09/03 Links: The perpetual Palestinian paradox; Is Jordan planning to restore ties with Hamas?; Seven Myths about the Iran Nuclear Deal; Moroccan, Israeli Universities Launch Student Exchange Program ~ EoZ

From Ian:

The perpetual Palestinian paradox

Even if the Palestinians were to have their own state, they will remain refugees “because it is an essential part of our identity,” Mansour declared. Palestinian former legislator and activist Hanan Ashrawi, with whom I got into an unpleasant heckling match, concurred.

This strange double-think was evident elsewhere. The Jerusalem Post Magazine’s Voices from the Arab Press round-up (compiled by The Media Line) last week contained an item with the headline “Lessons for Palestinian Leadership,” by Majid Kayali, writing in Lebanon’s An-Nahar on August 20. It was a diatribe against Israeli security actions and in particular the raids and closures of NGOs affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), recognized as a terrorist organization.

“Israel’s actions are also meant to send a clear message to the Palestinian Authority, according to which the Palestinians – despite having a president, a government, a flag, an anthem, embassies and even a security force – are ultimately nothing more than pawns in Israel’s chess game,” Kayali wrote, accusing Israel of seeking “to expose the fragility of the Palestinian Authority and undermine its role in front of its people.”

It’s not the PA fragility that I seek to expose, but the hypocrisy. As Kayali notes, the Palestinians already have the symbols of statehood – in fact, the State of Palestine is recognized by more than 135 UN member states – yet they see themselves as refugees, deserving unique support. This culture of entitlement gives the PA no motivation to return to the negotiating table in good faith to solve the issues that could let both Israel and the Palestinians thrive, side-by-side. On the contrary.

And it’s not only Israel that’s paying attention. Particularly following the 2020 Abraham Accords, an increasing number of Arab and Muslim countries have shown interest in growing stronger economically and technologically together with Israel – and to combat the Iranian threat and dangers of Sunni jihadi extremists. While the Palestinians are obsessively anti-normalization, Arab states are realizing that peace and stability are more beneficial for all. The Palestinians might be brothers, but they’re a heavy load for the Arab world to continue to carry. And they have been betrayed by their leadership, particularly Abbas, now in the 17th year of his four-year term of office.

It is also now obvious to all that Israel is here to stay, with the emphasis on here – in its ancient homeland. Having turned down multiple rounds of negotiations and peace processes – which usually ended with waves of terrorism – the Palestinian resolve to unilaterally declare statehood will compound the problems rather than solve them. Keep in mind that maps of “Palestine” include all Israel, “from the river to the sea.”

At the same time, the Palestinians’ long-term plan is to remain dependent on the UN and external funding and to maintain and their refugee status. Not so much a paradox as a parody, it’s classic chutzpah.

The real history of the U.S.-Israel relationship

More than half a century ago, the great American Jewish historian Jacob Rader Marcus warned: “A people that is not conscious of its past has no assurance of a future.” His words would make an apt epigraph to Walter Russell Mead’s magisterial new book, “The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People.”

Mead, a professor of foreign relations and humanities at Bard College, notes that the ancestral homeland of the Jews may be just a speck on the world map, but “it occupies a continent in the American mind.” That space, he found, is filled with misinformation, subject to prejudice and swamped by emotion. “To get the story straight I was going to have to take on both pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist legends that have obscured the historical record,” he writes. He set himself the task of helping Americans understand the “real history of their relationship with the Jewish state,” the importance of Zionism and Israel’s place in American world strategy.

He has achieved that goal. Any careful reader will come away from this book armed with facts, history and context, and with a clarity absent from most discussions of the subject. At a time when “replacement theory” has become acceptable political rhetoric on the right, and with antisemitic incidents at an all-time high, this volume is more than timely — it is necessary.

Mead tackles head-on the narrative that a secret Jewish cabal controls American foreign policy on Israel. Election by election, he cites the facts: George W. Bush, whose Iraq War was “allegedly taken in Israel’s interest,” saw Jews voting heavily against him in 2000 and 2004. Donald Trump, who moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and delighted Benjamin Netanyahu by terminating the nuclear agreement with Iran, lost the Jewish vote by a wide margin. Mead writes, “To blame the Jewish community for policies it dislikes made by presidents it rejects seems, if not virulently antisemitic, at least uninformed.”

Why, then, is recent American foreign policy relentlessly pro-Israel? Because “it emerges from the same kind of political process and struggle that produces the rest of our policies.” A global strategy, grounded in domestic politics — which he spells out, decade by decade — underlies the U.S. stance, Mead writes.

PBS series asks hard questions about how Americans treated Jews in WWII

To depict the history, the filmmakers relied heavily on their advisory board (they have one for every project they take on) to determine how much time to devote to various historical events, whether to show certain images or merely describe them and how to describe them. “We don’t go anywhere without our board of advisors,” Botstein said.

For “The US and the Holocaust,” the advisors included Holocaust historians such as Debórah Dwork, Peter Hayes and Richard Breitman, as well as scholars of race history such as Nell Irvin Painter, Mae M. Ngai and Howard Bryant.

