MIDEAST MIRROR 24.10.18, SECTION A (ISRAEL)
The don speaks
Police have finished a series of corruption investigations into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli television reported Tuesday. A decision on whether to indict the premier is expected in the next six months. "The investigations of Netanyahu have all been completed," Hadashot TV news quoted a senior legal source as saying. Investigators have been looking into suspected wrongdoing by the prime minister in three separate probes, known as Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, which involve suspicions Netanyahu accepted gifts and favors in exchange for advancing businessmen's interests. A source in the State Prosecutor's Office quoted by the network said investigators would "surprise everyone" by finalizing their recommendations sooner than expected. The source said Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit would likely make a decision in the first four months of 2019.
In the West Bank, a Palestinian man was killed overnight in clashes with Israeli soldiers, Palestinian media reported. A riot broke out when troops entered the village of Tammun, close to Jenin, during a predawn raid. According to the IDF, some 50 Palestinians threw rocks and set off fireworks at the soldiers as they entered the village. In predawn raids across the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested 16 Palestinian suspects, the army said. They were handed over to the Shin Bet security service for further questioning. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Tuesday that Hamas is a greater threat than in the past, but added that it "fully understands" the messages Israel sends to it. "We are preparing for every scenario," Netanyahu told local activists at a closed ceremony at the Sdot Negev regional council near the Gaza border. "We are dealing with a theological junta that has taken control of two million people," he said, referring to Hamas.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's office said Tuesday evening that Israel would renew the supply of Qatari-purchased fuel into Gaza starting today, following relative calm along the border this week. Lieberman will now need the consent of the security cabinet if he wants to stop the delivery of fuel and humanitarian aid to the Strip, defense officials said Tuesday, following criticism of his actions. Earlier this month, security-cabinet members were surprised by Lieberman's decision to halt supplies of diesel fuel and gas to the Strip, contrary to the stance of the wider defense establishment. Prime Minister Netanyahu and the rest of the inner cabinet learned of Lieberman's decision in the media. Political and defense officials believe that Lieberman's position – that fuel and aid be conditioned on a complete cessation of airborne-firebomb attacks and violent protests – is too high a bar. According to defense officials, halting fuel supply could quickly worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and Netanyahu and the rest of the security cabinet agree.
Elsewhere, Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas said the Palestinian National Council, which will meet at the end of the month, is expected to pass important and dangerous resolutions concerning relations with Israel and the United States, as well as Hamas and the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Palestinian television 'Abbas gave in Oman during his recent official visit there, the Palestinian president said the National Council is the highest authority and the Palestinian leadership cannot ignore its decisions. "We will discuss all the issues on the agenda including the recent decisions by the United States against the Palestinian people, such as moving the embassy and closing the PLO offices in Washington. There are signed agreements too between us and them, and Israel has violated all these agreements and because of this violation we see ourselves as freed from the agreements," said 'Abbas. 'Abbas noted that the Paris Economic Agreement, for example, needs to be rewritten after 25 years and changes in relations with Israel. "The National Council will make all the decisions, including on the issue of security coordination and economic relations. Even if such decisions will have dangerous implications it is impossible to continue with the present situation," he said. Concerning Hamas, 'Abbas rejected claims that the Palestinian Authority has imposed sanctions or other harsh decrees on the Gaza Strip. "This is not true, every month we pay $96 million to the Gaza Strip, but I made it clear to Egyptian President Sissi that this situation cannot continue after 12 years of division – and our position is still clear: Either we receive responsibility for everything or they take responsibility for everything, and this too is something that will be brought before the National Council."
Jerusalem's city hall said Tuesday that 15 municipal sanitation workers entered the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp for the first time ever to carry out trash removal and other cleaning services, in what has been branded part of outgoing Mayor Nir Barkat's plan to expel UNRWA from Jerusalem and "end the refugee lie." The move was ordered by Barkat, who wants to outlaw the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in the city and providing services to Palestinian residents in the camp which was founded in 1965 and is home to some 20,000 residents. The sanitation workers found hundreds of tons of untended garbage and construction waste. They will enter the camp daily to gradually take over what the city called UNRWA's "inadequate services." The municipality will also start to provide "far superior" education, health, and other services, to replace UNRWA, it said in a statement. While in the Jerusalem city limits, municipal workers, police, and others have never entered the Shuafat camp, which is situated beyond the West Bank security barrier, leading to charges of official neglect.
