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Sunday, August 20, 2023

08/20 Links: Funded by the EU, Palestinians Abuse the Environment and Erase Jewish History; Samuel’s secret 1937 testimony on the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem

From Ian:

Funded by the EU, Palestinians Abuse the Environment and Erase Jewish History
This is Part 4 of a 10-part series exposing the underreported joint European and Palestinian program to bypass international law and establish a de facto Palestinian state on Israeli land.

Neither the Palestinians nor the Europeans have any interest in lasting peace with Israel, which presumes an atmosphere of cooperation and direct negotiations. Some even consider the illegal takeover of land by the Palestinian Authority a bigger national security threat to Israel than Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and even Iran.

“Unfortunately, many other high-ranking officers from the Israeli defense establishment don’t understand,” says Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, founder of the Israeli organization HaBithonistim.

“We are not treating this situation as a state of emergency, even though it’s crystal clear that the Palestinian Authority is an enemy, and a dangerous one at that, even apart from its funding of terror and inciting hatred in education.”

James Carver, a former member of the European Parliament and of the European Union Committee on Foreign Affairs, is one of the few parliamentarians who agrees.

In 2016, he called out the EU for its obsessive meddling in Israeli affairs in a Times of Israel article: “The EU professes to support a lasting Middle East peace settlement, yet I’ve highlighted both EU funding of the [Palestine Liberation Organization], which pays salaries to murderers, as well as how EU funding of illegal Palestinian buildings in Area C, is in breach of the Oslo accords, thus acting as an obstacle to peace and expunging any pretense of the EU being an honest broker.”

Carver spoke out about this issue when he was a parliamentarian in 2014. In diluting Israeli sovereignty, argued Carver, the EU is only creating further conflict, because those who genuinely support a two-state solution would never actively work to undermine either of those states.

Especially troubled by the fact that Europeans are building in nature reserves, he asserts, “It’s very hypocritical that the European Union claimed to be environmental champions but seemed to be quite happy to illegally put up buildings with their logo and develop settlements in nature reserves. Can you imagine the audacity of the European Union to believe they can violate legal facts? They’ve got skin as thick as a rhinoceros. They genuinely believe they can carry on with this, carte blanche.”

Indeed, there is massive, ongoing European-supported construction in nature reserves that were internationally mandated as no-construction zones in the Wye Plantation Accords, an agreement that concluded the Oslo division of territory.

Regavim, an Israeli NGO and public movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands and resources, has been mapping illegal Palestinian construction and land seizures for over a decade using archival material, land deeds and official documents, historic photographs, up-to-date aerial and drone photography, and GIS maps.
Herbert Samuel’s secret 1937 testimony on the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem revealed
Mention Herbert Samuel to today’s Israelis and two bells are likely to ring. One is Herbert Samuel promenade, Tel Aviv’s seaside esplanade. The other is a luxury hotel chain bearing the name, including The Herbert boutique lodgings along that same corniche.

But Herbert Samuel — or rather, the Viscount Samuel of Mount Carmel and Toxteth — was a seminal figure in the history of Zionism: the first Jew in Britain’s Cabinet, the official who first proposed the idea of a Jewish state to the British government, and the first high commissioner for British-ruled Palestine. And it was he who, just over a century ago, selected a 25-year-old Jerusalem effendi to be the most powerful Arab in Palestine, with consequences more profound than anyone at the time could conceive. That man was Amin al-Husseini.

A decade and a half after that decision, in late 1936, London appointed a Palestine Royal Commission to probe the Arab revolt that had erupted that spring, and which — Zionist leaders and many British officials believed — was being stoked above all by Husseini himself. Chaired by Lord William Peel, the panel heard 60 witnesses in public sessions. But nearly the same number testified in briefings so secret that even the witness list was hidden.

Transcripts of the sessions might have been lost or destroyed had not the commission’s far-sighted secretary recognized their significance, scribbling that a few copies ought to be preserved, as they chronicled “an important chapter in the history of Palestine and the Jewish people, and will, no doubt, be of considerable value to the historians of the remote future.”

Exactly eight decades into that remote future, in 2017, Britain quietly released the secret sessions to the National Archives. There Samuel explains why he chose Husseini as grand mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Muslim Council, how he and the British government envisioned Palestine’s future, his impressions of the Holy Land’s Jews and Arabs, and much else.

Samuel led a long, accomplished life. Born shortly after the American Civil War, he nearly lived to see the moon landing. He served in the British Cabinet seven times and ultimately rose to the head of his own Liberal Party. Yet his testimony in front of the commission was possibly the only known instance that he was ever made to defend his elevation of Husseini, who in the words of Samuel’s own son, “turned out to be an implacable enemy not only of Zionism but also of Britain,” culminating in his notorious alliance with Hitler’s Germany in World War II.


