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| DAILY ALERT |
Thursday, November 19, 2020 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday during a visit to Jerusalem that the U.S. now viewed an international campaign to boycott, divest from and impose sanctions on Israel as anti-Semitic and will deny government support to groups that participate in it. "We want to stand with all other nations that recognize the BDS movement for the cancer that it is," he said. During his visit, Pompeo was scheduled to visit a winery in a Jewish community in the West Bank, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to make such a visit. A year ago, Pompeo rescinded a State Department memorandum calling Jewish communities in the West Bank a violation of international law. Pompeo will also visit the Golan Heights, where President Trump recognized Israel's authority in March 2019. (New York Times) See also Fact Sheet: Furthering the U.S. Relationship with Israel (U.S. State Department) Iran has fired up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges that it had installed underground at its Natanz site, in the latest breach of its nuclear deal, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency showed. "On 14 November 2020, the Agency verified that Iran began feeding UF6 into the recently installed cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) in Natanz," the IAEA said. (Reuters) See also IAEA and U.S. Pressure Iran over Uranium Particles at "Atomic Warehouse" The IAEA and the U.S. pressured Iran on Wednesday to finally explain the origin of uranium particles found two years ago at an undeclared site that Israel has called a "secret atomic warehouse." IAEA inspectors visited the site in February 2019 and found traces of processed uranium. "They need to give us information which is credible. What they are telling us from a technical point of view doesn't add up," said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. (Reuters) President-elect Joe Biden assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Tuesday that the ties between their countries would remain strong. "The president-elect expressed his determination to ensure that the U.S.-Israel relationship is strengthened and enjoys strong bipartisan support," Biden's transition team said. Biden held a separate conversation the same day with President Reuven Rivlin. In statements describing the calls, Biden emphasized his support for "Israel's security and its future as a Jewish and democratic state." (JTA) See also Biden and Netanyahu Have "Warm Conversation" and Agree to Meet Soon - Quint Forgey (Politico) The Palestinian Authority announced Tuesday that it would restore ties with Israel, renewing civil and security cooperation after a six-month standoff that kept millions in tax revenues from reaching Palestinians in the West Bank. (Al-Monitor) See also Palestinians Quietly Return Ambassadors to UAE, Bahrain The Palestinian Authority has quietly returned its ambassadors to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates after it recalled them in protest of the two states' decision to normalize ties with Israel, according to media reports Wednesday. (Times of Israel) Hamas condemned the PA's decision to resume its relationship with Israel, saying "the decision gives justification to the normalization agreements between Arab states and Israel." Islamic Jihad warned that "it is a dangerous retreat, a departure from the national consensus." (Xinhua-China) See also Abbas Isn't Fooling Anyone with Palestinian "Victory" in Renewing Israel Ties - Amira Hass Hussein al-Sheikh, the minister for civil affairs in the Palestinian Authority, told PA TV that the renewal of coordination with Israel was "an exceptional victory for the steadfastness (of the people) and greatness of the president of the people, Mahmoud Abbas." It was totally expected that Abbas would order the renewal of security coordination. The problem is the crude lie about "victory," which is an insult to common sense. (Ha'aretz) The Palestinians are laying the groundwork for an overhaul to one of their most cherished practices, officials say: compensating those who serve time in Israeli prisons, including for violent attacks. That policy, which critics call "pay to slay," has long been denounced by Israel as giving an incentive to terrorism because it assures would-be attackers that their dependents will be well cared for. And because payments are based largely on the length of the prison sentence, critics say the most heinous crimes are the most rewarded. "They finally understand that they have to do something," said IDF Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, one of the most outspoken critics of the payments. "That's a good thing. But we need to be watchful. I'm still suspicious." (New York Times) See also Will the Palestinian Authority Stop Paying Terrorists? - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Russia will establish a naval logistic center and repair yard in Sudan under an agreement signed on Nov. 6, Russia's first military base in Africa since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The base will host up to 300 personnel and can accommodate four naval vessels. (Defense News) The FBI recorded 953 hate crimes against Jews in 2019, a 14% increase from the 835 recorded in 2018 and similar to the 938 in 2017. In 2019, hate crimes against Jews comprised 62% of all hate crimes based on religion. (JTA) See also 2019 Hate Crime Statistics (FBI) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it struck Iran-backed targets in Syria in response to explosive devices discovered by soldiers on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Syrian border on Tuesday. Israel attacked eight targets, including arms depots, military headquarters and compounds and surface-to-air missile batteries. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 10 were killed in the strike, including Syrians and Iranians. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel would not tolerate the planting of explosives in the Golan. "We cannot turn a blind eye to this. It's a grave incident." The IDF accused an Iranian-led Syrian squad of being responsible for placing the explosive devices, recalling that it intercepted troops dressed as shepherds who attempted to plant explosives in August. (Ha'aretz-IDF) See also Israel: "We Will Not Allow the Iranian Military to Attack Us from Syrian Territory" The IDF released footage from its attack on eight Syrian and Iranian military targets in southern Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We will not allow the Iranian military to establish itself in Syria, nor will we allow any attempt to attack us from Syrian territory. Whoever attacks us has a target on his head." (Ynet News) The explosive devices placed on the Israel-Syrian border and uncovered on Tuesday were anti-personnel mines activated remotely and designed to cause maximum injury to IDF troops. The IEDs were hidden inside bushes on the Israeli side of an enclave along the border that previously housed the humanitarian hospital set up by the IDF to treat Syrian civilians wounded in the civil war. Each device contained 2.5 kg. of explosives and 2,000 metal ball-bearings as shrapnel. Each IED would have killed anyone within a 15-meter radius and wounded anyone standing up to 50 meters away. The IEDs were placed along the border three weeks ago by Syrian residents of the area, guided and assisted by the Iranian Quds forces. Israeli military sources said Iranian troops are still on the ground in Syria and continue to transport weapons into the country and to command pro-Iranian militias on the Golan Heights. (Ynet News) See also IDF Identifies Unit 840 of Iran's Quds Force as Responsible for Explosives on Syrian Border - Anna Ahronheim (Jerusalem Post) Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote on Tuesday to the Security Council demanding immediate action against Hizbullah's military buildup and continued activity in southern Lebanon. UN Resolution 1701, which came into effect during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, called for "the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon" other than the Lebanese army. Erdan wrote that not only was Hizbullah never disarmed, but that it "uses human shields to protect its arsenal of more than 130,000 rockets and military infrastructure. It systematically deprives UNIFIL of its ability to discharge its mandate by restricting the organization's freedom of movement in an effort to hide its activity." Erdan included a map that shows Hizbullah terrorist tunnels, observation posts, and sites from which attacks against Israel originated. (Jerusalem Post) There were 780 new coronavirus cases in Israel on Wednesday, the Health Ministry announced Thursday morning. 304 patients are in serious condition, with 138 intubated. The death toll is 2,739. (Jerusalem Post) See also Covid-19 Cases Surge in Gaza, West Bank - Aaron Boxerman Palestinians reported a record 1,268 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, half of them in Gaza. There are currently 3,806 active coronavirus cases in Gaza and 4,948 in the West Bank. (Times of Israel) Israel has sent humanitarian assistance to Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama after severe damage caused by Hurricane Eta. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran Ron Dermer, Israel's Ambassador in Washington, said Monday that a U.S. decision to rejoin the nuclear agreement with Iran "would be a mistake." "When you have Israelis and Arabs who were saying to you, 'this is not a good idea, do not follow that path,' that should be taken into consideration." Dermer noted that both Israel and the Arab countries "were not at the table" when the agreement was discussed. "Listen to us; we have the most skin in the game, we have the most to lose, speak to us to try to work out a common position." (Jerusalem Post) Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal told the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in Washington on Tuesday: "Rejoining the nuclear agreement JCPOA as is would not do service to stability in our region. Rejoining and then negotiating the other important issues will trap diplomacy and subject it to Iranian blackmail.... Negotiating the JCPOA took years to be accomplished while Iran worked on its nuclear program. Mr. President-elect, do not repeat the mistakes and shortcomings of the first deal." "Any non-comprehensive deal would not achieve permanent peace and security in our region. The nuclear agreement has not stopped Iran's destructive behavior in our region, in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen, and in Lebanon, and in Saudi Arabia. As we saw in the direct attack on Saudi oil facilities, it is as much a threat as is its nuclear program. Therefore, there is a need for a new agreement that encompasses all issues of concern." (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The exposure of al-Qaeda's no. 2 operative, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, being protected by the Iranian regime makes it much more difficult for the Biden administration to court Iran. The leak of news of the operation in which al-Masri was killed in central Tehran will surely heighten the pressure on Biden to rethink his approach to JCPOA and Iran. Americans are likely to be enraged by the prospect of appeasing a nation that harbors and supports al-Qaeda's leadership. The writer served as Canada's ambassador to Israel. (Commentary) Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and a senior fellow at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center, told JNS that President-elect Joe Biden is entering "a very different Middle East landscape that he and his advisers cannot ignore, specifically regarding Israel and its newfound Arab relations and collaboration in particular, as it relates to the threat of Iran, illustrated by security and military ties between Israel, the Egyptians and the Saudis." "Iran and its proxies are still the largest destabilizing factors to the region. A Biden administration will contend with a more unified Middle East - a Sunni Crescent that includes Israel." Moving forward, Biden will need to "convince Israelis that he will have their best interests in mind when it comes to Iran." Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JNS, "The question is what sort of agreement [with Iran] Biden has in mind. Will it have modifications with regard to Iran's ballistic-missile program, Iran's aggression in the region and bringing in more monitoring?" The Americans "cannot get to the negotiating table and play it by ear. They must have a clear end game." (JNS) Israel-Arab Peace For decades, the received wisdom of the foreign-policy establishment insisted that Israel could not be integrated into the Middle East unless it came to terms with the Palestinians. This curious argument ran counter to Washington's own experience with Arab-Israeli peacemaking: Former President Jimmy Carter's Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, after all, included only a superficial nod to the Palestinians. Jordan signed its own peace treaty with Israel in 1994 while the Palestinian issue once again remained unresolved. Yet successive U.S. administrations appointed their various envoys and squandered time and political capital on a conflict that always eluded a solution. Iran's imperial rampage created opportunities as Sunni Arab potentates were more concerned about Tehran's designs than Palestinian aspirations. Enmity toward Iran is the currency of trust in today's Arab world. The United Arab Emirates led the way in making peace with Israel. And then came Bahrain, the stalking horse for Saudi Arabia. More peace treaties are possible unless the U.S. returns to its previous path of lecturing the House of Saud that it must share the Middle East with the Islamists. The writer, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, was senior advisor on Iran at the U.S. State Department. (Foreign Policy) The Abraham Accords was the first in a wave of peace agreements by countries that made the decision to de-prioritize their pointless historical animosities with Israel and to instead emphasize their own national priorities - namely, to look at how Israel and the U.S. can advance their own interests. The incoming administration should see that diplomacy with countries peripheral to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a greater chance of success than does direct engagement with the Palestinians themselves. The more countries on the path to normalizing with Israel, the more the Palestinians will feel the pressure to negotiate and compromise. Blindly yielding back leverage to the intransigent Palestinian leadership is not likely to encourage successful diplomacy. The incoming administration should enlist the Arab states that normalized ties with Israel to play an intermediary role. Helpful allies can convey the friendly, yet tough, messages to the sclerotic Palestinian leadership that those leaders need to hear. Specifically, calls to conquer Israel must be seen for what they are: unrealistic and silly. No less outlandish is the Palestinian call for the "right of return" of five million Palestinians to live in Israel. This narrative must finally be put to rest. The writer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (Newsweek) The Palestinians now say they are opposed to Muslims who believe in peace with Israel visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They say a Muslim who believes in Israel's right to exist is not entitled to pray at Al-Aqsa. Although the site is sacred to all Muslims, the Palestinians have somehow convinced themselves that Al-Aqsa is their private property and that they have the right to prevent other Muslims from praying there. This is why Palestinians insulted and expelled an Emirati delegation that visited Al-Aqsa on Oct. 19. The threats and abuse by the Palestinians have drawn sharp criticism from several Muslims, especially those living in the Gulf states. These Muslims have condemned the Palestinian "thugs" who harass and insult Muslim worshippers during their visit. They are also demanding an end to the Palestinian "monopoly" over the Islamic holy site in Jerusalem, saying: "The Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to all Muslims, and not only the Palestinians." Once again, the Palestinians have opted for hating Israel and any Arab who seeks peace with it. (Gatestone Institute) Israel and the United Nations At the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in October and November, the same Israel-bashing resolutions were re-adopted by the same automatic majorities, including the EU states and other countries ostensibly friendly to Israel. In many respects, these resolutions duplicate each other, all having one central aim - to criticize, single-out and to delegitimize Israel. Why would any self-respecting, democratic countries want to be a party to this gross abuse of the aims and purposes of the UN as well as the terms and spirit of the UN Charter? The resolutions determine in advance that the territories are Palestinian and demand and impose upon Israel a one-sided resolution of the conflict, totally incompatible with any genuine negotiating process. The annual Israel-bashing festival in the UN and its specialized agencies appears to have become an accepted evil within organized international society, to which most observers pay minimal if any serious attention. However, at a time when peace and normalization between Israel and Arab states are developing, it is high time that the UN and its specialized agencies seriously review this annual Israel-bashing parade. The writer, former legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, heads the International Law Program at the Jerusalem Center. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The UN's World Health Organization wasted four hours last week in Geneva debating how bad Israel is - and then voted to adopt a resolution to do it again next year. As usual, Israel was the only country in the dock. As usual, the sponsors of this tripe were Cuba, Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the PLO, all world leaders in excellent medical research and care. Israel actually does have one of the world's best tech and science sectors and a long tradition of providing superb health care to all, regardless of politics or religion or nationality. Israel has coordinated with the Palestinians to monitor, prevent and treat Covid-19, and admitted fleeing refugees from the Syrian civil war needing urgent medical treatment. (New York Daily News) See also Israel-Bashing at the WHO - in the Middle of a Pandemic - Editorial (New York Post) See also WHO Coronavirus Meeting Descends into Israel-Bashing Session - Ariel Kahana (Israel Hayom) The UAE and Bahrain, which recently normalized relations with Israel, supported seven UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel this month. The UN continues to nurture grievances instead of promoting solutions. It's time for Arab countries to stop voting for anti-Israel resolutions and to start working with the U.S. and Israel to eliminate the UN's institutional barriers to peace. David May is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Richard Goldberg serves as a senior adviser. (Washington Examiner) Other Issues During the last several years, the Iranian military involvement in Syria has grown and become more visible. Iran has created the Local Defense Forces (LDF), supporting specific brigades within the Syrian army and, most recently, establishing local private security companies. Foreign fighters and local militias employed by Iran in Syria are funded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Afghan Shia Fatemiyoun Brigade has 3-14,000 fighters spread between three battalions in Damascus, Aleppo, and Hama provinces. The Pakistani Shia Zaynibion Brigade has 1-5,000 fighters. Lebanese Hizbullah has 5-8,000 fighters in Syria. (Atlantic Council) Hizbullah's presence in southern Syria is significantly larger than previously known, according to a recent report by the Alma Research and Education Center. The report revealed the location of 58 sites linked to Hizbullah activities in southern Syria in Quneitra and Dara'a provinces. Two primary Hizbullah units are present, acting under Iranian patronage: The "Southern Command," made up of veteran Hizbullah operatives embedded in the ranks of the Syrian Armed Forces; and the "Golan File" unit, which involves Hizbullah commanders orchestrating localized terror cells made up of Syrians. According to the report, the Southern Command is preparing operational plans and conducting intelligence-gathering in anticipation of the next war with Israel. (JNS) See also Hizbullah's Deployment in Southern Syria - Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri (Alma Research & Education Center) The L.A. Times ran an article on Nov. 10 with the headline, "Biden's Win Poses a Dilemma for Autocrats." It was journalistic malpractice to include a section about Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, under that title. Autocracy is a system of government in which one person, the autocrat, has absolute power. Israel is the only proven democracy in the Middle East and is a free country, according to the American nonprofit advocacy organization Freedom House. Whether one supports or opposes Netanyahu and his policies, it is an objective fact that he is in office as a result of free and fair elections in Israel. He does not wield absolute power in his country, but rather shares it with the legislative and judicial branches. The writer is co-founder and chief executive of StandWithUs. (Los Angeles Times) Hamed 'Abdel-Samad, an Egyptian writer living in Germany, wrote in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Maqal on Nov. 5: "The Islamists have once again struck in Europe," raising "numerous questions regarding Europe's treatment of political Islam....Western politicians are still confounded and don't know how to destroy this monster which [they themselves] permitted to grow in the name of cultural tolerance and pluralism." "Political Islam...has infiltrated Europe and is now attempting to impose its laws on the descendants of Voltaire, Immanuel Kant and Mozart. It is trying to intimidate anyone who criticizes it and wants to dictate what the teachers say in schools, what lecturers say in the universities and what writers [write] in their articles and books." "I came to Germany 25 years ago to live here in freedom and express my opinion without having to fear for my life or risk ending it in jail. Yet after all these years...I have started to travel only in an armored vehicle. I don't dare buy bread without an escort of seven officers from the Special Forces tasked with protecting public figures, and I don't deliver a lecture without wearing a bulletproof vest. Here I am, living in prison in the heart of Europe, fearing for my life every day, because the Islamist monster reached this country [Germany]." (MEMRI) Observations: Why Does the EU Involve Itself in Israeli Building Plans in Its Capital? - Editorial (Jerusalem Post)
See also BBC Ignores Impartiality Guidelines in Report on Jerusalem Housing Construction - Hadar Sela On Nov. 16, BBC News published a report headlined "Israeli plan for new East Jerusalem settler homes criticised." The report includes a partisan map created by the political NGO B'Tselem. Readers are also provided with the unchallenged view of a Palestinian Authority representative, while there is no comment included from either the Israeli government or the Jerusalem municipality. Nor are they informed that the project includes housing for Arab residents. The site has been used for temporary housing for new immigrants from the former USSR and Ethiopia since 1991. BBC has never presented its audiences with any viewpoint which contradicts the narrative advanced by the political NGOs which it repeatedly chooses to quote and promote. (CAMERA-UK) |
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