Saturday, August 12, 2023

08/12 Links: Iran close to testing nuclear weapons for first time; Michael Pompeo: The Biden Turn Against Israel; Elliott Abrams: Do Not Cut Off Aid to Israel

From Ian:

Iran close to testing nuclear weapons for first time - European intel
The Islamic Republic of Iran is close to possibly testing a nuclear weapons device and has sought to obtain illicit technology for its active atomic weapons program, according to a series of shocking European intelligence reports released in 2023.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first published translations of the intelligence documents on its website. The Jerusalem Post is the first Israeli newspaper to report on the intelligence findings from the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany.

The most unsettling revelation from the batch of intelligence data comes from the Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AVID).

The AVID determined the Iranian regime’s fast-moving development of weapons-grade uranium "brings the option of a possible Iranian first nuclear test closer."

According to the Dutch intelligence report, "Last year, Iran proceeded with its nuclear program. The country continues to increase stocks of 20% and 60% enriched uranium. By means of centrifuges, this can be used for further enrichment to the 90% enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon."

How close is Iran to nuclear power?
The AVID report added "Iran is further ignoring the agreements that were made within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). And by deploying increasingly more sophisticated uranium enrichment centrifuges it is enlarging its enrichment capacity."

The European reports mainly cover Iran’s alleged illicit conduct in 2022.

The Swedish Security Service wrote in its annual report in 2023 that "Iran engages in industrial espionage, which is mainly aimed at the Swedish high-tech industry and Swedish products that can be used in nuclear weapons program."

Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV)—the country’s federal domestic intelligence agency—said in its report "The authorities for the protection of the constitution were able to find, in 2022, a consistently high number of indications of proliferation relevant procurement attempts by Iran for its nuclear programs.”

The German domestic intelligence agency defines proliferation as "the activities of foreign powers (that) also include procuring products and knowledge for the production of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, other armaments or elements of new weapon systems."
Colonel Richard Kemp: Iran is a threat to the UK, not only to Israel
On top of this incitement to violent jihad and propagation of hate, the Jewish Chronicle revealed in June that at least 11 British universities have been collaborating with Iranian engineers on research that has potential military applications, including developing faster, high-altitude drone engines, upgraded fighter jets and battlefield armour plating as well as technology that could allow hundreds of swarming drones to be operated simultaneously using lasers.

This latter activity may well be illegal under current sanctions against the IRGC, involving as it does IRGC-linked establishments and one must hope it is under investigation by the authorities. But the Islamic Student Association is not breaking the law by hosting IRGC commanders while the group remains un-designated, although the speakers’ incitement to violence — promoted and disseminated by the ISA — may breach existing UK counterterrorism legislation.

Such platforms could be immediately denied to the IRGC by its designation as a terrorist group. So why has the British government failed to take action while the IRGC plans terrorist attacks on its territory and at the same time works to radicalise students in Britain?

Firstly, like the U.S., it remains wedded to the folly of re-establishing a nuclear deal with Iran, and in pursuit of that dangerous objective remains set on appeasing the ayatollahs. Although the IRGC was labelled a terrorist entity by the previous U.S. administration in 2019, the White House has made no effort to get its allies to follow suit, and perhaps is even encouraging Britain to hold back, given Biden’s enthusiasm for re-kindling the deal.

Secondly, in view of the all-pervading centrality of the IRGC in Iran, its designation would amount to branding the whole regime as a terrorist entity, which is of course the reality. London fears this would cause a break-down of diplomatic relations that would lead to closure of the embassy in Tehran, with potential impact on intelligence operations in the country. That argument has greater validity than craving a deeply flawed nuclear deal, given Iran’s malign influence in the region and across the world, but is outweighed by the immense advantages of curtailing the IRGC’s murderous activities.

Unfortunately, Britain has a track record of misjudgement and weakness in this field. Just as the present government seems to be bending over backwards to mollify Iran, its predecessors made similar mistakes in the 1990s. Back then there was an unspoken policy of tolerating Islamic extremist facilitation of terrorism overseas as well as radicalising activities in the UK.

