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Tuesday, February 28, 2023

02/28 Links Pt1: The real ones to blame for the rioting in Huwara; The US does nothing about another American murdered by Palestinians; Thousands of Israelis donate to Palestinian victims of settler riots

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Israelis and Palestinians won't achieve peace through vigilante attacks
When is retaliation considered "too much"?
According to the IDF, the terrorist opened fire in broad daylight from close range at an Israeli-owned car driving past the Palestinian town of Huwara on Route 60, deep in the northern West Bank, killing brothers Hallel Yaniv, 21 and Yagel Yaniv, 19, residents of nearby Har Bracha.

They’re only the latest victims of terror who were murdered simply because they were Israeli. Before the impact of the atrocity could be fully comprehended, however, a large group of settlers converged on Huwara and, in what can only be labeled as a pogrom, set alight dozens of vehicles and homes in the village.

The rampage lasted for hours until Israeli security forces restored order, but not before one death and a number of injuries were reported in addition to the massive damage in the village.

The onslaught was the worst case of “price tag” retaliation that most people could remember. Some responses, including that of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, attributed the harshness of the revenge attacks to the positions of the more extreme members of the government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Ben-Gvir was slow in condemning the settler attack. However his Otzma Yehudit Knesset colleague Zvika Fogel – a former IDF general – praised the Jewish attackers, saying, “Huwara is closed and burnt. That is what I want to see. Only this way can we obtain deterrence.”

Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Israelis not to take the law into their own hands, stressing that the riots harmed the operations of security forces who were hunting for the terrorist who carried out the attack.

But their reasoned voices are not enough. The government must act as one body in grave times like this. With ministers like Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – who called on the Israeli delegation in Aqaba to return to Israel immediately after the attack – giving their quiet support for vigilante attacks or at best, turned a blind eye to them – Israel appears to be losing its sense of right and wrong.

When there should have been national unity in mourning the deaths of the Yaniv brothers on Sunday, extremists hijacked the day with their illegal and deadly acts. The government, as one voice, must unequivocally condemn their acts and take measures to ensure that such vigilantism does not take place.

If that can’t happen, Netanyahu should draw the necessary conclusions and fire the ministers who side with the extremists who are doing untold damage to this country and its moral fiber.
The real ones to blame for the rioting in Huwara
If we are honest — which most of the world is not when it comes to Israel and Jews — we need to recognize that Jewish rioting in Huwara is against the law.

But if we continue being honest, we need also to recognize that the blame for those riots must fall primarily on the past 50 years of Israeli governments who have failed to provide adequate security to the Jewish residents of Samaria and Judea. And, because there is little value in blaming the dead prime ministers and defense ministers who have been at fault, the focus of blame falls on the living who can rectify their failures, including but not limited to the longest-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Likud party that falls into lockstep behind him.

We cannot and could never have expected much from Labor, Meretz, Gantz, Lapid, Sa’ar, and the Bennett who sold out his voters. The focus and blame must fall squarely on Bibi.

Fair people cannot sit in judgment of Jews who are sitting ducks, getting shot down on Samarian and Judean roads like at a carnival, while the Likud governments issue statements that they will not stand for it anymore — “and this time we mean business . . . or else”

Gimme a break.

Arabs are not idiots. They know what’s what. The more evil they are, the better they gauge what they can get away with. They have watched prisoner exchanges of 1,150 Arab murderers for three deceased Israelis. They see and hear that they get paid by the illegitimate Abu Mazen entity for murdering Jews, or even just for trying. They hear that Arabs in Israeli prisons get good food, a free degree education, excellent television choices (internet?), free gym membership, and even get to have intercourse with Israeli women who practically have gotten pimped-out by security superiors.

Who in fairness can condemn Israeli Huwara rioters unless he has been in their shoes, driven the same road every day and night where Huwaran Arabs wait to shoot Jews dead? It is so easy to sit comfortably in Tel Aviv or the Knesset or Washington, D.C., or in other international cities and condemn Jewish rioters who are beyond exasperated and desperate — and for darned good reason.

If someone believes that Jews do not belong in Judea and Samaria in the first place, OK. That person has laid his cards on the table. Such a person will condemn Jews for acting — even legally — to defend themselves because, under their world view, Jews have no one to blame for the anti-Jewosh murders except themselves.
The IDF abandoned West Bank wall security - Israeli state comptroller
In addition, the report said that the IDF drew down its security forces in the West Bank by 70% at the time.

The report said, “the significance was total abandonment of the barrier and loss of control of the area without presenting a different solution to prevent illegal crossing into Israeli territory.”

This led to around 1.4 million Palestinians breakthroughs of the West Bank barrier in 2021 with some periods of time reaching 6,000 illegal Palestinian breakthroughs per day.

Moreover, the report said that the IDF presented the problem of losing sufficient volumes of IDF forces in the area as well as a spike in Palestinians breaking through the barrier to the Defense Ministry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2017 and onward.

Despite this, the report said that Netanyahu and his cabinet “did not hold hearings regarding how to improve the effectiveness of the barrier and related defensive border obstacles” until the killing of 11 Israelis by Palestinians in March and April 2022.

At that point, then-prime minister Naftali Bennett and his cabinet shifted gears, though they also had not dealt with the issue since taking power in mid-2021.

The Defense Ministry and IDF responded stating that the comptroller report statistics are incorrect even for part of the 2017-2022 era that they discuss, saying that for most of the West Bank areas, the barrier was 82% effective even before 2022.

There is an unclear part of the ministry’s response on this issue where it says 82% effective “except in areas where it was decided operationally not to fix breakthroughs.”

The ministry does not explain on the record what these areas were or why the decision was taken.


Bassam Tawil: The Palestinians' New Terror Groups
If the Biden Administration were serious about de-escalating tensions and preventing further violence between Israelis and Palestinians, it could have achieved this goal by demanding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas take action against the numerous armed gangs roaming Palestinian streets.

Instead of holding a summit in Jordan or any other country, the Biden Administration needs to make clear to Abbas that he cannot have it both ways. He cannot turn a blind eye to the terror groups operating under his nose, and at the same time condemn Israel for launching counter-terrorism operations to protect Jews and prevent further terrorist attacks.

The Biden Administration could at least have demanded that Abbas rein in the terror attacks against Jews instead of glorifying terrorists and rewarding them and their families financially as part of his "pay-for-slay" incentive to go murder Jews.

Instead of condemning terrorism, Abbas and senior Palestinian officials... regularly castigate Israel for launching pre-emptive operations to prevent terror attacks that harm its people.

The Biden administration seems not to understand that by failing to condemn the murder of innocent Israeli civilians, Abbas is signaling to his people that he has no problem with the terrorists so long as they target only Jews and not him.

"Except for the Palestinian Police and Israeli military forces, no other armed forces shall be established or operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." — Oslo Accords Interim Agreement, September 28, 1995.

[N]ot only do both the West Bank and Gaza Strip have dozens of militias and terror groups; worse, the Gaza Strip -- which was handed by Israel to the Palestinian Authority in 2005 -- is currently controlled by terror organizations such as the Iranian-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Abbas is saying that the Israelis have no right to defend themselves or go after those who are planning to kill Jews.
Hamas: Huwara riots are a 'declaration of war,' cross all red lines
The settler riots that swept Huwara on Sunday are a "declaration of war" and cross all red lines, warned Hamas political bureau official Suhai al-Hindi on Tuesday.

"The results of the Aqaba Summit are more killing, blood, and destruction for our Palestinian people, and what Nablus witnessed was a joint attack, as the occupation soldiers sponsor settlers to kill the Palestinian person and burn the Palestinian house and Palestinian entity," said Hindi to the Palestinian news outlet Al-Watan Voice.

"We, on our part as Palestinians, cannot in any way accept this equation, and we cannot raise the white flag or accept that the enemy harms the Palestinian people," added Hindi. "We are required to confront this conspiracy, killing and arson, with all our might, and the occupation knows only the language of force, not the language of dialogue, agreements and meetings."

