Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 23, 2024

New NYU student conduct policy prohibits nearly everything anti-Israel protesters have been doing

New York University issued a new set of policies on student conduct, but the bulk of the policies are aimed squarely at the anti-Israel protesters and their noxious actions.

It is a welcome document.

While it does not say that discrimination based on political positions is prohibited, it still provides a great deal of protection to the Jewish Zionist community.

Here are some highlights. I add emphasis for the parts that clearly refer to the anti-Israel protesters:

Some examples of activities that would violate the NDAH [Nondiscrimination and anti-harassment] Policy include:
-Refusing to work with each other, or the application of any type of “litmus test” for participation in any academic activity, based on identity.
-Targeting someone for harassment or intimidation on the basis of their identity, their religious attire, their name, their language spoken, their accent, or their association with a religious organization or identity-related student club.
-Ostracism based on identity, such as refusing entry to an open event.
-Use or dissemination of tropes about protected groups.
-Calls for genocide of an entire people or group.
-Actions taken against someone based on their field of study, course enrollment, or study abroad participation could provide evidence of discriminatory motive for NDAH purposes–for example, vandalizing the office doors in a particular department tied to the study of a country or region.

The next section is the most explicit indication that this policy is aimed at anti-Israel bigots:

Using code words, like “Zionist,” does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH Policy. For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists. For example, excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a “no Zionist” litmus test for participation in any NYU activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists (e.g., “Zionists control the media”), demanding a person who is or is perceived to be Jewish or Israeli to state a position on Israel or Zionism, minimizing or denying the Holocaust, or invoking Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.

But there is plenty more that applies to the haters:

The University has zero tolerance for any form of violence, threats, physical altercation or intimidation, and will promptly move to address such issues with action proportionate to the misconduct. This includes, but is not limited to: calling for violence on campus; calling for violence against NYU, or someone at NYU; or using language advocating for killing people or groups of people, and all relevant synonyms (e.g. eradicate, destroy, massacre, exterminate, etc.).

Some protest activities are never permitted:

- Amplified sound (e.g., bullhorns, speakers, musical instruments, etc.) indoors is never permitted.
- Amplified sound outside that is directly adjacent to classrooms, residence halls, or libraries and that disrupts academic or residential activities inside is never permitted.
- Protesting inside libraries is disruptive to study activities and is not allowed.
- Physically accosting someone who is participating in a protest, encircling, blocking someone’s path, attempting to grab or move their signs or equipment, and/or sabotaging their equipment are examples of violations.
- Encampments and overnight demonstrations are never permitted, indoors or outdoors, at any University location. Unauthorized overnight demonstrations on University property will be considered trespassing.
- Erecting unauthorized tents, structures, walls, barriers, or other objects on University property is never permitted.

The University will not tolerate interrupting a class session or otherwise interfering with a classroom or related activity. Conduct that may be permissible elsewhere, such as the holding or placement of banners, signs, etc., is not permissible in the classroom environment.

We do not permit “heckler’s veto”; it is a violation to interrupt, impede, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any University event, including student group or club events.
You may not:

-Disrupt the program.
-Block entrances or exits or prevent others from entering or leaving the program.
-Obstruct the view of others.
-NYU community members may not serve as “proxies” or provide access to non-NYU affiliated individuals or organizations to use NYU property to organize or host an event on their behalf.

This document is at triple the size of the previous student conduct policy, and essentially all of the new parts are aimed squarely at the protesters from last semester.

It is fascinating that while universities largely coddled the protesters while they were occupying campuses nationwide, now before the new school year they are doing everything they can to ensure that they don't hijack the campuses again.

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Juedische-Allgemeine (Germany) writes about an interview of Salah Abdel-Shafi, the Palestinian "ambassador" to Vienna, by Dirk-Oliver Heckmann in Deutschlandfunk.

It is not Hamas that is violating the laws of war by entrenching itself in schools, but Israel by attacking them. The moderator wanted to know from the ambassador what exactly is permitted under international law when terrorists are in such buildings.

His answer: "Why are you taking on the Israelis' question? I'm asking you why Israel attacks schools. That is the question. Not the other way around. Why do you accept that Israel repeatedly attacks schools?"

Heckmann hardly resisted. "It's not about my opinion and my assessment. I can't judge that from here. I can only quote the Israeli side's argument and ask you whether we agree that a school or a similar facility becomes a legitimate military target if terrorists are there?"

Abdel-Shafi seemed to give in for a moment. "Of course, civilian objects cannot be used for military purposes," he said. "But Hamas does that, doesn't it?" Heckmann replied. The ambassador then said: "No. Who says that? Israel says that. Has Israel proven so far that Hamas used a hospital or a school? Has anyone proven that?"

...Heckmann wanted to know whether Israel's occupation policy could be a justification for taking women, children and the elderly hostage and holding them in inhumane conditions.

The killing of civilians is of course illegal under international law and those who do such things must be held accountable, regardless of which side they are from, Abdel-Shafi postulated. The moderator asked whether he clearly distanced himself from Hamas and its policies. "No," was the ambassador's surprising answer. He would only do so if Hamas had attacked civilians.

Heckmann pressed the question a little further. He wanted to know whether, in Abdel-Shafi's view, Hamas had not murdered any civilians on October 7. An independent investigation would have to be carried out first, the ambassador replied. There had indeed been an attack. But whether civilians were deliberately killed, "as Israel claims," is not yet clear.

