יום רביעי, 27 בנובמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Another photo of the Dome of the Rock in disrepair in the 1890s

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:30 PM PST

Recently, Chatham University put online over a hundred lantern slides, hand colored, of scenes in the Middle East. Some have been shown on the Israel Daily Picture site.

Here is a photo of the Dome of the Rock from the 1890s:


As I've shown before, it is practically abandoned and overgrown with weeds. The fountain in the foreground is dry and damaged.

I once made a video showing a few of these photos of weeds across the area that is supposedly so sacred and used for pilgrimage:



But last year I found something even more damning - incontrovertible proof that Muslims only care about their "holy places" in Jerusalem when Jews are in control.

This photo and video shows how the same Dome of the Rock looked in the 1950s, under Jordanian rule. And it looks pretty much the same as it did in the 1890s. If anything, the Dome is in worse shape.





(h/t Irene)

11/26 Links Pt2: Sir Tom Jones speaks out against BDS, Boston Mayor Declares ‘Thanksgivukkah’

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Stand With Us: Fmr Israel Amb to the US, Michael Oren addresses the StandWithUs-IDC Ambassadors Club


Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO "Resignations" and the Peace Process
The message that Erekat and the PLO officials are sending to the world is: "Hold us back from resigning or else there will be no peace process."
The "resignations" and threats to quit are also intended to send a message to the Palestinian public, which long ago lost confidence in the PLO negotiators' performance, that Erekat and his colleagues are playing tough with Israel.
PLO officials are apparently convinced that they can "fool all of the people all of the time." The next time the Americans and Europeans hear threats to resign from PLO officials, they need to react the same way as Palestinians do -- with a wide smile.
They also need to be reminded that Abbas and his predecessor, Arafat, also threatened to quit at least 20 times since the beginning of the peace process.
Almagor: Abbas in Knesset 'Dances on Blood of Terror Victims'
The parents also emphasize their dedication to protesting the move, insisting that if Mahmoud Abbas comes to the Knesset, "we will be there in the name of morality and justice."
"We will block him ourselves, with our bodies," the statement affirmed. "On the day he gets to Jerusalem, heaven forbid, we will be there to [physically] block the Knesset, just as we did with many other [demonstrators] when Arafat wanted to go to Jerusalem."
"If Mahmoud Abbas is received by the Knesset, it will be like dancing on the blood of the terror victims who were murdered by his people," the letter concludes.
PMW:Fatah publicizes threats to kidnap, kill and bomb Israelis
"We are preparing to kidnap Zionist soldiers," is part of a promise made by the terror organization Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - the military wing of Fatah, and published in a video on Fatah's official "Main Page" on Facebook.
In the video, a masked terrorist sitting among dozens of rockets states that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is preparing to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to "empty out the Zionist prisons." This is a warning that Fatah terrorists plan to follow the precedent set by Hamas, who kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and held him hostage for five years until Israel released over 1,000 terrorists including many murderers, to enable Shalit's release:
"We are preparing to kidnap Zionist soldiers to settle accounts with the Zionist enemy properly, in order to empty out the Zionist prisons." (h/t Ilya Fainshtein)


PA TV: US created the "War of Terror myth" to increase its interference in other nations' affairs VIDEO

