1) At the FDD’s Long War Journal, Joe Truzman looks at how ‘Iran Leverages Armed Groups Against Israel’.
“Iran has supported its proxies and other armed groups fighting Israel for decades. However, a distinct and troubling pattern emerged recently when the Iran-led Resistance Axis attacked Israel on multiple fronts. Moreover, the number of armed clashes against Israeli security forces, including acts of terrorism targeting civilians over the last year and a half, has not been observed since the Second Intifada.
Tangible signs of Iran’s strategy appeared shortly after the 2021 Gaza conflict. Between June and Dec. 2021, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops and other Israeli security forces began regularly engaging with armed groups led by Iranian proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Some of these armed clashes resulted in the deaths of militants, including members of the PA’s security forces.”
2) At WINEP, Erik Yavorsky and Faris Almaari analyse ‘Lebanese Social Media Reactions to Rocket Strikes on Israel’.
“A sampling of posts suggests fears of another catastrophic war, increased public questioning of Hezbollah as a “resistance” movement, and anger toward its cooperation with Iran in compromising Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
3) At the Jerusalem Post, Michael Starr explains why attempts to ‘justify’ terror attacks on Israelis by means of their place of residence are invalid.
“In attempts to justify the terror attack that killed a mother and her two children in the Jordan Valley, some commentators have argued that the residence of the family in disputed territory meant that they were not civilians and thereby the use of violence against them was legitimate.
Such a standard is against the protections afforded to civilians under international law, and if applied generally, would legitimize human rights atrocities around the world.
The argument by supporters of Palestinian terrorism that Israeli settlers are not civilians is not a new one, but it has seen a resurgence with the killing of Maia, Rina and their mother Lucy Dee on Friday.”
4) Also at the Jerusalem Post, Jonathan Spyer reports on ‘Kurds and the spirit of freedom on the Iraq-Iran border’.
“In the 1980s, thousands of Kurds made for these mountains and for Iran, to escape the poison gas attacks of the Saddam Hussein regime. Now, the traffic is in the opposite direction. Hundreds of young Iranians, Kurds and others, have made the perilous trip across the mountains to avoid the attention of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
There is no “apartheid” in Israel – but certainly there IS “apartheid” in Judea and Samaria – where civilians are murdered just because they are Jewish. That is the message that the BBC’s so-called reporters should be telling the world.