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Sunday, June 7, 2020

06/07 Links: Time to call a terrorist a terrorist and ban Hezbollah in full; Palestinians tell ICC that annexation will void Oslo Accords; Former top Dubai official: ‘It’s time Gulf states normalized ties with Israel,’

From Ian:
Arsen Ostrovsky: Time to call a terrorist a terrorist and ban Hezbollah in full
Last month, the German government took the principled decision to ban the entire Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and designate it as a terrorist organization. As a key player in the war on radical Islamic terror, Australia should do likewise.

In February this year, Peter Dutton, Australian Minister for Home Affairs, said Australia was considering listing the ‘military wing’ of Hezbollah as terrorist, adding that “nobody should have sympathy” for the Shiite terror group and that a full review would be conducted in April.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that review has, understandably, been put on hold.

Australia since 2003, like Germany previously, has maintained a superficial distinction between Hezbollah’s ‘military’ and so-called ‘political wings.

Germany’s announcement followed a similar decision of Britain in February this year, after Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the UK came to a realization that “we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party.”

Even Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Deputy Leader, has said: “Hezbollah has a single leadership”, reinforcing that “the same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel.”

In case anyone needs a refresher, make no mistake about it, Hezbollah is a ruthless genocidal jihadist terrorist organization created in 1982, funded, armed and answerable entirely to the Iranian regime. 

Hezbollah’s primary goal is not only the elimination of the State of Israel, but Jews worldwide. Its ‘Manifesto’, clearly states: “Our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated.” 

In 2002, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary-General, stated “if Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing after them worldwide.”
‘It’s time Gulf states normalized ties with Israel,’ former top Dubai official says
Former Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim sparked controversy over the weekend when, in a series of tweets, he called on of Persian Gulf states and the rest of the Arab world to admit they want to establish open diplomatic relations with Israel, Channel 12 News reported on Saturday.

Tamim, currently deputy police chief, is known as the police officer who exposed the Mossad intelligence agency’s connection to the 2010 assassination of Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades co-founder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the UAE capital.

He is also known as a harsh critic of the Palestinians and an avid supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a series of tweets that according to the report went viral within minutes, Tamim wrote, “The truth is that it’s meaningless not to recognize Israel.

“Israel is a country built on science, knowledge, prosperity and strong relations with all developing countries. Who are the people who do not recognize Israel’s [international] status? Where do they think Jews come from? Hawaii?”

In another tweet, Tamim further urged the Arab world to formalize relations with Israel.

“As soon as the Gulf states normalize their relations with Israel, Qatar’s role as a proxy state for terrorist organizations, will be over,” he wrote, referring to Doha’s close ties to the terrorist group ruling the Gaza Strip.

“It is known that Qatar supports Hamas and still maintains a relationship with Israel. So what stops us from having a normal relationship with it [Israel]?”





Rabbi Spero: Leaders are Silent on Antisemitism, Violence of Black Lives Matter Protests
The world has witnessed destruction and violently intense hatred on America’s streets these past ten days that normally would be harshly and roundly condemned by political office holders and civic leaders.

Instead, what has been unfolding in Minneapolis, New York City, Chicago, D.C., Portland, and elsewhere has not only received little criticism by politicians and the media, but also has been given a tacit legitimacy. In fact, those who condemn the widespread violence are being disingenuously portrayed as indifferent to the murder of George Floyd.

The fact is that multitudes of Americans are being asked to sacrifice their safety in behalf of a cause that the ruling class and media have deemed more important than anything else. It seems that for most establishment religious, political, and cultural organizations, supporting the Black Lives Matter protests is more important than the survival and dignity of American institutions and individuals.

One would think that a people and nation with a millennia-old heritage such as ours, based on the Judeo-Christian ethos, would certainly have more confidence in its probity and ethical understanding to withstand the pressure and bullying of the moment. But too many are allowing Black Lives Matter, Al Sharpton, MoveOn.org, Antifa, and others to determine what morality is and to delegitimize the morality and justice of anything beyond their extreme agenda.

In my own Jewish community, for example, major Jewish organizations have been uncharacteristically silent regarding the wanton destruction by rioters in Los Angeles of Jewish synagogues, institutions, and shops in the historic and significant Jewish neighborhood along Fairfax Ave. It has been well-documented for years that Black Lives Matter is an abhorrently anti-Israel and anti-Jewish organization. So why the silence?

