A much-anticipated category!
The nominees for Best Pro-Israel Tweeters are:
And the winner is:
Elder of ZiyonIsrael is expected to do things neither the U.S. nor its other allies would do. This month, the Obama Administration was critical of Afghanistan’s Karzai releasing of scores of Islamist “dangerous criminals against whom there is strong evidence linking them to terror-related crimes.” But last year, the Administration pressured Israel into releasing scores of convicted Palestinian killers of Israeli civilians – although it did express concern when one of those released, Al Haj Othman Amar Mustafa, turned out have also murdered an American. Actions unacceptable elsewhere were positively demanded of Israel.The 'Kerry Plan': Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, recognition of Jewish state
The Obama pattern is clear. The respect for sovereign decisions and deference to security concerns that apply to other U.S. allies are absent when it comes to Israel. Israel is expected to bow to the Administration’s policy without demur, run security risks the U.S. itself would not abide, and ignore the extremism, non-acceptance, and bad faith of its Palestinian partner, just as the Obama Administration does. This is just the unseemly underside of the disconnect between the Administration’s public words of support for Israel and the reality of its coolness and indifference to the realities it faces.
The "Kerry Plan" is likely to be unveiled soon, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times wrote on Tuesday in a column titled "Why Kerry is Scary."Obama Refers to ‘Jewish State’ of Israel Hours After Netanyahu Calls for PA to do Same
The “Kerry Plan,” writes Friedman, is expected to "call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines)."
Friedman also said that there will be "unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley."
According to Friedman, some settlements will remain under Israeli control and Israel will "compensate" Palestinians for the land.
Stating America’s objectives in the ongoing U.S. sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Obama called for “an independent state for Palestinians, and lasting peace and security for the State of Israel—a Jewish state that knows America will always be at their side.”
At a security conference earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s Netanyahu said that of two basic principles required of the PA, “The first is recognition of the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people.”
“This is the root of the conflict. The conflict is not about the settlements, its not about the settlers, and it’s not about a Palestinian state. The Zionist movement agreed to recognize a Palestinian state. The conflict is over the Jewish state… We are asked to recognize a national Palestinian state, so can we not also demand [that they] recognize a national Jewish state?” the Premier said.
Elder of Ziyon[T]hough he wouldn’t have opened the factory at its current site, Birnbaum said that its presence here is now a reality, and he won’t bow to political pressure to close it — even though the company is about to open a huge new plant in the Negev, within Israel’s internationally-recognized boundaries, which will replicate all functions of the West Bank plant, and dwarf it.The Arab workers clearly support Birnbaum - showing that claims to the contrary from Israel haters are a lie.
The reason for staying is loyalty to approximately 500 Palestinians who are among the plant’s 1,300 employees, Birnbaum claimed. While other employees could relocate on the other side of the Green Line if the plant moved, the West Bank Palestinian workers could not, and would suffer financially, he argued.
“We will not throw our employees under the bus to promote anyone’s political agenda,” he said, adding that he “just can’t see how it would help the cause of the Palestinians if we fired them.”
...Birnbaum’s advisor, Maurice Silber, said that within the company “everybody is against the occupation.” But it does not follow, he said, that because SodaStream operates in an occupied area, it violates human rights. Eventually, he said, SodaStream could become the “seed of the future Palestinian economy.”
At the plant’s cafeteria, awareness of the current international controversy over Scarlett Johannson’s new role at the company was clearly widespread among employees. During the Forward’s visit, Birnbaum took to the cafeteria floor to give some 250 Palestinian workers a kind of pep talk about the issue, urging them to ignore the political attacks. “We are making history for the Palestinian people and the Israeli people,” he told them in Hebrew, followed by a translator who rendered his comments into Arabic. Birnbaum reassured the workers about their jobs and said he wanted to bring “more and more hands” into the factory as SodaStream grows.So who cares more about Palestinian Arabs - SodaStream or the Israel haters?
The Palestinians applauded these comments. But then Birnbaum added with a flourish: “Scarlett Johannson would be proud of you!” And at the sound of Johannson’s name — even before the translation — applause among the assembly of mostly male, 30-something Palestinian workers burst out again, palpably louder.
During discussions between a Forward reporter and about a half-dozen of these Palestinian employees, conducted out of earshot of Israeli managers, none complained of labor abuses, or of receiving pay below the Israeli minimum wage. Asked about the calls by anti-occupation activists to boycott SodaStream, one spoke about the dearth of jobs in the Palestinian Authority economy.
Elder of Ziyon
On Monday, it was reported that 9 Palestinian Arabs died in the Yarmouk camp in Syria on Sunday - 7 of them from starvation and lack of medicine and the others were killed. One was killed by a sniper while searching for food.
