Friday, November 22, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
The latest on the Iranian nuclear negotiations:
Here is a great op-ed by Charles Krauthammer on this joke:
The US has said any interim agreement would see the bulk of international and US sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear programme remain in place.Giving $6 billion for Iran allowing the IAEA what it should have been able to do all along?
Mr Obama said sanctions relief would be worth between $6bn and $7bn.
The essence of the deal would involve Iran making no more advances in its nuclear programme and agreeing to "more vigorous inspections", he said.
Analysts say a major sticking point is Iran's insistence on its right to enrich uranium - a process that yields material used to manufacture fuel for power stations, but can also be used for weapons.
Here is a great op-ed by Charles Krauthammer on this joke:
A president desperate to change the subject and a secretary of state desperate to make a name for himself are reportedly on the verge of an “interim” nuclear agreement with Iran. France called it a “sucker’s deal.” France was being charitable.
The only reason Iran has come to the table after a decade of contemptuous stonewalling is that economic sanctions have cut so deeply — its currency has collapsed, inflation is rampant — that the regime fears a threat to its very survival.Nothing else could move it to negotiate. Regime survival is the only thing themullahs value above nuclear weapons. And yet precisely at the point of maximum leverage, President Obama is offering relief in a deal that is absurdly asymmetric: The West would weaken sanctions in exchange for cosmetic changes that do absolutely nothing to weaken Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.Don’t worry, we are assured. This is only aninterim six-month agreement to “build confidence” until we reach a final one. But this makes no sense. If at this point ofmaximum economic pressure we can’t get Iran to accept a final deal that shuts down its nuclear program, how in God’s name do we expect to get such a deal when we have radically reduced that pressure?A bizarre negotiating tactic. And the content of the deal is even worse. It’s a rescue package for the mullahs.It widens permissible trade in oil, gold and auto parts. It releases frozen Iranian assets, increasing Iran’s foreign-exchange reserves by 25 percent while doubling its fully accessible foreign-exchange reserves. Such a massive infusion of cash would be a godsend for its staggering economy, lowering inflation, reducing shortages and halting the country’s growing demoralization. The prospective deal is already changing economic expectations. Foreign oil and other interests are reportedly preparing to reopen negotiations for a resumption of trade in anticipation of the full lifting of sanctions.And for what? You’d offer such relief in return for Iran giving up its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Isn’t that what the entire exercise is about?And yet this deal does nothing of the sort. Nothing. It leaves Iran’s nuclear infrastructure intact. Iran keeps every one of its 19,000 centrifuges — yes, 19,000 — including 3,000 second-generation machines that produce enriched uranium at five times the rate of the older ones.Not a single centrifuge is dismantled. Not a single facility that manufactures centrifuges is touched. In Syria, the first thing the weapons inspectors did was to destroy the machines that make the chemical weapons. Then they went after the stockpiles. It has to be that way. Otherwise, the whole operation is an exercise in futility. Take away just the chemical agents, and the weapons-making facilities can replace them at will.Yet that’s exactly what we’re doing with Iran. It would deactivate its 20 percent enriched uranium, which besides being chemically reversible, is quickly replaceable because Iran retains its 3.5 percent enriched uranium, which can be enriched to 20 percent in less than a month.Result: Sanctions relief that leaves Iran’s nuclear infrastructure untouched, including — and this is where the French gagged — the plutonium facility at Arak, a defiant alternate path to a nuclear weapon.The point is blindingly simple. Unless you dismantle the centrifuges and prevent the manufacture of new ones, Iran will be perpetually just a few months away from going nuclear. This agreement, which is now reportedly being drafted to allow Iran to interpret it as granting the “right” to enrich uranium, constitutes the West legitimizing Iran’s status as a threshold nuclear state.Don’t worry, we are assured. The sanctions relief is reversible. Nonsense. It was extraordinarily difficult to cobble together the current sanctions. It took endless years of overcoming Russian, Chinese and Indian recalcitrance, together with foot-dragging from Europeans making a pretty penny from Iran.Once the relaxation begins, how do you reverse it? How do you reapply sanctions? There is absolutely no appetite for this among our allies. And adding back old sanctions will be denounced as a provocation that would drive Iran to a nuclear breakout — exactly as Obama is today denouncing congressional moves to increase sanctions as a deal-breaking provocation that might lead Iran to break off talks.The mullahs are eager for this interim agreement with its immediate yield of political and economic relief. Once they get it, we will have removed their one incentive to conclude the only agreement that is worth anything to us — a verifiable giving up of their nuclear program.Brilliant.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
From AFP:
Israel started increasing the amount of construction materials into Gaza as a result of Egypt's crackdown, but then Hamas decided to use these materials to build tunnels meant to kidnap Israelis (a war crime.) As a result, Israel decided that it makes no sense to give Hamas materials that can be used to perform terror attacks. Israel still allows construction materials to enter Gaza for specific approved NGO projects, just as it did before.
Hamas has also chosen not to spend its cash on fuel, and is holding Gazans hostage to their negotiations with the PA to get cheaper fuel. Israel is willing to sell whatever fuel is needed.
During the year, Israel has worked closely with Gaza farmers to turn the export industry from one dependent on seasonal products like strawberries into a much more lucrative, year-round export industry of spices. Obviously, the price of spices per kilo is orders of magnitude higher than tomatoes. In October 2013, five truckloads of spices were exported, as opposed to zero in October 2012. That very well might explain why the number of trucks of exports have decreased, assuming it is true - the real question is how much those exports are worth.
But the only party that gets "deplored" by the UN and Oxfam is - Israel. They don't have a bad word to say about the Hamas terror tunnels, nothing negative about Hamas' cynical use of its own people as pawns to pressure others to give it cheap energy, nothing at all to say about Egypt's closing Rafah, and nothing bad to say about Egypt protecting its security by enforcing restrictions on movement to Gaza.
These NGOs swear up and down that they aren't biased against Israel, but their own words prove their one-sided view, day in and day out.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated one year after a truce that ended fighting between Israel and the Hamas rulers of the Palestinian enclave, UN officials said Thursday.In the past few months, Egypt has severely curtailed the movement of people and goods through Rafah. Egypt has nearly stopped smuggling through the tunnels especially of fuel and construction materials.
"After 12 months the initial hopes for a significant improvement on the ground have not been realized," said James Rawley, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.
"In fact I am sorry to report that the situation for Gaza's 1.7 million people is worse than it was before the hostilities a year ago" between November 14 and 21, he said.
Speaking at a news conference marking the anniversary, Rawley said the fuel and energy crisis was a primary cause of the situation.
Robert Turner, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, noted the impact of the demolition of smuggling tunnels under the border since Egypt's army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
"The closures of the tunnels has led to a near total collapse of private sector constructions, as it compounded the constraints due to the pre-existing ban on construction materials from Israel for the private sector," said the UNRWA chief.
The two officials deplored Israel's decision to ban the import of building materials – including to international agencies – from October 13, following the discovery of a tunnel that Hamas fighters dug to use for attacks.
Oxfam said Gazans were still "trapped under the Israeli blockade and largely cut off from the outside world" despite the ceasefire meant to allow the movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave.
"Exports allowed out of Gaza have dropped by half since 2012 and Palestinian fishermen and farmers continue to be prevented from accessing the most productive areas," it said.
Israel started increasing the amount of construction materials into Gaza as a result of Egypt's crackdown, but then Hamas decided to use these materials to build tunnels meant to kidnap Israelis (a war crime.) As a result, Israel decided that it makes no sense to give Hamas materials that can be used to perform terror attacks. Israel still allows construction materials to enter Gaza for specific approved NGO projects, just as it did before.
Hamas has also chosen not to spend its cash on fuel, and is holding Gazans hostage to their negotiations with the PA to get cheaper fuel. Israel is willing to sell whatever fuel is needed.
During the year, Israel has worked closely with Gaza farmers to turn the export industry from one dependent on seasonal products like strawberries into a much more lucrative, year-round export industry of spices. Obviously, the price of spices per kilo is orders of magnitude higher than tomatoes. In October 2013, five truckloads of spices were exported, as opposed to zero in October 2012. That very well might explain why the number of trucks of exports have decreased, assuming it is true - the real question is how much those exports are worth.
But the only party that gets "deplored" by the UN and Oxfam is - Israel. They don't have a bad word to say about the Hamas terror tunnels, nothing negative about Hamas' cynical use of its own people as pawns to pressure others to give it cheap energy, nothing at all to say about Egypt's closing Rafah, and nothing bad to say about Egypt protecting its security by enforcing restrictions on movement to Gaza.
These NGOs swear up and down that they aren't biased against Israel, but their own words prove their one-sided view, day in and day out.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
From MEMRI:
Of course, neither are true.
Nevertheless, antisemitism continues to be broadcast on mainstream Egyptian TV. Today.
Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayeb, which aired on Channel 1, Egyptian TV on October 25, 2013:It's funny - Muslims usually say how wonderful their relationships were with Jews before Zionism, but now Al-Tayeb says that Jews (and Zionists!) have oppressed Muslims for 1400 years.
Ahmad Al-Tayeb: A verse in the Koran explains the Muslims' relations with the Jews and the polytheists. The second part of the verse describes the Muslims' relations with the Christians, and the third part of the verse explains why the Christians are the closest and most friendly to the Muslims.