He had already made a similar statement in an interview with ZDF. And even ten months after the massacres, Abdel-Shafi has apparently not been able to gain any new insights. Or has not wanted to.

This is actually consistent with what Mahmoud Abbas has said. If you look at his statements carefully, he never condemned Hamas nor admitted Hamas committed atrocities; he merely said he was rejects killing civilians on both sides.

Even the statements he said at the Arab Summit in May did not condemn Hamas for the slaughter: "The October 7th attack carried out by Hamas unilaterally gave Israel more pretexts to attack Gaza. Our position is clear and explicit that we are against targeting civilians in any way."

The two sentences can be considered separate statements, and do not contradict Abdel-Shafi's claim that there is no evidence that Hamas targeted civilians. They are both saying if Hamas targeted civilians it would be bad, but at no time did they accuse Hamas of doing so.

And the Palestinians, by and large, refuse to believe that Hamas targeted any civilians on October 7 - even most of the ones who watched the videos of the attacks. (Only 10% admitted to having seen the videos in the June poll, although 20% said they had seen them in the March poll, which is sort of impossible.)

Palestinians, including their leaders, refuse to accept facts that they find inconvenient. Which brings up the larger question of how anyone can negotiate with people for whom lies are part and parcel of their psychological makeup.

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Absurdly anti-Israel messages in "ethnic studies" curriculum in California (with slides)

The Jewish Institute for Liberal Values posted some slides from an ethnic studies presentation used in California’s Sequoia School District.

I found more of them.

The amount of lies, purposeful deceptions and bias is almost unbelievable.

And in the context of this lesson, the Jewish perspectives were insulted.

This shouldn't need a Public Records request request to access. Everything that children are taught must be public, full stop.

And whoever approved this biased, lying curriculum should be fired.

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Antisemitism in 2024 sounds a lot like 1924

2024: Universities across North America and Europe saw massive anti-Israel demonstrations. Students made demands of universities to rid themselves of any Zionist influence. Students walked out of classes and encouraged others to do so.

The Australian Jewish Chronicle, Dec 24, 1924:

2024: Jews were forced out of specific spaces in various universities and some were attacked.

The Australian Jewish Chronicle Thu, Jan 24, 1924

2024: nearly 200 gravestones at 2 Jewish cemeteries are vandalized in Cincinnati.

The Hebrew Standard of Australasia, Nov 07, 1924

2024: Prominent antisemites are attacking the Talmud using out of context and fake quotes.

1924 (same as above):

2023-4: Hamas leaders promise that they will continue to attempt more October 7-type pogroms until they get rid of all Jews in the region. The world dismisses the threats as mere rhetoric, thinking that this is just Hamas boasting but not being serious.

1924 (same as above):

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

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08/22 Links Pt2: A Jewish Leftist, Hoist on His Own Petard; Doctors Without Borders crosses the line; Parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin give DNC address

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: A Jewish Leftist, Hoist on His Own Petard

Perhaps the phrase “a teaching moment” is overused, but there is no better way to describe what happened Tuesday night in Brooklyn. Progressive Jewish writer Joshua Leifer was due to give a talk about his new book, which is about the challenges facing liberal Judaism, at PowerHouse Books in the chichi Dumbo neighborhood. The event, which was to be moderated by local former pulpit Rabbi Andy Bachman, was canceled at the last minute because, according to Leifer, PowerHouse was “unwilling to host the conversation with Andy because they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

Progressive Jews professed to be stunned. “I was expecting to be heckled but this was utterly shocking,” said Bachman, who told Jewish Insider that he has actually officiated weddings in that building. “This is completely ridiculous,” objected Jill Jacobs, who runs a leftist organization called Tru’ah. “It is antisemitic to demand that Jews disavow Israel before being allowed into your space.” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found the whole thing “utterly outrageous.”

Indeed it is. A specific employee is being blamed for this act of overt anti-Semitism and is reportedly being fired. But I bet this ex-employee simply cannot understand what she did wrong, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she considered her actions to be a tribute to the very people she banned from the premises. Indeed, she might have been following Leifer’s own dictates!

In 2023, writing in Jewish Currents just before the Hamas attacks, where he was a contributing editor, he portrayed Zionists as violent ethnic cleansers. The article he published before that one described the Zionist project as a lie that perpetuates other lies. In the article before that, Zionists were “authoritarian.” The one before that painted them as permanent warmongers. Zionists appeared lawless in the one before that.

How to teach the Zionists a lesson? Well, Leifer suggested that Americans drop their opposition to boycotts. He’s been consistent about this. He once passionately posted: “Boycotts, divestment, and sanctions are peaceful strategies of resistance to oppression. It’s depressing to see Jewish groups that ostensibly deal with social justice signing onto a resolution that deems these illegitimate.”

A Reality Check for Woke Jews

Joshua Leifer—a leader of the anti-Zionist organization IfNotNow and author of the new book Tablets Shattered, about how American Jewish life has gone down the tubes—was denied entry to his own book launch at an indie bookstore in Brooklyn. Why? Because the rabbi who was supposed to interview him is a Zionist, and, according to Leifer, “they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

I don’t think a more perfect metaphor exists for woke Jews in the year 2024.

“My biggest worry was about synagogues not wanting to host me,” Leifer posted on X about the ordeal. “I didn’t think it would be bookstores in Brooklyn that would be closing their doors.”

He didn’t?

I guess life comes at you fast when you spend your career making dizzying academic arguments against the existence of a Jewish state, only to be told, “Nice words, Jewboy, leave the store immediately.” (The bookstore owner came out and blamed a lower level staffer.)

