Wednesday, August 09, 2023

08/09 Links Pt1: FM Cohen: Korea Is a Model for Middle East Peace; White House denies agreement on outline for Israel-Saudi deal; Palestinian society sinks into shambles

From Ian:

Eli Cohen (WSJ): Korea Is a Model for Middle East Peace
Securing an alliance with Saudi Arabia wouldn’t be merely another diplomatic achievement; it would form the foundation upon which true regional harmony can be built. Such a partnership might inspire other nations to pursue enduring peace.

The U.S. has done a great deal to help facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Israel in recent months. As part of these efforts, the Saudis made several demands of the U.S., which, in their view, are key to advancing the normalization process with Israel. Most of these requests concern Iranian aggression and the kingdom’s ability to defend itself against this threat.

This underscores Saudi Arabia’s perspective: The primary challenge isn’t Israel but Iran, which is intent on spreading its Shiite Islamic revolution throughout the region by means of violence, terrorism and nuclear-weapons development.

A nuclear-armed Iran is no mere hypothetical threat. If the regime builds a nuclear weapon, it would almost certainly ignite a regional nuclear arms race. Nations such as Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Egypt and Turkey might feel pressured to bolster their defenses. While a regional arms race might seem an inevitable response to Iran’s growing might, it would severely destabilize the area, potentially plunging the entire Middle East into conflict.

A potential blueprint for de-escalation exists in East Asia. My recent trip to South Korea and the demilitarized zone was revealing. South Korea, despite living under the shadow of a nuclear-armed neighbor and having the means to develop its own nuclear weapons, has abstained from nuclear-weapons development. The U.S.’s defense commitment acts as South Korea’s deterrent against Northern aggression.
White House denies agreement on outline for Israel-Saudi deal
The White House on Wednesday downplayed claims that Riyadh had agreed to the “broad contours” of a normalization deal with Israel.

“There’s no agreed framework to codify the normalization or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists on a press call.

Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and Saudi officials were “negotiating the details of an agreement they hope to cement within nine-to-12 months.”

Sources cited by the newspaper said it would be “the most momentous Middle East peace deal in a generation,” the Journal reported. They cautioned, however, that the deal still faces long odds.

Efforts accelerated with a visit by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Saudi Arabia on May 7 where he met with Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s crown prince (known as MBS).

U.S. officials said it would take nine- to-12 months to work out the finer details of an agreement and negotiators are already discussing specifics, including American help for a Saudi civilian nuclear program, along with security guarantees and concessions for Palestinians.
Israel-Saudi Normalization Isn’t Worth the Price of Allowing Iran to Go Nuclear
A recent trip by the American national security adviser to Saudi Arabia is but one piece of evidence that the White House is trying to broker an agreement between Jerusalem and Riyadh. To Enia Krivine, such an agreement, despite facing “myriad but surmountable challenges,” would be a “boon to regional stability and security” as well as “consistent with U.S. interests.” Yet any deal would necessarily result from three-way negotiations, and involve concessions on all sides. Krivine fears the Biden administration might ask for too much:

Saudi Arabia is seeking a NATO-level defense treaty with America, U.S. approval of a civilian nuclear program, and advanced missile-defense capabilities from the U.S. military. The Biden administration is asking for an end to the Saudis’ involvement in the war in Yemen, a massive Saudi aid package for the Palestinians, and the curtailment of Saudi-China relations. If Washington and Riyadh agree to these terms, Saudi Arabia would normalize ties with Israel, while the Jewish state would make concessions to the Palestinians.

[At the same time], the emerging picture of what the Biden administration is negotiating with the mullahs in Tehran . . . would reportedly allow the Islamist regime to continue enriching uranium to 60-percent purity in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Yet 60-percent-enriched uranium is only a short turn of the screw to weapons-grade, constituting 99 percent of the effort needed to reach that threshold. Iran would undoubtedly channel any sanctions relief to its expeditionary forces in the region, threatening both Israel and the Saudis.

