Selected articles concerning Israel, published weekly by Suburban Orthodox Toras Chaim’s (Baltimore) Israel Action Committee Edited by Jerry Appelbaum ( [email protected] ) | Founding editor: Sheldon J. Berman Z”L

Issue 8 80 Volume 2 1 , Number 1 1 Parshas HaChodesh Vayakhel - Pekudei Shabbos Mevarchim March 13 , 20 2 1

Israel Elections: Can Bennett go from kingmaker to prime minister? By Gil Hoffman jpost.com March 4, 2021 Two weeks before the election, Naftali Bennett thinks says he can join a Netanyahu - led government only because that not only can he coronate the next prime minister, he has no intention of doing so? but that it could very well be him. “I decided to be the responsible adult,” he says. “I Yamina leader Naftali Bennett has had his ups and know that if I would say “anyone but Bibi,” I’d go up five downs in politics. mandates in the polls. But we need to form a government, There were elections that went well, like his first in and we need this leverage to achieve our three goals.” 2013, when he led his party to 12 seats. And there were Bennet t makes it clear that he is looking well past also elections like in April 2019, when his party did not March 23. He is already running in the contests that will be cross the electoral threshold. held afterward to receive the mandate to form a This tim e around, Bennett appears more confident government, when that “leverage” could pay off and less stressed than ever. handsomely. Perhaps it is because polls have indicated that he will When asked where he will be on March 24, h e says he be the kingmaker for the March 23 election, who can will be taking his four children to the beach. He says he choose to coronate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made that promise to his son David, who is in third grade. or one of his rivals. Just like the elections when Yisrael Beytenu leader It could be because he has become experienced Avigdor Liberman was kingmaker and fled to Eastern enough to understand that if one election does not go well, Europe without a cellphone , Bennett intends to play hard there will be another one just around the corner. to get. Or maybe it is because he knows something we don’t The question is how long he can play that game. know about how he intends to capture the premiershi p Sources close to him revealed that he intends to play it for and replace Netanyahu himself. months. Netanyahu could receive the first mandate from In an interview with The Jerusalem Post at his Yamina President Reuven Rivlin to build a coalition, and Party’s campaign office near his home in Ra’anana, opp osition leader Yair Lapid could receive the second, or Bennett speaks as though he holds the key to an as yet vice versa, and both of them could fail. unsolved mystery that will be revealed in the weeks and Just like before the current government was formed, months ahead. there would then be time for a third candidate to obtain “I HAVE a road map to set egos aside and form a the support of 61 MKs, and that is where Bennett co uld be right - wing government,” he says, before making reference aiming when he speaks about needing only two to four to the formula considered the world’s most guarded secret. more seats beyond the 11 - 13 Yamina currently receives in “Like Coca - Cola, I can’t tell you what my secret sauce is.” the polls. The 130 - year - old Coca - Col a Company has said from “I need 15 seats, which would be the critical mass the start that its formula will never be revealed. The needed to be able to form a government,” Bennett says. company boasts that only two employees are privy to the Winning two or three m ore mandates would put him complete formula at any given time, and they are not in front of New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar in the pecking permitted to travel together. When one dies, the other order. It could also guarantee his party would win more must choose a successor within the company and impart seats than the Joint List, which is not expected to join any the secret to that person. coalition, and put more mandates in play to get to 61. But just like with Coke, clues have been revealed that B ennett does not shy away from criticism of his rivals could at least partially reveal the mystery. for the hearts of the voters and that of Rivlin, who may “There are three things mainstream Israelis want,” end up deciding who will be the next prime minister. Bennett says. “They want competent ri ght - wing leadership; “New Hope will certainly be a partner,” he says. “But to depart from Netanyahu respectfully; and to avoid a fifth the problem with them is that they hav e too many recycled election. Only Yamina can deliver all three, because it is politicians from other parties. That is not what we need not boycotting parties or joining the pro - Netanyahu or today. We need doers – not politicians who swore anti - Netanyahu blocs.” allegiance to Bibi, then defected and now say he’s terrible.” That statement about his priorities, w hich Bennett has Bennett says Sa’ar disappointed him by talking about been saying in every interview, is peculiar, because why new and clean p olitics, while running an anonymous smear would he not join the anti - Netanyahu bloc, if he shares its campaign against him, using articles published online by goal of removing him from office? Is he admitting that he Foc us o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 2

Outbrain that were deemed illegal by the Central Elections s ucceed. God forbid [that] a minister [should] succeed. Committee. Many Israelis paid a huge price for the Netanyahu “I am used to that from Netanyahu,” he says. “I governments’ failed leadership. Some 3,000 people died thought Sa’ar would be different. When he was caught because of it, over a million Israelis are unemployed, and doing this, he said he wanted a ceasefire, which is funny plenty have long - term trauma and fear . Israel didn’t deal coming from someone running a one - way smear the worst with COVID, but we are far from the best. The campaign. Time will tell if he stops.” Start - Up Nation didn’t have to be mediocre.” Asked why he i s so quick to dismiss joining a Bennett warns against Netanyahu’s plan of relying on government led by Lapid, who has not attacked him vaccinations, because a third of the population cannot be recently, Bennett says Lapid’s recent silence does not erase vaccinated, and a varia nt can come any day and the entire views Bennett deems too left - wing and anti - religious. national strategy would collapse. “He was always against the communities in Judea and “I submitted a zero - corona approach,” he says. “We Samaria and wrote that the government’s money can be could implement it quickly, but it requires competence this found between Yitzhar and Itamar,” Bennett says. “His government lacks. We provide concrete plans that no one approach is the opposite of mine on Judea and Samaria does. A hi - tech nati on deserves a hi - tech government.” and Yiddishkeit. My vision is of a Jewish country with Bennett says serving as defense minister gave him a Jewish values and integrity for the Land of Isr ael. I different vantage point for dealing with both the wouldn’t want someone with clear left - wing views running coronavirus and threats to security. He hints that he is not Israel.” afraid to use force to prevent Iran from obtaining a But Bennett saves his fiercest criticism for the theory nucle ar capability. being advanced in Haaretz and other media outlets that his “The past decade has been very problematic for the secret goal is to join not only Netanyahu’s government but military buildup on our borders,” he says. “Hezbollah grew also his Likud Party as the prime minister’s heir apparent. to having hundreds of thousands of missiles, Hamas has a “That is utter nonsense,” he says. “Yamina is the new mini - empire, and Iran is growing stronger. generation of the national camp. We are what the Likud “It is most important to stop t he nuclearization of should have been. Compare the competence of Ayelet Iran. Menachem Begin did it in 1981 in Iraq, Olmert did it Shaked to Miri Regev. It’s a whole different ball game.” in 2007 in Syria. We need a multidimensional effort of Bennett can speak for hours about Netanyahu’s military, diplomacy and cyber. This will be a top priority as failures in fighting the coronavirus. He even wrote a book prime minister.” about what should have been done. Bennett is careful not to criticize the Bi den “We have a crisis of incompetence that we have never administration, though he worked closely as defense seen in Israel’s history,” he says. “There is no wor d for minister with his Trump administration counterpart, Mark incompetence in Hebrew. This crisis provides an Esper. opportunity for huge change. People have been getting “We have to build an independent capability to stop third - world services for 53% taxes. If that continues, Iran, while working very closely with America,” he says. people won’t stay here. That change is what I intend to do “My background of many year s in business in the United as prime minister.” States will allow a great relationship with America, which Bennett wants to model Israel after Singapore, which needs to be bipartisan. Israel has become partisan, and that slashed taxes, made its government more efficient, is not the place to be.” improved its services and doubled salaries. He has plans Bennett’s goals also include healing what he calls “the for “fixing” Ben - Gurion Airport and the Finance, chasm between some of Ameri can Jewry and Israelis. Education and Health ministries. “I understand the younger generation in Israel tends to “I would manage things like I did as defense minister be more conservative and the younger generation in the in the first wave of the coronavirus, with creativity, rapid US tends to be more liberal, but that doesn’t mean we decision - making, and serious work,” he says. “This could need to be separated,” he said. “It means we need to talk have been Israel’s greatest moment. We could have been more.” the model to the world; we could have been the exporter Bu t as for the legal system in Israel, Bennett wants that to the world of technology and procedures.” to become more conservative. He noted that six of the 15 Bennett takes credit for initiating the field of Supreme Court judges are due to be replaced in the next protecting grandparents from the virus, saying: “We were term. the first to realize age matters.” “I want Ayelet Shaked to choose them, not passive, He organized the first coronavirus hotels, brought in weak people like the Likud has had over the years,” he the IDF to help t he ailing city of Bnei Brak, sought help says. “The justice system has lost balance, taken authority from hi - tech companies, and then – as he puts it – “Bibi and put brakes on the government. Unfortunately, there threw us out” and formed a government without him. have been no reforms during the Likud governments. “I asked to be health minister,” Bennett recalls. “Many Bennett vowed to make the system for selecting judges believe Netanyahu declined because he thought I’d more transp arent and to ensure that judges will be chosen Page 3 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel who are more conservative and nationalist oriented. He be hard for him to coronate himself. wants legal advisers in ministries to return to advising Nevertheless, he shows no signs of being worried rather than ordering. about whether his secret plans will work. But to do all that, Bennett would need to form the “I want to make the citizens the king,” he says. “That next government. Even if he remains the kingmaker, it will is my real goal.”

