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 40 Volume 20 , Number 1 9 Parshias Bamidbar | Shabbos Mevarchim | 44th Day Omer M ay 23 , 20 20

A Secure Israel Strengthens Britain’s Interests in the Middle East By Ed Husain thejc.com/Jewish Chronicle May 8, 2020 Boris Johnson has a choice to make. We must not forget that Maimonides wrote in Arabic, Not from the usual suspects of Hamas, or Iran, the learned from Muslim philosophers and was a physician to Muslim Brotherhood, or Jeremy Corbyn but, this time, Saladin. Muslims in France, Turkey, Morocco and the from sections of Britain’s Jewish community who are Balkans protected Jews from the Nazis. missing the bigger picture. Based on that long history of Jews and Muslims living I am not Jewish but a Muslim who wants to see long - together in co - existen ce, the desire now to remove the lasting, real peace between Israel and her Arab allies. That cancer that is the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and is not a naïve dream, but a reality being shaped today by the Iranian government, there are new cultural, religious, many Arabs and Muslims across the Middle East economic and political initiatives from new leaders in the Attacking Israel is not only about Hamas lobbing Middle East. rockets, sending terrified families into bunkers. Long - Private polling done by several Ar ab governments lasting damage to Israel is done by the political rhetoric of shows that Muslim youth, 32% of the Arab world, aged the Corbynite left, the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran’s between 15 and 25 - 100 million people today - are not other proxies against Israel’s very legitimacy. The intended interested in hatred of Israel and the false glory of the lost end - result of t hat rhetoric is a weakened, isolated Israel, wars of 1947, 67, 73, 91. But their middle - aged elders are boycotted and sanctioned by the world, which will then be stuck in an Islamist narrative of conflict, Jihad, Jew hatred on its knees, with its borders reshaped and Jews again and ‘liberating Jerusalem’. expelled from the Middle East. The challenge for political leaders is to close that gap The latest uproar is about Israel annexing the West and normalise relations with Israel for a future Middle East Bank in the com ing months -- that somehow the British that is free from Iran’s and the Muslim Brotherhood’s government must act to stop this ‘violation of international threa tening of Islamist revolutions or rigged elections to law’. topple governments in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, No. The British government must not act and British Jordan, Syria, Algeria, and others. Jews should take a broader view, reverse out from the cul - Here is the rub: Netanyahu’s strong and fearless stance de - sac of Bibi bashing and understand th e new against Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood worldview is developments taking shape across the Middle East’s now r espected in the Arab world. He has made Israel a motorways of new ideas. strategic ally of Sunni Arabs who wish to see a peaceful I have never met Bibi Netanyahu. The future of Israel world. in a modernised, moderate Middle East is not about British and American Jews now risk looking out of Netanyahu. Since publication of my first book, The date, still fighting the last battles while unaware of the new Islamist, in 2007, and the founding of Quilliam in 2008, I horizon across the sand dunes. Go to the United Arab have been involved in various ways in undoing the damage Emirates and Dubai on a Friday night and you’ll find a done by political Islamists to my religion but also to popular shul. Visit Abu Dhabi on Sunday and on Sa’diyat Muslim - majority regions of the world. Island you’ll find the Louvre Museum with ancient In my latest book, The House of Islam: A Global artefacts telling the story of Judaism and Islam as religions History (2018), I explain how across a millennium, of the reg ion, pioneered by peoples of the Middle East. Muslims and Jews lived together, generally, in peace and Look further and you’ll see a new and majestic harmony. The Quran is a continuation of the narrative of synagogue being built in the United Arab Emirates, the the prophets of ancient Israel: one God, family, justice and Abrahamic Family House, alongside a church and mosque charity. When the prophet Mohamed declared his u mmah in Abu Dhabi. (community) in Medina in 622, Jews were explicitly part of There, right there, is the vision for a new Middle East that ummah. The second caliph, Omar, invited Jews to in action: Jews, Christians and Muslims worshipping, return to Jerusalem in 636 after five centuries of Roman trading, traveling and being free together. expulsion. If you’re in Bahrain, go to the oldest synagogue in the Why? Because early Muslims, trained by Mohamed, Arabian Gulf. Put on the TV in your hotel room, and recognized that Jews we re from Judea and Jerusalem was you’ll see the vastly popular Saudi channel MBC booming their city. Muslims and Jews, together as brothers of the into every home in the region with a popular TV series, same father, Abraham, suffered at the hands of the Umm Haroun, ‘Mother of Aaron’, lamenting the loss of medieval Crusades and then again when the Spanish Jewish neighbours and friends from the region. In the Inquisition sought blood of Jews and Muslims. movie, an Arab businessman has investments in Israel, Focus o n Israe l May 23, 2020 Page 2 another objects, t he former shrugs his shoulders and says, Their leaders in Fatah and Hamas have become literally ‘so what?’ He continues ‘The Palestinians curse us millionaires from the aid given to them by Gulf Arab daily while we fund them and their government. What has nations and the West. In Bahrain, the finance ministers of Israel ever done against us in the Gulf?’ the wealth iest Arab states and the United States committed Speak to intelligent Egyptians and you’ll hear praise to a $50 billion investment over ten years and brought fo r Israel signing a $15 billion deal last year to provide AT&T and others to address the telecommunications Egypt with roughly 2.2 trillion cubic feet of gas over a 10 - challenges about which the Palestinian youth complain year period that will help transform both into regional daily. energy players.The intelligence and security co - operation As part of the peace plan, Ramallah and M ahmoud between these nations kee ps us safe. The peace treaty Abbas must negotiate with Israel. The pressure from between Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President British Jews should be on Abu Mazen. In exchange for Anwar Sadat, forty years later, still stands. Young Arabs in American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over particular Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, want to visit Israel. areas, Netanyahu has agreed to freeze all settlement Israel is a welcome guest at the World Expo 2020 in activity for the next four year s in areas the plan envisions Dubai later thi s year. I could go on but what of for a future Palestinian state. But where is Palestinian Palestinians? And the West Bank? The Palestinian leadership? And which leader: Hamas or Fatah? leadership, sadly, belongs to a bygone world, out of touch Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh had no trouble with their youth and full of contempt for new leaders in flying to Tehran to mourn for the loss of Qasem the Middle East. Gaza is an Iranian outpost controlled by Soleimani, the Iranian g eneral and terror mastermind. the fascism of Hamas, killing dissenters, punishing gays , Mahmoud Abbas can take phone calls from the Iranian and preparing terrorists against Israel. foreign minister to ‘foil the deal’. We in the West must not I attended the White House’s Peace to Prosperity be on the side of Hamas and Iran but see the bigger conference in Bahrain last year. Talk now of ‘annexing the picture that uplifts the lives of ordinary Palestinians with West Bank’ is fiction to put in peril a n ew Middle East. economic freedom, jobs and thereby dignity. The Americans sent their Treasury Secretary, Steven Free from the shackles of Europe, Boris Johnson and Mnuchin -- the British Foreign Office sent a junior Dominic Raab should support the vision of a new Middle treasury minister, another failure by Theresa May and East and British Jews must not let disagreements with Bibi Jeremy Hunt. blind them to the bigger picture of a more sec ure, stable When unemployment in Gaza is at 45% and 43% of and serene Israel. women in the West Bank are unemployed, the real Mr. Husain is a senior fellow at Civitas in Westminster and a challenge for ordinary Palestinians is economics and global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC . survival.

