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In-Depth Issues:
Israel Holds Off on Next Phase of Trump Gaza Plan - Amichai Stein ( Jerusalem Post)
Israel has yet to sign or formally approve the roadmap for implementing the next phase of President Trump's Gaza plan, amid growing opposition inside the Security Cabinet and warnings that Hamas intends to use the process to restrict Israel's military freedom of action.
Israel Security Agency Director David Zini warned ministers that Hamas views the proposed demilitarization process as an opportunity to buy time and constrain Israel rather than as a path toward genuinely giving up its military capabilities.
Zini said that for Hamas, the roadmap amounted to a "diplomatic Oct. 7," allowing it to achieve politically what it had failed to achieve militarily.
Cabinet ministers broadly opposed restrictions on Israeli military operations, including targeted strikes against Hamas operatives.
Israel has demanded genuine and verifiable demilitarization of Gaza and has insisted that Hamas cannot retain military capabilities while the IDF withdraws.
Is Israel Really Obligated to Lay Off Hamas? - Elliot Kaufman ( Wall Street Journal)
Gaza mediators Turkey, Egypt and Qatar released a joint statement on Aug. 3 stating that Israel's continued targeted strikes on Hamas leaders and perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre "constitutes a breach of the [ceasefire] agreement."
Israel resumed strikes because Hamas had refused to disarm for the past 10 months, contrary to their 2025 agreement.
Senior U.S. officials fear Israel stands in the way of its new Gaza roadmap.
Turkey and Qatar sponsor and praise Hamas. Egypt long turned a blind eye to Hamas arms smuggling and prefers the group to the Israeli military on its border.
Young Washington envoys lecture Israeli leaders behind closed doors, claiming to be doing Jerusalem a favor by pursuing its true long-term interest, if only Israel's leaders were enlightened enough to see.
In the 10 months since the Gaza war's end, not one Hamas terrorist has forfeited his weapon. We haven't seen a Hamas signature on the new roadmap, either, whatever that may be worth.
Instead, we have Hamas Politburo member Ghazi Hamad, best known for promising to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre "again and again," telling the Journal, "We didn't say disarmament, we didn't say handing over the weapons."
If the terrorists now tell the mediators that they are ready to deal, it is likely because they are steadily losing territory and top members.
Beirut Says It Will Take Months to Implement Southern Lebanon Demilitarized Pilot Zones Program - Amos Harel ( Ha'aretz)
The implementation of the agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon in June, which calls for the disarming of Hizbullah and the gradual withdrawal of the IDF from southern Lebanon, is expected to continue very slowly.
So far, the Lebanese army has taken over only one of the two pilot areas.
Israel believes the Lebanese army is making an effort to abide by its commitments, but the army's fifth division, composed primarily of Shi'ite soldiers and commanders, has tight relations with Hizbullah, making it hard to rely on it to uphold the agreement.
Arab media report that Israel and Lebanon have agreed on Britain, Indonesia, Italy and Switzerland
taking part in a new monitoring mechanism meant to stabilize the situation in southern Lebanon, replacing UNIFIL.
Israel Should Strike Hizbullah Activity in Southern Lebanon while Avoiding a Return to All-Out War ( Jerusalem Post)
Israel should intensify strikes against any Hizbullah activity detected in southern Lebanon while avoiding a declaration that the ceasefire has ended, former head of the Mossad's counterterrorism division Oded Ailam told 103FM on Thursday.
"Let us not forget that we are also holding talks with the Lebanese....The talks are important, not because the Lebanese army will take control of the area tomorrow and establish the Principality of Liechtenstein. That will not happen."
"But over time, it matters that we, and not only we but the world, give significant legitimacy to the idea that there is one sovereign authority, and that is Lebanon."
"I would recommend striking with force anywhere in southern Lebanon where we identify any kind of organizing, without any reservations and without any restrictions."
Hamas Shifts Covert Activities from Qatar to Turkey - Jonah Davidov ( Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian sources say that most of Hamas's covert activities have been transferred from Qatar to Turkey, while Qatar will continue to host its leadership and public-facing activities.
This comes as a result of Hamas's decision to appoint Iran-backed Khalil al-Hayya as its leader instead of Khaled Meshaal, who had closer ties to Qatar.
