יום חמישי, 14 בנובמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Mideast Place Names and Their Translations (cartoon)

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 08:30 PM PST

I actually saw this on an antisemitic blog among lots of reprehensible cartoons. I don't think the blogger quite got the joke.


It originated at a wonderful blog called Diversity Lane that is unfortunately no longer active. But the cartoonist there is awesome. Check this out:

From the #BDSFail Desk (Zvi)

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST

From Zvi:


BDS continues to fail daily. In this edition, BDS fails miserably in Mexico, at CERN, in Cyprus, in Poland, in Germany and in Tanzania. And it might even fail humiliatingly in Norway in the near future; we shall see.
The book fair, known as the FIL (from its Spanish name, Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara), is a major showcase for the literature and culture of the world's Spanish speakers. It's the biggest event of its kind in Latin America, with 1,900 publishers representing 42 countries and thousands more exhibitors.In recent years the fair, which runs through December 8, has attracted an average of 600,000 visitors.Starting in 1993, the fair's organizers have each year honored a different city, state country or culture; honorees have included Quebec (2003), Catalonian culture (2004), Los Angeles (2009) and Germany (2011). Now it's Israel's turn. In addition to the events at the fair itself - including an Israeli film festival, an Israeli culinary fair and a headline event in the main auditorium each evening - Israel-related events will be held throughout the city for the duration of the festival.In explaining their decision to honor Israel this year, the fair's organizers cited Israel's "dynamic and solid" publishing industry, which releases around 7,000 titles in Hebrew each year.
Israel will become a full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), following the passage of a Knesset bill Monday night giving Israeli researchers at CERN the same rights as diplomats.
"As long as I am head of this organization, there will never be a resolution that says 'Don't buy from Jews,' " said Sommer, 61, chair of the Federation of German Trade Unions, accepting the Arno Lustiger Award at the third annual German-Israel Congress on Sunday.
The right-wing Høyre Party heads the administration, but the Progress Party (FrP), the conservative Høyre's junior coalition partner, is pushing to remove Norway's munitions/weapons ban on Israel as part of a broader policy to support the arms export industry.Høyre has yet to confirm if it is willing to contemplate lifting the ban, having won the recent parliamentary elections on a trade and foreign policy framework that includes fresh measures to expand Norway's arms exports, but which made no mention of easing arms export restrictions on Israel.
Other News Items
A group of Israeli researchers has succeeded in isolating a protein that kills bacteria, in what is a first step toward developing a substitute for antibiotics. The substance isolated by a Tel Aviv University team prevents bacteria from dividing, thus destroying them and combatting infections. "In the future, a new antibiotic can be produced from this protein," according to the researchers who published their findings on Monday in the journal, "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
I'm moderately surprised that Tibi spoke up, but of course he's using it to create an issue with Israeli Jews - claiming that Israeli media, which have in fact published multiple stories about this, are somehow ignoring it because it is about Arabs. Of course, the Israeli Arabs who were interviewed the other day said that both they and Israeli Jews in the area felt threatened. So Tibi and company are basically squeezing multiple hysterical lies into one accusation. They don't keep their lies entirely coordinated, either... .
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein responded that he had contacted the Ukrainian government and was promised that the heads of the national and Odessa district police were investigating the matter.
Freely visible earlier, but now behind a paywall

11/13 Links Pt2: Kristallnacht as a political instrument, Updates on IDF's Philippine Rescue Mission

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Kristallnacht as a political instrument
This year, as has often occurred in the past, some Kristallnacht memorial meetings in Europe were abused as political instruments rather than serving to memorialize Jewish victims.
Memorial-day manipulation in Germany goes back many years. In 1969 on the date marking Kristallnacht, an anarchist-leftist group painted graffiti on Jewish memorials stating, "Shalom and Napalm" or "El Fatah." Additionally, a firebomb was thrown at the Jewish community center in Berlin. The leftist groups' common perception was that "Jews who were expelled by fascism became fascists themselves, who in collaboration with American capitalism, want to annihilate the Palestinian people."
Dialogue junkie priest dons a Palestinian scarf for the Kristallnacht memorial, can't fathom the fury he raised
Sometimes you simply don't know if you should cry or laugh. Or just cringe… Apparently this is what happens to the brain of people who have sniffed too much of the dialogue glue…
UN Watch: Black Day for Human Rights: Worst Abusers Sweep Top UN Rights Posts -- France 24


