Wednesday, September 18, 2024

09/18 Links Pt1: The ‘Bionic Jew’ Theory of the Universe; Day 2: Hez-noballah Walkie Talkies Explode; UNGA res. calling for Jerusalem Old City to be Jew-free

From Ian:

Eli Lake: Hezbollah’s Exploding Pagers
All of these operations demonstrated an operational cunning and competence that are the stuff of spy novels. And yet Iran today is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to the U.S. government’s own recent estimates.

“I think it’s fair to say the Israelis have tended to look at strategy as an accumulation of tactical victories,” Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA operations officer who is now a distinguished fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Free Press. “That obviously has been tested to the max with the Islamic Republic of Iran. I think the Israelis are aware it hasn’t worked.”

This failure of Israeli covert action to improve its strategic standing in the Middle East is perhaps best demonstrated by its recent killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. At the end of July, Haniyeh lost his life in an explosion at the guest house where he was staying during the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

Not only did Israel’s agents reportedly manage to sneak a bomb inside a guest house in the capital city of their mortal enemy, but after Iran vowed revenge, to this day it has yet to follow through on its threat. That sounds like an unbelievable success. But there’s a catch. Because of Iran’s mere threat of retaliation, most commercial airlines have stopped their flights to Israel, further isolating a country maligned for fighting a war in Gaza started by Iran’s proxy, Hamas. Indeed, after the pager explosions, Air France and Lufthansa have canceled flights to Tel Aviv, fearing Hezbollah’s retaliation.

In this respect, the real story is not that covert action for Israel is worthless. Gerecht stressed that the tactical success of these operations have value. The prospect of every encrypted Hezbollah pager exploding at the same time may be a psychological deterrent for the organization’s middle managers and others.

But they will not deter Hezbollah from launching the missiles and rockets into Israel that make it impossible for 100,000 citizens to return home. As Gerecht said, “Israel’s tactical brilliance is no substitute for serious hard power and military interventions.”

Put another way, Israel cannot defeat its enemies by waging war only in the shadows.
Seth Mandel: The ‘Bionic Jew’ Theory of the Universe
There is another, less amusing thought process at work here, however. And that is that the morality of Israel’s operations is inversely correlated with their level of success.

Israel’s critics insist the Jewish state carry out individually targeted attacks. Blowing up a terrorist’s personal pager, maiming him and him alone, is obviously in compliance with this demand. But what if Israel does exactly that to thousands of individual terrorists simultaneously? That’s no good, for reasons that are difficult to explain but which feel obvious to the public intellectuals keeping score.

You can see how this approach has been applied to Gaza for the duration of the ongoing war. If Israeli soldiers encounter an empty house rigged with explosives but which has an entrance to a subterranean tunnel system used only by the terrorist army and the hostages the IDF is trying to rescue, what can it do? The obvious answer is: it can detonate the explosives from a safe distance and then enter the tunnels. After all, the war crime here is Hamas’s, and such an approach allows the IDF to neutralize the threat without harming civilians.

But what if Hamas illegally rigs a house again? And again? “An aerial photo recovered by the Israeli military from a Hamas commander’s post shows three dozen hidden tunnel entrances marked with color-coded dots and arrows in one crowded neighborhood,” reports the New York Times. The underlying facts haven’t changed: Hamas has committed the crime, Israel is pursuing the approach most closely aligned with humanitarian concerns. But because Hamas has replicated its crime many times over, Israel will knock down many houses. Suddenly, the public criticism is of Israel’s conduct, its supposed “domicide,” its appetite for destruction.

In this upside-down world, the more war crimes Hamas carries out, the less Israel is morally permitted to do in self-defense. Hence, the problem in Lebanon is not that there are thousands of Iranian terrorists there but that Israel wants to take out all of them.

What’s the upper limit here? How many terrorists can Israel target before it violates the international humanitarian law known as It’s Enough Already?

The pager operation reportedly required a year of planning and meticulous execution, because Israel is not in fact a nation of Bionic Jews. But in the minds of Israel’s critics, the more powerful the Jews become, the more evil they automatically become. Therefore you don’t actually have to make a case against what Israel does on the merits, you merely have to assert Israel’s power and success. Which hopefully will continue to outpace that of its enemies by leaps and bounds.
Brendan O'Neill: This wasn’t a war crime – it was an audacious assault on anti-Semites
Yet beneath the double standards, which are painfully predictable, there is something else, too. Something even worse. It’s the flagrantly bigoted belief that everything Israel does is a war crime. This nation can’t do right for doing wrong. If it fights its Islamist foe from the air, as it is doing in Gaza, it is committing a crime. Yet if it plants deadly weapons directly in the pockets of the Islamists who want to destroy it, that is also a crime. If it bombs neighbourhoods in Gaza where Hamas lurks, that is ‘indiscriminate slaughter’. Yet if it behaves in a highly discriminating fashion and puts mini-bombs in the trousers of terrorists, that is ‘barbarism’.

