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Monday, August 2, 2021

08/01 Links Pt1: UNRWA Teachers Celebrate Deaths of Israelis, Support Terrorism; The IOC and Palestinian athletes; Boris: Iran must face consequences for ‘outrageous’ attack on ship

From Ian:

UN Watch: Report: UN Teachers Celebrate Deaths of Israelis
The UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians is facing calls to fire employees using social media to celebrate attacks on Israelis and promote anti-Jewish hatred.

Over 100 UNRWA educators and staff have publicly promoted violence and antisemitism on social media, according to a new report published by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, an independent human rights group based in Geneva.

The report, entitled “Beyond the Textbooks,” uncovers 22 recent cases of UNRWA staff incitement which clearly violate the agency’s own rules as well as its proclaimed values of zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or antisemitism. UN Watch is calling on the agency’s major funders — including the U.S., Germany, the UK and the European Union — to hold UNRWA accountable to its own standards and commitments.

As revealed in the report, UNRWA staff stationed in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have publicly incited antisemitism and terrorism. Among the educators who have used their personal social media channels for such propaganda are UNRWA Gaza math teacher Nahed Sharawi, who shared a video of Adolf Hitler with inspirational quotes to “enrich and enlighten your thoughts and minds.” Husni Masri, an UNRWA teacher in the West Bank, posted antisemitic conspiracy theories according to which Jews control the world, created the coronavirus and seek to destroy Islam.

UN Watch’s report lists a total of 113 cases that it managed to capture from UNRWA employees’ public pages alone, all celebrating and promoting violence, even among young children. The watchdog group only examined a sample of Facebook users who publicly identified themselves as UNRWA employees, and estimates that the actual number of UNRWA staff who incite violence and hatred includes many more of the agency’s 30,000 staff.

UN Watch further reveals that despite its numerous prior requests and submission of detailed evidence, UNRWA has failed to fire teachers who incite to racism and terrorism, nor has it taken any other meaningful action. UNRWA should therefore be considered complicit in its staff members’ misconduct, says UN Watch. Click for full PDF report






The IOC and Palestinian athletes
The modern Olympic Games fundamentally represent peace and goodwill among members of the international community, reflected by mutual recognition of talent and fierce sportsmanship.

So why, then, is a Palestinian-Arab team allowed to compete in the event for the seventh time without the Palestinian Authority's ever having apologized for the Munich Massacre – which took place precisely at the Olympics – or paid reparations to the families of the slain Israeli athletes?

The long overdue moment of silence for the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian-Arab terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics was certainly a step in the right direction. However, most do not know that this brutality against innocent civilians, which expresses the opposite of all that the Olympics represents, was financed by Mahmoud Abbas, the figure who would subsequently become the leader of the PA.

This fact was included in terrorist Mohammad Daoud Oudeh's book From Munich to Jerusalem.

When Oudeh, known by his nom de guerre Abu Daoud, died in 2010, Abbas – who already headed the PA – lauded him as a hero for being the planner, architect and mastermind of the Munich Massacre.

The current head of the Palestine Olympic Committee is Jibril Rajoub. Instead bringing Israelis and Palestinian Arabs closer through the Olympics, Rajoub led the fight against the moment of silence, and then proceeded to praise Olympic athletes who refused to compete against Israelis.

One such athlete was Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who refused to face off with Israel's Tohar Butbul. Posting a photo of himself on social media with Nourine, Rajoub expressed appreciation for his "courageous stance refusing normalization."

Rajoub also told an Algerian radio station that "we worked a lot to reach the Olympics … but the Palestinian cause is greater than all of this."
Following 'Post' op-ed, CNN apologizes to Dore Gold for misquote
CNN news anchor Fareed Zakaria apologized to Israel's former Foreign Ministry director-general Dr. Dore Gold on Sunday after mistakenly claiming that Gold said that the "two-state solution" would be realized when Jordan became the Palestinian state.

Zakaria apologized on the August 1 episode of his CNN television program GPS.

"On last week's show, I asked King Abdullah about the concept that there would be no stand-alone Palestine state in the future that but instead his nation, Jordan, would become the de-facto Palestine state," said Zakaria "I said the idea had been recently mentioned by long time Israeli diplomat, Dore Gold. I was wrong. Many have talked about that concept, but not ambassador Gold. I apologize for that error."

