In a significant step for Israel-Morocco relations, King Mohammed VI on Wednesday invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the kingdom.

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The invitation came after Israel officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region earlier in the week.

The invitation came in the form of a warm, personal letter in which His Majesty thanked the State of Israel for its recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. The visit will open up new possibilities for strengthening relations between the two countries, the king wrote.

Israel's decision also holds immense significance due to its direct impact on the activities of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in North Africa, disrupting their efforts to establish roots and expand their presence in the region.

Former Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat told JNS that while he is aware that the steps towards recognizing Western Sahara took place over an extended period of time, "there is importance in Israel strengthening its position and presence on the African continent, especially at a time when Iran and its partners are trying to establish a foothold in Africa."

Addressing why Israel waited until now to recognize Morocco's sovereignty, he said he assumes that part of the time was required to examine the step's possible consequences.

According to Ben-Shabbat, the recognition "is a proper and desirable step for several reasons. It reflects the deep trust between Israel and Morocco and Israel's commitment to developing warm relations between the two countries and peoples."

It "promotes a realistic and existing solution to this territory, which the United States has also recognized," and "serves as a clear statement against the forces that oppose Morocco, supported by Iran and Algeria," he said.

Ben-Shabbat said Israel can expect that ties between the two countries will improve even further now, adding that "despite the impressive progress in relations between Israel and Morocco since normalization, there is still great untapped potential in the economic, technological and political spheres.

"Additionally," he said, "Morocco can play an important role in bringing other North African countries into the peace circle."

Western Sahara shares a border with Mauritania, which Israel hopes will also normalize ties with it as part of the Abraham Accords.

The Algerian angle

In an effort to maintain parity with its formidable regional counterpart, Algeria, Morocco is actively bolstering its defense investments. For numerous years, Rabat has perceived Algeria as a significant threat, particularly following the termination of diplomatic ties by Algiers in August 2011.

As part of this effort, Morocco has been preparing to acquire an undisclosed number of decommissioned Merkava tanks from Israel. The completion of this deal, anticipated within the coming months, will mark Morocco as the first foreign buyer of Merkava tanks.

According to a Foreign Policy article in June, "After [President Donald] Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco normalizing its relationship with Israel, Tel Aviv and Rabat cemented the deal with a bevy of military and economic agreements. Algeria sees this new romance between Morocco, the United States, and Israel – three of its longtime enemies – as a threat to its security."

In 2020, when Morocco reestablished diplomatic relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, the Algerian government initiated a smear campaign against the kingdom, despite its reputation for tolerance and coexistence. However, at the same time, discreetly, Algeria engaged in undisclosed business dealings with Israel.

While Israel has no diplomatic relations with Algeria, Israel's imports from the country stood at $21.38 million in 2022, according to the United Nations Comtrade database.

So while it refrains from officially recognizing Israel and publicly expresses animosity towards it, Algeria sells goods to Israel, facilitated by the ruling junta.

The Western Sahara is the primary source of contention between Morocco and Algeria. After Spain withdrew from the area in 1975, both Morocco and Mauritania claimed sovereignty over the territory. The Polisario Front, a movement representing the indigenous Sahrawi people, also declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and sought independence.

Algeria supported the Polisario Front, providing it with military aid and training and diplomatic recognition. Morocco eventually gained control over most of the Western Sahara, while the Polisario Front maintained control over some parts, leading to a prolonged conflict.

The conflict between Morocco and Algeria has been fueled by ideological differences as well. Historically, Algeria aligned itself with socialist and anti-colonial movements, supporting self-determination struggles across Africa. Morocco, on the other hand, has maintained closer ties with Western powers and pursued a more pro-Western foreign policy.

The Iranian threat

Dr. Yechiel Leiter, the director-general of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, also views Israel's gesture to Morocco as positive.

"Morocco shares a long border with Algeria, an ally of Iran, which directly threatens it militarily and through its support for Polisario separatism. Were the Polisario to achieve its goal, Western Sahara would be an Algerian puppet state, contributing to strengthening an Iranian proxy," Leiter told JNS.

He noted that the Iranian regime "supplies the Polisario with antiaircraft missiles and drones through the services of Algeria and Hezbollah. Together with the IRGC [Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], Hezbollah is also training Polisario fighters. The Polisario itself has provided cover for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a terrorist group that is active in the Sahel region."

Morocco also plays a key role in global food production, a major component of which is fertilizer, which requires phosphates. As Leiter points out, "A full 72% of the known phosphate deposits are found in Morocco, and 7% are in Western Sahara. Allowing moderate Morocco to be surrounded by hostile and destabilizing Iranian proxies could potentially have great impact on food security worldwide."

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"The implications of such a concentration of a critical component of the world's food supply are sobering," he said. "Were 7% of the world's known phosphate deposits (in Western Sahara) to fall into the hands of a sovereign entity under the direct influence of Iran, the ramifications could be ominous. But what is far more threatening would be the influence brought to bear on a moderate Morocco with its overwhelming control of the world's food supply, surrounded by hostile and destabilizing Iranian proxies."

According to Leiter, "Hezbollah is already deeply involved in West Africa, and the last thing the region needs is another dysfunctional state under the influence of the world's most significant terror and illicit drug trade organization."

"Morocco stands against the fanatical Islam exported by the ayatollahs and their proxies," he said. Its battle against the Polisario and terrorism "is also Israel's battle."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Jordan fears it is losing its recognized status as the official custodian of Jerusalem's holy Muslim sites, including the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, as Palestinians incited by Hamas, other terror groups and the Palestinian Authority continuously held riots during the Muslim month of Ramadan. In at least one incident, rioters nearly set the Al-Aqsa mosque on fire. Jordan has blamed Israel for the violence and for violating the status quo there. And now, it is demanding total control over the Temple Mount, with worrying consequences. But experts say the story goes deeper.

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Members of the Islamic Waqf trust that manages the Al-Aqsa mosque enjoy a special status. They are employed by the Jordanians and therefore are supposed to safeguard the kingdom's interest of maintaining the monarchy's custodianship status there. However, it's doubtful that Waqf officials, who receive their salaries from Amman, are trying particularly hard to solidify Jordan's unique role there.

The recent events at the site indicate that Waqf officials haven't gone out of their way to prevent the violent riots and the efforts by Hamas, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and other Palestinian elements to seize control of Al-Aqsa. Even if Waqf officials did occasionally attempt to temper the Palestinian demonstrators at the site, it was only for show.

No Waqf officials have stood up against the youngsters carrying Hamas flags, and it doesn't appear that any of them are willing to risk their lives for the Jordanian king. A Waqf shift manager is always on duty and responsible for what happens at the Temple mount. The Waqf security guards he manages patrol the area with small walkie-talkies and cell phones. These are mostly used to document what they call "the invasions and provocations" of Jewish visitors.  The rioting by Palestinian youth is less of an interest to them.

An official familiar with the details of the situation at the holy site said Waqf officials are not graduates of any type of course that trains them for the job, and that their mission has diminished over the years to "monitoring non-Muslims at the Temple Mount."

There are frequent reports of Waqf officials who are arrested and expelled from the Temple Mount for varying periods of time, on charges of obstructing police officers or disturbing the public order at the site. "They focus on visits by Jews, they are very active in that regard," said another official. "We haven't seen them prevent provocations by Hamas on the Temple Mount. This is one of the problems, that they are perceived as identifying more with the youngsters protesting at Al-Aqsa than with the Waqf."

All Waqf appointments are vetted by the Jordanian intelligence services, but the vast majority of Waqf officials are not Jordanians, but rather locals who reside in east Jerusalem.

