יום רביעי, 5 במרץ 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

ASA's Lisa Duggan lies again about NYU anti-Israel conference

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 05:38 PM PST

Liel Leibovitz has an article about the NYU ASA conference story (that I broke) in Tablet:

NYU professor Lisa Duggan—you may remember her as the president of the American Studies Association and a strong voice in support of the organization's decision last year to boycott Israeli universities—asked that the conference be kept secret.

"PLEASE DO NOT post or circulate the flyer," read her message. "We are trying to avoid press, protestors and public attention."

Now, it's one thing for a student organization like Hillel or private institutions like Jewish museums or high schools to decide that their intellectual horizons exclude those who do not share certain core beliefs. A university, however, does not have that privilege. It is—or should be—open to all ideas, to myriad points of view, to discussion, to dissent.

Because any attempt to seriously study human conduct is likely to stir up emotions and give rise to ideological barricades, our best universities have come up with policies to safeguard that sanctity of academic freedom in their midst. Title I of NYU's own poignant faculty handbook puts it elegantly when it states that professors "should not introduce into their teaching controversial matter that has no relation to their subject," and should at all times "exercise appropriate restraint" as well as "show respect for the opinions of others."

The recent conference's organizers did none of that. Forgoing any semblance of serious study, viable research, or honest attempts to understand the intricacies of the subject at hand, they turned their classroom into a seminary designed exclusively to cultivate hatred for one particular nation state and fashion this animosity into ruinous political action.

Hence the call to keep things secret: while academic institutions are, of course, never obliged to let members of the public into their hushed sanctuaries—that's a privilege obtained by paying a hefty tuition—one should be very, very suspicious of any learned person who insists—against the long-standing and proud American tradition of free inquiry, against the common-sensical and democratic expectation that the university see itself as part of the community that supports and sustains it and not as a small and zealous sect apart—on conducting intellectual work under the cover of darkness.

The university should judge whether the organization of a discriminatory conference and the insistence that participants comply, Mafia-style, with a sort of academic Omerta meets its own standards. The rest of us are left with the less subtle and more tragic duty of witnessing the formerly solid tradition of intellectual freedom and debate melt into air.
Lisa Duggan replied in the comments:

The conference was not secret. It was a regular American Studies annual academic conference. These are not public events, they never have been. They are not debate formats either. I created an fb event by invite only, for professors and grad students in the area. Because the issue of Israel Palestine and the ASA's recent boycott vote was controversial, I knew that *this* conference might attract public attention, which we wanted to avoid--as we always do, for our annual conferences. There was no attempt to restrict the range of views of professors and students who wanted to attend. We just didn't want press, polemical blowhards, political organizations etc to disrupt the academic panels. ALL organizations on campus have events which are not "balanced" or open to the public, this is routine. Certainly zionist groups on campus have many such events. Nothing secret going on. We also do have public events, that ARE open to press and public. This just wasn't one of those. The idea that this was a "secret" conference is just ludicrous. A function of the attack culture around the issues. If the conference had been on US empire (with no supporters of empire present, and no press or public invited or wanted), it would have attracted zero attention, and would have been considered ordinary. Because it was ordinary.
First of all, as Liebovitz pointed out, there is a difference between an event sponsored by a student organization and one sponsored by an official university department, American Studies at NYU. Professor Duggan has a reading comprehension problem (Notice also that she chooses not to capitalize "zionist." And that in her invitation, she misspelled "protesters." Professors just can't seem to reach the standards expected of high school students nowadays.)

Secondly, even this paragraph contradicts itself. First she says that it was an invite-only conference, but then she says that there was no attempt to restrict the range of views of those who wanted to attend. Given that the speakers were obviously handpicked to give only one side of the story, is it conceivable that Duggan "invited" anyone who would disagree? But let's give hr a chance to name a single person she "invited" who does not share her crazed anti-Zionism. Just one, Lisa.

Of course, she can't - because she is lying when she says that this was a Facebook invite-only event. It was not a Facebook invitation, it was a Facebook photo-post, which encouraged all readers in her little circle to invite their friends - but not to publicize it to anyone outside that circle.

Here's the screen-shot that shows Duggan is a liar:


Of course, Duggan also doesn't mention that she  took the post down as soon as I exposed her duplicity. If it was an invite-only event, that would not have been necessary.

Are there any consequences at a major university when one of their professors tries to hide their activities from critics, and then lies about it?

(h/t David L)

03/04 Links Pt2: First they came for Israel...; UAE airline supported by US bans Israel

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Canada recognizes Jewish refugees expelled from Mideast, N. Africa
Canada on early Tuesday formally recognized the experience and status of Jewish refugees expelled from the Middle East and North Africa after Israel's founding.
More specifically, Canada accepted the recommendation of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development that "Canada officially recognize the experience of Jewish refugees who were displaced from states in the Middle East and North Africa after 1948."
In defence of Zionism
A letter to the editor of the Financial Times:
Sir, In response to Ralph Coury (Letters, February 22): there was a reason for the Jewish concept of Zionism that is often totally forgotten in the propaganda discourse that serves as informed discussion today. For almost 2,000 years the Jewish people have been pushed from pillar to post by the inhabitants of those countries they were forced to settle in following their eviction from their homeland in Palestine.
Jews were kept in the status of second- or third-class citizens by their mostly Christian hosts, exploited by them, forced into trades their Christian neighbours thought "un-Christian" and, if too successful, robbed, raped and dispossessed by the kings and queens they were forced to lend money to or work for, or by their neighbours, who were often appalled at the whole idea of Judaism.
To omit this fact in Professor Coury's response to Zionism is to entirely misrepresent the mentality of those behind it. Certainly it drove those in Europe who, driven by compassion, pushed for a return of a Jewish presence in a homeland of their own, free from such oppression. This required the kind of clandestine behaviour that Prof Coury refers to, but displacement of people in history is nothing new.
Putting Mondoweiss in Context
Mondoweiss defines itself as "a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish direction" and claims, in Orwellian fashion, that its aim is "to publish a diversity of voices to promote dialogue on these important issues," although the only "diversity of views" on the site is the best method of destroying Israel.
According to its website, Mondoweiss has two editors (Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz), two assistant editors, and an editor-at-large. Presumably they are not volunteer workers, and money certainly doesn't grow on trees, even for websites that are updated on a daily basis.
Mondoweiss states that its website "is part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change," an ambiguously sinister-sounding body in north Chicago. Turning to its website, the Center (CERSC, as it is known) lists five "projects" which it supports. These are publishing the International Socialist Review; holding an annual conference which two years ago was termed "Socialism 2012"; hosting "We Are Many," another website "devoted to publishing radical and activist video and audio media," and funding Haymarket Books, a radical publishing firm.