Often the advisors disagreed on how to depict moments in history, and this disagreement is sometimes reflected in the film itself. A debate over whether the United States should have bombed Auschwitz, or even the trains leading into the death camp, echoed in the advisors’ room just as much as it did in the highest levels of government in the war’s waning months. The film reproduces those debates, quoting from historians who argue both points.

The film’s treatment of Franklin D. Roosevelt is also notable given Burns’ demonstrated interest in the US president. Many historians today fault Roosevelt for failing to take more decisive action to prevent further bloodshed at key moments in the war. The director noted that the new series is more critical of FDR’s actions during the Holocaust than his earlier series “The Roosevelts” was, but Burns still believes the president was mostly acting within his means as a politician. “He could not wave a magic wand,” he said. “He was not the emperor or a king.”

All Burns films are released with teaching guides and are intended for use in the classroom, but getting “The US and the Holocaust” into schools was of particular importance to the filmmakers because they saw an opportunity to fit it into the dozens of statewide Holocaust education mandates that have been passed.

And also, Novick said, because the filmmakers have noticed the rise of various far-right, white supremacist ideologies, including many figures who espouse Holocaust denial. “It’s a never-ending battle that has to be fought,” she said. The film itself doesn’t engage with such denialists.

In their publicity for the film, Burns and company are partnering with several organizations to try to bring the Holocaust’s lessons into the modern day, including the International Rescue Committee, a refugee aid agency, and the US government-funded think tank Freedom House.

The producers asked JTA not to give away the details of the film’s ending — an unusual request for a Holocaust documentary. But the reason is that Burns and his team don’t end with the camps’ liberation in 1945. Instead, they come up to the present, in unexpected ways.

“Most of our films come up to the present,” Burns said. “And we would be remiss if we did not take on this most gargantuan of topics, and not say that this is rhyming so much with the present.”

When asked why the film makes some of the connections it makes, Burns quoted a line Lipstadt delivers in the film: “If ‘the time to stop a Holocaust is before it happens,’ then it means you have to lay on the table the ingredients that go into it. Maybe these ingredients don’t add up to it… But if you’re seeing people assembling, in the kitchen, the same ingredients, you’ve got to say, you cannot wait until the meal is prepared.”

State Dept Sends Senior Official to Pressure Israel on 2-State Solution

The US State Department sent a senior official to Israel on Thursday to pressure the Jewish State into more concessions to “improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people” and to move closer to reaching the so-called “two-state solution.”

Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf arrived in Israel this past Thursday for a quick set of meetings with officials in Jerusalem and Ramallah before traveling on Saturday for a 24-hour visit to Jordan, another strong supporter of the two-state solution.

The State Department said in a statement to reporters that Leaf was meeting with Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials to discuss “a range of priorities, including the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, strengthening US cooperation with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, US interest in improving the quality of life for the Palestinian people, and the Administration’s continued support for a two-state solution.”

According to Israel’s Channel 13 News diplomatic correspondent Moriah Ashraf Wolberg, Leaf “expressed US fears over the possibility of an “escalation” in Judea and Samaria in the coming days.

“A security official who took part in the meetings with [Leaf] told us, ‘The Americans are very upset. The number of Palestinian deaths worries them, and they fear the dynamics in [Judea and Samaria] and the increased activities of the IDF will continue,” according to the report.

A senior Israeli official who was aware of the details of the meetings with Leaf added, “The message conveyed from our side is that Israel will continue to act against terrorism wherever [such action] is needed.”

According to Axios’ Barak Ravid, the US is trying to convince the Palestinian Authority leadership not to pursue a bid for full United Nations members at the UN Security Council.

Palestinian Authority officials have emphasized they intend to go through with the request, even though they know the United States – one of the five permanent members of the Security Council – will veto and block the move.

"Simon Wiesenthal Center Calls on US to Leave UNHRC Over Antisemitism"

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling for the United States to leave the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after Its top official refused to denounce anti-Semites in the UNHRC’s Commission of Inquiry but found time to repeat one sided denunciations of the Jewish state.

Michelle Bachelet, just prior to her final day as the High Commissioner of the Human Rights Council, found time to denounce Israel again while refusing to address the international outcry over anti-Semitic comments made by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

Ambassador Michèle Taylor, the United States’ permanent representative to the UNHRC, denounced Bachelet’s last-minute anti-Israel antics:
“Disappointed by Michelle Bachelet’s statement yesterday singling out Israel, while staying silent following unacceptable anti-Semitic remarks by a member of the Commission of Inquiry on Israel,” Taylor tweeted. “This only perpetuates the anti-Israel bias within the HRC.”

“Ambassador Taylor is right. Bachelet has lost her moral compass,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“Denunciations of Israel to the end, free pass to antisemites in her midst. Indeed, she held a UN Special Report exposing China’s horrific treatment of the Ughurs, releasing it just minutes she vacated her office.

“Why do we continuing paying for the UNHRC that continues to pummel the lone democracy in the Middle East, while allowing so many of the world’s worst human rights abusers to escape serious scrutiny or action?

“Unless and until the UNHRC is reorganized in such a way that it will deal with all human rights related issues equally and fairly, why do we legitimize the ongoing charade that mocks the core founding principles of the United Nation?”

In late July, the Simon Wiesenthal Center penned a letter to Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, to urge US action against a UN Commission of Inquiry.