Caroline Glick: Israel’s #MeToo Stalinists celebrate their victory
Campaigners against Israel’s Netanyahu government scored a notable victory on Aug. 4. After a six-month demonization, defamation and harassment campaign against the Kohelet Policy Forum and its chief donor, Arthur Dantchik, Dantchik, a Philadelphia businessman, announced that he was ending his support for the conservative Jerusalem think tank.

Moshe Koppel, a Bar-Ilan University professor, founded Kohelet a decade ago as a full-spectrum policy think tank. Like its opposites on the left, Kohelet has developed policies on legal reform, economics, education and welfare. Its scholars work closely with like-minded policymakers to advance their policies in government ministries and the Knesset.

In March, Kohelet became the target of a demonization campaign the likes of which Israel has never seen. Its offices were barricaded and vandalized. Its leaders were assaulted on the streets and in restaurants, and were subjected to noisy demonstrations at their homes in pre-dawn riots. Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Nehemia Dagan called for the military “neutralization” of Kohelet, describing its funders as “Jews of the kind upon which the antisemitic ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ was based.”

Dantchik, whose funding enabled Koppel to establish Kohelet, was subjected to a prolonged, no-holds-barred campaign in Philadelphia.

Yaya Fink is a professional far-left political activist and failed two-time Knesset candidate. Until this year, he served as the CEO of Darkenu, a dark-money leftist pressure group that is associated with continuous efforts to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Darkenu’s billionaire funder Kobi Richter proclaimed Saturday in a radio interview that the left will succeed in its anti-government campaign because it controls the military and the economy. It will destroy the economy to force Netanyahu to comply with its demands, he added.

Fink is a central figure in the anti-government campaign. He hosted an Aug. 8 Zoom conference with more than 1,000 participants to celebrate the victory over Dantchik and Kohelet. Conference speakers were key actors behind the operation.
JPost Editorial: Israel's leaders must pursue a unity government
Observers have long speculated that Gantz has been waiting in the wings for an opportune moment to join the government and save Israel. In such a scenario, Netanyahu would boot the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist parties – or they would perhaps leave on their own, spurred by some decision or another having to do with the settlements or the Palestinians. Then Gantz would swoop in, assuming the premiership either immediately or at some set time in the future and creating a far more moderate coalition than the current one, enabling the government to put the controversial judicial reform on the back burner and focus on other national priorities.

Gantz has repeatedly denied that he has any such plans and has rejected any suggestion of a power-sharing arrangement with Netanyahu.

We can hardly blame him, burned as he was by his previous adventure with Netanyahu, in which he was denied the premiership despite having been guaranteed it as part of a rotation agreement.

And yet, we have to wonder whether now is the time to explore some form of a national unity government nonetheless.

Several configurations may be possible. An arrangement uniting Likud, Yesh Atid, and National Unity – the largest parties in the Knesset – would bring the coalition to a healthy 68 seats. A more plausible scenario such as that outlined above, in which National Unity would simply replace Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, would bring the coalition to a slimmer 63 seats – still a majority.

A unity government would face instability
The pitfalls are clear. As this paper’s Herb Keinon wrote last week, a union of the three largest parties would be “a government of paralysis headed by three men who don’t trust, like, or respect one another.”

“Once the ship is righted,” Keinon suggested, “the government would collapse – as the last Bennett-Lapid government collapsed – because differences could only be swept under the rug for so long.”

And yet, he wrote, while such a government “may be a pipe dream… currently, there are few alternatives to getting Israel out of its impasse.”

As the country heads for a showdown over the reasonableness law at the Supreme Court and as the Knesset’s winter session creeps nearer, now is the time for creative, responsible thinking on the part of our elected leaders.

If a national unity government can prevent us from being plunged into an even deeper state of crisis, it is incumbent on our leaders to explore it seriously.
Why is the US at the center of Israeli-Saudi peace?
Why is it so concerning? Considering Saudi Arabia’s massive oil reserves, folks in Jerusalem have good reason to fear any nuclear effort in Saudi Arabia would actually be military.

This is substantively different from Israel-UAE normalization — which did not include guarantees of massive development or military aid. In fact, Soon after the Abraham Accords were announced, Abu Dhabi tried to buy F-35s from Washington, but the deal ultimately fell through.

Then there are the Palestinians, which have become almost an afterthought in the Saudi-Israel negotiations — mostly because Israel is, too.

The Saudis are demanding concrete steps towards Palestinian statehood – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) needs them so his father, King Salman, doesn’t block peace with Israel.

The Saudis are looking for something more dramatic than what the UAE got in 2020, which conditioned normalization on Israel freezing settlement annexation plans. Already embattled by months of domestic protests, Netanyahu will need to provide concessions that are large enough to placate Salman while modest enough to keep his right-wing government intact. This won’t be easy.

While the US may be focused on its own benefits, Israel and Saudi Arabia clearly have much to gain from a successful peace agreement. There’s shared defense interests in their alarm over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the formalization of their long-standing behind the scenes security activities. The chance to work with Israel’s vaulted high-tech scene dovetails nicely with MBS’ Vision 2030 plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy and reduce its oil dependency.