Gantz: What does Isr ael want in its leaders? Integrity or lies and manipulation? By David Horovitz timesofisrael.com March4, 2021 The Blue and White chief complains he’s being He’s adamant that he is not about to deliver a further blamed for having reasonably expected Netanyahu to extension to Netanyahu’s 12 consecutive years in power b y act like a decent PM. Now, though, he says he’s slipping below the electoral threshold and sending tens of learned to trust nobody in politics . thousands of anti - Netanyahu votes to waste. “I simply Not quite a year ago, at the end of March 2020, Benny won’t be in that situation.” And he’s insistent that, after a Gantz decided to do the very thing he had promised voters nearly 40 - year career in uniform that culminated in his four in three successive elections that he would not do: join a years as chief of IDF staff, he’s learned in the past two government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah u. years the rules of the political game. Bitterly, he sums these Gantz gave three key reasons at the time: Although he up as “not to believe people.” had been recommended as prime minister by 61 of the 120 Gantz was polite but combative in our conversation, MKs, he said he couldn’t build a stable coalition and plainly indignant at the critical treatment he has received, wanted to spare Israel a rapid return to yet a fourth and inten t on presenting his narrative. He challenged my election. That being the case, he a rgued that only his questions, and threw some of them back at me, as you’ll presence in government could save Israel’s democracy see. We spoke in Hebrew; the following is a lightly edited from an indicted Netanyahu’s battering. And, perhaps transcript. most importantly, he said, Israel needed an emergency The Times of Israel: You have had a very hard period unity government to tackle the emerging devastation of in politics. You’re running again. What achievements can COVID - 19. you point to, so that voters, nonetheless, will choose you A year on, Israel is nonetheless heading back to the again? polling stations. And while Gantz argues that he has Benny Gantz: People have to understand why I managed to thwart Netanyahu’s efforts to weaken our entered the coalition with Bibi [Netanyahu]. I have to spell democracy and evade his corruption trial, and that Blue this out. I didn’t enter because of Bibi, nor with Bibi . and White’s cabinet ministers have been wo rking crucially Rather, despite Bibi. Because of the pandemic, and the for the national interest in the battle against the pandemic, situation Israel found itself in. he is no longer a significant political force. The fact that we’re sitting here now, the two of us, His Blue and White alliance with Yesh Atid’s Yair vaccinated, feeling well — that wasn’t where Israel was less Lapid and Telem’s Moshe Ya’alon collapsed when he than a year ago. There was such an immense health c risis, partnered with Netanyahu and t hey went fuming into the with such vast economic consequences, and hugely opposition. And the surveys in the run - up to the March 23 problematic repercussions for Israeli society. I decided it polling day show Blue and White, which won 33 seats a was simply not right to continue to tear Israeli society year ago, drastically reduced to about 5. apart. In an interview Wednesday at his party’s Tel Aviv The second thing to understand is that there was no offices, Gantz, the defense minister, justice minister and alternative. All the ta lk, the stories — there was no still theoretically the alternate prime minister, radiated a alternative. mix of profound grievance, anger, and determination. You didn’t have the support of 61 MKs [for a Grievance that, the way he sees it, he is widely derided and coalition without Netanyahu]? clearly about to be punished by voters for having tried to No. “put Israel first,” as his political slogan promised — while Not even with Arab MKs’ backing from outside? Netanyahu, a “liar” and a “manipulator,” is held to a No, no, no. It’s all empty stories. It was 61 minus Orly different standard. Anger that the saga of the past year is, Levy, and minus Yoaz [Hendel] and Zvika [Hauser]. That’s he believes, misrepresented by his critics, including 58. There was no 61 to establish a government; no 61 to erstwhile politi cal allies and the media. And determination legislate to prevent Netanyahu passing personal laws, the not to end his political career in failure, but rather to French law [to try to avert his trial]. rebuild Blue and White as an electoral force. Why is all this important? Netanyahu is someone who Entering a unity government with Netanyahu, he said, cannot be a [genuine] p artner. He can be a partner, at best, “was the right thing to do at the time, with tragic res ults for his own bloc [of the political spectrum], and even then that I’m not responsible for. That Netanyahu is only when he has no other option — because he also responsible for. Okay? Blame Netanyahu… I’m the one dumped them [in the past]. The political conditions when who is here to do things differently.” Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 4 working with Netanyahu are very tough. He’s a Look at the coronavirus cabinet — the very man ipulator. He’s not straight. establishment of the coronavirus cabinet. Take the fact Despite all this, despite these difficulties, we [in Blue that we brought the IDF’s Homefront Command [into the and White] managed to achieve things that people forget. handling of the pandemic]. The crisis was being handled We became a full half of the government. The whole largely without the Defense Ministry, because Netanyahu center and center - left camp should ask itself, when was the didn’t want [previous def ense minister Naftali] Bennett to l ast time that it made up half the government? The whole gain any prominence. Now, the IDF is helping 300 local center and center - left camp should ask itself, when was the councils from morning till night. last time it held veto power over the government’s agenda? So we’ve done all this. We have not been just sitting at The whole center and center - left camp should ask itself, a keyboard and typing. when was the last time i t managed to protect Israeli And yet, you understand that support for your party democracy, the way I have succeeded in doing now? h as collapsed because you abandoned the one core pledge Let’s look at the achievements. We prevented harm to you had promised your voters — not to serve in a Israel as a Jewish, democratic state, because if unilateral government with Netanyahu [so long as he was facing annexation [of parts of the West Bank] had been carried criminal charges]. out, we would have lost the Jewish, democratic [character Indeed. That’s why I began by explaining to you that I of] Israel, and lost our international credit. We managed to truly didn’t want to sit w ith Netanyahu. And I won’t sit preserve the Israeli judicial system, despite all the with Netanyahu now. But the bottom line is that there was challenges and all the attacks on it. a pandemic. You can’t pretend that this factor didn’t exist. Now, look at the relative miracles achieved by every People get mixed up between being bummed out one of our ministers in his or her ministry. Let me start, if together with me, or bummed out at me. But I would like I may, with me in the security arena. I ensured the to know when Yair Lapid exerted more control over preservation of Israel’s ongoing QME [Qualitative Military Netanyahu than I did. Give me one example. Then I’ll be Edge]. Without me, this would not have happened. Six silent. Ask him, when did he exert more control o ver weeks of frenzied work, with e xperts. Three meetings with Netanyahu than I did? the [US] defense secretary to ensure this — to enable the Who disbanded Blue and White? Yair Lapid and normalization process [with the Gulf states] to move [Moshe] Bogie Ya’alon. If they’d gone into the coalition forward without endangering Israel’s security. with me, with 35 seats do you know how much political Look at the Foreign Ministry. Gabi [Ashkenazi] strength we would have had? resuscitated it. The Fo reign Ministry was dead. Dead. And I did have to compromise on certain things bec ause we still have 35 emissaries, who have been approved by all ultimately I only had 17 seats in the coalition. With 35 the relevant committees, and Netanyahu simply isn’t seats in the coalition, the country would have looked very approving them. These aren’t political appointments — different. If Yesh Atid had been part of the unity coalition, they are professional appointments that should have been Meir Cohen would have been speaker of the Knesset and approved long ago. not Yariv Levin. [L apid] stuck with his agenda. Does he Look at the Justice Ministry — and the protection it have political achievements? I’m not certain. ensured for the judicial system — in [Avi] Nissenkorn’s I’m already at five seats, and I’ll get to 6, 7 and 8. Why time [as justice minister] and now in mine. not call on Meretz to quit the campaign? Take the Defense Ministry, in addition to the QME: Nonetheless, you now risk again extending The IDF’s move [of key bases] t o southern Israel — 30% Netanyahu’s term in office if y ou fall below the electoral of people in the periphery are going to be absorbed in our threshold [and votes for Blue and White go to waste]. technological establishments and the special training bases I’m not falling below the threshold. That’s all empty we’ll establish. We’ve maintained quiet in the south [on the stories. I’m already at five seats, and I’ll get to 6, 7 and 8. Gaza frontier]. We continue to fight against Hezboll ah; to Why not call on Meretz to quit the campaign? tackle all the efforts to transfer [weaponry] in Syria. If two week s before the elections, they’re below or Look at the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Finally, hovering around the threshold, I’m sure… there’s a minister who doesn’t seek to impose a kind of Well, I simply won’t be in that situation. national censorship on the arts and culture in Israel. At the You’ve been warning that, in a transitional Agriculture Ministry, f or the first time in 10 years, there’s a government after the election and before a new minister who actually deals with agriculture. Take the government is formed, if Blue and White is not back in the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs — the government decision Knesset, Netanyahu will be able to do all kinds of dreadful for a strategic plan on working together with Diaspora things… Jewry, the wide - ranging work that Minister [Omer] That’s right. Yankelevich is doing. She’s still with us, though I’m sorry He’ll fire [the Blue and White ministers] and start she’s made a personal decision [not to seek reelection to legislating [to evade his trial]…? Knesset]. Take the Tourism Ministry — the opening of the I’ll give you an example. In a cabinet meeting last green cities. The opening up [of tourism] now. month, I opposed a decision [on extending the lockdown]. Page 5 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

