|
In-Depth Issues:
The Hizbullah Cache London Kept Quiet Shows What Israel Brings to Britain - Zvika Klein ( Jerusalem Post)
On Sep. 30, 2015, MI5, Britain's domestic security service, and the London police searched five properties in the city and removed more than 20,000 first-aid kits.
The cold packs were filled with ammonium nitrate, about three and a half tons of it, the same compound that leveled the port of Beirut in 2020.
Britain's Daily Telegraph attributed the tip that started MI5's investigation to "a foreign government." The next day, a senior Israeli official told Israel's Channel 11 that the government was Israel and the service was the Mossad.
In July 2025, the Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary body that oversees Britain's spy agencies, published a report on Iran.
On page 59, there is a box headed "Operation CARAWAY: disruption of Lebanese Hizbullah attack planning." It records MI5's assessment that the material was stockpiled as contingency for an attack that Iran or Hizbullah might one day authorize.
In 2017, Israeli operators penetrated an ISIS cell in Syria and found it building explosives disguised as laptop batteries; the U.S. banned laptops from aircraft cabins on certain routes, and Britain followed within days.
Israeli-made Hermes 450 drones flew reconnaissance for the British Army in Afghanistan from 2007, logging 70,000 hours by 2013, much of it searching for roadside bombs ahead of British patrols.
British and Israeli services are working together this year against Iranian operations aimed at Jews and dissidents on British soil.
Britain cannot expect Israeli intelligence as an entitlement while treating Israel as an adversary.
An American Warning Stopped Britain from Broader Sanctions on Israel - Danny Zaken ( Israel Hayom)
Despite the profound anger in Israel over Britain's recently announced sanctions, mounting evidence suggests that London is actively working to de-escalate the diplomatic crisis.
Israel Hayom has learned that significantly broader and harsher sanctions were initially on the table.
However, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced intense domestic criticism and stark warnings that severe measures could jeopardize the unique security relationship with Israel.
A senior diplomatic official revealed that American officials worked behind the scenes, explicitly warning the British government against overplaying its hand.
Despite the diplomatic turbulence, the exceptionally close security and intelligence cooperation between the two nations is expected to continue seamlessly.
11 Nations Join UK Trade Restrictions on Israel - Mathilda Heller ( Jerusalem Post)
The foreign ministers of 12 countries confirmed on Tuesday their intention to impose restrictions on trade in goods from Israeli communities in the West Bank, including the UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
Former MI6 Chief Questions Israel Sanctions - Lorin Bell-Cross ( Jewish Chronicle-UK)
Former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, responding to the British government's sanctions against Israel, asked: "What does this achieve?"
"I don't see how these sanctions, which make a distinction between stuff which is manufactured in the West Bank [and goods made in Israel], can actually physically be implemented. So, it's a very strange thing to do."
Dearlove also questioned the timing of the announcement so close to the Israeli elections on Oct. 27.
"I would have thought it would have been much wiser just to do nothing at this point in time, and you know, to stand back and allow Israel's traditionally rumbustious politics to take their course, and then you know make decisions afterwards. I'm really puzzled by the logic."
British Rabbi whose Wife and Daughters Were Murdered in West Bank Blasts UK Sanctions - Andrew Jehring ( Daily Mail-UK)
British Rabbi Leo Dee, 54, whose wife, Lucy, and daughters Maia and Rina were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the Jordan Valley in 2023, has slammed Prime Minister Andy Burnham for boycotting products from Israeli communities there while taking no action against the Palestinian Authority's "notorious pay-for-slay system."
This policy means the families of the gunmen get thousands of pounds a year for life from the Palestinian government as a reward.
Rabbi Dee, who lives in Efrat, wrote: "I am perhaps the British citizen who has suffered most directly from Britain's misguided policies towards Israel and the Palestinians over the past 25 years....Yet you are prepared to single out Jewish Israelis like me for economic punishment."
"For decades, Palestinian terrorism has killed thousands of innocent Israelis, like my wife and daughters, while the Palestinian Authority has operated a system financially rewarding prisoners and the families of those killed carrying out attacks partially funded by the UK. Yet your moral outrage is directed not at those institutions, but at Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria."
