Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, November 16, 2020

The PLO's Red Lines for a Palestinian state, from the Palestine Papers, part 1: Borders and recognition

In 2011, Al Jazeera and The Guardian released a collection of over a thousand documents related to the Israel/Palestinian peace process, most of them leaked from the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU)of the PLO headed by Saeb Erekat. They were known as The Palestine Papers. One of Erekat's many resignations came in response to these papers being leaked, presumably by one of his own people.

The articles at the time from Al Jazeera and The Guardian cherry picked out-of-context quotes from Israeli negotiators quoted in the papers to make them look bad. As far as I know, I am the only person who spent a bit of time actually reading the Palestine Papers and discovering many embarrassing things about the PLO as well as how Al Jazeera and The Guardian mischaracterized their findings.

After Saeb Erekat's death, I revisited the Papers which are still available at the Al Jazeera site. I found one document that is terrifically important, possibly the most important document in the collection, that no one else seems to have noticed - or wanted to report on.

It is called the NSU Negotiation Principles Matrix and it lists, over fifteen pages, every single issue that Israel and the PLO negotiated over, what the PLO's core position was on each issue, and what the PLO was ready to be flexible on and exactly how much.

It is a blueprint to the maximal concessions that the PLO would ever give for peace and what their true "red lines" are. This document, in all probability, is why Erekat dissolved the NSU and resigned - it showed all of the PLO's negotiating cards.

It also shows how impossible it is for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. The PLO's public negotiating position is entirely consistent with this document and there is no reason to think that the Palestinian leadership has moved from these positions one bit.

Given that a new Biden administration will go back to an Oslo mentality, trying to negotiate a two state solution, this document is more relevant than ever. It shows, in the PLO's own words, how intransigent they are and how intransigent they always will be.

It makes no sense to pressure Israel for more concessions when the PLO already says that they won't be enough.

The matrix starts off with the PLO positions on the negotiations as a whole, upon which there is no flexibility.

ISSUE

CORE PRINCIPLES

POSSIBLE FLEXIBILITY

CORE PRINCIPLES

· No end of claims until full implementation of the CAPS

· Strong implementation and verification mechanism

· No backdoor acceptance of state with provisional borders

· No end of occupation until full withdrawal of army and all settlers and full Palestinian control over all the territory, its inhabitants and all external relations

· Full normalization with Israel by any Arab State shall only commence following the full implementation of the Treaty.

Most of these are things we have heard before as PLO demands.

Note here that the PLO is insisting that they must receive all of their demands, completely and up front, before Israel gets anything. Notice also that the PLO is speaking for all Arab states, whether they like it or not.

MUTUAL RECOGNITION

· Should include recognition of Israel along recognized and agreed borders.

· Must not include recognition of certain characteristics of the state of Israel, i.e as a Jewish state.

Here the PLO is saying that they will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This is meant to protect the "right to return" so they can plan to turn Israel into an Arab state by forcing it to take in all so-called "refugees" which will be discussed later on in the document.

INTERNATIONAL BORDERS

Location of international borders

· Must be based on 1967.

· 1967 line = 1949 armistice line, including all legal and agreed modifications. [Alternatively,

· Land corridor/link could be part of swap package if Palestinians get sovereignty over the land corridor.

language could specify that the West Bank includes East Jerusalem and No Man’s Land.]

· Demographic arguments cannot be used to draw the border. If Israel wants to argue demographics then UNGA 181 must be the basis of discussion.

· Negotiate size of area, not percentages.

· Swaps must be minor - not more than 100 km² in TOTAL .

· No swap of land inhabited by Palestinians, regardless of citizenship (e.g., Um el Fahm).

· Equal in quantity and quality (e.g., Jerusalem land for Jerusalem land, agricultural land for agricultural land).

· Swap only settlement built-up areas, not empty Pal land (i.e., no ‘blocs’).

