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US President Donald Trump called Iran’s bluff and won | Stuff

US President, Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump is not a strategy man. He has made clear he doesn’t like to think too far down the road; he likes to govern by instinct.

In short, he is a tactical leader, a Twitter president. Tactical leaders tend to make mistakes, largely because they cannot see the long-term implications of their decisions.

On Iran, however, President Donald Trump has not made a mistake.

His tactical game has worked, at least for the moment. He has called Iran’s bluff, taken out one of its most valuable leaders and, so far, made the correct calculation that Tehran will not risk a wider war with the United States.

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→ 6 January 2020
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What the killing of the top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani means for Jews, the US and Israel | JTA

Crowds gather for Suleimani’s Funeral Procession

A U.S. strike on a vehicle near Baghdad airport early Friday morning killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most influential military commander. Soleimani was the leader of the Iranian Quds Force, which had ties to American and Israeli enemies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and was directly responsible for some of the actions against Israel in Hezbollah’s war against the Jewish state in 2006.

Washington has been gripped by talk about what comes next — a real war between the U.S. and Iran? Iranian strikes on Israel? a string reaction of chaos across the Middle East? — but little actual insight as to what may ensue.

Still, there are already signs that one possible outcome is being taken seriously: attacks on domestic targets, including Jewish ones, like the gathering this weekend of what could be thousands of Jews to protest anti-Semitism in New York City. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter that he had spoken with top police officials about “immediate steps” the NYPD will take to protect key city locations from “any attempt by Iran or its terrorist allies to retaliate against America.”

Here’s what you need to know about the assassination, and what it means for American Jews and Israel.

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→ 19 December 2019
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Why you should know San Remo | IFF

League of Nations Delegates who attended the San Remo Conference, April 1920

Many people know the Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 and the U.N. Vote on the Partition Plan on Nov. 29, 1947 as the two main international political events that led to Israel’s Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948.

On December 11, 1917, which was the eve of Hanukkah, General Allenby led the British troops into Jerusalem. Allenby was hailed as the savior of the Jews, especially in light of the fact that one month earlier Britain had issued the Balfour Declaration.

However, there is a misconception that the Balfour Declaration was just a letter of intent, and not a binding legal document. The reason for this misconception is that most people are not aware of the San Remo Conference which took place on April 19, 1920, lasted for seven days and published its resolutions on April 25, 1920. These seven days laid the political foundation for the creation of the 22 Arab League States and the one and only Jewish State of Israel.

The full text of the Balfour Declaration became an integral part of the San Remo resolution and the British Mandate for Palestine, thereby transforming it from a letter of intent into a legally-binding foundational document under international law.

Did the Arabs oppose the creation of a Jewish State at San Remo? The answer is a resounding NO!

Emir Feisal and Chaim Weizmann, 1918.
Dr Chaim Weizmann (left) and Emir Faisal of Iraq

At that time they were focused on the creation of independent Arab states and had no objection to the establishment of a tiny Jewish state in Palestine. This was formalized in the Weizmann-Feisal agreement which led to the League of Nations recognizing the Land of Israel (then Palestine) as the homeland of the Jewish people.

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→ 19 November 2019
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Trump administration says Israel’s West Bank settlements do not violate international law | Washington Post

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Monday that Israeli settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law.

Pompeo said the Trump administration, as it did with recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, had simply “recognized the reality on the ground.”

In remarks to reporters at the State Department, he said the administration was overturning actions taken late in the Obama administration, which for the first time declined to veto a United Nations resolution calling for the dismantlement of West Bank settlements.

Instead, Pompeo said, the administration said it was returning to policy under the administration of Ronald Reagan, who declined to characterize settlements as illegal but called them “ill-advised” and an obstacle to peace.

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→ 14 November 2019
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The Myth of the Thirsty Palestinian | The Tower

The latest line of anti-Israel attack claims the Jewish state withholds water from the Palestinians. As usual, the haters have their facts wrong.

The issue of water rights in the West Bank is constantly raised in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, appearing again and again in public discourse around the world. According to critics of Israel, the Jewish state selfishly exploits the area’s water supplies and denies access to the local population. In doing so, the critics say, Israel is not only abandoning its responsibilities to the West Bank Palestinians, but ruthlessly and illegally abusing the natural resources of the occupied territory. This idea has become extremely widespread in the international media, and was recently voiced from the Knesset plenum by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, causing a minor scandal in Israel and abroad.

As with all attacks on Israel, the truth is much more complicated and, to a great extent, precisely the opposite of what the critics claim. When one examines the relevant data, it becomes clear that, under Israeli rule, the Palestinian water supply has become larger, more technologically sophisticated, of higher quality, and much easier to access; almost entirely due to Israeli efforts.

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→ 5 November 2019
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Lone Soldier | Mishpacha

Youssef Haddad

Youssef Haddad is an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, he is the son of a Christian-Arab minister, and he has dedicated his life to defending Israel’s reputation on the world stage.

At 34, he’s in much demand among journalists in Israel and on news networks around the world.