Hindi additionally pointed to riots that have taken place in recent days along the Gaza border, saying "The message of the rebellious youth in the eastern Gaza Strip is very clear, that when the Palestinian people suffer, the settler here on the Gaza border must suffer."

The statement came as the Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Emadi, suddenly canceled on Tuesday morning a visit he had planned to Gaza for Tuesday evening.
Bipartisan Congressional Letter Calls for UN to Disband Commission of Inquiry, Fire Palestine Rapporteur
A bipartisan group of 18 Congressional lawmakers on Monday published a letter calling to disband the UN’s Commission of Inquiry into Israel and fire the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese.

Led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) and addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, the letter cites comments Albanese has made in the past month, including calling Israel a “colonial” “apartheid regime” in explaining her refusal to condemn a Palestinian terrorist attack in which seven Israelis were murdered outside a Jerusalem synagogue.

“Ms. Albanese has repeatedly refused to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis while continuing her condemnations of Israel,” the letter says. “For an official tasked with serving as an independent, neutral, and expert voice on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her inexcusable silence against terrorism targeting Israelis and her outrageous and prejudicial remarks clearly reflect the irredeemable bias of her mandate.”

The letter follows a similar effort in January that called for Albanese’s ouster in response to her “outrageous antisemitic statements.”

Since beginning her six-year term in May 2022, Albanese has used her platform to declare that Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza is part of a “right to resist”, praised the Mayor of Barcelona who severed ties between the city and Israel over its alleged “apartheid” policies, and had previously written in 2014 that the United States was “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”

The UN Commission of Inquiry’s Miloon Kothari made similar comments last year saying that the “Jewish lobby” controls social media and questioned Israel’s membership in the UN. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called Kothari’s apology for those remarks “pathetic and unconvincing.”


Despite alarming violence, Israeli-Palestinian talks are sign of optimism (Tom Gross on Turkish TV)

FDD: Palestinian Terrorist Cell Kills Israeli-American Citizen
Latest Developments
A Palestinian terrorist cell carried out a series of drive-by shootings today on a desert highway in the West Bank, killing an Israeli-American motorist before fleeing. The attack on Road 90 outside Jericho prompted a second manhunt by Israeli forces, which were still trying to capture a Palestinian terrorist who had killed two Israel civilians, Hillel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, brothers from Har Bracha in the northern West Bank, on Sunday. The attack on the Yaniv brothers triggered a revenge attack by Israelis in the nearby Palestinian village of Huwara.

Expert Analysis
“The latest shooting is the second on Road 90 in as many months — a big worry for Israel, as this usually quiet artery connects Jerusalem to its Dead Sea and Jordan Valley communities. Though Israeli forces managed to kill five Hamas terrorists in Jericho on February 6, a deadly terrorist infrastructure clearly remains.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“The revenge attack should be a wake-up call for the Netanyahu government. The fight against terrorism must be the exclusive preserve of authorized security forces. Israeli officials were quick to condemn the vigilantism. They must follow through with prosecutions.” — Joe Truzman, Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

‘Pay-to-Slay’
The Palestinian terrorist’s family can now expect to receive from the Palestinian Authority (PA) “pay-to-slay” payments — monthly subsidies that effectively function as a terrorist welfare system. The PA rewards terrorists and their families for violence against Israelis based on a sliding scale relative to the brutality of the terror attack.
Israel arrests eight suspects in Samaria shooting attacks
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the IDF arrested eight terrorist operatives on Monday night suspected of a series of shooting attacks in Samaria.

The eight men carried out a series of attacks in recent weeks that did not result in casualties, the agency said. The weapons they allegedly used were also confiscated.

The shootings took place in areas assigned to the Israel Defense Forces’ Binyamin and Efraim Territorial Brigades. The first operates around Ramallah, the second near Tulkarm and Qalqilya.

The Shin Bet found during its investigation that Belal Barghouti and Ahmed Aqel, residents of the village of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, were involved in shooting attacks against IDF soldiers in the nearby village of Nabi Saleh on Dec. 7 and Jan. 26.

It also emerged that they were involved in a shooting attack against an Israeli vehicle near the planned city of Rawabi on Feb. 3. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories

Also arrested were Ahmed Manasra and Alaa Manasra, residents of the Qalandiya refugee camp, who allegedly carried out a shooting attack on the night of Jan. 27 directed towards the Qalandiya checkpoint, the Shin Bet said.

Another suspect, Ahmed Abu Arida, a resident of the Beitunia refugee camp near Ramallah, is believed to have fired towards the Beitunia checkpoint, also on Jan. 27.

Muhammed Makhrouk and Jibril Zbeidi, residents of the Jalazone refugee camp, which is also near Ramallah, were found to have carried out a shooting attack on Dec. 18 towards the Beit El community.
IDF arrests 8 terror suspects in West Bank overnight
The IDF has arrested 8 terror suspects overnight in the West Bank Jonathan Regev has the latest from the Nevo Junction near Jericho where Israeli forces continue their manhunt for the terrorist who killed Israeli American Elan Ganeles yesterday


Manhunt continues for terrorist after killing of Israeli-American
Israeli forces are engaged in a manhunt near Jericho for the terrorist who shot and killed Israeli American Elan Ganeles yesterday


The US does nothing about another American murdered by Palestinians
Elan Ganeles of Connecticut was murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists this week, thus becoming the 147th American citizen to be killed by Palestinians since 1968.

Yet not a single Palestinian Arab terrorist has ever been brought to the United States to stand trial for any of those crimes. Think about that: 147 dead Americans and not one prosecution.

The problem is not that we can’t find the suspects. The whereabouts of some of them are already known to the authorities. In fact, the Israeli government has publicly identified some of them as members of the Palestinian security forces.

One of the killers, Ahlam Tamimi, is living openly in Jordan and until recently was the host of her own radio show. Tamimi was one of the terrorists who carried out the August 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, in which 15 people were killed—including 15-year-old Malki Roth and Mrs. Shoshana Greenbaum, both American citizens. In addition, 122 people were injured, among them four Americans.

The problem is not the extradition process. The U.S. has an extradition treaty with Jordan, signed in 1995. So, Tamimi could be handed over right now.

As for other suspects, the Palestinian Authority has one of the largest per capita security forces in the world, armed and trained by the U.S. If the P.A. wanted to find those suspects, it certainly has the manpower and resources to do so.

Although the U.S. does not have a formal extradition treaty with the P.A., the P.A. could still hand over the suspects if it wanted to. Many countries send fugitive criminals to the U.S. for prosecution outside of regular extradition channels because those channels are often time-consuming and expensive.
US expects Israel to ensure ‘full accountability’ for Huwara riot
The U.S. administration said on Monday that it expects Israel to prosecute those who participated in the Huwara riot following the murder of two Israeli siblings in the Palestinian town and to compensate those whose homes and property were damaged or destroyed.

“We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks in addition to compensation for the loss of homes and property,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price during a press briefing.

He called the Sunday night riot by hundreds of Israeli Jews in the Palestinian town of Huwara “completely unacceptable.”

Price also denounced the “horrific” terror attack that claimed the lives of two Israeli brothers as they drove through Huwara, as well as the terror shooting on Monday night that claimed the life of a 27-year-old Israeli-American Elan Ganeles.

“Accountability and justice should be pursued with equal rigor in all cases of extremist violence and equal resources dedicated to prevent such attacks and bring those responsible to justice,” Price said.


Tributes paid to 26-year-old killed in West Bank terror attack
Playing saxophone in the sukkah. Discussing Judaism over coffee. Hanging out with his brothers and friends in the basement on Shabbat.

These are a few of the memories that have emerged of Elan Ganeles, 26, the recent college graduate, raised in Connecticut, who was killed Monday when a gunman shot at him on a road near the Palestinian West Bank city of Jericho. Those who knew Ganeles remembered him as quiet and loyal, funny and down-to-earth.