What the Falk is King's College London doing inviting a 9/11 truther?
In a rather quiet corner of the Strand lies King's College London's (KCL) rather elegant baroque style campus. On Monday, this beautiful complex was host to a rather ugly personality. Richard Falk, a notable member of the United Nations' Human Rights' Council and Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, was invited by the University itself to give a lecture on 'state crime.'
It was compulsory for certain undergraduate law students, and while advertised as a leading international jurist, Falk is nothing more than a rabid conspiracy theorist.
Al Jazeera delivered Arafat's gym bag to Swiss scientists
As well as the polonium naturally produced by Arafat's body, much of the evidence used by the Swiss scientists was from Arafat's clothes as found in a gym bag.
And how did that gym bag get to Switzerland? Al Jazeera explains:
Suha Arafat stated that the bag was kept in safely custody for the past eight years, primarily with her lawyer and in a safe room on the fourth floor of a building in Paris. She did not elaborate on the precise address. She stated that it was kept there until it was retrieved in late January 2012 for Clayton Swisher to deliver to the Swiss laboratory.
Satire: George Galloway "reveals" who really killed Yasser Arafat
DISCLAIMER: Before the lawyers get their ledgers out, let's be very clear… this is obviously a parody. In no way does this website of any of its staff, authors, or owners believe that George Galloway was responsible for the murder of Yasser Arafat. The video below is strictly satire.
Now that that's taken care of… watch this hilarious video of the anti-Israel Member of Parliament George Galloway reveal who "really" killed Yasser Arafat…
CIF Watch: Jewish Daily Forward 'Top 50′ list includes "journalist" who promotes antisemitism
As we've demonstrated continually, it is not at all an exaggeration to characterize Greenwald's hostility to Israel (and the U.S.) as similar to the hate rhetoric of Islamist extremists – a fact which may in part explain Greenwald's defense of Hamas, Hezbollah and even, on at least one occasion, an American Al Qaeda operative.
Additionally, to get a sense of The Jewish Daily Forward's ideological airbrush of Greenwald – employing the Guardian tactic of characterizing commentators who engage in antisemitism as merely "critical of Israel" – here is a collection passages from his columns which 'deal with Jews in a critical way'.
Another thinly-veiled BBC accusation of war crimes
Finally, Abualouf presents a thinly veiled insinuation of a war crime having been carried out by Israel by using third party characterisations of the partial blockade as 'collective punishment'. Naturally, he refrains from naming the "human rights groups" he ostensibly cites or from informing BBC audiences of the political motivations behind those unproven accusations.
Why we need to talk about the BBC's promotion of Middle East conspiracy theories
Members of the media in general would do well at this point to devote some thought to the subject of the trickle-down effects of irresponsible, inaccurate coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict as a catalyst for increased antisemitism both in Europe and beyond.
But another of the BBC's public purposes – going under the title of "sustaining citizenship and civil society" – obliges BBC management in particular to consider this subject very seriously, with its recent amplification of Arafat-related conspiracy theories (by no means limited to the programme in which David Aaronovitch took part) being a good place to start.
Biggest children's book publisher erases Israel from map
"Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt," part of the popular Geronimo Stilton children's series translated from Italian and published by Scholastic in 2012, tells the story of a group of investigative journalists involved in a treasure hunt in Egypt.
The story commences with a map of modern Egypt and its neighboring countries. While Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia appear clearly on the map, the territory of Israel is completely covered by Jordan, painted red. A line indicating the Israeli border with the Sinai Peninsula does appear in the book.
Man with knife arrested at Israeli embassy in Brussels
The man, a Belgian converted to Islam and who appeared to be mentally unstable, was stopped by security agents and later turned to the Belgian police for questioning.
A second man, of Iranian citizenship, was also arrested when he appeared to be monitoring activities around the embassy building located in Uccle, a Brussels municipality.
Fourth man arrested in suspected Sydney anti-Semitic attack
The 26-year-old appeared in court on Tuesday and was denied bail after being arrested the previous day. Among the charges are possessing a knife in a public place and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He and three others are accused verbally abusing and physically beating four members of the Behar family and Shlomo Ben-Haiem, the educational emissary for the Jewish National Fund, on October 25.
Argentine Official Charged After Praising Hitler
The lead spokesman for the mayor of Argentina's capital is facing criminal charges after saying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "was a spectacular guy," a court source told AFP Tuesday.
The man, Ecuadoran-born Jaime Duran Barba, has been charged by federal prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan with voicing approval of a criminal act, the source told the news agency.
Philippine envoy thanks Israeli government, NGOs as aid and assistance continues
Philippine Ambassador to Israel Generoso D.G. Calonge expressed appreciation on Tuesday for the assistance Israel has offered to his storm-ravaged country, saying it made him "so happy."
"I can't describe the feeling right now... that my host country cares about our stricken people," he told The Jerusalem Post. "I hope the people of Israel will maintain their attitude of people who are stricken with this crisis and who are on the losing end of natural disasters."
Live Updates: #IDFinPhilippines Rescue Mission
In the wake of the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the IDF is carrying out "Operation Islands of Hope": A 150 member is set to leave for the Philippines today, November 13, 2013, in order to provide search & rescue, and medical services.
This post will provide updates as they become available. All times are Israeli time (GMT +2). Times are approximate.
For live tweets of Operation Islands of Hope, see: https://twitter.com/IDFrescue
Ban to become first UN chief to visit Auschwitz
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky announced that Ban will visit the camp on Monday "to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to stress the importance of the UN's work for genocide prevention, tolerance and peace."
DC intersection renamed for Bulgarian who saved Jews
A street intersection outside the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington was renamed Tuesday in honor of a lawmaker from that country who is credited with helping spare the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
The intersection in the city's Dupont Circle neighborhood will now be known as Dimitar Peshev Plaza, a recognition approved by the D.C. Council following a campaign by Peshev's supporters.
Israel May Become First Non-European Member of CERN Nuclear Research Facility
Located on the Swiss-French border, CERN is most famous for its 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, which scientists used to discover the famous Higgs Boson or "God particle" last year.
CERN's governing council of 20 European nations will vote on Israel's membership when it meets Dec. 12.
Israelis set Guinness record for donating hair to cancer patients
Zichron Menachem- the Israeli association for the support of children with cancer and their families – set a Guinness World Record for donating the most hair to cancer victims in a single day drive. Some 250 women – some of them cancer survivors – cut 53.1 kilograms (117 lbs) of their locks for wigs for cancer patients. The previous record was 48.7 kilograms (107 pounds).
Start-Up Nation: Israeli Hi-Tech Exits at $4 Billion So Far in 2013
The year 2013 has proven to be lucrative so far for high-tech and life sciences companies in Israel. According to Globes, 20 such companies at varying degrees of maturity have been sold for a total of $4 billion thus far.
Just as surprising, 2013 is not even a record year; 2006 holds that distinction, with $10.1 billion in exits. This year's biggest winner was traffic app Waze, which sold to Google for nearly $1 billion.
StandWithUs Accomplishments