The list of things that become ‘crimes’ when Israel does them grows longer every day. Following the butchery of 7 October, when Hamas’s pogromists raped, kidnapped and murdered Jews in southern Israel, Western leftists described Israel’s bombing of Hamas positions in Gaza as criminal. Yet when Israel went to extraordinary lengths to warn Gazans to leave the places it planned to bomb, dropping tens of thousands of Arabic-language leaflets from the sky, that was called criminal, too – it was the crime of ‘forced displacement’, apparently. Kill Palestinian civilians and you’re a criminal; try not to kill Palestinian civilians and you’re a criminal. Likewise, when Israel bombed Aleppo in Syria earlier this year to take out the Hezbollah militants based there, it was noisily damned as the vilest of military aggressors. Yet now its meticulous planting of mini-bombs in Hezbollah pagers is branded wicked aggression, too.

That many in the West view Israel’s every action as criminal is depressing, but not surprising. Fundamentally, they think it is a crime for Israel to defend itself. They think it is a crime for Israel to take any action that might limit the threat posed by the apocalyptic anti-Semitism of Hezbollah and Hamas. And they think this because they think Israel’s very existence is a crime. They view the Jewish State as a criminal enterprise, a vile, law-defying blot not only on the Middle East but also on the reputation of humankind itself. When you harbour such intense, irrational hatred for one nation, it is a short step to telling that nation to down its weapons, lower its defences and let itself be attacked.

Make no mistake, this is what the radical accusers of Israel are saying when they tell it to stop bombing Hamas, stop attacking Hezbollah militants, stop arming itself, stop everything. They are saying leave your enemy be, and let your people be murdered. They can call this ‘anti-Zionism’ as much as they like, but to many of us their bizarre and cruel singling out of the world’s only Jewish nation as the only nation that is forbidden from fighting its enemies smacks of anti-Semitism. If you are stony-faced when Jews are murdered, but furious when their murderers have 20 grams of explosives put in the batteries of their pagers, then please remove the word ‘anti-fascist’ from your social-media bio, please refrain from calling yourself ‘anti-racist’, and please cease all future use of the word ‘progressive’.

Through those weaponised pagers, Israel sent an important message not only to Hezbollah but also to the world. It let the world know that you cannot kill Jews with impunity anymore. Those days are gone. Kill Jews now – as Hamas and Hezbollah have both done, as part of their fascistic war on the Jewish State – and there will be consequences. You might lose a bollock, you might lose your life. That the racist militants of Iranian-sponsored Islamism are peeved that Jew-killing is no longer acceptable makes sense. That so many ‘progressives’ in the West also seem put out by the fact that killing Jews is a riskier business today than it was in earlier centuries is more disturbing. Paging the Western left: racist terrorism must always be resisted.


Everything we know about the mysterious device blasts in Lebanon
The explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters across Lebanon and Syria yesterday has re-established a strong deterrent against the terrorist group, according to journalist Nadav Eyal.

Today, the remote attacks have continued, with thousands of handheld radios exploding across Lebanon, killing at least three people and injuring hundreds. The devices were bought by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time the detonating pagers were purchased, according to a security source.

“This is probably one of the most impressive operations that Israel has had since the foundation of the state, 1948, and definitely the most impressive operation that we have seen since the beginning of the war,” he said, speaking on the Call Me Back podcast.

“Israel is constantly escalating with Hezbollah, hitting Hezbollah harder and harder all the time, because Hezbollah won’t stop shooting,” he said.

“Israel has been trying to persuade them by using force, or diplomacy with Amos Hochstein, to just stop shooting and they won’t.

“This pager attack is just another page, as far as the Israelis are concerned, a glorious page, in their attempt to convince Nasrallah that it isn’t worth, and now Nasrallah needs to make a decision.”

After the extraordinary tactical triumph of yesterday and today, it is likely that Hassan Nasrallah, General Secretary of Hezbollah, might think twice before escalating the conflict further.

“Let’s say he says it is worth it, and I’m going to launch these missiles against Tel Aviv. He should think to himself: ‘What’s Israel’s next surprise? If they can booby trap 3,000 pagers used by my operatives, to the extent of the Iranian ambassador in Beirut, what else did they booby trap?’”

Twelve people were killed and 3,000 others were wounded during yesterday's sophisticated remote attack, which involved the simultaneous detonation of thousands of handheld devices used by militants at around 15:30 local time.
Seth Fratnzman: Why Hezbollah’s pager op losses could lead to new phase of war
THE FACT THAT the attack has affected so many Hezbollah men, including a member of Lebanon’s parliament and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, will put pressure on Iran and Hezbollah to respond, which could lead to a new phase of the war with Israel.

So, what might this look like? Hezbollah could plan another large rocket barrage, as it did on August 25, when it had planned to fire thousands of rockets at Israel. The IDF preempted that with airstrikes. Hezbollah sufficed to fire only several hundred rockets at around a dozen targets.

