How the World Really Views Israel: Shoshana Bryen, Gatestone Institute, July 18, 2018
Why Russia Needs Israel: Prof. Hillel Frisch, BESA, July 16, 2018
Is Russia “Buying” the West?: Peter Huessy, Gatestone Institute, July 17, 2018
Is Southern Syria Heading For ‘Lebanonization’?: Jonathan Spyer, Jerusalem Post, July 12, 2018
WEEKLY QUOTES
“President Putin also is helping Israel…And we both spoke with Bibi Netanyahu, and they would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel…So in that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel. And Israel would be working with us. So both countries would work jointly…I think that working with Israel is a great thing. And creating safety for Israel is something that both President Putin and I would like to see very much.” —US President Donald Trump. At a joint news conference in Helsinki dominated by Trump’s insistence that Russia did not interfere with the 2016 election, both Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were keen to stress their agreement on other areas as well, including Israel’s security and the wider situation in the Middle East. Trump specifically referenced Iran’s military presence in Syria, pledging that the US would not permit the Tehran regime “to benefit from our successful campaign against ISIS…We have just about eradicated ISIS in the area,” he said. (Algemeiner, July 16, 2018)
“Trump is becoming politically toxic in Western Europe…No one wants to be seen smiling with him after being berated on Twitter. Even more, Mr. Trump’s insults and his unpopularity among European voters make it harder for European leaders to do what he wants them to do, like increase military spending, even when they think they should do it.” — Tomas Valasek, the director of Carnegie Europe, a foreign policy think tank. After Trump split with the Europeans on issues like climate change and the Iran nuclear deal, Valasek said, “leaders don’t want to be associated with anything he wants; it’s the kiss of death.” (New York Times, July 13, 2018)
“(Europe) cannot formulate self-confident and achievable goals…and above all seems unable to stand up for itself against the criminals of the world” — John C. Kornblum, a former American ambassador to Germany. Kornblum, who still lives in Germany, said that “the real problem is that postwar Europe seems not to have regained a sense of purpose and direction.” The European nations’ great accomplishments — continental peace and social welfare — have led them “to become self-righteous in their pride about them, but in reality these steps forward were only possible within an American bubble,” Kornblum said. And now Trump has called them out on it and “spoken the unspeakable,” he said, and it is both unwelcome and uncomfortable. (New York Times, July 13, 2018)
“If they decide there won’t be quiet, then we’ll do what is necessary to bring quiet…What we saw this weekend was not [our] full force.” — Senior IAF official. The IAF carried out dozens of strikes against Hamas infrastructure targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. After a ceasefire went into effect following this weekend’s round of escalation, set off by a grenade attack that wounded an IDF officer on the Israel-Gaza border, IAF said it was prepared to act again if Hamas committed further violence. Saturday saw the most extensive set of strikes conducted in Gaza by the IAF since the summer of 2014. On Sunday, IAF planes twice fired toward a group of Gaza terrorists who were launching kite bombs and incendiary balloons toward Israel. (Algemeiner, July 15, 2018)
“Over Shabbat, we hit Hamas in a significant way and hard. Our policy is clear: whoever hurts us, we will hit them with great strength. This is what we did yesterday. The IDF dealt Hamas the harshest blow since [the 2014] Operation Protective Edge. I hope that they got the message; if not, they will get it later. I heard it being said that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire that would allow the continuation of terrorism by incendiary kites and balloons; this is incorrect. We are not prepared to accept any attacks against us and we will respond appropriately.” — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Jewish Press, July 15, 2018)
“Supporters of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement claim that BDS is about a two-state solution — and bettering the lives of the Palestinian people. At least that’s what leftist college students, progressive activist groups, and most media outlets want to believe. But if you take the word of BDS founder Omar Barghouti, peaceful coexistence is the last thing that BDS is about… The idea of coexistence or a two-state solution is thrown out the window when Barghouti claims, “Most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine,” adding that, “Palestinians and Arabs in general have never, and will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state.” To hear him describe Zionism as a myth and still believe that the goal of the BDS movement is peaceful coexistence with Israel is a case study in denial.” — Paul Miller, president of the Haym Salomon Center. (Algemeiner, July 13, 2018)