“He was the kind of guy you could call, and you’d be sure he’d pick up and have a few minutes to talk if you needed something,” said Rabbi Yehuda Drizin of Chabad at Columbia University, who knew Ganeles as an undergraduate there. “For everyone that knew him, this is a kick in the gut. This really hurts.”

Ganeles grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, where his family attended the local Orthodox Young Israel synagogue a block away from their home. As a teenager, Ganeles read Torah for the community. The synagogue has launched a fundraiser for his family and is bringing in grief counselors to help the community.

“Elan HY”D was a member of our [community] when we lived in Connecticut,” Shimshon Nadel, a rabbi in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, wrote on Facebook, using a traditional Jewish acronym denoting when someone is murdered. “I remember him as a sweet boy with a great sense of humor. He played the saxophone and we would ‘jam’ together in the Shul’s Sukkah, during Hallel on Chanukah, and musical Havdalahs. Heartbreaking.”


Father of two boys killed in Jerusalem car-ramming improves in hospital
Avraham Paley, who lost two sons and was himself wounded in a car-ramming in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem on Feb. 10, is showing signs of improvement after weeks of sedation.

Paley is being treated by a large team at Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem. He has undergone several surgeries.

While awake and communicating, his condition is still listed as serious, said Dr. Vernon Van Heerden, who updated the press on Paley’s condition.

Two of Avraham’s sons, 6-year-old Yaakov Israel Paley and 8-year-old Asher Menachem Paley, were killed in the terrorist attack, along with 20-year-old Alter Shlomo Lederman. Three other persons were wounded.

The terrorist was fatally shot by police. He was identified as Hussein Karaka, 31, an Arab Israeli resident of the Issawiya neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem.

“When we arrived at the scene, the sight was shocking. We saw a car near the bus stop after it hit pedestrians who were waiting,” said Magen David Adom paramedic Shraga Rosenthal.

“We saw six victims lying next to each other, among them two children about six years old who were unconscious with severe multi-system injuries. A man about 27 years old and a man about 30 years old were unconscious, and two more victims were fully conscious with injuries to their limbs. We gave them initial medical treatment and performed CPR on both children,” he added.


Deadly Jewish attack on Palestinians raises doubts over lowering of tensions
Settler leader Daniella Weiss, ex-Palestinian Authority minister Ashraf al-Ajrami, and Ben-Dror Yemini discuss the recent deadly Jewish violence against Arabs in Huwara, where two Jews were killed in an attack earlier.


The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Horrific Terror Attack in PALESTINIAN TOWN Leaves 2 Brothers Dead
Two Jewish brothers were shot and killed at point blank range in the Palestinian village of Huwarrah. While the Palestinian Arabs celebrated the murder by passing out sweets in the streets, the Jewish residents from the area arrived in Huwarrah to protest this brutal murder. When things got crazy in the town, we grabbed our cameras and headed over to report live on-the-ground in Huwarrah.

Watch today’s show to see first-hand footage of the incident!




Thousands of Israelis donate to Palestinian victims of settler riots
In less than 24 hours, Israelis gave more than $272,750 to help Palestinians whose homes and businesses were destroyed by dozens of rioting settlers in the northern West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday.

A 37-year-old Palestinian man was killed, 300 were wounded - four of them seriously - and dozens of buildings and vehicles were set on fire in the mass riot that followed the killing of two Israeli brothers in a terror shooting in the same town.

Labor party member Yaya Fink started an online crowd-funding campaign the morning following the attack.

Fink set a $27,275 initial goal for the project. But, by around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, some 7,283 people had contributed $291,015. Fink told The Times of Israel in a Monday interview: “It’s only a small deed, but as the Jewish proverb goes, ‘A little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness.’”

“As a religious Jew myself… I felt that I could not be silent under such circumstances,” Fink said. “They’re creating a warped new Judaism and bearing the name of the true one in vain. I came to the conclusion that I needed to raise a different Jewish, Zionist, Israeli voice.”
Palestinian Mother instructs her son how to become a Martyr
Official PA TV News, on terrorist Muntasir Al-Shawa, who participated in violent riots in which terrorists shot at Israeli forces

Mother of 16-year-old Muntasir Al-Shawa: “The day before [my son’s] injury [from which he died], he told me: ‘I want to go to the Balata refugee camp [near Joseph's Tomb], and I'll come back to you as a Martyr.’ I laughed at him and told him: ‘Do you think being a Martyr is something trivial? Go bathe, pray, bow down to Allah, and then there might be a chance that Allah will agree to accept you [as a Martyr].’ The following night he came back to me as a Martyr. Praise Allah.”

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 21, 2023]

Muntasir Al-Shawa – 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist who participated in violence in which terrorists shot at Israeli forces who were guarding Jews visiting Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus on Feb. 8, 2023. The forces returned fire, wounding Al-Shawa who died of his wounds on Feb. 20, 2023.




Seth Frantzman: Arrest of Hezbollah financier 'most senior catch' since 2017
The arrest of Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi in Romania last week is an important step against Hezbollah. The US had wanted Bazzi since at least 2018, and his arrest in Bucharest is viewed as a success. Much remains to be done on the case, as the US will need to extradite the alleged financier of Lebanese and Belgian citizenship.

Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said that “Bazzi is the most senior catch in the top tier of Hezbollah’s BAC since the 2017 arrest and extradition of Kassem Tajeddine. Bazzi is a close associate of the heads of the BAC, namely Abdallah Safieddine and Adham Tabaja, with whom he coordinated his activities.” BAC stands for “Business Affairs Component,” Hezbollah’s organizational structure that runs its global network of businesses and enterprises, Badran noted in an email.

Of particular interest is the financier’s role in West Africa, particularly The Republic of the Gambia, a small country of 2.6 million people bordered by Senegal. “He was the most significant minority shareholder in Prime Bank in The Gambia, which allegedly was a critical money-laundering instrument for Hezbollah in West Africa. Prime Bank was a subsidiary of the Lebanese-Canadian Bank, the infamous money-laundering machine in Lebanon,” Badran noted. Numerous articles in the media focusing on Africa and the Gambia have alleged massive corruption linked to the West African country.

That bank was highlighted over the years in various reports as being at the center of money laundering and a “hub of Hezbollah,” according to The New York Times. In a conversation with Matthew Levitt at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in March 2022, the bank’s role was highlighted.

Danny Glaser, who served as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury Department from 2011-2017, told Levitt that the “Lebanese Canadian bank was an important node within a broader global money laundering and money moving system that Hezbollah had established. Hezbollah would move money from all over the world. But in order to use that money effectively to advance their aims within the Middle East and within Lebanon and Syria, they needed to move that money back to Lebanon so that they can use it.”
Putin paying Palestinians in Lebanon refugee camps to fight in Ukraine
A Lebanese government security source has told The Media Line that Palestinians residing in Lebanon have signed up to join the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on behalf of Russia, having been offered a sum of 350 dollars by Russian entities. For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org

The source added that the recruitment effort is being carried out by activists affiliated with the Palestinian embassy in Lebanon.

Most of those enlisting were born after 1969, as those born after this point onwards do not have proper registration with the Lebanese authorities, making it easier to travel for the purpose of participating in the conflict as mercenaries.

As a result, the Lebanese government lacks the ability to monitor or track the movements of these Palestinian recruits for Russia.

The majority of the Palestinians being deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine hail from Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, just south of the port city of Sidon.

The recruits are reportedly members of the Fatah political movement, which is led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as to other organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Iran’s IRGC could train Iraq’s armed forces, threatening US, Israel
In comments that should raise eyebrows around the Middle East and the wider region, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami met with Iraq’s Defense Minister Thabet Mohammad Said Reda, offering support for Iraq’s armed forces.

It is not entirely clear what the IRGC might provide but it is already in the spotlight since the US views it as a terror organization and it has received more EU attention.

Iran's desire to get closer to Iraq’s security forces is part of Iran’s regional goal to expand the influence it already has in Iraq. The IRGC said that another part of its goal is to expel the US from the region and also to prevent any “normalization” between Iraq and “the Zionists.”