When are illegal settlements legal?

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST

There are two kinds of settlements in Judea and Samaria: the ones that are legal under Israeli law, and the ones that are not.

The illegal settlements, often called "outposts" because they are often tiny, are, under international law - legal!

Let me explain.

The entire reason any settlements are considered "illegal" under international law is because of a tortured reading of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, Article 49, paragraph 6:

The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

 The argument that Jewish settlements are illegal comes from bizarre idea that people who choose voluntarily to live there are somehow being "transferred" by Israel. The arguments for that are very strained, to say the least. They are usually centered on how Israel supports the settlements it considers legal by building infrastructure or otherwise making life there any easier for its citizens, as if that fits the definition of "transfer."

But the people who choose to break Israeli law and build their own illegal settlements cannot by any stretch of interpreting Geneva be considered to be "transferred" - their decision to move is purely voluntary and not encouraged at all by the Israeli government.

Which means that these outposts that are illegal under Israeli law are legal under international law - no matter how you try to misinterpret Geneva Art. 49!

(This is all moot, despite all the NGOs that say that settlements violate Geneva. For an in-depth look at Article 49 and why it clearly doesn't apply to Jewish settlements, see here for the travaux préparatoires.)

Does the Jordan-Israel peace agreement give Jordan custodianship of the Temple Mount?

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST

Jordanian newspapers today are reporting that Jordanian officials confirm that Jews have no right to pray on the Temple Mount, according to the Israel-Jordan peace treaty signed in 1994.

They were responding to members of Knesset who said that the treaty did not require any Jordanian approval for Jews to pray there.

Who is right?

Here is the text of the relevant article of the treaty, from Jordan's King Hussein website:

Article 9 - Places of Historical and Religious Significance and Interfaith Relations

1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.

