Showing posts sorted by relevance for query egypt explosives. Sort by date Show all posts
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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

From Ian:

Daughters of Brussels shooting victims: 'They'll always be with us'
Shira and Ayelet Riva, daughters of the Israeli couple killed in the Brussels Jewish Museum shooting, write final letter to parents as their bodies land in Israel: 'We know that they'll always be in our hearts and souls.'
"We couldn't ask for better parents. Loving, caring and good-hearted, who most of all wanted the best for us," wrote Shira and Ayelet Riva in a letter in memory of their parents Emanuel and Miriam Riva, who were killed in the shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum Saturday, just hours after their bodies arrived in Israel.
In the final letter to their parents, the daughters (16 and 15 years old) wrote that "they went abroad to celebrate their 18th anniversary. Before the trip they promised us we would do a lot of things together after they return, but they won't come back to us.
Tel Aviv couple to be laid to rest; Brussels shooter still at large
The bodies of Emanuel and Mira Riva, the Israeli couple killed in Saturday's shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum, will be laid to rest at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery at 5 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, as investigators continue searching for the perpetrator still at large.
A lone gunman entered the museum with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and opened fire, killing the Rivas and one other, injuring a fourth person. The fourth victim died on Monday.
Belgium sends museum murder file to terrorism prosecutor
Deputy public prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch told a news conference that “the file is transferred to the federal” level, but she refused to say whether or not it was being reclassified as a terrorist act.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Saturday, Joel Rubinfeld, who heads Belgium’s league against anti-Semitism, told AFP it clearly “is a terrorist act” as a man had been seen driving up and entering the museum before opening fire inside and running off. He added that the act was the result of a “climate of hate.”
Brussels gunman was wearing video camera, sources say
Belgian media reported Monday morning that the gunman who killed four people in an attack Saturday at the Brussels Jewish Museum carried out the act while wearing a portable video camera on his chest.
If true, the behavior would be reminiscent of that of Mohammed Merah, who filmed himself killing four people at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, March 2012.
“Sources involved in the investigation” informed several news sites that while reviewing one of the museum’s security videos, it was observed that the suspect was bearing a GoPro brand camera that may have documented the event.

Monday, May 12, 2014

From Ian:

Revisiting Jewish and Islamic Oppression during the Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was a time when considerable horror was visited upon the Jewish people of Spain, which subsequently spread to Portugal, one for which the authorities of both nations wish to make amends, even if in a belatedly tokenistic fashion.
Commentators, such as Robert Fisk, have taken issue with this offer of citizenship. Rather than welcoming the development, and using it to recommend that this legislation be extended to Muslims, it is framed as a pretext to suggest that lack of inclusion for Muslims is in some respect Islamophobic.
Likewise, when word of the plan spread a decade ago, Islamic groups began to demand Spanish citizenship for millions of the Muslim descendants, of the 325,000 expelled by the Spanish authorities in the early 17th Century, despite the fact that expulsion played a central role in the rapid expansion of the Islamic world itself.
"Fisking" history
Notably, Fisk white-washes the Moorish “Golden Age”, in which Jews, Muslims and Christians supposedly lived in a tolerant environment.
The Extremist Allegiances of Joel Beinin
Joel Beinin – Professor of History and of Middle East History at Stanford University – once threatened legal action after being named as a supporter of terrorism. That should have surprised even the most jaded observers of American academic “activism.” Ever since his days as a young Maoist on the campuses of Princeton, Harvard, and then Michigan, Beinin has competed in militancy with the most brutal terrorist foes of the Jewish state.
As a former student recalled, Beinin “had nothing but contempt for Israel, was well to the ‘left’ of the PLO, and was perfectly representative of the extremism of his milieu. One day, at a particular forum, he gave what I can only describe as a kind of beer-hall speech. Shouting and pumping his fist, he admonished the Arabs to forget any negotiating with Israel and to stay true to pure radicalism.”
Mick Jagger’s False Quote Spreads Through Social Media
As the owner of tickets for next month’s Rolling Stones concert in Tel Aviv, I’m very much looking forward to seeing Mick Jagger and the rest of the legendary rock band defying both their age and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
It’s not surprising that Israel advocates are trumpeting the Stones concert as an epic BDS fail, leading to this quote and related images spreading like wildfire through the pro-Israel community on social media.
Unfortunately the quote isn’t true.


Thursday, May 08, 2014

From Ian:

Palestinian Magical Thinking
The Palestinian elite and their children live comfortable and privileged lives in Ramallah and elsewhere in the region and beyond it. Combining this with diplomatic and political activity can be pleasant and rewarding. Combining it with military activity, by contrast, could be harmful and has already been proven not to work.
So expect more furious and pathos-filled denunciations of Israeli crimes from various UN committees largely staffed by the representatives of sundry dictatorships.
Expect Saeb Erekat and the others to come up with yet more inventive reasons as to why Islam and Arabic are “indigenous” to Jerusalem while Judaism and Hebrew represent foreign implants. And so on, and so forth.
And at the end of all this, expect more failure, more bewilderment and a pause until the next alternative to a negotiated peace is stumbled upon. This is the nature of the magical thinking that lies at the core of Palestinian Arab politics.
This politics, in its various manifestations, exists to reverse the verdict of the war of 1948. It has no other purpose.
Ex-ICC prosecutor warns Palestinians on anti-Israel war crimes effort
The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, on a visit to Israel, urged the Palestinians to proceed with caution as they consider pursuing war crimes charges against Israel. He said it would be preferable for the two sides to work out their differences directly.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the Palestinians should not rush ahead with a case against Israel, saying they could expose themselves to the same accusations.
White House Escalates Secret Media War Against Israel
Indyk, a longtime Middle East hand and peace negotiator, has for years personally disliked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to these sources.
“It’s been going on for many years,” said one former Israeli diplomat, referring to Indyk’s leaks to the press. “He was defending the Palestinians. That is a long time story. His antipathy to Netanyahu is also a very long story. It’s not recent. It goes back years.”
Indyk has enjoyed a long relationship with reporter Barnea and has used those ties to leak stories critical of Israel and Netanyahu, the source said.

Thursday, May 01, 2014

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: The J Street Paradigm:Methods, Means, & Modes of Suicide
Post Zionism and the rise of J Street
It is within these two historical contexts–‘Enlightened’ evil and Stockholm Syndrome– that the conundrum of the so-called post-Zionist movement can perhaps be better comprehended. Post-Zionism posits that the Zionist era has passed and is at best a historical era which had its run but is no longer in session. Generally Jews who belong to this camp are of the left-wing progressive persuasion who also fail to understand what Zionism is. They usually understand Zionism to be merely a response to anti-Semitism and thus no longer necessary. They are largely ignorant of the emancipatory nature of Zionism, which, must like the civil rights movement in America, was rooted in ethnic and cultural pride. Zionism, while it was indeed reactionary, was also proactive in its advancement of an indigenous people’s rights. The Jewish right to settle in its ancient homeland is not simply due to the spread of anti-Semitism; It is a matter of fact, regardless of whatever political climate Jews find themselves in, in the Diaspora. Post-Zionists also do not grasp the scope of anti-Semitism, not in the Middle East nor its growth in Europe. Indeed, they often, through Stockholm Syndrome, contribute to it.
I realize that this is a very hard pill to swallow. Nevertheless the symptom must be properly diagnosed if the patient is to heal. Perhaps no greater example of such a festering sore on the heart of the Jewish people can be found then in that of the political organization, J Street. Claiming to be pro-Israel and pro-peace, J Street is neither and advances no such policies. Founded in 2008, its major pronouncement is that a two-state solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict is what must be advanced both for the sake of Israeli security and American stability in the region. This of course precludes a detailed analysis of the situation, and a study into all possible prognosis to the problem. This premature announcement of an end, rather then examining the complexity of the situation and then coming to an educated conclusion reflective of those same complex factors, epitomizes J Street’s creed: The end justifies the means.
Indy publishes letter (whose signatures include Desmond Tutu) with lie about ‘maimed’ Palestinian ‘footballers’
However, the charges about the alleged attack on the ‘talented teenage Palestinian footballers’, which was first published in the Arab media and then by Dave Zirin at The Nation, were proven to be a lie in a superb fisking at Elder of Ziyon.
First, the two Palestinians were not ‘targeted’ because they were “football players”, but because they were allegedly seen throwing bombs.
The incident, which occurred in late January near Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, reportedly began when a group of Palestinians (including the two “footballers”) threw bombs at Israeli security forces. The security forces evidently only opened fire when the group attempted to run away and tried again to toss explosives at them.
Additionally, both of the Palestinian ‘victims’, Joher Naser and Adam Johar, are evidently supporters of the terror group, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (h/t Bob Knot)
A Case of Selective Holocaust Memory
Grand Mufti: Founder of Palestinian Liberation, Nazi Collaborator
As disturbing as Abbas’s statements are, it’s what he does not say that is morally repugnant. Let’s not forget that the annihilation of Hungary’s Jews was aided by the founder of the Palestinian national liberation movement, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.
Having fled to Berlin in 1941, the Mufti got busy, actively assisting the Nazis by recruiting Bosnian Muslim soldiers into the Wafen-SS. It was these Mufti recruits who guarded the bridges across which passed the trains that carried over half a million Hungarian Jewish men, women and children to Auschwitz for extermination.
The Muslim soldiers were tasked with thwarting partisan efforts to slow the killing machine by blowing up vital arteries such as bridges.
The Mufti also helped establish the “Free Arab Legion” that operated as an adjunct to the Wehrmacht, the German army. The Nazis were most appreciative, paying al-Husseini a monthly salary that was twice the amount of a Reich Field Marshall’s.
Al-Husseini’s activities on behalf of Nazi Germany are explored in a documentary titled “The Turban and the Swastika”. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Saturday, March 08, 2014