Harvard Publication Prints Anti-Semitic Article
The Harvard Ichthus, a Christian journal, published an essay by a Jewish convert to Christianity called "Why Us?" which argues that the Jews have deserved their suffering of the past 2,000 years because of their role in the death of Jesus Christ.
"We, the Jews, collectively rejected God and hung Him up on the cross to die, and thus we deserved the punishments that were heaped on our heads over the last 2000 years," the anonymous contributor wrote.
US College Sponsored Speakers: Israelis Kidnap, Torture Arab Children
There was an event at Haverford College on Sunday, Nov. 24, called "The Soldier and the Refusenik." The two speakers who presented are traveling throughout the U.S. on a fundraising tour for their organization, Anarchists Against the Wall. That organization attacks not only the "Occupation," but Israel's very existence.
During Sunday's program, students were told by Israel-critical Israelis such "facts" as:
- Israel uses the "West Bank" and Gaza as its own private lab where it experiments on Palestinian Arabs and then sells the weapons it perfects to the "worst dictators in the world, including the United States"
Sir Tom Jones speaks out against anti-Israel protesters
Now that the singer has performed his concerts, he has decided to speak out against the campaign which has seen musicians including Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd, Annie Lennox and Elvis Costello refuse to visit.
"I was in Israel two weeks ago, where a lot of singers won't go," says the entertainer, whose hits include It's Not Unusual, Delilah and The Green, Green Grass of Home. "I don't agree with that. I think entertainers should enter­tain. They should go wherever – there shouldn't be any restrictions. I did two shows in Tel Aviv, and it was fantastic."
Speaking at the annual dinner of Norwood, a charity supporting vulnerable children, families and people with learning disabilities, Sir Tom tells The Jewish News: "I wanted to go, because the Israeli people asked me. They would like me to sing, and I don't see any problem in doing that. I don't see why anyone would mix up the two things – entertainment and politics."
Deep Purple returning to Israel
Two years after its last successful visit, veteran British rock band Deep Purple is returning to Israel this winter for one concert at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena on February 22.
The band will arrive in Israel as part of its "The Best of Deep Purple" concert tour, which will include performances of its greatest hits as well as songs from its new album, "Now What?!" (h/t Yoel)
At last: an accurate and impartial BBC report on Syrian patients in Israel
On November 3rd the Israeli media gave extensive coverage to the story of a baby boy born to a Syrian mother in Tsfat's Rifka Ziv hospital. On November 25th an article by the BBC Jerusalem Bureau's Kevin Connolly on that specific case and on the general subject of Syrian patients treated in Israel appeared in the 'Features & Analysis' section of the BBC News website's Middle East page. The report also includes filmed footage broadcast on BBC television news programmes.
This year's 21 UNGA resolutions against Israel (4 on rest of world)
The four that do not concern Israel are: one on Syria, a regime that has murdered 120,000 of its own people, and one each on Iran, North Korea and Myanmar.
There were will be zero UNGA resolutions on gross and systematic abuses committed by China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Zimbabwe, nor on many other major perpetrators of grave violations of human rights.
French Jewish immigration to Israel up by 49 percent
Through September, 2,185 French Jews have immigrated to Israel, compared to 1,469 immigrants during the same time frame in 2012, according to Jewish Agency for Israel figures. The number of immigrants who arrived from France to Israel during the whole of 2012 was 1,907.
Of the immigrants to Israel this year, 3,188 Jews arrived from Western Europe — a 26 percent increase from the same period last year.
Julie Bishop says Australia's shift on Israel UN resolutions is a bid for balance
Australia this month abstained from two UN General Assembly resolutions; one condemning the expansion of Jewish settlements and another calling for the Geneva Convention to apply in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Under Labor, Australia had supported the resolutions.
Ms Bishop said the shift "reflected the government's concern that Middle East resolutions should be balanced".
"The government will not support resolutions which are one-sided and which pre-judge the outcome of final status negotiations between the two sides," she said through a spokeswoman.
Almost 2/3 of anti-religious crimes in US targeted Jews in 2012
The ADL criticized the report as faulty, charging that the drop in incidents was due, at least in part, to the failure of many government bodies to properly report hate crimes.
"Due to a deeply disturbing trend of under-reporting and under-participation by law enforcement agencies, including more than a dozen of the largest agencies in the United States, the 2012 Hate Crime Statistics Act report is seriously flawed," National Director Abraham Foxman said in a written statement.
Point of No Return: Jews were targets before Israel's creation
Three popular myths surround the 870,000 Jews who left Arab countries after Israel was born. The first is that they departed of their own free will. Second, if they did flee as refugees, it was because Arab states lashed out spontaneously against their Jewish citizens like a bull to a red rag (and who could blame them?). Third, the Arab states took revenge on their Jews for the plight of Arabs driven out of Palestine.
India Marks 5 Years since Mumbai Massacre
Victims and government ministers laid wreaths at a memorial in south Mumbai dedicated to police and security forces killed trying to stop the Islamist gunmen during 60 hours of carnage.
Ten terrorists arrived by sea on the evening of November 26, carrying out a massacre at the Jewish Chabad center, hotels, a railway station and a cafe as terrified civilians tried to escape the bloodbath.
Six Jews were murdered at the Chabad House: Chabad emissaries Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivky, who was five months pregnant; Rabbi Aryeh Leibush Teitelbaum, Rabbi Benzion Korman, Norma Shvartzblat Rabinovich and Yocheved Orpaz.
One of the Most Remarkable Books About the Holocaust Was Just Published
"I think I can pinpoint exactly the hour and day when my childhood ended," writes Slavko Goldstein near the beginning of 1941: The Year That Keeps Returning. The date was April 13, 1941, when Goldstein was 13 years old. That morning, he asked his father if he could go out to play with friends. His father, Ivo, was hesitant: Just two days earlier, German troops had marched unopposed into Croatia, and tanks were on the streets of their small city, Karlovac. But he gave his permission, and Slavko went off.
When he returned that afternoon, his father was gone: He was part of the first group of Karlovac citizens arrested by the new fascist regime. Ivo would never return home again, and by August he was dead, one of thousands of prisoners executed at the Jadovno camp that summer.
Israel hosts 4-nation warplane drill over Negev Desert
Israel began hosting its largest joint air force drill this week with pilots from the U.S., Italy and Greece over the skies of southern Israel.
The exercise, called Blue Flag, will take place in the airspace between central Gush Dan and the Negev Desert.
IAF Launches Largest International Military Exercise in Israel's History