Any outside influence on the Temple Mount that isn't Jordanian is a source of trepidation for the monarchy, especially when it relates to Islamist elements. Jordan and the Palestinian Authority now share a common interest: preventing Hamas from taking over the Temple Mount. With that, it bears noting that both sides are locked in an undeclared competition. In the past, the Jordanians expressed their reservations to the Israelis about "the PA's attempts to tighten its grip on the Temple Mount and insert additional representatives on its behalf on the Waqf council.

Moshe Albo, a senior researcher in the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Reichman University in Herzliya (formerly the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya), told Jewish News Syndicate that in order to understand what's happening in Jerusalem, it's important to understand the broader context.

He explained that Jordan is currently experiencing "huge" domestic economic and political crises. With soaring energy and basic food prices, in addition to visible cracks within the royal family, Jordan's King Abdullah II is losing his image of stability.

The country is also worried, as stated, that Hamas is making inroads to replacing it as custodian and "gatekeeper" of the Temple Mount.

Responding to criticism that the Israel Police used heavy-handed tactics to quell Palestinian violence on the Temple Mount, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accused Hamas last week of orchestrating the riots. At this point, Palestinian rioters seem to be listening to instructions from Hamas, not the Jordanian Waqf.

On top of that, Jordan is worried about Gulf states replacing it as the custodian of Jerusalem's holy Muslim sites.

Jordan did not participate in the recent "Negev Summit," and according to Albo, it sees the United Arab Emirates, the Saudis and Moroccans as contenders for custodianship over Al-Aqsa – a message that has recently been voiced a number of times.

On Friday, Israeli journalist Yoni Ben-Menachem tweeted that there is a "disagreement between the UAE and Jordan over the Temple Mount."

He wrote that the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed, "demands that the status quo on the Temple Mount allow freedom of worship for members of all religions, as stipulated in the standardization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. King Abdullah opposes that and claims this violates the existing status quo and the peace agreement between Jordan and Israel."

That is a ground-breaking statement by an Arab leader to make, especially given the timing, and suggests regional elbowing for control of the Temple Mount.

According to Albo, the Jordanian reaction to what is taking place on the Temple Mount is a result of its desire to secure its status.

"The Jordanians do not like the Gulf states talking about the mount," said Albo, "but [Jordan] is hardly in a position to secure its status."

As part of its concern over losing control, Jordan reportedly submitted a letter to the Biden administration, demanding that the Waqf be given total control over the Temple Mount. It wants to institute a dress code for non-Muslims, as well as limit visitors to groups no larger than five people. Jordan is also demanding that the Israel Police no longer be allowed on the Temple Mount, even if rioters attack Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall or visitors to the site itself.

Its demands also include giving the Waqf the authority to severely restrict non-Muslim visits to the Temple Mount; requiring non-Muslims to apply to visit in writing in advance; and setting restrictive tour routes of no more than 500 feet (150 meters) in each direction for non-Muslim visitors.

Netanyahu 'was only part of the problem'

It was reported on Friday that Israel has so far rejected Jordan's demands.

According to Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Jordanian request "is almost certainly a non-starter."

He said Israel is not likely to change the status quo in the Old City, and Jordan's "aggressive push for more control could even spur tensions with Israel."

Schanzer noted that Amman's ties with Israel were expected to improve after the departure of long-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who "was said to be the primary obstacle to warmer ties."

President Isaac Herzog, Lapid, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz all made state visits to Jordan in recent months – a sign that Israel's ties with Jordan are strong and cooperation is at its highest level in years.

However, with this most recent flare-up in Israel-Jordan ties, Schanzer suggested that "it is clear now that [Netanyahu] was only part of the problem. The other problem appears to be Jordan's policy of siding with the Palestinians in just about every instance. This approach is not sustainable if the goal is to build stronger ties with Israel or to help guide the Palestinians toward reform and eventual statehood."

Albo also said he doesn't believe Israel will allow Jordan to expand the Waqf's responsibilities since it would change the existing status quo. It is this status quo that has everyone so agitated and on edge.

Jordan and the Palestinians insist on reinstituting the status quo as it was agreed upon before the year 2000 when non-Muslims required Waqf permission in advance to visit the Temple Mount. They maintain that the status quo has been violated since then.

Israel insists on maintaining the status quo after 2000, when non-Muslims were given freer access to visit – though not pray on – the Temple Mount without requiring Waqf permission.

According to Hillel Frisch, a professor of political studies and Middle East studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and an expert on the Arab world at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, the Waqf in most Arab states "are Muslim Brotherhood adherents. They are co-opted by the state and closely monitored. Here, the situation is much more complicated and hence Jordanian custodianship much more problematic."

But it is not only the Waqf that is problematic. According to Ehud Yaari of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Palestinian Authority also "played a major role in incitement to demonstrate on the Temple Mount, spreading fabricated claims that Israel is seeking to change the status quo there."

Israeli and Jordanian officials are expected to meet after Ramadan to discuss the Palestinian violence and a perceived change to the status quo there, but now Israeli officials say they are refusing to meet due to incendiary remarks made by Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh.

At a parliament meeting last week, Khasawneh said, "I salute every Palestinian, and all the employees of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf, who proudly stand like minarets, hurling their stones in a volley of clay at the Zionist sympathizers defiling the Al-Aqsa mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government."

Israel said it will wait to meet with Jordanian representatives until after a number of dates that may see Palestinian incitement and rioting pass. Those dates include Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'aztmaut) on May 5, Nakba Day on May 15 and Jerusalem Day on May 29.

'Palestinian terror groups inflaming the holy sites'

Meanwhile, King Abdullah is in Washington to discuss these issues with the Biden administration. His trip comes after PA leader Mahmoud Abbas' visit to Jordan last Wednesday, where Abdullah reaffirmed Jordan's full support for the Palestinians.

The Biden administration, notably US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has consistently called for "calm on both sides."

But Israel has pushed back against such unfair and inaccurate representations of the reality on the ground.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan told the UN Security Council on Monday that this demand is "completely detached from reality. The very notion that mobs of violent rioters motivated by radical Islamic terror groups could be placed on the same moral scale as a law-abiding democracy making every effort to keep the peace is ludicrous."

He added that "the only ones breaking the status quo on the Temple Mount are the Palestinian terror groups inflaming the holy sites."

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland agreed with Israel's version of events when he addressed the UN Security Council, saying "Palestinians threw stones, fireworks and other heavy objects toward Israeli security forces. … Following a standoff with those inside, Israeli police entered the mosque and arrested those barricaded inside."

It seems that Wennesland agrees that the idea that "both sides" are creating violence is nonsense.

Israel is consistently called on by the international community to protect freedom of worship at all holy sites. Yet Jordan, as well as the international community, has long insisted that Israeli authorities restrict Jewish freedom of worship on Judaism's holiest site in the name of maintaining the status quo.

According to Frisch, "Just as no other country in the world compromises its sovereignty in its capital, so should Israel have maintained its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the most important site in its capital [when it liberated it in 1967]. Conceding to Jordanian control over the Temple Mount, when the real powers behind the scenes are the PA and Hamas, has compromised this sovereignty evermore to the detriment of the security of Jerusalem's citizens, both Jews and Arabs."

He noted that "most Arabs want to pray in peace on the Temple Mount just like the Jews, but the Waqf, presumably under Jordanian control but in reality manned by Hamas adherents, turn the Temple Mount into an arena of increasing violence."

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For its part, Israel has been working hard to control events on the ground as well as in diplomatic circles.

The Foreign Ministry has spearheaded significant efforts to influence the narrative in recent weeks amid the wave of terror attacks targeting Israelis and efforts by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other extremists to hijack the Al-Aqsa mosque in order to create an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem and from there, a violent conflict across the country.

Lapid held a briefing for the foreign press and the ministry to confront fake news meant to inflame tensions in real-time on social-media networks and in the media. The ministry also used its digital platforms to express Israel's desire to calm the situation in more than 50 languages to some 10 million followers. In Arabic alone, the ministry's social-media efforts reached 8 million viewers over the last two weeks, according to the foreign ministry.