The protesters, and most Democrat and establishment leaders, wrongly claim that support for George Floyd requires that injustices being perpetrated now by the rioters be overlooked. In truth, such selectivity implies indifference to the suffering of those who are not lumped under today’s inter-sectional “victimhood” association.


NYC BLM Pogrom Threat: Next Stop Is the Diamond District
An African American man in a camouflage face mask on Saturday afternoon told Fox News in a rally in New York City: “Today, I’m leading a demonstration from Barclay’s Center at 6 PM to City Hall, and that’s the first stop – and we’re hoping De Blasio and Cuomo come out and talk to us and give the youth some direction. But if they don’t, then next stop is the Diamond District. And gasoline, thanks to Trump, is awfully cheap. So we’re giving them a chance right now to do the right thing.”

For a movement that accuses the Trump administration of dog whistling, this one was enough of a dog whistle to bring in a pack of Dobermans. The Diamond District is a single block on West 47th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, where the street is also officially named Diamond Jewelry Way. The district grew in importance when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands and Belgium, forcing thousands of Chassidic Jews in the diamond business to flee Amsterdam and Antwerp and settle in New York City. They have remained a dominant influence in the Diamond District.

When you threaten to burn down the Diamond District, you signal your followers it is time to burn down the Jews.

The dog whistle didn’t pass by Fox News host Eric Shawn, who reacted on live TV: “Those are outrageous words to say. Basically that person was basically suggesting that they plan to go to the diamond district, which is run basically by Orthodox Jews here in New York City – certainly hope that is not the case and we do not endorse – in fact, we condemn that type of language here on the Fox News channel. Someone saying that certainly should be called out in terms of any type of potential threat of any sort that we just heard live from someone who interviewed here on this channel.”

Fox news later reported that the man who made the anti-Semitic threat had been arrested.




Suspected cop-stabber yelled ‘Allahu akbar’ during attack, police say
The man accused of shooting two cops and stabbing a third in Brooklyn this week screamed “Allahu akbar!” three times during the unprovoked attack, police said Saturday.

Authorities have so far been unable to tie the man, Dzenan Camovic, to any organized terror group, but there are indications that his alleged tactics and ambush were similar to anti-police attacks in Paris and elsewhere, according to John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of counter terrorism.

“All the hallmarks that would be out of the terrorist playbook,” Miller said at a briefing from NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan

Camovic, 20, opened a Twitter account this month, and liked 24 tweets from those writing about George Floyd protests, looting in Soho and anti-cop propaganda, police said.

Camovic, who lives with his family in Sheepshead Bay, allegedly ran up to an officer and stabbed him in the neck just before midnight Wednesday night on Flatbush Avenue near Church Avenue, police have said.

He then allegedly took control of the officer’s gun, and shot two officers in the hand, cops said. A sergeant who responded to the scene shot Camovic.

He was taken to Kings County Hospital in critical condition and has not been interviewed because he is intubated, sources have said.

He is expected to be charged with three counts of attempt murder on a police officer. The FBI is involved to see if federal charges will be filed.
Palestinians tell ICC that annexation will void Oslo Accords
The Palestinian Authority told the International Criminal Court on Thursday that am Israeli annexation of the parts of the West Bank would annul the Oslo Accords and all other bilateral agreements between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

The statement, issued in writing by PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, came after three ICC judges last week asked for a clarification of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech last month in which he declared all agreements with Israel null and void and that the PA is no longer bound by any of these agreements.

The judges — who make up the pretrial chamber tasked with ruling on whether the court has jurisdiction to open a criminal investigation into suspected war crimes committed on Palestinian territories — had given Ramallah a June 10 deadline to respond to their query.

In response to the request, al-Malki re-released a statement Abbas had originally made in May, declaring that “if Israel proceeds with annexation, a material breach of the agreements between the two sides, then it will have annulled any remnants of the Oslo Accords and all other agreements concluded between them.”

The statement continued to say that Israel’s “persistent violations of these agreements, and its announced plans and measures for annexation, absolve the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine from any obligation arising from these agreements, including security.”

However, the PA reportedly emphasized that Abbas’ statement “was not made as part of the record of these proceedings and did not in any way purport to, nor does it, legally affect” the question presently weighed by the pretrial chamber.

In his 13-page statement, al-Malki also lamented that “so far the ICC’s involvement in the Situation in the State of Palestine has had no apparent dissuasive effect on Israel and its leadership in regards to its commission of crimes, which continue unabated.”