Leifer’s real-time mugging by reality must sting. Antisemites, to Leifer and his ilk, carry tiki torches and have shaved heads. They don’t live in Brooklyn and have pronoun pins and tiny tattoos.

Doctors Without Borders crosses the line

In other words, they have no answer. They give no reason why they aren’t criticizing Hamas for its role in delaying or stealing aid, attacking Israel and prolonging the war, holding hostages and hiding behind civilians. They simply reiterate how bad things are.

The next question asks: “Why is MSF calling for a ceasefire? Aren’t you a non-partisan organization?”

They answer: “We are calling for a sustained ceasefire because widespread and indiscriminate attacks on civilians—including attacks on health care—have made it impossible to deliver the humanitarian aid needed in Gaza.”

Let’s overlook the gratuitous repetition of the accusation that Israel’s attacks are indiscriminate and grant that MSF may be right that the current situation makes it difficult if not impossible to distribute adequate aid. Isn’t it difficult or impossible to distribute adequate aid in nearly every war zone? All wars cause death, destruction, and mass suffering.

I would completely understand if MSF said it is a humanitarian imperative to call for an end to warfare. Don’t we all feel that way? But in other war zones, they merely call for civilians to be protected without passing judgment on the reasons for the fighting. Why do they feel entitled to demand a ceasefire in this case?

Personally, I am very sympathetic to MSF’s mission of providing humanitarian medical assistance to all. They are the type of group I’d like to support. Unfortunately, by betraying their own principles of impartiality and neutrality to join the global campaign to vilify Israel, they weaken themselves. Not only do they lose potential supporters like me but they forfeit the vital credibility they need to wade into conflict zones to fulfill their mission.

I wondered how MSF volunteers working in Israel might feel about this. Maybe they could be an avenue to address the group’s leadership?

On MSF’s “How We’re Responding to the War in Gaza” page, they admit that despite all of Israel’s wounded and suffering, along with hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes, they aren’t offering any medical programs in Israel at all.

Maybe that tells us everything we need to know about MSF.

08/22 Links Pt1: Israeli Presence on the Philadelphi Corridor Is Vital; Sinwar wants a deal that guarantees his safety; How did the hostage talks get so crazy?

From Ian:

Israeli Presence on the Philadelphi Corridor Is Vital

The Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt is essential to ensure that Hamas will face considerable difficulties in its expected efforts to reconstruct and resupply its terror enterprise in Gaza. The closure will hamper its ability to smuggle in weaponry, personnel, and even vehicles and funds from Egypt through the vast network of tunnels they constructed under the corridor, through the Rafah border crossing itself, and via other routes.

After revealing and neutralizing all the tunnels, Israel will have to erect an underground barrier along the corridor similar to the one it built along the Gaza-Israel border. The IDF will have to be deployed along the corridor to ensure that the underground barrier, the aboveground wall, the monitoring of the Rafah crossing, and the other elements of the systems designed to prevent smuggling are functioning so that any infiltration attempt will be thwarted immediately.

The chances that Egyptian, Arab, international forces or Palestinian Authority forces will effectively meet this challenge are paltry. This idea was tried in the past and failed miserably. There is no reason to believe that another time will be different. In light of this, there is no substitute for a physical Israeli presence along the corridor to prevent smuggling.

Such a presence is also essential for additional strategic reasons. First is the need to shape a new reality in Gaza. If the overall military control that is needed to combat terror is to be in Israel's hands, Israel needs to maintain control of all of Gaza's borders, including the Philadelphi Corridor. Any other arrangement will make it almost impossible for the IDF to prevent the emergence of terror threats from Gaza.

Second, lasting Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor is what will preclude Hamas control of the strategic passage. The ongoing physical change on the ground will constitute a message to Hamas, the other members of the Iranian axis, and the Palestinians, in general, that the Oct. 7 terror attack was a strategic error that significantly harmed the advancement of their goals, chief among them the elimination of Israel.

Israeli deployment along Philadelphi can serve to make clear to the Iranians and Hizbullah that whoever launches a war against Israel pays a strategic price for it.

JPost Editorial: Netanyahu’s firm stand on Philadelphi corridor is crucial for Israel’s security

Sharon argued that maintaining a military presence there was becoming more of a security liability than an asset, as soldiers patrolling the corridor were easy targets for Palestinian terrorists. He also said that keeping soldiers there would be a constant source of friction that could destabilize the region.

Sharon further claimed that only by removing the Israeli presence from the corridor could Israel say – and have the international community recognize – that it had fully withdrawn from Gaza.

That decision has proven disastrous.

The Philadelphi Corridor, as well as the border crossing at Rafah, is the route through which Hamas turned Gaza into an armed stronghold with an arsenal of weapons that would make a small NATO country blush.

Reliance on Egypt to prevent smuggling, either through tunnels or at the Rafah Crossing by bribing poorly paid and unmotivated Egyptian soldiers, was a tragic mistake.

Not only that, but it did not prevent the international community from saying that Israel continues to “occupy” Gaza and that it was the “world’s largest open-air prison.”

Those who argued adamantly against this move were cavalierly dismissed as doomsayers and told that if Israel saw that the corridor was being used to smuggle in arms and material, the IDF could easily retake it.

That turned out to be hubris. Israel saw that the corridor had become a highway for arming Gaza, but it did not take action to retake it. Why not? Because doing so is not simple, neither militarily nor in terms of international legitimacy. Now that Israel has retaken the area, it will vacate it again at its own peril.

