Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, October 19, 2020

Iran infiltrating German mosques and Islamic cultural centers

The European Center for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies has a lengthy description of Iran's operations in German mosques and Islamic cultural centers uncovered by German intelligence.

A German intelligence report from July 10, 2020 revealed Iranian intelligence activities inside Germany, which were involved in spying against synagogues and other targets. The report referred to the Islamic Center in Hamburg which is considered “the most important center for Iran in Germany.” The center has established a national network of contacts within many mosques and Shiite societies and exercises of great influence over them. The report added that Iran "is trying to link the Shiites of different nationalities to itself, and to spread the basic social, political and religious values of the Iranian state in Europe."

The percentage of Muslims in Germany is about 4.7 million and Shiites represent about 7%, or over 300,000. An estimated thousand members of Hezbollah are in ermany.

The Islamic League (Islamische Gemeinschaft der Schiitischen Gemeinden Deutschlands, or IGS) represents the most prominent organization accused of being an expansionist arm of Iran in Germany.

The Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH) is another prominent arm of the Iranian regime in Germany, according to a report reported by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in August 2020, which referred to IZH as a tool of the mullahs working side by side with the Tehran embassy, and its officials are known as the Supreme Leader's envoys to Berlin. The center is suspected of involvement in financing and cooperating with Hezbollah.

Other apparent fronts for Iran are the Center for Islamic Culture Frankfurt, the Counseling Association of Berlin (Markaz-Al-Qaem Al-Irshad), and the Al Hassanein Center of Berlin (Markaz Al-Hassanein Berlin), associated with Hezbollah.

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Iranian opposition group announces proof Iran secretly built nuclear facilities during JCPOA

The National Council of Resistance of Iran announced that they have proof that Iran was violating the terms of the JCPOA even before President Trump withdrew the US from that agreement.

In a press conference on Friday, the group announced that Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (Sazman-e Pazhouheshhaye Novin-e Defa’i), known by its Persian acronym SPND, started building a secret nuclear site near Tehran in 2012 and started moving personnel into it in 2017.

The new site is built in an existing area already under control of the Defense Ministry where missiles are being built.

The NCRI also announced that a second site that they had revealed in June 2019 was destroyed by the IRGC shortly thereafter, and only after a year of sanitizing the site did they allow the IAEA to inspect it this past August.

Some of the claims were corroborated by independent US experts.

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10/18 Links: Abraham returns to forge peace among his descendants; PA Irony: PA leader chooses Israeli hospital for HIS Coronavirus treatment after saying Israel intentionally spreads the virus to kill Palestinians

From Ian:

Abraham returns to forge peace among his descendants

One of the main achievements of the Abraham Accords—which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—is their very name. After losing hope of defeating Israel on the battlefield, Israel’s enemies focused on creating an anti-Israel narrative. Their ambition was to erase all of Zionism’s intellectual foundations—distort history, negate the legitimacy of the Bible and paint Israel as an evil state, certainly not as a state seeking to promote progress and good in the region.

One of the primary avenues of this narrative-based attack is “occupation”—a buzzword that the State of Israel has been most identified with by international organizations and media outlets across the globe. This nefarious term, “Israeli occupation,” implies all that Israel’s enemies wish to convey: that Israel is a colony of the “white man” in the heart of the Middle East, a European foothold, a foreign entity seizing Arab lands and violating the human rights of the natives, the original people of the land: Palestinian Arabs.

How does one fight this? How do we express the Jewish people’s deeply-rooted connection to this land, which is the backbone of the State of Israel, and undo the image of the heartless occupier? The answer to this question lies in this new treaty, and is predicated upon a single word: “Abraham.”

US Vice President Mike Pence visited Israel in January 2018 and spoke to the Knesset. In that speech, he elucidated the importance of Abraham: “Nearly 4,000 years ago, a man left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans to travel here, to Israel. He ruled no empire, he wore no crown, he commanded no armies, he performed no miracles, delivered no prophecies, yet to him was promised ‘descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.’

“Today, Jews, Christians and Muslims—more than half the population of the Earth, and nearly all the people of the Middle East—claim Abraham as their forefather in faith,” he said.