Palestinians advancing UN resolution against annexation, Israel says
The Palestinian Authority is planning to get the United Nations General Assembly to condemn Israel’s plan to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank, Jerusalem’s mission to the UN in New York said Saturday.

Ramallah plans to bring the resolution to a vote in the General Assembly, where it is sure to pass with an overwhelming majority, even before the Israeli government takes any active steps to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank, the mission said in a statement.

“Although the General Assembly is currently not convening due to the coronavirus pandemic, special resolutions and voting procedures can still be administered,” according to the statement.

General Assembly resolutions are non-binding.

In contrast, any resolution critical of Israel proposed at the Security Council would be doomed to fail due to the near-certain American veto.

Israel’s previous annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, in the early 1980s, were declared null and void by the Security Council, but the US is sure to block any effort to censure an Israeli move made in accordance with the peace proposal the White House released in January, which indicates a green light for annexation.

As of Sunday noon, no draft of the resolution had been circulated.

“As much as is needed, we are prepared to defend any decision the Israeli government makes before the UN, and to work with our friends around the world to thwart hostile initiatives,” Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said.

“The solution to the conflict will come through direct negotiations in Jerusalem and not through political terrorism in New York. The international community needs to know that legitimizing Palestinian provocations rewards Abu Mazen’s refusal to have a dialogue with Israel,” he added, using PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s nom de guerre.
Jordan to mull canceling peace deal if Israel annexes – report
Palestinian sources have reportedly warned that if Israel goes ahead with a plan to annex parts of the West Bank, Jordan will review its peace agreement with Israel and could decide to cancel it.

According to a report Saturday by Channel 13, Jordan will recall its ambassador back to Amman as a first step if annexation goes ahead, and help the Palestinians to work against Israel in the international arena.

The report quoted unnamed sources who said that Jordan does not want to take concrete steps unless or until annexation is officially declared. But they said the kingdom has told the Palestinians that King Abdullah II “will not go silently through the annexation process.” Among the possible steps it might take are canceling the peace treaty, the sources reportedly said.

Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab states that have formal peace treaties and diplomatic relations with Israel.

But diplomatic relations between Amman and Jerusalem, signed in 1994 and generally characterized as a cold peace, have deteriorated significantly in the past few years, with no joint ceremony marking the quarter-century anniversary of the agreement between the two countries, and the recent termination of special arrangements that allowed Israeli farmers to easily access plots of land inside Jordan.

Amman also briefly recalled its ambassador to protest the arrests of two Jordanian nationals who were eventually released by Israel.
JCPA: Jerusalem’s Changing Demographics: An Overview from the Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook
The population of Jerusalem is double that of Tel Aviv’s and stands at 919,000, of whom 62 percent is Jewish and 38 percent Arab.

Jerusalem is the city with the largest Jewish population in Israel, the largest ultra-Orthodox population (one-quarter of all ultra-Orthodox in Israel), and the largest Arab population (20 percent of all Arabs in Israel).

The Arab population is growing at a faster rate, but since 2012, the birth rate among the Jewish population in Jerusalem is significantly higher than that of the Arab population.

The fertility rate (the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to during her lifetime) of Jewish women in Jerusalem is 4.4 versus 3.1 of Arab women.

Jerusalem’s net migration continues to be negative (minus 6,000), although this rate of emigration is the smallest since 2012. Forty-four percent of those who leave are young people.
Palestinian pleads guilty to murder, rape of Israeli teen Ori Ansbacher
A Palestinian man on Sunday pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Israeli teenager Ori Ansbacher in a February 2019 attack.

Arafat Irfaiya will be sentenced by the Jerusalem District Court at a later date.

He pleaded guilty at the Jerusalem District Court to the charges of first-degree murder, rape and unlawful killing with a terror motivation over the attack on Ansbacher, 19, from the settlement of Tekoa, in a Jerusalem forest.

The Jerusalem district psychiatrist last May found him to be responsible for his actions and fit to stand trial following an evaluation.

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday approved a request from Irfaiya’s lawyers that a further psychiatric opinion be submitted to the court.

The indictment against Irfaiya said he had entered Israel from the West Bank illegally armed with a knife.

According to a Channel 12 news report last year, Irfaiya told interrogators that he entered Israel and looked for a Jewish victim because he wanted to be a “martyr.”

According to the report, Irfaiya told investigators he did not plan much of the attack in advance aside from purchasing a kippa so that he could slip into Israel undetected.

