Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 08, 2023

Hamas complains that Palestinian Authority is actively working to dismantle WB terror groups

Hamas mouthpiece Felesteen claims that the Palestinian Authority is using both carrots and sticks to persuade militants to leave the newer terror groups like Lion's Den.

According to the report, the Palestinian Authority's security forces pressure members of the West bank militant groups to turn themselves in.. The pressure reportedly includes threats to their families and the closure of their businesses. But they also try to entice them to leave the groups by promising them money and jobs and claiming that they will get immunity from Israeli raids.

The article quotes sources as saying that the PA security services have intensified their pressure in the past few days on the terrorists in the West Bank and their families to surrender themselves to the PA.

One activist who was interviewed claimed that the Fatah members who join these groups are the ones who make the offers to the other members of jobs and immunity.

This sounds quite possible, as the PA gains more from security cooperation with Israel than from supporting or condoning the terror groups in Jenin and Nablus. It certainly isn't anything that the PA would publicize. Plus there seem to be fewer raids by the IDF recently, which might indicate that the Palestinian security services are doing what they are supposed to under the Oslo agreements. The raids, often deadly, are highly embarrassing for the PA and it makes sense that they would prefer to try to act against these groups behind the scenes rather than look ineffective in stopping the IDF actions.

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From Haaretz:

As Critical Medicine Runs Out in West Bank, Palestinian Authority Points at Israel

An acute drug shortage in the West Bank affects Palestinian hospitals and residents with chronic conditions. The Palestinian Authority blames Israel, saying it is not helping it to supply and fund the medicines. The Gaza Strip is in a similar crisis.

Khaled Verdad, a nurse in the state hospital in the northern West Bank city of Tubas, says the crisis has been felt for several weeks. “People come here, from as well, who need medicine for dialysis patients and we have no way of helping them,” he says.

“Anyone with money may be able to buy medicines privately, but most of the residents can’t do that. In some places there aren’t even drugs for diabetes or high blood pressure. People turn to relatives in Israel or to organizations that can help, but even then the quantities are very limited,” he says.

A senior PA official told Haaretz the drug shortage in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip stems mainly from the Ramallah government’s inability to pay suppliers regularly. In addition, pharmacists in medical centers and hospital pharmacies in the West Bank are on strike. On top of that, in recent months the UN Relief and Works Agency has closed its medical centers in refugee camps due to budget shortfalls.

“The PA’s entire budget is based on the taxes Israel collects, and that barely covers the costs of wages, including the Health Ministry’s wages. Because Israel deducts hundreds of millions from the tax money to the PA, it cannot pay for medicines,” the officials [said.]

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel reported a rise of tens of percent in the number of Palestinian patients visiting its mobile clinic in the West Bank and a spike in demand for medicines. Volunteers say many patients forgo medical care and drugs due to Israel’s restrictions on entering and exiting the large cities, where medicines are still available.

“The shortage isn’t only the outcome of an internal Palestinian crisis,” the executive director of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Dr. Guy Shalev, said. “Beyond Israel’s contribution to the economic crisis in the PA, the roadblocks and policy restricting Palestinians’ movement is making the patients’ lives impossible.”

I cannot find a single article in Palestinian media about a drug shortage in the West Bank from 2023. The Palestinian health ministry adds news articles and reports regularly and they have nothing about this. (Today, Al Quds translated Haaretz' article.)

Sky News Arabia - not a Palestinian news site - wrote about a medicine crisis nine months ago. It did not blame Israel; it said that the health ministry could not pay their debts so suppliers were stopping shipments.

If there is such an acute health crisis, why is this not being mentioned in Palestinian media or by its government websites?

Setting aside that question for now, let's look closer at what the Haaretz article actually says.

While the headline says that the Palestinian Authority is blaming Israel for this shortage, it gives four separate reasons that Palestinians in the West Bank cannot get the medicines they need. The first three are from an anonymous Palestinian official

1. The Palestinian government cannot pay for medicines. Israel's withholding tax revenue is blamed.

2. Pharmacists in the West Bank are on strike.

3. UNRWA has closed down its own medical centers in camps.

There's a pharmacists' strike? UNRWA has closed down medical clinics?

Those seem like pretty big news stories. When has Haaretz reported on them? For that matter, how much has the media altogether reported on them?

There was a pharmacist strike in the territories starting in April, and I don't know if it is still going on.

Also in April, UNRWA's head Philippe Lazzarini spoke about its own budget crisis - but he didn't mention that UNRWA was forced to close medical clinics.One would think he would have highlighted that fact in pressuring the world to pay for UNRWA's budget. I read Palestinian media daily and this is the first I've heard about that, although there have been major strikes by UNRWA workers.

Things are not adding up here.

Now let's look at the fourth reason given that Palestinians cannot get medicines. It comes from an Israeli NGO whose funding is proportional to how much it demonizes Israel:

4. Israeli security blocks Palestinians from reaching large cities where medicines are still available as their own supplies dwindle.

There have been some additional roadblocks in specific instances when Israel is pursuing perpetrators of terror attacks, but it seems highly unlikely that Israel blocks the Palestinian Authority from distributing medicines to the smaller towns, which is the normal procedure. And PHR-I says that the medicines are available in the cities.

This is a logistics issue, not a roadblock issue.

While it is true that Israel is withholding a portion of tax revenue from the PA, that is because the PA spends a significant portion of its budget on paying terrorists and their families, popularly known as "pay for slay." It accounts for some $350 million annually, which would buy a lot of medicine.

Mahmoud Abbas has said multiple times that these payments are the PA's highest priority.

Which means that the medicine crisis is directly a result of the Palestinian Authority preferring to pay terrorists and families of "martyrs" over medicine for its people.

Taken altogether, this is Haaretz manufacturing a blood libel against Israel. Israel is not telling the Palestinian Authority how to spend its money, nor is it blocking any medicine distribution in the West Bank nor in Gaza (which is how these stories are normally framed.)

In past years the Palestinian Authority itself purposefully blocked medicines from reaching Gaza for political purposes, showing how little it cares about health care for its own people. This is part of the same story: the PA has plenty of money to spend on empty museums or fake jobs for released prisoner terrorists, but health care and teachers' salaries are a much lower priority.