This is an historical perspective, which has not changed to this day. See how we suffer today from global Zionism and Judaism, whereas our peaceful coexistence with the Christians has withstood the test of history. Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims.
The Koran said it and history has proven it: "You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists." This is the first part. The second part is: "You shall find the closest in love to the believers to be those who say: 'We are Christians'." The third part explains why the Christians are "the closest in love to the believers," while the Jews and the polytheists are the exact opposite.
[...]
[The Christians] are humble and are not arrogant.
Interviewer: They are not condescending, whereas the Jews say they are the Chosen People.
Ahmad Al-Tayeb: Right, they do not say that they are the Chosen People... That is why the Jewish religion is closed to others. They have no proselytism. They consider themselves to be the best creation, the Chosen People.
Interviewer: They consider everybody else to be inferior to them...
Ahmad Al-Tayeb: Extremely inferior. They even have very peculiar laws. For instance, they are allowed to practice usury with non-Jews. Some things are not allowed among Jews, but are allowed between Jews and non-Jews. They practice a terrible hierarchy, and they are not ashamed to admit it, because it is written in the Torah – with regard to killing, enslavement, and so on.
Therefore, they have generated a problem not only in their relations with the Muslims, but in their relations with all other people as well, and history has been clear on this.
Interviewer: There is even great enmity between them and the Christians.
Ahmad Al-Tayeb: Of course. These practices and beliefs have made people, even non-Muslims, hate them.
Of course, neither are true.
Nevertheless, antisemitism continues to be broadcast on mainstream Egyptian TV. Today.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
administrivia
It is that time of year again, where we will the celebrate the best Hasbara (Israel advocacy) with the 2014 Hasby Awards! Here is the latest list of nominees.
As with last year, we have a number of categories.
Here are the rules, such as they are:
BEST PRO-ISRAEL TWEETER (Last year's winner: Avi Mayer)
David HaIvri
Martin Kramer
Arsen Ostrovsky (seconded)
Margie in Tel Aviv (seconded)
CiFWatch (seconded)
No Camels (seconded)
William Daroff (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL MEDIA OUTLET/WRITER NOT EXCLUSIVE TO ISRAEL (Last year's winner: The Commentator)
Douglas Murray (seconded)
Melanie Phillips (seconded)
Gatestone Institute(seconded)
Charles Krauthammer (seconded)
Walter Russell Mead (seconded)
Jihad Watch
Brett Stephens (WSJ) (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL COMMENTATOR EXCLUSIVE TO MIDDLE EAST/ISRAEL (Last year's winner: Barry Rubin)
Caroline Glick (seconded)
Martin Kramer (seconded)
Daniel Gordis (seconded)
Evelyn Gordon (seconded)
Sarah Honig (seconded)
Khaled Abu Toameh (seconded)
BEST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PRO-ISRAEL ONLINE MEDIA OUTLET (Last year's winner: Times of Israel)
Algemeiner (seconded)
Israel HaYom (seconded)
Jewish Press (seconded)
Tablet (seconded)
JPost (seconded)
The Tower (seconded)
No Camels
Israel21c (seconded)
BEST MAINSTREAM MEDIA WATCHDOG (Last year's winner: Honest Reporting)
CAMERA (seconded)
BBC Watch (seconded)
CiF Watch (seconded)
Presspectiva
Mideast Media Sampler at Legal Insurrection (seconded)
Huffington Post Monitor (seconded)
BEST WATCHDOG - ARABIC MEDIA AND NGOs
MEMRI (seconded)
Palestinian Media Watch (seconded)
NGO Monitor (seconded)
UN Watch (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL BLOG (PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED) (Last year's winners: Daphne Anson and Missing Peace)
Israellycool (seconded)
Israel Matzav (seconded)
Augean Stables
Sultan Knish
This Ongoing War (seconded)
Jews Down Under (seconded)
Sultan Knish
Atlas Shrugs
Daled Amos
Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (seconded)
5 Minutes for Israel (seconded)
IsraelSeen (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL VIDEO
Israel Apartheid Week 2013 - The Real Truth
How to Answer Anti-Israel Slurs (reluctantly)
Created in Israel - Part of Your Life
Israel: 65 years of achievement
Pat Condell - Patronizing the Palestinians (seconded)
A Song for Jerusalem (Latma)
Pro-Israelis wipe the floor with paranoid anti-Israel campaigners
"I'm an Israeli Soldier" (Latma) (seconded)
Jonathan-Simon Sellem, seul, manifeste contre la "nakba" Ã Yafo (Jaffa)
Naftali Bennett on CNN (seconded)
Boycott Israel by Ari Lesser (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE (Facebook, Pinterest, Vine, Scribd, Google+, YouTube...)
IDF (idfnadesk) on YouTube (seconded)
StandWithUs (FB, YouTube) (seconded)
Sussex Friends of Israel Facebook (seconded)
Einat Wilf's Facebook (seconded)
Corey Gil-Shuster's "Ask an Israeli/Ask a Palestinian" project
BEST SPEECH
Ron Prosor at the UN
Bibi Netanyahu at Bar Ilan (seconded)
Bibi Netanyahu at the UN (seconded)
BEST "OWN GOAL" (Anti-Zionists acting so stupid they disgust even disinterested parties)
"Shoot the Jew" at Wits University
Iran's Fake Stealth Fighter
Max Blumenthal, in entirety
Jimmy Carter
ISM Oakland attacking a girl writing a pro-Israel message in chalk (seconded)
BEST ARTICLE
Will we ever be forgiven the Holocaust? (Howard Jacobson) (seconded)
There is nothing remotely progressive in today's left wing loathing of Israel (Brendan O'Niell) (seconded)
Edein Atias HY'D at Israel Matzav
It's a pretty simple choice: freeom or oppression. Take your pick (Alan Howe)
BEST INDIVIDUAL EXAMPLE OF HASBARA
Ed Klinger's note on the BDS MacBook (seconded)
Brighton BDS Counter-protest (seconded)
David G's NYT Op-Ed Index 2012 (seconded)
A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism by Giulio Meotti (book)
IDF Girls Gone Wild (parts 1, 2, 3) (seconded)
UN interpreter hot mic (seconded)
Video: Boycott Israel by Ari Lesser
As with last year, we have a number of categories.
Here are the rules, such as they are:
- Fell free to nominate in any category as many examples as you want in the comments. Please include URLs!
- Self-nominations (or seconds) are welcome.
- Only nominees that are seconded will be in the running. (Probably.) You can second them in the comments as well. The ones listed here must also be seconded.
- If you have other categories, feel free to suggest them along with at least one nominee. Some others are listed in last year's nominations page.
- Last year's winners are no longer eligible for awards in the same category they won.
It is obvious that I am not good at remembering specific videos/incidents over the past year, so please help me fill those in! - I decide who wins, but there will also be People's Choice awards based on a poll.
- I'll put out a press release when the winners are announced, because some of the nominees last year asked me to.
- I reserve the right to decide if a nominee is appropriate and will pare down the number of nominees if needed.
- Please, no extraneous comments on this thread, only nominations, seconds and category suggestions. I will delete them.
- This thread is not for voting. That will come later. If your favorite candidate is already seconded, don't comment further.
- If someone can offer me a decent venue to give the awards as I did last year and in 2010, I'll be happy to give the awards out live! (I'll be in Israel from December 16-24, back on the East Coast before and after.) But if you do offer me a venue, you'll probably also be subjected to a speech.
BEST PRO-ISRAEL TWEETER (Last year's winner: Avi Mayer)
David HaIvri
Martin Kramer
Arsen Ostrovsky (seconded)
Margie in Tel Aviv (seconded)
CiFWatch (seconded)
No Camels (seconded)
William Daroff (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL MEDIA OUTLET/WRITER NOT EXCLUSIVE TO ISRAEL (Last year's winner: The Commentator)
Douglas Murray (seconded)
Melanie Phillips (seconded)
Gatestone Institute(seconded)
Charles Krauthammer (seconded)
Walter Russell Mead (seconded)
Jihad Watch
Brett Stephens (WSJ) (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL COMMENTATOR EXCLUSIVE TO MIDDLE EAST/ISRAEL (Last year's winner: Barry Rubin)
Caroline Glick (seconded)
Martin Kramer (seconded)
Daniel Gordis (seconded)
Evelyn Gordon (seconded)
Sarah Honig (seconded)
Khaled Abu Toameh (seconded)
BEST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PRO-ISRAEL ONLINE MEDIA OUTLET (Last year's winner: Times of Israel)
Algemeiner (seconded)
Israel HaYom (seconded)
Jewish Press (seconded)
Tablet (seconded)
JPost (seconded)
The Tower (seconded)
No Camels
Israel21c (seconded)
BEST MAINSTREAM MEDIA WATCHDOG (Last year's winner: Honest Reporting)
CAMERA (seconded)
BBC Watch (seconded)
CiF Watch (seconded)
Presspectiva
Mideast Media Sampler at Legal Insurrection (seconded)
Huffington Post Monitor (seconded)
BEST WATCHDOG - ARABIC MEDIA AND NGOs
MEMRI (seconded)
Palestinian Media Watch (seconded)
NGO Monitor (seconded)
UN Watch (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL BLOG (PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED) (Last year's winners: Daphne Anson and Missing Peace)
Israellycool (seconded)
Israel Matzav (seconded)
Augean Stables
Sultan Knish
This Ongoing War (seconded)
Jews Down Under (seconded)
Sultan Knish
Atlas Shrugs
Daled Amos
Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (seconded)
5 Minutes for Israel (seconded)
IsraelSeen (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL VIDEO
Israel Apartheid Week 2013 - The Real Truth
How to Answer Anti-Israel Slurs (reluctantly)
Created in Israel - Part of Your Life
Israel: 65 years of achievement
Pat Condell - Patronizing the Palestinians (seconded)
A Song for Jerusalem (Latma)
Pro-Israelis wipe the floor with paranoid anti-Israel campaigners
"I'm an Israeli Soldier" (Latma) (seconded)
Jonathan-Simon Sellem, seul, manifeste contre la "nakba" Ã Yafo (Jaffa)
Naftali Bennett on CNN (seconded)
Boycott Israel by Ari Lesser (seconded)
BEST PRO-ISRAEL SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE (Facebook, Pinterest, Vine, Scribd, Google+, YouTube...)
