09/03 Link Pt1: Stabbing attack foiled near Hevron; PA mocks Belgium: Names two more schools after terrorist murderer; Iran admits to having 'worked closely' with Soros ~ EoZ

From Ian:

IDF soldiers and Border Police foiled an attempted terrorist attack near Givat Ha'avot in Kiryat Arba Monday.

The terrorist attacked the IDF force stationed there. The soldiers reacted quickly and shot the attacker, killing him.

No one was injured.

Last night, terrorists threw an explosive device at the Gilboa crossing in the Jenin area. There were no casualties and no damage was reported.

Earlier, during an IDF search of weapons found in the El-Gaza refugee camp at the Etzion Military Base, Arab rioters threw stones and explosive devices at soldiers who responded with riot control measures. There are no casualties.

PMW: PA mocks Belgium: Names two more schools after terrorist murderer

The Palestinian Authority continues to defy and mock its donors. Although donors have repeatedly condemned the PA's policy of naming schools and community centers after terrorists and murderers and have refused to fund them, the PA continues to name schools after terrorists. Occasionally the PA pretends to comply with donor demands to stop terror glorification. This is one of those cases.

This is how the PA deceives Europe and keeps the funding flowing:

Sept. 27, 2017: PMW exposes that PA named a Belgium-funded school after a terrorist murderer: "The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School"
Oct. 9, 2017: Belgium freezes funding of PA schools and demands name change
July 31, 2018: PMW notifies Belgium that the school is still named "The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School"
Aug. 10, 2018: Belgium reiterates that it "unequivocally condemns the glorification of terrorist attacks," through PA schools
Two weeks later, Aug. 23, 2018: PA removes terrorist's name from school and renames it: "The Belgian School"
Same day: Aug. 23, 2018: PA changes name of nearby school, The Beit Awwa Elementary School for Girls to The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School
Three days later, Aug. 26, 2018: PA adds insult to Belgium by naming a second school after the same terrorist murderer:
The Second Dalal Mughrabi Republic School

Summary of Belgium's sincere efforts:
Two schools - instead of one - in the Beit Awwa district of Hebron are now named after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi

Ben-Dror Yemini: A step in the right direction

The State Department prepared the report as required by the amendment, but during the administration of John Kerry as secretary of state and Barack Obama as president, the report became classified.

It can be assumed that the top echelon of the American administration did not want to cause a commotion when the actual number of refugees became known.

The official number of refugees according to UNRWA is 5.3 million. The actual number, without descendents, is between 20 and 30,000 people at most, because some of them have already been granted citizenship, for example in Jordan, and others have become financially established, so according to the UN definition they are not refugees.

Therefore the actual number of refugees, according to the conventional definition, stands at a few thousand. In any case, UN General Assembly Resolution 194 deals with them, and only them, and not with second- and third-generation descendants.

The so-called "Palestinian refugee problem" would have been resolved if only standard refugees procedures been implemented with the Palestinians as well.

The fear by security officials of a vacuum, that would be filled by Hamas, if UNRWA leaves the Gaza Strip, is a little strange, because in any case, in the recent elections for UNRWA institutions, in which nearly 11,500 of the organization's employees voted, the Hamas associated "Professional List" won a crushing victory. Despite all the denials, education at UNRWA institutions primarily produces Hamas activists.

The United States could have made the change in a slightly more coordinated fashion, but the direction is right. After almost 70 years of the big refugee scam, the time has come for a change.

The cessation of US aid will not cause the refugee problem to disappear. The transition from the fostering of refugees to their rehabilitation must be a gradual, coordinated international effort. But it is absolutely clear that as long as the organization is the main instrument for perpetuating the refugee problem and nurturing the return fantasy — UNRWA is the problem. Not the solution.

JPost Editorial: Cutting UNRWA

It is unrealistic to expect the Palestinians to give up their national aspirations. But as long as they feign perpetual victimhood – and, of course, inflate Israeli “crimes” beyond proportion – they view themselves as not having agency, and not being responsible for trying to improve their own lives, and the world agrees. Sweden, for example, pledged on Friday to transfer $206 million in un-earmarked funds over four years to UNRWA.

