies – the entire country. It is part of an ugly cancel culture targeting the Jewish state, a form of congressional BDS.

Happily, the overwhelming majority of Congress – which remains strongly supportive of the US-Israel alliance – will be in attendance.

As House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Friday: “President Bougie Herzog has been a force for good in Israeli society. And because Israel is such an important part of the Middle East, because we have such a special relationship with Israel, and because Israel is an important part of the global community… I look forward to welcoming him with open arms when he comes to speak before Congress next Wednesday.”


Morocco's king announces Israeli recognition of Western Sahara
Morocco's King Mohammed VI announced Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially recognized Rabat's sovereignty over the disputed Western Saharan region.

The North African monarch said Netanyahu sent a letter confirming the State of Israel's decision to "recognize the sovereignty of Morocco over the territory of Western Sahara."

The official statement from the kingdom added that the position will be "reflected in all relevant acts and documents of the Israeli Government," as well as "transmitted to the United Nations, to regional and international organizations of which Israel is a member, and to all countries with which Israel maintains diplomatic relations."

According to the statement, Netanyahu also informed the Moroccan king that Israel was positively considering "the opening of a consulate in the town of Dakhla," which lies in the contested area.
Morocco says Israel recognizes sovereignty of Western Sahara
Morocco's King Mohammed VI says he has received a letter from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that says Israel has officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara


Israel appoints first military attaché to Morocco
The Israel Defense Forces has appointed a first military attaché to Morocco, as security ties between the nations continue to grow following a normalization agreement in 2020.

Col. Sharon Itach, from the Home Front Command, is selected for the role by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi as part of a series of senior appointments in the military.

Itach, who is of Moroccan origin, currently heads the Home Front Command’s Haifa district. Previously he led the 489th “Kedem” search and rescue battalion. The 22 new senior appointments, which additionally include extending the tenure of the IDF chief rabbi, are subject to approval by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Netanyahu rails at anti-overhaul reservists, in first appearance since hospital stay
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday made his first public appearance since being hospitalized over the weekend, lobbing fresh broadsides against military reservists as they ramp up opposition to the judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu spoke at the start of the cabinet meeting, which was delayed for a day after doctors decided Saturday night to keep him in the hospital for overnight observation. The premier, who displayed no outward signs of ill health on Monday, was released a day earlier after undergoing a series of tests and being fitted with a subcutaneous heart monitor, with the hospital stressing his cardiac health was “completely normal.”

Regarding his health, Netanyahu told ministers he felt “excellent” and thanked well-wishers, without giving further details.

His hospitalization, which the Prime Minister’s Office and Sheba Medical Center have attributed to dehydration, came as increasing numbers of reservists warn they’ll stop showing up for volunteer duty to protest the government’s advancement of far-reaching plans to change the judiciary.

“Incitement to insubordination and insubordination itself are in opposition to democracy and the law,” said Netanyahu.

“This is true in any democracy, but in our democracy, incitement to insubordination and insubordination directly endanger the security of all Israeli citizens,” he continued. “It erodes deterrence against our enemies… and undermines discipline in the military.”

“There can’t be a group within the army that threatens the elected government ‘if you don’t do as we desire, we’ll flip the switch on [Israel’s] security,'” he added.
Debate: Should Netanyahu halt Israel's judicial reform once and for all?
Yariv Oppenheimer, Eldad Arieh and Jeremy Saltan debate the judicial overhaul legislation and mass protests opposing them.




Jewish members of Congress slam Jayapal for calling Israel 'racist'
The Jewish members of Congress slammed “extremist views from groups aligned with either party” seeking “to rewrite history and question the Jewish State’s right to exist, or our historic bipartisan relationship. Such attempts “will never succeed in Congress,” they said.

“Israel remains the only vibrant, progressive, and inclusive democracy in the region,” the July 16 draft reads. “Arab parties serve in the Knesset, women serve at the highest levels of the military, and the country remains an oasis for LGBTQ+ people in a region hostile toward the community. Pluralism flourishes in Israel.”