The misguided and morally indefensible hope was that with this indulgence they would not turn their guns on us. Despite many years of pressure among our allies and some at home, and the discovery of the bomb factory in London in 2015, the government also failed to designate the entirety of Lebanese Hezbollah until 2019. Apart from anything else, designating the IRGC is a logical extension of that belated decision, given it is they who set Hezbollah up, fund and arm it and direct all of its terrorist attacks.
Netanyahu Slams Reported Nuclear Agreement Between US, Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday harshly criticized a reported agreement between the US and Iran, whereby the Islamic Republic would slow down its uranium enrichment program in exchange for the easing of sanctions.

“Israel’s position is known,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

“According to it, agreements that do not dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will not put a stop to its nuclear program. In fact, they only grants the Iranian regime money that will then go to Iran’s terror proxies,” the statement read.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran “significantly” slowed down the rate at which it accumulated enriched uranium, as well as diluting its stockpile, amid a release of four U.S. citizens to house arrest by Tehran’s regime

There also appeared to be broader agreements between the U.S. and Iran, two Israeli officials told The New York Times. Both American newspapers pointed out that there could be a resumption of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.


Michael Pompeo and Elan Carr: The Biden Turn Against Israel
What to make of all this? We take the president at his word when he professes affection for the Jewish state. But that only makes plain how his anti-Israel track record flows from the ideological biases that affect his decision-making.

Today’s leftist ideology embraces three paradigms relevant to Israel policy. The first is the concept of systemic oppression. According to this view, much of human affairs can be understood as the effort by those with privilege to weaken and subjugate those without. The universality of this dynamic means that those having privilege are necessarily perpetrators of oppression. People (and countries) are deemed oppressors not based on their actions but on their identity—not on what they do but on who they are. Being “oppressed” becomes status-based. And because these systems of oppression supposedly obtain in every part of society—from government to the economy, from education to the arts—those with privilege bear enormous moral blame for their usurpation, while very little can or should be expected from the underprivileged, from whom so much has been stolen.

Today’s left places a primacy on race in defining privilege, which is why “systemic racism” is presented as the prime example of systemic oppression. President Biden signaled his commitment to this worldview as early as his inaugural address, in which he identified “systemic racism” in America as one of the great challenges of our time. In this race-centric version of the Marxist paradigm, “white privilege” implies a pernicious form of subjugation. And because Jews are now considered white, and on average earn more and attain higher levels of education than the average white American, “Jewish white privilege” is seen as an especially noxious form of predation.

These unfortunate views live and breed in the academy, which is why many college campuses have become intolerable places for Jews. A 2021 survey of university students active in Jewish organizations found that 70 percent experienced or were familiar with an anti-Semitic attack over a four-month period, two-thirds felt unsafe on their campus, and half felt the need to conceal their Jewish identity or support for Israel.

The second paradigm relevant here is anti-nationalism—hostility to the idea that countries exist to give sovereignty to a particular ethno-national people. The left embraces internationalism, and it sees nationalism as inherently racist and colonialist. An allowance is made (of course) for nationalist movements among underprivileged populations, who are deemed entitled to such movements, even violent ones, by virtue of being systemically oppressed. But for Western, privileged populations, nationalism is viewed as indistinguishable from supremacism.

The third leftist paradigm holds that religion, specifically the Judeo-Christian heritage of the West, should be regarded with deep suspicion. If religions are understood to be the “opium of the masses,” then the Judeo-Christian beliefs upon which Western civilization was built are the very architecture of systemic oppression and Western colonialism.

Each of these paradigms, and certainly all of them together, dooms Israel to abuse. By virtue of its status as a Jewish, Western, “white-passing,” prosperous nation-state, Israel is for the left the very exemplar of a racist oppressor. And Zionism, the national movement for self-determination of the Jewish people, is for the left a form of racism. The fact that a majority of Israeli Jews are themselves either refugees from Arab or Muslim countries or the direct descendants of those refugees bears no relevance. And Israel’s robust democratic norms and protection of religious liberty, a free press, and gay rights do not allow it to escape the moral blame assigned to systemic oppressors.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, as marginalized people “of color,” are the archetypical victims of oppression, from whom little should be expected and to whom much is owed. Irrelevant to this calculus is the enormous wealth that the Palestinian leadership has stolen and hoarded in foreign bank accounts. And the Palestinian Authority’s tyranny over its own people, prohibition of Jewish land ownership, censorship, and persecution of gays confer upon it no stain.