No charity for Israel from Amnesty International
We all thought Oxfam was the most bigoted international charity organization but along has come Amnesty International to displace it from the pinnacle of shame. What is it about these supposedly good will international organizations that makes them so disproportionately obsessed with and so biased against the State of Israel and its citizens?
What makes them so little aware, in any consistent way, of issues in the other 192 countries in the world?
Amnesty International (AI) describes its mission as undertaking research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of human rights. Indeed, it has drawn attention to some abuses in a number of countries.
It also claims to be independent of "any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion." But this claim is spurious because AI's main focus has been on one government and its alleged deficiencies, Israel and its behavior towards Palestinians.
Even AIPAC Has Trouble Mustering U.N. Outrage
One indication of the fading relevance of the United Nations in the public consciousness is how few people showed up to today's AIPAC panel about it. In the past, few subjects would fire up pro-Israel activists more than the international body's long-standing inquisition against the Jewish state. After all, while many issues arising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are morally complex, the U.N.'s mistreatment of Israel has no such nuances. From labeling Zionism a form of racism, to barring Israel from serving on any committees for decades, to passing scores of resolutions against the Jewish state and few to none against any other countries, to putting a Holocaust denier in charge of prosecuting Israeli human rights abuses, the U.N. has subjected Israel to "a barrage of obsessive, unbalanced, and relentless criticism," in the words of President Obama's former ambassador to the body, Susan Rice.
And yet, despite a set of all-star panelists–U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion, Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar, and human rights NGO head Hillel Neuer–only a third of the seats were full at this afternoon's session: "Report Card: Israel at the U.N." Last year, by contrast, the house was packed. But as the U.N. has been exposed as increasingly impotent when it comes to global crises ranging from Syria to Ukraine, it has become increasingly irrelevant in the eyes of activists. Even its arch-enemies no longer take it seriously.
UN's musical chairs: Richard Falk's wife is top nominee for Human Rights Council post
Third, there is every indication that Elver would, like Ziegler, twist the hunger post to go after Israel.
In 2007, Elver connected the Jewish state to "genocide" and Israelis to "Nazis."
As UN food expert, we know exactly what her first charge will be. At a December conference in Qatar, she gave a lecture on Israel entitled "Water Apartheid."
Like Erdogan, Elver is obsessed with what she calls in her Turkish articles the "Yahudi lobisini" — "the Jewish lobby."
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Elver wrote that "the Jewish lobby" is "manipulating American politics" to ensure unlimited support for Israel.
Head of global Islamic organization uses UN "Human Rights" Council platform for anti-Jewish rant
On the first day of its latest 4-week session, the UN Human Rights Council once again provided a platform for antisemites and Israel-bashers. On March 3, 2014 Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said: "Israel's brutal treatment and violation of human rights of the Palestinian people...Judaization of east Jerusalem...enactment of the recent racist law...apartheid wall...must be addressed with the utmost urgency by this Council. Israel does not seem to have enough to satisfy its thirst for the oppression of the Palestinians...Israel simply wants to erase and eradicate any notion of a Palestinian identity...Israel has an unmatched disdain for human rights...and basic human decency."
He was politely thanked by the President of the Human Rights Council at the conclusion of his rant.
UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay opens latest Human Rights Council session by championing antisemitic Durban Declaration
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is set to finish her second and final term at the end of August. Known for her anti-Israel and anti-American agenda, which includes defending the notorious Goldstone report and questioning the legality of the killing of Osama bin Laden, she is leaving office true to form. The antisemitic platform of the UN Durban conferences, and the Durban Declaration, include charging only one country with racism - Israel. And speaking at the opening of the Council's 25th session on March 3, 2014 Pillay singled out Durban for high praise. She said: "...Full implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and Outcome Document, as affirmed by the Durban Review Conference, is no less important today than it was in 2001. My Office is already promoting the implementation of many of its recommendations through our 58 field presences."
Campaign to Oust Russia, Others, From UN Human Rights Council
On the same day that Russia issued an ultimatum to Ukraine either to hand over Crimea or prepare for a Russian military assault on that sovereign nation, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations thanked delegates for supporting Russia's election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
During the opening session of the UNHRC, on Monday, March 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov thanked delegates for supporting Russia's election to the Council. He said that vote was "an acknowledgement of our country's constructive approach to this sphere of multilateral cooperation." He added, that "the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms is a basic priority."
The irony was apparently too much even for longstanding residents of the Orwellian world of the U.N.
Feds Provide Billions to UAE Airline that Removed Israel From Its Maps
The federal government has provided more than a billion dollars in loan guarantees since 2009 to an Arab airline that has literally wiped Israel off the map.
Etihad Airways, a United Arab Emirates-based airline, scrubbed any mention of Israel or its major cities from a map showing its travel routes in the area.
Andrew Bolt: I won't fly with an airline which can't find Israel on a map
Etihad has lost my business. I don't fly with Jew-haters:
Eradicate "BDS" antisemitism on campus
The offenders in both alleged incidents were believed to be from the Socialist Alternative group.
The abuse comes after research by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry found the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in Australia last year was the second highest on record.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne warned the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement had given anti-Semitism "a fashionability among highly ignorant sections of the far Left".
Mr Pyne said universities needed to "step in and take a very firm line" against racism on campus. "Free speech does not extend to ugly threats and physical harassment," he said.
Australasian Union of Jewish Students political director Matthew Lesh said campus extremists were targeting individuals rather than engaging in debate.
Israeli Apartheid Week is a Soviet Creation
After the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the Soviet Union became the main source of state-sponsored anti-Semitism in the world. The Communist leader Joseph Stalin, who counterposed ideas of patriotism to the "internationalism" of his opponents in the party, started depicting Jews as a disloyal fifth column whose true allegiance was to Zionism, rather than the socialist motherland. (Sound familiar?) Amidst all the dark talk of "rootless cosmopolitans"—a euphemism for "Jews"—Stalin, many historians now agree, began making plans for a mass deportation of Jewish citizens to Siberia. This potential second Holocaust, in the shadow of the first one, was averted only by Stalin's death at the height of the so-called "Doctor's Plot," in which mainly Jewish doctors were put on trial on fabricated charges of attempting to poison Soviet leaders.
Stalin's successors stopped short of outright genocide against the Jews, but the anti-Semitic discrimination came thick and fast. In both the USSR and its satellite states like Poland, the communists launched anti-Semitic purges under the cover of "anti-Zionism." There was a robust propaganda element to these actions, since the communists were keen to square their loathing of Jews with the imperatives, as they saw them, of Marxist theory. And so, from the early 1960s onwards, the Soviet Communist Party began pumping out books and pamphlets dedicated to showing that Judaism and Zionism were doctrines that glorified Jewish racism towards non-Jews.
First they came for Israel…
Another BDS activist, Italian union leader Giancarlo Desiderati said that, his union having already urged its members to boycott Israel, the 'logical next step' was to boycott Jewish-owned and Jewish-run businesses in Rome. According to Times, Desiderati added that he and his supporters were drawing up a list of Jewish shops, "though it might be better to publish a list of streets in which a majority of the shops are Jewish and ask people to avoid those streets when shopping."
Mr. Desiderati denied that he or his fellow unionists are anti-Semites.
Yet another trade unionist and fanatic BDS supporter, Bongani Masuku of South Africa, issued threats against Jewish businesses and supporters of Israel, declaring that they must leave the country. Although his words were condemned as hate speech by the South African Human Rights Commission, Masuku was invited to the UK, to address a UCU (University and College Union) forum in favour of BDS.
How the Oscars Helped Show the BDS Movement's Lack of Credibility
"This movie was made in Nazareth, in what is territory ultimately under control of the Israeli government. It is hard to imagine a film like this would even get off the ground in China or Russia if a filmmaker from one of those countries showed either of those governments in a similar light. So when the nomination of this film was read out loud for the entire world to hear, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was making the statement for those who needed to hear it that Israel is not only NOT an apartheid state, but a country where people can express themselves freely, be they Arab or Jew." (h/t Yerushalimey)
College Senior's Challenge Defeats Israel Apartheid Week Leaders
On Friday, Feb. 28, before Shabbat, Nass checked the link to the promotional trailer, and saw something odd: "this video has been removed by the user." When Nass checked it again after Shabbat ended, he saw that the video had been replaced with one that did not include the Fox Business News clip in which he appeared.
"They buckled under the pressure," Nass told The Jewish Press in a follow-up interview on Sunday. "Not surprisingly, they did not reveal who they are, but they did reveal what they are," he said.
Open Letter to the President of Brooklyn College
Ali Abunimah is a blogger for the website Electronic Intifada, a name that already betrays the purportedly peaceful intentions of his visit. However, his activities go well beyond voicing a disagreeable opinion. Mr. Abunimah's internet activities range from possible incitement to outright misrepresenting the words of those who disagree with him. Worse than that, Mr. Abunimah was recently involved with the cyberbullying of a Jewish student at University of Michigan while she was in the process organizing a meeting in order to respond to intimidation stemming from the UMich Mock Eviction. I cannot speak on behalf of the administration or faculty, but as a parent and educator I would be appalled to know that my tuition dollars were going to finance this speaker's presence.
Arab men beat religious Jew in Paris train
Two of the attackers held down the 28-year-old victim, who was identified only as A. Levy, while a third strangled him and beat his face, BNVCA said on its website Monday. The report said Levy sustained some injuries but did not specify.
His attackers shouted the Arab word for "Jews" before attacking Levy, who is a religious Jew belonging to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, the report said. One of them also told him: "Jew, we are going to lay into you, you have no country," according to the report.
They stopped assaulting Levy after one of the passengers said loudly that the police were coming, according to BNVCA. (h/t dabney_c )
Sephardic Jews charmed by Spanish citizenship offer
Maya Weiss-Tamir, an Israeli lawyer who specializes in applications for citizenship in European countries, said she had received over 1,000 inquiries since the Spanish government approved the draft citizenship bill on February 7.
"The new generation, young people, they want it mostly for practical reasons, they want to work in Europe, they want to live there, have a job," the 35-year-old said by telephone from her office in Haifa in northern Israel.
Argentinian entrepreneurs look to learn from Israeli success
Israel's latest export to South America is the high-tech incubator, and it's proven a very popular item in Argentina, said Ryan Fain, director of HiLabs, a tech incubator run by Hillel Argentina. HiLabs took applications for its latest program in Israel – a two-month learning and working experience for students interested in becoming entrepreneurs – for a total of ten days, after which it had to stop accepting requests to be part of the program. "We already had 300 applications for 30 spots," said Fain. "It was much more popular than we anticipated."
Argentina's economy is down in the dumps; the peso has lost 20% of its value against the dollar in just two months, and inflation could reach as much as 30% this year. What the country needs is a good shot of entrepreneurship, said Fain, and in its small way, HiLabs is trying to bring the message of the Start-Up Nation to the South American country's 200,000 Jews.
Parking your car just got easier thanks to Israeli tech
Chances are you already use the Israeli app Waze to find the best route to wherever you want to drive. After arriving, you might have another Israeli company to thank for finding you a parking spot and paying for it without a hassle.
Pango is an app that lets you book and pay for on-street and parking lot spots via iOS, Android or Blackberry device, in Israel and in a growing number of major US cities. Pango Mobile Parking, based in Kadima, just raised $6.5 million in a new funding round.
Israeli researchers use nanotechnology to target drug-resistant ovarian tumors
Israeli researchers have turned to nanotechnology to target drug-resistant ovarian tumors. Ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths of American women than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 72 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and one in 100 will ultimately die of the condition.
Now Prof. Dan Peer of Tel Aviv University's Department of Cell Research and Immunology has proposed a new strategy to tackle an aggressive subtype of ovarian cancer using a new nanoscale drug-delivery system designed to target specific cancer cells.
Ancient Jewish Text Added to UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Register
A rare Hebrew, 15th century manuscript from the Israel Museum's collection was included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register for 2013, Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported on Thursday.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization described the Rothschild Miscellany as a "unique, lavishly illuminated compendium-manuscript adorned with magnificent miniatures in gold and silver leafs and precious pigments."

