Prepared for the Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish Organizations

by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

DAILY ALERT
Tuesday,
December 11, 2018
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

  • Ohio Man Arrested for Planning Attack on Toledo Synagogue - Eli Rosenberg
    Damon M. Joseph, 21, was arrested Friday and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State by planning an attack on a synagogue in Toledo, federal officials announced Monday. After Joseph posted photographs of weapons and messages in support of the Islamic State on his social media accounts, undercover FBI agents began corresponding with him.
        After a gunman killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Joseph told an undercover agent that he "admire[d] what the guy did with the shooting....I can see myself carrying out this type of operation inshallah [if Allah wills it]." On Dec. 4, he said he was deciding between two synagogues in the area, saying the choice depended on "which one will have the most people."  (Washington Post)
  • U.S.: Hizbullah Terror Tunnels "Violate the Most Basic Premise of Sovereignty"
    Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo told talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Monday: "The United States fully supports Israel's right and we do our best to support their capability to defend themselves from Iranian aggression. These tunnels are Iranian-connected Lebanese Hizbullah efforts to violate the most basic premise of sovereignty, of national sovereignty, that is, digging tunnels onto someone's terrain."  (U.S. State Department)
        See also IDF Releases Audio of Hizbullah Digging into Israel - Judah Ari Gross
    The IDF on Monday released audio recordings of the sounds of Hizbullah tunneling into Israeli territory from southern Lebanon. So far, the IDF has uncovered two tunnels dug by Hizbullah into Israeli territory and it is aware of additional tunnels. (Times of Israel)
  • Revolutionary Guard Commander: Iran Can Expand Range of Missiles beyond 2,000 Km.
    Brig.-Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, said Monday in Tehran that Iran enjoys the technology to increase the range of its missiles beyond the present 2,000 km. "We have the capability to build missiles with higher ranges. The digit, 2,000 km., is not a divine decree."
        He said Iran doesn't feel restrained regarding the range of its missiles because of any agreement. He noted that many enemy bases are 300-400 km. away from Iran, while another group of enemy targets are distanced 700-800 km. from the country.
        Hajizadeh blasted the West's pressures on Iran to limit the country's missile program and regional presence, saying, "Europe and the U.S. are the two blades of the same pair of scissors to pressure the Iranian nation."  (Fars-Iran)
  • Israeli Company to Add 200 More Jobs in Indiana - Tom Maccabe
    Omen International, a subsidiary of Israel-based Omen Casting, plans to add up to 200 additional jobs at its Richmond, Ind., plant by 2022. About 100 people currently work at the Richmond facility, which makes aluminum parts for the auto industry. (RTV6-Indianapolis)

  • News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

  • 38% of Jews in Europe Are Thinking about Leaving - Eldad Beck
    Growing anti-Semitism has prompted 38% of European Jews to consider leaving Europe, a new report by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reveals. 89% of Jews surveyed said that anti-Semitism in the EU had risen significantly in the past five years, with 85% saying that anti-Semitism was the most serious problem they faced. 30% said they had personally experienced anti-Semitic attacks. Most of these were people whose appearance identified them as Jews.
        80% said they had refrained from reporting anti-Semitic incidents. A third said they chose to stay away from Jewish events or Jewish institutions out of fear for their safety. (Israel Hayom)
        See also The Latest Poll on Anti-Semitism in Europe Looks Bad. Trust Me: It's True. - Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA)
        See also Four Out of Five British Jews Believe Anti-Semitism Has Infected UK Politics - James Crisp (Telegraph-UK)
  • U.S. Slams UN Failure to Condemn Hamas after West Bank Terror Attack
    U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, responding to the latest West Bank terror shooting of 7 Israelis, tweeted Monday: "@UN This is what you defended last week when you failed to condemn Hamas. Hamas praises yet another terror attack. You had the ability to help fight against terror. Is this what the UN wants its legacy to be?...President Abbas, will you condemn this time?"
        U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said: "Another vile act of #Palestinian terrorism last night included the shooting of a pregnant woman. Hamas calls the shooters 'heroic' - yes, the same #Hamas that the @UN could not resolve to condemn last week....The #US stands with #Israel against terrorists even if others won't." (i24News)
  • Palestinian Terror Attacks in West Bank on the Rise - Yaniv Kubovich
    Since September, there have been 10 terror attacks in the West Bank, compared with seven shooting incidents on roads around Ramallah and Jerusalem during the first half of 2018, senior Israeli security officials say.
        A senior officer in the IDF Central Command said Hamas has plotted more attacks than before, but Hamas-sponsored attacks are easier to foil since they involve more extensive planning and networks, as compared to "lone-wolf" attacks. (Ha'aretz)
  • Israeli Border Police Foil Car-Ramming Attack in West Bank - Judah Ari Gross
    Israeli Border Police shot dead a Palestinian driver who tried to ram his car into them in Idhna, outside of Hebron in the West Bank, on Tuesday. The Palestinian driver ran through a checkpoint and then tried to run into Border Police troops before they opened fire at the vehicle. (Times of Israel)
  • Peace Index: 3/4 of Israelis Don't Foresee a Peace Deal with the Palestinians - Profs. Ephraim Yaar and Tamar Hermann
    76% of both Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs do not believe that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will lead to peace in the coming years, according to the Peace Index survey of Israeli opinion taken on Nov. 27-28, 2018. (Tel Aviv University and Israel Democracy Institute)

  • Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

  • Continued PA Payments to Terrorists in 2018 Underscore Need to Implement New Israeli Law - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
    The Palestinian Authority budget for 2018 includes $155 million for payments to prisoners and $185 million for the families of "martyrs" and wounded. Dedicating around $340 million to arrested Palestinian terrorists and "martyrs" forms 7% of the overall PA budget.
        The U.S. Taylor Force Act, passed in March 2018, has already led to the cessation of American aid to the Palestinian Authority, except for support to the Palestinian security forces. A similar Israeli law to withhold funds from the PA due to support for terrorists and their families is to be implemented in January 2019. The writer, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division, is Director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
  • Is Israel Forging Secret Ties with Sudan? - Adnan Abu Amer
    Israel's Channel 2 reported on Nov. 25 that Prime Minister Netanyahu's next visit to an Arab country will be to Sudan. "Sudan is worried about being in Israel's bad graces, especially since it is surrounded with states that have normal relations with the Jewish state, including Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia as well as Eritrea," said Osama al-Ashqar, political adviser at the Rasid Group for Researches & Sciences in Sudan. The writer heads the Political Science and Media Department of Umma University Open Education in Gaza. (Al-Monitor)
        See also Netanyahu: Israeli Planes Can Fly over Sudan (Reuters)
  • CUNY's Anti-Semitism Problem and the Campaign to Fire Michael Goldstein - Armin Rosen
    For the past 10 months, Michael Goldstein, an administrator and adjunct professor in the business department of Kingsborough Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, has been the target of a sustained campaign calling for his termination.
        While some of the content on Goldstein's Facebook page could be considered off-color or insensitive, it is debatable whether 10 months of anti-Goldstein flyers, vandalism, and tire-nailings would be a proportionate, constructive, or justifiable response - let alone whether it is a legal predicate for firing an employee at a public educational institution, absent even a single credible complaint from students or colleagues or a violation of the school's nondiscrimination policies. (Tablet)

  • Observations:


  • The United States is doing an invaluable service to the West by resolutely confronting Iran with crippling economic sanctions. Though they might not even realize it today, the nations of the free world - and the people of Iran themselves - will look back and thank this U.S. administration for the strategic clarity guiding its Iran policy.
  • The threat posed by Iran to Israel and to most of the Arab world is imminent. There is a reason Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and other countries in the region support the tough U.S. policy on Iran: Iran's attempt to assert regional hegemony and spread its revolutionary ideology through terror proxies and massively building up its missile arsenal poses an acute danger.
  • Under the direction of Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, Iranian operatives work closely with Hamas counterparts on Lebanese soil in order to synchronize a future attack on Israel from Lebanon and Gaza. Over the last decade, the Quds Force has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for their military buildup in Gaza.
  • But the Iranian threat is not restricted to the Middle East. In recent months, Israel has repeatedly conveyed real-time intelligence to European governments to thwart imminent terrorist attacks by Iranian operatives on European soil.
  • Disunity and muddled strategic thinking are always seen in only one way by the world's malign powers: as an opportunity. Fumbling the ball on Iran will have dire consequences down the road, which far exceed the threat of Iran itself. But when the nations of the free world pool their energies, speak in unison and act in concert, no force of tyranny is powerful enough to withstand.