· Swap only settlements adjacent to the border. Swapped areas cannot disrupt contiguity. (No annexation of Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Pisgat Ze’ev, Neve Ya’cov, Giv’at Ze’ev, or Efrat.)

· No swap of land inhabited by Palestinians regardless of citizenship (i.e Um el Fahm).

· Proposals for tripartite land swap with Egypt (or Jordan) should be rejected.

· No leasing.

· Most of the options with respect to borders will be in the various swap scenarios, which should be guided by the principles herein.

· Residency rights is a creative option to avoid swapping difficult areas and which may make Palestinians look more reasonable at the table.

Here the PLO is saying that the 1949 armistice lines must be the basis for the final borders, and the Palestinians should even get the "no man's land" between the Israeli and Jordanian positions in 1949.

It is saying that it does not want to gain land in Israel that includes a single Arab. Only lands where Jews would be expelled, or empty land, can be swapped for small settlement areas adjacent to the Green Line.

It explicitly says that Israel must give up all lands that are not, in the PLO's view, contiguous with the 1949 armistice lines. Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Pisgat Ze’ev, Neve Yaakov, Giv’at Ze’ev, Efrat - and certainly places like Bet El, Hebron and scores of other communities - must be emptied of Jews.

But if Israel pushes back, the PLO can consider allowing a few Jews to stay as residents of Israel "to make Palestinians look more reasonable."

All of these are clearly non-starters for Israel. But the PLO is saying that it will not budge on this - hundreds of thousands of Jews must leave their homes before Israel can get any benefits of peace.

Delimitation and demarcation	· Delimitation on agreed and appropriately scaled maps.	· This is purely a technical issue. It should not be contentious.
Maritime Boundaries	· Palestine will claim full share of what we are entitled to under international law as a coastal state. · Maritime boundaries must be agreed, according to international law. · Include clause that says maritime boundaries will be agreed in the future [ideal time would be at or immediately post CAPS].	· Willing to negotiate shared/joint zones. · Maritime boundary does not have to be agreed at the FAPS or CAPS stage. It can be agreed post-statehood. · There are many options for the maritime boundaries in line with international law and equitability.
Private property	· Deal with private property interests in the swapped areas separately from delimitation of the border	·
Sovereignty and Inviolability	· West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip are one united and integral part of the territory of Palestine · Palestinian sovereignty must be full and respected by Israel	· NOTE: issues of sovereignty should not be confused with functional arrangements that suit both Palestinian and Israeli interests. For example, Palestine could enter into arrangements based on its sovereign equality on various issues in accordance with its own interests.

The next section we will look at contains the PLO demands about Jerusalem.

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I can't believe anyone takes @Mondoweiss seriously

I don't read Mondoweiss, but sometimes people send me links and I simply cannot get over how people think that is a serious site.

The New York Times reported that Israel assassinated an Al Qaeda leader in Tehran in August. Mondoweiss comes up with a conspiracy theory that the entire story was made up, leaked in order to give the US an excuse to attack Iran!

In what universe would the discovery of an Al Qaeda leader in Iran be an excuse for a war?

But the analysis by James North is even worse (if possible.)

The article reeks of dishonesty. At least one of its four authors, Ronen Bergman, an Israeli (who has lavished praise on the Israel lobby AIPAC), has sources in Israel’s spy apparatus, which immediately raises suspicion. The report’s only sources are those unnamed “intelligence officials,” who provide suspiciously precise details, reminiscent of a movie script: the paper said that last August in Tehran, al-Masri

was driving his white Renault L90 sedan with his daughter near his home when two gunmen on a motorcycle drew up alongside him. Five shots were fired from a pistol fitted with a silencer. Four bullets entered the car through the driver’s side and a fifth hit a nearby car.

Bergman literally wrote the book on Israel's spy agencies, and it wasn't a hagiography. Mondoweiss' writer has no evidence that Bergman has ever reported anything inaccurate but the fact that he has contacts in the Mossad is by itself enough to discredit his reporting for the anti-Israel drones who read that absurd site.