On the day of the killing, Ansbacher, who was a volunteer at a youth center in the capital, went for a walk in the woodland of Ein Yael on the southern edge of Jerusalem, encountering Irfaiya by chance.
PMW: PA TV children’s host promises end of Israel and glorifies terrorist “heroes”
The end of Israel is inevitable and terrorists are “heroes” – this is the message from the popular PA TV children’s host Walaa Al-Battat in a new song she recorded that was broadcast on PA TV Live.

Using the tune of the famous Italian anti-fascist protest song “Bye Beautiful” (Bella Ciao), Walaa - dressed as a prisoner - presents the State of Israel as a temporary “occupation,” existing on “stolen land,” because “Palestine is Arabian.” However, not all is lost because the Palestinians will “get all of it back” and Israel “will disappear.” The chorus “Bye deal” is a reference to US President Trump’s peace plan - “the deal of the century,” which the PA has rejected outright. Visually the music video includes scenes of Israel’s War of Independence – clarifying that the “occupation” that exists and will disappear is Israel in its entirety. Additional footage shows Palestinian rioters throwing rocks and burning tires and other violence.

This is one of many hate and violence promoting music videos being broadcast daily on official PA TV stations now as the PA is actively promoting violence in anticipation of Israel's presumed future annexation - i.e., application of Israeli law - to the Jordan Valley and Jewish cities and towns in Judea – Samaria/ West Bank.


PA denies foiling attack on IDF
The Palestinian Authority’s governor of Jenin, Akram Rajoub, on Sunday denied that PA security forces recently foiled a terrorist attack against the IDF. A report about the alleged attack was untrue, he said.

Despite the PA’s announcement that it will halt all security ties with Israel amid Israeli efforts to annex the Jordan Valley and parts of the West Bank, Palestinian forces nevertheless thwarted an attack against soldiers on the outskirts of Jenin last week, Hebrew website Ynet reported earlier on Sunday.

A Palestinian terrorist cell planted dozens of pipe bombs in an open area on the outskirts of Jenin, along the route usually taken by soldiers when they arrive in the city to arrest terrorist suspects, senior Israeli officials told Ynet.

“Valuable intelligence information on Thursday led PA security forces to uncover the hidden explosives, which included ready-to-use pipe bombs and a shotgun,” they said.

The report did not mention how they were able to do so.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Islamic scholars reject Family Protection Bill
Palestinian Islamic scholars have expressed opposition to a family protection bill on the pretext it “contradicts Islamic Sharia laws and the values of society.”

The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Women’s Affairs is drafting the new law, which seeks to impose harsher penalties on abusers and provide protection systems for women from gender-based violence. The law also will require all PA ministries and institutions to participate in the effort to reduce domestic violence.

Twenty-nine percent of Palestinian women, or nearly one in three, reported psychological, physical, sexual, social or economic violence by their husbands at least once during the preceding 12 months, according to a survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in the second quarter of 2019.

Eleven Palestinian women have been killed as a result of domestic violence since the beginning of this year, the Palestinian feminist movement Tal’at reported.

Palestinian Islamic scholars have rejected the proposed bill, claiming it would “destroy and weaken Palestinian families,” Hamas-affiliated websites reported Sunday.

The new law would “destroy family relationships, which are based on compassion, affection and reform, and subject them to external and public court proceedings,” the scholars warned in a statement.

“The law constitutes a violation of family privacy and the special relations between a husband and his wife and the father and his children,” they said.
Former Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah dies at 62
The former long-time leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, Ramadan Shalah, died on Saturday night aged 62 after a long illness.

Shalah, who led PIJ from 1995 until 2018, had been in a coma for more than three years after heart surgery, the terror group said. It didn’t say where he died, but he is believed to have been in Lebanon.

Shalah, who was born in the Gaza Strip, was appointed head of the terror group after the assassination of his predecessor, Fathi Shikaki in Malta, which was widely attributed to Israel. He was succeeded by Ziad al-Nakhala in 2018.

The United States in November 1995 named Shalah as a Specially Designated Terrorist and has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

In 2003, Shalah was among eight Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives indicted in the United States on 53 terrorism and racketeering counts for running a cell out of Tampa, Florida. Though four suspects were arrested, Shalah was overseas and charged in absentia.

The US Department of Justice, in a statement on the indictment at the time, underlined the terror group’s role in suicide bombings that killed scores of Israelis, and at least two Americans, 20-year-old Alisa Flatow and 16-year-old Shoshana Ben-Yishai.




