Human Rights Violations: European Union Gives Iran's Mullahs Full Impunity - Majid Rafizadeh

 

​ by Majid Rafizadeh

It is beyond repulsive that the EU -- the same EU that incessantly lectures the world about human rights -- not only ignores the Iranian regime's unspeakable human violations, but that it also happily continues to do "business as usual" with the leaders of Iran's cruel and inhuman regime.

• To execute political prisoners, Iran's judiciary accuses defendants of vaguely defined charges labeled as "national security crimes." These "crimes" include moharebeh ("enmity against God"), ifsad fil arz ("sowing corruption on Earth"), and baghi ("armed rebellion").

• It is not only the number of executions that is appalling, but also the nature of some of them. Executions have involved minor children, women and individuals from ethnic and religious minority groups. Although Iran has ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the government has made no effort to alter the country's Islamic Penal Code, which allows girls as young as nine to be executed.

• In addition, children, women and men are routinely tortured during interrogations and behind bars. They are forced to confess. They are denied access to lawyers and due process. They are denied family visits and medical care.

• The ruling mullahs of Iran refuse to halt their executions and human rights violations, or to reform their repressive system, because they feel no pressure from the usually moralizing European Union. So they act with full impunity. The informed silence of the EU therefore makes it a willing accessory to their crimes.

• It is beyond repulsive that the EU -- the same EU that incessantly lectures the world about human rights -- not only ignores the Iranian regime's unspeakable human violations, but that it also happily continues to do "business as usual" with the leaders of Iran's cruel and inhuman regime.

European Union special envoy Enrique Mora, despite the Iranian regime's horrendous and brutal human rights abuses, traveled to Iran in October and discussed "mutual interests" with Iran's leaders. Meanwhile, Iran's regime has been executing people "at an alarming rate", and, according to a recent report by Amnesty International, was "the top executioner in the Middle East" last year. Pictured: Mora attends the swearing in ceremony of Iran's newly elected President in Tehran on August 5, 2021. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

The European Union, which endlessly and hypocritically lectures the international community on human rights, is turning a blind eye on the Iranian regime's expanding human rights violations.

EU special envoy Enrique Mora, despite the Iranian regime's horrendous and brutal human rights abuses, traveled to Iran in October and discussed "mutual interests" with Iran's leaders. Meanwhile, Iran's regime has been executing people "at an alarming rate", and, according to a recent report by Amnesty International, was "the top executioner in the Middle East" last year.

The EU has been cuddling the repressive rulers of Iran, even as the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran recently warned:

"There are extensive, vague and arbitrary grounds in Iran for imposing the death sentence, which quickly can turn this punishment into a political tool. In addition, the structural flaws of the justice system are so deep and at odds with the notion of rule of law that one can barely speak of a justice system. The entrenched flaws in law and in the administration of the death penalty in Iran mean that most, if not all, executions are an arbitrary deprivation of life."

The suppression and execution of political prisoners and those who protest against the ruling mullahs of Iran has been on the rise. According to Human Rights Watch's "World Report 2021," the Iranian regime is one of the leading "implementers of the death penalty".

To execute political prisoners, Iran's judiciary accuses defendants of vaguely defined charges labeled as "national security crimes." These "crimes" include moharebeh ("enmity against God"), ifsad fil arz ("sowing corruption on Earth"), and baghi ("armed rebellion").

It is not only the number of executions that is appalling, but also the nature of some of them. Executions have involved minor children, women and individuals from ethnic and religious minority groups. Although Iran has ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the government has made no effort to alter the country's Islamic Penal Code, which allows girls as young as nine to be executed.

In addition, children, women and men are routinely tortured during interrogations and behind bars. They are forced to confess. They are denied access to lawyers and due process. They are denied family visits and medical care. According to Amnesty International:

"Away from public view, Iranian security officials routinely subject men, women and children behind bars to torture or other ill-treatment, particularly when undergoing interrogations in detention centres run by the ministry of intelligence, the Revolutionary Guards, and the investigation unit of Iran's police (Agahi)."

Iran's regime, presumably to spread fear among those who criticize and oppose the ruling mullahs, has for decades resorted to punishments of torture and death. Torture is administered both physically and psychologically. According to Amnesty International:

"... victims were frequently hooded or blindfolded; punched, kicked and flogged; beaten with sticks, rubber hosepipes, knives, batons and cables; suspended or forced into holding painful stress positions for prolonged periods; deprived of sufficient food and potable water; placed in prolonged solitary confinement, sometimes for weeks or even months; and denied medical care for injuries sustained during the protests or as a result of torture."

The ruling mullahs of Iran refuse to halt their executions and human rights violations, or to reform their repressive system, because they feel no pressure from the usually moralizing European Union. So they act with full impunity. The informed silence of the EU therefore makes it a willing accessory to their crimes.

The European powers do not only fail to hold Iran's regime accountable for its pervasive human rights violations; they also do business with the ruling mullahs. From January-July 2021, the EU's trade with Iran brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the regime. The Financial Tribune reports:

"Germany remained the top trading partner of Iran during the seven months under review, as the two countries exchanged €1.01 billion worth of goods. Italy came next with €347.96 million worth of trade with Iran.... The Netherlands with €264.48 million (down 9.23%), Spain with €178.33 million (up 9.25%) and Belgium with €140.14 million (up 6.79%) were Iran's other major European trading partners. Estonia registered the highest growth of 709.52% in trade with Iran during the seven months under review. Malta with 471.77%, Romania with 284.86% and Croatia with 169.12% came next."

It is beyond repulsive that the EU -- the same EU that incessantly lectures the world about human rights -- not only ignores the Iranian regime's unspeakable human violations, but that it also happily continues to do "business as usual" with the leaders of Iran's cruel and inhuman regime.

• 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/17931/eu-iran-human-rights-violations

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

The 'Squad' Joins the China Appeasement Caucus - Daniel Greenfield

 

​ by Daniel Greenfield

Boycott Israel, not Communist China.

 

The 'Squad' of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and Rep. Cori Bush, already full-time members of the Hamas caucus, expanded their horizons by joining the Communist China appeasement caucus. 

Earlier this year, Kerry visited China and returned bearing a warning from his old masters that unless the United States dropped President Trump’s sanctions on the Communist regime over its slave labor, and on China’s military hackers stealing our technology, there would be no deals on global warming. The Xi regime also demanded that America allow its Confucius Institute front groups to conduct infiltration on American campuses, ban pro-democracy protests outside its consulates, and allow it to repress Hong Kong, and conquer Taiwan without any interference.

After his latest treasonous expedition, Kerry became the loudest voice of appeasement even in an administration that was already appeasing the Taliban, Iran, Russia, and China. The Communist regime aided Kerry by undermining other administration envoys, keeping up the pressure from the outside even as Hanoi John and his allies applied pressure from the inside.