IDF (idfnadesk) on YouTube (seconded)
StandWithUs (FB, YouTube) (seconded)
Sussex Friends of Israel Facebook (seconded)
Einat Wilf's Facebook (seconded)
Corey Gil-Shuster's "Ask an Israeli/Ask a Palestinian" project
BEST SPEECH
Ron Prosor at the UN
Bibi Netanyahu at Bar Ilan (seconded)
Bibi Netanyahu at the UN (seconded)
BEST "OWN GOAL" (Anti-Zionists acting so stupid they disgust even disinterested parties)
"Shoot the Jew" at Wits University
Iran's Fake Stealth Fighter
Max Blumenthal, in entirety
Jimmy Carter
ISM Oakland attacking a girl writing a pro-Israel message in chalk (seconded)
BEST ARTICLE
Will we ever be forgiven the Holocaust? (Howard Jacobson) (seconded)
There is nothing remotely progressive in today's left wing loathing of Israel (Brendan O'Niell) (seconded)
Edein Atias HY'D at Israel Matzav
It's a pretty simple choice: freeom or oppression. Take your pick (Alan Howe)
BEST INDIVIDUAL EXAMPLE OF HASBARA
Ed Klinger's note on the BDS MacBook (seconded)
Brighton BDS Counter-protest (seconded)
David G's NYT Op-Ed Index 2012 (seconded)
A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism by Giulio Meotti (book)
IDF Girls Gone Wild (parts 1, 2, 3) (seconded)
UN interpreter hot mic (seconded)
Video: Boycott Israel by Ari Lesser
From Ian:
The Social Construction of Hatred
MEMRI: Egyptian Journalist Amr Sombol: U.S. Foreign Policy and World's Oil Supply Controlled by Jews VIDEO
MKs Unite, Call on US to Release Jonathan Pollard
The Social Construction of Hatred
The social construction of hatred toward the Jewish people by the Islamic world and the western-left should, at this point in human history, be axiomatic.The Trial of Mahmoud Abbas: Fanning the Flames of Incitement
In the Arab-Muslim world they scream bloody murder on a daily basis that the Jewish minority is evil and must be destroyed. Western “liberals” either do not care or believe that the Jews deserve whatever beating that we get for allegedly being mean to Palestinian-Arabs. Ayatollahs and imams throughout the Middle East shake their fists in the air and tell their people that the tiny Jewish minority are vile in the sight of Allah and that it is a spiritual blessing to murder Jews. In the mean time, western progressives tell one another that the Jews of the Middle East are racist, imperialistic, colonialist, apartheid, war-mongers and thereby justify an ancient Arab-Muslim culture of violence toward the Jewish people.
As such, an application of international law to Mahmoud Abbas’ statements and actions demonstrates a compelling case for prosecution. He has a clear record of incitement to genocide as defined under the Genocide Convention and its application to date. Furthermore, Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has repeatedly sought to dehumanize Israelis and Jews. An especially egregious example of PA-sanctioned incitement is its perpetuation of the “Holocaust myth,” which remains rampant in Palestinian society – particularly in the education system and media.European Anti-Semitism and the Fear of Muslims
Until the international community decides to charge Mahmoud Abbas with incitement to violence and genocide, we can expect a few more streets and town squares in the Palestinian Authority to be named after terrorists; a few more youth events to be held in honor of terrorists; and a few more Palestinian textbooks to portray a world without Israel.
When European history teachers omit the Holocaust from their curriculum, they do not do this because they hate their Jewish students more than their Muslim students. They omit it because they are afraid of their Muslim students. They might also believe they do it to be "nice," but then how come this same "niceness" is not afforded to the Jews?The ignorant Israel boycott advocates, in America too
In the "Stockholm Syndrome," now seen, ironically, in Sweden, victims start bonding with their abusers in the wish that if they share the same values as their abusers, their abusers might stop abusing them. "We must be open and tolerant toward Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, they will be so toward us." — Jens Orback, former Swedish government minister.
Contrary to the expressed opinion of some BDS supporters there is nothing vague about academic freedom. It denotes a free exchange of ideas and opinions, an exchange in which the validity of those ideas can be examined and challenged, and which is not limited either internally in a particular country or externally. John Stuart Mill knew that free inquiry is the basis for acceptance or rejection of wrong or incorrect ideas and information.MEMRI: Sheik of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayeb Justifies Antisemitism on the Basis of the Koran VIDEO
Supporters of BDS have tried to qualify their position by suggesting that their call for action is against institutions not individuals. But this is a sleight of hand evasion of the truth.
MEMRI: Egyptian Journalist Amr Sombol: U.S. Foreign Policy and World's Oil Supply Controlled by Jews VIDEO
Interviewer: Okay. So what you want to show is that the April 6 movement is supported by, or in fact, founded by Jews.'Israelis Don't Believe in Two-State Solution'
Amr Sombol: Exactly.
Interviewer: By American Jews...
In an exclusive Arutz Sheva interview, Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University’s BESA Center (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies), dismissed calls for the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state in Judea and Samaria, saying that the number of Israelis who still believe in the "Two-State Solution" can "fit in two telephone booths".Bennett: Leaving Gaza Cost 1,000 Times More than Staying
"And two years from now they will fit into a half of a telephone booth," he added dryly.
When asked why, Dr. Kedar responded that "Gaza changed everything."
At an address to the Conference of Major Jewish Organizations today, Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett was asked about the economic costs of staying in Judea and Samaria. In an unequivocal response, he explained why withdrawing from the region would cost Israel far more than remaining.UN Watch: What happened to UN interpreter caught on hot mic? UN chief responds (& disowns her critique)
"I'm a businessman! I can tell you the economic costs to Israel of leaving Gaza was 1,000 times the cost of staying in Gaza. The costs to the communities being struck by thousands of missiles, the costs of Iron Dome, the costs of the deaths many fold exceeds the costs of staying in Gaza,” he declared.
MKs Unite, Call on US to Release Jonathan Pollard
Twenty-eight years less one day have passed since US intelligence officer Jonathan Pollard was arrested by FBI agents outside the Israeli Embassy on Washington, DC, on suspicion that he had spied for Israel on the US. He has been in jail ever since.Nasties on Video
On Wednesday, Knesset Members from across the political spectrum united in calling for his release.
At the Arc de Triomphe, with a big banner in English, the better, no doubt, to (try to) catch headlines, a bunch of French screamers reacts to the Hollande government's cordiality with Israel:Dutch Catholic TV airs Jews-killed-Jesus video
Another cacophony of hate can be heard in this video of nasties in New York, performing various antics as they protest a fundraiser for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
A Dutch Catholic public broadcaster has apologized for and pulled off the air a video clip featuring a song which accuses Jews of plotting to kill Jesus.Georgetown Rescinds Invite to Egyptian Nazi
The video, which was aired earlier this month at the end of a children’s program on the Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap, or Roman Catholic Church Association, television station, featured a song by Pearl Jozefzoon, about how Jews regarded Jesus. “Do not follow him. He is mad. Break him, break his heart. Kill him. Bury him with criticism, do not love him,” the lyrics said.
Jan is listed representing "Christians Against the Coup" in a promotional flier for the event posted by Georgetown Tuesday morning. He is omitted from an updated flier posted six hours later. In between the two, Jan's Nazi ideology was exposed in a Twitter post by Hudson Institute Fellow Samuel Tadros.Norwegian prof boycotts Kristallnacht memorial
"It's remarkable to find such a guy," Tadros told the Beacon. "Just by inviting him that tells us something about the nature of the conference and those organizing it."
A Norwegian university distanced itself from a professor who said he opposed commemorating Nazi-era pogroms because it serves Israeli propaganda.‘Norway unwilling to confront war crimes’
The views expressed last week by Trond Andresen, an assistant professor in the department of engineering cybernetics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, are “far from what we stand for as a university,” Jan Erik Kaaro, a university spokesperson, told JTA on Tuesday.
The government of Norway is unwilling to “confront the issue” of crimes allegedly committed by some of its citizens during World War II, said Efraim Zuroff, a Nazi hunter and the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office.Congressman presses Turkish FM on anti-Semitism
Zuroff spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday after the cancellation of a planned trip to the Scandinavian nation in which he had hoped to speak with Justice and Public Security Minister Anders Anundsen.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a co-chairman of the Congressional caucus on Turkey, pressed the Turkish foreign minister on reports of anti-Semitism and human rights abuses in his country.Elderly Jewish Woman Punched in ‘Knockout’ Attack
Cohen said he asked Ahmet Davutoglu, when the caucus met Monday with a Turkish delegation, about reports of a surge of anti-Semitism, and about the repression of dissent in Turkey.