IDF should not evacuate
If the IDF evacuates the area, whatever remains of Hamas after the war will use it – again – to rebuild its capabilities. The Philadelphi Corridor is Hamas’s lifeline. If Israel wants to prevent Hamas from reestablishing itself after the war, it needs to cut off this lifeline, and the only way to do that is for the IDF to be present.

This brings us to another important lesson, although this one is from October 7: Technological solutions to real security problems are not always the answer. One idea floated in recent days to get Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor was to rely heavily on state-of-the-art sensors to monitor the area.

Israel relied on state-of-the-art sensors and other technological wizardry on October 7 to defend its borders and prevent terrorist infiltration, but how did that work out?

Israel needs its own boots on the ground to protect itself, and what is true along the border with Gaza and Lebanon is true along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Without an IDF presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, Gaza could once again turn into a killing fortress.

The Pros and Cons of Salvaging or Ditching UNIFIL

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon numbers 10,000-plus personnel, the densest deployment of peacekeepers in the world. Its mandate is currently up for renewal at the UN Security Council by Aug. 31. Unfortunately, UNIFIL has proven ineffective in carrying out its mission for decades, and absent significant changes, there is little hope it can play a relevant role in securing the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

After the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated that UNIFIL help the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) ensure that the area between the Litani River and the southern frontier was "free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons" other than the government's. Yet, Hizbullah instead expanded its military footprint along the border, prohibited UNIFIL from patrolling broad swaths of territory, and routinely harassed, assaulted, and even killed the force's personnel.

UNIFIL's latest report (covering Feb. 21-June 20, 2024) revealed a spike in the already-common "freedom of movement incidents" - 38 cases in which "plainclothes" Hizbullah members or their local supporters harassed UNIFIL patrols, threatened them with weapons, fired at them, stole their equipment, or blocked their communications signals.

Far from helping the UN enforce 1701, the LAF has consistently collaborated with Hizbullah while obstructing UNIFIL's access. Because UNIFIL depends on the goodwill of the population for its security, it often demurs from effectively monitoring areas that might generate tension.

These factors have eroded Israeli and American trust in UNIFIL. Should the force continue to underperform, Washington should seriously consider vetoing its mandate, ending the deployment, and starting anew.

Haifa Port Strike Thwarts Iranian Espionage Ops (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Haifa, August 25 - Labor unrest at Israel's busiest port has rendered useless an intelligence-gathering effort by the regime in Tehran to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in the facility, an operative acknowledged today.

Three undercover Iranian spies found their espionage work impossible to accomplish over the last five weeks since gaining access to the port, the leader of the group disclosed Thursday, because the place remains perpetually on strike.

"I don't know how any imports end up in the country," admitted Mohsen Najad, 40. "We've seen some office personnel and a couple of emergency maintenance folks come through, but no one's done a lick of actual work in all the time I've been here. I can't find out a scrap of the information I'm supposed to collect on capacities, security, inspections, technology, or logistics. My contact in Beirut is getting annoyed."

His comrades, who, under mission orders, must not be seen to come in contact with him, shared similar concerns. "I've been having a wonderful time off from work, since the union decided no one sets foot there," he conceded. "But at a certain point a guy's gotta do his job, and I can't do my job without doing my other job. It's going to look suspicious, eventually, when I haven't been paid but can still afford to live."

The man appeared unaware that union power in Israel has guaranteed wages for port workers far in excess of basic expenses, and that regardless, Israelis tend not to pay much attention to whether their checking account balances are in the black or in the red, and would therefore not notice him living beyond his means.

The third member of the operations team noted that he had to warn the other two, via their indirect communication methods, not to work too hard, exhibit punctuality, or volunteer for any duties beyond the absolute minimum required of their job descriptions. He further cautioned them that performing up to requirement, and not coasting on union protection to maintain job security, would be a surefire way to blow their cover. He cited for them the case of Israeli counterintelligence catching a mole because the foreign agent used correct Hebrew grammar.

"That last bit was an important point, because otherwise we'd have worked hard on mastering proper Hebrew not just for nothing, but it would have compromised everything," acknowledged the team leader.

In the absence of their designated espionage work, the three men have made daily, hours-long trips to various recreational and sensual facilities in Israel and marked the outings as "for research purposes" in the reports to their handlers.

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Today's made-up statistic: "500,000 surgeries will be needed for injured in Gaza"

From Al Jazeera:

Assistant Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip , Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Hajj, said that those wounded in the war waged by Israel on the Strip need about half a million surgical operations in light of the collapse of the health system.

Al-Hajj explained - in an interview with the Anatolia News Agency - that there are "more than 94 thousand wounded in Gaza, and these people need an average of 3 to 4 surgical operations after the war."

He added, "The number of surgeries required for those injured after the war may reach half a million."

These numbers are made up out of thin air.

Al Hajj doesn't know all the types of injuries. There are no real statistics on injuries. He has no idea how many surgeries - if any - the injured would need. We don't even know if the health ministry counts a sprained ankle as an injury.

Beyond that, the "94,000" total number of people injured is another figure made up by the Gaza health ministry. Their latest infographic, when they claimed about 91,000, admitted that 25,000 of them were "undocumented" - 64,000 injuries had full documentation.

The rest were numbers made up by the Hamas media office, also out of thin air, so the health ministry just called them "undocumented" to ensure that their numbers don't contradict Hamas.

