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Thursday, May 31, 2018

A predicament or an opportunity? (Vic Rosenthal)

 Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Here it is Wednesday midday, and some 180 mortar shells and rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza in the last 48 hours, including rockets that reached farther north than any since 2014. The IDF responded in the usual way, bombarding military targets in the Strip that Hamas and Islamic Jihad personnel had evacuated. At this moment, there seems to be an informal cease-fire in effect. It may or may not hold; we could be on the verge of yet another “grass-cutting” operation in Gaza, or the whole thing could just be a minor blip. Meanwhile, a lot of people who would rather have been somewhere else spent their mornings sitting in bomb shelters.

The usual suspects in the Western media are committing their usual crimes against the truth. Yesterday, NPR ran a story entitled “What Has The Unrest In Gaza Meant For Palestinians?” Really. I won’t bother to link to it, but I thought about writing a piece about what the unrest at Pearl Harbor meant for the Japanese.

The objective of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is to conquer the land now occupied by the Jews, preferably killing as many of them as possible. It is a religious imperative, an obligatory jihad, and so will not end until one or the other side overcomes its enemy. It’s been a long war, and our enemies have taken different political forms over the last 100 years; but the motive has always been the same. Some periods are more violent than others, but there has never been peace. 

When the battle goes against our enemies, they offer a hudna modeled after Mohammed’s treaty of Hudaybiyyah with the Meccans, a temporary truce to give them chance to prepare for the next round. That is the closest they can get to a peace offer.

Our enemies aren’t stupid, and they understand the overriding importance of cognitive warfare for the physically weaker side in an asymmetric struggle. The recent attempt to invade Israel through the border fence with Gaza was, on its surface, a failure. They did not succeed to breach the fence in great numbers and “tear out the hearts” of Jews in nearby communities, as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar exhorted them to do. But in the cognitive war, it achieved more than one goal.

The main target is popular opinion, in the world and even in Israel. Liberal Western media like NPR are not exactly pro-Hamas. But they are anti-Israel. And Hamas orchestrated the “March of Return” to induce these media to cover the events in a way that portrayed Israel in the worst possible light. NPR jumped to attention and followed the script perfectly. They referred to the attempted invasion as a “protest,” claimed that “thousands” of people were wounded in their legs by Israeli snipers, and referred to this production as a “Palestinian cry for help,” as they “[try] to break out of an area that people inside often regard as an open-air prison.”

It also brought the Palestinian struggle and in particular the demand for a “right of return” to the forefront of international consciousness, at a time when other concerns had pushed it out of view. In recent years the idea that this issue is at the center of the problems of the Middle East had receded to some extent, replaced by the conflicts created by Iranian expansionist ambitions on the one hand, and Sunni extremism on the other. Hamas wants it center stage so that its allies in Europe will continue applying pressure to Israel and supporting the various NGOs and other groups gnawing away at her.

Finally, it gave them an opportunity to suffer what they can present as civilian casualties, so they can accuse Israel of war crimes, or even try to bring her to the International Criminal Court (for internal political reasons, Hamas admitted that most of the dead “protestors” were its military operatives, so this may not work as well this time).

Hamas, PIJ and the PLO understand the West quite well. They know that their propaganda will find fertile places to grow in Europe and even the US, where they have been preparing the ground for an abandonment of Israel for years. And they also know that the last thing that Israel wants is a ground war in Gaza, which will create even more opportunities for propaganda while our society is torn apart with grief for the young men and women who would be killed or injured, and which will end indecisively like all the others.

So we continue trying to tamp down escalation, while allowing the terrorist leaders of the Gaza Arabs the freedom to continue to plan new marches, launch rocket and mortar barrages, set our fields on fire, and who knows what else that grows out of their implacable hatred. 

This is the status quo that is considered acceptable, or at least less unacceptable than the alternatives. But the status quo is not static. Hamas is now supported primarily by Iran, like PIJ and Hezbollah. Someday perhaps they will join in a coordinated attack with Hezbollah in the north. Perhaps at the same time there will be an American Administration with an outlook more like that of the Europeans, and which – like the Obama Administration – will act to restrain us from defending ourselves. And thanks to the cognitive warfare that our enemies have been successfully waging, we won’t find support among the American people or their Congress. At that point, the status quo won’t look so good, but there will be little that we can do about it.

Right now, this moment, is one of the most dangerous times in recent history, at least for folks that live in the Middle East. Nevertheless there are positive factors. The final days of ISIS seem to be at hand, and maybe the map of post-war Syria will shortly take shape. Iran is being pushed back in Syria and losing influence in Iraq. The economic bonanza of the nuclear deal is coming to an end for Iran. Russia seems to be uncomfortable with an Iranian Shiite crescent in the region. And for the first time in many years, there is an American administration that seems fully supportive of Israel (but which also appears politically unstable). 

It’s impossible to predict what will happen when there are so many players, each with their own interlocking interests and concerns, but there may be an opportunity for Israel here that will not reoccur in the near future. There are two ways to approach a chaotic situation: you can hunker down and try to keep from getting hurt, or you can try to exploit it and achieve objectives that are impossible in normal times. 

I think we have grown too comfortable with what we allow to exist next door to us, in Gaza and also in Judea/Samaria. Would we be so comfortable if they wore Nazi uniforms? Probably not, but their ideology is no better; worse, perhaps, because of its religious underpinnings.

Now could be the moment to crush Hamas in Gaza for good.


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05/31 Links Pt1: Who’s really behind the latest attacks on Israel; Why the Palestinians Can’t Say ‘Yes’ to Trump; The Zarif Mask Falls

From Ian:
NY Post Editorial: Who’s really behind the latest attacks on Israel
Both Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad are inspired by and closely coordinate with Tehran. And the mullahs are looking for ways to recover their mojo after President Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

This month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired 32 rockets from Syria toward the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. This week, Islamic Jihad launched some 200 mortar shells at communities in southern Israel.

It was by far the largest attack from Gaza since the 2014 war. In retaliation, Israel bombed dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, including a terrorist supply tunnel, drone facilities, weapons caches and a rocket-making plant.

And rightly so. As UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told the Security Council Wednesday: “Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country? We all know the answer to that: No one would.”

Hamas’ decision to stop the attacks suggests it means to avoid another war, one that might well end its control of Gaza.

But Iran, an Israeli defense official said Wednesday, “doesn’t want stability.” No: It wants to send its own message to “deter people from putting more pressure on them.”

It isn’t working. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows that Israel will continue to pursue Iran and its terrorist proxies and make them “pay dearly.” Which is the most important message of all.

Sohrab Amari: The Zarif Mask Falls
Javad Zarif was recently caught on video chanting “Death to America!” and “Death to Britain!” and “Death to Israel!” at a rally in Tehran. That should come as no surprise to Americans who understand the nature of the Iranian regime, its history, and the anti-Western animus that pulsates at its heart. Yet numerous American political and media figures have spent years promoting Zarif as something other than what he is: a pure product of Khomeini’s hateful revolution.

Here’s the footage in question. Watch it—and re-watch it—as you join me on a guided tour of Zarif hagiography, courtesy of the American prestige press.
Death to America! Death to Britain! Death to Israel!

Fareed Zakaria, speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations, Sept. 23, 2016:
My guest needs no introduction. He has a favorability rating in Iran which has declined now to 75 percent. (Laughter.) I don’t think it’s quite that high in the United States. (Laughter.) But Mohammed Javad Zarif is the foreign minister of Iran. He was ambassador to the U.N. He’s a career diplomat. He is also an academic with a Ph.D. I think fair to say that he is the most distinguished diplomat Iran has had for many decades, and we have all seen him as he spearheaded Iran’s negotiations for the nuclear deal.
Death to America! Death to Britain! Death to Israel!

Robin Wright, writing in Time magazine, Oct. 28, 2016:
Zarif has . . . built a following in Washington. ‘He doesn’t play games,’ says Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein. . . . [H]e has also been lauded by the likes of Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Chuck Hagel when they were in the Senate. And he earned a University of Denver doctorate under the same professors who taught Condoleezza Rice.
Death to America! Death to Britain! Death to Israel!

I could go on and on. Will this latest footage finally shatter the liberal foreign-policy establishment’s illusion of Javad Zarif the moderate? Don’t count on it.



Jpost Editorial: After another round of violence, it is time for a Gaza plan
As a delicate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza appeared to go into effect on Wednesday after the biggest escalation since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, it was time to play the blame game.

While Egypt was credited with mediating a truce between the parties and Jerusalem officially held Hamas accountable for the dozens of rockets fired at Israel on Tuesday, National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Minister Yuval Steinitz pointed the finger at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

“If there is one person who is responsible for the escalation and stifling of Gaza, it is Abu Mazen,” Steinitz told Kan. “Now is the time for Israel to think out of the box and come up with solutions to the Gaza humanitarian crisis.”

Steinitz said that Israel transferred tax revenues to the PA without knowing exactly where they were going, and suggested that once calm is restored, it should find a way to alleviate the situation in Gaza by bypassing Abbas. He proposed a carrot-and-stick policy.

He confirmed, for example, that the Israel Electric Corporation was holding off repair work on three Gaza electricity lines damaged by rockets that had knocked out power to thousands of Gazans. Because Gaza depends on Israel for the several hours of power it receives a day, Steinitz said, this was a threat that Hamas could be expected to take seriously.
Gaza militants fire heavy cross-border barrage, May 30, 2018 (Reuters)

One positive suggestion Steinitz had was to build a port in Cyprus that would allow exports from and imports to Gaza after being thoroughly checked by Israeli security services. This is not a new idea, but is certainly one worth discussing once the dust settles.