Follow the Jerusalem Center on:
Why Britain's Eastern Jerusalem Consulate Had to Go - Shlomo Kates ( Times of Israel)
When news broke that Israel would be closing the British Consulate in eastern Jerusalem in response to the UK's recent sanctions, to me, this decision was long overdue.
The consulate's very existence was built on a diplomatic fiction and Israel has finally chosen to stop indulging it.
During my time as head of communications at the British embassy in Tel Aviv in 2023, I was responsible for communicating the UK's official policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The core message was: peace can only be achieved when Israel retreats to the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
But I never believed it. It was a mantra from another era, disconnected from the lived reality of Jerusalem and the political landscape that has evolved over decades.
The eastern Jerusalem consulate existed to serve Palestinians exclusively, even though it sat squarely inside the Jerusalem municipality under full Israeli control.
It wasn't designed to serve everyone in its geographic area. It wasn't even located in a place that made practical sense.
Meanwhile, Jewish residents of eastern Jerusalem were told to go to Tel Aviv for consular services.
The consulate was a political symbol, a relic of the UK's insistence on treating Jerusalem as a divided city even though it hasn't functioned that way since 1967.
Israel's decision to close the consulate is a correction. A sovereign state has every right to decide which foreign missions operate within its capital.
Closing the consulate doesn't undermine peace; it undermines a fantasy.
Thousands Sign Letter Rejecting Genocide Charge Against Israel ( Creative Community for Peace)
More than 5,000 leaders and public figures from entertainment, academia, literature, government, business, religion and civic life have joined an open letter rejecting the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and warning that the charge has become a dangerous vehicle for scapegoating Jews and fueling antisemitism around the world.
Signers included former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, former senior U.S. diplomat Elliott Abrams, historian Benny Morris, Amb. Deborah Lipstadt, Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna, Prof. Judea Pearl, and urban-warfare expert Maj. (ret.) John Spencer.
The letter says: "We the undersigned are outraged and sickened by the latest blood libel to be inflicted on the Jewish people: the lie that Israel committed 'genocide' in Gaza. We reject this accusation with contempt."
"A crucial difference between war as tragedy and war as genocide is intent. In this war, only one side intended to commit genocide, and that is Hamas."
"Thousands of rockets and missiles were fired at Israel in the weeks following the [Oct. 7] massacre, while Hamas starved and tortured 250 Israelis, some of whom were murdered in captivity. The classic definition of genocide has been changed to apply only to the Gaza war."
"We note with astonishment but not surprise the overwhelming silence of Israel's defamers in the face of the atrocities of Iran - perhaps 30,000 civilians murdered in two days, one of the great crimes of our time."
Search the Recent History of Israel and the Middle East
Send the Daily Alert to a Friend If you are viewing the email version of the Daily Alert and want to share it with friends, please click Forward in your email program and enter their address.
|
|
We wish our readers a Happy Jewish New Year!
Daily Alert will not appear on Sunday, September 13
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Iran Attacks U.S. Base in Jordan - Enas Alashray
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan used by the U.S. military and attacked 10 ships on Wednesday. Jordan said its air defenses intercepted 18 of 20 Iranian missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas, and that there were no casualties. A U.S. official said all American troops were accounted for. (Reuters)
See also Multiple U.S. Military Aircraft Damaged in Iranian Strike on Jordan Air Base
Multiple American military aircraft suffered damage in Iranian strikes on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, CBS reported Wednesday on X. One A-10 Thunderbolt was struck and left with a missing wing, while 8 F-15s sustained light damage and were placed back into service. (Reuters)
- Iran Shows New Appetite for Escalation - Georgi Kantchev
Iran is increasingly trying to escalate its conflict with the U.S. At least three times in the past week, Iranian forces have launched missiles at American warships, including an aircraft carrier, taking direct aim at the U.S. Navy in a way it hasn't done since the start of the war.
The attempted strikes with medium-range ballistic missiles, which travel hundreds of miles at extremely high speeds, have led to much closer calls than previous attempts, with Iran using maneuverable warheads. A hit on an American warship would almost certainly trigger a fierce U.S. response and risk reigniting a full-scale war. (Wall Street Journal)
- U.S. Destroys 5 IRGC Tankers after Iran Targets Another American Warship
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers on Tuesday, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days.
