09/14 Links Pt1: While Confronting Russia in Europe, the U.S. Helps It in the Middle East; Fatah announces return to terror; Israel gives CIA intelligence on alleged terror-linked Palestinian NGOs

From Ian:

What Happens If Operation Guardian of the Walls Recurs?

During the twelve-day conflict between the IDF and Hamas in the spring of last year, Arabs in usually peaceful Israeli cities with multiethnic populations rioted, deeply shaking the country’s general sense of safety. Yagil Henkin considers the possibility that, in the event of a larger war between Israel and, for instance, Hizballah, the latter could work with Palestinian groups to foment similar riots within Israel’s borders:
It is incorrect to regard the May 2021 events as civic disturbances or a series of individual episodes. As in any war, the enemy learns and searches for weaknesses to exploit. As a result, Israel should brace itself for a worst-case scenario in which ethnic and religious tensions are used to incite unrest and riots, disrupt army movements and reserve mobilization, cut off supply routes and access to military bases, inflict damage on military convoys, and use threats, propaganda, and possibly assassinations to force Arab and Muslim soldiers and policemen to leave the military and law enforcement. Following [the 2021 conflict], Hizballah escalated its efforts to transfer weaponry and ammunition to Israeli Arabs for use in a future conflict.

Notably, from the perspective of Iran and Hizballah, Israeli Arabs assaulting Jews and the reverse would be welcomed outcomes. Such attacks would force the police to disperse their forces and assign some of them to suppress Jewish riots rather than supporting Israeli offensive moves, limiting Israel’s freedom of action. The suspicion and tensions would undermine citizens’ sense of security and trust in government agencies, leading to further escalation and inter-communal strife. Therefore, Israel’s opponents may view any outcome as advantageous and work hard to bring about such outcomes through financial backing, disinformation, arming radicals, radicalizing youth, etc.

Israel gives CIA intelligence on alleged terror-linked Palestinian NGOs

The Shin Bet has provided the CIA with new intelligence regarding Palestinian civil society NGOs that Israel has accused of involvement in terror.

The agency provided the new information to the CIA last week, though it is not discussing the issue publicly and was first reported by Walla.

Israel is hoping to finally flip the US in its favor on the issue after Washington has been highly critical, along with the EU and UN, of Jerusalem's moves regarding the civil society groups.

It appeared that the latest try to convince the Biden administration that the groups have ties to terror came after Israel upped the ante last month when it closed down several organizations which it had previously declared to be illegal in October 2021.

The organizations have said that Israel merely wants to silence them and their activities which often involve political criticism and activism, including protests, against Israeli control of the Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel has said that the organizations wear two hats, one actually helping with human rights issues, and the other aiding the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Maj. Bar Falah identified as IDF officer killed overnight near Jenin

An IDF officer was killed in an exchange of fire with two armed Palestinian gunmen near the village of Jalma, north of the West Bank city of Jenin.

He was identified as 30-year-old Maj. Bar Falach, deputy commander of the Nahal Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, from the coastal city of Netanya. He was buried in the city’s military cemetery on Wednesday evening.

The incident began around 11:30 p.m. when IDF observation soldiers identified two suspects approaching the fence along the seam line near a military post. The suspects, who were not identified as being armed, reached within 15 meters of the fence and lay down.

Forces, including Falah and the commander of the IDF’s Menashe Brigade, Col. Arik Moyal, were deployed to the area where the suspects had been identified. A Zik drone was scrambled to the area but was not used.

The forces split into two, one led by Falah and the other by Moyal, in an attempt to surprise the gunmen, who then opened fire on the troops who had approached within several meters.

According to Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Avi Bluth, the troops did not know that the suspects were armed until they opened fire on the force around 2:30 a.m., hitting Falah and fatally injuring him.

The two gunmen were identified by Palestinian media as Ahmed Abed, an intelligence officer in the Palestinian Authority Security Forces, and Abdul Rahman Abed, from the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin. One of them was an intelligence officer of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades took responsibility for the attack, saying both the shooters were members of the terrorist organization.

"Unfortunately, last night we lost an officer who fought Palestinian terrorists in the field," said IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, "This is yet another expression of the challenges the IDF faces in all arenas and the security it provides for Israel's citizens, sometimes at a heavy price. I convey my deepest condolences to the family, and to his partner."

Ahmed Ayman Abed, one of the Palestinians killed in an armed clash with Israeli troops in Jenin, worked for the Palestinian Authority's Military Intelligence force. pic.twitter.com/Ar8S8jr1CY

— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) September 14, 2022

“Youths”. They were Palestinian terrorists, who beached the West Bank security barrier and opened fire on Israeli soldiers, after refusing to first heed warnings. In the shootout, sadly, an IDF officer was killed. https://t.co/Itg74snUDd

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 14, 2022

PreOccupiedTerritory: Palestinian Technology Posthumously Turns Adult Fighters Into Children (satire)

The Before-Interment Alteration System, or BIAS.

Muhammed SabaanehTel Aviv, September 12 – Israeli military and Defense Ministry officials voiced concern today over a device that various terrorist factions appear to have in their possession, one that takes any corpse of a gun-wielding, bomb-planting, firebomb-throwing, or knife-brandishing Arab and transforms it into a “youth” or “child,” as reflected in mainstream news coverage of recent conflict episodes.

Officials pointed to articles and video reports surrounding the violence over the last several months in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian-governed city of Jenin, cases in which the IDF documented its actions against armed Palestinian men, often killing them – only to discover that such reliable, objective sources as CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, and the British Broadcasting Corporation quoted Palestinian media and officials in calling the militant a child. Israeli military intelligence concluded that the Palestinians possess something that somehow changes an adult fighter into a child whose death Israel caused.

“As a placeholder name, we’re calling it a Before-Interment Alteration System,” disclosed one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We know of at least twenty cases in the last year in which BIAS has been deployed to create a propaganda effect, with varying degrees of success. But other evidence points to the use of BIAS for the same purpose going back decades, to the first Intifada in 1987. Its deployment helps explain hundreds of instances in which the IDF neutralized an armed terrorist, only to find that some unexplained technology has altered the corpse so that it now resembles that of a playful youth whose innocent photographs now grace the pages and social media accounts of Western journalists and government institutions. BIAS is clearly a weapon to be reckoned with.”

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