Elder of ZiyonOften forgotten among the current crises in the Middle East and North Africa, the unresolved territorial dispute over the Western Sahara has continued to impede closer cooperation among the countries of North Africa for more than 35 years. Approximately the size of Colorado, the territory is administered by the Government of Morocco and contested by a group known as the Polisario Front that operates refugee camps of between 35,000 and 90,000 people near Tindouf, Algeria. For years, bipartisan majorities of Congress and the last three Presidents have advocated for a solution to this issue based on a formula of Moroccan sovereignty and local autonomy. This compromise recognizes our ally Morocco’s historic claims and guarantees local autonomy; and it is based in the reality that an independent state with such few people would fail, contributing further instability in an already volatile region.
Less than two months after the White House meeting where President Obama and King Mohammed VI stressed their “shared commitment” to improve the lives of the people in the Western Sahara, the 2014 Appropriations Bill mandates for the first time that US assistance to Morocco be extended to Western Sahara. This Congressional action helps President Obama put solid deeds behind the commitment he made to the US’s oldest friend, a strategic partner in a region of the world where we need our friends more than ever. With so much turmoil throughout the region – from Syria to Libya to Mali to Iran -- the US is fortunate to have such a partnership with a country noted for its continuing stability and progress toward democracy. Taking these steps to reaffirm our commitment to that partnership provides tangible US support where we can actually make a difference in the Arab world.
...
This is especially important given that the Western Sahara conflict has stood in the way of regional political and economic cooperation sorely needed to bring peace, security, and development to North Africa. As the UN has warned, the desolate conditions in the Polisario refugee camps have created a “tinderbox” ready to explode into extremism and provide recruits for a growing terrorist threat. Congress’s tangible action together with President Obama’s recent expression of support, demonstrate America’s resolve to firmly address this issue. The sooner and more clearly the surrounding countries of North Africa recognize this new US support, the more likely it is that the United Nations negotiator charged with formulating a political compromise will find a solution that provides autonomy for the people of the Sahara under the stable and friendly country of Morocco.
Morocco has invested billions of dollars in the southern provinces in the consolidation of the road infrastructure, the construction of schools, hospitals, and other development projects, the constant goal is the improvement of living conditions of people in this part of the Kingdom and pave the way to autonomy.
Edward M. Gabriel is the former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, 1997 to 2001, and currently advises the government of Morocco.A state that is occupying a territory, in which it has claims that most of the world doesn't recognize, is being supported unconditionally by the White House and Congress. US funds are being given to that country to annex the area and provide limited autonomy for the people who live there, but no one wants to see a state there. There is a danger of terrorism if the situation would be left alone so this country, America's good friend, will be trusted to secure the area and develop the occupied territory in an intelligent and fair manner. Many people from this country have moved into the disputed area, even changing the demographic nature of the occupied areas, but this is not considered a problem and no one is demanding that these settlers be forced to leave. The ally has already built an infrastructure in that region where none existed before. No one wants to create a state that will undoubtedly fail, because that will add to instability in the region and the larger Arab world.
Elder of ZiyonMorocco and Algeria, North Africa's two most powerful countries and biggest rivals, are accusing each other of mistreating Syrian refugees.
Morocco's Interior Ministry issued an official statement Tuesday protesting what it said was the rise in expulsion of Syrian refugees onto Moroccan territory by Algeria.
The statement said that between Sunday and Tuesday some 77 Syrians, including 18 women and 43 children had been expelled. The statement follows up on similar accusations in Moroccan media over the past week.
The spokesman for Algeria's Foreign Ministry, Amar Belani, said Thursday that the stories of expulsions were complete lies by the Moroccan "pseudo-media that specializes in nauseating bubbling of the anti-Algerian media swamp."
Algerian security forces along the border told the Algerian state news agency on Monday that in fact it was the Moroccans who were expelling Syrians into Algeria.
"The gendarmes refused access to the national territory to Syrian refugees that the Moroccan authorities wanted to expel to Algeria," said Col. Mohammed Boualleg. "It was after this refusal that the Moroccan authorities called on their media to wrongly accuse the Algerians of expelling Syrians."
Morocco is a major jumping off point for immigrants, usually from sub-Saharan Africa, seeking entry into Europe.
In the past, when Morocco has caught Africans who entered from Algeria hoping to cross into Europe, it expelled them into the deserts along the border with Algeria.
Sacha Stawski, an expert on anti-Semitism in the German media, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that “Israel-related anti-Semitism is probably the most common and most persistent form of anti-Semitism in all levels of society today.”Caroline Glick: International Holocaust Remembrance Day’s fatal flaw
Stawski, who is a German Jew and editor-in-chief of the media watchdog website Honestly Concerned, added: “Today it is no longer fashionable to hate Jews outright, but it is perfectly acceptable to debate about and to demonstrate against the very core of the Jewish state’s existence – in a way and with emotions unlike that about any other country.”
