Saturday Links

From Ian:

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‘Human rights’ are a weapon in the political arsenal of Israel’s enemies By Anne Bayefsky

Today at the United Nations in New York City, the UN’s top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women, will wrap up its annual session by condemning only one state for violating the rights of women anywhere in the world. Not Syria, or China, or Saudi Arabia. But Israel, for violating the rights of Palestinian women.
Next week, the UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, will end its session by adopting six resolutions condemning human rights violations by one state alone. Israel. And one resolution each on human rights violations in seven of the other 192 UN countries combined.

Ban Ki-Moon is wrong about Israeli settlements
Settlements not illegal under international law

There he goes again. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon erroneously has asserted, for the fourth time in two years, that “all [Israeli] settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, is illegal under international law.”
The Washington Post headlined its Feb. 1 Associated Press dispatch “U.N. panel criticizes Israel on settlements; Report says ‘creeping annexation’ violates rights of Palestinians.” AP noted that Mr. Ban was “reiterating his often-stated view.” He sure was.

Sarah Honig: Another Tack: Out of the box, Obama
Before Obama begins coaxing us with honeyed blandishments, he must take a long, hard and unbiased look out of the box.

That makes it all the more morally imperative that Obama remove his ideological blinders – before he begins coaxing us with honeyed blandishments – and that he take a long, hard and unbiased look out of the box. If he doesn’t, then his inability to shake off his affinities, orientations and inclinations should not only perturb Israelis and Jews.
If he claims that his two-state compromise and conciliation agenda can remain realistically relevant in the face of all the frenzied martyr-worshipping Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Salafist and al-Qaida zealots baying for the blood of Jewish infidels, then contrary to his electioneering rhetoric, Obama is insincere.

From Churchill to Assad
Toward a new Middle East order?

In conclusion, Robert Kaplan is of the opinion that there is still no solution to the problem of how to divide the former Ottoman Empire. No one knows yet who will have the power to control which territories, or whether there will be new tribal and sectarian lines. The Middle East borders are (along with the African ones) the most distorted in the world and, to quote Ralph Peters, “the greatest taboo in striving to understand the region’s comprehensive failure isn’t Islam but the awful-but-sacrosanct international boundaries worshiped by our own diplomats.” Correcting borders to reflect the will of all the different peoples may be impossible, but the opposite would probably lead to more violence and bloodshed.

Egypt: Will the army step in?

There are those who believe that President Mursi is slowly turning into another Mubarak; relying increasingly on the Ministry of Interior and the discredited police force. Some believe he is not ruling but takes his marching orders from the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially the powerful Khairat Al Shatter. It is in fact difficult to defend the president because every decision that he had taken in recent months has backfired and provided further evidence that he lacked leadership qualities.
It is almost impossible to imagine a scenario where the president and the opposition could work out their differences. Both have become hostage to their public positions and no side is willing to take a step back. It is no wonder that more people are looking toward the army for salvation!

Davutoglu Invokes Ottomanism As a New Order for Mideast

It’s time for the Erdogan government to listen to the critics of its policies, and at the very least begin toning down these arrogant suggestions that Turkey be the core country for setting a new order for those once-Ottoman lands.
That said, it may already be too late for Turkey to take a new direction.

Interpol won’t lift warrants for 6 Iranians in AMIA bombing
Arrest orders to remain active despite Tehran’s participation in probe of 1994 terror attack

Interpol will not lift the arrest warrants for Iranians suspected of involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, despite Tehran’s supposed cooperation with Argentina in investigating the event.
Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman cited a letter from the international police organization during a news conference on Friday in explaining that the arrest warrants would remain active. Six Iranians are wanted by Interpol in connection with the bombing, including Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

French Jews slam TV portrayal of school killer
Watched by millions, Mohammed Merah doc omits family testimony about anti-Semitism and portrays terrorist as mental health victim

Pierre Besnainou, a former president of the European Jewish Congress and president of the FSJU social and cultural arm of the French Jewish community, said “the film demonstrates a total misconception of the true nature of jihadist indoctrination.” And the CRIF’s Prasquier said the Jewish community must fight the tendency to portray Merah in a sympathetic light.
“The shootings were first and foremost part of radical Islam and its dangers,” Prasquier said.

Man sentenced to 10 years for NYC synagogue bomb plot

And he said that Ferhani’s conduct was deplorable, noting that almost any civilized person would have reacted with anger and outrage, rather than sympathy, to a proposed plot to blow up a building.
In a statement following the sentencing, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Ferhani posed a real threat to New York City’s Jewish community, and heralded the work of the NYPD Intelligence Bureau in ensuring the imprisonment of a “dangerous man.”

New Numbers Show UK-Israel Trade is Booming

Trade between Britain and Israel is booming. Last year’s two-way trade reached more than £3.81 billion ($5.77 billion), as compared with the £3.7 billion ($5.66 billion) recorded the previous year and on track for UK Trade and Investment’s target of topping £4 billion (roughly $6 billion) by the middle of the decade. Israel remains the UK’s largest individual trading partner in the near East and North Africa.

Passover Items from the Holocaust Discovered at Concentration Camp Site

The Israel-based Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute on Thursday showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals at the Chelmno death camp in western Poland. The items were discovered during excavations of the site in pits containing prisoners’ belongings.

Prague Schoolchildren Push to Have World War II Hero Given Nobel Prize

Sir Winton visited Prague, then a part of Czechoslovakia, in 1938 shortly after Britain and France had agreed to give the Sudetenland – the largely German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia – to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Appalled by the condition of refugees there, and certain that matters could only get worse for them and the Jewish population, he began organizing the transport of children out of the country, mostly to new homes in Britain. Over the next nine months – even after Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939 – special trains left Prague for London, carrying a total of 669 children to safety.

Americans’ sympathy for Israel at 22-year high
Ahead of Obama’s visit, Gallup poll finds 64% of Americans sympathize more with Israel, just 12% with the Palestinians

Americans’ sympathy for Israel is at a 22-year high, according to Gallup figures released on Friday, just five days ahead of Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel as president.
In figures gleaned from the polling organization’s early February World Affairs poll, 64 percent of Americans say their sympathies “in the Middle East situation” – Gallup’s term for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace talks – lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. Just 12% favor the Palestinians.

Using robotic device, paraplegic Israeli finishes Tel Aviv race

"This was my dream, and it feels great to achieve it,"’ said Kaiuf, whose spine was wounded in a 1988 firefight in Lebanon.
Using the ReWalk device, Kaiuf, who has been training for weeks, finished with a time of 3 hours and 55 minutes, nearly an hour below his target time.
Next week, Kaiuf is expected to demonstrate the device to President Obama during the American leader's visit to Israel, which is to include an exhibit of Israeli technological advancements. (h/t Jewess)