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Monday, September 19, 2022

09/19 Links Pt1: The contrasting tale of two monarchs; US MUST put Fatah on its Terror Groups List; Israelis and Jews at Risk of Attack by Iran and ISIS Overseas

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The defender of faith
The King has shown much friendship and warmth towards British Jews. In 2013, at the inauguration of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, he became the first royal to attend such a ceremony — sporting a personalised kippah embroidered with the crest of the Prince of Wales. In a speech that year, he expressed concern at the rise of antisemitism in Britain.

In 2019, at a Chanukah party at Buckingham Palace, he said that as he grew up he had been deeply touched that British Jews remembered his family in their weekly prayers. “And as you remember my family”, he said, “so we too remember and celebrate you”.

Five years ago, however, Jews were alarmed to read a letter he wrote in 1986 to his mentor, Laurens van der Post. He referred in this to Israel having been created by an influx of European Jews. He also lamented the influence of the “Jewish lobby” in America.

At the time, Clarence House disavowed these remarks. It said the letter “clearly stated” these weren’t his own views but represented the opinions of some of those he had met during his recent visit to the Gulf “which he was keen to interrogate”.

Whether or not he ever held such views, however, is all but irrelevant.

Now that he is the King, he has lost the freedom to express his opinions. In his private weekly audiences with the prime minister, he is most likely to follow the constitutional convention upheld by his mother.

This is to proffer wise advice to the prime minister, issue warnings and above all provide support — but never to seek to influence government policy.

In any event, his own deep belief in promoting harmony reinforces the fundamental duty of the British monarchy — to unify the nation.

In that duty, the British crown has patterned itself since antiquity on the monarchy of King David, who forged a united kingdom out of disparate tribes and whose own power was limited through alternative power bases of priests, prophets and judges.

Charles III is the latest British monarch in that Davidic tradition. God save the King. And God save British Jews.
Liz Truss’s world view and its implications for UK-Israel relations
While the world’s attention has been focused on Britain’s new king, the country also got a new prime minister just two days before the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Toby Greene investigates Liz Truss’s approach to both domestic politics and diplomacy—which he argues are not unlike those of Margaret Thatcher—and how these will shape policies toward the Jewish state:

In Truss’s mental map of the world, in which decent, honest, sovereign, free-trading nations are pitted against aggressive authoritarians, Israel sits firmly in the former category. Israel’s inclusion in Truss’s list of “friends and allies” in her October 2021 conference speech was not an isolated example, with Israel referred to repeatedly as an example of a (non-EU) democratic partner that excels in innovation.

Truss’s attitude towards Israel cannot be separated from that of her party, in which a view of Israel as a democratic, economically successful, and strategically significant partner has become increasingly dominant.

Whilst Israel is a pariah for significant chunks of the [British] left—and bursts negatively into the public eye during periodic rounds of violence [in the Middle East]—for the right this is more grist for the mill in the culture wars. Conservative pro-Zionism helps expose Labor’s internal rifts over the legacy of [its former leader Jeremy] Corbyn, who got the party bogged down in his anti-Semitic anti-Zionism.

Like much of Truss’s politics, her philo-Semitism carries echoes of Thatcher, whose cabinet famously included more “old Estonians than Old Etonians.” . . . . But that does not guarantee plain sailing for UK-Israel relations under a Truss premiership. First there is the issue of Iran. While Truss talks tough on Iran, like many Western leaders, she is unlikely to stand in the way of the Biden administration’s determination to return to the [2015 nuclear deal], which Israeli leaders and U.S. Republicans will complain is disastrous.
The contrasting tale of two monarchs
The one was to live a tranquil 96 years – a full life. The other was to be cut down aged 23 in a bloody revolution. Faisal, his family, the prime minister Nuri al-Said and his ministers were brutally shot by military officers who seized power in 1958. Iraq became a republic. In a show of exceptional barbarism, the corpses of King Faisal II, his uncle Abdelilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said were dragged, naked, through the streets of Baghdad.

Iraqi Jews who were still living in the country – 98 percent had already left by 1951 – remember that ghoulish episode. For some it was the final signal to leave forever. They could not stomach the brutality with which Iraq treated its royal family.