Netanyahu brought it to a vote against my will. The He didn’t bring the Defense Ministry into the picture attorney general invalidated it, because the vote was illegal early. He didn’t deal consistently with the airp ort. The [a breach of Israel’s quasi - constitutional Basic Law: The “traffic light” plan, differentiating professionally between Government, as amended by Netanyahu and Gan tz in higher and lower contagion areas, hasn’t been approved to their coalition agreement last year]. Netanyahu said to him, this day because it would be inconvenient for him with the You’re only an adviser. [But] a revote had to be held. Haredim, inconvenient for him politically. He ruled out And that’s a hint of what is to come [if Blue and White the Arab ele ctorate, and then went off to do [electoral] is not returned to the Knesset]? business with them. It’s all politics. Exactly. He’s a talented politician. That’s why I initiated That’s the legal advice you’ve been given? legislation to limit a prime minister to eight years. That There are those [legal experts] who say one thing, and capping would reboot the political establishment. those that say another. Obviously, h e opposes it. He thinks of himself as bigger So it’s not clear? than Ben - Gurion and he’s trying to catch up with Putin. It’s not clear. He’ll try whatever he can to neutralize [that legislation]. But he’ll try it? And what of his handling of the Iranian threat, and For sure! Does it seem reasonable to you that the Biden’s intention to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal? country has had no budget for two years? Not to me, it There are things we do agree on. We completely agree doesn’t. But the fact is that this served his interests, so that Iran must not be allowed to attain nuclear weapons. that’s what he did. He has no boundaries. His only And that it not be able to break out to th e bomb. We consideration is his own interest. [The failure to pass the completely agree on the desired result. state budget was the sole pretext by which Netanyahu I favor engagement with the US administration, could trigger early elections, and avoid his coalition pledge maintaining the strong ties. Ultimately, we have three to rotate the prime minister’s job with Gantz in November sources of strength, of Israeli national security: Our own 2021.] security and military capabilities. Our mora lity. And the Where do you see this, specifically? He’s not a military backing we get from the world in general and the US in adventurer. He steers the country reasonably in terms of particular. the region. Why do you insist he is so dangerous to the Now, when we’re up against the ICC, who supports sta te? us? When we need the fighter planes and the huge The impact of his personal and legal distress crosses [military] procurements that we buy with foreign currency, all boundaries. That’s what this is about. He’ll sacrifice the who supports us? B y the way, these are purchases that economy. He’ll sacrifice the democracy. He’ll sacrifice were approved back in the Obama era, not Trump’s time. everything. This is a man who said he has faith in Israel’s We must not neglect our alliance with the Americans, our judges, but once it came to his case, he has been dialogue with the Americans. And we also mustn’t neglect castigating them relentlessly. This a man who recognizes our capacity to influence their thinking. In intens ive, Israel needs a stable economy, but he wouldn’t pass the protracted discussion with them, we can reach a situation budget. This is a man who so inflates himself that he only where we influence their thinking. That’s incredibly told me two days before the normalization agreement important. [ with the UAE]; I then had to take care of the QME. So the point where we disagree is regarding the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his strength of that connection with America on the Iran lawyers speak in the Jerusalem District Court courtroom issue, not regarding where I ran can get or cannot get. On for his corruption trial hearing at the Jerusalem District that, we see things identically. We agree completely that Court, February 8, 2021. (Reuven Castro/Pool ) Israel must maintain its independent operative military He is not the same person he was until 2015. And I capability when it comes to Iran, and we work together. have no explanation except for the legal burden he’s now When it comes to national defense and security, in gener al, under. in most cases, we see eye to eye. And we seek to separate His handling of the pandemic — opening the airport, those issues from the political sphere. setting up the vaccinations. That’s all calculated with one There is a contradiction between you saying that you eye on the elections and hi s interests? knew Netanyahu couldn’t be trusted, while also He would have wanted to maintain the full lockdown, acknowledging that he played you. and only begun to open now, because he thinks that would Because he nonethele ss tricked us on the budget. All have boosted him in the election. We pushed for the of us. earlier partial reopenings, balancing health and economic You are all passing judgment on me for expecting that considerations, and thei r consequences for Israeli society. the leadership of Israel would act according to the required All this got in his way. norms. That’s what you’re saying to me. You’re saying it’s Netanyahu thinks of himself as bigger than Ben - better to be a corrupt, cunning politician than a person of Gurion and he’s trying to catch up with Putin integrity and statesmanship But he played you, specifically, big time. Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 6

Yes. Do you think Netanyahu will accept the election result Yet you say you knew he couldn’t be trusted. if he loses? We were facing the coronavirus, a pandemic of I hope so. I’m not certain. historic proportions, and I expected that a leader would I’m not certain because the le gal onus on him is so behave differe ntly. And why is it wrong to expect that a heavy. The man may be looking at a prison term. I don’t leader should act like a leader, not only like a politician? believe anything from him anymore. Why is it wrong to expect a prime minister, facing so great The attorney general is straight? You have faith in the a social crisis, to behave with the requisite responsibility? legal process? You are all passing judgment o n me for expecting that Yes. The law enforcement process — the prosecution, the leadership of Israel would act according to the required the courts — are sta tesmanlike establishments that operate norms. That’s what you’re saying to me. You’re saying it’s according to the law. His attacks on them are irresponsible better to be a corrupt, cunning politician than a person of and unfounded. And I’m doing whatever I can to thwart integrity and statesmanship. those attacks. You’re describing a kin d of tragedy, in which a noble Some of your party MKs have quit or joined other man enters politics in order to contribute and do good… parties. What do you want…? Yes, for narrow personal reaso ns. Avi Nissenkorn …and is felled by someone acting precisely as it was thought he was going to be some king of the world. Ram known he would. Shefa realized that, with me, he’s in a low position [on the But what do you expect will happen in our country? Knesset slate] and would be higher elsewhere… [Who do you want running the c ountry:] A man of So what have you learned in the past two years? integrity, with an ideology, serious, statesmanlike, or a Not to believe people. maneuverer and a liar? You tell me. That ’s sad. That generalization is very sad. The former. In politics. In politics. Well, there you are then! You are telling me: be a maneuverer or you won’t But for the former to attain power, he has to play the survive. political game — the awful, cruel political game. What would you have done differently, if you knew L isten carefully: I had 26 seats [in the polls] before I two years ago what you know today? went in with Yair Lapid. [Israel Resilience, the party I’m not sorry that I entered the government, f or the founded by Gantz, was polling in the mid - 20s in some reasons that I entered. I’m very sorry about how it finished surveys in early 2019.] Can you show me somebody else up. I wouldn’t have agreed to the Hauser compromise: I who has 26 seats now apart from Bibi? Does Yair Lapid wouldn’t have given him [Netanyahu] those additional have 26 seats? three - four months. I could have ended it then. I thought And that’s the tragedy. he’d pass a budget. I’m not saying it isn’t. Do you have a good mechanism for getting out the Because you did take the high road. You were on track vote on election day? Because the alliance with Yesh Atid to [eventually] win power with your values intact. helped with that. But David, ultimately, there’s reality. I don’t think it’s that big a deal. We have a big Well, maybe it would have been better to go into the campaign mechanism, strength on the ground, a broad opposition? As it is, we’re two and a bit weeks from election day mechanism. We’re we ll organized. We have elections again anyway. our data. We’re not going to disappear. We’ll continue to Okay, but the bottom line is that we got through the grow, to deepen our base. pandemic with a unity government. Ultimately we Ultimately, the voter goes into the polling booth and managed to deal with it despite all the difficulties. An d asks: What’s preferable: Benny Gantz with his 40 years of now, we’re going to elections. security experience and his political integrity, or something At the end of the day, you do not want to legitimate else? You answer that. liars and maneuverers But they’ll also say: And yet he joined up with Bibi. So you’re saying: It was worth it. We saved the Yes. And Yair Lapid didn’t sit with Bibi? Gideon Sa’ar country. We did wonderful things. And we deserve some wasn’t with Bibi for years? credit, and some more voters? But [not when Netanyahu was facing charges,] not Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think more and more after promising… people are recognizing this. That’s why I’ve risen from But yo u’re ignoring the fact that there was the below the threshold, to above the threshold, to five seats coronavirus. It’s simply not fair, David, to judge it against and toward six. Because more and more people are that pledge not to sit with Bibi. It has to be judged against realizing what we prevented, what we achie ved, and, no the situation we were facing. There was an electoral result less important, what has to happen here. At the end of the in which we didn’t have a gove rnment, and there was a day, you do not want to legitimate liars and maneuverers. pandemic that had to be handled. Whoever ignores that isn’t acknowledging the reality. Page 7 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

[A voter] can then say he prefers Yair Lapid to me. achieved, as a kind of co - opposition — within the Okay. But that was the reality. There was no alternative coalition, but standing by my principles. There’s n o government. There was a pandemic. It had to be dealt comparison! with. Now, people can choose their preferences, and I will The High Court of Justice decision to recognize respect them of course. But that was the reality. There Reform and Conservative conversions for citizenship wasn’t a different reality. purposes presumably doesn’t help you? It will help drive [Entering the coalition] was the right thing to do at the the ultra - Orthodox campaigns, and maybe the Likud’s? time, with tragic results that I’m not responsible for. That There’s nothing to be done about that. I can’t Netanyahu is responsible for. Okay? Blame Netanyahu. complain about High Court decisions. We should have Fair enough. What do you want from my life? recognized all the conversions, legalized them through After the second campaign, he [Netanyahu] offered legislation. The High Court waited and waited for years… me rotation after six months. I didn’t go with him. In Waited for the politicians. hindsight, you could say, how f oolish that you didn’t. I did And ultimately took a decision. join him, under worse conditions, after the third campaign, Do you see a need to change the balance between the because of the pandemic. That was the reason. And 66% judiciary and the government and legislature? of Blue and White voters backed me entering. That’s the There are some reforms that can be undertaken — but reality. not by a defendant facing three corruption charges. They It was the right thing to do at the time, with tragic need to wait for somebody else. results that I’m not responsible for. That Netanyahu is Do you hope he’ll be acquitted? Do you think he’ll be responsible for. Okay? Blame Netanyahu. Fair enough. acquitted? What do you want from my life? That’s a matter for the courts. I’m the one who is here to do things differently. I’m Mr. Horovitz is the founding editor of The Times of Israel and the one who gets up in the morning and fights from former editor of The Jerusalem Post (2004 - 2011) and The Jerusalem morn ing to night with Netanyahu in the government, and Report (1998 - 2004). He is the author of "Still Life with Bombers" achieves more than the entire opposition. What (2004) and "A Little Too Close to God " (2000), and co - author of achievements does the opposition have? Look at what I’ve "Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin" (1996).