The UN and the WHO Are Complicit in Bashar al - Assad’s Efforts to Starve His Enemies By Seth Frantzman jpost.com May 14, 2020 Thanks to Russia, only loyalists can get humanitarian The World Health Organization has also stopped aid. supporting eastern Syria, an area of millions of people who International organizations partnering with the Syrian are recovering from ISIS atrocities, a s the WHO also regime are cutting off aid to the poorest and most works through the Syrian regime rather than providing vulnerable people in Syr ia during the global pandemic. equal access to people on the ground in a Syria divided by A recent report at Foreign Policy noted that the conflict. It now turns out that people of eastern Syria are “United Nations informed its relief agencies several weeks being increasingly isolated by great powers who want them ago that they were permitted to fund private charities to stop wo rking with the US and either be controlled by operating in northeastern Syria only if they were registered Turkey or by the Russian - backed Assad regime. i n Damascus and authorized to work there by the Syrian The report notes that the UN Security Council, government, which has proved unwilling, or unable, to “acting under pressure from Russia, shut down a UN - meet the region’s health needs.” sanctioned humanitarian aid hub on January 10 at the This gives the Syrian regime a veto over aid to eastern Yaroubia crossing on the Iraqi - Syrian border. That Syria and a way to use it as a weapon. Turkey and Russia deprived the UN of an explicit legal mandate to serve in co llaborated in the effort, as Turkey turns off water to the region.” The crossing was used by the WHO and 460,000 people in eastern Syria, and Russia supports the private groups, “delivering medical assistance into Syrian regime. The report indicates how dictatorships and northeastern Syria.” regimes that abuse human rights come first at controlling THE LARGER context is that Russia, Iran and UN and international aid, en abling them to use it only for Turkey want the US to leave eastern Syria. the people in charities linked to them and using it to empower loyalists eastern Syria are the victims because the local authorities and sideline others. were supported by America to fight ISIS. The local Page 3 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

authorities are called the Syrian Democratic Forces and religious reasons. That would appear to run contrary to all various civilian autonomous councils linked to them. The the lip service the UN and its various organizations pay to Syrian regime wants the SDF to be disbanded and become human rights and access to health care. part o f the Syrian regime’s forces. But the reality as it plays out in eastern Syria shows Russia and Iran want the US to leave eastern Syria. that even during a global pandemic, authoritarian regimes Turkey, which works closely with Russia and Iran, also always come first, even if they can’t provide for their own wants the US - backed SDF to leave; it invaded part of people or don’t control most of their country. For similar eastern Syria last year, sending extremist groups to attack reasons, people i n Libya, Yemen and parts of Somalia civili ans. receive no support during the pandemic. The pandemic has made matters worse. Desperate for The syrian regime has blocked aid going to eastern medical support, the local authorities have complained that Syria unless local authorities will make sure it only goes to the WHO didn’t even inform them that a man who areas the regime wants. That has included blocking became sick in March in Qamishli had COVID - 19. The delivery of supp lies by road from Damascus and making organization reportedly informed the Offic e for the sure any aid flights to the regime - run airport in Qamishli Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), but it are managed by the regime. The cut - off of aid is designed took another week to even tell the local authorities, to isolate areas in eastern Syria and bring them to the because the UN only speaks to the Syrian regime in bargaining table. The US had already walked a way from Damascus. Local authorities in Qamishli and Hasakah some of these areas in October 2019, enabling a Turkish complained in a Voice of America repo rt that the regime is invasion and the rapid movement of Russia and Syrian concealing the number of coronavirus cases in eastern regime forces to parts of northeast Syria. Syria and also allowing travel, despite attempts at US envoy James Jeffrey indicated in December 2018 lockdowns. that the SDF would need to work with Damascus and the On May 7, Turkey and the extremists it backs in regime, saying the US has no permanent relationship with northern Syria cut off water to 460,000 people in eastern non - state actors like the SDF. The US view of the SDF is Syria. Turk ey and the Syrian regime agree on trying to temporary, tactical and transactional. The transaction today impose suffering on locals, isolate them and make sure includes the SDF continuing to fight ISIS while the US they receive no aid. secures oil field s near the Euphrates River to block Iran’s The way the UN works makes it so that no one who is presence. The US calls this the Eastern Syria Stabilization not loyal to the Syrian regime receives aid in Syria. For Area. instance, the UN’s World F ood Programme conducted air As part of the transaction, US anti - ISIS envoy Jeffrey drops to the Syrian - regime - run city off Deir Ezzor when it wants the SDF to continue to be subcontractors holding was under siege by ISIS between 2015 and 2017. The thousands of ISIS detainees. There wa s even some talk of program conducted 309 airdrops at a cost of $37 million a having the UN support a coronavirus facility at Al - Hol year, according to its website. The assistance helped camp where some families of ISIS detainees live, alongside 200,00 0 people. But there were no UN - supported air other internally displaces Syrians. But that plan was also drops for people in Raqqa, Qamishli, Kobane or Idlib, or scuttled. Civilians who suffered under or even fought ISIS in refugee camps or areas outside Syrian regime control. in e astern Syria will get no aid from the WHO or UN. The recent Foreign Policy report indicates that OCHA The US anti - ISIS coalition has tried to do what it can did ask the UN Office of Legal Affairs to lo ok into the to help in eastern Syria. Under CENTCOM’s leadership, legality of providing relief to people who the Syrian regime which is sympathetic to the people of eastern Syria and didn’t want relief to go to. The experts “concluded that the helping them in stabilization efforts afte r ISIS, some UN could only fund agencies registered and approved by limited support has been delivered, including a multi - year the Syrian government.” This means the government of electricity infrastructure effort. Had the area of Raqqa and Syria can deci de who gets aid and can discriminate against other towns that once suffered under ISIS waited for the those it doesn’t like, including for political, ethnic or UN, they would still be in darkness.

Family feud breaks apart Syri a’s troika of power By David Gardner ft .com May 20, 2020 Rift between the dictator Assad and his cousin comes magnetised Syrian and Arab attention. During the two as victory in war looks close . decades of his rule, the two men have formed a troika of A feud is raging at the heart of Bashar al - Assad’s power with Maher al - Assad, the president’s younger regime just as the Syrian dictator looks close to victo ry in brother. Now, the traditional soap operas and melodramas the nine - year civil war that has destroyed much of the of Ramadan have a real - life competitor: the tycoon versus country. the tyrant. The public dispute between President Assad and Rami The Assad dynastic dictatorship has ruled Syri a for Makhlouf, his maternal cousin, Syria’s richest man, has half a century. Aside from a blip in 1984, when Hafez al - Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 4

Assad — the current president’s father — was taken ill and year of Rafiq Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, in which his brother Rifaat al - Assad attempted a coup d’état, they Damascus was implicated. His successor as Syria’s man in do not air their differences. Mr Makhlouf must be either Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, also died mysteriously in daring or desperate to have gone public. 2015, taking his secrets to the grave. Almost no one tied to Mr Makhlouf, who has amassed a vast fortune, has the Hariri killing remai ns alive. posted three videos on Facebook complaining that the Kanaan was seen as a rival to Mr Assad. So was the Assad government is trying to expropriate his business president’s brother - in - law, former military intelligence empire which, he insists, has served the regime throughout chief Assef Shawkat; he was allegedly canvassed as an the rebellion that so nearly brought it down. alternative to Mr Assad by French and Turkish The ostensible cause of the rift is a demand that Mr intelligence, when he was killed in a 2012 bombing of Makhlouf’s lucrative mobile phone company, Syriatel, and Syria’s security council that also killed the defence minister its smaller rival MTN, hand over hundreds of millions of and a leading general. The attack was claimed by rebels, dollars to the cash - strapped government in back taxes and who had broken into central Damascus in a major lic ensing fees. Syriatel executives are being arrested. offensive. Many Syria - watchers believe it was an inside job, Mr Makhlouf, whose aunt was married to Hafez al - although it seems excessive even by regime standards to Assad, founder of the dynasty, has prospered mightily blow up the national security bureau to get one man. from the crony capitalism the junior Assad nurtured under In the light of such precedents, Mr Makhlouf’s videos the guise of opening up a state - dominated e conomy. Aside may be intended as an insurance policy against a similar from Syriatel, he has commanding positions in fate. Yet it is hard to see him as a viable riv al to Mr Assad. construction and engineering, tourism and real estate, His al - Bustan organisation, both a charity and a banking and insurance, and oil and gas. 30,000 - strong militia, has put down roots in the north - Mr Makhlouf has been under US sanctions since 2008 western coastal region of Syria, the minority Alawite sect and EU sanctions during the war, for allegedly usi ng heartland of the regime. intelligence services to intimidate business rivals and acting He might look threatening, with an Iran - trained as the moneybags of the regime. In an infamous interview priv ate army, wealth and cash flow to rival the straitened with the late Anthony Shadid of the New York Times as budget of a wrecked country, and a welfare network that the Assads turned their guns on what had been a civic has outshone the state. But his militia is being absorbed by uprising, he announced th is would be a fight to the death. Maher al - Assad’s Fourth Armoured Division. His charity is Now, in one of his videos, he says: “I want to direct being marginalised by the bigger charitable networks and my message towards the president. The intelligence ambitions of Asma al - Assad, the president’s wife. As services have begun to encroach on our people’s freedoms. fighting in Syria starts to wind down, Mr Makhlouf’s These are your people. These are your supporters”. Mr egregious wealth is the target. Makhl ouf plainly does not do irony. Last September, the regime told scores of leading Quite how he came to this pass is hard to trace in a businessmen they had to repatriate do llars and help bail regime so utterly opaque. Aside from the stand - off out the country. A new cohort that has done well out of between Hafez al - Assad and Rifaat, there have been plenty the war readily assented. Mr Makhlouf, a knowledgeable of bust - ups — but little clarity and plenty of conspiracy Arab politician says, refused. He also resisted plans for a theor ies about what actually happened. third cell phone franchise to which he was told to In 2005, Ghazi Kanaan, interior minister and Syria’s contribute a t hird of Syriatel’s clients, the politician says. It viceroy in Lebanon during most of its 29 - year occupation now looks as if he will lose everything. The melodrama of the country, supposedly committed suicide. He seems continues. to have been opposed to the assassination in February tha t V isit suburbanorthodox.org for the current issue.

