The Warped Vision of a Two-State Solution - Victor Sharpe

 

​ by Victor Sharpe

Again and again the discredited corpse known as the ‘Two-State-Solution’ is exhumed and presented as the default plan.

During eight baleful years, President Barack Hussein Obama made Israel’s life utterly miserable as he pursued relentlessly his warped vision of a ‘Two State Solution’ to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But that vision, being imagined yet again, would remain national suicide for Israel.

Still pushed by too many in the international corridors of power, it is in reality an appalling euphemism not unlike the German Nazi’s ‘Final Solution’ which ushered in the Holocaust. And now, lo and behold, the Biden/Harris administration -- which many see as Obama’s third term -- is currently pushing yet again for the disinterment of that rotting corpse known as the ‘Two-State Solution.’

It will spell the destruction of the reconstituted Jewish state and the extermination of its people by a Muslim world that will never accept a non-Muslim nation and will wage eternal war against it -- the Dar al-Harb -- until it is utterly destroyed. The existing and proposed “Two-State-Solution” ushers in an eventual and guaranteed destruction of the Jewish state.

Of course, if Israel declared its justified rejection of the ‘Two-State-Solution’, such a statement of the truth would be considered inflammatory and assured to provoke another Palestinian Arab outburst of violence and barbarism (dignified by the Arabic term intifada).

But isn’t that what is happening throughout Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank) with almost daily atrocities committed by Arab thugs against Jewish civilians?

The over 3,500-year-old Hebrew and Biblical names, Yehuda and Shomron, (Judea and Samaria), refer to the heartland of both the ancient and modern Jewish homeland. But a malevolent world prefers to call the territory the West Bank; what was the mere 19-year-old Jordanian name applied to the land after it and much of Jerusalem was illegally invaded and occupied by Jordan from 1948 until 1967.

The Jordanian Arab Legion, after invading and occupying the territory, immediately began desecrating Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives, using the headstones to build latrines for their troops, destroying 57 ancient synagogues and holy sites, and forcibly expelling Jewish residents from their villages and ancient homes in Jerusalem’s Old City.

There has never in all recorded history existed an independent, sovereign state called Palestine. The so-called Palestinians are an Arab invention. No such people by that name have existed in centuries past. An Arab leader and PLO executive committee member, Zuheir Mohsen, admitted this fact himself on March 31, 1977, in the Dutch newspaper, Trouw:

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese … Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people. ”

Today there are Jewish properties, illegally occupied by Arabs, scattered throughout Arab areas of Jerusalem. They have remained in legal limbo because of international pressures against successive Israeli governments. This has led to endless delays in the return of the land and properties to their rightful Jewish owners.

All who know history know that Jordan sits on four-fifths of what was until 1922 the entire Palestine Mandate, large tracts of which was promised to the Jewish people as a National Home. The Arabs who call themselves Palestinians already possess, de facto, a state on the east bank of the River Jordan, which in size dwarfs tiny Israel. There already has thus been a Two-State-Solution in existence for 100 years since 1922.

The reality is that the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians do not and never have wanted a state side by side with Israel: they want a state in place of Israel. That is why breathtakingly generous -- nay, suicidal Israeli offers -- are always rejected.

The Arabs continuously smother parts of Biblical and ancestral Jewish Judea, and Samaria (the so-called West Bank) with illegal buildings paid for by certain oil-rich Gulf states, by the EU, the UN and anti-Israel NGOs, and the world remains deathly quiet. Only when an Israeli family dares add a room to their tiny home or some new apartments are built within the ancestral heartland or in Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem, does the same world scream bloody murder.

Indulging in self-imposed building freezes to placate enemies and so-called friends alike, while the Arab enemy constructs illegal settlements with impunity, is insanity for the embattled Jewish state. For Israel to lose the precious Jewish homeland and return to the horrors of exile is beyond imagining.

Without retaining the hill country that runs like a spine north and south through Judea and Samaria, Israel’s pitifully narrow nine-mile-wide coastal plain will be at the mercy of a Palestinian Arab thugocracy, just as southern Israeli towns and villages endure relentless aggression from the Hamas-occupied Gaza Strip. That is why the Two-State Solution, as envisaged yet again and peddled by the EU and the morally bankrupt UN would usher in a new ‘Final Solution.’

The world has fallen for a fraudulent Palestinian narrative. It allows an uninformed world to embrace the falsehoods of an Arab people who call themselves Palestinians and creates an atmosphere where the embattled Jewish state is unjustly and grotesquely demonized. This increasingly allows such foul anti-Israel and anti-Semitic movements as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to continue its dirty work -- the latest being the despicable Ben and Jerry’s boycott of Jewish villages throughout Judea and Samaria.

That the conflict is not territorial but based on Islam’s unchangeable refusal to accept a Jewish state or any non-Muslim state whatever its borders in territory once conquered and occupied in the name of Allah is lost on so many who inhabit the international corridors of power. Most diplomats, with few exceptions, still harbor the illusion that territorial compromise will satisfy the Arab and Muslim world. So again and again the discredited corpse known as the ‘Two-State-Solution’ is exhumed and presented as the default plan.

It was Albert Einstein who said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The same can also include those without ears to hear or eyes to see

Image: Eric Gaba and NordNordWest

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.

 

Victor Sharpe is a prolific freelance writer and contributing editor. He is also a published author of seven books including The Blue Hour, a selection of thirteen short stories, and the acclaimed four volume, Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state.

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/07/the_warped_vision_of_a_twostate_solution.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Palestine: A fake construct for Jew-hating Arabs - Jonathan Verlin

 

​ by Jonathan Verlin

There has not been a true ethnic Palestinian on earth for over 2,000 years!

There is no "Palestine."  It does not exist.

As an anthropological term, "Palestine" is a derivation from the Latin of the word "Philistine," coined by the Romans in about the 2nd century.  Shortly after the Bar-Kokhba revolt in A.D. 130, the Romans renamed "Palestine" after the Philistines, who some scholars believe had disappeared about 700 years before.  While they lived, they were Greek, not Arab.  The archaeological finds conducted earlier last century in Heraklion, Crete, and the Gaza Strip revealed that they worshiped Greek idols and therefore suggest they were culturally Greek.  There has not been a true ethnic Palestinian on earth for over 2,000 years!

Geographically, the area between the Jordan basin and the Mediterranean was labeled "Palestine."  But it was used only as a geographical term prior to the re-establishment of Israel in 1948.  The "Palestinians" were not Arabs.  To wit, the soldiers who fought in the area at around that time were part of the Royal Palestine Legion, and almost all were Jews.  You will note that the original name of the Jerusalem Post was the Palestine Post.