In news of Peace plans, France will submit its own plan a few weeks after the U.S. midterm elections if President Trump does not lay out his peace plan, Foreign Ministry Political Director Alon Ushpiz said Tuesday in a closed meeting. Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ushpiz said that France was waiting for the elections, after which it would demand that Trump make his plan public, otherwise France would reveal its own plan. "The elections in November are critical for Israel. A third of the members of Congress will be replaced and it is not clear if they are all for us. We are starting from zero. We believe the Democrats will grow stronger and that will affect Israel due to their influence on Trump," Ushpiz said. Speaking of efforts to reach an agreement with Hamas, Ushpiz said: "We have been unable to persuade diplomats and government officials who have visited Gaza. In light of the humanitarian situation there, our people cannot do much. Nothing will help," he said. Ushpiz also said the move of foreign embassies to Jerusalem was a political matter that did not involve the Foreign Ministry and that the ministry had not been given the task of moving embassies to Jerusalem.
In other news, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has won an additional, $777 million contract to supply LRSAM air and missile defense systems to seven ships in the Indian navy, the company said on Wednesday. The contract is with India's state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), which is the main contractor in the project, IAI said. The LRSAM, part of the Barak 8 family, is an air and missile defense system used by Israel's navy as well as India's navy, air and land forces. With this deal, sales of the Barak 8 over the past few years total over $6 billion, IAI said. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman wrote on his Twitter account: "This is another proof that security is an investment and not an expense. IAI is a national asset that we need to protect and strengthen." "IAI's partnership with India dates many years back and has culminated in joint system development and production," IAI Chief Executive Officer Nimrod Sheffer said. "India is a major market for IAI and we plan to ... reinforce our positioning in India, also in view of increasing competition." Israel's and India's leaders have pledged to deepen ties and the countries have been increasing cooperation in fields like agriculture and advanced technologies. Israel is also emerging as one of India's biggest suppliers of weapons, alongside the United States and long-term partner Russia. Last year, IAI struck a deal worth almost $2 billion to supply India's army and navy with missile defense systems. This was followed by a $630 million contract with BEL to supply Barak 8 surface-to-air missile systems for four ships in the Indian navy. The Barak 8 was developed by IAI in collaboration with Israel's Defense Ministry, India's Defense Research and Development Organization, the navies of both countries, Israel's Rafael and local industries in India and Israel.
Finally, a report that President Reuven Rivlin has decided to prevent Prime Minister Netanyahu from forming the next government is nothing but "baseless paranoia," the President's Residence said today. Israel Hayom reported that Netanyahu was going to immediately initiate an early election last week, when the Knesset returned from its extended summer and holiday recess. But Netanyahu chose instead to pass the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill and keep the current Knesset intact out of concern that even if he won the next election, Rivlin would ask a different Likud MK to form the government. The report said Netanyahu revealed his fears to his close associates and Likud figures. Following those consultations, coalition chairman David Amsalem, who is close to Netanyahu, drafted a bill intended to limit the discretion of the president, who currently can ask any MK to form a government. The report said a Likud figure who is considered very close to Rivlin spoke about the idea with Likud MKs in recent days and asked for their support. The President's Residence ridiculed the report in an official statement. "We had trouble finding real information in the report other than an in-depth description of paranoia that is not based on any actual step that is happening in reality," the statement said. "Dealing with such phenomena should be left to professionals who are not spokespeople."
THE ISRAELI SILENCE ON KHASHOGGI: Ronen Bergman in Yedioth Ahronoth asserts that even if all the truth regarding what occurred in the Saudi Consulate has yet to be revealed, one thing is certain: Saudi Arabia and MbS suffered a severe blow with implications for the entire Middle East, including the country most conspicuous in its silence in the affair – Israel.
"'I wish the Turks would show the same determination in gathering intelligence and conducting the inquiry regarding Hamas and its senior representatives in the country as they do regarding the murderers of the Saudi journalist,' an extremely senior Israeli intelligence source said yesterday. His message is clear: Turkey has in the past couple of years become an active partner for those whom many in the Israeli intelligence community consider to be terrorists. In the face of Israeli information that has been sent to it time and again over the past eight years, the Turks repeatedly claimed that they had checked, interrogated – but found nothing.