How can the Palestinians be expected to engage in state building if they refuse to take responsibility for themselves and are constantly holding their hand out to the world?

There is one legitimate concern about the US pulling out of funding UNRWA: that it will destabilize the West Bank. A senior IDF officer expressed concern to The Jerusalem Post’s Anna Ahronheim that if UNRWA schools shut down, those who would otherwise be in a classroom will start attacking Israelis. He also pointed out that children are more likely to participate in rock-throwing, which can be deadly.

While the concern is real, it is also tactical, as opposed to looking strategically at UNRWA’s role in the ongoing conflict.

And even if the agency is kept alive by donor countries such as Sweden and Jordan – which is pushing UN member states to increase their pledges – the fact that the US, once UNRWA’s biggest donor, is pulling out, sends a strong message.

And as the IDF officer told the Post: “Maybe something good will come out of [the cutting of funds] – and the Palestinians will learn to support themselves and not rely on others for everything.”

At Last, Some Moral Clarity on UNRWA

Trump is sticking to his policy of breaking the rules and adhering to the truth. While there are those who keep a running tally of the lies the president tells on a daily basis, Trump is able to correctly grasp the greater truths. UNRWA and the refugee story it supports serve to perpetuate the conflict by falsely claiming that there are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees.

According to the Middle East Forum, however, the number of refugees who fled Israel in 1948 and are still alive is closer to 20,000. UN mechanisms, together with Arab states and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, have prevented the absorption of these refugees in the countries to which they fled, thereby turning them into cannon fodder for the combative, vengeful policy they have adopted against the State of Israel.

In the initial stages, Trump’s move will likely contribute to regional instability.

But in the long run, it will force the Palestinians to undergo an internal and dramatic transformation that will see them invest in education instead of attack tunnels, terrorist activity, and missile production.

The American move asserts the exact opposite of what is accepted by the international community and some in the Israeli public: The Palestinians are responsible for the fact that there is no peace or settlement between Israel and the Palestinian side. It is the Palestinians who need to change their outlook and not the Israeli government, regardless of what former Pink Floyd singer and BDS activist Roger Waters or singer Lana Del Rey may think on the matter.

Israeli officials never wanted UNRWA funds slashed, ex-US envoy says

During the eight years of the Barack Obama administration Israeli officials were opposed to cutting off funds for the UN agency dealing with Palestinian refugees, former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said Monday.

Shapiro’s comments underline Jerusalem’s dramatic change of policy, coming after it full-throatedly welcomed the current US administration’s decision to cease all financial assistance to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees.

Shapiro said UNRWA was a frequent topic of discussion between Israeli and US officials, but while Jerusalem had pushed for reforming the organization, it never sought to have the US slash funds to the organization.

“Some of us in the administration agreed with Israeli complaints about UNRWA’s flaws and needs for reform,” Shapiro told The Times of Israel in an interview.

“Whenever the conversation proceeded, it was about the need for reform in UNRWA, the complaints — some of them very legitimate — about the structure of UNRWA, about some of what goes on in school and the way in which it helps perpetuate a myth of millions of refugees returning to Israel. But the question of actually cutting off US funding for it was never put forward by any Israeli official,” Shapiro said.

Jerusalem mayor vows to oust UNRWA from city

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said on Monday that he would push to expel the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency from the capital, amid an Israeli and American drive to marginalize the body.

Barkat accused the UN’s Relief and Works Agency of failing those in its care and instead inciting terror activity. He said that he had instructed city officials to prepare a plan for replacing all of UNRWA’s functions with municipal services and that he would present the scheme to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His comments came after, on Friday, the Trump administration announced it was cutting nearly $300 million in planned funding for UNRWA, and said that it would no longer fund the agency after decades of support. Instead, the US said, it would seek other channels by which to aid the Palestinians.

“Removing UNRWA will reduce the incitement and terror, will improve the services to residents, will increase the Israelization of the east of the city, and will contribute to the sovereignty and unity of Jerusalem,” Barkat said at a conference organized by the Hadashot TV news channel.

“UNRWA is a foreign and unnecessary entity that has failed utterly, and I intend to remove it from Jerusalem,” he said. “Every aspect of UNRWA is dysfunctional and failing.”

