In a statement run by Mehr and quoted in The New Arab, the local Jewish community condemned the bombing. “We, the Jews of Iran, condemn the brutal attacks carried out by the American-Zionist enemy against our dear homeland and the Rafi-Nia synagogue,” the statement said, adding that the Jewish community stands “alongside the people and the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” prepared to defend the country “until our last breath.”

A representative of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Middle East Eye that the IDF “regrets the collateral damage to the synagogue and emphasizes that the strike was targeted at a senior military target within the regime’s armed forces, not at any place of worship.” The representative identified the target as a neraby “emergency headquarters” of Iran’s joint military command, and added that a review would be launched.

Iran has the third-largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel and Turkey, with a 2016 census placing the number of Jews at just over 9,000. However, some members of the community believe the real number is higher. The community maintains some 30 synagogues, as well as schools and kosher facilities, mostly in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz. Judaism is one of Iran’s legally recognized “minority religions,” alongside Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism and Christianity, with each represented in parliament.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) 3,600 Iranians have been killed since US-Israeli bombardment began in late February, including at least 1,665 civilians.

Screenshot via JTA

Speaking to Israeli media earlier in week, Chamntoub said that Badarieh pledged to support the restoration of the city’s Jobar synagogue, which was badly damaged over the years of internal conflict in Syria: “He said to me, ‘If you want to restore the Jobar synagogue, I’ll approve it. If you want me to provide you with security for the synagogue, I agree.'” (ToI)

The temple in the traditional Damascus Jewish district of Jobar, also known as the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, was first built 720 years before Christ. But its walls and roofs have collapsed, as the Jobar suburb was shelled for years by Assad regime forces while in the hands of opposition fighters. Since the fall of the Assad regime late last year, Jews have been returning to the site to assess the possibilities for its revival. However, most accounts place the number of Jews remaining in Damascus at less then 10. (AP)

Prior to 1947, there were some 30,000 Jews in Syria, made up of three distinct communities, each with its own traditions: the Kurdish-speaking Jews of Qamishli, the Sephardic Jews of Aleppo with roots in Spain, and the original eastern or Mizrahi Jews of Damascus, called the Must’arab.

But the UN vote to partition Palestine in November 1947 was met with an Aleppo pogrom, in which the city’s Great Synagogue was burned. This prompted the first exodus of Syrian Jews to the nascent state of Israel. Most of the remainder migrated to Israel when the Assad regime alowed them to leave in the early 1990s. In addition to the handful of Damascus Jews, some of the Jews of Aleppo may yet remain in the city, hiding their identity. (WJC)

Photo of Jobar synagogue interior before its destruction: Chrystie Sherman

The investigation by +972 and affiliated website Local Call is based on conversations with seven current and former members of Israel’s intelligence community—including military intelligence and air force personnel who were involved in operations in the besieged Strip—in addition to Palestinian testimonies, data and documentation from within Gaza, and official statements from the IDF and other Israeli state institutions.

Compared to previous Israeli assaults on Gaza, the current war—codenamed “Operation Iron Swords”—has seen the IDF significantly expand its bombing of targets that are not distinctly military in nature. These include private residences as well as public buildings, infrastructure, and high-rise blocks, which sources say the army defines as “power targets” (matarot otzem).

The bombing of “power targets,” according to intelligence sources who had first-hand experience with its application in Gaza in the past, is mainly intended to disrupt Palestinian civil society—to “create a shock” that, among other things, will “lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas,” as one source put it.

Several of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the IDF maintains files on the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza—including homes—which stipulate the number of civilians likely to be killed in an attack. This number is calculated in advance by the army’s intelligence units.

In one case discussed by the sources, the Israeli military command knowingly approved the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in an attempt to assassinate a single top Hamas commander. “The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage,” said one source.

“Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a three-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed—that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (The Gospel), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”

The +972 report was released as accusations of war crimes and even genocide continue to mount against Israel.

Photo: Maan News Agency

In this move, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant apparently overrode the authority of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds the post in the Defense Ministry with oversight of Israel’s West Bank “civil administration.” (ToI, JP) Smotrich, one of the most hardline figures in the new Israeli government, has been an open advocate of “transfer” of the Palestinian population from the West Bank to Jordan.

The outpost, dubbed Or Chaim, was evicted by Israei troops a second time two days later after settlers began to rebuild it. (ToI) It was widely assumed that removal of the outpost was undertaken as a demonstration to appease Sullivan on his visit.

Simultaneously, the Israeli government announced that it is preparing to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, home to at least 180 people. Dozens of Palestinians protested near the village on Jan. 23 after the announcement by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who also said that he would visit the site with Smotrich and other cabinet ministers.

In making the announcement, Ben-Gvir explicitly invoked the eviction of Or Chaim, saying the government “will not hold Jews to one legal standard and Arabs to another.” Israeli’s Supreme Court approved removal of Khan al-Ahmar in September 2018, leaving it open to being demolished at any time. The Israeli government maintains the village was built without a permit, but authorities make it extremely difficult for Palestinians to obtain building permits in East Jerusalem and in the Israeli-administrated Area C, which covers more than 60% of the West Bank. Khan al-Ahmar lies within a key corridor stretching to the Jordan Valley, where Israel aims to expand settlements and link them with new highways, effectively cutting the West Bank into two.

