03/11 Links Pt1: Why Saudi Arabia, MBS are important to Israel, regional peace; Netanyahu visit to UAE cancelled due to diplomatic spat with Jordan; Murderers of the Fogel family set to get 50% salary increase from the PA

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Why Saudi Arabia, MBS are important to Israel, regional peace - analysis

The crown prince has been the lightning rod of harsh human rights criticism in many US circles because of accusations, backed by the CIA, that he was involved in the killing of former Saudi insider Jamal Khashoggi. Others, however, point out that MBS has been key to Saudi Arabia’s shift toward a less repressive society.

They describe the crown prince – who has driven these changes – as “a visionary.” He is moving his country to a different place, say those who have met him. Therefore, Saudi Arabia should not be pushed into a corner by US policies that are critical of the kingdom.

It has already lost US support for offensive operations in Yemen, but it should be listened to regarding Iranian threats, even as Washington has been messaging a desire to recalibrate relations with Riyadh because of the Khashoggi murder. as well as taking a tougher line on human rights issues in Egypt.

It may be that a tougher line toward the Saudis from the US, and renewing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, will accelerate Israeli relations with Riyadh. But Saudi Arabia has been cautious. Last year, when rumors spread that it might normalize relations with Israel, it waited.

Saudi Arabia is carefully assessing elections in the US and Israel. In recent days it has held high-level meetings with Jordan, Malaysia, Sudan and other countries. Unsurprisingly, this dovetails with other high-level meetings that link Israel and Egypt, Israel and several countries in Europe, and a growing relationship between Greece, Cyprus, France, Egypt, Israel and the UAE.

A constellation of broader questions mark Saudi Arabia’s relations with this regional realignment. These include Riyadh’s and Abu Dhabi’s views on Syria’s role in the Arab world, concerns about Lebanon’s stability, its relationship with Russia, patching up the aftermath of the crisis with Qatar, and keeping an eye on Turkey’s ambitions.

They involve finding solutions to the conflict in Libya and increasing Gulf influence in east Africa, in Sudan, and farther afield in Pakistan. Israel’s growing sense of being part of the region now puts it increasingly at the crossroads of these discussions as well. While Israel wants the US to stay vitally connected to the region, the overall trend binding Israel and the Gulf and partners from central Europe to India is visceral.

Middle East: The Ghosts of Sovereigns Past

The State of Israel continues to enforce Jordanian law [in the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria] -- despite its clearly racist and backward underpinnings.

No matter what side of the political divide you view it from, a legislative and legal time-warp has trapped the residents of these territories – Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians – in amber for more than five decades. The result: legal chaos, injustice and incessant conflict.

Ironically, Israel's legal reticence continues to fuel the endless conflict over the land itself... that could be avoided by simply completing the process of land survey and registration initiated by the Ottoman Empire and continued by the British Mandatory and Jordanian governments in turn.

Surveying and registering land ownership was not perceived as an act of sovereignty when the British caretakers undertook it; there seems no reason why it should be regarded that way now.

This same vacuum has made it impossible to formulate forward-thinking policy for land use, environmental protection, settlement policy, and perhaps most critically, a negotiated resolution of the status of the territory. Without establishing who owns what, it is impossible to proceed toward a just division of resources or a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The time has come to banish the antiquated ghosts of Ottoman, Jordanian and British Mandatory rule, and to fill the legal void in Judea and Samaria with a modern, humanist, democratic system of law for everyone.

Netanyahu visit to UAE cancelled due to diplomatic spat with Jordan

Israel and Jordan were working to calm the waters on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled historic first visit to the United Arab Emirates was cancelled following a diplomatic incident between Israel and Jordan.

Netanyahu's scheduled visit to the United Arab Emirates was held up on Thursday morning when Jordan announced it would not allow Netanyahu's aircraft to cross its airspace en route to the United Arab Emirates,.

Officials think that the Jordanian decision, which was announced only shortly before the flight was scheduled to take off, was a response to Israel's decision to cancel a visit to the Temple Mount that had been scheduled for Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah on Wednesday over disagreements about security protocols.

Israel Hayom has learned that the prince intended to visit the Temple Mount to pray prior to making the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Officials in the UAE told Israel Hayom on Thursday afternoon that it appeared that Netanyahu's visit would most likely not take place as originally scheduled.