North, meanwhile, has been warning about the US trying to start a war with Iran pretty much every month for years. He must be very frustrated that his keen analysis of Trump's supposed desire to start a war has been so wrong so many times and yet he doubles down again and again.

Also, North's claim that the NYT article didn't cover the fact that Iran and Al Qaeda are not normally allies is false:

That he had been living in Iran was surprising, given that Iran and Al Qaeda are bitter enemies. Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, and Al Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim jihadist group, have fought each other on the battlefields of Iraq and other places.
Iran may have had good reason for wanting to hide the fact that it was harboring an avowed enemy, but it was less clear why Iranian officials would have taken in the Qaeda leader to begin with.

Some terrorism experts suggested that keeping Qaeda officials in Tehran might provide some insurance that the group would not conduct operations inside Iran. American counterterrorism officials believe Iran may have allowed them to stay to run operations against the United States, a common adversary.

It would not be the first time that Iran had joined forces with Sunni militants, having supported Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Taliban.

“Iran uses sectarianism as a cudgel when it suits the regime, but is also willing to overlook the Sunni-Shia divide when it suits Iranian interests,” said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Center.

Mondoweiss is a joke that is taken seriously by a large percentage of the Left.

(h/t Yoel)

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11/15 Links: David Collier: There is no real justice for Jewish people in the UK; Saudi lawyer claims Al-Aqsa Mosque's true location 'is not in Jerusalem'

From Ian:

David Collier: There is no real justice for Jewish people in the UK

Three years ago I was present at the pro-Hezbollah Al-Quds rally in London. In the process of whipping up the crowd to prepare them for the march, the leader of the rally, Nazim Ali, made several blatantly antisemitic statements over a loudhailer. After it became known that Nazim Ali was a pharmacist, complaints were made to the General Pharmaceutical Council. They took three long years to even arrange a hearing. Last week they published their determination – that the four test statements they had selected, whilst offensive, were not antisemitic. An embarrassing joke of a finding and a slap in the face for all of us. The obvious conclusion from this story is that there is no real justice for Jewish people in the UK.

Justice and the facts The undisputed facts of the case are these: Nazim Ali is a pharmacist and is also a Director of the Islamic Human Rights Commission. The IHRC is an extremist group ‘inspired by the worldview of Ayatollah Khomeini’. On the last Sunday of each Ramadan, they hold a demonstration on ‘Al Quds’ day, an Ayatollah designed, pro-Hezbollah, pro-Iranian march through London. Until proscribed in the UK, Hezbollah flags were ever-present at these rallies. Nazim Ali has been the voice of the Al-Quds demonstration for several years.

At the event in 2017, and before the gathered protestors began to march, Nazim Ali made several antisemitic comments about Zionists. Some examples: Ali claimed Zionists were not real Jews, he blamed them for the Grenfell disaster, stated that they genetically need to ‘occupy’ and suggested British Rabbis have blood on their hands.

Justice fails in the findings The publication of the findings of the ‘Fitness to Practise’ hearing confirmed all our worst fears. The entire process had been a badly handled, incompetent affair, that resulted in a near total whitewash. The Committee decided that whilst offensive, the words of Nazim Ali were not antisemitic.

There are several *major failures* in the determination. These are the two that I consider the most important:

Antisemitism – In deciding what was and was not antisemitic, their Legal Adviser had provided them with the dictionary definition. The IHRA definition was included by the Council in the bundle of papers ‘for guidance’. In assessing whether a comment was antisemitic, the Committee decided it would attempt to judge the view of a ‘reasonable person’, with knowledge of all the facts and context. Someone with ‘no particular characteristics‘ (ie not Jewish).