Conditions had already deteriorated quite badly for the Jewish community by the time King Faisal II took the throne in 1953. When the photo was taken, only 6,000 Jews out of 150,000 still lived in Iraq, a fractious country.

The Queen was a comforting symbol of unity and stability to whom British and Commonwealth Jews have always pledged loyalty. Faisal I, Iraq’s first king, Faisal II’s grandfather, from the Hashemite dynasty, also commanded the respect of the Jewish community in Iraq. Still today he is thought of as a wise and tolerant king.

Iraq was a post-WW1 concoction of three Ottoman provinces under British mandate. The Jews experienced their golden age under Faisal I in the 1920s. He pledged to treat the Jews, Christians and Muslims in his kingdom equally.

The Hashemites were brought in from the Arabian peninsula by the British as a reward for fighting alongside them against the Ottoman Turks. The Allies had promised Faisal I the throne of Syria. But he was double-crossed by the British and the French and offered the throne of Iraq instead. Faisal never appeared to forgive the British and arrived in Baghdad with a coterie of disgruntled ex-Ottoman and Syrian nationalists. During his reign Iraq became a hub of Arab nationalism.
Check out the new Hebrew Jewish prayer for King Charles III - Read here
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the traditional prayer that UK Jews have been reciting for hundreds of years has changed to include the name of King Charles III, as well as Prince and Princess of Wales William and Kate.

In addition, in the coming months, the United Synagogue will print a new version of its siddur (prayer book), with the updated version of the prayer for the royal family.

Jewish communities around the world have been accustomed to reciting a special prayer for the survival and peace of the heads of state in the countries they live in. In the UK, the prayer blessed Queen Elizabeth, and in the United States, it is a blessing to the president.

A source in the United Synagogue, the largest umbrella organization of synagogues in the UK, which is considered central to Modern Orthodoxy, has said they were planning on printing a new version of the siddur anyway – but now that the queen has died and there is a new king, they have decided to quickly edit the existing text to say: “He who gives salvation to kings and dominion to princes, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom – may He bless Our Sovereign lord, King Charles, our gracious Queen Consort Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and all the Royal Family.”




Tom Gross: UK royal record on Israel & Holocaust not as good as some claim & questions over bin Laden donations

US MUST put Fatah on its Terror Groups List
Imagine if the ruling party of any country announced that it had begun carrying out terrorist attacks. Imagine the shock and horror if the U.K. Conservative Party, Canada’s Liberal Party or the U.S. Democratic Party made such a declaration. Yet that is exactly what Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, just did—and the international community is silent.

After the killing of an IDF officer near the city of Jenin in Judea/Samaria on Sept. 14, the official Fatah Facebook page featured a video praising the murder. A translation by Palestinian Media Watch states that the video referred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades organization as Fatah’s “military arm.” It further declared that Fatah “takes responsibility for the operations of its military arm” and that the Brigades “is officially announcing” that it will be carrying out additional “operations.”

Nobody had ever heard of the Brigades until the autumn of 2000, when the Palestinian Arabs launched what they called the Second Intifada. That campaign of terrorism was led by what was described by the media as a “new” group called the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

But it was obvious that a terrorist group couldn’t spring up fully formed overnight, with an entire network of highly trained bombers and shooters already in place. And it didn’t. The Brigades was a front group constructed by Fatah in order to continue the violence the party had promised, in the Oslo Accords, to give up.

The most notorious of the attacks by the Brigades was a January 2002 assault on a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera that killed six and wounded 33; a March 2002 suicide bombing in front of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Beit Yisrael that killed 11 (including two infants) and wounded more than 50; and a suicide bombing at the Tel Aviv central bus station in January 2003 that killed 23 and wounded more than 100.

In March 2002, the U.S. State Department added the Brigades to the official U.S. list of terror groups, but refused to acknowledge that the organization was a front group for Fatah. The reason was strictly political—admitting that Fatah is a terrorist movement would have made it impossible for the U.S. to keep giving money to the P.A.

Yet over the years, the evidence that the Brigades is part of Fatah has mounted. In Nov. 2003, a team of investigative journalists from the BBC revealed that Fatah allocated $50,000 a month to the Brigades. A June 2005 study by the U.S. government’s own Congressional Research Service reported: “On Dec. 18, 2003, Fatah asked the leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades to join the Fatah Council, recognizing it officially as part of the Fatah organization.”


