“I heard the remarks by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon. I heard Nasrallah’s remarks when he spoke about the demonstrations against the government and said with satisfaction that a civil war in Israel is approaching. Therefore, I say to Nasrallah: Don’t count on a civil war. It will not happen. It will not happen because we are indeed brothers. It will not happen because what Nasrallah does not understand is that we are a living democracy. In a democracy, there are differences of opinion and debates. Sometimes there is agreement and when it is necessary, there are decisions. There will be no civil war because we always remember that we have fought shoulder-to-shoulder to defend our state and build our land.” – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. (Prime Minister’s Office, Feb. 19, 2023)
“I say to the American ambassador, pump the breaks on yourself and mind your own business. You’re not the decision-maker here. We’d be happy to debate with you international or security affairs, but respect our democracy.” — Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. (WIN, Feb. 19, 2023)
“Members of the coalition – history will judge you for this night. For the damage to democracy, for the damage to the economy, for the damage to security, it is certain that you are tearing apart the people of Israel and you simply don’t care.” – Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on the judicial reform bill passing the Knesset’s first reading. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 21, 2023)
“Iran’s negative effects are becoming increasingly widespread, crossing continents and countries. In the past year, Iran has become a global exporter of deadly weapons and is in talks to sell them to as many as 50 countries worldwide. Iran supplies drones, with a range over 600 miles, to Eastern European countries, such as Belarus, and has also done so in the past in South America – to Venezuela. If this is how Iran behaves when it does not have a nuclear capability, imagine a situation in which the murderous Ayatollahs’ regime holds a nuclear arsenal that is an intolerable threat to global security. We must use every possible tool – and I emphasize every possible tool – to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons.” — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the opening of the 59th Security Conference in Munich, Germany. (i24, Feb. 17, 2023)
“Our theory of the case was this — what is in America’s best interest? Is it to sit and wait for [Abbas], a known terrorist who’s killed lots and lots of people, including Americans, and given those martyrs money, for having done so? We said that’s just not in America’s best interest.” – former US Sect. of State Mike Pompeo to One Decision Podcast, which is hosted by ex-chief of the UK’s MI6 intelligence agency Sir Richard Dearlove and journalist Julia Macfarlane on the intransigence and rejectionism that characterizes the rule of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. (United With Israel, Feb. 16, 2023)
“The Commission is aware of the report referred to by the Honourable Members and is giving it due attention. In any case, the Commission considers that it is not appropriate to use the term apartheid in connection with the State of Israel. The Commission uses the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA definition) as a practical guidance tool and a basis for its work to combat antisemitism. Claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour is amongst the illustrative examples included under the IHRA definition.” — Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell i Fontelles on behalf of the European Commission. (Parliamentary Question, Jan. 20, 2023)
“Indeed, if anyone sold America out to Moscow, it was Obama — he all but invited the Russians into the eastern Mediterranean, a vital zone of U.S. influence, where they built a stronghold for the first time in nearly half a century. Putin was there to protect Iranian forces, which was good for Obama — if the Iranians lost in Syria, what was the point of legalizing Tehran’s nuclear weapons program? Without Putin, Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative, the Iran deal, would have come to naught. And with Biden in charge, the administration used the Russians as mediators with Iran through 2021 to try to restore the nuclear deal that Trump dismantled. If the deal does come back, Russia stands to pocket billions of dollars as Iran’s nuclear sponsor. … When everything the media prints is fake news to serve an oligarchic regime, and a censorship consortium consisting of the press, Big Tech, and U.S. spy services calls facts “disinformation,” it’s hard to keep things straight in a labyrinth of lies.” — investigative journalist Lee Smith. (Tablet, Feb. 13, 2023)