Israel's defender against the ICC speaks out after retirement - exclusive

Schondorf also worked extensively with attorneys-general Yehuda Weinstein and Avichai Mandelblit, with a brief overlap with the current officeholder, Gali Baharav-Miara.

Most importantly, he frequently joined the weekly meetings of the prime minister and the attorney-general, where sometimes the only people in the room were himself, Weinstein or Mandelblit and then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In these meetings, the prime minister and the attorney-general discussed some of the most sensitive legal matters for Israel. One of them was the legal challenge presented by the Palestinians at the ICC.

Some of the key moments in his tenure with the ICC included the April 2012 warding off of the first try by the Palestinians to go after Israel; ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s decision to open a preliminary review in January 2015; Israel’s decision to open an informal dialogue in summer 2015; Bensouda’s decision to push for a criminal probe in December 2019; and the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision to allow the probe in February 2021.

In these meetings, the attorney-general naturally took the lead with Netanyahu, but Schondorf actively participated and often led in answering Netanyahu’s more detailed questions about the ICC and other international legal matters.

Schondorf confirmed that Netanyahu was interested and capable of asking probing questions getting into lower-resolution levels of the ICC.

The former deputy attorney-general also worked extensively with former prime minister Naftali Bennett and even received a special call from Bennett thanking him for his service when he stepped down – not a call that every Justice Ministry official gets.

“It was very impressive. He [Bennett] was very focused, fair, proper and straightforward. He learned fast and invested a lot to learn and better understand” the legal information, Schondorf said. “[Bennett was] also very smart, got into the details. It helped that he had already been in the cabinet.”

In addition, Schondorf was a frequent participant at cabinet meetings on a variety of issues, including strategic discussions about using force in other countries, whether in Syria, Gaza or elsewhere, but also strategic issues such as when to accept a ceasefire with Gaza and whether to make a deal with Hamas for the return of living Israelis being held by the group, as well as the remains of two Israeli soldiers.

Bachelet's anti-Israel bias and China breakdown

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet went head to head with Israel and China during her last days in office, leaving a contentious four-year record in her wake.

That she chose to comment on Israel during her last 48 hours, out of all the 193 UN nations, felt symbolic to the country’s supporters who have long charged her office and the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) under its auspices with being biased against the Jewish state.

Bachelet this week took Israel to task for not issuing visas to her staff. “This raises the question of what exactly the Israeli authorities are trying to hide,” she asked.

Israel’s Mission to the UN in Geneva immediately accused her office of being a “mouthpiece for the Palestinian Authority.”

Even the US weighed in on the exchange, with its Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Michele Taylor noting that Bachelet had spoken up on this issue, but remained silent when human rights expert Miloon Kothari, who is attached to her office, spoke of the “Jewish Lobby.”

Taylor tweeted that she was “disappointed” by Bachelet’s statement “singling out Israel, while staying silent following unacceptable antisemitic remarks by a member of the Commission of Inquiry on Israel. This only perpetuates the anti-Israel bias within the HRC.”

Bachelet, who became high commissioner in 2018, is the former President of Chile, the first woman to hold that leadership role in her country.

She is the eighth high commissioner since the post was created in 1994 and the fourth woman to hold that office. None of the commissioners have continued on to a second term. The longest-serving commissioner was Navi Pillay, who was in office for six years from 2008-2014.

Bachelet’s successor, who will be appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and confirmed by the UN General Assembly in New York, has not yet been named.

In the interim, Nada Al-Nashif of Jordan will be the acting high commissioner.

Is Jordan planning to restore ties with Hamas?

A recent visit by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to Jordan has revived the talk of a possible restoration of relations between the kingdom and the Palestinian Islamist movement.

In 1999, Hamas, an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was banned in Jordan after facing charges of carrying out illegitimate activities within the Hashemite Kingdom.

Then, the Jordanian authorities issued arrest warrants against Mashaal and five senior Hamas officials: Musa Abu Marzouk, Ibrahim Ghousheh, Izzat al-Risheq, Sami Khater and Mohammed Nazzal.

The Hamas officials have since been living in Qatar.

In 2006, Jordan accused Hamas of smuggling weapons into the kingdom from Syria.

In 2015, 12 Jordanians were sentenced to jail terms of up to 15 years for their involvement in a Hamas cell. They were convicted by a Jordanian security court of manufacturing explosives and carrying out acts to disturb the peace.

Last year, Mashaal and two other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh and al-Risheq, were allowed to participate in the funeral of Ghousheh, who died at the age of 85 and was buried in Jordan.

Seth Frantzman: Turkey tries to insert itself increasingly in Ukraine conflict

WHY THIS matter is because both countries play a major role in the Middle East, particularly in places like Syria. This influences the policies of countries such as Iran.

Tehran is increasingly an ally of Moscow, reportedly even sending drones to aid Russia’s war effort. Iran and Turkey also work closely together on some issues. Recent reports indicate that the Islamic Republic may seek to play a greater role in northwestern Syria as Russia shifts some air defense and focus to Ukraine.

But other reports say that Iran is also concerned about being exposed to airstrikes in Syria. Russia and Turkey both seek to broker some deals regarding what may happen in Syria in the next year, with Turkey wanting to launch a new offensive in northern Syria.