A senior government official in Amman told Israel Hayom that "high-ranking Israeli political officials and former Israeli security officials cooperated with Amman to torpedo Netanyahu's visit to the UAE, after Prince Hussein's visit to the Temple Mount was called off."

The official added that "Jordan and Israel will need to find a way to lower the flames and end the diplomatic incident, which has embarrassed both sides. King Abdullah has taken many calls from Israeli officials, who argued that the instruction not to allow some of Prince Hussein's armed security detail to cross Allenby Bridge came from the Prime Minister's Office."

Lee Smith: The Iran Deal’s Inevitable Sequel

The Biden administration’s determination to reenter the Iran deal is a macabre scam virtually handing off a bomb to a terror state. And that’s why Tablet is not going to pretend that any of it is real by giving the play-by-play details of battles between “moderates” and “hardliners,” or the odds on a “hawk” victory, or any other part of this geopolitical con job.

And yet before the farce unfolds in full, there’s an important question that still needs to be answered: Why is the Biden administration reinvesting so enthusiastically in a failure that will damage America’s closest allies? After all, there are plenty of ways to raise money, and Jewish Democrats are nothing but eager to remain within the fold. The answer is that what you see as failures the White House and its satellites see as features.

America’s Middle East allies are in fact only the most visible targets of the Iran deal: As an intervention in American domestic politics, the JCPOA was designed as an instrument to break pro-Israel Democrats, who represent what Obama saw as the most powerful of the internal constituencies that might oppose his reordering of the Democratic Party. That is, the real realignment isn’t in the Middle East, which America is leaving anyway, but inside Obama’s own party.

I confess that I didn’t see the domestic thrust of the Iran deal clearly the first time around: Namely, that the point of the Iran deal as seen through the lens of American domestic politics was to dismantle the 20th-century Democratic Party and remake it in Obama’s own image. That’s why the Obama administration devoted nearly the entirety of its bandwidth during the president’s second term to getting the deal through Congress, rather than focusing on income inequality, minimum wage laws, rebuilding domestic industry in America, curbing the power of tech monopolies, or other potentially worthy and appropriately left-wing causes.

The deal was never about Obama’s personal feelings about Israel, whatever they are.

Downgrading Israel as an American ally was a way to take down the pro-Israel wing of the Democratic Party, whose power depends on the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship and which is generally seen as less “progressive”—and which had generally supported his rival, Hillary Clinton. By making the U.S.-Israel relationship toxic, Obama made the wing of the party leprous. Unmaking “Jewish power” within the Democratic Party meant permanently decoupling the United States from Israel by wedding America to the most credible anti-Israel force in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was through that deliberate political math that Obama’s Democratic Party became the Party of Iran.

So please don’t waste your time trying to parse whatever Biden negotiators and Iranian diplomats in Vienna or Berlin are reported to be saying six months or a year from now. As far as the Middle East is concerned, none of what Iran deal supporters say about the JCPOA is real. And as far as Americans are concerned, the real explanations lie closer to home.

Avi Abelow: Dr. Mordechai Kedar on Biden's New Middle East

Israel, UAE to establish 'quarantine-free travel corridor' amid COVID restrictions

The UAE announced on Wednesday that it is in “formal discussions to establish a quarantine-free travel corridor” with Israel. The UAE would recognize Israeli vaccination certificates for COVID-19, and vice versa.

The countries’ foreign ministries hope to implement the agreement in April, the UAE Foreign Ministry stated.

Israel and the UAE are the countries with the world’s fastest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

The announcement came just as an Emirati source said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may meet when Netanyahu flies to Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

“MBS is ready to meet Bibi,” the source said, confirming that talks are ongoing in the three countries to arrange the meeting.

EU shamelessly interfering with Israeli democracy

Over the past five years, Europe has invested 300 million shekels ($90 million) into Israeli non-governmental organizations. This might seem like a good thing at first until one delves deeper into the purposefully complex documents that detail how exactly Europe allocates its investments and how they alter the very core of Israeli society.

Let's take a look at the hottest issue at this time: the International Criminal Court and its investigation into Israel's "war crimes." It so happens to be that Europe is the one who financially supports the Palestinian organizations that are at the forefront of the prosecution. Moreover, it finances the pro-Palestinian Israeli NGOs, like Breaking the Silence, Adalah, B'Tselem, and Yesh Din, who are putting together documents to help the ICC prepare for its investigation.