The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and no American personnel were harmed. American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.
On Sept. 5, CENTCOM forces destroyed three Iranian crude oil carriers after the IRGC tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer. All IRGC attempts against U.S. Navy warships have failed. (CENTCOM)
- Jewish Leaders Condemn Boycotts Announced by UK, France, and Canada
Betsy Berns Korn, Chair, and William C. Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Wednesday: "We strongly condemn the decision by the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada to impose discriminatory trade restrictions targeting Israelis and Israeli businesses in the West Bank. Economic discrimination against Israelis will not bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to peace. Instead, it strengthens the campaign to isolate Israel and turns a political dispute into a basis for excluding Israelis from ordinary economic activity."
"The United Kingdom cannot credibly seek the partnership of Jewish communities in the fight [against antisemitism] while pursuing policies that single out Israelis for boycott....At a time when hostility toward Israel too often spills over into hostility toward Jews, governments should be particularly wary of legitimizing the exclusion of Israelis."
"Collective economic measures targeting Israelis...ignore Palestinian terrorism and incitement, deepen division, and undermine the economic and security cooperation necessary for any durable resolution." (Conference of Presidents)
- EU Pursues Closer Israel Ties on Air Defense and Space - Gabriel Gavin
The EU is looking to Israel to support its new push for high-tech air defense and space capabilities. Israel Space Agency boss Shimrit Maman met Tuesday in Brussels with Ekaterina Zaharieva, European commissioner for startups, research and innovation, for talks on key areas like AI and robotics. A string of recent deals has seen the EU pursue closer military and technological relations with Israel.
In 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen backed calls from Poland and Greece to create an EU-funded air defense shield. However, senior officials involved in the discussions told Politico the plans did not move ahead after the Commission and a handful of capitals concluded it would need to rely on Israeli air-defense technology, which they deemed too sensitive a year into the Gaza conflict.
Now, though, in a major expansion of its operations in Europe, Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems confirmed Monday that it will open a factory producing its Iron Dome air-defense system in a former Volkswagen factory in Germany. (Politico-EU)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Retaliates after British Sanctions - Tobias Holcman
Following the UK sanctions announced Tuesday against Israeli West Bank communities, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced that the British consulate in eastern Jerusalem would be shut down, while British representatives at the Kiryat Gat Civil-Military Coordination Center for Gaza would be expelled. Other sanctions include the termination of training by UK forces to Palestinian Authority security forces and banning the entrance of 12 British elected representatives and other British nationals involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.
Sa'ar said, "Israel has nothing against the British people. We know that we have many friends in Britain. Unfortunately, a hostile Labour Government is in office, systematically acting against the State of Israel, and it has left us with no choice but to finally respond to its hostile actions." (Jerusalem Post)
See also Israel to Retaliate Against France after Imposition of Sanctions - Danya Saperstein
Israel is expected to take action against France and other countries that imposed sanctions against Israeli communities, similar to actions taken against the UK, Israel's Channel 11 reported Tuesday. (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel's President Herzog Slams UK Trade Ban
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday urged Britain and other governments to halt plans for sanctions against Israel over its policies in the West Bank, calling the expected measures a "grave miscalculation" and "gross interference" in Israel's upcoming democratic election.
Herzog warned that the restrictions "will directly harm, unfortunately, Palestinians, robbing them of business and employment....I say to all foreign governments: Stop! Step away from the dead-end of sanctions and boycotts. And turn toward constructive dialogue and toward cooperation." (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Britain Sanctions Israel
- Britain's Misguided and Ill-Informed Betrayal of Israel - Amb. Alan Baker
How far does the British government intend to go to damage Britain's traditional interests and its relationship with Israel in order to placate and appease a group of extreme politicians and an increasingly powerful lobby of Islamist influencers intent on taking Britain's government and its policies hostage?
Ed Miliband's rehashing of the "two-state solution" cliche displays amazing ignorance for a foreign secretary. Anyone familiar with the Middle East is fully aware that the term "two-state solution" has never been agreed to in the agreements between the Palestinians and Israel. It was never part of the 1993-5 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians.