But this Haaretz article also proves other dysfunctionality in the PA, in the media and with NGOs.

There is next to no reporting on important stories like the pharmacists' strike, UNRWA (maybe) closing its own medical clinics, Palestinian teachers' strikes and other everyday stories that the media and NGOs ignore or skate over - even though there are more reporters and NGO employees covering the West Bank than anywhere else in the world, except perhaps Washington DC.

The overarching imperative is to manufacture a narrative where Israel is solely to blame for all of the Palestinian ills, and Palestinian leaders have no responsibility to act like real leaders should. Media and NGOs do not put any pressure on the Palestinian leadership to act responsibly and to prioritize normal governance rather than keeping a system that everyone knows is corrupt and wasting international funds.

Beyond that, this story being in Haaretz and not in Palestinian media, yet heavily dependent on an anonymous Palestinian official, indicates that this is the first salvo of a new Palestinian propaganda campaign against Israel, where Haaretz provides the initial legitimacy that can then be built upon. If true, expect international NGOs to join the bandwagon soon.

This article is part of the collective, international blood libel blaming Jews for Palestinian leaders recklessly endangering their own people's lives.

(photo above from Gaza in 2015, I couldn't find any photos showing empty pharmacy shelves in the West Bank)

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75 years ago: Arab leaders considered Palestinian refugees in 1948 to be "fifth columnists"

During the War of Independence in 1948, on a few occasions the Palestine Post could not publish the newspaper properly. The editors nearly always managed to get something out, even if it was typewritten.

That is what happened on June 7, 1948.

But one of the stories includes an important quote that I have not seen elsewhere, possibly because of the newspaper looking the way it did.

"ARAB REFUGEES ARE FIFTH COLUMNISTS"

The Arab radio stations are broadcasting appeals to Arab refugees from Palestine to return to their homes. The Arab authorities are offering financial support to those who come back, while men of military age are promised exemption from duty.

In Cairo, Azzam Pasha [secretary general of the Arab League - EoZ] has stated that the refugees constituted a fifth column in the Arab states, where they are spreading despondency and alarm.

The closest I could find was a second hand quote from Aharon Cohen, in his book "Israel and the Arab World" (1964), where he says that Arab leaders were very critical of "fifth columnists and rumormongers" behind the flight from Israel.

The juxtaposition of the two reports in the newspaper shows the contempt that the Arabs leaders had for Palestinian Arabs and how much they wanted to rid their countries of them.

Which is still true today.

The only difference is that soon after 1948, the Arab leaders came up with a better sounding plan. They still wanted to get rid of the refugees whom they considered cowardly and a threat to their own stability - but they started couching their desire to rid themselves of them as being "pro-Palestinian" because they supported "return" and avoided naturalization - ostensibly for the Palestinians' own good.

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06/07 Links Pt2: Andrew Pessin: A new book’s indictment of American Jewish leadership; How antisemitism adopted the Stalinist approach

From Ian:

Andrew Pessin: A new book’s indictment of American Jewish leadership

There could hardly be a timelier book than Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership. Though antisemitism springs eternal, it has sprung up with particular force in recent years, especially in the United States.

As editors Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser put it, “American Jewry is under siege, ideologically and physically. In the media, on college campuses, in the streets of major cities, even in high schools and in Congress, Jews and the Jewish state are smeared, hated and attacked. Celebrities spew anti-Jewish ravings … to tens of millions of followers. This is a new time for Jews in America.”

With this assault on American Jews came the debates about how to handle it. Some prefer to ignore it, keep their heads down, not cause trouble and hope it will go away. Some try to handle it discreetly, behind the scenes, by forging alliances and reasoning with reasonable people. Some double down on their Jewish identity and go on the offensive. Some, alas, disavow their Jewish identity and “convert” by joining the enemy.

One thing, however, as the book demonstrates throughout, seems crystal clear: The major establishment Jewish organizations—the American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents, the Union for Reform Judaism, Jewish Community Relations Councils, regional Federations, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) and most of all the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)—have failed to respond effectively to the eruption of Jew-hatred.

In fact, as more than one of the book’s essays argues, it’s even worse than that: These organizations, for the most part, have joined the enemy. They have done so by adopting and disseminating progressive ideologies that are hostile to Jews and the Jewish state. This in turn has led them into alliances with groups that are openly opposed to and working towards the destruction of the Jewish state and its supporters—that is, the vast majority of American Jews.

How antisemitism adopted the Stalinist approach

"Death solves all problems," Joseph Stalin is quoted as having said, "No man, no problem." A significant number of influential people are now applying the Soviet dictator's logic to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their formulation is as simple as it is homicidal: "No Israel, no problem."

Iran's rulers express their genocidal intentions forthrightly. "We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter," Brig.-Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the regime's armed forces has vowed.

Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, proxies of Tehran, have the same goal, as does Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza (also supported by the Islamist regime). Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank, is cagier. He doesn't call for Israeli Jews to be killed but he does provide financial rewards to Palestinian terrorists and their families.

The featured speaker at the City University of New York's law school graduation last month was Fatima Mousa Mohammed, who called for a "fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world."

On social media, she has wished that "every Zionist burn in the hottest pit of hell." To be clear: Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, a Zionist was someone who favored self-determination for Jews in part of their ancient homeland. After 1948, a Zionist became someone who favors Israel's continuing existence.

Anti-Zionism is now common on American campuses. Ms. Mohammed expresses it crudely. Others employ more erudite language.

For example, four well-established professors – Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami – published an essay in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, the prestigious journal of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Elliott Abrams, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at CFR, encapsulated its thesis in this headline: "As Israel turns 75, Foreign Affairs publishes a call to eliminate it."

To accomplish that goal, the professors would have the U.S. pressure Israel to grant citizenship to Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank. Jews would then become a minority in Israel, presumably living under the rule of Hamas or the PA. What would happen to them after that? The question does not appear to interest the essay's authors.

NY march shows true colors of left-wing media

Forty thousand people took to the streets of Manhattan on Sunday to participate in the Celebrate Israel Parade. Forty thousand marchers, both Jews, and non-Jews, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, expressed their support for the Jewish state.