Lindy Mabuya at AIPAC (Video)

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 01:30 PM PST

A video that Israel haters don't want you to see

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PST

To the professional Israel-haters, obviously no country is as evil as Israel.

And the worst group of Israelis are Israeli soldiers, who we are told routinely torture and kill Arabs for fun.

And the worst group of Israeli soldiers are those in Hebron, where they ruthlessly and maliciously attack children as policy.

So this video, taken in Hebron of IDF soldiers giving food to a couple of kids - and their ecstatic reaction - must never be allowed to be seen, because it contradicts everything that every hater holds dear.




Every anti-Israel NGO in Hebron sees scenes like this daily. I've seen them too. But t

hese NGOs can't raise any money by reporting the situation accurately. The haters can't get gigs speaking at clueless colleges if they don't stereotype Jewish soldiers as evil.

So they don't want you to see this, because it threatens their livelihoods that depend on demonizing Jews.

(h/t Yoel)

UPDATE: I copied the video to YouTube so it would be easier to share.

Bibi's speech to AIPAC (video and full text)

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 10:15 AM PST

Here is the speech that Binyamin Netanyahu gave at the AIPAC conference this morning.




I bring you greetings from Jerusalem -- (cheers, applause) -- the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and the Jewish people. (Cheers, applause.)

I want to thank all of you for working so tirelessly to strengthen the alliance between Israel and America. American -- American support for Israel and for that alliance is at an all-time high. And I can tell you that there is no country on earth that is more pro-American than Israel. (Applause.)

So I want to thank the leaders of AIPAC, the officers of AIPAC, the 14,000 delegates of AIPAC -- (cheers, applause) -- the members of Congress, the members of the Israeli government -- Tzipi Livni, Limor Livnat, Yuval Steinitz, Deputy Minister Elkin, members of the Knesset -- and our two able ambassadors, the ambassador of Israel to the United States, Ron Dermer -- (applause) -- and the ambassador of the United States to Israel, Dan Shapiro, and our U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor. Everyone, I want to thank you all for safeguarding and nurturing the most precious alliance in the world, the alliance between Israel and the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.)

My friends, I've -- I've come here to draw a clear line.

You know that I like to draw lines -- (laughter) -- especially red ones. But the line I want to draw today is the line between life and death, between right and wrong, between the blessings of a brilliant future and the curses of a dark past.

I stood very close to that dividing line two weeks ago. I visited an Israeli army field hospital in the Golan Heights. Now, that field hospital wasn't set up for Israelis. It was set up for Syrians. (Applause.) Israelis treated nearly a thousand wounded Syrians -- men, women and a lot of children. They come to our border fence bleeding and desperate. Often they're near death.