Impartiality – both myself and Jonathan Hoffman were not considered impartial. They mentioned that I had just returned from a visit to Israel along with the fact my daughter recently volunteered for the Israeli Defence Force. They concluded that this meant I was not an ‘entirely impartial observer‘. For Jonathan they stated that he had described himself as being ‘of the Jewish faith’, before mentioning his public order conviction and the fact he had visited Nazim Ali’s pharmacy as the reasons why he too, was not fit to be described as a ‘wholly impartial observer‘.

They found we were of ‘little assistance’ in reaching their decisions (page 52).

Saudi lawyer claims Al-Aqsa Mosque's true location 'is not in Jerusalem'

Osama Yamani claims that Al-Aqsa is located in Al-Ju'ranah near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi Arabian lawyer claimed that Al-Aqsa (the Farthest) Mosque, traditionally held to be Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, is not in fact, located on the Al-Aqsa compound (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem's Old City.

Writing in Saudi news outlet Okaz, Osama Yamani maintained that the mosque - which is one of the world's most ancient permanent Islamic buildings, having been completed in 705 CE - is actually located in Al Ju'ranah, near Mecca in Saudi Arabia, cited Israeli outlet, Israel Hayom.

In his piece, Yamani argued that the centuries-long confusion stems from the fact that history books have mistakenly located Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem is not Al-Aqsa, which is not cited in the missions that Allah gave Muhammad and the caliphs. Similarly, Jerusalem is a city, and Al-Aqsa is a mosque," he stated.

Yamani added that originally, Muslims did not face in the direction of Mecca while praying and instead faced Jerusalem, a function imposed by Umayyad dynasty's fifth caliph Abd al-Malik, who built the adjoining Dome of the Rock in 691 CE.

Yamani explained that: "There are stories influenced by political considerations that served the purposes of that time, and sometimes claims are made that they have nothing to do with faith or following religious dictates."

Islamic tradition dictates that although the Prophet Mohammad's corporeal body never entered Jerusalem, with the word never being mentioned in the Qur'an, legend affirms that he ascended to heaven on al-Buraq - a winged horse, which is said to have taken off from the foundation stone underneath the Dome of the Rock.

We are already witnessing what a war of ideas inside the Islamic world looks like with Sunni and Shia Muslims continuing a battle that has raged for more than 1,300 years. A battle over the so-called "true" location of Al-Aqsa Mosque between Saudis and Palestinians could similarly spell trouble.

Honest Reporting: CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Compares Trump Era To Kristallnacht

CNN’s chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, compared US President Donald Trump’s tenure in office to Nazi Germany after the recent anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms.

“This week 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened,” Amanpour began as her show opened. “It was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth. After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.”

This, on a show which CNN describes as its “flagship global affairs interview program.”

Kristallnacht, in English known as the “Night of Broken Glass,” was a series of violent Nazi attacks that in the eyes of many historians constituted the start of the Holocaust. Over the course of two days in November 1938, thousands of Jewish properties and homes were ransacked and destroyed, 90 Jews were murdered, and 30,000 were deported to concentration camps, many never to return.

Amanpour’s remarks are offensive on a number of levels: First, for seemingly attempting to invoke Nazi atrocities in order to further a contemporary political agenda. Second, for seeking to universalize Kristallnacht by never mentioning Jews as the targets. And third, by cheapening history by engaging in such an over-the-top analogy.

Amanpour’s remarks were met with condemnation by media critics such as Glenn Greenwald — who, to say the least, is not known for his support of Zionism — and cable TV producer Steve Krakauer, as well as from leading Jewish figures such as Hillel Neuer and David Harris.

Krakauer reacted swiftly on Twitter, saying that, “Comparing Trump to Hitler and Kristallnacht, saying they ‘assault’ the ‘same values’ is obscene and outrageous.”

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer wrote that such distortion of the Holocaust by a journalist on US television was unprecedented, adding, “the Nazi genocide was not ‘an attack on fact, knowledge, history & truth.’ They murdered 6 million Jews. Say it.”

