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Wednesday, April 19, 2023

04/19 Links Pt1: Francesca Albanese must be fired from the UN; Biden Has Abandoned the Middle East to China and Russia; Have a date with a terrorist

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Francesca Albanese must be fired from the UN
As deadly Palestinian terrorism against Israelis continues unabated, some have tried to justify the attacks – and some have gone even further.

In a stunning exercise in victim blaming, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese has denied that the country has the right to defend itself against Palestinian terrorism.

“Israel has a right to defend itself, but can’t claim it when it comes to the people it oppresses [or] whose land it colonizes,” she tweeted on April 8.

Her grotesque tweet came in the wake of the murder of a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters. Lucy, 48, Maia, 20 and Rina Dee, 15, were killed in a shooting attack near the Hamra Junction in the Jordan Valley as they drove to Tiberias on April 7 during the Passover holiday. Later the same day, a 35-year-old Italian tourist, Alessandro Parini, was murdered in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.

Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli on Friday called for Albanese’s dismissal. In his letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Dr. Volker Türk, Chikli wrote that the UN “is failing to uphold its own commitment to protect fundamental human rights for all and to apply equal treatment of all its member states by allowing Ms. Albanese to continue to spew hatred, antisemitism and incite violence.”

Far from apologizing, however, Albanese doubled down. Referring to the biblical imperative Chikli had mentioned in his letter, she responded in a sneering tweet: “I wonder how the 3,000-year-old ‘moral responsibility not to kill’ can be reconciled with the thousands of Palestinians killed since 2007 in oPt [“Occupied Palestinian Territory],” citing figures that included terrorists killed during wars in Gaza since 2008.

As Chikli noted in his letter, Albanese’s “reprehensible, irresponsible and terror-inciting remarks called into question Israel’s very right to defend the lives of its citizens” and “explicitly denies the right to life and personal security of many Jewish citizens of the State of Israel.”

Albanese violates the UN Code of Conduct for Special Rapporteurs and indeed the basic principles of human rights upon which the United Nations was founded.

This wasn’t the first time that she had openly supported Palestinian “resistance” and engaged in rhetoric viewed as antisemitic.
Fiamma Nirenstein: The UN’s top Israel-hater
It is sad that Ca’ Foscari University of Venice chose Holocaust Remembrance Day to celebrate—complete with coquettish photos and media rejoicing—an event featuring Francesca Albanese, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For me, it is also a pity that this notoriously anti-Israel official happens to be Italian.

The ideology that led to the extermination of European Jewry clearly resonated at Ca’ Foscari, given that the delegitimization and criminalization of Jewish existence today is generally disguised as the “damnatio” of the State of Israel.

This new guise of the old hatred portrays Israel as a colonialist, apartheid state unworthy of life, and Albanese is unquestionably one of the haters. She harbors no misgivings on this score, which shames not only the U.N. but also her home country.

Some have pushed back. Italian Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata has called for Albanese’s removal. So has the International Legal forum, a global network of more than 4,000 lawyers and activists who are committed to combatting antisemitism, advancing human rights and promoting peace in the Middle East. Across the pond, a bipartisan group of U.S. congresspeople has urged her replacement. The address for these demands is Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has thus far done nothing.

This isn’t surprising. The U.N.’s automatic antisemitic majority makes it a hotbed for Israel-hatred and funds for the Palestinians, who use the money to promote terrorism and hate speech. But Albanese takes this hate to another level. She stated unequivocally that Israel has no right to self-defense even as Palestinian terrorists killed Italian lawyer Alessandro Parini and young sisters Rina and Maya Dee, along with their mother Lucy, as well as numerous other innocents over the past several months.

Albanese has a long and ugly history of such behavior. She was involved in various BDS initiatives and called terror suspects “human rights defenders.” She has compared the Palestinians’ “Nakba” to the Holocaust—a stunningly inaccurate and offensive comparison. She equated Hamas in Gaza with the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and wrote that Europe and the U.S. have been subjugated “by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust and by the Jewish Lobby.”


MEMRI: Clarification re: Even the Nazis didn’t pay a reward for murdering Jews
We sincerely apologize that the headline of yesterday’s report was not sufficiently clear and exact. Many of our readers have pointed out that PMW’s headline yesterday - Even the Nazis didn’t pay a reward for murdering Jews - was imprecise and requires clarification.