Soaring Prices, Rotting Crops: Coronavirus Triggers Global Food Crisis By Yaroslav Trofimov in Dubai and Lucy Craymer in Hong Kong wsj.co m May 13, 2020 Processing and transportation breakdowns, panic economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of buying threaten vulnerable nations; ‘a food crisis the United Nations, or FAO. with lots of food’ Prices for staples such as rice and wheat have jumped The coronavirus pandemic hit the world at a time of in many cities, in part because of panic buying set off by plentiful harvests and ample food reserves. Yet a cascade export restrictions imposed by countries eager to ensure of protectionist restrictions, transport disruptions and sufficient supplies at home. Trade disruptions and processing breakdowns has dislocated the global food lockdowns are making it harder to m ove produce from supply and p ut the planet’s most vulnerable regions in farms to markets, processing plants and ports, leaving particular peril. some food to rot in the fields. “You can have a food crisis with lots of food. That’s At the same time, more people around the world are the situation we’re in,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior Page 5 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel running short of money as economies contract and months, people wi ll start snatching food from others and incomes shrivel or disappear. Currency stealing to meet their needs,” Mr. Asif said. devaluations in developing nations that Food shortages have caused political depend on tourism or depreciating upheavals throughout human history. In commodities like oil have compounded the years after the 2008 financial crisis, a those problems, making imported food surge in food prices world - wide helped even less affordable. unleash a wave of turmoil and insurgencies “In the past, we have always dealt with in many parts of the Middle East and either a demand - side crisis, or a supply - side Africa. The Arab Spring’s series of crisis. But t his is both — a supply and a rebellions was in part caused by a Tunisian demand crisis at the same time, and at a vegetable seller setting himself on fire in global level,” said Arif Husain, chief 2010. Today, many governments worry economist at the UN’s World Food that breakdowns of the foo d supply could Program. “This makes it unprecedented inspire similar upheaval. and uncharted.” “Food security is key in maintaining The WFP has warned that up to three socio - economic and political stability. We dozen nations could face f amines by the can ignore this only at our own risk,” end of the year, potentially pushing an President Rodrigo Duterte of the additional 130 million people to the brink Philippines, the world’s biggest rice of starvation. importer, told last month ’s summit of In self - sufficient farming nations such Southeast Asian leaders. “Our most urgent as the U.S., the fallout so far has been priority is ensuring a sufficient supply of limited. While the variety on supermarket rice for our people.” shelves has diminishe d somewhat, and the As economies world - wide come out of meat - processing industry has experienced lockdown, logistical issues could be some interruptions, there are no major resolved, borders could start to reopen and food shortages. food trade would p ick up, alleviating some Other countries, rich and poor, are risks. Yet, it is unclear how many months facing critical challenges in how to make that would take — a variable that depends sure their populations get enough to eat in on the future course of the pandemic itself. coming months and years. The biggest danger going forward, South Sudan, where a new unity economists say, is that the pandemic’s government was formed recently to end a long - running dislocations will affect not ju st existing food stocks but civil war, is one of the nations most at risk. Data published planting and harvesting in coming months. That already is by the FAO show that prices for wheat in the capital city occurring in parts of the world, just as a swarm of locusts of Juba have shot up 62% since February. Pric es for is eating its way across swaths of Africa and Asia. cassava, a local staple otherwise known as tapioca, are up In India, which has been under a nationwide 41%. lockdown since March 25, Minati Swain’s crop of “I don’t even want to imagine how bad it’s going to tomatoes and bananas went to waste in the fields last be,” said Mabior Garang, the African country’s deputy month because restrictions on movement made it interior minister - designate. “The borders have been closed, impossible to get the produce to local markets in the and we don’t have a ny local production of food in our eastern state of Orissa. Then, heavy rains destroyed the 33 - country. We were already facing a famine pre - corona. If year - ol d farmer’s remaining crop of eggplant. you add corona to the equation, it’s crazy.” “Now, we don’t even have money to buy food from Potato prices are up 27% since February in Chennai, the market,” she said. “And if there is no money, how can India, according to the FAO data. In Yangon, Myanmar, we plant for the next season?” prices for gra m, a type of chickpea, have climbed 20%. Around the world, shipping disruptions have made it In the Pakistani city of Lahore, van driver Muhammad prohibitively expensive or i mpossible to move many Asif said his family used to cook chicken twice a week perishable items, especially fruits, vegetables and fish, from before the pandemic, and mutton once a month. Now, he producers to consumers. said, they are eating as little food as possible, sub sisting on Between Jan. 1 and April 10, the capacity of container basic staples as his income declined by 60%, while food ships moving goods fell 30% because of canceled sailings. prices in local groceries increased by at least 25%. Those that do reach ports face ne w delays due to “The virus has made life very difficult for people like quarantines and shutdowns of customs and other facilities us. If the situation continues like this for another couple of in many places. Sometimes that results in spoiled cargoes. Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 6

About 85% of passenger flights world - wide have been already face shortages. It is in these poorer nations, canceled, reducing global air - cargo capacity by about 35%, particularly i n sub - Saharan Africa, that food inflation is according to consulting firm hitting the hardest. McKinsey & Co. Nigeria is home to 200 India is the world’s biggest million people and one of the exporter of rice, helping feed world’s largest rice and wheat nations across Africa and Asia. importers. It is suffering from These days, New Delhi - based the combined shocks of more rice exporter Shri Lal Mahal expensive imports, disruptions Group is shipping only 15% to of local production and 20% of its normal volume. transport, and the collapse of “There is plenty of rice in global prices for its main India,” said company Chairman export, oil. Prem Garg. “It’s just that we Haresh Keswani, whose can’t export it because of Artee Group operates 15 SPAR logistics issues.” Among the hypermarkets across Nigeria, obstacles: While there used to said he had to shut down five be an available vessel to outlets because he couldn’t get European markets every two or enough inventory or workers. three days, now there’s just one every two w eeks. “The farmers have increased the prices of food Some of the other top 10 rice - selling nations products because of the lockdown and the lack of access compounded the disruptions with export restrictions. to their farms, and we the buyers are now at the receiving Vietnam, the world’s third - largest rice exporter, stopped all end,” said Sadiq Usman a laborer in Nigeria’s capital, shipments in March. Myanmar and Cambodia also Abuja. “It’s not been easy feeding my family, and now imposed curbs. we’re eating just once a day.” The world’s biggest wheat e xporter, Russia, last month Some of the world’s wealt hier food importers have halted exports until July. Major wheat suppliers Romania, been preparing for disruptions since the previous crisis a Ukraine and Kazakhstan also capped sales. Turkey decade ago. Taiwan, which imports two - thirds of its calorie restricted the export of lemons, Thailand of chicken eggs, needs, has amassed 900,000 metric tons of rice in a Serbia of sunflower seeds. government stockpile, three times the amount its Council Though some restrictions have since been relaxed, and of Agriculture is legally mandated to have. Those stocks Vietnam is resuming rice exports, this threat of were built up before the pandemic. protectionism has fueled a global rise in prices for some Now, Taiwan says its farmers will produce an staple commodities despite bumper crops. Thai rice was additional 1.2 million metric tons in the next six months, up 14% in April, reaching a seven - year high. Black Sea leaving it with enough rice reserves to feed its population wheat is up 7%. Thou gh global prices for feed grains are for 21 months. down, that is largely because of problems in the meat The U.A.E. imports some 90% of its food. A network industry. of 105 Carrefour grocery stores there increased its stock Amid this uncertainty, major food importers are from three months to four because of the pandemic, said responding by hoarding vital staples, which could further Alain Bejjani, chief executive of Dubai - based Majid al - drive up prices. Futtaim Group, which ope rates 300 Carrefour outlets in Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, rarely 16 nations. He said retailers and the government are in purchases foreign wheat during its own harvesting season, talks on how to boost stocks of key items to as much as 12 which is now under way. Yet, last month, it bought large months — something that would require major investments quantities of French and Russian grain, part of Cairo’s new in storage and inventory. plan to stockpile up to eight months’ worth of reserves. That kind of stockpiling would be impossible in Those transactions, traders said, helped drive up global Nigeria, said Mr. Keswani, the supermarket executive wheat prices. based in Lagos. As a result, Nigerian supermarkets often “If you ask governments what they want to do, they have bare shelves these days. Just 26% of Mr. Keswani’s want to accumulate stocks, which is a big problem orders are being filled by suppliers, down from more than because, first, the price will be lower tomorrow, and, 90% before the pandemic. second, they don’t have the capacit y to manage them Outside of New York, New Jersey is the state that has properly,” said Maximo Torero Cullen, chief economist at been hit hardest by the pandemic. WSJ visited a recent the FAO. emergency food distribution event in Newark to speak Wealthier importers such as Japan, Taiwan and the with New Jerseyans about food insecurity during the United Arab Emirates can outbid poorer countries that pandemic. Page 7 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