And on my visit I met two such Syrians, a shellshocked father and his badly wounded 5-year-old boy. A few days earlier the man's wife and baby daughter were blown to bits by Iranian bombs dropped by Assad's air force. Now the grieving father was holding his little boy in his arms, and Israeli doctors were struggling to save the boy's life.





I heard from them and from the other patients there what all the Syrians who've come to be treated in Israel are saying. They all tell the same story. They say, all these years, Assad lied to us. He told us that Iran was our friend and Israel was our enemy. But Iran is killing us, and Israel, Israel is saving us. (Applause.)

Those Syrians discovered what you've always known to be true: In the Middle East, bludgeoned by butchery and barbarism, Israel is humane; Israel is compassionate; Israel is a force for good. (Applause.)

That border, that runs a hundred yards east of that field hospital, is the dividing line between decency and depravity, between compassion and cruelty. On the one side stands Israel, animated by the values we cherish, values that move us to treat sick Palestinians, thousands of them, from Gaza. They come to our hospitals. We treat them despite the fact that terrorists from Gaza hurl thousands of rockets at our cities.

It's those same values that inspires Israeli medics and rescuers to rush to the victims of natural disasters across the world, to Haiti, to Turkey, to Japan, the Philippines, to many other stricken lands.

Now, on the other side of that moral divide, steeped in blood and savagery, stand the forces of terror -- Iran, Assad, Hezbollah, al- Qaida and many others. Did you ever hear about Syria sending a field hospital anywhere? Did you ever hear about Iran sending a humanitarian delegation overseas? No? You missed that memo? (Laughter.) You know why? You know why you haven't heard anything about that? Because the only thing that Iran sends abroad are rockets, terrorists and missiles to murder, maim and menace the innocent. (Applause.)

And what the Iranian regime does abroad is just as -- is similar to what they do to their own people. They execute hundreds of political prisoners, they throw thousands more into their jails, and they repress millions in a brutal theocracy.

If you want to understand the moral divide that separates Israel from its enemies, just listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, Iran's terror proxy in Lebanon. He said this. He said: Iran and Hezbollah love death and Israel loves life.

And that's why, he said, Iran and Hezbollah will win and Israel will lose.

Well, he's right about the first point. They do glorify death, and we do sanctify life. But he's dead wrong on the second point. (Applause.) It's precisely because we love life that Israel shall win. (Cheers, applause.)

In the past year Iran's radical regime has tried to blur this moral divide. It wields out its smiling president and its smooth- talking foreign minister. But if you listen to their words, their soothing words, they don't square with Iran's aggressive actions.

Iran says it only wants a peaceful nuclear program. So why is it building a heavy water reactor, which has no purpose in a peaceful nuclear program? Iran says it has noting to hide. So why does it ban inspectors from its secret military sites? Why doesn't it divulge its military nuclear secret -- the secrets of its military nuclear activities? They absolutely refuse to say a word about that. Iran says it's not building nuclear weapons. So why does it continue to build ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, whose only purpose is to carry nuclear warheads?

See, unlike Scud missiles, that are limited to a range of a few hundred miles, ICBMs can cross vast oceans. And they can strike, right now or very soon, the Eastern seaboard of the United States -- Washington -- and very soon after that, everywhere else in the United States, up to L.A.

And the important point to make is this: Iran's missiles can already reach Israel, so those ICBMs that they're building, they're not intended for us. You remember that beer commercial, "this Bud's for you"? (Laughter.) Well, when you see Iran building ICBMs, just remember, America, that Scud's for you. (Scattered applause.)

Now, it's not only that -- only the Americans got that joke. (Laughter.) It's not only that Iran doesn't walk the walk. In the last few weeks, they don't even bother to talk the talk. Iran's leaders say they won't dismantle a single centrifuge, they won't discuss their ballistic missile program. And guess what tune they're singing in Tehran? It's not "God Bless America," it's "death to America." And they chant this as brazenly as ever. Some charm offensive.

And here's my point. Iran continues to stand unabashedly on the wrong side of the moral divide. And that's why we must continue to stand unequivocally on the right side of that divide. We must oppose Iran and stand up for what is right. (Applause.)

My friends, yesterday I met with President Obama, with Vice President Biden, with Secretary Kerry and with the leaders of the U.S. Congress. We had very good meetings. I thanked them for their strong support for Israel -- (applause) -- for our security, including in the vital area of missile defense.

I said that the greatest threat to our common security is that of a nuclear-armed Iran. We must prevent Iran from having the capability to produce nuclear weapons. And I want to reiterate that point. Not just to prevent them from having the weapon, but to prevent them from having the capacity to make the weapon. (Applause.) That means -- that means we must dismantle Iran's heavy water reactor and its underground enrichment facilities. We must get rid of Iran's centrifuges and its stockpiles of enriched uranium and we must insist that Iran fully divulge the military dimensions of its nuclear program.

Now 17 countries around the world have peaceful nuclear energy programs. They're doing this without spending centrifuges, without enriching uranium, without operating heavy water facilities and without conducting military nuclear research.

You know why Iran insists on doing all these things that the other peaceful countries don't do? It's because Iran doesn't want a peaceful nuclear program, Iran wants a military nuclear program.

I said it here once, I'll say it here again: If it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then what is it?

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: A duck.
PRIME MIN. NETANYAHU: Well, it's ain't a chicken -- (laughter) -- and it's certainly not a dove. It's still a nuclear duck. (Applause.) Unfortunately, the leading powers of the world are talking about leaving Iran with the capability to enrich uranium.

I hope they don't do that because that would be a grave error. It would leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power. It would enable Iran to rapidly develop nuclear weapons at a time when the world's attention is focused elsewhere. And we see, as we speak, that that could happen. In one part of the world today, tomorrow in another part -- maybe North Korea.

So just remember what -- (inaudible) -- wrote a few years ago. He wrote this in a rare moment of candor. He said: If a country can enrich uranium, even to a low level, it can effectively produce nuclear weapons. Precisely. And leaving Iran as a threshold nuclear power, would deliver a death-blow to nonproliferation. Iran is an outlaw state. It's violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting enrichment.

If we allow this outlaw terrorist state to enrich uranium, how could we seriously demand that any other country not enrich uranium?

My friends, I believe that letting Iran enrich uranium would open up the floodgates. It really would open up a Pandora's box of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the world. That must not happen. (Applause.) And we will make sure it does not happen.

Because letting the worst terrorist regime on the planet get atomic bombs would endanger everyone, and it certainly would endanger Israel since Iran openly calls for our destruction.

70 years ago, our people, the Jewish people, were left for dead. We came back to life. We will never be brought to the brink of extinction again. (Applause.)

As prime minister as Israel, I will do whatever I must do to defend the Jewish state of Israel. (Applause.)

You know, I'm often -- I'm often asked whether Israel truly wants diplomacy to succeed, and my answer is, of course we want diplomacy to succeed, because no country has a greater interest in the peaceful elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat. But this threat -- this threat will not be eliminated by just any agreement, only by an agreement which requires Iran to fully dismantle its military nuclear capability. (Applause.)

