Analysis: Why the German foreign minister’s Iran trip flopped
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL/Jpost/10/19/2015
BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s trip to Iran on Saturday turned the clock back to the Federal Republic’s pre-sanctions pro-Iran policies by showing an indifferent posture to growing Iranian jingoism, domestic repression and anti-Israel rhetoric. “It is of course my wish that Iran uses its influence in the region and… on [Syrian President Bashar)] Assad to ensure that we take the first steps toward a deescalation in Syria,” said Steinmeier, in the second visit by a German foreign minister to Iran in 12 years. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian responded: “We have military advisers in Iraq and Syria at the request of the governments of the two countries… We are going to step up our aid to Syria in the form of advice on the fight against terrorism.”Writing on Spiegel Online Christoph Schult authored a rare German-language criticism of Steinmeier’s Iran diplomacy calling it “too early to term the nuclear deal ‘historic,’” as Steinmeier frequently does.Schult added “it was false to hope that the atomic deal would mark the beginning of a change in Iran. Tehran agitates against Israel and tests new rockets.”
He said Iran’s regime’s policies had remained the same, citing “the repression of the opposition, the support for the terror of Hezbollah.” He urged Steinmeier not to shy away from criticizing Iran. The head of Germany’s Human Rights Watch division Wenzel Michalski wrote on Twitter that “Steinmeier should prioritize human rights at his visit in Iran” and linked to a July HRW report containing a laundry list of Iran’s human rights violations. More than 650 people have been hanged this year alone, including several who allegedly committed crimes as children, “ HRW wrote. Iran expert and journalist Amir Taheri took Steinmeier to task for ignoring human rights issues and meeting with anti-Zionist Iranians such as former president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has discussed the idea of dropping a nuclear bomb on Tel Aviv. Taheri tweeted,”#German FM #Steinmeier can’t be proud. In #Tehran not a pip on #executions, #prisoners of conscience, #hostages, #minorities, #trade unions.”
Steinmeier also met with Ali Larijani, the president of Iran’s parliament, who reportedly denied the Holocaust at the Munich 2009 Security Conference and remains committed to Israel’s destruction. Steinmeier did not launch any barbs at Iran’s clerical regime or publicly confront Larijani about his denial of the Shoah. Oddly, Steinmeier has reserved his harshest attacks not for Iran’s regime but for Netanyahu’s criticism of the Iran deal, which the foreign minister deemed to be very “coarse” and urged the prime minister to rein in his rhetoric. Steinmeier’s trip coincided with Sunday’s “adoption day” of the nuclear agreement. The implementation process has started; the EU and US will begin to adopt measures to lift sanctions against Iran for its cooperation in restricting its nuclear program. Steinmeier assured Iran’s rulers that “If Iran fulfills its duties the economic situation will quickly and markedly improve. And that will create room for a strong revival of our economic relations.”
His Social Democratic Party colleague, economics minister Sigmar Gabriel, visited Iran in July with a 60-member delegation of the country’s captains of industry to lay the groundwork for flourishing German-Iranian trade. According to data obtained by The Jerusalem Post from Germany’s statistical agency, pre-sanctions bilateral trade amounted to nearly €5 billion in 2010. After powerful EU sanctions were imposed in 2012, German- Iran trade plummeted to €2 billion in 2013. The head of the BDI – Federation of German Industries estimated that post-sanctions exports could climb to more than €10 billion.
In the 1980’s, Germany’s policy toward Iran was called “critical dialogue.” There were robust trade relations in exchange for discreet conversations about improving human rights. Steinmeier’s trip seems to suggest he is regressing to this German policy toward Iran.