The health ministry may also count people with pre-existing conditions who require medical treatment, like kidney problems, as part of the "injured." They seem to base the numbers on ambulance trips but ambulances would be called for any injury or illness, whether war related or not.

But half a million is such a nice, round number, tailor made for headlines. Expect to see that number in Western media soon enough.

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From AFP:

An Israeli strike in the southern coastal city of Sidon killed a Fatah official on Wednesday, a senior member of the Palestinian group and a security source said.

It marked the first such reported attack on Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, in more than 10 months of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

"The Israeli strike in Sidon killed (Fatah) group official Khalil Maqdah," said Fathi Abu al-Aradat, a senior member of the group that rivals Gaza's Palestinian Islamist rulers Hamas.

A Lebanese security source confirmed the report to AFP, saying the strike hit his car.

So did Israel escalate things by attacking a "Fatah official"?

As you read on, you see that things are a little different than the first paragraphs from the wire service indicate.

Mounir Maqdah, who heads the Lebanese branch of Fatah's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, told broadcaster Al-Mayadeen that his brother Khalil had been killed.

He told the channel his brother had been a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and vowed the group "will respond inside of Israel."

L'Orient Today adds:

The Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday that it carried out an "airstrike" targeting Maqdah. It accused Maqdah and his brother Mounir of "acting on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," and of being "involved in organizing terrorist attacks" and "weapons trafficking" to the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army website previously reported that numerous modern weapons were confiscated during the operation conducted by Israeli General Security to thwart Maqdah’s actions. Additionally, the army suspected that the Fatah leader had been recruiting West Bank residents to engage in "terrorist" operations against Israel.
Mounir has publicly said many times that he supports al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Palestine financially and militarily, according to our correspondent in the South. The brothers have both provided the fighters in the West Bank with money and weapons, he added.

We have two brothers, both Fatah "officials," who are terrorists providing money and weapons to other, presumably Fatah, terrorists in the West Bank.

The logistics of doing that from Lebanon also indicates an Iranian role in this. The Al Aqsa Brigades is relatively small and getting weapons to the West Bank almost certainly involves smuggling through Jordan, which is not a simple thing.

This December analysis from West Point says this directly:

One part of Fatah that Iran has tried to create splinter groups from is the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (Kata’ib Shuhada al-Aqsa), an Islamist military formation formed in 2000 by members of Fatah. Ostensibly, the group is still to this day a Fatah-controlled entity. Working to suck in splinters from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade made sense for Tehran. Support for Palestinian Islamist groups, namely PIJ and Hamas, has long been a hallmark of Iranian policy. Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, has noted that “the foundations of this resistance rest on Palestinian jihad groups and all faithful and steadfast Palestinians living inside and outside Palestine.”

But could it be that the Al Aqsa Brigades are not really still connected to Fatah? That's been the narrative, that Fatah has cut ties with them (even as they allow them to march in the West Bank with weapons.)

Let's go back to what else AFP had to say about Khalil Maqdah:

The victim, Khalil, is also a member of Fatah's Palestinian National Security and is in charge of Fatah's retiree affairs.

Khalil Maqdah was not only well known as a leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades militia but he also had a day job working for Fatah.

There is no denying it: Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction is a terrorist group, and it gets support from Iran. Abbas is responsible for their terrorism.

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Iran has convinced the world to defend its "honor" for them

It's pretty obvious at this point that Iran is very happy with open-ended threats against Israel. It causes airlines to suspend flights, it affects the Israeli stock market (although is actually higher now than it was immediately after Haniyeh's death,) it causes fear among Israelis.

But most importantly, it enhances Iran's sense of "honor."

Western and Arab nations are trying very hard to either bribe or cajole Iran it to avoid an escalation. Delegations are dispatched, phone calls are made, and Iran is acting as the ruler whom everyone must flatter and defend. Iran's fearmongering is the center of world attention.

The West thinks it understands Iran and the larger Muslim mindset of honor. They believe that shaming a country like Iran may bring about a violent response, so they subscribe to Iran's gameplan: avoid condemning Iran at all costs.

The result is that Iran now has all the benefits of "honor" by the world and none of the costs of being shamed. And this fits in quite well with Iran's strategy of menacing Israel indefinitely with a credible threat.

The latest example comes from Iran's UN representative Amir Saeid Iravani, who told the world that Iran's attack on Israel will be as surprising as possible. “The timing … of Iran’s response will be meticulously orchestrated to ensure that it occurs at a moment of maximum surprise,” he said, implying that Iran might even mount a ground invasion while Israel is defending itself from the air.

This is a UN representative publicly telling the world that Iran plans to attack another UN state. and he has no fears that the UN will condemn, deplore or censure him for direct threats against another member state.

Because no one wants to "shame" Iran.

That refusal to say a negative word about Iran enhances Iran's perceived "honor." It shows that the world is afraid of the Islamic Republic and that it defers to the terror-supporting state.

Iran regards this as more of a victory than their April attack in Israel was. And they can keep it up indefinitely, by making new threats every day or two.

Instead of a clear message to Iran that attacking Israel would result in increased isolation and sanctions, the response is begging them to limit the response to only kill an acceptable number of Jews that they can then warn Israel against a response of their own.

Significantly, Iranian media is no longer obsessed with Israel and with the impending response. All their messaging is to the world at large to keep enhancing their honor, but not to their own people.

Once again, when the world doesn't truly understand the honor/shame dynamic, everyone does the exact wrong thing. Iran is reaping the benefits without the slightest cost.