Iran’s Recent Attack on an Israeli Vessel Has Revealed Israel’s Maritime Vuln erability By Alex Fishman ynetnews.com February 28, 2021 One of Tehran’s many attempts at nautical terror act of war by the United States and all other nations succeeded. responsible for safe travel in the Gulf waters. Iran has identified Israel's vulnerability in its maritime The Helios Ray sails under the Bahaman flag, is not transportation of goods in the Persian Gulf, sending a registered in Israel and is not manned by an Israeli crew. message that Israeli vess els will Unlike Israeli vessels flyin g be defenseless when traveling the Israeli flag, the cargo ship in that international body of was not protected by the water. country's security services. Follow Ynetnews on Iran's efforts to hit Facebook and Twitter vulnerable Israeli targets on the The MV Helios Ray, an high seas are not new and have Israeli - owned cargo ship was intensified since the hit by a missile late last week assassination of the Islamic causing two gaping holes in its Republic's chief nuclear hull above water level. sc ientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh H ad the blasts been caused last November. by a torpedo, mines or an According to a report in explosion on board, the the Israeli media two months damage to the vessel would ago, an Iranian stowaway was have been very different. captured on a Haifa - based Zim It appears, therefore, that the ship was not the victim ocean liner sailing from Izmir in Turkey to Greece and of some random act or of mistaken identity. Instead it then on to Italy. seems clear tha t it was specifically targeted in an attack The man, who was delivered t o Italian law meant to cause damage but not to actually sink the vessel. enforcement authorities, claimed to be a refugee fleeing his Whoever dispatched a missile at the cargo ship could country but the manner in which he boarded the vessel in have launched multiple missiles that would have caused far Turkey and the personal equipment he had in his greater damage. But that would have been considered an possession raised suspicions that he was not being truthful. Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 8

Since that inci dent, Israeli ships have increased their to Jerusalem that Israeli interests in the area could be security. compromised. The vessel that targeted last week belongs to a Since the Sept. 2020 signing of the Abraham Accords company owned by Israeli businessman Rami Unger. This to normalize Israel's relations with the UAE and Bahrain, fact is displayed on maritime websites along with other there has been a substantial increase in maritime traffic in details about the ship, which always uses the same route the Gulf. when it makes its way to the Far East. Targeting Israeli vessels in the area will raise insurance The boat left the southern Israeli port of Eilat in early costs, rendering travel there untenable, and harm Israel's February, carrying cargo for Saudi Arabia and Dubai, and budding economic ties with Gulf nations. was likely under surveillance since then. Without any response to the incident, Ir an will It was attacked as it entered the Gulf of Oman, an continue to target Israeli ships. advantageous location for Iran's navy, to convey a message As such, Israel must exact a price for the attack and any others like it.

Iran Was Violating the Nuclear Deal Even before the U.S. Pulled Out By Richard Goldberg thedispatch.com March 3, 2021 Inspectors admit that the Islamic Republic lied to from visiting a suspected nuclear weapons site until them. Tehran finished cleaning it up. Regardless, America lifted The U.N.’s nuclear chief on Monday all but accused sanctions, giving Iran access to tens of billions of dollars, Iran of lying to international inspectors about the existence and the U.N. Security Council ended its prohibition on of undeclared nuclear material and sites inside the Iran’s enrichme nt of uranium. Iran had ostensibly come country — an alarming development in an investigation that into compliance with the NPT and abandoned its quest for predates America’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. nuclear weapons — or so we thought. The statement raises an important question for the Biden In early 2018, while the United States remained a administration: Will Iran be required to account for its past participant in the JCPOA, Israel’s Mossad intelligence and present clandestine nuclear work before President Joe service infiltrated a storage facility near Tehran and Biden agrees to lift U.S. sanctions? If the answer is no, removed a secret nuclear weapons archive Iran had Biden will be repeating the mistakes of the past — concealed from the IAEA. Academics who have seen parts rewarding Iranian nuclear deception, shredding the of the archive describe it as a breathtaking curation of integrity of the global nonproliferation regime, and Iran’s work to build nuclear weapons. The regime guaranteeing Iran continues its long - term pu rsuit of meticulou sly logged its every move — and it archived those nuclear weapons. moves for a reason. Iran, a party to the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty In September 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (NPT), has a long track record of willfully concealing its Netanyahu revealed the existence of a “secret atomic nuclear activities in violation of its treaty obligations. In warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and late 2002, an Iranian dissident group revealed the exi stence materiel from Iran’s secret nuclear program.” Commercial of a secret uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a satellite imagery of the site in the Turquzabad district of heavy water facility at Arak. In 2009, the Obama Tehran showed Iran moving containers and later sanitizing administration exposed another secret enrichment facility the site. The following year, the IAEA inspected the site buried deep underground near the city of Qom. In both and found traces of undeclared nuclear material, in dicating cases, Iran declared its nuclear activities to the continued violation of the NPT. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) only after Also in 2019, the U.S. Treasury and State Departments getting caught. The regime’s nuclear modus operandi is revealed that the founder of Iran’s nuclear weapons simple: Conceal unless and until exposed. program — the late Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was The 2015 nuclear agreement — formally known as the assassinated last year in Iran — had led a secret Iranian Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA — militar y group, the Organization of Defensive Innovation nominally required Iran to open up about its past work on and Research or SPND, which employed Iranian nuclear nuclear weapons. The deal stipulated that sanctions relief weapon scientists. Layered atop the existence of the and other key benefits would not be forthcoming until nuclear archive and possible undeclared nuclear activities, Iran allowed IAEA inspectors to pursue leads indicating the full extent of Iranian nuclear decep tion was slowly Iran sought not only t o enrich uranium, but to build an coming into focus. actual nuclear weapon. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi brought that Iran agreed, understanding that Obama and his picture into sharp relief this week by announcing the European partners would declare the issue settled agency had inspected three more sites that had never been regardless of whether Iran allowed a serious investigation. declared to the agency and found traces of nuclear material Unsurprisingly, the IAEA reported “ambiguities” in the at two of them. These sites may be connected to another answers Iran submitted and its inspectors wer e prevented reported secret Iranian nuclear site at Abadeh, which Page 9 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

Netanyahu exposed in a September 2019 press conference. President Biden’s stated condition for the United As for questions surrounding the Turquzabad site, Grossi States to rejoin the JCPOA is for Iran to first return to said the IAEA was “deeply concer ned that undeclared “strict compliance” with the deal. Since the deal was nuclear material may have been present at this undeclared premised on Iran abandoning its nuclear weapons location and that such nuclear material remains unreported ambitions and coming clean to the IAEA about its by Iran.” clandestine nuclear activities, the Biden administrat ion These revelations undermine the very core of the must demand Iran fully account for all undeclared nuclear JCPOA and will pose serious challenges to any attempt to activities, sites and materials prior to rejoining the re surrect the agreement. First, it’s clear now that Iran agreement and lifting sanctions. Otherwise, the president deceived the IAEA in 2015 and never provided a complete will be hard - pressed to explain the U.S. national security or truthful accounting of its undeclared nuclear activities. interest in a nuclear deal that pays Iran billions of dollars The Obama administration pressed forward with the to keep its nuclear weapons - related activities secret. nuclear deal despite obvious red f lags that Iran was still Defenders of the JCPOA argue that the nuclear covering up its true nuclear ambitions. Giving Iran a free archive is historical in nature rather than a current nuclear pass on nuclear deception led only to more deception. The threat. The JCPOA, by contrast, deals with the threa t in Biden administration should not repeat the mistakes of the front of us: Iran’s enrichment. Don’t create an unnecessary past by rejoining the pact and lifting U.S. sanctions b efore hurdle to resolving the threat in front of us with questions Iran comes clean. about the past, they will say. Second, critical deficiencies in the JCPOA’s inspection But Iran’s failure to disclose nuclear sites and materials regime are on full display. The IAEA didn’t seem to know is not about history — it’s about an acti ve breach of the Iran was hiding a nuclear archive until the Mossad NPT, which the IAEA was unable to detect using the announced it had stolen it. Nor did the agency seem to JCPOA’s verification regime. have any id ea Iran had a secret warehouse or other Papering over Iran’s breach of its most fundamental undeclared sites where nuclear material had been stored nuclear obligations in favor of the empty reassurances until they were exposed by the prime minister of Israel. provided by a flawed nuclear agreement would be an Most concerning, Iran keeps its military facilities off - limits enormous strategic mistake — not just for the new to IAEA inspections — leaving a gaping hol e in its administration’s Iran policy but for other regimes watching verification regime. SPND, of course, is a military across the world. To reward Iran with sanctions relief for organization. concealing undeclared nuclear material and activities poses Third, the IAEA is pulling on a thread that opened a far greater threat to the global nonproliferation regime while America remained a participant in the JCPOA. than withdrawal from flawed agreements. Unlike other nuclear misconduct topping the news, Mr. Goldberg is a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of including the enrichment of uranium, Iran’s nuclear deceit Democracies. He served on Capitol Hill, on the U.S. National is not a response to U.S. withdrawal from the deal or Security Council, as the governor of Illinois’s chief of staff, and as a imposition of sanctions — it is a fundamental breach of its Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer. nuclear obligations and commitments, including the NPT. Visit suburbanorthodox.or g for the current issue .

