Monday, November 04, 2024

11/04 Links Pt1: Israel May Have Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions; In the progressive sacrament, Gaza has no ‘agency’ but UNRWA

From Ian:

The U.S. Should Stop Trying to Solve the Israel-Palestinian Conflict and Focus on Iran
Iran’s nuclear program isn’t just a threat to Israel, but a major concern for the United States, one recognized by the past several presidential administrations. Unless the IDF destroys key nuclear facilities in another attack on the Islamic Republic—which is not an impossibility now that it has taken out Iranian air defenses—it will be a problem the next president will have to reckon with. And regardless of what happens next in the current war, the victor in tomorrow’s election will not be able to ignore the Middle East.

Michael Mandelbaum, reviewing Steven Cook’s recent book The End of Ambition, has some advice on this score:

The country that now threatens American interests is the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is conducting an active campaign to achieve dominance in the region by unseating governments friendly to the United States and evicting American forces from the Middle East. That campaign has met with considerable success. Iran now exercises substantial, indeed sometimes dominant, influence in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

If . . . the Islamic Republic should acquire nuclear weapons, as it is actively seeking to do, its capacity to harm America’s friends and American interests would expand dramatically. The most important task for American Middle East policy is, therefore, to prevent that from happening.

Past American Middle Eastern policy has another implication for the future. For decades, successive American administrations pursued a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians living in Gaza and on the West Bank of the Jordan River. These efforts all failed, and for the same reasons that American democracy-promotion efforts in the Middle East came to nothing: the political, cultural, and institutional bases for a Palestinian state willing to live peacefully beside Israel have never existed, and the United States cannot create them.

Absent, however, the Palestinians becoming what they have thus far never been—a genuine partner for peace—the American government should waste no more time on what has come, over the years, to be called the peace process. The United States has more urgent Middle Eastern business, business that can, and must, be successfully concluded, with Iran.
Israel May Have Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
After Israel’s most recent attack on Iran, this newsletter noted that IDF jets struck not only ballistic-missile facilities but also a site connected to the nuclear program. J.E. Dyer presents a thorough examination of publicly available information, and concludes that this particular structure, known as Taleghan 2, was what experts call a “critical node” in the Iranian quest for atomic weapons:

A “critical node,” in the analysis of an enterprise like developing a nuclear weapon, is a bottleneck: something that previous paths funnel down to, and something that must be passed through successfully to reach the goal of the enterprise. A critical node cannot be bypassed. It must be successfully negotiated. In the case of this target, the critical node in question is developing a “detonatable” weapon.

Taleghan 2 is . . . not just a component; it’s a unique one. If Israel’s strike took out infrastructure inside the building—and I consider it likely that it did—that’s a setback in getting through the critical node of actually weaponizing fissile material to produce a bomb. The infrastructure, if left in place from the work done before 2004, would be hard to replace. . . .

[I]n a limited strike, Israel thought it worthwhile to hit Taleghan 2. The decision to do that was probably not intended as a mere warning to Iran about Israel’s knowledge of Tehran’s nuclear-weapons program. An isolated warning of that kind would be counterproductive, informing Iran of peril but having no practical impact on the overall situation.

My bet would be on Israel wanting to have a practical impact: setting Iran’s program back by destroying a facility needed to get through the critical node of weaponization successfully. There’s a real probability Israel achieved just that.
Snapback sanctions on the table as Iran threatens to go nuclear
Snapback sanctions, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal’s fail-safe mechanism, may be back on the West’s agenda after recent threats and aggression by the Islamic Republic.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy is prepared to trigger snapback sanctions as Iran gets closer to nuclear breakout, The Telegraph reported over the weekend, citing a Foreign Office official who said that London is “committed to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons using every diplomatic tool available, including the snapback mechanism if necessary.”

The report comes in the immediate aftermath of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s top foreign policy advisor, Kamal Kharrazi, saying that Tehran has “the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons” and would do so if facing an existential threat.

