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Friday, March 31, 2023

03/31 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: America’s outrageous attack on Netanyahu’s right to govern; IDF: 1 year of Operation Break the Wave; Arabs Chant in Support of Hamas at Temple Mount

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: America’s outrageous attack on Netanyahu’s right to govern
Whatever one thinks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, any true Israeli patriot will surely react viscerally to U.S. President Joe Biden’s outrageous attack on Israel’s right to govern itself without foreign interference.

On Monday, Netanyahu announced he was suspending his coalition’s judicial reform legislation in order to negotiate a compromise with the opposition.

The next day, Biden told Netanyahu to “walk away” from the legislation, saying he was “very concerned” about the health of Israeli democracy. Warning that Israel “cannot continue down this road,” he added for good measure that he wouldn’t be inviting Netanyahu to the White House “in the near term.”

It is deeply disturbing that the U.S. should brazenly and insultingly interfere in the internal affairs of another country and tell its prime minister how to behave. Biden was supposedly speaking as Israel’s friend, but he sounded like a colonial administrator barking at the natives to fall into line.

While Likud politicians hit the roof, left-wing and centrist politicians and commentators got behind Biden and kicked Netanyahu even more viciously in the head.

After three months of mass protests, incitement to hysteria and ludicrous hyperbole about the end of democracy that have caused Israel untold social, financial and reputational damage, those who shared responsibility for the crisis took their cue from Biden and blamed Netanyahu instead.

Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, called Biden’s comments “an urgent wake-up call for the Israeli government,” which he accused of delivering a “strategic blow” to Israel’s ties with the U.S.

One of his MKs, Gideon Sa’ar, declared, “Never has any government caused such immense damage to the country in such a short time.” He called Likud politicians’ objection to Biden’s unprecedented foreign interference “a total loss of judgment.”

This is all straight out of the Palestinian Arabs’ Orwellian playbook: Subject Israel to aggression and then blame Israel for causing that aggression by choosing to exist.
Matthew Continetti: Biden’s Mideast Mess
Think it’s impossible to screw up two countries at once? You’ve never seen President Joe Biden in action.

On March 27, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government would pause the progress through the Knesset of a controversial judicial bill until later this spring. Netanyahu’s decision came after weeks of mounting street protests over the reform, which would allow the legislature to rein in the judiciary. Military reservists stopped reporting for duty. Israel’s largest union declared a general strike. U.S. officials were critical.

So, when Netanyahu suspended the measure, U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides welcomed the move. Asked when Netanyahu might visit President Biden in the White House, Nides said: "I’m sure he’ll be coming relatively soon."

Nides didn’t check with his boss. He extended an open hand to Israel’s elected leader. Biden slapped it down. On March 28, during a visit to North Carolina, the president spoke to reporters. Calling himself a "strong supporter of Israel," Biden said he was nonetheless concerned that Israelis "get this straight. They can’t continue down this road"—the road, presumably, of a democratic majority following due process of law. A reporter asked Biden if he’d be welcoming Netanyahu in Washington. "Not in the near term," Biden replied.

Some friend. No matter your opinion of the judicial reform—and there are plenty of committed Zionists who are leery of it—there is no question that Biden’s rebuke of Netanyahu was a breach in U.S.-Israel relations. Americans and Israelis scrambled to repair the damage. Netanyahu posted a Twitter thread underscoring his commitment to the alliance, while reminding Biden that Israel is a sovereign nation that will determine its own course. Or, as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir put it: "Israel is an independent country, not another star in the American flag." On March 29, White House national security spokesman John Kirby played down the differences as best he could.
Caroline Glick: A new phase in U.S.-Israel relations
Israel may be better off paying for U.S. military platforms out of its own pocket and transforming its relationship from that of a client into one of a partner in defense technology development. On March 13, the U.S. Air Force conducted another unsuccessful test of one of the two hypersonic missiles it is developing. Washington may or may not want Israel’s help with its hypersonic missile program, which is lagging far behind China and Russia’s programs. But Israel is probably the only U.S. ally capable of helping. Certainly, under the present circumstances, Israel’s relationship with the United States will be more secure if it is based on collaboration in areas of mutual interest rather than dependence.

With the U.S. position on issues of critical importance to Israel—first and foremost, Iran and the Palestinians, changing completely depending on the president’s partisan affiliation— Israel needs to stop relying on America on issues that require continuous, high-intensity cooperation.

Building interest-based partnerships with other nations
This brings us to the second difference between the new phase we have entered in U.S.-Israel ties and de Gaulle’s breach of Franco-Israeli ties in the 1960s. When the French leader turned on Israel, Israel had the United States more or less at the ready, willing to replace France as Israel’s superpower ally. Today, Israel has no alternative waiting in the wings.

But it may not need one. Israel is much more powerful today than it was in the 1960s. It doesn’t need a protector; it needs partners. Beginning in 2013, Netanyahu began a process of building interest-based partnerships with nations across the region and across the world. These relationships with states in the region and worldwide already form the nucleus of a strategic posture that can secure Israel’s position.

Biden’s statement on Tuesday was roundly applauded by Israeli leftists hell-bent on overthrowing Netanyahu’s government. They would do well to think this through. Sure, Biden has issues with Netanyahu. But the policies Biden pursues vis-à-vis Iran and the Palestinians work to Israel’s strategic disadvantage regardless of who is in power, as his strong-arming of Lapid on the Hezbollah gas deal made clear.

Biden is not de Gaulle, in stature or in influence. American support for Israel is diminishing in some quarters. Still, it remains strong overall. Much can be done to change the situation for the better. And Israel is a powerful, wealthy nation with viable alternatives to strategic dependence on the United States.

This has been a bad week for Israel-U.S. relations, but it isn’t cause for despair. Rather, it is cause for a sober-minded reassessment and rearrangement of Israel’s relations with America to bring them in line with current realities.


Phyllis Chesler: Questions without answers
We have just seen an insurrection that shut Israel down being hailed as a “peaceful” pro-democracy movement. A movement that is proud of having used BDS/antifa tactics against their own state in order to further “de-Judaize” the country.

Israel is the one and only Jewish state, but what does that mean? What is “Jewish” about Israel? Is it protecting gay rights, trans rights, Arab rights, women’s rights, refugee rights, the rights of a Supreme Court over and above the rights of a democratically elected government? Is this what is meant by democracy?

I suppose one could argue that such values can be found in the Torah, Talmud and commentaries if one interprets them in a creative, politically correct, 21st century way. There are always “strangers at our gates” whom we are commanded to rescue, women and children in danger whom we are commanded to protect.

Is leading a secular, assimilated lifestyle, free from rabbinic encroachments (we’ve been here before, over and over again), particularly “Jewish?” Or does “Jewishness” consist of obeying rabbinic authority or at least studying, even respecting, Jewish law and Jewish history?

I do not have the answer to these questions. I can only answer them for myself.
Despite setbacks, Israeli judicial reform is inevitable
The man who leads the Israeli think tank at the center of the debate about Israeli judicial reform joined JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin on the latest episode of “Top Story” to discuss the controversy. Kohelet Policy Forum founding chairman Moshe Koppel explained that, unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, which is constrained by the principles of justiciability and standing, there are currently virtually no limits on the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. And unlike virtually every other Western democracy, the members of the court are not named by the executive and legislative branches.

As Koppel, whose group is widely credited as being behind the push for reform noted: “In Israel, absolutely none of these limitations on the court’s power exist. Zero.”

Moreover, he explained that as a result of former Chief Justice Aharon Barak’s “judicial revolution,” the court also gave itself the right to rule unconstitutional basic laws that are akin to constitutional provisions in the Israeli system, something he described as “insane.”