Never before in the history of U.S. news networks did a journalist distort the Holocaust for political purposes as Amanpour just did on on CNN & PBS.

No, @camanpour, the Nazi genocide was not “an attack on fact, knowledge, history & truth.“

They murdered 6 million Jews. Say it. pic.twitter.com/Cwkzj1lUBK
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 14, 2020

@CNN talk of listening and learning and say we can trust them. Wrapping the Kristallnacht anniversary in to a Trump piece was as disgusting as it was ridiculous.

CNN must do better. @jaketapper @wolfblitzer @andersoncooper @camanpour pic.twitter.com/298jmLMdl3
— Milk Media (@milkmedianewyor) November 14, 2020

This is from a travelogue by a monk named Felix Fabri, describing his visit to the Holy Land in 1483. In this section he describes a tour of the area beneath the Temple Mount known as "Solomon's Stables" that was led surreptitiously by a Jewish guide.

On the fourth day, after dinner, we went down the Mount Sion together, led in a half-secret fashion by a Jew, who said that he would show us some things which were hidden. As we were going down, we came to the south side of the church, which stands near the Temple of the Lord, where, in the days of the Christians, there used to be a way up some stone steps to a high door, through which one entered that church. We climbed up to this door over the ruins of the walls, and kissed the wall in which the door is, for the sake of the plenary indulgences which are to be gained there (ff).... We visited this place with fear and in silence, for, had the Saracens [Muslims] seen us, we should have been in danger, which was why we chose the time when they take their rest. From that place we went further down, and came to an exceeding ancient wall, enormously strong, built of huge squared rocks, and this wall is tolerably high, albeit it once was much higher, as may be seen from the ruins, for the place is full of squared stones scattered round about. It is said that upon this wall stood the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was the king's house, built by Solomon, whereof we read in i Kings vii., where he saith, ' Glory,' etc. This house was called the house of the forest of Lebanon, because its upper part was built of timber which was hewn from the forest of Lebanon. The author of the Spccuhini Historiale says that this house was built of twofold material ; the lower part was of stone, and was called Nethota, that is to say, the place of perfumes, wherein the spices and pigments for the use of the temple and of the king's house were stored up, that by reason of the (cool) earth and the (thick) wall they might long keep their freshness. The upper part was of wood, of the timber from Lebanon, wherefore it was called the house of the forest, the house of Lebanon, or the house of the forest of Lebanon. ...

...When we had viewed this wall from the outside, guided by the Jew, we climbed up over the ruins to the wall itself, and there is one of the great square blocks which has been torn by vast force out of the wall, so that there is a hole through the wall into Nethotam. So we bent ourselves down and went in, one after another, and at first we could see nothing whatsoever, because it is the nature of the eyes that those who go into the shade out of the sunlight can see nothing ; but after we had stood still there for awhile, we got back our sight by degrees, and beheld great vaulted buildings. There were here seven rows of columns, supporting the vaults and upper buildings, which were built above them in the days of old, though at this day there stands an olive grove above it at the side of the temple. The Jews and Saracens say that these underground chambers were the stables of Solomon's horses....

Now, beneath these vaults there were many heaps of stones piled high up, whereof the Jew who brought us into that place told us that the Jews pile up these stones to occupy a place beforehand, for they hope that erelong they will again inhabit the Holy Land ; and therefore their pilgrims, who come from far countries, take places before- hand, in which places they hope that they shall dwell after the return. Above in the vault there is one place where a great hole is broken through, through which the Saracens cast down all the sweepings of the temple and courtyard. We were in great fear there, for had the Saracens found us there, they would indeed have treated us ill. Had we not been afraid, we might have climbed up over the rubbish into the courtyard of the temple. So when we had seen all the aforesaid sights, we went out through the hole by which we had come in, went round the Mount Moriah, which is the mount of the temple, and up the hill to the wall of the Holy City, as far as the corner where the east wall joins the south wall.