A 78-year-old Jewish woman was punched in the face by a group of teenagers while walking in the Midwood section of Brooklyn this weekend, becoming the eighth victim of the so-called knockout attacks that have been occurring in New York City over the past few weeks.At Microsoft 2.0, start-ups get top billing
The idea came from Israel, said Zack Weisfeld, a senior director of Microsoft Ventures, the start-up investment arm and sponsor of the MS accelerators. The Israeli accelerator in Herzliya set up just two years ago was the first of the dozen Microsoft Ventures Accelerators and the role model for them all.Keshet’s ‘Rising Star’ earns US deal
“We were the first to run an accelerator of this kind for Microsoft,” Weisfeld said. “It was seen as an experiment by the company, but people inside the company believed in what we were trying to do.”
“Rising Star,” the Israeli singing competition that has been the darling of the international television market since its launch here in September, has landed its biggest international deal yet: a 10-episode order for US screens from major American network ABC.Dylan video coup for Israeli digital ad whiz
The deal is the first to be inked by the newly-launched Keshet DCP, a partnership between Dick Clark Productions and Keshet International, home of “Homeland” and the global arm of Israeli media giant Keshet.
The first official music video for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is making the rounds on the internet. And Dylan’s endorsement is only half the reason why.Pillar of Defense: A Year Later IDF Soldier Reveals How Flow of Humanitarian Aid Was Maintained
The video, produced by media start-up Interlude, includes a novel interactive channel-tuning button, each channel mimicking a different cable channel or news program, featuring cameos by Drew Carey and a matzah-eating Danny Brown.
The video was filmed under creative directorship of 27-year old Vania Heymann, an Israeli graduate of the Bezalel Arts school.
Sgt. (Res.) Evan Pelz, an American who made aliyah to Israel, served as a lone soldier from 2011 to 2013, and now lives in Jerusalem and studies law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In a guest post on the IDF blog on Wednesday, Sergeant (Res.) Pelz described his time in the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza (CLA) unit that acts as a liaison between the IDF and the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
From Algemeiner:
I can't find any Hamas announcement of these balloons, and I can't find the Hamas Facebook page the article refers to. The only Arabic articles I'm finding are quoting Hebrew sources.
But even stranger is the simple question: if the IDF is worried about balloons, why don't they just shoot them down? It can't be that hard. It is not as if it is a violation of the laws of armed conflict to destroy an enemy surveillance system.
A few months ago I wrote about IDF balloons being used for reconnaissance into Gaza. If this report didn't seem legit (IDF officer interviewed on TV), I would have guessed that this was the same story after a few rounds of Arabic media "telephone." And it still seems possible to me that there was a mis-communication, that an Arabic site that screwed up the earlier balloon story somehow got onto a Hamas page and the IDF officer was only reacting to a rumor, which got mixed up again in this report.
I know it sounds unlikely, but this Hamas surveillance balloon story is more than weird.
UPDATE: I found the Walla article about this. It shows a photo from the Hamas Facebook page of the supposed balloon:
Sorry, this has got to be Photoshopped. There is no way a balloon this large is hovering over a building in Gaza and no one is reporting it.
UPDATE 2: Commenter Heb Macman notes that the photo wasn't Photoshopped but taken at an angle to make it look much bigger. Even so, commenter Bob Knot found another photo that also makes it look pretty big, although again it could just be the angle:
UPDATE 3: Bob Knot found a Facebook page saying that the balloon was built by the Information Office of the Al Qassam Brigades to film a demonstration, probably the first anniversary of Pillar of Cloud.
As Israel Defense Forces work to close the terror tunnels dug by Gaza-based Hamas, the Islamist party has resorted to using reconnaissance balloons to spy on Israel, even posting photos of them aloft onto the Hamas Facebook page.This doesn't make much sense.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2, a senior IDF officer in the Southern Command said that Hamas has resolved to gather intelligence deep inside Israel, and not just on the border. To this end, the officer said, Hamas has also erected a line of poles to which they’ve attached balloons filled with helium and mounted with cameras.
The officer said that the observation balloons have alarming capability to collect intelligence on military and civilian movements in Israel. He said the IDF sees Hamas trying to expand its reconnaissance abilities to strengthen its offensive capacity, based on building its rocket arsenal and digging tunnels into Israel.
The officer said that Israel recently allowed a large shipment of helium gas into Gaza for civilian use, the transfer of which may be rescinded if the intended use is to fuel more spy balloons.
I can't find any Hamas announcement of these balloons, and I can't find the Hamas Facebook page the article refers to. The only Arabic articles I'm finding are quoting Hebrew sources.
But even stranger is the simple question: if the IDF is worried about balloons, why don't they just shoot them down? It can't be that hard. It is not as if it is a violation of the laws of armed conflict to destroy an enemy surveillance system.
A few months ago I wrote about IDF balloons being used for reconnaissance into Gaza. If this report didn't seem legit (IDF officer interviewed on TV), I would have guessed that this was the same story after a few rounds of Arabic media "telephone." And it still seems possible to me that there was a mis-communication, that an Arabic site that screwed up the earlier balloon story somehow got onto a Hamas page and the IDF officer was only reacting to a rumor, which got mixed up again in this report.
I know it sounds unlikely, but this Hamas surveillance balloon story is more than weird.
UPDATE: I found the Walla article about this. It shows a photo from the Hamas Facebook page of the supposed balloon:
Sorry, this has got to be Photoshopped. There is no way a balloon this large is hovering over a building in Gaza and no one is reporting it.
UPDATE 2: Commenter Heb Macman notes that the photo wasn't Photoshopped but taken at an angle to make it look much bigger. Even so, commenter Bob Knot found another photo that also makes it look pretty big, although again it could just be the angle:
UPDATE 3: Bob Knot found a Facebook page saying that the balloon was built by the Information Office of the Al Qassam Brigades to film a demonstration, probably the first anniversary of Pillar of Cloud.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
ElderToons
Al Arabiya reports:
Iran will not sign up to a nuclear deal with world powers unless they accept its right to enrich uranium, its chief negotiator told reporters on Thursday.Whoa, no one said that it was a red line! That's serious - one you declare a red line, the rules say we cannot cross them!
Abbas Araghchi, speaking a day after talks with world powers resumed in Geneva, said Iran would not suspend its uranium enrichment activities, adding it was a “red line” for the Islamic state to do so.
“We have lost our trust ... we cannot enter serious talks until the trust is restored. But that doesn’t mean that we will stop negotiations,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
From Ian:
Tom Gross: Al-Quds seems only to be sorry that they were caught out
Netanyahu vows: No nukes for Iran’s ‘dark regime’
Tom Gross: Al-Quds seems only to be sorry that they were caught out
As I wrote last week, a better outcome would have been for Brandeis to work with Al-Quds to ensure that this kind of activity never happens again, and for the Al-Quds president unequivocally to condemn this kind of behavior to his students. It seems clear that Brandeis would also have preferred this.What Americans Don’t Know About Palestinian Culture
But the fact that in his new statement yesterday, Al-Quds President Nusseibeh (described as a “moderate” by Ha’aretz and the New York Times) not only fails to properly condemn the Fascist-style rally, but says it is all the fault of the “Jews” for having the temerity to ask for Fascist rallies not to be held on the main square on campus, has left Brandeis no choice but to take the difficult decision to suspend relations with Al-Quds.
The Al-Quds president’s statement is very revealing. It is carefully written so as to barely mention the rally itself, suggesting it was a fringe event (when in fact it is the third student rally praising suicide bombers to be held on campus this academic year). Like the other rallies, the Nov. 5 rally was clearly produced with some financial and logistical backing which calls into doubt the notion that it was a fringe event. Rather than being sorry that such a hate-rally took place, the Al-Quds president’s statement makes it sound like he is only really sorry that they were caught.
But the point about campus activities at Al Quds is that there is nothing exceptional about large groups of students demonstrating their hate for Israel and their devotion not to Palestinian nationalism but its extreme Islamist adherents such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad that call for the death of Jews. Such groups are not just welcome at Palestinian schools but an essential part of the fabric of student life as well as the general culture.Roy Amlot in The Times: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian children with relative impunity
Thus, the shock here is not that Brandeis (if not Bard) has been alerted to the true nature of their partner and even a respected front man like Nusseibeh. Rather, it’s that it never occurred to anyone in authority at Brandeis that this was the inevitable result of any cooperation with Al Quds. If it had or if more American academics got their heads out of the sand and realized the cancer of hate that is still the dominating feature of Palestinian political culture, the assumption that Israel is the villain of the Middle East conflict might be challenged more often.
Beyond the specifics, however, the smear that Israeli soldiers murder Palestinian children with impunity is part of a larger lethal narrative advanced by anti-Israel activists and some Guardian “journalists” which we’ve addressed previously. Indeed, no matter how absurd the charges that the IDF targets innocent Palestinian kids, such morally reckless memes evoking the specter of unimaginable Jewish malevolence have become so ingrained in the Islamist and extreme-left imagination that the facts regarding such libels become almost irrelevant.Huffington Post Serves as a Mouthpiece for Hamas
However, as it is the job of professional journalists to distinguish between proven facts and unsupportable accusations, we eagerly await a clarification by Amlot (or Times editors) which includes details on the supposed ‘impunity’ granted to Israeli soldiers who allegedly have ‘killed Palestinian children’.