To the contrary, the parties agreed that the permanent status of the territories would be determined only by agreement between them in permanent status negotiations. There was certainly no intention that any third party, whether this be the UN, the EU, or even the British government, would prejudge and predetermine the outcome of the negotiations and dictate a political outcome.
Milliband's reference to Israel's tender for construction in the 12-sq.-km. E1 area between Jerusalem and the town of Ma'ale Adumim as an "unacceptable and destructive act" appears to ignore that this tiny piece of land is located in what was agreed between the Palestinians and Israel in the Oslo Accords to be Area C of the West Bank territory, under Israel's complete jurisdiction and control.
According to the Accords, Israel has the right and prerogative to conduct planning, zoning and construction in this area, in the same manner in which the Palestinians, pursuant to the Accords, are entitled to do in the Areas A and B, under their own control and jurisdiction.
The writer, former Legal Adviser to the Israel Foreign Ministry who participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords, heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center.
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- Britain's Turn Against Israel Is No Accident - Stephen Daisley
With the British government preparing sanctions against Israel, this is a victory for the pro-Palestinian lobby and their anti-Zionist worldview. The context is a highly effective (and handsomely funded) campaign since Oct. 7 to demonize Israel so thoroughly in the minds of Western populations that many formerly sympathetic to the Jewish state would turned skeptical, if not hostile.
Much of it is the result of a propaganda war funded by Qatar and Iran, Islamic states suspiciously eager to separate Western nations from a country known for its advanced defense technology, unparalleled intelligence, and expertise in identifying and breaking up Islamist terror cells. Ask yourself why Islamic regimes are so keen for you to feel frustration towards Israel.
While the UK government's Palestine pivot is largely motivated by domestic concerns, the campaign to bring it about was orchestrated overseas with the aim of driving a wedge between Israel and the West. Amplify genuine civilian suffering in Gaza, mix in a whole lot of falsehoods, distortions and propaganda, and Britons across the board would soon shed whatever sympathy they felt for Israel after Oct. 7.
Palestine is simply not a big issue for the bulk of British voters. But there was a demographic with insatiable appetites for a diet of Jewish perfidy in Muslim lands, as the results of the 2024 election showed. Labour reckons that Muslim voters would be reassured by the sight of the party distancing itself from the Jewish boogeyman.
It appreciates that taking up a pitchfork against Israel could well exacerbate hostility and violence towards visibly Jewish Britons, their businesses and their places of worship, but it figures it can always bung in an extra few quid to the fund that gives Jewish children self-defense training for their walk to and from school, because Jewish children in Britain need to be trained in self-defense just to go to school.
All this is terrible. Terrible for Britain's trade with a nation that produces cutting-edge technology and life-extending medicines. Terrible for Britain's Jews who will have to watch over their shoulders even more than usual when they go to pray, pick up their children from school, or walk around in Jewish-populated areas. Terrible for any and all Britons who preferred it when the focus of British politics was Britain and elections won based on factors other than ethno-religious kinship. (Spectator-UK)
- Chief Rabbi: Britain's Sanctions Will Endanger Jews - Henry Bodkin
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Britain's Chief Rabbi, called new British sanctions against Israeli communities in the West Bank
a "truly dark day for British Jews." "At a time when our community is more vulnerable than ever to the wave of extremism that has been building over recent years, these sanctions do nothing to advance the cause of peace. Nor do they make anyone safer - quite the contrary."
On a day that marked the lowest point of British-Israeli relations since the birth of the Jewish state,
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday described the occupation of Palestinian territory as "unlawful" for the first time and accused Israel of trying to make the two-state solution "unviable." Britain will impose specific measures against companies and individuals who support Israeli communities in the West Bank with finance, infrastructure, real estate and construction services. The UK will also refuse all export licenses for weapons that "materially contribute to the occupation," Miliband said. (Telegraph-UK)
See also British Sanctions: "Political Flag-Bearing for Mendacious Anti-Israel Rhetoric" - Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis
"Today our Government has chosen to ignore the deep concerns expressed by so many of us. The measures announced amount to little more than political flag-bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric and those who harbor a dangerous obsession with the Jewish State. These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target."
"Gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel, and the cumulative effect of such punitive policies is to further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews." (X)
- Europe Joins the Boycott Israel Crowd - Editorial
Britain has banned imports of Israeli goods from the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, plus sanctions on anyone facilitating new construction. France and Canada plan similar measures.
That's curious. If Israeli communities were the issue, Israel's removal of every community from Gaza in 2005 should have helped. Instead Gazans voted in Hamas. The Palestinians have been destroying the two-state solution by showing Israel that any territory it relinquishes will be used to launch wars and pogroms.
Israel offered the Palestinians a state in the West Bank and Gaza in 2000-01. They turned it down and launched a terrorist intifada, then rejected it again in 2008. What Palestinians keep saying, but the likes of Mr. Miliband refuse to hear, is that they won't live in peace alongside a Jewish state even in Tel Aviv, which they consider a settlement. Yet Britain, Canada and France have only carrots for the Palestinian side. They subsidize the Palestinian Authority, a dictatorship that still awards "pay-for-slay" salaries to terrorists who murder Jews.
The sanctions' impetus is supposedly Israel's plan to build in E1, an area in the Jerusalem suburbs. This is an excuse - E1 stayed Israeli in the 2000 peace proposal negotiated by Bill Clinton.
This is an attack on Israel, its economy and sovereignty, as a whole. Any Israeli bank that finances a mortgage for a Jew in eastern Jerusalem or its suburbs could now face sanctions. It also threatens U.S. firms. Under federal law warding off foreign coercion, U.S. firms are forbidden from cooperating with such a boycott.
It's the European way by now: The Palestinians start wars they lose and won't make peace, but the Europeans punish Israel to pressure it to make land-for-war concessions anyway. (Wall Street Journal)
- Britain Sanctioning Israel Is a Monumental Act of National Self-Harm - Jake Wallis Simons
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions against Israel.
At a stroke, they managed to cast into doubt our bilateral relationship with the region's only democracy - which brings thousands of jobs and billions of pounds into our economy, not to mention collaborations on security, military hardware and tech.
On the whole, Israel is by far the freest society in the region, for Muslims as well as Jews and Christians. Where else would you find Pride month being celebrated in the Middle East? Or Muslim women participating freely in society? Or Christians living their lives in safety and happiness? Answer: Nowhere. By comparison, that fragile democracy is surrounded by authoritarian, corrupt and failing states as far as the eye can see. Many of them harbor tens of thousands of jihadists, whose bloodlust for infidels draws little distinction between an Israeli or a Briton.
When did Palestinian intelligence services last save British lives? When did Palestinian trade boost our economy, or Palestinian tech strengthen our Armed Forces or National Health Service? Last year, the UK even recognized a "state of Palestine" while emaciated Israeli hostages were languishing in the tunnels under Gaza; evidently, it did not occur to the government to demand their release first.
Given the state of Britain's public finances and defense, damaging our relations with Israel, with its booming economy, cutting-edge tech and world-beating security and intelligence services, is woefully irresponsible.
In 2025, Britain sold Israel 3.5 billion pounds of goods and services and bought 2.4 billion in return. 22 Israeli-linked companies are listed in London, with a combined market capitalization of 8.5 billion pounds. That's a fair bit of profit - not to mention a fair number of jobs - that our people stand to lose. For what?
One in eight packs of medication in Britain is produced by the Israeli pharma company Teva, which employs 1,500 people on our shores. Our new Challenger 3 tanks will come equipped with Israeli automatic defense systems. (Daily Mail-UK)
- Britain's Futile West Bank Sanctions Will Not Resurrect the Two-State Solution - David Blair
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday declared that Israeli communities in the West Bank were designed to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state." But what if a Palestinian state is already dead and buried as a practical possibility and what if Hamas's terrorism was an equally effective undertaker? The cold reality is that the "two-state solution" has slipped beyond the realms of the possible.
Not even the most Left-wing and Miliband-friendly government that Israel might ever elect is going to
drag tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes to make way for a Palestinian state, partly because of what happened after the only remotely comparable precedent.
In 2005, Ariel Sharon evicted 8,000 Israelis living in Gaza and demolished their homes. Within two years, Hamas had seized full control and turned Gaza into a giant launchpad for firing rockets at Israel, starting a series of wars that culminated in the atrocity of Oct. 7, 2023, and the brutal conflict that has followed.
