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Tuesday, November 16, 2021

11/16 Links Pt1: Israel, UAE begin talks on free-trade agreement; At UNESCO, the oppressors represent the oppressed; Erdogan's veneer of respect conceals blatant antisemitism

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Israel at the Dubai Air Show symbolizes new Middle East
This growing regional partnering has ramifications that go beyond specific defense deals or even joint training. It’s about a consensus that views stability and moderation as key pillars of foreign policy.

This is in contrast to the policy of countries like Iran and Turkey that prefer confrontation in the region. That is why wherever Iran has a role there is poverty, chaos and civil conflict. In Lebanon and Iraq, people – including Iraq’s prime minister – are targeted for assassination by Iran’s proxies.

Meanwhile, Ankara has played an aggressive and threatening role in places like Syria and Libya, often heating up conflicts, rather than turning down the tensions.

However, the emerging consensus between Israel and the UAE is not all-inclusive. The US, for instance, ostensibly opposes the UAE’s outreach to Damascus.

For Israel, hopefully, Syria will dial back the Iranian role there. Reports say that the Assad regime may have been nonplussed by an IRGC-backed attack on the US Tanf garrison.

That could also be a talking point in regional media. What is clear is that there are a lot more meetings coming between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain and the UAE and their partners in Asia and the West.

While Israel’s role at the Dubai Air Show can be seen through specific deals and companies – such as the participation of UVision, an innovative company that makes loitering munitions – the greater symbol is that Israel is now in the room with big players in the region.

In the past, Israel often felt isolated or even bifurcated from the region, not even included in US Central Command, for instance. Now, the inclusion of Israel in the room alongside others in a multilateral framework provides a space in which to build upon the Abraham Accords in a way that was only a dream a few years ago.


Defense Minister Gantz to visit Morocco next week
Defense Minister Benny Gantz will make an official visit next week to Morocco, where he is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the North African kingdom.

Gantz will meet with his Moroccan counterpart, Abdellatif Loudiyi, and will sign an MoU that will outline defense cooperation between the two countries.

According to foreign reports, Gantz and Loudiyi will sign defense cooperation deals that include plans to develop a domestic industry to produce loitering munitions, also known as suicide drones.

According to Defense News and the French publication Africa Intelligence, the two countries are currently working on the development of a project to manufacture the drones to strengthen Morocco’s air power.

The report said that defense giant Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary BlueBird Aerosystems has been negotiating with Moroccan teams for several months about developing a business incubator to manufacture such drones.
Israel, UAE begin talks on free-trade agreement
Israel and the UAE began talks for establishing a free-trade agreement when Israel’s Economy and Industry minister, Orna Barbivai, met her Emirati colleague, Abdulla bin Touq Al Mari, to launch discussions on Monday night for a deal that will significantly strengthen trade between the two countries.

Since the Abraham Accords were signed in September 2020 normalizing relations between Israel and the UAE, trade between the two countries has increased dramatically. While trade between the two was about $125 million in 2020, that figure reached nearly $500m. in the first seven months of 2021.

The Foreign Trade Administration anticipates that these figures can continue to grow at a rapid pace and reach much higher levels.

Some have estimated that trade will exceed $1 billion this year and reach $3b. within three years. That does not include direct foreign investment between the two countries, which will likely reach tens of billions of dollars.

“This meeting opens the door to the many meetings on the way, and there is no doubt that this agreement will help significantly strengthen trade between the countries, remove barriers, and expand economic cooperation,” Barbivai said. “I hope that we will be able to realize the enormous potential inherent in the friendship between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”

Ohad Cohen, director of the Foreign Trade Administration who is leading Israel’s negotiators, said, “We intend to conclude a meaningful and comprehensive agreement with our fellow colleagues, which will include, among other things, issues relating to trade in goods including regulation and regulation, customs, trade in services, government procurement, e-commerce and the preservation of intellectual property rights.”


Media Silent Amid US, EU Push for Palestinian ‘Unity’ Government Including Terrorist Hamas
The Biden administration is reportedly spearheading renewed efforts to create a Palestinian unity government that would include the US-designated terrorist group Hamas, according to reports in the Israeli media.

Hamas’ antisemitic founding charter calls for the “obliteration” of the world’s only Jewish state. In May, Hamas killed 13 Israelis after deliberately firing some 4,300 projectiles and rockets at population centers, with each launch constituting a war crime.