How Iran sees its role in Iraq
This means that Iran views its role in Iraq as a way to counter Israel’s ties in the Gulf and to counter the US. This could have potential negative ramifications for the American and European role in the Kurdistan region.

Iran has played a key role in Iraq for years. The IRGC was already linked to key Iraqi politicians at the Interior Ministry and also to unit commanders from the Popular Mobilization Units, or Hashd al-Shaabi.
Seth Frantzman: Uranium, missiles or weaponization: Where does Iran go from here?
If we think of the nuclear pyramid in this way, it becomes clear that one leg is now almost fully constructed – 90% enrichment. The missile program continues as well; Iran has numerous ballistic missiles and also satellite launch vehicles.

What about the actual bomb, the weapon? Iran Watch noted that “the analysis above assumes that Iran would use 16 kg. of highly enriched uranium metal (about 90% U-235) in the finished core of each nuclear weapon. The amount of 16 kg. is assumed to be sufficient for an implosion weapon. This was the amount called for in a design for such a device that has circulated on the nuclear black market, to which Iran has had access.”

Iran’s nuclear program is one of those interesting puzzles that the late former US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld would have appreciated. There are known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns relating to the nuclear program.

We know that Iran has enriched up to around 84%. We know Tehran has long range missiles. But do we know how far it has gotten in terms of thinking about making an actual nuclear device to test – something similar to Fat Man or Little Boy the US made in 1945 or the type tested in China in the 1960s, or in Pakistan in the 1990s or in North Korea in 2017?

Iran must decide its next steps
There are many options and models for Iran to pursue. Some are more relevant and some are less relevant. This isn’t the 1940s; Iran can’t build long-range bomber aircraft for a nuclear weapon.

This means that Iran must decide what to do next. It appears preferable for Tehran to continue developing a delivery system, such as perfecting its missiles, because it can cover this with claims it is merely building long-range missiles. Trying to weaponize the uranium with an actual test bomb would be complex, take time and also lead to major tensions.

Iran must also consult with China and Russia about what comes next. It can’t afford to do something that will anger its friends in Beijing and Moscow, who don’t care if Tehran builds more missiles, but may care if it takes risks by trying to create some kind of test weapon.

Iran now begins to move down new tracks where it will have to make key decisions soon. These decisions will impact how it wants to continue to build up its nuclear pyramid – or if it even wants to continue to build at all.
IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Gen. Amir-Ali Hajizadeh Unveils New Hypersonic Missile

Iranian schoolgirl poisonings spark fear of campaign against women’s education
Over the past three months, hundreds of young girls attending different schools in Iran have become overpowered by what are believed to be noxious fumes wafting into their classrooms, with some ending up weakened on hospital beds.

Officials in Iran’s theocracy initially dismissed these incidents, but now describe them as intentional attacks involving some 30 schools identified in local media reports, with some speculating they could be aimed at trying to close schools for girls in this country of over 80 million people.

The reported attacks come at a sensitive time for Iran, which already has faced months of protests after the September death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country’s morality police.

The authorities have not named suspects, but the attacks have raised fears that other girls could be poisoned apparently just for seeking an education — something that’s never been challenged before in the over 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran itself also has been calling on the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan to have girls and women return to school.

The first cases emerged in late November in Qom, some 125 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran. There, in a heartland of Shiite theologians and pilgrims, students at the Noor Yazdanshahr Conservatory fell ill in November. They then fell ill again in December.

Other cases followed, with children complaining about headaches, heart palpitations, feeling lethargic, or otherwise unable to move. Some described smelling tangerines, chlorine, or cleaning agents.




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

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Read all about it here!
 

 

" Palestinian suffering today is much worse than the Holocaust"



Another day, another example of outrageous antisemitism in Palestinian media.

Dr.. Mustafa Youssef Al-Lidawi holds a Ph.D. in political science and is a frequent writer. He has also been (and probably still is)  a member of Hamas. He was deported by Israel to Lebanon in the early 1990s, where he still lives. 

He writes in Shms.ps that the real victims of the Holocaust are...Holocaust deniers!

They ask the countries and peoples of the world to recognize the massacres they were subjected to during the Second World War, and they hold the international community responsible for the consequences of the Holocaust, in which they claim that “millions of Jews” were exterminated unjustly and aggressively, and they force them to apologize to them and compensate them, and they blackmail and embarrass regimes and rulers, and put pressure on peoples and organizations ....

The Israelis weep over what befell them, claim injustice for what befell them, punish anyone who denies the Holocaust or questions it and refuses to recognize it, declare war on him, prosecute him, harass him, expel him, strip him of all his characteristics and deprive him of his most basic rights, and consider silence about it a crime, and many European thinkers and historians suffered from their intellectual terror and racial tyranny, some of whom were afraid, retreated and cowardly, and narrated their story and accepted it, while those who insisted on their position were punished and exiled, and were expelled from their jobs and deprived of their rights.
Then comes the point we all knew was coming:
What the Israeli occupation is doing in occupied Palestine, against its people, their land and sanctities, and their homes and properties, is greater than the crime of the "Holocaust" with which they cracked the heads of the world, and forced them to express permanent remorse and regret because of it, and perhaps they plan every day to commit more of these crimes.
This is hardly unusual. 

What would be unusual would be if the media reported it.

Even more unusual would be if a single Palestinian would criticize this article in Arabic. 

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

Even the most "moderate" Palestinian leader like Ahmed Qurei praised terror attacks




Former Palestinian prime minister and Oslo negotiator Ahmed Qurei, known as "Abu Alaa'", died last week in Ramallah.

He is being praised as a brilliant negotiator and peacemaker.  

Mr. Qurei’s Israeli and American interlocutors remembered him as a trustworthy, creative, shrewd and often humorous negotiator.

“Together we’ve tried to bring peace to our peoples in an understanding that it’s our responsibility to make a better future to our children,” Tzipi Livni, a former Israeli minister and peace negotiator, wrote on Twitter after Mr. Qurei’s death.

Dennis Ross, a Middle East envoy and the chief peace negotiator in the administrations of presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, recalled Mr. Qurei as “someone who was engaging and often brilliant as a negotiator.”

“He knew how to acknowledge Israeli concerns about security to gain acceptance of Palestinian needs,” Mr. Ross wrote in an email.

There is no doubt that, compared to Palestinians in general, Qurei was a moderate. He spoke out against the second intifada's terror attacks (although not against the intifada altogether.) 

Yet even his comparative moderation proves how immoral Palestinian leaders are.

If you read his words carefully, he - along with all other "moderate" Palestinian leaders - never objected to suicide bombings or blowing up pizza shops on moral grounds, even when he claimed he was.

This is from his quarterly report on his government's activity to the Palestinian Legislative Council on March 31, 2004:

We believe that the blood of [Hamas leader] Sheikh Yassin was not spilled in vain… The struggle against the crimes of the occupation was harmed because of the operations against Israeli civilians. These [operations] served as a pretext for the continuation of the [Israeli] aggression. We have condemned them [i.e., the operations], and we must oppose them morally. We stress again our opposition to these [operations] from this platform, because they harm the image of the [Palestinian] national struggle and create confusion and misunderstanding in the international community. These operations damage us economically and serve as a cover for the Israeli government to continue the settlements and the construction of the fence.

The opposition to operations [against Israeli civilians] comes not only because they contradict the road map option, but also because they contribute to the accumulated hatred, enmity, and lack of trust … and weaken the peace camp.

Even though he says "we must oppose them morally," in context even that means that they must oppose them for political and tactical reasons. Terrorism makes Palestinians look bad to the international community, it hurts their cause, it damages them economically, it weakens the Israeli peace camp. But he doesn't express the least bit of anger or horror at actually blowing up Israeli civilians. 

And when it comes to his own Fatah faction slaughtering Israelis, he was an enthusiastic fan. Look how animated he is in this video, as he praises one of the comrades of Dalal Mughrabi and participant in her murder of 38 Israelis including 13 children, to great applause from the entire Fatah leadership at the 2009 Fatah Convention.


