Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, May 05, 2018

05/05 Links: Kerry met Iranian FM in attempt to salvage nuclear deal; In Gaza, setting fire to their own gas lines; YouTube Censors MEMRI, Removes – For 'Harmful Or Dangerous Content' – Exposing Statements By Anti-Semitic Gaza Religious Scholar

From Ian:

Report: Kerry met Iranian foreign minister in attempt to salvage nuclear deal

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif two weeks ago in a bid to salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement signed between Iran and world powers, according to the Boston Globe.

Kerry reportedly met Zarif at the United Nations in New York for a second meeting in as many months amid threats by US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement by May 12.

According to the Globe, the Obama administration's top diplomat has also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeir, French President Emmanuel Macron on two occasions, and spoken on the phone with the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in an attempt to save the agreement that he spent years negotiating with other world leaders.

Kerry refused to respond to the Globe report.

Reuters reported last week that Trump has “all but decided” to withdraw from the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and to allow nuclear-related sanctions on Iran that were suspended under the nuclear deal to snap back into effect.

Zarif insisted on Thursday that his government has implemented its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers fully and in “good faith” – just days after Israel and the Trump administration accused the Iranians of lying about the nature of their nuclear work at its outset.

“Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented,” Zarif said. “Let me make it absolutely clear, and once and for all: we will neither outsource our security nor will we renegotiate or add onto a deal we have already implemented in good faith.”

How Malaysia Became a Training Ground for Hamas

It was like a scene out of the Mission: Impossible series. Two assassins on BMW motorbikes gunned down 34-year old Fradi Al-Batsh on the morning of April 21 in Kuala Lumpur. Al-Batsh was riddled with eight bullets before his attackers sped away.

Al-Batsh was a 34-year-old electrical engineer, a PhD in power systems and energy efficiency, and a lecturer at the British Malaysian Institute. As it turns out, he was also a loyal and active member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, working on the development of drones and rockets. He may also have been negotiating arms deals on behalf of Hamas with the North Koreans.

Reports suggest that it was agents of the Israeli spy agency, the Mossad, who killed al-Batsh. This only seems logical. But less obvious is what a Hamas weapons developer was doing in Malaysia in the first place.

As it turns out, Hamas has a significant presence in Malaysia. For years, the terrorist group has used Malaysia to engage in financial activities and even plan operations from outside Gaza, particularly as the group has been forced out of its traditional Middle East areas of operations, such as Syria.

Malaysia doesn’t appear to be concerned about the optics of this Hamas presence. As the Inspector General of Police in Malaysia said at a press conference last year, “If they come in peace and do not create any problems, then what is the issue?”

The problem is that Hamas operatives don’t come in peace. In 2012, at least ten members of Hamas traveled to Malaysia for training to prepare for a cross-border attack against Israel. The group reportedly trained for kidnapping soldiers, anti-tank ambushes, and sniper attacks.

Malaysian police claim to find guns, van used by assassins of Hamas drone expert

Malaysian police said Saturday that they had located the weapons and the getaway vehicle used by the assassins who gunned down a Hamas rocket and drone expert in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters that authorities were currently attempting to locate the owner of the vehicle, according to the Malaysian newspaper the New Straits Times.

Fadi al-Batsh, said to be a rocket and drone expert, was on his way to dawn prayers on April 21 when he was assassinated by motorbike-riding gunmen, a killing his family and the Hamas terror group have blamed on Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

“After shooting the victim and fleeing on a high-powered motorcycle, the suspects immediately switched to a van and escaped,” Fuzi said, according to the New Straits Times.

The motorbike the two suspects were allegedly riding was found abandoned not far from where the assassination took place.

The police inspector-general also said that the two suspects had used fake passports from Serbia and Montenegro to enter Malaysia, “They are also believed to have passports from other countries,” he said.

05/04 Links Pt2: US asks UN Security Council to reject ‘vile’ Abbas Holocaust remarks; J Street Loses Direction on Gaza; BDS is the symptom, not the disease

From Ian:

US asks UN Security Council to reject ‘vile’ Abbas Holocaust remarks

The United States on Friday asked the UN Security Council to reject the “unacceptable” and “deeply disturbing” remarks by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust that included “vile anti-Semitic slurs.”

Abbas apologized over the remarks delivered in an address to the Palestinian National Council, but a US-drafted statement called on the president to “refrain from anti-Semitic comments.”

The proposed statement would express the council’s “serious concern” about Abbas’ remarks, which “included vile anti-Semitic slurs and baseless conspiracy theories, and do not serve the interests of the Palestinian people or peace in the Middle East.”

The draft seen by AFP urges “all parties to avoid provocations that make the resumption of negotiations more difficult.”

J Street Loses Direction on Gaza

Here’s why. For years, the debate over the future of Gaza was a theoretical one. The Israeli left — cheered on by the American Jewish left — claimed that if Israel withdrew, then the Palestinians of Gaza would live in peace in with the Jewish state.

The Israeli right argued that the Gazans would never be satisfied with Gaza. And the right predicted that if Israel surrendered Gaza and the Palestinians continued to attack Israel, the international community would find ways to excuse and justify the attacks.

The debate was all theoretical, of course. There was no way to know, in advance, what would happen if Israel withdrew from Gaza, unless it withdrew. So, it did. And now Israel’s citizens see what has happened.