Additionally, the terror group’s tactic of militarizing residential areas in Gaza resulted in the deaths of more than 20 Palestinian civilians, as hundreds of rockets fell short inside the coastal enclave.

Hamas then threw its support behind the Taliban, applauding the group for its “victory that came as the culmination of more than 20 years of struggle,” and marked the “demise of the [US] occupation on Afghan soil.” And just last month, Hamas hosted a “workshop” that concluded with a statement promising to “purge” all lands encompassing Israel of “Jewish settlers” and “hypocrite scum that spread corruption.”

Despite this, Washington’s reported initiative that would effectively sanitize Hamas has remained largely hidden from the public.

In fact, an analysis by HonestReporting shows that none of the 23 most widely-read global publications and press agencies, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN, and others, have produced reports on the Palestinian Authority (PA)-Hamas unity effort since Israel’s i24NEWS broke the story on November 9.

During the ensuing six days, journalists at these same major outlets filed 97 articles that mentioned the Palestinians.
US Ambassador to UN in First Visit to Jerusalem Discusses Anti-Israel Bias, Antisemitism
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other senior government officials during her first visit to Israel to discuss cooperation between the two countries at the UN.

Bennett called Thomas-Greenfield a voice of reason in an institution otherwise biased in its treatment of Israel, saying he hoped she would see during her trip the “stark contrast between the reality on the ground here and what one might hear in the corridors of the United Nations.”

“I know that you have always been standing up for us, you and the United States, throughout the years, standing on Israel’s side and serving as a voice of truth,” Bennett said. “I hope that during your visit you will get a better picture of the unique challenges we face here, with Iranian-backed terrorist groups across our borders.”

Thomas-Greenfield said that US President Joe Biden shares Bennett’s commitment to a “new spirit of cooperation as we address the full range of regional and global challenges together.”

“We discussed our close cooperation at the UN working to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel bias and our approach to shared regional threats,” she added. “We believe Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve equal measures of freedom, prosperity, security, and dignity. This is important in its own right and as a means to advance prospects for a two-state solution.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called the UN envoy a “true friend who fights shoulder-to-shoulder with us in one of the more complex arenas in the international community.”

“Our friendship is based not only on mutual interests, but on shared values and a shared worldview,” Lapid said.


At UNESCO, the oppressors represent the oppressed
Today marks the International Day for Tolerance. While on its face, this sounds like an excellent idea, the organization behind the annual commemoration is none other than the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which is largely run by murderous dictatorships, like those found in Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, and China that consistently violate human rights. I would be highly interested to learn what the International Day for Tolerance looks like in Iran, for example.

When the communist dictatorship in China continued to allow airplanes to fly all over the world at the same time as Wuhan was in lockdown and data that could have helped countries around the world prepare for the pandemic were meticulously concealed by the communist regime, the Chinese regime claimed all those accusing it of crimes were "intolerant to the Chinese."

UNESCO designates dictators that oppress their own people as representatives of those they oppress. On the other hand, opposition to the persecution of homosexuals or support for women's rights is repeatedly depicted as "intolerance" toward Islam or other cultures.

The International Day for Tolerance and the very term "tolerance" itself have been hijacked. Instead of focusing on women's and LGBTQ+ RIGHTS in countries where they are murdered and oppressed, it has been turned into a day of lashing out at – of all countries - free and democratic states. Instead of the day focusing on the dictatorial oppression of human rights, the oppressors are those that lead the events of the day, and they are presented as legitimate public representatives. Part of tolerance is opposition to those who suppress it. One cannot talk of tolerance where there is no possibility to protest, and when the free press cannot expose discrimination and injustice. In China, Russia, and Iran, there are no protesters demonstrating against the government's policies on the environment or human rights because demonstrators are imprisoned or worse. It is not a coincidence that these countries are the ones polluting all of our air at the highest rates. These are all the countries spreading the most amount of fake news to undermine countries that are free.
HonestReporting: Banished: Where Telling Truth About Israel Got UNRWA's Former Gaza Director
Five months after being declared 'persona non grata' in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Matthias Schmale has left UNRWA.

