By David Adesnik, FDD

At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, senators from across the political spectrum pressed the Biden administration to isolate Syria’s criminal regime and fully enforce the human rights sanctions Congress has mandated. The committee members’ dissatisfaction reinforced bipartisan warnings from senior lawmakers that they firmly oppose U.S. toleration of regional efforts to rehabilitate the Damascus dictatorship.

Wednesday’s hearing represented the first time during President Joe Biden’s tenure that a senior official appeared before the committee to testify about Syria. Ambassador Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, won Senate confirmation only last month but worked on the same portfolio for the National Security Council since January 2021.

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Syria became like Germany was to Europe during the Thirty Years’ War – a place where countries intervene and where the locals pay the price.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN, JPOST

A view shows a damaged house in Umm al-Keif village, near Tal Tamer, in northeastern Syria, June 10, 2022
(photo credit: STRINGER/ REUTERS)

Syria is in the crosshairs of renewed focus. This takes place in the context of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and Russia-US tensions, as well as Israel-Iran tensions. Part of the new focus is known, but recent reports seem to point to shifting tectonics on Syria and raise questions about what might come next.

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BY FOREIGN DESK NEWS   JUNE 21, 2022

Iranian retirees protest on June 8. rferl.org

In recent months, Iranian citizens ranging from farmers, teachers, pensioners, students, women, and many others have taken to the streets throughout Iran to protest the economic and political conditions under the Islamic Republic. Protesters peacefully took to the streets with signs and banners in the country’s capital, Tehran, and other cities including Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz, and others, chanting for the downfall of current hardline President Ebrahim Raisi outside government buildings. Despite the crackdowns and arrests, protesters continue to amass in large numbers, leading to increased fear from Islamic Republic officials.
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Letter to the Editor

by Daniel Pipes, Wall Street Journal    June 19, 2022

https://www.danielpipes.org/21275/israel-is-the-least-stolen-land

To the Editor:

In “‘Native Land Acknowledgments’ Are the Latest Woke Ritual” (op-ed, June 11), Eugene Kontorovich elegantly ridicules the budding leftist requirement that public statements be prefaced by a ceremonial nod to the peoples who once inhabited roughly our territories, thereby honoring their supposed moral superiority.

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By Soeren Kern, GATESTONE  •  June 21, 2022

• As the war has dragged on, European unity has collapsed and efforts to transform the European Union into a European superstate — a United States of Europe — have been exposed for what they are: delusions of grandeur.
• The EU’s largest member states — France and Germany — have sought to appease Putin at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty. French President Emmanuel Macron, the strongest backer of European strategic autonomy, insists that Putin should not be “humiliated” and has even called on Ukraine to make territorial concessions to help the Russian dictator save face.

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By David Solway, PJ MEDIA

The Ron is young, successful, formidable, and much admired for his courage and practical intelligence. He would make a great president. The Don is aggressive in his demeanor, tends to polarize people, and would rouse opposition to his candidacy, especially from the Fourth and Fifth Estates. All this is true, though few seem to realize that the Ron, should he receive the Republican nomination, would face a media barrage of hostility and disinformation no less virulent. The fact is, I believe, that the debate between the relative merits and strengths of the Ron and the Don is utterly irrelevant and nothing short of a logomachic distraction. Read more…

Wouldn’t be the first time a   Jew – Volodymyr Zelenskyy—was anti  Jewish !!

The Danger of the Jewish Progressive Hate Group, If Not Now

Despite Ukraine’s record of voting against Israel at the UN, its embassy in Israel launches scathing social media campaign accusing Jerusalem of not helping Ukrainian soldiers due to their nationality.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The Ukrainian Embassy in Israel launched a scathing social media campaign on Sunday, slamming the Jewish State for not treating wounded Ukrainian soldiers in Israeli hospitals and suggesting that the country was not fulfilling its humanitarian obligations.