Wearing colorful clothes and waving Israeli flags, they took time out of their lives to celebrate Israel, whose existence they hold dear. But if you watched Channel 12 News reporting on the event, you would not know any of this.

Although the outlet did cover the parade, the angle it chose to present was very specific. It did not speak about the support and the celebration but rather focused on the anti-judicial reform protest that was held at the same time.

Organizers said that around 1,000 people attended the demonstration, but journalists marching with the parade in Manhattan, who reported in real time, did not even realize that any protests were taking place, because they were swallowed up by the cheering crowd.

Footage of the demonstration showed about a dozen participants and even photographs posted by the organizers themselves, who claimed there were 1,000 attendees, featured maybe half that number.

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Zamalek Sports Club is one of Egypt's most prominent and successful football teams.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zamalek, Mortada Mansour, announced at a noon press conference today that he will name one of the team's facilities “Martyr Mohamed Salah,” after the Egyptian police officer who murdered three IDF soldiers on Saturday.

The honor is meant "to perpetuate his memory and what he gave to the homeland."

"The martyr Muhammad Salah is a hero and a man who played a heroic role in defending his country," Mansour told the media.

Mortada added, "We intend to do something befitting the name of the martyr Mohamed Salah, in the Zamalek club, in order to perpetuate his memory, and I am here speaking as a citizen, and I am not a politician or responsible for a party."

It is difficult to know how many Egyptians support the attack and how many oppose it. But it is clear that there is no stigma whatsoever to wholeheartedly, publicly, support the murder of soldiers from an army Egypt is at peace with.

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06/07 Links Pt1: Is the Biden Admin Interfering in Israeli Politics?; Biden’s Ambassador Funded Grant Delegitimizing Israel; Supreme Court-Bashing Kamala Harris Says Israel Needs 'Independent Judiciary'

From Ian:

Is the Biden Admin Interfering in Israeli Politics?

The Biden administration is picking fights with the Jewish state over its opposition to a controversial new Iran nuclear deal, Israel's efforts to reform its judiciary, and build settlements in the disputed West Bank territory, veteran observers of U.S.-Israel relations told Fox News Digital.

Jason Greenblatt, former White House Envoy to the Middle East and author of the book "In the Path of Abraham," told Fox News Digital that he has concerns, especially when it comes to U.S. interference in domestic Israeli politics.

Two Israeli domestic issues—judicial reform and settlements—have created rifts between the U.S. and Israel. Netanyahu's coalition is working to rope in what, it argues, is the excessive power of the judiciary. Opponents of the judicial reform say Netanyahu's plan will shift too much power to the Knesset (Israel's parliament) and endanger civil rights protections.

Greenblatt said, "The Biden Administration continues to put pressure on the Israeli government to abandon its judicial reform plans. This is blatant interference with another country's internal policies. Israel has a robust democracy. The world has seen this with the massive protests for and against judicial reform. The Biden Administration continues to think that America can dictate what its allies' policies should be. This kind of pressure by the U.S. upon other countries' internal matters failed with Saudi Arabia and it will fail with Israel."

He also noted that, "Israel is a country that will act in accordance with its interests, laws and democratic procedures. Not inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House in the hopes of putting additional pressure on him is petty and will not yield the desired results. The U.S. has to learn to work with others where it can, and accept that we don't get to boss our friends and allies around."

Greenblatt said the record of the Biden administration on Israel is a mixed bag. "On the positive side, it often says the right things with respect to Israel's non-Iran security challenges and generally has been cooperative regarding those challenges. According to the Prime Minister Netanyahu, the U.S.-Israel alliance remains steadfast and security and intelligence cooperation is at an all time high," but Greenblatt had reservations with the administration's Iran policy.

Middle East expert and author Caroline Glick, told Fox News Digital that U.S. "Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's sudden cancelation of his planned visit to Israel is a clear sign that the Biden administration had committed the United States to a policy of nuclear appeasement towards Iran. Last week we learned that the administration is surreptitiously negotiating a so-called 'interim nuclear deal' with the Iranian regime. The deal reportedly involves the U.S. dropping all of its sanctions against Iran and in exchange Iran will end its uranium enrichment."

Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Washington D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital, "I'm not sure if his cancelation is about internal Israeli issues or Iran issues. I'm more concerned that the Biden administration is secretly pursuing a deal with Iran, and Blinken prefers not to kick up a wave of scrutiny on that by coming to Israel."

Glick claimed that, "From Israel's perspective, the U.S. position means that the U.S. is no longer a credible ally. As such, Israel has no interest in coordinating its Iran policy with Washington. So there is no longer any reason for Secretary of State Blinken to visit Israel. And there is little reason for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House."

VP stresses importance of independent judiciary at Israeli embassy independence bash

US Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of an independent judiciary during a speech on Tuesday at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the Jewish state’s independence hosted by the Israeli embassy in Washington.

The not-so-subtle allusion to the Biden administration’s opposition to the efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government to radically curb the power of the High Court of Justice was included in a 14-minute speech that was largely effusive in its praise of the Jewish state.

“Under President Joe Biden and our administration, America will continue to stand for the values that have been the bedrock of the US-Israel relationship, which include continuing to strengthen our democracies, which… are both built on strong institutions, checks and balances — and I’ll add an independent judiciary,” Harris said to applause from many of the 2,000 people listening in the auditorium of the National Building Museum, including Shirin Herzog, the wife of Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog, who was seated onstage behind the vice president.

There was no applause however from far-right Religious Zionism lawmaker Simcha Rothman, one of the architects of the judicial revamp, who has been in the US for the past several days and was invited to the event.

In his own speech before Harris’s, Ambassador Herzog briefly referenced the controversy surrounding the judicial overhaul and conveyed optimism as to Israel’s democratic character.

“Israel is an imperfect democracy, and we like you have our own set of internal challenges. As a young nation only 75 years old, we are still grappling with important questions relating to our democratic system. But let me assure you, I am confident that Israel will remain a vibrant democracy,” he said to applause.

