Israel rejects UN vote seeking ICJ declaration Jews occupy the Holy Land - Tovah Lazaroff

 

by Tovah Lazaroff

The vote seeks an opinion from the International Court of Justice, but whatever opinion the court expresses is not binding.

76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Israel rejected the "distorted" United Nations' decision to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court Justice at The Hague on the legal consequences of Israel's "occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory."

The controversial decision taken by the UN General Assembly Friday night in New York had the support of 87 countries, less than half of the 193-member body. 

It passed anyway because only 26 nations opposed the measures, another 53 abstained and 27 were absent.

Countries that voted "no" alongside Israel included the United States, Canada, Australia and eight of the 27 European Union member states. 

"Just like the hundreds of distorted UN General Assembly resolutions against Israel over the years, today's disgraceful resolution will not obligate the government of Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night in a video address.

PM Netanyahu at the swearing-in ceremony of the new government in the Knesset, December 29 2022. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

The resolution seeks an ICJ advisory opinion on whether after 57 years, Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian territory had become a form of de-facto annexation and thus illegal under international law. 

It asked the ICJ to define how Israel's practices affected the legal status of Israel's "occupation" of territory over the pre-1967 lines, which would include the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

It then asked the ICJ to explain what the consequences would be of that definition. The UNGA resolution underscored the inclusion of the "Holy City of Jerusalem" in its ICJ request.

The resolution also solely referred to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram, al-Sharif. 

Netanyahu in rejecting the UNGA vote stated that "the Jewish people is not occupying its land and is not occupying its eternal capital Jerusalem. No UN resolution can distort this historical truth."

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called the UN vote "anti-Israeli," tweeting that it "lends support to terrorist organizations [and] the antisemitic [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement contravening the agreed-upon principles of the UN itself."

"This initiative represents another error made by the Palestinian leadership, which has been supporting and inciting terrorism for years and leading its people in such a manner that harms the Palestinians themselves, as well as the possibility of resolving the conflict," he said. 

Former Ambassador to the UN, MK Danny Danon called for sanctions to be levied against the PA, including withholding travel permits and the transfer of tax fees.

The UN vote came just one day after Netanyahu's ultra-right wing government was sworn into office, with a policy statement that spoke of the "exclusive and inalienable right of the Jewish to all areas of the Land of Israel” and a pledge to put in policies that would allow for the annexation of portions of the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority and the international community hold that the final boundaries of a Palestinian state should include all of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. It has sought an ICJ advisory opinion to help bolster its claim to that territory and to generate additional pressure to force Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

When a preliminary November 11th vote was held on the request for an ICJ opinion, 98 nations in favor amounting to just over half of the UNGA voted with the PA in favor of that movie and only 17 countries including Israel opposed it. 

In the interim, Palestinian support for the resolution dropped by 11 votes, while Israel gained the clear support of an additional nine countries.

Netanyahu credited the drop in PA support to his efforts, explaining, "I have spoken with world leaders who changed their votes as a result." 

He also credited the work of President Isaac Herzog, the Foreign Ministry and the Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan. He did not mention his predecessor Yair Lapid. 

"We have achieved something important. In the UN resolution that was passed in November, the Palestinians had an absolute majority of UN member states that supported their initiative," Netanyahu said. 

"Now, after our intervention… there has been a turnaround: The countries that supported the Palestinian initiative were a minority of UN members and those that did not support the Palestinians were a majority of UN member states," he added.

Nine countries changed their stance and voted against the resolution from November to now. This included Albania, Costa Rice, the Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Papa New Guinea, Romania, Togo and Great Britain. 

The UK opposes the resolution

A United Kingdom envoy addressed the UNGA on Friday, stating that his country did not feel that a referral to the ICJ was helpful in "bringing the parties back to dialogue."

He added that "it is inappropriate without the consent of both parties to ask the court to give an advisory opinion in what is essentially a bilateral dispute."

The envoy also explained that his country did not support the work of the United Nations Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry which had first bought up the matter of an ICJ referral, noting that the group's work helped exacerbated the "disproportionate focus on Israel" at the UN.

Separate from the ICJ inquiry, the British envoy said that his country also opposed the fact that the resolution "refers to the Haram al-Sharif Temple Mount site in Jerusalem in purely Islamic terms. 

"The UK has made clear for many years that we disagree with this approach," he said.

Separately, Ukraine, which had supported the measure in November was absent from the vote. Netanyahu's Likud spokesperson confirmed that Netanyahu had raised the matter when he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Kan reported that in the conversation Zelensky had unsuccessfully sought to receive assurances from Netanyahu that Israel would supply his country with aerial defense systems and would support his four-point peace plan. The Likud spokesperson did not comment on that report. 

Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour called on all UNGA countries, including those that opposed the text, to abide by the ICJ opinion when it was issued.

"We trust that, regardless of your vote today, if you believe in international law and peace, you will uphold the opinion of the International Court of Justice when delivered and you will stand up to this Israeli government right now," Mansour told the General Assembly.

The vote on the ICJ opinion, which was scheduled only toward the end of the week, was held as part of a UNGA debate that began at 6 p.m., after the start of the Sabbath in New York. The UN mission could not participate as a result and its vote was cast by a US envoy.

ICJ opinions are non-binding, but they can be used by the UN and other international bodies.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967, but formally applied sovereignty to it in 1980 and has insisted that the united city is its eternal capital. The West Bank is under IDF military rule, with IDF executing civilian rule over Area C of that region and the Palestinian Authority executing civilian control over Areas A and B of that territory.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder issued a statement, saying that the vote at the United Nations “exemplifies an ongoing pattern of bias against Israel, and we applaud those 26 countries, including the United States, who voted against this shameful resolution that seeks to isolate and demonize the Jewish state.”

“The text of the measure is as troubling as it is misguided,” Lauder said. “It exclusively refers to the Temple Mount by its Muslim term, erasing the more than 2,500-year-old connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem.”

He went on to say that this measure “is a direct outgrowth of the biased Commission of Inquiry on Israel, whose commissioners have made antisemitic comments and who have been unabashed critics of Israel. Referral of this issue to the ICJ is yet another barrier to dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.”

