| DAILY ALERT |
Thursday, November 21, 2024 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The Senate on Wednesday voted down an effort led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to block a series of planned U.S. weapons sales to Israel. The failure highlights the widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for U.S. military assistance to Israel. A resolution to block a sale of tank rounds was rejected by a vote of 79 to 18. A second resolution to block a sale of high-explosive mortar rounds was rejected by 78 to 19. A third resolution to block a sale of joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS) was rejected by 80 to 17. The White House actively lobbied against the effort to block the arms sales. "We strongly oppose this resolution and we have made our position clear to interested senators," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell urged his colleagues not to support the resolutions. "Those who mourn senseless human suffering should have no trouble assigning blame to the terrorists who exploit civilians, schools, hospitals and mosques as cover," he said. (CNN) See also Democratic Leadership Pushes Back Against Effort to Block Arms Sales to Israel - Alexander Bolton The resolutions sponsored by Sen. Sanders to block the sale of certain offensive weapons to Israel received strong pushback from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Schumer said, "Israel is surrounded by enemies dedicated to its annihilation from Hamas to Hizbullah to the Houthis to, most threateningly of all, Iran. These threats have been for a long time and will persist for many years into the future." Cardin said restrictions on sales of kits for precision guided bombs would likely lead to more civilian casualties. Without precision guidance, bombs have "a much higher likelihood of missing the target." Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, applauded the "majority of Senate Democrats" for voting against the measures. "As the Biden White House stated in a memo to the Senate, 'Now is the time to focus pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and stop the war. Cutting off arms from Israel would put this goal even further out of reach and prolong the war, not shorten it.'" (The Hill) The U.S. on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza. A senior U.S. official said the U.S. would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire. "As we stated many times before, we just can't support an unconditional ceasefire that does not call for the immediate release of hostages," the official said. (Reuters) The International Criminal Court (ICC) said Thursday it has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alleging they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the offensive in Gaza. (Wall Street Journal) See also ICC Arrest Warrents Reward the Axis of Evil that Blatantly Violates International Law - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar The International Criminal Court in The Hague has lost all legitimacy for its existence and activity. It acted as a political tool in the service of the most extreme elements working to undermine peace, security, and stability in the Middle East. These absurd warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Galant are not merely personal attacks against them. In essence, they are an assault on Israel's right to defend itself. This is an attack on the most threatened and targeted nation in the world - also the only country in the region openly called for and acted against by other nations seeking its destruction. From a moral perspective, this represents a moral eclipse that turns good into evil and serves the forces of evil. From a political perspective, issuing warrants against a state that operates in accordance with international law is a reward and encouragement for the axis of evil, which blatantly and consistently violates it. Decent nations and every moral person in the world must unequivocally reject this injustice. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) See also Deflating the Threat Posed by the International Criminal Court - Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) The EU on Monday widened sanctions against Iran over its support for Russia's war on Ukraine, prohibiting the export, transfer, supply or sale from the EU to Iran of components used to make missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It also banned any transaction with ports "owned, operated or controlled" by sanctioned individuals and entities, or otherwise used to supply Russia with drones, missiles, related technology and components. Acting in parallel, Britain also announced fresh sanctions against Iran, freezing the assets of Iran's state-run shipping company IRISL, as well as national airline Iran Air. (AFP) Iran has defied international demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, according to a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency seen Tuesday. As of Oct. 26, Iran has 182.3 kg. of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kg. since August. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Under the IAEA's definition, 42 kg. of uranium enriched to 60% purity is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible - if the material is enriched further to 90%. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday, "The Iranian regime continues to amass a growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium for which there is no credible civilian purpose and they continue to not cooperate fully with the IAEA." Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67% purity. (AP) 24 Syrian members of Iran-backed militias and 22 from the Iraqi Harakat al-Nujaba were killed and more than 50 others were injured following Israeli airstrikes on three separate positions in Palmyra, Syria. One attack targeted a weapons depot, while another was on a position where leaders from Iranian-backed militias, commanders from the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement, and a leader from Lebanese Hizbullah were holding a meeting. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights-UK) Turkey on Wednesday denounced a missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting the Panama-flagged dry cargo ship Anadolu S, owned by a Turkish company, while sailing off the coast of Yemen. (AFP) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
A Hizbullah rocket struck the fence of a kindergarten in the city of Acre on Wednesday, causing significant damage. The 120 children had left 35 minutes before the rocket hit. In response to the attack, the Acre municipality suspended classes citywide on Thursday and Friday. For the past nine weeks, educational activities in the city have been almost entirely suspended due to the ongoing security situation. (Ynet News) Three Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen were killed by Israeli forces during a firefight in Qabatiya in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, the army said. They were Raed Hanaysha, 24; Anwar Saba'neh, 25; and Suleiman Tazazaa, 32. (Times of Israel) Three Palestinian residents of Hebron were indicted this week for forming a terror cell aimed at assassinating National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his son, the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency announced Thursday. In June 2024, the main suspect, Ismail Ibrahim Awadi, contacted Hamas and Hizbullah for funding and support while gathering intelligence on the travel routes and security details of the minister and his son Shoval. (Jerusalem Post) Zeev "Jabo" Ehrlich, 71, a distinguished Israeli scholar and archaeological expert on the Land of Israel, was killed by Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon on Wednesday, along with Sgt. Gur Kehati, 20, at an archeological site - the Shrine of the Prophet Shimon in the village of Shama. Two officers were wounded in the same incident. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said Erlich was "71-years-old with the energy of a 17-year-old teenager. He had a story for every rock. History for every path. A bible in one pocket, a map in another." (JNS-Times of Israel) With a $22 billion backlog in orders, defense company Elbit Systems CEO Bezhalel Machlis said he had invested a great deal in capital equipment in order to increase production capacity. "We shall shortly inaugurate a new UAV factory; we have introduced automation and robotics into our production lines, and in the case of some lines this has raised output tenfold. We have expanded the number of our suppliers in order to deal with the large orders, and our workforce is also growing, and will continue to grow over the coming year." "We are feeling supply chain difficulties...[that] arise from suppliers that in the past supplied goods to the State of Israel and will not do so today. There aren't many of them, but there are some, and there are alternatives to all of them." (Globes) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran Over the past year, after suffering a devastating surprise and brutal losses, Israel has achieved remarkable military successes. Yahya Sinwar is dead, as are most of his senior subordinates and military commanders. What had been a Hamas army of tens of thousands has been shattered, with half of the fighters dead, by Israeli estimates, and many others wounded or in captivity. To the north, the head of Lebanese Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah, is dead. So is his successor. So is Fuad Shukr, Hizbullah's most important military figure. And so is most of the rest of the high command. Most of Hizbullah's missiles and rockets have been destroyed. And on top of it all, Iran has thrown two punches at Israel that were deflected and defeated by American and Israeli defenses. On a recent trip to Israel, I found that Israel's military and intelligence leaders now understand their war differently. The Israeli high command now sees all of these conflicts as elements of a single, multifront war with Iran. It believes the purpose of the attacks by Iranian proxies was not to inflict damage upon Israel, but to destroy it. "They thought they could conquer Israel," one sobered general told me. "I had not fully understood that." "We're no longer afraid of casualties," a colonel told me. "I lost 10 guys, and nothing stopped. We don't go to the funerals; we'll visit after the war." Israel is girding itself for the daunting prospect of a long war against Iran, no matter what American and European leaders might wish. The Israelis grimly believe, and with reason, that they have no choice but to continue fighting. Israel is engaged in an existential war of a kind that most of us in the West cannot appreciate unless we go there, observe, and listen. The writer is a professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University. (Atlantic) Hizbullah Israel must adopt a firmer stance against future threats in the emerging ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, Amatzia Baram, professor emeritus at the University of Haifa, told Maariv on Tuesday. Reports in Lebanese media indicated that the agreement involved a fundamental shift in the makeup of the international forces supervising the border, with a new force to be led by the U.S. and France. Moreover, Israel's demands go beyond pushing Hizbullah north of the Litani River; they include the destruction of all its infrastructure beyond that line. Baram emphasized, "This is not just another routine agreement. This time, Israel is demanding more aggressive conditions - not only to distance Hizbullah physically but to ensure that its facilities and infrastructure are completely destroyed. This is a significant escalation in Israel's security doctrine against Hizbullah." A key point of contention in the agreement is an American letter to Israel that grants legitimacy to Israeli military actions in Lebanon in the event of violations. "This letter is the cornerstone of Israel's strategy," Baram explained. "It is not an official part of the agreement that Hizbullah and Lebanon are required to sign but an annex allowing Israel to act militarily in case of arms smuggling or Hizbullah's return to the border....Israel must ensure the letter remains in effect because, without it, preventing Hizbullah's return to the border becomes impossible." One crucial condition Israel must demand is the prevention of residents from returning to the border villages. "The villages adjacent to the fence were hubs of Hizbullah activity, and Israel must ensure they do not return....We must not repeat past mistakes where we allowed continuous violations out of fear of war." "What is decisive is not just the agreement itself but Israel's willingness to fight for its implementation. We cannot afford to return to the 2006 scenario where we compromised on fundamental principles out of fear of another confrontation." (Jerusalem Post) Western diplomats and experts have settled on a consensus for solving the war in Lebanon. At its core, this approach focuses on restoring the very ceasefire conditions which Lebanon and Hizbullah violated last year. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, that ended the last war in 2006, included several clear obligations. Israel was to withdraw from Lebanese territory. Hizbullah was to move all its forces north of the Litani River, creating a buffer zone where the only permitted armed forces would be those of the UN peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese Army (LFA). Hizbullah was supposed to be decommissioned as an armed force inside sovereign Lebanese territory. Israeli withdrawal was implemented within days. The other measures were not. Once Israel's withdrawal was complete, UNIFIL announced that it had no intention of enforcing 1701. Over the course of the next 17 years, Hizbullah assembled an arsenal of rockets and missiles. It also built a network of tunnels that were supposed to allow it, in a future war, to "conquer the Galilee" in an operation similar to the one Hamas ultimately launched. If there is one thread running through nearly every diplomatic effort of the last eight decades, it is a firm commitment to the idea that any party that launches a war against Israel and is then defeated is entitled to a restoration of the conditions it violently rejected when launching the war. Such a norm has not featured in the post-war mediation of any other conflict. If the international community extended a line of insurance to other aggressors, which promised that launching wars could bring gains with victory but no losses with defeat, there would be a lot more wars. The writer is a lecturer in political thought at Reichman University. (UnHerd) U.S.-Israel Relations The Biden administration lobbied Democratic senators to vote against legislation that would block more than $20 billion in weapon shipments to Israel, two U.S. officials said Tuesday. The resolutions, defeated in a vote on Wednesday, would have blocked the transfer of guided missiles, tank rounds, mortars, tactical vehicles and F-15 fighter jets. The Biden administration's decision to engage on the matter demonstrates its desire for the Democratic Party to maintain a pro-Israel posture post-election. Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel's defense and won't be delivered for another year or two, "so the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low," explained one U.S. official. "Now is not the time to send a message to Israel's adversaries that there is a break in the relationship between the United States and Israel," the official said. "It actually only encourages Israel's adversaries to be more obstinate and sends a terrible message to Iran." He rejected arguments from some Democratic senators who backed the legislation while saying they still support sending defensive weapons to Israel. "That is a false concept. You can't retrieve hostages or get to a rocket launcher with an Iron Dome [defensive] missile." (Times of Israel) When our enemies' advances cause a massive disequilibrium, then it's in America's interest to back our allies and let them take the necessary risks to restore stability. We often do the opposite. We restrain them when they are attacked - with dire consequences. In the Middle