Albo was optimistic. He said the big test will be after the Eid al-Fitr, a celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.

Last Thursday, a reported 250,000 worshippers attended prayers on the Temple Mount for Qadr Night (Laylat al-Qadr in Arabic), a significant date on the Islamic calendar during the month of Ramadan. Friday drew huge numbers to the mount as well for the last Friday prayers of Ramadan.

"If these [dates] pass peacefully," he said, "then overall, the incitement did not succeed. If you look at the strategic picture, the world was focused on Ukraine and not focused on Jerusalem. The Palestinians did not succeed in transferring the events in Jerusalem to the whole Palestinian issue."

"For now," he said, "Israel has succeeded in maintaining stability."

JNS.org contributed to this report.

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UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk accused Israel of apartheid in a report submitted Tuesday to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

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"The Special Rapporteur recommends that the international community accepts and adopts the findings … that apartheid is being practiced by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond," he wrote.

Lynk, whose official title is "Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967," will formally release the report on Thursday ahead of a Human Rights Council debate on Agenda Item 7, a permanent debate reserved for discussing Israeli human-rights abuses against the Palestinians.

In the report, Lynk accused Israel of pursuing a strategy of "strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian territory" and said that the "political system of entrenched rule in the occupied Palestinian territory which endows one racial-national-ethnic group with substantial rights, benefits and privileges while intentionally subjecting another group to live behind walls, checkpoints and under a permanent military rule."

The Canadian academic, who is stepping down from the position, called on the international community to implement associability measures to end Israel's apartheid practices.

He wrote that the United Nations should "re-establish the Special Committee Against Apartheid" to investigate "allegations of apartheid against any government."

The report comes on the heels of last month's Amnesty International report that also accused Israel of apartheid.

"The Special Rapporteur's findings are an important and timely addition to the growing international consensus that Israeli authorities are committing apartheid against the Palestinian people," said Saleh Higazi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "The report details how Israel has established a system of racially motivated oppression against Palestinians, explicitly designed to maintain Jewish Israeli domination, and maintained through the commission of grave human rights violations."

Israel's Mission to the United Nations in Geneva blasted the report, saying Lynk is "well known for his blatant and disturbing anti-Israel views. This report is no different."

"The Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk has been distorting the facts with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past six years at the United Nations and is doing so again in his final report."

"This report recycles baseless and outrageous libels previously published by NGOs that share the same goal as the author of this report: to delegitimize and criminalize the State of Israel for what it is: the nation-state of the Jewish people, with equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of religion, race or sex," said Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar.

Shahar said "no report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be taken seriously if the security challenges and threats faced daily by all Israelis, including the 20% non-Jewish minority, is not considered."

She went on to note how the report does not mention or even condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, or the Palestinian Authority and its legal obligations to its own people.

"Once again, the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms have found a way to further inflame the region and the conflict," she said. "Once again, they have proven to be detrimental to the cause of peace and reconciliation."

Meanwhile, a new report by NGO Monitor debunks the accusation of apartheid against Israel and assesses whether apartheid, as previously defined, is applicable to Israel and territories under its military administration.

This new report, titled "Neo-Orientalism: Deconstructing Claims of Apartheid in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" and written by legal expert Joshua Kern, and legal adviser and UN representative for NGO Monitor Anne Herzberg, expands on a previous report published in December that sought to rectify the lack of a coherent and legally substantiated definition of the crime of apartheid.

According to NGO Monitor, "accusations of this crime against humanity have been historically leveled at the State of Israel and its officials by powerful NGOs such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), B'Tselem and, most recently, Amnesty International. The lack of an accepted definition of the crime of apartheid has been harnessed by central actors in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, who apply the term to characterize the political and legal nature of Israel's government, and in many cases to delegitimize the notion of Israel's identity as a Jewish state."

"Our report is for legal professionals, academics, practitioners and government officials," Herzberg told JNS, "but it is also for those who are looking for answers to the false and often malicious charges by NGO and UN Rapporteurs who grossly misrepresent the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the legal basis for Israel as a Jewish state, and the nature of Israel's democracy and legal system."

In "A Threshold Crossed," published in April 2021, HRW accused Israel of "crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution."

Not to be outdone, Amnesty International took this accusation further on Feb. 1, when it released its own report, "Israel's apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity."

According to NGO Monitor, "Amnesty's 280-page report largely echoes those of the HSRC [Human Sciences Research Council] and HRW. It does, however, express (while HRW and HSRC only did so implicitly) a thesis that the establishment and maintenance of Israel as a Jewish state institutionalized apartheid."

The Amnesty report accused Israel not only of apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza, but also in Israel proper, and having been institutionalized since the founding of the Jewish state.

Adding to Israel's troubles are the three reports forthcoming this year from UN bodies (the March 2022 Report of Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk to the UN Human Rights Council; the June 2022 Report of the UNHRC United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel; and the expected report from the CERD Conciliation Committee) – all of which are highly likely to rely on the debunked Amnesty and HRW reports, as well as other anti-Israel NGOs, for information.

Arsen Ostrovsky, chair and CEO of the International Legal Forum, which has played a leading role in combating the apartheid charges in the international legal arena, told JNS: ​​"It is unfathomable, that with all the major human-rights crises around us – from Russia's brutal assault on Ukraine and China's ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs – that some in the international community, such as the United Nations and NGO civil society, should choose to prioritize and single out Israel for opprobrium at this historical juncture in time."

"However," he continued, "that is also highly revealing, indicating that these false and malicious aspersions of apartheid and distortions of truth are not grounded in law or motivated by desire to advance peace, but rather by intellectual dishonesty and the simple refusal to accept Israel's very right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people."

Ostrovsky debated Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director, on Israel-based i24 News shortly after Amnesty released its report.

'An ahistorical and decontextualized narrative'

NGO Monitor's analysis found the definitions of apartheid's elements commonly used by the NGOs to be "unreasoned by reference to principles and instruments of international law; consequently, we found the legal basis upon which accusations of apartheid against Israel rest to be invalid."

The main findings of NGO Monitor's report are disturbing.

Among others, it found that "apartheid discourse is not merely criticism of or an attempt to improve Israeli policy. Rather, it is used by NGOs and UN officials to construct a narrative that presents Israel's very existence as a Jewish state as illegitimate."

It also found that reports by NGOs and the United Nations "present an ahistorical and decontextualized narrative to press the case of apartheid. The publications erase the international community's endorsement of the creation of a Jewish state, alongside Arab states; Arab military aggression and the ongoing Palestinian rejection of any final settlement to date; Palestinian political divisions and the root causes of fragmentation; and how the ongoing armed conflict has shaped policy in the region."

Additionally, it found that NGO and UN publications "overwhelmingly adopt a neo-Orientalist approach towards Zionism and Judaism. Their claims rest on anti-Semitic caricatures and stereotypes, which trivialize how Jews have, for thousands of years, defined their peoplehood and their religion."

NGO Monitor insisted in its own report that "any reasonable assessment of Israel's policies must be viewed through the lens of its security dilemma and the context of armed conflict within which they are implemented. NGO and UN reporting consistently fail to address these issues."

According to NGO Monitor, its analysis "has demonstrated that there is no reasonable basis to support the charges of apartheid against Israel and its officials. Every country across the globe struggles to protect the principle of equality and rooting out racial and other forms of discrimination. Israel is no exception."

It recommended in its report that the Israeli government establish a "National Human Rights Institution" to tackle the issue of discrimination affecting the population, including the Palestinians.

According to the organization, such measures, if implemented, could "blunt attacks made by those NGOs and UN rapporteurs" who might use the discourse of apartheid to attack the legitimacy of Israel's existence as a Jewish state.

