[ Editor’s Note: Adam Keller uses this short and sweet message style, as he is paying for print media placement. The original post was in a narrow newsprint format.
His material is a good quick read for those wanting to know the latest occupation force nasty treatment of its open air prison subjects.The US looks the other way on almost all of Israel’s aggression, due to our compromised Congress, via decades of blackmail material compiled on them, and then ‘influence’ over their reelection status.
As for our military, it is along for the ride, loving the free trips to Israel and getting schmoozed; treatment that does not really come free. ‘Things’ are expected in return and refusals can trigger ‘issues’.
As has been stated here by many, hard line Israelis view America as their golden calf. Someday, if and when Israelis get to experience what it is like to endure the treatment they have dished out to the Palestinians, they will remember the taste of the bitter fruit.
I hope I live to see it. It will be a glorious day… Jim W. Dean ]
First published February 20, 2022
Hacking into mobile phones and extracting personal information from them started with the Palestinians and has reached deep into Israeli society.
Israeli soldiers raided Nablus and extra-judicially executed three Palestinians.
The Knesset approved a law that prevents Arab citizens of Israel from marrying whomever they wish and living in this country With their chosen spouse.
Two Palestinian workers plunged to their death from unsafe scaffolding on a high rise being built by a greedy contractor on the rubble of a slum whose residents were forcibly evicted.
And in the same week: The leadership of British Jewry, which hitherto granted unconditional support to all of Israel’s actions, informed a former minister in the Israeli government that racists of his ilk were personae non gratae.
Who would believe that nobody likes an occupation? Does it look like “Israel” even fits into the natural equation of the region?
JERUSALEM – As 2021 came to a close, Israel had raised the so-called “Iran Threat” issue to a whole new level.
Upon his promotion in December to Commander of the Israeli Air Force, General Tomer Bar was asked by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot (Ynet), “Are you able to attack Iran tomorrow?”
His answer was “Yes!” He was then asked, “Will you be able to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities?”
His reply: “There is no scenario where we act over there, and I don’t return and say ‘mission accomplished.’”
In the summer of 2020, The Times of Israelreported that Israel had what it called a “Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate,” which focuses principally on “Israel’s fight against Iran.”
The wording, “Israel’s fight against Iran,” is particularly apt: though more often than not it is described as “Iran’s fight against Israel,” it is, in fact, Israel that is a threat to Iran and not the other way around.
Returning to the interview with the Israeli Air-Force commander, it is as though Israel cannot wait for the opportunity to attack, and indeed, the Ynet reporter who interviewed General Bar was eager.
“Bar,” the story continues, “who will be tasked with carrying out a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities should one be ordered, understands that he may be required to carry out one of the most complex operations in the country’s history.”
Interesting choice of words, considering this possible mission is described as a complex, even daring mission rather than pure madness.
General Tomer Bar, commander of the Israeli Air-Force on the front page of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot
Not leaving out any details, the interview with Bar continued, “I must assume that it might happen during my tenure, and I understand the magnitude of such an order…
Preparations have been underway for a while, including procurement of the F-35 jets and missile defense systems.”
If such an order is given, “there is no way that I will fly 1,000 kilometers and come home without succeeding in my mission.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, however, this might not be as simple as General Bar thinks.
The U.S. has so far rejected an Israeli request to fast-track the delivery of two tanker aircraft, which are needed to allow the Israeli fighter jets to refuel on their way to Iran.
If plans for a possible military option against Iran’s nuclear plan move forward, Israel will need these tankers.
When asked about the U.S. refusal to expedite the sale of refueling aircraft despite Israel’s request, Bar said the matter has not been finalized and that he “remains hopeful the necessary aircraft would be supplied early.” One would think they were planning a party.
Iran under threat
Iran has been facing continuous threats of attack from Israel and the United States for far too long.
With a population of close to 85 million and a record of not having invaded or initiated a war against another country, one is puzzled at the persistent anti-Iranian rhetoric in the United States and Israel.
Furthermore, even if we consider Iran’s unrelenting support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice and the Iranian refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine, the Israeli threats seem unjustified.
Iran’s positions, while obviously unwelcome to the Israeli government, have remained essentially unchanged and stable for decades and there is no threatening drumbeat coming from Tehran.
Since Iran has had to live under these ongoing threats of attack and has been the victim of crippling U.S. sanctions, it is no surprise that it has invested in building what seem to be impressive military capabilities. According to a report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA:
Iran has adapted its military capabilities and doctrine to account for developments by the United States and its allies. Although still technologically inferior to most of its competitors, the Iranian military has progressed substantially over the past few decades.
Iraniran troops march during a military parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war. Photo | AP
Furthermore, the report states:
Iran continues to rely on its unconventional warfare elements and asymmetric capabilities – intended to exploit the perceived weaknesses of a superior adversary – to provide deterrence and project power.
This combination of lethal conventional capabilities and proxy forces poses a persistent threat.
The problem with this analysis is the idea that Iran is the one that poses a threat.
On the contrary, Iran is the one under threat.
Furthermore, at least one of the “proxy forces” the report refers to is Hezbollah, an organization created to respond to the brutal Israeli assaults against Lebanon and the consequent 20-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Finally, the report points out that Iran has a “substantial arsenal of ballistic missiles” and that this arsenal is “designed to overwhelm U.S. forces and our partners in the region.”
This is the most effective deterrent Iran has against an impending Israeli attack.
Iran versus Israel
Iran has over 80 million people with an official defense budget in 2019 of approximately $20.7 billion, or roughly 3.8% of GDP.
Israel has a combined population of around 12 million, though fewer than half are actual citizens with rights, and has a defense budget of just under $19 billion.