Khan al-Ahmar residents say they will resist their removal. “Our fate is to remain in this area,” village spokesperson Eid Jahalin told Al Jazeera.

For years Israel has refused to connect Khan al-Ahmar to the electric grid and roads, and has repeatedly demolsithed structures at the site. Now, Israel is planning to demolish every single structure in the community and expel the residents. The demolitions are set to include the local school, which serves the children of nearby Palestinian communities similarly slated for removal. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem remarked after the 2018 Supreme Court decision: “Demolition and transfer are a war crime for which Israel’s government and military leadership will bear primary criminal liability, along with the judges who authorized it.”

While Israel has long pursued a de facto annexation policy on the West Bank, this is made explicit in the platform of the new ruling coalition, which states: “The nation of Israel has a natural right to the Land of Israel… In light of the belief in that aforementioned right, the prime minister will formulate and promote policies within whose framework sovereignty will be applied to Judea and Samaria.” (JP)

Photo: B’Tselem

Especially at issue is the new government’s planned sweeping judicial reform, under which an “override clause” would allow a simple majority of Knesset votes to supersede a Supreme Court ruling. This reform would mean that no opposition members would be required to override rulings—effectively gutting Israel’s checks-and-balances system.

Netanyahu did fire Aryeh Deri from his post as interior minister Jan. 22, complying with a Supreme Court decision ordering him to do so. The high court ruled four days earlier that Deri, leader of the Shas religious party, was not eligible to serve due to his “backlog of convictions,” including having served 22 months in prison on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in 1999. (Jurist, AA)

While Israeli flags and slogans such as “Israel, we have a problem” have predominated at the protests, some demonstrators have raised the Palestinian flag in deliberate defiance of an order from new National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to remove all Palestine flags from public places. The demonstrations have included an “anti-apartheid bloc” calling for a secular state and decolonization of Palestinian lands. (CNN, Jurist, Activestills)

Photo via Twitter

Ben-Gvir, the most hardline figure in Israel’s new far-right administration, responded: “Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas.” He tweeted after the visit that the site “is open to all and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, they should understand that times have changed.”

But Jordan, Egypt and the UAE, which all have peace accords with Israel, also condemned the move. Amman summoned the Israeli ambassador, charging that the visit had violated international law and “the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem.” (Al Jazeera, Reuters)

Washington also voiced concern over the visit. “The United States stands firmly…for preservation of the status quo with respect to holy sites in Jerusalem,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “Any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable.” State Department spokesman Ned Price added: “This visit has the potential to exacerbate tensions and to provoke violence.” (AFP)

Conflicitng claims at Pool of Siloam
The fracas comes as Israeli authorities have launched another supposed archaeological project in East Jerusalem which critics say masks an ongoing program of “Judaization” of the Old City. This concerns the Pool of Siloam, a small reservoir that is believed to have served Jerusalem’s population in biblical times. Newly approved excavations will for the first time expose the entire reservoir, said to have been built during the reign of the Israelite King Hezekiah in the 8th century BCE, and to be the pool referenced in Kings II, 20:20. Announcement of the excavation was made Dec. 27 in a joint statement by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the City of David Foundation (also called the Elad Foundation) and the Israel Nature & Parks Authority. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion hailed the announcement, describing the pool as “a site of historic, national and international significance.”

The excavated pool will be added to a controversial “Pilgrims Route” that starts at the Western Wall (directly below al-Aqsa compound, or the Temple Mount) and ending at the City of David, an archaeological complex within the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan. The pool was supposedly used by Jewish pilgrims for ritual cleansing during the Second Temple period.

In making the announcement, officials from the Elad Foundation visited the site, accompanied by a large detachment of police officers, including Border Police—sparking a spontaneous protest from local Palestinian residents. Three members of a Palestinian family that claims rights to the land in question were detained. A video of the incident has been circulating on social media.

The joint Israel-Palestinian group Emek Shaveh, which works to oppose socially irresponsible archaeology, has been keeping track of the history of land tenure at the site. Part of the area to be excavated is on a terraced olive grove long owned by the Greek Patriarchate, and rented to a Palestinian family since 1931. This plot was sold to an offshore holding company as part of a controversial 2004 deal that also saw far-right Jewish groups take over two hotels in nearby areas of the Old City. After a decade of legal challenges, that deal was upheld by a decision of Israel’s Supreme Court in June.

The Greek Patriarchate owns much property in Jerusalem and on the West Bank, and has been met with Palestinian protest for divesting lands to Jewish extremist groups.

