10/09 Links: US: 'Our position against unilateral Israeli settlement activity is clear'; Bernie Backs Iron Dome Funding – If Schumer Promises $1B for Gaza, Too

From Ian:

Biden administration to host Abraham Accords trilateral

The Biden administration plans to host an Abraham Accords trilateral meeting in Washington this Wednesday, between US, Israeli and Emirati officials.

"They will discuss progress made since the signing of the Abraham Accords last year, future opportunities for collaboration, and bilateral issues including regional security and stability," the US Embassy said in a statement about the meeting.

The trilateral will be held with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his United Arab Emirates counterpart Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Blinken will hold separate bilateral meetings with Lapid and bin Zayed prior to the trilateral. The secretary of state tweeted on Saturday night that he looked forward to his meetings with both foreign ministers.

Lapid will be in the US from October 12-14, on his first visit since taking office in May.

Lapid has been the most visible government figure involved in the continuation of the Abraham Accords which were initiated by former US President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The accords normalized ties between Israel and four Arab states; the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Lapid has traveled to all but Sudan.

US: 'Our position against unilateral Israeli settlement activity is clear'

The Biden administration has clearly opposed unilateral settlement activity, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington, in response to a query about US pressure on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to halt such action.

“Look, we don’t always – in fact we never read out our private diplomatic conversations, the back and forth we have, whether that’s with our Israeli partners or any partner around the world,” Price said.

“But suffice it to say we have made our position very clear, and when it comes to unilateral action like settlement activity, we have also made that very clear,” he said.

“And in fact, I just reiterated where the United States stands on settlement activity. There should be no question about that,” Price said on Thursday.

He spoke in the aftermath of a report by The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Walla, that the Biden administration was quietly calling on Israel to restrain settlement activity.

Price, however, has been fairly blunt about the Biden administration’s opposition to it, including at the Washington briefing on Thursday. “We believe it is critical for all parties to refrain from those unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and, again, undercut efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution,” he said. “That includes, as I was saying before in a different context, annexation of territory, settlement activity, demolitions and evictions” and “incitement to violence.”

Ted Deutsch: Support for Israel ‘can’t, and shouldn’t’ become partisan

It’s been a rocky couple of weeks within the Democratic Party. Two weeks ago, when the House of Representatives passed a bill to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome system, one moment caught the attention of members of the House. It was when Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida) gave an emotional speech right after his fellow democrat, Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), called Israel “an apartheid regime.”

“I cannot allow one of my colleagues to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and label the Jewish democratic State of Israel an apartheid state. I reject it,” he said. “The House of Representatives will overwhelmingly stand with our ally, the State of Israel, in replenishing this defensive system. If you believe in human rights, if you believe in saving lives, Israeli lives and Palestinian lives, I say to my colleague who just besmirched our ally, then you will support this legislation.”

“There was a lot leading to that moment,” Deutch told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. “There was enormous frustration when the Iron Dome funding was pulled from the bill after a number of us pressed House leadership to not only to ensure that we would vote on that Iron Dome funding, but to announce it before we even had a vote on the Continuing Resolution. This should have been very straightforward.”

“Lots of people ask me about why I was so emotional,” he said. “I was in large part responding to the speech that Representative Tlaib gave immediately before me. And what was really so upsetting at the moment was that this vote was for a defensive system that its sole purpose is to save lives. And to stand and argue against supporting that kind of lifesaving [system] and against Israel the way she did, I thought it [called for] a strong response.”

The Florida congressman serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism.

Bernie Sanders Backs Iron Dome Funding – If Schumer Promises $1B for Gaza, Too

Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders has agreed to support a bill to provide $1 billion in emergency funding to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system.

But the senator’s support did not come without a price.

Sanders only agreed to support the aid for Israel’s defense after he was assured by New York senior Senator Chuck Schumer there will be additional humanitarian aid for Gaza, according to a report by Jewish Currents.

Sanders wrote in a letter to Schumer on September 29, that it is “important to acknowledge that the Iron Dome system saves civilian lives from missile attacks.”

But he added, “Let’s be clear, however: According to the terms of the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Israel, the Iron Dome system was already fully funded… Contrary to what some have claimed, Iron Dome has never been at risk of being defunded or decommissioned.