Turkey and Russia, as well as Iran, all want the US to leave Syria. This has serious security ramifications for Israel.

As with Ukraine, Turkey attempts to play both sides with Israel. Ankara has upgraded diplomatic relations with Jerusalem. It wants to broker trade and energy deals with the Jewish state. Russia also plays a key role in Syria that impacts Israel.

It is thus worth considering how Ankara has inserted itself into the Ukraine conflict to see how it may also work with Russia in Syria and seek to re-insert itself into the Palestinian issue.

If Ankara thinks it got diplomatic capital from “helping” Ukraine, then it may try to use this influence over the UN and EU – and even in talks with Washington – to play a greater role in Gaza and the West Bank.

Every move Ankara makes with Moscow potentially impacts Israel in this regard. Turkey’s close ties to Azerbaijan and Iran’s own goals in the Caucasus also play into this large dance between Moscow, Tehran, Jerusalem and Kyiv.

Turkish warship docks in Israel for 1st time in over a decade

A Turkish warship anchored Saturday at an Israeli port for the first time in over a decade, after the recent reestablishment of ties between Jerusalem and Ankara.

The TCG Kemalreis, a Barbaros-class frigate, docked in Haifa along with the USS Forrest Sherman, an American guided missile destroyer, as part of a NATO drill. Video showed the TCG Kemalreis being escorted into port.

The ships are expected to remain in Israel for several days.

“The docking is part of Israel’s cooperation with and support of NATO,” a statement from the Israel Defense Forces said.

No drills or other interactions are planned between the IDF and the Turkish ship, considered one of the most modern vessels in Turkey’s navy.

The TCG Kemalreis is the first Turkish warship to dock in Israel since 2010, according to Hebrew media reports.

The Turkish sailors did not have passports, and could therefore not leave the ship. An official told the Walla news site that “they have no interest in going ashore right now.” The American sailors were exempt from the passport requirement, the official added.

Erdogan Accuses Greece of ‘Occupying’ Demilitarized Islands

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece on Saturday of occupying islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarized status, and said Turkey was prepared to “do what is necessary” when the time comes.

Historic rivals while also being fellow members of NATO, Turkey and Greece have been at odds over issues ranging from overflights and the status of Aegean islands to maritime boundaries and hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean, as well as ethnically split Cyprus.

Ankara has recently accused Athens of arming the demilitarized Aegean islands – something Athens rejects, but Erdogan had not previously accused Greece of occupying them.

“Your occupying the islands does not bind us. When the time, the hour, comes, we will do what is necessary,” Erdogan said, speaking in the northern province of Samsun.

Greece reacted by saying it will not follow Turkey in its “outrageous daily slide” of statements and threats.

“We will inform our allies and partners on the content of the provocative statements… to make it clear who is setting dynamite to the cohesion of our alliance during a dangerous period,” the foreign ministry said.

Turkey has recently been angered by what it said is harassment of its jets by Greek forces. Ankara has said that S-300 air defense systems used by Greece had locked on to Turkish jets during a routine flight.

Turkey celebrated Victory Day on Aug. 30, a national holiday commemorating Turkish forces driving out Greek forces in 1922. On Saturday, Erdogan also called on Greece to “not forget Izmir,” referring to the Turkish victory.

Israel’s Gray-Zone Campaign in Syria Makes Iran ‘Feel Pursued’

The reported Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian weapons transfers at Aleppo International Airport and in the Damascus area are part of a long-standing Israeli campaign to disrupt Iranian entrenchment, though no single act will prove decisive in this shadow conflict, a senior former Israeli Air Force officer told JNS on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. (ret.) Zvika Haimovich, former commander of the Air Defense Forces in the IAF and a senior research fellow at the MirYam Institute, commented on reports of alleged Israeli strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Iran. The Syrian state news agency SANA stated that Israel fired four missiles at Aleppo’s airport runways and nearby hangars. A report by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen Beirut-based television channel said that soon afterward, strikes occurred in the area of Damascus International Airport, as well as a highway linking Damascus to the southern Dara’a province and the city of Al-Kiswah, south of Damascus.

“These reports fit into standard Israeli action patterns, aimed at disrupting the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, and Iranian support through arms smuggling to Hezbollah and Shi’ite militias in Syria,” said Haimovich. “These efforts have been going on for years. Each time, we see the same areas of activity emerge, like Damascus International Airport, Aleppo, Hama and Masyaf [in northern Syria, where the Scientific Studies and Research Center is located, and where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly works to build precise weaponry].”

Since 2013, Israel has been waging a shadow campaign against Iranian weapons smuggling and military entrenchment efforts in Syria, dubbed in the defense establishment as “the campaign between the wars.”

Haimovich said the operational patterns by both Iran and Israel in Syria have been similar for several years, with Iran often employing an air corridor to Syria to smuggle weapons under the guise of commercial flights and cargo planes.