In the article, Almodallal voices her support for standard-issue genocidal Hamas threats (that all of Israel should be wiped out, as it sits on Palestinian land), and her belief that Hamas has a bad reputation not because of its terrorism, genocidal threats, or suicide bombings, but because of “unfair Israeli media.” Her new job, she says, is to make the Palestinian issues “more human” to the outside world.Azerbaijan jails Iranian for plot against Israeli embassy
Ironically, earlier this year, another pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel propagandist, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin – who happens to be one of the top hosts of HuffPostLive, its video “news” service – described his job in almost identical terms: as being “to humanize” the Palestinians.
If you define “humanizing” a culture as whitewashing terrorists and publishing false, incendiary propaganda about their victims (namely Jews), then HuffPost’s senior management (which repeatedly claims it is a “nonpartisan” news operation) has been allowing Shihab-Eldin to fulfill his “job”.
Hasan Faraji, 31, was arrested in late October after he was seen wandering near the embassy, Azeri news site APA reported. A security guard stopped him for questioning and, after refusing to cooperate, Faraji was detained and taken to a nearby police station. He was later sentenced to 30 days in prison, but there was no indication from the report why he was incarcerated.Drifting from US, Liberman calls to diversify foreign policy
According to a Channel 10 News report on Wednesday, Azeri police claimed they had discovered photos and blueprints of the Israeli embassy in Faraji’s apartment.
“For many years, Israel’s foreign policy has been one-directional toward Washington,” he said, speaking at the Sderot Conference for Society. “I support multi-directional foreign policy.”Moroccan parliament moves to outlaw contacts with Israelis
Israel’s foreign policy “should not focus solely on the United States,” he added, according to Army Radio.
The bill was proposed by five parties in the Moroccan House of Representatives — including that of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane. Introduced earlier this summer, and largely unnoticed at the time, it was given the heading “Criminalizing Normalization with the Israeli Entity.”Palestinian official accuses ‘fool’ Bush of colluding in Arafat’s death
The proposed law seeks to prohibit attendance at or support for any “activity in Morocco in which a natural or legal person holding Israeli citizenship or being resident of the Israeli entity contributes, participates, or attends."
A Palestinian Authority official accused former US President George W. Bush of colluding with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in the assassination of PA President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Media Watch revealed Wednesday.PMW: Song glorifying violence at PA cultural event: "No force can remove the weapon from my hand"
During an interview with official Palestinian Authority television on November 10, Jibril Rajoub, a former security official and Fatah member who currently heads the Palestinian soccer association, said it was “clear” that Israel was not alone in killing the Palestinian leader.
Netanyahu vows: No nukes for Iran’s ‘dark regime’
The Iranian government is reminiscent of “dark regimes of the past” that tried to wipe out the Jews and then conquer the world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday in Moscow, vowing to deny Iran nuclear weapons.Iran has all but become Nazi
“The Iranians deny our past and repeat their commitment to wipe the State of Israel off the map. This reminds us of the dark regimes of the past that plotted against us first and then against all of humanity,” Netanyahu said in an address to Russian Jewish community leaders.
There were other troubling features in his rare public appearance, but stripping Jews of their humanity was the lowest point. The world has looked the other way. It is not lending its ears. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have tried to play dumb, as if the subconscious malice-filled campaign coming out of Tehran has been somehow lost on them. They yearn for a deal, at any price. Despite the draft agreement being taken off the table -- because France had sobered-up in the nick of time -- Iran now wants to discuss it again. But it wants more than that -- it also wants to punish the West; it seeks revenge after the West slammed the brakes and did some thinking.John Bolton: Obama’s ‘Deal’ Will Let Iran Get the Bomb
Secretary of State John Kerry has spared no effort to avoid another Geneva debacle, almost certainly making more concessions to Iran to secure agreement. The failed deal was certainly wretched from America’s perspective, involving countless problems and deficiencies. This week’s deal will be worse.Israel starting to consider 'day after' Iran agreement
It is no answer that Obama is seeking merely an “interim” understanding with Iran. “Interim” concessions have a way of getting locked-in, as seemingly ad hoc trade-offs freeze into permanence. Indeed, Obama’s “step-by-step” approach itself tells Tehran’s mullahs how desperately Obama wants a deal, and how willingly he ignores the reality that Iran’s nuclear program has never been peaceful.
Israel’s main problem with the proposed deal is that it freezes Iran’s program but does not dismantle it or significantly roll it back, in exchange for sanctions relief that Jerusalem believes severely weakens the pressure on Tehran. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Tuesday that in accepting this agreement, the world would be demonstrating that it “is willing to deceive itself.”Israel Warns US: Iran Building ICBMs for YOU, Not for Us
Tuesday evening, Nov. 19, Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev told CNN’s Jake Tapper that it isn’t just Israel in Iran’s cross-hairs, but it is the U.S. itself that is an intended target of Iran’s nuclear weapon.Israel, Gulf in ‘strange alliance’ against Iran
There seems little chance of major diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and the Gulf’s array of ruling monarchs and sheiks. But their shared worries over Iran’s influence and ambitions already has brought back-channel contacts and “intimate relationships” on defense and other strategic interests through forums such as the UN, said Dan Gillerman, a former Israeli ambassador to the world body.Obama’s Israel Spat Boosts Iran’s Leverage
The stepped-up anxieties on Iran could bring new space for the Gulf-Israel overlap.
By downgrading the alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia and trying to delegitimize his critics as warmongers, the president has strengthened Iran’s bargaining position and made it less rather than more likely that there will be a satisfactory conclusion to both the current negotiations and those that will follow. Rather than allowing diplomacy to succeed, what he has done may have ensured that Iran will never be convinced to give up its nukes by any means short of a use of force that no one wants.Despite critique, Jewish groups continue Iran push
A day after columnist Thomas Friedman blasted Jewish groups for allying with Saudi Arabia in what he described as a push to derail nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Jewish Federations of North America issued a statement calling for strong caps on Iran’s nuclear program. In a resolution passed by the JFNA’s executive committee, the organization aligned itself closely with the policy advocated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, insisting that any diplomatic solution reached in nuclear talks with Iran must result in the “complete dismantling of Iran’s capability of producing nuclear weapons and ensure mechanisms for ongoing verification of Iranian compliance.”Iranians will ‘cut your throat,’ ex-US official warns negotiators
“The Iranians are known as great rug merchants, not for nothing,” the 92-year-old former US secretary of state George Shultz told the BBC in an interview. “They’re good at this business of smiling, encouraging you on and then cutting your throat, so you have to be tough-minded, you have to be realistic.”Al Arabiya Chief: Obama Boosting Iran’s Confidence to Become Nuclear Country
“The ideal solution is to insist on preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, however, the involvement of U.S. President Barack Obama’s government in six months of negotiations boosts Iran’s confidence that it can force the international community to accept it as a nuclear country, despite all the offers, guarantees and promises made to stop this from happening,” Al-Rashed said, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.Egypt: Two Dead in Clashes at Cairo University
More than 1,500 students had marched earlier from the university campus in Cairo's Nasr City to Al-Azhar’s central administrative building, the state-owned Al-Ahram news website reported.Kerry: Muslim Brotherhood 'Stole' Egypt's Revolution
When the students attempted to storm the building, security forces intervened and forced them to return to the campus, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday accused the Muslim Brotherhood of “stealing Egypt's revolution”, AFP reported.IDF Blog: Hezbollah Indoctrinates Youth with Messages of Hate and Murder
In a speech to a forum on enhancing links between private sector businesses and diplomatic security agencies, Kerry said "the best antidote to extremism is opportunity."
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
ICRC
Juan Pedro Schaerer, "head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Israel and occupied territories," writes in the Jerusalem Post:
The Geneva Conventions shed no additional light on this question, so as far as actual texts of international humanitarian law are concerned, Schaerer's statement is not supported at all.
The ICRC can interpret all it wants, but its interpretation is only that. To characterize it as definitive is deceptive, and that is what is happening here.
I have many times dissected the text of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions, and I have even dug up the travaux préparatoires that show that when the article was drafted not a word is said about transfer that is voluntary or even encouraged.
Indeed, international law writings, when discussing transfer of populations, are very careful to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary transfer.
Some transfers are said to be voluntary but are in fact involuntary. An example Egypt's expulsion of British subjects in November 1956. Egypt force them to sign an Arabic document where they stated that they were leaving of their own free will and relinquish any claims against Egypt. That is a case of involuntary transfer because the transferees were not given a choice.
The definition of voluntary transfer is very simple: "For the transfer to comply with human rights standards as developed, prospective transferees must have an option to remain in their homes if they prefer."
Nothing in any international law source insists that a nation forcibly stop its citizens from voluntarily moving, but that is apparently how Schaerer is purposefully misinterpreting Geneva.
Moreover, Schaerer characterizes the primary purpose of Article 49 as to "demographic and other changes in the territory which occupation law was designed to prevent." This is also a lie. All of the discussions recorded in the travaux préparatoires center on forced population transfer because of the obvious human rights issues that deportation and forced transfer entails, of forcibly uprooting people from their homes. Nobody said a word about demographic changes being an issue at least in that paragraph.
This article proves the opposite of Schaerer's intention. By simply looking up the sources, we see that the ICRC is creating its own interpretation of international humanitarian law specifically to target Israel.