UNRWA Chief Defends Refugee Criteria for Millions of Palestinians

Millions of Palestinian refugees “cannot simply be wished away,” the head of a UN support agency said on Monday, hitting back at a US aid cutoff and allegations its work only perpetuates their plight.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza. Most are descendants of some 700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes or fled fighting in the 1948 war that surrounded to Israel’s founding.

The growing refugee count was cited by Washington, UNRWA’s biggest donor, in its decision last week to withhold funding, and has potential ramifications for the Palestinians’ pursuit of a right of return to land now in Israel.

Successive Israeli governments have ruled out such an influx, fearing the country would lose its Jewish majority.

“I express deep regret and disappointment at the nature of the US decision,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in an open letter to Palestinian refugees and the agency’s staff in which he pledged its operations would continue.

Appearing to echo Israel’s view that descendants of the 1948 refugees should not share that status, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert criticized UNRWA on Friday over its “endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries.”

Hamas: Trump is trying to eliminate refugee issue

Hamas' "Refugee Department" condemned the US' political "extortion," which it said is expressed in US President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate funding to UNRWA.

In a statement, the department said the decision proves the Trump administration's bias favoring the "Zionist side," warning that the decision would cause a deterioration in the "refugees'" humanitarian conditions.

Claiming the cuts are "an attempt to put an end to the refugee problem by eliminating funding to UNRWA," the statement emphasized that the "Palestinian nation's" commitment to its "legitimate rights, first and foremost the right of return, will not be weakened."

The refugee issue, it claimed, is a "Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, and humanitarian" issue which will remain despite the "plots" and until "Palestine is freed and we have returned to all of Palestine."

Hamas tunnels have been discovered under UNRWA schools, and weapons have been discovered stored in UNRWA facilities.

Israel to fund Hebron Jewish heritage activities with unpaid UNESCO dues

An explanatory text regarding the vote said it was a direct response to a 2017 UNESCO decision to add Hebron’s Old Town and the Cave of the Patriarchs onto the list of endangered World Heritage sites under the State of Palestine.

In designating the sites, UNESCO highlighted their Muslim history by focusing on the period from 1250 onwards rather than the more ancient Jewish biblical heritage.

UNESCO has also inscribed the Church of the Nativity and the ancient terraces of Battir to the state of Palestine.

Israel and the United States stopped paying their UNESCO dues in 2011, after the organization became the first UN organ to recognize Palestine as a member state.

As a result, both countries lost their UNESCO voting rights in 2013, but remained member states.

Both countries are expected to formally withdraw from UNESCO at the end of the year over anti-Israel bias, including resolutions disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and referencing the Temple Mount solely of by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.

BBC News reporting on US aid cut to UNRWA – part one

Likewise, the BBC did not attempt to explain to its audiences why some 2 million people who hold Jordanian citizenship are still defined as ‘refugees’ by UNRWA or why a similar number of people who live in areas under the control of either the Palestinian Authority or Hamas also continue to hold that status.

Readers of this report did however see a further six paragraphs of Palestinian messaging under the sub-heading “What does the Palestinian side say?” including uncritical amplification of statements from a person inaccurately described as “the Palestinian ambassador to Washington”.

“On Friday, the Palestinian ambassador to Washington, Hossam Zomlot, accused the US of “endorsing the most extreme Israeli narrative on all issues including the rights of more than five million Palestinian refugees”.

The US “is damaging not only an already volatile situation but the prospects for future peace”, he told AFP.”

With the BBC once again having failed to provide its audiences with the full range of information necessary for understanding of this story, readers would of course be unable to objectively assess Zomlot’s claims regarding the UN agency’s highly debatable role in contributing to “the prospects for future peace”.

On September 1st that report was replaced by a subsequent one which will be discussed in part two of this post.

BBC News reporting on US aid cut to UNRWA – part two

Once again the BBC failed to provide its audiences with a factual view of the background to this story that includes UNRWA’s gradual expansion of the term ‘refugee’ to include people who do not meet that description under its original mandate – as well as millions of people with Jordanian or Palestinian citizenship – and its failure to promote resettlement of refugees.