2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.

3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

Paragraph 1 makes it clear that nothing can prohibit Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, just as Muslims or Christians cannot be banned from the area either.

Paragraph 2 has two parts. The first is clearly not prescriptive; it is simply a statement that Israel "respects" Jordan's "special role" without saying what that role is. It does not give Jordan any power to create rules.

The second part is almost prescriptive but not quite; it uses the word "will" instead of the stronger "shall." It also doesn't define what it means to give "high priority" to Jordan's "historic role." If Israel is the party assigning priorities to Jordan's role, that means that Israel can override them. Most importantly, however, is that this sentence only refers to the time of permanent status negotiations (implying that Jordan will be a party to the talks) but it does not say that Jordan's role, whatever that is, is permanent.

Paragraph 3 explicitly calls for freedom of religious worship. This indicates that not only is Israel permitted to allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount and perhaps to allow them to pray, as the previous two paragraphs implied, but it enshrines the freedom for Jews to pray on their holiest site is. Banning such prayer would be a violation not only of human rights law but of this treaty itself.

The peace agreement certainly does not give Jordan any custodianship or powers over the Temple Mount. The best that can be said is that it demands Israel take Jordan's opinion into account, but Jordan has no veto power over how the holy sites are governed. Moreover, the third paragraph shows that freedom of worship is a critical principle to be upheld by both parties, which would naturally include freedom for Jews to worship.

In short, the Jordanians who claim that the treaty gives them the right to ban Jewish worship are not being truthful.

11/13 Links Pt1: Israeli Soldier Murdered on a Bus by an Arab, Bomb cost Iran $170B, Vive la France

