RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19232/israel-palestinian-extremists

If [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir are “extremists” – at least in the eyes of the Americans – then under what category do Faraj and Al-Sheikh fall, as well as many other Palestinian officials who were previously involved in terrorism?

These US officials expressing concern over the rise of the far-right parties in Israel… do not seem to have any problem at all with the growing incitement and continuing terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israel. Those onslaughts against Israelis, carried out in both the West Bank and inside Israel, include shootings, stabbings, car-rammings and the hurling of rocks and firebombs.

The US officials ignore that Hamas, the Palestinian terror group whose charter openly calls for the obliteration of Israel, remains more popular than ever among Palestinians.

The students who voted for Hamas are saying that they do not recognize Israel’s right to exist; do not believe in any peace process with Israel and, like Hamas, are totally opposed to the two-state solution that the Biden administration has been advocating day and night.

Like Hamas, the students believe only in a solution that would see Israel replaced by an Iranian-backed terror state controlled by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This scenario does not seem to bother the Biden administration in the slightest.

To see what real extremism looks like, those voicing concern over the return of the right wing to power in Israel only need to catch a glimpse of what is happening under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are full of armed terrorists and gunmen who are openly stating their intention to kill Jews.

Some even say that it was precisely actions of the Palestinian terrorists that spurred this “extremist” group in Israel to win the election in the first place.

If the Biden administration wants to see real extremism, it only needs to turn its gaze to the failing state of Lebanon, now under the de facto control of Iran and its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. The Biden administration could also take a look at Syria, where tens of thousands of people have been slaughtered since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.

Real extremism is on display every day on the streets of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and the Gaza Strip; it claims the lives of Jews virtually every week.

The real extremists are also the Palestinian leaders who deprive their people of the international aid and encourage their youths to kill Jews. The real extremists are those who are responsible for firing rockets at Israeli cities from the Gaza Strip. The real extremists are those who do not believe in the right of Israel to exist and work non-stop to destroy it.

There is no comparison between the alleged extremists in Israel, and the murderous terrorists in Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is high time for the Biden administration to open its eyes to that fact.

The Biden administration has reportedly expressed reservations about the rise of far-right parties in the recent Israeli election. The administration, however, has failed to express reservations about the continuous incitement against Israel by Palestinian leaders and media outlets.

https://bit.ly/3Wd2dZg

Synopsis:

*The State Department assumes that generous diplomatic and financial gestures could induce the violently volatile Middle East to embrace peaceful-coexistence, good-faith negotiation, democracy and human rights.  However, this policy has generated tailwinds to rogue entities and headwinds to the US and its Arab allies.

*Since 1979, the State Department has espoused the diplomatic option toward Iran, assuming that the Ayatollahs are amenable to moderation. However, the diplomatic option has bolstered the Ayatollahs’ anti-US rogue strategy, posing a lethal threat to every pro-US Arab regime, undermining the US posture in Latin America, and letting down most Iranians, who aspire for a regime-change in Tehran.  

*In 2010, the State Department welcomed the turbulence on the Arab Street as “the Arab Spring,” “Facebook and youth revolution” and a “March for peace and democracy.” However, it has been another tectonic Arab Tsunami, not an Arab Spring.

*The State Department extends to Palestinian leaders red carpet reception, contrary to the shabby doormat extended to Palestinians by all pro-US Arab leaders. Arabs are aware of the intra-Arab and anti-US rogue Palestinian track record.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19181/biden-hostility-israel

The January 28, 2021 appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs of Hady Amr, a man who wrote “I was inspired by the Palestinian intifada” and who falsely accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” was a significant step that promised the worst.

Two days before that, the Biden administration not only restored relations with the Palestinian Authority, but resumed most of the financial aid that had been suspended by the Trump administration — but they failed to ask the Palestinian leaders to stop financing and supporting terrorism.

The Biden administration also announced its willingness to return to a basically fictitious “two-state solution.”

A speech by Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills, announcing these decisions, defined the “settlements” as “an obstacle to peace”. He left out that many Palestinians regard the entire state of Israel as one big settlement to be dismantled.

Since then, any construction of homes in the existing Israeli suburbs has been condemned by the State Department in the strongest terms. By contrast, the Biden administration has never made the slightest remark concerning the massive illegal Palestinian construction intended to create “facts on the ground” or “land grabs” in both the West Bank and Israel’s Negev desert.