Israeli FM: Harris couldn’t name one clause on judicial reform

However, they did not go over as well in Jerusalem, with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen telling Kan Reshet B radio in an interview on Wednesday that Harris “would not be able to quote from a single clause” in any of the judicial reform bills.

Cohen, who is in South Korea after visiting the Philippines, clarified his comments in a Twitter post shortly after the interview:

“I have deep respect for our ally the United States of America and for Vice President Harris, a true friend of Israel,” he wrote.

“Israel’s legal reform is an internal issue that is currently in the process of consolidation and dialogue. The State of Israel will continue to be democratic and liberal, as it has always been.”

The reform of Israel’s legal system initiated by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stirred a fierce debate in the country, with both sides hitting the streets for mass demonstrations.

Harris’s remarks on Tuesday were not the first time the U.S. administration has jumped into the debate.

In March, U.S. President Joe Biden called on Netanyahu to “walk away” from the initiative.

“Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends,” said Netanyahu in response.

U.S VP Harris slams Israeli judicial reform at event for Israel's 75th independence

Muslim and Jewish friends in shop in Djerba

Raseef22 is an Arabic language online magazine that centers on issues of human rights. Even a glance at its home page shows that it cares more deeply about real human rights in the Arab world than politicized Western NGOs do.

It recently featured an article about how entrenched antisemitism is in how Tunisians speak - a topic that Western media avoids at all costs.

Most Jews interviewed in the article stress that they are treated with respect...and then they admit that, yes, there are plenty of examples of hate that they have been exposed to.

“Jacob,” who works in the gold trade with his relatives in the Al-Baraka market in the old city of Tunis, asks: “Do you notice any difference between me and any Tunisian Muslim?” And he adds, after I answered him in the negative, as he shows me a small hat that he took out of his pocket: “In the capital, I avoid putting a kippah (a cap worn by religious Jews) on my head, because it symbolizes my Judaism, and we are very few here and I would be subject to racism, while in Djerba I put it with pride, with my head held high, without fearing anything, because there we have coexisted with Muslims for thousands of years like brothers."

The young man, in his twenties, spoke to Raseef22 about incidents of racism that he encountered, which he described as “normal.” However, his trembling voice and frequent sighs between words and the next expressed the depth of the impact they left on him. He says: “Once I asked a Muslim friend about the price of a smartphone of the last time he had bought it. He said to me without thinking, 'I paid the fat of the Jews into him.' I changed the subject, but the incident remained in my mind.”

In Tunisia, the expression, “It cost me the fat of the Jews,” means it was very expensive . Accounts differ regarding the true meaning of this phrase, but the most widespread of them is that the fat is considered forbidden by the Jews.

There are many expressions that denote racism in the Tunisian dialect. We find expressions such as: “Hasak, Jew.” The term “Hasak” is used in Tunisia to disavow a bad and disgraceful act, and the phrase “Hasak, Jew” is said to every person who commits a shameful act.

Likewise, the expression “Latif Mullah Jew” is said, which means “This person does not fear God in his creation,” and other outrageous phrases that are based on discrimination on the basis of religion.

...David Ozan (66 years old), retired, lives in the city of Meknine in Monastir Governorate, on the eastern coast, and has lived in Sousse Governorate for 40 years. He says: "I have never been subjected to racist practices during the sixty years that I have lived."

David tells Raseef22 about the peaceful coexistence between him and his Muslim neighbors, without disturbing his relationship with them: “I used to own two grocery stores in Sousse. My Muslim brothers, just as most of my friends and family members are Muslims, I congratulate them on their holidays and they congratulate me on my holidays, and none of us bears a grudge against the other."
....
David is silent for a while and then adds: "I do not deny the fact that there are some occasional racist practices against the Jews. To judge our Muslim brothers through the hybrid practices of individuals who can be counted on the fingers of the hand... If accidental discriminatory practices happen, we do not base our relations on them and do not pay any attention to them in the first place, because the haters are everywhere, and we should not judge a group based on the behavior of reckless individuals."

Jewish cemeteries in Tunisia are sometimes subjected to vandalism and destruction, similar to what happened in the Jewish cemetery in Sousse last March.

Tunisia is undoubtedly one of the more tolerant Muslim countries, and there is nothing described in this article that doesn't happen in parts of the US (when car shopping in the 90s, one sales representative told me "I don't want to Jew you down.") Yet the article does not try to downplay the antisemitic expressions that have become part of everyday language and the dangers that this represents.

It is impressive to see such a fair, unbiased article about Arab antisemitism in any Arabic language media.

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Human Rights Watch issued a dispatch by an associate in its arms division, Susan Aboeid, "Palestinian Forum Highlights Threats of Autonomous Weapons:"

In late May, I addressed a panel on the militarization of digital spaces – specifically on how Israeli authorities use surveillance technologies to deepen systemic discrimination against Palestinians. I warned that the use of autonomy in weapons systems was a dangerous part of this trend and highlighted the urgent need for an international legal response. ...

...Israeli authorities are also developing autonomous weapons systems. These trends, globally reflect a slide towards digital dehumanization, and in the case of Israel this means of Palestinians. ... A senior Israeli defense official said recently that authorities are looking at “the ability of platforms to strike in swarms, or of combat systems to operate independently, of data fusion and of assistance in fast decision-making, on a scale greater than we have ever seen.”

Incorporating artificial intelligence and emerging technologies into weapons systems raises a host of ethical, humanitarian, and legal concerns for all people, including Palestinians. Campaigners have called for the adoption of a treaty containing prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems, which many countries, including Palestine, have joined.

Autonomous weapons systems could help automate Israel’s uses of force. These uses of force are frequently unlawful and help entrench Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. Without new international law to subvert the dangers this technology poses, the autonomous weapon systems Israel is developing today could contribute to their proliferation worldwide and harm the most vulnerable.

That last paragraph assumes that Israel is inherently immoral and therefore any AI-assisted weapons it develops must also likely be immoral by design.

This is the opposite of the truth.

There is no doubt that there are many potential dangers of AI. Any decision that an AI makes independently could easily be a wrong decision, and malicious actors could use AI deliberately to violate the laws of war.