Both Israel and the Saudis know how transformational peace could be, so they will probably seize this opportunity for success, even if the US is selling it short. Yet, while he is clearly focused on securing his own election cycle win, Biden’s nod to Israel feels more like a political marketing trick rather than genuine diplomacy. What do you think? Post a comment.

From the Camp David Accords to the Abraham Accords, the US has always played a key role is Israeli-Arab peace processes. But the potential Saudi deal feels particularly self-serving.

Still, even with the White House gamesmanship, a Saudi-Israel deal remains far from certain — even though all sides win if the Abraham Accords are expanded. The administration can use it to convince Congress to approve Saudi defense commitments, MBS will lower oil prices and — who knows — Netanyau might even get claim victory on a trip to Riyadh.
Israel opposes Saudi uranium enrichment - Prime Minister's Office
Israel’s policy remains opposed to nuclear programs in the Middle East, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) clarified on Sunday.

The statement came following an interview with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in which the minister did not rule out a civilian Saudi nuclear program.

The PMO highlighted that Dermer said “Israel never agreed to a nuclear program for any of its neighboring countries,” and added: “This was and remains Israel’s policy.” They did not, however, say anything about future policy.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought four historic peace agreements that only strengthened Israel’s security and standing and that is what he will continue doing,” the PMO added, referring to the 2020 Abraham Accords with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.

The US has been in negotiations for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, in addition to more favorable conditions for oil sales for the US. In return, Riyadh has asked for a civilian nuclear program, a defense pact with Washington and Israeli concessions towards Palestinian statehood.

Dermer told PBS Newshour on Friday that Israel would oppose a Saudi nuclear weapons program, but said that Saudi Arabia, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, “could go to China or France tomorrow and they could ask them to set a civil nuclear program and to allow for domestic enrichment. The question I ask myself is, if the US is involved in this, what will that mean 10 or 20 years down the road.”

The minister questioned what safeguards are in place to ensure Riyadh would not turn to Beijing if Washington rejected their request, which many in the Israeli media interpreted as preferring US cooperation with a Saudi civilian nuclear program.
Yair Lapid spoils Thomas Friedman’s Saudi deal
Just when Thomas Friedman thought he was on the verge of engineering a deal to give Saudi Arabia nuclear power, wouldn’t you know it, an Israeli politician comes along and spoils the soup. Only this time, the New York Times columnist’s nemesis is the leader of the Israeli left-wing opposition, Yair Lapid.

Friedman used to love Lapid. Last year, he wrote in the Times about how “sad” he was that Israel’s Bennett-Lapid government had collapsed. Lapid’s coalition had been “pragmatic” and “effective,” Friedman asserted. They “demonstrated that the seemingly impossible was possible.”

Friedman proclaimed that “the soul of Israeli democracy” would be “on the ballot” when Lapid faced off against Benjamin Netanyahu in the next Israeli elections. The Netanyahu camp was “merciless,” “divisive,” and – of course – “racist,” Friedman declared; electing Lapid was the only way to save Israel’s soul. And the Times columnist was optimistic – he was confident that Lapid “can make a comeback.”

I wonder if Friedman is still hoping for that “comeback,” now that Lapid is campaigning against Friedman’s Saudi plan.

The Wall Street Journal revealed on August 8 that Lapid told a visiting delegation of Democratic members of Congress: “I oppose any agreement that includes uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia. The deal at the moment endangers Israel’s security and the region. It is forbidden to give Saudi Arabia any level of uranium enrichment. It will harm our struggle against Iran. It will lead to a regional [arms] race.”

Thomas Friedman must be heartbroken. Giving the Saudis a nuclear program is the centerpiece of the Middle East deal he is promoting. And now Lapid, of all people, opposes it – and is trying to convince prominent Democrats to oppose it, too.

For more than two decades, Friedman has been obsessively promoting one version or another of his Saudi plan. On February 6, 2002, he used his New York Times column to present a memo that he wanted President George W. Bush to send to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and other Arab leaders. The memo called for Israel to withdraw to the nine-miles-wide pre-1967 armistice lines, including re-division of Jerusalem, in exchange for Arab leaders recognizing Israel’s existence.
Ukraine threatens to shut border to Uman pilgrims, citing Israeli deportations
Ukraine over the weekend renewed threats to close its borders to Israeli pilgrims making their way to the city of Uman for Rosh Hashanah next month to retaliate for Israel deporting Ukrainian tourists.

In a weekly address on Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged that the “rights of Ukrainian citizens must be guaranteed,” after receiving a report on how nationals are treated in foreign countries, without explicitly naming Israel.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk made it clear in a statement that Zelensky’s message was directed at Israel.

“The Ukrainian government will not tolerate the humiliation of its citizens upon entering Israel. We will suspend our bilateral visa waiver deals, according to article seven of the intergovernmental agreement,” Korniychuk stated.