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Abbas couldn't visit Gaza when Hamas was in full control. Now he is asking "genocidal" Israel to allow it. Doesn't quite fit the narrative, does it?

Palestinian authority president Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready and willing to go to Gaza.

In 2011.

In 2014, Abbas told reporters he would visit Gaza when the time was right.

Yet he hasn't stepped foot in Gaza since 2007. And the reason is simple: Hamas didn't want him.

Now, last week, Abbas again expressed his desire to visit Gaza. This time, according to reports, he even sent a letter requesting permission from the the Israeli government to allow him to travel there.

It seems Abbas believes that when Israel controls large parts of Gaza, he will be safer visiting than he would have for the past 17 years.

But I thought Israel was committing "genocide" in Gaza! Why would Abbas feel secure that Israel would protect him?

The UN says it is too dangerous to deliver food. But it is still safer for the Fatah leader to visit now than when Hamas had full control!

That isn't the only irony here. For example, if he would have visited in the past, there is no way he'd go through Israel because asking Israel's permission makes him look weak. He would have gone through Egypt. But Egypt shut down the border crossing because they don't want to look like they are partnering with Israel, so Abbas has to be shamed by asking Israel for permission.

I doubt that the visit would happen, unless the US pressures Israel to have a ceasefire ahead of time and for the duration. Israel wouldn't agree without the release of some hostages. Hamas will not do that. So chances are this will be forgotten just as Abbas' previous plans to visit Gaza have been/

But it shows that Abbas knows very well that there is no slaughter, no genocide, no indiscriminate bombing by Israel in Gaza.

Otherwise, if he felt his life was in danger, he would never even consider going.

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08/21 Links Pt2: No, Mr. President, the Protesters Don’t Have a Point; Kamala Harris’s BDS Problem; Anti-Zionism is just antisemitism misspelled

From Ian:

Eli Lake: No, Mr. President, the Protesters Don’t Have a Point

It’s not even clear if the DNC spoilers would ever be enticed to support Kamala Harris in November. As our own Olivia Reingold reports from the convention, many of the anti-Israel shouters are not trying to change the next administration’s policies so much as heap scorn and shame on a government they see as complicit in a genocide. Many are self-described “communists” and “anarchists.” So even if Biden or Harris changed America’s policy on the war, there is no guarantee these malcontents would actually end up voting for the Democrats come November. After all, before he dropped out of the race last month, this crowd called the president “Genocide Joe.”

Now the anti-Israel mob, which showed up outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago on Tuesday, has a new target: “Killer Kamala.” The dozens of protesters, thirteen of whom ended up arrested, spontaneously broke out into chants of “fuck Kamala” while a masked man waved a Samidoun flag and others held up signs declaring Biden and Harris were “different heads, same beast.”

In their more than hour-long confrontation with the police, the protesters told at least three entities to “go to hell”: Israel, the DNC, and the Chicago Police Department. They burned an American flag in the street. As rows of police stood about twenty feet away, their batons at the ready, activists were told to take to the microphone and “speak your bitter, speak your venom.”

A man in yellow latex gloves, with his entire face concealed, told the cops: “Fuck every single one of you until you quit your jobs.”

They called this a march for Gaza, but this could hardly be a march for anything—only against. Against the Republicans, against the Democrats, and against America. If they have one point, Mr. President, it’s that they are not worth listening to.

The Democrats in Chicago

Rose had stated the basic formula of anyone serious about politics. Uncommitted is backing the Democratic nominee for president but doing so through a carefully calibrated attitude of reluctance and expectation, meaning that they are holding out for more than they’re getting this week. But what they got was significant: On Monday, the movement hosted an official, DNC-sanctioned event at McCormick Place, a jam-packed panel discussion focused around the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a gathering executed with astounding political tact. The hand of the Harris campaign was obvious—as was the uncommitteds’ willingness to abide by the campaign’s apparent rules.

The panelists, which included Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, longtime Democratic party activist James Zogby, former Congressman Andy Levin, two Palestinian American women active in Democratic politics, and a pediatric surgeon who had worked in Gaza this past March treated Iran and Hamas as if they didn’t exist and decried Benjamin Netanyahu’s fascism without so much as saying Yahya Sinwar’s name—only Ellison made any mention of the Oct. 7 attack. But the panelists also never talked about BDS, made only passing references to a one-state solution, and did not praise Palestinian militancy or treat America as inherently evil. Most of the panel wept when the doctor, Tanya Haj-Hassan, described watching children die at overwhelmed Gazan hospitals. Hala Hijazi, the California-raised child of Gazan parents, and someone who has lost scores of relatives during the war, emphasized her own patriotism, recalling that she had given a speech before a citizenship ceremony and knocked on doors for Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. “I know everyone is struggling, but the vice president is working very hard,” Hijazi said. “We have to hold her accountable, but we also have to give her a chance.”

“She can say things that don’t betray the president,” instructed Andy Levin. “She can say we’ll follow U.S. and international law.” A packed ballroom erupted in cheers.

At the very moment a pro-Palestine rally in Union Park fizzled into a sad carnival of Hoxhaists and other angry weirdos, the people who want to reorient American policy toward the future nonexistence of the Jewish state had made real progress through normative procedural means. The uncommitteds had organized a national movement within the country’s leading political party, established a measurable degree of intraparty leverage during an election season, made limited concessions to potential allies in the party hierarchy, pragmatically moderated their message, traded away their leverage for things that would actually advance their issue set, and then held out for more. They recognized that the Democratic Party wants this process to happen, even if it’s for cynical reasons of internal contradiction-management and even if it’s a long way off from an official full turn against Israel.