As to what was really behind the mass demonstrations against judicial reform that brought Israeli society to a standstill until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a halt to the effort, Koppel said it was about politics. The court is dominated by progressives, while the right wins most of the elections.

According to Koppel, “The fact that the court is extremely powerful and gets involved in everything is something that is exactly to the liking of Israel’s progressives. So when they say that the proposed reforms, which are going to shift power from the court to elected officials, is undemocratic, what they mean to say is it’s likely to weaken the authority of progressives.”


Typically thought a ‘silent majority,’ government supporters rally in Tel Aviv
On Thursday evening in Tel Aviv, supporters of judicial reform—about 30,000 by some estimates—rallied in Tel Aviv. Photos and videos on social media depicted masses of people and seas of Israeli flags.

Although judicial reform has been shelved until the beginning of May, those in favor of the effort nonetheless gathered publicly to express support for the government.

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin wrote in Hebrew on Facebook that “photos of throngs of dear citizens demonstrating in favor of judicial reform strengthen me and warm my heart.” He encouraged those rallying to remain peaceful.

“Our justice and truth are stronger than anything,” he added.

Attorney and political commentator Daniel Tauber told JNS “the fact that supporters of the government, who would typically be thought of as the silent majority, are coming out to the streets is a real show of support for the reforms.”


Is the Information Domain the key to reducing Ramadan violence? - opinion
Ramadan has arrived, once again. A month that holds significant religious and communal meaning for many people in Israel. However, it routinely overlaps with national, Jewish and Christian holidays, which can lead to increased sensitivity and tension. This is an ideal opening for terrorist organizations seeking to sow chaos, which is why it comes as no surprise that we have seen a surge in incitement and fake news in recent weeks. Accordingly, the number of alerts in all of Israel’s borders has also risen.

Israel’s security agencies have been dealing with the challenges of this sensitive period for years, using various tools and tactics to thwart and deter potential threats while ensuring freedom of worship and civil gestures aimed at promoting peace and stability. Over the past year, another tool was added to the state’s arsenal. In professional parlance, it is given the dry nickname “Information Domain,” but it is something that we more commonly know as hasbara.

It is important to understand that hasbara is no longer what it used to be. The use of information has become just as potent as a real weapon. Certain words and data can either inflame an area or prevent escalation. In this context, Operation Guardians of the Walls in 2021 was an example of the repercussions of ineffective use of this domain.

It’s not that Israel didn’t have spokespeople; it did and they were great in their own right. The problem was that their message wasn’t coordinated. And when the noise threshold is so high, an uncoordinated message will likely go unheard and fail to achieve its intended purpose.

The lessons learned from that operation were applied successfully last year. Almost 20 different bodies worked jointly in a level of coordination that in real-time was recognized as unprecedented. The police, the IDF, the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Coordinator of Activities in the Territories, Shin Bet, Israel’s Prisons Service and the National Public Diplomacy Directorate and the National Public Diplomacy Unit in it, to name a few, managed to work together in a manner vis-a-vis the various target audiences.
Israel Defense Forces: 1 year of Operation Break the Wave.
WATCH as Major Nir speaks on how exactly 1 year ago today, the IDF initiated Operation Break the Wave— a counterterrorism operation.

As terrorists threaten the lives of our people, the IDF will continue operating to secure their safety.




Over 100,000 hold Ramadan prayers on Temple Mount; security forces on alert
Security forces were on alert in Jerusalem and the West Bank as tens of thousands of Muslims took part in mass prayers on the second Friday of Ramadan, including at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Border Police deployed 2,300 soldiers in Jerusalem and its surroundings and in the West Bank, the force said in a statement.

According to official estimates, over 100,000 people took part in the prayers on the Temple Mount, including some 52,000 Palestinians who entered Israel from the West Bank.

The Muslim holy month, which began Thursday and will end April 21, often sees elevated Israeli-Palestinian tensions, with frictions already high this year in Jerusalem and across the West Bank following months of deadly violence.

While there were no reports of violence at the Old City holy site, videos showed Palestinian worshipers chanting their support for shadowy Hamas military wing chief Muhammad Deif during morning prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For Palestinian Muslims, worship at the mosque — the third-holiest site in Islam — is a central part of the festival. Jews revere the same site as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism as the location of the ancient Temples.


Palestinians Chant in Support of Hamas at Temple Mount
Palestinian worshippers chanted slogans in praise of “martyrs” and in support of Hamas chief Mohammad Deif at the end of morning prayers on Friday at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

A video circulating on social media showed an imam calling on the crowd to “protect the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque” before chanting slogans extolling “martyrs,” with the audience shouting in response: “We are the people of Mohammad Deif.”

Deif is the supreme commander of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Gaza’s Hamas terror group. He appears on the U.S. list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and has been Israel’s ‘most wanted’ man since 1995 for orchestrating multiple terror attacks.

A banner in support of Hamas and its military arm, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was raised on the Temple Mount. The symbol of the Nablus terrorist group Lions’ Den was also hung from one of the arches of the esplanade. One person was apprehended in connection with the events, with police indicating further arrests in connection with the banners expressing support for terrorism were to be expected.
Thousands march to commemorate Palestinian Land Day in Israel, Gaza
Thousands rallied Thursday across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza for Land Day, commemorating a deadly crackdown in 1976 on protests against Israeli plans to seize land owned by Arab citizens.

Two people were wounded by Israeli army fire during a march along the Gaza Strip border, a Palestinian medical source said without elaborating on their condition.

At the main rally in Sakhnin, an Arab city in northen Israel, AFP journalists saw many people wearing the traditional keffiyeh scarf as they waved Palestinian flags and chanted: “Freedom! Freedom!”

“This demonstration is happening under a fascist government and against the backdrop of growing racism, which has become mainstream in Israel,” Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmed Tibi told AFP.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in December at the head of a hard-right administration, including extremist coalition partners with a history of anti-Arab rhetoric.

Each year on March 30, Arab Israelis, as well as Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza, commemorate Land Day. In years past, the protests have been marked by sometimes violent demonstrations.

In March 1976, the Israeli government decided to expropriate 20,000 dunams (4,940 acres) of land in the Galilee, a third of which was owned by Arab Israelis, to build Jewish towns.

On March 30 of that year, Arab Israelis held strikes and demonstrated against the decision. During the riots that followed, six protesters were killed by Israeli troops. The government plan was subsequently annulled.

Hayat Hammoud, 29, said she had joined the Sakhnin march in “solidarity” with the families of the “martyrs” of the 1976 events.


Suspects in alleged Iranian plot to target Chabad house remanded into custody
Two men accused of planning a Passover attack on a Jewish center in central Athens appeared in court Friday to answer to terrorism charges and were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention, authorities said.

Greek officials announced the suspects’ arrests earlier this week and described the Iran-born men, aged 29 and 27, as being of Pakistani origin.

They are charged with participation in a terrorist organization, a crime that carries a possible life sentence.

Police alleged they were planning to attack the Chabad of Athens center, which is part of Judaism’s international Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The center hosts religious services, as well as a kosher restaurant and grocery.

Passover, one of the most important Jewish holidays, starts next Wednesday at sundown.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the suspects were planning attacks at other locations. Police have searched multiple sites in Athens as well as in southern Greece and on the western island of Zakynthos.

The two men appeared before a public prosecutor, who ordered their detention in prison pending trial.

A third man, who is not in Greece, is wanted for questioning and has been charged with terrorism-related offenses in absentia.

Israel has thanked the Greek government for its response and said that its national intelligence agency, Mossad, had provided information about the suspects, including that they were part of an Iranian terror network.