Trying to End the War in Yemen, the U.S. Has Merely Exacerbated It By Jonathan Spyer jonathanspyer.com March 3, 2021 The price of capitulation. thus represent a major strategic blow to the government’s For 12 years, the United States h as been trying to cause. The Houthis, who launched the current phase of Largely ignored by the global media, the fighting in Yemen their insurgency against the government in 2014, control be tween the Saudi - supported government of President the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. Abd - Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the Iran - supported Ansar The Houthi insurgency f ollowed the toppling of the Allah (Houthi) movement, is currently at its most intense Western - backed, long - standing regime of president Ali since 2018. The Houthis (named after the clan that Abdullah Saleh in 2012. Saleh, abandoned by his former established and leads the movement) are besie ging the city Western backers, allied with the Iran - supported Houthis of Marib, located in a gas - rich region of the country. The against the new government, and together they took the offensive matters because of the impact it is having on the capital. The Houthis then turned on Saleh and killed him lives of the people of Yemen, including more than a in December 2017. Evidence has since emerged to suggest million displaced persons who live in Marib. But it is also that this killing was carried out under the direct orders of important b ecause of what it indicates regarding broader then IRGC/Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. changes under way in the strategic balance and direction of A Saudi - led and United Arab Emirates - back ed the Middle East. intervention to prevent the conquest of the entire country The Marib region contains an oil refinery and supplies by the Houthis commenced in 2015. Yemen is of strategic gas to all of Yemen. It is the last area in Yemen’s North importance because at its southern tip, the Bab el - Mandeb still controlled by the Hadi government. Its loss would Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 10 (Gate of Tears) Strait controls access between the Gulf of urgently in need of attention. Some 250,000 people hav e Aden and the Red Sea. lost their lives in a half decade of war. This is a choke point for vessels making their way Unfortunately, however, the US has leverage over only from the Persian Gulf toward the Suez Canal. A massive one of the sides. The net result of the removal of support volume of natural gas, oil and petroleum - based products for the Saudi - led side has thus predictably not led to a on the way to the canal and to European and US markets move toward ending hostilities. Rather, it has resulted in makes its way through the strait every day. In all, around increased aggression by the pro - Iranian side, which now 9% of all seaborne - traded crude oil and refined petroleum perceives itself as facing an isolated and crumbling products pass through the strait. opponent rather than an adversary enjoying the backing of Control of access to this gateway by an Iranian client a major power. would represent an enormous strategic gain by Tehran. It The sequence of events leading to the Houthi push would give the Iranians the abi lity to disrupt or shut down toward Marib is indicative of a sharp change of perception a significant volume of oil traffic to the West at a stroke. in Washington, DC, which is producing rapid results in the The Saudi - and Emirates - supported intervention Middle East. The element of the previous administration succeeded in preventing the Houthis from capturing the that dealt with the Middle East shared the core perception southern tip of Yemen, and thus acquiring control of the of the region held by key US a llies, including Israel, Saudi strait. They proved unable, however, to defeat Ansar Allah Arabia and the UAE. According to this conception, a in its entirety. contest for power in the Middle East is under way between In a pattern that has become wearingly familiar in the rival camps. Middle East over the last decade, the country then became This contest is fought partly through proxies. It is a divided into de facto areas of control, and subject to a battle for strategic space, and the control of resources and massive humanitar ian crisis. The current offensive on key geo - strategic locations. The camp of which Saudi Marib is the most intense episode of fighting since 2018, Arabia and Israel are members is one committed to and is an attempt by the Houthis and their backers to alliance with the West, and to preserving the strategic break the long stalemate and regain momentum toward architecture in place in the region since the end of the their objective of conquering the entire country. Cold War. It is opposed pr incipally by Iran and its allies Pro - g overnment defenses at Sirwah, to the west of and proxies. Arguably, Turkey and its allies constitute an Marib City, have collapsed in recent days. As a result, the additional anti - status quo power axis. frontline is now located roughly 20 km. (12 miles) from Reading from this map, support for the Saudi cause in Marib City, according to Reuters. Hundreds of fighters on Yemen was obvious and axiomatic. The country is of both sides have been killed. At prese nt, however, the lines strategic importance. A pro - Western alliance is fighting a are holding, and the government maintains air superiority, pro - Iranian one. Iran must be prevented from reaching which may prove crucial in preventing the taking of the Bab el - Mandeb. No further discussion r equired. city by the Houthis in the period ahead. The Biden administration’s reversal of this Marib is home to between one million and 1.5 million straightforward stance with regard to Yemen is the latest refugees. More than 1,50 0 families have been displaced evidence that it is reading from a very different map. since the current round of fighting began on February 6. Together with the administration’s attempt to sideline Around 116,000 people left their homes in Yemen in the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sal man, it suggests course of the last year, according to the UN’s International that an earlier dynamic has been reestablished. This Organization for Migration. dynamic, familiar from the Obama period, is one in which The Houthi offensive com menced on February 6. The allies are reined in and unilateral concessions are made to timing is crucial to understanding the dynamic. On Tehran, in the hope that this will produce a change in February 4, US President Joe Biden announced the behavior furth er downstream. withdrawal of US support for the Saudi war effort. Seen from this perspective, local allies who wish to “This war has to end,” the president said. “To take a firm stance against Iranian aggression rapidly start to underscore our commitment, we ar e ending all American look like a nuisance, a greater impediment to progress than support for offensive operations in the war on Yemen, the supposed adversary. including relevant arms sales.” Saudi Arabia appears already to have acqu ired this Two days later, the US administration unconditionally distinction with regard to the new administration. The revoked the designation of the Houthis as a foreign desperate defense of Marib currently underway is the terrorist designation. The Houthi offensiv e toward Marib direct result. With regard to the broader administration began on the same day. The Houthis also commenced a intent that lies behind all this, the offensive in Yemen, series of drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. combined with the flurr y of rocket attacks against US The desire for an end to war in Yemen is targets in Iraq by Iran - linked militias, would suggest that as understandable. The humanitarian crisis is acute and of now, it appears to be producing increased Iranian aggression rather than its intended opposite .

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ICC to probe Israel and Hamas for war crimes By Mehul Srivastava ft.com March 3, 2021 Investigation expected to focus on deaths of civilians the UN, and signed up to the Rome Statute in 2015, with in Gaza Strip and Israel during 2014 war. the support of Arab states, but over the objections of Prosecutors for the International Criminal Court are Israel and the US. to probe formally Israel and the militant group, Hamas, to “Israel is not above the law, and should not be above establish if war crimes we re committed during the 2014 the law,” said Raji Sourani, a human rights lawyer in Gaza war in the Gaza Strip, and in the years since across the representing hundreds of victims in 189 cases submitted to occupied Palestinian Territories. the ICC. “Israel bombed Gaza, the most densely The decision has enraged Israel, which has not signed populated place on earth, for 51 days. There was no safe the 1998 Rome Statute that set up the ICC, and been haven for us.” welcomed by Palestinians, who have long sought to hold Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the the Jewish state responsible for violations of international US, the EU and Israel, formally welcomed the probe, law over its 53 - year - old occupation of the West Bank, saying it was a way to “investigate Israeli occupation war Gaza and East Jerusalem. crim es”. But Hamas itself should be worried about the The bulk of the investigation is expected to focus on investigation, said Sourani. “Being a liberation movement the deaths of civilians in the Gaza S trip and in Israel does not mean license to do whatever you like,” he said. during the 51 - day war in 2014. Hamas’s rocket fire into “If you are ashamed of something you have done, you civilian areas in Israel will also be probed, as will its use of should be worried.” torture. The probe will also look at settlement building, the The US is “firmly o pposed and are disappointed by killing of protesters at the border and the blockade o f the ICC prosecutor's announcement of an investigation Gaza by the Israeli military. into the Palestinian situation,” Ned Price, state department Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spokesperson, said on Wednesday. immediately branded the court anti - Semitic for opening The investigation, which could take several years, is the probe, which could potentially jeopardise the foreign likely to face major pr actical hurdles. Investigators would travel of many senior Israeli military officials and need to travel to the Gaza Strip to substantiate the politicians if t he court eventually issues warrants for their allegations made by Sourani’s Palestinian Centre for questioning. Human Rights and other groups, including Israeli rights “The (decision) is absurd — it’s undiluted anti - advocates. Israel is unlikely to grant them access and it is Semitism and the height of hypocrisy,” he said in a unclear if Egypt will either. statement. “This court, that was established to prevent the Death tolls in the 2014 conflict have been disputed by repetition of the Nazi horrific crime s committed against both sides; Israel’s preliminary analysis accepts that it killed the Jewish people, is now turning its guns against the one at least 760 civilians — including 369 children — in more and only state of the Jewish people.” than 6,000 air strikes, but it said that the figure, “while Wednesday’s announcement follows a decision in unfortunate, does not imply that (the Israeli military) February by the court that held that Palestine, which is not actions violated the principle of proportionality”. Hamas a state, could delegate its jur isdiction over allegations of killed at least six Israeli civilians and 67 Israeli soldiers, and criminal Israeli misconduct to the ICC. holds the bodies of two for a possible prisoner exchange The Palestinian Authority, a semi - autonomous body wi th Israel. . set up in the Oslo Accords in 1993, is an observer state in

