U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING, LED BY TRUMP, TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON IRAN

MAYA MARGIT / THE MEDIA LINE

Experts expect the US president to use the occasion to mobilize international support for renewed economic sanctions.

Members of the United Nations Security Council observe a moment of silence for those killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday, before the start of a UN Security Council meeting concerning the violence at the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip, at United Nations headquarters, May 15. (photo credit: DREW ANGERER / AFP)

United States President Donald Trump will later this month chair a high-level United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, in a bid to tighten the diplomatic screws on Iran. The American leader is expected to use the session to focus the spotlight on Tehran’s regional expansionism through its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen; its ballistic missile program; and its global arm sales—all of which, according to the Trump administration, violate existing UNSC resolutions.

“We want to make sure that [the Iranians] understand the world is watching [and] that is the biggest reason for this meeting,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley explained, leading analysts to posit that the primary American goal is to continue ratcheting up pressure on the mullahs.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the US president of hypocrisy, tweeting, “There’s only one UNSC resolution on Iran. @realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same. Now he plans to abuse [the rotating] presidency of [the Security Council which Washington holds in September] to divert a session—item devoted to Palestine for 70 yrs—to blame Iran for horrors US & clients have unleashed across M.E. #chutzpah.”

Zarif was referring to the unanimous adoption in July 2015 of UNSC resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal—and President Trump’s subsequent unilateral withdrawal from the pact in May.

Washington has to date failed to condemn Iran in the Security Council due to the veto power of the latter’s backers Russia and China. This past February, for example, Moscow torpedoed a US bid to denounce Tehran for shipping weaponry to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“[President Trump] is looking to mobilize the support of the international community, especially the signatories of the Iran nuclear deal,” with regards to economic sanctions, Dr. Raz Zimmt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, asserted to The Media Line.

“[The Iranians] consider Trump’s appearance as a provocation and they expect him to use this opportunity to attack Iran,” he elaborated. “The main question is whether Trump wants to use this opportunity to arrange a meeting with [Iranian] President Hassan Rouhani, assuming he will be attending. We still don’t know because Zarif might be sent instead. My assessment is that Tehran will [anyways] never agree to that meeting.

“All we will see is continued anti-Iranian rhetoric so I don’t think [Trump’s speech] will change anything in particular,” Dr. Zimmt predicted.

“Each side is just going to use this opportunity to express their stance.” Dr. Eldad Pardo, an Iran expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, stressed to The Media Line that reining in Tehran is a “major foreign policy issue for the US” and that the UNSC meeting would be geared towards getting the Islamic Republic back to the negotiating table.

“Trump wants to change Iran’s behavior by exerting a lot of pressure on it,” he explained. “Most of all, the US would like to see Iran give up its nuclear ambitions” and destabilizing activities in the region.

“In order to pressure Iran, you need to rebuild the crippling sanctions and for this you need an international coalition,” Dr. Zimmt noted, arguing that other nations would likely abide by Washington’s demands in order to maintain crucial diplomatic and trade ties.

A second batch of US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector will take effect in November, with a report this week by Oxford Economics suggesting that the new penalties will “cripple the [Iranian] economy” which could to contract by as much as 4 percent next year.

President Trump on Wednesday contended that Iran is in “total turmoil” and that the Iranian regime is now “just worrying about [its] own survival.”

The Security Council session is slated to take place on September 26 during the annual opening of UN General Assembly in New York.

Charles Bybelezer contributed to this report.

A GREATER THREAT TO ISRAEL THAN IRAN:
THE DECEPTION OF NGOS

MIKE EVANS

My question is this: If the EU or other countries attempted to use NGOs to influence politics in the United States, what would be the outcome?

BDS. (photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)

In direct opposition to President Donald Trump’s renewed sanctions against Iran, the European Union has made the grandiose offer of $20.7 million in aid to the Ayatollah Khamanei and his terrorist regime. Mr. Trump made the decision to reinstate the measures in order to halt Iran’s threat of furthering its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Brian Hook, US special envoy on Iran was highly critical of the move by the EU. According to Hook, it is “the wrong message at the wrong time.” He went on to say, “Foreign aid from European taxpayers perpetuates the regime’s ability to neglect the needs of its people and stifles meaningful policy changes…The Iranian people face very real economic pressures caused by their government’s corruption, mismanagement, and deep investment in terrorism and foreign conflicts. The United States and the European Union should be working together instead, to find lasting solutions that truly support Iran’s people and end the regime’s threats to regional and global stability.”  Hook added, “More money in the hands of the ayatollah means more money to conduct assassinations in those very European 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the Trump Administration in condemning the move and efforts to restrain violence perpetrated by Iran in the Gulf Region. Netanyahu called the EU move a “big mistake,” and a “poison pill.” 

