WarSclerotic

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands said Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in an escalating dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.

Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the European Union slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to the Dutch parliament that the government “has decided to recall the Netherlands’ ambassador to Tehran for consultations” over the row.

Iran’s decision to expel the Dutch officials — which was not previously announced in public — was “not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship,” Blok said.

He said Iran’s move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands’ expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 “due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin.”

Tehran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi confirmed the expulsion of the two Dutch diplomats in what he called a “retaliatory” move.

“Two of the diplomats of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran were considered undesirable elements in the framework of a retaliatory measure and were asked to leave the country” on March 3 and 4, he said on the ministry’s Telegram channel.

The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.

Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.

US President Donald Trump on Monday described recent remarks by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar — which have been blasted as anti-Semitic and prompted Jewish groups to demand that she be removed from a powerful Senate committee — as “a dark day for Israel.”

Last week Omar, of Minnesota, accused pro-Israel activists and lawmakers of “allegiance to a foreign country.” Dual loyalties is a common anti-Semitic trope.

“Representative Ilhan Omar is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel,” Trump tweeted. “Jewish groups have just sent a petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove Omar from Foreign Relations Committee. A dark day for Israel!”

Eleven Jewish groups, among them the National Council for Young Israel and the Endowment for Middle East Truth, sent a petition Monday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the senior House Democrat, asking that she “immediately remove” Omar from the committee.

US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the National Association of Attorneys General, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, March 4, 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

A copy of the petition, which was also sent to Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel, who chairs the committee, was published by the Washington Free Beacon.

“In light of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent anti-Semitic tweets, statements…we, the undersigned organizations, request that you immediately remove her as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the petition said.

“We hope you will continue to demonstrate your commitment to the high moral standards of your office by removing Rep. Omar, a woman who has repeatedly exhibited strong biases against the State of Israel and the Jewish people, from this critically important and sensitive committee.”

Omar said last Wednesday during a town hall in Washington that “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

She later defended her remarks when criticized by top Jewish Democrats in the House, tweeting Monday, “I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone. I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks.”

In reaction to Omar’s statements, Democrats in the US House of Representatives will put forward a resolution Wednesday condemning anti-Semitism.

Democrats over the weekend drafted a resolution with that message, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the document had not been released. Its text was not final as of Monday afternoon.

Responding Friday to her comments, Engel called on Omar to apologize for her “vile anti-Semitic slur.”

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, has been accused of employing anti-Semitic tropes since taking office over her criticism of Israel and the role of the Jewish state’s backers in Washington. Last month, she apologized after facing widespread bipartisan condemnation for a tweet suggesting Jewish money was behind congressional support for Israel.

Iran’s supreme leader cautioned the country’s government on Monday not to pin its hopes on Europe as Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers founders under US pressure.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website quoted him as saying the landmark 2015 nuclear deal “could not fix our economic problems.”

Khamenei’s comments came as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Iran is complying with the deal. Yukiya Amano made his assessment in a regular update to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors, confirming a confidential report distributed to member states last month.

He said that “Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” referencing the official name of the deal. Amano added that “it is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments.”

The US and the European Union disagree over several issues, including Iran.

The nuclear deal was aimed at preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons. The US pulled out of the agreement in May 2018 and has been urging the remaining signatories — the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China — to abandon it as well. Washington also reimposed severe economic sanctions and is demanding the deal be renegotiated to put stricter limits on Iran’s nuclear program and its missile research.

Iran’s economy has suffered with inflation climbing and the local rial currency plunging in the wake of the US pullout.

The remaining signatories to the Iran deal, along with the European Union, have so far shown no inclination to abandon it, and instead have tried to provide Iran with enough economic incentives to keep it alive.

Last month, Britain, France and Germany established a barter-type system known as INSTEX that is designed to allow their businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran and thereby evade possible US sanctions. Plans call for the payment system to be run from Germany as a financial institution.

The plan has angered Washington, despite reassurances from the Europeans that their initiative would concentrate on products not currently subject to US sanctions, such as medicine, medical supplies, and agricultural goods, rather than on broader trade.

In an interview published last month with the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that should other countries bow to US pressure and refuse to buy Iranian oil, Tehran has “other options” at its disposal.

Iranian officials have intimated that should the deal fall apart, it will resume its enrichment activities at a higher pace than before the agreement.

IDF attack helicopters hit two positions of the Hamas terror group in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday in response to an explosive device that was carried into Israel by balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave, the army said.

It was Israel’s fourth retaliatory airstrike against the terror group in the past three days.

It came after a bunch of balloons carrying explosives came down between two buildings in the Eshkol Regional Council, the council said in a statement. The bomb exploded but caused neither injuries nor damage.

On Sunday night an Israeli military drone bombed a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip in response to a violent riot along the border nearby, according to Palestinian media.

“An Israel Defense Forces aircraft attacked a Hamas post in response to the throwing of explosive devices across the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip,” the army said at the time.

It appeared to be the military’s first time conducting such an attack in response to riots along the security fence itself, rather than to cross-border violence directed toward Israeli civilian communities.

After halting their activities for several months, the Palestinian “confusion units” recently returned to the Gaza border, holding riots at various locations along the security fence each night in an effort to maintain pressure on Israel by tormenting civilians living nearby and troops serving on the border.

On Saturday evening, the Israeli army said its aircraft fired at targets in the southern Gaza Strip in response to a cluster of balloons attached to an incendiary device that was launched from the Strip toward Israel.

The explosive balloons did not cause any injuries or damage.

The border riots are part of the March of Return protests, which have taken place weekly along the border since last March and have periodically escalated into major flare-ups between the Israeli military and Gaza-based terror groups.

Israel has accused Hamas, the terror organization that rules the Strip, of orchestrating the clashes and using them as cover to breach the border fence and carry out attacks.

Recent weeks have seen a dramatic increase in the level of violence along the Gaza border, with near nightly riots and a return of airborne arson attacks, which had waned in light of a de facto ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at the end of last year.

The latest riots came after the release last week of a report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council on Israel’s handling of the clashes that alleged there is evidence Israeli soldiers committed crimes again humanity.

The inquiry investigated possible violations from the start of the protests on March 30, 2018, through December 31.

Israeli leaders angrily rejected the findings of the UN probe, calling it “hostile, deceitful and biased.”

IDF attack helicopters hit two positions of the Hamas terror group in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday in response to an explosive device that was carried into Israel by balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave, the army said.

It was Israel’s fourth retaliatory airstrike against the terror group in the past three days.

It came after a bunch of balloons carrying explosives came down between two buildings in the Eshkol Regional Council, the council said in a statement. The bomb exploded but caused neither injuries nor damage.

On Sunday night an Israeli military drone bombed a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip in response to a violent riot along the border nearby, according to Palestinian media.

“An Israel Defense Forces aircraft attacked a Hamas post in response to the throwing of explosive devices across the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip,” the army said at the time.

It appeared to be the military’s first time conducting such an attack in response to riots along the security fence itself, rather than to cross-border violence directed toward Israeli civilian communities.

After halting their activities for several months, the Palestinian “confusion units” recently returned to the Gaza border, holding riots at various locations along the security fence each night in an effort to maintain pressure on Israel by tormenting civilians living nearby and troops serving on the border.

On Saturday evening, the Israeli army said its aircraft fired at targets in the southern Gaza Strip in response to a cluster of balloons attached to an incendiary device that was launched from the Strip toward Israel.

The explosive balloons did not cause any injuries or damage.

The border riots are part of the March of Return protests, which have taken place weekly along the border since last March and have periodically escalated into major flare-ups between the Israeli military and Gaza-based terror groups.

Israel has accused Hamas, the terror organization that rules the Strip, of orchestrating the clashes and using them as cover to breach the border fence and carry out attacks.

Recent weeks have seen a dramatic increase in the level of violence along the Gaza border, with near nightly riots and a return of airborne arson attacks, which had waned in light of a de facto ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at the end of last year.

The latest riots came after the release last week of a report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council on Israel’s handling of the clashes that alleged there is evidence Israeli soldiers committed crimes again humanity.

The inquiry investigated possible violations from the start of the protests on March 30, 2018, through December 31.

Israeli leaders angrily rejected the findings of the UN probe, calling it “hostile, deceitful and biased.”