East, Iranian proxies have escalated dramatically, with Hamas's attack on Israel last year, the Houthis targeting shipping vital to global trade, and Iran striking Israel with the largest single ballistic missile attack in history. The Biden approach to this mayhem has been to constrain our allies' defensive responses in the name of "escalation management." Restraining U.S. allies when they're responding to the aggression of our common enemies is ineffective and counterproductive. Equilibrium won't be restored unless the aggressor is pushed back. By telling Israel while it's under attack to limit its responses and not to strike too hard at the enemy, a new equilibrium may be achieved, but it will be more beneficial to the attacker, encouraging further aggression and war. So far, Israel has been successful in destroying Hamas and decapitating Hizbullah because it has ignored the Biden calls not to strike too hard and to negotiate with the two groups. Israel chose not to be constrained by Washington and is succeeding. The best geopolitical asset we have is our allies. When the frontier is on fire, Washington should unleash our allies that want to defend themselves and thus restore a beneficial equilibrium in their region. The writer is a professor of politics at the Catholic University of America and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. (Wall Street Journal) In recent articles on Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israel, the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all referred to the "Israeli-occupied" or "Israeli-controlled" Golan Heights. In March 2019, President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, making it an indivisible part of the Jewish state. In describing the Heights as they did, America's papers of record were publicly rejecting the position of the country's democratically elected leader. Every press attempt to describe as occupied areas that the U.S. has deemed sovereign must be met with robust public and government protest. Every effort to ignore or override the administration's foreign policy must spur even greater initiatives to clarify that policy and defend it in all branches of the media. Without presenting any evidence or giving them a chance to defend themselves, the Biden Administration sanctioned a number of Israelis. A law is needed forbidding the arbitrary sanctioning of the citizens of an allied state. The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and Deputy Minister for Diplomacy. (Times of Israel) See also below Observations: Unsanction Israel - Cole S. Aronson and Avi Bell (National Review) UNRWA The continued funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) by the U.S. and European countries serves as an obstacle to achieving a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is mounting evidence of UNRWA's infiltration by Palestinian terrorist organizations and its contribution to the radicalization of the "Palestinian refugees." Based on UNRWA's annual financial reports, 64% of UNRWA's funding came from European countries, 26% came from the U.S., and only 10% was sourced in Arab countries. The Palestinian leadership sees the continued financial support for UNRWA as an expression of U.S. and European acceptance of their political stance. During President Trump's first term, his administration halted all U.S. funding to the agency. During the Biden administration, the number of UNRWA refugees grew by 346,130 people. If the U.S. and European countries are genuinely committed to a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and since it is unreasonable that Israel will ever agree to commit "national suicide" and acquiesce to Palestinian demands, the Western countries must reconsider their approach to endlessly funding UNRWA, thereby fundamentally undermining any real potential of achieving their goal of peace. The writer, Director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center, was director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria. (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) UNIFIL The 10,150-strong UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been about as effective in stabilizing southern Lebanon as UNRWA has been in resolving the Palestinian refugee issue. Not only has UNIFIL failed in its role of monitoring Hizbullah activity in southern Lebanon, but during the current fighting it has - on more than one occasion - interfered in IDF attempts to clear the border area of Hizbullah fighters. On Tuesday, UNIFIL stated that its peacekeepers were attacked by a rocket "fired most likely by non-state actors in Lebanon," while another incident involved "an armed person" who directly fired at the patrol. UNIFIL's inability to name Hizbullah highlights its fear of the terrorist organization. One of Israel's problems with UNIFIL is its composition. Nearly 22% of the force comes from Islamic states that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel. Countries that take an openly hostile diplomatic position toward Israel make up another 15%. Are these nations truly reliable partners in maintaining future security arrangements that will enable evacuated Israeli residents to return home? (Jerusalem Post) Other Issues A braying, spit-flecked mob gathered outside the doors to Toronto's Park Hyatt Hotel on Monday night - replete with signs accusing Israel of genocide, and hinting at a desired genocide of their own. Is the