Thanks to the miracle of video cameras, Israeli voters watch the Gaza mobs every day, in real time. The Washington Post may call the firebomb-throwers “largely peaceful,” J Street may accuse Israeli soldiers of being trigger-happy, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may claim that Israel is mistreating innocent Palestinian demonstrators. But Israel’s citizens — Israel’s voters — can see the truth with their own eyes.

They see Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails. They see them sending flaming kites to set Israel’s fields on fire. They see the mobs surging to the fence. And they see how — just as the pessimists predicted — the left is excusing and rationalizing and justifying the firebombers. They see, more clearly now than ever before, that no matter how extreme and violent the Palestinians act, the left will defend them. No matter how many concessions that Israel makes, the Palestinians will demand more, and their American cheerleaders will echo their demands.

So, go ahead, J Streeters — cheer the chorus of anti-Israel criticism. Enjoy the Israel-bashing headlines while you can. The last laugh will be on you. Sometime in the next two years, Israel’s voters will go the polls. And their votes will be based on the reality unfolding before their eyes — the reality of unrelenting Palestinian hatred and extremism that you have tried, but failed, to hide from them.

Mahmoud Abbas, under pressure from the West, pretended to apologize for his antisemitic statements given last Sunday.

Based on what he and other Palestinian and Arab leaders have said over the years, here's the translation of each section of his so-called apology:

President Mahmoud Abbas stated on Friday that “if people were offended by my statement in front of the PNC, especially people of the Jewish faith, I apologize to them. I would like to assure everyone that it was not my intention to do so, and to reiterate my full respect for the Jewish faith, as well as other monotheistic faiths.”

I didn't say anything wrong. I have nothing to apologize for. Honestly, I am mystified about why what I said offended anyone, but, you know, Jews control the media so they made a big deal over this in order to discredit me. However, I know that I'm expected to apologize for something, so I'll just say that I'm sorry you decided to interpret my comments in a way that offends you. (See what I did there?)

Of course I respect Judaism and Christianity, because the Koran says that they are divine religions. However, the place for Christians and Jews in the Muslim world, and in Palestine in particular, is as second class citizens at best.

“I would also like to reiterate our long held condemnation of the Holocaust, as the most heinous crime in history, and express our sympathy with its victims.”

The Holocaust was heinous because it prompted Jews to come to Palestine and the UN to allow Israel to become a state. The Palestinian Arab exodus from Palestine is the real catastrophe (Nakba.) Therefore, the Palestinians are the major victims of the Holocaust and I express sympathy for them.

“Likewise, we condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, and confirm our commitment to the two-state solution, and to live side by side in peace and security.”

Arabs are Semites, so therefore we are against anti-Semitism. As I said in my speech, Jews aren't Semites - they descend from the Khazars. So anti-Semitism is anti-Arabism, and Jews are the world's biggest anti-Semites.

I have not retracted my statement that Jewish conduct is what brought the Holocaust upon them. I still believe that the people that call themselves Jews today have no historic rights to Israel. I still believe that the Jews who came to Palestine intended to build a colonialist outpost in the Middle East, not the nonsense of "return to Zion." I still believe that there were no massacres of any Jews by Arabs in history. I still maintain that the Arabs who killed scores of Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936 were "revolutionaries" and heroes, not murderers.

I said all of those things in my speech and I have not backed down one iota from any of those points.

But I will allow "Israel" - not a Jewish state, but "Israel" - the right to exist until we are strong enough by any means to defeat them and claim all the land that is rightfully ours.

If anyone can find anything that Abbas ever said that contradicts my explanation of his words, I will be happy to correct it. But everything I wrote in italics here reflects mainstream Palestinian Arab thought - and it is deeply and endemically antisemitic.

The gullible West will accept this "apology" as legitimate because the truth isn't as important as the urge to continue to prop up this dictatorial bigot as the great hope for peace.

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05/04 Links Pt1: Career Anti-Semite ‘Apologizes’ for Latest Bit of Anti-Semitism; For Democrats, the Iran Deal is Becoming the Peace Process

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Watching Netanyahu in Tehran

The Iranians now realize that Israel has been given a green light from the US to defeat its forces in Syria.

And they are terrified. This is why they insisted that there were no Iranian forces killed in Sunday’s air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Netanyahu’s critics have claimed that his presentation Monday, along with Trump’s anticipated announcement that the US is abandoning the nuclear deal increase the threat of war. But this is not necessarily the case. Indeed, in all likelihood, his presentation, together with the strikes against Iranian targets in Syria and the US’s support for Israel reduced the prospect of war.

Hemmed in by an empowered US-backed Israel, and an angry, rebellious Iranian public that just watched its humiliation on Israeli television, it is hard to see the scenario where the regime embarks on a war it is now convinced it will lose.

The only way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power without a major war is to overthrow the regime. Netanyahu’s presentation advanced that goal in a profound way. Declarations of friendship to the Iranian people, like the IDF’s Persian love song, further empower the people of Iran to bring down the regime that oppresses them and endangers the entire world.