The U.S. is the lynchpin of any future normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Biden administration should doggedly pursue normalization because of the benefits it would bring to America and our regional allies. At the same time, the administration must abandon talks with Iran and apply maximum pressure on the mullahs to halt their race towards nuclear weapons. Above all, Washington should not expect Israel to accept a normalization agreement with the Saudis as a consolation prize for a bad Iran deal.


Potential Saudi normalization raises questions about the PA
Progress towards a potential normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is raising the question of how the Palestinian Authority would fit into such a significant regional maneuver.

According to professor Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University and chair in Contemporary History of the Middle East, a normalization agreement is unlikely to significantly change relations between the P.A. and the Saudis.

“The P.A. does not really interest the Saudis, and this is not the arena they are active in—Jordan is active in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount [in line with the agreement with Israel], Qatar funds Hamas, and the P.A. is in any case not very important,” Zisser told JNS.

The 2020 Abraham Accords did see an improvement in ties between the United Arab Emirates and the P.A., which went from diplomatically confrontational to being more cooperative. The UAE pledged $15 million last month to help rebuild the damage in Jenin following the major Israeli security operation there, which was launched in response to a series of terror attacks.

However, according to Zisser, despite this “there is no true love lost between Ramallah and the UAE. There are ties based on interests.” He added that political interests and little else compel Gulf Arab states to raise the Palestinian issue.

According to professor Benny Miller, an expert on international relations from the School of Political Sciences at the University of Haifa, the future of Saudi-P.A. ties “would depend on the concessions the Saudis [and the United States] are able to extract from Israel in the framework of the normalization,” he said.

On the whole, he added, “it seems that the Abraham Accords supposedly demonstrate [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s thesis about the marginal role the Palestinians play in Arab-Israeli politics. To the extent that major Israeli concessions on the Palestinian issue materialize, it would show that the Palestinian issue is still a legitimacy provider to major Arab states.”

With regard to the P.A. itself, according to Zisser its options in terms of responding to a normalization agreement are limited.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians kept in dark about potential Israeli-Saudi normalization
The Palestinian Authority is closely following reports concerning a possible normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Palestinian officials said on Wednesday.

The PA leadership, the officials said, has yet to receive word from the Saudis regarding the veracity of the reports.

Earlier this week, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh hinted that the Palestinian leadership was aware of the US efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to strike a deal with Israel. “There’s an important diplomatic activity in the region,” Shtayyeh said in opening remarks at the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Cabinet in Ramallah.

The Palestinian premier seemed to voice concern over the reports that Saudi Arabia might reach a normalization agreement with Israel. “We are aware and confident that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has placed the Palestinian cause at the focus of its attention and at the top of its priorities during its regional and international deliberations,” Shtayyeh said, noting that the Saudis “support al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, and Palestine.”

Shtayyeh revealed that PA President Mahmoud Abbas was “highly involved in the diplomatic activity,” but did not elaborate.

PA warns Saudi Arabia not to turn its back on the Palestinians
Shtayyeh’s remarks were seen as a message to Riyadh not to turn its back on the Palestinians, if and when it reaches an agreement with Israel.

The Palestinian leadership, which was caught by surprise when the normalization agreements were signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, rushed to condemn the two Gulf states, accusing them of betraying the Palestinian issue, Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinians considered the agreements as a violation of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which stated that the Arab countries would establish normal relations with Israel only after a “complete withdrawal from the Arab territories occupied since 1967, a just resolution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees in conformity with [United Nations] Resolution 194, and [the establishment of] an independent and sovereign Palestinian state… with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Jonathan Tobin: Did Israel sacrifice security for visa waivers?
Israelis share faith in the security establishment’s ability to outwit and defeat terrorists. Yet they are as fallible as any other human endeavor. Considering that those agencies are run by the same class of people that mismanage much of the rest of the government bureaucracy that drives the country’s citizens to distraction, it’s not always clear whether such blind faith is justified. But to believe anything else would, as some Israelis have told me, be too scary to live with.

The problem here is not solely one that centers on whether Israel can continue to screen out terrorists. Rather, it is an American mindset that treats such concerns as less important than making a point about protecting Arab and Muslim Americans.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government has often acted as if it’s more important not to offend the sensibilities of Muslims than to protect the country. Even government agencies bought into the myth of a post-9/11 backlash against Muslims and thus have always gone out of their way to pretend that there is no threat or that it is greatly exaggerated.