Readers were not told that UNRWA employs 30,000 members of staff to take care of 5.3 million registered clients while the UNHCR has fewer than 11,000 staff dealing with 17.2 million refugees in 130 countries and they were not given an explanation as to why refugee camps still exist in areas long under the control of either the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.

Perhaps most importantly, BBC audiences were not told that UNRWA’s seventy-year perpetuation and exacerbation of the Palestinian refugee issue does nothing to contribute to the prospects of the peaceful solution to the conflict supposedly backed by most Western nations – including the UK – as Einat Wilf explains:

“Why does this matter for peace? Because if millions of Arabs who are citizens of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, or inhabitants of Syria and Lebanon, claim to be refugees from what is today Israel, even though they were never born there and never lived there, and demand that as a result of this refugee status they be given the right to relocate to Israel (‘the right of return’), then the whole basis for peace by means of two states for two people crumbles. If Israel with its 6 million Jews and more than 1.5 million Arabs has to absorb between 5 and 8 million Palestinians then the Jews will be relegated again to living as a minority among those who do not view them as equals; the only country in which the Jews are a majority and can exercise their right to self-determination would be no more.”

Pentagon cuts aid to Pakistan

The US military will cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan after the country failed to act against insurgents, Reuters reported.

According to Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner, the decision is "due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy."

He noted that the money will now be spent on "other urgent priorities," pending Congress' approval, and noted that Congress had stripped Pakistan of $500 million earlier this year.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Pakistan could regain the funding if it began going after insurgents.

Currently, Pakistan denies that it harbors insurgents who are fighting in Afghanistan.

One Pakistani official told Reuters that a formal US decision on aid had yet to be issued, but that he expected an announcement by the end of September.

Rivlin: Confederation with Palestinians may be ‘momentous opportunity’ for peace

President Reuven Rivlin expressed support for a confederation, reportedly floated by the United States in talks with Ramallah, as a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Speaking at a conference organized by Hadashot TV news, Rivlin said Monday such a solution could be “a momentous opportunity” to achieve trust between Israel and the Palestinians.

“We need to find a way to live together, and life together could certainly be in a confederation,” he said without giving further details.

Jordan on Sunday rejected the proposal, allegedly floated by US administration officials, calling for the creation of a Palestinian-Jordanian-Israeli confederation. Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said that joining the kingdom with the West Bank — the bulk of the area that Palestinians want for a future state and that has been controlled by Israeli since 1967 — is not on the table.

Word of the alleged US offer first came from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who told a delegation of Israeli peace activists earlier on Sunday that he would be interested in a tripartite confederation with Jordan and Israel, according to the peace activists and a Palestinian official.

Jordan rejects alleged US proposal for confederation with Palestinians

Jordan on Sunday rejected a proposal, allegedly floated by US administration officials, calling for the creation of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.

Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said that joining the kingdom with the West Bank — the bulk of the area Palestinians want for a future state and controlled by Israeli since 1967 — is not a matter that is open for discussion.

In comments reported by the Khaberni news agency, Ghneimat said that “discussing the idea of a confederation with the regions of the West Bank is not possible.”

She clarified that Jordan’s position, which is based on the two-state solution of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, is fixed and clear.

But Nabil Abu Rudeinah, the official spokesman of the Palestinian Authority presidency, said that the idea of a confederation has been on the agenda of the Palestinian leadership since 1984.

However, the Palestinian spokesperson signaled that a two-state solution is a prerequisite for any future arrangement with Jordan, reported Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news agency.

PA: 'Palestine' first, then 'confederation'

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, responded on Sunday to reports that the Trump administration had proposed the establishment of a “confederation” between the PA and Jordan as part of a solution to the Israel-PA conflict.

Abu Rudeineh asserted that the idea of the confederation has been on the agenda of the Palestinian leadership since 1984, and that the PA leadership's position from that time until now stresses that the two-state solution is the prelude to the special relations with Jordan.

The leftist Peace Now organization claimed earlier on Sunday that Abbas said that representatives of the Trump administration suggested the PA form a confederation with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

According to sources within the organization, Abbas said that White House envoy Jason Greenblatt and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner had asked him if he would be open to the idea of forming a confederation between the PA and Jordan.

