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ISRAEL

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Rashida Tlaib Finance Director Shills for Palestinian Islamic Jihad Prison Escapees Rasha Mubarak: “These 6 Palestinian freedom fighters offer us hope.” Joe Kaufman

By on September 29th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/09/rashida-tlaib-finance-director-shills-palestinian-joe-kaufman/

On September 6th, six Palestinian prisoners being held in an Israeli jail escaped, forcing Israeli authorities to launch a manhunt for them. All have been caught, since. Of the six, five are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and one is a commander in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, two groups internationally-recognized as terrorist organizations. Democratic operative and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib staffer Rasha Mubarak thinks otherwise; she has lionized the terrorists as heroes. It is not the first time Mubarak has championed Palestinian terror, and the Democratic Party continues to embrace her and even groom her for future political office.

In August 2014, at the end of the 2014 Gaza War, along with photos of a jubilant Hamas, who had bizarrely just declared victory over Israel, Mubarak tweeted, “Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza.” The war had left nearly 2200 Palestinians and 70 Israelis dead.

Mubarak has promoted material from Hamas-supporting media, including the Palestine Info Center and Shehab News, both of which are directly affiliated with Hamas and publicize the group along with shocking anti-Semitic cartoons of evil looking Orthodox Jews. In July 2014, Mubarak copied onto Facebook a post from Falastin News Palestine, a site that glorifies Hamas and PIJ fighters as heroes; outright states, “God bless Hamas”; features numerous photos of armed masked terrorists interacting with little children; and showcases photos of dead US and British Jews murdered in a Jerusalem synagogue, grossly referring to the dead as “occupiers.”

In June and July 2020, Mubarak posted memorials onto her Twitter and Facebook pages for car-ramming terrorist Ahmed Erekat, who was shot and killed after attempting to run over a female Israeli border officer, at a checkpoint east of Jerusalem.

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Behind Israel’s Swift Rollout of Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters By Dov Lieber and Thomas Grove 

By on September 29th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-israels-swift-rollout-of-covid-19-vaccine-boosters-11632821987

By getting early access to Pfizer’s vaccine, Israeli scientists had more and earlier data than their counterparts elsewhere—and were willing to act on it

TEL AVIV—In late July, dozens of Israeli scientists and government health officials were locked in a marathon video call where they examined new data indicating that the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE was waning.

Infections from the new Delta variant were increasing, and growing numbers of people were falling seriously ill, even those who had had both shots of the vaccine. Lives were potentially on the line.

Within days of the midnight vote that decided to distribute a third shot, the first of millions of booster shots were administered, months before the U.S. or any other country would take the same step.

“It was a really tough discussion,” said epidemiologist Gili Regev-Yochay, who presented key research on the effectiveness of booster shots. “[But] it was a decision that was reached essentially with one voice.”

Throughout the global effort against Covid-19, Israel’s public health experts have been consistently ahead of their counterparts elsewhere in the world. By securing an early supply deal with Pfizer for its vaccine, sweetened in part by a promise to share data from Israel’s extensive network of health maintenance organizations, they have had an edge in understanding how the vaccine behaves in the real world.

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Palestinian Leaders: No to Solving Economic Crisis by Khaled Abu Toameh

By on September 28th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17774/palestinian-solving-economic-crisis

The Hamas charter does not talk about improving the living conditions of the Palestinians. It does not talk about boosting the economy or creating job opportunities for unemployed Palestinians.

Instead, the charter talks about jihad (holy war) and urges all Arabs and Muslims not to abandon the fight against Israel….

“The people of the Gaza Strip want their freedom,” he said. “They want the return of their land. Israel does not know the reality of the Palestinian people and believes that economic solutions would prompt the Palestinians to abandon their goals of liberation and achieving the right of return. This is not an economic or material issue.” Hazem Qassem, Hamas official, i24news.tv, September 13, 2021.

The PA and Hamas leaders are apparently worried that the Palestinians would forget about the jihad against Israel once they have jobs and a strong economy.

That is why the PA and Hamas rejected former US President Donald Trump’s plan for peace in the Middle East, “Peace to Prosperity.”

By rejecting all the offers, the leaders of the Palestinians are actually telling… the world: For the Palestinians, the conflict with Israel is not about financial aid or boosting the Palestinian economy. Do not expect the Palestinians to make any concessions to Israel because of the billions of dollars that you are offering or have already given us.