Schmale had directed the controversial Palestinian refugee agency's Gaza operations. After May's conflict, he was forced out for acknowledging that Israeli retaliatory airstrikes did not target civilians.

Following protests and threats, Schmale apologized but Gaza-based terrorist groups led by Hamas still banished him. On November 15, Schmale announced on Twitter he was leaving UNRWA.

While no reason was provided, UNRWA Deputy Commissioner Lenny Steinseth reportedly condemned Schmale's comments and thanked Hamas for its "ongoing willingness to cooperate." On Schmale's last day, Hamas urged countries to increase support for UNRWA.

Meanwhile, Thomas White has replaced Schmale in Gaza. He was welcomed by a Hamas official who wished him a "pleasant stay" and vowed "nothing but respect."


Shtayyeh: Donors must press Israel to halt tax deductions
The Palestinian Authority will ask donor countries that are meeting in Norway on Tuesday to put pressure on Israel to stop deducting money from tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday.

Shtayyeh was referring to Israel’s policy of deducting hundreds of millions of shekels from the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA on Palestinian imports and exports, equivalent to the stipends the PA pays every month to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel for carrying out terrorist attacks.

Shtayyeh’s announcement came on the eve of the meeting in Norway of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee of donor countries to the PA.

“Tomorrow I will begin a visit to Norway, where I will participate in a meeting of the donor countries and hold meetings with the Norwegian government,” he said. “The timing of the visit is extremely important because it comes at a time when we are witnessing a difficult economic situation. We will ask the friendly countries to pressure Israel to halt the deduction of the Palestinian tax revenues, and to increase their financial aid so that we would be able to meet our obligations.”


UN Watch: UNRWA donors must hold agency to account
As governments gather today in Brussels to make pledges for UNRWA, the independent organization UN Watch issued an appeal for oversight and accountability.


UN Watch: Three Decades of Fighting for Truth at the United Nations
A behind-the-scenes account of UN Watch’s historic clashes.

Support UN Watch's battle to defend human rights and fight anti-Israel bias at the United Nations:




A Terror Supporter Goes to Washington
Aformer president of the Pakistani state of Azad Kashmir, Masood Khan, has been named as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States.

Certainly, appointing a new ambassador makes sense. After all, Pakistan’s image is perhaps at its lowest point. Its role in aiding the Taliban has been acknowledged and discussed in parliaments and press outlets all across the world, particularly following the collapse of the Afghan government and the revival of a brutal theocracy.

A brief glance at Khan’s history as a former official of the foreign service of Pakistan, and subsequently an ambassador to both the United Nations and China, might give an impression of great statesmanship and the cautiousness that usually goes along with such offices.

But Masood Khan is not a harbinger of détente. He is a dangerous radical with a long history of working with Islamists in the West and jihadists in the East. His appointment is evidence of an increasingly dangerous Pakistani regime, which is working to coopt and support Islamists all around the world, including in the United States.

Examples of Khan’s jihadist links are shamelessly plentiful. In July 2021, while serving as president of Azad Kashmir, Khan provided a “special message” on the “fifth martyrdom anniversary of Kashmir’s most beloved freedom fighter,” Burhan Wani. A commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a designated terrorist organization under U.S. law, Burhan Wani persuaded Kashmiris to “join the holy war” against India, offering the “promise of a fulfilled life hereafter.”
Why aren’t we more horrified by the Liverpool bombing?
There shouldn’t be a rush to judgement but there should be judgement. Anger is self-consuming but it is also a wholly natural sentiment. A society not roused to gall by the planned annihilation of newborns is not as advanced as it tells itself. It is not only legitimate but morally imperative to feel outraged. These are, after all, outrages. Downplaying them or rationalising away their grotesque sadism does not make us more ethical or enlightened. It makes us cowards and, on some level, it makes us complicit. ‘We won’t let the terrorists win,’ we simper, as though we’re even putting up a fight for them to win or lose.

It’s not as though we have sworn off rage and condemnation entirely. We can summon them for the most trivial matters of offence-seeking and culture-warring. If only jihadists feared cancellation. There is a good deal of fretting among our educated classes about rising domestic extremism. Here is extremism, it is domestic in target and origin, and it rose quite some time ago.