The debate over a possible war between Israel and Iran is a favorite among pundits.
As a result, one can find a great deal of information comparing the sizes and capabilities of the two militaries.
A piece in Business Insider from August 2021 titled, “A shadowy fight between Israel and Iran is at risk of becoming a bigger war.
Here’s how their militaries stack up,” is one of many such articles.
It concludes that an allout war between the two countries is unlikely but we are likely to see more of the “shadowy” assaults like the attack on a vessel in the Arabian Sea, which was owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.
In 2018 Newsweek published a piece called, “How Does Israel’s Military Compare to Iran?”
The article claims that, while “Israeli military might is underscored by its top notch military-industrial complex, Iran’s military is aging and sub-par.”
Still, Newsweek admits, “[b]oth nations have considerable military clout, and any prolonged confrontation between them would be bloody.”
One would do well to remember that, with all the admiration for Israeli military capabilities and technological superiority, Israel has never fought a war against a disciplined, well-trained, well-equipped, highly motivated military force.
Despite the IDF’s superior military might, most of Israel’s battlefield experience comes from facing off with unarmed protesters. Photo | AP
Israel did attack its neighboring countries and destroy their militaries several times, but then it retreated to the safety of its borders.
Iran is not such a proximate neighbor and, should Israel need to deploy forces, something it never had to do in the past; it would be a logistical nightmare.
Even assuming Israel would rely only on its air force, Iran is a large country, and it is a long flight to Iran and back.
Logistically, this would demand an enormous effort by Israel while the Iranians would have to do nothing but wait and then use their air defenses and long-range missiles.
Furthermore, should a war take place on Iranian soil, there is no military force large, effective or motivated enough to defeat Iran.
Israel’s last face-to-face encounter with a well-disciplined and motivated fighting force was in 2006 in Lebanon.
Israeli ground forces encountered Hezbollah fighters, and things did not go well for the Israelis, who were forced to retreat in humiliation.
Israeli officers who participated in that assault against Lebanon said there were serious logistical and intelligence flaws, and this was just a few short kilometers from their home base.
Imagine what would happen if they were thousands of miles from home.
As the new year begins, we should be thankful that the United States, having suffered two colossal military defeats in the last two decades — one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan — has no stomach or resources to attack a formidable country like Iran.
Apart from that, it would be fair to say that two things prevent an all-out war between Israel and Iran.
The first is that Israel knows that attacking Iran will end in a total Israeli defeat. The second is Iran’s exercise of discipline in the face of ongoing threats by both the U.S. and Israel.
Biden administration “enthusiastically embraces” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a February 23 letter to American Zionist Movement President Richard D. Heideman that the Biden administration “enthusiastically embraces” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
The letter, which was obtained by Jewish Insider, stated that the administration will counter “efforts to delegitimize Israel” as well as efforts to “isolate” Israel as the United States and Israel work toward a two-state solution.
“As the stepson of a Holocaust survivor, I wholeheartedly believe that we must remain vigilant in speaking out against bigotry, intolerance, and those who seek to undermine democracy,” Blinken wrote.
ZIONISTS RUN THE STATE DEPARTMENT
“The Biden Administration enthusiastically embraces the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, including its examples.
We are eager to work with allies and partners to counter Holocaust distortion and combat anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance abroad while we strengthen our efforts at home, including redoubling our efforts to counter violent extremism.”
The American Jewish Committee praised Blinken in a tweet. “We welcome the Biden administration’s ‘enthusiastic’ support for @TheIHRA definition of antisemitism,” they wrote. “Utilizing the definition is a critical step in combating this age-old hatred in America and around the world.”
Conference of Presidents CEO William Daroff told Jewish Insider that Blinken’s letter shows how the IHRA definition has become the “gold standard” definition of anti-Semitism.
“It’s more acceptable, unfortunately, to call someone a ‘dirty Israeli’ than it is to call them a ‘dirty Jew,’” Daroff said.
“And we see this brand of antisemitism all over the world. It doesn’t mean it’s the only manifestation of antisemitism, it doesn’t mean that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, but it reflects the reality of this growing plague.”
The progressive group IfNotNow, on the other hand, criticized Blinken’s support for IHRA.
“We know this won’t keep us safe,” they tweeted. “We’ve seen how it’s only been used by the right to curb the free speech of Palestinians and their allies.”
The Biden administration had previously announced in February that they were going to champion the IHRA definition. The definition states that the demonization and delegitimization of Israel as well as subjecting it to double standards amounts to anti-Semitism.
No Israeli leader has cultivated evangelical support like Netanyahu and many worry his imminent departure could sour ties with one of the Jewish state’s main backers
WASHINGTON (JTA) — After a decades-long embrace that began when he first served as Israel’s prime minister in the 1990s, Benjamin Netanyahu’s evangelical allies are worried about a future without him.
Jews who value the Christian alliance are worried, too, about a possible erosion of support among a critical pro-Israel sector should Netanyahu be forced from office, which now seems a strong possibility.
“I hope the wisdom that Bibi had when it comes to respecting and honoring that community, I hope that other leaders will have that wisdom,” said David Brog, the founding director of Christians United for Israel, or CUFI, who now heads a pro-Israel campus group, Maccabee Task Force.
“I would not expect to see real diminished support, but it would be a failure not to maximize the support and inspire it to its full extent.”
Christian Zionists are crazier than Zionist Jews
Joel Rosenberg, an Israel-based evangelical convert from Judaism to Christianity, said in a post on All Israel News, a website he directs, that he was hearing expressions of anxiety from evangelicals.