It will still want to surpass that attack, which was in response to the IDF strike that killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. That came in response to a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children and teens in Majdal Shams in northern Israel. The terrorist group will want to carry out some kind of quality attack and show that it can succeed, unlike its failure on August 25.

The Wednesday attacks will create a snowballing effect of pressure. But Hezbollah is in a position where it will want to weigh its options with Iran and other Iranian-backed proxies, such as the Houthis and militias in Iraq, as to its next steps.
Col. Richard Kemp: 'Hard to think of more precise, discriminating method of attack'
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British military forces in Afghanistan, spoke to Israel National News - Arutz Sheva about the explosion of pagers and communication devices used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Col. Kemp cautioned that the New York Times was premature in its claim that the detonation of the pagers "was a tactical success that had no clear strategic impact."

He stated, "We do not know whether this attack will have strategic impact, perhaps as part of a larger plan that has not yet unfolded. However that might or might not work out, this operation against Hezbollah will have had a major effect in its own right. First, it will have done immense damage to the terrorist organization, taking a large number of its fighters and leaders out in one go. Plus of course, severely undermining their communications capability."

"Second, it will have intimidated Hezbollah, potentially frightening some members into leaving the group or even scare off new recruits from joining. The psychological impact will be enormous, with every Hezbollah terrorist now fearing that almost everything he owns or touches, including cars, guns, laptops, radios, and other electrical items, could potentially be weaponized against them. This is not what Hezbollah terrorists signed up for. Wide-scale and severe maiming and death by remote control is far removed from the supposed glory of battlefield martyrdom they were promised," he added. "Potentially even, this move could contribute to any future Hezbollah decision on whether or not to pull back from immediate conflict with Israel, not least because it is clear the extent that their organization has been comprehensively penetrated by Israeli intelligence."

"Third, it has humiliated Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that struts its power on the world stage, presenting itself as one of the strongest armies in the Middle East. While trying to conceal its communications from Israel, that very activity has been turned against it in spectacular style. The resulting mockery that has already greeted Hizballah in the region will add to the terrorist group’s demoralization.

He noted that, "Beyond Hezbollah, this operation will also spread fear among Israel’s other enemies including Iran and Syria. They will be terrified that Israel’s long arm will also reach into their own intelligence, terrorist and military apparatus."

Col. Kemp praised the use of the pagers as an extraordinarily precise tactic that limits civilian casualties to an unprecedented degree. "It’s hard to think of a more precise and discriminating method of attack than detonating pagers known to be specifically assigned to individual terrorists, using devices that limit the potential for collateral damage. I doubt any widespread military attack in history in civilian areas has ever been so precisely targeted."

"The targets of the attack were terrorist fighters who are involved, directly or indirectly, in active combat operations against Israel including rocket and drone attacks every day for almost a year. Under international law that makes them legitimate and lawful targets for attack as Israel seeks to defend its citizens from violent aggression," he said.
‘Israel launched Hezbollah pager attack over fears of being exposed’
Jerusalem’s pager attack against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon was carried out ahead of schedule due to concerns the Iranian proxy might have discovered the plan, according to reports in Axios and Al-Monitor.

The Arab-American news site Al-Monitor first reported that Israel had intended to wait until just before a full-scale war to launch the attack, but made a last-minute decision to detonate the pagers after at least two Hezbollah members suspected something was wrong with the devices.

Three U.S. officials confirmed to Axios that the secret operation went ahead early because of fears that it was about to be discovered by the terrorist group.

“It was a use it or lose it moment,” said one U.S. official.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack and vowed revenge. Lebanon’s prime minister also accused Israel of being behind the incident. For its part, Jerusalem has not taken responsibility.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was reportedly not wounded in the attack, will give a speech at 5 p.m. on Thursday, according to the terror group.
Moshe Ya'alon named as target of Hezbollah assassination attempt
Former Israeli defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon was the target of a Hezbollah assassination plot foiled by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) last year, the Israel Police reported the following day.

The nine suspects who had been arrested in connection with the incident have been indicted, Israeli media reported.

Ya'alon had been informed by security forces and briefed according to the developments.

Shortly after the report, Ya'alon responded, saying, "It's not the first time that someone has tried to assassinate me. I always view myself as the predator, not the prey. That is why I'm still alive."

The group of suspects was reportedly comprised of eight Israeli Arabs as well as one resident of east Jerusalem.

In a following incident that occurred on Tuesday at Park Hayarkon, the same place as the earlier bombing attempt, the Shin Bet stated that it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate in the coming days from Lebanon.

According to the Shin Bet, the infrastructure behind the latest plot is the same one responsible for last year's attempt on Ya'alon's life in Tel Aviv.