There is also much mithering about hatred and vigils held about society’s failure to tackle it. Here is homicidal hatred against a defined group, which might warrant a vigil or two. An apparent attempt to blow up a hospital that specialises in maternity, gynaecology and abortion services, and if it turns out the aim was securing the heavenly ministrations of 72 virgins, even more of a reason to name this misogyny and the culture that inculcates it. You’re not concerned about violence against women if your concern is limited to perpetrator profiles that don’t make you feel politically queasy.

Trying to blow up expectant mothers and babies in incubators in service of your god, your superiority complex, or your personal inadequacies is not just terrorism, but horrorism. It is evil and evil performed to be as violent towards and violating of human decency as is possible.

We should feel horror over what happened in Liverpool. We should feel horror and repugnance and indignation and we should parlay them into public policy, political rhetoric and public attitudes more reflective of the scale of villainy that confronts us. When we stop feeling horror, we have surrendered in our souls.
What values guide our societies and where does justice fit in?
In October 2020, a little over a year ago, Arnold Roth - one of the two bloggers who produce the contents of this site - was interviewed by British media presenter, sports journalist, and political commentator Jonny Gould.

The discussion ranged from what the most important single part of the British media had just done ["22-Oct-20: Whose business is it if BBC engages in advocacy journalism?"] to some unreported consequences of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner release deal and on to the large and consequential matter of justice and what happens when our societies and their leaders stop giving it the absolute respect it has to get.

And along the way, the matter of how can peace be done with Jordan. As Jonny Gould notes in the interview, the US is Jordan's largest provider of foreign aid. It gives billions of dollars to the Hashemite Kingdom each year. Why, he asks, is the US cozying up to the Jordanian king, Abdullah II, even as Jordan provides ongoing sanctuary to a killer who faces trial in the United States for her role in the murder of US citizens. (The reference is to our murdered daughter Malki, 15, who was a US national.)


Erdogan's veneer of respect conceals blatant antisemitism - opinion
In Turkey, you can go to jail for calling someone a Jew. Earlier this month, a Turkish court sentenced a man to ten months in prison, which the judge then commuted to a $700 fine, for a 2020 Facebook post in which he referred to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “a Jew who disguises himself as a Muslim.” The accused’s lawyer said the word “Jew” is not an insult, but the judge appeared to agree with Erdogan’s attorney, who described the word as offensive “toward the president’s honor, dignity, and reputation.”

This peculiar disagreement between antisemites helps explain both the precarious state of Turkey’s dwindling Jewish community as well as the hot-and-cold ties between Turkey and Israel. At times, both Erdogan and his critics find it convenient to pretend that they have only the utmost respect for a fellow people of the book, yet their visceral antisemitism is plainly visible behind that veneer.

This is not the first time Erdogan has become a target of antisemitic critics who claim that the Turkish leader is a crypto-Jew. In 2007, an ultranationalist author went as far to publish The Children of Moses, an entire book of antisemitic conspiracy theories about Erdogan, whom he insisted was Jewish. It is a testament to Turkey’s toxic antisemitic climate – worse than Iran’s according to the Anti-Defamation League’s cross-cultural surveys – that Erdogan has become a victim and not just a perpetrator of antisemitic attacks.

Since the rise to power of his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002, Erdogan has moved away from the overt antisemitism of his early career. Back in the 1970s, when he was a youth leader in Turkey’s leading Islamist political party, Erdogan openly propagated antisemitic conspiracy theories. He even directed and starred in a play called Mason-Communist-Jew, in which a Jewish agitator poses as a Muslim Turk to incite workers against a factory owner. In the play, one devoutly Muslim character recites the moral of the story: “All evil regimes are Jewish inventions!” It should not be surprising that Erdogan’s antisemitic critics suspect him of having a Semitic pedigree!
Turkish Interior Minister claims Israeli couple were spying on Erdogan's palace
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu claimed on Tuesday that the Israeli couple arrested in Turkey for photographing the residence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were conducting "political and military espionage," adding that the case was now up to the court system to decide, according to Turkish media.

Natali and Mordy Oaknin, Egged bus drivers who live in Modi’in, took the photo of Erdogan’s palace while in the Camlica Tower, a television tower that opened earlier this year and is the tallest in Europe. A waitress heard them talking about it and reported them to the police. Soylu additionally claimed that the couple both photographed and marked the residence, which led security forces to intervene. CNN Turk reported that three suspects in total were arrested in the case.

