Prepared for the Conference of Presidents | |
| DAILY ALERT |
Thursday, October 4, 2018 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The International Court of Justice in The Hague on Wednesday ordered the U.S. to "remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from" the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation. The U.S. is expected to challenge the court's jurisdiction in a future hearing. (AP-NBC News) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that the U.S. is canceling a decades-old economic treaty with Iran after a ruling by the International Court of Justice to lift any sanctions-related measures that affect Tehran's imports of humanitarian goods. Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the "U.S. sanctions already have a humanitarian exemption for food, medicine and agricultural commodities - an exemption the mullahs often use to make money on the black market while denying the Iranian people access to humanitarian goods. As for civil aviation, perhaps the court should be better educated on how Iran misuses its civil air fleet to ship arms to terrorist organizations." (USA Today) German banks are increasingly refusing to accept payments from Iranian banks, apparently more scared of the U.S. than of the EU. "80 to 85% of all payments to German banks are being rejected," said Helmut Gottlieb, director of the Hamburg branch of Bank Melli Iran. The Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, says it can't force banks to accept payments. The EU responded with a "blocking statute" that threatened European businesses with legal action if they complied with restored U.S. sanctions, but bankers said they have a right to reject payments despite the statute. "All banks can decide not to do business related to Iran, for example, if it entails a strategic business risk or because we can't rule out that the Revolutionary Guards may be involved in the end," said the compliance chief of a major German bank. (Handelsblatt-Germany) During a press briefing on Wednesday, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton was asked: "The IAEA is saying it doesn't take at face value Netanyahu's claims that Iran is harboring a secret atomic warehouse. Do you agree with the Israeli Prime Minister that there should be an inspection?" Bolton replied: "Our intelligence community has been reviewing the material that Israel extracted from Iran, and going over it in quite some detail. And I'll say it's extremely impressive. And we've been very supportive of the Israeli effort and supportive of the IAEA taking new steps to follow up on it." (White House) U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton announced Wednesday that the U.S. would withdraw from the "optional protocol" in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations after the PA filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice over the U.S. moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Bolton referred to the "so-called state of Palestine" and explained: "Of course it's not a state now. It does not meet the customary international law test of statehood. It doesn't control defined boundaries. It doesn't fulfill the normal functions of government. There are a whole host of reasons why it's not a state. It could become a state, as the president said, but that requires diplomatic negotiations with Israel." Bolton said his view was in line with "a position that the United States government has pursued uniformly since 1988....We don't recognize it as the state of Palestine. We have consistently across Democratic and Republican administrations opposed the admission of Palestine to the United Nations as a state because it's not a state." (Yahoo News) French authorities have suspended their insistence on special labeling for West Bank products which was adopted in 2016, Israel's Kan TV reported Tuesday. (JTA) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel and Germany "share the view that everything must be done to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons." The threat to Israel from Iran has become stronger due to its presence in Syria, Merkel said, noting that Iranian troops had been close to the Golan Heights border with Israel. Merkel dismissed as "fake news" reports that she had conditioned her arrival in Israel on Wednesday on a delay in the planned resettlement of residents of the illegal West Bank Bedouin encampment of Khan al-Ahmar. "It is an internal Israeli decision. It is up to the Israeli government and we did not intervene," Merkel said. (Jerusalem Post) Thousands of residents in Beirut's southern suburbs received WhatsApp messages overnight Tuesday, believed to have been sent by Israel, warning them that their homes are in close proximity to a Hizbullah weapons facility, Israel's Channel 10 reported on Wednesday. The message stated: "Near your home, a site belonging to Hizbullah has been located for some time. You are advised to take precautionary measures." (Times of Israel) The Israel Defense Forces rejected a Palestinian claim that troops on Tuesday shot dead an elderly farmer in Gaza. An army spokesperson said the IDF had not opened fire in the area at the time of his death and that the location was over a kilometer from the security fence. (Times of Israel) The anti-Israel Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has called on the EU to cancel a program in December called "Israeli and Palestinian Young Leaders at the European Parliament," since the event promotes normalization between the two peoples. The campaign is likely to prompt some of the Palestinians to withdraw from the event. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
"I cannot say that we are happy about the presence of S-300s [in Syria], but at the same time this is a situation where we have no way out," Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Kan TV in an interview on Wednesday. "In any case, we are not looking for adventures. We merely protect our vital interests. Regrettably, we are in a situation where we cannot afford any compromises concerning our security interests." "It was Syria's air defense that shot down the Russian Ilyushin-20. The responsibility rests squarely on Syria....I am not going to wage any media battles with the Russian side. It is very regrettable that 15 Russian soldiers and officers lost their lives. At the same time we [Israelis] were acting in a balanced and responsible way." "As long as our interests remain unaffected, we never take any action, but it is clear that we cannot afford to let the whole territory of Syria become one large base for Iran. We will be acting in accordance with our interests....When we have confirmed information about an attempt to move some weapons from Iran to Syria or from Syria to Lebanon [for] Hizbullah, we take action." (TASS-Russia) Those following the violent demonstrations along the border fence with Israel might think that all two million Gaza residents had mobilized for the campaign against Israel. However, virtually all media were unaware of other protests in recent weeks that were generated by opponents of Gaza's Hamas rulers. Gaza residents are openly and almost fearlessly expressing themselves against Hamas, protesting against the terrible reality imposed on them by Hamas since it took control of Gaza by force in 2007. Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated in recent weeks in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and the adjacent Abasan neighborhood, calling on Hamas to take care of its people or "disappear." Similar protests took place two weeks ago in the Shabura camp in Rafah and in Jabalia. Protesters claimed Gaza's rulers had taken the Strip back to the Middle Ages. Demonstrators accused leading Hamas officials of corruption and of favoring the core of their supporters over the general population. One Khan Yunis resident said, "They [Hamas] take care of their own people who are given work and food and gifts....They send people to die while the commanders [Hamas leaders] enjoy power supplies and luxuries." (Al-Monitor) 
UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid told Conservative Friends of Israel on Tuesday that after his brother's school visit to Israel at age 11, "My dad explained the history, how it came about and why it is such a special place. Since then I always wanted to visit." He first traveled to Israel on his honeymoon and returned repeatedly. "I vowed to myself that whatever opportunity I get in government I will always try to help and support Israel, and that's what I've done ever since." (Jewish News-UK) Observations: Iran Expert: IAEA Needs to Be Able to Inspect Everywhere - Yonah Jeremy Bob (Jerusalem Post)
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