Last month it was reported that Congressional allies were circulating a letter urging “U.S. collaboration with China” and insisting that, “There is no conceivable way to address the climate crisis without substantially strengthening communication and collaboration between our nations.” In a treasonous Freudian slip, they couldn’t stop calling it what it was, “collaboration”.

Who would possibly sign a letter like that? Even most Democrats wouldn’t “collaborate”.

But the Squad was thrilled to collaborate. So were the usual mix of House radical leftists like Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Ted Lieu, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Andy Levin, Rep. Chuy Garcia, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, among others who were happy to cross the streams from collaborating with Islamic terrorists to signing the Communist China collaboration letter.

As soon as the China collaboration letter was issued, the Quincy Institute, a project of George Soros, cheered the move which neatly aligned with its campaign warning against any confrontation with the Communist regime while claiming that the true threat is the climate. 

At times the collaboration letter of the China appeasement caucus reads like it came out of Beijing, particularly when it states, “we hope that you will be able to work with China to fulfill the important commitments previously laid out”. While paying lip service to the "Chinese Communist Party’s numerous problematic and widely condemned actions and human rights violations", which is a very mild way of describing genocide, camps, mass killing, organ theft, forced abortion, invasion, and colonization, the Communist appeasement caucus then dismissed it as merely "current friction" that shouldn't get in the way of a green new deal with the reds. 

The appeasement letter is the brainchild of Rep. Judy Chu of California, who had released pandemic speech codes for members of Congress warning them to refrain from, “Cold War-style rhetoric against China that has fueled xenophobia and put innocent Asian Americans at risk” while claiming that “vague criticisms against a whole country of over 1 billion people reinforce outdated and dangerous Cold War mentalities that the entire country is an enemy”.

Asian Americans are not at risk when we criticise Communist China. Our willingness to stand up to the brutal regime protects them from Chinese police squads which have taken to harassing, threatening, and even kidnapping Chinese opponents of the Communist regime in this country.

But Rep. Chu, who some have accused of participating inCommunist front groups, further defended Communist China by suggesting that what she wrongly described as "unfounded claims that the virus was engineered in a Chinese lab and intentionally unleashed on the world" could lead to internment camps for Chinese people.

When the Justice Department tried to shut down Chinese espionage efforts by "researchers" affiliated with the Chinese military operating in the United States, Rep. Chu falsely described these efforts as "racial profiling" even though the most prominent academic arrested in the campaign against China's Thousand Talents theft program was not Asian, but white.

Other signatories of the China appeasement letter, including Rep. Ted Lieu and Rep. Pramila Jayapal had joined the campaign to protect China's spy apparatus.

None of this is especially surprising to the patriotic Chinese Americans and China watchers who had been warning about Rep. Chu for some time now. While Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dubious relationship with Fang Fang, a Communist spy targeting California politicians, made the most headlines; there’s also a photo of Chu smiling alongside Fang.

Fang allegedly helped organize a town hall for Rep. Chu, but her office denied that they knew anything about the Communist agent. Whatever the truth may be, Chu has visited Communist China and appeared at its events while decrying negativity toward the brutal totalitarian regime. 

"There are some in Congress who are saying negative and angry things about China," Rep. Chu complained to China Daily. Instead of criticising China, she bashed America in her interview with the Communist Party propaganda paper, claiming that, "going to my home village and the Jiangmen museum of overseas Chinese it exemplified so greatly the hardships of the Chinese experience when they went abroad and had been treated so poorly by the immigration officials and experienced such hardships as they were trying to settle in America."

The 80 million Chinese killed by her Communist hosts could not be reached for comment.

This is exactly the kind of despicable “collaboration” that Americans had come to expect from Rep. Chu, but the willingness of Squad members and assorted anti-Israel leftists to join in the China Appeasement Caucus collaboration reveals their hypocrisy on human rights. 

Rep. Chu, who can’t find a single bad word to say about a regime that runs concentration camps, had demanded an end to the blockade of Hamas and was a co-sponsor of vicious Israel-bashing legislation like H.R.2590, which sought to ban the use of foreign aid to fight Islamic terrorism. She has been an equally vicious critic of this country, falsely describing border security measures taken against the traffic in illegal aliens as a "child prison".

The same is true of other signatories to the China appeasement letter, some of whom outright support BDS, or otherwise bash America and Israel on a regular basis, but are prepared to appease a totalitarian Communist regime that is actually oppressing, torturing, and killing.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who made a great show of weeping over a bill funding Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome defenses while her antisemitic media allies blamed “influential Rabbis” for pressuring her, happily signed onto the China appeasement letter urging the use of the UN's Green Climate Fund to "provide incentives for the government of China".

Obama had poured $3.5 billion of money taken from Americans into the wealth redistribution fund, but the Trump administration blocked a $100 million GCF loan for green energy in China.

Biden however asked that $1.2 billion be taken from Americans for the Green Climate Fund.

None of the opponents of the Iron Dome have a problem with financing projects in China despite its notorious use of slave labor and disregard for human life during construction.

“The U.S. has a responsibility as the largest historical emitter to assist poorer countries in mitigating climate change,” the China appeasement letter whines. The term “historical” is both dishonest and a typical example of Chinese Communist regime propaganda.

China’s emissions are twice that of the United States. Even when it comes to the wholly artificial “historical” metric, environmentalists admit that China will surpass us in a decade. 

While China’s industry booms, America’s stagnates. Chinese politicians focus on making their country stronger, while ours looks for every opportunity to weaken and undermine America.

China doesn’t have an “America appeasement caucus”. Our institutions are however rotted through with appeasers, collaborators, and traitors who line up to sell out our country.

 

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/11/squad-joins-china-appeasement-caucus-daniel-greenfield/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

The Biden-Bennett Honeymoon May Be Over - Joseph Puder

 

​ ​ by Joseph Puder

Disagreement over home construction in the West Bank - and more.

 

The change of government in Israel last June, and the drive by the Bennett-Lapid government to repair relations with the American Democratic Party, appealed very much to President Joe Biden. Although Biden has had a many decades-long relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, many Democrats identified Netanyahu with Trump and the Republicans. The diverse nature of Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett’s government is agreeable to many moderate Democrats. The “squad,” and the far-left of the congressional Democrats will not be satisfied however, with any Israeli government, not even one that includes an Arab-Islamist party in its coalition government. President Biden has to cope with these two different wings within his Democratic Party when dealing with Israel.

President Biden is strongly wedded to the two-state solution, which calls for both an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside the State of Israel. That however, is a dream, not a current reality on the ground. The Palestinians are bitterly divided not only between the jihadist and terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza, the slightly more secular and corrupt Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, but also between the Palestinian people, and the leadership of the inept and authoritarian PA.