After the IDF struck dozens of targets belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that if the two terrorist groups renewed their rocket attacks on Israel, it would respond even more forcefully.

“Israel will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to harm it, and we view Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks against us,” Netanyahu said.

But Steinitz said it was Abbas, the ailing 83-year-old Palestinian leader who was discharged from a Ramallah hospital on Monday after a weeklong treatment for pneumonia, who should be held ultimately accountable.

Just two months ago, Abbas reissued his longtime demand that Hamas hand over Gaza to the PA.
Hamas taken off guard by intensity of clash with Israel, officials say
Hours after the latest Gaza flare-up drew to a close Wednesday, defense officials were upbeat, saying Israel should be satisfied with the results. The officials said that Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, was taken off guard by the intense nature of the fighting.

Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of some 30 mortars toward Israel on Tuesday morning, which triggered the most aggressive escalation since the 2014 Gaza war. According to defense officials, Hamas signed off on the barrage ahead of time so as to let the Islamic Jihad exact revenge for an incident earlier in the week, in which Israel killed three of its members when they tried to plant an explosive device near the Gaza border fence.

However, despite the initial green light, Hamas was taken aback by the large number of mortar bombs fired toward Israel and was also surprised by the Israeli retaliation, which included some 30 daytime sorties targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets.

Officials believe that Islamic Jihad dragged Hamas into a military confrontation it did not actually want. As a result, Hamas fired rockets toward the Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip – a step it has not taken since the conclusion of the 2014 war, not even in cases where Israel successfully destroyed cross-border Hamas tunnels (10 in total) or when more than 100 Palestinians storming the Gaza fence were killed over the course of several weeks in weekly border protests.

This unusual decision to fire at Israel may have been taken in order to shed the notion that Hamas is collaborating with Israel.
IDF reveals 7 terror targets struck in Gaza in detailed video
The IDF released a video Wednesday outlining seven targets struck in the Gaza Strip following a barrage of rockets fired toward Israel by terror groups in Gaza.

The first target shown in the video is a rocket warehouse in the northern Gaza Strip that was operated by Islamic Jihad. A sketch of the rocket is displayed in the video as well. The second location targeted by Israeli airstrikes Tuesday shown in the video is a Hamas-run naval technology site intended to be used to infiltrate Israel by sea.

The IDF also revealed an SA-7 missile factory as one of the targets struck, as well as an explosive-laden drone warehouse, a rocket factory and an abandoned drone shed.

Israel struck more than 65 targets overnight Tuesday after terror groups in Gaza launched rockets and mortars into Israeli cities in Southern Israel.

The rocket and mortar fire from Gaza ceased Wednesday. A senior source in the Israeli defense establishment attributed the quiet along the border to the IDF strikes.




PM Netanyahu: IDF dealt worst blow to Hamas in years
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Wednesday of a stronger military response to any resumption of rocket attacks, after Hamas said it would cease fire if Israel did the same.

Speaking at an IDF memorial ceremony on Wednesday, Netanyahu said, "Those responsible for the escalation, inspired by Iran, are the Hamas regime, the Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist organizations. I am not detailing our plans because I do not want the enemy to know what lies in store for it. But one thing is clear to them: When they test us, they pay immediately and if they continue to test us, they will pay far more."

"Since yesterday, the IDF has strongly retaliated against the firing from the Gaza Strip and has hit dozens of terrorist targets in the severest blow we have landed on them in years."

Netanyahu also voiced his support for IDF fighters and security forces and praised the resilience of residents of Israel's south.

The Israel-Gaza border fell quiet under the de facto cease-fire after the most intense flare-up of hostilities between Palestinian terrorists and Israel since a 2014 war.
Hamas seeks long-lasting cease-fire after 'strongest blow in years'
The Israeli officials said the truce would be for a period of five years. In return, Israel will demand restrictions on Hamas' military activity. Although the terrorist organization is not likely to relinquish security control of Gaza, it is believed it may agree to restrictions on smuggling, production of weapons and work on its terrorist tunnel project that threaten Israeli towns nearby.

Hamas seeks to build a sea port as well as an airport, which Israel categorically refuses to allow unless Hamas demilitarizes Gaza. Israel is demanding that Hamas repatriate the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in a 2014 war, Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, as well as information on three Israeli civilians who crossed into Gaza: Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Jumaa Abu Ghanima.

So far, the bid for a more lasting truce has been mired in the "exploration" stages. Israeli officials believe that following the recent cycle of violence, however, the time may be ripe to push further for a lasting truce.

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, said Egyptian mediators intervened "after the resistance succeeded in warding off the aggression." He said militant groups in Gaza will commit to the cease-fire as long as Israel does.
The full story behind the understandings for a truce in Gaza
The statements issued by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, that they have reached a ceasefire with Israel, are false. Their aim is to create an impression that Tuesday’s exchanges of fire led to a tie between the Palestinian organizations and the IDF, and that the Palestinian organizations managed to achieve a situation of mutual deterrence, in which the IDF was forced to change its pattern of action as a result of the barrages fired at the western Negev communities.

The only thing that was achieved Tuesday night was understandings between the two Palestinian organizations and Egyptian intelligence officials. The Palestinians pledged to unilaterally halt the rocket fire, hoping that Israel would follow the “calm will be answered with calm” principle. The story behind these understandings is fascinating and explains the events of the past 24 hours.

This was the chain of events: On Tuesday morning, Islamic Jihad started firing mortar shells at Israel. Concerned about its prestige, Hamas joined the rocket fire after the IDF struck in the Gaza Strip for the first time. In the afternoon, when the exchanges of fire continued, the IDF lowered its level of response by moving to tank shells. The Egyptians spotted the opportunity and suggested that the Hamas and Jihad leaderships, with whom they are in regular contact, halt the rocket fire.

The Egyptian intelligence officers likely told the Gazans in the early hours of Tuesday evening that according to Israel’s regular policy, if the Palestinians avoid firing rockets and trying to infiltrate Israeli territory, Israel won’t initiate any attacks.

After consulting each other, Hamas and Islamic Jihad informed the Egyptians that they wanted an explicit statement about a truce from Israel and the IDF. They need this statement to show their audiences that a new situation had been created—a mutual deterrence between equals. This false impression is aimed at covering up their failures in the past few weeks in the “marches of return” and in terrorist cells’ attacks on the border fence.
PA threatens to cut security ties with Israel if Gaza blockade lifted
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has threatened to severe security cooperation with Israel if the blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted, according to the Palestine Information Centre.

Quoting Hebrew media sources, the news site reported that the PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj sent a letter to his Israeli counterpart Nadav Argaman warning him against any action that would help alleviate the suffering of the population in Gaza.

The warning allegedly came after reports surfaced that Egypt and Qatar would help mediate a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas that would relax the blockade, now in its eleventh year.

Such a plan is thought to be detrimental to the interests of the PA, which seeks to pressure Hamas into handing over control of the Strip, following failed reconciliation talks at the end of last year.

A possible deal, according to Israeli media, would see Tel Aviv demand a complete cessation of rocket fire and tunnel building, in addition to respecting the security perimeter at the Gaza border and a solution regarding the Israeli prisoners of war held in Gaza.
Israel to build new Gaza-adjacent town in response to Hamas attacks
Amid the most intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in years, Housing Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that he plans to propose a plan to build a new Jewish community adjacent to the Gaza border in response to the recent escalation in violence.

"The establishment of a new community is a message of Zionism and strength in the face of terrorism," Gallant said Wednesday of the plan.

The community, whose proposed name is "Hanun," will be located about 4 miles from the border, adjacent to Kibbutz Saad. The town is meant to house 500 families and will be incorporated into the Sdot Negev Regional Council.

The proposal, which Gallant plans to submit to the cabinet at its next meeting Sunday, will require collaboration between the Housing, Interior, Agriculture, and Negev and Galilee Development ministries along with the Israel Land Authority and other authorities to conclude the necessary administrative steps and make the new community a reality.
Flaming kite from Gaza said to spark brush fire in south
Firefighters on Thursday battled a brush fire on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza strip that authorities suspect was caused by firebomb-laden kites flown across the security fence by Palestinians.

The fire broke out between two kibbutzim, Kissufim and Ein Hashlosha.

In recent weeks, Gazans have been flying kites into Israel outfitted with Molotov cocktails and containers of burning fuel, setting fire to large swaths of land, including around Kissufim, as drone footage shows.

It has become a widely adopted tactic during the weekly “March of Return” clashes on the Gaza border, which Israel accuses the Hamas terror group of orchestrating as a cover for attacks and attempts to breach the border fence.
Haley Rips Security Council’s ‘Outrageous’ Failure to Condemn Hamas for Rocket Attacks: ‘Height of Hypocrisy’
Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tore into the U.N. Security Council Wednesday for failing to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, calling it "outrageous" and "the height of hypocrisy."

The U.S. called for an emergency session of the Security Council following Tuesday's rocket attacks against Israel by Hamas, the Islamist terror group governing the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said Hamas fired 70 rockets and mortars into Israel; one mortar hit a kindergarten yard. Israel responded with airstrikes on 35 Gaza targets.

Kuwait, a non-member state, blocked the attempt by the U.S. to have the Security Council condemn Hamas.

"It is outrageous for the Security Council to fail to condemn Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, while the Human Rights Council approves sending a team to investigate Israeli actions taken in self-defense," Haley said. "I urge the members of the Security Council to exercise at least as much scrutiny of the Hamas terrorist group as it does to Israel's legitimate right of self-defense."

To ignore Hamas' actions and expect Israel to sit on its hands while being attacked, Haley said, was "the height of hypocrisy."