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: A letter to the all-knowing Max Blumenthal: Co-written by Daniel Mael
Since you have found us out, we may as well list a few other things the Zionists are planning: We actually work for an organization called ‘The Elders of Zion.’ Perhaps you’ve heard of them? At any rate, we are two of their agents. As you can imagine, we are paid hefty sums of money, $4.6 billion a year to be exact. We are in charge of disseminating information around the globe, regulating U.N. meetings in New York, controlling seagull calls, and sending signals to sharks in the deep blue sea. We elders also work closely with Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Cinderella’s stepsisters in controlling things that occur in the world. You see, we were the ones who made Cinderella’s glass slipper come off when the clock struck “12.”
We are also behind the misinformation campaign that mischaracterizes Iran’s regime as evil and sinister. The Iranian regime is actually a democracy ruled by angels and ponies. The images on television of Iranian civilians being persecuted and oppressed is actually a vast conspiracy, a television show put on by Zionist actors and directors. The Iranian people are actually treated with kindness and goodness by their leaders; They are even given cute little treats from Candy Crush every day, and some are even selected to visit Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory if they really behave.
Caroline Glick: Surviving Obama
In his speech at the AIPAC Conference on Tuesday, Netanyahu rebutted every position Obama has staked out on the Palestinians and Iran without ever mentioning Obama’s name. By doing so he energized Israel’s supporters while denying Obama the ability to claim that Netanyahu is unsupportive of his policies.
In other words, he humored the White House while staking out an independent Israeli policy for which he secured the support of Israel’s American backers.
But Netanyahu’s skill in maneuvering around Obama is not enough for Israel to safely weather his presidency. Israel needs an overall strategy for securing its interests.
Richard Millett: Bibi declared “most dangerous political world leader today” at Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS.
Khalidi is the Godfather of “Palestine Studies”. Gilbert Achcar introduced him as “the founder of the scientific study on the question of Palestine”. But at the Centre for Palestine Studies on Wednesday night Ilan Pappe had referred to the “so-called scientific research” of Zionism as nothing more than “marketing” by Israel.
Hypocrisy doesn’t come bigger than that. While the study of “Palestine” is “scientific”, the study of Israel is mere “marketing”!
The glitterati of the Palestine Lobby, including “Ambassador” Manuel Hassassian, were present to hear Khalidi describe the Balfour Declaration as “the single most destructive political document on the Middle East in the twentieth century”. But the 16 million dead of WW1 were not even mentioned by Khalidi.

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

From Ian:

Without getting personal, Netanyahu hits back at Obama
Publicly savaged by President Barack Obama for his settlement policies on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday opted for a firmly non-personal response in a warmly received address to the AIPAC conference here. He argued extensively for several positions directly at odds with those held by the president, but did so without the direct targeting that Obama had employed in his incendiary Bloomberg conversation published two days earlier.
Obama, in the lengthy interview with Jeffrey Goldberg that was released precisely as Netanyahu was flying in to meet with him, had chosen to assail the prime minister for overseeing “aggressive settlement construction,” indicated that Netanyahu’s positions on the Palestinian conflict were threatening Israel’s wellbeing, and warned that the US would find it increasingly difficult to defend Israel from the international consequences.
Netanyahu, having since joined the president in their latest public dialogue of the deaf at the White House on Monday, opted to tell AIPAC Tuesday morning that he had held “very good meetings” with Obama and other senior American leaders (the only time he named Obama in the speech), insisted that he was ready to conclude “a historic peace” with the Palestinians, and hailed the uniquely “precious alliance” between the United States and Israel.
He also chose to heap praise on Secretary of State John Kerry, who must have been deeply dismayed by the president’s decision to so openly question the policies of a prime minister he has spent months gradually trying to win over, cosset and reassure.
No standing O for Obama
Citing two anonymous high-ranking sources in DC, one Israeli, and one American, the paper maintains that the US State Department is furious with President Barack Obama for his interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on Sunday — a move they say was deliberately done behind Secretary of State John Kerry’s back and threatens to derail peace talks.
“The interview Obama gave, unbeknownst to Kerry, in which he launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a way that departs from any acceptable formulation, undermines Kerry’s sincere efforts,” an unnamed official told the paper.
The second source stressed that Kerry’s primary concern regarding the interview is that it “damaged Netanyahu’s and the Israeli public’s trust in the US efforts [to broker a peace agreement].”
Obama’s Settlement Construction Lie
According to Obama, “we have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we’ve seen in a very long time.” But in reality, as a simple glance at the annual data published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveals, there has been less settlement construction during Benjamin Netanyahu’s five years as Israeli premier (2009-13) than under any of his recent predecessors.
During those five years, housing starts in the settlements averaged 1,443 a year (all data is from the charts here, here and here plus this news report). That’s less than the 1,702 a year they averaged under Ehud Olmert in 2006-08, who is nevertheless internationally acclaimed as a peacemaker (having made the Palestinians an offer so generous that then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice couldn’t believe she was hearing it). It’s also less than the 1,652 per year they averaged under Ariel Sharon in 2001-05, who is similarly lauded internationally as a peacemaker (for having left Gaza); the fact that even Sharon out-built Netanyahu is particularly remarkable, because his term coincided with the second intifada, when demand for housing in the settlements plummeted. And it’s far less than under Ehud Barak, who is also internationally acclaimed as a peacemaker (for his generous offer at Camp David in 2000): One single year under Barak, 2000, produced more housing starts in the settlements (4,683) than the entire first four years of Netanyahu’s term (4,679).

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

From Ian:

Ex-Gitmo detainee latest to be suspected of terrorism
Western human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, promoted Begg's account of his experiences as a U.S. detainee but their association with him was controversial even among their own staffers.
Gita Sahgal, who headed Amnesty International's gender unit, was suspended by the organization in 2010 after objecting to Amnesty's association with Begg, whom she described as a leader of a pro-jihadi group and "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban," according to the London paper The Guardian.
The arrest of a former Guantanamo prisoner in England on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism is the latest example of a failed release program that is setting free unrepentant jihadists, an analyst says.
United Kingdom authorities on Tuesday arrested Moazzam Begg, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism in Syria. Three others were arrested with him.
Guardian fails to reveal that Brit arrested for terror is ‘Comment is Free’ contributor
As we first learned from Guido Fawkes, Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who became a spokesman for the “human rights” group Cageprisoners, was arrested by British police on Tuesday morning for terror offences which he is alleged to have committed in Syria.
Begg is widely believed by American intelligence officials to have been a jihadist involved with Al-Qaida and reportedly attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the UK “so he could assist in waging jihad against enemies of Islam.” Begg reportedly assisted several prominent terrorists, recruited young operatives for jihad and provided financial support for terror camps.
Amnesty International Report Reflects Lack of Expertise and Methodology
Report based on faulty data calls for sanctions, coincides with annual BDS campaign
Jerusalem – A report scheduled to be released by Amnesty International tomorrow, Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank, falsely and maliciously accuses Israel of “callous disregard for human life,” according to analysis by NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research organization. The report also repeats Amnesty’s calls for political warfare against Israel, in the form of an arms embargo.
“Amnesty International accusations are reckless, blatantly biased, and reflect the lack of a credible research fact-finding methodology,” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “Amnesty lacks the expertise and credibility to analyze or assign blame for deaths in the context of violent confrontations in the West Bank. As in the past, the allegations in this report repeat unverifiable Palestinian ‘testimony.’”

