Prepared for the Conference of Presidents | |
| DAILY ALERT |
Friday, December 28, 2018 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Kurdish leaders in northern Syria are urging Russia and the Syrian government to send forces to shield them from the threat of a Turkish offensive, in the wake of the U.S. decision to withdraw forces. The territory at stake spans about a quarter of Syria, most of it east of the Euphrates River, controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an umbrella group dominated by the Kurdish YPG. The SDF has been Washington's main Syrian partner in the fight with Islamic State, but Turkey views the YPG fighters as a threat and has vowed to crush them. (Reuters) The U.S. military is drafting a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria over several months, according to U.S. officials. No final decisions have been made about the planned pace of the withdrawal. A major consideration is the protection of American forces as they execute the withdrawal. Officials have said that U.S. and coalition aircraft will continue to conduct airstrikes and provide air support for American troops as they carry out the withdrawal. (ABC News) A small, remote U.S. base in southern Syria has made it more difficult for Iran to project power across the Middle East. More than 200 U.S. troops have been advising local Syrian fighters at the al-Tanf garrison, which they have used to combat Islamic State and which sits astride a potential Iranian supply route through Iraq to Syria. Those U.S. forces will likely be the last to leave Syria, U.S. officials say. (Wall Street Journal) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The IDF destroyed a Hizbullah cross-border tunnel near the Israeli community of Metulla by filling it with material which would prevent its use. IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said Thursday that the material pumped into the tunnel has come out in several places connected to the tunnel, including residential homes in the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila from where the tunnel was dug. "This fact indicates Hizbullah's use of civilian structures in the heart of an urban area in southern Lebanon," Manelis said. A senior IDF officer said of the five tunnels discovered so far, "We found one tunnel that resembles a Hamas tunnel because of its route, but the rest of the tunnels are five stars...something that Hamas could only dream of, with ventilation shafts and electricity." Some of the tunnels were two meters wide and two meters high, and were excavated at least 25 meters deep. The attack tunnels were built to allow Hizbullah fighters to infiltrate the communities around Metulla, cut them off, and kill as many Israeli civilians and troops as possible. (Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed early Friday in Brazil to attend the Jan. 1 inauguration of president-elect Jair Bolsonaro. This will be the first-ever visit of an Israeli prime minister to Brazil, the world's 5th most populous country with the 8th largest economy and the 9th largest Jewish community of 120,000. He also has scheduled meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, and Chile's President Sebastian Pinera. Former Israeli Ambassador to Brazil Giora Becher said that now Brazil has a president who "says openly that he is pro-Israel...this is a major change in the foreign policy of Brazil." (Jerusalem Post) An Israeli security official said Wednesday that Iranian forces were operating less than 80 km. (50 miles) from the Israeli border, contrary to Russian assurances. (Israel Hayom) The U.S. and Israel are working to block a renewed Palestinian Authority drive to become a member state of the United Nations, effectively handing the Palestinians unilateral statehood recognition outside the context of any final status agreement with Israel. There are 137 countries which, outside the context of the UN, recognize Palestine as a state, out of which 120 maintain full diplomatic ties. But most Western countries, including most European nations, have not recognized Palestine as a state. With respect to UN membership, Security Council approval from 9 of 15 UNSC member states is needed for UN membership. Out of those 15, 10 have individually recognized Palestine as a state. The U.S., which has veto power at the UNSC, has historically opposed any Palestinian UN membership drive and would be expected to veto this latest initiative. (Jerusalem Post) Russia responded angrily to the Israeli air force attack in the Damascus region that took place on December 25, 2018. The Russians are trying to set new rules of the game for Israel in Syrian airspace. Israel has no intention of ending its attacks in Syria, which are intended to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in that country. While the Iranians are determined to transfer "game-changing" weapons to Hizbullah to improve the accuracy of rockets that they possess, Israel has no choice but to protect its security interests. While Russia claimed that Israeli air force planes endangered civilian flights, Israeli pilots are very cautious and are among the best in the world. Every Israeli aerial operation is painstakingly planned in order to prevent mistakes. In fact, the Syrian aerial defense system is what is endangering civilian aviation because it is not professional enough. It even accidentally brought down a Russian spy plane in September 2018. The writer, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) During the trial of former Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo Criminal Court, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday that the former Chief of the General