Prepared for the Conference of Presidents | |
| DAILY ALERT |
Friday, December 21, 2018 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
President Trump on Thursday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. He tweeted: "Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there [sic] work." Those countries would now have to "fight ISIS and others" without the U.S. He also asked if the U.S. wants to be the "Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever?" (The Hill) See also U.S. Secretary of Defense Mattis Resigns over Troop Withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan - Paul Sonne (Washington Post) See also France Says Islamic State Not Defeated, Troops to Remain in Syria - John Irish and Jean-Baptiste Vey France will keep troops in northern Syria for now because Islamic State militants have not been wiped out, officials in Paris said. France has special forces deployed alongside Kurdish and Arab forces, and carries out air strikes against ISIS. (Reuters) See also below Commentary: U.S. Withdraws Troops from Syria The Trump administration has ordered the military to start withdrawing 7,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming months, two defense officials said Thursday. Besides the current contingent of 14,000 American troops, there are also 8,000 NATO and allied troops deployed in Afghanistan, tasked with training and advising the Afghan forces. More than 2,400 Americans have died in Afghanistan since 2001, and this year 13 were killed in combat. (New York Times) Iran's nuclear archive, captured by Israel, contains documentary evidence showing Iran's deceptions in its declarations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its past military nuclear activities. One case of deception involves the Gchine uranium mine and yellowcake production plant in southern Iran near Bandar Abbas. Gchine represented key nuclear source material toward Iran's production of highly enriched uranium (HEU) for nuclear weapons. The new documents show that Gchine was originally part of Iran's covert nuclear fuel cycle aimed at the production of nuclear weapons and directly contradict Iran's multiple declarations to the IAEA. (Foundation for Defense of Democracies) See also Anatomy of Iran's Deception and How Iran Benefited (Institute for Science and International Security) Donorbox, a U.S. software company which makes fundraising management software, said Friday it blocked the fundraising account of the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel following a complaint that the campaign has links to militant organizations. The complaint from Shurat HaDin, an Israeli advocacy group, was submitted in coordination with Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry. The complaint noted that the boycott movement's membership includes the "Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine," an umbrella group that includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which have been branded terrorist organizations by the U.S. (AP-New York Times) British taxpayers are still funding "lessons in hate" at Palestinian schools. It emerged last year that the UK's Department for International Development has helped pay the salaries of officials who drew up a new curriculum that teaches children the virtues of becoming a jihadi. Plays put on at schools and summer camps have even included pupils staging mock executions. One in Hebron featured a child draped in Palestinian colors "shooting" another dressed as an Israeli soldier. Textbooks teach five-year-olds the words for "martyr" and "attack," while teenagers are told that those who sacrifice themselves will be rewarded with "72 virgin brides in paradise." Joan Ryan MP, chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, said aid to the Palestinian Authority should be suspended until the books are removed. Britain is giving the Palestinian Authority 70 million pounds in the current financial year. (Daily Mail-UK) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
After the U.S. announced the withdrawal of its troops from Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, "We will continue to act in Syria to prevent Iran's effort to militarily entrench itself against us. We are not reducing our efforts; we will increase our efforts. I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the U.S." Netanyahu spoke by phone on Thursday with President Trump, their second conversation this week on Syria. Netanyahu's office said that the two leaders discussed ways to continue their joint cooperation against Iranian aggression. (Jerusalem Post) The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that it started destroying the attack tunnels dug by Hizbullah into Israeli territory under the Lebanese border. The army blew up a cross-border tunnel dug from the Lebanese village of Ramia on Thursday night. (Ha'aretz) The Israeli government is working to defuse any problems that may arise from a planned Chinese takeover of Haifa Port in 2021, senior officials told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "The State of Israel is dealing with all aspects connected to the establishment and management of infrastructure by foreign companies in Israel," said Intelligence and Transportation Minister Israel Katz, who pioneered the project and is also a member of the security cabinet. Israeli officials confirmed that the government was reviewing how to ensure that Chinese construction and management of the port does not adversely impact ties with the U.S. The Americans are said to be concerned that China will use the port to gather intelligence on U.S. interests. The Israeli security cabinet recently convened to discuss issue and agreed to set up a mechanism to prevent possible problems. Israel understands American sensitivities regarding China's presence, another official explained, but faces a challenge finding international companies with expertise in building and managing ports. China's Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), which operates the largest port in the world in Shanghai, was the sole bidder for the Haifa project. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
