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In-Depth Issues:
Israel Outlines Plan to Control All Aid Entering Gaza - Karen DeYoung ( Washington Post)
Israel has said it will take direct control of all humanitarian aid entering and distributed inside Gaza, according to agencies briefed on the plan last week by COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry unit that coordinates civil affairs in the territories.
Under the initiative, only one entry point from Israel into Gaza at Kerem Shalom would remain open.
All goods entering Gaza would be screened and directed toward several new "logistics hubs" established by Israel, potentially with security provided by private contractors.
Israel would also institute a tracking system for all aid distribution and potentially insist that all aid employees are vetted to its satisfaction.
Israel Says Hamas Has "Enough Food to Fuel an Obesity Epidemic" in Gaza ( AFP)
After Israel blocked Gaza aid deliveries amid an impasse in truce talks, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer accused Hamas on Monday of hoarding supplies "for months and months."
It has "enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic," and that "no one is going hungry in Hamas. The supplies are there, but Hamas don't share."
Israeli Foreign Minister: "I Don't Know of Any Other Country that Is Asked to Finance a War Against Itself" ( AFP)
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Tuesday that "Humanitarian aid became the number one source of income of Hamas in Gaza," as he defended his government's decision to block aid to Gaza.
Aid had surged during the 6-week ceasefire.
Saar said that in Israel's view, "aid that goes to Hamas is not humanitarian," and is instead used to fund its operations against Israel.
"I don't know of any other country in the world that is being asked to finance the war against itself."
He added that Israel had allowed the aid into Gaza under the first phase of the ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 "as long as there was a commitment...to free our hostages."
After the first phase ended on Saturday, "we don't have any commitment now to finance terror against ourselves."
Poll: 81 Percent of Americans Support Israel's Right to Defend Itself - Douglas Schoen ( The Hill)
Polling conducted in February by Schoen-Cooperman research reveals that even after 16 months of war, 81% of Americans support Israel's right to defend itself.
82% believe that ending the war necessitates the end of Hamas's rule in Gaza.
80% agree that Palestinians in Gaza are suffering because of Hamas, which started this war on Oct. 7.
69% believe Israel's response to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack was justified.
See also Poll: 46 Percent of Americans Support Israel, 33 Percent Sympathize with Palestinians - Megan Brenan ( Gallup)
A Gallup poll conducted Feb. 3-16 found that 46% of Americans sympathize more with Israelis, compared to 51% in 2024.
33% of Americans sympathize more with Palestinians, compared to 27% in 2024.
Americans' sympathies with the Israelis continue to decline, largely because of Democrats' dwindling support, while Republicans remain overwhelmingly sympathetic.
U.S. Designates Houthis a Terrorist Organization - Dan Lamothe ( Washington Post)
The Trump administration on Tuesday re-designated the Houthi militant group in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, reversing a decision made by President Joe Biden in 2021, after more than a year of attacks on U.S. Navy and commercial vessels at sea.
The foreign terrorist designation makes it a crime for people or entities such as banks to offer "material support or resources" to the Houthis and bars its members from the U.S.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department said it is offering up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of the Houthis' finances.
Shortly before departing office in January 2021, the first Trump administration designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization.
The Biden administration undid that designation the following month.
Follow the Jerusalem Center on:
Iran's Bigger Problem: A Crumbling Economy - Dr. Majid Rafizadeh ( Al Arabiya)
The recent dismissal of Economy and Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati by the Iranian parliament reflects the gravity of the country's financial collapse.
While Iranian officials often blame U.S. sanctions and external pressures for the economic downturn, the real issue lies in decades of mismanagement, a lack of visionary economic planning, and corruption.
As inflation soars, the national currency plummets, and purchasing power declines, ordinary Iranians are struggling to make ends meet.
Iran's currency, which stood at 595,500 rials per dollar in August 2024, has now depreciated to 927,000 rials per dollar.
This has led to skyrocketing prices for food, housing, and essential goods.