Certainly, during the Holocaust the Nazis did indeed pay rewards of various kinds for the murder or even tracking down of Jews. However, our intention was to highlight the singular methodical nature of the Palestinian Authority’s terror reward policy, which is also entrenched in PA law.

The Nazis did not adopt a law or practice guaranteeing a lifetime payment to any person who murdered a Jew or to the families of those who murdered a Jew, if the murderer died while murdering/trying to murder Jews.

In contrast, in 2004, the PA legislated the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners. This law guarantees a monthly salary to every Palestinian terrorist, including murderers, arrested by Israel. The salary is paid to all terrorists, irrespective of the terrorist’s terror-group affiliation and rises with time spent in prison. Murderers sentenced to life in prison receive the PA salary for their entire life. Released terrorists - including the murderers - continue receiving a payment from the PA, commensurate to their time in prison.

Alongside the payments to the terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, the PA also entirely funds the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Institute for the Martyrs, which guarantees a lifelong payment, inter alia, to the families of terrorists who died while murdering/trying to murder Jews, such as suicide bombers.

The high lifetime financial rewards passed into law by the PA and called a “monthly salary”, is in a class by itself.


Biden Has Abandoned the Middle East to China and Russia
In the absence of any desire on the part of the Biden administration to support the Saudis -- for decades one of Washington's most important allies in the region -- China has moved quickly to fill the diplomatic vacuum to launch its own initiative to restore ties with Iran.

[T]he fact that the Chinese can pull off a diplomatic coup involving a country that was formerly a key ally of the US serves as a devastating indictment of the Biden administration's incompetence.

Having previously castigated Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto leader, over his alleged involvement in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the Saudis' involvement in Yemen's disastrous civil war, Biden demanded that the Saudis increase oil production to ease the global shortage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the same time Biden made it clear that his main policy goal in the region was to resurrect the flawed nuclear deal with Iran, a move the Saudis responded to with utter dismay.

Unsurprisingly, Biden left Riyadh empty-handed, prompting the Saudis finally to cut their losses with the White House, and look for alliances elsewhere.

This is indeed a sorry state of affairs for two countries that once prided themselves on their close ties with Washington but now, thanks to the Biden's administration's ineptitude, now find themselves seeking alliances with America's enemies.
US House Speaker McCarthy to lead 20 Congress members to Israel
U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will lead a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel later this month and become the second-ever House speaker to address the full Knesset, his Israeli counterpart Amir Ohana announced on Tuesday.

Ohana described McCarthy as a “steadfast supporter and longstanding friend of Israel,” and noted that it would be the top Republican official’s first trip outside the U.S. since assuming his post in January.

“This is a clear expression of the strong and unbreakable bond between Israel and its closest ally, the United States of America,” added Ohana.

McCarthy said the U.S. relationship with the Jewish state remained “as important as ever,” adding that the visit would be special coming on the heels of Israel’s 75th Independence Day, which will be marked on April 26.

The American speaker will arrive in the Jewish state on April 30 at the head of a 20-member delegation of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

McCarthy late last month expressed his backing for the Netanyahu government amid an ongoing national debate in Israel over its judicial reform initiative.

“Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is an Israeli patriot, statesman and most importantly, a great friend of the United States,” McCarthy wrote. “Free societies have vigorous and open debate. Israel is no exception.

“I support Netanyahu, and America’s support for Israel’s strong, vibrant democracy is unwavering,” he added.

McCarthy also was instrumental in ousting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her history of antisemitic remarks, a move that drew praise from pro-Israel groups.

Newt Gingrich is the only other House speaker to address the Knesset plenum, having done so in 1998.
The Caroline Glick Show: The Answer to anti-Semitism is Jewish Power
Is the message of Yom HoShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day for the Jews to be moral as opposition leader Yair Lapid has said?

In this week’s Caroline Glick Show, on Yom HaShoah, Caroline reflected on the lessons of the Holocaust for contemporary Jews in her opening remarks.

Caroline is joined by Tony Badran from the Washington, DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies to discuss the Hamas missile attacks on Israel from Lebanon, Israel’s counterstrike against Hamas and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and how President Joe Biden’s announcement two weeks ago that he has no intention of meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the foreseeable future informs the events in the region.




Biden Justice Department's Holocaust Remembrance Day Speaker Has an Affinity for Anti-Semites
Justice Department civil rights chief Kristen Clarke, who in college rubbed shoulders with at least two anti-Semitic scholars, spoke at the agency's Holocaust Remembrance Day event on Tuesday.