After all, an Arab who’s become a champion of Israel, even as a good number of Israelis themselves are not shy about condemning their own country’s policies as they ally with avowed enemies, is newsworthy.

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→ 16 October 2019
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Abbas: Elections for you but not for me | AIR

Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas was elected in January 2005 and is in the fifteenth year of his “four-year” term, so you’d think the last thing his Fatah party would want to do is call more attention to the fact that Palestinians have not had any elections since 2006.  But you’d be wrong.

Ahead of the September 17 Israeli election, Fatah’s Facebook page posted 11 different posters calling on Arabs to vote — in Israel.

Among the slogans promoted on the page by Fatah were “Your representation in the Knesset will work to restore yoru status — VOTE!” and “Your vote — your future” and “Please note:  If you do not vote your vote will go to the [Israeli] right.”

This message was also pervasive in Palestinian Authority (PA) media, including PA-aligned newspapers.  One day before the election, an article in the newspaper  Al-Hayat al-Jadida  by Muhammad Ali Taha read “Avoiding [Arab] voting is [Israeli PM Binyamin] Netanyahu’s goal because he is scared of the Arab vote, so go down to the polls and contribute to his downfall.”

In the same paper, columnist Omar Halmi al-Ghul wrote “Non-voting works for the benefit of the Zionist colonial forces… So we should all demand that our public vote and participate massively.”

The irony of calling for Arabs in Israel to vote while their own people in the West Bank have not had an election in almost a decade and a half has not been lost on Palestinians.  They have reportedly been flooding social media with responses along the lines of — “They should vote?  What about us?”  and ending their posts with the trending hashtag (in Arabic): #wewantelections.

Source:  Australia-Israel Review, October 2019, page 11.

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→ 16 October 2019
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Israel could get an Unity Government |AIR

While the make up of Israel’s next government remains unclear, what was striking in the aftermath of the September 17 election is that Israel’s democracy remains alive and feisty.

firstly, despite an unprecedented second election within five months and widespread predictions of higher voter apathy, voter turnout increased 2% from April’s poll to around 69%.

Secondly, Arab-Israelis showed their desire to participate in Israel’s democratic process. Bouncing back from a low turnout in April, approximately 10% more Arab Israelis voted this time around.

Moreover, highlighting the absurdity of critics alleging “apartheid” in Israel, the Arab-dominated Joint List now holds the third-largest number of seats in the Knesset (13, up from 10), is an active participant in the horse trading to form a new government, and its head, Ayman Odeh, may possibly become the country’s official opposition leader.

Thirdly, ultra-orthodox party Otzma Yehudit, followers of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, again failed to win any seats – a welcome outcome for a party whose extremism and racism deserve no place in the Israeli mainstream.

Meanwhile, the results — Blue and White winning 33 seats, Likud with 31 — have seen most commentators agree that a national unity government is the most likely outcome of the coalition negotiations which follow any Israeli election. This may also be a good outcome.

Unity governments have frequently governed Israel in the past and the results have been mixed. Some broad-based coalition governments have become virtually paralysed with infighting. However, unity governments have also served Israel well at times of grave national challenge, such as the Six Day War in 1967, or the hyper-inflation crisis of the mid-80s.

Today, there are grave and persistent security threats to Israel from the north and Gaza — all of which derive from Iran and its local proxies. While these threats are not new, there is good reason to believe that they are reaching a critical turning point — suggesting that a united government reaching across the political spectrum might be the best way for Israel to confront these challenges.

Source: Rubinstein, C (October 2019). Australia Israel Review. Page 4. Abridge.

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→ 7 October 2019
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Cumin v Minto public debate: recording available

On October 3, David Cumin (Israel Institute of NZ) and John Minto (Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa), met in a highly anticipated debate over Differing Perspectives of Israel. 

Held at the University of Auckland, it attracted a full house of some 170; so full that people filled the area around the podium.

Well moderated by Rosslyn Noonan, NZ’s former Human Rights Commissioner, the deep feeling of each debater’s supporters threatened to break out into chaos at times. 

Minto idealistically promoted a one-state solution where both Arab and Jew enjoyed the rights of democratic citizenship in peace. 

Cumin supported a two-state solution where both peoples could seek self-determination.  Having said that it looked like he didn’t believe this had much chance of ever succeeding as Arab leaders continue to seek a “river to the sea” solution.

The first public debate on Israel in many years, it served as a release valve for many of the pent up emotions evoked by the issue. 

Hopefully there will be further loan opportunities for public discourse, each one perhaps more focused on different aspects of the many-facted issue. 

A video recording of the event and each debater’s opening remarks may be found here.

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→ 13 August 2019
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NZ, Israel and UNRWA w/ Stephen Hoadley | 95BFM

Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley, University of Auckland

NZFOI: After interviewing John Minto, 95BFM was criticized for a lack of balance in their interview of John Minto. In response to that criticism, the station interviewed Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley, a lecturer in International Relations from the University of Auckland.

You can listen to it here.

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