In addition, they wrote that “Israel is the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people and efforts to delegitimize and demonize it are not only dangerous and antisemitic, but they also undermine America’s national security.” They mentioned US-Israel cooperation on defense and intelligence and highlighted the fight against terrorism.

The members of Congress also said that they “remain committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians to establish two states that exist side-by-side in peace, prosperity, and mutual security.”

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that “hostile rhetoric can spawn hateful actions, so we would hope that an elected official at [Jayapal’s] level would choose her words far more carefully. While we vehemently disagree with many of Rep. Jayapal’s characterizations of Israel and its policies, we share her hope of an ultimate two-state solution to the conflict.”

Jayapal told CNN last week that she may not attend President Isaac Herzog’s speech before both houses of Congress, set for Wednesday. Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said they would be boycotting Herzog’s address.

“I don’t think I am. I haven’t fully decided,” Jayapal said. “I think this is not a good time for that to happen.”


After calling Israel ‘racist state,’ Rep. Jayapal says ‘idea of Israel’ not racist
On Sunday, David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, tweeted in response to Jayapal’s statement about “fighting” to make it clear that Israel is racist, “I’ve been fighting to make it clear that Jayapal is a racist congresswoman.”

Later in the day, Jayapal issued a “statement on Israel comments,” in which she stated that her comments came while trying “to defuse a tense situation during a panel where fellow members of Congress were being protested.” She claimed she meant to attack Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, rather than the State of Israel.

“Words do matter, and so it is important that I clarify my statement. I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” she stated. “I do, however, believe that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.” I believe it is incumbent on all of us who are striving to make our world a more just and equitable place to call out and condemn these policies and this current Netanyahu government’s role in furthering them.”

“On a very human level, I was also responding to the deep pain and hopelessness that exists for Palestinians and their diaspora communities when it comes to this debate,” she added, “but I in no way intended to deny the deep pain and hurt of Israelis and their Jewish diaspora community that still reels from the trauma of pogroms and persecution, the Holocaust, and continuing anti-semitism and hate violence that is rampant today.”


The Growing Hezbollah Threat to Israel’s North
Why Now?: Understanding Hezbollah’s Recent Antagonism of Israel

According to experts, there are several factors that have contributed to Hezbollah’s brazen antagonism of Israel over the past year.

These factors include:
Iran is looking to stoke tensions with Israel via its proxy terror organizations in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The belief that, due to internal political divisions, Israel is weak and able to be taken advantage of.
The belief that a conflict with Israel will put a stop to normalization between Israel and Arab states.
The reduction of American influence and control in the Middle East.
The desire to exact revenge against Israel for its continuous disruption of Iran/Hezbollah’s activities in Syria.
With the return of its fighters from the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah is seeking to reassert its “resistance credentials” and also improve its public image among the Lebanese population.
Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah believes that Israel will try to avert an all-out war with the terror group, allowing him to take more risks without the fear of a full-scale response.
Hezbollah was emboldened by what it views as Israel’s acquiescence to Lebanese demands during the maritime negotiations in 2022. It now believes that it can increase its standing by threatening war over minor territorial disputes.

Is There a Hezbollah-Israel War in the Offing?
According to the Israeli media, there is an ongoing debate within the upper echelons of the IDF as to whether a large-scale war with Hezbollah is inevitable in the near future.

For military leaders, Hezbollah’s increasing intransigence along the northern border is proof that it is gearing up for a war with Israel while others believe that Hezbollah’s low-scale acts of aggression show that it is trying to avoid a full-blown war.

If Israel does end up going to war with Hezbollah, it would be on a much larger scale than its recent conflicts with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

With an arsenal of 150,000 rockets pointed at the Jewish state, experts estimate that Hezbollah could bombard Israel’s north with up to 4,000 rockets per day at the beginning of the conflict and maintain a daily barrage of 1,500 to 2,000 rockets over an extended period of time. This is between 5 to 13 times more rockets than were fired at southern Israel during its 2023 conflict with Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

In addition, a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah could involve the use of explosive-filled tunnels to hinder the use of Israeli land forces or an attempt by Hezbollah to enter the Mount Dov area or other parts of northern Israel and gain temporary control.