It’s evident, then, that the phrase “Abraham Accords” denotes that the treaty was forged by the descendants of Abraham’s children—Arabs and Jews—and thus redefines Jewish presence in the region as ancient and therefore legitimate. This runs exactly counter to the “occupation” narrative. It also appears the UAE has adopted the figure of Abraham as a unifying element in the region. In Abu Dhabi, construction has already begun on a magnificent inter-faith complex named the Abrahamic Family House, which will consist of three main buildings—a mosque, church and synagogue—for the purpose of invoking peace and coexistence among the three Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Mnuchin: Trump win would bring peace between more countries and Israel

More Arab and Muslim countries are likely to make peace if US President Donald Trump is reelected, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said on a flight to Bahrain with a US-Israeli delegation on Sunday.

“We are very hopeful there will be other announcements,” he said. “Our expectation is, obviously, that President Trump wins and this continues… There is a lot more in the works.”

Asked if a Trump loss would stop the momentum of Arab states establishing ties with Israel, he said: “I surely hope not.” The Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are “the most extraordinary outcome in the last 25 years,” Mnuchin said.

“I think 10 years from now when we look back at this, this will be as significant – if not more significant than both the Egyptian treaty and the Jordanian treaty [with Israel] – in how it has changed the whole region economically in particular, but also from a security standpoint and a cultural standpoint,” he said.

The opportunities for trade between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain are enormous, Mnuchin said.

Landing in Bahrain, top Israeli official says Jerusalem seeks ‘genuine peace’

A joint US-Israeli delegation arrived in Bahrain Sunday afternoon to sign a series of bilateral agreements between Jerusalem and Manama, including a so-called Joint Communiqué that will formally establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

El Al Flight 973 — a nod to Bahrain’s country code — landed in Manama after taking off from Ben Gurion Airport in the first-ever nonstop passenger flight from Israel to the Gulf kingdom.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani welcomed the joint US-Israeli delegation at the airport.

During a ceremony held on the tarmac, Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat said in Arabic that Israel “extends its hands for genuine peace with the Bahraini people.”

“Together we will change the reality in the region for the benefit of our nations. God willing, we will host you in Israel soon,” he said.

Switching to Hebrew, Ben-Shabbat noted that the Knesset approved the Israel-UAE peace treaty three days ago. He said the current delegation, like a previous one to the United Arab Emirates, flew nonstop from Tel Aviv, and added that he hoped the route would become a regular route in the near future. He thanked Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa for making peace.

“In a certain sense, this visit today closes a circle for Bahrain’s role in bringing peace,” Ben-Shabbat said, presumably referring to last year’s Peace to Prosperity conference in Manama.

Jewish settlers again accused of chopping down olive trees - on Shabbat

Wafa and a whole bunch of other Arab sources report:

Settlers cut, today, Saturday, about 30 olive trees from Qaryut lands, south of Nablus.

The official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, Ghassan Douglas, told "Wafa" that settlers cut down about 30 olive trees in the town's lands, owned by Bilal Mahmoud Raja.

As I have shown before, Ghassan Daghlas is paid by the Palestinian Authority to make up lurid, completely fictional stories about Jewish settlers, and to tell them to the media.

This is not an exaggeration. It is his job, and he has been quoted in major media outlets who cannot believe that he is a professional liar.

In this case, as in virtually all the articles he is quoted in, there is no photographic evidence of the crime he is accusing Jews of doing.

Every article I saw about this absurd accusation, that the religious Jews of communities near Nablus would chop down trees on Shabbat, shows "archival footage" rather than any actual photos of the destroyed trees.

Even though every adult nowadays is walking around with a high resolution camera in their pocket, there are no photos.

That's truly amazing!

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In 2010, 180,000 Palestinian patients were treated in Israeli hospitals.

But the Palestinian Authority has been reducing the number of permits of sick Palestinians to go to Israeli hospitals in recent years.

In 2017, it drastically reduced the number of Gazans given permission to travel to Israel for medical treatment.

Earlier this year, in order to fulfil a promise by Mahmoud Abbas to end all coordination with Israel, the Palestinian Authority stopped all transfers of patients to Israel - resulting in some deaths. Israeli NGOs scrambled to try to allow the most sick patients to come to Israel for treatment, while Palestinian NGOs angrily said that they would not try to help save Palestinian lives - the principle of non-cooperation was far more important than mere human life.

Well, that only applies to expendable Palestinians. But not the VIPs.

This morning, PLO Executive Committee secretary general Saeb Erakat was transferred to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem to treat his worsening COVID-19 symptoms. (UPDATE: Some say he is going to Tel Aviv.)