“This possibility is on our government’s table,” he added. “It is unthinkable that we would have to go out of our way to host tens of thousands of Israelis in Uman, with a high security risk and a huge logistical effort, while the Israeli government abuses our citizens who come to Israel within the framework of a treaty between the two countries.”

“If Israel wants its citizens to be able to come to Ukraine as tourists, including to Uman, I believe Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu should intervene personally to find a solution to the current matter,” he said.
Inside Israel's biggest defense deal EVER!
Weapons sales have skyrocketed since the war in Ukraine. Israeli-based Elbit Systems, the largest private company in Israel is a crucial player in the local market. Yoav Limor sits down with senior executive Rani Krill to hear about the recent Arrow-3 deal.


Guatemalan presidential frontrunner lived and studied in Israel
Bernardo Arevalo stands at the precipice of being Guatemala’s president, but as a frontrunner candidate, he also has a distinct Israeli angle after working and studying in the Holy Land


Israel’s Cabinet approves $843m for eastern Jerusalem
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a five-year, 3.2 billion shekel ($843 million) plan to invest in the residents of eastern Jerusalem.

Following the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the program to reduce economic and social disparities in the eastern section of Israel’s capital city.

“We brought a decision in favor of the residents of east Jerusalem. A decision that will change the face of the city of Jerusalem, that will bring about a massive development of infrastructure, health, welfare, personal security, employment and an increase in the number of entitled to [high school] matriculation certificates,” Netanyahu said.

“We are building Jerusalem, strengthening the governance and uniting Jerusalem,” the premier continued.

The plan will also address areas such as economic development, public transportation projects, energy and electricity, sewage, sustainability, culture, community affairs and recreation and local initiatives, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The government has determined that the Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Ministry will be responsible for the overall management of, and integration of operations for, the implementation of the plan for the decision as a whole,” said a PMO statement.

The ministry will report to the Cabinet on the implementation of the plan once a year, close to Jerusalem Day.
Netanyahu Vows to Catch Huwara Terrorist: ‘His Day Will Come Sooner Than He Thinks’
The Israeli military continues to search for the terrorist responsible for murdering two Israeli civilians in the town of Huwara in the West Bank.

The victims, identified as Shai Silas Nigerker, 60, and his son Aviad Nir, 28, from the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, were killed on Saturday afternoon while at a car wash station. According to witnesses, the two men stopped there to have maintenance work done on their vehicle.

The employees of the car wash reportedly alerted the terrorist about the presence of people speaking Hebrew. The terrorist then allegedly approached the victims on foot and shot them at point-blank range before fleeing.

The IDF arrested the owner of the car wash on suspicion of collaborating with the terrorist. Israeli forces also closed the roads around the town and the nearby Tapuach junction, and extended their search to the West Bank city of Nablus, where the terrorist is believed to have escaped.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held a situational assessment of the situation with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and other defense officials. Gallant called on the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency to secure West Bank communities and roads and take all necessary steps to apprehend the terrorist.

In response to the terror attack in Huwara, Jewish settlers in the West Bank stormed the town targeting Palestinian homes and vehicles, according to Palestinian sources. The assailants threw stones and chanted “Arab, Arab!” attacking homes and cars in northern Huwara.

Fires were also started by extremists. Israeli security forces intervened to calm the rioters.

At the start of the weekly government cabinet meeting, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the Nigrenker family, and vowed to catch the terrorist.

“The security forces are working now to apprehend the murderer and settle accounts with him, just as we have done with anyone who murders Israelis since this government was formed. This terrorist’s day will come, and sooner than he thinks,” Netanyahu said.
IDF manhunt underway for terrorist, father and son killed in Huwara
The Israeli army is searching for the terrorists who killed Shai Nigreker and his son Aviad Nir while they stood at a car wash in the West Bank flashpoint town of Huwara. i24NEWS Middle East Correspondent Pia Steckelbach is live from the scene. In studio we are joined by Col. (Res.) Dr. Michael Milstein, Col. (Res.) Alon Eviatar and i24NEWS Senior Correspondent Owen Alterman.




BBC and AFP Can’t Resist Victim Blaming in Huwara Terror Attack Reports
A father and son became the latest Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism when a gunman opened fire on them at a carwash close to the West Bank town of Huwara on Saturday afternoon.

Shai Silas Nigreker, 60, and Aviad Nigreker, 28, from Ashdod, had reportedly come to get their air conditioning fixed before they were shot at point-blank range by an unidentified assailant who fled the scene on foot.

Israeli investigators are currently probing the possibility that employees at the carwash tipped off the terrorist after hearing the two men speak Hebrew.

Much of the media coverage of the attack near the flashpoint village, which was the scene of a revenge rampage by settlers in February following the murder of two Israeli brothers by a Hamas terrorist, linked their deaths to rising violence in Huwara and the entire West Bank.

The BBC, for example, reported:
This year, the village has seen several shooting attacks in which Israeli settlers and soldiers have been targeted – including the killing of two brothers in February.