Iran’s embassy in Greece has denied any connection to the alleged plot.
Australian-Israeli who was at Greece Chabad speaks out - exclusive
Australian-Israeli Selwyn Franklin was in complete shock and felt in profound danger when he heard that the Chabad in Athens he was praying at daily during a vacation this week had been targeted by Iran, he told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

“I came out of the Chabad and I suddenly stopped. I saw the cameras outside - eight teams of media and cameras and reporters,” said Franklin when the story about Iran’s terror plot broke Tuesday night.

The Mossad helped Greece crack an Iranian terror cell, according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office that came out that night shortly after Greek media reported arrests.

The spy agency said that it had assisted Greece with analyzing and taking apart Iran's operating procedures to solve the puzzle of the underlying crime and method of operation of the terror organization involved.

"This is another example of Iran trying to use terror against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas," said the clandestine agency, referring to the arrests of two Pakistani men with Iranian connections who Greece had arrested for plans to target the Chabad.
IRGC adviser killed in alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus
An Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser to Syria was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus on Thursday night, with the IRGC warning that it would "undoubtedly" respond to the attack.

The adviser was identified as Milad Heydari. "The fake and criminal Zionist regime will undoubtedly receive a response to this crime," warned the IRGC.

This is the second airstrike in 24 hours. On Wednesday night, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Damascus area as well, with Syrian state media reporting two Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes.

Where were the strikes first reported?
The opposition Capital Voice news site reported that the strikes on Wednesday night targeted an air defense base and a moving target on a highway south of Damascus believed to be the convoy of a "foreign figure" on its way to the Kafr Souseh neighborhood. Iranian and Hezbollah forces are known to operate in that neighborhood.

After the strikes, fires were reported in the al-Midan and Kafr Souseh neighborhoods. It is unclear if the fires were caused directly by the strikes or by shrapnel from Syrian air defense missiles, as Syrian air defense missiles occasionally fall short.

Earlier this month, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted an airport in Aleppo, damaging buildings at the site. A little over a week before that strike, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted a structure in Masyaf.
Russia Is Winning the Information War in the Middle East
According to a recent survey, Arabs ages eighteen to twenty-four are more likely to hold the U.S. and NATO, not Russia, responsible for the ongoing war in Ukraine. Anna Borshchevskaya seeks to explain why:

Conversations with elite figures in many Middle East capitals—influential diplomats, government officials, journalists, and businesspeople—reveal a surprising appreciation for Russia’s position, including sympathy for Vladimir Putin’s argument that Russia was forced to [invade Ukraine] to avoid encirclement by NATO.

There are several reasons so many of Washington’s traditional friends in the Middle East are, at best, ambivalent about the Ukraine war. Some of this has to do with their own sense of abandonment by the United States in their hour of need, a common complaint of Saudis and Emiratis who, like Ukraine, have been on the receiving end of Iranian drones—but not, in their view, the same massive showing of U.S. support.

These ideas, however, did not take root all by themselves. . . . Years before the Ukraine invasion, the Russian state-owned media outlets RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic emerged as major sources of legitimate regional news in the Middle East. . . . Russian state-run media have retained full access to airwaves throughout the Ukraine crisis, enabling the Kremlin to propagate its narrative on the war via regional media. And Moscow knows its audience in the Middle East well. It routinely frames the war as a Russian challenge to the U.S.-led hegemonic order, an argument that plays well in many Arab capitals.
MEMRI: Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman: Qatar Is Continuing Iran-U.S. Mediation For A Breakthrough In The Nuclear Issue – And Is Also Continuing Its Opposition To Normalization With Syria's Assad Regime And Its Return To The Arab League
At the Qatari Foreign Ministry's March 28, 2023 weekly press briefing, Majed Al-Ansari, ministry spokesman and advisor to the Qatari prime minister, spoke about Qatar's efforts at mediation between Iran and the U.S. on Iran's nuclear program. He said that Qatar was continuing these efforts, and liaising between them in indirect negotiations, with the aim of bringing the sides' positions closer together and arriving at a nuclear agreement. He added that despite the great challenges in this matter, Qatar was willing to play any role to advance such an agreement, and that achieving it would contribute to regional and global stability. He also explained that Qatari officials' frequent visits to Tehran were connected to these efforts at mediation between the West and Iran on the nuclear issue.

In his comments on the recent rapprochement between many Arab states and the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, and on reports on Syria's pending readmission to the Arab League after it was suspended in 2011, [1] Al-Ansari noted that Qatar had not changed its position on this matter. He said that at this stage there was no Arab consensus regarding normalization of relations with the Assad regime and its return to the Arab League, and clarified that Qatar was firm in its position. This position, he added, would change only with clear and positive developments in the Syrian arena, which were not evident at this time, stressing that Qatar was not going to betray the Syrian blood that had been spilled for these causes.

Also, in an interview on Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed appreciation for Qatar's role in supporting Iran's negotiations with the West, and especially with the U.S..[2]


Video Sheds Light On Iran’s Plot To Set Up Spy Cell In Tanzania
Iran International has obtained a video clip showing an agent of the Islamic Republic confessing to the regime’s plans to set up a network of spies in Tanzania.

In the video, which seems like an interrogation, or a confession session, an officer of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry’s 853 unit named Hamidreza Abraheh reveals the Islamic Republic’s efforts to recruit agents for a clandestine network from Africa's Baluch minority for terrorist operations.

Abraheh, who worked under the alias Hamid Salari, said that the Islamic Republic is trying to infiltrate the African country under the cover of economic cooperation. He stated that this is the new strategy of the regime’s intelligence operations in many other countries.

He was arrested and interrogated in Dar es Salaam -- the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania -- in December 2022 and was deported to Iran. Abraheh had been granted a visa to live in Tanzania after he misled the Immigration Department and forged documents to prove that he married a Tanzanian citizen in the country.

A joint meeting of trade officials and businesspeople from Iran and Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, August 2022

Abraheh claimed that he had been sent to the country to recruit local Baluch people and train them for terror plots and infiltrating into local governments, adding that the regime’s operations also included plots to kidnap or kill Western targets in Africa.

There is a small but historic Baluch community in East Africa, left over from when the Sultanate of Muscat ruled over Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast. According to some accounts, Tanzania -- along with Kenya and Uganda -- is home to 30,000 Baluchis, who migrated to the African country 300 years ago. The migrants were largely from Iran’s Baluchistan region, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast.

Abraheh is originally from the city of Zabol in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province and is reportedly from a Shiite Muslim family but introduced himself as a Sunni in order to better assimilate among Tanzania’s Sunni Baluch population.

"Two offices in Chabahar and Zahedan support us” in the operations in Tanzania, Abraheh says in the video, adding that he asked the offices “to find Baluch-speaking Iranian or Pakistani people who have some knowledge of Tanzania and are willing to stay here for a while."




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In His Supposed "Concern" For Democracy, Biden Singles Out Israel (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos


Among the casualties of the demonstrations in Israel opposing the judicial reforms is the relationship between Israel and the US, between Netanyahu and Biden.

But just how much of the current tension is recent?

Politico already reported back in December that the Biden administration was looking for a fight with Netanyahu:

The Biden administration will hold the presumptive Israeli prime minister personally responsible for the actions of his more extreme cabinet members, especially if they lead to policies that endanger a future Palestinian state, two U.S. officials familiar with the issue told POLITICO.

What was overlooked then, and overlooked (or ignored) now during the protests, is that Netanyahu had the backing of a majority of Israelis. Is the White House was just looking for an excuse to destabilize the Israeli government?

Is it surprising that Biden went out of his way to announce that there were no plans to invite Netanyahu to the US in the near future? Netanyahu had already agreed to suspend the push for the reforms for the time being, yet on Tuesday, Biden was still discussing the issue in public and saying that Bibi should drop the reforms altogether.