Now you know how you get that agreement with Iran? Not by relieving pressure but by adding pressure. (Applause.) Pressure is what brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place, and only more pressure will get to abandon their nuclear weapons program. Greater pressure on Iran will not make war more likely; it will make war less likely -- (applause) -- because the greater the pressure on Iran, the greater the pressure on Iran and more credible the threat of force on Iran, the smaller the chance that force will ever have to be used.

Ladies and gentlemen, peace is Israel's highest aspiration. I'm prepared to make a historic peace with our Palestinian neighbors -- (applause) -- a peace that would end a century of conflict and bloodshed. Peace would be good for us. Peace would be good for the Palestinians. But peace would also open up the possibility of establishing formal ties between Israel and leading countries in the Arab world.

Many Arab leaders -- and believe me, this is a fact, not a hypothesis, it's a fact -- many Arab leaders today already realize that Israel is not their enemy, that peace with the Palestinians would turn our relations with them and with many Arab countries into open and thriving relationships. (Applause.)

The combination of Israeli innovation and Gulf entrepreneurship, to take one example -- I think this combination could catapult the entire region forward. I believe that together, we can resolve actually some of the region's water and energy problems. You know, Israeli has half the rainfall we had 65 years ago. We have 10 times the population. Our GDP has shot up, thank God -- GDP per capita, up. So we have half the rainfall, 10 times the population, and our water use goes up. And which country in the world doesn't have water problems? Yep. Israel. (Applause.)

Why? Because of technology, of innovation, of systems. We could make that available to our Arab neighbors throughout the region that is not exactly blessed with water. We could solve the water problems. We could solve the energy problems. We could improve agriculture. We could improve education with e-learning, health with diagnostics on the Internet. All of that is possible. We could better the lives of hundreds of millions. So we all have so much to gain from peace.

That's why I want to thank the indomitable John Kerry. You know, New York -- (applause) -- and Tel-Aviv, they're the cities that never sleep. John Kerry is definitely the secretary of state who never sleeps.

And -- (applause) -- and I've got the bags under my eyes to prove it. We're working together, literally day and night, to seek a durable peace, a peace anchored in solid security arrangements and the mutual recognition of two nation-states. (Applause.)

Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people -- (applause) -- where the civil rights of all citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike, are guaranteed. The land of Israel is the place where the identity of the Jewish people was forged.

It was in Hebron that Abraham blocked the cave of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs. It was in Bethel that Jacob dreamed his dreams. It was in Jerusalem that David ruled his kingdom. We never forget that, but it's time the Palestinians stopped denying history. (Applause.)

Just as Israel is prepared to recognize a Palestinian state, the Palestinians must be prepared to recognize a Jewish state. (Applause.) President Abbas, recognize the Jewish state, and in doing so, you would be telling your people, the Palestinians, that while we might have a territorial dispute, the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own is beyond dispute. (Applause.)

You would be telling Palestinians to abandon the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees, or amputating parts of the Negev and the Galilee. In recognizing the Jewish state, you would finally making clear that you are truly prepared to end the conflict. So recognize the Jewish state. No excuses, no delays, it's time. (Applause.)

Now, my friends, it may take years, it may take decades for this formal acceptance of Israel to filter down through all layers of Palestinian society. So if this piece is to be more than a brief interlude between wars, Israel needs long-term security arrangements on the ground to protect the peace and to protect Israel if the peace unravels. You see, those security arrangements would always be important, but they're even more important and critical today when the entire Middle East is unraveling. Three years ago, our region was a very different place. Can anyone sitting here, anyone listening to us, can anyone tell me and be sure what the Middle East will look like five, 10, 20 years from now? We cannot bet the security of Israel on our fondest hopes.

You know, in the Middle East, that's usually a losing bet. We should always hope for the best, but in the Middle East we have to be prepared for the worst. And despite the best of hopes, international peacekeeping forces sent to Lebanon, Gaza, Sinai, the Golan Heights, they didn't prevent those areas from becoming armed strongholds against Israel.

If we reach an agreement, as I hope, with the Palestinians, I don't delude myself. That peace will most certainly come under attack -- constant attack by Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida and others. And experience has shown that foreign peacekeepers -- foreign peacekeeping forces, well, that they keep the peace only when there is peace.

But when they're subjected to repeated attacks, those forces eventually go home. So as long as the peace is under assault, the only force that can be relied on to defend the peace and defend Israel is the force defending its own home -- the Israeli Army, the brave soldiers of the IDF. (Applause.)

I'm going to reveal to you a secret. This position may not win me universal praise.

That occasionally happens when I (state ?) our positions. But I'm charged with protecting the security of my people, the people of Israel. And I will never gamble with the security of the one and only Jewish state. (Applause.)

So as we work in the coming days, in the coming weeks, to forge a durable peace, I hope that the Palestinian leadership will stand with Israel and the United States on the right side of the moral divide, the side of peace, reconciliation and hope.

You can clap. You want to encourage them to do that. (Applause.) I do, and I know you do too.

Thank you.

My friends, one movement that's definitely on the wrong side of the moral divide is the movement to boycott Israel, the so-called BDS. (Applause.) That movement will fail. (Applause.)

Let me tell you why. (Sustained applause.) I want to explain to you why.

Beyond our traditional trading partners, countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, where I'll soon be going to, these countries are flocking to Israel. They're not coming to Israel; they're flocking to Israel.

They want Israeli technology to help transform their countries as it has ours. And it's not just the small countries that are coming to Israel, it's also the superpowers. You know, the other superpowers: Apple, Google -- (laughter) -- Microsoft, Intel, Facebook, Yahoo. They come because they want to benefit from Israel's unique ingenuity, dynamism and innovation.

And I could tell you the BDS boycott movement is not going to stop that anymore than the Arab boycott movement could stop Israel from becoming a global technological power. They are going to fail. (Applause.) And in the knowledge based century, the knowledge based economy, Israel's best economic days are ahead of it. Mark my words. (Applause.)

Now, wait, wait. I don't want you to get complacent -- (laughter) -- because the fact that they're going to fail doesn't mean that the BDS movement shouldn't be vigorously opposed. They should be opposed because they're bad for peace and because BDS is just plain wrong. (Applause.)

Most people in the BDS movement don't seek a solution of two states for two peoples. On the contrary, they openly admit that they seek the dissolution of the only state for the Jewish people. They're not seeking peace, they're not seeking reconciliation. But some of their gullible fellow travelers actually do believe that BDS advances peace.

Well, the opposite is true. BDS sets back peace because it hardens Palestinian positions and it makes mutual compromise less likely.

But I think these are all important points, but not the critical important. The critical thing is that BDS is morally wrong. It turns morality on its head. This is the main point. And I can tell you, it's not that Israel, like all states, is not beyond criticism. We have a boisterous democracy where everyone has an opinion. And believe me, no one in Israel is shy about expressing it -- about anything. In Israel, self-criticism is on steroids. (Laughter.)

But the BDS movement is not about legitimate criticism. It's about making Israel illegitimate. It presents a distorted and twisted picture of Israel to the naive and to the ignorant. BDS is nothing but a farce. Here's why, listen: In dozens of countries academics are imprisoned for their beliefs. So the universities of which country does BDS want to sanction and boycott? Israel -- the one country in the Middle East where professors can say, write and teach what they want.