What does Russia want with Lebanon’s gas fields?
Russia’s gas exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean provide it with a legitimate reason to send Russian naval assets on patrol and scouting missions in the economic water of regional states, as well as to deploy them to defend gas platforms. Such activities by the Russian Navy also grants it a certain degree of control in the region, and the ability to monitor the movement of other vessels – including those of the Israeli Navy.

This Russian strategy, executed in other areas in the post-Soviet region, can be termed a “crawling maritime annexation”: in the first stage, Russian naval ships merely accompany the new drilling platform in the economic waters of the state that issued the search permit. Afterward, if a threat to the security of the platform suddenly develops, the Russian Navy presence becomes permanent. Once the extraction of gas begins, and the host state becomes dependent on a Russian company for the provision of an important economic resource, it is only a short road to demanding homeporting by Russian battleships. While Israel has managed to avoid such a scenario due to Nobel Energy’s refusal to allow Russian-based multinational Gazprom a share of the Leviathan gas field, it now seems to be materializing in Lebanon.

Israel cannot prevent Russia’s involvement in the Lebanese energy market, but it must pay closer attention to its maritime domain as Russia increases its presence in the region. Israel should formulate a coherent maritime strategy concerning its economic waters, both in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea, and complete domestic legislation regarding its economic waters (since Israel is not a party to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea). Failing that, Israel could find itself responding to the actions of other powers in the region, such as Russian ships surrounding its navy and monitoring its actions; Chinese-owned maritime infrastructure; or unilateral declarations by Turkey or by the Palestinian Authority regarding their economic waters, as has happened in recent months.

Increased Israeli involvement at sea could include various actions, such as the development of surveillance which would enable initial detection of suspicious activities in Israel’s economic waters, as well as strengthening Israeli intelligence cooperation with regional actors that have similar interests of staving off competing powers from its seas, such as the EU, NATO, Cyprus and Greece, all while maintaining coordination with the US.


Does Russia want Tehran to get nukes? - analysis
The IAEA’s leaked late Saturday report escalated its standoff with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Already in March, the IAEA publicly condemned Iran for the first time for failing to explain concealed nuclear material detected by the agency and for failing to allow it to inspect two nuclear sites.

The condemnation came on the backdrop of months of behind-the-scenes attempts to get explanations and access to the nuclear sites in order to avoid a public escalation, since the IAEA would rather not embarrass the ayatollahs. It likely even dates back to 2018 in late April or September, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed to the world various Iranian nuclear violations discovered by a Mossad operation inside Tehran that January.

Add to all this that the agency has a new director, Rafael Grossi, who was not involved in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Together with the lapse of time, this explains why the world’s normally quiet atomic energy inspectors are now raising the temperature on the Islamic Republic.
Yet, as the IAEA finds a rare backbone, its efforts are already being sabotaged by Russia.

Sticking to a script that is not interested in truth but rather to what is in Moscow’s interests, Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov dismissed the reports that Iran has denied IAEA access to nuclear sites.

In uniquely Russian-style, he said that the extended refusal to grant access is not a “denial,” but simply what it looks like: Iran has not yet granted the IAEA access.






Haaretz Op-Ed by Odeh Bisharat Rife With Propaganda About Israel’s Founding
Bisharat’s account ignores the fact that in 1967 Israel fought a defensive war against Jordan, whose army joined the Egyptian and Syrian forces in their attack against Israel. King Hussein’s decision to attack despite any Israeli aggression against his country was his response to an explicit Israeli message of peace intended to prevent war. As King Hussein recounted in his book “My War With Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol reached out to the Hashemite ruler: “If you don’t intervene, you will suffer no consequences.”

Thus, as a result of a war that the Arab countries initiated with the hopes once again of wiping Israel off the map, Jordan lost Judea, Samaria and the Old City of Jerusalem, Egypt lost the Gaza Strip and Syria lost the Golan Heights. The Arab rulers did not conceal their intentions to destroy Israel. For instance, as President Nasser of Egypt declared: “Our aim is the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. In other words, we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel. The immediate aim: perfection of Arab military might. The national aim: the eradication of Israel” (Nov. 18, 1965).

In response to criticism from Presspectiva, CAMERA’s Hebrew site, of Haaretz‘s decision to publish a manipulative and ahistorical account intended to undermine Israel’s legitimacy, Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken demurred: “That’s Bisharat’s version, not Haaretz‘s version.”