In her speech, Clarke spoke of "the enormity of the loss of six million Jews" in the Holocaust and the lessons it provides for ongoing atrocities in "Ukraine, Ethiopia, the Congo, and elsewhere around the world." She mentioned a rise in anti-Semitism in the United States, then pivoted to hate crimes against other racial and ethnic groups.

"Attacks against black people—the most targeted group—and against other marginalized communities continue to increase," she said.

Clarke may not be the ideal choice to represent the Justice Department on the topic of the Holocaust. In college, Clarke rubbed shoulders with black liberation activists known for anti-Semitic views. As the president of Harvard's Black Students Association in 1994, Clarke hosted a speech for Wellesley professor Tony Martin, who promoted false theories that a cabal of Jews orchestrated the global slave trade, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Clarke defended Martin after outcry over the event as an "an intelligent, well-versed Black intellectual who bases his information of [sic] indisputable fact."

Martin in 2002 gave a talk, "Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech," at a conference hosted by a Holocaust denial group, the Institute for Historical Review.

Clarke also served on the editorial board of an academic journal with Amiri Baraka, a black liberationist poet who once blamed Jews for 9/11. Clarke concealed her affiliation with Baraka during her Senate confirmation hearing in 2021 when she told Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) that she had never served on "the editorial staff of a journal with Amiri Baraka."

Several left-wing Jewish groups during her confirmation hearing defended Clarke against charges of anti-Semitism. She was narrowly confirmed to the civil rights post in a party-line vote.


FM Cohen heads to Turkmenistan to inaugurate closest Israeli embassy to Iran
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen Wednesday evening will travel to Turkmenistan – the central Asian country that shares a long border with Iran – to officially inaugurate a permanent Israeli embassy in the capital city of Ashgabat.

The embassy will be the closest official Israeli mission to an Iranian border, only some 15 miles away. Cohen's visit will be the first to Turkmenistan by an Israeli foreign minister in the past 30 years. He is scheduled to meet with Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and Agriculture and Environmental Protection Minister Allanur Altyyev.

Turkmenistan, a Muslim-majority country, established relations with Israel in the run-up to its declaration of independence in 1991. About a decade ago, in light of good relations between the two states, Israel opened a temporary embassy there with a temporary structure, now permanent.

The permanent building was built specifically for the to-be-inaugurated embassy, like the Israeli mission in Azerbaijan, which also shares a border with the Islamic Republic.

Over the years, Israeli and Turkmeni senior officials have visited each other's countries, signing agreements of cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, and energy. Recently, progress has been made in the collaboration of health and cyber defense.

Cohen's visit to Turkmenistan and the embassy's inauguration are intended to send a message to Iran that Israel is a present and growing influence in the region.
World media partially to blame for terrorism against Israelis
As I drove with three of my children through the Jordan Valley on Friday, a man driving a motorcycle menacingly approached alongside my car to pass on the narrow road.

The thought briefly entered my head that he was about to open fire and shoot us all.

On our way to visit the Gan Garoo Zoo (Park Australia) near Beit She’an, I purposely took a longer route through the center of the country, in order to minimize the danger following the murders of Lucy Dee and her children, Maia and Rina, further south in that same valley.

They were on their way to enjoy the previous weekend in Tiberias with their extended family. The Dee family was not targeted because they lived in Efrat, just over the pre-1967 border. They were killed for the same reason that Greek Orthodox monk Georgios Tsibouktzakis was murdered in that valley in 2001: He looked Jewish.

Terror by nature is random, and anyone could end up the victim.

The one positive that has come out of the brutal murders of a mother and her two daughters is that the world has been introduced to Leo Dee, a brilliant orator, inspiring rabbi, loving husband to Lucy and proud father of son Yehuda and daughters Rina, Maia, Tali and Keren.

Realizing that he had been thrust into the spotlight against his will, Rabbi Dee decided to use his pulpit to spread goodness and to challenge the international media to cover Israel fairly. He called a press conference attended by the Reuters wire service before his wife was buried and he gave interviews to nine media outlets while sitting shiva.

Rabbi Dee’s message to humanity was “never accept terror as legitimate, never blame the murder on the victims, and there is no such thing as moral equivalence between terrorist and victim. The terrorist is always bad.”

The rabbi felt compelled to convey such simple messages because media outlets around the world appeared to justify the murders by noting where the Dee family lived and died.