Unfortunately, The Hague is not the only one "investing" in Israel this way. Governments across the continent are interfering with the home demolitions of terrorists as well, a move that was meant to prevent more terror attacks. In 2018 alone, the government of Switzerland transferred NIS1 million ($300,000) to an Israeli organization to impede the demolition of the homes of the terrorists who murdered Raziel Shevach, Adiel Coleman, Ronen Lubarsky, and others.

One grant from the European Union was meant to ban IDF soldiers from entering Palestinian homes during military operations. To hell with the soldiers' safety.

The Swiss government is pouring millions into obtaining Israeli security records, the European Union is setting up associations in Jerusalem to preserve the Palestinian identity of the capital, Germany is perpetuating the narrative of the Nakba ("catastrophe") of Israel's inception, and Denmark busies itself with presenting Israel as an apartheid state. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The pattern is clear: a European country chooses a goal, the government writes a fat check to an NGO in Israel or abroad to do the job, the organization gathers information and returns to the mothership to report.

Sen. Joe Manchin should vote against Kahl nomination

The Biden administration is currently working to push its nominees for high office through the Senate confirmation process. The majority seems to be well-qualified and will be confirmed in a bipartisan manner, though not all are deserving of holding public office.

The president recently nominated a Washington insider, Colin Kahl, to serve as one of the highest-ranking officials in the U.S. Department of Defense. Kahl has earned many distinctions—mostly for being imprecise and incorrect about U.S. policy outcomes, and for being a reliably antagonistic anti-Israel voice.

In the coming days, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) will have the opportunity to vote on his nomination as a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He should vote “no” and send Kahl back to a Washington think tank where he can do no harm to our national security or our great allies in Jerusalem.

Kahl’s hostility towards Israel is beyond unconventional. It’s outlandish. While serving in the Obama administration, he led an effort to strip recognition of Israel’s true capital of Jerusalem from the Democratic Party’s platform. Around the same time, Kahl argued in The Washington Post that Israel’s daring 1981 operation to destroy Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor was a failure, despite its actual real-world success, and came dangerously close to pinning Saddam’s subsequent behavior on Israel.

If Kahl is confirmed, the strong alliance against shared enemies, cooperation in developing lifesaving techniques for wounded men and women on the battlefield, and the degree to which Israel remains prepared and confident that it can defend itself against Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Republic of Iran would be put into question.

Kahl’s disqualifying positions are not limited to his antagonism towards Israel. He has held numerous positions concerning Iran that call his judgment into question. Among the most disturbing was his opposition to America’s designation of Iran’s ruthless Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The IRGC and its proxies are responsible for terror attacks around the globe, in addition to the deaths of numerous Americans and Israelis.

'Hungary is leading the change in EU stance on Jerusalem'

A recent referendum vote by the Swiss people to ban face coverings in public, aimed mainly at Muslim women, bolsters the concerns of European communities throughout Europe over a wave of legislation across the continent that affects the rights of religious minorities.

One example is a recent Belgian law outlawing kosher slaughter. Other European bills have been proposed that would ban kosher slaughter and ritual circumcision out of concern for "rights of minors and animals."

In her first interview to the Israeli media, Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga, a senior member of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet and the Hungarian official in charge of EU affairs, expresses staunch opposition to European attempts to pass laws that hamper aspects of Jewish life in Europe.

"In the past 10 years, our government made every effort to guarantee the life of the Jewish community in Hungary. It is an issue of utmost importance. We think that other European governments should do the same," Varga tells Israel Hayom.

The European Court ruling to ban kosher slaughter "is an attack not only on the freedom of religion, but equally on our Jewish-Christian heritage in Europe and on Jewish communities living in Europe," she adds, noting that the Hungarian government "condemns this harmful decision and we will speak out against it in every possible international forum."

"Europe positions itself as a defender of values and of freedom of religion, but then sometimes it makes decisions that go against this values-based approach," Varga says.

"The Hungarian government has made it clear in all international fora that the preservation of our Jewish-Christian heritage is the key to the survival of European culture and the European future. The recent terrorist attacks in Europe were not aimed against European culture alone, but also against the Jewish communities of those countries," Varga says.