The Palestinian territories controlled by the PA lack an economic infrastructure, and institutions that could foster a stable democratic government, where the rule-of-law and basic human rights are enshrined. Instead, the Palestinian people experience nepotism, lack of gainful employment, and a police state. For dignity and gainful employment, Palestinians both in the West Bank and Gaza desperately seek employment in Israel. Mahmud Abbas’ regime in Ramallah supports financially imprisoned terrorists in Israel with blood on their hands, while ordinary Palestinians are unable to support their families.

Last month, the Bennett government’s approval of construction of 3,000 housing units in Judea and Samaria angered the Biden administration. These housing units previously approved by Netanyahu’s Likud government left little room for Bennett to maneuver politically. Complying with Washington’s wishes and cancellation of the construction approval would almost certainly bring down his fragile government. His right-wing Yamina party is committed to Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, and with the looming and critical budget vote in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), he couldn’t afford to lose his 6 Yamina Knesset members. Nevertheless, to appease the Biden administration, Bennett’s government approved the construction of 1,300 housing units for Palestinians in area C, which is fully administered by Israel in accordance with the Oslo Accords.

The Biden administration considers population expansion of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria “an obstacle to peace.” The Jewish housing units aren’t a matter of annexing new territory; rather, they are to provide housing in existing communities due to natural increase. The Biden administration would prefer a freeze on additional construction in the Jewish communities, which would be rationally and morally impossible. Young people marry, have children, and seek a place of their own for their family whether they are in the city of Tel Aviv or Ariel in Samaria. More importantly, there are no legal constraints on Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

The late Eugene Rostow served as the dean of Yale law school, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under President Lyndon Johnson, and was one of the drafters of 1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242. He wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times (September 19, 1983) stating that, “The West Bank is part of the British Mandate which included Israel, and Jordan as well as certain other territories not yet generally recognized as belonging to either country. While Jewish settlements east of the Jordan River were suspended in 1922, such (Jewish) settlements remain legal in the West Bank.” Rostow maintained that Jewish rights to settle in the West Bank were “unassailable.”

Insofar as the Jewish settlements are “an obstacle to peace,” there was no peace before Israeli settlements existed. Yet, a policy that seeks a “Judenrein” West Bank is racist and antisemitic. To accommodate Palestinian self-determination shouldn’t involve the same racist policy that Jordan and Saudi Arabia maintain of disallowing a Jewish presence in their territory. Palestinians have, in fact, already gained self-determination in Jordan, where they constitute the majority of the population, and where their language, religion, and culture are the same as the “Jordanians.” A confederation between Jordan and the Palestinian West Bankers would be the fairest solution to Palestinian self-determination. A Palestinian state in its current form would be a source of instability, and terror. Moreover, it is more than likely that Hamas would have won in an open and democratic election in the West Bank, last May, which Mahmud Abbas refused to hold.

The close proximity of Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews in the West Bank is fostering individual human, cultural, and economic interchanges rarely covered by the media. Regrettably, the Palestinian media, government, educational system, and the mosques have used religious incitement that has encouraged terror against Jews. The Biden administration has yet to vocally denounce it.

The Biden administration condemned the October 22, 2021 announcement by Benny Gantz, Israel’s Defense Minister, which designated six Palestinian institutions as terrorist organizations operating under the guise of human rights groups. Gantz pointed out their ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, and Canada. The PFLP was responsible for multiple plane hijackings in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The organizations named by Gantz included Addameer, Al Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International Palestine, the Samidoun Palestine Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committee.

According to NGO-Monitor, Addameer is affiliated with the PFLP. It campaigns in support of Palestinian prisoners convicted of security offenses, i.e., terrorism. Al Haq has also been linked to the PFLP. It is a leader in anti-Israel “lawfare” and anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns. The Executive Director of Bisan Center, Ubai Aboudi, was convicted of being a member, and activist of the PFLP…the rest of the organizations are likewise affiliated with the PFLP.

The Bennet-Lapid government has its own problem with the Biden administration’s decision to reopen the American Consulate in Jerusalem, which the Trump administration closed. President Trump relocated the US embassy, moving it from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital - Jerusalem. The previous administration reasoned correctly that the Jerusalem embassy could serve both Palestinians as well as Israelis. The Biden administration is designating the Jerusalem Consulate to serve exclusively Palestinians. As Israel claims, this infringes on Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem. Apparently, the push for separating the consulate from the embassy in Jerusalem is primarily a State Department idea, whereas the Biden White House and the National Security Council are allegedly more amenable to Israeli concerns. In the final analysis, Biden’s decision will depend on which wing of the Democratic Party prevails; the moderates or the hard-left wing with its “squad.”

 

Joseph Puder

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/11/biden-bennett-honeymoon-may-be-over-joseph-puder/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Sen. Schumer, Comptroller Stringer Give Commendations to Terror-Linked, Anti-Israel ICNA - Joe Kaufman

 

​ by Joe Kaufman

When Jewish politicians become "useful idiots" for enemies of the Jewish state.

 

United States Senator Charles Schumer and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer are two politicians who, time and time again, offer strong declarations of support for Israel. At pro-Israel events, they exploit their Jewish backgrounds to burn into their constituents’ minds that they are unflinching in their defense of the Jewish state. On occasion, their actions have mirrored their words, and they should be recognized for this. However, recently, the two have given signed commendations to ICNA, a group that conducts anti-Israel activities and is even linked to terrorism against Israel. This offense must not be ignored, and the praise must be rescinded.

“Chuck” Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, is no stranger to the AIPAC Policy Conference held annually in Washington, DC; he has addressed many. At the 2010 Conference, he went as far as to tell the audience that his last name, Schumer – from the Hebrew term for “guardian” – was given to him, as if from G-d, Himself, to be a guardian over Israel. At the 2019 Conference, he declared, “I will always stand with Israel against those who would do her harm,” and he lamented that too many of the younger generation “don’t have the same understanding of the threats facing Israel…” Yet, it seems, the Senator lacks much of that understanding, as well.

Comptroller Stringer, who recently lost his bid to become Mayor, has also been outspoken in favor of Israel. He led a delegation to Israel in 2016, and he has denounced the BDS boycott movement as “anti-Semitic.” At a July 2014 pro-Israel rally, he emphatically told the audience, “[W]e need to back up Israel with our strong public opinion, making sure that there’s no excuse for you to be silent when it comes to protecting Israel against terrorists.” He further stated, “[I]f we can’t beat the terrorists and they win, shame on all of us.” Unfortunately, it appears that Comptroller Stringer does not feel the same about those associated with the terrorists.

ICNA or the Islamic Circle of North America is a radical Muslim group connected to South Asian terror. For over three decades, the group has harbored Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, a former death squad commander from the 1971 massacres that took place in what is now called Bangladesh, placing Khan in the highest of ICNA’s leadership positions. Moreover, as recently as December 2017, ICNA has promoted Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT), the group responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai, India terrorist attacks, whose targets included a Chabad House where the militants tortured and murdered six Jews.

This past September and March, Senator Schumer and Comptroller Stringer, respectively, wrote letters of commendation to ICNA Relief, the social services division of ICNA, praising the group for its commitment to the community.