Spotlight: From Iran to the IDF
"On television, Iran did not show good things about Israel, always only bad things," S. explained. "The government there does not like Israel, but the people themselves do not care. They just want to live well. People do not like that the government is investing a lot of money in the nuclear program."
S. says that since her childhood she wanted to move to Israel and join the IDF. "When I got to Israel they asked me to say my name to get an ID card. It was my first time ever using my Jewish name," she recalls. "For me it was a significant moment in my life."
After treating 2,600 patients, Israeli medical team leaves Philippines
The 148-person medical team vacated the IDF's emergency field hospital in Bogo City on Monday after treating more than 2,600 patients, including 800 children. The team also conducted 52 surgeries and delivered 36 babies.
A European Union delegation replaced the IDF team, which left behind a range of medical supplies, including an X-ray machine and equipment for the delivery of newborns.
Meet the woman who coined the term 'Thanksgivukkah'
At this point, it is tough to live in America and not know that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same night this year. It is also tough to not know that this doesn't usually happen. That popular wisdom has it we've got another 70,000 years to go before this comes up again. (Apparently popular wisdom is wrong.)
But a year ago, it wasn't a cultural reference point. It was just an oddity Dana Reichman Gitell, a marketing specialist at Hebrew Senior Life in Massachusetts, had noticed on the calendar.
Nov. 28 Declared 'Thanksgivukkah' by Boston Mayor
In light of the once-in-a-lifetime convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, Boston's retiring Mayor Thomas Menino has declared Nov. 28 to be "Thanksgivukkah" in the city.
Israel Daily Picture: The Chatham Library Photo Treasures Part 3, Jerusalem, Holy to All Religions
We express our admiration and gratitude to the archivists at Chatham University for digitizing these hand-colored slides dating back to about 1890.
The picture of Robinson's Arch published above is the base of a massive arch built by King Herod. Archaeologists believe it was the anchor for a large bridge or staircase from the top of the Temple Mount.

Cornell BDS group justifies hypocritically using Israeli web technology

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST

Last week, the ZF and I it was discovered that a number of groups that push boycotts for Israel are using WiX, an Israeli web technology, on their websites.

One of those was Cornell University's "Students for Justice in Palestine." People on Twitter made fun of them for their obvious hypocrisy.

Finally, Cornell SJP came out with a long, nonsensical, convoluted justification for their BDS inconsistency; 1500 words of hilarious attempts to make themselves look a little less idiotic:

BDS is a tactic, not a principle, let alone a call for abstention. The charge that any contact with Israeli products negates the logic of BDS can only be made by people who do not understand what BDS actually is, how it's worked in the past, or why Palestinian civil society is calling for it now.

The idea that supporters of BDS must avoid contact with anything Israeli not only misconstrues the nature of BDS, but also contorts the idea of politics in general. Politics is about making change in the world, not shying from contamination to keep oneself pure. GWF Hegel explored—and put to rest—the idea of the political subject whose only options were abstention and total withdrawal from action. He called it the "beautiful soul" syndrome. We do not strive to be beautiful souls, and we resist a view of politics that demands total abstention. In the words of Built to Spill, "I don't like this air / But that doesn't mean that I'll stop breathing it."

Those who call us hypocritical for not adhering to a rigid logic of separation simplistically insinuate that if one believes in boycotting Israel one must do it absolutely and deprive oneself of all the innovative benefits of the "Start-up Nation"; since one is opposed to Israel, one must not be in contact with anything Israeli. This separation in turn supports the misguided idea of two clear "sides" to the conflict. It is a troubling binary: on the one side, Israel, a plucky, can-do Zionist spirit, innovation, technology, modernity; on the other, Palestine, poverty, backwardness, violence.
The entire piece is filled with similar straw men.

So, who's right? Is BDS a call to boycott all Israeli products or not?

Well, let's look at the original 2005 source of the BDS call, from BDSMovement.net:
Boycotts target products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions. Anyone can boycott Israeli goods, simply by making sure that they don't buy produce made in Israel or by Israeli companies. Campaigners and groups call on consumers not to buy Israeli goods and on businesses not to buy or sell them.
Pretty explicit, isn't it? No nuance, no exceptions for nice web technologies. Nope - a blanket call to boycott Israeli produce and goods and businesses. It is the BDS movement that advocates the "beautiful soul" syndrome, in Hegelian terms (!!!)

Cornell  SJP doesn't support BDS as it is officially defined, because - well, because it would be an inconvenience. They like WiX. They want to boycott Israel, but they only want to ban products that they would never use anyway! They are so moral!

Actually, they admit:
Let us be clear: BDS is not abstention, nor an absolute moral principle.

There's an understatement for you!

Sorry, Cornell SJP. All that hand waving and attempts to change the subject in your very funny screed didn't prove that you aren't hypocrites.

Quite the opposite.

Another great speech by Ron Prosor at the UN

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST

This speech was given yesterday by Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor:

John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie... but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

This is the third year that I am standing before this Assembly to address this agenda item and once again, I experience a sense of déjà vu as I listen to a distortion of history. The greatest legends of Greek mythology cannot rival the fables and fabrications that have come to be associated with this debate.

This debate may take place only once a year, but anti-Israel bias pervades the UN system all year round. In 2012, this Assembly found the time to pass 22 resolutions condemning Israel – compared with only four that single out other nations.

The worst human rights abusers receive a fraction of the condemnation that Israel – the only democracy in the Middle East - receives. These irresponsible actions have irreversible consequences. The states that rubberstamp the anti-Israel resolutions every year, have given the Palestinians a false sense of reality and fed their culture of victimhood.

It has only been one year since this assembly voted to change the Palestinian delegation's status at the United Nations. To all those who voted in favor of that resolution, I ask the following: What exactly has changed?

Did the resolution give the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza? Not in the least. Gaza comprises forty percent of the territory that President Abbas claims to represent, but he hasn't set foot in the area in six years. It seems to me that the Palestinian Authority has been asserting more control over some UN bodies than it does over the Gaza Strip. Since 2007, Gaza has been in the hands of Hamas, a terrorist organization that rains missiles on Israel's civilians.

