Tuesday, July 18, 2023

07/18 Links Pt1: ‘Gone Off a Cliff’: Dems Grapple with Anti-Semitism Ahead of Israeli President’s Visit; Over 3,600 Palestinian terror attacks in first half of 2023

From Ian:

National Review Editorial: Boycott-Israel Movement Comes to Congress
The left-wing Netroots Nation conference, which ran from last Thursday to Saturday, became a forum for Israel-bashing. Omar declared, “We definitely need people who know what it’s like to experience occupation, whether it is in Ukraine or Palestinian people who have now experienced occupation and displacement for 75 years.” Given that Omar traced the Israeli “occupation” all the way back to its founding, rather than to the territories captured during 1967’s Six Day War, it leaves little doubt that she considers the mere existence of Israel to be illegitimate.

At the same conference, the leader of the House progressives, Representative Pramila Jayapal, sought to appease a group of anti-Israel hecklers, reassuring them, “We have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state.”

After Democratic leadership sought to defuse the backlash, Jayapal released a half-hearted apology, trying to frame her comments as really meant for Netanyahu. “At a conference, I attempted to defuse a tense situation during a panel where fellow members of Congress were being protested,” she said. “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist. 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.” In other words, the “idea” of Israel isn’t racist in theory, but it is in practice.

Democrats will continue to downplay these developments, as President Biden will do when he meets with Herzog this week. (Biden dragged his feet for months in issuing an invitation to Netanyahu, and only yesterday agreed to a meeting at an uncertain date.) But it’s becoming more challenging to put the genie back in the bottle. Gallup has for decades been asking the straightforward question: “In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?” In 2013, Democrats said they sympathized more with Israelis 55 percent to 19 percent. When the question was asked this year, 49 percent of Democrats said they sympathized with the Palestinians, compared with just 38 percent who said Israelis. That’s a net decline of 47 points in support for Israelis among Democrats in just ten years.

Though Democratic leaders will sweep Jayapal’s comments under the rug and dismiss the Squad as a small and insignificant group within the House, it’s hard to ignore the broader anti-Israel trend within the party.
‘Gone Off a Cliff’: Dems Grapple with Anti-Semitism Ahead of Israeli President’s Visit
Democratic leaders are rushing to combat accusations of anti-Semitism after a slew of anti-Israel comments from members of the party raised the stakes on a planned Democratic boycott of Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress.

At least four members of the Democratic Party’s progressive "Squad" announced they would boycott Herzog’s address to Congress this Wednesday. The group includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), Cori Bush (D., Mo.), and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.). Omar and fellow progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) drew widespread scrutiny over the weekend for criticizing Israel, which Jayapal slammed as a "racist state."

Herzog’s visit comes days after President Joe Biden denounced Israel’s governing coalition as "extremist." Until Monday, when Biden spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone and made plans to meet with him in person, the two had not talked in months, and Biden's invitation to Herzog, who has been a critic of Israeli judicial reforms backed by Netanyahu, was viewed as a rebuke. It was also a move that some Jewish community leaders say has emboldened Israel-bashing within the Democratic Party.

"The Biden administration has created an atmosphere that is literally anti-Israel, that doesn’t respect democracy," former Democratic New York assemblyman Dov Hikind told the Washington Free Beacon. "When the prime minister is not invited to the White House, which is a tradition going back decades and decades and decades, what message does that send? That gave a green light to these [anti-Israel] radicals."

Speaking at the left-wing Netroots Nation conference Saturday, Omar called for voters to elect to Congress "Palestinian people who have now experienced occupation and displacement for 75 years." At the same event, Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she was "fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state."

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was also accused of anti-Semitism over the weekend after he said there was "an argument that [COVID-19] is ethnically targeted" to have a greater impact on white and black people and a lower impact on Chinese and Jewish people.

