News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Secretary of State Tillerson: Palestinian Authority Intends to Stop Paying Families of Terrorists - Joe Tacopino
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority has reversed their policy of paying the families of terrorists who have been jailed for attacking Israelis.
"We have been very clear with them that this is simply not acceptable to us," Tillerson said. "They have changed that policy and their intent is to cease the payments to the families of those who have committed murder or violence against others." (New York Post)
See also Fatah: Stopping Payment to Families of "Martyrs" and Prisoners Is Out of the Question
Husein Al-Sheikh, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, told PA TV on May 7: "The Israelis conducted a powerful campaign, especially with regard to...the salaries paid by the PLO to the prisoners and the families of the martyrs....All the American and other parties talked to Mahmoud Abbas about this, and his response was decisive. We said that this issue was not up for discussion at all....The chairman's response was categorically opposed." (MEMRI-TV)
See also Israel: Palestinians Continuing to Pay Salaries to Convicted Terrorists - Raphael Ahren
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said on Wednesday that "Israel is unaware of any change in the Palestinian policy, which continues to pay families of terrorists." (Times of Israel)
See also Did the Palestinians Stop Payments to Terrorist Convicts and Martyrs' Families? - Yoni Ben-Menachem
Past experience shows that what Mahmoud Abbas says to American officials and to the press is quite different from what the Palestinian Authority puts into practice. Abbas did order the cessation of payments to 277 released Hamas convicts in Gaza, but that action emanates from an internal Palestinian political feud.
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
- Swiss Parliament Votes to End Funding of Anti-Semitic NGOs
The Swiss Council of States, the upper house of Parliament, on Tuesday approved legislation passed by the lower house in March that directs the government to "amend the laws, ordinances and regulations" to prevent funding to NGOs "involved in racist, anti-Semitic or hate incitement actions."
A primary channel for Swiss funding to NGOs is the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, a joint funding mechanism of Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The Secretariat has funded Israeli and Palestinian NGOs that engage in "lawfare" against Israeli officials and companies that do business with Israel, promote BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, exploit the false "apartheid" analogy to demonize Israel, and/or promote anti-Semitic propaganda.
The Secretariat disbursed $14 million to NGOs in 2014-16: 65% of Secretariat funding is provided to NGOs that are BDS leaders. "We are seeing a dramatic and broad change in a number of European countries, with the Swiss vote following on the heels of Denmark's decision to freeze funding to Palestinian NGOs, pending an investigation," said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president at NGO Monitor.
(NGO Monitor)
See also The Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (NGO Monitor)
- London Mayor Sadiq Khan Sought Israel's Advice on Fighting Terror - Justin Cohen
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has sought advice from Israel about how to better combat terrorism after the Manchester and London Bridge attacks. He said in an interview that both his office and Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of national counter-terrorism policing, have been in touch with officials in Israel. (Jewish News-UK)
- PA Warns of Israeli Penetration in Africa
The Palestinian Authority ambassador at the Arab League, Jamal Al-Shoubaki, warned on Monday of Israeli penetration in Africa, Anadolu has reported. "Israel has been marketing itself as a state that offers solutions for the crises of the neighboring countries," he said. He revealed that Israel currently maintains good relations with 45 African countries; in 1974, that figure was just five. (Middle East Monitor)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Restores Diplomatic Ties with New Zealand - Herb Keinon
Israel announced on Tuesday that it was sending its ambassador back to New Zealand, ending a six-month diplomatic crisis sparked by New Zealand's co-sponsorship of anti-settlement UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in December. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone a few days ago with New Zealand's Prime Minister Bill English. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said English wrote a letter saying that he regretted "the damage done to Israel-New Zealand relations as a result of New Zealand proposing Resolution 2334 at the Security Council."
New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully, believed to be the driving force behind his country's sponsorship of the UN resolution, was replaced on May 2 by Gerry Brownlee. (Jerusalem Post)
- Egypt Said to Offer Hamas Electricity in Exchange for 17 Wanted Men - Dov Lieber
Egypt offered Hamas more freedom at its border and much-needed electricity amid a severe power shortage, in exchange for its agreement to a list of security demands, Asharq al-Awsat reported Tuesday. The list includes a demand that Hamas hand over 17 men wanted by Cairo on terrorism charges, the cessation of weapons smuggling into Sinai, and information on the movement of militants into Gaza via tunnels. Egypt accuses Hamas of aiding Islamic State fighters in Sinai. (Times of Israel)
- West Bank Water Theft by Palestinians - Jacob Magid
The Shiloh pipeline, which provides water to the Jewish community of Migdalim as well as to nearby Palestinian villages, was shut off last week by Israel's water authority. The government unit that oversees water distribution in the West Bank explained, "In light of the reoccurring water theft from this line, the water supply was not reaching Migdalim and therefore the water flow was stopped. The water theft epidemic is a serious one that harms the residents of Judea and Samaria, Israelis and Palestinians alike. Since the beginning of 2017, Civil Administration teams have disconnected over 400 pirated water line connections."
The activity of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee has recently been renewed, following five years in which the Palestinian side refused to promote projects to improve the water infrastructure in the area. (Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
- Why Won't Abbas Accept "Two States for Two Peoples"? - Alan M. Dershowitz
There is a widespread but false belief that Mahmoud Abbas is finally prepared to accept the two-state solution proposed by the UN in November 1947.
