Inside The Quds Force: Iran’s Long Arm of Terror - Akiva van Kiningsveld (Honest Reporting)

The War over the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism - Gerald M. Steinberg (Los Angeles Jewish Journal) 

Italian embassy vehicle targeted in Kabul (Deutsche Welle) Critics have accused the Taliban of carrying out violent attacks to increase their leverage in the peace talks being held in Qatar. 

Islamists Still Seek Power a Decade After Arab Spring Revolutions - Hany Ghoraba (IPT News)  

The “Islamic Shiite Waqf Committee in Burj al Barajneh” foundation and its connection to Hezbollah’s medium-range missile array (“Fatah 110”) launch sites in Beirut - Tal Beeri (Alma) Their research documents how Hizballah has planted medium-range, Iranian-made Fatah 110 missiles in Beirut, in the same compound containing a high school and a sports stadium.

Which songs define Palestinian “cultural and… national identity”? ‎ Nan Jacques Zilberdik  (PMW) please read!

Fatah: Murder of 11 Israeli athletes at Olympics was “quality operation” - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Saudi Writer: 'The Holy Land' And 'The Blessed Land' Mentioned In The Quran Refer To Mecca And No Other Place (MEMRI)

Turkey Faces Mysterious Jihadi Enemies in Idlib (Syria) - Fehim Tastekin (Al-Monitor)

Biden UN Nominee Pledges to Combat Anti-Israel Bias, BDS, Iranian Threat - Omri Nahmias  (Jerusalem Post)

At the UN, the U.S. Outlines President Biden's Approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (U.S. Mission to the UN)

Frequent New York Times Opinion Writer Was Secret Iranian Agent, Federal Prosecutors Charge - Ira Stoll (Algemeiner)

Political Scientist Author Charged with Acting as an Unregistered Agent of the Iranian Government (U.S. Department of Justice)

Taliban attacks kill dozens in Afghanistan (Stars and Stripes)

Joe Biden will have to address the war in Afghanistan—again - Steve Coll (The New Yorker)

AFRICOM launches airstrike in Somalia shortly after troop pullout (Stars and Stripes) 

U.S. to resume processing thousands of stalled visas for Afghans who aided 

Iranian Forces in Eastern Syria Redeploy after Airstrikes - Khaled al-Khateb  (Al-Monitor)
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Deployed in 125 Locations in Syria - Kamal Sheikho (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

Countering Iran's Missile Program - Michael Elleman (U.S. Institute of Peace)

ISIS strikes again in Iraq, 32 killed (Debka File)

Israeli Company Says Instant Covid-19 Breath Test as Precise as Swab Test (Times of Israel) 98% accurate, results in seconds

PA to children: Israel's entire coast is really “Palestine,” “under occupation since ‎‎1948”‎  - Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Itamar Marcus (PMW)

Under The Emerging Turkey-Pakistan Strategic Alliance, Pakistan May Provide Turkey With Nuclear Weapons Capabilities - Tufail Ahmad (MEMRI)

Pakistan Builds Fence Along Border with Afghanistan (VOA)

Russia Carries Out 40 Airstrikes on ISIS in Syria (Arab News-Saudi Arabia)

Report: Israeli, Syrian Officials Discuss Removal of Iran and Its Militias from Syria - Rawad Taha (Al Arabiya)

Syria Strongly Denies Report of Israeli-Syrian Meeting (Tehran Times-Iran)

Fearing Israeli Attacks in Eastern Syria, Dozens of Fighters Leave Iranian Militias, Joining Russian-Backed Forces (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Washington Post Obituary on Adelson Attacks Israel and Defends Hamas - Sean Durns (The Algemeiner)

NPR Misleads on Vaccines for Palestinian Prisoners - Tamar Sternthal (CAMERA)

WaPo, ABC, CBS Run with AP Piece Denouncing Israel’s Defense Against ‘Apartheid’ Smear -Gidon Ben-Zvi (HonestReporting) 

Individuals and government leaders have grown increasingly concerned about the power of social media companies to shape public discourse. European governments have stated that curbs on free expression should be decided by the law and not by private companies.  Especially here in the United States, we believe, the right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance. At a conference we attended this weekend, we were told the power digital platforms wield is unfathomable. And it's not just Twitter and Facebook gaining more control of the stories we see and here. Many newspapers have had to cut back and now use wire services rather than their own reporters. This makes wire services like the AP, AFP, and Reuters more important than ever. 

