1) At the INSS, Carmit Valensi analyses ‘Syria and the Regional Normalization with Assad’.
“While Syria’s regional standing is enjoying a new lease on life among other Arab nations, as if it were a sovereign and fully functioning country, an examination of its domestic situation reveals a desperate picture of an authoritarian regime characterized by poor performance and only limited ability to provide governance, security, and order. More than a decade of civil war and violent military repression have left Syria a failed and disintegrating state, in which the leadership is unwilling to engage in reconstruction or improve the lot of its people.”
2) MEMRI reports statements made earlier this month by Hamas’ Saleh al Arouri.
“In a September 6, 2023 interview with the Al-Jazeera website, Saleh Al-‘Arouri, deputy-head of Hamas’ political bureau, spoke at length about the recent escalation in the terror attacks and armed struggle waged against Israel in the West Bank by Hamas and the other terror organizations. Noting that the armed resistance in the West Bank has “reached a new level,” he stated that the supreme goal of the resistance is to continue developing, drawing inspiration from the model of the Gazan resistance, until it achieves effective rocket capabilities in the West Bank. He added that Hamas and the other armed factions “are highly coordinated” and fight together on the ground.”
3) At WINEP, David Makovsky provides ‘An Inside Look at Rabin’s Oslo Expectations’.
“Recently, Israel declassified the transcript of the landmark 1993 cabinet meeting at which ministers debated the first Oslo Accord, the product of secret negotiations with its avowed enemy, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Held August 30 of that year, days before the agreement was signed, the meeting lasted five-and-a-half hours and ended with officials approving the proposed terms by a 16-0 vote (with two abstentions). The previously unseen debate adds to the public understanding of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s thinking at this historic juncture and underscores the depth of his subsequent evolution.”
4) Salo Aizenberg explains ‘How NGOs Fabricate the Legal Definition of Apartheid to Attack Israel’ at the Fathom Journal.
“The charge that Israel is an apartheid regime has become one of the central elements of the lawfare campaigns against the Jewish state. The apartheid label has been falsely applied to Israel for decades, beginning with anti-Zionist propaganda emanating from the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The label was advanced in 1975 when a U.N. General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism included the apartheid term. Another step forward took place at the UN Durban Conference in 2001 when NGOs promoted the demonisation of Israel as apartheid. The final declaration of the conference referenced ‘Israel’s brand of apartheid’ with the stated goal of isolating Israel. The most recent and aggressive effort was initiated by a group of NGOs who coordinated to issue a series of detailed reports that they claimed proved Israeli apartheid. […] A close read of these reports shows significant sharing of methodologies and information, all relying on the same manipulations to falsify the legal definition of apartheid so that it fits the parameters of the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
5) NGO Monitor provides a ‘Consolidated Palestinian NGO Funding Database’.
“The central political advocacy role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is facilitated by substantial financial support, primarily from donor governments. The following data base traces the trail of funding leading from foreign governments to Palestinian NGOs claiming to promote human rights. Numerous recipients are involved in the whitewashing of violence and terrorism, demonization and legal warfare (“lawfare”) targeting Israeli officials, BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, and promoting antisemitic propaganda. Some of these groups also have reported ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization as officially designated by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. “