Biden has allowed tensions between the US and Israel to reach the point that a NASA astrophysicist scheduled to be a keynote speaker at a conference in Israel was forced to cancel.

The Israeli business daily, Globes, has an article suggesting that the increased criticism from the US is only natural and Israel has to accept it:

Of course, Israel is sovereign; but Israel also has to be realistic. For decades, it has demanded special treatment as "the only democracy in the Middle East". As a democracy, it necessarily exposes itself to criticism from other democracies. [emphasis added]

Maybe --  as long as the criticism comes from a genuine concern for democracy and not from a political agenda.

The Wall Street Journal suspects the latter and is unimpressed by Biden's swipe at Netanyahu by publicly not inviting him to the White House -- instead of giving him credit for reaching out to the opposition and looking for compromise. Biden's "concern" for Israel is less an issue of preserving democracy and more one of "Woe betide the ally who runs afoul of American progressive opinion."

The Journal notes that Biden cannot even project a consistent message on what he claims to expect from Israel and Netanyahu. On Monday, Biden said

Hopefully the Prime Minister will act in a way that he is going to try to work out some genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen.

But on Tuesday, Biden said about Netanyahu:

“I hope he walks away from it.”

Are Biden's comments coming from a place of genuine concern, or a political agenda, fueled by left-wing Democrats who would like to see Netanyahu fail and Israel become more compliant?

The Jewish Press notices a certain inconsistency in the US concern for democracy when it comes to Israel:

Funny observation: President Joe Biden, whose Attorney General leads the effort to prosecute the January 6 mob, today supports the efforts of Barak’s anarchists to storm Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home on Gaza Street in Jerusalem, bring the government down to its knees by paralyzing the country with mass demonstrations and strikes, and force the Knesset majority to abandon its legislation.

Foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard points out another inconsistency in Biden's claim of concern for democracy:

Contrast the vitriolic administration critique of the mechanisms of Israeli democracy with its total silence on the undemocratic behavior of the president of France. Just as tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in opposition to the government’s position on judicial reform, even larger numbers of French citizens have been protesting President Emmanuel Macron’s unilateral decision to raise the retirement age. The State Department has not called on Macron to compromise with the protesters or questioned French democracy
Macron accomplished his end-around by using an executive order, which causes Bard to note:
And who else has resorted to executive orders because he cannot get support from the democratically elected representatives of the country?

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Biden has taken every opportunity to remind us that he is a strong friend of Israel. But considering Biden's long history of gaffes -- and outright fabrications -- Jews should be judging Biden by his actions, not by his words.

And those actions are not reassuring.


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Artificial intelligence will supercharge Pallywood and anti-Israel lies

Artificial intelligence is advancing at a breakneck pace, and Pallywood is about to enter a golden age.

For years, we've seen anti-Israel activists post photos that have been manipulated, photos that have been staged, falsely captioning real photos to give a fake narrative, real photos from elsewhere in the world using false captions, gruesome scenes from videogames and movies that they claimed were of Palestinians killed by the IDF, and staged videos passed off as real. 

The fake photos and videos are distributed worldwide at Internet speed. The vast majority of their intended audience do not even consider that they are being duped, and even the fastest fact checker and debunkers do not have nearly the reach that the Israel haters do. 

In short, Pallywood works.

But as bad as it is now, it is going to get a whole lot worse.

We are on the cusp of having AI tools that will be able to generate convincing photos and videos with nothing more than a text prompt. 


There are no limits as to what anti-Israel liars will be able to do.

It is already possible to insert fake people in real scenes without extensive Photoshop knowledge - including shadows and lighting. Or to add extra blood and guns and fake soldiers to existing videos. But very soon - and we are talking weeks, not years - anyone will be able to create entire new, exceptional quality videos from whole cloth. 

Of whatever they can imagine.

The Israel haters have a huge advantage: they are not constrained by truth. They already use every tool they can think of to create lies. But until now, it was possible to search and find the original photos and scenes to prove they were lying. But now they will be able to create videos that look like shaky hand-held iPhone videos in the territories of whatever human rights abuses they can dream up. 

As bad as things are now, they will be far worse when anyone can generate anything they want.

This is where the media has failed. They could have been pointing out the Pallywood lies for years, showing how Palestinians are conditioned to play act for cameras and tell reporters and NGOs what they want to hear. Instead, the media has been part of the problem - helping stage photos themselves to tell their narrative rather than caring about the truth.

Because, nowadays, truth is subjective, and narratives are truth. Facts are oppressive. "Fact-checkers" are another layer of hiding truth. 

Faking photos - or, soon, videos - is not morally different from staging them, like perfectly clean dolls positioned just so. Or cute children promoted to act for the camera. Or bringing elderly ladies to the middle of a destroyed building for no discernible reason except a photo op..






Now, the manipulators won't even need the actors.

As long as the purpose of the lies is to further the Cause.

Things are going to get a whole lot worse very, very quickly.


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Another absurd anti-Israel report from HRW submitted to the UN



Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch submitted a memorandum to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about the problems of Palestinians with disabilities.

Not surprisingly, it places most of the blame for Palestinian leaders not adhering to the  Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on - Israel.

Here is a section about how Israel restricts movement in and out of Gaza:

Human Rights Watch found that sweeping Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, at times exacerbated by restrictive policies by Palestinian authorities, curb access to assistive devices, health care, and electricity essential to many people with disabilities.

For more than 15 years, Israeli authorities have blocked most of Gaza’s population from traveling through the Erez Crossing, the only passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel through which Palestinians can travel to the West Bank and abroad. Israeli authorities often justify the closure, which came after Hamas seized political control over Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007, on security grounds. The closure policy, though, is not based on an individualized assessment of security risk; a generalized travel ban applies to all, except those whom Israeli authorities deem as presenting “exceptional humanitarian circumstances,” mostly people needing vital medical treatment and their companions, as well as prominent businesspeople.

Israeli authorities also significantly restrict the entry and exit of goods into Gaza. While there are no restrictions on the import of assistive devices, policies regarding “dual-use” items have restricted the entry of spare parts and batteries for hearing aids and other devices, according to the Israeli human rights group Gisha.[7] Medical Aid for Palestinians has documented that Israel has restricted as “dual-use” items carbon fiber components used to stabilize and treat limb injuries, and carbon fiber and epoxy resins used to produce artificial limbs, resulting in patients being fitted with heavier, more uncomfortable alternatives.

....Hamas authorities in Gaza and humanitarian organizations have sought to provide assistive devices to those in need of them, but their efforts often fall short. Gaza’s Social Development Ministry reported on its website in September 2017 that it had allocated US $500,000 in its 2018-2020 plan for assistive devices, but it is unclear what devices it secured and distributed, and what standards it relies on to assess need.[14]

....Under the CRPD, States Parties should take effective measures to ensure personal mobility, including by facilitating access to assistive technology and by promoting the availability, knowledge, and use of assistive devices and technologies.[16] International humanitarian law obliges occupying powers to ensure the safety and welfare of civilians living in the occupied territory.[17]

Israel’s sweeping restrictions on the movement of people and goods, at times exacerbated by restrictive policies by Palestinian authorities, restrict the right of people with disabilities to freedom of movement and access to assistive devices, as set out under articles 20 and 14 of the CPRD.
Here's how HRW's bias works:

It mentions a couple of times that Palestinian authorities also restrict Gazans from leaving the territory. But while it goes into some detail on Israeli restrictions, it doesn't say anything about the Palestinian restrictions. Is it Hamas or the PA? (The answer is both.) 

This memorandum is meant as a submission to the CPRD review of Palestinian policies, as they are signatories to the CPRD and have specific obligations under that convention. Israel's policies on allowing Gazans into Israel are not a part of Palestinian responsibilities under the CPRD. HRW is using this as another excuse to bash Israel.