"As I have asked my colleagues before, I will ask you again today: Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country?" Haley said. "We all know the answer to that. No one would."
Haley blasts U.N. Security Council for not condemning Hamas rocket attacks on Israel




The Economist thinks the NY Times hasn’t been hard enough on Israel
Only thing is—the Economist thinks the Times hasn’t been hard enough on Israel.

Actually, the article in question from the Economist is about language, in particular, the “weasel voice” of evasion (it’s part of a continuing “Johnson” series about words/grammar in journalism, named after Samuel Johnson).
Here’s the problem with the Times’ coverage, according to the Economist:

On May 14th, as Palestinians massed at the Gaza Strip’s border, Israeli soldiers fired on them, killing around 60 people. Shortly afterwards, the New York Times tweeted: “Dozens of Palestinians have died in protests as the US prepares to open its Jerusalem embassy.” Social media went ballistic. “From old age?” was one incredulous reply. #HaveDied quickly became a hashtag campaign.

The fault was soon laid not only at the door of the Times, but at a feature of English grammar. As Glenn Greenwald, a left-wing journalist, put it, “Most Western media outlets have become quite skilled—through years of practice—at writing headlines and describing Israeli massacres using the passive tense so as to hide the culprit.” His view was retweeted over 5,000 times and echoed by other critics.

Those of you who follow the news on this blog or any other blog that isn’t part of the left will probably be aware of how outrageous this is—and by “this,” I mean the Economist article and the contentions of Greenwald. Now, I have no quarrel with the idea that “have died” is a euphemism and “were killed by Israeli soldiers” would be a better construction to use—I’m all in favor of straight talk. But if we’re into straight talk and actual, unvarnished news rather than propaganda, the Economist critique is highly misleading.

The truth? They weren’t “protests” and these weren’t just random “Palestinians” (see this article by William Jacobson here at Legal Insurrection, just to take one example). And we have no idea how many of them were killed by Israeli soldiers because the only people reporting an actual number were health officials in Gaza, who have a lousy track record for truth.
BBC News continues to sideline Hamas’ ’50 were ours’ announcement
As we see Tom Bateman chose to ignore the fact that over 80% of the people he is happy to quote ‘Palestinians’ describing as “unarmed civilians” have been shown to have links to various terror factions. His faux impartiality concealed the fact that Hamas publicly acknowledged that five of those killed on March 30th were members of its Qassam Brigades, that it claimed 50 of those killed on May 14th and that the PIJ has also claimed several of those killed since the ‘Great Return March’ publicity stunt began.

In addition, while happy to uncritically parrot claims of “peaceful protests”, Bateman placed documented violent incidents such as shooting attacks, IED attacks and border infiltrations in the category of things “Israelis say” happened. He similarly described documented calls by Hamas leaders to infiltrate Israeli territory and attack Israeli citizens as merely things that ‘Israel says’.

Bateman then returned to the May 27th IED incident, telling BBC World Service audiences that it was Israel’s response to that – rather than a terror organisation’s act of planting an explosive device on a border fence – that caused the latest escalation.
BREAKING
UN Defends Hamas, Says Rockets Were Fired on Ambien (satire)
The United Nations has come out in defense of Hamas, saying that the governing militant group cannot be held responsible for rockets striking Israel since the group’s fighters were on Ambien when they fired them.

“While we condemned Israel’s unprovoked attacks against Palestinian protestors earlier this month, Hamas must be excused for shooting rockets into Israeli neighborhoods and kindergartens,” a statement from the UN Human Rights Council declared. “It was Memorial Day Weekend and they were Ambien firing.”

The council also defended the militant group’s founding charter, including passages saying that the day of judgement will only come when Muslims kill all the Jews.

“Clearly, these less conciliatory passages were written while Hamas was on Ambien,” UNHRC Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said. “They were Ambien chartering.”
PreOccupiedTerritory: After Airstrikes Kill 0 Gazans, Hamas Slams Israel For Depriving Them Of Corpses To Display (satire)
Palestinian terrorist factions who had hoped to trigger a bloody Israeli response to more than 100 rockets and mortar shells launched from the Gaza Strip voiced criticism of the Jewish State today for only hitting unmanned positions in retaliation, forcing the militant Islamist groups to accuse Israel of war crimes without the benefit of dead children or grim fatality statistics to parade before the media.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas leaders disclosed that they had hoped to induce civilian casualties among Palestinians when Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip Tuesday after mortar shells and other ordnance hit the country’s communities near the coastal territory, but their plans were thwarted by Israel’s decision to deploy its air power against abandoned positions, isolated supply dumps, and empty military infrastructure. As a result, the leaders claim, the militant groups have no dead bodies of women, the elderly, or children they can pull from the wreckage after inviting the media to film the occasion and paint Israel as barbaric and wanton.

“This monstrous cruelty must cease – the world must intervene,” proclaimed Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. “Not only do the Zionists blockade us and restrict the flow of anything that can be used as a weapon, they even refrain from providing the essential supplies we need to accomplish the most basic elements of our governance here. We need dead children if we are going to go about undermining Israel’s standing, and they sadistically refused to cooperate today.”

“It’s just like the evil Zionists to engage in such brutality,” added Mustafa Massikr of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. “They know exactly what we need, and pointedly refuse to supply it. When will the world understand what we face in Palestine?”
Why the Palestinians Can’t Say ‘Yes’ to Trump
If the Palestinians were willing to negotiate, he’d probably make the Israelis “pay” for Jerusalem and his appropriately tough stance on Iran. But Netanyahu knows that he can sit back and simply wait for the Palestinians to reject Trump’s efforts, as they have already warned the Saudis — who told Abbas to accept Trump’s offer — that they will do.

Pipes’ warning that no one should be “giddy” about Trump recognizing Jerusalem and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv is sensible. But it is equally sensible for the pro-Israel community to understand that the current administration has rejected the failed Oslo mindset that governed the actions of Trump’s predecessors. Trump’s instinctive distrust of the foreign-policy establishment’s conventional wisdom means that he thinks the Palestinians have to be held accountable in way that Obama, Bush, and Clinton did not.

While a diplomatic ingénue like presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner might actually believe that the peace plan he has helped craft will succeed, Trump’s current foreign-policy team of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton is clearly more realistic. That’s why, although caution is always commendable, predictions that US-Israel relations will inevitably return to the same toxic dynamic that characterized them under the Obama administration are wrongheaded.

With an Iran empowered and enriched by Obama’s nuclear deal — using Syria as a base to attack the Jewish state — and Hamas undaunted by the failure of its latest assault on the Jewish state, Netanyahu has plenty of security challenges to contemplate. But a Trump peace plan with th
The two-state solution that never was
Yasser Arafat, in 1994, clarified PLO intentions toward Israel: days after signing the Oslo Accords, he gave a speech in a South African mosque. Unaware that he was being recorded, he said: “This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which has been signed between our prophet Muhammad and [the] Quraysh.”

This was a peace pact Muhammad made in 628 C.E. with the Quraysh, who held Mecca. Once he garnered sufficient strength, he abrogated the pact, crushed the Quraysh, and took Mecca. Within Islam, this is seen as a model of how to behave with non-Muslims.

Twice we have seen the PLO turn away from solid proposals for a final deal: first in 2000, when Arafat rejected an offer by then-prime minister Ehud Barak, and again in 2008, when Mahmoud Abbas walked away from then-prime minister Ehud Olmert’s even more generous offer.

The PLO will never sign a final agreement with Israel. This is in part because it would mean agreeing to end the conflict. PLO leaders are committed to continuing the battle with Israel until its demise. They fear assassination by their own, quite literally, should they renege on this.

Last year, journalist Khaled Abu Toameh recalled Arafat’s explanation of why he rejected Barak’s offer: “...the Jews wanted me to end the conflict ... who am I, Yasser Arafat, to end the conflict ... if I make such concessions, I will end up drinking tea up there with Anwar Sadat.”

The question that must be asked, then, is why? Why is there such dedication to the goal of eliminating Israel? There is the oft-cited Muslim belief that land once possessed by Muslims is Islamic land forever. Palestine was for many centuries occupied by Muslims, most recently the Ottomans.

The time has come to stop pursuing the impossible. Our responsibility is to seek a realistic and humane solution to the conflict with the Palestinian Arabs, a solution that protects Israel’s security and safeguards Israel’s right
InterviewAmbassador David Friedman: Republicans support Israel more than Democrats
Republicans are undoubtedly better friends of Israel than Democrats are, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Wednesday, lambasting the Democratic Party for failing to sufficiently mobilize its constituents to support the Jewish state.

“The argument that I hear from some Democrats that Republicans are seizing the pro-Israel mantle is true, to a certain extent. There’s no question Republicans support Israel more than Democrats,” Friedman told The Times of Israel.

“What the Democrats are not doing is looking at themselves critically and acknowledging the fact that they have not been able to create support within their constituency for Israel at the same levels that the Republicans have,” he went on.

Democrats may claim to be pro-Israel but merely saying so doesn’t make it true, he argued. Indeed, “there is a large Democratic constituency right now that is not pro-Israel,” the US envoy said. “They have to acknowledge it, and they have to fix it, or try to fix it.”

In a wide-ranging interview in his new office at the US embassy in Jerusalem, Friedman, 59, also discussed the administration’s upcoming peace proposal, as well as his thinking on the two-state solution, the legality of West Bank settlements and what he believes should happen to Palestinian refugees seeking to “return” to Israel.
White House 'welcomes' Israeli position on settlements, amid expansion
The Trump administration declined on Wednesday to specifically condemn Israel's approval of over 2,000 new settler homes to be constructed in the West Bank, despite noting of the president's past statements discouraging future settlement growth.

Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has characterized Israeli construction in the West Bank as "unhelpful" to the pursuit of peace. In his first month in office, he asked Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to hold back on construction approval.

But since that time, the Netanyahu government has approved over 10,000 new homes for Israeli settlers– an unprecedented pace of activity.

"The president has made his position on new settlement activity clear, and we encourage all parties to continue to work towards peace," a National Security Council spokesperson said. And "the Israeli government has made clear that going forward, its intent is to adopt a policy regarding settlement activity that takes the president’s concerns into consideration."

"The United States welcomes this," the official added. "As the president has said repeatedly, the Administration is firmly committed to pursuing a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Joe Wilson Invited Dems to Jerusalem Embassy Opening– Not One Said Yes
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who led the official House delegation that attended the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem, confirmed that he personally invited Democrats to join the official Congressional trip to Israel for the May 14th ceremony.

Speaking to Breitbart News, Wilson stated categorically that there is “no question” that Democratic Congressmen were invited by his office to travel with the delegation for the event. Wilson said he made it a point try to put together a bipartisan delegation to attend the Jerusalem embassy opening.

In the end, not a single currently serving Democratic lawmaker went to the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Democrats were also a no-show for an Israeli embassy celebratory event in Washington several hours after the U.S. Embassy opening ceremony in Israel.

A letter from Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was addressed to President Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, complaining that they received “no invitation from the White House to participate in the official delegation to visit Jerusalem for this moment of historic occasion.”
Czech Republic Reopens Honorary Consulate in Jerusalem
The Czech Republic on Tuesday reopened its honorary consulate in Jerusalem, after Czech President Milos Zeman said his country wishes to move the Czech embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, The Times of Israel reported.

Founded in the early 1990s, the Czech honorary consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the honorary consul.

Czech President Milos Zeman made the announcement at an event in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday last month. He said he hoped to see not only the relocation of the embassy but “many, many institutions: Czech Invest, Czech Trade, Czech Tourism, Czech Center,” which he vowed would all “be transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

The Czech Foreign Ministry in a statement issued on April 25 confirmed the move. “The Czech Republic has decided to open in May an honorary consulate in West Jerusalem, and before the end of the year a Czech (cultural) center, also in West Jerusalem,” the statement said. The final stage would be the moving of the embassy, for which no timetable was given.
PMW: PA Mufti echoes Hamas: Transferring land to "enemies" is "treason," a sin, and forbidden
The PA Mufti has announced that whoever transfers or sells Palestinian land to "the enemies" - i.e., Israelis - is a traitor and a sinner:

"Palestine, that includes within it Jerusalem, is waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law) land [and] it is forbidden by Shari'ah law to relinquish it or ease the transfer of ownership of it to enemies, because it is part of the Islamic public property. Granting ownership over Islamic territory or part of it to enemies is invalid and constitutes treason...
Whoever sells his land to his enemies or takes compensation for it sins, as in doing so he aids in the removal of Muslims from their homes."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2018]

Emphasizing that Jerusalem is an "Islamic waqf until Judgment Day" and that "no one has the right to relinquish it" or the Al-Aqsa Mosque, PA Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Hussein closely echoed the charter of the terror organization Hamas:
Palestinians say 500 prisoners in Israeli jails to start hunger strike
Approximately 500 Palestinians held in administrative detention in Israel are expected to go on hunger strike next week.

Palestinian Authority Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Karaka told "Palestine Voice" radio station on Thursday that the hunger strike will take place in an organized and gradual manner, and will constitute an escalation in the ongoing administrative detainees' protest which has so far involved boycotting Israeli courts.

Karaka said that prisoners are working to pressure Israel to end its policy of administrative detention, with Palestinian prisoners recently warning Israel of possible protests.

Earlier this month, an Israeli guard working at Eshel Prison was hospitalized after a Hamas prisoner poured boiling water from a kettle over him. During an inspection of the prisoner's cell, the perpetrator managed to boil water in an electric kettle and subsequently poured its contents over the guard's face and neck.
MEMRI: Columnist In Jordanian Government Daily Expresses Love And Admiration For Palestinian Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi: I Would Roll In The Dust Of Your Grave
On May 27, 2018, in his column in the Jordanian government daily Al-Rai, 'Abd Al-Hadi Raji Al-Majali wrote in love and praise of Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led the bus hijacking attack on Israel's coastal road on March 11, 1978, in which 35 Israeli citizens were killed, twelve of them children. In his column, in the form of a love letter to Mughrabi, Al-Majali describes how he raises in his children to be brave like her and how he longs to roll in the dust of her grave.

This is not the first time Al-Majali has extoled terrorist attacks against Israelis in his column. For example, on February 7, 2017, he heaped praise on the terrorist Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, who murdered an Israeli citizen in a drive-by shooting attack on January 9, 2018 and was later killed by Israeli security forces. In October 2015, during the wave of stabbing attacks perpetrated during the Al-Quds intifada, he published a column in which he addressed former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, writing: "Oh you who rest in Ramallah, it is now your privilege to smile a bit, because the seeds of the revolution that you sowed in the land of Palestine are now sprouting our sharp knives, and their blades are [stabbing] the head and the vein [of the Israelis]."
Russia tells Iran to immediately remove militias from Syrian-Israel border
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said foreign militias should leave southwestern Syria as soon as possible, state media outlet TASS reported.

Lavrov echoed comments he made earlier in the week when he said that only Syrian troops should be stationed in rebel-held Daraa province, a region adjacent to the Israeli border that has emerged as a flashpoint in a wider standoff between the Jewish state and Iran.

Israel has warned that Iran is trying to establish a presence near the border, and last month accused the Islamic Republic of firing a salvo of rockets at Israel from there. On Wednesday evening, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is scheduled to travel to Moscow for talks expected to focus on Iran and its forces in Syria.

On Monday, Lavrov told reporters that only Syrian troops should be near the country’s southern border with Jordan and Israel, indicating that Russia is receptive to Jerusalem’s demands that Iranian forces should be kept far from its borders.

“Of course, the withdrawal of all non-Syrian forces must be carried out on a mutual basis, this should be a two-way street,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow. “The result of this work which should continue and is continuing should be a situation when representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic’s army stand at Syria’s border with Israel.”
Report: Iranian forces, Hezbollah prepare to leave southern Syria
Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah, are preparing to withdraw from southern Syria against the backdrop of regional and international negotiations currently underway between the United States, Russia and Jordan over the war-torn country's future, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday.

Specifically, the London-based organization reported, Iran and Hezbollah are planning to withdraw forces from the Dara and Kuneitra areas near Israel's northern border.

The report comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Monday that the Syrian army should be the only force on the southern border of the country.

"All the forces that are not Syrian should withdraw, and there must be a situation in which only the forces of the Syrian army will be stationed on the Syrian side of the border with Israel," Lavrov said.
Assad denies presence of Iranian forces in Syria, but acknowledges advisers
Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday denied the presence in his country of any Iranian troops.

Much of Iran’s infrastructure in Syria has been set up on Syrian military bases, Israel says, and the IDF has frequently hit Syrian air defenses during strikes on Iranian targets.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Air Force carried out its biggest operation in Syria in 40 years when it attacked more than 50 Iranian targets in response to an Iranian rocket barrage at the Golan Heights, amid warnings from Jerusalem that it would not tolerate Tehran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily on Israel’s northern border.

But according to Assad, Iran’s presence in his country is limited to an advisory capacity.

In a wide-ranging interview with Russia’s RT television, Assad said that “not a single Iranian” but rather “tens of Syrian martyrs” had been killed in recent Israeli airstrikes on his country and that claims to the contrary were “a lie.”
Surprise: Watchdog Group Discovers Secret Iranian Missile Site Hidden in Remote Desert Location
This story broke before the long weekend, but because the corresponding news cycle was fraught screaming about NFL anthem kneeling regulations, it largely got lost in the culture war cacophony. One of the fundamental flaws of the Iran nuclear deal -- from which President Trump has withdrawn the United States, correctly, in my view -- is that the regime in Tehran simply is not a reliable partner. Even if they were to technically abide by every one of the West's temporary restrictions (it must be noted that they have not done so scrupulously, and provably lied from the very beginning), the Iranians would emerge from their decade-plus stay in the global penalty box as a cash-flush threshold nuclear-armed power, thanks to the accord's extraordinary and lopsided concessions.

President Obama has effectively admitted as much, just as he's allowed that the regime has almost certainly exploited its new financial windfall to finance terrorism, and has breached the "spirit" of the agreement through its ongoing pursuit of technology to deliver the nuclear weapons they continue to covet. And now we can add even more clandestine treachery to the rap sheet, via the New York Times:

When an explosion nearly razed Iran’s long-range missile research facility in 2011 — and killed the military scientist who ran it — many Western intelligence analysts viewed it as devastating to Tehran’s technological ambitions. Since then, there has been little indication of Iranian work on a missile that could reach significantly beyond the Middle East, and Iranian leaders have said they do not intend to build one. So, this spring, when a team of California-based weapons researchers reviewed new Iranian state TV programs glorifying the military scientist, they expected a history lesson with, at most, new details on a long-dormant program. Instead, they stumbled on a series of clues that led them to a startling conclusion: Shortly before his death, the scientist, Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, oversaw the development of a secret, second facility in the remote Iranian desert that, they say, is operating to this day...
In Iran's Water Crisis, Tehran Sows the Seeds of Its Own Decline
“I have returned” to Iran, tweeted a newly appointed environmental official charged with resolving the country’s water crisis, “with the hope of creating #hope.” Within months, however, that hope evaporated – and he found himself arrested, interrogated, and facing a government-coordinated smear campaign.