Many reacted with revulsion when the leader of the House Progressive Caucus, Representative Pramila Jayapal, recently called Israel a “racist state.” But no one should be surprised by this. Nor should anyone be surprised when policymakers on the left, when too sophisticated to use such slurs, make policy under the assumption that Israel is a racist state.

It is through this lens that much of Biden’s Israel policy comes into focus. Why wouldn’t we be understanding when Third World countries bash Israel at the UN? Why shouldn’t we acknowledge Israel’s white privilege by calling it an “occupier”? Why wouldn’t we indulge Palestinian intransigence, or anti-Semitism, or violence, or fantasies about Jerusalem’s history? Why shouldn’t we adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that expressly allows Israel to be held to a double standard?

Alan Dershowitz and others have written that President Biden might prove to be the Democrat’s last putatively pro-Israel president. We pray that’s not the case, but unless leftist ideology is banished from future administrations, it may not make much of a difference.
Elliott Abrams: Do Not Cut Off Aid to Israel
It has become fashionable in parts of the left and the right to decry military aid from the United States to Israel. Those on the right often oppose all forms of foreign aid and try to cut it, while those on the left often want a bigger foreign-assistance budget—but not for Israel. Recently, Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, Daniel Kurtzer and Yossi Beilin in the National Interest, and Liel Leibovitz and Jacob Siegel at Tablet have weighed in.

The facts are reasonably clear. The United States provides about $4 billion a year in aid to Israel, counting all forms of military assistance including those with direct and obvious benefit to American security. That amount provides about 20 percent of Israel’s defense budget and represents about half of uncommitted IDF funds (not, for example, tied to paying salaries) that can be used for things such as new research and development. Three-fourths (and as of FY 2028, all) of the U.S. aid funds must be spent in the United States, where they are used mostly for the procurement of weaponry.

The debate is over whether this is a healthy and useful relationship for the two countries. Kurtzer, a retired professional diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the administration of George W. Bush, now opposes assistance because it does not buy the United States adequate influence: “Aid provides the U.S. with no leverage or influence over Israeli decisions to use force.” Moreover, any aid provided “allows Israel to avoid hard choices of where to spend its own money, and thus allows Israel to spend more money on policies we oppose, such as settlements.” Simple enough: If you oppose settlements, as Kurtzer does, cut the aid and maybe there will be fewer of them.

More broadly, if you are a critic of Israel like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and their “Squad” in the House of Representatives, trying to reduce or end military aid to Israel is logical. They want a weaker Israel. So, in his way, does Kurtzer: He wants the United States to be better able to impose policies he likes and Israelis don’t, and a poorer Israel will presumably be less able to resist. While I oppose this view and find it appalling that Kurtzer and others are certain they know better than Israelis what is in Israel’s interest, it does—again—make a certain ruthless sense. It is the logic behind the recent efforts by so many American Jews, and by the Biden administration, to interfere in Israel’s domestic politics during the current debate on “judicial reform.”

No other democratic country is treated this way by the United States. There was no pressure exerted on Paris from the White House when hundreds of thousands of French men and women protested (sometimes violently) because France’s president overrode parliament to raise the retirement age. And it may be an error to believe that military aid is the most effective means of pressuring Israel, compared, let’s say, with a refusal to wield the veto to protect Israel in the United Nations Security Council. But enemies and critics of Israel alike are consistent with their hostile perspective when they try to cut aid and minimize U.S. support.
Ed Husain [WSJ]: The Three Big Ideas Behind The Abraham Accords They Can Lead To Peace In The Middle East, But Only If The U.S. Stops Moralizing And Takes Iranian Threats Seriously.
‘You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else,” Winston Churchill is said to have quipped. This week marks the third anniversary of one such “right thing”: the Abraham Accords. Announced on Aug. 13, 2020, and ratified the following month, the agreements heralded a new beginning of peace in the Middle East as several Arab nations agreed to normalize relations with Israel. The previous five American presidents tried “everything else” with Palestinian leaders and failed. The Abraham Accords broke that streak.