I must have missed the outrage from all those in the West, who spoke out on Shireen Abu Akhel. I wonder why that is? ?? https://t.co/TTkmxGXRFy
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 3, 2022

Scenes from the rally earlier today. pic.twitter.com/zcoq3Dg1nM
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 2, 2022

The mothers of several militants killed in clashes with Israeli forces were at a rally today in the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/eTxRnzdJbo
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 3, 2022

Palestinian Islamic Jihad published video on al-Mayadeen news depicting what they claim is a mortar attack at Nahal Oz during the recent Gaza conflict. They also claim to have targeted an Iron Dome battery, but don't provide significant proof of destroying one. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/ulcucYzEKr
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 3, 2022

The Biden Administration's Nuclear Deal Is the Biggest Gift to the World's 'Top State Sponsor of Terrorism'

The main beneficiaries of the increased revenues will most likely be the office of Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and more importantly the IRGC's elite branch the Quds Force, which carries out extraterritorial operations to advance the revolutionary principles of the Islamic Republic abroad.

A considerable part of the economy and Iran's financial systems are owned and controlled by the IRGC and the Office of the Supreme Leader.... This economic haven means that state and non-state actors, such as the Houthis, Hezbollah, the Shiite militias in Iraq and Bashar Assad's Syria, will be the next major beneficiaries of Biden's sanctions relief and new nuclear deal.

The Biden administration will more likely contribute to more tensions between Iran and other countries in the region, and lead to further regional insecurity, destabilization, humanitarian tragedies, and most likely a major war.

Biden's new nuclear deal is the biggest gift that one could give to the world's "top state sponsor of terrorism": unlimited nuclear weapons, no inspections past present or future, the missiles to deliver them, enriched uranium to be held by Russia and returned to Iran or wherever they both decide, "$100 billion per year to spread terror around the globe" -- in short, assured expansion of the "Revolution" not only throughout the Middle East but further, straight into America's soft underbelly, Venezuela.

Seven Myths about the Iran Nuclear Deal

In 2015, President Barack Obama worked with three European powers, the European Union, Iran, China, and Russia to conclude the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In 2018, President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the deal. Instituting his policy of “maximum pressure,” Trump imposed crippling economic sanctions that punished Iran not just for its ongoing nuclear weapons program but also for, among other things, its regional aggression and support for terrorism worldwide.

Earlier in 2018, Israeli agents conducted a dramatic operation in Tehran, breaking into a secret warehouse and capturing a trove of Iranian nuclear files. These documents revealed a more advanced and comprehensive nuclear weapons program than had been previously known. The nuclear archive also showed Iranian officials’ plan for concealing nuclear weapons efforts under the guise of civilian research and development, and how Iranian officials systematically deceived the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran is required to cooperate with IAEA inspectors to verify the peaceful nature of its program. After the Israelis shared the nuclear archive with the IAEA, its inspectors found traces of uranium at several undeclared sites. Despite being obligated to do so, Tehran has refused to explain the presence of the uranium or reveal its current location. Iran’s requirements under the NPT are wholly separate from the JCPOA, but Tehran is using the Biden administration’s profound desire to return to the nuclear deal to bring political pressure on the IAEA to close the book on Iran’s violations.

A fair-minded observer of Iran’s relations with the IAEA cannot but conclude that Tehran has never wavered from its intention to build a nuclear weapons capability and that its publicly declared “civilian” nuclear activities are an effort to hide its nuclear bomb program in plain sight. From the very inception of the JCPOA, however, the deal’s supporters have spun myths that disguise these self-evident truths. After Trump left the deal, those same supporters continued to recite the old myths while adding some new ones about the purported comparative advantage of the JCPOA over maximum pressure.

As President Biden prepares to bring the United States back into the JCPOA, and as the public, the press, and Congress consider the deal’s terms, we identify the seven most pernicious myths and explain the reality that they seek to conceal.

We're glad this upsets you. https://t.co/y6qk3JCohj
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) September 3, 2022

I challenge @IlhanMN to break her silence on Islamic Republic of Iran’s terrorism. I dare her to listen to this podcast and tell us how a US female politician can join a smear campaign against a woman of color who demands freedom of choice.#LetUsTalk https://t.co/JRxSscKnpt pic.twitter.com/o4Mu085QRo
— Masih Alinejad ??? (@AlinejadMasih) September 3, 2022

South African Grammy-Winning DJ Performs in Israel Ignoring BDS Outcry

South African D.J. Black Coffee performed Thursday night in Israel despite efforts by supporters of the anti-Israel BDS movement to have the artist cancel his show.

The Grammy award-winning disc jockey performed to a packed crowd at the event venue Live Park, located in Rishon LeZion. The concert was his third performance in Israel.

On Tuesday, the BDS group Africa4Palestine condemned the DJ, producer and songwriter — whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo — for moving forward with his concert in Israel.

“This performance in the Apartheid State of Israel is in violation of the cultural boycott of Israel,” the group said. “It is an insult to the oppressed masses of Palestine and their progressive Jewish Israeli allies who have repeatedly called on DJ Black Coffee and other artists to boycott Apartheid Israel. It is in disregard of the popular will of his fans and of South Africans who have previously lambasted him for his Israeli Apartheid tendencies.”

Africa4Palestine also claimed Black Coffee’s performances in the Jewish state amounted to “tacit support for Israel’s Apartheid and ethnic cleansing project,” and that his Sept. 1 concert “will be in disregard for the humanity of Palestinians and constitutes a disregard for our own history and is a betrayal of the cause of freedom.”

NUS president suspended during investigation into antisemitism claims

The National Union of Students (NUS) has suspended its president Shaima Dallali while an independent investigation into allegations of antisemitism within the student body is completed.