That triggered a deadly rampage by a large crowd of settlers in one of the worst such acts in years. There have also been other instances of settler violence.”

Similarly, the wire agency AFP published a piece that stated:
Huwara, a Palestinian town near the city of Nablus, has seen a number of attacks on Jewish settlers or the Israeli military since early last year.

Settlers have also responded with revenge attacks on the town and surrounding villages.”

While the above paragraphs may seem fairly innocuous, they are actually anything but.

Although the majority of those attacked in Huwara were — as the BBC and AFP pointed out — either Israeli soldiers or settlers, the attack on Saturday is proof that Palestinian terrorists do not specifically target settlers.

Yet, both the BBC and AFP failed to include the fact that Shai and Aviad Nigreker were both residents of the southern Israeli city of Ashdod and were not — as both news reports suggest — settlers living in the West Bank settlement.


IDF soldiers shoot masked settler allegedly hurling stones at Palestinians
A settler was moderately hurt after Israeli soldiers fired at a group of masked individuals who were allegedly throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank early Sunday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops were dispatched to the scene near the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Levona at around 3 a.m. After identifying the masked group, the soldiers began a “suspect arrest procedure,” which included opening fire at one of the suspects, the military said.

The suspects had allegedly hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles on the Route 60 highway. The IDF opened fire after one of the masked settlers allegedly hurled an additional stone during the arrest procedure.

The suspect, in his 20s, was moderately wounded and taken to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus in Jerusalem for treatment, medical officials said.

The incident came as security forces were searching for a terrorist who shot dead two Israelis in the West Bank town of Huwara the day before.

Shay Silas Nigreker, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir were shot to death at a carwash in Huwara, a West Bank town that has been the site of a series of violent incidents between Israelis and Palestinians in recent months.

The terrorist approached the carwash on foot and opened fire at the two Israelis from close range with a handgun, according to the IDF’s preliminary investigation. The terrorist then fled the scene, apparently on foot.


IDF intercepts Gaza drone flying toward Israel
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system on Sunday intercepted a drone over the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on its way toward Israeli territory.

The unmanned aerial vehicle was monitored from the moment it took off and did not cross into Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

It had not posed a threat to Israelis residing along the border with the Palestinian enclave, and as such no alert systems were activated, said the IDF.

Last week, the Hamas terrorist group claimed to have captured an Israeli drone that fell in Gaza.

Palestinian media reported that an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft had crashed in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City on Aug. 14. The following day, Hamas published a video purportedly showing the captured drone, which it said was an “Orbiter 1K” model.

While the IDF denied it owned the drone, a senior military officer said that it belonged to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

It was not clear whether any sensitive information was leaked or what the drone’s purpose was.
PA: Iran is fomenting unrest in Judea and Samaria
Following the deadly terror attack in Huwara on Sunday, the Palestinian Authority accused Iran of fomenting unrest in Judea and Samaria, according to Israeli media reports.

P.A. security sources told Israeli public broadcaster Kan News that Tehran is teaming up with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to destabilize the area, and encouraging cooperation between the two terror organizations.

According to the report, the terrorist responsible for the shooting deaths of Shay Silas Nigrekar, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir, was not a resident of Huwara but traveled there from the surrounding area to carry out the attack.

On the same day as the deadly shooting, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders in Tehran boasted that the “resistance axis has the upper hand vis-a-vis the Zionist regime,” according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency.

“The usurper Israel is today gripped by tough conditions both from inside and outside. Recently, 15 to 30 daily attacks have been carried out by the resistance forces against the Zionist regime in the West Bank,” said Esmail Ghaani, the IRGC’s Quds Force commander.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that over the weekend that the “Jenin Battalion,” whose members are affiliated with the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have announced that they won’t allow anyone to confiscate their weapons.


Seth Frantzman: Will a tanker in the Gulf of Mexico spark new Iran tensions?
Reports on Sunday said that a tanker off the coast of Texas was being offloaded of its oil cargo. The report seems to indicate that months of tensions in the Persian Gulf, where Iran continues to harass shipping, could increase. The saga of a tanker at the center of the controversy has gone on for months since it was identified in the spring as potentially holding Iranian oil.

The Associated Press reported that “an American-owned oil tanker long suspected of carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil began offloading its cargo near Texas late Saturday, tracking data showed, even as Tehran has threatened to target shipping in the Arabian Gulf over it.”

The report goes on to name the tanker as the Suez Rajan, which it says flies the Marshall Islands flag but is owned by a US firm. The report says that Iran’s IRGC has threatened to strike back against “those involved in offloading the cargo.

“Ship-tracking data showed the Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan was undergoing a ship-to-ship transfer of its oil to another tanker, the Mr. Euphrates, near Galveston, Texas, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Houston. That likely will allow the cargo to be offloaded,” the report said.