Czech prime minister opens embassy office in Jerusalem

The Czech Republic opened the Jerusalem office of its embassy Thursday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

“We keep our promise,” said Babis, standing in the shadow of the historic YMCA building in the Talbieh neighborhood of Jerusalem. “The Czech Republic will have a full-fledged diplomatic mission here in Jerusalem. It will deal with a lot — ranging from politics, economic cooperation, consular agenda, and other topics. It will have a permanent staff and work under the lead of our embassy in Tel Aviv.”

Babis also praised Israel’s “knowhow and experience” in fighting the coronavirus.

The Czech foreign ministry announced its plans to open the mission in December. The Czech Republic is the second European Union member state, after Hungary, to open a diplomatic mission in the city.

In May 2018, President Milos Zeman announced the beginning of a three-stage process to move the country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The first step was the appointment of an honorary consul in Jerusalem.

The second step was the November 2018 opening of the so-called Czech House, an office space in the capital’s Cinematheque that houses companies such as CzechInvest, CzechTrade and CzechTourism. Czech diplomats conduct meetings there but the center currently does not have official diplomatic status.

As president, Zeman has limited executive power, and Babis has so far opposed transferring his country’s embassy to Jerusalem, citing EU policy, which is staunchly opposed to opening diplomatic missions in the city.

Arab League official: “Nothing hints” that Jerusalem “ever belonged to the Zionists or the Jews”

Iraqi political analyst Haitham Al-Khazali: The Zionists in Palestine Are Khazars - Not Jews; We Share no Common Forefathers, Divine Values; Pope’s Visit to Iraq, U.S. ‘Pleading’ with Iran – Prove Shiite Victory #Antisemitism #Iraq pic.twitter.com/uLnpk21wxx

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 11, 2021

IDF declares: We are first military in the world with herd immunity

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday announced that its vaccination campaign had successfully given its troops “herd immunity” against the coronavirus, which it said made it the first army to achieve that goal.

“After 10 weeks, I can declare that the IDF is the first military in the world to reach herd immunity,” Maj. Gen. Itzik Turgeman, the head of the military’s Technology and Logistics Directorate, told reporters on Thursday.

According to Turgeman, as of Thursday some 81 percent of the military had received a coronavirus vaccine, had contracted the virus in the past, or both. Within the next week that number was on track to go up to 85 percent, he added.

He said this gave the IDF what’s known as herd immunity or community immunity, in which a sufficiently large portion of a given population is protected against a disease that it is no longer able to spread widely within that group. This claim could not be independently verified. It was not immediately clear how the military’s significant interaction with Israeli civilians would potentially impact this herd immunity.

The IDF’s Chief Medical Officer, Brig. Gen. Dr. Alon Glasberg, said this herd immunity would allow the military to return to more normal operations, though troops would still be required to wear masks, social-distance and abide by other coronavirus-related restrictions in accordance with government policy.

“But things look a lot more like they did a year ago,” he told reporters.

The IDF is the first military & the largest organization in the world to be vaccinated against Covid-19:
✔️ 81% vaccinated
✔️ 22 complexes operating around Israel
✔️ 0 IDF deaths from the virus
We have reached our goal of a successful vaccination campaign.

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 11, 2021

Israel says “IDF becomes world’s first vaccinated military, and largest organization in the world to be vaccinated”. Big news. #Breakingnews pic.twitter.com/NwnxJdhw3q

— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) March 11, 2021

IDF: Israel Becomes First to Fully Vaccinate Military

IDF detains 5 Palestinian children suspected of trespassing at West Bank outpost

Israeli soldiers detained five Palestinian children in the south Hebron hills on Wednesday after settlers in an illegal outpost reported that they had trespassed on the site.

The incident took place by the Havot Maon outpost. The five children — who range in age from 8 to 13 — were reportedly held for three hours at the Kiryat Arba police station before being released.

Two of the children, aged 12 and 13, have been summoned for additional questioning on Sunday, according to the childrens’ lawyer Gaby Lasky.

The other three children were detained before being released without further charges. According to Israeli law, children below the age of 12 cannot be held criminally liable for their actions, Lasky told The Times of Israel.

In a laconic statement, the Israeli military said “a number of suspects were identified who had penetrated the territory of a house in the south Hebron hills.”