Did the resolution passed last year motivate the Palestinian Authority to finally hold elections? Not at all. Perhaps someone in this Assembly should remind the Palestinian Authority that its mandate expired in 2009 – and one election doesn't mean you can rule forever.

At the same time I have to wonder, where are all the countries that claim to stand for democratic values? They are quick to cast judgment on Israel, but fall strangely silent when the Palestinians don't cast votes.

Did the resolution passed last year inspire the Palestinian Authority to prepare their people for peace? Not in the least. Rather than teaching their children tolerance and mutual recognition, the Palestinian leadership continues to foster a culture of incitement.

Palestinian Media Watch will soon release a report documenting hundreds of examples of Palestinian incitement since the peace talks began. One such example is football teams named in honor of terrorists responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against Israelis. Instead of teaching kids to score goals, the Palestinian leadership's goal is to glorify murderers.

Israel recently made the difficult decision to release 26 convicted murderers as part of its commitment to advancing the peace talks. Shortly after, the Palestinian Authority announced that each of these 26 terrorists would be rewarded with $50,000 and some will earn as much as Palestinian ministers. The motto of the PA's pension plan seems to be 'the more you slay, the more we pay.'

As the PA sings praises to murderers, the international community tunes out and mysteriously loses its voice. I wonder how taxpayers in London or Luxemburg would feel knowing that their tax dollars are being used to reward convicted murderers?

The Palestinian leadership has yet to learn an important lesson. You cannot abuse others and call yourself the abused. And you cannot claim your history is being denied, while denying the history of the Jewish nation.

In Gaza, Hamas is poisoning the hearts and minds of the next generation. They recently published a textbook for 55,000 high school students in which page after page denies Judaism's historical connection to the land of Israel and describes Zionism as racism. Textbooks should be for education, but Hamas uses them for provocation, indoctrination and escalation.

These are just the most recent examples of the incitement targeting the next generation. Terrorism does not begin with an attack on a bus or in a pizza parlor. It begins in classrooms, mosques, and day camps where Palestinian children are being taught prejudice instead of peace; terror instead of tolerance; and martyrdom instead of mutual understanding.

This incitement is having deadly consequences. Between 2011 and 2012, the number of Palestinian terror attacks against Israel doubled. So far in 2013, there have been 1,163 terror attacks against Israelis and dozens of attempted kidnappings.

Just over a week ago, Eden Atias, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, was stabbed to death while sleeping on a passenger bus. Eden was the latest victim of the escalating terror attacks against Israelis. In September, 20 year-old Tomer Hazan was murdered, two soldiers were injured in an attack near Nablus, and a 9-year-old girl was stabbed while playing in her front yard. In October, four Israeli civilians were injured in a stabbing attack and Sraya Ofer was brutally beaten to death outside his home in the Jordan Rift Valley.

All those who claim to advance peace must remind the Palestinians that there are no shortcuts. Peace is not achieved by changing your nameplate at the UN; it isn't achieved by unilateral actions or by passing a string of anti-Israel resolutions; and it won't be achieved in Manhattan, mid-town east, but rather in the Middle East. So long as the Palestinian leadership chooses symbolism over pragmatism, it will be harder to achieve peace.

In a few days, on November 29, the United Nations will recognize the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Let me take a moment to remind this Assembly what really occurred on this day in history. On November 29 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which came to be known as the Partition Plan. This resolution provided for the establishment of a Jewish state and an Arab state.

The Jews accepted huge compromises and gave up on dreams the Jewish people had carried for generations. But they welcomed the plan and joyously declared a new state in their ancient homeland. Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first president of the State of Israel, proclaimed: "It is now our primary task to establish relations of peace and harmony with our Arab neighbors."

Rather than accept the partition plan, five surrounding Arab nations declared war on the newborn Jewish state. Their intentions were made clear by Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, who said: "It will be a war of annihilation. It will be a momentous massacre in history that will be talked about like the massacres of the Mongols or the Crusades."

The Arabs not only rejected the UN offer of a Palestinian state, they then declared war against the Jewish state. Since losing this war, the Arabs have perpetuated the Palestinian refugee problem and still have the audacity to demand solidarity.

Broadway may be down the street, but the real theater is here at the United Nations. In these halls, the Arab nations shine a spotlight on the Palestinian refugees, but back home in the Middle East, leave them in the dark. Since 1948, the Arab states refused to accept the Palestinian refugees into their societies, confined them to refugee camps, and passed discriminatory laws.

General Assembly resolution 181 passed in 1947 speaks of the creation of a "Jewish State" no fewer than 25 times. And yet today, 66 years later, have you heard Palestinian leaders utter the term 'Jewish state'? Of course not.

Palestinian leaders call for an independent Palestinian state, but they insist that the Palestinian people return to the Jewish state. This is a euphemism for the destruction of the State of Israel and the single greatest hurdle to achieving peace.

Many in this room are convinced that the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. In fact, from the time that Israel gained its independence in 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was in Jordanian hands and Gaza was in Egyptian hands. Throughout this time, there was not a single settlement. Yet the Palestinians still sought our destruction.

Today, just 2% of the Israeli population lives in settlements, but they are blamed for 100% of the problems. The math simply doesn't add up.

Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. It is the birthplace of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the land where Moses and Joshua led the Jewish people and King Solomon built the Jewish Temple.