We at HonestReporting called out The Guardian for passively saying the victims had been “killed” as opposed to “murdered” and for stating the location of the deaths in order to justify them rather than pointing out that the perpetrator was a terrorist. An Associated Press headline did not identify the victims or the murderer: “Two killed in West Bank after Israel strikes Lebanon, Gaza.”

Blaming the victims to a new level, Al Jazeera’s headline was “Two Israeli settlers killed in occupied West Bank shooting.” The subheadline stated that “a deadly gun attack was carried out on a vehicle near the illegal Hamra settlement,” dehumanizing the teenagers as if the terrorist’s goal was to harm the car.
Peers visit Dee family shiva in St John’s Wood
The family of murdered Rebbetzin Lucy Dee have invited the foreign secretary to their home to thank him for his support in the wake of the horrific attacks that claimed the life of three British Israeli women.

It came as Honorary President of Conservative Friends of Israel, Lord Polak, and Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Middle East, visited the grieving family’s shiva at their home in St John’s Wood.

Lord Tariq Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon and Baron Stuart Polak arrive at the home of Rebbetzin Lucy Dee's brother for shiva, April 18, 2023

The peers sat shiva with them and spoke about the family's resilience as a source of "strength and inspiration" to members of the government.

At the end of their meeting, which lasted approximately 45 minutes, Lord Polak said: “Today of course is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. And in some ways, you as a family have experienced your own holocaust.

“I just hope and pray that in the day to come you will be able to remember the happy days you had as a family.”

Speaking to the JC, Lord Ahmad, who is the Minister of State for the Middle East, said: “Rabbi Dee and the entire family has I think been a great inspiration and source of strength to many of us in government. The rabbi’s powerful message of feeling only sorrow for those who harbour so much hate has really resonated with myself, Rishi and others.

“Today was about the family. It’s not about any sort of political statements. My being here is both personal and important to me. It’s important as a representative of government, and I’m really grateful to my very dear friend Lord Stuart Polak for being able to come together with me, to sort of bridge the gaps in our understanding and learn from each other.

“Today was a very good example of families showing immense fortitude and not feeling hate or enmity towards those who committed these abhorrent acts, and is something we can all learn from.”
Yair Lapid to boycott Israel’s main Independence Day ceremony
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Wednesday that he plans to boycott the traditional torch-lighting ceremony marking the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day celebrations.

In a message to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Lapid accused the current government of “dismantling democracy” amid a fierce debate over its judicial reform initiative.

“I love the country with all my heart, but in three months you tore apart Israeli society and no fake fireworks show will cover that up. If the unity of the people was so important to you, you would not dismantle our democracy and you would go to work for the citizens of Israel,” Lapid said.

Lapid is the head of Yesh Atid, the second-largest party in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. He preceded Netanyahu during a brief stint as prime minister before Netanyahu’s coalition picked up a Knesset majority in November’s parliamentary elections.

Lapid has called the proposed judicial reforms an “extreme regime change,” and has vowed to continue fighting in streets across the country in “a war over our home.”

In response, Netanyahu has accused his political opponent of “planting the seeds of disaster” by encouraging a public rebellion against a democratically-elected government.
The Israel Guys: Did the Israeli Police REALLY BEAT Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem?
With today being Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, I have a special story about the victory over the Nazis. After Lucy Dee was murdered along with her two daughters, she is now saving the lives of five other people, including an Arab! If you’ve seen any news about the Israeli police beating Palestinian Christians at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, I’ve got some myths to bust today.


Terrorist who shot 2 Israelis in Jerusalem arrested
Security forces on early Wednesday apprehended the terrorist who shot and wounded two Israelis in Jerusalem, according to a joint statement from the IDF and the Shin Bet security agency.

The terrorist was caught during a raid in the Samarian city of Nablus that included the IDF, Shin Bet and the Border Police's Yamam counterterrorism unit. No casualties to Israeli forces were reported. The suspect, a teenager from the Askar refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus, was transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai praised the quick work of security forces that led to the predawn arrest.

"From the first moment that the police forces from the Jerusalem District and the soldiers of the Border Police rushed to the scene of the attack, we used many forces and together with accurate intelligence we managed to get our hands on the terrorist," he said. "Let every terrorist know that the long arm of the security system will reach wherever he escapes to and wherever he hides,."

Two Breslov Chassidim, aged 48 and 50, were moderately wounded in the terrorist attack in Jerusalem's Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood on Tuesday morning. They were shot at point-blank range while sitting in a vehicle.