“RIP to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s under-$80. Ham radio transmitter balloon, likely the victim of friendly fire by a $143,000,000. USAF F-22 firing a $485,000. AIM-9X Sidewinder missile during the Great Balloon Panic of 2023.” — Former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Much.) He called the US military’s shooting down of three unidentified objects that were likely used for “research and recreation” the “Great Balloon Panic of 2023.” (NY Post, Feb. 17, 2023)
“We now estimate 97% of the whole Russian army is in Ukraine. [Russian forces were trying to advance all fronts.] We haven’t actually seen this massing of a single force to punch through in a. big offensive. We’ve just seen an effort to advance, and that has come at huge cost to the Russian army.” — -U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on a BBC broadcast Wednesday. [Russia has lost more than 2,000 tanks in the war so far, and is now relying on its store of older weapons; Russian troop casualties, killed and wounded, are variously estimated at between 100,000 and 150,000-Ed.) (WSJ, Feb. 15, 2023)
“Is the measure of quality doing better in schools and on tests? Or is it having the correct representation of skin color, suitably impoverished background and ideological commitment? Surely being a good doctor is more complicated than a test score. . .But advances in health and high-quality care also depend on measurable intellectual rigor. If this is abandoned in favor of trendy ideological conformity, the consequences for higher education, for patients and for the nation could be deadly.” — Managing editor of Education Next Ira Stoll (WSJ, Jan. 29, 2023)
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR CALLS ON UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO CONDEMN PALESTINIAN TERROR FOLLOWING VOTE ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS (NYC) — Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gilad Erdan condemned Palestinian terrorism during a speech in the UN Security Council. Erdan’s speech followed the Security Council’s passing a presidential statement denouncing “continuing Israeli settlement activities.” The presidential statement marks the first time that the Security Council issued an opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2016. (Algemeiner, Feb. 20, 2023)
ISRAELI STRIKE HITS HEART OF SYRIA’S SECURITY ELITE, 15 DEAD (Damascus) — An Israeli missile strike aimed at Iranian and Hezbollah targets early Sunday killed 15 people and destroyed a building in a Damascus neighborhood home to much of Syria’s security apparatus. Sunday’s strike hit in Kafr Sousa, home to senior officials, security agencies and intelligence headquarters. (Ashraq al-Awsat, Feb. 19, 2023)
ISRAELI GOV’T PASSES FIRST READING OF JUDICIAL REFORM BILL IN 63-47 VOTE (Jerusalem) — The Knesset passed the first reading of the first bill of the government’s proposed judicial reform by a vote of 63-47 late on Monday night. If it passes the second and third readings, the controversial bill will alter the makeup of the Judicial Appointments Committee so that the coalition has an automatic majority. It will also bar the High Court of Justice from ruling on appeals against Basic Laws. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 21, 2023)
ISRAEL TO PROVIDE UKRAINE WITH LOAN GUARANTEES OF UP TO $200 MLN FOR HEALTHCARE, CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS – FM (Jerusalem) — Israel intends to provide loan guarantees of up to $200 million for the implementation of healthcare and civil infrastructure projects in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said. (Interfax, Feb. 21, 2023)
39 HOUSE AND SENATE REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE BILL TO CUT OFF UNRWA FUNDING (Washington) — Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced legislation to cut off funding to the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees and their descendents unless the agency completes radical reforms to counter its anti-Israel, anti-American, and antisemitic tendencies. Formally titled the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Accountability and Transparency Act, the bill would require to the US Secretary of State to withhold all US funding to UNRWA unless he certified that UNRWA is subjected to an external audit, does not employ anyone with ties to US-designated terrorist groups, and that its schools and other infrastructure are not used for terrorist activities, among other requirements. (Algemeiner, Feb. 20, 2023)
PALESTINIAN TERRORISM-LINKED GROUP POCKETED MASSIVE AMOUNTS IN TAXPAYER-BACKED COVID-19 CASH (Phoenix) — A nonprofit group in Arizona closely affiliated with Palestinian terrorism received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-backed COVID-19 relief loans, which were later forgiven during the Biden administration, records show. Alliance for Global Justice was hit with an IRS complaint in January because it fundraised for a French group called Collectif Palestine Vaincra that partners with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terror organization. The federal government handed this same controversial Arizona group over $254,000 in May 2020 as part of the Paycheck Protection Program and forgave the loan in November 2021, according to public loan data. (Washington Examiner, Feb. 6, 2023)
JAIME TRAN, WHO IS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING ORTHODOX JEWISH MEN IN LA, HAD ANTI-SEMITIC HISTORY: FEDS (NYC) — Jaime Tran, 28, with a history of antisemitic threats, who told Jewish classmates he wanted to kill them, was arrested this week for allegedly shooting two Orthodox Jewish men in separate incidents. Tran, 28, faces a maximum life in prison sentence. (He recently told an ex-classmate “I want you dead, Jew”. (NY Post, Feb. 17, 2023)
FRENCH ANTISEMITIC COMEDIAN DIEUDONNÉ M’BALA M’BALA: I ASK FOR FORGIVENESS (Paris) — On January 10, 2023, 56-year-old antisemitic comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala asked for forgiveness from the Jewish community in a letter published by André Darmon on the website of Darmon’s French Israeli magazine Israel Magazine. In videos published on the comedian’s own website, he explained why he decided to seek forgiveness . The letter triggered intense discussion within the French Jewish community, with some members perceiving the apology as sincere, and others arguing that it must be followed by action to correct the harms caused by promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. While a large percentage of French Jews considered M’bala M’bala’s request for forgiveness as yet another of the comedian’s bad jokes, many of his fans on Telegram expressed their disappointment and disgust at his “giving in to the Jews.” (MEMRI, Feb. 8, 2023)
FACEBOOK CAUGHT CREATING PAGES FOR ISIS, AL-QAEDA (California) – Facebook is in hot water due to the technology it uses to promote content, which a watchdog group called the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) says automatically creates home pages for U.S.-designated terror groups.Among the TTP report’s bombshell findings is evidence alleging that Facebook created over 100 pages for ISIS (Islamic State), as well as pages for other terror organizations, including the group behind the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Al-Qaeda. (United With Israel, Feb. 20, 2023)
U.N. INSPECTORS DETECT NEAR-WEAPONS-GRADE ENRICHED URANIUM IN IRAN (Tehran) — United Nations atomic agency inspectors have detected uranium that has been enriched to near weapons-grade in Iran in recent weeks, a finding that will deepen concerns about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran has been producing highly enriched, weapons-grade material of 60% purity since early 2021, but the material found was of 84% purity, according to the diplomats. Weapons-grade enriched uranium is generally considered to be from around 90%-enriched uranium. (WSJ, Feb. 19, 2023)
PROTESTS HIT MULTIPLE IRAN CITIES FOR FIRST TIME IN WEEKS (Tehran) — Protesters in Iran marched through the streets of multiple cities overnight in the most widespread demonstration in weeks amid the monthslong unrest that’s gripped the Islamic Republic. The demonstrations, marking 40 days since Iran executed two men on charges related to the protests, show the continuing anger in the country. The protests, which began over the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country’s morality police, have morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. (National Post, Feb. 16, 2023)
IRAN’S PRESIDENT VISITS CHINA AMID TENSIONS WITH U.S. (Tehran)—President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, as the two countries shore up burgeoning ties based on mutual tension with the U.S. Iran is seeking economic aid from China, and the two states already signed a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021 [Iran and Russia are also increasingly close, with Tehran sending military drones to Russia, and China has supported Russia economically and now, reportedly, through sending weapons to Putin—Ed.]. (WSJ, Feb. 14, 2023)
PUTIN PULLS BACK FROM NUCLEAR ARMS TREATY, SIGNALING SHARPER BREAK WITH WEST (Moscow) — Vladimir V. Putin said Russia would suspend its participation in New START, its last remaining nuclear arms control agreement with the United States, and gave no indication that he would end his invasion of Ukraine. (NY Times, Feb.
SINGER JULY BLACK MAKES ONE-WORD CHANGE TO CANADIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM AT NBA ALL-STAR GAME (Salt Lake City) — July Black, a legendary Canadian singer-songwriter, received the opportunity to sing Canada’s national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night in Salt Lake City. Black, however, made a one-word change to the song in an effort to acknowledge indigenous people. “O Canada! Our home on native land,” she sang in front of the thousands in attendance. The original lyrics to the song say, “Our home and native land.” (Fox News, Feb. 20, 2023)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
How I Infiltrated the Tehran Regime and Met the Ayatollah: David Rose, The JC, Feb. 16, 2023 — The unmarked car with tinted windows arrived to collect Catherine Perez-Shakdam from her Tehran hotel late in the afternoon.