“They asked me if I believe in a federation with Jordan,” Abbas said at the gathering. “I said, ‘Yes, I support a triple confederation with Jordan and with Israel’. I asked if the Israelis would agree to the offer.”

Ehud Olmert: 'I agreed to 1967 borders, divide Jerusalem'

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in an interview with i24NEWS' Arabic program: "It's not too late to fix things. I'll call him. I think he's a great leader. I tell him now if he wants us to meet to do it together - I'm ready for that, too."

Olmert praised the security cooperation with the Plestinian Authority (PA): "The only terror that exists is in areas that Israel controls, not the Palestinian Authority, so all the Israeli security forces tell me that the Palestinian Authority is cooperating in the struggle against terror."

"I think that Abu Mazen (Abbas) - contrary to what all sorts of elements that do not really want a peace agreement between us and the Palestinians try to say - Abu Mazen was a partner, even when he made mistakes. In my case he made a serious mistake, but he was a partner and he remains a partner." the former prime minister added.

According to Olmert, Israel's repeated territorial withdrawals have strengthened the Jewish State's international standing: "The fact that Israel left territories where it controlled the lives of other people has brought tremendous prestige in the world. It creates a system of expectations for political progress and laid the foundation for negotiations between me and the Palestinian Authority on the basis of the knowledge among Palestinians that Israel is willing to withdraw from territories, that Israel is willing to accept the two-state solution."

"There was no stronger proof of our desire to implement such a solution than the negotiations I had with Abu Mazen, in which I proposed to him an Israeli withdrawal of 95 percent of the territory and a territorial exchange in order to bring the territorial arrangement to the basis of the 1967 borders.

Iranian convoy hit in strike near US base in Syria, monitor says

An airstrike near a US base in southeastern Syria has killed at least eight pro-government fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday.

Four Syrians, one Iranian national and three other non-Syrian fighters were killed in the strike carried out on Saturday, the Britain-based war monitor said.

At least 11 people were wounded in the attack, according to Observatory figures.

“A convoy of Iranian forces and allied militia was hit by airstrikes as it drove near Al-Tanf base,” the monitor’s head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He could not confirm the strike had been conducted by the US-led coalition present in the region.

Expert: An Israeli strike on Iranian targets in Iraq 'a major escalation'

A strike by Israel on Iranian ballistic missiles in Iraq would be a major escalation in Iranian-Israeli hostilities, a Middle East expert told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

“Conducting strikes in real mainland Iraq would be a big escalation in Iranian-Israeli hostilities and could very well bring more risks on the Israeli side than we’ve seen before because of the expanded scope,” said Charles Lister, senior fellow and director of the Extremism and Counterterrorism Program at the non-partisan Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

A report by Reuters over the weekend stated that Iran had transferred ballistic missiles to Shi’ite proxies in Iraq over the course of several months and that it is developing the capacity to build more there.

The missiles include the Fateh-110, Zolfaqar and Zelzal types, which have ranges of 200-700 km., allowing them to be able to threaten both Saudi Arabia and Israel.

While the report was denied by Tehran, Lister told the Post, on the sidelines of the International Institute for Counterterrorism’s annual conference, that “it makes sense” that Iran would make such a move, saying that it was similar to the North Korean model of building a broad range of rockets and missiles to establish deterrence.

Defense minister indicates Israel could hit Iranian targets in Iraq

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman appeared to imply Monday that Israel could hit Iranian targets in Iraq, days after the Reuters news agency reported that Tehran was providing ballistic missiles and training to loyalist militias there.

“As for the threat from Iran, we are not limiting ourselves to Syria. That should be clear,” Liberman told a conference organized by Hadashot TV news.

Asked specifically if this included Iraq, the defense minister answered: “I’m saying we will handle any Iranian threat, no matter where it comes from. We are maintaining the right to act… and any threat or anything else that comes up is dealt with.”

The Friday report, citing several unnamed Iranian, Iraqi and Western officials, stated that several dozen rockets capable of hitting Israel and Tehran’s Sunni rival Saudi Arabia had been deployed with Iran’s Shiite proxies in Iraq.