“Suppliers either don ’t have the goods, they are not Are the fruits and vegetables getting through? No. Are the manufacturing, or they don’t know how to get the goods meats getting through regularly? No. There is no t enough.” to us,” he said. “What is not getting through is a huge list.

While Egyptian Television Tries to Imagine a World without Israel, It Can’t Answer the Tough Questions By Nervana Mahmoud nervana1.org May 13, 2020 Would Linda Sarsour or Rashida Tlaib move to a Will Hamas, Fatah and the other Palestinian factions “liberated Palestine”? that f ailed to unite under occupation reconcile their A science - fiction Egyp tian Ramadan drama, “The differences after “liberation”? Will the Islamists in post - End”, set in the year 2120, has depicted what many in the Israel Palestine accept the secularists and liberals, or turn Middle East wish would become a reality____ the against them as the Mullahs did in Iran, and as Erdogan destruction of Israel. In one particular scene of the drama did in Turkey? How will Islami sts treat minorities, such as a teacher informs students that all Jews in Israel have the Bahai community in Israel? What will the future of “returned to their countries of origin, and that the U.S. has their beautiful Temple in Haifa? be? Will the prominent splintered into many regions.” This scene and the theme of Palestinian diaspora, including Congresswoman Rashida the drama have provoked angry reactions in Israel, but Tlaib and activist Linda Sarsour, leave their prestigious triggered a sense of joy in some quarters, especially on car eers in the US and “return” to campaign relentlessly for social media. Typical of the co mments from those who the “right to return to Palestine” and serve their beloved favour this imaginary scenario was the question, “Don’t we new state? have the right to dream?” – a sentiment echoed by several These are tough questions, so let’s ask an easier one: others on Twitter. Who will control the Al - Aqsa Mosque after the imaginary I learned the hard way that debating the Arab - Israeli end of Israel? Ham as? Fatah? Jordan? Turkey? Iran? Will conflict in our region does not lead to a pr oductive the mostly Sunni Palestinians allow Shia Muslims to discussion about possible solutions. It only triggers anger practice and celebrate the death of Hussein inside Al - Aqsa and hysterical reactions, and even accusations of treason. Mosque? Or will Shia be labelled “apostates”? So, instead, let’s adopt a different approach. For I once asked a hardcore pro - Palestine Islamist those argument’s sake, let’s assume that the illusory dream of the questio ns. He was angrily dismissive. “It doesn’t matter,” anti - Israel camp will happen, and that Israel will he said. “What matters is that we destroy the Zionist State miraculously vanish at the behest of some divine power. first, then think of the day after.” What would happen then? The“dream first, think later attittude” is a common Let’s take a closer look at what would happen in the mantra in our region. It has dominated the Middle East for anti - Israel camp once the expected fireworks and grand decades, if not centuries. “Let’s get rid of colonialism and celebrations are over following t his epic vanishing trick. then consider what’s next.” “Let’s get rid of authoritarian There are three main factions within the anti - Zionist, dictators and then think what’s next .” The outcome has pro - Palestine camp: The Muslim Brotherhood and neo - been decades of bloodshed, civil war, persecution of Ottoman Islamist camp, the Iranian revolutionaries and minorities, and weak o r failed states. their “resistance camp” and the Arab nationalists and In our region, opposition is easier than governing, and leftist camp. A ll have close links with various Palestinian blaming is easier than taking ownership of failure. Israel groups. succeeded, not because of the Belfour declaration or All three factions, of course, share the anti - Israel American support; Israel succeeded because those who rhetoric and dream of regaining Al - Aqsa mosque. believed in it had a clear vision of how to govern their Nevertheless, each faction within this eclectic camp has a future state and were willing to put their differences aside different outlook for the future of Palest ine. Some to make their dream come true. On the other hand, advocate a future Islamist Palestine that would be part of a although all the factions within the pro - Palestine camp are grand Ottoman caliphate. Others dream of a revolutionary united in their contempt for Israel, the demis e of the Palestine loyal to the Iranian Islamic regime. The third Zionist state is the last thing they want. group dreams of a leftist nationalist Palestinian utopia. Without Israel, the Mullahs will have no excuse to None of them , however, will ever address the tough channel money to Hezbollah and other regional terror questions about their future beloved Palestine. How will groups. Hezbollah will have no excuse to maintain its they reconcile their conflicting views on the future military empire in Lebanon. Political Islam wi ll struggle to Palestinian state? How will post - Israel Palestine avoid the lure Arabs to join its dystopian caliphate dream. And fate of post - Saddam Iraq or post Arab Spring Sy ria? Will without Israel, the identity politics chorus in America will the allies of the various Palestinian factions leave the run out of fancy slogans and excuses for their emotional Palestinian people to decide their fate, or will they try to outbursts. All the pro - Palestine tweeps will be rendered impose their vision in exchange for financial and political useless tro ll, and all regional drama producers will run out support? Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 8

of fancy populist ideas for their fancy movies and soap their celebratory status, fake brands, empty slogans, poor operas. governance, divisive politics, populism, and regressive It may come as a shock to many, but Israel is a golden ideologies. So do not fall for their faux outrage and false asset for every faction within the anti - Israel, pro - Palestine patriotism to the Palestinian cause. It is as dystopian as camp. Without Israel, the y will run out of excuses to justify the Egyptian soap opera that fantasized about it.

Friendly Jews, female bosses: Saudi TV promotes a new vision By The Economist economist.com May 16, 2020 But it ignores the kingdom’s current anxieties. . ceremonial cloak, before going to receive a promotion. In a world flipped on its head, a n ote of constancy: the “This is the cloak of responsibility,” he gloats. The twist: Middle East is arguing about Israel. “Exit 7”, a popular not only is he passed over for the job, but his new boss is a series aired on Saudi television this Ramadan, portrays a woman. Another show, “Ureem ”, focuses on a layabout family led by Nasser al - Gassabi, a Saudi actor. One forced to work as a taxi driver, the sort of job once episode has his son Ziad befriend an Israeli, via an online reserved for migrants. video g ame. True to life, the friendship is cause for The shows, though, dance around the kingdom’s controversy. But not everyone is perturbed. Mr Gassabi’s current anxieties. On May 11th the state announced on - screen father - in - law describes Israel as a reality and the austerity measures to blunt the budgetary shocks of a Palestinians as ungrateful “enemies”. pan demic and low oil prices. It tripled the value - added tax. Autocrats in the Middle East use television to push Civil servants lost a 1,000 - rial ($266) monthly stipend. politics — especially during Ramadan, when big - budget Unsurprisingly, the decree was not prime - time television: it series attract hours of post - prandial viewing. In Egypt came just after dawn. scripts are vetted for patriotic themes. Turkey and the uae, Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince, wagers that regional rivals, recently made duelling shows about the he can fashion a new society from the top down. Many of Ottoman empire: benevolent over lords in the former; his changes, from letting women drive to permitting unwanted occupiers in the latter. Critics say “Exit 7” and concerts, were long sought by Saudis. Looming economic another Saudi show, “Um Haroun”, which features Jewish changes will be more jarring. Generations of Saudis were characters, are attempts to promote normalisation with insulated from market - based wages and compe titive Israel. pressures. Some will face lower living standards. A But much of “Exit 7” deals with changing mores in whimsical tv show will not assuage them. Saudi Ar abia. It begins with Mr Gassabi donning a bisht, a