Throughout the Middle East, Christians are fleeing for their lives. So which country does BDS want churches to divest from? You got it -- Israel, the one country in the Middle East that protects Christians and protects the right of worship for everyone. (Applause.)

Throughout the Middle East -- throughout the Middle East, journalists are jailed, gays are hanged and women are denied their most basic rights. So which country does BDS want to sanction? Take a guess. Israel -- the only country in the region with a free press, a progressive gays' rights record and where women have presided over each of the three branches of government. (Applause.)

Now, when you hear this -- and anybody can verify this -- so you have to wonder, how could anyone fall for the BS in BDS? (Laughter, applause.) How can they fall for this?

Well, you shouldn't be surprised. Throughout history, people believed the most outrageously absurd things about the Jews, that we were using the blood of children to bake matzos, that we were spreading the plague throughout Europe, that we were plotting to take over the world. Yeah, but you can say how can educated people, how could educated people today believe the nonsense spewed by BDS about Israel? Well, that shouldn't surprise you either. Some of history's most influential thinkers and writers -- Voltaire, Dostoyevsky, T.S. Eliot, many, many others -- spread the most preposterous lies about the Jewish people. It's hard to shed prejudices that have been ingrained in consciousness over millennia.

And from antiquity to the Middle Ages to modern times, Jews were boycotted, discriminated against and singled out.

Today the singling out of the Jewish people has turned into the singling out of the Jewish state. So you see, attempts to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, the most threatened democracy on Earth, are simply the latest chapter in the long and dark history of anti- Semitism. (Applause.) Those who wear -- those who wear the BDS label should be treated exactly as we treat any anti-Semite or bigot. They should be exposed and condemned. The boycotters should be boycotted. (Applause, cheers.)

Everyone should know what the letters B-D-S really stand for: bigotry, dishonesty and shame. (Applause.) And those who -- those who oppose BDS, like Scarlett Johansson, they should be applauded. (Cheers, applause.)

Scarlett, I have one thing to say to you: Frankly, my dear, I DO give a damn. (Applause.) And I know all of you give a damn, as do decent people everywhere who reject hypocrisy and lies and cherish integrity and truth.

My friends, on behalf of the people of Israel, I bring you message from Jerusalem, the cradle of our common civilization, the crucible of our shared values. It's a message from the Bible. (In Hebrew.) (Applause.) I have put before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life so that you and your offspring may live.

Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, never forget -- America and Israel stand for life. We stand together on the right side of the moral divide. We stand together on the right side of history. (Applause.) So stand tall, stand strong, stand proud. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you all. Keep doing a great job. (Applause.) Thank you.


(h/t Melissa)

03/04 Links Pt1: Israel’s Big Mistake; Where have you gone, Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Israel's Big Mistake
The most striking evidence of this fateful shift in mood and perception would present itself in the early 1990s, when, under the premiership of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel started negotiating with its arch-enemy. Whereas real peace would have to be based on acceptance of the legitimacy of a Jewish state in the Middle East, the Palestinian national movement, represented by the PLO, was based on the opposite doctrine. Had Israel retained its hope for real peace, it should have been steadfast in its refusal of any dialogue with this organization, and waited for it to dissolve (as almost happened). Instead, entering into the most ambitious and futile of peace processes, it picked the PLO as its partner, thereby compromising on the issue of its own legitimacy and helping to create a new political entity based explicitly on anti-Zionism. In exchange for tepid and partial recognition, a small Jewish state in the midst of a huge Arab region agreed to shrink itself still further.
This was the new meaning of "peace," and, just as one might expect, it led to nothing but violence. The passing of Gaza and most of the West Bank's populated areas into the hands of Arafat and his murderous kleptocracy did nothing to resolve the problem of the 1948 Arab refugees (on which more below), to prepare the local Arab population for genuine peace, or to mitigate the larger Arab/Muslim refusal to accept a Jewish state. If anything, it achieved the contrary aim; in advancing that aim, the PLO initiated a sustained campaign of terror whose toll in blood would number in the thousands of Israeli civilians.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah Infighting Jeopardizes Kerry's Peace Process
In recent weeks, Abbas has taken a number of measures that reflect his increased fear of Mohamed Dahlan's moves to discredit him and remove him from power. These measures include confiscating large sums of money transferred from the United Arab Emirates to Dahlan loyalists in Gaza.
Once the claim was that Abbas does not represent the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are under the control of Hamas. Today it is not incorrect to argue that Abbas does not even represent his own party.
Surprise: Obama Kills the Peace Process
But in contrast to the Israelis, there is no Palestinian peace camp or faction within either Abbas' Fatah or his Hamas rivals that will push for peace even if it doesn't grant their maximal demands. The only possible source of pressure on Abbas to do make peace must come from the U.S., Europe and the Arab States. But if President Obama is not willing to hold Abbas accountable for his behavior, then no one will. In the absence of an American determination to hold Abbas' feet to the fire in spite of the enormous Palestinian constituency that will always oppose even the most generous Israeli offer, the already slim prospects for peace are altogether extinguished.
By attacking Netanyahu and lauding Abbas, the president has accomplished something that no Israeli right-winger could possibly accomplish: kill the peace process. Without American insisting that Abbas change his ways, there is no possible way for him to withstand the far greater pressure he gets from the descendants of the 1948 refugees — who still dream of flooding Israel and turning it into another Arab state — or his Islamist rivals.
Though the president warned Netanyahu that he wouldn't be able to protect Israel if peace talks falter, his interview with Goldberg guaranteed that this is exactly what will happen. From here on in, everything else he says about the topic is moot. (h/t Norman F)