The American Jewish Committee said Kennedy’s claim "reflects some of the most abhorrent antisemitic conspiracy theories throughout history and contributes to today’s dangerous rise of antisemitism."
Why Israel Approved Development of the Gaza Marine Gas Field
While Israel has begun to tap into its offshore natural-gas fields, the reserve off the coast of the Gaza Strip remains unexplored, due to a 1999 agreement that puts it under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)—with the stipulation that it cannot be developed without Jerusalem’s permission. The Israeli government granted that permission last month. Elai Rettig and Benny Spanier examine the decision:
When Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel didn’t want revenue from the field to fall into its hands, so it blocked further progress. New negotiations began over a year ago through Egypt, and a breakthrough occurred last week. Egypt wants to sponsor the project, and most of the gas will be sold to Egypt’s energy sector, and perhaps also exported to Europe [in liquid form].

There are various reasons why Israel might have approved a deal that will most likely benefit Hamas. . . . One possibility . . . is that this is part of a larger Egyptian/Israeli effort to calm the political situation in Gaza between its warring factions (Hamas vs. Islamic Jihad). There’s also a plan to build a new harbor in Egypt to bring more goods into Gaza and help its economy. Although, officially, only the PA in the West Bank will receive the gas revenue, there’s no denying that Hamas will get some of it too. If that were not the case, it would not allow the field to be developed. Israel’s approval might be a reward from Jerusalem to Hamas for helping it oppose Islamic Jihad militants during the last round of violence in Gaza in May 2023.

A [further] reason for Israel’s approval could be incentives provided by other parties in the region. They may have conditioned impending political or economic agreements with Israel on concessions to the Palestinians like this one. Motivations could include a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia or an energy trade deal of some kind with Turkey.


Netanyahu ‘should think twice about coming to DC’
The call, which Netanyahu’s office called “warm and long,” was the culmination of several weeks of diplomatic tensions, which included Biden’s sharp criticism of Netanyahu’s coalition during a July 7 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria.

But Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, told JNS that Netanyahu should be cautious about accepting Biden’s invitation.

Biden’s team has a “schizophrenic relationship with the Jewish state,” Doran said. “Coming to Washington might mean being a stage prop for prominent Democrats to lecture and embarrass Netanyahu.”

The Israeli premier “should think twice about coming to D.C. in the midst of a particularly poisonous U.S. election campaign, lest he be used for Biden or Kennedy or any number of congressmen and senators to try to ‘out-progressive’ each other,” Doran said. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also vying for the Democratic nomination for president.)

Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School professor emeritus and prominent litigator and commentator, sees the Biden invitation differently. “It’s long overdue but a good sign,” he told JNS.

Biden’s and Netanyahu’s call came a day after Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) “clarified” that at a conference on the previous day, she meant to call Israel’s government racist, and not the state itself. Other members of Congress who spoke at the event also attacked Israel.

Biden previously criticized Netanyahu’s coalition as “one of the most extreme” Israeli government’s he’s ever seen. He had been criticized for not inviting Netanyahu to the White House since the latter’s reelection in November.

The Biden invitation is for Netanyahu to meet with Biden “soon,” Einav Hadari, deputy spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, told JNS. Netanyahu “accepted the invitation and it was agreed that Israeli and American teams will coordinate the details of the meeting.”

A White House official, who spoke on background, told JNS that the two leaders will meet later this year.

Of the meeting–whenever it might occur—Doran said, “Simply put, it makes sense visiting Washington if it can advance relations. If not, why bother?”


The Israel Guys: Despite CRAZY REMARKS From Joe Biden, Israel’s President INVITED to White House
The President of Israel is visiting Washington DC this week. Despite Biden recently giving Israel the cold shoulder, the President of Israel will meet with Joe Biden as well as give a historic address to a joint session of the US Congress, which will be the first in 35 years.

Today, the Israeli government is set to approve a plan that will save archeological sites in Judea and Samaria from those trying to erase the Jewish people.

Stay tuned for Josiah’s crazy reaction to an outrageous video of American journalists claiming they were almost shot by the IDF in the West Bank.