German party funds pour dark money into Israel to influence domestic politics
While the subject of European money funneled to Israeli left-wing groups in order to influence Israeli civil society and politics is nothing new, recent research reveals that not only is Germany the largest contributor to radical anti-Israel NGOs, but it is also providing the money in the most devious ways, including through foundations linked to German political parties.

More is known about these German party foundations and their activities thanks to research by Im Tirtzu, a Jerusalem-based watchdog group, which published a report last month whose findings were also released as a Hebrew-language book, “Country for Sale,” by Im Tirtzu Chairman Matan Peleg.

Over the last decade, 1.4 billion shekels ($400 million) in foreign funding poured into Israeli NGOs. Germany’s share was 150 million shekels ($44 million), putting it at No. 1 among foreign donors. Of that 150 million shekels, some 30 million ($9 million), or roughly 20%, came from German political foundations, according to Im Tirtzu.

“Party foundations, or party political funds, are unique to Germany. No other country funding organizations within Israel uses them. They are funds linked to active parties in Germany’s parliament,” Alon Schvartzer, head of Im Tirtzu’s research and policy division, told JNS.

Six German foundations tied to political parties operate in Israel, including the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, linked to the Christian Democratic Union, formerly led by Angela Merkel, the Heinrich Böll Foundation of the Green Party, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation of the Die Linke, or The Left Party.

“We looked at where this money was going and we found that the Germans are literally funding organizations that are either working to change the Jewish and democratic identity of the state or seeking to undermine Israel’s security,” Schvartzer said.

Of the six German funds, four have registered in Israel as Public Benefit Corporations, which requires them to submit quarterly reports regarding donations from foreign political entities. Im Tirtzu found they have not complied with the law.

Merav Hajaj of Choosing Life, a forum of Israeli terror victims and bereaved families, filed a complaint with the Israeli police on Sept. 8 against the four German foundations registered in Israel, a necessary step to initiating an investigation.
U.S. Delaying German Procurement of Israel's Arrow 3 Missile Defense System
Israel has worked for months to convince the U.S. to allow the sale of its Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany and other countries. The initial request by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was made half a year ago.

U.S. approval of the deal is needed since 80% of the system's development costs came from U.S. In addition, Arrow 3 includes technological components developed in the U.S.

Washington has so far neither confirmed nor vetoed the move.
Israel names ambassador to Turkey in first since rapprochement
The appointment of Israel's new ambassador to Turkey, Irit Lillian, was approved by the Foreign Ministry's appointments committee on Monday.

Lillian, who served as the Charge d'Affaires to Ankara for the past two years, is now set to become the first Israeli envoy to Turkey since Israel's ongoing rapprochement with the country, which began last year.

This comes after Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced the full restoration of diplomatic relations with Turkey last month, paving the way for Lillian's appointment as Israel's permanent ambassador to Ankara.

In another move to cement the rekindling of ties, Lapid is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the United Nations General Assembly, held in New York this week. The meeting will be the first between Erdogan and an Israeli prime minister since 2008, when he met former prime minister Ehud Olmert.

President Isaac Herzog, who kicked off the rapprochement attempts with Erdogan after he entered office last year, also met with his counterpart as part of a state visit to the Turkish capital in March.
Turkish Political Science Professor: War Between Turkey and Greece Would Be an “Earthquake” for NATO
In an interview that was posted to the Haber Global YouTube channel on September 9, 2022, Turkish political science and international relations professor Dr. Hasan Ãœnal spoke about the possibility of war between Turkey and Greece and about the implications that this war would have for NATO and the United States. He said that the U.S. is not in a position to provoke such a war, that such a war would be an “earthquake” for NATO, that it would lead to increased cooperation between Turkey and Russia, and that it may spread to Cyprus. He said that Turkey has Russian S-400 air defense systems in order to defend itself from Greece, and he explained that if French-made Rafale fighter jets are being sold to Greece, then Turkey will acquire more S-400s. In addition, he said that while Turkey does not want to fight a war with Greece, it must break its “will to fight” and demonstrate that Greece has de facto lost the struggle in the region. He added that today’s “multipolar” world order has given Turkey the opportunity to do this.