“In recent days, I have received many concerned emails and text messages from evangelical leaders asking me what is happening, why, and what the implications of this political earthquake are likely to be,” Rosenberg wrote this week as it became clear that Naftali Bennett, a right-winger, and Yair Lapid, a centrist, succeeded in cobbling together a coalition that would replace Netanyahu following the fourth split-decision election in two years.
No one expressed that angst in harsher terms than Mike Evans, an author and founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem. In a profanity-laced letter, Evans told Bennett, “You care more about your own damn ego and your bitterness than you do the State of Israel.”
In a separate screed posted on The Times of Israel blogging platform, Evans accused Netanyahu’s opponents of trying to “crucify a man they hate and they’re willing to destroy the nation to do it.”
US evangelical leader Mike Evans speaks at a press conference in Jerusalem on June 7, 2021 (Screen capture/YouTube)
His tirades spurred rebukes from others in the evangelical pro-Israel community, who said Evans was an outlier even though he served on former US President Donald Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board.
“I think Mike’s approach is unfortunate in that we as American supporters of Israel ultimately have to respect and defer to any decision made by Israel’s democratic process,” Brog said.
One Orthodox rabbi who cultivates Christian support for Israel was so put off by Evans’ comments and his attack on Bennett that he suggested “a radically new path forward” that was less political and more personal.
“We need a new way of doing things and we need to start building healthy relationships directly between rabbis and pastors and between pro-Israel Christians and pro-Israel Jews,” wrote Rabbi Tuly Weisz, who runs the website Israel365.
Pro-Israel and Israeli officials who deal with evangelical Christians said they were not concerned that Netanyahu’s departure would undercut the relationship.
“We appreciate the support of evangelical Christians for Israel,” an Israeli government official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity so he could speak freely while the government is in transition.
“This support started decades ago and we are confident that it will continue, regardless of who is the prime minister of Israel.”
Ari Morgenstern, the spokesman for Christians United For Israel, said the relationship dated back almost to Israel’s founding, when Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, cultivated ties with the American evangelical leader Oral Roberts.
Pastor John Hagee, head of Christians United for Israel, at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 11, 2018. (courtesy CUFI)
“Christian Zionists have had a relationship with every prime minister since Ben-Gurion.
That will not change,” he told JTA. “Christian support for Israel is based on the Bible and Judeo-Christian values.
Christian Zionists have supported the Jewish state since before her modern creation and will continue to do so regardless of internal Israeli political developments.”
The relationship has been mutually beneficial: Israel has gotten a base of support from a growing and influential American demographic and doesn’t depend on a large Jewish constituency.
For evangelicals, support for Jews in Israel — and the settlement of all of biblical Israel, including the West Bank — fulfills a prophecy for the return of Jesus Christ, as well as a literal reading of Genesis 12:3: God will bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who don’t.
Still, no prime minister drew closer to evangelicals than Netanyahu, whose last 11 years in office coincided with a resurgence of evangelical political influence and a consolidation of pro-Israel sentiment as a cornerstone of evangelical theology and policy.
Trump himself said he moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem in 2017 “for the evangelicals,” and complained that “the evangelicals are more excited about that than Jewish people.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Pastor John Hagee, May 11, 2018. (CUFI)
Last month Ron Dermer, Israel’s former ambassador to Washington and one of Netanyahu’s closest advisers, said that he and his boss also saw the evangelical Christian community as more reliable than American Jews.
“People have to understand that the backbone of Israel’s support in the United States is the evangelical Christians,” Dermer said at a conference, adding that Jews — at least the liberal majority — were “disproportionately” critical of Israel.
Netanyahu also said as much at a Voices United for Israel conference of evangelical Christians in 1997.
“We have no greater friends and allies than the people sitting in this room,” he told the forum just hours before his scheduled speech to AIPAC, the pro-Israel powerhouse.
That year’s speech was one of three critical stops in Washington, including a visit to the Clinton White House. And it was not without controversy.
In this June 20, 2005 file photo, Rev. Jerry Falwell speaks at the SBC Pastors’ Conference in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Speaking to a conference of evangelicals was unusual for an Israeli prime minister — if not unprecedented — and not exactly politic.
US Jewish groups were wary that some of the event’s sponsoring groups refused to eschew proselytizing Jews.
President Clinton loathed one of the conveners, Jerry Falwell, for peddling a baseless accusation that the Clintons were murderers.
Netanyahu’s dalliance with Falwell poisoned his relationship with Clinton, but his embrace of evangelical Christians would pay off long term: The constituency would have his back over subsequent decades for his hawkish policies on settlements and Iran, and would deliver hundreds of millions of dollars to Israeli charities, many aligned with his worldview.
Other prime ministers have welcomed Christian Zionist support while treading carefully with a community that includes proselytizers. (Pastor John Hagee, the CUFI founder and probably the most influential Christian Zionist currently, has advocated within the evangelical community for an end to proselytizing Jews, although it is not clear how successful his campaign has been.)
Evangelicals have repaid Netanyahu’s favoritism in spades. John Hagee Ministries, which is separate from CUFI, has directed $100 million to Israeli charities over the years, including to right-wing and settlement groups.
A Christian evangelical supporter waves the American flag during the annual parade in Jerusalem, marking the Jewish holiday of Sukkot or the Feast of the Tabernacles, September 24, 2013(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Christian Zionist groups have eagerly pressed Netanyahu’s agenda, including his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal reached by former president Barack Obama. On some issues, including state laws targeting Israel boycotters and laws passed by Congress conditioning funding of the Palestinian Authority on ending its payments to terrorists, Christian Zionists have taken the lead.
Sarah Posner, a journalist who has written extensively on evangelicals, said that Netanyahu’s departure would not diminish Christian Zionist fervor. In fact, she said, evangelicals might be energized to stop the Biden administration from pressuring the Israeli government, especially one less inclined to confront the United States than Netanyahu was.