"Palestinians," therefore, were people of most any religion who actually lived there — Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  They were all considered "Palestinians."  In the 1960s and '70s, the term became inclusive of all Arabs because it was imposed upon them by their leaders for political reasons.  Most of these people who call themselves "Palestinian" are actually descendants of people from Arabia, who immigrated to Israel often illegally during the Jewish mandate in order to enjoy a greater standard of living.

Ontologically, "Palestinian" theology is actually Judeo-Christian.  Only Judaism and Christianity came historically from the region of the Jordan and the Mediterranean.  In contrast, Islam came from Arabia.  It developed through the Middle Ages in Egypt.  Islam is not a "Palestinian" religion in the same sense in which Judaism and Christianity are.

In stark contrast, as we have already seen, tens of thousands of innocent Christians and Jews were murdered, often within their places of worship, by barbarous Islamic hordes, aided and comforted by their proxies on the left all the while.  Their sympathizers and even the moderates should consider well that there exists no country in the Muslim world where Christians and especially Jews enjoy the same freedoms in frequency and in magnitude as Muslims do in Australia, all of Western Europe, the Americas, and especially Israel.  This I would call apartheid, which moderates should be repudiating in large numbers.

History informs philosophy, and both form the basis of honest discussion.  The far left needs to wise up!

Image via Pixy.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.

 

Jonathan Verlin

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/07/palestine_a_fake_construct_for_jewhating_arabs.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

How Putin Understand the Lapid-Bennett Government - Caroline Glick

 

​ by Caroline Glick

The report of Israel’s new policy of restraint followed the big story of the week: Russia’s announcement that it assisted the Syrians in intercepting four missiles shot by IAF F-16s at targets in Syria for the first time.

 

Thursday it was reported that the IDF is planning to change its tactics in Syria and will base its operations against Iranian targets in the area on long-range standoff munitions rather than air strikes. Obviously, the move will downgrade Israel’s operational prowess. The report of Israel’s new policy of restraint followed the big story of the week: Russia’s announcement that it assisted the Syrians in intercepting four missiles shot by IAF F-16s at targets in Syria for the first time. Russia’s statement came in tandem with its announcement that it is abrogating its 2015 agreement with Israel to coordinate and deconflict Israel’s military operations in Syria from Russian forces in the country.

Russia’s decision is a major strategic blow.

The agreement in question was initiated almost immediately after Russian military forces first deployed to Syria in September 2015. Immediately after the Russians began setting up shop in Israel’s hostile neighbor to the north, then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The purpose of his sudden trip, and a series of follow-on meetings between the two leaders in the ensuing months, was to reach an accord that would enable the IDF to maintain its operational freedom against Iranian targets in Syria without getting into a military conflict with the Russian forces who deployed to Syria to assist the Assad regime and its Iranian and Hezbollah masters in their war of annihilation against Assad’s opponents and much of the population of Syria.

Netanyahu’s goal seemed like an impossible dream. And yet, stunningly, he achieved it. Moreover, the understandings Netanyahu reached with Putin were scrupulously respected by both sides with few exceptions until Russia abrogated it this week.

To get a sense of just how bad Russia’s sudden about face is for Israel, it’s important to remember what jolted Netanyahu into action six years ago.

When Russian forces landed in Syria, the various rebel armies fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and partners in Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were gaining the upper hand in large swathes of Syria. In desperation, Assad approached Putin with a deal. In exchange for Russia serving as his air force, Assad would give Russia a permanent base at the port of Latakia, control over several air bases, and control over the Conoco oil fields in Eastern Syria, (which were then and still today remain under U.S. military control).

In 2015, Israel was carrying out an undeclared campaign in Syria to block Iran from transporting precision-guided missiles and drones across Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The threat such weapons in the hands of Hezbollah poses to Israel is potentially existential. Iran has transferred precision-guided drones and missiles to its proxy forces in Yemen and Iraq and both have used them to conduct strategic assaults on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure. A Houthi drone strike in 2019 disabled half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production capabilities. Placing such weapons in Hezbollah’s hands would put targets on all of Israel’s population centers, its military bases, key infrastructure and industrial hubs.

The threat the sudden appearance of Russian forces in Syria on the side of Iran, Hezbollah and Assad posed to Israel’s security interests was obvious. If Russia decided to actively oppose Israel’s military strikes in Syrian territory, Israel would be compelled to choose between two options. It could unilaterally stand down to avoid direct confrontation with the Russia.  If it chose this option, it would end its air assaults against Iranian missile shipments to Hezbollah and find itself under a strategic threat from Hezbollah that it would be compelled to go to war to defeat. In such a war, Russia could be expected to actively assist Hezbollah’s war effort.

In other words, if Israel stood down in Syria to avoid a confrontation with Russia, it would be compelled to confront Russia on much more dangerous battlefield in Lebanon.

The second scenario Israel was facing was also bad. In this one, Israel would continue to strike Iranian arms shipments in Syria, without coordinating those strikes with Russia and inevitably find itself in a direct conflict with the Russians, similar to the one it found itself in in the 1982 Lebanon War. In that war, Israel destroyed Russia’s anti-aircraft systems and established its air superiority in the Middle East for a generation. In 2015, Israel might have repeated the achievement. Or it might have discovered that it was incapable of evading Russia’s new anti-aircraft surface to air missile systems, and lost its air superiority. Either way, the price of discovering whose platforms worked better would be the destruction of Israel’s bilateral relations with Russia.

When Netanyahu pondered this dire scenarios, he did so while operating under another strategic constraint: The Obama administration did not have Israel’s back. In 2012, as Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah partners embarked on a campaign of mass murder of Assad’s domestic opponents replete with chemical attacks, Obama was just beginning his focused effort to realign the U.S. alliance system in the Middle East towards Iran and away from Israel and the Sunni Arab states. Since Assad was an Iranian client, or “equity,” as Obama put it, Obama and his advisors were loath to respond when Assad massacred his people with barrel bombs and chemical weapons for fear of angering Tehran.

Under pressure to act in the face of Assad’s atrocities, Obama announced that if Assad used chemical weapons – particularly against civilians – he would send in U.S. forces. When months later, Assad attacked more than a thousand people – many of whom were civilians – in Ghouta with sarin gas, the eyes of the world fell on Obama and waited for him to follow through. Instead, Putin sent him a lifeline. Russia suggested that Assad would transfer his chemical arsenal to an international organization and in exchange, Obama would not strike his forces. Obama seized the offer, despite that fact that it was both unenforceable and indeed, unenforced, and declared victory.

Putin took Obama’s measure and bided his time. He understood that there would be no U.S. response to a sudden deployment of Russian forces to Syria. The moment Assad made him the offer he wanted, Putin deployed his forces to Syria for the first time in 33 years.