Kaveh Madani, a Western-educated Iranian water expert, formally resigned in April in the wake of spurious charges of disloyalty to the Islamist regime. The rise and fall of the deputy head of Iran’s Department of the Environment not only reflects Tehran’s chronic mismanagement of its water resources. Rather, it also mirrors the years-long drought of talent in Iran, which continues to face a spiraling “brain drain” as its citizens flee the regime’s repressive rule.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Born in Tehran in 1981, Madani first left the country after college, obtaining a master’s degree in water resources from Sweden’s Lund University and a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California. He quickly gained a global reputation for his research and expertise. He won prestigious awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the European Geosciences Union. He conducted a TedX talk about global water scarcity. He appeared in Al Jazeera and BBC documentaries. He received a professorship at Imperial College London.
Journalist who faked death had come to Israel after fleeing Russia
The Ukrainian journalist who faked his own death as part of a bizarre plot to collar those seeking to kill him briefly lived in Israel after fleeing Russia.

Arkady Babchenko, a critic of the Kremlin, was said to have been shot dead in his apartment building in the capital city of Kiev on Tuesday. Ukraine blamed Russia for the “death” of Babchenko, but on Wednesday brought him out, alive, during a press conference, announcing that the ruse had been designed to thwart an assassination plot.

Babchenko, whose maternal grandmother is Jewish, reportedly fled from Russia to the Czech Republic, Israel and finally Ukraine in 2017 after death threats were made against him over reporting and a Facebook post critical of the Russian regime.

Babchenko wrote on Facebook in early 2017 that he came under threat for a post in which he noted following a plane crash that killed members of a Russian military choir on their way to Syria that he was not sorry because Russia was carrying out airstrikes in Aleppo.

He was in the Czech Republic until May 30, but left after apparent visa issues, and Facebook posts throughout June show him in Tel Aviv.

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Algerian newspaper defends its antisemitic cartoons

The US State Department, in its annual human rights report, says in its section on Algeria:

In August the private newspaper, Echourouk El Youmi published a cartoon depicting a Jewish man with a Star of David on his sleeve clutching the surface of a globe, appearing to promote stereotypes of Jewish world domination. Also in August, Echourouk El Youmi published an article claiming that Jews had been plotting against Muslims for centuries, that Jews were responsible for most of the disasters that have befallen Muslims, and that Jews controlled the media, cinema, art, and fashion.
A columnist in that same newspaper is very upset at the allegations - and proves how antisemitic he is.

Rachid Ould Bouceifa writes about the Jews of Algeria as if they were never part of the country to begin with, and then complains that they took the side of the French. Proof of this is that after Algeria gained independence. most Jews emigrated to France. It couldn't have had anything to do with how they were treated, right?

He adds how some Jews blackmailed Arabs in Algeria.

And then he says that the cartoons are not antisemitic, ridiculing the idea that one cannot make fun of Jews in a symbolic way by means of caricature (I guess he means that everyone knows that Jews aren't literally holding the entire planet in their hands, duh.)

Bouceifa is also upset at the idea that antisemitism is even looked upon as a human rights issue. The very idea that someone would be concerned over it shows that Jews position themselves as being somehow superior to other humans.




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Arab Organization of Human Rights mildly chides Abbas for his siege of Gaza


The Arab Organization of Human Rights issues what appear to be weekly press statements, usually condemning Israel for something or other.

This week was no different.

But buried within the items calling on the ICC to prosecute Israel and for the world to boycott Israel one sees this:

The International Legal and Communication Committee calls on the Palestinian President and the Government to immediately begin lifting the punitive and illegal measures imposed on the Gaza Strip and taking the necessary measures to support the steadfastness of the citizens and secure a decent life for them.
While this is mild language an purposefully vague as to exactly what Mahmoud Abbas is doing (limiting fuel, medicines, salaries, goods, paperwork for Gazans to travel to the West Bank) it is interesting to see that it calls his actions "illegal."

A tiny drop in the tsunami of hate.

As far as I can tell, the AOHR isn't concerned about any Arab human rights issues except in Palestinian areas. 


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Online poll shows Palestinians consider Arab leaders more of a danger to them than Israel or US



An online poll at Ma'an Arabic asked its Palestinian readers who the most dangerous and most hostile leaders are towards their cause.

Nearly 85% said that Arab leaders "who were striving to normalize with the occupation" are the most dangerous and hostile ones, with the remaining 15% divided in their anger at Trump and "the government of settlers and Zionist extremists."

This poll was taken after the US Embassy moved to Jerusalem.

It is not a scientific poll by any means but it does give an indication of how, despite the PR successes from the Gaza riots, the Palestinians feel more isolated than ever before.

The Arab world has been fed up with Palestinian refusal to make peace with Israel as well as the continuing Hamas/Fatah split for a decade now, and this has not gone unnoticed among Palestinians, even as this story is still woefully underreported in Western media.


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Wednesday, May 30, 2018

BDS, JVP Frustrated By Inability To Make NBA Finals About Palestine (PreOccupied Territory)


Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory. 

Check out their Facebook page.


NBA logoOakland, May 20 - Activists accustomed to co-opting every popular issue or cause for anti-Israel advocacy purposes have admitted hitting a metaphorical wall in attempting to do the same with the championship basketball series between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Representatives of Jewish Voice for Peace and local advocated of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement against Israel disclosed to reporters today that despite intense efforts to associate the climax of the National Basketball Association's 2017-2018 season with Palestinian aspirations to destroy Israel, they have enjoyed no noticeable success. Members of the groups attributed the failure to multiple factors.

"It might have been different if [the] Houston [Rockets] or Boston [Celtics] had made the finals," surmised Reem Assil, a restaurateur and Palestine activist in the Warriors' hometown. "As it is, though, this is just a rematch of last year's series, so it's not as compelling a story to hijack. Not as much buzz."

"Also we no longer have the Israelis associated with each team who could have served as lightning rods for our efforts," noted Pardi Pupr, a leader of the Berkeley chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. "Omri Casspi isn't on the Warriors anymore, which in itself is good news, but paradoxically, that deprives us of a figure on whom to focus our venom and make any connection with the cause. The same goes for David Blatt, who no longer coaches the Cavs. Without those two, it becomes much harder to find an emotionally resonant way to show everyone everything is really about us."

Academics in the San Francisco Bay area cited another factor. "My colleagues and I have been advising student activists how to handle this, and we realized one of the important reasons for the challenge," explained SFSU Professor of Gender Studies Hugh Briss. "Specifically, it's that neither of these two teams is a clear underdog. Both are recent champions and have been more or less unbeatable during the regular season. Fighters for justice in Palestine don't really have a way to depict one team as parallel to the plucky, underdog  and therefore virtuous, Palestinians, and the other as the more powerful, and therefore evil, Israel."

Other activists perceived actual human intent behind the frustration. "The head of the NBA is a Jew," stated Stephanie Lind, a sophomore at UC-Berkeley and a member of the campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. "Adam Silver obviously set things up so no one would be able to bring any important issues into the arena. We see the same thing with the NFL and kneeling, and the unjust way in which the owners, many of whom are Jewish, manipulate things to the detriment of justice."


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05/30 Links Pt1: Glick: There is No Peace Plan That Would Satisfy Palestinians; Hamas must choose between war or peace; Terrorist funerals – glorification and incitement by the PA

From Ian:
Caroline Glick: There is No Peace Plan That Would Satisfy Palestinians
Two recent Palestinian developments show that peace plans, no matter how well-intentioned, are both doomed to fail and counterproductive.

First, there are Hamas’s concerted efforts to swarm Gaza’s border with Israel.

Since late March, Hamas has massed terrorists interspersed with civilians along the border. It has made repeated efforts – many successful – to destroy Israel’s border fence and penetrate Israeli territory. Hamas terror operatives have destroyed thousands of acres of Israeli farmland with incendiary devices flown over the border on kites and drones.

During operations to protect its territory, Israeli military forces have killed some one hundred Palestinians — the vast majority affiliated with the Hamas terror organization. Early Hamas reports of mass civilian casualties were later retracted.

For the U.S., the main strategic implication of Hamas’s ongoing operation is that the terror group, sponsored by both Iran and Turkey, is firmly in control of Gaza.

With Gaza operating as a miniature Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at war against Israel and Egypt — America’s two most powerful Middle East allies – the notion that there is any chance of achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians is absurd.

If the Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs an autonomous Palestinian regime in Judea and Samaria (otherwise known as the West Bank) were ever to strike a deal with Israel, two things would happen. First, the Hamas regime in Gaza would open major hostilities against Israel. And second, the thousands of Hamas operatives in Judea and Samaria would immediately rise up against the PA.

In other words, so long as Hamas controls Gaza, it has the power to veto any peace deal, and it can be expected to use its power to achieve that goal.

The second development in recent weeks that lays bare the futility of any prospective U.S. push for peace is the medical condition of PA leader-for-life Mahmoud Abbas.

On Monday, Abbas was released from his third hospitalization this month. He was being treated for pneumonia. Although he walked out of the hospital with no assistance, and announced he would be returning to work the following day, Israeli and Palestinian officials acknowledge quietly that the 83-year-old leader, with a history of heart disease and prostate cancer, is not long for this world.

Abbas served as Yassir Arafat’s deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for forty years before succeeding Arafat in power after his death in 2004. Like Arafat before him, Abbas controls all the power centers in the PA. He serves as chairman of the PLO, chairman of the PLO’s ruling Fatah party, and as chairman of the PA. He was elected to the latter position for a four-year team in 2005. He controls the international donor funds and the American- and European-trained-and-financed Palestinian security services.
PMW: Terrorist funerals – glorification and incitement by the PA
The Palestinian Authority's practice of glorifying terrorists is a daily occurrence, well documented by Palestinian Media Watch. Funerals of terrorists provide an additional opportunity for the PA to laud them as heroes and often set the scene for incitement.