In the past year, Iran has twice directly attacked Israel with missiles, in addition to sponsoring Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been at war with Israel for the past year, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, who have sporadically attacked Israel in addition to disrupting global commerce by attacking ships in the Red Sea.

In addition, Iran has sold ballistic missiles and drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, leading the EU and U.K. to impose sanctions last month on Iranian airlines as well as arms procurement and production firms and individuals involved in Iran’s arms industry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Deployment of the snapback mechanism means that the sanctions regime of the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would revert to its original state.

The JCPOA included “sunset clauses,” by which sanctions on Iran would gradually expire; all sanctions would return if snapback is invoked.
A Message for America: A Free Lebanon Is the Only Path to Truly Stopping Hezbollah
Then-Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who planned to turn his country into a services hub at peace with its neighbors, revolted — along with a coterie of oligarchs. Washington and Paris rushed to their support in 2004, passing UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which demanded that Assad withdraw and Hezbollah disarm.

Despite threats, Hariri stood his ground and was assassinated in February 2005. The crime backfired: It solidified Lebanon’s national consensus, forcing the Syrian dictator to pull out in April.

To deflect Lebanese pressure, Hezbollah triggered a war with Israel in 2006 that ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which not only reaffirmed 1559, but instructed a 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, to help keep Lebanon militia-free south of the Litani River.

But Hezbollah sent “villagers” hurling rocks at peacekeepers, and burned tires to stop the UN force from inspecting suspected Hezbollah arms depots. The villagers even killed some UNIFIL personnel.

Hezbollah built massive fortifications, at times tens of yards away from UNIFIL’s observation towers. Those bunkers were to serve as launchpads for invading northern Israel, like Hamas’s October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people.

The 20-year anniversary of Resolution 1559 has come and gone. Iran spent two decades building up Hezbollah’s capabilities and cemented its control of the Lebanese state, driving Lebanon’s economy into the ground in the process. The US, France, and the UN all failed to change this trajectory.

But something has happened over the last few weeks. In response to a year of non-stop attacks on northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and degraded its capabilities to such an extent that Lebanon has a window to replicate the consensus that ejected Assad.

The White House is now pushing a framework where Israel would halt its military operations in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese military would oversee Hezbollah’s withdrawal to north of the Litani River. But if the Lebanese state remains politically controlled by Hezbollah, the agreement will end the same way as Resolutions 1559 and 1701: Non-enforcement and Hezbollah’s resurgence.

If the United States wants to find a viable diplomatic path in Lebanon, it needs to work with willing Lebanese leaders to reclaim Lebanon’s sovereignty from Hezbollah and free Beirut from Tehran’s yoke. That starts with the election of a new anti-Hezbollah Lebanese president.


In the progressive sacrament, Gaza has no ‘agency’ but UNRWA
Despite the evidence that “humanitarian” aid and organizations in Gaza helped Hamas, the administration sent more such aid even after the Oct. 7 attacks. Pursuant to progressive doctrine, the administration doubled down on failed policy instead of reconsidering whether former President Donald Trump was wise to make sure the U.S. was not funding Hamas, even indirectly.

Biden said a year ago: “If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, and it will end as a practical matter. It will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid.”

But true to progressive dogma, the administration keeps funding Gaza, even though more than $1 billion has been diverted to Hamas since Oct. 7, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) recently noted.

Despite past claims by Harris of Gazan starvation turning out to be false, Harris again proclaimed a Gazan starvation crisis this month, laying the blame on Israel. The secretaries of State and Defense piled on with a harsh letter blaming Israel for Gazan conditions and demanding Israel ramp up “humanitarian” aid, including through UNRWA. The letter absurdly claims this is required by international law. A combatant generally must let enemy civilians receive aid. But there is no such obligation when it will be taken by enemy combatants.