Intelligence Service (GIS), Omar Soliman, informed him that around 800 Hamas and Hizbullah militants infiltrated into Sinai through the tunnels from Gaza in January 2011. The militants fired shots at the demonstrators in Tahrir Square and broke into Wadi al-Natron prison and released prisoners belonging to Hizbullah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders were accused of planning the prison break-ins, which resulted in the escape of many terrorists and other criminals, leading to the scourge of terrorist activity in the country. (Al-Masry Al-Youm-Egypt) Rainer Westermann, a spokesman for the German company Krempel, which provided material used in rockets produced by Iran to gas Syrians, told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the firm has stopped trade with the Islamic Republic. "Corporations realize that doing business with Iran means funding the IRGC's terror strategy," U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell told the Post on Thursday. A Syrian photographer found parts made by Krempel Group in the remains of Iranian-produced chemical rockets that gassed Syrian civilians in January and February. (Jerusalem Post) 29,600 Jews moved to Israel in 2018, an increase of 5% over 2017. 10,500 immigrants from Russia arrived, an increase of 45%, while 6,500 came from Ukraine, down 9%. Aliyah from North America totaled 3,250, down 10%. Aliya from France totaled 2,600, down 25%. Aliya from the UK totaled 500, down 9%. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
U.S. to Withdraw Troops from Syria The withdrawal of the several thousand U.S. soldiers deployed in Syria is an expression of an American perspective shared by both political parties that the U.S. needs to reduce its overseas military involvements. U.S. soldiers are to be withdrawn from every location where there is no major threat to American interests. The current president is continuing President Obama's policy. Both believe that American blood should not be spilt in foreign wars and that attention should shift to domestic endeavors. This feeling became much stronger as a result of the casualties and the economic cost of two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, which made little contribution to America's future and which were essentially failed ventures that have reverberated powerfully in modern American history. U.S. allies will have to learn to get along on their own, to create regional alliances and to operate jointly, without American involvement. In facing its enemies in the Middle East, Israel will have to fall back on the principle it adopted when it declared its independence: "to protect itself - by itself." To build up its power to meet this challenge - both economically and militarily - will be the most important task of all future governments in Israel. The withdrawal of the U.S. leaves Israel as the strongest and most stable country in the region and the only serious player with which the main Arab countries can cooperate in the confrontation with Iran and ISIS. The extent to which Israel's position is strengthened as a result of the vacuum left by the Americans is difficult to assess, but the potential is significant. Israel remains determined to contain Iran, which, after the U.S. withdrawal, will be able to realize its dream of a land corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Israel will now have the added challenge of disrupting that dream. The writer is a former Israeli national security advisor and former director of the research division of IDF Military Intelligence. (Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies) The withdrawal of the U.S. from Syria is not substantial militarily. A 2,000-soldier force, however efficient it may be, cannot significantly alter the balance of power. Yet the withdrawal of American forces from Syria still holds a symbolic and moral significance that will adversely affect not only the U.S. position in the region, but also its allies. The implications for Israel are not significant, since even prior to this withdrawal, the U.S. no longer played a major role in the Syrian playground. Israel's situation today is better because it maintains a dialogue with Russia. The fact that Russia and Iran do not necessarily share common interests in Syria may allow Israel to receive Russia's help in preventing Iran from being even more influential in a Russian-controlled territory. In any event, after seven years of bloody civil war that led to the destruction of the country, Syria poses no threat to Israel. Moreover, based on past experience, the Syrian regime has kept the situation at the Syrian-Israeli border quiet and stable. The writer teaches at the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post) While critics have argued that the president's decision to remove U.S. forces from Syria could be bad for Israel, there's a counterargument that is worth considering. One of the original ideas of Zionism had to do with Jewish self-reliance. The Jewish state would defend itself with its own foreign policy and armed forces, rather than existing at the mercy of, or under the protection of, some foreign power. This is better for the Jews, because no matter how closely allied or powerful some foreign country, even America, may seem, in the end those powers have other interests that rank higher than the survival of the Jews. Better for Israel to realize that and act accordingly than to operate under some illusion of an American security umbrella. Those who have opposed the idea, raised from time to time, of American troops on the Golan Heights or in the Jordan Valley should be similarly skeptical of deploying American troops in Syria for the