“We can call it what it is, it’s genocide,” Zogby alleged of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, “but what’s historic here is that we have an officially sanctioned panel to talk about it.” Zogby lauded “The message the Harris campaign is sending by saying we wanna talk about it, and we wanna hear you talk about it. … Thank you to the campaign for sponsoring this. Thank you for listening to us.”

The protests on the streets and parks of Chicago this week are inevitably minor episodes, but actual history might have been made at McCormick Place on Monday—and made within the structure and under the auspices of the Democratic Party itself.

Seth Mandel: Kamala Harris’s BDS Problem

The rise of someone with Bitar’s history of anti-Israel agitation isn’t too surprising, especially as younger officials make their way up the ladder in the Democratic Party. As I wrote last week, one of Harris’s aides is Nasrina Bargzie, a deputy counsel to the vice president who was just put in charge of the campaign’s outreach to Arab and Muslim voters.

Bargzie spent years representing and advocating for anti-Zionist organizations, including SJP. For a decade, she was a leader in the movement to knock down legal attempts to grant Jews on campus full civil rights under Title VI. She even took her case against applying Title VI to Jews to the United Nations. Bargzie and her peers played an important role in legitimizing and cultivating the widespread Jew-baiting now found on campuses across the country. In many ways, the current tentifada movement—which, again, has now been found by the courts to have violated Jewish students’ civil rights—is the result of her life’s work.

The development of groups like SJP serving as recruiting grounds for Democratic political campaigns and administrations paints a bleak picture of the party’s direction on anti-Semitism. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was subject to a ruthless and ultimately successful anti-Semitic campaign against his seemingly-sure-thing nomination as Harris’s veep. One of the supposed scandals that doomed his candidacy was that he had volunteered in Israel as a teenager.

The message of the past couple weeks could not be clearer: In the Democratic Party, apolitical Jewish youth activities must be hidden or avoided entirely, while careers built on denying Jewish Americans their civil rights will be seen as an asset.

To compound things, Biden-Harris administration is already dealing with strained intelligence sharing with allies. After Ukraine carried out a surprise attack on Russia, it was revealed that the U.S. was kept in the dark. One reason: The Ukrainians learned from Israel how to get around America’s attempts to bind their hands while at war. “So Israel announced that they would take the advice of their partners very seriously but would afterward make their own decisions in the best interest of their own national security,” a Ukrainian parliamentarian said in a recent interview. “I think that we can simply mirror that approach in our own case.”

The success of Maher Bitar and Nasrina Bargzie is a result of Democratic grassroots’ having turned Israel into a litmus test for political advancement. For those concerned about anti-Semitism specifically and cracks in the Western alliance generally, the worst is yet to come.

08/21 Links Pt1: Israel Is Winning; Why Israel’s Critics Stopped Pretending To Want a Ceasefire; Canadian families of Oct. 7 victims sue to stop federal funding of UNRWA

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Why Israel’s Critics Stopped Pretending To Want a Ceasefire

Then Secretary of State Antony Blinken, forced to concede Bibi wasn’t the villain, handed the Israelis another test in the form of a compromise proposal intended to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas. Israel accepted these terms. Hamas flipped out, taking credit for an attempted mass suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and mobilizing terrorists in the West Bank in the hopes of expanding the war to yet another front.

Netanyahu “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal,” Blinken said. “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.” Blinken said the same in private, according to Israel’s Channel 12. “We have a way to measure if the prime minister is committed to a deal,” the secretary reportedly told families of Israeli hostages. “And this time our assessment is that he is.”

On his way to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago yesterday, President Biden confirmed to reporters that “Israel says they can work it out… Hamas is now backing away.”

Without any credible way to absolve Hamas of blame for the lack of a deal, the terms must change. The protesters, their supporters in the Squad faction of Congress, their mentors at “elite” universities—by and large these folks merely want Israel’s defeat, whatever the specific methods.

Of course, if they really wanted a ceasefire, they would have been horrified by October 7 and angry at Hamas, since there was a ceasefire in place that Hamas broke by slaughtering over a thousand innocents, ensuring there’d be a significant response. To a true ceasefire supporter, let alone a person of any moral fiber, Hamas’s attack would have been the great unforgivable crime of the century.

But the rallies in support of Hamas by progressive groups and on campuses began immediately after the massacre. Not only were these groups willing to forgive Hamas for destroying a status quo ceasefire, many of them were downright jubilant at the death and destruction caused by the terror group.

Since it’s never actually been about a ceasefire, it has been easy for the “pro-Gaza” protest movement to pivot in its demands. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ringleader of the Democratic anti-Zionist caucus who has long demanded that the U.S. go far beyond a ceasefire and take action against Israel, had a prime speaking slot at Harris’s nominating convention last night.

There’s some value, of course, in all this dropping of pretensions. The Democratic Party with Harris as its standard-bearer is telegraphing a posture change; some in the party, such as Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, are hinting that such a shift could come sooner than later. It turns out that all it might take for Israel’s critics to drop the “ceasefire” charade is an actual ceasefire.

John Spencer: Israel Is Winning

For all the progress Israel has made toward its war aims, however, it will lose in the end if it fails to secure a replacement for Hamas as a new ruling power in Gaza. The United States knows such defeat well: it lost in Vietnam when the North Vietnamese took South Vietnam in 1975, and it lost again in Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in 2021 from the government the United States had backed for 20 years.

