Weekend long read

1) The Washington Institute has published a comprehensive study of the Lebanese NGO ‘Green Without Borders’ written by Matthew Levitt and Samantha Stern.

“According to its blog, the Lebanese NGO Green Without Borders plants trees, creates public parks, and fights forest fires. But the benignly named outfit also has another mission. Working with Hezbollah’s construction arm Jihad al-Binaa and with the militant group’s allies inside and outside the government, GWB openly seeks to advance the “southern Green resistance” against Israel. To this end, it provides direct cover for Hezbollah’s operational activities, from harassing UN patrols, to carrying out missile attacks on Israel, to obstructing UN cameras at the border with deliberately placed trees.”

2) Jonathan Spyer asks ‘PFLP: Back from the Dead?’.

“Long regarded as a Cold War fossil, the organization has in recent months re-emerged to some modest prominence. What is the reason for the increased capacities and activity of the PFLP in the recent period?

 The explanation is not to be found in any change of sentiment at grassroots level among the Palestinian population. Like other secular Arab nationalist factions, the PFLP has never enjoyed wide public support.  Rather, the complex and shifting geo-politics of the Middle East have resulted in increased resources becoming available to the PFLP in recent years. These have in turn led to the uptick in its activities.”

3) At CAMERA the Israeli journalist Yoni Ben-Menachem discusses the threats, violence and incitement that the Palestinian Authority wields against journalists to control them and the flow of information.

“On April 22, on its official site, the Fatah party published a video clip warning against Israeli three journalists: myself, Ehud Ya’ari and Gal Berger. The clip charged: “The Israeli war general masquerading as media are behind an orchestrated incitement campaign against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.”

The attack against us took place against the background of reports in the Israeli media on the extent of the Palestinian Authority’s anti-Israel incitement during the coronavirus crisis. “Observers conclude that the Palestinian Authority’s success in the war against coronavirus displeased the Israelis. Palestinian harmony and unity bother the Israeli government which tries to undermine them,” the film alleges.”

4) Writing at the BESA Center, Yaakov Lappin tells ‘How an Elite IDF Unit Is Mobilizing to Fight Coronavirus’.

“The Israel Defense Forces’ elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13 has been making nonstop deliveries of oxygen cylinders to civilian care facilities that were struggling to get hold of supplies in recent weeks as hospitals raced to stock up on their own oxygen tanks. […]

In recent weeks, teams from Shayetet 13 have developed solutions for civilians in need of oxygen cylinders for medical purposes. “In Atlit [where the unit is based], there is a kind of small factory for compressing oxygen,” said Maj. N (full name withheld). “We saw that nursing homes and organizations that care for vulnerable populations had a bit of a hard time getting hold of oxygen cylinders. We carried out a conversion of our factory and began producing two main products.””

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