"Israel is never going to prevail in UN spaces any time in the near future," said Herzberg. "The UN is institutionally anti-Semitic and due to politics, the deck is completely stacked against the country. Officials who could do something about this dynamic, like European officials, refuse. In addition, the NGOs and UN Rapporteurs responsible for inventing and disseminating the apartheid charge wield tremendous influence at the UN"

"Nevertheless," she said, "it is imperative that we do not cede the legal and factual space to these actors. We have to take the fight directly to the places where the political war against Israel is being waged. They cannot be allowed to monopolize the debate, even though it is difficult and we may not be successful. It is also important to expose the motives of those promoting the apartheid slander, and name and shame their funders – which, in this case, is the European Union, Ireland, Scandinavian governments and UN agencies."

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With so many powerful actors actively seeking to delegitimize Israel, it's easy to lose hope that Israel could ever win this battle.

Nonetheless, Herzberg remained optimistic, telling JNS: "We believe our report can change and is changing the discourse. Our first report already has placed HRW and Amnesty on the defensive by exposing the 1948 agenda underlying their reports and their invented legal standards, and we have seen other NGOs and activists engaging with our work, albeit trying to attack it."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The perceived Western European notion that a major war cannot once again occur on the continent is quickly 7dissipating as Russia continues to threaten war with Ukraine. Even with the flurry of diplomatic activity on the part of the United States and Europe to reduce tensions, the threat is not going away and could materialize at any time.

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"We are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple of weeks from now, or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead," US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

Since then, the situation has only escalated as Russian troops, in addition to at least six ships that have entered the Black Sea to boost combat power, have moved in around Ukraine's northern, eastern, and southern borders. Its only reprieve remains NATO countries to its west.

Concerns abound that a full-scale invasion by Russia could result in as many as 50,000 civilian casualties and force some 5 million Ukrainians to become refugees. Israel, in particular, is engaged in preparations should the need arise to absorb Jewish Ukrainian refugees on short notice.

Ksenia Svetlova, a research fellow at Mitvim Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies and a former member of Knesset, said that while Israel is carefully preparing for a possible evacuation of Jews and Israeli citizens residing in Ukraine, "it is also careful not to make statements that will be perceived as an attempt to take sides."

"In the event of war, where there may be multiple casualties, it may be difficult for Israel to maintain this neutral profile," she noted, adding there might be "consequences for Israel" where it may need to support the American position or "interfere for the sake of the Jewish communities there."

Israel currently maintains a delicate balancing act as it works to preserve its relationship with both Russia and Ukraine.

Dima Course, a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science at Ariel University, said the situation "is specifically challenging from the Israeli perspective because of our alliance with the US."

"However," he said, "in most scenarios, the Israeli leadership will have enough space to maneuver between the sides."

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Course suggested this maneuverability is important since both Russia and Ukraine are "significant partners" for Israel.

This delicate balance became the focus of attention on Feb. 3 when Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgeny Kornichuk criticized Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's remarks regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a statement posted on Facebook. The Foreign Ministry summoned Kornichuk for a reprimand.

As the world focuses on Ukraine, it remains clear to many experts that for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is representative of larger ambitions in the region.

Zvi Magen, a former Israeli ambassador to both Ukraine and Russia and currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies said Putin's main ambition is "to make Russia a global superpower." Following that goal, Putin would like to keep former Soviet territories under Russian control. At a minimum, Putin wants to postpone Ukraine's joining NATO for as long as possible and to end sanctions against Russia.

Addressing an INSS conference, Magen acknowledged that "no one knows where Putin is headed or how far he intends to go, including those in his immediate surroundings. The probability is low that Putin will go for an all-out war. Apparently, that's also the assumption in the West. The question is what Putin will do instead."

Magen said he thinks Russia is trying to prove it is a global power, in part by operating in Syria. And while Moscow has flexed its muscles on the Syria-Israel border recently, he stressed that "there is no attempt to threaten Israel."

He emphasized that Putin would like to see a change to the world order that sees the end, of a unipolar world with one, single leading superpower.

"Western nations are willing to give Russia a ladder to climb down from the tree. Nobody knows what the next step is," said Magen. "Putin is blatantly stepping on the table of the Western system hoping they will blink. There's now another superpower called Russia that's dictating the world order."

Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, addressed an online conference held by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security on Feb. 7, during which she agreed with other experts that this crisis "is manufactured by Russia" and is not "a situation born out of real concerns."

"This is about a lot more than just Ukraine," she said. "At the heart of the issue is that Western and Russian worldviews are coming to a clash. For the Kremlin, this is about fundamentally changing the post-Cold War world order. The Kremlin's problem is that it cannot live in a US-led world order."

In addition, she said, "Russia is trying to restructure European security architecture and that will have global implications."

Borshchevskaya said what concerns her most is that the West will start to make concessions to Moscow. "That will be the worst thing possible because it will not end well for Ukraine," she warned. "We need to move towards deterrence, which in this case, means hard power."

Speaking at the same conference, Daniel Rakov, an expert on Russian policy in the Middle East and a JISS fellow, said that this crisis "is bad timing for Israel because it is concurrent with the negotiations with Iran in Vienna."

"For Israel, this is an existential issue," he said, adding that in Israel's view, the Ukraine-Russia crisis is a distraction from a much more important issue.

Rakov noted that Russia is working to project power and influence, and in recent weeks, it has sent signals to Israel and Western powers that it can do so.

For instance, Russia was found to be jamming GPS signals from Syrian soil, affecting large parts of northern and central Israel. It also conducted joint land and air patrols with the Syrians near Israel's border.

According to Rakov, "this signifies the tension in the air which Israel must consider."

He also noted that Russia recently deployed ships to the eastern Mediterranean in what was the first major Russian military naval deployment there in years.

"More Russian deployment brings more Western deployment, so the eastern Mediterranean is quite a tense place currently," he said. "These types of tensions have led Israel to keep a low profile on the Russian-Ukraine crisis."

Rakov agreed with the other experts JNS spoke with that this is not a conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, but rather, a conflict over world order. Offering advice to Israel's leadership, he suggested that "as frustrating as it will be to our Ukrainian and Western partners, Israel's obscure position best serves its interests."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has uncovered thousands of pages of new teaching material produced by the Palestinian Authority that directly calls for violence and promotes anti-Semitism, even after promising European Union donors it would implement changes.

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IMPACT-se found that rather than publishing revised textbooks as promised, the PA reprinted last years' criticized textbooks for use in the current school year. In parallel, it produced thousands of pages of new material, roughly equivalent in size to all the textbooks in the curriculum. The new material contains content that has been determined as worse than current or previous Palestinian textbooks, with a greater number of lessons that directly incite violence and propagate overt antisemitism.

For example, the material demands that students die as martyrs to liberate the Al-Aqsa mosque and explains that those who die as martyrs killing infidels (Christians and Jews), will receive grace and be greatly rewarded.

IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said the PA "seems to have gone to a great deal of effort to hoodwink its donors. Faced with a clear call by the E.U. for them to create new textbooks free of hate and anti-Semitism, the PA simply reprinted the old ones, then produced thousands of pages of new teaching material with content worse than the textbooks themselves."

IMPACT-se presented its findings to representatives from the EU Commission, as well as to parliament members in Brussels, who had no knowledge that the old textbooks were still being used in Palestinian and UNRWA schools, or that a set of new, hate-filled materials had been produced in 2021.

In contrast to students in the PA, those in the United Arab Emirates related to the school curriculum have been updated to teach values of peace and tolerance. In what can be viewed as a sure sign of change in the region, many examples of anti-Semitism or incitement have been removed from the curriculum.