The Erdogan regime has severely damaged the intelligence cooperation between the two countries. Hakan Fidan, head of Turkish intelligence, is viewed by many in Israel to be close to the Iranians and Hezbollah – that is to say, to Israel's bitter enemies. Senior Israeli intelligence officials gritted their teeth when he told them of his warm relations with Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.
In recent years, Erdogan has prohibited Fidan from traveling to Israel, which in effect disrupts intelligence contacts between the sides at the highest levels. The results show that Saleh al-'Arouri, deputy head of Hamas and head of operations in the West Bank, operates the organization's weapons development and smuggling network from Istanbul. The Hamas scientist whose liquidation in April in Kuala Lumpur was attributed to Israel was under his command and was even supposed to fly to Istanbul the day after he was killed.
Since the murder of Khashoggi, the Turks have thrown everything at their disposal into the investigation of this horrific, failed, and terrible assassination, which in its amateurism competes with the absurd exploits of Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther comedies. First: It turns out that Turkish intelligence had pretty good surveillance of what was happening inside the consulate. This is not an embassy, and usually such places, used for bureaucratic matters such as renewal of passports, do not justify investing time and effort in listening devices.
The evidence from the affair raises the question: Were the Saudis more amateurs or more arrogant? Beyond the fact that they carried out the operation inside their mission, when they should have guessed that it was at least under surveillance, they made so many mistakes that it is hard to believe that intelligence personnel were actually involved in them. The New York Times managed relatively easily to find perfect matches between some of the assassins and those who surround the Saudi Crown-Prince. How did it happen that these specific people were sent, even though their mere presence at the scene incriminates him as well? And if that were not enough, how could it be that they did not notice the UAV's that recorded them burning documents in the consulate yard?
Perhaps ultimately the Saudis will manage yet again to bribe their way out of this. Due to Trump's eagerness to enter into deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars with Saudi Arabia, they will probably succeed in 'convincing' him to accept their refuted version.
There is no doubt that the kingdom and especially Mohammed bin Salman have suffered a severe blow. This will have implications for the entire Middle East, including the country most conspicuous in its silence in the affair: Israel. Just as in the case of Russian involvement in the genocide in Syria, Netanyahu is keeping his distance. One might hazard a guess as to why. On the tactical level, if the reports concerning a dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia are correct, then it is possible that those same Saudi agents who were reportedly arrested or interrogated are the confidantes of MbS who may also be promoting his intelligence relations with foreign countries. First and foremost of them is General Muhammad Asiri, the close adviser to the heir apparent who is also likely to be the first to pay the price for the debacle in Istanbul.
The widespread implications of the assassination will be felt throughout the region. MBS's Saudi Arabia is a central component of the vision of a new Middle East of leaders such as Trump and Netanyahu. At its center is the moderate Sunni axis, which, in cooperation with Israel – and with American support – is promoting the fight against Iran, Hezbollah, Assad, and the jihadist organizations. MbS promoted this vision. But now his wings will be cut, if he remains in office and his ability to proceed with these secret moves and harness his intelligence services – and his enormous resources – against Iran and its satellites will be severely damaged. Trump will not be able to give him any more automatic support. One hopes that if he wishes again to liquidate people – say the heads of the Revolutionary Guards – he will do so in consultation with those who have some experience in the matter."
Ends…
NO MORE FREE LUNCHES FOR NETANYAHU: Amir Oren on Walla! points out the Jordanian announcement regarding the nixing of the land lease and the report of Trump using security aid to Israel as leverage for his peace plan, have one common denominator: No more credit. Netanyahu has amassed a debt, and now the creditors are demanding payment.
"Jordan's announcement of its intention to nix the lease of the territories to Israel and the report regarding Trump's view of American defense aid as a lever for rescuing PM Netanyahu from his entrenchment in the territories, have a common denominator: No more credit. Netanyahu, as is his wont, is spending a fortune that is not his, as if there is no tomorrow. The debt is accumulating, the creditors are getting angry, and are finally demanding the account be settled. And then, shock on Balfour Street. Has tomorrow arrived already? How is that possible? For it was not here yesterday.
This can be seen in many pieces of the puzzle, including fear of the international response to the affairs of Khan al-Ahmar and Lara Alqassem. When Yitzhak Rabin set off on his hesitant path to Oslo, there was no BDS. A quarter of a century later, when it is clear to all that Netanyahu is too weak or too frightened to advance towards peace, Israeli policy – and not the State of Israel or Judaism, as suggested by the official lie – is pushed into a defensive defeat.