“I told the conference today that the JCPOA is in the intensive care unit because it has lost its balance as a result of US withdrawal from the deal.” — Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister. Araghchi was speaking in Vienna following talks convened at Tehran’s request with the remaining parties to the deal — China, Russia, France, the UK and Germany. The US withdrew from the deal on May 8, when Trump refused to renew sanctions waivers on Iran and imposed tough new sanctions instead. Because of the American measures, a number of major European corporations, including German engineering company Siemens and French oil giant Total, have abruptly pulled out of business deals with Iran that were agreed after the majority of the sanctions were lifted in 2015. Araghchi said that Friday’s talks were intended to establish whether the remaining signatories “can provide us with a package which can give Iran the benefits of sanctions lifting.” He remarked that if the other signatories of JCPOA wanted to stabilize the deal, they had to “sacrifice more” in this respect. (Algemeiner, June 22, 2018)
“…One year ago in this chamber I asked the Arab states a simple question: ‘Where are your Jews?’ My question was met with dead silence. Millions of people worldwide watched the video, witnessing for themselves the hypocrisy and double standards that characterizes much of what is said and done here. Today I have come to provide the answer to my question. Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya—your Jews fled as refugees after suffering persecution and deadly pogroms like the Farhud of Baghdad in 1941. Fortunately, countries like Israel, the U.S., Canada, France and others opened their doors, offering citizenship and equal rights. These Jewish refugees from Arab lands—whose suffering and losses the UN has never addressed—put their hardship behind them and built great lives for their families. Now let us contrast this with the situation of those descended from Arab refugees who fled the area of British Mandatory Palestine during the invasion of nascent Israel by Arab armies. What is holding them back? The answer is simple. Palestinians are the only population in the world not eligible for services by the UN refugee agency. Instead these descendants are governed by UNRWA, which holds generation after generation trapped in refugee camps, denied integration in the Arab countries they were born in and denied resettlement elsewhere. Some of UNRWA’s donors are waking up to the problem. As the Swiss Foreign Minister recently has put it: ‘By supporting UNRWA, we are only keeping the conflict alive.’” — UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer, at the UN Human Rights Council. (UNWatch, July 18, 2018)
“It’s over, we’re finished. They’re giving up Syria…We’re cornered and the entire country has been handed over. We can’t do anything anymore despite having weapons. [The rebel leaders] took the pay cheque.” — Mouawiya Syasneh, a fighter with the Free Syrian Army. Syasneh had vowed to battle on until victory or death. But the young man credited with helping spark the civil war with a small act of defiance with friends in 2011 – spraying anti-Assad graffiti at his school – was now preparing for defeat. The civil war, now in its seventh year, has claimed killed more than 500,000 people and left many thousands more maimed and injured. Whole cities have been flattened and more than a quarter of the country’s 21 million have fled. “I’ve known nothing but war. At the beginning I was proud to fight in it for the cause, now it is hard to feel that way,” Syasneh said. Until this week he thought he would fight to the last. “I’d prefer death to reconciliation…We have no friends any more,” he said. “This is where it all ends.” (Telegraph, July 12, 2018)
SHORT TAKES
22 KILLED, INCLUDING 9 IRANIANS, IN SYRIA STRIKE BLAMED ON ISRAEL – REPORT (Aleppo) — Syrian rebel forces claimed that 22 people, including nine Iranians, were killed in an overnight strike in northern Syria blamed on Israel, al-Jazeera reported. Syrian media has accused Israel of carrying out the bombing of a military position in Aleppo province Sunday, in what would be a rare Israeli attack so far north in the war-ravaged country. The position is a logistics hub used to provide equipment and food to pro-regime forces, but it did not store weapons. The base was reportedly previously struck by Israel on April 29 as part of a large raid that also targeted weapons depots near Hama. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which rarely confirms such attacks. (Times of Israel, July 16, 2018)
FORMER PM IN CUSTODY AFTER 132 DIE IN PAKISTAN ELECTION VIOLENCE (Islamabad) — Disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in custody after the deadliest attacks in Pakistan’s troubled election campaign killed more than 130 people. In the province of Baluchistan, a suicide bomber killed 128 people Friday, including a politician running for a provincial legislature. Four others died in a strike in Pakistan’s northwest. The attacks came hours before Sharif returned from London along with his daughter Maryam to face a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges. I.S. claimed responsibility for the bombing in Baluchistan that wounded 300 people. (New York Post, July 14, 2018)
NGO GETS COURT ORDER TO SEIZE GAZA FLOTILLA (Jerusalem) — An NGO obtained an unusual court order to seize a flotilla – which is trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza – in order to provide assistance to terrorist victims, even though those boats have not yet been captured by the IDF. Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center, representing terrorist victims’ families, got Jerusalem District Court to issue a temporary seizure order for two Norwegian ships, which are due to reach Gaza’s maritime area as part of the flotilla. The interim court order means that the ships, the Karstein and Freedom, will be initially designated to be sold, the proceeds going to benefit the victims of Hamas terrorism, should the IDF capture them while trying to break the blockade. (Jerusalem Post, July 13, 2018)