To combat this phenomenon, Israel's government decided that, as a general rule, the bodies of terrorists would not be transferred to their families, but rather buried in designated cemeteries in Israel.

In a rare divergence from this policy, in February this year, the bodies of two Palestinian terrorists - Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Jamal, murderer of 3 Israelis, and Hamza Zamaarah who after serving 14 years in prison for previous terror offences, attempted to stab an Israeli security guard - were transferred to their families.

The release of their bodies resulted in mass glorification of these terrorists.

During its coverage of the funeral of terrorist Al-Jamal, PA TV praised him as a "Martyr" who "ascended to Heaven" when he was killed during his attack:

Official PA TV narrator: "In an atmosphere of sadness and grief, masses of our people accompanied the body of 37-year-old Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal to his final resting place... Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal ascended [to Heaven] on Sept. 26, [2017] while carrying out an operation (i.e., terror attack) at the entrance to the settlement called Har Adar, during which 3 occupation army soldiers were killed. Since then his body was kept [by Israel], until he returned today borne on his friends' shoulders to embrace his town's soil and join the processions of Martyrs." [Official PA TV News, Feb. 17, 2018]



Hamas must choose between war or peace
Israeli defense officials debated the intensity of ‎Israel's response, but it was widely believed that ‎decisive action was needed to make it clear to Hamas ‎that a red line had been crossed. ‎

From a public diplomacy standpoint, Israel placed ‎responsibility for the escalation in the south on ‎Hamas, which controls Gaza, and on Iran, ‎which sponsors it and spurs it into action. ‎Islamic Jihad was also condemned to a lesser ‎degree, despite its direct involvement. Israel was careful and sought to avoid Palestinian ‎casualties as much as possible. ‎

The Israeli response was meant mostly to give Hamas the necessary ‎leeway to contain the situation before it spirals ‎out of control. Naturally, the IDF is ready for ‎that to happen, but it still prefers to avoid a ‎wide-ranging military campaign if possible.‎

Egypt and Qatar played roles as brokers Tuesday, to little effect. The decision of where to go ‎from here remains in Hamas' hands. If it mounts a ‎minor response to the IAF's strikes in Gaza, Israel will be able to pull back. But if the mortar ‎and rocket salvos continue, the IDF will retaliate ‎forcibly and things could easily deteriorate from ‎there. ‎

The prevailing view in Israel is that Hamas has no ‎interest in such escalation, but its conduct ‎currently is confused and erratic, which is a recipe for ‎mistakes. ‎

Even if an escalation is avoided, this ‎is hardly the end of the story. Gaza is on the ‎brink of eruption for a variety of reasons, most ‎notably the dire economic and humanitarian ‎situation, coupled with growing political and ‎political frustration. Given Hamas' failure to ‎provide Gazans with any solutions, it can go on one ‎of two paths: a cease-fire or war. Both options are still on the table.‎
After 130 rockets fired from Gaza, Israelis wake to tentative calm
Palestinian militants launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war on Tuesday and Israeli aircraft struck back, in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence.

Following scores of militant rocket and mortar launches throughout the day countered by Israeli tank fire and air strikes, the pro-Iran Islamic Jihad militant group said late Tuesday night that an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement had been implemented, but Israel said reports of a deal were untrue.

"Palestinian factions will abide by calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab said. An Israeli official who declined to be named said, "The report about a ceasefire is incorrect."

According to Palestinian media reports Wednesday morning, a ceasefire was put in place around 5 a.m., although this has not been confirmed by the Israelis. Sirens which had been blaring regularly throughout the night, petered off as day broke in the region. As a result of the cautious calm, Israeli schools in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip are open and operating normally.

Israeli sirens warning of imminent rocket and mortar strikes sounded all throughout the night in communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. Most of the projectiles were either intercepted by Israel's advanced Iron Dome missile defense system or landed in open fields. In one case, however a home in the city of Netivot was directly hit, but no one was injured. In response to the fire, Israeli aircraft hit 55 militant targets in the Palestinian coastal enclave, including a cross-border tunnel under construction, the military said.

Defense official: Mortar fire on Israel stopped by extensive IDF strikes
The rocket and mortar fire from Gaza has ceased because of significant strikes that the IDF carried out overnight in Gaza, a senior source in the Israeli defense establishment said Wednesday.

“The IDF launched a significant strike overnight in Gaza and we have acted responsibly, and since the morning the fire has stopped. Israel has delivered a message that if the fire resumes, the attacks on Hamas and the other groups will intensify,” he said.

“In recent months, Israel has acted with force and determination against any attempt to violate its sovereignty and/or harm the security of the residents of the south and it will continue to act with force against any attempt to violate the peace,” he said.

Palestinian media quoted Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhom as saying a “consensus was reached to return to the ceasefire understandings” in the Gaza Strip after “many hours” of meditation.

Israel’s Reshet Bet reported that over 180 rockets and mortars were launched towards Israeli civilian areas, and earlier on Wednesday the IDF released an infographic of 65 airstrikes carried against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the over 24 hours of fire launched from the enclave.




After night of rockets, 75% of Israeli children show at Gaza area schools
Seventy-five percent of children in Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip showed up at school by 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, despite a sleepless night of sirens due to rocket and mortar barrages fired by Palestinian terrorists.

“It was not an easy night for the residents here,” Education Minister Naftali Bennett said at a news conference outside a primary school in the Sha’ar Hanegev region. “Between midnight and the early hours of the morning, there was a series of Code Red sirens and running to the shelters.

“I also spent the night at a family home in one of the communities, and I experienced this white night myself. It’s not easy, and yet 75% of the students have come to school, and I hope more will come later.”

“The heated situation on the Gazan side is neither accidental nor local,” he said. “The mastermind is an Iranian one, and the hands are of Hamas operatives. The State of Israel is engaged in a focused and consistent campaign against the head of the octopus in Iran. The octopus is operating its arms in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza to harm the State of Israel.
After night in bomb shelter, family wakes up to discover porch hit by rocket
An Israeli family near the Gaza border awoke on Wednesday morning to discover their porch had suffered a direct hit from a rocket fired from the coastal enclave.

Naomi and Roni Fletcher had spent the night in the fortified room of their home in the Eshkol region. When they stepped into their garden in the morning, they found a crater from a rocket that caused significant damage to a shed adjacent to the house, Naomi Fletcher told Hadashot television.

The rocket impact caused a meter-wide hole in the floor and destroyed nearby garden furniture.

“Sometime overnight a rocket apparently fell at my house,” she said. “My husband and I were home without the kids. At first I went to sleep in my bed, next to where the rocket fell.”

“When the [rocket alert] siren went off at 11 p.m., my husband said we weren’t going to be able to sleep if we had to wake up every time [a rocket was launched from Gaza], so we went to sleep in the secure room,” she added.
White House condemns ‘destructive violence’ of Gaza volleys
The Trump administration on Tuesday condemned the Gazan attack on Israel that began in the early hours and continued through the evening.

One official called the attacks “reprehensible,” while another told The Jerusalem Post that they justified “preventative” measures taken by the Israeli military – actions previewed earlier by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed a response to the worst day of projectile fire on the South since the 2014 Gaza War (Operation Protective Edge).

“We are aware of numerous mortar attacks on Israel today and are closely monitoring the situation, ” a National Security Council spokesman told the Post. “ We call on those launching the attacks to cease this destructive violence.

“We fully support Israel’s right to self-defense,” the official added, “and to take action to prevent such provocations.
U.S. calls UN Security Council meeting to condemn Gaza rockets
The United States called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday in New York to condemn the Gaza rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.

“The recent attacks out of Gaza are the largest we have seen since 2014. Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement she issue to the media.

“The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they’re allowing to happen in Gaza,” she said.

Earlier this month, the UNSC held an emergency meeting to blast Israel for using “excessive force” in combating the violent riots and infiltration attempts along its Gaza border that began on March 30.
International law: Valid justification or threat mechanism?
‘International law” has become a term commonly used by anti-Israel organizations. “In violation of international law” is what we hear in the media, in parliaments, and even in Israel’s Supreme Court. These words, which seem to require no further explanation or justification, have become employed to suggest, or downright assert, that the conduct of the IDF is illegal. But is this really the case?

In recent weeks, the State of Israel has been facing a new threat, in the form of a massive mob marching from Gaza toward the border fences and attempting to cross them, with cries of hate and calls for murder emanating from loudspeakers used by the march’s organizer, Hamas. Terrorists trying to breach the fence with bombs and attempting to harm, destroy and murder are carrying out their attacks daily, using a variety of methods, including flammable kites.

Hamas’s strategy, however, is not built on these terrorist tactics alone. Another, and perhaps even more significant aspect of the campaign is carried out in the public sphere and media by those that promote misinformation about Israel and its delegitimization around the world.

In a manner that proved itself very effective for terrorist campaigns in the past, several radical organizations recently petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice against the State of Israel and against the IDF’s protocols. Similar to the arguments made by various international voices on the events taking place on the Gaza border in recent weeks, “international law,” of course, was a significant part of their claims.

Given that “international law” seems to be the current motto used by anti-Israeli organizations to attack the IDF’s conduct, let us examine together some of the principles of international law relevant to this context.
Tom Gross: As UK government demands Israel investigation, why not first investigate 2017 UK bombing in Mosul?