Sunday, January 26, 2014

From Ian:

Confusing The World With the Facts on "Palestine"
Palestine is a geographical area, not a nationality.
Palestine was and is solely a geographic name. Therefore, it is not surprising that in modern times the name ‘Palestine’ or ‘Palestinian’ was applied as an adjective to all inhabitants of the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River – Palestine Jews and Palestine Arabs alike. In fact, until the 1960s, most Arabs in Palestine preferred to identify themselves merely as part of the great Arab nation or citizens of “southern Syria.”
The term ‘Palestinian’ as a noun was usurped and co-opted by the Arabs in the 1960s as a tactic initiated by Yasser Arafat to brand Jews as intruders on someone else’s turf. He mendaciously presented Arab residents of Israel and the "Territories" as indigenous inhabitants since time immemorial. This fabrication of peoplehood allowed Palestinian Arabs to gain parity with the Jewish people as a nation deserving of an independent state.
UN Propaganda Campaign Against the Legitimacy of Israel Reaches Epidemic Proportions
The UN propaganda campaign against the legitimacy of Israel has now reached epidemic proportions. On January 20, 2014 the UN organized its first Solidarity Year event for "civil society." In one of the UN's main galleries, it conducted a public screening of the film "Where should the birds fly?" and sponsored a subsequent discussion with Palestinian filmmaker Fida Qishta and journalist Laila El-Haddad. Here is just some of what the film included: Mona Samouni (age 11 or 12): "The Israeli soldiers were shooting at the people, as if they were not human, as if they were chickens or mice. For the Israeli army this is something without meaning. But the victims were very precious to us, even though they didn't consider them human." Fida Qishta: "Even the presence of international observers does not prevent daily random Israeli gunfire. The Israelis seem to be playing a deadly game with Palestinians who are just trying to work and live, taunting them and intimidating them, sometimes killing them." At the close of the UN afternoon of portraying Israelis as Nazi-like wanton baby killers, the Chairman of the UN working group that organized the affair, Maltese diplomat Bernard Hamilton, asked the crowd to do their utmost to promote the film.
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei Denied Holocaust
MEMRI Disproves Iranian FM Zarif's Claim To ABC That Khamenei's Statements About Holocaust 'Myth' Were 'A Bad Translation'; Khamenei Also Praised French Holocaust Denier Roger Garaudy
In a September 29, 2013 interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, in which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was questioned about Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's statements that the Holocaust is a "myth," Zarif claimed that Khamenei is not a Holocaust denier and that the statements – which can be found in English on his official English-language website – were a "bad translation" and "out of context." Khamenei had made the statements in a February 2006 speech to Iranian Air Force officers.[1]
However, a MEMRI investigation reveals that FM Zarif's claim is false; in Khamenei's original statements, which can be accessed on Khamenei's official Persian-language website, Khamenei did indeed call the Holocaust a "myth."
SodaStream Scores Another Super Bowl Rejection
The fix is easy. SodaStream can just remove those four words. After all, having Johansson on board is too big an asset to squander on a banned commercial. Then again, knowing SodaStream, it couldn't have scripted things any better. SodaStream will be able to milk the publicity of another banned ad. The uncensored version will blow up on YouTube, just as last year's nixed spot did. Over the next few days it can argue that Fox doesn't care about the environment, favoring the promotion of Coke cans and Pepsi bottles. Other ads have called out the competition by name in the past, and SodaStream can rule by being the exception.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Abbas Cracks Down on Media, World Looks Other Way
These groups [human rights, media, Western donor governments] see only what the Israeli authorities do. On the side of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, or Hamas in the Gaza Strip, they "see no evil." For Western governments, so long as the Palestinian Authority leadership says it is committed to the peace process with Israel, its leaders are allowed to rule as a dictatorship.
The Palestinian Authority also apparently does not want the outside world, especially international donors, to hear about the financial corruption or violations of freedom of the media. It seems to want criticism to be directed only toward Israel in the hope that this will invite international pressure on the Israelis and force them to accept at the negotiating able all of Abbas's demands.
The UK is paying Palestinians to murder Jews
The following letter sent to my constituency MP is self-explantory:
The policy of the Palestinian Authority clearly encourages the terrorist murder of Jews, since the murderers are guaranteed not just wealth beyond the dreams of ordinary Palestinians, but also great adulation (it is standard for the PA to name roads, squares, and even soccer tournaments after convicted murderers). Since the Palestinian Authority is funded solely by the EU and USA perhaps you can assure me that you will ask the Foreign Secretary to:
a) immediately stop all payments to the Palestinian Authority, hence putting a stop to this incitement and direct support for terrorism; and
b) avoid pressuring Israel to release terrorist murderers (perhaps noting that this is the equivalent of expecting the UK to release people like the murderers of soldier Lee Rigby as a 'peace gesture').
CAIR's Ayloush Gives Dishonest, Bullying Answer to Hamas Question
Cornered by a straightforward question he did not want to answer, the head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Los Angeles office chose instead to misrepresent his organization's actions and feign outrage that the question itself was bigoted.
"Will CAIR-Los Angeles or CAIR-National – will you condemn Hamas?" Hussam Ayloush was asked outside his chapter's annual fundraising banquet Saturday evening.
BBC’s Knell still can’t get Hamas terror designation right
Hamas is in fact defined as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan – as the BBC’s own profile of Hamas clearly states. In addition, Australia designates Hamas’ Izz al Din Al Qassam Brigades as a terrorist organization, as do New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
As also noted in the BBC’s profile, Hamas not only “refuses to recognise Israel”: its charter commits it to that country’s destruction.
Hamas: 'We'll Come to Your Homes, Your Schools'
Speaking on behalf of Hamas at the College for Science and Technology in Khan Yunis on Monday, al-Masri emphasized that the next conflict with Israel would be underground, and that "we will enter your homes, your schools, your positions and your strongholds."
Al-Masri also added that the terror organization now has missiles capable of a 100-km radius - capable of reaching Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - in its possession.
A strike on Iran: Complex, but possible
The number of facilities that would need to be hit to deal a fatal blow to Iran's nuclear infrastructure is generally overestimated. The essential ingredient for building a nuclear bomb is uranium enriched to a level of more than 90%, meaning that the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordo must be taken care of. The reactor at Arak, designed to produce plutonium (another fissionable material suitable for building a nuclear bomb), is not yet active, but it is a worthy target, similar to the reactor that was destroyed in Iraq in 1981.
Netanyahu has nothing to lose except losing
What could save the deal is if the Iranians fake throwing up their hands. What could save the world from a bad deal is if the ayatollahs harden their positions. The level of doubt over Iran's behavior, to the point where even Washington, eager for a compromise with Tehran, could resist acquiescence, marked the core of Secretary of State John Kerry's decision to take a rain check on his visit to Jerusalem this week; he's not sure what might be in his hands come Friday.
No doubt, Israel is stuck in an inferior position. Even Hollande's visit could not change that, mainly because the French president would not give up mixing the Iran deal with the settlement-development issue. But, in light of the current situation, just as peace talks are set to resume on Wednesday, there's no reason Netanyahu should back off the process he has practically been leading himself. He's still got the chance to succeed. He's got nothing to lose by persevering. At least it shows integrity.
Netanyahu: 'Partial deals are bad deals'
“I don't advocate partial deals. I think partial deals are bad deals,” Netanyahu told host Candy Crowley in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If you want to do a partial deal, then decide what the final deal is, and then do one step. Decide that the final deal will actually implement the very terms that you, the P5+1, have put in the Security Council resolution.”
He said a final deal should include dismantling all centrifuges and plutonium reactors in Iran. But negotiations aren’t heading in that direction, and President Barack Obama has said some sanctions could be lifted in a deal and quickly reversed if Iran doesn’t stand by its promises.
Reducing any sanctions now, however, could bring an end to sanctions in the near future, Netanyahu said, warning that was “not a good idea.”
US Jewish leaders feel misled by White House over Iran deal
The US Jewish leaders feel that the administration showed a “lack of trust” in them, a source close to the contacts said.
Obama administration officials did not tell them that they had been secretly negotiating with Iran for the past year, and that the Geneva talks were really “precooked,” The Times of Israel was told, and thus it was an act of bad faith for the administration to ask the Jewish groups to hold off on pressure for more sanctions with the promise that they would meet again in 30-60 days to consider where the negotiations had led.
PM: Iran already has enough material for five bombs
“The Iranians already have five bombs’ worth of low-enriched uranium,” he told the German daily Bild. “If you press the sanctions now, you might actually get a better deal. If you have a bad diplomatic solution — what this appears to be — you actually may get the consequences you want to avoid. That is, you would have no choice but to exercise a military option in the future.”
In order to build a nuclear bomb, highly enriched uranium in necessary, yet it is possible to convert low-enriched material to weapons-grade level rather quickly. According to some experts, Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build an atomic weapon within two weeks.
Steinitz: World willing to cheat itself over Iran
Warning that the "world is cheating itself" over the deal," Steinitz said, "Tomorrow, there will be a return to the negotiations table in Geneva, and in light of the agreement taking shape, I'd like to clarify that the government of Israel believes this is a bad deal. No one can force us to take part in the celebration, which could be a fake celebration. It's important to stress that if someone thinks that it is comfortable and pleasant to be the one who spoils the celebration, they are wrong. We would prefer to be part of the celebration, but on such a critical issue to our welfare and to world peace, we will not lie to ourselves," Steinitz said.
We’ll continue enriching, won’t shut nuclear sites, Iran lawmaker says
Speaking to Iran’s Arabic-language news station Al-Alam, Mohammad Hassan Asfari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Affairs committee, reported on a meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at Iran’s foreign ministry Sunday evening. Zarif updated the parliamentarians on the recent round of talks in Geneva and on Iran’s strategy for the upcoming round set to commence in Geneva this Wednesday.
According to Asfari, Iran’s halting of uranium enrichment and the closure of the nuclear plant in Fordo and the heavy water reactor in Arak are “not on the agenda of either side.” Iran, Asfari was told in the meeting, would negotiate based on “Iran’s pride.”
Iranian dissidents say Iran has built secret new nuclear site
An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Monday it had information about an underground nuclear site being built in Iran and that this was among a number of secret venues for an atomic bomb program.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy-water facility at Arak in 2002. But analysts say the NCRI has a mixed track record and a clear agenda of regime change in Tehran.
23 killed in attack on Iran's embassy in Beirut
Two suicide bombings struck near the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday, killing 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attache.
The mid-morning blasts hit Beirut's upscale neighborhood of Janah, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group. One explosion blew out the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility.
Hanegbi shoots down Iranian claims that Israel behind Beirut blasts
Hanegbi said that it was quite humorous that a country that has perpetuated terror around the world, now is blaming others.
His comments came after Al Jazeera reported that "the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, who escaped from the attack uninjured, is blaming Israel for the attack."
Beirut bombing sees Iran drawn deeper into Lebanon quagmire
Evidently, however, even such stringent security precautions — introduced at potential Iranian targets as well — could not thwart Tuesday’s bombings. The Iranians are themselves now learning the bitter lesson they taught Israel: the combination of explosives and a highly motivated terrorist make the suicide bomber a devastating and hard-to-stop weapon.
Group behind Beirut bombing has fired rockets at Israel
The Abdullah Azzam Brigade, the al-Qaeda-affiliated group that claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s deadly attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut, has threatened in the past to launch an offensive against Israel.
Why Has the U.N. Given Assad a Free Pass on Mass Murder?
During the past year, the United Nations' chief relief agency has routinely withheld from the public vital details of the Bashar al-Assad regime's systematic campaign to block humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians. This silence has infuriated human rights advocates, who believe that greater public exposure of Assad's actions would increase political pressure on the Syrian government to allow the international community to help hundreds of thousands of ordinary Syrians who are trapped in the line of fire.
Instead, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) -- which oversees international relief efforts in Syria -- has relied on low-key, behind-the-scenes diplomacy to quietly persuade the Syrian regime to open the aid floodgates. So far, critics say, the strategy has been ineffective. Worse, it provides a measure of political cover to the Assad regime as it carries out mass starvation and slaughter, these critics contend.
UN Watch: At UN, Syria's murderous regime compares Israelis to Nazis


