יום שלישי, 28 בינואר 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Hasby Award: Best Pro-Israel Commentator Exclusive to Israel/ME

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:30 PM PST

The nominees for the Hasby Award for Best Pro-Israel Commentator Exclusive to Israel/ME are:





And the winner is....






This was a top-notch field to choose from, and the decision was hard.

 I admit that I don't regularly read Honig's blog and when I checked it out for this award, I was blown away. She does exactly what she sets out to do: she contextualizes today's headlines in terms of history, much of which she witnessed firsthand. Her articles are fantastic, and she writes often.

 Besides her compelling and original take on current events, Honig is also a writer of great skill. 

 Congratulations, Sarah!

01/27 Links Pt2: ‘Never again’ imperatives, The myth of the Arab bystander to the Holocaust

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:35 PM PST

From Ian:
JPost Ed: 'Never again' imperatives
On International Holocaust Day, which is being commemorated today, we are asked not just to remember. We are also asked to learn lessons from that dark period in history.
One lesson which tends to be emphasized in Israel and among world Jewry is that anti-Semitism is essentially a terminal moral disease of humanity and that Jews must never again rely solely on the kindness of others. They must instead take responsibility for their own destiny.
Much of Zionism's moral force is derived from this "never again" imperative. Never again must the Jewish people allow itself to be in a state of powerlessness. This awareness of our potential vulnerability drives our perception of the Iranian threat and our apprehensions regarding a territorial compromise with the Palestinians.
To murder 6 million people, the Nazis showed us, you don't even need fanatics
The Holocaust also has a clear meaning for the Jews, its paradigmatic victims: as a dismayingly vast proof that there is no safety in European pluralism, culture or "civilization," in high-minded talk of humanism, individualism and international community, or in calming analyses that downplay future threats.
These are all important reflections on the "lessons" and "meaning" of Auschwitz, but they constitute too much of our public conversation about it, almost as though we are willing to discuss any aspect of that event except the choking, shivering bodies of the real-life gas chamber. Auschwitz too often serves as a bludgeon for our social or political agendas, an instrument to express our own fears and passions. There is a vague consensus that Auschwitz reflects something ultimate and untouchable, and so we immediately set about sullying it.
Exposing the myth of the Arab bystander to the Holocaust
Many of the current leadership in the Middle East owe their power base to the emergence of their predecessors during those dark times. The Palestinians still revere Husseini and many of terrorist groups are named after groups he founded.
The myth that the Arabs were innocent bystanders to the Nazi Holocaust is unfortunately widely accepted at face value. It is about time that this capricious fallacy was exposed, not just out of respect to those Jews who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and their allies everywhere, but also to deconstruct the simplistic notions used to explain the history of the conflict, especially that the Arabs were not responsible for the suffering that resulted from their continued incalcitrance.