Dalali’s suspension came after the conclusion of the first part of an inquiry carried out by the QC Rebecca Tuck QC into claims of discrimination against Jewish students.

Sources told Jewish News that the suspension was not part of any disciplinary action, but was viewed as being “appropriate” at this stage of the investigation.

Any sanctions against Dalali can be considered at the end of Tuck’s inquiry, which is still to look at the institutional record of the NUS.

An NUS spokesperson: “We cannot comment at this time as we are in the middle of an independent QC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism. But as we have said before, we are prepared to take any and all actions recommended by Rebecca Tuck QC’s investigation.”

But the move – the first time an elected president of the NUS has been suspended in the body’s 100 year history – has sparked an immediate response from the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis), the national body for Muslim students in Britain.
......
Jewish News had previously reported how in a 2012 tweet Dallali shared an Islamic battle cry historically used when attacking Jews.

She wrote: “Khaybar Khaybar O Jews… Muhammad’s army will return Gaza.” The 27-year-old later apologised for the tweet, saying she is “a different person”.

Dallali had also opposed the IHRA definition of antisemitism at City University, where she was previously student president.

Her suspension comes after the Government cut ties with the NUS in May.

The then-education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said he was “seriously concerned’”at the number of reports of alleged antisemitism linked to the NUS at the time.

David Harsanyi: Liberal Jewish groups are the same as the Democratic party

In this week’s episode of Top Story, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with columnist and author David Harsanyi about unjust Biden administration policies that hurt the working class and help the well-off and the rise of anti-Semitism on the left.

Harsanyi called President Joe Biden’s student loan bailout “Robin Hood in reverse.” He also said that Jewish groups' embrace of such unjust policies showed that they are “the same as the Democratic Party” and laments the rise of anti-Semitism on the left.

Antisemites are afraid of IHRA because it says that antizionist antisemitism exists, is significant, and it describes what it generally looks like; and it reminds us to be careful to judge it context.

Antisemites shout from the gallery because they can't bear even that. https://t.co/juEVECiq7A
— David Hirsh (@DavidHirsh) September 2, 2022

David Miller, a professional conspiracy theorist who masqueraded as a scholar until he was sacked by @BristolUni for racism, showcases the Antisemite’s tendency to target Jews with canards of the anti-human—in this case, the specter of “Zionists” “grooming” young children. pic.twitter.com/SXjE0w6DuE
— John-Paul Pagano (@johnpaulpagano) September 2, 2022

When Zionists say "if Palestine was real then name one of its kings", answer George V. That'll show em. https://t.co/ldlbtezOez
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) September 3, 2022

NY Times Conceals Evidence on Embittered Google Employee

There it is. The piece is meant to promote a staple of anti-Israel activism: the charge that dark forces silence “pro-Palestinian” advocacy. The story is a parable about those forces and their victims.

It is also, apparently, a fable. The decision to move the position was made prior to Koren’s activism, a third-party investigation found. Incredibly, the New York Times concealed this finding from readers, though it undermines the central premise of the employee’s — and the newspaper’s — story.

The story is a parable. It’s also a fable.

That story goes as follows: Google employee and anti-Israel activist Ariel Koren organized opposition to Project Nimbus, Google’s sale of a cloud computing services to Israel. In retaliation for her activism, Google moved her position, which had been based in Mexico City and after the pandemic in San Francisco, to São Paulo, Brazil. Koren took her case to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal body that protects the right of employees to organize and combats unfair labor practices. The NLRB ruled against Koren. The New York Times comes to the rescue.

Times reporter Nico Grant devoted most of his 1800-word piece to relaying, in detail and at length, Koren’s case. About the NLRB ruling, though, hardly 20 words were written: “Google and the National Labor Relations Board investigated her complaint and found no wrongdoing,” wrote Grant. And later again: “the N.L.R.B. … dismissed the case for insufficient evidence.”

But beyond finding that there was no evidence of retaliation, the NLRB investigation also uncovered specific, affirmative evidence that Koren’s belief is unfounded. The Board’s dismissal letter notes “the evidence established that the Employer’s decision to relocate the … role predated the asserted protected concerted activities.”

BBC report amplifies the anti-Israel NGO echo chamber

Details of the case itself take up just two paragraphs and an additional one notes a statement from a representative of the prosecution. A link to an AP report on the same story appears in the last paragraph together with a second-hand statement from Israel’s foreign ministry.

The most bizarre part of the report however comes in the form of a link to a Tweet from a person who can hardly be considered objective on the topic of the Israeli legal system.

“Human Rights Watch condemned what it called a “profound miscarriage of justice” and said detaining Halabi for six more years was “cruel and inhumane”.”

Readers may recall that the writer of that promoted Tweet – Omar Shakir – was refused renewal of his work visa by the Israeli authorities in May 2018 due to his ties to the anti-Israel BDS campaign and, following several court sessions, left the country in November 2019.

Nevertheless, despite the records of both Shakir himself and the NGO he represents, the BBC chose to promote his comment on this story as though he were some kind of impartial authority on the topic of Israel’s legal system, while concealing the obviously relevant issue of the many years of anti-Israel campaigning and lawfare by ‘Human Rights Watch’.