Notice also that the word "Egypt" is not mentioned once in this memo. It is another border through which people and goods can pass, but only Israel is responsible for restrictions, not Egypt.




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Thursday, March 30, 2023

Good news! According to Bowman and Sanders, there is no such thing as Palestinian terror!

From the extreme Leftist Jewish Currents:

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN AND SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS are leading an effort to urge President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to investigate whether Israel is using US weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians, in violation of United States law, according to a letter and e-mail sent to other members of Congress obtained by Jewish Currents. The letter was written by Bowman, while Sanders is spearheading efforts to garner support from other senators, according to Bowman’s office. The letter has so far been signed by eight additional lawmakers: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum, André Carson, and Ayanna Pressley. “At this inflection point, we ask your administration to undertake a shift in US policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights,” the lawmakers wrote. The lawmakers end the letter by calling on the Biden administration to “ensure US taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements” and to “determine whether US-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing US laws.” The letter criticizes the new Israeli government’s “alarming actions” and its cabinet of “far-right, anti-Palestinian individuals and parties,” asserting that the Israeli coalition in power is “pushing repressive, anti-democratic policies and escalating violence towards the Palestinian population.”
As usual, Israel haters are using any excuse they can to sever the ties between the US and Israel. Here, they are even using the protests against judicial reform to help promote their accusation of Israel using US weapons against innocent Palestinians. 

The letter itself is a mishmash of anti-Israel rhetoric. It describes Israel's raids of Palestinian terrorists as nothing more than killing Palestinians for no reason. 

Here is its summary of the events in the West Bank this year:

Shocking violence in late February encapsulated the bloody reality in the occupied West Bank. On February 22, a daytime raid by the Israeli army into the crowded Palestinian city of Nablus killed 11 Palestinians, among them a 72 year-old-man and a 16-year-old child. On February 26, a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israeli settlers outside of Nablus. Subsequently, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara. The settlers, accompanied by the Israeli army, set fire to homes, schools, vehicles, and businesses, killing one Palestinian and injuring over 300 Palestinians. The local Israeli military commander called the attack a “pogrom." The attack was not an isolated incident, with the State Department reporting that Israeli settler attacks have expanded in severity and scale. The day after the Huwara attack, an Israeli-American citizen Elan Ganeles was killed by a Palestinian gunman on a highway in the occupied West Bank. 

This comes amid an already violent year. Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 85 Palestinians in 2023, including 16 children. At least 14 Israelis have been killed, including two children. The previous year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2004 and included the Israeli military’s killings of two American citizens, Shireen Abu Akleh and Omar Assad.
At no point does it mention that the vast majority of those killed by Israel - including nearly all of the "children - were members of terror groups or actively engaged in fighting.  Israel's record in avoiding civilian casualties in urban warfare is far better than that of the US itself. 

In fact, the word "terror" is missing from the letter (except for a footnote.) One would have no idea that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are active in the West Bank, nor that the Palestinian Authority has not been doing nearly enough to stop those groups. The letter certainly doesn't mention the number of Al Aqsa Brigades members who have been involved in these clashes, because mentioning Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah would be embarrassing. The fact that cities like Jenin have been essentially taken over by masked gunmen who terrorize the residents as well is simply ignored. Reading the letter, one would think that Israel kills scores of Palestinians for no reason whatsoever, and occasionally some individual gunmen kill a Jewish "settler" who barely counts as human anyway.

It mentions an American citizen killed by Palestinians, but unlike the public insistence on investigations and accountability for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, this letter says nothing about holding the terror group behind the murder of Elan Ganeles accountable. 

Previous investigations of whether the IDF had run afoul of US policy in using military aid have not found any issues (since 2006.) But Israel haters don't care abut facts, and keep making the accusations anew every year.

Meanwhile, no one calls for investigation into how US equipment is used by Egyptian and Jordanian armed forces who are accused of torture and unlawful killings by the US State Department.

This letter isn't a sober listing of legitimate concerns. It is a hit piece meant to incite hatred of Israel. And it can be seen in how it talks about Huwara.

The Huwara attack by settlers was reprehensible - and it is utterly irrelevant to the alleged point of the letter, to investigate Israel's use of American weapons. The letter implies that the IDF colluded with the attackers, which the authors know is a lie.   But since the real point of the letter is to incite hatred for Israel and Israeli Jews, and in that context it all makes sense.

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The West doesn't care when Muslims try to change the Temple Mount status quo

The Jordanian Waqf and Israeli authorities agreed that Muslims would not be allowed to stay overnight in the Al Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan - a ritual known as i'tikaaf - except on Friday and Saturday nights, and on the last  ten days of Ramadan.

Here's the Waqf's memo:


When Israeli forces peacefully removed the Muslims who were in the mosque last Sunday night, there was immediate outrage among Palestinians - but when they saw this memo, their anger has been redirected towards the Waqf itself.

This is because Palestinians had been calling for Muslims to stay overnight specifically to attack Jews who visit the holy site in the mornings. (Jews are not allowed to visit in the afternoons during Ramadan, and also not during the last ten days of the month.) 

Now there is a campaign to force the Waqf to change the policy and allow i'tikaaf  every night. The reasons given by the activists start off claiming that it is a religious right - but invariably they end up saying that it is political. 

Political analyst Yasser Al-Za'trah, tweeted, "Not allowing i'tikaaf in the Al-Aqsa Mosque throughout the month of Ramadan is tantamount to an implicit recognition of the Jews' right to storm it every day."

Activist Nidaa Walid, tweeted, "We will not allow the Al-Aqsa Mosque to be defiled. It is our duty to gather and bind in it," adding, "O heroes of Palestine, do not allow settler gangs to slaughter their alleged offerings inside Al-Aqsa."

Here's a case where religion is being used as an excuse to attack Jews. Al Aqsa has never had i'tikaaf during the first half of Ramadan, and the only previous time there was a call to do so was in 2015, again specifically to be used as a means to go after Jewish visitors. 

And even though this is an attack on the status quo of the Temple Mount, we are not hearing any voices of concern from the Europeans and Biden administration officials who are so quick to defend the status quo when it is supposedly threatened by Jews. 

If the status quo is only enforced one way, then it is meaningless. And those who pretend it is sacred in only one direction prove that they are just using it as an excuse to limit Jewish rights. 


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The eternal Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel can be proven by a single word




Anti-Zionists like to claim that Jews have no right to Israel because they were absent from the land for so long, and therefore the rights have been extinguished over time.

The proof they are wrong, of course, is that Jews have always maintained our emotional attachment to the Land of Israel. Our absence from the land was forced upon us and not a choice. The most famous example is the phrase at the end of the Passover seder and at the end of Yom Kippur services, "Next Year in Jerusalem!"  

And, of course, every day, Jews in their prayers ask God to restore us to the Land and rebuild the Temple. 

However, that argument has a flaw. Those examples may prove only that Jews want to Messiah to arrive and then return to the land of our forefathers. But what abut the ongoing attachment to the land in the two thousand years of  diaspora? How can the ties that each Jew has in each generation, not a theoretical future, be proven?

This attachment can be proven by a single Hebrew word, and that word is אַרְצֵֽנו.

"Artzeinu" means "our land. " It is used about a half dozen times in the Hebrew scriptures, but the use of the word multiplied after our exile began. 

Almost invariably, the term "our land" in Jewish literature refers to the Land of Israel - and no other. 
The Sefaria database of Jewish texts finds אַרְצֵֽנו is used scores of times in the Talmud, 145 times in the Medrash, dozens of times in Jewish liturgy and hundreds of times in Jewish legal texts. And the passage of time does not lessen the use of the word - on the contrary, it can be found in texts written in the 19th and 20th centuries as well, by scholars who were not Zionist at the time. 