Israel began the Six-Day War with a soundtrack of Moshe Dayan declaring: 'We have no goals of occupation'. Israel had no motives to hold territories beyond the Green Line and govern hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The occupation, in its professional military sense, was intended to preserve security chips that would be cashed in for peace agreements.
Over the years, Israel deluded itself that the temporary would become permanent for nothing. She awoke from her nap at noon on Yom Kippur 1973, understood the painful message and exchanged the Sinai for peace – a separate agreement, but with a Palestinian asterisk. Instead of dealing with it and arranging the Palestinian issue with King Hussein, Menachem Begin tried to be a wise guy, ridiculed his commitment – which is why Moshe Dayan and Ezer Weizman quit his government – and even annexed the Golan Heights and invaded Lebanon. The solution to the conflict, which was within reach as a continuation of the Camp David process, was thwarted. The debt was not deleted. Quite the opposite, it continued growing, with interest.
Since 2003, when Netanyahu was a minister in the Ariel Sharon government and a partner in its collective responsibility, Israel is committed to the road map leading to a Palestinian state. The suspicious and skeptical Sharon was convinced that Abu Mazin was a different type of leader, the opposite of Yasser Arafat, perhaps a Palestinian Gorbachev or De Klerk; but only a short year, and the disengagement from Gaza, separated Arafat's death from Sharon's stroke. The endeavor was cut short.
Netanyahu, in his smugness, believed that he could outwit everyone forever, and not only in the private, criminal context: Strive against a Democratic president without remaining just the Republicans' friend; block Abu Mazin without strengthening Hamas; sabotage the containment policy of Iran without harming other aspects of Israel's security; and obey his family members, who extorted him into radicalizing the Jordanian front without suffering a double blow from King 'Abdullah in Naharayim and Tzofar.
He encouraged Trump to transfer the embassy to Jerusalem, an empty and ostentatious move (the administration continues to oppose the annexation of East Jerusalem; the whole of Jerusalem is still registered in Mike Pompeo's foreign ministry as a separate entity), presented in advance as a one-handed clap – with the other hand slapping the Israeli face.
In his efforts to undermine the nuclear agreement with Iran, Netanyahu joined forces with Saudi Arabia. His voice, which bellowed 'Iran lied', fell silent when Mohammed bin Salman lied about the Khashoggi murder. Even the murder itself, of course, did not generate a condemnation from him, because the murderers belong to the 'good guys' and not to the 'bad guys', in the elegant division made by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who is personally loyal to him. The Saudi lie does not bother Netanyahu, because the truth is indeed his guiding light, but sometimes he forgets to turn that light on.
Trump, Netanyahu's partner in the pragmatic attitude towards the truth, knows only one weapon – money. He will deny aid to anyone who insults or defies him. Mexico will finance the wall. His allies will suffer blows to their pockets. He is a repo man. This works both ways: If the Saudis promise to buy a hundred billion dollars' worth of weapons from the U.S. in Texas and Missouri - this is more important to Trump and his voters than some dead Arab who, to his detriment, also wrote for The Washington Post.
If Netanyahu, who enjoyed the imaginary honey Trump showered on him, should refuse to accept the sting, the president will ask Congress and the voters why the hell Israel is so ungrateful. True, the Americans have a moral obligation to prevent a second holocaust and a practical aspiration to keep Israel out of existential distress that would force it to use Doomsday weapons and create worldwide havoc, but what does that have to do with diverting the money saved in the F-35 and missile-defense gifts to building peace-foiling settlements?
The waiter is approaching bearing the expression of someone who does not want to hear again that the wallet was forgotten at home. There are no free lunches. How pleasant were yesterday and the day before yesterday. Everything was bright and carefree. And suddenly – it is tomorrow."
Ends…
A FORCEFUL RESPONSE TO JORDAN: Ze'ev Jabotinsky in Israel Hayom explains the prevailing Israeli view that it is better that Jordan be ruled by a Hashemite despotic monarch than a regime that represents the public. Perhaps it is time Israel examines whether this paradigm is endangering it in a changing region.
"The King of Jordan announced on Sunday that it had initiated and passed a resolution to discontinue leasing land to Israel in the Arava and in Naharayim, as stated in two appendices to the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries. The cancellation was announced by the king himself. It is clear that his goal is to weaken the peace treaty with Israel.