It’s Time to Build in Jerusalem By Efraim Inbar jiss.org.il/Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security May 13, 2020 For reasons religious, historical, a nd strategic. recogn ize Jerusalem, to move their embassies and to The new coalition government has an opportunity to establish missions in the city. build in Jerusalem and expand the city like never before. So far, Guatemala is the only other country to have All the stars are lined up in the right constellation. We just moved its embassy to Jerusalem. Brazil, the Czech need the courage to act. Republic, Hungary and Australia now have trade offices in Just two years ago, on May 14, 2018 (the 70th the city, with var ying levels of diplomatic status. Lithuania, anniversary of founding of the State of Israel), the US Romania, and Slovakia have pledged to open similar opened an embassy in Jerusalem to great fanfare. Earlier, missions in Jerusalem as well. on December 6, 2017, President Donald Trump Honduras also opened a trade mission in Jerusalem recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He explained with diplomatic status, a move the country’s president said that Jerusalem always had been the his toric capital of the was a “first step” toward moving the embassy to the city. Jewish people, and the seat of Israel’s government. Similarly, Ukraine has informed Israel it will officially open “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem focused on innovation reality. It is also the right thing to do,” he said. He and investment. refrained, however, from delineating the city’s borders. The Faroe Islands (a self - governing archipelago in the Critics deplored these US moves because of their Atlantic Ocean and a part o f Denmark) plans to open an potential destabilization of the region. T hey warned of an office for diplomatic representation in Jerusalem and impending wave of Palestinian terrorism, of riots in the intends to recognize the city as the capital of Israel. streets of the Arab world, and of violence against US Australia has formally recognized western Jerusalem as embassies. Israel’s capital, but said it will not move its embassy from Nothing of this sort happened. What did happen? The Te l Aviv until a peace settlement is reached. In March American decisions inspired other nations to take steps to 2019, it quietly opened a trade and defense office in Page 9 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

Jerusalem. Russia also has recognized western Jerusalem as Significantly, the plan suggests recognizing a capital for a Israel’s capital. future State of Palestine to be located beyond the security Israel is continuing to make diplomatic efforts to barrier in the environs of Jerusalem. convince additional s tates to move their embassies to the Moreover, the “Deal of the Century” allows for eternal city. e xtending Israeli law to areas around Jerusalem in the West The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Bank, such as Ma’aleh Adumim and the corridor linking it Jewish state appears to have become a permanent principle to Jerusalem via the E - 1 corridor. This area is of of US foreign policy. Former vice president Joseph Biden, paramount strategic importance, since Israel intends to the current Democratic Party candidate for president, has maintain the Jordan Valley as its eastern defensible border. said that, if elected, he will not move the US Embassy back This requires securing the highway from the to Tel Aviv. As more time passes, additional countries will Mediterranean coast, where most Israeli live, across to the surely be persuaded to emulate the American moves and Jordan Valley via an undivided Jerusalem and via Ma’aleh recognize reality. Adumim. Jerusalem, the only junction along the central Most Israelis were elated by US recognition of the mountains in the Land of Israel, is the linchpin for Jewish people’s ancient roots in Jerusalem. King David maintaining a defensive line across to the Jordan Valley. made Jerusalem his capital 3,000 years ago. To Israelis, this The first priority of the new Israeli government should is elementary historical justice, and Trump made a historic be building in and around Jerusalem. Within the and courageous decision. Where other presidents have parameters of the Trump plan, the new Israeli governm ent promised, Trump de livered. should seize the opportunity to strengthen its hold over The Trump Mideast peace plan (aka “The Deal of the the city. Doing so commands a huge supportive consensus Century”) has further fortified Israel’s control over in Israel. Jerusalem. The plan affirms Israel’s right to the entirety of Building in E - 1 and Givat Hamatos, among other “undivided Jerusalem,” reiterating its recognition as Israel’s locations, should be accelerated to demonstrate the great capital. The pla n places the Old City of Jerusalem under importance Israelis asc ribe to control of their capital. This Israeli sovereignty ,and gives Israel the task of safeguarding imperative is grounded in religious and historic reasons; holy sites and guaranteeing freedom of worship, including and the strategic rationale for strengthening Jerusalem is Al - Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. no less compelling. The plan rejects Palestinian claims to the Temple Professor Inbar is president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy Mount, i nstead keeping it under Jordanian custodianship. and Securit y (JISS).

Stones Can Be Deadly Weapons, and Should Be Treated as Such By Meir Indor israelhayom.com May 13, 2020 Responding to the murder of Amit Yigal. Including both the legal system, and the security/police The stone - throwers' point of ambush was located system. between the high school and the local hospital. None of And that's how stone throwers, who just left a school the Palestinian teachers or nurses and doctors at the time belonging to the Ministry of Education, after an intervened. Quite the opposite, they watched in equanimity intelligence effort was implemented to ca tch them after the youngsters surrounding the small car with two Jews, they were involved in yet another stoning ambush, are smashing the windows with sticks and heavy rocks, and released because a judge did not allow more than 48 hours attacking the Jews. Inside the car I was sitting with my of interrogation. And that's how the youngsters learn that wife, who was terrified from the sight of her husband attacking Jews, citizens, and fighters, can continue. The bleeding from a heavy rock that hit his head. (This was interrogatio n officer said he had to let one of the parents already the third head injury from terror, so the concern be present during the questioning since he was a minor, was even greater.) The dilemma was whether to get out of who told him to stay silent. And even if they had t he car and try and escape until my wife spotted an confessed and gone to trial, the punishment would have opening in the traffic jam to the emergency room. been in accordance. This event didn't take place in a remote village, but Here is the price list for stone - throwing: three to seven rather in a busy area – the Mount of Olives, where my months. If injured by stone - throwing, the "populist" parents are buried. It showed the unbearable ea se in which terrorist will get between one year to 18 months, if the Jews are attacked on roads as part of what is called "stone injuries aren't permanent. Get it? The murderer of the terrorism". What causes this unbearable ease in which Golani Reconnaissance Battalion fighter could have been stone - throwing happens on a daily basis? It is a forgiving caug ht after an earlier stone - throwing – that didn't cause attitude, that can be seen in the sugarcoated term "populist damage – and would have gotten a slap on the wrist which terror," w hich we on the Israeli side have also adopted. sends a negative message: try again until you succeed. Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 10

What can be done (besides important yet banal words at IDF forces who came to demolish a terrorist's home, of comfort)? The First Intifada – the stone intifada, was and their jeep was burnt – without any real response. fed by the tolerance of the terror of stones and Molotov The way to fix this must change with the horrible cocktails. Up until the new kid on the block came, Prof. death of the Golani soldier and in his memory. Israeli Moshe Arens, who was appointed Minister of Defense and soldiers can no longer be abandoned in their battle against changed the rules of the game. Arens, who grew up and terror. Israeli soldiers cannot be unnecessarily pu t in studied in t he US, brought the "Wild West" rules to the harm's way, only to safeguard the purity of the legal clerks. "Near East." His defense doctrine that beat the rock The next Israeli government owes this to IDF fighters, intifada was "Don't talk, shoot!" their families, and the citizens of Israel. Opening fire on When he was appointed, he canceled the procedures stone - throwers must be legislated as it is in the US, where of stone - throwing "containment" and gave new orders to a stone is con sidered a weapon. open fire. A stone k ills, he said. The US has understood the devastating potential of He's right. It was after the death of the soldier Esther stone - throwing and has defined it as using a lethal weapon, Ohana, who was killed from a stone to her head while a clause in the US law "Use of lethal weapon" which allows driving near Dhahiriya. He ignored with his usual for harsh sentencing and punishment. The Americans stubbornness the legal advice and ordered to aim towards don't wink or do any favors, whether you threw a stone or the knees of stone - throw ers and at the upper body if the shot a missile. The same offence, the same punishment. man is more dangerous. But Jews are so merciful, and whoever is merciful towards The "civilian" defense minister Arens, educated in the the cruel, his soldiers will be killed. Betar Movement, in essence, built Jabotinsky's Iron Wall In memory of the Palmer family, the daughter of the against terror and won the intifada. Meanwhile, since the Bitton fam ily, the soldier Esther Ohana, Ronen Lubarsky, Oslo Accords, the legal system grew to monstrous Amit Ben Yigal, all from murderous stones. proportions and moved our cheese, with "containment" Lt. Col. (Res.) Indor is the chairman of the Almagor Terror open - fire orders that limit the IDF. It could be seen this Victims Association . week when youngsters threw stones and Molotov cocktails