But Schocken’s invoking of the Op-Ed defense does not hold water. The opinion page is an integral part of the paper and the editors have full responsibility for the content published there. Indeed, the opinion page has its own dedicated editors who decide which pieces should be published and which shouldn’t, request that writers fix articles with manipulations, errors or fabrications. The decision of what and what not to run is a purely editorial decision, definitely “Haaretz‘s version,” which, in this case, is based on falsehoods and half truths.
ToI Corrects AFP Error US Did Not ‘Recognize’ Settlements
CAMERA’s Israel office prompted correction Thursday of an Agence France Presse article published at the Times of Israel (“Half of Israeli support annexation, most predict violence if it goes ahead“). The article erroneously reported that the Trump administration had recognized Israeli settlements, stating that Israelis “liv[ing] in settlements that are viewed by many as illegal under international law, but were recognized by the United States in November.”

The United States didn’t “recognize” the settlements in November.

As AFP accurately reported at the time (“In new pro-Israel shift, US no longer calls settlements illegal,” Nov. 19), the Trump administration stated that the new US position is that they are not per se inconsistent with international law.

In his remarks at the time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t say a word about “recognizing” the settlements, unlike the administration’s earlier move in December 2017 to “recognize” Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In response to communication from CAMERA, Times of Israel commendably corrected. The article now accurately reports:
The latter live in settlements that are viewed by many as illegal under international law; in November, the US position took the position that the settlements are not, per se, inconsistent with international law.

Contrary to common journalistic practice, editors did not append a note pointing out the change to readers.


UAE Jewish community launches Twitter account
The Jewish community of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which largely consists of expat Jews from Western countries, has launched Twitter account last month to highlight the strengthening ties between the Gulf monarchy and the community, according to a report by Anadolu Agency.

Shortly after the account was launched in May, it attracted more than 1,000 followers interested in the day-to-day life of Jews in the UAE.

Reflecting the growing ties between Israel and the Gulf monarchy, on June 1, the account tweeted prayers in Hebrew for the country and its army.

Similarly, a video posted to the account also shows the figure of a man clad in the traditional long white robe worn by locals in the UAE while holding a large UAE flag, later cutting to a room designed as a synagogue that features a man in a Jewish prayer shawl shot from behind.
UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice-President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum are also seen in the video via photos, acting as an indicator that the video was developed with the support of UAE authorities.

Nevertheless, its authenticity could not be confirmed.

Approximately 3,000 Jews live in the UAE, largely originating as contract workers from North America and Western Europe. In recent years, the Jewish community has become more visible due to the improved relations between the Gulf state and Israel in light mutual security interests against Iranian influence in the Middle East.

In past years, other primarily Sunni Arab states have sought to build relations with Israel, often highlighting their countries historical
connection to Judaism and Jewish communities, and seeking ties with diaspora Jewish communities, particularly in the United States, as a means for building domestic and international support.
Archaeologists might have identified Jezreel winery featured in Bible
In the biblical books of Kings I and II, the winery of Jezreel is the setting of some of the most gruesome episodes of greed, violence, sin and divine retribution. Researchers have identified elements that confirm the excavation carried out in northern Israel is compatible with the biblical narrative, according to a paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies.

The winery was first discovered in 2013 and exposed in several seasons of excavations in following years. It presents several installations carved into the bedrock.

“Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel, adjoining the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, ‘Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it as a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange; or, if you prefer, I will pay you the price in money.’ But Naboth replied, ‘The LORD forbid that I should give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!’” reads I King 1:4 (translation Sefaria.org).

It is currently impossible to date with certainty the remains of the ancient winery that was uncovered not far from Jezreel, a settlement that has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years, the lead author of the study, Dr. Norma Franklin of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, told The Jerusalem Post. However, different factors support the idea that whether or not there was a man called Naboth, whoever authored the story must have been aware of the existence of that winery, the only one in the compatible area, he said.

“With these kinds of structures, we can assess when was the last time that they were used – in this case quite late, around the first century CE – but not when they were built,” Franklin said. “The events that are described in the Bible are usually considered to take place around the ninth century BCE. It is possible that the winery already existed back then, but it hard to say. However, some scholars believe that the story was actually written down later, around the sixth century CE, when we can state for certain that the winery was already operating. There is no way to know whether what is narrated in the Bible happened exactly as related, but the narrative must have existed.”

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