“If they view the current Israeli government as insufficiently protective of its biblical mandate, that might cause them to become more intense in support of Israel’s right wing,” she said.
Brog, who closely tracks politics in Israel, said he is concerned that some leftists in that country tend to mock evangelicals. He noted the release in Israel of “Til Kingdom Come,” a documentary made there that “emphasized the apocalyptic beliefs that drive some of the evangelical support. A pro-Israel watchdog also alleged that the film purposely distorted a speech by Trump.
“I’ve heard some pretty crude critiques in Israel of evangelical supporters of Israel,” Brog said. “I hope that whoever leads Israel is decent enough and open-minded enough to say I want to get to know them, and I will distinguish the larger group from any bad apples among them.”
Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg, whose master’s thesis at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion was about evangelical support for Israel, said Bennett and Lapid were likely savvy enough to continue to cultivate the evangelical community, although perhaps not with Netanyahu’s intensity.
Greenberg, a Reform spiritual leader, noted the American Jewish community’s continued discomfiture with a community with which it barely intersects, and whose domestic politics are diametrically opposed to the liberal Jewish majority’s. He said that could someday erode Christian support for Israel.
“The hand extended in friendship all these years being rejected by the Jewish community will get old,” he said. “At some point they will tire of having their hand out.”
Mike Pompeo Praises Trump’s Recognition Of ‘Israel’s Sovereignty Over The Golan Heights’ During Jerusalem Visit.
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem won near-unanimous support in the Senate on Thursday night when all but three lawmakers voted to retain the diplomatic post in the city, following its move from Tel Aviv under the Trump administration.
During an all-nighter “vote-a-rama” session in the upper chamber, which saw hundreds of amendments proposed for the budget reconciliation resolution, Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) put forward an amendment backing the U.S. embassy’s establishment in Jerusalem.
Newsweek has contacted the offices of Warren and Sanders for comment on their votes.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and I am proud to introduce legislation to protect the U.S. Embassy from relocation or being downgraded,” Inhofe said in a statement.
“It was an honor to see the U.S. Embassy moved to its rightful location in Jerusalem in 2018 after over 20 years of bipartisan effort and Sen.
Hagerty and I are clear in our efforts to ensure it stays there.”
Sen. Hagerty told the Senate floor that the embassy in the disputed capital was “paving the way for peace throughout the region” as he called for it to be preserved.
“Now, our allies there will know we stand with them,” he added.
Former President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced his plans to move the U.S. embassy to the city in December, 2017—a move that was rejected by the United Nations.
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem was opened five months later at an opening ceremony attended by then-Treasury Steven Mnuchin, members of Congress, administration officials and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Cultural Committee of the 40th UNESCO general conference decides to retain the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Cultural Committee of the 40th UNESCO general conference, which was attended by ministers of culture from around the world, has called for taking new decisions to protect the world heritage in Occupied Jerusalem.
UNESCO member states and international donors said they would provide further support for activities intended to preserve the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The UNESCO Cultural Committee expressed concern about Israel’s excavations and construction works in the Old City of Jerusalem and on both sides of the city and its walls.
Deeply concerned by the persistence of the Israeli illegal excavations and works conducted by the Israeli Occupation authorities and the extreme settler groups in the Old City of Jerusalem and on both sides of its Walls and the failure of Israel to cease such harmful interventions, requests Israel to timely stop all such violations, in conformity with its obligations under the provisions of related UNESCO Conventions and recommendations,
Regrets the damage caused by the Israeli security forces on 30th October 2014 to the historic Gates and windows of the Qibli Mosque inside Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which is a Muslim holy site of worship and an integral part of a World Heritage Site;
Expresses its deep concern over the Israeli closure and ban of the renovation of Al-Rahma Gate building, one of Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif Gates, and urges Israel to stop obstruction of the necessary restoration works, in order to fix the damage caused by the weather conditions, especially the water leakage into the rooms of the building;
Deplores the damaging effect of the Jerusalem Light rail (tram line) at few meters from the Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem which severely affects the visual integrity and the authentic character of the site and requests Israel, the Occupying Power, to restore the original character of the site in conformity with its obligations under the provisions of related UNESCO Conventions and recommendations;
Calls on Israel, the Occupying Power, to stop the obstruction of the immediate execution of all the 19 Hashemite restoration projects in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif;
Also deplores the Israeli decision to approve: the plan to build a two-line cable car system in East Jerusalem, the plan to construct of the so called “Liba House” project in the Old City of Jerusalem, the demolition and new construction of the so-called Strauss Building, and the project of the elevator in the Buraq Plaza (Western Wall), the digging of a Mamluk structure beneath the Buraq Plaza (Western Wall), the excavations and construction of new levels underneath the Buraq Plaza, and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to renounce the above mentioned projects in conformity with its obligations under the provisions of related UNESCO Conventions and recommendations particularly the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols, as well as UNESCO Decisions particularly the World Heritage Committee decisions 26 and 38COM7A.4;
Expresses its deep concern regarding the plan for building of the so called “Kedem Center” a visitors centre near the southern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which severely affects the visual integrity and the authentic character of the site, in addition, its placement at the northern entrance to Silwan village will cut off the Palestinian residents’ direct connection to Old City and the Palestinian neighbourhoods to the north and east of the village, furthermore, most of the remains resulted from the excavation therein have been completely removed without documentation;
Expresses its concern regarding the restricting obstacles imposed by Israel, the Occupying Power, on the freedom of access that shall be provided to the competent national authorities including the Jordanian Waqf experts to safeguard the Old City of Jerusalem and both sides of its Walls;
Welcomes the relative improvement of Muslim worshippers’ access into A.l-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif over the past seven months, regrets the Israeli extremist groups’ continuous storming of Al-.Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent such provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of the Al Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif and inflame tension on the ground;