America can engage in such policies because its relative size and strength render it capable of sometimes treating even the possibility of deadly threats as less important than political correctness. Israel has no such margin of error and remains beset by terrorist groups with significant levels of support among Palestinians, as well as their foreign sympathizers. It remains a nation under threat in a way that few Americans understand. If Americans thought of themselves as facing the same sort of danger that Israelis must live with, it’s likely that they wouldn’t be quite so cavalier about issuing diktats to them that might lead to catastrophe.

Netanyahu—himself under siege by a leftist “resistance” determined to delegitimize his government—would like to deliver to his people a gift in the form of a U.S. visa waiver. He is betting that the security services will be able to overcome the opening that Biden may have, wittingly or unwittingly, given the terrorists. Israelis and those who care about the Jewish state must hope that he’s right. Still, they should also mark this decision down as one more instance in which the United States is willing to sacrifice the security of the one Jewish state on the planet just to make a political point.
White House reiterates that Netanyahu not invited to White House, will meet Biden ‘somewhere in US’
The Biden administration doubles down on its insistence that US President Joe Biden did not invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet him at the White House after the Israeli premier stated as much in a pair of recent interviews with US media.

“We still anticipate that the president will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu sometime in the latter part of this year in the fall, and [that] it’ll be somewhere in the United States,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says in response to a question on the matter during a phone briefing with reporters.

After the leaders spoke on July 17, Netanyahu’s office issued a readout saying that Biden had invited him to meet in the US. The White House readout made no mention of an invitation and a source familiar with the details, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu was the one who raised the idea of a meeting on the call and that Biden merely responded that he’d be willing to do so but that no further details were discussed.

Officials in Netanyahu’s office then began reaching out to Hebrew media reporters insisting that not only did Biden invite the prime minister but that the president suggested that the meeting take place in the White House.

Netanyahu himself then told ABC on July 27 that Biden invited him to the White House and told NBC last week that he stood by that assertion.
How Republicans Are Working Against Dem Attempts To Boycott Israel
Republicans in Congress are working to clamp down on efforts by the Biden administration to allow boycotts on Israel, just weeks after Senate Democrats paved the way for the United States to discriminate against Jewish-made Israeli products.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) is spearheading legislation that would prevent the Biden administration from rescinding an executive order ensuring that products made in contested areas of the Jewish state, such as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are labeled as "made in Israel."

Supporters of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Congress and the Biden administration have long worked to strip the "made in Israel" label from products manufactured in so-called settlements, which they argue are not technically part of Israel. Tenney’s measure, the Anti-BDS Labeling Act, would effectively bar the U.S. government from segregating products made in these territories.

The legislation, which is certain to garner widespread support in the Republican-controlled House, comes less than two weeks after Senate Democrats shot down a measure that would have blocked the Federal Trade Commission from penalizing products produced by Jews living in contested territories. The Biden administration also came under intense criticism last month after it cut all U.S. funding to Israeli research organizations operating in Jewish areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a decision praised by BDS advocates. Congressional Republicans view both efforts as an attempt by Israel’s detractors to isolate the Jewish state.

Tenney’s bill, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday, addresses an issue that has long been a flashpoint in U.S.-Israel relations. The Obama administration, for instance, directed the government in 2016 to stop labeling goods produced in the West Bank as "made in Israel," a decision meant to erode Israel’s claims on the territory. The Biden administration offered a similar rationale last month when it cut off funds for Israeli scientific organizations operating in contested areas of the country, claiming the policy is "simply reflective of the longstanding U.S. position" on disputed areas of Israel.

The labeling issue reemerged earlier this month during debate over a Senate bill authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to penalize foreign companies that mislabel their goods’ country of origin. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) pushed an amendment to stop the FTC from using its power to target Israeli goods, but Democrats on the chamber’s commerce committee rejected it.


Labor hardening stance on Israel settlements shows it is afraid of being ‘humiliated’
The Labor Party hardening its stance on Israel settlements shows the government is afraid of being “humiliated or ambushed” at its own conference in Queensland, according to former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma.