Half of Knesset in Poland for Holocaust memorial
The largest ever delegation of Israeli lawmakers to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Polish site Monday.
Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Uri Ariel, Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, and Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz joined some 60 Knesset members, 24 Holocaust survivors and their families, as well as 250 prominent public figures, including State Comptroller Yosef Shapira, Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev on the trip to Poland, where they took part in several memorial ceremonies.
Rare Color Footage of the Liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau
This video shows the Liberation of the Buchenwald and Dachau Concentration Camps. Watch the German Townspeople who were ordered by the Americans to go to the camps and watch.
I find that the color enhances the reality of these images, doesn't permit them to be overlooked. The black and white images we've all been saturated with, unfortunately, have all merged over time into one, continuous and incomprehensible fog. The color, especially when reflected from the Germans being forced to look at what they had done, makes it impossible to overlook the horror.
IDF Blog: Two Generations of Jewish Heroes: Holocaust Survivor and Israeli Soldier
Corporal Ezra Friedman was born to a family with a distinguished heritage. His great grandfather on his mother's side was a combat soldier in the United States Navy in World War I, and his grandfather was a combat pilot in Vietnam.
Ezra's grandparents- mother's side
His grandfather on his father's side was a fighter in the Jewish resistance movement against the Nazis during World War II. Listening to his grandfathers tell their stories throughout his childhood convinced Cpl. Friedman that he wanted to make Aliya. "Being the grandson of a holocaust survivor definitely has an affect on me in a very direct way," Cpl. Friedman says. "The stories are very real and personal."
Remember How Danes Donned Yellow Stars To Protect the Jews? That Never Happened.
It's an incredible story—probably the best-known example of mass civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to come out of WWII. The trouble is it's just that—a story. It never happened, and couldn't have, because the Danish Jews were never forced to wear the yellow star. But the tale was prominently featured in American news outlets during the war, and after making its way into Leon Uris' novel Exodus became one of the great unchallenged myths of European resistance.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Nazis failed to deport Danish Jews in significant numbers, thanks to an operation that became known as the "Miracle Rescue," by which the vast majority of Danish Jews were spirited away to Sweden—a neutral country—in October 1943, where they lived out the rest of the war in relative safety.
UN's Ban calls on world to remember lessons of Shoah on Int'l Holocaust Day
Ban Ki-moon recently released the video, reflecting on his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland late last year.
"I will never forget my visit. I saw the horrific remnants of the machinery of genocide... The United Nations was founded to prevent any such horrors from happening ever again," Ban Ki-Moon stated.
"We will continue to shine a light on these unspeakable crimes so that they may never be repeated." Emphasizing the importance of formal instruction on this subject, the secretary-general has also said that education and public awareness are the first defense against prejudice, ethnic hatred and intolerance.
White House taps special envoy for Holocaust survivor community
Aviva Sufian, a staff member at the Health Department's Administration for Community Living, will be the special envoy for U.S. Holocaust survivor services, a White House announcement said last Friday.
"Her work as Special Envoy will focus on those survivors currently living in poverty, as well as those who may not be receiving services for which they are currently eligible," according to the statement.
Reza Aslan Compares Israeli Company SodaStream to Adolf Hitler, Implies Scarlett Johansson is Nazi Supporter
Iranian-American writer and academic, Reza Aslan, compared Israeli company SodaStream to Adolf Hitler and implied that its newly minted spokesperson, actress Scarlett Johansson, was a Nazi supporter in a tweet on Friday afternoon that he quickly deleted.
"Scarlett Johansson: Adolf is committed to building a bridge to peace between Germany and Poland," Aslan wrote, linking to a Huffington Post article in which the actress responds to critics of her representation of the soda machine maker.
American Studies Association Academic boycott: The Fallout Continues
The fallout over the American Studies Association academic boycott resolution continues. As of this week, 218 University presidents have denounced the measure, and 6 Universities have dropped their institutional membership. Individual memberships are also being withdrawn, though the danger is that strategy may further empower the extremist fringe within the Association. Again, Kol hakavod to both Avi Mayer and Prof. William Jacobson for their efforts in keeping us up to date. And thanks are due as well to the countless bloggers, pundits and non-profits who refused to remain silent in face of this attack on academic freedom.
Pinkwashing, Redwashing, Greenwashing — the multi-colored world of anti-Israel hate
It's no surprise that the ASA boycotters also seek to deny the Jewish people indigenous status in Israel. It completely destroys the "anti-colonial" and "post-colonial" foundation of the BDS movement.
The inability to come to grips with a fair examination of indigenous rights is not limited to ASA boycotters.
UNESCO first canceled then delayed an exhibition on the Jewish people's ties to Israel dating back 3500 years after protests from Arab countries, out of fears that such an exhibition would endanger the peace process. The U.S. refused to support the Exhibition for the same reason.
George Soros Funding Anti-Israel Evangelical Group
Last year, Alexander H. Joffe, PhD published a booklet titled "The Philanthropy of George Soros and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: How Soros-funded Groups Increase Tensions in a Troubled Region," where he exposed organizations funded by George Soros seeking to change American Christians' viewpoints on Israel.