“If the goal of this supplemental funding is to help Israel replenish Iron Dome after the war that took place in May, it would be irresponsible if we do not at the same time address the enormous destruction and suffering that that war caused the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Note that Sanders adroitly sidesteps the fact that it was the Gazans who started that war, and who aimed their missiles first at the Israeli capital, Jerusalem, during an event they knew had drawn thousands of Israeli civilians into the streets of the city.

“For us to provide an additional billion dollars in aid to Israel while ignoring the suffering of people in Gaza would be unconscionable and irresponsible,” he wrote.

“Just as we stand with the Israeli people’s right to live in peace and security, we must do so for the Palestinian people as well.”

HRW: Facebook censors Palestinian posts on Israeli human rights abuses

Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed on Friday that Facebook wrongfully removed content by Palestinian activists about Palestine and Israeli human rights violations during Operation Guardians of the Wall in May.

HRW, the New York-based NGO, also claimed that Facebook's reliance on the United States' Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) list for designating organizations as "dangerous" is a threat to free expression as it prohibits Palestinian leaders from using Facebook. Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), both of which are on the FTOs list, are merely "political movements that also have armed wings," HRW said.

Instagram, owned by Facebook, removed several posts pertaining to Palestine, including reposts of mainstream news organizations, HRW said. Posts in support of the Palestinian cause, such as one urging Palestinians to "never concede their rights" and another showing a building before it was "struck down by Israeli missiles" were removed from the social networking application for containing "hate speech or symbols," according to HRW.

In addition, HRW suggested wrongdoing in Facebook's handling of Israeli cyber units' reporting and flagging of violent content from Palestinians. HRW noted a State Attorney's Office report from 2018 which shows an 87% compliance rate for removal of hateful content on Facebook, which HRW states is extremely high for voluntary requests.

Argentine Jews to Appeal Judge’s Decision to Dismiss Case Against Former President Kirchner Over Pact With Iran

The Jewish community in Argentina pledged to appeal the decision of a Buenos Aires judge on Thursday to dismiss the case against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over an alleged cover-up of Iran’s role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds more.

“We continue to demand justice and the bringing of the accused to trial,” Jorge Knoblovits — head of the Argentine umbrella Jewish organization DAIA — said on Friday.

Now serving as the Vice-President of Argentina in the government of President Alberto Fernandez, her former chief of staff, the outlook for Kirchner was not so positive only three years ago. In March 2018, a federal judge ruled that Kirchner, ex-foreign minister Hector Timerman, and ten other close aides would face trial over a 2013 pact with Iran that whitewashed Tehran’s responsibility for the AMIA bombing — one of the worst acts of antisemitic violence since World War II.

The pact between Argentina and Iran exonerating the Tehran regime of responsibility for the AMIA atrocity was exposed by Alberto Nisman, the AMIA investigation federal prosecutor found murdered in his Buenos Aires apartment in January 2015 — an assassination that Kirchner falsely depicted as a suicide at the time. As Nisman had been about to file a formal complaint against the Kirchner government over the Iran pact, speculation had remained as to whether the former President or her advisors may have been implicated in his killing.

Knoblovits underlined that DAIA would appeal the decision in favor of Kirchner.

Merkel arrives in Israel for farewell visit as chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed in Israel Saturday night, ahead of a day of meetings with Israel’s leadership in her farewell visit as chancellor.

Merkel was greeted at Ben Gurion Airport by top Foreign Ministry officials.

The major Route 1 highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was briefly closed off as Merkel traveled from the airport to the capital. Some road closures were expected in Jerusalem throughout Sunday.

Merkel, who is currently leading a caretaker government following national elections until a new government is formed, will meet with the Israeli cabinet, visit Yad Vashem and meet Israeli high-tech leaders and entrepreneurs.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is expected to discuss with the German leader regional challenges and threats, among them Iran.

The chancellor was originally slated to visit Israel in late August, but canceled amid the upheaval surrounding the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Kabul airport attack.

That visit was called off in consultation with Bennett “because of current developments in Afghanistan,” Merkel’s office said in a statement at the time. Germany was among the countries scrambling to evacuate from Kabul their own nationals and Afghans who helped their forces during a nearly two-decade deployment in the country.

