09/14 Links Pt1: While Confronting Russia in Europe, the U.S. Helps It in the Middle East; Fatah announces return to terror; Israel gives CIA intelligence on alleged terror-linked Palestinian NGOs ~ EoZ

From Ian:

What Happens If Operation Guardian of the Walls Recurs?

During the twelve-day conflict between the IDF and Hamas in the spring of last year, Arabs in usually peaceful Israeli cities with multiethnic populations rioted, deeply shaking the country’s general sense of safety. Yagil Henkin considers the possibility that, in the event of a larger war between Israel and, for instance, Hizballah, the latter could work with Palestinian groups to foment similar riots within Israel’s borders:
It is incorrect to regard the May 2021 events as civic disturbances or a series of individual episodes. As in any war, the enemy learns and searches for weaknesses to exploit. As a result, Israel should brace itself for a worst-case scenario in which ethnic and religious tensions are used to incite unrest and riots, disrupt army movements and reserve mobilization, cut off supply routes and access to military bases, inflict damage on military convoys, and use threats, propaganda, and possibly assassinations to force Arab and Muslim soldiers and policemen to leave the military and law enforcement. Following [the 2021 conflict], Hizballah escalated its efforts to transfer weaponry and ammunition to Israeli Arabs for use in a future conflict.

Notably, from the perspective of Iran and Hizballah, Israeli Arabs assaulting Jews and the reverse would be welcomed outcomes. Such attacks would force the police to disperse their forces and assign some of them to suppress Jewish riots rather than supporting Israeli offensive moves, limiting Israel’s freedom of action. The suspicion and tensions would undermine citizens’ sense of security and trust in government agencies, leading to further escalation and inter-communal strife. Therefore, Israel’s opponents may view any outcome as advantageous and work hard to bring about such outcomes through financial backing, disinformation, arming radicals, radicalizing youth, etc.

Israel gives CIA intelligence on alleged terror-linked Palestinian NGOs

The Shin Bet has provided the CIA with new intelligence regarding Palestinian civil society NGOs that Israel has accused of involvement in terror.

The agency provided the new information to the CIA last week, though it is not discussing the issue publicly and was first reported by Walla.

Israel is hoping to finally flip the US in its favor on the issue after Washington has been highly critical, along with the EU and UN, of Jerusalem's moves regarding the civil society groups.

It appeared that the latest try to convince the Biden administration that the groups have ties to terror came after Israel upped the ante last month when it closed down several organizations which it had previously declared to be illegal in October 2021.

The organizations have said that Israel merely wants to silence them and their activities which often involve political criticism and activism, including protests, against Israeli control of the Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel has said that the organizations wear two hats, one actually helping with human rights issues, and the other aiding the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Maj. Bar Falah identified as IDF officer killed overnight near Jenin

An IDF officer was killed in an exchange of fire with two armed Palestinian gunmen near the village of Jalma, north of the West Bank city of Jenin.

He was identified as 30-year-old Maj. Bar Falach, deputy commander of the Nahal Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, from the coastal city of Netanya. He was buried in the city’s military cemetery on Wednesday evening.

The incident began around 11:30 p.m. when IDF observation soldiers identified two suspects approaching the fence along the seam line near a military post. The suspects, who were not identified as being armed, reached within 15 meters of the fence and lay down.

Forces, including Falah and the commander of the IDF’s Menashe Brigade, Col. Arik Moyal, were deployed to the area where the suspects had been identified. A Zik drone was scrambled to the area but was not used.

The forces split into two, one led by Falah and the other by Moyal, in an attempt to surprise the gunmen, who then opened fire on the troops who had approached within several meters.

According to Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Avi Bluth, the troops did not know that the suspects were armed until they opened fire on the force around 2:30 a.m., hitting Falah and fatally injuring him.

The two gunmen were identified by Palestinian media as Ahmed Abed, an intelligence officer in the Palestinian Authority Security Forces, and Abdul Rahman Abed, from the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin. One of them was an intelligence officer of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades took responsibility for the attack, saying both the shooters were members of the terrorist organization.