Emily Schrader: Despite 'Squad' boycotts, bipartisan support for Herzog's US visit
Following the announcement that Israeli President Isaac Herzog would be visiting the United States and addressing both houses of Congress, several anti-Israel members of Congress who are a part of the Squad, a group of progressive Democrats, shared a slew of posts on social media expressing their unhappiness that Herzog was invited to address a joint session of Congress.

US Reps. Cori Bush, Jamal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have all made statements confirming they will not be attending Herzog’s speech.

“There is no way in hell I am attending...,” Omar tweeted, and continued in all caps: “We should not be inviting the president of Israel – a government who under its current prime minister barred the first two Muslim women elected to Congress from visiting the country – to give a joint address to Congress,” referring to the incident in 2019 when Israel denied entry to Omar and Tlaib.

While Omar says that the congresswomen were banned for “being Muslim” – in fact they were denied entry due to their support for the BDS movement, under an Israeli law that denies entry to the country of people who support the global boycott movement against Israel. Tlaib, in fact, was granted permitted to enter to visit her grandmother in the West Bank but chose not to “out of principle,” proving that the entire charade was a PR stunt.

Similarly Bush tweeted: “The Israeli government is responsible for enforcing an apartheid state and rampantly abusing the rights of Palestinians … Congress should not be giving a platform to the president of a country that shows no respect for human rights. I will not be attending his joint address.”

Herzog is not the head of state in Israel, the prime minister is, though it’s unclear if Omar and Bush are aware of this fact based on their statements.

Members of the Squad of progressive Democrats have repeatedly voted against support for Israel, including voting against funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system to protect Israeli civilians from rocket fire, and accusing Israel of being an “apartheid state.”

They have also proposed legislation to commemorate the “Nakba” (Arabic for catastrophe), which refers to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled as a result of multiple Arab states launching a war on Israel.

In the case of Omar, she has expressed support for the BDS movement against Israel, even stating that “I believe and support the BDS movement and have fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.” However she also simultaneously condemned sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, both countries hostile to the United States.

Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, who abstained from the vote on funding Iron Dome, previously submitted a proposal to block a $735 million missile sale to Israel, which was defeated. Bush also has endorsed the BDS movement and voted against Iron Dome funding.
Report: House Republicans Poised to Put Democrats on the Record with Israel Vote
House Republicans are planning a Tuesday vote on the House Floor that would affirm support for Israel in a move to put Democrats on the record just one day before Israeli President Isaac Herzog is set to address Congress.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) leadership team discussed the Israel vote in a private meeting Monday before rolling it out to a broader meeting of GOP whips, Politico detailed.

The proposed vote comes as members of the House Democrat caucus have blasted Israel as “racist” and intend to boycott Herzog’s upcoming joint address to Congress.

Over the weekend, Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) accused Israel of being a “racist state.”

“I want you to know that we have been fighting to be clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us,” Jayapal claimed.

Saturday’s remarks were not the first instance of Jayapal’s extremist anti-Israel rhetoric.

As Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak detailed:
In 2018, she accused Israel of “war crimes” after visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, prompting then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman to walk out of a meeting with her. In 2021, she tried to justify rocket attacks by the Palestinian terror group Hamas against Israelis civilians by suggesting that Israel had “prompted” such attacks with its own policies.

Jayapal’s remarks came days after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) announced her intent to boycott Herzog’s address, claiming “there is no way in hell” she would attend it.

McCarthy urged House Democrats to “deal with” Jayapal’s antisemitic remarks.

“The Democrats want an out to show they are not antisemitic? I think the Democrats have not just one member that’s antisemitic, they have a number of members,” McCarthy told Politico, adding that Jayapal’s remarks are “unacceptable.”