From here we see not only that many Jews would risk their lives to visit the chambers beneath the Temple Mount as late as the 15th century, but also that they hoped to see Israel rebuilt.

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The remarkable events continue.

From Gulf Business:

The Fresh Market in Dubai’s Ras Al Khor area, opened the first-ever display of Israeli produce on Saturday, November 14.

Operated by the Dubai Municipality, the Fresh Market is located on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed road, near Dragon Mart.

The event organised to mark the introduction of Israeli products into the market was attended by Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World, and Essa Abdul Rahman Al Hashemi, head at the Food Security Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, among other senior officials.

Also in attendance was Shlomi Fogel, chairman of Carmel Agrexco. “We are excited to be part of the growing ties between Israel and the UAE. Together with our colleagues in Dubai, we are beginning to see the ‘fruits of peace’ today,” said Fogel.

“The export of fresh agricultural products from Israel to the UAE market has a significant advantage because of the geographical closeness and the speed with which the products can be transported directly to markets in the UAE and beyond.”

“Within few hours of picking, the fresh produce can reach points of sale. It’s a fact that Israeli agriculture is highly advanced and we are confident that everyone will enjoy our produce.”

Fogel added that Carmel Agrexco intends to invest in agricultural farms in the UAE, and incorporate the latest innovations in agro-technology.

Israel is helping the UAE increase its food security in two ways: by helping it diversify its sources of food imports and by helping the UAE improve its own agriculture yields.

What is truly amazing is that, unlike Egypt or Jordan, the UAE is pushing Israeli products as a selling point - assuming that ordinary Emiratis will want to specifically buy Israeli products.

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Continuing my series of major quotes from Joe Biden in JTA and elsewhere:

April 19, 1989:

Secretary of State James Baker told a congressional panel Tuesday that he supports the Justice Department’s policy to grant refugee status on a selective basis to Soviet Jews wishing to enter the United States.
Jewish groups have criticized the Bush administration for continuing a policy started last fall by the Reagan administration of refusing to give refugee status automatically to all Soviet Jewish emigrants wishing to enter the United States.
...
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the INS, said during Baker’s testimony Tuesday that the United States should “keep in context the position we have taken for such a long time,” that “Soviet Jews have demonstrably been victims of persecution in the Soviet Union, and I see no evidence of that changing.”
“I hope we would not make the mistake of concluding that, until we have a total standard that all can agree on, we are not going to deal with a group of people who have for thousands of years, from czars to commissars, been clear victims of persecution in their country,” he added.
“Despite the remarkable changes under (Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev, I have not seen convincing evidence that, in fact, Soviet Jews within the Soviet Union are no longer persecuted,” Biden said.

February 1, 1990:

Two senators criticized President Bush on Tuesday for moving too slowly to waive trade sanctions against the Soviet Union. But a third said he did not necessarily disagree with the president’s judgment.
The subject came up during a Capitol Hill news conference during which the three senators proposed a $511 million aid package for Eastern Europe.
Responding to a question, Sens. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and Paul Simon (D-Ill.) said they felt Bush should have moved more quickly to issue a waiver of trade sanctions under the 1975 Jackson-Vanik Amendment.
But Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said it was a “close call” as to whether Bush should issue a waiver of the amendment, which denies most-favored-nation trade status to Eastern European countries until they improve their emigration policies.
... During the news conference, Biden was asked about the recent proposal by Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole (R-Kan.) to cut U.S. foreign aid to the largest recipients, including Israel, by 5 percent. The savings would be reapportioned to Eastern European countries and Panama.
Asked about Senate support for Dole’s proposal, Biden said, “I think the prospects of it passing are zero.”
“The Dole proposal is particularly insidious, in my view,” he said. “It pits longtime allies against emerging, potential democracies.”
“I think it would be particularly dangerous if the Poles and the Hungarians” thought that the reason why they were not getting additional assistance was because of Israel, he said.