In addition, fears of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities have led to uncertainty in financial markets, discouraging foreign investments and causing businesses to hesitate in long-term planning.
Moreover, with its regional allies in decline, the Iranian government is finding it harder to justify its costly foreign interventions, which have drained the country's resources for years.
Much of Iran's wealth has been funneled into financing proxies in the Middle East, leaving little for domestic development.
Gen. Amidror: The Changes to the Situation in Israel's North Are "Historic" - Yaakov Lappin ( JNS)
The Israel Defense Forces has fundamentally reshaped its enforcement policy against Hizbullah's activities in Lebanon, marking a significant departure from the pre-war status quo, an IDF official told JNS on Monday.
"The situation we were in before Oct. 6, [2023], where Hizbullah could erect a tent on the border and we would think about it, is no more," said the official.
In addition to retaining for the foreseeable future five positions in Lebanese territory following its withdrawal from Southern Lebanon as part of the Nov. 27, 2024, ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel has been working steadily to enforce the truce.
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser, said Sunday, "The situation in the north is totally different than what it was at the beginning of the war," describing the changes to the situation in the north as "historic."
For the first time, Hizbullah finds itself without a land bridge from Iran via Syria to Lebanon, he said.
Israel's Most Popular Baby Names Are Biblical - Roy Rubinstein ( Ynet News)
Israel's Population and Immigration Authority reports that the most common names
given to Jewish newborns in Israel since the country's founding have biblical origins.
The most common boys' names are David, Yosef (Joseph), Moshe (Moses), Avraham (Abraham), Yitzhak (Isaac), Yaakov (Jacob), Michael, Daniel, Chaim and Shlomo (Solomon).
The most common girls' names are Sarah, Rachel, Miriam, Esther, Hannah, Rivka (Rebecca), Yael, Michal, Tamar and Leah.
Search the Recent History of Israel and the Middle East
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- President Trump Meets Freed Israeli Hostages, Warns Hamas: "I Am Sending Israel Everything It Needs to Finish the Job" - Rebecca Shabad
President Donald Trump met Wednesday with eight Israeli hostages released from Gaza: Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, Eli Sharabi, Keith Siegel, Aviva Siegel, Naama Levy, Doron Steinbrecher and Noa Argamani.
Trump then warned Hamas on Truth Social: "Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you.
Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job. Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say."
"I have just met with your former Hostages whose lives you have destroyed. This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance."
The administration is engaging in direct talks with Hamas over the release of U.S. hostages still held in Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Wednesday, adding that Israel had been consulted.
(NBC News-Daily Mail-UK)
See also Video: President Trump Meets with Hostages Freed from Hamas Captivity in the Oval Office (Forbes)
See also Hamas Captivity Survivors Describe Chilling Abuse to Trump (Ynet News)
- U.S. Rejects Arab Plan for Rebuilding Gaza - Benoit Faucon
The White House has rejected an Arab plan for rebuilding Gaza, saying the extent of the destruction there made keeping Palestinians in the enclave unworkable. Critics of the plan also said it failed to spell out how it would disarm Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that led the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that left 1,200 dead and triggered the war. The lack of details for disarming Hamas is a deal breaker for the U.S. and Israel, said David Schenker, who led the State Department's Near East department during the first Trump administration.
"The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance," National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said. "President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas." (Wall Street Journal)
See also European Nations Say Hamas Must Have No Role In Gaza
Hamas must have no role in Gaza, a group of European nations said Wednesday after a UN Security Council meeting on the territory's future. Speaking on behalf of France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia, French Deputy UN Ambassador Jay Dharmadhikari said, "We are clear that any plan must have no role for Hamas [and] must ensure Israel's security." (AFP)
- U.S. Ambassador-Designate to the UN: "We Are Not Only Going to Defund UNRWA, We Will Totally Dismantle It" - Elise Stefanik
U.S Ambassador-Designate to the UN Elise Stefanik told the Anti-Defamation League's "Never Is Now" Summit on Monday:
"On October 7th, and in the 513 days since, we have seen antisemitic atrocities that we never thought would happen in our lifetimes both at home and abroad. The worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the open celebration of those heinous acts of terrorism in our streets and on our college campuses. Enough is enough."