“She runs the largest caucus in their group. They need to deal with this. They can’t ignore it. …Will the Democrats remove her as the Progressive Caucus Chair?” McCarthy asked. “That’s the question that needs to be asked. …She is a leader in their conference. This is the strongest group that they have in their conference. They lead their policies. Are they going to remove her?”


Haley slams Biden: ‘Acting just like Obama did when it comes to Netanyahu’
Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, took to the stage on Monday evening at the annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Summit in Washington. The former governor of South Carolina played to an adoring, pro-Israel crowd as a darling of its movement.

Haley, who trails well behind former President Donald Trump in polls very early in the presidential primary cycle, spoke with reporters before assuming the stage. She seemed prepped for a foreign-policy debate, covering an array of issues from China to Russia and, of course, Israel.

Haley dug into U.S. President Joe Biden for his slow-rolled invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House, which Biden only extended in a phone call on Monday—more than six months after Netanyahu was re-elected.

“It’s about time. I mean, look how long it’s taken here,” Haley told reporters. “You have a friend and ally that shares the same values. We share the same enemies. And yet you refuse to ask him to come for the longest time.”

“Now, suddenly, you want to talk to him. I mean, it’s Joe Biden. He’s acting just like Obama did when it comes to Netanyahu,” Haley continued. “Now you see him wanting to criticize the judicial reforms in Israel. He needs to stay out of it.”

The Biden administration is “very preachy to Israel,” and the president “always wants to talk down, like they should listen to us,” Haley said.

She intimated that Biden is missing the forest for the trees. When Israel is safe and strong, the United States is safer, she said. “We need to start treating them like the ally that they are.”

‘Antisemitism is hate’
GOP hopeful Nikki Haley blasts Biden and Democrats on Israel
Republican 2024 Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley tells i24NEWS Correspondent Mike Wagenheim that US President Joe Biden should stay out of Israeli domestic politics and slams Democrats for antisemitic remarks


Nikki Haley calls for censure of the 'Squad' following Israel comments
Haley's speech thus came at a most opportune time, and she made sure to target President Joe Biden as well for his treatment of the Middle Eastern country.

The presidential hopeful said Biden's policy regarding Israel was a continuation of that of the Obama administration and has weakened the United States on the world stage.

"For the sake of America and for Israel, we need to make Joe Biden a one-term president," Haley said. "We need a leader who advances peace in the Middle East."

She gave high praise to Israel throughout her speech, portraying the country as the sole beacon of freedom and democracy in a volatile region.

"Like you, for me, supporting Israel is a matter of faith," Haley told the crowd. "But supporting Israel is also a basic test of American leadership. It’s not just the right thing. It’s the smart thing. Standing with Israel has always been in America’s interest."

"Think about it. Israel shares our values and our vision for peace," she added. "She’s a nation of faith and a beacon of freedom — a democratic island in a sea of tyranny."


When a Congresswoman's Apology Isn't Really an Apology at All Even in her non-apology, Jayapal cannot help but take swipe after swipe at the Israeli government, who "make it extremely difficult" to achieve peace. In the entire "apology" there is not a single mention of any of the actual challenges that the Israelis currently face. Not a single mention or acknowledgement of incessant terror attacks that target innocent men, women, and children, supported by a 'peace partner' (the Palestinian Authority) that literally pays the terrorists to kill Israeli civilians. In Jayapal's statement, and clearly in her mind, there are not two sides to this conflict, just innocent Palestinians who are suffering and racist Israelis who are making their lives miserable.

As she made clear in her statement, when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict the only "pain and hurt" Jayapal can conceive of as it relates to "Israelis and their Jewish diaspora community" (to contrast with the Palestinian's sense of despair and wish for equal rights) is that they must still be reeling "from the trauma of pogroms and persecution, the Holocaust, and continuing antisemitism and hate violence." Again, there is no mention of the terrorist groups that shoot and bomb Israeli cities incessantly, targeting innocent Israeli and Arab men, women, and children; or of the cold-blooded killers that stalk the streets of the historic Jewish homeland with knives and axes, or ram its citizens with cars.

