Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

---

Palestinians Plan "Warm" Welcome for Obama by Khaled Abu Toameh

One plan being discussed among Palestinian activists includes staging anti-US demonstrations in Palestinian cities, particularly outside the place Obama is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Activists in Ramallah said they would try to block the roads leading to the location of the Obama-Abbas meeting to protest against US "bias in favor of Israel."
Some activists have even prepared American flags and portraits of Obama that would be set on fire in front of TV crews covering the visit.
Palestinian activists say they are also hoping to humiliate Obama when and if he decides to visit the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Many Palestinians have already called on Obama to refrain from visiting the holy site, especially if he would be escorted by Israeli policemen and security officials.

NYT OpEd: End the Arab Boycott of Israel By Ed Husain

I abandoned Muslim groupthink and went to Israel because there is a new momentum in the region. Egypt’s former grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, and the prominent scholar Habib Ali al-Jifri, broke ranks with Qaradawi and went to Jerusalem last April. They justified their visit on scriptural grounds, citing the Prophet Muhammad’s encouragement for believers to visit the Holy Land. Their trip was facilitated by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, the principal religious adviser to King Abdullah II.
Muslim leaders in Jerusalem welcomed both men and Palestinian imams called for the end of the Arab boycott on Al Jazeera Arabic and other media outlets. This was a direct challenge to radicals like Qaradawi and his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo and the Islamist party Ennahda in Tunis. Why do they want to continue the boycott?

CIF Watch: The inevitable CiF essay using nixed Gaza marathon as fodder to demonize Israel

So, evidently, Ramdani’s primary concern is that Hamas made a tactical mistake by forcing the cancellation of a charity marathon (raising money for Gaza’s children) which would have had the effect of exposing Israeli oppression. Note also that Ramdani falsely characterizes Israel’s blockade as illegal when, in fact, the UN Palmer Report definitively concluded that the blockade was indeed legal under international law.
Further in the essay, Ramdani even manages to implicitly blame Israel for Hamas’s misogynistic and repressive policies against its own citizens.

Israel prepares for next war with Hezbollah
While tensions along Israel’s northern border run high, the army is down south, simulating battles with its Lebanese arch-foe

As the Syrian civil war intensifies, military planners are growing increasingly jittery that the fighting could spill over into Israel, potentially dragging the Islamic militant group that is allied with President Bashar Assad into the fray. After battling Hezbollah to a stalemate in 2006, the Israeli military says it has learned key lessons and is prepared to inflict heavy damage on the group if fighting begins again.

Company Whose Cranes Were Used for Public Hangings Withdraws From Iran

After the revelation that its cranes were being used for executions in Iran, Austrian company Palfinger has communicated to United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) that it is no longer doing business in the country.
In fact, the company hadn’t been doing business in Iran for some time. In a letter sent by Palfinger’s CEO, Herbert Ortner, to UANI in response to its February appeal that the company withdraw from Iran, Ortner made it clear that Palfinger had made attempts to cut ties with Iran since 2011.

Syria releases photos of alleged Israeli spy devices
Equipment designed to photograph, register and transfer data, state TV claims

Syrian state-run TV released pictures on Thursday of the Israeli espionage equipment Damascus claimed to have found on Wednesday.
Authorities near the country’s coast were said to have found Israeli devices designed to photograph, register and transfer data, according to a brief report in the regime-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Wiesenthal Centre Urges Investigation after Report Shows Anti-Semitic Hungarian Political Party Moves Closer to Iran

After a three-day visit to the country by officials, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging the Hungarian government–as well as the European Parliament– to investigate reports of a growing relationship between Iran and the anti-Semitic Jobbik Hungarian political party.
“Hungarian leaders we met confirmed that the Jobbik party and the Iranian regime share a hatred for Jews, Israel, the European Union and the United States,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper associate Dean and Dr. Shimon Samuels Director of International Relations of the Centre reported, adding that “a Socialist Party MP told them that Jobbik’s increasingly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks can be linked in part to the growing connection.”

Ohio buys $42 million of Israel Bonds
CJN EXCLUSIVE: Treasurer Mandel makes largest such purchase in United States history

“We believe this is a sound investment for the taxpayers of Ohio and consistent with our strategy of investing in safe and strong securities,” Mandel said in a telephone interview March 4.

SingTel opens tech center in Israel
Singapore giant’s partnership with Amdocs to help local startups get footing in Asia market.

“We have been extremely satisfied with the wealth of talent in Israel. We experienced this through our recently acquired global mobile advertising company Amobee which has a technology center in Israel, as well as through our venture capital investments in two Israeli companies in the mobile Internet business. This has propelled us to open this new development center to scout for new growth engines for SingTel,” said Allen Lew, Chief Executive Officer of Group Digital L!fe, SingTel.