The device that was discovered bears similarities to the bomb used in last year’s attempt, which was intended to target a senior Israeli official.
Daniel Greenfield: Biden-Harris Admin Immediately Leaks Details of Israeli Pager Op
Israel did not take responsibility for the pager attack that crippled Hezbollah’s comms and took out a chunk of their officer corps. It certainly did not go ahead and describe how it was done for the media. That’s tradecraft. And you don’t reveal it.

But the New York Times had a report detailing how it happened that same evening. I won’t link to it as it carries the byline of fake news fabulist Sheera Frenkel who had previously carried water for Hamas and lied that the Islamic terror group had not kidnapped and killed three Israeli teens.

The report is described as being based on briefings received by American officials.

The material leaked to the Times comes from “American and other officials briefed on the operation” and the “American and other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the operation.”

Is this classified information? Sounds like it. If we were involved it certainly would be.

The official American position was that we were not aware of the attack beforehand.

A U.S. official said that several minutes before the pagers started exploding across Lebanon, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant called U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and told him Israel was going to conduct an operation in Lebanon soon, but refused to give any specific details.

The U.S. official said the Israelis didn’t tell the U.S. about the specifics of the operation, but added that Gallant’s call was an attempt to avoid keeping the U.S. totally in the dark.

Nevertheless, U.S. officials said they didn’t see Gallant’s call as a serious prior notice. “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday.

Assuming that’s true (and considering the pro-terrorist and foreign regime figures in this administration, including in the Pentagon and NSC, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Israelis held back their plans) then the Israelis held a briefing afterward.

And then the officials turned around and leaked it all to the New York Times.
Israel accused of violating international law for ‘incredibly precise’ pager attack on Hezbollah
The Jewish state has not claimed responsibility for an incident, in which some 2,700 pagers belonging to Hezbollah terrorists exploded in Lebanon and Syria earlier this week. But critics of Israel accused it of violating international law and of being responsible for the attack.

“Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon detonated thousands of handheld devices across of a slew of public spaces, seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians,” stated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a member of the so-called “squad” and frequent Israel critic.

“This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines U.S. efforts to prevent a wider conflict,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any U.S. assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was among the organizations that blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7, called for the Biden administration “to condemn the Israeli government for killing children and maiming numerous civilians in Lebanon by detonating bombs reportedly placed in pagers without any regard for innocent life.”

“The Israeli government reportedly detonated explosives contained in pagers in Lebanon. Two children and a medical worker are reportedly among the victims of the attack,” CAIR said. “The attack could lead to a spread and escalation of the conflict, analysts say.”

It added that the attack was an Israeli “brazen and wanton act of state terrorism that has killed at least two children and maimed countless people who had nothing to do with the cross-border war.”

If the attack targeted 2,700 people with ties to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terror organization, and struck three additional civilians, that would mean that the operation had about a 99.89% effective rate of targeting terrorists compared to civilians.

“If Israel was responsible, then on available information these seem to be incredibly precise. Rules on targeting are principally necessity, distinction and proportionality,” Natasha Hausdorff, a barrister in the United Kingdom and legal director of UK Lawyers for Israel, told JNS.

“It is hard to imagine a better means of targeting Hezbollah operatives, whoever is behind the exploding devices,” Hausdorff said. “I would ask these individuals which international law they claim was violated.”
Detonation of Hezbollah pagers deemed a ‘massive success’ militarily
Sky News host Andrew Bolt has deemed the detonation of thousands of pagers in Lebanon and Syria as a “massive success” militarily.

This comes after hundreds of handheld Hezbollah pagers simultaneously exploded in Lebanon, killing several people and injuring about 4,000 people.

“It was a stunningly clever plot,” Mr Bolt said.

Warning: This video contains content which may be distressing for viewers.




More Hezbollah comms devices explode across Lebanon, killing 14
More communications devices used by Hezbollah terrorists exploded on Wednesday afternoon across the group’s main stronghold in Beirut and in Southern Lebanon, Reuters reported, citing a security source.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 14 Hezbollah operatives were killed in the latest series of device explosions. In addition, some 450 terrorists were said to have sustained wounds.

At least one of the blasts took place in the vicinity of a funeral for terrorists killed on Tuesday, when thousands of Hezbollah pagers detonated all over the country, according to eyewitness reports.

The Hezbollah devices that exploded late Wednesday afternoon are hand-held walkie-talkies, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.

Axios cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that the radios, which were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence, were part of the terror group’s emergency communications systems that were supposed to be used during a conflict with the Israel Defense Forces.

On Tuesday, more than 2,700 Hezbollah operatives were wounded and at least 12 were killed across Lebanon when their pagers exploded, with the terrorist organization saying it held Israel “fully responsible.”
What Experts Make of Israel's 'Ingenious' Hezbollah Pager Attack
Israel's astonishing attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon on Tuesday culminated in the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah terrorists' pagers. It left at least nine dead and 2,800 injured, according to the latest reports.