Turkish media reported that the couple shared the photo they took in a WhatsApp group and wrote down technical information about the tower. Turkish police recommended deporting the Oaknins, and notified Israel of its plans. However, the prosecution asked to charge the couple and a Turkish citizen who was with them with espionage. A court extended their remand on Friday for at least 20 days, as the prosecution prepared its case for a trial.


PMW: Building a PLO real estate empire while simultaneously begging for aid
Responding to the constant pleas, in the last 5 years alone, the international community donated billions of shekels/dollars/euros in aid to the Palestinian Authority. Tomorrow, at the meeting of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee, the PA will again beg the international community for even more donations. While the PA, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, is begging for aid, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), also headed by Abbas and funded by the PA, is building a multi-million dollar international real estate portfolio.

An examination conducted by Palestinian Media Watch of the monthly budget performance reports published by the PA for the last decade, shows that instead of the PA purchasing properties in the name of the PA, tens of millions of shekels/dollars/euros of PA funds have been diverted to the PLO and then used to buy properties in the name of the PLO.

At the opening ceremony of the new PA embassy in Tunisia, General Supervisor of the Official PA Media and General Supervisor of Fatah-run Awdah TV Ahmad Assaf said that in the last years, upon the instructions of Abbas, the “State of Palestine” has established over 100 embassies around the world and that those embassies and associated residences, were specifically purchased for the purpose:
“The truth is that this embassy [in Tunis] was born from the Palestinian-Tunisian collaboration, and according to direct orders and instructions from His Honor [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas that we have headquarters for the State of Palestine’s embassies in the various world states and that they be owned by the Palestinian people… Also, it is true that the effort building this embassy is… part of a comprehensive effort that President Mahmoud Abbas has made to ensure for us ownership over embassies worldwide. Today we the State of Palestine has more than 100 embassies and ambassador residences, some of which contain residences for employees. This exists around the entire world and in various states in the world, and this [happened] during the years that have passed... These headquarters, embassies, ambassador residences, employee residences, and all these buildings that have come under the ownership of the State of Palestine are a national treasure for the Palestinian people, and certainly this treasure is the property of the Palestinian people… It is the Palestinian people’s right to be proud of this great achievement, which was realized as a result of great effort and attention by His Honor the President and was carried out by the Palestine National Fund.”

[Official PA TV News, Oct. 23, 2021]

Even though Assaf claims that the properties purchased are “owned by the Palestinian people… under the ownership of the State of Palestine,” this does not seem to be the case.


PA TV denies Jewish history at the Western Wall
Official PA TV narrator: “According to the orders that were issued in the Ottoman period and recorded a number of times in a manner that leaves no room for doubt, the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is on 144 dunams (i.e., 144,000 square meters) of territory, including the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall), which is the property of the Muslims and a holy site for them. During the British occupation they continued to preserve this situation as it was, as it had been when Britain took control of it from the Ottomans, and it was emphasized that it must be respected and not be harmed, changed, or distorted. There is no documentation that the Jews used the Al-Buraq Wall as a place of worship at any time until after the issuing of the 1917 Balfour Declaration (sic.)"

The claim by official PA TV that no documentation exists of Jews using the Western Wall as place of worship prior to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 is false. Historical records show that the Western Wall has been a site of Jewish worship for hundreds of years.

The Al-Buraq Wall – Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920's, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the "Al-Buraq Wall."




Bennett: No matter what happens with Iran talks, we'll defend ourselves
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed that Israel would defend itself, no matter what happens in the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers, during a visit to an exercise being carried out by the IDF in northern Israel on Tuesday.

"We are surrounded by security challenges and the goal is to take advantage of periods of relative quiet to build strength. Therefore, we are preparing for various scenarios, both near and far," said Bennett. "We are dealing with Iran and its affiliates in Lebanon and Syria. No matter what happens between Iran and the superpowers, and we are certainly concerned about the fact that there is not enough toughness in the face of Iranian violations, Israel will defend itself, on its own."

During the visit, Defense Minister Benny Gantz stated that "we are of course following everything happening on all fronts."

"We are currently seeing Iran's policy within Iran in the nuclear context, as well as its strengthening outside Iran, and its influence in Syria and Lebanon," added Gantz. "The world must act against Iran and Israel must continue to do what it needs in every front in general and in the northern front in particular."