Senator Schumer’s letter was specifically addressed to Arshad Jamal, ICNA Relief’s Northeast Regional Director. Schumer wrote, “Please accept my warmest greetings and congratulations on your work with ICNA Relief… Thanks to your hard work as Regional Director, ICNA Relief has continued its work in the New York region… [B]est of luck in all your future endeavors.” He signed it, “Charles E. Schumer, United States Senator.”

This past May, less than four months before Schumer’s letter, Jamal led an ICNA-sponsored anti-Israel rally in New York. Jamal posted images and video from the rally onto his social media, which included an individual wearing the ICNA rally shirt and holding a sign equating Israel with Nazis. Another sign depicted a graphic of the state of Israel with a Palestinian flag draped over it, saying, “ALL THIS IS OUR LAND.” Jamal’s video featured the rally goers chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a Hamas and PFLP-inspired anthem calling for the complete destruction of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Jamal’s New York event was not the first anti-Israel rally put on by ICNA. In fact, in July 2014, ICNA co-sponsored a pro-Hamas rally outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Miami, Florida, where attendees repeatedly chanted, “We are Hamas,” “Let's go Hamas,” and “Hamas kicked your ass.” Following the rally, the event organizer, Sofian Zakkout, wrote in Arabic, “Thank God, every day, we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!”

Stringer’s letter – an official commendation from the Comptroller’s office – made reference to ICNA Relief’s history. The commendation began, “PRESENTED TO ICNA RELIEF For sixteen years of dedicated work to support Muslim communities in New York City and across the country.” But this is not all ICNA Relief did within the past 16 years. Indeed, their ‘charitable’ activities serve as a facade for their jihadist endeavors.

The Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF) is the social services division of South Asian Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). In August 2006, while ICNA Relief was a partner and top donor to AKF, AKF took a delegation to the Damascus, Syria residence of then-global Hamas leader Khaled Mashal and handed him a check for $100,000 to continue terrorist acts against Israel.

ICNA Relief, further, has sponsored a number of fundraising banquets, in recent years, featuring Monzer Taleb, a former leader of a singing troupe claiming to be “from Hamas,” who refers to Hamas militants as “SUPERHEROES” and who wrote, in June 2019, that Jews in Israel “should be relocated to Germany.” Taleb was named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” by the US Justice Department for the 2007 and 2008 federal trials prosecuting the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) terrorist charity and dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas.

Given ICNA’s many associations with terror and anti-Semitic bigotry, it is an obscene travesty that Senator Schumer and Comptroller Stringer have lauded the organization. It is beyond outrageous that ICNA receive any commendation or award, let alone from two Jewish public servants who are shamefully pandering to radical Muslims. Schumer and Stringer, who claim to be pro-Israel but offer Israel’s enemies legitimacy and praise, are practicing a dangerous form of hypocrisy. The two should immediately move to rescind these commendations and promote efforts to shut down ICNA for the public good.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.

 

Joe Kaufman is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Chairman of the Joe Kaufman Security Initiative. He was the 2014, 2016 and 2018 Republican Nominee for U.S. House of Representatives (Florida-CD23).

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/11/sen-schumer-comptroller-stringer-give-joe-kaufman/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Those Who Claim Men Are Women Are Brazen Liars Devoid of Moral Integrity - Vasko Kohlmayer

 

​ by Vasko Kohlmayer

It is a paradox that the gaslighters who try to convince us that men are women claim to occupy a higher moral ground than those who honor reality and truth.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

On October 19 of this year, a truly historic event took place. On that day Dr. Rachel Levine was sworn by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

This is how the occasion was reported by the Huffington Post:

“Levine was appointed to full admiral on Tuesday while sworn in as the first-ever female four-star admiral to oversee the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.”

Levine’s appointment set off a salvo of celebratory articles. From CNN to Forbes mainstream media outlets across the land effused about what a great milestone Levine’s appointment represented for American women.

There was only one problem with all this. Rachel Levine is a not a woman. Levine is a man.

Born Richard Levine, he has lived most of his life as a man. His male credentials include a twenty-five-year marriage to a biological female by whom he fathered two children.

Dr Levine can never be ‘the first female four-star Public Health Service admiral,’ because he is a biological male (the image in public domain - source).

That Levine is a man there can be no doubt. Every cell in his body testifies to this incontrovertible fact by containing the male XY chromosomal combination in the nuclear DNA.

But no DNA analysis is necessary to know the truth. That Levine is a man is obvious to everyone who takes a good look at his pictures. No amount of make-up, woman’s clothing, jewelry, painted nails, or wigs can conceal the undisputable reality of his gender.

And yet the Biden administration, the Democrat party and nearly all of the political left refer to him as “she” and claim with a straight face that he is a woman. They put this man before the American people and say: “Look at this woman. Look the first female four-star Public Health Service admiral in this country’s history.”

This is nothing other than wholesale denial of reality. To say that Levine is a female is a brazen in-your-face lie.

It is difficult to conceive of a more egregious form of lying than this, because it blatantly denies the obvious and incontrovertible biological, physiological, and physical facts before our eyes. And yet there are those who insist that the truth is the exact opposite of the reality that stares us right in the face.

This glaring inversion of reality is gaslighting at its purest.

Those who claim such things are inveterate liars who try to shove the most obvious and grossest untruths down the throats of their fellow citizens.

People who claim that biological men are women have no respect for truth. The lie they seek to propagate is so great and obvious that it is impossible that they are merely mistaken, confused or sincerely wrong.

People who say this do not argue or act in good faith. They lie willfully and deliberately.

To any honest observer it is immediately apparent that Dr Levine is not a real woman. (The image published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license [source link])

Those who claim that a biological man is a woman have no moral qualms. They are willing to say anything no matter how obviously untrue or false it may be. Such people are fundamentally dishonest. They possess no integrity and cannot be trusted on anything.

Some of those who willingly participate in this flagrant subversion of the truth include President Joe Biden and his administration, the Democrat party, nearly the whole of mainstream media, large portions of academia, woke corporatists, a number of big tech oligarchs, and even some among the current leadership of the US military.

All throughout history brazen liars have been held in contempt. And this for a good reason, since flagrant and repeated lying is indicative of underlying moral corruption

A wise man once said that that courage is the greatest virtue, because it preserves all the others.

I’d say truthfulness is equally important. It is quite possible for a timid person to be virtuous if he can be honest about his weakness. It is, however, impossible for a rank liar to be a virtuous person.

Honesty is a prerequisite of virtue. Courage makes it flower.

Virtue and gross dishonesty are fundamentally opposed and cannot coexist in one human being. A virtuous person does not have to be perfect or possess heroic courage, but he or she must be reasonably honest.

Such a thing is, however, not possible for a bald-faced liar no matter how courageous he may be. An unrepentant liar cannot be truly honest, because if he were he would have to cease his lying.