***Benjamin Weinthal is fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Analysis: Neither Israeli nor Palestinian leadership has an exit strategy
By YOSSI MELMAN/J.Post/10/18/2015
For several hours, perhaps as long as a whole day, there was a feeling among the Israeli public on Thursday that the Palestinian wave of terror had significantly subsided. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made hay of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s lie that Israel murdered in cold blood a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, who it turned out is alive and hospitalized at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. Indeed, there were no terror attacks within the Green Line and in Israel a sort of “countdown” started, that is increasingly becoming a conditioned response – counting the hours that have passed since the last terror attack. However, this feeling is an illusion, as Sunday’s attack in Beersheba proved. The relative quiet is deceptive. Over the weekend, the violence came back to its usual focal points – east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
In Hebron, a Border Policewoman was lightly stabbed, but managed to kill the terrorist. In Hebron and east Jerusalem, there were two attempts to attack police, which ended in the deaths of the terrorists. In Nablus, Joseph’s Tomb was set fire to by arsonists. And in Gaza, there were again demonstrations, riots and attempts to break through the border fence. The IDF responded with live fire and media outlets in Gaza reported that two people were killed and a few dozen were wounded. In all of the epicenters of violence there was also stone-throwing, Molotov cocktails, a bus that went up in flames and rioting. In short, the usual. The usual violence and terror. The public in Israel and in the Palestinian territories has quickly become used to and accepted the reality which the defense establishment, unable to decide if it’s a third intifada with new characteristics, prefers to refer to as “the new situation.”
New or old, as opposed to previous instances, the leadership on both sides has no exit plan nor do they have the desire or will to try and extricate their people from the situation. Both leaderships are captive to their respective narratives and trapped by political forces that will not allow them to attempt to break the impasse. Unlike in previous intifadas, this time the apathy extends to the international community and the Arab world. The French daily Le Figaro reported Saturday that France is trying to promote a diplomatic process by which the UN secretary-general will try to send international observers to the Temple Mount. The move proves that Paris is the only one of Israel’s friends that still cares and is trying to advance proposals to stop the violence through diplomacy.
In the past, Paris tried to do this with a draft resolution which called for the UN Security Council to declare the establishment of a Palestinian state. The draft resolution was torn up because the US did not support it and Israel staunchly opposed the proposal. It is not clear to what extent the new French initiative is serious and realistic, or if it is only a half-baked idea, but in any event, the chances that it will come to fruition are slim. Israel opposes any initiative that includes the sending of observers or international forces to the territories because this will “internationalize” the conflict with the Palestinians, which is what Abbas wants. Later this week, there will also be an attempt by US Secretary of State John Kerry to promote some sort of mini-diplomatic process. This is also likely to fail.
The violence here is over a low flame, especially in comparison to what’s happening in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Sinai, where dozens, if not hundreds, are killed every week. Therefore, the world’s attention is focused on other centers of violence and terrorism. The world is tired of efforts to advance the moribund peace process. Netanyahu speaks of Palestinian “incitement” and “terror” and ignores the fact that the entire world sees the Israeli occupation as the biggest cause of the violence. And the occupation is not going to end. The Israeli government continues to strengthen the occupation and manage the conflict. In short, we are going to experience more of the same for days and weeks, and perhaps even years, unless a process of Deus ex machina (outside intervention) occurs.
ISIS Fires Up Palestinians
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/October 19, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6712/palestinians-islamic-state
The current wave of stabbings of Jews in Israel is an attempt to imitate Islamic State terrorists, who have been using knives to behead many Muslims and non-Muslims. In most attacks, the Palestinian terrorists focused on the victims’ throats and necks. They are trying to replace Islamic State jihadis as the chief “butchers” of humans in the Middle East.
How can our leaders in Ramallah accuse Jews of “contaminating” the Aqsa Mosque with their “filthy feet” at a time when our youths burn a religious site such as Joseph’s Tomb? Palestinian Authority security forces, which maintain a tight grip on Nablus, did nothing to prevent the arson attack.
The attacks are an attempt to erase history so that Jews will not be able to claim any religious ties to the land. This is exactly what the Islamic State is doing in Syria and Iraq.
Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders are lying. This is not a struggle against “occupation” or a wall or a checkpoint. This is an Islamic State-inspired jihad to slaughter Jews and wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
By now, it has become clear that our young Palestinian men and women have learned a lot from the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
This new “intifada” that some Palestinians are now waging against Israel should be seen in the context of the wider jihad that is being waged by the Islamic State, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda against the “infidels, Zionists, apostates, Crusaders” and against non-extremist Muslims.
The tactics employed by Palestinian youths over the past two weeks show that they are doing their utmost to copy the crimes and atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, Libya and other Arab countries.