“What’s dictating this is not even domestic policies in Australia, it’s internal Labor Party politics,” he told Sky News Australia.

“That’s not normally how you make foreign policy decisions, normally they’re based upon Australia’s national interests.”


‘Embarrassment’: Sharri Markson slams Labor's changed stance on Israel
Sky News host Sharri Markson claims the fringes of Labor’s radical left-wing are now determining Australia’s foreign policy as the party hardens its pro-Palestine stance.

The federal Labor government will now call the West Bank and Gaza "occupied" Palestinian territories and say Israeli West Bank settlements are "illegal under international law".

Ms Markson said the Labor Party has caused Australia “embarrassment on the international stage” and it seems the party don’t care about the Jewish vote.

“This is the first time Australia has had a prime minister who has been categorically a closer friend to the Palestinians than to Israel,” Ms Markson said.


Labor's changed language on Israel not about ‘national interest’
Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie says Labor’s tough position on Israel is all about politics and a way to settle factional differences ahead of the Party’s national conference.

“It’s not about our national interest, nor is it about doing the right thing by our friend in Israel,” Mr Hastie told Sky News host Sharri Markson.


Israel's hasbara failure on full display, again
The killing of Muhammad al-Durrah has gone down as one of Israel's most colossal hasbara failures ever. After the incident, which took place at the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Palestinians claimed that IDF soldiers killed the boy in Gaza, and then-IDF spokesperson quickly assumed responsibility and issued a public apology on Israel's supposed targeting of the 12-year-old.

When it transpired, several months later, that he was actually killed by Palestinian fire, it was too late: Public perception had already been cemented; the world was convinced that the Jews killed him and there was no fact, video, or investigation could change that false impression.

The IDF repeated its grave mistake from 2000 over the weekend, after the dust settled following the deadly clash between Jewish herders and dozens of Arabs in Burqa – a village off Nablus. The clash ended with one Palestinian dead and one Jew gravely injured. Although the facts were blurry, and despite one side's version of events taking hold, the IDF and the entire defense establishment were quick to label this incident as "Jewish terrorism." This narrative is what was communicated to the Israeli media and the US.

"We are greatly concerned about all the attacks that we saw in Israel, in the Palestinian territories over the weekend. We strongly condemn those attacks," US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said this week. He added that "the IDF spokesperson called the attack in Burqa 'nationalist terrorism'."

Practically all those dealing with the incident – from the IDF, the Shin Bet security agency, and the Israel Police – have denied making a definitive determination that this was Jewish terrorism, or that they communicated as much to the Americans. In that sense, it appears that someone is lying. Part of Communications 101 is never to make your views clear until you have checked the facts with all sides of a story. In this case, Israel provided a version that adopted the account of only one side before it had the actual information of what unfolded; in fact, it is still unclear what really transpired.
PodCast: 18 Years Later: What Is The Legacy of Israel’s Disengagement From Gaza? A Fireside Chat With Amotz Asa-El, Author & Political Analyst
Over the course of about four weeks beginning in August 2005, Israel underwent a profoundly traumatic experience: the Disengagement from Gaza. Critics at the time said it was tearing Israel apart. Supporters said it was difficult, but Israel had no choice.

Before long, the vacuum left by Israel in Gaza was filled by Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group which continues to run the coastal enclave with an iron fist. But was Hamas’ takeover inevitable, or could it have been avoided?

And now, 18 years later, what is the legacy of the Disengagement on Israel, and how do its supporters and detractors evaluate the withdrawal from Gaza?

To help us unpack the historic decision and its aftermath, we are joined by Amotz Asa-El. He is the Jerusalem Post’s senior commentator and former executive editor, is currently a fellow at the Hartman Institute and a senior editor at the Jerusalem Report.
Joe Truzman: Hezbollah’s Multi-Faceted Approach to Destabilizing Israel’s Northern Border
The actions of Hezbollah that incite conflict resemble the tactics employed by Palestinian militant factions at the Gaza-Israel border in 2018 and 2019. Militant factions continuously assaulted the security fence, breached the buffer zone, deployed explosive devices, and launched assaults on unoccupied IDF military outposts. These border incursions persisted unabated and grew progressively more deadly, resulting in the casualties of both militants and Israeli forces. Gradually escalating, these occurrences eventually escalated into localized confrontations encompassing rocket barrages by Palestinian armed groups and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes within Gaza.