It is a paradox that the gaslighters who try to convince us that men are women claim to occupy a higher moral ground than those who honor reality and truth. This itself represents a preposterous violation of moral law. Barefaced lying is indicative of underlying moral bankruptcy and those who engage in it should not be taken seriously, since they do not act in good faith. Instead, they should be publicly called out on their deceit and treated with the scorn their words and actions deserve.

They should also examine themselves and ask why they are so bent on denying reality and forcing obvious untruths on those around them. What kind of person would do such a thing and why?

Their gross error is evident in the way they react to those who refuse to go along with their lies. Anger and the desire to silence those who object is almost invariably their reaction.

This is not a good way to live, and it is dangerous to our nation as it threatens the very foundations of a civil and free society.

A healthy society cannot exist on gross lies and censorship. These are the hallmarks of totalitarian systems.

There is, however, a way to moral healing. All that is required as the first step is a measure of personal honesty and good will.

The guidance is simple: Stop lying, try to be truthful and do not deny the reality before your eyes.

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

 

 Vasko Kohlmayer

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/11/those_who_claim_men_are_women_are_brazen_liars_devoid_of_moral_integrity.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Bringing back the NYPD's Anti-Crime Unit to fight gun violence will trigger violence, says BLM co-founder - Rebecca Rosenberg , Bryan Llenas

 

​ by Rebecca Rosenberg , Bryan Llenas

Activist Hawk Newsome says mayor-elect Eric Adams' plan to resurrect the task force would cause another George Floyd in an interview with Bryan Llenas

NY BLM leader vows street protests if 'old ways' of policing return

Black Lives Matter of Greater New York co-founder Hawk Newsome warns New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams against returning to the pre-De Blasio policing model.

NEW YORK CITY – Black Lives Matter New York co-founder Hawk Newsome said that Mayor-elect Eric Adam’s plan to bring back a controversial plainclothes NYPD unit would trigger violence across the city — and he wouldn’t "stand in the way."

"So when a police officer murders an innocent black person and people take to the streets, I’m not going to get in the way of that because it’s the American way," he told Bryan Llenas in an interview with Fox News.

(Mayor-elect Eric Adams, left, and activist Hawk Newsome, right. (Getty Images))

Newsome was clarifying comments he made Wednesday after a tense meeting with Adams that touched on police reform. After the sit-down, he told reporters that if Adam’s resurrected the Anti-Crime Unit, "There will be riots, there will be fire, and there will be bloodshed."

NEW YORK BLM LEADER WARNS ERIC ADAMS OF ‘BLOODSHED,' ‘RIOTS’ IF CITY BRINGS BACK TOUGHER POLICING

The activist insisted he wasn’t threatening to create the maelstrom but that it was an inevitable consequence of reintroducing the task force that Adams said would focus on gun violence.

"How am I advocating for violence when I’m simply telling you what’s going to happen?" he said. "It’s not about making threats. I don’t have the power to push a button and make people go out and fight."

Black Lives Matter New York co-founder Hawk Newsome. (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Anti-Crime Unit was disbanded in 2020 after several high-profile police encounters — including the 2014 death of Eric Garner at the hands of an officer assigned to the task force.

BLM SAYS MAYOR-ELECT ERIC ADAMS LONGS FOR NEW YORK WHERE ‘BLACK FOLKS GET THEIR HEADS CRACKED’

"When they come out into these streets and they’re given free rein, it’s only a matter of time before they brutalize somebody or they kill someone’s mother, father, sister or brother," he said of the cops. "When we have the next Eric Garner, the city’s going to be on fire."

Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul greet each other after Adams is declared victor at his election night party in Brooklyn on Nov. 2, 2021. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

He said that Adams, a former NYPD police captain, would lead the city to another George Floyd — referring to the Black man who was murdered while in custody in Minneapolis by ex-police officer Derek Chauvin.

Newsome, who advocates for defunding the police and improving living conditions in minority neighborhoods, also accused Adams of being a "flip-flopper" who turned pro-cop to pander to his constituents.

The incoming mayor has said reducing violence and keeping the streets safe for New Yorkers is a top priority.

A spokesman for Adams didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fox News' Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.

 

Rebecca Rosenberg , Bryan Llenas

Rebecca Rosenberg is a veteran journalist and book author with a focus on crime and criminal justice. Email tips to rebecca.rosenberg@fox.com and @ReRosenberg.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/blm-co-founder-nypd-unit-combat-crime-trigger-violence

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Arizona parents rip spying school administrator: 'We the parents are the people' - Graham Colton

 

​ by Graham Colton

Arizona parents call for the resignation of Scottsdale Unified School District president

School administrators caught keeping 'files' on complaining parents

Laura Ingraham reveals the disturbing lengths that Arizona school administrators went to to spy on parents on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

"We the parents are the people and [the Scottsdale school board is] the government," Arizona parent Michelle Dillard declared defiantly Friday on "The Ingraham Angle." Her bold proclamation comes after Scottsdale Unified School District president Jann-Michael Greenburg was outed for allegedly maintaining an online dossier on 47 parents who publicly disagreed with his policies at school board meetings.

"We the parents are the people and [the school board is] the government and the Constitution and the laws are there to protect us against the very thing that they're doing and trying to accuse us of doing and potentially wanting to charge us for," Dillard told host Laura Ingraham.

ARIZONA SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT KEPT SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION ON PROTESTING PARENTS, DOCUMENTS SUGGEST

"This latest scandal in Scottsdale…is proof…who[m] the label ‘domestic terrorist’ really belongs to. It's not the parents," fellow parent Amy Carney added.

Dillard agreed with Ingraham's assertion that "the goal here is to intimidate parents, to scare them, to brand them as something they aren't." 

Carney said that parents are calling for Greenburg's resignation "because parents…felt threatened. They feel endangered."

"And this is not something that the district can just brush to the side," she continued.

The Scottsdale dossier reflects a concerning trend nationwide in which school boards and the government at-large weaponize themselves against dissenting parents. Recent reports indicate that the National School Boards Association collaborated with both the Department of Justice and the White House before sending the letter comparing parents to domestic terrorists.

"[T]he emails confirm that there is a lot of collaboration going on here, but no one to stand up for the average parent," Ingraham said.

"This is like an authoritarian regime; this is something out of Kafka going on in Scottsdale, Arizona. Politicians better pay attention and recall petitions should be undertaken," she concluded.

 

Graham Colton is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/arizona-parents-spying-school-administrator-ingraham-angle

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Erdoğan's Quest for a New Sharia-Based Alliance - Burak Bekdil

 

​ by Burak Bekdil

Biden has weakened himself and his country so badly that the superpower was reduced to the point of being blackmailed by NATO's only Islamist member. Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has made it clear: "If the U.S. is to be in the Middle East, it must cooperate with Turkey."