You can be the next Solzhenitsyn! https://t.co/dvZewUNWlR
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) September 3, 2022

Actress Sharon Stone Makes ‘Personal Plea’ Against Jew Hatred, Calls for More ‘Love and Kindness’

Film icon Sharon Stone addressed hatred against the Jewish community in a “divided” America in a video she uploaded Wednesday on Instagram.

The “Basic Instinct” actress, who is not Jewish, recorded herself making a “personal plea” in which she begins by describing a clip she recently watched about an unprovoked attack on a Jewish man.

“I just watched a video of a young man taunting an Orthodox rabbi who had his hands down. And this boy, punched this rabbi and knocked him out for absolutely no reason other than the fact that he was being hateful,” she said. “We’ve reached a point in our country, the United States of American, where we’re becoming divided by people who claim to be politicians, people who claim to be acting in our best and better interests. They’re really not.”

She added, “Love, kindness, humanity, decency, dignity — these are the things that are in the our better interest and in the best interest of our children. We’re called the United States of America for a reason.”

Top German Antisemitism Official Calls for Tighter Control of Documenta Artshow in Wake of Anti-Jewish Exhibits

According to Klein, some of the artworks “could also have been in the Nazi hate newspaper Der Stürmer.” He urged due consideration of “criminal consequences” for the exhibition organizers. Antisemitic incitement and mocking or denying the Holocaust is illegal in Germany. In future, the federal government, which funds the festival, should have a greater role in organizing it, by appointing a supervisory board to review works proposed for exhibition, Klein said.

Klein also urged the full implementation of the May 2019 resolution of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, that classified the BDS campaign as antisemitic.

“We must take action against the BDS movement with all political and social means,” he declared.

Klein further warned that antisemitic feeling could surge in Germany later this year, amid a growing economic crisis and shortages of heating fuel during the winter as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, blaming Jews for crises is a pattern in Germany,” Klein stated. “You can feel that something is brewing,”

Muslim cab driver charged for attacks on three Jewish men in Brooklyn

A Muslim cab driver from Staten Island, N.Y., has been charged and convicted for a 2018 unprovoked attack against three Chassidic Jewish men in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, the city’s district attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Wednesday.

Farrukh Afzal, 41, was convicted of second-degree attempted assault, third-degree assault and third-degree menacing in a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Laporte, reported Yeshiva World News. He was acquitted of hate-crime charges.

Gonzalez stated that “this defendant’s violent conduct has no place in Brooklyn, where we value diversity and welcome all religions. He has now been held accountable and today’s verdict should send a strong message to anyone who would commit this kind of outrageous and unprovoked attack.”

On Oct. 14, 2018, Afzal allegedly swerved his cab to try to hit a Chassidic man in Borough Park, but the Jewish man ran away and escaped being hit by the vehicle. Afzal then drove to another Chassidic man, 62, got out of his car, ran towards the victim and stuck him, video surveillance footage showed.

The defendant chased the man into the intersection and continued to beat him, causing injuries to his face and body. A third Chassidic man who tried to intervene was chased by the defendant, according to Yeshiva World News.

British neo-Nazi used codewords to evade hate speech filters on YouTube

A UK-based neo-Nazi has had over 700 hours of content removed from YouTube recently, after it was revealed by the Times that he was using code words to refer to Jewish and Black people, in order to get around the video sharing platform's hate speech filters.

James Owens, a 37-year-old sports journalist, operated a YouTube channel under the fake name "the Ayatollah," using the platform to regularly spread carefully concealed hate speech about Jewish people, using terms such as "people who look white but aren't" and referring to Hitler as "our uncle."

His carefully chosen codewords, along with his use of a fake name, a fake profile picture and a fake accent, helped him to evade detection from YouTube's artificial intelligence filters designed to prevent hate speech. However, due to several missteps on his part, he was successfully identified and tracked down, The Times reported.

According to The Times, Owens's real appearance first become known after he introduced himself as "the Ayatollah" to an infiltrator at a neo-Nazi event. His second error was to describe on his YouTube channel how he had been wearing a Hawaiian shirt at a far-right gathering, which just so happened to have been captured on film by a group of anti-fascist campaigners.

After receiving a tip regarding the Ayatollah's real identity from the Red Flare, an anti-far right collective that monitors and exposes extremists in the UK, The Times used digital recognition technology to match the voice from the Ayatollah YouTube channel to recordings of Owens's actual voice taken from a football podcast he used to record.

Owens, who has said in the past that Britain would be better off if it had not won World War Two, had amassed up to 414,00 views on over 700 hours of video content on YouTube. He notably uses his sizeable following to recruit activists for the far-right Patriotic Alternative group, whose members included Kris Kearns, who is facing up to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges for allegedly encouraging violence against non-white people.

Jewish leader slams ‘hardcore bigots’ after vile photo emerges

A racist photo of men performing an unmistakeable and “vile” racist salute in front of an Australian Holocaust museum has outraged members of the Jewish community.

South Australia Police have confirmed they are investigating a picture showing a group of men performing what is believed to be a fascist salute.

It is understood the image by a group calling themselves the National Socialist Network has been circulating on the messaging platform Telegram.