With Biden’s signature, Congress enacted a law to prohibit any U.S. funding of UNRWA this year because of massive wrongdoing, including support for terrorism. But the administration is attempting to circumvent U.S. law by forcing Israel to support UNRWA, and thereby Hamas. The State Department reacted with outrage to the Knesset vote, threatening Israel with an arms embargo, and insisting that UNRWA and only UNRWA is capable of providing aid to Gazans and cannot be held accountable for its actions.

Congress and the Knesset legislating against UNRWA reflect an overwhelming American and Israeli consensus driven by common sense that what UNRWA and Hamas do matter. Biden-Harris support for UNRWA and focus on “humanitarian” aid, regardless of whether such aid goes, to Hamas is almost a parody of our observation one year ago: “Like poverty in the U.S., the progressive movement isn’t interested in examining the underlying cause of Gaza’s troubles, which is the dedication of societal resources, and billions in foreign aid, to seeking the destruction of Israel, rather than improving Gaza.”
Israel Officially Informs UN of End to Relations With Palestinian Relief Agency Over Hamas Ties
Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was canceling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main UN relief organization for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since 1967, the country’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

Last month, the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning UNRWA from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organization, which provides aid and education services to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and saying it perpetuates the conflict by maintaining Palestinians in a permanent refugee status. Palestinian refugees are unique in that they pass their status to descendants, regardless of their age and country of residency, a practice Israel claims fuels demands for a “right of return.” The return of over 5 million Palestinians to Israel would destroy the Jewish state by demographic means, critics argue.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October last year, Israel has also said that UNRWA has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed teachers were directly involved in the attack, while many others openly celebrated it.

The legislation has alarmed the United Nations and some of Israel‘s Western allies who fear it will further worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas terrorists for a year. The ban does not refer to operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere.

Experts have noted that textbooks supplied by UNRWA promote antisemitism and hatred of Israel.

Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence “we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the UN did nothing to address this reality.”

The legislation does not directly outlaw UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza, but it will impact its ability to work in those areas.


FDD: UNRWA Employee Claims Agency’s Vehicles Commandeered by Hamas in Gaza
Latest Developments
A United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) worker from northern Gaza revealed that Hamas utilizes the agency’s vehicles for its terror activities throughout the enclave, according to a video interview released by the IDF on October 31. The worker, who said that he was employed as a security guard before the October 7 Hamas massacre, said that operatives from the Iran-backed terrorist group “entered the UNRWA facilities” and “took everything … by force” shortly after Israel launched its military response.

Along with appropriating vital aid meant for Gaza’s civilian population, Hamas stole official agency vehicles, surmising that their official UN markings would protect them from the IDF. The terrorists would then use these vehicles to carry out their daily operations throughout Gaza, the UNRWA worker said.

Reports emerged throughout the war that Hamas was stealing UNRWA aid and killing civilians who tried to take supplies for themselves. Furthermore, numerous UNRWA employees were reportedly involved with the October 7 massacre, prompting the United States and other nations to suspend funding for the organization in January 2024.

As of August 2024, nine employees were found to have taken part in the October 7 attacks after an internal UN investigation, but Israeli reports suggest hundreds more UNRWA staff members double up as Hamas operatives, while thousands have an immediate family member involved with the terrorist organization. On October 28, 2024, the Knesset passed legislation banning UNRWA from operating within Israel and severely limiting the scope of its activities in the West Bank and Gaza.

Expert Analysis
“We need to understand that UNRWA has been and remains a key platform for holding on to power in Gaza for Hamas. This is just one more example.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“It should come as no surprise that testimony from a former UNRWA employee has implicated Hamas in the theft of UNRWA property. Hamas, along with other Palestinian terrorist organizations, have one main goal: to survive the Israeli military’s response to the October 7, 2023, attacks.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

“UNRWA is an obstacle to peace and Palestinian prosperity. Its susceptibility to Hamas, whether due to sympathy to the cause of eliminating Israel or because of Hamas intimidation, shows the need for an outside actor to oversee Palestinian aid and reconstruction.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst




Seth Frantzman: Iran wants to hold region hostage with ‘retaliation op’
Iran has been discussing retaliating against Israel for airstrikes on its territory in October. Those strikes were themselves retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack on the Jewish state on October 1. Iran has preferred to keep the retaliatory cycle going by claiming it has an open account with Israel and could carry out new attacks. The Islamic Republic wants to normalize these direct attacks on Israel and keep the region hostage to these incidents. What that means is that Iran also threatens the US and Arab states via its ever-increasing rhetoric.