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Articles about the collapse of Israel’s government from the WSJ, NYT, JNS and Haaretz are included

[Note by Tom Gross]

Israel’s government collapsed last night, marking the end of the most diverse ruling coalition in Israel’s history, and just a few days after it marked its first anniversary in office.

Naftali Bennett becomes Israel’s shortest-serving prime minister. Personally I think he has done relatively well, as I said in this short TV interview last week. But others would say his government was doomed to fail from the start and fail it did.

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T. Belman.  I hate it when Muslims force non Muslim countries to accommodate the demands of Islam. Muslims should have to accommodate themselves when living in non Muslim countries.

 – Iran Foreign Ministry Says: ‘Muslims Are Satisfied With The Stance Of Indian Officials’

MEMRI, Special Dispatch    6.20.22

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian along with his Indian counterpart Jaishankar

On June 8, 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at the meeting of its 35-nation board of governors, passed a resolution, condemning Iran for its failure to provide technically credible evidence about the detection of nuclear traces at its three nuclear sites. While Russia and China voted against the resolution, India joined Pakistan and Libya to abstain from voting against Iran.[1] An Indian activist tweeted: “Iran joined Pakistan and Libya to slam India on #ProphetMuhammad issue and India joined Pakistan and Libya to abstain from vote on IAEA resolution slamming Iran. What kind of foreign policy our country is having?”[2]

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The fear is that the internal battles between Mahmoud Abbas’ potential successors could lead to anarchy in the areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control.

By  Prof. Eyal Zisser, IH   19.6.22

Mahmoud Abbad has survived four prime ministers and seven defense ministers throughout his 17 years as president of the Palestinian Authority, and those numbers could rise even more considering the deep crisis in which Israel’s political system is mired.

This is not to say, however, that Abbas or the authority he heads is strong. For years now he has been little more than a figurehead whose power barely projects beyond the Mukata presidential compound in Ramallah.

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T. Belman. Goldman may be right in everything he wrote except for this,

“His obsession with the highly-improbable notion that vote fraud decided the 2020 election is self-destructive. His encouragement of the Jan 6 Capitol Hill protests — to whatever extent it occurred — was ill-considered in the extreme.”

He takes a cheap shot at Putin, “There’s nothing to like about him.” while at the same time acknowledging ” the boss of bosses who rationalized and limited the looting and allowed Russia to get back on its feet.”

By David P. Goldman, PJ MEDIA      JUN 19, 2022

Former President Donald Trump told the “Road to Majority” conference in Nashville on June 17:

Why exactly are we coddling him in his preposterous demands?

By Hugh Fitzgerald, FPM     20.6.22

The Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, wants to “pressure” the American government to do his bidding before Biden visits the Middle East on a trip scheduled for this July. A report on the rich fantasy life of Abbas is here:

“Feeding Palestinian delusions,” by Mitchell Bard,

JNS.org, June 8, 2022:

“Palestinian Leadership Plans to Increase Pressure on U.S. ahead of Biden’s Visit.”

This headline in the Daily Alert was illustrative of why Palestinian delusions are mainly responsible for their plight. The article associated with the headline said the Palestinians want to “turn the screws on the White House in order to secure lucrative overtures from the Americans.”

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By Judith Bergman, GATESTONE  •  June 20, 2022

• “Russia relies on a series of asymmetric (and often extralegal) measures for influence—mercenaries, arms-for-resource deals, opaque contracts, election interference, and disinformation.” — Joseph Siegle, Director of Research at the Brookings Institution’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, February 2, 2022.

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Marine Le Pen’s National Rally overtakes traditional Republicans to become the largest right-wing party in parliament in major setback to French leader; hard left also makes gains

By AGENCIES

French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech after the first results of the parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, on June 19, 2022. (Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP)

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday lost his parliamentary majority after major election gains by a newly formed left-wing alliance and a surge from the far right, in a stunning blow to his plans for major second-term reform.

The result from Sunday’s second round poll threw French politics into turmoil, raising the prospect of a paralyzed legislature or messy coalitions with Macron forced to reach out to new allies.