To be clear, we soundly reject Jayapal's "apology." Her statement is part and parcel of a growing movement within the progressive left wing of the Democrat Party, which no American should support, no matter their race, religion or party affiliation. Jayapal and her friends have a history of reflexively criticizing Israel without actually knowing the facts, or caring about the context. Studies have shown that their brand of inflammatory, discriminatory, antisemitic rhetoric often leads directly to antisemitic violence, yet they continue to try and infuse the national conversation with their reckless and demonstrably dangerous lies.

Words matter, and facts matter, even when the country that is being lied about is Israel, and even when the people who end up being attacked are Jews. White House ‘glad’ for apology, hours before Jayapal walks it back
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on July 15 that “Israel is a racist state!” in an attempt to placate pro-Palestinian protestors disrupting a panel at the progressive Netroots Nation conference in Chicago.

The next day, the congresswoman or her staff had a change of heart. “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” Jayapal stated. Instead, she meant that the Israeli government is racist, she said.

That apology was enough for the White House. “We saw that she apologized, and we’re glad she did,” John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said at the July 17 White House press briefing. “We think an apology was the right thing to do for those comments.”

A few hours after the press briefing concluded, Jayapal apparently had yet another change of heart.

The congresswoman retweeted an opinion article from The New York Times titled “The Hysterical Overreaction to Jayapal’s ‘Racist State’ Gaffe.”

In her tweet, Jayapal excerpted, “The rush to condemn her offhand remarks is […] about raising the political price of speaking about Israel forthrightly. […] It’s easier for Israel’s most stalwart boosters to harp on a critic’s slight misstatement.”


Seth Frantzman: Russia is using Syrian border, Ukraine grain deal to blackmail Turkey
Russia has sought to use humanitarian aid and a grain deal for leverage and blackmail. The recent reports show that Moscow not only upended a deal at the UN to enable aid into northwest Syria but it has also sought to sabotage a grain deal it had with Turkey, the UN and Ukraine.

The UN Secretary-General says Russia's decision to exit the deal will "strike a blow to people in need everywhere,” according to the BBC. The US has also slammed Russia for "holding humanity hostage.” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky would like to continue the grain deal. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russia is weaponizing food through its decisions and that this is "unconscionable.”

At the same time Russia sabotaged a deal to let aid into Syria. Syria has been divided since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. The US-backed SDF controls eastern Syria and Turkey has occupied parts of northwest Syria, such as the region of Afrin. Russia backs the Syrian regime. Moscow and Syria want to cut off aid to areas influenced by the US or Turkey.

The goal here is to basically starve those areas of resources so that the regime can return to control them. The international community has failed to open corridors for aid, letting Moscow basically use its power at the UN to cut off aid.

The VOA now reports that the “United Nations agency responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid has described conditions placed by the Syrian government on aid deliveries from Turkey to northwest Syria as ‘unacceptable.’” The report says “the future delivery of aid across Syria's northern border was thrown into question Tuesday after the U.N. Security Council was unable to agree on either of two competing proposals to extend the mandate for bringing aid from Turkey by way of the Bab al Hawa border crossing.”
Israel Struggling to Obtain Return of Valuable Antiquities Held at Trump’s Florida Resort
Israel is reportedly struggling to obtain the return of several highly valuable antiquities, including a Hanukkah menorah made from clay, from former US President Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago resort in Florida.

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the artifacts were delivered to Washington, DC, in 2019, with the menorah intended for use at a White House event celebrating Hanukkah. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the following year derailed plans to secure the artifacts return to Israel and they remained at the White House before apparently winding up at Trump’s home.

Eli Eskozido, the head of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), told Haaretz that he had pleaded for assistance from both the Israeli government and David Friedman, whom Trump appointed as US Ambassador to Israel, to no avail.

The IAA then asked Saul Fox — a US businessman who donates to the agency — to safeguard the items, by which time they had been moved to Mar a Lago. Haaretz did not say how the artifacts made their way to the resort or whether Trump himself was aware of their presence.