Apparently, the PLO rules of Palestinian honor only extend to allowing normal Palestinians to die for the cause, but not highly placed PLO officials.

A government that actively works against the interests of its own people does not deserve to exist to begin with. But when it distinguishes between the masses of its people it doesn't care about and its own top officials, it shows that it doesn't even adhere to its own stated principles to justify treating its citizens like dirt.

Palestinians deserve better leaders than this.

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On Friday, a jihadist in France beheaded a teacher, Samuel Paty, who showed his class the Mohammed cartoons that caused controversy (and murder) when published a few years back.

In Tunisia, a member of Parliament, Rached Khiari, wrote a post on Facebook seemingly agreeing with the murder.

He wrote, "Offending the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, is the greatest crime, and whoever performs it bears the consequences whether they are a state, group or individual."

Immediately, Khiari attracted critics - and supporters.

The spokesperson for the Tunis court of first instance, Mohsen Dali, announced that the prosecutor has launched an investigation into the post, saying that the post is comparable to a terrorist act, in accordance with the Tunisian anti-terrorist law, since it constitutes a justification for terrorism.

A TV channel canceled a planned appearance by Khiari on Sunday.

On the other hand, other prominent people and media came to Khiari's defense. Islamist media said that the critics were all trying to make themselves look good to the French.

Professor and lawyer Hanan Al-Khumairi denounced the media campaign against Khiari and supported his statements, claiming that they did not glorify the killing.

Khiari doubled down in Facebook, writing that "I may give up immunity and parliament, but I will not give up on my condemnation of the crime of offending the Messenger of Allah Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah more important and greater than glory, parliament, politics and the whole world."

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10/17 Links: Caroline Glick: American Jewry’s Fateful Hour; Jewish Congregations Challenge ‘Blatantly Antisemitic’ New York Coronavirus Restrictions

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: American Jewry’s Fateful Hour

If Trump wins an historic level of support among American Jews, it will be a testament to the wisdom of an unprecedented percentage of American Jews. For American Jewry this year's presidential election is without question the most critical one ever.

Over the past four years, anti-Semitism has become an undeniable, and central characteristic of the Democrat Party to which the vast majority of American Jews have pledged their loyalty for the better part of the past hundred years while anti-Semitism in the Republican Party has dropped to historic lows.

Democrat anti-Semitism has seemingly appeared out of the blue but in truth, the party has been on a largely one-lane road to radicalization for the past fifty years. It's just that the path turned into a highway over the past four years with the rise of open anti-Semites like Rashida Tlaib, Linda Sarsour, Andre Carson, Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omert to commanding positions in the party.

Anti-Semitism runs through Democrat politics, policies and behavior across a spectrum of issues. In foreign policy, hating Israel has become the most passionate position of the progressive grassroots.

Biden announced early on that if elected, he will restore the US's commitment to the Iran nuclear deal he forged with Barack Obama. That means that a Biden administration will cancel the economic sanctions on Iran, ensuring the survival of the regime. It means a Biden administration will enable the cessation of the UN arms embargo enabling Iran to purchase whatever advanced weapons systems it wants. It also means a regime pledged to annihilate the largest Jewish community in the world – Israel – will have an open path to a nuclear arsenal.

Biden has agreed to restore the Palestinians to center stage. This isn't a pro-peace position. After all, the Abraham accords are the result of Trump marginalizing the Palestinians. The purpose of a Palestinian-centric policy is it is to delegitimize Israel, justify a US foreign policy that is hostile to Israel and domestic policy that is hostile to Israel's supporters in America.

Then there is anti-Semitism itself. The good news is that like Trump, Biden can be expected to take on white supremacists. The bad news is that in stark contrast to Trump, Biden can be expected to turn a blind eye to the growing anti-Semitism in his own political camp.

Cynical Theories – a review

‘Cynical Theories – how universities made everything about race, gender, and identity and why this harms everybody.’ By Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay

The word cynical, in the title of the book, is deliberate; the authors assert that many of the ideas informing the theories are pessimistic, rejecting objective truth and modernity. Radical skepticism about modernity is a defining feature. There is a sense of hopelessness and a preoccupation with the superficial. The authors deem these key features ‘reactionary’. (The theories are also often characterised by obscurity of language. *)

The authors suggest that universities , and academia, are sites in which the theories are mainly located, and are significant generators of activism and intolerance. Scholarship and rigorous research are tainted by the cynical theories, open debate is stifled. This has affected a wide range of studies including STEM subjects. And ‘what happens in universities doesn’t stay in the universities’.