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Soldier, 19, stabbed to death in his sleep by Palestinian on bus
An Israeli soldier died after he was stabbed multiple times in the neck Wednesday morning by a Palestinian youth on a bus at the central bus station in Afula.
The soldier, 19-year-old Eden Atias of Nazareth Illit, was evacuated to the city's Haemek Hospital. Doctors operated on him in an attempt to stabilize his condition but he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Eyewitnesses said Atias was sleeping in his seat on the bus when he was attacked.
Likud hardliners call to stop peace talks after suspected terror attack
"The talks are deluding both the Israeli public and the Arabs," Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said. "We must stop this predictable crash course immediately."
Danon also called to stop the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely said "the Palestinian Authority's well-oiled incitement system continues to claim victims."
"[PA President] Mahmoud Abbas has a tactic of indirectly harming Israel. Jews aren't killed by PA officials but by the 'Palestinian street,' which is fed each day by anti-Israel propaganda. We cannot continue talking peace while the PA is talking terror," Hotovely added.
Alan Baker: Kerry is mistaken on settlements
In fact, the express purpose of the permanent status negotiation continues to be to determine, by agreement, the status of the territory, to which Israel has a longstanding legitimate claim, backed by international legal and historic rights.
Notably, Israel is the only country in the 193 member UN General Assembly whose rights to sovereignty in the territory west of the Jordan river were twice affirmed last century, first as part of the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations and then by its successor organization, the United Nations, via its founding charter.
Secretary of fate
The second critical point related to Kerry's comments concerns the low esteem in which he holds the Palestinians.
He did not suggest that failed peace talks might lead to Gandhi-like civil disobedience or mass fasting in protest; no, he suggested the one thing he associates with Palestinians: violence.
Secretary Kerry, like a dozen or so of his predecessors, will fail unless he holds the Palestinians to accepted international norms of behavior and treats Israel as an ally and not as a member of his protection racket. He might take some time to also explain to the Palestinian people that if they want an internationally recognized state, then violence against civilian targets is "illegitimate" and will not be tolerated.
Report: Netanyahu Played Arab Incitement Footage for Kerry (VIDEO)
The footage was from a classroom in Balata, near Nablus, and showed the teacher indoctrinating the students on "martyrdom" and echoing the claim that all of Israel belongs to Arabs. "Palestine is an Arab land from the River to the Sea," she is seen saying. The phrase was repeated by the schoolchildren.
Aiming to calm critics, Netanyahu cancels massive settlement plan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered plans for new settlement construction pulled back late Tuesday, saying the move to push forward tens of thousands of new units over the Green Line was a "meaningless step" that would create pointless tension with the international community.
Netanyahu: Gaza war caused 98% drop in rocket fire
In addition, Netanyahu said, Hamas was still stockpiling weapons and storing them in civilian areas.
"Hamas is manufacturing and storing missiles and rockets that are concentrated in residential buildings and aimed at Israeli citizens," he said. "Israel will continue to strictly uphold international law, but will not sit on its hands while terrorists perpetrate two war crimes at the same time: They are prepared to fire at Israeli cities and are hiding behind civilians in the Gaza Strip. It is our full legal and moral right to direct fire that is as accurate as possible at those who fire indiscriminately at our people. The responsibility for any collateral damage that is liable to be caused to the residents of Gaza lies squarely on Hamas's shoulders."
Mufti: Jerusalem is 'Islamic'
He accuses Israel of trying to take over the mosque.
"The radical settlers continue the daily damage to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," Hussein wrote in a statement. "They burst into the territory of the Al Aqsa Mosque and pray in it.
"The city of Al Quds [Jerusalem – DH] has an Islamic character and the occupation will not be able to take away its character and identity, even if it continues commiting crimes and forging the facts."
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Authority police arrest Bethlehem journalist George Canawati
Palestinian Authority police on Sunday arrested Bethlehem journalist and broadcaster George Canawati on suspicion of "slander" and "insults."
Canawati, director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, appeared on Monday in court with a black eye and torn shirt. He announced that he had gone on a hunger-strike in protest against his arrest and beating.
He complained that PA policemen physically assaulted him before and during his interrogation.
Single-minded Islamic Jihad grows in Gaza's shadows
Hamas, with robust political and military wings, rules the Gaza Strip and is clearly the senior Islamist party. Islamic Jihad has no ambition to govern, but it is quietly putting on muscle and has become the go-to group for both Iran and Syria.
This makes it increasingly dangerous for Israel and a possible threat for Hamas on the Palestinian militant landscape - although the group's exclusive focus on fighting the Jewish state means it is not challenging Hamas for control of Gaza.
Missing Peace: Experts: Netanyahu is right on Iran
History is a great teacher, but not everyone pays attention. In "The Guns at Last Light," Rick Atkinson's chronicle of World War II, the author recalls President Franklin Roosevelt's view of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin following their meeting at Yalta in February 1945: "'Stalin doesn't want anything other than security for his country,' the president said. 'He won't try to annex anything and will work for a world of democracy and peace.'"
Winston Churchill similarly misjudged Stalin, writes Atkinson, telling his war cabinet, "'Stalin I'm sure means well to the world and Poland. … He will not embark on bad adventures.' He added, 'I don't think I'm wrong about Stalin,' whom he had called 'that great and good man.'"
Times and dictators change, but human nature remains the same. Roosevelt and Churchill were wrong about Stalin and the Obama administration is wrong
about Iran.
Alan Dershowitz: Nuclear Peace With Iran In Our Time Is This Our Chamberlain Moment?
This is the time when the entire pro-Israel community must stand together in opposition to the deal being offered the Iranians—a deal which is bad for the United States, for the West, and for Israel. The Israeli people seem united in opposition to this bad deal. The American Congress is doubtful about the deal. This is not a liberal/conservative issue. Liberals who view military action as a last resort should oppose this deal, and conservatives who fear a nuclear Iran above all else should oppose this deal. Indeed all reasonable, thinking people should understand that weakening the sanctions against Iran without demanding that they dismantle their nuclear weapons program is a prescription for disaster. Have we learned nothing from North Korea and Neville Chamberlain?
Daniel Pipes: The silver lining of Obama's weak America
That the socialist French government of François Hollande just blocked a bad deal with Tehran, emerging as the hero of the Geneva negotiations, is on one level a huge surprise. But it also follows logically from the passivity of the Obama administration.
American foreign policy is in unprecedented free-fall, with a feckless and distracted White House barely paying attention to the outside world, and when it does, acting in an inconsistent, weak, and fantastical manner. If one were to discern something so grand as an Obama Doctrine, it would read: "Snub friends, coddle opponents, devalue American interests, seek consensus, and act unpredictably."
Zero Hour: Israel Must Choose Between Attack and Enslavement
Regarding the legality of such an attack, if there is an imminent threat against another state, then a preemptive strike is technically lawful under the UN Charter.
Israel, like any other nation, is under no legal obligation to sit back passively and quietly await annihilation at the hands of a country that remains determined to destroy it.
Should Israel strike at Iran, the world will undoubtedly howl. Let it: this too shall pass. Guided by the rightness of its cause, Israel will be acting for the advancement of shared regional and global interests, which happen to dovetail with its own.
Netanyahu: Iran Being Given Legitimacy to Become Nuclear
"Israel prefers the diplomatic option over any other option. But we want a genuine diplomatic solution that dismantles Iran's military nuclear capabilities," Netanyahu said in remarks at the Bloomberg Fuel Choices Summit.
"The proposal that was put on the table, the details of which we are familiar with, is a bad deal. It leaves Iran with nuclear capabilities for military objectives, and provides it with a significant easing of sanctions. The additional danger is that it gives Iran legitimacy to be a nuclear threshold state. That goes against the interest of the international community," he stressed.
Iran's nuclear drive has cost $170 billion, say Israeli sources
Of the $170 billion price tag, $40 billion was "invested over the past 20 years in the construction and operation of nuclear infrastructure," the sources told AFP.
They said Iran had "lost $130 billion because of sanctions put in place since 2012," including $105 million linked to the oil sector and $25 billion to banking, trade and industry, development and investment.
Vive la France!
The P5+1 talks brought us perilously close to accepting a very bad deal. There was one nation, however, that refused, France. French Ambassador Laurent Fabius told French journalists, "We will not be part of a fool's deal."
Nature abhors a vacuum and France has swept in to fill the vacuum in moral leadership. Viva la France!
Obama uses nonexistent fatwa as basis for Iran talks
In September, the U.S. president told the U.N. that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons," but it turns out no such edict exists. In 2012 Khamenei specifically said it was premature to rule on the matter.
How al-Qaida split the Syrian opposition
The Syrian-based branch, ISIS, unlike its main al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Nusra Front, is mainly comprised of non-Syrians and instead of fighting the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad directly, has focused its efforts on taking over areas already controlled by the multitude of rebel factions in the northern and eastern parts of Syria near Iraq and along the Turkish border.
IAF Syria Strike 'Hit Russian S-125 Missiles'
Satellite photos of the site, on Syria's northern Mediterranean coastline, prove that the alleged IAF strike targeted S-125s that were in the process of being upgraded from a less sophisticated system. The photos were taken a few hours before the site was hit, by a firm providing satellite services to the US defense system.
Russia negotiates its biggest arms deal with Egypt since the Cold War after Barack Obama cuts defence aid
Egypt is seeking as much as US$2 billion in Russian weaponry, including MiG-29 fighter planes, air-defence systems and anti-tank missiles, said Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Russian Defence Ministry's advisory board and head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow.