This is an important message that needs to be grasped by the Biden administration in the aftermath of its decision to resume financial aid to the Palestinians. The Biden administration and other Western donors are wrong to assume that their funds could change the hearts and minds of the Palestinians. The only way to bring about such a change is by ending the anti-Israel rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and media outlets — something that is not likely to happen, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Palestinian leaders have again proved that they are continually and cynically putting their own interests before the best interests of their people.

On September 13, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented a plan for improving the conditions of the two million Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

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Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger :Congress – the co-equal and systematic ally of Israel

By on September 28th, 2021

https://bit.ly/3uii0cw

Presidents propose and Congress disposes

On September 23, 2021, the US House of Representatives voted 420:9 to replenish the Israeli-developed defensive “Iron Dome” missiles, which are increasingly manufactured – and eventually exported – by the US defense company Raytheon, that benefits from the battle-tested “Israeli laboratory.”

The overwhelming vote reflects Congressional realization that the “Iron Dome”:  

*Enhances Israel’s posture of deterrence, which is critical to the survival of all pro-US Arab regimes and minimization of regional instability;
*Reduces the need for full-scale Israeli wars on Palestinian and Islamic terrorism;
*Provides an alternative to Israeli military ground-operations against Palestinian terrorists, which would entail substantial Israeli and Palestinian fatalities;
*Represents joint US-Israel interests, militarily and technologically, in the face of mutual threats (e.g., Islamic terrorism) and mutual challenges (e.g., developing world-class, game-changing technologies).  
*Constitutes another example of the systematic support by Congress of enhanced US-Israel cooperation.

The decisive role played by Congress in the replenishment of the “Iron Dome” underscores the cardinal rule of the US political system: The President proposes, but Congress disposes. 

The involvement of Senators and House Representatives in foreign policy and national security-related issues has surged since the Vietnam War, Watergate and Iran Gate scandals, the dismantling of the USSR (which transformed the world from a bi-polar to a multi-polar) and rapidly-expanding globalization.   

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Iraq Should Join the Abraham Accords Full relations with Israel would help atone for the infamous act of driving out our Jewish population. By Wisam Al-Hardan

By on September 25th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/iraq-abraham-accords-israel-sunni-shiite-11632495291?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Erbil, Iraq

More than 300 of my fellow Iraqis from Baghdad, Mosul, Al-Anbar, Babel, Salahuddin and Diyala joined me Friday in this northern city, where we issued a public demand for Iraq to enter into relations with Israel and its people through the Abraham Accords.

We are an assembly of Sunnis and Shiites, featuring members of the (Sunni) Sons of Iraq Awakening movement, which I lead, in addition to intellectuals, tribal elders, and youth activists of the 2019-21 protest movement. Some of us have faced down ISIS and al Qaeda on the battlefield. Through blood and tears we have long demonstrated that we oppose all extremists, whether Sunni jihadists or Iran-backed Shiite militias. We have also demonstrated our patriotism: We sacrificed lives for the sake of a unified Iraq, aspiring to realize a federal system of government as stipulated in our nation’s constitution.

Now, in striving to rebuild our country, we commit ourselves to an awakening of peace. Our guiding light is the memory of a more honorable past: a young, modern state with a glorious ancient tradition; a country that, at its finer moments, witnessed a spirit of partnership across ethnic and sectarian lines. Iraq’s subsequent deterioration was marked by the dissipation of tolerance—a casualty of generations of tyranny and fear, imposed first by rulers, then by external actors, as a tool to divide and conquer.

The most infamous act in this tragedy was the mass exodus and dispossession of the majority of our Iraqi Jewish population, a community with 2,600 years of history, in the mid-20th century. Through their forced migration, Iraq effectively cut one of its own principal veins. Yet we draw hope from the knowledge that most Iraqi Jews managed to rebuild their lives, passing their traditions to their children and grandchildren in Israel.

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Israeli pipeline company embroiled in conflict over UAE oil deal David Isaac

By on September 25th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/israeli-pipeline-company-embroiled-in-conflict-over-uae-oil-deal/

An agreement penned a year ago has encountered growing opposition from environmentalist groups and Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. It was hailed as the first major partnership to come out of the Abraham Accords—a deal in which Israel would serve as an artery for Emirati crude to Western markets. The lucrative deal, reportedly worth hundreds of millions, was inked on Oct. 19, 2020, by Israel’s state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Co. (EAPC) and MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd., a private Dubai-based company.

