[link removed]

In this mailing:
* Bassam Tawil: Israel's Biggest Enemy: How Netanyahu Is Thanked for Disabling Iran, Terrorist Groups
* Amir Taheri: Zarif Weaves an Oriental Helsinki Carpet


** Israel's Biggest Enemy: How Netanyahu Is Thanked for Disabling Iran, Terrorist Groups ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Bassam Tawil • December 15, 2024 at 5:00 am
* [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has not earned the title "The Churchill of the Middle East" for nothing.
* What is lethal for the country is that the judges ruled that Netanyahu must appear in court three times a week for at least six consecutive hours each time. All this when the prime minister is preoccupied with the multi-front war against Israel by Iran, its terror proxies, and now Turkey, which no doubt sees its proxy-invasion of Syria as a pathway to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's long-term dream to "liberate Jerusalem from the Jews."
* Some might view this judicial escapade, in cases of trumped-up charges, as political payback for Netanyahu's having tried to reform the judicial system after he was last re-elected in 2022. The judicial reforms are desperately needed, but would diminish the absolute power that Supreme Court judges arrogated to themselves starting in the 1990s, and which they appear autocratically determined to keep.
* Do these seemingly vindictive judges really think that Netanyahu's cigars and champagne are not more important than Israel's war against Iran's "Axis of Resistance"?
* There is no reason for the prime minister to spend several hours a day in court now, when Israel is at war and he is successfully protecting his people from enemies seeking his country's destruction and the murder of all Jews.
* Do these judges actually want Israel to lose the war just so they can keep their absolute power?

Some might view the judicial escapade against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in cases of trumped-up charges, as political payback for the prime minister's having tried to reform the judicial system after he was last re-elected in 2022. The judicial reforms are desperately needed. Do these judges actually want Israel to lose the war just so they can keep their absolute power? Pictured: Netanyahu enters the district court in Tel Aviv at the start of his hearing on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves an award for successfully leading the war against Iran's "Axis of Resistance" in the Middle East. He has not earned the title "The Churchill of the Middle East" for nothing.

Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, during which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and thousands injured, Israel has destroyed most of the terror group's military capabilities in the Gaza Strip and eliminated its top political and military leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])


** Zarif Weaves an Oriental Helsinki Carpet ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Amir Taheri • December 15, 2024 at 4:00 am
* [Zarif] starts by pretending that it is Iran's president and not the "Supreme Leader" who has the final word on all aspects of defense, security and foreign policy.
* [Zarif] then adds, "Pezeshkian hopes for equal-footed negotiations," whatever that means, with America under President Donald J. Trump.
* This is a bold statement, taking into account that only last week, Khamenei repeated his "no war-and-no-negotiations" mantra while Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the official media, "There is no basis for talks with the Americans."
* Pezeshkian has not mentioned any of the "wants" that Zarif attributes to him, even obliquely.
* In other words, Israel must cease to exist and in Zarif's words become "a viable democratic state," presumably like the Iran, but led by Hamas.
* [Zarif] s says the US and European allies should help revive the deal which is a "unique example" of cooperation that allows Iran to pursue its nuclear program while benefiting from economic advantages.
* To sum up: Pezeshkian, according to the carpet that Zarif weaves, wants the US and Iran to create a condominium in the Middle East, wipe Israel off the map with a referendum, and help Iran revive its moribund economy so that it can pay its costly proxies while speeding up its nuclear program.
* Will Trump be tempted to buy such a carpet?

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the carpet that former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif weaves, wants the US and Iran to create a condominium in the Middle East, wipe Israel off the map with a referendum, and help Iran revive its moribund economy so that it can pay its costly proxies while speeding up its nuclear program. Pictured: Then presidential candidate Pezeshkian (R) and Zarif at a campaign rally in Tehran, on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Though not a satirical journal, the American magazine Foreign Policy has been publishing an essay by former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif every few years, starting when he was Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.

The latest contribution came on December 2, with Zarif presented as "Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs," although no such position exists in the current Iranian regime. What we have in Iran is a dozen or so "assistants to the president" dealing with various issues at the president's pleasure, with no popular mandate or parliamentary ratification.

Zarif is one of those assistants.

Yet in his new essay, Zarif pretends to speak for the entire Iranian regime on issues clearly beyond his bailiwick.

He starts by pretending that it is Iran's president and not the "Supreme Leader" who has the final word on all aspects of defense, security and foreign policy.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** RSS ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved.

You are subscribed to this list as [email protected]

You can change how you receive these emails:
** Update your subscription preferences ([link removed])
or ** Unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** Gatestone Institute ([link removed])

14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022