Obama’s desire to win over Iran by empowering it in Syria extended to his position on Israel’s military strikes in the country. Obama didn’t openly oppose Israel’s operations. He subverted them by leaking details of covert strikes to the New York Times. Moreover, by the time the Russians arrived, Obama had a personal vendetta against Netanyahu, who led the global opposition to the nuclear deal Obama concluded with the Iranians two months before and rejected Obama’s anti-Israel parameters for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Russia’s alliance with Syria, Iran and Hezbollah in Syria, its traditional antagonism towards Israel and its awareness that under Obama, Israel no longer enjoyed meaningful U.S. strategic or diplomatic support all rendered Netanyahu’s chances of success in reaching a deconfliction deal with Putin almost nil. To succeed, Netanyahu had to persuade Putin that Russia’s interest was served by maintaining Israeli airstrikes against Russia’s ally and partner in Syria Iran. He also had to convince Putin that having good relations with Israel was a Russian national interest. Senior Russian government, intelligence and military officials disagreed completely with both of Netanyahu’s contentions.

So what explains Netanyahu’s success?

In part, Netanyahu succeeded in winning Putin over because despite the contrary views of Russia’s top brass, his arguments were sound. Russia has no interest in giving Iran free rein in Syria. It has an interest in keeping Iran off balance and dependent on Russia for its protection. So too, Israel is a successful, powerful state and Russia has a great deal to gain from good relations with Israel.  

While Netanyahu’s claims were persuasive, Putin was only willing to hear him out because Netanyahu – and Israel – had earned his respect six months earlier.

When Netanyahu decided to accept the Republican Congressional leadership’s invitation to address a joint session of Congress in March 2015 and set forth the reasons he opposed the nuclear deal Obama was then negotiating with the Iranian regime, Israel’s security brass, the media and the political left led by then opposition lawmaker Yair Lapid all feverishly opposed the move which they insisted would destroy Israel’s ties with the U.S.

But the speech was a strategic masterstroke. The day after Netanyahu’s address the world looked at Israel differently. The day before Israel had been a spurned, isolated U.S. client state. The day after, Israel was a regional power. Far from isolating Israel in the U.S., Netanyahu rallied the American public to Israel’s side and against the deal that gave Iran an open road to a nuclear arsenal and regional hegemony. Putin saw the speech and decided that Netanyahu was a serious player and Israel was a serious nation.

Although the Abraham Accords were only formally released four years later, to a large degree, they were born the moment Netanyahu stepped into the Congressional gallery. The Saudis, the Egyptians, the Emiratis – and the Iranians – became convinced that day that they could trust Israel to block Iran from becoming a nuclear armed regional hegemon.

This brings us to the present day.

Now that the Russians have abrogated the Putin-Netanyahu deal, the men who ousted Netanyahu from power face the same bleak scenarios Netanyahu confronted with the arrival of Russian forces in Syria. But unlike Netanyahu, neither Prime Naftali Bennett nor Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have the ability to fly to Russia and convince Putin to reinstate the deal. This isn’t because of anything that Putin or Netanyahu did. It is because of something that Lapid and Bennett have done.

Shortly after Bennett and Lapid took office, Lapid spoke on the phone with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and announced that he had committed Israel to a policy of “no surprises” vis-a-vis the Biden administration. This commitment devastated Israel’s international standing. If Netanyahu’s speech to Congress ended the international perception of Israel as a second-rate power and a U.S. client, and transformed Israel’s standing to that of a regional power; Lapid’s “no surprises” commitment downgraded Israel back to its previous status.

With the threats arrayed against it, a unilateral Israeli move that limits its operational freedom by committing it to provide the U.S. with prior notification of its operations makes no sense in the best of times. It is downright irrational when the Biden administration is feverishly trying to reinstate Obama’s nuclear deal as a means to reinstate his strategy of abandoning U.S. support for Israel and the Sunni Arab states and realigning the U.S. towards Iran.

From Riyadh to Gaza, Abu Dhabi to Tehran, from Beijing to Brussels to Moscow world leaders understand what happened. The strategic blow Israel took from Russia this week will doubtlessly be followed from many more. Israel’s allies and enemies will assess their options in light of the Lapid-Bennett government’s embrace of dependence on a hostile administration in Washington.

Originally published in Israel Hayom.

 

Caroline Glick

Source: https://carolineglick.com/how-putin-understand-the-lapid-bennett-government/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Gantz and Kochavi hold assessment following attack on Israeli-managed ship - Elad Benari

 

​ by Elad Benari

Israeli official: Iran is sowing violence and destruction in every corner of the region. Our campaign against them will continue.

 

Gantz and Kochavi

Ariel Hermoni/Ministry of Defense

Defense Minister Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi held a security consultation on Friday following the attack on an Israeli-managed ship in the Persian Gulf in which two people were killed.

An Israeli official commented on the attack on the ship and said, "Iran is sowing violence and destruction in every corner of the region. Out of eagerness to attack an Israeli target, they have complicated and incriminated themselves by killing foreign civilians. The masks are coming off and it is impossible to pretend that the nature of the Iranian regime is unknown."

"Iran is not just a problem of Israel, it is a global problem, and its behavior endangers global shipping and trade. Our campaign against them will continue," the source added.

Zodiac Maritime, the Israeli company that manages the ship attacked off the coast of Oman, confirmed earlier on Friday that two individuals on board have died due to the attack.

"Two crew members, one a Romanian citizen and the other a British citizen, died from their wounds shortly after the attack," the company stated. "From preliminary reports, the attack was carried out by an unmanned aircraft."

The vessel is reportedly a Japanese tanker named M/T Mercer Street. It was sailing from Tanzania to the UAE without a cargo when it was reportedly set upon by pirates.

 

Elad Benari

Source:https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310895

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

A sober review of some viable options for the State of Israel - Dr. Shmuel Katz

 

​ by Dr. Shmuel Katz

We must fortify and expand our educational system in Israel and across the world, and protect our territorial integrity.

 

Dr. Shmuel Katz                                                                                                        Photo: INN

The state of Israel is facing major challenges these days from multiple sources.

We have a building pressure from the outside and from the inside.

Unfortunately, too many people in the international community are being steadily brainwashed against preserving the interest and the integrity of the state of Israel and that of the Jewish people, by well-funded anti-Israeli operatives like the BDS movement, the Radical pro-Palestinian organizations and by state sponsors of terrorism like Iran. At the same time, there are also some oblivious good-willed people and states, who think that there are easy solutions to the complicated problems in the Middle East.

Within the state of Israel, where the decisions and the directives of the ministry of education are so important, we see inadequate attention to the education of students from all walks of life about the historic and current just cause of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

If we look at what the Arab sector students are learning from their teachers and from their self-serving clergy, we will realize that the problem is even more challenging. In recent times it would have been unimaginable to have Arab youth riot in pogroms against their own Jewish neighbors within the state of Israel. Surprisingly, this happened very recently, for example, in Jerusalem, in Haifa, in Lod and in Akko.

