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‘Our Enemies’ Core Assumptions Have Been Shattered’

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon, Sept. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

JNS.orgRecent events have shaken assumptions by Israel’s enemies regarding the strength of the Jewish state and Israeli society, according to former Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat.

Reflecting on the past year and particularly recent weeks, Ben Shabbat, currently head of the Misgav Institute for National Security, highlighted to JNS on Wednesday how Israel’s resilience and daring, sustained military operations have disrupted core beliefs of Hezbollah and its sponsors in Iran regarding Israel’s ability to endure extended warfare.

At the same time, he cautioned against complacency, and warned that a long fight remained ahead, with Israel now determined to fundamentally change the regional security reality, and not make do with victory pictures.

Ben Shabbat referred to the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s infamous “spider web” speech, delivered in Bint Jbeil, Southern Lebanon, in May 2000 after the Israel Defense Forces’ withdrawal from Lebanon. In this speech, Nasrallah declared that Israeli society only appeared strong, but lacked the resilience to endure war, describing Israel as “weaker than a spider’s web.”

“Nasrallah and his partners were convinced that Israeli society is weary of war and lacks the resilience to endure a bloody conflict or sustain casualties,” said Ben Shabbat.

This conviction was reinforced further during 2023, when deep divisions and polarization erupted in Israeli society.

However, he added, the events of the past year have shattered all of these assumptions, with Israel demonstrating its ability to manage a long war on multiple fronts while remaining steadfast in its objectives.

“Nasrallah and our other enemies failed to understand the true nature of Israel or the profound impact that Oct. 7—and the shake-up it caused—had on Israeli thinking and behavior,” he added.

Ben Shabbat cited a speech by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, delivered at the United Nations two weeks ago, in which he stated that “in the past year, the world was witness to Israel’s true nature.”

While Pezeshkian “intended to accuse Israel of crimes against humanity, like Balaam [the non-Israelite biblical prophet], his intended curse ended up being an accurate observation and a compliment: Israel during the year of war after Oct. 7 presents its real nature: Belief, boldness, sophistication and determination against all who rise against it,” said Ben Shabbat.

As a result, there has been a shift among what is left of Hezbollah’s leadership, he continued, especially after Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s deputy and one of Hezbollah’s founders, appeared to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon during a speech on Tuesday. Notably, he did not link the call to the ongoing fighting against Hamas in Gaza—a linkage Nasrallah insisted on throughout almost a year of conflict.

“This is a good indication of the organization’s position and shows that Israel has succeeded in breaking the connection that Nasrallah had established between the fighting in Lebanon and the fighting in Gaza,” contended Ben Shabbat.

While Hezbollah remains closely tied to Iran, much more so than Hamas, and this connection remains strong, the group’s political position within Lebanon has weakened, he said.

“Anti-Hezbollah forces in Lebanon now have an opportunity to raise their head and come out against the organization that has held the entire country hostage, in a struggle it conducted against us under Iranian sponsorship and support,” he added.

Asked whether Israel could prevent Iran from rearming Hezbollah, Ben Shabbat noted that Israel is actively working toward that goal. “Israel is taking action to counter the enemy’s efforts to strengthen itself, and while it is a complex battle, the battle to stop this is inevitable,” he said. “It of course also requires steps to limit Iran’s [moves] in this area, and its ability to fund Hezbollah’s growth and the other proxy organizations it activates.”

The collapse of Nasrallah’s “spider web” theory, according to Ben Shabbat, is being observed across the region and beyond. Not only are Tehran and its proxy militias taking note, but also others suffering under Iranian influence, he said.

“Lebanese power brokers now have an opportunity, which was until now a dream only, to free themselves from Hezbollah’s oppressive shadow. Sunni leaders in the region, too, have a chance to set red lines regarding Iran’s malicious presence in their territories, or on their borders,” he said.

Ben Shabbat highlighted how recent events have reinforced Israel’s strategic value to Washington and other global powers. The U.S. presidential candidates, the leaders of Russia and China and heads of state from countries still formulating their stance toward Israel are all keenly observing events, he explained.

“If there was ever any doubt about Israel’s value to Washington, the events of the past few days have dispelled it. If there was a need to prove that Israel is the arrowhead in dealing with the forces of evil of Iran, this war provided it. Alongside concern over deterioration into general war, one can also sense optimism following the achievements of the campaign,” he stated.

Ben Shabbat cautioned however that Israel’s adversaries are not yet defeated, stating, “Our enemies in Lebanon and Gaza have been dealt severe blows, but a hard and surprising hit does not necessarily mean it’s decisive or fatal.”