Israel foils Hamas plot to launch series of bomb attacks against Jews
Israeli security forces earlier this month arrested a group of Hamas-affiliated suspects in the West Bank who were planning bombing attacks against Israeli forces and civilians, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Monday.

Seven Palestinians from Hebron and Nablus were arrested and interrogated in the operation, led by the Shin Bet and the IDF.

From the suspects’ interrogations, the Shin Bet revealed they had been recruited to the Gaza-based terrorist organization by a Hamas operative named Yahya Amer Muhammad Abu Sayfan.

The 26-year-old Abu Sayfan, a resident of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, is responsible for the recruitment of Palestinian youths to the terrorist group and the dissemination of anti-Zionist and antisemitic incitement on social media.

Abu Sayfan instructed and guided the recruited suspects on how to make explosive devices, in addition to ordering them to carry out the attacks.

The suspects received money to purchase weaponry, explosives and other equipment and substances that were all confiscated by the Israeli security forces.
Travel Warning: Israelis and Jews at Risk of Attack by Iran and ISIS Overseas
The Counter-Terror Division of the Prime Minister’s Office issued a travel warning on Monday for the upcoming holidays, telling Israelis to be wary of potential terror attacks by Iran or ISIS.

The division often warns of potential dangers from the Islamic Republic and jihadist groups, but this time it made specific mention of the attempt by Iran in June to murder Israelis visiting Turkey.

The Mossad intervened directly in that instance, and was said to have rescued some Israelis only minutes before they would have been shot dead by one of the multiple Iranian terror cells that were about to go into action.

According to the counter-terror division, “in recent years, the Iranians and their proxies have increased their activities overseas with the goal of acting against Israelis.”

Besides Iran, the statement named ISIS, as well as other jihadist groups, as maintaining “high levels of motivation” to carry out terror attacks against traveling Israelis.

The division warned that these groups have their strongest capabilities in the Sinai Peninsula, the Middle East in general, Africa and Asia, with a lower-level presence in other parts of the world.

More specifically, the division noted that top leaders of these terror groups have pushed for their followers to go after Israelis and Jews as prime targets.
The Israel Guys: The President of Israel Flies to London to Attend Queen Elizebeth’s Funeral
President Isaac Herzog traveled to the UK to represent Israel at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and express his condolences to the new King Charles III.

Israel is continuing its fight against terrorism with more arrests and weapons confiscations across Judea and Samaria.

Syria reported that Israel carried out an airstrike at targets near Damascus, although Israel has not made any comment on the airstrike.

According to a new poll, if elections were held today, Netanyahu would be one seat shy of forming a right-wing majority government.


IDF wounds Syrian hurling mines at soldiers on Golan Heights
An Israel Defense Forces unit fired on a Syrian throwing suspicious objects along the border on the Golan Heights Monday.

The suspect, and three other men involved in the suspicious activity, was spotted by Observation soldiers from the 595 Battalion crossing the Alpha Line and violating Israeli sovereignty, the army said.

Soldiers from the 334 Battalion, led by battalion commander Lt. Col. Or Kessler, crossed the fence, surrounded the suspects and surprised them, before initiating an arrest protocol that ended with fire at the legs of one of the suspects.

“As a result, one of the suspects was injured and evacuated by a helicopter to a hospital for further medical treatment,” the military said, adding that an inspection of the area suggested that the suspects threw anti-personnel mines at the soldiers.

The wounded Syrian was taken to the Poryia Medical Center (Baruch Padeh Medical Center) near Tiberias.


Arab Aid to UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Continues to Decline
The annual Arab financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had declined to 3 percent of UNRWA's budget in 2022, a UN advisor said on Saturday.

Adnan Abu Hasna, the media advisor of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, told reporters in Gaza City that in 2018, the Arab financial support to the UN agency reached 200 million U.S. dollars.

"In 2021, the Arab financial aid to the agency declined to 20 million U.S. dollars," he said, adding that "this year (2022), the financial support will be much less than we expect."

Abu Hasna explained that during all the previous Arab summits, the Arab League agreed that Arab support for the UN agency should not be less than 7.5 percent, "but today we have seen it decline to 3 percent ... this is a big problem."