In addition, when we look at the out of control building constructions and agricultural expansions in the territories of Judea and Samaria, the Negev and elsewhere, some of it sponsored by the EU, some by Muslim countries and by others, one can see a strategic plan to weaken the state of Israel and eventually to remove it from the Middle East altogether.

On top of that, we have just seen an Arab member of the Knesset, who joined the newly created Israeli government, who served as the substitute chairperson of the Knesset, challenging a speaking member of the Knesset and ordering him to be removed by security, due to the fact that he did not address him specifically, in a way of his choice.

This Arab member of the Knesset and the newly formed Israeli government, stated recently that the Jews should not have the right to visit the Temple Mount, despite the fact that he is well aware of the fact that it is the holiest site for the Jewish people, even from before the times of the establishment of Islam as a religion.

One of the biggest challenges that. most probably, the state of Israel will have to face, is the pressure to relinquish a part of its ancestral homeland to the Palestinian Authority, despite the fact that the PA is not recognizing the right of the Jewish people to any part of the state of Israel, and is actively engaged in the attempt to liquidate the state of Israel in stages.

Therefore, the state of Israel must pay special attention to the proper education of Jewish and Arab students in the schools in Israel. In addition, special attention must be dedicated to educate the population at large, within the state of Israel and across the globe, exposing the malicious anti-Israeli propaganda. In addition, the state of Israel will have to share widely the truthful information about the just cause of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Jews should be allowed to build their future within their ancestral homeland, should it be in the Galilee, in the Negev or in Judea and Samaria. The state of Israel should block illegal land grabs by squatters, even if they are financed by the EU.

Should peace negotiations move forward, the state of Israel, should not relinquish anything in any irreversible step to the Palestinian Authority, unless they change dramatically from where they stand today. The reason is very simple. So far, the PA has demonstrated their intentions to destroy the state of Israel very clearly. They refused multiple very generous negotiated peace offers, they continue incitement to terror in their schools and through their public media. They thrive on a well-planned and well financed deception across the world, and they will not take any relevant steps to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state or educate their people for peace.

In the year 2005, Ariel Sharon thought that by removing all the Jewish inhabitants and by giving the Arab Palestinians a nice piece of land in Gaza without Jews, they would show the world that they can run a responsible government, and build a beautiful resort on the seashore of the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, we have received a terror state in Gaza, run by Hamas, and supported internationally by too many corrupt or oblivious countries and individuals.

As we have no alternatives, we must fortify and expand our educational system in Israel and across the world, and protect our territorial integrity, if we want to preserve the state of Israel in the Land of Israel, for the future generations of our people, and for those who want to live in peace with us.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary, raised in Israel. served as an officer in the 6 Day War, gaining extensive trauma experience during the Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in Surgery, a Fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies. He serves on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310864

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

German human rights NGO blasts Ben & Jerry's over Judea and Samaria boycott - Dan Verbin

 

​ by Dan Verbin

The Amadeu Antonio Stiftung Foundation is ending its partnership with the ice cream maker saying its boycott promotes anti-Semitism.

 

A German NGO that promotes human rights while combating far right extremism, anti-Semitism and racism has denounced Ben & Jerry’s for their boycott of Judea and Samaria, and is halting their partnership with the group.

In an open letter to Ben & Jerry’s, the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung Foundation called out the ice cream company for their boycott that “doesn’t solve any conflicts, but stirs hate and promotes anti-Semitism.”

“We cannot comprehend the decision to boycott Israel in this way,” they wrote. “We are especially disappointed that the company is following the line of the anti-Semitic boycott movement BDS.”

The foundation noted that boycott movements ”demonize and delegitimize the state of Israel and thus spread Israel-related anti-Semitism” while at the same time applying a wholly different standard to Israel than they do to terror groups like Hamas or the corrupt regime of the PA, which both violate human rights and “are the very opposite of anything that can be considered progressive or emancipatory.”

“The origins and allies of the boycott movements are, among others, terrorist, Islamist organizations. Their aims accept the eradication of the Jewish state, and their hatred of Jews exists regardless of said Jews’ stance on Israel. This is sheer anti-Semitism and has nothing to do with any supposed criticism of Israeli government policy. Liberal-left and anti-racist principles are incompatible with this stance,” they wrote.

They also remarked that a boycott does nothing to help anyone in Israel – Jews or Arabs – and instead spreads hatred under the pretext of “criticism of Israel” and “[poisons] the climate against Jews.”

The foundation also expressed their concern that Ben & Jerry’s is not speaking out against rising anti-Semitism experienced by Jews across the world, not only from the far right but “from the middle of society, from radical Islamic circles and from so-called critics of Israel on the left. “

“We find it inexcusable to participate in campaigns that promote this development and escalate anti-Semitism,” they wrote. “That you have… joined the chorus of those who portray Israel as some great evil, completely oblivious to the overall context of the region’s history and the conflict, is a slap in the face to all who experience anti-Semitism on a daily basis.”

They added that they won’t tolerate anti-Semitism being overlooked or simply defined as “so-called criticism of Israel.”

“The Amadeu Antonio Foundation does not cooperate with anti-Semitic groups or activists. A partnership with you is only possible for us if we share these principles,” they concluded. “Under these circumstances, we will therefore halt our cooperation with Ben & Jerry’s.”

 

Dan Verbin

Source:https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310898

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Iran's Mullahs are Killing; Biden Administration, EU Are Silent - Majid Rafizadeh

 

​ by Majid Rafizadeh

Iran, with its current regime, is a danger not just to its long-suffering people, but to everyone.

• The Biden administration has... not uttered even one word of condemnation. People can and should be wondering how a country that boasts about freedom and civil rights can be silent while other humans are being butchered because they desire that same freedom and those same rights?

• Iran, with its current regime, is a danger not just to its long-suffering people, but to everyone. These protesters, who are flooding the streets and demanding that their voices be heard, are displaying acts of heroism that will be felt throughout the world and throughout history

• While many in Iran are risking their lives in their struggle to change their predatory regime, and while many have been killed by the Iranian regime's force, the Biden administration has so far not shown even the slightest interest in even verbally condemning the brutal mullahs of Iran. Instead, the current US administration continues cozying up to them, presumably in the hope of reviving the disastrous nuclear deal and lifting all sanctions to help them continue their marauding, expansion and terror.

When the people of Iran rose up by the millions against the Iranian regime in 2009, the Obama administration stayed abhorrently silent. This year, on July 15, many in Iran rose against the regime again; again, the Biden administration remained totally silent, just as Obama did. Pictured: People in Tehran, Iran, protest during the popular uprising in the name of the "Green Movement," on June 16, 2009. (Image source: Milad Avazbeigi/Wikimedia Commons)

When the people of Iran rose up by the millions against the Iranian regime in 2009, the Obama administration stayed abhorrently silent. People on the streets in Iran began chanting, "Obama, Obama, are you with them [the ruling mullahs] or with us?" The Obama administration offered no support. The administration's dismissal of their agony not only enabled the mullahs brutally to crush the demonstrations with impunity; the mullahs were even rewarded with a deal that would enable them to have legitimate nuclear weapons capability down the road and billions of dollars thrown in.