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamist ambitions seem to be seeking an international role in post-U.S. Afghanistan in alliance with the Taliban, Qatar, Pakistan and Malaysia. The trouble is, Turkey, among the new sharia alliance in the making, is the only country with institutional ties to the Western world.

• Biden has weakened himself and his country so badly that the superpower was reduced to the point of being blackmailed by NATO's only Islamist member. Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has made it clear: "If the U.S. is to be in the Middle East, it must cooperate with Turkey."

• Afghanistan is not Erdoğan's only pro-sharia ambition after the U.S. withdrawal... Turkey ramped up its drone attacks on Yazidis in Iraq's Sinjar district..... "The Turkish drone strikes increasingly threaten to undercut refugee repatriation inside Iraq and create space for the Islamic State to regroup, as the most effective Kurdish groups fighting ISIS are Sinjar's grassroots Kurdish and Yazidi militias," warned Michael Rubin in the Washington Examiner.

• Erdoğan's Islamist, neo-Ottoman ambitions are now taking a pro-sharia turn. That is bad news for the region to Turkey's south and east. Worse, it is a slow-fuse time bomb for the West.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamist ambitions seem to be seeking an international role in post-U.S. Afghanistan in alliance with the Taliban, Qatar, Pakistan and Malaysia. The trouble is, Turkey, among the new sharia alliance in the making, is the only country with institutional ties to the Western world. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden's lamentable decision to unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan is paving the way for the emergence of a new sharia-based alliance, including NATO member Turkey -- theoretically a Western ally. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamist ambitions appear to be seeking an international role in post-U.S. Afghanistan in alliance with the Taliban, Qatar, Pakistan and Malaysia. The trouble is, Turkey, among the new sharia alliance in the making, is the only country with institutional ties to the West.

Turn now to SADAT, a Turkish military consultancy and training company, though hardly an ordinary one. There were claims that the Erdoğan government, through SADAT, sent arms shipments to Syria to help the jihadists. Critics, including opposition lawmakers, have been inquiring about SADAT's activities, after suspecting its real mission may be to train official or unofficial paramilitary forces to fight Erdoğan's multitude of wars, both inside Turkey and without.

SADAT is owned by retired general Adnan Tanrıverdi who was appointed in August 2016 as Erdoğan's chief military advisor, but quit in 2020. In 1996, Tanrıverdi was forced to resign from the military due to "suspected radical Islamist activities." In a 2009 speech, Tanrıverdi said:

"To defeat Israel, the country must be forced into defensive warfare, all of its forces must be engaged and the war must be prolonged.

"What should Turkey do? The resistance units in Gaza should be supported by anti-tank and low-altitude anti-aircraft weapons.

"Turkey, Iran, Syria, the Iraqi Resistance Organization and Palestine should form the nucleus of a defense structure. Within this context the formation of an Islamic rapid reaction force consisting of an amphibious brigade, an armored brigade and an airborne brigade should be encouraged."

Recently, SADAT advocated the idea of Turkey supporting and helping the Taliban -- a group it has called a resistance movement -- to establish a sharia state in Afghanistan. A research piece published on September 13 by Ali Coşar, a retired colonel and board member of SADAT, advocated that Turkey help the new Afghanistan run by the Taliban in cooperation with Pakistan, Qatar and Malaysia.

Coşar dismisses the description that the Taliban is a terrorist organization: "They [the Taliban] are members of a resistance movement that fought against colonial America for 20 years to take over the government and establish a state that practices sharia. ..." Just like Ottoman Turks who ruled conquered lands under sharia law, he reminded his listeners.

Biden has weakened himself and his country so badly that the superpower was reduced to the point of being blackmailed by NATO's only Islamist member. Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has made it clear: "If the U.S. is to be in the Middle East, it must cooperate with Turkey."

Seth J. Frantzman wrote in the Jerusalem Post in August:

"The victors in Kabul will be those who benefit from the Taliban taking power. They will also be those who benefit or cheer as the U.S. appears humiliated.

"Among those 'winners' are Qatar, Russia, China, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. This can be seen in various ways. Most of these countries hosted the Taliban or tacitly backed them."

Afghanistan is not Erdoğan's only pro-sharia ambition after the U.S. withdrawal.

As the international community focused on the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan, Turkey ramped up its drone attacks on Yazidis in Iraq's Sinjar district. The most recent strikes destroyed a medical clinic. Analyst Michael Rubin warned in the Washington Examiner.:

"The Turkish drone strikes increasingly threaten to undercut refugee repatriation inside Iraq and create space for the Islamic State to regroup, as the most effective Kurdish groups fighting ISIS are Sinjar's grassroots Kurdish and Yazidi militias."

Biden's catastrophic miscalculation in Afghanistan will also have unwanted repercussions in Syria. In an interview with The Independent, Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, commented on the Afghan situation: "The aftermath of the U.S. surprise withdrawal from Kabul will also have an impact on the Kurds [or, as he put it, 'the US-backed enemies of the Syrian revolution']."

HTS is a dominant jihadist power in the Idlib "de-escalation zone" in northern Syria. HTS has never been in direct confrontation with the Kurds. Al-Joulani's words, however, highlighted his open hostility towards the Kurdish administration that, as he purports, is only able to control a huge swath of Syria and maintain relative stability thanks to the US support. As soon as the last U.S. plane takes off from the Syrian soil, according to al-Joulani, this Kurdish dream will crumble.

When combined in a simple analytical way, Erdoğan's pro-sharia ambitions and the terrorist al-Joulani's statements herald a new jihadist proxy army for Ankara fighting on Syrian soil. The unwritten deal looks too apparent: HTS fighting Turkey's regional enemies, the Kurds and the Syrian regime, in return for tacit Turkish support for international recognition as a legitimate entity rather than as a terrorist one.

Erdoğan's Islamist, neo-Ottoman ambitions are now taking a pro-sharia turn. That is bad news for the region to Turkey's south and east. Worse, it is a slow-fuse time bomb for the West.

 

Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17889/turkey-erdogan-sharia-alliance

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Could UAE Opening to Syria Mark Major Shift for Region? - Seth J. Frantzman

 

​ by Seth J. Frantzman

While some US voices are soft on Iran, there's a consensus that Assad is a bad actor.

Syria's President Bashar Assad (right) meets with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in Damascus in this photo released by Syrian state-run media on November 9, 2021. (SANA)

The United Arab Emirates foreign minister's meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus this week is raising eyebrows around the region and in Washington. The visit is symbolic and important, and could mark a shift in the region.

The UAE and other countries have made quiet overtures to Damascus for years, and there is an emerging consensus between the Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and their partners that the time has come to bring Syria and its regime in from the cold.

France 24 noted that "the visit is widely seen as a sign of regional efforts to end Assad's diplomatic isolation, as Syria grapples with a spiraling economic crisis caused by years of conflict and compounded by Western sanctions."

The UAE's official position is that it supports efforts to end the "crisis" in Syria. This is a reference to more than a decade of conflict in the country.