He added that UNRWA is trying hard, with the help of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to restore contact with many Arab countries that have suspended and reduced their financial aid.

Abu Hasna explained that the UN agency is counting on the success of the meeting of the donor countries, which will be held in New York on the sidelines of the meetings of the UN General Assembly.

"We hope to mobilize the required and enough financial support that would cover UNRWA's financial deficit, which has reached 100 million U.S. dollars," he added.

He warned that "if there are no financial developments after the conference, the crisis will intensify in the coming months of November and December."
PMW: Fatah no longer hiding its terror role - boasts about its attacks
Palestinian Media Watch exposed on Wednesday that Abbas’ Fatah Movement has announced its return to terror and has taken responsibility for the attack near Jenin in which Israeli soldier Major Bar Falahwas murdered. Fatah has since expressed additional praise, calling one of the two terrorist murderers, Ahmed Abed, “heroic,” bragging that he is a member of the PA Security Forces “by day” and a member of Fatah’s terror wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades “by night.” Fatah further boasted that a “knight of the Security Forces” “killed a Zionist officer”:

Posted text: “Heroic member of the [PA] military intelligence [Ahmed Abed]– by day he is a security member and by night he is one of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades members (i.e., Fatah’s military wing). He follows in the footsteps of the heroes who preceded him, from [Raed] Al-Karmi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 9) to [Abdallah] Daoud (i.e., terrorist responsible for numerous attacks)”
Lyrics: “When the land calls for its men, it will meet us like shining swords. For its sake that which is precious is insignificant, and we will bend our knees before no one but the Creator”
Text on screen: “A member of the [PA military] intelligence
killed a Zionist officer and died as a Martyr
A knight of the Security Forces, Ahmed Ayman Abed
He died as a Martyr in a confrontation with the occupation army, during a high-quality operation (i.e., terror attack) against the soldiers at Jalame checkpoint in Jenin, in which a Zionist officer in the occupation army was killed.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Sept. 14, 2022]

PMW has reported that Fatah previously has bragged about the deceptive double role of terrorists who work during the day as PA Security Forces.

The following is the video posted and later removed by Fatah, announcing the movement’s return to terror:


Fatah Secretary: Palestine from the River to the Sea Is Ours; Our Military Wing Has a “Green Light”



Iranian president casts doubt on the reality of the Holocaust
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in an interview aired on Sunday, called Israel a “false regime” and suggested that there were only “some signs” the Holocaust had occurred and that research into the validity of them should go forward.

Asked during the interview with CBS‘s 60 Minutes program whether he believed that six million Jews were murdered in the Shoah, Raisi said, “Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians.”

In response to the comments, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid posted graphic images from the Holocaust to his official Twitter account.

Asked about Israel’s right to exist, the Iranian president said, “You see, the people of Palestine are the reality. This is the right of the people of Palestine who were forced to leave their houses and motherland. The Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and to be established there.”

Raisi added that Iran would make no concessions on the deadlocked nuclear negotiations with world powers, aimed at reviving the 2015 deal.

“Yes, they can create restrictions and problems for us and difficulties. But there’s a number of countries that are being sanctioned. By doing this, they are bringing them closer together, making them more united. And this will render American sanctions ineffective,” he said.
Seth Frantzman: The wrong response to Iran’s Holocaust denying leaders -comment
There is something strange that in the year 2022, we are still debating whether the Holocaust happened, merely because the Iranian regime gets the privilege to push this messaging via Western media.

Is the correct response to someone who pushes misinformation and racism to refute racism by legitimizing it? For instance: If the ruler of a country went on American television in a relaxing interview and said that people of color were inferior or that slavery never happened, would the best response be to put up images of slavery? Or would a better response be to wonder why these views are being given at this stage in the first place?

It’s well known that the Iranian regime has made racist, antisemitic Holocaust denial a part of its messaging for decades; why purposely ask about this offensive topic? Why give the regime not just the platform to deny the Shoah, but then make that the central tweet about the interview? And why respond to this racism by legitimizing it, saying that the Holocaust did happen, rather than dismissing the Iranian regime as a racist, far-right ranting one that murders its own people?