In the end, though, AI is just another tool that could be used for good or bad. HRW's assumption that Israel's use of AI would only be for violating international law shows how biased the organization is.

Israel has been exploring AI in warfare for years. Its position mirrors that of the US, UK, Australia and others that AI could actually save lives in combat.

Israel's position a decade ago shows that it has given far more thought about the moral implications of this issue than HRW ever did when it launched its own shallow campaign against "killer robots." At a conference on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in 2013, the Israeli delegate made it crystal clear that Israel is only planning to use AI as a tool where a human is the one who makes all of the important decisions:

In order to ensure the legal use of a lethal autonomous weapon system, the characteristics and capabilities of each system must be adapted to the complexity of its intended environment of use. Where deemed necessary, the warfare environment could be simplified for the system by, for example, limiting the system's operation to a specific territory, during a limited timeframe, against specific types of targets, to conduct specific kinds of tasks, or other such limitations which are all set by a human, or, for example, if. _ necessary, it could. be programmed to refrain from action, or require and wait for input from human decision-makers when the legality of a specific action is unclear. Indeed, appropriate human judgment is injected throughout the various phases of development, testing, review, approval, and decision to employ a weapon system. The end goal would be for the system's capabilities to be adapted to the operational complexities that it is expected to encounter, in a manner ensuring compliance with the Laws of Armed Conflict. In this regard, LAWS are not different from many other weapon systems which do exist today, including weapons whose legal use is already regulated under the CCW.

The HRW quote above of an Israeli official mirrors this: the systems are meant to assist in decision making, not to make decisions itself.

Utterly absent in HRW's one-sided, biased screed is the potential that AI can save people's lives and enhance compliance with the laws of armed conflict:

In our view, there is even a good reason to believe that LAWS might ensure better compliance with the Laws of Armed Conflict in comparison to human soldiers. In many ways, LAWS could be more predictable than humans on the battlefield. They are not influenced by feelings of pressure, fear or vengeance, and may be capable of processing information more quickly and precisely than a person. Experience shows that whenever sophisticated and precise weapons have been employed on the battlefield, they have led to increased protection of both civilians and military. forces. Thus, Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems may serve to uphold in an improved manner, the ideals of both military necessity and humanitarian concern - the two pillars upon which the Laws of Armed Conflict rest.

Israel's history in incorporating human rights laws and protecting civilians in its development of weapons is unparalleled, with the possible exception of the US - and therefore not something that HRW wants anyone to know about.

Self-driving cars, while not perfect, have been shown to be much less likely to be involved in fatal accidents than humans. There is no reason to assume that weapons systems would be any different. It is clear that Israel's position is to develop such systems that will minimize the dangers to innocent people, all with appropriate oversight by human experts. There are still some areas that need to be worked out, like who is responsible for mistakes made by such systems, but these issues all mirror similar issues in complex wartime environments today.

Israel intends to use AI to minimize collateral damage, save lives and adhere to the laws of armed conflict better than humans can alone. These are positions that real human rights advocates should fully support. But because it is Israel, they instead assume that whatever the Jews invent must be to oppress Palestinian victims and they reflexively oppose it.

Which means that Human Rights Watch cares less about Palestinian lives than Israel does.

UPDATE: I coincidentally just came across an article by Marc Andreesen, legendary computer expert most responsible for creating the first popular web browsers Mosaic and Netscape, on his optimistic predictions for AI. He writes:

I even think AI is going to improve warfare, when it has to happen, by reducing wartime death rates dramatically. Every war is characterized by terrible decisions made under intense pressure and with sharply limited information by very limited human leaders. Now, military commanders and political leaders will have AI advisors that will help them make much better strategic and tactical decisions, minimizing risk, error, and unnecessary bloodshed.

No surprise that Israel and the experts are on the same page, while HRW tries to scare everyone by referring to any smart weapons system as "killer robots."

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Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday, on the election of Algeria as a member of the UN Security Council.

Let's take a quick look at what life is like in Algeria today.

- A law was passed in 1962 that ensured that anyone without a Muslim grandparent couldn't be a citizen. Some 140,000 Jews had to leave, and the laws, while changed, ensure that they cannot become citizens today.

- Algeria routinely arrests human rights activists.

- There are credible reports of torture in prisons.

- The judiciary is not independent and effectively controlled by the president.

- There are laws that restrict women's rights.

- Men who beat women can be pardoned if the woman is pressured to marry him.

- There are laws that criminalize many forms of speech, both in mainstream and social media. Some journalists were harassed and intimidated.

- Laws restrict activities of any religion besides Sunni Islam.

- Gays can be imprisoned under the law for homosexual acts.

- Movies and books must be approved before being allowed into the country.

- Protests in Algiers are essentially illegal.

- Black Algerians, Black migrants and non-Muslims are widely discriminated against.

So Algeria is a racist, homophobic, misogynist, apartheid dictatorship whose citizens have no freedom and limited rights.

One reason you don't hear much about countries like Algeria in the news is because if the media and human rights groups would judge all countries with the same standards and campaign against all abuses with the same energy, criticism of Israel would be invisible in the tsunami of actual serious human rights abuses worldwide. And they don't want to live in a world like that.

A set at the Security Council is a very high honor. Outside of groups like UN Watch, who is protesting giving this honor to a country as contemptuous of human rights as Algeria is?

No one cares.

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06/06 Links Pt2: US denounces Roger Waters performance in Berlin as antisemitic; Abbas’ risible Temple denial Is no laughing matter; Telling the truth about Soros and antisemitism is essential

From Ian:

Abbas’ risible Temple denial Is no laughing matter

Mahmoud Abbas, in his notorious speech at the UN on May 15, 2023, among other abhorrent remarks, absurdly denied there was any proof of a Jewish link to the Temple Mount. His risible rhetoric ignores the overwhelming archeological, documentary and historical evidence that the Jewish Holy Temple stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, he is not the first to invoke this canard. His predecessor, Yasser Arafat brazenly denied the Jewish Temple was located on the Temple Mount, in 2000 at Camp David, and was remonstrated by President Clinton at the time. Astoundingly, even the New York Times weighed in on the subject, in 2015, in an effort to create uncertainty and was rightly chided by Dr. Jodi Magness, one of the expert archeologists interviewed for the article. In a scathing Letter to the Editor, dated October 12, 2015, Dr Magness concluded with the statement: “ I know of no credible scholars who question the existence of the two temples or deny that they stood somewhere on the Temple Mount.”