Hayya, who served as Hamas's chief negotiator during the Israel-Hamas War, was chosen to be head of Hamas's political bureau on July 20 to replace Yahyah Sinwar, who was killed in Gaza in October 2024.
Visa Buys Israeli Fraud Prevention Company BioCatch for $2.4 Billion - Assaf Gilead ( Globes)
Visa announced on Aug. 3 that it will acquire Israeli digital fraud and financial crime protection company BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash.
BioCatch has developed a system for managing user identities based on biological parameters such as mouse movements and individual browsing habits.
In 2025, the company entered the financial crime prevention business by launching a product that offers a more proactive approach to identifying bank accounts used for fraud.
BioCatch today protects 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users worldwide. It serves 350 banks, including 100 of the world's largest.
U.S., Canadian Healthcare Failing to Address Rising Antisemitism since Oct. 7 - Mathilda Heller ( Jerusalem Post)
A new study reveals an international resurgence in antisemitism in healthcare education and practice since Oct. 7, 2023, prominently affecting the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia.
A recent survey revealed that 88% of Jewish medical students and physicians in the U.S. have reported experiencing antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, compared to 40% before that date.
In a 2024 survey of Jewish healthcare professionals in the UK, 95% reported an increase in antisemitism in their daily lives since Oct. 7, and 73% reported experiencing at least one antisemitic incident.
In Canada, a review of 1,000 Canadian Jewish medical professionals and students found that only 1% felt antisemitism was a severe problem in the medical field before Oct. 7, compared to 98% after.
See also Anatomy of Antisemitism in Health Professions Education and Practice - Hedy S. Wald and Steven Roth ( Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal)
Iranians Suffer from Chronic Energy and Water Crisis - Sogand Sara Fakheri ( Iran International)
Reports from across Iran describe daily electricity cuts lasting for hours alongside recurring water shortages.
In Boumehen, east of Tehran, residents reportedly received running water on only two days during one week, and even then for only a few hours.
In Pardis, a resident of a 14-story building said a four-hour power cut left the elevators out of service.
In Ilam, power cuts lasted as long as four hours while temperatures reached 46 degrees Celsius.
A country with some of the world's largest oil and natural gas reserves cannot guarantee electricity to its own population.
Factories lose production hours, small businesses lose income, food and medicine spoil, and families organize their days around outage schedules that are not always accurate.
The writer heads the Iran desk at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Iran Issues a List of Demands - Yeganeh Torbati
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, issued a statement carried by state media on Saturday laying out multiple requirements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic.
He called for the U.S. to lift its naval blockade and sanctions on Iran, withdraw the U.S. military from around Iran, pay war reparations and release frozen Iranian assets, as well as end attacks on Iran's allies in the region and threats against the country.
On Saturday, the Emirati Foreign Ministry said an Iranian attack had targeted a tanker belonging to the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as it crossed the Strait of Hormuz. The company said on Friday that at least 15 of its vessels were attacked in the waterway since the conflict began. (New York Times)
See also Iran Sees an Opening to Kick the U.S. Out of the Gulf - David S. Cloud
Iran is vowing to bar U.S. Navy ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz as part of an agreement to reopen the waterway. Iran's leaders see an opportunity to use negotiations on ending the war to dislodge the U.S. as the dominant power in the Persian Gulf. The headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is in Bahrain in the Gulf.
The Trump administration would only accept an arrangement in the Strait of Hormuz where Iran receives no tolls or fees and can't deny anyone access to the waterway, a U.S. official said. Another American official said the U.S. would lift its blockade on Iranian ports if Tehran opened the strait without impediments.
The Revolutionary Guard-linked Fars News Agency reported that Israeli ships would be banned from transiting the strait, along with ships or cargo linked to actions against Iran's regional militia allies. Countries that have caused damage to Iran would have to pay compensation before being allowed to transit. (Wall Street Journal)
- Federal Probe Reveals How Hamas Coerces Gaza Aid Groups, Diverts American Aid Dollars - Adam Kredo
Hamas officials routinely bullied and intimidated employees of U.S.-funded NGOs operating in Gaza in order to control their operations, according to a June 24 investigatory report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Inspector General's office. The report provides definitive proof that Hamas is interfering in aid operations and threatening workers on the ground.
In one case, Hamas Ministry of Interior personnel ordered a humanitarian group "to provide material support to some specific families that they had identified." Hamas officials warned that failure to comply with their order would result in the police shutting down the group's aid operation.