Caroline Glick: Bibi's Iran Deal Bombshell Is a Strategic Game-Changer

This then brings us to the fourth and final strategic point. Many Obama administration alumni are insisting that Netanyahu’s remarkable presentation on Monday night, and Trump’s now expected decision May 12 to exit Obama’s nuclear deal, will increase the likelihood of all-out war between Israel and Iran that is likely to deteriorate swiftly into a larger regional war.

While it would be foolhardy to dismiss the possibility of war, the fact is that the events of the past week or so have made war far less likely than it was before.

The more powerful Israel’s airstrikes have become, the more powerful its intelligence services are proven to be. And the stronger and more open Israel’s cooperation and coordination with Washington becomes, the less likely Iran will be to respond to the challenge by initiating a war.

The regime knows the restive and angry Iranian public will not accept a war against a U.S. backed-Israel in Syria and beyond that will cost billions of dollars Iran simply doesn’t have. War would end in a stunning defeat for Iran.

Moreover, if Iran responds to the challenge by activating its terrorist sleeper cells and ordering them to attack Israeli or Jewish targets abroad, such action would only subject the regime to still sharper scrutiny from the U.S. — and, presumably, significant swathes of the international community — and consequently weaken the regime still further.

In short, by seizing and exposing the contents of Iran’s nuclear arsenal, Israel has further destabilized and weakened the regime. Its powerful airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria and its increasingly apparent operational cooperation with the U.S. have reduced the prospects for war.

And Israel has started running down the clock not to Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, but to the overthrow of the regime by the people of Iran.

Why Israeli Intelligence about the Iranian Nuclear Program Matters

After Benjamin Netanyahu made public the information from secret Iranian files pertaining to Tehran’s efforts to obtain atomic weapons, defenders of the 2015 nuclear deal rushed to claim that he had revealed nothing new. This claim is absurd, writes Matthew Kroenig, a scholar of nuclear proliferation:

For Iran to go nuclear, it must complete three steps: (1) enrich significant quantities of uranium to weapons-grade levels, (2) develop a functioning nuclear warhead, (3) and possess a ballistic missile or other means to deliver the device to an enemy. Step 1 is the most difficult technical hurdle and the subject of the most contentious debates about the Iran nuclear deal. But all of the revelations in Netanyahu’s presentation were about Step 2. . . .

Most importantly, Netanyahu claimed that illegal nuclear-weaponization work continues to the present day. He said that “today, in 2018, this work is carried out by SPND, an organization inside Iran’s Defense Ministry.” His presentation claimed that the name of the program for Step 2 changed in 2003, but that substantive work has continued under a new label with the same lead scientist and some of the same staff under the euphemism of “scientific-knowhow development.” If true, this would be a clear violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [or JCPOA, as the deal is officially known], which explicitly prohibits work on nuclear-warhead design in Section C, Part 16 and Annex 1, Part T. This is a subject that deserves further scrutiny and on which the international community should press Iran.

Next, these revelations show that the Iran nuclear deal was consummated under false pretenses. A condition of the deal [was] Iran’s coming clean about the possible military dimensions (PMD) of its nuclear program. Netanyahu’s presentation shows that Iran did not come clean, but lied about many aspects of the PMD of its program in its reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2015. . . .

Palestinian Arabs aren't thrilled that their Arab brethren are in Israel for the world's second biggest bicycle race:

Palestinians in Jerusalem have expressed their anger at a Bahraini-UAE delegation’s participation in the so-called Giro d’Italia race of 2018, to be held in Israel this year.

A spokesman for the National Action Authority in occupied Jerusalem described the participation of the Emirati and Bahraini teams as, “a very serious provocation to the feelings of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations, at a time when Jerusalem is being subjected to the worst attack of Judaization, Israelization and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalemites.”

The spokesman added: “This shameful Arab participation coincides with the Nakba Day commemoration and the occupation’s celebration of the establishment of Israel. This means that these normalization states are celebrating with the occupiers the commemoration of the looting of Palestine and the displacement of its people, and this is what the free people of the nation could neither bear nor accept.”

Ziad Al-Hammouri, a leader in Jerusalem, described the Arab participation in this race as “the worst participation that one can expect from those who describe themselves as Arabs.” He told The New Arab that: “This is an explicit and clear declaration that these states have abandoned the Palestinian cause, the central cause of the Arab and Islamic nation, a breach of all taboos and the Arab consensus, and part of the current direction of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who attacked the Palestinian people and accused them of rejecting peace proposals.”

In an interview with The New Arab, one of the activists said that if they encounter these Arab teams tomorrow, the activists, “will throw eggs at them and will not allow them be part of this participation, which constitutes a disgrace for the pro-occupation states of these teams and their regimes.”

The article then goes on to say that the race will occur on "occupied territory" - even though it doesn't go close to the Green Line.

The UAE and Bahrain have no choice but to participate if they want to remain part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (International Cycling Union). Which just goes to show that their support for Palestinian nationalism is way down on their priority lists when compared to their desire to continue to be members of the UCI.

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Democracy, Palestinian style:

Mahmoud Abbas heads the PLO Executive Committee. the Executive Committee hand-picks the members of the PLO National Council.. The Council then chooses members of the Executive Committee. The EC then elects the chairman of the committee - Abbas.

The PLO Executive Committee is the government of the "State of Palestine" recognized by the UN.