The book comprises 10 chapters dealing with interrelated topics such as CRT and Intersectionality, Postcolonial theory, Feminism and Gender studies, and explores what I call the heavy stuff originating in the 1960s – Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida, etc – whilst later chapters consider ways in which the theories have shaped the debate in subjects such as Queer theory and Fat studies.

Of particular interest are two chapters on Social Justice scholarship, thought, and action. Whilst a concern for justice in society is necessary, social class – previously considered an important topic – is rarely considered by the theory. Instead it ‘seeks to apply deconstructive methods and postmodern principles to the task of creating social change’. Theory and activism are based on the assumption that racism and bigotry are everywhere, consequently there is a preoccupation with, and elevation of, victimhood. There is no room for criticism: disagreement is interpreted as a sign of intellectual and moral failure. There is ‘little time for universal principles and individual intellectual diversity’. (h/t L King)

Religion, Science, and the Religion of Science

New York’s scapegoated Haredi communities appear to be the last Americans capable of maintaining a sane balance between science and faith

Like, say, the idea of science. If you believe in it—truly, deeply, and unequivocally—you understand that science isn’t a faith-based system. It cares little for politics or virtues. It’s a blissfully agnostic methodology that makes guesses, compares them with available evidence, and amends, alters, or rejects them based on results. So, if you’re being true to science, say, here’s how you should be thinking about public gatherings: Are they unsafe? Then they’re as unsafe for the proponents of Black Lives just as they are for the Satmars. Are they safe under some conditions? Then let us be clear about precisely what these conditions are.

Take, for example, Gov. Cuomo’s decree that no more than 10 people are allowed in a house of worship at any given time. If you possess even a modicum of common sense, you realize that this idea is, at its core, profoundly anti-scientific, as it has nothing to say about the size of the house of worship in question. Ten people in a small one-room shtiebel is a real risk; 10 people in a grand synagogue built to seat thousands is a real farce. A governor serious about science and public safety rather than about seizing power would’ve understood that and acted accordingly, offering guidelines that were sensible and measured and concrete. The only ones pointing out this travesty are the Haredim.

It’s of little surprise, then, that the main flag on view during the Haredi protests last week was the Gadsden flag. Don’t Tread on Me, that quintessentially American cri de coeur, is, these days, primarily the domain of the Haredi community. Everywhere else in the Jewish world, the slogans recited are the confused and exhausted and meaningless truisms of nice liberals who can’t or don’t care to explain the staggering contradictions, violations, hypocrisies, and usurpations committed with their tacit support.

Flatten the curve, wear a mask, close the shuls—all were accepted without too much attention to detail or rationale and without asking what, in effect, we’re risking when we sign away so many of our freedoms to officials who seem to have nothing but the vaguest grasp on science and democracy alike. There’s nothing less Jewish, or less American, than that. The Haredim understand that by succumbing to the tyranny of illogic, the sort that restricts attendance regardless of the size of the venue or deems one form of gathering acceptable but not another, all will be lost. To surrender thusly would be a total disruption of their Jewish and American way of life. Their critics, sadly, prefer instead to worship at a very different altar, sanctifying their leftist bona fides and reverence to leaders from the correct political party rather than asking hard but obvious questions. What we see in Brooklyn these days, then, is nothing less than a religious war, in which the Haredim, in a delicious twist of fate, have actual science on their side. Here’s hoping they prevail.

10/16 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The BBC's problem is worse than "wokeish" bias; Rabbi Sacks, former chief rabbi of England, diagnosed with cancer

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The BBC's problem is worse than "wokeish" bias

Last month, the Jewish Chronicle reported that the City of David organisation had complained to BBC executives about Rosie Garthwaite, a senior BBC producer working on a new documentary about Israeli activities in eastern Jerusalem. Its vice president wrote she had “repeatedly presented us with one-sided and inaccurate statements” and that the program “intends to vilify Israel, Jewish history and Jewish charities and present a number of false and misleading claims.”