On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli forces arrested three Islamic Jihad operatives in the Jenin refugee camp in northern Samaria, the IDF said. They are suspected of promoting significant terrorist activities.

The operation included personnel from the IDF's Duvdevan undercover unit and Paratroop Brigade and the Shin Bet. A car belonging to one of the terrorists was also confiscated.


HonestReporting: Jews in Arab Countries Before Zionism
Everything was fine for Jews in Arab countries before Zionism....right?

WRONG!

This is just another version of anti-Zionism. In fact, many of the discriminatory practices from Nazi Germany were inspired by discrimination Jews faced as second-class citizens in Arab countries.

Things will be fine for Jews moving forward BECAUSE of Zionism.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Vast Empire Butthurt By Sliver Of Land Not Still Under Its Rule (satire)
Tehran, April 19 – Leaders of a group of civilizations once united under the banner of swift Islamic conquest of territories from Spain to Indonesia continued today to devote inordinate time, energy, resources, and emotional investment in the fact that a New-Jersey-sized slice of territory along the Mediterranean Sea has thrown off the yoke of those conquerors and their successors, observers report.

Islamic armies under multiple caliphates and empires swept east and west from Arabia in the seventh through ninth centuries CE. Dar-al-Islam fragmented early on, but as a rule, the successor potentates still claimed Islam as their faith. Subsequent centuries saw contraction of that domain out of sizable portions of the full conquest, notably the Iberian Peninsula of Western Europe, and later, the Indian subcontinent. Nevertheless, eyewitnesses noted, the territorial loss that appears to exercise adherents the most involves a mostly-desert piece of land the size of Estonia.

“It’s weird,” remarked one observer who spoke under condition of anonymity, citing concerns for his family’s safety. “We’re talking about a hundred years of violent obsession with restored Jewish sovereignty in a tiny, almost unnoticeable backwater of every empire that has ever controlled the Middle East. It’s half the size of the Netherlands. It would be a stretch to call it twice the size of Jamaica. The Caribbean country, not the neighborhood of Queens. That’s a lot of butthurt over something so small.”

“You don’t hear nearly as much talk about reconquering Spain and Portugal, or even India,” concurred another. “Not that such rhetoric isn’t there; it’s just not the burning issue that tiny Israel is, for some reason.”
PA Chief Abbas, Senior Hamas Officials in Saudi Arabia
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Tuesday.

The Fatah leader’s visit comes at the same time that a delegation from rival political faction and terrorist group Hamas is also in the country.

According to the P.A.-controlled Wafa news agency, Abbas and the prince discussed “the latest political developments of the Palestinian cause and the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee, and Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, also represented the Palestinian side at the meeting.

The Saudi side included Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Director General of the General Intelligence Directorate Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan.

Abbas arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for the visit where he was also scheduled to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and participate in an Iftar Ramadan break-fast meal.
MEMRI: Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Ziyad Nakhalah: Iran Has Paid the Palestinian Resistance Billions of Dollars – It Pays for Every House Demolished in the West Bank and Every Weapon Used by the Resistance
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad Nakhalah said in an address that was aired on Alghadeer TV (Iraq) on April 17, 2023 that Iran supports the Palestinian "resistance", has paid for every house demolished by Israel in the West Bank, and has provided or paid for every weapon used by the resistance. He said that Hamas alone has received yearly payments of $150 million for the past 30 years and that other factions have also received Iranian funds. Nakhalah said: "We have created deterrence vis-à-vis Israel." He added that the resistance is capable of sending all of Israel into bomb shelters within one hour. In addition, he said that he is convinced that the Zionist enterprise will be destroyed, but that he could not discuss a specific time frame.

Iran Pays To Rebuild Every West Bank House Demolished By Israel And Provides Or Pays For Weapons Used By Palestinians To Fight Israel — This Has Been Going On For 30 Years

Ziyad Nakhalah: "We have managed to create deterrence vis-à-vis Israel. In the past, it was the easiest thing for Israel to launch an aggression against Arab territories — Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. Israel is still bombing in Syria, but inshallah, things will change soon. I can give you the good news that inshallah, this state off affairs in Syria will not last for long.

"Just imagine, the resistance is capable, within a single hour, of sending all of Israel into bomb shelters. Four or five million Israelis in shelters within a single hour. This has turned the balance of power upside down, with regard to the resistance.