The Palestinian Authority is politically meaningless, even though Abbas heads that as well. Of course, he was "elected" to that symbolic position back in 2005, and there have been no elections since.

Mahmoud Abbas isn't the "president." He's the dictator.

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Today is another day of the Gaza riots. And it will be another day of critics saying that Israel is using too much force to defend its borders.

What riot control means can it use?

The army is trying to keep people about 300 meters from the fence. That makes standard riot control means nearly impossible.

The range for shooting standard tear gas is only 100 meters.

Israel's sonic blaster has a range of 50 meters, although the US has similar weapons that can work at up to 300 meters. https://www.wired.com/2011/09/the-scream-israel-blasts-rioters-with-sonic-gun/

A water cannon can only shoot for tens of meters.

Israel's famous "Skunk" water has the same limitations as a water cannon.

A bean bag round is only accurate from 20 meters away.

Rubber bullets can only be shot for about 100 meters.

Stun grenades are only good when they are detonated a very specific distance from the target - too close and they could be fatal, too far and they are useless.

The only non-lethal method that can work, as far as I can tell, is shooting tear gas from drones - which Israel is already doing, but it is only good for specific types of actions. It wouldn't help stop people who are already at the fence.

Keep in mind that Israel is criticized even when it uses these non-lethal methods of riot control. But practically none of them are useful for the Gaza riots. This is why they are shooting at ringleaders' legs - it is the only way to avoid killing people.

As usual, Israel-haters will complain about what Israel is doing, but they have no alternative except for letting Israel allow sworn enemies to walk in.

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05/03 Links Pt2: Jonathan Rosenhead & the Evil Zionist Conspiracy that Never Was; New Israel Fund blames human error for pro-BDS post; Pro-Farrakhan Women's March leader tours Israel

From Ian:

Jonathan Rosenhead & the Evil Zionist Conspiracy that Never Was

Jonathan Rosenhead is an academic at the London School of Economics who has long been a member of the anti-Zionist asajews. He’s been a member of whatever group has been in vogue at any given time. Currently the cabal is the so-called Jewish Voice for Labour.

A week ago he gave a talk at an event entitled Corbyn, Antisemitism and Justice for Palestine where he said:
“Just before the outbreak of war the United States had organised a hole… for hundreds of thousands of Jews to escape from Germany and go to…not to the United States certainly, but to a number of Latin American countries that had agreed to have them and in those last few weeks before the war the Zionists stopped that from happening because a Jew who got out of Germany and didn’t go to Palestine was a Jew lost and as a result was hundreds of thousands of Jews who would have escaped did not.

Now that collaboration between, that there was between the Jews, sorry the Zionists and the Nazis ended when there was a British government commission which said we think we should move to create a state for the Jews…think there should be a state for the Jews and at that moment the collaboration stopped because Hitler wanted the Jews out of Germany he didn’t want them to have a state.”

The Jewish Chronicle promptly picked up on this after speaking to academics prominent in the field of Holocaust history:
Paul Bogdanor, a researcher who has challenged the myth of Zionist-Nazi “collaboration”, said: “Prof Rosenhead’s suggestion that ‘the Zionists’ controlled the immigration policies of the Latin American countries before World War Two, or at any other time, relies on myths of Jewish power.

“His fantasy that Zionists were willing and able to block the flight of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe relies on stereotypes of Jewish cruelty. Demonising fellow Jews in this way reveals nothing about history but will incite plenty of bigotry.”

Rosenhead wasn’t done yet. He spoke again last night as a guest of Leeds University. When challenged about his comments last week he decided to lie about what he had said and then doubled down on the same statement:
Student: The holocaust being caused by both the Nazis and the Zionists, and I was wondering if you could explain that theory cause I have never heard of it before.

Rosenhead: This is an example of selective and in fact inaccurate quotation. I gave that talk on Thursday and (inaudible). What I said was not that the Holocaust was caused by the Zionists but that there was a move by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States, to get some hundreds of thousands of German Jews out of Germany in the period of ’38-’39, there was actually a big conference in Evian which he organised in 1938 pretending to take, to promise to take Jewish refugees. As part of that operation he was trying to persuade a lot of Latin American countries to take Jews. He wasn’t trying to take them to the United States the opposition was too full of Antisemitism in the United States so he tried to get them into these Latin American countries. Now the role that the Jewish leadership under David Ben Gurion at Evian was very tricky. It wasn’t actually pushing for this it was asking for conditions and so on. When Roosevelt seemed to have almost had the possibility of getting them out of Europe he was attacked by the Zionists.

US HOLOCAUST MUSEUM TRIES TO RESCUE FDR: Keeping the Jews out

Part 1 of a 3 part series on the U.S. and the Holocaust, currently the subject of an exhibition at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in which the facts brought here are obscured.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, D.C, recently opened a controversial new exhibit which claims that President Franklin D. Roosevelt did his best to help Jews during the Holocaust. The Washington Post described it as “a posthumous makeover for FDR at the museum.”

PART 1: KEEPING THE JEWS OUT
“It is a fantastic commentary on the inhumanity of our times,” wrote journalist Dorothy Thompson in 1938, “that for thousands and thousands of people, a piece of paper with a stamp on it is the difference between life and death.”