Israel is the place where the bible tells us about David, who was made king and laid the cornerstone for his palace in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. That is King David from Judea, not King David from the 'West Bank' – and certainly not King David from the so-called 'occupied territories.' After all, you can't 'occupy' your own home.

For thousands of years, Jerusalem served as the capital of the Jewish people. Three thousand years ago, my ancestors walked the same streets that my children walk, spoke the same language that I speak, and prayed at the very same Temple Mount that Jews pray at every single day.

Yet all of these historical facts are brushed aside. Instead, in this Assembly all we hear are rants, rhetoric and biased resolutions. It doesn't take a fortuneteller to predict the language in these resolutions. After all, the same text is copied and pasted each year – much of it dating back five decades. Yet country after country sees no problem in standing up and parroting propaganda. I'm reminded of President John F. Kennedy who said, "No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth."

The resolutions being voted on today have no relationship to the facts on the ground. Just last week the UN adopted nine resolutions condemning Israel. One of these resolutions condemned Israel's treatment of the Syrian people. Condemned Israel's treatment of the Syrian people? It is inconceivable that while Israeli hospitals are treating the Syrians who escaped Assad's massacre; the UN is denouncing Israel's treatment of the Syrians.

If that weren't enough, the GA will soon vote on another resolution calling on Israel to hand over the Golan Heights and its residents to Syria. It is nothing short of absurd for the UN to demand that even more civilians be subject to Assad's brutality.

At the United Nations, there are countless resolutions that delegitimize and demonize Israel. Why don't I ever hear anyone speak about all the good work Israel is doing for the Palestinians?

While the Palestinians are busy condemning Israel at the UN, Israel is busy supporting the Palestinian economy and developing their infrastructure. Today, more than 100,000 Palestinians earn their living in Israel, making up more than 10% of the Palestinian GDP. Israel is also building four electrical substations and providing more than 1,400 million gallons of clean water annually.

Palestinians receive world-class healthcare services in hospitals throughout the country. In the first half of 2013 alone, more than 94,000 Palestinians received treatment in Israeli hospitals.

And we continue to give, even as our goodwill is knowingly exploited. While the IDF uncovers one terror tunnel after another, the flow of consumer goods continues into Gaza uninterrupted. Each day, the state of Israel delivers 400 truckloads to the Palestinian people via the Keren Shalom Terminal.

George Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

The truth is that Israel is not just speaking about peace; it is demonstrating its commitment every single day. Peace is a central value of Israeli society and it has been the goal of the Israeli people and every Israeli leader since our state was re-established 65 years ago.

We will not be deterred from this goal. Israel has always extended its hand for peace and it will continue to do so for our children and for our grandchildren. When we faced an Arab leader who wanted peace, we made peace. That was the case with Egypt and that was the case with Jordan. We are committed to negotiating with our Palestinian neighbors so that our two peoples can live side by side in peace, dignity and freedom.

I call on my colleagues in this Hall not to be distracted by unilateral efforts and biased resolutions. Remind the Palestinians to take responsibility and that the only way to reach a comprehensive peace deal is through hard work and direct negotiations.

Working together, we in this room call all make history by making peace. Working together, we can author a better future - one where our people can live in security, free from violence; where the horizon is bright with opportunity; and, where our children can live side by side in peace.

11/26 Links Pt1: Israel’s FM a Point-by-Point Review of Iran Deal, Hezbollah's 200 UAVs

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Israel's Foreign Ministry, in Point-by-Point Review of Iran Deal, Sees Much Lacking
Israel's Foreign Ministry said that with the deal, nuclear enrichment continues; the Arak heavy water reactor does not get dismantled; research and development on centrifuges used to enrich uranium continues; Iran's stockpile of 7 tons of uranium goes untouched; the project is merely paused, not stopped, allowing it to resume at Iran's convenience; international business ties can resume, and would be hard to roll-back in the future; the six-month deal could become permanent; and, finally, the military question over Iran's right to develop nuclear weapons "are completely absent from an agreement that envisions restoring confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program as one of its major goals."
Caroline Glick: The goal of Obama's foreign policy
The culmination of this long process of delegitimizing Israel as a warmongering, ungrateful ally and its supporters as turncoats who are forcing the US to endanger itself for the benefit of the Jewish state was the administration's hysterical campaign against Israel and its supporters in the lead-up to Saturday's signing ceremony in Geneva. Everyone, from the White House to Kerry, accused Israel and its supporters of trying to force the US to fight an unnecessary war.
When we consider Obama's decision to wait for a year to sign the deal that enables Iran to become a nuclear power in the context of his main activities over the past year, we understand his foreign policy.
His goal is not to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. It isn't even to facilitate a rapprochement between America and Iran. The goal of Obama's foreign policy is to weaken the State of Israel.
Abrams on Iran Deal: 'This Is Not A Peaceful Energy Program'
Abrams noted that Obama has wanted a deal with since taking office in 2009, and the President's desire to end the confrontation with Iran is what "really worries the Saudis, the Israelis, and others in the region…they've counted on us to defend them from Iran and now we're not going to be doing that."
"That's the real problem here," Abrams claimed, saying Iran's enrichment of plutonium is "not a peaceful energy program."
Melanie Phillips: World saved? Hardly. More a final countdown to nuclear blackmail and war
Journalists who would normally ask themselves 'why is this lying bastard lying to me?' if a western politician merely said 'hello, nice day isn't it' (apart, of course, from The One) have suspended all independent powers of observation and thought over this risible farce of a deal.
Viewing it through the prism of 'after-Iraq-don't-give me-any-more-lies-about-Islamic-terror/anything-that-sounds-like-compromise-and-lets-us-put-our-heads-back-in-the-sand-must-be-good/war-with-Iran-is-sooo-much-more-terrifying-than-a-nuclear-Iran/new-Iranian-President-Rouhani-sounds-charming-and-moderate-so-phew!-we-can-believe-anything-that-he-says/anything-Benjamin-Netanyahu-is-against-I'm-for', the chattering classes have apparently decided that yup, this really is peace in our time and any comparison with you-know-what in 1938 is well, just hysterical, and anyway we've had it up to here with Israel and they can just shut up.
On my Mind: From Tehran to Damascus
The six-month interim deal does not in itself guarantee an end to Iran's nuclear-weapons quest, and that's a lesson no doubt being absorbed in Damascus. Assad may well look at what Tehran got, after years of obstinacy and defiance, and conclude that if he, too, continues to say the right words, he can continue to hold on.
It worked for Assad on chemical weapons, averting an attack by the US and France after his regime murdered Syrians with those weapons of mass destruction. Prospects for the Syrian people are not encouraging. As The Wall Street Journal pointed out so aptly in an editorial, "The most lethal WMD in Syria today is Bashar Assad himself."
Geneva: The abandonment of the Jews
The United States has recklessly rolled the dice with the fate of its closest ally in the Middle East, inexplicably placing its faith in a rogue regime, one that has repeatedly vowed to finish what Hitler began.
It was 29 years ago, in 1984, that historian David S. Wyman published a seminal volume, The Abandonment of the Jews, on America's failure to stop the Nazi slaughter of European Jewry. Marshaling painstaking evidence, Wyman conclusively demonstrated that America and its leadership could have saved millions of Jews. In the preface to his book, Wyman concluded with a simple yet chilling question, "Would the reaction be different today?" Sadly, the agreement forged with Iran in Geneva gives us a glimpse of what the answer might be.
Iranian freedom cancelled
This is not a victory of diplomacy, it is a victory of political amnesia. Conflicts like this one can only be solved once and forever when there is a change of regime. Remember Libya? Remember how the world failed to prevent nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea?
The American President has pushed forward with his appeasement agenda despite rightful Israeli security concerns. To me Barack Obama has entered history books as a US leader who not only let the Syrian genocide happen, but also sold out Iran's civil society to cut a brief and shallow deal with an Islamist dictatorship.
Wife of imprisoned pastor says family devastated after Iran deal fails to secure his release
Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran's nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release.
But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini's status was not on the table during those talks.
The Iran deal is a pacifist march to conflict
And so once upon a time when war was bad, the doves may have been singing from the hymn sheet of today's more hawkish elements on the Iranian issue. Sanctions, not submarines. Pressure, not privates. Resolutions, not railguns. But where were they when the Iranian people sought to rise up in 2009? Where was Britain? Where was America? Where was the European Union? We all know: stuck in our sub-prime miasma – unconcerned with what would lead the headlines for months on end just four years later. This lack of foresight is indicative of just how poor long-term thinkers our leaders have become.
The 'pacifist' Peace Pledge Union urged appeasement of Nazi Germany in 1939, believing that giving Hitler a little would mean saving a lot in the long run. It is not just a figurative truth, but a literal one, that our leaders of late have been the sons and daughters of Peace Pledge Union activists.
Why Obama's Iran Nuke Deal Is a Good Thing
Israel and Saudi Arabia have both issued statements making it clear that they will not accept an Iranian bomb. And unlike Obama, they actually mean it. What they will do about it is another question, but now they, and everyone on the firing line, knows that Obama will do nothing and that sets them free to act.
Iran is in the North Korean cycle of nuclear development, useless sanctions, pointed threats and worthless deals. If the cycle continues, Iran will detonate a nuclear weapon and then it will pass nuclear technology into the hands of terrorists. And the next step is the mass murder of millions.
Iran, North Korea Secretly Developing New Long-Range Rocket Booster for ICBMs
Several groups of technicians from the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), a unit in charge of building Iran's liquid-fueled missiles, traveled to Pyongyang during the past several month, including as recently as late October, to work on the new, 80-ton rocket booster being developed by the North Koreans, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports.
CNN poll: 53% of Americans think Obama is untrustworthy
Some 53 percent of the American public believes that U.S. President Barack Obama is neither honest nor trustworthy, a CNN poll conducted last week has found. The CNN/ORC International survey, released on Thursday, also found that just 40% of Americans believe Obama can manage the government effectively, a fall of 12 percentage points in the president's approval ratings since June.
According to the report, Obama scored lowest for honesty out of nine personal characteristics tested in the poll.
Senators writing new sanctions in case Iran cheats
The Kirk-Menendez bill demands the administration certify every 30 days Iran's adherence to the agreement reached in Geneva this weekend, and that it's not engaged in terrorism against the US.
The administration has promised Iran no new sanctions during implementation of the six-month interim deal.
Cantor: Since when do we trust Iran?
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called the arrangement "dangerous" and said it brings Iran "closer to becoming a nuclear power." He said the deal "bodes very, very ominously for the region and U.S. security."
Speaking to "CBS This Morning" on Monday, Cantor said the terms of the deal were softer than those already in several U.N. resolutions. He said the deal was "not worth the paper it's written on. ... Since when do we trust Iran? I believe that the attitude should be mistrust and verify."
The remark was a twist on then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan's famous statement about arms control. Reagan said he favored arms pacts with the Soviet Union if there was a "trust-but-verify" standard.
2013 Iran Nuclear Deal Repeats Mistakes of 2003 Deal
After defying the E3 and failing to adopt the additional protocol (in addition to other cheating) Iran's nuclear program is far more advanced than it was ten years ago. Instead of making a new deal with Iran the P5 + 1 should have been enforcing the previous deals.
The case of the "additional protocol" taught Iran that it needn't observe its commitments and obligations. In the coming months when Iran and the West have a dispute over the meaning of terms of the Geneva deal or the discovery of something suspicious in Iran, Iran knows that it can bluff its way out of suffering any consequences for its bad faith.
Iran FM Zarif Strikes Different Tone in Tehran, Says Nuclear Activities To Go On as Normal
Despite an international treaty to the contrary, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, upon arrival at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport on Sunday, "underlined that all Iran's nuclear sites will go on their normal activities" and that "none of Iran's nuclear programs would stop," the semi-official Iranian FARS news agency reported on Monday.
Hezbollah Says Nuclear Deal a Victory for Iran
"What was achieved through this agreement is a major victory for Iran and to all the people of the region and it is a defeat for the enemies of these people," Hezbollah said in a statement.
"(It is) a model victory and world class achievement which the Islamic state adds to its record which shines with victories and achievements."
Hezbollah has fleet of 200 Iranian-made UAVs
Hezbollah has close to 200 Iranian-made UAVs. Part of the unmanned fleet is destined for kamikaze actions on strategic national targets in Israel or IAF bases during the next crisis which is bound to occur between the adversaries.
The options at Nasrallah's disposal include many models of UAVs, including kamikaze planes capable of low-altitude flights to evade detection by radar.
Egyptian officials defend law restricting protests
The law, issued by the interim president a day earlier, bans public gatherings of more than 10 people without prior government approval, imposing hefty fines and prison terms for violators. It also empowered security agencies to use force to break up protests.
The protest law has caused cracks in the loose coalition of secular and non-Islamist groups that rallied behind the military-backed government installed following the ouster of elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.
Report: Egypt nabs 17 suspected spies linked to Mossad
Egyptian security authorities have allegedly detained 17 people suspected of working as spies in connection with the Mossad, Kuwaiti daily al-Rai reported Tuesday.
According to Egyptian officials cited in the report, the detainees were members of three spy networks operating in Cairo and several other Egyptian cities gathering security and military information along with intelligence on the country's economic situation.