sake of Israel's security. (Algemeiner) Other Issues This week IDF forces uncovered the fifth in a series of surprisingly sophisticated tunnels built by Hizbullah and designed to sneak terrorists into Israel from Lebanon. Built in urban areas, they were surprisingly large and reached at least 80 feet underground. All of them terminated near Israeli population centers. This week the UN Security Council debated the tunnels but took no punitive action, leaving Israel to counter the menace alone. (New York Post) During the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the Turkish Sultan Bayezid II, who ruled 1481-1512, sent ships to Grenada to save the dispossessed Jews and invite them to live across the Ottoman Empire. Your loss, Bayezid told those who signed the deportation order, is our gain. The Jews were not only loyal, but also helped to develop the economy and spiritual life in every place they reached across the empire. The current Sultan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is an impudent anti-Semite. His Justice and Development Party is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. Since 1984, Turkey has destroyed 3,000 Kurdish villages, implemented mass transfer of the local population and caused a "Kurdish Nakba" of two million people who became refugees in their own country. During this orchestrated war on the Kurdish people, there have been massacres during which 30,000 people were killed. Erdogan himself is responsible for several massacres committed in recent years. The world barely pays heed because when Muslims massacre Muslims, the world is silent. (Ynet News) "Jews don't kick men but also women and children when they fall on the ground," Turkish President Erdogan told an Istanbul meeting of the Turkey Youth Foundation on Saturday. Prime Minister Netanyahu responded on Twitter: "Erdogan - the occupier of northern Cyprus, whose army massacres women and children in Kurdish villages, inside and outside Turkey - should not preach to Israel." About a decade ago, Erdogan decided to turn Turkey from Israel's best friend to one of its greatest adversaries. The countries no longer have an ambassador posted in each other's country. It is difficult to ignore the blatant anti-Semitism in Erdogan's endless attacks against Israel. Turkey might be a member of NATO, but it definitely doesn't act like one. As long as Erdogan remains leader of Turkey, ties between Jerusalem and Ankara will continue to deteriorate and relations between the two peoples will continue to be poisoned. (Jerusalem Post) A Twitter account called Free Gaza Team published multiple graphic photos of "Noor from Gaza," a young girl whose arm had been sheared off. A link to an online crowd funding site called "Social Fund" was provided with the appeal: "Help Noor from Gaza get an artificial limb." When I performed a Google image search, Noor's image appeared. The girl advertised by the Free Gaza Team was in fact a Syrian child from Deir ez-Zor, injured as a result of airstrikes. I immediately reported the scam to Social Fund, which promptly terminated Free Gaza Team's donation drive. It has since opened another "charity drive" for Noor on PayPal. In the age of modern communications and social media, fraudulent images are transmitted to millions of people in seconds and negative impressions and beliefs are instantly formed. (FrontPage Magazine) Although relations between Jerusalem and Tokyo have improved significantly since the end of Japan's participation in the Arab League boycott, the two countries have yet to develop a close relationship to the extent that Israel has with its Western allies and even China. Because of Jerusalem's improved relations with the Arab states and Japan's declining reliance on Middle Eastern oil supplies, Tokyo will not need to be as cautious in improving political relations with Jerusalem or fear pressure from its other Middle Eastern partners. As geopolitical obstacles from other Middle Eastern countries decline in significance and the economic benefits of technological cooperation become clear, there is little reason for Israel and Japan not to increase their cooperation. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Anti-Semitism "Women's March activists are grappling with how they treat Jews, and whether they should be counted as privileged white Americans or 'marginalized' minorities," the New York Times noted recently. The labeling of Jews as "white" and debates on how to "treat Jews," as if Jews are packages in a supermarket, is a form of dehumanizing rhetoric designed to force Jewish people into a binary of "white/non-white" that is currently trendy in U.S. discussions. The new toxic discussion is designed to label Jews as "white supremacists." The concept of anti-Semitism was coined by anti-Jewish activist Wilhelm Marr, who objected to the idea that Jews would assimilate into Germany. Anti-Semitism became entwined with the idea that Jews were a separate "race" from white Europeans. Today that has come full circle and Jews are portrayed as not just passing as white, but of being an example of white supremacy. Only 70 years after the Holocaust, the people genocided for being non-white and non-European are now called white supremacists. The term "white Jews" is anti-Jewish because no other group is subjected to this same slur. Labeling Jews "white" is a way to purposely attack and single out this one group. Those who use this term don't say "white Muslims, white Hindus, white Catholics." Jews are the only minority group in America told that it is "white." If you remain silent when you hear the term "white Jews," you are not doing your part to stop this creeping hatred. There are no white