Last week, the IDF began a drill in northern Israel, as part of which reservists in the 36th Division, also known as the Ga'ash Formation, were called up.

About 3,000 soldiers from the Golani Brigade, Armored Corps, artillery and reserve brigades, along with intelligence and the Air Force, took part in the drill.
Don’t believe Iranian rabbi’s ‘hechsher’ for Ayatollahs
In Ami’s story about the “thriving” Jewish community in Iran, Gerami fires off various religious activities and “religious freedoms” that the Jews of Iran are able to participate in as examples of the supposed “great life” they have there. Yet its editors failed to ask him about the countless anti-Semitic incidents that have been unleashed against Iran’s Jews by the regime’s thugs in recent years and were also never investigated by the regime’s authorities. The following is just a short list of these incidents in recent years:
- In May 2020, the synagogue next to the tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the Iranian city of Hamedan was firebombed by unknown assailants. While there was no damage done to the tombs, the synagogue did receive extensive smoke damage, and the regime’s authorities never investigated the case or arrested anyone in connection with it.
- In February 2019, three antique Torah scrolls were stolen in broad daylight from the 125-year-old Ezra Yagoub synagogue in Tehran’s Jewish ghetto. The Iranian regime never investigated the crime or arrested anyone in connection with it.
- In December 2017, two synagogues in the southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz were vandalized by unknown assailants; the Iranian regime never investigated that crime or arrested anyone in connection with it.
- In late 2017, an Iranian Jewish man was imprisoned by authorities after returning to Iran following his visit to his elderly parents in Israel. In late December 2020, he was subsequently released from prison due to his failing health. By law, the Iranian regime prohibits all of its citizens from traveling to Israel, and punishment for violation of this law is prolonged imprisonment.
- In November 2012, Toobah Nehdaran, a 57-year-old married Jewish woman, was strangled and then repeatedly stabbed to death. Her body was mutilated in a ritual manner by thugs who had broken into her home located inside the Jewish ghetto within the Iranian city of Isfahan. Nehdaran’s gruesome murder was also never investigated by Iranian authorities and suspects were never arrested in connection with her murder.

Indeed, the list of anti-Semitic attacks Jews in Iran have encountered since 1979 is much longer than just these few incidents. Again, it’s shameful how Ami Magazine’s editors conveniently left out these horrific anti-Semitic incidents in their story with Gerami. Moreover, they failed to disclose the fact that Jews in Iran, including Gerami, are forced to praise the Iranian regime’s leadership to the Western media because if they don’t, their lives are at risk.


MEMRI: General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander-In-Chief Of Iran's Army: If Our Enemies Threaten Our Interests, Our Response Will Not Be Limited To Iran's Borders
General Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said in a November 9, 2021 interview that aired on Channel 1 (Iran) that Iran's armed forces support Iran's diplomatic efforts, but warned: "If [our enemies] threaten our interests, we will threaten their interests wherever is necessary."

The Armed Forces Support "Diplomatic Battles" In The Effort "To Defend The Rights Of [Iran]"

Abdolrahim Mousavi: "Those who are responsible for diplomacy in our beloved country, who themselves are children of the blessed [Iran-Iraq] War of Holy Defense and were raised in its light, know that the armed forces are standing powerfully and supporting them in their diplomatic battles and in their [efforts] to defend the rights of this great nation.

"Our Enemies Need To Know That If They Threaten Our Interests, Our Response Will Not Be Limited To [Iran's] Borders"

"Let no one make any mistake: Our enemies need to know that if they threaten our interests, our response will not be limited to [Iran's] borders. If they threaten our interests, we will threaten their interests wherever is necessary."
Congress Moves To Strong-Arm Biden, Impose Houthi Sanctions Removed by Admin
Republicans in Congress are laying the groundwork to reapply sanctions on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that were dismantled by the Biden administration, just days after the militant group raided the U.S. embassy compound in Yemen, where they stole equipment and kidnapped local staff.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) distributed a sanctions measure to other Senate offices on Friday afternoon and will formally introduce the sanctions language on Monday as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate is expected to take up this week, according to a copy of the measure exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The amendment comes following months of back-and-forth between Cruz and the Biden administration on the issue, including an effort by the senator to pressure the State Department into explaining its decision to reduce sanctions on the Houthis.