The Unholy Alliance between Islamist Terrorists and Western Human - Rights Groups By Bassam Tawil gatestoneinstitute.org May 15, 2020 Why Hamas praised Human Rights Watch. Last 2050 there will be 17 million people here. Remember, this Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group dedicated to the is a country where it takes 15 years to approve destruction of Israel, is apparently very pleased with construction of a single [new] neighborhood." Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international HRW, however, does not seem inclined to allow a few organization headquartered in New York. Hamas is so crucial facts to spoil its efforts to delegitimize Israel by pleased that this week it issued a statement praising HRW accusin g it of "discrimination" against Arab Israelis. for its systematic and continuous bashing of Israel. The good news is that Israel has been working hard in It is rather rare for a radical Islamic terrorist group to recent years to solve the housing crisis -- for both Arabs heap praise on a Western supposed human right s and Jews. organization, particularly an American one. In 2015, the Israeli government decided to implement Exceptions exist in all areas, however, and HRW, the Economic Development Plan, a multi - year plan of known for its anti - Israel bias and for peddling anti - Israel about $12.3 billion, targeting issues such as planning, hate, stands as an especially blazing one. employment, transportation and education in the Arab What motivated Hamas to express its admiration for sector. This groundbreaking plan is the largest and most HRW? An other anti - Israel report, this time claiming that comprehensive ever advanced to close gaps for Israel's Arab citizens of Israel are facing a "housing shortage." Arab society. The HRW report focuses on only three Arab towns in H amas, meanwhile, has done virtually nothing to solve Israel -- Jisr al - Zarqa, Qalansawa and Ein Mahel, with a the debilitating housing crisis of the two million total population of 50,000. It deliberate ly ignores the other Palestinians living under its rule in the Gaza Strip. two million or so Arab Israelis. Moreover, the report fails Since its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, to mention that the housing crisis affects not only Arabs, the terrorist group Hamas has turned the liv es of but also Jews. Palestinians into misery, leaving them with no income, "We are on the brink of a socio - economic abyss," said electricity or drinking water. Last year Palestinians in the Raul Srugo, President of the Israel Builders As sociation. Gaza Strip finally took to the streets to protest economic "As long as the government doesn't begin strategic hardship and Hamas corruption. planning for the next generation in Israel, we'll find Hamas taxes every kind of commodity, steals ourselves in the biggest crisis since the state was founded. humanitarian aid, and builds terror tunnels below schools In 2030, there will be 12 million residents in Israel, and in and international aid institutions. In addition, Hamas has Page 11 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

been stealing cement that enters the Gaza Strip in order to "The last hour would not come unless the Muslims build terror tunnels through which they hope to kidnap or will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them kill Israelis, rather than construct new houses for until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a Palestinians. tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant This is the same Hamas that is now using the HRW of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him...." report to shed crocodile tears over the alleged housing [Book 41:6985; Sahih International translation] crisis in the Arab sector in Israel. Elsewhere in its charter, Hamas states: A terrorist group that has failed its own people on an "... the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf epic level is pretending that it is worried about where throughout the generations a nd until the Day of Arabs in Israel will live. Resurrection; no one can renounce it or part of it, or The Israel Planning Administration (IPA) said in abandon it or part of it. For renouncing any part pf response to the HRW report: Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the "The Planning Administration has been investing a nationalism of [Hamas] is part of its faith, the movement great deal of effort over a number of years in promoting a educates its memb ers to adhere to its principles and to b road planning strategy to update master planning in Arab raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight communities... Of the 132 Arab communities, 119 have their Jihad (holy war)." current master plans that have been approved, are in the Hamas is celebrating the HRW report because it sees it approval process, or are in preparation. These plans cover as part of the efforts of Muslim terrorists to replace Israel some 96% of the total populati on of these communities. with an Islamic state. For Hamas, such reports coming These plans are complex and intricate, given the unique from a non - Muslim organization are proof that even the features of Arab communities, which are related to the "infidels" in the West share its goal of destroying Israel. structure of land ownership; most of the land in these Hamas, in other words, sees organizations such as HRW as communities is privately owned, with few landowners in useful idiots in its war against Israel and J ews. possession of a great deal of land (some 20% in possession In 2009, the late Robert Bernstein, the founder of of some 80% of the land)." HRW who served as its chairman for 20 years, wrote in an The truth is that Hamas cares nothing for either the article published in The New York Times that HRW Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or the Arabs living in Israel. reports "are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a Hamas has one single concern: advancing its goal of pariah state." Bernstein added: destroying Is rael and murdering Jews. "The region is populated by authoritarian regimes with The HRW report, which ignores Hamas's atrocities appalling human rights records. Yet in recent years Human against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, is now being Rights Watch has written far more condemnations of used by the terrorist group as "evidence" of why Israel Israel for violations of international law than any other should be destroyed and replaced with an Islamic state. country in the region." "Hamas welcom es the report issued by Human Rights Hamas and other totalitarian regimes can rest easy Watch about Israel's racist policies," the terrorist group knowing that Western human rights organizations such as said in a statement on May 12. "On the eve of the 72nd HRW continue to be obsessed primarily with Israel. anniversary of the catastrophe of our people, we affirm When Hamas resumes its terrorist attacks against that this fascist racist entity [Israel] is doome d to Israel, international supposed human rights organ izations extinction." will again be too busy condemning Israel to notice the Like most Palestinians, Hamas considers Israel's War Palestinian aggression. of Independence in 1948 as a nakba (catastrophe) for all Hamas's war against Israel is waged with rockets and Arabs and Muslims. suicide bombings; organizations such as HRW wage war Hamas, in its charter, says it is loyal to the words of against Israel with propaganda designed to dismantle the Prophet Mohammed, who was quoted in the Hadith [the state by making it unable to defend itself. Welcome to the n arrative of the sayings and deeds of Mohammad] as unholy alliance between Muslim terrorists and anti - Israel saying: human rights organizations in the West. Mr. Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.

With Help from Iran, a Moribund Terrorist Group Is Experiencing a Revival By Jonathan Spyer jonathanspyer.com May 16, 2020 The return of the PFLP. known as Qassem al - Barghouti, in the village of Kobar, in Iranian support appears to lie behind uptick in the the Ramallah area. Shibli is suspected of involvement in terror group’s activities the murder of Rina Shnerb, 17, who was killed in an IED The Israel Defense Forces this week carried out the detonation at the Ein Bubin spring near the community of partial demolition of the home of Qassem Shibli, also Dol ev, on August 23, 2019. Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 12