"Unfortunately, last night we lost an officer who fought Palestinian terrorists in the field," said IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, "This is yet another expression of the challenges the IDF faces in all arenas and the security it provides for Israel's citizens, sometimes at a heavy price. I convey my deepest condolences to the family, and to his partner."

Ahmed Ayman Abed, one of the Palestinians killed in an armed clash with Israeli troops in Jenin, worked for the Palestinian Authority's Military Intelligence force. pic.twitter.com/Ar8S8jr1CY
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) September 14, 2022

“Youths”. They were Palestinian terrorists, who beached the West Bank security barrier and opened fire on Israeli soldiers, after refusing to first heed warnings. In the shootout, sadly, an IDF officer was killed. https://t.co/Itg74snUDd
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 14, 2022

PreOccupiedTerritory: Palestinian Technology Posthumously Turns Adult Fighters Into Children (satire)

The Before-Interment Alteration System, or BIAS.

Muhammed SabaanehTel Aviv, September 12 – Israeli military and Defense Ministry officials voiced concern today over a device that various terrorist factions appear to have in their possession, one that takes any corpse of a gun-wielding, bomb-planting, firebomb-throwing, or knife-brandishing Arab and transforms it into a “youth” or “child,” as reflected in mainstream news coverage of recent conflict episodes.

Officials pointed to articles and video reports surrounding the violence over the last several months in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian-governed city of Jenin, cases in which the IDF documented its actions against armed Palestinian men, often killing them – only to discover that such reliable, objective sources as CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, and the British Broadcasting Corporation quoted Palestinian media and officials in calling the militant a child. Israeli military intelligence concluded that the Palestinians possess something that somehow changes an adult fighter into a child whose death Israel caused.

“As a placeholder name, we’re calling it a Before-Interment Alteration System,” disclosed one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We know of at least twenty cases in the last year in which BIAS has been deployed to create a propaganda effect, with varying degrees of success. But other evidence points to the use of BIAS for the same purpose going back decades, to the first Intifada in 1987. Its deployment helps explain hundreds of instances in which the IDF neutralized an armed terrorist, only to find that some unexplained technology has altered the corpse so that it now resembles that of a playful youth whose innocent photographs now grace the pages and social media accounts of Western journalists and government institutions. BIAS is clearly a weapon to be reckoned with.”

Jonathan Tobin: Biden’s tilt towards Iran involves more than nuclear talks

Many Israelis still wistfully hold onto illusions about Lebanon, which many in the Jewish state always assumed would be the second country to offer peace since they assumed that once a breakthrough happened, their northern neighbor would rush to normalize relations. That was just a myth; the fractured multi-ethnic and multi-religious structure of Lebanon ensured that it would be held hostage by those factions—like the Shi’ite supporters of Hezbollah that look to Iran for leadership—that were as committed to the century-old war on Zionism as the Palestinians.

The spectacle of cabinet ministers in the Lebanese government trooping to the border to throw stones at the Jewish state may be dismissed as dysfunctional political posturing. Still, it speaks volumes about how Iranian influence and the firepower of Islamist extremists can create a situation in which Lebanese Christians feel obligated to make gestures about their desire to continue the war against Israel even though it makes no sense for them, their communities or their country.

That’s why the way to look at this dispute is in the context of that Obama/Biden belief in “integrating” Iran and its allies into the region, rather than isolating them as rogue elements whose only real goal is to destabilize it. As Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, recently wrote in Tablet, Israel and its Arab allies are the ones who are being asked to pay for this integration policy in terms of what would be, at best, a weakened strategic position as Iran is strengthened by American appeasement. An American mediation on gas fields must therefore be considered not, as the administration seeks to portray it, merely a sensible effort to resolve a border dispute. Rather, it is part of an administration approach that seeks to placate Iran and its allies.

Seen in that light, acquiescing to Hezbollah blackmail on gas fields is just as problematic as accepting (as the Americans clearly intend to do) that Iran must be acknowledged as a threshold nuclear power. That’s a foreign policy destined to undermine not just Israel’s security, but that of the United States and the West. Biden, and by extension, Lapid, is benefiting from the pause in nuclear negotiations with Iran. But as long as the goal of American diplomacy is to strengthen Tehran and its supporters, disaster in the form of heightened terrorism and a nuclear threat is just over the horizon.