The Quran references the existence of the Jewish Holy Temple and Islamic documentary and historical sources attest to it being on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This includes the Nuba Inscription (from the 9th or 10th century), found in a mosque south of Jerusalem, near Hebron. It references the Rock of the Bayt al- Maqdis (Beit HaMikdash in Hebrew), referring to the Foundation Stone and site of the Holy Temple.

In addition to Scriptural references in the Old and New Testaments and Jewish documentary sources (such as the Mishna and Midrash, as well as 1rst century historian Josephus), there are many non-Jewish historical writings and documentary sources describing the Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem, including as follows:

4th century B.C.E., Menander, a Greek historian.
4th century, B.C. E., Hecataeus of Abdera, a Greek historian.
3rd century B.C.E., Berossus, of Babylon.
3rd-2nd century B.C.E, Aristeas, a Greek official in the court of Ptolemy II, in Egypt.
1rst century B.C.E., Cicero, a Roman statesman.
1rst century B.C.E., Edict of Augustus.
1rst century, Strabo, a Greek geographer.
1rst century Tacitus, a Roman historian.
1rst century, Arch of Titus.
1rst century, Plutarch, a Greek Historian.
2nd century, Cassius Dio, a Roman Historian.
3rd century Eusebius, a Greek Christian Historian and Bishop of Caesarea.
More than a dozen Islamic Hadiths.
9th century Muhammad ibn Jair Al-Tabari.
10th century geographer and Jerusalem resident, Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi.
11th century Abu Bakr Muhammad Ahmad al-Wasiti.
12th century geographer Muhamad al-Idrisi.
12th century geographer Yaqut al Hamawi.
13th century theologian, Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah.
14th century historian, Abd al Rahman ibn Khaldun.
15th century historian Mujir al-Din.
15th century Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti.

Interestingly, 13th century Ahmad ibn Taymiyya, noted above, declared with respect to the site of Dome of the Rock:

‘Men of Knowledge who were companions or followers of the Prophet chose the best path and did not exalt the Rock, because it is a quibla mansukha, like the Sabbath…so too, the Rock is exalted only by Jews and some Christians.’

It is astonishing that the words of this noted Sunni scholar and inspirational source of the Salafi and other radical Islamic movements, including, for example, Hamas, are simply and callously ignored in favor of the dictates of political ideology. The specious claim that the entire Temple Mount is exclusively a Muslim holy site to the exclusion of all other religions and the spurious denial that the Jewish Temple ever stood there is yet another example of Jew-hatred by the PA and Hamas.

US denounces Roger Waters performance in Berlin as antisemitic

The Biden administration is weighing in on the controversy over Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, saying his recent performances in Germany were antisemitic, an assessment shared by many in Israel and the pro-Israel community.

The US State Department said Tuesday that Waters has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes” and a concert he gave late last month in Germany “contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust.”

The comments came in a written response to a question posed at Monday’s State Department press briefing about whether the administration agreed with criticism of Rogers from the US special envoy to combat antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt.

“Special Envoy Lipstadt’s quote-tweet speaks for itself,” the department said.

“The concert in question, which took place in Berlin, contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust,” the department said. “The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people.”

In a May 24 tweet after the concert in Berlin, during which Waters appeared on stage in a costume reminiscent of Nazi-era Germany, Lipstadt denounced the musician by echoing comments from EU antisemitism envoy Katharina von Schnurbein, who is German.

“I wholeheartedly concur with @EUAntisemitism ’s condemnation of Roger Waters and his despicable Holocaust distortion,” Lipstadt wrote in reply to a tweet from von Schnurbein.

EXPOSED: The Times Sneakily Edited Roger Waters Article to Remove Antisemitism Defense

The Times of London craftily edited its recent review of Roger Waters’ concert in Birmingham after the piece appeared to excuse the musician’s antisemitism.

The piece — written by music critic Mark Beaumont — was published on June 1 and caught the attention of HonestReporting over Beaumont’s thinly-disguised attempt to whitewash Waters’ long and well-documented history of antisemitism.

However, it can be revealed that the original version of the review was even more problematic and was swiftly and sneakily amended by editors at The Times to remove elements that seemingly dismissed the accusations of anti-Jewish hatred against the former Pink Floyd rocker.

The initial headline of the piece, “Roger Waters review — ignore the online hate, this was majestic,” was changed to “Roger Waters review — if you can ignore the rants, this was majestic.”
Original: How the piece was first headlined in The Times

Amended: The headline was quickly changed to not appear to be justifying Waters’ antisemitism

The original headline and its meaning were clear: people should “ignore” the antisemitism allegations leveled at Waters because they are spurious and the criticism he has faced is nothing more than a concocted “online hate” frenzy.

A later amendment radically altered its meaning — readers are told that Waters frequently rants in an unhinged fashion and that only “if” they can ignore such diatribes, will they enjoy the show.

And this is not the only stealthy edit made.

The first two paragraphs of the piece were also subtly changed to remove Beaumont’s obvious attempt at sanitizing Waters.

In the original version, no reference was made to Waters’ so-called “Pink paranoia” when he suggested that his critics are being directed “from Tel Aviv.” Instead, the comment stood alone and uncontextualized, suggesting the writer believes Israel really is manipulating the coverage of Waters’ tour.

Facing antisemitism accusations, Roger Waters decides now is a good time to say, yet again, that Israel is committing nothing less than “genocide”.

Footage of Nazis and Israeli police officers is spliced in to underline his point. pic.twitter.com/VLi2NpgaUh
— habibi (@habibi_uk) June 6, 2023

It's compulsive with Roger Waters. One abusive attack after another.

The new video includes footage of him in 2009 invoking the Warsaw Ghetto against Israel.