In response to the decision, Shimon Sheves, Director General of the Prime Minister Rabin's Office at the time of signing, said that the lease agreement was signed for 25 years, in the hope that 25 years later the agreement would be upgraded instead of annulled. The king's decision, published exactly on the day marking 23 years since Rabin's assassination, proves that agreements between states must not count on concessions concerning sovereignty – on hopes that seem realistic at the time of signing, but are gnawed by time's teeth.
In this case, time's teeth included, among other things, the expected replacement of King Hussein, but he was not replaced by his brother, who supported the agreement, but by his son 'Abdullah. The Arab spring and the appearance of ISIS to are also included in time's teeth. With regard to ISIS, its main enemy is the Hashemite King, who is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, and therefore more senior in the religious hierarchy than ISIS's leader, who crowned himself a Caliph; the successor and heir to the Prophet.
But despite all the sympathy to the King's problems, he assumes that Israel's cooperation with his regime can be taken for granted and therefore he can cause harm to Israel's citizens (in this case, the Arava farmers will bear the brunt of most of the damage), without Israel retaliating. The Israeli government now has a choice between an attempt to appease the King at its own expense, and a firm response that will preserve the agreement only in its written form.
Jordan receives from Israel much more than what was agreed on in the peace agreement. This was done out of a desire to strengthen the relationship, the hopes for which led Rabin to reach a time-limited lease agreement, according to Sheves. In the water sector, for example, the agreement stipulates that Israel will supply Jordan with 50 million cubic meters of water per year; in practice it supplies almost double that amount each year. The difference can greatly reduce the drying out process of the Sea of Galilee and the decline of the national water level below all defined lines. The decline of the level below a critical threshold is dangerous; it can cause the eruption of saline springs, whose gushing forth is prevented only by the water pressure on the plug of their opening. Once the plugs are pushed out, they cannot be returned. The salinity of the Sea of Galilee will pose a hydrological disaster for both us and Jordan.
The government should initiate an examination of the water supply process beyond what is stipulated in the peace agreement with Jordan to prevent this hydrological disaster. There is no doubt that such a serious examination will curb the Jordanian king's enthusiasm to strictly adhere to what is stipulated in the peace agreement alone, while abandoning the hopes on which it was based.
The dominant view in Israel today is that it is preferable that Jordan be ruled by a Hashemite despot than a regime that represents its people. This paradigm led Israel to intervene and abort Yasser Arafat's coup attempt in September 1970, and save the life of the Hashemite rulers. Perhaps it is time to examine whether this is not a policy that endangers us in a changing Middle East."
Ends…
PA VIOLATING OSLO ACCORDS IN EAST JERUSALEM: Yoni Ben-Menachem on News1 claims that since Trump's announcement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the PA has intensified its illegal activity in East Jerusalem, contravening the Oslo accords and focusing on combating Palestinians who sell lands and houses in the city to Jews.
"The sale of the Juda family home in the Sa'adia neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem to Jews is causing uproar among residents of the territories in the past couple of weeks. The details of the sale were revealed by the family members themselves after they sold their three-story house to a Palestinian businessman named Khalid al-'Atari, but were astonished to find out, a short time afterwards, that he transferred ownership of the house, for $17 million, to a group of Jews, who immediately moved in.
The affair is a severe blow to the status of the PA, which is perceived by the residents of the territories as corrupt and whose officials make deals with Israel, through straw men, to purchase real estate in the Old City, in the area of Temple Mount, as a precursor to an Israeli takeover of al-Aqsa Mosque. On October 13, Sheikh Akrama Sabri, the preacher of al-Aqsa Mosque, issued a fatwa that anyone selling to Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem is not part of Islam. 'We will not accept his repentance and he will not be buried in the cemeteries of Muslims' stressed Sabri.
Senior Fatah officials say that following the affair, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud 'Abbas ordered the Palestinian security services to intensify the manner in which sellers of land and houses to Jews are being handled, in order to distance himself from the scandal of the sale of the Juda family home in the Old City, to which his name has been linked. The task was entrusted to his close associate, General Majed Faraj, who activated his people in East Jerusalem. This week the Jerusalem police and the Shin Bet arrested two Faraj confidantes, on suspicion of kidnapping a resident of the neighborhood Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, who is known as a mediator in land and property transactions, on suspicion that he recently sold a house to Jews in the Flower Gate area of the Old City.
