10/21 Links Pt1: Israel can't submit to Biden pressure on consulate, settlements; IAM: Justice for Malki with Arnold Roth; Meretz member lobbying European MPs to attack Israel ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: US Consulate in Jerusalem: The Bottom Line

The May 2018 proclamation by the U.S. formally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel established a new bilateral legal situation that replaced the former policy of non-recognition, whereby the U.S. acknowledged the application of Israeli law in Jerusalem. The 2018 proclamation rendered the existence of an independent U.S. consulate in Jerusalem serving the Palestinian administration as redundant and incompatible with official U.S. policy.

The mutually accepted consular relationship between Israel and the U.S. is based on the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations. Article 4 of this convention determines that consular posts may only be established in the territory of the receiving state with that state's consent. Similarly, Articles 7 and 8 of the convention require that the exercise of consular functions vis-a-vis or on behalf of another state requires specific approval.

Opening a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to serve the Palestinians, without Israel's prior consent and sanction, would be a flagrant breach of Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

In Article IX (5) of the 1995 Israel-PLO Interim Agreement (Oslo 2), the parties agreed that the Palestinian Authority will not have powers and responsibilities in the sphere of foreign relations. The same article provides for the possible establishment of "representative offices" by foreign states in the area under the control of the Palestinian Authority and would not require Israel's consent.

Only in this manner could the U.S. establish a mission to provide services to the Palestinian Authority and its population that would be compatible with U.S. policy, with American international law commitments, and that would not undermine U.S. commitments and proclamations.

US, Israel to Form Team to Discuss Palestinian Consulate

The United States and Israel are planning to form a team that will hold discreet negotiations on the reopening of the US Consulate in Jerusalem serving Palestinians, Israeli officials told Axios reporter Barak Ravid.

The diplomatic mission was the US government’s de facto representative office to the Palestinian Authority before being shut down by the administration of former president Donald Trump in March 2019.

The consulate was downgraded to the Palestinian Affairs Unit and merged with the US Embassy in Jerusalem that opened in May of 2018 after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Trump acted under the bipartisan Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 requiring the US to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize the city as Israel’s capital. The law was waived by previous presidents.

The current Israeli government opposes the reopening of the Palestinian consulate, citing the fragile nature of the diverse coalition cobbled together that succeeded in ousting former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power after 12 years in office.

However, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a recent White House visit that his administration is determined to reopen the the consulate.

Morton Klein: Israel can't submit to Biden pressure on consulate, settlements - opinion

Freezes on Jewish building in Judea/Samaria and Jerusalem would be especially detrimental now. Aliyah is way up. Jews face dramatically increasing worldwide antisemitism. Thousands are finally realizing the 2,000-year-old dream to return to the Jewish homeland. In 2020, over 20,000 Jews moved to Israel from 70 foreign countries. Aliyah in 2021 is record-breaking. More building is needed to house Jews returning home – not less.

Pressuring Israel to freeze building also violates Israel’s sovereign right to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem under binding international law (including the Mandate, San Remo Resolution, Anglo-American treaty and UN Charter). In 2019, the US acknowledged that Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria are legal. Jews moreover have the moral and historic right to these areas. Jewish kingdoms reigned here for hundreds of years. Jews have lived here for thousands of years.

Judea/Samaria is also a haven for avoiding Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza, and Hezbollah rocket attacks from Lebanon. The “Protectors of Israel” (Bithonistim) movement of over 2,400 Israeli security and military professionals explains that Israeli sovereignty in Judea/Samaria is essential for securing Israel’s defense.

In addition, building in the E1 corridor connecting Jerusalem with Jerusalem suburb Ma’aleh Adumim would help stop Arab attacks on Jews traveling back and forth to their homes.

The Biden administration’s demands reflect the will of Biden’s slew of anti-Israel appointees: Reema Dodin justified and encouraged suicide bombings against Jews, organized anti-Israel rallies, and spread anti-Israel blood libels; Samantha Power enabled the passage of extreme anti-Israel UN Security Council Resolution 2334, and called for the US to give the PA terrorist regime a “protection force” against Israel; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr wrote he “was inspired by the Palestinian intifada” (the terrorist war in which Arab terrorists murdered or maimed 10,000 Jews); National Security Council official Maher Bitar supports BDS and ran a seminar on how to demonize Israel – to name just a few.

Concerningly, Bennett appears to be at least partly appeasing Biden’s demands, including by offering to limit building in Judea/Samaria to “natural growth” and by delaying building approval meetings – a de facto freeze.