IMPACT-se also released a report on Jan. 20 examining 220 Arab-language textbooks in grades one through 12 from the UAE's national curriculum, printed between 2016 and 2021.

Still some room for improvement

Niclas Herbst, a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and a Member of the European Parliament who is familiar with the issue, said, the improvements in the UAE curriculum "are a step in the right direction" as they "promote tolerance and trustful interfaith relations."

Notably, much of the anti-Israel material has been moderated. Passages that previously demonized Israel, presented anti-Semitic conspiracies and blamed "the Zionist enemy" for seeking to exterminate the Palestinian people have been removed. Passages focusing on tolerance towards Jews are widespread throughout the textbooks. Especially noteworthy is the removal of a passage that presented the Palestinian issue as "the basis of conflicts in the Middle East."

IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said, "Emirati textbooks are reflective of the assessment made by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed over a decade ago that the West is a potential ally and not a colonial threat; that radicalism is categorically wrong and self-defeating, and that Emirati prosperity in a competitive global marketplace will be built on a tolerant and peace-loving workforce."

This report examined 220 textbooks, as well as older editions of the textbooks, to conduct a comparative analysis and establish trend lines.

Some outstanding issues still remain in the textbooks, and there is certainly more room for improvement.

For instance, IMPACT-se notes that the State of Israel is still not displayed in most maps. They do, however, show the Green Line, portraying Palestinian territory as confined only to the West Bank and Gaza. This delineation is a step beyond maps taught in textbooks in almost all other Arab and Muslim countries in the region.

While students still do not learn about the Holocaust or the long history of Jews in the region—two important subjects that should be covered extensively in the next version of textbooks—the curriculum does take the view of a changing Middle East.

Now, for instance, the curriculum avoids blaming foreigners for domestic issues and promotes taking local responsibility.

Eighth-grade students are taught that "Islam is a peaceful religion that rejects all manifestations of violence and terrorism." The curriculum also teaches students to value the principle of respect for other cultures, and encourages curiosity and dialogue.

According to Sheff, "respect for the other, curiosity towards other cultures and experiencing happiness are taught as fundamental values for leading a rich, fulfilling and healthy life. In this changing Middle East, the Crown Prince is a trailblazer in identifying what success for his kingdom should look like. One wonders who will follow."

The PA, with pressure from the European Union and the United States, which claim to review Palestinian textbooks thoroughly, could bring similar hope to the region and implement changes that would directly benefit the next generation.

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"The majority of the EU's donation to the PA goes to its education sector, so one has to ask what the E.U. delegation to Ramallah actually knows about what goes on in PA schools," said Sheff. "At a time when the PA is facing a major budget crisis, they're doubling down on teaching the hate that donor nations said they could no longer tolerate."

Herbst added that the improvements in the UAE curriculum "are a positive example for all school textbooks, especially for the Palestinian Authority."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Top Israeli government officials and leaders of Jewish organizations held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the possibility of evacuating Jews from Ukraine if Russia invades.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been amassing troops at the two countries' borders since the fall, reportedly including the placement of weapons such as ballistic missiles, with some estimates of an impending crossing or invasion early this year.

According to a report in Israeli media, the meeting was held with members of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Foreign, Defense, Diaspora Affairs, and Transportation ministries.

It also included representatives from the Jewish Agency and Nativ, which maintains connections with Jews in former Soviet countries.

Jewish organizations estimate that some 75,000 Ukrainians living in the eastern part of the country, many of them elderly, are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, which allows immigration to those who have one Jewish grandparent.

A possibly imminent invasion by Russian troops into Ukrainian territory has the world on edge as leaders and experts try to guess Putin's next steps and prevent what could become the largest military action in Europe since World War II. For Israel, the focus and concern lies with Ukraine's Jewish community in its Donbas region, where Jews have lived relatively free and safe. Now, their lives could be in mortal danger as they will be caught in the crossfire if war breaks out between Ukraine and Russia.

Mark Levin, executive vice chairman and CEO of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, said he is "following the situation closely."

He said he hopes not to see a military incursion, but acknowledged that the decision "all comes down to one person."

So sure are Ukrainians that Russia will launch an attack that even civilians are taking up arms to protect their homeland.

Western nations, however, are still trying to determine whether Putin is serious or not.

While US President Joe Biden sent a strong signal to Russia threatening that he would unleash sanctions against it should it invade Ukraine, he seemed less sure about predicting the future during a press conference in the White House back on Jan. 19. At first, Biden appeared to demonstrate his belief that Russia will cross the Ukrainian border, saying, "My guess is he will move in," but later seemed to waver when he said "I don't think he's made up his mind yet."

If Putin does decide to invade Ukraine, Biden warned that "he'll pay a serious and dear price for it."

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman seemed more certain about her prediction, saying on Jan. 26 at the Yalta European Strategy event via teleconference that the United States believes Putin remains poised to move against Ukraine sometime in the coming three weeks.

"I have no idea whether he's made the ultimate decision, but we certainly see every indication that he is going to use military force sometime perhaps [between] now and the middle of February," she said.

Israel has a good working relationship with both Ukraine and Russia, and so due to the sensitivity of the issue and not wanting to offend either party or be seen as taking sides, officials are treading carefully.

'There is total paranoia'

Ze'ev Khanin, of the department of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and currently a visiting professor in Israel Studies at Potsdam University, said that Israel is not interested in the conflict escalating since it might be forced to choose sides.

He also said an escalation "may increase Russia's interest to react to the American sanctions in other areas that are sensitive to American interests, like Syria."

This could "harm or even abort Moscow-Jerusalem understandings over Syria and limit Israeli activities there," said Khanin.

For the past several years, Israel has carried out numerous missions in Syria, many according to foreign reports, in an effort to block Iran's attempt to use Syria as a forward base and a land bridge to deliver sophisticated game-changing weapons to its Lebanese Shi'ite proxy Hezbollah.

Khanin believes that concern over the Jewish community in Ukraine "is a little exaggerated in the media since the Jewish dimension of the crisis is limited."

He said that while the evacuation of Jews is not a part of the Ukrainian public and media agenda, the number of people who have approached the Jewish Agency for Israeli in Kyiv has doubled, according to local sources.

Khanin said the prevalent reason for this spike lies more along the lines of "just in case."

Anna Geifman, a senior research fellow in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and professor emerita at Boston University, said that while Ukrainians are justifiably worried, Russians appear to be denying that any offensive is in the air.

She quoted a colleague of hers who said "there is total paranoia. No one is doing anything."

Geifman said that Russian citizens seem to believe the West is "paranoid," but she believes this is "a classic Russian reaction."

She also looked at the situation from Russia's point of view, saying "I really don't see why not," of Putin's possible intention to invade Ukraine. The Russian leader says he has no plans to go in, but he could come up with a casus belli to do so by inventing a provocation or using a minor incident as an excuse.

Putin is threatening to attack over concerns that Ukraine might be admitted into NATO. As such, the United States and the European Union have pushed back against Putin's demand, with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) preparing, as he noted, "the mother of all sanctions."

Geifman said there is nothing deeper here other than the fact that he wants the territory of Ukraine back as part of Russia. She also said there is an important need to understand the Russian mentality in order to understand why Putin is doing what he is doing.

According to her, Putin believes that Russia is superior to the West and that the Russian way of life is the right way. The idea that Russia is saving the world is "ingrained" in Putin's mind, she said.

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Geifman explained that for Putin, after the embarrassment of the Soviet Union's disintegration and subsequent years of self-perceived Russian weakness on the world stage, he is "building a new identity for the Russians."

As for the Jewish community in Donbas, Geifman was skeptical that Israel could truly engineer any sort of evacuation, especially since there are so many Jews there. She did, however, note that anyone who wanted to move westward to safer parts of Ukraine could do so, as many Jews did in the 2014 revolution.