This tanker is one of many that have been in the spotlight over the last years due to various controversies involving Iran. According to the reports the tanker had been off the coast of Singapore before “suddenly sailing for the Gulf of Mexico without explanation.

Analysts believe the vessel’s cargo likely had been seized by American officials, though there still were no public court documents early Sunday involving the Suez Rajan.” United Against Nuclear Iran had said in February that the tanker was suspected of carrying Iranian oil.


Israeli Government Asks Elite US University to Remove ‘Blood Libel’ Book From Course
Israel’s government has written to Princeton University in New Jersey to request that a book accusing Israel of harvesting Palestinians’ organs and “maiming” them be removed from the syllabus of a course in the school’s Department of Near Eastern Studies.

The book is Rutgers University professor Jasbir Puar’s The Right to Maim, which is assigned to students taking “The Healing Humanities: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South,” a course being taught by Professor Satyel Larson this fall.

“It was shocking to see that this book includes explicit insinuations that Israel uses a deliberate strategy of maiming Palestinians,” Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli wrote to Princeton’s leadership last week. “This delusional and false accusation is nothing but a modern-day antisemitic blood libel.”

Chikli added that the book “does not in any way promote the notion of open academic debate or freedom of speech on campus nor does it have any educational merit,” calling on Princeton to be mindful of legitimizing its content in a time of rising antisemitism.

Academics have accused Right to Maim of being “pseudo-scholarship” for trafficking in antisemitic blood libels rooted in medieval conspiracies charging that Jews murdered Christian children and drank their blood during Passover.

Puar has a history of criticizing Israel. In February 2016, she said at Vassar College that “young Palestinian men … were mined for organs for scientific research.” At the same event, she accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide in slow motion.” During a panel at Dartmouth College later that year, Puar said Israel uses “maiming as a deliberate biopolitical tactic” to enforce settler-colonialism.
Book Assigned for Princeton Course Criticized as Antisemitic
A new Near Eastern studies (NES) course that will be taught this fall at Princeton has sparked controversy — and letters of concern, including from the rabbi at the University’s Center for Jewish Life (CJL) — for a reading list that includes a book that claims Israelis intentionally and systematically maim Palestinians.

The 2017 book, The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, and Disability, was written by Jasbir Puar, a professor of women’s and gender studies at Rutgers University. The publisher’s website describes the book as culminating “in an interrogation of Israel’s policies toward Palestine, in which [Puar] outlines how Israel brings Palestinians into biopolitical being by designating them available for injury. Supplementing its right to kill with what Puar calls the right to maim, the Israeli state relies on liberal frameworks of disability to obscure and enable the mass debilitation of Palestinian bodies.”

Satyel Larson, an NES assistant professor, included Puar’s book in her course, The Healing Humanities: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South, which currently has 13 enrolled students. Larson and Puar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a letter to the CJL community sent earlier this week, Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 said that Puar’s “unsubstantiated and harmful accusation that Israel aims to physically disable Palestinians as a means of control” has led to fear “about the negative impact of Jasbir Puar’s damaging and unproven views on the discourse on our campus, as well as the safety and well-being of our Jewish and Israeli students.” Steinlauf said Puar’s assertions are “reminiscent of classic antisemitic tropes stemming from the blood libel of the Middle Ages.”

Steinlauf said he wrote to Larson and NES department chair Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi “asking them to reconsider the impact of this text and to explore alternative ways to teach the course without including an author whose rhetoric and writings have deeply hurt many in the Jewish community.”

In an interview with PAW, Steinlauf said “my role is not to make demands. My role is to ensure that we have an atmosphere and a culture on campus that is constructive, that is sensitive to the experiences of everyone, and is safe for all groups.”

“Thank God we live in a free country where ideas can be expressed freely, but with freedom comes obligation and responsibilities to ethics,” said Steinlauf. He is of the mind that “we all have an ethical obligation when we present information to do it responsibly, and to do it in a way that takes into consideration the potential hurt, pain, and even harm that ideas and the way that ideas are presented can impact others.”


Crucial omissions in BBC WS radio news reports on hunger strike
The bland promotion by Lipika Pelham of Ahmed al Qudra’s talking points does not clarify to BBC audiences that rather than mere “mass rallies”, he called on Palestinian youth in Judea & Samaria to “ignite the confrontation points with the occupation” after Friday prayers.

The BBC’s reports make no mention of related rocket fire from the Gaza Strip:
“The prison leaders also threatened to have Hamas members in the Gaza Strip join the fight if their spokesman in the prison wing at Ketziot and the other prisoners weren’t returned to their original wings. Palestinian sources in Gaza told Haaretz that Thursday’s firing of roughly 50 rockets from the Strip towards the sea, which was described as an equipment test, is also related to the prisoners’ battle with Israeli authorities.”

