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Gaza Today, Lebanon Tomorrow
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – The international community has found its voice. Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre has resulted in a hallelujah chorus of international condemnation of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza. The barbaric attack on Israeli civilians is receding further and further into memory as the international community follows the Hamas gameplan to demonize Israel for the human suffering in Gaza that Hamas set in motion.
Each outbreak of violence between Gaza and Israel since Hamas seized power over Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 has resulted in international condemnations of Israel followed by ceasefire agreements. Those agreements have done nothing to rein in, let alone destroy Hamas. While Israel has periodically “mowed the grass” in response to rocket attacks, Hamas has diverted international funds meant for reconstruction to build underground fortresses.
Hamas’s massacre and use of its own people as human shields were not seen for what they were: Jihad against the Jews that can never be satisfied by diplomacy, border adjustments or money. Western minds proved incapable of understanding this religious drive to rid “Islamic lands” of “infidel” control.
Oct. 7 was, as Hamas planned, a red line. Israel finally acted like any other sovereign nation and set out to destroy Hamas’s ability to make war on the Jews. Enough kicking the can down the road. Despite the current pause in fighting, that road ended on Oct. 7.
Where we would be now if, when Israel left the Strip in 2005, the Palestinians had created a civil, proto-Palestinian state there rather than a terror enclave? And where we would be now if the international community had stood up to Hamas when it staged its 2007 coup against the P.A.? And what if, rather than romanticizing Hamas terrorists as “protestors” during the “great march of return” attacks on the Israeli border with Gaza, the international community supported Israel rather than demonizing it?
Today’s suffering on both sides of the border is the result of this betrayal of decency and reality.
Recent history is very likely about to repeat itself on Israel’s northern border. There, Lebanon is controlled by another major Iranian proxy—Hezbollah. It too is a proud death cult whose reason for being is to destroy the Jews. Hezbollah has accumulated an arsenal of 150,000 rockets aimed at Israel, an increasing number of which are precision-guided. When Hezbollah started a war against Israel in 2006, Israel conducted limited air and ground operations during which there were significant Lebanese civilian casualties because, like Hamas, Hezbollah embeds itself and its weapons in civilian areas.
That conflict ended with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that, among other things, called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and barred it from southern Lebanon, which borders Israel. But while the international community castigated Israel for its conduct of the 2006 war, it was all but silent as Hezbollah ignored 1701’s essential provisions. As Iran flooded Hezbollah with ever more advanced offensive weapons, the international community was silent.
For years, the threat of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel, fueled by Iran, has been increasing with barely a whisper of protest from the U.N. Now, in the aftermath of Oct. 7, Hezbollah is mounting limited attacks on Israel as Israel shows restraint. But if full-scale war erupts, either now or in the future, the consequences for Lebanon and the Lebanese will be catastrophic, as Israel has warned. The devastation in Gaza may pale in comparison.
Why isn’t the U.N. going all-out to prevent history from repeating itself in Lebanon? Why isn’t the world demanding Hezbollah comply with 1701? Why isn’t the U.N. threatening further sanctions against Iran? Why isn’t the U.N. debating sending a military force to enforce 1701?
Just as it was speechless in the face of the inevitable carnage in Gaza, only to find its voice when Hamas launched a full-scale war, the international community is again silent in the face of the human disaster that may soon engulf Lebanon. As with Gaza, the international community will only spring into action when the civilian death toll creates another media feeding frenzy, providing an excuse to hypocritically excoriate Israel.
This downward slide towards war can be stopped. The international community can stop it. But that means confronting Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran in order to crush these proud death cults. If the international community can’t or won’t do that, then it will be clear that its condemnation of Israel is merely part of the jihadist gameplan. It will be clear that the international community continues to validate that plan. And it will be clear that the plan by no means stops with Israel.