We have with us today the hero Khaled Abu Asba’, the hero from the [1978] operation of the martyr Dalal A-Mughrabi. We salute and welcome him, and [we say] to the martyred heroine Dalal: All glory to you, all glory to you. All our sisters here are the sister of Dalal.

Abu Alaa 'certainly had no moral qualms about that terror attack. He vigorously praised it.

This is the story that the Western media simply doesn't want the world to know. Just this past week we've witnessed this whitewashing of history in articles and obituaries about Jimmy Carter, James Abourezk and now Ahmed Qurei. (Not in the same league but equally antisemitic was the late Yossi Gurvitz.) 

If they had said something explicitly racist, their obituaries would at least mention it; but when they have histories of antisemitism or support for terror against Jews - nothing.

For all the talk about how awful antisemitism is, the media sure works hard to sweep it under the rug when it comes from anyone who isn't politically on the Right. 


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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 


List of things that we WON'T see from the US government and media after an American citizen was murdered in Judea


Last summer, the US government and media spent a great deal of time covering the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. 

It wasn't because she was a journalist. 53 journalists were killed in 2022, and none of them received even one percent of the coverage that Abu Akleh did.

But at the time, those who obsessed over Abu Akleh claimed they did so because she was an American citizen.

That isn't true either. And we can know that by predicting the future.

On Monday, Elan Ganeles - a dual US-Israeli citizen - was shot and killed in an ambush while driving his car.  He was not voluntarily covering a war zone. He was simply driving to visit the Dead Sea while visiting Israel for a wedding.

Here's what won't happen in the coming weeks and months:

There will be no multi-reporter investigation into his death by the New York Times. And not by AP. And not by the Washington Post or any independent forensics organizations. 

There will be no 5-10,000 word articles in US media about his death, looking for eyewitnesses, digging up security camera footage, trying to do open-source forensics. No one gathering thousands of photos and videos from the scene, putting together computer models and diagrams for the trajectory of the bullets, in the name of "justice" for the death of an American citizen. 

And certainly no articles tracking down the people who celebrated Elan's death by handing out sweets.

There will be no insistence that Palestinians investigate the death impartially and to share their results with the US.

There will be no calls for an FBI investigation to track down the murderers. For Ganeles' murder, Israel's own investigation - not trusted last year -  will be considered fine.

There will be no insistence that Palestinians take responsibility for the crime. And no insistence that Palestinians apologize. Indeed, there will be no apology by the Palestinian Authority. 

No one will investigate whether Iranian funding indirectly helped fund the murder of an American citizen. No teams of accountants from the media will trace down the money trail, or even point out that the large number of new armed groups in the West Bank coincides with the de facto loosening of Iran sanctions enforcement by the Biden administration.

Major US officials like Secretary of State Blinken will not host heavily promoted visits by Ganeles' family in Washington, and the family will not have a free forum in major media to insist that justice be pursued for the death of a US citizen. They will not be on TV as anything other than a grieving family - they will not politicize their grief to pressure the US to respond to them, taking multiple trips to Washington and hiring PR experts. There will be no anguished articles a hundred days from now demanding "accountability."

None of this will happen - because Palestinian Arabs are expected to kill innocent Jewish civilians and instead of the media being outraged, it will try to recognize their pain that prompted them to riddle any cars with Israeli license plates with bullets. 

Shireen Abu Akleh didn't dominate coverage because she was American and not because she was a journalist and not because she was a woman. She dominated coverage because blaming Jews for a murder is a good way to get ratings, to sell newspapers, to get awards and to strengthen the "narrative" of an Israeli "occupation" that is the source of all evil.. 

Researching Palestinians killing Jews and publicly pressuring the PA would do none of those things. 



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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

Monday, February 27, 2023

02/27 Links Pt1: Brothers slain in terror attack laid to rest as parents call for unity amid the pain; PM urges 'not to take law into own hands'; Israeli shot in Jordan Valley terror attack

From Ian:

Orly Goldschmidt (Guardian-UK): Israel Was Hit by 5,000 Palestinian Terror Attacks in 2022. It Has to Defend Itself
An article published in the Guardian days after a Palestinian terrorist murdered seven innocent people near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Holocaust Memorial Day subordinates the value of Israeli lives. The article illustrates a problem in the wider discourse - the denial of, and refusal to accept, Israeli suffering.

In 2022, Israelis suffered from over 5,000 Palestinian terror attacks, including car-rammings, shootings, stabbings and bombings targeting innocent men, women and children on the streets of Israel. This is the reality on the ground.

On 10 February, for example, a Palestinian drove his car into a crowded bus stop, killing three people, including two brothers aged six and eight. Just imagine you or your loved ones falling victim to such abhorrent terror on your way to work.

This is precisely why Israel's counter-terrorism apparatus exists, because without it I dread to think how many more zeros would be added to that 5,000 total.

Israel has shown its desire for peace with the Palestinians throughout the years, including several attempts to sign peace agreements in 1993, 2000, 2008 and 2014, and we continue to reach out for peace.

For peace to happen, there must be recognition from the Palestinian leadership that incitement and violence must end.

The writer is Spokesperson of the Embassy of Israel to the UK.
Learning some painful Mideast history lessons
We have to ask ourselves: Is this experiment of “land for peace” really working?

Another important point: Are these territories “disputed territories” or “Palestinian-occupied territories?”

Alan Baker, former ambassador to Canada and former legal advisor to Israel’s foreign ministry, in a recent presentation by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs stated that although the phrase “Palestinian occupied territories” is accepted parlance, that has no basis in law.

However, it represents the majority of states that voted in favor of hundreds of resolutions, and further stated that “in the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians (the Oslo Accords and the 1995 Interim Agreement), the Palestinians themselves agreed that these are disputed territories that will be agreed upon during final status negotiations.”

Does the world remember the offers in 1936 from the Peel Commission, the November 1947 vote in the United Nations, the 1967 Khartoum Conference, and the offers by Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000 and Ehud Olmert at Sharm el-Sheik in 2008?

Each one was successively more and more generous, and all were summarily rejected by our Palestinian interlocutors. They didn’t want to share the pie; they wanted the entire thing.

Since the bar was set so high by Barak and PLO chief Yasser Arafat, and Olmert and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, it makes it very difficult for a Palestinian interlocular to accept less. And in all of the years of ensuring terrorism and violence, it makes it extremely hard for an Israeli interlocutor to offer as much or more.

Yet there are many powerful voices in the international community that refuse to learn the lessons of history. They want a precipitance withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, and try to delude themselves into thinking that Israel giving up land will bring peace. They are looking at the current impasse with the Palestinians and, as difficult as this situation is, many want to seize upon a solution—any solution—not realizing the lessons of the Gaza withdrawal or the stream of later rejected offers.

It has become a mantra, a quick and superficial solution that has really proven to be no solution at all—one that emboldens the terrorists and their Iranian sponsor.

Palestinians chose to willfully blind themselves to what their leaders say—of how their leadership from the P.A. on down is guilty of the very worst kind of child abuse by exhorting Muslim children to become shahids, or “martyrs.”

This has taken root within the Palestinian body politic for generations and has only served to radicalize the Palestinian population. It is no wonder that according to a recent poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, a majority of the Palestinian population in both Gaza and the West Bank (72%) say they are in favor of forming armed groups, such as the Lion’s Den.

It is time we finally examine some of the premises behind our glib and superficial mantras and learn the painful lessons of history.
‘Long Overdue’: Jewish Advocacy Groups Throw Weight Behind Bill Defunding Agency Linked To ‘Antisemitic Propaganda’
Jewish advocacy organizations are backing a bill introduced a bill last earlier this month by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Republican Sen. James Risch of Idaho that would pause funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) until steps are implemented to ensure that funds are not used to promote antisemitism or potential terrorism.