Jews help Syria’s innocent victims in Bulgaria
Unable to handle the growing number of refugees, the Bulgarian authorities are helpless to offer anything more than overcrowded camps in poor condition with little medical care or food.
“We count on external assistance,” admitted Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski during a meeting with Jewish Canadian philanthropist, pop musician/jingle writer Yank Barry on November 13. Driven by personal ties to Bulgaria and his humanitarian mission, Barry is among the most recent contributors to join the relief effort to aid the Syrian refugees in Bulgaria, the European Union’s least wealthy member.
‘Egypt signs missile deal with Russia’
The head of Russia’s state-controlled industrial holding company says Moscow has signed a deal to provide Egypt with air defense missile systems.
Monday’s statement by Russian Technologies chief Sergei Chemezov followed last week’s trip to Egypt by Russia’s foreign and defense ministries.
US to Train Libyan Forces As Militias Ravage Tripoli
On Sunday, following heavy violence in Tripoli, a senior US military official revealed plans to train up to 7,000 members of Libya's security and special operations forces, according to Al Arabiya.
Aside from training thousands of conventional forces, special operations forces will be trained to conduct counter-terror operations, according to Admiral William McRaven, head of the U.S. military's Special Operations Command.
Turkey's secularists alarmed over rise of Islamic 'moralism'
Tension between religious and secular elites has long been one of the underlying fault lines in the predominantly Muslim but constitutionally secular republic, forged from the ruins of an Ottoman theocracy by Ataturk 90 years ago.
But a stream of provocative comments from Erdogan, who is expected to stand for president in elections next year, has heightened accusations of religiously-motivated interference in private life and exacerbated secularists' sense of siege.
Erdogan suggested this month that rules could be drawn up to stop male and female students living together, one ruling party official suggesting such unregulated cohabitation could be used to harbor criminals.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

From Ian:

Palestinian Corruption -- Again
If the Palestinian movement believes it lives outside the laws of politics, nature and economics, it may be right.
The PA and Hamas occupy a split territory with two feuding governments -- both dictatorships with all the arbitrariness and lack of accountability implied by that; multiple armed services that fight each other and, occasionally, kill Israelis; a school system that teaches children that the IDF ate Mickey Mouse and Jews have no history in the land of the Bible; a civic culture that venerates suicide bombers and the mothers who seem to revel in their children's bloody demise; and an economy that produces nothing of export value. Yet it operates on the principle that it will be bailed out by European and American political support and international largesse. And that Israel will be blamed for the Palestinian failure to thrive.
Two stories this week, however, may challenge endlessly naïve European and American fealty to the Palestinian narrative.
Al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood hold secret meeting in Jordan
The meeting focused on the conflict in Egypt and Syria and an altercation broke out between a Brotherhood member and jihadist leader Mohammad al-Miqdad, and the latter asked the Brotherhood not to publicly denounce the actions of the jihadists.
The jihadists discussed their plans to start moving Syrian and Iraqi jihadists into Egypt in order to carry out terror operations there after the Eid al-Adha festival, which falls on Tuesday.
Experts Warn of Al Qaeda Biological Weapons Threat
Experts from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) have issued a stark warning over what they say is the "clear and present danger" of Al Qaeda gaining possession of the Assad regime's stockpile of biological weapons, claiming to have substantial evidence that Al Qaeda-linked groups may already have possession of toxic agents.
Unlike chemical weapons, which utilize chemical agents to poison victims, biological weapons make use of diseases, toxins and other contagious agents. Biological weapons have the potential to kill far greater numbers, and are also far harder to detect or protect against.
Visualizing anti-Zionism: Site used by Guardian data blog calls Haifa “Palestinian”
Yesterday, we posted about an extraordinarily misleading Guardian data blog entry on the Palestinian economy – a piece by Mona Chalabi titled ‘How does Palestine’s economy work?‘, Oct. 14 – which assigned blame for Palestinian economic woes almost entirely on Israel, and never once so much as mentioned the injurious economic impact of Palestinian terrorism.
Many of the claims made by Chalabi were quite specious, including her reference to a report which purported to quantify the number of olive trees “uprooted by Israeli authorities since 1967″. To illustrate the number of olive trees allegedly destroyed by “Israeli Authorities” – which Palestinians have evidently methodically been counting over the past 46 years – she referred readers to a site called ‘Visualizing Palestine‘.
Following CiF Watch post, Guardian amends ‘terrorist sperm’ story
We demonstrated, per Israeli court records, that Za’anin not only belonged to a terror organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but volunteered for their military wing (Al-Quds Brigades), and was convicted after pleading guilty to four counts of being an accessory to attempted murder, a plea bargain in which he admitted his active participation in several terror attacks.
Today, we noticed that the article was amended (on October 15) to include details of Za’anin’s criminal record.
CNN’s Holocaust-revisionism: It isn’t “piffle.”
NPR knows it. NBC knows it. Even Iran’s Fars News Agency knows it.
CNN seriously mistranslated its interview with new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, and it’s turning into a scandal that won’t go away.
Brighton University lecturer calls for abolition of Sussex University’s Israel Studies course.
Tom Hickey, a Brighton University lecturer, speaking at the start of Sussex University’s Palestine Awareness Week on Monday night called for the abolition of Sussex University’s newly established Yossi Harel Chair in Modern Israel Studies until questions relating to its “external sources of funding” and the process that established it are “satisfactorily answered.”
He also attacked already established Israel Studies courses at SOAS, Leeds University, Manchester University and Oxford University.
Hickey is a senior member of University and College Union’s National Executive Committee and a member of BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine).
World Bank Report on Palestinian Economy Full of Holes
Yet a close look at the report reveals that it makes numerous assumptions about Palestinian aspirations and behavior patterns, establishes a series of questionable multipliers, and downplays the significance of complex political factors and security realities, according to Steven Plaut, Professor of Economics at the University of Haifa.
“I think the World Bank doesn’t fully understand the Israeli economy or the Palestinian economy. What’s worse, they have a political agenda. They produce findings to match their political agenda,” Plaut told JNS.org.
“I think they are making it up as it goes along,” he said.
Is Hamas to mend ties with Assad?
Hamas' Deputy Politburo Chief Moussa Abu Marzouk interviewed for Assad affiliated channel Al Mayadeen on Monday, saying Khaled Mashal was wrong in raising the flag of Syrian opposition, and that Hamas had no official ties with any rebel organizations.
Last June a dramatically important meeting was held in Lebanon concerning the shaken relationship between Hamas and some of the Arab and Muslim world. Group senior Moussa Abu Marzouk conferred there with officials from Iran and from Hezbollah to work out differences that have occurred between Hamas and then in the past two years over the Syrian civil war.
Hamas TV Airs Cartoon Lauding its Military Wing, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades


US says nuclear talks more substantive than ever; Israel mum
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the talks contained a “level of seriousness and substance that we have not seen before.”
While cautioning not to expect a prompt breakthrough, Carney said the US “found the Iranian presentation very useful.”
The sides released a statement at the end of two days of talks calling the meetings “substantive and forward looking.”
Who Let Iran Get So Close to a Nuke?
So far, we have little indication as to whether the U.S. is willing to accept the sort of “bad deal” that Secretary of State John Kerry, let alone Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, has warned against. But there is one thing that we know. The reason why the negotiations are so critical is that over the past several years Iran has made so much progress toward the completion of a bomb that there isn’t time for a long drawn out diplomatic process. As the New York Times reports:
On Monday, a senior American official said that the United States wanted Iran to take steps that were “transparent and verifiable” to constrain its program and to assure the West that it was not intending to produce a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s nuclear efforts had advanced so much, the American official added, that Iran needed to take stops now to halt or even reverse its nuclear program so there was time to negotiate a comprehensive agreement.
John Bolton: With Iran, We Can’t Verify or Trust
Tuesday’s opening of yet another round of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear-weapons program creates enormous risks for America’s anti-proliferation efforts. Tehran’s extensive propaganda campaign, stressing the “moderation” of its new president, Hassan Rouhani, seems to be working, softening up the gullible in the United States and Europe.
As in previous iterations of the charade now reopening in Geneva, Iran’s bargaining position benefits from our own repeated mistakes. The ayatollahs need only take advantage of these unforced errors, and success may well fall into their undeserving hands. Consider the most blatant errors that Iran is eager to exploit.
Russia: Lift Iran sanctions in exchange for int’l control of nuke program
Speaking in Geneva, after the wrap of a 2-day meeting between the P5+1 and Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov alleged that sanctions “undermine” attempts to solve the diplomatic crisis, reported Russia Today.
“The beacon, the main arrangement that we follow is the proposal by [President] Vladimir Putin that the recognition of Iran’s right to [uranium] enrichment as part of its inseparable rights under the Non-proliferation Treaty should be accompanied by the introduction of full comprehensive international control over the Iranian nuclear program,” Ryabkov told reporters.
Taliban Assassinate Afghan Governor With Exploding Koran…
When someone in America mishandles a Koran the Islamic world riots for days.
Via Khaama Press:
"Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Wednesday announced that militants had placed explosives inside the Holy Quran, which left Logar provincial governor Arsala Jamal dead."
Turkey and Israel: A ‘what next?’ mindset
As PM Netanyahu pointed out immediately after he initiated the US-brokered rapprochement, the most critical strategic priority would be Syria’s prolonged civil war. Within this context, Turkey and Israel have to get ready to secure the Baathist tyranny’s chemical and allegedly biological weapons arsenal along with other strategic weapons systems in case of an uncontrolled regime collapse. Furthermore, we also need to carefully watch for any mass transfer of game-changing weapon systems in asymmetric conflicts, such as man portable air defense systems (MANPADS), and antitank guided missiles (ATGM) into the hands of non-state groups that might target Turkey or Israel. In a moment of irrational shock, Assad or members of the elite surrounding him might attempt to ignite a regional war by provoking Turkish or Israeli administrations. In this case, the two nations need to be prepared to act in coordination, to nip the threat in the bud.
Erdogan’s Turkey: Less nationalism, more Islam
An op-ed published in the New York Times last week by Turkish researcher Halil M. Karaveli, claimed that far from helping Turkey’s minority, Erdogan was increasingly playing with sectarian fire.
“Erdogan is turning Turkey into a powder keg in an attempt to shore up his own political base,” Karaveli wrote. “He is intentionally activating the longstanding fault lines separating religious and secular Turks — and most dangerously the divide between the country’s Sunni majority and its Alevi minority. If he continues to do so, Turkish democracy itself could become a casualty of his confrontational policies.”
Greek ambassador: Despite apology, Turkey blocking Israel-NATO cooperation
Lampridis said he was surprised by the continued Turkish opposition, especially since practical cooperation between Turkey and Israel was taking place on a daily basis, “like where Turkey has an advantage, of course, and Israel is demonstrating goodwill.”
For example, since Turkish goods can no longer be transported overland through Syria to the Persian Gulf, every week hundreds of Turkish trucks arrive via ferry to the Haifa Port where they then proceed across the country to the Jordan border crossings, carrying millions of dollars worth of goods to Jordan and onward to the Gulf.
“If Israel behaved in the same negative way that Turkey was behaving, it could have said ‘no’ to Turkey, told them, ‘This is your problem. I don’t need these trucks blocking my highways.’ But Israel is cooperating, and Turkey is deriving great benefit from this.”

Friday, October 04, 2013

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: America and the good psychopaths
Obama wants to negotiate for the sake of negotiating. And he has taken the UN and the EU with him on this course.
It’s possible that Obama believes that these negotiations will transform Iran into a quasi-US ally like the Islamist regime in Turkey. That regime remains a member of NATO despite the fact that it threatens its neighbors with war, it represses its own citizens, and it refuses to support major US initiatives while undermining NATO operations.
Obama will never call Turkey out for its behavior or make Prime Minister Recep Erdogan pay a price for his bad faith. The myth of the US-Turkish alliance is more important to Obama than the substance of Turkey’s relationship with the United States.
Melanie Phillips: Obama is in la-la land over Iran
This was thought to be a warning to the US that Iran speaks with forked tongue. If so, the crudity of such a manoeuvre suggests a measure of desperation in Jerusalem.
Who can be surprised? Responsibility for stopping the Iranian genocide bomb rests with Obama — the man who helped put the Muslim Brotherhood into power in Egypt; the man who draws a moral equivalence between Israel and its Palestinian aggressors; and the man who is manufacturing an utterly spurious linkage between the Iranian nuclear threat and the Palestinian issue, presumably so he can blame Israel when Iran gets the bomb on his watch.
Kerry: Islamic Terrorists Only Want to Kill Us Because They Have No Jobs…
Study after study has shown that jihadis are wealthier and better educated than their peers. But we keep throwing money at the problem. The recipients, however, just think of it as jizya, the money that non-Muslims must pay the Muslims as per Qur’an 9:29, and continue waging jihad.
American Islamic Group Hiding Donations From Foreign Governments, Others
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is using a complex web of non-profit and corporate entities to keep millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments and other international donors from public disclosure, Washington’s Daily Caller reports.
“CAIR’s fundraising practices are constructed in a way that makes it impossible to trace large donations from overseas, including from foreign governments,” the story says.
September: Spike in Terror Attacks
There was a sharp rise in the number of terror attacks in Israel in September, compared to the previous month, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The Shin Bet summary for September counted 133 attacks, compared to 99 in August. Most of the attacks were in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, where there were 104 attacks, compared to 68 in August.
Two soldiers were killed by Arab terrorists: Sgt. Tomer Hazan Hy”d was abducted and murdered, and First Sgt. Gal Kobi was killed by a sniper in Hevron.
Israel Hopes to Avoid Third Intifada Despite Palestinian Rhetoric, Violence
The IDF believes it can keep a lid on the violence due its strong presence on the ground in the West Bank, and Israel’s tight intelligence grip of the sector.
Israel’s firm control of the Jordan Valley, the security fence, and a level of consistent cooperation with Palestinian Authority security forces have all acted as stabilizing factors that prevent a significant deterioration.
But the risk of violence spiraling out of control remains. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and lone-wolf terrorists all have the potential to set in motion a series of attacks.
PMW: While Abbas talked peace at the UN
During the current peace talks, and on the same day Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas asserted at the UN the Palestinians' goal of achieving peace, an Abbas representative and other PA and Fatah officials were busy honoring terrorist Abu Sukkar.
The PA and Fatah held a well-attended memorial in Ramallah for Ahmad Jabara Abu Sukkar who planned a bombing attack, using a refrigerator filled with explosives, that killed 15 Israelis and wounded over 60 in Jerusalem in 1975.
PM Netanyahu on Charlie Rose
Netanyahu talks Israeli settlements and peace with Palestinians