The post Gaza Today, Lebanon Tomorrow first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Missle from Yemen Targets Dead Sea Area
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of an F-35 stealth fighter at the IAF’s Nevatim base, July 9, 2019. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO.
i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces said that a Houthi missile was intercepted outside of Israeli territory, although sirens blared in the eastern Negev and Dead Sea area. The Yemen-based, Iran-backed terrorist group said that they had targeted the Nevatim airbase.
The post Missle from Yemen Targets Dead Sea Area first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi voiced “extreme cautious” about the success of the negotiations to resolve a decades-long standoff.
US President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a third round of the talks in Muscat through Omani mediators for around six hours, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
“The negotiations are extremely serious and technical… there are still differences, both on major issues and on details,” Araqchi told Iranian state TV.
“There is seriousness and determination on both sides… However, our optimism about success of the talks remains extremely cautious.”
A senior US administration official described the talks as positive and productive, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe “soon.”
“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the official added.
Earlier Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said talks would continue next week, with another “high-level meeting” provisionally scheduled for May 3. Araqchi said Oman would announce the venue.
Ahead of the lead negotiators’ meeting, expert-level indirect talks took place in Muscat to design a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
“The presence of experts was beneficial … we will return to our capitals for further reviews to see how disagreements can be reduced,” Araqchi said.
An Iranian official, briefed about the talks, told Reuters earlier that the expert-level negotiations were “difficult, complicated and serious.”
The only aim of these talks, Araqchi said, was “to build confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.”
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
Shortly after Araqchi and Witkoff began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian state media reported a massive explosion at the country’s Shahid Rajaee port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds.
MAXIMUM PRESSURE
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.
Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment program or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among “Iran’s red lines that could not be compromised” in the talks.
Moreover, European states have suggested to US negotiators that a comprehensive deal should include limits preventing Iran from acquiring or finalizing the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, several European diplomats said.
Tehran insists its defense capabilities like its missile program are not negotiable.
An Iranian official with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that Tehran sees its missile program as a bigger obstacle in the talks.
The post Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy and likely successor on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, a step widely seen as needed to assuage international doubts over Palestinian leadership.
Abbas, 89, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 but he had for years resisted internal reforms including the naming of a successor.
Sheikh, born in 1960, is a veteran of Fatah, the main PLO faction which was founded by Arafat and is now headed by Abbas. He is widely viewed as a pragmatist with very close ties to Israel.
He was named PLO vice president after the organization’s executive committee approved his nomination by Abbas, the PLO said in a statement.
Reform of the PA, which exercises limited autonomy in the West Bank, has been a priority for the United States and Gulf monarchies hoping the body can play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Pressure to reform has intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, where the PLO’s main Palestinian rival Hamas has battled Israel for more than 18 months, leaving the tiny, crowded territory in ruins.
The United States has promoted the idea of a reformed PA governing in Gaza after the war. Gulf monarchies, which are seen as the most likely source of funding for reconstruction in Gaza after the war, also want major reforms of the body.
CALL FOR HAMAS TO DISARM
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the destruction of Hamas but it has also ruled out giving the PA any role in government there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas, which follows a militant Islamist ideology, has controlled Gaza since 2007 when it defeated the PA in a brief civil war after winning an election the previous year. It also has a large presence in the West Bank.
At a meeting of the PLO’s Central Council on Wednesday and Thursday that approved the position of vice president without naming an appointee, Abbas made his clearest ever call for Hamas to completely disarm and hand its weapons – and responsibility for governing in Gaza – to the PA.
Widespread corruption, lack of progress towards an independent state and increasing Israeli military incursions in the West Bank have undermined the PA’s popularity among many Palestinians.
The body has been controlled by Fatah since it was formed in the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993 and it last held parliamentary elections in 2005.
Sheikh, who was imprisoned by Israel for his activities opposing the occupation during the period 1978-89, has worked as the PA’s main contact liaising with the Israeli government under Abbas and been his envoy on visits to world powers.
The post Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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