Although the Islamic State is not physically present in the West Bank or Jerusalem (largely thanks to the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces and other Israeli security agencies), there is no denying that its spirit and ideology are hovering over the heads of many of our young men and women.
The current wave of stabbings of Jews in Israel and the West Bank is an attempt to imitate Islamic State terrorists who have been using knives to behead many Muslims and non-Muslims during the past two years.
Like the Islamic State, many of the Palestinian terrorists who recently stabbed Jews saw themselves as jihadis acting in the name of Allah, the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed. This was evident by the Palestinian terrorists’ cries of “Allahu Akbar!” ["Allah is Greater!"] as they pounced on their victims. Our young men and women must have been watching too many videos of Islamic State jihadis shouting “Allahu Akbar!” as they beheaded or burned their victims.
The stabbing attacks that were carried out in the past two weeks were actually attempts to slit the throats of Jews, regardless of their age and gender. In most instances, the terrorists were aiming for the upper part of the body, focusing on the victims’ throats and necks. The Palestinian terrorists are now trying to replace Islamic State jihadis as the chief “butchers” of human beings in the Middle East. For now, they seem to be partially successful in their mission.
Our young men and women have learned from the Islamic State not only the practice of stabbing the “infidels,” but also how to destroy religious sites. On Thursday night, scores of Palestinians attacked and torched Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, in scenes reminiscent of the Islamic State’s destruction of ancient and holy sites in Syria and Iraq.
Last week, Palestinians torched Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus (left), in scenes reminiscent of the Islamic State’s destruction of holy sites in Syria and Iraq, such as the Armenian Church in Deir Zor (right).
The shrine was set on fire for no reason other than that it is revered as the tomb of a Jewish biblical figure. This is a site frequented by Jewish worshippers, although it is under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its security forces in Nablus. It is worth noting that agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians guarantee access for Jewish worshippers to Joseph’s Tomb, and there were assurances to the Israelis that the PA could be trusted to safeguard the site.
What the Palestinians did to Joseph’s Tomb is no different from what the Islamic State and other terrorist groups have been doing to holy sites and archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq. The Palestinians who attacked Joseph’s Tomb were obviously influenced by the crimes of the Islamic State against religious and ancient sites.
What is still not clear is why the Palestinian Authority security forces, which maintain a tight grip on Nablus, did nothing to prevent the arson attack.
How can our leaders in Ramallah accuse Jews of “contaminating” the Aqsa Mosque with their “filthy feet” at a time when our youths burn a religious site such as Joseph’s Tomb?
This is not the only Jewish holy site that has been targeted by Palestinians in recent years. While our leaders are screaming day and night about Jews “invading” and “desecrating” the Aqsa Mosque, Palestinians from Bethlehem have been throwing stones, petrol bombs and explosive devices at Rachel’s Tomb near the city. This has been going on for several years now, in an attempt to kill Jewish worshippers and the Israeli soldiers guarding Rachel’s Tomb.
The attacks on Joseph’s and Rachel’s Tombs in Nablus and Bethlehem are part of a Palestinian-Islamic campaign to destroy Jewish holy sites and deny any Jewish link to the land. The attacks are an attempt to rewrite history so that Jews will not be able to claim any religious ties to the land. This is exactly what the Islamic State is doing these days in Syria and Iraq: “erasing history that lets us to learn from the past.”
The terror campaign that we have been waging against Israel in the past few weeks shows that the Islamic State and Islamic fundamentalism and fascism have invaded the minds and hearts of many of our young men and women. We have turned the conflict with Israel into a jihadi war, the goal of which is to slaughter Jews, erase their history and expel them from this part of the world. This is not an intifada. This is brutal killing spree targeting Jews of all ages, including a 13-year-old boy, a 72-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man.
President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders are lying to us — and the rest of the world — when they describe the stabbing attacks against Jews as a “peaceful popular resistance.” This is not a struggle against “occupation” or a wall or a checkpoint. It is time to recognize that this is an Islamic State-inspired jihad to slaughter as many Jews as possible and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. When and if the Islamic State is finally eliminated or disappears, the Palestinians will emerge as the successors of one of the most brutal and murderous Islamic gangs that has surfaced in modern history.
**Bassam Tawil is a scholar based in the Middle East.