Roger Cohen's malice towards Israel continues

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 07:05 AM PST

Predictably, Roger Cohen in the New York Times praises the Iran nuclear deal in  glowing terms:
Let us be clear. This is the best deal that could be had. Nothing, not even sustained Israeli bombardment, can reverse the nuclear know-how Iran possesses. The objective must be to ring-fence the acquired capability so its use can only be peaceful.
Given that the UN and the US had previously insisted that Iran doesn't have the right to enrich uranium, caving on that technical capability is far from "the best deal that could be had." Essentially, Cohen is saying that since Iran would never agree to anything beyond its red line, that must be accepted as gospel. Meanwhile, US and Israeli red lines are flexible.

But beyond that, Cohen tries to conflate Israel's position on Iran with its position on allowing a terror state sworn to its destruction to be set up next door:

Israel is the status-quo Middle Eastern power par excellence because the status quo cements its nuclear-armed domination. Any change is suspect, including popular Arab uprisings against despotism. As changes go, this U.S.-Iranian breakthrough is big, almost as big as an Israeli-Palestinian peace would be.

Just as the United States has had to adapt to a world where its power is unmatched but no longer determinant, Israel will have to do the same. With enlightened leadership this adaptation could strengthen the Jewish state, securing the nation through integration in its region rather than domination of it. For now Israel is some way from this mind-set. Its overriding prism is military.
Cohen obviously does not inhabit the same planet as the rest of us.

In the real world, Israel has sought for 65 years to be integrated into the Middle East. It sought peace with its neighbors; and its main goal after peace plans are signed is full normalization with its neighbors, with free travel and economic cooperation on both sides. Hell,  Israel even values and integrates Arab cuisine and culture in its own state, which Arabs consider "theft." Nothing would please Israel more than to be able to cooperate with Arab states on issues like water conservation and desalination, deforestation of deserts, medicine and a host of other common issues.

Who is against such integration? One guess.

Security is uppermost in Israeli minds, not its military. Cohen is obviously too obtuse to understand the difference.
Diplomacy involves compromise; risk is inherent to it. Iran is to be tested. Nobody can know the outcome. Things may unravel but at least there is hope. Perhaps this is what is most threatening to Netanyahu. He has never been willing to test the Palestinians in a serious way — test their good faith, test ending the humiliations of the occupation, test from strength the power of justice and peace. He has preferred domination, preferred the Palestinians down and under pressure.
During Netanyahu's first term, he signed the Wye River agreement with Arafat, that transferred land from Israeli control to PA rule. Imagine that.