Obama and the Iranian regime sold the world the idea that appeasement towards the mullahs and lifting UN sanctions would supposedly help the Iranian people and make the Iranian government a constructive player. Instead, the opposite took place.

This year, on July 15, many in Iran rose against the regime again; again, the Biden administration remained totally silent, just as Obama did. When people in dozens of cities in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan rose up against the regime, young demonstrators have reportedly been killed by security forces. Videos have emerged showing that people in Tehran and other cities were heard chanting "Death to the Dictator" and "Death to Khamenei". In addition, workers of the essential oil and gas industry have gone on a nationwide strike.

According to Amnesty International:

"Iran's security forces have deployed unlawful force, including by firing live ammunition and birdshot, to crush mostly peaceful protests taking place across the southern province of Khuzestan... Video footage from the past week, coupled with consistent accounts from the ground, indicate security forces used deadly automatic weapons, shotguns with inherently indiscriminate ammunition, and tear gas to disperse protesters.

"Since protests over severe water shortages erupted in Khuzestan on 15 July, security forces have killed at least eight protesters and bystanders, including a teenage boy, in seven different cities."

The regime's first reaction to peaceful protests has been to deploy brute force. As Tara Sepehri Far, a researcher on Iran at Human Rights Watch, pointed out:

"Iranian authorities have a very troubling record of responding with bullets to protesters frustrated with mounting economic difficulties and deteriorating living conditions."

The Biden administration has, as of yet, not uttered even one word of condemnation. People can and should be wondering how a country that boasts about freedom and civil rights can be silent while other humans are being butchered because they desire that same freedom and those same rights? Is silence not a betrayal of justice, freedom and democracy?

It is also no secret that that the Iranian regime is, according to the US Department of State, not only still the leading state sponsor of terrorism; it also "wins [the] world record" for the most executions per capita. The regime, according to Amnesty International, is also a "leading executioner" of children.

The Biden administration then must surely know, then, that if the Iranian people succeed in changing this brutal Islamist regime, they will bring down the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, a leading regime in human rights violations, and a leading state sponsor of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitic propaganda.

Moreover, Iran, with its proxies, having effectively taken control of Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and the Gaza Strip -- and now reportedly eyeing Jordan -- seems to have plans to become the leading hegemon in the region. It also has for decades been setting up proxy operations in Latin America, particularly Cuba and Venezuela, the soft underbelly of the United States.

Iran, with its current regime, is a danger not just to its long-suffering people, but to everyone. These protesters, who are flooding the streets and demanding that their voices be heard, are displaying acts of heroism that will be felt throughout the world and throughout history.

The Biden administration should know that "he who is silent consents." Is this the message that the Biden administration wants as his legacy to send to the protesters who are risking their lives to bring freedom not only to their nation but eventually to the world? It is just so hypocritical and heartbreaking to see that the international community and the United Nations simply watch while peaceful protesters are beaten, brutalized and killed – with not a breath of international condemnation for the tyrants or of support for these brave and long-suffering souls.

While many in Iran are risking their lives in their struggle to change their predatory regime, and while many have been killed by the Iranian regime's force, the Biden administration has so far not shown even the slightest interest in even verbally condemning the brutal mullahs of Iran. Instead, the current US administration continues cozying up to them, presumably in the hope of reviving the disastrous nuclear deal and lifting all sanctions to help them continue their marauding, expansion and terror.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17604/iran-killing-us-eu-silence

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

China Ambushes Top American Diplomat - Gordon G. Chang

 

​ by Gordon G. Chang

The mauling this time took place in the Chinese city of Tianjin, on July 26. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the most senior Biden administration official to visit China, was the victim.

• "Chinese leaders give the impression that the U.S.A. has much more to seek from them than they from Washington.... This time, the Americans were on the defensive as they sought Beijing's cooperation on a range of issues—climate change, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, and others—ensuring that the U.S.A. did not seek conflict." — Yogesh Gupta, former Indian diplomat and specialist on China-India relations, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, July 27, 2021.

• In fact, the Chinese are not that essential, and American leaders do not have to listen to them. Take their economy. Last year, China became even more dependent on exports, and it remains extraordinarily reliant on access to the U.S. market. In 2020, China's merchandise trade surplus with the U.S. accounted for a stunning 58.0% of its overall merchandise trade surplus.

• Moreover, China's financial markets have become even more dependent on foreign capital because of Xi Jinping's unrelenting attack on his country's tech sector. Xi began his most recent phase of this months-long assault with the unprecedented halting last November of Ant Group's initial public offering, slated to be the world's largest at $39.5 billion. This year, Xi has wiped more than $140 billion of value off U.S.-listed Chinese tech giants during the last week of July alone, and most analysts believe the carnage will continue.

• China, as a result, is needy, requiring foreign cash to replace what has already been lost—and what will be lost as Xi continues to take apart his tech giants. Biden can use his considerable powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977—or, if he is even bolder, the Trading with Enemy Act of 1917—to halt commerce with China and investment into the Chinese markets, ending once and for all the China threat.

Once again, China's regime went out of its way to insult Biden administration diplomats. The mauling this time took place in the Chinese city of Tianjin, on July 26. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (pictured), the most senior Biden administration official to visit China, was the victim. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Once again, China's regime went out of its way to insult Biden administration diplomats.

The mauling this time took place in the Chinese city of Tianjin, on July 26. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the most senior Biden administration official to visit China, was the victim.

Beijing used the meeting with Ms. Sherman, as it used the now-infamous March meeting in Anchorage, not to work with the U.S. but to launch a propaganda campaign against Washington.

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng, for instance, publicly accused the U.S. of trying to end the Chinese regime. "A whole-of-government and whole-of-society campaign is being waged to bring China down," Xie said, according to the official China Daily, during Sherman's visit.

Xie even went so far as to hand Sherman two lists, containing what were portrayed as Beijing's demands. "China has for the first time given the U.S. a list of red lines and remedial action it must take to repair relations," Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

Xie did not let up after Sherman departed Chinese soil. Days later he was issuing additional hostile comments, including one posted on the website of China's embassy in the U.S. "It is," Xie stated, "the United States, not anybody else, who is the inventor, and patent and intellectual property owner of coercive diplomacy."

This propaganda blast mirrored the one that immediately followed the mid-March meeting in Anchorage, where China's Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Just moments after the first day of that tense encounter, Beijing issued statements inciting, among other things, hatred against America and a global race war against white people, some of its most vicious propaganda in the post-Mao history of the People's Republic.