No wonder he loathes the IHRA definition of antisemitism. It could have been written to describe him. pic.twitter.com/ye02H2o0Ko
— habibi (@habibi_uk) June 6, 2023

He says “I commend Palestine Action” and that he hopes it will “succeed in shutting Elbit down”.

Grotesque. These vandals honour Khader Adnan, a PFLP terrorist who urged Palestinians to suicide bomb Israeli Jews, and the Hamas murderers of three British-Israeli women. 2/9 pic.twitter.com/aoIgAOqTkU
— habibi (@habibi_uk) June 5, 2023

I can only find one human rights activist worldwide who made a statement against the murder of three IDF soldiers and against Egyptian celebrations of those murders.

Unless I missed them, there were none from Human Rights Watch. None from Amnesty.

The only human rights activist to condemn the terror attack and its celebrations is Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian author.

She wrote on Sunday on Twitter and Facebook:

❓Those who have been exaggerating and glorifying the attack carried out by the Egyptian security personnel on Israeli soldiers yesterday, who are you? And what exactly is your interest? Anyone who really loves Egypt is impossible to be happy with what happened, celebrate it, or consider it a heroic act in the first place.
1️⃣First: What is the heroic act of infiltrating the borders of a neighboring country between us and a years-long peace and security cooperation treaty, and endless economic interests? What did you achieve from killing the soldiers standing on its borders in a treacherous movement that has no logical excuse except for the desire of the one who managed it (and used the insurance individual to execute it) to ignite the conflict between Egypt and Israel or at least to cause a crack in the very good relationship between them? Or maybe otherwise the aggressor is driven by extreme religious motives such as those calling for the killing of Jews based on their religious identity, which is also detrimental to Egypt and completely against the principles of the Egyptian state.
2️⃣Secondly: This event could cause serious damage to Egypt's interests if it is not dealt with and contained between Egyptian and Israeli officials as soon as possible. In my view, the best way to contain it is to conduct transparent investigations of the matter under the supervision of both parties, and to take all necessary measures to prevent it from happening again, which is what the Egyptian Defense Minister promised to his Israeli counterpart in a phone call a few hours after the incident.
👈If you don't understand how much Egypt's interests can be affected by an accident like this, look at the map to understand:
⬅️ From the west, the situation is burning in Libya, and our relationship with Libya is getting worse day after day, unfortunately, as a result of its political rift and Egypt's bias against one party there.
⬇️ From the south, the war going on in Sudan has put its weight on the economic situation in Egypt and Egypt has brought troubles that will greatly double its suffering in the coming period.
➡️From the East Gaza and Gaza's never-ending problems
!! ️Not to mention the ongoing threat posed by conflicts in the three locations to Egyptian national security.
👆Between this and that, Egypt cannot tolerate getting into a security or political battle even (there is no need and logic at all) with Israel. The unprecedented cooperation between Egypt and Israel in the past few years is one of the key factors in Egypt's success in passing a very critical phase in its history between fighting terrorism and enormous economic challenges.
👈In the period when Hamas elements infiltrated Sinai and formed terrorist organizations that later sold out ISIS, Israeli forces alongside Egyptian forces were fighting terrorism in Sinai.
👈 At a time when the whole world was standing against Egypt after the fall of the Brotherhood and calls spread in the West to impose sanctions on Egypt and boycott it diplomatically and economically, Israeli officials were talking in the international forums to defend the modern Egyptian state at that time, rather they were saying clearly and I heard it myself, "Egypt's security and stability are at the hands of Sisi" Necessary to Israel's security and stability."
👈This is besides of course the economic cooperation between Egypt and Israel in the detection of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, its flow and sale to Europe and Asia, in which Israel preferred to cooperate with Egypt over any other country in the Mediterranean basin, and this gave Egypt the ability to fulfill its dream of being an energy hub in this region, despite all the geopolitical complexity and the maritime border conflicts in it.
❌ Israel is not Egypt's enemy.. I say it again: Israel is not Egypt's enemy.
Israel is Egypt's direct neighbor, and one of the countries that have stood by Egypt in its most critical times, and there is absolutely no reason to ignite conflict with it. And whoever does this or encourages it harms Egypt's interests even more.
👈This is a right word that I wanted to convey to the wise, especially that all the positive and loving attitudes of Israel towards Egypt that I mentioned here and more I have witnessed with my own eyes, and I am sure that the stakeholders in Egypt are fully aware of the importance of all the points that I mentioned and act accordingly regardless of the usual media mob status on the subject.
👈 May God have mercy on the victims of the accident, and keep Egypt and Israel their security, stability and cooperation.

This is common sense. It is human rights. It is basic international relations. It is moral.

Naturally, Dalia Ziada has been getting death threats and rape threats.

Today she wrote:

I condemned the border shooting on Sunday.

Since then, I’ve been receiving death threats & insults (using sexual language) from Egyptians & Palestinians (mostly males).

This guy 👇 is vowing to buy a gun, find me, and slaughter me in the middle of Tahrir Square!

Sadly, males targeting women in the street have been a common practice recently.

I reported the accounts harassing me and I called the police. But, nothing guarantees I would be safe.

👉Meanwhile, many others applauded my condemnation of the #Egypt #Israel border shooting.

I do not regret a single word of what I have said, and here I repeat it:

#Egypt and #Israel are neighbors and friends, not enemies...

It is profoundly sad that this is so anomalous - for an Egyptian, for an Arab, and for a human rights activist.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

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Safa has an article raising the alarm about the planned cable car over the Old City of Jerusalem.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to oppose the plan. It would permanently change the skyline of Jerusalem. It might make the holy city look like a ski resort.

But to Safa, and its Arab "experts" it interviews, there is only one real problem with the cable car plan:

It would "Judaize the sky" of Jerusalem.

After the Israeli occupation government has completed all the necessary procedures and arrangements for its implementation, it intends, in the next few period, to start constructing the "air train - cable car" project in the vicinity of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, which means Judaizing its sky and historical monuments, and giving a different character to its civilized face.

The High Court of Occupation in Jerusalem recently rejected all petitions and objections submitted against the Judaization project, thus giving the green light to begin its implementation, especially in light of the acceleration of Judaization and settlement operations taking place in the occupied city during the year 2023.