The paper also discovered that Garthwaite admitted sharing “inaccurate” pro-Palestinian propaganda on social media and had shared several other false or controversial claims about Israel, including attacking “British duplicity” over the signing of the Balfour Declaration, wrongly suggesting Gaza’s “one” border was controlled by Israel and retweeting an article from Middle East Eye describing the troublemaker Ahed Tamimi as an “icon for Palestinian resistance.”

These are but a tiny sample of the BBC’s institutionalised hostility towards Israel. For years, it has uncritically recycled Palestinian propaganda as innately credible and true, while treating demonstrably factual Israeli statements as mendacious propaganda.

It systematically downplays or disregards Palestinian attacks on Israelis and generally treats any eruption of violence as a story which only “kicks off” (as one BBC reporter said gleefully during an escalation of hostilities) when Israel retaliates with force. Israeli victimisation is simply not seen as a story at all.

When Israel is forced to defend itself, the BBC frequently portrays its armed forces —the most ethical and human rights-obsessed military in the world — as monstrous child-killers and aggressive destroyers.

The immediate and demonstrable effect on the British population is hatred of Israel and a spike in attacks on British Jews. It is no exaggeration to say that when it comes to Israel, the issue is not BBC bias. It is BBC incitement to baseless hatred.

The BBC is regarded around the world as a byword for objectivity and accuracy. That’s why its departure from those ideals is so pernicious.

Perhaps the most chilling thing about it, though, is this. BBC executives are genuinely, painfully aware of the news outlet’s unique power and reach, and of their duty under its founding charter to uphold objectivity and fairness and hold the line for the middle ground.

But they are simply unable to process the fact that they view Israel, among other issues, through a profoundly distorting ideological prism. And that’s because they believe implacably that the positions they hold are unarguably objective and fair, that they do represent the middle ground, and that therefore by definition those who claim the BBC is biased are themselves extremists and can be safely disregarded.

In other words, BBC group-think is a hermetically-sealed thought system. Which is why, if whoever takes over at the top wants to restore the once iconic BBC to elementary standards of objectivity, fairness and decency, they will have their work cut out for them.

BBC tells CAA it cannot disclose how it has dealt with employee embroiled in antisemitism controversy, but today it has emerged that he has resigned, leaving questions about Corporation’s handling of the controversy

Campaign Against Antisemitism contacted the BBC this week for an update on how it has dealt with an employee caught in a controversy over antisemitic and trolling tweets, but the BBC refused to disclose whether it has taken any action beyond launching an investigation. Today, however, The Times has learned that the journalist, Nimesh Thaker, has resigned, leaving questions about how seriously the BBC took the matter and why it refuses to divulge its actions.

Last month, Campaign Against Antisemitism and the JC revealed that Mr Thaker, who has been a BBC journalist for more than twenty years at BBC World News, used a Twitter account in his name and then an anonymous account to post controversial and even antisemitic tweets, in clear breach of the BBC’s guidelines.

Mr Thaker used both accounts to conduct official BBC business as well.

Using an account in his own name, Mr Thaker posted tweets describing antisemitism accusations against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party as “smears” and trolled public figures who were campaigning against antisemitism. He also used the account to troll Campaign Against Antisemitism and to harass the editor of the JC and the actress and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman, tweeting at them dozens of times. He has also retweeted controversial political activists who themselves have come under fire for antisemitism, such as the notorious antisemite Jackie Walker, trolled Labour MPs over antisemitism, and defended Ken Livingstone and supported the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson. He also trolled his own BBC colleagues. The JC showed that he also behaved similarly with an anonymous account.

The Culture Secretary called the revelations “very concerning”, and the BBC launched an investigation, during which Mr Thaker reportedly resigned, thereby apparently escaping scrutiny.

Rabbi Sacks, former chief rabbi of England, diagnosed with cancer

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain, was recently diagnosed with cancer, a spokesperson for his office announced on Thursday.

"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks has been recently diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing treatment to aid his recovery," a spokesperson for his office said.

Rabbi Sacks will be stepping back from his work for a short period of time to focus on his treatment. His office noted that he is looking to get back into the swing of things as soon as possible.

For those who wish include Rabbi Sacks in their prayers, his Hebrew name is Harav Ya’akov Zvi ben Liba.

10/16 Links Pt1: Knesset approves UAE normalization 80-13; mainly Arab party is sole opposition; The ICC vs. Israel: The fallout of a war crimes investigation

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Will there ever be peace?