Jews. There are Jews. Some Jews may appear white, or even have origins in Europe. Some do not. There are many more Muslims who pass as white than there are Jews. (Jerusalem Post) Over the centuries, anti-Semitism has been many things - an unadorned expression of hate and, in more recent times, evidence of sturdy insanity. Now thanks to a New York Times interview with Alice Walker, it's been reduced to merely a point of view. Walker, a highly praised novelist best known for The Color Purple, was asked in an interview, "What books are on your nightstand?" The second book Walker named was And the Truth Shall Set You Free by British conspiracy theorist David Icke. Icke's book endorses that hoary anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which blames evil Jews for much of the world's ills. The book also suggests that schools ought to balance lessons on the Holocaust with some questioning whether it ever even happened. When Times readers insisted the paper should have flagged the book as an anti-Semitic tome, the Times disagreed. The paper conceded that Icke "has been accused of anti-Semitism," but its book review editor, Pamela Paul, said, "People's answers are a reflection of their opinions, tastes and judgment." In other words, anti-Semitism is just another opinion, taste or judgment. The tone of Paul's response is appalling. She surely does not mean to, but she manages to treat anti-Semitism as just another point of view. (Washington Post) Earlier this month, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights launched its second survey on anti-Semitism, interviewing 16,500 individuals across 12 member states. The findings confirm that European anti-Semitism is predominantly Muslim in origin, followed by the left-wing variety. According to "respondents who experienced some form of anti-Semitic harassment in the past five years," 30% of the perpetrators were Muslim, 21% were people espousing a left-wing view, and 13% expressed a right-wing view. The writer is a visiting fellow with the Center on the U.S. and Europe at the Brookings Institution. (Tablet) In 2018, there were a variety of important actions against anti-Semitism. One is the expanding acceptance of the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Another is success in the fight against the BDS movement which aims to delegitimize the State of Israel. In November, Kentucky became the 26th American state to pass legislation to ban awarding state contracts to companies that endorse the BDS movement. The governors of all 50 states have signed a declaration condemning the BDS movement as antithetical to American values. In Germany, anti-Semitism commissioners have been appointed in a variety of federal states. A French manifesto against Muslim anti-Semitism was signed by 250 Jewish and non-Jewish personalities. The Council of the European Union (EU) approved the first declaration of its kind to fight anti-Semitism and strengthen the security of Jewish communities in Europe. British media have exposed the substantial anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party. (Jerusalem Post) Weekend Features Israel Aerospace Industries announced Thursday that F-35 stealth fighter components for the outer wings to make them invisible to radar have entered production. (UPI) For decades, 40,000 stolen ancient artifacts confiscated from smugglers and looters in the West Bank were stockpiled in the offices of the Antiquities Department of the Israeli Civil Administration. In 2010, the new Staff Officer of Archaeology of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, Hananya Hezmi, began sorting, dating, registering, and documenting the artifacts. In the process, he stumbled upon some rare items. The recently published first of four volumes, called Finds Gone Astray: ADCA Confiscated Items, catalogues 134 examples of the more unique items. The Civil Administration has loaned a collection of items for display in an exhibit which opens on Dec. 31 at the Jerusalem-based Bible Lands Museum. (Times of Israel) Schools across Israel held a memorial day on Monday in memory of Simcha Rotem, presumed to be the last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who passed away on Saturday. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on April 19, 1943, was an act of Jewish resistance to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to death camps. Many of the Jewish fighters were killed in action. Rotem was one of the few that survived by escaping the burning Warsaw Ghetto through sewage tunnels. After the war, Rotem moved to Israel and became involved in bringing illegal immigrants who had survived the war to British Mandatory Palestine. He was 19 in the Warsaw Ghetto and lived to be 94. Screenwriter Miri R. Wilf spent years interviewing Rotem for a feature film that has yet to be released. Wilf said Rotem and the other fighters "realized at one point that the one choice they were facing was what kind of death to have. They did not think they were going to survive. They decided they were going to fight for one reason: so that it would be written in the history books that the Jews fought." Rotem said, "It's time that we stop counting on others to do our job....If we want a world where Jews don't get massacred, we have to make damn sure that those who kill Jews pay the highest price." (Jerusalem Post) See also Through the Sewers Against the Nazis - Philip Terzian (Washington Examiner) Observations: Crafting a Constructive Gaza Policy - Peter Berkowitz (RealClearPolitics)
The writer, a political scientist and former law professor, is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. |
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