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It is improbable that the government will survive for long. If elections take place now, at least 60 Jewish Zionists, headed by Netanyahu, could set up a government, his chance for a place in history with Herzl -if he attends to basic issues. Op-ed.

By Malcolm Dash, INN    19.6.22

A year has elapsed since Naftali Bennett cobbled together a Post-Zionist coalition of eight disparate political factions. This came about as the brainchild of Lapid, chairman of the Yesh Atid party, who co-opted an enthusiastic partner in the head of the Yamina party.

Although Bennett had only seven seats, he unashamedly assumed the prime minster-ship of the state. In his election campaigning, he swore he would not go into coalition with the Left, and that included Lapid. He emphatically repudiated seeking the support of any Arab party; with fraudulent insolence he reversed his promises, deceived his constituency, and in an egocentric, greedy grab for power, he extirpated his ideology, if indeed he had any to begin with? And forged his bizarre government.

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ISRAEL UNWIRED

Reports indicate that Russia is preparing a draft resolution at the UN claiming that Israel’s attack at the Damascus airport violated international law.

Russia has grown continuously more and more antagonistic against Israel. The Kremlin has increased its verbal attacks on Israel over the lat few months. From siding with the “palestinians” to running joint drills with Syria along the Israeli border, Russia is not pulling their punches.

There are more than 10,000 Russian troops in Syria. Many of these soldiers have been kept in Syria since Putin helped Bashar Assad with the Syrian Civil War.

Now Putin i using them to pressure Israel to stay out of the coming Middle East conflict.

Addressing Iran’s attempts to harm Israelis abroad, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls on citizens to “show personal responsibility.”

JNS

 Naftali Bennett leads a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on June 19, 2022. Photo by Alex Kolomoisky/POOL.
(June 19, 2022 / JNS)

Israel will strike “whoever sends” attackers against Israelis, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday.[/caption]

In his opening remarks to the weekly Cabinet meeting, the Israeli premier said that the country’s security services were working to thwart attacks before they occur, but added that Israel would not stop at prevention.

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T. Belman. The existence of  an international order is a myth or a con job to justify things like  the Climate Accords or the dominance of the WHO.

Israel has been victimized by the UN and  “international law”, not protected. She is attacked by the UN and the HR NGOs for alleged violations of alleged international law.

Article 2(1) of the charter provides, “The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”, yet our sovereignty is constantly being attacked by the UN and its agencies. The rule of law requires equal justice and equal law yet double standards are constantly applied to Israel by biased institutions.

Both Israel and the US did not ratify the Rome Statute or submit to the International Criminal Court because they knew that they would not get justice. The US, Russia and China will not relinquish their veto because they do not want to be judged by everybody else.

Trump was against free trade as it denies the sovereign right to apply tariffs or to protect certain industries. There is no reason to submit to free trade unless its in your interest to do so.

Are not the sanctions being imposed on Russia and Iran a violation of  the international order.

By Amir Taheri, GATESTONE  •  June 19, 2022

• Shaped over the past seven decades, that is to say after the Second World War, what is known as the international order has been based on three principles which, although not always observed, have helped keep the edifice intact.
• The first principle was what is known as international law, built around the United Nations Charter and over 10,000 international treaties and protocols endorsed by a majority of the existing 193 states. The invasion of Ukraine has violated that principle in a dramatic way. Because the aggressor is a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council, the issue cannot even be handled even formally by the United Nations.

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By Guy Millière, GATESTONBE  •  June 19, 2022

• [T]he attitude of the French judiciary to [Hadjadj’s] murder is similar to how it has regarded all murders of Jews in France, for decades.
• First, the authorities always say, as quickly as possible, that the murder of the Jew was not at all motivated by antisemitism. When evidence to the contrary accumulates and becomes impossible to deny, the antisemitic motive may reluctantly be recognized — as with the abduction, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi in 2006; the murder of Sarah Halimi in 2017; and the murder of Mireille Knoll in 2018.

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