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Friday, October 12, 2012

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA: That's exactly what they want and a story about zero hour


Leftist Christians vs. the Jewish State
"As much of the Middle East tilts towards or implodes into Islamist rule, the ever feckless Religious Left in America has organized an ecumenical appeal asking the U.S. Congress to reduce U.S. aid for Israel. After all, it is pro-America, democratic Israel that is the primary threat to peace and stability in the Middle East."
"Religious Leftists who are preoccupied with Israel might gain a little traction if they occasionally raised even slight concerns, however insincerely, about other far more repressive regimes. But the Religious Left, consistently across over 40 years, is temperamentally and intellectually incapable of deep criticism aimed at anti-Western regimes. They can at least be commended for predictability. And we can be thankful that they are almost universally ignored by both policymakers and their own church constituencies."

Will Jordan Be Next to Fall?
Protests against the monarchy—the biggest since the Arab Spring began—are bad news for Israel and the U.S.
"Should King Abdullah II become the next Arab ruler to fall as part of the upheavals that have swept through the region now for almost two years, it will mark another major setback for the United States in the region. For Israel it’s significantly worse news. Jerusalem would lose its remaining strategic partner in the region—having already lost Turkey and Egypt—and face a possible nightmare on its longest border, exposing the country’s center to attacks from the east that might include Sunni Jihadists or Iranian-trained Iraqi agents."

'Egypt grants citizenship to 50,000 Palestinians' By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Security official tells Egyptian paper that Interior Ministry instructed to give citizenship to all Palestinians with Egyptian mothers.
"The court decision paved the way for thousands of Palestinians, particularly those living in the Gaza Strip, to apply for and receive Egyptian passports."

'US funding cuts over Palestine crippling UNESCO'
Head of UN cultural agency says the body is in "worst ever financial situation" after US cut funding in wake of Palestine admission.

UN Watch: U.N.’s Richard Falk justifies his 1979 “Trusting Khomeini” NYT op-ed
"As is his wont, Falk finds a way at the end of his 1979 memoir to insert a contemporary attack against Israel and the U.S., while completely ignoring Iran’s race for the nuclear bomb and — despite his being a U.N. expert — all of the UN Security Council resolutions and damning IAEA reports about Iran’s furtive, illegal and alarming activities, which now threaten the peace of the world."

MEMRI: Advisor To Hamas Government In Gaza: Israel Must Disappear
"In an October 8, 2012 article in the Hamas newspaper Al-Risala, Kana'an 'Obeid, an advisor to the Hamas government in Gaza, urged this movement to refrain from emulating the PLO in making political concessions and adopting pragmatist policies. Instead, he called upon Hamas to declare that it was created to eliminate the state of Israel."

BBC Watch: BBC coverage of recent rocket attacks on southern Israel
"If readers are scratching their heads at the BBC’s seemingly boundless ability to classify the architects and executors of terror attacks against Israeli civilians as ‘militants’ – even after 55 missile attacks in one morning – a clue to the ‘reasoning’ behind it comes in the form of its guidance for editors:"

In Gaza, Gilad Shalit played chess with his captors
In an interview marking a year since his release, former Israeli prisoner says he would play makeshift sports to pass the time.
"While a prisoner of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Gilad Shalit played chess and dominoes with his captors, and passed the time with other “strange games” when he was on his own. Shalit, who was freed in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas a year ago, spoke about his time in captivity in a clip from an interview that was aired by Channel 10 News on Thursday."

Hamas Celebrates Anniversary of Shalit Deal, Promises to Capture More Soldiers

Hezbollah Official Flees to Israel with Embezzled Millions
"Last month, Yoni Alpert’s Terror Watch reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards along with Hezbollah’s security apparatus arrested Hussein Fahs, who is considered Hezbollah’s CFO and head of the organization’s operational communications network. Fahs was arrested at Beirut’s Hariri Airport, on his way to an unknown destination. He and four other Hezbollah members were interrogated on suspicion of embezzling the organization’s funds and of collaborating with Israeli Intelligence. At the time it was suspected that they stole at least $5 million in Iranian aid funds.
Now it turns out, according to TW, citing Lebanese sources, that Fahs, a 29-year-old telecommunications engineer, a native of southern Lebanon, was able to flee the country, crossing the border into Israel."
[I'd like more confirmation before reporting something like this as fact- EoZ]

Israel Daily Picture: What Is Behind the Mysterious Sealed Gates of Jerusalem's Old City?
"This summer the Yisrael HaYom newspaper reported on archaeological artifacts found by a British scholar after part of the el-Aqsa mosque collapsed in the 1927 earthquake that struck Palestine. Reporter Nadav Shragai revealed that items from the period of the Second Jewish Temple were found but that their publication was suppressed."
[See also Yisrael Medad's followup. - EoZ]

Also, Alone among neo-Nazis
This is the amazing story of a young German journalist who, for 15 years, infiltrated and documented neo-Nazi concerts • But German television showed no interest in his shocking revelations