The agreements are premised on three big ideas. The first is that a collective security arrangement among Arab countries, Israel and the U.S. should be implemented to protect ordinary citizens from Islamist extremism. Egypt, Jordan and Turkey had long been warm to the idea, but other Muslim countries resisted, fearful of triggering radical uprisings. Egypt’s Anwar Sadat was assassinated two years after signing peace with Israel at Camp David.

Yet with mounting regional threats and a new generation of Arab leaders, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan—with the quiet support of other Arab nations—agreed to a different security architecture and vision for the Middle East: namely, promoting religious co-existence and integrating Jews into the region. These decisions quickly provoked the ire of the Iranian government, which continued to wage its campaign of aggression by supporting such groups as Hamas and Hezbollah, seizing oil tankers, shooting at vessels in international waters, and threatening any leader who engages with Israel.

It is no accident that the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis chant as their slogan “Death to America. Death to Israel.” Still, many U.S. regional allies often see America as harsh and moralistic toward friends yet respectful toward adversaries. The Abraham Accords present an opportunity to reset that dynamic.

The second idea underlying the accords is that a wave of prosperity would follow from regional economic cooperation. Israel is home to a blossoming Silicon Valley. The Tel Aviv neighborhood of Sarona is buzzing with billions of American dollars chasing the latest innovations in technology and artificial intelligence. And a new generation of Arabs want to savor the fruits of Israel’s commercial prosperity.
Who is funding Israel's judicial reform protests?
Strategic foreign involvement
While the majority of the funds for most protest groups appear to come from local sources, the input of foreign sources has had a strategic influence on the movement. This includes involvement in coordination between the many protest organizations, injecting other causes into the protests, and creating the initial sparks.

The New Israel Fund has given upwards of NIS 2 million to different groups according to an April 3 funding report. The report detailed that it gave left-wing peace group Standing Together $20,000 for the production of the “first demonstration that started the protest.” Indeed, press statements and organizing messages for the first Saturday protest on January 7 at Tel Aviv’s HaBimah Square primarily feature Standing Together as the organizer. A great deal of the media content produced that day featured purple Standing Together signage, and the stage backdrop was emblazoned with their slogan “This is the home of all of us.”

At the July 24 protest, Agmon also told The Jerusalem Post that Standing Together had organized the permits for the first protest, allowing their flags and signs to be more prominent during that event. In the weekly protests, Standing Together became a less dominant force, with the subsequent January 14 protest already being primarily led by Black Flags and MQG. There were also signs of divisions, with Standing Together accusing Ya’alon and MQG of excluding Arab and other minority speakers.

While Standing Together does receive foreign funding, including from foreign political actors like peace consultants Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst (forumZED) in 2022 and prior years – according to Guidestar in 2021 foreign donations accounted for 27% of its finances – the rest comes from local Israeli donations.

NIF’s funding of the first Saturday protest shows how foreign funding doesn’t need to be the primary source of an organization’s income to influence events, although it can be strategic. NIF claimed to have provided $3,285 to fund the first protest against the judicial reform in Beersheba. The demonstration was led by Rabbis for Human Rights, which according to Guidestar in 2022 was funded almost 56% by foreign donations.

Another initial notable protest was one by Darkenu on January 6, outside Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s home, just under 48 hours after his announcement. Levin’s house became a popular site for protests, and Darkenu was the first to argue that altering the judiciary could bring international courts to bear on IDF soldiers.

In 2022, 54% of Darkenu’s support was from abroad, according to Guidestar. The organization is also intimately tied to the US nonprofit OneVoice, the principal project of American entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky’s PeaceWorks Foundation. Darkenu receives financial and strategic support from OneVoice, one of the two primary beneficiaries of the $15 million donated to Israeli and Palestinian causes since 2015. In 2020, PeaceWorks received a US government grant from the Small Business Administration. OneVoice had elicited controversy in 2015 over its support of the anti-Netanyahu political campaign Victory15. The NGO was accused of using a 2013 $300,000 US State Department grant to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations to support V15. While a 2015 Senate Committee investigation said that there was no evidence that grant funds were used in the campaign, it had used infrastructure in part built with US government funds to support V15.
Palestinian suspects arrested among crowd in judicial reform protests
Police warned the public of road closures and local commanders held situation assessments with Police Chief Kobi Shabtai near the epicenter of the demonstrations. Law enforcement also issued a statement calling for protesters not to use pyrotechnic smoke flares during the rallies, saying that they could damage the health of participants. During preparations for the protest, three Palestinians illegally residing in the country were arrested and taken into custody for questioning.