“An army patrol in the area located the suspects and transferred them to Israel Police, who worked to find their parents and release them,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

To all those rushing to retweet that video of Israeli soldiers detaining Palestinian kids, as if some evil act, are only spreading a vicious lie and libel. @SussexFriends here has very succinct summary of what actually happened 👇👇👇 https://t.co/13vTWSgQV0

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 11, 2021

PMW: Murderers of the Fogel family set to get 50% salary increase from the PA

Having now almost completed 10 years in prison, the salary the Palestinian Authority pays to the murderers of the Fogel family is set to rise by 50%, from 4,000 shekels ($1,203) per month to 6,000 ($1,806) per month.

On March 11, 2011, two Palestinian teenagers, aged 17 and 19, brutally murdered Ruti and Udi Fogel and three of their children, Yoav, Elad and baby Hadas.

As part of its “Pay-for-Slay” terror reward policy, the PA has been paying the murderers of the Fogel family a monthly salary since the day they were arrested. As part of this policy, to date, the PA has already paid each one of the murderers 338,400 shekels ($101,847).

According to the 2004 PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners and its implementing regulations, the salary the PA pays to all terrorist prisoners rises with time spent in prison:

Days after the murder, Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA incitement immediately prior to the attack.

A month after the attack, a survey conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah showed that while two thirds of those surveyed opposed the attack, the remaining third supported the attack.

PA TV commentator urges violence and terror: “An intifada needs to take place today”

Hamas claims 3 Gaza fishermen killed by explosive Israeli quadcopter

Some three Gazan fisherman were killed by an Israeli quadcopter carrying explosives on Sunday, the Gazan Interior Ministry claimed on Thursday, according to Palestinian media.

The ministry announced that it had conducted an investigation into three possible causes before arriving at their conclusion: a Hamas test rocket hitting the boat, the direct targeting of the boat by Israel and an accidental explosion by Israeli equipment left in the sea.

The investigation allegedly found that the boat carrying the fishermen was "completely outside the range of the rocket fire" and that eyewitness testimony and footage excluded the possibility that Israeli forces had targeted the boat.

The investigation found that about half an hour before the explosion, two other fishermen found an Israeli quadcopter in their nets and handed it over to Maritime Police. An explosive device was found attached to the quadcopter, the Gazan Interior Ministry claimed. Another quadcopter was allegedly found in the fishing net of the three dead fishermen and was found to be "completely identical" to the one found by the other fishermen.

The forensic report on the three fishermen found that they were killed by a severe explosive shock by a non-fragmentation device, as no metal fragments were found in their bodies. The explosive device reportedly found on the other quadcopter matched this description.

The Gazan Interior Ministry released an animated video simulating the incident.

Abbas ousts Yasser Arafat’s nephew from Fatah as election race heats up

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expelled prominent critic Nasser al-Qidwa from the Fatah party on Thursday following the official’s declaration that he would establish a breakoff electoral slate and mount a challenge to Fatah in the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.

“[Al-Qidwa] was given 48 hours to retreat from his stated positions, which violated the internal regime, decisions and unity of Fatah,” Abbas wrote in a decree ordering Al-Qidwa’s dismissal.

Al-Qidwa announced last week that he planned to contest Abbas’s Fatah movement’s main slate in the Palestinian legislative elections, which are scheduled for May 22. Another round of elections, for the Palestinian Authority presidency, is scheduled to be held on June 31.

Abbas issued a formal decree ordering the elections in mid-January, which was greeted by widespread skepticism. The Palestinians have not headed to a national vote in 15 years, and numerous promised elections never came to pass.

Anticipation has slowly been growing, however, both in diplomatic circles and among the Palestinian public. Around 93 percent of eligible Palestinians registered to vote in the upcoming elections in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission.

Abbas rival arranges vaccine shipment to Gaza

Some 40,000 vaccines are on their way to the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah top official and main political rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, announced Wednesday.

The vaccines were sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, where Dahlan has been residing since his expulsion from Ramallah in 2011.

The Sputnik V vaccines are expected to arrive in the strip via Egypt on Thursday. Gaza had previously received 20,000 doses, so together with the inoculations donated by the UAE, it will be able to vaccinate 30,000 of its residents.

In a Facebook post, Dahlan explained that the vaccines would be administered to healthcare staff and the at-risk population.

According to Wafa, the official Palestinian newspaper, in the past 24 hours, 2,331 Gazans tested positive for the coronavirus, and 27 died.

Palestinian sourced reported Wednesday that a top official from Dahlan's Democratic Reform Bloc, Ghassan Jadallah, has visited Gaza. Several of Dahlan's associates have been returning to the strip to prepare for the upcoming Palestinian elections scheduled for May 22.