On a more deadly front, on July 14, 2022, Biden signed a Joint Declaration on the US-Israel Strategic Partnership, and promised he would “never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon”. Since the first days of coming to power, however, on January 29, 2021, the Biden administration has done its utmost to reach a new “nuclear deal” with Iran’s mullahs that would enable them to have not only nuclear weapons, but up to $1 trillion dollars, which would quite certainly not be used for human rights.

America’s negotiators — led by Robert Malley and Russia, mediating supposedly on behalf of the US, as the Americans are not even allowed in the room — have not stopped making concessions.

For months, the Biden administration pressured Israel to accept an off-shore gas deal with Hezbollah-run Lebanon, now effectively a satrapy of Iran. The deal fundamentally alters Israel’s maritime borders, denies Israel tens of billions of dollars and allows Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist proxy, to receive billions of dollars potentially to be used to further threaten Israel.

Lebanon expert Tony Badran explained in detail that the Biden administration wants to “give as much money as possible to Lebanon” — with full knowledge that it will be money given to Hezbollah. Hezbollah is believed to have 200,000 rockets and missiles pointed at Israel. “All land and sea targets of Israel are in the range of Hezbollah missiles, ” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in July. Why is the Biden administration helping an Iranian proxy militia to get rich to destroy Israel?

The Biden administration — evidently unable to see that it was a new wave of Arab terrorism inside Israel that had most likely propelled voters to elect its new government — in a move perhaps unprecedented, then abruptly lobbied to keep some of Israel’s democratically-elected religious politicians out of government. Meanwhile, only last week, the Biden administration begged Venezuela’s illegitimate and brutal dictator, Nicolás Maduro, to sell the US its low-quality crude oil, while denying a loan to US ally Guyana, which is a producer of light, sweet oil.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan hinted that if Itamar Ben Gvir becomes a minister in Israel’s new government, they would not work with him. US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides also made clear to Netanyahu that the Biden administration was opposed to the possible appointment of Bezalel Smotrich as defense minister.

Nides recently gave a speech suggesting that if the new Israeli government deviates from the positions of the Biden administration, the relationship between the United States and Israel could suffer: “I’m confident that these men and women [in the new government] understand the importance of this bilateral relationship and understand that we have shared values ​​and everyone wants to achieve the same thing”. Is that a threat?

Just as the launching of an FBI investigation against the army of a democratic ally of the US has no precedent, the attempt to interfere in the composition of a government of a democratic ally also has no precedent.

Biden last week said that he wanted to upgrade U.S. ties with the Palestinian Authority, and promoted Hady Amr to a new post: special envoy to the Palestinians. Amr met members of the outgoing Israeli government and said that his mission is to “strengthen the Palestinian Authority”. He did not say a single word about the increase of shootings, stabbings, firebombs, and stoning attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem and in the West Bank; on the recent Jerusalem bus stop bombings, or that the PA continues to finance terrorism and murdering Israeli Jews.

The time when support for Israel in the United States was bipartisan is unfortunately over. The Biden administration’s proclamations of friendship toward Israel cannot hide actions of relentless hostility. While the Republican Party now has pro-Israeli positions, the Democratic Party includes representatives who not only hate Israel but do not even try to deny it.

Ilhan Omar wrote tweets saying that “Israel has hypnotized the world”, and adding “may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel”. Rashida Tlaib spoke of the “brutal apartheid government of Israel”. Their party did not disavow them.

That there are 57 Democratic house members to ask the FBI and the State Department to launch an investigation into Israel, apparently with a desire to harm Israel, is a reality that Israel must urgently take into account.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/biden-and-blinken-poke-israel-in-the-eye/

It’s no secret that the Biden Administration is deeply disappointed that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and its coalition partners, won enough seats in the Knesset to assure Netanyahu of becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister. Netanyahu is seen by the Bidenites as too unyielding, insufficiently willing to placate either the Palestinians or, for that matter, the Americans. And the Bidenites have been poking Israel in the eye ever since the election. The latest manifestation of this is Tony Blinken’s decision to give the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the leftist Jewish group, J Street, which claims to support Israel (“Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace, Pro-Democracy” is its motto), but it appears to many observers that J Street’s support depends on the Jewish state agreeing to be squeezed back within the 1949 armistice lines.