Syria is divided today. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces control eastern Syria, Turkey controls parts of northwest and northern Syria, and the regime controls the rest of the country. Russia plays a role in Damascus and Latakia, helping the regime; Iran plays a role in Albukamal, T-4 and near the Golan, where its proxies, such as Hezbollah, threaten Israel.

The UAE wants to see Syria "consolidate stability in the country and meet the aspirations of the brotherly Syrian people," UAE media reported.

The US is nonplussed. It has tried to isolate the Syrian regime. Up until 2013, there was a thought that Washington might intervene on behalf of the Syrian rebels, who became more fractured over time and more extreme. As ISIS took over part of Syria and committed genocide in 2014, US policy shifted.

Amid the 2015 Iran deal and fight against ISIS, US efforts to remove Assad ended.

Amid the Iran deal, the US moved to fight ISIS with an international coalition, and efforts to remove Assad ended. Under the Trump administration, the US shifted to a closer partnership with Israel on concerns about Iranian entrenchment in Syria. However, America also was cut out of discussions by the Russia-backed Astana process. Russia, Turkey and Iran sought to run Syria.

Turkey invaded the country beginning in 2016 and ethnically cleansed Kurds. Russia helped the Assad regime retake Aleppo in 2016. The US helped the Syrian Democratic Forces defeat ISIS. In 2019, the Trump administration betrayed its own SDF partners and enabled a Turkish invasion, but then backtracked on withdrawing from Syria. Now the situation looks like a frozen conflict.

Images are deceiving, however. In 2018, the regime retook the areas near the Golan. It has sought to reopen relations with Jordan and possibly even import fuel from Egypt to help Lebanon meet its energy needs. The US, meanwhile, maintains sanctions on the regime. Like Iran, an ally of Assad, the regime wants outreach to China.

The UAE visit is important because the Emirates is a key partner of the US and also because it has a peace deal with Israel.

State Department spokesman Ned Price: "This administration will not express any support for efforts to normalize or rehabilitate Bashar Assad, who is a brutal dictator."

"This administration will not express any support for efforts to normalize or rehabilitate Bashar Assad, who is a brutal dictator," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters this week.

But the US must say this: It knew the visit was coming.

America is already concerned about its partners in the region. Washington is estranged from both Cairo and Riyadh on key issues. The US is also angered by a recent coup in Sudan. The sand in the region appears to be slipping out from under America's feet. That means that it has problems with most of its traditional allies and friends. Ankara is now run by an anti-American regime that buys weapons from Russia and abuses migrants and human rights.

Insofar as there is a pro-US alliance system, it is the one that is made up of Israel, Greece, Cyprus, the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan. Oman, Tunisia, Morocco and Kuwait can be seen as important, stable states as well. Iraq is held hostage by Iran, except for the autonomous Kurdish part. But even there the Iranians have sent a delegation this week. Turkey has threatened new invasions of the Kurdish region in Syria and bombs Kurdish areas weekly.

There are now questions about US policy on Syria. On the one hand, America seemed to indicate that Jordan and Egypt might supply Lebanon with energy via Damascus. On the other hand, the US may reconsider its role in eastern Syria. Brett McGurk, architect of American policy with the SDF and a key US official today, may oppose that.

There are some in the Biden administration who want to go softer on Iran. Others want to be tough, and the US has put in place new sanctions against Iran's drone program. But Tehran is also trading oil with Beijing, up until a recent incident in which Iran stopped a tanker full of its own oil which had returned from China.

The UAE trip is likely not a trial balloon for the Biden administration.

US comments portray the UAE trip as problematic. That means it's likely not a trial balloon for the Biden administration. It is worth recalling here that the Emirates was making overtures to Assad back in December 2018. Syria's intelligence chief Ali Mamluk has also been meeting with Egyptians since 2016, with a key visit in December 2018, around the time the UAE signaled a new opening to Damascus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Assad in September 2021 and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in October. Egypt, Jordan and Syria agreed on an energy plan in September. Jordan's king received a phone call from Assad on October 3. It was the first time in a decade the men officially spoke.

Syria also sent one of its ministers to visit Saudi Arabia in May, another first visit in a decade. It is believed that the Gulf states are now open to new investment in Syria. They are treading lightly and moving slowly and pragmatically.

The calculus for the new trend is clear. The UAE and Saudi Arabia want "stability" in the region. They oppose the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey's regime is led by the AKP, which has roots in the Brotherhood. Hamas is linked to the Brotherhood, as are the former regime in Sudan, which was pushed out in 2019, and the former Morsi regime in Egypt. Qatar is close to Turkey and the Brotherhood.

The regional rivalry in this context is one in which Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Cairo see Assad as potentially returning to the Arab League states and being a bulwark against extremists in Idlib, as well as possibly moving him away from Iran. The Assad regime is poor and weak and must rely on Iran. The belief is that with a little support, the regime might adjust its stance slightly.

Israel's position here is complex. The Jewish state has improved relations with Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain, key states involved in the Syria initiative. It had decent relations with moderate rebel groups near the Golan until they were defeated in 2018 by the Assad regime. Since then, Israel has worked to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria. But Jerusalem also has decent relations with Moscow and has held talks with Russia about Syria.

While some US voices are soft on Iran, there's a consensus that Assad is a bad actor.

In the West, this move by the UAE may be seen as controversial. This is because in some sectors, especially in the US, the Assad regime is seen as a personification of evil. It is seen by some as worse than Iran, having committed vile abuses over the years. While there are voices in Washington who want a soft approach to Iran, there tends to be a consensus that Assad is a bad actor.

Prior to 2011, this was not the case. Those, like former US secretary of state John Kerry, who opposed Israel's peace with the Gulf wanted to explore better ties with Tehran and Damascus.

But there is another narrative, one that is common among those who have backed the Syrian rebels: that the Assad regime must be opposed.

Turkey and Qatar are sometimes seen as key to opposing the regime. As such, this narrative posits that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are part of an authoritarian system in the region, seeking to work with fellow authoritarian Assad.

However, Turkey and Qatar are also authoritarian states, so the overall question is which of these alliance systems one prefers.

The Turkey-Qatar system tends to be close to Hamas, the Taliban and extremist groups. The Saudi-led system tends to be close to authoritarian regimes that are ostensibly more secular. The Iranian system backs Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and other proxies that are eating away at countries.

When the UAE says it wants "stability," it is arguing that the instability caused by Iran – and by Turkey's role in Idlib in Syria, and with Hamas in Gaza and in Libya – is the greater threat.

For a Washington that has withdrawn in places like Afghanistan, the question will be whether the new initiative by the UAE and other pro-American countries can bring stability or achieve any goals that the US might want to achieve.

What most countries have learned is that as the US takes a back seat in the region, preferring to concentrate on China, other countries have been left to take the reins and see what may come next. The UAE is trying to be part of that process.