Throughout her 16 years in power, Merkel, who most recently visited the Jewish state in 2018, has described Israel’s national security as a crucial priority of German foreign policy due to the country’s historical responsibility for the Holocaust.

Report: Sudanese Delegation Arrives in Israel to Discuss Security

A Sudanese delegation comprising senior security and military officials visited Israel earlier this week for two days to discuss relations between the two countries, Al-Arabiya reported on Friday, providing no further details about the meetings.

Another report in an Arabic-language outlet claimed that the delegation that arrived in Israel included one of the senior representatives of Sudan’s defense industry and the commander of the Sudanese military’s rapid response forces.

The report did not specify when the delegation arrived in Israel.

Sudan is part of the Abraham Accords, brokered by the administration of former US president Donald Trump; however, unlike with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, Israel’s deal with Sudan is yet to result in significant diplomatic and milestones, and full normalization.

It is believed that Sudan’s political instability has prevented the Jewish state from making significant progress in bilateral contacts.

Report: Israel seized jogging Iran general in Damascus, freed him in S. Africa

An Arabic-language newspaper published new alleged details over the weekend on Israel’s supposed kidnapping of an Iranian general as part of efforts to find new information on the whereabouts of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.

Monday saw the London-based Rai al-Youm online newspaper report that Mossad agents kidnapped the unidentified man from Syria to interrogate him, before freeing him in an at-the-time unnamed African country.

That same day saw Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirm that Mossad agents went on a mission last month to uncover the whereabouts of Arad, an Israeli Air Force navigator who was captured in 1986 and was last heard from in 1988, though the premier did not provide details.

Media reports have largely characterized the operation as failing to produce any significant new information.

According to the latest report on Friday from Independent Arabia, the kidnapped general, nicknamed “Sabri,” had been sent by Iran to Lebanon in the 1980s and helped train the forces that would eventually form the Hezbollah terror group.

He later served in Iran’s Quds Force and in recent years had been advising Syrian regime forces during the civil war there.

Upsetting scenes from the Temple Mount today where hundreds of Muslims are chanted “Khaybar khaybar ya yahood” (oh Jews the army of Mohammed will return) referring to the mass murder of Jews in Khaybar

You can’t even raise an Israeli flag there, but calling to murder Jews is ok? pic.twitter.com/Fq7AsaK7HY

— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) October 8, 2021

2 foreign fighters killed in Israeli strike on Syrian airbase — monitor

An Israeli missile strike on an airbase in central Syria has killed two Damascus-allied foreign fighters and wounded several Syrian service personnel, a Britain-based war monitor said on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two foreigners were killed in the raid on the T-4 airbase late Friday, but their nationality was not immediately clear.

The official Syrian news agency SANA earlier said that, “at around 9:00 p.m., the Israeli enemy… fired a volley of missiles towards the T-4 military airport.”

“The aggression wounded six soldiers and led to some material damage,” it added.

The attack targeted a drone depot at the base, according to the war monitor, a pro-Syrian opposition organization of uncertain funding based in the UK.

Contacted by AFP, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said the military does not comment on foreign media reports.

The airbase has been struck multiple times in recent years, allegedly by Israel.

Lebanon left without power for days after state-run grid collapses

Lebanon faces a nationwide power outage for a number of days after the country’s two largest power stations shut down on Saturday due to a fuel shortage, an official said.

With no state-produced electricity, citizens will have to rely on private generators that run on diesel, which is already in short supply.

“The Lebanese power network completely stopped working at noon today, and it is unlikely that it will work until next Monday, or for several days,” a government official told Reuters.

After the two power plants, al-Zahrani and Deir Amar, ran out of fuel, their separation from the grid lowered national power production to below 200 megawatts, forcing the collapse, the LBCI television network reported.

The state electricity company will try to use army fuel reserves to operate the power plants temporarily, the official told Reuters, but added that it would be unlikely to happen anytime soon.

The country of six million is experiencing its worst-ever financial crisis, with a currency that has lost around 90 percent of its value, people’s savings trapped in banks, and qualified labor emigrating in droves.

It has been described by the World Bank as one of the most severe the world has witnessed since the 1850s.