A group that receives "approximately half" of their funding by Soros' "Foundation to Promote Open Society," is the Telos Group, which aims to strengthen "the capacity of American faith communities – and especially American evangelicals – to help positively transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." (h/t MtTB)
US attorney: NY district didn't deal with student anti-Semitism
The statement of interest filed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says, in part, that the evidence collected in the lawsuit "could support a conclusion" that the school district "ignored multiple signals that greater, more directed action was needed," and that its efforts to prevent the anti-Semitism did not go far enough and were ineffective.
The statement also said the district's leadership did not appear to have "engaged the school board or the faculty in any substantial discussion" about the anti-Semitic harassment, and that the district "failed to ensure that school administrators were aware of the scope and nature of the problem across the district's schools."
Holocaust historian returns Hungarian honor over 'whitewash'
The Hungarian state news agency MTI on Sunday quoted a letter from Braham, 91, in which the Bucharest-born scholar, a Holocaust survivor and expert on the Holocaust in Hungary, said he was handing back the Cross of the Order of Merit "with a heavy heart" following recent developments in Hungary. He also said he would no longer permit the Budapest Holocaust Memorial Center to use his name for one its research departments.
Braham, an emeritus professor at the City University of New York, wrote in the letter that: "The campaign of history falsification which aims to whitewash the (Miklos) Horthy era, has shocked me." Horthy led Hungary into World War II as a Nazi ally.
Braham said the "last straw" had been the decision by the government to erect a memorial in downtown Budapest to the 1944 German occupation of Hungary. This, he said, was a "cowardly attempt" to exonerate Hungarians from their own role in the Holocaust and confuse the issue by placing all blame on the Nazis.
London: Visit by Hungarian Far-Right Leader Sparks Tensions
A Hungarian far-right politician is sounding a defiant tone on the eve of a visit to London Sunday, where he will address members of the UK's sizable Hungarian immigrant community at a rally just one day before Holocaust Memorial Day.
Gábor Vona leads Hungary's Jobbik party, which has been branded anti-Semitic and xenophobic for its views targeting the country's Jewish and Roma minorities. In 2012 a party official called on the government to "draw up a list of Jews" serving in the government and parliament "for security reasons", and the party has been blamed for stoking racial tensions which have led to an increase in anti-Semitic and anti-Roma attacks.
Anelka comic to perform in the UK: Man behind controversial 'quenelle' gesture says he will prove he is 'by no means racist'
Dieudonne M'bala M'bala will visit London to support the West Bromwich Albion footballer, who faces a ban for performing the comic's 'quenelle' Nazi salute on the pitch.
Anelka faces a five match ban for performing Dieudonne's 'quenelle' gesture - a hand and arm movement which some say is a reverse Nazi salute.
'The Green Prince' snags Sundance award
The film is loosely based on the bestselling memoir "Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices" by Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of senior Hamas member Sheikh Hassan Yousef.
The movie recounts Yousef's experience spying for the Shin Bet from 1997 to 2007. Yousef was responsible for preventing numerous suicide bombings during the Second Intifada and was largely considered the most important agent to report to Israel from inside Hamas during those years.
Space Week blasts off with new Israeli satellite launch
Israel may or may not be sending a second astronaut into space in the coming years, but there is already a significant Israeli presence in space, in the form of over a dozen reconnaissance and communications satellites plying the heavens. Now, Israel will be launching its first civilian-oriented satellite — Venus (Vegetation and Environment Monitoring New Micro-Satellite), to be launched jointly with France in 2015. The announcement on the final decision for the launch, which has been delayed several times, was made Thursday by Dr. Yitzhak Ben-Israel, Chairman of the Israel Space Agency.
The announcement was made in advance of Israel Space Week, highlighted by the ISA's 9th International Space Conference, on January 29 and 30. The annual event, dedicated to the memory of Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, brings together senior space personnel — engineers, technicians, astronauts, and heads of space agencies — from Israel and abroad, among them officials from NASA, the European Space Agency, Russia, China, Italy, Canada, and Norway.
That Annoying Sound You Hear May Be One Startup's Billion Dollar Opportunity
Even in remote areas, such as the wilderness around California's Lake Tahoe, the drone of hot tubs, speed boats and distant road traffic carries into the mountains for miles. In cities like New York and Beijing, where the din is overwhelming, noise complaints top the list of quality of life concerns.
For regular people, unwanted noise is a scourge and a health hazard. But for Silentium, a startup based in central Israel, it's the sound of opportunity. For more than a decade, Silentium's engineers have been working on a computer chip that can wipe out unwanted noise by cancelling its sound waves.
Let a billion chips bloom: Intel Israel celebrates 40 years
What would Israeli tech look like without Intel? It's impossible to know, of course, but chances are the picture would be dramatically different. Speaking at Intel Israel's annual press conference – which this year also celebrated the company's 40th year in Israel — Eden cited research conducted by Intel that shows the impact of the company on the Israeli economy. "If Israel is the Start-Up Nation, it's Intel that had a major role in getting it there," said Eden, citing a list of a list of hundreds of companies, large and small, that were led by entrepreneurs and developers who got their start at Intel. The study shows that some 10,000 former Intel workers have gone on to help establish 30 new high-tech companies every year — creating at least 250 new jobs annually.