The escalation of aggressive rhetoric from both sides of the border is concerning. The prevailing political instability in Israel undeniably provides heightened confidence to Hezbollah and, to some degree, Iran, thereby fueling their inclination to seize opportunities during a perceived period of Israeli vulnerability. Hezbollah’s actions along Israel’s northern border lack clear, tangible objectives. Still, it is plausible that a strategy is being employed to compel the Israeli military to exhaust its forces. At the same time, the IDF is already involved in operations within the West Bank, Syria, and sometimes in Gaza.

It’s clear by the pattern that has developed, Hezbollah has gained confidence in perpetrating aggressive acts. The question is “when will this boldness lead to a mistake, triggering a full-blown confrontation?”
Israel-Lebanon border town fears potential escalation
17 years after a major war across the Israel-Lebanon border, it is tough to imagine who would benefit from another showdown between Israel and Hezbollah

However, the Israeli town of Metula finds itself on the front line in the event of a new armed conflict with Hezbollah once again


Anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon toward Israel was aimed at IDF patrol - report
The two missiles were aimed at a mounted patrol of IDF soldiers moving near the village of Ghajar, on the border with Lebanon
The anti-tank missiles that were fired from Lebanon and landed near the border fence with Israel last month were aimed at an IDF patrol on the Israeli side of the border, according to a Tuesday report.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the two missiles were aimed at a mounted patrol of IDF soldiers moving near the village of Ghajar, on the border with Lebanon.

At the time of the launch, the IDF responded with artillery shelling on the launch site within Lebanese territory.

An IDF official told Israeli media in July that the assessment was that a Palestinian terrorist group in Lebanon was responsible for the rocket launch, claiming it was a retaliation for the Jenin counter-terror operation on Monday.

A source told i24NEWS that there was a response with 15 artillery shells toward an area between Kafr Shuba and Halta in Lebanon.

The IDF Spokesperson stated at the time that there was no incident on Israeli territory, saying that the explosion took place across the border fence near the village of Ghajar.

Ghajar is notable for lying on both sides of the border, and for years access to the town was restricted on the Israeli side.


Peace Now: 2023 Setting All-Time Record for Settlement Construction
According to Peace Now, 2023 has been a banner year for Jewish life in Judea and Samaria, with all-time records set for construction permits and housing starts.

According to the data, from the beginning of 2023, since the establishment of the new Netanyahu government and the appointment of Bezalel Smotrich as the minister in charge of the settlements in the defense ministry, the government has approved the upgrading of 22 Jewish enclaves from “illegal outposts” to legal settlements.

It’s the largest number of regulated settlements since the second Rabin government which was dedicated to replacing Jewish communities with Arabs.

The diamond in the necklace of newly normalized settlements is Homesh, in northern Samaria, which started as a legal settlement until then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was caught in a scandal that could end him in prison and so to guarantee his personal freedom, he launched a fairy evil plan to uproot some 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and Samaria, including Homesh. The current Netanyahu government revoked the “disengagement act,” and while it cannot at the moment return Jewish farmers to their once thriving lands in Gush Katif in Gaza, it did declare Homesh legal again.

Evyatar is another settlement that was upgraded from an illegal post after legal experts of the IDF Civil Administration conceded that it was not standing on private Arab land. The Army, which originally signed a pact with the people of Evyatar that if they leave their homes peacefully and the area is declared legal, they would be allowed to return – that Army was reluctant to make good on its promise. But then, as Peace Now noted so very begrudgingly, Bezalel Smotrich got involved and Evyatar is back, alive and well, and ready to grow and prosper.