"In Gaza, the Arab countries have made payments officially. However, if Israel demolishes a house in the West Bank today — it is Iran that pays [to rebuild it]. Also the weapons that the Palestinians use for fighting come from Iran — the Iranians either pay for these weapons or provide them. This has been going on for thirty years.

"If I calculate all the money the Iranians have paid the Palestinians in these 30 years — it's billions of dollars. People may find this surprising. Do the math. Billions of dollars. At the same time, the Arab countries have not paid even 100 dollars.
PMW: “There is nothing loftier than Martyrdom” - Man receives news of death of terrorist relative
A relative of terrorist Ayed Salim, who threw an explosive device at Israeli soldiers who returned fire and killed him, is seen receiving news of Salim’s death at the hospital.

Relative of terrorist Ayed Salim: “What joy has merited the one who has a Martyr [in the family]. The Martyr serves as an advocate [on Judgement Day] for 70 members of his family. 70. I merited together with him. Today there is nothing loftier than Martyrdom.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, April 9, 2023]

Ayed Salim – 20-year-old Palestinian terrorist who threw an explosive device at Israeli soldiers in Azzoun east of Qalqilya on April 9, 2023. The soldiers returned fire, killing Salim.


PMW: Have a date with a terrorist
Dates are a popular fruit to eat when breaking the fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan. Since blood sugar levels drop when fasting, and dates are high in sugar, they have proved to be ideal for a quick boost of energy.

This Ramadan, Abbas’ Fatah Movement has promoted a peculiar variety of dates: Terrorist dates.

A video posted by the Fatah Movement’s Bethlehem Branch on their Telegram channel shows a special packaging series of dates by a company named “Moulouki.” On each package of dates is written “Flame of hope,” and underneath is a picture of a terrorist - including terrorist murderers - and text introducing each one with the words “For the spirit of [name of terrorist]”:

Text on packages: “For the spirit of [former PLO Chairman and PA President] Martyr symbol Yasser Arafat”

“For the spirit of Martyr Ahmed Yassin (i.e., founder of Hamas terror organization)”




Saudi Foreign Minister Visits Assad, Further Easing Syria's Isolation
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus on Tuesday, Syrian state media reported, in the most significant step yet towards ending Syria's decade-long regional isolation.

Bin Farhan landed earlier on Tuesday for the first visit of a top Saudi diplomat to Damascus since ties were ruptured following Assad's deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011 - violence that escalated into a decade-long civil war.

Syria's state news agency said bin Farhan met with Assad but did not immediately provide further details.

The Saudi foreign ministry said in an online statement that the visit showed the kingdom's desire to find a political solution to Syria's conflict that would preserve the country's "Arab identity, and return it to its Arab surroundings".

Following the security forces' crackdown on demonstrators in 2011, Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended and several Gulf Arab states - including Saudi Arabia - began backing rebel groups fighting to oust Assad from power.

Assad, with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, later regained control over much of Syria, and Saudi Arabia has said in recent months that isolating him was not working.

The two sides agreed to resume diplomatic ties, and Reuters reported this month that bin Farhan would travel to Damascus to invite Assad to the Arab League's next summit in Riyadh on May 19, two sources familiar with the plans said.
IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in Syria
The Israel Defense Forces struck assets belonging to Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah in southern Syria overnight Tuesday, according to foreign reports.

According to reports, the military fired artillery at targets in Quneitra in the Syrian-held part of the Golan Heights.

The IDF on Wednesday morning dropped leaflets in the area warning the Syrian army against working with Hezbollah.

The Israeli military did not comment on the reports but said that a Skylark drone conducting a routine operation crashed overnight in Syria.

The unmanned aerial vehicle suffered a technical malfunction and an investigation into the incident has been opened. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories

The military added that there was no danger of critical information being leaked.

Earlier this month, the IDF struck targets in Syria in response to six rockets fired towards the Golan Heights. Among the targets were a military compound of the Fourth Division of the Syrian Armed Forces, military radar systems and artillery posts.


JCPA: Emboldened by Israel’s Restraint, Hizbullah Is Defining New Rules of Engagement
Those attacks have prompted Tehran to devise a step-by-step strategy whereby if Israel forcefully suppresses a flare-up on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, it would automatically trigger missile salvos on Israel from Iranian proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. In response to such an attack, Israel would react, thus initiating an escalation with Israel attacked from four fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories in Judea and Samaria. This scenario may have been the reason behind Israel’s Minister of Defense’s media appearance to express his concern to the Israeli public.