David Singer: European Union and Germany plot to see Jerusalem divided

The decision by the European Union (EU) and Germany to launch the East Jerusalem Tourism Development Programme is in reality a blatant attempt by them to see Jerusalem divided by creating political facts on the ground under the guise of helping promote tourism in East Jerusalem.

The German representative - Oliver Owcza – was quite happy to create this tourism smokescreen:

“As Germans and Europeans we value tourism that is of quality and locally owned. We therefore are confident this project will connect the tourism community and support new concepts and services. As it will contribute to more and better job and career opportunities”

European Union Representative - Sven Kühn Von Burgsdorff – however - did not seek to hide the consortium’s real objective - firing these bullets:
‘’Palestinians in East Jerusalem are facing daily political, economic, and social challenges. Tourism has always been one of the main income-generating activities in the city and helped maintaining the Palestinian presence and identity of the city.

"Our joint work as Europeans reflects once again the clear and united position of the EU and its Member States with regard to East Jerusalem. For us, East Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian territory and the status of Jerusalem as the future capital for the two states should always be respected and protected.’’

Words do have meaning.

“Palestinians in East Jerusalem”, “Palestinian territory” and “maintaining the Palestinian presence and identity of the city” excludes any rights Jews, non-Arab Christians and non-Arab Moslems might have in East Jerusalem - according to the self-created definition of “Palestinians” in Clause 6 of the 1964 Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Charter:
“The Palestinians are those Arab citizens who were living normally in Palestine up to 1947, whether they remained or were expelled. Every child who was born to a Palestinian parent after this date whether in Palestine or outside is a Palestinian.”

Israel Advocacy Movement: Justice for Malki with Arnold Roth

You can support Keren Malki here.

And sign the petition for Ahlam's extradition here.

Ahlam Tamimi murdered 15 people in cold blood. Including 7 children, one of them was Arnold’s daughter Malka. Today Ahlam lives as a celebrity in Jordan. Sign this petition for her extradition to America.

Please retweet as we need many more signatures.https://t.co/lnYJPQLMRw
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) October 21, 2021

A Middle East ‘Quad’ Begins to Develop

Experts told The Epoch Times that the informal forum, which is being dubbed as the new quad or the Middle East quad among the analysts and the media, is a development of the bilateral relations between the four countries and is poised for larger regional and global influence.

“The emerging close ties between the U.S., Israel, UAE, and India, as a group or ‘quad’ is important because it cements together key relationships of countries that share interests and which span a vast area of the world,” Seth J. Frantzman, a Middle East Analyst and the author of the book, “Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future,” told The Epoch Times in an email.

Frantzman described it as a “preliminary and groundbreaking meeting” and said the four countries already enjoy close bilateral relations and the new forum will help them share potentially important policies.

“This can be through technology and trade but also could relate to security and other interests. Because these countries are also in other partnerships regionally they can help influence a larger network of partnered countries from the East Med to Australia and Asia,” he said adding it needs to be seen how the four countries build upon this first meeting.

Israeli coalition member from Meretz lobbying European MPs to attack Israel

Meretz MK and coalition member Mossi Raz lobbied European members of parliament and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) this week to find “robust consequences” for what he described as Israel’s violations of international law.

Raz, together with MK Aida Touma-Sliman of the Joint List, sent a letter to hundreds of European MPs detailing what they said were “widespread displacement and forcible transfer of Palestinians” in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and asked the foreign parliamentarians to sign the statement.

Once the letter has received the signatures of sufficient numbers of parliamentarians, it will be presented to the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, various European foreign ministers, and published in media outlets.

The letter, obtained by The Jerusalem Post, was originally sent earlier this year but Raz sent a follow-up email on Tuesday this week reminding the MPs of the statement and asking again for their support and signature.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office declined a request for comment as to his views on a member of the coalition lobbying against the government.

Raz said in response that “foreign members of parliament have a role in ending the occupation,” something he said was “an Israeli interest of the first degree” and “an unparalleled patriotic deed.”

Douglas Murray: Why are we so paralysed into NOT talking about Islamist terrorism?

It is always the same in this country. There are forms of extremism that we are happy to call out and tackle.

But even after all these years there is one that just terrifies most of our politicians and media.

That is Islamic extremism.

Security professionals, government ministers and TV stars all fear what will happen if they correctly call out these people. And so they dodge the subject.

They do it even when one of their colleagues is murdered.