But it left many wondering why it wasn’t followed by a larger offensive incursion into Lebanon, from which Hezbollah has for the past 11 months launched near-daily rocket and drone attacks that have driven tens of thousands of Israeli civilians from their homes in northern Israel. For months, Israelis have been bracing for a second-front war against Hezbollah, the Washington Free Beacon's Andrew Tobin reported in March, and Tuesday’s events raise obvious questions about what Israeli officials intended to communicate about their intentions.

We asked some of the smartest foreign policy experts we know what they made of the situation. Here’s what they said.

- Elliott Abrams, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, former U.S. Envoy to Iran: "Israel has been re-establishing deterrence since it was badly undermined last Oct. 7. Like the recent assassinations in Lebanon and Iran, and Israel’s attack on some Iranian air defense sites in April, this attack is meant to remind Hezbollah of Israel’s technical sophistication and its willpower. Israel is trying to make it clear to Hezbollah and Iran that it does not fear escalation. Hezbollah will respond, but this attack will make them realize they are more vulnerable than they think."
- Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research, Foundation for Defense of Democracies: "It was obviously a major feat to pull off this technology. The Mossad was able to manipulate the Hezbollah supply chain when they purchased these pagers. This was what I consider to be a zero-days exploit—use it or lose it. And now there are thousands of injured Hezbollahis. The question now is whether this leads to escalation. The northern border has been on a knife's edge for eleven months since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah began shooting rockets, missiles, and drones at Israel. Does this bring us closer to war? Nobody knows."
- Gabriel Noronha, fellow, Jewish Institute for the National Security of America, former State Department official: "Hezbollah's security vulnerabilities run deep. This latest incident demonstrates the extent to which Israel has penetrated their networks. The psychological damage will be just as immense as the physical damage to Hezbollah operatives."
- Joe Truzman, research analyst, Foundation for Defense of Democracies: "It’s certainly possible the attack on Hezbollah can escalate into a full-blown war. Israel demonstrated that it could have attacked Hezbollah further by targeting strategic sites following the mass confusion created by the pager blasts. However, it chose not to. It’s in Israel’s interest not to initiate a full-blown war, and I think Hezbollah is avoiding such an escalation as well. If Hezbollah responds, I don’t think it will be a knee-jerk reaction, and it will try to limit the response so that it won’t trigger an escalation of the ongoing conflict. However, mistakes often happen in conflict. It’s a slippery slope for both actors."
- David Schenker, former State Department assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs: "This appears to be a well-conceived interdiction of supply chains that was done not only conceptually well, but executed with great competence. Israel did the operational preparation, laid the groundwork, and when you have these things in place, if you don't use it, you might lose it. This is another in the growing list of Hezbollah's humiliations. Hezbollah is asking itself today whether it wants this war. All they have to do is fire a missile into Tel Aviv and we're there. Israel itself is demonstrating that it is willing to climb the escalatory ladder."


Pager explosions killed 19 IRGC members in Syria
19 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members were killed after their pagers had exploded in Deir ez-Zur in eastern Syria, Saudi news source Al-Hadath reported Wednesday afternoon.

An additional 150 IRCG members were also wounded in the explosions, Army Radio reported, citing the Saudi news source.

The report came a day after around 4,000 Hezbollah members had their pagers also exploded in an attack reportedly attributed to Israel. Foreign reports attribute the attack to the Mossad and IDF. Iranian ambassador also wounded

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was also wounded in the attack, Iranian state-owned Mehr News Agency reported.

The day after, IDF artillery struck numerous Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon, with the IAF striking in Odaisseh, Markaba, Blida, Maroun El Ras, and Chihine areas as well.
Iranian ambassador to Lebanon lost an eye to pager blast
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon lost one eye and suffered serious injury to the other when a pager he was carrying exploded on Tuesday, amid a nationwide attack targeting Tehran’s terror proxy Hezbollah.

Two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefed on the attack confirmed the extent of Mojtaba Amini’s injuries to The New York Times, saying that they were more serious than initially reported and that he was being transported to Tehran for treatment.

Hossein Soleimani, the editor-in-chief of Mashregh, the main IRGC news website, tweeted, “Unfortunately, the injuries inflicted on the Iranian ambassador in the eye area were very severe.”

A video published by Iranian news media outlets of Amini being transported to the hospital shows him on a street in Beirut in the chaotic aftermath of the attack with his eyes covered with bandages and the front of his white shirt covered in blood.


UN General Assembly passes resolution calling for Jerusalem Old City to be Jew-free
Jerusalem’s Old City, in addition to Judea and Samaria, must be Judenrein within a year, according to a Palestinian-drafted resolution, which the U.N. General Assembly passed on Wednesday.

The resolution, which passed by a 124-14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to give force to a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line.

More than 40 countries sponsored the resolution, which was the first that Palestinians filed after being granted unprecedented privileges, for a non-U.N. member, earlier this year.