The report says aid operations are subject to strict oversight by Hamas personnel who are often stationed at hospitals and aid depots.
(Washington Free Beacon)
- British Muslim Charity Funded Hamas, Says FBI - Hayley Dixon
The Al-Khair Foundation, one of Britain's biggest Muslim charities, was used as a front to send money and "truckloads" of goods to Hamas in Gaza under the guise of aid, the FBI has said. Mohammad Yousef Hasna, its "global director," was arrested in London last week and is now facing extradition to the U.S., accused of financing and conspiring to support the Palestinian terror group.
The Al-Khair Foundation, a registered UK charity and partner of the UN's refugee agency, had an income of 74 million pounds in 2025. The foundation also runs Islamic schools in Britain and abroad.
(Telegraph-UK)
See also Charity Must Not Be Given to Our Enemies - Editorial (Telegraph-UK)
See also Investigation Launched into International Aid Charity over Links with Hamas (Charity Commission for England and Wales)
See also Turkey-Based Global Director of Sham Charity Arrested and Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Hamas (U.S. Department of Justice)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israeli Mother and Son Narrowly Escape Palestinian Mob in Jenin - Idan Bloemhof
An Israeli mother and her son were saved Thursday from an attempted lynching that occurred after they mistakenly drove into the city of Jenin on their way to meet friends further north in Afula.
"I realized that Waze had taken us to Jenin," the mother said. "Dozens of Arabs tried to open the doors, threw stones at us and tried to stop us." While they were being attacked, the two contacted the Samaria Regional Council security hotline, which guided them out. "I drove as fast as I could and managed to get out of there with my son." The two escaped unharmed, though their vehicle sustained heavy damage.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said, "This incident could never have happened without the Palestinian Authority's incitement." (Ynet News)
- Hamas Pushes Palestinians to Kill Israeli-Backed Militia Members - Dana Ben-Shimon
Hamas's Rada Force, a special security unit responsible for addressing internal threats - such as collaborating with Israel - has called to eliminate the top members of "collaborator gangs." The force stated on Thursday that "with the assistance of residents, it apprehended a Palestinian closely linked to senior militia collaborators," and his weapons and money were confiscated. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Anti-Hamas Gaza Clans Inflicted Heavy Losses - Amir Bohbot
Armed Bedouin clans in Gaza fought Hamas at the height of its activity and inflicted significant casualties, Israeli security officials said Sunday. Since the ceasefire, they have helped secure the Yellow Line and the area west of it, while also assisting in locating weapons and terrorist infrastructure above and below ground. A security official said, "The activity of the anti-Hamas clans...is very effective and is proceeding according to plan."
Senior officials on the Peace Council, with U.S. backing, want the Bedouin clans, which are based in more than three locations across Gaza, to be disarmed, while the Israeli security establishment is planning to keep some of the clans inside the Yellow Line under the IDF's operational responsibility in order to protect them from harm. (Jerusalem Post)
- New UNICEF-Led Survey Challenges Gaza Famine Claims
A new UNICEF-led survey revealed that the levels of malnutrition in Gaza children are lower or similar to those registered before the Israel-Hamas war. Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Thursday, "Once again, facts prevail over fiction. UN bodies are acknowledging that the false narrative against Israel is falling apart. Israel is not starving children. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorism, while Hamas uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. Those who rushed to accuse Israel must now be held accountable for spreading lies."
The nutrition survey, using World Health Organization methodology, found that acute malnutrition rates across Gaza ranged between 0.2% and 0.8%. These levels are significantly lower than those reported in neighboring countries Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Israel's Foreign Ministry stated, "There is no famine in Gaza. Malnutrition is not only significantly below the critical values - it is exceptionally low in regional comparison. Anyone who is still open to arguments can look at the empirical data themselves." According to the survey, overweight is also present across Gaza.
(Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran
- Would Another Military Round Compel Iran to Fundamentally Change Its Policies? - Major (res.) Danny Citrinowicz
Washington is far from certain that another military campaign would bring Iran to the negotiating table from a position of weakness. Had the administration returned to the operational pattern that characterized the previous campaign, eliminating senior officials, striking weapons-production facilities and damaging Iran's military apparatus, it would undoubtedly have inflicted further harm on Tehran's military capabilities. But there is no reason to assume that this would have changed Iran's position on the core issues, including control of the Strait of Hormuz.