This house demolition is the latest move by the Israeli services of Iran. Yamani’s dual role raises an additional authorities against a Palestinian terror network in the West interesting point regarding the PFLP: unlike t heir Islamist Bank maintained by the Popular Front for the Liberation counterparts, the group does not appear to different of Palestine (PFLP.) Following the murder of Rina Shnerb, organizationally between clandestine military activity and t he authorities rounded up around 50 members of the open political work. Yamani, as well as Arbid, Hanatsheh alleged network, and uncovered large amounts of and Jarrar, appear to have been engaged simultaneously in weaponry and explosives. Those apprehended included both. ground level operatives, such as Qassem Shibli, and The det ails of this indictment show the clearest known, senior PFLP activists. The network was heade d by evidence currently available in the public domain of the Walid Muhammad Hanatsheh, according to statements by specific force behind the present revival of the formerly the Israeli authorities. Samer Arbid commanded the cell moribund PFLP. The movement has returned to which carried out the Dolev attack. Khalida Jarrar, a relevance in recent months because of a burgeoning known and senior PFLP leader in the West Bank, was also rel ationship developed with the Islamic Republic of Iran. among those arrested. This growing PFLP - Iran connection is not a new These eve nts are particularly notable in that they turn revelation. It has been well reported in recent years. As the spotlight on the current re - energised activities of the long ago as September, 2013, an article in Al - Monitor by PFLP. Long regarded as a Cold War fossil, the Gaza based Palestinian journalist Haze m Balousha noted organization has in recent months re - emerged to some the growing ‘financial and logistical’ support from Teheran modest prominence. What is the reason for the incr eased to the PFLP’s ‘political and military wings.’ capacities and activity of the PFLP in the recent period? According to Balousha’s report, a number of meetings The explanation is not to be found in any change of between Iranian and PFLP officials were held in Beirut, sentiment at grassroots level among the Palestinian Damascus and Teheran. Th e meetings, according to population. Like other secular Arab nationalist factions, Balousha, were brokered by Lebanese Hizballah. They the PFLP has never enjoyed wid e public support. Rather, resulted in the revival of direct Iranian support for the the complex and shifting geo - politics of the Middle East PFLP. have resulted in increased resources becoming available to The Palestinian journalist quoted a ‘senior PFLP the PFLP in recent years. These have in turn led to the source,’ who predicted that “Following the resumption of uptick in its activities. Iranian support, there will soon be a dramatic increase in Observation of another legal ca se currently under way the strength of the PFLP’s military wing, the Abu Ali reveals evidence of the specific source from which the Mustafa Brigades, after the internal reorganization of the PFLP appears to be drawing benefit. group is completed.” In early April, an Israeli citizen of Arab ethnicity, The aforementioned reorganization has evidently Ayman Haj Yihye, 50, was indicted at Lod District court, taken place. accused of a number of serious security offences. These What was t he reason for Islamist Teheran’s decision to included, according to the indictment: Contact with a commence support for the ostensibly secular and leftist Foreign Agent – An offense under section 114 (a) of the PFLP? Penal Code, and delivering information to the enemy with Firstly, the supposed leftist or ‘progressive’ credentials intent to harm state security – an offense under section of the PFLP should not be exaggerated. The movement’s 111 (mi ddle) of the Penal Code. He was also charged with founder, Dr. George Habash, found it opportune to money laundering and an attempt to disrupt a judicial declare himself a ‘Marxist - Leninist’ in the late 1960s, at a investigation. time when Soviet weapons and funding were available to According to the indictment, Haj Yihye had met with those professing such allegiances. and begun cooperation with two operatives of Iranian Prior to this period, Habash had founded and led the intelligence, (identified as ‘A bu Samah’ and ‘Abu Hussein’ Arab Nationalist Movement, a Nasseri st organization. in the indictment,) with the intention of ‘assisting the State Habash’s ostensible turn to the left did not damage his of Iran in its efforts to harm the State of Israel through the close association with one Francois Genoud, a prominent gathering of information in the areas of intelligence, European neo - Nazi financier who provided monetary security, political, civil, social and media, w hich could be of support and assistance to the nascent PFLP. assistance to Iran in its war against the State of Israel.’ This ancient history is of impor tance because it The individual who recruited Haj Yihye for this demonstrates the opportunism and ideological flexibility of purpose is identified by the indictment as Khaled Yamani, the PFLP on all matters other than its real, openly a Palestinian resident of the Baddawi refugee camp in professed business – violent activity toward the Lebanon and a well - known and senior member of the destruction of Israel. This is the element of interest to the PFLP. Iranians. That is, the PFLP activist Khaled Yamani appears to But t he specific reason for Iran’s renewed support for be doubling as a recruiter and operative for the intelligence the PFLP relates to the Syrian civil war. The clash Page 13 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

between the Iran - supported Assad regime and the largely movement’s website declared the victory to be ‘”the start Sunni Islamist insurgency led to a rupture between of the retreat of the plot against our Arab nation and the Teheran and the Palestinian Hamas movement whi ch has thwarting of the reactionary imperialist Zionist plan”. not been entirely repaired. Hamas, which emerged from Like Islamic Jihad, Teheran’s long standing proxy the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, among the Palestinians, the PFLP is a small organization strongly supported the Syrian rebellion. It maintains close with a somewhat eccentric ideology possessing little appeal relations today with Qatar and Turkey, and finds its natural among the broad masses of the conservative , religious home in the Sunni Isla mist nexus supported by these Palestinian population. It possesses, nevertheless, a tight states. organizational structure, a cadre of fiercely loyal militants The (partial) loss of Hamas, combined with the and a willingness to engage in violence. It now appears that difficulty for Hamas of building armed networks in the Teheran’s steady investment in the movement over the last West Bank because of Israeli and PA attention, has led ha lf decade has begun to deliver results. Teheran to look further afield. Mr. Spyer is the director of the Middle East Center for Reporting The PFLP’s position on Syria was consistent and and analysis (MECRA), a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute unambiguous: it strongly supported Assad throughout the for Strategy and Security (JISS) and a Fellow at the Middle East war. When the regime re - took Aleppo in late 2016, the Forum .

Bureaucratic Chaos, Not Bloating, Is the Real Problem with Israel’s New Government By Haviv Rettig Gur timesofisrael.com May 18, 2020 Worse than creating new ministries, the coalition has gutted old ones. It happened. With 73 votes in favor, the Knesset failed to point accusingly at the new “Ministry for elected the 35th Government of the State of Israel. Strengthening and Advancing Community” the prime And no one is happy. minister just created, or the “mini ster in the Defense “I’ve taken part in swearings - in of governments, from Ministry” Gantz just appointed who will serve alongside the coalition side and from the opposition side,” said MK Gantz, the actual defense minister, or the strange lumping Yair Lapid in his maiden speech as opposition leader together of higher education with the water supply, or the shortly before the Sunday vote. “It was always a equally baffling removal of the community policing celebration. Families sat excited in the gallery. The new program fro m, well, the police. ministers sat excited in their seats. That’s not what’s Was that what the people meant when they asked their happening this time.” politicians to “start working for us?” No one in the new Turning to the two bridegrooms, Benjamin Netanyahu government even attempted to explain these changes, and Benny Gantz, he minced no words: “We know exactly reasoning correctly that the explanations would probably what you think of each other. There’ s nothing I can say sound worse than the thing itself. here from the podium that will be worse or more violent A government of 35 ministers was voted into office or ugly than the things you’ve already said about each on Sunday — five more than the previous all - time high in other, and that you still say about each other behind the Netanyahu’s 2009 government. It’s important to grasp the other’s back when the microphones are turned off.” gargantuan scale of the new government in the Israeli Lapid is right, of course. Neither Netanyahu nor experience; it is 66 percent larger than the average Israeli Gantz, the prime minister and alternate prime minister government formed after an election, and 35% larger than respectively, like each other, or like the fact that they’re in the average since 2001. It is so large, with 35 (soon to be a government together. 36) ministers and up to 16 deputy ministers, that it literally And they haven’t hidden the fact. It was either “unity,” leaves the 120 - seat Knesset witho ut enough MKs to allow said Gantz in his own sp eech Sunday, or “a kind of civil for the full and unencumbered functioning of the war.” parliament’s committees. “The people have spoken” in three consecutive And yet. deadlocked elections, Gantz said. “The people told us: It is possible that the focus of public anger and Stop fighting amongst yourselves and start working for frustration is misplaced, that the troubling thing about this us.” government isn’t the extra ministers, with their It was a noble sentiment, and polls have shown broad unnecessary staffs and drivers and honorifics, nor the fact sup port for a unity government. If only the sentiment that the new ministries seem contrived, nor even that the hadn’t come just minutes after Netanyahu had read out to nation’s leaders appear to some Israelis to be ambitious to the Knesset podium, in a speech broadcast to the nation, the point of childish egomania. the entire interminable litany of ministers and convoluted The real trouble lies in the detail s of the new job titles in Israel’s largest - e ver cabinet. ministries, in the specific assignments handed out by The details rankle, and no Israeli media outlet, not Netanyahu and (to a lesser extent) Gantz, and in the harm even the most fervently pro - Netanyahu among them, has these assignments will do to the agencies themselves. Focus o n Israel May 23, 2020 Page 14