For over a century, the United States had an open-door immigration policy, welcoming newcomers from around the world in almost unlimited numbers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, however, a number of prominent American anthropologists and eugenicists began promoting the idea that Anglo-Saxons were biologically superior to other peoples. This racialist view of society reshaped the public’s view of immigration in the years following World War I.

The shift in attitudes took place at the same time that Americans were becoming increasingly anxious about Communism, as a result of the establishment of the Soviet Union. The combination of racism, fear of Communism, and general resentment of foreigners created strong public pressure to restrict immigration.

U.S. HOLOCAUST MUSEUM EXCUSES FDR’S SILENCE: Jews are inconvenient

PART 2: THE INCONVENIENCE OF RESCUING JEWS
When the world-famous German Jewish chemist Fritz Haber approached US Ambassador to Germany William Dodd in July 1933 to ask about “the possibilities in America for emigrants with distinguished records here in science,” Dodd told him (according to Dodd’s diary) “that the law allowed none now, the quota being filled.” In fact, the German quota was 95% unfilled that year.

Ten year-old Herbert Friedman was denied permission to accompany his mother and brother to the United States in 1936 after an examining physician at the Stuttgart consulate claimed he had tuberculosis. Tests all proved negative, and an array of German and American specialists who reviewed his X-rays likewise concluded that he did not have the disease. Yet the consulate would not budge. The family eventually managed to enlist the help of Albert Einstein, who, in a letter to the surgeon general about the case, reported:

“I have spoken to a reliable young man who recently emigrated from Germany; when I told him about the Stuttgart Consulate’s refusal to issue the visa for the child, without giving the young man the reason for the refusal [that is, Einstein did not tell him about the claim of tuberculosis—RM], he immediately said, ‘That is an old story. Tuberculosis!’ This shows clearly that this case is not an isolated case but that it is becoming a dangerous practice.

"Non-violent protest" in Gaza would be considered terrorism in US and EU

In 2012:

A magazine published by members of al Qaeda has called for Western Muslims to wage war within the United States, urging them to engage in lone wolf attacks, including setting forest fires. According to ABC News, a recent issue of Inspire magazine has surfaced on jihadi forums with one article titled “It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb”, which gives detailed instructions on how to build an “ember bomb” in a forest in the United States, and suggested Montana as a choice location due to the rapid population growth in forested areas.

Later in 2012;

Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a recent series of forest fires across Europe, as the head of Russia's Federal Security Service claimed they were set by arsonists as part of the group's low-cost attack strategy.

"One should note that setting fires to forests in the countries of the European Union is a new tendency in al-Qaeda's strategy of a 'thousand cuts'," Alexander Bortnikov said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti, at a meeting of heads of security agencies.
"This method allows (al-Qaeda) to inflict significant economic and moral damage without serious preliminary preparations, technical equipment or significant expenses."

It's obvious to Western observers that a purposefully set forest fire is a form of terrorism.
Well, sometimes.

From JTA:

A fire burned for hours in a southern Israel forest after a kite carrying a firebomb crossed the border from Gaza.
Ten teams of firefighters were called to the Be’eri Forest near Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday afternoon to bring the fire sparked by the incendiary kite under control. The fire burned dozens of acres of forest and agricultural fields.
It was the largest fire triggered by the kites sent from Gaza since the first use of such devices by Gazan Palestinians. Israel has experienced hot and dry conditions and high winds over the last few days.

Purposefully setting forest fires is terrorism when it doesn't happen in Israel. When Gazans do it under the command of their own Islamist leaders, it is just another form of "non-violent protest."

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Why war between Israel and Iran is unlikely today (Vic Rosenthal)

Si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war) – Vegetius, c. 450 CE

I’ve said that I am expecting a hot war soon. But recent developments are changing my mind. The strategy of deterrence and interdiction seems to be working on our northern border, and firm resistance to Hamas’ attempts to overrun our southern one seems – so far – to be effective.

The attack on the T4 airbase in Syria on April 10, and the one on the weapons depot near Hama this week, both attributed to Israel, have sent a strong message to the Iranian regime that Israel is serious about not allowing an Iranian buildup in Syria. Although little is publicly known about these attacks, it seems that both offensive and defensive weapons were destroyed, and that in both cases there were casualties among Iranian personnel.

Apparently, bunker-buster bombs were employed in the Hama raid, which should give pause to the Iranians, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas, all of whom make heavy use of underground facilities in light of the IDF’s air superiority. Iranian nuclear facilities are supposedly deep enough underground and heavily protected enough to survive Israel’s bombs; but how willing are they to test our capabilities in this area?

Syrian air defenses have also proved wanting, despite the downing of an Israeli F-16 in February, which was attributed to a “professional error” by the F-16’s crew. Russian antiaircraft systems were not activated against the Israeli planes. This may be because of agreements between Israel and Russia, but also possibly because the IAF possesses countermeasures effective against even the latest Russian systems – and the Russians would not like this fact to become widely known.

All of this means that Iranian leaders know that Israel will not hold back, and that she is capable of doing great damage to whatever she chooses to attack.