“Facts and the pursuit of truth are important things in the work I do, so it was important that this mistake be corrected,” Gold said in response.

Zakaria interviewed King Abdulluh on July 25, and asked the king for his thoughts on the idea that Jordan would become the Palestinian state, asserting that Gold was a proponent of the solution.

According to a Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs press release, Zakaria's allegations circulated on his personal Twitter account, which was then quoted by the Jordanian press. As of the writing of this article the tweet cannot be found.

Gold published an Op-Ed for The Jerusalem Post on July 29, in which he noted the damage that Zakaria's misinformation had done, "by feeding into a long-held fear in Jordan that Israel was scheming to solve the Palestinian problem at Jordan’s expense."


Azerbaijan opens first trade office in Israel to boost economic ties
Azerbaijan has opened a trade office in Israel, its first official mission in the Jewish state, to boost economic ties between the two countries.

Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov inaugurated the office in Tel Aviv with Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov. The pair discussed the economic relationship between the two countries, Israeli investments in Azerbaijan, increasing mutual trade and boosting tourism.

Jabbarov also met with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman

He said that the Jerusalem-based venture capital firm OurCrowd had signed a memorandum of understanding with an Azerbaijani investment company to “attract investments in startup projects and transfer best practices of leading Israeli companies to our country.”

“The new area of cooperation will contribute to the establishment of an innovative ecosystem in our country,” Jabbarov said.

George Deek, Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, said he believes the move will presage the opening of an Azerbaijani embassy in Israel.
New fiber-optic cable project to link Israel with Saudi Arabia
Although Israel and Saudi Arabia still don't share peace, they're about to be connected via fiber-optic cable.

On Tuesday, Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and representatives from Google are expected to announce the official launch of the "Blue Raman" route that will link the two countries and which is part of a larger internet infrastructure project that will ultimately connect Europe with India.

The underwater cable project, named after Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, will be more than 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) long and is expected to cost $400 million. It will begin in Italy and then pass over Israel before reaching Saudi Arabia, Oman and finally India.

The 16 fiber-optic cables to be used in the Blue Raman project will be capable of transmitting massive amounts of data and will significantly upgrade Israel's digital connection with the rest of the world.

No less important – and similar to the oil pipeline linking Israel's southern Red Sea port of Eilat to the city of Ashkelon on the Mediterranean Sea, which is intended to be used to expedite oil supplies from the Persian Gulf to Europe – the fiber-optic cables will also cross Israel on land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and from there, as stated, to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and finally India.

The Blue Raman route is expected to be completed in three years.

Beyond the technological aspects of the global project and the benefits it will provide in that regard, the selection of Israel as the "conduit" country is diplomatically and geopolitically significant.
JPost Ediorial: Mercer Street is a global wakeup call to the Iranian threat - editorial
The Iranian attack last week on a ship connected to Israel is a wake-up call that needs to reverberate around the world. Two crew members on Mercer Street – the Romanian captain and a British security officer – were killed in the attack, the first fatalities in what has been an ongoing maritime war-between-wars. This led the government in Jerusalem to accuse Tehran of “sowing violence and destruction.” Although the ship is owned by a Japanese company, Mercer Street is operated by London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Clearly Israeli interests were the target, but other countries are no less threatened.

Mercer Street had been on its way from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when it was apparently attacked in a drone strike northeast of the Omani island of Masirah. While Iran did not take responsibility for the attack, its fingerprints are all over it. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was right when he issued a statement, saying: “Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that affects the whole world. We can never remain silent in the face of Iranian terrorism, which also harms freedom of navigation.”

Lapid also did well to reach out to his British and Romanian counterparts Dominic Raab and Bogdan Aurescu to offer condolences, support and seek greater cooperation in tackling Iran in the international arena. Lapid also instructed the embassies in London, Washington and at the UN in New York to discuss the need for a diplomatic response.
Johnson: Iran must face consequences for ‘outrageous’ attack on ship
Israel will retaliate against anyone who seeks to harm the Jewish State “in the time and place and way” of its choosing, Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Monday.

Warning that Israel has a “variety of tools and options” to protect its citizens, Gantz stressed that Israel will make Iran pay for the deadly drone attack that hit the Mercer Street near the shores of Oman and killed two people.