Daniel Greenfield wrote about Blinken’s J Street appearance at Jihad Watch here. More on his appearance, and other Bidenite pokes in Israel’s eye, can be found here: “Welcome, Bibi: Blinken To Headline Anti-Israel J Street Conference,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, December 1, 2022:

…A State Department spokesman told the Free Beacon that Blinken’s engagement with anti-Israel groups like J Street is an “important part” of the agency’s mission.

“It is routine for the secretary of state to engage with different civil society groups representing a broad array of foreign policy interests, this is an important part of the State Department’s domestic outreach,” the spokesman said.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19183/us-funds-destroy-israel

What is disturbing is that a large portion of this incitement is coming from Arabs whose governments signed peace treaties or other agreements with Israel: Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians.

What is even more disturbing is that the hate against Israel is coming from Arabs who continue to benefit from unconditional US financial aid.

The Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, continues to spearhead the Arab campaign of incitement and delegitimization against Israel. In addition to the incendiary rhetoric, the Palestinian Authority does not hide its vehement opposition to any kind of peace with Israel.

In its latest tirade against Israel, Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction claimed that the Israeli counter-terrorism measures, designed to save the lives of Jews and Arabs alike, are acts of “terrorism and war crimes.” According to the logic of the Palestinian Authority, a terror attack against Israel is legitimate and the perpetrator is a hero and martyr, but an Israeli action to stop terrorism is illegitimate.

This is the same Palestinian Authority that maintains good relations with the Biden administration, which recently decided to upgrade US relations with Abbas and his associates….

[T]he allegation that Israel is committing “war crimes” can be seen as a direct call to Palestinians to engage in violence against Israelis. The “war crimes” libel is also intended for Western audiences as part of the campaign to delegitimize Israel and pave the way for prosecuting its leaders before international courts.

It is worth noting that since April 2021, the US has provided more than half a billion dollars in assistance for the Palestinians.

If the US thinks that showering money and concessions on the Palestinian leaders will lessen the tension, you heard it here first: this approach definitely will not work. All that will happen is that the hostilities will increase so that the bribes will increase. Giving hard, concrete gifts in exchange for soft promises is inevitably doomed from the start.

The reason for referring Zaidan to be investigated was because had announced that he was willing to lecture at an Israeli university. He is also suspected of having expressed support for establishing relations between Egyptian and Israeli intellectuals.

Egypt has enjoyed the benefit of more than $51 billion in US taxpayer-funded military aid since the signing of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1979.

Again, it is worth noting that this incitement against Israel is being spread despite the ongoing massive US financial aid to Jordan.

One way to counter this campaign of hate and to encourage peace is for the US to make its aid conditional on ending (or at least reducing) the rhetoric of hate. So far, however, it is clear that the US has no intention of demanding anything in return for its money.

For the time being, then, many Arabs will continue to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the US while continuing actively to seek the destruction of Israel and being financially rewarded for it.

Some Israeli journalists who travelled to Qatar to report on the soccer World Cup were harassed and verbally abused by Arabs from several countries. The journalists were told that Israel has no right to exist and that most Arabs are opposed to any form of normalization with Israelis.

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/dec/3/biden-adopts-palestinian-cause/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=

President Biden inherited a Middle East that posed the greatest opportunities for stability, if not peace, in almost six decades. Former President Donald Trump’s 2018 revocation of the Obama nuclear weapons deal with Iran and imposition of severe economic sanctions on it backfooted the terrorist state. The Arab nations, terrified by the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, saw Mr. Trump’s Abraham Accords as the best chance to align themselves with the U.S. and Israel, the only regional power able to face up to Iran.

As this column has pointed out before, Mr. Biden and his team are intent on undoing everything Mr. Trump did, no matter how good it was. Mr. Biden’s attempt to negotiate a new version of the 2015 Iran deal has returned the Arab states to skepticism about our reliability as an ally. Mr. Biden’s new embrace of the Palestinians is a clear message to the Arabs that he is backing away from the Abraham Accords.

In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was committed to “advancing and expanding” those accords. But actions and statements by himself and Mr. Biden, before and since, demonstrate commitment to the opposite policy.

It must take ingenuity to be as precisely wrong as Mr. Blinken often is. For example, he said in March that the Abraham Accords, through which four Arab states establish ties with Israel, are “not a substitute” for progress on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.