In praise of ‘ministers without portfolio’ and contrived leads some of the nation’s most important strategic ministries initiatives, from nuclear research to the extraction and Israeli g overnments have always been prone to export of Israel’s natural gas reserves. No one today needs inventing new and unnecessary ministries to help stabilize to be convinced of the ministries’ validity and importance. coalitions. In a parliamentary coalition system, the ability Veterans affairs to give ever more political actors a seat at the table Looked at from the pers pective of that history, some translates into broader and more stable coal itions. of the supposedly egregious contrivances announced on Everyone claims to want the latter result, but no one Sunday take on a new light. seems to appreciate that the former is its cost. Gantz’s decision to appoint Michael Biton a “minister Ironically, it is the public criticism of bloated in the Defense Ministry” drew much mockery on Sunday, government that drives its rising cost. unfairly. Gantz essentially appointe d a “minister without In the past, when an Israeli prime minister wanted to portfolio” at his side. Biton will sit at the cabinet table as a dd someone to his or her cabinet but had no ministry left one of Blue and White’s 16 ministers, but without the to appoint them to, they would pronounce them a expense of a new ministry. This is the old, cheap sort of “minister without portfolio.” It was a cheap way to add contrivance that served Israeli governments well their voice and their vote to the cabinet table without throughout the nation’s history. pretending that they ran a “ministry,” and without the Nor is Biton’s post an unreasonable invention. His expense of establishing an artificial ministry for them to portfolio in the Defense Ministry was described by Gantz pretend to run. as “responsible for civilian affairs,” giving cabinet - level The first “minister without portfolio” was economist attention to the Defense Ministry’s department for and bank executive Peretz Naftali, who joined David Ben rehabilitating wounded soldiers, the department for the Gurion’s government in 1951 as a portfolio - free ministe r families of fallen soldiers, commemoration and heritage, — just three years after the establishment of the state. and the enormous fund that distributes grants and It worked for the left and for the right alike. In his scholarships to discharged soldiers to help them jumpstart first term as prime minister, Menachem Begin appointed their civilian lives. Haim Landau a minister without portfolio in 1978, keeping Biton will manage a budget exceeding NIS 7 billion, Landau at his side in the cab inet even though he’d failed to more than most mid - sized ministries, and will essentially win a Knesset seat in the 1977 elections. serve as Israel’s “secretary for veterans affairs,” as the And so it was, in fact, with a long procession of Americans call it, a full - fledged cabinet - level post in the legendary statesmen and dignitaries throughout the United States separate from the Defense Department. A nd country’s history, from left and right, men and women, he will do it for the cost of a single office, all the while religious and secular, con servative and communist, whose freeing up his boss, a former IDF chief of staff, to focus experience was sought at the cabinet table and no ministry on military and strategic matters. was concocted to justify that fact. Famous ministers None of that is to say that Blue and White is immune without portfolio include Moshe Arens, former IDF chief to the tendency to add bloat to the cabinet. Blue and of staff Motta Gur, former Haganah chief of staff Yisrael White MK Orit Farkash - Hacohen, the well - regarded Galili, Shulamit Aloni, Pinchas Sapir, Ezer Weizman, former head of the national electric company, was sworn Yosef Burg, and even the renowned Abba Eban. in as Israel’s latest “strategic affairs minister,” a post that The widespread tut - tutting at such appointments is a despite its 14 - year lifespan has yet to justify its existence as recent development, and helped drive the spectacle a distinct ca binet - level agency. witnessed on Thursday, in which would - be ministers — Likud’s Eli Cohen will similarly serve as “intelligence including some like Avi Dichter who brought long years of minister,” another oddball post now celebrating its 11th service and deep experience to the table — were left birthday, that despite its name has no oversight or even scrambling desperately to concoct some title, some area of input in the goings - on at Israel’s intelligence agencies. responsibility, however laughable, to justify a seat at the An Israeli public that can’t stand to see a “minister table. without portfolio” must now swallow much more Yet even the contri ved ministries aren’t new. expensive ministers, each with dozens of staffers and high - Ministries would sometimes be invented as coalitions grew. rent office space, that for some reason constitute in some In 1964, Akiva Govrin became Israel’s first tourism technical sense a portfolio. minister. In 1977, Yitzhak Moda’i became the first energy In the national eye - rolling at the ne wfangled minister. Both ministries were formed by spinning small ministries, the foolish has been lumped together with the sub - units of the Ministry of Trade and Industry into new wise, and good judgment has been lost. cabinet - level bodies. Is it really unreasonable to spin off the water Fast forward to the present day. Tourism injected $7.2 development and management duties of the energy billion into the Israeli economy in 2018, according to the ministry to a separate agency — in a semi - arid country in Central Bureau of Statistics. The Energy Ministry now which water is a growing worry for government planners? Page 15 May 23, 2020 Focus on Israel

No one questions the need for an energy ministry today; “settlement ministry” charged with developing and will anyone doubt the importance of a water ministry 20 expanding settlements in the West Bank, among other years from now? priorities. It was a gesture by Likud to religious - Zionist Handicapping the government voters after the very public breakup with the Yamina party “We know that stability and continuity a re critical to over the past week. the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said at the first meeting of But Netanyahu also announced on Sunday that the 35th Government in the Knesset’s Chagall Hall on Hotovely would be appointed Israel’s next ambassador to Sunday, by way of excusing the new ministries. “I’ve seen London in three months’ time, and the ministry would be much more interesting names over the years,” he quipped. handed to the secular, national - security - focused Tzachi “The names a ren’t important.” Hanegbi, who has shown little interest in recent years in He’s right. The new government should not be judged expanding settlements and has no interest in the needs and on the number of ministers with unimportant - sounding priorities of the religious - Zionist camp. titles. The handful of ministries that genuinely have Whether one supports the development of Israeli nothing at all to do is relatively small and most aren’t new. settlements in the West Bank or opposes it, the The trouble with the new government lies not in the incoherence should frust rate. The handover to Hanegbi ministries it has added, but in the ones it has broken apart. undermines the ministry’s raison d’etre. A careful look at the rejiggering of the cabinet reveals It’s a similar story with the rotation posts Netanyahu a worrying pattern. The ministries were redistributed in offered to some ministers. Miri Regev, for example, will politically advantageous ways for the prime m inister, serve as transportation minister for 18 months, then weakening opponents and rewarding loyalists — but often upgrade to foreign m inister for the next 18. Such a at a dire cost to the agencies themselves. rotation is a recipe for inaction. In a large and complex Orly Levy - Abekasis’s new Ministry for Strengthening agency like the Transportation Ministry, it can take a and Advancing Community is perhaps the best example of minister many months to develop a working knowledge of these. the subject matter and a productive relationship with th e To construct the ministry, and to allow her to pretend bureaucracy. A minister who is slated from the start to its existence is justified, vital programs had to be sacrificed leave after 18 months is a minister who will be largely on the altar of Levy - Abekasis’s political reputation. The ignored by the ministry staff for the duration of their term. “City Without Violence” program, a collaboration of the Reforms won’t advance. Budget fights — where the welfare and public security ministries that sends social political echelon is especially useful — will go unfought. workers into high - crime areas to help develop community Things will stand in place. policing programs, was unplugged from its administrative The public criticism should be focused on these home and handed to Levy - Abekasis. It was thus detached points. There is nothing new or necessarily wrong in a administratively from the two agencies that built it and prime minister seeking the wise and inexpensive input of a must still implement it on the ground: the social workers minister without portfolio, nor in the formation of a assigned by the Welfare Ministry and the police units limited number of new ministries for genuinely vital policy assigned to it by the Public Security Ministry. concerns. But when superfluous ministries are cobbled The same thing happened to the Authority for together willy - nilly to cater to a politician’s ego or to the Combating Alcohol and Drugs and the National Staff for public’s distaste for the portfolio - free politician, things the Protection of Children Online, both agencies whose star t to go wrong. vital work involves intimate coordination with police — Netanyahu’s cabinet innovations are worrying not for and that now find themselves distanced from the police. their wasteful spending, but for the willingness to The details can get dreary, but one more example undermine vital agencies of government in pursuit of highlights the danger for the agencies involved. Likud’s political calm. Tzipi Hoto vely will be handed an as - yet unmade

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