An Israeli “land bridge” transporting oil from Eilat on the Red Sea to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean already exists; it has been operating for more than 50 years. In fact, there are two pipelines between the cities: one for crude oil and one for distillates (gasoline, jet fuel, etc.). While the pipeline isn’t new, pumping Arab oil through it is, at least in such a publicly celebrated manner.

“Since the establishment of the state, Israel has been dealing with the Arab boycott and its consequences,” EAPC said in a statement. “These agreements are, in fact, the practical expression of improving relations between the State of Israel and the Gulf states.”

Then-United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was present at the signing, called it a “significant breakthrough that was made possible thanks to the Abraham Accords,” the normalization treaty signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain a month earlier.

But the agreement has encountered growing opposition from environmentalist groups and Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. The Eilat oil terminal is roughly 200 yards from coral beaches. While those favoring the deal focus on its geo-strategic importance, opponents say it poses an unacceptable risk to the coral reefs.

One of the earliest critics was environmentalist group Zalul, which issued a statement immediately after the October 2020 signing, calling the intention to bring more oil tankers to Eilat “a mortal danger.” Zalul then organized a coalition of 20 green groups to fight what they termed “the transformation of Eilat and Ashkelon into oil cities.”

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Democrats Can’t Hide Their Israel Problem By Philip Klein

By on September 24th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/09/democrats-cant-hide-their-israel-problem/#slide-1

Stripping funding for Iron Dome only makes sense if the goal is to help Hamas become more efficient at killing civilians.

F or the past decade or so, top Democrats have been desperately trying to downplay the increasing size and influence of the anti-Israel wing of the party. But it keeps getting harder to hide what’s happening. This week provided yet another stark reminder when a group of progressives banded together to force House speaker Nancy Pelosi to rip $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system out of a spending bill meant to avert a government shutdown. It’s hard to overstate what a radical turn this is for the party.

Iron Dome has been an enormously successful shield that has allowed Israel to protect its people by shooting down rockets that Palestinian terrorist groups indiscriminately fire at civilians. By limiting Israeli casualties, the system also protects Palestinian civilians. That is, were the rocket attacks more deadly, Israel would have no choice but to launch a more aggressive military campaign — and likely a ground invasion in Gaza — which would mean the loss of more lives on both sides.

But the life-saving system comes at a cost. Each time Israel intercepts a rocket, it is estimated to cost between $50,000 and $80,000. When Palestinians pursue a saturation-bombing strategy and fire thousands of rockets all over Israel, as they did in May, the price tag of defending civilians can quickly add up, so the system requires constant funding.

There is of course a principled stand one could take against foreign aid in general, or against sending more money overseas at a time when the U.S. is facing historic debt. But progressives are not making any sort of consistent argument against foreign aid and have zero concern for the national debt. If current plans being pushed by progressives pass, then Democrats will have authorized $6 trillion in new spending within the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency. That’s 6,000 times $1 billion.

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Iron Dome woes, and Yair Lapid in la-la land By Ruthie Blum   

By on September 24th, 2021

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/iron-dome-woes-and-yair-lapid-in-la-la-land-opinion-680176
Israel should be deeply concerned by the victory that was achieved on Tuesday by the progressive wing of the US House of Representatives. Rather than making excuses for the removal of a $1 billion provision for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system from a major funding bill, Jerusalem would do well to grasp the significance of the goings-on behind the scenes in Washington.

Unfortunately, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s response indicates that the new Israeli government is still clinging to a dangerous fantasy with two related prongs. One is that former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame for the “rift” created between the Democratic Party and the Jewish state. The other is that the administration of President Joe Biden is just as pro-Israel, if not more, than its predecessor, headed by Donald Trump.

The irony is inescapable.

In the first place, if anything proves that Bibi isn’t to blame for the radicalization of the American Left and its increasingly open hostility to Israel, it’s the move against the Iron Dome. The maneuver was clearly spearheaded by the so-called Squad, made up of core members Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, and joined by Jamaa Bowman and Cori Bush.

Thus far, these paragons of progressive virtue have been mum about their role in the Iron Dome issue, but they have been clear from the outset about their agenda in general and their attitude toward Israel in particular. Nor have they hidden their view of Biden as a puppet put in place initially to oust Trump, and then to sit back and not get in their way. This week, they showed that they meant business.