Netanyahu on Iran nuke ambitions evidence: "This is not a guesstimate"


The speech I want to hear from Netanyahu
Being intellectually honest means laying out the moral asymmetries between Israel and the Palestinians. The fact is that we recognize them, but they’re not willing yet to recognize our legitimate, historical rights in the Land of Israel. The fact is that Israel protects religious rights and minority rights in Israel for religions and peoples of the world, while the nascent Palestinian state already in place does not, and could very well be on its way to becoming yet another failed Arab state. The fact is that Israel proudly hosts 1.5 million Arab citizens, while the Palestinians demand a Judenrein, ethnically cleansed state in historic Judea and Samaria.
Inaccuracy and distortion in BBC report of Netanyahu’s UN speech
The article opens with a gross inaccuracy:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against working with the Iranian government.”
To ‘warn against’ is defined as “to advise someone against someone, something, or doing something”. “Warned against working with the Iranian government” would therefore be understood by any reasonable reader as meaning to advise not to work with the Iranian government.
In fact, a significant proportion of Netanyahu’s speech was devoted to the subject of safeguards which should be employed by the international community whilst negotiating with Iran.
JPost Editorial Party pooper
Not only does Netanyahu have the right to speak the truth in the face of misguided ideas and notions, he has a moral obligation, as leader of the Jewish state, to make this point as clear as possible in every international forum, including the UN General Assembly, even if he ruins the mood of optimism. It is, after all, in large part thanks to Netanyahu’s ceaseless diplomatic work – including threats that Israel will act alone militarily if necessary – that the US has been motivated to assemble a broad coalition of nations to adopt crippling sanctions against Iran.
As the economic situation worsens due to these sanctions, Iran may soon face the gritty question of regime change. Only this combined with a real military threat will ultimately convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
Iran's Rouhani Boasts: I Rejected Obama Five Times
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani told reporters on Wednesday that he turned down five requests from U.S. President Barack Obama to meet at the United Nations, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.
Bibi Speaks Rouhani's Language in BBC Persian Interview
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mixed in a couple of expressions in Farsi, in an interview on BBC Persian Thursday aimed at the Iranian people.
Speaking with conviction, Netanyahu said: “I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program, not a fake one, not harf-e pootch ['nonsense' in Farsi]. ”We are not sadeh-lowe ['suckers' in Farsi],” said the prime minister.
He said that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, it will not only threaten Israel and the United States, but spell slavery for the Iranian people themselves. The Iranian people “will never get rid of the tyranny” of the regime if it obtains nuclear weapons, he said.
Avigdor Lieberman: NY Times Editorial on Netanyahu as Delusional as 1938 Story on ‘Peace’ With Hitler
“Today, The New York Times attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his speech [Tuesday], saying he was inciting to war and thwarting chances of peace with Iran,” Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page. “In 1938 the very same New York Timesreported with excitement at the peace deal between Britain and Nazi Germany, over how Hitler got less than what he demanded. … How did this ‘peace deal’ sit with the Nazi dictator—we all know. So of course it is preferable to stand up for the State of Israel’s crucial interests, and [it is preferable] for The New York Times to attack you than it is to end up like Czechoslovakia in 1938.” (h/t Yoel)
Poll: Most Israelis Support Iran Strike
A majority of Israelis would support unilateral military action against Iran, according to a poll published Friday, after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said his government was ready to act alone.
Some 65.6 percent of 500 Jewish Israelis surveyed by the Israel Hayom newspaper said they would support military strikes to halt Iran's nuclear program, and 84 percent believed the Islamic republic had no intention of reining in its alleged drive to build a bomb.
Hamas: We're Avoiding Confrontation With Israel, But...
Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Thursday that the terror organization is trying to avoid going to battle with Israel in order to avoid the consequences for Gaza residents.
At the same time, he said in a recorded message that the 'Hamas resistance' to Israel was in a better condition than ever before in Gaza, and that the group was ready for a confrontation if one is needed.
Elie Wiesel: Jewish Response to Syria Gas Attack Not Powerful Enough, Considering Gas Was Used by Nazis to Kill Jews
“Here I feel very bad about our own leadership,” said Wiesel, responding to a question from the event’s moderator Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who asked, “What do you think about Syria? should we punish Assad for gassing children? And for us Jews of course, gas has the worst possible connotation.”
“Jewish leadership, the moment we knew that they are using gas should have organized a mass demonstration of 500,000 people in the streets.
CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels
The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said.
But the CIA program is so minuscule that it is expected to produce only a few hundred trained fighters each month even after it is enlarged, a level that officials said will do little to bolster rebel forces that are being eclipsed by radical Islamists in the fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad warns Turkey of 'heavy price' for backing Syrian rebels
In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "bigoted" and said Turkey was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians.
"It is not possible to put terrorism in your pocket and use it as a card because it is like a scorpion which won't hesitate to sting you at the first opportunity," Assad said, according to a transcript published on Halk TV's website.
Assad: If People Object, I Won't Run for Re-election
Interviewed by Turkey's Halk TV, Assad stressed that if the Syrian people are not interested in his serving another term, he won't run.
Assad says “the picture will be clearer” in the next four to five months since Syria is going though “rapid” changes on the ground.
Syria: Rebels Seize Hundreds of Tanks
Eye witness testimonies and video footage point to a devastating blow for the Syrian army, as rebel forces claim to have captured 300 Syrian army tanks along with huge stores of ammunition.
Rebel forces have uploaded a clip to the YouTube channel presenting their control of an army base in the Rahm el Kalmon area, West of the capital Damascus.
Saudi jails, lashes “naked” dancers, reports say
A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

From Ian:

Dennis Ross: Blocking action on Syria makes an attack on Iran more likely
Still, for the opponents of authorization, these arguments are portrayed as abstractions. Only threats that are immediate and directly affect us should produce U.S. military strikes. Leaving aside the argument that when the threats become immediate, we will be far more likely to have to use our military in a bigger way and under worse conditions, there is another argument to consider: should opponents block authorization and should the president then feel he cannot employ military strikes against Syria, this will almost certainly guarantee that there will be no diplomatic outcome to our conflict with Iran over its nuclear weapons.
I say this for two reasons. First, Iran’s President Rouhani, who continues to send signals that he wants to make a deal on the nuclear program, will inevitably be weakened once it becomes clear that the U.S. cannot use force against Syria. At that point, paradoxically, the hard-liners in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and around the Supreme Leader will be able to claim that there is only an economic cost to pursuing nuclear weapons but no military danger. Their argument will be: Once Iran has nuclear weapons, it will build its leverage in the region; its deterrent will be enhanced; and, most importantly, the rest of the world will see that sanctions have failed, and that it is time to come to terms with Iran.
Thomas Sowell: Syria and Obama
Whatever the Obama rhetoric, the reality is that his policies in Egypt and Libya have led to replacing stable regimes, at peace with Israel and the West, and tolerant of their own Christian minorities, with chaotic regimes in which fanatical anti-Western terrorists have played a large and growing role, with hostility to Israel and murderous attacks on Christians in their own country.
Barack Obama will try to salvage his policy and his presidency with a speech to the nation. Rhetoric is his strong suit. The big question is: How many Americans have learned to distinguish between his soaring words and his sorry record? Matters of life and death can hinge on the answer to that question.
Noah Beck: Russia helps Obama dodge the Syrian bullet
Any diplomatic initiative on Syria coming from Russia, whose UN votes have perpetuated Assad's killing machine for over two years, should be viewed with extreme suspicion. Nevertheless, the latest Russian proposal merits serious consideration.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's proposal, which exploited an offhand remark by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, calls for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal in exchange for a cancellation of the U.S. military action against Syria being debated by Congress.
Russian national interests underlie this proposal: helping Russia's last Mideast client state to survive, reinforcing the image of Russia as a Mideast power broker, and diminishing the perception that Russia supports chemical weapons use.
Isi Leibler: Candidly Speaking: America’s isolationism and its implications for Israel
Israel stands in a difficult position in the midst of the tension. Understandably, it is unwilling to side either with the murderous Assad or the monstrous al-Qaida terrorists now dominant among the Syrian rebels. There is little doubt that we would wish a plague on both their houses.
But Israel recognizes that if, after Obama’s repeated promise to act if Assad crossed the “red lines” and employed chemical weapons, Congress rejects his request for a military response, the weakened president would suffer further humiliation, highlighting US impotence and strengthening the isolationist trends that have already dramatically impacted on American public opinion.
This would have severe negative ramifications on Israel and the entire region and, above all, embolden the Iranians towards attaining their nuclear objective.
Privately, UN talks begin on Syria chemical arms
The plan for Syria to relinquish its chemical weapons, initiated by Russia, appeared to ease the crisis over looming Western strikes against Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus, only to open up new potential for impasse as Moscow rejected US and French demands for a binding UN resolution with “very severe consequences” for non-compliance.
Syrian FM: "We'll Even Sign the Int'l Ban on Chemical Weapons"
Walid Muallem was speaking in an interview with Lebanon based Al-Maydeen TV.
"We fully support Russia's initiative concerning chemical weapons in Syria, and we are ready to cooperate. As a part of the plan, we intend to join the Chemical Weapons Convention," Muallem said.
In a turn around to the political momentum building towards a possible military strike, Muallem gave the nod to the Russian brokered deal earlier today calling for Syria to turn over its full arsenal of chemical weaponry to the international community.
Syria and Russia Fail Lie Detector Test
Vladimir Putin and Bassar al-Assad’s proven inability to tell the truth has been their best tactic to outsmart Obama, who has allowed himself to be cornered into using reason to defeat a lie.
After weeks of insisting that the Assad regime has no chemical weapons, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Tuesday that it would cease production of chemical weapons and disclose the locations of its stockpiles to the United Nations and to Russia.
That was the first admission that Assad has chemical weapons, a fact which has been obvious to France, Britain, the United States and certainly to Syrian victims of chemical war.
Minister urges UN to stop making speeches and act on Syria
In a rare recent public comment from an Israeli minister on international policy in Syria, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday called on the United Nations to intervene in the war-torn country, and to avoid relying on speeches and rhetoric.
“The UN, whose motto from day one has been ‘never again,’ must intervene,” said Livni, speaking at a convention of the Israel Bar Association in Herzliya. “It’s not enough to make moving speeches. It must fight for the values with deeds as well. The events in Syria must be destroyed while they’re still small.”
Report: Russia to supply S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran
The newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Russian government will revive the transfer three years after it canceled the original transaction.
According to Kommersant, the Kremlin agreed to Tehran’s request to complete the transaction, which will net the Russian treasury $800 million.
Assad Celebrates Birthday as Rebels Rue 'Dirty' Chemical Deal
Bashar al Assad marked his 48th birthday Wednesday, gifted with the momentum gathering behind a Russian-brokered deal that could prevent a U.S.-led strike on his regime.
Despite the fact that over 100,000 Syrians have been killed in the country's civil war, with two million having fled and a further four million citizens displaced inside the country, the Russian plan that would see Assad cede his chemical weapons arsenal to the international community, looks set to lengthen Assad's grip over the country.
MEMRI: The Syrian Crisis As Reflected In Cartoons In The Arab Media
Numerous cartoons have been published recently in the Arab media in response to the escalation of the Syrian crisis following Bashar Assad's reported chemical attack near Damascus on August 21, 2013, and to the U.S.'s preparations for a possible military attack in Syria in reaction to this chemical attack. Many of the cartoons criticize the U.S., especially President Obama himself, for defining the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" but hesitating to respond now that this red line has been crossed. Others criticize the U.N., depicting it as weak and powerless to deal with the crisis or as turning a blind eye to Assad's use of chemical weapons. Still others express opposition to a U.S. attack in Syria, saying that it would destroy Syria and harm its people, and even spark war throughout the world. Some cartoons also criticize Assad's cruelty and predict that he will respond to a U.S. attack by retaliating against his own people.
Obama on Syria Retaliation: Israel ‘Can Defend Itself,’ Has ‘Unshakable’ U.S. Support
“Neither [President Bashar] Assad nor his allies have any interest in escalation that would lead to his demise,” Obama said. “And our ally Israel can defend itself with overwhelming force, as well as the unshakable support of the United States of America.”
Obama said that failing to respond to Syria’s use of chemical weapons against civilians “would weaken prohibitions against other weapons of mass destruction and embolden Assad’s ally, Iran, which must decide whether to ignore international law by building a nuclear weapon or to take a more peaceful path.”
Syrian oppositionist quietly aims for normalization with Israel
A Europe-based Syrian opposition political activist who took part in the early stages of the uprising against the Syrian government told The Jerusalem Post he would like the Syrian and Israeli people to become partners, develop business connections and visit each other’s countries.
The activist, who goes by the pseudonym Amin Muhammad, is working on forming a liberal Syrian party that would be pro-West and seek the normalization of relations with Israel. Muhammad is in contact with Israeli politicians. The only one he agreed to name was Labor MK Isaac Herzog, who had helped arrange this interview.
Israeli NGO brings food, medicine, post trauma care to Syrians
An Israeli NGO working under the radar has sent 70 tons of sanitation items, 670 tons of food, 300,000 dry meals, 20 tons of medications and post trauma care specialists to Syrian refugees since the start of the bloody civil war.
The NGO does not identify its members and is only known as IL4Syrians.
“The harsh reality in which the organization is operating is on behalf of the victims of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s atrocities, which demands us to carry out our activities below the radar and hide our identities. This is in order to protect the lives of team members and local contacts, and to ensure the flow of victims’ needs, such as food, medicine, and basic supplies,” a statement on the website reads.
Youngest Syrian Victim Treated in Israeli Hospital Released
The child, a two-and-half-year-old boy who was suffering from shrapnel wounds to his head, was brought with his injured mother to Ziv Medical Center on Wednesday for emergency treatment. The two were injured by a missile explosion across from their home in Syria, which left shrapnel pieces and burns on the upper part sof their bodies.
U.S. Eases Sanctions on Iran
The U.S. Treasury announced Tuesday that it would permit private organizations to support humanitarian program in Iran, and sports groups to hold exchanges with the country.
Opening up a window of cooperation in its tight sanctions crackdown on Iran, the Treasury issued "general licenses", or permits, for the two areas of activity. It said this would "encourage humanitarian and goodwill services between the Iranian and American people."
‘Russia to sell Iran anti-aircraft system, nuclear reactor’
After calling off a transfer of five S-300 missile batteries to Iran three years ago, Russia is now interested in renewing the agreement and in setting up a civilian nuclear reactor for its long-time ally as part of a deal worth $800 million, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday.
The two countries initially signed the S-300 missile system deal in 2007, but it was called off three years later as part of UN Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The cancellation of the agreement led to tensions between the two countries, including a $4 billion Iranian lawsuit against
Russia.
Iran’s Rouhani: Time running out to resolve nuclear disagreements
Speaking during a live interview on Iranian state television, Rouhani stressed that the Islamic Republic would not be open for dialogue with the West indefinitely, but stated that he is “ready for a win-win game,” and indicated that the nuclear dispute could be resolved peacefully if the parties involved took action as soon as possible.
“The world must know completely that this period of time for resolving the nuclear issue will not be unlimited,” the Iranian president said. “We have a specified period of time.”
6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah
A pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets in Egypt’s volatile Sinai on Wednesday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding 17 people, security officials and a military spokesman said.
One of the two bombings in the town of Rafah brought down a two-story building housing the local branch of military intelligence, while the other struck an army checkpoint.
82 Jordanian deputies call on leaders to visit Jerusalem
In the appeal, addressed to the speaker of parliament, the deputies argue that avoiding the Palestinian territories and Jerusalem has placed the Palestinian people “under total isolation.”
“[This boycott] helps the occupier tighten his stranglehold on the Palestinian people… allowing him to continue his barbaric practices and Zionist arrogance immune from the Arab and Islamic world,” read the statement.
Jordanian MP Fires AK-47 During Parliament Session
According to news reports, MP Talal Al Sharif opened fire using an AK-47 on his colleague MP Qusai Dmeisi during a Foreign Affairs Council meeting inside of the House of Representatives, which is located in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
It remains unknown as to why Sharif opened fire, but no casualties have been reported.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