Iran Regime's Hostage Taking: Where Are the West and the UN?

In the hope of resurrecting the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and subsequently lifting sanctions on the ruling mullahs of Iran, the Biden administration and the European Union have been silent on the fates of foreign hostages kept in Iran's notorious prisons.

Among the current foreign citizens currently held hostage in Iran is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British mother.... Amid the ongoing nuclear talks between the Iranian regime and world powers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps court sentenced her to yet another year in prison in April 2021.

American citizens held as prisoners in Iran include Iranian-Americans Baquer and Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, and businessman and conservationist Emad Shargi. Shargi's family has pleaded with the Biden administration to help free him.

Instead of appeasing the Iranian regime and turning a blind eye to its human rights violations, the West needs to hold the ruling mullahs of Iran accountable for detaining foreign nationals as hostages, bargaining chips and as pawns with which to extract political and economic concessions.

BDS Movement Irate: PA Participating in Dubai Expo Alongside Israel

The anti-Israel BDS organizations last week attacked the Palestinian Authority over its decision to participate in Expo 2020 Dubai that was launched on October 1, after a year’s delay, Makor Rishon reported on Friday. More than 190 countries maintain their pavilions at the Dubai exhibition, and the United Arab Emirates has high hopes for future development and business cooperation. The Expo will operate through March 2022. Neighboring Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup from November 21 to December 18.

The Israeli pavilion, with the slogan, “Never stop dreaming, creating, improving and innovating,” includes a display of the country’s contributions to the world in the areas of technology, energy, food, health, the sciences, smart cars, and culture. The PA pavilion offers orange knafeh, with a stress on the past and the present, under the slogan, “Yesterday it was called Palestine, today it’s called Palestine.” Which is also a nice contribution to the world.

The Palestinian Authority and other Arab countries decided to participate in the Dubai expo despite pressures to boycott the international event because of the normalization between the UAE and Israel. BDS activists launched a campaign under the slogan, “Boycott the Dubai Expo,” and argued that Israel’s participation constitutes a political statement regarding relations between the Gulf states and Israel, as well as the economic, military, political, and athletic ties between the Jewish State and its Gulf allies.

Relations between the UAE and the PA have been troubled in recent years, especially following the staunch PA assault on the Emirates over signing the Abrahamic accords. The Emirates said the PA was ungrateful in ignoring decades of financial support from the oil-producing states. Now it appears the folks in Ramallah have had a change of heart, or at least of mind.

Hamas also attacked the PA, saying its participation in the same exhibition as Israel “weakens the resistance to normalizing relations with the Occupation,” according to Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem. He suggested that the Expo “promotes the weapons of the Occupation which it uses to kill the Palestinian nation. The PA commits an international and moral crime by participating in this exhibition, while the EU and the free world have called to boycott it.”

Mondoweiss js a vile antisemitic hate-site. No wonder @bobjcarr finds a natural home there. https://t.co/cDWgRQ0JHH

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) October 9, 2021

Where @bobjcarr has turned into full-blown antisemite. https://t.co/OuVg3WMhZD

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) October 9, 2021

CBC Kids News Spreads Anti-Israel Misinformation

Earlier this year, during and after the 11-day armed conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists, Canadian media coverage of the violence was replete with bias by omission, reports that were devoid of context and contained factual errors.

While the majority of adults are capable of forming their own opinions – even when they recognize myopic news coverage – the same may not necessarily be said about children.

That’s why a May 21 video and a corresponding news article created by CBC Kids News that was posted to its YouTube channel four months ago, was so problematic as it spread anti-Israel misinformation.

The three-minute long video, called “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict explained,” may have been well intentioned, but it was marred for being riddled with half-truths and misleading factoids.

To watch the video in full, please click here and immediately below:

The video, which has registered close to 10,000 views as of this writing, starts off by saying: “For the past 70+ years, Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over one thing, land.” While the land dispute is certainly a component of the conflict, at its core, this conflict is more existential than it is territorial.

The video went on to feature a caption which said the following: “Both Israelis and Palestinians claim this land as theirs – for religious and historical reasons,” suggesting that the claim to the land is religious in nature. And while the Jewish people have enormous religious connection to the land, Israel’s claims have never been religious in nature. Rather, Israel’s right to the land is based on its legal, moral and historical claims.