Several hours after the BBC had aired these reports worldwide the hunger strike was called off following talks.
“A source in the prisoners’ organizations told “Israel Hayom” that there are still no final summaries between the two sides, but there is a positive atmosphere, and he hopes that a compromise will be found in the coming hours. […]

According to him, the prisoners do not set new conditions and are ready to continue to cooperate with the security checks conducted by the guards, but demand that the searches be conducted “in an orderly manner based on mutual respect and without humiliation”. Another demand is to “return the prisoners who were moved from their wings, as quickly as possible, to their cells.” He noted that the prisoners in whose cells smuggled phones were found understand that they will be punished but demand that the punishment be reasonable and not “provoked”.”

To summarise, BBC audiences around the world heard reports which completely erased a terrorist organisation from the story, promoted statements from Palestinian parties without any input from Israeli sources and uncritically amplified allegations of “mistreatment” of prisoners without any explanation of what the story is actually about.

Can the BBC really claim that such blatantly sloppy and one-sided reporting meets its supposed standards of accuracy and impartiality?


Indonesian rabbi : ‘not everyone welcomes Jews’
Indonesia’s 200 Jews hide their identity in the face of general hostility, but the rabbi of its only synagogue, in Tondano on the island of Sulawesi, believes that one day Jews will be able to practise freely in this Muslim country. Channel News Asia reports (with thanks: Alain):

The Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue is the only place where Jews can practise their religion freely in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation where anti-Jewish sentiment is rampant.

Indonesia’s oldest and only other synagogue – Beth Hashem – in Surabaya city was ordered to close in 2013 after conservative Muslim groups successfully lobbied the local government to tear it down.

The destruction came after the synagogue was for years abandoned and left to decay with the few remaining Jews in Surabaya preferring to practise their faith in secret due to constant and widespread harassment.

Meanwhile, the handful of Jews living in the country’s capital Jakarta, where the burning of the Israeli-flag is a common feature in virtually all pro-Palestine demonstrations, also mostly choose to keep their religious identities under wraps out of fear of persecution.

“Indonesians view the Jews in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Thus, there is a strong anti-Jewish sentiment because of their stance against Israel,” Rabbi Baruch, 40, tells CNA.

Even in the predominantly Christian province of North Sulawesi, where Tondano is located, members of the Shaar Hashamayim synagogue prefer to keep their religious identities a closely guarded secret beyond the confines of the compound.

“Only my immediate family and a few friends know that I am Jewish. The rest just assume that I’m still a Christian,” a worshiper who wishes to be identified only by his Hebrew name, Ezra ben Abraham, tells CNA.

“Not everyone is welcoming towards Jews, including the Christians. Who knows what might happen if people find out I am Jewish.”
Popular kosher eatery near Paris defaced with graffiti saying ‘Jew’ and ‘thief’
Police in France have arrested a man they suspect of spray-painting the words “Jew” and “thief” on the façade of a popular kosher restaurant in a heavily Jewish suburb of Paris.

The graffiti, which covered the façade of Mr. Schnitz, an eatery that specializes in fried chicken breast sandwiches, was discovered on Saturday at Jules Guesde 48 in Levallois Perret northeast of Paris, the website of the Paris Match reported.

Police tracked down the suspect using CCTV footage, the report said. Police have not released details about the suspected perpetrator.

The incident prompted condemnations from senior politicians in France, where multiple violent incidents have occurred in recent years at businesses serving Jewish clientele, including the 2015 murder of four Jews at a kosher supermarket by a jihadist, who was later killed by police.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I am deeply shocked by this unacceptable graffiti.” He added that the suspect’s arrest was due to “the alertness of police officers” who tracked him down.

The security service of the French-Jewish community documented 436 antisemitic acts in 2022, a decrease from the 589 acts of the previous year but an increase over the 339 acts recorded in 2020, the security service, SPCJ, noted. Among the acts recorded in 2022 was the slaying of René Hadjadj, an 89-year-old Jewish man who is believed to have been strangled and then thrown from the 17th floor of his apartment building in Lyon. His former neighbor and friend, aged 51, is facing trial for Hadjadj’s death, which prosecutors say was the result of a hate crime by the defendant.
LA kosher restaurants targeted, burglarized - police
A team of burglars has targeted several kosher restaurants in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, ABC7 Eyewitness News reported on Sunday citing local police.

The targeted restaurants were Nagila Pizza, Fisherman's Bowl, Shanghai Diamond Garden, SushiKo, and Shalom Grill.

An X (formerly Twitter) user named Siamak Kordestani, who describes himself as an American and an Iranian-Jewish refugee took to the social media platform to note the reports of the burglaries.

"It is still Shabbat on the West Coast, and we won't know too much more until sundown when the community is back 'online,'" he wrote.

Police reported that the burglars smashed the windows of the restaurants and took some of the cash registers.

As of Sunday, the LAPD was still not sure the burglaries were antisemitic, according to an Israeli diplomatic source.


Jewish man attacked in suspected antisemitic incident in Berlin
A Jewish man was attacked by a 61-year-old man in Berlin on Saturday in a suspected antisemitic incident, Berlin Police said on Sunday.