UPDATE: A lengthy comment at the JPost site is worth reading in full: (h/t Ian)
It is not the ICRC, but rather the facts on the ground that determine whether a territory is under occupation. The facts are such that the Israel Defense Forces established their presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in June 1967, and exerted their authority there in place of the Jordanian authorities who were no longer able to exert their own authority.Since at this point Schaerer is only quoting the Hague Regulations, perhaps he should look at the title of the section that Article 42 falls under on the ICRC website:
The West Bank and east Jerusalem were “actually placed under the authority” of the IDF in the sense of Article 42 of the Hague Regulations of 1907. In other words, the facts on the ground were such that they fell squarely into the definition of occupied territory, which is codified in Article 42, a provision that also reflects international customary law.
This has not changed in the 45 years that have past since the occupation of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, was first established. Israel continues to effectively control this territory.
In addition, international humanitarian law does not require that the territory occupied by a foreign army must belong to a sovereign state. The purely factual criterion used is that a territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of a hostile army – which is the case in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
SECTION IIIWhile this isn't proof positive that the Hague Regulations do not apply to non-state entities, it is also proof that Schaerer's blanket statement is not as clear cut as he pretends. He gives no source for his assertion, and based on primary sources, his statement is only that - an assertion.
MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE
The Geneva Conventions shed no additional light on this question, so as far as actual texts of international humanitarian law are concerned, Schaerer's statement is not supported at all.
The ICRC can interpret all it wants, but its interpretation is only that. To characterize it as definitive is deceptive, and that is what is happening here.
Regarding settlements, it is long established in international law that settlement activities by an occupying power in an occupied territory are unlawful.This is a flat-out lie.
Population transfers for the purpose of establishing settlements are forbidden under international humanitarian law, regardless of whether people are being directly transferred or indirectly transferred through incentives, encouragements or other measures facilitating their settlement in the occupied territory.
This is explicitly addressed in the Fourth Geneva Convention, for good reason. Such transfers are prohibited because they lead precisely to the demographic and other changes in the territory which occupation law was designed to prevent.
I have many times dissected the text of Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions, and I have even dug up the travaux préparatoires that show that when the article was drafted not a word is said about transfer that is voluntary or even encouraged.
Indeed, international law writings, when discussing transfer of populations, are very careful to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary transfer.
Some transfers are said to be voluntary but are in fact involuntary. An example Egypt's expulsion of British subjects in November 1956. Egypt force them to sign an Arabic document where they stated that they were leaving of their own free will and relinquish any claims against Egypt. That is a case of involuntary transfer because the transferees were not given a choice.
The definition of voluntary transfer is very simple: "For the transfer to comply with human rights standards as developed, prospective transferees must have an option to remain in their homes if they prefer."
Nothing in any international law source insists that a nation forcibly stop its citizens from voluntarily moving, but that is apparently how Schaerer is purposefully misinterpreting Geneva.
Moreover, Schaerer characterizes the primary purpose of Article 49 as to "demographic and other changes in the territory which occupation law was designed to prevent." This is also a lie. All of the discussions recorded in the travaux préparatoires center on forced population transfer because of the obvious human rights issues that deportation and forced transfer entails, of forcibly uprooting people from their homes. Nobody said a word about demographic changes being an issue at least in that paragraph.
Thus, when the international community regards the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as unlawful, it does so simply because of that very prohibition, and not because of an opinion of the ICRC.As I have shown, the source texts do not support Schaerer's interpretation. The ICRC might have some support for its position, but some legal scholars have proof for the opposite. That is why it is clearly, by definition, the ICRC's opinion.
This article proves the opposite of Schaerer's intention. By simply looking up the sources, we see that the ICRC is creating its own interpretation of international humanitarian law specifically to target Israel.
UPDATE: A lengthy comment at the JPost site is worth reading in full: (h/t Ian)
Mr. Schaerer's OpEd raises more questions than it provides answers. For starters, the most obvious one is why is the ICRC so inconsistent in applying the same rules to so many similar situations? To wit, if "It is not the ICRC, but rather the facts on the ground that determine whether a territory is under occupation." as he claims, how come the ICRC didn't apply the same criteria when Jordan illegally occupied and annexed the West Bank and Egypt did the same with Gaza in 1948? Similarly, how come the ICRC has never said a word regarding the (exceedingly brutal) invasion, occupation and annexation of Tibet by China in 1950 (which is still ongoing)? And what about Northern Cyprus, still illegally occupied by Turkey since 1974, and Morocco still illegally occupying the Western Sahara since 1975? Oh, I also forgot two provinces of Georgia still illegally occupied by Russia since 2008? In all these cases, the facts on the ground certainly proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the territories in question are under occupation. Additionally, all these territories were acquired through wars of aggression, making them illegal, whereas Israel's occupation of the West Bank was the result of a defensive war, which makes it lawful. And yet it is on Israel that the ICRC keeps picking mercilessly, the only case of lawful occupation, while ignoring all the illegal ones! Could it be that the ICRC is scared to offend the culprits in all these other cases, whereas it knows it has nothing to fear from Israel in terms of retaliation? If not, how come the ICRC doesn't have extensive delegations of expatriates and local employees (as it does in Israel where they criss-cross the country taking care of every need of the Palestinians) in Tibet, Northern Cyprus and the Western Sahara? This is the core of the problem the ICRC faces when it keeps accusing Israel of something it is not guilty of while ignoring the countries who are really guilty of the offenses it accuses Israel of: by accepting to apply a double standard against Israel alone, the ICRC has shed much of its credibility as a so-called neutral agency. International law applies equally to all nations, or it applies to none, but it can't be applied to just a few and ignored by the rest.
Next Mr. Shaerer states: "Population transfers for the purpose of establishing settlements are
forbidden under international humanitarian law, regardless of whether people are being directly transferred or indirectly transferred through incentives, encouragements or other measures facilitating their settlement in the occupied territory." That is a blatant exaggeration of what the IVth 1949 Geneva Convention actually says. The article in question, Art.49, Para. 6, says "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Better yet, the ICRC's own commentary on the Geneva Conventions, regarded by most international law scholars as the most reliable interpretation of the GC, specifically says with regard to this provision that "[This clause]... is intended to prevent a practice adopted during the Second World War by certain Powers, which transferred portions of their own population to occupied territory for political and racial reasons or in order, as they claimed, to colonize those territories." This article was meant for the likes of Nazi Germany, and rather than Israeli settlers who moved to the West Bank of their own free will, it applies perfectly to the colonizers and settlers imported en masse by China in Tibet, Turkey in Northern Cyprus and Morocco in the Western Sahara. And yet... the ICRC has never said a word about these cases! Israel should stop being so nice and bend over backwards to please the ICRC when the same ICRC has proven itself incapable and unwilling of applying the same rules it wants to impose on Israel while ignoring more blatant cases of violations of the IVth GC. When it does, and proves to be the neutral agency it claims to be, it would then be welcomed back, although its interpretation of international law leading to the conclusion that the IVth GC is applicable to the West Bank remains faulty to this day anyway.
Finally, Mr. Schaerer promises us that "the ICRC envisages engaging in a series of open forum events in 2014", that is, to discuss "the discrepancies between international humanitarian law and certain policies implemented by Israel in the occupied territories". I trust that the real situations of illegal occupations I have mentioned will be prominently debated - in particular the question as to why the ICRC keeps harping on Israel and says nothing about these cases when in fact they meet far better the definition of belligerent occupation than Israel ever has. If not, this promises to be a completely moot and useless exercice.
Jean-Jacques Surbeck
Former member of the ICRC Legal Division in Geneva, Switzerland from 1974 to 1984 (now living in the US).
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
This week, in a speech to tens of thousands of volunteer Basij militiamen in Tehran broadcast live on TV, Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei referred to Israel as an "unclean, rabid dog," which in Persian culture is one of the worst insults possible.
He repeats this in a new tweet and Facebook post, together with a graphic:
What was happening in this photo?
The original photo caption was:
I also saw the photo here with the same caption but different photo credit.
And there is video, which was immediately seized by the Arab world as if the IDF was attacking the woman and not trying to help her:

Another photo (right) of the same dog attack is also popular on anti-Israel sites. Its caption adds that "the woman received medical attention from the troops on the scene."
While the video was edited to make it look as if the solders are detaining the woman, in fact they were helping her.
Context is everything, and the Israel haters have no compunction about twisting facts.
He repeats this in a new tweet and Facebook post, together with a graphic:
What was happening in this photo?
The original photo caption was:
An Israeli army dog attacks a Palestinian woman as soldiers try to stop it during an army raid in the West Bank village of Obadiyah, near Bethlehem, Wednesday, March 21, 2007. The troops were searching for a wanted militant from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who managed to escape.
I also saw the photo here with the same caption but different photo credit.
And there is video, which was immediately seized by the Arab world as if the IDF was attacking the woman and not trying to help her:

Another photo (right) of the same dog attack is also popular on anti-Israel sites. Its caption adds that "the woman received medical attention from the troops on the scene."
While the video was edited to make it look as if the solders are detaining the woman, in fact they were helping her.
Context is everything, and the Israel haters have no compunction about twisting facts.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics came out with their latest quarterly labor report.
Last year, the PCBS said that 15,000 Palestinians worked in the settlements. Now, the number has increased to 20,000.