March 20, 1991:

Three major Jewish defense agencies testified before the Senate on Tuesday against a federal appeals court nominee who until last week was a member of private country club in Florida that allegedly discriminates against blacks, Jews and other minorities.
The groups also opposed the nomination of U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Ryskamp because of what the American Jewish Committee called the “gross insensitivity to civil rights concerns” reflected in his court rulings to date.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, said Ryskamp had issued some “erroneous rulings” and that he had concerns about his sensitivity to minorities. But he told the nominee, “That doesn’t mean you won’t be confirmed.”

Biden speaking at AIPAC in 1992, an excellent speech, where he disparages the notion that Israel is an obstacle to peace, that there would be peace in the Middle East without Israel, and that it is ever appropriate for the US to publicly criticize Israel for anything.

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11/14 Links: Israeli agents killed al-Qaeda’s No. 2 on Iran street, at behest of US: NYTs; ‘Borders On Holocaust Denial’: CNN Blasted Over Shocking Segment Comparing Trump To Nazis Purging Jews

From Ian:

Israeli agents killed al-Qaeda’s No. 2 on Iran street, at behest of US: NY Times

Israeli operatives gunned down al-Qaeda’s second-in-command on a Tehran street in August at the behest of the United States, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who used the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was accused of being one of the chief planners of devastating attacks on two US embassies in Africa in 1998.

He was killed on August 7, the anniversary of the attacks, the report said, citing unnamed intelligence officials.

The attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 and injured hundreds more.

A former Israeli intelligence official told the newspaper that Al-Masri is also accused of ordering the 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya which killed 13 and injured 80.

Al-Masri was driving his sedan close to his home when two Israeli agents on a motorcycle pulled up alongside his vehicle and fired five shots from a silenced pistol, killing al-Masri and his daughter, Miriam, who was married to Osama bin Laden’s late son Hamza bin Laden.

The assassination has not been publicly acknowledged by the US, Israel, Iran or al-Qaeda.

The US was keeping tabs on al-Masri and other members of the terrorist group in Iran for years, but it’s unknown what role the US played in the killing, if any.

Al-Masri was one of the earliest members of al-Qaeda and likely the next to lead the terror group after its current chief, Ayman al-Zawahri.

TV: Al-Qaeda No. 2 was planning attacks on Israelis, Jews when killed in Tehran

The Al-Qaeda No. 2 reportedly shot dead by Israeli agents in Tehran in August was planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish Diaspora targets when he was killed, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported Saturday night.

Earlier Saturday, The New York Times reported that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, aka Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was killed by Israeli agents at the behest of the US on August 7. Iran denied the Times story, claiming it was “made up information.”

“Abu Muhammad al-Masri had recently begun planning attacks against Israelis and Jewish targets in the world,” the Israeli TV report said, quoting unnamed Western intelligence sources. This further underlined why the US and Israel had a “shared interest” in his elimination, it said. The US was seeking him for orchestrating two devastating attacks on embassies in Africa in the 1990s, while Israel alleges he oversaw the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in which three Israelis were killed.

The killing of al-Masri was the result of a huge, year-long operation, that went off without a hitch, the Israeli report said. The New York Times story said he was shot dead in Tehran by two Israeli agents on a motorbike, who fired five bullets at close range.

Iran denies Israel killed al-Qaeda’s No. 2 in Tehran: ‘A Hollywood scenario’

Iran said Saturday that a New York Times report that al-Qaeda’s second-in-command was secretly killed in Tehran this summer by Israeli agents was based on “made-up information” and denied the presence of any of the group’s members on Iranian soil.

Iran’s foes, the United States and Israel, “try to shift the responsibility for the criminal acts of [al-Qaeda] and other terrorist groups in the region and link Iran to such groups with lies and by leaking made-up information to the media,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

Khatibzadeh accused the US and “its allies in the region” of having created al-Qaeda through their “wrong policies” and advised US media to “not fall into the trap of American and Zionist officials’ Hollywood scenarios.”