Work accident!

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:30 PM PST

An 18 year old man, Ashraf Zahir Faraj Allah, died Sunday night when he mishandled a bomb in the Bureij camp in Gaza.

Ma'an reports:
A Palestinian teenager died Monday from wounds sustained a day earlier in an explosion in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Ashraf Thahir Muhammad Farajallah, 18, died after being injured late Sunday in an "internal" explosion in the camp, Gaza medical official Ashraf al-Qidra said, without providing further details.

Farajallah was taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

They are calling him a martyr.

It is unclear which, if any, terrorist group he belonged to.

"Saudi Arabia behind plans to replace Al Aqsa with Jewish Temple" on Iranian PressTV

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST

So it turns out that the Jews have been puppets of the Sunnis all along?

From Iran's unintentional comedy network, PressTV:

KSA behind Israel plans to replace al-Aqsa with temple: Analyst

Saudi Arabia is supporting the Israeli regime in its plan to replace the holy al-Aqsa Mosque with a temple, an analyst tells Press TV in an interview.

Saab Shaath was talking to Press TV on Saturday...

Shaath said Saudi Arabia has always provided support for the Zionist regime's anti-Palestinian moves and "offered under-the-table support for Israel in their alliance against Syria."

"The only thing, which will stop the Israelis from going that far, is the Arab-Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon," he said.

Shaath said Israel intends to "secure as much as they can from territories in the West Bank."

"And they will go as far as the destruction of the existing al-Aqsa Mosque since now they see the Arabic masses got used to the desecration of religious sites as we notice in Syria by the Takfiri groups and the Arab masses have been shut enough to keep it quiet, that's what they believe," he added.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third holiest site in the Muslim world. [Not to Shiites! - EoZ]
Future headlines on PressTV:

Israel only exists because of money being paid to it directly from Gulf states!
Sunni Islam is really Judaism!
Mecca is really being leased from the Jews who lived there!
The Saudi King is an ultra-orthodox rabbi!
Kuwait's real name is "Jewait"!

(h/t Yisrael Medad)

Hasby Award: Best Mainstream Media Watchdog

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:15 AM PST

The week-long online Hasby awards continue, with a popular category:


BEST MAINSTREAM MEDIA WATCHDOG

Mideast Media Sampler at Legal Insurrection 

And the winner is:






Besides having a stellar year with dozens of articles showing bias in the New York Times alone (and forcing many corrections), CAMERA also freely released its monograph on that paper detailing its bias during 2011. They were in the forefront of identifying systemic Christian anti-Zionist trends. And they also oversee their fellow nominees, the excellent CiFWatch and BBCWatch, as well as Presspectiva and a couple of other specific sites for Spanish speakers and college students.

Congratulations, CAMERA!

01/27 Links Pt1: Sharon’s Legacy Haunts Obama And Kerry, Lancet M.E. Map erases Israel

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 09:40 AM PST

From Ian:
David Singer: Sharon's Legacy Haunts Obama And Kerry
Any attempt by Obama and Kerry to resile from or circumvent Bush's Congress-endorsed commitments to Sharon will torpedo any prospects for success in the current negotiations – leaving Obama and Kerry with no one but themselves to blame for bringing the current negotiations to an ignominious end.
The idea that any American President would not consider himself bound by the written commitments of a former President – as endorsed by Congress – would undermine America's very democratic foundations.
Disavowing the Bush commitments would prejudice the integrity of American diplomacy world wide – ensuring any political decisions by the current administration would not be worth the paper they are written on.
Sharon has left behind a bitter pill – which Obama and Kerry must reluctantly swallow.
Ya'alon: Palestinians see destruction of Jews as realistic possibility
Speaking at an event to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the defense minister lashed out at the Palestinian Authority for claiming to seek peace on one hand yet encouraging "efforts to boycott Israel."
"In the Palestinian Authority, whose leadership presents itself as one that is striving to reach an agreement with us, the brutal, insufferable incitement against the State of Israel and the Jewish people continues," Ya'alon said.
"This incitement is manifest in the education system and the media, where the hatred and poison ought to be an affront to any human," he said. "It is creating another generation of Palestinian children who are taught to look at the expulsion and destruction of the Jews as a realistic possibility instead of educating them toward a culture of peace and co-existence alongside Israel."
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians' New Enemy: Tzipi Livni
This Palestinian escalation of rhetoric does not bode well for the future of the peace talks. The Palestinians were first unhappy with Kerry, whom they accused of being biased in favor of Israel. Now they are angry with Livni for daring to criticize Abbas. In the end, Israel and the U.S. will be blamed for the failure of the peace process. This is exactly what happened after the botched Camp David summit in 2000, when Arafat held Israel and the U.S. fully responsible for the failure of the peace process. A few weeks later, the Second Intifada erupted. The same scenario is likely to repeat itself unless the Palestinian Authority leadership stops putting all the blame on others.