The gesture the men appear to be performing is the Nazi salute – otherwise known as the Hitler salute or the Sieg Heil – outside the Adelaide Holocaust Museum.

Text accompanying the photo said: “Why a holocaust museum exists in Adelaide is anyone’s guess.”

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, brought the image to the public’s attention.

He described the incident as an “abhorrent act” which “plunged a dagger into the heart of every survivor”.

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“(They) have spit on the memory of the six million Jews, and millions of others murdered by the Third Reich,” he said.

“These homegrown Final Solutionists, who are domestic terrorists in waiting, dream of an Australian Hitler at the helm, and fantasise about exterminating Jews.

“The contagion of unvarnished, raw hate that is now defiling Adelaide has reached an ominous pitch fever and is spiralling out of control.”

Moroccan, Israeli Universities Launch First Student Exchange Program

Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University are launching the first exchange program between the two countries.

Ben-Gurion University is hosting four Moroccan university students for a summer semester. The Moroccan students are enrolled in the university’s data science and health system programs, according to a report from The Media Line, a Middle East-focused news outlet.

“It was interesting for me to learn how a health system is so much more than taking care of a single cell. It’s the bureaucracy, the people, the hospitals- and that’s so much more complicated than how I used to think of public health,” one of the Moroccan students told the news outlet.

Prof. Limor Aharonson-Daniel, Vice President for Global Engagement at Ben-Gurion University, also told the news website: “Although I have no Moroccan heritage in my family, once I stepped there, there was something very natural about it.”

The collaboration between UM6P and Ben-Gurion University comes two years after Morocco and Israel officially normalized their relationship and resumed diplomatic ties.

In December 2020, Morocco and Israel signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords, paving the way for future emerging collaborations. Earlier this month, Israel announced plans to invest $4 million to construct an embassy in Morocco’s capital, Rabat.

German cellist reunites over 30 members of a family descended from Holocaust victims

This charming medieval city nestled into the country’s Baltic coast appears an unlikely setting for a reunion of an extended family torn asunder by the Holocaust.

On August 18, against the odds, some 20 descendants of Julius Blach and his brother Felix Blach gathered for four days in the city where the Blachs lived and ran the Jewish family’s leather business at Heilgeiststrasse 89, in the heart of the city’s commercial center.

Eighty-plus years after the Holocaust, few of the family’s descendants knew any other relatives existed. Some grew up with Jewish traditions, others were unaware of their family’s deep Jewish roots. A few have visited Stralsund and the site of their family’s business and home, but most never have, and many have never met each other.

The much-anticipated reunion, postponed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reconnected two branches of the family from six countries across four continents. But it may never have come about without the extraordinary efforts of Friederike Fechner — an accomplished German cellist who is not related to the Blachs.

Fechner, who is not Jewish, has devoted the past eight years to tracing the Blach family history and locating and putting in contact over 30 descendants from Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil.

The reunion was a way to “give the family back its roots and show them where they came from,” Fechner told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. ‘I cry to you, my deceased ancestors’

Her role as family chronicler began in 2012 when Fechner and her husband Martin bought the building at Heilgeiststrasse 89. They had relocated to Stralsund from their home in Hamburg in 1994, motivated to help revitalize the former East German city. The house was a near ruin, decayed from more than seven decades of neglect during and after the war years, when Stralsund was part of the Communist-governed German Democratic Republic.

Remembering Natalie Hess, a Jerusalem teacher who survived the Holocaust

The “first conditional” is possible and probable: “If you study, you will pass the test.” “If you sleep enough, you won’t be tired.” Fulfill the condition, and the result will come to pass.

The third conditional details downsides of not meeting requirements: “If you’d studied, you would have passed.” But you didn’t, and flunked. If you’d slept, you wouldn’t be yawning now.

The second is tricky – it’s improbable or impossible. “If I were you, I would go for it” is easy to say – but I am never going to be you. “If I were a rich man, I would ya da di da, di di di di di di da....” means Tevye hopes to be rich one day, but he’s not expecting big bucks to start flowing from his cows at any point soon.

Try teaching those nuances of English grammar to fidgety 15-year-olds in the sixth period on a hot summer’s day, before air-conditioning was installed in Israeli schools. Good luck. It won’t be fun.

Unless you were lucky enough to be a teacher trained by Natalie Hess. Then you could do anything. Natalie, who died recently at the age of 86, was my idol; she molded my life and the lives of countless others. And the mere fact that she survived her childhood and lived to spread such joy is remarkable.

Hess was the opposite of drop-dead gorgeous; her luminous beauty and Shirley Temple curls more than once literally saved her life. Hidden as a bewildered five-year-old by a Polish gentile judge, a friend of her lawyer father, the tiny Natalia Chojnacka was plonked under a pile of blankets in a wooden chest when the Nazis came hunting for Jews in Piótrkow Trybunalski, Poland. “A young German soldier opened the lid, scrabbled through the things and saw me lying there,” she recalled, years later in an Israeli high school staffroom, where she headed the English department. “His blue eyes opened wide. He looked around, covered me again, and left.” Hess’s magic was working already.

Surviving the Holocaust meant a miracle a minute, and the judge’s wife knew the Germans would be back. She insisted the little girl be sent to family friends walled up in the ghetto, despite their promises and money received from the child’s parents before being deported to their deaths.