PFLP official Jamil Mazhar: We are participating in the Palestinian elections to change the political system and cancel the Oslo Accords. pic.twitter.com/k6VCGR81sG

— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) March 10, 2021

PFLP Official Lauds Palestinian Female Terrorists during PA Ceremony on International Women’s Day

Netanyahu: I Prevented Iran From Acquiring an ‘Arsenal’ of Nuclear Weapons

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his campaign against the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran prevented the Islamic Republic from acquiring “an arsenal” of nuclear weapons.

At an English-language event held by the Tel Aviv International Salon, Netanyahu was asked by journalist Lahav Harkov about the results of his campaign, especially in regard to the claim that Iran is now closer than ever to a nuclear bomb.

Netanyahu asserted, “I think if it weren’t for the effort that I led worldwide, including going to the American Congress and standing up against this Iran deal, Iran would have already had not a nuclear bomb, but an arsenal of nuclear bombs.”

Also citing Israel’s intelligence operations against Iran, such as stealing its nuclear archive, Netanyahu said, “With other Arab countries that I forged now peace deals, and some of them are en route to having peace deals, one of the things that unites them is that they say, ‘We respect your leadership, Prime Minister Netanyahu, we know that you stand against Iran, and that’s why we’re standing with you.’”

“Because of what I did, Iran has been set back for years, and because of what I will do, they will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu emphasized. “As long as I’m prime minister, Iran will not have atomic bombs.”

How Israel's Mossad Turned the IAEA around on Iran with Evidence

Former IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano had signed off in 2015 on the idea that Iran had come clean enough on past "possible military dimensions" of its nuclear program. Then, after the Mossad raided Iran's secret nuclear archives in 2018, it provided the IAEA with volumes of Iranian nuclear documents which proved otherwise. These documents also led to previously unknown nuclear sites in Iran, where the IAEA had no choice but to follow-up.

While Amano responded slowly to the new information until his unexpected death in July 2019, the current IAEA director-general, Rafael Grossi, who took over in December 2019, started to confront the Islamic Republic to resolve questions about its undeclared nuclear activities revealed by the Mossad. In June 2020, Grossi got the IAEA Board of Governors to condemn Iran's lack of cooperation - the first such condemnation since before the 2015 deal, and in August 2020, he finally got access to the additional sites.

Danny Danon: Iran remains the plague of the Middle East

The United Nations, the setting for my five-year service as Israel's 17th Permanent Representative, has traditionally been an unwelcome and problematic arena for the State of Israel. Year after year, Israel has withstood many unjust accusations, declarations and resolutions.

At the same time, the UN is a place full of diplomatic opportunities. It's a place that brings the countries of the world together like no other forum. It's a place where Israel can speak in confidence with representatives from all countries, including its Arab neighbors, and exchange real views.

For many years, these covert conversations were conducted in great secrecy. I myself visited the United Arab Emirates and Morocco in the past, and conducted many such meetings, with every engagement requiring complex coordination from all sides.

At the close of each encounter, a classified cable was traditionally sent to each party's capital city to report on the dialogue. These demanding events highlighted how far countries would go to conceal any relationship with Israel because for many nations, Israel was a friend only in private. Publicly, Israel was an enemy and the script was entirely different.

This trend has been entirely reversed with the Abraham Accords. Today, there is no need for secrecy. Israel is now able to outwardly meet in public with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, among many others.

Addressing Iran's Weaponization Work

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is seeking answers from Tehran on three sites in the country where undeclared nuclear weapons research is suspected to have occurred in recent decades. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said Monday in Vienna that, "After 18 months, Iran has not provided the necessary, full and technically credible explanation for the presence of these [man-made uranium] particles."

The Biden administration shouldn't pressure Grossi to paper over Iran's deceit, which goes to the heart of whether the regime can be trusted with advanced nuclear capabilities. Instead, Washington should demand answers in order to build a stronger foundation for a new JCPOA that it can sell to a skeptical Mideast region. The uncertainty about the state of Iran's weapons capabilities makes the ability of the U.S. to accurately certify Tehran's "breakout" time nearly impossible.