While the move by the EU has posed a renewed threat by Iran to Israel and the Middle East, there is an even greater and less perceived menace: Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs. Supposedly humanitarian groups claiming only to promote human rights, these bodies are known to be actively involved in discrediting Israel in every way possible. 

One of the first moves was the BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) movement. The plan is to turn worldwide public opinion against Israel, to isolate the nation by divesting stocks in companies that conduct business with the Jewish state, decimate her economy through boycotts of Israeli products, and reshape Israel into a pariah state that no one person will be willing to defend. 

Often working behind the scenes and totally unaccountable for their political actions, NGOs are the recipients of major subsidies from governments. In September 2001, WCC representatives attending the UN Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance at Durban, South Africa, infamously led the demand to officially denounce Israel for “systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing.” 

Another lesser known ploy is called “lawfare.” It is, simply, the use of the courts to hamper Israeli involvement with companies outside the country; the use of legalese, i.e., such terms as war crimes, apartheid (a favorite at Durban), massacres, and other label, to promote anti-Israel views. It is also employed to aid in the organization of violent protests to provoke Israel into having to defend herself, her people, and her land. 

When compared to other global areas of warfare, funding for Non-governmental Organizations involved in the Arab-Israeli hostilities is unprecedented. An organization titled NGO Monitor reveals that the preponderance of funds from the European Union was dispatched either to Palestine or to Israel while little went to other areas of concern. Was it sent to provide humanitarian aid in Israel, or to fund riots and influence local political issues in favor of the enemies of the Jewish state?

My question is this: If the EU or other countries attempted to use NGOs to influence politics in the United States, what would be the outcome? Yet, this very activity is rife in Israel where it has become acceptable, rather than intolerable. 

The lack of transparency when it comes to donors, dispersal, budgets, and extent of said aid is in contravention of rudimentary democratic values. Some governments that supports NGOs have alleged that such information is, in fact, “state secrets” and disclosure of the information would be a “danger to public security.” Heaven forbid that Israel should discover who is secretly funding the internal riots, attacks, and terrorist activities! 

Under the guise of human rights, leaders in various countries have been guilty of deceiving the populace into believing that much good is being done, when the converse is true. The funds are actually being used to support radical groups that are determined to disrupt the democratic process and support BDS in Israel.

The Israeli Knesset voted to pass a transparency law relating to NGOs in 2011. It compels the organizations to submit reports each quarter for donations that exceed NIS 20,000 (approximately $5500). The information provided reveals critical details about the entities involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This move should set a standard for other nations to demand more information regarding these cagey and reticent NGOs. 

One might think that following the Holocaust, the world would unite to halt anti-Semitic attacks wherever they might be found. Not so! One poll indicates that as many as one of every four European citizens harbors some form of Jew-hatred. That figure alone should reveal that not enough is being done to change attitudes and combat the menace that is as old as time.

Gaza Border Erupts Again: 13,000 Rioters, Palestinians Claim Three Killed; Israel Retaliates With Tank Fire, Airstrikes on Hamas Positions

Benjamin Kerstein

Palestinians riot on the Israel-Gaza Strip border, May 14, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

Violence erupted on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip over the weekend, with over 13,000 rioters in six locations along the border fence and a Palestinian claim of three fatalities.

Israel’s crowd-control measures were backed up with tank fire and air strikes against Hamas targets in the Strip.

According to Israel’s Channel Two, the rioters threw Molotov cocktails, rocks, and at least two grenades at Israeli forces. An IDF officer was lightly wounded by shrapnel from a pipe bomb.

Israel responded to the grenade attacks with tank fire and air strikes.

“The Hamas terrorist group is responsible for everything that happens in and from the Gaza Strip,” an IDF spokesperson said. “Hamas continues to try to harm our defense infrastructure and the security forces along the security fence by using the Gaza Strip’s civilians as a shield … for terror activities.”