J Street’s Selective Memory on Palestinian Antisemitism By Moshe Phillips algemeiner.com March 4, 2021 Dylan Williams of J Street, in a recent op - ed, called on Abbas stated that Jews have “no historical ties” to the the Biden administration to “rebuild the U.S. Land of Israel because they are actually descendants of the relationship with moderate Palestinian leaders.” Turkish Khazar tribe (a bizarre and long - discredited Since presumably J Street would not claim that the conspiracy theory). leaders of the genocidal Hamas terrorist group are Also, Abbas said that there has never been an “moderate,” then the “moderate Palestinian leaders” antisemitic incident against Jews in Arab countries — Williams and J Street have in mind must be Palestinian “Not even once,” he declare d. “Do you think I’m Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and those exaggerating? I challenge you [to find] even one incident around him. against Jews in over 1,400 years.” Less than three years ago — on April 30, 2018 — Then Abbas insinuated that the Holocaust was caused Abbas stood before the opening session of the Palestine by the Jews’ own “social behavior, [charging] interest, and National Council (PNC) and delivered a blatantly financial matters.” antisemitic speech. Abbas’ pre vious claims about the Holocaust — described in detail in his 1982 doctoral dissertation and Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 12 subsequent book — include that only a few hundred sincere, or was just a quick gesture intended to make J thousand, not six million, Jews were killed by the Nazis; Street look reasonable, but with no intention of actually and that David Ben - Gurion collaborated with the Nazis t o confronting Palestinian antisemitism. kill Jews, in order to garner world sympathy for creating a If J Street wants the Jewish community to believe that Jewish state. its opposition to Palestinian antisemitism is sincere, it must What did J Street — which now speaks of “moderate insist that Abbas officially recant his speech, withdraw his Palestinian leaders” — say about Abbas’ speech? In a May antisemitic book from circulation, and eliminate 1, 2018, press release, J Street said that it “strongly antisemitic statements from the PA - controlled media and condemns remarks made by President Mahmoud Abbas schools. on Monday that featured absurd antisemitic tropes and When I say “recant,” I don’t mean a mealy - mouthed deeply offensive comments on the history of the Jewish statement like the one Abbas issued in 2018, following the people and Israel.” J Street called Abbas’ speech international uproar over his antisemitic remarks. “If “incendiary” and argued that “there is absolutely no people were offended by my statement in front of the excuse” for what he said. PNC, especially people of the Jewish fa ith, I apologize to If, less than three years ago, Abbas was — according them,” Abbas said. to J Street — an antisemite, how is he now a “moderate”? That wasn’t a genuine apology. Not even close. The Does antisemitism have a shelf life and an expiration date? problem with Abbas’ speech was not that some people Or does J Street simply wait until everybody has forgotten took offense (as if they were being thin - skinned and about Abbas’ speech, so that it can resume calling him overreacting); the problem is that what Abbas said about “moderate” in order to advance the Palestinian cause? Jews was wrong, vile, and bigoted. That’s what Abbas has And is J Street simply hoping that the rest of us will to admit, and recant. Admitting he was wrong is vitally not notice that under Abbas, antisemitism still fills the PA - important, in order to send a message to the Palestinian controlled media and school textbooks? Or d oes J Street public that the antisemitic lies they have been hearing all acknowledge that Abbas is still an antisemite? And if so, these years — in their leader’ s speeches and books, and in where are those mysterious, unnamed “moderate their media and schools — were wrong. Palestinian leaders” to whom Dylan Williams referred, and Only when the Palestinians, starting with their leaders, whom J Street wants the US to shower with financial aid genuinely give up their antisemitism, can we take seriously and political support? claims by Dylan Williams and J Street that “moderate J Street’s May 2018 condemnation of Abbas was a rare Palestinian leaders ” exist with whom the United States and impressive criticism of a figure whom J Street had should interact. almost never previously criticized. Mr. Phillips is national director of Herut North America’s US Publicly challenging a leader whose policies you division; Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and generally support is never easy. At the time, some skeptics, education. myse lf included, wondered if the condemnation was

Strong diplomacy — including with Palestinians — is pro - Israel By Dylan Williams washingtonjewishweek.com February 17, 2021 After four years of an administration that spurned homeland for the Jewish people, an appreciation for the diplomacy, damaged our alliances and strengthened value of diplomacy and aid is vital. It’s why we should our adversaries, President Joe Biden’s vocal welcome the Biden a dministration’s intention to return to commitment to diplomacy doesn’t come a moment the Iran nuclear agreement, to re - establish diplomatic ties too soon. with the Palestinians and restore congressionally “Investing in our diplomacy isn’t something we do just appropriated aid funds that support the Palestinian people. because it’s the right thing to do for the world,” the Each of these steps will help to repair America ’s president said in his first major speech on foreign policy at influence, promote security and help empower moderate the State Dep artment earlier this month. “We do it in voices for peace and diplomacy across the region. order to live in peace, security and prosperity. We do it To truly understand the urgency of the moment, one because it’s in our own naked self - interest.” must understand the situation Biden confronts. Over the When we invest in economic development in other past four years, Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo countries, he continued, we reduce the likelihood of and Ambassador to Israel David Friedman worked to align “instabili ty, violence and mass migrations.” U.S. policy exclusively with that of the Israeli right. Trump That dual purpose for diplomacy and international aid shuttered diplomatic liaison offices with the Palestinians, is on open display in the Middle East, where the contrast advanced a pro - annexation “peace plan,” and cut support between Biden’s nuanced, constructive approach and ex - for Pales tinian coexistence and development projects. He President Donald Trump’s reckless destruction couldn’t be reneged on American commitments under the multilateral clearer. JCPOA nuclear agreement and reversed decades of For those of us with a deep and abiding investment in bipartisan policy that supported a two - state solution and Israel’s security and its long - term future as a democratic opposed settlement expansion in the West Bank. Page 13 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

While such policies may have been enthusiastically None of this has been good for the United States. welcomed by the Netanyahu government and their None of it has enhanced Israel’s security. None of it has supporters, they were not in Israel’s short - or long - term moved the Israelis and Palestinians any cl oser to peace. best interests — and were disastrous for the interests of Thankfully, American Jewish voters, as a particularly the United States. The sudden abandonment of any engaged and values - driven demographic, understand this pretense of supporting fairness or Palestinian rights and and overwhelmingly support pro - Israel, pro - peace, self - determination has shattered America’s credibility as an diplomacy - first American leadership. Polling has found honest broker and reduced our leverage and influence in that a full 75 percent of J ewish voters support a two - state trying to resolve the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. The solution, 82 percent oppose unlimited settlement accompanying sharp rise in Israeli settlement construction construction, 74 percent support a return to the Iran and de facto West Bank annexation — which the Trump nuclear deal and 80 percent support America playing a administration effectively greenlighted — will make peace leading, constructive role as an honest broker in the Israeli - negotiations harder, not easier, and has corroded both Pale stinan conflict. Palestinian and Israeli faith that a two - state sol ution might These are the results from the comprehensive survey be possible at all. of Jewish voters commissioned last year by J Street. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to annex survey also found that despite Trump’s transparent up to a third of the West Bank in the wake of Trump’s pandering, a full 78 percent of Jewish voters preferred plan put Israel’s long - term future as a truly democratic Democrats to Republican s. (Following his embrace of state directly in jeopardy and stirred outrage across the Trump, meanwhile, Netanyahu’s favorability sank to – 30 wor ld. The situation led to the worrying suspension of percent.) security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian After four years of failed policies, constant chaos and Authority, with the Palestinians seeking to use one of the the pursuit of narrow political self - interest at the expense few forms of leverage they have to deter Israel from of our nation’s interests, Biden’s efforts to repair the following through with annexation. ( Thankfully, this has damage, rebuild the U.S. relationship with moderate now been restored.) Palestinian leaders and reassert support for a two - state As a result of increased brinkmanship with Iran, solution is a welcome and necessary change — and one Trump twice brought the United States to the precipice of that is firmly in line with the pro - Israel, pro - peace a catastrophic all - out war, one with the capacity to imperil preferences of the overwhelm ing majority of American Israel and engulf the wider region. Feeling fre ed from Jews. obligations under the deal, Iran now has more nuclear Mr. Williams is vice president of policy and strategy at J Street, the material than it had when Trump walked out. liberal pro - Israel, pro - peace advocacy organization.

B iden abandons Middle East peace By Caroline B. Glick israelhayom.com March 5, 2021 The Biden adminis tration is the most ideologically Indonesia to end its economic boycott of the Jewish state. rigid and radical administration in US history. Its Direct flights from Tel Aviv to Bali were on the table. actions have served to undermine the accords by The advantages of peace between Israel an d Indonesia removing their American foundations. for both sides are self - evident. But such a peace would also The Trump administration was on the verge of pay a huge dividend to the US in its burgeoning cold war securing a peace agreement between Israel and Indonesia with China. An expanded strategic and economic in its final weeks in office, according to a former senior partnership with the archipelago and ASEAN member Trump administration official involved in the efforts. The would be a setback for China' s efforts to dominate the official divulged that the negotiations between Israel and South China Sea, particularly with Indonesia playing a role the world's most populous Muslim state were run by then - in an Islamic - Israeli alliance led by the US. Presiden t Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner "We got the ball on Indonesia and Israel to the first - and Adam Boehler, then - head of the US's International yard line," the official explained. Unfortunately, the Biden Development Finance Corporation. administr ation has dropped the ball on the ground and Israel was represented by then - Ambassador Ron walked off the field. Dermer and Indonesia by Minister Mohamed Lutfi. To On the surface, the Biden administration is interested secure peace, Boehler told Bloomberg News last in promoting peace. President Biden and Secretary of State December, the US would be willing to provide Indonesia Antony Blinken have praised the Abraham Accords, as with an additional "one or two billion dollars" in aid. well they should. Indonesia was interesting in Israeli technology and even For 2 6 years, the Arab conflict with Israel was ignored wanted the Technion to open a campus in Jakarta. It and left to fester. Then suddenly, in Trump's last year in wanted visa - fre e travel to the Jewish state and Arab and office, the situation was reversed as four Arab states US investment in its sovereign wealth fund. Israel wanted rapidly normalized their ties with Israel. Expanding the accords to Indonesia, with its mas sive population and Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 14 strategic location outside the Middle East would transform The administration's intense desire to empower the a strategic regional shift into a game - changer throughout PA despite the legal r oadblocks indicates one aspect of its Asia. opposition to the Abraham Accords. The accords weaken But despite the strategic logic of expanding the the PA by removing its power to block Arab and Islamic Abraham Accords and the praise Biden and Blinken have states from making peace with Israel. given them , starting in its first week in office, the new For decades, as Israel's Palestinian "peace partner" administration's actions have served to undermine the spurned peace and waged terror and political war against accords by removing their American foundations. Israel, the Arab states accepted that peace between A week into the Biden administration, the State themselves and Israel had to wait. By ignoring the US Department announced it was "placing a hold" on the $23 obligations to Abraham Accords partners and pushing to bi llion sale of F - 35s to the United Arab Emirates. The restore US support to the PA despite its illegality, the move was presented as "a routine administrative action administration signals its desire to restore the Palestinian typical to most any transition." veto. But suspending the sale was a strategic move, not an The Abraham Accords represent an even greater "administrative action." The normalization deal between problem for the administration's efforts to empower Iran. Israel and the UAE was a three - sided agreement. The In a speech on Monday, former secretary of state Mike Americans were full participants. The F - 35 sale was Pompeo said, "The Abraham Acco rds would not have America's way to solidify the UAE's membership in an happened … without the United States changing its policy American - led regional alliance of which the Abraham with respect to Iran 180 degrees from how the previous Accords were an expression. Suspending the deal indic ated administration had addressed the issue." that unlike its predecessor, the Biden administration will Now that the Biden administration wishes to move US not work to strengthen its alliance with the Sunni Arabs policy 180 - degrees backward to r einstate the Obama and Israel, and will not fulfill the commitments that the administration's Iran policies, the Abraham Accords are a Trump administration took on to develop and maintain nuisance. that alliance through Ar ab - Israeli peace. Hours before Biden and his advisers accused Saudi Biden's abandonment of the Abraham Accords can be Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) of understood in the context of US politics. In keeping with approving Jamal Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi the expectations of Democrat voters, Biden and his team consulate in Istanbul in 2018 , i24News reported that Israel, are making efforts in domestic and foreign policy to erase Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain were forming a the entirety of Trump's record in office. Although military alliance against Iran. While the events may or may remaining a party to the Abraham Accords and expanding not be related, both make clear why the Biden them to Indonesia and beyond would probably win Biden administration doesn't want Arab - Israeli or Muslim - Israeli the Nobel Peace Prize, it would put him in the partisan peace deal s. The deals impede the administration's efforts doghouse for the crime of failing to kill something Tru mp to empower Iran. created. Biden's declared goal vis - à - vis Iran is to restore Iranian But while political logic exists, not everything is compliance and US participation in the 2015 nuclear deal political. For Biden and his administration, ideology forged by the Obama administration. The so - called Joint trumps politics. Comprehensive Plan of Action places temporary The Biden administration is the most ideologically limitations on Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for a rigid and radical administration in US history. Hyper - massive inflow of capital. To convince Iranian leader Ali partisan politics are a func tion of the administration's Khamenei to get on board, the new administration has ideological radicalism. As far as the Middle East is provided a near - continuous stream of concessions to Iran concerned, its ideological commitments drive it to and its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis. empower the PLO - controlled Palestinian Authority and It removed the Houthis from the State Department's Iran. list of foreign terror organizations and suspended arms From their first days in office, senior Biden sales to Saudi Arabia. The administration's campaign administration off icials have pledged to restore US funding against MBS is an obvious effort to unseat him and replace of the PA. There are significant legal roadblocks to hi m with a less stridently anti - Iran leader. This week the implementing that pledge because so long as the PA administration's green - lighted South Korea's agreement to continues to pay the salaries of terrorists and advances war pay Iran some $7 billion in exchange for the release of a crimes allegations against Israel before the Inte rnational South Korean ship and its crew that Iran unlawfully seized Criminal Court, the US is barred from funding it or and has held captive sin ce early January. reopening the PLO representative office in Washington. Not only has Iran rejected America's gestures, but it is But all the same, the administration is intent on moving also expanding its regional aggression and sprinting to the forward. nuclear finish line. In recent weeks the Iranians attacked the Israeli embassy in New Delhi. They damaged an Page 15 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