The bill, titled “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency Accountability and Transparency Act,” would “stop the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to this body with a rampant history of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda and activity,” according to a press release from Roy and Risch. Jewish groups have voiced support for the bill, arguing that the UNRWA is in dire need of accountability.

The UNRWA has been criticized for its social media having “glorified suicide bombers” in the past and its educational curriculum supporting the jihad, according to the Jewish News Syndicate. A non-public report from the State Department found that the department had issued UNRWA with multiple infractions for abetting “armed incursions,” along with “the use of weapons in or near facilities” as well two terrorist tunnels found under UNRWA schools, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO StandWithUs, a non-partisan educational organization that supports Israel and opposes antisemitism, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the bill must be a “bipartisan effort.”


FDD: Israel, Palestinians Reaffirm Need to Work Together
Pushing for Diplomacy
A Jordanian communique issued after the six-hour talks marked an effort to prod the sides back toward past diplomacy on a two-state solution to their conflict. Israel and the PA “affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and to work towards a just and lasting peace,” the communique said. It further outlined mutual steps “to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months” while specifying only an Israeli commitment to refrain from announcing new settlement construction or the retroactive authorization of settlement outposts. Israel, for its part, has demanded that the PA cease acting against it at the International Court of Justice or other fora at the United Nations.

Conflicting Messages
Geopolitical realities intruded on the Aqaba meeting before it began, with Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad condemning any PA engagement with Israel. While the talks were under way, a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers in their car in the West Bank. Meanwhile, two partners in the Israeli governing coalition, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, publicly spurned the call to restrain settlement growth — spelling a possible new political crisis for Netanyahu.

The head of Israel’s National Security Council insisted that Jerusalem’s policies would not change. “Contrary to reports about the meeting in Jordan, there is no change in Israel’s policy,” said Tzachi Hanegbi in a Hebrew statement. “In the coming months, Israel will legalize 9 outposts & approve 9,500 new housing units in Judea and Samaria. There is no construction freeze or change in the status quo on the Temple Mount and there is no restriction on IDF activity.”
Israel to curb IDF ops in Judea and Samaria after Jordan meeting—report
Israel agreed on Sunday, during an emergency security meeting between Israel and Palestinian officials in Aqaba, Jordan, to reduce its counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria.

“We are giving it a chance. We will only act in the face of ticking bombs or an urgent operational need,” said an unnamed senior security officer, according to Ynet.

The meeting, a bid to reduce tensions in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip ahead of Ramadan, was also attended by U.S. and Egyptian representatives.

The Israeli delegation reportedly included Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Ronen Bar, with the Palestinian team being led by Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Majed Faraj. The United States was represented by White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk.

“Israel accepted the American offer to participate in the meeting, during which the security representatives from the participating countries will discuss ways to calm tensions in the region ahead of the [Muslim holiday] month of Ramadan,” according to a statement by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Israeli media quoted a Jordanian official as saying that “the political-security meeting is part of stepped-up ongoing efforts by [Amman] in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and other parties to end unilateral measures [by Israel] and a breakdown that could fuel more violence.”

The meeting comes amid an ongoing Israeli counter-terrorism offensive in Judea and Samaria prompted by a wave of deadly attacks.
Netanyahu denies agreeing to construction freeze at Jordan summit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied on Sunday that Jerusalem had agreed to halt building activities in Judea and Samaria as part of understandings reached earlier in the day at a security summit with the Palestinians in Jordan.

“Construction in Judea and Samaria will continue in accordance with the original planning and building schedule, without any changes. There is not and will not be any freeze,” said Netanyahu.

The denial came after the Jordanian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that in addition to Israel and the Palestinian Authority having affirmed the need to “commit to de-escalation on the ground” and work toward a “just and lasting peace,” the Netanyahu government had consented to curbing “settlement” approvals for four to six months.

The statement also said that the two sides had reiterated their commitment to preserving the status quo on the Temple Mount and emphasized the Hashemite Kingdom’s custodianship.

A communique released by the U.S. State Department following the summit also stated that Israel had agreed to halt construction in Judea and Samaria.

“The government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months. This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months,” read the statement.
Israeli Democracy Rests in the Democratic Spirit of Its People
Although Alan Dershowitz is skeptical about the reforms to the judicial system currently being considered by the Israeli government, he finds the attention they are receiving outside the Jewish state entirely unmerited:
The world paid little attention when left-wing Democrats demanded the packing of the U.S. Supreme Court and limitations on the terms and powers of the justices following the controversial overturning of Roe v. Wade. Even when President Joe Biden appointed a commission to study these issues and make recommendations, the international community ignored it. But the world seems obsessed with the Israeli debate, as it does about so many other issues relating to Israel. This obsession is part of the dangerous double standard that the international community has long imposed on the nation state of the Jewish people.

The international community has little or no stake in the outcome of this debate. It will have little effect, if any, on any peace process or on the Abraham Accords or on Israel’s relationships with other countries.

And what of the dire warnings, exported from the pages of Israeli newspapers to those of the New York Times and the Guardian, that democracy is under threat in the Jewish state? Dershowitz continues:
Democracy produced the new government [now pushing for judicial reform], and democracy produced the protests against it. So much for the fear mongering among those who are telling the world that Israel is on the verge of becoming an autocracy—or in the false and dangerous words of some extremists, that it has already become the Germany of the 1930s. . . . I don’t believe that the Israeli people will easily succumb to the temptations of authoritarianism—and certainly not fascism. They are too independent, opinionated, and ornery. They have chutzpah, in the best sense of that term. More importantly, and more relevant to this discussion, if the pendulum were ever to swing in the direction of fascism—which I do not believe it will—the Supreme Court alone will not save it.
Architects of legal overhaul likened to Hitler as posters backing them are defaced
Amid growing mass protests against the government’s intention to remake the justice system, public posters of the plan’s two architects were defaced Monday with graffiti that likened them to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

The posters are part of a recent campaign supporting the government’s plan, spearheaded by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Placed at intersections in major cities, the banners feature images of Levin and Rothman alongside a message that “The nation is with you!” and a claim that “2,304,964 citizens voted in favor of the reform to fix the judiciary” — the number of people who voted for the current coalition parties in the November election.

However, recent surveys have consistently shown that the judicial overhaul push is unpopular, with a large minority among those who voted for the current coalition parties opposing the plan currently being blitzed through.

In Bnei Brak, unknown vandals used black graffiti to draw a mustache and forelock on Levin’s and Rothman’s faces, making them resemble Hitler.

Posters elsewhere were also vandalized. Red graffiti was spray-painted on one in Kfar Saba, stickers and other flyers were placed on one in Givatayim, and reports said others were removed or vandalized as well.


Brothers slain in terror attack laid to rest as parents call for unity amid the pain
The parents of two brothers shot and killed in a terror attack a day earlier spoke Monday of their pain at having to bury their children, and issued a plea for unity among Israelis ahead of their funeral in Jerusalem.

Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19 were killed as they drove through the West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara on Sunday. Their funeral procession set out from the Har Bracha settlement where they lived, and they were laid to rest at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem in the presence of thousands of mourners.

“Words can’t describe this disaster,” their mother, Esti Yaniv, said at a press conference ahead of the funeral. “Instead of accompanying children to the wedding canopy, we need to bury them.”

She called for unity among Israelis, who have recently been deeply divided over government policy.

“People, we are brothers,” she said. “We love the country, we love the army and we want security,” she continued. “The army is everyone’s and we shouldn’t use it for anything political.”

Their father, Shalom, added: “I plead that this is the last such incident. That all the children can marry, have children and build homes.”

“We are trying to accept with love the hard news that God gave us yesterday,” said Rachel Yaniv, the victims’ sister. “This is hard, and this hurts. We are going through not-so-simple times. But we are strong, and the Jewish people have gone through so many other difficult things. I am sure we will be able to bear it.”

At the funeral in Jerusalem, Chief Rabbi David Lau delivered one of the eulogies: “When we are here, next to a fresh grave, how can we possibly be comforted?” he asked.