"The horrors of October 7th changed everything. It made crystal clear that this fight is not just Israel's fight but the West's fight, a fight against the evil of Hamas, a war between good and evil, civilization and barbarity. We will not and must not rest until every single hostage is returned home and Hamas terrorists are eradicated from the face of the earth."
"The United Nations is a deep den of antisemitism, infected with the same rampant anti-Israel and anti-American hate and moral rot that has polluted America's higher education system.
Especially since the barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7th, the UN has continuously betrayed Israel, betraying America in the process, acting as an apologist for Iran and their terrorist proxies."
"The days of propping up organizations that run counter to our interests are long gone. We will no longer fund terrorism, antisemitism, and anti-Israel hate....At the United Nations, we took the decisive action to defund UNRWA....And I can promise you that...we are not only going to just defund UNRWA, we will totally dismantle it."
"Everyday Americans understand the need to support Israel's fight and that the same pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers who chant 'Death to Israel' also chant 'Death to America.'
These terrorists want to topple Israel, topple the U.S., and we must never yield....The antisemites at the United Nations better buckle up, because I'm coming." (Rep. Elise Stefanik)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Criticizes Egyptian Plan for Gaza Reconstruction after Arab Summit
The adoption of the Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza during the recent Arab summit in Cairo
is entrenched in perspectives that are no longer relevant post-Oct. 7, Israel's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. According to the Egyptian plan, an administrative committee of Palestinian technocrats would govern Gaza temporarily in preparation for the Palestinian Authority's return in the Strip.
The Foreign Ministry said, "The [summit] statement continues to rely on the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA. Both have repeatedly demonstrated corruption, support for terrorism, and failure in resolving the issue." The statement issued bore no mention of Hamas.
"For 77 years, Arab states have used Palestinians as pawns against Israel, condemning them to eternal 'refugee' status."
The ministry noted that President Trump's plan for Gaza would grant "an opportunity for Gazans to have free choice based on their free will." Hamas's "terror regime in Gaza prevents any chance of security for Israel and its neighbors. Therefore, for the sake of peace and stability, Hamas can't be left in power. Responsible regional states" should "break free from past constraints and collaborate to create a future of stability and security in the region." (Jerusalem Post)
- IDF Eliminates Hamas Leader in Jenin - Amir Bohbot
IDF troops killed the head of Hamas in Jenin, Isser Sa'adi, under Israel Security Agency direction on Monday night, the military said Tuesday. During the operation, two additional terrorists were killed and three were arrested.
The IDF said that in February it eliminated 25 terrorists in Judea and Samaria, including arms dealers, bomb makers, and individuals planning attacks. In addition, troops arrested 350 wanted individuals, confiscated 120 weapons, and destroyed hundreds of explosive devices.
The IDF has increased operations in Palestinian refugee camps following attempted terrorist attacks in the Tel Aviv region. The IDF has established IDF outposts in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps until further notice, where Israeli soldiers will continue targeting terrorist infrastructure, seizing weapons and ammunition, and dismantling remaining threats. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Arab League Summit in Cairo: Divergent Approaches to Gaza Reconstruction - Pinhas Inbari
The recent Arab League summit in Cairo was notable because, for the first time, Arab nations attempted to formulate a solution to the Palestinian issue that doesn't adopt PLO positions. Instead, they tried to impose on the Palestinians a solution preferable to Arab states. Yet a consensus Arab stance acceptable to all parties has not yet emerged.
The summit - meaning Egypt - did not address Hamas's fate whatsoever. This was the root of disagreements among Arab states. As long as these disagreements remain unresolved,
it will be impossible to raise the billions necessary for Gaza reconstruction.
From Saudi Arabia's perspective, Hamas's removal from Gaza is an iron-clad condition for any participation in Gaza reconstruction. But if Saudi Arabia indeed keeps its wallet closed, Qatar will step in.