Israeli - owne d ship in the Persian Gulf. And there is finding the way back from the brink of war with Iran into growing suspicion that the massive oil spill off Israel's a meaningful regional dialogue or forging a historic peace coast last month which caused massive ecological damage with Israel." to marine life and to Israel's coastline was an act of In other words, the administration holds the Saudis environmental terrorism carried out by a Libya n ship solely responsible for the war in Yemen. It also blames smuggling crude oil from Iran to Syria. Saudi Arabia (and presumably, Israel, the UAE and Iran's Houthi proxies have expanded their missile Bahrain) for b eing at "the brink of war with Iran," rather strikes against Saudi Arabia since coming off the US. terror than blaming Iran for bringing the region to the "brink of list. And while the US uses MBS's alleged role in killing war" through its terrorist aggression and illicit nuclear Khashoggi to justify downgrading its rel ations with Saudi activities. Arabia, the Iranians are killing scores of democracy The order of Price's "to - do" list made clear that protesters in its Baluchistan province. Whereas Khashoggi reaching "a historic peace" betw een Israel and Saudi was a former Saudi intelligence officer and ally of Osama Arabia is the administration's lowest priority. bin Laden who was working with Qatar to undermine the Price served as National Security Council spokesman Saudi regime at the time he was killed; the Baluchis are during the Obama administration. There he played a key innocent civilians whose sole crime is opposing the role in marketing the JCPOA and developing what his repressive regime. colleague, then deputy natio nal security adviser Ben As far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned, in Rhodes referred to as the information "echo chamber" for recent days, the Iranians canceled snap inspections of their selling the deal to ignorant reporters in Washington. Last nuclear sites by UN nuclear insp ectors. The International year, in a speech before the National Iranian - American Atomic Energy Agency released a report accusing Iran of Council, (a group widely viewed as the Iranian regime carrying out prohibited nuclear work at four undeclared unoffi cial lobby in Washington), Price said that a Biden nuclear sites. Khamenei has threatened to escalate Iran's administration would remove the Iranian Revolutionary uranium enrichment levels to 60%. And rather than Guards Corps from the State Department list of foreign respond by escalating sanctions against Iran, the EU – terror groups. presumably with US approval – has scrapped plans to Taken together, the administration's moves make clear condemn Iran for its illegal behavior at the IAEA's Board that beyond paying occasion al lip service to the Abraham of Governors' meeting this week. Accords, ending the Arab and Islamic world's conflict with In a press briefing Monday, State Department Israel and forging a wider peace between them is not a Spokesman Ned Price sai d, "We seek to accomplish a great goal it wishes to pursue. Indeed, for Biden and his deal with the Saudis: To end the war in Yemen and ease advisers, Arab - Israel peace is an impediment to their Yemen's humanitarian crisis; to use our leadership to forge ideolo gically motivated efforts to empower the PLO and ties across the region's most bitter divide, whether that's Iran.

There’s No Reason Not to Label Items Produced in the West Bank “Made in Israel” By David Milstein newsweek.com March 9, 202 1 Despite the objections of progressive Jewish labeled as "Product of Israel" or similar markings. Goods organizations. produced where the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues Two weeks ago, six far - left groups sent an inaccurate to have civilian oversight in Areas A and B, along with H1 and deceitful letter to the Biden administration that urged of the West Bank, must be labeled as "West Bank" or the reversal of the Trump administration's labeling similar markings. Goods from the Gaza Strip have to be requirements for goods exported from Judea and Samaria marked as "Gaza Strip" or similar markings. It is no longer (the West Bank) and Gaza Strip into the United States . permitted for goods from any of these geographic areas to Their effort is not surprising, given their long record of be labeled as "West Bank and Gaza" or similar markings. vilifying and delegitimizing Israel and their support for the The central argument in the groups' letter is that the discriminatory Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Trump administration's decision "marks a significant campaign against Jewish communities in Judea and change from longs tanding U.S. Customs guidance Samaria. But there is absolut ely no legitimate basis to maintained under both Democratic and Republican reverse the Trump administration's decision, which is administrations, which prohibits products from anywhere consistent with long - standing U.S. policy and practice, as in the West Bank — whether from settlements or well as prior agreements and the reality on the ground. Palestinian areas — from being labeled as made in Israel." The Trump administration's Notice issued on Their letter further states that "[t]he pre - Trump guidance December 23, 202 0 requires goods produced where Israel was first promulgated in 1995 following the Oslo continues to exercise relevant authorities and Accords." Both these claims are untrue. Indeed, these administrative control under the Oslo Accords and groups conveniently excluded from their letter the 1995 Hebron Protocol in Area C and H2 of the West Bank be Notice text described prior to the Oslo Accords: "Customs Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 16 required that the word 'Israel' must appear in the marking exported from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria designation" for all goods exported from the West Bank or into the U.S. have used the word "Israel" or similar Gaza Strip. markings without any enforcemen t consequences. The 1995 Notice changed the labeling requirements Third, even after the Oslo Accords were signed, only after the Oslo Accords. Goods from the West Bank Congress amended the U.S. - Israel Free Trade or Gaza Strip had to be marked as "West Bank," "Gaza" Implementation Act of 1985 on October 2, 1996 to give or "Gaza Strip," and could no longer use the word "Israel" the president the authority to issue a proclamation to or similar markings. The 1997 Notice then stated that the provide duty - free treatment for goods e xported from the West Bank and Gaza should be considered one territory, West Bank and Gaza into the U.S. Both the law and thus permitting the label "West Bank and Gaza" or sim ilar President Bill Clinton's signed Proclamation 6955 on markings. Both the 1995 and 1997 Notices were November 13, 1996 provided that "articles of Israel may reaffirmed by the Obama administration in 2016. be treated as though they were articles directly shipped But there were three main problems with the 1995 and from Israel for the pur poses of the Agreement even if 1997 Notices. shipped to the United States from the West Bank, the First, the 1995 and 1997 Notices did not reflect the Gaza Strip or a qualifying industrial zone." Therefore, even arrangements that existed as a result of the Oslo Accords though the law and Proclamation focused on extending and the Hebron Protocol. The reality on the ground is that duty - free treatment to all goods (including Palestinian Israel continues to maintain relevant authorities and pr oducts), the key point is that the U.S. has treated and administrative control in Area C and H2, while the PA has continues to treat Israeli goods the same irrespective of civilian oversight in Areas A and B and H1 of the West their precise geographic origin. Bank. The Trump administration's State Department After attempting to rewrite the actual history of U.S. accurately advised U.S. Customs and Border Protection in policy, the letter also falsely claims that the Trump December 2020 of the reality that "...there has been no administration's Notice was actually part of an effort "to further transfer of relevant authorities from Israel to the endorse and legitimize Israeli settlements." It is important [PA] since issuance of the earlier guidanc e, and Israel to reiterate the fact that U.S. policy prior to the Oslo continues to exercise relevant authorities in areas of the Accords mandated the word "Israel" on the label of all West Bank." goods emanating from the West Bank. No one ever The Trump administration also correctly recognized suggested or claimed throughout decades of Republican "that Israel has disengaged from Gaza." The 1997 Notice and Democratic administrations that this policy meant the was issued eight years before Israel left Gaza in 2005, and U.S. was supporting settlements or Israeli sovereignty over did not reflect that the PA has subsequently been ruling the West Bank. Neither did the Trump administration. To parts of the West Bank and the terrorist organization the contrary, country of origin markings factually reflect Hamas rules over the Gaza Strip. As a result of this who has control over a geographic area at a given time. development, the Trump administration recognized that They are not used as a tool to denote sovereignty. "Gaza and the West Bank are politically an d The Biden administration must reject the letter's administratively separate and should be treated misguided effort to politicize labeling requ irements and accordingly" in the labeling requirements — in other words, advance an anti - Israel agenda redolent of the European they cannot be considered one joint territory. Union's similar malicious labeling efforts against Israel. We Second, the 1995 and 1997 Notices did not reflect will soon see whether the Biden administration capitulates, U.S. policy in practice, and their labeling require ments or whether the facts will prevail. were not really enforced. In fact, it seems that for more Mr. Milstein served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to than two decades after 1997 to the present day, goods Israel and as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate.

