01/15 Links Pt1: Abbas Applauds Jihad in Jerusalem Call, Oxfam cancels homophobic Hamas speaker

From Ian:

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Left Foot Forward forces Oxfam climbdown over homophobic speaker

The ‘Gaza: Through my Eyes’ exhibition was due to be hosted by Oxfam and Ibrahim Hewitt, a trustee of Hamas-linked organisation Interpal who has called for the killing of apostates and homosexuals.
Mr Hewitt has previously referred to the “so-called Holocaust” and has demanded that homosexuals suffer “severe punishments” for their “great sin”.
The event was scheduled to take place at the East London Mosque, notorious for hosting a number of extremist speakers.
Speaking to Left Foot Forward, Oxfam said it was “strongly committed to upholding universal human rights” and would therefore be cancelling the event.

Abbas applauds after Minister calls for Jihad in Jerusalem

Jihadi fighters should not be fighting in Syria but should go to Jerusalem. This was the message of PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, in front of Mahmoud Abbas:
"Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear... Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address."
Al-Habbash was criticizing those who have sent Jihadi fighters from around the world to Syria to fight against Assad's forces. The Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk has been the scene of some of this fighting. Abbas, who was in the audience, applauded when Al-Habbash said that Jihadi fighters should not be sent to Syria but to Jerusalem.

Defense minister says sorry for scathing attack on Kerry

In a statement published in English and Hebrew, the defense minister’s bureau said Israel greatly appreciates Kerry’s efforts and that Ya’alon “did not intend to insult the secretary and he apologizes if the secretary was hurt by the remarks attributed to the defense minister.”
The apology was issued after a reportedly long meeting between Ya’alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
The Obama administration had taken Ya’alon to task on Tuesday evening, in a rare public rebuke of a senior Israeli official.

America can dish out insults but can’t take them

The Americans have become rather adept at dishing it out when it comes to dissing Israel and Israeli politicians. But it seems that they cannot take it when the roles are reversed.
Sarkozy and Obama insult Netanyahu
Not so very long ago, former President of France Nicholas Sarkozy called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “a liar”. President Barack Obama very undiplomatically replied ““You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day.”.
That wasn’t the only time that Obama disrespected Netanyahu. In 2010 Obama refused to pose for official photos with Netanyahu during a visit to the White House, and then walked out on him while he went to a private dinner, leaving Netanyahu to “consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a U.S. congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.”

Canadian MP Cotler calls to dismantle UNRWA

“Jurisdiction over the Palestinian refugees should be transferred from UNWRA, which, frankly, continues to engage patterns of incitement against Israel and in misrepresentation of the truth,” Cotler said at an event in Jerusalem on Monday staged by the World Jewish Congress' Israel Council on Foreign Relations. The former Canadian justice minister delivered a speech about the Jewish refugees exiled from the Arab states following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Responsibility for dealing with the Palestinians should be transferred to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which handles all other refugee populations, he said.

Harper government’s strong Israel stance not matched by official Foreign Affairs policies: former Israeli ambassador says

Alan Baker, a former Israeli ambassador to Canada, and the six lawyers have written to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird demanding the website be changed “to align it with statements and policies publicly expressed by the Prime Minister, yourself and other government representatives.”
They are particularly incensed that the website refers to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as “occupied territories” and declares the construction of Israeli settlements and a large barrier inside those areas illegal.

Victims’ families sue Livni in terror funding case

A right-wing Israeli civil rights organization on Tuesday petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni be made to respond to a New York court’s request for information in a landmark case filed by families of victims of Palestinian suicide bombings.
The Israeli court gave Livni a week to respond to the petition.

Israel’s intel succeeded where US failed on Syria nukes, Gates reveals

“Early detection of a large nuclear reactor under construction in a place like Syria is supposedly the kind of intelligence collection that the United States does superbly well. Yet by the time the Israelis informed us about the site, the reactor construction was already well advanced,” Gates recalls. “This was a significant failure on the part of the US intelligence agencies, and I asked the president, “How can we have any confidence at all in the estimates of the scope of the North Korean, Iranian, or other possible programs given this failure? Surprisingly, neither the president nor Congress made much of it. Given the stakes, they should have.”

Palestinian PM pulled over twice in a day

A vehicle carrying Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was stopped at the IDF’s Zatara checkpoint near Nablus Tuesday evening, hours after Israeli police in the West Bank pulled him over for speeding, Army Radio reported
In Tuesday morning’s incident, Hamadallah was released after several minutes, but not before he reportedly verbally abused the police officers and then demanded, and received, an apology from Israeli security forces for detaining him.

Palestinians apologize for Prague weapons cache

Palestinian officials have apologized for an illegal weapons stash found earlier this month at the home of the Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic.
According to a statement issued Tuesday by the Czech foreign ministry, the Palestinians promised to prevent such occurrences in the future, the Associated Press reported.