Peace Now mentioned several more settlements which started as “neighborhoods” that were adjacent to existing communities in Judea and Samaria, despite the obvious distance between them and the legal settlements. Well, now many of them have been recognized as legal, individual settlements: Mevo’ot Yericho in the Jordan Valley, Nofei Nehemia outside Rehelim in Samaria, and Zayit Raanan near Talmon in Binyamin.
Liberal Jewish scholars, leaders urge increased focus on Palestinians in protests of Israeli judicial overhaul
Ever since hundreds of thousands of Israelis began pouring into the streets to oppose their government’s plan to weaken the courts, the protests have faced a contentious question: How much, if at all, should the demonstrations focus on Palestinian rights?

The answer to that question, over the past seven months, has been very little. While some demonstrators at the main weekly protest in Tel Aviv wave the Palestinian colors or wear t-shirts opposing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the focus of the protests has remained squarely on the judicial overhaul in part so that it can maintain a broad tent.

Several large American Jewish groups — which have historically been reticent to publicly criticize Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians — have also come out against the judicial overhaul.

Now, hundreds of American Jewish academics and other public figures, in two letters published in the past week, are calling for U.S. Jewish groups and President Joe Biden to draw a closer link between the overhaul and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. The overhaul, if passed in its entirety, would sap the Israeli Supreme Court of its power and independence. The first component of the legislative package passed last month along party lines.

In one petition that went online last Friday, titled “The Elephant in the Room” and directed at “leaders of North American Jewry,” 800 signatories “call attention to the direct link between Israel’s recent attack on the judiciary and its illegal occupation of millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The petition’s lead action item is a call to “support the Israeli protest movement, yet call on it to embrace equality for Jews and Palestinians” both within Israel’s recognized borders and in the West Bank.


Palestinian society sinks into shambles
Misappropriating funds for terrorism and economic oligarchies have led to the failure of the Palestinians to create a self-sufficient economy – a key requirement of any viable, functioning state.

The violent fragmentation of the Palestinian political establishment also makes a unified government – and in the future, a unified state – inconceivable.

Notwithstanding numerous attempts at reconciliation between the PA and Hamas in order to reunite the autonomous Palestinian territories, all attempts have failed. Most recently, in Egypt last month, Hamas insisted on violent resistance to Israel, whereas Abbas advocated "peaceful" resistance, despite his regime's generous incentives to murdering terrorists.

Above all, neither the PA nor Hamas has a strategy to achieve statehood, preferring their hopeless quest to destroy Israel over peaceful coexistence. Hamas continues to reject any recognition of the Jewish state, while the PA occasionally pays lip service to the two-state solution. But in reality, the PA also rejects Israel's existence.

Both the PA and Hamas fail to prepare their people for peace. Palestinian children in both territories still learn from their textbooks to hate and murder Jews – who allegedly stole land the Palestinians never possessed. The PA continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reward the murder of innocent Israelis.

No wonder the Palestinian independence movement is languishing: Its structures are crumbling, and its dictatorships continue their internecine warfare. Neither Hamas nor the PA effectively controls its own territory. Neither has a self-sustaining economy. Rather than a hopeful dream, they are animated by hate. In short, the Palestinians haven't achieved an independent state because, sadly, they lack the prerequisites – viable institutions and a life-affirming spirit.
The Real Reason Palestinians Do Not Have a Free Media
This fierce crackdown on Palestinian journalists, however, is ignored by the mainstream media in the West. When Palestinian journalists are brutally attacked, where is the outrage of foreign journalists? Their outrage seems reserved only for stories that reflect negatively on Israel.

All three media outlets [The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN] were obsessed with the case of Abu Akleh because they were trying to implicate Israel, even though there was no conclusive evidence that she had been hit by an Israeli bullet.

On August 3, a video posted on social media featured Palestinian Authority officers in plainclothes severely beating Palestinian journalist Nidal Al-Natsheh.... His crime: he tried to report about a protest by university students against human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority.

On July 31, Palestinian Authority security officers arrested journalist Sami Al-Sa'i... Al-Sa'i has been arrested a number of times for allegedly criticizing the Palestinian Authority on social media. Because of his repeated incarcerations, he has been unable to find work.... Recently, to support his family, he has been selling juice on the streets of Tulkarem.