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of the Har Bracha settlement where the Yaniv family lives, also spoke at the funeral, decrying how Hallel and Yagel, “full of vigor and vitality, were killed for the sanctification of God.” While their lives were cut short, Melamed added, “in the real world, they are very much alive — and the girls and boys who play and are happy around the country are due to their strength.”
The Israel Guys: Say Their Names | What Was Their Crime?
These are only a few of the Israelis who have been killed in the recent months. What was their crime? They chose to believe in the promise God made to them. We cannot forget their names.




Israeli shot in Jordan Valley terror attack, in critical condition
An Israeli man was seriously injured in a shooting attack near the Beit HaArava Junction on Highway 90 in the Jordan Valley on Monday afternoon.

Video from the scene showed the terrorist driving up to the junction and firing at passing cars. A passing car was damaged although no injuries were caused. The terrorist then proceeded to the Mul Nevo area where he shot an Israeli, critically injuring him.

The victim, a man about 25 years old, was transferred to Hadassah Medical Center at Har Zofim in critical condition as paramedics conducted resuscitation efforts.

The terrorist proceeded to drive to the area of the Monastery of Saint George in Wadi Qelt, burned his vehicle and switched to a different vehicle before driving away from the area.

The roads leading to Jericho were closed as Israeli forces searched for the terrorist.

The IDF confirmed the reports of the two interconnected terror attacks near the Beit HaAravah Junction late Monday. It added that it has set up additional checkpoints and positions in the area to check for weapons and suspects. Attacks and military action in Jericho

The attacks took place near the West Bank city of Jericho. In January, a terrorist cell from Jericho attempted to carry out a shooting attack at a restaurant in Vered Yeriho. No people were injured in the attempted attack as the terrorists' weapons jammed.
West Bank: Palestinian Killed in Revenge Riots by Israeli Settlers in Huwara
Israelis and Palestinians clashed on Sunday in the Palestinian town where a terrorist murdered two Jewish Israelis earlier in the day.

There were reports of violent rampages by far-right Israelis targeting Palestinians.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that two were seriously injured, one from a shot in the stomach and the other from a stone hit to the head, following the clashes in Huwara. One of the casualties died of his wounds, the ministry said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog took to Twitter to condemn the violence, saying that taking the law into one’s own hands “is not our way. We must allow the IDF, police, and security forces to apprehend the despicable terrorist and restore order immediately.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a religious ultra-nationalist accused by some of complicity with Jewish extremists, issued a statement to a similar effect, imploring Israelis to resist taking the law in their own hands.

According to Palestinian reports, at least 15 homes sustained damage and over 25 cars were torched.

Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist shot dead two Israeli brothers from close range, as the two sat in their vehicle in a traffic jam near a checkpoint.
Settlers take revenge after deadly attack, PM urges 'not to take law into own hands'
Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank late Sunday, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian terrorist. Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four others were badly wounded in what appeared to be one of the worst outbursts of settler violence in decades.

The deadly shooting, followed by the late-night rampage, immediately raised doubts about Jordan's declaration that Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to calm a year-long wave of violence.

Palestinian media said some 30 homes and cars were torched. Photos and video on social media showed large fires burning throughout the town of Hawara – scene of the deadly shooting earlier in the day – and lighting up the sky.

In one video, crowds of Jewish settlers could be heard reciting the Jewish prayer for the dead as they stared at a building in flames. And earlier, a prominent Israeli Cabinet minister and settler leader had called for Israel to strike "without mercy."

Late Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 37-year-old man was shot and killed by Israeli fire. The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said two other people were shot and wounded, a third person was stabbed and a fourth was beaten with an iron bar. Some 95 others were being treated for tear gas inhalation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called "the terrorist acts carried out by settlers under the protection of the occupation forces tonight." "We hold the Israeli government fully responsible," he added.

As videos of the violence appeared on evening news shows, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed for calm and urged against vigilante violence. "I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don't take the law into your hands," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Israel’s Military Says Treating Huwara Riot As ‘a Terror Attack’
During a Monday briefing, an Israeli military official stated that the army was treating the deadly riots in Huwara as a “terror attack.”

The official said that the rioters, inflamed by a Palestinian terror attack that resulted in the death of two Israelis, were “expected on the main road” however they “dispersed around Huwara.” He added: “It was not a good day for us.”

Additionally, the Israeli military official noted that they are on a “manhunt” – both for the terrorist who killed the brothers Hallel Menachem Yaniv and Yigal Yaakov Yaniv and the person who shot and killed Palestinian man Sameh Aktash during the riots. The official clarified that it wasn’t the army that killed Aktash.

During the riots, at least 15 homes sustained damage and over 25 cars were torched, according to Palestinian reports. Additionally, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent medical service, two more individuals were shot, a third person was stabbed, and a fourth person was struck with an iron bar.

A local Palestinian’s home was shown on fire in a video recorded shortly after the incident, which was apparently carried out by settlers. Settlers reportedly also set dozens of additional residences in the town on fire later that evening.
"Huwara Arabs Stunned at Ferocity of Jewish Rage; Biden Administration Not Amused"
Hassan Odeh, 62, who owns a garage in the Arab town of Huwara, south of Shechem, paid a heavy price for the murder of the two Jewish brothers Hallel Menachem and Yagel Yaakov Yaniv, Hy’d, as raging settlers Converged on the scene of the murder. “Dozens of settlers came to the area outside my house, next to the garage,” Odeh told Ynet Monday morning. “I asked all my family members to go up to the roof. The settlers yelled ‘death to the Arabs’ at me, and then they started burning one car after another.”

Ynet reporter Einav Halabi toured the town and described the shock and awe on the faces of local residents.

According to reporter Amichai Stein, citing sources privy to the story, in the last few hours there have been several conversations between American officials and their Israeli counterparts. The Americans expressed their condolences for the attack and the murdered brothers, but also urged Israel to try to calm the settlers who “rioted” in Hawara.

For many long hours, the avenging settlers set fire to houses and vehicles belonging to the residents of Huwara, which is situated on one of the most central roads in Judea and Samaria, Highway 60. According to the Arabs, 95 vehicles were torched as were another 75 houses.


Security forces evacuate Jews who returned to Evyatar after terror attack
Israeli security forces evacuated Evyatar on Monday, after a group of some 450 Jews entered the Samaria outpost on Sunday following a deadly terror attack in the village of Hawara.

Upon their entry to Evyatar, the group said in a statement that “the families of Evyatar and dozens of yeshiva students decided to return tonight to the settlement of Evyatar following the attack in the village of Huwara in which Hillel and Yagel Yaniv were murdered, and after about a year and a half in which the government did not fulfill the agreement it signed with the [former] residents,” according to Channel 12.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the group to be allowed to remain, and for Evyatar to be made an established community. Netanyahu did not accede to the request, according to the report.

Knesset Member Tzvi Sukkot of the Otzma Yehudit Party, one of the founders of Evyatar, spent the night at the abandoned outpost, and visited his old home, which he found had been destroyed.

“The correct response to terrorism is construction and settlement; that is what will deter the vile terrorists and this is how we should respond—including a full return to the settlement of Evyatar today,” he said.

Evyatar was established in May 2021 in response to the killing of Yehuda Guetta, 19, who was shot in a drive-by shooting at a bus stop by a Palestinian terrorist not far from the settlement. What began as a tent encampment quickly gave way to more permanent structures.

However, the 53 families that moved into Evyatar agreed to leave the outpost in a deal with the government, which agreed not to destroy the buildings and to carry out a land survey.

If the survey determined that the land belonged to the state and wasn’t privately owned by local Arabs, preparations for a permanent settlement would begin.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Centuries Of Arab Antisemitism Explained By Recent Existence Of Israel (satire)
Antipathy across the region for Jews going back at least as far as the sixth century CE can be explained as caused by Zionism in the last 150 years, experts agree.