Iran knows that it keeps the region on edge by claiming it might attack Israel. For instance, the US has sent more aerial assets to the region and has even deployed the THAAD air defense system in Israel. These systems can’t be deployed forever, and all Iran has to do is keep threatening to keep the region on edge.

The regime enjoys being in this position, feeling that it is a position of power. It also knows that reports say Israel neutralized Iranian air defenses in the October strikes.

Iran doesn’t mind these reports because it likely assumed its air defenses could not stop Israel in the first place. Iran knows the limitations of its various systems, such as the S-300 or 3rd Khordad air defense systems.

Iran’s latest claim is that it will “use all material and spiritual facilities to respond” to Israel. This remark came from the new spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, on Monday. His remarks came as the commander of the IRGC slammed Israel and praised Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

The overall gist of the comments from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that the regime reserves the right to respond to Israel and that it does this in the context of supporting the Palestinians.

In addition, the ministry said that the US is destabilizing the region via the deployment of US troops. This comment apparently refers to US troops in Iraq and Syria, close allies of the Islamic Republic.
Israel’s use of air-launched ballistic missiles against Iran sparks market interest
Israel’s effective use of air-launched ballistic missiles in its response to Iran’s latest missile attack is expected to pique interest elsewhere in acquiring the weapons, which most major powers have avoided in favor of cruise missiles and glide bombs.

The Israel Defense Forces said its October 26 raid knocked out Iranian missile factories and air defenses in three waves of strikes, in retaliation for Iran’s massive barrage of ballistic missiles that sent millions of Israelis into bomb shelters on October 1.

Based on satellite imagery, researchers said targets of the Israeli strike included buildings once used in Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran defends such targets with “a huge variety” of anti-aircraft systems, said Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at London’s Royal United Services Institute.

Cruise missiles are easier targets for dense, integrated air defenses than ballistic missiles are. But ballistic missiles are often fired from known launch points, and most cannot change course in flight.

Experts say high-speed, highly accurate air-launched ballistic missiles (ALBM), such as the Israel Aerospace Industries’ Rampage, get around problems facing ground-based ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) — weapons that use small wings to fly great distances and maintain altitude.

“The main advantage of an ALBM over an ALCM is speed to penetrate defenses,” said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. “The downside — accuracy — looks to have been largely solved.”

Ground-launched ballistic missiles — which Iran used to attack Israel twice this year, and which both Ukraine and Russia have used since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 — are common in the arsenals of many countries. So, too, are cruise missiles.

Because ALBMs are carried by aircraft, their launch points are flexible, helping strike planners.

“The advantage is that being air-launched, they can come from any direction, complicating the task of defending against them,” said Uzi Rubin, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, one of the architects of Israel’s missile defenses.
Iran’s big problem? Its ballistic missiles are not accurate, says expert
A weapons expert has suggested that Iran's ballistic missiles may not be as accurate as previously thought, which may be underming its ability to deter Israel.

US research analyst Decker Eveleth has examined what appear to be open source images of the aftermath of Iran's October 1 missile strikes on Nevatim Air Force Base, concluding that while the attack caused limited damage, it provided critical insights into missile performance.

The findings by Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the CNA Corporation which specialises in analysing satellite imagery to assess ballistic and cruise missile forces, indicate that Iranian missiles likely have a “circular error probability” (CEP).

"Iranian missiles likely have a CEP of around 800-900 metres, potentially as good as 500 metres if you make a series of extremely favourable assumptions for Iran," he stated.

