Jerusalem Issue Briefs, Vol. 17, No. 18
Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira

• Nouri al-Maliki, a former Iraqi prime minister supported by Iran, has given much of the credit for the Mosul victory to an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, many supported by Iran, which he formed in 2014. The commander of the largest militia, the Popular Mobilization Forces, is Jamal al-Ibrahim, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
• Abu Mahdi is a former colleague of Hizbullah leader Imad Mughniya and a protégé of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. Abu Mahdi escaped from a Kuwaiti prison in 1990 after he was convicted and sentenced to death for bomb attacks on the American and French Embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

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What is being done to prevent Iran from carving out a land corridor into Israel’s backyard?

By Yossi Melman, JPOST

Last month, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Al-Quds Force, released a photo of himself in the company of troops from the Fatemiyoun Brigade. They are mercenaries who belong to Hazara, a Persian-speaking Shi’ite minority group from Afghanistan. Many of the recruits are criminals or illegal immigrants to Iran, Iraq and even Syria, who are promised Iranian citizenship and a monthly salary in return for fighting.

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By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

Following Monday’s leadership primary for Israel’s main moderate-left party, much has been written about the outcome and its implications for the party. What I found far more interesting, however, was the campaign itself and what it said about the Israeli consensus. Since the primary electorate consisted solely of Labor Party members, one would have expected the candidates to veer left (and then move back to center in the general election). Instead, both candidates publicly disavowed several ideas popular among left-wing journalists and activists, indicating that those ideas are toxic even on the moderate left.

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Think Identy

Re:  John Landau’s questions about strengthening Jewish educational formats in Israel and the US.

By Zvi Novenber

This is a hot issue.  Two articles in Friday’s “Makor Rishon” (14/7/2017) paper relate to Jewish education in Israel.  (See below)  I have no doubt that the staffs of Israeli schools of education at the universities and colleges like the David Yellen College in Jerusalem are immersed in this problem.   Also, there are many institutions such as Yad Ben Zvi, Szold, Bet Avi Chai, field schools, youth movements and community centers that offer extracurricular courses and activities; all of which reinforce Jewish identity.  Here in Israel we have a large number of impressive museums that focus on specific Diasporas or episodes in Jewish history.  I am particularly enthralled with the City of David initiative.

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By E. Jeffrey Ludwig, AMERICAN THINKER

Bill Gates has recently commended Germany for allocating 0.7% of GDP for payments to fight poverty in less developed developing countries (LDDCs).  With his infinite browser wisdom, he asserts that the developed world, especially Europe, must increase these contributions or face a flood of migration from the LDDCs that will overwhelm the continent.  We all understand that by “overwhelm,” he is referring to crime, housing, health care, education, and cultural viability of European identities.  In short, the Europe we know will be crushed.  Gates’s vocabulary includes terms like “unfolding tragedy,” “migratory pressure,” and “development aid payments.”  He is fixated on drama (“tragedy”), demography, and the tired category of development that has become a cliché in use for the last 72 years since the end of WWII.  These terms out of the business and administrative glossary fail to capture the depth and danger of the situation Gates is referring to.

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Two years into a terror wave, attacks in Jerusalem’s Old City are not uncommon, but Friday’s strays from the norm in its proximity to holy site, identities of the shooters

BY JUDAH ARI GROSS, TOI

Nearly every aspect of Friday’s terror attack in Jerusalem, in which two police officers were gunned down, stands out as irregular, even after two years of almost weekly attacks in the Old City.

According to police, shortly after 7:00 a.m., three Arab Israeli men (all named Muhammad Jabarin) walked out of the Temple Mount complex and opened fire at a group of police officers standing guard nearby, at the Lions Gate entrance to the Old City, critically injuring two of them.

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By Daniel Tauber, JPOST

In fear of an uprising, the King of Jordan has his private airplane running 24 hours a day, seven days a week to whisk him away in case of a revolt.

If you’ve heard former MK Aryeh Eldad speak in the past few years (before recent Knesset elections, at least), you probably heard him say something like this: “The vast majority of Jordan is Palestinian.

In fear of an uprising, the King of Jordan has his private airplane running 24 hours a day, seven days a week to whisk him away in case of a revolt. He should declare that Jordan is the Palestinian national homeland or seek asylum in London.”
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Jordan slams Israel for barring Muslims from praying on Temple Mount after deadly attack; Jerusalem officials: Jordan should stop inflaming the situation

By Barak Raivd, HAARETZ

The tension between Israel and Jordan escalated on Friday in the wake of a deadly shooting attack on Temple Mount. After a spokesman for the Jordanian government accused Israel of violating the status quo by barring Muslim worshippers from praying on the Mount, senior officials in Jerusalem called on Jordan to stop inflaming the situation.