Last week, a potential terror attack at the protests was prevented after city inspector Chen Amir and his partner stopped two men on a motorcycle. Amir was killed by the terrorist, his partner neutralized the terrorist.

Protesters also marched from the prime minister's Balfour residence to the President's Residence in Jerusalem. On Friday, Likud MK Eli Dalal met with President Isaac Herzog to discuss how they could foster a broad agreement on the reform.

At the Nahalal junction in northern Israel, Movement for Quality Government In Israel head Dr. Eliad Shraga and retired Brig.-Gen. Amal Asad led 2,500 protesters. At the Elkosh junction, dozens of Druze demonstrators led by Dr. Amir Khnifess said that the government was failing to represent large swathes of the Israeli public, including "the Druze that were turned into second-class citizens."

Further protests are expected in the north on Sunday and Monday, at the Golan Heights town of Ramot where Netanyahu and his wife Sara are vacationing until Wednesday. Protest leaders said there would be "surprises" on Tuesday.

"The dictator's isolated vacation trips in the north continue," said Hofshei B'Artzenu, which has managed a protest HQ for the demonstrations. "If we don't rest, they won't either."

The protest leaders said that the protests were coordinated in advance with the residents of the moshav, and that the rallies would be a direct continuation of the protests in at Neve Ativ, where the Netanyahus were previously vacationing.

Neve Ativ had been placed under police closure during much of the prime minister's stay, and according to the protesters, the residents were afraid that the security precautions would impact the local mango harvest.


In First, Saudi Appoints ‘Nonresident Envoy to PA, Consul to Jerusalem’
Saudi Arabia appointed its ambassador to Jordan as the non-resident Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority and Consul General to Jerusalem, Arab and Israeli media reported on Saturday.

According to the reports, Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has received the credentials of Saudi diplomat Naif bin Bandar Al-Sudairi. The move, which is seen as aimed to bolster the struggling PA, marks the first time the oil-rich Gulf kingdom will have official diplomatic representation in Jerusalem.

A statement from Ramallah carried by Palestinian media outlets Al-Khalidi said the move represents “an important step that will contribute to further boosting the strong brotherly relations that bind the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.”
Palestinian unity is a myth
According to a March 2023 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 83% of Palestinians say they are against the surrender of armed groups and their weapons to the PA in order to receive protection against Israeli assassination, while 12% are in favor.

Further: The vast majority (87%) said the PA does not have the right to arrest members of these armed groups in order to prevent them from carrying out attacks against Israel, nor to provide them with protection – only 8% disagreed.

However, the resentment against Fatah is festering. To understand this, one need look no further than the streets of Lebanon, regarding which the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and the United Kingdom have issued travel warnings. The popularity of Islamist groups is rising, and irrespective of whether they be Sunni or Shia, both can depend on Iran and Qatar for support.

Violence erupted in the Ain el-Hilweh Refugee Camp (the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon) at the beginning of March, when Fatah member Mahmoud Zbeidat was killed by a member of the Islamist group Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen. To avenge the attack, another member of Fatah killed another member of Al-Shabab.

Ain el-Hilweh, with close to 70,000 inhabitants, is located in the city of Sidon. Clashes are not uncommon there, and at least 11 people have been killed recently. Today, most of the clashes are between Fatah and the Islamist Jund al-Sham. Some 2,000 people have left the camp and are now homeless.

The outlook for unity on the ground among the Palestinians remains grim, and that is not necessarily a positive sign for Israel. More instability within the Palestinian community usually spills over into violence against the Israelis, united in their hatred.

It is as my dear friend, Mosab Hussein Yousef once told me: “If we did not have the Israelis to beat up upon, we would kill each other.”