In the meantime, as the prospect of war looms, Israel seems intent on diffusing the tension by not engaging directly with the Hezbollah encampment (preferring to use international intermediaries) and only using force on its border when absolutely necessary.
Seth Frantzman: What does Hezbollah's 'attack video' on Israel reveal?
Hezbollah released a video on Sunday that shows the terrorist group training for an attack on an Israeli military position, shedding light on its beliefs about its own capabilities.

The video was published after a speech by terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah was aired, relating to the anniversary of the Second Lebanon War (2006). It comes amid tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border and attempts by Hezbollah to stir up provocations, such as setting up a tent in the Mount Dov area and bringing Lebanese politicians to the border. Hezbollah's video a retelling of the Yom Kippur War

The video, though, does not actually harken back to 2006; in essence, it is actually a retelling of the Yom Kippur War (1973), when Syria and Egypt attacked Israel.

In the video, the fighters are preparing for battle in their own bunker near the border, after which they move out to attack, using a heavy machine gun, a rocket, and a Shahed-style drone to strike at a mock-up of an Israeli military outpost. The drone is similar to those that Iran has sent to Russia to use in the invasion of Ukraine.

The video also shows Hezbollah using optical observation devices and an anti-tank missile, as well as mortars. The fighters then raid the outpost and “capture” it. A Hezbollah vehicle shows up at the end to mark the victory. Throughout the “battle,” the Hezbollah members suffer no casualties, and there is no resistance to their assault.

According to the military mentality revealed in this video, Hezbollah estimates that the next conflict with Israel will be about territory, and it expects to be successful in grabbing some.

This mentality is not new; it is a concept of battle that is well-known in its doctrine. In this case, Hezbollah is trying to build on past conflicts with Israel and others. In 2006, Hezbollah ambushed a patrol on the border; today, it wants to go beyond that, and it thinks it has improved its capabilities to the point that it can fight a conventional war with Israel.

Pro-Hezbollah media repeatedly have said the group believes it has gained experiences to make this possible. A recent article at Al Mayadeen detailed how Hezbollah thinks Israel invested heavily in defenses – e.g., with Iron Dome – and that its offensive capabilities rely too much on technology. Hezbollah currently has stockpiled masses of missiles and has outfitted its fighters with rifles, mortars, drones, and other systems.

YET THE most poignant thing that this video shows is that Hezbollah ultimately relies more on propaganda than on actual threats. It has become so institutionalized in Lebanon – effectively controlling the south as well as the country’s ability to democratically elect a new president – it has to sit astride two different types of policies.


Seth Frantzman: Hamas boasts of anti-vehicle ‘EFPs’ in Jenin; Iran’s hand looms in background
An article at the pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen media highlighted the presence of new weapons among Hamas members, especially since it was translated to English to reach a broader audience. The claim of new weapons, then, should be viewed in the context of Israel’s operation in Jenin earlier this month and Iran’s attempts to increase threats in the West Bank.

The report claimed that the “Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announces that its fighters in Jenin have developed an Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP), or a self-forming warhead in Jenin.” The article adds that “the device newly introduced to the West Bank city of Jenin has armor-piercing capabilities which marks a huge leap forward for the Palestinian resistance in the city. Shawaz [‘flame’ in Arabic] looks to be similar to similar devices that were used by the Iraqi resistance against the US forces during their occupation.”

The article details more background, claiming that the weapons were used in Lebanon against Israeli forces and that their presence in Jenin “indicates a possible growing collaboration between various parties in the axis of resistance… Such devices possess capabilities to penetrate up to 200mm. of steel, according to some US military data. Al-Qassam Brigades stated the device was used to target occupation army vehicles in their last raid on Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp on July 3.”

The significance of a pro-Iran publication boasting that Hamas has access to weapons that were used in Lebanon and Iraq is important because they fold into the larger Iran scope of influence in the region. These are weapons with an Iranian origin, Iranian expertise and pedigree, that are part of Iran’s overall military-industrial-terror strategy in the Middle East.