Further regrets the damage by Israel, the Occupying Power, of the historic ceramics atop of the main gates of the Dome of the Rock and the damage of the historic gates and windows of the Qibli Mosque inside Al Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and reaffirms, in this regard, the necessity to respect and safeguard the integrity, authenticity and cultural heritage of Al-Aqsa Mosque /Al-Haram Al-Sharif, as reflected in the Status Quo, as a Muslim Holy Site of worship and as an integral part of a World Cultural Heritage site;
Calls upon Israel to return the remains and to provide the World Heritage Centre with the relevant documentation in particular concerning the removed and found historic remains, as well as to restore the original character of the sites of all the above mentioned projects;
Requests the World Heritage Centre to continue applying the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism to the Old City of Jerusalem on both sides of its Walls, and also requests it to report every four months on this matter;
Thanks the Director-General of UNESCO and the World Heritage Centre for their efforts aimed at the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem on both sides of its walls and invites them to report on this matter at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2016;II
Recalling 176 EX/Special Plenary Meeting Decision, and all UNESCO Executive Board Decisions relating to the Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem,
Affirms that the Mughrabi Ascent is an integral and inseparable part of Al Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif,
Takes into consideration all the previous Reinforced Monitoring Reports and their addenda prepared by the World Heritage Centre as well as the State of Conservation report submitted to the World Heritage Centre by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Palestine,
Expresses its growing concern regarding the continuous, intrusive demolitions and illegal excavations in and around the Mughrabi Gate Ascent, and the latest excavation works conducted at the beginning of May 2015 at the Buraq Plaza (Western Wall) of Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and calls on Israel, the Occupying Power, to end such violations, respect the Status Quo, and enable the Jordanian Awaqf experts as a part of the competent national authorities to maintain and safeguard the site in accordance with the relevant provisions of the UNESCO Conventions and Recommendations in particular the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and its related protocols;
Commends the Jordanian design for the restoration and preservation of the Mughrabi Ascent, submitted to the World Heritage Centre on 27 May 2011, and thanks Jordan for its cooperation in accordance with the provisions of the relevant UNESCO Conventions for the Protection of Cultural Heritage;
Urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to cooperate with Jordanian Awqaf Department, in conformity with its obligations under the provisions of the UNESCO related Conventions, to facilitate access of Jordanian Awqaf experts with their tools and material to the site in order to enable the execution of the Jordanian design of the Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate;
Further expresses its deep concern regarding demolitions of Ummayad, Ottoman and Mamluk remains at the site of the Mughrabi Gate Pathway, and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to abide by its obligations in this regard;
Thanks the Director-General for her attention to the sensitive situation of the Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate and asks her to take the necessary measures in order to enable the execution of the Jordanian design of the Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate;III
Recalls the Executive Board decisions concerning the reactive monitoring mission to the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls particularly decision 196EX/Decision26.4 as well as the World Heritage Committee decisions particularly decision 34 COM 7A.20;
Deeply regrets the continuous Israeli failure to implement the Reactive Monitoring Mission and urges Israel, the Occupying Power, to accept and facilitate the implementation of that Mission;
Stresses the need of the urgent implementation of the above-mentioned UNESCO mission and, in case of non-implementation according to the above mentioned Executive Board decision 196EX/Decision26.4, decides to consider, in conformity with the provisions of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, adequate measures to have the concerned party implement it;
Requests that the report and recommendations of the mission be presented to the concerned parties prior to the next 197 EX Board session;
Thanks the Director-General for her continuous efforts to implement the above-mentioned UNESCO mission and all related UNESCO decisions and resolutions, and invites her to report on this matter at the next 40th World Heritage Committee session;IV
Decides to retain the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Norman Finkelstein shares his insights about the US Embassy move in Jerusalem and names other Zionist snakes in the White House.
In December, President Trump announced he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and initiate a process of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move has sparked protests across the Occupied Territories.
The United Nations voted 128 to 9 in favor of a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Despite the international condemnation, several leading Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, praised Trump’s decision.
[I read a story from an “Israeli” woman who was driving one day and taking a wrong turn, found herself driving on the Palestinian road. She went into hysterics thinking of how she could have been murdered by Palestinians had she not driven out of there in time. I mean whew! One of those murderous terrorists could have jumped out from anywhere! I thought, how strange because as an American I find the Palestinians most welcoming and accommodating, I just wander everywhere. And it’s not all that comforting to be an American anymore…but no one makes me feel it.]
‘How sad it is that Jerusalem, the city that for millennia was blessed with an amazing range of humanity, is today cut off as it has never been before.’
I was standing in line for a visa to the United States. The woman ahead of me said it was the first time she had come to the embassy, in advance of what would be her first visit to the United States. She spoke angrily about how hard it was to find enough money for the trip, and complained that we are living in a country that doesn’t take care of its citizens – after all, she deserves to travel and have a good time, she works hard.
The Palestinian Jewish Rabbi’s were kicked out of leadership positions with the Zionist occupation.
Is this the first time you’re traveling to the United States, she asked me. I gave her a brief reply, in the hope of ending the conversation. It didn’t help. She edged even closer and kept talking. At one stage, she whispered that she was glad Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem and showed the Arabs what’s what. Another woman, who overheard the conversation, butted in and said it’s really good that at long last someone is taking care of the Arabs in this country. Those Arabs, they have no limits.
IDF ordered to break the bones of young Palestinian males (fighting age)
The line moved slowly, and I kept quiet. Not because I had nothing to say – I always have something to say – but because I didn’t feel like arguing on a hot and sluggish morning like this.The line continued to inch along.