“It’s too bad Israel can’t call on Indiana Jones as a final recourse,” the magazine Rolling Stone commented. “These items clearly belong in a museum, and Mar-a-Lago a museum is not.”

Separately, Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he had been notified by Jack Smith, the Justice Department’s special counsel, that he is the target of an investigation into the attempt by some of his supporters to violently overturn the results of the Nov. 2020 election by rioting on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021.
Over 3,600 Palestinian terror attacks in first half of 2023
The escalation in Palestinian terrorism that started over a year ago shows no signs of abating, data from Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) published on Tuesday indicates.

In the first six months of 2023, the emergency service recorded 3,640 acts of terror throughout Israel, including 2,118 cases of rock-throwing, 799 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 18 attempted stabbings and six car-rammings.

The number of shootings has already surpassed last year’s total, with 101 instances of gunfire directed at Israelis reported. Hatzalah’s figures do not include the hundreds of attacks on security personnel during counterterrorism operations in Palestinian villages.

Palestinian terrorists have killed 28 people and wounded 362 others since January, the organization said.

In addition, two Israelis died from wounded sustained in previous years. Shimon Maatuf died in February after suffering severe head wounds in an attack by two Palestinians armed with axes in 2022, and New York-born Chana Nachenberg died last month after a Palestinian suicide bombing put her in a coma 22 years ago.

Rescuers Without Borders was founded in 2000, at the beginning of the Second Intifada, with the goal of establishing a civilian emergency response infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. Eventually, the organization expanded the scope of its work to include all of Israel.

Hatzalah released its biannual report on terrorism amid yet another uptick in Arab attacks throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.


WATCH: European Union envoy paraglides over Gaza for a 'free Palestine'
The outgoing European Union envoy has paraglided off Gaza's coast in a rare flight designed to draw attention to the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Video posted online by the European Union Delegation to the Palestinians showed Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff floating off a sandy 7 meter (21 foot) cliff and over the Mediterranean sea after an initial struggle to fill his canopy with enough wind.

The impoverished and congested Gaza Strip is kept under a cordon by Israel and Egypt designed to isolate the ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.

A small airport inaugurated in 1998 during interim peace talks was destroyed three years later by Israeli forces, which regularly intercept rockets, drones and even flammable material-carrying balloons launched by Palestinians across the border.

"Once you have a free Palestine, a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same thing," Von Burgsdorff, who is wrapping up his tenure, said in the video. A spokesperson for the EU office in Jerusalem, involved in the flight said it took place on Sunday.

"And that's the reason why I did this. To show you the way forward. We'll work for it, okay?" Von Burgsdorff adds.
Palestinian Authority issues warning to gunmen amid rising tension after Jenin operation
The Palestinian Authority has issued a stiff warning to unruly gunmen in the West Bank, saying it will “cut off the hand of anyone who tries to tamper with the security and stability” of the Palestinians.

In a statement on Monday night, the PA Ministry of Interior, which is in charge of the Palestinian security forces, said it was determined to enforce law and order in all areas of the West Bank.

“The Ministry affirms its full commitment to implement the directives of President Mahmoud Abbas to work continuously to implement the rule of law and provide security and safety for our people in all places,” the statement read. “We warn anyone who seeks to harm the security of Palestine and its people.”

The warning came amid rising tension between the PA and some armed groups in the northern West Bank in the aftermath of the large-scale Israeli military operation in Jenin Refugee Camp earlier this month. The groups claim that the PA security forces have arrested several gunmen over the past few days as part of a larger campaign to end the phenomenon of “resistance” against Israel.

Palestinian Authority arrests 'outlaws'
The PA, however, said it arrested a number of “outlaws” who participated in an attack on a Palestinian police station near Jenin.