The issue of Iran's past weaponization work was supposed to be resolved in 2015 as part of the completion of the JCPOA negotiations. But the shortcomings of the IAEA's investigation became clear in 2018 after Israel raided an Iranian government warehouse near Tehran. The operation unearthed 300 tons of secret documents that showed Iran's weapons program was far larger and more advanced than U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies understood six years ago.

The nuclear archive documents a crash Iranian program to build five atomic bombs and place some of them on long-range missiles, and the IAEA has found uranium traces at some of the sites pinpointed in the captured documents.

At its core, the IAEA's mission is to account for all nuclear materials and equipment possessed by member states. Allowing Iran to dissemble and whitewash its nuclear sites would set a terrible precedent for other nations who might be tempted to pursue a covert nuclear weapons program. Also, the failure to reckon with the truth about Iran's weaponization history will cripple efforts to improve the JCPOA.

Not knowing the true state of Iran's capabilities, and the location of all its nuclear fuel and equipment, would lead many in the Mideast to assume Tehran is just a turn-of-the-screw away from having an atomic bomb.

Former US envoy Pompeo calls Iran nuclear deal a 'monstrosity'

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the Iran nuclear deal from 201, calling it a "monstrosity" during an interview with i24NEWS on Wednesday evening.

The former US senior official also touted his record for the progress the White House made in the Middle East, especially the signing of the historic Abrahamic Accords that normalized ties between Israel and 4 Arabs states, and hoped his successor will continue the work his team started.

"We were working in countries all across the Middle East, we were working with countries in Africa, we were working with Islamic countries in Asia... to help Israel to help those countries to bridge any gaps they had and make the case why the right thing to do was to join the Abraham Accords" so that they recognize Israel as a key economic and security partner, Pompeo said during the interview.

"And I am very confident that the direction of travel is right, that these accords were indeed historic... and I hope the American administration that is now in power will continue to put forth a series of policies from the US that won't be an impediment to these countries connecting with Israel."

Pompeo, however, repudiated the Biden administration for its vision of the Middle East, specifically in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conventional diplomatic approach that has failed to deliver a peace agreement for decades.

"We both share the same objectives, but they fundamentally go at it in a different hypothesis" Pompeo began.

The Biden administration's "hypothesis" is that "somehow that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a veto, and until that is resolved that nothing can happen. We proved that wrong," the former top US diplomat continued.

"We're happy to work to make the lives of the Palestinian people better... but we're not going to allow the Palestinian Authority to continue to conduct its terror campaign, to continue to undermine any hopes for peace, because frankly, they say no to everything."

Switching to Iran, Pompeo warned against resuming negotiations with the Islamic Republic, calling the country a threat to stability in the region while slamming the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) a "monstrosity."

"We isolated the Iranian regime like no country ever had," he said. "We built out an enormous coalition of countries that understood Iran as the central threat to stability and peace in the Middle East."

Biden’s Point Man on Iran Says White House Wants to Avoid Clash With Israel Over Return to Iran Deal

The Biden administration’s point man on Iran said Wednesday that the White House wants to avoid the kind of conflict with Israel that occurred during the negotiation of the original 2015 nuclear deal.

The clash over the 2015 deal led to a major rift between the Obama administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, with Netanyahu campaigning heavily against the deal, including with a controversial speech before the US Congress.

The State Department envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, told Axios that the Biden White House wants to avoid such a confrontation, and will consult with Israel on any return to the deal, as well as ensuring that Israel will not be kept in the dark on developments.

“We don’t always agree, but the talks are extremely open and positive,” Malley said. “While we may have different interpretations and views as to what happened in 2015-2016, neither of us wishes to repeat it.”

Israel is reportedly pleased by the administration’s decision to reconvene a strategic forum in which Israeli and US officials will collaborate on the process of dealing with the Iran issue.

House members introduce bipartisan resolution condemning Iranian nuclear program

A bipartisan group of House members — consisting mostly of centrist Democrats — has introduced a resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear program.

The resolution, introduced by Democratic Reps. Elaine Luria (D-VA), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Brad Schnieder (D-IL), joined by moderate Republican Peter Meijer (R-MI), condemns Iran’s decision to enrich uranium to 20% purity.

The resolution argues that Iran’s continuing enrichment “is escalatory and intended to decrease breakout time to produce a nuclear weapon” and calls on Iran to “immediately reverse its decision… and abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.” It also notes that Iran is in violation of the decades-old Non-Proliferation Treaty — which does not give Iran any inherent right to enrich nuclear material.