While Confronting Russia in Europe, the U.S. Helps It in the Middle East

Obama first developed this disingenuous approach in 2013, at the moment when he reneged on his promise to retaliate against the Assad regime for using chemical weapons. Vladimir Putin, it will be remembered, helped him erase his red line by agreeing to work with the United States to strip Assad of his chemical weapons. The joint Russian-American operation never achieved its stated aim: Assad still has - and still uses - chemical weapons today. But the operation did achieve Obama’s secret goal of turning Russia into America’s silent partner in stabilizing the Middle East.

The line from the chemical weapons deal between Moscow and Washington to the JCPOA is simple and direct. The negotiations for what became the JCPOA were just getting underway in 2013, when Assad conducted the sarin gas attack that might have triggered American retribution. Obama, however, feared that an American attack on Assad, the protégé of both Russia and Iran, would derail the nuclear deal and the vision of a concert system that the deal was supposed to advance. The Potemkin operation to strip Assad of his chemical weapons shielded Obama, in domestic American politics, from the pressure to confront Russia and Iran.

When Obama first began moving down the path of cooperation with Moscow and Tehran, the idea of a pact of mutual non-belligerence seemed worth testing to many observers. But the test failed. Time and again, Russia and Iran have pocketed American concessions and then demanded more. For proof, one need look no further than Ukraine. Failure to confront Putin over Crimea in 2014 encouraged him to invade Syria in 2015. Treating him as a partner in stabilizing Syria paved the way not only for his intervention in Libya but also for the renewed effort to dominate Ukraine now. Putin’s latest war is not simply an effort to redefine the post-Cold War settlement in Europe. It is part of a larger effort to resurrect the sphere of influence in the Middle East that Moscow enjoyed under the Soviet Union.

When discussing Putin’s Syria policy, a countless number of pundits have observed that he is “playing a weak hand expertly.” The assessment is not so much wrong as incomplete. He has been aided by American leaders who have pursued a flawed strategic concept, which, especially in Syria, refuses to treat Russia and Iran as pariahs.

Caroline Glick: 21 years later, US still doesn’t recognize Iran’s role in 9/11

The Biden administration is now indicating that its nuclear deal with Iran will not be concluded until after the midterm elections. This is even as the IAEA reported last week that Iran needs to be considered a nuclear threshold state because it can already build a nuclear bomb.

To discuss these developments, Caroline Glick hosts Dr. David Wurmser on this week’s episode of “Mideast News Hour.”

Glick shares her reflections on the 21st anniversary of September 11 and on the reasons the event has almost disappeared from the public discourse.

PMW: Fatah announces return to terror

Last night two Palestinian terrorists, one a member of Western funded Palestinian Security Services, shot and killed an Israeli officer, and then they themselves were shot and killed.

The Palestinian Authority official media and Fatah, both headed by Mahmoud Abbas, have responded with support for the attack that killed the Israeli officer.

Most significantly, following the attack Fatah officially announced that it is returning to terror.

Early this morning Fatah released a video on its official Facebook page celebrating the terror attack. During the video, a text appeared on the screen with three important messages:
1. "The Al-Aqsa-Palestine [Martyrs’] Brigades is officially announcing its attacks”
2. “The Fatah movement takes responsibility for the actions of its military arm [the Al-Aqsa-Martyrs’ Brigades]”
3. The Fatah leadership announces that it has returned to the phase of the armed struggle (i.e., Fatah’s euphemism for terror)"

The Al-Aqsa-Martyrs’ Brigades is an internationally designated terror organization. For years the United States, Europe, and other funders of the PA have tried to differentiate between Fatah which is headed by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and its terror branch the Brigades. Palestinian Media Watch has argued all along that this differentiation is false and artificial. Now Fatah has officially confirmed that they are one organization, and Fatah is taking credit and responsibility for its murderous terror attacks.

The third part of Fatah’s announcement is also significant. For years PMW has been reporting that Fatah regularly declares that the pause in "armed struggle" - its euphemism for terror - against Israel is temporary and that the phase of the “armed struggle” will return. Now Fatah has officially announced that it has returned to terror.