Why Israelis are supporting Netanyahu this time
It appears that the Israeli public, as much as it wants a peace agreement and is willing to compromise, is unwilling to ignore the history of Palestinian negotiating intransigence.
So who would Israel side with? With their Prime Minister who is skeptical that further concessions will bring peace? Or an American President who is trying to convince Israelis to ignore their experiences of the last 20 years? (h/t MtTB)
Kerry, It's Not the Demography!
The demography of doom distorts reality, instills pessimism, subordinates long-term strategic vision to baseless fatalism, rationalizes a policy of submission to pressure and self-destructive retreat, intensifies global pressure and radicalizes Arab demands, thus promoting violence and undermining peace.
Will Kerry embrace demographic reality, which highlights a robust Jewish tailwind and not an Arab demographic time bomb?!
Fatah: Israeli PM's spokesman is an "angry midget"
The Israeli Prime Minister's Arabic spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, posted on his Twitter account a copy of this picture below of masked men with automatic rifles, which Fatah had put on their "Main Page" on Facebook. He wrote: "This is the photo that the Fatah Movement led by Abbas chose as its Facebook page cover photo on the eve of Kerry's arrival. The Palestinian choice is not peace."
Fatah responded on its Facebook Main Page that it is not concerned by the words of "angry midgets" and that it will continue to "struggle until the liberation of our land from the impurity of Zionism."
Lancet Editor Tweets Map Where "Palestine" Replaces Israel
The UK medical journal the Lancet has in the past been accused of having an anti-Israel bias. Our affiliate, HonestReporting.com and grassroots organizations like DARA (Doctors Against Racism and Anti-Semitism) have telegraphed the bias for quite some time.
A further example of this bias occurred on January 20, when Richard Horton, the editor of the Lancet proudly tweeting out the following slide taken from the Lancet Arab Health Series to his close to 10,000 followers:
Why did the editor of a supposedly objective medical journal proudly circulate a map on Twitter that erases Israel and replaces it with "Palestine" in explaining how the refugees from Syria are being dispersed throughout the Mideast region?
Goodbye, Harriet Sherwood: Three years covering Gaza and no lessons learned.
Harriet Sherwood's latest 3200 word report, Goodbye Gaza, accurately reflects the Guardian's unwritten ideological 'style guide' which seems to dictate that even the most malevolent Palestinian political actors are framed in a sympathetic light. "With a heavy heart", the strap line begins, Sherwood "pays a farewell visit to Gaza and pays tribute to the resilience, creativity and humour of its people."
Bowen on Sharon: what did BBC audiences learn?
So what have BBC audiences gained from watching these five reports by Jeremy Bowen spread over three days? They have been misled with regard to the findings of the Kahan Commission and the cause of the second Intifada. They have been presented with numerous examples of Bowen's interpretations of what Palestinians think of Sharon, together with the views of selected interviewees, and they have repeatedly been exposed to Bowen's use of hyperbolic language such as "butcher", "villain", "killer", "criminal", "war criminal", "apartheid", "lakes of blood on his hands" and "shedding their blood".
Beyond the fact that much of this coverage cannot be said to meet BBC Editorial Guidelines of accuracy and impartiality, its overtly political nature means that, above all, in no way can it be said to meet Bowen's job description of providing "analysis that might make a complex story more comprehensive or comprehensible for the audience". Given that Jeremy Bowen is not just one individual reporter, but the person in charge of setting the overall tone of the BBC's Middle East reporting, his performance in this instance must raise questions as to the efficacy of the post of Middle East editor in producing accurate and impartial coverage of Israel.
Honest Reporting: Globe Reporter: Palestinian Rockets "Protesting Israeli Policy or Just Causing a Nuisance"
In the discussion, we were struck by how Martin referred to "rockets fired from Gaza" by Palestinians who are simply "protesting Israeli policy or just causing a nuisance".
Shooting a deadly rocket at civilians isn't politics and it's not just a minor inconvenience, it's attempted murder against men, women, and children. In our professional estimation, Patrick's flippant comment was disgraceful and was not in keeping with Globe standards.
BBC attributes rioting on Gaza border to 'tensions' caused by Israeli response to missile fire
The implication that the incident which is the subject of the report is the outcome of an increase in "tensions" due to the strike on two terrorists a few days previously does not make it clear to audiences that there have been numerous incidents of rioting in that area and others – particularly on Fridays – since long before the strike on Ahmad Za'anin on January 22nd. For example, the BBC itself reported on similar incidents on January 3rd and on December 20th. Additionally, that implication erases from the picture the undertaking by Hamas under the terms of the ceasefire agreement of November 2012 to prevent attacks both on the border and by missile fire.
Likewise, the claim made in that statement airbrushes the all-important context of the numerous missile attacks launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian targets since the beginning of the year (which averaged around one a day during the three weeks before the strike on Za'anin), the majority of which have not been reported by the BBC.
Israeli court extends detention of suspected al-Qaeda men
An Israeli court has extended by two days the detention of two Palestinian men it suspects of planning to bomb the US Embassy in Tel Aviv under instructions from al-Qaeda.