The resolution calls on the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw completely from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within 12 months, which means evacuating all Jewish communities beyond the armistice line, including Jerusalem’s Old City.

It also bans arms sales to the IDF of any equipment that would be expected reasonably to be used in the territory over the 1949 lines and calls for a boycott of all products produced by Jews in those areas.

The resolution text lacks any mention of Israeli security concerns, historic ties to the lands or Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

The vote came after a day of debate on Tuesday.

Argentina, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the United States joined Israel in opposing the resolution.

Notably, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ukraine and Australia were among those who abstained.
JD Vance among Republican senators assailing UN ahead of anti-Israel draft resolution
Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio joined more than 30 of his Senate colleagues on Tuesday in calling a draft resolution by the Palestinian mission to the UN “an absolute disgrace that rewards terrorism.”

The draft resolution calls for the implementation of recent International Court of Justice decisions, including a withdrawal from the “Palestinian territories” within six months, an arms embargo on “settlements,” and sanctions against Israeli individuals. It is scheduled for a vote next week, Israel’s mission to the UN said Sunday.

The draft resolution was a “clear insult to the Jewish people and anyone who understands history,” the senators said in a statement. 'A one-sided effort to delegitimize Israel'

“As we approach the one-year anniversary of the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas and affiliated Palestinian terrorist groups against innocent Israeli civilians, which involved murder, mutilation, and sexual violence, the international community must unequivocally unite against this evil, one-sided effort to delegitimize Israel,” they said.

The international community “must focus its energy and resources” on ensuring Hamas and other terrorist groups are completely destroyed, instead of proposing “biased and counterproductive initiatives, which will do nothing to advance a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” the statement said.

“We must remain firm to ensure every single hostage held by these terrorists is safely returned to their loved ones,” it said.

The statement was signed by Republican Senators Tom Cotton (Arkansas), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming),Tim Scott (South Carolina), Dan Sullivan (Arkansas), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Jim Risch (Idaho), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), John Kennedy (Louisiana), John Hoeven (North Dakota), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), Ted Budd (North Carolina), Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Pete Ricketts (Nebraska), JD Vance (Ohio), John Barrasso (Wyoming), Jerry Moran (Kansas), Josh Hawley (Missouri), James Lankford (Oklahoma), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Mike Braun (Indiana), John Thune (South Dakota), Roger Wicker (Mississippi), John Cornyn (Texas), and Katie Boyd Britt (Alabama).


UN votes 124-14 to strip Israel of right to self-defense in Gaza, West Bank
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted 124-14 to strip Israel of the right to self-defense against Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem.

The text of the resolution was based on the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion in July that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory was illegal.

Prior to the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he supported the ICJ option and would abide by the vote, which calls on the IDF to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines within 12 months.

The resolution also calls on member states not to sell arms or military equipment to Israel that would be used in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem. It calls for a boycott of all Israeli products produced over the pre-1967 lines.

The resolution has declaratory power only but provides international backing to those countries that want to take additional steps against Israel.

No mention of the hostages
The text does not mention Hamas, the October 7 invasion of Israel, or the remaining 101 hostages in Gaza. It makes no requirements of Hamas or the Palestinians with regard to attacks on Israel.

The resolution was opposed by Argentina, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Hungary, Israel, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the United States.

Among the 43 countries that abstained were Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and European Union countries Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden.

New Zealand supported the resolution as did 13 EU nations: Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain.

Canadian Ambassador to the UN Bob Rae blasted the resolution, despite his country’s abstention and even though he said his government respected the role of the ICJ and agreed with a number of tenets of the document, including an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.


UN adviser says Israel accused of ‘domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, ecocide’ in Gaza
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights who has a long history of antisemitic statements, said during a press conference on Monday that the Jewish state is accused of six kinds of offenses in Gaza.

Israel’s efforts to root out the Hamas terror organization in the Strip, according to Albanese, have led to allegations of “domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and more recently ecocide,” she said, of the destruction of homes, cities and education, respectively.

“Medicide” typically refers to physician-assisted suicide, but Albanese appeared to mean the destruction of medicine. “Ecocide” refers to attacks on the environment.

Albanese’s remarks, which ran about seven minutes, addressed what critics of the Jewish state say is an escalation of violence and human-rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

The special rapporteur, who is not subject to U.N. oversight, has repeatedly attempted to justify terrorism against Israel. The French government denounced her claim that Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack was not based on its hatred for Jews, with Paris calling Albanese’s comments “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government said her remarks were “appalling.”

A U.S. State Department spokesman previously told JNS that Foggy Bottom opposed Albanese’s mandate, adding that “we can’t help but note a history of incendiary comments online and in her public statements.”

Albanese was joined at the press conference in Geneva by three other U.N. special rapporteurs: Tlaleng Mofokeng (“on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”), George Katrougalos (“on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order”) and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo (“on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation”).