The incident took place in Prenzlauer Berg, as the Jewish man was walking in the neighborhood with his son. Police said the suspect "spoke to him disrespectfully", but the Jewish man continued on his way and ignored him. Later, when the man returned to use the elevator at the railway station in the area, the suspect allegedly hit him in the neck and made antisemitic comments.

Shortly after the incident, a witness directed police officers to the suspect. A breathalyzer test found that the suspect was slightly intoxicated. He was released on the spot and is being investigated on suspicion of conducting an assault with an antisemitic motive. Latest in series of antisemitic incidents in Berlin

Earlier this month, a 19-year-old Israeli tourist named Jonathan was attacked by three men in Berlin after they heard him speaking on the phone in Hebrew, according to the German Bild news outlet.

According to the report, the Israeli stated that the assailants spoke to him, but he didn't understand what they said because he doesn't know German, and they proceeded to hit and kick him.

"When they were done with me, they drove away in their car and listened to loud Arabic music and really celebrated," said the Israeli to Bild. "I was beaten up by Arabs because I'm Jewish!"

Jonathan was treated for a concussion at the hospital.
Citi Bike riding menaces attack man, woman in Jewish garb in possible anti-Semitic hate crime: NYPD
Two menaces riding a Citi Bike — one of them a young woman — smacked a man and a woman dressed in traditional Jewish garb in the head in Brooklyn, and cops are investigating the incidents as possible hate crimes, police said.

A 43-year-old man told police he was walking at the corner of Wallabout Street and Walton Street in South Williamsburg around 7:30 p.m. Thursday when two strangers on an e-bike rode up from behind and a female who was sitting on the front of the bike slapped him in the back of the head.

The man, who wasn’t identified, refused medical attention.

A 24-year-old woman, who was about a half block away and also dressed in traditional Jewish attire, told police she was slapped in the back of the head right after the first victim was struck.The woman was hit in front of 184 Wallabout St. She also wasn’t physically injured, police said.

Police released photos of the suspects, including an image showing one of them sitting on the bike’s front basket. The NYPD Hate Crimes Unit is investigating.
Direct flights to travel between Israel's Tel Aviv and Morocco's Essaouira
Arkia Airlines and Morocco’s tourism agency recently announced the launch of direct flights between Tel Aviv and the Atlantic port town of Essaouira.

Although this decision has its economic motivations and indeed reflects the progress achieved in the official rapprochement between Israel and Morocco, there is a bigger story behind it.

This is the story of a small town that, slowly but surely, has managed to conquer the hearts of many Israelis based on joint heritage and historical connection between Jews and Muslims. In fact, Essaouira is an invitation to reconsider the proper place and role of culture in policy making, and of the power to create the people-to-people relationships for which we long for between Israel and the MENA region.

Jewish merchants in Morocco
Jews first came to Essaouira in the 18th century at the invitation of Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah. They were known as the “Sultan’s merchants” and some even played a diplomatic role in developing Morocco’s ties with Britain, France, Austria, and other European powers.

Meir Maknin, for example, was a successful merchant who served as the Sultan’s envoy to Britain. At the beginning of the 20th century, Essaouira became a thriving Jewish center and one of the only cities in the Muslim world with a Jewish majority.

The Jewish community numbered about 12,000 and boasted more than 30 synagogues. In addition, the community also contributed to the economic development of Essaouira as a port city and an important economic hub.

When the Jews departed Essaouira in the early 1960s, they left behind them a human, economic and cultural void – there was a joint sense of absence experienced both by the Jews who left as well as by their Muslim neighbors who were left behind. Thus, the current growing tourism movement from Israel to Essaouira was born of longing – an emotion that goes beyond mere nostalgia or a fleeting momentary sense of loss.
KKL-JNF delegation drives agricultural cooperation in Chad
A Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael/Jewish National Fund delegation on Sunday completed a mission to Chad to exchange agricultural knowledge and know-how, specifically on date cultivation.

The Israeli experts worked in both Amdjarass and N’Djamena toward strengthening collaborative efforts between Israel and Chad, while helping both countries advance in areas of sustainability and de-desertification.

“I am proud to represent KKL-JNF and continue to promote the cooperation with Chad. We are excited to visit our colleagues abroad, to get to know Chad’s culture and communities, learn about the forestry and agricultural techniques used in the country, and of course, share our knowledge and technologies,” said Asaf Karavani, director of the forest management and monitoring department in KKL-JNF, who led the delegation.

Amnon Greenberg, an Israeli expert at Southern Arava R&D and chairman of the Date Round Table at Israel’s Plants, Production and Marketing Board, said ahead of the visit: “I have no doubt that the partnerships we have created will help many around the world to produce high-quality and healthy food, alongside dealing with the climate crisis. We embark on this special visit with great excitement and with the expectation of returning to Israel with insights we will gain and hopefully optional projects moving forward.”

Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated the Embassy of the Republic of Chad together with the president of Chad, Mahamat Déby.




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