Two Israeli police officers were killed and another was wounded in the shooting on Friday morning. The three Israeli Arab assailants were killed. Following the attack, Israel closed access to the Mount.

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Shoshana Bryen • July 14, 2017 The Washington Times

(AP)

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 528, July 14, 2017

By Adi Schwartz

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In a surprising change of policy, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for the dismantling of UNRWA. Such a move could benefit both Israel and the peace process. The new US administration might change its decades-old policy as well.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stunned many by declaring that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) should be dismantled.

Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu charged that “in various UNRWA institutions, there is a lot of incitement against Israel, and therefore the existence of UNRWA – and unfortunately its work from time to time – perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem rather than solves it. … Therefore, the time has come to dismantle UNRWA and merge its components with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR].”

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BRILLIANT TOUR DE FORCE

VIDEO

By Seth Seigel, NYT

The Trump administration has yet to broker the “toughest deal of all” — that between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Chances seem slim. But Jason Greenblatt, the president’s Middle East envoy, did announce some welcome news at a press conference Thursday in Jerusalem: The Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians will be cooperating on a large water infrastructure project, which will provide billions of gallons of new water supplies for each of the three parties.

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By Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM
Is Israel treating Jordan with kid gloves? Does Israel cut the Hashemite Kingdom too much slack even though Amman is now spearheading anti-Israel efforts on the world stage, alongside the Palestinians?

Jordan’s Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Al Momani recently boasted that the kingdom was the driving force behind UNESCO’s decision to declare Hebron’s old city an endangered Palestinian world heritage site. Over the past several years, Jordan has repeatedly besmirched Israel with falsehoods and libelous allegations, resulting in a growing number of anti-Israeli U.N. resolutions.

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MEMRI

Tillerson with the Emir of Qatar (Image: Al-Watan, Qatar, July 12, 2017)

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain, the four countries that have been blockading and making demands of Qatar for the past month because, they say, of its support for terrorism and for Iran, are also waging a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading the world, primarily its purported allies in the West and first and foremost the U.S., that they are in the right in the current Gulf crisis. These diplomatic efforts, however, do not seem to be succeeding.

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New desalination project is part of wider plan to run water through pipeline from Red Sea down to Dead Sea; US envoy Greenblatt hopes it’s a ‘harbinger of things to come’

By Raphael Ahren and Melanie Lidman>TOI

Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Thursday announced an agreement that will provide millions of cubic meters of drinking water to the Palestinians from a desalination process.

While the Palestinians made plain that the deal, brokered by US President Donald Trump’s envoy Jason Greenblatt, has no impact on final-status issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Greenblatt hailed it as a “harbinger of things to come.” At a joint press conference in Jerusalem, however, Greenblatt refused to take any questions regarding his bid to relaunch peace negotiations

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TRUDEAU IS WORSE THAN OBAMA

Ruling singles out 2 settlement wineries, also blacklists Golan and East Jerusalem vintages; Jewish group calls decision ‘disturbing’

By Sue Surkes and Jacob Magid, TOI

Canadian food inspectors have ordered liquor stores to stop selling wines made in the West Bank, saying their label identifying them as Israeli contravenes Ottawa’s policy on the territory.

Settlers and at least one Canadian Jewish advocacy group reacted with anger to the ruling, which singles out the Psagot and Shiloh wineries, made in settlements outside Ramallah.

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DEBKA

Russian troops stepped into southern Syria for the first time Wednesday, July 13, when they entered the embattled town of Daraa to start enforcing the partial ceasefire agreed by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Hamburg on July 7.  DEBKAfile’s military sources report this exclusively.

The Russians, including military police and Chechen paratroopers, were sighted getting out of the vehicles of their convoy and taking up positions in the center of Daraa. As they moved into the town, our sources report that tank units of the pro-regime Syrian army’s 5^th Armored Division were seen driving out, along with Hizballah.

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By Robert Romano

So, wait, the whole supposed Russian collusion effort with the Trump campaign had nothing to do with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or John Podesta emails or Wikileaks at all, but actually centered on a June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. and a Russian attorney over supposed dirt she had on Hillary Clinton about her dealings with Russia?

And then the attorney used the meeting as an opportunity to instead talk about U.S. sanctions against 18 Russian individuals and Russia blocking U.S. adoption of Russian children in response?

That’s the collusion? The conspiracy? The treason?
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