Jordan: Controversial Bill Criminalizing Online Speech Passed
The Jordanian monarch ratified a bill Saturday to punish online speech deemed harmful to national unity, according to the Jordanian state news agency, legislation that has drawn accusations from human rights groups of a crackdown on free expression in a country where censorship is on the rise.

The measure makes certain online posts punishable with months of prison time and fines if these include comments deemed as “promoting, instigating, aiding, or inciting immorality,” demonstrating “contempt for religion” and “undermining national unity.”

It also punishes those who publish names or pictures of police officers online and outlaws certain methods of maintaining online anonymity.

With the approval of King Abdullah II, the bill now becomes law — set to take effect one month after it is published in the state newspaper, Al-Rai. The newspaper is expected to publish the law tomorrow.
Hezbollah: Next war will be in Israel’s Galilee, IDF posts will become graveyards
The next war between Israel and Hezbollah will take place in Israel’s Galilee region, a senior commander in the Lebanese terror group warned on Saturday, the latest threat in an escalating war of words between the two sides.

“Our battle will be in the Galilee, and if the enemy and its tanks enter Lebanon, they will not be able to leave,” the commander said in an interview with the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar TV network, which identified him as Hajj Jihad but blurred his face for the broadcast.

The threat came four days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant toured Israel’s border with Lebanon and warned the head of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, “not to make a mistake.”

“If… an escalation or conflict develops here, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age,” Gallant said.

In the Saturday interview, Jihad said that Hezbollah will destroy all IDF military posts in the next battle, turning them into “graveyards” and causing all Israeli soldiers to flee.

“The Israeli army lacks fighting spirit. This is not based on the word of the Islamic resistance but according to the Zionists themselves, who do not trust it,” Jihad told Al Manar. The remark appeared to be a reference to the recent deterioration of the IDF’s readiness due to thousands of active duty reservists who have said they will cease reporting for volunteer duty over the government’s judicial overhaul.

Nasrallah has gloated several times in recent months over the societal rifts sparked by the overhaul, saying they have left Israel at its most vulnerable point in years.


Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Attack on Bus That Killed 23 Syrian Troops
An attack on a military bus in Syria's east killed 23 government troops and wounded more than 10, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor said on Friday.

Islamic State, which operates sleeper cells in lands it once ruled, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Telegram channel.

It took place near the town of al-Mayadeen in the vast desert province of Deir Ezzor, which is split into areas controlled by Syrian troops backed by Iran and Russia, and Kurdish-led fighters backed by the United States.

The SOHR described it as the deadliest attack so far this year by Islamic State. The group, which seized wide swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq from 2013, has gone underground since losing its last territory in eastern Syria in 2019.

Syrian state media carried no immediate reports on the incident.

Attacks by Islamic State sleeper cells in Syria, particularly in the vast desert zones they once controlled, have become bolder and bloodier in recent months, according to SOHR head Rami Abdel Abdelrahman.
Biden Administration Abandoning Israel for Ruling Mullahs of Iran?
"For the last year and a half, Iran stated clearly that its main strategy is to make the Samaria region [of Israel] another Gaza." The Iranians... are "pouring money and smuggling weapons into the region. They are supporting Hamas and the PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] and other factions within the Palestinian Authority." — Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, former deputy commander of the IDF's Gaza Division, Fox News, July 24, 2023.

More than 19 Iranian regime-backed groups that are targeting Israel and US interests in the region meet the U.S. "terror designation criteria, " according to Joe Truzman, in the report, "Iran and its Network of Nineteen Terrorist Organizations on Israel's Borders". The Biden Administration, however, has not added them to the list of foreign terror groups.

"Over the last four decades, the Iranian regime has built a network of armed groups on Israel's borders to create instability and foment terrorism. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and a mosaic of other terrorist organizations receive funding, training and weapons from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF)." — Joe Truzman, "Iran and its Network of Nineteen Terrorist Organizations," fdd.org, 2023.

"Long War Journal has monitored the buildup of Iran-backed terrorist organizations on key fronts: Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel has worked to limit the growth of these terrorist organizations, but they remain a significant threat on multiple fronts." — Joe Truzman, "Iran and its Network of Nineteen Terrorist Organizations."