WE HAVE discussed the decline of the Middle East ossifying dictatorial regimes since 2010 and the defeat of insurgencies and rise of Turkey, as well as Israel’s lessons from past wars. What is missing in this discussion?

First we need to acknowledge that with the new generation of leaders, such as the young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Saudi Arabia and Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ) in the UAE, there is a new era. The era of jihad, embodied by Osama bin Laden, is largely over. Even the Hamas leaders who now meet with Turkey’s Erdogan are not the Islamic rabble-rousers of the 1980s.

It may be that the Islamist extremism which grew out of the region and led to ISIS is being reduced. It is being replaced by Turkey’s sponsorship of extremism, but this state sponsorship is quite different than the 1980s when Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and later the Taliban were dabbling in extremism. It is no longer as chaotic. The unstable areas of the Middle East, stretching from the Sahel to Somalia, Yemen and Iraq, may be more stable today.

Iran has largely entered the vacuum where there was chaos. That means the old jihadist lines that led via the Euphrates River Valley to Iraq are now being digested by an Iranian octopus with bases of Shi’ite militias where jihadists once roamed. Iran has its fingers in Yemen too. This means that much like the Soviets took over former Nazi properties in eastern Europe, Iran has taken over the property of Sunni insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere. Iraq is now Iran’s “near abroad,” as Ukraine and Poland were for imperial Russia.

This era of changing leadership in the Middle East is festooned with younger men trying to fill the shoes of fathers and grandfathers. Bashar Assad in Syria, Saad Hariri in Lebanon. The Emir of Qatar. The King of Jordan. Masrour and Nechirvan Barzani, as well as Qubad and Bafel Talibani in the Kurdistan region. The new leaders of Kuwait and Oman are similar, as is the King of Morocco. This is a region still rooted in monarchy, family, tribe. That has been challenged by revolution, whether Nasser’s Arab nationalism or Ba’athism, or the Islamic Revolution and Muslim Brotherhood. But not everything changes in the region.

What does change is the US administration. The American election in November could bring Joe Biden to the White House. Countries in the region are concerned about what that change could mean. Tehran hopes Trump will be removed. The Taliban, oddly, reportedly prefer Trump, as does Erdogan in Turkey and the Gulf allies of Israel. That’s a group of strange bedfellows, but it is brought about by the transactional nature of the Trump administration and its doctrine of combining pro-Israel support with the desire to end the US role in Syria and Afghanistan, and overturning the Iran Deal.

It’s unclear what a new US administration will bring. Most countries in the region assume the US is drawing down its role. This means larger regional and global powers such as Russia, China, Iran and Turkey will play a leading role in the Middle East. The West’s role is declining.

If we look back at that Sirte meeting 10 years ago, it represented the end of an era of powerful Arab leaders. Today the region is more about Erdogan and Iran, alongside an emerging Israel-Gulf-Greece alliance system. (h/t Zvi)

Knesset approves UAE normalization 80-13; mainly Arab party is sole opposition

The Knesset on Thursday approved Israel’s normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates with an overwhelming majority, all but ensuring that it will be ratified in the near future.

Eighty lawmakers voted in favor of the agreement, including many from the opposition.

Only 13 parliamentarians — all from the Arab-majority Joint List — voted against the agreement, criticizing it as a scheme to undermine the Palestinian people.

There were no abstentions, while 27 MKs did not participate in the vote.

The vote took place after nearly nine hours of an at times stormy debate, during which more than 100 ministers and MKs spoke. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the plenary twice — at its start at 11:00 a.m., and right before the vote after 8:00 p.m. — hailing the agreement as a paradigm shift in the Arab world’s approach to Israel, while touting his role in bringing many Sunni nations closer to Israel due to his vociferous public opposition to Iran.

“Since the start of Zionism, one of our hands has been holding a weapon in defense and the other hand was stretched out to everyone who wants peace,” he declared in his early speech. “They say peace is made with enemies. False. Peace is made with those who have stopped being enemies. Peace is made with those who desire peace and who no longer remain committed to your annihilation.”

Netanyahu said the agreement with the UAE was different from Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in that it does not require Israel to relinquish any territory. “It’s a warm peace, between peoples,” he said, recalling being moved at seeing social media footage of Emirati children draping themselves in an Israeli flag.