On the first day of the operation, PA security forces arrested two gunmen, Murad Malaisheh and Mohammed Barahmeh, as they were on their way from the village of Jaba’, near Jenin, to take part in the fighting against Israeli troops in Jenin Refugee Camp.

Malaisheh has been described as the commander of the Jaba’ Battalion, a local militia consisting of gunmen from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the ruling Fatah faction. The PA security forces also confiscated the rifles of the two men.

In response, several gunmen attacked the PA police station in Jaba’ with gunfire before setting it on fire. No one was hurt.

PA security forces have arrested a number of suspects in connection with the attack on the police station. They included Eid Hamamreh, Mu’men Fashafsheh, Ahmed Salatneh, and Emad Khalilyeh.


Why did Gazan woman choose to marry an imprisoned murderer?
Official PA TV host: “We send greetings to the prisoner sentenced to life, our brother Abdallah Agbaria (i.e., Israeli Arab terrorist, murdered 2). Now we’ll watch an interview with his fiancée.” …

Yasmin Al-Harathani, terrorist Abdallah Agbaria’s fiancée: “I’m Yasmin Al-Harathani, a resident of Gaza, fiancée of prisoner Abdallah Agbaria… I’ve been engaged for 5 years already. At the start of the engagement I hesitated whether to agree or not. They gave me the dowry and a gold necklace, and we wrote up the marriage contract… I spoke with him [Abdallah] through a letter... He congratulated me and I him… It’s the prisoner’s right to live naturally like any person. I say to you, Abdallah, I’ll wait for you my entire life… and the two of us will rejoice together, have a wedding, and raise a family.” [Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, June 22, 2023]

Abdallah Agbaria – 20-year-old Israeli Arab terrorist who stabbed and murdered 2 Israeli university students – Sharon Steinmetz, 21, and Yehiel Finfter, 25 – while they were hiking at Nahal Keini near Megiddo Junction on Aug. 29, 1999. Agbaria confessed to the murders and is serving 2 life sentences.


Palestinian woman proud to marry imprisoned terrorist, accomplice to murder
Prisoner Husam Omar’s fiancée Ala’ Rumeilat: “My relationship with a prisoner [Husam Omar] is like the relationship of any young woman with a young man who has a right to be happy and live. Husam Omar has sacrificed 21 years of his life. What prevents me from sacrificing and waiting 14 years?... My brother [Uday] told me a lot about him and said that Husam loves good deeds, loves to help others, and this attracted me to get to know Husam. The relationship between us was only based on what my brother told me; I didn’t know him personally. Until the day his sister came and asked if I was ready to get engaged. My initial answer was no, until she asked me: ‘Even if the groom is Husam Omar?’ I told her: ‘Husam is a man who cannot be refused, and I’m full of pride to get engaged to him.’” [Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, May 25, 2023]

Husam Omar – Palestinian terrorist arrested in 2002 and convicted as an accomplice to murder. PMW was unable to determine the details of the murder.




Former Lebanese MP Dr. Nabil Nicolas: The Lebanese Follow Their Leaders Like Sheep
Former Lebanese MP Dr. Nabil Nicolas said in a June 29, 2023 interview that was posted to the Bel Moubashar YouTube channel that it is “inconceivable” that the politicians remain in their seats while the people are starving, and he said that it is the role of the Lebanese army to defend the Lebanese people. When asked whether it is the duty of the army to carry out a military coup and to topple the caretaker government, the parliament, and all the institutions, Nicolas answered: “The army would not be toppling them. They have toppled themselves.”


Why Jimmy Carter Owes the Iranian People an Apology
For more than four decades, the Iranian people have attempted to tell their story to the world. It is the story of a proud civilization, successor to the great Persian Empire, that fell prey to America's partisan political machine and as a result, has fallen backward in time.

Ironically, Carter blamed the shah of Iran for not meeting the progressive standards of the West. So, instead, he threw the Iranian people into the clutches of those who execute children, rape women, and throw innocent dancers, journalists, and bloggers behind bars merely for self-expression and free speech.