There is no doubt that the U.S. has the military capability to inflict unprecedented damage on Iran. The question is whether such damage would produce the desired strategic result. Iran is not invulnerable and has significant weaknesses, but it has also demonstrated a far greater degree of resilience than many had anticipated.
The writer is former head of the Iran Division in the IDF Military Intelligence Research Department. (Israel Hayom)
- The Ethical Case for Finishing the War Against Iran - Walter E. Block and James Delmore
Polls in the West show large majorities in both the U.S. and Europe opposed to the U.S.-Israeli war against the Iranian government. Politicians have called it morally indefensible. They are wrong. Bullies deserve to be punished, criminal dictators deserve to be overthrown, initiators of war deserve to lose them.
Every war has a price. The question is whether the rewards outweigh the costs. First, the rights of Iranians need protection. For more than four decades, Iranians have lived under a regime that systematically suppresses basic human rights. Citizens can be imprisoned or even killed for criticizing the government, protesting in public, removing a headscarf.
Iran's government needs to be held accountable. The Islamic Republic just murdered 30,000 of its own citizens for protesting the regime. Beyond Iran's borders, the regime has spent decades funding and directing Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis, exporting violence as a tool of regional policy. A government that operates this way has no legitimate claim to the sovereignty protections it demands.
The institutions built to prevent governments from slaughtering their own citizens have a well-documented response to the Islamic Republic: They tend to write reports about it. After the massacre of protesters in Iran earlier this year, the UN produced empty statements and no action. The International Criminal Court in the Hague issued no indictments.
The U.S. and Israel stepped in when the UN and the international community refused to do so. For the first time in decades, the Iranian regime is facing real consequences, not empty condemnations. (JNS)
- Iran Bets Control over Strait of Hormuz Can Force Trump to Bend - Joseph Krauss and Amir-Hussein Radjy
Iran's leaders are betting that their own victory is at hand, that they will ultimately force the U.S. to accept their control over the Strait of Hormuz, and that time is on their side. Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran's chief negotiator, posted on social media: "Iran is going after the enemy's defeat - not an agreement." Iran has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz will not go back to being an open waterway, and that it will keep attacking ships trying to transit without its permission.
Formal control over even part of the strait would be a clear win for Iran and a loss for the U.S. It would also deal a blow to global norms on freedom of navigation and set a precedent that much of the world would find disturbing - that nations can shut down trade choke points at will.
Rahman Ghahremanpour, an Iran-based analyst, noted that Iran's resilience has limits. "Iran cannot continue with this strategy forever, and at a certain point, in reality, it has to reach a deal with America." (Times of Israel)
Gaza
- Bribing Hamas Will Not Bring Peace - It Will Finance the Next War - Khaled Abu Toameh
According to a recent report on Israel's Channel 11, the Gaza Board of Peace is considering paying Palestinian terrorists thousands of dollars in exchange for surrendering their rifles. Participants in the internationally funded program would also be required to renounce violence.
The proposal rests on dangerously flawed assumptions. The first is that Islamist terrorists can be persuaded to abandon jihad (holy war) in exchange for money. The second is that those who surrender weapons will genuinely renounce terrorism.
In 2020, the group's slain leader, Ismail Haniyeh, proudly revealed that his group had rejected an offer worth $15 billion in development projects for Gaza. The package reportedly included an airport, a seaport, industrial zones, massive economic projects, and the lifting of restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt. The only condition was that Hamas dismantle its military infrastructure, surrender its weapons, and integrate its fighters into civilian institutions.
Haniyeh's response was: "Our principle is Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea," making clear that Hamas preferred its jihad against Israel over billions of dollars in international investment. Why would anyone believe that paying individual Hamas members a few thousand dollars today would produce a different outcome? It will not. The terrorist group consciously choses war over prosperity. It refuses to abandon its ideological commitment to destroying Israel.
Anyone still claiming that Oct. 7 was caused by economic hardship should listen to Haniyeh's admission. Hamas had a choice. It deliberately chose terrorism. Even if Hamas agrees to "store" some heavy weapons, it does not need heavy weapons to massacre civilians. It would continue to possess tens of thousands of automatic rifles. Allowing Hamas to retain small arms means allowing it to preserve its ability to murder again.