"Vegan-washing" and the fanaticism of the far-Left

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST

+972 has an unintentionally hypocritical article about tensions within Israel's vegan community.

A fanatic animal-rights activist named Gary Yourofsky is planning to speak about his passion in Ariel, which is of course in the "territories." +972 finds this hard to believe, because it is such a left-wing topic; how could he even think about speaking in a city that is deemed illegal by the international community?

His answer shocked the +972-niks:

"Since the 'international community' is comprised of violent, bloodthirsty thugs who terrorize billions of innocent animals every second of every minute of every hour of every day, the 'international community' can go to HELL," he wrote back.

Responding to the core question of the Palestinian struggle and the call to boycott Israeli academia and the settlements, Yourofsky said he sees no point in caring about any human beings so long as animals that are being regularly slaughtered. "When people start eating sliced up Jew flesh, or seared Palestinian children in between two slices of bread with onions, pickles and mustard, then I'll be concerned about the Middle East situation."
The +972 author, Haggai Matar, tries to wrap his head around such thinking, and finally gets an answer. Another animal rights activist explains that Yourofsky is a "single issue activist" who is focused on animal rights above all. He is, simply, a fanatic. Some people can be so obsessed with a single topic that they can be understood, even if their resulting actions are unforgivable.

Matar then quotes far left anti-Zionist Aeyal Gross, in Haaretz (Hebrew), where he notes that recently Bibi Netanyahu made statements supporting animal rights during a cabinet meeting. It wasn't a policy statement, it wasn't a public speech, it was just a conversation during a meeting.

Gross is incensed at how such a disgusting person as Netanyahu could possibly advocate a liberal position on anything. It is like Gross, a "part vegetarian part vegan," is sickened that he could have anything in common with the prime minister of Israel.

So Aeyal Gross, who had previously railed against Israel's officially gay-friendly public stance, called this "vegan-washing" as a successor to the ridiculous term "pinkwashing."