Iran has in the past helped Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad expand their rocket arsenals. It has also been involved in sending drone technology to its proxies, especially the Houthis, but also the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq; the goal of this article is to say that this method has now expanded to the West Bank.
Palestinian stone-throwers injure four Israelis in Samaria
At least four Israeli civilians, including a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy, were lightly wounded on Monday afternoon when Palestinian terrorists threw rocks at vehicles in northern Samaria.

At least three cars were targeted in the attack, which took place on Route 55 near Ma’ale Shomron, medical officials said.

“Magen David Adom paramedics provided medical treatment and referred a 34-year-old woman in mild condition to Meir Medical Center [in Kfar Saba],” the emergency medical organization stated, noting that an additional victim, identified as a 43-year-old male, was treated on the spot.

Local authorities added that a number of cars suffered “extensive” damage in the stoning attack.

The latest attack comes amid an uptick in Arab terrorism throughout Judea and Samaria. On Sunday, an Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded, and his two daughters lightly injured, in a Palestinian drive-by shooting near the Tekoa Junction in Gush Etzion.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle at the victims’ car on a highway about 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Jerusalem.


Hamas says it can’t pay salaries due to delay in Qatari aid
Hamas has been unable to pay the salaries of 50,000 public sector workers, due in part to a delay in Qatari financial assistance, Reuters reported on Sunday.

According to Hamas officials, Doha sent just over half of a $5 million grant for the May payroll, and has since sent no funds. The monthly payroll grant from the wealthy Gulf state helps prop up the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Qatar sends $30 million per month to the Gaza Strip, a sum which includes public sector wages, stipends for families, and fuel for electricity.

"The government is going through a stifling and escalating financial crisis, with a continuous increase in the deficit month after month, which led to the delay of salaries this month," Awni al-Basha, the Hamas-appointed deputy minister, told Hamas Aqsa radio.

"We are making significant efforts to pay the salaries, and we hope to do so at the end of this week," he said.

Basha said that the monthly payroll costs for Hamas are $34.5 million.

A decline in tax revenue and an increase in spending have exacerbated the situation, according to Reuters.
Robert Malley and the Call from the Third World
After a variety of ambiguous reports, the State Department clarified on June 29 that the special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, has been placed on indefinite leave, apparently pending a review of his security clearance. Malley had resigned from his role as an advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 due to his contacts with Hamas. The incident didn’t prevent him from being appointed to the National Security Council in 2014, or from serving as a lead negotiator in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Malley is the son of an Egyptian Jewish Arab-nationalist intellectual with close ties to Gamal Abdel Nasser and Yasir Arafat. The elder Malley was, as the Endowment for Middle East Truth explains, an enthusiastic member of the “Third Worldist” movement, informed by the works of Frantz Fanon, that saw Western imperialism as the world’s great evil and admired all revolts against it, especially that in Algeria. Yet, while the younger Malley was very much shaped by that upbringing, he represents a distinct phenomenon:

After college, Malley became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, a Supreme Court clerk, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. . . . Malley is a fully credentialed member of America’s most prestigious institutions, and he represents a new rising progressive America that largely internalized the anti-imperialist image of the United States’ global power.

The recent news that Robert Malley has been put on leave from his position as the special envoy to Iran had many—including many Iranian dissidents and activists—hoping that the man who oversaw the empowerment of the Middle East’s leading criminal regime is finally leaving the picture for good. But this hope could prove to be misguided. Whether Robert Malley stays involved with the U.S. government or retires and spends his remaining days fishing in the Bahamas, it won’t make much difference. Malley is merely one person, but the way of thinking he represents has already taken over, irreversibly, many American institutions.

Robert Malley is not part of a global America-hating conspiracy. He is not taking orders from Tehran and is not a fifth column for the ayatollah. He is not a self-hating Jew who is secretly plotting the destruction of Israel with Hamas and the PLO. Such populist and obsessive language is one of the main reasons that Robert Malley, and the American socio-historical development he represents, gained the upper hand.

In the epilogue of his book The Call from Algeria, Malley spoke of his relationship with the [Third Worldist] ideology in the past tense. He made it clear he is no longer a true believer. . . . However, what Malley does represent is a new America that is hellbent on undoing its own power.




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