Just @RashidaTlaib’s co-panelist getting triggered by the existence of Jews again pic.twitter.com/f7P5S9NEwQ

— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) October 8, 2021

Westin Hotel in Germany Accused of Discriminating Against Jewish Singer Hired Neo-Nazi Security Firm to Guard Against Demonstrators

In a bizarre twist in the case of Gil Ofarim — the popular German-Jewish singer who alleged that he was refused service at the Westin Hotel in the city of Leipzig unless he removed his Star of David necklace — local media outlets revealed on Friday that the hotel’s management hired a security firm with extensive neo-Nazi links to stand guard outside the building during a rally to protest the musician’s treatment.

The Westin deployed security guards from the Leipzig company Pro GSL Security at Tuesday night’s rally in solidarity with Ofarim, attended by more than 600 people. No violence or arrests were reported at the event.

Local reporters covering the rally were already familiar with the company because of the participation of its managing directors and some employees in the Leipzig far-right and neo-Nazi scene.

Following Tuesday night’s rally, Pro GSL posted a photo on its Facebook page of two of its directors and three employees standing outside the Westin, alongside a message declaring that the hotel building had been “secured quickly!” The photo has since been deleted.

One of the Pro GSL directors featured in the photo, named as Tobias B., was convicted in April this year to an 11 month suspended sentence and a 2,500 euro fine for participating in a violent rampage through Leipzig’s hipster Connewitz neighborhood in Aug. 2016. More than 250 neo-Nazi thugs smashed shop windows, demolished cars and set off an explosive device outside a kebab restaurant during the riot.

The second director in the photo, named as Oliver R., was photographed on multiple occasions acting as a steward on demonstrations staged by Legida, a hardline breakaway group from the anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant Pegida movement. His past business partners are reported to include Ralph Marschner, a neo-Nazi with ties to far-right terrorists now understood to be living in Switzerland.

Former IDF soldier attacked in Berlin - report

A former IDF soldier was attacked in Berlin in what local police call an antisemitic incident, according to German reports.

The Israeli, a 29-year-old Berlin resident, was wearing an IDF emblem on his sweater and was asked about his religion by the attacker on Friday evening. He was sprayed with tear gas and pushed to the ground by the attacker once he answered. The assailant fled the scene.

The Israeli man was immediately treated and reported the incident to the police, who opened up an investigation.

The attack took place outside the Nollendorfplatz train station east of the city.

Swastika and Star of David Scrawled on Car Windows of Santa Monica College Chabad Rabbi

Antisemitic graffiti was found Thursday drawn on the car windows of the Chabad rabbi serving Santa Monica College, a public community college home to over 32,000 students.

As seen in images shared on Facebook by Rabbi Eli Levitansky, a large swastika and a Star of David followed by the words “Is Illegal” were scrawled on the front-left window and back window of his sedan, using dust left on the glass.

“Well, this is an unpleasant way to start the day,” Levitansky wrote. “In instances like these it reminds us that there is unfortunately still much darkness in this world.”

The Santa Monica College Police confirmed Friday that a report of the incident was filed with their department, as well as with the Santa Monica Police Department.

Israeli-French Television Series on Mavi Marmara Flotilla Raid Set to Film

An eight-episode television series on the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla raid will start filming in spring 2022 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

“Ocean Wind” will be produced by Israeli filmmakers Micky Rabinovitz, Gal Uchovsky and Moshe Edery, in collaboration with the France company Babe Films. The series will be directed by Jonni Zicoltz, who will also write the script with Elad Chen and Dean Miroshnikov.

Now a Ukrainian-born Israeli actor, Miroshnikov was an IDF soldier who was seriously injured in the Mavi Marmara incident and nearly lost an eye in the violence. He will star in the series alongside Israeli, Turkish and French actors.

The Mavi Marmara was a Turkish vessel in a flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip that attempted to run the Israeli blockade of the territory in May 2010. When IDF soldiers boarded the ship and seized control, they were attacked by passengers.

