WarSclerotic

A new survey has found that British Jews are growing ‎increasingly concerned over anti-Semitism in the ‎country. ‎

According to data presented by Gideon Falter, ‎chairman of the Campaign against Anti-Semitism NGO, ‎‎90% of British Jews believe the Labour Party is ‎anti-Semitic and 40% are considering leaving the U.K. ‎over the rise in anti-Semitism.‎

Falter presented the data Tuesday at a European Jewish ‎Association conference in Brussels, during a session ‎on the challenges facing British Jews. ‎

The British police on Friday launched an official ‎investigation into alleged anti-Semitic hate crimes ‎in Labour, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has faced ‎growing criticism about his tolerance of racism and ‎anti-Semitism in the party. ‎

The conference is expected to dedicate Wednesday’s ‎session to a proposal by EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem ‎Margolin detailing Jewish communities’ “red lines” ‎with respect to various agenda items Jewish ‎candidates wish to ‎promote as part of their ‎political activities in Europe.‎

This includes, among other things, ensuring freedom ‎of religion and worship across Europe, fully ‎adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance ‎Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, a commitment ‎to exclude anti-Semitic parties from coalitions, and ‎calling on all political parties to designate the ‎boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as anti-‎Semitic. ‎

The “toughest-ever” U.S. sanctions list targeting Iran drew mockery from Iranian officials on Tuesday for including mothballed Boeing 747s, a bank that closed years earlier and a sunken oil tanker that exploded off China months ago.

However, the new list of sanctions, which also aims to cut Iran’s vital oil industry off from international sales, also included for the first time its state airline and its atomic energy commission, further highlighting the maximalist approach of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump pulled America out of the 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers in May. United Nations monitors say Iran still abides by the deal, in which it agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed penalties on more than 700 Iranian and Iranian-linked individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels in the new sanctions. Among those are 50 Iranian banks and subsidiaries, and more than 200 people and ships.

However, scattered among the list are surprising entries, like the crude oil tanker Sanchi. That vessel collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China’s east coast in January, killing all 32 sailors aboard.

Another entry was Iran’s Tat Bank, which closed in 2012.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took to Twitter to mock some of the targets of the sanctions, describing it as a “desperate” psychological ploy.

“The U.S. designated a bank that was closed 6 years ago, and a ship that sank last year in a widely televised saga,” he wrote, ending the tweet with the hashtag #USisIsolated.

But for the first time, the United States targeted Iran Air. It also sanctioned the state carrier’s mothballed fleet of Boeing 747s, which were manufactured in the 1970s.

It also appeared that the U.S., in another first, was directly sanctioning the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the government agency that oversees Iran’s nuclear program. Prior sanctions targeted specific subsidiaries of the organization.

Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri also criticized the sanctions.

“Americans think their list is more effective if it is longer,” Jahangiri said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. He said he had discussed the list with other officials, with many saying it was “less than what we expected.”

Still, Jahangiri warned that “Americans intend to damage Iran’s economy” through psychological warfare.

Zarif later issued an online video criticizing America’s “indiscriminate assault” on his country.

“The U.S. administration appears to believe that imposing illegal draconian sanctions on Iran will bring about such pain to our nation that it will force us to submit to its will, no matter how absurd, unlawful or fundamentally flawed its demands are.”

Zarif urged America to re-examine its “catastrophes” in the Mideast, including its support for Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis. Its national currency, the rial, now trades at 150,000 to one U.S. dollar; a year ago, it was about 40,500. The economic chaos sparked mass anti-government protests at the end of last year, resulting in nearly 5,000 reported arrests and at least 25 people being killed.

The new sanctions particularly hurt Iran’s vital oil industry, which provides a crucial source of hard currency. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the sanctions already had cost Iran the sale of over 1 million barrels of crude oil a day.

During a visit to Madrid on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran was “not legitimate” and that the rest of the parties to the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Washington are working to make economic cooperation with Tehran possible.

Lavrov’s remarks were Russia’s first reaction to Washington’s new list of sanctions against Iran. The Russian diplomat said that the sanctions go against international law and practices and that the U.S. “policies of issuing an ultimatum and making unilateral moves are unacceptable these days.”

The new administration in Brazil has reiterated its position that despite mounting pressure from the Arab world, it will remain true to its word and relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“We’re going to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro, wrote on Tuesday to Jane Silva, president of a leading pro-Israel organization in Brazil.

Silva had approached Eduardo Bolsonaro in the wake of reports in the Brazilian press indicating that Egypt had called off the Brazilian foreign minister’s upcoming visit to Cairo in protest of the planned embassy transfer.

In her letter to Bolsonaro, Silva wrote: “Jerusalem was always the capital of Israel. … There was a partition plan; the Arabs rejected it and launched wars against Israel and persecuted Israel. Israel has suffered, but it held its head high. Israel has seized every opportunity and established a nice home for the sole and legitimate owners of the land of Israel – the Jewish people.”

“It’s funny that there are over 50 Arab countries, none of which are willing to give a sliver of land to the Palestinians, while Israel is the only Jewish country in the world, smaller than [the state of] Sergipe in Brazil, and despite this they still want to divide Israel?” she wondered.

Meanwhile, Israeli and Brazilian officials have begun initial discussions to coordinate President Bolsonaro’s visit to Israel soon after he is sworn into office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may attend Bosonaro’s inauguration, which is scheduled for January 1.

According to reports in the Brazilian media, it’s possible that instead of a traditional Catholic Mass, which has been the setting for every preceding presidential inauguration, an evangelical pastor could preside over prayers at the event.

Bolsonaro has declared himself Catholic, while his wife if evangelical.

The Shin Bet security agency has thwarted 480 ‎Palestinian terrorist attacks so far in 2018, agency ‎Director Nadav Argaman told the Knesset’s Foreign ‎Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.‎

The Shin Bet’s efforts were a major factor in the ‎defense establishment’s ability to maintain the ‎fragile calm between Israel and the Palestinians, ‎especially in Judea and Samaria, Argaman said.‎

‎”The situation in the Palestinian arena has been ‎‎very unstable this year. In the Gaza Strip, we are ‎somewhere between a potential [military] campaign ‎and efforts to ‎stabilize the humanitarian situation,” he told the committee.

‎”In Judea and Samaria the situation is very ‎complex ‎as well. Things on the ground are ‎relatively calm, but this calm is deceptive. The ‎situation is actually highly combustible.”‎

Argaman continued, “Hamas is constantly trying to launch terrorist attacks in and from Judea and ‎Samaria.

“We were able to prevent 480 major ‎terrorist attacks, stop 590 lone-wolf terrorists and ‎arrest 219 Hamas cells. This indicates that there is ‎a large, clandestine terrorist infrastructure ‎there.”

Hamas leaders in Gaza and Turkey are sparing no ‎effort to mastermind terrorist attacks in Judea and ‎Samaria, and similar efforts are being made from ‎‎Lebanon by the Hezbollah terrorist group, Argaman said.

He said ‎the Shin Bet uses a variety of methods to track down lone terrorists, including ‎monitoring Palestinians’ social media accounts and ‎general online activity, using confidential ‎informants, and implementing a complex profiling ‎algorithm.‎

The agency “has also been able to foil ‎‎multiple cyberattacks and espionage plots against ‎‎Israel. The current reality is the result of ‎‎intensive efforts by all branches of the defense ‎‎establishment – the IDF, Shin Bet and the Israel ‎‎Police – that enable Israelis to live their daily ‎lives peacefully,” he said. ‎

Shin Bet data indicates that in 2017, the agency thwarted ‎over 400 terrorist attacks, including 13 ‎suicide attacks and eight abductions, as well as ‎‎1,100 potential lone-wolf attacks.‎

In 2016, the Shin Bet prevented 344 major terrorist ‎attacks.‎

The U.S. political system is at a ‎dramatic crossroads, with American ‎voters in the midterm elections about to decide the fate of 35 out of 100 Senate seats ‎and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.‎

Since the last midterm elections, in 2014, Congress has had a Republican majority, with the ‎party controlling both houses. Almost all the predictions are that this is about to change, as ‎the Democrats are expected to win the majority of the House and ‎their chances of winning a majority in the Senate ‎cannot be completely discounted. ‎

If this happens, the political upset would be in ‎line with the familiar pattern of American politics, ‎which reflects the voters’ desire to create balance between the various branches of government and ‎prevent one party from having too much power for too long.‎

However, in the current political and social ‎climate, which is fraught with tension and ‎ideological hostility, any shift in the balance of ‎power on Capitol Hill will have far more significant ‎implications than ever before. ‎