It added that Iran was working to provide its allies with missile manufacturing facilities, and has been training militia members in operating the new weapons.

Israel's ambassador to Jordan presents credentials to King Abdullah II

It took nearly five months, but Israel’s envoy in Amman, Amir Weissbrod, presented his credentials to King Abdullah II on Sunday and Israel again officially has an ambassador in the Hashemite Kingdom.

Weissbrod was appointed in February, and arrived in Amman in April, nine months after a stabbing and shooting incident at the Israeli embassy compound in Amman sent ties into a tailspin.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said there was nothing unusual about the amount of time Weissbrod waited to present his credentials, saying that it is normal practice to wait until a number of ambassadors arrive and have them present their credentials at the same time.

Jordan’s Petra News Agency posted six pictures of ambassadors on its website, including Weissbrod, presenting their credentials to Abdullah on Sunday, but did not identify any of them, writing instead, “The King accepts the credentials of a number of ambassadors.”

Weissbrod succeeded Einat Schlein, who the Jordanians demanded be replaced following an incident in July 2017 when an embassy security official, who was attacked by a man wielding a screwdriver, responded by shooting and killing the assailant and a bystander.

Jordan's official news agency does not say which country Amir Weissbrod represents. pic.twitter.com/LBXy6cFYhs
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) September 2, 2018

Israeli farmers to file war crimes complaint against Hamas over arson attacks

A group of Israeli farmers plans to file a war crimes complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Monday against Hamas over the torching of thousands of acres of farmland in recent months.

The farmers want prosecutors to investigate leaders of Hamas, the terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, for allegedly issuing orders to Palestinians to breach the territory’s frontier with Israel and having supporters deliberately set fire to fields in southern Israel using incendiaries launched across the border on kites and balloons.

Over 7,000 acres of land were burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials.

“What they are trying to do is to burn us, not just our fields. It’s a war crime and a crime against humanity,” farmer Ofer Lieberman told Israeli Army Radio ahead of his arrival at The Hague.

Gaza saw a surge of violence since the start of the “March of Return” protests along the border in March. The clashes, which Gaza’s Hamas rulers have orchestrated, have included rock and Molotov cocktail attacks on troops, as well as attempts to breach the border fence and attack Israeli soldiers.

Since the protests began in March, 125 protesters have been killed by Israeli fire. The Hamas terror group, which seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of those killed were its members. During that time, a Gaza sniper killed an Israeli soldier.

Oron Shaul's brother joins the IDF

The brother of fallen captive soldier Oron Shaul, whose body is being held by Hamas, joined the IDF on Monday.

Ofek Shaul will be a fitness instructor at the Wingate Institute near Netanya after passing training.

"I'm in mixed feelings right now," said the mother Zahava Shaul, who accompanied her son for his first day in the army.

"I wish him peace and return safely, and I am waiting for him at home, and I hope that they will watch over him in the army," Shaul added, hinting at the fate of her son Oron.

Hamas has been holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.

n addition, two Israeli civilians who went missing in Gaza - Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed - are believed to be held by Hamas as well.

Last month Ofek spoke about his brother for the first time during a rally urging the government to bring Oron's body home. The Shaul's and Goldin's were infuriated after reports suggested that a potential long-term deal with Hamas would not include the return of their loved ones to Israel for burial.

Palestinian soccer chief: Ban over Messi comments ‘political,’ pushed by Israel

In his first press conference since receiving a 12-month ban from FIFA, the head of the Palestinian Football Association on Monday pledged to appeal what he termed an “unjust and political decision.”

The international soccer ruling body last month banned Jibril Rajoub from attending matches for a year and fined him 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,600) for “inciting hatred and violence” after calling on fans to burn posters and shirts of superstar Lionel Messi if he participated in an Argentina game in Jerusalem in June. The campaign led to Argentina canceling the World Cup warm-up match.

Rajoub denied any wrongdoing in the affair.

“This is an unjust and political decision, an Israeli decision,” he said, pointing out that the complaint against him had come from the Israeli soccer federation, not the Argentinians.