Israelis can hardly be blamed for drawing what seems to them to be the obvious conclusion: doing what Miliband and the international community want, and giving up territory and removing Israelis, does not bring peace. On the contrary, many believe that it merely creates more opportunities for terrorism.
As for the sanctions that Britain will now impose, these communities have never depended on exports to the UK. The value of the trade that will now be prevented is probably tiny. No wonder that British diplomats are reported to have privately assured the U.S. administration that the sanctions would be symbolic with minimal practical effect.
After the trauma of Oct. 7, no Israeli government is going to cede control over this territory to what it would regard as a mortal enemy. Not a single serious contender for the prime ministership at Israel's coming election is in favor of Palestinian statehood. (Telegraph-UK)
- Shame on UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Appeaser of Islamists - Allister Heath
Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband's decision to sanction Israel, the Middle East's only true democracy, the West's praetorian guard against jihad, all to win votes from Islamist sympathizers at next month's by-election, will go down in infamy.
Miliband is engaging in grotesque victim-blaming. He is making British Jews feel even less safe as they head into Rosh Hashanah. As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, he is confirming that Britain's answer to Islamism is appeasement. Our Foreign Secretary has sent a clear message to our enemies, to those who seek to destroy our way of life: violence works, threats work, relentless propaganda and blood libels work, delegitimization works, the weaponizing and perversion of international law works.
The double-standards are monstrous: Labour continued to court Qatar this week, a dictatorship that hosts Hamas. Britain remains friends with Turkey, a NATO member which, in addition to occupying northern Cyprus, has seized vast amounts of northern Syria, shifting people into these occupied territories and turning the local Kurds into a minority. Why do so few care about these settlements? Is it because no Jews are involved?
Britain recognizes and effusively supports a Palestinian "state" that fuels hate, operates a pay-for-slay rewards for terror scheme, and bars Jews from buying land (Arabs who sell face a death sentence). Yet it is imperfect but freedom-loving Israel that is being turned into a pariah. Britain's sanctions are being welcomed as a first step towards ultimate victory by the anti-Zionist and boycott movements seeking the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an Arab-dominated state.
Miliband assumes the barrier to peace is Israeli intransigence, while in fact it has always been Palestinian rejectionism: its elites have always chosen war over accepting a Jewish polity and a two-state solution. They define the Palestinian project as thwarting the Jewish one, rather than working towards coexistence. They have rejected every single partition plan since the Peel Commission's in 1937; Israel has accepted many.
(Telegraph-UK)
- UK Sanctions on Israel Puts Palestinian Jobs at Risk - Gabrielle Weiniger
Yehuda Cohen, the chief executive of Lipski, which manufactures plastic pipes that may run under the floorboards of houses across the UK, believes the UK's import ban announced on Tuesday will hit the livelihoods of his Israeli and Palestinian workers, who work side-by-side on the assembly line. Cohen's factory is in the Barkan industrial complex in the northern West Bank.
"Who will suffer from this? The simple employee who needs this place to feed his family," Cohen, 66, told The Times, adding that all his employees were paid equally. "Part of the solution for this conflict is co-operation between two peoples, so I am part of the solution. And this is exactly where the British are coming in and causing damage....They're hurting the exact place where this is actually working."
"I hope [Ed] Miliband will compensate Arabs who will lose income or even employment as a result of his ban," said Yisrael Medad, the Israeli spokesman for the West Bank community of Shilo, which produces wines and is known for its ancient sites.
"Palestinians as a whole in the West Bank don't have a lot of workforce places or employment opportunities. The only employment opportunities they have in the West Bank is either working for Israeli companies, working for Hamas or working for the Palestinian Authority (PA), one of the three," said Ella Rosenberg, a senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. "Once you eliminate or you make the Israeli companies less profitable, they won't hire as many Palestinian workers, and the very delicate relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians will be hindered." (The Times-UK)
Hizbullah
- Arab League Adopts Resolution Rejecting Hizbullah Military Activities in Lebanon - Danielle Greyman-Kennard
The Arab League Council adopted a resolution on Monday rejecting Iranian foreign influence in Lebanon and Hizbullah's continued military activities, Lebanon's L'Orient-Le Jour reported on Tuesday.