On July 17, Palestinian Authority security forces arrested journalist Akil Awawdeh... Hours before his arrest, Awawdeh had ridiculed the Palestinian security forces' spokesperson for stating the Palestinian Authority does not arrest people because of their political affiliation.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate named a number of other journalists also detained and threatened by Hamas security forces and militiamen: Ehab Fasfous, Fouad Jaradah, Mohammed Abu Awn, and Mohammed Haddad.

Many in the international community who pretend to be "pro-Palestinian" do not really care about the Palestinians at all, or about the too-many-to-count vicious human rights violations committed against them every day. They only care about one thing: bash Israel.

These journalists appear so obsessed with reporting on Israel's "crimes" – real or imagined – that, presumably to avoid casting the Palestinians in a bad light, they painstakingly avoid any story that might reflect negatively on the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. By doing that, however, the international community and media are, in reality, doing incalculable harm to the Palestinian people, who are then forced to continue suffering, without a murmur of help from anyone, under the repressive and undemocratic regimes of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Hamas Suppresses the Protest Movement in the Gaza Strip
The Hamas movement began a public defamation campaign of the protest movement on social media. It accused it of collaborating with the Israeli Shin Bet and the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence to shake the stability of Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip.

The preachers in the mosques in the Gaza Strip incited, at the behest of Hamas, against the protest movement, claiming that although the movement’s demands regarding the urgent need to improve the standard of living in the Gaza Strip are justified, the wave of demonstrations is entirely unnecessary and that anyone who goes out to demonstrate is a traitor and an apostate to the Islamic religion.

The Hamas movement disavows all responsibility for the difficult economic situation in the Gaza Strip, suppresses the protest movement by force, and places the responsibility on Israel’s economic blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip from 2007 until today.

Hamas is determined to continue preserving its rule in the Gaza Strip and the phenomena of governmental corruption and oppression of the residents of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli security establishment fears Hamas will try to divert the widespread anger toward Israel, which could lead to large demonstrations on the Gaza border fence and rocket fire against Israel.

The security establishment is now considering increasing the number of Gazan workers allowed to work in Israel. Currently, the number is about 17,000 workers, and the possibility of allowing a few thousand more to work in Israel is being considered to alleviate the economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas movement managed last weekend to suppress the renewal of the wave of protests. Still, the Gaza time bomb is ticking and threatens to explode at any moment in the face of the Hamas government and in Israel’s face, too.


Today In Picks The Kremlin Is Trying to Bring the War in Ukraine to Syria. The U.S. Must Stop It
Last month, there were multiple instances of Russian aircraft harassing American aircraft in Syria—sometimes by flying dangerously close, and in two instances by firing flares that damaged U.S. drones. Andrew Tabler argues that Moscow’s aggressive behavior is retaliation for Washington’s support for Ukraine, and suggests how the U.S. might respond:

July’s . . . incidents come immediately in the wake of the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s suppression of the mutiny in Russia of Wagner forces, whose operations in Syria, reports indicate, have been taken over by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

American Syria-policy decisions that have changed the political context in Syria certainly have not helped. Following a devastating earthquake on February 6 along the Turkish-Syria frontier, the U.S. Treasury Department issued General License 23, which allowed for transactions [exempted] as “earthquake relief” from current U.S. sanctions on Syria. While the license was justified in the face of the scale of destruction and humanitarian need in Syria, the license language was particularly broad.

Official U.S. policy opposes normalization with Bashar al-Assad, but U.S. regional allies read the license as permission to normalize relations with the Assad regime, leading to Syria’s readmittance to the Arab League at its latest summit last May in Jeddah. . . . Moscow has [also] read the license as . . . the latest indication that Washington cares little about Syria policy, and it believes the time is ripe to push U.S. forces out of Syria.

The best way to deter Moscow from escalating with Washington over Syria is to change the political context there. Washington should show in deeds and not just words that it is opposed to the Kremlin’s client in Damascus.
Israelis acquitted in Iranian spy case: 'Intention to spy not based on ideology'
Two Israeli women and a man were acquitted of passing information and involvement with an alleged Iranian spy who contacted them through Facebook and Whatsapp, Judge Ilan Sela ruled at the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday morning.