The recent intelligence coup in which, somehow, at least a half-ton of documents relating to Iran’s nuclear program prior to the JCPOA (the “nuclear deal” with the P5+1) were removed from Tehran to Jerusalem also has deterrent implications. Although it has been said that there is little data there that was not already known (especially to spy agencies), there is specific information about individuals involved in the program and locations for development and testing of weapons. So in addition to the political effect – it publicly establishes that the Iranians lied about their prior programs in the JCPOA negotiations, and may provide US President Trump with a justification for exiting the deal – it improves Israel’s ability to target Iranian nuclear facilities and personnel. The regime definitely doesn’t want to lose these!

There is also increasing unrest among the Iranian population, which is suffering economic difficulties while the regime spends billions on its adventures in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. And here there are two possible effects: either a war with Israel would increase the dissatisfaction, or it would serve to unify the population behind the regime. My guess is that the population would be split, therefore increasing the tension and making things more difficult for the regime.

If Trump does leave the deal and re-impose sanctions, the Iranian economy would receive another blow. On the other hand, if he succeeds in toughening the agreement in the areas of verification, missile development, and eliminating the “sunset clause,” then Israel’s strategic position is improved.

There is no doubt that Israel’s strategic team of Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman, and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkott, is competent. The IDF has learned the lessons of 2006 and will not be caught with inadequate intelligence and poor planning as it was then. Both the Iranians and Hezbollah understand this, despite their bragging.

Russia, which wants to keep Assad in power and maintain its bases in Syria, has at least so far showed no desire to interfere with Israel in its actions against Iran and Hezbollah. I speculate that a nuclear-armed Iran with missiles that can hit Moscow is not especially desirable to Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu’s diplomatic walk between the raindrops with Putin and Trump has been remarkable.

Hamas, which would possibly add its weight to a war against Iranian proxies, is not an existential threat. Its tunnels either have been or will shortly be neutralized. The IDF can strike very hard against its infrastructure, which it would probably do in the context of a wider war, in order to eliminate the necessity of fighting a protracted battle on another front. Hamas is aware of this.

But there is one factor which I think is more important to our deterrence than everything else put together, and that is the simple fact that the Trump Administration is not likely to try to stop us from defending ourselves. Compare Trump, Pence, Pompeo and Bolton to Obama, Biden, Kerry and Rice! I can’t think of a larger ideological and empathetic distance.

This administration will not accept the propaganda of our enemies as truth, as Obama and Kerry did. It will not refuse to resupply us with Hellfire missiles or force our international airport to close, as Obama did in 2014. It will no longer be a given that Israel has only the shortest possible window to achieve an advantageous strategic position (I won’t even mention victory) before the “international community,” led by the US, forces a cease-fire.

Hezbollah understands that Israel will not shrink from employing its full firepower against rocket launchers embedded in the civilian population of southern Lebanon. And it also understands that Israel will receive support from the US if this becomes necessary.

In fact, not only does this administration help Israel deter her enemies, its uncompromising opposition deters Iran from pursuing its expansionist goals in the entire region. Of course, it must be prepared to make good on its threats, and that remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that the policy of appeasement followed by the Obama Administration had the opposite effect.

It’s ironic that criticism of the Trump Administration, particularly Pompeo and Bolton, refers to them as “warmongers,” when the practical impact of their strong stance against Iran is to make regional war less likely.

Taken together, the actions of both Israel and the US are tending to prevent war, or at least delay it until there is an administration in the US that is more like Obama’s than Trump’s. Who knows? Perhaps the Iranian momentum can be reversed, and by that time there will be a new regime there.

Si vis pacem, para bellum. It was true in 450 CE, and it’s true today.

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05/03 Links Pt1: Ben Shapiro: Lies and More Lies; Oren: 'Conduct of the Obama administration borders on criminal'; NY Times calls for Abbas ouster over ‘vile’ claim on Jews and Holocaust

From Ian:

Ben Shapiro: Lies and More Lies

So, the Iranians lied.

So did the Obama administration.

On April 30, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that in a stunning intelligence coup, the Israelis had somehow obtained 100,000 files from Iran’s secret atomic archive in Tehran. The files showed that Iran had ardently pursued nuclear weapons for years, lying about it all the while; that they had then failed to turn over the information showing the extent of their program during negotiations over the Barack Obama administration-pushed Iran deal; and that they had hidden those files in a secret warehouse with the obvious intent of reviving their nuclear program the minute they can get away with it.

According to Netanyahu, Iran “is brazenly lying when it says it never had a nuclear weapons program.” Furthermore, Netanyahu claimed that nuclear development “continued … in a series of organizations over the years, and today, in 2018, this work is carried out by SPND, that’s an organization inside Iran’s Defense Ministry.” The head of Iran’s earlier nuclear program currently heads the SPND.

Advocates for the Obama administration have come forward to contend that there’s nothing new here — that everyone knew Iran had been lying about its nuclear program. But when the deal was signed, Secretary of State John Kerry stated that Iran would have to disclose past military-related nuclear activities: “If there’s going to be a deal, it will be done. … It will be part of a final agreement.”

Other advocates say that Israel’s intelligence would be damaging to the Iran deal — but those nefarious Jews made it up. According to Tommy Vietor, former Obama National Security Council spokesman, “After years of bashing U.S. intelligence agencies for getting Iraq wrong, [Donald] Trump is now cooking up intel with the Israelis to push us closer to a conflict with Iran. A scandal hiding in plain sight.”