Money does not moderate jihadists; it strengthens them. Jihadists do not become peace activists because they receive a paycheck. They are driven by ideology and religious extremism. For them, armed jihad is a divine obligation. No rehabilitation seminar can erase decades of indoctrination. (Gatestone Institute)
- How Hamas Plans to Remain Armed - Prof. Eyal Zisser
Anyone wondering where Hamas is really headed received a clear answer a month ago with the election of Khalil al-Hayya as the organization's leader. Al-Hayya is among the most hard-line of the senior Hamas leaders who remain, holds views close to those of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and has close ties to Iran.
The Board of Peace (BoP) was launched in Jan. 2026 to establish a Palestinian local administration backed by an international force, demilitarize Gaza, and lead its reconstruction. The BoP has now published a roadmap that calls for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Hamas is prepared to allow a Palestinian administration in Gaza to take care of sewage and garbage collection, provide food and health services to the local population, and deploy traffic police. But Hamas has no intention of giving up its weapons and relinquishing its grip on the ground. Its model is Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Hamas cannot afford to disarm. The moment it gives up its weapons, its Palestinian rivals, and there are many of them, could launch a bloody campaign of revenge against Hamas members for everything the terrorist organization has done to them during its two decades of rule in Gaza.
Hamas would be willing to place its heavy weapons, assuming it still has many left, into storage in Gaza. But it would not surrender its rifles, rocket launchers, and anti-tank missiles. Those weapons would be kept for the right moment, even if Hamas has to wait months or years. This ticking time bomb must be defused, sooner rather than later, before facts are established on the ground, whether by our friends or by our enemies.
The writer is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.
(Israel Hayom)
Palestinian Arabs
- UNESCO Joins Palestinians in Rewriting Jewish History in Judea and Samaria - David M. Weinberg
Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland, are rich with Jewish national heritage sites. Since the start of the Oslo process, the Palestinian Authority has acted to destroy archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria - purposefully plundering Jewish antiquities, razing historical Jewish sites, and working in international institutions to erase the Jewish/Israeli identity of such places.
In 2026, the PA submitted a long list of undeniably Jewish historical sites to the World Heritage List at UNESCO, rebranding the sites as "Palestinian" or "Islamic" heritage locations while expunging any Jewish association with them. UNESCO essentially has become a willing partner in a campaign of systematic Jewish identity erasure, amounting to cultural genocide.
According to UNESCO, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is not really the Temple Mount. In 2018, UNESCO passed a series of resolutions (proposed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas) declaring Jerusalem an exclusively Muslim heritage city and criminalizing Israel's custodianship of the city. At Palestinian urging, UNESCO also declared the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron as "State of Palestine" heritage sites.
In July, at the behest of the PA, UNESCO declared Sebastia - the capital of the biblical kingdom of Israel - as a Palestinian-associated World Heritage site. Now, UNESCO is considering the declaration of 22 additional properties in Judea and Samaria as Palestinian cultural assets including Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found; Herodian National Park, the fortress built by King Herod; and Solomon's Pools and the aqueducts leading to King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. All these sites are in Israeli-controlled territory, and none bear a historical or cultural connection under any plausible claim to "Palestinian heritage."
The writer is managing senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. (Jerusalem Post)
U.S.-Israel Relations
- Israel Is Making Plans for a Post-America Middle East - Tom O'Connor
Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis says what worries him most is not the bouts of conflict in the Middle East. It's a drift in American politics that could one day spell the end of the historic U.S.-Israel alliance. Citing recent electoral victories by candidates espousing criticism of Israel, Akunis argued that "the reality is that some people here, for sure, prefer the ayatollahs rather than the American administration....To prefer your enemies rather than your political opponents, this is something new."
While it was his "hope that the United States of America will always be with us, we will need to prepare ourselves to be more independent than we used to be," given the trends he was witnessing.
It's not just Iran and its predominantly Shiite Muslim Axis of Resistance that Israel sees on its threat radar. An emerging "quartet" comprising the leading Sunni Muslim powers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan is also viewed with deep suspicion. "The ayatollahs are still in Iran. So, we need to solve this problem, and then we'll talk about the next challenge," Akunis said.
It's those in the West who direct their outrage not toward Iran but Israel that he blames most.
"Those people do not say even one word about the ayatollahs, not even one word about their slogan 'Death to America,' and not even one word about the Iran massacre [of civilians]. What is it? Gaza, Gaza, Gaza."