The accused were part of a group of five Israelis of Iranian extraction that had been arrested by the Shin Bet and Israel Police in January 2022 after allegedly being recruited by an Iranian agent known as Rambud Namdar to conduct intelligence gathering missions within Israel.

All five were charged for contact with a foreign agent, and defendants one and four were charged with providing information that could benefit the enemy.

Sela described the women as having been contacted by a man identifying to alternatively to different targets as a wealthy Iranian Jew or Muslim from Tehran, and manipulated in a relationship to provide information.

"We're talking about women that were looking for warmth and love, an attentive ear and occasional financial assistance, and Rambud, who is alleged to be a foreign agent, smartly took advantage of this, forged a long relationship, and with great sophistication and manipulation, managed to use them to his needs," read the judgement summary.

Intention to spy based on ideology
The judge said that punishments for espionage should have been reserved for those that had intended to spy out of ideological motives, not for those who had been tricked and had no intention of harming the state. Sela said that the defendants were patriots, and had not sought to contact a foreign agent.
Iran says it has technology to build supersonic cruise missile
Iran said on Wednesday it has the technology to build a supersonic cruise missile, Iranian state media reported, an announcement likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran's missile capabilities.

The announcement comes days after reports on the arrival of over 3,000 US sailors and Marines aboard two US warships in the Red Sea to deter Iran from seizing and harassing merchant ships traveling through the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz.

"The supersonic cruise missile will open a new chapter in Iran’s defense program, as it is extremely difficult to intercept a cruise missile flying at supersonic speeds," the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"The new cruise missile is currently undergoing its tests."

Despite US and European opposition, Iran has said it will further develop its "defensive" missile program. However, Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities.

Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programs in the Middle East, says its weapons are capable of reaching the bases of arch-foes Israel and the United States in the region.
Iran Bought Spy Tech From German, Chinese And Other Firms
The scandal surrounding the German corporation Bosch’s delivery of surveillance technology to Iran has expanded to include Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and China.

Germany’s government and the country’s Bosch corporation are facing heavy criticism after Iran International reported on Monday that the engineering giant Bosch sold surveillance equipment to Iran. Germany’s ARD first revealed the alleged Bosch impropriety.

The United States sanctioned the Chinese company Tiandy last December for supplying video surveillance equipment to Iran and in January the European Union imposed sanctions on a firm that represents Tiandy in Iran.

Iranian activists told the German news outlet that the Danish security company Milestone Systems delivered video analysis software to Iran. Milestone told the outlet that it sold its software to Iran until 2019. The German news organization said Milestone Systems provided the video management software XProtect, an open platform that can be used for various purposes, to Iran.

The Danish company’s website states that XProtect can also be used to compare faces. ARD wrote “Milestone’s software can be combined with surveillance cameras from different manufacturers -- including cameras from Bosch.”

According to Iranian activists, the clerical regime also uses cameras from Sweden and the Netherlands. The companies from Sweden and Holland were not named.
Taliban Deploys Hundreds of Suicide-Bombers in Faceoff With Iran
The Taliban has deployed hundreds of suicide bombers to Afghanistan's border with Iran amid an intensifying dispute over water access, Bloomberg reported.

Thousands of Taliban troops, including hundreds trained to blow themselves up, were sent to the border since May, a source told the outlet. Iran and the Taliban have moved toward a conflict over water from Afghanistan's Helmand River, which Iran relies on.

Afghanistan in 1973 agreed to provide a certain amount of water from the river to Iran, but since the Taliban took over Afghanistan after the Biden administration withdrew in 2021, Iran claims the new regime has reduced the water supply.

Amid soaring temperatures in the Middle East this summer, Iran has become increasingly upset over the Taliban government's failure to uphold the agreement. A border skirmish in May left at least two Iranian troops and one Taliban fighter dead.

The potential conflict comes as the Biden administration continues to fund the Taliban government, which took over in August 2021 after a chaotic U.S. withdrawal that left billions of dollars of military equipment behind.

More than $2.35 billion in taxpayer dollars have been sent by the administration to Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control.




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