The murder of Mahsa Amini
This is the same regime that days ago sent its “morality” police to harass and murder a woman in Iran named Mahsa Amini. A member of the Kurdish minority, she was visiting Tehran with her family when she was kidnapped by police and murdered for not wearing her “hijab” or head covering correctly.

The regime that murders women and minorities is the same one that also gets a red carpet from Western media to spread Holocaust denial and tell reporters how to dress.

THE IRANIAN regime has been enabled for decades to push Holocaust denial, often unchallenged. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became a kind of celebrity in the West for his denials. He was invited to Columbia University.

Holocaust-denying world leaders
The invitations to Holocaust-denying world leaders appear to be a pattern in Western universities. For example, when Malaysia also had outspoken antisemite Mahathir Mohammed at the helm, he got an invite to Columbia as well.

The same Western universities that talk about safe spaces and are worried about racism and disinformation, also seem to host foreign leaders who deny the Holocaust and give them a platform for their denial. The Malaysian denier also spoke at Oxford and Cambridge.

It appears that leaders of countries like Malaysia who are not outspoken antisemites don’t get the same invitations. How can this be explained? When a leader of Iran or Malaysia is openly antisemitic, then they get invites, but if they are not racists, they don’t.

This appears to be a kind of privilege accorded to foreign leaders who are racist and hold far-right antisemitic views. When the leaders preach tolerance and coexistence and host Jews, then they are less likely to get an invite or a long interview.

One might conclude that the West has a way of pushing Holocaust denial today that is very complex and nuanced. Western media and universities don’t host local far-right racist antisemites. But if foreign leaders express antisemitic ideas, then they are accorded an audience and legitimized. Is this a way for the West to enable Holocaust denial by proxy?


Iran’s Supreme Leader at Death’s Door? What the Media Obituaries Must Remember
Shortly after The New York Times published a story on Friday alleging that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was “gravely ill” and being monitored by a team of doctors, Iran’s propaganda machine went into overdrive. Responding to the NYT’s claim that Khamenei’s ailing health forced him to cancel all public appearances, The Tehran Times posted a piece headlined, ‘Why did NYT lie about Leader’s health?,’ in which the newspaper concluded that “New York Times reporters are being fed fake news by the Israeli sources.” Meanwhile, the state-run Fars News Agency claimed any reports that Khamenei is sick are “false” and pointed out that a public appearance by the cleric subsequent to the NYT’s piece proved that the stories were inaccurate. It is true that Khamenei’s attendance at a religious ceremony in Tehran on Saturday does appear to put to bed rumors that he is at death’s door. Dressed in black robes, holding prayer beads, and with a blue coronavirus mask partially covering his beard, Khamenei appeared determined to disprove NYT’s reportage as he waved to the crowd and listened intently to the service delivered by an Imam. However, the NYT may not be that far off the mark given rumors of the Ayatollah’s declining health have repeatedly surfaced in recent years. Indeed, just two years ago it was believed his health had deteriorated to such an extent that he made the extraordinary decision to transfer powers to his 51-year-old son, Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei. And when the octogenarian dictator does die, we must hope that the western press avoids its habit of glorifying Khamenei and his despotic rule. Instead, here is a brief reminder of what should be included in the obituaries.


MEMRI: Senior Saudi Journalist Tariq Al-Homayed: West Must Have Plan B To Deal With Iran That Includes Explicit Threat To Use Military Force Against It
In two recent articles in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, the daily's former editor Tariq Al-Homayed argues against renewing the nuclear deal with Iran and in favor of threatening it with military force should it refuse to abandon its nuclear efforts.

In the first article, from September 11, 2022, he notes that Iran's unreliability is patently clear from its actions, and even from its actions over just one week: In the course of a few days in early September, he says, Iran demanded that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shut down a probe into uranium particles found at three Iranian sites. Later in the week, Albania severed diplomatic ties with Iran in response to a massive Iranian cyber-attack against it. And at the end of the week Germany reported that it had captured some 700 kg of narcotics that had been smuggled into the country by an Iranian gang. This, says Al-Hmayed, reflects the character of this country that "has been exporting terrorism and ruining our region for some four decades," and shows that an agreement with it is untenable.