From Psalms: "The LORD also bestows His bounty; our land yields its produce."

To the Mishna: "One who sees a place from which idolatry was eradicated recites: Blessed…Who eradicated idolatry from our land."

To the Talmud:"Rav Ḥisda said to Rav Yitzḥak: This balsam oil, what blessing does one recite over it? Rav Yitzḥak said to him, this is what Rav Yehuda said: One recites: Who creates the oil of our land, as balsam only grew in Eretz Yisrael, in the Jordan valley."

To the Grace After Meals: "May the All-merciful break the yoke from off our neck, and lead us upright to our land."

To Maimonides: "It is forbidden to sell [non-Jews] homes and fields in Eretz Yisrael....It is permitted to sell them houses and fields in the Diaspora, because it is not our land."

To the Chofetz Chaim (early 20th century) saying that the sin of loshon hora, speaking negatively about others, is "so severe as to have caused us to be exiled from our land!"

And on and on, through commentaries, works of philosophy, and responsa literature. 

There is no need to qualify the term to say "our land of Israel" or to give it any other name. The phrase "our land" needs no explanation to the Jewish people that read these texts. Everyone knows what "artzeinu" refers to. No one would think for a second that "our land" refers to Babylonia or Egypt or Poland or Lithuania or anywhere else the authors and writers lived.

No matter how far we moved away, how much we were dispersed, how bleak the future looked, Jews always knew that there was a land - and only one land - that is ours.

And this one word, used in so many ways by Jews throughout history but always with the same meaning, proves it. 

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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

03/29 Links Pt1: Why Did the Biden Administration Oppose Israeli Judicial Reform?; UNRWA is evil! Here's why; Iran-linked Pakistanis arrested for plotting attacks on Jewish targets in Athens

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Israel’s protesters are enemies, not heroes, of democracy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu announced Monday night he was temporarily pausing his government’s judicial-reform efforts in the face of strikes by key industries, insubordination in some parts of the military and huge protests.

While many within the international community, as well as on the Israeli left, will attempt to portray the announcement as a triumph of democracy, it is anything but.

The reforms seek to introduce a modicum of checks and balances into Israel’s political system, where the “court” sits as a de facto unelected supreme legislative chamber that can exercise veto power over every single government action.

The assault on the proposals, apart from the telegenic protesters, was actually rooted in the state’s bureaucracy, which remains highly sympathetic to the judiciary.

For 25 years, Israel’s Supreme Court has operated entirely without democratic constraints.

Not only does the court remain unfettered by any written constitution when evaluating a law — it is guided by such nebulous principles as “human dignity” and “liberty” — it’s also seized the ability to block any government act it deems “unreasonable.”

Perhaps most confounding, judges exercise veto power over the selection of their successors, resulting in an ideologically homogenous judiciary.

To top it off, what little power the court has not assumed for itself, it has delegated to the attorney general, who can veto any government action or policy by his or her own discretion.

Israel’s fired defense chief still at work as talks begin on court overhaul compromise after mass protests In the United States, presidents can and do fire their AGs. In Israel, it is closer to the opposite.
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did the Biden Administration Oppose Israeli Judicial Reform?
Ignore Washington's hypocritical talk about protecting democracy. They want a weak government that won't make trouble when it comes to Iran, and they won't stop until they get one.

Washington made no secret of its efforts to directly intervene in a domestic Israeli dispute....

The people who jammed the streets... see the maintenance of an unaccountable court with virtually unlimited power as the only way to maintain the Israeli left's political power even when they lose elections....

Washington is... determined... to oust a democratically elected government by any means possible.

What the White House and State Department want is more pliable Israeli Prime Minister, who will keep quiet about the nuclear threat from Iran, and who can be intimidated into not acting too forestall that deadly threat to Israel's existence.

As for behaving like a dictator, Biden's predilection for governing by executive order... even when his diktats are obviously contrary to the constitution or existing laws makes anything Netanyahu might attempt look like child's play.

[Biden's] administration apparently thinks that when Israel's Supreme Court strikes down Netanyahu's efforts to govern – on the basis of no law, and only on the judges, subjective ideas about what is "reasonable" – it's a great idea.

[E]stablishment Jewish groups... joined the liberal groups in praising Netanyahu's surrender to the mob and then had the chutzpah to laud the protesters, who sought to sabotage the country to get their way without even any attempt at balance by treating supporters of the government and reform, who clearly outnumbered the critics at the ballot box last November, as equally praiseworthy.

[T]hey also understand that the hyperbolic claims that Netanyahu and advocates of judicial reform seek to impose a dictatorship or a Torah state is pure fiction.

What Biden and his supporters want in Jerusalem isn't so much an all-powerful Supreme Court... but anything that can help oust the prime minister.

The [Biden] administration is now willing to tolerate Iran having nuclear weapons as long as they are not going to publicly flaunt them.

This attitude isn't just unacceptable to all of Israel's major political parties. It constitutes a grave threat to the security of the Jewish state that no Israeli prime minister could reasonably be expected to tolerate.

The brazen nature of Biden's attack on Netanyahu... speaks volumes about how much the administration wants an Israeli government that won't cause trouble over Iran.
The problem with Israel’s protests
The most recent electoral defeat was particularly crushing. It led large sections of the Israeli left to effectively give up on winning elections – and winning over the people of Israel. Much of the left now seems to accept that future governments will be made up of coalitions including right-wing, far-right, religious and ultra-orthodox elements.

This is the context shaping and driving the left’s support for a strong Supreme Court. The left, which now represents the interests of Israel’s technocratic elite, sees the court as a way to check the power of the elected but right-wing Knesset. Hence, it wants to vest power in judges to limit the power of elected politicians.

Analyses of the rightward shift in Israeli politics usually focus on demographics. They point out that religious and ultra-orthodox communities have higher birth rates than the secular, left-leaning sections of society. That is then used to explain the apparent right-wing trajectory of Israeli politics. But this is much too simplistic. This apparent rightward shift is not a straightforward result of conservatives having more babies.

For a start, Israel’s leftish technocratic elite is increasingly influenced by globalist and ‘woke’ ideas – indeed, LGBT rights have enjoyed a high profile at the recent demonstrations, with rainbow Pride flags being waved alongside Israeli flags. This globalist, cosmopolitan left is increasingly distancing itself from Israel’s national project – and much of the Israeli populace. This is most apparent in the military. Its elite units and officer ranks were traditionally populated by the left. Today, however, the national religious community is much more strongly represented.

The rise in support for the far-right Religious Zionism bloc also cannot be explained by demographic trends. RZ is a vile grouping that has overtly supported violence against the Palestinians and Israeli protesters. But those who voted for it often did so out of despair. For example, it is not widely known that there were 5,000 terror attacks of various sorts against Israelis last year, according to figures from the prime minister’s office. Support for RZ stemmed partly from the government’s perceived failure to tackle this problem of extreme violence.

Too many on Israel’s left, aided and abetted by their international cheerleaders, ignore all of this. Instead, they have given up on the Israeli electorate. They continue to distance themselves from Israel’s national project. And they ostentatiously wave rainbow flags at anti-government demonstrations. By doing so, they effectively position themselves against the supposedly backward nationalist majority.

Israel may be relatively small, but it is a complex society that faces unique challenges. There is a lot wrong with Netanyahu’s coalition government to say the least. But to view its judicial reforms as a dictatorial threat to democracy misunderstands the dynamic at play here. For it is not the government that is trying to entrench power in an unaccountable, unelected body here. It is the protesters and their elite backers.


Jewbotinsky: UNRWA is evil! Here's why:
Against peace, against justice, against Palestinians.