The Arabs of Palestine rejected the division of mandatory Palestine and declared that they would never accept a state for the Jewish people along with statehood for the Palestinian people. They wanted for there not to be a state for the Jewish people more than for there to be a state for their own people. That is why Abbas refuses to say that he would ever accept the principle of two states for two peoples. I know because I have personally asked him on several occasions.
The general idea of a two-state solution - which Abbas has nominally supported - does not specify that one state would be for the Jewish people and the other one for the Arabs. In a 2003 interview he said: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I will never recognize the Jewishness of the state, or a 'Jewish state.'" Abbas is, of course, committed to Palestine being a Muslim state under Sharia law.
It is a tragedy that the international community encourages the Palestinian Authority's rejectionism, rather than pushing it to make the painful compromises that will be needed from both sides in reaching a negotiated two-state outcome.
The writer is professor of law, emeritus, at Harvard Law School.
(Gatestone Institute)
- The Invention of Eternal "Refugeeism" Serves as a Tool for Israel's Destruction - Daniel Friedmann
After World War II, Eastern European countries deported residents of German descent in numbers that exceeded by far the number of Arabs who fled the State of Israel's boundaries in the War of Independence. The exiled Germans were absorbed as immigrants in their new country and did not become refugees. The same thing happened when, following the Indo-Pakistani war, millions of people became refugees and were absorbed as immigrants in the places they arrived at within years.
The Arab refugees from the War of Independence are a unique phenomenon. The Arab states they arrived in (apart from Jordan) refused to take them in, held them in refugee camps, which still exist, and convinced the UN to create a special agency for those refugees with a system in which "refugee" status is passed on from one generation to the next.
The children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the original refugees were all raised on hatred of Israel and have become an inexhaustible source for recruiting fighters to terror organizations.
The invention of eternal "refugeeism" was aimed to serve as one of the tools for Israel's destruction and has become an obstacle to peace.
The Palestinian leadership says it wants peace, yet it keeps supporting the right of return (which will lead to Israel's destruction). Peace with Israel and the right of return cannot live under the same roof.
Prof. Daniel Friedmann served as Israel's justice minister from 2007 to 2009. (Ynet News)
- Civilian Self-Defense Is Essential to Combat Modern Terrorism - Uriel Lynn
The best intelligence will not be good enough and the most capable police force will not be able to fully protect the populace from terrorist attacks. Europe's approach to fighting terrorism neglects an extremely important dimension: civilian self-defense. It will not deter terrorist attacks nor will it entirely prevent casualties - but it will certainly reduce the losses.
We have seen this on many occasions in Israel, where during many terrorist attacks it has been armed civilians that shot down the terrorists and ended the massacre. The model should not be the U.S., where any individual can purchase firearms, but rather Israel, where qualified individuals, on a selective basis, are granted permission to carry firearms. The writer, former chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, is president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. (Jerusalem Post)
- Indian Navy Chief Pays Tribute to Indian Soldiers Who Liberated Haifa in WWI
Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Wednesday paid tribute to the Indian soldiers buried in a cemetery in Haifa, Israel. Haifa was liberated by the Indian Army's Mysore and Jodhpur Lancers on September 23, 1918, in a famous cavalry charge. (Press Trust of India)
Observations:
The Six-Day War: Costs vs. Benefits for Israel - Efraim Inbar (Middle East Quarterly)
- Israel's astounding military victory in June 1967 was a key factor in driving parts of the Arab world to confront the reality of Jewish statehood.
Israel's victory transformed the international discourse about the country's future borders, with the June 1967 line becoming the starting point for any such discussion. This represented a sea change for Israel, whose neighbors had previously refused to accept its very existence.
- Control of the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley gave Israel far better military lines of defense than it had before 1967. The IDF's presence on Mount Hermon enables the gathering of intelligence on goings-on in Syria. Without Israel's defense line on the Golan, the Syrians would have managed to invade its territory in the October 1973 war, with tragic consequences. Instead, the security margins provided by the Golan allowed the IDF to contain the Syrian offensive, regroup, and move onto the counterattack.
- Expectations that a newly-established Palestinian state in the West Bank will meet its contractual peace obligations and refrain from siding with Israel's enemies in future military confrontations, let alone refrain from wholesale anti-Israel terrorism, run counter to the Palestinian modus operandi during the past 24 years, as well as the relentless Palestinian commitment to Israel's destruction in flagrant violation of their contractual obligations in the Oslo accords.
- The Palestinians' unhappy situation is primarily self-inflicted. Rather than promote a real quest for independence and nation-building, Palestinian leaders, from the 1920s to the present day, have gone from one disaster to another while lining their pockets from the proceeds of this misery.
- While Israel can agree that the West Bank's densely populated areas (designated as areas A and B by the Oslo Accords), where most of the Palestinian population lives, could become an independent political entity or be annexed to Jordan as part of a bilateral peace agreement, maintaining military control over the area west of the Jordan River is essential for Israel's national security (and for Jordanian security for that matter).
The writer is professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and founding director of its Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
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