In the second article, from September 14, 2022, he states that the West does not seem to have a plan B for dealing with Iran in case nuclear talks fall through. Moreover, he adds, more and more officials in Washington – including Democrats – are urging the Biden administration to threaten Iran with military force if it fails to commit to stopping its nuclear program. It the West fails to do this, the result may threaten the international order and lead to an arms race, he states, and concludes: "Plan B must include a real threat [against Iran]. Actions are needed, not words. Washington and the West must realize that it is time to replace the olive branch with a stick and this is language that Iran understands very well."

Iran's Actions Show It Is No Partner For An Agreement
In his September 11 article, titled "This Is Iran," Al-Homayed wrote: "We have been hearing talk that Iran will cooperate ever since the term of US President Barack Obama. In the region, we have been hearing these remarks since the time of Hashemi and Rafsanjani, and now the Europeans and American administration are repeating them. Of course, none of this cooperation has been achieved. But let us talk now of Iran of the past week, not of decades or years.

"The American administration and West were awaiting the Iranian response to the negotiations over its nuclear deal. Tehran made its response in what the US and West described as a 'step backwards.' On Saturday, France, Britain and Germany (E3) vented their frustration at its demand… that the UN nuclear watchdog close a probe into uranium particles found at three sites, adding that it was jeopardizing the talks. 'This latest demand raises serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPoA,' the three countries said in a statement, referring to the deal's full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 'Iran's position contradicts its legally binding obligations and jeopardizes prospects of restoring the JCPoA,' they added. 'Given Iran’s failure to conclude the deal on the table, we will consult, alongside international partners, on how best to address Iran’s continued nuclear escalation and lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding its NPT (non-proliferation treaty) safeguards agreement,' the E3 said.

"On Wednesday, Albania severed diplomatic ties with Iran after it carried out a cyber-attack against Tirana, prompting condemnation from NATO. 'We strongly condemn such malicious cyber activities designed to destabilize and harm the security of an ally, and disrupt the daily lives of citizens,' it said.

"On Friday, prosecutors in Germany announced the largest heroin bust in the country that can be traced back to Iran. Four people were detained, with police confiscating some 700 kilograms as part of an operation against a gang smuggling narcotics from Iran.

"Well, this has been the news from Iran in the past week. We haven’t even spoken about what it has been doing in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon or Yemen or about its actions in the Gulf and other waters, such as seizing vessels and threatening marine navigation. This is Iran in just a single week. This is the Iran that the West, led by Obama, had been hoping for some form of cooperation with and for Tehran to show some openness. Obama specifically used to say that Iran’s critics were the same parties that would rush to war. This is the Iran that neighbors us, that has been exporting terrorism and ruining our region for some four decades.

"In spite of all the false talk about Iran’s desire to cooperate and negotiate and display some openness, this is Iran in just one week!"
US Must Treat Iran Like Russia
[I]t is vital that the US and its allies confront the reality of Iran's expanding military operations around the world.

While Tehran had denied the reports [that Iran had provided Russia with military-grade drones], Ukraine's defence ministry posted images of what appeared to be parts of a destroyed drone with "Geran-2" written on the side in Russian. The wingtip appeared to match that of a Shahed-136.

This is, by any standard, amounts to a truly momentous escalation in Iran's military activities: it is the first time Iranian military equipment has been deployed on European soil.

The fact that evidence has emerged demonstrating that Iran is actively supporting Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine makes a mockery of this argument.

If Iran is prepared to deploy sophisticated military equipment such as drones on European soil, then it is clear the ayatollahs would have no hesitation about firing their long-range ballistic missiles, potentially armed with nuclear weapons, at European targets.

Iran's willingness to become directly involved in the deadliest conflict Europe has witnessed since the end of the Second World War represents a significant escalation in the threat Tehran poses to the outside world, one that Western powers ignore at their peril.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, addressing The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York last week, revealed a map showing more than ten facilities that Iran has constructed in Syria in recent years to produce mid- and long-range precision missiles that can be used to target Israel.

This is not the action of a country that, as the Iranians repeatedly insist, is interested in peace, and should serve as a wake-up call to Western leaders to confront Iranian aggression in the same way they have confronted Russia over its decision to invade Ukraine.




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