pro-Hamas cabal actually against books? The event at the Park Hyatt was about Canadian books, the annual award of the Giller Prize to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English, after an annual juried competition. Everyone there wanted to celebrate books generally, and Canadian books in particular. Who could be against that? Well, the Hamas fetishists could be, and are. Last year, some creeps disrupted the Giller ceremony. They jumped up on stage with signs that falsely accused the main sponsor, Scotiabank, of "funding genocide." At this year's gala there was more security present and no Hamasniks made it inside to cause trouble. Culturally, the people screaming on the sidewalk outside the Giller event are the new Taliban. Culture, to the Hamas apologists, is key to the establishment of a global caliphate. Their final solution is to wipe out the culture found in the West - books, music, art - and replace it with the dark, bigoted, monoculture they prefer. We can't let them. (Toronto Sun-Canada) While Wikipedia's collaborative model has democratized knowledge creation, our analysis reveals alarming patterns of bias. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of Wikipedia's structural bias, using as our case study the page about South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Through a detailed examination of over 1,000 page revisions, we identified 27 highly active editors who contributed significantly to the page. One high-bias editor consistently removed neutral descriptive terms from the Israeli response section. Another editor systematically changed article titles from neutral legal terminology ("South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention)") to more emotionally loaded versions ("South Africa's genocide case against Israel"), demonstrating a pattern of bias in framing the conflict. Yet another editor invoked overt animus, such as labelling Israel as the enemy and actively accusing it of genocide. This concentration of editorial power in Wikipedia's coverage raises the specter that the system is too readily gamed by those with a sharp axe to wield. While Wikipedia is increasingly used in classrooms and news cites, as well as cited in academic literature, evidence of potential agenda-driven bias renders Wikipedia less credible, let alone authoritative. Neil Seeman is a Senior Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto. Jeff Ballabon is Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs at the American Center for Law and Justice. (National Post-Canada) Weekend Features Ynet has compiled a collection of testimonies from Israelis who lived through the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities, providing a platform for their voices to be heard, their experiences to be remembered, and their resilience to be honored. Maya Desiatnik, the only surviving lookout from Nahal Oz, escaped through a bathroom window. 52 IDF soldiers, including 15 lookouts, died at Nahal Oz. Itamar Or Luz narrowly escaped the Nova music festival. 393 people were murdered, 44 were kidnapped, and hundreds were wounded. Capt. A: "We stormed the house in Kibbutz Be'eri and killed 3 terrorists, but the residents were no longer alive." 101 members of the kibbutz were murdered and 31 were kidnapped. 19 IDF soldiers and 8 police officers were killed. ZAKA emergency volunteer Eli Turjeman worked at the Shura IDF camp, helping identify the bodies which were bound, burned, dismembered, children. "I still see the faces." Danielle Gelbaum survived the Nova music festival massacre. "I saw hundreds of people running in every direction, and every few seconds, someone would fall." (Ynet News) On Oct. 7, 2023, Magen David Adom emergency services paramedic and regional supervisor Anis Abu Dabes worked a double shift , together with ambulance driver EMT Amin Almalat and paramedic trainee Ro'i Bar-Or, at the MDA station in Rahat, Israel's largest Bedouin community. Their shift was almost over when the sirens sounded. They were more intense and lasted longer than usual. Anis recalled: "A short while later, a minibus arrived at the entrance to the MDA station, and we immediately saw that it was covered in bullet holes and that its windows were shattered. We boarded the bus and started treating the wounded. We soon found out that these were residents of Rahat and that the bus, which was taking them to work in the Gaza Envelope, had come under terrorist fire." "We suddenly heard the voice of our colleague and friend, Dani Shtarkman, the Ofakim MDA station manager, over the internal radio. He reported that they had been caught in an ambush, that their ambulance had been fired upon, and one of their team members was hurt. These were MDA staffers, our friends, who had put on the same uniform as us and had gone out with their ambulance to save lives." The team was sent to the Ofakim area. "We reached some people who were severely wounded and began providing life-saving treatment, applying tourniquets and so on - and then a siren sounded. There was a massive explosion. A rocket had fallen just a few meters away from us. And then another siren and more shooting. It was a warzone, and we were treating patients under fire." (Jerusalem Post) Observations: Unsanction Israel - Cole S. Aronson and Prof. Avi Bell (National Review)
Cole S. Aronson is a journalist in Jerusalem. Avi Bell is a professor of law at Bar-Ilan University and the University of San Diego. | |