Despite arrests, PA forces growing weaker in West Bank

An Israeli military source told The Times of Israel that this is not due to a lack of motivation. He said that the Palestinians do their best sometimes, but it isn’t enough. He pointed to the PA’s success in confiscating the funds of the Islamic groups, but also to its inability to deal with threats from “home” — Fatah activists in the camps — who do as they please. The source added that if Israel stopped its arrests in PA territory, a wave of terror could erupt against Israeli targets.
Another major problem that Palestinian commentators point to is the significant damage done recently to the status of Palestinian courts. When Salam Fayyad was prime minister, he placed a special emphasis on the standing and role of the courts, but since Rami Hamdallah came into office, the courts have lost their authority. As a result, Palestinian forces hold people in detention without a court order, and even if the court orders their release, they remain in custody. This phenomenon has led to public criticism and harms the legitimacy of the PA security services in the Palestinian street.

Hamas paramilitary camps prepare teens for martyrdom

The camps, titled “the pioneers of liberation,” are run by Hamas’s ministries of education and interior. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated in the one-week training camps this year, compared to 5,000 last year when the program was launched, Israeli sources with knowledge of the program said.
The corps of instructors consists mainly of active members of Hamas’s security forces, and the curriculum includes weapons training, first aid, self defense, marching exercises and “security awareness” classes on identifying Israeli spies.

JPost Editorial: Egypt’s fight for democracy

The proposed charter is not radically different from the one an Islamist-led assembly drafted and approved by a margin of almost two to one just over a year ago.
The new text includes some broader language protecting religious freedom and women’s rights, and excises some sections that gave absolute priority to Islamic law in Egyptian jurisprudence.
The most significant changes concern increases in the power and autonomy of the military, police and judiciary – the three governmental institutions that teamed up to help force Mohamed Morsi from power.

US links Egypt aid to reforms, peace with Israel

The bill links the $1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic aid to Egypt’s sustaining its security relationship with the US and abiding by the Egypt-Israeli peace pact.
A Senate Appropriations Committee summary of the bill says some of the aid would be given only if the secretary of state certifies that Egypt has held a national referendum, supports a democratic transition and holds democratic elections.

US condemns Iranian FM Zarif for honoring Hezbollah chief

The United States on Tuesday condemned a decision by Iran’s foreign minister to place a wreath at the grave of a former Lebanese Hezbollah leader accused of perpetrating attacks that killed hundreds of people.

State Dept: ‘There Is No Secret Agreement’ with Iran

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi on Monday claimed that key points on the recently signed nuclear deal were contained in a 30-page secret document.
The confidential side deal purportedly contains critical details of how the nuclear deal is to be carried out.
The White House is additionally refusing to release the text of the official deal.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Tuesday that there is no secret deal.

Will we ever fully know the terms of surrender?

The new “moderate” President of Iran has declared victory and international surrender.
But what are the terms of our surrender?
According to Iran, we don’t really know; according to the State Deparment, we will find out. Via L.A. Times, New Iran agreement includes secret side deal, Tehran official says :

Fmr. Kerry Aide: Iran Should Not Be Required to Cease Terrorism Against U.S.

A longtime aide for Secretary of State John Kerry is urging senators to oppose a new Iran sanctions measure because it would level tough penalties on Tehran should it carry out a terror attack against Americans anywhere in the world.
One of the requirements of a new bipartisan Iran sanctions bill in the Senate is that President Barack Obama certify “Iran has not directly, or through a proxy, supported, financed, planned, or otherwise carried out an act of terrorism against the United States or United States persons or property anywhere in the world” during nuclear negotiations with the West.
If Iran—one of the top global sponsors of terrorism—is caught committing an extremist act, the bill would require new sanctions to immediately take effect.

Obama can’t be trusted on Iran

In the spring of 2006, a veteran Democratic senator visiting Boston was asked at a small gathering what the Democratic Party’s strategy was to address the advancing specter of Iranian nuclear capability. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “With any luck Israel will do something about it and the rest of us will publicly blame Israel.”
The senator was not being snide. He was being candid: For many Democrats, the Iranian nuclear issue is suffused with, if not dominated by, wishful thinking.

US-Iranian citizen caught smuggling F-35 plans to Tehran

A dual Iranian-US citizen was arrested in New Jersey last Thursday for attempting to smuggle to Iran the blueprints related to the F-35 joint strike fighter plane, according to US prosecutors.
Mozaffar Khazaee, 59, an engineer at Connecticut-based defense contractor Pratt & Whitney, reportedly arranged in November for a shipping company to transport 44 boxes labeled “household goods” to his brother-in-law in Hamadan, Iran, via Long Beach, California.

Embattled Turkish PM Erdogan Retreats as Islamist Allies Raided

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he was ready to withdraw a contentious bill aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary as he battled to contain the worst crisis of his 11 years in office.
His about-face came as the country's political tumult took yet another twist with police raids against an Islamic charity close to the government that is accused of shipping arms to Syrian rebels.
The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) branded the police raid - part of a wider operation against Al Qaeda - a "smear campaign" linked to a high-level corruption probe embroiling the Islamic-rooted government, echoing Erdogan's description of the corruption probe that has targeted key members of his inner circle.