"If Putin has done one thing," Levin observed, "he has been able to unite the country in a way almost no one else has—and that includes the Jewish community."

This article first appeared on JNS.org.

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A new report by Amnesty International UK set to be published on Feb. 1 accuses Israel of "apartheid" and "institutionalized and systematic discrimination against Palestinians." Amnesty said it has "concluded that Israel has perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid as a human-rights violation and a violation of public international law."

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The report accuses "almost all of Israel's civilian administration and military authorities, as well as governmental and quasi-governmental institutions" as being involved "in the enforcement of the system of apartheid against Palestinians across Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] and against Palestinian refugees and their descendants outside the territory."

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was quick to condemn the report in a press release on Monday. He said Amnesty is "another radical organization that echoes propaganda with no serious examination. Instead of seeking facts, Amnesty quotes lies spread by terrorist organizations."

He said the accusations against Israel are "a delusion divorced from reality."

"Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy committed to international law and open to scrutiny, with a free press and strong Supreme Court," said Lapid, noting that Amnesty does not make the same accusation against Syria "an 'apartheid state'—a country whose government murdered half a million of its own citizens—nor Iran, or any other corrupt and murderous regime in Africa or Latin America."

"I hate to use the argument that if Israel were not a Jewish state, nobody in Amnesty would dare argue against it, but in this case, there is no other possibility," he said.

The organization said it has based its findings on decades of field research "collecting evidence of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Israel and the OPT, and on publications by Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations in addition to academic studies, monitoring by grassroots activist groups, reports by UN agencies, experts and human rights bodies and media articles."

The report, titled "Israel's Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity," accuses Israel of "institutionalized segregation and discrimination against Palestinians, as a racial group, in all areas under its control amounts to a system of apartheid, and a serious violation of Israel's human rights obligations."

Amnesty UK is not the only organization to accuse Israel of apartheid.

In April, Human Rights Watch released a similar 213-page report titled, "A Threshold Crossed," which accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity—namely, of apartheid and persecution.

That report also came under heavy criticism for its anti-Israel bias, ignoring of Palestinian rejectionism, downplaying the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the application of double standards when discussing Israel.

Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor said, "For 20 years, Amnesty International has been a leader in NGO campaigns to demonize Israel, based on twisting and exploiting the evils of the South African apartheid regime in order to promote hatred. This false and immoral agenda singling out the nation-state of the Jewish people is a major cause of 21st-century antisemitism and is the polar opposite of the universal principles embodied in real human rights. This campaign is also a betrayal of everything that Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty, stood for."

Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor's legal adviser added: "Amnesty's report offers nothing new to the discussion. It is simply part of the discriminatory and offensive campaign launched in 2021, by NGOs like HRW and B'Tselem, which is based on invented law and discriminatory tropes from a century's worth of antisemitic propaganda. It is clearly timed to exploit lawfare initiatives at the dictator-run UN Human Rights Council such as the Commission of Inquiry on the 2021 conflict."

According to NGO Monitor, the publication "breaks no new ground and is not meaningfully different from the discredited Human Rights Watch (HRW) and B'Tselem reports from 2021, yet Amnesty says they took over four years to produce it."

NGO Monitor also accused Amnesty of whitewashing and downplaying "the history of extreme violence directed at Israeli civilians by Palestinian terrorist organizations, including the anti-Jewish riots during the [May] 2021 conflict [with Hamas in Gaza]. Fittingly, the only mentions of the word 'terrorist' in the entire document utilize scare quotes for paraphrases or quotations of Israeli sources."

The research institute also noted that the report's release "is timed to bolster a forthcoming March 2022 report from UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk that will advance similar allegations, and influence the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry."

"Amnesty's recommendations are a clear call for the elimination of Israel," said NGO Monitor.

'Pour more oil on the fire of antisemitism'

Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the report "consolidates and recycles lies, inconsistencies and unfounded assertions that originate from well-known anti-Israeli hate organizations, all with the aim of reselling damaged goods in new packaging. Repeating the same lies of hate organizations over and over does not make the lies reality, but rather makes Amnesty illegitimate."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said in an online conference on Monday that Amnesty "never contacted us to ask our opinion on any information in the report. This shows the true goal of Amnesty, and they unfortunately lost their way."

"This is a purely antisemitic report," he charged. "This report will pour more oil on the fire of antisemitism taking place in the streets of Europe and America."

The ministry's statement added that the report "denies the State of Israel's right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Its extremist language and distortion of historical context were designed to demonize Israel and pour fuel onto the fire of antisemitism."

It called on Amnesty to "withdraw from the report which is set to be published."

Arsen Ostrovsky, chair and CEO of the International Legal Forum, said that like the HRW report, this latest one "is just the latest intensified attack in these organizations' longstanding and relentless campaign of lawfare and vilification against the State of Israel."

Calling the report "one-sided, libelous and baseless," Ostrovsky called on Amnesty UK, "which has been beleaguered by charges of institutionalized racism," to get "its own house in order first, before lecturing Israel."

Ostrovsky lambasted Amnesty for its blatant call to dismantle the Jewish state and for writing a report that is "replete with malicious lies, gross distortions of truth and fabrications of law while peddling unhinged hate, incitement and racism."

"There is nothing new in Amnesty's sudden discovery of the word 'apartheid,' in relation to Israel," said European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor. "They are in lock-step with anti-Israel and antisemitic activists in a coordinated diplomatic lynch against the Jewish state, and the mere concept of Jewish self-determination and collectivity."

B'nai B'rith International president Seth Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin also condemned the report in a statement, saying, "The reality is that Israeli Arabs sit in Israel's current government and on Israel's Supreme Court. They have the same right to vote as all Israelis. They have their own media. Arabic is an official language of Israel. Amnesty's libelous claim of 'apartheid' is simply baseless."

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The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Anti-Defamation League, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International and the Jewish Federations of North America issued a statement rejecting the report, saying it "presents an unbalanced, inaccurate, and incomplete review and instead inexplicably focuses on one aim: to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish and democratic State of Israel."

The organizations accused Amnesty of committing "a double injustice: It fuels those anti-Semites around the world who seek to undermine the only Jewish country on earth, while simultaneously cheapening and downplaying the horrific suffering that was a result of apartheid in South Africa."

The statement said the report "disregards the fact that Israel's robust democracy grants its Arab citizens full rights and equality, includes an Arab Muslim nationalist party in Israel's governing coalition, as well as a history of senior Israeli Arab governmental officials, including Supreme Court justices, government ministers, high-level diplomats, military officers and members of Knesset."

Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, also sharply criticized the report, saying: "By issuing this one-sided and blatantly politicized report which totally ignores both Palestinian acts of terrorism and Israel's obligation to defend its citizens against such terrorism, Amnesty International UK is consciously participating in the ongoing insidious campaign to demonize the State of Israel."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Israeli authorities on Monday morning attempted to evict the Salhiya family, Arab squatters living illegally since the 1950s in a home in Jerusalem's Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood, also known as Sheikh Jarrah. The day-long standoff ended without an eviction, though authorities did destroy a plant nursery on the premises as well as two illegal storage structures.

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Video and photos from the scene show the Salhiya family standing on the roof of their home with gas canisters. Mohammed Salhiya had threatened to set himself on fire if the eviction order was carried out. "We will not be evicted from the house," he threatened. "Either we will die or we will live. I am going to burn myself!"

Salhiya's family has been facing eviction since 2017, when the land where his home sits was allocated by the city for the construction of a school. The Jerusalem Municipality and the police said in a joint statement that the Salhiya family has ignored "countless opportunities" to vacate the land as ordered.