Israel accuses Eyad Abu Sara and Rubin Abu Nigma of planning a suicide bombing at the embassy and a major convention center in Jerusalem. It says they received their instructions over the Internet through a handler in the Gaza Strip who had direct ties to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
Hamas Leader: Third Intifada 'a Matter of Time'
Just one week after he was released from an Israeli prison, Hamas leader Hassan Yousef said on Sunday that a third Arab armed uprising - or intifada - is just a matter of time.
Speaking to Channel 2 News, Yousef said that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas does not represent anyone other than himself.
"All the organizations of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, are opposed to negotiations with Israel," he declared.
Clifford May: 'World Powers Surrender to Iran'
The Geneva agreement does slow Iran's timeline for the development of nuclear weapons — by a month. Yes, that's right: If Iran's rulers faithfully comply with every commitment they have so far made, at the end of this six-month period, they will be about three months — instead of two months — away from breakout capacity.
In exchange, the U.S. and other "world powers" have given the revolutionary regime, long the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, additional time — perhaps as much as a year — to continue developing nuclear warheads, triggers, and ballistic missiles. Plus there is sanctions relief sufficient to remove the threat of an impending Iranian economic crisis. Iran's economy already is recovering.
If such "doing," in addition to "saying," does not justify Rouhani's claim of a "surrender" to Iran, what would? Perhaps this: The same day Rouhani was using social media to announce Iran's defeat of the West, Reuters was publishing photos of Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, laying a wreath at the Beirut grave of Imad Mughniyeh.
PM: Final Iran deal can't work if enrichment doesn't stop
Netanyahu made his remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, denouncing for a second time Rouhani's address at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"We know the truth — there is a regime that under the guise of a charm offensive is attempting to arm itself with nuclear weapons, to become a threshold state that can obtain nuclear weapons very quickly, and one that hasn't changed a whit of its true ideology," he continued.
Iranian official confirms country sought to build nuclear weapons
Iranian officials have for a long time denied that there ever was a nuclear bomb program and have consistently insisted that the country's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes to help feed its only existing nuclear power plant and ones the country plans to build.
This author, who spied for the CIA in the Revolutionary Guards, revealed in the book "A Time to Betray" that during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the Guards' intelligence division had received information that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was trying to acquire nuclear weapons. That's when Rezaei received Khomeini's approval to do likewise. Another Guard commander, Ali Shamkhani, then approached Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, offering billions of dollars, which helped access the nuclear blueprint and Iran's first centrifuges.
Europe Woos Iran as it Shuns Israel
Nobody does double standards quite like the Europeans. And if recent developments are anything to go by, they will remain the market leader in this field of human endeavor for quite some time.
Where the Middle East is concerned, there are two complementary messages coming out of the European Union at the moment. The first proclaims that Israel is a legitimate target for boycotts and divestment for as long as the "occupation" continues—and here, "occupation" principally refers to the West Bank and the eastern half of Jerusalem, feebly eliding the fact that the Palestinian leadership, through its insistence on the so-called "right of return," regards the entire territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan as "occupied." As for the second message, that can be neatly summarized in a potential advertising slogan: Iran is open for business!
Theater of the absurd in Switzerland
The Syrian regime is fighting a multipronged opposition, complete with a fundamentalist, jihadist core -- that much is true. Still, one would think that after over two years of fighting, the U.S. would have been able to come up with a more sophisticated and vigorous strategy that would lend its full diplomatic and military support to the pro-Western elements within the Syrian opposition's ranks, thus having an actual impact on the ground.
Instead, all we are seeing are eloquent speeches by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose call from Montreux to Assad to step down sounded even more hollow than before.
Lebanese media: Israeli soldier injured in border blast
Al Manar, a Hezbollah-owned TV station, broadcast pictures of what it said was the scene of the blast. The channel reported that the soldier was wounded carrying out digging work in a trench on the border.
There were no details on the extent of the soldier's injuries.
Israeli media reported that the IDF it knew of no such incident and that none of its forces were hurt.
WATCH: Jihadists in Sinai down Egyptian air force helicopter
Terrorists from the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis jihadist organization operating in the Sinai Peninsula released a video on Monday showing one of its operatives downing an Egyptian air force helicopter with a shoulder-fired missile in the Haruba district, not far from the border with the Gaza Strip.
The video clip clearly shows the helicopter damaged and giving off smoke as it descends to the ground before finally exploding. Five Egyptian soldiers died in the attack.