Why is UNRWA so evil?


Israel’s Netanyahu Upbeat on Reform Compromise After Biden Reproach
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced confidence on Wednesday that he would find compromise with the political opposition over his judicial overhaul after the contested reforms drew a strong reproach from US President Joe Biden.

Israel “can’t continue down this road,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday in reference to unprecedented protests that have swept the country and penetrated its military, spurring Netanyahu‘s defence chief to break ranks and call for a halt.

The conservative Israeli leader did press the pause button on Monday to allow for negotiations with opposition parties.

Addressing the US-led Summit for Democracy, he said his stated reason for the reforms – balancing the branches of Israeli government – could be reconciled with civil liberties.

The negotiators, he said, will “try to achieve a broad national consensus to achieve both goals. And I believe this is possible. We’re now engaged in exactly this conversation”.

Opposition parties spanning the political spectrum have accused Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges – of seeking to curb judicial independence. He denies any wrongdoing.

Separately, Netanyahu predicted on Wednesday that Israel would join the US Visa Waiver Programme in September after passing legislation required by Washington. The US Embassy in Jerusalem had no immediate comment.


Biden: Israel can’t continue this way, Netanyahu won't be invited to White House
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t be invited to the White House in the “near term,” US President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday, as he urged Israel to drop its judicial reform plan.

"I hope he [Netanyhau] walks away from it," Biden said as he issued his most clear objections to date over Israel’s judicial overhaul process.

“Like many strong supporters of Israel, I am very concerned. I am concerned that they get this straight. They can not continue down this road. I have sort of made that clear,” Biden said.

“Hopefully the prime minister will act in a way that he will try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen.”

When asked if he would invite Netanyahu to the White House, Biden quickly replied, “no, not in the near term.”

Netanyahu defends judicial reform, says Biden shouldn't interfere in Israeli domestic affairs

In a very public dispute that followed Netanyahu said in response, “I have known President Biden for over 40 years and I appreciate his longstanding commitment to Israel.

"The alliance between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and always overcomes the occasional differences between us,” Netanyahu said.
White House says will not invite Netanyahu 'in near term'
Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Michael Oren comments on the rift in the alliance after President Biden announces that there are no plans to invite Prime Minister Netanyahu 'in the near term,' and reflects on the ups and downs of the relationship in recent decades.


Morocco increasingly struggles to balance Israel ties with support for Palestinians
Morocco is struggling to balance its alliance with Israel with support for the domestically popular Palestinian cause, an increasingly complex challenge while Israel is ruled by its most right-wing government ever.

The North African country normalized its ties with Israel in December 2020, part of a series of deals known as the Abraham Accords, backed by the administration of then-US president Donald Trump.

In exchange, Rabat won a key concession from Washington: recognition of its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where the Polisario movement seeks independence.

But the move was at odds with a strongly pro-Palestinian public mood in Morocco.

That square has been harder to circle in recent months as violence has surged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a series of Palestinian terror attacks and Israel carrying out near-daily, often deadly anti-terror army raids in the West Bank. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories

But Rabat has been quick to defend itself.

A case in point is the royal palace’s reaction after the opposition Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) “deplored” Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita for allegedly defending Israel publicly, even as it commits “criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers.”


Iran-linked Pakistanis arrested for plotting attacks on Jewish targets in Athens
Police in Greece acted on intelligence supplied by Israel’s Mossad to arrest two men suspected of planning a “mass casualty” attack on a kosher restaurant in Athens run by Chabad.

It is understood that the suspects are Shia Pakistanis, and are believed to have been working with Iran’s Islamic Republican Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – the Iranian regime agency that sponsors terrorism abroad, and has been accused of mounting surveillance of prominent British Jews.

The Mossad said in a statement that those detained were part of a “wide Iranian network that operates from Iran and out of many countries”.

The statement added: “After the investigation of the suspects started in Greece, the Mossad assisted in uncovering intelligence related to the infrastructure, methods of operation and connection to Iran.”

Greek security sources told local media that two men, aged 27 and 29, were planning to attack the restaurant, a synagogue and Israelis in Athens. Greece is a popular tourist destination for Israelis, with many due to visit next week over the Pesach holiday.

“Their aim was not only to cause the loss of life of innocent citizens, but also to undermine the sense of security in the country, while hurting public institutions and threatening Greece’s international relations,” Greek police said in a statement.
Mossad helps thwart Iranian terror plot against Israelis in Greece
Adonis Seferlis of Greek channel ANTENNA TV joins Benita to bring you the latest developments from a thwarted plot against Israelis in Athens.


Terrorist found guilty of stabbing two in UK for 'atrocities on Palestinians'
Munawar Hussain, a 59-year-old terrorist, was found guilty in court on Wednesday for stabbing two women inside a Marks & Spencer in the English town of Burnley. Both women survived the attack.

The motivation behind the December 2020 attack was that he felt the grocery chain funded "atrocities on Palestinians," Hussain declared at the time.

The attack at Marks & Spencers
As he was carrying out the attack, Hussain carried a note that read, "O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks & Spencer is helping you financially."

Hussain's wife had hidden a knife from him a few days before the attack, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Marks & Spencer is well-known for its Jewish roots. Jewish immigrant Michael Marks founded the company in Northern England while attempting to restart his life after escaping persecution.

"Marks and his brother-in-law Sieff along with several family members were strong supporters of Zionism. In fact, they became known in pro-Zionist circles as ‘The Family’. They gave generously to the Zionist cause, believing in the importance of a Jewish national home in what was at the time called Palestine," according to Christians United For Israel.

Munawar Hussain's court trial
In court, Hussain did not appear remorseful, claiming that "Allah will not be upset with me or angry with me and he will be happy with me,” according to the Jewish Chronicle.

There were inconsistencies within his case. Hussain told the police that he wanted to kill the women and other shoppers but told the jury that he only wanted to injure them. Hussain acknowledged that he would have liked to stab more people, but his knife was caught in the second woman's handbag.


'Checkpoints have to be reinstated,' says survivor of West Bank terror attack
Former U.S Marine and survivor of the Huwara terror attack, David Stern, shares the horrifying moments in which he was shot by a Palestinian terrorist, and then shot back and managed to tourniquet himself. He speaks to us from his home in Israel where he is recovering from his wounds.


Palestinian teachers’ strike over wages grows, reflecting deep crisis in governance
In schools across the world, children are halfway into their second semester. But in a Palestinian refugee camp south of Jerusalem, kids wake up at 1 p.m. They kick soccer balls, hang out in barbershops and aimlessly scroll through TikTok. They watch television until dawn, just to wake up late and laze around all over again.

Palestinian public schools in the West Bank have been closed since February 5 in one of the longest teachers’ strikes in recent memory against the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Teachers’ demands for a pay raise have escalated into a protest movement that has vexed the increasingly autocratic Palestinian self-rule government as it plunges deeper into an economic crisis.

But the strike isn’t just about money. As the largest group of government employees in the West Bank after security forces, teachers are also calling for a democratically elected union. The authority hasn’t budged, fearing its rivals, like the Islamic terror group Hamas, could use their movement against the ruling Fatah party.

“Everything is chaos,” said Sherin al-Azza, a social worker and mother of five in a refugee camp called al-Azza, which has become a neighborhood of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Determined that her children have an education, she cobbled together $200 in savings to hire private tutors and send her eldest son to after-school classes during the strike — an impossibility for most of the refugee camp, she said.
The Lions’ Den Terrorist Group Has Raised Its Head Again
The Lions’ Den terrorist group operating in Nablus and its neighboring villages has rehabilitated itself in recent months as new members have joined its ranks. It continues its terrorist attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians and poses a security challenge to the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

So far, Lions’ Den has carried out about 100 shooting attacks in which Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded. It also planned attacks inside pre-1967 Israel that the Israel Security Agency thwarted, and it is still planning attacks in Israel’s major cities.