Hamas began this chain of events by sending a lone terrorist to cross the border in Israel’s north on March 13, 2023. He succeeded in placing an IED near Megiddo Junction before being killed on his way back to Lebanon. Then, drones launched from Syria were intercepted. Finally, a salvo of 34 rockets was fired from a Hamas launch site in Lebanon (the first since the Second Lebanon War in 2006), with the quiet authorization of Hizbullah. Israel’s response was timid and limited – a retaliation that became the target of Hassan Nasrallah’s mockery.

Nasrallah seems convinced he has the upper hand in his fight against Israel. He has presented himself now as the patron of the Palestinian cause and has very openly warned Israel not to trespass his “red lines.” The Hizbullah chief enumerated these points:
Any attack on Lebanese soil would meet an adequate response (be it a Hizbullah target or Palestinian or Lebanese).
Israel’s freedom of maneuver in Syria will soon end, and with it will end what Israel calls “the war between the wars.”
Nasrallah called to send funds and weapons to the Palestinian factions inside Israel.
Attacks or provocations (by Jewish extremists) on Muslim or Christian holy places would be met by Hizbullah.

Nasrallah seems confident that Israel is living on borrowed time because of its domestic weakness, political schism, growing economic crisis, the exit of Israeli companies from Israel, the race to get foreign passports by Israelis, and the lack of dynamic resolve. It will be faced very soon with annihilation. For him, Hizbullah and Israel have established a balance of deterrence. The situational box in which he was considered deterred from action after the Second Lebanon War no longer exists. Contemptuously, he declared, “The Israelis themselves acknowledge that the balance of deterrence is what made their response to what happened in the south limited and silly.”

Nasrallah’s vision is not the first time an Arab leader misconstrued Israeli reality. Many Arab leaders before Nasrallah had the same dream, and their failure to read and analyze the Israeli polity and society proved to be to their disadvantage in the end.
US Marks 40th Anniversary of Beirut Embassy Bombing with New Sanctions Against Hezbollah
The United States on Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the deadly bombing of the US Embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut by announcing multi-million dollar rewards for information leading to the arrests of two senior operatives of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization behind the attack.

The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program confirmed a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, or conviction of Ibrahim Aqil — also known as Tahsin — a member of the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s highest body.

“During the 1980s, Aqil was a principal member of Hezbollah’s terrorist cell the Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the bombings of the US Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and the US Marine Corps barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 US personnel,” a State Department statement noted. It added that during the same decade, “Aqil directed the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon and held them there.”

Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department revived an existing reward of $10 million for information regarding Nazem Said Ahmad, a Hezbollah financier and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The department is targeting what it called “a global sanctions evasion network that facilitates the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, art, and luxury goods for the benefit of [Ahmad].”

“These actions are being coordinated among the Departments of State, the Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, and Commerce, as well as with the United Kingdom, to target on elements of the network,” a statement from the Treasury Department noted. “Today’s actions highlight the tactics used by sanctions evaders, trade-based money launderers, and supporters of terrorism, as well as the risks of conducting business in permissive industries, such as the art, diamond, and precious gems markets.”


MEMRI: Iran Friday Sermon By Khamenei's Representative In Markazi Province Gholamali Dorri-Najafabadi: The Jews Love Life And Fear Death – Unlike Our Children, Who Love Martyrdom
In a Friday, April 14, 2023 sermon in Arak, Iran, Khamenei's representative in Markazi Province, Gholamali Dorri-Najafabadi, said that the Jews "love life" and fear death, and that in contrast, Iranian children "love martyrdom" and "will [inherit] the Kingdom of Heaven." He said that if you capture one Zionist, it is "as if you took the lives of all of them […] They would be willing to give up everything to free just one of them." He added that the Zionists do not care about "matters of faith" and that all they do care about is "lust, sex, other dirty activities, embezzlement, plundering, treason, and other things." In addition, Dorri-Najafbadi cited Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's statement that Israel is "weaker than a spider web." The sermon was aired on Aftab TV (Iran).

The Jews Are "Greedy For This Life And Afraid Of Death"; They Are "Willing To Give Up Everything To Free Just One Of Them"

Gholamali Dorri-Najafabadi: "The Jews are terrified. Our esteemed brother, Talkhabi, who represents Qazvin in the Assembly of Experts, said: One of the [Jews'] main issues is that they are very loyal to the material world. They love to live, they would love to live a thousand years.