Where have you gone, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
This is nonsense. The U.S. has the ability to hold off the international mob more so now than in 1975, if it has the willingness. By making such statements, Obama — as John Kerry before him — calls into question U.S. willingness and thereby encourages the Palestinians not to miss another opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace.
Compare the statements of Obama and Kerry with that of Daniel Patrick Moynihan after the "Zionism is Racism" resolution:
The United States rises to declare before the General Assembly of the United Nations, and before the world, that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act….
Abbas insists on settlement freeze before more talks
The Palestinians will agree to extend the time frame for negotiations with Israel only if Israel freezes construction in the settlements and frees additional Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly said on Monday.
Nonexistent Palestinians Rally In Favor Of Concessions For Peace (satire)
A gathering of all the Palestinians in favor of a compromise peace settlement with Israel took place in Ramallah today. Police put the attendance at zero.
Flyers announcing the event did not go up several weeks in advance, and a Facebook page promoting the rally went up in the imagination of several Israeli left-wingers. Police had ample time to cordon off the necessary area of Ramallah's main square, and traffic through the square was unimpeded during the event.
Several nonexistent Palestinian leaders who favor compromising on their demands in exchange for a comprehensive peace deal and a negotiated end to Israeli control of the territory they seek for a state addressed the crowd, which would have held aloft various placards and banners if there were such people. Their chants in favor of conciliation would have carried through the air, if such people existed and were actually permitted to voice such a sentiment. (h/t Mightier than the Pen)
Sen. Chuck Schumer: Those Who Warn Israel of Boycotts 'Have it All Wrong'
Without mentioning Secretary of State John Kerry by name, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) apparently took a shot at comments on boycotts of Israel that Kerry made last month in Germany.
Those with "even with the best of intentions" who warn Israel that it will face increased boycotts if it does not reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians "have it all wrong," Schumer said at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.
"Those quote unquote friends [of Israel] should be condemning the boycotts in any possible way, weakening them," Schumer said.
Senator Schumer at AIPAC Calls on PA to Truly Negotiate if it Wants Peace
"I say to the Palestinian leadership, negotiations are the only way you will realize your own state," Schumer told a packed auditorium in Washington, D.C. "Just as war and terrorism will not give you a state, the United Nations cannot give you a state. Boycotting Israel cannot give you a state. Getting companies to divest from Israel cannot give you a state," Schumer said to great applause.
"You, the Palestinian leadership, need to sit down with the Prime Minister of Israel who has said he will meet with you anywhere, any time and engage seriously in the give and take of negotiations," Schumer said.
Kerry: US won't let Iran obtain nuclear weapon, period
The United States will "not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated during his keynote address to AIPAC's 2014 policy conference. Kerry's statement, however, highlighted the distance between Israel and the United States' positions on a final deal, as he failed to specify whether and how it would restrict Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. Reps Cantor, Hoyer United Against Iran Acquiring Nuclear Weapon
Hoyer said, "As leaders of Congress, we're committed to Israel's safety and security, that's why Eric and I have authored a letter to the president that underscores our common commitment to ensure that Iran does not develop, build or acquire a nuclear weapon," and the crowed roared.
"Iran's leaders must understand that they cannot use negotiations simply as a means to buy time while the centrifuges spin," Hoyer said. "And they must know all options remain on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon."
Standing With Israel - Outside AIPAC
The anti-Israel presence was notably small and consisted of voices from the political fringes - mostly the hard-left and members of the radical anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect, which recently declared its support for Hungary's fascist Jobbik party.
Most AIPAC supporters simply ignored them, but a few pro-Israel activists chose to face them down with signs and chants of their own.
One such activist was Helen Freedman, Executive Director of Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) - an advocacy group which has been vocal in its support for Israel's claim to Judea and Samaria.
IAF strikes terror cell attempting to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip
The military said the air strike targeted a terrorist cell that was in the final stage of preparations before firing a rocket.
According to Palestinian sources, one person was killed and two others were wounded in the attack, which was carried out in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza. Palestinian media later identified the man killed as Masab Musa Aza'anin, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member.
Fourteen Terrorist Suspects Arrested Overnight
The Judea and Samaria (Shomron) District Police, along with IDF and the Border Patrol, arrested 14 Arabs overnight (Monday/Tuesday) on suspicions of stone-throwing, illegal weapons hoarding, drug-dealing, and carjacking.
Police investigation into recent carjackings in the Shomron led the forces to arrest at least one suspect in the Arab settlement of Hawara. Another man was arrested along Route 443 in the Binyamin region after being found driving a stolen vehicle.
In America, rock-throwers get shot
The Obama Administration's new Homeland Security Secretary announced Friday that the department plans to "review the department's use of force policies." Media reports indicate that there are ongoing discussions "about when border agents can use their guns." Apparently, this review has been sparked by a border agent shooting a 41-year old man who struck the agent in the head with a rock near San Diego. (Go figure, a 41-year old rock thrower got shot.)
Wrongly, civil rights groups have criticized border the border patrol (who are overseen by Homeland Security) for allowing border agents to use deadly force against people who throw rocks at them. According to a report, agents were attacked with rocks 339 times in the 2011 budget year. Rock-throwing incidents were the most common assault reported. Agents responded with gunfire 33 times and with less-than-lethal force, including the use of pepper spray and batons, 118 times.
Israeli Electric Company Warns PA: Pay Up or be Cut Off the Grid
The Israel Electric Company on Sunday issued a final warning to the Palestinian Authority (PA) – pay up or get cut off. The IEC gave the PA three days to come up with NIS 1.4 billion (nearly half a billion dollars) the Authority owes it. If it does not get the money, the company will cut power to the PA.
The PA is in this jam because it has habitually failed to pay its electric bill, despite the fact that it received money specifically for this purpose from various international donors
Abbas representative eulogizes murderer of 2 children and 3 adults


World knows about PA salaries for prisoners - Head of PA-funded Prisoners' Club


Egypt tightens grip on mosques to curb Islamist dissent
Egypt's military-installed authorities are tightening their grip on mosques by laying down the theme for the weekly Friday sermons, in the latest move to curb Islamist dissent.
The controversial measure comes as Egypt remains deeply polarised after a government crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed by the army last July.
Morsi's supporters have since capitalised on the weekly prayers to garner backing for their protests calling for his reinstatement.
The authorities accuse Islamist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood to which Morsi belongs, of using mosques to spread their ideology and enrol new recruits across Egypt.
Iran advancing its nuclear program despite pact with West
Iran is moving ahead with a nuclear program that U.S. officials said would be frozen, and it is now clear the USA and other world powers are willing to accept an Iranian enrichment program that Iran refuses to abandon, say analysts.
Iran has continued research and development on new, far more efficient machines for producing uranium fuel that could power reactors or bombs, and its stockpile of low enriched uranium has actually grown, according to a report by Institute for Science and International Security.
The Iranian regime has also trumpeted recent tests of new ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver a future warhead while its pariah economy has begun a modest recovery.
Iran Executes Two for 'Perversion'
Iran executed two gay men on Sunday for the crime of "perversion" and has sentenced a third individual to death for "insulting the prophet," according to human rights activists tracking the situation.
The head of Iran's judiciary department in the northern city of Rasht announced on Sunday that two homosexual men had been executed for "perversion," which is considered a severe crime under Iran's hardline Islamic law.
The executions come less than two months after Iranian authorities publicly hanged 40 individuals in a two-week period. Iran is executing at least two people a day, according to activists.
Don't Be Fooled. Hezbollah Is Bigger and Badder Than Ever
Hezbollah is probably the world's largest, most sophisticated, wealthiest and most militarily capable terror organization. Created, trained, funded and deployed as a proxy of the Iranian government, with operations spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the Shi'ite group has effectively taken over the Lebanese government, launched thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians, and murdered more Americans than anyone other than al-Qaeda—all of these making it into perhaps the most fearsome weapon in the jihadist anti-Western arsenal.
For months now, however, Hezbollah has been mired deep in the Syrian civil war. Thousands of its fighters have streamed eastward to join the struggle to save the regime of another Iranian proxy, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many of its best soldiers have been killed in battle. Fighting is now spilling back over into Lebanon, with car bombs going off in southern Beirut and other Hezbollah strongholds. And its decades-long claim, aimed at justifying its existence in southern Lebanon, that it existed solely to protect the Lebanese from Israeli aggression, is becoming increasingly impossible to defend. On the contrary, it looks increasingly transparent as the Iranian marionette that it is, sharing responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in Syria.
One should not be surprised, then, to hear commentators asserting that Hezbollah has been severely weakened by the events of the last year. But has it?
Lebanon's New Government Threatening Israel?
Many analysts believe Hezbollah will use these government platforms to spark tensions with Israel, with which Lebanon is formally in a state of war. Hezbollah could force the issue of drilling in contested waters near Leviathan, Dalit, and Karish – the vast fields of natural gas and oil discovered in the deep waters off Israel and Cyprus during the last five years.
The basin is situated outside of Israeli territorial waters but still inside Israel's Exclusive Economic Zone, and is estimated by the U.S. Department of Interior to contain approximately 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.6 billion barrels of oil, enough gas to meet Israel's requirements for the next 150 years.
Both Hezbollah and Lebanon's caretaker Energy Minister, Gebran Bassil, have called for the approval of laws to demarcate the country's boundaries to facilitate drilling in those areas. If that scenario occurs, Israel would likely be compelled to protect its vital national interests by responding to Lebanon's claim of sovereignty either legally, militarily or both.
It is also possible that Hezbollah might try to disrupt Israel's off-shore enterprise by targeting rigs and Israeli naval patrols. Hezbollah currently possesses Chinese C-802 anti-ship missiles and possibly Russian Yakhont missiles, all capable of hitting targets up to 180 miles from shore. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah fired a missile at the INS Hanit corvette, killing four sailors and causing extensive damage.
Israeli embassies on alert after Hezbollah threat
Israeli embassies worldwide increased their security alert over the weekend out of fear of a possible Hezbollah retaliation for last week's suspected Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.
There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Saudi Schools Ban Females Who Don't Wear a Face Veil
Education departments in a number of regions in Saudi Arabia have banned female employees and visitors who do not wear a face veil from entering girls' schools, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday.
The report cited a pamphlet sent by education departments to school principals, in which male and female school guards are instructed to abide by Islamic rules, regulations and directives and moral principles.
Militant ambush kills 12 of polio workers escort in Pakistan
Militants killed 12 members of the security escort for a polio vaccination team in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, detonating a roadside bomb before opening fire on their convoy, according to officials.
The attack lasted an hour and when rescuers approached the scene the gunmen also attacked them, according to Khan Faraz, an official in the Jamrud area of Khyber, a rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Delusional Egyptian article defends bogus AIDS "cure," blames Jews for ridiculing it