Just as the occupation targeted Judaizing the underground and above it, today it seeks to Judaize the sky of Jerusalem through the construction of the air train, which will allow thousands of settlers to permeate its sky every hour, reaching its old town and the Al-Buraq Wall, west of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The occupation government is moving forward with the Judaization project, as the Israeli Planning and Building Committee has approved, during the past months, several contracts indicating that it is heading towards issuing the tender for the construction of the cable car in Jerusalem as soon as possible.

The researcher specializing in Jerusalem affairs, Fakhri Abu Diab, says that the occupation government agreed to start implementing the "air train" project, which is one of the most dangerous Judaization projects in Jerusalem, after it completed all the necessary arrangements and procedures for its implementation, and all petitions and objections against it were received.

Abu Diab explained, in his interview with "Safa" agency, that the project, which will be implemented in two phases, aims to change the civilized face of the Holy City, specifically its old town, closing the horizon in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque, distorting Arab and Islamic landmarks, and imparting a new Jewish character.

He added that the air train is a Judaizing par excellence, and will circle Al-Aqsa from its eastern and southern sides, and will begin its implementation from the west of Jerusalem at the old Ottoman train station near Al-Baq’a, all the way to its eastern part.

The plan might bring in more tourists, and might be a boon for the disabled who want to visit Jerusalem, but there is nothing Jewish about a cable car. .

Throughout the article, "Judaization" is a synonym for something disgusting and ugly. It is an epithet, the worst insult possible to Safa's readership.

And if you associate Judaism with disgust, guess what that makes you?

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06/06 Links Pt1: Amb. Baker: The UN hypocritically misrepresents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Team Biden Mainstreams Terror Financing in Lebanon

From Ian:

Alan Baker: The UN hypocritically misrepresents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The UN forgets, or ignores, that Palestinians fire rockets from Gaza into Israel
Wennesland seems to have either forgotten, or has deliberately chosen to ignore the fact that on May 2, just days prior to Israel’s launching its Shield and Arrow operation, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization fired 104 projectiles from the Gaza Strip into Israeli population centers within a span of 24 hours.

Similarly, he failed to mention or condemn the willful and indiscriminate firing of 70 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel between January and April.

While nobody really expects anything positive, let alone balanced or neutral to emanate from any part of the UN, one might nevertheless expect that the one senior official whose function purports to include coordination of the Middle East peace process, would at least make some attempt to address the realities within which he is functioning in an honest and straightforward manner.

ONE MIGHT expect that such a senior UN official demonstrate some iota of reality and pragmatism in regard to what is happening in the area, and conduct himself with the impartiality and neutrality as is required by the UN Charter and associated rules regarding the comportment of senior staff members.

It is surely inconceivable that such a senior official could routinely and glibly condemn Israel for conducting military and police action in response to blatant terror attacks and violence, while demonstrably minimizing the immense level of hostile incitement to hatred and violence against Israel and against the Jews among all senior levels of the Palestinian leadership, as well as within Palestinian civil society.

It is no less inconceivable that Wennesland ignores or minimalizes the ongoing Palestinian preoccupation with planning, organizing, financing and indiscriminately executing rocket and missile attacks against Israel’s civil population centers, as well as their penchant for encouraging and executing individual acts of terror, whenever they feel aroused by the whim or the need to shake up the area.

Israel may cut off ties with OCHA if blacklisted by UN, Erdan warns

Israel could cut off ties with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) if it is blacklisted for its treatment of Palestinian children, Israel’s Ambassador Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference on Monday.

“There are agencies that are active in our region like OCHA that is in charge of supplying humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians,” Erdan said.

“Whenever they need to report and supply data, they distort the reality. Whatever the Palestinian Health Ministry reports, they take it for granted. Every terror attack we report, even rock throwing and Molotov cocktail throwing, they ignore it,” he said.

OCHA, Erdan charged, has not established a verification mechanism for the information supplied by Israel.

“We cannot continue collaborating with them while they supply member states at the UNSC such a distorted [reality]. They portray a different reality than the one that exists on the ground.

Erdan says government should stop giving visas to UN workers
“My recommendation to our government is to even stop issuing visas to new UN workers that come to Israel,” Erdan stated.

He spoke during an interview conducted by Senior Contributing Editor and Diplomatic Correspondent Lahav Harkov about his role in defending his country against anti-Israel bias at the United Nations in New York, specifically, his efforts to prevent Israel’s inclusion in the blacklist attached to the organization’s annual report on Children in Armed Conflict that is authored by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s office.

Team Biden Mainstreams Terror Financing in Lebanon

So obsessed is the Biden administration with the dubious art of using taxpayer dollars to underwrite the Lebanese pseudo-state run by the terrorist group Hezbollah that it has spent its two years in office coming up with legally questionable schemes to pay the salaries of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), setting new precedents in the abuse of U.S. foreign security assistance programs. In January, the administration rolled out its program to provide direct salary payments, in cash, to both the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Internal Security Forces (ISF). This time around, the White House won’t be delivering the cash on pallets, as Obama did when he bribed Iran. Rather, it will disburse the crisp dollar bills through the U.N. Development Program. The result is the same: The U.S. government’s giant cash pump is working overtime to benefit a terror group that has purposefully maimed and killed hundreds of Americans.

The scale of U.S. financing of Lebanon’s Hezbollah-dominated military apparatus cannot be understated: around 100,000 Lebanese are now getting cash stipends courtesy of the American taxpayer to spend in Hezbollah-land. But a small thing like the U.S. becoming massively complicit in financing terrorism hardly causes Team Obama-Biden to bat an eyelid. As the administration’s nominee for the next ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, if confirmed she would “continue to advocate for very strong, robust security assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces.” And that’s because “they’re doing a great job of bolstering stability and security in this part of the world.”

No doubt. And as a testament to the exceptional job the LAF is doing, Johnson’s comments came a couple of weeks after Hezbollah fired or allowed the firing of 34 rockets across the border and dispatched a bomber from Lebanon deep into Israel, and a few days before the group put on a large military exercise to which it invited local and international media.