Where my mother received multiple academic scholarships to attend university in the 1970s, women are now considered to have half the value of a man in Iran's Sharia courts.

Flash forward to today, and the shameful harvest of Carter's abject failure to support the shah is more evident than ever before. As has been widely reported, Iran's brutal morality police arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September for the crime of not wearing her hijab in the approved manner. Despite a police coverup that claimed she died of a heart attack, eyewitnesses reported she'd been bludgeoned and battered. Her murder triggered a wave of #WomanLifeFreedom protests that continue to this day, eclipsing the protests of 2009, 2017, and 2019. Human rights groups report at least 522 protesters have been killed, including at least 70 minors. This time around, the Iranian people are united in their endeavor, which is regime change.

Like myself, many of the protesters were born after the Revolution and never lived under the shah's reign. Now, in the colorful and often rhyming political slogans shouted out on the streets, Iranians are fondly remembering the shah and even his father, chanting "Reza Shah, bless your soul." They're also asking the son of the shah, exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, who currently lives outside Washington, D.C., to return to Iran as their potential leader.

More than two-thirds of Iran's 80-plus million people are under the age of 40. For these Iranians, as for myself, there is a second-generation nostalgia for the Iran they have learned about through their parents' stories. They know it wasn't perfect, but compared to life under the current regime, it was utopia.

With no end in sight for the malignant fundamentalist regime in Tehran, it is indeed the case that Iran and the world are owed a profound, heartfelt apology.

It should come from Jimmy Carter.
11 years after attack on Israelis in Burgas, terrorists still free
Eleven years after the terrorist attack on a busload of Israeli vacationers in Burgas, Bulgaria, the two main suspects remain on Interpol’s most wanted list.

Five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed and 35 others were wounded in the bombing at Burgas Airport on July 18, 2012.

Bulgarian authorities attributed the attack to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.

The suicide bomber was identified as dual Lebanese-French national Mohamad Hassan El Husseini, who had entered Bulgaria using the alias Jacques Felipe Martin.

After a four-year investigation, the case reached the courts in 2016, but the trial did not start until 2018. Nearly 100 expert reports were submitted into evidence and 200 witnesses questioned during the proceedings.

Lebanese-Australian Meliad Farah, 35, and Lebanese-Canadian Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 28, were tried in absentia and charged with terrorism.

The two men were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of commutation, and the court also awarded $115 million in civil damages to the victims’ families.

Farah and Hassan El Hajj Hassan remain at large.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Biden Admin Laments Impossibility Of Shameful Saigon/Kabul-Like Withdrawal From Iran Also (satire)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared Malley’s disappointment. “In the case of Iran we can only betray allies who have alternatives,” he acknowledged. “In Saigon and Kabul, we left our erstwhile allies to fend off their enemies alone, with predictable results. But here, the allies we want to abandon can hold their own against the Ayatollahs, except in the case of the people of Iran themselves. We might have to settle for betraying only them to the depredations of the mullahs and further violent political repression. That’s unfortunate. Despite our best efforts, Israel remains in a decent position to actually defend itself against Iran, and so do the various Persian Gulf states.”

Blinken added that he still hopes to oversee a capitulation to Iran on nuclear weapons that endangers allies and empowers the Khamenei regime, but the dramatic images of locals clinging to departing American aircraft, only to fall to their inevitable deaths, will not form a part of the story. “You can’t hope for the same outcome every time,” he acknowledged. “Circumstances have to be just right. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, we don’t have a situation that lends itself to that kind of imagery, except metaphorically.”

Blinken and Malley refrained from verbalizing a commitment to bringing about such circumstances, noting that it would require having American troops in Iran that can be chaotically withdrawn, and the only military personnel the administration will tolerate in Iran – as under the Obama administration – is servicemen and servicewomen taken hostage when Iranian naval forces overpower US vessels that are under orders not to antagonize Teheran by resisting such operations.




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