Last year, some 90,000 worked for Israelis on both sides of the Green Line. In the second quarter it increased to 96,000, it has now increased to 103,000.
Nearly one in seven West Bank Arabs work for Israelis.
61% of them work in construction.
The average daily wage for those working in PA-administered areas in the West Bank is NIS 88.3 compared and NIS 59.3 in Gaza Strip. In contrast, the average daily wage for those working for Israelis increased from NIS 172.1 in the 2nd quarter to NIS 178.9 in the 3rd quarter, over double the wages of those that work in the PA areas,and a 10% increase in wages over last year. In PA areas, the wage during the same time period increased only about 1%.
I believe this is the first time that Israeli wages have doubled Palestinian Arab wages.
This means that about one third of total wages in the PA ruled areas come from Israeli employers. The impact to the PA economy if there was an international border between their state and Israel would be devastating, although the World Bank never looks at that statistic when it blames Israel for the PA's economic woes.
Somehow, over a hundred thousand people manage to travel to Israeli-controlled areas every day, past all those checkpoints and "apartheid walls" and guard towers we keep hearing so much about. While they do have to wait in long lines to enter Israel, it is clearly worth it.
Last year, the PCBS said that 15,000 Palestinians worked in the settlements. Now, the number has increased to 20,000.
Last year, some 90,000 worked for Israelis on both sides of the Green Line. In the second quarter it increased to 96,000, it has now increased to 103,000.
Nearly one in seven West Bank Arabs work for Israelis.
61% of them work in construction.
The average daily wage for those working in PA-administered areas in the West Bank is NIS 88.3 compared and NIS 59.3 in Gaza Strip. In contrast, the average daily wage for those working for Israelis increased from NIS 172.1 in the 2nd quarter to NIS 178.9 in the 3rd quarter, over double the wages of those that work in the PA areas,and a 10% increase in wages over last year. In PA areas, the wage during the same time period increased only about 1%.
I believe this is the first time that Israeli wages have doubled Palestinian Arab wages.
This means that about one third of total wages in the PA ruled areas come from Israeli employers. The impact to the PA economy if there was an international border between their state and Israel would be devastating, although the World Bank never looks at that statistic when it blames Israel for the PA's economic woes.
Somehow, over a hundred thousand people manage to travel to Israeli-controlled areas every day, past all those checkpoints and "apartheid walls" and guard towers we keep hearing so much about. While they do have to wait in long lines to enter Israel, it is clearly worth it.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
This is a tweet from Iran's Supreme Leader and Grand Poobah, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, on Monday:
From JPost today:
By the way, Khamenei has been very upset at France recently:
He who resorts to #terrorism is devoid of reasoning 20/7/94 #Beirut
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 19, 2013
From JPost today:
An Iranian national was arrested in Azerbaijan two weeks ago on the suspicion he was planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Baku, Channel 10 reported on Wednesday.But I thought terrorism was devoid of reasoning?
Hasan Faraji, 31, was arrested by Azerbaijani police after displaying "suspicious behavior" while wandering around the Israeli embassy in Baku on October 31. Faraji, who resisted arrest, was sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention, according to the APA news agency
According to Channel 10, Faraji is a part of the Iranian Quds Forces, a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard that, among other roles, is tasked with planning and executing terrorist attacks against Israeli targets overseas.
Azerbaijani police raided Faraji's house, where it found plans and photographs indicating on his intention to commit a series of terrorist attacks against Israelis at the embassy.
By the way, Khamenei has been very upset at France recently:
Unfortunately, some Europeans go towards #Zionist officials & pay them lip service & humiliate their nation. #France
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 20, 2013
Supporting miserable #Zionist regime will be a great dishonor to the Europeans. But the #French nation itself should find a remedy for that.
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 20, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
You know how the Arab world loves to say that Palestinians are their highest priority?
Well, not so much.
From Reuters, finally picking up on a story I've had for months:
Between 1948 and 1967, Egypt did not allow any of the (real) Palestine Arab refugees to settle in Egypt. They moved them all to Gaza, effectively making Gaza into - you guessed it - an open air prison.
UNRWA was allowed to work in Gaza, but not in Egypt proper, because there were no refugees there.
Now, Egypt says that the Syrian Palestinian refugees don't fall under UNHCR, but under UNRWA - which is not allowed to work in Egypt!
So from this article we see that Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey are explicitly discriminating against Palestinian Arabs. Yet these are the very same countries that insist that they are the biggest defenders of Palestinians!
How to reconcile the two?
Because to the Arab world, and even to Palestinian Arab leaders themselves, the entire point of Palestinian Arab nationalism is not to help Arabs whose ancestors happened to live in British Mandate Palestine from 1946-48 (the UNRWA definition of refugee.) No, for them, "supporting Palestine" is just a code phrase for "destroying Israel."
And keeping Palestinian Arabs stateless and miserable is a key part of that plan, in the hopes that one day they will "return" to flood Israel and destroy the Jewish state.
Even if it takes another 65 years.
As usual, every inconsistent Arab position and action vis a vis the Palestinian issue makes perfect sense when you look at it through the right prism.
(h/t Yoel)
Well, not so much.
From Reuters, finally picking up on a story I've had for months:
Of the 2 million people who fled Syria's civil war, none may have it worse than Palestinians, who have known no other home than Syria but do not have Syrian citizenship and have therefore been denied even the basic rights secured for other refugees.The reason Egypt doesn't allow UNHCR to register the Palestinian Syrian refugees is also because of its history of treating Palestinians like dirt.
The United Nations says the Egyptian government has refused it permission to register Palestinians from Syria as refugees and give them the yellow card that allows them to settle. As a result, hundreds of Palestinians civilians have ended up detained in police stations, with no place else to go.
If the family [on the ill-fated boat that was intercepted] were Syrian citizens, once detained they would most likely have been permitted to leave Egypt for refugee camps in other countries in the region, says Human Rights Watch.
But because they are Palestinians they have been given no other option but to camp out in a police station indefinitely, or somehow make their way back to the war zone in Syria.
Turkey and Jordan will not accept Palestinians from Syria and Lebanon will only allow them to pass through for 48 hours.
So they live at the four storey police station in Alexandria, where cold winter wind blows in from the sea and families of Palestinians sleep on blankets on cement floors.
They receive one meal a day from an aid group. Many pass idle days praying. The sounds of children crying echo through the drafty chambers.
All those who spoke to Reuters asked that their names not be used to prevent reprisals by the police.
Among some 300,000 people who have fled Syria to Egypt are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Palestinians, many born in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, established in 1957, which was nearly destroyed by air strikes earlier this year.
The overwhelming majority of the Palestinians have never set foot in the Palestinian territories and have considered Syria their only home. But Egypt refuses to allow the United Nations refugee agency to treat them like other refugees from Syria.
"It is the view of the government of Egypt that Palestinians fall outside of UNHCR's mandate," said Teddy Leposky, a UNHCR spokesman in Cairo. "UNHCR has therefore not been able to provide assistance or advocate effectively on behalf of Palestinian refugees in Egypt."
Hundreds caught in Egypt without the proper documents or apprehended trying to leave for other countries have been detained indefinitely without criminal charge, say lawyers representing them.
"(Prosecutors) have ordered them released, but national security has ordered them detained until they are deported," said Mahmoud Belal of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights.
Between 1948 and 1967, Egypt did not allow any of the (real) Palestine Arab refugees to settle in Egypt. They moved them all to Gaza, effectively making Gaza into - you guessed it - an open air prison.
UNRWA was allowed to work in Gaza, but not in Egypt proper, because there were no refugees there.
Now, Egypt says that the Syrian Palestinian refugees don't fall under UNHCR, but under UNRWA - which is not allowed to work in Egypt!
So from this article we see that Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey are explicitly discriminating against Palestinian Arabs. Yet these are the very same countries that insist that they are the biggest defenders of Palestinians!
How to reconcile the two?
Because to the Arab world, and even to Palestinian Arab leaders themselves, the entire point of Palestinian Arab nationalism is not to help Arabs whose ancestors happened to live in British Mandate Palestine from 1946-48 (the UNRWA definition of refugee.) No, for them, "supporting Palestine" is just a code phrase for "destroying Israel."
And keeping Palestinian Arabs stateless and miserable is a key part of that plan, in the hopes that one day they will "return" to flood Israel and destroy the Jewish state.
Even if it takes another 65 years.
As usual, every inconsistent Arab position and action vis a vis the Palestinian issue makes perfect sense when you look at it through the right prism.
(h/t Yoel)
From Ian:
Netanyahu: Islamists taking us back to the ‘Dark Ages’
Netanyahu: Islamists taking us back to the ‘Dark Ages’
“Radical Islam wants to take us to the past,” he said. “We march toward the future; they, to the Dark Ages. We aspire to open our society to everyone — men, women, minorities, to the right to be different. They want oppressive uniformity, rigid doctrine.Hollande visits graves of French school attack victims
“And they want to support all this with weapons of mass destruction,” he added, alluding to Tehran’s alleged attempt to produce nuclear weapons. “We cannot allow them this. I think it would be a grave mistake to repeat the mistakes made with North Korea, another closed society with tough and aggressive doctrine.”
French President Francois Hollande visited the Jerusalem graves of the victims of the attack on a Toulouse Jewish school.Palestinian Incitement’s Exposure Seen as Israel’s ‘Front Offense Around the World’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompanied Hollande to the cemetery on Tuesday. They were joined by members of the Sandler and Monsonego families, who recited Kaddish.