For Israel, a key issue will be whether the Iranian threat can be reduced in Syria as part of this new stability that the Gulf countries think might be enabled. For this reason, the UAE is working closely with Jordan on discussions about the region.

The issue is that the Assad regime has in the past pretended it would reduce Iran's role. It said this before 2011 and even during the conflict. But the Iranians continue to have a major role in Syria.

 

Seth J. Frantzman is a Ginsburg-Milstein Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum and senior Middle East correspondent at The Jerusalem Post.

Source: https://www.meforum.org/62768/could-uae-opening-to-syria-mark-shift-for-region

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

US changes its UN vote from 'no' to 'abstention' on UNRWA affirmation - Tovah Lazaroff

 

​ by Tovah Lazaroff

The Biden administration did not reject a UN General Assembly Resolution granting Palestinian refugees the right to return to Israel.

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech remotely to the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2021.

(photo credit: JOHN ANGELILLO/POOL/REUTERS)

The Biden administration abstained – but did not reject – a General Assembly resolution affirming the right of return for Palestinian refugees to sovereign Israel as part of a broad text in support of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

 

In doing so, it broke with the voting pattern on Israel set by former US president Donald Trump in which all such texts received an automatic no vote.

 

The Obama administration, however, had traditionally abstained from this particular text, which comes annually before the General Assembly.

 

“This year, the United States returns to a position of abstention on the text ‘Assistance to Palestine Refugees,’” American Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills told the assembly’s Fourth Committee late Tuesday afternoon.

 

He spoke as the committee gave initial approval to six anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian draft resolutions that will come up later this year at the General Assembly plenum for a final vote.

A screenshot of the results of the UN General Assembly vote on funding UNRWA. (credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)

 

Three of those texts affirmed the work of the UNRWA, which services 5.7 million Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

 

That 1948 text was written for the then "situation in Palestine."

 

It "resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date. 

 

"And compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity."

 

It is invoked by the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries, such as those who wrote the 2021 resolution on "Assistance to Palestinian Refugees" to support a call for the right of return.

 

Of the three UNRWA texts, the resolution titled "Assistance to Palestinian Refugees" is considered to be the most benign.

 

Canada similarly abstained on the text called Assistance to the Palestinian People, while Australia supported it. The US and Canada joined Israel in rejecting the other two resolutions on UNRWA. Australia abstained on one of those and rejected the other.

 

The European Union supported all three UNRWA texts. Only Israel totally opposed the text Assistance to Palestinian Refugees, which passed 160-1, with nine abstentions.

 

The other countries that abstained on the Assistance to Palestinian Refugees resolution were Cameroon, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papa New Guinea and Uruguay.

 

The Trump administration had opposed UNRWA and cut US funding to the organization. Both the Trump administration and Israel have charged that textbooks used in the agency’s schools are antisemitic and incite against Israel.

 

They opposed the UNRWA policy of applying refugee status to the descendants of Palestinians who fled their homes in 1948, a move that they explain creates an ever-increasing population of refugees.

 

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, an Israeli representative spoke out against UNRWA at the Fourth Committee meeting.

 

“We cannot stand idly by when a UN humanitarian agency promotes a political agenda under the guise of true assistance,” the Israel representative said.

 

“UNRWA must be accountable for the hateful indoctrination of children in its classrooms. It must put an end to the spreading of antisemitic lies by its employees, and it must show a genuine commitment to transparency and accountability,” the Israeli representative said.

 

She added that UNRWA resources and infrastructure must not be hijacked by Hamas in conducting acts of terror.

 

Israel has also opposed the right of return for Palestinians to sovereign Israel, a move that it argues would destroy the country’s identity as the ethnic-national homeland for the Jewish people. It has explained that in a two-state resolution to the conflict, Palestinians would have a right of return solely to a Palestinian state, much like Jews would have a right of return solely to Israel.

 

The Biden administration, however, has restored US funding and support for UNRWA.

 

“As many members know, under President Biden, the United States announced it would restore its financial support to UNRWA, which we do believe is a vital lifeline to millions of Palestinians across the region,” Mills told the General Assembly.

 

“Since April, the US government has provided more than $318 million to UNRWA in fiscal year 2021, including critical support for education, health and social services benefiting millions of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA,” he said.

 

The US, he said, has noted that some changes were made to the text of the resolutions on the agency “that reflect our priorities in line with strengthening UNRWA,” adding that “the United States will continue to work with UNRWA, work to strengthen the agency’s accountability, its transparency, and its consistency with UN principles.”

 

Mills called on UN member states to support the agency financially, noting that many of those who voted in favor of the three UNRWA resolutions were not willing to spend money on the organization.

 

“I would also like to take a moment to point out the overwhelming support from member states for these resolutions voted here today, compared with the relatively few member states that financially support UNRWA,” he said.

 

“In light of the agency’s urgent shortfall, the United States urges member states to support UNRWA’s services for Palestinian refugees not only in word but in action – and to do so on an expedited basis,” Mills said.

 

The resolutions were voted on in advance of a donor pledging conference for UNRWA scheduled to take place in Belgium on November 16.

 

The Fourth Committee also approved three other resolutions on Israel, including one that called for it to relinquish its sovereignty over the Golan Heights it captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981. To date, only the US has recognized Israeli sovereignty on the Golan.

 

The Golan resolution passed 144-2, with 22 abstentions. Israel and the United States opposed the resolution, and the European Union supported it. Canada and Australia were among those that abstained.

 

A fifth resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activity and Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem passed 142-7, with 16 abstentions. Those countries that opposed it were Israel, the United States, Canada, Hungary, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru. The text also took Israel to task for settler violence and IDF demolition of Palestinian homes.

 

The final resolution was on the work of the special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting human rights of the Palestinian people. It lacked majority support, but was still approved, 77-17, with 74 abstentions. Those who opposed it were Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Philippines, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 

None of the EU member nations supported the text.

 

The resolutions are part of a package of close to 20 annual resolutions against Israel the General Assembly is set to approve before the end of the year.

 

The Israeli representative told the General Assembly that these texts were “disproportionate, one-sided and rooted in bias against” her country.

 

“Israel is the only country – the only country – that is subject to such systematic discrimination in the UN,” she added.

 

Mills, whose country opposed five of the texts, also charged that the UN is biased against Israel.

 

“We are disappointed that member states continue to disproportionately single out Israel” he said.

 

The Palestinian representative, in contrast, thanked the Fourth Committee for its support.

“Adoption of these resolutions again by overwhelming majority reaffirms the international community’s abiding positions on these core issues and renews a significant message of solidarity to the Palestinian people,” she said.

 

“Such broad support is also the clearest answer to the false and libelous statement made in this committee by the Israeli representative against UNRWA and the hostility directed against the special committee.”

 

Tovah Lazaroff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/us-changes-its-un-vote-from-no-to-abstention-on-unrwa-affirmation-684542

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter