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Hamas’ headquarters in Istanbul has directed hundreds of terrorist attacks against Israelis and laundered millions of dollars, a new report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) found. The organization notes that Turkey “collaborates with terror organizations on both the ideological and operational levels. Terrorists working on Turkish soil establish infrastructures and plan terror attacks against Israel.”
According to the report, Hamas senior officials — most of them former security prisoners serving sentences for terrorism, who were released by Israel in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange — “are operating from Turkey against Israel.” Some have even been granted Turkish citizenship, the JCPA alleges.
The report also points out that the December counter-terror raid in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron by Israeli security forces was accompanied by a departure ban on several senior Hamas operatives who allegedly “would [otherwise] link up with Hamas officials overseas.”
“Turkey today seeks another reconciliation with Israel. Israel should demand ‘payment in advance,’ meaning that the Turks must first act against the Hamas operatives on their soil and prove that they are preventing them from continuing to act against Israel,” said the research center, adding: “Only then will it be worth upgrading relations with Turkey to a level of understanding and cooperation—a goal that both sides certainly have an interest in promoting.”
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After a year-long review, the Dutch government formally cut ties on Wednesday with one of six Palestinian “civil society organizations” that Israel declared to be a terror group in late 2021.
The Netherlands will no longer fund the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and decided to cancel the transfer of an already budgeted grant, two Dutch ministers announced in a joint letter to parliament.
Israel last October declared the UAWC and five other nonprofits to be terror groups because of their ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated a terror group by the European Union and others, sparking international condemnation. Israel doubled down, insisting that the evidence supporting the classification was “ironclad.”
Jerusalem has charged that the groups hoodwinked European donors into providing them with millions in funding that they then transferred to the PFLP. While the Dutch government’s review produced no evidence that the UAWC has organizational links to the PFLP, external investigators did find significant overlap between the two organizations’ membership.
“There were ties at the individual level between UAWC staff and board members and the PFLP for some considerable time. The great number of UAWC board members with roles in both organizations gives particular cause for concern,” the two Dutch ministers wrote. In their letter, the Dutch diplomats said that it was “reasonable to assume” that the organization knew of board members’ PFLP ties.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry hailed the Netherlands’ decision as an “important and commendable announcement.”
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Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke by phone early Thursday morning with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed.
“The Secretary and Foreign Minister discussed a range of regional and global challenges, including the risks of further Russian aggression against Ukraine as well as the challenges posed by Iran…Secretary Blinken reiterated the Administration’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” Price said.
World powers are participating in the latest round of talks with Iran in Vienna in an attempt to revive the 2015 nuclear deal that former US president Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 in favor of reimposing sanctions on the regime in Tehran.
“The prime minister, defense minister and I said that we are not against any agreement; a good deal is a good thing,” Lapid said during a press briefing on Monday, adding: “There is an intense discussion of what a good deal entails. In that discussion, we are at the table. The world, including the involved parties, is listening.”
Lapid, however, also said that the Vienna talks “won’t reach an optimal result as far as we’re concerned, but we are always working with the people involved to improve the result for Israel.”
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Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss security and policy issues, and to strengthen efforts aimed at enhancing regional stability. During the meeting in Amman, Gantz emphasized the “strategic importance” of the strong and enduring relationship Israel has with Jordan, which he said contributes to the security and prosperity of both nations.
King Abdullah emphasized the need for maintaining calm in Palestinian-controlled territories, and called for “necessary measures to create the horizon needed to achieve just and comprehensive peace, on the basis of the two-state solution.”
The visit comes after Gantz met last week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the former’s residence in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin to discuss implementing economic and security measures. Gantz said that he and Abbas also spoke about the importance of deepening security coordination, and of preventing terror and violence for the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians.
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Israel is pushing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to condemn Holocaust denial by unanimously supporting a resolution it authored on the matter. Jerusalem is calling on the UNGA to take a stand on January 20, the 80th anniversary of the Nazi’s Wannsee Conference that approved the extermination of the Jews.
“The passing of this resolution is of great importance so that the shocking phenomenon of Holocaust denial becomes a red line in the international arena,” Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan told reporters on Wednesday.
The Israeli resolution “urges all member states to reject without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, in either full or in part, or any activities to this end.” It furthermore asks “member states and social media companies to take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial “through “information and communication technologies” and to facilitate the “reporting of such content.”
The draft text also calls on the UN to develop programs to combat Holocaust denial. Erdan said that this resolution marked the first time in 17 years, and only the second time in UN history, that the General Assembly was expected to approve an Israeli-authored text. Israel’s UN envoy noted that Holocaust denial and antisemitism have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the need for such a resolution.
Recommended Reading
- For 2nd Day in Row, New Daily COVID-19 Cases Hit All-Time High: 16,115 (Times of Israel)
- Iraqis Want a Peace Deal With Israel (Shermeen Yousif, Jerusalem Post)
- Arab Israelis Speak on Why They Choose to Serve in the IDF (i24News)
- Israel Needs Compelling Stories, Not Just Facts, to Win the PR War (Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post)
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