The social-psychological theory articulated by Adorno and Horkheimer might, just might, provide a macro-level grasp of a pan-European epidemic that is fixated on turning Israel into a human punching bag.
Modern Zionism was conceived as having two objectives – to enable the Jews to protect ourselves from anti-Semites; and to end anti-Semitism by normalizing Jews as a nation among the nations. But as Wisse notes, like the Jews in exilic communities, the Jewish state cannot end other people’s hatred of Jews, because we didn’t cause it. Only the anti-Semites, through their own moral reckoning with their anti-Semitic past and present, can do that.Anne Bayefsky: Holocaust Remembrance Day -- has UN learned anything from history?
In light of the Europeans’ continued refusal to undertake such a moral reckoning, far from combating anti-Semitism, International Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as a cover for it. Israel and the Jewish people should not let the Holocaust serve as a fig leaf for their continuing, and growing, hatred.
It is Holocaust remembrance time at the United Nations. Once a year, Jews from around New York, a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, occasional celebrities, and precious few friends, file into the General Assembly Hall and grant the U.N. the privilege of appearing to care.
This year’s speakers include Steven Spielberg. When it is over, the year-round ritual censure of the Jewish state will resume.
Characteristic of “International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust” is the scarcity of express emphasis on Israel, save for the remarks of the Israeli ambassador.
Elder of ZiyonPalestinians who escaped the horror of refugee camps have taken a quiet back seat to the guerrilla leaders of today. But they are the statesmen of tomorrow.
Affluent, well-educated, more familiar with the Byzantine maze of Middle East politics, they have suffered less under the Israelis and learned to survive in other parts of the Arab world.
...“We have to forget the past and start building again,” says Hikmat Masri, the head of a large and powerful family in Israeli-held Nablus, “the guerrillas are just a passing phase.”
The Masri family owns soap and match factories, a trucking firm and a vegetable oil company. Hikmat is a former Jordanian government minister, his nephew Taher serves in King Hussein’s present cabinet in Amman, his brother. Zafer, runs the Chamber of Commerce.
Hikmat Masri says there can be peace in the Middle East if Israel withdraws from the west bank of Jordan and the Gaza Strip which it captured in 1967. He envisions a five-year “transition period” of international supervision in these territories while the Palestinians hold elections and decide whether they want independent statehood or federation with Jordan.
“We have a limited choice and we will have to accept an imposed solution,” he says. “Right now the Palestine Liberation Organization — PLO — is the only structure available to represent us, but we have plenty of leaders to choose from when the time comes.”
Not so, says his American educated nephew Taher, who administers the west bank in exile as Jordan’s “minister of occupied territories."
“We have no leader, only followers. I have to accept Yasir Arafat because the PLO is all that’s available. If the guerrillas go to Geneva the most important issues will be decided before we Palestinians can elect any other representatives.”
His reference to Geneva was to an upcoming conference of Arab and Israeli representatives to discuss ways of achieving a permanent peace in the Middle East. This was a condition of recent troop disengagement arrangement worked out with U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. The future of the Palestinians and the possibility of an independent Palestinian state may be discussed at Geneva.
The younger Masri agrees with his uncle that a truncated Palestinian state in the west bank and Gaza would not be economically, politically and militarily viable. Both feel there would have to be some form of federation with Jordan after an initial period of independence- “long enough to give the Palestinians an entity and make them feel they can negotiate with King Hussein as equals rather than subjects.”
Can Palestinian refugees be persuaded to give up their claims to land which became part of Israel in 1948?
“If you make them hungry enough you can force them.” said Taher Masri. "Let us face it, whatever the superpowers impose will be accepted by the Palestinians and Jordan. The United States can easily topple King Hussein if they want to form a Palestinian-Jordanian state.
“Palestinians already own half of Amman. Why should we separate?"
... “If only those people would wait a little longer, they will find that the Arabs can face up to Israel,” said Yussuf Savegh, a professor of the American University of Beirut, “I want to dynamite the Geneva peace talks."
“I do not envision anything except a military solution; not total defeat for Israel but enough to make them reassess the whole Palestinian question. We can do this with Arab support, but gradualism makes it more complicated, more costly ”
Sayegh was one of the few independent members of the PLO executive committee before he resigned earlier this year, largely because his views were not shared by Arafat. He has been replaced on the committee by three moderate west bankers, of whom the most prominent is Mohsen Abu Maizer.
Often touted as the future “premier of Palestine." Abu Maizer was a west bank lawyer before his expulsion by Israeli authorities last December because of illegal underground political activity. He is a member of the Socialist Baath party and one of the founders of the clandestine Palestine National: Front (PNF) which emerged in the occupied territories after the October war in 1973.
Abu Maizer now lives in Damascus, Syria. He supports Arafat's desire to negotiate for Palestinian statehood, but he feels that Palestinians should not be breaking down the doors to go to Geneva.