“Peace in the region can only be negotiated by the two sides directly involved,” Lauder said.

Omri Nahmias and Jpost Staff contributed to this report.

Tovah Lazaroff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-726312

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Biden blamed by own ex-border chief for soaring asylum cases, record immigration court backlog - Aaron Kliegman

 

by Aaron Kliegman

The surge in pending asylum applications to enter the U.S. comes after an all-time high number of illegal border crossings this year.

 

The Biden administration is to blame for  soaring asylum cases that have created a record years-long backlog in U.S. immigration courts, according to President Joe Biden's own former Border Patrol chief.

"Several factors have contributed to this backlog, but the massive increase that we're seeing today can be directly attributed to the Biden administration's border and immigration policies," said Rodney Scott, who headed the Border Patrol in both the Trump and Biden administrations.

"When the Biden administration went against the recommendations of experienced career border security professionals, terminated the Migrant Protection Protocols, canceled the Asylum Cooperative Agreements, and lowered the bar for credible fear determinations," Scott continued, "they sent a message worldwide and opened the flood gates for anyone that could make up a sad story or recite the one that was provided to them by the cartel and so-called migrant aid organizations operating in Mexico."

The Trump administration implemented both the Migrant Protection Protocols and the Asylum Cooperative Agreements. The former, commonly called the Remain in Mexico policy, requires some migrants seeking asylum to stay in Mexico as they await their immigration court date rather than be detained or released in the U.S. The latter are a series of agreements negotiated with Central American countries to curtail asylum fraud and limit asylum access to the U.S.

The Biden administration halted the agreements and has been trying to end the protocols. Earlier this month, however, a federal judge put a hold on the administration's ongoing legal efforts to terminate Remain in Mexico.

The current years-long asylum backlog comes as illegal attempts to cross the southern border continue to reach all-time highs and critics blast the Biden administration for not doing enough to deter illegal immigration.

"While Congress owns the blame for leaving known loopholes in our immigration and asylum laws unaddressed, the massive increase in illegal border crossings and associated asylum claims falls squarely on the Biden administration and is a direct result of their failed policies," Scott said.

Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) found in its latest assessment that nearly 1.6 million people seeking asylum in the U.S. are waiting for asylum hearings, the largest total number of pending asylum applications on record.

About half this total — 778,084 asylum seekers — are waiting for hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers, who are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The other half — 787,882 — are waiting for hearings before judges in the Justice Department's Immigration Courts. This number includes a spike of over 30,000 new cases in just October and November, the first two months of fiscal year 2023.

In March, to expedite the asylum process and decrease the backlog, the Biden administration implemented a new rule allowing asylum officers with USCIS to issue rulings on asylum cases for illegal immigrants rather than just judges.

However, the asylum backlog wait time for court appearances has increased to an average of 4.3 years nationwide, according to TRAC, which noted that at the end of fiscal year 2012, just over 100,000 asylum cases were pending in the Immigration Court's backlog. In other words, the backlog increased more than seven-fold in a decade.

That being said, asylum backlogs aren't new, as the number of people seeking asylum has normally exceeded the capacity of government agencies to process applications quickly and fairly. But in recent years, the situation has deteriorated precipitously.

"With political, economic, and environmental instability in places like Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, Central America, Ukraine, and elsewhere, the United States has seen a growth in migrants' needs that outpace even the growing number of Immigration Judges and asylum officers added by both Democratic and Republican administrations," the TRAC analysis stated.

Another cause of the recent spike, according to experts, is current U.S. policy.

"The problem has been steadily getting worse under every administration, but President Trump put in place the Migrant Protection Protocols, which kept most potential asylum applicants out of the U.S. while they got their due process," said Simon Hankinson, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center.

"The Biden administration then undid everything Trump did, for largely political reasons," added Hankinson. "Biden and [Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro] Mayorkas have super-charged an already vulnerable system by allowing in at least half the illegal migrants either apprehended at the border or who give themselves up at legal ports of entry. They process them quickly by taking their basic info, given them parole (an abuse of the statute's intent) by the hundreds of thousands, and let them into the country to await a process which was taking years to run through even before the current wave … It's a man-made disaster of historic proportions."

Hankinson explained that under U.S. law, in order to receive asylum, individuals leaving their own country are supposed to show "past persecution or well-founded fear" of future persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

However, now the system "is being exploited by millions of economic migrants," he said. "They are fleeing hardship of all kinds, including bad governments and weak economies, but up to 90% don't meet the bar to get asylum. Because of current policy, they get to jump the long line of legal immigrants by simply showing up at the border."

According to a recent report from the Center for Immigration Studies, the skyrocketing asylum backlog, which jumped 22% from June 2021 to June 2022, is "postponing and reducing future legal immigration."

There's no downside, let alone deterrent, for people seeking asylum and dragging out the legal process, according to Hankinson, who added this factor along with a broader failure to enforce laws against illegal immigration have incentivized people worldwide to "take their chances on being let in."

Meanwhile, a separate TRAC report published earlier this month showed the Immigration Court received 170,398 new cases so far in fiscal year 2023, pushing the court's overall pending case backlog (not just asylum ones) above 2 million for the first time at the end of November.

The court is ramping up the number of cases it completes, but even the accelerated pace can't keep up with the higher number of new filings that are arriving and overwhelming the system.

"This is a huge problem on many levels and is getting worse every day," said Scott. "It is analogous to having a burst water pipe in your home and trying to address it by simply soaking up water with a washcloth. As the incoming water continues to far exceed any remediation efforts, everything in the home will eventually be affected.

"Nearly every border town is already a disaster," Scott continued. "We are now seeing cities like San Antonio, New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. cry for help as the social service capabilities are exceeded."

While those seeking asylum come from 219 different countries, according to TRAC, nearly 60% of applicants come from only five countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Venezuela. Meanwhile, about 30% of those seeking asylum are children.

"The shifting composition of nationalities reflects not just the volume of individuals arriving at our borders seeking asylum, but the country's policies and practices of which nationalities are being allowed to actually enter the U.S. and seek asylum," TRAC said. "Asylum seekers from the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico were usually immediately turned away under Title 42 and not allowed to enter and seek asylum. The Biden administration has created some exceptions to this policy, exceptions that have been structured by nationality."