The implications of this announcement on international funding and support for the PA/Fatah support should be significant. This may explain why shortly after posting the video Fatah removed it from its Facebook page. However, PMW had already copied the post and downloaded the video and will be releasing the full subtitled video tomorrow.

PA officials turn down Israeli request to boost counter-terror efforts ahead of High Holidays

Palestinian Authority officials have said they cannot assist Israel in clamping down on terrorism in Judea and Samaria ahead of and during the upcoming Jewish High Holidays, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

Their position was reportedly conveyed to representatives of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) by P.A. intelligence chief Majed Faraj and PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh during a meeting last week, according to Kan News.

The Israelis were seeking to enhance security coordination between the sides amid an uptick in terrorist activity, particularly in northern Samaria. While cooperation continues, the report said, the Palestinian leaders said that Israel’s ongoing counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria made it impossible for them to assist.

“We cannot operate effectively after every night you enter Palestinian cities, arrest and kill residents. Your actions weaken us,” Faraj and al-Sheikh reportedly told the Israeli officials.

For their part, the Israelis said the current security situation in Judea and Samaria was “unacceptable,” and emphasized that Israeli forces were arresting only those who endangered the security of Israeli citizens, according to Kan.

US: we're not holding IDF criminally accountable for Abu Akleh's death

The Biden administration does not hold the IDF to be criminally accountable for the shooting death of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, US State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified during a briefing with reporters in Washington.

"We’ve always been very clear that we’re not looking for criminal accountability," Price said on Tuesday.

The Biden admiration has accepted the conclusions of both the IDF investigation and its own examination conducted by the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) that her death, likely at the hands of an IDF soldier, was "not an intentional, targeted killing."
"No one knows the IDF’s processes and procedures better than the IDF. And so it is not on us or any other country or entity to say precisely what the IDF or any military or security organization around the world should do."
US State Department spokesman Ned Price

"It is important that countries around the world, including Israel, do everything they can to protect civilian life. And of course, reporters, and journalists are civilians; they should never be targeted," said Price.

"The Israeli report similar to the USSC report found no indication of intentionality," he continued. It was the US conclusion, he explained, that Abu Akleh's death "was the tragic result of a gunfight in the context of an Israeli raid in the West Bank."

Biden Administration Preparing To Send Billions More To Afghanistan

The Biden administration has moved $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan money to a dedicated fund for eventual transfer to Afghanistan if the country’s central bank can demonstrate independence from the Taliban.

The Biden administration plans to return billions in financial assets, frozen when the Taliban overran Afghanistan and ousted the central government, through a special “Afghan Fund” through Swiss financial organization, according to a joint statement from the U.S. Treasury Department and State Department. However, officials say that U.S. will not release funds any time soon because there is yet no institution in Afghanistan who can be trusted to distribute the money to its rightful recipients, CNN reported.

“We do not have that confidence today,” a senior US official told CNN.

Funding could help the Afghanistan government finance critical imports and repay debts to international financial organizations, according to the Treasury Department.

A letter from the U.S. Treasury Department to the Afghanistan Central Bank (DAB) this week reiterated the requirements for the institution to avoid falling to Taliban “influence and interference,” according to CNN. The country’s main financial institution must also show that is has “instituted adequate anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism controls” and and bring in “reputable third party monitoring.”

The Biden administration discounted the possibility of routing funds through the DAB after revelations earlier in August that notorious terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was living in Kabul, fearing the money could fall into Taliban hands, The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 15. The U.S. had suspended talks on releasing the funds.

U.S. officials previously said that recapitalization of the DAB is “not a near-term option,” according to the WSJ.

Politicians, Advocates Declare Support for Israel at Central America-Israel Forum

Senior ministers, members of parliament, mayors, religious leaders and heads of influential NGOs from across Central America last week expressed their solidarity and support for Israel and called to combat antisemitism.

The declaration was the culmination of the first-ever in-person Central America-Israel Forum, which celebrates the State of Israel’s deep and longstanding ties with Central America.

More than 300 participants and officials from 14 nations met at Parlatino—The Latin American Parliament in Panama City, Panama, including Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Panama Erika Mouynes and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guatemala Mario Bucaro.

Bucaro received an award during the event in honor of his “strong and enduring relations with the State of Israel and the Jewish People.” He then traveled from the forum to Israel for an official visit where he met with, among others, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

Israel’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Oded Forer and Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai also participated in the confab, which was hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the Center for Jewish Impact and the Panama-Israel Friendship League.

Forer acknowledged the historic nature of the “deep and enduring” ties, going back to the support of several Central American nations for the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which called for the creation of a Jewish state.

Wiesenthal Center urges Jordan to uphold rights and dignity of Jewish travelers

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called on Jordan’s King Abdullah II to ensure that Jews arriving in or transiting his kingdom no longer face harassment from border officials for carrying in their luggage prayer shawls and phylacteries (tallitot and tefillin).

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center has received numerous complaints of harassment, attempted confiscations by Jordanian officials of these basic religious items that millions of Jews don each morning during their prayers,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, founder and associate dean of the SWC, respectively, in a joint statement.

According to the center, some travelers have reported being told that it is illegal to bring these Jewish holy items into Jordan.

“As you know, Your Majesty, the SWC had a warm and ongoing friendship with your late father, His Majesty King Hussein,” the statement continued. “Indeed, in 1995, he was the first Arab head of state to visit our Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and we visited with him in Amman.

“Your Majesty, an SWC delegation also had the honor to visit with you at the royal palace in Amman in 2005 and presented a special award to you for ‘standing on the side of human dignity and mutual respect,’” Hier and Cooper noted, adding: “We now ask, Your Majesty, to ensure that Jordanian officials at your nation’s borders live up to those standards.”

UN says Israeli strike on Damascus airport halted aid deliveries

An Israeli airstrike on the airport of the Syrian capital Damascus in June that forced it to close for two weeks led to the suspension of humanitarian activities during that period, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said Wednesday.

On June 10, airstrikes attributed to Israel struck Damascus International Airport, causing significant damage and rendering the main runway unserviceable. The airport opened two weeks later following repairs.

Commission member Lynn Welchman told reporters in Geneva that her group was aware of some 14 Israeli airstrikes in Syria between January and June, adding that there were more strikes in August.

“We haven’t been able to so far corroborate civilian casualties. Civilian casualties are what we investigate,” she said.

Welchman added that the June 10 airstrike on Damascus airport did lead to “the suspension of all new and humanitarian air force delivery of humanitarian assistance which is extremely serious.”

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied armed groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror organization, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Israel to play key role in Germany’s ability to defend against Russian missiles

Already in early April, reports began surfacing that Berlin is interested in purchasing Israeli-made air- and missile-defense systems, in addition to unmanned aerial vehicles.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a little over a month old, and a Bundestag Defense Committee delegation visited the Israel Defense Forces.

The lawmakers expressed particular interest in the Arrow-3 defense system, which is made by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and provides exo-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles.

Now, with reports surfacing that Berlin has made a preliminary decision to buy the Arrow-3, rather than the competing THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system made by Lockheed Martin, Israel appears to be a step closer to playing a significant role in Germany’s ability to defend itself against future Russian missile threats.

The Arrow-3 is operational in Israel, part of the country’s multi-tier air-defense program. It intercepts and destroys ballistic threats in space using the most advanced technology, and can adeptly navigate outside the Earth’s atmosphere. IAI is now developing the Arrow-4, which will operate within and outside the atmosphere.

“The innovative Arrow-3 interceptor is designed to intercept and destroy the newest, longer-range threats, especially those carrying weapons of mass destruction,” IAI says on its website.

Shurat Hadin’s Nitzana Darshan Leitner to Run with Ayelet Shaked

In a surprise move, Ayelet Shaked has brought in Nitzana Darshan Leitner, the head of Shurat Hadin to run with her party that recently merged with Bayit Yehudi. Darshan Leitner will receive the 4th spot on the list.

Shurat Hadin wages legal battles against terror and terror-supporting organizations.

Currently the polls show that Shaked does not have enough support to pass the electoral threshold, and they are hoping some high profile names help gain them voters. Her former partners in the party, Yoaz Hendel and Tzvi Hauser, decided to break apart the partnership, and then dropped out completely from the race.

Shaked’s party is positioning themselves as a rightwing party that is religiously to the left of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionist party, which recent polls show getting 11 to 12 seats in the upcoming Knesset.

“If you feel death approaching, make sure it won’t be a normal death (i.e., but death as a Martyr)”

“If you feel death approaching, make sure it won’t be a normal death (i.e., but death as a Martyr)” Fatah teaches children in summer camp

Official Fatah Facebook page, July 25, 2022

Lyrics: “If you feel death approaching make sure it won’t be a normal death (i.e., but death as a Martyr)”

[My land,] you give birth to many and to even more O my land, by Allah, you give birth to many

If you feel death approaching Make sure it won’t be a normal death”

The children in the video participated in a Fatah summer camp called “The Al-Asifa Lion Cubs Camp” in the town of Beita. Al-Asifa is Fatah’s military unit and “Lion Cubs” means it is a camp for boys.

This is disgusting, though unsurprising.

Every women’s organization should be speaking out against this, and especially those who love to use their identity as “Palestinian feminists” to bash Israel. Looking at you Rashida Tlaib and Linda Sarsour.

H/T @elderofziyon pic.twitter.com/XJwd6EWaFU
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) September 14, 2022

Hezbollah: Four Decades of Unprecedented State-Sponsored Terrorism

Tensions between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel are higher than usual these days, due to threats being made by the Iranian-backed terror organization to launch attacks on Israel’s Karish offshore gas rig in the Mediterranean Sea. According to Hezbollah’s latest “equation,” the threats will be realized if Israel activates the rig before coming to an agreement with Lebanon on maritime borders, in United States-mediated negotiations.

For the past three months, Hezbollah and its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, have released an unending stream of threats, as well as ideological and religious justifications for violence, including passages from the Koran about God assisting “Muslims that fight injustice,” according to reports produced by the Alma defense research center in northern Israel.

These tensions are just the latest chapter in Hezbollah’s 40-year history, which began when Shi’ite Lebanese operatives founded it in 1982 with Iranian backing, following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon that same year.

“There is no equivalent for such massive support over so many years for any other terror organization by a state in modern history,” said professor Boaz Ganor, founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya.

In assessing Hezbollah’s achievements and failures, Ganor told JNS that while Hezbollah has steadily grown stronger over the past four decades and has many achievements to its name, “one must remember that it did not do this by itself, but rather, due to it being an Iranian proxy.”

In crisis-hit Lebanon, woman robs bank for own savings to treat sister’s cancer

A woman held up a Beirut bank Wednesday with a toy gun and walked out with thousands of dollars to pay for treatment for her ill sister, in a desperate heist cheered by many in crisis-hit Lebanon.

It was the latest in a series of heists in Lebanon, where the savings of depositors have been devalued and trapped in banks for almost three years amid a crippling economic crisis.

Sali Hafiz streamed a live video on Facebook of her raid on a Beirut branch of Blom Bank, in which she could be heard yelling at employees to release a sum of money while entrances to the bank were sealed.

“I am Sali Hafiz, I came today… to take the deposits of my sister who is dying in hospital,” she said in the video.

“I did not come to kill anyone or to start a fire… I came to claim my rights.”

In an interview with a Lebanese broadcaster after the raid, Hafiz said she managed to free about $13,000 of the $20,000 she said her family had deposited.

Former Algerian Intelligence Officer: Morocco Is Ruled by the King’s Jewish Advisor, André Azoulay

On July 16, 2022, the publicly-owned Canal Algerie TV (Algeria) aired a French-language debate titled “Morocco: Calling [On the People] to Demonstrate on July 17 to Bring Down the [Moroccan] Regime.” During the debate, former Algerian intelligence officer Mokhtar Said Mediouni said that Morocco is a leading producer and exporter of drugs, that the Moroccan king is unimportant, that poor people in Morocco live in “total misery,” that normalizing relations with Israel was a fatal mistake, and that Morocco is actually headed by Jewish Moroccan royal advisor André Azoulay and other “Zionists” linked to Israel.