KNESSET RESCINDS PM’S RIGHT TO DECLARE WAR (Jerusalem) — The Knesset has revoked the prime minister’s right to declare war without the approval of a full cabinet vote. The clause that allowed Netanyahu and Defense Minister Liberman the ability to declare war in an emergency situation had originally been approved by the Knesset on April 30. Tuesday’s vote rescinding the clause passed amid heightened tensions on Israel’s southern border with Gaza, where it seems increasingly likely that another war may indeed break out. Under the law effective immediately, the Cabinet must approve a decision to go to war, or to initiate an action that could lead to war. (Jewish Press, July 18, 2018)
PETA CONDEMNS USE OF ‘TERROR FALCON’ BY HAMAS (Jerusalem) — Tying flammable material to a falcon and sending it over the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel border with intent to start a fire in Israel was deemed an “unacceptable” use “as weapons of war” by PETA, the organization said. After that occurred, social media users reached out to PETA to condemn the action. On Monday, an employee from the National Parks Authority discovered the bird after extinguishing a fire near the Gaza Strip. Nearly 10,000 dunams (2,471 acres) of land on nature reserves and national parks near the Gaza Strip have been burnt due to incendiary kites, balloons and condoms. (Jerusalem Post, July 18, 2018)
IDF PREPARES FOR MILITARY OPERATION IN GAZA (Jerusalem) — Israel’s political leadership has reportedly instructed the army to prepare for a military offensive in the Gaza Strip if the launching of incendiary devices from the Hamas-run coastal enclave into Israeli territory continues. According to a report, Israel has set Friday as a deadline for the flaming kite and balloon launches to cease. If this does not happen, Israel may decide it has no choice but to embark on a military campaign in the Strip, the report said. Over the weekend, Hamas fired some 200 rockets and mortar shells at Israel and the IDF carried out multiple strikes inside the Palestinian enclave. (Jerusalem Online, July 18, 2018)
KEREM SHALOM, RAFAH CROSSINGS CLOSED, EXCEPT FOR FOOD, MEDICINE (Jerusalem) — As of Tuesday, the passage of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip will be blocked, save for food and medicine, in retaliation for the continued firebomb kites and balloons terrorism against Israel. The Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed and the Rafah crossing, under Egyptian control, will remain closed. Food and medicine will be transferred only subject to approval. Each shipment of food and medicine will require the authorization of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In addition, Gaza’s fishing area will be reduced from six miles to three miles. On Sunday, the IDF reported reinforcing the Iron Dome batteries in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and in southern Israel, as well as enlisting reserve duty soldiers to reinforce the air defense system. (Jewish Press, July 17, 2018)
HUNGARY TO QUIT U.N. MIGRATION PACT (Budapest) — Hungary will quit a U.N. migration pact before its final approval, calling the agreement a “threat to the world”. The Global Compact For Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved on Friday by all 193 U.N. member nations except the U.S., which pulled out last year. But Hungary, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has decided not to sign the final document. Hungary, along with Poland and Czech Republic, has taken a tough stand against the admission of migrants, putting it at odds with the EU, but striking a chord with voters by arguing that irregular immigration threatens European stability. (US News, July 18, 2018)
GERMAN POLICE BEAT JEWISH MAN AFTER HE’S ASSAULTED BY A PALESTINIAN (Bonn) — Yitzhak Melamed, a Jewish professor visiting Germany, described being assaulted in a Bonn park — first by a Palestinian, then by police who slammed him to the ground and punched him in the face. According to Melamed, he was wearing a kippah when a self-identified Palestinian man asked if he was Jewish and then proceeded to shout things like “I f*** Jews” and “No Jews in Germany.” He then threw his kippah to the ground and pushed him three times. The attacker fled after hearing a police siren. Melamed wrote that two police officers ran past the attacker and tackled him instead, then two or three other policemen helped pin him to the ground and handcuffed him. (Jewish News, July 17, 2018)
CANADIAN ON TRIAL IN GERMANY FOR MAKING HOLOCAUST DENIAL VIDEOS (Munich) — The trial of two German-Canadian siblings charged with inciting hatred, stemming from their denial of the Holocaust, has begun in Munich. There was drama early in the proceedings, as co-accused Alfred Schaefer gave the Nazi straight-arm salute in the courtroom three times. Only a few days earlier, Schaefer gave the salute at a neo-Nazi rally in Nuremburg, where he reportedly said, “It’s time to exterminate the kikes!” Schaefer, 63, and his sister, Monika Schaefer, 59, are being tried together on six counts of “incitement to hatred,” for videos in which they denied the Holocaust. (CJN, July 12, 2018)