What is mind-boggling is that the Biden Administration criticizes Israel but then turns a blind eye to Iran's military buildup near Israel's borders -- all while Iran fires missiles into Israel from Syria, ships ballistic missiles to Israel's self-declared enemy, Hezbollah, and continues to threaten exterminating Israel down the pike.
JCPA event speakers imagine, for a moment, a democratic Iran
JCPA event speakers imagine, just for a moment, a democratic Iran.

The most important thing that Iranians suffering under the Islamic Republic need to hear is that Iran will not fall apart.

That’s according to Mehrdad Marty Youssefiani, an American of Iranian-Kurdish heritage, who was one of the speakers—including two others from Iran—at an Aug. 10 conference hosted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

“Why? Because we have plenty of highly-successful, resourceful, creative Iranians, who are currently in exile leading some of the most consequential plans,” Youssefiani said. “If those Iranians can do that within the complex competitive market economies of the world, they can and will do the same for Iran.”

Iranians expats have the tools, resources and knowledge, as well as the passion and patriotism to help those in the country, according to Youssefiani. “That will inspire the Iranians,” he said.

The conference, titled “The Path to a Democratic Iran,” addressed supporting Iran’s quest for democracy, and the “urgency of Europe’s proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.” The IRGC, which the United States and other countries designate a foreign terrorist group, has carried out terrorist attacks, violated Iranians’ human rights and suppressed dissenting voices, among other atrocities, for decades.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, former Italian foreign minister, and John Bolton, former U.S. national security adviser and former ambassador to the United Nations, were among the program speakers.

Bolton told attendees—including those following via livestream—that there will be the most acute opportunity for regime change and democracy in Iran when Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, dies.
US, EU warns shippers to avoid Iranian waters over seizure threats
Western-backed maritime forces in the Middle East on Saturday warned shippers traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to stay as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible to avoid being seized, a stark advisory amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States.

A similar warning went out to shippers earlier this year ahead of Iran seizing two tankers traveling near the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.

While Iran and the US are near an apparent deal that would see billions of Iranian assets held in South Korea unfrozen in exchange for the release of five Iranian Americans detained in Tehran, the warning shows that the tensions remain high at sea. Already, the US is exploring plans to put armed troops on commercial ships in the strait to deter Iran amid a buildup of troops, ships, and aircraft in the region.

US Navy Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Mideast-based 5th Fleet, acknowledged the warning had been given, but declined to discuss specifics about it.

A US-backed maritime group called the International Maritime Security Construct “is notifying regional mariners of appropriate precautions to minimize the risk of seizure based on current regional tensions, which we seek to de-escalate,” Hawkins said. “Vessels are being advised to transit as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible.”

Separately, a European Union-led maritime organization watching shipping in the strait has “warned of a possibility of an attack on a merchant vessel of unknown flag in the Strait of Hormuz in the next 12 to 72 hours,” said private intelligence firm Ambrey.


Federal agents arrest white supremacist, whose threats JNS reported exclusively
In early June, JNS reported exclusively that a known white supremacist, previously jailed on weapon charges, threatened jurors in the federal trial of the now-convicted shooter, who killed 11 Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Yesterday, federal agents arrested the man, Hardy Carroll Lloyd, in West Virginia.

Lloyd, 45 is “accused of trying to influence witnesses and testimony in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial through emails and blogs posts calling for violence against Jews and threatening to dox jurors, witnesses and anyone who pushed back against his hateful rhetoric,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

“We have struck Pittsburgh and shall continue to pass out flyers until Richard Bowers, the great WHITE hero of Pgh, is freed,” Lloyd wrote earlier in the year, in an email that was provided to JNS. Bowers has since been sentenced to death for the shooting at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in October 2018.

“We shall also file for the names of the jury once it is over to make sure they voted the right way. If Bowers is not freed then we shall not only up our flyers, but also make PGH sorry. We cannot state what this is, of course,” he added at the time.