The Biden administration added Venezuelans to the list of several nationalities that can be expelled under Title 42, the public health authority exercised by the Trump administration that allows border officials to expel migrants without allowing them to apply for asylum in order to limit the spread of COVD-19.

The Biden administration has attempted to end Title 42, but the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the measure remain in place during a legal challenge over its fate.

A third recent TRAC analysis discussed how fiscal year 2022 marked the largest number of individuals granted asylum in any year in the Immigration Court's history, with grant rates averaging 46% — up from 36% in fiscal year 2021.

"Not only were more asylum applications granted by immigration judges than ever before, but many asylum cases moved through the system faster due to a variety of Biden administration initiatives, including the Dedicated Docket," the report stated. "In this program, families seeking asylum were given expedited proceedings and moved to the head of the line, in front of those waiting in the court's existing case backlog."

The Biden administration's Dedicated Docket program was announced by the Justice and Homeland Security departments in May 2021 as a way to "significantly decrease the amount of time it takes for migrants to have their cases adjudicated while still providing fair hearings for families seeking asylum at the border."

Mayorkas said at the time that families arriving at the border who are placed in immigration proceedings should "have their cases decided in an orderly, efficient, and fair manner" and "not languish in a multi-year backlog; today's announcement is an important step for both justice and border security."

The TRAC reports and Title 42 ruling come amid a historic surge in illegal immigration.

Since Biden entered office, there's been a sharp rise in the number of people who've crossed the southern border illegally. The figure reached a record 2.38 million illegal crossings in fiscal year 2022 (which ended Sept. 30) and over 233,000 just last month, the highest November ever recorded, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

These figures don't include so-called "gotaways," illegal immigrants known to have gotten past border agents. There were reportedly at least 73,000 known gotaways last month alone.

"I believe it is obvious that what this administration is doing isn't working," said Scott. "The keys to border security and putting integrity back into our immigration system are consequences and accountability. No one should be released into the U.S. until their case has been fully adjudicated. When a judge rules an alien has a legitimate asylum claim, they can be released into the U.S. But if the judge rules their claim doesn't have merit, the alien should be immediately transferred for removal."

Scott also called for the Biden administration to force other countries to take back their own citizens and to pressure Mexico to enforce its own laws and accept any migrant who crossed from Mexican territory.

"This last administration was making great progress in these areas. There's no reason this administration could not reimplement that playbook."

USCIS and the Justice Department didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.

Aaron Kliegman

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-failed-policies-blame-us-asylum-backlog-hitting-new-record-ex

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Federal appeals court backs Florida school district that blocked transgender student from using boys bathroom - Andrew Mark Miller

 

by Andrew Mark Miller

The decision was split down party lines

 

 

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Florida school district’s policy that separates school bathrooms by biological sex.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7-4 decision on Friday, ruling that the St. Johns County School Board did not discriminate against transgender students based on sex, or violate federal civil rights law by requiring transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms matching their biological sex.

The court’s decision was split down party lines, with seven justices appointed by Republican presidents siding with the school district and four justices appointed by Democratic presidents siding with Drew Adams, a biological female, who sued the district in 2017 after not being allowed to use the boys restroom.

A three-judge panel from the appeals court previously sided with Adams in 2020, but the full appeals court decided to take up the case.

FEMALE SWIMMER WHO TIED LIA THOMAS SLAMS TRANSGENDER SPORTS POLICY: TAKING WOMEN 'BACK TO THE 1970S'

Gender-neutral public restroom sign. Genderless and handicapped toilet. (Istock/ AndreyPopov)

Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote in the majority opinion that the school board policy advances the important governmental objective of protecting students’ privacy in school bathrooms. She said the district’s policy does not violate the law because it’s based on biological sex, not gender identity.

Judge Jill Pryor wrote in a dissenting opinion that the interest of protecting privacy is not absolute and must coexist alongside fundamental principles of equality, specifically where exclusion implies inferiority.

TRANSGENDER WOMAN'S OP-ED REGRETTING SEX RE-ASSIGNMENT SURGERY DRAWS STRONG MEDIA REACTION: 'HEARTBREAKING'

Multiple states have banned transgender student athletes from participating on the teams that align with their gender identity. (AP Photo/Samuel Metz, File)

Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use bathrooms that accord with their identities.

Friday's decision increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A protester voices support for the promotion of transgender ideology in schools during a pro-transgender march. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

"This is an aberrant ruling that contradicts the rulings of every other circuit to consider the question across the country," Tara Borelli, a spokesperson for LGBT advocacy group Lambda Legal who provided aid to Adams, told Fox News Digital in a statement. "It is also lengthy. We will be reviewing and evaluating this distressing decision over the weekend and will have a fuller response next week."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

Andrew Mark Miller is a writer at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/federal-appeals-court-backs-florida-school-district-blocked-transgender-student-using-boys-bathroom

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IRGC officials hint at division in Iranian leadership as protests continue - Tzvi Joffre

 

by Tzvi Joffre

Anti-government protests continued in multiple locations throughout Iran on Saturday, over 100 days since they began.

 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends mourning ceremonies on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Lady Fatimah Zahra, December 2022.

(photo credit: KHAMENEI.IR)

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials hinted at division among Iran's leadership as anti-government protests continued to sweep the country in the past week.

Hamid Abazari, an IRGC official who formerly served as deputy commander of the Imam Hossein Training and Officer College, stated that senior commanders and officials had "failed and stood against values, [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] and the regime," during the ongoing wave of protests in a speech last week reportedly broadcast on the local Tabarstan network.

Abazari also expressed condemnation of officials who had not condemned the protests and added that "first-rate officials of the regime" were among those who had stood against Khamenei.

The IRGC's public relations department rejected Abazari's statements on Saturday, stressing that this was Abazari's personal opinion and "does not correspond to the existing facts."

Additionally, Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, an IRGC commander in charge of a unit tasked with confronting protests and riots, criticized "some elites" for staying silent about the protests.