The MEMRI Lantos Project exposes anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East region and Middle Eastern communities in the West with the aim of supporting legislation and educating media and the general public.

Seth Frantzman: Israel’s Octopus Doctrine is a sharp and consistent warning to Iran -analysis

Mossad Director David Barnea indicated on Monday that if Iranian proxies target Israel, Iran would be held responsible, something that could drive up the cost to Iran’s regime. Iran will now not have the impunity to operate from afar – attacking via Hezbollah, Hamas, or others – and not also be at risk of retaliation.

“If Iranian proxies come after us, we will hit Iran directly,” he said. “We will convince the leader [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] that terror is not worth it and too costly.”

The Mossad thwarted numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews worldwide, Barnea said.

“We will not take part in this charade,” he said. “We will not close our eyes to the proven truth. The Iranian regime will have no immunity. The Iranian leadership must understand that attacks against Israel or Israelis, directly or indirectly by proxies, will be met with a painful retaliation… We will not pursue the proxies, but the ones who armed them and gave the orders, and this will happen in Iran.”

The comments indicate that the Iranian leadership needs to understand that its attacks against Israel, or Israelis abroad, will not go unpunished.

This doctrine, however, is not new and was actually spelled out by former prime minister Naftali Bennett in June, when he said Israel was “implementing the Octopus Doctrine… We no longer play with the tentacles, with Iran’s proxies: We’ve created a new equation by going for the head.”

At the time, the comments raised eyebrows. Why is that?
At Asharq al-Awsat, a UK-based Arabic newspaper, an author said Israel has taken action against the head of the terrorist octopus and not just against the arms, as was done in previous decades. The author quoted Bennett regarding the fact that the days of impunity for Iran were over. “We are taking action, everywhere, at any time, and will continue to do so,” Bennett said.

One commentator, Tariq al-Homayed, summarized it this way: “It is evident that there is a noticeable escalation of Israeli operations inside Iran, not only against prominent figures linked to the nuclear program but also military personnel and lower-level scientists.”

Iran International, a media site that is critical of the regime, said Israel was seeking to expose Iranian intelligence failings.

The overall trend in comments from June to September in Israel paints a picture of clear messaging aimed at the Iranian regime. This takes the form of either a warning or a real explanation of what is currently taking place.

Iran and Russia: The New Alliance

Significantly, Russia and Iran's cooperation extends to the military and space fields, with Russia recently helping Iran to launch a new satellite into space.

Iran's Khayyam satellite "will greatly enhance Tehran's ability to spy on military targets across the Middle East... [and give] Tehran "unprecedented capabilities, including near-continuous monitoring of sensitive facilities in Israel and the Persian Gulf." — The Washington Post, August 4, 2022.

"Iran could share the imagery with pro-Iranian militia groups across the region, from the Houthi rebels battling Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen to Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria." — Unnamed Middle Eastern official, The Washington Post, June 10, 2021.

"As Iran perfects its missile arsenal... alongside its growing UAV capability throughout the Middle East –being able to sync those capabilities with satellite capabilities and surveillance will only increase the lethality of the Iranian threat." — Richard Goldberg, former Iran analyst in the Trump administration's National Security Council, The Washington Post, August 4, 2022.

Iran has also become a major developer and producer of drones.... Most recently, Iran claimed that it had developed a long-range suicide drone "designed to hit Israel's Tel Aviv, Haifa."

Despite this acknowledged "profound threat" emanating from the mutually beneficial alliance between Russia and Iran, the Biden administration nevertheless has been making dangerous concessions to revive the nuclear deal, which would only deepen the threat and benefit not only Iran, but also Russia.

Let us hope that the new "Iran nuclear deal," reportedly "off the table for the time being" is off the table for good.

Former Iranian Diplomat Abolfazl Zohrevand: The Zionists Plan to Flee to Ukraine and Settle There; This is Zelensky’s Mission #Iran #Ukraine #Antisemitism pic.twitter.com/Xh3uvDhjR6
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 14, 2022