The test, he said, lies in the ability of these enemies to recover and continue their activities. “There is still much work to be done, and it will be complete only when we return the hostages and can declare that the Iranian octopus has finally lost these two tentacles.”

Reflecting on Israel’s history, Ben Shabbat concluded with a message of perseverance.

“The people of Israel have known great disasters throughout history, but we have never sunk into the depths of despair. Our faith has not cracked, and our spirit has never been broken. When we fall, we rise again, and from every crisis, we grew. Israel is eternal.”

The post ‘Our Enemies’ Core Assumptions Have Been Shattered’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Three New Yorkers Charged With Hate Crimes for Antisemitic Vandalism of Homes of Brooklyn Museum Officials

A security guard stands in front as protest is held outside Brooklyn Museum on Sept. 20, 2024 over the police shooting of four people at a New York City subway station over an alleged $2.90 fare evasion. Photo: Laura Brett/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

A woman and two men in New York have been indicted on hate crimes charges for allegedly vandalizing the homes of officials from the Brooklyn Museum, including its Jewish executive director, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Monday. 

Taylor Pelton, 28, of Astoria, Queens; Samuel Seligson, 32, of Brooklyn; and Gabriel Schubiner, 36, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, were charged in a 25-count indictment in connection with the antisemitic incidents that took place in June in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The indictment includes charges such as making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, making a terroristic threat, third- and fourth-degree criminal mischief as a hate crime, third- and fourth-degree criminal mischief, making graffiti, possession of graffiti instruments, and fifth-degree conspiracy. Schubiner was arraigned on Monday and released without bail, and Seligson and Pelton are expected to be arraigned next week.

The defendants allegedly targeted executives of the Brooklyn art museum who had Jewish-sounding names, but only one of their victims was in fact Jewish — Executive Director Anne Pasternak. Gonzalez did not reveal the names of the victims, but it was previously reported that they included the museum’s President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Panicek-Trueblood, Board Treasurer Neil Simpkins, and Chairman of the Board of Directors Barbara Vogelstein. Panicek-Trueblood’s husband is Jewish.

“Acts of vandalism that target individuals in their own homes are a deeply disturbing violation meant to intimidate, terrorize, and instill fear,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “These defendants allegedly targeted museum board members with threats and antisemitic graffiti based on their perceived heritage. These actions are not protests; they are hate crimes, and we are deeply committed to holding accountable anyone who uses such unlawful tactics in Brooklyn.”

The three defendants allegedly committed their acts of vandalism during the early morning hours of June 12.

According to prosecutors, Pelton drove the defendants, and three unapprehended others, to the neighborhood of Boerum Hill in Brooklyn and from there, they were caught on surveillance video walking with black bags to Douglass Street, where a member of Brooklyn Museum’s board of directors lives. Schubiner allegedly painted over a video camera at the location, in an attempt to conceal the group’s identity, and the defendants then proceeded to deface the home with red paint and the words, “Brooklyn Museum, blood on your hands.”

The alleged assailants also left a banner that featured the victim’s name and claimed she had “blood on your hands, war crimes, funds genocide,” prosecutors claimed. The banner included several inverted red triangles, which is a symbol used by the terrorist organization Hamas in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets they plan to attack. A stencil found on the ground at the site had a fingerprint covered in red paint that belonged to Schubiner.

Pelton then allegedly drove the group in her car to Pasternak’s residence in another area of Brooklyn. A video camera was painted over again to hide their identity as the defendants defaced the entrance of Pasternak’s apartment building with red paint, including an anarchy symbol and red inverted triangles, prosecutors said. The assailants allegedly hung a banner that described Pasternak as a “White Supremacist Zionist” with red handprints and accused her of funding genocide. Gonzalez said the banners also had the words “Blood on your hands.”

The defendants then headed in Pelton’s car to Manhattan, where Schubiner and the unapprehended others were captured on surveillance footage spraying red paint on a building in Lenox Hill where Vogelstein lives, according to prosecutors. They allegedly painted her name, the red inverted triangles, and an anarchy symbol.

Shortly after the alleged hate crimes took place, an anonymous group claiming responsibility for the vandalism released a statement to Hyperallergic in which they cited the Brooklyn Museum’s “complicity in the Palestinian genocide” and ties that its board members have to weapon manufacturing and Israeli military interests, claims that museum officials have denied. The anonymous group said the vandalism was done in response to a heavily policed pro-Palestinian protest on May 31 at the museum, where dozens were arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

“Our action is a retaliation against the museum’s direct connections to the networks that materially support the genocidal entity as well as its collaboration with the fascist NYPD,” the statement said.