Killed in helicopter crash in France, Olivier Dassault, 69, leaves personal legacy upon family one By Gabriel Erem jns.org March 8, 2 021 “He is a one - man polymath who can accommodate family — as a captain of industry who “never stopped several lives in one day of time,” said Jean serving our country.” Rosanvallon, president and CEO Emeritus of Macron was quick to pay homage to the 69 - year - old Dassault Falcon Jet. parliament member, saying in a tweet that “Olivier On Sunday afternoon, March 7, my phone rang. The Dassault loved France. Captain of industry, local MP, call came from a friend in Paris telling me about a fatal reserve comm ander in the air force — throughout his life, helicopter crash in which one of the victims was my dear he never stopped serving our country.” friend, Olivier Dassault. He died around 6 p.m. when his Macron called his death “a great loss” and sent his aircraft crashed near Deauville in northern France. condolences to Dassault’s family. President Emmanuel Macron heralded Olivier — a politician and scion of the Dassault aircraft - making Page 17 March 13, 2021 Focus on Israel

Sources close to the crash inquiry said the pilot of the French - Israeli relations began to cool with the helicopter was also killed and that no one else was on accession of Charles de Gaulle as president of France’s board. Fifth Republic. Olivier was a true Renaissance man. An accomplished The breaking point for de Gaulle was when Israel pilot, a talented artist. began the 1967 war against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. On I first met him when we were introduced by his late May 24, de Gaulle had prophetically warned Israeli Foreign father, Serge Dassault. Ministe r Abba Eban and urgently implored Israel not to Dassault was the son of Madeline Dassault (née attack, but Israel ignored him and did so on June 5, 1967. Minckes) and Marcel Blo ch Dassault, from whom he A decisive victory over all surrounding Arab air forces inherited the Dassault Group. Both his parents were was achieved by Israel fighter pilots flying Mirage III, Jewish. Dassault Super Mystere, Mystere IV a nd Dassault Ouragan His father, Olivier’s grandfather, Marcel Bloch aircraft. founded Dassault Aviation in 1929. Marcel Bloch was The Israeli Air Force — with 250 combat aircraft at its educated at Lycée Condorcet in Paris. After studies in disposal, employing 352 sorties — had prevailed over a electrical engi neering, he graduated from the Breguet coalition with approximately 600 combat aircraft. The IAF School and Supaéro. At the latter, Bloch was classmates destroyed 452 enemy aircraft, including 79 in air combat, with a Russian student named Mikhail Gurevich, who whi le losing 46 of its own. would later be instrumental in the creation of the MiG On Nov. 27, 1967, de Gaulle publicly described Jews aircraft series. as an “elite people, sure of themselves and domineering,” During the occupation of France by Naz i Germany and Israel as an expansionist state. during World War II, France’s aviation industry was Relations between France and Israel have greatly virtually disbanded other than the compulsory improved since then, as have resear ch and development manufacturing, assembly and servicing of German designs. and other joint ties. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., for In October 1940, Bloch refused to collaborate with the example, has teamed with Dassault Aviation to develop an Germans occupiers at Bordeaux - Aérona utique and was unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the French military in imprisoned by the Vichy government. 2014, replacing other systems. In 1944, the Nazis deported Marcel Bloch to the In recent months, the world’s le ading philanthropy Buchenwald concentration camp as punishment for publication Lifestyles magazine/Meaningful Influence got refusing to co - operate with their regime. He was tortured an exclusive interview with Olivier Dassault, who in and beaten, and held in solitary confinement. In th e addition to his impressive public service and business meantime, his wife was interned near Paris. accomplishments also became a celebrated visual artist. Bloch was detained at Buchenwald until it was Here are some de tails of the interview: liberated on April 11, 1945. By the time of his return to “In person, Dassault is the embodiment of charm, his Paris, he was crippled to such an extent that he could green eyes sparkling with the light that permeates barely walk. He was advised by his doctors to settl e his throughout his photographs. A beard, delicately trimmed, affairs, as they did not expect him to recover his health. gives some swagger to the elaborate dresser.” Later, Bloch would never speak about it. One can “What does art mean to me ? To quote Kandinsky’s suppose that these “non - dits,” or untold words, endure in words, photography since my teenage years has been an the subconscious of the next generation, which might ‘ardent necessity’ ever since my first trip to Greece. I was explain Olivier Dassault’s comm itment to politics and his 10 years old then. I had been offered an Instamatic camera battle for freedom and tolerance as an MP. and stayed stunned in front of the Parthenon’s beauty … After the war, Marcel Bloch changed his name from .” Bloch to Bloch - Dassault and in 1949 to Dassault. “Photography is writing with light,” he insists. A Dassault was the nom de guerre used by his brother, landscape, a townscape, an object — all draw his attention. Gen. Darius Paul Bloch, when he ser ved in the French He presses the button. He is not capturing reality but resistance and is derived from char d’assaut, French for merely documenting it. He is transposing it. “battle tank.” “Photography has long since freed itself from t he After the elder Dassault’s death in 1986, Serge necessity to represent things as they are. Photography is a Dassault continued developing the company with the help picture executed in a fraction of a second.” of CEOs Charles Edelstenne and Éric Trappier. The Unlike most contemporary artists who work with Dassault Gro up also owned the renowned French digital cameras, Dassault uses silver photography, which newspaper Le Figaro. enables double exposure by blocking the film , thereby An ‘elite people, sure of themselves and domineering’ producing special effects. It is also a little - known fact that the Dassault family He has no formal credentials. Instead, he learned his played a key role in helping Israel win the Six - Day War. techniques from a book. “I read number seven of the collection, How to Take Pictures. The number seven has Focus o n Israel March 13, 2021 Page 18 remained my lucky number,” he quips. The comment credentials. He is savvy with aircraft, he is endowe d with evokes th e Dassault family patriarch, Marcel Bloch, who the art of public relations and speeches, and he is very kept a four - leaf clover in his wallet until he died. good at PR.” What have been his influences? “The only criteria I He had to wait until December 2011 to be appointed consider is beauty,” he says. president of the Supervisory Board of Dassault Holding, ‘I had to do something special’ which owns Dassault. In 1988, Dassault was elected as an MP for the Oise ‘To give some happiness to underprivileged children ’ District, then re - elected five times. On the political During that period — sometimes deeply enmeshed in spectrum, he is on the right. Dassault tackles social issues, MDIG, sometimes striking out on his own between the campaigning to abolish the 35 - hour workweek and taxes back and forth at Dassault — he launched a business, on wealth. He is also an eloquent champion for instituting engineered the successful sale of Falcon aircraft to his the death penalt y for acts of terrorism. well - heeled circle of acquaintances and networ k of industry All told, the company provides businesses and people moguls in power, stayed in charge of the strategy of with “virtual universes” to imagine sustainable and Dassault, composed jingles and indulged himself in his innovative solutions. Its world - leading ideas transform the passion for photography. And it wasn’t just a hobby — way products are designed, produced and supported. The showcasing his photos in Paris and abroad, writing books Dassault gr oup today brings value to more than 220,000 reimagining the genre of photography for the modern age. customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 40 The culture of philanthropy has always been a countries. hallmark of the Dassaults, and Olivier donated significantly “Because of my legendary family and my background, as well. The proceeds from the sale of his artworks are I couldn’t escape my destiny and I had to take some role in allocated to charities “to give some happiness to the aircraft industry,” says Da ssault. In fact, he grew up underprivil eged children.” immersed in a world of aircraft, positioned towards a And these aren’t small donations — for Winter, a silver future of responsibility and a place at the top. In 1974, he photographic print under Altuglas, signed and numbered, graduated from École de l’Air with a major in comes with a price tag of €12,000 ($14,500). A unique mathematics, and in 1976, he obtained a Ph.D. in piece could reach €50,000 (nearly $60,000). computer sciences management. “Few people realize the commitme nt and success of “I had to do something special, something that they Olivier in politics. He has been an elected member of the didn’t do,” he explains. “So, I decided to be the only French Assemblée Nationale for over 25 years,” says Jean member of the family who can fly an aircraft.” Rosanvallon, president and CEO Emeritus of Dassault He is the first and only one of the Dassaults to be Falcon Jet, who has worked at Dassault for 40 years and qualified as a pilot for the full rang e of Falcon business has lived in Ne w York since 1995. “Artist, businessman, aircraft, having set several speed records. politician and publisher, Olivier Dassault does not like to Despite Dassault’s know - how and qualifications, his be caught in a role or by a definition. It is intriguing how father, Serge, was reluctant to hand over the reins of the Dassault, carefree and nonchalant, can be so productive company, although Olivier was already 60 years old. The across such different fields. He is a one - man polymath nearest he came to power was when his father praised him who can accommodate several lives in one day of time.” with these words: “Olivier, an engineer and graduate of Olivier Dassault’s tragic helicopter accident closes l’École de l’Air, is better qualified than his two other another chapter in the Bloch - Dassault family saga. brothers and his sister because of his background and his

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