US JUDGE FINDS JEWS ENTITLED TO RACE-BASED CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS (Washington) — A federal judge found that Jewish people are entitled to protection from race-based employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, marking what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind. Magistrate Judge Mark Hornsby — who is overseeing a civil rights lawsuit alleging that the president of a private Baptist college in Louisiana said he would not hire a qualified candidate because of their “Jewish blood” — acknowledged that despite an ongoing debate on “whether Judaism is a people, a religion, or both,” there is no doubt “that many people have and continue to view being Jewish as a racial identity.” (Algemeiner, July 17, 2018)
IROQUOIS TEAM ARRIVES IN ISRAEL TO COMPETE IN LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP (Tel Aviv) — The Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team has touched down in Israel for the men’s World Lacrosse Championships, defying pressure from the BDS campaign and making a conscious decision to attend the tournament in the Jewish State. The Iroquois team, composed of players from the indigenous Haudenosaunee Confederacy, travel on their own indigenous passports. Because their passports are not internationally recognized, the team was forced to forfeit their matches at the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships, after the United Kingdom refused them entry. Israel, however, chose to accept their passports, after last-minute high-level discussions between Israel and Canada. (The Tower, July 13, 2018)
IRANIANS POST VIDEOS OF THEMSELVES DANCING TO PROTEST TEEN’S ARREST (Tehran) — Iranians are posting videos of themselves dancing on social media to protest the arrest of a teenager whose seductive dance moves on Instagram landed her in police custody. Maedeh Hojabri’s Instagram account has since been shut down, and she was made to appear on state television after her arrest, where she expressed remorse. But before her detention, Hojabri, who is in her late teens, reportedly posted dozens of clips of herself dancing to Iranian pop music and Western tunes. Hojabri had been dancing in a public forum, which is frowned upon in conservative Iranian circles, and doing so without the headscarf prescribed by Iran’s clerical rulers. (Bloomberg, July 9, 2018)
ISRAEL TO LAUNCH MOON MISSION FROM FLORIDA (Jerusalem) — Israel will launch a rocket from Florida in a bid to become the fourth country to reach the moon. Israel Aerospace Industries and the nonprofit SpaceIL announced they plan a December launch from Cape Canaveral. The landing would culminate eight years of collaboration on the $88 million project. Private donations mostly paid for the project, including from Jewish philanthropist Sheldon Adelson. The U.S., Russia and China are the only nations to have landed on the moon. (JTA, July 10, 2018)
NASA AND ISRAEL SPACE SIGN AGREEMENT TO EXPAND COOPERATION (Jerusalem) — NASA and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) signed an agreement Thursday to expand cooperation between the two agencies. NASA’s Director described U.S. plans to return to the moon and create a permanent base there in accordance with President Donald Trump’s vision. The two agencies discussed projects that include Israel taking part in the International Space Station, as well as the studies of life sciences while employing nano-satellites – a field in which Israel has extensive knowledge. (Jewish Press, July 12, 2018)
ELBIT ROLLS OUT HERMES 900 STARLINER, A UAV FOR CIVILIAN AIRSPACE (Jerusalem) — Elbit Systems recently developed a large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the Hermes 900 StarLiner intended to be used to assist security forces effectively and safely perform complex homeland and border security missions without disturbing commercial aviation. The new drone, the first such aircraft licensed to fly over urban areas, can fly in the same environment with commercial aircraft. The UAV is based on Elbit’s familiar Hermes drone, which is in wide use by the air force and foreign militaries and is capable of carrying out missions against distant targets such as Iran or eastern Syria. (Ynet, July 13, 2018)
IDF APPOINTS FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL (Jerusalem) — Colonel Sharon Afek, the Military Advocate General, was officially promoted to the rank of Major General Thursday, becoming the first gay general in the history of the IDF. Afek has served as Chief Military Attorney for the past three years. The term for his post has been upped to five years with an option for a sixth. As part of the decision taken in May, it was decided that the Military Advocate General’s office would be for a period of five years, with an option to extend the term by another year. (Jewish Press, July 13, 2018)
How the World Really Views Israel: Shoshana Bryen, Gatestone Institute, July 18, 2018 —Israel and the Iroquois Nation came together this week — In Israel — at the Lacrosse World Championship.
Why Russia Needs Israel: Prof. Hillel Frisch, BESA, July 16, 2018—Ever since September 2015, when Russia turned the tide of the Syrian civil war in the Assad regime’s favor through strategic air power (and subsequently on the ground, where it brokered truces and withdrawals of rebels from strategic areas in Syria to the rebel stronghold in Idlib)…
Is Russia “Buying” the West?: Peter Huessy, Gatestone Institute, July 17, 2018 —With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the official dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, NATO assumed that the newly freed countries…
Is Southern Syria Heading For ‘Lebanonization’?: Jonathan Spyer, Jerusalem Post, July 12, 2018—The raid on the T4 base at Tiyas in southern Syria this week was, according to global media reports, the third such action by Israeli air power against this facility in the course of 2018.