One bright spot was the UAE's position that educational reconstruction in Gaza is no less important than physical reconstruction. The UAE is ready to impart to Gazans their educational approach, in which Islam is not jihadist but inclusive, extending a hand to Judaism and Christianity.
The writer is a Senior Researcher of Arab and Palestinian Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Pinhas Inbari)
- Egyptian Journalist: There Will Be No Foreign Aid for Reconstruction in Gaza and Lebanon unless Hamas and Hizbullah Surrender Their Weapons
Egyptian journalist Emad Adeeb told Sky News Arabia (UAE) on Feb. 26:
"Hamas with its weapons is unacceptable both internationally and by the Arabs. Let me be honest with you, Hamas has become a burden upon the Palestinian cause....If Hamas insists on keeping its weapons, there will be no reconstruction in Gaza. If Hizbullah insists on keeping its weapons, there will be no reconstruction in Lebanon, and the displaced people will not return [to their homes]."
If Hamas "prefers its weapons, it will have to face the 2.1 million people [of Gaza] who are looking for food, drink, and sewage services....You cannot make the decisions and expect me to pay the bill....You accepted the Iranian invitation, so let the Iranians pay the bill." (MEMRI-TV)
- The Arabs and the Resistance Axis Must Acknowledge Their Defeat in the War with Israel
Articles in the Arab media condemned the rhetoric regarding the historic victory over Israel promoted by spokespeople for Hamas and Hizbullah. They argued that these organizations suffered a crushing defeat in the war, as evident from the heavy damage and losses sustained by them and by the local populations. They also said the outcomes of the war proved that the doctrine of 'unity of the fronts' formulated by the Iran-led resistance axis - whereby all the axis members would assist each other in the event of a war against Israel - had collapsed.
The writers described this defeat as another link in the chain of defeats suffered by the Arabs in the wars they have waged against Israel since its establishment, under the banner of the "Palestinian cause." They argued that these defeats are a reflection of Israel's power in the region. Therefore, they called on those who fought against Israel and on the entire Arab nation to recognize their defeat and dedicate their efforts to developing their countries instead of engaging in futile wars.
(MEMRI)
Israeli Security
- Deterrence Is Just an Educated Guess - Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Shlomo Yanai
Deterrence is based on the assumption that adversaries will refrain from attacking out of fear of severe retaliation. However, deterrence is an elusive and problematic concept. Deterrence does not guarantee the prevention of threats.
Deterrence operates in the psychological and perceptual sphere. But how can one accurately assess how an adversary perceives the severity of the consequences or the credibility of the threat? States and terrorist organizations may interpret deterrent threats differently from how they were intended.
Moreover, deterrence assumes a rational calculation of cost versus benefit. However, enemies are often driven by ideological or religious beliefs, which do not conform to materialistic rationality. History is filled with cases where nationalistic, political, or personal motivations outweighed rational calculations.
Additionally, deterrence is not a stable model but rather a temporary state that erodes over time. Internal political shifts, geopolitical changes, and military developments alter an adversary's strategic calculus, leading to reassessments of risk. Over time, enemies may test the limits of deterrence.
When deterrence erodes, the adversary's response often takes the form of a surprise attack. Pearl Harbor, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Yom Kippur War, and the October 7 Hamas attack are all examples of when adversaries, despite being perceived as deterred, launched offensives based on strategic calculations that differed entirely from those assumed by the deterring side.
For all these reasons, deterrence cannot serve as the cornerstone of Israel's national security doctrine. Instead, Israel must embrace a doctrine of prevention: proactively denying adversaries the capabilities and motivations to act against it in the first place.
The writer headed the IDF Planning Branch and the Ground Forces Command. (Ynet News)
- The Existential Crisis of the Liberal Democratic Model - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman
The 9/11 attacks in 2001 marked the beginning of the crisis of the liberal democratic model.
For decades, it was widely believed that granting full civil rights and complete equality for all individuals within a state, alongside economic welfare, would prevent violence. However, 9/11 and the subsequent wave of Islamist terrorism on the international stage undermined this belief.