Understanding CEP is crucial in evaluating missile effectiveness, he wrote. The metric measures the radius within which a missile is expected to land 50 per cent of the time.

For example, if a missile has a CEP of 30 metres, it does not guarantee a hit within that distance most shots would likely miss if a direct hit were required to achieve destruction. This limitation means that Iranian missiles are constrained in their deterrence capabilities.

As Eveleth points out, “There are hard limits on the deterrence benefits of Iranian missile forces. If you can only credibly threaten cities, then you can’t threaten targets that you could hit at lower rungs of the escalation ladder,” effectively undermining Iran's ability to deter lower-level conflicts.

Eveleth's analysis reinforces scepticism regarding the advertised capabilities of Iranian missiles, suggesting that their lack of precision diminishes their threat level.
Report: Israel warns Baghdad it may target Iran-backed militia; Tehran attempting to transfer missiles to Iraq
Israel has identified targets in Iraq it will strike if Iran-backed militia continue to attack Israel from there, and has warned Baghdad, the London-based Saudi Elaph news site reports.

Unnamed officials apparently tell the outlet that satellites have monitored Tehran working to transfer ballistic missiles and related equipment from Iran to Iraqi territory, with the presumed goal of using them in an expected upcoming attack on Israel.

The report says Israel is monitoring and identifying targets belonging to the Iran-backed militias, as well as Iraqi state targets, and has warned Baghdad that it must rein in the militias and stop them from using its territory to launch attacks.

Iraqi sources are said to have expressed concern that Iran is using Iraq to shift the fighting away from its own territory.

Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel in response to Jerusalem’s October 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and facilities and which Iran said killed at least five people.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iranian military facilities came weeks after the Islamic Republic’s October 1 attack, in which Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, killing a Palestinian man in the West Bank.

Any further attacks from either side could engulf the wider Middle East, already teetering over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground operation of Lebanon, into a wider regional conflict just ahead of the US presidential election on Tuesday.


Israeli Air Force intercepts several drones fired from Iraq
The Israeli Air Force intercepted several drones launched from Iraq at Israeli territory on Monday, according to the Israeli military.

No sirens sounded as the UAVs were shot down before threatening any population centers.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization composed of several Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias under the command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed responsibility for the launches.

Earlier on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said that two drones were fired from Iraq and two from Lebanon, and that all four were intercepted. Two of the UAVs were intercepted after infiltrating into Israeli territory and two were shot down outside of Israel’s border.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which includes Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhadaa, has been launching daily drone attacks at Israel since the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

A regional security official told the Associated Press last week that the drone attacks have increased in recent weeks, with an average of five a day and eight drones launched over a 24-hour period in the past week.

Israel has warned the Iraqi government that unless it reins in Iranian-backed militias, it could face strikes, according to the Saudi website Elaph.


IAF strike kills terrorist who took part in Kfar Aza massacre
An Israeli Air Force strike in the Gaza Strip killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist Ahmed al-Dalu, who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday.

Al-Dalu, a member of the Iranian-backed terrorist organization’s Military Intelligence Unit, was eliminated in an airstrike directed by IDF ground troops and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officers, the military said.

“An additional terrorist was eliminated alongside him. Throughout the war, al-Dalu was involved in planning and executing terrorist attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF statement said.

Kfar Aza was the scene of some of the worst atrocities on Oct. 7. About 10% of its 900 residents were killed or taken hostage during the Gazan invasion of the northwestern Negev, which left some 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken to the Strip.

The IDF also said on Monday that over the past day its 252nd “Sinai” Division (a reserve force) and 162nd “Steel Formation” Armored Division killed “many” terrorists in close-quarters fighting and by calling in IAF strikes. In addition, they destroyed terrorist infrastructure.

Nahal Brigade infantrymen, operating under the command of the 143rd “Gaza” Division, killed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives in the Strip’s southernmost Rafah area, the IDF said.

