View in Browser

Iran is taking an increasingly aggressive posture against the US and the West, and President Joe Biden's administration does not appear to understand how to respond.

Seth J. Frantzman, senior Middle East correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, reports that Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, met with the leaders of terrorist groups and pro-Iran proxy groups during his inauguration, indicating that he wants to see these groups play an important role in Iran’s foreign policy.

Frantzman writes that Iran is signaling to the US and its allies:

Video posted online appeared to show that Hamas and Hezbollah got pride of place in seating, with the European Union representative seated behind them.  Experts have noted that the presence of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh showcases how Iran is putting out a message about its commitment to Hamas. 

We’ve seen that Iran is ratcheting up the conflict with Israel. The most recent incident was last week, when Hezbollah forces fired 19 rockets into northern Israel. Times of Israel diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman writes that “the Iranian escalation comes as Tehran sense an opportunity to assert Iran’s dominance in the Gulf, while also testing new administrations in Jerusalem and Washington.”  While Israel has pressed for an international response to the threat Iran poses to international shipping and other global interests, it is unlikely that any other country will act against Iran at this time.

Jonathan Tobin looks at how the Biden administration is responding to these challenges from Iran: 

At the moment, the Biden foreign policy team seems genuinely befuddled by Iran’s recent actions and whether Raisi will be an obstacle to their dream of reviving former President Barack Obama’s efforts to effect a rapprochement with Tehran.

…After waiting patiently (as former secretary of state and current climate czar John Kerry advised them) for a Democrat to win the White House, the Iranians have acted like they are the ones with all the leverage, not the government that is eager to enrich and empower them by lifting sanctions.

Rather than embrace the gifts that Biden is all too eager to hand over, the Iranians have responded with a combination of impossible demands and actions designed to make clear that it is still the world’s leading state sponsor of international terror.

…Iran’s bellicose behavior, like its murderous new president’s reputation, is a façade for a weak theocracy that is counting on the foolishness of its opponents to once again bail them out.

Here are some facts worth noting about Iran’s new government. The new president, Ebrahim Raisi, was a prosecutor on the so-called "death commission" that executed as many as 5,000 political prisoners after the Iraq-Iran war in 1988. Raisi has just appointed Ahmad Vahidi to be interior minister. Vahidi is wanted by Interpol, the international law enforcement agency, for his alleged involvement in the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, and he was blacklisted by the US government in 2010.

The news about Afghanistan becomes grimmer by the day. CNN reports: 

Twelve provincial Afghanistan capitals are now under Taliban control after the militant group captured strategic cities on Thursday, leaving the Afghan capital of Kabul increasingly beleaguered and cut off from the rest of the country… More than a third of the country's 34 provinces have now fallen to the Taliban.

A senior administration official familiar with one US intelligence assessment said Kabul could be isolated by the Taliban in the next 30 to 60 days, increasing the potential that the Afghan capital could fall under the control of the militant group.

Another assessment puts the potential collapse within 90 days, according to another US official. Other officials have warned that there are multiple assessments with differing timelines.

That CNN story and other media reports have noted the humanitarian crisis of people fleeing the fighting. There is also great concern that women and girls will suffer under renewed Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

But a return to a Taliban theocracy in Afghanistan will also pose a serious threat to the US and its interests. The Taliban have not broken their ties with al-Qaeda, despite promises they made to the international community. The fall of Afghanistan might return us to the situation of 20 years ago, when that country was a launching pad for terrorism against America.

When the Washington Post editorial board agrees with writers at National Review, something is up. 

The Washington Post editors write that while many people do need help paying their rent, the CDC’s announcement of a new eviction moratorium to last until October “was almost certainly illegal… If the Trump administration had ignored a direct warning from the Supreme Court, Democrats would rightfully line up to condemn the president. Mr. Biden does not get a pass on the rule of law because his heart is in the right place.” 

John Yoo and Robert Delahunty, writing at National Review, are even more critical of the President’s move: 

It is rare for a president to undertake an action that the Supreme Court has just found illegal. It is rarer still for a president to do so lacking any principled constitutional grounds, and even conceding that most scholars and judges considered it to be, in fact, unconstitutional. Rarest of all is for a president to admit that his decision merely attempted to game the judicial system. 

Yet that is exactly what President Joseph Biden has just done.

In extending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on eviction proceedings in state courts, the Biden administration has openly flouted the rulings of the Supreme Court and at least six other federal courts. It has claimed a power that the Constitution does not give the president. It has willfully misread a law as granting it power that Congress, just this year, has withheld from it.

Biden’s action does not merely overreach, it subverts the idea that the executive, even during a public-health crisis, is bound by the Constitution and the rule of law.

The whole piece is well worth your time.

Further reading: Small-time landlords ‘hanging on by their fingernails’ as eviction moratorium drags on.

Anti-Semitism isn’t merely another kind of hate

Ruth Wisse looks at the Ben & Jerry’s boycott of Israel and sees the larger picture. She writes, "Anti-Semitism is a form of hatred, but it’s more than that. People organize against the Jews as part of an ideological struggle. Scapegoating Jews for the suffering of another people provides an explanation for its misery, an outlet for its anger, and a target for its aggression… Anti-Semitism has the unique power to build grievance coalitions between Marxists and Muslims, fascists and fundamentalists, atheists and believers, nationalists, internationalists, CEOs and academics."

The bombing of Sbarro’s and why Oslo failed

Jonathan Tobin reminds us about the August 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, and the other terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada that left more than 1,000 Israelis dead and many wounded. Those attacks came on the heels of Yassir Arafat turning down the most generous deal ever offered the Palestinians, when Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton met at Camp David in July 2000. The trauma of the Second Intifada changed the Israeli public’s perception of the “peace process.” Yet, Tobin notes: "President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy team still acts as if the assumptions about 'land for peace' and a two-state solution are as valid as they were when Bill Clinton thought he was about to win a Nobel Peace Prize in the summer of 2000. For them, it is as if the Camp David peace offer and the subsequent bloodshed never happened."

Watch Now: Replay of Past Virtual Events

You can see recordings of many past RJC virtual events. Go to the RJC homepage and scroll down to the "RJC Live" section. There's a drop-down menu there to select the video you want to see.

While RJC offices are closed and our staff are teleworking, you can reach us by email or by phone (please leave a voicemail message and your call will be returned). Contact information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please visit us online for the latest RJC news, to see details of upcoming events, and to donate to the RJC.