"Some elites were afraid of being harmed and damaged in their world and kept silent and were rejected, and you should know that religiosity does not come and go slowly, but religiosity has a cost," said Gheybparvar on Saturday, according to Iranian media.

"In these two or three months, many were rejected; We do not deny the economic problems, high prices, unemployment, etc., but was it the right of the regime that anyone who comes can insert a knife into the body of the regime?"

The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute noted that "the protests and regime crackdown have fractured the Iranian political and security establishments."

Criticism of the government from Iranian clerics and officials has increased in recent months amid the protests.

A special bulletin prepared by media experts for IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salam leaked by the Black Reward hacktivist group cited "some experts" as saying that there is an "accumulation of doubts and uncertainty" among the "revolutionary forces." Additionally, the Fars officials noted that the protest movement "considers the greatest achievement of the recent riots to be the loss of people's fear of the military and police forces."

Recently, Mohammad Sadr, a member of Iran's Expediency Council which advises Iran's supreme leader, warned that while the protests have largely avoided economic slogans, the deteriorating economic situation in Iran could spark economic protests "which is very dangerous," in an interview with the Iranian Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper.

The Iranian official added that "dialogue is the best solution" for the ongoing unrest.

"One hundred percent of the demands of the protesters are not impractical, and we can implement some of these demands over time in order to de-complex a little and move towards a peaceful country. If we don't use this method, we will be forced to continue the previous security methods that even if these protests seem to be reduced or collected, will still remain in the heart of society, youth and political figures and will continue to resurface," warned Sadr.

Anti-government protests continue across Iran

Anti-government protests continued in multiple locations throughout Iran on Saturday, including Tehran, Javanroud, Sanandaj, Najafabad and Semirom over 100 days since they began. The protests continued into the night, with many protesters chanting anti-government slogans from their rooftops.

 

#تهران
مردم در بازار تهران با شعار #مرگ_بر_دیکتاتور در برابر ماموران سرکوبگر تا دندان مسلح ایستادگی میکنند pic.twitter.com/Tir5AyIKLE

— Iranworkers (@iranworkers) December 31, 2022

Protesters gathered at the Tehran Grand Bazaar, facing off against Iranian security forces. In Qom, protesters torched a post featuring former IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. In Javanroud, a large crowd gathered at the funeral of murdered protester Borhan Elyasi and chanted "death to the dictator."

#جوانرود
فیلمی از درگیری نیروهای سرکوبگر با مردم در خیابان‌های جوانرود
صدای ممتد تیراندازی سرکوبگران شنیده می‌شود pic.twitter.com/OVn1KsWMXN

— Iranworkers (@iranworkers) December 31, 2022

Protesters and Iranian forces were reportedly clashing in Samirom on Sunday as well, according to the 1500tasvir account.

 

#سمیرم
تظاهرات مردم بعد از مراسم چهلم در مقابل فرمانداری
«نترسید نترسید ما همه با هم هستیم»#قیام_تا_سرنگونی pic.twitter.com/myqSeDGhN4

— Iranworkers (@iranworkers) December 31, 2022

Workers at the Arak Refinery, the Abadan refinery and the Azar Mehran oil company went on strike and demonstrated on Saturday in protest against their working conditions.

Iran launches new program to enforce hijab

Iranian authorities launched a new program to enforce the wearing of the hijab in vehicles, sending texts to people who are spotted not wearing the hijab in vehicles, the Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. A similar program was reportedly implemented in Tehran in 2019. In that program, those who received messages were ordered to come to police stations and only released once they signed documents agreeing to wear the hijab. It is unclear how the current program will operate.

The new program comes a month after Iranian officials refuted reports that it had begun closing the "morality police" that enforce the wearing of the hijab.

 

Tzvi Joffre

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-726332

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Apartheid slander is latest verbal weapon against Israel - Paul Schneider

 

by Paul Schneider

Two reports, one by Amnesty International and the other by Human Rights Watch add to the slander accusing Israel of apartheid.

 

COPIES OF Amnesty International’s report named ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians’ are put on display at a news conference in Jerusalem last year.

(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)

The word “apartheid,” used in reference to Israel, is now an accepted part of the progressive and anti-Zionist vernacular. We hear it everywhere from college campuses to the halls of Congress. Two recent reports, one by Amnesty International and the other by Human Rights Watch add to this slander.

Both purport to make the case that Israel has crossed a line and become an apartheid state, as defined in international law. But Amnesty and HRW have now received pushback in a report by B’nai B’rith International, the world’s oldest Jewish humanitarian and human rights organization.

Titled “The Apartheid Slander Against Israel and the Ideological Distortion of Human Rights,” the report consists of two essays, each written by a noted law professor. In the first, Eugene Kontorovich argues that the apartheid accusation is the latest iteration of the “Zionism is racism” charge from the seventies.

And so, for Amnesty and HRW, the very idea of a Jewish state is a human rights violation. They do not criticize Israel’s policy so much as deny its right to exist. Indeed, after Amnesty published its report, its USA director, Paul O’Brien, said in a speech: “We are opposed to the idea – and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate – that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.” Leaving no doubt about his position, at another point, O’Brien said flatly that Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.”

In fact, according to O’Brien, Amnesty takes no position on the question of whether Israel has a right to survive at all. (O’Brien later claimed his remarks were “misreported,” but an audio recording refutes that.) Therefore, Kontorovich says, “The significance of the apartheid label goes beyond particular policies and invites efforts at regime change.”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL secretary-general Agnes Callamard announces the organization’s 211-page report, ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity,’ in east Jerusalem, February 1. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Thane Rosenbaum continues with this theme in the B’nai B’rith report’s second essay, calling Israel “the only nation where self-determination and statehood are believed to be provisional.” He goes on to argue that what we are now seeing is a continuation of the decades-long war against Israel’s existence: “The wars that Arab nations and Palestinian terrorists have been unable to win against Israel have opened up into a new theater: a war of defamatory words, antisemitic semantics, the semiotics of Palestinian suffering.” The apartheid slander is a major weapon in that war.

Amnesty and HRW expose the deficiencies of their own reports. For example, Rosenbaum notes, they acknowledge that in Israel there is no “systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over” another, as required under the 1998 Rome Statute. They try to cure that problem by claiming “that the separate identity of Palestinians, and their feelings of marginalization and inequality, are sufficient to establish Israel’s domination for apartheid purposes.”

As Amnesty and HRW would have it, “The absence of a racial component is but a minor detail. Inequality is enough.” Legal definitions don’t matter. Thus, Rosenbaum shows, the only way these groups can accuse Israel of apartheid is by making that term sound meaningless.

The apartheid simply isn't there

In any event, the apartheid-style inequality these groups claim to rely on simply isn’t there. As Kontorovich points out, “The very essence of apartheid was the physical separation – apartness – of people based on a legislated racial hierarchy.” But Israeli Arabs and Jews mix freely. Moreover, Israeli Arabs are full participants in Israeli society. They sit in the Knesset and on the Supreme Court. And they are proportionately represented in the professions.

The authors of the Amnesty and HRW reports know all this. But they are determined to deny the legitimacy of Israel and tell millions of Diaspora Jews that a central part of their identity is unacceptable. That’s not human rights advocacy. It’s antisemitism.

The apartheid slander is just the latest weapon in the war of words against the Jewish state. But as Rosenbaum notes, “Israel has no Iron Dome for transmissible lies, no cover for modern-day blood libels.” And that’s exactly what makes the B’nai B’rith report so important.

The writer is an attorney, and member of the board of directors of the American Jewish International Relations Institute (AJIRI), an affiliate of B’nai B’rith International.

Paul Schneider

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-726297

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At least 18 states have put restrictions or banned TikTok over national security concerns - Charlotte Hazard

 

by Charlotte Hazard

South Dakota Gov. Noem kicked off a trend that has spread nationwide.

 

Following South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem's lead, nearly half of U.S. states have put restrictions on or banned the use of Chinese-based social media app TikTok.

At least 19 states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices – Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utha, Virginia and West Virginia.

Other states are considering suing the social media app for its data policies. Indiana was the first to do so this month, alleging TikTok exposes minors to inappropriate content and makes user data accessible to China.

The governors and attorneys general are taking action because of ties between the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party and warnings from U.S. intelligence that it poses threats to national security and individual privacy.

TikTok released a statement earlier in December according to Reuters which stated that it was "disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States."

However, TikTok has acknowledged that its non-U.S. employees had access to data of U.S. users and has told lawmakers that it's working to protect that data.

Noem was the first governor to take action against TikTok and ban it from all government devices.

"I take my duty very seriously to protect the citizens of this great state,". Noem told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "The more and more we learn about how the Chinese government and the CCP is using the information they're gathering off of TikTok to threaten the United States of America, to learn more about our habits, what we search, and how they are manipulating the algorithms- the more serious we have to take it."

Congress is considering a similar ban of federal, government-issued devices but has yet to impose one.

Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced earlier this month that he would be joining the other states in taking action against TikTok, as well as another China-based app WeChat.

"TikTok and WeChat data are a channel to the Chinese Communist Party, and their continued presence represents a threat to national security, the intelligence community, and the personal privacy of every single American," Youngkin said. "We are taking this step today to secure state government devices and wireless networks from the threat of infiltration and ensure that we safeguard the data and cybersecurity of state government."

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita referred to TikTok as a "business that deceives customers."

"One of the things you can't do is operate a business that deceives consumers," Rokita told the "Just the News, No Noise." "That's exactly what TikTok and their parent company ByteDance are doing by being controlled by the CCP."  

Charlotte Hazard

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/sun-19-states-have-put-restrictions-or-banned-tiktok-due-national-security

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TSA spends $18.6 million on security screening for gender-neutral passengers - Mary Lou Lang

 

by Mary Lou Lang

Agency indicates new screening will “advance civil rights” of airline passengers.

 

The Transportation Security Administration is spending $18.6 million to deploy “non-binary screening systems” for gender-neutral passengers traveling through U.S. airports.

The federal spending watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com reported on the new security screening that will be rolled out starting this month.

TSA is spending tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer funds to “advance civil rights” of these passengers, indicating it will improve the customer experience of nonbinary passengers by implementing the new technology.

The funding for the non-gender imaging technology will be appropriated from funds inside the omnibus spending legislation that President Joe Biden just signed.

“This technology should really be gender neutral, you know, it really should be and we’re there,” TSA Executive Director for Travel Engagement Jose Bonilla told WCAX.com in Vermont. 

“The way that we’ve operated the system is specifically based on [the] blue button if the individual is perceived by the officer to be male, pink button if the individual is perceived by our officer to be female,” Bonilla said, adding that transgender or nonbinary passengers are more likely to get flagged. 

When travelers’ assumed genders would not match the imaging technology they were identified as, they would be subjected to more screenings and sometimes pat downs, OpenTheBooks reported.

The TSA receives 26,542 screening complaints annually, with slightly over 6% from members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

The agency is confident the $18.6 million in advanced screening will reduce the number of complaints and pat-downs.

“TSA is routinely updating its technologies and procedures in an effort to enhance security and improvements in checkpoint efficiency and passenger experience,” the agency told Just the News. “TSA’s announcement back in March acknowledges the input received from coalition partners and recognizes the transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming community.”

The TSA has implemented several policies to assist transgender and binary passengers. The agency previously updated its operating procedures to reduce the number of pat-downs by allowing security to permit less invasive screening procedures for passengers who triggered the Advanced Imaging Technology scanner in “sensitive” areas. 

The agency also streamlined identity validation by removing gender considerations at security checkpoints. In addition, it made TSA PreCheck “more inclusive” by including an “X” gender option on the program application.

The TSA also has a webpage dedicated to transgender/nonbinary and gender nonconforming passengers traveling through the nation’s airports that details all the steps the agency is taking to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect.

Mary Lou Lang

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/waste-fraud-and-abuse/tsa-spends-186-million-security-screening-gender-neutral

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The Wi Spa ‘Transgender’ is a Registered Sex Offender - Janet Levy

 

by Janet Levy

There are no bounds to the sanctimony, hypocrisy, and moral depravity of the Left.

 

Darren Agee Merager, facing trial in the Wi Spa controversy, and arrested on December 13th after 15 months on the lam, is a convicted and registered sex offender. The 53-year-old has a long criminal record: vehicle theft, trespassing, robbery, and a prison escape in 1995. In 2018 he was arrested for exposing himself at a gas station. And twice in 2019 he is known to have exposed himself to children (at the West Hollywood Aquatics Center) and women (at the Century Day & Night Spa in the Arlington Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles).

But to ‘woke’ Left activists and their sympathizers in the media, he is a martyr. They say he was the one wronged when on June 23rd last year, women at the Wi Spa, near Los Angeles’ Koreatown, objected to his naked presence in a tub in the women’s locker-room area. It didn’t matter to the ‘woke’ that a five-year-old girl was among those using the area. All they cared about was that he self-identifies as female. By California law, self-identification has been enough for Merager to get a driver’s license and other IDs declaring him legally female. Despite the male genitalia he perversely likes to flaunt. To the Left, the Wi Spa incident was a case of “transphobia.”

Given the pervasive social climate that promotes and dictates the ‘woke’ LGBTQ agenda, it’s not difficult to understand how the incident (which I reported on here) was twisted and mischaracterized. Some media outlets widely bruited a narrative that made it out as if no exposure took place at the spa and that a right-wing conspiracy was afoot. Slate called it a “transphobic hoax.” When shocking revelations confirmed the veracity of the incident, only a handful of media outlets dared to correct the mislabeling. There was no condemnation of the violence that resulted from that opportunistic misrepresentation.

For after all, the violence, in which Antifa and other leftist groups took part, helped publicize the ‘woke’ LGBTQ agenda, making it seem as if Merager’s case was about a trans person facing up to bigots. In retrospect, the buildup to the violence seems well machinated. First, the viral video showing female clients at Wi Spa objecting to Merager (a biological male) using facilities reserved for women and girls was declared suspect. Then the genuine concerns of the clients were roundly criticized and dismissed. With no recourse to being heard, the clients gathered outside the spa on July 3, 2021, to peacefully protest the presence of a male in a state of genital tumescence in an area reserved for women and girls. They also wanted to express concern over its impact on children.

In response, SoCal Antifa organized a counterprotest and publicized it on Twitter with exhortations to “Smash Transphobia” and “Smash Fascism.” The protesting women clients, a Christian preacher, and members of the press were assaulted by Black Bloc members. Video footage shows Antifa members, who vastly outnumbered those fighting Wi Spa’s transgender policy, sucker-punching the demonstrators. In the mayhem, there was a metal-pipe clubbing and a stabbing. But police honored a hands-off approach: no arrests were made.

At a second protest organized by the offended spa-users on July 17th, they found themselves facing about 500 Antifa activists and members of the Autonomous Anarchist Revolutionary Front (AARF) sporting pink masks. Photos on AARF’s Twitter account show members in pink niqabs with the slogan ‘Queer gangs don’t bash back, we strike first.’ Antifa circulated flyers, sprayed graffiti around the spa, and doxxed those protesting the spa’s policies. Its members also used smoke bombs, fireworks, and pellet guns to intimidate the protesters and attack police. This time, the cops used non-lethal measures -- like hard-foam and beanbag rounds -- and arrested more than 40 people.

It wasn’t until early September 2021 that the LAPD investigated the incident at the crux of the controversy and discreetly filed charges – five felony counts of indecent exposure – against Merager. Interviewed by Andy Ngo, Merager claimed that “everything about the Wi Spa was a bunch of garbage and lies.” He said he was underwater right up to his chest, there were no children around, and that he’d been accosted by an angry spa-user. He said he is legally female and is a victim of sexual harassment by transphobic women.     

Fast forward to December 13th this year. Almost 18 months after the incident, Merager was apprehended and charged with five felony counts of indecent exposure, with bail set at $350,000. Together with offences that came to light during a three-month investigation that followed the initial charges, he faces 11 charges, all related to indecent exposure while posing as a transgender woman. The LADP interviewed five victims and witnesses to corroborate the indecent exposure allegations. He’s being held in a facility for male inmates, and is scheduled to be appear in court on December 30^th.

But though Merager has been revealed as a sex offender who used California’s progressive trans rights ordinances to ply his perversion, the mainstream media has chosen to remain silent about the error caused by its blatant leftist bias. This was expected. For the ‘woke’ Left narrative to pervert Western values and engineer an alternative reality has advanced to the level of the absurd, especially when it comes to LGBTQ matters.

Politically, it’s fashionable to be seen as supporting the madness of a multiplicity of genders -- 72, by Dayaa Hawkins’ count -- and assignment of gender by self-identification. The Pentagon sanctions taxpayer-funded gender transition surgery for members of the military. Education boards promote drag queen story hours for children as young as three and encourage aggressive gender reassignment procedures for minors.

In gratuitous virtue signaling, the Biden administration has made it a point to appoint transgenders to visible, high-level positions. Last year, Rachel (Rick) Levine became the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate. In June, LGBTQ activist and nuclear engineer Sam Brinton, who dressed in drag and liberally applied lipstick to his mustache, was invited to serve as deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy. Recently though, a clearly unstable Brinton was forced to step down following a second luggage-filching incident, orchestrated to augment his collection of feminine attire.

It’s a matter of grave concern, however, when gender-multiplicity and LGBTQ policies compromise the rights and safety of others. As in the case of Merager, now exposed as a serial sex offender. The Left values him in his victim status, as an oppressed transgender, even at the expense of public safety and our legal code. So it chooses to ignore the ugly truth about him. There are no bounds to the sanctimony, hypocrisy, and moral depravity of the Left.

Image: Julianna LaCoste

Janet Levy

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/01/the_wi_spa_transgender_is_a_registered_sex_offender.html

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Appeals court denies principal qualified immunity in teacher's MAGA hat job retaliation lawsuit - Greg Piper

 

by Greg Piper

"Clearly established" in case law that school cannot restrict employee's speech to quell "nothing more than the natural effect that disfavored political speech often has on those with different viewpoints," 9th Circuit says.

 

A suburban Portland, Ore., teacher allegedly threatened with discipline if he kept bringing a Make America Great Again hat to teacher-training sessions can sue his former principal for First Amendment retaliation, a federal appeals court has ruled. 

The 9th Circuit partially reinstated Eric Dodge's lawsuit on Thursday, finding that former Wy'east Middle School Principal Caroline Garrett would not be protected by qualified immunity if a jury found her guilty of violating Dodge's First Amendment rights on the eve of the 2019-2020 school year.

The three-judge panel cited "clearly established … long-standing precedent" that concerns about "the reaction to controversial or disfavored speech itself does not justify restricting such speech." 

The unanimous opinion by Judge Danielle Forrest said "it was patently unreasonable for Principal Garrett to believe that she could restrict Dodge’s speech to quell what was, in reality, nothing more than the natural effect that disfavored political speech often has on those with different viewpoints."

It upheld the lower court's dismissal of Vancouver's Evergreen School District and chief human resource officer Janae Gomes from the suit.

The appeals court scoffed at the district's argument that Dodge was "not conveying a political message" of support for then-President Trump through the hat but only using it to "protect his skin," so Garrett could require him to keep it in his car. 

The hat's content is "quintessentially a matter of public concern" that communicates "the messages of candidates for public office," as verified by Garrett and others viewing it as "a comment on issues such as immigration, racism, and bigotry," the panel said.

The judges emphasized how little evidence the district provided that Dodge's actions caused a disruption that would justify squelching an employee's speech. 

At the first training session with 60 participants, "fewer than five people complained, including the first presenter who was not a District employee," and all trainings were completed without incident, according to the court records. 

Boy, they do have that ol' "I feel threatened" move down pat, though.

It's good that the 9th Cir. is not holding that's enough to justify speech restriction. pic.twitter.com/nVW5QRokUn

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) December 29, 2022

"Clinton, Reagan, and Trump appointees coming together to affirm the First Amendment," lawyer Gregory Conley tweeted in response to the ruling, referring to the panel of judges.

Garrett already had a reputation for rubbing parents the wrong way, prompting the school board to order "further investigations" into the professionalism of her confrontations with Dodge after Gomes dismissed the science teacher's HR complaint against her, according to the 9th Circuit's summary of the case.

The board told Garrett she had a "credibility" problem and could either accept demotion or face disciplinary proceedings. She resigned at the end of the school year, earning about $150,000, according to public records.

A 17-year veteran of the district, Dodge had brought the MAGA hat to a "cultural sensitivity and racial bias training" at Wy'east the week before school started, according to the factual record. It was his first assignment to the school.

According to the court record:

Sitting in the back of the room the first day, Dodge didn't wear the hat but rather placed it "either on the table in front of him or on top of his backpack." The Washington State University professor leading the training complained to Garrett that "she felt intimidated and traumatized" by the sight of the hat, while another teacher "cried" and one called the hat "threatening."

Garrett consulted Gomes, the HR official, before telling Dodge that "some people take [the hat] as a symbol of hate and bigotry" and he should use "better judgment." He brought the hat to the next day's training at Evergreen High School, at which point Garrett and Gomes decided to order Garrett to ditch the hat because "it was causing the disruption to staff."

Dodge alleged the principal confronted him at the Wy'east training later the same day, asking what was "the f**king deal with your hat" and calling him a "homophobe and a racist and a bigot and hateful."

While Garrett denied "using profanity," she didn't deny telling him "you need to have your union rep" if she caught him with the hat again.

She accused him two days later of bringing the hat "to purposefully provoke a reaction" during the trainings, and said she mentioned the union rep to follow school procedures "if we needed to discuss [the hat] again." Garrett shared the response with Gomes, who praised it.

 

That's Wy'east Principal Caroline Garrett high-fiving returning students. #EPSbacktoschool pic.twitter.com/XT84MU8cZF

— Evergreen PS (@evergreenps) August 30, 2017

 

Because the district refused to investigate the principal at that time, Dodge filed a "harassment, intimidation, and bullying" complaint that prompted an external investigation. 

Clear Risk Solutions initially determined "Dodge was singled out … denied his freedom of expression" and "reasonably perceived" the union rep comment as a "threat of discipline." Garrett had allowed "other types of political messaging around the school."

Gomes persuaded the contractor to remove the language about freedom of expression and singling out from its final report, however, according to the 9th Circuit summary. Both initial and final versions of the CRS report said Garrett hadn't violated district policy. Dodge got the transfer he asked for.

The appeals panel disagreed with U.S. District Judge James Robart, known for a previous spat with Trump, that Garrett's alleged actions had not been clearly established as unconstitutional in case law.

It's irrelevant that Dodge brought the hat to a "teacher-only training with a limited audience," as the district emphasized, because a "government employee does not lose the right to speak out about issues of public concern in forums closed to the general public," Forrest wrote.

The student-free venue did matter, however, for purposes of whether Dodge's hat-based speech would be reasonably interpreted as the school's or his own as a private citizen. He did not take "advantage of his position to press his particular views" upon students, Forrest wrote, quoting the 9th Circuit's 2006 school-speech precedent.

The panel concluded "at a minimum" that "there are triable issues of fact" around whether the principal's treatment of the teacher constitutes "adverse employment action."

The reference to the union rep gave concrete effect to Garrett's earlier "bad-mouthing," Forrest wrote. The principal's explanation that she was simply referring to the collective bargaining agreement "undersells the import and implications that a reasonable employee would attribute to such a statement." 

Dodge has provided "sufficient evidence of a prima facie First Amendment retaliation claim" at this stage of litigation, the court said.

Neither the district nor Garrett's lawyers responded to Just the News queries about their next steps.

 

Greg Piper

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/appeals-court-denies-principal-qualified-immunity-teachers-maga-hat-job

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Iran: A Model or a Warning? - Amir Taheri

 

by Amir Taheri

It may be that there is no other country where the ruling elite, a caste apart, is so unlike the people it dominates by force and propaganda.

• Since the revolution, the percentage of Iranians living below "absolute poverty" has increased from 7 percent in 1977 to 18.4 percent in 2022. The nation's labor market has plunged from one crisis to another.

• There are several areas in which the Iran is world number one.

• According to International Monetary Fund, with over 150,000 highly-educated Iranians choosing exile each year, it is number one in the brain drain league.

• It is also number-one, relative to population, in the number of executions each year.

• More importantly, perhaps, the ruling elite consist largely of a network of around 200 families with clerical, military-security and bazaar backgrounds.

• It may be that there is no other country where the ruling elite, a caste apart, is so unlike the people it dominates by force and propaganda.

• Ayatollah Khamenei believes or pretends that his regime is a model for "all nations". The many Iranians now in open rebellion believe that it is a curse for their nation and a warning to others.

It may be that there is no other country where the ruling elite, a caste apart, is so unlike the people it dominates by force and propaganda. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured) believes or pretends that his regime is a model for "all nations". The many Iranians now in open rebellion believe that it is a curse for their nation and a warning to others. (Image source: khameni.ir/Wikimedia Commons)

Have you wondered why so many Iranians have been marching against the Islamic Republic for more than three months?

Here are two answers:

1 - "The current disturbances are caused because the American Great Satan is envious of the achievements of our Islamic Revolution," says Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

2 - "Today, the Islamic Republic is the world's number one power. The outside world is not informed enough about our mind-boggling achievements," says Friday Prayer Leader for Tehran, Ayatollah Kazem Sadiqi.

Well, what are those achievements the world doesn't know about?

There is no doubt that since the Khomeinist sect seized power some 43 years ago, Iran has undergone dramatic changes.

In 1977, on the eve of the revolution, Iran had a population of 38 million. The number today is approaching 88 million. In 1977, there were an estimated 35,000 Iranians living abroad. That number today is estimated at around 8 million.

In the decade that preceded the revolution, Iran experienced an annual economic growth rate averaging 7 percent. In the past four decades, however, that rate has averaged at around 3.5 percent. In the past decade, the rate has been almost zero. According to Iran's official statistics, the country's growth domestic product (GDP) per capita has shrunk by 40 percent.

In the two decades preceding the revolution, the annual inflation rate in Iran was around 2.2 percent. Since the revolution, it has hovered around 20 percent, running at around 45 percent in 2022. In 1977, Iran's foreign trade was spread among 72 nations. By 1990, about 80 percent of Iran's foreign trade was with 23 countries. In 2022, over 56 percent of Iran's trade was with only three countries: Iraq, the UAE and China.

The percentage of Iranians living below "absolute poverty" has increased from 7 percent in 1977 (before the revolution), to 18.4 percent in 2022. At the same time, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The rich have become 14 times richer than the poor compared to around 10 times in 2000.

The nation's labor market has plunged from one crisis to another. The mullahs "suspended" the pre-revolution Labor Code, claiming they would introduce a new Islamic one, which they have so far failed to do. As a result, some 60 percent of employed people lack standard unemployment- and health-insurance coverage. The unemployment rate, estimated at around 4 percent in 1977, had risen to 12.5 percent in 2021, according to official figures, with the unemployment rate for young men around 22 percent and for young women over 30 percent.

In the past four decades, the number of people attending institutions of higher education has risen from one million in 1977 to over 2.1 million, an impressive jump, but in fact stagnation when we remember that Iran's population has more than doubled.

Also impressive is the fact that women represent more than 50 percent of those in higher education. Yet, the figure becomes less impressive when we see that women's active participation in national economy is one-fifth that of men with comparable education.

There are several areas in which the Iran is the world's number one.

According to the International Monetary Fund, with over 150,000 highly-educated Iranians choosing exile each year, it is number one in the brain drain league.

It is also number-one, relative to population, in the number of executions each year.

Iran also claims top spots in the number of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and foreign hostages.

Moreover, Iran is the only state to have been labeled a "sponsor of international terrorism" by more than 40 countries.

Apart from South Africa under Apartheid, Iran is also alone among UN member-states to be formally expelled from one of its committees.

According to Transparency International, Iran is one of the most corrupt regimes in the world, ranking 150 among 180 nations.

While life expectancy rose from 62 years in 1977 to 78.6 in 2021, Iran's birth-rate has fallen from 6.24 percent to 2.15 percent with an accelerating trend that, according to official studies, could lead to a shrinking population by 2030.

Iran is also world number one in age difference between the general population and those running the government. While average age of Iranians was 31 in 2021, average age of rulers (those holding the top 5,000 civilian and military offices) works out at over 60.

The ruling elite, mainly consisting of Shiite clerics and military-security apparatchiks, is also less educated than the average urban Iranian.

Iranians are keenly aware of the fact that their ruling elite do not resemble them.

Compared with a snapshot of high officials meeting the "Supreme Guide", a snapshot of Iranians in any of the nation's 900 or so towns and cities would show sharp differences in appearance, clothing, body language and, if sound is added, even vocabulary and accents.

The sense of alienation is further strengthened by the fact that the average Iranian reads more books, sees more films, listens to more and more varied music, is more technologically literate, is far less religious, and enjoys art and culture more than the ruling elite.

More importantly, perhaps, the ruling elite consist largely of a network of around 200 families with clerical, military-security and bazaar backgrounds.

It may be that there is no other country where the ruling elite, a caste apart, is so unlike the people it dominates by force and propaganda.

A controversial study by a Tehran University professor also claims that the average IQ of the ruling elite is lower than that of average Iranians.

While there are many Iranians who achieve international distinction in art, literature, cinema, media, sciences and business, none of the top members of the ruling elite could offer a comparable resume.

Their military chiefs never won any battle, their politicians never solved any problems and their diplomats never turned a foe into a friend.

Interestingly, or rather sadly, the middle and lower echelons of this bizarre regime include many men and women with higher education, expertise and intellectual integrity who are systematically shut out of decision-making.

Ayatollah Khamenei believes or pretends that his regime is a model for "all nations". The many Iranians now in open rebellion believe that it is a curse for their nation and a warning to others.

This article was originally published by Asharq al-Awsat

 
Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19276/iran-model

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