RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-is-moving-its-embassy-to-jerusalem-1541464850

Shortly after Jair Bolsonaro’s decisive victory in the Brazilian presidential election last week, the populist leader said he would follow through on his campaign promise to move Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Like Donald Trump, Mr. Bolsonaro—himself a Catholic but married to an evangelical Protestant pastor—owes his political success in large part to support from evangelical voters. As recently as the 1970s, Brazil was almost uniformly Catholic. But in one of the greatest religious shifts of modern times, the largest country in Latin America is today nearly as evangelical as the U.S.: 25% of Brazilians identify as evangelical Christians, compared with 26% of Americans, according to the Joshua Project. As in the U.S., many evangelical and Pentecostal Christians instinctively support Israel and endorse a law-and-order agenda at home.

At a time of increased anxiety for many Jews in Europe and North America, the rise of evangelical and Pentecostal Christian support for Judaism and Israel in much of the world is a heartening sign. Based on a literal approach to the Bible and a covenantal theology that attributes a continuing religious significance to the Jewish people and their state, these two rapidly spreading forms of Protestant Christianity tend to promote a climate of respect for individual Jews as well as support for Zionism. They view the continued existence of the Jewish people as a mark of God’s faithfulness and believe the Jewish people have a special place in God’s plan as recipients of his favor.

Improved relations with Israel are a hallmark of evangelical political influence. Guatemala, another historically Catholic country, is now about 40% Protestant. It opened an embassy in Jerusalem two days after the U.S. did. Although Latin American countries have typically been hostile to Israel since the 1967 war, that’s changing rapidly.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271849/iran-faces-harsh-us-sanctions-joseph-klein

“SANCTIONS ARE COMING,” President Trump tweeted in advance of the remaining set of U.S. sanctions against Iran that are coming back into force on November 5th. Lifted under the disastrous Obama nuclear deal with Iran that the Trump administration exited last May, these re-imposed sanctions will target Iran’s energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, and transactions with the Central Bank of Iran as well as with other Iranian banks. The aim is to dry up revenues the Iranian regime uses to fund not only its nuclear program, but also its continued development and launching of ballistic missiles that transgress the same United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that had endorsed the nuclear deal itself, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Iranian regime has also used revenues gained from the JCPOA’s lifting of the sanctions to finance terrorists world-wide rather than to relieve the financial hardships of its own people. That is all about to change. “Our objective is to force the regime into a clear choice: either abandon its destructive behavior or continue down the path toward economic disaster,” President Trump said in a statement issued last Friday.

The sanctions that are being re-imposed are tough. With few exceptions, any government or business entities importing Iranian oil or otherwise violating the sanctions, including via barter arrangements, will be subject to stringent U.S. financial penalties. However, the sanctions will exempt for humanitarian reasons the sale of food, medicine, medical devices, and agricultural commodities to Iran. Moreover, the Trump administration has decided to grant temporary waivers to eight countries, including South Korea, Japan, and India. The purpose is to avoid an immediate spike in oil prices that would occur if oil exports from Iran were virtually eliminated overnight, and to soften the blow to allies in Asia whose economies could be seriously imperiled by an immediate shut-off of their oil purchases from Iran upon which they have been dependent. The full list of countries excludes the European Union as a whole, which has 28 members. Two of the eight countries receiving the temporary waivers will completely cut off imports of Iranian oil in a matter of weeks, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The other six, he said, will “greatly” reduce their imports. All countries receiving the temporary waivers must reapply for extended exemptions beyond six months.

China, the largest purchaser of Iranian oil, has also been mentioned as a possible recipient of a temporary waiver. Such a move is hard to justify unless the Trump administration has concluded it must pay this price for China’s ironclad agreement to verifiably implement all the multilateral sanctions in place against North Korea and not transfer by ship any oil received from Iran or other sources to North Korea. Whatever the reason, any temporary waiver granted to China must be fully reversible at any time for any reason. If granted, the waiver should be used as leverage in trade negotiations with China and be pulled immediately for any violation by China of the multilateral sanctions against North Korea.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/05/irans-hits-western-soil-reveal-foreign-policy-establishments-hypocrisy/

While America is often insulated from the most malign of Iran’s activities, even if only by dint of our distant geographic position, the brazen and bellicose mullocracy has reminded us of its global reach at a pivotal time. This global reach extends from our Transatlantic allies, to our southern neighbors and our own shores. Clearly, Iran feels it perfectly acceptable to carry out murderous acts here in the West with impunity.

This all should only underscore the need to counter the Khomeinist regime using every element of national power at all points of leverage. The political establishment’s silence in the face of this threat — if not its urging to engage further economically with Iran while punishing its foes in spite of the calamitous consequences of that very policy during the Obama years — is stunning.

For the latest evidence of Iran’s audacious aggression, America need look no further than Europe. There, Iranian hit squads, in part under diplomatic cover, have been exposed for plotting a string of assassinations in what seems to be a concerted campaign to take out the ayatollahs’ political rivals in exile, among other foes.

The latest evidence of this effort comes mere days before U.S. sanctions are set to “snapback” on Iran in strategically significant sectors like shipping, energy and finance. Some Europeans have resisted these very sanctions. But do not hold your breath waiting for the media and political establishment to harp on these attempted hits. This is Iran after all, not Saudi Arabia.

According to the Associated Press, in September 2018, Denmark’s national security service foiled an alleged assassination plot directed by Iranian intelligence against a leader of the Danish wing of a militant Iranian separatist group called the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA). This follows the 2017 murder of the founder of the ASMLA, Ahmad Mola Nissi, in The Hague at the hands of an “unidentified assailant.” Dutch authorities reportedly expelled two Iranian diplomats who may have been linked to the Nissi assassination.

ASMLA consists of Ahwazi Arabs, a small minority in Persian-dominated Iran, who desire independence, and according to Amnesty International are subject to severe repression. ASMLA has engaged in violent acts against the Iranian regime, including attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province, where Ahwazis predominate, and against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/louis-farrakhan-chants-death-to-america-during-visit-to-iran/

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan led chants of “death to America” on Sunday and derided American conceptions of democracy and freedom during a visit to Iran, planned as a show of support for the regime ahead of the re-implementation of U.S. sanctions.

Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite who has been embraced by prominent liberal activists and lawmakers, railed against American policymakers for harassing the Iranian people and siding with Saudi Arabia in its proxy war with Iran in Yemen.

“I understand how the enemies have plotted against the Iranian people and I would like to stay alongside you to stop their plots,” he said during a meeting with the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei, according to state-owned news agency Mehr. “Satan seeks to divide Muslims and wants them to kill each other, while God tells us in the Quran to be united.”

During a subsequent speaking appearance at the University of Tehran law school, Farrakhan mocked America’s founding ideals while praising the Islamic conception of women’s rights and Iran’s strict enforcement of female modesty.

“America has never been a democracy and has always leaned towards the wealthy and powerful class,” he said before leading the law students in chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”

Farrakhan, who recently referred to Jews as “termites,” has been lauded by Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory as the “GOAT” or Greatest of All Time. Linda Sarsour, Mallory’s fellow Women’s March leader, has also praised Farrakhan on multiple occasions and has refused to condemn his anti-Semitism.