A delegation of European officials, led by European Union representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, showed up in an apparent attempt to prevent the eviction. The official Twitter account for the European Union Delegation to the Palestinians said, "Imperative to de-escalate the situation and seek a peaceful resolution. Evictions/demolitions are illegal under international law and significantly undermine the prospects for peace as well as fuel tensions on the ground."

According to Avi Bell, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law and at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law, "the European Union's accusation that Israel is committing war crimes in Sheikh Jarrah by moving forward with plans to build an Arabic-language special-needs school for Israeli and Palestinian Arab residents of the neighborhood shows that European officials harbor equal contempt for common sense, international law and the Jewish state."

He further told JNS, "There is no international law that forbids Israel taking control of public lands to build a special-needs school" or that "gives Palestinian trespassers the right to block construction of a special-needs school."

He accused the EU delegation of "trying to obscure the bias displayed by its knee-jerk assault on Israel by making laughably inaccurate claims about international law."

The current area of Sheikh Jarrah encompasses Shimon HaTzadik and Nahalat Shimon, which were separate neighborhoods in the late Ottoman period and in Mandatory Jerusalem. Nachalat Shimon is a Jewish neighborhood built more than 130 years ago on empty land and still completely owned by Jews.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem also tweeted its concern and took the side of the Arab squatters while stating false interpretations of international law. "Evictions in Occupied Territory are against international humanitarian law in all but the most exceptional circumstances. The UK urges the Government of Israel to cease such practices which only serve to increase tensions on the ground."

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Even Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, no friend of the Israeli Right, acknowledged on Monday that the law is on Israel's side.

"The court ruled that this was an illegal invasion [by Arab squatters]. The area is intended for the establishment of classrooms and kindergartens for special education that are for the benefit of the neighborhood's Arab children. It is impossible to hold on to a stick from both ends – both to demand that the municipality act for the welfare of the Arab residents and also to oppose the construction of educational institutions for their welfare."

Starting in 1982, a number of Jewish owners brought their case to the courts to claim back land and homes Jordan had illegally confiscated in 1948. Palestinians have rejected these claims, saying their homes were legally purchased from Jordan.

Jordan, however, never legally owned the area of Sheikh Jarrah, having confiscated it in its war with Israel in 1948 and ethnically cleansed its Jewish residents from the very homes the Arab illegal squatters now claim as their own.

A number of court cases are currently pending as Arab squatters in Sheikh Jarrah battle Jewish owners over rights to the homes they occupy. One of them involves the Salem family, who also face eviction after squatting in a Jewish-owned home.

Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason's Antonin Scalia School of Law, specializing in constitutional and international law, told JNS that the only reason the Salem family is there is because Jordan seized the property and let them live there. In his view, this does not mean they have a title to it.

"The bottom line is: It's a Jewish-owned property," he said.

According to Chaim Rubinstein, an activist involved in assisting Jewish property owners to reclaim their land, the squatters "were aware they were on someone else's property from the beginning. They have been living illegally in someone else's property and not paying rent to the owners."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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As Lebanon's citizens deal with a collapsing economy and a paralyzed government, murmurings of dissatisfaction with Hezbollah, Iran's terror proxy in Beirut, have begun to surface. But experts say it is unrealistic to believe Hezbollah's iron grip on the country will loosen.

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These simmering tensions were expressed even more publicly in a televised speech made by Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Dec. 27, when he called for a "national dialogue" to confront the country's political and social issues. Aoun warned that Lebanon was "falling apart," and urged swift action on financial reforms. He also made what could be considered a veiled demand of Hezbollah, seemingly urging the terror group to loosen its grip on Lebanese politics.

"The deliberate, systematic and unjustified disruption that leads to institutions dismantling and the dissolution of the state must stop," Aoun said.

Lebanon's Cabinet has not met for three months, and the investigation into the deadly ammonium nitrate explosion at Beirut's port in August 2020 has stalled out of fear of offending Hezbollah. Together with the Shiite Amal party, Hezbollah has blocked the Cabinet meetings over demands for the dismissal of Judge Tarek Bitar, who is investigating the explosion, which killed more than 200 people.

Hezbollah's absolute control of Lebanon has led to the current catastrophic economic collapse. As a result, approximately 80 percent of Lebanon's population is now living in poverty, according to a September study published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In yet another blow to the country, the Lebanese pound on Tuesday crossed the symbolic threshold of 30,000 to the dollar on the black market in a new record low, according to websites monitoring the exchange rate.

IDF Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS that Hezbollah and Amal "have done everything possible in order to paralyze the government and impose their rule."

It was Aoun's alliance with Hezbollah that allowed him to assume the country's presidency in 2016, and his Maronite Christian party's past support for Hezbollah has allowed the group some measure of political freedom. However, this strategic alliance has now become strained, particularly in the run-up to Lebanon's scheduled May 15 elections.

While some may hope that Aoun's veiled, yet public, denouncement of Hezbollah can lead to change and possibly even the banishment of the terror group, others are less optimistic.

Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University and a lecturer in the school's Middle East History Department, told JNS that such ambitions are unrealistic.

"I am afraid it will not happen," he said. "Hezbollah is deeply rooted within the Shiite society."

In Zisser's view, ridding Lebanon of Hezbollah "will have to wait."

Adding to Lebanon's woes, the country has found itself at odds with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, after Lebanon's Information Minister George Kordahi criticized the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen during an interview aired in September.

In reaction, Saudi Arabia expelled Lebanon's ambassador, banned all imports from the country and forbade its citizens from traveling to Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia also slammed Lebanon's failure to stop the export of drugs from Hezbollah-controlled ports to the Kingdom and criticized Hezbollah's hijacking of Lebanon's government. The Saudis also slammed Hezbollah for providing support and training to the Houthi terrorist militia.

Kordahi has since resigned his position in an attempt to help make amends between Lebanon and the GCC.

Various leaders and officials who have involved themselves in Lebanon's crisis have all failed to adequately discuss the elephant in the room, that is, Hezbollah.

"Lebanon is not a failed state yet, but it is a failing state, with a government failing its population," the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, said at the end of a 12-day visit to the country in November. The special rapporteur's comments did not mention Hezbollah.

In December, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Lebanon and reaffirmed the world body's commitment to supporting the country, and urged it to hold parliamentary elections on time.

Guterres called on Lebanon to "achieve reforms" and praised the country's "generosity" for hosting Syrian refugees. But he failed to mention the country's treatment of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, many of whom live in refugee camps that are scattered across the country.

Similarly, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Lebanon twice in 2020 in an attempt to influence change, but his efforts proved futile. And France's refusal to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization only fuels the problem. Macron is now working to patch relations between the GCC and Lebanon.

According to Neriah, while Lebanon is marketed as a tourist spot with beautiful beaches, it is actually "the most racist state that exists in the Arab world."

He pointed to three reasons for this. First, he said, Palestinians have fewer rights than Lebanese citizens. Second, foreign workers are treated as slaves. Third, Lebanon employs Syrians but institutes a strict curfew between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

"These are the Nuremberg laws in Lebanon," he said. "When talking about Lebanon, it is important to be aware of the other side of Lebanon," which he said is "being held hostage by Hezbollah." In turn, Hezbollah "receives its instructions from Tehran," noted Neriah.

Jonathan Spyer, a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and the Middle East Forum, told JNS that tensions between Aoun and Hezbollah "are not new" and "have been apparent since he became president" in 2016.

"The current financial crisis and the fact that Aoun's presidency is drawing to a close has exacerbated this dynamic," he said.

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Spyer said he believes this is significant since "it shows that [Iran's] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps strategy of implanting 'two, three, many Hezbollah' in Arab countries has the inbuilt flaw that it produces social and economic failure. This is most apparent in Lebanon now, and Aoun is clearly trying to offer a counter-trend to this, advocating the repairing of relations with GCC countries."