Also in October, Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministers Yuval Steinitz penned a New York Times op-ed titled “How Palestinian Hate Prevents Peace,” focusing on anti-Israel messages in the PA’s television and radio stations, public schools, summer camps, children’s magazines, Web sites, and Facebook pages.Frederick Forsyth: So exactly how did Yasser Arafat get so rich?
Steinitz’s angle was no coincidence. His article was “virtually completely based on material that we have supplied his office,” says Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). While top Israeli officials attribute a lack of success in the current negotiations to PA incitement, the exposure of that incitement in the PA’s official media outlets is “Israel’s front offense around the world,” Marcus tells JNS.org.
I have seen acres of breast-beating journalism about the Palestinian misery but never an examination into where all the donated money has gone over the years. For this is certain: Arab donors and a generous non-Arab world have donated many billions to the Palestinian cause.Elliott Abrams: Palestinians from Syria: The worst treatment of all
Take the Gaza strip. It is a bloc of land 25 miles long and six miles wide on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.
Its northern and eastern borders are Israel, its 11-mile southern border is Egypt and its western border the glittering Med. Over the years since the founding of Israel in 1948 literally billions of pounds have been donated to help its people have a decent life.
If it had been invested shrewdly and well Gaza today could be a mini-Monaco. It could have a deepwater freight port, a flourishing fishing port and a leisure harbour crammed with the yachts of wealthy visitors. It could have resort hotels on the sea and farms, ranches and orchards in the hinterland producing nutritious food.
But there is another story here: the way UNRWA's special treatment of Palestinians has backfired. It is not just a whim that the government of Egypt does not allow UNHCR to treat Palestinians the way it treats all other refugees, for in fact Palestinians are the only refugees over whom UNHCR has never had jurisdiction. When those fleeing Syria attend UNHCR or UNRWA schools, or receive medical attention at UNHCR or UNRWA clinics, that division is perpetuated and deepened. Once upon a time, Palestinians thought this special status was a great boon. For Palestinians fleeing Syria it's hard to see it that way today. UNRWA can now add to its achievement of perpetuating "Palestinian refugee" status the achievement of separating Palestinians from all other Syrian refugees. And now we can use the word refugee without quotation marks, for we are speaking of people born and raised in Syria and now driven from their homes there. This is just another piece of evidence that UNRWA has outlived its usefulness and is doing more harm than good for Palestinians.Georgetown University to Host Member of Egypt’s Nazi Party
Georgetown University’s Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Center for Christian Muslim Understanding is scheduled to host a Dec. 5 event on “Egypt and the Struggle for Democracy.”Terra Incognita: The Haniyeh family health plan in Israel
The event features a slew of speakers sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Coptic Christian Ramy Jan, who cut his teeth on the Egyptian political scene as a member of the country’s Nazi Party, according to multiple sources.
The event is scheduled to take place all day at Georgetown’s ICC auditorium and feature a keynote address by Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.).
The story sent shockwaves through Israel’s media and abroad. It was paired with the usual responses of “look at Israel, Israel treats the children of its enemies and its enemies only want to kill Israel’s children.” One writer noted, “it’s what they [Israelis] do; it’s who they are.”'Hamas PM's granddaughter returns to Gaza 'clinically dead' after Israeli doctors unable to save her'
But there is something off about this story, and others like it. The reports of Israel’s medical care for Palestinians, including Palestinians involved in violence against Israel, goes back many years. Alan Dershowitz highlighted it in his book The Case for Israel.
The one-year-old Amal Haniyeh was admitted in serious condition to Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in Petah Tikva on Sunday after being diagnosed with an acute digestive tract infection, source in Gaza said.The Guardian Walls Out Israelis, Suicide Bombers, and Balance
Israeli doctors reportedly deemed her chances of survival as slim and returned her to a hospital in Gaza City.
An interactive feature at The Guardian look at walls and barriers around the world. From the US-Mexico border, to the 2,500 mile barrier separating India and Bangladesh, along with 99 walls separating Belfast’s Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, call it “wall-to-wall coverage.”What about the Grand Mufti’s desire to ‘liquidate the Jews’ doesn’t Robert Fisk understand?
Israel’s security barrier is featured too.
Harriet Sherwood (with some credited assistance from B’Tselem) has plenty of comments, photos and videos of Palestinians talking about how the wall impacts their lives.
Left outside The Guardian gates, unfortunately, are Israelis sharing how the security barrier impacts their lives. That would mean addressing the deadly Palestinian suicide bombers who wreaked havoc in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the second intifada.
His claim that the pro-Nazi Haj Amin was merely attempting to “help the Palestinians” represents an extraordinary obfuscation.Funniest Temple Mount Propaganda Video Ever
As a CAMERA report (based on documentation in a book by Jennie Lebel titled ‘The Mufti of Jerusalem: Haj-Amin el-Husseini and National-Socialism‘) makes clear, Haj Amin’s desire to ‘help the Palestinians’ was superseded by a greater passion – to annihilate the Jews.
This PressTv clip can only work with an audience that can’t tell the difference between the Temple Mount compound and the Western Wall plaza. Anyone who does know that those are two sites, each with its own distinct appearance that look nothing alike, realizes that this 2 minute clip which offers lavish descriptions of how the Jews are storming Temple Mount every day, with the support of police – has not a shred of a film to back it up.Polish Forbes sorry for defaming Jewish groups
The Polish edition of Forbes magazine apologized for three articles about the restitution of prewar property of Jewish communities that targeted the leaders of Poland’s organized Jewish community and several Jewish organizations.Pope Francis Condemns Kristallnacht Memorial Protests
The apology for the articles published in September was published Monday on the magazine’s website.
During a special memorial ceremony on Nov. 12 attended by Catholic, Jewish and Protestant leaders in Buenos Aires to mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a small group of protestors from the ultra-traditionalist Catholic group Society of St. Pius X disrupted the proceedings, shouting “followers of false gods must be kept out of the sacred temple.”German university opening Europe’s first school of Jewish theology
Pope Francis told a group of Latin American religious leaders visiting the Vatican that preaching intolerance “is a form of militancy that must be overcome.”
In what is being called a landmark moment for the Continent’s Jewry, Europe’s first university-level school of Jewish theology is set to open Tuesday at the University of Potsdam, situated just outside Berlin.David's Sling shoots down ballistic missile in trial
“The opening of the School of Jewish Theology marks a historical milestone in the training of liberal and conservative rabbis and is unique both in Germany and Europe,” university president Oliver Günther said in a statement.
The Ministry of Defense and the US Missile Defense Agency (MSA) held a successful test of the David's Sling air defense system on Wednesday morning, in which a ballistic missile was shot down and destroyed.Israeli-Palestinian Arbitration Center Opens
David's Sling is designed to intercept intermediate and short-range rockets and cruise missiles, and should be effective against a good portion of Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.
Given the political disputes and the apparent lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, some are surprised to learn that the volume of trade between Israel and the Palestinian territories is $4 billion annually. Yet, there has been nowhere to turn in cases of commercial disputes.Gomez Mill House, Oldest Jewish Site in North America, Approaches 300th Anniversary
The oldest Jewish site in North America is not Newport’s famed Touro Synagogue, or any other synagogue. Rather, it is a stone structure tucked away on the west side of the Hudson River, about 60 miles north of Manhattan.18th Century Haggadah, Found in Garage, Expected to Sell for £500,000 at Auction (VIDEO)
Due to its multiple uses and inhabitants over the centuries, the Gomez Mill House—built in 1714 in Marlboro, NY—is one of the best-kept secrets in American Jewish history, and also holds a unique place in greater American history. With its 300th anniversary approaching, its story may very well become familiar to a much broader audience.
An 18th-century Haggadah found by chance in a Manchester garage is promising to offer a huge payday for its owner, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.Ancient Jewish Altar Found in Shilo
Created for the Oppenheimer banking dynasty in 1726, the auction house handling the sale says it could fetch up to £500,000, or $805,000.
An ongoing archaeological dig in the ancient Jewish village of Shilo in Samaria (Shomron) has turned up a stone altar dating back thousands of years.The magnificent Maccabee mansion found under a home
The altar is believed to date back to the period from roughly 1,200 BCE to 600 CE known as the Iron Age.
Underneath the four-story modern house, 18 years of digging revealed what Siebenberg calls “the perfect continuation of Jewish history in one place.” The base layer has emptied burial caves from the era of King David and King Solomon some 3,000 years ago.Israel Daily Picture: Another Photographic Treasure Trove Discovered: 120-Year-Old Colored Slides from Chatham University, Part 1
Above that are the remains of a Hasmonean mansion inhabited by children of the Maccabees – the heroes of Hanukkah fame — who ruled Judea from 142-63 BCE after liberating it from the Syrian-Greeks.
In the need for library and archival preservation, modern technology is certainly a friend of antiquity. Vintage photographs, some stored for over a century in old libraries, are now being digitized and often posted Online. Such is the case with this treasure of "Holy Land Lantern Slides" we found in Chatham University's archives.
Chatham University, a 150-year-old women's undergraduate school in Pittsburgh, digitized their slides in 2009. According to Rachel M. Grove Rohrbaugh, the school's archivist and public service librarian, "most of the slides roughly date to circa 1880-1900. We don’t have specific information on the photographer(s) or how they were used here at Chatham, but they were likely used for instruction in world history or cultural studies."
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