“This is not just an Israeli matter. The whole world sees the results of Iran's aggression and must take action. Any agreement with Iran must also address its aggression in the region and its harm both to innocent people and to the global economy,” he said.

Though Iran has denied being behind the attack on the Israeli-managed ship on which a Romanian and British national were killed, an Iranian official was quoted by Nour News as saying that Tehran would respond to any retaliation.

“Although the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the threats of Western officials and those of the Zionist regime as propaganda, any move against the interests and national security of Iran will face a tough and firm response, and Washington and London will be directly responsible for its consequences,” an Iranian official said Monday.

Gantz asserted that Iranian maritime aggression has gotten worse, and that the Islamic Republic has attacked five international ships in the past year.

The deadly attack against the Mercer Street “that resulted in the murder of two civilians, is a clear violation of international law. It is immoral and it constitutes an escalation” by Iran, he added.


Iran TV report says attack on 'Israeli ship' was revenge for Syria raid
A TV network linked to Iran has said that the attack on a ship off the coast of Oman was in “response to a recent Israeli attack on Al-Dabaa airport in the Al-Qusayr region in Syria.” The report by the Iranian-backed network in Arabic appears to be one of the first major media reports in Iran discussing the attack on the ship.

The article says that “well-informed sources" in the region told Al-Alam that today's attack on an Israeli ship in the northern Oman Sea came in response to the Israeli attack. It says that the attack on Al-Dabaa had led to the “martyrdom” of two people who were linked to Iran’s “resistance axis,” which means pro-Iran groups such as Hezbollah or other militias. Al-Dabaa airport was reportedly targeted on July 22.

The report notes that the ship was attacked and that two people were killed. “According to the agency report, a ship was attacked off the coast of the Sultanate of Oman yesterday, Thursday, according to a maritime security group run by the British Royal Navy.” The Al-Alam TV report then quotes Israeli media and notes that the ship was attacked somewhere off the coast of Oman.

Al-Alam has reported attacks on ships in the past. In April 2021 the TV station said that the cargo ship Hyperion Ray, which sails under the Bahamas flag, was attacked. That attack and an attack on Helios Ray has been linked to Iran by foreign media reports.

The report at Al-Alam is the first one in major Iranian media that points to an Iranian motive. Fars News and Tasnim had not even reported the incident as of Friday evening. This is strange, because they usually celebrate what they claim are attacks on Israel or Israeli-linked entities. This may indicate purposeful attempts to downplay the incident.


Will the PA and EU Allow Israel to Resolve the Khan al-Ahmar Issue?
Proposals submitted by the Civil Administration to the Bedouin to relocate onto building plots—which would include public infrastructure and compensation—were rejected on various grounds, often due to the political pressure of the Palestinian Authority and backed and assisted by European organizations. As such, Khan al-Ahmar has become a symbol in the struggle for Area C. Likewise in violation of Israeli law and the lawsuit, EU representatives erected light buildings for the Bedouin on these state lands. Under pressure from various factors in the EU, the site has even won the protection of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel.

The Civil Administration's law enforcement agencies froze construction on the site and prevented any development or strengthening of dilapidated buildings in the area, preserving the inhumane conditions of the Bedouins. However, a large group of settlers from Kfar Adumim came to the aid of their Bedouin neighbors for humanitarian assistance.

At first, these were introductory meetings to understand the neighbor's needs. However, these meetings have evolved into a network of aid and friendships that culminated in facilitating a hearing implant transplant in the ear of a deaf Bedouin child. And given the region’s the harsh weather, the Israelis came to the aid of their neighbors when a building caught fire and other buildings collapsed in the floods. It turned out that despite the international controversy, the human connection still exists, as it should.

During the elections, the right-wing Yamina party—led by Naftali Bennett—stated that as soon as it came to power, it would evacuate Khan al-Ahmar. However, the new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid asked the Supreme Court earlier this month to postpone the deadline of evacuation so that the new government could discuss the matter again. A few days later, reports came of a compromise proposal agreed by the Bedouin families, according to which the Bedouin would be relocate to the Arad Valley within Israeli territory and near other members of the Jahalin tribe in the area. Those who had been relocated would receive residential land, financial compensation and Permanent Resident status in Israel.