I don't know how we balance freedom of speech with incitement. I don't support "anything goes."  Digital media platforms can censor what they publish (should they?); we know radicalization occurs because algorithms drive people to live in bubbles (listen to the Podcast: Rabbit Hole from The New York Times). We know that social media played a key roll in the growth of Al Qaeda, the uprising in Egypt in Tahrir Square, and the attempted coup in the US. Even in traditional media, we're seeing more focus on ideology and narrative, rather than fact checking, research, and accuracy - blurring the lines between news and op-eds. 

On Twitter, Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has discouraged Iranians from COVID-19 vaccinations and called for genocide, yet his texts have not been amended nor banned.

On Twitter, Walker Bragman's blood libel re:Pompeo Wines is still up. Is it just pithy or is it anti-Semitic? It's definitely offensive. 

Facebook did not like the review of A Promised Land: Obama's Memoir by CAMERA. The facts CAMERA challenged were carefully researched and backed up by reputable sources, yet Facebook decided it was racist and wouldn't allow CAMERA to promote it. There is no place to appeal a decision like this. 

In Sheldon Adelson's obit, The New York Times falsely claimed the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem caused unrest across the Middle East. The article's authors do not provide any examples to support the claim that unrest abounded after the embassy relocation. Though many in the foreign-policy establishment said the decision would cause mass turmoil, their predictions of doom never materialized. 

How rioters vs demonstrators are defined has been a problem for Israel in how interactions between the IDF and Hamas/PLO are reported. Over the summer the AP revised it's Stylebook regarding usage of "riot." It was revised following the BLM protests. While most protests were peaceful, a number of the demonstrations turned into riots. The AP style book instructs reporters to avoid the word "riots" (even when there's looting and violence) because it undercuts historic grievances and puts an emphasis on property. Note: The Oxford Dictionary defines riot as a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.

Here is What America Can Learn from Israel's Vaccination Triumph - Daniel Pomerantz (Newsweek)

Who Hacked Hizbullah's Bank Account? - Avi Bar-Eli (Ha'aretz)

Hamas Forcibly Expels Residents from their Homes near Gaza-Egypt Border - Rasha Abou Jalal (Al-Monitor)

PA slow to secure Covid-19 vaccines, so it decides to blame Israel - Itamar Marcus and Maurice Hirsch, Adv. (PMW)

Returning foreign fighter arrested in Spain (Europol)

Intense Israeli strikes in east Syria; region on high alert = Zeina Karam (Washington Post)

Why were there massive airstrikes against Syria? - analysis - Seth Frantzman (Jerusalem Post)

Space-Based Infrared System Warned U.S. Forces of Iranian Missile Attack (C4ISRNET)

East Illinois Democrats Line Up to Help CAIR Fundraise - Steven Emerson (IPT News)

Correcting the New York Times Interview with U.S. Ambassador David Friedman - Ira Stoll (Algemeiner)

The Israel ‘Apartheid’ Myth: Media Parrot Antisemitic Libel - Gidon Ben-Zvi (Honest Reporting) By uncritically portraying this group (B'Tselem) as a leading proponent of human rights, the media have effectively facilitated the hijacking of the word apartheid by anti-Israeli activists whose goal is to foster doubt about the legitimacy of the Jewish state. (Did you see Sam Kiley's hit piece at CNN or the one promoted by AP?) 

The U.N.’s Top 10 Worst Anti-Israel Actions of 2020 (UN Watch)

This week has been awful for the USA. Despite billions of dollars spent on both physical and cyber defense at least half a dozen government agencies and hundreds of private companies have been hacked by a foreign adversary and domestic terrorists stormed and looted the Capitol. These massive intelligence failures put us all at risk. President Trump, who previously has dismissed Black Lives Matter protesters as "thugs," described Wednesday's anti-Semitic, white-supremacist, terrorist mob as "great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long." On January 3, President Trump said, the "number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated," while we reached record numbers of deaths and hospitalizations. I wonder what the resolution and long-term impact of these issues will be. It's unbelievable that this is just the first week of a new year. Friends overseas have been asking us, what's up? Yes, I'm concerned.

Meanwhile, the world goes round...

Lebanese Decry Hizbullah's Erection of Soleimani Posters, Monuments - Rawad Taha (Al-Arabiya)

Hamas Arrests Palestinian for Taking Down Banner of Iran's Soleimani in Gaza - Yaghoub Fazeli (Arab News-Saudi Arabia)

France, Germany, UK Call on Iran to Stop 20 Percent Uranium Enrichment - Geir Moulson (AP)
Iran to Install 1,000 More Centrifuges (Fars-Iran)

Under Article 406 of Iraqi Penal Code, Which Provides For Death Penalty, Iraqi Court Issues Arrest Warrant For President Trump For Killing Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis (MEMRI)

Israeli Woman Seriously Hurt in West Bank Rock Attack - Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post)

How Israel is Adapting to the Growing Threat of Terror Armies - Yaakov Lappin (IPT News)

Palestinians Deny Reports about Receiving Vaccine from Israel (WAFA-PA) The Palestinian Ministry of Health dismissed reports by Israeli media on Thursday that it had received Covid-19 vaccine from Israel. The ministry said it had rejected such offers and was actively seeking to purchase vaccines elsewhere, adding that the vaccines will become available in February. 

NBC Continues to Push False Narrative That Israel is Responsible for Palestinians' Vaccine - Tamar Sternthal (CAMERA)

PA PM insults Christianity by comparing Jesus to murderers and suicide bombers - Itamar Marcus (PMW) 

Salafi-Jihadis Celebrate Storming Of U.S. Capitol, Declare U.S. Democracy Impotent And Hypocritical (MEMRI)

IDF leaflets over S. Syria caution against collaborating with Hizballah (DEBKAfile)

Tunisian artist kicks off a storm after duet with Israeli singer (Arab Weekly) The song's title: “Peace between Neighbours”

UAE Said to Nab Iranian Terror Cell that Planned to Target Israelis (Jerusalem Post)

U.S. Government Collects $7 Million in Iranian Assets for Victims of Terrorism Fund (U.S. Department of Justice)

Former CIA, DHS, FBI: Capitol Riot Opens Pandora's Box Of Problems (Newsy)

Egypt Reveals the Financial Terrorist Ties between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas - Yoni Ben Menachem (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Iran has told IAEA it plans to enrich uranium to 20%, Russian envoy says (Reuters) 
Iranian Intelligence Uses International Crime Organizations to Eliminate Opposition Activists and for Narco-Terrorist Activity - Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall and Iran Desk (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

How Has Israel Launched The World's Fastest COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout? - Ben Shamiso (Newsy)

Pakistan Should Recognize Israel - Zafar Aziz Chaudhry (Daily Times-Pakistan)

Armed struggle - Fatah’s focus for 2021 - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)
Gaza Rockets Intercepted over Israel, IDF Strikes Hamas Targets - Yaniv Kubovich (Ha'aretz)

University in London to Repay Student over "Toxic Anti-Semitic Environment" - Harriet Sherwood (Guardian-UK)

Predicting Refugee Movements? There's an App for That - Sonja Peteranderl (Spiegel Int'l)