"They are greedy for this life and are afraid of death. Death is more terrifying than any other event for them. They are not ready [to die]. The Yasin [sic] Surah of the Quran states: '... then wish for death if what you say I true!'"

Crowd: "Death to Israel! Death to Israel! Death to Israel! Death to Israel!"

Dorri-Najafabadi: "Death to Zionism. If you capture one of them, it is as if you took the lives of all of them. In fact, they would be willing to give up everything to free just one of them.

"Matters Of Faith Are Not Important To The Zionists, [Who] Only Care About Lust, Sex, Other Dirty Activities, Embezzlement, Plundering, [And] Treason"


Seth Frantzman: IRGC chief praises Palestinian terror attacks, says Iran is 'winning'
Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hossein Salami this week praised Palestinians for carrying out “165 operations, 50% of them shooting [attacks],” adding that “Zionists martyred two of our forces [in Syria], but seven of them were killed by unseen hands.”

The “equation” between Israel and Iran has now become unequal and favors Iran, which is winning, he said in a speech. The source for Salami’s data on Palestinian attacks was unclear. His speech was reported by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which has links to the IRGC.

On April 4, Iran held funerals for “two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers killed in Israeli strikes in Syria last week,” the international Arabic news television channel Al Arabiya reported. At the time, the IRGC said that “the Zionists are trying to target the resistance front, but the resistance will become stronger and more motivated.”

Salami says US-Israel tensions growing
Salami said Israel, which he terms the “Zionist regime,” had been seeking to “dominate” the region. But Israel now faces “decay, chaos and disorder” that will lead to decline and collapse, he said in his speech. Salami also said the US would likely leave the region, adding that US-Israel tensions are growing.

“Today, the president of the United States does not accept the prime minister of the Zionist regime for a meeting and has banned his ministers from entering the United States,” he said. This appears to be a reference to the US not wanting to meet with far-right members of the current government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Furthermore, Salami referenced the recent wave of anti-judicial reform protests, saying Israel has faced rocket threats from Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip while the unrest occurred.

Although Israel has walls and fences with security systems, “unseen hands armed the West Bank, and you have modern automatic rifles and automatic weapons in the hands of the Palestinians,” he said. He might have been referring to weapons smuggling to the Palestinians.
Iran proxy Samidoun should be designated as a terror organization by the EU - Opinion
When it comes to extremism, there is no such thing as neutrality. Our experience shows that extremists say what they mean and mean what they say. If they say that they want to fight and defeat us, we should believe them. It would be irresponsible to take the easy road by pretending otherwise.

Those who have the responsibility to protect us, principally political leaders, can either stand firmly against extremists or they can do nothing. Doing nothing is not the same as neutrality; doing nothing encourages extremists to carry on their pernicious activities with impunity.

In October 2022, an extremist organization called Samidoun (an opaque de facto group ostensibly supporting the rights of Palestinian prisoners) held a rally in front of the European Parliament in Brussels. The rally's leader, Belgian resident and Samidoun's European coordinator Mohammed Khatib, called for the defeat of Israel, the European Union, and the United States “by any means necessary.” He said that Israel’s ambassador to Belgium should be afraid. He said that Zionists should be afraid. He said that the European Union should be afraid.

His words went beyond mere rhetoric. In Arabic, he revealed why we should be afraid: the Palestinian diaspora should be armed with “Kalashnikovs, bullets and rockets.” This is incitement to murder, as simple as that. No one should be surprised, since the rally was replete with banners celebrating murderers of men, women and children. Israeli men, women and children. Israel and all associated with it, such as the ‘colonial’ EU, are the hated ‘other’ which must be defeated using violence.

This is why the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC) reached out to MEPs and international experts to take part in a symposium at the European Parliament last month, attended by over 100 people. They heard from speaker after speaker how Samidoun is part of a tripartite alliance with the proscribed terrorist organization, PFLP, and the authoritarian regime in Iran. Samidoun is not just brazenly calling for violence – it is connected with those able to provide the means to achieve it.


Iran's exiled crown prince speaks at end of historic trip to Israel
Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, becomes filled with emotion as he describes the warm reception he received during his unique visit to Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.


Prince Pahlavi visits Israel, 'Iranians and Israelis should be parters'
On a historic visit to Israel, Prince Pahlavi presents a different perspective on the Iranian people and showcase that the regime does not represent them






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