A pattern keeps repeating itself. A pattern of cowardly avoidance and the increasing grip of wokeism on all areas of public life.

As a new report from think tank the Henry Jackson Society put it this week: “It is vital that the UK is not paralysed by political correctness and identity politics when it comes to holding hard-headed discussions on the prevailing threat of Islamist extremism.”

Quite. Unless we shake that off, these attacks will keep coming.

Because to defeat an enemy you first have to correctly identify it. In Britain that still seems light years away.

Following Free Beacon Report, Gaming Platform Removes Game That Has Users Slaughter Israelis as a Palestinian Militant

Steam was set to release in December a game called Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Players take on the role of a Palestinian militant who wages war "across Palestine" and murders any Israeli standing in his way. The principal character, "Ahmad al-Falastini," is "a young Palestinian student who was unjustly tortured and jailed by Israeli soldiers for five years, had all his family killed by an Israeli airstrike and now, after getting out from the prison, seeks revenge against those who wronged him, killed his family, and stole his homeland, by joining a new Palestinian resistance movement," stated the now-deactivated listing for the game that was published on Steam's website.

The title generated criticism from an Israeli legal-advocacy group, the International Legal Forum, which informed Steam's parent company Valve that the sale of the game could violate U.S. anti-terrorism laws. Valve did not comment on the removal of the game.

While video-game publishers generally have a wide leeway in the titles they produce, including games that simulate various war fighting situations, Fursan Al-Aqsa was seen as a potential recruitment tool for Palestinian terror groups.

"This game, with its unhinged glorification of violence and incitement to terror, may place Valve in direct violation of United States anti-terror laws and subject to potential civil litigation," the International Legal Forum told Valve in a letter sent this month. "In allowing the use of your platform for the glorification and incitement of terror, your company may be in breach of a number of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, including, but not limited to, Section 2339 of the United States Code, which prohibits the providing of ‘material support or resources' in the ‘preparation for, or in carrying out' a violation of certain offenses, including terrorism."

Arsen Ostrovsky, the International Legal Forum's chairman and CEO, praised Steam for its decision to remove the game.

"We applaud Steam for removing this grotesque game from their platform, following our clear communication to their parent company, Valve Corporation, that by allowing their platform to be used to incite, enable and encourage terror and violence, including for the purposes of recruitment and communication, may be in breach of U.S. anti-terror laws," Ostrovsky said. "There can be zero tolerance for ‘games' masquerading as vehicles for promoting terror."

Arab violence: Root causes and red herrings

While it is difficult to deny that there may be some truth in this allegation, it provides, at best, an extremely incomplete picture of reality.

Firstly, there is an apparent overstatement of the level of poverty that prevails in Israel in general, and in the Arab sector in particular. Thus, Nehemia Shtrasler, senior economic editor at the far-left daily Haaretz, wrote that World Bank research shows that Israel’s underground economy is one of the largest in the Western world, estimated at 23 percent of GDP.

Citing senior government sources, he pointed out that there is significant underreporting of income in the Arab communities, with actual poverty much lower than official figures suggest. Indeed, in 2018, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the household expenditures of an Arab-Israeli family are systematically higher than those of a Jewish non-haredi (ultra-Orthodox) family with the same number of children due to unreported income.

Secondly, this inevitably means diminished tax revenue for Arab municipalities and a commensurately low level of services and amenities for the Arab residents.

Thirdly, despite accusations that they are subject to prejudice and suspicion from their Jewish counterparts, which diminish their chances for advancement and employment, Arab Israelis attend Israeli universities and other academic institutions in significant numbers, with a particularly steep rise in the last decade.

Likewise, they have a similarly marked presence in certain professions and industries, such as medicine, pharmaceutics and construction. Arab Israelis hold high-ranking positions in the judiciary—including the Supreme Court, in the diplomatic service, the police and the army.

It should be recalled that all this is despite the fact the 77 percent of the Arab population opposes the very foundational rationale for the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, frequently express—both in words and in actions—support for Israel’s most virulent enemies and vote, virtually en bloc, for parties that deny the Jewish character of Israel.

Australian Parliamentary Committee Recommends Full Banning of Hamas

COMMUNAL leaders have welcomed the report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) which recommends Australia proscribe all of Hamas.

The PJCIS today tabled its report recommending the government expand the listing of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades to include the whole organisation of Hamas. It made a similar recommendation in regard to Hezbollah in June.

Committee Chair Senator James Paterson said that it was clear from evidence received during this review that the whole organisation of Hamas met the definition of a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code.