Caroline Glick: The Ayatollah's Archive Violates the Iran Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s revelation Monday evening that Israel’s Mossad spy agency had seized Iran’s nuclear archive means that the ayatollahs have violated the nuclear deal negotiated by then-President Barack Obama, his EU partners, the Russians, and the Chinese in 2015.

Despite misleading claims by former Obama administration officials and their supporters in the liberal media that the material provided “nothing new,” the existence of the archive itself is a bombshell.

The intelligence Israel captured from a secret warehouse in Teheran includes more than half a ton of documents and computer files that detail the regime’s past work in developing all aspects of a nuclear arsenal. The archive was painstakingly preserved and transferred to a new secret location after Iran concluded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal.

According to Ehud Yaari, Arab Affairs commentator for Israel’s Reshet television station, by archiving the material and so preserving Iran’s progress towards constructing nuclear weapons, Iran committed a material breach of the JCPOA.

Paragraph T of Annex 1 of the JCPOA is titled “Activities which could contribute to the design and development of a nuclear explosive device.”

Prelude to a Showdown?

Again, though, to focus on the intelligence Netanyahu revealed is to lose the plot. The exposure of an exceedingly complex operation that revealed these documents to the world is by itself an alarming development. According to the Israeli officials with whom Axios reporter Barak Ravid spoke, the Iranian nuclear archive was transferred to its covert home in February of 2016 explicitly to hide the military dimensions of its nuclear program from inspectors. The Israeli operation that uncovered that warehouse, which was known only to a small circle of Iranian officials, took years to prepare and involved hundreds of agents and informants. Exposing this operation has compromised all of those irreplaceable human assets and sacrificed a lot of invaluable collection capability. No government does that without performing a cost/benefit analysis. Either Israel concluded that making this operation public was worth the concrete policy objective that would be achieved by the reveal, or Netanyahu’s government determined that the value of its assets in Tehran was going to depreciate soon anyway as a result of events. And events are becoming rather ominous.

In as many months, Israel has executed three airstrikes on Iranian targets inside Syria. In February, Israel claimed to have shot down an Iranian drone originating in Syria that penetrated its airspace. In response to that incursion, the Israeli military targeted and destroyed four Iranian positions and an Iranian-operated command-and-control center from which the drone originated. One Israeli aircraft was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire during that operation. In early April, Israel executed an airstrike on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps post in Syria in which Iranian soldiers and Hezbollah were killed. And just days ago, Israel attacked two Iranian-linked bases inside Syria killing dozens of Iranian and Syrian fighters and igniting ammunition that resulted in several massive explosions. The tempo of Israeli operations is increasing and Americans sources say observers have every reason to fear the accelerating trend.

U.S. officials reportedly told NBC News that, within the last two weeks, Iran has stepped up deliveries of small arms and surface-to-air missiles to Syria as part of Tehran’s effort to “shore up Iranian ground forces and to strike at Israel.” The conspicuous reinforcement of Iranian soldiers, support staff, and weapons stockpiles might have led Israel to draw the gravest of conclusions. “The three U.S. officials said Israel now seems to be preparing for military action and is seeking U.S. help and support,” NBC News revealed.

The arguments among political factions within the United States regarding the Iran nuclear deal and various presidential legacies are peripheral to what may be the more immediate issue: the prospect of imminent hostilities between Israel and Iran, to say nothing of Tehran’s proxy forces in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Seen in that light, Netanyahu’s decision to reveal the most eye-opening feat of spycraft in a generation is anything but a “nothing-burger.”

Hanna Amira, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the official Voice of Palestine radio on Thursday morning that Abbas' speech to the National Assembly "is a historical account of the facts, which was corroborated by some Jewish historians."

This includes the disproven "Khazar" theory and Abbas' noxious claim that Jews' behavior is what has caused antisemitism.

Fayez Rashid, writing in Al Watan, supported Abbas' words about Jews as well, saying that they were historical facts supported by Jews like Ilan Pappe. He is no Fatah flunky though - the bulk of his article criticized the rest of Abbas' speech.

The condemnations of Abbas' antisemitism by the UN and Israel were covered extensively in Arabic language media over the past day.

As usual, one needs to look at what they don't say as well as what they do. I did not find a single Arabic-language media source that condemned or even chided Abbas for his absurd and offensive statement about Jews. The tone of the articles is more along the lines of how pro-Jewish the West is by making a big deal over Abbas' words.

This incident is not just an indictment of Abbas' Jew-hatred. The complete lack of condemnation, and the tacit support offered by some, shows that antisemitism is a fundamental part of the Arab worldview.

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The main mantra in support of the Iranian nuclear deal has always been - and continues to be - that the deal includes "the most intrusive inspections regime ever negotiated." The logic is that Iran can't possibly be working on a parallel and secret nuclear weapons program while opening up (some of) its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspectors.

The New York Times reports:

Israel is not finished with its lobbying campaign. Officials there said they planned to share much of the data they had harvested from the secret archive with the International Atomic Energy Agency — including data on some previously unknown nuclear sites in Iran.

If there are previously unknown nuclear sites in Iran that the IAEA itself is unaware of, then doesn't that prove that the current inspections regime is literally worthless?