When I finally emerged from the embassy, the talkative woman from the line was also standing there. Tell me, she said, there aren’t any buses here, so maybe you could give me a lift for a few meters? It occurred to me to leave her there in the broiling sun but I took pity on her. And all of a sudden I also thought that there in the car, I would have the opportunity to show her who should be put in whose place. I would tell her what I think of her opinions about Arabs. Come on, I said, I’ll take you.
Foreign born Jews herded the people of Palestine into ghettos and called occupation of their land ‘a Jewish state’.
We walked together toward the car. We fastened our seat belts. I locked the doors and made sure she heard it. I started the car and then the radio burst into a song I don’t like, which is not at all pleasant and soothing – in Arabic. The woman next to me turned to stone. After a few minutes she asked me where I’m from. I said in a heavy Arabic accent: Baka al-Garbiyeh. Where exactly is that, she asked. Usually, I say near Hadera or Caesarea. This time I chose to say near Tul Karm. Upon hearing the name of a village in the West Bank, she clutched the safety belt in her hand and went silent.
Trump Lawyers and Casino Moguls occupy Palestine Jerusalem underground.
I thought this was it: I had managed to put her in her place and let’s see Trump come along and save her now. But right away I realized I wasn’t at all glad about the situation. I am not a bad person and I don’t scare anyone, but without even doing anything – I’d only said where I come from, in my naturally accented voice – I had aroused emotions as though I had done something bad.
Many Israelis are brainwashed and believe the shoe is on the other foot. The gov. teaches them to fear Arabs so Israelis are too afraid to venture out of their controlled bubble.
She was afraid of me, that was clear. I too was afraid. I felt that suddenly I didn’t know myself. After about two minutes of silence I pulled myself together and realized that I was not her. I would never be her. I grew up and was raised differently. I grew up on other values. I was angry for a few seconds at her for having made me lose sight of who and what I am. After a few seconds I told her I would help her find the bus she was looking for. After a long search for the right bus, as she watched me with an inquisitive but less alarmed expression on her face – I declared: I’ve found it!
Suddenly I found myself saying to her pleasantly: Ma’am, maybe before you go to the United States, you could travel around your own country. From this stop right here, buses leave for Bethlehem and Hebron; blue buses depart that are intended for Palestinians and the green buses are for Israelis. When we got to her stop, she thanked me for the ride and said maybe we would see each other in the States. I said yes just because I wanted to be polite.
All the way home I thought how sad it is that Jerusalem, the city that for millennia was blessed with an amazing range of humanity, is today cut off as it has never been before.
Palestinian neighbors are subjected to regular police raids and Israeli excrement is left in their doorways. That’s Zionism. That’s Israel. Before Zionism took hold of the regular Jewish people in Europe, and even more so after Israel was established, the Zionists were considered filthy low life by the Rabbis.
Thomas Masaryk became President of Czechoslovakia, and it was in that capacity that he warmly welcomed the first Zionist Congress convened after the Balfour Declaration, at Karlovy Vary in 1921—two more would follow in 1923 and 1933, under Chaim Weizmann’s leadership.
During the Masaryk era, three congresses of the World Zionist Organization took place in the Czech cities of Prague and Karlovy Vary. In addition, Masaryk was a keen supporter of the Zionist movement and the first head of state who visited the Yishuv in 1927. In recognition of this warm friendship, the Jewish state honored Masaryk by naming a kibbutz after him, as well as streets in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.
In 1920, the Zionists had enough power to warn the world not to stand it it’s way.
Czech president Milos Zeman offered Binyamin Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist government a fillip during his visit to Israel last week.
He inaugurated a cultural and trade center, Czech House, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls.
At the opening, he expressed hope it would serve as a precursor to his country relocating its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
If so, the Czech Republic would become the first European state to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead in moving the US embassy in May.
It is this kind of endorsement that, of late, has emboldened Netanyahu’s government, the Israeli courts, Jerusalem officials and settler organizations to step up their combined assault on Palestinians in the Old City and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
Israel has never hidden its ambition to seize control of East Jerusalem, Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967 and then annexed, as a way of preventing a viable Palestinian state from emerging.
Land theft and ethnic cleansing
Israel immediately began building an arc of Jewish settlements on Jerusalem’s eastern flank to seal off its Palestinian residents from their political hinterland, the West Bank.
More than a decade ago, it consolidated its domination with a mammoth concrete wall that cut through East Jerusalem.
The aim was to seal off densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods on the far side, ensuring the most prized and vulnerable areas – the Old City and its environs – could be more easily colonized, or “Judaised”, as Israel terms it.
This area, the heart of Jerusalem, is where magnificent holy places such as the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are to be found.
The city of Christianity, Judaism and Islam for centuries
Under cover of the 1967 war, Israel ethnically cleansed many hundreds of Palestinians living near the Western Wall, a retaining wall of the elevated Al-Aqsa compound that is venerated in Judaism.
Since then, Israeli leaders have grown ever hungrier for control of the compound itself, which they believe is built over two long-lost Jewish temples.
Israel has forced the compound’s Muslim authorities to allow Jews to visit in record numbers, even though most wish to see the mosque replaced with a third Jewish temple.
Meanwhile, Israel has severely limited the numbers of Palestinians who can reach the holy site.
Emboldened by Trump
SOLD!
Until now, Israel had mostly moved with stealth, making changes gradually so they rarely risked inflaming the Arab world or provoking Western reaction. But after Trump’s embassy move, a new Israeli confidence is tangible.
On four fronts, Israel has demonstrated its assertive new mood. First, with the help of ever-more compliant Israeli courts, it has intensified efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in the Old City and just outside its historic walls.