“Over the past day, forces identified a terrorist squad that was operating from a military building where mines were stored that were intended to harm our forces,” the statement added. “Forces directed an IAF aircraft that attacked and eliminated the terrorists and destroyed the weapons.”


IDF considering forming anti-tank unit from captured Hezbollah weaponry
The IDF is considering forming a new anti-tank unit from the weapons captured from Hezbollah, according to an exclusive report in Israel Hayom on Sunday.

According to the report, the IDF began considering the move after they captured "tens of thousands" of (Russian-designed) Kornet and (Iranian-designed) Almas anti-tank missiles, which have Israeli-manufactured equivalents.

The IDF initially considered destroying the weaponry but eventually decided to bring it to Israel and repurpose it.


Caroline Glick: Name & Shame! Hamas’s Useful Idiots in America & Israel
While Hamas struggles to stay alive in the Gaza Strip, its useful idiots in the United States and Israel are alive and kicking!

In today’s episode of In-Focus, JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick exposes the hidden dangers of a Kamala Harris presidency and reveals details of the most recent controversy rocking the Jewish state.


FINAL COUNTDOWN! How Israel Is Preparing for All Surprises and Outcomes
Americans may be surprised to learn that they aren't the only ones on edge about the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. Israel and its enemies are also waiting to see who becomes the next U.S. president, as so much of what happens globally hinges on Washington's policies.

Tune in to today’s episode of "Jerusalem Minute" to hear which candidate Israelis prefer to win and how the Israeli government is preparing to deal with both possible outcomes.

JNS CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief Alex Traiman and Middle East correspondent Josh Hasten also have an update on Israel’s wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.


Call me Back Podcast: Iran’s November Surprise? with Nadav Eyal
With two days before the US presidential election, there is increasing (and surprising) speculation from within the Israeli security establishment about whether Iran will attack Israel in the days ahead. In today’s episode, we try to unpack what’s going on with Iran-Israel and also a possible ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. We also discuss our recent visit to an Ivy League university and what we learned from Jewish students there.

NADAV EYAL is a columnist for 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.


‘Rather clever’: Donald Trump keeping Israel negotiations plans secret
Author Douglas Murray has praised Donald Trump’s “clever” strategy of keeping his negotiation plans with Israel a secret.

“I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do in a political negotiation and a peace negotiation, as with a business deal,” Mr Murray said.

Mr Murray added that Kamala Harris has been advocating for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“We really don’t know very much about her policy other than that she always says she wants peace,” he said.




Jonny Gould's Jewish State: Imshin 3: Hamas still controls Gaza because they steal scores of aid trucks to pay salaries and decide who gets what.
"An urgent ceasefire, get humanitarian aid in without further delay, release the hostages. Oh, and let's move towards a Two-State Solution".

When we switch on the news, that's the agenda-setting drumbeat from politicians, aided and abetted by international institutions and their media lackies.

The unrepentant, unaccountable BBC and others don't care about the mess they leave.

Welcome back for the third time to Jonny Gould's Jewish State, Imshin, Jacqui Peleg.

Her sources are impeccable, transparent and open source and they tell the REAL story in Gaza.

Because they come from videos uploaded to social media by Gazans themselves. This is how they want us to see and hear them.
Chris Kenny slams The Muslim Vote for backing sheik who celebrated October 7
Sky News host Chris Kenny has slammed The Muslim Vote after it backed a sheik who came out and celebrated the October 7 terror attacks against Israel.

“The Muslim Vote. This group isn't a political party. It's about backing candidates who support its views,” Mr Kenny said.

“Everyone in a democracy is free to vote for any legitimate candidate but any candidate associated with this … should not be worthy of anyone's vote.”




Atlanta Jews on high alert as anti-Israel group Stop Cop City goes national
As the ongoing war in Gaza fuels a wave of demonstrations across American cities and college campuses, protesters are taking advantage of this moment to sound off against Israel, the police, and more.