Dr. Nasser al Lahham, editor of the independent Ma'an news agency, wrote an explicitly antisemitic editorial today where he accused all rabbis in Israel of wanting to enslave Arabs and he predicted that Arabs will eventually take brutal revenge against Jews.

He started it off by claiming two alleged racist quotes from Israeli Jews. the first, which he attribute to a "settler" who had cut down olive trees speaking to Palestinian farmers, is that "we are the children of God and you serve us." The second was supposedly from a Tel Aviv restaurant owner who is claimed to have said, "I want Arabs and Arab girls to serve me, for Fatima to clean the bathrooms and Aisha to be work in the kitchen."

I cannot find either quote anywhere. I have never even seen any quote from any Jew who admitted to cutting down olive trees. I asked Dr. Lahham for the source but have not received an answer.

This doesn't mean that there aren't Jewish racists - of course there are - but like any bigot, Lahham extends the alleged racism of two random Jews based on probably fabricated quotes into all Jews in Israel.

He claims that "The rabbis of Israel have lost their mind - the rabbis of Safed issue rulings to enslave Arabs, steal olives and cut down trees." This is fiction.

He then ludicrously claims "we see Jewish settlers from Hebron and Yitzhar entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque and insulting the Prophet Muhammad inside the mosque." This is an absurd lie. Jews never even enter the mosque, and Jews visiting the Temple Mount are interested in the holiness of the site and its history, not in insulting any Muslim prophet.

Once Lahham incites his readers to hate Jews with lie after lie, he then goes on to issue a warning to American rabbis. Unless they do something to reign in the rogue Israeli racist Jews who want to enslave and murder all Arabs, Lahham warns, "no one, not even Facebook, Fox News, or a loud Trump will be able to prevent hundreds of millions of Arabs from taking revenge and tearing up Jewish flesh on the streets."

Ma'an claims to be a professional news organization with the highest standards of journalism. Its editor literally makes things up and reports them as fact - with the intent to incite violence. Then, like any mobster, he "warns" that unless people do what he wants, bad things will happen - which happen to be the bad things that he himself is encouraging with his bald-faced lies.

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Yesterday, a delegation of Gulf Arabs - there is disagreement as to whether they were from the UAE or Oman - visited the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party issued a statement that they consider any Arabs who visit the Al Aqsa Mosque compound without coordinating the visit with them to be no more legitimate than the Jewish "settlers" visiting the site. They used to claim that Al Aqsa was the heritage of all Muslims; now they are saying that "sovereignty over the holy sites is Palestinian and only Palestinian."

Palestinian Muslims on the Mount were upset by the delegation, and some of them harassed and insulted them, which had to be protected by Israeli police. Here one says "may Allah's curse be upon your sheikh" and calls them "impure."

"لعنة الله على شيخكم وكبيركم يا أنجاس يا أنذال"

📸هكذا استقبل المقدسيون وفداً تطبيعياً إماراتياً وصل المسجد #الأقصى بحماية قوات الإحتلال الإسرائيلي . pic.twitter.com/43t0ZQvLgk
— وطن. يغرد خارج السرب (@watan_usa) October 15, 2020

Jews are protecting the right of Muslims to worship - in the holiest Jewish spot on Earth - and Palestinian Muslims are the ones trying to take away that right.

If Arabs are still on the fence about what to think about Palestinians, this should clinch it.

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Richard Falk, the fanatically anti-Israel former UN “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has found a place to publish his pseudo-scholarly screeds.

The Tehran Times.

After being interviewed by the mouthpiece of the Islamist, terror supporting regime numerous times, now Falk decided to cut out the middleman and write for the mullahs himself.

In his article there this week Falk says how evil AIPAC is and praises the BDS-supporting anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace.

Part of the effectiveness of AIPAC is due to money and tight organizational discipline, and part of its influence is due to the absence of countervailing Jewish organizations that speak for liberal Zionism and progressive Jews. J-Street has attempted to provide a voice for liberal Zionism in Washington, and has limited success at legislative levels, but not in relation to party platforms or the selection of national candidates. Jewish Voice for Peace is an admirably balanced NGO, but its influence is mainly felt in civil society, where it has created growing support for a just outcome of this struggle that has gone on for a century, which includes supported [sic] the realization of the Palestinian right of self-determination whether in the form of a viable separate sovereign state or a single state whose foundational principle is ethnic equality.

Falk is such a moral paragon that he chooses to publish for a regime that hangs gays.

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