The steps to the Pool of Siloam were first excavated by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s. The site is referenced in the Siloam Inscription, a 2,700-year-old Hebrew text looked to as historical support for the notion that the pool is that mentioned in the Bible, and fed a tunnel that supplied water to ancient Jerusalem. The artifact is currently held at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. According to recent reports, Turkish officials are considering returning the inscription to Jerusalem amid warming ties with Israel. (Times of Israel)

Photo: Купальня Силоам, Иерусалим via Wikimedia Commons

The European Union is at this moment calling for an urgent investigation into the Israeli army’s killing of a 15-year-old Palestinian girl, Fulla Masalmeh, during a raid in the town of Beitunia near Ramallah on Nov. 14. The army said the girl was in a vehicle that not heed calls to stop and sped towards soldiers—an account rejected by witnesses and Fulla’s family. In a statement, the EU offered condolences to the Masalmeh family, adding that Fulla was supposed to celebrate her 16th birthday that day, “but was tragically killed by gunfire from Israeli soldiers.” (MEMO, BBC News)

In a report issued Nov. 1, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found: “So far, 2022 is the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank, on a monthly average since the United Nations started counting fatalities systematically in 2005.” October was the deadliest month in 2022 so far, according to a count by Middle East Eye, with 29 Palestinians slain. This was the highest monthly toll since December 2015.

At least five of those who died in October after being shot by Israeli security forces were boys. The youngest was Mahmoud Mohammad Samoudi of Jenin, 12, who died in hospital on Oct. 10 from gunshot wounds he sustained during an army raid twelve days earlier.

Photo: Filippo Minelli

Although it has received little media coverage outside the immediate region, there have reportedly been several such incidents in the southeastern Biafra region since the recent re-emergence of the independence movement; government forces are said to have razed six synagogues last year, and arrested dozens of Igbo worshipers. (Gazette Africa, NewsTrack, Nigeria)

Most of the Igbo (also rendered Ibo) are Christian, and have been targeted in attacks by Islamist militants in recent years. However, a small community of Igbo Jews has lived in the Igboland region for over 1,500 years. Their existence seems to be somewhat controversial; three Israeli film-makers attempting to produce a documentary about them were arrested earlier this year, and held for 20 days before being deported. (BBC News, Israel Hayam)

Igboland was the heart of the breakaway state of Biafra that was declared in 1967, sparking a brutal four-year civil war in Nigeria, in which up to 3 million people may have lost their lives. Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) organization, which is agitating for a renewed secessionist initiative, is currently on trial in Abuja on “terrorism” charges. IPOB charges that the region has always been economically and politically marginalized under Nigerian rule. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Rodrex News Africa

While some reports claimed the group of 13 were the last Jews in Yemen, others stated that a handful may remain. Among those is certainly Marhabi, who is believed to remain in prison in spite of the supposed deal for his release.

Marhabi was arrested by the Houthi militia for allegedly assisting a Jewish family in removing a centuries-old Torah scroll from the country. A group of Yemeni Jews who emigrated to Israel in 2016 apparently brought the scroll with them, and presented it to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they were invited to meet with him. Press photos of Netanyahu inspecting the scroll evidently angered the Houthis, who said the artifact had been smuggled out of the country illegally.

Marhabi was sentenced to a lengthy prison term by a Houthi court for his supposed role in the removal of the scroll. Reports over the years indicate that he has been subjected to torture, and left partially paralyzed by a stroke.

In November 2020, shortly before the end of his term in office, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a press release saying, “The United States stands with the Yemeni Jewish community in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Levi Salem Musa Marhabi.” (Al Monitor, Jewish Chronicle)

The Jewish presence in Yemen dates back thousands of years. But the majority of the country’s Jewish community—some 45,000—were brought to Israel in the “Operation Magic Carpet” airlift in 1948. The Israeli operation followed local riots in which scores of Jews were killed. The country’s Jewish community had dwindled to some 200 when a new wave of pogroms sparked a second exodus beginning 12 years ago. Since they took over Sanaa in 2014, the Houthis have been pressuring the few Jews still remaining in the country to leave.

Photo: Yemeni Jews celebrating Passover in Israel in 1946, via Wikipedia

It particularly throws into question the “Working Definition of Anti-Semitism” drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which lists “Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism.” On this list is the item: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” The definition was officially invoked by a Trump executive order of December 2019, ostensibly on extending civil rights protection to Jewish students on college campuses.

Trump’s EO was actually issued over the protests of some in the IHRA. Kenneth Stern, who himself wrote the text cited by Trump’s EO, proclaimed in The Guardian after its issuance: “I drafted the definition of antisemitism. Rightwing Jews are weaponizing it.” Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and author of The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate, stated: “This order is an attack on academic freedom and free speech, and will harm not only pro-Palestinian advocates, but also Jewish students and faculty, and the academy itself.”

The contradiction becomes clearer with the new B’Tselem report. Commentator Nasim Ahmed, wrting in Middle East Monitor, states: “Claiming…that the existence of a state of Israel is a ‘racist endeavour’ can get you branded as an anti-Semite. As ridiculous as this sounds, B’Tselem is thus, according to the IHRA, an anti-Semitic organisation.”

Photo: Filippo Minelli