“Currently, the US, Canada and the EU list the whole organisation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation under their respective proscription regimes,” he said.

“The expert evidence provided to the committee overwhelmingly rejected the idea that Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operates independently from the rest of the organisation. There was agreement that Hamas operates as a singular entity with overlapping personnel, finances and structure.

“In addition, leaders of Hamas have repeatedly made statements which meet the advocacy test for terrorist listing, including direct incitement of acts of violence against Jewish people.”

The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) all made submissions and gave evidence to the PJCIS inquiry.

The Threat to Israel from Precision-Guided Munitions

Hizbullah's order of battle includes a growing number of precision-guided munitions (received courtesy of Iran) capable of accurately striking Israel's most critical targets.

Uzi Rubin, former head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization and a preeminent missile expert, has a chilling presentation on the all but existential threat posed by precision-guided munitions to small states.

Rubin uses Greece as an example, but it's obvious he's really talking about Israel.

Rubin suggests there are roughly 30 facilities in all of Greece that allow modern society to function - systems for water, fuel, electricity, sea and air transport, and communications.

Rubin makes the point that with fewer than 300 precision-guided munitions, an adversary could quickly make life unviable for Greece's 10 million citizens.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Forbids Processing of Judea and Samaria Land Deals

In a surprise move, Jordan’s foreign minister issued a formal directive to the kingdom’s Justice Ministry this week forbidding the approval of any real estate transactions conducted in Judea and Samaria.

“All notaries throughout all the districts in the kingdom must cease their dealings with agencies with regards to [deals pertaining to] the state of Palestine,” wrote Ayman Safadi. “The Jordan Bar Association must clarify the issue with all lawyers and refrain from finalizing any deed of sale regarding Palestinian lands,” the directive continued.

As a result, the Jordan Bar Association, which is known for its animosity toward Israel, issued an identical directive to its members, calling on them “not to settle any sale agreements of Palestinian land.”

Jordan controlled the area from 1948-1967, meaning Amman allocated and registered many plots of land on behalf of local Arab residents. The documents remain legally valid to this day and are often cited by Israeli courts. However, Jordan has a longstanding policy of banning real estate transactions in Judea and Samaria, and it is therefore unclear why Safadi issues the official directive at this time. Palestinian officials requested in 2019 that Jordan authorities issue an official ban on such deals.

Under Palestinian law, selling real estate to a Jew is punishable by death. Jews wishing to purchase land in Judea and Samaria often do so secretly, using Palestinian realtors who later leave the area or move abroad.

The move is especially surprising given that last July, Safadi met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, and the two announced new trade and water agreements. Just last week, Jerusalem formally agreed to sell 50 billion liters of water a year to Amman, doubling what it already supplies.

15 Mossad Agents Arrested in Turkey — Report

Turkey arrested a group of 15 people last month who spied for the Israeli Mossad, Turkish media reported on Thursday.

According to Turkey, the agents provided the Mossad — the national intelligence agency of Israel — with information about foreign students from universities in Turkey, with emphasis on those who could work for the defense industry.

Sabah, the Turkish media outlet, also claimed that one of the agents, known as A.B., carried out intelligence work on the ways in which Palestinians entered the universities in Turkey, and what facilities were provided to them. He acted as a courier for payments and was reported missing in June 2021 to mislead Turkish security forces.

Two other agents, labeled as R.A.A. and M.A.S., were also listed as missing persons.

The counterespionage operation commenced October 7, after being carried out for a year. The 200-person team arrested the 15 agents in four provinces, dividing them into five separate cells of three people each.

Palestinians Acquire Millions of Vaccines, Kick off Booster Campaign: Are Media Not Covering Story Because Israel Can’t Be Blamed?

Are stories about the Palestinian struggle against COVID-19 only newsworthy when Israel can somehow be blamed for their predicament? Our analysis confirms, once again, that this twisted logic seemingly prevails in newsrooms around the globe.

Some eight weeks ago, Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stated his intention to inoculate healthcare workers and high-risk populations in the West Bank with a coronavirus booster shot. On October 7, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip followed suit and announced that the third vaccine would be made available to everyone six months after receiving their last shot.

“Not receiving vaccinations is not a matter of personal freedom, as your freedom ends when this freedom harms the health of others,” Shtayyeh said as he explained the PA’s policy. To date, over 10,000 Palestinians have opted to get jabbed a third time, in addition to the 1.2 million who have been vaccinated twice.