A public campaign to ‘UNseat Israel’
U.N. Human Rights Council appoints dozens of special rapporteurs, who work on a volunteer basis and are considered “human rights experts.” The advisers operate outside the standards to which U.N. officials are held. They do not officially speak for the United Nations, although they are often referred to as “U.N. experts” in news reports.

An Italian lawyer based in Tunisia, Albanese said on Monday that most U.N. member states “remained inactive at best” or were “actively aiding and assisting Israel’s criminal conduct.”

She clarified that she was referring to Western nations, as well as other unnamed countries, including in the Gulf.

Albanese, who started a public campaign to “UNseat Israel” and push it out of the global body, asked at the press conference, “Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organization which Israel seems to have zero respect for?”
At Brown University Panel, Anti-Israel UN Official Calls Jewish State a 'Military Dictatorship'
A United Nations official who blamed Israel for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack called the Jewish state a genocidal "military dictatorship" during a Brown University panel on Monday evening.

At the event—"Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?"—hosted by Brown’s Center for Middle East Studies, the U.N.’s special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of arbitrarily arresting Palestinians and designating groups as terrorist organizations.

"This is why I call it a military dictatorship, because it applies military orders written by soldiers, applied by soldiers, reviewed in military courts," Albanese said. "Maintaining a military dictatorship over 5 million people is not the best way to be loved by these 5 million people."

"Since the very beginning of this assault … I have announced the risk of genocide because of the genocidal statements [Israel’s made]," she continued. "It has been very violent rhetoric that emanated from an ideological hatred against the Palestinians."

Albanese also said the only way for Israel to ensure its security is to withdraw from Gaza, stop oppressing Palestinians, and stop imposing "apartheid." She’s consistently made similar comments blaming Israel for threats to its safety. A month after Oct. 7, Albanese justified the attack, telling the Sydney Monthly Herald that "violence breeds violence" and that Hamas is "entitled to embrace resistance."

The event's host, Center for Middle East Studies director Elias Muhanna, asked Albanese to clarify her stance on armed resistance. She reiterated that Hamas terrorists who attacked the Israeli military on Oct. 7 engaged in "a legitimate act of resistance."

"I’ve not qualified the entire attack on the seventh of October as an illegitimate act of resistance because targeting military bases and military objects is a legitimate act of resistance," she said.

Muhanna also read an audience question that asked Albanese to weigh in on radicalism in Gaza, noting that "Mein Kampf is popular" there. A March 2023 report by independent watchdog groups found that Gaza schools "regularly call to murder Jews and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite anti-Semitism."

"Given the extremism rampant in at least certain sectors of Gazan society, what role should the U.N. play in deradicalizing Gazans to achieve peace?" Muhanna asked, echoing the audience member.

Albanese denied those claims.

"No, there is no such thing like an idealization of Mein Kampf or anti-Semitism," Albanese said. She said those concerns were an overstatement, arguing that the Arab world's animosity is directed at Israel over the Jewish state's occupation in Gaza and is distinct from anti-Semitism in Europe.
Francesca Albanese: A UN Rapporteur Without Principles
When Holocaust denier Gilad Atzmon wrote a book about the evils of Jewishness, it was well–received by the white supremacist community.

For the book’s main promotional blurb, however the author turned to a more credentialed — and less expected — source.

From the front of the book’s dust jacket, the United Nations “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” announced that Atzmon’s antisemitic screed was a must-read.

The rapporteur, Richard Falk, also praised Atzmon’s “unflinching integrity” — just as Atzmon has lauded Holocaust denier David Irving’s integrity, or how David Irving in turn has gushed over the “great man” Adolf Hitler.

Falk’s endorsement appeared in 2011, the same year he published a cartoon of a bloodthirsty dog wearing a kippah (Jewish head covering), and the same year that he promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories. His UN mandate has since expired. But the same process that put one extremist in the role elevated another in his place — because Francesca Albanese is the new Richard Falk.

Although Special Rapporteur Albanese may not have endorsed Gilad Atzmon’s book, she certainly doesn’t find such endorsements problematic. For example, she hosted, praised, and promoted an event at which Falk was a speaker. Worse, it was an event that purported to teach what is, and what is not, antisemitic. Worse yet, Falk was there as an expert, not an exhibit.

And if one might forgive Albanese for boosting other Holocaust deniers on Twitter, her own words about Jews and their nefarious power can’t be brushed aside. Her slur that the US is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby,” for example, would fit seamlessly in Atzmon’s book.

Such a worldview is concerning on its own. But for someone whose mandate is to pass judgement on the world’s one Jewish-majority country, it should be disqualifying.

Unfortunately, Albanese will keep passing her judgements with the United Nations’ imprimatur. After all, contrary to the idyllic views of the organization that still, somehow, persist, this is the UN in which Richard Falk was able to serve out his full term.


John Fetterman Slams ‘Anti-Israel’ UN Experts for Censuring Western Support of Jewish State
US Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) lambasted “anti-Israel” UN human rights experts for censuring Western countries on Monday over their continued support for Israel despite what they described as a genocide in Gaza.