IsraellyCool: Some Telling Reactions to the Rockets Raining Down on Israel
Since yesterday, over 130 rockets and mortar shells have been launched at Israel, the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since the 2014 war. One actually struck the yard of a kindergarten shortly before children were due to arrive.

Thankfully, no-one was killed, despite the intent of those firing them.

Yes, make no mistake about it: those firing the rockets are deliberately aiming at Israeli population centers, striving to cause mass casualties. At the same time, they know Israel will respond, and are hoping the response will involve the death of their own civilians. (To help that process along, they tend to fire their rocket launchers from civilian neighborhoods in Gaza).

There has actually been quite a bit of unequivocal condemnation without the usual “cycle of violence” palava.
For reporters covering Gaza, charges of bias overshadow the stories they witness and tell
Of the more than 60 deaths that occurred during the recent clashes between Israel and Palestinians at the Gaza border, none was as divisive as that of Layla Ghandour.

Ghandour, an 8-month-old girl, died after an uncle, himself only 12, brought her to the edge of the protest zone, where she was reported to have inhaled Israeli tear gas. Palestinians immediately raised Ghandour as a symbol of Israeli oppression, elevating the infant to the status of martyr and blaming the Israeli army for her death. Many Israelis, meanwhile, countered in angry social media posts that it was irresponsible to allow a child into what essentially was a war zone. Both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces issued statements, even as reports filtered out that the child had suffered from a preexisting heart ailment that may have contributed to her untimely death.

Prominent newspapers such as the Los Angeles and New York Times ran long features on Ghandour, probing the circumstances surrounding her death, describing how she had become a symbol and laying out the arguments of both sides. Others, especially tabloid papers such as Great Britain’s Daily Express and The Sun, didn’t hesitate to take sides, publishing headlines such as “Drones drop lethal canisters” and describing Israeli tear gas agents as “toxic gas.”

Ghandour became a pawn in a by-now-familiar game played whenever Israel and the Palestinians clash. Flareups follow a pattern in which initial impressions — and condemnations — are replaced by a more nuanced understanding of events as more information becomes available. Next come bitter partisan battles over what actually happened. Finally, among pundits, media critics, spokespeople and social media users, the discussion shifts from what happened to the credibility of the press itself.

“I wouldn’t say that the dispute over facts disappears from the conversation after a while,” said Christian Baden, senior lecturer at Hebrew University’s Department of Communication and Journalism, “but it becomes subordinate because the main story then is about how do we need to interpret and how do we need to react to events.”

Baden added: “It shouldn’t really be that difficult to determine what is happening and … it shouldn’t be that difficult to determine what is objectively the news, but it turns out that it is actually quite complex.”
Why Does a NY Times Journalist Want to Suppress an Anti-Hamas Article?
A New York Times journalist thinks the Wall Street Journal shouldn't have published an opinion piece criticizing Hamas's anti-Israel propaganda campaign. The reporter, Declan Walsh, is one of the Times reporters who has covered the recent clashes along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

The first to suggest the article should have been spiked was Gregg Carlstrom, a correspondent for The Economist:


Walsh concurred. "Fair question," he responded on Twitter.

What arguments does the Wall Street Journal piece make that are so egregious, so beyond the pale, that they prompted these two journalists to wish editors had suppressed it? And what exactly did the author of the Op-Ed, an Israeli army spokesman, say about journalists being "naive, incompetent apologists for terror"?

In fact, the piece was almost entirely focused on Hamas, its goals, and its propaganda. It charged Hamas leaders with lying when describing the Gaza demonstrations they organized as a "peaceful protest," and lamented that "much of the world simply fell for it." And it said that "some in the media helped Hamas by publishing its lies rather than facts."
BBC WS ‘Newshour’ coverage of Gaza mortar and rocket attacks
Still located in Jerusalem, Bateman returned to report on the same story in the evening edition of ‘Newshour’ (from 50:14 here). Presenter Julian Marshall stuck to the BBC’s editorial line by failing to inform listeners that over 80% of the people he portrayed simply as “Palestinians” were linked to terrorist groups.

Marshall: “And we go now to Israel’s border with Gaza: the scene earlier this month of mass protests during which more than a hundred Palestinians were killed by Israeli live fire. And there’s been a further upset of violence today with massive Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in response to a barrage of shells from Palestinian militants. I heard more from the BBC’s Tom Bateman in Jerusalem.”

Bateman began with the inaccurate claim that “sirens sounded across southern Israel” when in fact that they were initially confined to areas close to the border with the Gaza Strip.

Bateman: “Well it was early on Tuesday morning that…ah…rocket sirens sounded across southern Israel. There was then a…what Israel describes as a barrage of rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Now most of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. There were more than 25 fired all together but at least two landed in Israeli communities. Israel is saying one landed in the…in a kindergarten yard. There was no-one there at the time. And after this, which the Israeli military has described as…ehm…the biggest event of its kind from the Gaza Strip since the war in 2014, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised a forceful response and then around lunchtime for around three hours there were intensive Israeli airstrikes at locations across the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military says that they targeted more than 30 sites. I was speaking to colleagues in Gaza City. I mean there were incredibly loud explosions that could be heard from there and it appears these were targeting – as far as the Israelis were concerned – Hamas and Islamic Jihad military sites. They believe that most of the rocket and mortar fire had come from Islamic Jihad and from Hamas as well.”
BBC News website coverage of Gaza terrorists’ mortar attacks
Once again the BBC refrained from informing audiences of the purpose of Hamas’ cross-border tunnels in its own words:

“It said the tunnel stretched for 900m (3,000ft) under Israeli territory. It is the latest in a series of cross-border tunnels which Israel has destroyed or disabled since the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza war.

During that conflict, Israel destroyed more than 30 tunnels which it said were meant for attacks.”

Readers were told that:

“The Kerem Shalom crossing is a lifeline for Gaza, which has been under an Israeli, then Egyptian, blockade beginning in 2006 when Hamas militants attacked the crossing and kidnapped an Israeli soldier.”

In line with previous editorial policy, BBC audiences were not informed of the fact that serious damage has been done to that “lifeline” on three separate occasions this month by Palestinian rioters directed by Hamas. The BBC’s description of the location of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit lacks accuracy.

The BBC failed to inform its audiences that Hamas and the Iranian backed PIJ had claimed joint responsibility for the day’s attacks. No mention was made of the fact that equipment and lines supplying power to the southern Gaza Strip were damaged by the terror groups’ missile fire.

Despite the areas under attack being less than a two-hour drive away from the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau, once again the corporation’s audiences did not see any interviews with Israeli civilians affected by the terror attacks.
IsraellyCool: Lauren Booth Defends Hamas’ Right to Fire Rockets At Israeli Civilians
I guess there is nothing surprising about “journalist” Lauren Booth tweeting her support for the terrorists firing rockets at Israeli civilians, including kindergarten children:

She is, after all, a detestable terror supporter and Jew hater who pines for Israel’s destruction.

Ah yes, good times!

Then again, here I was thinking she blamed the terrorism on drugs.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Stabbing, Bus-Bombing, Arson-Committing, Plane-Hijacking, Car-Ramming, Firebomb-Throwing, Civilian-Shooting, Violence-Inciting Palestinians Don’t Know What Else To Do To Convince You They’re Innocent Victims (satire)
Frustrated Palestinians engaged in wanton destruction of Israeli property and in malicious violence toward Jews cannot think of other ways to demonstrate to the international community their unassailable status as pure victims of Israeli oppression.

Leaders of all the major factions in Palestinian society expressed deep vexation today following more than a century of futile effort at making a convincing case for their people’s unadulterated victimhood, confessing that other than hurling firebombs and rocks at Israeli motorists, hacking Israeli families and Rabbis to death, blowing up Israeli buses, hotels, and restaurants with bombs, burning Israeli fields and woodland, destroying Israeli farming equipment and facilities, killing Israelis in gun attacks, driving motor vehicles into Israeli pedestrians, and other deadly avenues for venting discontent, they remain unable to identify behaviors that might drive home the argument.

Major Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine figures told PreOccupied Territory in separate telephone conversations Wednesday that they remain at a loss to come up with alternatives to their chosen courses of violent action over the last hundred years that would provide conclusive evidence for the world that they must intervene in the Palestinians’ favor, as the latter have done nothing to provoke or explain their treatment at the hands of Jews during that time.

“We’re at sixes at sevens over this,” admitted Saeb Erekat of Fatah. “None of us knows what else to do. We’ve basically tried everything in the world. We’ve tried glorifying murder; we’ve tried paying murderers and their families lifetime pensions; we’ve even named institutions and streets after murderers. What is our people supposed to do to highlight our innocence and virtue, other than try to kill as many Jews as possible in as gruesome a manner as possible at every possible opportunity except when a strategic pause might allow us to kill even more, and more easily, later? It’s not a fair situation we’ve been given.”
As Europe’s Foreign Ministers Debate Gaza, Time to Demand Justice for Kidnapped Israeli Soldiers Still Held by Hamas
Yesterday, Europe’s foreign ministers met to discuss the recent violence on Israel’s border with Gaza. The working lunch concluded without the release of a joint statement, suggesting diverging opinions. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: While Ireland, for example, has expressed concern over Israel’s use of force, the Czech Republic has called Hamas’s attempts to rush the fence a form of terrorism. But while consensus eludes Europe’s finest diplomats, on one matter they ought to stand firmly united: It’s time to bring Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul back home.