Palestinians are among the fortunate few who have the option of getting a booster, with some countries in the region still struggling to obtain doses. However, data show that many have been holding off on getting immunized. According to recent figures, just half of Palestinians eligible to get vaccinated, ages 16 and up, have done so — and only after the PA and Hamas imposed sweeping measures against the unvaccinated. Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news

In late August, the West Bank and Gaza vaccination rate stood at barely a quarter of the target population. Experts connected the low interest in getting vaccinated to “disinformation and conspiracy theories, along with more well-founded concerns about waning vaccine efficacy.” A glance at the Facebook page of the PA Ministry of Health strengthens this hypothesis. Posts with calls to get the shot are often swamped with comments calling the vaccine “suicide,” with some Palestinian anti-vax groups blaming purported side effects on “Masonic Jews.”

In a bid to push people to get the shot, the government in Ramallah then took drastic measures. For instance, civil servants who refused to get vaccinated were put on unpaid leave. Moreover, travel between the West Bank and Jordan became contingent on presenting a vaccine certificate.

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas started handing out lottery tickets to those who chose to take the jab, with a chance of winning over 3,000 US dollars — the equivalent of eight average monthly salaries in the poverty-stricken coastal enclave. The terror group also forced anyone who works in a public-facing business — including restaurants, taxis, and government offices — to get the shot.

Palestinian Textbooks Are Still Teaching Students to Hate Jews

A recent study by the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI), surveying PA textbooks, noted that while the PA includes values of human rights, the textbooks "do not apply these notions to Israel." Violence against civilians is characterized as "a legitimate means of resistance." In math and science exercises, Newton's Second Law of Gravity is taught using Palestinians attacking Israeli soldiers.

Speaking about the GEI report, EU Parliament Vice-President Nicola Beer stated: "Depicting Jews as dangerous, demonizing them, perpetuating anti-Jewish prejudices is just upsetting. But reading about schoolbooks...glorifying terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi, presenting cold-blooded violence against civilians, including a lot of children, as resistance leaves me speechless."

Israeli students live under the constant trauma of murderous Hamas and Hizbullah rocket fire and the threat of the next Palestinian terror attack. But they are taught empathy, respect for the other, and to desire peace.

Palestinian Preventive Security Force arrests Ezat al-Aqtash, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad activist and one of the organizers of the anti-Israel protests at Beita village, near Nablus. pic.twitter.com/gsLgw5Otwh
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) October 21, 2021

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member Azmi al-Masry was released today after serving six years in an Israeli prison. A rally was held for him by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Fatah supporters in Beit Hanoun. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/KaY3jhQ9Pg
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 20, 2021

Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah’s use of recent attack on protests is calculated risk - analysis

However, the actual events are more unclear. A video emerged showing Lebanese soldiers shooting at least one civilian. Hezbollah members arrived quickly with arms to begin shooting at random buildings during the protest in Beirut. The protest was a Hezbollah provocation designed to remove a judge who was investigating an explosion last year in the Lebanese capital.

This means some supporters of Hezbollah may have been looking for an excuse to try to sideline or target Geagea. Why him? Because targeting a Christian leader who opposes Hezbollah is one way to divide the opposition in Lebanon.

While some Christians have sided with Hezbollah, such as Michel Aoun, others back the Lebanese Forces, the group led by Geagea. Many Sunni Muslims also back Saad Hariri and others who oppose Hezbollah. This has created a political deadlock for years.

Hezbollah wants to remind Lebanon that it is the group with the most weapons and armed members. That is why it has bragged about having some 100,000 fighters. It also wants to use this incident to create a new narrative about having “martyrs” to pretend it is the victim.

This is the classic victim-perpetrator model, where the more one is a perpetrator, the more one claims to be a victim and is being “forced” to perpetrate crimes. Hezbollah has entered this cycle because of its strength in Lebanon today.

The question for Hezbollah is whether it will continue down a road of sectarian division and try to create a kind of cause that could unite its followers against Geagea and lead to violence, or whether it will tone down the rhetoric and stop the incitement.

Roy Rached, Lebanese Forces Party Activist: We Are Prepared to Sacrifice Ourselves in Defense of Our People; We Will Take Weapons from Israel – Or Even from Demons – If We Must #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/CRavtQ7rgo
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 21, 2021

Seth Frantzman: Why the attack on America’s Tanf base in Syria matters - analysis

An attack on a US base in Syria took place on Wednesday night. US officials told the media that unmanned aerial systems and “indirect fire” were involved. This means that drones and rockets may have been used in what appears to be a complex attack. The culprit is likely local pro-Iranian forces linked to Iran, given freedom of movement by the Syrian regime.