“These so-called ‘experts’ have consistently revealed their anti-Israel bias and a censure from one of them is a badge of honor,” Fetterman posted on X/Twitter. “No apologies and zero conditions for any essential support for Israel.”

Fetterman also posted a picture from a news story reporting on the warnings from the UN experts.

The most outspoken of the UN experts on Monday was Francesca Albanese, the UN’s notoriously controversial special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories.

“Shockingly, in the face of the abyss reached in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] … most member states remained inactive at best, or actively aiding and assisting Israel’s criminal conduct,” Albanese told a press conference in Geneva. “I think it’s unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless, vilifying assault of the United Nations, on top of millions of Palestinians.”

Israel has denied such allegations, noting the extensive lengths to which its military has gone to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where Hamas often places its military targets within or underneath civilian targets such as schools and hospitals.

Though Fetterman campaigned as a progressive, he has surprisingly emerged as a staunch ally of Israel in the months following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Fetterman has repeatedly condemned anti-Israel voices within his own party in the US Congress, as well as elite universities for tolerating what he has characterized as antisemitic and anti-Israel hate speech on their campuses.
UN Watch: Dina Rovner on L'Chaim: "UNRWA is rotten to the core"

UN Watch: Dina Rovner on Chai FM: The U.N. gives "a free pass to Palestinian terrorism"

The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Paging Hezbollah!
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Jonah Goldberg joins the podcast to discuss the amazing Israeli attack on Hezbollah operatives yesterday before going into rank punditry about the relative standings of Harris and Trump. Give a listen.


Call Me Back: BEEP! with Nadav Eyal
To help us better understand events in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, Nadav Eyal joined us for an emergency episode of the podcast.

NADAV EYAL is a columnist Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.


Verdict with Ted Cruz PodCast: Dems Refuse to Fully Protect Trump, Israel Explodes Hezbollah Pagers & Dems Cynically Block Legislation Protecting IVF

Paging Hezbollah: What Comes Next? | Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum
Thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists were wounded and dozens were killed on Tuesday afternoon when their communication devices exploded across the country. While Israel has yet to claim responsibility, the Jewish state is waiting with bated breath to see what happens next.

Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom—both former advisers at the Prime Minister's Office—for the latest episode of "Israel Undiplomatic" as they explore ramifications and what may happen next in the battle for Israel’s north.

Chapters
0:00 Beepers go boom
7:00 What Israel achieved
14:00 What’s the plan?
22:00 Achieving victory
28:00 Buying time


The Israel Guys: The Wildest Mossad Operation in World History | the Hezbollah Pager Operation
If you’ve looked at the news at all this week, then you’ve seen reports of pagers blowing up in Hezbollah fighters’ pockets all over Lebanon. Well, those reports are true. We give you all the details we have on this right now and how insanely crazy this operation really was.


The Quad: Arab Zionist: Palestinians LIE About Wanting Peace
Join "The Quad" for this special interview with Khaled Hassan, a researcher on Islamist terrorism and former member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Learn how Hassan left his birthplace of Egypt and the antisemitism of the Arab world behind to discover Judaism and Zionism in the most unlikely of places. You don’t want to miss his message of strength, perseverance and hope for the Jewish people and the West.

Chapters
00:00 Understanding perspectives on peace
02:46 Khaled's journey: From Egypt to Israel
06:03 The cold peace: Historical context and challenges
08:55 Cognitive opening: Meeting Israelis and Palestinians
12:13 The path to conversion: Khaled's personal transformation
15:07 Researching terrorism: Khaled's academic pursuits
17:58 Exposing media bias: The BBC project
24:12 The future of media and society: A call to action


Israel: State of a Nation with Eylon Levy: How Arabs See Israel | Syrian Activist on Learning to Love Zionists
“If you were all slaughtered the Arab world couldn't care less and yet The Western media outlets celebrated Haniyeh as a peace loving dove” - so says today’s guest Syrian activist, Rawan Osman. Rawan was born in Damascus, to a mixed Sunni-Shiite family.

She came to Germany and encountered a relatively liberal, free society, describes herself as a “recovered antisemite” and when she came to Israel saw everyone of different shapes, sizes and colors, concluding this is a nation to learn from. Having only met Jewish people for the first time while living in Strasbourg in the city's Jewish quarter. These encounters forced her to reckon with the antisemitism she had been taught growing up.

Rawan came to Israel not only to learn but also to make a bit of a rebellious statement. “Once you’ve come as an Arab to Israel, you’ve crossed all the red lines”.


Hillel Neuer's Keynote Address on Antisemitism at the Austrian Parliament
Hillel Neuer in at the Austrian Parliament, keynote address at the conference, “Never again? Democracy cannot tolerate antisemitism,” September 11, 2024. Copyright Parliament Austria.








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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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