Commentators and journalists analyzing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict concurred in separate contexts this week that the genocidal antisemitism on display from Palestinian groups, pro-Palestine activists, and Islamic supremacists, all of whom represent a continuation of a murderous hatred going back fourteen centuries, stems from Jewish activity since the 1880’s to reestablish Jewish independence in the ancestral Jewish homeland, which sometimes conflicts with the political or ideological positions of non-Jews in the Middle East.

Several dozen articles, broadcast news reports, and columns in the last seven days gave “Israeli occupation of territories seized in the 1967 Six-Day War” or “Israeli control of areas Palestinians want for a state” as the context for hundreds of Palestinian attempts to attack Jews in and around Israel, thus indicating that the murderous persecution born of permanent Jewish underclass status by Islamic Law since Islamic armies conquered the region in the seventh century and, save for a short stint of Crusader control over parts of the Levant, ruled it until 1917, resulted from repeated Arab failures in the twentieth century and beyond to exterminate Jewish sovereignty.

“Obviously, since more than a thousand years of officially-mandated anti-Jewish discrimination in the Islamic world never appears as a cause in these reports,” explained media analyst Kozen da Fect, “that discrimination and persecution, not to mention occasional massacres, must be a result of, rather than a cause of, widespread hate for Jews in the Middle East. Otherwise, we would expect to see media reports mention the longstanding antisemitism in the region as a factor in the conflict, but they invariably do not.”


Secret Hizbullah Gold Trade in South America Foiled by Israeli Intelligence
A gold smuggling operation between Iran and Venezuela is funding Hizbullah terror activity.

In May, dozens of kilograms of gold were smuggled on an Iranian Mahan Air flight from Venezuela to Tehran. The funds from the smuggled gold were transferred to Hizbullah.

This smuggling ring was uncovered during a joint effort between the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel (NBCTF) and the Israel Defense Ministry.
Hezbollah-backed terrorists form ‘dozens of cells’ on Syrian border
Hezbollah has established dozens of terrorist cells in southern Syria, just over the Israeli border, composed of local recruits, a Galilee-based defense research group says.

They could soon begin to use drones in operations against Israel, added the Alma Research and Education Center.

The assessment followed the Israel Defense Forces’ Feb. 20 announcement that on Jan. 27, soldiers apprehended two suspects who crossed the Alpha Line from Syria into Israel. The Alpha Line is near the Israeli-Syrian border barrier on the Golan Heights.

One of the suspects, a Syrian named Ei’th Abdollah, “is involved in terrorist activity and intelligence gathering operations in the area of the border in order to promote future terrorist activities,” and is a member of the “Golan File”—the Hezbollah-backed network of terror cells in the area—the IDF said.

“Ei’th was under IDF surveillance in the area of the border and was apprehended during operational activity east of the border fence in an enclave located under Israeli sovereignty, along with another suspect. During the questioning, Ei’th provided information regarding additional terrorist operatives that promote terrorist activities in the area of the border,” the army added.
Locals In South Lebanon: Hizbullah Using Environmental Organization As Cover For Activity Near Israel-Lebanon Border
During the latter half of 2022, there were two incidents of clashes between Christian residents of Rmeish, a town in the Bint Jbeil area of South Lebanon, and activists of the Lebanese NGO Green Without Borders (GWB). One of the clashes involved gunfire.

GWB describes itself as an environmental organization whose mission is to protect and develop the forests and green areas in Lebanon. It is one of several civil society organizations established by Hizbullah that claim to dispense services to the Lebanese public, but in fact serve as fronts for Hizbullah's military and financial activity. Some of the other organizations are Jihad Al-Binaa,[1] Al-Qard Al-Hassan,[2] and Waad Project,[3] which are all designated by the U.S. as having ties with terrorist elements.

Christian residents of Rmeish claim that GWB has illegally taken over their land by leasing it from a local who is a co-owner of the land but who signed the lease without their knowledge or consent. GWB, they say, now treats the land as its own, threatens them, and prevents them from tending their fields, thus depriving them of their livelihood. They assess that its aim is to cause the Christians of the area to leave so as to take over all their land. They also claim that the GWB activists are not involved in protecting the environment but are in fact Hizbullah operatives concerned with security operations, whose presence in the area threatens their safety. They harshly criticize the Lebanese army and authorities, who they claim permit Hizbullah to operate freely in the region.

These claims by the residents corroborate complaints made by Israel to UNIFIL and the UN Security Council in recent years, that GWB serves as a cover for Hizbullah activity on the border. Such activity contravenes Security Council Resolution 1701 from 2006, which prohibits Hizbullah presence in this area. Israel has even bombed GWB facilities near the town of Rmeish, which it suspected were being used to conduct hostile activity.

Although the Security Council did not accept Israel's claim that GWB's presence in the border area is a violation of Resolution 1701, it implicitly mentioned this NGO in Resolution 2650 from August 31, 2022. Concerned with UNIFIL's mission, this resolution states that the Security Council regards "with concern the recent installation of containers along the Blue Line which restrict UNIFIL's access to, or visibility of, the Blue Line."[4]

Using an NGO as a front to consolidate its presence in the border area is not Hizbullah's only method of challenging the authority of the Security Council, UNIFIL and the Lebanese government. In recent years there have been reports of multiple incidents in which Lebanese "civilians" prevented UNIFIL forces from fulfilling their mission.[5] The most recent of them, on December 14, 2022, resulted in the death of an Irish UNIFIL soldier. Although Hizbullah denied any connection to this incident, many in Lebanon hold it responsible.[6]


IRGC Quds Force finances terrorism through money laundering scheme
High-level Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commanders have set up a host of shell companies used to launder money in a scheme that was brought to light by documents obtained by Iran International, a Washington DC-based Persian language news organization.

According to the Iran International report, the documents they obtained outline how IRGC commanders have created fake construction companies in order to funnel money to the regime’s terrorist beneficiaries. The revenue being sent to the extremist organizations primarily originates as revenue collected from Iraq in exchange for legitimate Iranian energy exports.

The term “Quds Force” relates to the Arabic term for Jerusalem, “al-Quds.” Iran, which has a long history of financing Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, designates the laundered money for such groups in the name of “resistance.”

Iran International reports that the Iranian embassy in Iraq is complicit in the laundering scheme.

US position on the IRGC
It is important to note that the US State Department identified the IRGC itself, including the Quds Force, as a foreign terrorist organization. Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain likewise view the IRCG as a terror organization.

Additionally, a number of the individuals and companies highlighted by the report had already been slapped with US sanctions.

Iran International also reported on the IRGC’s money laundering operation in an article published earlier this month. Therein they explain that, as per US sanctions, Tehran is supposed to only be allowed to import medicine and various other essential commodities in exchange for its energy export to Iraq.
Iran's Currency Dips to All-Time Low, Basic Prices Skyrocket
On Feb. 23, Iran's rial currency nosedived to a new record low, trading at 52,650 rials to the dollar.

A sharp increase in food prices has been particularly biting in recent months.

Videos on social media showed protesters chanting against the government as they complained that their incomes were in rials while prices were calculated based on dollars.

After the pro-reform newspaper Sazandegi highlighted skyrocketing meat prices, a government media supervisory body closed the paper for "disturbing public opinion."
Iranian girls are being poisoned to stop them from attending school
Hundreds of girls around Iran have been poisoned in their schools since November, the country's Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi confirmed to the IRNA state news agency.

"After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed. It has been revealed that the chemical compounds used to poison students are not war chemicals, and the poisoned students do not need aggressive treatment, and a large percentage of the chemical agents used are treatable."

The statement came after scores of girls in Qom began to experience respiratory poisoning with several requiring hospital medical treatment.

According to Iran International, the poisoning began in Qom and spread to other cities in the area. At least 14 girls' schools in four different cities have been hit.

Last week, Moalleman News' Telegram account featured a message from a group that calls itself "Devotees of the Supreme," which said that education is forbidden for girls and will only poison them. The message also warned that girls all across Iran would be poisoned if their schools were not shut down.

Two weeks ago, parents of girls who were poisoned gathered outside the Qom's governate to protest against the attacks and urged the government to deal with the phenomena.




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