  • Wednesday, August 28, 2013
From Ian:

‘A pity they both can’t lose’
The US is in a similar situation. It needs to rush, while the outrage over Assad’s alleged chemical attack remains fresh, but it needs time to assemble itself. Once the obligatory moves to the UN have been made and the machinery of war is in place, the US should offer Bashar Assad an ultimatum. It could even be sugar-coated. Everyone detests the usage of chemical weapons, President Barack Obama could say. They are a heinous weapon. You claim the rebels have used them against your forces. We have evidence of your forces using them against civilians. In the interest of world security we offer you three days to surrender all chemical weapons materials to a UN team. So that they do not fall into the wrong hands. So that the weapons are safe. If you do not comply, we will be left with no alternative but to strike.
Iran’s role
As a US-led strike on Syria appears increasingly likely, Israel will be watching closely too. Not wanting to become embroiled in the conflict of its hostile northern neighbor, Israel can only hope that the international community punishes Assad for ordering the use of chemical weapons against his own people, and stops him from using them again.
Only swift action will send a clear message, not only to Syria, but also to Iran. Perhaps just as important is the moral message the civilized world is sending itself.
It is bad enough that the international community has been silent for so long about the civil war in Syria, which has claimed the lives of well over 100,000 people.
Syria strikes imminent, and right
The reason why this effectively guarantees military action, and why military action is right, is that the West simply cannot allow a precedent to be set in which the use of chemical weapons is brushed over and ignored. This does not, and must not, mean boots on the ground. Ultimately, the Arab world should sort this out, not us.
But we can do something. Extensive cruise missile strikes against Assad's military infrastructure (plus a nice little one on his presidential palace) should be sufficient to make a very necessary point.
Analysis: Syria should not be equated with Libya nor Iraq
Samore says that Kosovo, not Libya or Iraq, provides the best template for comparison to the Syrian crisis. And indeed, the US administration has been studying NATO’s 1999 intervention in the Yugoslav conflict closely in recent days.
“The big differences with Libya and Iraq are the facts on the ground,” Samore said. “But it’s based fundamentally on the principle that outside actors can intervene in a local conflict against a government, if that government has failed to protect its people.”
Syria said to clear out security installations ahead of attack
According to activists quoted in a report in the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya media channel, Syria was abandoning command centers and government security offices — sites that it suspects will be targeted in a possible Western strike. New facilities were being set up in secret locations, some of which were reportedly within walking distance of the former centers, and in alternative sites, such as in schools. Trucks were deployed to vacate some of the regime’s main security centers.
Report: Assad is in Iran
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of his family are in Tehran, after they arrived at Homeini Airport in the presidential plane Tuesday night, sources in Iran's foreign ministry told the website of Lebanese newsaper a-Nahar. The news did not receive confirmation from other official sources.
Arab League: Syrian Government Responsible for Chemical Attack
In a statement issued after a meeting in Cairo, the 22-member organization said it held the Syrian government, led by President Bashar Al-Assad, fully responsible for last week's gas attack in which hundreds were killed.
The League said it "demands that all the perpetrators of this heinous crime be presented for international trials,” reported Reuters.
Syria: Was Chemical Weapons Massacre a Mistake?
“It’s quite likely that there was a kind of operational mistake here,” the unnamed senior Israeli source told the New York Times. “I don’t think they wanted to kill so many people, especially so many children. Maybe they were trying to hit one place or to get one effect and they got a much greater effect than they thought.”
Israeli experts who were briefed on the attack reportedly said they believe the chemical used was a “cocktail” that included sarin gas. The mix of several components may have been far more deadly than Assad’s troops realized.
Netanyahu: Israel Will ‘Respond in Strength’ to Any Attack
“The State of Israel is ready for any scenario,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We are not part of the civil war in Syria but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength.”
Jittery Israelis overrun gas mask distribution points
Thousands of Israelis failed in their attempts to obtain gas masks on Wednesday as growing numbers of citizens flooded post offices and IDF Home Front Command distribution centers ahead of an expected US strike on Syria.
Human Rights Lawyer: Syrian Atrocities Due to Cuddling [sic - JPress meant "coddling"]
International attorney Richard D. Heideman said that massacres in Syria, including the recent use of deadly gas by the government against its own citizens, are a result of the constant and consistent protection from responsibility which the Syrian regime has enjoyed in the international community.
“The Syrian state violence, not just of recent days, but stretching back two years, are the direct result and byproduct of the ongoing impunity enjoyed by the Syrian Arab republic while conducting terrorist activities stretching back decades,” said Heideman, the lead counsel on behalf of American victims of Syrian terrorism, who has received on behalf of his clients the highest judgments awarded by US Federal Courts against the Syrian Arab Republic as a state sponsor of terror. “The world didn’t care when it assisted in the hijacking of planes, when it helped and assisted terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and acted as a conduit for Iran to smuggle weapons to Lebanon to be used against Israel, and it still doesn’t seem to care when it kills 100,000 of its own people.”
NGO Monitor: HRW Hedges on Syrian Atrocities; Accuses Israel of War Crimes
In each of these four examples, HRW accuses Israel conclusively of “war crimes” without any qualifications or disclaimers. And, in each of these four examples, as well as dozens of others over the past decade, HRW levels the harsh accusations despite lacking factual and evidentiary basis for its claims, and without the expertise necessary to draw its speculative conclusions. In fact, later research by NGO Monitor and others showed that, in each of these examples and in almost every case, HRW was wrong about the facts, about the technology and science, and about the legal interpretations.
Iran Threatens War That Will “Engulf the Whole Region” if Syria Attacked
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Araqchi, indicated it was equally resolved to defend Assad.
“We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,” Araqchi told a news conference. “These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region.”
UN, Iran agree to restart talks in September
Iran and the UN nuclear agency have agreed to restart talks focused on the agency’s attempts to probe suspicions that Tehran worked on atomic weapons, diplomats said Wednesday, in the first such meeting since Iran’s hard-line president was replaced by a more moderate successor.
The diplomats told The Associated Press that the negotiations will resume September 27, with the main focus on gaining access to a section of a military site that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has long tried to access.
Hezbollah Places Beirut Stronghold Under Security Lockdown
Following two major bombings in Hezbollah’s largest stronghold in Beirut in less than two months, the group has decided to place the area under security lockdown, Al-Monitor reported Tuesday.
According to the report, the group has set up checkpoints, with explosives detection devices and bomb-sniffing dogs at all entrances linking it to Beirut.
Under these procedures, an unnamed correspondent in Beirut reported, every car entering the southern suburbs has to spend nearly two hours before being able to cross the checkpoints set up by Hezbollah.
Five Hamas members arrested over Egyptian police massacre
Five members of Hamas were arrested in northern Sinai recently for involvement in the killing of 25 Egyptian policemen, Arab media reported on Wednesday.
Quoting “a knowledgeable source” in the city of El-Arish, the Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that 11 suspects were arrested four days ago near the border city of Rafah. Three of the suspect are local residents, three carry foreign passports, and five are Hamas members, the daily claimed.
Don’t count on Turkey
Considering Turkey’s interest in seeing an end to the violence in Syria, its membership in NATO, and the reported friendship between Obama and Erdogan, it seems logical to expect that Turkey will play a major role in the coming operation. The American-built Incirlik Air Base on Turkey’s southern coast was designed for a moment like this.
But there are number of reasons why Erdogan’s fervent saber rattling will not likely not be matched by his country’s participation:
Israel-Turkey relations sink to new low
The breakdown in once-close military ties could be critical if the international community, led by the US, decides to attack in response to the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons last week. A US strike could trigger a retaliatory response by Syria against either of its neighbors, both close US allies.
But officials in both countries confirm that political and military contacts are now limited. They say reconciliation talks meant to repair diplomatic ties have collapsed quietly, and military ties, once the centerpiece of the alliance, are minimal at best. The dire state of affairs was reflected last week when Turkey’s Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, claimed that Israel was behind the recent military coup in Egypt, prompting condemnations from Israel and the US.
Bernard-Henri Lévy: My Response to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Why do you think that Erdogan mentioned you by name and held you responsible for the overthrow of the government in Egypt?
He's out of his mind. He's come unhinged, flipped out. Sorry, but in France, in the United States, people can't stop laughing.

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