Last month, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that supports the eviction of 700 Palestinians from Silwan, a dense neighborhood on a hillside below Al-Aqsa.
Ateret Cohanim, a settler organization backed by government-subsidised armed guards, is now poised to take over the center of Silwan.
It will mean more Israeli security and police protecting the settler population and more city officials enforcing prejudicial planning rules against Palestinians.
The inevitable protests will justify more arrests of Palestinians, including children. This is how bureaucratic ethnic cleansing works.
The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal against a Palestinian family’s eviction from Sheikh Jarrah, another key neighbourhood near the Old City.
The decision opens the way to expelling dozens more families.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, characterised these rulings as “sanctioning the broadest move to dispossess Palestinians since 1967”.
At the same time, Israel’s parliament approved a law to accelerate the settler takeover.
Jews-only housing
Over many years, Israel created a series of national parks around the Old City on the pretext of preserving “green areas”.
Some hem in Palestinian neighborhoods to stop their expansion while others were declared on the land of existing Palestinian homes to justify expelling the occupants.
So where did the homeless immigrant European Jews take refuge?
Palestinian homes usurped in 1948 in Jerusalem
بيت جميل في القطمون بيوت الفلسطنيين المغتصبة عام 1948 في القدس
Now the parliament has reversed course. The new law, drafted by another settler group, Elad, will allow house-building in national parks, but only for Jews.
Elad’s immediate aim is to bolster the settler presence in Silwan, where it has overseen a national park next to Al-Aqsa.
Archaeology has been co-opted to supposedly prove the area was once ruled by King David while thousands of years of subsequent history, most especially the current Palestinian presence, are erased.
Elad’s activities include excavating under Palestinian homes, weakening their foundations.
We’re heeer….US envoy smashes wall dug under Palestinian homes in E. Jerusalem
A massive new Jewish history-themed visitor centre will dominate Silwan’s entrance.
Completing the project is a $55 million cable car, designed to carry thousands of tourists an hour over Silwan and other neighborhoods, rendering the Palestinian inhabitants invisible as visitors are delivered effortlessly to the Western Wall without ever having to encounter them.
Forgeries, collaborators and excrement
Israeli court upholds shady sale of Jerusalem church property to settlers. The Supreme Court had approved the sale of the New Imperial Hotel and the Petra Hotel, which overlook the Jaffa Gate plaza at the entrance to the Old City, as well as another building in the Muslim Quarter. The judges rejected claims by the Patriarchate that the sale was illegal because it was carried out by unauthorized members of the church, and that Ateret Cohaniam had paid bribes to see the deal through.
The settlers have their own underhand methods. With the authorities’ connivance, they have forged documents to seize Palestinian homes closest to Al-Aqsa.
In other cases, the settlers have recruited Arab collaborators to dupe other Palestinians into selling their homes.
Once they gain a foothold, the settlers typically turn the appropriated home into an armed compound.
Noise blares out into the early hours, Palestinian neighbors are subjected to regular police raids and excrement is left in their doorways.
After the recent sale to settlers of a home strategically located in the Old City’s Muslim quarter, the Palestinian Authority (PA) set up a commission of inquiry to investigate.
But the PA is near-powerless to stop this looting after Israel passed a law in 1995 denying it any role in Jerusalem.
The same measure is now being vigorously enforced against the few residents trying to stop the settler banditry.
Adnan Ghaith, Jerusalem’s governor and a Silwan resident, was arrested last week for a second time and banned from entering the West Bank and meeting PA officials.
Disgusting Jewish soldiers defecated in and defaced Palestinian homes during the recent Israeli invasion of Gaza. This is normal Israeli behavior in occupied Palestine.
Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem, is under a six-month travel ban by Israel.
Last week dozens of Palestinians were arrested in Jerusalem, accused of working for the PA to stop house sales to the settlers.
It is a quiet campaign of attrition, designed to wear down Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents.
The hope is that they will eventually despair and relocate to the city’s distant suburbs outside the wall or into the West Bank.
What Palestinians in Jerusalem urgently need is a reason for hope – and a clear signal that other countries will not join the US in
Castiglioni acknowledged that “some Arab governments expressed their concern to us” after the embassy was shifted to Jerusalem.
The move presents an embarrassing diplomatic setback for Israel, which had hoped to build on the momentum started by the U.S., Guatemala and Paraguay, which all moved their embassies to Jerusalem in May. In response to Paraguay’s decision, Israel said it was shuttering its embassy there, warning that ties between the countries would be “strained” by the decision.
Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said at a news conference that he hoped “the friends of Israel will not be bothered” by his nation’s reversal and expressed hope for “excellent ties of friendship and cooperation” with both “the states of Israel and Palestine.”
Former President Horacio Cartes opened the new embassy in Jerusalem on May 21, giving a diplomatic victory to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu. It came only days after the U.S. and Guatemala took similar steps.
But the measure was widely criticized within Paraguay, and Castiglioni described it as “unilateral, visceral and without justification.”
New Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez had opposed the switch even before taking office on Aug. 15.
“One of the most complex components of the conflict (between Israel and the Palestinians) is the status of Jerusalem,” Castiglioni said, and Paraguay believes it should be negotiated between the parties involved — a position still held by most nations.
The about-turn prompted Israel to announce the drastic step that it was closing its embassy in Asuncion and warning that Paraguay’s decision will worsen ties between the countries.
“Israel views very seriously Paraguay’s exceptional decision which will strain the relations between the countries,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The Palestinians, who were infuriated by the embassy moves, particularly America’s, celebrated Paraguay’s reversal. In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Paraguay had pledged two weeks ago to return the embassy to Tel Aviv during a visit by Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki to the country.