Mass anti-Israel protests took place in late May outside the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest art museums in the country. Activists demanded that the institution divest from Israel and demonstrators from groups like the pro-Palestinian organization Within Our Lifetime hung a banner over the museum’s main entrance that called on the institution to “divest from genocide.” More than 30  protesters were reportedly arrested at the museum after occupying much of the lobby area, clashing with police inside and outside of the building, and defacing an outdoor sculpture with graffiti.

“There was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza,” a museum spokesperson said at the time, as reported by Reuters. “Protesters entered the building, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed.”

The post Three New Yorkers Charged With Hate Crimes for Antisemitic Vandalism of Homes of Brooklyn Museum Officials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump, Harris Spotlight Antisemitism, Gaza War in Closing Rallies Heading Into Election Day

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump looks on during a rally at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York, US, Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Amid a surge of antisemitism across the United States and frustration over the ongoing war in Gaza, presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Kamala Harris sought to win over skeptical Jewish and Arab American voters in their final campaign rallies on Sunday and Monday.

On the eve of the election, both campaigns have scrambled to convince Jewish voters of their commitment to both protecting Israel and combating antisemitic violence on American soil. In their closing pitch to US voters, Harris and Trump presented contrasting visions on how to bolster Jewish security and end the Israel-Hamas war. 

During a rally on Monday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, Trump reflected on the fatal shooting of a Jewish man in Chicago by an illegal immigrant from North Africa, casting blame on the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies for allowing the assailant in the country. 

“An illegal alien from North Africa, who Kamala let into our country with her horrendous, open border — just a dangerous, horrendous situation — traveled to a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago and tried to execute a Jewish man on the street, shooting him in the back as he walked to synagogue,” said Trump, a Republican. “He then opened fire on police and paramedics, shooting an ambulance before police returned fire and ended his rampage fairly quickly.”

Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, a 22 year-old migrant from Mauritania, allegedly shot a Jewish man who was walking to a synagogue on Oct. 26. Prosecutors issued terrorism and hate crime charges against Abdallahi after police unveiled evidence which, they said, showed he purposefully sought to violently target Jews. 

Meanwhile, Harris, a Democrat, promised to do “everything in her power” to end the Israel-Hamas war if she wins the White House while speaking to voters at Michigan State University on Sunday. The presidential hopeful also revealed that she had a private conversation with “leaders of the Arab-American community.”

“This year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon,” Harris said in her remarks to the crowd. “It is devastating.”

“As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza,” Harris said, “to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, securit,y and self-determination.”

Harris’s statements on the war in Gaza echoed previous sentiments she made during a campaign stop in Detroit on Sunday. 

“I am honored to have the support of many Arab American leaders who represent the interests and the concerns also of the Arab American community,” Harris said in Detroit. “But I also know well enough to know it is not a monolith.”

“The level of death of innocent Palestinians is unconscionable,” she added. “We need to end the war, and we need to get the hostages out.”

Over the course of her campaign, Harris has repeatedly vowed to secure an elusive ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which rules Gaza. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Monday that Hamas rejected the latest temporary ceasefire agreement presented by Egypt. The 12-day proposal would have reportedly started with a 48-hour ceasefire followed by Hamas releasing four hostages who the terrorist group kidnapped last year from Israel over the next 10 days.

In exchange, Jerusalem would release around 100 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails, and over the 12-day period, Israel and Hamas were to hold indirect talks on extending the truce.

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July, Harris has attempted to strike a balance between demonstrating support for Israel and calling for more restrictions on their defensive military campaign while expressing sympathy for the Palestinian civilians of Gaza. Recent polling indicates that Harris’s strategy has not panned out as she hoped. Anti-Israel Green Party nominee Jill Stein edged out Harris among US Muslim voters by a 42-41 percent margin, according to a poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The post Trump, Harris Spotlight Antisemitism, Gaza War in Closing Rallies Heading Into Election Day first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Obituary: Lloyd Newman, 90, a passionate supporter of Nova Scotia’s cultural groups and Jewish community

Lloyd Newman, who built a family clothing business into a 20-store chain, served on the board of nearly arts institution and Jewish organization in his adopted province of Nova Scotia. […]

The post Obituary: Lloyd Newman, 90, a passionate supporter of Nova Scotia’s cultural groups and Jewish community appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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