In this mailing: Bassam Tawil: The Palestinian Jihad against Jews Joseph M. Humire: Iran and Hezbollah in Colombia The Palestinian Jihad against Jews by Bassam Tawil  •  November 22, 2021 at 5:00 am       If Palestinian leaders believe that Jews are not entitled to their holiest site, the Temple Mount, and that Jerusalem belongs only to Muslims and Christians, how can they talk about establishing a Palestinian state that would exist in peace and security next to Israel? Western donors seem not to understand that the refusal by Palestinian leaders to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people remains a major obstacle to peace and the "two-state solution." "We categorically reject the Jewish state," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has stated on more than one occasion. "We will not backtrack on this matter." On the eve of the meeting of the donor countries, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reminded Palestinians that there is no such thing as Jewish history in Jerusalem.... "Jerusalem has Canaanite, Roman, Islamic, and Christian antiquities, and no one else has any traces in it." This is the same Shtayyeh who days earlier told foreign journalists in Ramallah that the Palestinians have no problem with Jews. Perhaps Shtayyeh thought that his remarks in Arabic during the PA cabinet meeting would not be translated or noticed by non-Arabic speakers. On the same day the Western donors were meeting in Norway, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that the Palestinians oppose visits to the Temple Mount by Jewish students. The Norwegian foreign minister and the donor countries should have taken note of what Palestinian leaders are telling their people and the rest of the Arabs and Muslims about Israel and Jewish history. Had they paid attention to the words of the Palestinian leaders, they would have realized why it is impossible to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel at a time when the PA is openly saying that Jews have no right to live in their own homeland. Western donors might wish to consider this Judenrein type of Palestinian anti-Semitism and incitement against Israel and Jews the next time they open their wallets to the PA. Western donors seem not to understand that the refusal by Palestinian leaders to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people remains a major obstacle to the "two-state solution" and peace. "We categorically reject the Jewish state," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) has stated on more than one occasion. "We will not backtrack on this matter." (Photo by Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) As representatives of donor countries were meeting in Norway on November 17 to discuss providing financial aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Palestinian leaders were busy doing what they have perfected: denying Jewish history and inciting their people against Israel. Denial of Jewish history and the delegitimization of Israel have long been an integral and major part of the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and the Palestinian narrative. In the world of the Palestinians, Jews have no history in Jerusalem; they have never lived there, and the Jewish Temples never existed. These are the messages Palestinian leaders have been passing from one generation of Palestinians to another in the past few decades. The messages come mostly from PA leaders who continue to claim that they support the "two-state solution." Continue Reading Article Iran and Hezbollah in Colombia by Joseph M. Humire  •  November 22, 2021 at 4:00 am       The long arm of Iranian terror reaches Colombia. Some Colombian pundits and politicians... refer to Iran as a normal democratic nation looking to engage in trade and diplomacy... instead of as an Islamist revolutionary regime that uses terrorism as part of its foreign policy. Crime and corruption are Iran and Hezbollah's bread and butter... Look no further than Lebanon and its raging economic crisis to see how Hezbollah exacerbated crime and corruption to gain control over the government. On May 2... a Spanish account of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei kicked off the disinformation campaign in Colombia with a tweet calling Soleimani a "martyr." After that, within three weeks, the #Soleimani hashtag was used in Colombia more than 8,000 times, tying it to more popular hashtags.... to portray Soleimani as a figure that fought against injustice. Part of the process of evaluating whether Iran and Hezbollah are enemies is to recognize how these actors operate around the world and then educate the public as to what they are doing in your country. In doing so, rather than creating an "enemy," you are helping your country to be more aware of one of the largest threats worldwide to stability and peace. Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano recently said that Iran and Hezbollah are "common enemies" of Colombia and Israel. Pictured: Molano speaks at a press conference in Bogota, on July 12, 2021. (Photo by Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images) In late June, Colombian authorities neutralized a possible Iranian-backed assassination plot in Bogota that could have killed two Israeli businessmen on Colombian territory. The plot, which began to unravel in April, involved an Iranian operative, Rahmat Asadi, who allegedly recruited two Colombian cutouts to carry out the operation. Thankfully, the assassination plot was thwarted, but it shows that the long arm of Iranian terror reaches Colombia. Continue Reading Article