The statement said Malki “expresses his appreciation and gratitude to the Paraguayan president and his foreign minister for moving the embassy back and for their commitment to international law.”
The Palestinians want Jerusalem’s eastern sector as capital of a hoped-for state, while Israel sees the entire city as its eternal, undivided capital. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war along with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Most countries have maintained their embassies in Tel Aviv so as to not prejudge the outcome of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Trump administration’s decision to move the embassy flew in the face of that international consensus and it followed its recognition months earlier of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, another step the Palestinians fiercely opposed.
Castiglioni acknowledged that “some Arab governments expressed their concern to us” after the embassy was shifted to Jerusalem.
He stressed an intention to retain good ties with Israel, saying, “We are friends and historic allies.”
On the 31st of October 1917 the British took Beer Sheva and started to make their way towards Jerusalem.
In the upcoming days the raids and the fighting in the area intensified, and the residents decided to leave their homes until the situation quietened down .They rented rooms in the nearby Arab village. This did not help Yellin, who took his kettle with him. At nights, the soldiers appeared in the village, and forced the woman whose home he was staying at to give them his biggest cow. The frightened woman woke the whole village.
The fear of the soldiers united the Arab villagers and their Jewish guests and they decided to send a delegation of two Arab women and two Jewish women (the men were mostly army deserters), to the military governor in Dir Yassin, and ask for the Army’s protection. But this did not end their plight. On 12th December, the Turkish army issued an evacuation order from Motza and its nearby Arab villages.
The area was defined as a military zone and all residents were to leave in twelve hours in order to make way for the great battle between the Turks and the British planned for the 3rd of December. “You can imagine”, Yellin addresses his readers, “the great confusion and commotion among the residents. Neither of us slept a wink all night”.
The occupation transforms Jerusalem into a military barracks on the eve of the transfer of the US embassy.
These are days of great victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the right wing and for nationalistic Israel. These are days of victory for their path, the path of force, and of their faith, the faith in the chosen people who can do anything they please.
Iran has been publicly humiliated, the Palestinians are crushed, and on Monday they will be stomped on with pomp and circumstance as the American Embassy opens in Jerusalem. Gaza is besieged, and Israel is rejoicing. On Sunday, Jerusalem Day, innocent people might be killed in Gaza and Jerusalem.
On May 14, the day of the embassy move, innocents will certainly be killed in Gaza and the West Bank; the day after, Nakba Day, many more will be killed.
The Israeli victory, a brief biography: piles of bodies of Palestinians, whom the world has stopped caring about, a siege on Gaza which also doesn’t interest anyone, Iranian bases bombed without response, Iran under sanctions and an American Embassy in Jerusalem, a gift to the occupier and a slap in the face of the occupied. There is good reason for the joyous cries of victory in Israel.
Israeli Soldiers Abduct Seventeen Palestinians In The West Bank
First the settlers won and decided the fate of the state and the regime; then U.S. President Donald Trump won and gave Israel license to do whatever it feels like, and now Netanyahu has been declared the great victor. These are days of a win of his doctrine and a victory for his Israel. We should admit it.
The prophecies of doom, that this would all blow up in our faces one day, the admonishments that the occupation won’t stand forever and the warnings that Israel cannot live only by its sword, and that Iran is very dangerous, have been shown to be false for now. Nothing blew up, life by the sword has paid off, the end of the occupation has grown distant and so has the end of right-wing government.
This depressing forecast is the more optimistic one. The alternative is war with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas and who knows whom else. That’s the way it is when there’s no real alternative, no ideas and no leadership. Shooting at demonstrators in Gaza and the continued siege? Everybody’s on board. Canceling the agreement with Iran and bombing in Syria, everybody’s cheering.
Israeli settlers rally near al Aqsa mosque ahead of anniv. of Israel’s 1948 creation. Palestinians mark May 15 day of Nakba or ‘catastrophe’. #FreePalestinepic.twitter.com/MQwLts7KiJ
And almost everybody is celebrating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, including the female lawmaker from the “left” who is begging for an invitation. Tomorrow America will tell the Palestinians that it doesn’t care about their fate anymore, that in America’s eyes, they have no rights, that the two-state solution is dead. To Iran America said: Netanyahu was right. The agreement is bad and should be abolished. Two free gifts for Israel.
These achievements are corrupting. They prove to Israel that force is worthwhile, that there is no need to consider the other side, that international law doesn’t apply here. Today Israel is celebrating the day East Jerusalem was conquered, and tomorrow it will celebrate its perpetuation. Two repulsive flag marches will take place one after the other, the first Israeli and the second American, and they are both cocky and aggressive.
Moving the embassy while crushing what is left of the Palestinians’ dignity is a clear American signal to Israel: Keep up the killing, the crushing and the ignoring of their rights. America not only permits, arms and funds it – it even encourages it.
Yes, moving the embassy is a reason for a party only for the right. All the rest, a negligible minority, should mourn this unilateral step. The same is true for the Syrian bombings, which a tweet on the right called a “concert” with enthusiasm reserved only for bombings in Israel. A direct line connects the embassy move, the exit from the Iran deal and the bombings in Syria: Israel First. Only Israel.
And what’s the alternative? It wasn’t even discussed. Instead of opening an American Embassy in Jerusalem, part of which is occupied, to establish two embassies in the city. Instead of massacring protesters in Gaza, to respond to Hamas’ signals and reach an agreement to lift the blockade; instead of quitting the Iran deal, to preserve it with Israel’s encouragement; and instead of bombing Iranian bases, to try to dialogue with Iran, directly or indirectly. That is not as exciting as rousing as bombing, not as thrilling as showing off a haul of binders from Iran. But these could have been Israel’s true victories.