Secondly, Biden’s supposedly stellar record on Israel is irrelevant. He thinks that a Palestinian state is crucial for Mideast peace, and continues to push for a return to the nuclear deal with Iran.

That the anti-Netanyahu crowd in Israel was buoyed by the US president’s meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House last month is equally beside the point. The little get-together was briefly postponed due to the slaughter of 13 US servicemen and dozens of Afghans in Kabul – thanks to Biden’s hasty retreat and the Taliban’s immediate takeover.

With that debacle in the background, his pledge of “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” including “full support [for] replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome system,” rang as hollow as his vow to “ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.”
What really reverberated, however, was the caveat that “we’re putting diplomacy first and seeing where that takes us.”

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The Squalid “Squad” Is Trying to Destroy Bipartisan Support for Israel by Alan M. Dershowitz

By on September 23rd, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17783/squad-israel-bipartisan-support

The fact that the Squad picked on the Iron Dome to make its stand against Israel is significant. The Iron Dome is a system developed jointly by the United States and Israel that is purely defensive. It does not kill, injure, or threaten anyone. It only protects civilians against war crimes committed by terrorist groups that direct lethal rockets against innocent civilians.

The fact that the Squad would try to deny Israel the right to defend its civilians speaks volumes about the lack of morality and decency among Squad members and their allies.

It follows from this effort that the Squad will oppose any and all aid to Israel, including protecting its innocent civilians against Iran’s nuclear threat. The obvious goal of Squad members is to deny Israel the right to defend itself against aggression. At least one of its members has denied that Israel has the right to exist.

These bigoted actions directly violate the platform of the Democratic Party (as well as that of the Republican Party). The Democratic Party must decide whether it will become captive to its most extreme wing or whether it will marginalize these radicals who are not only anti-Israel but, in many ways, anti-American. They are intolerant of dissent and due process for those who disagree with them. They are anti-police, anti-military, and anti-free market economy.

The time has come, indeed it is long past, for the Democratic leadership to stand strong against the anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-decency squalid Squad. The leadership can no longer stand idly by the bigotry of their members. If they persist in tolerating the intolerable, they will lose the support of the all-important mainstream voters.

The “Squad” is a small group of radical members of the U.S. House of Representatives who run for Congress under the banner of the Democratic Party but do not reflect its mainstream policies. They represent niche districts that are not typical of the Democratic base. They could not be elected in any statewide race, because they lack widespread support. They were nominated because of low turnout in primaries and were elected because their districts are overwhelmingly Democrat. They are fringe Democrats who should not have influence beyond their districts. But the House leadership of the Democratic Party has exaggerated their significance and given them more power than they deserve.

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Shooting Down Israel’s Iron Dome Democrats pull funding for missile defenses that save civilian lives.

By on September 22nd, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/shooting-down-israels-iron-dome-missile-defense-democrats-nancy-pelosi-11632261494?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

The Democratic Party still likes to say it supports Israel. But on Tuesday House Democrats stripped from their government funding bill the $1 billion earmarked for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system. Facing a revolt from progressive lawmakers, and with limited time to avert a government shutdown, Speaker Nancy Pelosi buckled.

Democrats say the funding will be included in a defense bill later this year, and the moderates among them may fight for it another day. But why has the party been made to retreat? Iron Dome has enjoyed strong bipartisan support. It is a defensive system that shoots down in midair rockets fired by Hamas and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in the Gaza strip.

Hamas rockets are meant to kill Israeli civilians, but Iron Dome also saves Palestinian lives. When the rocket attacks are futile and Israeli casualties are prevented, there’s less domestic pressure on Israel’s political leaders to escalate their military response. Iron Dome was one big reason the Hamas rocket offensive in the spring did not provoke a costly Israeli ground invasion. The system’s deployment and improvement, with U.S. funding, also helps develop technology that can be used to defend Americans.

Democratic opposition to Iron Dome certainly isn’t motivated by fiscal responsibility. The progressives who put up a fight over the $1 billion are demanding the expenditure of trillions on the welfare state. Funding Iron Dome now would also fulfill President Biden’s promise to replenish Israel’s interceptors after the war with Hamas.

The funding was shot down because a growing number of Democrats oppose anything that would help Israel, even if it promotes peace. Supporters of Israel should take note. If Iron Dome can lose Democratic Party support, then there is nothing pro-Israel that won’t be in jeopardy in Congress.

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