Paradoxically, citizens who had benefited from the fruits of liberal democracy turned against it. Islamist terrorism in Europe proved that Europe's core principles - acceptance, inclusion, and economic welfare for immigrants - were inadequate in preventing violent extremism. It became evident that religious and tribal identity is deeper and stronger than the Western concept of the nation-state.
A widespread assumption held that wars aimed at redrawing borders had become a thing of the past and that the use of force to alter borders or impose one nation's political vision on another was no longer viable. But the Russia-Ukraine war and Hamas's brutal attack on peaceful civilians within sovereign Israel shattered this assumption. The sobering reality is that liberal democracy no longer guarantees personal security, economic prosperity, national security, or even the free formation of opinions, as individual consciousness is today shaped by algorithms.
Diplomacy as practiced by President Trump includes aggressiveness. The world understands only power. Strength is meaningless unless it is demonstrated or used. According to this perspective, the U.S. is strong only if it is willing to leverage its pressure points. The purpose of power is not necessarily to provoke conflict but to avoid it by bending the will of others to secure the desired deal on more favorable terms.
The writer, executive director of INSS, was former head of IDF Intelligence. (Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)
Palestinian Arabs
- Why Arabs Don't Want to Receive Palestinian Ex-Prisoners - Khaled Abu Toameh
Most of the Arab countries are refusing to receive Palestinians released from Israeli prison as part of the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal. In the past few weeks, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli hostages kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas.
Many others were released to Egypt, with the hope that other Arab countries would host them.
However, the Egyptians have agreed to allow only a handful to remain, while dozens of others are searching for countries that will agree to receive them. With the exception of Qatar and Turkey, most Arab countries have refused to allow in the released prisoners.
The ex-prisoners, many of whom belong to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are in Cairo, staying in hotels and hospitals. It seems the Arab states are not eager to provide shelter to Islamist jihadists who could join forces with other terror groups and pose a threat to the regimes that have taken them in. The Jordanians and Lebanese have not forgotten how Palestinians sparked civil wars in their countries in the '70s and '80s.
The refusal of the Arab countries to play host to the ex-prisoners is seen by many Palestinians and Arabs as yet another sign that the Arab heads of state and governments do not really care about the Palestinians, which largely may be true. It also exposes the big difference between the Arabs' public support for the Palestinians and their inaction to help them.
The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. (Gatestone Institute)
Antisemitism
- The U.S. Department of Justice Should Prosecute Criminal Antisemites - Anita Kinney
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) in Washington filed two lawsuits against anti-Israel activists allegedly involved in illegal highway blockades for their coordinated activities forbidden by 18 U.S.C. 241, a law prohibiting conspiracies to deprive individuals' civil rights. After Oct. 7, anti-Israel protesters repeatedly shut down freeways and other key infrastructure across the U.S., causing, among other problems, delayed organ-transplant surgeries.
Christopher Manhart missed a flight and subsequent business engagements after 40 activists swarmed an off-ramp into Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Daniel Faoro was trapped in his car for over an hour in Arlington, Virginia, while protesters blocked bridges into Washington, D.C., during rush hour. HLLI is helping Faoro and Manhart seek compensation for false imprisonment and other wrongful behavior.
Freedom of movement is a fundamental civil right, guaranteed by the Constitution.
The pro-Hamas blockaders conspired to impede this right. The Supreme Court affirmed that such activity is explicitly prohibited in United States v. Guest, a case involving interference with individuals' right of free interstate passage on highway facilities. (City Journal)
- The Genocide Libel: How the World Has Charged Israel with Genocide - Norman JW Goda
States committing genocide are viewed as permanently illegitimate. The charge was leveled dozens of times against France, Portugal, Nigeria, China, Cambodia, the U.S., the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and other states.