"I can give you an answer about Gaza. Gaza can be like the Emirates, or Bahrain, or Singapore of the Middle East. No Hamas? Gaza can be prosperous. By the way, like in Lebanon. No Hizbullah? Lebanon can be prosperous." (Newsweek)
Antisemitism
- Has "Never Again" Blinded Us? - Barry Mellinger
I am a grandchild of Holocaust survivors - barely survivors - who stepped out of the camps into a world emptied of everyone they had ever loved. In the last three years, atrocities beyond imagination have been inflicted on us.
Again and again we have watched parents bury their children. They tried to erase our entire nation. They tried to kill our faith and everything we bring to the world. And yet we rose again. We flourished, and we carried our dead forward by naming our sons and daughters after them and by making the world a better place.
"Never Again" rests on a hope. We believed the world would learn, that no one could confront the piles of shoes, the children's faces, the naked corpses, and remain unchanged. But only those who already felt some bond to Jews were capable of caring. Millions did not. Billions did not. The world walked through our museums and remained largely unmoved, or moved only briefly, never long enough to restrain antisemitism.
We wanted to believe morality could be taught. But not for the Jewish question. Pain does not create affinity; affinity must already exist for empathy to take root. And without that affinity, without some prior sense of connection to Jews as a living people, whatever response we think we see is not empathy, it is a grimace.
We spent decades in the belief that if we exposed everything, if we spared nothing, truth itself would end antisemitism. It would compel compassion. It never did. Antisemitism was not waiting for enlightenment. It was waiting for permission. For years now, the world has behaved as if there were a statute of limitations on the moral freeze that followed the Holocaust, as if the restraint purchased by our six million dead had quietly expired. After the Oct. 7 pogrom, there was no pause in Jew-hatred, not even for one day.
Antisemitism does not respond to evidence. It does not submit to reason. Hitler did not murder Jews because of what they believed, how they lived, or what they owned. He murdered the poor and the rich, the pious and the secular, the assimilated and the insular, the newborn and the elderly. There was no argument that could have saved them. There never is. (Times of Israel)
Observations:
- The recent statement by Global Affairs Canada condemning "the ongoing violence in the West Bank" and exhorting against "the expansion of Israeli settlements" appears to be both misinformed and misguided. Violence of any kind directed against Arab or Jewish residents cannot be condoned, and must be punished in accordance with the law. This is a clear societal norm in any civilized society.
- However, in specifically condemning violence in the West Bank, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand appears to forget, or chooses to ignore, the ongoing, near-daily acts of Palestinian terror carried out against Israeli citizens. In so doing, she is in effect turning a blind eye to such terror, and sanctioning it.
- Regrettably, Minister Anand appears to be characterizing instances of violence committed by marginal and irresponsible groups of youth as if it is the officially sanctioned policy of the Israeli government. There exists no Israeli policy encouraging or sanctioning violence against Arabs. Such violence is clearly illegal and, as in any normal society, law enforcement bodies are required to act against it.
- To dub this "settler violence" would appear to be contrived and malicious. The absurdity of such a negative buzz phrase directed only against Israel is particularly blatant when one compares this with the violence and hooliganism seen around the world, including the violence and hate seen at political marches and demonstrations on campuses and on major thoroughfares throughout Canada.
- Global Affairs' statement that Israel's settlements are "illegal under international law and undermine prospects for peace, security and stability" is no less ill-advised. Customary international law enables an administering authority, in governing territory it holds, to use and benefit from land that is not privately owned, as long as it refrains from altering the status of the land, pending the negotiation of a peaceful settlement of the dispute.
- The Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, which established a special legal regime applicable to the West Bank, overriding any other legal framework, accorded to both sides the power to conduct zoning, planning and construction projects in the areas under their respective control and administration, pending the outcome of negotiations between the parties on the permanent status of the territories.
- To claim that communities that were legitimately established and comport with Palestinian-Israeli agreements are illegal and "undermine prospects for peace, security and stability" would appear to indicate a lack of knowledge on the part of those advising Global Affairs Canada in general, and Minister Anand in particular.
As the former ambassador of Israel to Canada, it is distressing to see how the relationship between our two countries has deteriorated.
The writer served as legal adviser to Israel's foreign ministry and as Israel's ambassador to Canada (2004-2008). He heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
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