The Republicans are likely to maintain a narrow ‎majority in the Senate and may even gain slightly, but the ‎prevailing forecast – which gives the Democrats at least 23 ‎new seats, and the majority, in the House of Representatives – raises the possibility of an escalation ‎in the political and social hostility polarizing the ‎United States to the point of creating “gridlocks” ‎in the legislative process.‎

On the eve of these midterm elections, the White House ‎faced a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, to try ‎to preserve the Republican majority in the House, President Donald Trump had to adopt a ‎conciliatory and unifying strategy that would ‎underscore the common denominator between different ‎ethnic groups.‎

This was necessary because the vast majority of the ‎electoral districts giving the Democrats the ‎advantage are located in suburban, affluent and ‎educated areas, where the majority of voters hold ‎moderate positions.‎

On the other hand, to win the majority of races for ‎the Senate and ensure the Republicans continue to ‎control Congress, Trump needed to adopt a completely ‎contradictory strategy. ‎

Since most of these races are held in “red” states, ‎such as North Dakota, Montana, Missouri and Indiana, ‎where incumbent Democratic senators must champion ‎clearly conservative positions to have a fighting ‎chance, the president needed to take a harder line ‎to help Republican candidates. ‎

In light of this contradiction, Trump has all but ‎decided to come to terms with the fact that the ‎Democrats will take the House in exchange for ‎increasing the chances of the Republican ‎maintain the majority in the Senate, which, among ‎other things, exclusively controls the appointment ‎of judges to the Supreme Court. ‎

A direct result of this decision was the radicalization of the rhetoric coming from the ‎White House.‎

Trump’s harsh statements about illegal immigration, ‎the threat to revoke  the citizenships of children ‎of illegal immigrants, the attacks on media and his ‎aspiration to implement a “nationalistic” vision for ‎the U.S. were all part of this strategy. The objective is clear: to mobilize and invigorate the ‎Republican voter base, thus ensuring that the ‎Republicans retain the majority in the ‎Senate.‎

However, if this scenario materializes and the ‎Republicans win the Senate but lose the House, the ‎‎45th president will have to deviate from this ‎puritanical policy and adopt a more pragmatic ‎approach that will ensure compromises with the ‎Democratic majority in the House.‎

The alternative is an ongoing duel in Congress, ‎which could disrupt the legislative process and ‎hamper Trump’s ability to govern in the next two ‎years. As things stand, it remains to be seen where ‎the White House is headed.‎

The European Union has so far failed to find a country to host a special mechanism to trade with Iran and circumvent the newly reimposed U.S. sanctions that went into effect Monday, according to three EU diplomats, who said European governments fear being targeted by U.S. countermeasures.

The EU on Monday reissued its Nov. 2 statement, saying it was still setting up the so-called “special purpose vehicle,” or SPV, which is designed to circumvent the sanctions.

The EU, which opposes the sanctions, had hoped to have the SPV ready by the time the sanctions came into force.

However, no EU country has so far volunteered to host the entity, the diplomats said. Several states have been asked by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to consider hosting the SPV headquarters, as the bloc tries to uphold the nuclear accord from which U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in May.

While the European Commission declined to comment on Monday, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that “the European Union does not approve” of the reimposition of U.S. sanctions, which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Brian Hook, Washington’s special representative for Iran, underscored the risks for European companies, warning that any EU country hosting the SPV could potentially be sanctioned.

“The United States will not hesitate to sanction any sanctionable activity in connection with our Iran sanctions regime,” Hook said.

The SPV may incorporate a barter system and aims to sidestep the U.S. financial system by using an EU intermediary to handle trade with Iran. It could ensure, for example, that Iranian oil bought by Europeans could be paid for with EU goods and services of the same value.

A senior French diplomat said Paris was confident the mechanism would be legally in place soon, but things needed to be fully cemented first.

“We hope the legal instruments will be put in place in the coming days. It will then be a few weeks or months to finalize its modalities, and its implementation will be during 2019,” he said. He added there was no way any trade with this mechanism could be done before the end of the year.

Hook said he had not seen demand from European companies to use the SPV because they preferred to invest in the United States.

“If you take a look at the over 100 corporations that have decided to choose the United States market over the Iranian market, they are not looking to avail themselves of any type of vehicle, they are very pleased to continue working with the United States,” he told reporters.

The EU, with support from China and Russia, hopes to keep Iran in the deal by allowing trade to flow despite U.S. penalties.

The SPV follows several other EU initiatives to try to shield European business with Iran from the U.S. sanctions, which Trump says aim to punish Iran for its role in the wars in Syria and Yemen.