However, Spyer also said it is "crucial to note the inbuilt limitations of this. The part of the IRGC 'Hezbollah strategy' that works is the hard power piece."

"Aoun and others can make life complicated for Hezbollah and the Iranian interest," he said.

That interest includes more control over the eastern Mediterranean and maintaining a massive missile arsenal aimed at Israel.

But like Zisser, Spyer was doubtful of prospects for change. At least for now, and probably in the future, he said Aoun and others "cannot and will not offer a frontal challenge to the core strategic path of Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Celebrating 30 years of official diplomatic relations between Israel and Ukraine, the third annual Kyiv Jewish Forum will be held online due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions. Set to take place over two days starting this Wednesday, the purpose of the event is to foster dialogue among leaders from around the globe that will help bring about solutions to such challenges as antisemitism, the rise of the anti-Israel boycott movement, and the effects of the ongoing pandemic. Discussions will also center on pressing issues facing Jewish communities worldwide, and relations between Ukraine, Israel, and the global Jewish community.

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The two-day virtual forum will be co-hosted by the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the Center for Jewish Impact, and Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. Last year, 83,000 people participated in the forum online, including 500 leaders from Ukraine, Israel, the United States, and Europe.

"Jews and Ukrainians are united by more than a thousand-year history, and this history has a lot to teach us about the challenges we face today," Boris Lozhkin, president of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, said. "The increasing cooperation and ties between the Ukraine and Israel are to be celebrated, and together with our partners from around the world, we will discuss how to further increase collaboration and discuss solutions to antisemitism and the Jewish community living under COVID-19."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the online event, as well as Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Health Minister Viktor Liashko, in addition to Israel's Housing and ConstructionMinister Ze'ev Elkin, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov, among other senior leaders and officials from Europe, Israel and the US.

Other speakers at this year's event include US Senator Ben Cardin and Representative Doug Lamborn; European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life Katharina von Schnurbein; Canada's Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism Irwin Cotler; chairman of the Directorate of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem Dani Dayan; and Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Babyn Yar Foundation and Holocaust Memorial Center.

Sonia Gomes de Mesquita, executive director of the Center for Jewish Impact, told JNS, "After three decades, our countries continue to collaborate in fields of national security, tourism, economics, public health and more. Throughout the Jewish state, Ukrainian Jews have made crucial contributions in technology, medicine, and culture. This forum provides a platform to memorialize the intricate role Jews played throughout Ukrainian history and the great conciliatory lengths that Ukraine has undergone since 1991."

The first day of the event will explore how Ukraine's storied Jewish history has shaped its contemporary relations with Israel and celebrate the pivotal ties connecting Ukraine, Israel, Europe, and the US.

The second day will focus on the most pressing issues facing the Jewish people and Israel, including challenges arising from the ongoing pandemic, the growth of antisemitism worldwide, and the need for expanded Jewish education, among other issues. It will also look to the future of Israel's global role as a "startup nation" and highlight the lessons that Jewish communities worldwide can learn from Israeli expertise.

Sima Vaknin, founder of Strategic Impact and senior advisor to CAM, told JNS: "Antisemitism, the most ancient and complex form of hatred, is an intellectual and social illness that poses an imminent challenge and a pressing danger to Jewish life and well-being.

"Antisemitism is rampant across Europe and the US and has entered the mainstream media, academia, and sometimes politics. Unfortunately, this is not new news anymore," she said, adding she was alarmed that in the last two years "we are facing a consolidation of several social trends, global challenges, political ideologies and technological capabilities that enable antisemitism to spike, touch a variety of audiences and reach new peaks.

"Medieval conspiracy theories and blood libels are coming to life with 21st-century cloaks. The defamation of the Jewish state replaced the politically incorrect Jew-hatred," she said.

Lozhkin, who is also vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said that while the event is taking place 30 years after the advent of relations between Israel and Ukraine, "we want to take a broader look at this date."

"The bond between Jews and Ukrainians has existed much longer – for centuries – and there were different periods in this time, as happens between any neighbors," he noted, pointing to the tragic events that took place at Babi Yar as one such example.

In the span of just two days on Sept. 29-30, 1941, the Nazis and their Ukrainian collaborators committed one of the Holocaust's largest (and quickest) massacres when they murdered, one by one, a staggering 33,771 Jews in Babi Yar – a massive ravine situated on the outskirts of the country's capital of Kiev, Ukraine.

Lozhkin recently presented to Dayan, a new book titled Righteous Among the Nations, Ukraine.

"Among the Jews and residents of Israel, it is probably difficult to find someone who has not heard about Yad Vashem and the Righteous Among the Nations," Lozhkin said. "As for the representatives of other peoples and residents of other countries, for them, these are not entirely obvious concepts."

The book contains "salvation stories" that detail the enemies, victims and heroes of Ukraine during World War II.

"We decided that it would be right to tell a wider audience about the events of 80 years ago and placed 2,674 stories of the salvation of Jews by Ukrainians in the book," Lozhkin said. "It is difficult to find a better and more correct way of communicating the truth about the Holocaust and, in general, preserving the memory of it, than by telling the specific stories."

Lozhkin pointed out that there are likely many more stories of Ukrainians who saved Jews but their names have been lost.

Nevertheless, he said, "I think we are simply obliged to talk about each righteous person. By telling these stories, we are, at the same time, telling about the Holocaust. Truth and education are the tools that, better than others, knock the ground from under the feet of antisemitism. If such a book is not yet available in other countries where they officially recognize righteous people, I recommend that it be published."

Lozhkin added that because the issue of antisemitism is not only about Jews, "I am happy that not only Jews will be among the guests and speakers.

"Antisemitism is like a litmus test for determining the mental health of a given society," he said. "If there is a bad attitude towards Jews, then there will almost certainly also be serious remarks in relation to other peoples, religions, cultures and to human rights in general, in a broad sense. I don't want to say that everything begins with antisemitism, but it almost always ends with it.

"The root of evil is ignorance," he noted. "This is the third time we will be discussing this issue and, unfortunately, most likely it will not be the last. I hope that our esteemed speakers will be able to take a fresh look at the problem and suggest effective ways to neutralize or even reduce it."

Another panel will highlight Israel as the startup nation in the world.

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"The time has come to learn from Israel today, and not only for Ukraine but for the whole world," Lozhkin said. "Being small in size and also young in comparison with [other] countries, Israel can teach a lot to everyone who wants to learn. Ukraine will definitely benefit from the Israeli experience."

Guests and speakers of the forum will also include president of the World Jewish Congress Ronald S. Lauder; the ambassadors of Israel to Ukraine and of Ukraine to Israel Michael Brodsky and Yevgen Korniychuk; the heads of the health authorities of both countries; the UN and European Commission antisemitism commissioners; CEO of the American Jewish Committee David Harris; Euro-Asian Jewish Congress president Mikhail Mirilashvili, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff; national president and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt; and many others.

Robert Singer, chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact, said: "As a Ukrainian-born Jew whose family was among the first that emigrated from Ukraine to Israel in the 1970s, I am honored to co-organize the event. I had the pleasure of being among the organizers of the 75th-anniversary ceremony of the Babyn Yar massacre. This tragic history is a reminder of how far we have come in all aspects, and I'm sure that our countries will continue to enhance these important relations in the upcoming years."

Lozhkin said he expects the forum to reach half a million viewers around the world.

"Representation of speakers at the Kyiv Jewish Forum is growing every year, and interest in the topics discussed on our forums is also growing," he said. "Let's not forget about the importance of Ukraine for the Jewish world. Until the beginning of the 20th century, a quarter of all Jews in the world lived on the territory of current Ukraine. Today, descendants or immigrants from Ukraine can be found among Jews almost everywhere. In Israel alone, there are about 500,000 of them. This, among other things, can explain the increased interest in the global discussion platform, organized by us."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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