Goldin, an IDF lieutenant, was abducted and almost certainly murdered by Hamas terrorists infiltrating Israel via a terror tunnel on August 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire, brokered by the U.S. and the UN, took hold. Reacting to this blatant violation of an internationally sanctioned agreement, then Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement, condemning “in the strongest possible terms today’s attack, which led to the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the apparent abduction of another. It was an outrageous violation of the ceasefire negotiated over the past several days, and of the assurances given to the United States and the United Nations. Hamas, which has security control over the Gaza Strip, must immediately and unconditionally release the missing Israeli soldier, and I call on those with influence over Hamas to reinforce this message.”

Against the ruling of the Geneva Conventions and the dictates of basic human decency, Goldin’s body is still held hostage by Hamas, as is that of Shaul, killed and kidnapped by the terrorist organization a few weeks earlier, in July of 2014. Ghoulishly, the terrorist organization occasionally releases songs in Hebrew, taunting the Goldin and Shaul families that they’ll never get to reunite with their fallen sons.
Tom Gross: Should the UK now move its embassy to Jerusalem? Will it help peace?


Tom Gross: On Gaza, Mosul, Jerusalem, Trump, Britain and anti-Semitism (May 29, 2018)


Israel green-lights 2,000 settlement homes; half are outside blocs
A view of construction in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on January 26, 2017. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

The Defense Ministry committee responsible for authorizing settlement construction advanced plans for nearly 2,000 homes in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Of the 1,957 homes green-lighted by the Civil Administration’s High Planning subcommittee, 696 gained final approval for construction while 1,262 cleared an earlier planning stage known as a “deposit.”

Roughly half of the homes advanced will be located in isolated settlements, outside the so-called settlement blocs that most Israeli leaders argue will remain part of the Jewish state in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

Among the plans that gained final approval for construction was a 102-home project in the South Hebron Hills settlement of Negohot.
Palestinian arrested near West Bank settlement; handgun found in car
Handgun discovered in Palestinian man's car near a West Bank settlement on May 30, 2018. (Israel Police)

Border police officers arrested a Palestinian man on Wednesday after they discovered a handgun hidden in his car near the Israeli settlement of Shilo, north of Jerusalem, police said.

The man was driving in a way officers described as “suspicious” in the early hours of the morning.

Officers, who stopped the car and searched it, discovered the Colt-style handgun, along with several magazines and a holster for the pistol, hidden in the vehicle’s gearbox.

The man who is in his 40s, is a resident of Nablus, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of Shiloh.

On Tuesday, two Palestinians broke into an empty house in the Har Bracha settlement. Israeli soldiers opened fire on the Palestinians, injuring one of them in the lower body and then capturing him. The second one fled and was later arrested, police said.
Croatia blocks extradition of suspect in Hamas engineer's death
Mohamed Zaouari, 49, was killed in a hail of bullets outside his house in the Tunisian city of Sfax in December of 2016.

"The Supreme court accepted the appeal of the suspect... and rejected the request for extradition from the Republic of Tunisia," the court said in a statement quoted by AFP.

At a hearing on May 8, the lower court said it had established that "legal preconditions" had been met for the extradition of Alen Camdzic, 46, who has been named by local media.

The final decision will be made by the justice minister.

Camdzic was arrested in Croatia on March 13 on an international warrant and has been held in custody since, the court in Velika Gorica, near Zagreb, said in a statement.

His arrest was announced by Tunisian prosecutors who said they believed that two people with Bosnian passports had carried out the killing.

The second suspect, Elvir Sarac, was briefly detained in Sarajevo earlier this week but released when a court refused to hand him over to Tunisia, saying there was no extradition deal between the countries.

Hamas said two days after Zaouari’s death that he was a member of the organization's military wing and one of the leaders of its drone program. The group at the time also blamed Israel for his death.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Joint List MK Not Saying Killing Jews Legitimate, But Killing Jews Legitimate (satire)
A prominent legislator from the mostly-Arab alliance of parties in the Knesset stopped short of calling mortar and rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli communities an acceptable course of action for Palestinians, but insisted mortar and rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli communities is an acceptable course of action for Palestinians.

MK Haneen Zoabi, who has in the past courted controversy for staunch anti-Israel rhetoric, sought to assuage concerns today that she had justified Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians such as the mortar attacks on Tuesday that included dozens of shells and injured 4 people, as well as hit a preschool just before the children arrived. Zoabi assured reporters that she should not be misunderstood as condoning or endorsing such wanton violence, while she merely sought to condone or endorse such wanton violence.

“I’m not saying it’s OK for Palestinians to resort to potentially deadly attacks against Israel under the rubric of ‘resistance to occupation,’ but it’s OK for Palestinians to target Israelis for deadly attacks as a form of legitimate resistance to occupation,” she stated this morning.

“Many right-wing allies of the war-criminal prime minister and in the media have tried to twist my words as if I am trying to side with those who deliberately target children and other noncombatants,” she continued. “Such bad actors distort what I have actually said and continue to say, which is that I support those who deliberately target children and other noncombatants as well as use their own children and noncombatants as human shields and hope those noncombatants get killed by IDF operations so Israel can be made to look evil for defending its citizens. I’m not saying Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state, but Israel should be dissolved as a Jewish state and reconstituted as a stat of all its citizens in which Jews eventually disappear. I hope I have made myself understood.”
Palestinian "Treason"
Ahmed Majdalani is now being accused by his own people of promoting "normalization" between Palestinians and Israel.

It is worth noting that those who took the decision to ban the PLO official Majdalani from entering Palestinian universities are living under the "moderate" Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, not under Hamas rule.

This is the same Palestinian Authority that receives funds from the US and EU. In other words, Americans and Europeans are funding Palestinians who are opposed to any form of "normalization" with Israel. If a PLO official's visit to a conference in Israel is labelled treason, what would happen to a Palestinian who signed a peace agreement with Israel?

The Palestinians' problem is not with a settlement or a checkpoint or a fence. They have a problem with the existence of Israel in any borders. Palestinians have still not come to terms with Israel's right to exist, period; this is the essence of the Israeli-Arab conflict. They see Israel as one big settlement that needs to be ripped out.
Lebanon charges officer for framing actor as Israel agent
A Lebanese court on Tuesday charged a high-ranking officer with "fabricating" evidence that a prominent actor and writer had been illegally conspiring with Israel, a judicial source told AFP.

Lebanon, which technically remains at war with its southern neighbor, upholds a boycott of Israeli products and of contact with its nationals.

Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Hajj "was charged with fabricating the case of collaboration with Israel brought against actor Ziad Itani, as well as hacking websites and inventing non-existent crimes", the judicial source said.

Hajj, who headed a unit in Lebanon's Internal Security Forces tasked with fighting cybercrime, was detained for questioning in March over suspicions she had enlisted the help of a hacker to fabricate conversations between Itani and an Israeli woman.

She remained in detention until Tuesday, and was released on the condition that she would continue to appear at the military tribunal for hearings, the source said.

The charges against her are yet another chapter in the strange case.
Hezbollah men, including commander, said killed in Syria strike blamed on Israel
A senior commander and other members of the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group were killed overnight in an Israeli airstrike, Sky’s Arabic-language channel reported Tuesday.

The strikes reportedly took place near the Syrian town of Al-Qusayr in the Homs district, close to the Lebanese border.

There was no Israeli comment on the report.

It cited sources saying the strikes destroyed a coordination center for operations and set fire to various places.

On Thursday, airstrikes attributed to the IDF destroyed Hezbollah munitions depots at the al-Qusayr airbase, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

“Six missiles were fired at the Daba’a military airport and surrounding area in the western sector of Homs province, targeting Lebanese Hezbollah weapons warehouses,” Rami Abd el-Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP, adding, “The missiles would have been fired by Israel.”

Daba’a is another name for the al-Qusayr airbase, and the surrounding area is known to be a stronghold for Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias. It was also reportedly struck by Israel in a raid during an exchange with Syrian and Iranian forces on May 10.
'Hezbollah chief's net worth is $250 million, mainly thanks to drugs'
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has amassed a net personal worth of around $250 million due to his organization's illegal drug smuggling operations, Al-Ittihad, an Arabic language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, reported on Monday.

According to the report, which relies on senior Lebanese government sources, the scope of Nasrallah's fortune was discovered within the framework of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation against Hezbollah – which aside from its designation as a terrorist organization also operates as one of the largest drug cartels in the world.

Due to economic sanctions the U.S. has reimposed on Iran and the massive reduction of Tehran's budget to Hezbollah, Al-Ittihad reported, compounded by the heavy financial toll exacted by involvement in the Syrian civil war, Nasrallah ordered an expansion of the organization's drug-related activities – which resulted in extensive financial gains for Hezbollah and a personal windfall for Nasrallah himself.

Nasrallah, the report continued, appointed his most trusted associates to closely oversee the organization's drug smuggling operations.
State Dept. on Afghan Anti-Semitism: Only 'One Jew' in Country, Trash Dumped at Jewish Cemetery
The last remaining Jewish citizen in Afghanistan finds himself among a small group of non-Muslim religious minorities who have become a target of a deadly persecution campaign at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the Taliban, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) mentions in a report released on Tuesday.

“There are small numbers of practitioners of other religions, including one Jew … Kabul’s lone synagogue remained inactive, and a nearby Jewish cemetery was utilized as an unofficial dump,” DOS notes in its International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, adding:

Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, and other non-Muslim minority groups reported continued harassment from some Muslims, although Hindus and Sikhs stated they were able to practice their respective religions in public. Christian groups reported public opinion remained hostile towards converts and to Christian proselytization. Christians and Ahmadi Muslims stated they continued to worship privately to avoid societal discrimination and persecution.

Besides the nation’s Shiite community, which makes up nearly a quarter of the population, the “other religious groups” in Afghanistan, “mainly Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais, and Christians, constitute less than 0.3 percent of the population.”

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