To date, Israeli security forces have killed more than 20 members, but the group has about a hundred members. About 20 members have surrendered to the PA, handing over their weapons. They will be employed by the PA’s security forces and receive a monthly salary.

The PA security forces have failed to act against the group, under orders of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, as long as it did not endanger his rule. While most of the group’s members belong to Fatah, it receives funds from Hamas, which also supports it through its media and social networks.

The Lions’ Den group continues to grow stronger and Israel’s confrontation with the terrorist militia is inevitable. There seems to be no escape from a significant Israeli military operation in Nablus and entry into its old city (Kasbah), with arrests or killing of the terrorists and the dismantling of its terrorist infrastructure.
Generation Jihad Ep. 90 — Israel and her enemies
To unpack and assess the latest terror threats faced by Israel, Bill had to call in the experts: Dr. Jonathan Schanzer and Joe Truzman.

If you’d like to dig deeper on the topics discussed in this episode, we recommend you check out Joe’s project on mapping terrorism in the West Bank and Jon’s book Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War, which according to LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster: “If you want to understand the hell in a very small place that is Gaza, read this book.”
PMW: Released terrorist confirms: Terrorists “carried out the orders of the [PA] leadership”
Senior PA officialand terroristFuad Al-Shubaki has confirmed Palestinian Media Watch’s findings that Palestinian terrorists are seen by the PA and by themselves as soldiers carrying out “orders” of the PA:
Released terrorist prisoner Fuad Al-Shubaki: “[The prisoners] have sacrificed that which is most precious and carried out the orders of the [PA] leadership.The leadership. Now we need to find a solution for them...”

[Official PA TV News, March 13, 2023]

Al-Shubaki made this statement upon release after 17 years in prison for his role in the attempt to smuggle 50 tons of illegal weapons to the Palestinian Authority aboard the Karine A weapons’ ship, during the PA’s terror campaign, the second Intifada, in 2002.

In addition, Al-Shubaki indirectly called for kidnappings of Israelis as he advocated for “deals” to “release our prisoners.” Complaining that some prisoners have been in prison for several decades, he joined others who have recently called for kidnappings, as PMW has documented:
Released terrorist prisoner Fuad Al-Shubaki: “Everyone says that we need to make [prisoner exchange] deals and release our prisoners. We need to make sure that they will be released. There are those who have been [in prison for] 34 years, 37 years, or 38 years. What is going on?”

[Official PA TV News, March 13, 2023]




Bernard-Henri Lévy: Iran and Persia
And so the first of the Pahlavi—seeking emancipation from Anglo-Saxon guardianship and rapprochement with this other “Aryan nation” that Germany wished to be, where he saw, as many others did, the face of the future—falls into the trap and announces, by decree, on March 21, 1935, that the only official diplomatic name of Persia shall be Iran.

His son, assuming the throne in 1941 after the Allies forced the father’s abdication, confirmed in his memoirs that his father had, in making the name change, “deliberately encouraged relations between Persia and Germany.”

The young shah’s first prime minister, Mohammad Ali Foroughi, regretted that the country of Darius, Xerxes, and Ferdowzi risked amputation—“at the stroke of a pen”—of a part of its memory.

A council of sages was named and recommended, 18 years later, to go back and put both names in use again.

But 1979 loomed.

The mullahs, looking to erase the pre-Islamic past, closed the case.

And this is how, in international usage, the noble and beautiful name of Persia fell into disuse.

This episode is, again, mentioned by all the historians.

And it is detailed in the monumental Encyclopaedia Iranica—piloted by Columbia University and under the direction, up until his death in 2018, of Ehsan Yarshater—by some of the most preeminent Iran specialists.

Of course, we could always consider this name-changing affair of little importance and say instead that today, all that matters is the women’s revolution, life, and liberty.

We would be wrong.

Because this semantic backslide laid the groundwork for the deculturalization begun, in 1979, by these authentic fascists who were, and remain, the Guardians of the Revolution.

It preceded the iconoclastic rage that would wipe the sun and Zoroastrian lion from the national flag and would, in Isfahan, Tabriz, or Tehran, tear down the monuments and symbols of Persian dynasties.

And I remember, conversely, the day in 1971 when the sister of the shah came to the United Nations to offer a copy of the Cyrus Cylinder, when the world discovered that engraved in clay, 23 centuries before the French Revolution, was the first declaration of the rights of man.

In great civilizations, things cannot be separated.

Iran is not Iran if it isn’t also Persia.

And there, as elsewhere, the battle for rights is also a battle for memory.

It’s simple: To win, the democratic revolution underway there must relearn how to braid the three golden strands: Shiism, the Enlightenment, and the heritage of the Book of Kings.
MEMRI: Following Renewal Of Saudi-Iranian Relations, Debate In Jordanian Press Over Whether Jordan Should Also Reconcile With Iran
The agreement signed on March 10, 2023 between Saudi Arabia and Iran to renew their relations after a seven-year hiatus[1]sparked a debate in Jordan about the implications of this agreement for the kingdom's own relations with Iran, and regarding the option of following Saudi Arabia's example.

The diplomatic relations between Jordan and Iran have been kept at a low level for several years. In April 2016 Jordan recalled its ambassador from Iran over the Iran's "intervention in the internal affairs of Arab countries, especially of the Gulf states."[2] This was a gesture of solidarity with Jordan's ally Saudi Arabia, whose embassy in Tehran had been attacked and torched by Iranian rioters three months earlier.[3] The Gulf countries themselves also recalled their ambassadors from Iran following this incident. In early 2019 the last Iranian ambassador to Jordan, Mojtaba Ferdosipour, finished his term in office, and Jordan refused to receive a new Iranian ambassador.[4]

However, despite this, and despite Jordan's membership in the pro-Saudi camp, which took a stern line vis-à-vis Iran, Amman's relations with Tehran were never severed completely. The embassies continued to function at the level of deputy ambassadors, and mutual visits by officials continued. For example, in February 2017 a delegation of Jordanian MPs, headed by then parliamentary speaker 'Atef Al-Tarawneh, visited Tehran and met with its president at the time, Hassan Rohani, on the sidelines of the International Conference on Supporting the Palestinian Intifada.[5]In December 2022, Jordan's King Abdullah II met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq, held in Jordan.[6]

At the same time, Jordan took a cautious position vis-à-vis Iran over the years, due to the threats posed to it by this country. King Abdullah warned about Iran's efforts to spread in the region and create a territorial continuum extending from Iran to Lebanon, which he referred to in 2004 as "the Shi'ite Crescent."[7]The civil war in Syria and Iran's growing involvement there exacerbated Jordan's concerns about Iran and about the presence of pro-Iranian militias on the Syria-Jordan border, which the kingdom regards as a grave strategic threat.[8] Moreover, in the past few years these militias have been involved in attempts to smuggle drugs and weapons from Syria into Jordan.[9]

Furthermore, Iran has for years been torpedoing the implementation of economic agreements between Jordan and its neighbor Iraq, including the project to build an oil pipeline from Basra to Aqaba. Many reports indicate that Shi'ite and pro-Iranian Iraqi elements have repeatedly clarified to the Jordanians that realizing Jordan's economic interests in Iraq depends on Jordan's warming its relations with Iran and returning its ambassador to Tehran.[10] For years, Iran has also been expressing an interest in promoting religious tourism to Shi'ite pilgrimage sites in Jordan, and has even offered Jordan incentives in return, such as oil at a reduced price and the construction of an airport.[11] However, Jordan has refused, fearing this would give Iran a foothold in its territory.




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