It further criticizes Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, ballistic missile development, imprisonment of American citiziens and destabilizing actions throughout the Middle East. The resolution comes a day after Secretary of State Tony Blinken called on Tehran to provide more details into the disappearance and presumed death of former FBI agent Bob Levinson, who was last seen in Iran in 2017 while working as a CIA agent.

Honest Reporting: Business Insider’s Unsubstantiated Claim of Possible Israeli ‘Substantial Attack’ to Derail Iran Diplomacy

Iran’s Ceaseless Provocations

Recently, an Iranian-owned tanker reportedly spilled more than 1,000 tons of tar near Israel’s shores, causing what has been called the worst ecological disaster in the country’s history. According to environmental experts, it will take years before the damage to the marine ecosystem is reversed. Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel on March 3 accused Iran of “environmental terror.”

Although Gamliel’s assessment was not shared by all members of the Israeli intelligence community, leading international shipping journal Lloyd’s List published findings that accorded with Gamliel’s position. Meanwhile, the alleged eco-terrorism came after Iran purportedly attacked an Israeli cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on February 25. The MV Helios Ray, a vehicle carrier, was traveling to Singapore when a blast tore through its hull.

These are the facts, which were reported in the Business Insider story. However, the author — whose coverage of the 2006 war between Israel and Iranian-backed and Lebanon-based Hezbollah was critiqued by HonestReporting — veers way off course by suggesting that a potential major Israeli military response is in the works:
There is growing concern that Israeli intelligence will make the same determination as the environmental ministry — that the oil spill is an Iranian operation. Israel could use the double provocations as a reason to strike Iran just as Europe and the United States hope to re-start nuclear talks with Iran in exchange for a reopening of economic trade and more peaceful relations.”

Prothero’s sources for this bold assertion? An anonymous “European diplomat in the region, who refused to be named because of extreme sensitivity,” and an “official at the US National Security Council — who does not speak to the media for attribution.” Their thoughts on the matter are not supported by any tangible evidence, which casts doubt over their claims.

UN Investigator Finds Iran Responsible for ‘Egregious’ Human Rights Abuses

A United Nations investigator on Wednesday said Iran has committed "egregious" human rights violations.

U.N. special rapporteur Javaid Rehman told members of the U.N. Human Rights Council that Iran has overseen a brutal crackdown on political and religious freedom since protests in 2019 and urged member states to hold Tehran accountable, according to Voice of America. Rehman said that Iran killed at least 304 Iranians during the 2019 demonstrations, which protested against the hardline regime.

"It is beyond belief that almost 18 months since the deadly crackdown against the November 2019 protests in Iran, the government has still not conducted a proper investigation nor held anyone accountable for the lethal force used against protesters," Rehman said.

The U.N. investigator also noted that Iran oversaw the execution of at least 267 Iranians last year, including children and political activists. Beyond its own citizens, Iran also detains four Americans in the country's prisons.

The Trump administration pushed Iran to release American hostages and improve its human rights record as part of a larger "maximum pressure" campaign, which imposed unprecedented sanctions on the regime. The sanctions, along with Tehran's mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, significantly weakened Iran's economy throughout 2020.

Leading US Jewish Group Applauds Sanctions Against IRGC Interrogators, Announced on Anniversary of Levinson Kidnapping

The heads of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations praised the Biden Administration’s announcement Tuesday of sanctions against two interrogators from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made on the 14th anniversary of Iran’s kidnapping of former FBI agent Robert Levinson.

“We commend the Biden Administration for its appropriate action in sanctioning two officials of the Iranian regime, Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari, barring them and their families from entering the United States,” said Conference Chairman Arthur Stark, CEO William Daroff and Vice Chair Malcolm Hoenlein, in a statement Wednesday.

“These men are members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization, who engaged in the torture of Iranian citizens during the 2019-2020 protests against the extremist regime. Iran’s vicious crackdown against the protests resulted in the murder of hundreds of its own people, and the violent repression of countless more,” they said.

The two men and their families are now ineligible for entry into the US, in a move that a State Department spokesman said was meant to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses, even as the Biden administration attempts to make progress with Tehran over a return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

The sanctions announcement coincided with the 14th anniversary of the disappearance of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent abducted by Iran and who is believed by family members and US officials to have died in their custody.

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