However, it is true that Bibi wasn't in office when Israel offered a Palestinian Arab state in 2001, and the Palestinian Arabs responded with a wave of suicide bombings. He wasn't in office when Sharon withdrew from Gaza which led the way to unprecedented rocket attacks on Israeli communities. He wasn't in office when another state was offered in 2007 only to be rejected again.

One would have to be either blind or maliciously biased against Israel to think that the Palestinian Arab good faith wasn't tested these multiple times - and they failed every single time.

Cohen isn't blind.

(h/t PC)

Will a Qatari ship dock in Ashdod to provide fuel for Gaza?

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:15 AM PST

Palestine Today reports that PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah is currently in Qatar to discuss options for easing the Gaza fuel crisis, since Hamas adamantly refuses to pay market prices for fuel for the citizens it supposedly is protecting.

According to the report, two options are being explored.

One is that Qatar will pay the PA to purchase fuel from Israeli sources and that fuel can be pumped into Gaza as it used to be.

The other is that a Qatari fuel tanker would dock in Ashdod and that fuel would be transferred by Israel to Gaza via Kerem Shalom!

Why would Qatar even consider such a move?

Last year, Qatar sent a fuel tanker to Egypt to provide a huge amount of free fuel for Gaza. Less than half of that fuel was delivered; the remaining fuel is sitting in storage in Egypt. Despite numerous diplomatic attempts by Qatar urging Egypt to deliver the remaining fuel, Egypt refuses.

Israel is now considered a more reliable partner to helping Gaza than Egypt - even by fellow Arabs!

Arabs want to bring back "Palestine Pound" currency. They don't know much history. (update x2)

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:06 AM PST

From Ma'an, by Alex Shams:
In markets across historic Palestine, tourists can buy old coins and bills emblazoned with the phrase "Palestine pound."

The bills often catch visitors off guard, a stark reminder of a world that existed prior to the partitioning of the Palestinian homeland in 1948.

Indeed, the Palestine pound gives lie to the oft-repeated Zionist mantra that Palestine was a "land without a people for a people without a land" as it demonstrates the existence of a shared currency used throughout the British Mandate of Palestine for nearly 30 years by Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike.

The Palestine pound is an inconvenient reminder for many Israelis that a cosmopolitan and tolerant society thrived in Palestine before its dismemberment and exile by the emerging Israeli state.

But the creation of the State of Israel on the majority of mandate Palestine and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, alongside the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by Jordan and Egypt respectively in response, put an end to the currency's usage.

After Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, all of historic Palestine came under the rule of the Israeli lira (and later the shekel), while the Jordanian dinar and eventually the US dollar circulated alongside.

One Palestinian researcher, however, is determined to bring the Palestine pound back, this time as the currency of the newly emerging State of Palestine.
This is the illustration of the Palestine Pound used in the Ma'an article:


Would the revived Palestine Pound include Hebrew?

Now, let's look at the bank name. Hmmm. "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited." What is the history of that bank?

It was formed in 1902 - as a subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust, created at the Second Zionist Congress in 1899. Wikipedia notes "The bank opened its first branch in Jaffa in 1903 under the management of Zalman David Levontin. Early transactions included land purchase, imports and obtaining concessions. Branches were opened in Jerusalem, Beirut, Hebron, Safed, Haifa, Tiberias and Gaza. The Anglo-Palestine Bank offered farmers long-term loans and provided loans to the Ahuzat Bayit association which built the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv....During World War II, the Anglo-Palestine Bank helped to finance the establishment of industries that manufactured supplies for the British army. After the founding of the state of Israel, the bank won the concession to issue new banknotes. In 1950, the bank was renamed Bank Leumi Le-Israel (National Bank of Israel). "

The note illustrating the article is in fact the first currency of Israel, used for four years before the Israeli lira was established to replace it. It was not used by Palestinian Arabs who fled to Jordan.

The earlier Palestine Pounds, issued by the British - never by the Arabs - also featured Hebrew. This one had the Kever Rochel - an indisputably Jewish shrine - on the front:

The initials after the Hebrew "Palestine" stand for "Eretz Yisrael."

The adoption of a specifically Palestine currency was pushed not by Arabs, but by Jews, as early as 1917. Arabs complained when the first Palestine Pound notes were issued in 1927 and they wanted to continue to use the Egyptian Pounds that they were used to.

Indeed, the history of the Palestine Pound is nothing but a recent history of the Jews of Palestine, and it is what became the Israeli currency while Palestinian Arabs rejected it.

Alex Shams is a propagandist. The truth about the pound shows a slice of the history of Zionism, not of a "Palestinian people."

UPDATE: Shams is also the author of the bogus "Ukrainian girl claims to have killed kids as an IDF soldier" story. Ma'an must be proud to have hired him.

UPDATE 2: What a surprise - Ma'an silently changed the photo of the Palestine pound away from the one that was used in the new state of Israel and rejected by Palestinian Arabs.

Erasing history is par for the course for Palestinian Arabs. Literally.

They pretend they want to bring back "historic Palestine" but the Palestine they are talking about only thrived because of Zionists! Yes, Zionists created their sports leagues, orchestras, newspapers, tourism initiatives,  and a pavilion at the World's Fair all proudly named after Palestine. 
פורסם על ידי zoom ב- 0:05

אין תגובות:

הוסף רשומת תגובה

הירשם ל- תגובות לפרסום (Atom)