U.S. Withdraws Troops from Syria After the U.S. announced it was withdrawing from Syria, Dore Gold, former director general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: "Western intervention on the ground in the Middle East has produced two results that need to be avoided. The first is a quagmire and endless war. But the second is that premature withdrawal emboldens the forces of jihad that will claim the West is weak. This latter problem arose when the Soviets left Afghanistan and al-Qaeda was born. It was seen when Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas took over. This could give ISIS a new lease on life. It could also give Iran the sense that it is winning on the battlefield, regardless of the sanctions it faces." "A careful balancing act is needed. Only the U.S. can calibrate the necessary mix of force and diplomacy that will be needed, since the lives of American soldiers are involved. But Israel will be there to the extent that its assistance is sought." (Jewish Insider) In its decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, the Trump administration has sent Israel the message that it will need to deal with the worst players in the region on its own. This is, in fact, how Israel has conducted itself until now. The number of U.S. forces stationed in Syria was fairly small to begin with, and Israel has been operating inside Syrian territory as it saw fit and without American assistance. This move by the Americans teaches Israelis that the guiding principle of the man in the Oval Office will always be to act in what he believes is America's best interest, even if doing so means damaging America's image in the short-term. Trump also believes that even if the move is chided by various experts in the field, the average American citizen is with him. Israel's takeaway must be that when it comes to foreign affairs and security, no one will do our work for us. (Israel Hayom) The American decision to withdraw its 2,000 troops from Syria clears the way for Iran to expand its influence across the region. A pullout would free Tehran to treat the Iraqi border as fully porous, easing the movement of fighters and weapons. "This leaves us alone in the arena with the Russians," said IDF Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Michael Herzog, a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The Kurdish forces who fought alongside the U.S. in Syria feel betrayed and are threatening to free 3,200 Islamic State prisoners if the U.S. abandons them. A Western official said, "The best result of terrible options is probably for the Syrian regime to take custody of these people. If they are released it's a real disaster and major threat to Europe." Analysts said it is likely that the Kurds will seek an agreement with Syrian President Assad that grants them limited autonomy in eastern Syria in exchange for their loyalty. (New York Times) The U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria means the U.S. will evacuate the base at al-Tanf on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which acted as a deterrent to the entry of Shi'ite militia units into Syria. The U.S. will also evacuate its northern bases, which served as a base for strikes against ISIS, and it will also give up the idea of setting up observation posts along the border with Turkey which would protect the Kurds. This would leave the city of Manbij, now under Kurdish rule, open to a Turkish occupation, from where it could spread to other Kurdish enclaves east of the Euphrates. The Kurds will have to decide whether to wage a long and possibly hopeless war against Turkey, or to seek shelter with Moscow. (Ha'aretz) Other Issues The announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Australia now recognizes that Israel's capital is located in Jerusalem was balanced, moderate and affirmed Australia's long-standing support for a negotiated end to the conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples. Even though the announcement dealt only with uncontested western Jerusalem, the reaction by the Palestinians produced a standard mix of boilerplate condemnations and Mafioso-style allusions to impending economic and physical harm. In his remarks, the Prime Minister denounced the "anti-Semitic agenda masquerading as defense of human rights"; he observed that the "ritual denunciations [of Israel]" stemming from this agenda "are getting in the way of progress [to end the conflict]"; and he declared that "Australia's national interests are well served by our productive and increasingly diverse relationship with Israel." The writer is co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. (ABC-Australia) I am not particularly enthusiastic about Australia's recognition of "west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" while its embassy remains in Tel Aviv. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's recognition of half of Jerusalem means that Australia has decided, even before negotiations with the Palestinians, that "east Jerusalem" will be the capital of a Palestinian state. This is a unilateralist, premature, determination which should have been withheld until the sides properly negotiate the matter. On the matter of Jerusalem, Israel should insist on the united city principle, under one sovereign country and beholden to one law enforced equally in both parts of the city. The writer is a senior Israeli journalist. (Israel Hayom) What country has legal sovereignty over Jerusalem? Israel's answer is well-grounded in international law: the State of Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) answer is contemptuous of international law. In a lawsuit against the U.S. at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over its locating its embassy in Jerusalem, the PLO first claims (incorrectly) that it has the right to sue in the ICJ as a "state," and, second, (incorrectly) that every state can invoke the court's jurisdiction when an embassy is located in the wrong place. The PLO then claims (incorrectly) that the Vienna Convention only permits embassies to be located within the territory of the "receiving state," and (incorrectly) that none of Jerusalem is territory of the "receiving state" because all of Jerusalem is a "corpus separatum" - an internationalized territory to which no state can claim sovereignty. Experience teaches that Palestinian claims need not persuade or even be logically consistent to succeed, as long as they aim at disadvantaging Israel. The writer is a professor at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law and the University of San Diego Law School. (Times of Israel) Critics are misrepresenting Texas' anti-BDS law. Such laws that have been passed by Texas and 25 other states are actually protecting a core value of U.S. law: the prohibition of discriminatory commercial conduct. The purpose of BDS is not to protest the Israeli government's policies. As BDS supporters make clear, what they want is no Israel at all. BDS is a cause that seeks to eliminate the one Jewish state on the planet and to deny its people rights - such as self-determination and self-defense - that they seek to deny to no one else. As such, it is a form of discrimination against Jews, i.e., anti-Semitism. The First Amendment protects even hateful speech. If she wishes, Bahia Amawi can call for Israel's destruction or support the Palestinian cause as much as she likes in either the public or private spheres. What she - or any other vendor doing business with the state of Texas - cannot do is engage in discriminatory commercial conduct. It is well understood that those connected to the state government cannot discriminate against African-Americans, Hispanics or other minority groups without running afoul of the law. What anti-BDS laws do is to extend those protections to Israel and Israelis because they are subject to an international campaign of discrimination that is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism. (JNS) The Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza don't have a positive "Palestinian nationality" that distinguishes them from the rest of the Arabs of the Middle East. The thing that unites them is the rejection of Jewish sovereignty and the elimination of the State of Israel. This is their identity. It's not that they want a state, but rather that they don't want us to have one. No Arab or Palestinian leader thinks that the conflict began in 1967 when Israel seized territory in the Six-Day War. They talk about 1948, and some even begin with the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The Arabs of the region won't agree to any solution other than reverting back to the point in history that they have chosen - before the establishment of the State of Israel. (Israel Hayom) Anti-Semitism On Jan. 19, 2019, women will take to the streets of Washington, D.C., for the third annual Women's March to provide "intersectional education on a diverse range of issues," according to its website. Among the four female public faces of the organization is Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American professional activist who has been confidently tweeting her bigotry for years, including "Nothing is creepier than Zionism." Similarly, Tamika Mallory has for years been posting pictures of herself smiling next to Louis Farrakhan, who said Hitler was "a very great man" and who called Jews "termites" and Judaism a "gutter religion." (Commentary) See also Where Are the Jewish Women Who Helped Start the Women's March? - Leah McSweeney and Jacob Siegel In the first hours of the first meeting for what would become the Women's March, as the women in the initial group were opening up about their backgrounds and personal investments in creating a resistance movement to President Trump, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory allegedly asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people. Mercy Morganfield, daughter of blues legend Muddy Waters and a former spokesperson for the Women's March who also ran the D.C. branch, told Tablet, "There are no Jewish women on the board. They refused to put any on. Most of the Jewish people resigned and left. They refused to even put anti-Semitism in the unity principles." (Tablet) Weekend Features In Jerusalem, while we live our lives forever alert to possible terrorism, daily human interactions between Jews and Arabs are becoming more and more integrated. At the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the YMCA on King David Street in western Jerusalem, Jewish, Christian and Muslim children and adults swim and work out together in an upbeat, congenial atmosphere. I do my food shopping at a discount chain that draws large families of both Jews and Arabs who queue up together at the checkout. At the store where I frequently buy clothing for my grandchildren, my favorite saleswoman wears a hijab. At my pharmacy, the