One of the hot spots where the recent protests have met and merged is Atlanta, where opposition to a new police and fire training complex — dubbed “Cop City” by its detractors — has been joined by anti-Israel protesters, who say there’s a deep link between Atlanta’s new Public Safety Training Center and the Israel-Hamas war.

A field of signage protesting the training complex illustrates the confluence of opposition: “End Genocide in Gaza”; “Cut Ties with Israel” and “Stop Police Brutality.” In a show of unity, the signs culminate with “Killer Cops, KKK, Zionists — all the same.”

The anti-capitalist, anti-police, anti-Israel, and antisemitic agenda, language, and style of the US protest movements are taken out of an enduring political playbook, says Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University near Boston.

“If you are in favor of one progressive cause, you have to be in favor of them all,” Sarna says. “The price of admission to extreme progressive circles often is a statement against Israel, against Zionism.” The anti-police movement, he adds, has linked itself up with all the other progressive causes.

The phenomenon has spread across the country. “The fight against Cop City and for Palestinian liberation are both frontiers in the same struggle against the mechanisms of state-sanctioned violence and oppression,” reads a statement by student protest organizers at Emory University in Atlanta.
Anti-Israel protesters occupy French soccer federation building in Paris
Anti-Israel protesters staged a sit-in Monday at the French soccer federation to call for the cancellation of a Nations League game between France and Israel this month.

Video footage posted on social media and circulating in French media showed protesters inside the federation’s headquarters in Paris lying on the floor or holding placards with political slogans and Palestinian flags.

Some protesters also chanted: “No, no, no to the France-Israel game at the Stade de France.”

The French soccer federation did not immediately respond to a request for comments from The Associated Press.

According to local media, the demonstrators were calmly evacuated by police.

French authorities confirmed last month that the match would go ahead with fans allowed in the stadium after Italy hosted Israel in the same competition without incident despite security concerns.

The November 14 match at the Stade de France will be played against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which was sparked on October 7 of last year, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

Since the war began last year, Israel has played all home games and some away games in Budapest’s Boszik Arena after UEFA said playing in Israel was too dangerous.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has close ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has long promoted Hungary as the safest country in Europe for Jews. Orbán has banned Palestinian solidarity protests, arguing they present a threat to public safety.
Turkish soccer club moves home game against Maccabi Tel Aviv to ‘neutral country’
The Europa League match between Besiktas and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv scheduled for November 28 in Istanbul will be played “in a neutral country,” the Turkish club announced on Monday.

“Negotiations are continuing between our club and UEFA regarding the country where the match will be played,” Besiktas said in a statement.

The meeting between the two clubs was considered high-risk, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan having stepped up his verbal attacks on Israeli leaders since the war in Gaza started with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.

He has often lashed out at Israel for its conduct in the war, accusing it repeatedly of genocide and comparing it to Nazi Germany, while referring to Hamas as “freedom fighters” and hosting its leaders in Ankara.

In September, Erdogan said that the United Nations General Assembly should recommend the use of force if the UN Security Council fails to stop Israel’s campaigns against Iran-backed terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon.

Turkey halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a case at the World Court accusing it of genocide, which the Jewish state wholly rejects.

Anti-Israel demonstrations, encouraged by the Turkish government, have been taking place across the country since the war in Gaza erupted.

Last year, Israel advised its nationals and diplomats in Turkey to leave the country.


Palestine Action claims to abduct sculpture of Israeli president from University of Manchester
Palestine Action claimed on Saturday that members of the pro-Palestinian group abducted a statue of former Israeli President Chaim Weizmann from the University of Manchester.

"Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British pledge written 107 years ago, which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away," the group claimed, sharing footage of the theft on X/Twitter.

The group claimed on their website to have taken the sculpture to mark the signing of the Balfour Declaration, now 107 years ago.

Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted businesses, like Barclays and JP Morgan, and universities which it accuses of being financially involved in Israel's war against Hamas. Activists from the group have appeared before the court for vandalizing or blocking access to the Elbeit arms factory in Britain.




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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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