He is an Israeli citizen who also carries an American passport. According to Palestinian sources, he is still being detained at the Palestinian General Intelligence interrogation facility in Ramallah. His family filed a complaint about his arrest with the American consulate in Jerusalem, but according to sources in Fatah, 'Abbas does not care what the Trump administration says or does, and he ordered the man not be released from detention. 'Abbas wants to create a policy of deterrence against sellers of land and homes to Jews in the Old City and he seems to have found a scapegoat, of whom he will make an example.
According to the Oslo Accords, Palestinian security forces are not allowed to operate in East Jerusalem, but the PA is openly violating the agreement. This is a 'cat and mouse' game between the PA security forces and Israel Police and the Shin Bet. Residents of East Jerusalem say that in the past year, following President Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the PA's security forces in the Eastern part of the city have increased their activity, threatening residents daily and summoning them to interrogations. They also distribute money to Fatah merchants and activists to strengthen 'Abbas's status in East Jerusalem. However, the kidnapping of the Israeli citizen who carries an American passport is an extremely grave incident, and the PA is obliged to release him immediately under the Oslo Accords. Such an incident has not occurred in East Jerusalem for many years.
Some 18 years ago, Yasser Arafat ordered Jibril Rajoub, then head of the Preventive Security Service, to kidnap the merchant 'Abd al-Salam Hirbawi from East Jerusalem, after he defied Arafat's order to transfer a plot of land under his ownership in the Old City to the Coptic Church. Hirbawi, an Israeli citizen, was kidnapped to Ramallah, but Israel refused to accept this. A closure was imposed on Ramallah and it was surrounded by tanks, in order to prevent Rajoub's men from transferring the kidnapped Hirbawi to Nablus. The Israeli pressure worked, and Hirbawi was released from his detention in short order.
It is time for Israel to wake up and deal sternly with members of the Palestinian security services who violate the Oslo Accords in East Jerusalem in order to strengthen 'Abbas' status. 'Abbas is now trying to scare the residents of East Jerusalem, so that they will not sell lands and houses to Jews, in an attempt to foil Israel's hold on East Jerusalem. Anyone who foments war, should get war thrown right back at him. Israel has many tools to thwart 'Abbas's people in East Jerusalem, such as the use of administrative orders, or their legal removal from the city. The battle for Jerusalem is in full swing and it is time to play hardball."
Ends…
ERDOGAN MILKING KHASHOGGI PROBE: Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz argues that the Turkish president may have only revealed a couple of new pieces of information in his speech, but the underlying message of his new-found power over a Middle East rival was clear.
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the leader of a government that has jailed more journalists than any other in the world. Yet he opened the section of his speech devoted to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with condolences not just to his family and friends, but to the 'media world' as well.
Interestingly, he said nothing on Tuesday about Khashoggi's work as a journalist, his criticism of the Saudi leadership and his support for a brand of political Islam similar to the one Erdogan himself has championed. Erdogan did not show much emotion or outrage and, despite promising the 'naked truth,' did not add much to what was already known.
The two new pieces of information Erdogan supplied during his weekly parliamentary speech to party members were that an advance team of Saudis scouted out possible burial sites; and that the hard drive of the surveillance system at the consulate in Istanbul was removed in advance of Khashoggi's murder. These items were specifically picked to blow away what is now the official Saudi version that Khashoggi's death was somehow the result of a rogue operation gone wrong.
He held back, however, on what the Turkish authorities know about what actually happened behind the consulate's walls. Was this because Erdogan did not want to reveal how Turkey has been monitoring goings-on within the building? Or is he simply keeping the information in reserve to subtly pressure Riyadh. The Turkish president did not just leave out the grisly details of the murder itself. He did not mention any names either – save that of King Salman, who he addressed respectfully as a fellow leader.
This was not the same Erdogan who often viciously attacks his rivals with angry slurs. He was speaking with all the politeness of a mafia don informing his victim, 'I know where you live.' He paid utmost respect to the king, repeatedly using his full title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. But there was no missing the menace. The man everyone has been talking about whom Erdogan did not mention was Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But it was clear to whom he was referring when he said that the question of who gave the orders would have to be answered, and that justice would have to be done 'at the highest levels.'