“Let the world come to us with a solution," he said. "We are the ones who have been wronged. Everyone knows there can be no peace until we are satisfied, so our attendance at a peace conference is not important.”
Hadj Rashad Shawa, the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip. points to Israel’s paramilitary settlements in the occupied territories as a clear indication that Israel will not withdraw.
“The real aim of the Israelis is to take over every inch of land here,” he said. “Anything short of a real partition similar to 1917 will lead us to another war. I doubt that there will be peace for 130 years.
“Giving us the west bank and Gaza would delay another war for 10 years at the most. The tide has changed in favor of the Arabs. It will take us two or three more generations to eliminate Israel and liberate Palestine, but eventually the Jews will have to assimilate.
"They cannot set up a European state in an Arab society.”
Shawa has survived two assassination attempts by Palestinian guerrilla groups who felt he was collaborating with the Israelis. “Some people misunderstand my historical perspective,” said Shawa. “It is silly to think that an independent state can survive on the west bank and Gaza, just as Israel and Jordan cannot survive alone.
“The first step which would truly create independence would have to be reunification of ancient Syria, including Jordan, the west bank, Lebanon, Israel and Gaza. There will be many more wars before that comes about.”
Elder of ZiyonYes, they may co-opt D-List celebs like Roger Waters to pressure others in the industry to join BDS. Thankfully, though, A-Listers and those around them are getting better acquainted with BDS, and when they see the antisemitism that surrounds the movement, including the giant pig with a Star of David on it hoisted at the concert of Roger Waters, they run a mile.BANNED Superbowl Scarlett Johansson SodaStream Sorry, Coke and Pepsi.
And so to Scarlett Johansson’s classy and appropriate response to BDS: boycotts won’t bring peace, but cooperation, such as in companies like Sodastream who employ Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis to work together side by side with equal pay and benefits, is the road to peace. With her proud representation of the fizzy drinks machine-maker, Scarlett Johansson becomes yet another A-Lister to shun BDS and back peaceful cooperation.
I’ll drink to that.
In the meantime, Johansson deserves applause for being willing to take the heat for standing up for SodaStream. The attack on SodaStream shows the true face of the BDS movement. They don’t care how good the company is for the regional economy or even the Palestinians who work there. They don’t care that the “settlement” in which it exists would almost certainly remain within Israel if a peace treaty with the Palestinians were to be signed. All they care about is demonizing the very existence of the Jews who live there. As the abuse from Aslan and the rest of the BDS movement shows, that same demonization will apply to anyone, even an Obama-supporting politically correct liberal Democrat like Johansson. Though this may not have been a fight that she would have chosen to engage in, Johansson must now show that she and others prepared to stand with Israel won’t be intimidated.(h/t NormanF)
Elder of Ziyon
From Palestinian Media Watch:Issa Abd Rabbo is one of the terrorist murderers that Israel was forced to release from prison in order for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to agree to start negotiations with Israel. Palestinian Media Watch reported that the day Abd Rabbo was released, Mahmoud Abbas called him a "hero" and raised his hand victoriously.Yes...."Lover's Tales."
Until his release, Issa Abd Rabbo was serving two life sentences for killing two Israeli university students, Ron Levi and Revital Seri, who were hiking south of Jerusalem on Oct. 22, 1984. At gun point he tied them up, put bags over their heads and then shot and murdered both.
Abbas' "hero" has now given an interview to the independent Palestinian news agency Ma'an on its weekly TV program Lovers' Tales, which interviews released prisoners.
Issa Abd Rabbo: "There was supposed to be a military operation shooting at a bus transporting Israeli soldiers... I was surprised when on my way to the area, I waited, waited and waited and the bus didn't come. I was forced to carry out an operation on my own, an improvisation, I took it upon myself. An Israeli car approached, with two in it. I said, here's a chance and I don't want to return empty-handed. They left the car... and walked towards the valley, and sat down under a pine tree. I went down to them. Of course I was masked and was carrying a rifle. He asked me: Are you a guard here? I told him: 'No, I'm in my home.' I told him: 'You are not allowed here. This is our land and our country. You stole it and occupied our land and I'm going to act against you.'Subhuman filth like Abd Rabbo and those who cheer him don't deserve a state. They don't even deserve to live.
They were surprised by what I told them. I tied them up of course and then sentenced them to death by shooting, in the name of the revolution. I shot them, one bullet each, and went [hiding] in the mountains... I went to my aunt and told her: 'We have avenged Muhammad's blood.'"
Host: "She is the mother of Martyr Muhammad Abd Rabbo."
Issa Abd Rabbo: "I told her: 'Instead of one, we got two.' She cried out in joy."
[Independent Palestinian news agency Ma'an TV, Jan. 9, 2014]