It was no accident that Xie was chosen for the task of taking on Sherman. Beijing had first offered the American diplomat, then about to embark on a trip to Japan, South Korea, and Mongolia, a meeting with him, the No. 5 in the foreign ministry. State scrubbed a stopover in China over the intended slight to Sherman, America's No. 2 diplomat. The U.S. side agreed to a meeting in China only after Beijing offered a sit-down with Foreign Minister Wang, the regime's No. 2 diplomat and Sherman's counterpart.

Sherman in fact met Wang, but Beijing afterwards omitted this crucial fact in its propaganda releases, reporting only that Sherman met Xie Feng. The slight mirrored Beijing's attempt to insult U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this year. The Chinese regime evidently thinks it is open season on senior American officials.

We should not be surprised. "I've heard presidents of both political parties say complimentary things about the leader of China," Trey Gowdy said on his new Fox News Channel show in July. "Are we sending the right message? I mean if we really believe China is responsible for COVID-19 and stealing intellectual property and aggression in the South China Sea, are we sending the right message to them?"

No, Washington is most certainly not. The generous messages American presidents send to Beijing are obviously counterproductive. That messaging, for instance, has led China's leaders, who are critically reliant on the United States, to believe they hold the high cards.

President Joe Biden in particular is guilty of needlessly giving the Chinese leverage. "Chinese leaders give the impression that the U.S.A. has much more to seek from them than they from Washington," said Yogesh Gupta, former Indian diplomat and specialist on China-India relations, to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, referring to the Sherman meeting. "This time, the Americans were on the defensive as they sought Beijing's cooperation on a range of issues—climate change, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, and others—ensuring that the U.S.A. did not seek conflict."

Americans have fed the already inflated egos of their Chinese counterparts by telling them how important they are, and those statements have naturally given Beijing far more power in the relationship than it either has or deserves. For decades, U.S. presidents have not used the tools at their disposal in dealings with Beijing. On the contrary, most of them essentially gave China's despots a veto on American policy by saying that Chinese cooperation was absolutely essential.

In fact, the Chinese are not that essential, and American leaders do not have to listen to them. Take their economy. Last year, China became even more dependent on exports, and it remains extraordinarily reliant on access to the U.S. market. In 2020, China's merchandise trade surplus with the U.S. accounted for a stunning 58.0% of its overall merchandise trade surplus.

Moreover, China's financial markets have become even more dependent on foreign capital because of Xi Jinping's unrelenting attack on his country's tech sector. Xi began the most recent phase of his months-long assault with the unprecedented last-minute halting last November of Ant Group's initial public offering, slated to be the world's largest at $39.5 billion. This year, Xi has wiped more than $140 billion of value off U.S.-listed Chinese tech giants during the last week of July alone, and most analysts believe the carnage will continue.

China, as a result, is needy, requiring foreign cash to replace what has already been lost—and what will be lost as Xi continues to take apart his tech giants. Biden can use his considerable powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977—or, if he is even bolder, the Trading with Enemy Act of 1917—to halt commerce with China and investment into the Chinese markets, ending once and for all the China threat.

Biden's attempts to build a working relationship have failed, as the Sherman meeting clearly shows.

The best way to deal with China's regime is not deal with it. That's a far better message to send than the ones Gowdy is concerned about.

There is no sense strengthening China with American resources, especially when Beijing has shown no interest in dialogue or a constructive relationship with Washington. Xi Jinping no longer wants to accommodate America or compromise with Americans. He prefers to lecture, dictate, demand, and humiliate them.

Wendy Sherman just learned that. China's diplomats ambushed her. There must be a consequence. It is time to say to Beijing, "No more!"

• Follow Gordon G. Chang on Twitter

 

Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17605/china-ambush-american-diplomat

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

The invisible victims of jihadi violence - Melanie Phillips

​ by Melanie Phillips

Westerners don’t understand the threat to their own security. That’s because it doesn’t fit the liberal narrative—that Muslims are the victims of Western colonialist oppression. Therefore, their violence is a kind of justified resistance.

(JNS) The death of Ruth Pearl at the age of 85 reminds us once again of the unspeakable horror that was visited upon Ruth and her family, and which served as a particularly dreadful wake-up call for the Western world.

In January 2002 her son, the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda and beheaded nine days later.

Daniel Pearl                                                                                                                     Reuters

Ruth, an electrical engineer, and her husband Judea, a professor of computer science and statistics, formed the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which brings together people from different cultures through musical events, lectures, journalism fellowships and other activities.

Ruth’s immediate family members, who survived the 1941 “Farhud” pogrom in Baghdad in which 180 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, were part of the subsequent mass exodus of Jews to Israel in 1951.

Shortly afterwards, Ruth’s brother died fighting in the Israel Defense Forces.

Such a family background in the Jewish experience of persecution and self-defense meant that when Daniel Pearl said into Al-Qaeda’s video camera just before he was slaughtered, “My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish,” this had a resonance which would have escaped his murderer.

That vile individual, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, told the FBI he believed that killing a Jew would make for powerful propaganda and incite his fellow jihadis.

For Al-Qaeda wasn’t just a terror organization springing from the arcane geopolitics of the Middle East. Its agenda was driven by hatred of Jews.

Jew-hatred is indeed central to the jihadis’ aim of conquering the west for Islam.

As is made explicit in the Hamas charter, Islamists believe that from the French Revolution onward everything to do with the modernity they are pledged to destroy has been created by Jews. They believe that the Jews are behind everything that Muslims deem to be bad, and that the perfection of the world will only occur when the Jews are eradicated from the face of the earth.

This psychotic belief drove Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj-Amin al Husseini, in the 1930s. Today, it drives the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, the Iranian regime and other jihadi organizations. Such Islamists believe that the Jews control the West; so to attack the West, they must attack the Jews. But the West has never understood the centrality of Jew-hatred in the jihadi mind.

That’s why the West gets the Middle East conflict precisely backwards. It believes that if Muslims hate the Jews, it’s because they hate Israel; whereas in reality, Muslims hate Israel because they hate the Jews.

After the lynching in 2000 of two Israeli soldiers who had taken a wrong turn in Ramallah, Sheikh Ahmad abu Halabaya said on TV from Gaza City: “It is forbidden to have mercy in your hearts for the Jews in any place and in any land. Make war on them any place that you find yourself. Any place that you meet them, kill them.”

As an Egyptian cleric, Mohammed Hussein Yaqoup said on TV in 2009: “If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. … They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing … we will fight, defeat and annihilate them until not a single Jew remains on the face of the earth.”