Erdogan ended the Khashoggi chapter in his speech with a polite but firm demand of the Saudi king that the 18 men allegedly involved in the murder be put on trial in Istanbul, where the crime took place. There is no question of that ever happening. The Saudis, under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, are not obliged to extradite the alleged perpetrators – and they certainly have no intention of allowing any foreign authority to question them and reveal who actually gave the order.
Erdogan's message to the Saudis, and to the other governments he alluded to in his speech (Egypt and the United Arab Emirates), is that he plans to milk the Khashoggi murder for all he can. He has been gifted an unexpected lever of international pressure over the Saudi-led camp in the Middle East, which has been defying him since the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi in 2013. He will not relinquish that lever anytime soon.
The presidential press office will have informed him of the unprecedented global attention around his speech Tuesday, and that the direct broadcast by his government's English-language TRT World broke its ratings record. Erdogan may be one of the world's biggest suppressors of free journalism, but he now has control of a media cause célèbre. To keep the media interested, he will make sure to either leak or deliver further speeches with any more information he holds."
Ends…
HEZBOLLAH VIOLATION: The Jerusalem Post's editorial says that Hezbollah is clearly gathering intelligence and waiting for the opportunity to attack Israelis. The UN must take action.
"News that Hezbollah has captured a bird of prey and is holding it as a suspected Israeli spy is periodically creating local headlines and raising smirks. But what happened this week might shed some light on the Hezbollah way of thinking – and it is no laughing matter.
On Monday, the IDF announced that it had uncovered an observation post used by the terrorist group about a kilometer from Israel's Northern border. It was the sixth such post discovered in the past couple of years. The Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization had sinisterly tried to conceal the intelligence gathering post as a birdwatching station for a non-existent environmental NGO called 'Green Without Borders.''
Like the Hamas terror tunnels spreading from Gaza toward and into Israeli territory, there is nothing innocent about the activity. Hezbollah, like Hamas, is funded and supported by Iran; both terrorist organizations have a history of kidnapping and murdering Israeli soldiers and citizens.
The hidden Hezbollah post was located in the village of al-'Adeiseh, just across the border from Kibbutz Misgav Am. Nobody in the kibbutz needs a reminder of the cost of terrorism. In 1980, five Palestinian terrorists crossed the nearby border and penetrated the community and held hostage a group of toddlers sleeping in the then-typical kibbutz 'children house.' A two-year-old and an adult kibbutz member were killed in the attack, along with an Israeli soldier who was participating in the rescue.
Hezbollah's cynical use of a fictitious environmental group as a guise for intelligence gathering is yet another flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which set the terms to end the month-long Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. The resolution bans any military presence South of the Litani River except for the Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
A senior official in the Northern Command was reported as saying, 'Hezbollah is building military infrastructure along the border with armed men moving there and watching the Israeli border. This is military infrastructure in civilian guise... The objective is to gather intelligence on the border.' As the Jerusalem Post's military correspondent Anna Ahronheim noted, the phenomenon is well known. In February, the Post reported that UNIFIL peacekeepers accused Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army of hampering their work. The UNIFIL forces were denied access to a location in a Southern Lebanese village by three men wearing military-style outfits who had left a mosque bearing a 'Green Without Borders' flag.
Such actions make a mockery not only of Resolution 1701, but also bring into question the role of UN peace keepers in the area in general. UNIFIL publications stress that its main focus has been on 'restoring international peace and security' with the functions of an observer and monitoring mission. According to UNIFIL's own website, under the terms of Resolution 1701, the UN Security Council authorized UNIFIL to 'take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind. It should also resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council.'
What is the point of observing and monitoring without taking any action? That UNIFIL is watching Hezbollah but not acting on what is sees, or not capable of acting, only encourages the terrorist organization. It also gives the wrong message elsewhere in the North, where United Nations Disengagement Observer Force peacekeepers are meant to be safekeeping the border between Israel and Syria. UNDOF only recently resumed its full activities there – having fled, with the help of Israel, following a series on kidnappings and attacks on its members by Islamist terrorist groups that took over the area in 2014 during the ongoing Syrian civil war.
The time has come for the international community to ensure that UN forces carry out the job they were sent to do: Preventing hostile activity. Hezbollah is clearly gathering intelligence and waiting for the opportunity to attack Israelis. The United Nations cannot say it did not know; if it does not take real action to prevent an attack, the UN will be complicit in it."
Ends…