“Of course we respect the FIFA committees and will continue to respect them and abide by their decisions,” he said. “On this basis we have decided to appeal and we will continue our efforts to fight the injustice occurring against the Palestinian union and the Palestinian players.”

Iran admits to having 'worked closely' with Soros network

Iran admitted on Sunday that it had worked closely with the Open Society Foundation, a grant-making network founded by American billionaire George Soros, which has often been accused of promoting an anti-Israeli agenda through left-wing NGOs.

During a question and answer session before the Iranian parliament, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Iranian regime's work with the OSF predated his tenure. According to the BBC, he said that he has managed to "restrict and regulate it."

According to a report published by Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry, Soros has backed a large number of groups affiliated with the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks to isolate Israel. The groups have been blacklisted by Israel and their activists are barred from entering the country.

In 2016, Soros was found to have donated millions to Palestinian and Israeli organizations that set out to delegitimize Israel through U.S. and EU advocacy.

Over the years, he has also supported left-wing organizations in Israel such as Breaking the Silence and the New Israel Fund through the OSF, according to the watchdog group NGO Monitor.

CAMERA Op-Ed Germany’s Underreported Relationship with Iran

The term “special relationship” often denotes the Anglo-American partnership that emerged in the wake of World War II. Yet, the phrase also describes the unique relationship between Germany and Iran—a relationship that stretches back more than a century and has profound implications for the future.

Evidence of Germany’s affinity for Iran—and vice versa—is abundant, if often ignored by press and policymakers alike. One notable exception is Benjamin Weinthal who, as the European Affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, has chronicled German-Iranian ties.

As Weinthal has documented, Berlin allows operatives from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed, Lebanese-based, U.S.-designated-terror group, to operate in Germany. As many as 950 Hezbollah members reside in the country and the group uses the German nation to “raise funds and recruit new members.” Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hezbollah had murdered more Americans than any other terrorist organization. Nonetheless, Iran’s most powerful proxy has been allowed to operate on the soil of a NATO member.

The government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused U.S. demands to designate all of Hezbollah as a terror group. Instead, Berlin has maintained the fiction that Hezbollah has a separate “political wing” and a “military wing”—ignoring that the two arms are part of the same beast.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has expanded its global presence; perpetrating and planning terror attacks from the Middle East to Europe and beyond. The group has fought in the Syrian civil war, serving Tehran’s aims by propping up dictator Bashar al-Assad. Once labeled the “A Team of terrorists” by then-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Hezbollah’s external operations unit has conducted surveillance and planned attacks in the U.S. In 2007, for example, Iranian proxies planned to blow up the fuel tanks at JFK airport, but were thwarted by authorities.

Bowing to US pressure, Japan reportedly to halt Iran oil imports

Japan’s major oil wholesalers are preparing to suspend crude oil imports from Iran in October, amid fears Washington will sanction countries importing Iranian crude, local media reported.

US President Donald Trump in May pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and last month began reimposing sanctions that block other countries from trading with Iran.

A second phase of sanctions targeting Iran’s crucial oil industry and banking sector will be reinstated on November 5.

Japan has been seeking a waiver that would allow it to continue importing Iranian oil, but it appears unlikely to win one, Jiji Press agency and other local media reported in recent days.

As a result, Japanese oil companies are preparing to halt imports of Iranian crude and researching ways to increase imports from elsewhere to make up the shortfall, the reports said.

A trade ministry official on Monday confirmed Japan had raised the issue of a waiver in talks with the US but declined to comment further.

Oil importers declined to confirm they were contingency planning for a halt in Iranian imports.

1/3 Syrian FM Walid Muallem: The U.S. Supports ISIS; White Helmets, Britain, Plan to Fabricate a Chemical Weapons Attack in Idlib pic.twitter.com/G468COhix7
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 3, 2018

2/3 Syrian FM Walid Muallem: We Will Fight U.S. Presence in Syria with All Legitimate Means pic.twitter.com/eXj1SMSv1e
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 3, 2018

3/3 Syrian FM Walid Muallem: The Kurds Should Not Believe the Americans; There Will Be No Secession or Federal State pic.twitter.com/v1Dhn1sJH1
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 3, 2018

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