In addition, the IDF identified nine infiltrators who breached the fence and then made a hasty retreat back into Gaza. An improvised explosive device was found and defused.

The use of arson terror continued, with two fires being set by incendiary balloons in nearby communities. The fires were quickly brought under control.

Palestinian sources claimed that three rioters aged between 14 and 30 were killed.

Senior European Officials Participated in PA Sponsored Anti-Semitic Exhibition

David Israel

PA exhibition of anti-Semitic pictures

Early last August, the Palestinian Authority launched an exhibition of anti-Semitic images in the Bedouin shantytown of Khan al-Ahmar, an illegal post between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, slated for demolition by the High Court of Justice.

European dignitaries enjoying the PA exhibition of anti-Semitic pictures. / Photo credit: Image provided by Regavim from the official Facebook page of the PA Ministry of Education.

According to Makor Rishon, the exhibition was attended by PA ministers, representatives from European countries and UN agencies, including Sonia Azzam, the representative of UNESCO in Ramallah, and Genevieve Putin, the UNICEF representative in Ramallah, AY Suliman, the South African ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, representatives from Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The exhibition presented Israel as a wicked and terrifying octopus whose arms uproot churches and the al-Aqsa Mosque, strangle an Arab child and destroy schools.

Other paintings portrayed IDF soldiers aiming their weapons at Arab girls; a tank wearing an American hat under which peeks President Donald Trump’s blond hair – with an Israeli soldier leading the tank toward a targeted Arab boy.

A picture from the PA exhibition of anti-Semitic images. / Photo credit: Image provided by Regavim from the official Facebook page of the PA Ministry of Education.

The anti-Semitic exhibition was placed in the school that was erected in the illegal village, so that the visiting foreign dignitaries could not have missed these artistic offerings.

UNICEF responded to the Makor Rishon story, saying that their representative, Genevieve Putin’s impression was “that the art exhibition was shocking and very inappropriate, even more so because this exhibition was presented in close proximity to a school.”

“Children must be protected from violence and not be exposed to violent representations or messages that promote hate and intolerance,” the UNICEF response continued, adding that Ms. Putin “expressed her concerns to the organizers of the event.”

“Once again, we see that the alleged humanitarian European involvement in Judea and Samaria is only a cover,” said Yishai Hamo, the Regavim movement’s coordinator of operations in Judea and Samaria. “This is a new face of the same old anti-Semitism.”

“In such cases, the truth [about the PA] is revealed and we welcome it,” Hamo said.

Trump attacks John Kerry for secret Iran meetings

Ynet

Following former secretary of state’s revelations that he held talks with Iranian foreign minister ‘three or four times’ since leaving office, President Trump calls meetings ‘illegal’ and implies Kerry might be a foreign agent.

US President Donald Trump slammed Friday a former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who served in the White House during the Barack Obama administration, following Kerry’s admission that since he left office, he had several meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration!” the president wrote on his official Twitter account.

Trump also implied that Kerry might be an agent representing the interests of foreign powers.

“Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act?” the president asked via his social media account.

Current US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also lambasted his predecessor for meeting Iranian officials in back-channel talks and accused him of trying to undermine the Trump administration’s policy toward Tehran.

“What Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented,” Pompeo told a news conference, adding that he “ought not to engage in that kind of behavior. It’s inconsistent with what the foreign policy of the United States is, as directed by this president. It is beyond inappropriate.”

Kerry admitted to having met with the Iranian official “three or four times” during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.

The former secretary of state also emphasized that he also had meetings with European diplomats, but stressed that he did not conspire to undermine the Trump government’s policy.

“We held talks regarding the situation in the world, we did not conduct negotiations in order to interfere with the current policy,” Kerry stressed.

(Photo: Reuters)

“I was trying to understand what Iran is willing to do in order to steer the dynamics in the Middle East in a positive direction,” Kerry said in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

The State Department also criticized Kerry for his meetings with various foreign representatives. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Manisha Singh, called alleged meetings ‘inappropriate.’
“I have no information regarding the meetings, but if they did occur, that would be very inappropriate,” she vented.

Kerry was one of the senior officials in the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, from which President Trump withdrew earlier this year.