As in the crisis of the Eviatar outpost, there appears to be a welcome trend of PM Naftali Bennett resolving conflicts by way of compromise and agreements. There is no doubt that the proposed agreement will benefit the Bedouin families. Now, the question is whether the Palestinian Authority and the European Union will allow the Bedouins to implement the agreement and improve their living conditions, or whether Khan al-Ahmar will once again become hostages to a political struggle.
New information emerges about the 1929 Hevron Massacre
Many of the wounded could have been saved.

Apparently, information about the unprovoked and bestial murder spree against the Jewish residents of Hevron, perpetrated by the Arab neighbors with whom they had had friendly relations for decades, on Shabbat, the 18th of Av (August 1929) including the relocated Slabodka Yeshiva, had reached Jerusalem on the fateful day itself.

Mr. Harbater, a wealthy American who lived in the Kiryat Moshe section of Jerusalem at the time, had a son learning in Hevron. He begged the British to start a convoy toward Hevron in order to stop the carnage and to save the critically wounded. He offered to pay for the expenses involved in arranging such a convoy. The British refused. 67 people died.

All this has been revealed in an interview with Mr. Michael Harbater, the son of Hevron survivor, Rabbi Moshe Harbater. Rabbi Harbater subsequently went to study in the Mir Yeshiva in Poland and received smicha from Rabbi Eliezer Yudel Finkel zt”l, the Mir Rosh Yeshiva.


Police covered up deaths in Mandatory Palestine, new documents show
British police in Mandate Palestine worked to cover up the killing of Jewish resistance activists, Israeli researchers have said, after 5,000 newly declassified documents were released by the Israeli State Archives in April 2021.

Among the declassified files are British police reports from Mandatory Palestine, detailing the British version of events during the shooting and murder of the "Lehi Children," on November 12 1947.

British forces learned that members of the Lehi (Stern Group) resistance group were training in a house in Ra'anana and arrived at the scene to prevent them from continuing.

The records detail the police arrival on the scene at about 10:05 a.m., and reports that "4 girls and 4-9 youth were in the house and armed with [live ammunition]."

The report then says that the commanding officer "saw his forces in immediate danger," and ordered them to open fire on the Stern Group members, who tried to escape in multiple directions.

Three girls, Yehudit Cohen, Sarah Belski and Leah Gintzler, all aged 15-18, were killed in the confrontation, as was 16-year-old Shalom Makharovsky, and their shooting instructed Yitzhak Moskowitz, aged 19.

Despite the British claim that their forces were in danger, they were blamed for killing the children "in cold blood," by eyewitnesses at the time, according to Ynet.

Peleg Levi, who created the documentary "The Children of Ra'anana" has examined the records and has said that "There is no doubt the children that ran away from the building were not a threat, as shown by the fact that no British soldier was wounded in the incident."


PMW: Hamas “oppresses life… [with] torture, murder, oppression" and uses civilians as human shields, say PA daily
After an explosion in Gaza City last month, the PA and Abbas’ Fatah Movement and others have criticized Hamas and other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip for their disregard for human life and use of civilians as human shields.

Fatah’s Awdah TV reported that human rights organizations as well as eyewitnesses had confirmed that the military wings of a number of factions in the Gaza Strip – i.e., terror organizations – had “placed bombs, explosives, and explosive materials near the homes of the civilians”:
Fatah-run Awdah TV host: “An explosion occurred in a popular market in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of the Gaza Strip, a place full of Palestinian civilians. A number of human rights committees and organizations, and also eyewitnesses and residents of the area confirmed that this storage area was used by the military wings of a number of factions in the Gaza Strip. This disregards the lives of the civilians, placing bombs, placing explosive devices, and explosives near the homes of the civilians and the homes of the Palestinians. [People] whose home was saved from the [Israeli] aggression (i.e., recent Hamas-Israeli war) unfortunately was not saved from the bombs of relatives… The human rights organizations are being accused of turning a blind eye on what is happening [in Gaza]… Crimes against people and against the Palestinian civilians. Crimes that we hear about every day: … The use of civilian buildings and sites to create explosive materials.”

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, July 24, 2021; Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, July 24, 2021]

An article published on the independent Palestinian news website Amad, which is affiliated with former top Fatah official Muhammad Dahlan, similarly criticized Hamas for storing live ammunition in markets relying on the knowledge that Israel would never bomb sites that are full of civilians:
“According to statements given by a number of residents living adjacent to the site of the incident, the house where the explosion took place serves as a weapons storehouse that belongs to Hamas…

Hamas is choosing popular markets as a secure place for its live ammunition storehouses, because the occupation forces cannot blow up the markets. This is because a wave of international rage would rise up against them if they targeted essential popular centers such as markets.”