This model of using local proxies is classic for Iran. Tehran has encouraged its proxies in Iraq to attack US forces with rockets and drones since 2019, drones being increasingly used. Iran has also exported drone technology to Yemen and Gaza. Hamas used Iranian-style drones for the first time in May against Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has also moved drones to the T-4 base in Syria and flew one into Israeli airspace in February 2018.

That is the context of the attack. But the attack matters more because of where it took place. When we look at Iran’s drone and rocket threat, there is an arc of threat that stretches thousands of kilometers from Lebanon via Syria and Iraq to Yemen. Iran uses these weapons to threaten Israel, Saudi Arabia, the US and Gulf states.

For instance, Houthis in Yemen have used rockets and drones to target long-distance targets in Saudi Arabia, sometimes reaching some 1,000 km. in range.

Tanf is a lonely US base in Syria near the Jordanian and Iraqi border. As such, it is of strategic value because of where it is. It sits astride a road and can thus monitor what is happening in this part of Syria. The base was established near the Rukban camp where thousands of Syrians have sought refuge over the years during the Syrian civil war.

Is a War with Iran over Nuclear Weapons Inevitable?

The Iran nuclear deal was only ever limited to slowing a nuclear weapons breakout. Since 2018, it has simply not been that big a factor in Iran's relations, even if the deal consumed much of the talking time of diplomats. The U.S. seeks to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon but is unwilling to undergo the cost and risk of the military confrontation required to prevent it. The maximum pressure approach pursued by the Trump administration in conjunction with Israel wasn't sufficient either. It was useful in raising the cost to Iran's nuclear weapons pursuit, but not in preventing the end-state.

Sabotage will not be sufficient to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. These actions produce setbacks, but they do not deter. Iran's dogged pursuit in spite of these very high costs makes clear the singular and ultimate aim of the regime: to join the club of nuclear-armed nations. The success of North Korea's nuclear program in forestalling the threat of regime change creates a precedent. It makes it clear to Iran that the rational path forward is to pursue - and demonstrate - a nuclear weapons capability.

The only credible deterrent to that occurring is Israel. The hard power calculation underlying the Middle Eastern order is the conflict between Iran and its regional proxies and the Israeli military and intelligence services. As the U.S. explores - with Israel - the options for constraining Iran from getting nuclear weapons, it needs to move beyond the concept of raising the cost to the regime of their pursuit. Iran has already priced in that pushback and considers it acceptable.

Oberlin Protects Professor Who Supported Mass Murder and Violence in Iran

The Board of Trustees at Oberlin must be very proud — because the college has now given cover to a former Iranian diplomat who called for Israel’s destruction at the UN, and according to Amnesty International, worked to obscure a round of mass murders perpetrated in 1988.

These days, the professor in question — Mohammad Jafar Mahallati — is preaching a message of “friendship” to his students at Oberlin, as if he never uttered the hateful things he said about Israel, or covered up mass murder.

If this full-blown episode of historical amnesia proceeds unchecked, Oberlin will give Harvard a run for its money when it comes to coddling apologists for fascist murderers. Harvard, as you may or may not know, gave Ernst Hanfstaengl — a high-ranking Nazi and confidante to Adolf Hitler — a warm welcome when he visited his alma mater in the 1930s.

Mahallati serves as Nancy Schrom Dye Chair in Middle East and North African Studies, and teaches religion at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio. His faculty profile declares that he worked as Iran’s diplomat at the UN from 1987-1989.

During his time at the United Nations, Mahallati inveighed against Israel, explicitly expressing hope for its destruction. In February 1989, Mahallati declared that the First Intifada “will continue unabated until the objective of freedom and liberation of the entire land of Palestine is achieved.”

Mahallati was calling for the destruction of Israel, in the name of Islam. “Palestine is an Islamic territory, an Islamic heritage and it remains an Islamic point of identity. … Its occupation by Zionist usurpers is a transgression against all Muslims of the world and its liberation is therefore a great religious obligation and commitment,” he said.

Tehran University Professor Hossein Rouyvaran: Iran Will Not Allow for Israeli Bases in Azerbaijan No Matter What This Entails #Iran #Israel #Azerbaijan pic.twitter.com/5TnEPQs5lk
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 21, 2021