After fighting back for some time, Israel’s soldiers used handguns and killed nine of the attackers. Israel’s actions were initially condemned but in December 2017, the International Criminal Court announced that the case would be closed against the Israeli soldiers and officers, who had been accused of war crimes.

Netflix’s new series on Spanish Nazi hunters: Separating fact from fiction

Netflix has a new series about a group of Holocaust survivors hunting Nazis in Madrid in 1962. Titled “Jaguar,” it’s a typical action thriller, with lots of shoot ’em up action scenes, pumping music and good-looking actors.

An initial impulse is to write off the Spanish-language production as derivative of other Nazi-hunter films and series such as Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” and Amazon’s “Hunters.” However, to do so would be to miss the point.

The series’ true value lies in the little-known history it brings to light: the incarceration and murder of thousands of Spanish Republicans in Nazi concentration camps, and dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain having given safe haven to hundreds of Nazi war criminals after World War II.

Credit is owed to series creators Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira for tackling subjects unfamiliar to the general Spanish public, let alone an international viewing audience. But, as with any dramatic treatment of history, there is a critical need for separating fact from fiction. The fiction: A dramatic setup

The first of the series’ six episodes introduces Isabel (Blanca Suárez), a woman in her early 30s who survived the Mauthausen concentration camp in Germany. She gets a job as a server in a Madrid restaurant catering to Nazi war criminals and members of the expat German community.

From Western Wall to Old City alleys, curious Israelis embrace Bahraini visitors

A man pulled up a plastic chair only feet away from the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday and sat himself down in the midday sun. Like the hundreds of Jews around him, he closed his eyes and began praying.

But unlike the ultra-Orthodox Jewish men on either side of him, dressed in black suits and white shirts, the man was decked out in an immaculate white robe down to his sandals and a red-and-white keffiyeh around his head and shoulders.

Mohammed Saleh, an official with Bahrain’s Education Ministry, stood, bowed, and sat again as he went through his Muslim liturgy. Some of the men around him ignored the uncommon sight entirely, focusing on their own prayer. Others, mostly younger Haredim, looked on with a mix of curiosity and bewilderment, and those who possessed smartphones pulled them out to take pictures.

A Yemenite bar mitzvah procession flowed around Saleh as a young boy carried a Torah scroll to the ark in front of where he was praying. An Orthodox soldier still in basic training hovered nearby nervously, asking tentatively who Saleh was in an attempt to figure out if there was anything a soldier was expected to do in this situation.

Saleh wasn’t the only Bahraini Muslim at the Western Wall that day. Eight other Bahraini businessmen, activists, and officials posed for pictures and placed notes between the stones of the wall on both the women’s and men’s sides of the holy site plaza.

They were part of the first Bahraini delegation to fly to Israel on the new direct Gulf Air route from Manama to Tel Aviv.

The visit was organized by Sharaka, or “partnership” in Arabic, an NGO founded by Israeli, Bahraini, and Emirati social entrepreneurs in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords.

Earliest evidence of fly-fishing unearthed on Jordan River

Some 13,000 years ago, prehistoric inhabitants of the Hula Valley went fly fishing in the Jordan River and employed incredibly sophisticated tools, the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE reported Wednesday.

Researchers from Tel-Hai College in the Galilee, the US, Italy and Germany employed a multidisciplinary approach to analyze artifacts and other remains collected at the Jordan River Dureijat site, including several bone fishhooks and six grooved stones.

The findings represent the world’s most ancient evidence for turning the hooks themselves into a bait.

“Using the technique of three-dimensional scanning and high-magnification microscopes, we were able to reproduce the advanced technology through which the hooks were made,” said Prof. Gonen Sharon, lead author of the study and director of the master’s program in Galilee studies at Tel-Hai. “Each hook is a work of art in itself, and no two hooks are the same size.”

The Dureijat Epipaleolithic site was discovered following a drainage operation in the Hula Valley in 1999. It started to be visited by groups of hunter-gatherers 20,000 years ago and remained in use for about 10,000 years.

Among the artifacts found were limestone net sinkers. The ancient fishers also used plant materials to tie fine fishing lines and used resin as glue. Archaeologists found evidence of lures, the most ancient testimony of fly-fishing methods ever uncovered. (h/t jzaik)

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