In the House, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R., Ga.) is pushing similar legislation to re-designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization in response to their siege last week of the U.S. embassy compound in Sana’a, Yemen. The measures are likely to garner widespread GOP support in light of the embassy raid, which generated outrage from Republican foreign policy leaders in both chambers. It is unclear how Democrats will vote, but Republican and Democratic foreign policy leaders both promised consequences for the embassy strike soon after it took place last week.

The Houthis, which have been running a bloody war in Yemen, were designated as a foreign terrorist organization and added to the specially designated global terrorists list in January by the outgoing Trump administration. Those designations were removed almost immediately in February, when President Joe Biden took office, with his State Department claiming the sanctions interfered with humanitarian efforts in Yemen. The Biden administration also withdrew weapons support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition aiding Yemen’s government in the fight against the Houthis, which are armed and funded by Iran.

The Biden administration’s decision to nix sanctions on the Houthis was viewed as part of a wider effort to reopen diplomacy with Iran and cajole the Houthi militants into entering peace talks centered on ending the civil war in Yemen. Almost immediately after the Biden administration lifted sanctions, the Houthis launched a military offensive on the city of Marib, sent armed drones into Saudi Arabia, and increased their extrajudicial killings—which include attacks on civilians, journalists, and children.


MEMRI: Iranian Political Analyst Emad Abshenas: Iran Can Prepare Everything It Needs To Build a Nuclear Bomb; Final Assembly Would Only Take Minutes Or Hours
Iranian political analyst Emad Abshenas, the Editor-in-Chief of Iran Diplomatic, said in a November 9, 2021 interview on Alghad TV (UAE) that Iran has the ability to cross the "red line" and acquire everything necessary for the construction of a nuclear bomb, so that final assembly would only take minutes or hours. Abshenas added that Iran's current government is pleased with the renewal of the nuclear talks because it has a "strong hand," unlike during the Rouhani governments' JCPOA negotiations.

Iran "Possesses Everything That It Needs To Manufacture A Nuclear Bomb... It Would Only Take Minutes Or Hours To Assemble"

Emad Abshenas: "[The U.S.] does not want Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb, and Iran does not want one. However, today Iran can cross the so-called 'red line' and possesses everything that it needs to manufacture a nuclear bomb, without actually manufacturing one. Then, it would take only minutes, or hours, to assemble the bomb.

"Iran Will Have A Much More Powerful Hand" In The Coming Negotiations

"I believe than Iran will have a much more powerful hand in the coming meeting and the meeting that will follow. The Raisi government is pleased with these negotiations, because it enters the negotiations with a strong hand, unlike the Rouhani government that came to the negotiations table only after it had lost everything."
Iran’s ‘Hatred Policy’ Against Israeli Athletes Continues as Chess, Karate and Bodybuilding Contests Skipped
An Iranian activist and former world champion lambasted Iran for its longstanding ban on Iranians competing against Israelis, following a recent string of incidents in which the Islamic Republic blocked its athletes from participating in several such sporting events.

Sardar Pashaei — a Greco-Roman wrestling champion and former head coach of Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling team, who is now an American citizen — told The Algemeiner of “systematic discrimination in Iran against Iranian athletes.”

“In any competition, Iran sacrifices these athletes for this ‘hatred policy,'” he said. “The result is [that] every day, many athletes are leaving the country and applying for asylum to avoid the punishment from Iranian officials.”

At the Nov. 8 Lindores Abbey Blitz chess tournament in Riga, Latvia, officials from Iran forced Iranian chess grandmaster Mohammad Amin Tabatabai to withdraw in the Blitz category to avoid competing against an Israeli chess player. He had gained seven rating points before being forced to pull out of the tournament. Tabatabai was previously forced to forfeit from the 2018 World Junior Chess Championship after seven matches to avoid facing an opponent from Israel.

A number of athletes in recent years have defected from Iranian national teams and sought asylum outside of their home country, including judoka Saeid Mollaei, who now competes for Mongolia. Some have participated in the Olympics as non-state athletes, such as Iranian taekwondo fighter Kimia Alizadeh, who competed at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as part of the Refugee Team.
Jordan demands 'gender check' of Iranian soccer player






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