Failing to grasp this, Westerners don’t understand the nature and extent of the threat to their own security. That’s because it doesn’t fit the liberal narrative—that Muslims are the victims of Western colonialist oppression, and that therefore their violence is a kind of justified resistance, at least in its aims if not its methods.

This blindness afflicts the Biden administration. Not only does it believe it can negotiate with the genocidal Jew-haters of Iran. It has also decided to free from jail Abdul Latif Nasir, the Al-Qaeda commander who helped the Taliban blow up the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan in 2001.

Nasir, who will be sent back to Morocco where the political system is controlled by Islamists, isn’t just a lethally dangerous terrorist explosives instructor. As Daniel Greenfield reports, he has expressed a preference for killing Jews and has singled out for praise atrocities in which Jews were the intended targets.

But it’s not just the Islamists targeting of the Jews that the West ignores. For many years, there has been a murderous jihadi onslaught on Christians in Africa, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere in the developing world.

According to a Genocide Watch report last year, 11,500 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria since June 2015. Thousands more have been maimed, kidnapped, or had their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

As reported by the Barnabas Fund, which campaigns for persecuted Christians around the world, Fulani Muslims in Nigeria murdered 28 Christians earlier this month in the Christian-majority area of southern Kaduna state, while around 120 students were kidnapped from a Christian school there.

Yet this sustained and savage onslaught upon Christians has received virtually no media coverage in the West at all. That’s because it doesn’t fit the narrative of the “colonialist” Christian West persecuting the Muslim world.

A similar myopia is displayed over Islamist attacks on Christians in the West itself. Last weekend, a Christian preacher, Hatun Tash, was attacked at Speakers’ Corner in the capital’s Hyde Park. This is a place where anyone can get up on a soapbox to orate and is therefore an iconic symbol of Britain’s historic devotion to freedom of speech.

Hatun, a Muslim convert to Christianity and director of the group Defend Christ Critique Islam, was slashed in the face by an attacker who fled. Her assailant is assumed to be an Islamist since Hatun has repeatedly been the victim of such attacks at Speakers’ Corner.

In September 2020, footage emerged of an Islamic mob surrounding her and issuing death threats. In other incidents, she has been slapped, punched and knocked to the ground by Muslim men.

Yet the British media have reported last weekend’s knife attack on her in a low-key way, with few details other than to note that she was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt.

This detail is telling. When Islamists broke into the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015 and murdered 12 of its staff, many in the West in effect blamed the staff for their own murder. That was because the magazine had published cartoons making fun of Islam’s founder, Mohammed. And many Western liberals endorse Muslim insistence that material offensive to their religion shouldn’t be published.

Such liberals also deploy the weapon of “Islamophobia,” the thought-crime devised by the jihadists of the Muslim Brotherhood as a means of suppressing any criticism of the Muslim world however well-founded it may be.

So Hatun Tash was guilty in the liberal mind of being an “oppressive” Christian who speaks out against Islam.

Thus jihadi attempts to wipe out Christianity around the world are ignored, Muslim attacks on Jews are airbrushed out, and even reformist Muslims find themselves smeared as “Islamophobes” if they criticize their co-religionists. Because none of this fits the “narrative.”

And so those who control this “narrative” in the West refuse to understand the nature and agenda of the people who are coming for them, too.

A growing number of Muslims, however, are horrified by such excesses and want merely to live in peace and security. When Britain’s former chief rabbi, the late Lord Sacks, asked Judea Pearl why he was working for reconciliation between Jews and Muslims, he replied: “Hate killed my son. Therefore I am determined to fight hate.”

May the memory of Ruth Pearl, her murdered son and her slain brother all be for a blessing.

 

Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for “The Times of London,” her personal and political memoir, “Guardian Angel,” has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, “The Legacy.” Go to melaniephillips.substack.com to access her work.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310862

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Palestinians Accuse Hamas of Storing Weapons in Civilian Areas - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

​ by Hugh Fitzgerald

So even the Palestinians are getting fed up with Hamas?

 

 

How satisfying it is to see Israel’s claims about Hamas deliberately storing weapons in residential areas is now being backed up by the Palestinians themselves – to wit, 133 Palestinian NGOs who have denounced this dangerous and cruel practice by Hamas. The story is here: “Palestinians accuse Hamas of storing weapons in residential areas,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, July 24, 2021:

Palestinian factions and human rights organizations have called on Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups to stop storing weapons in residential areas following another explosion that killed one person and injured 14 others on Thursday [July 21].

They also demanded a thorough investigation into the explosion in order to hold those responsible accountable.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said that the explosion took place in a warehouse used by Hamas for storing weapons.

The “warehouse” was, in fact, an ordinary three-story residential house in the Al-Zawiya market area in the middle of Gaza City. Scores of civilians would have been in and around the house at all times.

Hamas said it has launched an investigation into the explosion, but has not provided any details….

Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza views the explosion incident with grave seriousness, as there have been repeated incidents of internal explosions in houses in overcrowded residential neighborhoods for various reasons in the past, which resulted in the killing of a number of civilians and the destruction of homes and public and private properties,” the statement read.

From the Palestinian horse’s mouth: “there have been repeated incidents of internal explosions in houses in overcrowded residential neighborhoods” which “resulted in the killing of a number of civilians.” This was not the first such explosion of a Hamas weapons warehouse that killed civilians, but only the latest of many, all of which could have been avoided had the terror group placed its weapons well away from residential areas. But the terror group has always insisted on maximizing the danger to Palestinian civilians, by warehousing weapons in their midst, in the hope of avoiding Israeli attacks.

“Accordingly, Al-Mezan reiterates its call for a comprehensive and serious investigation into this incident and other similar events, to publish the results of the investigation publicly, and to take the necessary measures to ensure that it does not recur in order to preserve the lives and property of citizens.”

The “necessary measures to ensure that it [such an explosion] does not recur” would mean an entire overhauling of Hamas’ policy on weapons warehousing would have to take place. The weapons would be moved from populated places and placed far from civilian areas — where of course they will be more easily detected by the IAF. As far as Al-Mezan goes, that’s just too bad.

The Palestinian NGO Network, an umbrella organization comprising 133 member organizations, also called for a “serious and transparent” investigation into the explosion. “The Network stresses the need to expedite the provision of all forms of assistance and support to those affected,” the group said. “It also stresses the need to announce the results of the investigation and to take serious measures to prevent such explosions from happening again.”…

It looks like the Palestinians are at the end of their tether, fed up with Hamas’ practice of deliberately storing its weapons ammunition in the midst of civilian areas where the danger of unintended explosions and civilian casualties is high. And they are now making public their pent-up fury, even though their complaint about the terror group’s practices echoes, and buttresses, the claims made by Israel about Hamas.