pharmacist wears a hijab. The health fund nurse who takes my blood pressure at the local medical clinic wears a hijab. My gynecologist at Hadassah Medical Center is a female Arab doctor. The manager and mechanics at the garage where I have my car serviced are Arab. So is my hairdresser. None of this derives from a political agenda. I never make these choices out of a desire to be ethnically diverse. That's just the way life is in Jerusalem. The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. (Jerusalem Post) Israeli company Savicell has developed a successful blood test for lung cancer, allowing the disease to be detected and treated in its earliest stages, thus boosting the chances of recovery. Dr. Shafrira Shai, development and production manager at Savicell, said: "This gives us exact information on the condition of the person, if he's in a pre-cancerous condition, the beginning stages of cancer, or other possibilities." Eyal Davidovitch, vice president of operations, said: "Statistics indicate that if you discover lung cancer in an early stage, the chances of recovery wander on average between 50-80%. If you identify it at a late stage, we're talking about 4%....Lung cancer is the number one killer." Current methods for detecting lung cancer tend to be cumbersome and time consuming, and are usually employed only after severe symptoms develop. With the new test, however, "you come to the doctor for a test and identify cancer," said Davidovitch. "It's simply a life-saver." (Algemeiner) Israel is having a sustained baby boom, and now has the highest per capita rate of population growth in the developed world, experts say. Families here have an average of 3.1 children, compared with 1.7 in other developed countries. In the country's Jewish sector there is a lingering post-Holocaust imperative to replace the 6 million who were murdered. Driving this focus, argues sociologist Orna Donath, "is the collective fear of annihilation. It continues to haunt us, and children are seen as symbolizing a continuance of life, of survival." Even among secular Jews, three children is the norm. "In America you are an individual who is not necessarily going to live close to your parents. But in Israel the whole basis of society is familial," says Dr. Elly Teman, a medical anthropologist and senior lecturer at Ruppin College. Moreover, "We hear that if we don't have enough citizens, we don't have enough soldiers. And people are acting on those messages [whether] they are aware they are or not." She points to the immigrants who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Those who came as adults usually had one child. By contrast, those who came as teenagers and absorbed the societal message have gone on to have two to three children. (Christian Science Monitor) Canadian-born Sharren Haskel, 34, a member of the Likud party, is the first female member of the Israeli Knesset to have served as a combat soldier during her mandatory military service. She still carries a firearm and was at the shooting range for her annual training as required by Israeli law. "Since my service as a combat soldier and commander in the Border Police...I carry a personal firearm. It's my duty to maintain my shooting skills, so I'll be ready for any situation." According to Israel Police data, citizens were the first responders in 60% of the attacks in Jerusalem during the "lone wolf intifada" of 2015 and 2016. At the same time, Israel's gun laws are much stricter than in the U.S. and its gun culture is very different. (Pluralist) An official report written by British MP Tom Driberg, part of a delegation from Parliament sent in April 1945 by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to examine the newly liberated concentration camps in Europe, has been discovered in the archives of the National Library of Israel. At Buchenwald, he writes, "One half-naked skeleton, tottering painfully along the passage as though on stilts, drew himself up when he saw our party, smiled, and saluted." Driberg described seeing a laboratory "with a large number of glass jars containing preserved specimens of human organs." He mentioned "experiments in sterilization" performed on Jews. He and his colleagues were told of "articles made of human skin," collected by Frau Koch, the wife of the German camp commander. One such item which Driberg saw with his own eyes "clearly formed part of a lampshade." Driberg concluded, "The memory of what we saw at Buchenwald will haunt us ineffaceably for many years." (Jerusalem Post) A key witness in the trial of Adolf Eichmann was someone who was a child when he was sent to the gas chambers but escaped death, said Gabriel Bach, former Supreme Court justice, chief investigator and co-prosecutor of the 1961 Eichmann trial. Speaking Wednesday in Jerusalem, he said the witness described entering "the gas chamber with the doors then locked" on him and 250 other children. The witness said "a train had arrived with potatoes and there were not enough men to unload" them, so "they took 30 children out of the gas chambers and they unloaded the potatoes" while the other children were gassed to death. The 30 "surviving" children were due to be shot immediately after finishing moving the potatoes. 29 were shot, but an SS man took a liking to one boy and kept him as his ward. "He was the only one who survived," and gave first-hand testimony of the mass murder of Jews from within the gas chambers. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: The Palestinian Authority Is about to Lead the World Group of Developing Nations - Eitan Fischberger (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
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