Genocide accusations against Israel are different. It has been charged with genocide throughout its existence. Moreover, the speed and fury with which the accusations exploded after the Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023, are unusual in the annals of lawfare. Regarding Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, there has been not only a rush to judgment but an effort to redefine genocide itself so that the constitutive elements of the crime itself are lowered, while Hamas's own genocidal intent is whitewashed.
What makes the genocide libel particularly dangerous is the association of all Jews with the crime. Jews worldwide are all in on it, either as Zionist enablers, as dishonest back-room lobbyists, or as community leaders who "weaponize" the charge of antisemitism to silence the truth-tellers. While genocide charges involving other peoples have not targeted members of those peoples who live abroad, the genocide libel against Israel drives rage against Jews throughout the world.
The writer is Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida. (Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism - Indiana University)
Weekend Features
- "Judea and Samaria" Were in Common Use until 1948 - Philologos
The largely hilly countryside west of the Jordan River, and south and north of Jerusalem, that was part of the kingdom of Jordan from 1950 to 1967, owes to Jordan its name of "the West Bank."
Disputes over place names are typical of international conflicts involving issues of sovereignty, national identity, and national pride.
The Bible calls the hill country around Jerusalem "Judea and Samaria." The "West Bank" is the linguistic interloper - and a senseless one too, since most of the territory it refers to is far from the banks of the Jordan River. The term was invented by a Hashemite monarchy ruling east of the Jordan River for the purpose of justifying its annexation of Judea and Samaria.
There simply were no indigenous Arabic place names for the area since its Arab inhabitants never thought of these territories as discrete geographic entities that required names of their own. The Arabs who lived in them identified with the cities, towns, and villages they came from, not with a larger region.
Far from being uniquely Jewish, "Judea and Samaria" were, until the mid-20th-century, the standard Christian and European way of referring to the area. The 1st-century CE Jewish historian Joseph Flavius, writing in Greek, wrote, "Now, as to the country of Samaria, it lies between Judea and Galilee." The 12th-century German pilgrim Theodericus wrote, "On the west Judea extends to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea...and to the north it is bordered by Samaria.
The 14th-century The Travels of Sir John Mandeville states, "Jerusalem is in the land of Judea." French author Francois-Rene Chateaubriand wrote in 1811, "The plain of Sharon is bordered on the east by the mountains of Judea and Samaria." Mark Twain wrote in 1869, "We were out of Galilee and into Samaria at last. So, rested and refreshed, we fell into line and filed away over the barren mountains of Judea.
Old maps of Palestine commonly divided its central mountain range into "Judea" and "Samaria," and a district of Samaria was one of the six administrative districts of British Mandate Palestine. UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 calling for the partition of Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state refers to "the boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea." (Mosaic)
Observations:
- The Oslo Accords were designed to achieve lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) used the Palestinian Authority (PA), created as part of the Accords, to cultivate ever-deepening Palestinian hatred of Israel and promote terrorism. As a result, the Oslo path has been disastrous for Israel and the Palestinians alike.
- The Oslo Accords, that provided self-governance for Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, were predicated on the assumption that the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist and abandoned violence and terror as a means to achieve Palestinian aspirations. Yet the PLO-PA have consistently perpetuated a narrative, both within Palestinian society and in international organizations and fora, of Israeli delegitimization.
- These policies include the constant radicalization of the Palestinian education curriculum, thereby brainwashing and poisoning the minds of generations of Palestinians, and adopting and implementing a multi-billion-dollar "Pay-for-Slay" program that promotes, incentivizes, and rewards terror.
- As a result of the Oslo Accords, the PLO-PA was given autonomous rule of extensive areas in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Instead of building a functioning, democratic, and prosperous society, these areas were turned into safe havens for terror and an incubator for Palestinian terror groups.
- Despite being given the funding, the opportunities, and the capabilities to establish a functioning and prosperous Palestinian economy, the PLO, the PA, and the Palestinian leadership abused international aid, including substantial U.S. and EU aid, to promote Palestinian national aspirations to destroy Israel.
- Recognizing and accepting the Oslo Accords' failure would allow all the relevant actors to re-evaluate and develop alternative solutions.
The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.
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