[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, July 22, 2021]


Fatah praises terror attack in which “heroes” murdered 4 including a mother and her 2 young children

PA TV adds incitement song to pro-PA rally in Jenin

PA TV adds incitement song to pro-PA rally in Hebron

PA TV adds song glorifying terror to pro-PA rally in Jericho

“O Fatah man with the Kalashnikov” –PA TV adds Fatah terror song to pro-PA rally in Jericho



Lebanon is sliding back to the Stone Age, and Iran couldn’t be happier
It was without a doubt one of the worst tragedies in Lebanon’s history – and the country has suffered quite a few. A year ago, on August 4, 2020, a fire broke out at a fireworks warehouse at the Beirut port. The blaze spread to a hangar storing a huge amount of ammonium nitrates. Just after 6 p.m., an immense explosion tore through the port, followed by a shockwave that destroyed everything within a kilometer of the epicenter. The blast was felt over 20 kilometers away.

The scale of the disaster quickly became clear: over 200 killed and 6,000 injured. Within days, prime minister Hassan Diab tendered his resignation. But if some in Lebanon hoped the shocking disaster might fuel a wave of protests that would wash out the rot within the country, they were to be sorely disappointed. A year has passed, and the state of the country is only becoming more dire by the day. No one has been able to form a new government since Diab’s resignation, and the nation’s economic situation — already grim before the blast — has deteriorated to catastrophic.

Perhaps the most pertinent example of Lebanon’s calamitous condition can be seen in its failing infrastructure. Various international groups have warned that the country’s water supply systems could collapse within weeks. The government simply does not have the funds to maintain it — neither the replacement parts nor the chlorine, nor even fuel needed to power it. The consequences of such an eventuality, in a state that a few decades ago was considered to be the Middle East’s most advanced, are that citizens will need to take care of their water needs themselves. Lebanon could yet slide into internal wars over cisterns and reservoirs. The country would find itself returning to premodern history.

But the water crisis is only one example of the country’s growing distress: The electrical system has also ceased functioning properly, and can barely manage a few hours of power every day. Even the power company’s website collapsed. Lebanese citizens are living on private generators, but the shortage in fuel means these too are hard to maintain.


Iran's Nuclear Program a Central Pillar of Its "Shi'ite Revival" Vision
Iran expert Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, says becoming a nuclear-armed state is a central aspect of Iran's "Shi'ite revival" mindset. "They believe in the Shi'ite revival. It's important to grasp the importance they attach to this goal....The Iranians feel they have Divine intervention helping them."

"The nuclear program is the anchor that would allow Iran to position itself in the role that it has defined for itself. Becoming a nuclear state would influence all of Iran's tentacles in the region....The Iranians feel they are succeeding." The Islamic Republic would like to extend a nuclear umbrella over its regionwide activities and those of its proxies, he said.

"Iran's bottom line is that it wants to become a nuclear-armed state or a nuclear breakout state." The way Iran managed negotiations with world powers leading to the 2015 nuclear deal was part of a "highly organized" push to eventually reach that objective.

It's the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and the IRGC who decide this policy. "The Supreme Leader is growing stronger within the country. The election of Ebrahim Raisi as president is bringing the Supreme Leader's power to a peak. All of the more pragmatic moderates are being pushed aside....The West will struggle to find someone in Iran it is comfortable doing business with."

The flaws of the original 2015 deal are fully on display, he said, due to the speed with which Iran was able to return to nuclear activity in recent months. "Whether or not Iran goes back to the 2015 agreement doesn't matter to it. Within a short time, they have proven their nuclear knowledge, and they can decide to advance their nuclear project whenever they want."

"The know-how cannot be taken away from the Iranians. They know what to do, and how to do it. If they're not stopped, they will get to where they want to go." Iran is shortening its nuclear breakout time quickly, he added.
Israel's Foreign Affairs Min: Meet Iran's New President, the "Butcher of Tehran"
Despised by #Iranians, designated by the U.S. for mass executions, committed to the regime’s military nuclear program

Ebrahim Raisi is Iran's most extremist president to date; Iranians call him “The butcher of Tehran”









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