Lloyd is the “self-appointed reverend of the hate group dubbed the Church of Ben Klassen, named for the late Florida congressman and white supremacist,” the Post-Gazette reported. “He founded the hate group/religious movement known as the Creativity Movement. He has taken responsibility for racist and antisemitic flyers and stickers left across Pittsburgh in recent months and weeks.”


Phoenix Suns will retire Amar’e Stoudemire’s number, making him 2nd Jewish ex-NBAer to net honor
Amar’e Stoudemire hasn’t donned a Phoenix Suns jersey since 2010, but soon, no Suns player will wear his No. 32 ever again.

The Suns announced Wednesday that Stoudemire, along with his teammate Shawn Marion, would be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor during the 2023-2024 NBA season. According to the team’s press release, this represents “the franchise’s highest honor bestowed to individuals who have made an enduring impact on the organization, community and Suns fans.”

Stoudemire, who formally converted to Judaism in 2020, played the first eight seasons of his 14-year NBA career in Phoenix, racking up a Rookie of the Year award in 2002-2003 and five All-Star appearances. Stoudemire ranks seventh in Suns history in points (11,035), fifth in scoring average (21.4), third in rebounds (4,613) and fifth in blocks (722).

“I bleed purple and orange, making this a tremendous honor to be inducted,” Stoudemire said in the announcement. “My best and most transformative years came in Phoenix with the Suns. I have so much love for Suns fans and appreciation for the love they have always shown me.”

Stoudemire is the second Jewish retired ballplayer to have his number retired, an honor that has gone to about 220 players across the league over time. The first was Dolph Schayes, who retired in 1964 and saw his No. 4 retired by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016, months after his death.

Phoenix owner Mat Ishbia, the Jewish billionaire who purchased the Suns along with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury late last year, called Stoudemire “one of the most electrifying players the league has ever seen.”
The Jewish Sport Report: Two top US college basketball teams are in Israel right now
Arizona and Kansas State’s men’s basketball teams are touring Israel right now

Two of the country’s top collegiate basketball teams, Arizona and Kansas State, have embarked on a 10-day trip to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Organized by the nonprofit Athletes for Israel, the program is an expansion of the “Birthright for College Basketball” trip that Auburn players experienced last summer. Adding the UAE to the itinerary was a step toward realizing the organizers’ dream of creating a trip modeled after the Abraham Accords, the series of normalization agreements between Israel and neighboring Arab countries.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who was involved in planning this summer’s trip, is accompanying the teams on their flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, to “feel very much a part of the Abraham Accords,” he told me. Pearl said his goal is to create a full “Abraham Accords Cup” with teams from the United States, Israel and Arab countries.


‘The Value of Hearing Good News’: American-Israeli Hassidic Rapper Nissim Black Launches New Podcast About Faith and Spirituality
Hassidic international recording artist Nissim Black talked to The Algemeiner on Thursday about the premiere of his new podcast, where he will interview his guests about their spirituality, faith and struggles.

“I feel like there’s a major lacking in the world of people who talk about G-d, spirituality and these things on podcasts and in a public forum. And I have a platform so I feel like [this podcast] is just something that needed to happen,” the He Is The King singer, 36, explained.

The hip-hop artist also said he hopes The Nissim Black Show, which will premiere on Sunday, will be uplifting for listeners because that was one of his biggest motivations for wanting to create the podcast, especially after the turmoil the world experienced during the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020.

“I never understood the value of hearing good news until the coronavirus happened, because there was almost never any good news,” he noted. “We watched the whole entire world crumble and with more and more bad news — I never felt stressed, anxiety none of those things before until 2020 happened. It changed the world forever. And I understood the value of just having good news, of hearing good things, and how important that is for a person. So hopefully [the podcast] is something that spiritually motivates people.”

Born in Seattle, Washington, where his parents were part of the hip-hop scene, Black was selling drugs by the time he turned 12 and joined a gang shortly after. He was raised Muslim but converted to Christianity after he joined a hip-hop program during his adolescence that was run by a Christian organization. After a confrontation with another rapper almost cost him his life, Black turned to Orthodox Judaism. He and his wife converted in 2013 and made aliyah in 2016. They now live with their seven children in Beit Shemesh, where Black is recording his podcast.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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