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 07:00 AM PST

Last week I reported about a device that the Egyptian Army introduced which supposedly, non-invasively, cured hepatitis C and AIDS.

Scientists in Egypt as well as elsewhere were more than skeptical, noting that there had been no peer-reviewed papers or indeed any real scientific proof for the claims.

Commenters pointed out the similarities between this device and the infamous ADE 651, a fake bomb detector that a fraudster British businessman sold to many Middle East countries at a huge profit.

 Al Wafd, a secular and pro-army Egyptian newspaper, actually defends the device, and complains about how it has been "politicized."

The paper points out that Alexander Graham Bell, when he invented the telephone, had no idea how much it could change the world, and did not take into account international standards for inventions (whatever that meant in 1876.)

This Egyptian device, we are told, is just like the Bell's telephone. It is a wonderful invention, and the only problem is that the inventors didn't follow normal scientific protocol. But in a couple of generations, this cure for AIDS will be thought of the same way the telephone is thought of today!

Then, inevitably, the newspaper descends from lunacy into antisemitism.

Amr Simbel, a "specialist in political and historical studies," says that the wave of ridicule about the device fits exactly into the secret Jewish plan to take over the world as stated in the Sixth Protocol of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which stresses the need to expel all intelligent gentiles from the face of the earth , and ridicule their most important inventions to ensure Jewish world domination.

The Protocols, in turn, got this idea from the Kabbalah, which says not only to to mock the achievements of Gentiles, but also to shed their blood and steal their money.

Am I unwittingly invoking Protocol 6 by pointing out that any Egyptian that believes a word in this article is an idiot? Is al Wafd secretly run by Jews who are trying to bring the average Egyptian's IQ down by about ten points?

Egypt bans Hamas, closes its offices pending court case

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 05:00 AM PST

From Ahram Online:
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters has banned all activities in Egypt by Hamas and ordered the closure of its offices in Cairo pending a court verdict in an espionage case involving ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Islamist Palestinian group.

Several Hamas officials condemned the ruling. "The decision harms the image of Egypt and its role towards the Palestinian cause. It reflects a form of standing against Palestinian resistance," Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Hamas told Reuters.

Hamas -- the Palestinian Islamist Resistance Movement -- is an ideological offshoot of the now-banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It was founded in 1987 at the height of the first Palestinian intifada against Israel.

The relationship between the group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2006, and the Egyptian authorities has soured since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Egyptian officials have accused Hamas of providing support to Islamic militants who have increased their fatal attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula since Morsi's ouster.

Hamas has repeatedly denied any such involvement.

Shortly after the Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in December 2013, an Egyptian lawyer, Samir Sabry, filed a legal complaint with the court asking it to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation.

"Hamas originated in Palestine as an Islamic resistance movement but turned into a terrorist organization," Sabry argued in his pleading.
Hamas responded by saying that "The fact that the Egyptian judiciary accepted this lawsuit calling Hamas a "terrorist" organization gives a free service to the Zionist occupation that lurks in Palestine and its people and our Arab and Islamic countries."

CodePink co-founder "jailed" in Cairo, "arm broken", haters blame Israel

Posted: 04 Mar 2014 02:40 AM PST

Code Pink, the Israel-hating uber-leftist organization, was planning a publicity stunt to try to get into Gaza for "International Women's Day." Of course, they knew quite well that it was a stunt and there was very little chance that they would actually  get into Gaza.

We will meet in Cairo on March 5. We will attempt to enter Gaza on March 6 and return from Gaza on March 12, 2014. Due to the political and security issues in Egypt, there are no guarantees that we will be able to get into Gaza. If we get to Gaza, we will spend our time meeting with women's groups, human rights leaders, fisherfolk, farmers, UN representatives, youth activists and journalists. If we do not get into Gaza, we will make your time in Cairo very worthwhile.

(That webpage, by the way, was created using Israeli webpage software from WiX.)

Then, early today, co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted:



Following that is a series of tweets about her awful predicament:



That's a jail cell?



See all that dirt?



For someone who hates America, there is nothing worse than this!



Tweeting that must have been painful!

Anyway, her buddies in Israel-hater universe are tying themselves up in rhetorical knots trying to blame Israel for this:



Can any Israel-hater find the logical hole here? Anyone? Hello?


He's just jealous no one calls him "Mibi."

Also funny is the unsigned letter from "women of  Gaza" who supposedly asked CodePink to visit:

We invite you to come on March 8th, International Women's Day, to see firsthand how the Israeli blockade is making life intolerable in the besieged Gaza Strip.

We, the Palestinian women of Gaza are being forced into isolation by the Israeli policies of apartheid. We continue to live the terrible consequences of the 7-year-blockade and the ongoing occupation of the Gaza Strip. We call on you to stand in solidarity with us to end this unjust, inhumane, and illegal blockade.
Not a word about Egypt, even though the number of people traveling between Gaza and Egypt are a small fraction of those who cross the Erez crossing to Israel.

(h/t MtTB)
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