It is now Israel’s responsibility to create the conditions that would allow new leadership in Gaza to survive. The first step is to reduce Hamas’s capabilities enough to let an external force enter Gaza and provide security in population centers. When a new body, such as the Palestinian Authority, takes over governance from Hamas, Israel will need to provide it security assistance, including with counterterror operations. The role of Israeli forces should not amount to a constant presence in Gaza. As parts of the strip are stabilized, the new authority can lead the postconflict work of deradicalization, disarmament, demobilization, and reconciliation. By supporting this new government in Gaza, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, and making it possible to rebuild, Israel can show the Palestinian public it is committed to a better future without Hamas.

To realize such a future, Hamas must be destroyed with no hope of resurgence. How Israel goes about that task does matter. It must follow international law and maintain foreign and domestic support if it is to sustain its war effort. At this point, however, Israel is losing the public relations battle. It has failed to communicate consistently how its day-to-day operations were linked to its strategic goals. All the world sees are reports of an ever-climbing civilian casualty count and images of vast destruction, without reference to how the fight against Hamas is progressing or how similar urban battles have proceeded in the past.

No previous example is exactly like Israel’s operation today in terms of the number of Hamas combatants embedded in populated urban areas, the tactics Hamas uses, or the vast bunker and tunnel complexes at its disposal. But a few battles are comparable. In the 2016–17 Battle of Mosul, more than 10,000 civilians died in a campaign by U.S. and Iraqi forces to liberate the city from around 4,000 Islamic State fighters, a civilian-to-combatant death ratio of roughly 2.5 to 1. In the 1945 Battle of Manila, the U.S. military operation led to the death of 100,000 civilians to rout 17,000 Japanese defenders, for a ratio of nearly 6 to 1. Figures are less reliable in other battles, such as the 1950 Second Battle of Seoul, urban fighting during the 1999–2009 Second Chechen War, or Russia’s more recent attack of Mariupol. But the civilian-to-combatant death ratio for Israel’s operation in Gaza today, typically estimated between 1 to 1 and 3 to 1, is at the lower end of the historical range.

Neutralizing Hamas and securing a new governing authority in Gaza may be Israel’s best chance at recovering its damaged global reputation. Israel must now show it has a plan to reach that outcome. Wars have been lost when the governments that enter a conflict, their populations, and their allies do not understand the strategy, tactics, and timelines for achieving their goals. Sun Tzu’s maxim still applies: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory, while tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Today, the world mostly sees Israel’s tactics, reported through the lens of civilian casualties. But to win, Israel needs to emphasize its strategy. It must consolidate the gains it has made against Hamas by pushing forward a political solution. If Israel cannot fully remove Hamas from power, demilitarize the strip, and back a new authority in Gaza, then Hamas will likely reconstitute itself and fight another day. That result would be no victory for Israel or for the region. Israel must therefore take advantage of the present moment, when it has the upper hand and Hamas is on the run.

Israel Katz: Iran’s global terrorist ambitions must be crushed, before it’s too late

Iran’s destabilisation efforts are increasingly evident in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Tehran is undermining the Palestinian Authority, supporting extremist groups with truckloads of weapons and money. If not for Israel’s vigilance, Judea and Samaria would quickly devolve into another Iranian stronghold, threatening both Israeli and regional stability. Iran’s ambitions extend further, as its attempts to smuggle arms through Jordan endanger this key moderate Arab state.

Furthermore ties such as those alleged by Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, between the Hamburg Islamic Center and Iran’s Supreme Leader and Hezbollah, illustrate a strategic effort by Iran to spread its revolutionary ideology globally.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is the primary driver of Iran’s strategy to encircle Israel with a ‘ring of fire’ and its terrorist proliferation in the Middle East and globally. The international community must declare the IRGC as the world’s largest terrorist organization and impose further crippling sanctions on Iran. These actions are essential to halting Iran’s destabilizing activities and ensuring global security.

The world must recognise that Israel’s fight against Hamas is about preventing Iran from establishing another terrorist launchpad on our borders – one that threatens the entire globe. Our security measures are essential to counter increasingly emboldened Iranian ambitions.

Looking ahead, any solution for Gaza, Judea, and Samaria must account for this reality. Palestinian self-governance in internal affairs, coupled with Israeli security oversight, offers the best near-term option to counter Iranian influence while allowing Palestinians the maximum opportunity to govern their own affairs. This arrangement is crucial to breaking the cycle of violence that fuels Iran’s ambitions. History proves that whenever Israel steps back from overseeing security, the first to fill the vacuum is an Iranian-controlled terror proxy.

The stakes in this struggle extend far beyond Israel. Iran’s unchecked expansionism threatens to derail normalisation efforts with our Arab neighbors, undermine global energy security, and international counterterrorism. The economic toll of Iran’s war-mongering is already frustrating global trade and spiking commodity prices.

Israel is at the forefront of the free world’s fight against Iranian encirclement. Supporting Israel against the Ayatollahs in Tehran, Sinwar’s Hamas in Gaza, and Nasrallah’s Hezbollah in Lebanon is an act of self-preservation for all free states. The world must recognize that today’s battle against Iran’s construction of a “ring of fire” around the Middle East may well be a prelude to broader confrontations. The writing is on the wall; the question now is whether the world will heed its warning before it’s too late.