Fadel Al-Manasfeh, a Palestinian writer, echoes the Israelis: “Hamas chooses popular markets as a safe place for its ammunition warehouses because it knows that Israel does not target such places.” The Israelis try to pinpoint their attacks on these warehouses so as to minimize civilian casualties, and before launching them the IDF makes sure to warn civilians to leave the immediate area, through telephone calls, emails, and the “knock-on-the-roof” technique. Not all the civilians always leave in time, and sometimes the hoped-for precision of the bombing is not achieved. But Israel never deliberately “targets” civilian areas. Al-Manasfeh has it right: “Israel does not target such places” as those “popular markets” within or near to which Hamas stores its ammunition and weapons.

The next time the Jewish state is attacked in the UN Genera Assembly for causing “civilian deaths,” Israel’s ambassador should read out the Jerusalem Post article posted above, taking care to point out that the Palestinians themselves have accused Hamas of deliberately storing their weapons in civilian areas, in the hope that either Israel will be forced to refrain from attacking or, if it does decide to attack, any civilian casualties that result – Hamas doesn’t give a damn about what happens to them – will make Israel look bad. Let the Ambassador read out to the General Assembly what the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has to say about this latest explosion at a house in the midst of the Al-Zawiya market area, and why the 133 Palestinian NGOs have called for a thorough investigation, and what the Palestinian writer Fadel Al-Manasfeh said about the terror group Hamas’ practice of deliberately placing weapons in civilian areas (like markets), because it knows that Israel would be unlikely to target them. Having read all that out – quoting only Palestinians themselves – he can then tell the stunned Assembly (and the furious delegate from the “State of Palestine”) that “I rest my case.

 

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/palestinians-accuse-hamas-storing-weapons-civilian-hugh-fitzgerald/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

China Aims to Dominate Global Governance - Steven Neill

 

​ by Steven Neill

Though the dangers to the world of China becoming a global powerhouse are evident, a few frilly words from China seem to be all that is needed for Western elites to disbelieve their eyes.

A December 2020 report by the U.S. Department of the Navy divulged the following on China's methods for projecting its "true maritime power":

China's aggressive actions are undermining the international rules-based order, while its growing military capacity and capabilities are eroding U.S. military advantages at an alarming rate.

China has implemented a strategy and revisionist approach that aims at the heart of the United States' maritime power. It seeks to corrode international maritime governance, deny access to traditional logistical hubs, inhibit freedom of the seas, control use of key choke-points, deter our engagement in regional disputes, and displace the United States as the preferred partner in countries around the world.

China's aggressive fishing policies coincide with its aggression in other areas as well:

• Reuters reports China's aggressive building of dams, dikes, and levees controlling the water flowing from Tibet has choked the Mekong River, which provides water to tens of millions of people, basically weaponizing water.

• According to Breitbart, China is violating its treaties with India by building at least 20 military camps along their border, called the Line of Actual Control. The added military personnel escalated tensions between the two Asian nations to levels not seen since the mid-'70s.

• China and India are considering building competing dams along the Brahmaputra river — called the Yarlung Tsangpo river in China — further heightening tensions. The Express U.K. quoted Brahma Chellaney, a reporter on India and China's relationship: "India is facing China's terrestrial aggression in the Himalayas, maritime encroachments on its backyard and, as the latest news is a reminder, even water wars."

China is using its Belt and Road Initiative to invest in infrastructure in dozens of countries. It then uses that debt to pressure those countries into cooperating or face a debt trap in which they owe China more money than they can pay back, expanding China's global influence. The University of Pennsylvania posted a podcast in which Marshall W. Meyer, Wharton emeritus professor of management and a China expert, said of the Belt and Road Initiative,

While U.S. foreign aid or the Marshall Plan to rebuild economies following World War II is not expected to be repaid, the BRI is a "Chinese investment that expects a return." Its banking institutions loan money to the partner countries for BRI projects and use Chinese companies to do the work, resulting in a Chinese company benefitting from the loan. The host nation got the debt.

Pearl Risberg of the Center for Strategic International Studies explains what happens when the host nation is unable to repay the loan:

The BRI is often critiqued as so-called "debt-trap diplomacy." According to this narrative, China provides infrastructure funding to developing economies under opaque loan terms, only to strategically leverage the recipient country's indebtedness to China for economic, military, or political favor. The debt-for-equity swap of Sri Lanka's Hambantota port is an oft-used example, where China excused Sri Lanka's $8 billion debt in exchange for a 99-year lease of the Sri Lankan port in 2017.

Yet even with all of the above taking place, the West has consented to and even encouraged Chinese expansion, ceding to China her path to a dominant role in world governance, allowing and even promoting more significant Chinese influence in the U.N. other world organizations.

As of April 2020, Chinese nationals now head four of the 15 U.N. specialized agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the International Civil Aviation Organization. According to the Diplomat, China's U.N. monetary contribution has risen to 12 percent. But, as the World Health Organization's handling of China's role in the COVID-19 pandemic — essentially deflecting blame for the pandemic from China — clearly shows, money covers a multitude of sins.

Under the guise of environmentalism and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, China openly uses its control over the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to further its Belt and Road Initiative. In 2018, Chinese communist Liu Zhenmin, the incumbent head of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, wrote:

In this regard, the Belt and Road Initiative has provided a new open and inclusive platform for international development cooperation, which can make a great contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's)….

While the Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda are different in their nature and scope, they share a similar vision and a set of basic principles in many respects.

Both of them serve the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs is even endorsing China's Belt and Road plan, saying that China would strengthen "the effects of international development cooperation under the Belt and Road on the achievement of the 17 SDGs in the participating countries, with positive spill-overs to the achievement of the SDGs in the rest of the world."

And as Beijing pushes globalism with a Chinese twist — through its investments in capital improvements overseas — the American ideals of freedom and human rights are losing influence. China is exploiting most of the poorest nations and peoples on Earth and removing them from the American sphere of power with the blessings of global elites.

Though the dangers to the world of China becoming a global powerhouse are evident, a few frilly words from China seem to be all that is needed for Western elites to disbelieve their eyes. On January 25, 2021, President Xi gave a virtual speech that, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, "wows" the "global luminaries" at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In his speech, Xi stated:

The right choice is for countries to pursue peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and only finding common ground while shelving differences, and to promote exchanges and mutual learning. This is the way to add impetus to the progress of human civilization….

China will get more actively engaged in global economic governance and the push for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial to all.

It is said that some things are so crazy that only an academic would believe them. Maybe it should read "only a globalist would believe them." Imagine, if you will, a leader of a country whose warplanes are even now threatening Taiwan, Japan, and even Pearl Harbor and is responsible for numerous acts of global bullying, preaching the perks of "mutual respect" and "finding common ground" and promising to become even more involved in "global economic governance," for the benefit of "all."

Photo: Pixabay license

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.

 

Steven Neill

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/07/china_aims_to_dominate_global_governance_.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter