Daily Briefing: WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW” (December 2,2020)

                                       WEEKLY QUOTES

“We are flying at breakneck speed into a new era in the Middle East,” — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcoming the first commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. (Algemeiner, Nov. 26, 2020)

“I expect more normalization announcements.  Whether they’ll come in the next 30 days or 60 days or six months is difficult to know, but the direction of travel is very clear, and the rationale for that has a little bit to do with American policy.  We got it right.  We took away the excuse of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.  We took away the excuse that the United States was going to appease Iran.” – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Bret Baier on Fox News.  (US Dept. of State, Nov. 24, 2020)

“On one extreme there are those who say that when you deal with a system and you cut [off] its heads it’s always very useful. And there are those who say that for any leader there is a replacement and that the graveyards are full of people who were irreplaceable. …. They[Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, together with former Hezbollah number two Imad Mughniyeh, and IRGC Al-Quds force head Qassem Soleimani] are people you can [nominally] replace, but there’s really no replacement for their capabilities, knowledge, leadership and the ways they knew how to lead a strategic effort.” – Maj General (ret) Moshe Yaalon on the significance of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s assassination. (Times of Israel, Dec. 1, 2020)

“The agreement belongs to the past and is not open for discussion again … The United States violated UN Resolution 2231, withdrew from the nuclear agreement, caused enormous damage to the Iranian people, and must compensate for it.”  Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh.  He declared that Iran would not be willing to make changes to the nuclear deal.  (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Nov. 22, 2020)

“The Iran nuclear deal, which was the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy achievement, really was kind of all smoke and mirrors. There was never anything to it. It didn’t stop Iran’s nuclear program, it delayed it a few years. … Where are we going to be now? Let’s say the Biden administration comes in and, as they promised, they want to revitalize it, revive it, get back into it, and, so, what will happen is Iran will continue its nuclear program.” — former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland to “America’s Newsroom.” (Fox News, Nov. 30, 2020)

“Very important that the Trump administration declassify the report that provides a current estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees who are receiving support.  This goes to the heart of speaking hard truths in the name of moving peace forward.” Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley tweeted.  Haley linked to a New York Post column that refers to a report by the State Department. which shows how many of those receiving aid from the UNRWA — the U.N.’s refugee agency specifically for displaced Palestinians — were actually displaced in 1948.  (Fox News, Nov. 25, 2020)

“I can’t tell you how disappointed I was with Jeremy Corbyn’s response.  Because the words he used, what he said coming from the former leader of the Labour party in response to that report, were just about as bad as you could get.” — UK Labour leader Keir Starmer.  He blasted Jeremy Corbin for calling the government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s report that found that Labour suffered from systemic anti-Semitism while Corbyn was in charge, the result of a conspiracy against him.(Algemeiner, Dec. 1, 2020)

“Where are your Jews?” — UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer asked Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries on Jewish Refugees Day, when the fate of 850,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century is commemorated.  (UNWatch, Dec. 1, 2020)

“The former president is highly intelligent, yet, as with so many of his ideological ilk, this natural intelligence is completely unallied to even a hint of self-awareness. He fails even to see, let alone acknowledge, that it was his membership of a disdainful, ideologically monolithic class, rather than his race, that fostered so much of the resentment that led to the election of his successor. What followed Mr. Obama was less a suddenly discovered taste for racist authoritarianism than the revenge of those he had once dismissed as bitter clingers, or those who didn’t share his Princeton-educated wife’s view that his election was the first occasion in American history for genuine pride,” – writes columnist Gerard Baker in reviewing former President Barak Obama’s third autobiography “A Promised Land,” recently released.  (WSJ, Nov. 23, 2020)

REPORT: ISRAELI MILITARY PREPARING FOR POTENTIAL US STRIKE AGAINST IRAN BEFORE TRUMP LEAVES OFFICE(Jerusalem) — The IDF is readying itself for the possibility that the US will take military action against Iran before President Donald Trump’s term ends in January.  Last week, it was reported that Trump had asked advisers at a recent meeting for options for a strike on Iran’s main nuclear site, the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. (Algemeiner, Dec. 25, 2020)IRAN TO END INSPECTIONS IF U.S. DOESN’T LIFT SANCTIONS SOON (Tehran) — Iran’s parliament voted to end international inspections of its atomic sites as early as next month if the U.S. doesn’t lift key sanctions, further encumbering the incoming Biden administration’s efforts to salvage the beleaguered nuclear deal. Legislators gave Washington a month from the law’s ratification to comply with their demands to remove penalties for dealing with Iran’s oil and banking industries. (Bloomberg, Dec. 1, 2020)

J STREET DENOUNCES KILLING OF TOP IRANIAN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST (Washington) –– The dovish lobby group J Street denounced the killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, saying it appears it was aimed at “sabotaging” any effort by US President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the 2015 deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program. (Times of Israel, Nov. 29, 2020)

IRANIAN DIPLOMAT ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO BOMB DISSIDENTS GOES ON TRIAL IN BELGIUM (Brussels) — The prosecutors have accused the Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, 48, of bringing a bomb to Vienna from Iran in his luggage on an Austrian Airlines flight. He then  handed it over to an Iranian-Belgian couple in Luxembourg. Its intent was to blow up a rally in France of a prominent Iranian opposition group. Amir Saadouni, 40, and his wife, Nassimeh Naami, 36,were arrested two days after being granted political asylum as they drove to Paris from Antwerp on the day of the rally. Mr. Assadi was arrested at a service station in Germany, where he had no diplomatic immunity, on his way back to Vienna.  (NY Times, Nov. 27, 2020)

MYSTERIOUS AIRSTRIKE KILLS IRANIAN COMMANDER DAYS AFTER NUCLEAR SCIENTIST ASSASSINATED (Syria) — A commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in an airstrike at the Iraq-Syria border. His identity has not been confirmed, but two Iraqi officials claimed that the vehicle had been transporting weapons across the border and was hit in the airstrike after it entered Syria. (United With Israel, Dec. 1, 2020)

CORONAVIRUS CZAR: ISRAEL IN ‘STATE OF EMERGENCY’ WITH NEW INFECTIONS (Jerusalem) — The head of Israel’s coronavirus task force warned that Israel is in a “state of emergency” as infections continue to rise across the country. (WIN, Dec. 1, 2020)

DISSOLUTION OF 23RD KNESSET APPROVED IN PRELIMINARY READING (Jerusalem) — The Knesset approved in preliminary reading bills to dissolve the 23rd Knesset. The bills passed with a majority of 61 in support compared to 54 opposed. The Ra’am faction was absent from the vote. Once the bill has passed the preliminary vote, it will need to pass three additional votes for the dissolution to go into effect and force new elections, Israel’s fourth in less than two years. Following the preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum, the bill to dissolve the Knesset will be sent to committee for deliberation. (Israel National News, Dec. 2, 2020)

SAUDI ARABIA AGREES TO ALLOW ISRAELI COMMERCIAL PLANES TO CROSS ITS AIRSPACE (Riyadh) — Saudi Arabia agreed to let Israeli airliners cross its airspace en route to the United Arab Emirates after talks between Saudi officials and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, a senior Trump administration official said. Kushner and Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook raised the issue shortly after they arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks. (Algemeiner, Nov. 30, 2020)

SLOVENIA LABELS HEZBOLLAH IN ITS ENTIRETY AS TERRORIST GROUP (Ljubljana) — Slovenia becomes the sixth European Union member after the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia to recognize the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It joins Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Israel, Kosovo, Paraguay, Serbia, United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council. (JNS, Nov. 30, 2020)

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRISONERS OFFICIAL TOLD THE NEW YORK TIMES ‘PAY TO SLAY’ WOULD BE CHANGED, THEN DENIED IT IN ARABIC (Ramallah) — Despite claiming to the New York Times that the Palestinian Authority’s policy of making payments to imprisoned terrorists would be changed, a top PA official promptly denied in Arabic that any such changes would be made. Nicknamed “pay to slay,” the practice of paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and their families — including the families of dead terrorists –  is seen as financially incentivizing terrorism. (Algemeiner,Nov. 22, 2020)

VETERAN JEWISH HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE IRWIN COTLER NAMED AS CANADIAN SPECIAL ENVOY TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM (Ottawa) — The Canadian government announced that it was creating a special envoy to combat antisemitism and commemorate the Holocaust, naming the respected former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler as the new post’s first incumbent. The appointment was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Algemeiner, Nov. 25, 2020)

US SUPREME COURT BACKS JEWISH, CHRISTIAN GROUPS OVER NEW YORK VIRUS CURBS (Washington) — The US Supreme Court backed Christian and Jewish houses of worship challenging New York state’s latest restrictions in novel coronavirus hot spots. The court on a 5-4 vote granted requests made by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish congregations. The order marked one of the first consequential actions on the court of President Donald Trump’s new appointee, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who cast a deciding vote in favor of the religious groups. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented along with the court’s three liberals. An Oct. 6 decision by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down non-essential businesses in targeted areas where infections have spiked, including some Brooklyn neighborhoods. It limited gatherings at religious institutions to 10 people in some areas and 25 in others. (Algemeiner, Nov. 26, 2020)

ANALYSIS: FOREIGN SUBVERSION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES(Washington) — A recent governmental report exposes the “purchased” influence foreign nations have on America’s most prestigious universities. More than one-third of the nearly $20 billion in foreign donations and contracts made to American universities between just 2014 and 2020 were never disclosed as required by federal law, according to “Institutional Compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965,” a Department of Education report released on October 20, 2020. Among those “gifts” were more than $3 billion from the Muslim Brotherhood’s number one state backer, Qatar; more than $1.1 billion from the chief disseminator of “radical” Islamic ideology, Saudi Arabia; and nearly $1.5 billion from China. (WIN, Nov. 29, 2020)

LEONARD COHEN RECEIVES POSTHUMOUS GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR BEST FOLK ALBUM (California) — The late legendary Jewish singer Leonard Cohen has received a posthumous nomination for a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.  “Thanks for the Dance,” Cohen’s fifteenth and final studio album, was finished by his son, Adam Cohen, and released last November. The album is made up of half-finished songs and vocal takes Cohen recorded during sessions for “You Want It Darker,” his 14th studio album released in October 2016, shortly before his death. Leonard died on Nov. 7, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, after a fall. (Algemeiner, Nov. 25, 2020)

CANADIAN CAMPUS FRATERNITY BEHIND RACIST, ANTISEMITIC CHATROOM ‘SEETHING WITH HATE’ (Windsor) —  The University of Windsor fraternity, Delta Chi, was exposed for making slews of racist, anti-Black, homophobic and antisemitic barbs in their private chatroom, according to screen captures shared with PinkNews by anti-racist activists on the campus who exposed the chatroom’s existence. (Algemeiner, Nov. 27, 2020)

JEWISH COMMUNAL LEADERS, AIDES, PAY TRIBUTE TO DAVID DINKINS (NYC) — Politicians and community leaders paid tribute to former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, who died Monday night at age 93.  Herbert Block, the executive director of the American Zionist Movement pointed to the former mayor’s “lifelong relationship with the Jewish community, commitment to Jewish causes and affinity for Israel.”  Dinkins visited Israel three times: twice as mayor, and an earlier visit with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. In 1975, Dinkins formed a group of Black leaders who supported Israel, in response to a U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism. In 1985, while borough president, Dinkins denounced Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for antisemitic remarks delivered during a rally at Madison Square Garden. Dinkins was also supportive of the movement to free Soviet Jewry.  (Jewish Insider, Nov. 25, 2020)

BARR APPOINTS DURHAM AS SPECIAL COUNSEL TO CONTINUE PROBE UNDER BIDEN (Washington) — Attorney General William Barr has appointed U.S. attorney John Durham as special counsel to secure his probe into the origins of the Russia investigation as president-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. The authority of special counsel will make it more difficult for the incoming Biden administration to fire Durham, allowing the attorney to continue his work on the probe. (National Review, Dec. 1, 2020)

EGYPT SEEKS ALLIANCE WITH SUDAN, ISRAEL TO COUNTER TURKISH INFLUENCE IN SOMALIA (Cairo) –– Yeni Safak, a Turkish daily,  reported on Nov. 14 that Egyptian, Israeli and Sudanese senior military officials will hold a meeting to discuss security coordination in the Red Sea region and plans to limit the Turkish influence in the region, upon an Egyptian request, as Egypt “is not at ease” with the Turkish incursion into Somalia. The newspaper indicated that Egyptian General Intelligence Service officials, the Egyptian deputy defense minister and the Egyptian commander of the Southern Region will take part in the meeting. (Al-Monitor, Nov. 20, 2020)

WATCH:  Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Reportedly Killed In An Attack:  PBS News Hour, Nov. 27, 2020 — Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed Friday when a truck laden with explosives blew up near a car that was carrying him and gunmen shot and killed him, Iran’s state media said.

WATCH:  Israeli Gymnast Linoy Ashram Wins Gold At European Championships:  Times of Israel, Nov. 29, 2020 — Israeli rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won a gold medal at the European Championships in Kyiv on Sunday.

Matt Drudge Logs Off:  Armin Rosen, Tablet, Nov. 24, 2020 — It was the kind of story that would once have had Matt Drudge deploying font sizes that newspapers used to reserve for declarations of war.