Holocaust Memorial Day shenanigans in Europe

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Here is the entire statement put out by the EU's Catherine Ashton on the occasion of Holocaust Memorial Day:

Today the international community remembers the victims of the Holocaust. We honour every one of those brutally murdered in the darkest period of European history. We also want to pay a special tribute to all those who acted with courage and sacrifice to protect their fellow citizens against persecution.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must keep alive the memory of this tragedy. It is an occasion to remind us all of the need to continue fighting prejudice and racism in our own time. We must remain vigilant against the dangers of hate speech and redouble our commitment to prevent any form of intolerance. The respect of human rights and diversity lies at the heart of what the European Union stands for.
Can anyone find the word that Ashton manages to avoid using?

Oh, yeah - the victims.

By generalizing the Holocaust into a vague historical example of prejudice against some unnamed groups, Ashton is trivializing it. Most cases of prejudice and racism don't end up with the victims ashes going up chimneys. There is a reason the term "genocide" was coined - to distinguish it from ordinary racism. Ashton apparently can't bring herself to think about that. It's a lesson for us, the victims will be honored, the heroes are great, hate speech is bad (except for Arab hate speech against Jews, which the EU cannot criticize), rah rah rah, let's celebrate.
This story, from Stand For Peace, is unbelievable:

Hassan Farooq is a a "senior member" of the Newham Dawah Team, an East London-based organisation which attempts to spread the message of Islam. Newham Dawah Team is part of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) Network, and its officials regularly liaise with iERA officials such as Abdurraheem Green. The iERA is an extremist Salafi group, some of whose officials have been banned from the UK. Abdurraheem Green talks of a Jewish "stench" and advocates the killing of homosexuals. 
Hassan Farooq was chosen to speak at the 2013 Holocaust Memorial Day event in City Hall, in front of politicians and London officials, including Jennette Arnold AM, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.



Was Hassan Farooq a worthy speaker?
After taking a look at Farooq's social media postings, it would seem most definitely not:


Yes, an admirer of Hitler spoke on Holocaust Memorial Day.

And there's more.
This happened yesterday.

A protest march against French President Francois Hollande held in Paris on Sunday took an ugly anti-Semitic turn, ending with clashes between police and protesters.

According to Agence France-Presse, the "Day of Anger" march was organized by a group of some 50 small and mainly right-wing organizations, which were able to bring out several thousand people. Organizers claimed 120,000 people participated in the march, but Paris police sources pegged the number much lower, at approximately 17,000.

According to Israel Radio, demonstrators soon departed from shouting anti-Hollande slogans in favor of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli chats, such as "Jews go home," and "Jews, France is not your country."

Some used the "quenelle" anti-Semitic gesture, which was invented by controversial comic Dieudonné M'bala M'bala.

According to the report, some chanted the anthem of the Nazi collaborators during World War II, shortly before they began clashing with security forces, who used tear gas to disperse several hundred youths who lobbed police with bottles, fireworks, iron bars and dustbins.



While Europeans like Ashton mouth words of remembering the Holocaust's lessons, it appears that Europeans haven't learned a thing.