The council affirmed its full support for Lebanese independence and sovereignty and expressed collective support for Beirut's decision to establish a state monopoly over weapons and security decisions, referencing the government's March decision to ban Hizbullah from military activity. (Jerusalem Post)
- After the Fall of Hizbullah's Ali al-Tahir Stronghold - Makram Rabah
The fall of Hizbullah's Ali al-Tahir stronghold shows that Hizbullah has learned how to dig deeper without learning how to think smarter. For Hizbullah, a destroyed village can become evidence of steadfastness, a dead commander proof of sacrifice, and a lost hill the opening chapter of another legend. Reality is never allowed to invalidate the project. It is simply edited until defeat can be presented as endurance.
Ali al-Tahir exposes the bankruptcy of this thinking. Underground fortifications may delay an advancing army but they cannot repair an organization's intelligence failures, replace a coherent strategy or change the balance of power. A tunnel is not useful to a society whose homes, institutions and economy are being consumed by its supposed protection.
Hizbullah preferred to see the position stormed and ultimately taken by the Israeli army rather than hand it over to the Lebanese Army. The Lebanese Army is not viewed as the natural custodian of Lebanese territory but as a competitor to Hizbullah's armed autonomy. The Lebanese state remains the institution Hizbullah cannot afford to allow to succeed. The people living above the tunnel become an inconvenience to be managed, then an audience to be instructed in the virtues of sacrifice.
The central deception of Hizbullah's relationship with its public was the promise that Iranian power would protect them. The reality is the reverse: Lebanon is expected to bleed so that Iran retains something with which to bargain. (Al Arabiya)
Antisemitism
- British Musician Describes Attacks for Openly Supporting Jews - Boy George
In the last few months, my life has changed beyond all compare. I made a decision to support my Jewish friends and without hesitation. I feel anxious almost everywhere I go but I do not regret my decision. I have seen friends that I have helped and supported turn on me without a conversation.
Many of these anti-Israel people have zero political instincts. They only care because it has become fashionable to care. In life there are people who see what's going on and others who just blindly follow the trends.
I support anyone calling for peace. That is what we should all be doing. How can Israel be an apartheid state when Arabs and Christians live there peacefully and are part of the political system?
The writer, George Alan O'Dowd, is a British musician, songwriter and lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. (X)
Observations:
- Whether you like Jews and the Jewish state or not, Israel is an indispensable component of U.S. national security.
America's adversaries, especially China and Russia, attach great importance to undermining U.S. backing for Israel and make massive efforts to bring this about. Both countries (as well as Iran, Qatar and Turkey) have been running extensive and highly effective political warfare campaigns against Israel. This is a carefully orchestrated foreign state campaign of manipulation and sedition, all built on lies and distortion of the truth.
- Israel's defensive activities preserve multiple billions of dollars Washington would otherwise be obliged to spend; relieve the U.S. of the burden of having to maintain far greater combat forces and intelligence resources in the Middle East, also at vast expense; and save many American soldiers' lives.
- The Israeli military battle-tests advanced American weapons systems supplied to it, such as the F-35 combat plane, enabling enhancements and development that improve U.S. global military capabilities. I met several American military commanders and pilots in Israel during the war with Iran this year. All of them explained how much benefit they gained from IDF experience and hard-earned battlefield capability. Add to that the immense advantages to the U.S. economy accrued through foreign-weapons sales as a result of Israeli endorsement of American combat equipment.
- Israeli intelligence is just as much a multiplier of American capabilities. Jerusalem provides Washington with vital information on enemy weapons and technology capabilities, including nuclear proliferation and cyberwar, enhancing American countermeasures. With unrivaled coverage of international jihadists, Israel also shares vital pre-emptive intelligence that has saved many American lives at home and around the world.
- Note how Israel's actions have led to the hasty withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad in December 2024. Note also how Israel easily neutralized Chinese and Russian air defenses, ballistic missiles and combat planes in Iran.
- Israel is America's most important combat multiplier. Those who actively work to harm Israel, including boycotting Israeli companies and sanctioning democratically elected politicians, are indirectly sabotaging U.S. security.
The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA.
|