What Haggai Matar is completely blind to is that while he is condescending towards single-issue activists for animal rights, he doesn't realize that his article, +972 magazine and his entire far-Left community is focused on a single issue as well: the  evil of Israel, especially the"occupation."

To these fanatics - and they are no less fanatic than Gary Yourofsky - there is only one issue, Israel's supposedly horrible treatment of non-Jews. When they hear about Yourofsky speaking in Ariel, the first question they ask is "what about the occupation?" When they hear that a politician they don't like advocates a liberal position, they ask "what about the occupation?" When they see Israel sending aid to Haiti or the Phillipines, they ask "what about the occupation?"

To these far Left fanatics, the "occupation" and the fact of Israel's unique evil trumps all else. They see everything Israel does, whether it is a music festival or archaeology or scientific achievements or medical breakthroughs, as simply either proof of oppressing Palestinian Arabs or a scheme to distract the world from Israel's oppression of Palestinian Arabs. The only thing good about Israel, to these haters, is that there are so many people there that loathe Israel.

Like Yourofsky, they simply cannot hold two ideas in their heads at once. Because, to fanatics, the world can only be divided into those who see the world exactly their way and those who don't. There is no grey, no middle ground, nothing even orthogonal to their pet topic. Nothing else exists.

That's pretty much the definition of "fanatic."

(See also here and here for previous examples of this obsession among the anti-Zionist Israelis.)

(h/t Ruchie)

Gazans celebrate "victory" in Pillar of Defense anniversary

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, which Islamic Jihad called "Operation Blue Sky," and the group marked its "victory" with one of its ubiquitous parades through the streets of Gaza:








And, of course, the wookie:

John Kerry wrote letter supporting anti-Israel extremists in 2009

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 02:35 AM PST

From Arutz-7:
John Kerry provided a signed letter of support to an extremely radical group of leftists and anti-Israel activists who were organizing a march on Gaza in 2009, revales Maariv's Ben-Dror Yemini. Members of the group eventually wound up on the 2010 Gaza flotilla that included the Mavi Marmara, on whose deck a bloody confrontation between Turkish terrorists and the IDF ended with 9 dead terrorists.

Yemini says that the Gaza Freedom March organizers included Ali Abunima and Omar Barghouti, leaders of the Israel boycott campaign, musician Roger Waters, and members of Code Pink, which he describes as a radical feminist anti-Israeli group. One of the Code Pink activists was Jody Evans, who had worked as a fundraiser in Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

As they prepared to begin their journey to Gaza, members of the radical group tried to get support from leading US officials. One official who agreed to do this was then-Senator Kerry, who served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee at the time.

In the letter he provided, Kerry expresses his "strong support" for the "humanitarian" delegation and asks that "every courtesy" be given them. Yemini adds that Abunima and Evans showed the letter to Egyptian officials, who decided to prevent them from going on to Gaza anyway. Evans and fellow Code Pink activists eventually boarded the Free Gaza Flotilla.

Kerry should have known better, opines Yemini, after members of Code Pink met with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2008. He asks, "How is it that a senior senator gave legitimacy to a group that was characterized by support for Hamas, support for Ahmadinejad, and deep hostility toward Israel and the US?"
Here is the letter where John Kerry refers to these anti-Israel agitators as "humanitarian" :



Code Pink, in its announcement asking for support for the Gaza Freedom March, said that the US was complicit in Israel's "crimes."

The anti-Israel agitators did not make it to Gaza. Egypt wouldn't let them go, despite Kerry's letter. They pretended they were martyrs themselves, some starting a hunger strike. Adam Shapiro (of Mondoweiss) noticed some nascent anti-Egypt protests in Cairo and had the audacity to believe that his group was responsible for that. Anti-Zionist Hedy Epstein, always trotted out because she is a pseudo-"Holocaust survivor,"  said "We're in a desperate situation here" - because her suitcase of crayons and paper would not make it into Gaza. The entire trip was an exercise in narcissism and slamming Israel, not about helping a single human being.

Yet John  Kerry, in his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, writing about this group of self-centered haters, said that "my staff has met with members of the group, and is impressed with their ability, dedication and commitment to the peace process."

(ht Ilya)

UPDATE: I didn't realize that this was reported back in 2010. Of course, at that time Kerry wasn't the Secretary of State. (h/t Bob K)
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