The New York Times reported Friday that Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah, indicted in the United States for the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, was shot and killed in Tehran in August by two Israeli operatives on a motorcycle at Washington’s behest.

The senior al-Qaeda leader, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was killed along with his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza, the Times said, citing intelligence sources.

Washington accused Tehran of harboring al-Qaeda members and of allowing them to pass through its territory in 2016, an accusation denied by Tehran officials at the time.

Are Israel and the US planning to attack Iran?

In 2008, after the election that brought former US president Barack Obama to power, there were some officials in Israel who were confident that the previous president, George W. Bush, would not leave office with Iran’s nuclear facilities still standing. They were wrong. Iran’s nuclear facilities are not only still standing; they have grown in quality and quantity.

This is important to keep in mind amid speculation – once again during a presidential lame duck period – that in his last few weeks in office, Donald Trump will either order US military action against Iran or give Israel a green light, as well as some assistance, to do so on its own.

The speculation has a number of catalysts. First was the firing of Mark Esper as secretary of defense this past week and the replacement of him and other top Pentagon officials with Trump ideologues. Some media outlets in the US have raised the possibility that Trump wanted to get Esper out of the way, so he could more easily carry out controversial military moves.

In addition, there is no doubt that there is a lot of coordination already taking place on Iran. Elliott Abrams, the administration’s top envoy on Iran, was in Israel this week for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be here next week for three days to continue those conversations; and on Thursday night, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi held a video call with his US counterpart, chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley.

And then there was the interview that H.R. McMaster, Trump’s former national security adviser, gave to Fox News on Wednesday in which he raised the possibility that Israel – fearful of President-elect Joe Biden’s Iran policies – would attack Iran in the twilight of Trump’s term in office.

For veteran Israel-Iran watchers, this feels like a rerun of what happened in 2008 as well as in 2012 when Israel also seemed on the verge of an attack. While ministers later confirmed that Netanyahu had in fact wanted to launch an attack in 2012, he ultimately failed to muster support in the cabinet, so the IDF had no choice but to back down.

Europe's battle against Islamist terror – Jerusalem Studio 557

France has become a major battleground in the fight between governments of Europe -whose populations are mostly Christian, and Islamist terrorists - who are out to impose their ideology by all means possible.

The recent brutal attacks in France and Austria have reignited dialogue among European leaders to combat (what they term) political Islam.

Is it just a security problem, or a more fundamental one?

Will the measures taken by French and other authorities decrease the friction, or only increase it?

Panel: - Jonathan Hessen, Host. - Amir Oren, Analyst. - Dr. Ely Karmon, Senior researcher - The Institute for Counter Terrorism, IDC Herzliya - Colonel Richard Kemp, former British infantry commander and head of international terrorism intelligence team at the British Cabinet Office.

Israel signs official contract with Pfizer worth NIS 800 million

Israel signed a formal contract with Pfizer Inc. on Friday to receive eight million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, if successful.

The Pfizer vaccine will cost the country NIS 800 million, Ynet reported – NIS 100 per dose or NIS 200 per person, as every person needs two doses to be protected.

Israel is meant to provide Pfizer with a NIS 120m. cash advance as early as this week and an additional NIS 680m. in January, when the vaccines are supposed to start arriving.

“This is a great day for the State of Israel and a great day on the way to our victory over the coronavirus,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. “Today we see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The contract, which was signed by Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy, Health Ministry Accountant Hassan Ismail and Pfizer’s vice president Janine Small, does not include any commitment by Pfizer to supply the vaccines to Israel. Rather, wrote Ynet, the contract includes only an intention to do so “according to circumstances.”

Israel was eager to get the Pfizer vaccine after the company announced last week that an interim evaluation of its Phase III study found the candidate to be 90% effective.