Yet the NYT downplays the importance of such a discovery:

Israel’s intention appears to be to force the organization, a United Nations agency, to demand that the Iranians allow inspections of those sites, even though some of them may have been closed or dismantled years ago. Since Iran considers many of these military sites, the Israelis, and some American officials, expect the Iranians to balk at the demand — inciting another crisis for the deal.

Instead of noting that the existence of secret nuclear facilities is a huge red flag, the NYT throws up a smokescreen of claiming - with no knowledge - that many of these facilities may have been dismantled years ago.

And also it mentions in passing that Iran refuses to allow inspections of suspected nuclear research sites that Iran classifies as "military" - which was a huge red flag to the entire JCPOA plan when it was agreed upon, and also swept under the rug.

If Iran balks at a demand to allow inspections, then - the NYT logic goes - such inspections are better left undone. Otherwise, there could be a crisis!

What kind of logic is this?

“The Israeli prime minister’s presentation on Iran’s past research into nuclear weapons technology underlines the importance of keeping the Iran nuclear deal’s constraints on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions,” the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said in a statement. “The Iran nuclear deal is not based on trust about Iran’s intentions; rather it is based on tough verification.”

How is "tough verification" possible when the IAEA doesn't even know all the sites to inspect?

All of the people who defend the Iran deal based on these "tough verification" should be at the forefront of insisting that Iran come clean about their secret nuclear facilities.

Their silence in the wake of Israel's intelligence coup - indeed, their derision of it - shows that for all their posturing about how wonderful the deal is, their intent is not to stop an Iranian bomb as they claim, but to mindlessly defend the indefensible.

The best summary of how absurd this "inspections regime" is can be found in this tweet: "Basically, with advance notice the cop is allowed to pull the car over to search for contraband, except it's forbidden to search the glove compartment."

The new Mossad revelations takes this analogy further - the cops aren't allowed to inspect the huge trailer behind the car either, since it isn't defined as being part of the car.

(h/t EBoZ)

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The PFLP terror group issued a statement about how bad things are in Gaza.

Unlike Western reports that automatically blame everything on Israel, this Arabic statement accurately places the blame on the party that is responsible - the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) warned Thursday that continued punitive measures against the Gaza Strip could cause a total collapse of the Gaza Strip.

The Front stressed in a press statement that the continuation of the measures against the Gaza Strip and the failure of the PA and the Accordance Government to respond to the national and popular appeals against imposing more punitive measures, culminating in the blackmail exercise exercised by the Authority against its employees in Gaza from the date of the last month's salary until yesterday, ...This could cause a total collapse of the sector, which would a fertile environment for the implementation of [Trump's] deal of the century.

The Front considered that the continued manipulation of the lives of our children and the enjoyment of the suffering of our people through the imposition of further punitive measures is a crime that runs counter to the Palestinian Basic Law, international and humanitarian law, and strengthens the state of division and schism in the Palestinian arena.

The Front called on the masses of our people, national and Islamic forces, civil society organizations, national and national figures and all sectors of our people to unite behind a progressive struggle program that adopts resolute measures to confront these measures and pressure to stop them immediately.

The PFLP is not exactly Zionist. But they see the situation in Gaza and who is responsible - not Israel's "blockade." The PA has been systematically cutting services to Gaza for over a year now and the Western press rarely reports about it, because Arabs are expected to act with callous disregard to other Arab lives.

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EU doesn't condemn Abbas' antisemitic remarks - it downplays them, and praises him as a peacemaker

From the European Union External Action:

The speech Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered on 30 April contained unacceptable remarks concerning the origins of the Holocaust and Israel's legitimacy. Such rhetoric will only play into the hands of those who do not want a two-state solution, which President Abbas has repeatedly advocated.

This is not a condemnation. This is merely saying that Abbas' statements are "unacceptable." And why are they unacceptable?

Not because they are antisemitic. Not because they deny history. Not because they blame Jews for causing the Holocaust.

No, the main problem with Abbas' speech is that it allows the Israeli right to point out that Abbas is an antisemite who does not deserve to be rewarded with a state!

The only direct characterization of Abbas' character in this statement is that he has "repeatedly advocated" a two state solution, meaning that a man who spouts Jew-hating conspiracy theories is better than the evil people who point out his antisemitism.

The EU then tries to obfuscate the issue by saying antisemitism is bad.

The Holocaust and World War Two have defined Europe's modern history like no other event. Holocaust education remains central to building up resilience against all forms of hatred in our societies. Antisemitism is not only a threat for Jews but a fundamental menace to our open and liberal societies. The European Union remains committed to combat any form of anti-Semitism and any attempt to condone, justify or grossly trivialise the Holocaust.

There is no wording that ties the second paragraph to what Abbas said. It sort of implies that Abbas might have trivialized or condoned the Holocaust, but the statement it so general that is could refer to anyone, anytime.

This EU statement does not say a single negative thing about Abbas, and it says one "positive" thing about him - that he supports a two state solution (on the way to destroying the Jewish state via "return.")

The statement also does not call on Abbas to walk back his statements or to apologize. He did something that is vaguely unfortunate and it must be forgotten as quickly as possible before those right wing Jews make a big deal over it.

Despite how central the EU claims Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism are, this statement proves that it has learned little from the Holocaust - that hate must be loudly and specifically condemned and the people who espouse such hate must be held to account.

(h/t Irene)

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