(h/t Orna, Sam, Yisrael M)

PalArab "journalists" say Israel looking for excuses to attack mosques

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST

A few days ago, Israeli media (undoubtedly given a briefing by the IDF) reported that Hamas is hard at work on getting ready for the next war:
Hamas is increasingly using sensitive civilian facilities in Gaza to protect its military assets from being targeted by Israel, ahead of a further round of conflict. It is also digging dozens of "terror tunnels" into Israel, The Times of Israel has learned.

Gaza's Islamist rulers have been placing rocket launching pads next to water reservoirs, and attaching reconnaissance cameras to mosque minarets and water towers, The Times of Israel was told, in a bid to avoid IAF airstrikes during an upcoming round of confrontation.

The response from the Forum of Palestinian Journalists is interesting:
The forum of Palestinian journalists (FPJ) warned against the gravity of the media campaign that was launched recently by the Israeli occupation to prepare the world's public opinion to accept its justifications to bomb civilian areas and structures in any intended war on the Gaza Strip.

In a press release on Sunday, the forum said that this campaign included alleged press remarks made by Israeli military officials and unnamed sources, amplifying the military capability of the Palestinian resistance and claiming that it uses mosque minarets to set up surveillance cameras to monitor the movement of the Israeli army in border areas.

The resistance is also propagated to cache its rockets and weapons in places beneath residential buildings and use civilian areas for its resistance activities, among other claims intended to justify Israel's intents to bomb mosques, populated areas and civilians.
Of course Israel wants to destroy mosques! That's why there are so many mosques in, um, Israel!

Hamas had of course used mosques for storing weapons and shooting at Israelis. Here's a video of weapons found in a mosque in 2009:



This video shows massive secondary explosions when the IDF hit an arms depot hidden in a mosque:



Hamas (through the FPJ) is trying to make sure that their weapons mosques are off-limits in any future war. They never explained these videos, though.

Armed Hamas, Islamic Jihad terrorists resurface in the West Bank

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST

Who says there is no unity between Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad?

The three terror groups held a memorial service over the weekend for an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was killed by the IDF in the house of a Hamas member in Jenin in December.

Masked gunmen from Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades, Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades and Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades all eulogized Rafie al Saadi and fired weapons in the air.

According to Palestine Today, this is the first public appearance of armed Hamas terrorists in the West Bank in years.

All three terror groups chanted slogans for "unity of the Palestinian factions in the face of the Zionist entity."

Islamic Jihad's representative said that "the blood of the martyr al-Saadi will remain fuel for resistance, and the Jenin refugee camp will remain a thorn in the throat of the occupation."

Hamas' official at the ceremony said "resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine and avenge the martyrs."

This was the first public appearance of all the major terrorist groups in the West Bank since 2007, and they fired shots in the air together.



Israel bombed Russian missiles in Latakia?

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 02:25 AM PST

TOI writes:
Loud explosions were reported to rock the coastal Syrian city of Latakia late Sunday night, with reports of a possible airstrike on the Alawite stronghold.

The Palestinian Zamnpress news website reported Monday that Israeli planes carried out the attack on S-300 missiles, citing Western sources.

According to the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, residents reported "a huge explosion" in the Shekh Daher neighborhood of Latakia.

There was no immediate indication of the cause of the blast.
Zamn Press cites Western media sources - but doesn't mention a single one.

Which means that the report that S-300s were the target is pure rumor from an unreliable Palestinian Arab website.

The explosions are confirmed, though, as happening at 12:20 AM Monday morning.

Haaretz is the only major outlet to show skepticism:
The Israel Air Force bombed a Syrian base in the Latakia airport in the north of the country on Sunday, Lebanese media reported Monday morning. There are currently no other confirmations of this report.

Israeli security sources refused to confirm or deny the claims and there are serious doubts as to whether Israel in fact carried out the attack. In such cases in the past, information leaked was corroborated by the American government. They have not commented on this incident.
Hezbollah's Al Manar says that Israeli planes were breaking the sound barrier over the Bekaa Valley Sunday night, but if the IDF attacked Latakia, is seems unlikely that they would go through Lebanon.

If a bunch of advanced missiles were targeted, then of course chances are very good that the IDF did perform the raid. But right now we know nothing about the target, and the sources that "confirm" that this is from Israel so far have a very poor track record of distinguishing truth from fantasy.
פורסם על ידי zoom ב- 0:04

אין תגובות:

הוסף רשומת תגובה

הירשם ל- תגובות לפרסום (Atom)